Chapter 34 Section 11 Post Posts in Minority Areas in the Tang Dynasty

my country has been a multi-ethnic country since ancient times.With the continuous strengthening of the national power of the Tang Dynasty, the post offices in the border minority areas also made great progress.At that time, the most obvious thing was the construction of post roads in Xinjiang today. At that time, the area around today's Turpan was Xizhou in the Tang Dynasty.It reaches Tingzhou in the north (the seat of the government today is Urumqi), goes to Shazhou in the south, reaches Yizhou (the seat of the government today in Hami) in the east, and reaches Anxi in the west, all connected by spacious post roads.There are 11 post roads built in Xizhou. According to the fragments of "Xizhou Chronicle", there are Huagu Road, Dahai Road, Yinshan Road and so on.The Dunhuang posthumous book "Shazhou Tujing" records a total of 20 post stations, with names such as Zhoucheng Station, Hengjian Station, Jieting Station, Shuangquan Station, Fifth Station, Xuanquan Station, Wuxian Station, and Konggu Station.It can be seen that some of these posts are near the city, some are near the spring, and some are on the thrilling mountain road.It is worth noting that these 20 post stations are concentrated in one county in present-day Dunhuang County.There are so many post stations in one county, which shows that the post roads in Dunhuang area were quite developed at that time, and the management was very strict.Cen Shen, a famous frontier poet in the Tang Dynasty, when he traveled westward from Dunhuang to Beiting Duhufu (now Beipochengzi, Jimsar, Xinjiang), described the post station facilities along the way, saying: "One post passes by one post, and the post ride is like a shooting star... the month before last Sending to Xi'an, there is no stop on the road." In 1973, the account of horse material income and expenditure unearthed in the ancient tombs of Astana, Turpan, listed more than 10 post stations in Tang Dynasty, including Jiaohe, Tianshan, Shenquan, Dabandit, Yinshan, Liugu, Liuzhong, and Chiting. indivual. "New Book of Tang Geographical Records" records that the government of the Tang Dynasty still had many post houses in present-day Xinjiang.For example, there are Luguang Pavilion and Xincheng Pavilion in Yanqi, Longquan Pavilion in Jiaohe, Yezhe Pavilion, Jie (Jiejie) Restaurant and so on along Suiye and Shule.Some post houses are obviously for receiving ethnic minorities and foreign merchants.Along the post road from Dunhuang to Xinjiang, there are a large number of horse and ox caravans, as well as special animal power for desert transportation - camel herds.These means of transportation made the western border area a busy scene at that time.The Sui Dynasty "Camel Cart Crossing the Bridge" mural preserved in Cave 302 of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang now vividly reflects the prosperity of the post road at that time.These precious materials show that there was indeed a well-developed postal post system in Xinjiang during the Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty, there were still many minority regimes around.For example, Tibet at that time was under the management of Tubo Zanpu.In the Tang Dynasty, there was a Huihe in the northwest and a Nanzhao in the southwest.Judging from historical data, the post office industry gradually developed in the areas where these ethnic regimes were located.At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a notebook novel called "Yinhualu", which recorded that the Tubo law at that time stipulated that whenever there was an urgent matter, people would be sent to Zanpu on horseback, traveling hundreds of miles a day. Ma Shi".After Tang and Tibet intermarried, there was a direct post road from Chang'an to Luoxie (Lhasa).Moli Station, Nalu Station, Zhonglong Station, Yema Station, and Nongge Station are all famous stations on the way.In the Tang Dynasty, there were several post roads leading from Sichuan to Tubo: one was called Xishan Road, which ran from Chengdu through Guanxian, Canyaguan, Dangfengshu, Wenchuan, and Xishan Eight Kingdoms, and then went up the Suomo River to Zhe (Zhe this 〕County, crossed Bailing, arrived at Baiyayi, and entered the Tubo border ("Yuanhe County Tuzhi").In addition, there are two passages, one is "Hechuan Road" and the other is "Lingguan Road".Because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been difficult to travel since ancient times, these post roads have been dangerous since ancient times.People in the Tang Dynasty described it as: "The mountains meet the fields, the bird roads follow the sky, and I don't know the number of miles." ("Taiping Huanyu Ji") In recent years, foreign historians have also discovered two bridges that traveled northward from Tubo and crossed Congling into the Western Regions during the Tang Dynasty. The access roads are called "the road of salt" and "the road of five jins" by Westerners.Although the specific situation is difficult to say clearly, it reminds people that the Tubo Kingdom in my country's Tibet region from the 7th to the 9th century also had successful post post construction (Persian anonymous author: "World Boundary Records").

Huihe in the northwest is the ancestor of the Uyghurs today.In the early Tang Dynasty, the post office was established by Tumidu Khan.Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty set up 68 post offices in Nante to facilitate the communication of envoys from both sides.The Tang Dynasty called this long post road the "Huihe Road". After walking out of the "Return to Tangzha" at the border, there is a wide and large driveway, passing by the Grebe (pi ti secluded kick) spring, Luer Mountain, and Cuojia Mountain. , Swallow Well, Yema Po, Khan Spring, and Jing Po go straight to the Huihe Khan Yazhang.Along the post road, the government of the Tang Dynasty issued a letter of talisman for the post post, on which a goldfish was painted and gold characters were written.Later, this post road was honored as "Santian Khan Road" by the northern ethnic groups. Using this passage, various ethnic groups in the north paid tribute to Tang Taizong and others with mink fur, horses and other things ("Tang Huiyao").

Nanzhao, which lived in present-day Yunnan in the Tang Dynasty, also established its own postal communication system with the help of the Tang Dynasty.At that time, there were many post roads connecting Nanzhao to Sichuan, the most important of which was from Sichuan to the capital city of Nanzhao, Yangjubaa (ju mie Jumei) (now Dali, Yunnan).This road starts from Chengdu and goes southwest, passing through Erjiang Station in Shuangliu, Sanjiang Station in Xinjin, Linqiong Station in Qiongzhou, Baizhang Station in Yazhou (now Ya’an, Sichuan), and Pancang Station in Lizhou (now Hanyuan, Sichuan). , Tongwang County Muyu Station, crossed the Dadu River to Xi[xisu]zhou (the seat of the government today is Xichang, Sichuan), then crossed Lushui via Huichuan Station, took a raft through Mozhaguan, Zangbangguan, etc., and arrived directly Yangjubaa City ("Man Shu").There are also many branch roads in Nanzhao and international passages from Nanzhao to India, Myanmar and Annan.This made Nanzhao domestic and foreign business travel and document communication unimpeded.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were many interlinked post roads leading to Sichuan minority areas, Qinghai and Ningxia areas, and Northeast Mohe [mo he Mohe], Bohai and other ethnic areas.According to historical records, during the Yuanhe period of Tang Xianzong (806-820 A.D.), post houses were restored in Xiazhou (now Jingbian, Shaanxi), and 500 knights were dispatched to protect the post roads to the Dangxiang ethnic area ("Old Tang Book·Li Jifu") pass").Both the Sui and Tang dynasties paid attention to the development of post road traffic in Guizhou.During the reign of Kaihuang (581-600 A.D.) and the reign of Zhenguan, water and land post roads from Sichuan to Guizhou were opened up.According to records, in today's Jingyuan County in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region, Tang soldiers and Tubo "joined forces to form a bridge" during Tang Xianzong's time, and built a Ulan Bridge across the Yellow River, connecting the post roads on both sides.In the northeastern Liaoning area, the Tang Dynasty and the local Mohe, Bohai, and Goguryeo ethnic groups were connected by water and land.

The advanced post system in the Tang Dynasty also had an impact on neighboring countries.During the Tang Dynasty, foreign post envoys and government officials were solemnly received in various places in Chang'an.In addition to the "Siyi Pavilion" in Chang'an for foreign guests, Chuzhou (where the government is located in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province) has a "Xilla Pavilion" for Xinluo guests, and there is a "Fusang Pavilion" in Yangzhou for Japanese envoys.The ceremonies for receiving foreign guests are grand and considerate.Wherever he went, he was greeted at the posthouse in the suburbs first, and the palace historian personally set up wine and held a banquet. "New Tang Book" once recorded "The Four Ways of Huanghua" written by Jia Dan, among the seven international post roads, one is a water post from Dengzhou, Shandong to North Korea by sea.The Tang Dynasty also had close ties with Japan. Japan sent envoys to China 15 times, while Chinese envoys went to Japan 10 times.The post post organization of the Tang Dynasty was introduced to Japan, and a post post system with Japanese characteristics was established. The influence of the Tang post post can be seen in many aspects such as tasks, equipment, tools, and methods.By the early years of the Song Dynasty, Japan had built 414 stations, effectively promoting the development of Japan's economy and culture.