Chapter 36 Section 2 The militarization of the post system

During the Song Dynasty, my country's feudal centralization system developed further.To meet the needs of autocratic rule, the post offices at that time also tended to be militarized, and various systems had a strong military color.First of all, the central organization that manages the affairs of the post post is in charge of the Ministry of War, and specifically inquires about the post post’s regulations, personnel deployment, horse delivery equipment, and so on.At the same time, the Privy Council is in charge of the post post, and its management scope is the distribution of post horses, the issuance of post delivery letters, and so on.These two institutions restrict each other and cannot monopolize power without authorization.This method of handling is similar to the Song Dynasty's precautions against army generals who "had the right to send troops, but not the power to hold them;...they had the right to send troops, but not the right to send troops" (Volume 26 of Fan Taishi Collection). The meaning is consistent.Secondly, the Northern Song Dynasty implemented the method of using soldiers instead of ordinary people as postal personnel, and the organization of delivering letters was completely established by the military.This change occurred because of the sharpness of national struggle and class struggle in the Song Dynasty, and the severe situation forced the Song Dynasty government to regard the military content of the correspondence as a top priority.

In the Song Dynasty, the delivery of mail documents was completely separated from the post where officials stayed in the past.The post house has evolved into a simple government guest house.Wang Yinglin of the Song Dynasty said: "The residence of the county and the country is called the mansion in Beijing; the post house is called the post" (Wang Yinglin's "Yuhai"). It is only used as a place for officials and envoys to stop and rest on the way. place.The institutions that deliver government documents and letters have another name, which is collectively referred to as "delivery", and is divided into several types: "urgent delivery", "horse delivery" and "step delivery".

There are "delivery husbands", also known as "pu soldiers", who are generally served by local "Xiang soldiers" and are the main personnel who deliver documents.The postal personnel changed from civilians to soldiers, which began in the early Northern Song Dynasty.In the second year after the founding of the Song Dynasty, Taizu Zhao Kuangyin issued an order to "deliver the postal transmission of all roads with soldiers" ("Song History Taizu Ji"), and then it was customized.At that time, Wang Yu (Yong Yong) once commented on this measure: "The postage of the previous generation was done by the servants", which added a great burden to the people.Song Taizu "resolved this disadvantage immediately" and began to "replace the common people with soldiers as handovers", and later set up special post soldiers.They have better treatment, which has reduced the burden on the people since then ("Yan Yi Yi Mou Lu").At the beginning, this reform did have some effect.However, the soldiers of the Song Dynasty "traveled day and night, and worked hard" ("Jiading Chicheng Chronicles").According to regulations, although they have the food and salaries allocated by the state on a monthly basis, they can't help the officials' deductions, which often make them in a situation where they have no food and clothing.Some "lack of money, hunger and freezing" (Volume 14575 of "Yongle Dadian").The water delivery shopkeepers along the Xiangjiang River mentioned above also lived an inhuman life.They are often "not given food and clothing", and because of the difficulty of water transportation, the time limit is often the same as that of land transportation.In order to survive, these shop soldiers and shop husbands had no choice but to gather in the mountains and forests and fall into the grass as bandits.In the history books of the Song Dynasty, there are many records of soldiers fleeing and rebelling.In order to prevent the soldiers from escaping, the rulers of the Song Dynasty took a vicious approach and forced them to tattoo on their bodies, some on their faces and some on their arms, treating them as prisoners.Doing so aroused Pubing's resistance even more.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, "Baohou" was successively established in the southeast coast and the northern defense areas.It was also a measure to militarize postal communications.The so-called "chaihou" originally referred to the sentinels on the border, and they were often stationed on high ground for easy observation.At this time, lookout, reconnaissance and communication transmission were combined to establish a "repulsion shop" with a military nature.This kind of messenger agency mainly delivers military emergency documents and serves military activities.Later, the Song government set up a "decoration shop", and the shop soldiers were still in charge of the communication business, which complemented each other with the denunciation shop.