Chapter 38 Section 4: The Emergence and Development of "Express Delivery Shop"

According to Shen Kuo, a famous scientist at that time, in "Mengxi Bi Tan", there are three main forms of postal delivery in the Song Dynasty: one is step delivery, the other is horse delivery, and the other is "urgent delivery".Step delivery is used for the delivery of general documents, and it is a relay walking delivery.This kind of delivery also bears the heavy task of transporting official goods, and the speed is relatively slow.Horse delivery is used to transmit urgent documents, and generally does not transmit official materials, and the speed is relatively fast.However, since most of the horses that undertake this transmission task are old, weak and sick horses left over from the army, they cannot undertake the delivery of the most urgent documents at the fastest speed.Therefore, in an emergency, a new form of sending documents called "quick delivery" has appeared since the Northern Song Dynasty.

The form of transmission of urgent foot delivery began around the time of Zhenzong in the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, in the early 11th century AD.At the earliest, it may be used in military affairs. It was originally a form of fast message transmission on the border. It is said that it can travel four hundred miles a day.This kind of "quick hand delivery" was used in the war against Liao during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, and during the war against Jiaozhi in the south during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty.During Shenzong's time, special "urgent delivery shops" were set up along the line from Kaifeng, the capital, to Guangxi.In the war between the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia, the express delivery shop was also used to send urgent military documents.

The form of express mail delivery reached its prosperity in the Yuan Dynasty. Its system was complete, the organization was strict, and the network was developed, far exceeding that of the Song Dynasty.In the Yuan Dynasty, the express delivery completely replaced the foot delivery in the Song Dynasty, and the horse delivery gradually disappeared at this time, and the express delivery became the only communication tool for official document delivery.If the Song Dynasty was only set up in certain areas, the express delivery shop in the Yuan Dynasty was a common facility across the country.At this time, except for a very small amount of urgent official documents sent by Chiyi, almost all documents were sent by Express Courier.

In the Yuan Dynasty, express delivery shops were generally set up every 10 to 25 miles, and each shop was equipped with a twelve-hour wheel as a symbol, a red gate tower, and a plaque.Shoping prepared a pair of splints and bells, a tasseled gun, and a bag and coir raincoat for traveling.It appears to be rain or shine. "Yuan History Bing Zhi" said that when the shop soldiers walk to pass, "all have leather belts, hang bells, carry guns, carry raincoats, and carry (bring) documents. At night, they carry torches, and when the road is narrow, there are chariots and horses. Those who bear the burden, hear the bell and avoid all sides, and at night they will startle tigers and wolves."How do they pass official documents in order?Marco Polo, the great Italian traveler who came to China, had a very vivid description of the work of the Chinese soldiers at that time: "Among the various post stations, there are small villages every five kilometers... Messenger on foot... They wear a loincloth and wear a few small bells so that when they are still far away, when they hear the bell ringing, people will know that the postman is coming. Because they only run about five kilometers... From one foot messenger station to another, the bell announces their arrival. Therefore, the messenger at the other station is prepared, and as soon as the person arrives at the station, he takes his postal bag and starts immediately. In this way, the station is passed on one by one, The efficiency is extremely fast. It only takes two days and two nights for His Majesty the Emperor to receive news from far away places that would take ten days at the usual speed. During the fruit picking season, the fruits picked in Hanbali (now Beijing) in the morning, the first day It can be transported to Shangdu in two nights. This is the mileage of ten days on weekdays" (Volume 2 of "Marco Polo's Travels").Through this narrative, we can imagine the speed at which courier shops delivered letters on foot during the Yuan Dynasty.

It is a pity that this urgent delivery shop system failed to develop smoothly, and it declined by the end of the Yuan Dynasty.There was no further development in the Ming Dynasty, and it gradually disappeared in the late Qing Dynasty, and was replaced by another postal system.