Chapter 39 Section 5 "Gold Medal" System

Everyone knows that the famous anti-gold general Yue Fei was forced to recall him from the front line to Lin'an (now Hangzhou) with twelve gold medals, put him in prison, and then executed him.Li Dongyang, a native of the Ming Dynasty, wrote a poem "Golden Character Card", which angrily accused the surrender faction of the Southern Song Dynasty for killing Yue Fei.There are a few sentences that say: "Golden plaques come from the sky, and the generals cry and return, and the morale is depressed and angry like thunder."What is going on with this "gold medal" system?

In the Song Dynasty, the golden plate was originally a communication certificate.In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the original country post coupon for post post communication was a piece of paper certificate, which was also called "touzi" at that time, and it was unimpeded to pass on the post post road with this coupon.But when Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty arrived, there was a riot by fraudulent riding on a post horse.There was a son of a mid-level official, who pretended to be a post official, took a ride on a post horse, and used a privately bought horse tassel as a letter to pass through many post station counties.Song Taizong was very shocked by this, and decided to change the post coupon into a silver medal as the post road certificate.This kind of silver medal is two and a half inches wide and six inches long. It has official script, engraved with flying phoenix and kylin patterns, and the date and month on both sides.Later, it developed into three types: gold letter, blue letter and red letter.

Gold medals are stipulated to be used for urgent delivery, which started from the time of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty.Shen Kuo, a native of the Song Dynasty, said: This kind of gold plate is delivered urgently, which is equivalent to the ancient "Yu Xi", which is similar to the "Chicken Feather Letter" used as an emergency document in later generations.According to historical records, the emergence of gold medals is related to the emergency of war.Song Shenzong fought fiercely with Xixia, and Xixia sent 800,000 troops to besiege Lanzhou.In order to convey the military information quickly, the Song government ordered that the gold plate be used to go directly to the emperor, instead of going through the ordinary delivery shop according to the usual procedures.The gold character plate is a wooden communication plate more than one foot long, with a gold book engraved on the bottom of red lacquer, and the book is eight characters: "The characters in front of the imperial court are not allowed to enter the shop."Indicates that it is extremely urgent, do not delay in the delivery shop.This kind of gold medal delivery requires a daily travel of 400 to 500 miles.At that time, people described the golden plate as "bright and dazzling", "passing like flying lightning, and those who look at it will avoid the road" (Volume 11 of "Mengxi Bi Tan"), so they can reach their destination quickly.In the 11th year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1141), he used this urgent communication method to order Yue Fei to retreat with twelve gold medals to prevent him from attacking the Jin army again, ruining the great situation of the anti-gold struggle.

In addition to gold characters, there were green and red characters in the Southern Song Dynasty.The blue letter board is made of orpiment with green characters, and it is also made of wood. It is stipulated that the daily travel distance is 350 miles, and it is also a communication certificate for express delivery.The red letter board is black lacquered and red letter, and the limit is 300 miles per day.At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, due to the increasingly chaotic management of post offices and the frequent changes of communication boards, this system was gradually eliminated.