He ye Zhu Yunyuan Zhang built a super-large project to enhance national strength, but in the end the Ming Dynasty perished.

"If you want to be rich, build roads first." When the Ming Dynasty was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor, looked at the tragic situation of the country and thought of what the people said. At that time, the north and south of the Ming Dynasty were destroyed by the war. Yangzhou was a famous prosperous place in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and only 18 was left when the Ming Dynasty was founded. Mongols are still making trouble at the border. When Yuan Shundi fled, he wanted to take away all the gold, silver and precious metals in the north, which made it difficult for the Ming Dynasty to issue money. In addition, natural disasters continue, and all provinces are full of refugees. The people's livelihood in the country is bleak, and building roads is a shot in the arm to restore the national economy.

Roads were built in all dynasties, but Zhu Yuanzhang built an unprecedented length of post road network in ancient times, connecting the north and south of the great river: in the first year of Hongwu, when the Ming army was still marching northward on the mourning day, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a special order, ordering many troops to pick up tools on the spot and repair local roads; After the unification of the world, repairing the post road is the top priority, and it has also become a hard lever for local officials to assess.

After the post road is repaired, there will be post stations every 30 to 40 kilometers in prefectures and counties all over the country, equipped with horses, donkeys and other means of transportation, as well as water post stations providing vehicles and boats. A transportation network extending in all directions has been formed in the north and south of the Yangtze River, with a total length of over 70,000 kilometers.

This unprecedented powerful transportation system became the boiling blood vessel of national construction in the early Ming Dynasty: the transportation of immigrants, construction personnel, materials and even seeds and rice became convenient and fast. The Ming dynasty, once in ruins, rebuilt the country's prosperity and enriched the people and strengthened the country within 30 years. Later generations' evaluation: The first achievement of the country's prosperity and national security after the founding of the Ming Dynasty was the developed post-road traffic.

What's more exciting is that this powerful transportation network has evolved continuously in the following years, and even became an international signboard of the Ming Dynasty. During the Yongle period, many foreign envoys who visited the Ming Dynasty marveled at the developed transportation network in China.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, European missionaries who set foot on the land of the Ming Dynasty with their heads held high were also deeply impressed by the powerful post roads of the Ming Dynasty. A Spanish missionary marveled at the incredible traffic width and better drainage effect of Fujian Post Road in Ming Dynasty. After every heavy rain, the accumulated water on the post road will be quickly cleaned up, which is far ahead of the Spanish.

It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang overhauled the post road, and Judy spared no effort to continue repairing it locally. It extends northward to present-day Songhua River and Heilongjiang Valley, and westward from Sichuan to Lhasa, Tibet. The traditional Sichuan-Tibet tea-horse ancient road was formally formed. This is undoubtedly a heavyweight contribution to the development of China's unified multi-ethnic country.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang and Judy probably didn't expect that the powerful post road system of the Ming Dynasty was finally defeated by two words: corruption, and even dug a pit for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

"Greed" is related to the post road system, which began with the basic management system of the post road in the Ming Dynasty-the 3354 inspection department. The postal route in the Ming Dynasty was managed by a department under the Ministry of War. Business travelers need this token to use PostRoad for free. Over the years, this system effectively ensured the traffic in the Ming Dynasty and reduced the burden on the people.

However, since the Jiajing period, this good system has deteriorated rapidly. On the one hand, the court was seriously corrupt, and the distribution of symbols became seriously unreliable. Anyone can be admitted by the operator and go to the post office to eat and drink for free. The court is not a fool. In the late Jiajing period, the procurator system was abandoned and changed to a stricter investigation system. This matter is strict: the paper official document indicates the name Ann.

What is more abused is another token: the fire card. The original system of using fire cards was strict, only allowing military use in border areas to transmit emergency military information. However, in the Wanli period, this tall thing also changed its taste. Not only can the army use it, but all government offices are scrambling to follow suit. Because the user took the fire sign, not only can he eat and drink for free all the way, but he can also fill the groom with more money and food when he goes back for reimbursement. In this way, users run back and forth several times, which is particularly easy to "get rich".

These heavy burdens are passed on to the people without exception.

The labor force of the post station is basically the corvee of the people along the way, and the people are recruited free of charge. The related expenses such as cars, horses and donkeys in the post station are also paid by local people. Many shameless officials even blackmailed the people along the way, and the lion asked for money and food, which made the people miserable. Scholars in the late Ming Dynasty said bitterly that the property of ordinary people could not fill this hole.

People of insight in the imperial court are not indifferent to this wasteful scene. Since Zhang, they have been constantly regrouping. In the era of Zhang Reform, the Ming Dynasty strictly controlled the use of post stations, and with the help of the "one-whip method" of tax service reform, the various related burdens of the original people were changed into people's money to hire people to do services. A new industrial chain has also formed rapidly, and a large number of professional servants who take this as their profession appear everywhere.

However, after Zhang's death, corrupt officials lost the above pressure, and indiscriminate post stations spread rapidly. In the later period of Wanli, the wages and meals of horses and chariots in the post station alone increased by seven times compared with that before Wanli.

Zhu Youjian Chongzhen, who is worried about money, is worried about money again. Finally, at the urging of the minister, Zhu Youjian cut off the post office simply and rudely.

This seems to solve the problem of corruption in the postal system once and for all, but it has caused more pain to the people: after the post office is laid off, the traffic of the imperial court has to continue to be guaranteed, so the money shared with the people is only in a different way, or continues to be shared. Coupled with natural disasters and famine, people fell into panic.

Finally, in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng, an official, entered Beijing and forced Zhu Youjian to commit suicide by hanging himself. The post road system, which once made the Ming Dynasty brilliant, was finally eroded by corruption and became the death knell of the Ming Dynasty.