The story of modern information delivery

Traveling by horse was an early method of organized communication. The "Post Envoy" sculpture located in the square of Jiayuguan Railway Station is based on the mural tombs of the Wei and Jin Dynasties in Jiayuguan. The post envoy holds slips and documents in his hands, and the post horse is flying with all four legs in the air at a very fast speed. This brick mural was used as the theme pattern for small stamps by the First Congress of the All-China Philatelic Federation in 1982. This shows that Jiayuguan is one of the birthplaces of China's information culture.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, a complete system of postal transmission was formed. Especially in the Han Dynasty, the documents to be delivered were divided into levels, and documents of different levels were delivered by special persons and horses in the specified order and time. When sending and receiving these documents, you must register them and indicate the time to clarify your responsibilities.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Yi Chuan business achieved unprecedented development. The official mail transportation line of the Tang Dynasty centered on the capital Chang'an and radiated in all directions, reaching directly to the border areas. There was a post station approximately 30 miles away. According to the "Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty", at its peak, there were 1,639 post stations across the country, with more than 20,000 people specializing in post services, including 17,000 post soldiers. There are three types of postal posts: land post, water post, and waterway combined post. Each post station has a post house, equipped with post horses, post donkeys, post boats and post fields.

The Tang Dynasty also had clear regulations on the itinerary of postal stations. A fast horse in Luyi could travel 6 stations a day, which is 180 miles, and it would be almost 300 miles a day, and the fastest required is 500 miles a day; people on foot could travel 50 miles a day. miles; when sailing against the current, the river is 40 miles, the river is 50 miles, and the other 60 miles; when sailing with the current, the limit is 100 to 150 miles. The poet Cen Shen wrote in the poem "On the way to Longshan for the first time, I submitted a letter to the judge": "One post passed by another, and the post riders were like stars; they left Xianyang at dawn, and the curtain reached the head of Longshan." Here he compares Yiqi to a shooting star. On November 9, the 14th year of Tianbao, An Lushan rebelled in Fan Yang. At that time, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was in the Huaqing Palace, and the two places were three thousand miles apart. Within 6 days, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty knew the news, and the transmission speed reached 500 miles per day. It can be seen that the organization and speed of postal communications in the Tang Dynasty have reached a very high level.

In the Song Dynasty, all official documents and correspondence organizations were collectively called "delivery", and "express delivery shops" appeared. The couriers who deliver expresses have copper bells tied to their collars. When they are running on the road, they ring the bells during the day and light the fire at night. They are not responsible for killing people. Horses were changed from bunk to bunk, people were changed from several bunks to each other, rain or shine, day and night. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei, the anti-golden general, was forced to recall Lin'an from the front line by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty with twelve gold medals. These gold medals were the gold-lettered medals delivered by the express delivery shop, which contained the meaning of great urgency.

In addition, there are other ways to convey information, such as bells and drums, fireworks, doves, flags, and smoke.

Wolf smoke. During the Spring and Autumn Period of our country, there are records of using fire and beacon smoke to convey military warnings. After Qin Shihuang, a beacon tower was built every ten miles on the Great Wall, using dry wolf dung as fuel. After it was lit, the fire and smoke would rise into the sky, and emergency warnings could be sent to far away places. The line in the ancient poem "The sun sets on the flat sand in the west of the desert, the stars on the mountains rise high and low again; the beacon fires can be seen in several isolated mountains, and the strong men camp with drums and drums" is a true portrayal of the application of this primitive information transmission method. This kind of communication media was also used in the business activities of merchants in ancient society. For example, in different periods, there are records of night-walking caravans and caravans "raising fire as a signal."

The story of Bao Si’s burial in the Western Zhou Dynasty with a smile

The rare smile of Bao Dabei is probably like the beautiful clouds in the sky and the flowers blooming underground. Anyway, it is very beautiful and charming, and she is fascinated. Himemiya felt dizzy, but the happiness was too short-lived. Regarding her question, Himemiya was very confused. At that time, there were no new gadgets such as game consoles that could be used as props, so she had to offer a heavy reward to anyone who could make the beauty smile. origin). The treacherous minister Guo Shifu came up with a strange plan called "playing with the princes with beacon fire". He asked Ji Gongni and Bao Dabei to drive together to visit Lishan Mountain. Rescue, but when they arrived panting, they found that everything was safe and the king and queen were playing military parade games upstairs, so they had to retreat. The beautiful lady saw groups of sergeants coming and going like a revolving lantern. She didn't know it was Himegiya's arrangement. She didn't know why. She couldn't help but smile. This smile was so beautiful that Himemiya couldn't help but smile. Nirvana was overjoyed, and "the beacon fire plays on the princes" has since become an allusion. Ji Gongni was preparing to test a few more times, but he didn't know that he had already caused trouble and would have to pay a heavy price in the future, because he had broken trust with the princes, who were also the kings of the same place. They were very angry: This king It's so outrageous. They shouldn't come to us to have fun with the queen and her husband. Is it easy for us? I’m so busy every day, huh! Don’t be a fool next time.

The queen’s father, Marquis Shen, was very angry when he saw his daughter and grandson falling out of favor for no reason, so he colluded with foreign invaders. In 771 BC, the dog soldiers arrived, and the war broke out again in Ji Palace. The princes stopped sending troops to rescue. , they will never be fooled again. However, this time it was true. As a result, Ji Gongni was killed and Baosi was kidnapped (one theory is that she was killed).