In Chinese costume dramas, if there is a 100,000-hot military and national event, officials will often transmit official documents through "eight hundred miles of urgency". Then I saw the messenger of the pawn step onto the fast horse and fly away. So, how fast is this "eight hundred mile rush"? Compared with the courier brother who supports our modern logistics, is there an advantage in speed?
As the name suggests, "eight hundred miles plus express" is to run 800 miles a day, which translates into the number of kilometers we use now is 400 kilometers. If we do not take the high speed in modern transportation by car, it takes 5-6 hours to calculate the loss of traffic lights; if it is an airplane, it takes 1-2 hours. Of course, this does not calculate the picking time, sorting time and intermediate transportation, which is very time-consuming. Taking our online shopping products as an example, from the order to the final delivery, 800 miles usually takes 2-3 days. In this comparison, it seems that the ancient eight-hundred-mile expedited transportation was more efficient and faster. Of course, the reason why it can be so fast is because "eight hundred miles plus urgent" is costless.
In ancient times, there was no such a developed road network as it is now, and there was no mechanized means of transport, and it was necessary to rely on the station to complete the task of transmitting official documents and letters. There are both pawns and horses in the station, which can meet the needs of human and animal power in the transfer of goods. As for the size and density, each dynasty was different: in the Han Dynasty, there was a station every thirty miles on the main road of transportation, and there were more than a thousand stations in the whole country. In the Tang Dynasty, there were also water stations that took the water road, and there were more than 1,300 land stations and more than 260 water stations in the country; in the Song Dynasty, the information transmission guarantee system was more developed, and every 20 there were Xie Ma Pavilions and Delivery Shops, and 60 Miles of Pavilions; and in the Ming Dynasty, more attention was paid to the transmission function of the stations, and there were express shops every 10 miles to collect urgent mail. As long as the famous "flying immediately" on the teleportation object, the starting speed of the pawn will reach 300 miles per day. If things are urgent, it can also reach 400 miles, 600 miles. And 800 miles is already the limit of the station transmission.
In order to put an end to all kinds of mistakes in the postal process, the laws of successive dynasties have stipulated the punishment of pawns in a very detailed manner. The slightest mistake is punished severely. The Tang Law stipulates that the commander of the stagecoach must report every year on the death of the stagecoach, the loss of fat, and the expenditure of funds. If the stagecoach is accidentally killed or damaged due to poor management, the coachmaster shall be responsible for compensation; if it is fraudulent and changes the station personnel and horses on the account book without authorization, it will be "a hundred rods". The punishment for the pawn is more stringent, stipulating that every time he goes to a station, he must change horses and then go, and if he does not change horses, regardless of whether the horses are damaged or not, he must "stick eighty". The Tang Law also stipulates that anyone who delays the journey on the way and does not distribute in time will be "a hundred rods". In addition, there are also requirements for the arrival time of the documents, one day late is eighty, two days doubled, and so on. The heaviest punishment was the "two years of sin." Therefore, the pawns do not avoid hardships and dangers when transmitting official documents, so they dare not stop when the wind and rain are combined.
Of course, no one person or a horse can run 800 miles a day. Although there is a so-called "Maxima" in the legend, but that kind of horse is a war horse that attaches importance to speed, and the horses of the station are heavy on endurance and cannot reach this speed at all. Therefore, when the station encounters an urgent item that needs to be "immediately delivered", it can only be a substitution, a relay of people and horses, and every section of the road runs at the fastest speed. Even so, the exhaustion of horses still happens from time to time. Therefore, the cost of using "Flying" is extremely high! Moreover, the service object of "immediate delivery" was limited to the imperial court, and the people could not afford such expenses.
Relying on this kind of information transmission at any cost, ancient Chinese struggled to share military affairs throughout the country. Later, the function of the station was gradually expanded, becoming a comprehensive service organization similar to today's service area. As long as the pawns and officials are on official business, they can enjoy catering and accommodation services here. Similarly, operating costs have risen. Originally, business is always limited, and no matter how high the single cost, the overall cost can be controlled. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, many officials and their families regarded the station as a dividend for the imperial court, and casually ate and lived here, resulting in a rapid increase in the overall cost of station operation.
In order to save this huge expense, during the Ming Chongzhen period, the Criminal Department initiated Liu Mao and Yushi Mao Yujian, and the emperor finally made a decision to abolish the post stations nationwide. This move not only put a large number of pawns on the road of rebellion due to unemployment (the most famous of which was Li Zicheng), but also caused a major loss to logistics and information transmission across the country. The Ming Dynasty eventually perished as a result.
Nowadays, the logistics industry has become an indispensable part of people's lives. The country's well-developed road network connects every corner of China. Whatever you're shipping, it can be delivered to your destination in a very short time. Although the speed of the short distance and the ancient caravanserai do not seem to be much different, the overall speed and labor intensity have been greatly reduced. Now, we can already enjoy the level of ancient extreme transportation at a very low cost, which can not but be said to be a kind of luck.