History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Compared with ancient times, modern transportation conditions are extremely convenient, the nearest can take a car, a little farther there are trains and high-speed rail, even if it is thousands of kilometers abroad, as long as you take a few hours by plane. If the ancient people crossed to the modern era, they would definitely feel incredible, how could there be such a fast speed, is it a legendary flying artifact? If you don't know, you will suspect that you are dreaming.
In some historical dramas, the five words "eight hundred miles plus urgent" are often heard, and many people are not very clear, how fast is the eight hundred miles urgent? Could the ancients really do it? As we all know, in ancient times, the means of transportation on land, the fastest speed is the horse, want to achieve eight hundred miles of rapid, can only be reached by horseback, walking is certainly not OK, here is to introduce the speed of the horse running.
Through the information, it is known that the horse runs at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour, and if it is a good sweat-blood BMW, the fastest can reach more than 50 kilometers, but this is already the limit, and it is almost impossible to be fast. Horses are different from today's cars and trains, with the decline of physical strength, the speed will also decrease, and they will be tired and vomit blood when they run all the time, and even die of exhaustion, and they must have time to rest. However, when there is an urgent and important matter, the message must be delivered as quickly as possible, so that there is a station.
As early as 3,000 years ago, there were caravanserais, which had many horses, which were responsible for transmitting official documents of the government, and officials on business usually lived in the caravanserais. Generally speaking, a post station will be set up every twenty miles, and there are not many things in peacetime, and once there is a war, the pawns will be busy, ready to receive and replace the soldiers holding official documents, which is similar to the current relay race, and the division of labor is relatively clear.
The unit of measurement of each dynasty is not exactly the same, one mile in the Qin and Han dynasties is about 416 meters, the Sui and Tang dynasties are about 530 meters, the Ming and Qing dynasties are longer, nearly 580 meters, for the convenience of analysis, for the time being, it is determined that one mile is the same as in modern times, 500 meters. Before talking about the running speed of the horse, considering the consumption of physical energy, the average speed is positioned at 20 km / h, that is, 40 miles.
When there was urgent information at the border pass that needed to be transmitted to the emperor's hands, it was certain that not every station would stop, it would need to run all the way, and the situation of horse exhaustion and death occurred from time to time. If you want to achieve eight hundred miles a day, you can't stop at night, even if you raise the speed to 60 miles, you have to run for more than ten hours, if you encounter cloudy and heavy rain, the speed will be reduced a lot. The Tang Dynasty border poet Cen Shan once wrote: "One stagecoach passes through one station, and the stagecoach rides like a star stream; Pingming Fa Xianyang, the curtain and the head of Longshan." ”
At the height of the Tang Dynasty, more than 1,600 post stations were set up in various places, and more than 20,000 postmen served the post stations, no matter how bad the weather was, once there was information that needed to be passed on, the pawns had to get on their horses and leave. If the official documents are lost or not delivered on time, punishment is made according to their importance, ranging from a hundred large boards to the ground, which is not a joke, and there have been clear regulations in all dynasties.
It is conceivable that the work of the pawns at that time was not only arduous, but also very dangerous, but Feng Lu was not too high. For ordinary official documents, it will not be too hurried, a day to run about 200 miles on the line, or can be easily completed, if you encounter the "eight hundred miles urgent" situation, then you have to run for your life, not only to test the physical strength of the horse, for the soldiers on horseback, it is also quite difficult, but basically will still be sent to the official documents on time, I learned the truth of my tears flowed down, had to admire the perseverance of the ancients.