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In ancient China, delivering letters by horse was called post office. According to Oracle Bone Inscriptions's records, there was a post office in Shang Dynasty, and it was further improved in Zhou Dynasty. At that time, there was a post office every 34 miles on the avenue of delivering letters. There are horses in the post station, and horses can be changed in the post station, so that government documents and letters can be passed from station to station.
The postal system in China experienced the development of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, and gradually declined until the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
Extended data:
A whole set of evacuation system was formed in Qin and Han Dynasties. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the cause of evacuation developed unprecedentedly. The official postal transport line in the Tang Dynasty centered on Chang 'an, the capital city, radiating in all directions and reaching the frontier, with a post station about 30 miles away. According to the Six Codes of the Great Tang Dynasty, at its peak, there were 1 639 post stations in China, with more than 20,000 people specializing in postal services, including 1.7 million post soldiers.
The post is divided into three types: land post, water post and waterway merger. Each station is equipped with a station house, a post horse, a post donkey, a post boat and a post yard.
"Riding a princess and laughing in the world of mortals, no one knows it is litchi", that is, using military posts to transport litchi. In the 14th year of Tianbao (755), An Lushan rebelled in Fanyang. At that time, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was in Huaqing Palace, which was three thousand miles apart. Within six days, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty knew the news, and the speed of communication reached 500 miles a day. It can be seen that the organization and speed of postal communication in Tang Dynasty reached a high level.
In the Song Dynasty, all official documents and letters were called "delivery", which can be divided into three types, namely, step delivery, horse delivery and urgent delivery. Due to the emperor's attention and the need of war, the military communication in Song Dynasty was very developed. Shen Kuo wrote in Meng Qian's Bi Tan: "Urgent delivery is the fastest, and only the army can use it."
An emergency transport shop is set up every five kilometers on military arteries all over the country, which is under the jurisdiction of five to ten soldiers and is above the rank of officer. There is a bronze bell tied to the collar of the riding whistle in a hurry. Running on the road, ringing the bell during the day and lighting a fire at night, the person killed is not responsible. Shopping for horses, shopping for people, rain or shine, day and night. Express delivery can travel 200 kilometers a day, specially for military news.
In Song Shenzong, a gold plate for emergency delivery was set up. In the early years of Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei, a general who resisted gold, was forcibly recalled to Lin 'an from the front with 12 gold medals by Song Gaozong. This kind of gold medal is a gold plate sent by an urgent delivery shop, indicating urgency.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Post Biography