Sound, light and smoke
In a relatively primitive society, people generally use drums to convey information. Most primitive tribes in Africa have developed a complex set of drum language, and the Miao, Wa and other ethnic minorities in China still use drums to transmit information.
Bell plays an important role in the daily life of the Christian world. Before there were many high-rise buildings, the bell tower of the church was often the tallest building in a place, and melodious bells spread everywhere, bearing the mission of telling the time, warning people and reminding people to participate in religious activities.
"Twilight drum and morning bell" describes that Buddhist temples use bells and drums to tell the time in the morning and evening. In ancient China, metropolises had bell towers and drum towers. The sound of bells and drums is used to tell the time at ordinary times and to warn people in an emergency. In the early Qing Dynasty, after the first shift (7: 00 p.m.), the bell would ring and then the city gate would be closed. After that, during the second to fourth watch (each 1 hour is equal to the modern 2 hours), the bell will ring once every watch until the end of the fifth watch (5 am the next day), and then the city gate will be rung. Later, Qianlong cancelled the bell ringing from the second watch to the fourth watch, and only retained the system of announcing the opening and closing of the city gate with bells and drums before and after. When the last emperor Puyi moved out of the Forbidden City on 1924, the bells and drums disappeared. Although 200 1 resumed ringing bells and drums, the personnel were changed.
Fireworks or lights are also the original way to convey information. The ancients would build a high platform with firewood at the border, in the steep terrain and in the distance of the main roads. In case of emergency, the defenders will use smoke during the day and fire at night to transmit information station by station. From the historical story of "beating the prince by the bonfire" to the Trojan War described by Homer, the news of victory returned to Greece thousands of miles away. It can be known that the ancients established a complete bonfire signal system thousands of years ago. Until modern times, Indians continue to use fireworks to transmit information.
Marathon and post horse
It is not the bonfire of Troy that makes Greece call for immortality, but the long-distance running of marathon. In 490 BC, a marathon battle took place between Athens and Persia in ancient Greece. A Greek soldier ran back to Athens from the marathon plain in order to send the good news of victory to the people waiting for news in his hometown, and fell to the ground and died after completing the task. While remembering the dedication of the soldiers, future generations will inevitably ask, "Why not ride a horse?"?
But running messenger may be the right choice. Because of the mountainous terrain in Greece, the trees were mixed at that time, and horses were often blocked by trees, so it was easy to slip and fall into the valley. The speed of riding is not necessarily fast, but it is risky. Another key point is that the soldier who served as the messenger was originally a famous long-distance runner. Before that, the Athenians sent him to Sparta for help. That time, he ran 246 kilometers, about six times as long as the marathon, so this distance should be a piece of cake for him. As for why the story ends like this, it can only be attributed to the power of fate.
While unifying the six countries, Qin Shihuang successively built the Chidao from the capital Xianyang to other countries. This kind of traffic system is similar to the embryonic form of modern expressway, and has formed a complete "post-post" system under the continuous construction of later generations. There are land and water stations. On the road and by the water, there is a post station at regular intervals, equipped with couriers, horses or boats, and operated by relay. The speed of transmission depends on the urgency of information, which can be divided into step, horse and urgent delivery.
In the Tang Dynasty, there were 1 639 post stations with about 20,000 people. In the season of peace, fresh lychees are occasionally delivered. In an emergency, military information can be conveyed quickly. For example, the later Anshi Rebellion, which lasted only six days, was known to the capital three thousand miles away. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Gao Zong recalled Yue Fei from the front line to Lin 'an with 12 gold medals, which were delivered by express delivery of 500 li per day.
The Mongol Empire spanned thousands of miles across Eurasia. Although it has a complete postal service system, it takes a year to deliver information at the farthest end of the empire, even if it transmits information around the clock in the broadest territory. After the division of the Mongolian Empire, the number of post stations in Central China in the Yuan Dynasty was slightly less than that in the Tang Dynasty. According to the records in Marco Polo's Travels, in addition to setting up a post station every 25 or 30 miles on all the main roads leading to the provinces, it is necessary to set up a post station even in uninhabited or inaccessible places; There is accommodation in the post station, and horses are on standby outside the post station. At that time, there were about 300 thousand post horses in the Yuan Dynasty.
Ancient news communication
In ancient times, there were also people who rode horses to send messages, not to specific people or institutions, but to unspecified people such as officers and soldiers and people they met along the way. "Sign the newspaper" is the information written on the board, and the flag newspaper is also called "expose the cloth". Similar to modern banners or straight flags, people ride horses to display announcements along the road. "Expose post" is a piece of paper printed with news, which can be distributed, similar to modern leaflets.
"Flying pigeons pass books" is an incredible legend in modern times. Training pigeons to deliver letters is not unique to China. Three thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians seemed to know how to use the characteristics of pigeons or geese to convey information without getting lost. The earliest record of flying pigeon passing books in the west comes from ancient Greece, when an Olympic athlete released a purple pigeon after winning, in order to tell the elders in his hometown the good news as soon as possible. In the Tang Dynasty's Miscellanies of Youyang, it was recorded that Persian businessmen who traveled across the ocean would raise pigeons on the boat and put a pigeon on every walk to report their family's safety.
In the East, the description of flying pigeon passing books can be traced back to Shan Hai Jing, which is almost regarded as a myth. According to its records, there are three divine birds in front of the Queen Mother of the West, one of which is called "Jade Bird", which is a special messenger in charge of communication. According to legend, Dayu was helped by the Queen Mother of the West to control water. After the flood was eliminated, Dayu, introduced by Jade Bird, went to Zhongshan to thank the Queen Mother in person. There was also a bluebird in the story of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which described that Emperor Wu once saw the bluebird fly forward. Emperor Wu doesn't know why this bluebird came. Dong Fangshuo said that the Jade Bird summoned her first, and the Queen Mother of the West arrived in an instant, so she had to sweep and wipe and wait for the arrival of God. After Emperor Wu ordered someone to clean it up, the Queen Mother of the West really came.
Zhang Jiuling, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, began to raise pigeons as a teenager, calling them "flying slaves". He sent pigeons to deliver letters when he needed to find relatives and friends. It is said that the task will be completed and there will be no problems. There is also a famous person in history who loves to raise pigeons and is also an emperor. Although he ascended the throne by accident, as an emperor, he still insisted on releasing and returning pigeons in person sooner or later. However, there seems to be no record of remonstrance or irony to the liegeman in historical materials. This pigeon powder recalled Song Gaozong Zhao Gou of Yuefei with 12 gold medals in succession just to be partial to the south of the Yangtze River.
The ancients were simple and kind, even if they accidentally hurt the homing pigeon, they would try their best to let the receiver know the message sent by the pigeon. Yan Hui, praised by Confucius as a "virtuous man", died young, and later generations still carry on the family style. Yan Qingfu, the forty-eighth grandson of Yan Hui in the Ming Dynasty, was once ill in bed. His son wants to play a game to supplement his father's nutrition. After getting off a pigeon, he found that it was a homing pigeon, so he quickly took it back to his father.
Yan Qingfu read the letter and knew that it was written by Yin's father, who had just been transferred to other places. Pigeons didn't know that Yin had moved, but they couldn't find it anywhere, so they wandered around and were shot down by a child. Qingfu put pigeons and letters in a wooden box, went to visit Lord Yin in other places, presented a wooden box and explained the reasons. Princess Yin didn't blame, but sighed, regretting that this homing pigeon, which had been raised for 17 years, could be delivered even though it was a long way away, and then buried well.
Send a message with things, astronomical phenomena.
There are many well-known stories in history, in which the information of things plays an important role.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang came into being. With the help of Liu Bowen, a military strategist, he called on the Han people to "expel Land Rover and restore China" and gradually became the first of all peoples. When Zhu Yuanzhang planned to unite the local armies and launch an attack at the same time to expel the Yuan people in one fell swoop, the problem he faced was how to send the news out so as not to be caught by the hawks and dogs of the Hu people. It is Liu Bowen's brilliant idea to hide notes such as "August 15th Uprising" and "Killing Tartars on August 15th" in cakes, and then distribute them to soldiers and civilians everywhere. And this result should also be what he expected. Soon, the Ming army invaded Dadu (now Beijing), Yuan Shundi returned to his hometown in the north, and Daming replaced Dayuan, thus restoring the situation that the Han people ruled China.
It's time to change the dynasty in a blink of an eye. After the Qing soldiers entered the customs, all of them went south, and the remaining Ming troops retreated to the southeast coast. Under the call of Zheng Chenggong's "anti-Qing and regaining sight", Fujian soldiers and civilians continued to resist. The information transmission to contact the righteous teachers of all parties must be carried out in secret to avoid being caught by the soldiers. So, a businessman invented a cake that could be cut into pieces. A piece of paper with the time, place and secret code of the uprising written on it was named "Fuming cake" to contact people with lofty ideals. Because "Fuming" and "Poria" have similar Minnan sounds, they were later called "Poria Cake". Poria cocos cakes can still be seen on the streets of Taiwan Province Province, but they are filled with red beans instead of paper.
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