Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 579 Post
"Recently, I have also carefully studied the matter of post delivery. Post stations are indeed indispensable to the country and undertake many important functions.

It's just that the post system of the country and court collapsed later and became a government that harmed the people.

But we can't give up eating because of choking. The station still has to be restored, but the system has to be changed. "

The emperor set the tone first.

When the ministers heard this, they knew it well.

As for the original post station in Ming Dynasty, it was indeed very complicated. It was not only responsible for delivering official documents and military information, but also entertaining past officials, and even some credits such as freight transportation, which were divided into several categories.

These post stations are spread all over the road along the important traffic routes of Ming Dynasty, similar to the service stations on the expressway today, one at a time.

Most post stations have courtyards with two or even three entrances. In some border areas, post stations are even castles with walls, such as Jiming Station, which is located near Gyeonggi and between Yan and Jin. It is very important and is a small city.

A Daming post station has at least a gate, a drum tower, a middle gate, front and rear halls, left and right wing rooms, a kitchen, a warehouse, a stable, and a post office house.

There will be more than ten upper rooms for officials to live in, and twenty wing rooms and ear rooms for commuting servants, which can accommodate dozens of people at the same time.

There is also Yicheng's residence and office in the post station.

There will also be dozens of horses and donkeys, and several carts.

It has complete supporting facilities and personnel who provide a full range of services.

If it is only a service area, it is impossible to become one of the three tiankengs in normal operation.

But in fact, the post station system in the Ming Dynasty was extremely developed, but there were inherent defects in the management, especially later, it became such a thing that was completely pitted.

First of all, post stations are all managed by the local government, especially their operating expenses, which are neither directly paid by the imperial court nor market-oriented, nor even supervised by the imperial court.

It is all managed by the local government, and the local people are directly apportioned, and even the people are recruited to serve as postmen.

After the reform of Wanli's whip method, although silver was used as a substitute.

But the problem is that how much the post station costs is determined by the locality, so the cost of the post station is a black hole of corruption, and the government even uses the post station to impose severe taxes on the people.

The post station has become an important item for the local government to collect money, and it is very convenient to be greedy.Because the imperial court system stipulates that the expenses of the post station are planned by the local government, and then directly collected from the people. After the collection, the money is not turned over to the national treasury, but directly retained for local use.

There is neither budget report nor audit supervision. Therefore, in the past, one horse was raised in the post station. It was stipulated that each horse should be supplied with 420 shi of grain per year. In the year, [-] two stones were collected.

This is far from the big picture. After all, even after one or two hundred years, the amount of food a horse eats in a year is basically fixed, but it has increased by more than five times.

Why?

Because when the post station is working on the budget, it makes up random things and makes more money.

How many post stations does Ming Dynasty have?
There are about [-] places nationwide.

For example, Jinguanyi outside Chengdu is very lively. There are 370 soldiers, as well as land husbands, treasurers, cooks, cooks, etc., as well as [-] horses and [-] boats.

The working and food silver is 680 yuan and 600 yuan a year, and the horse silver is [-] taels.

These two items cost more than 5000 taels a year, but that’s not all. There will also be many items of expenses, such as hospitality expenses, maintenance expenses, and so on.

Even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, officials, regardless of their size, had to stay and eat at post stations, and some nearby officials even came to eat when they were not on business trips. The most outrageous thing is that many officials eat, drink and sleep for nothing. Ask for silver taels.

For example, if I have a horse myself, and I don’t need a post station horse, then you can give me the money.

Anyway, the post station is rotten from the inside to the outside, everyone wants to get some benefits, let alone the post office, as a post station is a tool to make a fortune.

There is one postman in the Daming post station. From the ninth grade, outside the post station, there is usually a non-ranked official to assist in the work. The postmen have no staff. In the early days, they were sent in turn, and some prisoners were even sent to serve in border areas.

Later, it was changed to a bank employment.

Postmen have a detailed division of labor, including grooms, donkey drivers, horse heads, donkey heads, coachmen, cooks, storehouses, buckets, guards, bearers and so on.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, there were tens of thousands of postmen in post stations all over the country.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, the post station system collapsed completely.

Not only officials, but even anyone related to the system can write a letter of introduction to stay and eat at the post station and use carriages and horses. It is completely free, and you can ask for some travel expenses when you leave.

The cost of entertaining at the post station, raising horses, delivering, repairing, etc. is huge.

There is no pressure on the local government. Anyway, they can collect as much as they need from the people, and they can even take the opportunity to collect more, and add extra fuel consumption.

When these fees are used, there is no supervision, and they are corrupted together, becoming a hotbed of corruption.

The function of the post station itself for transmitting official documents and information has been weakened. During the Jiajing period, it was planned to abolish [-]% to [-]% of the country’s post stations, and half of the saved expenses would be used for military expenditures. However, after cutting down part of the post stations, the situation did not improve. Eating and drinking, private use of buses, many post stations require postmen to bear the excess, so many postmen can only escape, and the result is that the station system is paralyzed, and the Japanese pirates attacked Xinghua City in Fujian. After traveling on the post road for more than a month, I arrived in Beijing.

In the end, the inn reform failed, and after only five years, everything returned to the original track.

During the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng began to reform post stations again. Instead of limiting expenses, he started by restricting the authority of officials. He promulgated new management regulations, punished dozens of officials, and incorporated post station reform into the evaluation of provincial governors. , indeed succeeded in saving [-]% of the expenses, and saved millions of taels of silver every year, but after his death, everything returned to its original state.

During the reign of Chongzhen, more than 60 taels of post station expenses were reduced, and 2% of post stations were cut at a time, and it was completed within a few months. They did not arrange for the abolition of post officials and post soldiers in advance, and directly cut across the board, and cut [-] at a time. After many post stations, many local governments are still collecting post station fees from the people.

Postmen are actually somewhat special, not only postmen, they are also a kind of paramilitary armed personnel, especially many postmen, they are all quasi-cavalry.

In some frontier areas, post stations also functioned as military stations, even castles, and the postmen inside were equivalent to frontier troops. Simple abolition, failure to make good arrangements, coupled with natural disasters, military chaos and famine, finally rebelled altogether.

For the imperial court, it seemed that a few 10 taels of silver were saved, but the important post system was paralyzed, and the gain outweighed the loss.

In ancient times, the transmission of information was slow. Without the guarantee of the post station, many important official documents and military information would be delayed, which would have a huge impact.

"The post station is very important and indispensable. The biggest problem with the post station has always been the unclear rights and responsibilities, lack of supervision, and corruption."

"So I think that if the post station is to be reformed, it must be based on these practical problems.

For example, post stations can be separated according to their functions, and the separation of post and post stations is implemented. The most basic function of post stations is to transmit information and provide supplies for civil servants.

Set up a post house, which is responsible for reception, and a postal shop, which is responsible for postal delivery.It can even be subdivided into a delivery office, which is responsible for the delivery of official goods.

After the post post was separated, the post office was responsible for the transmission of information and official documents, and was directly subordinate to the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War set up a special post office to take charge of the management. , adopt the employment system, pay monthly, supervise and assess, survival of the fittest, and regular assessment.

Each province will also set up a post office, and set up a superintendent of the post office to be responsible for post office affairs.

Prefects and county magistrates are responsible for the daily work of domestic postal shops as instructors and supervisors, and each postal shop has a head.According to the speed of delivery, the postal service can be divided into land mail and water mail, and it can be divided into steps, horses, boats and urgent express.

It travels [-] miles a day by foot, transporting daily administrative documents and official letters, and [-] miles a day by horse. It is mainly used for emergency documents such as Malay official promotion and appointment, prison and military aircraft border defense. There are important military or important matters, which can be added Urgent express delivery is divided into [-] miles, [-] miles, [-] miles and [-] miles for express delivery.

In addition to the transportation of materials, another delivery station is set up to be responsible for the transportation of some official and military materials.

All adopt the government-employed courier model, and are supervised at various levels.

Expenses in various places are also allocated by the treasury, and strict budget and review systems are in place.

Zhu Yihai also specifically proposed stamps. In the future, official documents of the post office will need to be stamped.Stamps are issued by the Ministry of Accounts, and official documents and letters also need to be stamped. Stamps are purchased at postal shops when sending letters.Officials can be reimbursed from the yamen minister's money, and the stamps sold by the postal shop are also fiscal revenue.

In addition, in addition to the transmission of official documents, the former Civil Information Bureau was restored, and various places also took care of the delivery of private letters and materials, and also purchased stamps to send letters, depending on the distance, etc., and paid.

As for the original entertainment function, only a post house was set up.

There is one post shop in twenty miles, and one post house in sixty miles.

Posthouses are specially responsible for entertaining officials who have been on official business in the past, but they must have post coupons to stay and eat, and strictly stipulate that they can enjoy corresponding treatment according to grade and tolerance tasks.

That is, you must have a business trip introduction letter issued by the corresponding yamen, and you must also have a post coupon, and what is the daily standard for the corresponding grade.

Post coupons are equivalent to cash coupons. For example, when a magistrate goes to work, the government will issue a pass, and then give the post coupons. Two stage horses, and no more than two stage horses per day, is 120 miles, which is equivalent to ordinary speed, and the stage horses are damaged if they run too fast.

The accommodation room and food standards are also strictly specified. For example, officials of the fourth and fifth ranks can only enjoy four dishes and one soup, two meat and two vegetables, and even the standard and quantity that their followers can enjoy must be strictly limited.

If you exceed the number of entourages, you have to pay extra by yourself. It is forbidden to occupy the resources of the station, and offenders will be strictly investigated.

The imperial court not only let officials such as the Ministry of War, governors, prefects and counties supervise, but even set up a special postal supervisor, and also sent regular postal censors to supervise.

You must have a post coupon to enjoy the corresponding treatment in the post house.

Post coupons can only be obtained when the imperial decree is delivered, or when the emperor dispatches, flies to report important military information, and civil and military officials go to other provinces to take office, and the remains of current officials who die in office and their family members return to their hometowns.

Multi-pronged approach.

The station and the delivery are separated.

One is dedicated to delivering official documents and intelligence materials, and the other is responsible for official transportation and hospitality.

But both are directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and all postmen are quasi-active soldiers.

The post office of the Ministry of War will provide a budget for all the expenses of the post office, and the Ministry of Households will allocate the money after review and supervise the use.

The local government does not collect any extra money for the post station, but uniformly allocated funds from the state finance. After all, the small bank was allocated to the mu before, and the small silver actually included the service bank for the post station.

The expenses of the post post are not levied by the local government, nor are they handed over by them. The budget of the Ministry of War, the allocation of funds by the Ministry of Households, and the direct management of the Supervising Post Office are decentralized, with multiple managements.

Stamps, post coupons to be controlled.

Limit the personnel and treatment of the use of post stations and reduce expenses.

The postmen are professionalized, and they can even be trained regularly to become reserve soldiers. Once there is a police in the local area and a battle occurs, they can immediately turn into soldiers to assist in the defense.

"Everyone can discuss it carefully and make it more perfect. I plan to restore post and delivery in Jiangnan first, and then restore it to all parts of the country in the future. By then, there may be 1 post offices, more than [-] post shops, and [-] post offices. Fifty thousand postmen."

It is necessary not only to ensure the transmission of official documents and military information, but also to entertain officials who are actually on official business trips, and even to run private postal services to cover some expenses with private business income.

A team of postmen with more than [-] people will also become a reserve military force.

In the center there are the Ministry of War, the Post Office, and the Patrol Censor.

At the local provincial level, there are governors, governors, inspectors, branch patrols, and postal supervisors. At the prefecture and county levels, prefects, prefects, and counties are also in charge. There is no longer a post office, but only post chiefs and store chiefs with no grade officials. .

In the past, the folk sent horses to support the post station, and for the government to support the official, issued detailed post post laws, strictly prohibited the post post personnel from harassing the post post, embezzling and accepting bribes, etc., managed the post post according to military regulations, and used military law to engage in violations of laws and regulations.

Zhu Yihai also encouraged the private sector to establish postal services. He planned to let the Shaofu Supervisor open a royal postal shop, build a royal postal network, and deliver letters and goods by postal carriages, and in counties and townships, use postal donkeys to distribute them.

Even the establishment of professional cargo transportation units, water and land logistics transportation, and the transportation industry are actually very profitable. The stronger the strength, the greater the profit of this transaction.

There have been post stations in all dynasties, but the Ming Dynasty was confused. The rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang at the beginning were still very good, but it is a pity that they messed up later.

The most important thing is that when the Ming Dynasty first designed this system, it set up a post station for sending horses out of the people, which was completely managed by the local government, and there was not enough supervision from superiors, so in the end it became a hard-hit area where everyone came to collect wool. .

This time, Zhu Yihai directly changed the post station from the most basic bottom core, and also changed the horse breeding system of the previous Ming Dynasty.

We cannot leave everything to ordinary people.

Ordinary people have no ability to resist when facing the government, and can only allow themselves to be exploited and oppressed.It will undoubtedly be much better if it is changed to government management or even operation, especially multiple supervisions.

It's not perfect, but at least it's much better than the original one.

If it breaks again in the future, there will be future generations to patch it up.

If it weren't for the postal stations involving confidentiality, Zhu Yihai originally planned to let the Shaofu Supervisor directly set up another private postal post system. If it is private, it can engage in a franchise contracting model. The headquarters is responsible for supervision, pricing, and guarantee services.

Later, when I thought about it, this was a bit too advanced, and the official documents and information were confidential after all, so I finally planned to rebuild the post station and change it to separate post and post.

The emperor's plan was explained in detail to the ministers, and it was unanimously approved.

This is a bit like the reform of Zhang Juzheng's post station. Back then, Zhang Juzheng also started from the privileges of officials, and it still had good results. Of course, the emperor's reforms were even greater. He directly treated the post post as a military institution to manage and manage it, with the same budget as military expenses. distribution, supervision.

Although there are 10,000+ postmen, it may cost 400 million yuan a year for work, food and silver, plus other expenses such as raising horses, which means that the entire post delivery system needs 500 million yuan a year.

However, the ministers also agreed with the emperor's plan, after all, post delivery is indispensable.

Some money can't be saved. Money has to be spent, but it has to be spent properly and implemented.

"My minister suggested that we should first try it out in Fengtian, Yingtian, and Shaotian capitals, and then gradually set up post offices and postal services, and make steady progress, improving operations as well," suggested the chief assistant, Song Zhifu.

"This suggestion is good. I think we can build a post road from Denglai to Huaiyang and Nanjing first, from Dengzhou to Laizhou, then to Qingdao, then pass through Qingzhou Langya, pass Xinzhou to Haizhou, and then go to Yangzhou to Zhenjiang and Nanjing.

This first stop starts from Dengzhou. "

Zhu Yihai appointed the first station to be located on the opposite bank of Huanghezhai near Haikou of Huangshui River, sixty miles west of Penglai, and named it Huangshuiyi, and the second station was located near Haikou of Jieshui River, sixty miles west of Huangshuiyi. Huangshan Pavilion Station.

First build the Huangshui post, and then restore the Huangshan Guan post. Between the two posts, there will be a shop in twenty miles to set up postal shops.

Zhu Yihai intends to start slowly, build a station, recruit and dispatch officials to the station, and then build a perfect post shop, and then build the next post, and strive to build a road from Dengzhou via Laizhou to Qingdao, Langya, and Qingdao within one year. Post delivery routes in Haizhou, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and Nanjing.

A little bit of expansion is perfect.

In the future, another post station around the island will definitely be built on the Shandong Peninsula, from Penglai to Yantai, Weihai, Chengshan to Qingdao, and even to Qingzhou, Zibo, and Jinan via Laizhou.

However, this is not too urgent. You can slow down in the early stage, accumulate some experience, and improve the loopholes. When it matures, you can expand rapidly and spread all over the country.

At the end of the meeting, Zhu Yihai stayed with the ministers for dinner, and it was still four dishes and one soup.

After the meal, the eunuch brought the green head card.

Zhu Yihai looked at the sign on it, "Is there no one for Concubine Li?"

"Going back to the emperor, Concubine Li is pregnant with a dragon seed, so she can't sleep with you."

Zhu Yihai was stunned for a moment, why didn't he know about this.

"It was only today that the imperial doctor was diagnosed. I haven't come in time to tell the saint. I am about to report."

"Oh, then I'll go to Concubine Li's place later."

"My lord, Concubine Li is just pregnant, so I can't stay in bed for now."

"I'll go and have a look."

Sometimes Zhu Yihai felt that the emperor was lonely, even if there were more than a dozen concubines in the harem, sometimes they might not see each other for several days, and they didn't eat together.

He thought for a while, "For dinner in the future, if the concubines are free, you can come and have dinner with me, and the children will bring it together, and it will be lively together."

The eunuch was also taken aback, but he quickly responded.

"Get a bigger long table and put it here, so we can all sit together and have a lot of fun."

"The servants lead the order."

Fourteen concubines, one son and eight daughters, had to sit at a very long dining table, "Remember to ask the queen what the princes and princesses like to eat, and get them something they like to eat."

With the great victory in Hanzhong, Zhu Yihai was in a great mood, feeling extra smooth, and even had the energy to start caring about the concubines and princes and princesses in the harem.

The eunuch took notes one by one, not daring to be negligent.

Although he felt that the emperor came up on a whim and thought of it, but as a slave and maidservant, he just obeyed the order, and he also felt that this way, it would indeed be very lively.

(End of this chapter)