unclear

Chapter 767 Express Delivery Shop
"It's fine to fight with the living, but now you have to compete with the dead. But the people you offend are all living people. Why bother..."

Wang An's trip was worth it. Not only did he finish his duties, but he also obtained the imperial edict for the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Supreme Court, and also got an extra oral edict. But he was not happy in his heart, and he walked with his head down and muttered.

Mainly because of the emperor's worries, the implementation of the new policy to eliminate malpractices was indeed a good thing, and it also achieved results. He took the opportunity to seize military power and secure the throne. But as the old saying goes, everything will turn into its opposite when it reaches its extreme.

Although reform is good, we cannot change everything, especially the rituals left by our ancestors. It seems useless, but it is difficult to change. Not only will it cause a lot of unnecessary trouble, but it will also offend many people, especially those who are educated.

But just as he stepped out of the courtyard of the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, his vision suddenly went dark and he bumped into someone. He stepped back several steps but still couldn't steady himself, and sat down on the hard stone ground, crying out in pain.

"Ouch... you little bastard, you didn't wear your glasses when you went out! Hiss... hoarse... you hit me to death! Wei Zhongxian, now you are at least responsible for the work assigned by the Emperor, and you are well-known in the palace, why are you still so rough!"

After seeing clearly who knocked him down, Wang An simply sat down on the ground and couldn't get up, and started to point fingers and scold.

"Grandpa, you are a great man who doesn't bear grudges. Calm down, calm down. If your grandson didn't really have something urgent to do, he wouldn't have run away in such a hurry... Something big happened in the north!"

The person who knocked Wang An down was none other than Wei Zhongxian, the governor of the Eastern Depot. Although he was tall and strong, he was fine. But when he saw clearly that it was Wang An sitting on the ground, his knees went weak and he knelt down. He crawled a few steps and helped the old eunuch up. He was extremely respectful in his attitude and the way he addressed him.

"…There is a report of war at the border!"

Wang An didn't like Wei Zhongxian at all. It wasn't because he took away the position of the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, but because he felt that this guy was too spineless and too flattering, and would not be of any good use to be around the emperor.

Just as he was about to walk away, he suddenly saw the long, flat lacquer box Wei Zhongxian had inserted into his belt. He couldn't help but look startled and frowned.

Since the emperor started to reform the military system last year, the first thing he did was not the guards or the Five Military Commands, but the Ministry of War. He took out the express delivery shop that originally belonged to the Imperial Guards and the East Factory and gave it to the joint management of the Imperial Guards and the East Factory.

Why do we do this? The answer is simple: to make the delivery of urgent documents faster and more reliable.

The origin of the express delivery service can be traced back to the express delivery service of the Song Dynasty. The highest level of express delivery service is called the Golden Express Delivery Service, which is the fastest way to deliver messages over long distances. The Yuan Dynasty inherited this system, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed but inherited.

How fast is it? 300 li a day, or 150 kilometers. For example, if an urgent document is sent from the Forbidden City, it must be delivered to the express delivery shop in Tianjin National Convention and Exhibition Center within 24 hours from the moment it is handed over to the express delivery shop and signed for.

It can only be done early, not late. If you are late, you will be held accountable. In minor cases, you will be punished, and in serious cases, you will be beheaded.

Some people may think that this speed is not fast. A horse can run about 70 kilometers per hour. A distance of 150 kilometers can be reached in more than two hours at a full speed.

If the horses cannot withstand running at high speed for a long time, then multiple post stations can be set up along the way. A new horse can be changed every half an hour. The race can be completed in 3 hours, which is much faster than 24 hours.

How to put it? People who think this way may not be very familiar with the performance of horses, nor do they care much about maintenance costs. It is purely a theoretical discussion and has no practical feasibility.

Whether it is a European horse, an Arabian horse or a Mongolian horse, their running ability is very limited and they have certain requirements for the ground, climate and environment. If they want to run at high speed, first of all, the ground cannot be too hard, too bumpy or too slippery; secondly, a certain visibility must be ensured and it cannot be too dark; finally, the running time cannot be too long, at most a quarter of an hour, otherwise they will lose weight and it will take several days to recover.

This is still 150 kilometers. If you want to run 500 kilometers or 2000 kilometers, it will be very expensive to rely on horses to maintain a constant speed for a long time, causing this transmission system to be unable to be maintained normally.

How did the express delivery service manage to deliver messages at a constant speed over long distances? One word: people! In fact, the express delivery service of the Song Dynasty has already given the answer. The feet are naturally people, and the hooves of livestock are hooves.

That’s right, express delivery stations do not rely on horses but on people. To put it simply, an express delivery station is set up every ten miles, which supports a few well-trained long-distance running enthusiasts, called station soldiers, all year round.

When urgent messages needed to be delivered, the courier would follow the clepsydra in the courier shop and write down the exact time and name of receipt on the form attached to the document bag. Then they would grab their weapons, hang a string of copper bells around their waists, and run out the door to the next courier shop!

When it gets dark, they hold torches; when it rains, they put on raincoats; when there is no road, they climb the mountain using their hands and feet. As soon as the carriages and people along the way hear the sound of copper bells approaching, they must quickly get out of the way to let the soldiers pass first.

Anyway, no matter what, I have to reach the next express shop within forty-three minutes, write down the specific time, have the next courier sign it, and then run to the next express shop.

In other words, the 24 miles in 300 hours were covered by one soldier after another on foot. You can also think of it this way: the express delivery service is a long-distance relay race of hundreds or thousands of miles, with each person running 5 kilometers.

The farthest express delivery station in the Ming Dynasty was in Yunnan, more than 5000 miles away from the capital, and it took 16 days for the one-way trip. If an emergency occurred in Yunnan, the central nervous system of the Ming Dynasty would not be informed of the news until 16 days later.

As a soldier, life in the early and middle Ming Dynasty was pretty good. At least the monthly food supplies and wages would not be in arrears. It was also a way out for the common people who did not have any special skills.

But in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, as the court's finances gradually deteriorated, the express delivery shops began to be owed food and wages, suffered serious loss of soldiers, and their management gradually became neglected.

The emperor's intention to take the express delivery shop out of the Ministry of War and hand it over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot for management was obvious. He wanted to rely on the financial resources and power of these two departments to make the express delivery shop play its role again.

"It was sent from the Northern Military Commission. My grandson was sitting in the hall at the time, so I didn't dare to delay for a moment. In my haste, I forgot the rules!"

Wei Zhongxian did not even bother to wipe the sweat off his face. He panted and lowered his voice as he revealed the origin of the urgent document to Wang An. But he had no idea what was inside and did not dare to peek.

"I'm fine, go and hand him over to His Majesty... run! Alas... there's no peace inside or outside!"

Knowing the reason, Wang An also understood the seriousness of the matter. He did not dare to be careless and urged Wei Zhongxian loudly not to waste time. Then he looked at the slightly old palace gate and sighed again.

People always want to have a wise and capable emperor to help them shelter from the wind and rain, but they don't know that it is not necessarily a good thing to have such an emperor. They are busy all day long, dealing with big and small things, and they are always worried and frightened, and in the end they are always complained.

(End of this chapter)