Posthouse Network-Posthouses fly like meteors.
In the Tang Dynasty, the tasks of the "post station" included communication, reception and transportation. "Pavilion" is a place set up outside the post station to take charge of reception, and sometimes the old "pavilion" is used. In the Tang Dynasty, there were post stations all over the world, every 30 miles. According to the statistics of Tongdian, there were 1.639 stations in the whole country and 1.587 stations in Tang Suzong during the Xuanzong period. "Since the Shi Jing Quadrupole, the Enlightenment. Roads are listed in pavilions, and pavilions are actually based on them. The pavilion is only 30 miles long and has three floors: upper, middle and lower. Abundant food, for 1 100 million is for. The people were poor and the emperor's life was harmonious. If you use it far away, you will never forget yourself. " (Gao Shi's Story of Shangyuanxin Post Station in Chenliu County) describes the architectural system of the post station in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the capital system was implemented, with Chang 'an and Luoyang as the east and west capitals, and the domestic postal trunk line as the axis, radiating in all directions. Liu Zongyuan described several post roads around Chang 'an in "The Story of the Post Office": "As for Weinan, since ten thousand years ago, its post six, which is called Huazhou, is called Tongguan; From China to the north, with Liyang as the boundary, its six stations, the cover of which is Tongzhou, and its customs is Pujin; From Pakistan to the south, as for Lantian, its post is six, its cover is Shangzhou, and its customs are property management; As for Chang 'an, there is a post station for ten people, covering Yangzhou and closing Huayang. From martial arts to the west, as for Haotian Temple, its three posts are called Fengxiang House, and its customs are called Longguan. Claiming to be north of Huayuan, its post is nine, and its cover is Zhou Fang; From Xianyang to the west, as for Fengtian, its six outposts cover the whole state. From the perspective of the four seas, it is generally a combination, which makes it close; From the custom, Liang will be satisfied, so the king is. "Luoyang is the eastern capital of central China, which is not only economically prosperous, but also the general hub of the national postal route. Therefore, there is a saying that "hundreds of officials go to the table month by month, and the ambassadors keep on Chang 'an Road" (Zhang Ji's "Luoyang Tour"). The post road between Beijing and Beijing is the most prosperous post road in the Tang Dynasty, with dozens of post stations and palaces of more than a dozen emperors [3]. In addition to the postal route trunk line, there are a large number of branch lines, branches and connecting lines at various points in the Tang Dynasty, which together with the water postal routes with the Yangtze River and the Canal as the main trunk lines constitute the postal route network in the Tang Dynasty (Figure 1). From "the four seas are getting richer every day, and the road leads to the hoof wheel." In the poem "The mansion is three hundred miles west, and the post road is the same as the fish scale" (Han Yu's "Reward and Pei Sixteen Gong Cao See and Send to Fuxi Post Station"), we can know the density of the post road along the way. Compared with the previous generation, the number of post stations in the Tang Dynasty greatly expanded, which promoted the political, economic and cultural exchanges in the Tang Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, the territory expanded, especially after the opening of the Silk Road in the Western Regions. It is necessary to develop foreign economic relations and trade and defend the territory, so the transmission of military information is particularly important. Poems such as "mountains cover the white sun bonfire, drinking horses in the suburban river at dusk" (Xin Li's old battle song) and "Orange bonfire never dies, and it is difficult to cross the letter from a long distance" (Meng Jiao's Yuefu Zaqu) describe the scene of setting up a beacon system on the border line in the Tang Dynasty to fight against the northern Turks. Not only that, bonfires can also spread all the way to Beijing. For example, Yang Jiong said in "Joining the Army" that "my heart is uneven because of the bonfire in Xijing". Although beacons can deliver messages quickly, they have great limitations. Once the weather is bad or the military situation is complicated, there is nothing you can do, as described in Wang Wei's "Longxi Ji": "A horse in ten miles, a whip in five miles. This is the army of the Northwest Military Command. He came to the emergency military book and reported that the Xiongnu army had surrounded the western part of Jiuquan, the western part of China. The snow in Guanshan is flying and it is smokeless. " When the beacon tower failed, the post station played an important role. For example, poems such as "Mail after mail flies like a meteor" (Cen Can's "Judge Yuwen's first trip to Longshan") and "War clouds spread, back and forth under the Helan Mountains, day and night, feathering news" (Wang Wei's "old general") describe the situation in which post office personnel are busy delivering messages day and night.
The efficient running speed of the post road is an important guarantee for the victory of the war. Han Yu wrote in "Appreciating Pei, Xiang Gong, See you on the way to Zhenzhou": "It's too late, and Shandong is appointed to help the chaos." Cen Can's "Judge Yuwen on the way to Longshan" also has a poem "Send Xianyang at ordinary times and go to Longshan at dusk". The distance from Xianyang to Longshan is about 400 Li, which shows that the speed of the post can reach 300 ~ 400 Li. Of course, this is in an emergency of "post horses are like meteors". Under normal circumstances, it is "six stops on horseback riding day and four stops on horse riding day". According to the average stop every 30 miles, the speed of the station is120 ~180 [2] 254. For example, in the poem "Jingzhou is not far away, the post station will arrive in half a month" (Bai Juyi's "Taking Harmony as Home"), the distance from Luoyang to Jingzhou is about 1600 Li, and it takes 15 days to walk, so it can be inferred that the speed table of the post station is about10 Li. The post office is usually located on the main road or by the river. Leading a thousand miles in front of a hundred-foot building on the riverside (Bai Juyi's Work on the Wangjiang Building), Ancient Post Stations All the Way, Autumn Smoke Cut by Evil Wind (Quan Deyu's Forbidden City Oblique Juequatrains), Changsha Post on the riverside, welcoming passenger ships (Wei Wei's Parting the Dean of Tanzhou) and Autumn Smoke in the Old Library. Du Fu's description of "the wind eats the red willow and the rain lies beside the post" in the poem "In the Boat" vividly shows that the post house is near the water.
In the Tang Dynasty, except for the Sifang Pavilion and the Crack Pavilion in the capital, most other post stations were located outside the city. This is because the Tang Dynasty imposed a curfew and the city gates were closed at night. The post office is not convenient to deliver official documents and information and accept exchanges. In Liu Yuxi's "New Posting in Guancheng", there is such a description: "First, when posting in the city, there are four keys, and it is forbidden at night. Please stay outside, and you will always be safe. System: Yes. " Therefore, the posthouse gradually moved from the city to the outside. Cen Can wrote in "Title Jincheng He Lin Post Building": "The ancient garrison is dangerous, and the tall building is cool. The roots of the mountain are paved with post roads, and the river is immersed in the city walls. " Jincheng is the name of ancient Lanzhou city. From He Lin Post, you can see that the Yellow River overflows under the Lanzhou City Wall, which shows that the post office is close to the city. There is a description in Cen Can's "Wandering in the Nanchi Village of Zhouguo County, Farewell to Yaner": "Sleep at night in the post office building, and be a chicken in Guancheng." People can smell the chickens and dogs in the city in the posthouse, which shows that the posthouse and the city are almost adjacent. "The post building rises to the sea, and the autumn moon city is cold" (The Banquet of Dongping Penglai Post, Dugu and the judge Ping Luyang gave Yao Taishou a drink to stay for a banquet) "Looking back on the same college entrance examination, I hope Zhang Yucheng" (Han Yu's "Two Stone Posts to Send Jiangxi to Ge Cheng Old") "The mountains and rivers don't remember when to leave, but the city should not be what it used to be" (Wu's "Make the Second Set").
The ancient postal route was not smooth, but full of obstacles. When Bai Juyi left Chang 'an for the first time, he crossed Qipanling from Baqiao Post Station to Lantian Post Station in the south. He wrote, "Stop to ask for directions, and the road is in the autumn clouds. Cangcang County South Road, the difficult road begins from now on "("First Coming out of Lantian Road "). On the way to Sichuan, Cen Can wrote: "There are many valleys in Qian Shan, and there is no way out. Layered ice slides on the sign wheel, and dense bamboo blocks the falcon. The poem "Deep Forest Enthusiasm, Empty Plank Road" ("Journey to Shaoyin Luogu") describes the dangers of the post road with his personal experience. The development of the post road is very difficult, so the government is very concerned about it. For example, in order to protect the post road, all kinds of post trees were planted on both sides of the post road. For example, in the poems such as "The official willow trees are green and the peach blossoms are drunk" (A poem by Uncle Zhi and Yi Chengen by Liu Changqing) and "Idle thinking is more familiar with the old, and the willow grows in front of the museum" (Rain Ji Wang Su by Xue Neng), the trees in the post station are willow and peach trees; The post tree in "Orange Blossom in County Road, Riverside Waterfront in Post Station" (Korean "Jiannan Bielou") is citrus; In Wu's poem "Sending the Tang Dynasty", the post horse that "the post road is long and the day is getting late" is the locust tree. A variety of postal trees not only protect the postal road, but also play an important role in creating the landscape of the postal road. Regarding the landscape and architecture in the posthouse, we can learn something from Liu Yuxi's "New Post of Guancheng": "The road inside the door is surrounded by walls, and the environment is superior to the outside. Buy famous materials from afar and expand the work of the world. It is elegant and smooth, and the interior is exquisite. There are Party A and Party B in Luli, beds in winter and summer, ... Inside and outside the stables, and the library in Takakura are full of money ... The official has the first place, the servant has the area, the disciple has the pavilion, and the walker has another home. Zhou's stilts are the gate of the building, and he is eager to show his respect and farewell to the board of directors. "It can be seen that in the Tang Dynasty, the posthouse was surrounded by high walls, and the entrance was the gatehouse. There are post houses, postman houses, messenger halls, kitchens, stables and warehouses. The exterior of the building is magnificent and the interior decoration is exquisite; The whole post road is shaded by trees and the landscape is good.
There were gatehouses, post stations, halls, cloisters, porches and fences in the Tang Dynasty. Among them, the most striking is the post office building. What is the function of the post station? In the posthouse of later generations, most buildings are drum towers and pagodas, but in the Tang Dynasty, posthouse may be used as a place to stay. For example, Yuan Zhen wrote in "Making Dongchuan River Building the Moon": "In the posthouse on the Jialing River, the river in front of the building is empty. The moonlight is full of beds and the river is like a drum. " Also in Jialing Post, Tao Yong's "Stay in Jialing Post" wrote: "It is difficult to dream of Daozhou tonight, the first floor of the moonlight river." The post office may also be a banquet place. For example, Li Qunyu mentioned in his poem "Farewell to Guangjiang Station": "If you don't want to enjoy autumn, you will get drunk in the West Building". However, in the description of most poems, most of the post buildings have become a good place to climb high and look far and miss home. For example, "Tears are exhausted, and the countryside is surrounded" (Liu Changqing's "Going to Songjiang Post House to See Hometown") "The flowing clouds are long and the hometown is thousands of miles away." Poems such as "Lonely Post House in Guanshan is full of tears for three nights" (North Korea Post House) and "Ming Dynasty is a barren road in the south, looking up at the old customs upstairs" ("Pantuoling Post House" by Li Deyu) not only vividly describe the complex mentality of the literati in the Tang Dynasty who are tired of fame and fortune, but also illustrate the towering form of the post house in the surrounding environment. According to the words "Zhu Lou" and "Chi Lan" in some poems, it seems that the walls and railings of the postal building should be red. A post station may have more than one post station, and the words "South Building" and "West Building" in the poem can confirm this. In addition, the post station may also be the guard room. It is clearly stated in Guancheng New Post Station that the built gatehouse can make guests feel welcome from their hosts when they come, and at other times, they can climb high and look far to show their farewell.
The main buildings in Cheng Yi are the lobby for daily affairs management, communication, material transfer and reception of guests, and the lobby for guests and messengers to stay and rest. As a place where offices and guests stay, the lobby is very particular. Chen Hong wrote in Luzhou Dining Hall: "Fengbin Hall, Qian Xuan, Hubei. Anger, anger, anger, anger. The hole is deep and the eaves are upturned. Accommodation between steps, accommodation between guests. There are musicians in the column, officials in the screen, and places to sleep, eat and change clothes on the left and right. " The hall of Luzhou Dining Hall has towering cornices, overlapping arches and spacious indoor space, which shows its high standard and magnificent momentum. Regarding Huating Xinyi, Cui described it in "Poems on the Monuments of Huating Xinyi": "It is broad and brilliant, but it is elegant and profound, and it stands out in its room." Du Fu saw in the county government of Tangxing County that the county government was "majestic and vast, spreading more and more.". Go straight through the beam and you will fall. Yousulie, Taishan Mountain, An Ruo "(Tangxing County Guest House). A county-level hostel is still like this, not to mention the so-called "the first post station in the world". Baocheng Post Station is located in an important section of the Sichuan-Shaanxi passage, which controls the offices of our two envoys, and there are more than hundreds of guests and envoys coming and going every year. "Because of this, I respect my position to show my greatness, and Gai thought it was powerful at that time" (the book praises the city wall).
In the heyday of feudal society, the Tang Dynasty had a strict hierarchy. One of the functions of the posthouse is the official guest house to receive officials coming and going, so the use of various facilities in the posthouse is graded. For example, as a residential hall, there is a difference between an upper hall and a separate hall. According to the records in Tang Juan 6 1 "Ambassador Inn", when officials at the same level meet in the same post office, the post office is arranged as follows: "When the ambassador arrives at the pavilion, he has left the upper hall. If there is a middle envoy, he will arrive later, that is, he will leave the hall; If an ambassador from China goes to the hall first, the ambassador will not go to the hall. " This means that "Lu has Party A and Party B". Some posthouse should not only make functional layout according to the location of the residence, but also set rooms suitable for different periods and climates according to the geographical climate, such as Dongting in Liuzhou, which "is the northbound space of the museum, and the right is the evening room." Take Dongyu handed down as an example and use it as a court room. In the north, it is regarded as a shady room, and the house is regarded as a sunny room under the North Ridge. Make a pavilion in the middle and treat it as a room in the middle. The court room lives in the evening, the evening room lives in the morning, the middle room lives in the day, the yin room violates the warm wind, and the yang room violates the melancholy wind "(Liu Zongyuan's Liuzhou Dongting).
In order to please and flatter officials who come and go, many post offices have pavilions, or they build beautiful interior landscapes during the four seasons. For example, in order to welcome the Jianghuai Shepherd Boy and Santai Langli, Luzhou Dining Hall not only renovated and rebuilt the buildings in the hall, but also "led the water from the mud ditch and planted bamboo forests because of the ancient shore, which is a romantic place" (Chen Hong's "Luzhou Dining Hall"); There is a new exhibition hall in the Yingbin Hotel in Nancheng County, Fuzhou, where guests and friends of all sizes can "visit Sri Lanka" and provide them with wine. Bamboo wind is born in the building, with green fields and green hills as the barrier. After the three masters, you can send a thousand miles to show your ambition. This is also a good place to win the meeting "(Dugu and the new pavilion of Nancheng County Guest House in Fuzhou).
Baocheng Post Station is called "the first post station in the world", where there are swamps, boats, flying cranes and fishing. The pond can accommodate boats, which shows the size of the pond and the size of its swimming garden. Regarding praising the beautiful environment of the city post, Yang Shizhen wrote in "Praising the Moon in the Pond of the City Post": "The long night begins in autumn, and the scenery is beautiful. The sun is shining in Zhu Bei, and the western hills are refreshing. The crane flies to smell the dew, and the fish play to increase the waves. Thousands of miles back to the hometown to look at the forest, and the cool wind is exchanged for green radish. " Yuan Zhen also wrote in the "Zancheng Post": "Yan Qinxiu's post also added a front pool to the post. Thousands of bamboos were planted and thousands of pears were planted. " Travelers on Wan Li Road can rest in the shade and water of the station after arriving at the station, and feel at home after washing away the dust.
In order to ensure the normal operation of the function, the post office must be equipped with certain auxiliary facilities, such as kitchen, warehouse, stable and so on. Guan Chengyi's kitchen is located between buildings, and the stable is located outside the building. The granary is high and open, and the warehouse is deep and dense. The firewood is placed in the sunny place and the forage is piled in the dry place, which can be described as orderly. Luzhou Dining Hall is a magnificent stable with a south gate in the middle, which can accommodate flag horses. Mayiyi also has a Buddhist temple. See Luo Yin's poem "Mayipo": "The grass is green before the Buddha, and your wife looks down on the bone."
The above description confirms what Gu said in the Ming Dynasty: "If you are afraid of becoming the ruler of the old Tang Dynasty, all your basic addresses will be made public" [4]. However, not all post offices are so grand and luxurious, and the configuration of many post offices on remote roads is relatively simple (Figure 2). For example, "Lonely posts are full of obstacles, and the roots of the clouds cover Chai Fei" (Du Mu's "Leave the peak posts, but send Li Quan"), and the door to "lonely posts" in the poem is Chai Men. Another example is that "the abandoned temple is a county post station, and the pine and cypress don't smoke" (Wang Jian's "Abandoned Temple"), and the abandoned temple is a post station, which is not much better.
As the blood and face of the country, the official system in the Tang Dynasty operated efficiently during the period of political prosperity and economic prosperity, and played a positive social effect. For example, "There are post stations in all counties and counties today, Wen Kaiyuan, the world is rich, and it is called Liping. Those who are thousands of miles behind don't wrap their food, and the eldest son and grandson don't know the soldiers" (Sun Qiao praised the city post wall); However, in the period of weak political power and corrupt officials' management, the post office will inevitably be abandoned, with many disadvantages, and the construction of the post office will be destroyed. The weakness of national strength in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, coupled with the changes of the post road, has made Baocheng Post Station dilapidated. "If you look at its swamp, it will be superficial, and if you look at its boat, it will be lost and glued, the court will be destroyed, and the hall will be very disabled, which will make it a so-called gorgeous person" (Sun Qiao's book praises the city poster wall). Xue Neng looked at the bleak scene of Baocheng Post Station and sighed with emotion: "The pool hall is connected with the Qin threshold, and the old news is good to reward this extension. The gazebo is still there, and there is no strength to sell the boat. Fishermen sit in the wind, facing the island, and the rain moistens the cattle to eat grass. Li Yin in Xichuan was repaired in batches, so as not to find water and dryness when he returned "(Xue Neng's" Tizancheng Tiechi "). Known as "the best post office in the world", all the post offices in Baocheng ended up like this, not to mention other post offices. To sum up, posthouse, as an official building, is different from residential buildings in nature; Because it has the function of official guest house, the layout of posthouse is different from that of official office. Then, how is a typical Tang Dynasty post road with large scale and complete facilities laid out? According to the analysis of poems and documents, this paper holds that the layout of typical post stations in Tang Dynasty should be similar to that of the official residence. In the Tang Dynasty, big houses were generally divided into outhouses and inner houses. The outhouse is the activity place for the male host, while the inner room is the activity place for the wives. The main building of the outhouse is the hall, and the main building of the inner house is the bedroom. The foyer and bedroom are arranged in a gallery style, forming a large courtyard [5]. Dunhuang murals reflect the layout of some Tang Dynasty mansions (Figure 3).
Posthouse is also divided into front yard and backyard. The main building of the front yard is a hall, the front of which is the entrance of the front yard, and the left and right sides are two wing rooms. The front yard is a place for reception, communication, transportation and other affairs; The backyard is where guests stay. Its main building is the upper hall, surrounded by other halls. The courtyard is also a gallery-style layout, such as Tangxingjun Guest House, which is a corridor for pedestrians and a main hall, and the system is very poor. Go straight to the left and east, close and cultivate bamboo and gorgeous trees. Take a right step to the south, the corridor also has traces, and it is also feasible in the wind and rain "(Du Fu's" Tangxing County Guest House "), which shows that the corridor surrounds the whole guest house and is also feasible in the wind and rain.
Liu Yuxi mentioned in the "Guancheng New Post": "The chief official has the first place, and the servants have the region." It can be seen from this that Cheng Yi has its own independent mansion, which is separated from the postman's residence. Cheng Yi was a humble little official, and his first position in the Tang Dynasty system was very humble. There are dozens or even hundreds of people in a posthouse of considerable scale, and its residence should have a certain area; At the same time, considering that the post may pass by at any time, the courtyard of the post residence is arranged near the gate; Considering the frequent traffic of horses, the stable is arranged next to the gate; Considering that the warehouse is convenient for transferring materials, it is not suitable to go too far into the post office, and the warehouse is arranged next to the stable; Considering that the kitchen and grain warehouse should be close to the banquet place of the guests, this courtyard is arranged next to the backyard, which is also in line with the "inside and outside stables, Takakura is a warehouse" mentioned in Guancheng New Post.
In order to beautify the landscape of the post office and provide a cool environment for travelers, the post office has a garden for planting trees. The garden is located at the back and side of the backyard, which is convenient for guests to enjoy. Between the backyard and the garden, there is a post building for guests to board and look out. Rammed earth walls are built around the whole post road, and a door is opened at the entrance of the front yard (Figure 4).
[Note and publish]
① Source: Li Lianxiang. China ancient road traffic history [m]. Beijing: People's Communications Publishing House 1994.
② Source: Wang Qi. Three talents association [m]. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1988.
③ Source: Fu Xinian. History of Ancient Architecture in China (Volume II) [M]. Beijing China Building Industry Press 200 1.
[References]
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