"I have also carefully studied the post delivery issue recently. Post stations are indeed indispensable to the country and undertake many important functions.
It's just that the imperial post system eventually collapsed and became a policy that harmed the people.
But we can’t stop eating because of choking, the inn 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 better.
The original post station of the Ming Dynasty was indeed very complex. It was responsible for delivering official documents and military information, as well as entertaining passing officials, and even performed some tasks such as freight transportation. The specific ones were divided into several categories.
These inns were located along the important transportation routes of the Ming Dynasty and were located on the road, similar to the service stations on today's highways, one at a time.
Most of the inns have courtyards with two or even three entrances. In some border areas, the inns are even castles with walls, such as Jiming Station, which is located near the capital, between Yan and Jin. It is very important and is a small city.
A Ming Dynasty post station must have at least the main gate, drum tower, middle gate, front and back halls, left and right wing rooms, kitchen, warehouse, stable, postmaster's house, etc.
There will be more than ten upper rooms for the accommodation of officials, twenty side rooms and side rooms for the commissary, which can accommodate dozens of people at the same time.
The post station also contains Yi Cheng's residence and office.
There will also be dozens of horses, donkeys, and several carts.
It has complete supporting facilities and full service staff.
If it is just a service area, then normal operation cannot become one of the three major sinkholes.
But in fact, the post station system in the Ming Dynasty was extremely developed, but there were inherent flaws in its management. Especially later on, it became a complete mess.
First of all, the inns are all managed by the local government, especially the cost of their operation, which is neither directly paid by the imperial court nor market-based management. There is not even any supervision by the imperial court.
All were managed by local governments, which were allocated directly to local people, and even recruited people to serve as postmen.
After the reform of Wanli's one-whip method, although silver was used instead of labor.
But the problem is that the cost of the inns is decided by the local government, so the cost of inns is a black hole of corruption, and the government even uses the inns to impose heavy taxes on the people.
Post stations have become an important project for local officials to make money, and it is very convenient for them to become greedy. Because the imperial system stipulates that the expenses of inpost stations are planned by the local government, and then collected directly from the people. After the collection, the money is not turned over to the national treasury, but is directly retained in the local government.
use.
There is neither a budget report nor review and supervision. Therefore, in the past, if a horse was raised in a post station, it was stipulated that each horse would be provided with eighty shi of grain per year. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the post station in Huazhou, Shaanxi Province, had one horse per
Four hundred and twenty-two stones of grain were collected each year.
This is a big departure. After all, even after a hundred or two hundred years, the amount of food a horse eats in a year is basically fixed, but it has increased more than five times.
Why?
Because when the station was working on its budget, it was just making up money to make more money.
How many inns are there in Ming Dynasty?
There are about 1,500 places across the country.
For example, Jinguan Station outside Chengdu is very lively, with 376 soldiers, drymen, treasurers, cooks, cooks, etc., as well as 100 horses and eight boats.
The silver for work and food is two thousand six hundred and eighty-two cents a year, and the silver for raising horses is two thousand six hundred taels.
These two items amount to more than 5,000 taels a year, but that's not all. There are also many other expenses, such as entertainment expenses, maintenance expenses, etc.
Even in the late Ming Dynasty, officials, regardless of their size, had to stay and eat at the inns. Some nearby officials even came to eat if they were not on business. The most outrageous thing is that many officials ate, drank, and slept for free, and would still eat when they left.
Ask for silver coins.
For example, if I have my own horse and don’t need the horse from the inn, then you can give me the money.
Anyway, the inn is rotten from the inside out. Everyone wants to get some benefits, let alone the inn chief, who treats the inn as a tool to make money.
The Ming Dynasty post station has one post chief. From the ninth rank to the post chief, there is usually one unranked official to assist in the work. The post guard has no organization. In the early days, they were sent to the post in turn, and some were even sent to the border to serve as prisoners.
Later, it was changed to hiring out laborers.
The postmen have a detailed division of labor, including horsemen, donkey drivers, horse heads, donkey heads, coachmen, cooks, storekeepers, bucket levelers, guard drivers, sedan bearers, etc.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were tens of thousands of postmen at post stations all over the country.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the post station system completely collapsed.
Not only officials, but even anyone related to the system can write a letter of introduction to stay at the inn, have meals and use carriages and horses for free, and they can ask for some travel expenses when leaving.
The cost of hosting, raising horses, delivering goods, and maintaining the inn is huge.
There is no pressure on the local government. Anyway, they can levy as much as they need from the people. They can even take the opportunity to levy more, and add some extra fuel consumption, etc., all of which will be charged to the people, and the officials who levy more will share it.
When these fees are used, there is no supervision, and corruption occurs from top to bottom, making it a hotbed of corruption.
The official document and intelligence transmission function of the post station itself has been weakened. During the Jiajing period, it was planned to abolish 30 to 50% of the post stations in the country, and half of the savings would be used for military expenditures. However, after axing some of the post stations, the situation did not improve, and officials were still working hard at the post stations.
Eat and drink a lot, and use the buses for private use. Many post stations require the postmen to bear the excess, so many postmen have no choice but to escape. The result is that the inn system is paralyzed. Japanese pirates attack Xinghua City, Fujian. Urgent news is revealed.
I traveled on the post road for more than a month before arriving in Beijing.
In the end, the reform of the station failed, and in just five years, everything was back on track.
During the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng began to reform the post stations again. He did not start by limiting costs, but restricting the authority of officials. He promulgated new management regulations, punished dozens of officials, and included the reform of the post stations in the assessment of provincial governors. Finally,
, he indeed succeeded in saving 30% of the expenses, saving millions of taels of silver every year, but after his death, everything returned to the original state.
During the reign of Chongzhen, the cost of post stations was reduced by more than 600,000 taels, and 60% of the post stations were cut at one time. This was completed within a few months. There was no preparation in advance for the abolition of the post officials. The post soldiers were cut across the board, and two posts were cut off at one time.
After more than 10,000 post stations died, many local governments are still collecting post station fees from the people.
Postmen are actually somewhat special. They are not just postmen, they are also a kind of paramilitary armed personnel. In particular, many postmen are quasi-cavalry.
In some border areas, post stations also functioned as military depots, or even castles, and the post soldiers inside were equivalent to border troops. They were simply disbanded, without proper arrangements, coupled with natural disasters and famine, and in the end they simply rebelled.
For the court, it seemed that hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were saved, but the important post system was paralyzed, and the gain outweighed the loss.
In ancient times, information transmission was inherently slow. Without the guarantee of a post station, many important official documents and military information would be delayed, which would have a huge impact.
"The station is very important and indispensable. The biggest problem of the station has always been unclear rights and responsibilities and lack of supervision, which leads to corruption."
“So I believe that if the post station needs to be reformed, it must be based on these practical issues.
For example, post stations can be separated according to functions, and separation of mail and post services can be implemented. The most basic function of a post station is to transmit information and provide supplies for public servants.
A post office is set up to be responsible for reception, and a post office is set up to be responsible for mail delivery. It can even be divided into a post office to be responsible for the transportation of official items.
After the postal service was separated, the post office was responsible for the delivery of intelligence and official documents, and was directly subordinate to the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War set up a post office to be responsible for its management. The local governor, governor, and sub-inspector were responsible for supervision and management. The post office was responsible for the recruitment of postmen from various places.
, adopt an employment system, pay monthly, supervise and assess, survive the fittest, and conduct regular assessments.
Each province will also need to add a post office and appoint a director of the post office to be responsible for post office affairs.
The prefect and county magistrate are responsible for the daily work instructors and supervision of postal stores within the territory. Each postal store has one chief. Postal stores can be divided into land mail and water mail according to the delivery speed, and can be delivered by step, horse delivery, or boat delivery.
And expedited express delivery.
The foot delivery travels two hundred miles a day to transport daily administrative documents and official letters. The horse delivery travels three hundred miles a day. It is mainly used for urgent documents such as promotion and appointment of Malay officials, prisons, military aircraft and border defense. If there are major military or important matters, it can be used to transport urgent documents.
Urgent express delivery is divided into 400 miles, 500 miles, 600 miles and 800 miles express.
In addition to material transportation, there is a separate delivery station responsible for transporting some official and military materials, etc.
They all adopt the mode of government employment of postmen and are supervised at all levels.
Expenses in various places are also allocated by the national treasury, and strict budget and review systems are followed.
Zhu Yihai also specifically proposed stamps. In the future, official documents in postal stores must be affixed with stamps. Stamps are issued by the household department, and official documents and letters must also be affixed with stamps. Stamps can be purchased at the postal store when sending letters. Officials can go to the Yamen Minister's Money Store
Reimbursement, and the stamps sold by the post office are also fiscal revenue.
In addition, in addition to the delivery of official documents, the former Civil Information Bureau was restored. Various localities also took care of the transportation of private letters and materials. They also purchased stamps and sent letters, regardless of the distance, etc., and paid for them.
As for the original reception function, a separate post house was set up.
There is a post office every 20 miles, and a post office every 60 miles.
The post house is specially responsible for entertaining officials who are on official business, but they must have a post ticket to stay and eat, and it is strictly stipulated that they can enjoy corresponding treatment according to their grade and tolerance tasks.
That is, you must have a business trip introduction letter from the corresponding yamen, and you must also have a postcard, and what are the daily standards for the corresponding grade.
Post coupons are equivalent to vouchers. For example, when a prefect goes to work, the government issues a pass voucher and gives the post coupons. The officials' route is written in detail on it. They must strictly follow the prescribed route and stay in the post house. Officials of the fourth and fifth grades can only enjoy the benefits.
Two stage horses, and they are not allowed to cross two stages every day, which is one hundred and twenty miles, which is equivalent to a normal speed. If they run too fast, the stage horses will be damaged.
The food standards in the accommodation rooms are also strictly limited. For example, the fourth and fifth rank officials can only enjoy four dishes and one soup, two meat and two vegetarian dishes. Even the standard and quantity that their entourage can enjoy are strictly limited.
If you exceed the number of followers, you will have to pay extra. It is prohibited to occupy the resources of the station. Violators will be strictly investigated.
The imperial court not only allowed officials such as the Ministry of War, governors, and prefects and counties to supervise, but also set up a special director of the Postal Supervision Department, and regularly sent patrol censors to supervise.
You must have a post coupon to enjoy the corresponding benefits of the post house.
Only under limited circumstances such as conveying imperial edicts, being sent by the emperor to report important military information, civil and military officials going to other provinces to take up posts, and the remains and family members of current officials returning to their hometowns after they died of illness in office, can they obtain post coupons.
A multi-pronged approach.
Yi, separated by hand.
One is responsible for delivering official documents, intelligence materials, and the other is responsible for transportation and entertainment of officials.
However, both are directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and the post soldiers are all quasi-active soldiers.
The budget for all post office expenses is provided by the Post Office of the Ministry of War. After review, the Ministry of Revenue allocates the funds and supervises their use.
The local government does not levy any additional post station silver, but all funds are uniformly allocated from the national finance. After all, the ding silver that was previously allocated to the mu actually includes the agency silver for the post station.
The expenses of the post office are not collected by the local government, nor are they handled by them. The Ministry of War budgets, the Ministry of Households allocates funds, and the Supervisory Post Office directly manages and decentralizes the post office, which is a multi-level management.
Stamps and post coupons are controlled.
Limit the number of people who use the inn and their benefits, and reduce expenses.
Post soldiers are professionalized and can even be trained regularly to become reserve soldiers. Once there is police in the local area and a battle breaks out, they can immediately become soldiers to assist in the battle.
"Everyone can discuss it in detail. The first phase of the collection will be improved. I plan to restore the post and delivery in Jiangnan first, and then restore it to all parts of the country. By then, there may be 2,000 post offices, more than 10,000 postal shops, and 14
Fifty thousand post soldiers."
It not only ensures the delivery of official documents and military information, but also provides hospitality to officials who are on official business trips. It even has to run private postal services to cover some expenses with private business income.
A post team of more than 100,000 people will also become a reserve military force.
The central government has the Ministry of War, the Post Office, and the Postal Censor.
At the local provincial level, there are governors, governors, inspectors, sub-inspections, and postal directors. At the prefectural and county levels, they are also managed by the prefects, prefects, prefectures, and county magistrates. There are no longer postmasters, but only postmasters and shop managers with no rank.
.
Instead of using horses and men to support post stations, private officials were supported by officials. Detailed post laws were promulgated to strictly prohibit post personnel from harassing post stations, embezzlement and bribery, etc. Post posts were managed according to military regulations, and those who violated laws and regulations were subject to military law.
Zhu Yihai also encouraged the private sector to establish postal services. He planned to ask the imperial eunuch to open a royal postal shop and establish a network of royal postal shops. Postal carriages would be used to transport letters and goods, and in counties and villages, postal donkeys would be used to distribute them.
Even the establishment of professional cargo transportation units, land and water logistics transportation, and the transportation industry are actually very profitable. The stronger the strength, the greater the profit from this transaction.
There were inns in all dynasties, but the Ming Dynasty was the only one with Yithutu. The rules Zhu Yuanzhang set at the beginning were still very good, but it was a pity that he messed up later.
The most important thing is that when the Ming Dynasty first designed this system, it was a private post station where horses and husbands were dispatched. It was completely managed by the local government and there was not enough supervision by superiors. So in the end it became a hardest-hit area where everyone had to come to collect wool.
.
Zhu Yihai directly changed the post station from the most basic core this time, as well as the previous horse-raising system of the Ming Dynasty.
We cannot leave everything to ordinary people.
When ordinary people face the government, they have no ability to resist 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 regulations and multiple supervision.
It's not perfect, but at least it's much better than the original one.
If it breaks down again in the future, there will be future generations to patch it up.
If it weren't for the confidentiality involved in the postal service, Zhu Yihai originally planned to directly ask the Shaofu Supervisor to establish a private postal service system. If it were privately owned, he could develop a franchise contracting model. Posts and postal shops in various places would be contracted for investment and would be responsible for their own profits and losses.
The headquarters is responsible for supervision, pricing, guarantee services, etc.
Later I thought that this was too far ahead of my time, and official documents and information were confidential after all, so in the end I decided to rebuild the post station and change it to a separate post station.
After the emperor's plan was explained in detail to the ministers, it was unanimously approved.
This is a bit like Zhang Juzheng's post reform. Back then, Zhang Juzheng also started with official privileges, which still had good results. Of course, the emperor's reform actions were even greater. He directly operated and managed the post as a military institution, with the same budget as military expenses.
Distribute and supervise.
Although there are more than 100,000 couriers, the annual labor and food expenses may cost 3 to 4 million, plus other expenses such as raising horses, which means that the entire courier system requires 4 to 5 million a year.
However, the ministers also agreed with the emperor's plan. After all, postal delivery was indispensable.
Some money cannot be saved; money must be spent, but it must be spent appropriately and in a practical manner.
"I suggest that we first try it out in Fengtian, Yingtian, and Shaotian, and gradually set up post offices and post offices in a steady and stable manner, while improving the operation," the first assistant Song Zhifu suggested.
"This suggestion is good. I think we can first build a post road from Huaiyang to Nanjing, from Dengzhou to Laizhou, then to Qingdao, then through Qingzhou Langya, through Lingzhou to Haizhou, and then from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang, Nanjing
.
This first stop starts from Dengzhou."
Zhu Yihai designated the first station to be located on the opposite bank of the Yellow River Village near the mouth of the Huangshui River, sixty miles west of Penglai, and named it Huangshuiyi. The second station was located near the mouth of the Jieshui River, sixty miles west of Huangshuiyi. This was where the Ming Dynasty originally existed.
The Huangshan Pavilion Station.
First build Huangshui Post, then build Huangshan Guan Post, and set up postal shops every twenty miles between the two posts.
Zhu Yihai planned to take his time first, build a post, recruit officials and postmen, then build a complete post office, and then build the next post, striving to build a line from Dengzhou via Laizhou to Qingdao and Langya within one year.
, Haizhou, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang and Nanjing's post-delivery routes.
Expanding and improving little by little.
In the future, the Shandong Peninsula will definitely need to build another round-the-island post station, from Peng to Yantai, Weihai, Chengshan to Qingdao, and even to Qingzhou, Zibo, and Jinan via Laizhou.
However, this is not urgent. You can take it slow in the early stage, accumulate some experience, and improve loopholes. When mature, you can quickly expand and spread throughout the country.
At the end of the meeting, Zhu Yihai left the ministers to eat, still having four dishes and one soup.
After the meal, the eunuch brought the green head card.
Zhu Yihai looked at the sign above, "Isn't there any Libi's?"
"Back to your Majesty, Concubine Li is pregnant with the dragon seed and cannot sleep with her."
Zhu Yihai was stunned for a moment, why didn't he know about this?
"I just asked the imperial doctor for a diagnosis today. I haven't come yet and told the saint. I was about to report it."
"Oh, I'll go to Concubine Li's place later."
"Your Majesty, Concubine Li is pregnant and cannot sleep with her for the time being."
"I'll go over and take a look."
Zhu Yihai sometimes felt that the emperor was also very lonely. Even if there were more than a dozen concubines in the harem, they would not be able to see each other for several days, and they would not even eat together.
He thought for a while and said, "In the future, if the concubines are free for dinner, they can come and have dinner with me. The children can be brought along, and we can have fun together."
The eunuch was also stunned for a moment, but he quickly agreed.
"Put a bigger long table here so that everyone can sit together and it will be lively."
"This slave takes the order."
Fourteen concubines, one son and eight daughters, had to sit at a very long dining table. "Remember to ask the queen and the others what the princes and princesses like to eat, and get them something they like to eat."
After the great victory in Hanzhong, Zhu Yihai was in a very good mood and felt particularly smooth. He even had the energy to start caring about the concubines and princes and princesses in the harem.
The eunuch wrote them down one by one and did not dare to neglect them in the slightest.
Although he felt that the emperor's whims came and went, as a slave he just accepted orders and obeyed the decree, and he also felt that it would be really lively in this way.