The Ming Dynasty Military Postal Relay System and the Relay Post Personnel

Abstract

<p>驛傳是中國古代官方的交通、通訊系統，其運營有民遞、軍遞等不同形式。到了明代，驛傳作為一種特殊的徭役，雖然主要從民戶中僉派，但有一類特殊驛夫，稱為站軍，其應役場所稱為軍站。儘管站軍承擔著與民驛夫類似的公文遞送、置辦鋪陳之責，但其戶籍歸屬於軍戶，行政管理上也隸屬「衛所─都指揮使司─五軍都督府」這一系統之內。這一現象的出現，與明初對於元代「諸色戶計」差役的調整密切相關。隨著衛所軍士的逃亡，以及民驛折銀化的出現，從嘉靖年間起，各地巡撫也開始從軍費或各府庫調撥專款，為軍站提供協濟，同時軍站內部也出現了少量的雇役因素。這一改革在維繫邊防一帶的驛遞系統之際，也使得明末「一條鞭法」的精神滲透入衛所系統中，軍站與民驛得以進一步合流。</p> <p> </p><p>The postal relay system in ancient China served as the official method of communication and transportation and included both civil and military delivery. In the Ming dynasty, the postal relay system created a new special corvée labour status. Even though the majority of the work was assigned to civilian households, there remained a special class of workers, called Relay Postal Personnel (zhanjun). This group worked at sites that were designated military postal stations. The postal personnel were responsible for the delivery of official documents and managed the distribution of supplies—similar to that of civilian households—yet their household registration fell under the jurisdiction of military households and fell under the government administration which subordinated them under the military garrison system—the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Command—the Five Chief Military Commissions. The emergence of this phenomenon was closely related to the adjustments made in the early Ming dynasty to the corvée labour system inherited from the Yuan Dynasty. After the garrison guards fled their posts, and the emergence of the tax system of ‘splitting the silver taels’ was instituted at the civilian postal stations, every provincial governor from the mid-Jiajing era onward began to transfer funds from military budgets and the government treasury to provide assistance to the military stations. At the same time, military postal stations experienced a shortage of hired labor. These reforms shored up the the courier system in border areas and extended the spirit of the ‘Single-whip Method’ of levying taxes to the Garrison (weisuo) system, military postal stations, and civilian postal stations which could thus all develop along the same trajectory.</p> <p> </p>