Ancient Chinese traveled by "trains", as well as wind-driven "new energy" vehicles

Travel is always indispensable in modern people's life. Whether it is a business trip or a vacation trip, they often travel on the road. Almost everyone is a participant in transportation. Traveling is also very convenient nowadays. You can drive short distances by car, and take high-speed trains or planes for long distances. Thousands of kilometers are coming in and out.

But in ancient times, there was no modern road network and transportation, so traveling was a very hard task. In ancient China, farming was the mainstay. Most of the citizens were farmers, facing the loess with their backs to the ground. They were firmly tied to the land. Many people had never left the village in their entire lives.

In ancient China, officials and businessmen frequently travelled. Officials were dispatched by the imperial court to serve in various places; merchants traveled everywhere, business was prosperous, and wealth was prosperous; there were scholars who sought fame, they Hanchuang studied hard for the purpose of entering Beijing for the exam. He dreamed of jumping high school in one fell swoop. No matter how difficult and remote the journey, they could not stop them from entering Beijing. When Li Hongzhang went to Beijing to rush for the exam, he wrote a poem "Entering the Capital". In the poem, he wrote that "a man only holds Wu hook in his hand, and his spirit is higher than a hundred-foot-tower. Who has written history for ten thousand years, is looking for a captain three thousand miles away" His heroism and determination can be seen, let alone three thousand miles, or thirty thousand miles, he will not hesitate at all.

In ancient times, people were sparsely populated, mountains and rivers were dangerous, the imperial court always attached importance to road construction in order to make government decrees unblocked and facilitate its rule over the country, on "Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Dadong" There is "Thoughtfulness is as straight as a arrow," which describes the avenue as flat as a millstone and straight as an arrow shaft. There are also service facilities along the way. "Zhou Li" records: "The way of the country and the wild, there are houses for ten miles, food and drink in the houses, lodging in thirty miles, road rooms in the houses, and committees in the road rooms." However, these facilities are only provided for government workers on the journey. Rest, catering and accommodation services, ordinary people are not the target of their services, they have been the same for thousands of years. Xu Xiake, a traveler in the Ming Dynasty, was a commoner and could not live in the post. When he was traveling in Guangxi, he used the "horse badge" presented by his friends to impersonate a public official to use the post.

After Qin Shihuang unified the world, the territory of the country was unprecedented. In order to effectively rule the vast territory, the Qin Dynasty launched a large-scale Road network construction, with Xianyang as the center, has built gallops radiating across the country. "Han Shu·Jia Shan Biography" records: "Qin is traveling through the world...The road is fifty steps wide, and the tree is three feet thick, and the outside is thick, hidden with golden spine, and tree with green pine". Qin Chi Road is equivalent to today's national road, very wide and flat, with green pine planted on both sides to mark mileage, block rain and sun, and block wind and sand.

There is also a straight road of more than 700 kilometers in the Qin Dynasty, which can drive thirteen carriages side by side to Jiuyuan County on the border, which is comparable to contemporary highways. "Historical Records · The Book of Emperor Qin Shihuang" contains "Thirty-five years, except for Taoism, Taoism and Jiuyuan, arrive at Yunyang, grab mountains and eyes, go straight to it".

The transportation technology of Qin Dynasty is very advanced. In addition to the highway and straight road, there is already the earliest rail transportation in the world. A section of "railway" from the pre-Qin period was discovered during archaeological excavations in Henan. After research, experts believe that this is the first "railway" in human history. Of course, the track of this "railway" is not made of metal, but of wood. But it not only has roadbeds, but also sleepers. Although it has been eroded by wind and rain for more than two thousand years, the roadbed is still very strong, although the sleepers have been severely decayed. However, it can still be seen from the ruins that the distance between the sleepers is greater than the pace of a person, but it is just suitable for the pace of the horse. In other words, this track was built to allow the carriage to pass better. This discovery also better interprets the true meaning of "cars on the same track".

The ancient "train"

At that time, people traveled mainly on land, with a wheelbarrow or rooster cart for luggage and wives and children, which were often seen on the road at that time Such a scene: a man pushing a wheelbarrow hard to move forward, with packages piled on the car while sitting in his armsDaughter-in-law of young children.

If you have a better family background, you can use animal power, usually donkeys, mules, or cattle. Camels are often used in the north. Ordinary people generally don't have horses at home, because they are strategic materials.

Ancient public officials usually travel on horseback, so the hard work of traveling is always called "pomming horses."

Officials can also travel in a horse-drawn carriage. This kind of horse-drawn carriage is called an Anche, which is equivalent to today's high-level official car. An official with a comfortable picture can also take a sedan chair. When Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, returned to his hometown, he sat in a sedan chair carried by thirty-two people. There were kitchens and toilets inside. Qi Jiguang sent a team of musketeers to escort him. In ancient times, there were also public vehicles, called coaches, which were large in size and had carports to shield them from wind and rain. They were used for both passenger and cargo, equivalent to today's buses. The animals that pull carts are mainly horses, mules and cows. Horse-drawn carts are the fastest. There are also self-driving private cars that use sheep to pull the carts, and some maverick celebrities use sika deer to pull the carts. Walking on the road looks outstanding, and at first glance they are not in the limelight.

In ancient China, there is also a high-tech "new energy" vehicle---sail car, which runs on plains with sails and is completely driven by wind, or Fengfan provides assistance.

The earliest record of a sail car appeared in "Jin Louzi" by Emperor Liang Yuan, about 550 AD. This car can carry about 30 people and can travel hundreds of miles a day.

"The Continuation of the World" records that in 610 AD, Sui Dynasty Yu Wenkai once built a particularly large sail car for the emperor. This car can carry hundreds of people, and it is very light and fast to travel by wind.

Later, some foreigners who came to China also saw this kind of car. They were very surprised by the development of China's technology and left a record.

Needham's "History of Science and Technology in China" said: "The Chinese are best at inventions. They have all kinds of sailing vehicles, which are exquisitely made and light to use."

Dutch navigator Lintherton also recorded in "Travel to the East and West Indies": "Chinese craftsmen are versatile and skillful. They make and use vehicles with sails. They are very clever. They are propelled by wind when walking in the fields. It’s the same as floating on the water.”

Ancient China had a very developed water transportation network, not only the world’s longest Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, but also Lingqu and Zhengguoqu. Large and small canals connect the rivers and lakes of the country, allowing inland waterways to extend in all directions. The regular ships on the rivers have become the best means of transportation for the people because of their large loads and low prices.

From the speed point of view, the horse-drawn carriage is the fastest and can travel about 50 kilometers during the day, followed by boats, sailing about 30 kilometers during the day, and the slowest ox cart and walking. You can only walk 25 kilometers a day. But the carriage needs to rest at night, the actual travel time is only during the day, and the boat is non-stop, the actual journey is no less than the carriage. When sailing at night, the passengers chatted and boasted to pass the time, which was also a great fun. Ming Dynasty Zhang Dai wrote the book "Night Sailing" based on this, which was widely circulated.

Because Chinese people have a deep concept of family love, every Spring Festival, wanderers who have been away for a year must return to their hometown to reunite with their families, which triggered the largest travel climax of the year. Regardless of whether people are rich or poor, no matter how difficult the journey back to their hometown is, they must rush back. If you miss the good time, you will make yourself and your family sad for a year.

Xue Daoheng from the Sui Dynasty was from the north. One year, due to a business trip to the south, he missed the return date. Xue Daoheng, who is a stranger in a foreign country alone, can't help but feel sad when he sees the family reunion of others. Amidst the lively firecrackers, he stunnedly wrote "Thinking of Returning on a Human Day," a poem day: "It was only seven days in spring and two years away from home. After a man returns to a goose, his thoughts are before the flowers." Loneliness and homesicknessThe feeling is on paper.

Many places in ancient times are undeveloped and very primitive and sinister. Therefore, on the way, travelers may be attacked by bandits and beasts in the mountains at any time, in addition to the roads, the roads and the sleeping and sleeping. Xu Xiake suffered the "Xiangjiang Catastrophe" in Hengyang, Hunan, when the night boat was robbed by robbers. In the Ninghai Mountains, he met a tiger again. If the monk in the nearby temple rescued him, he might have died. The roads in the lofty mountains and ridges of Sichuan and Shaanxi are even more dangerous. Li Bai wrote in "The Road to Shu is Difficult": "The guards or bandits turn into wolves and jackals. Avoid tigers at night and snakes at night; they grind their teeth and suck blood and kill people. It’s like hemp.” If the traveler encounters an accident on the way, their family members still don’t know what’s going on, and they’re still eager to see, waiting for their loved ones to enter the house, but they have already become a pile of bones in the wilderness. Therefore, fortunately, modern people have the blessing of modern transportation and will never suffer the suffering of the ancients anymore.

Like modern times, every Spring Festival, various resources will be scarce, prices will rise, including transportation costs.

In order to prevent merchants from driving up prices, the imperial court will implement price restrictions to stabilize the market. The Six Codes of Tang Dynasty recorded the provisions on the transportation price of goods. For example, if you hire manpower to transport 100 catties of goods on the plain, the freight is 100 ren for every 100 miles you transport. If it is a mountain road, it is 120 ren, but the maximum cannot exceed 150 ren; if you hire a vehicle on the plain to transport 100 For a catty of goods, the freight is 80 cents for every 100 li transported, and 90 cents for mountain piggyback. Water transport is much cheaper. Comparing with the land transport unit price of 100 kg/100 li, the general rule is 15 ren for upstream and 5 ren for downstream.

In the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, 100 yuan can buy 20 buckets of rice. At that time, a Jiupin official's monthly salary was 3817 yuan, and his daily income was about 127 yuan. His daily salary could only pay 100 jin for delivery of goods The transportation cost of the 100-mile mountain road is still very heavy if the road to return home is far and difficult.

Li Bai once returned to Sichuan Jiangyou from Chang'an to celebrate the New Year in Kaiyuan, and needed to cross Qinling and Daba Mountain. The whole journey of nearly 2,000 kilometers is difficult to go to the blue sky of Shu Road. Li Bai walked for almost a month and spent 12 yuan, which is about 84,000 yuan. It will cost so much money for the return trip. His travel expenses for the New Year are nearly 170,000 RMB , which is staggeringly expensive. Nowadays, it only takes 3 hours to travel from Xi’an to Jiangyou by train, and the ticket is 200 yuan. If Li Bai knows it, he will be so emotional that he will burst out and write a famous poem that has been circulating for thousands of years. It is a pity that Li Bai cannot cross over. There is no chance to appreciate it.

The ancient road is not only difficult, but also very slow. Long-distance travel often takes half a year or even a year. After Wang Yangming calmed down Guangxi, his health deteriorated seriously. He knew he couldn't afford it and hoped to rush home to spend the last time with his family and students. Since he was eager to return home, after he submitted his resignation, he rushed from Nanning to his hometown of Yuyao without waiting for the approval of the court. However, this journey took a few months at that time. When he reached Anan in the south of Jiangxi, Wang Yangming could no longer hold it up. He died on the ship halfway and left endless regrets. Now this journey only takes more than ten hours by train. If Wang Yangming lived today, he would not have died in regret.

Nowadays, people feel that the ancient environment has not been destroyed, with green mountains and green waters, and fresh air. The ancient foods are pure natural green foods that grow naturally. They can't wait to go back immediately. But in the ancient times, the painful travel alone would be enough to torture people crazy. What thoughts are there to appreciate the mountains and rivers? At that time, you can truly understand what Ye Gong is a dragon.