苏北的大运河与邮驿线路

The Grand Canal in North Jiangsu and Postal Routes

苏北地区横跨淮南淮北,南滨长江,北近黄河,东阻黄海,富鱼盐之利,西接皖豫而控扼中原,中有邗沟和泗水纵贯南北,得方舟之便,是大一统局面下通邮最早的地区之一,著名的"秦邮"即因此而得名。两汉时期,各地有传舍,供歇宿;有邮亭,供传递文书。魏晋南北朝时期,苏北地区大部分时间分属南北,军邮较为繁多。隋朝虽短暂统一,但开凿了贯通南北的大运河,大大方便了交通邮驿,为唐代及以后各朝苏北地区邮驿事业的发展开凿了先河,打下了基础。

North Jiangsu refers to a vast area which straddles Huaihe River,adjoins Yangtze River in the south,borders with Yellow River in the north,extends in the east to Yellow Sea（rich in fish and salt）,approaches Anhui and Henan in the west（geographically advantageous over the Central Plains） and in the middle runs across Han Groove and Sishui River from the north to the South（convenient for ships and boats）.In the Unified Empire of Qin Dynasty,North Jiangsu was one of the earliest areas that established postal services,resulting in the name of the famous ＂Qin Post＂.During Han Dynasties,from place to place,there were guest houses for rest and postal kiosks for delivering documents and letters.In most of the time in the period of Wei,Jin and South and North dynasties,North Jiangsu belonged to the South and the North respectively,so there were lots of military posts.Though Sui Dynasty united the China for only a very short time,the Grand Canal dug facilitated transportation and posts greatly,and laid a good foundation for the development of the postal services in Tang Dynasty and later dynasties across North Jiangsu areas.