A short story of ancient people transmitting information.

Letters from Hongyan-Letters from afar

The story of The Legend of Hongyan comes from Hanshu? The story of "Su Wu herding sheep" in Biography of Su Wu. According to records, in the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (BC 100), Su Wu, the ambassador of the Han Dynasty, was detained by Shan Yu, the messenger of the Huns. He was brave and unyielding, and Khan exiled him to the no-man's land in Beihai (now Lake Baikal) to shepherd sheep. 19 years later, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, and the fierce Han Dynasty reconciled and married. The envoys of the Han Dynasty were ferocious and asked Su Wu to go back. Khan refused, but he couldn't say it, so he lied that Su Wu was dead. Later, Emperor Hanzhao sent envoys to the Huns, and Chang Hui, the detained deputy envoy who sent envoys to the Huns together with Su Wu, secretly met with the envoys of the Han Dynasty one night with the help of the jailer, told the envoys of the Han Dynasty about Su Wu, and came up with a plan for the envoys of the Han Dynasty to tell Khan: "When Emperor Hanzhao was hunting in Shanglinyuan, he killed a goose with a letter written on silk tied to his foot, which said that Su Wu was not dead. Han was very happy after hearing this, so he blamed Khan according to Chang Hui's words. Khan was surprised after hearing this, but he couldn't deny it, so he had to let Su Wu go back.

Jade bird delivers books.

According to China's ancient rare book Shan Hai Jing, there are three kinds of bluebirds, namely Zhao Lan and Yan Zi (the author has not found the name of another bluebird). They are the attendants and messengers of the Queen Mother of the West, who can fly over Qian Shan to deliver information and good news of good luck, happiness and happiness to the world. It is said that the Queen Mother of the West once wrote a letter to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The Queen Mother of the West sent a book to the Jade Bird, and the Jade Bird always sent the letter from the Queen Mother to the Chenghua Temple in the Han Palace. In later myths, the bluebird gradually evolved into the king of birds-Phoenix.

In the Southern Tang Dynasty, master Li Jing wrote a poem, "The bluebird doesn't spread the news outside the cloud, and the lilacs are sad in the rain"; In the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai wrote a poem "I wish I could repay Sauvignon Blanc because of three bluebirds". Li Shangyin wrote a poem "Pengshan has no way, bluebird, listen! -bring me what she said! " ; And Cui wrote a poem "When will the bluebird pass".

Kite communication

The kite we use for entertainment today played an important role as an emergency communication tool in ancient times.

Legend has it that as early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu's skillful craftsman lost the game (that is, Lu Ban) once imitated the shape of a bird. "Cutting bamboo and wood thought it was a magpie and flew three days later." This flying "wooden magpie" made of bamboo and wood is the predecessor of kite. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun invented papermaking. People made a frame with bamboo sticks and then pasted it with paper, which became a "paper kite". In the Five Dynasties, when people made paper kites, they tied a bamboo whistle on them. The wind blows a bamboo whistle, which sounds like a kite, hence the word "kite".

The original kites were made for military needs, mainly used for military reconnaissance or for transmitting information and military intelligence. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that kites gradually became an entertainment toy and spread among the people.

Communication tower

/kloc-in the 8th century, Claude Chappe, a French engineer, successfully developed a practical communication system to speed up information transmission. The system consists of several communication towers, which are built 230 kilometers between Paris and Lille. A wooden pole is erected at the top of these towers, and a horizontal crossbar is installed on the wooden pole. People can rotate and swing the wooden pole under the operation of ropes to form various angles. The two vertical arms are installed at both ends of the horizontal cross bar and can also rotate. In this way, each tower can form 192 different configurations through wooden poles, and the nearby towers can see the information representing the meaning of 192 through telescopes. In this way, within a distance of 230 kilometers, the information can be transmitted in two minutes. This system made great contributions to the French revolutionary war in the18th century.

signal flag

It has been more than 400 years since signal flags were used for communication on ships. The advantage of banner communication is very simple. Therefore, even today when modern communication technology is quite developed, this simple communication mode is still preserved and becomes an important way of short-distance communication. In sign communication, signal signs can be used alone or in combination to express different meanings. Usually hanging a flag indicates the most urgent, important or commonly used content. For example, the A-flag is hoisted, which means "There are divers under my boat, please stay away from my boat slowly"; Hang the O-flag, which means "someone falls into the water"; Hanging the W flag means "my ship needs medical assistance" and so on.

flag signal

During the 200 years of15-16th century, the fleet commander commanded his ships by firing guns or sailing. 1777, Admiral Howe, commander of the British and American fleets, printed a signal manual, becoming the first person to write a signal book. Later, Admiral Sir Popham used some flags as shorthand letters to create a complete set of semaphore letters. 1805, when Lord Nelson commanded the Battle of Trafalgar, the last signal he sent before he died was 16 Pophanqi: "Close to the enemy and fight at close range."

18 17, the British navy colonel Mariette compiled the first internationally recognized alphanumeric. There are also 40 signal flags, including 26 letter flags, digital flags 10, 3 substitute flags and answer flags 1. Flags have different shapes: dovetail, rectangle, trapezoid, triangle and so on. The colors and patterns of flags are also different.