Fudan University Historical Geography Research Center Wang Zhenzhong
Huizhou has the most known folk documents in China. The total number of discovered items is as many as one million (volumes). These documents constitute a treasure trove of historical materials for the study of Chinese history (especially the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties) since the Southern Song Dynasty. Among them, there are so many contract documents that reflect land relations, so that some scholars still mistakenly believe that Huizhou documents are a batch of contract documents that are broken down in the style of the court. In fact, Huizhou not only has a wide variety of documents, but folk documents in other regions are hard to match, but even the narrow "document" - contract reflects quite colorful content. For example, a few years ago, I took several contracts by Wang Qishu during my field survey in Miantan in She County. These documents vividly reflect the actual salt business of this famous Jiangnan book collector in the Songjiang area during the Shengqing period. It is unpredictable to other historical materials passed down from generation to generation. It is extremely precious. (See Academic Monthly, Issue 1, 2019)
In my opinion, there are many other contracts in Huizhou documents that reflect land relations, and some of them are related to major cross-regional historical events in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which are particularly worthy of special attention. Previously, the author read "Huizhou Documents in Anhui Normal University Collection" (edited by Zhou Xianghua, Anhui People's Publishing House , 2009 edition), and was very interested when he read two of the contracted documents.
(I)
A copy is " Mine Tax Vouchers" on July 3, 1602, on the third day of the 30th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty:
Xiuning counties are responsible for collecting mineral tax and silver (?). This office posts are subject to the verification of the case of the court and the Taoist case. We will discuss the reasons for the purchase of silver in this office. According to this, we will send a number according to the scriptures and instruct the orders to come forward. According to the four pictures of the five capitals of this county, Zheng Mo Shangbao has 30 years of mining tax, 928 coins, 6 millimeters, 6 millimeters, and 4 microns, and 4 microns, and the bank has paid the bill. The silver eyes are also verified to the full color, and the cover is closed. If there are low and small cases, find out, and the treatment is unforgivable, and the vote must be obtained.
ore number 58.
on the third day of the seventh month of the 30th year of Wanli to
Dutulichang and other documents. Silversmith
1602 "Mine Tax Invoice", Anhui Normal University collects
This is an extremely rare mineral tax invoice known so far, and it is closely related to a history in the late Ming Dynasty. During the ten thousand years, due to the huge expenditure of the inner government and the empty foreign treasury, the national finances were exhausted and the national finances were in a dilemma. For this reason, Zhu Yijun, who was greedy for money and good goods, sent eunuchs to mines and taxes from all over the country since the 24th year of Wanli (1596). According to statistics from Professor Wang Tianyou, an expert in history in Ming Dynasty, from the 25th to the 34th year of Wanli (1597-1606), the amount of gold and silver offered by eunuchs from the mine tax to the inland treasury was as high as more than 5 million taels of gold and silver. Although these offerings were less than agricultural tax and salt tax, they were far greater than the quantity of tariffs and commercial taxes, and the amount was quite considerable. During the collection process, the mining supervision tax was directly appointed by the emperor and was completely unsupervised by officials at all levels. These eunuchs regarded themselves as imperial envoys. They were arrogant and domineering. They were corrupt and abused and fed their own pockets during the mining tax collection process. These counter-instant policies and measures have caused industry and commerce to decline and people to live in poverty, resulting in repeated changes in the country, and large-scale civil struggles have occurred one after another.
The rise of mining tax is said to have originated from the motion of Hui native Cheng Shouxun. In this regard, the "Wanli Yehubian" written by Shen Defu of the Ming Dynasty recorded that
mineral tax has poisoned the body, and there is no clean land in the universe, and the Huai and Xu Zhi Chen Zeng is the most important. The person who added the name of the Cheng Shoushou was the Hui people, and the first to discuss the construction of the mining tax. Since the capital, the first person to be promoted, he only thought of his nephew and son-in-law. He also disdained to be with the followers of the gang, so he recruited himself as a silver to assist the craftsman, and specially appointed him as a servant of the Secretariat and directed him to the Wuying Palace. Since then, he became more and more arrogant and signed his title as "Imperial envoy to the Prime Minister Shandong, Zhili Mining Tax Affairs and Work Payroll", to show that he is no longer in charge of the internal supervision. Then he started a great title in Huizhou, built a archway, and unveiled the yellow flag on the yellow pole, saying, "The emperor's heart is simple." He also called "Xian has one virtue".
From the relevant historical materials, Cheng Shouxun is a salt merchant from Yangzhou from Huizhou. He is looking for a path while still having a lot of money and is determined to cling to the powerful.He went from Guangling to Beijing, went out to bribe and requested entrusted all over the place, and finally sued to the eunuch Chen Zeng. When he took advantage of Chen's strategy, he submitted a memorial to Emperor Wanli, suggesting that the establishment of a mining tax envoy was plundering people's wealth. The greedy Ming Shenzong was overjoyed at his proposal and ordered it to be implemented immediately. As a result, a large number of eunuchs were appointed as mining tax envoys and went to various places to pay tribute. Chen Zeng was entrusted as a member of the Ministry of Education and served as the tutor of the mining supervision and taxation in Shandong and Zhili areas; while Cheng Shouxun became Chen Zeng's follower because of his merits in writing the letter. In the famous novel "Jing Wu Qiping" (also known as " Pearl Fate "), there is a chapter called "Cheng Zhongshu Huguang Mining Taxation, Feng Guanzheng Han Water Drowning and Kids". In the novel, the "Shu Cheng" is said to be Cheng Shihong, a native of Datong Prefecture, Shanxi, and "is the nephew of the eunuch Chaotian, the chief of the Sili Supervisor". The scene of the story has also been replaced by Huguang area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Of course, these are all the novelist Yan’s transplantation. However, judging from its basic plot, the novel depicts the story of Cheng Shouxun, a Hui man.
According to Shen Defu's account: At that time, Wu Zongyao, the magistrate of Yidu in Shandong, submitted a memorial to impeach Chen Zeng's greed and advocated that the mining envoy should be sacked. Cheng Shouxun criticized Wu Zongyao for "there are a lot of stolen money and sent it to the Feng family of Wu Chao, a Hui merchant." In response to this, the Ming Shenzong obviously stood on the side of Chen Zeng and Cheng Shouxun. Based on the memorial, he ordered a strict investigation. According to the "Bi'an Village Chronicle" compiled several years ago in She County, Anhui Province, Wu Zongyao was from Bei'an Village, She County, , Huizhou Prefecture, , and the same clan as Wu Chaofeng. Many of the clans do business in the Jianghuai area. It is also because of this that many Hui merchants from all over the country have been accused of being "Zong Yao's stolen house" and must be asked for heavy bribes before they can be released. Cheng Shouxun and others took the opportunity to consciously expand the incident, and slandered the wealthy businessmen to collect illegal treasures, and often confiscated their homes, causing many wealthy people to go bankrupt and even to be humiliated.
The mining supervisor sent by the Ming Shenzong supervises the collection of mine taxes in the name of supervising mining. However, wherever these mine supervision taxes went, they gathered local scoundrels to impose heavy taxes, but in fact they were doing things like cutting down tombs and destroying houses, sucking marrow and drinking blood. As the name suggests, the mining tax should be the income from mining, but in the actual operation of the local area, it does not matter whether there is mineral or not. Many of the proposed mining taxes are forced to be contracted by wealthy households, and the insufficient amount will be compensated by officials' regular salary or local finance. According to local records, people from Jixi traveled to Hanlong as a Jinshi in Wanli Wuxu (1598). He was the magistrate of Zhangqiu County (now Zhangqiu District, Jinan City, Shandong Province). "At that time, the court was in charge of affairs, and the sables came out everywhere, and the people were unable to disturb him. Chen Zeng went to Shandong to be the Youheng, and the county magistrate was disappointed, so he immediately arrested him. Hanlong was able to mediate the situation and was able to get rid of it. The tax officials of various mines set a deposit of 1000 yuan a year, and they were paid regular salary, so they would not bother the people again." (Daoguang's "Huizhou Prefecture Chronicles·People Chronicles·Emperor's Academic Affairs") This record says that the magistrate of Zhangqiu County was versatile and good at dealing with powerful officials. He also used his personal salary to pay a fixed amount of mining tax, and in addition, he no longer bothers the people. As for the mining tax in Huizhou, there seems to be little historical materials to be found in the past, so we can only do some preliminary analysis here. Judging from reality, although there are many undulating Yuanfuyaoling in Xiuning County, there are very few records of minerals. Judging from several local chronicles compiled in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Xiuning's local products mainly include ink, tea, paper, fir, lacquer, tung oil, various medicines, ramie, fern powder, kudzu powder, bacon, horseshoe turtle and oxtail raccoon, but it did not mention any minerals in remote wilderness. There is no exact historical record of the actual local collection of mining taxes. This "Mine Tax Invoice" is a physical document at the peak of mining tax collection, which is extremely rare. This mentions the mineral tax paid by a man named Zheng Mo from the Wudu Situ in Xiuning. At the end of the article, the word "Silver Smith" is also listed. Although the name of the silversmith is not filled in it, at the scene of "enclosed and thrown into the cabinet", it is obvious that the silversmith should "check the full color" for it. In addition, the document mentioned that "the government shall collect silver", "the number of silver is distributed" and "Dutuli Chang and other collections are collected", and listed the "Mine Tax Invoice" as "Mine Tax No. 58". Compared with the previous story of visiting Hanlong, the practice of Xiuning County and even the entire Huizhou Prefecture should also set up a fixed tax amount, and then let each household share and pay through Dutuli Jia.
(II)
Wanli followed by the short-lived Taichang.After Emperor Guangzong ascended the throne, he issued an edict to withdraw the tax envoy. However, the "Taichang" year name only existed for five months, and then it entered the first year of Tianqi (1621). The issue of mining tax has just subsided, but the "three pay" additional payments are in full swing. Among the contract documents collected by Anhui Normal University, there is another "Night 12th year of the first year of Tianqi, the Liao Sheng and other events of the meeting of the Liao Sheng and other events of the meeting of the Liao Sheng and other events of the prefecture of Huizhou, Zhili. According to the letter of this government, the Censor Yixian of the Mongolian Inspection Commissioner Zhili Supervision Commissioner, and the opening is: "Be prepared to carefully check the idle and open official land, the houses of the people, and the rivers are blocked from the silt land, and the people's industries are close to the people, and those who are convenient for the people shall be valuated from the public and the price of the post will be reduced." According to this, the announcement has been made. It was found that the local name of Meimuyuankou in Dongdu was named Meimuyuankou, and there was a leisurely official land of two cents and gravel. According to Li Tingfang, a student of the two scholars of Dongdu, he submitted the national capital Wubaolin [Scale] book of the name Jiubailushi No. 1, and the local name was Meimuyuankou Shenmingting official land of two cents and gravel, and he had always been wasted, accumulated, and he was given a valuation of the time, and he was given a silver price, and he gave a post to open up wasteland and inherited the business, and so on. Based on this, it is enough. For this reason, except for the combined letters, the first item is named Meimuyuankou Shenmingting 2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
right post to Li Tingfang, please allow this.
On November 12, the first year of Tianqi, the first year of Tianqi, the
Qimen County raised Liaobao and other posts. Anhui Normal University collected
The "Liaobao" and "training money" in the late Ming Dynasty are collectively called "three money". It is generally believed that the additional money of the three money began in the 46th year of Wanli (1618). Two years ago, the northeastern Nurhaci unified the Jurchen tribes, and in Hetuala (now Xinbin County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province), Khan founded the country, and the country was called "Da Jin" and the "Destiny" of the Yuan Dynasty. In the 46th year of Wanli, Nurhaci swore to attack Ming with the "Seven Great Hate", trapped Fushun, conquered Qinghe, and shook the capital. From then on, the Ming Dynasty entered a troublesome autumn of national danger. After that, the lack of sub-branches was needed and the need to pay Kong Yin became the norm for the empire's urgency. In order to deal with the crisis in Liaodong, the Ming court, who was unable to control gold, thought of levying Liao guarantors (also known as "new guarantors"). During the Tianqi period, the "Liao Qian" also collected the "Liu Guan, Salt and other miscellaneous silver. It was against this background that the Ming government decided to further open source fundraising. In the local area, the officials have turned their attention to those "idle-official lands, houses, and rivers of silt land", hoping to make these idle official lands useful in order to increase fiscal revenue. The document mentioned above is that there is a Shenmingting official land at the entrance of Meimuyuankou, Dongdu, Qimen County, Huizhou Prefecture, which has always been deserted and accumulated sand and gravel. To this end, Confucian student Li Tingfang asked for the public valuation of the current value and he was responsible for the responsibility.
This document is quite worthy of consideration. First of all, the title proposed in the document does not seem to be appropriate, because "I respect the Ming Dynasty's order and collects Liaofu and other matters in the meeting of the court officials" refers to Qimen County's resolution to discuss Liaofu and other matters in the meeting of the Central Court officials, so it is not considered as "Qimen County's meeting of Liaofu and other matters in the meeting of Liaofu and other matters in the meeting of Qimen County", or it can be called "Qimen County's raising Liaofu and other matters in the meeting of Liaofu and other matters in the meeting". Secondly, in order to facilitate the handling of local affairs by the elderly Lijia in the early Ming Dynasty, he stipulated in the Hongwu period: "There are two pavilions in the world, namely, Shenming and Jingshan Pavilions. If the people have good or bad, they will be written here to show punishment. All households' marriages, land, and fighting are common, and the family will be punished here." (Volume 86 of the "Verification of Xuanzong") It can be seen that the Shenming Pavilion and Jingshan Pavilion since the early Ming Dynasty are places where the local people advise and judge the affairs of the villages. The so-called Shenmingting Pavilion is simply the place where "declaration of great righteousness". According to the regulations at that time, whenever a person in the country made a mistake, he would write his mistakes on the pavilion and make it known for punishment.
The existing Shenming Pavilion in Huizhou, Wuyuan Likeng
From historical documents and existing architectural objects, the Shenming Pavilion is generally located in the center of the entrance of the village.The copy of "Shangxiyuan Zhi" in Wuyuan of Qianlong records: "The people are clear and clear. They always choose places where the large clans are crowded, and the two pavilions are empty. They all do things that are unlawful and illegal. They all rely on the village meetings to make old people. They may have good deeds and harsh deeds. They are plaques and plaques. They are plaques and plaques." Although this section is often filled with insects, judging from the remaining texts, it is obvious that the history of the early Ming Dynasty is traced. However, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the changes in the Lijia system, the rural education around Shenmingting and Jingshanting gradually became well-known, and disputes related to them were often seen. I have a book of the litigation files of the 36th Dudu Wutu of Nan Township, She County in the 23rd year of Wanli (1595), which mentioned: Fang, the 36th Dudu Wutu, filed a lawsuit against Jin, Fang Xinyi, Fang Xihe, etc., and submitted a lawsuit against the preservation of the state system and the candle suppression of the heroes. The Taizu of the State Dynasty created the people and built the two pavilions of Jingshan and Shenming in the five maps of the capital. The area was 120 steps away. It was located next to Fangxingxiang House and the national book was proof. Recently, the treacherous hero Fang Biaode, Fang Daode, Fang Shipin and other coveted official positions, without a manager, took advantage of the power and archers, and they all planned to occupy the property. They built a house nearby, and only 11 steps left to the road, pointing to the foundation of the pavilion, covering their eyes and blocking their mouths. The prefecture's Zhiming recorded two pavilions, Jingshan and Shenming, and 60 counties, with zero lands in all 100 steps. Hao pointed to the eleven steps at the gate, which was very different from the original quota. It can be seen that the new and bad fortunes were...
The 23rd year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty (1595), the copy of the Fang's litigation case in Wutu, Nanxiang, She County, was collected by Wang Zhenzhong. This volume of the document was earlier than the previous period when the "Mine Tax Invoice" and the raising of Liao Foo. It can be seen that the official places near Jingshan and Shenmingting have always been coveted by the "traitors" in the village. Against the backdrop of the lack of finances and the effort to increase income, some people in civil society took advantage of this situation to change and seek more rights and interests for themselves. Li Tingfang is a Confucian student, and he may have coveted the official land of Shenmingting for a long time, so he took this opportunity to pay silver and obtain ownership of the place.
(III)
Previous research on mining taxes and Liao guarantories mainly used historical materials such as official history, record, political code, collection of essays to review historical facts, reflecting the top-down national taxes and local ties. Although the scattered documents of Huizhou are like flowing lights and shadows, it allows people to see many responses to civil society towards national policies. In the overall image combined through various documents, we not only see the destruction of the autocratic monarch and the greed and rebelliousness of the power and eunuch temples, but also see the various people in the local area, how to use the country's turbulence and trends to spread the fortunes and seek to maximize personal interests. Regarding this, it is not difficult to see clues whether it is the collection of mineral taxes or the opening of Liao guarantors.
Editor in charge: Yu Shujuan
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