Hu Liping
Several years ago, I was fortunate to get a batch of contracts, including twelve of which were related. The Liqi people lived in Laoluzhuang, Qingyu Village, Xinya Street. This batch of contracts was first in the Qing Dynasty, the year of Wuyin (1818 AD), and the end was in the fourth year of the Republic of China (1915). The content included the division of property, inheritance, some buying land, some selling land, some buying houses, some pledged property, some official deeds confirmed by the government seal, and some privately bought and sold contracts in the Republic of China. After splicing these twelve contracts, they found it very interesting. This is simply the history of the rise and fall of a family. This batch of precious cultural relics has now been collected by the district archives bureau.
First, let me explain to Lao Luzhuang: This is a small natural village in Qingyu Village , which contains surnames such as Wu, Xue, Chen, Yao, Gan, Zeng, He, and Mai. The big surname of Qingyu Village, the Chen family of Qingtan, is like a strong neighbor, standing next to them.
Here is a Yao family ancestral hall called Yigao Yaogong Temple. By looking at the Yao family genealogy, you can know that they were moved from the Yao family in Maxi Village. In the previous article, when I introduced the divine beast in Maxibayou Mountain, the stone lion was squatting in front of the Yaogong Temple of Yiguang. Yiguang and Yigao, which shows that they were brothers or cousins. Since both of these two brothers were memorialized by the temple, they could also be introduced indirectly. It was the heyday of their Yao family's economic development. Yao Yigao may have bought land and opened a village in the Laoluzhuang area after being rich.
The survival of the little surname is not easy. In order to develop and survive, Yao had to do all kinds of tricks. To make everyone see clearly, I will first list the relevant information on the category, time, contractor, and nature of the twelve contracts:
I will introduce these twelve contracts one by one in chronological order below.
1. In the year of Wuyin in Jiaqing (818) Yao Changqian's Li Ji Shu.
This is a white contract that has not been stamped by the government. Yao Changqian, the founder, should be illiterate. This contract was written by a brother and two brothers testified, which is of course valid.
contract says that Yao Changqian married his wife Chen's , and his eldest son was Zhirong. He was only five years old and gave birth to Yao Jin to become his son. Did he take the initiative to adopt this matter of adopting people of the same clan as his son? Judging from 全, of course it is not. It is the result of the "combination of exiles" by the brothers of the Yao clan. The word "exiled" expresses various persuasion and education. It is the result of elders and brothers persuading him to think about the family and “glory the ancestors and descendants grow.” It can be seen that Yao Changqian is indeed poor, and Yao Jincheng, who was inherited, is a rich family, and Xiao Zhirong can be "rich and far-reaching". It also shows that Zhirong's adoption will not affect the equalization of each house's "taught business". In other words, it belongs to the common family property of Yao Changqian's house and will not be transferred with the advancement of his eldest son Zhirong. From this contract, we can feel the helplessness of Yao Changqian, under the intervention of the family forces, witnessed by his two younger brothers and a younger brother who wrote on his behalf.
2. The 27th year of Daoguang (1847) Yao Changqian's birth contract
In a flash, 36 years have passed, and in the 27th year of Daoguang, Yao Changqian is still alive. From this contract, he learned that Zhirong, who was adopted, was not the eldest son, but the second son. However, because the eldest son died prematurely, he regarded Zhirong as the eldest son. Looking back on the previous contract, the eldest son died young and the second son became an heir, which made him feel helpless. Fortunately, Chen gave birth to three more sons for him. In his later years, Yao Changqian began to divide the birth of his five sons. The eldest son died early, leaving only one piece of the sacrifice field for the future worship of the mountains and tombs. Yao Changqian and his wife are old and can share a portion of the food in the fields, and the rest of the houses, things, land, and ponds are divided into four groups. The four sons divide the family through the management method.
This contract is also from Yao Changqian. Looking at the previous one, you can see many interesting questions.First, Zhirong is not the "first son". There is also the eldest son Zhijin who died early, and the second son is only five years old. He said that he was the eldest son, and he was forced to persuade the family to succeed. The word "exiled" was used above, which shows the cruelty of Chengsi's customs.
The second is to divide the property in his later years, and he still divides the property evenly with his second son Zhirong, which shows his love for Zhirong. Third, it is obvious that he owns a lot of land, which means that these thirty-six years of struggle have finally helped him get rid of poverty and become rich. In this, will there be any contribution to the adoption of the rich son Zhirong? Otherwise, why would the son who has been born will come back to divide the family property? Otherwise, why would his three younger brothers Zhichang, Zhikun and Zhiwei have no objection? Fourth, he did not invite outsiders to witness this contract for his own property, but he was illiterate, so this contract was written by Caixing. Who is Caixing? Without a signature, it can be seen that he is the same surname and should be a fellow of the same village.
3. In the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), Yao Zhirong's house division contract
Another ten years have passed. Yao Zhirong is already 51 years old. This time it is his turn to divide the property. The "Niolan House" and "Hachang" on the contract are both old place names of Qingbu Village, Xinya Street. This house division contract between Yao Zhirong and his cousins Zhicong and Zhijun is only half seen from the word "contract division" of Qishishi. It was two-point and each was accepted. Referring to the other Yao Changqian's analysis of the birth contract, we can see that Zhicong and Zhijun were not born by Yao Changqian, so Yao Zhirong's house division contract was suspected to be signed with the Yao Jincheng family who he inherited. There is no intermediary or witness to the house split contract between Yao Zhirong and his cousins Zhicong and Zhijun.
4. During the Xianfeng period, Yao Zhirong bought tax fields Qiwei
We can see that Yao Zhirong is very good at making a fortune. He bought land again, and he bought land with a foreign surname. The land name is Shashuilong Field, and the original owner of the field was Chen Ruanan. He bought two acres of five cents and five cents at one time. Moreover, I went to the government to go through the land purchase procedures very rigorously. The Chen surname is the Qingtan surname. This 小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小小� However, the federation was undoubtedly an official federation in the Xianfeng year.
5. In the third year of Guangxu (1877), Yao Jinhui followed the land contract
This contract is quite special. Although Yao Jinhui was eager to use silver, he was reluctant to sell his ancestral land. He adopted the form of mortgage mortgage. Because he could not borrow money or pay the money from his relatives, he first paid the land to Guangfutang through the middle-aged man, that is, he paid the hall number of a clan's ancestral hall, not a private person, and then redeem it after he had money. The other party signed two people in charge of Guangfutang, named Yao Jinjian and Yao Rongchang. It can be seen that this land was sold to the family property of his clan and became the public land of Guangfutang.
, a ancestral property that he had never been willing to sell, was not allowed to redeem until twenty-three years later. On the contrary, he sold another land property (see the contract of Yao Jinhui selling land in the 16th year of Guangxu and Yao Jinhui in the 20th year of Guangxu). At the end of the contract, there was a description of Guangfutang transferring the land to Yao Jian's residence twenty-three years later. Guangfutang also wanted to use money, but when he saw that Yao Jinhui was unable to redeem it, he transferred it to the private one. This is a very worthy of discussion in the history of land mortgages. Yao Jinhui is unwilling to sell this land, but he still cannot redeem it once he has struggled. The helplessness revealed in it is a microcosm of the hard survival of farmers.
When I bought this batch of contracts, it came from the same source. In other words, the one who collected this batch of contracts was a Yao family in in Laoluzhuang. Those who keep these contracts must be Yao Zhirong's descendants. According to this reason, Yao Jinhui may be Yao Zhirong's son.
The "first summons relatives in the house, and no silver is paid; then the middle person..., leads to... three-sided statements, the king promises, and then establishes a contract, and the silver is filed together until the two are intersected, and there is no small amount of money. This is a clear inheritance, not a debt demolition, aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or aft, or accustomed to the contract, if there is a dispute, it is a matter of the main principle and not acknowledge it. It is said that the land does not count rent, the silver does not count profit, and the silver returns to the contract. This is a two wish, and you must not repent in the future, for fear that you have no support, and make a deposit and submit it to the acceptance and acceptance as the basis."They are all plate-shaped contracts in the past.
6. In the 16th year of Guangxu (1877), Yao Jinhui sold land contract
This Yao Jinhui was really short of money. For some reason, he repeatedly wanted to sell his ancestors' land. The buyer of this land was Yao Puhui in the house of our village, which means he sold it to cousins of the same clan. The middleman was Yao Huanxian.
This contract was one mu and six cents of the land sold by Yao Jinhui. Land is the lifeblood of farmers , so the procedures for selling land are very rigorous. There are many rules among the people, and buying is mainly from relatives to divorce. This is the original contract. Four years later, he signed a contract with Yao Puhui again to formally handle the transfer procedures (see the next contract for Yao Jinhui to sell land in the 20th year of Guangxu).
7. In the 20th year of Guangxu (1881), Yao Jinhui to sell land in the 20th year of Guangxu (1881)
Yao Jinhui was eager to use silver and sold the land named "watermelon field" with his cousin Yao Puhui. This contract was handled by the government. The original continued, so the official seal was stamped with the official seal, and the white deeds were changed from a red deed.
compared the two deeds before and after, and the land name matched the number of acres. It can be seen that the same piece of land was the same, but four years later, I went to the government to officially complete the transfer procedures. This acre of six cents of land was replaced by a white 17 taels of silver. If I wanted to buy it back, it would not be easy.
8. In the 20th year of Guangxu (1881), Yao Puhui bought the land of a deeds
except for those 17 taels The bank, Yao Jinhui also has a document of transfer of the official household, called the official covenant. It is to prove that this place has nothing to do with him and has already belonged to the new owner Yao Puhui.
covenant is a document that was jointly printed by the Guangdong Provincial Government in the Qing Dynasty, that is, the tax covenant certificate. It is a document filled out by the government after land and house transactions are registered and paid by the government, as an important attachment to land deeds, house deeds, etc. In addition to engraving relevant legal terms for comparison and execution, the first half of the "covenant" also states the name of the business owner, the number of land (or real estate) and the price of silver.
The second half is stamped with official seals at the time to prepare for taxation, and fill in the deed price and silver number in capital letters on the seal. Then, cut the riding characters into two in front of the business owner. Paste the first half on the white deed, hand it over to the business owner to collect, and seal the official seal on the white deed. It means that the land and house transactions have been officially registered and the tax has been paid. This deed was originally pasted with Yao Jinhui's land sale contract. From this contract, we can further understand the procedures for transferring land in the Qing Dynasty.
9. In the 23rd year of Guangxu (1884), Liu Bingcan and Liu Bingrong's house sale contract
This is a contract for selling houses by Liu Bingcan and Liu Bingrong, which was in the 23rd year of Guangxu (901). Brothers Liu Bingcan and Liu Bingrong sold an old house to Yao Xiongzhang of our village because they were eager to use it. This contract was not written by the seller, but asked someone to write it on his behalf. Liu Bingcan made a contract based on the middle finger. It is rare to sell the contract for selling the ancestral house. It can be seen from the text that the buyer's qualifications are sorted. First, the relatives are relatives, and secondly, the neighbors are neighbors. Only after no one buys it can they sell it with the distant neighbors and other surnames. From the perspective of everyone living in Laoluzhuang, the Liu family The brothers sold the neighbors of the house. Why not sell with the same surname? From our investigation, the surname Liu was no longer there after the founding of the country. It can be seen that the Liu family is lonely and single here, and the Liu brothers cannot live there.
What is the relationship between Yao Xiongzhang and Yao Zhirong and Yao Jinhui? Is it the son of Yao Jinhui? The original offer was 20 oceans , and finally the bargaining was 15 oceans. The Liu family may have left the market in Lao Luzhuang since then.
The middleman of this transaction was named Huo Yucang, and there was no surname Huo in Qing 㘵 Village, so this person didn't know What's the origin? Liu Bingcan is illiterate and uses a handprint.
10. In the 27th year of Guangxu (1901 ) Yao Puhui and Yao Huaihui's property division voucher
. Some people really like it. Yao Jinhui sells land there, and Yao Puhui has money to buy a house again. It turns out that their brothers went abroad to make a living and make a lot of money.Yao Puhui's brother Yao Huaihui and the two brothers worked together to open a Tong'an rice shop in Vietnam. More than ten years later, they returned home in glory and bought a batch of industries together. In order to avoid the descendants causing disputes over property, the two of them set up orders at the same time to list the source, location and quantity of the industry one by one and clearly divide it. This single original is in duplicate, and only one is seen now. It has four words "If you meet the qujie" in the riding slit, and only half of it remains. It is rare to distribute the goods. The warrants left by making a living from overseas are even rarer. Are they precious? Unfortunately, it's no longer my own.
The words on this voucher to future generations are quite touching: "In the future, the descendants should not be stubborn and hesitate. I hope that your descendants will be ashamed of our companions for more than ten years, inspiring and working together, and being one with one heart and one virtue. I have high hopes." When the brothers struggled in a foreign land, they did not distinguish between each other and returned to their hometowns only to make money and lay a foundation for their descendants. That is their belief in struggle, and what? Can their descendants keep that property? Can you be harmonious with the place?
11. In the second year of the Republic of China (1913 ) Yao Yingjie sold the land mail
11. In the blink of an eye, it arrived in the Republic of China. This should be the fourth generation of the Yao family. Yao Yingjie should be the son of Yao Puhui. Yao Yingjie sold the land with his brother because he urgently used silver. Look, my brothers also have to ask the Zhongren to buy land transactions. The Zhongren is called Yao Tongjie, and I feel that he is also a cousin. Looking at the wording, "I asked the middle-aged man Yao Tongjie to lead him to his brother's house and say he would buy it together." It seemed as if he didn't even know where his brother's house was. In fact, the rules for selling land are strict. In addition to applying the format of the land sale contract, what is strange is that the brother here does not have a name, but only uses the word "Silver Master". Instead, the name of the middle-aged man Yao Tongjie appears repeatedly. Yao Yingjie’s personal writing of the land sale deed did not write the name of the buyer. Was it negligent or intentional? Since land trading is such an important matter, can you not list the buyer's name? Why does it feel a little weird?
12. In the second year of the Republic of China (1913 ) Yao Yingjie sold Tianqi
2. Let’s take a look at the previous contract. This is the story of the Yao family for several generations. The first generation of the "Chang" generation, the second generation of the "Zhi" generation, the third generation of the "Hui" generation, and the fourth generation of the "Xie" generation, so is this "Ting" generation the fifth generation? The contractor to the exchange of land deeds is Yao Tingjian. He exchanged his uncle's house with Yao Tingjian from the same village. The contract states: "If you replace the land without taxes, the two families will lose money, and one will be worth a thousand years. In the future, it will not be recovered. If you are allowed to build a house, if the foundation wall is blocked, the situation will not be matched and the path will not be passed, and you must be leveled. In the future, you must not repent. You must not repent of the strange words."
The two characters "censored and examined" have been simplified. After the Chinese characters are simplified, they have been combined into one character. These two people with the same name and surname have changed the house, but they are not "privately replaced melons", but are carried out through the middle-aged people. It can be seen that in the past, the private discussion was violated by civil law.
Let’s summarize these twelve contracts, which can probably be imagined as such a story; there is a farmer named Yao Changqian who is very poor, has never read books, is illiterate, and has given birth to his eldest son after marrying a wife. Unfortunately, he died young and gave birth to his next son Zhirong. He had no choice but to be persuaded by his clan members and gave birth to his descendants to his fellow clans as his son.
After decades of struggle, Yao Changqian not only gave birth to three sons but also made a lot of property. His second son Zhirong, who had already left the family, was also very successful. He not only bought land and land, but also helped his biological father's family. Yao Changqian divided the production and also divided the industry into Zhirong in his later years.
When he arrived at his grandchildren, Huaihui and Park Hui brothers went to Vietnam to make a living, opened rice shops, and after more than ten years of hard work, they finally returned home in glory. After returning, they bought land and real estate shops and became a local rich household. When the two brothers were born, they worked together and their property was not divided. In their later years, they also divided their property to avoid disputes between their descendants. From then on, they will be their descendants, and they are struggling with the ups and downs of buying and selling land...
The picture shows a photo of the Yao brothers sandwiched in the contract.This should not be the Yao brothers who went to Vietnam to work hard, because when they returned to China to divide their products, they were already middle-aged and elderly people. At that time, they were still in the Qing Dynasty, so they would not have paid for this. It is very likely that this is every five generations of the Yao family.
Finally, a photo of the clan activity in the Lingnan Yaozhuang collection in the 37th year of the Republic of China was displayed. There must be Yao from Lao Luzhuang inside. Perhaps Yao Tingjian and Yao Yingjie are still alive, I don’t know if they are in the photos.
