“不准派买”与“勒限采买”——清代粮食采购法的表与里(1644—1850)

The Expression and Practice of Food Purchasing Law in Qing Dynasty(1644-1850)

清代常平仓采买规范明确规定不得派买累民、短价加收等,并对采购地点、价格等细节予以规制。但在采买过程中,当地官府常在一定程度上强制派买。即使没有短价浮收,对未来市场价格的期待可能性也是粮户不愿意卖粮的心理原因。于是粮户也利用分户、议价甚至诉讼行为积极争取利益。统治者对采买的审查更注重涉及贪污、人命、聚众激变等严重危害统治秩序的情节,对符合“公平”定价的派买一定程度上予以容忍。此外,针对常平仓运营,统治者既设立了额定储量,按时采买的法律责任,又通过盘查、题报等制度不断督查。这种“不准派买”的表与“勒限采买”的里,使得地方官在采买过程中只能不断背离法律的规定。而各地不断出现的派买勒收案件体现了官民的内在矛盾,也成为影响常平仓良好运行的深层阻碍。

In the Qing Dynasty,the ever-normal granaries(Changpingcang)Purchasing Regulations clearly stipulated that behaviors such as Allotted Purchases(paimai)and short-term prices should not be sent,and the details such as purchasing location and price should be regulated.However,in the process of purchasing,the local government often compulsorily allotted purchases to a certain extent.Even if there was no short-term price floating,the expectation of future market prices was also the reason why grain households were reluctant to sell grain.Therefore,grain households also actively strived for interests by using household division,bargaining and even litigation.The ruler's review of purchases paid more attention to circumstances that seriously endangered the ruling order,such as corruption,murders,and riots,and tolerated allotted purchases that meet“fair”pricing to a certain extent.In addition,for the operation of ever-normal granaries,the rulers not only set up rated reserves,legal responsibility for purchasing on time,but also constantly supervised through systems such as inventory and title reports.This kind of“no forced trading”and the reality of“reaching the standard on time”,made the local officials could only continue to violate the provisions of the law in the process of purchasing.However,the constant occurrence of Paimai cases in various places reflected the internal contradiction between the government and the people,and it had also become a deep obstacle to the normal operation of the ever-normal granaries.