清代湖南的铺兵永充制及其实践——以湘潭县为中心的考察

The System and Practice of Permanent Dispatch Bearers in Hunan in the Qing Dynasty:A Study Centering on Xiangtan County

在清代的邮驿体系中,铺司负责地方日常公文的传递,铺兵则是铺司中的承役人员。通过分析家谱文献中有关铺兵的资料,可以对这一差役的实际运行有更为细致的了解。湖南湘潭等地实行的是铺兵永充制,每处铺司的差役由若干家族承担,并且世代应役。各个家族每年承接一定天数的差役,以房支为单位将属于本族的差役进行再次分配,每个房支只需在固定年份承差若干天。各房领取差役后并不亲身应差,而是设立公产,以经营公产所得的收入雇人当差。

In the postal system of the Qing Dynasty,dispatch stations were responsible for the delivery of local daily official documents,and the dispatch bearers staffed the dispatch stations.By analyzing the genealogies of dispatch bearers,we have a more intuitive understanding of the actual operation of this service.In Xiangtan and other places in Hunan Province,the system of permanent dispatch bearers was implemented.The responsibility for the runners of each dispatch station were assumed by several clans who should serve for generations.Each clan undertook a certain number of tasks every year,and the lineage branches redistributed assigned the tasks.Each lineage branch only needed to undertake the errands for a certain number of days in a fixed year.After receiving the errands,each branch did not perform the jobs in person,but instead they established communal property.The income earned from the operation of the communal property was used to hire people to complete tasks.