太平天国时期徽州的木簰转运纠纷与诉讼处置——以《四、五、六都士绅呈请禁止石山以上水运木簰全案》抄本为中心

Disputes and Litigation Settlement of Wood Transportation in Huizhou dur⁃ing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom--Centered on the Transcript of The Case of Four,Five and Six Capital Gentry Petting to Ban the Waterborne Wood Transportation above the Stone Mountain

明清时代徽州木商的活动遍及长江流域,其中又以婺源木商最为典型。不过,以往所见多是这些木商在徽州府之外的贸易,而他们在本地的活动及其相关纠纷则较少涉及。抄本《四、五、六都士绅呈请禁止石山以上水运木簰全案》一书,则反映了咸丰年间婺源木商在徽州府黟县境内的活动。作为外来木商,在地士绅对之的仇富心态在所难免,木簰转运过程中的勒索情事亦不罕见,其中也夹杂着当地士绅内部不同的利益纠葛与冲突,这就使得同一事实本身,从各异的立场观察,至少从表面上看皆有其各自的道理。特别需要注意的是,此一讼案发生在特殊的时代,故在诉讼展开的过程中,双方皆充分利用太平军兴的背景,从国家利益的高度为己方的诉求寻找合理依据:一方声称木商对于军兴之后军费抽厘的巨大贡献,另一方则反复强调地方社会中团练作用的紧迫性与重要性。对此,作为仲裁方的官府权衡利弊,在特别需要地方社会配合的时代背景下,为了尽快平息事端,倾向于站在在地士绅一边,这也使得相关的纠纷得以迅速落幕。

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the activities of Huizhou wood merchants spread across the Yangtze River basin,among which Wuyuan wood merchants were the most typical.However,what we have seen in the past was mostly the trade of these wood merchants outside of Huizhou Province,while their local activities and their related disputes were less involved.The transcript of The Case of Four,Five and Six Capital Gentry Petting to Ban the Waterborne Wood Transportation above the Stone Mountain reflects the activities of Wuyuan wood merchants in Yixian County,Huizhou Prefecture,during the Xianfeng Period.The local gentry’s hatred of wealthy wood merchants from other places is inevitable.Extortion is not uncommon in the process of wood transportation,which is also mixed with different interest disputes and conflicts within the local gentry.This makes the same fact itself,from different perspectives,at least on the surface,have their own reasons.It should be noted that this lawsuit took place in a special era,so in the process of litigation,both parties made full use of the background of Taiping’s military pros⁃perity to find a reasonable basis for their own appeal from the perspective of national interests:one side claimed that wood mer⁃chants had made great contributions to the military expenditure after the military prosperity,while the other side repeatedly stressed the urgency and importance of the role of regimental training in local society.In this regard,the government,as the arbi⁃trator,weighed the advantages and disadvantages.In the era of special need for local social cooperation,in order to settle the matter as soon as possible,it tended to stand on the side of local gentry,which also made the related disputes come to a quick end.