明末清初長沙府湘潭縣驛傳制度與土客之爭

Post Station System and Conflict between Local and Traveling Merchants in Xiangtan County from Late Ming to Early Qing

以往關於明中後期賦役制度改革的研究，主要強調對王朝制度本身的考證，較少關注制度的具體實施以及王朝制度與地方社會之間的互動。本文以湖廣長沙府的賦役改革為個案，考察長沙府明中後期各州縣賦役改革的內容，並以湘潭縣驛傳改革過程為中心探討賦役制度改革與地方社會的互動。本文認為長沙府屬各縣的賦役改革在內容上沒有一定之規，但湘潭縣的驛傳制度卻從明嘉靖時期到清初一直備受地方官員和社會各方勢力的關注。湘潭縣的驛傳改革過程，主要體現了士紳、里甲與行戶之間的利益糾葛，以及各種勢力與官府的議價和合作。湘潭縣個案說明，地方賦役改革實際上是官方與地方社會各方面互動的結果，暸解賦役改革的實際運作可以幫助我們更好地看到當時地方社會變遷的過程。

Previous Studies have revealed that taxes reform from middle Ming was a local governmental financial reform process which generated from the local level, and that the content and time of the taxes reform was inconsistent. Study on the content and time of the reform in counties of Changsha Prefecture shows all the differences among the counties. However, post station system of Xiangtan County had been pay special attention to from late Ming to early Qing by local government and society. The process of Xiangtan’s post station system reform mainly revealed the conflict and cooperation among the local elite, village chief, traveling merchant and local government. In this case, several magistrates from late Ming to early Qing had pay attention to the tax collection for the post station system, which provided a kind of power resource for the society to compete for. The local elite acted as middleman to realize the cooperation between the local government and merchants. The merchants provided the tax in order to get protection from the government. The village chief exchanged the power get from paying tax for the economic benefit. The government reconciled the village chief and traveling merchant, and made effort to keep the benefits balance between them. This case reveals that local taxes reform is the result of interaction between government and local society, and that the actual operation of taxes reform could help us to interpret the local social change more deeply.