A Brief History of the Tujia — The Tujia Under Yuan, Ming, and Qing Tusi Rule (I)
Chapter 3: The Late Feudal Period — Section 1: The Tujia Under Yuan, Ming, and Qing Tusi Rule — I. Establishment of the Tusi System and Tusi Rule — (I) Establishment of the Tusi System: From the Yuan dynasty onward, feudal dynasties began establishing the tusi system in Tujia areas. By the Ming dynasty, the tusi system further developed and became increasingly complete. In the early Qing, it followed Ming precedents and continued to...
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Chapter Three: The Late Feudal Society
Section One: The Tujia During the Period of Yuan, Ming, and Qing Tusi Rule
I. The Establishment of the Tusi System and Tusi Rule
(1) The Establishment of the Tusi System
From the Yuan Dynasty onward, the feudal dynasty began to establish the tusi system in the Tujia region. By the Ming Dynasty, the tusi system further developed and became increasingly complete. In the early Qing, it followed the Ming system and continued to advance it. The formation of the tusi system strengthened the feudal central dynasty's control over the Tujia region, changing from the loose bridle-and-halter policy of the Tang and Song to one capable of implementing effective control.
While conquering by force, the Yuan rulers also adopted a policy of pacification toward Tujia leaders who expressed willingness to submit, appointing them to tusi posts. In the western Hunan and Hubei region, during the early and middle Yuan, the activities of local ethnic minority cave communities showed a markedly intensified trend compared to before, and the various native chieftains frequently rebelled and submitted inconsistently. Several rebellions in the early Yuan caused considerable trouble for the Yuan Dynasty, and only after mobilizing forces on a large scale were they able to suppress them. On the basis of quelling the rebellions, the Yuan Dynasty adopted a series of pacification policies and successively established in the western Hunan region the Yongshun Anfu Office (seat at present-day Yongshun County), Baojing Native Prefecture (seat at present-day Baojing County), Nanwei Native Prefecture (present-day Liexi and Baiyang area southwest of Yongshun County), Anding Native Prefecture (in present-day Zhangjiajie city area), Shixi Native Prefecture (in present-day Sangzhi County area), and the Baiya Cave Zhangguan Office (in present-day northwest Longshan County), Huixi Shilong Zhangguan Office (in present-day Yongshun County area), Lüchi Cave Zhangguan Office, Lare Cave Zhangguan Office, Maizhu Huang Cave Zhangguan Office (the above three caves are all in present-day Yongshun area), Wuzhai Zhangguan Office (in present-day Fenghuang County area), Upper Sangzhi Zhangguan Office, and Lower Sangzhi Zhangguan Office (in present-day Sangzhi County area), among other tusi.
In the southwestern Hubei region, the Reba Anfu Office (in present-day Xuan'en County), Shibi Anfu Office (between present-day Laifeng and Xuan'en Counties), Sanmao Native Prefecture (in present-day Laifeng County), Huaide Native Prefecture (in present-day Hefeng County), Panshun Native Prefecture (in present-day Hefeng County), and multiple Zhangguan Offices were established.
In the southeastern Chongqing region, the Shizhu Anfu Office (in present-day Shizhu County), Youyang Native Prefecture (in present-day Youyang County), Yimei Zhangguan Office, Pingcha Zhangguan Office, and Shiye Zhangguan Office (all in present-day Xiushan County), among other tusi, were established.
In the northeastern Guizhou region, the Sizhou Anfu Office was initially established, later changed to the Sizhou Xuanwei Office (in present-day northeastern Guizhou). The Sizhou tusi had a very broad jurisdiction and many subordinate offices, with a complex ethnic composition, but the Sizhou tusi itself was Tujia.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, many Tujia tusi were promoted, such as the Sangzhi Zhangguan Office being promoted to the Sangzhi Xuanwei Office. Not only that, the Yuan court also widely increased the number of tusi in the Tujia region at that time. Taking the southwestern Hubei region in the late Yuan as an example, before Ming Yuzhen occupied Shu, the Yuan court established in southwestern Hubei three Xuanwei Offices: the Shinan Xuanwei Office, the Zhenbian Maoling Cave Xuanwei Office, and the Huaide Military-Civilian Xuanwei Office; seven Xuanfu Offices: the Sanmao Military-Civilian Xuanfu Office, the Rongmei Cave Xuanfu Office, the Gaoluo Xuanfu Office, the Longfeng Xuanfu Office, the Longtan Xuanfu Office, the Longzhong Road Xuanfu Office, and the Longqu Cave Xuanfu Office; and six Anfu Offices: the Zhongxiao Military-Civilian Anfu Office, the Panshun Military-Civilian Anfu Office, the Zhongyi Military-Civilian Anfu Office, the Jindong Anfu Office, the Dawang Anfu Office, and the Muzha Anfu Office. The number and rank of Tujia tusi established in the late Yuan were unprecedented. Among them, most were newly established in the late Yuan. This fully reflects the Yuan court's extraordinary policy of winning over and pacifying Tujia tusi in the late Yuan, and also reflects the fact that the Yuan regime was declining and various Tujia indigenous forces expanded greatly amid the chaos and ultimately received recognition from the central dynasty.
The basic pattern of Tujia chieftain offices established in the Yuan Dynasty laid the foundation for the chieftain system set up in the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties. While widely establishing chieftain offices in Tujia areas, the Yuan court also made specific provisions regarding the official ranks, obligations, and tribute of the chieftains. The chieftain system had already basically taken shape in Tujia areas.
After the Ming Dynasty was founded, building on the chieftain offices established in the Yuan Dynasty, it made even clearer and more specific provisions concerning the establishment, official ranks, succession, abolition, promotion and demotion, tribute, and military conscription of chieftains, bringing the chieftain system to maturity. With the improvement of the chieftain system, Tujia chieftain regimes also entered their mature period of development. Among the formal civil and military chieftain titles of the Ming Dynasty, apart from the Yongshun Chieftain, which had 3 subordinate civil official native prefectures under its jurisdiction, all the rest of the Tujia chieftains were military chieftains, including all chieftain offices from Xuanwei Commission and Xuanfu Commission down to Anfu Commission, Zhangguan Commission, and Man-yi Zhangguan Commission, all of which were established.
Drawing on various historical records, the chieftain offices established in Tujia areas in the early Ming Dynasty, excluding the 2 Xuanwei Commissions of Sinan and Sizhou that had already undergone gaitu guiliu during the Yongle period, totaled 2 Xuanwei Commissions, 6 Xuanfu Commissions, 10 Anfu Commissions, 3 native prefectures, 33 Zhangguan Commissions, and 5 Man-yi Zhangguan Commissions, altogether 59 large and small chieftain offices. Specifically, in the Xiangxi region, 2 Xuanwei Commissions, 1 Anfu Commission, 3 native prefectures, and 12 Zhangguan Commissions were established, respectively under the jurisdiction of the Huguang Regional Military Commission and the Jiuxi Guard; in the southwestern Hubei region, 4 Xuanfu Commissions, 9 Anfu Commissions, 13 Zhangguan Commissions, and 5 Man-yi Zhangguan Commissions were established, under the jurisdiction of the Shizhou Guard Civil and Military Command; in the southeastern Chongqing region, 2 Xuanfu Commissions and 4 Zhangguan Commissions were established, respectively under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan Regional Military Commission and the Chongqing Guard; and in the northeastern Guizhou region, 4 Zhangguan Commissions were established.
According to Ming regulations, the Xuanwei Commissioner was of the 3rd rank, junior grade, higher than the regular prefect of the 4th rank, senior grade; the Xuanfu Commissioner was of the 4th rank, junior grade, while the Anfu Commissioner and native prefect were of the 5th rank, junior grade, all higher than or equivalent to the 5th rank, junior grade, of regular prefects. According to the "History of Ming: Geography Treatise," the military chieftains of all Guizhou during the same period, apart from 1 Xuanwei Commission, consisted of 55 Zhangguan Commissions and 21 Man-yi Zhangguan Commissions of low rank. It can thus be seen that compared with the numerous Guizhou chieftains, Tujia chieftains were far higher in chieftain rank. This indicates the prosperity of Tujia chieftain development and shows that Tujia chieftains occupied an important position in the Ming Dynasty chieftain system.
The Ming court, based on native officials' "amount of merit and service, graded distinctions of rank and inferiority," granted them offices such as Xuanwei Commissioner, Xuanfu Commissioner, Anfu Commissioner, and Zhangguan, and permitted them to inherit these positions for generations. However, the succession, promotion and demotion, dismissal, and establishment or abolition of chieftain offices and institutions all had to obey the Ming central government. At the same time, chieftains of all levels, large and small, relied on the central dynasty as their backing and accepted titles and patents of appointment to legitimize their rule, making it easier to exercise effective governance in their respective jurisdictions. Meanwhile, in order to strengthen control over the chieftains, the Ming Dynasty also used the policy of alternating native and regular officials, dispatching regular officials into chieftain offices at all levels to supervise the chieftains. However, because of contradictions and struggles between the chieftains and the feudal central dynasty, some chieftains set up native officials such as native prefects and Zhangguan on their own and concealed this without reporting it. The Rongmei Chieftain, for instance, once privately established native officials such as native prefects and native commandants. On the north bank of the Qingjiang River in present-day Changyang County, Zhangguan Commissions such as Yujiang, Mali, and Shidu were established. These chieftains and native officials were all not reported to the feudal central dynasty, and therefore do not appear in historical and gazetteer records.
In addition, the Ming court also established guards and battalions in the marginal zones of Tujia areas and in areas where Tujia and Han lived together, stationing heavy troops there to strengthen military defense. In western Hubei, the Shizhou Guard and the Bailihuang Thousand-Household Office were established; in western Hunan, the Jiuxi Guard was established, with 3 thousand-household offices under it: Maliao, Tianping, and Anfu; the Yongding Guard had the Zhangjiajie Thousand-Household Office under it; the Chenzhou Guard had the Zhenxi Thousand-Household Office under it; and in southeastern Chongqing, the Qianjiang Thousand-Household Office was established. The guards and battalions had officials such as guard commandants, thousand-household commanders, and hundred-household commanders, forming a military defense encirclement around Tujia areas. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also established the Datian Thousand-Household Office in Xianfeng County, in the heartland of the Tujia concentration in Shizhou, to exercise control on the spot. "And Datian was established in the center of the eight-faced surrounding barbarian heartland, tightly gripping the throat of the various offices, in order to connect the vital route between Chu and Shu," "Although Datian is a tiny piece of land, it is truly like a fistful of mud sealing many holes," "the lock and key of Jingxiang, the shield and screen of Chongqing and Kuizhou." Each guard was directly garrisoned by troops dispatched by the Ming court, opening up farmland for military settlement, "supporting themselves from their own campaigns," "both farming and guarding," "when there was no trouble, the guard troops shouldered hoes; when there was trouble, they grasped sharp weapons." Under each thousand-household office were hundred-household offices, and the thousand-household and hundred-household commanders were mostly already-submitted "native chiefs and official managers," who were allocated land as their own. "The original clan officials did not receive salary, the troops did not request grain, and they provided their own clothing and weapons," guarding key communication routes and implementing the strategy of "using natives to guard against natives." At important military locations, Han officials were interspersed as thousand-household and hundred-household commanders, leading Han troops in defense. At transportation hubs in various places, passes were set up and strategic points built, garrisoned by Han officials and Han troops, or guarded by native officials and native troops. This tight military defense and the forest of passes could not only prevent resistance by the Tujia people and isolate them from the Han people, realizing the restriction that "barbarians do not leave the territory, Han do not enter the caves," but could also prevent "chieftains from coming and going," strengthening control over the chieftains.
The establishment of Tujia chieftain offices in the Qing Dynasty basically followed the Ming system, and the overall pattern of chieftain establishment did not change much; there were only some adjustments in the titles of certain chieftains. Toward the various chieftains promoted in the late Ming, the early Qing adopted different methods of handling. Among them, the Xuanwei Commission level of the four chieftains Rongmei, Sangzhi, Youyang, and Shizhu, which had been promoted to Xuanwei Commissions, was recognized. But for the other three chieftains Zhonglu, Dongxiang, and Tangya, which had also been promoted to Xuanwei Commissions, they still followed the Ming system and remained Anfu Commissions or Zhangguan Commissions. In addition, in the early Qing there were also some adjustments to certain medium and small chieftains.
Taking the southwestern Hubei region as an example, the chieftain offices established in southwestern Hubei during the Qing Dynasty included: 1 Xuanwei Commission: Rongmei; 4 Xuanfu Commissions: Shinan, Sanmao, Zhongjian, and Zhongdong; 13 Anfu Commissions: Dongxiang, Jindong, Zhonglu, Zhongxiao, Gaoluo, Dawang, Dongliu, Longtan, Shaxi, Wufeng, Shiliang, Jiaoshan, and Shuijin; 15 Zhangguan Commissions: Muce, Tangya, Labi, Maodong, Manshui, Xiping, Jiannan, Manao Zhaicheng, Shibao Shenxi, Xiadong Pingcha, Taping (or Yuantong Taping), Muzhai Qiandong, Hongluan Houdong, Rongjiao Zuodong, and Nengbi Youdong. Tujia chieftains in other regions basically continued the Ming system.
(2) The Rule of the Chieftains
The chieftain system in Tujia areas was an organization combining military and administrative functions. The Xuanwei Commissioner, Xuanfu Commissioner, and Anfu Commissioner were both the highest administrative officials of their respective jurisdictions and the highest military leaders of their regions. The chieftains and native officials appointed by the central dynasty practiced a feudal hereditary system: "The established Xuanwei, prefects, and Zhangguan, regardless of worthiness or foolishness, all belonged to hereditary posts." When the father died, the son succeeded; if there was no son, the younger brother succeeded upon the elder brother's death.
Chieftain rule depended on its distinctive bureaucratic apparatus. In the chieftain's bureaucratic apparatus, besides the chieftain lord, there were native officials of various levels below him. They were the chieftain's right-hand men in implementing rule over the native people and the concrete executors of the chieftain's ruling policies. The highest official in the chieftain's office was called "Zongli" in Yongshun and "Qigu" in Rongmei, with native officials of various sizes such as "Jiazheng" and "Sheba" below; posts such as Jingli, Confucian studies, professor, and instructor were filled by regular officials.
According to relevant records, the Zongli subordinate to the chieftain was generally above the Jiazheng, or at least on the same level as the Jiazheng. Jiazheng, as the name suggests, was a subordinate official managing the chieftain's internal affairs, while the Zongli should have been a high-ranking native official in overall charge of the chieftain's political affairs. Sheba was a local official appointed by the chieftain to a certain place; he could manage all administrative affairs of one area and possessed judicial authority. "All Sheba were permitted to handle folk litigation, regardless of household, marriage, land, or cases of homicide and robbery." Sheren had different designations, including so-called Shusi Shi Sheren, Huyin Sheren, and Yingxi Sheren. Gu Cai's "Record of Travels in Rongmei" called the errand runners "Ganban Sheren." The Yingxi Sheren was the chieftain's heir, and should be the chieftain's legitimate eldest son. The Huyin Sheren was held by someone extremely close to the chieftain, such as sons other than the legitimate eldest son and heir. They all had very high status.
At the grassroots level, "banners" combining military and administrative functions were established. Yongshun had 80 banners, Baojing had 16 banners, Sangzhi had 14 banners, Sanmao had 48 banners, and Rongmei had banners such as Wind, Cloud, Dragon, and Tiger. Each banner had a "banner chief" or "banner head," who managed households and corvee and trained native soldiers. Above the banner chiefs there were also general banners, whose duties were mainly in military management. In places such as Enshi, Badong, and Shizhu, the lijia system was established under each office, with 110 households as one li, and one li divided into 10 jia. Each li had a "Xiangyue" and "Lizhang," and each jia had a "Jiazhang." The laboring people within the lijia had to mutually guarantee one another, and were not allowed to conceal households or move away at will.
In addition to the native officials at all levels above, there were also heads, cave chiefs, and cave elders, often seen in the "Veritable Records of the Ming." These designations were merely grassroots clerical staff or cave and stockade headmen in the chieftain system, and perhaps could not be counted as native officials in the true sense.
The native officials at all levels mentioned above were all appointed by the chieftains themselves. Among them, high-ranking native officials such as Jiazheng, Zongli, and Huyin Sheren were all held by the chieftain's sons, nephews, or clansmen. Through this bureaucratic apparatus, chieftains at all levels exercised tight rule over the Tujia people.
A strict feudal hierarchy was a prominent feature of politics during the period of chieftain rule, with rigid ranks that could not be overstepped. "As for native officials in relation to native people, the distinction between master and servant was the strictest." The chieftain called himself "Benjue," and the native people called the chieftain "Jueye," "Duye," or "Tuwang," called his wife Furen, his concubine a certain Guniang, his young son Guan'er, his daughter Guanjie, and chieftain sons who held office Zongye. The subordinate officials of the chieftain could not directly speak the name of the chieftain's father; even homophones of his father's name had to be replaced with other characters, "avoiding the father's name," and offenders were reprimanded. Hierarchy was also extremely strict in house construction. The chieftain's office had "ornate pillars and carved beams, with tiles in close rows. Common people, however, built houses with forked timber and woven bamboo as walls. Sheba and headmen were permitted to erect beams and pillars and surround them with plank walls. All were not allowed to use tiles; if anyone used tiles, they would be punished for the crime of usurpation." Wherever the chieftain went, the native people had to kneel in welcome. "When the chieftain went out, his ceremonial guard was quite grand, and when the native people saw him, they all lined the roads and prostrated themselves. Even if there were reprimands or executions, they tremblingly obeyed and no one dared disobey." The chieftain was virtually a local emperor.
Tujia chieftain society was organized in a form combining military and administrative functions and combining soldiers and farmers. The banner was the grassroots organization of society and also the basic military unit. Each banner "was separately subordinate to the various prefectures and offices, and was under the overall jurisdiction of the general office. When there was trouble, they were mobilized as soldiers; when there was no trouble, they dispersed as common people to practice farming and digging." The Tujia chieftains' organization of their subject people by banner should have been an imitation of the Ming Dynasty guard and battalion system. The banner was the grassroots unit of the guard and battalion system. Among the various Tujia chieftains, "the Yongshun Chieftain divided into 58 banners, namely: Chang, Li, Dong, Xi, Nan, Bei, Xiong; Jiang, Neng, Jing, Rui, Ai, Xian, Feng; Zuo, Tao, De, Mao, Qin, Xun, Ce; You, Lue, Ling, Tong, Zhen, Jin, Zhong. Wu, Di, Liang, Xing, Fei, Yi, Ma; Biao, Chong, Shui, Zhan, Yong, Xiang, Long; Ying, Chang, Hu, Bao, Jia, Wei, Jie; Fu, Qing, Kai, Xuan, Zhi, Sheng, Gong. Taking seven characters as a line, each character was one banner, altogether 56 characters, for 56 banners; later the two characters Qing and Mou were added, making 58 banners in total. In addition, there were also six banners of garrison, hunting, Xiang, Miao, rice-house, and drummers, seven banners of attendants, the Changchuan Banner, the Sanren Banner, and the Zongguan Banner. ... Also the single Fu banner belonged to the chieftain's clan." "The Baojing Chieftain divided into 61 banners, namely Tiger, Leopard, Du, Zhi, Mou, Yong, Wei, Qu, Biao, Sheng, Qin, Li, Fei, Liang, Xian, Zhen ..." The Sangzhi Chieftain "divided its territory into 14 banners, namely East, West, South, North, Shen, Ling, Xian, Shun, Wei, Long, Hu, Rong, Zong, Ke." Others included the 48 banners of the Rongmei Chieftain and so on. Because the banner combined military and administrative functions, and the native people combined soldier and farmer, chieftain society was in fact a society of universal soldiery. When the Ming Dynasty conscripted native soldiers, the Youyang Chieftain alone could provide three thousand, five thousand, seven thousand, up to more than ten thousand, "for the native people were all soldiers, and so soldiers had no fixed quota."
While all soldiers were organized by banner and combined soldier and farmer, chieftains at all levels and native officials in guard and battalion areas all possessed armed forces composed of a certain number of native soldiers. Native soldiers were the chieftains' tool for suppressing resistance by the people of all ethnic groups and the main pillar maintaining their rule. "The chieftain had five camps of garrison troops, with one hundred soldiers in each camp." Soldiers entering the camps all had a certain stipend: "Each soldier received 3 taels 6 qian of work and food silver and 3 dou 6 sheng of rice, all apportioned from the people." The five camps of native soldiers were the front, rear, center, left, and right camps, among which the center camp was the most important and was usually led by the eldest son and heir, while the other four camps had clan relatives and trusted followers as leaders. The main duties of the camp soldiers were "first, to provide defense; second, to provide service," and they were an important tool for the chieftain to maintain his normal ruling order.
The organizational unit of native soldiers was the banner, led by a banner chief or banner head. Each banner had more than one hundred people, or several dozen. In the early Qing, there were still military officials such as Jingzhi, Canjiang, Youji, and Qianzong, who obeyed the chieftain and separately managed the various banners. The chieftain's armed forces implemented the system of lodging soldiers among farmers: practicing martial arts in leisure time, plowing in busy time, becoming soldiers when used, and becoming farmers when dispersed. The chieftains usually attached great importance to training native soldiers, and generally at the chieftain's seat of government there were often special places used for training. Sometimes they organized hunts to cultivate the native soldiers' spirit of bravery and skill in battle. "One man wrestled a tiger, twenty helped him, with the aim of certain death; anyone who released a tiger was certainly punished. Hunting other beasts was likewise. Those who captured birds or animals received double rewards if they were in the front." The battle formations of chieftain troops were distinctive. "Their formation: each office had twenty-four banner heads, with one man in front in each banner, then three men arranged horizontally as the second layer, then five men as the third layer, then seven men as the fourth layer, and then seven or eight men arranged horizontally as the fifth layer. The rest were all placed behind, cheering and supporting the battle. If those in front were defeated, then those in the middle of the second layer advanced to fill in, and the two wings did likewise. Victory or defeat was determined by the five layers. If all were defeated, then there was no hope. Each banner had sixteen men, and twenty-four banners together made three hundred eighty-four men, all carefully selected troops." This formation combined offense and defense, allowed free advance and retreat, and was advantageous for bringing collective strength into play. It was adopted by Ming Dynasty anti-Japanese famous generals Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang: "Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang's mandarin duck formation was precisely the method of native soldiers." Their method of mobilizing troops was also very special: "If summoned with she, then those who could eat came; if summoned with broom, then the whole territory came out." That is to say, if it was a troop mobilization order marked by she, then all young and strong people able to eat and fight came to assemble; if it was a troop mobilization order marked by broom, then everyone within the chieftain's territory came out. In addition, there were strict regulations for selecting soldiers, going on campaign, and fighting: "Their law of collective punishment was extremely strict, and therefore the native soldiers fought with their lives."
The chieftains set up passes and built watchtowers at important routes along the edges of their respective jurisdictions and dispatched native soldiers to guard them. If there was an alarm, wolf-smoke signals were lit, rising one after another in response, in order to block invasions by other chieftains. To enter or leave a chieftain's territory, one had to hold a "lingdan" from the chieftain's office; the banner chief checked the pass and allowed passage, and those without a permit were not allowed to leave the pass. When annexation wars occurred between chieftains, or when they invaded one another, captured people were asked whether they surrendered. If asked three times and they did not surrender, they were killed; those who surrendered were put in shackles and ordered to farm, and after several years were released and organized as guest soldiers. There was no fixed quota for native soldiers; it depended on how many the central dynasty conscripted. When the Ming Dynasty conscripted native soldiers, the Youyang Chieftain alone "had as many as three thousand, five thousand, seven thousand, and more than ten thousand. For the native people were all soldiers, and so soldiers had no fixed quota." Before native soldiers went on campaign, a ceremony had to be held: "A cow was tied before the spirits, and its head was cut off with a knife to divine victory or defeat. If the cow advanced, it meant victory; if it retreated, defeat; and if it advanced again, it meant defeat followed by victory. This was taken as the proof."
The Ming court often relied on Huguang native soldiers as a force for suppressing peasant uprisings and minority uprisings in various places, and conscripted them frequently; the chieftains, for their part, used "supplying conscripts" to express their loyalty to the court and to obtain good opportunities for official titles and noble ranks. "Whenever there was a campaign, they were always willing to carry spears and lead the way; the state relied on them for punitive expeditions, and therefore the Yong and Bao troops were known as fierce and mighty." The Ming court repeatedly conscripted Huguang native soldiers and sent them to Sizhou, Tianzhou, Huaiyuan, and Datengxia in Guangxi; to Wukai, Tonggu, and Pu'an in Guizhou; and to Sichuan, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, and other places to suppress peasant uprisings and minority uprisings. The great masses of native soldiers were extremely dissatisfied with frequent conscription and campaigns, and often resisted deployment in the form of desertion. In the 47th year of the Wanli reign of Emperor Shenzong of Ming (1619), Yongshun and Baojing native soldiers were conscripted to aid Liaodong. After half a year, of the 3,000 Yongshun native soldiers, only more than 700 reached the pass, while more than 2,000 secretly fled along the way; of the 5,000 Baojing native soldiers, more than 3,000 scattered and fled when the Xuanwei Commissioner fell ill. For native soldiers who fled and then returned, the chieftains applied the cruel punishment of "cutting off their hands and feet" to stop native soldiers from deserting.
Cruel corporal punishment was an important means by which the tusi (native chieftains) exercised savage rule over the Tujia people. "The tusi killed people without requesting imperial permission"; chieftains at every level wielded the power of life and death, and at the slightest displeasure they would slaughter their subjects at will—"without propriety or righteousness, without law or measure, though they dwell within China, they are as distant as beyond the seas." The tusi maintained prisons and execution grounds. When a native committed a crime, minor cases were handled by the native sub-prefect, while major ones were dealt with by the tusi himself. The tusi's criminal law was extremely cruel and barbaric: serious offenders were beheaded, while lesser ones suffered castration, finger amputation, ear cropping, flogging, and other punishments. Any native subject who showed a spirit of resistance, or who stole items from the tusi's office, was subjected to the ultimate penalty and invariably beheaded. Natives who slighted the tusi's guests, or who failed to pay homage to the tusi on schedule, had their ears cut off; those who committed theft generally had their fingers amputated. At executions, the tusi personally supervised. Those sentenced to flogging were beaten with rods by subordinate officials, and some died under the rod. If a native subject was thrown into prison, he had to wear heavy instruments of punishment: "The iron chains used by the tusi for binding people are thick and large, weighing about a hundred catties."
Conflicts and struggles among the various tusi were also extremely fierce. Relying on their respective armed forces, they bullied the weak, annexed one another, and waged attacks and raids year after year, seizing populations in order to expand their own jurisdictions. In the second year of the Zhida era of Emperor Wuzong of Yuan (1309), the leader of Changfeng Cave, Dadi, gathered the leaders of Xiwang Bugui, Sanmao, and other caves to plunder the Anahai Stockade of Yongning. The following year, Tian Moshi, tusi of Rongmei, assembled the leaders of various caves, killed a chiliarch and more than 80 garrison soldiers, captured and plundered good commoners, and successively attacked and raided Mazhen and other stockades. In the seventh year of the Yanyou era of Emperor Renzong of Yuan (1320), Zhen Gong, leader of Zhenjia Mountain in Cili, gathered leaders including Lü Heshishong of Hezhe Cave in Huaide Prefecture, Ju Xianshishong of Xiejiadong, Moershishong of Enshidong, and Chong Dayi of Anjudong, and encroached upon the Baishuiquan area. By the Ming Dynasty, internal strife among the tusi became even more intense, with mutual swallowing, generational vendettas, and unceasing warfare. In the twelfth year of the Hongzhi era of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming (1499), the native official of Songnong Stockade, together with Yang Shenggang and his son, deputy chief of Yimei Office, and Yang Guangzhen, chief of Junbei Cave, plotted to occupy Youyang and gathered troops to burn and kill. During the Zhengde era of Emperor Wuzong of Ming, the tusi of Yongshun and Baojing attacked and killed each other over land disputes, which remained unresolved for years; they appealed to the Ming court, and each was fined 300 shi of rice. Peng Hui, a native officer of Baojing, whose grandfather Dazhong Keyi had been killed by the deputy pacification commissioner Peng Yaohabi, and whose 14 stockades had been seized—with the natives under both families also splitting into factions and killing one another—sought to avenge his grandfather's death and recover the lost territory. He therefore borrowed the military forces of Peng Mingfu, pacification commissioner of Yongshun, and they slaughtered each other for several years without cease, with more than 500 dead. The two tusi of Zhonglu and Shizhu were originally relatives, but fought endlessly over boundary disputes. Not only that, but whenever opportunity arose, the tusi also expanded into Han Chinese areas. During the Hongzhi era of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming (1488–1505), the Tangya tusi encroached upon the Jiakou area of Qianjiang County. From the Jiajing era of the Ming to the Kangxi era of the Qing, the Rongmei tusi, under the pretext of opening wasteland, repeatedly encroached upon the area north of Liantianguan and south of Taofukou in Badong, "wishing to turn Han Chinese into native subjects and Han land into barbarian territory."
Struggles over the inheritance of titles also raged fiercely, openly and covertly, among tusi uncles, nephews, and brothers. In the twenty-second year of the Wanli era of Emperor Shenzong of Ming (1594), Qin, the female native official of Shizhu, acted as pacification commissioner, when the native official Ma Bangpin plotted to seize her seal. Together with Ma Douhu, Ma Doulin, and others, he gathered several thousand men, surrounded Qin, set fire to and destroyed more than 80 public and private buildings, and killed and plundered until all was laid waste. The conflicts and struggles among the tusi brought endless disasters upon the Tujia people.
Although the politics of the tusi era had its cruel and backward aspects, it nevertheless played a certain progressive role in the history of Tujia development. The establishment of the tusi system brought the Tujia rulers into closer relations with the feudal central dynasty and promoted frequent economic and cultural exchange between the Tujia and the Han Chinese. The hereditary succession of tusi at all levels made the Tujia's sphere of activity and social order more stable than during the period of the loose-rein (jimi) prefectures and counties. This relatively stable situation enabled the Tujia—situated adjacent to the heartland of the Central Plains and under the powerful influence of surrounding Han Chinese—to preserve their own ethnic characteristics.
In the course of their autocratic rule, the tusi, for their own better survival and development, also adopted certain positive governing measures. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, Xiang Nawu, tusi of Maodong in southwestern Hubei, though a little-known minor tusi, already recognized the importance of agricultural production and actively promoted it, issuing within his domain the "Notice on Extensive Cultivation." Xiang Tongting, tusi of Maodong, issued the "Notice on Extensive Establishment of Schools" in the late Ming and set up schools at his office seat and other places, promoting the development of education within his domain.