The Nine-Segment Ox Horn
The founding ancestor of the Tian surname in Zhangjiajie was Tian Chengman, originally from Chengdu, Sichuan. He later received the title of Taibao and was ordered to conquer Jiuyong (present-day Jiuxi and Yongding), marking the beginning of the Tian surname in Zhangjiajie. Tian Chengman's descendant Tian Hu had four sons—Zongchao, Zongguan, Zongzai, and Zongxiang—and nine grandsons. Tian Hu was a general under Qin Huang, the Maogang Tusi. After Qin Hou died, Tian Hu...
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The Nine-Segment Ox Horn
The founding ancestor of the Tian surname in Zhangjiajie was called Tian Chengman, a native of Chengdu in Sichuan. He was later given the title of Taibao and ordered to conquer Jiuyong (present-day Jiuxi and Yongding). From then on, the Tian surname began to have people in Zhangjiajie.
Tian Chengman's descendant Tian Hu had four sons, named Zongchao, Zongguan, Zongzai, and Zongxiang, and nine grandsons. Tian Hu was a great general under the Maogang Tusi Qin Huang. After Qin Hou died, Tian Hu was offered amnesty by the imperial court and appointed as the grain and tax inspector of Chongshan border in Yongding Guard, using his prestige to collect grain taxes for the court, so Tian Hu was also called Tian Hu the Judge. At that time, the court's grain taxes were very heavy, and the Tujia people, after the war, could not bear the burden. Tian Hu was deeply sympathetic and could not bear to extort the people's wealth. He often colluded with the common people to resist grain and taxes, and disturbances among the Tujia people frequently occurred in the territory under the Maogang Tusi. When the court heard of this, it issued an edict to arrest Tian Hu and exterminated nine generations of a Shi-surnamed leader who had followed Tian Hu in resisting taxes. Tian Hu's descendants could not resist and had no choice but to scatter and flee. It was near the end of the year, and the Tian lineage decided to part ways and flee after the New Year. At New Year there was nothing left but one family ox, so they slaughtered it for the New Year meal. After eating, they sawed the ox horn into nine segments and distributed them to the nine brothers—the eldest took the largest piece, and the rest were divided from largest to smallest. They agreed that in the future, when they met, they would match their ox horn segments to identify one another as the nine brothers.
Tian Hu's eldest son, Zongchao, was at the time taking his son to float timber rafts on the river. The rafts were placed on the riverbank. The government troops pursuing and killing people of the Tian surname questioned them about their surname. Father and son answered: 'Ignore them, let each of us drag our own.' The pursuers thought their surname was 'Tuo' (drag), so they stopped pursuing and killing them. Thus, one branch of the Tian clan was finally preserved. After the government troops left, Zongchao was still filled with lingering fear. He no longer dared to use the surname Tian, so he simply changed his surname to 'Tuo' (drag). But the character 'Tuo' (drag) did not sound good, so he changed it to the surname 'Tuo' (with the extended meaning). Therefore, on Tian Zongchao's stone tablet is also carved 'Tuo Zongchao'.