二十一年辛丑春。霪兩。夏麥熟。五月烏㕦山龍塘堰同日蛟起。六月苗多螟。冬十月邑西山民得鼠土窖中。五頭共一尾。烹食之。十一月大雪連月不消。有鴉數萬飛蔽天日。其鳴哀。集縣署。驅之不去。踰月鍾逆變作。明年大兵入城始散。十二月逆首鍾人杰陳寶銘汪惇族倡亂。陷城。知縣師長治典史王光宇死之。先是人杰以諸生健訟被革。邇因連歲吏民搆訟遂至於亂。大殺胥役。邑民懼逼四散逃匿。逆黨陷通城犯蒲圻通山。二十二年壬寅春正月。制憲裕提督劉統大兵入崇。逆首就縛。招撫流離。民始復業。夏大饑。貧民採草根木皮以食。知縣金雲門開倉平糶。穀價頓減。

I.13 Selection from the "Disasters and Omens" (zai-xiang 災祥) section of the Chongyang gazetteer

This is a subsection of juan 12 (pp. 7b-8a), "Miscellaneous Accounts" (za-ji 雜記). Mini-histories of local uprisings are often found in sections like this one. Anomalies of nature were considered to be portents of political disorder. Compare this account with others in this collection. What might account for the discrepancies?

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Glossary

霪雨 - yinyu - torrential rain

麥熟 - maishu - the wheat (or barley) ripened (i.e., earlier than usual)

烏㕦山 - Wuhuashan - place name

龍塘堰 - Longtangyan - place name

蛟 - jiao - A kind of dragon associated with water. Refers to a flood?

苗 - miao - shoots (of young plants)

螟 - ming - caterpillars

鼠 - shu - rat

土窖 - tujiao - an earthen cellar or storage-pit

烹 - peng - to cook

連月不消 - lianyue buxiao - did not melt for months

鴉 - ya - crows

飛蔽天日 - feibi tianri - flew (so that they) darkened the sun and the sky

鳴哀 - ming'ai - their cry was mournful

驅之不去 - quzhi buqu - (tried to) chase them away, (but they) did not depart

踰月 - yuyue - a month later

變作 - bianzuo - uprising occurred

大兵 - dabing - government troops (polite way of referring to troops of legitimate ruler)

始散 - shisan - only then did (the crows) disperse. (The rebellion is mentioned here only briefly, in the context of the crows. Shi-er yue … begins the more detailed account of the rebellion.)

倡亂 - changluan - instigate a revolt/chaos

陷城 - xiancheng - capture the county seat

典史 - dianshi - jail warden; police chief (here: local official title, involved in arresting and jailing criminals)

死之 - sizhi - died for their duties (in the course of the affair)

先是 -xianshi - earlier...

諸生 - zhusheng - holder of a sheng-yuan degree, licentiate

健訟 - jiansong - was litigious (implies filing lawsuits without just cause)

被革 - beige - was cashiered

邇 - er - in the recent past

連歲 - liansui - for some years

吏民 - limin - (low ranking) officials and commoners [in this case, li refers to the clerks against whom the licentiates had grievances]

遂 - sui - then, subsequently

至於 - zhiyu - eventuated in...

胥役- xuyi- county clerks and yamen runners

懼逼 - jubi - afraid of coercion (by the rebels)

四散 - sisan - fled in all directions

逃匿 - taoni - fled and hid

逆黨 - nidang - the gang of rebels

制憲裕 - zhixian Yu - governor-general Yu(tai) (see Reference Notes 3.2)

提督 - ti du - provincial commander-in-chief (here refers to Liu Yunxiao)

統 - tong - commanded, led

就縛 - jiufu - was captured

招撫流離 - zhaofu liuli - offered amnesty to those who had fled

復業 - fuye - resume their occupations

饑 - ji - famine

貧民 - pinmin - the poor

採 - cai - pick, gather

草根木皮 - caogen mupi - grass-roots and tree-bark (standard famine fare)

開倉平糶 - kaicang pingtiao - opened the granaries and sold grain (at standard/non-inflated price)

(What granary was this grain coming from, given that the Chongyang county granary had been pillaged during the rebellion, and that the harvest the following year had failed?)

穀價 - gujia - grain prices

頓減 - dunjian - immediately fell