Notes from the Xihou Family Village

Five kilometers south of Shouguang City, there is a village called "Xihoujiazhuangzi". (The east of the village is "Donghoujiazhuangzi") Shouyao Road passes through the village, dividing the village into east and west parts.

Donghoujiazhuangzi and Xihoujiazhuangzi are called "Donghou" and "Xihou" by the locals. I have been to Donghou Village and have written a blog post titled "Donghou Village and the Past Events of the Renwu War".

If we trace the source, the formation of Donghou Village and Xihou Village is the result of the separation of the brothers from the Hou family and Laozhuang and the establishment of a separate family. The cause was the plunder and killing of Shouguang by the "Chongzhen Renwu Soldiers" in the late Ming Dynasty.

Regarding the origin of the name of Houjia Laozhuang Village, the village chronicle records: "The ancestor was originally from Zaoqiang County, Zhending Prefecture, the capital. In the late Yuan Dynasty, in order to avoid war, he led his children to move to Shanxi Province. By the time of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, During the 1960s, he was ordered to move from Hongdong County, Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi Province, to the south of Shouyi City and establish the "Houjia Laozhuang". The origin of Donghou Village is recorded in a stele: "After the Renxuan disaster in Chongzhen, the seventh grandson Dingfeng led the army. His younger generation established a new village in the east of Houjia's old village, hence the name "Donghoujiazhuangzi". The village stele of Xihoujiazhuangzi also records the origin of the village's name: "After the rebellion of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in 1642 AD, my great-great-grandfather Dingchengong separated from his father, established another family, and led his descendants to move to the west of Laozhuang and build a new village. The home is named "Xihou's Zhuangzi".

I have read the village chronicles of Donghou Village and Xihou Village. It can be seen that after the "Renwu War", the entire Houjia Village was burned, killed, looted and reduced to ruins. It is no longer possible to rebuild in place. Therefore, Dingfeng led his juniors to establish Donghou Village, and Dingchen led his juniors to establish Xihou Village. The ruins of Hou's old village should be between the two villages, right? Now the two villages are almost connected together...

The "Renwu War" has become a thing of the past, and there are no traces of the ruins. The blood, tears, and ashes have long been submerged in the long river of history...

Now Donghou and Xihou are peaceful. Under the sunshine of early summer, they are welcoming and sending off. They come from afar and will go to a distant place. The scenery that cannot be retained shines and flows...

The Shouguang County Chronicle of the Republic of China, in the "Major Events" of Volume 15, recorded this paragraph: "In the fifteenth year of Renwu and winter in October, Taibai Jingtian. In December, the city fell, and the county magistrate Li Geng died. In the spring of the 16th year, many people died in the war...

The following information comes from the Internet:

AD 1642. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Dorgon and Yue Tuo led 600,000 troops to invade the Central Plains, and successively captured Zhending, Guangping, Shunde, Daming, Linqing, Jinan, Laizhou and other places, and massacred Qingzhou Prefecture, In Yanzhou Prefecture, thousands of people including King Minglu and his subordinates, generals and officials were killed. In the first month of the 16th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army withdrew its troops. We obtained 12,250 taels of gold, 2,255,270 taels of silver, 369,000 women and children of the Ming Dynasty, and more than 321,000 livestock.