Excerpted, I hope it will be useful:
I heard from the older generation in the village: We are the descendants of the big locust tree in Hongtong, Shanxi. Because of the persecution, we left the tree before leaving. A pot was smashed into 18 pieces, and each of the 18 brothers was divided into 18 pieces so that they could recognize each other later. Then they moved west and south, mostly in today's Henan Province. There is still a piece of pot iron in our village, and there is also a descendant of the Niu family in the neighboring village who also has a piece of pot iron. Our village also has the earliest ancestral hall of the Niu family, and I have seen stone tablets from the Qing Dynasty inside. The generation in your family is: "There are great people with pure wisdom and kindness, always thinking about learning and mastering everything, welfare and happiness are wide, and virtues will continue to be passed down." I am from the "Si" generation. I heard from the older generation in the village that there is also a family named Niu, who is a pole ox who saws poles into several pieces. I'm not sure if it's true either.
Moved to Shandong during the Ming Dynasty. When they moved from Hongtong, Shanxi, seven brothers surnamed Niu smashed a pot and broke it apart with a piece of iron. Therefore, people with the surname Niu are also called "pot-shattering cows".
I have summarized it roughly:
"Smashing Pot Niu" is a descendant of Shanxi Hongtong Niu. In the Ming Dynasty, no matter what the reason (one theory is that he was persecuted) , another said it was to invite disaster), they had to leave Hongtong, whether there were seven or eighteen, in short the pot was smashed and divided into several points, each person (should be each family) Take a piece so that you can recognize each other in the future and leave your hometown to move to Henan, Shandong and other places! ! !
Probably so, the information is limited, there is no way! ! !