武臣の清要--南宋孝宗朝の政治状況と閤門舍人

Abstract

A detailed examination of the politics of the reign of Hsiao-tsung, which is thought to have been the golden age of the Southern Sung, reveals that a policy of prefennent of military officers 武臣 was pursued. Hsiao-tsung frequently proclaimed, "military and civilian should be equal, " and his support for the military was out of the ordinary. This has previously been understood naively as merely a policy of strengthening the military due to the tension with the Chin on the northern frontier at the time, but the impetus was in reality a reaction to the politics of the official class, and as has been made clear by recent scholarship, it is necessary to give equal consideration to the importance of imperial clans. Moreover, the anti-official class attitude of the emperor grew into a reaction against the bureaucratic examination system 科擧, and he strove to eliminate the influence of the examinations, whose results influenced the career advancement of officials. The Sung dynasty had originally upheld the political ideal of civilian rule, with the official class as central, and having an emperor of the same Sung dynasty himself declare that military and civil affairs should be treated equally, thus issuing words that denied the influence of the examination system, marked a great change in the course of history. The origin of the anti-official bias was of course related to preventing the reemergence of a powerful Grand Councilor, such as Chin Kuei 秦檜 in the previous reign of Kao-tsung. It should be noted that it had become customary for officials to shirk the responsibilities of their offices and repeatedly engage in useless discussions, and that this displeased Hsiao-tsung who esteemed practical administration. As a result, Hsiao-tsung adopted an emperor-centered political system, ignoring the Grand Councilor of the official class and making all policy decisions on his own. This system relied on imperial edicts written by the emperor himself 御筆, which were direct orders to subordinates that did not pass through the hands of the Grand Councilor, and the circulating official reports to the throne 輪對, with which the Grand Councilor was not involved. Established at the same time as the direct imperial rule of Hsiao-tsung was the system of Ko-men she-jen 閣門舍人, who were military officers. This system gave preferment to men who passed the military examinations 武舉進士, and who were required to prevail in examinations before the emperor 召試. The Secretariat Drafters 中書舍人 provided the problems, after which they could participate in the system of circulating official reports to the throne, as did civilians official, and they would be assigned to regional posts after two years of continuous service. Nor was this all. Deeply trusted by Hsiao-tsung, they came to hold posts concerned with the all important imperial edicts composed by the emperor himself. The pattern of having some among them rise to the post of Chih ko-men shih 知閣門事, highest imperial advisors, was established. Guaranteed by the testing of their talent in the examinations of the official class, this new process of advancement for military officers served to suppress the reaction of the official class and to maintain the greatest fairness in this body of close imperial advisors. In this manner the Ko-men she-jen came to be called "vital military officers" 武臣の清要 in various works of history.