宋代的地方攝官問題

Abstract

在中國古代，當一個官位有缺，由其他官員暫時代理，唐五代稱「攝」，在宋代亦稱為「攝」，或作「權攝」。在宋代史料中看到的「攝」某官或「權攝」某官，其意思是某個官位有缺員，由他官臨時代理，在這邊的「攝」字通常為暫時代理之意。 要討論宋代的地方攝官，必須追溯到前代，在唐末五代藩鎮的轄下州縣，當官位有空缺之時，常自行派人署理其職，若之後未得朝廷授命者，則稱為攝官，攝官不是正式的朝廷命官。中唐以降，許多州縣的州縣官經常由地方長官自辟的攝官所取代，不再由中央朝廷委任，這種非常規的作法十分常見，且盛行的地區很廣，顯示了中晚唐中央力量在地方上的消退，反映了中晚唐中央朝廷所真正能控制的州縣範圍。 雖然五代可視為唐末藩鎮的延續，但是自後梁開始，五代各朝莫不壓抑地方攝官，但，即便五代政府對地方攝官做出種種限制，其實五代時期的選任官員辦法仍是較無規範，地方攝官的選擇也是出於地方長官好惡，不論其出身，只要地方長官認可，即可自行署攝，自此可以看到五代的中央政府對於地方官員的選任並不能完全掌握。 北宋開國為除地方攝官之弊，力行中央集權，極力控制地方官的任命權，不斷修訂關於權攝官員的法令，僅保留了兩廣攝官的地方性用人制度，改變了唐末五代地方攝官氾濫的局面。北宋前期能有效地將地方攝官給轉正，也提出一套規範化的攝官規則，大體來說，中央政府是能夠有效控制地方攝官除授的，但從北宋中期開始，中央政府開始失去對地方攝官的控制，南宋初期試圖罷攝的努力也失敗，南宋中央政府終究無法解決員多闕少的問題，也無法再度控制地方攝官氾濫的情形。 從北宋中期以降，在官多缺少的同時，地方上卻也出現越來越多的攝官，一些地方職務找不到人去就任，而只能任用臨時官員，也就是攝官，這種看似矛盾的現象該如何解釋?本論文擬將宋代地方攝官的問題放在「中央與地方的權力關係」的脈絡之下討論。一般對於宋代的印象，相較於中晚唐五代而言，是比較中央集權的，但從宋代中央政府管控地方攝官的情況，可以看到宋代的中央與地方權力關係的另一個樣貌。

In ancient China, when one certain official is under the vacancy and is temporarily represented by other officials, the agent was called, in Tang Dynasty, as “she”（攝）, in Song Dynasty, also, as “she”（攝）, or “quan-she” （權攝）. In the historiography of Song dynasty, whenever a “she”（攝） or a “quan-she” （權攝） is read, it signifies that some officials were in vacancy, and were temporarily represented by others. The “she”（攝）, here, normally bears the meaning of “temporarily representation”. In order to discuss the provincial “temporary officials”（攝官） issue in the Song dynasty, it is inevitable to retreat to the previous dynasty, namely Tang. In the late Tang Dynasty, whenever one provincial official is vacant, provincial governments normally send the temporary officials themselves, without official recognition from the central government. If these temporary officials were, later, not approved by the central government, they were called “temporary officials”（攝官）. Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, most of the provincial officials were already replaced by “temporary officials”（攝官）, meaning that provincial officials were no longer assigned by the central government. This national wide phenomenon represented the decrease of the power of the central government of the mid-Tang Dynasty and proved that the real boundary of the power of the central government ceased at the provincial levels. Though “five dynasties” （五代） could be considered as the succession of the Tang Dynasty, however, since “later liang”（後梁）, every dynasties in “five dynasties” （五代） attempted to solved the “temporary officials”（攝官） problem. Nevertheless, the issue remained, and had lasted until the beginning of the North-Song dynasty. In order to resolve the “temporary officials”（攝官） problem and to concentrate the governing power to the central government, the North-Song dynasty continuously making different laws on provincial governments’ “quan-she” （權攝） issue, and they only preserved the power of assigning “temporary officials”（攝官） to “Guangdong and Guangxi”（兩廣） provinces. By this, the North-Song Dynasty provided an efficient correction for the “temporary officials”（攝官） issue, and hence shifted the problem since mid-Tang Dynasty. But, since the mid-North-Song Dynasty, the central government started to lose their concentrate power, and despite mass attempts of the South-Song Dynasty to cancel the “temporary officials”（攝官）, the Dynasty could not complete their tasks to resolve the problem. Since the mid-North-Song Dynasty, while the central government suffered the occupational crunch, provincial governments suffered from the swell of vacant occupations, hence they can only assign temporary officials, namely “temporary officials”（攝官）, for those vacancies. How to explain this paradox? This essay attempts to posit the “temporary officials”（攝官） issue of the Song Dynasty in the context of “the relationship of governing power between the central government and provincial governments”. Common impression for the Song Dynasty is that in comparison with the Mid- and the Late-Tang Dynasty, its central government’s governing power is more concentrated, however, if consider the “temporary officials”（攝官） problem, we can see a different vision of the power relationship in the Song Dynasty.