漢代邊塞隧長的文書能力與教育──對中國古代基層社會讀寫能力的反思

Literacy and Education of the Beacon-Fire Station Commanders along the Han North-Western Frontiers: A Reconsideration on the Literacy of the Lower Strata of the Han Society

過去有不少學者認為漢代邊塞的簿籍和文書的下達和上報都在較高層的候官或部完成，各隧人員沒有足夠的能力去閱讀、記錄或書寫報告。這是因為大家疏忽了與行政無關，卻與讀寫能力密切相關，大量典籍的存在，沒有考慮軍中教育和文書範本的作用，也無視書法成熟與否具有的不同意義，因而低估了邊隧人員的素質，人員因學習而可能有的素質變化，和在「能書」者不足的情況下，以行政技巧儘量維持隧成為某些文書處理末端的可能性。本文根據烽隧遺址規模、出土文書內證、邊塞對基層士兵的教育和普遍存在的文書範本以及邊塞行政模式，試圖證明最少有部分的隧長有書寫和文書能力，也最少有一部分的文書須傳達到最基層的隧，如果書寫條件允許，制度上也要求隧本身作成日常烽火、郵遞、巡查邊防、勞作等等最基本或原始的記錄。

Many scholars in the past argued that all military paperwork at the frontier units along the Han north-western frontiers were done by the higher level officers, as the other personnel did not have the required capabilities to read or write reports. For the same reason, it was believed that the lowest level of frontier units, namely the sui (隧) or the beacon-fire station, was not responsible for handling administrative papers or writing reports to the higher offices. Based on the evidences from Han wooden slips as well as writing and arithematic slips and tablets unearthed, and noting the writing samples that were widely available and the administrative system at the frontier, this essay tries to argue that in fact some commanders of the beacon-fire stations were literate, and some became literate because of training or education in writing and basic calculation, or they got versed to the formats and rules of administrative paperwork after their service in the military. Conscript military service in the Han dynasty was therefore an important institution to improve the literacy rate of the Han society in general.