盛世下的黑暗：康熙朝直省財政的設法之道

The Darkness under the Golden Age:The Solutions of the Local Authorities' Financial Difficulties in the Period of the Kangxi Era.

清世祖順治元年（1644），清軍入關，定鼎中原。然順治一朝馬上得天下，卻也因連年征戰，導致國家財政出現嚴重的不足危機。聖祖康熙一朝在這樣的歷史背景下開展，經數十年休養，成功地將清朝導向穩定繁榮的軌道上，向著日後延續百餘年的盛世目標前進。《清史稿》贊康熙帝云：「雖曰守成，實同開創」，其意即在於此。然在盛世繁榮的表象下，康熙晚期直省地方卻普遍出現嚴重的財政虧空現象。除人為性的貪污因素外，整個財政體制過於偏向中央的設計是導致直省財政敗壞的主因。在實際的財政運作中，直省存留經費統由中央戶部制定；康熙晚期直省財政敗壞的癥結，就在於中央所定出的直省存留經費根本不足以支撐直省各級政府的基本運作。在清廷的消極態度下，為突破這種根源於中央集權的財政困境，直省官員們被迫在體制外找錢、分配、使用，最後發展出一套「私派－－餽贈－－捐俸」的直省財政設法之道。顯可易見的，這個體制外的財政設法之道，必然因為管理監督機制的欠缺，而導致貪污犯罪充斥，並從中衍生出諸般吏治問題。康熙晚期伴隨直省財政虧空的，就是貪污、徇庇、勒索等等的官場黑暗現象。這些現象，與當時清廷對直省財政困境的漠視，共同形塑了盛世下最黑暗的一面。

In 1644，the armed forces of the Qing Dynasty crossed the Great Wall and controlled Beijing. The following 10 years more, the Qing pacified various armed insurgents, but also led to the country's financial crisis. The Emperor, Kangxi, ascended the throne in such background. Through more than 60 years' efforts, he succeeded in boosting the economy. He led the Qing to the road of prosperity, and created a Golden Age which had extended for more than 100 years. But in the later period of the Emperor Kangxi's reigned, the local authorities occurred the serious financial deficits generally. The main reason for this phenomenon was the Qing court did not provide the local authorities enough funds to operate the administrative function. The magistrates were forced to seek for other resources by illegal methods to break through the financial difficulties. Obviously, the illegal methods led to illegal results easily. In the later period of Emperor Kangxi, the magistrates' corruption and cover up the mistakes with each other came after the local authorities' financial deficits. The Qing court's disregard for the local finance and the local magistrates' criminal behaviors built up the darkness of the Kangxi era.