論北宋仁宗朝的「內降」－－制度、政治與敘事

Imperial Directives in the Reign of Song Renzong: Institution, Politics and Narrative

北宋仁宗朝突出的「內降」問題，前人多理解為皇帝不經二府指揮政事的下行文書，並從皇權與相權之爭等角度闡釋其政治意義。但若仔細辨析，這樣的認識是受了自北宋後期至南宋士人的歷史敘述的影響，於事實有所偏差。制度上，內降可以指稱皇帝批給二府以及其他機構的內批文書。而在宋仁宗朝，集中出現的內降問題更有一重政治意味，它指通過非常途徑溝通內廷再得到皇帝內批的政治行為，主要反映的是兩派臣僚的政爭。范仲淹等明確抵制內降的臣僚在這場政治鬥爭中是失敗者，但他們的政治認識與解釋卻更深刻地影響了此後士大夫的歷史觀。以致歷史真實被塗抹與修改，歷史敘述的重心發生了偏移，直至影響到我們今天的歷史認識。

Imperial directives (內降 neijiang) were a prominent phenomenon in the reign of the Northern Song dynasty emperor Renzong 宋仁宗. Past scholars have taken this term as referring to official orders issued by the emperor bypassing the normal administrative channels and interpreted the political significance of such imperial directives in terms of a conflict between imperial power and bureaucratic government. Closer examination reveals that this understanding is largely shaped by the historical narrative of the late Northern to Southern Song. Administratively speaking, the term neijiang can refer to edicts written on behalf of the emperor and delivered to the Secretariat (中書 Zhongshu), Bureau of Military Affairs (樞密院 Shumiyuan) and other government agencies. However, the concentration of internal directives issued during the reign of Renzong has a deeper political significance. By this time, neijiang has come to refer to any communication with the inner court through unusual channels that results in the issue of an imperial edict; what this chiefly reflects is the existence of a struggle between two opposing political factions. Though Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹 and other officials in his camp who fiercely criticized imperial directives turn out to be on the losing side, it is their knowledge and interpretation of politics that have more deeply influenced the subsequent historical view of this period, and even obscured the historical truth. This shift that occurred in the focus of the historical narrative has shaped our understanding of this period of history right down to the present.