小說化的歷史事件芻議——以《儒林外》三則嘉靖年間故為本

Reinvestigating the Tan-chao Fictionalized History in the Qing Novel Rulin waishi, The Scholar–Focusing on three Plots taking place in the Jiajing Era of the Ming Dynasty

以明朝為時代背景的《儒林外史》，出現三處清楚標明「嘉靖」年號的「年月日」情節，依次是：1、廿回「牛布衣死亡日期」，2、廿五回「倪霜峰鬻子日期」，3、卅五回「嘉靖皇帝聖旨徵召莊尚志日期」。鑑於此三處情節鋪寫平淡，未被塑造成為高潮，因此，談鳳梁認為此三日期乃吳敬梓創作過程中的「備忘」註記，卻未在書成之後，予以刪除。本文將此三日核對《明史》及《明史紀事本末》，發現其與嘉靖朝三大事件──「孔廟改制」、「大禮議」與「嘉靖大地震」相互重疊。為了確定此現象究竟是巧合或刻意安排，本文詳細整理《儒林外史》出現明朝帝王年號情節，以瞭解這部清朝小說是否精準掌握明朝年號順序。結果發現，不僅絕無顛倒誤置情形，更有以「興獻王（睿宗）、世宗」取代「孝宗、武宗」世系的安排，換言之，《儒林外史》雖然是一部眾多短篇拼湊完成的章回小說，可是，該書在歷史脈絡方面，條理清晰，毫不鬆散。以小說情節對照史料，本文推論《儒林外史》三處標示嘉靖「年月日」情節的動機，依次是：以「牛布衣」比喻孔門典範顏回，以「倪廷璽」（倪霜峰之子）諷刺嘉靖一意孤行，以「聖旨徵召莊尚志」影射嘉靖廣納民意以撫慰地震災後民心士氣。

This paper compares the novel Rulin waishi, The Scholar with both Ming Shi, the official history of the Ming and the influential private Ming history book Mingshi Jishi Benmo,. It finds out that there are three fictional plots noted with dates of Jajing Era of the Ming dynasty in The Scholar, and these three plots are inspired from historic events taking place in same era. First of all is Kongmiao gaizhi, the Change of Confucius Ceremony. Secondly is Daliyi, Great Rites Controversy. Finally is Jiajing dadizhen, 1556Shaanxi earthquake. Especially the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake, it happened in the 12 month of the 34th of Jiajing Era, and the theme of the 35 chapter of Rulin waishi was Emperor Jiajing recruiting the scholar Zhuang Shangzhi to the forbidden city to help him to rule the country.