精兵簡政：明代江西兵備道考辨

Arm Refinement and Reduction of Prefecture Bureaucracy: A Study on the Jiangxi Military Defense Circuit in the Ming Dynasty

江西位處長江中下游，但相較於邊疆與沿海，位處腹裏，因而明朝並未屯守重兵於此。明朝為分化軍事職權，成化以後陸續在各省添設兵備道，即按察分司，江西也因應盜賊日多，設有南昌、九江、撫建廣、袁州、贛州與饒州等六處兵備道，其中，饒州兵備道未被寫入《大明會典》與《明史》中，本文將探究其緣由。江西兵備道有兩大特色：一是轄區跨省越界，目的在使緝捕盜賊更有效率；另一特色為一道兼多銜，江西兵備道多屬「兵巡道」，以一人兼二銜，甚至有兼領布政司「分守道」者。兵備道為文武合一的職官，以敉平盜賊、修葺城池與提倡文風為主要職掌，目的在安靖地方，以防盜為前提。萬曆以後，全國已普設兵備道，但江西兵備道卻進行裁撤、合併，走向精兵簡政。兵備道雖為中級地方軍職文官，亦能發揮撫民、護民的職能，本文將探究此職對明朝穩定江西統治發揮的功效。

The Ming Court did not station massive troop in Jangxi, a province located in the mid-and downstream of the Yangtze River and hence had less military significance compared to other border and coastal regions. To diversify military offices, the central government added Military Defense Circuits (also named as “Officials Rectifying Military Defense Circuit”) in the late fifteenth century. To deal with the ever-increasing bandits, six military defense circuits were established in Nanchang, Jiujiang, Fu-Jian-Guang (Fuzhou-Jianchang-Guangxin), Raozhou, Yuanzhou, and Ganzhou. This article explores the reason why the Raozhou Military Defense Circuit was never mentioned in the Code of Great Ming Dynasty or History of the Ming. Jiangxi’s military defense circuits had two distinguishing features. First, in order to arrest the bandits more efficiently, their jurisdiction zones extend beyond the provincial border. Second, most of the military defense circuits in Jiangxi were General Surveillance at the same time, sometimes even played a third role as a surveillance commissioner under the General Administration Circuit system. The Military Defense Circuits were both civil servants and military officers, their main duties were to wipe out bandits, to maintain the defensive constructions such as walls and moats, as well as to promote civilization, in order to keep local peace and prevent bandits. Despite the large number of Military Defense Circuits established in the late Ming period, those in Jiangxi were generally abolished or merged. The Military Defense Circuits, though middle ranking civil officials with military duty, could play a role in pacifying and protecting civilians. This study explores significance of office in the Ming Court’s stabilizing the province of Jiangxi.