論隋代東宮十率的角色及其地位

The Role and Status of the Ten Guards of the Eastern Palace in the Sui Dynasty

This paper seeks to understand social mobility in the military system during the Sui Dynasty by analyzing the origins, geographical distribution, and the promotion channels of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace. The fact that in the Sui Dynasty a number of central military generals from Guanlong, Shandong and Southern Groups shows that the Guanlong Group no longer monopolized the positions of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace. Furthermore, the Hu and Han lines of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace were becoming less distinct, which was one characteristic phenomenon of the military appointments during the Sui Dynasty.
The appointments of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace in the Sui Dynasty reveal a trend: that ''powerful families were weakened, and the civilians entered officialdom.'' Heredity did not directly impact the selection of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace. The selection of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace was mainly based on military merits, and channels such as the garrison militia (fubing conscription) or mercenary recruitment (volunteers). Powerful families no longer monopolized military positions by inheritance.
The former appointments of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace made during the period of Emperors Wen and Yang reflect two phenomena: the number who came from the civil bureaucracy was reduced, and the number who came from local officials was increased.
These two phenomena are reflected in the subsequent posts of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace: there were fewer examples of transfers to the civil bureaucracy following the post of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace, and its appointees increasingly became the general-in-chief of the Palace Guards. These phenomena indicate that appointments gradually became bifurcated into the civil and the military.
By exploring the origins, promotion channels and mobility of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace, this paper analyzes social mobility as seen in the great military power of the ten Guards of the Eastern Palace during this period. I argue that the promotion of civilians gradually broke the monopoly of the “Guanlong powerful families.”