後期唐朝の江准支配 : 元和時代の一側面

Abstract

With regard to the history of the second half of the Tang dynasty, the problem of provincial commands is not an area that has been neglected. However, research up to this point has concentrated on the issue of the decentralization of authority and the centrifugal nature of the provincial commands, or else it has emphasized the oppressive nature of them. They have not been properly placed into the context of the system of local control in the Tang dynasty. This essay tries to explore the question of local control by examining how the central government and the provincial commands responded to the natural disasters that struck the Jiang-Huai region during the Yuanhe period. The Tang court responded to the great drought as a major crisis, occurring as it did while the court was still trying to handle the upheavals caused by the An Lushan rebellion and other changes. The reason for this was that the Jiang-Huai area provided an indispensible source of income for the central government which had lost most of Hebei and the Shandong. In response to the crisis, the central government implemented various administrative reforms. The provincial commanders managed to stabilize control by developing irrigation projects, provisioning the towns, etc. It is not clear how successful these various measures were, however, they are noteworthy in that they demonstrated a new and pioneering method of local control.