隋末の内亂と民衆 : 剽掠と自衞

Abstract

Most previous studies of the civil strife that occurred in the early seventh century as a result of the tyranny of Sui Yangdi 煬帝 have focused on the power struggle between the Sui imperial house and rebels opposing this. However, Zhang Xuansu 張玄素 recorded that the number of rebels vying for political supremacy amounted to no more than a dozen or so, and that the majority of those involved in civil strife sought primarily to preserve their own interests or those of their local society. Thus, the majority of these people lacked subversive intent. This article, based on such eye-witness observations by Zhang, analyses the civil strife of the late Sui with particular reference to the vast majority of the populace who did not harbor imperial aspirations. The commoners who abandoned their towns and villages and fled to the mountains and marshes formed robber bands which proceed to both seize the property of local government administrations and to pillage neighbouring village settlements. Despite a certain amount of sympathy that may have existed for people driven to such lengths by starvation, in most cases the depredations of these bands do not appear to have been regarded as justifiable peasant uprisings. For their part, the victims of these raids organized for self-defense around local prominent families. In the latter half of the period of civil strife, the local warlords who had acted as commanders of villages that were fortified for self-defense were appointed to the posts of commander-in-chief (zongguan 總管) or prefect (cishi 刺史). This facilitated the reconstruction of the commandery and county (zhouxian 州縣) system. The foundation of the era of peace which developed fully under Tang 唐 unification can be traced to such efforts to maintain order via local self-defense.