秦代徭役・兵役制度の再檢討

Abstract

In this paper, the author reexamines the Qin systems of corvée labor and military service by the mobilized ordinary population, utilizing newly published Qin statutes in the collection of the Yuelu 嶽麓 academy. The conclusions are as follows : Qin subjects were mobilized for corvée to perform tasks that temporarily necessitated a specific amount of labor, such as construction work, transportation, and so on. The necessary amount of the manpower was estimated before each project was carried out. The township guardian, xiangli 鄕吏, who governed the residents directly, selected the laborers according to this estimate and other information, and then sent them to the workplace. Even if a project was finished in just one day, the amount of each person's work was recorded and accumulated on a tally. If the total number of working days in a year was more or less than the prescribed number (normally 30 days) as of the end of that year, then the excess or deficiency was carried over to the next year. In this way, the burden of each person's labor service was supposed to be distributed equitably. On the other hand, the defense of the border required a continuous labor supply. In order to meet this demand, the conscripted peasant soldiers were sent to the frontier on a monthly rotation system. The commoners who had special skills and worked as expert subordinates of the local office (such as artisans 工, musicians 樂人, boatmen 船人, etc.) also worked by rotation throughout the month, that is, just like the border guard soldiers. In exchange for this, these subordinates were exempted from other state labor. In the cases of both the soldiers and the subordinates, the number of working days was recorded in the same way as when commoners did short-term, temporary corvée, and the person fulfilling his one month duty would not be mobilized for other state labor during the rest of the year because he had already worked around 30 days. This was a principle of corvée and military service in the Qin. The reality, however, was that the system would be employed flexibly, depending on the actual labor demands. Especially after the expansion of the Qin, the term of military service was prolonged, and it is assumed to have been basically one year. According to the regulations, if a man did military service for a year, 11 months would be carried over, and he would be exempted from any state labor for some years. But this is nominal principle. When most neighbors had already spent a year on frontier, the exemption would not be applied. It's not difficult to imagine that the expansion of the Qin would prolong corvée service, too. In order to carry out large-scale construction projects, such as that of the Great Wall, it was necessary to gather much manpower for a long period from even remote places. For this purpose, the manpower would be supplied not in the way used to gather laborers as needed for temporary labor, but rather in the manner of recruiting soldiers, which required service for a long period. In other words, corvée service changed into a variant of military service through the process of the unification by the First Emperor. Considering my assertion that military mobilization was organized under the direction of the central government, this change could be interpreted as a centralization of the manpower management.