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論宋太宗朝武將之黨爭
Factional Strife Among Military Officers During the Reign of Emperor Song Taizong (976-997)
並列摘要
This paper is the second part of the author's study on the factional strife among the early Northern Song 北宋 military officers. It is contended that factional strife existed not only among the civilian officials since the founding of the Song dynasty, but also among their counterparts, the military officers. The Prince Qin Household clique, which was patronized by Prince Jin 晉王 (later Emperor Song Taizongn 宋太宗) during the reign of Emperor Song Taizu 宋太祖 (r. 960-976) proved to be the greatest faction in the military. Its position was further strengthened and became unchallengeable after their patron, Taizong, ascended the throne. In theory, Taizong disallowed any factional activities. But in practice, he tolerated or even encouraged them. Taizong deliberately placed his protégé, the Prince Qin Household clique, the key posts in both the Bureau of Military Affairs 樞密院 and the Imperial Troops 禁軍 aiming at controlling and suppressing any opposition in the army. Unfortunately, the majority of the Prince Qin Household was incompetent and corrupt. Abusing the power given them, the Qin Household practised favouritism and discrimination in the selection of military personnel. In general, they suppressed those who opposed them. In particular, they discriminated against the old guards of Taizu and those who surrendered to the Song from the Northern Han Kingdom 北漢 , the home of great soldiers. As a matter of fact, most cases of factional strife were initiated by the Prince Qin Household clique, while their rivals were forced to fight back. From Taizong's viewpoint, checks and balances among his military men could be well achieved indirectly through tolerating factional activities. However, he did not foresee that he had to pay a very high price. many capable generals such as Guo Jin 郭進 (922-979), Yang Ye 楊業 (?-983), Liu Tingrang 劉廷讓 (929-987) and Tian Shaobin 田紹斌 (933-1009) all fell victim to the factional strife. It was evident that their tragic death and banishment greatly demoralized the Song army, which subsequently suffered defeats by the Khitans and the Tanguts throughout Taizong's reign.