漢初“誅呂政變”詳解－解析司馬遷的一部陰陽史

Anatomy of the Coup Annihilating the Empress Lü's Clan during the Early Han Period: Decoding a Two-Faced History of the Grand Historian Sima Qian

鄭曉時(Hsiao-Shih Cheng)

《政治科學論叢》 41期 (2009/09) Pp. 57-109

https://doi.org/10.6166/TJPS.41(57-109)

摘要

本文結合現代政治科學分析、現代文學筆法分析以及傳統史學考證方法，對漢初誅呂政變的有關歷史記述進行微觀性與系統性的檢證。研究發現，司馬遷的誅呂政變記是以謎語與許多奇特筆法所撰寫的陰陽史。陽史是虛構的，陰史才是史實。自班固至今，絕大多數學者所解讀的是陽史。本文嘗試對《史記》記述中的許多謎團進行解析而解讀出陰史。依此解讀，呂祿與呂產等諸呂家族其實無意叛亂。他們被誅滅是劉、呂兩大統治宗族政爭的結果。主導這場政變的陳平在政變過程中運用了不合法與不道德的手段，但他成功地解決了劉、呂政爭，避免了全面內戰，具有鞏固帝國的大功。依此解讀，司馬遷的史識宏偉，史德堅貞，史才絕妙。他以玄奇的筆法同時傳述了爲政治服務的歷史與真實的歷史。

關鍵字

誅呂政變 ； 司馬遷 ； 陰陽史 ； 史記•呂后本紀 ； 班固 ； 陳平 ； 呂祿 ； 呂産

並列摘要

In the 23rd year of the Western Han Empire, i.e., 180 B. C., the clan of Empress Lü (呂后) was wiped out in a coup d'etat which followed her death. For over two thousand years, it had been firmly believed that the clan was justly executed, because, as the orthodox historical records stated, the Empress' nephews Prime Minister Lü Chan (呂產) and Supreme Commander Lü Lu (呂祿) intended to usurp the throne. In recent years, a few scholars began to challenge this view and pointed out that no solid evidence can be found in the existing records for the so-called ”intended usurpation” by the clan of Lü. They asserted that the clan perished in a dirty coup staged by the elder statesmen and generals, who tried to regain the political power and privileges deprived by the Empress. Thus, the historical records are false stories made up by the victor.
Through systematic examination of the text of the most authentic historical records, namely Shiji (史記) by Sima Qian (司馬遷), this research demonstrates that both these two views are far from the truth. The truth is that during her reign of eight years the Empress had planted deep and profound political contradictions between her clan and the royal clan of her husband the Founding Emperor Liu Bang (劉邦). No sooner had she died than the conflict erupted, and an impending full-scale civil war threatened to ruin the Empire. Fortunately, the elder statesmen and generals intervened and cut the Gordian knot by staging a coup to annihilate the Lü clan. In this coup plot the prime conspirator Chen Ping (陳平), namely the earnestly trusted Prime Minister of the Empress, betrayed the Empress and conducted many immoral and illegal acts. But his means were well justified by his end, because he succeeded in preventing the collapse of the new-born Empire and saved millions of people's lives.
A much more meaningful finding is that in presenting this history Sima Qian employed ingenious writing skills, perhaps new to the world. By blurring narrations, concealing facts, making up stories and planting riddles, he constructed a history of two tales; one is exoteric and false, the other esoteric and true. The former was to legitimize the regime erected by the coup; the latter, to provide genuine teachings to posterity. By so doing, he had fulfilled his duty as a recording-officer of the Imperial House and kept faithful to his own conscience as an independent historian.
A text like this is hard to comprehend, of course. It is full of grammatical errors, missing links, awkward expressions, contradictory statements, superfluous repetitions and ridiculous accounts. Therefore, later historians, such as Ban Gu (班固) and Sima Guang (司馬光) rewrote it into plainer versions. By so doing, however, they obliterated the hints and clues for searching out the truth and presented only false stories. This suggests that Sima Qian's writings of this coup cannot be literally translated into modern Chinese or any other languages without severe distortions. To grasp the truth, one cannot but return to the original text. To decode the enigmatic writings, logic is the key.

並列關鍵字

the Coup of Annihilating the Empress Lü's Clan ； Two-Faced History ； Records of the Grand Historian ； Sima Qian ； Ban Gu ； Chen Ping ； Lü Lu ； Lü Chan

參考文獻

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