选贤与外交:元末明初群雄活动的两个面相

Meritocratic Ethos and Diplomatic Approaches: The Janus-Faced Military Strongmen and Warlords during the Yuan-Ming Transition

元末社会危机加剧,各地方势力纷纷起事,经过不断争战,逐渐形成了朱元璋、张士诚、方国珍等地方割据势力;为镇压反元势力,在元内部也形成一批实力强大的地方军阀。他们共同构成号令一方的元末群雄。元末群雄对内纷纷网罗人才,并为其施展抱负提供平台;对外则通过和平外交活动,以求生存或壮大实力。元末政权林立的历史不啻是一场新的合纵连横活动。在一系列军事外交活动中,朱元璋深谋远虑,很快从群雄中脱颖而出,并各个击破对手,这无疑是其取得最终胜利的重要因素。对这些活动加以梳理考察,不仅有助于全面理解士人在元末乱局及元明鼎革过程中的政治心态,而且有助于对当时社会动荡、群雄争战的历史面相形成更加全面深入的认识。

In the wake of deepened crises inflicted upon the late Yuan dynasty,local military strongmen rose one after another to compete for power.They tried their best to tap into pools of talented people all over the country and help thechosentalents realize their aspirations.Meanwhile,they applied diplomatic approaches to the handling of their relations with other power groups with a view to securing the political survival and improving their own strength.In these conditions,decisively due to his brilliant military maneuver and excellent application of diplomatic approaches,Zhu Yuanzhang rapidly knocked out all his competitors.The(re-)examination of the successful or failed inward and outward efforts made by the lateYuan military strongmen and warlords will be conducive to our work of gaining a more complete insight not only into the general political attitude of the class of scholar-officials living in the chaotic time and witnessing a tumultuous dynastic replacement but also into the general trend of history at that time.