明代巡盐部院述略——兼论明代的盐政监督

A Study on the Imperial Saltern Officials in Ming Dynasty: With Comments on the Supervision of Salt Administration

明正统以后,各地盐务部门腐败不堪,明廷多次派出部院官加以整顿,称"巡盐部院"。迄于明亡,巡盐部院经历了提督盐课、巡抚兼理、清理盐法、总理盐屯、专责筹饷五个变化阶段。起初,巡盐部院尚能驱弊存清,迅速解决盐务问题。嘉靖以后,因为明廷遣官目的的变化,部院官整体素质的下降,以及盐业管理体制中各方的掣肘,成效大不如前。明代巡盐部院始终是临时派遣,并未对各地盐政形成稳定有力的监督,但仍为清朝的督抚监督盐政的制度渊源。

The Ming government sent imperial saltern officials,which were called “Xun-yan-bu-yuan” to inspect the management of saltern because the corruption among the officials in charge of salt was serious.Their mission had changed five times till the end of the Ming Dynasty.The imperial saltern officials did well at the beginning but the the administrative effect was getting worse because the change of regulatory purposes,the decline of the whole official quality and the constraints in the salt management system. The temporary imperial saltern officials dispatched by the emperor of Ming Dynasty did not form a long-acting supervision,which was an important reason of the system that the civil and military governers supurvise salt administration in the Qing Dynasty.