《答郡邑大夫问海上事宜状》所见陈让海防策略述论

Chen Rang’s Coastal Defense Strategies As Seen in the Work Answers to the County Prefect on Coastal Defense Issues

孤本明中期晋江人陈让《见吾文集》所收《答郡邑大夫问海上事宜状》一文,乃是陈氏据实地查访后所作。文章计4500余字,核心为五条建言:督责水寨官员军士以强本根、编排澳甲为保伍以协兵力、训练民兵以为应援、整饬巡司弓兵以壮兵威、严禁窝家接济以孤贼党。其中,澳民编为保甲、善用巡检司和河泊所等建议是明代其他人所较少涉及的。该文为我们呈现了嘉靖“大倭乱”时代前夜泉州海上历史的诸多面相,也提供了一个沿海士绅看待当时海上形势的在地化视角,对明中叶海防史研究具有独特的价值。

Answers to the Prefect on Coastal Defense Issues in the collection Jianwu Wenji by Chen-Rang from Jinjiang was based on his field investigation in the mid-Ming Dynasty. This article, with over 4500 characters, offered five pieces of advice for the local coastal defense: establishing high standards to strengthen the navy;grouping boatmen into local administration to assist the navy;training militia as a reserve force;reorganizing the bowman patrol to enhance military power;forbidding the local's aid to pirates so as to isolate them. Such advice like grouping boatmen into local administration and making full use of patrol departments and river administration were rarely mentioned by others in the Ming Dynasty. The article enables us to have a better understanding of Quanzhou’s maritime history before “the Japanese Pirate Chaos” during the Ming Emperor Jiajing’s reign as well as the maritime situation from the perspective of a local gentry. It is a new document for research on the history of coastal defense of the mid-Ming Dynasty.