制度的演变与惯性:明代“尚书入阁”考论

On Shangshu’s Moving into the Neige in the Ming Dynasty

明代内阁自建立以来就与六部尚书既相辅相成又相互制约,两者之间的制衡性是明代皇权稳固的重要基础之一,因而明代一直保持着“尚书不入阁”的惯例。但是由于正德以降政局日趋混乱以及士大夫群体改革呼声的高涨,“尚书入阁”逐渐成为一种常态,直到高拱与张居正改革时期的内阁形成对六部的完全压制。这种变动虽然有利于士大夫主导朝政,但是却威胁到皇权,因此万历以后再次恢复六部尚书与内阁的分权制衡,不过也形成了仅由礼部尚书(包括南京)入阁的新规范,当然这种规范并非明文法规,不具有强制性,在崇祯末年内忧外患之下便再度被打破。但总的来看,六部尚书与内阁的分权制衡是明代中央政治运行机制的重要组成部分。

Since the establishment of Neige in the Ming Dynasty,it has maintained a state of mutual complementarity and mutual restraint with the Liubu Shangshu.The checks and balances between them were one of the important foundations for the stability of the imperial power in the Ming Dynasty.Therefore,the Ming Dynasty always maintained the practice that Shangshu did not move into the Neige.However,due to the political situation's increasingly chaos and the rising voice of the reform of the scholar-officials,the entry of the scholars into the cabinet gradually became a norm,and finally the Neige formed a complete suppression of the Liubu in the reform period of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.Although this kind of change was conducive to the scholar-led government,it threatened the imperial power.Therefore,after the Wanli period,the Liubu and Neige resumed the state of checks and balances,but they also formed a new norm that was only entered by Libu Shangshu in the Beijing and Nanjing.Of course,this kind of norm was not a mandatory clear-text law,which was broken again in the last years of Chongzhen.However,in general,the checks and balances between Liubu and Neige were an important part of the political operation mechanism of the central government in the Ming Dynasty.