兵符与帝玺:秦汉政治信物的制度史考察

Military Tally and Imperial Seal:An Investigation on the Institutional History of Political Tokens in the Qin and Han Dynasties

秦汉皇帝通过使用兵符、帝玺等政治信物,实现政治与军事权力。栎阳虎符的格式、用字,与其他秦兵符实际多有不同。战国、秦兵符题铭不使用"虎符"一语,当称兵符,较汉代更为凸显君主角色。秦汉兵符存在用字减省与勘验功能加强的发展趋势。卫宏《汉旧仪》"皇帝六玺"条存在脱简,引述的诸种典籍在句读上皆有疏误。利用《隋书·礼仪志》等材料,可以进行考订推补。"皇帝六玺"在强调内外之别的同时,还建构了"行玺""之玺""信玺"的玺宝秩序,对应封授、赐慰、征召三种功能。秦及汉初主要以皇帝信玺、皇帝行玺两种为主,"信玺"在历史早期地位重要。考察秦汉兵符、帝玺之制,有益于认识中国专制主义皇帝制度的建立。

Emperors in the Qin and Han dynasties exerted their political and military authority through political tokens like military tallies or imperial seals.The tiger-shaped tally Yueyang,however,differed from other tallies of the Qin dynasty in terms of content and format.All the tallies of the Warring States period and Qin dynasty were called"military tally"rather than"tiger tally",which,compared with those of the Han dynasty,highlighted the emperors’prominent role.The military tallies of the Qin and Han dynasties witnessed a tendency of dwindling the number of characters on the tally and enhancing the counterfeit measures.Wei Hong’s Han Dynasty’s Old Ceremonial Customs’crippled entry(as a result of bamboo slip losses)on"The Six Seals of Emperor",causes punctuation oversights and fallacies in current historical references,which this study would examine,amend and revise by scrutinizing"Chapter on Ceremonies"in Sui Shu.While emphasizing the difference between internal and external affairs,"The Six Seals of Emperor"established the hierarchical order among seals in accordance with their functions such as granting,awarding and conscription.The imperial seals for awarding and conscription appeared frequently in the Qin and early Han dynasties,and the seal for conscription played a prominent role in the early history of China.Study on the institution of military tallies and imperial seals would shed a new light on the establishment of Chinese authoritarian imperial rule in ancient times.