西夏职官“承旨”小考

Textural Research on“Chengzhi”of the Offcials in Xixia

西夏的职官“承旨”是职司之下所设的拥有实权的职事官。除末等司之外,上、次、中、下四等司中的部分司都设有“承旨”官,且多设在中央诸司之下。西夏的职官“承旨”与唐宋时期的翰林学士承旨和枢密院下的承旨存在着明显不同,即西夏的职官“承旨”未像唐宋一样,经历了一个“虚职化”的过程,另外,西夏的“承旨”存在着“兼职”、“权职”的特点。从身份特点来看,为“承旨”官者多为西夏精通番、汉文字的知识分子。通过对《天盛改旧新定律令》、《法则》、《亥年新法》中关于“承旨”的规定梳理可知:诸司之下属官的职位从高到低依次为大人、承旨、都案、案头、司吏,司的级别决定了所属承旨的职级高低,承旨的职能取决于所属司的执掌。西夏“承旨”是西夏职事官体系中的重要组成部分,确保了各职司的正常运转。

Chengzhi,one of the officials in Xixia,was a government official who was granted to actual official business.Chengzhi which was set in the bureaus of central government existed in the upper bureau,the second bureau,the middle bureau and the inferior bureau except the last bureau.The official of Chengzhi in Xixia was obviously different from the official of Chengzhi which was set in the Hanlin Academy and Privy Council in the Tang and the Song Dynasties.It was the official of Chengzhi in Xixia did not go through a process of unoccupied official bus iness that Tang and Song experienced.Besides,the official of Chengzhi had the features of concurrent post and acting post.From the perspective of identity characteristics,the peo-ple who occupied the official of Chengzhi were almost intellectuals who got the mastery of Tangut script and Chinese characters.By going over the rules of the unearthed literature of Khara-khoto of TianSheng Laws,New Laws in Hai Year;firstly,we know that the grade and rank of officials that belonged to the five-rank bu-reau is DaRen,Chengzhi,DuAn,AnTou,SiLi from high to low.Secondly,the grade and rank of Chengzhi that belonged to the five-rank bureau depended upon the grade and rank of bureau.Thirdly,the official roles of bureau determined the official roles of Chengzhi.In a word,Chengzhi in X ixia played an important role in the system of government officials,which ensure the normal operation of the five-rank bureau.