高歡遺言與北齊政治

Abstract

東魏乃高歡與勳貴所建立，以兩都分理軍政的政權。高歡臨終前局勢極端不利，不僅繼承人不材，侯景更將叛亂，只能寄望勳貴與分管兩都的其子高澄、高洋能齊心穩定大局。高澄所以能平定侯景之亂，正依此遺言而為之。即使內亂已平，高洋亦建立北齊，但兩都分管軍政、西魏北周在旁虎視的內外格局依然如舊，因此北齊歷代統治者高洋、高演、高湛皆遵奉高歡遺言重用宗室、勳貴以安內攘外。然而因高澄驟逝而接位的高洋，欲回歸父死子繼，猜疑宗室、勳貴，令「群小」輔政，激起宗室、勳貴發動乾明之變，也使相繼登基的高演、高湛雖重用卻不信任宗室、勳貴，造成高演時的晉陽與鄴對立，及高湛的屠殺諸兄嫡子。雖然高湛在生前將皇位內禪，確立君位父死子繼。但高緯親政後仍擔心步高殷後塵，恣意殘殺宗室、勳貴徹底揚棄高歡遺言，在北周入侵時仍怕宗室趁機奪位，不願派其領軍抗敵，便導致北齊的滅亡。

Many scholarly works have explained the political characteristics of Northern Qi and its cause of demise through the lenses of Hu-Han conflict and its many variations. This article explores another dimension of the political developments in Northern Qi. The focus of this inquiry is the ideas expressed in the last words of Gao Huan, namely the system of royals and nobles living in two separate capitals of Jinyang and Ye, the removal of Western Wei, the last advice on the succession of father to son, and the mode of brother-to-brother succession brought to the fore by the sudden death of Gao Cheng. This article considers Eastern Wei to be a political power established jointly by Gao Huan and the nobles, which was administered from its two capitals specialized respectively in military and political functions. At the end of Gao Huan’s life, the situation was extremely disadvantageous towards him. Not only he had an unqualified successor, but Hou Jing was also on the verge of a rebellion. The only hope was for his sons Gao Cheng and Gao Yang, who separately managed the two capitals along with the nobles to join together in stabilizing the situation. This is the core idea of the last words of Gao Huan. The reason that Gao Cheng successfully pacified the rebellion by Hou Jing was because he followed this idea in spirit. Afterwards, even though the internal rebellions were pacified and Gao Yang had already established the Northern Qi, the general internal and external framework of having two capitals specialized respectively in military and political functions with the Western Wei and Northern Zhou as looming threat from the outside remained unchanged. Therefore, the successive rulers of Northern Qi, Gao Yang, Gao Yan, and Gao Zhan all followed this idea and invested in the royal family while giving great responsibilities to the nobles to maintain the internal peace and stand against external threats. Even though he himself took the throne after his elder brother`s sudden death, Gao Yang, however, intended to have his own son Gao Yin to succeed him. He was suspicious of the royal family and the nobles and asked external relatives to aid in governing. This led to the Qianming Rebellion by the royal family and the nobles. After returning to the brother-to-brother succession model, the old guards supported Gao Yan`s takeover of the throne. This led to the deep distrust of the royals and nobles by Gao Yan and Gao Zhan, even as the emperors still assigned high positions to such members. Once Gao Wei took over the throne himself, he was worried about following Gao Yin`s footsteps, and initiated a wanton slaughter of royals and nobles. This led to the final and thorough collapse of the last words of Gao Huan. Even when Northern Zhou was invading, there was still so much fear of a coup by the royals that they were not entrusted with leading the army against the invaders. This led to the final demise of Northern Qi.