论湘军与湖南绅权势力的膨胀

绅士是一种介于官民之间,享有一定特权,影响地方文教风化的社会势力。在近代无论是举贡生员还是乡居缙绅(职官),凡获得封建法律所认可的身份、功名、顶戴,“无论出仕未仕”,一概属于绅士阶层。近代湖南绅权势力的膨胀得益于曾国藩创办的湘军。湘军是为镇压太平天国革命而应运产生的。短短数十年间,招募达数十万人之多。大批湘军将领由此而跻身于清王朝封疆大吏、枢府要员的行列;因军功而获保荐各类官职虚衔者,更是多得不可计数。但是由于湘军不是清王朝的经制之兵,即使在其存在期间,招募与裁撤也是比较频繁的。这样大量的军功人员,主要是保荐官职虚衔的人员,包括少数退职的显贵,不断地退归故里,加入绅士的行列。其数量之多,曾一度超过了作为绅士主体的举贡生员和离退职官僚,导致了咸、同时期湖南绅权势力的极度膨胀。绅士势力的膨胀,直接影响着近代湖南社会的变迁。

ON THE EXPANSION OF HUNAN GENTRY FORCES IN THEPERIOD OF XIANFENG AND TONGZHI

Gentry is a social force between government and people, enjoying a fairly high privilege and influencing the local culture and education, Morals and manners. In modern times, No matter the intelligentsia or government officials in government service or not, who have earned all the positions and official ranks approved by the feudal laws, belong to the gentry stratum without exception. The expansion of the modern Hunan gentry forces benefits considerably from the establishment of Zeng Guofans Xiang Army. Xiang Army emerges as the times demand to put down the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. During several decades, more than hundreds and thousands of people are recruited. A lot of Xiang Army generals put them in the important ranks of the Qing Dynasty. The generals who are recommended to serve in the government due to military merits are beyond counting. However, Xiang Army is not the royal soldiers, and its recruitment and disarmament are rather frequent during its existence. Thus a large number of armymen with military merits, mainly the recommended officials not in government service, including a few resigned nobles, return to their hometowns unceasingly and join the ranks of the gentry. The numbers of them once surpass that of the intelligentsia and the resigned bureaucrat, which causes the extreme expansion of Hunan gentry forces in the period of Xianfeng and Tongzhi. The expansion of the gentry forces affects directly the Hunan social chang in modern times.