天主教徒孫元化與明末傳華的西洋火砲

黃一農

    明末融通西學最成功的一位學者應屬徐光啟,隨著流寇和後金侵擾的擴大,徐氏乃積極投入兵事,且在李之藻等人的協助之下,多次自澳門募集大銃和砲師。由於徐光啟在軍事改革方面的努力,主要是透過其入室弟子孫元化來實行,故本文乃選擇孫元化的事跡為主軸,首先闡明孫氏如何以文士和舉人的身份成為軍隊中的方面大員,並如何在其他奉天主教士人和葡萄牙籍軍事顧問的協助之下,於山東練成一支使用西方火器為主的精銳部隊,接著論及由此一部隊所掀起的吳橋兵變如何使天主教徒在軍中發展的美麗遠景破滅,並影響及明與後金間的軍力消長。

    從孫元化的一生,我們也可以很清楚地發覺師生、同年、同社和同鄉等關係,對其宦途曾產生相當密切的影響,這些人之間還往往透過聯姻以加強彼此的關係,且更將這層關係延伸至後輩。類此的交游網絡本為當時士大夫階層所習見,然而在孫元化的個案中,最特出的一點,則是另出現同教的關係貫穿其間。徐光啟可以說是此一天主教士人社群的核心,而楊廷筠、李之藻、王徵等人以及光啟的門生孫元化等則為主要的份子。西學西教在明末的影響力,即是透過這些奉教士大夫的人際網絡,而成功地在知識界擴展開來,其程度或許遠超過先前學界的了解。

關鍵詞:天主教史 明史 孫元化 西洋火砲 知識社群

 

Christian Convert Sun Yuan-Hua (1581-1632) and the Import of Western Cannons

Huang Yi-long

Institute of History, Tsing-Hua University (Hsinchu)

    In the late Ming dynasty, due to the expansion of bandits and Manchu invasions, Hsu Kuang-Ch'i (1562-1633), a government official familiar with Western learning, was actively involved with military and, through assistance by Christian converts such as Li Chih-Tsao, often imported cannons and gunners from Macao. As these military efforts were largely carried out by Hsu's disciple Sun Yuan-Hua, this article concentrates on the life of Sun. We will first explain how Sun, originally a literati, became a military official and then how he, being helped by the Christian converts and Portuguese consultants, successfully trained in Shantung a crack troop with Western arms. Finally, we will illustrate the fact that Wuch'iao mutiny committed by this troop directly wrecked the power the Christian converts had in military and exerted an influence on the balance of military power between the Ming and the Manchus.

    From the life of Sun Yuan-Hua, we clearly see that Sun's career was deeply influenced by the relations among teachers and students, schoolmates, comrades, and people from same region, who sometimes maintained their relationship generations through marriage. Maintaining relationship among literati was by no means unusual in the contemporary China, but in the case of Sun Yuan-Hua, the situation was special in the sense that some of them were Christian converts. Among them, Hsu Kuang-Ch'i should be considered as the center around whom were crucial persons such as Yang T'ing-Yun, Li Chih-Tsao, Wang Cheng and Hsu's disciples Sun Yuan-Hua etc. It was on the basis of the social network among converts that Western learning and religion successfully spread, wider and deeper than we previously thought, in the intellectual community.