秦汉时期的地方行政研究成果丰硕，近年来幸赖出土文献的大量刊布再入新境。以往的县政研究主要侧重以令长为核心的县廷和属吏设置，本文以县尉为切入点，探讨秦汉时期的县尉“闲散化”问题，兼带论及县政演变的若干趋势。

秦代县尉系统的吏员设置较为繁复。县尉下设尉官、发弩，性质为稗官，是辅助县尉管理县卒，役使司寇田作的职能机构，其主官分别为尉官啬夫和发弩啬夫，秩级为有秩。秦简中的尉守应为“尉官守啬夫”的简称而非县尉。尉史负责整个县尉系统的文书工作，应当是以令史的等级充任，其等级较后世的佐史要高一些，在秦代属斗食之秩。县尉属吏校长、士吏、求盗具体负责县中的“驰逐追捕”。校长以军吏的身份“署亭”成为“署亭校长”，“〇亭校长”是秦代在新占领区实现军事支配而灵活布置武装力量的一种临时差遣，常需“奔命”，并不固定。县尉系统与令、丞系统有别，其吏员设置体现出武事、军吏的色彩，而且往往不在县廷办公，相对独立，对县廷而言处于外；但在文书运转上，县尉系统依赖县廷，由于尉曹的存在，在具体事务上受到县廷的监督。

汉初，士吏出现“县廷化”趋势，“廷士吏”在官制上隶属于县廷，但被分散部署在县域之中，以亭为据点，在分布特征上与秦代类似，并以“听告”的方式参与到狱讼审理启动的最初阶段，分享了县廷的治狱权。西汉中后期以降，县道中尉官、发弩、校长、髳长均被裁撤，县尉系统新增了游徼，与亭长“禁盗贼”，不晚于元帝时游徼改属功曹。尉史沦为最低的佐史一级，在隶属上与县尉不甚紧密，出现了隶属于县廷、候官的尉史；边塞中的尉史甚至出现从“职吏”沦为“私吏”的现象，存在“卑微化”的趋势；对县尉系统的书记工作由列曹系统中的贼曹史承担，内郡中的尉史不复设置。翼奉所云“尉曹以狱、司空为府”还表明此时的尉曹已经拥有了官署，是“诸曹官署化”进程的体现。县尉在县政中职能弱化，地位降低。西汉中后期以降，县尉的省置和缺置较为普遍。

汉晋时期的县尉常以“部”为称，郡府县廷中亦多有属吏以“部”为名。翼奉所云“外部吏”可用来指称郡县常规设置的属吏中，以部为称，以分部监察、逐捕为务，而不在郡府县廷办公的属吏。亭长、游徼、督邮、贼捕掾均是外部吏。汉晋时期的郡县属吏，从官署空间及有无固定执事两个标准出发，似可分为门下、列曹、诸官、外部吏、散吏五类。“外部吏”的分部监察、逐捕的职事特征与县尉相似，是导致县尉“闲散化”加剧的重要原因。东汉临湘县下分左、右、东、西、南、北部和桑乡部，总共7部，各设（劝农）贼捕掾，与游徼、亭长驰逐追捕，奉宣诏书，以所辖亭部之亭为办公地点。县域中的逐捕盗贼呈现出〇部（劝农）贼捕掾+游徼+亭长的职官序列。《晋书·职官志》所载晋代“方略吏”的设置蕴含“汉家故事”这一“古典”，可追溯至汉武帝时期酷吏王温舒为“督盗贼”而启用豪恶吏为“方略吏”。两汉时期的“方略吏”主要负责巡查盗贼和监察吏员，兼具打击豪强的效用。《晋书·职官志》称“每县皆置方略吏四人”，这很有可能是由州郡长官派驻到县，负责巡查，而非直属于县廷，某种程度上体现出“外部吏”的性质。

During the Qin and Han dynasties, local administration research was fruitful. In recent years, thanks to the large number of publications of unearthed documents, it has re-entered the new territory. The previous research on county administration mainly focused on the establishment of the county court and subordinate officials with the commander as the core. This article takes the County Wei as the starting point to discuss the “looseness” of County Wei in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and also discusses some trends in the evolution of county government. .

In the Qin Dynasty, the staffing of the County Wei system was complicated. Under the County Wei, there are Weiguan and Fanu，which are official department. They are the functional organizations to assist the County Wei in managing the county soldiers and driving Sikou to do fram work，their chief is Sefu，rank is Youzhi. Qin bamboo's Weishou should be the acting chief of Weiguan，instead of county Wei. Weishi was responsible for the clerical work of the entire County Wei system, and should be in the position of Lingshi, whose rank was higher than that of later generations of Zuoshi, who belonged to the rank of Doushi in the Qin Dynasty. The Jiaozhang, Shili, and Qiudao of the County Wei were specifically responsible for the chasing and chasing" in the county. As a military officer, the Jiaozhang became “Shuting Jiaozhang”. It was a temporary dispatch for the Qin Dynasty to achieve military domination in the newly occupied area and flexibly arrange the armed forces. Not fixed. The County Wei system is different from the Ling and Cheng system. Its personnel setting reflects the color of military affairs and military officials, and it often does not work in the county court. It is relatively independent and is outside the county court; however, in the operation of documents, the county The County Wei system relies on the county court, and due to the existence of the Weicao, it is supervised by the county court in specific affairs.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there was a trend of “county courtization” of Shili. “Ting Shili” were subordinate to the county court in the official system, but they were scattered and deployed in the county, with Ting as their strongholds. Their distribution characteristics were similar to those of the Qin Dynasty. Participated in the initial stage of the initiation of the prison trial by means of “Ting gao”, and shared the jurisdiction of the county court. Since the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, the county Weiguan Fanu Jiaozhang and Maozhang were all abolished, and the County Wei system added Youjiao, and the Ting chief “forbids thieves”.No later than the Yuan,Youjiao belonged to Gongcao. Weishi was reduced to the lowest level of Zuoshi, and was not closely related to County Wei in terms of subordination. Wei Shi subordinated to the county court and Houguan appeared; Wei Shi in frontier fortresses even changed from “official officer” to “private officer”.It has a tendency to be “weakness”; the secretary work of the County Wei system is undertaken by the thief Caoshi in the column Cao system, and the Wei Shi in the inner county is no longer set up. What Yi Feng said “Wei Cao uses prison and Sikong as his residence”also indicates that at this time, Weicao already has official offices, which is the embodiment of the process of “officialization of Zhucao”. The function of the County Wei in the county government is weakened and his status is lowered. Since the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, provincial placement and absence of County Wei were more common.

During the Han and Jin Dynasties, County Wei were often called “Bu”, and many subordinate officials in the county government also took the name of “Bu”. The term “Waibu officials” in Yi Feng's cloud can be used to refer to the subordinate officials who are routinely set up in the county and county. They are called “Waibu officials”, and are responsible for divisional supervision and arrest instead of working in the county government.The head of the Ting, the Youjiao, the Thief Catching Yuan were all “Waibu officials”. In the Han and Jin dynasties, county officials can be divided into five categories: “Menxia”, “Liecao”,”Zhuguan”, “Waibu officials”, “San officials”, starting from the two criteria of the official office space and the presence or absence of fixed deacons. The departmental supervision and arrest of “Waibu officials” are similar to those of County Wei, which is an important reason for the intensification of “looseness” of County Wei. The lower part of Linxiang County in the Eastern Han Dynasty was divided into the left, right, east, west, south, north and Sang Townships, with a total of 7 divisions(Bu). Each of them set up (persuading agriculture) Thief Catching Yuan and chase with Youjiao and Ting chief sometimes deliver the imperial edict,they took the Ting under their jurisdiction as the office location.The chasing and arresting of thieves in the county area presents an official sequence of (persuading agriculture) Thief Catching Yuan+ Youjiao+ Ting chief.The setting of “Fang lue li” in the Jin Shu·Official Records contained the “classic” of “Han family story”, which can be traced back to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Wang Wenshu, a cruel official, was “supervising thieves” and used the power and evil officials as “Fang lue li”. The “Fang lue li” in the Han Dynasty were mainly responsible for inspecting thieves and supervising officials, which had the effect of attacking giants and powers. the Jin Shu·Official Records said that “each county has four Fang lue li”, which is likely to be sent by the state sheriff to the county to be responsible for inspection, rather than directly belonging to the county court, reflecting the nature of “Waibu officials” to some extent.