明代知县幕友小考

明中叶以后,县级机构中出现了县官私人聘请的幕友,而“幕厅”一类的名称却并非幕友的办公地点。当为典史帮助知县办理文案的场所。县官幕友的雏形是“主文”,是以衙门中积年书手演变而来的,地位高于书算,其作用是协助县官处理刑名、钱谷一类的政务。

A Concise Study of the Muyou of County Magistrates in the Ming Dynasty

After the mid-Ming period,at the county-level of the administration local magistrates could hire their own private retainers(muyou),but the muting(lit.,retainer's hall)was not the name of the office where the muyou worked,but rather where the dianshi helped the magistrate draft documents.The prototype of the muyou retainer was the zhuwen,a position which evolved from that of the experienced clerks in the yamen but who had a position higher than the shusuan and assisted the magistrate in handling punishments and treasury matters.