1
魏相字弱翁，濟陰定陶人也，徙平陵。 少學《易》，為郡卒史，舉賢良，以對策高第，為茂陵令。 頃之，御史大夫桑弘羊客詐稱御史止傳，丞不以時謁，客怒縛丞。 相疑其有奸，收捕，案致其罪，論棄客市，茂陵大治。
Wei Xiang, courtesy name Ruoweng, came from Dingtao in Jiyin and later relocated his household to Pingling. He studied the Book of Changes in youth, served as a commandery clerk, was recommended as worthy and good, ranked high on the policy examination, and was appointed magistrate of Maoling. Soon afterward a client of Imperial Clerk Sang Hongyang posed as an imperial clerk at a post station; when the assistant magistrate failed to appear promptly, the man flew into a rage and had him tied up. Wei Xiang suspected foul play, made the arrest, tried the case, had the impostor executed in the marketplace, and brought Maoling to good order.
2
後遷河南太守，禁止奸邪，豪強畏服。 會丞相車千秋死，先是千秋子為雒陽武庫令，自見失父，而相治郡嚴，恐久獲罪，乃自免去。 相使掾追呼之，遂不肯還。 相獨恨曰：「大將軍聞此令去官，必以為我用丞相死不能遇其子。 使當世貴人非我，殆矣！」 武庫令西至長安，大將軍霍光果以責過相曰：「幼主新立，以為函谷京師之固，武庫精兵所聚，故以丞相弟為關都尉，子為武庫令。 今河南太守不深惟國家大策，苟見丞相不在而斥逐其子，何淺薄也！」 後人有告相賊殺不辜，事下有司。 河南卒戍中都官者二三千人，遮大將軍，自言願復留作一年以贖太守罪。 河南老弱萬餘人守關欲入上書，關吏以聞。 大將軍用武庫令事，遂下相廷尉獄。 久系逾冬，會赦出。 復有詔守茂陵令，遷楊州刺史。 考案郡國守相，多所貶退。 相與丙吉相善，時吉為光祿大夫，與相書曰：「朝廷已深知弱翁治行，方且大用矣。 願少慎事自重，臧器於身。」 相心善其言，為霽威嚴。 居部二歲，徵為諫大夫，復為河南太守。
Promoted to governor of Henan, he suppressed wrongdoing until even the great families submitted. When Chancellor Che Qianqiu died, his son—who had been director of the Luoyang armory—feared that under Wei Xiang’s strict rule he might eventually be charged with some fault, and resigned without waiting to be dismissed. Wei Xiang sent a clerk after him to bring him back, but the man refused to return. Wei Xiang brooded alone: ‘If Grand General Huo Guang learns that I let the chancellor’s son quit, he will assume I used the old chancellor’s death to hound the heir out of office. If the great men at court turn against me, I am finished.’ When the armory director reached Chang’an, Huo Guang rebuked Wei Xiang: ‘The boy emperor has just ascended the throne; we posted the chancellor’s brother at Hangu Pass and his son at the armory because the pass guards the capital and the depot holds the crack troops. Your governor never weighed the larger design; he saw only that the chancellor was gone and drove the son away—how petty!’ Later an informer accused Wei Xiang of killing innocents, and the case was referred to the judiciary. Two or three thousand Henan conscripts then serving in the capital barracks waylaid Huo Guang and begged to work an extra year of labor to atone for their governor. Over ten thousand Henan elders and commoners massed at the barrier, demanding to enter the capital with petitions; the gate officers reported the uproar. Huo Guang seized on the armory incident and had Wei Xiang thrown into the commandant of justice’s jail. He remained in chains through the winter until a general amnesty freed him. An edict restored him as magistrate of Maoling, then promoted him to inspector of Yangzhou. In his inspections of regional governors and chancellors he demoted or removed many from office. Wei Xiang was close to Bing Ji, then a supernumerary household grandee, who wrote: ‘The court knows your record well and is poised to give you higher office. Take care in small matters and husband your strength—keep your talents in reserve.’ Wei Xiang took the advice to heart and softened his harsh manner. After two years in that post he was recalled as remonstrance grandee, then again made governor of Henan.
3
元康中，匈奴遣兵擊漢屯田車師者，不能下。 上與後將軍趙充國等議，欲因匈奴衰弱，出兵擊其右地，使不敢復擾西域。 相上書諫曰：臣聞之，救亂誅暴，謂之義兵，兵義者王； 敵加於己，不得已而起者，謂之應兵，兵應者勝； 爭恨小故，不忍憤怒者，謂之忿兵，兵忿者敗； 利人土地貨寶者，謂之貪兵，兵貪者破； 恃國家之大，矜民人之眾，欲見威於敵者，謂之驕兵，兵驕者滅：此五者，非但人事，乃天道也。 間者匈奴嘗有善意，所得漢民輒奉歸之，未有犯於邊境，雖爭屯田車師，不足致意中。 今聞諸將軍欲興兵入其地，臣愚不知此兵何名者也。 今邊郡困乏，父子共犬羊之裘，食草萊之實，常恐不能自存，難以動兵。 『軍旅之後，必有凶年』，言民以其愁苦之氣，傷陰陽之和也。 出兵雖勝，猶有後憂，恐災害之變因此以生。 今郡國守、相多不實選，風俗尤薄，水旱不時。 案今年計，子弟殺父兄、妻殺夫者，凡二百二十二人，臣愚以為此非小變也。 今左右不憂此，乃欲發兵報纖介之忿於遠夷，殆孔子所謂『吾恐季孫之憂不在顓臾而在蕭牆之內』也。 願陛下與平昌侯、樂昌侯、平恩侯及有識者詳議乃可。」 上從相言而止。
During Yuankang the Xiongnu attacked Han’s garrison colonists at Cheshi but failed to overrun them. The emperor met with Rear General Zhao Chongguo and others, planning to exploit Xiongnu weakness with a strike into their western flank so they would never again trouble the Western Regions. Wei Xiang remonstrated: ‘I have read that armies raised to rescue the people and punish cruelty are righteous hosts, and righteous hosts win the mandate. Troops raised because invasion leaves no choice are responsive hosts, and responsive hosts win their wars. Armies stirred by private pique are angry hosts, and angry hosts lose. Armies mobilized for plunder are greedy hosts, and greedy hosts are ruined. Hosts swollen with national pride are arrogant hosts, and arrogant hosts perish. These five outcomes are not mere human opinion—they follow Heaven’s own pattern. Lately the Xiongnu have returned captured Han subjects and kept the frontier quiet; their scuffle over Cheshi hardly merits the court’s obsession. Yet now the generals want to march into their territory; I cannot see which of the five kinds of host such a campaign would be. The border counties are exhausted: families share sheepskin wraps and forage weeds, always fearing they cannot survive another season—hardly a moment to stir new armies. The classic warns that after every great campaign comes famine, because the people’s grief throws yin and yang out of balance. Even a victorious expedition leaves trouble behind, and I dread the omens that may follow. Governors and chancellors are too often unworthy appointees, popular morals are thin, and rain and drought ignore the calendar. This year’s returns list 222 cases of sons or brothers murdering fathers or elders and wives murdering husbands—no minor sign of decay. Those about you ignore this rot yet talk of war over a trifling score with distant tribes—exactly Confucius’s fear that the Ji clan’s peril lay not in Zhuanyu but inside its own walls. I beg you to take counsel with the Marquises of Pingchang, Lechang, and Ping’en and with every wise minister before you act.’ The emperor accepted Wei Xiang’s advice and dropped the campaign.
4
相明《易經》，有師法，好觀漢故事及便宜章奏，以為古今異制，方今務在奉行故事而已。 數條漢興已來國家便宜行事，及賢臣賈誼、朝錯、董仲舒等所言，奏請施行之，曰：「臣聞明主在上，賢輔在下，則君安虞而民和睦。 臣相幸得備位，不能奉明法，廣教化，理四方，以宣聖德。 民多背本趨末，或有饑寒之色，為陛下之憂，臣相罪當萬死。 臣相知能淺薄，不明國家大體，明用之宜，惟民終始，未得所由。 竊伏觀先帝聖德仁恩之厚，勤勞天下，垂意黎庶，憂水旱之災，為民貧窮發倉廩，賑乏餧； 遣諫大夫博士巡行天下，察風俗，舉賢良，平冤獄，冠蓋交道； 省諸用，寬租賦，弛山澤波池，禁秣馬酤酒貯積，所以周急繼困，慰安元元，便利百姓之道甚備。 臣相不能悉陳，昧死奏故事詔書凡二十三事。 臣謹案王法必本於農而務積聚，量入制用以備凶災，亡六年之畜，尚謂之急。 元鼎三年，平原、勃海、太山、東郡溥被災害，民餓死於道路。 二千石不豫慮其難，使至於此，賴明詔振救，乃得蒙更生。 今歲不登，谷暴騰踴，臨秋收斂猶有乏者，至春恐甚，亡以相恤。 西羌未平，師旅在外，兵革相乘，臣竊寒心，宜早圖其備。 唯陛下留神元元，帥繇先帝盛德以撫海內。」 上施行其策。
Wei Xiang mastered the Zhouyi under a recognized master, loved Han precedents and practical memorials, and held that one must not copy antiquity wholesale—the urgent need was to enforce what had already proven sound. He listed policy successes since Han’s founding and memorials by Jia Yi, Chao Cuo, Dong Zhongshu, and others, asking that they be put into practice, and wrote: ‘When a wise sovereign sits the throne and able ministers serve below, the ruler rests easy and the people live in harmony. I have undeservedly reached high office yet fail to clarify the laws, spread moral instruction, or pacify the four quarters in the sage-kings’ fashion. The people flock to petty trades and show the pallor of hunger—Your Majesty’s worry, and my fault deserving death ten thousand times. I am shallow and ignorant of the state’s larger design, of how to employ men wisely, or of what governs the people’s welfare from start to finish. I have studied the late emperor’s kindness: he labored for the realm, cared for the commoners, feared flood and drought, opened granaries for the destitute, and fed the starving. He sent remonstrance grandees and erudites to tour the empire, survey customs, recommend talent, and redress wrongful convictions until official carriages jammed the highways. He cut spending, lowered taxes, opened reserved hills and waters, banned grain-fed horses, wine peddling, and hoarding—every device to aid the desperate and steady the people was tried. I cannot list them all; at peril of my life I submit twenty-three precedents and edicts for your review. The kingly way roots in farming and stored surplus: match outlays to income and stockpile against famine; even the classic ‘six years’ reserve’ marks only a minimum. In 116 BCE flood and drought swept Pingyuan, Bohai, Taishan, and Dong until corpses lined the roads. Local governors failed to plan ahead until disaster struck; only imperial relief gave the people another chance at life. This year’s crop is poor, grain prices have spiked, and even at harvest some still go short; by spring the distress may be worse with no relief in sight. The western Qiang remain restless, armies are still in the field, and the people stagger under levies—I urge you to prepare now. Fix your mind on the common people and guide them with the late emperor’s example so the realm may know peace.’ The emperor adopted his program.
5
又數表采《易陰陽》及《明堂月令》奏之，曰：
He also drew repeatedly on the Changes’ yin-yang lore and the Bright Hall monthly ordinances in memorials such as this:
6
臣相幸得備員，奉職不修，不能宣廣教化。 陰陽未和，災害未息，咎在臣等。 臣聞《易》曰：「天地以順動，故日月不過，四時不忒； 聖王以順動，故刑罰清而民服。」 天地變化，必繇陰陽，陰陽之分，以日為紀。 日冬夏至，則八風之序立，萬物之性成，各有常職，不得相干。 東方之神太昊，乘『震』執規司春； 南方之神炎帝，乘『離』執衡司夏； 西方之神少昊，乘『兌』，執矩司秋； 北方之神顓頊，乘『坎』執權司冬； 中央之神黃帝，乘『坤』、『艮』執繩司下土。 茲五帝所司，各有時也。 東方之卦不可以治西方，南方之卦不可以治北方。 春興『兌』治則饑，秋興『震』治則華，冬興『離』治則洩，夏興『坎』治則雹。 明王謹於尊天，慎於養人，故立羲和之官以乘四時，節授民事。 君動靜以道，奉順陰陽，則日月光明，風雨時節，寒暑調和。 三者得敘，則災害不生，五穀熟，絲麻遂，草木茂，鳥獸蕃，民不夭疾，衣食有餘。 若是，則君尊民說，上下亡怨，政教不違，禮讓可興。 夫風雨不時，則傷農桑； 農桑傷，則民饑寒； 饑寒在身，則亡廉恥，寇賊奸宄所繇生也。 臣愚以為陰陽者，王事之本，群生之命，自古賢聖未有不繇者也。 天子之義，必純取法天地，而觀於先聖。 高皇帝所述書《天子所服第八》曰：「大謁者臣章受詔長樂宮，曰：『令群臣議天子所服，以安治天下。』 相國臣何、御史大夫臣昌謹與將軍臣陵、太子太傅臣通等議：『春夏秋冬天子所服，當法天地之數，中得人和。 故自天子王侯有土之君，下及兆民，能法天地，順四時，以治國家，身亡禍殃，年壽永究，是奉宗廟安天下之大禮也。 臣請法之。 中謁者趙堯舉春，李舜舉夏，□湯舉秋，貢禹舉冬，四人各職一時。』 大謁者襄章奏，制曰：『可。』」 孝文皇帝時，以二月施恩惠於天下，賜孝弟力田及罷軍卒，祠死事者，頗非時節。 御史大夫朝錯時為太子家令，奏言其狀。 臣相伏念陛下恩澤甚厚，然而災氣未息，竊恐詔令有未合當時者也。 願陛下選明經通知陰陽者四人，各主一時，時至明言所職，以和陰陽，天下幸甚！
I fill an office I have not truly earned and have failed to extend your transforming influence. Yin and yang remain out of tune and omens continue—the fault is mine and my colleagues’. The Book of Changes says: ‘When Heaven and earth move in harmony, sun and moon keep their courses and the seasons never falter. When the sage-king moves in harmony, punishments are just and the people obey.’ Heaven and earth turn on yin and yang, and yin and yang are measured by the sun’s journey. At the solstices the eight winds fall into order, every creature finds its nature, and each season keeps its office without trespass. Taihao, god of the east, rides the Zhen trigram, holds the jade compass, and rules spring. Yan Di of the south rides Li, holds the leveling cord, and rules summer. Shao Hao of the west rides Dui, holds the square, and rules autumn. Zhuanxu of the north rides Kan, holds the weight, and rules winter. The Yellow Thearch at the center rides Kun and Gen, holds the plumb cord, and rules the central plain. Each of the Five Thearchs governs his season. Eastern signs must not rule western affairs, nor southern ones northern. Invoke the wrong trigram and spring Dui brings famine, autumn Zhen brings untimely bloom, winter Li brings drought, summer Kan brings hail. Wise kings revere Heaven and nurture the people, setting calendar officers to harmonize the four seasons and time the agrarian commands. When the ruler’s every act follows the Way and yin and yang, the luminaries shine clear, rain and wind arrive on time, and cold and heat balance. When those three stay ordered, omens cease, grain and silk flourish, plants and beasts thrive, and the people live out their years in plenty. Then the ruler is revered, the people content, high and low free of rancor, policy untainted, and courtesy can grow. When wind and rain ignore the seasons, farming and silkworms suffer. When those fail, the people face cold and hunger. Want strips away shame and breeds banditry. Yin and yang are the root of kingship and the breath of every creature—no sage ever ignored them. The Son of Heaven must model himself wholly on Heaven and earth and on the ancient sages. Gaozu’s compiled ordinances include ‘Imperial Dress, Section Eight’: Grand Usher Zhang announced at Changle Palace an edict bidding ministers settle the ruler’s seasonal robes so the realm might be governed in peace. Chancellor Xiao He and Imperial Clerk Zhou Chang, with generals and tutors, resolved that the ruler’s seasonal dress must mirror Heaven’s numerology and human balance. From Son of Heaven to commoner, whoever aligns conduct with Heaven’s seasons will escape calamity, live out full years, and secure the shrines—this is the great rite of ordering the realm. We ask to adopt these rules. Palace usher Zhao Yao was assigned spring, Li Shun summer, a certain Tang autumn, and Gong Yu winter—each officer one season.’ Grand Usher Xiang Zhang laid the proposal before the throne; the edict read: ‘Approved.’ Emperor Wen once showered favors in the second month—filial sons, diligent farmers, discharged veterans, rites for the war dead—slightly off the canonical calendar. Imperial Clerk Chao Cuo, then steward to the heir apparent, reported the irregularity. Your kindness runs deep, yet ill omens persist—I fear some edicts still mistime seasonal policy. Choose four classicists versed in yin and yang, charge each with a season, and let them announce proper observances when their turn comes—so may Heaven and earth harmonize.
7
相數陳便宜，上納用焉。
Wei Xiang pressed practical reforms and the emperor adopted them.
8
相敕掾史案事郡國及休告從家還至府，輒白四方異聞，或有逆賊風雨災變，郡不上，相輒奏言之。 時，丙吉為御史大夫，同心輔政，上皆重之。 相為人嚴毅，不如吉寬。 視事九歲，神爵三年薨，謚曰憲侯。 子弘嗣，甘露中有罪削爵為關內侯。
He told his staff to bring him every rumor from the provinces when they returned from inspection or leave, and if a commandery hid rebellion or disaster he reported it himself. Bing Ji was then imperial censor; the two men worked in concert and the emperor honored both. Wei Xiang was sterner and less indulgent than Bing Ji. He served nine years and died in 59 BCE, posthumously titled Marquis Xian (‘Discerning’). His son Hong inherited the title but lost it to marquis-within-the-passes rank after a conviction in the Ganlu era.
9
丙吉字少卿，魯國人也。 治律令，為魯獄史。 積功勞，稍遷至廷尉右監。 坐法失官，歸為州從事。 武帝末，巫蠱事起，吉以故廷尉監征，詔治巫蠱郡邸獄。 時，宣帝生數月，以皇曾孫坐衛太子事系，吉見而憐之。 又心知太子無事實，重哀曾孫無辜，吉擇謹厚女徒，令保養曾孫，置閒燥處。 吉治巫蠱事，連歲不決。 後元二年，武帝疾，往來長楊、五柞宮，望氣者言長安獄中有天子氣，於是上遣使者分條中都官詔獄系者，亡輕重一切皆殺之。 內謁者令郭穰夜到郡邸獄，吉閉門拒使者不納，曰：「皇曾孫在。 他人亡辜死者猶不可，況親曾孫乎！」 相守至天明不得入，穰還以聞，因劾奏吉。 武帝亦寤，曰：「天使之也。」 因赦天下。 郡邸獄系者獨賴吉得生，恩及四海矣。 曾孫病，幾不全者數焉，吉數敕保養乳母加致醫藥，視遇甚有恩惠，以私財物給其衣食。
Bing Ji, courtesy name Shaoqing, was a native of Lu. He studied law and served as clerk of Lu’s prisons. Merit promotions carried him up to right superintendent under the commandant of justice. A legal fault cost him his post, and he went home as a provincial inspector’s aide. Late in Emperor Wu’s reign, when the witchcraft trials began, Bing Ji—once a justice superintendent—was recalled to oversee the witchcraft jail in the imperial hostel. The future Emperor Xuan was only months old when he was jailed as the great-grandson in the Crown Prince Wei case; Bing Ji saw the infant and pitied him. Knowing the crown prince was innocent and the child blameless, he chose a trustworthy woman convict to nurse the boy and lodged him in a warm, quiet cell. Bing Ji oversaw the witchcraft trials, which dragged on unresolved year after year. In 87 BCE, while Emperor Wu shuttled between hunting palaces, a diviner claimed Son-of-Heaven omens over the Chang’an jails; the emperor then sent agents to enumerate every prisoner in the capital’s edict jails and execute them all, whatever their offense. When Guo Rang, director of palace ushers, reached the hostel prison at night, Bing Ji barred the gate and said, ‘The imperial great-grandson is inside. You cannot slaughter the innocent—least of all the emperor’s own great-grandson!’ They stood off until dawn; Guo Rang reported back and memorialized against Bing Ji. Emperor Wu came to his senses and said, ‘Heaven meant to spare him.’ He then proclaimed a general amnesty. Only the inmates of that hostel prison lived because of Bing Ji—a kindness that spread across the realm. The boy nearly died several times; Bing Ji ordered better care, summoned doctors, and paid for food and clothes from his own purse.
10
後吉為車騎將軍軍市令，遷大將軍長史，霍光甚重之，入為光祿大夫給事中。 昭帝崩，無嗣，大將軍光遣吉迎昌邑王賀。 賀即位，以行淫亂廢，光與車騎將軍張安世諸大臣議所立，未定。 吉奏記光曰：「將軍事孝武皇帝，受襁褓之屬，任天下之寄，孝昭皇帝早崩亡嗣，海內憂懼，欲亟聞嗣主，發喪之日以大誼立後，所立非其人，復以大誼廢之，天下莫不服焉。 方今社稷宗廟群生之命在將軍之一舉。 竊伏聽於眾庶，察其所言，諸侯宗室在位列者，未有所聞於民間也。 而遺詔所養武帝曾孫名病已在掖庭外家者，吉前使居郡邸時見其幼少，至今十八九矣，通經術，有美材，行安而節和。 願將軍詳大議，參以蓍龜，豈宜褒顯，先使入侍，令天下昭然知之，然後決定大策，天下幸甚！」 光覽其議，遂尊立皇曾孫，遣宗正劉德與吉迎曾孫於掖庭。 宣帝初即位，賜吉爵關內侯。
He rose to army market director under the chariot-and-cavalry general, then chief clerk to the grand general; Huo Guang valued him highly and brought him into court as supernumerary household grandee. When Emperor Zhao died heirless, Huo Guang sent Bing Ji to escort Prince He of Changyi to the capital. Prince He was enthroned but deposed for debauchery; Huo Guang and Zhang Anshi debated a replacement without reaching agreement. Bing Ji wrote Huo Guang: you served Emperor Wu, accepted the regency for the infant emperor, and hold the realm’s fate; when Zhao died without heir the empire panicked; you enthroned a successor on the day of mourning, then deposed him when he proved unworthy—everyone accepted both acts as righteous. Now the fate of shrines, altars, and every living soul turns on your next choice. I have listened to common talk: none of the ranked princes or imperial kinsmen wins the people’s hope. The edict-nurtured great-grandson Liu Bingyi, raised outside the harem—whom Bing Ji had known as a child in the hostel—is now a young man of eighteen or nineteen, learned, talented, and even-tempered. Consult the great portents and the oracles, bring him forward as heir apparent so the realm may know your intent, then settle the succession—such would be Heaven’s blessing!’ Huo Guang accepted the plan, elevated Liu Bingyi, and sent Liu De with Bing Ji to fetch him from the harem compound. Emperor Xuan ennobled Bing Ji as a marquis-within-the-passes as soon as he took the throne.
11
吉為人深厚，不伐善。 自曾孫遭遇，吉絕口不道前恩，故朝廷莫能明其功也。 地節三年，立皇太子，吉為太子太傅，數月，遷御史大夫。 及霍氏誅，上躬親政，省尚書事。 是時，掖庭宮婢則令民夫上書，自陳嘗有阿保之功。 章下掖庭令考問，則辭引使者丙吉知狀。 掖庭令將則詣御史府以視吉。 吉識，謂則曰：「汝嘗坐養皇曾孫不謹督笞，汝安得有功？ 獨渭城胡組、淮陽郭徵卿有恩耳。」 分別奏組等共養勞苦狀。 詔吉求組、征卿，已死，有子孫，皆受厚賞。 詔免則為庶人，賜錢十萬。 上親見問，然後知吉有舊恩，而終不言。 上大賢之，制詔丞相：「朕微眇時，御史大夫吉與朕有舊恩，厥德茂焉。 《詩》不雲乎？ 『亡德不報』。 其封吉為博陽侯，邑千三百戶。」 臨當封，吉疾病，上將使人加紳而封之，及其生存也。 上憂吉疾不起，太子太傅夏侯勝曰：「此未死也。 臣聞有陰德者，必饗其樂以及子孫。 今吉未獲報而疾甚，非其死疾也。」 後病果愈。 吉上書固辭，自陳不宜以空名受賞。 上報曰：「朕之封君，非空名也，而君上書歸侯印，是顯朕不德也。 方今天下少事，君其專精神，省思慮，近醫藥，以自持。」 後五歲，代魏相為丞相。
Bing Ji was reserved and deep, never boasting of his kindness. After the boy became emperor, Bing Ji never mentioned his old service, so the court never knew his full merit. In 67 BCE he was made grand tutor to the new crown prince and within months promoted to imperial censor. After the Huo family purge the emperor took personal charge and trimmed the inner court’s paperwork. Then a harem woman named Ze had her husband petition, claiming she had nursed the emperor as an infant. The case went to the harem director; Ze named Bing Ji as witness. The director brought Ze to the censor’s office to confront Bing Ji. Bing Ji recognized her: ‘You were flogged for negligent nursing—what merit is that? Only Hu Zu of Weicheng and Guo Zhengqing of Huaiyang truly helped.’ He filed a separate memorial on Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing’s care. The court sought Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing; both were dead, but their descendants were richly rewarded. Ze was stripped to commoner rank but given a hundred thousand cash. The emperor questioned her himself and learned of Bing Ji’s silence about his old debt. Deeply moved, the emperor told the chancellor: ‘When I was helpless, Censor Bing Ji saved me; his virtue is profound. Does not the Odes say? ‘No good deed goes unrewarded.’ Enfeoff him as Marquis of Boyang with thirteen hundred households.’ When the patent was ready, Bing Ji fell ill; the emperor meant to invest him in person while he still lived. Fearing Bing Ji might die, the emperor heard Grand Tutor Xiahou Sheng say, ‘He is not dying yet. Men of hidden virtue enjoy blessings down to their descendants. Bing Ji has not yet been repaid; this illness will not kill him.’ Bing Ji indeed recovered. He memorialized to decline, saying he deserved no empty honor. The emperor answered: ‘This title is no empty gesture; returning the seal would only shame me. Times are quiet; gather your strength, ease your mind, and follow the doctors’ care.’ Five years later he succeeded Wei Xiang as chancellor.
12
吉本起獄法小吏，後學《詩》、《禮》，皆通大義。 及居相位，上寬大，好禮讓。 掾史有罪臧，不稱職，輒予長休告，終無所案驗。 客或謂吉曰：「君侯為漢相，奸吏成其私，然無所懲艾。」 吉曰：「夫以三公之府有案吏之名，吾竊陋焉。」 後人代吉，因以為故事，公府不案吏，自吉始。
He had begun as a jail clerk, then mastered the Odes and Rites in their larger sense. As chancellor he was broad-minded and promoted courtesy. Clerks who took bribes or failed at duty were simply given extended leave rather than prosecuted. A retainer protested that corrupt clerks went unpunished under Han’s chief minister. Bing Ji replied, ‘I would be ashamed to have the chancellor’s office known chiefly for prosecuting clerks.’ Later chancellors followed his precedent: the high ministry no longer hounded minor officials—that began with Bing Ji.
13
於官屬掾史，務掩過揚善。 吉馭吏耆酒，數逋蕩，嘗從吉出，醉嘔丞相車上。 西曹主吏白欲斥之，吉曰：「以醉飽之失去士，使此人將復何所容？ 西曹地忍之，此不過污丞相車茵耳。」 遂不去也。 此馭吏邊郡人，習知邊塞發奔命警備事，嘗出，適見驛騎持赤白囊，邊郡發奔命書馳來至。 馭吏因隨驛騎至公車刺取，知虜入雲中、代郡，遽歸府見吉白狀，因曰：「恐虜所入邊郡，二千石長吏有老病不任兵馬者，宜可豫視。」 吉善其言，召東曹案邊長吏，瑣科條其人。 未已，詔召丞相、御史，問以虜所入郡吏，吉具對。 御史大夫卒遽不能詳知，以得譴讓。 而吉見謂憂邊思職，馭吏力也。 吉乃歎曰：「士亡不可容，能各有所長。 向使丞相不先聞馭吏言，何見勞勉之有？」 掾史繇是益賢吉。
With subordinates he preferred to hide faults and praise strengths. His coachman was a drunk who once vomited on the chancellor’s cushions. The chief clerk wanted him dismissed; Bing Ji said, ‘For a full belly’s slip I will not ruin a man—where could he find another post? Let it go—it is only a stained seat.’ The coachman kept his job. The man knew frontier signals; one day he saw couriers with red-and-white pouches galloping in with emergency dispatches from the border. He trailed them to the courier office, learned the Xiongnu had struck Yunzhong and Dai, rushed back, and urged Bing Ji to review which frontier governors were too old or ill to command defense. Bing Ji agreed, ordered his staff to list border governors’ fitness for command. Before they finished, the palace summoned chancellor and censor to name the frontier officials; Bing Ji answered from his lists. The imperial censor, caught unprepared, was scolded for ignorance. Bing Ji passed for a border-minded chancellor thanks to his driver. Bing Ji sighed, ‘Every man has his use. Had I not heard my driver, how would I have earned such praise?’ His staff admired him the more for seeing the larger picture.
14
吉又嘗出，逢清道群鬥者，死傷橫道，吉過之不問，掾史獨怪之。 吉前行，逢人逐牛，牛喘吐舌，吉止駐，使騎吏問：「逐牛行幾里矣？」 掾史獨謂丞相前後失問，或以譏吉，吉曰：「民斗相殺傷，長安令、京兆尹職所當禁備逐捕，歲竟丞相課其殿最，奏行賞罰而已。 宰相不親小事，非所當於道路問也。 方春少陽用事，未可大熱，恐牛近行，用暑故喘，此時氣失節，恐有所傷害也。 三公典調和陰陽，職當憂，是以問之。」 掾史乃服，以吉知大體。
Once he passed a street fight and corpses without stopping; his clerks thought it odd. Farther on he stopped to ask a farmer how far his winded ox had been driven. His men mocked him for caring more about an ox than murder; Bing Ji said street brawls are the magistrate’s business while the chancellor only grades officials at year’s end. A chancellor does not meddle in such trifles on the highway. In early spring an ox should not pant from heat; if it does, the seasons are wrong—a matter that threatens the harvest. The three high ministers must watch yin and yang; that is why I asked.’ The staff then conceded that he grasped the chancellor’s true scope.
15
元帝時，長安士伍尊上書言：「臣少時為郡邸小吏，竊見孝宣皇帝以皇曾孫在郡邸獄。 是時，治獄使者丙吉見皇曾孫遭離無辜，吉仁心感動，涕泣淒惻，選擇復作胡組養視皇孫，吉常從。 臣尊日再侍臥庭上。 後遭條獄之召，吉扞拒大難，不避嚴刑峻法。 既遭大赦，吉謂守丞誰知，皇孫不當在官，使誰如移書京兆尹，遣與胡組俱送京兆尹，不受，復還。 及組日滿當去，皇孫思慕，吉以私錢顧組，令留與郭徽卿並養數月，乃遣組去。 後少內嗇夫白吉曰：『食皇孫亡詔令』。 時，吉得食米肉，月月以給皇孫。 吉即時病，輒使臣尊朝夕請問皇孫，視省席蓐燥濕。 候伺組、徽卿，不得令晨夜去皇孫敖蕩，數奏甘毳食物。 所以擁全神靈，成育聖躬，功德已無量矣。 時豈豫知天下之福，而徼其報哉！ 誠其仁恩內結於心也。 雖介之推割肌以存君，不足以比。 教宣皇帝時，臣上書言狀，幸得下吉，吉謙讓不敢自伐，刪去臣辭，專歸美於組、徽卿。 組、徽卿皆以受田宅賜錢，吉封為博陽侯，臣尊不得比組、徽卿。 臣年老居貧，死在旦暮，欲終不言，恐使有功不著。 吉子顯坐微文奪爵為關內侯，臣愚以為宜復其爵邑，以報先入功德。」 先是，顯為太僕十餘年，與官屬大為奸利，臧千餘萬，司隸校尉昌案劾，罪至不道，奏請逮捕。 上曰：「故丞相吉有舊恩，朕不忍絕。」 免顯官，奪邑四百戶。 後復以為城門校尉。 顯卒，子昌嗣爵關內侯。
Under Emperor Yuan, a Chang’an commoner named Zun memorialized that as a young hostel clerk he had seen the future Emperor Xuan jailed there. Envoy Bing Ji, moved by the child’s innocence, wept and assigned Hu Zu, a woman on labor rotation, to nurse him while he stayed at hand. I, Zun, slept twice daily in the courtyard beside him. When the mass execution order came, Bing Ji defied it at risk to himself. After the general amnesty Bing Ji told assistant warden She Zhi that the imperial grandson could not stay in jail; he sent She Ru with transfer papers to the Governor of the Capital and had Hu Zu accompany them, but the governor refused to take the child and they had to return. When Hu Zu’s term ended, Bing Ji paid her from his own pocket to stay on with Guo Zhengqing a few months longer. The inner granary clerk then said there was no edict to feed the boy. Bing Ji supplied rice and meat each month from his own rations. When Bing Ji fell ill he sent me morning and night to check on the child’s bedding. He watched the nurses so they would not neglect the boy and sent delicate food. Thus he preserved the child’s life and raised a sage—merit beyond reckoning. He could not have foreseen the throne as his reward. His kindness came from the heart alone. Even Jie Zitui’s flesh-offering would not match it. When Xuan ascended I, Zun, reported the story; Bing Ji struck my lines and gave the credit to Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing. Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing received land and cash while Bing Ji was ennobled; I, Zun, cannot rank with them. I am old and poor and near death; I would have stayed silent but feared true merit would stay hidden. Bing Ji’s son Xian lost his marquisate on a petty charge; I ask that his title be restored to reward his father’s virtue.’ Earlier Bing Xian, as grand coachman for over a decade, had embezzled tens of millions until Commandant Chang impeached him for inhuman crimes and sought his arrest. The emperor said, ‘The late Chancellor Bing Ji served me; I cannot destroy his line.’ He removed Bing Xian from office and cut four hundred households from his fief. Later he reappointed him colonel of the gates. Bing Xian died; his son Chang inherited marquis-within-the-passes rank.
16
成帝時，修廢功，以吉舊恩尤重，鴻嘉元年制詔丞相御史：「蓋聞褒功德，繼絕統，所以重宗廟，廣賢聖之路也。 故博陽侯吉以舊恩有功而封，今其祀絕，朕甚憐之。 夫善善及子孫，古今之通誼也，其封吉孫中郎將、關內侯昌為博陽侯，奉吉後。」 國絕三十二歲復續雲。 昌傳子至孫，王莽時乃絕。
Under Emperor Cheng, in 20 BCE, an edict recalled Bing Ji’s great debt: honoring merit continues broken lines and strengthens the ancestral cult. Bing Ji was enfeoffed for old service, yet his line had failed; the emperor pitied it. Good done to the good should reach descendants; he therefore enfeoffed Bing Ji’s grandson Chang, a palace gentleman and marquis-within-the-passes, as Marquis of Boyang to continue the line.’ The marquisate had lapsed for thirty-two years before the line was renewed. Chang passed the title to his son and grandson until Wang Mang’s usurpation ended the line.
17
贊曰：古之制名，必繇象類，遠取諸物，近取諸身。 故經謂君為元首，臣為股肱，明其一體，相待而成也。 是故君臣相配，古今常道，自然之勢也。 近觀漢相，高祖開基，蕭、曹為冠，孝宣中興，丙、魏有聲。 是時，黜陟有序，眾職修理，公卿多稱其位，海內興於禮讓。 覽其行事，豈虛乎哉！
The historian’s appraisal: the ancients coined titles by analogy—drawing images from nature and from the human body. The classics call the ruler the head and ministers the arms and legs, showing that ruler and minister form one body and complete each other. Their partnership is the enduring law of government, as natural as the pairing of head and limbs. Among Han chancellors, Xiao He and Cao Can stood first at the founding; under Emperor Xuan’s restoration Bing Ji and Wei Xiang won lasting fame. In that age promotions and dismissals followed rule, every office functioned, high ministers fitted their posts, and the realm turned to courtesy and deference. Their deeds prove that reputation was no empty praise.