1
卷七十九馮奉世傳第四十九
Volume 79: Biography of Feng Fengshi, the forty-ninth.
2
馮奉世字子明，上黨潞人也，徙杜陵。 其先馮亭，為韓上黨守。 秦攻上黨，絕太行道，韓不能守，馮亭乃入上黨城守於趙。 趙封馮亭為華陽君，與趙將括距秦，戰死於長平。 宗族由是分散，或留潞，或在趙。 在趙者為官帥將，官帥將子為代相。 及秦滅六國，而馮亭之後馮毋擇、馮去疾、馮劫皆為秦將相焉。
Feng Fengshi, style Ziming, came from Lu in Shangdang and later settled at Duling. His forebear Feng Ting had held Shangdang for the state of Han. When Qin severed the Taihang passes and Han could not defend the commandery, Feng Ting turned the territory over to Zhao and defended it in Zhao's name. Zhao enfeoffed him as lord of Huayang; he fought beside the general Zhao Kuo against Qin and fell at Changping. The clan scattered; one branch stayed in Lu, another in Zhao. The Zhao branch produced garrison commanders, and a commander's son rose to chancellor of Dai. After Qin swallowed the rival kingdoms, Feng Ting's descendants Wuzhe, Quji, and Jie all served Qin as generals and ministers.
3
漢興，文帝時馮唐顯名，即代相子也。 至武帝末，奉世以良家子選為郎。 昭帝時，以功次補武安長。 失官，年三十餘矣，乃學《春秋》涉大義，讀兵法明習，前將軍韓增奏以為軍司空令。 本始中，從軍擊匈奴。 軍罷，復為郎。
Under Han, Feng Tang won renown under Emperor Wen—he was that chancellor of Dai's son. Near the end of Emperor Wu's reign he entered the corps of gentlemen cadets from a respectable household. Under Emperor Zhao he earned appointment as magistrate of Wu'an by seniority of service. Stripped of rank past thirty, he mastered the Spring and Autumn, absorbed its large themes, and pored over strategy until the former general Han Zeng nominated him as director of the army works command. During Benshi he campaigned with the host against the Xiongnu. After demobilization he returned to the gentleman corps.
4
先是時，漢數出使西域，多辱命不稱，或貪污，為外國所苦。 是時，烏孫大有擊匈奴之功，而西域諸國新輯，漢方善遇，欲以安之，選可使外國者。 前將軍增舉奉世以衛候使持節送大宛諸國客。 至伊脩城，都尉宋將言莎車與旁國共攻殺漢所置莎車王萬年，並殺漢使者奚充國。 時，匈奴又發兵攻車師城，不能下而去。 莎車遣使揚言北道諸國已屬匈奴矣，於是攻劫南道，與歃盟畔漢，從鄯善以西皆絕不通。 都護鄭吉、校尉司馬意皆在北道諸國間。 奉世與其副嚴昌計，以為不亟擊之則莎車日強，其勢難制，必危西域。 遂以節諭告諸國王，因發其兵，南北道合萬五千人進擊莎車，攻拔其城。 莎車王自殺，傳其首詣長安。 諸國悉平，威振西域。 奉世乃罷兵以聞。 宣帝召見韓增，曰：「賀將軍所舉得其人。」 奉世遂西至大苑。 大苑聞其斬莎車王，敬之異於它使。 得其名馬象龍而還。 上甚說，下議封奉世。 丞相、將軍皆曰：「《春秋》之義，大夫出疆，有可以安國家，則顓之可也。 奉世功傚尤著，宜加爵士之賞。」 少府蕭望之獨以奉世奉使有指，而擅矯制違命，發諸國兵，雖有功效，不可以為後法。 即封奉世，開後奉使者利，以奉世為比，爭逐發兵，要功萬里之外，為國家生事於夷狄。 漸不可長，奉世不宜受封。 上善望之議，以奉世為光祿大夫、水衡都尉。
Han envoys to the Western Regions had often failed or grown rich at local expense, to the outer states' misery. Wusun had lately bloodied the Xiongnu, the Tarim states were settling under Han favor, and the court wanted a trustworthy envoy. Han Zeng nominated him as guard commandant bearing the staff to convoy Ferghana's party and the rest. At Yixiu the local commandant Song Jiang warned that Shache and allies had murdered Wannian, Han's puppet king of Shache, and slaughtered envoy Xi Chongguo. The Xiongnu had just besieged Jushi without success and marched away. Shache's heralds claimed the northern track for the Xiongnu, then plundered the southern oaths, broke with Han, and sealed the road west of Shanshan. Protector-general Zheng Ji and colonel Sima Yi were tied up on the northern line. Fengshi and deputy Yan Chang judged that delay would let Shache swell until the whole region slipped from Han control. He invoked the staff, rallied the kings, and raised fifteen thousand men from both routes to storm Shache and take its walls. The Shache king committed suicide; his head went to Chang'an. The oases submitted; his name thundered across the Tarim. Fengshi stood the army down and memorialized what he had done. Emperor Xuan called in Han Zeng and said, "Your nomination was sound." He then pushed on west to Ferghana. Ferghana, learning he had decapitated the Shache king, treated him with a respect no other envoy had known. He brought back the celebrated "Elephant Dragon" steed. The throne was delighted and ordered discussion of a fief for Fengshi. Chancellor and generals cited the Annals: a minister beyond the border may act on his own authority if the realm is thereby secured. Fengshi's achievement stood out; he deserved noble rank and a fief." Xiao Wangzhi alone argued that Fengshi had carried fixed orders yet counterfeited an imperial rescript and mobilized foreign troops without warrant—precedent-making even if successful. Ennobling him would tempt every future envoy to raise armies for glory ten thousand li away and embroil the court in barbarian quarrels. Such habits must not be fed; Fengshi should not take a fief. The emperor took Wangzhi's side, naming Fengshi grand counselor of the palace and superintendent of the palace parks instead.
5
元帝即位，為執金吾。 上郡屬國歸義降胡萬餘人反去。 初，昭帝末，西河屬國胡伊酋若王亦將眾數千人畔，奉世輒持節將兵追擊。 右將軍典屬國常惠薨，奉世代為右將軍典屬國，加諸吏之號。 數歲，為光祿勳。
Under Emperor Yuan he became metropolitan commandant. Over ten thousand surrendered Xiongnu of Shang commandery's dependent state rose and bolted. Near the end of Zhao's reign the Xihe dependent chieftain Yijiuoru had mutinied with thousands; Fengshi had seized the staff and run him down. When right general Chang Hui died, Fengshi succeeded him as right general and director of dependent states, with the collective title "various officials." A few years later he rose to superintendent of the household.
6
永光二年秋，隴西羌□姐旁種反，詔召丞相韋玄成、御史大夫鄭弘、大司馬車騎將軍王接、左將軍許嘉、右將軍奉世入議。 是時，歲比不登，京師谷石二百餘，邊郡四百，關東五百。 四方饑饉，朝廷方以為憂，而遭羌變。 玄成等漠然莫有對者。 奉世曰：「羌虜近在境內背畔，不以時誅，亡以威制遠蠻。 臣願帥師討之。」 上問用兵之數，對曰：「臣聞善用兵者，役不再興，糧不三載，故師不久暴而天誅亟決。 往者數不料敵，而師至於折傷； 再三發軵，則曠日煩費，威武虧矣。 今反虜無慮三萬人，法當倍用六萬人。 然羌戎弓矛之兵耳，器不犀利，可用四萬人，一月足以決。」 丞相、御史、兩將軍皆以為民方收斂時，未可多發； 萬人屯守之，且足。 奉世曰：「不可。 天下被饑饉，士馬羸秏，守戰之備久廢不簡，夷狄皆有輕邊吏之心，而羌首難。 今以萬人分屯數外，虜見兵少，必不畏懼，戰則挫兵病師，守則百姓不救。 如此，怯弱之形見，羌人乘利，諸種並和，相扇而起，臣恐中國之役不得止於四萬，非財幣所能解也。 故少發師而曠日，與一舉而疾決，利害相萬也。」 固爭之，不能得。 有詔益二千人。
Yongguang 2 autumn: Longxi Qiang of the Xianjie confederation (the manuscript loses one character in the name) rose in revolt; the edict called Chancellor Wei Xuancheng, Counselor Zheng Hong, Grand Marshal Wang Jie, Left General Xu Jia, and Right General Fengshi to council. Years of bad harvests had driven grain past two hundred cash a bushel in the capital, four hundred on the frontier, five hundred in the east. Famine gripped the realm just as the court faced the Qiang crisis. Wei Xuancheng and the rest sat mute. Fengshi said, "Qiang traitors are inside our border; crush them now or distant tribes will never fear Han. I ask command to chastise them." Asked the needed force, he answered: "A master of war does not mobilize twice nor haul grain three times; the blow must be swift. Past campaigns misread the foe and paid in blood; repeat the levy and costs soar while prestige drains away. These rebels number perhaps thirty thousand; doctrine says double them—sixty thousand men. They are only bowmen and spearmen with dull gear; forty thousand can finish the job in a month." Chancellor, counselor, and both generals insisted the harvest forbade a large levy; ten thousand on the line would do for now. Fengshi said, "That will not serve. The realm is starving, mounts are gaunt, garrisons are rusty, barbarians despise frontier officers, and the Qiang chiefs are bold. Split ten thousand among several posts and the enemy will see weakness—attack and we shatter, stand fast and the people perish. They will scent fear, clans will league, and I fear the war will outgrow forty thousand men and outrun any treasury. A small force that drags on is nothing like one sharp stroke—the difference is an order of magnitude." He argued hard and lost. The edict added only two thousand men.
7
於是遣奉世將萬二千人騎，以將屯為名。 典屬國任立、護軍都尉韓昌為偏裨，到隴西，分屯三處。 典屬國為右軍，屯白石； 護軍都尉為前軍，屯臨洮； 奉世為中軍，屯首陽西極上。 前軍到降同阪，先遣校尉在前與羌爭地利，又別遣校尉救民於廣陽谷。 羌虜盛多，皆為所破，殺兩校尉。 奉世具上地形部眾多少之計，願益三萬六千人乃足以決事。 書奏，天子大為發兵六萬餘人，拜太常弋陽侯任千秋為奮武將軍以助焉。 奉世上言：「願得其眾，不須煩大將。」 因陳轉輸之費。
Fengshi marched with twelve thousand foot and cavalry under the label of garrison command. Ren Li, director of dependent states, and Han Chang, commandant of guards, were his lieutenants; in Longxi they split into three camps. Ren Li took the right wing at Baishi; Han Chang the vanguard at Lintao; Fengshi held the center on the heights west of Shouyang. The vanguard reached Jiangtong Slope, sent a colonel to fight for ground, and another to evacuate civilians from Guangyang gorge. The Qiang massed and overwhelmed both columns, killing the colonels. Fengshi mapped terrain and tallies, begging for thirty-six thousand more men to finish the campaign. The emperor exploded sixty thousand reinforcements onto the road and named Grand Master Ren Qianqiu of Yiyang general Who Rouses Might to second him. Fengshi wrote back, "Give me those men; no need for another grand commander." He itemized the cost of supply.
8
上於是以璽書勞奉世，且讓之，曰：「皇帝問將兵右將軍，甚苦暴露。 羌虜侵邊境，殺吏民，甚逆天道，故遣將軍帥士大夫行天誅。 以將軍材質之美，奮精兵，誅不軌，百下百全之道也。 今乃有畔敵之名，大為中國羞。 以昔不閑習之故邪？ 以恩厚未洽，信約不明也？ 朕甚怪之。 上書言羌虜依深山，多徑道，不得不多分部遮要害，須得後發營士，足以決事，部署已定，勢不可復置大將，聞之。 前為將軍兵少，不足自守，故發近所騎，日夜詣，非為擊也。 今發三輔、河東、弘農越騎、跡射、佽飛、彀者、羽林孤兒及呼速累、嗕種，方急遣。 且兵，凶器也，必有成敗者，患策不豫定，料敵不審也，故復遣奮武將軍。 兵法曰大將軍出必有偏裨，所以揚威武，參計策，將軍又何疑焉？ 夫愛吏士，得眾心，舉而無悔，禽敵必全，將軍之職也。 若乃轉輸之費，則有司存，將軍勿憂。 須奮武將軍兵到，合擊羌虜。」
The throne answered with a sealed rescript both praising and scolding: "The emperor asks his right general: you have borne hard weather long. The Qiang murder our people and offend Heaven; We send you to execute that sentence with gentry and troops. Given your gifts and picked soldiers, lawless men should fall at the first blow. Yet rumor speaks of stalemate—a deep shame to China. Is it want of training? Or because our kindness and clear pledges have not reached them? We are much perplexed. Your letter says the Qiang hold the heights and many trails, so you must split the army to seal choke points and wait for reinforcements to decide the fight; dispositions are set and a new high commander would only tangle them—We have read you. We rushed local cavalry to you earlier because your numbers could not hold the line, not to second-guess your tactics. We now press toward you the swift riders, trace archers, flying spears, crossbow specialists, palace orphans, and tribal auxiliaries from the capital districts, Hedong, and Hongnang. Arms are ill omens; victory turns on forethought and intelligence of the foe—hence the second general Who Rouses Might. The canon says every commander needs lieutenants to lend weight and counsel—do not take offense. Cherish the men, win their loyalty, strike without regret, and annihilate the foe—that is your charge. Supply is the ministries' problem, not yours. Stand until Who Rouses Might arrives, then crush the Qiang together."
9
十月，兵畢至隴西。 十一月，並進。 羌虜大破，斬首數千級，餘皆走出塞。 兵未決間，漢復發募士萬人，拜定襄太守韓安國為建威將軍。 未進，聞羌破，還。 上曰：「羌虜破散創艾，亡逃出塞，其罷吏士，頗留屯田，備要害處。」
By the tenth month every column had reached Longxi. In the eleventh month they attacked as one. The Qiang broke; thousands fell, the rest bolted beyond the wall. Mid-campaign Han raised another ten thousand recruits and named Dingxiang governor Han Anguo general Who Establishes Might. Han Anguo turned back when he heard the Qiang had collapsed. The emperor said, "The Qiang are shattered; demobilize the host but leave enough men to farm the garrisons and hold the choke points."
10
明年二月，奉世還京師，更為左將軍光祿勳如故。 其後錄功拜爵，下詔曰：「羌虜桀黠，賊害吏民，攻隴西府寺，燔燒置亭，絕道橋，甚逆天道。 左將軍光祿勳奉世前將兵征討，斬捕首虜八千餘級，鹵馬、牛、羊以萬數。 賜奉世爵關內侯，良邑五百戶，黃金六十斤。」 裨將、校尉三十餘人，皆拜。
The next year, second month, he reached the capital, restored as left general and superintendent of the household. Merit rolls later brought an edict: "The Qiang are savage foes who slew our people, torched Longxi yamen and post houses, and cut bridges—Heaven's enemies. Left General Fengshi took the field, took over eight thousand heads, and drove off countless stock. We grant him marquis-within-the-passes rank, five hundred good households, and sixty jin of gold." Over thirty subordinate generals and colonels received titles with him.
11
後歲餘，奉世病卒。 居爪牙官前後十年，為折衝宿將，功名次趙充國。
A year or so later he died of illness. For a full decade he stood in the emperor's mailed fist—an old hand at turning assaults—second in renown only to Zhao Chongguo.
12
奮武將軍任千秋者，其父宮，昭帝時以丞相征事捕斬反者左將軍上官桀，封侯，宣帝時為太常，薨。 千秋嗣後，復為太常。 成帝時，樂昌侯王商代奉世為左將軍，而千秋為右將軍，後亦為左將軍。 子孫傳國，至王莽乃絕云。
Ren Qianqiu's father Ren Gong had served Zhao's chancellor as investigator, cut down mutineer Shangguan Jie, taken a marquisate, and ended as grand master of ceremonies under Xuan. Qianqiu inherited the fief and likewise rose to grand master of ceremonies. Under Cheng, Wang Shang of Lechang succeeded Fengshi as left general while Qianqiu held the right, then moved left in turn. The line held the marquisate until Wang Mang ended it.
13
奉世死後二年，西域都護甘延壽以誅郅支單于封為列侯。 時，丞相匡衡亦用延壽矯制生事，據蕭望之前議，以為不當封，而議者咸美其功，上從眾而侯之。 於是杜欽上疏，追訟奉世前功曰：「前莎車王殺漢使者，約諸國背畔。 左將軍奉世以衛候便宜發兵誅莎車王，策定城郭，功施邊境。 議者以奉世奉使有指，《春秋》之義亡遂事，漢家之法有矯制，故不得侯。 令匈奴郅支單于殺漢使者，亡保康居，都護延壽發城郭兵屯田吏士四萬餘人以誅斬之，封為列侯。 臣愚以為比罪則郅支薄，量敵則莎車眾，用師則奉世寡，計勝則奉世為功於邊境安，慮敗則延壽為禍於國家深。 其違命而擅生事同，延壽割地封，而奉世獨不錄。 臣聞功同賞異則勞臣疑，罪鈞刑殊則百姓惑； 疑生無常，惑生不知所從； 亡常則節趨不立，不知所從則百姓無所措手足。 奉世圖難忘死，信命殊俗，威功白著，為世使表，獨抑厭而不揚，非聖主所以塞疑厲節之意也。 願下有司議。」 上以先帝時事，不復錄。
Two years after Fengshi died, Gan Yanshou won a full marquisate for killing Zhizhi. Chancellor Kuang Heng echoed Wangzhi's old line that Yanshou had overstepped, yet public praise swayed the throne and Yanshou was ennobled. Du Qin then memorialized to reopen Fengshi's case: Shache had murdered an envoy and rallied the oases against Han. Left General Fengshi, still a guard commandant, had seized initiative, beheaded the Shache king, and secured every oasis. Critics said he had fixed orders, the Annals forbade second-guessing a finished act, and Han law punished forged rescripts—hence no fief. Yet Zhizhi murdered an envoy and fled to Kangju; Yanshou led forty thousand colonists and garrison troops to kill him—and took a full marquisate. Zhizhi's guilt was slighter, Shache's coalition larger, Fengshi's army smaller; success made Fengshi the border's shield, failure would have made Yanshou a heavier national disaster. Both broke orders to act; one was carved a fief, the other erased from the rolls. Equal deeds and unequal rewards breed suspicion in loyal ministers; equal crimes and unequal sentences confuse the people; doubt unmoors duty, confusion leaves them nowhere to turn; without a fixed standard virtue cannot root, and the common folk flounder. Fengshi risked death in barbarian lands and his glory shone—an exemplar for every envoy—yet the court buries him; that is no way for a sage king to clear doubt and steel character. I ask the ministries to reconsider." The emperor let the old case lie as a prior reign's affair.
14
奉世有子男九人，女四人。 長女媛以選充兵宮，為元帝昭儀，產中山孝王。 元帝崩，媛為中山太后，隨王就國。 奉世長子譚，太常舉孝廉為郎，功次補天水司馬。 奉世擊西羌，譚為校尉，隨父從軍有功，未拜病死。 譚弟野王、逡、立、參至大官。
Fengshi fathered nine sons and four daughters. His eldest daughter Yuan entered the harem as Brilliant Companion to Yuan and bore the king of Zhongshan. When Emperor Yuan died she became dowager of Zhongshan and went with her son to his fief. Eldest son Tan, filial and incorrupt from the grand master of ceremonies' nomination, became a gentleman and then Tianshui marshal by seniority. Tan served as colonel in the Qiang war and earned merit beside his father, then died of sickness before promotion. Younger brothers Yewang, Qun, Li, and Shen all rose high.
15
野王字君卿，受業博士，通《詩》。 少以父任為太子中庶子。 年十八，上書願試守長安令。 宣帝奇其志，問丞相魏相，相以為不可許。 後以功次補當陽長，遷為櫟陽令，徙夏陽令。 元帝時，遷隴西太守，以治行高，入為左馮翊。 歲餘，而池陽令並素行貪污，輕野王外戚年少，治行不改。 野王部督郵掾示殳祤趙都案驗，得其主守盜十金罪，收捕。 並不首吏，都格殺。 並家上書陳冤，事下廷尉。 都詣吏自殺以明野王，京師稱其威信，遷為大鴻臚。
Yewang, style Junqing, studied under an erudite and mastered the Odes. As a youth he entered the heir apparent's household by yin privilege. At eighteen he volunteered to trial-run the magistracy of Chang'an. Emperor Xuan admired the audacity; Chancellor Wei Xiang said no. He later rose through Dangyang, Liyang, and Xiayang by merit. Under Yuan he governed Longxi with such distinction that the capital made him left governor of Fengyi. A year in, Chiyang magistrate Bing, a grafter, sneered at Yewang as a young in-law and kept stealing. Yewang set his inspector on Bing; Zhao Du of Shuyi proved ten jin of embezzled gold and moved to arrest him. Bing resisted arrest and Du killed him in the scuffle. Bing's kin appealed; the file went to the commandant of justice. Du killed himself at the yamen gate to spare Yewang; the capital praised his loyalty and promoted Yewang to grand herald.
16
數年，御史大夫李延壽病卒，在位多舉野王。 上使尚書選第中二千石，而野王行能第一。 上曰：「吾用野王為三公，後世必謂我私後宮親屬，以野王為比。」 乃下詔曰：「剛強堅固，確然亡欲，大鴻臚野王是也。 心辨善辭，可使四方，少府五鹿充宗是也。 廉潔節儉，太子少傅張譚是也。 其以少傅為御史大夫。」 上繇下第而用譚，越次避嫌不用野王，以昭儀兄故也。 野王乃歎曰：「人皆以女寵貴，我兄弟獨以賤！」 野王雖不為三公，甚見器重，有名當世。
When Counselor Li Yanshou died, the bureaucracy backed Yewang. The emperor ordered the secretariat to rank the two-thousand-bushel corps; Yewang topped the list. The emperor said, "If I name him one of the Three Dukes, posterity will say I bought favor for the harem." So he issued a litany of virtues: "Grand Herald Yewang is granite and free of appetite; Wulu Chongzong has a ready tongue for embassies; Zhang Tan is clean and spare; let the junior tutor take the counselor's seal." He picked lower-ranked Zhang Tan to dodge the charge of nepotism—Yewang was the Brilliant Companion's brother. Yewang groaned, "Other men ride their sisters' skirts upward; our sister's skirt drags us down." He never took a ducal chair yet remained indispensable and famous.
17
成帝立，有司奏野王王舅，不宜備九卿，以秩出為上郡太守，加賜黃金百斤。 朔方刺史蕭育奏封事，薦言：「野王行能高妙，內足與圖身，外足以慮化。 竊惜野王懷國之寶，而不得陪朝廷與朝者並。 野王前以王舅出，以賢復入，明國家樂進賢也。」 上自為太子時聞知野王。 會其病免，復以故二千石使行河堤，因拜為琅邪太守。 是時，成帝長舅陽平侯王鳳為大司馬大將軍，輔政八九年矣，時數有災異，京兆尹王章譏鳳專權不可任用，薦野王代鳳。 上初納其言，而後誅章，語在《元后傳》。 於是野王懼不自安，遂病，滿三月賜告，與妻子歸杜陵就醫藥。 大將軍鳳風御史中丞劾奏野王賜告養病而私自便，持虎符出界歸家，奉詔不敬。 杜欽時在大將軍莫府，欽素高野王父子行能，奏記於鳳，為野王言曰：「竊見令曰，吏二千石告，過長安謁，不分別予賜。 今有司以為予告得歸，賜告不得，是一律兩科，失省刑之意。 夫三最予告，令也； 病滿三月賜告，詔恩也。 令告則得，詔恩不得，失輕重之差。 又二千石病賜告得歸有故事，不得去郡亡著令。 傳曰：『賞疑從予，所以廣恩勸功也； 罰疑從去，所以慎刑，闕難知也。』 今釋令與故事而假不敬之法，甚違闕疑從去之意。 即以二千石守千里之地，任兵馬之重，不宜去郡，將以制刑為後法者，則野王之罪，在未制令前也。 刑賞大信，不可不慎。」 鳳不聽，竟免野王。 郡國二千石病賜告不得歸家，自此始。
At Cheng's accession the ministries barred maternal uncles from the nine ministers; Yewang went to Shang commandery with a hundred jin of gold as consolation. Shuofang inspector Xiao Yu sealed a brief praising Yewang's inner discipline and outer statesmanship; he mourned that such a jewel stood outside the hall; to recall him for talent would prove the court loves worth over kin." Cheng had admired Yewang since his own princedom. When illness cashiered him, the court sent him, still at two-thousand-bushel rank, to inspect dikes, then named him governor of Langye. Wang Feng, Cheng's senior uncle, had run the state nearly a decade when capital governor Wang Zhang attacked his monopoly and nominated Yewang to replace him. The throne first agreed, then executed Wang Zhang—the tale is told with the Yuan empress. Yewang grew terrified, took three months' medical leave, and fled to Duling with his family. Feng nudged the palace secretary to charge that Yewang had abused sick leave, crossed out of his command with the tiger tally, and insulted imperial grace. Du Qin, in Feng's staff, argued the statute: two-thousand-bushel men passing through the capital on leave were not split between "ordinary" and "granted" sick leave; treating the two differently was one law with two faces and betrayed the spirit of merciful judgment; top-rated merit leave was statute; three months' imperial sick leave was grace; to honor one and forbid the other skewed weight and weightlessness; precedent let sick two-thousand-bushel men go home, and no written rule barred leaving the command. The tradition runs, "If reward is doubtful, give—thus widening grace; if punishment is doubtful, withhold—thus sparing the blade for gray cases." To scrap precedent for a vague "disrespect" charge betrayed that maxim. Even if a new rule should chain governors to their posts, Yewang acted before any such rule existed. Reward and punishment are the throne's bond with the realm—handle them with care." Feng ignored him and cashiered Yewang anyway. From that day governors on sick leave could not go home.
18
初，野王嗣父爵為關內侯，免歸。 數年，年老，終於家。 子座嗣爵，至孫坐中山太后事絕。
Yewang had earlier inherited marquis-within-the-passes rank and lost it. Years later he died at home in old age. Son Zuo inherited until a grandson lost the title in the Zhongshan dowager scandal.
19
逡字子產，通《易》，太常察孝廉為郎，補謁者。 建昭中，選為復土校尉。 光祿勳於永舉茂材，為美陽令。 功次遷長樂屯衛司馬，清河都尉，隴西太守。 治行廉平，年四十餘卒。 為都尉時，言河堤方略，在《溝洫志》。
Qun, style Zichan, knew the Changes, entered as filial and incorrupt, and became a yeoman. In Jianzhao he was picked as colonel of the burial mounds. Yu Yong nominated him flourishing talent for Meiyang. Merit raised him to Changle garrison marshal, Qinghe chief commandant, and Longxi governor. He governed cleanly and died in his forties. As chief commandant he wrote on flood control—see the "Treatise on Ditches and Channels."
20
立字聖卿，通《春秋》。 以父任為郎，稍遷諸曹。 竟寧中，以王舅出為五原屬國都尉。 數年，遷五原太守，徙西河、上郡。 立居職公廉，治行略與野王相似，而多知有恩貸，好為條教。 吏民嘉美野王、立相代為太守，歌之曰：「大馮君，小馮君，兄弟繼踵相因循，聰明賢知惠吏民，政如魯、衛德化鈞，周公、康叔猶二君。」 後遷為東海太守，下濕病痺。 天子聞之，徙立為太原太守。 更歷五郡，所居有跡。 年老卒官。
Li, style Shengqing, mastered the Spring and Autumn. Yin privilege made him a gentleman; he climbed the bureau ladder. Jingning sent him, as the prince's uncle, to command Wuyuan dependent state. He rose to Wuyuan governor, then Xihe and Shang. Like Yewang he was just, but kinder with forbearance and fonder of written instructions. The people sang when the brothers swapped seats: "Big Feng, little Feng, back to back the brothers go, clever and kind to clerk and farmer, their rule like Lu and Wei in tune—two dukes of Zhou for us." Promotion to Donghai left him crippled by damp. The emperor moved him to the dry climate of Taiyuan. Five commands in a row felt his mark. He died in harness, full of years.
21
頃之，哀帝即位，帝祖母傅太后用事，追怨參姊中山太后，陷以祝詛大逆之罪，語在《外戚傳》。 參以同產當相坐，謁者承製召參詣廷尉，參自殺。 且死，仰天歎曰：「參父子兄弟皆備大位，身至封侯，今被惡名而死，姊弟不敢自惜，傷無以見先人於地下！」 死者十七人，眾莫不憐之。 宗族徙歸故郡。
Soon Ai ruled; Grand Empress Dowager Fu hated Shen's sister, the Zhongshan dowager, and framed her for witchcraft—see the outer-kin annals. Shen faced kin liability; the usher's summons to the commandant of justice drove him to suicide. Facing death he cried to Heaven: "Our house filled every high seat and took marquisates—now I die disgraced; I do not pity myself or my sister, only that I cannot face our fathers below the sod." Seventeen lives ended; the realm wept for them. The clan was deported to its ancestral commandery.
22
贊曰：《詩》稱「抑抑威儀，惟德之隅。」 宜鄉侯參鞠躬履方，擇地而行，可謂淑人君子，然卒死於非罪，不能自免，哀哉！ 讒邪交亂，貞良被害，自古而然。 故伯奇放流，孟子宮刑，申生雉經，屈原赴湘，《小弁》之詩作，《離騷》之辭興。 經曰：「心之憂矣，涕既隕之。」 馮參姊弟，亦云悲矣！
The historian cites the Odes: "Grave is the bearing that fences virtue." Marquis Shen walked every inch by the book—a true gentleman—yet perished on a false charge he could not escape. Slander devouring the good is as old as history. So Boyi was driven out, Mengzi the palace attendant was castrated, Crown Prince Sheng hanged himself, Qu Yuan drowned—the "Little Boy" ode and "Li sao" rose from such pain. The canon says, "The heart's grief already wets the cheek with tears." Shen and his sister—pitiful indeed.