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卷四十七 列傳第十七 傅玄

Volume 47 Biographies 17: Fu Xuan

Chapter 47 of 晉書 · Book of Jin
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Chapter 47
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1
Fu Xuan
2
便
Fu Xuan, whose courtesy name was Xiuyi, came from Niyang in Beidi commandery. His grandfather, Fu Xie, had served the Han as prefect of Hanyang. His father, Fu Gan, was prefect of Fufeng under the Wei. Orphaned and poor in his youth, Fu Xuan nevertheless read widely, wrote well, and had a firm grasp of bells and musical temperament. He was by nature stern, outspoken, and upright, and he had little patience for other men's faults. The commandery's clerk on capital duty twice nominated him as filially pious and incorrupt, and the grand commandant summoned him to office, but he declined every time. The province then recommended him as an outstanding scholar, and he received appointment as a gentleman of the palace. Together with Mou Shi of Donghai he was chosen, on the strength of his reputation, for the historiography office, where he helped compile the History of Wei. He later served on the staffs of the generals who maintained the east and who guarded the army, became magistrate of Wen, rose twice to governor of Hongnong, and held the concurrent post of colonel director of agriculture. In every post he earned a reputation for competence; he sent up memorial after memorial on practical reforms, and much of what he urged was put right. When the five-tier nobility was instituted, he was enfeoffed as baron of Chungu. While Emperor Wu was still king of Jin, he appointed Fu Xuan cavalier attendant-in-ordinary. After the abdication, Fu Xuan's noble rank was raised to viscount, and he was also given the title of chief commandant of attached cavalry.
3
使 退 使 滿 祿 使 使使使 祿 使 使
At the beginning of the reign the emperor welcomed blunt counsel and declared that nothing was off limits for remonstrance; Fu Xuan and the cavalier attendant-in-ordinary Huangfu Tao were jointly charged with that advisory role. Fu Xuan presented a memorial that began: "I have heard that when the kings of old faced the realm, they made plain the great moral teaching and nurtured a sense of duty and integrity. The transforming power of the Way flourished at court, while honest public opinion held sway in the countryside; high and low reinforced each other, and every man carried a sense of what was right. The fallen Qin had torn down the institutions of the earlier kings, governed by legalist tricks and coercive technique, and in the process destroyed the moral conscience of the people. In our own day Emperor Wu of Wei doted on legalist methods, and the empire learned to prize harsh law and clever nomenclature over everything else. Emperor Wen admired worldly sophistication, and the world came to despise men who clung stubbornly to principle. Discipline then collapsed, empty speculation and reckless talk flooded court and country, honest opinion fell silent, and the moral sickness that had destroyed Qin has broken out again in our time. Your Majesty has risen with dragon virtue to accept the abdication; you have widened the influence of Yao and Shun, opened a path for the upright, embodied the frugality of Yu of Xia, and drawn together the classical learning of Yin and Zhou. I could do nothing but sing your praise—what more is left for me to say? Only this remains: you have not yet raised up ministers who combine purity, depth, and ritual decorum, men who could give backbone to public conduct; nor have you cleared away the hollow and the mean to punish slackness—and for that reason I still presume to speak." The court answered with an edict: "Promoting men who are pure, serious, and observant of ritual is precisely what the age most urgently needs." He thereupon told Fu Xuan to draft an edict carrying the policy forward. Fu Xuan submitted another memorial: "Your subject has heard that when Shun elevated five ministers, the realm was transformed through effortless governance because he put the right men in the essential posts." Offices throughout the realm are far too numerous; we cannot fail to choose the right men for each one. When the wrong man holds a post, even a single day brings incalculable harm, to say nothing of months and years. The Canon of Yu says, "Let no office stand vacant," meaning that duties must not long go unfilled. Officials who remain ill for a full hundred days without improvement should leave their posts, but retain honorable rank and stipend until they recover and can serve again. If no one abandons his post at court, the state will not suffer from unfilled offices; this is among the most pressing tasks of royal government. Your subject has heard that the ancient kings divided society into scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants to govern the state, each group devoted to one calling and its distinct duties. For sons of the scholar class and above, they founded the Imperial Academy, chose able teachers, and appointed each according to his talent, whether high or low. Farmers filled the granaries, artisans supplied tools, and merchants moved goods through trade. Thus even in a vast realm with multitudes of people, no one was left idle. The Zhou system of allotment was complete in just this fashion. Han and Wei never fixed these divisions. Sons of officials neglected the classics for socializing, took office without knowing their duties, and still drew the state stipend; farming and craftsmanship were widely neglected, and many left their proper work to chase illicit profit; they were enrolled in name at the Imperial Academy yet never learned the ways of the ancient kings. Your enlightened rule has only just begun, yet the errors of Han and Wei remain uncorrected: supernumerary posts abound while schools go unfounded, idlers multiply while farmers dwindle, and tools are not put to proper use. I urge that the system be fixed at once: calculate how many men the realm needs as scholars, enough to fill the assisting ranks of government; how many as farmers, so that three years' labor yields one year's full stores; how many as artisans, enough to supply all needed tools; and how many as merchants, enough only to keep goods in circulation. Honoring Confucian learning, esteeming scholarship, valuing agriculture and keeping commerce low—these are essential priorities for every calling. Earlier Huangfu Tao proposed that all men granted supernumerary appointments be required to farm in person, so the realm would enjoy the benefit of full granaries. Yu and Ji worked the fields themselves, and their blessing endured for ages; hence the Bright Hall and Monthly Ordinances prescribe the emperor's sacred plowing. Yi Yin, a famed minister of antiquity, plowed at Youxin; Yan Ying, a minister of Qi, fled Duke Zhuang's troubles and likewise farmed on the seashore. Sage emperors, enlightened kings, worthy ministers, and outstanding scholars all once worked the fields. For royal kin granted office who hold idle supernumerary posts, if they are not required to study, they should be required to farm; there is no excuse for letting them live off the people without work. Civil and military posts are already numerous, supernumerary appointees abound, and many who should farm are kept from the fields by military service, so that half the men who ought to till the soil are lost while capital stipendiaries have tripled. If idle officials were put to farming and their harvest taxed, households would prosper and the realm's grain supply would never fail. When households have enough to eat, sons are filial, fathers are kindly, elder brothers are friendly, and younger brothers are deferential. When the realm has full granaries, the teaching of humaneness and righteousness will spread without need of command. The essence of government is to count the people, assign offices, divide labor, and assign tasks; the division of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants must never be set aside even for a moment. If the controls cannot yet be perfected, count those civil and military officials fit to serve as deputies and require them to study; all others should be returned to the fields. Elders among artisans and merchants should likewise be returned to farming. If agriculture is pursued in this way, how could the realm fail to prosper! The Book of Yu says: "Examine achievements every three years; after three examinations promote the worthy and remove the unfit." This means that promotion in rank comes only after nine years. When men hold office long, they learn to finish what they begin with care; when terms are too short, they scramble for quick expedients. A six-year term is too brief to carry out a full round of promotions and demotions. Huangfu Tao's proposal accords with the ancient system in principle. Confucian learning stands at the head of royal instruction. Even when its Way is honored, its calling esteemed, and its selection weighted with care, one still fears the moral transformation will not rise high enough; if it is neglected and not treated as urgent, I fear the teaching will decline day by day without anyone noticing. Confucius said: "It is men who enlarge the Way, not the Way that enlarges men." To honor the Way, then, is not merely to honor its books but to honor the men who embody it. To esteem the calling is not to teach those who are unfit for it. To weight selection is not to appoint those who are unfit. If this is done, the guiding principle of the schools will be established.
4
使 便 使 使
When the memorial reached him, the emperor issued an edict: "The two attendant cavaliers have argued their case with real conviction; they clearly mean to put their hearts into improving the business of government. Yet the bureaus keep folding everything back into routine paperwork—no wonder honest men boil with frustration! What the two cavaliers propose may state the broad outline without filling in every clause; let them draft a fuller version, then have the responsible ministers and the eight senior seats work through the details together. Speaking truth to the sovereign is the hardest thing a subject can do. If the ruler will not listen with an open mind, loyal ministers have always grown desperate and ended by holding their tongues altogether. Whenever I think of it, I cannot help but sigh. That is why my earlier edict invited blunt speech and forbade anyone to block it—I hoped ignorance might be aired, faults corrected, and high office kept secure. Whenever a remark contains even a partial good point and the speaker means loyalty and the public good, I should overlook clumsy wording or slips of the tongue and forgive him outright. The ancients did not even refuse bitter criticism; how much less should I reject advice offered in good faith and worth taking down! Not long ago Kong Chao and Qi Wu He were charged with disrespect; I pardoned them both so that the empire would see this court has no fear of plain speaking." Soon afterward Fu Xuan was promoted to palace attendant.
5
Earlier, Fu Xuan had recommended Huangfu Tao, but once Tao took office the two men fell out; they quarreled loudly over policy until the authorities impeached them, and both were stripped of their posts. In the fourth year of Taishi, he was appointed metropolitan censor.
6
便 使 使 西 便西 西 西 使
Floods and droughts were then plaguing the realm, and Fu Xuan submitted another memorial: "Your subject has heard that even sage emperors and enlightened kings who receive the Mandate may face calamity in the seasons of Heaven. Yao endured nine years of flood and Tang seven years of drought; only human effort could remedy such disasters." Thus though the floodwaters rose to Heaven, men were not drowned; though the wilds bore no living grass, the people were not left in want. Your Majesty's sage virtue shines with reverent clarity. Though the present floods and droughts are still modest and the people are not yet in great famine, you have issued an edict of awe seeking the utmost candid counsel, matching Yu and Tang in self-reproach and King Wen of Zhou in nightly vigilance. I bow in joy and submit five practical proposals. The first: farmers strive to sow heavily yet the crops do not ripen, wasting labor without harvest. Formerly, for garrison farmer-soldiers using official oxen, the state received six parts and the soldier four; those using private oxen divided the harvest equally with the state. This had long been in force and the men were content. Now, overnight, for those using official oxen the state takes eight parts and the soldier two; for those using private oxen or no oxen at all, the state takes seven parts and the soldier three. The men lose what is rightfully theirs and cannot be content. I hold that garrison farmer-soldiers using official oxen should receive four parts, and those using private oxen should divide equally with the state. Then soldier-farmers throughout the realm would work gladly, cherish the grain they produced, and there would be no fear of waste. The second: though prefect-level officials receive edicts to promote farming, they still do not earnestly exploit the land's full potential. Formerly the Han executed more than ten prefects by imperial order for falsely reporting reclaimed fields. I hold that the Han precedent should be renewed to warn every commandery and county in the realm, with the death penalty enforcing compliance. The third: in early Wei water affairs were neglected. The late emperor, directing all ministries, divided river dikes into four departments, making five ushers in all, because water works are vast and must advance together with farming—more than one man can oversee. Now one usher's strength, traveling to every waterway in the realm, cannot possibly reach them all in time. I observe that the river-dike usher Che Yi does not understand water conditions. He should be transferred to another post and a man who knows water selected in his place. The work should be divided into five departments, each mastering the conditions of its region. The fourth: antiquity reckoned one mu at one hundred paces; now one mu is two hundred forty paces, so reported acreage more than doubles. In early Wei field assessment did not aim to inflate acreage but to improve labor; dry fields then yielded more than ten hu and paddy fields several tens of hu. Recently the assessed acreage has been increased daily while soldier-farmers multiply, yet labor cannot be properly applied; yields fall to only a few hu per mu, sometimes not even enough to repay the seed. Heaven and Earth have not changed since former times, nor has disaster struck by chance; the trouble lies precisely in chasing inflated acreage while neglecting labor. I observe that the river-dike usher Shi Hui is highly skilled in water works and field management and understands their advantages and drawbacks. I beg the Secretariat to summon Shi Hui and question him in detail; he will surely offer useful counsel. The fifth: I hold that the Hu and other barbarians have the hearts of beasts and are not like the Hua; the Xianbei are the worst of them. Deng Ai, seeking only immediate profit without regard for later trouble, scattered tens of thousands of Xianbei among the people—a situation bound to become dangerous. Hu Lie, prefect of Qin province, has long enjoyed favor and trust in the west. With Lie now posted there, the various Hu, though presently peaceful, will surely be pacified for the moment; yet beast hearts cannot be trusted, and long security is not assured. If trouble stirs later, Lie should be able to control it. I fear only that when the Hu are hard pressed by punitive attack, they can slip east into Anding or west into Wuwei; though nominally submitting, they can rise again whenever opportunity stirs them. If these two commanderies are not under Lie's control, the hostile Hu will have lairs east and west in which to roam freely, become dangerous again, and cannot be restrained. A new commandery should be established in the Gaoping valley. Through the Anding West Province commandant, willing migrants should be recruited, granted heavy tax exemptions to settle there, the northern route opened, and the frontier gradually strengthened. These two commanderies and the new commandery should be deliberated in detail and all placed under Qin province, so that Lie may have exclusive authority to manage frontier defense as circumstances require.
7
便
The emperor replied by edict: "Your practical proposals on the successes and failures of agriculture, on which water offices to keep or abolish, and on how to balance severity and leniency in securing the frontier against the Hu are set out with admirable clarity. These are indeed fundamental matters for the state and pressing tasks for today. If everything you argue is sound, know that I understand your intent; think through every suitable measure and keep me informed as circumstances change."
8
In the fifth year of the reign he was promoted to grand coachman. Harvests had failed year after year, Qiang and Hu raiders harried the frontier, and the court ordered the high ministers to convene for deliberation. Fu Xuan answered every question put to him with blunt, searching analysis; not all of his advice was adopted, but the throne regularly treated him with patience and favor. He was then transferred to the post of colonel director of retainers.
9
殿 殿
Empress Xian died in Hongxun Palace, and mourning stations were arranged for the rites. By established precedent the colonel director of retainers took his seat outside the Duan Gate above the other ministers, on a separate mat that marked his precedence. When he entered the main hall, his nominal rank placed him below the ministers in order of seating, without the privilege of a separate mat. The ushers treated Hongxun Palace as part of the inner palace and therefore assigned Fu Xuan a place below the ministers. Fu Xuan flared with rage and berated the ushers in a harsh voice. The ushers falsely claimed the secretariat had fixed the seating; Fu Xuan then reviled the secretariat and everyone below it in full view of the court. Metropolitan censor Yu Chun impeached him for disrespect; Fu Xuan's own written defense was deemed untruthful, and he was dismissed from office. By nature Fu Xuan was harsh and impatient, and he made allowance for no one. Whenever he prepared an impeachment, even if night was falling, he would take up his white indictment tablet, straighten cap and sash, sit bolt upright without sleep, and wait for dawn. The great families trembled into submission, and a new austerity swept through the bureaus. He died at home not long afterward, aged sixty-two, with the posthumous name Gang, "the unyielding."
10
In his youth he had fled trouble to Henei and given himself entirely to study; even after he rose to high rank he never set scholarship aside. He wrote treatises on statecraft and the nine schools of thought, drew lessons from the three histories, weighed right and wrong, and arranged his conclusions by topic in a work called the Fu zi, divided into inner, outer, and middle books—four sections, six registers, one hundred forty chapters and several hundred thousand characters—together with a literary collection of more than a hundred fascicles that circulated widely. When Fu Xuan had finished the first part of the inner books, his son Fu Xian showed the manuscript to Wang Chen, the minister of works. Wang Chen wrote to Fu Xuan: "I have read what you have written; the language is ample and the argument sound. In ordering the body politic you give due weight to Confucian teaching—enough to shut the door on the evasions of Yang Zhu and Mozi and to set Sunzi and Mencius on a par with the best of antiquity. Whenever I open the manuscript I find myself sighing in admiration. As the saying goes, 'Before I met Jia Yi I thought I surpassed him; now I see I do not measure up'—how true that is!"
11
He was later given the posthumous title of marquis of Qingquan. His son Fu Xian inherited the title.
12
Fu Xian
13
=
Fu Xian, courtesy name Changyu, was austere and plain-spoken and showed unbending integrity in great matters. His bearing was severe and composed, his judgment lucid; he hated wickedness as he would a personal enemy, lifted up the worthy, and delighted in the good, and he modeled himself on the aspirations of Ji Wenzi and Zhong Shanfu of old. He loved to write essays and memorials; they lacked ornamental brilliance, but every piece offered clear standards and sober judgment. Yu Chun of Yingchuan used to exclaim, "Changyu's prose is almost what we call poetry!"
14
便 宿 使 便
Early in the Xianning era he inherited his father's noble rank, was appointed tutor to the heir apparent, and rose through several posts to right assistant in the secretariat. When he was sent out as inspector of Ji, his stepmother, Lady Du, refused to accompany him to his post, so he asked to resign. Within thirty days he was promoted to senior clerk on the left of the minister of education. The emperor was then intent on government and issued an edict asking the ministers what in current policy helped or harmed the realm. Fu Xian submitted a memorial: "Although Your Majesty occupies the highest throne, you still take on a commoner's workload, personally attending to every matter of government, laboring in mind until the sun stands in the west. Among the emperors of old who wore austerity on their own backs for the good of the realm, none has outdone you. Yet fifteen years have passed since the Taishi era began. The army and the treasury are still poor, the people still lack reserves: a single bad harvest puts hunger in their faces. The reason is plain—too many officials, too many tasks, tax relief handed out indiscriminately, endless petty predators on the countryside, and too few hands actually at the plow. I am a dull man unworthy of a place near the throne, yet whenever I read your edicts' anguish over the people's hunger I burn with shame that I have offered no help worth mentioning; I can only pour out what little I know in answer to your question. There used to be four regional commanders; with army supervisors added in, the number is now well over ten. Great Yu mapped the realm into nine provinces; we now maintain nearly twice as many provincial inspectors. Registered households are barely a tenth of what they were under the Han, yet we have more commanderies and counties than ever. Idle posts clutter headquarters gates without strengthening the night watch, while empty army bureaus are opened by the hundred. The nobles of the five ranks sit in office while piling up personal staffs. Every one of those salaries is wrung from the common people. If one man leaves the plow, someone goes hungry; today the number of men not farming is beyond counting. Even if every crop ripened well, the harvest would barely meet consumption; the slightest disaster breaks the chain of supply. I therefore believe the most urgent task now is to merge offices, reduce redundant business, quiet lawsuits, and lighten corvée so that high and low alike devote their efforts solely to agriculture."
15
駿 駿 駿駿 駿
In office Fu Xian repeatedly stood his ground on points of principle. Xiahou Jun, the grand rectifier for Yu province, reported that Kong Yu—minor rectifier for Lu and a staff major under the minister of works—had changed his sick-leave residence four times and could not receive visitors; he asked that Cao Fu, a gentleman of the secretariat, replace Kong Yu, then ten days later submitted Kong Yu's name again for the rectifier's post. The minister of education rejected the nomination three times, but Xiahou Jun stubbornly insisted he was right. Fu Xian held that Xiahou Jun was making appointments and dismissals on whim, and memorialized to remove him as grand rectifier. The minister of education, Wei Shu—related to Xiahou Jun by marriage—repeatedly refused to countersign; Fu Xian pressed his case with bitter persistence. Wei Shu still would not yield, so Fu Xian submitted his memorial alone. Wei Shu then accused Fu Xian of provocation and slander; the court transferred Fu Xian to the post of marshal in the chariots-and-cavalry command.
16
使
Distressed by the luxury of the age, Fu Xian sent up another memorial: "Grain and silk are hard to come by; if we spend them without restraint, they cannot fail to run short. The kings of old who civilized the realm laid down clear rules even for such things as eating meat and wearing silk. I would add that the waste of extravagance does more harm than flood or drought. In Yao’s day the ruler lived under a thatched roof; today ordinary families compete to build ever grander houses. Once, ministers did not dine off jade vessels; today even petty traders grow weary of the finest grain and meat. Ornaments once reserved for queens and consorts now wrap maids and concubines in damask and gauze. Grandees alone once rode rather than walked; today the meanest servants clip along in light carriages behind sleek horses. When population pressed on narrow land, people still saved—because they lived frugally; Now the realm is wide and thinly peopled, yet we fret over want—because we have grown extravagant. If you want the age to be thrifty, you must call its extravagance to account; if extravagance goes unchallenged, people only egg one another on toward finer taste. When Mao Jie headed the ministry of appointments, for a while no one dared flaunt fine dress or rich food. Cao Cao sighed, “My statutes do not match Director Mao’s standards.” If every bureau could apply itself as Mao Jie did, changing the temper of the times would not be hard." He also urged moving county jails to the commandery level and founding the paired altars of soil and grain; the court agreed. He was promoted to left assistant director in the secretariat.
17
駿 駿 駿 宿使 便 駿駿 駿駿 駿駿 駿 忿 駿
When Emperor Hui came to the throne, Yang Jun directed the government as regent. Fu Xian said to Yang Jun: “Circumstances change with the times, and ritual must suit the moment; it has been clear for ages that the old palace mourning cannot be kept unchanged. The moral climate has thinned, and supreme authority cannot be handed off; that is why even a ruler in the deepest mourning still has to take up the myriad affairs of state himself. Emperor Wen of Han, seeing the realm too vast for prolonged heavy mourning, decreed that mourning dress end with the burial. Emperor Wu, our dynastic founder, was deeply filial, yet he too laid aside formal mourning when the times required it, keeping a three-year grief in his heart while knowing he could not neglect the myriad tasks of rule. The reigning emperor wishes to leave government in your hands while he withdraws in mourning; that may show modest intent, but the empire does not read it as wise. People look up to the throne alone; if they hear that only the chief minister decides policy, they fear the sovereign’s light will be hidden. Hearts are already uneasy; for you, sir, the position cannot be an easy one. Once the imperial burial is over, you must weigh what will strengthen the state and what will weaken it. Even the Duke of Zhou, a sage, could not escape slander. If the Duke of Zhou’s burden was hard to bear, how much harder when our emperor is not a child like King Cheng of old! When the point is taken, words may cease; yet words can never say everything. If you can see the earnest loyalty behind my bluntness, I need not say more.” Meanwhile Xun Kai, the colonel director of retainers, had petitioned to mourn a deceased cousin; the throne had granted leave but the edict had not yet been issued when Kai went to Yang Jun’s house. Fu Xian seized on this and memorialized: “The grief of death strikes brothers most keenly. A cousin has just died; barely two nights have passed. The court in its mercy would let him attend the rites. To hurry to a private visit before the edict appears is eager flattery, not the affection due between brothers. He should be publicly demoted to uphold public morals.” The emperor, because Yang Jun ran the government, ordered the charge dropped; Jun nonetheless came to fear Fu Xian deeply. Fu Xian wrote again to needle Yang Jun; Jun yielded a little on the surface but grew quietly resentful. Jun then planned to send Fu Xian out as governor of Jingzhao or Hongnong, but Li Bin, Jun’s nephew, argued that an upright man should not be banished from the capital, and Jun dropped the idea. Yang Ji, Jun’s younger brother, who was friendly with Fu Xian, wrote: “Rivers and seas run broad and muddy, and that is how they grow deep and wide. The empire is no trifle to be ticked off in pieces, yet you try to finish every matter at a glance. The proverb runs, “Raise a dull son, leave him office work”—office work is never really finished. To “finish” business is to play the fool, yet people call that clever! The left assistant steers the high ministries and keeps the eight senior seats in line—that is no easy seat. For a man of your uncompromising nature to hold such a post is harder still. I worry until my head aches, so I spell it all out here.” Fu Xian answered: “Lord Wei says wine and lust kill more surely than blunt honesty. Men die of drink and lust without a twinge of regret. To shun disaster by silence shows a heart that is not straight—it is cowardice dressed up as wisdom. Those who court ruin by bluntness usually overcorrect, or lack true loyalty, or play the martyr for fame—and so they earn resentment. Would plain loyalty for the public good alone earn hatred?” Soon afterward Yang Jun was executed. Fu Xian was moved to palace attendant to the heir apparent, then promoted to metropolitan censor.
18
駿便 殿 駿 駿 殿 駿殿 殿
When the grand preceptor, Sima Liang, king of Runan, directed policy, Fu Xian wrote to him: I hold that Tai Jia and King Cheng were still in their minority, and therefore there occurred the regencies of Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou. Even sages could not escape suspicion in such cases; how much less can I, no sage, claim the regency of Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou when the king is no child! The emperor was in mourning seclusion and entrusted affairs to the chief steward, yet Yang Jun, utterly without propriety, cast himself as Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou, imagining he could hold the realm secure—and that is why he met his death. His crimes were beyond counting, as Your Highness yourself witnessed. Yang Jun's execution came from the emperor's own decision; only Meng Guan and Li Zhao knew the secret orders. When merit is assessed, the credit should go to the throne. Guan and the others were already county marquises with estates of several thousand households. Since all rejoiced at Yang Jun's death, the emperor was willing to be generous in rewarding merit so as to share in that joy. Subordinates should have measured rewards by actual merit, yet agitation followed: the Lord of Dong'an was enfeoffed as a prince, Meng and Li as commandery dukes, and the rest as marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons—first granted without warrant, then promoted three ranks beyond measure. Such dazzling rewards shook Heaven and Earth; never in history had enfeoffment and reward reached such heights. When men are richly rewarded without merit, all come to hope for national calamity, since calamity would bring fresh chances for great reward. When men rejoice in disaster, where will it end! All of this was the work of the Lord of Dong'an. When Your Highness takes charge, you should set this right. Set it right by proper principle, and what cause would the multitude have for anger! The multitude's anger rests on unfairness alone. Yet now rewards are reckoned at double measure, and all have lost hope. In my dull incompetence I am not merely disappointed; I am privately deeply worried. Moreover, when Yang Jun was punished, Your Highness was away and in truth had no part in directing it. Now that weighty authority is to be entrusted to you, they have made Your Highness assess merit. Assessing merit is truly no easy task. Better to watch how things turn out and intervene only when a matter of right principle requires it.
19
駿 使 駿 殿 殿 𬱃𬱃 殿 駿
Fu Xian, seeing that Sima Liang monopolized power as regent, remonstrated again: “Yang Jun’s authority overshadowed the throne and he packed office with kin—that is why the realm erupted in protest. Men who hold great power now should undo that mistake. You should stay quiet, husband your strength, and intervene only on great issues of right and wrong; everything short of that should be checked and turned aside. Four times lately I have called on you, and each time your gate was choked with carriages and riders; this ostentatious traffic ought to stop. Moreover Xiahou Changrong was sent to pray for the late emperor’s life; the prayers failed; when the emperor died he should have blamed himself, yet he boasted of his mission’s hardship, and you, sir, made him minister of the household. Whispered opinion says Changrong is your kinsman by marriage, which explains the appointment. One dog barks at a shadow and the pack joins in; fear that chorus and rumor becomes unbearable. I am not the sort to nod assent to your face and murmur behind your back. I once crossed Yang Jun and nearly lost my life; how much less would I hold back with you, Your Highness! Once, when I attended you on an outing, you said, “Have you not read Han Fei on the ruler’s ‘reverse scales’—yet you keep brushing the emperor’s!” I knew my words were timidly tugging the tiger’s whiskers. I speak because I hope you will see how much earnest loyalty compels me. When I pressed the late emperor it was to exhaust my loyalty; now I tug the tiger’s whiskers not from malice but in the trust that you will forgive me.” Sima Liang ignored the advice. “Changrong” is the style name of Xiahou Jun.
20
使 調
On a bingyin day the court ordered officials to nominate local posts to fill vacancies at the capital. Fu Xian submitted another memorial: "Your subject Xian holds that the key to fostering moral transformation lies in appointing the right men to office." Talents are not all of one kind, and offices differ in their demands. Compare them to trees in a forest: large and small, bent and straight, each has its proper use. Therefore the worthy are elevated even from humble and obscure places, and consultation in choosing men knows no boundary between inner and outer circles. Inner and outer posts should be filled as each case requires, yet in practice selection favors the inner service alone. Outer recommendation has already declined, and multiplying regulations have bred a custom of favoring inner appointments and slighting the outer service. This abuse should be reformed at once; inner and outer appointments should be treated without partiality. Once inner and outer posts are treated without bias, unfair appointments can be met with stern accountability; where accountability is strict, unfairness need not be feared. A peg glued in place cannot tune a zither; how much less can the appointment of officials be bound by rigid limits! I understand that limits were imposed to keep selection from failing to produce outstanding men. When outstanding men are not produced, measures should be adapted to the case; there is no need for rigid statutory limits. Statutory limits, when one aims at lasting success, become mere obstruction! Some ask: if the law is not regulated, what will keep selection honorable? I have heard that punishments chastise petty men while righteousness holds gentlemen accountable; a gentleman's accountability rests in the heart, not in statutory limits. In the Zhengshi era, when He Yan was charged with selection, every post inner and outer received the right man, and the brilliance of that achievement was plain for all to see. This success came not from warding off abuse by limits alone but from the basis of true entrustment and appointment. The fear that comes with real entrustment is greater than any fear of statutory limits. When the law fails, it is not one's own fault; if the fault is not one's own, accountability holds no terror—this is what is meant by "regulate them by punishments, and the people avoid wrong but feel no shame." When one is truly entrusted with selection, one first fears punishment and second fears incurring resentment and slander. Success brings praise from court and countryside alike; failure brings public hatred upon one's head. Such trembling caution—how can it compare with leaning on statutory limits merely to escape blame!
21
使 使 使 祿
Fu Xian twice served as grand rectifier for his home commandery; he resigned to mourn his stepmother. Soon he was recalled as a gentleman consultant and acting colonel director of retainers. He declined repeatedly; the court ignored him, sent envoys to invest him in office, and he returned the seal and ribbon again. The petition channel was blocked while the court pressed him to assume the post. Because he had no brothers to preside over the rites, he pleaded again at length and was allowed to set up a mourning altar in his official quarters. He submitted another memorial: “I am a dull, feeble man unfit for a heavy charge. Grief has worn me down day by day; Your Majesty overestimates me and gives me duties I cannot sustain. I have laid my heart bare and sent my plea to the throne; mistaken edicts went out and nothing was changed. Though I cannot die to vindicate ritual, I cannot in good conscience accept empty honors. When I took office under your stern order I swore I would give my life in return. Bribery was rampant and had to be stopped; I ordered the capital bureaus to strike at it first. Months have passed and nothing has come of it. Your Majesty’s rewards encourage them to think that blunt honesty ends in prison or death, so they hide and lie low to dodge the blow. I have done nothing dramatic, nor have I broken anyone’s power; why should anyone fear me? When Liu Yi held this post, his name shook the capital and the regions grew orderly. It was not only Liu Yi’s selfless integrity—the throne also backed his memorials, so his authority could bite.” The edict answered: “See that every case you measure against principle; your authority will grow daily—why cite Liu Yi alone?”
22
便
The court had grown lax; great families traded private favors until court and countryside were a blur. Fu Xian impeached the governor of Henan (surnamed Dan), the general of the left (surnamed Qian), the commandant of justice Gao Guang, and the concurrent governor of Henan He Pan; the capital grew orderly and the great houses trembled. Fu Xian quoted: “When the sage long pursues his course, the realm is shaped by it. Thus under Tang and Yu officials were graded every three years and promoted or demoted over nine. The Rites of Zhou prescribes a great review every three years. Confucius too said, “Give three years and there will be results.” Yet of late magistrates are shuffled after a short stay; the people suffer endless instability, and runners collapse escorting one chief after another.” Vice-director Wang Rong then ran the ministry of appointments; Fu Xian charged: “Rong sits among the chief ministers and holds appointments, yet he cannot steady custom or settle administration; hearts waver and empty rivalry spreads. The gentleman-attendants Li Chong and Li Yi never correct him. I ask that Wang Rong and his like be removed from office.” The edict said: “Long tenure is the root of good government; Fu Xian is right. Wang Rong’s duty is to counsel on the Way, which I value; lift the restrictions on him.” Metropolitan censor Xie Jie argued that impeaching Wang Rong broke the rules, overstepped Fu Xian’s charge, and meddled beyond his rank; he asked that Fu Xian be dismissed. The throne again refused.
23
殿
Fu Xian argued in a memorial: "By statute the metropolitan censor supervises every official at court. Everyone from the crown prince downward who breaks the law inside the imperial patrol corridor falls under his impeachment. Even outside that corridor, if the regional inspectors fail to act, he may still memorialize against them. The statute’s wording ties the corridor to palace security alone. Inner-palace security is closed to outside bureaus, which is why the metropolitan censor alone holds that beat. Neglected roads, endless lawsuits, unruly markets—the censor blames the province, yet people now stretch the phrase ‘inside the corridor’ to cover such civic ills. If the censor already oversees all officials, why narrow him again to the corridor? The ‘hundred officials’ means everyone at court and in the provinces—inside and outside together. The colonel director omits the corridor because the censor’s statute already covers palace security. Censor and colonel both impeach from the crown prince down; they share inner and outer duty—it is not a split between two separate rosters. Since both offices were created they have taken turns impeaching officials everywhere, with no hard line between inner and outer. Xie Jie suddenly blocked me; I had not argued every clause because I hoped his memorial would win me the ruling I sought. Now my request is denied, yet the edict calls it a mere excess—not something beyond my duty—and forgives me on that ground. I hold the post of censor-in-chief: I must set the example. If I was wrong I should not be excused, so I lay out my reasoning bluntly. If censor and colonel both impeach from the crown prince downward, nothing below that rank lies outside their reach. I may impeach the heir yet not the secretariat director—this blind spot I cannot understand. Is the heir inside the corridor or not? If the heir inside may be impeached but the secretariat director inside may not, that rule does not exist. The logic is obvious, yet Xie Jie used it to block me. I can swallow the insult—but will not the world find it absurd? I recall when Lord Shi stripped in the hall and Xun Kai impeached him—the late emperor approved, and no one cried ‘overreach.’ Am I now to be punished for impeaching only the secretariat director?" Fu Xian piled precedent on precedent until the case was airtight and the court could not refute him.
24
Gu Rong of Wu often wrote to friends and kin: "Fu Changyu as colonel director of retainers was forceful, upright, loyal, and resolute—his impeachments and investigations startled everyone. He was not a universal genius, but his moral brilliance was rare." In the fourth year of the Yuankang era he died in office at fifty-six. An edict posthumously restored his title as colonel director of retainers, granted one set of court robes, one suit of garments, and two hundred thousand cash, and gave him the posthumous name Zhen, "the steadfast." He left three sons: Fu, Xi, and Zuan. The eldest son, Fu, inherited his title.
25
輿 西
Fu, courtesy name Yingen, was serene, reclusive, and a gifted writer. He was named attendant to the heir apparent, then secretary and staff officer to the grand tutor, but declined each post. When Yongjia brought chaos he fled to Kuaiji; Prince Langya (later Yuan-di) summoned him as aide on the staff of the general who guards the east. Chronic illness had long wasted him; though he begged off, he could not refuse and arrived in a sickbed litter to take office. Within months he was dead at forty-six. Xi was also clever and thoughtful; as magistrate of Shangyu he earned praise for good rule, and died as an aide in the minister of education’s western bureau.
26
Fu Zhi
27
Fu Zhi, courtesy name Zizhuang. His father, Fu Gu, had been grand master of ceremonies under the Wei. Deeply filial and famous early, he was admired for shrewd, seasoned ability. When Emperor Wu of Jin founded the heir’s palace, Fu Zhi left mourning to become an heir’s attendant, rose to cavalier attendant and gentleman at the yellow gate, and received a secondary marquisate within the passes with three hundred households. He resigned to mourn his mother. For her burial the court ordered the grand master of ceremonies to supply the full five-grade funeral escort. Later, when ministers’ wives were buried, they too received such escorts—the practice began with him. When mourning ended he became governor of Xingyang. After Wei’s Huangchu flood the Yellow and Ji had burst their banks; Deng Ai’s treatise and the stone sluice he opened had long held the waters—by now the works had failed again. Fu Zhi built the Shen and Lai embankments; Yan and Yu have been free of floods since, and the people raised a stele in his honor. Soon he added the post of commandant of justice, then became a regular attendant and general of the left army.
28
駿 駿 駿 駿駿 駿 駿駿婿 駿 駿 駿
While the emperor’s coffin still lay in mourning, Grand Tutor Yang Jun ran the government and proposed blanket promotions to buy popularity. Fu Zhi wrote to Yang Jun: "No worthy court has ever handed out rewards for merit the moment an emperor dies." Jun ignored him. He was summoned to palace attendant. The coup against Jun was already set, yet Jun knew nothing. Fu Zhi was sitting with Jun when word came that the Dragon Gate was sealed and the palace cut off from the city. Fu Zhi asked to go with Wu Mao of the secretariat to learn the court’s fate, bowed, and stepped down from the hall. Wu Mao remained seated; Fu Zhi turned and cried, ‘Are you not a minister of the throne?’ ‘Inside and outside are sealed—we do not even know where the sovereign is—how can you sit at ease?’" Wu Mao leapt up in alarm. When Jun fell, Pei Kai’s son Pei Zan—Jun’s son-in-law—was cut down by mutinous troops. Left vice-director Xun Kai, who hated Pei Kai, memorialized that Kai was Jun’s intimate and had him arrested for the commandant of justice. Fu Zhi testified that Pei Kai was innocent, and an edict freed him. When Jun's staff were also arrested, Fu Zhi submitted another statement: "In the past Lu Zhi served as Sima to Cao Shuang, broke through the gates and rode out to join him, and Emperor Xuan approved his loyalty and still promoted him to inspector of Qingzhou. Yang Jun’s aides should not be punished further." Another edict pardoned them. Time and again Fu Zhi steadied justice in this way.
29
駿
He was named governor of Henan but before taking office was made colonel director of retainers. For crushing Yang Jun he merited a commandery-duke’s fief of eight thousand households; he refused until the court halved it to a district duke of Lingchuan with eighteen hundred households and enfeoffed his youngest son Chang as village marquis of Wuxiang with the remainder. From his original grant he also made his nephew Jun village marquis of Dongming.
30
祿 西西駿 祿 祿 輿
When Prince Chu, Sima Wei, forged an edict, Fu Zhi was dismissed for slow reporting. A year later he became grand master of splendid horses, then was removed again over a public affair. When the Di leader Qi Wannian rebelled, Fu Zhi served as acting chief of staff for the Army of the West with concurrent regular attendant, accompanying General Who Pacifies the West Xiahou Jun to crush the revolt. Promoted commandant of the guards, he resigned with a palsy, was kept as regular attendant on ministerial salary, and given cash, bedding, and the like. Soon he added the title grand counsellor of splendid horses and was allowed the mounted patrol barrier at his gate. When Prince Zhao, Sima Lun, took charge, he made Fu Zhi overseer of the secretariat, still a regular attendant, to calm public opinion. Fu Zhi pleaded illness; Lun sent a censor with a litter to force him to his desk. Wang Rong and Chen Zhun said to each other, ‘With Lord Fu at the helm we need not worry.’" Such was the trust men placed in him.
31
祿 退 祿
When Lun seized the throne, Fu Zhi became right grand master of splendid horses with independent establishment and added palace attendant. After Emperor Hui returned, Fu Zhi asked to resign for having served the usurper; the court refused. When Lun first usurped, Sun Xiu, Prince Yiyang Sima Wei, and a dozen others had drafted the abdication liturgy and text. When Lun fell, Prince Qi Sima Jiong arrested Liu Dai, Zou Jie, Du Yu, Lu Ji, Zhou Dao, Wang Zun, and others for the commandant of justice. Because the abdication edict had issued from the secretariat, some wanted Fu Zhi punished, but a general amnesty spared him. Later it was shown the draft was not his hand, and an edict restored him as grand counsellor of splendid horses. His son Fu Xuan married the princess of Hongnong.
32
祿 祿 輿殿
Soon he became junior tutor to the heir apparent, then begged leave to retire home. When Prince Chengdu Sima Ying became grand tutor, he again named Fu Zhi junior tutor with added palace attendant. Under Emperor Huai he rose to grand counsellor of splendid horses and palace attendant, then—before the first appointment took effect—added right vice-director and overseer of the secretariat. While Grand Tutor Prince Donghai Sima Yue governed, Fu Zhi as senior minister on the right preached mutual deference between sovereign and ministers, and court relations grew calm. He grasped how the state should run and had shaped many of its institutions. He passed through left grand master of splendid horses with independent establishment, acting grand tutor to the heir apparent, still a palace attendant. Gravely ill, he asked to retire; the court refused. Raised to minister of education, he was carried in a litter to court because of his feet and excused from bowing.
33
使
General Gou Xi proposed moving the capital and sent Fu Zhi to Heyin to ready boats for a river retreat. When Luoyang fell, the exiles set up a mobile command, chose Fu Zhi as their head, and issued calls in his name as minister of education, credential-bearing supreme commander. He sent Fu Xuan with the princess and He Yu, the director of the secretariat, to rally regional lords while he himself held the small fort at Meng Ford; his younger son Chang served as magistrate of Heyin to cover the crossing. Fu Zhi died of a sudden illness at sixty-nine. Believing his duty of loyalty unfinished, he dragged himself from his sickbed to write a fierce testament for Xuan and Chang; every reader was moved to tears. He left more than a hundred thousand characters of essays and polemics.
34
西
Fu Xuan, courtesy name Shihong. At six he lost his stepmother and wept like a grown man; kinsfolk marveled. As an adult he loved books; Prince Zhao Lun made him aide to the minister of state, secretary, heir’s gentleman, then aide in the minister of education’s western bureau. After resigning he rose to secretary’s aide and staff officer to the general who gallops to battle. When Emperor Hui returned from Chang’an, Fu Xuan was named left aide but declined, then was made gentleman at the yellow gate. Under Emperor Huai he became a gentleman in the ministry of personnel, then metropolitan censor again. He died at forty-nine without a son, so his brother Chang’s son Chong inherited the line.
35
Fu Chang, courtesy name Shidao. When he was five, a friend of his father teased him, stripped off his coat, and gave his gold ring to a servant; the boy showed no resentment, and adults praised his composure. Before he came of age he was already famous. Chosen for the heir’s lecture staff, he became an assistant in the palace library. He soon fell into Shi Le’s hands; Le appointed him senior clerk on the right for the grand general. Expert in court ritual and privy to every secret plan, he won Shi Le’s deep respect. He wrote the Appraisal Narratives of Jin Lords in twenty-two scrolls and the Stories of Dukes and Ministers in nine. In the fifth year of Xianhe, he died. His son Fu Yong crossed south to serve as inspector of Jiaozhou and commander of the heir’s right guard.
36
Section heading: editors’ appraisal.
37
姿 使 祿
The historians write: Emperor Wu surveyed the realm and weighed the welfare of the people; longing for frank counsel, he charged his remonstrating ministers with a heavy trust. Fu Xuan was rigid and upright, selfless in devotion, spoke his mind with stern dignity, and strove to mend faults at court—he did honor to his office. Once he held one of the three independent censorial posts and wielded the power of impeachment, the ministries stiffened with discipline and the great families pulled in their claws. Even Han’s Bao Xuan and Ge Ying would not have surpassed him. Yet his narrow temper lacked easy magnanimity; quick to bristle at rivals, he earned public ridicule—a pity. The ancients took both the soft leather and the tight bowstring as their teachers—how true that remains. Fu Xian’s manner was grave and austere; he did not shame his father’s name. When he pressed his advice on the king of Runan and sent his memorials from the Linjin command, he stood in the place of blunt loyalty and showed real foresight. Fu Zhi, son of a famous minister, showed his quality early; through a time of coups and chaos he steadied sovereign and subject and kept his honor and salary—clearly the Way lived in him.
38
=
The encomium reads: The baron of Chungu, steadfast and true, was indeed the court’s moral backbone. His will was fierce and upright; his temper turned away from easy-going tolerance. Fu Xian’s stern simplicity never betrayed the family’s standards. Fu Zhi, styled Zizhuang, matched talent to insight and shouldered the highest offices. His loyal service was cut short; the road to the grave came all too soon.
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