Volume 118 Biographies 68: Yuan Zai, Wan Gang, Li Shaoliang, Wang Jin, Yang Yan, Li Gan, Yu Zhun

元載王昂李少良郇謨附

Yuan Zai, Wang Ang, Li Shaoliang, and Huan Mo, appended biography.

王縉楊炎黎幹劉忠翼附

Wang Jin, Yang Yan, Li Gan, and Liu Zhongyi, appended biography.

元載，鳳翔岐山人也，家本寒微。父景昇，任員外官，不理產業，常居岐州。載母攜載適景昇，冒姓元氏。載自幼嗜學，好屬文，性敏惠，博覽子史，尤學道書。家貧，徒步隨鄉賦，累上不升第。天寶初，玄宗崇奉道教，下詔求明莊、老、文、列四子之學者。載策入高科，授邠州新平尉。監察御史韋鎰充使監選黔中，引載為判官，載名稍著，遷大理評事。東都留守苗晉卿又引為判官，遷大理司直。

Yuan Zai was a native of Qishan in Fengxiang Prefecture, from a family of modest means. His father Jing Sheng held an honorary official title, neglected the family estate, and lived mostly in Qi Prefecture. Zai's mother brought him to Jing Sheng when she remarried, and the boy took the surname Yuan. From childhood Zai was devoted to study, fond of writing, quick-witted by nature, widely read in histories and the classics, and especially versed in Daoist writings. Poor as they were, he walked to the provincial examinations year after year and never passed. Early in the Tianbao reign, Emperor Xuanzong promoted Daoism and issued an edict calling for experts in Zhuangzi, Laozi, Wenzi, and Liezi. Zai passed the special examination with high marks and was appointed magistrate of Xinping in Bin Prefecture. When Supervising Censor Wei Yi went to Qianzhong as selection commissioner, he took Zai on as his aide. Zai's reputation grew, and he was promoted to judicial reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review. Eastern Capital Intendant Miao Jinqing also took him on as aide, after which he rose to directing censor in the Court of Judicial Review.

肅宗即位，急於軍務，諸道廉使隨才擢用。時載避地江左，蘇州刺史、江東采訪使李希言表載為副，拜祠部員外郎，遷洪州刺史。兩京平，入為度支郎中。載智性敏悟，善奏對，肅宗嘉之，委以國計，俾充使江、淮，都領漕輓之任，尋加御史中丞。數月征入，遷戶部侍郎、度支使並諸道轉運使。既至朝廷，會肅宗寢疾。載與幸臣李輔國善。輔國妻元氏，載之諸宗，因是相昵狎。時輔國權傾海內，舉無違者，會選京尹，輔國乃以載兼京兆尹。載意屬國柄，詣輔國懇辭京尹，輔國識其意，然之。翌日拜載同中書門下平章事，度支轉運使如故。旬日，肅宗晏駕，代宗即位，輔國勢愈重，稱載於上前。載能伺上意，頗承恩遇，遷中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事，加集賢殿大學士，修國史。又加銀青光祿大夫，封許昌縣子。載以度支轉運使職務繁碎，負荷且重，慮傷名，阻大位，素與劉晏相友善，乃悉以錢谷之務委之，薦晏自代，載自加營田使。李輔國罷職，又加判天下元帥行軍司馬。廣德元年，與宰臣劉晏、裴遵慶同扈從至陜。及輿駕還宮，遵慶皆罷所任，載恩寵彌盛。輔國死，載復結內侍董秀，多與之金帛，委主書卓英倩潛通密旨。以是上有所屬，載必先知之，承意探微，言必玄合，上益信任之。妻王氏狠戾自專，載出朝謁，縱子伯和等遊於外，上封人顧繇奏之，上方任載以政，反罪繇而已。

When Emperor Suzong came to the throne, military needs were urgent, and integrity commissioners across the circuits were promoted on merit. Zai had taken refuge in the lower Yangzi region. Li Xiyan, prefect of Suzhou and Jiangdong investigation commissioner, recommended him as deputy; Zai was appointed vice director in the Ministry of Rites and later became prefect of Hong Prefecture. After the two capitals were recovered, he entered court service as director in the Bureau of Revenue. Quick-witted and articulate in memorials, Zai won Suzong's favor. The emperor entrusted him with national finances, sent him as envoy to the Jiang and Huai regions to oversee grain transport, and soon made him vice censor-in-chief as well. Within a few months he was recalled to court and promoted to vice minister of revenue, revenue commissioner, and transport commissioner for all circuits. Shortly after he arrived at court, Emperor Suzong fell seriously ill. Zai was on close terms with the emperor's favorite, Li Fuguo. Fuguo's wife was a Yuan, a kinswoman of Zai's clan, and through her the two men grew intimate. Fuguo's authority then dominated the empire, and none dared oppose him. When a new capital intendant was to be chosen, Fuguo had Zai appointed concurrently as metropolitan prefect of Jingzhao. Zai had his eye on supreme power. He went to Fuguo and begged to be released from the capital prefecture; Fuguo understood and agreed. The next day Zai was appointed associate director of the Secretariat-Chancellery while retaining his revenue and transport posts. Ten days later Suzong died and Daizong succeeded him. Fuguo's influence grew even greater, and he spoke highly of Zai before the new emperor. Skilled at reading the emperor's mind, Zai enjoyed growing favor. He was promoted to vice director of the Secretariat and associate director of the Secretariat-Chancellery, made grand academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies, and put in charge of the national history. He was also granted the title Silver-Gleaming Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and enfeoffed as Viscount of Xuchang. Zai found the revenue and transport posts tedious and burdensome and feared they would tarnish his standing and block his rise. He had long been friendly with Liu Yan, so he handed all fiscal and grain duties to Yan, recommended Yan as his replacement, and took the military farms commission for himself. After Li Fuguo was dismissed, Zai was also made acting chief of staff to the commander-in-chief of all forces. In Guangde 1, 763, he accompanied the emperor to Shan Prefecture together with chief ministers Liu Yan and Pei Zunqing. When the court returned to the capital, Zunqing and the others were dismissed, while Zai's favor only increased. After Fuguo's death, Zai cultivated the inner attendant Dong Xiu with lavish gifts of gold and silk and used chief secretary Zhuo Yingqian to relay private instructions. Whenever the emperor formed a preference, Zai seemed to know it in advance. He read every nuance of the emperor's mood, and his words always struck the right note, so the emperor trusted him ever more deeply. His wife Lady Wang was brutal and domineering. While Zai attended court, she let their sons Bohe and others run wild in the city. When memorialist Gu Yao reported this, the emperor, still relying on Zai for government, punished Yao instead.

內侍魚朝恩負恃權寵，不與載協，載常憚之。大歷四年冬，乘間密奏朝恩專權不軌，請除之。朝恩驕橫，天下鹹怒，上亦知之，及聞載奏，適會於心。載遂結北軍大將同謀，以防萬慮。五年三月，朝恩伏法，度支使第五琦以朝恩黨坐累，載兼判度支，志氣自若，謂己有除惡之功，是非前賢，以為文武才略，莫己之若。外委胥吏，內聽婦言。城中開南北二甲第，室宇宏麗，冠絕當時。又於近郊起亭榭，所至之處，帷帳什器，皆於宿設，儲不改供。城南膏腴別墅，連疆接畛，凡數十所，婢仆曳羅綺一百余人，恣為不法，侈僭無度。江、淮方面，京輦要司，皆排去忠良，引用貪猥。士有求進者，不結子弟，則謁主書，貨賄公行，近年以來，未有其比。與王縉同列，縉方務聚財，遂睦於載，二人相得甚歡，日益縱橫。代宗盡察其跡，以載任寄多年，欲全君臣之分，載嘗獨見，上誡之，不悛。

The inner attendant Yu Chao'en, secure in imperial favor, refused to work with Zai, who feared him. In the winter of Dali 4, 769, he seized an opening to memorialize secretly that Chao'en abused his power and asked that he be eliminated. Chao'en's arrogance had enraged the empire, and the emperor knew it well. Zai's memorial matched exactly what he had been thinking. Zai then conspired with a senior general of the northern armies to cover every contingency. In the third month of Dali 5, 770, Chao'en was executed. Revenue commissioner Diwu Qi was implicated as his partisan, and Zai took over revenue affairs himself. Complacent in triumph, Zai credited himself with ridding the court of evil, belittled his predecessors, and considered himself without peer in civil and military ability. He left public affairs to clerks and took his wife's counsel at home. He built two grand mansions in the capital, north and south of the city, whose scale and splendor surpassed anything of the age. He also built pavilions in the suburbs, with furnishings and supplies laid out overnight wherever he intended to go, so that nothing ever ran short. He owned dozens of fertile estates south of the city, staffed by more than a hundred servants in silk, who broke the law at will in unrestrained extravagance. Across the Jiang-Huai region and in key capital offices, he drove out the upright and installed the corrupt. Officials seeking promotion had to court his sons or his secretaries; bribery was open and rampant to a degree unmatched in recent memory. He served alongside Wang Jin, who was then bent on amassing wealth. The two became close allies and together grew ever more brazen. Daizong saw through him completely, yet because Zai had served so long he wished to preserve the bond between ruler and minister. On one private audience the emperor warned him, but Zai would not reform.

初，扈駕自陜還，與縉上表，請以河中府為中都，秋杪行幸，春首還京，以避蕃戎侵軼之患。帝初納之，遣條奏以聞。自魚朝恩就誅，誌頗盈滿，遂抗表請建中都，文多不載。大略以關輔、河東等十州戶稅入奉京師，創置精兵五萬，管在中都，以威四方，辭多開合。自以為表入事行，潛遣所由吏於河中經營。

Earlier, on the return from Shan, he and Jin memorialized to make Hezhong the secondary capital—court to move there in late autumn and return in early spring to escape Tibetan raids. The emperor initially agreed and asked for a detailed plan. After Chao'en's execution his ambition swelled, and he submitted a bold memorial to establish the secondary capital; most of the text is not preserved. In outline he proposed routing taxes from ten prefectures including the capital region and Hedong to fund the court, creating fifty thousand elite troops stationed at the secondary capital to overawe the realm—the rhetoric was elaborate and evasive. Confident the plan would be approved, he secretly sent agents to Hezhong to begin preparations.

節度寄理於涇州。大歷八年，蕃戎入邠寧之後，朝議以為三輔已西，無襟帶之固，而涇州散地，不足為守。載嘗為西州刺史，知河西、隴右之要害，指畫於上前曰：「今國家西境極於潘源，吐蕃防戍在摧沙堡，而原州界其間。原州當西塞之口，接隴山之固，草肥水甘，舊壘存焉。吐蕃比毀其垣墉，棄之不居。其西則監牧故地，皆有長濠巨塹，重復深固。原州雖早霜，黍稷不藝，而有平涼附其東，獨耕一縣，可以足食。請移京西軍戍原州，乘間築之，貯粟一年。戎人夏牧多在青海，羽書覆至，已逾月矣。今運築並作，不二旬可畢。移子儀大軍居涇，以為根本。分兵守石門、木峽、隴山之關，北抵於河，皆連山峻嶺，寇不可越。稍置鳴沙縣、豐安軍為之羽翼，北帶靈武五城為之形勢。然後舉隴右之地以至安西，是謂斷西戎之脛，朝廷可高枕矣。」兼圖其地形以獻。載密使人逾隴山，入原州，量井泉，計徒庸，車乘畚鍤之器皆具。檢校左僕射田神功沮之曰：「夫興師料敵，老將所難。陛下信一書生言，舉國從之，聽誤矣。」上遲疑不決，會載得罪乃止。

The frontier command was temporarily administered from Jing Prefecture. In Dali 8, 773, after Tibetan forces entered Binning, the court concluded that the region west of the capital lacked a secure defensive belt and that scattered Jing Prefecture was inadequate to hold the line. Zai had once served as prefect of Xi Prefecture and knew the Hexi and Longyou frontier. He explained to the emperor: 'Our western border now ends at Panyuan. Tibetan garrisons hold Cuisha Fort, with Yuan Prefecture between them. Yuan Prefecture guards the western frontier pass, adjoins the strong position of Long Mountain, enjoys rich pasture and good water, and still has old fortifications. The Tibetans had recently destroyed its walls and abandoned the site. To the west lie the old imperial pasture lands, all with deep moats and trenches in multiple lines of defense. Yuan Prefecture suffers early frost and cannot grow grain, but Pingliang to the east could supply enough food from a single county's harvest. He proposed moving the Capital-West Army to garrison Yuan, rebuilding the fort when opportunity allowed, and stockpiling a year's grain. The Tibetans pasture in Qinghai in summer; urgent reports have been arriving for more than a month. Transport and construction together could be finished in under twenty days. Guo Ziyi's main force should be stationed at Jing as the strategic base. Detach troops to hold the passes at Shimen, Muxia, and Long Mountain, north to the Yellow River—all rugged terrain the enemy could not cross. Establish Mingsha County and Feng'an Army as supporting positions, with the five cities of Lingwu to the north completing the defensive layout. Then advance through Longyou to Anxi—cutting the Tibetan foothold so the court could rest secure. He also submitted a map of the terrain. Zai secretly sent agents over Long Mountain into Yuan to survey wells and springs, calculate labor needs, and prepare carts, tools, and equipment. Acting Left Vice Director Tian Shenggong objected: 'Estimating the enemy before committing troops is what seasoned generals find hardest. Your Majesty would trust a scholar's word and commit the whole empire to it—that would be a grave mistake. The emperor hesitated, and when Zai later fell from power the plan was abandoned.

初，六年，載條奏應緣別敕授文武六品以下，敕出後望令吏部、兵部便附甲團奏，不得檢勘，從之。時功狀奏擬，結銜多謬，載欲權歸於己，慮有司駁正。會有上封人李少良密以載醜跡聞，載知之，奏於上前，少良等數人悉斃於公府。由是道路以目，不敢議載之短。門庭之內，非其黨與不接，平素交友，涉於道義者悉疏棄之。

In Dali 6, 771, Zai memorialized that for special-edict appointments of officials of the sixth rank and below, the Ministries of Personnel and War should register and submit them in batch without review. The emperor agreed. Merit reports and nominations were often flawed, and Zai wanted sole control, fearing that the ministries would overturn his appointments. When sealed memorialist Li Shaoliang secretly reported Zai's misconduct, Zai learned of it, informed the emperor, and Shaoliang and several others were beaten to death in the government offices. After that people exchanged fearful glances in the streets and dared not criticize Zai openly. At his gate he admitted only his own faction and cast off old friends who still spoke of principle.

代宗寬仁明恕，審其所由，凡累年，載長惡不悛，眾怒上聞。大歷十二年三月庚辰，仗下後，上御延英殿，命左金吾大將軍吳湊收載、縉於政事堂，各留系本所，並中書主事卓英倩、李待榮及載男仲武、季能並收禁，命吏部尚書劉晏訊鞫。晏以載受任樹黨，布於天下，不敢專斷，請他官共事。敕御史大夫李涵、右散騎常侍蕭昕、兵部侍郎袁傪、禮部侍郎常袞、諫議大夫杜亞同推究其狀。辯罪問端，皆出自禁中，仍遣中使詰以陰事，載、縉皆伏罪。是日，宦官左衛將軍、知內侍省事董秀與載同惡，先載於禁中杖殺之。敕曰：「任直去邪，懸於帝典；獎善懲惡，急於時政。和鼎之寄，匪易其人。中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事元載，性頗奸回，跡非正直。寵待逾分，早踐鈞衡。亮弼之功，未能經邦成務；挾邪之誌，常以罔上面欺。陰托妖巫，夜行解禱，用圖非望，庶逭典章。納受贓私，貿鬻官秩。兇妻忍害，暴子侵牟，曾不提防，恣其淩虐。行僻辭矯，心狠貌恭，使沈抑之流，無因自達，賞罰差謬，罔不由茲。頃以君臣之間，重於去就，冀其遷善，掩而不言。曾無悔非，彌益兇戾，年序滋遠，釁惡貫盈。將肅政於朝班，俾申明於憲綱，宜賜自盡。朕涉道猶淺，知人不明，理績未彰，遺闕斯眾，致茲刑辟，憫愧良深。僶俯行之，務申沮勸，凡在中外，悉朕懷焉。」又制曰：「門下侍郎、同中書門下平章事王縉，附會奸邪，阿諛讒佞。據茲犯狀，罪至難容，矜以耋及，未忍加刑。俾申屈法之恩，貸以嶽牧之秩。可使持節括州諸軍事，守括州刺史，宜即赴任。於戲！朕恭己南面，推誠股肱，敷求哲人，將弼予理。昧於任使，過在朕躬，無曠厥官，各慎厥職。」初，晏等承旨，縉亦處極法，晏謂涵曰：「重刑再覆，國之常典，況誅大臣，豈得不覆奏！又法有首從，二人同刑，亦宜重取進止。」涵等鹹聽命。及晏等覆奏，上乃減縉罪從輕。

Daizong was lenient and perceptive, and for years he watched Zai persist in wrongdoing while public outrage mounted. On gengchen day in the third month of Dali 12, 777, after the morning review the emperor went to Yanying Hall and ordered Left Golden Guard General Wu Cou to arrest Zai and Jin in the Hall of Administration. Chief secretaries Zhuo Yingqian and Li Dairong and Zai's sons Zhongwu and Jineng were also seized. Minister of Personnel Liu Yan was ordered to conduct the inquiry. Yan said that because Zai's faction extended throughout the empire, he dared not judge alone and asked other officials to join the investigation. The emperor ordered Censor-in-Chief Li Han, Right Regular Attendant Xiao Xin, Vice Minister of War Yuan Kai, Vice Minister of Rites Chang Gun, and Remonstrance Grand Master Du Ya to investigate together. The charges and interrogation all came from within the palace. Inner envoys questioned them on secret matters, and both Zai and Jin confessed. That same day the eunuch Dong Xiu, Zai's accomplice, was beaten to death in the palace before Zai's own execution. An edict declared: 'To employ the upright and remove the wicked is set forth in the imperial canon; rewarding good and punishing evil is urgent to sound government. The burden of harmonizing the state is not easily borne. Vice Director of the Secretariat and Associate Director Yuan Zai was by nature treacherous and his conduct far from upright. Favored beyond measure, he rose early to the highest office. His service as chief minister failed to govern the realm; his crooked heart constantly deceived his sovereign. He secretly employed sorcerers and went out at night for ritual prayers, seeking unlawful ends and hoping to escape the law. He took bribes and sold offices. His brutal wife and violent sons preyed on the people, and he never restrained their abuses. Devious in conduct and false in speech, harsh at heart though humble in manner, he blocked the worthy from advancement and made all rewards and punishments serve his will. Out of regard for the bond between ruler and minister, I had long hoped he would reform and kept silent. He never repented but grew ever more vicious until his crimes overflowed. To restore discipline at court and uphold the law, he is ordered to take his own life. My grasp of governance is still shallow, my judgment of men imperfect, and my achievements few—so many failures have led to this punishment, and I am deeply ashamed. Let all within and beyond the court heed this lesson and know my mind. A second decree stated: "Vice Director of the Chancellery and Associate Director Wang Jin attached himself to the wicked and fawned on villains. By these offenses his guilt is grave, yet in pity for his advanced age I have not imposed capital punishment. Instead I extend the grace of leniency and grant him a provincial governorship. He is appointed commissioner with credential for Kuo Prefecture and prefect of Kuo, and should proceed to his post at once. Alas! I respectfully face south upon the throne, entrust my ministers in good faith, and seek wise men throughout the realm to aid my rule. I have been blind in the appointment of men, and the fault is mine alone. Let no one neglect his post; let each heed his charge." Earlier, when Liu Yan and the others received the edict, Wang Jin was also sentenced to death. Yan said to Li Han, "A capital sentence must be reviewed twice—that is established law. When a great minister is to be executed, how can we not submit a review memorial! Besides, the law distinguishes ringleader from accomplice. When two men face the same penalty, we ought all the more to seek the throne's final word." Li Han and the others all complied. When Liu Yan and his colleagues submitted their review, the emperor reduced Wang Jin's sentence to a lighter punishment.

載長子伯和，先是貶在揚州兵曹參軍，載得罪，命中使馳傳於揚州賜死。次子仲武，祠部員外郎，次子季能，秘書省校書郎，並載妻王氏並賜死。女資敬寺尼真一，收入掖庭。王氏，開元中河西節度使忠嗣之女也，素以兇戾聞，恣其子伯和等為虐。伯和恃父威勢，唯以聚斂財貨，征求音樂為事。

Yuan Zai's eldest son Bohe had already been demoted to military staff officer in Yangzhou. When Yuan Zai fell, the emperor dispatched an imperial messenger by post relay to Yangzhou to grant Bohe death. The second son Zhongwu served as an outer-office secretary in the Bureau of Sacrificial Affairs; the third son Jineng was a proofreader in the Secretariat. They and Yuan Zai's wife, Lady Wang, were all ordered to take their own lives. His daughter Zhenyi, a nun at Zijing Temple, was taken into the inner palace. Lady Wang was the daughter of Wang Zhongsi, military governor of Hexi during the Kaiyuan reign. She had long been notorious for her violent temper and allowed her sons Bohe and the others to tyrannize others at will. Bohe traded on his father's authority, devoting himself entirely to extorting money and seizing musicians.

載在相位多年，權傾四海，外方珍異，皆集其門，資貨不可勝計，故伯和、仲武等得肆其誌。輕浮之士，奔其門者，如恐不及。名姝、異樂，禁中無者有之。兄弟各貯妓妾於室，倡優偎褻之戲，天倫同觀，略無愧恥。及得罪，行路無嗟惜者。中使董秀、主書卓英倩、李待榮及陰陽人李季連，以載之故，皆處極法。遣中官於萬年縣界黃臺鄉毀載祖及父母墳墓，斫棺棄柩，及私廟木主；並載大寧裏、安仁裏二宅，充修百司廨宇。以載籍沒鐘乳五百兩分賜中書門下御史臺五品已上、尚書省四品已上。

Yuan Zai had held power for many years until his authority overshadowed the realm. Rare treasures from every quarter flowed to his house in sums beyond counting, and so Bohe, Zhongwu, and the rest indulged every whim. Men of shallow ambition rushed to his door as though afraid of arriving too late. Famous courtesans and exotic music—some of which not even the palace possessed. Each brother kept rooms full of singing girls and concubines. Actors performed lewd entertainments while the whole family looked on together, utterly without shame. When they were punished, no one on the road spared them a sigh of pity. The palace envoy Dong Xiu, chief clerks Zhuo Yingqian and Li Dairong, and the yin-yang specialist Li Jilian were all executed on Yuan Zai's account. Palace eunuchs were sent to Huangtai Township in Wannian County to destroy the tombs of Yuan Zai's grandparents and parents, break open the coffins and cast out the remains, and smash the spirit tablets in his private ancestral shrine; and Yuan Zai's two mansions in Daming and Anren Wards were confiscated to fund repairs to government offices throughout the capital. Five hundred taels of stalactite from Yuan Zai's confiscated property were divided and distributed among officials of fifth rank and above in the Chancellery, Secretariat, and Censorate, and fourth rank and above in the Ministry of State Affairs.

李少良者，以吏用，早從使幕，因職遷殿中侍御史。罷，遊京師，幹謁權貴。時元載專政，所居第宅崇侈，子弟縱橫，貨賄公行，士庶鹹嫉之。少良怨不見用，乘眾怒以抗疏上聞。留少良於禁內客省，少良友人韋頌因至禁門訪少良，少良漏其言；頌不慎密，遂為載備知之，乃奏少良狂妄，詔下御史臺訊鞫。是時御史大夫缺，載以張延賞為之，屬意焉。少良以泄禁中奏議，制使陸珽同伏罪。初，韋頌及珽俱與少良友善，與載子弟親黨款狎。頌得少良微旨，漏於載所親，遂達於載。載密召珽問之，珽具白其狀及禁中語。載得之，奏於上前，上大怒，並付京兆府決殺。珽，國子司業善經之子也，少傳父業，頗通經史，性浮躁而疏，故及於累。

Li Shaoliang entered service through the clerical track, served early on commissioners' staffs, and was promoted to palace censor on account of his work. After leaving office he went to the capital and paid court to the powerful. At that time Yuan Zai dominated the government. His mansion was magnificent, his sons and nephews ran wild, and bribes passed openly in public view. Officials and commoners alike despised him. Shaoliang, bitter at his failure to win appointment, seized on the public outrage and submitted a memorial of protest directly to the throne. Shaoliang was held in the inner palace guest quarters. His friend Wei Song came to the palace gate to visit him, and Shaoliang let slip what he had said; Wei Song failed to keep the matter secret, and Yuan Zai learned everything. Yuan Zai then memorialized that Shaoliang was insolent and reckless, and an edict ordered the Censorate to investigate. The post of censor-in-chief was then vacant, and Yuan Zai appointed Zhang Yanshang to it, counting on his cooperation. Shaoliang was convicted of leaking memorials and deliberations from within the palace; the imperial commissioner Lu Ting was condemned along with him. At first Wei Song and Lu Ting had both been on friendly terms with Shaoliang and were intimate with Yuan Zai's sons, nephews, and close associates. Wei Song grasped Shaoliang's meaning and passed word of it to Yuan Zai's confidants, and so it reached Yuan Zai. Yuan Zai secretly summoned Lu Ting and questioned him. Ting told him everything, including what had been said inside the palace. Yuan Zai reported this to the emperor, who flew into a rage and ordered all of them handed over to the capital prefecture for execution. Lu Ting was the son of Shanjing, vice director of the Directorate of Education. In youth he had inherited his father's scholarship and was fairly learned in the classics and histories, but he was rash and careless by nature—and so came to ruin.

大歷中，元載弄權自恣，人皆惡之。八年七月，晉州男子郇謨以麻辮發，持竹筐及葦席哭於東市。人問其故，對曰：「有三十字請獻於上。若無堪，便以竹筐貯屍，棄之於野。」京兆府以聞。上既召見，賜衣，館於禁內客省。其獻三十字，各論一事。其要者：「團」字、「監」字。團者，請罷諸州團練使；監者，請罷諸道監軍使。殿中御史楊護職居左巡，郇謨哭市，護不聞奏，上以為蔽匿，貶連州桂陽縣丞員外置。元載當承寵得誌，每改張朝政，出於載手，中外共怒，當時歸咎於載，故少良封事於前，郇謨哭市於後。凡百有位，宜為明誡。

During the Dali reign, Yuan Zai wielded power as he pleased, and everyone loathed him. In the seventh month of Dali 8, 773, a commoner of Jin Prefecture named Huan Mo, his hair bound in hemp braids, carrying a bamboo basket and a reed mat, wept at the Eastern Market. When people asked why, he answered, "I have thirty characters to present to the emperor. If they are not accepted, let this basket hold my corpse and cast it in the wilderness. The capital prefecture reported the matter. The emperor summoned and received him, granted him clothing, and lodged him in the inner palace guest quarters. The thirty characters he submitted each addressed a separate issue. The crucial ones were the characters for "regiment" and "supervisor." "Regiment" called for abolishing the regimental training commissioners in every prefecture; "Supervisor" called for abolishing the army supervisors in every circuit. Palace censor Yang Hu held the left patrol post. Huan Mo wept in the market, yet Hu failed to hear of it and report it. The emperor took this for deliberate concealment and demoted him to supplementary assistant magistrate of Guiyang County in Lian Prefecture. Yuan Zai, secure in imperial favor, reshaped court policy at will, and every change issued from his hand. Court and country alike were enraged, and blame at the time fell on Yuan Zai—hence Li Shaoliang's sealed memorial came first, and Huan Mo's weeping at the market followed. Let all who hold office take this as a plain warning.

王縉，字夏卿，河中人也。少好學，與兄維早以文翰著名。縉連應草澤及文辭清麗舉，累授侍御史、武部員外。祿山之亂，選為太原少尹，與李光弼同守太原，功效謀略，眾所推先，加憲部侍郎，兼本官。時兄維陷賊，受偽署，賊平，維付吏議，縉請以己官贖維之罪，特為減等。

Wang Jin, courtesy name Xiaqing, was a native of Hezhong. From youth he loved learning. He and his elder brother Wang Wei won early fame for their literary gifts. Wang Jin passed the Recluse of the Grasslands and Clear Literary Style examinations in succession and rose through appointments as supervising censor and vice director of the Bureau of Military Affairs. During the An Lushan rebellion he was chosen as vice director of Taiyuan and, together with Li Guangbi, held the city. For achievement, effect, and strategy he was ranked above all others, and was promoted to vice director of the Bureau of Justice while retaining his existing post. At that time his elder brother Wang Wei had fallen into rebel hands and accepted a false appointment. After the rebellion was crushed, Wei was handed over for judgment. Wang Jin asked to redeem his brother's guilt with his own rank, and the court specially reduced Wei's sentence by one grade.

縉尋入拜國子祭酒，改鳳翔尹、秦隴州防禦使，歷工部侍郎、左散騎常侍。撰《玄宗哀冊文》，時稱為工。改兵部侍郎。屬平殄史朝義，河朔未安，詔縉以本官河北宣慰，奉使稱旨。廣德二年，拜黃門侍郎、同平章事、太微宮使、弘文崇賢館大學士。其年，河南副元帥李光弼薨於徐州，以縉為侍中、持節都統河南、淮西、山南東道諸節度行營事。縉懇讓侍中，從之，加上柱國，兼東都留守。歲餘，遷河南副元帥，請減軍資錢四十萬貫修東都殿宇。大歷三年，幽州節度使李懷仙死，以縉領幽州、盧龍節度。縉赴鎮而還，委政於燕將硃希彩。又屬河東節度辛雲京卒，遂兼太原尹、北都留守、河東節度營田觀察等使。縉又讓河南副元帥、東都留守，從之。太原舊將王無縱、張奉璋等恃功，且以縉儒者易之，每事多違約束。縉一朝悉召斬之，將校股栗。

Wang Jin soon entered court and was appointed chancellor of the Directorate of Education. He then served as magistrate of Fengxiang and defender of Qin-Long Prefecture, and later as vice director of the Bureau of Works and left regular attendant. He composed the Lament for Emperor Xuanzong, which contemporaries praised as a masterly piece of writing. He was transferred to vice director of the Bureau of Military Affairs. After Shi Chaoyi was destroyed but Hebei remained unsettled, an edict appointed Wang Jin, in his existing office, pacification commissioner of Hebei. His mission pleased the throne. In Guangde 2, 764, he was appointed vice director of the Yellow Gate, associate director of the Chancellery, commissioner of the Twei Palace, and grand academician of the Hongwen and Chongxian Institutes. That same year Vice Commander-in-Chief Li Guangbi died at Xuzhou. Wang Jin was made minister of the Palace Secretariat and, bearing the imperial credential, given overall command of the Henan, Huaixi, and Shannan East military circuits. Wang Jin earnestly declined the post of minister of the Palace Secretariat, and the emperor agreed. He was given the title Exalted Pillar of State and made concurrently eastern capital intendant. After more than a year he was promoted to vice commander-in-chief of Henan and requested that four hundred thousand strings of military funds be diverted to repair the palaces of the eastern capital. In Dali 3, 768, Military Governor Li Huaixian of Youzhou died, and Wang Jin was put in charge of Youzhou and the Lulong circuit. Wang Jin went to the garrison and then returned, leaving affairs in the hands of the Yan general Zhu Xicai. When Hedong military governor Xin Yunjing also died, Wang Jin added the posts of magistrate of Taiyuan, northern capital intendant, and military governor, garrison-farming commissioner, and surveillance commissioner of Hedong. Wang Jin again declined the posts of vice commander-in-chief of Henan and eastern capital intendant, and the emperor agreed. The old Taiyuan generals Wang Wuzong, Zhang Fengzhang, and others, trusting in past merit and taking Wang Jin, a scholar-official, to be easy to manage, repeatedly defied his orders. Wang Jin summoned them all one morning and had them executed. Officers and commanders trembled with fear.

二歲，罷河東歸朝，授門下侍郎、中書門下平章事。時元載用事，縉卑附之，不敢與忤，然恃才與老，多所傲忽。載所不悅，心雖希載旨，然以言辭淩詬，無所忌憚。時京兆尹黎幹者，戎州人也，數論事，載甚病之，而力不能去也。幹嘗白事於縉，縉曰：「尹，南方君子也，安知朝禮！」其慢而侮人，率如此類。

After two years he was relieved of his Hedong command and recalled to court, appointed vice director of the Gate and associate director of the Chancellery. At that time Yuan Zai held power. Wang Jin fawned on him and did not dare oppose him, yet relying on his talent and seniority he often treated others with arrogance and disdain. Even toward those Yuan Zai disliked, though in his heart he sought to please Yuan Zai, in speech he insulted and abused them without restraint. At that time the capital prefect Li Gan was a native of Rongzhou. He often spoke up in council, which greatly vexed Yuan Zai, yet Yuan Zai lacked the power to remove him. Li Gan once reported business to Wang Jin. Jin said, "Prefect, you are a gentleman of the south—what would you know of court ritual! His contempt and insults were generally of this sort.

縉弟兄奉佛，不茹葷血，縉晚年尤甚。與杜鴻漸舍財造寺無限極。妻李氏卒，舍道政裏第為寺，為之追福，奏其額曰寶應，度僧三十人住持。每節度觀察使入朝，必延至寶應寺，諷令施財，助己修繕。初，代宗喜祠祀，未甚重佛，而元載、杜鴻漸與縉喜飯僧徒。代宗嘗問以福業報應事，載等因而啟奏，代宗由是奉之過當，嘗令僧百余人於宮中陳設佛像，經行念誦，謂之內道場。其飲膳之厚，窮極珍異，出入乘廄焉，度支具廩給。每西蕃入寇，必令群僧講誦《仁王經》，以攘虜寇。茍幸其退，則橫加錫賜。胡僧不空，官至卿監，封國公，通籍禁中，勢移公卿，爭權擅威，日相淩奪。凡京畿之豐田美利，多歸於寺觀，吏不能制。僧之徒侶，雖有贓奸畜亂，敗戮相繼，而代宗信心不易，乃詔天下官吏不得箠曳僧尼。又見縉等施財立寺，窮極瑰麗，每對揚啟沃，必以業果為證。以為國家慶祚靈長，皆福報所資，業力已定，雖小有患難，不足道也。故祿山、思明毒亂方熾，而皆有子禍。仆固懷恩將亂而死；西戎犯闕，未擊而退。此皆非人事之明征也。帝信之愈甚。公卿大臣既掛以業報，則人事棄而不修，故大歷刑政，日以陵遲，有由然也。

Wang Jin and his brothers practiced Buddhism and ate no meat. Wang Jin became especially strict in his later years. Together with Du Hongjian he spent limitless sums building temples. When his wife Lady Li died, he converted his mansion in Daozheng Ward into a temple to gain merit for her soul. He memorialized that it be named Baoying Temple and ordained thirty monks to serve as its clergy. Whenever military and surveillance commissioners came to court, he always invited them to Baoying Temple and hinted that they should donate funds toward his own repairs. At first Emperor Daizong favored state sacrifices and did not greatly esteem Buddhism, yet Yuan Zai, Du Hongjian, and Wang Jin delighted in feasting monks. Emperor Daizong once asked about karmic merit and retribution. Yuan Zai and the others seized the opening to memorialized on the subject, and from that point Daizong honored Buddhism excessively. He once ordered more than a hundred monks to install Buddha images in the palace, walk in procession, and chant sutras in what was called the Inner Way-Altar. Their fare was lavish beyond measure, with the rarest delicacies. They rode palace horses when entering and leaving, and the Department of Revenue supplied their full rations. Whenever the Tibetans raided from the west, he invariably ordered monks assembled to expound and recite the Humane Kings Sutra to drive off the invaders. If the enemy happened to withdraw, lavish rewards were heaped upon the monks. The foreign monk Amoghavajra rose to ministerial and supervisory rank, was enfeoffed as duke of a state, and gained access to the inner palace. His power eclipsed that of the chief ministers; he and his rivals contended for authority and daily encroached on one another. The fertile fields and profitable holdings of the capital region largely passed into the hands of temples and monasteries, and officials could not restrain them. Though monks and their followers piled up corruption, wickedness, and disorder, and defeat and execution followed one after another, Daizong's faith did not waver. He decreed that officials throughout the realm must not beat or drag monks and nuns. Moreover, seeing Wang Jin and the others spend fortunes on temples of surpassing splendor, whenever they addressed the emperor they invariably cited karmic cause and fruit as proof. They held that the dynasty's long fortune and enduring mandate all rested on the fruits of merit; once karmic destiny was fixed, even minor disasters were not worth mentioning. Thus when the rebellions of An Lushan and Shi Siming were still raging, both were destroyed through their sons. Pugu Huai'en was on the verge of rebellion when he died; the western barbarians reached the capital and withdrew without being attacked. None of this, they claimed, was clear proof from the realm of human affairs. The emperor believed it all the more deeply. Once ministers and high officials were preoccupied with karmic retribution, human governance was neglected. Thus under the Dali reign law and administration daily declined—and there was reason for it.

五臺山有金閣寺，鑄銅為瓦，塗金於上，照耀山谷，計錢巨億萬。縉為宰相，給中書符牒，令臺山僧數十人分行郡縣，聚徒講說，以求貨利。代宗七月望日於內道場造盂蘭盆，飾以金翠，所費百萬。又設高祖已下七聖神座，備幡節、龍傘、衣裳之制，各書尊號於幡上以識之，舁出內，陳於寺觀。是日，排儀仗，百僚序立於光順門以俟之，幡花鼓舞，迎呼道路。歲以為常，而識者嗤其不典，其傷教之源始於縉也。

On Mount Wutai stood Jinge Temple, its roof tiles cast in copper and gilded until they blazed across the valleys. The cost was reckoned in the hundreds of millions. While Wang Jin was chancellor, he issued chancery credentials dispatching several dozen Mount Wutai monks to travel through prefectures and counties, gathering crowds to preach and lecture in pursuit of profit. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month Emperor Daizong made an Ullambana offering in the Inner Way-Altar, adorned with gold and kingfisher inlay at a cost of a million cash. He also set up spirit seats for the Seven Sages from Emperor Gaozu downward, complete with banners, insignia, dragon umbrellas, and ceremonial robes. Each banner bore an imperial honorific title for identification. They were carried out of the inner palace and displayed at temples and monasteries. That day ceremonial guards were drawn up in formation. The hundred officials lined up at Guangshun Gate to await the procession—banners and flowers, drums and dancers, with crowds cheering along the roads. Year after year this became custom, but men of discernment mocked it as a breach of propriety. The source of injury to the faith began with Wang Jin.

李氏，初為左丞韋濟妻，濟卒，奔縉。縉嬖之，冒稱為妻，實妾也。又縱弟妹女尼等廣納財賄，貪猥之跡如市賈焉。元載得罪，縉連坐貶括州刺史，移處州刺史。大歷十四年，除太子賓客，留司東都。建中二年十二月卒，年八十二。

Lady Li had first been the wife of Vice Director Wei Ji. When Ji died, she went to Wang Jin. Wang Jin favored her and falsely presented her as his wife—she was in fact a concubine. He also allowed his siblings and the nuns in his household to take bribes on a wide scale, and his greed and grasping ways were those of a market hawker. When Yuan Zai was condemned, Wang Jin was implicated and demoted to prefect of Kuozhou, then reassigned as prefect of Chuzhou. In Dali 14, 779, he was appointed guest of the heir apparent and remained on duty at the Eastern Capital. He died in the twelfth month of Jianzhong 2, 781, at the age of eighty-two.

楊炎，字公南，鳳翔人。曾祖大寶，武德初為龍門令，劉武周陷晉、絳，攻之不降，城破被害，褒贈全節侯。祖哲，以孝行有異，旌其門閭。父播，登進士第，隱居不仕，玄宗征為諫議大夫，棄官就養，亦以孝行禎祥，表其門閭。肅宗就加散騎常侍，賜號玄靖先生，名在《逸人傳》。

Yang Yan, courtesy name Gongnan, came from Fengxiang. His great-grandfather Dabao, in the early Wude reign, served as magistrate of Longmen. When Liu Wuzhou seized Jin and Jiang and attacked the city, Dabao refused to surrender; when the city fell he was killed, and the court posthumously enfeoffed him as Marquis of Quanjie for his integrity unto death. His grandfather Zhe, for exceptional filial conduct, had an honor arch erected at his gate. His father Bo passed the jinshi examination and lived in retirement without taking office. Emperor Xuanzong summoned him as remonstrance official, but he resigned to care for his parents at home. For his filial devotion and the auspicious omens that attended it, his gate was honored in the same way. Emperor Suzong then further appointed him regular attendant of the chariots and horses, granted him the title Master Xuanjing, and entered his name in 《Record of Recluses》.

炎美須眉，風骨峻峙，文藻雄麗，汧、隴之間，號為小楊山人。釋褐辟河西節度掌書記。神烏令李大簡嘗因醉辱炎，至是與炎同幕，率左右反接之，鐵棒撾之二百，流血被地，幾死。節度使呂崇賁愛其才，不之責。後副元帥李光弼奏為判官，不應，征拜起居舍人，辭祿就養岐下。丁憂，廬於墓前，號泣不絕聲，有紫芝白雀之祥，又表其門閭。孝著三代，門樹六闕，古未有也。服闋久之，起為司勛員外郎，改兵部，轉禮部郎中、知制誥。遷中書舍人，與常袞並掌綸誥，袞長於除書，炎善為德音，自開元已來，言詔制之美者，時稱常、楊焉。

Yang Yan had striking features and a commanding presence, and his writing was bold and splendid. Between Qian and Long he was known as the Lesser Recluse of Yang. On entering official life he was appointed secretary to the military governor of Hexi. Li Dajian, magistrate of Shenwu, had once humiliated Yang Yan while drunk. When they now served on the same staff, Yan had his attendants seize Dajian, bind his arms behind him, and beat him two hundred times with an iron rod until blood pooled on the ground and he nearly died. Military Governor Lü Chongben admired his ability and did not hold him accountable. Later Vice Commander-in-Chief Li Guangbi recommended him as aide, but he refused. When summoned as attendant for daily affairs, he declined the salary and returned to Qi to support his parents. During mourning he built a hut by the grave and wept without stopping. Purple fungus and white sparrows appeared as auspicious signs, and once again an honor arch was raised at his gate. Filial devotion had marked three generations of the family, and six honor arches stood at their gate—something without precedent in antiquity. Long after his mourning ended he was recalled as vice director in the Bureau of Merit, moved to the Ministry of War, and then promoted to director in the Ministry of Rites with responsibility for drafting edicts. He was promoted to secretariat drafting officer and, together with Chang Gun, handled imperial edicts. Gun excelled at appointment documents, while Yan excelled at gracious proclamations. Since the Kaiyuan era, whenever people spoke of fine edict-drafting, they named Chang and Yang.

炎樂賢下士，以汲引為己任，人士歸之。嘗為《李楷洛碑》，辭甚工，文士莫不成誦之。遷吏部侍郎，修國史。元載自作相，常選擢朝士有文學才望者一人厚遇之，將以代己。初，引禮部郎中劉單；單卒，引吏部侍郎薛邕，邕貶，又引炎。載親重炎，無與為比。載敗，坐貶道州司馬。德宗即位，議用宰相，崔祐甫薦炎有文學器用，上亦自聞其名，拜銀青光祿大夫、門下侍郎、同平章事。炎有風儀，博以文學，早負時稱，天下翕然，望為賢相。

Yang Yan loved to honor the worthy and treat scholars with respect, making the advancement of talent his personal mission, and men of letters flocked to him. He once wrote 《Stele for Li Kaoluo》, a piece of extraordinary craftsmanship that literary men memorized and recited by heart. He was promoted to vice minister of personnel and worked on the national history. Once Yuan Zai became chancellor himself, he regularly singled out one court official of literary talent and reputation for special favor, intending to groom him as his successor. At first he brought forward Liu Dan, director in the Ministry of Rites; when Liu Dan died, he brought forward Xue Yong, vice minister of personnel; when Xue was demoted, he brought forward Yang Yan. Yuan Zai favored Yang Yan above all others; no one could compare. When Yuan Zai fell, Yang Yan was implicated and demoted to military adjutant of Daozhou. When Emperor Dezong acceded, the court debated whom to appoint chancellor. Cui Youfu recommended Yang Yan for his literary gifts and practical ability, and the emperor had already heard his name. Yan was appointed honorary grand master of the Brilliant Hall with golden seal, vice director of the chancellery, and associate director of the Department of State Affairs. Yang Yan had presence and erudition, and had long enjoyed a fine reputation. All under Heaven looked to him with hope that he would prove a worthy chancellor.

初，國家舊制，天下財賦皆納於左藏庫，而太府四時以數聞，尚書比部覆其出入，上下相轄，無失遺。及第五琦為度支、鹽鐵使，京師多豪將，求取無節，琦不能禁，乃悉以租賦進入大盈內庫，以中人主之意，天子以取給為便，故不復出。是以天下公賦，為人君私藏，有司不得窺其多少，國用不能計其贏縮，殆二十年矣。中官以冗名持簿書，領其事者三百人，皆奉給其間，連結根固不可動。及炎作相，頓首於上前，論之曰：「夫財賦，邦國之大本，生人之喉命，天下理亂輕重皆由焉。是以前代歷選重臣主之，猶懼不集，往往覆敗，大計一失，則天下動搖。先朝權制，中人領其職，以五尺宦豎操邦之本，豐儉盈虛，雖大臣不得知，則無以計天下利害。臣愚待罪宰輔，陛下至德，惟人是恤，參校蠹弊，無斯之甚。請出之以歸有司，度宮中經費一歲幾何，量數奉入，不敢虧用。如此，然後可以議政。惟陛下察焉。」詔曰：「凡財賦皆歸左藏庫，一用舊式，每歲於數中量進三五十萬入大盈，而度支先以其全數聞。」炎以片言移人主意，議者以為難，中外稱之。

Under the old system, all revenue and levies throughout the realm were deposited in the Left Storehouse Treasury. The Grand Treasury reported the figures each season, and the Accounts Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue checked receipts and disbursements. Upper and lower offices kept one another in check, and nothing was lost. When Diwu Qi became commissioner of revenue and of the salt and iron monopoly, the capital was full of powerful generals who demanded funds without limit. Qi could not restrain them, so he sent all land tax and corvée payments into the Daying Inner Treasury to please the eunuchs. The emperor found it convenient to draw supplies directly from there, and the funds were never returned to the regular treasury. Public revenue thus became the emperor's private hoard. Officials could not tell how much was on hand, and the state could not calculate surplus or deficit. This had gone on for nearly twenty years. Eunuchs held nominal posts over the account books. Three hundred men ran the operation, all on its payroll, bound together in a network so entrenched that it could not be dislodged. When Yang Yan became chancellor, he prostrated himself before the throne and argued: "Revenue and taxation are the great foundation of the state and the very life of the people. Whether the realm is well governed or in turmoil, whether it stands firm or falters, all depends on them. That is why earlier dynasties repeatedly put great ministers in charge of them, yet still feared failure and often saw the system collapse. Lose control of this great matter, and the whole realm is shaken. The previous reign's expedient arrangement put eunuchs in charge—a five-foot palace servant controlling the foundation of the state. Whether funds were plentiful or scarce, in surplus or deficit, even senior ministers could not know, and there was no way to weigh the realm's interests. Your humble servant, who bears the burden of office as chancellor, sees that Your Majesty's supreme virtue cares for all people. Of the abuses I have examined, none is worse than this. I ask that these funds be returned to the proper offices, that the palace's annual expenses be estimated, that only the required amount be submitted, and that nothing be squandered. Only then can we speak of governing the realm. I beg Your Majesty to consider it." An edict replied: "All revenue and levies shall return to the Left Storehouse Treasury according to the old procedure. Each year three to five hundred thousand shall be forwarded to Daying from the total, and the Department of Revenue shall first report the full amount." With a few words Yang Yan had changed the emperor's mind. Commentators called the feat difficult to achieve, and praise rang through court and country.

初定令式，國家有租賦庸調之法。開元中，玄宗修道德，以寬仁為理本，故不為版籍之書，人戶浸溢，堤防不禁。丁口轉死，非舊名矣；田畝移換，非舊額矣；貧富升降，非舊第矣。戶部徒以空文總其故書，蓋得非當時之實。舊制，人丁戍邊者，蠲其租庸，六歲免歸。玄宗方事夷狄，戍者多死不返，邊將怙寵而諱，不以死申，故其貫籍之名不除。至天寶中，王鉷為戶口使，方務聚斂，以丁籍且存，則丁身焉往，是隱課而不出耳。遂案舊籍，計除六年之外，積征其家三十年租庸。天下之人苦而無告，則租庸之法弊久矣。迨至德之後，天下兵起，始以兵役，因之饑癘，征求運輸，百役並作，人戶雕耗，版圖空虛。軍國之用，仰給於度支、轉運二使；四方征鎮，又自給於節度、都團練使。賦斂之司數四，而莫相統攝，於是綱目大壞，朝廷不能覆諸使，諸使不能覆諸州，四方貢獻，悉入內庫。權臣猾吏，因緣為奸，或公托進獻，私為贓盜者動萬萬計。河南、山東、荊襄、劍南有重兵處，皆厚自奉養，王賦所入無幾。吏職之名，隨人署置；俸給厚薄，由其增損。故科斂之名凡數百，廢者不削，重者不去，新舊仍積，不知其涯。百姓受命而供之，瀝膏血，鬻親愛，旬輸月送無休息。吏因其苛，蠶食千人。凡富人多丁者，率為官為僧，以色役免；貧人無所入則丁存。故課免於上，而賦增於下。是以天下殘瘁，蕩為浮人，鄉居地著者百不四五，如是者殆三十年。

When the original statutes were established, the state had the system of land tax, labor service, and cloth levy. During the Kaiyuan era, Emperor Xuanzong cultivated virtue and made leniency the basis of rule, so household registers were not maintained. Populations swelled beyond control, and the system could no longer contain them. Able-bodied men died or moved away and were no longer on the old rolls; fields changed hands and no longer matched the old quotas; the rich and poor rose and fell and no longer fit the old gradations. The Ministry of Revenue could only summarize obsolete records on paper, which bore little relation to actual conditions. Under the old system, men sent to garrison the frontier had their land tax and corvée remitted, and after six years they were released and sent home. Emperor Xuanzong was then campaigning against foreign peoples, and many frontier soldiers died without returning. Border generals, secure in imperial favor, concealed the deaths and failed to report them, so the dead remained on the household registers. By the Tianbao era, Wang Hong served as household registration commissioner and was obsessed with revenue. If the rolls still listed a man, where was his body? The answer was that taxes were being evaded. He then checked the old registers and, beyond the six-year exemption, collected thirty years of accumulated land tax and corvée from the families involved. People throughout the realm suffered with no one to whom they could appeal. The land tax and corvée system had been broken for a long time. After the Zhide era, war spread across the realm. Military service came first, then famine and pestilence; levies, transport, and every kind of corvée fell due at once. Populations were devastated and the registers emptied out. Military and state expenses depended on the commissioners of revenue and transport; regional garrisons likewise supplied themselves through military governors and regional training commissioners. There were four revenue agencies with no one to coordinate them, and the whole system fell apart. The court could not oversee the commissioners; the commissioners could not oversee the prefectures. Tribute from every region flowed into the inner treasury. Powerful ministers and corrupt clerks seized the opportunity for fraud. Some used official tribute as a cover while privately embezzling sums in the tens of thousands. In regions where large armies were stationed—Henan, Shandong, Jingxiang, and Jiannan—the commanders lavishly provisioned themselves, and little of the imperial levy reached the center. Official titles were created at will; salaries were raised or cut at someone's whim. The names of levies ran into the hundreds. Abolished taxes were not removed, heavy ones were not lightened, and old and new charges piled up beyond reckoning. The people obeyed orders and paid up, draining their lifeblood and selling their kin, submitting payments every ten days or every month without respite. Officials exploited the harsh levies and gnawed away at the people. Wealthy men with many sons usually had them become officials or monks to escape labor service; the poor, with nowhere to hide, remained on the rolls. Exemptions went to those above, while the burden on those below grew heavier. The realm was worn to exhaustion. People drifted as vagrants, and perhaps only four or five in a hundred remained settled in their home villages. This had continued for nearly thirty years.

炎因奏對，懇言其弊，乃請作兩稅法，以一其名，曰：「凡百役之費，一錢之斂，先度其數而賦於人，量出以制入。戶無主客，以見居為簿；人無丁中，以貧富為差。不居處而行商者，在所郡縣稅三十之一，度所與居者均，使無僥利。居人之稅，秋夏兩征之，俗有不便者正之。其租庸雜徭悉省，而丁額不廢，申報出入如舊式。其田畝之稅，率以大歷十四年墾田之數為準而均征之。夏稅無過六月，秋稅無過十一月。逾歲之後，有戶增而稅減輕，及人散而失均者，進退長吏，而以尚書度支總統焉。」德宗善而行之，詔諭中外。而掌賦者沮其非利，言租庸之令四百余年，舊制不可輕改。上行之不疑，天下便之。人不土斷而地著，賦不加斂而增入，版籍不造而得其虛實，貪吏不誡而奸無所取。自是輕重之權，始歸於朝廷。

Yang Yan, in a memorial response, spoke frankly of these abuses and proposed the dual-tax system, giving it a single name. He said: "Every expense for corvée, every coin collected—first estimate the total needed and levy it on the people. Measure expenditure to determine income. Households shall not be divided into native and sojourner; registration shall follow current residence; and persons shall not be classified by age or sex, but by wealth. Merchants who do not reside locally shall pay a tax of one-thirtieth in the prefecture or county where they operate, balanced against local residents so that no one gains an unfair advantage. Tax on residents shall be collected twice, in summer and autumn, with local customs adjusted where they prove inconvenient. Land tax, corvée, and miscellaneous labor services shall all be abolished, but the quota for able-bodied males shall remain, with arrivals and departures reported as before. Field tax shall generally be assessed evenly on the basis of land under cultivation in Dali 14, 779. Summer tax shall be due no later than the sixth month, and autumn tax no later than the eleventh month. After the year ends, if households increase while tax assessments fall, or if population scatters and equalization fails, local officials shall be promoted or demoted accordingly, and the Department of Revenue shall have overall supervision." Emperor Dezong approved the plan and put it into effect, and an edict announced it throughout court and country. But officials in charge of taxation objected that it would cut their profits, arguing that the land tax and corvée system had stood for more than four hundred years and that the old order could not lightly be changed. The emperor carried it out without hesitation, and people throughout the realm found it a relief. People settled where they lived without forced registration; revenue increased without raising rates; the true state of the population became known without rebuilding the registers; and corrupt officials found no opening for fraud without even being warned. From this point the power to control the fiscal balance returned to the court.

炎救時之弊，頗有嘉聲。蒞事數月，屬崔祐甫疾病，多不視事，喬琳罷免，炎遂獨當國政。祐甫之所制作，炎隳之。初減薄護作元陵功優，人心始不悅。又專意報恩復仇。道州錄事參軍王沼有微恩於炎，舉沼為監察御史。感元載恩，專務行載舊事以報之。初，載得罪，左僕射劉晏訊劾之，元載誅，炎亦坐貶，故深怨晏。晏領東都、河南、江淮、山南東道轉運、租庸、青苗、鹽鐵使，炎作相數月，欲貶晏，先罷其使，天下錢谷皆歸金部、倉部。又獻議開豐州陵陽渠，發京畿人夫於西城就役，閭裏騷擾，事竟無成。

Yang Yan remedied the abuses of the age and won considerable praise. After several months in office, Cui Youfu fell ill and largely stopped attending to affairs. Qiao Lin was dismissed, and Yang Yan alone bore the burden of government. Whatever Cui Youfu had established, Yang Yan tore down. At first he cut back maintenance work on the Yuan Mausoleum and reduced bonuses for labor, and public sentiment first turned against him. He also devoted himself single-mindedly to repaying favors and settling scores. Wang Zhao, recorder of Daozhou, had once done Yang Yan a small favor, and Yan recommended him as investigating censor. Grateful for Yuan Zai's past kindness, he devoted himself to carrying out Zai's old policies in repayment. When Yuan Zai fell, Left Vice Director Liu Yan had interrogated and impeached him. When Zai was executed, Yang Yan was implicated and demoted as well, and he bore Liu Yan a deep grudge. Liu Yan held the posts of transport commissioner for the Eastern Capital, Henan, Jiang-Huai, and Shannan East circuits, as well as commissioner for corvée, green-sprout, and salt-and-iron levies. Several months after Yang Yan became chancellor, intending to demote Liu Yan, he first abolished those commissioner posts, and all grain and coin revenue throughout the realm reverted to the Gold and Granaries bureaus. He also proposed opening the Lingyang Canal at Fengzhou and dispatching corvée laborers from the capital region to work on the western wall. Neighborhoods were thrown into turmoil, and in the end nothing was accomplished.

初，大歷末，元載議請城原州，以遏西番入寇之沖要，事未行而載誅。及炎得政，建中二年二月，奏請城原州，先牒涇原節度使段秀實，令為之具。秀實報曰：「凡安邊卻敵之長策，宜緩以計圖之，無宜草草興功也。又春事方作，請待農隙而緝其事。」炎怒，征秀實為司農卿。以邠寧別駕李懷光居前督作，以檢校司空平章事硃泚、御史大夫平章事崔寧各統兵萬人以翼後。三月，詔下涇州為具。涇軍怒而言曰：「吾曹為國西門之屏，十余年矣！始治於邠，才置農桑，地著之安；而徙於此，置榛莽之中，手披足踐，才立城壘；又投之塞外，吾何罪而置此乎！」李懷光監朔方軍，法令嚴峻，頻殺大將。涇州裨將劉文喜因人怨怒，拒不受詔，上疏復求段秀實為帥，否則硃泚。於是以硃泚代懷光，文喜又不奉詔。涇有勁兵二萬，閉城拒守，令其子入質吐蕃以求援。時方炎旱，人情騷動，群臣皆請赦文喜，上皆不省。德宗減服禦以給軍人，城中軍士當受春服，賜與如故。命硃泚、李懷光等軍攻之，乃築壘環之。涇州別將劉海賓斬文喜首，傳之闕下。茍非海賓效順，必生邊患，皆因炎以喜怒易帥，涇帥結怨故也。原州竟不能城。

In late Dali, Yuan Zai had proposed fortifying Yuan Prefecture to block the main route of Western Tibetan raids. The plan had not been carried out when Zai was executed. Once Yang Yan came to power, in the second month of Jianzhong 2, 781, he memorialized requesting that Yuan Prefecture be fortified and first sent instructions to Duan Xiushi, military governor of Jingyuan, ordering him to make preparations. Xiushi replied: "The best long-term strategy for securing the border and repelling enemies is to proceed slowly and plan carefully. One should not launch construction in haste. Moreover, spring planting is underway. Please wait until the farming season ends before undertaking this work." Yang Yan grew angry and recalled Xiushi to serve as minister of agriculture. He put Li Huaiguang, vice prefect of Binning, in front to supervise construction, while Zhu Ci, acting supervisor of works and associate director, and Cui Ning, censor-in-chief and associate director, each commanded ten thousand troops to support from the rear. In the third month an edict was issued ordering Jingzhou to make preparations. The Jing army erupted in anger, saying: "We have been the shield at the empire's western gate for more than ten years! At first we were posted to Bin and had just begun to farm and settle down; then we were transferred here and dumped into the wild brush, hacking paths with our hands and trampling them underfoot just to raise a few ramparts; now we are thrown beyond the frontier passes. What crime have we committed to deserve this!" Li Huaiguang supervised the Shuofang army. His laws were harsh, and he frequently executed senior generals. Liu Wenxi, a vice general at Jing Prefecture, seized on the soldiers' anger and refused the edict. He memorialized again, demanding Duan Xiushi as commander—or, failing that, Zhu Ci. Zhu Ci was then sent to replace Huaiguang, but Wenxi again refused to obey. Jing had twenty thousand crack troops. The city was shut and held under siege, and Wenxi sent his son to the Tibetans as a hostage to seek aid. A scorching drought was then afflicting the region, and public unrest was spreading. Every minister pleaded for Wenxi to be pardoned, but the emperor would hear none of it. Emperor Dezong cut his own provisions to feed the besieging troops. The soldiers inside the city, due their spring uniforms, received them as usual. He ordered Zhu Ci, Li Huaiguang, and other forces to attack, and they built encircling ramparts around the city. Liu Haibin, a vice commander at Jing Prefecture, beheaded Wenxi and sent his head to the palace. Had Haibin not turned loyal, a border disaster would surely have followed—all because Yang Yan had replaced commanders on whim and bred resentment among the Jing garrison. In the end Yuan Prefecture was never fortified.

炎既構劉晏之罪貶官，司農卿庾淮與晏有隙，乃用準為荊南節度使，諷令誣晏以忠州叛，殺之，妻子徙嶺表，朝野為之側目。李正己上表請殺晏之罪，指斥朝廷。炎懼，乃遣腹心分往諸道：裴冀，東都、河陽、魏博；孫成，澤潞、磁邢、幽州；盧東美，河南、淄青；李舟，山南、湖南；王定，淮西。聲言宣慰，而意實說謗。且言「晏之得罪，以昔年附會奸邪，謀立獨孤妃為皇后，上自惡之，非他過也。」或有密奏「炎遣五使往諸鎮者，恐天下以殺劉晏之罪歸己，推過於上耳。」乃使中人復炎辭於正己，還報信然。自此德宗有意誅炎矣，待事而發。乃擢用盧杞為門下侍郎、平章事，炎轉中書侍郎，仍平章事。二人同事秉政，杞無文學，儀貌寢陋，炎惡而忽之，每托疾息於他閣，多不會食，杞亦銜恨之。舊制，中書舍人分押尚書六曹，以平奏報，開元初廢其職，杞請復之，炎固以為不可。杞益怒，又密啟中書主書過，逐之。炎怒曰：「主書，吾局吏也，有過吾自治之，奈何而相侵？」

After Yang Yan had trumped up charges against Liu Yan and had him demoted, Yu Huai, minister of agriculture, who bore a grudge against Liu Yan, was appointed military governor of Jingnan and instructed to accuse Liu Yan of rebellion at Zhong Prefecture and have him killed. Liu Yan's wife and children were exiled beyond the Lingnan passes, and all of court and countryside looked on in dismay. Li Zhengji submitted a memorial protesting Liu Yan's murder and denouncing the court. Yang Yan grew afraid and sent trusted agents to the various circuits: Pei Ji to the Eastern Capital, Heyang, and Weibo; Sun Cheng to Zelu, Cixing, and You Prefecture; Lu Dongmei to Henan and Ziqing; Li Zhou to Shannan and Hunan; Wang Ding to Huaixi. They claimed to be going as consolation envoys, but in fact meant to spread slander. They also said, "Liu Yan's offense was that years ago he joined with wicked men to plot making Consort Dugu empress. The emperor himself loathed this; there was no other crime." Someone submitted a secret memorial: "Yang Yan is sending five envoys to the military circuits because he fears the realm will hold him responsible for Liu Yan's murder and is shifting the blame onto Your Majesty." The emperor then sent a eunuch to repeat Yang Yan's words to Li Zhengji; on his return the eunuch reported that Zhengji had indeed heard them. From this point Emperor Dezong resolved to destroy Yang Yan and waited for an opportunity to strike. He then promoted Lu Qi to vice director of the Chancellery and associate director, while Yang Yan was transferred to vice director of the Secretariat, retaining his associate directorship. The two served together as chief ministers. Lu Qi had no literary training and an unprepossessing appearance. Yang Yan despised and ignored him, often pleading illness to rest in another pavilion and frequently skipping joint meals. Lu Qi nursed his resentment in turn. Under the old system, secretariat drafters had divided supervision of the six boards of the Department of State Affairs to review memorials and reports. Early in the Kaiyuan era that function was abolished. Lu Qi asked to restore it; Yang Yan firmly opposed the idea. Lu Qi grew still angrier and secretly reported misconduct by the secretariat's chief clerk, having him expelled. Yang Yan said in anger, "The chief clerk is an officer under my office. If he has done wrong I will punish him myself. How dare you interfere?"

屬梁崇義叛換，德宗欲以淮西節度使李希烈統諸軍討之。炎諫曰：「希烈始與李忠臣為子，親任無雙，竟逐忠臣而取其位，背本若此，豈可信也！居常無尺寸功，猶強不奉法，異日平賊後，恃功邀上，陛下何以馭之？」初，炎之南來，途經襄、漢，固勸崇義入朝，崇義不能從，已懷反側。尋又使其黨李舟使馳說，崇義固而拒命，遂圖叛逆，皆炎迫而成之。至是，德宗欲假希烈兵勢以討崇義，然後別圖希烈。炎又固言不可，上不能平，乃曰：「朕業許之矣，不能食言。」遂以希烈統諸軍。

At that time Liang Chongyi rebelled and changed sides. Emperor Dezong wanted Li Xilie, military governor of Huaixi, to command the various armies against him. Yang Yan remonstrated, "Xilie at first treated Li Zhongchen as a father and enjoyed unmatched trust, yet in the end drove Zhongchen out and seized his post. A man who betrays his roots like this—how can he be trusted! In ordinary times he has not a shred of merit, yet still defies the law with impunity. If one day, after the rebels are crushed, he uses his service to make demands on Your Majesty, how will Your Majesty restrain him?" Earlier, when Yang Yan came south and passed through Xiang and Han, he had strongly urged Chongyi to come to court. Chongyi could not comply and already harbored rebellious intent. Soon afterward Yang Yan also sent his ally Li Zhou to hurry and persuade him. Chongyi stubbornly refused his orders and then plotted rebellion—all of it brought on by Yang Yan's pressure. At this point Emperor Dezong meant to borrow Xilie's military strength to crush Chongyi, then deal with Xilie separately. Yang Yan again insisted it could not be done. The emperor, unable to contain his irritation, said, "I have already given my word. I cannot go back on it." Li Xilie was thereupon put in overall command of the armies.

會德宗嘗訪宰相群臣中可以大任者，盧杞薦張鎰、嚴郢，而炎舉崔昭、趙惠伯。上以炎論議疏闊，遂罷炎相，為左僕射。後數日中謝，對於延英，及出，馳歸，不至中書，盧杞自是益怒焉。杞尋引嚴郢為御史大夫。初，郢為京兆尹，不附炎，炎怒之，諷御史張著彈郢，郢罷兼御史中丞。炎又夙聞源休與郢有隙，乃拔休自流人為京兆尹，令伺郢過。休蒞官後，與郢友善，炎大怒。張光晟方謀議殺回紇酋帥，炎乃以休為入回紇使，休幾為虜所殺。郢尋坐以度田不實，改為大理卿，時人惜之。至是，杞因群情所欲，又知郢與炎有隙，故引薦之。

On one occasion Emperor Dezong asked the chief ministers which officials could be entrusted with great responsibility. Lu Qi recommended Zhang Yi and Yan Ying, while Yang Yan recommended Cui Zhao and Zhao Huibo. The emperor judged Yang Yan's policy counsel shallow and unfocused and therefore removed him from the chancellorship, appointing him left vice director instead. Several days later, at the midday audience of thanks in Yanying Hall, Yang Yan galloped straight home when it ended and did not go to the Secretariat. From this Lu Qi grew angrier still. Lu Qi soon brought in Yan Ying as censor-in-chief. Earlier, when Yan Ying was metropolitan governor of Jingzhao, he had refused to attach himself to Yang Yan. Yang Yan grew angry and prompted Censor Zhang Zhuo to impeach him, and Yan Ying was stripped of his additional post as vice censor-in-chief. Yang Yan had long known that Yuan Xiu and Yan Ying were at odds. He therefore pulled Xiu from exile and made him metropolitan governor, ordering him to watch for Yan Ying's faults. After Yuan Xiu took office he became friendly with Yan Ying, and Yang Yan was furious. Zhang Guangcheng was then plotting to kill the Uyghur chieftain, so Yang Yan sent Yuan Xiu as envoy to the Uyghurs. Xiu nearly lost his life among them. Yan Ying was soon convicted on a charge of falsifying land surveys and was transferred to chief of the Court of Judicial Review. People of the time regretted the loss. At this point Lu Qi, following what public opinion wanted and knowing Yan Ying's rift with Yang Yan, therefore recommended him.

炎子弘業不肖，多犯禁，受賂請托，郢按之，兼得其他過。初，炎將立家廟，先有私第在東都，令河南尹趙惠伯貨之，惠伯為炎市為官廨。時惠伯自河中尹、都團練觀察等使初受代，郢奏追捕惠伯詰案。御史以炎為宰相，抑吏貨市私第，貴估其宅，賤入其幣，計以為贓。杞召大理正田晉評罪，晉曰：「宰臣於庶官，比之監臨，官市賈有羨利，計其利以乞取論罪，當奪官。」杞怒，謫晉衡州司馬。更召他吏繩之，曰：「監主自盜，罪絞。」開元中，蕭嵩將於曲江南立私廟，尋以玄宗臨幸之所，恐置廟非便，乃罷之。至是，炎以其地為廟，有飛語者云：「此地有王氣，炎故取之，必有異圖。」語聞，上愈怒。及臺司上具獄，詔三司使同覆之。建中二年十月，詔曰：「尚書左僕射楊炎，托以文藝，累登清貫。雖謫居荒服，而虛稱猶存。朕初臨萬邦，思弘大化，務擢非次，招納時髦。拔自郡佐，登於鼎司，獨委心膂，信任無疑。而乃不思竭誠，敢為奸蠹，進邪醜正，既偽且堅，黨援因依，動涉情故。隳法敗度，罔上行私，茍利其身，不顧於國。加以內無訓誡，外有交通，縱恣詐欺，以成贓賄。詢其事跡，本末乖謬，蔑恩棄德，負我何深！考狀議刑，罪在難宥。但以朕於將相，義切始終，顧全大體，特有弘貸，俾從遠謫，以肅具僚。可崖州司馬同正，仍馳驛發遣。」去崖州百里賜死，年五十五。

Yang Yan's son Hongye was worthless, repeatedly breaking the law and taking bribes for favors. Yan Ying investigated him and uncovered other offenses as well. Earlier, when Yang Yan was about to establish a family temple, he already owned a private residence in the Eastern Capital. He ordered Zhao Huibo, governor of Henan, to buy it for him, and Huibo purchased it on Yang Yan's behalf as an official office building. Huibo had just been replaced as governor of Hezhong and overall defense-and-observation commissioner. Yan Ying memorialized to pursue and arrest him for interrogation. The censors held that Yang Yan, as chancellor, had coerced an official into buying his private residence, overvaluing the property and underpaying the price—a sum calculated as embezzlement. Lu Qi summoned Tian Jin, chief judge of the Court of Judicial Review, to assess the crime. Jin said, "A chancellor toward ordinary officials is like a supervisor over subordinates. If an official purchase yields surplus profit, and that profit is calculated as a solicited bribe, the penalty should be removal from office." Lu Qi was furious and demoted Jin to staff administrator of Heng Prefecture. He summoned another official to apply the statute, who said, "A supervisor who steals from himself—punishment by strangulation. In the Kaiyuan era, Xiao Song was about to establish a private temple south of Qu River, but because it was a place Emperor Xuanzong frequented, he feared a temple there would be inappropriate and abandoned the plan. Now Yang Yan made that very site his temple. Rumors spread: "This place has royal qi. Yang Yan took it for that reason—he must harbor treasonous designs." When word reached the emperor, his anger grew still fiercer. When the censorate submitted the full case, an edict ordered the commissioners of the Three Offices to review it jointly. In the tenth month of Jianzhong 2, 781, an edict declared, "Left Vice Director Yang Yan, relying on literary talent, rose repeatedly to eminent posts. Though once banished to the frontier, his empty reputation still lingered. When I first took the throne, I wished to extend great reform, striving to promote men out of turn and recruit the finest talent of the age. Raised from a prefectural aide to the highest ministry, I entrusted him alone as my right hand, trusting him without reservation. Yet he did not think to serve with full loyalty. He dared to be a wicked scourge, advancing the corrupt and disgracing the upright—false and stubborn alike, building factions and clinging to patrons, every move tangled in private ties. He destroyed law and violated proper measure, deceived his ruler and pursued private ends, seeking only his own profit with no regard for the state. Moreover, he lacked restraint at home and kept illicit contacts abroad, indulging fraud and deceit until embezzlement and bribery followed. Inquiring into his deeds from beginning to end, the record is contradictory and false. Scorning kindness and abandoning virtue—how deeply he has betrayed me! Examining the facts and deliberating punishment, his crime admits no pardon. But because I hold generals and ministers to the bond from beginning to end and look to the larger good, I grant special leniency and allow distant banishment, that all officials may take warning. He is appointed acting assistant administrator of Yazhou and dispatched by fast relay." One hundred li from Yazhou he was granted death. He was fifty-five years old.

炎早有文章，亦勵誌節，及為中書舍人，附會元載，時議已薄之。後坐載貶官，憤恚益甚，歸而得政，睚眥必仇，險害之性附於心，唯其愛憎，不顧公道，以至於敗。惠伯亦坐炎貶費州多田尉，尋亦殺之。

Yang Yan had shown literary talent early and cultivated moral resolve, but when he became a secretariat drafter he attached himself to Yuan Zai, and public opinion already held him in low esteem. Later implicated with Zai, he was demoted and his resentment grew fiercer. Returning to power, he avenged every slight. A treacherous and harmful nature took hold of him; he followed only his loves and hates without regard for justice, until ruin came. Zhao Huibo was also implicated with Yang Yan and demoted to assistant magistrate of Duotian in Feizhou; soon he too was executed.

黎幹者，戎州人。始以善星緯數術進，待詔翰林，累官至諫議大夫。尋遷京兆尹，以嚴肅為理，人頗便之，而因緣附會，與時上下。大歷二年，改刑部侍郎。魚朝恩伏誅，坐交通出為桂州刺史、本管觀察使。至江陵，丁母憂。久之，會京兆尹缺，人頗思幹。八年，復拜京兆尹、兼御史大夫。幹自以得誌，無心為理，貪暴益甚，徇於財色。十三年，除兵部侍郎。性險，挾左道，結中貴，以希主恩，代宗甚惑之。時中官劉忠翼寵任方盛，幹結之素厚，嘗通其奸謀。及德宗初即位，幹猶以詭道求進，密居輿中詣忠翼第。事發，詔曰：「兵部侍郎黎幹，害若豺狼，特進劉忠翼，掩義隱賊，並除名長流。」即行，市裏兒童數千人噪聚，懷瓦礫投擊之，捕賊尉不能止，遂皆賜死於藍田驛。

Li Gan was a native of Rong Prefecture. At first he advanced through skill in astronomy, calendrics, and numerology. He served as a Hanlin draft attendant and rose through the ranks to remonstrance adviser. Soon he was transferred to metropolitan governor of Jingzhao. He governed with severity and the people found it helpful, yet he opportunistically attached himself to power and rose and fell with the times. In Dali 2, 767, he was transferred to vice minister of justice. When Yu Chao'en was executed, Li Gan was implicated for illicit contact and sent out as prefect of Guizhou and observer of that circuit. Reaching Jiangling, he entered mourning for his mother. After a long interval, when the post of metropolitan governor fell vacant, people greatly missed Li Gan. In Dali 8, 773, he was again appointed metropolitan governor, concurrently censor-in-chief. Li Gan, thinking he had achieved his ambition, had no heart for governing. Greed and brutality grew worse, and he indulged himself in wealth and women. In Dali 13, 778, he was removed and appointed vice minister of war. His nature was treacherous. He relied on heterodox arts and cultivated connections with palace favorites to seek imperial favor, and Emperor Daizong was greatly influenced by him. At the time the palace attendant Liu Zhongyi enjoyed peak favor and trust. Li Gan had long been bound to him and once shared treacherous plots with him. When Emperor Dezong first ascended the throne, Li Gan still sought advancement through deceptive arts, traveling secretly in a closed carriage to Liu Zhongyi's residence. When the affair broke, an edict declared, "Vice Minister of War Li Gan is harmful as a wolf; Special Advancement Liu Zhongyi conceals righteousness and harbors villains. Both are stripped of rank and exiled far." As they were sent off, several thousand marketplace children gathered in uproar, carrying tiles and stones to pelt them. The constable charged with catching robbers could not stop the mob. Both were then granted death at Lantian Post.

忠翼，宦官也，本名清潭，與董秀皆有寵於代宗。天憲在口，勢回日月，貪饕納賄，貨產巨萬。大歷中，德宗居東宮，幹及清潭嘗有奸謀動搖。及是，積前罪以誅之。

Liu Zhongyi was a eunuch; his original name was Qingtan. He and Dong Xiu both enjoyed favor with Emperor Daizong. Imperial authority rested on his lips; his power seemed to turn sun and moon. Insatiably greedy and taking bribes, he amassed property worth tens of millions. During the Dali era, while Emperor Dezong was crown prince in the Eastern Palace, Li Gan and Qingtan once plotted treacherously to shake the succession. On this occasion accumulated earlier crimes became the grounds for their execution.

庾準，常州人。父光先，天寶中，文部侍郎。準以門入仕，昵於宰相王縉，縉驟引至職方郎中、知制誥，遷中書舍人。準素寡文學，以柔媚自進，既非儒流，甚為時論所薄。尋改御史中丞，遷尚書左丞。縉得罪，出為汝州刺史。復入為司農卿，與楊炎厚善。炎欲殺劉晏，知準與晏有隙，乃用為荊南節度。準乃上言得晏與硃泚書，且有怨望，又召補州兵以拒命。於是先殺晏，然後下詔賜自盡，海內冤之。炎以殺晏征準為尚書左丞。建中三年六月丁巳卒，時年五十一。贈工部尚書。

Yu Zhun was a native of Chang Prefecture. His father Guangxian had been vice minister of the Ministry of Rites during the Tianbao era. Yu Zhun entered office through family connections. Close to Chancellor Wang Jin, Jin swiftly promoted him to director of appointments in the Ministry of War with control of edict drafts, then to secretariat drafter. Yu Zhun had little literary training and advanced through flattery. Not being of the Confucian scholarly stream, he was widely slighted in contemporary opinion. Soon he was transferred to vice censor-in-chief, then promoted to left assistant director of the Department of State Affairs. When Wang Jin fell from power, Yu Zhun was sent out as prefect of Ru Prefecture. He returned to court as minister of agriculture and became close friends with Yang Yan. Yang Yan wished to kill Liu Yan. Knowing Yu Zhun bore a grudge against Liu Yan, he appointed him military governor of Jingnan. Yu Zhun then memorialized that he had obtained correspondence between Liu Yan and Zhu Ci, that Yan harbored resentment against the throne, and that he had raised supplemental troops in defiance of orders. Liu Yan was killed first; only afterward was an edict issued ordering him to take his own life. The empire regarded it as a gross injustice. Yang Yan recalled Yu Zhun to court as left vice director of the Ministry of State Affairs as reward for killing Liu Yan. He died on dingsi day in the sixth month of Jianzhong 3, 782, at the age of fifty-one. He was posthumously appointed minister of works.

史臣曰：仲尼云：富與貴是人之欲，不以道得之不處。反乎是道者小人。載諂輔國以進身，弄時權而固位，眾怒難犯，長惡不悛，家亡而誅及妻兒，身死而殃及祖禰。縉附會奸邪，以至顛覆。炎隳崔祐甫之規，怒段秀實之直，酬恩報怨，以私害公。三子者鹹著文章，殊乖德行。「不常其德，或承之羞」，大《易》之義也。富貴不以其道，小人之事哉！觀庾準之憸，遭王縉之復，徇楊炎之意，曲致劉晏之冤。積惡而獲令終者，其在余殃乎！

The historiographer writes: Confucius said that wealth and honor are what people desire, but that one must not accept them unless gained by the Way. Those who act contrary to this principle are petty men. Yuan Zai fawned on Li Fuguo to rise, manipulated power to hold his place, and though public wrath mounted he never reformed. His house was destroyed, his wife and children executed, and even his ancestors' graves were violated. Wang Jin attached himself to the wicked and was brought to ruin. Yang Yan tore down Cui Youfu's policies, resented Duan Xiushi's integrity, repaid debts and settled scores, and let private interest harm the public good. All three were accomplished writers, yet their conduct fell far short of their talent. "If one does not constantly maintain one's virtue, one may inherit disgrace"—so says the Great Book of Changes. Wealth and honor gained without the Way—are these not the ways of petty men! Consider Yu Zhun's sycophancy: favored by Wang Jin's return to power, he carried out Yang Yan's will and contrived the wrongful death of Liu Yan. That one who piled up evil yet died a peaceful death—perhaps his punishment fell on those who came after!

贊曰：載、縉、炎、準，交相附會。《左傳》有言，貪人敗類。

Eulogy: Yuan Zai, Wang Jin, Yang Yan, and Yu Zhun colluded with one another. The Zuo Commentary says that the greedy man ruins his kind.

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