1
=李訓=
Li Xun
2
李訓，肅宗時宰相揆之族孫也。 始名仲言。 進士擢第。 形貌魁梧，神情灑落； 辭敏智捷，善揣人意。 寶歷中，從父逢吉為宰相，以訓陰險善計事，愈親厚之。 初與茅匯等欲中傷李程，及武昭事發，訓坐長流嶺表，會赦得還。 丁母憂，居洛中。
Li Xun was a collateral descendant of Li Hui, who had served as chief minister under Emperor Suzong. He had originally been named Zhongyan. He earned his jinshi degree. He was physically imposing, with a free and easy bearing; he was articulate and quick-witted, and excelled at reading people's intentions. During the Baoli reign (825–827), his cousin Li Fengji held the chief ministership; finding Xun devious and adept at intrigue, Fengji drew him ever closer. He had first joined Mao Hui and others in a plot to ruin Li Cheng; when the Wuzhao affair came to light, Xun was banished to the far south, but returned under a general amnesty. After his mother died he entered mourning and settled in Luoyang.
3
時逢吉為留守，思復為宰相，且深怨裴度，居常憤郁不樂。 訓揣知其意，即以奇計動之。 自言與鄭註善，逢吉以為然，遺訓金帛珍寶數百萬，令持入長安，以賂註。 註得賂甚悅，乘間薦於中尉王守澄，乃以註之藥術，訓之《易》道，合薦於文宗。 守澄以訓缞粗，難入禁中。 帝令訓戎服，號王山人，與註入內。 帝見其指趣，甚奇之。 及訓釋服，在京師。 太和八年，自流人補四門助教，召入內殿，面賜緋魚。 其年十月，遷國子《周易》博士，充翰林侍講學士。 入院日，賜宴，宣法曲弟子二十人就院奏法曲以寵之。 兩省諫官伏閣切諫，言訓奸邪，海內聞知，不宜令侍宸扆，終不聽。
Fengji was then serving as Luoyang's regional commissioner, scheming to regain the chief ministership and brooding over his hatred of Pei Du; he was chronically angry and morose. Xun sensed what he wanted and set a bold scheme in motion to win him over. He claimed a close friendship with Zheng Zhu; Fengji believed him and sent millions in gold, silk, and jewels with Xun to Chang'an as bribes for Zhu. Delighted by the gifts, Zhu seized a chance to introduce them to the chief eunuch Wang Shoucheng, who jointly recommended Zhu's medical arts and Xun's mastery of the Book of Changes to Emperor Wenzong. Shoucheng objected that Xun's mourning dress was too coarse for admission to the inner palace. The emperor had Xun put on military dress and enter under the alias Master Wang the Recluse, together with Zhu. The emperor was deeply impressed by his intellectual bent. When Xun completed his mourning period he remained in the capital. In 834, recalled from exile, he was appointed assistant instructor at the Four Gates College, summoned to the inner hall, and personally granted scarlet robes and the fish tally of office. That October he was made doctor of the Book of Changes at the Imperial University and appointed Hanlin attendant lecturer. On the day he entered the Hanlin Academy the emperor gave a banquet and sent twenty court musicians to perform state pieces at the academy as a mark of favor. Censors from both provinces knelt at the palace gate in urgent protest, declaring that Xun's wickedness was known throughout the empire and that he must not attend the emperor's side; the emperor would not heed them.
4
文宗性守正嫉惡，以宦者權寵太過，繼為禍胎，元和末弒逆之徒尚在左右，雖外示優假，心不堪之。 思欲芟落本根，以雪讎恥，九重深處，難與將相明言。 前與侍講宋申錫謀。 謀之不臧，幾成反噬，自是巷伯尤橫。 因鄭註得幸守澄，俾之援訓，冀黃門之不疑也。 訓既在翰林，解《易》之際，或語及巷伯事，則再三憤激，以動上心。 以其言論縱橫，謂其必能成事，遂以真誠謀於訓、註。 自是二人寵幸，言無不從； 而深秘之謀，往往流聞於外。 上慮中人猜慮，乃疏《易》義六條，示於百辟，有能出訓之意者賞之，蓋欲知上以師友寵之。 九年七月，改兵部郎中、知制誥，充翰林學士。 九月，遷禮部侍郎、同平章事，仍賜金紫之服。 詔以平章之暇，三五日一入翰林。
Wenzong was upright by nature and detested wickedness; he saw the eunuchs' power and favor as excessive, a seedbed of disaster—the men who had murdered his predecessor in 820 still stood at his side; though he treated them with outward courtesy, inwardly he could not endure them. He longed to uproot them and avenge the humiliation, yet deep within the palace he could not speak openly even to his chief ministers. He had earlier conspired with the attendant lecturer Song Shenxi. The plot misfired and nearly recoiled on him; from then on the eunuchs grew still more domineering. Since Zheng Zhu had won Wang Shoucheng's favor, Zhu was set to bring Xun forward, hoping the eunuchs would not suspect them. Once Xun was in the Hanlin, whenever he lectured on the Changes and touched on the eunuchs he would work himself into repeated fury, stirring the emperor's resolve. Impressed by his bold and sweeping rhetoric, the emperor judged that he could surely succeed, and confided his true design to Xun and Zhu. From then on the two enjoyed unbounded favor; the emperor denied them nothing; yet their most secret designs often leaked to the outside world. Fearing eunuch suspicion, the emperor published six theses on the Book of Changes for the court, promising rewards to anyone who could interpret Xun's meaning—signaling that he honored Xun as teacher and friend. In July 835 he was made director in the Ministry of War with drafting duties and appointed Hanlin academician. In September he was made vice minister of Rites and associate chief minister, and granted the gold-purple robes of highest rank. An edict directed that in his intervals from ministerial duties he should visit the Hanlin every few days.
5
訓既秉權衡，即謀誅內豎。 中官陳弘慶者，自元和末負弒逆之名，忠義之士無不扼腕。 時為襄陽監軍，乃召自漢南，至青泥驛，遣人封杖決殺。 王守澄自長慶已來知樞密，典禁軍，作威作福。 訓既作相，以守澄為六軍十二衛觀軍容使，罷其禁旅之權，尋賜鴆殺之。 訓愈承恩顧，每別殿奏對，他宰相莫不順成其言，黃門禁軍迎拜戢斂。 訓本以纖達，門庭趨附之士，率皆狂怪險異之流。 時亦能取正人偉望，以鎮人心。 天下之人，有冀訓以致太平者，不獨人主惑其言。
Once Xun held the chief ministership he immediately set about plotting the eunuchs' destruction. The eunuch Chen Hongqing had borne the stigma of regicide since the murder of Xianzong in 820; loyal men everywhere gnashed their teeth at him. He was then military commissioner at Xiangyang; summoned south from the Han River, he was beaten to death with the sealed staff at Qingni Post. Wang Shoucheng had controlled the privy council and commanded the palace armies since the Changqing reign (821–824), wielding unchecked power. Once Xun became chief minister he named Shoucheng army-oversight commissioner of the Six Armies and Twelve Guards, stripped him of command over the palace troops, and soon had him poisoned. Xun's favor only grew; when he held separate audiences in side halls the other chief ministers never contradicted him, and eunuchs and palace troops bowed low in submission. Xun was subtle and penetrating by nature; the men who flocked to his gate were mostly reckless and dangerous characters. Yet he could also recruit men of stature and reputation to steady public opinion. Throughout the empire many hoped Xun would bring peace—not the emperor alone was taken in by his words.
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訓雖為鄭註引用，及祿位俱大，勢不兩立； 托以中外應赴之謀，出註為鳳翔節度使。 俟誅內豎，即兼圖註。 約以其年十一月誅中官，須假兵力，乃以大理卿郭行余為邠寧節度使，戶部尚書王璠為太原節度使，京兆少尹羅立言權知大尹事，太府卿韓約為金吾街使，刑部郎中知雜李孝本權知中丞事，皆訓之親厚者。 冀王璠、郭行余未赴鎮間，廣令召募豪俠及金吾臺府之從者，俾集其事。
Though Xun had risen through Zheng Zhu's patronage, once both held high rank they could not coexist; citing the need for coordinated action inside and outside the court, he sent Zhu out as military commissioner of Fengxiang. He planned to eliminate Zhu as soon as the eunuchs were destroyed. They set November of that year to strike at the eunuchs and needed military backing; Xun therefore appointed his close allies—Guo Xingyu as Binning commissioner, Wang Fan as Taiyuan commissioner, Luo Liyan as acting metropolitan prefect, Han Yue as Gold Crow street commissioner, and Li Xiaoben as acting censor-in-chief. Before Wang Fan and Guo Xingyu could depart for their posts, they ordered a broad recruitment of bravos and retainers from the Gold Crow Guard and censorate to assemble for the coup.
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是月二十一日，帝御紫宸。 班定，韓約不報平安，奏曰：「金吾左仗院石榴樹，夜來有甘露，臣已進狀訖。」 乃蹈舞再拜。 宰相百官相次稱賀。 李訓奏曰：「甘露降祥，俯在宮禁。 陛下宜親幸左仗觀之。」 班退，上乘軟舁出紫宸門，由含元殿東階升殿，宰相侍臣分立於副階，文武兩班，列於殿前。 上令宰相兩省官先往視之。 既還，曰：「臣等恐非真甘露，不敢輕言。 言出，四方必稱賀也。」 上曰：「韓約妄耶？」 乃令左右軍中尉、樞密內臣往視之。
On the twenty-first of that month the emperor held court in the Hall of Purple Serenity. When the audience was seated, Han Yue broke protocol to report: "Sweet dew appeared last night on the pomegranate tree in the left courtyard of the Gold Crow Guard; I have already submitted a memorial." He then danced and bowed twice in celebration. The chief ministers and officials offered congratulations in turn. Li Xun said: "Sweet dew has descended as an auspice within the palace itself. Your Majesty should go in person to the left courtyard to see it. The audience withdrew; the emperor rode a palanquin out through the Zichen Gate and ascended by the east steps of Hanyuan Hall, with ministers on the side steps and the civil and military ranks arrayed before the hall. The emperor ordered the chief ministers and provincial officials to go inspect it first. On their return they said: "We fear it may not be genuine sweet dew and dare not speak rashly. Once word goes out, the whole empire will offer congratulations. The emperor said: "Has Han Yue lied?" He then ordered the chief eunuchs of the Left and Right Armies and the privy council attendants to go inspect it.
8
既去，訓召王璠、郭行余曰：「來受敕旨！」 璠恐悚不能前，行余獨拜殿下。 時兩鎮官健，皆執兵在丹鳳門外，訓已令召之，唯璠從兵入，邠寧兵竟不至。 中尉、樞密至左仗，聞幕下有兵聲，驚恐走出。 閽者欲扃鎖之，為中人所叱，執關而不能下。 內官回奏，韓約氣懾汗流，不能舉首。 中官謂之曰：「將軍何及此耶？」 又奏曰：「事急矣，請陛下入內。」 即舉軟輿迎帝。 訓殿上呼曰：「金吾衛士上殿來，護乘輿者，人賞百千。」 內官決殿後罘罳，舉輿疾趨。 訓攀呼曰：「陛下不得入內。」 金吾衛士數十人，隨訓而入。 羅立言率府中從人自東來，李孝本率臺中從人自西來，共四百余人，上殿縱擊內官，死傷者數十人。 訓時愈急，邐迤入宣政門。 帝瞋目叱訓，內官郤誌榮奮拳擊其胸，訓即僵仆於地。 帝入東上閣門，門即闔，內官呼萬歲者數四。 須臾，內官率禁兵五百人，露刃出閣門，遇人即殺。 宰相王涯、賈餗、舒元輿、方中書會食，聞難出走，諸司從吏死者六七百人。
Once they had left, Xun summoned Wang Fan and Guo Xingyu: "Come receive the imperial command! Fan was too terrified to advance; only Xingyu bowed below the steps. The troops of both commands waited armed outside Danfeng Gate; Xun had summoned them, but only Wang Fan's retainers entered—the Binning troops never came. The chief eunuchs reached the left courtyard, heard armed men behind the screen, and fled in terror. Gatekeepers tried to bolt the gate but were shouted down by the eunuchs; they held the bar but could not drop it. The eunuchs reported back: Han Yue was trembling and drenched in sweat, unable to lift his head. A eunuch said to him: "General, how did it come to this? Another reported: "The situation is desperate—Your Majesty must enter the inner palace." They immediately raised the palanquin to carry the emperor away. Xun shouted from the hall: "Gold Crow guards, come up! A hundred thousand cash to whoever protects the palanquin! The eunuchs slashed through the rear screen and rushed the palanquin away at full speed. Xun clung to the palanquin shouting: "Your Majesty must not enter the inner palace! Several dozen Gold Crow guards followed Xun inside. Luo Liyan led over four hundred prefectural retainers from the east and Li Xiaoben led censorate retainers from the west; they stormed the hall and attacked the eunuchs, killing and wounding dozens. Xun, growing desperate, made his way through the Xuanzheng Gate. The emperor glared and rebuked him; the eunuch Chi Zhirong struck him in the chest, and Xun collapsed on the spot. The emperor entered the eastern upper gate; it slammed shut, and the eunuchs shouted "Long live the emperor!" four times. Moments later five hundred palace troops with drawn blades poured out of the gate and killed everyone they met. Chief ministers Wang Ya, Jia Su, and Shu Yuanyu were dining at the Secretariat when they heard the commotion and fled; six or seven hundred clerks and attendants from various offices were killed.
9
是日，訓中拳而仆，知事不濟，乃單騎走入終南山，投寺僧宗密。 訓與宗密素善，欲剃其發匿之。 從者止之，乃趨鳳翔，欲依鄭註。 出山，為盩厔鎮將宗楚所得，械送京師。 至昆明池，訓恐入軍別受搒掠，乃謂兵士曰：「所在有兵，得我者即富貴，不如持我首行，免被奪取。」 乃斬訓，持首而行。
That day, struck down and knowing the coup had failed, he fled alone on horseback into the Zhongnan Mountains to seek refuge with the monk Zongmi. Xun and Zongmi were old friends; he wanted to shave Zongmi's head and hide him as a monk. His followers dissuaded him; he then fled toward Fengxiang, hoping to join Zheng Zhu. Emerging from the mountains, he was captured by the Zhiyu garrison commander Zong Chu, shackled, and sent to the capital. At Kunming Pool, fearing he would be beaten and robbed once inside the military camp, he told the soldiers: "Troops are everywhere—whoever captures me will be rewarded with wealth and rank. Better take my head now than lose it to someone else. They beheaded him and carried his head to the capital.
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訓弟仲景、再從弟戶部員外郎元臯，皆伏法。
Xun's younger brother Zhongjing and his second cousin Yuan Gao, a bureau aide in the Ministry of Revenue, were all executed.
11
仇士良以宗密容李訓，遺人縛入左軍，責以不告之罪。 將殺之，宗密怡然曰：「貧僧識訓年深，亦知反叛。 然本師教法，遇苦即救，不愛身命，死固甘心。」 中尉魚弘誌嘉之，奏釋其罪。
Qiu Shiliang, angered that Zongmi had sheltered Li Xun, had him bound and brought to the Left Army barracks on charges of failing to report the fugitive. As they prepared to execute him, Zongmi said calmly: "I have known Xun for many years and knew he was a rebel. Yet my master's teaching commands us to rescue those in distress without regard for our own lives; I accept death gladly. The chief eunuch Yu Hongzhi was moved and memorialized for his release.
12
=鄭注=
Zheng Zhu
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鄭注，絳州翼城人，始以藥術遊長安權豪之門。 本姓魚，冒姓鄭氏，故時號魚鄭。 注用事時，人目之為「水族」。
Zheng Zhu was from Yicheng in Jiang Prefecture; he first made his way among Chang'an's powerful families as a physician. His original surname was Yu; he adopted the surname Zheng, and was known as "Fish Zheng." When Zhu held power people called his faction the "Aquatic Tribe."
14
元和十三年，李愬為襄陽節度使，注往依之。 愬得其藥力，因厚遇之，署為節度衙推。 從愬移鎮徐州，又為職事，軍政可否，醖與之參決。 注詭辯陰狡，善探人意旨，與愬籌謀，未嘗不中其意。 然挾邪任數，專作威福，軍府患之。 時王守澄監徐軍，深怒注。 一日，以軍情患注白於愬。 愬曰：「彼雖如此，實奇才也。 將軍試與之語； 茍不如旨，去未為晚」愬即令謁監軍。 守澄初有難色，及延坐與語，機辯縱衡，盡中其意，遂延於內室，促膝投分，恨相見之晚。 翌日，守澄謂愬曰：「誠如公言，實奇士也。」 自是出入守澄之門，都無限隔。 愬署為巡官，齒於賓席。
In 818, when Li Su became military commissioner of Xiangyang, Zhu went to serve under him. Impressed by his medical skill, Su treated him generously and appointed him military secretariat aide. When Su was transferred to Xuzhou, Zhu followed and again held office, consulted on every military and administrative decision. Zhu was cunning and eloquent, skilled at reading men's minds; in counsel to Su he never missed the mark. Yet he trafficked in wickedness and intrigue, monopolizing power and favor, and the headquarters came to resent him. Wang Shoucheng, who was supervising the Xuzhou army, deeply hated Zhu. One day he reported to Su that the troops were troubled by Zhu. Su said: "He may be like that, but he is truly a rare talent. General, try speaking with him; if he does not suit you, dismissing him will not be too late." Su immediately sent him to call on the military commissioner. Shoucheng was reluctant at first, but once they sat and talked Zhu's brilliant eloquence won him completely; he brought Zhu into his inner chamber, swore friendship knee to knee, and lamented they had not met sooner. The next day Shoucheng told Su: "You were right—he is a remarkable man. From then on he came and went freely through Shoucheng's door. Su appointed him touring officer and seated him among his guests of honor.
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及守澄入知樞密，當長慶、寶歷之際，國政多專於守澄。 注晝伏夜動，交通賂遺。 初則讒邪奸巧之徒附之以圖進取； 數年之後，達僚權臣，爭湊其門。 累從山東、京西諸軍，歷衛佐、評事、御史，又檢校庫部郎中，為昭義節度副使。 既以陰事誣陷宋申錫，守道正人，始側目焉。
When Shoucheng took control of the privy council during the Changqing and Baoli reigns, state affairs largely passed through his hands alone. Zhu lay low by day and stirred by night, trading in bribes and favors. At first slanderers and schemers attached themselves to him for advancement; within a few years high officials and powerful ministers were crowding his gate. He served with armies in Shandong and the western circuits, rising through guard aide, reviewer, and censor to acting director in the Palace Store and deputy commissioner of Zhaoyi. After he framed Song Shenxi on trumped-up charges, upright men in office began to look on him with distaste.
16
太和七年，罷邠寧行軍司馬，入京師。 御史李款閣內彈之曰：「鄭注內通敕使，外結朝官，兩地往來，卜射財貨，晝伏夜動，幹竊化權。 人不敢言，道路以目。 請付法司。」 旬日內，諫章十數，文宗不納。 尋授注通王府司馬，充右神策判官，中外駭嘆。 八年九月，注進藥方一卷，令守澄召注對浴堂門，賜錦彩。 召對之夕，彗出東方，長三尺，光耀甚緊。 其年十二月，拜太僕卿、兼御史大夫。
In 833 he left his post as campaigning staff officer of Binning and entered the capital. Censor Li Kuan memorialized at the palace gate: "Zheng Zhu communicates with imperial messengers inside the palace and colludes with court officials outside; he shuttles between them trading in wealth, lies low by day and stirs by night, and usurps imperial authority. No one dares speak openly; people only signal with their eyes in the streets. We beg that he be handed over to the judicial authorities. Within ten days a dozen remonstrance memorials arrived; Wenzong would not heed them. Soon Zhu was appointed prince's mansion marshal and judge of the Right Divine Stratagem Army, to the shock of court and country alike. In September 834 Zhu presented a volume of medical formulas; Shoucheng summoned him for audience at the Bath Hall Gate and granted him brocade. On the night of the audience a comet three feet long blazed in the east with terrifying brilliance. That December he was appointed minister of the Stud and concurrent censor-in-chief.
17
注起第善和裏，通於永巷，長廊復壁。 日聚京師輕薄子弟、方鎮將吏，以招權利。 間日入禁軍，與守澄款密，語必移時，或通夕不寐。 李訓既附注以進，承間入謁； 而輕浮躁進者，盈於注門。 九年八月，遷工部尚書，充翰林侍講學士。 召自九仙門，帝面賜告身。 時李訓已在禁庭，二人相洽，日侍君側，講貫太平之術，以為朝夕可致升平。 兩奸合從，天子益惑其說。 是時，訓、注之權，赫於天下。 既得行其志，生平恩仇，絲毫必報。 因楊虞卿之獄，挾忌李宗閔、李德裕，心所惡者，目為二人之黨。 朝士相繼斥逐，班列為之一空，人人惴栗，若崩厥角。 帝微知之，下詔慰諭，人情稍安。
Zhu built a mansion in Shanhe Lane connected to the Eternal Lane, with long corridors and hidden passages. Daily he gathered frivolous youths of the capital and provincial officers to trade in power and profit. Every few days he entered the palace armies to confer intimately with Shoucheng, often talking through the night without sleep. Li Xun, having risen through Zhu's patronage, seized every chance to gain audience; while frivolous and reckless climbers filled Zhu's gate. In August 835 he was made minister of Works and Hanlin attendant lecturer. Summoned through the Nine Immortals Gate, the emperor personally granted him his commission of office. Li Xun was already in the inner court; the two were inseparable, daily at the emperor's side lecturing on the arts of peace, convinced that universal tranquility was within reach. The two villains joined forces, and the emperor was ever more beguiled by their doctrines. At that time the power of Xun and Zhu blazed throughout the empire. Once able to act on their will, they repaid every favor and grudge of their lives to the last detail. Exploiting the case of Yang Yuqing, they turned their jealousy on Li Zongmin and Li Deyu, labeling every enemy as a member of one faction or the other. Court officials were expelled one after another until the ranks stood empty; everyone trembled in terror as if the sky were falling. The emperor sensed something amiss and issued an edict of reassurance; public anxiety eased somewhat.
18
訓、注天資狂妄，偷合茍容，至於經略謀猷，無可稱者。 初浴堂召對，上訪以富人之術，乃以榷茶為對。 其法，欲以江湖百姓茶園，官自造作，量給直分，命使者主之。 帝惑其言，乃命王涯兼榷茶使。 又言秦中有災，宜興工役以禳之。 文宗能詩，嘗吟杜甫《江頭篇》云：「江頭宮殿鎖千門，細柳新蒲為誰綠？」 始知天寶已前，環曲江四岸，有樓臺行宮廨署，心切慕之。 既得注言，即命左右神策軍差人淘曲江、昆明二池，仍許公卿士大夫之家於江頭立亭館，以時追賞。 時兩軍造紫雲樓、彩霞亭，內出樓額以賜之。 注言無不從，皆此類也。
Xun and Zhu were arrogant by nature and clung together in base compliance; in grand strategy and statecraft there was nothing to praise. At his first Bath Hall audience, asked how to enrich the state, he answered with a government monopoly on tea. The plan was for the government to take over tea gardens along the rivers and lakes, manufacture the tea itself, pay growers a fixed share, and place envoys in charge. Beguiled, the emperor ordered Wang Ya to serve concurrently as tea monopoly commissioner. He also claimed calamity in the Qin region and urged public works to avert it. Wenzong was a poet; he once recited Du Fu's lines: "Palaces by the river lock a thousand gates—for whom are the slender willows and fresh reeds green? He then learned that before the Tianbao era the banks of Qujiang had been lined with towers, traveling palaces, and offices, and he deeply yearned to restore them. Taking Zhu's advice, he ordered the Divine Stratagem Armies to dredge Qujiang and Kunming pools and allowed officials and literati to build pavilions along the river for seasonal outings. The two armies built Purple Cloud Tower and Colored Mist Pavilion, and the inner court issued inscribed plaques as gifts. The emperor denied Zhu nothing; it was all of this kind.
19
九月，檢校尚書左僕射、鳳翔尹、鳳翔節度使。 蓋與李訓謀事有期，欲中外協勢。 十一月，註聞訓事發，自鳳翔率親兵五百餘人赴闕。 至扶風，聞訓敗，乃還。 監軍使張仲清已得密詔，迎而勞之，召至監軍府議事。 注倚兵衛即赴之，仲清已伏兵幕下。 注方坐，伏兵發，斬注，傳首京師，部下潰散。 注家屬屠滅，靡有孑遺。 初未獲注，京師憂恐。 至是，人人相慶。
In September he was made acting left vice director of the Department of State Affairs, prefect of Fengxiang, and military commissioner of Fengxiang. This was because he and Li Xun had set a date for their coup and needed coordinated power inside and outside the court. In November Zhu heard that Xun's coup had begun and led more than five hundred personal troops from Fengxiang toward the capital. Reaching Fufeng, he heard Xun had been defeated and turned back. Military commissioner Zhang Zhongqing had already received a secret edict; he welcomed Zhu warmly and summoned him to headquarters to discuss affairs. Zhu, trusting his armed escort, went at once; Zhongqing had already hidden troops behind the screen. Zhu had barely sat down when hidden troops sprang out, beheaded him, sent his head to the capital, and his followers scattered. Zhu's entire family was slaughtered without a single survivor. Before Zhu was captured the capital was gripped by fear. When news came, everyone celebrated.
20
注兩目不能遠視，自言有金丹之術，可去痿弱重膇之疾。 始李愬自云得效，乃移之守澄，亦神其事。 由是中官視注皆憐之，卒以是售其狂謀。 而守澄自貽其患，復致衣冠塗地，豈一時之沴氣歟？ 既籍沒其家財，得絹一百萬匹，他貨稱是。
Zhu could not see clearly at a distance; he claimed golden elixir arts could cure weakness and heaviness in the legs. Li Su first claimed the treatment worked and passed Zhu to Shoucheng, who also regarded it as miraculous. The eunuchs all pitied him, and in the end he used this to sell his reckless schemes. Yet Shoucheng had brought disaster on himself and again brought the gentry to ruin—was this merely the ill fortune of a moment? When his property was confiscated, officials found a million bolts of silk and comparable quantities of other goods.
21
=王涯=
Wang Ya
22
王涯，字廣津，太原人。 父晃。 涯，貞元八年進士擢第，登宏辭科。 釋褐藍田尉。 貞元二十年十一月，召充翰林學士，拜右拾遺、左補闕、起居舍人，皆充內職。 元和三年，為宰相李吉甫所怒，罷學士，守都官員外郎，再貶虢州司馬。 五年，入為吏部員外。 七年，改兵部員外郎、知制誥。 九年八月，正拜舍人。 十年，轉工部侍郎、知制誥，加通議大夫、清源縣開國男，學士如故。 十一年十二月，加中書侍郎、同平章事。 十三年八月，罷相，守兵部侍郎，尋遷吏部。
Wang Ya, whose courtesy name was Guangjin, came from Taiyuan. His father was Wang Huang. Ya passed the jinshi examination in 792 and entered the macro-elocution examination. Upon leaving office dress he became assistant magistrate of Lantian. In November 804 he was summoned as Hanlin academician and appointed right remonstrance official, left supplementer, and recorder of conduct, all inner-court posts. In 808 he incurred the anger of chief minister Li Jifu, was removed as Hanlin academician, retained as bureau aide in the Court of Judicial Review, and was again demoted to military aide of Guo Prefecture. In 810 he entered court as bureau aide in the Ministry of Personnel. In 812 he was made bureau aide in the Ministry of War with drafting duties. In August 814 he was formally appointed secretariat drafter. In 815 he was made vice minister of Works with drafting duties, advanced to gentleman for spreading discourse, and enfeoffed as baron of Qingyuan County while retaining his Hanlin post. In December 816 he was made vice director of the Secretariat and associate chief minister. In August 818 he was removed as chief minister, retained as vice minister of War, and soon transferred to Personnel.
23
穆宗即位，以檢校禮部尚書、梓州刺史、劍南東川節度使。 其年十一月，吐蕃南北倚角入寇，西北邊騷動，詔兩川兵拒之。 時蕃軍逼雅州，涯上疏曰：「臣當道出軍，徑入賊腹有兩路：一路從龍州清川鎮入蕃界，徑抵故松州城，是吐蕃舊置節度之所； 一路從綿州威蕃柵入蕃界，徑抵棲雞城，皆吐蕃險要之地。」 又曰：「臣伏見方今天下無犬吠之警，海內同覆盂之安。 每蕃戎一警，則中外咸震，致陛下有旰食軫懷之憂，斯乃臣等居大官、受重寄者之深責也。 雖承詔發卒，心馳寇廷，期於為國討除，使戎人芟剪。 晝夜思忖，何補涓毫？ 所以淒淒愚心，願陳萬一。 臣觀自古長策，昭然可征。 在於實邊兵，選良將，明斥候，廣資儲，杜其奸謀，險其走集，此立朝士大夫皆知，不獨微臣知之也，只在舉行之耳。 然臣愚見所及，猶欲布露者，誠願陛下不愛金帛之費，以釣北虜之心。 臨遣信臣，與之定約曰：犬戎悖亂負恩，為邊鄙患者數矣，能制而服之者，唯在北蕃。 如能發兵深入，殺若干人，取若干地，則受若干之賞。 開懷以示之，厚利以啗之，所以勸聳要約者異於他日，則匈奴之銳，可得出矣。 一戰之後，西戎之力衰矣。」 穆宗不能用其謀。
When Muzong took the throne, Ya was made acting minister of Rites, prefect of Zizhou, and military commissioner of eastern Sichuan. That November Tibet attacked from north and south in concert; the northwest frontier was disturbed and an edict ordered the two Sichuan commands to resist. As the Tibetan army pressed Ya Prefecture, Ya memorialized: "When I lead troops out, two routes strike straight into enemy territory: one from Qingchuan Town in Long Prefecture into Tibetan territory, straight to old Song Prefecture, where Tibet once placed its commissioner; one from Weifan Stockade in Mian Prefecture into Tibetan territory, straight to Qiji City—both are Tibet's strategic strong points. He also wrote: "I observe that the realm is at peace and the empire secure as an overturned bowl. Yet whenever the frontier stirs, court and country are shaken and Your Majesty eats late with care—this is the heavy burden of us who hold high office. Though we obey the edict to dispatch troops, our hearts race toward the enemy, resolved to destroy them for the state. Day and night we ponder—what can we contribute? Therefore with humble heart I offer one thought in ten thousand. I observe that sound long-term policies of antiquity are clearly demonstrable. They lie in strengthening frontier troops, selecting good generals, clarifying scouts, broadening stores, blocking enemy plots, and denying them refuge—every court gentleman knows this; it only awaits execution. Yet one further thought I wish to disclose: I beg Your Majesty not to spare gold and silk in order to win over the northern tribes. Send a trusted minister to make a covenant: the Rong have rebelled and troubled the borders many times; only the northern tribes can control and subdue them. If they send troops deep, kill so many men, and take so much land, they shall receive proportional reward. Open your heart to them and feed them thick profit; urge covenants unlike those of other days, and the northern tribes' fighting strength can be drawn out. After one battle the western tribes' strength will decline." Muzong did not adopt his plan.
24
長慶元年，幽、鎮復亂，王師征之，未聞克捷。 涯在鎮上書論用兵曰：
In 821 You and Zhen rebelled again; the imperial army campaigned against them without success. Ya, at his post, memorialized on military strategy:
25
伏以幽、鎮兩州，悖亂天紀，迷亭育之厚德，肆豺虎之非心。 囚系鼎臣，戕賊戎帥，毒流列郡，釁及賓僚。 凡在有情，孰不扼腕？ 咸欲橫戈荷戟，問罪賊廷。 伏以國家文德誕敷，武功繼立，遠無不服，邇無不安。 矧茲二方，敢逆天理？ 臣竊料詔書朝下，諸鎮夕驅，以貔貅問罪之師，當猖狂失節之寇，傾山壓卵，決海灌熒，勢之相懸，不是過也。
I submit that You and Zhen have rebelled against heaven's order, spurning the emperor's nurturing virtue and unleashing the hearts of wolves and tigers. They imprisoned pillar ministers of state, murdered military commanders, spread poison through the commanderies, and harmed guest officials. Who among the living does not clench his fists in grief? All wish to take up arms and demand justice at the rebels' court. I submit that the state's civil virtue is broadly spread and martial achievement continuously established; far and near, none do not submit. How much more can these two regions dare oppose heaven's principle? I estimate that once the edict issues at dawn, the military governors will march by evening. With imperial armies demanding justice arrayed against wildly rebellious fugitives, the imbalance would be like a mountain crushing an egg or the sea drowning a torch flame—nothing could be more unequal.
26
但以常山、燕郡，虞、虢相依，一時興師，恐費財力。 且夫罪有輕重，事有後先，攻堅宜從易者。 如聞范陽肇亂，出自一時，事非宿謀，情亦可驗。 鎮州構禍，殊匪偶然，扇動屬城，以兵拒境。 如此則幽、薊之眾，可示寬刑； 鎮、冀之戎，必資先討。 況廷湊亹茸，不席父祖之恩； 成德分離，人多迫脅之勢。 今以魏博思復讎之眾，昭義願盡敵之師，參之晉陽，輔以滄、易，掎角而進，易若建瓴，盡屠其城，然後北首燕路。 在朝廷不為失信，於軍勢實得機宜。 臣之愚忠，輒在於此。
But Changshan and Yanzhen stand in mutual dependence like Yu and Guo; to raise armies against both at once would surely strain the treasury. Moreover, crimes differ in severity and affairs in priority; when besieging strongholds one should begin with the easier targets. I understand that the rebellion in Fanyang erupted suddenly rather than from long planning—a circumstance that can be verified. Zhenzhou's provocation of trouble was no accident; it stirred the subordinate prefectures and blocked the frontier with troops. In that case the people of You and Ji could be offered clemency; while the armies of Zhen and Ji must be attacked first. Moreover, Tingcou is a trifling man who never enjoyed his father's and grandfather's benefactions; Chengde is internally divided, and many of its people labour under coercion. Now, with Weibo's men eager for revenge and Zhaoyi's armies ready to fight to the last, reinforced by Jinyang and supported from Cang and Yi, a pincer advance would be as easy as pouring from a tilted jar; once their cities are destroyed, the army could march north toward Yan. The court would not break faith, and militarily the timing would be exactly right. Such is my humble counsel.
27
臣又聞用兵若鬥，先扼其喉。 今瀛、莫、易、定，兩賊之咽喉也，誠宜假之威柄，戍以重兵。 俾其死生不相知，間諜無所入，而以大軍先迫冀、趙，次下井陘，此百舉百全之勢也。 臣受恩深至，無以上酬，輕冒陳聞，不勝戰越。
I also understand that in war, as in a fight, one must seize the enemy's throat first. Ying, Mo, Yi, and Ding are the two rebels' vital passage; they should be granted full authority and garrisoned with a heavy force. Cut off their communications so that spies cannot penetrate, then press Ji and Zhao with the main force and advance down Jingxing Pass—that would be a strategy assured of success. Your grace to me has been profound, and I have no adequate means to repay it; I venture to offer this counsel, trembling with apprehension.
28
洎涯疏至，盧士玫已為賊劫，陷瀛、莫州，兇勢不可遏。 俄而二兇俱宥之。
By the time Ya's memorial arrived, Lu Shimei had already been captured by rebels and Ying and Mo prefectures had fallen; the rebels' momentum could not be checked. Before long both rebels received pardons.
29
三年，入為御史大夫。 敬宗即位，改戶部侍郎、兼御史大夫，充鹽鐵轉運使，俄遷禮部尚書，充職。 寶歷二年，檢校尚書左僕射、興元尹、山南西道節度使，就加檢校司空。
In the third year he was recalled to court as censor-in-chief. When Emperor Jingzong acceded, Wang Ya was made vice minister of revenue and concurrent censor-in-chief, appointed salt and iron transport commissioner, and soon promoted to minister of rites while retaining his post. In 826 he was made acting left vice director of the Secretariat, Grand Protector of Xingyuan, and military governor of Shannan West, and was soon given the additional title of acting grand preceptor.
30
太和三年正月，入為太常卿。 文宗以樂府之音，鄭衛太甚，欲聞古樂，命涯詢於舊工，取開元時雅樂，選樂童按之，名曰《雲韶樂》。 樂曲成，涯與太常丞李廓、少府監庾承憲、押樂工獻於黎園亭，帝按之於會昌殿。 上悅，賜涯等錦彩。
In the first month of 829 he entered court as minister of the imperial ancestral temple. Because the Music Bureau's repertoire had grown too licentious in the Zheng and Wei style, Emperor Wenzong wished to hear ancient music. He ordered Ya to consult veteran musicians, recover the elegant music of the Kaiyuan era, have young performers rehearse it, and name the result the Yunshao suite. When the suite was complete, Ya presented it with Vice Minister of Rites Li Kuo, Director of the Palace Workshops Yu Chengxian, and the supervising musicians at Liyuan Pavilion, and the emperor performed it in Huichang Hall. The emperor was pleased and rewarded Ya and his colleagues with brocades and silks.
31
四年正月，守吏部尚書、檢校司空，復領鹽鐵轉運使。 其年九月，守左僕射，領使。 奏李師道前據河南十二州，其兗、鄆、淄、青、濮州界，舊有銅鐵冶，每年額利百餘萬，自收復，未定稅額，請復係鹽鐵司，依建中元年九月敕例制置，從之。
In the first month of the fourth year he served as minister of personnel and acting grand preceptor and again headed the salt and iron transport commission. In the ninth month of that year he served as left vice director and continued to head the commission. He memorialized that when Li Shidao had held twelve Henan prefectures, the districts of Yan, Yun, Zi, Qing, and Pu had possessed copper and iron works yielding more than a million in annual profit; since the region's recovery the tax quotas had not been fixed, and he asked that they again be placed under the Salt and Iron Commission according to the regulations of the ninth month of the first year of Jianzhong. The request was approved.
32
七年七月，以本官同平章事，進封代國公，食邑二千戶。 八年正月，加檢校司空、門下侍郎、弘文館大學士、太清宮使。 九年五月，正拜司空，仍令所司冊命，加開府儀同三司，仍兼領江南榷茶使。
In the seventh month of the seventh year he was made chief minister with his existing rank, advanced to Duke of Dai, and granted a fief of two thousand households. In the first month of the eighth year he was given the additional titles of acting grand preceptor, vice director of the Chancellery, Hanlin academician of Hongwen, and grand protector of the Supreme Ultimate Palace. In the fifth month of the ninth year he was formally appointed grand preceptor, with orders for the responsible offices to conduct the investiture; he was also given honorary Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent with protocol equal to the Three Excellencies and continued concurrently as Jiangnan tea monopoly commissioner.
33
十一月二十一日，李訓事敗，文宗入內。 涯與同列歸中書會食，未下箸，吏報有兵自閣門出，逢人即殺。 涯等蒼惶步出，至永昌裏茶肆，為禁兵所擒，並其家屬奴婢，皆繫於獄。 仇士良鞫涯反狀，涯實不知其故。 械縛既急，搒笞不勝其酷，乃令手書反狀，自誣與訓同謀。 獄具，左軍兵馬三百人領涯與王璠、羅立言，右軍兵馬三百人領賈餗、舒元輿、李孝本，先赴郊廟，徇兩市，乃腰斬於子城西南隅獨柳樹下。 涯以榷茶事，百姓怨恨詬罵之，投瓦礫以擊之。 中書房吏焦寓、焦璇、臺吏李楚等十余人，吏卒爭取殺之，籍沒其家。 涯子工部郎中、集賢殿學士孟賢，太堂博士仲翔，其餘稚小妻女，連襟係頸，送入兩軍，無少長盡誅之。 自涯已下十一家，資貨悉為軍卒所分。 涯積家財鉅萬計，兩軍士卒及市人亂取之，竟日不盡。
On the twenty-first day of the eleventh month Li Xun's plot failed and Emperor Wenzong withdrew to the inner palace. Ya and his colleagues returned to the Secretariat to dine; before they had lifted their chopsticks, clerks reported that soldiers had emerged from the Inner Gate and were killing everyone they met. Ya and the others fled in panic on foot to a tea shop in Yongchang Ward, where prohibition troops seized them along with their families and servants; all were thrown into prison. Qiu Shiliang interrogated Ya on charges of rebellion, but Ya truly knew nothing of the plot. Under tight shackles and brutal beating he could not endure the torture and was forced to write out a confession of rebellion with his own hand, falsely admitting conspiracy with Xun. When the case was closed, three hundred left-army horsemen escorted Ya, Wang Fan, and Luo Liyan, and three hundred right-army horsemen escorted Jia Su, Shu Yuanyu, and Li Xiaoben. They were first taken to the suburban shrines and paraded through both markets, then executed by waist chop beneath the lone willow at the southwest corner of the inner city. Because of his tea monopoly, the common people cursed him in resentment and hurled tiles and stones at him. More than ten of his subordinates, including Secretariat clerks Jiao Yu and Jiao Xuan and memorials-office clerk Li Chu, were killed in the scramble by office soldiers, and their families were confiscated. Ya's son Mengxian, an investigating officer of the Ministry of Works and academician of the Halls of Assembled Worthies, his son Zhongxiang, a grand academy doctor, and all the rest—wives and young daughters—were bound by the neck and sent to the two armies; none, young or old, was spared. From Ya's household down through eleven families, all property was divided among the soldiers. Ya had accumulated family wealth reckoned in the tens of millions; soldiers of both armies and townspeople looted it in disorder, and a whole day could not exhaust it.
34
涯博學好古，能為文，以辭藝登科。 踐揚清峻，而貪權固寵，不遠邪佞之流，以至赤族。 涯家書數萬卷，侔於秘府。 前代法書名畫，人所保惜者，以厚貨致之； 不受貨者，即以官爵致之。 厚為垣竅，而藏之復壁。 至是，人破其垣取之，或剔取函奩金寶之飾與其玉軸而棄之。
Ya was broadly learned and fond of antiquity, skilled at composition, and had passed the civil examination on literary merit. He had risen through a reputation for integrity, yet greed for power and clinging to favor kept him close to wicked flatterers, until his entire clan was exterminated. Ya's household library numbered tens of thousands of scrolls, rivaling the imperial archive. For celebrated calligraphy and paintings of former ages that others treasured, he paid lavish sums; for those who would not accept payment, he obtained them with office and rank. He built thick walls and hidden chambers and stored them within double walls. Now people broke through his walls to seize them, or stripped the gold and jewel fittings from the cases and their jade rollers and cast the works aside.
35
涯之死也，人以為冤。 昭義節度使劉從諫三上章，求示涯等三相罪名，仇士良頗懷憂恐。 初宦官縱毒，淩藉南司。 及從諫奏論，兇焰稍息，人士賴之。
At Ya's death, people regarded it as a miscarriage of justice. Liu Congjian, military governor of Zhaoyi, thrice submitted memorials demanding that the crimes of Ya and the other three chief ministers be made public; Qiu Shiliang was deeply alarmed. At first the eunuchs ran rampant and trampled the civil offices. After Congjian's memorials, their vicious arrogance subsided somewhat, and the scholar-official class was grateful.
36
=王璠=
Wang Fan
37
王璠，字魯玉。 父礎，進士，文辭知名。 元和五年，擢進士第，登宏辭科。 風儀修飾，操履甚堅，累辟諸侯府。 元和中，入朝為監察御史，再遷起居舍人，副鄭覃宣慰於鎮州。 長慶中，累歷員外郎。 十四年，以職方郎中知制誥。 寶歷元年二月，轉御史中丞。
Wang Fan, whose courtesy name was Luyu. His father Ji, a jinshi, was renowned for literary composition. In 810 he passed the jinshi examination and the macrocosmic examination. His bearing was refined and his conduct resolute; he was repeatedly summoned to regional governors' staffs. During the Yuanhe reign he entered court as a supervisory censor, was twice promoted to diarist-attendant, and served as deputy to Zheng Tan on a comfort mission to Zhenzhou. During the Changqing reign he successively held various titled director posts. In the fourteenth year he drafted imperial edicts as bureau director of the duty office. In the second month of 825 he was transferred to censor-in-chief.
38
時李逢吉為宰相，與璠親厚，故自郎官掌誥，便拜中丞。 恃逢吉之勢，稍橫。 嘗與左僕射李絳相遇於街，交車而不避。 絳上疏論之曰：「左、右僕射，師長庶僚，開元中名之丞相。 其後雖去三事機務，猶總百司之權。 表狀之中，不署其姓。 尚書已下，每月合衙。 上日百僚列班，宰相居上，中丞御史列位於廷。 禮儀之崇，中外特異。 所以自武德、貞觀已來，聖君賢臣，布政除弊，不革此禮，謂為合宜。 茍有不安，尋亦合廢。 近年緣有才不當位，恩加特拜者，遂從權便，不用舊儀。 酌於群情，事實未當。 今或有僕射初除，就中丞院門相看，即與欲參何殊。 或中丞新授，亦無見僕射處。 及參賀處，或僕射先至，中丞後來，憲度乖宜，尊卑倒置。 倘人才忝位，自合別授賢良； 若朝命守官，豈得有虧法制？ 伏望下百僚詳定事體，使永可遵行。」 敕旨令兩省詳議。 兩省奏曰：「元和中，伊慎忝居師長之位，太常博士韋謙削去舊儀。 今李絳所論，於禮甚當。」 逢吉素惡絳之直，天子雖許行舊儀，中書竟無處分，乃罷璠中丞，遷工部侍郎。 尋罷絳僕射，以太子少師分司東都。 其弄權怙寵如此。
At that time Li Fengji was chief minister and was on close terms with Fan, so from drafting edicts as a court gentleman he was at once appointed censor-in-chief. Relying on Fengji's power, he gradually grew arrogant. Once he met Left Vice Director Li Jiang in the street; their carriages crossed without yielding. Jiang submitted a memorial on the matter, saying: "The left and right vice directors are elders to the myriad officials; in the Kaiyuan era they were called chief ministers. Later, though removed from the three chief ministerial posts, they still oversaw the authority of the hundred offices. In official documents their surnames are not signed. From the minister down, on appointed days they assemble at the yamen. On the first day of the month the hundred officials form ranks; the chief minister sits above, and the censor-in-chief and supervisory censors take their places in the court. Their ritual honors are specially distinct within and without the court. Therefore from the Wude and Zhenguan reigns onward, sage rulers and worthy ministers who promulgated government and removed abuses did not alter this rite, deeming it fitting. If something proves unsuitable, it should in time be abolished. In recent years, because some men of talent have been promoted beyond their proper rank by special favor, they have followed expedient arrangements and abandoned the old rites. Weighing the feelings of the officials, the practice is in fact improper. Nowadays, when a newly appointed vice director goes to the censor-in-chief's gate to pay a visit, it is no different from wishing to attend an audience. When a censor-in-chief is newly appointed, there is likewise no proper place to call on the vice director. At audiences and congratulatory visits, sometimes the vice director arrives first and the censor-in-chief later—a breach of protocol with superior and inferior inverted. If a man is unworthy of his post, he should be replaced with a worthy appointee; but if the court has appointed him to office, how can the legal system be impaired? I humbly hope Your Majesty will order the hundred officials to examine the matter in detail so that it may be followed in perpetuity. An edict ordered the two provinces to discuss the matter in detail. The two provinces memorialized, saying: "In the Yuanhe period Yi Shen dishonored the position of elder to officials, and Grand Academy doctor Wei Qian abolished the old rites. What Li Jiang now argues is fully in accord with ritual. Fengji had long hated Jiang's uprightness; though the emperor indeed permitted the old rites to be followed, the Secretariat in the end took no action. Fan was removed as censor-in-chief and made vice minister of works. Soon Jiang was removed as vice director and made junior mentor to the heir apparent in separate service at the eastern capital. Such was their wielding of power and clinging to favor.
39
璠二年七月出為河南尹。 太和二年，以本官權知東都選。 十月，轉尚書右丞，敕選畢入朝。 三年，改吏部侍郎。 四年七月，拜京兆尹、兼御史大夫。 十二月，遷左丞，判太常卿事。 六年八月，檢校禮部尚書、潤州刺史、浙西觀察使。
In the seventh month of his second year Fan was sent out as Grand Protector of Henan. In the second year of Taihe he acted with his existing rank as temporary overseer of the eastern capital civil selection. In the tenth month he was transferred to right vice director of the Department of State Affairs; when the selection was complete he returned to court. In the third year he was made vice minister of personnel. In the seventh month of the fourth year he was appointed Grand Protector of the capital and concurrent censor-in-chief. In the twelfth month he was promoted to left vice director and placed in charge of affairs of the minister of the imperial ancestral temple. In the eighth month of the sixth year he was made acting minister of rites, prefect of Runzhou, and military observer of Zhexi.
40
八年，李訓得幸，累薦於上。 召還，復拜右丞。 璠以逢吉故吏，自是傾心於訓，權幸傾朝。 九年五月，遷戶部尚書、判度支。 謝日，召對浴堂，錫之錦彩。 其年十一月，李訓將誅內官，令璠召募豪俠，乃授太原節度使，托以募爪牙為名。 訓敗之日，璠歸長興裏第。 是夜為禁軍所捕，舉家下獄； 斬璠於獨柳樹，家無少長皆死。 子遐休璠子遐休，直弘文館。 李訓舉事之日，遐休於館中禮上，同職駕部郎中令狐定等五六人送之，是日悉為亂兵所執。 定以兄楚為僕射，軍士釋之，獨執遐休誅之。
In the eighth year Li Xun won favor and repeatedly recommended him to the emperor. He was recalled and again appointed right vice director. Because Fan had been Fengji's former subordinate, from then on he gave his loyalty to Xun, and his power and favor dominated the court. In the fifth month of the ninth year he was promoted to minister of revenue and placed in charge of the treasury. On the day he thanked the court for his appointment he was summoned to audience in the Bath Hall and granted brocades and silks. In the eleventh month of that year, when Li Xun was preparing to execute the palace eunuchs, he had Fan recruit bold heroes; Fan was then appointed military governor of Taiyuan on the pretext of recruiting henchmen. The day Li Xun's plot failed, Wang Fan went home to his mansion on Changxing Lane. That night the imperial guards seized him, and his whole family was thrown into prison. Fan was beheaded at the Solitary Willow, and every member of his household, young and old alike, was put to death. His son Xiaoxiu, who served on permanent duty at the Hongwen Academy. On the day Li Xun struck, Xiaoxiu was at the academy attending a formal ceremony; five or six colleagues, including Linghu Ding of the Bureau of Imperial Transport, saw him off—and that day they were all seized by the rampaging soldiers. Ding was spared because his elder brother Chu was a Grand Counselor; the soldiers seized only Xiaoxiu and put him to death.
41
初璠在浙西，繕城壕。 役人掘得方石，上有十二字，云：「山有石，石有玉，玉有瑕，瑕即休。」 璠視莫知其旨，京口老人講之曰：「此石非尚書之吉兆也。 尚書祖名崟，崟生礎，是山有石也。 礎生尚書，是石有玉也。 尚書之子名遐休，休，絕也。 此非吉征。」 果赤族。
Earlier, while Fan was serving in Zhexi, workmen were repairing the city moats. The laborers unearthed a square stone inscribed with twelve characters: "The mountain holds stone; the stone holds jade; the jade holds a flaw; the flaw is cessation. Fan studied it but could not grasp its meaning. An old man of Jingkou explained: "This stone is no lucky sign for you, Minister. Your grandfather was named Yin; Yin fathered Ji—that is "the mountain has stone." Ji fathered you, Minister—that is "the stone has jade." Your son is named Xiaoxiu—and xiu means extinction. That is no auspicious omen." In the end his entire clan was wiped out.
42
=賈餗=
Jia Su
43
賈餗，字子美，河南人。 祖渭。 大父寧。 餗進士擢第，又登制策甲科，文史兼美，四遷至考功員外郎。 長慶初，策召賢良，選當時名士考策，餗與白居易俱為考策官，選文人以為公。 尋以本官知制誥，遷庫部郎中，充職。 四年，為張又新所構，出為常州刺史。 太和初，入為太常少卿。 二年，以本官知制誥。 三年七月，拜中書舍人。 四年九月，權知禮部貢舉。 五年，榜出後，正拜禮部侍郎。 凡典禮闈三歲，所選士七十五人，得其名人多至公卿者。 七年五月，轉兵部侍郎。 八年十一月，遷京兆尹、兼御史大夫。 九年四月，檢校禮部尚書、潤州刺史、浙西觀察使。 制出未行，拜中書侍郎、同平章事，進金紫階，封姑臧男，食邑三百戶。 未幾，加集賢殿學士，監修國史。
Jia Su, whose courtesy name was Zimei, came from Henan. His grandfather was Wei. His great-grandfather was Ning. Su passed the jinshi examination and topped the decree examination as well. Gifted in both letters and history, he rose through four promotions to director of the Bureau for Examination of Merit. Early in the Changqing era, the throne summoned worthy men for policy examinations. Su and Bai Juyi both served as examiners, and men of letters praised their fairness. Before long he was drafting edicts in his existing post, then promoted to director of the Bureau of the Treasury, which he held in full. In the fourth year Zhang Youxin engineered his downfall, and he was sent out as prefect of Changzhou. At the opening of the Taihe era he returned to court as vice minister of imperial sacrifices. In the second year he resumed drafting edicts in his existing post. In the seventh month of the third year he was appointed Attendant of the Secretariat. In the ninth month of the fourth year he was placed in charge of the Ministry of Rites civil service examinations. In the fifth year, once the examination rolls were published, he received formal appointment as vice minister of rites. Over three years presiding at the examination hall he selected seventy-five candidates, many of whom later rose to ministerial and counselor rank. In the fifth month of the seventh year he was transferred to vice minister of war. In the eleventh month of the eighth year he was made Grand Protector of the capital and concurrent censor-in-chief. In the fourth month of the ninth year he was made acting minister of rites, prefect of Runzhou, and military observer of Zhexi. Before the appointment could take effect, he was named vice director of the Secretariat and co-equal counselor, advanced to the gold-seal and purple-robe rank, and enfeoffed as Duke of Guzang with an income of three hundred households. Soon afterward he was also made academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies and put in charge of compiling the national history.
44
其年十一月，李訓事發，兵交殿廷，禁軍肆掠。 餗易服步行出內，潛身人間。 翌日，自投神策軍，與王涯等皆族誅。 餗雖中立自持，然不能以身犯難，排斥奸纖，脂韋其間，遂至覆族。 逢時多僻，死非其罪，世多冤之。
That eleventh month Li Xun's plot erupted. Soldiers clashed in the palace halls, and the imperial guards looted without restraint. Su changed his clothes, left the inner palace on foot, and hid himself among the common people. The next day he surrendered to the Shence Army. He and Wang Ya and the rest were executed, their clans exterminated to the last. Su had tried to hold himself aloof, yet he would not risk himself against danger or drive out treacherous schemers; he only oiled his way between factions—and so his clan was destroyed. The age itself was crooked; he died for crimes that were not truly his, and many regarded his fate as a grievous injustice.
45
=舒元輿=
Shu Yuanyu
46
舒元輿者，江州人。 元和八年登進士第，釋褐諸府從事。 太和初，入朝為監察，轉侍御史。
Shu Yuanyu came from Jiangzhou. In the eighth year of Yuanhe he passed the jinshi examination and began his career in a succession of provincial posts. Early in Taihe he entered the capital as a surveillance censor and was soon promoted to attendant censor.
47
初，天寶中，玄宗祀九宮壇，次郊壇行事，禦署祝板。 元輿為監察，監祭事，以為太重，奏曰：「臣伏見祀九宮貴神祝板九片，陛下親署禦名，及稱臣於九宮之神。 臣伏以天子之尊，除祭天地宗廟之外，無合稱臣者。 王者父天母地，兄日姊月。 而貴神以九宮為目，是宜分方而守其位。 臣數其名號，太一、天一、招搖、軒轅、鹹池、青龍、太陰、天符、攝提也。 此九神，於天地猶子男也，於日月猶侯伯也。 陛下為天子，豈可反臣於天之子男耶？ 臣竊以為過。 縱陰陽者流言其合祀，則陛下當合稱『皇帝遣某官致祭於九宮之神』，不宜稱臣與名。 臣雖愚瞽； 未知其可。 乞下禮官詳議。」 從之。 尋轉刑部員外郎。
Earlier, in the Tianbao era, Emperor Xuanzong had sacrificed to the Nine Palaces spirits in a rite that followed the suburban altar in precedence, and the emperor had personally signed the prayer boards. Yuanyu, serving as surveillance censor over the sacrifices, judged the practice excessive and memorialized: "Your servant has seen nine prayer boards for the noble spirits of the Nine Palaces, each bearing Your Majesty's own imperial signature and addressing the spirits of the Nine Palaces as 'your subject. Your servant observes that in the supreme dignity of the Son of Heaven, apart from sacrifices to Heaven, Earth, and the ancestral temples, there is no being to whom the sovereign ought to call himself 'subject. The sovereign takes Heaven as father and Earth as mother; the sun is his elder brother and the moon his elder sister. These noble spirits, however, are assigned to the Nine Palaces and ought each to keep to his allotted quarter. Your servant has listed their names: Grand Unity, Heavenly Unity, Twinkling Indicator, Yellow Thearch, Salt Pond, Azure Dragon, Great Yin, Heavenly Talisman, and Scepter Holder. Toward Heaven and Earth these nine spirits are like sons and younger kinsmen; toward the sun and moon they are like marquises and earls. If Your Majesty is Son of Heaven, how can he in turn style himself subject to Heaven's own sons and younger kinsmen? Your servant privately believes this oversteps what is proper. Even if the yin-yang masters insist on a combined sacrifice, Your Majesty should say only, 'The Emperor dispatches a certain official to sacrifice to the spirits of the Nine Palaces'—not style himself subject or sign his personal name. Though your servant is dull and blind, I cannot tell whether this is permissible. I beg that the ritual officials be ordered to deliberate the matter in full.' The throne approved his request. He was soon transferred to vice director of the Ministry of Punishments.
48
元輿自負奇才，銳於進取，乃進所業文章，乞試效用，宰執謂其躁競。 五年八月，改授著作郎，分司東都。 時李訓丁母憂在洛，與元輿性俱詭激，乘險蹈利，相得甚歡。 及訓為文宗寵遇，復召為尚書郎。 九年，以右司郎中知臺雜。 七月，權知中丞事。 九年，拜御史中丞，兼判刑部侍郎。 是月，以本官同平章事，與訓同知政事。 而深謀詭算，熒惑主聽，皆生於二兇也。 訓竊發之日，兵自內出。 元輿易服單馬出安化門，為追騎所擒，送左軍族誅之。
Yuanyu, sure of his own brilliance and hungry for promotion, submitted his writings and asked to be put to the test. The chief ministers judged him rash and grasping. In the eighth month of the fifth year he was reassigned as drafting academician with duties at the eastern capital. Li Xun was then in Luoyang mourning his mother. He and Yuanyu shared a temperament of fierce eccentricity and a taste for risk; they took to each other at once. Once Xun won Emperor Wenzong's favor, Yuanyu was recalled to a directorship in the capital. In the ninth year he served as right bureau director in charge of bureau miscellaneous affairs. In the seventh month he was placed in charge of censor-in-chief affairs. That same year he was appointed censor-in-chief and concurrent vice minister of punishments with authority to judge cases. That month he was made co-equal counselor in his existing post and shared power with Xun. Yet the deep intrigues and devious schemes that dazzled the emperor's ear sprang from these two men. The day Xun's plot broke, soldiers poured out from within the palace. Yuanyu changed his clothes and fled alone through Anhua Gate. Pursuers seized him; the Left Army took him, and his clan was exterminated.
49
=郭行餘=
Guo Xingyu
50
郭行餘者，亦登進士第。 太和初，累官至楚州刺史。 五年，移刺汝州，兼御史中丞。 九月，入為大理卿。 李訓在東都時，與行余親善，行余數相餉遺，至是用為九列，十一月，訓欲竊發，令其募兵，乃授邠寧節度使。 訓敗，族誅。
Guo Xingyu had also passed the jinshi examination. Early in Taihe he rose through successive posts to prefect of Chuzhou. In the fifth year he was transferred to prefect of Ruzhou and made concurrent censor-in-chief. In the ninth month he entered the capital as minister of justice. While Li Xun was in the eastern capital he and Xingyu were close, and Xingyu often sent him gifts. When Xun needed men of high rank, he elevated Xingyu to the Nine Ministers. In the eleventh month, as Xun prepared his secret coup, he ordered Xingyu to recruit troops and appointed him military governor of Binning. When the plot failed, Xingyu's clan was exterminated.
51
=羅立言=
Luo Liyan
52
羅立言者，父名歡。 貞元末，登進士第。 寶歷初，檢校主客員外郎，為鹽鐵河陰院官。 二年，坐糴米不實，計贓一萬九千貫，鹽鐵使惜其吏能，定罪止削所兼侍御史。 太和中，為司農少卿，主太倉出納物，以貨厚賂鄭註，李訓亦重之。 訓將竊發，須兵集事，以京兆府多吏卒，用立言為京兆少尹，知府事。 訓敗日，族誅。
Luo Liyan's father was named Huan. Late in the Zhenyuan era he passed the jinshi examination. Early in Baoli he served as acting director of the Bureau of Receptions for Foreign Envoys and as an officer of the Heyin office under the salt and iron commission. In the second year he was convicted of fraudulent grain purchases, with restitution assessed at nineteen thousand strings of cash. The salt and iron commissioner prized his competence as an administrator, and the penalty was reduced to stripping his concurrent post as attendant censor. Midway through Taihe he became vice minister of agriculture in charge of disbursements from the imperial granary. He showered Zheng Zhu with costly bribes, and Li Xun also held him in high regard. As Xun prepared his coup he needed troops mustered. Because the capital prefecture commanded many clerks and soldiers, he installed Liyan as vice director of the capital with authority over prefectural affairs. The day the plot failed, Liyan's clan was exterminated.
53
長安縣令孟琯貶硤州長史，萬年縣令姚中立朗州長史。 以兩縣捕賊官受立言指使故也。 初立言集兩縣吏卒，萬年捕賊官鄭洪懼禍托疾，既而詐死，令家人喪服聚哭。 姚中立陰知其故，恐以詐聞，不免其累，乃以狀告洪之詐。 仇士良拘洪入軍，洪銜中立之告，謂士良曰：「追集所由，皆因縣令處分，予何罪也。」 故中立坐貶，洪免死。
Meng Yan, magistrate of Chang'an, was demoted to chief administrator of Xia; Yao Zhongli, magistrate of Wannian, was demoted to chief administrator of Lang. This was because the arrest officers of both counties had acted on Liyan's orders. When Liyan first mustered the clerks and soldiers of both counties, Zheng Hong, the Wannian arrest officer, fearing disaster pretended to fall ill and then staged his own death, ordering his household to don mourning garb and wail. Yao Zhongli knew the truth in secret. Afraid that if the fraud were exposed he would still be implicated, he filed a report exposing Hong's sham death. Qiu Shiliang seized Hong and held him in the army camp. Hong, bitter over Zhongli's accusation, told Shiliang: "Every man you rounded up was dispatched on the magistrate's orders. What crime is mine? Zhongli was demoted; Hong was spared execution.
54
=李孝本=
Li Xiaoben
55
李孝本者，宗室之子也。 累官至刑部郎中，而依於訓、註以求進。 舒元輿作相，訓用孝本知臺雜，權知中丞事，最預訓謀。 竊發之日，孝本從人殺內官十余人於殿廷。 知事不濟，單騎走投鄭註。 至咸陽西原，為追騎所捕，族誅之。 坐訓、註而族者，凡十一家，人以為冤。
Li Xiaoben was a member of the imperial clan. He rose to director of the Ministry of Punishments, but leaned on Xun and Zhu to climb higher. When Shu Yuanyu became counselor, Xun put Xiaoben in charge of bureau affairs and acting censor-in-chief. Of all Xun's confederates, Xiaoben was deepest in the plot. On the day of the coup Xiaoben and his followers killed more than ten palace eunuchs in the hall. Seeing that the affair was failing, he fled alone on horseback to join Zheng Zhu. On the western plain of Xianyang pursuing riders seized him, and his clan was exterminated. Eleven families in all were exterminated because of Xun and Zhu—an outcome many regarded as a gross injustice.
56
=史臣曰=
The Historiographer's Comment
57
史臣曰：王者之政以德，霸者之政以權。 古先後王，率由茲道，而遂能息人靖亂，垂統作則者。 如梓人共柯而殊工，良奕同枰而獨勝，蓋在得其術，則事無後艱。 昭獻皇帝端冕深帷，憤其廝養，欲鏟宮居之弊，載澄刑政之源。 當宜禮一代正人，訪先朝耆德，修文教而厚風俗，設武備以服要荒。 俾西被東漸，皆陶於景化； 柔祗蒼昊，必降於闕祥，自然懷德以寧，無思不服。 況區區宦者，獨能悖化哉？ 故豎刁、易牙，不廢齊桓之霸； 韓嫣、籍孺，何妨漢帝之明。 蓋有管仲、亞夫之賢，屬之以大政故也。 此二君者，制禦閽寺，得其道也。 而昭獻忽君人之大體，惑纖狡之庸儒。 雖終日橫經，連篇屬思，但得好文之譽，庸非致治之先。 且李訓者，狙詐百端，陰險萬狀，背守澄而勸鴆，出鄭註以擅權。 只如盡隕四星，兼權八校，小人方寸，即又難知。 但慮為蚤虱而采溪蓀，翻獲螾蜓之患也。 嗚呼明主！ 夫何不思，遽致血濺黃門，兵交青瑣。 茍無籓後之勢，黃屋危哉！ 涯、餗綽有士風，晚為利喪，致身鬼蜮之伍，何逃瞰室之災。 非天不仁，子失道也！
The historiographer remarks: A true king governs through virtue; a hegemon governs through power. The ancient kings all walked this road, and so were able to still the people, quell chaos, and bequeath norms that became law for generations. As joiners may share the same timber yet differ in skill, or fine players the same board yet one alone prevails, so it lies in mastering the method—then no hardship follows. Emperor Wenzong, crowned and veiled in state, resented his menial attendants and wished to root out palace abuses and clarify the foundations of law and government. He should have honored upright men of his generation, sought out the worthies of former reigns, cultivated learning and strengthened custom, and prepared arms to bring the frontier to heel. so that west and east alike would be molded by his transforming influence; heaven and earth would send down auspice at the palace gates, and all would embrace virtue in peace without a thought of rebellion. How could petty eunuchs alone defy such transformation? Shu Diao and Yi Ya did not prevent Duke Huan of Qi from achieving hegemony; nor did Han Yan and Ji Ru hinder the Han emperor's clarity of rule. For they had worthies like Guan Zhong and Zhou Yafu to whom great affairs were entrusted. Those two rulers controlled their gate eunuchs and got the method right. But Wenzong neglected the great substance of rulership and was beguiled by slender, cunning pedants. Though he spent his days poring over the classics and composing linked essays, he won only a reputation for fine writing—not the prerequisites of good government. Li Xun was treacherous in a hundred ways: he betrayed Shoucheng and urged poisoned wine, sent Zheng Zhu away yet kept power for himself. When four stars fell together and he combined authority over the eight commandants, who could fathom the small man's heart? One feared that in plucking stream orchids to drive off fleas, one would instead invite a plague of millipedes. Alas, enlightened lord! Why did he not reflect, but hastily brought blood to the Yellow Gate and battle to the green lattice doors? Without the power of the regional commissioners behind him, the imperial throne would have been in peril! Ya and Su had ample scholar's bearing, but in their later years sold it for profit, cast themselves among demons, and could not escape disaster peering through the wall. It was not Heaven that was unkind—the son had lost the Way!
58
=贊=
Eulogy
59
贊曰：奭、旦興周，斯、高亡秦。 禍福非天，治亂由人。 訓、註奸偽，血頹象魏。 非時乏賢，君迷倒置。
The eulogy says: The Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Shao raised Zhou; Li Si and Zhao Gao destroyed Qin. Fortune and calamity do not come from Heaven; order and chaos come from men. Xun and Zhu were treacherous and false; blood toppled the ceremonial gate-towers. It was not that the age lacked worthies—the ruler was confused and had put things upside down.