Volume 167 Biographies 117: Zhao Zongru, Dou Yizhi, Li Fengji, Duan Wenchang, Song Shenxi, Li Cheng

李渤，字浚之，後魏橫野將軍申國公發之後。祖玄珪，衛尉寺主簿。父鈞，殿中侍御史，以母喪不時舉，流於施州。渤恥其家汙，堅苦不仕；勵誌於文學，不從科舉，隱於嵩山，以讀書業文為事。

Li Bo, whose courtesy name was Junzhi, traced his line to Fa, Prince of Shen and a general of the Wild Field Army under the Later Wei. His grandfather Xuan'gui served as a clerk in the Court of the Imperial Guard. His father Jun had been a palace censor but was banished to Shizhou for not completing the prescribed mourning for his mother on time. Ashamed of his family's stain, Bo endured hardship and steadfastly refused to enter government service. He devoted himself to letters, avoided the examination route, withdrew to Mount Song, and made reading and composition his life's work.

元和初，戶部侍郎鹽鐵轉運使李巽、諫議大夫韋況更薦之，以山人征為左拾遺。渤托疾不赴，遂家東都。朝廷政有得失，附章疏陳論。又撰《禦戎新錄》二十卷，表獻之。九年，以著作郎征之。詔曰：「特降新恩，用清舊議。」渤於是赴官。歲餘，遷右補闕。連上章疏忤旨，改丹王府諮議參軍，分司東都。十二年，遷贊善大夫，依前分司。

Early in Yuanhe, Li Xun, vice minister of revenue and salt-and-iron transport commissioner, and Remonstrance Grandee Wei Kuang recommended him anew, and the court summoned him from recluse status to serve as Left Reminder. Bo pleaded illness and declined the appointment, settling instead in the Eastern Capital. Whenever he saw merit or fault in court policy, he submitted memorials laying out his views. He also compiled twenty juan of New Records on Frontier Defense and presented them to the throne. In the ninth year of the reign he was summoned to serve as Master of Writings. An edict declared: "We hereby grant a special favor to set aside the old objections." Bo then accepted the post and took up office. After a little more than a year he was promoted to Right Supplements-the-Omissions. After a string of memorials that ran against the emperor's wishes, he was reassigned as adviser to the Prince of Dan's household and given a detached post in the Eastern Capital. In the twelfth year he was made Mentor of the Heir Apparent while keeping the same detached assignment.

十三年，遣人上疏論時政，凡五事：一禮樂，二食貨，三刑政，四議都，五辯讎。渤以散秩在東都，以上章疏為己任，前後四十五封。再遷為庫部員外郎。

In the thirteenth year he had a memorial delivered on current affairs covering five topics: ritual and music, food and goods, punishments and administration, deliberation on the capital, and distinguishing enmities. Though he held only a nominal post in the Eastern Capital, Bo made memorial-writing his duty and sent forth forty-five in all. He was promoted again to vice director in the Bureau of the Treasury.

時皇甫镈作相，剝下希旨。會澤潞節度使郗士美卒，渤充吊祭使，路次陜西。渤上疏曰：「臣出使經行，歷求利病。竊知渭南縣長源鄉本有四百戶，今才一百余戶；闃鄉縣本有三千戶；今才有一千戶，其他州縣大約相似。訪尋積弊，始自均攤逃戶。凡十家之內，大半逃亡，亦須五家攤稅。似投石井中，非到底不止。攤逃之弊，苛虐如斯，此皆聚斂之臣剝下媚上，唯思竭澤，不慮無魚。乞降詔書，絕攤逃之弊。其逃亡戶以其家產錢數為定，征有所欠，乞降特恩免之。計不數年，人必歸於農矣。夫農者，國之本，本立然後可以議太平。若不由茲，而雲太平者，謬矣。」又言道途不修，驛馬多死。憲宗覽疏驚異，即以飛龍馬數百匹，付畿內諸驛。渤既以草疏切直，大忤宰相，乃謝病東歸。

At that time Huangfu Bo was chief minister and squeezed the populace to curry favor with the throne. When Zelu military commissioner Xi Shimei died, Bo was appointed condolence envoy and traveled through Shaanxi on the way. Bo memorialized: "On this mission Your Servant has traveled the route and everywhere sought out what helps and what harms the realm. I have found that Changyuan township in Weinan County once had four hundred households but now has barely more than a hundred. Quxiang County once had three thousand households. Today it has only a thousand, and other prefectures and counties are much the same. Tracing the accumulated abuses, I find they begin with spreading the tax burden of fleeing households onto those who remain. In a group of ten households, most may have fled, yet the tax of all ten must still be spread across the five who remain. It is like dropping a stone down a well: it will not stop until it hits bottom. The abuse of spreading tax onto fugitive households is cruelty of this order—ministers obsessed with revenue who strip the people to please their superiors, draining the pond without thinking that no fish will be left. I beg that an edict be issued to abolish the practice of spreading fugitive households' taxes onto others. For households that have fled, fix their liability by the cash value of their property, and for any shortfall in collection I beg a special grace to forgive it. Within a few years, I believe, people will surely return to the land. Agriculture is the foundation of the state; only when that foundation stands firm can one speak of lasting peace. To speak of peace without proceeding from this is simply wrong." He also reported that the roads were neglected and many relay horses were dying. Emperor Xianzong read the memorial with astonishment and at once supplied several hundred Flying Dragon horses to the relay stations of the capital region. Because his draft memorial had been blunt and forthright, Bo had deeply offended the chief minister and pleaded illness to return to the east.

穆宗即位，召為考功員外郎。十一月，定京官考，不避權幸，皆行升黜。奏曰：宰臣蕭俛、段文昌、崔植，是陛下君臨之初，用為輔弼，安危理亂，決在此時。況陛下思天下和平，敬大臣禮切，固未有昵比左右、侈滿自賢之心。而宰相之權，宰相之事，陛下一以付之，實君義臣行，千載一遇之時也。此時若失，他更無時。而俛等上不能推至公，申炯誡，陳先王道德，以沃君心；又不能正色匪躬，振舉舊法，復百司之本，俾教化大立。臣聞政之興廢，在於賞罰。俛等作相已來，未聞獎一人德義，舉守官奉公者，使天下在官之徒有所激勸；又不聞黜一人職事不理、持祿養驕者，使屍祿之徒有所懼。如此，則刑法不立矣！邪正莫辯，混然無章，教化不行，賞罰之設，天下之事，復何望哉！一昨陛下遊幸驪山，宰相、翰林學士是陛下股肱心腹，宜皆知之。蕭俛等不能先事未形，忘軀懇諫，而使陛下有忽諫之名流於史冊，是陷君於過也。孔子曰：「所謂大臣者，以道事君，不可則止。」若俛等言行計從，不當如是。若言不行，計不從，須奉身速退，不宜屍素於化源。進退戾也，何所避辭？其蕭亻免、段文昌、崔植三人並翰林學士杜元穎等，並請考中下。御史大夫李絳、左散騎常侍張惟素、右散騎常侍李益等諫幸驪山，鄭覃等諫畋遊，是皆恐陛下行幸不息，恣情無度；又恐馬有銜蹶不測之變，風寒生疾之憂，急奏無所詣，國璽委於婦人中幸之手。絳等能率御史諫官論列於朝，有懇激事君之體。其李絳、張惟素、李益三人，伏請賜上下考外，特與遷官，以彰陛下優忠賞諫之美。其崔元略冠供奉之首，合考上下；緣與於翚上下考，於翚以犯贓處死，準令須降，請賜考中中。大理卿許季同，任使於翚、韋道沖、韋正牧，皆以犯贓，或左降，或處死，合考中下；然頃者陷劉辟之亂，棄家歸朝，忠節明著，今宜以功補過，請賜考中中。少府監裴通，職事修舉，合考中上；以其請追封所生母而舍嫡母，是明罔於君，幽欺其先，請考中下。伏以昔在宰夫入寢，擅飲師曠、李調。今愚臣守官，請書宰相學士中下考。上愛聖運，下振頹綱，故臣懼不言之為罪，不懼言之為罪也。其三品官考，伏緣限在今月內進，輒先具如前。其四品以下官，續具條疏聞奏。

When Emperor Muzong ascended the throne, Bo was recalled as vice director in the Bureau of Evaluations. In the eleventh month he conducted the capital officials' evaluations without sparing the powerful and favored, promoting and demoting as merit required. The memorial read: Chief ministers Xiao Xian, Duan Wenchang, and Cui Zhi were appointed as your assistants when you first took the throne; whether the state stands secure or in peril, well governed or in disorder, is decided at this moment. Moreover, Your Majesty seeks peace under Heaven and honors great ministers with earnest courtesy; you truly have no wish to favor those at your side or to grow arrogant and self-admiring. Yet you have entrusted chancellors with chancellors' authority and chancellors' affairs; this is truly a moment when ruler and subject fulfill their proper roles—a meeting once in a thousand years. If this moment is lost, there will be no other. Yet Xian and the others cannot, on the one hand, promote utmost fairness, set forth bright admonitions, and expound the moral virtue of former kings to nourish your heart; nor can they, on the other hand, maintain a stern countenance and devote themselves wholeheartedly, revive the old laws, restore the foundations of the hundred offices, and establish instruction and transformation on a grand scale. I have heard that whether government flourishes or fails depends on rewards and punishments. Since Xian and the others became chancellors, one has not heard of a single reward for virtue and righteousness or promotion of an official who keeps his post and serves the public, so that those in office throughout the realm might be stirred to emulation; nor has one heard of a single dismissal of an official who neglected his duties and held salary while nurturing arrogance, so that those who occupy posts in name only might feel fear. If this is so, then the penal laws cannot stand! Wicked and upright cannot be distinguished; all is confused and without order; instruction and transformation are not carried out—what can one still hope for from rewards and punishments and affairs under Heaven! Just yesterday Your Majesty toured Mount Li; the chancellors and Hanlin academicians are your closest ministers—they ought all to have known of it. Xiao Xian and the others could not, before the matter had taken shape, forget themselves and remonstrate earnestly, and thereby left Your Majesty with the name of disregarding remonstrance in the historical records—this is entangling the ruler in fault. Confucius said, "What is called a great minister is one who serves the ruler by the Way; if it cannot be done, then he stops." If Xian and the others' words and plans were being followed, they ought not to act like this. If their words are not carried out and their plans are not followed, they must withdraw and retire quickly; they ought not to occupy posts in name only at the source of transformation. Their advance and retreat are perverse—what excuse can they offer? Xiao Xian, Duan Wenchang, and Cui Zhi, together with Hanlin Academician Du Yuanying and others, should all receive middle-lower evaluations. Censor-in-Chief Li Jiao, Left Regular Attendant Zhang Weisu, Right Regular Attendant Li Yi, and others remonstrated against the tour of Mount Li; Zheng Tan and others remonstrated against hunting excursions—all because they feared Your Majesty's tours would not cease and your feelings would be indulged without limit; they also feared unforeseen mishaps of horses stumbling in the bit, illness arising from wind and cold, urgent memorials having nowhere to reach, and the imperial seal entrusted to the hands of women and favored attendants. Jiao and the others were able to lead censorial remonstrance officials in setting forth arguments at court, showing the earnest and impassioned manner of serving the ruler. Li Jiao, Zhang Weisu, and Li Yi should, in addition to receiving upper-lower evaluations, be specially promoted in office, to display Your Majesty's excellence in honoring loyalty and rewarding remonstrance. Cui Yuanlue, who heads the Palace Attendance Service, ought to receive upper-lower evaluation; because he shared upper-lower evaluation with Yu Hui, who was executed for corruption; according to statute the grade must be lowered—please grant middle-middle evaluation. Chief Judge Xu Jitong, in appointing Yu Hui, Wei Daochong, and Wei Zhengmu—all of whom committed corruption and were either demoted or executed—ought to receive middle-lower evaluation; yet recently, trapped in Liu Pi's rebellion, he abandoned his household and returned to court, his loyalty and integrity clearly shown—merit should now offset fault; please grant middle-middle evaluation. Director of the Palace Storehouses Pei Tong, whose duties were well performed, ought to receive middle-upper evaluation; because he requested posthumous enfeoffment for his birth mother while setting aside his legal mother—openly deceiving the ruler and secretly deceiving his ancestors—please grant middle-lower evaluation. I humbly note that in antiquity, when a cook entered the sleeping chamber and presumptuously drank with Shi Kuang and Li Diao, today I, keeping my office, request that the chancellors and academicians be recorded with middle-lower evaluations. Loving the sage fortune above and reviving collapsed norms below—I fear that not speaking would be a crime, and do not fear that speaking would be a crime. Because evaluations of third-rank officials are due within this month, I venture to set them forth first as above. For officials of fourth rank and below, a detailed memorial will be submitted in continuation.

狀入，留中不下。議者以宰輔曠官，自宜上疏論列，而渤越職釣名，非盡事君之道。未幾，渤以墜馬傷足，請告，會魏博節度使田弘正表渤為副使。杜元穎奏曰：「渤賣直沽名，動多狂躁。聖恩矜貸，且使居官。而幹進多端，外交方鎮，遠求奏請，不能自安。久留在朝，轉恐生事。」乃出為虔州刺史。

The memorial reached the throne but was held within and never issued. Critics held that the chief ministers were neglecting duty and that memorials ought to say so—but that Bo had overstepped his role to court fame and had not fully observed the way of serving one's sovereign. Soon afterward Bo fell from his horse and injured his foot and requested leave; at the same time Weibo military commissioner Tian Hongzheng memorialized recommending Bo as his deputy. Du Yuanying memorialized: "Bo trades on blunt honesty to buy a reputation and is habitually rash and impetuous. Your Majesty's grace has spared him and allowed him to remain in office. Yet he schemes for advancement by every means, cultivates ties with the regional commands, and seeks distant appointments by memorial—he cannot rest content at court. If he stays long at court, I fear he will only cause trouble." He was thereupon sent out to serve as prefect of Qianzhou.

渤至州，奏還鄰境信州所移兩稅錢二百萬，免稅米二萬斛，減所由一千六百人。觀察使以其事上聞。未滿歲，遷江州刺史。張平叔判度支，奏征久遠逋懸，渤在州上疏曰：「伏奉詔敕，雲度支使所奏，令臣設計征填當州貞元二年逃戶所欠錢四千四百一十貫。臣當州管田二千一百九十七頃，今已旱死一千九百頃有余，若更勒徇度支使所為，必懼史官書陛下於大旱中征三十六年前逋懸。臣任刺史，罪無所逃。臣既上不副聖情，下不忍鞭笞黎庶，不敢輕持符印，特乞放臣歸田。」乃下詔曰：「江州所奏，實為懇誠。若不蠲容，必難存濟。所訴逋欠並放。」長慶二年，入為職方郎中。三年，遷諫議大夫。

On reaching the prefecture, Bo memorialized to return two million cash in dual-tax funds shifted from neighboring Xinzhou, to remit twenty thousand bushels of tax grain, and to cut sixteen hundred subordinate staff. The observation commissioner reported these measures to the throne. Before a year was out he was transferred to prefect of Jiangzhou. Zhang Pingshu, overseeing the Department of Public Works, memorialized to collect long-overdue arrears; from Jiangzhou Bo wrote: "I have received the edict citing the revenue commissioner's request that I devise means to collect the four thousand four hundred and ten strings owed by households that fled in the second year of Zhenyuan in this prefecture. This prefecture administers two thousand one hundred ninety-seven qing of fields, of which more than nineteen hundred have already been lost to drought; if I were forced to carry out the revenue commissioner's order, I fear the historians will record that Your Majesty collected arrears thirty-six years old in the midst of great drought. As prefect I cannot escape blame. I cannot meet Your Majesty's intent above, nor bear to flog the people below; I dare not lightly keep my seal of office and beg to be released to return to my fields." The court then issued an edict: "Jiangzhou's memorial is truly earnest and sincere. Without remission the people cannot survive. All the arrears in question were forgiven." In the second year of Changqing he was recalled to the capital as director in the Bureau of Appointments. In the third year he was promoted to Remonstrance Grandee.

敬宗沖年即位，坐朝常晚。一日入閣，久不坐，群臣候立紫宸門外，有耆年衰病者，幾將頓仆。渤出次白宰相曰：「昨日拜疏陳論，今坐益晚，是諫官不能回人主之意，渤之罪也。請先出閣，待罪於金吾仗。」語次喚仗，乃止。渤又以左右常侍，職參觀諷，而循默無言，論之曰：「若設官不責其事，不如罷之，以省經費。茍未能罷，則請責職業。」渤充理匭使，奏曰：「事之大者聞奏，次申中書門下，次移諸司。諸司處理不當，再來投匭，即具事奏聞。如妄訴無理，本罪外加一等。準敕告密人付金吾留身待進止。今欲留身後牒臺府，冀止絕兇人。」從之。

Emperor Jingzong came to the throne young and habitually held court late. One day he entered the inner court but long delayed taking his seat; officials waited outside the Gate of Purple Felicity, and some elderly men, frail with age and illness, nearly collapsed where they stood. Bo stepped out and told the chief minister plainly: "Yesterday I submitted a memorial on this matter; today court is even later—the remonstrance official has failed to move the sovereign's mind, and that is my fault. I ask to withdraw from court first and await punishment at the Golden Crow guard post." Even as he spoke the guard was summoned, and he desisted. Bo also took the Left and Right Attendants-in-Ordinary to task—their duty was to observe and admonish, yet they kept silent—and said: "If offices are created but no duty is required of them, abolish them and save the expense. If they cannot be abolished, then hold them to their duties." As commissioner for the Petition Box, Bo memorialized: "Major matters are reported directly to the throne; lesser ones go first to the Secretariat and Chancellery, then to the relevant offices. If the offices mishandle a case and the petitioner returns to the box, the matter should be reported in full to the throne. False or groundless appeals should receive one degree of punishment beyond the underlying offense. By edict, informers are handed to the Golden Crow guard to be detained pending the emperor's decision. I propose that after detention a dispatch go to the censorate and prefectural offices, in hope of deterring malicious accusers." The proposal was approved.

長慶、寶歷中，政出多門，事歸邪幸。渤不顧忠難，章疏論列，曾無虛日。帝雖昏縱，亦為之感悟。轉給事中，面賜金紫。

During the Changqing and Baoli reigns power leaked through many hands and affairs fell to corrupt favorites. Bo, heedless of the cost to himself, submitted memorial after memorial—not a day passed without one. Even the muddled and dissolute emperor was moved by his persistence. He was promoted to Attendant-in-Ordinary and personally granted the gold-and-purple insignia of high rank.

寶歷元年，改元大赦。先是，鄠縣令崔發聞門外喧鬥，縣吏言五坊使下毆擊百姓。發怒，命吏捕之。曳挾既至，時已曛黑，不問色目。良久與語，乃知是一內官。天子聞之怒，收發系御史臺。禦樓之日，放系囚，發亦在雞竿下。時有品官五十余人，持仗毆發，縱橫亂擊，發破面折齒。臺吏以席蔽之，方免。是日系囚皆釋，發獨不免。渤疏論之曰：「縣令不合曳中人，中人不合毆禦囚，其罪一也。然縣令所犯在恩前，中人所犯在恩後。中人橫暴，一至於此，是朝廷馴致使然。若不早正刑書，臣恐四夷之人及籓鎮奏事傳道此語，則慢易之心萌矣。」渤又宣言於朝云：「郊禮前一日，兩神策軍於青城內奪京兆府進食牙盤，不時處置，致有毆擊崔發之事。」上聞之，按問左右，皆言無奪食事。以渤黨發，出為桂州刺史、兼御史中丞，充桂管都防禦觀察使。

In the first year of Baoli the reign title was changed and a great amnesty was proclaimed. Earlier, Cui Fa, magistrate of Hu County, heard a commotion outside the gate; a clerk reported that men from the Five Wards commissioners' office were beating commoners. Fa was enraged and ordered his clerks to arrest them. They were dragged in; by then it was dark, and he did not ask who they were. Only after speaking with them at length did he learn that one was an inner-palace eunuch. When the emperor heard of it he was furious and had Fa arrested and held in the Censorate. On the day of the imperial tower amnesty, prisoners were released, and Fa stood beneath the cock pole with the rest. More than fifty ranked officials then set upon him with staves, striking wildly; Fa's face was broken and his teeth knocked out. Censorate clerks shielded him with mats before he escaped further harm. That day every prisoner was released except Fa. Bo memorialized: "The magistrate should not have dragged a palace eunuch, and the eunuch should not have beaten a prisoner under guard—the offenses are comparable. Yet the magistrate's offense came before the amnesty, while the eunuch's came after it. That palace eunuchs could be so violent shows how the court has indulged them. Unless the law is enforced soon, I fear foreign envoys and regional commissioners will hear of this and contempt for the throne will take root." Bo also declared at court: "On the eve of the suburban sacrifice, troops of the two Divine Strategy Armies seized food trays presented by the Metropolitan Prefecture inside the Green Citadel; because nothing was done in time, the beating of Cui Fa followed." When the emperor heard this he questioned those around him, and all denied any seizure of food. Judging Bo partial to Fa, the court sent him out as prefect of Guizhou and concurrent vice censor-in-chief, with overall defense and observation authority over Guiguan.

渤雖被斥，正論不已，而諫官繼論其屈。後宰相李逢吉、竇易直、李程因延英上語及崔發，逢吉等奏曰：「崔發淩轢中人，誠大不敬。然發母是故相韋貫之姊，年僅八十。自發下獄，積憂成疾。伏以陛下孝治天下，稍垂恩宥。」帝湣然良久，曰：「比諫官論奏，但言發屈，未嘗言不敬之罪，亦不言有老母。如卿等言，寧無湣惻！」即遣中使送發至其家，兼撫問發母。韋夫人號哭，對中使杖發四十，拜章謝恩。帝又遣中使慰安之。

Though Bo had been dismissed, he did not cease his forthright criticism, and remonstrance officials kept arguing that he had been wronged. Later, at an Yanchi audience, chief ministers Li Fengji, Dou Yizhi, and Li Cheng spoke of Cui Fa and memorialized: "Cui Fa insulted a palace eunuch—a grave lack of respect. Yet Fa's mother is the elder sister of former chief minister Wei Guanzhi and is nearly eighty. Since Fa was imprisoned she has been stricken with grief and illness. Your Majesty governs the realm through filial piety; we beg a small measure of grace." The emperor was moved for a long moment and said: "When remonstrance officials spoke of this lately, they mentioned only that Fa had been wronged—they never spoke of the offense of disrespect, nor that he had an aged mother. Hearing you speak thus, how could I not feel compassion!" The emperor at once sent a palace envoy to take Fa home and to comfort his mother. Lady Wei wept aloud; before the envoy she had Fa beaten forty strokes and submitted a memorial of thanks. The emperor again sent an envoy to comfort her.

渤在桂管二年，風恙求代，罷歸洛陽。太和五年，以太子賓客征至京師。月余卒，時年五十九，贈禮部尚書。渤孤貞，力行操尚，不茍合，而阘茸之流，非其沽激。至於以言擯退，終不息言，以救時病，服名節者重之。

After two years in Guiguan, Bo fell ill with wind ailment, sought a successor, and retired to Luoyang. In the fifth year of Taihe he was recalled to the capital as Mentor of the Heir Apparent. A little over a month later he died at fifty-nine and was posthumously made Minister of Rites. Bo was solitary and upright, devoted to principle, and would not compromise; the base and incompetent were not the audience he sought to impress. Even when his words got him dismissed, he never stopped speaking to remedy the ills of the age; men who valued integrity esteemed him.

子祝，會昌中登進士第，辟諸侯府。張仲方，韶州始興人。祖九臯，廣州刺史、殿中監、嶺南節度使。父抗，贈右僕射。仲方伯祖始興文獻公九齡，開元朝名相。仲方，貞元中進士擢第，宏辭登科，釋褐集賢校理，丁母憂免。服闋，補秘書省正字，調授咸陽尉。出為邠州從事，入朝歷侍御史、倉部員外郎。

His son Zhu passed the jinshi examination in the Huichang era and entered service in a regional commander's staff. Zhang Zhongfang was a native of Shixing in Shaozhou. His grandfather Jiugao had served as prefect of Guangzhou, director of the palace domestic service, and Lingnan military commissioner. His father Kang was posthumously made Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. His great-uncle was Zhang Jiuling, Duke Wenxian of Shixing, the renowned Kaiyuan chief minister. Zhongfang passed the jinshi in the Zhenyuan era and the macro-literary examination, took his first post as collator in the Hall of Assembled Worthies, then left office to mourn his mother. When mourning ended he became a standardizer in the Secretariat and was assigned as magistrate of Xianyang. He served on the staff in Binzhou, then returned to court as attendant censor and vice director in the Bureau of Granaries.

會呂溫、羊士諤誣告宰相李吉甫陰事，二人俱貶。仲方坐呂溫貢舉門生，出為金州刺史。吉甫卒，入為度支郎中。時太常定吉甫謚為「恭懿」，博士尉遲汾請為「敬憲」，仲方駁議曰：古者，易名請謚，禮之典也。處大位者，取其巨節，蔑諸細行，垂範當代，昭示後人，然後書之，垂於不朽。善善惡惡，不可以誣，故稱一字，則至明矣；定褒貶是非之宜，泯同異紛綸之論。贈司徒吉甫，稟氣生材，乘時佐治，博涉多藝，含章炳文。燮贊陰陽，經緯邦國。惜乎通敏資性，便媚取容。故載踐樞衡，疊致臺袞，大權在己，沈謀罕成，好惡徇情，輕諾寡信。諂淚在臉，遇便則流；巧言如簧，應機必發。夫人臣之翼戴元後者，端恪致治，孜孜夙夜，絹熙庶績，平章百揆。兵者兇器，不可從我始；及乎伐罪，則料敵以成功。至使內有害輔臣之盜，外有懷毒蠆之孽。師徒暴野，戎馬生郊。皇上旰食宵衣，公卿大夫且慚且恥。農人不得在畝，緝婦不得在桑。耗斂賦之常貲，散帑廩之中積；征邊僥之備，竭運挽之勞。僵屍血流，胔骼成嶽，酷毒之痛，號訴無辜，剿絕群生，逮今四載。禍胎之兆，實始其謀；遺君父之憂，而豈謂之先覺者乎？夫論大功者，不可以妄取，不可以枉致。為資畫者體理，不顯不競，而豈妨令美？當削平西蜀，乃言語侍從之臣；擒翦東吳，則訏謨廊廟之輔。較其功則有異，言其力則不倫。何舍其所重而錄其所輕，收其所小而略其所大？且奢靡是嗜，而曰愛人以儉；受授無守，而曰慎才以補。斥諫諍之士於外，豈不近之蔽聰乎？舉忠烈之廟於內，豈不近之昵愛也？焉有蔽聰昵愛，家範無制，而能垂法作程，憲章百度乎？謹按謚法，敬以直內，內而不肅，何以刑於外？憲者，法也。《戴記》曰：「憲章文武。」又曰：「發慮憲。」義以為敬恪終始，載考歷位，未嘗效一法官，議一小獄。及居重位，以安和平易寬柔自處。考其名，與其行不類；研其事，與其道不侔。一定之辭，惟精惟審，異日詳制，貽諸史官。請俟蔡寇將平，天下無事，然後都堂聚議，謚亦未遲。

When Lü Wen and Yang Shiru falsely accused Chief Minister Li Jiji of secret misconduct, both were demoted. Zhongfang, linked to Lü Wen as his examination protégé, was sent out as prefect of Jinzhou. After Jiji's death he was recalled as director in the Bureau of Revenue. At that time the Court of Imperial Sacrifices fixed Jiji's posthumous title as "Gongyi"; Erudite Yuchi Fen requested "Jingxian"; Zhongfang rebutted, saying: In antiquity, changing the name and requesting a posthumous title was a canonical rite. One who occupies a great position should take his major integrity, disregard minor conduct, set an example for the age, make clear to later generations, and only then record it for imperishable fame. Praising the good and condemning the evil cannot be falsified; therefore a single character makes the meaning perfectly clear; it fixes what is fitting in praise and blame and extinguishes tangled disputes of agreement and difference. The posthumously enfeoffed Grand Preceptor Jiji was naturally gifted, rose with the times to aid governance, was broadly learned in many arts, and brilliant in composition. He harmonized yin and yang and organized the state. Alas, he was quick and clever by nature and skilled at flattery to win favor. Therefore he repeatedly reached the highest offices, accumulated multiple ministerial ranks, kept great authority in his own hands, rarely completed deep schemes, indulged personal likes and dislikes, made light promises and kept little faith. Flattering tears were on his face; when opportunity appeared they flowed; Clever words were like a reed organ; when the moment came they were sure to spring forth. A minister who supports and upholds the sovereign should govern with rectitude and diligence, work earnestly day and night, bring brilliance to the myriad achievements, and harmonize the hundred duties. Arms are instruments of calamity—they must not begin with me; Only when punishing crime should one measure the enemy to achieve success. This led to harmful thieves among assisting ministers within and poisonous scorpion-like evils harboring malice without. Armies lay exposed in the fields and warhorses bred at the capital's edge. The emperor skipped meals and slept little in his robes; dukes, ministers, and grandees were both ashamed and humiliated. Farmers could not work their fields; silk workers could not tend their mulberry trees. Regular tax revenues were exhausted and storehouse grain was dispersed; frontier contingents were levied and transport labor was exhausted. Corpses stiffened and blood flowed; flesh and bones piled like hills; cruel pain and the cries of the innocent cut off all living beings—for four years now. The seeds of disaster truly began in his scheming; He left worry to ruler and father—how can he be called one who foresaw beforehand? In discussing great merit, one must not seize it rashly or seize it wrongly. For one who draws up plans, modest restraint does not display or contend—how would that obstruct true excellence? When western Shu was conquered and pacified, he was merely a literary attendant; when eastern Wu was captured and cut down, he was then a chief counselor of the hall. Their achievements differ and their exerted strength does not match. Why abandon what is weighty and record what is light, gather what is small and overlook what is great? Moreover, he was addicted to luxury yet claimed to love people through thrift; he accepted appointments without holding to them yet claimed to carefully select talent for appointment. He drove remonstrance ministers outside—was this not deafening the ruler through intimacy? He promoted shrines of loyal martyrs within—was this not favoring the ruler through intimacy? How can one who deafens and favors through intimacy, with no household discipline, yet set law as model and regulate the hundred measures? Respectfully examining the posthumous law: "Jing" means rectifying the inner; if the inner is not reverent, how can one be a model without? "Xian" means law. The Record of Dai says, "Take law and model from Wen and Wu." It also says, "Give thought to law." In meaning, one should be reverent and diligent from start to finish; reviewing his career in office, he never once judged a single legal case or discussed a single lawsuit. When he occupied a weighty position, he took ease, peace, tolerance, and gentleness as his manner. Examining his name against his conduct, they do not match; examining his deeds against the Way, they do not accord. With a settled word, with utmost refinement and scrutiny, on another day the full designation will be made and bequeathed to the historiographers. Please wait until the Cai bandit is nearly pacified and all under Heaven is at peace; then the chief hall can assemble to discuss—the posthumous name is not yet late.

憲宗方用兵，惡仲方深言其事，怒甚，貶為遂州司馬，量移復州司馬。遷河東少尹。未幾，拜鄭州刺史。

Emperor Xianzong was at war and resented Zhongfang's blunt argument on the matter; in great anger he demoted him to military adjutant of Suizhou, then transferred him to the same post in Fuzhou. He was made vice governor of Hedong. Soon afterward he was appointed prefect of Zhengzhou.

滎陽大海佛寺，有高祖為隋鄭州刺史日，為太宗疾祈福，於此寺造石像一軀，凡刊勒十六字以誌之。歲久剚缺，滎陽令李光慶重加修飾，仲方再刊石記之以聞。

At the Dahai Buddhist Temple in Xingyang stood a stone image that Gaozu, when he was Sui prefect of Zhengzhou, had commissioned there to pray for Taizong's recovery; sixteen characters were carved on it as a record. After years the inscription had worn away; Magistrate Li Guangqing of Xingyang restored it, and Zhongfang had the stone record recarved and reported the matter to court.

及敬宗即位，李程作相，與仲方同年登進士第，召仲方為右諫議大夫。敬宗童年戲慢，詔淮南王播造上巳競渡船三十只。播將船材於京師造作，計用半年轉運之費方得成。仲方詣延英面論，言甚懇激。帝只令造十只以進。帝又欲幸華清宮，仲方諫曰：「萬乘所幸，出須備儀。無宜輕行，以失威重。」帝雖不從，慰勞之。

When Emperor Jingzong ascended the throne, Li Cheng became chief minister; he and Zhongfang had passed the jinshi in the same year, and Zhongfang was recalled as Right Remonstrance Grandee. Jingzong in his youth was frivolous and ordered Prince of Huainan Wang Bo to build thirty dragon boats for the Shangsi festival. Bo was to build the boats in the capital from timber shipped there—at a cost of half a year's transport expenses before they could be finished. Zhongfang argued the matter face to face at an Yanchi audience, speaking with great earnestness. The emperor ordered only ten built instead. The emperor also wished to visit Huaqing Palace; Zhongfang remonstrated: "When the Son of Heaven travels abroad, he must go with full ceremonial escort. He should not travel lightly and forfeit his majesty." The emperor did not heed him but comforted and praised him.

太和初，出為福州刺史、兼御史中丞、福建觀察使。三年，入為太子賓客。五年四月，轉右散騎常侍。七年，李德裕輔政，出為太子賓客分司。八年，德裕罷相，李守閔復召仲方為常侍。

Early in Taihe he was sent out as prefect of Fuzhou, concurrent vice censor-in-chief, and Fujian observation commissioner. In the third year he was recalled as Mentor of the Heir Apparent. In the fourth month of the fifth year he became Right Attendant-in-Ordinary. In the seventh year, when Li Deyu came to power, Zhongfang was given a detached post as Mentor of the Heir Apparent. In the eighth year, after Deyu left office, Li Shoumin recalled Zhongfang as Attendant-in-Ordinary.

九年十一月，李訓之亂，四宰相、中丞、京兆尹皆死。翌日，兩省官入朝。宣政衙門未開，百官錯立於朝堂，無人吏引接。逡巡，閣門使馬元贄斜開宣政衙門傳宣曰：「有敕召左散騎常侍張仲方。」仲方出班。元贄宣曰：「仲方可京兆尹。」然後衙門大開，喚仗。月余，鄭覃作相，用薛元賞為京兆尹，出仲方為華州刺史。開成元年五月，入為秘書監。外議以鄭覃黨李德裕，排擯仲方。覃恐涉朋黨，因紫宸奏事，覃啟曰：「丞郎闕人，臣欲用張仲方。」文宗曰：「中臺侍郎，朝廷華選。仲方作牧守無政，安可以丞郎處之？」累加銀青光祿大夫、上柱國、曲江縣開國伯，食邑七百戶。二年四月卒。

In the eleventh month of the ninth year, during Li Xun's coup, four chief ministers, the vice censor-in-chief, and the metropolitan governor were all killed. The next day officials of the Secretariat and Chancellery attended court. The Xuanzheng gate had not opened; officials stood in confusion in the court hall with no attendants to guide them. After a while Gate Commissioner Ma Yuanzan partly opened the Xuanzheng gate and announced: "By edict, summon Left Attendant-in-Ordinary Zhang Zhongfang." Zhongfang stepped forward from the ranks. Yuanzan announced: "Zhongfang is appointed Metropolitan Governor." Only then was the gate fully opened and the guard summoned. A little over a month later Zheng Tan became chief minister, appointed Xue Yuanshang metropolitan governor, and sent Zhongfang out as prefect of Huazhou. In the fifth month of the first year of Kaicheng he was made Director of the Secretariat. Public opinion held that Zheng Tan, aligned with Li Deyu, had pushed Zhongfang aside. Fearing the appearance of faction, Tan spoke at a Zichen audience: "There is a vacancy among the vice directors; I wish to appoint Zhang Zhongfang." Emperor Wenzong said: "Vice directors of the Central Terrace are the court's finest appointments. Zhongfang achieved nothing as a regional governor—how can he hold a vice director's post?" He was repeatedly promoted to Silver-Gleam Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, Upper Pillar of the State, and Baron of Qujiang with a fief of seven hundred households. He died in the fourth month of the second year.

仲方貞確自立，綽有祖風。自駁謚之後，為德裕之黨擯斥，坎坷而歿，人士輩之。有文集三十卷。

Zhongfang was upright and self-reliant and bore his ancestor's manner in full measure. After his rebuttal over Jiji's posthumous title he was sidelined by Deyu's faction, lived out his days in frustration, and men of the age pitied him. He left collected works in thirty juan.

兄仲端，位終都昌令。弟仲孚，登進士第，為監察御史。裴潾，河東人也。少篤學，善隸書。以門廕入仕。元和初，累遷右拾遺，轉左補闕。元和中，兩河用兵。初，憲宗寵任內官，有至專兵柄者，又以內官充館驛使。有曹進玉者，恃恩暴戾，遇四方使多倨，有至捽辱者，宰相李吉甫奏罷之。十二年，淮西用兵，復以內官為使。潾上疏曰：「館驛之務，每驛皆有專知官。畿內有京兆尹，外道有觀察使、刺史叠相監臨；臺中又有御史充館驛使，專察過闕。伏知近有敗事，上聞聖聰。但明示科條，督責官吏，據其所犯，重加貶黜，敢不惕懼，日夜厲精。若令宮闈之臣，出參館驛之務，則內臣外事，職分各殊，切在塞侵官之源，絕出位之漸。事有不便，必誡以初；令或有妨，不必在大。當掃靜妖氛之日，開太平至理之風。澄本正名，實在今日。」言雖不用，帝意嘉之，遷起居舍人。

His elder brother Zhongduan ended his career as magistrate of Duchang. His younger brother Zhongfu passed the jinshi and served as investigating censor. Pei Lin was a native of Hedong. From youth he was devoted to learning and skilled in clerical script. He entered office through hereditary privilege. Early in Yuanhe he rose to Right Reminder and then Left Supplements-the-Omissions. During Yuanhe the court campaigned in the two He regions. At first Emperor Xianzong favored palace eunuchs, some of whom even held military power, and also appointed them relay-station commissioners. One Cao Jinyu, relying on imperial favor, was violent and arrogant toward envoys from the regions, sometimes seizing and humiliating them; Chief Minister Li Jiji memorialized to abolish the eunuch relay commissioners. In the twelfth year, during the Huaixi campaign, inner officials were again appointed relay commissioners. Lin memorialized: "Each relay station already has a dedicated supervisor for its affairs. Within the capital region the Metropolitan Governor oversees them; on outer routes observation commissioners and prefects supervise in turn. The Censorate also assigns censors as relay commissioners to inspect faults. Recent failures have, I know, reached Your Majesty's ear. Make the regulations clear, hold the officials accountable, and demote or dismiss according to offense—then who would not be vigilant and strive day and night? If inner-palace eunuchs are sent out to manage relay stations, inner officials will handle outer affairs though their duties differ—urgently block this encroachment and cut off overreach at its start. When a practice proves harmful, correct it at the outset. A harmful order need not be grand to do damage. This is the time to sweep away disorder and open the way to true peace. To clarify roles and restore proper names is the task of this moment." Though his advice was not followed, the emperor approved of it and promoted him to diarist of the heir apparent.

憲宗季年銳於服餌，詔天下搜訪奇士。宰相皇甫镈與金吾將軍李道古挾邪固寵，薦山人柳泌及僧大通、鳳翔人田佐元，皆待詔翰林。憲宗服泌藥，日增躁渴，流聞於外。潾上疏諫曰：臣聞除天下之害者，受天下之利；共天下之樂者，饗天下之福。故上自黃帝、顓頊、堯、舜、禹、湯，下及周文王、武王，鹹以功濟生靈，德配天地，故天皆報之以上壽，垂祚於無疆。伏見陛下以大孝安宗廟，以至仁牧黎元。自踐祚已來，刬積代之妖兇，開削平之洪業。而禮敬宰輔，待以終始；內能大斷，外寬小故。夫此神功聖化，皆自古聖主明君所不及，陛下躬親行之，實光映千古矣。是則天地神祇，必報陛下以山嶽之壽；宗廟聖靈，必福陛下以億萬之齡；四海蒼生，鹹祈陛下以覆載之永。自然萬靈保祐，聖壽無疆。伏見自去年已來，諸處頻薦藥術之士，有韋山甫、柳泌等，或更相稱引，迄今狂謬，薦送漸多。臣伏以真仙有道之士，皆匿其名姓，無求於代，潛遁山林，滅影雲壑，唯恐人見，唯懼人聞。豈肯幹謁公卿，自鬻其術？今者所有誇炫藥術者，必非知道之士。鹹為求利而來，自言飛煉為神，以誘權貴賄賂。大言怪論，驚聽惑時，及其假偽敗露，曾不恥於逃遁。如此情狀，豈可保信其術，親餌其藥哉？《禮》曰：「夫人，食味別聲，被色而生者也。」《春秋左氏傳》曰：「味以行氣，氣以實誌。」又曰：「水火醯醢鹽梅，以烹魚肉。宰夫和之，齊之以味；君子食之，以平其心。」夫三牲五谷，稟自五行，發為五味，蓋天地生之所以奉人也，是以聖人節而食之，以致康強逢吉之福。若夫藥石者，前聖以之療疾，蓋非常食之物。況金石皆含酷烈熱毒之性，加以燒治，動經歲月，既兼烈火之氣，必恐難為防制。若乃遠征前史，則秦、漢之君，皆信方士，如盧生、徐福、欒大、李少君，其後皆奸偽事發，其藥竟無所成。事著《史記》、《漢書》，皆可驗視。《禮》曰：「君之藥，臣先嘗之；親之藥，子先嘗之。」臣子一也，臣願所有金石，煉藥人及所薦之人，皆先服一年，以考其真偽，則自然明驗矣。伏惟元和聖文神武法天應道皇帝陛下，合日月照臨之明，稟乾元利貞之德，崇正若指南，受諫如轉規，是必發精金之刃，斷可疑之網。所有藥術虛誕之徒，伏乞特賜罷遣，禁其幻惑。使浮雲盡徹，朗日增輝；道化侔羲、農，悠久配天地，實在此矣。伏以貞觀已來，左右起居有褚遂良、杜正倫、呂向、韋述等，鹹能竭其忠誠，悉心規諫。小臣謬參侍從，職奉起居，侍從之中，最近左右。傳曰：「近臣盡規。」則近侍之臣，上達忠款，實其本職也。

In his final years Emperor Xianzong was keen on elixirs and ordered the realm to search out wonder-workers. Chief Minister Huangfu Bo and Golden Crow general Li Daogu, relying on flattery to hold favor, recommended the wonder-worker Liu Bi, the monk Datong, and Tian Zuoyuan of Fengxiang—all given Hanlin posts awaiting edict. Xianzong took Bi's elixir; his restlessness and thirst grew daily, and word spread beyond the palace. Lin submitted a memorial remonstrating: I have heard that one who removes harm under Heaven receives benefit under Heaven; one who shares joy under Heaven enjoys blessing under Heaven. Therefore from the Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu, Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang down to King Wen and King Wu of Zhou, all by merit rescued living beings and matched Heaven and Earth in virtue—therefore Heaven repaid them all with long life and extended their reigns without limit. I humbly observe that Your Majesty, with great filial piety, settles the ancestral temple and with utmost benevolence tends the common people. Since assuming the throne, you have cut down accumulated generations of demonic evils and opened the great enterprise of conquest and pacification. Moreover, you honor chief ministers and treat them from start to finish; within you can make great decisions; without you are lenient in small matters. This divine achievement and sage transformation surpass what sage rulers and enlightened lords of antiquity could reach; Your Majesty personally carries them out—truly your brilliance shines across a thousand ages. Then Heaven and Earth and the spirits will surely repay Your Majesty with the longevity of mountains and peaks; the ancestral temple's sage spirits will surely bless Your Majesty with tens of millions of years; the common people of the four seas all pray for Your Majesty the enduring cover and support of Heaven and Earth. Naturally the myriad spirits will protect and bless, and sage longevity will be without limit. I humbly observe that since last year various places have frequently recommended masters of medicinal arts—Wei Shanfu, Liu Bi, and others—some mutually praising and recommending one another; down to today their wild absurdity has grown and recommendations sent forward have gradually increased. I humbly consider that true immortals and men of the Way all conceal their names, seek nothing from the age, withdraw hidden into mountains and forests, and extinguish their shadows in clouded ravines, fearing only that people see them and dreading only that people hear of them. How would they be willing to importune grandees and ministers and sell their arts themselves? Those who now boast and display medicinal arts cannot be men who know the Way. All come seeking profit, claiming to refine elixirs into divinity, to entice the powerful and noble with bribes. Grand words and strange doctrines startle the ear and confuse the age; when their falsity is exposed, they are not even ashamed to flee. With such circumstances, how can one trust their arts and personally ingest their medicines? The Rites says, "Man is one who lives by distinguishing flavors in food, distinguishing sounds, and being affected by color." The Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals says, "Flavor moves the vital force; vital force fills the will." It also says, "Water and fire, vinegar and pickled meat, salt and plum, are used to cook fish and flesh. The cook harmonizes them and adjusts them with flavor; the gentleman eats them to settle his heart." The three sacrificial animals and the five grains receive from the five phases and issue as the five flavors—this is how Heaven and Earth in producing things serve mankind; therefore the sage moderates in eating them to attain the blessing of health, strength, and good fortune. As for medicines and stones, former sages used them to treat illness—they are not foods for ordinary consumption. Moreover, metal and stone all contain fierce, hot, and poisonous natures; with firing and refining often lasting months and years, they already combine the qi of fierce fire—one must fear they are hard to guard against and control. If one cites earlier history, the rulers of Qin and Han all trusted alchemical masters such as Lu Sheng, Xu Fu, Luan Da, and Li Shaojun; afterward fraud was exposed and their medicines achieved nothing. The affairs are recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han—all can be verified and examined. The Rites says, "The ruler's medicine—the minister tastes it first; the parent's medicine—the son tastes it first." Minister and son are one; I wish that all those who refine metal and stone medicines and all those recommended should first ingest them for one year to test their truth and falsity—then the proof will be clear. Your Majesty, the Yuanhe Sage Literary Divine Martial Emperor Who Aligns with Heaven and Responds to the Way, combines the brightness of sun and moon shining down, receives the virtue of Qian's origination, benefit, firmness, and correctness, honors the upright as if pointing south, and accepts remonstrance as if turning a compass—surely you will draw the sharp blade of refined metal and cut the doubtful net. All those of empty and absurd medicinal arts, I humbly beg that they be specially dismissed and sent away, and their delusive enchantments forbidden. Let floating clouds be entirely cleared away and the bright sun increase in radiance; the Way and transformation match Fu Xi and Shen Nong, enduring and long matching Heaven and Earth—truly it lies in this. I humbly note that since the Zhenguan era, attendants of the left and right such as Chu Suiliang, Du Zhenglun, Lü Xiang, and Wei Shu all exhausted their loyalty and sincerity and wholeheartedly remonstrated and advised. I have wrongly joined the attendants; my duty is to serve at the imperial rising and resting; among attendants I am nearest to the left and right. The Classic says, "Near ministers exhaust remonstrance." For near-attending ministers, conveying loyalty and sincerity upward is truly their basic duty.

疏奏忤旨，貶為江陵令。

The memorial offended the emperor and he was demoted to magistrate of Jiangling.

穆宗即位，柳泌等誅，征潾為兵部員外郎，遷刑部郎中。有前率府倉曹曲元衡者，杖殺百姓柏公成母。法官以公成母死在辜外，元衡父任軍使，使以父廕征銅。柏公成私受元衡資貨，母死不聞公府，法寺以經恩免罪。潾議曰：「典刑者，公柄也。在官者得施於部屬之內；若非在官，又非部屬，雖有私罪，必告於官。官為之理，以明不得擅行鞭捶於齊人也。且元衡身非在官，公成母非部屬，而擅憑威力，橫此殘虐，豈合拘於常典？柏公成取貨於讎，利母之死，悖逆天性，犯則必誅。」奏下，元衡杖六十配流，公成以法論至死，公議稱之。轉考功、吏部二郎中。

When Emperor Muzong ascended the throne, Liu Bi and the others were executed; Lin was recalled as vice director in the Bureau of Military Appointments and promoted to director in the Bureau of Punishments. A former granary clerk of the heir apparent's guard, Qu Yuanheng, had beaten to death the mother of a commoner named Bai Gongcheng. The judges held that the death fell outside the statutory term of offense and, because Yuanheng's father had been a military commissioner, fined him in copper under his father's hereditary privilege. Bai Gongcheng had privately taken payment from Yuanheng and did not report his mother's death to the authorities; the Court of Justice, citing the recent amnesty, excused the crime. Lin argued: "Punishment is a public power of the state. An official may apply it only within his subordinates. If one is not in office and the victim is not a subordinate, even for a private offense one must report to the authorities. The office must judge it, to make clear that no one may freely beat the people. Yuanheng held no office, and Gongcheng's mother was not his subordinate—yet he abused his power with this cruelty; how can ordinary statutes apply? Bai Gongcheng took payment from his enemy and profited from his mother's death, defying natural feeling—if guilty, he must die." When the memorial was adopted, Yuanheng was beaten sixty strokes and exiled, and Gongcheng was sentenced to death by law; public opinion praised the outcome. He was transferred to director in the Bureaus of Evaluations and Appointments.

寶歷初，拜給事中。太和四年，出為汝州刺史、兼御史中丞，賜紫。坐違法杖殺人，貶左庶子，分司東都。

At the beginning of Baoli he was made Attendant-in-Ordinary. In the fourth year of Taihe he was sent out as prefect of Ruzhou and concurrent vice censor-in-chief and granted the purple robe. For unlawfully beating a man to death he was demoted to Left Mentor of the Heir Apparent with a detached post in the Eastern Capital.

七年，遷左散騎常侍，充集賢殿學士。集歷代文章續梁昭明太子《文選》，成三十卷，目曰《大和通選》，並音義、目錄一卷，上之。當時文士，非素與潾遊者，其文章少在其選，時論鹹薄之。

In the seventh year he became Left Attendant-in-Ordinary and academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies. He compiled writings from successive dynasties as a continuation of the Liang Crown Prince Zhaoming's 《Wenxuan》, producing thirty juan titled 《Comprehensive Selections of Taihe》, with one juan of notes on pronunciation and a catalog, and presented them to the throne. Writers who had not been on familiar terms with Lin found few of their works included, and contemporary opinion widely disparaged the anthology.

八年，轉刑部侍郎，尋改華州刺史。九年，復拜刑部侍郎。開成元年，轉兵部侍郎。二年，加集賢院學士，判院事。尋出為河南尹，入為兵部侍郎。三年四月卒，贈戶部尚書，謚曰敬。

In the eighth year he became Vice Minister of Punishments and soon afterward was made prefect of Huazhou. In the ninth year he was again appointed Vice Minister of Punishments. In the first year of Kaicheng he was made Vice Minister of Military Appointments. In the second year he was made academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies and given charge of its affairs. Soon he was sent out as metropolitan governor of Henan, then recalled as Vice Minister of Military Appointments. He died in the fourth month of the third year and was posthumously made Minister of Revenue with the posthumous title Jing.

潾以道義自處，事上盡心，尤嫉朋黨，故不為權幸所知。憲宗竟以藥誤不壽，君子以潾為知言。穆宗雖誅柳泌，既而自惑，左右近習，稍稍復進方士。時有處士張臯上疏曰：神慮淡則血氣和，嗜欲勝則疾疹作。和則必臻於壽考，作則必致於傷殘。是以古之聖賢，務自頤養，不以外物撓耳目，不徇聲色敗性情。由是和平自臻，福慶斯集。故《易》曰：「無妄之疾，勿藥有喜。」《詩》曰：「自天降康，降福穰穰。」此皆理合天人，著在經訓。然則藥以攻疾，無疾固不可餌之也。高宗朝，處士孫思邈者，精識高道，深達攝生，所著《千金方》三十卷，行之於代。其《序論》云：「凡人無故不宜服藥，藥氣偏有所助，令人臟氣不平。」思邈此言，可謂洞於事理也。或寒暑為寇，節宣有乖，事資醫方，尚須重慎。故《禮》云：「醫不三代，不服其藥。」施於凡庶，猶且如此，況在天子，豈得自輕？先朝暮年，頗好方士，征集非一，嘗試亦多；果致危疾，聞於中外，足為殷鑒。皆陛下素所詳知，必不可更踵前車，自貽後悔。今朝野之人，紛紜竊議，直畏忤旨，莫敢獻言。臣蓬艾微生，麋鹿同處，既非邀寵，亦又何求？但泛覽古今，粗知忠義，有聞而默，於理不安。願陛下無怒芻蕘，庶裨萬一。

Lin lived by principle, served the throne wholeheartedly, and especially despised faction—so the powerful and favored did not know him. Xianzong ultimately shortened his life through elixirs, and gentlemen judged that Lin had spoken truly. Though Muzong had Liu Bi executed, he soon fell under delusion again, and those around him gradually brought wonder-workers back to court. At that time the recluse Zhang Gao submitted a memorial: When the spirit's thoughts are calm, blood and qi are harmonious; when desires prevail, illness and rash arise. When harmonious, one necessarily reaches longevity; when they arise, one necessarily comes to injury and disablement. Therefore the sages and worthies of antiquity strove to nourish themselves, not letting external things disturb eyes and ears or indulging sound and color to ruin nature and feeling. From this harmony and peace came of themselves, and blessings and felicity gathered. Therefore the Changes says, "Illness without cause—do not use medicine; there will be joy." The Odes says, "From Heaven comes peace; blessings descend abundantly." These all accord in principle with Heaven and man and are set forth in the canonical teachings. Thus medicines are used to attack illness; without illness one certainly must not ingest them. In the reign of Gaozong, the recluse Sun Simiao had refined knowledge and lofty attainment of the Way, deeply understood nurturing life, and authored thirty juan of Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold, which were practiced in the age. Its Prefatory Discussion says, "Ordinary people should not take medicine without cause; the qi of medicine partially assists in one direction and makes a person's visceral qi unbalanced." Simiao's words here can be called penetrating in affairs and principle. Sometimes cold and heat become invaders and seasonal regulation is at odds—then one relies on medical prescriptions, yet must still be heavily cautious. Therefore the Rites says, "If the physician is not of three generations, do not take his medicine." Applied to ordinary commoners, it is still like this—how much more for the Son of Heaven; how can one treat oneself lightly? The previous dynasty in its later years greatly favored alchemical masters; summonses were not few, and trials were also many; it truly brought on grave illness, heard within and without—enough to serve as a stern warning. All this Your Majesty has long known in detail; one certainly must not again follow the overturned cart and bring regret upon oneself. Now people at court and in the wilds murmur in private discussion, directly fearing to offend the imperial intent, and none dare offer words. I am a humble life among mugwort and artemisia, dwelling with deer; since I do not seek favor, what else do I seek? But having broadly read antiquity and the present, I roughly know loyalty and righteousness; to hear and remain silent is unsettling in principle. I wish Your Majesty not to be angry at this haycutter's counsel—perhaps it may help one part in ten thousand.

穆宗嘆獎其言，尋令訪臯，不獲。李中敏，隴西人。父嬰。中敏元和末登進士第，性剛褊敢言。與進士杜牧、李甘相善，文章趣向，大率相類。中敏累從府辟，入為監察，歷侍御史。太和中，為司門員外郎。

Muzong sighed and praised his words, then ordered a search for Gao, but he could not be found. Li Zhongmin was a native of Longxi. His father was Ying. Zhongmin passed the jinshi late in Yuanhe; he was stern, uncompromising, and outspoken. He was close to the jinshi Du Mu and Li Gan, and their literary tastes were much alike. Zhongmin served repeatedly on regional staffs, then entered court as investigating censor and rose to attendant censor. During Taihe he was vice director in the Bureau of Gatekeeping.

六年夏旱，時王守澄方寵鄭註，及誣構宋申錫後，人側目畏之。上以久旱，詔求致雨之方。中敏上言曰：「仍歲大旱，非聖德不至，直以宋申錫之冤濫，鄭註之奸弊。今致雨之方，莫若斬鄭註而雪申錫。」士大夫皆危之，疏留中不下。明年，中敏謝病歸洛陽。及訓、註誅，竟雪申錫，召中敏為司勛員外郎。尋遷刑部郎中，知臺雜。

In the sixth year there was summer drought; Wang Shoucheng was then favoring Zheng Zhu, and after Zhu framed Song Shenxi people looked on him with fear. Because of the prolonged drought the emperor ordered a search for means to bring rain. Zhongmin wrote: "The drought year after year is not because Your Majesty's virtue has failed—it is directly because of the injustice done to Song Shenxi and the wickedness of Zheng Zhu. The surest way to bring rain is to execute Zheng Zhu and clear Song Shenxi's name." Officials were alarmed; the memorial was held within and never issued. The following year Zhongmin pleaded illness and retired to Luoyang. After Xun and Zhu were executed and Shenxi's name was cleared, Zhongmin was recalled as vice director in the Bureau of Merit Records. Soon he was made director in the Bureau of Punishments and given charge of censorate miscellaneous affairs.

其年，拜諫議大夫，充理匭使。上言曰：「據舊例，投匭進狀人先以副本呈匭使，或詭異難行者，不令進入。臣檢尋文按，不見本敕，所由但雲貞元奉宣，恐是一時之事。臣以為本置匭函，每日從內將出，日暮進入，意在使冤濫無告，有司不為申理者，或論時政，或陳利害；宜開其必達之路，所以廣聰明而慮幽枉也。若令有司先見，裁其可否，即非重密其事，俾壅塞自伸於九重之意。臣伏請今後所有進狀及封事，臣但為引進，取舍可否，斷自中旨。庶使名實在茲，以明置匭之本。」從之。尋拜給事中。李甘，字和鼎。長慶末，進士擢第，又制策登科。太和中，累官至侍御史。鄭註入翰林侍講，舒元輿既作相，註亦求入中書。甘唱於朝曰：「宰相者，代天理物，先德望而後文藝。註乃何人，敢茲叨竊？白麻若出，吾必壞之。」會李訓亦惡註之所求，相註之事竟寢。訓不獲已，貶甘封州司馬。

That year he was made Remonstrance Grandee and commissioner for the Petition Box. He wrote: "By old precedent, petitioners first gave a copy to the box commissioner, who could block strange or difficult submissions from reaching the throne. I have searched the records and find no original edict—officials cite only a Zhenyuan announcement, which may have been a temporary measure. I believe the box was meant to be brought out from the palace each morning and returned at dusk, so that those wronged with no recourse—when offices would not act—or who wished to discuss policy or report harm could reach the throne. Their petitions should have a sure path to reach you—thus widening your awareness and reaching hidden wrongs. If offices see petitions first and decide what may pass, that defeats the secrecy meant to let grievances reach the throne unblocked. I beg that hereafter I only introduce all petitions and sealed memorials, and that acceptance or rejection rest solely with Your Majesty. Thus the institution's purpose may be honored and the reason for the box made clear." The proposal was approved. Soon he was made Attendant-in-Ordinary. Li Gan, whose courtesy name was Heding. At the end of Changqing he passed the jinshi and also the policy examination. During Taihe he rose to attendant censor. Zheng Zhu entered the Hanlin as lecture attendant; after Shu Yuanyu became chief minister, Zhu also sought a post in the Secretariat. Gan declared at court: "A chief minister stands in for Heaven to order the realm—moral stature must come before literary talent. Who is Zhu to dare such an appointment? If the appointment edict is issued, I will tear it apart." Li Xun also opposed Zhu's bid, and the appointment was dropped. Unable to do otherwise, Xun demoted Gan to military adjutant of Fengzhou.

又有李款者，與中敏同時為侍御史。鄭註邠寧入朝，款伏閣彈註云：「內通敕使，外結朝官，兩地往來，卜射財貨。」文宗不之省。及註用事，款亦被逐。開成中，累官至諫議大夫，出為蘇州刺史，遷洪州刺史、江西觀察使。杜牧自有傳。高元裕，字景圭，渤海人。祖甝。父集，官卑。元裕登進士第，本名允中，太和初，為侍御史，奏改元裕。累遷左司郎中。李宗閔作相，用為諫議大夫，尋改中書舍人。九年，宗閔得罪南遷，元裕出城餞送，為李訓所怒，出為閬州刺史。時鄭註入翰林，元裕草註制辭，言註以醫藥奉召親，註怒。會送宗閔，乃貶之。訓、註既誅，復征為諫議大夫。

There was also Li Kuan, who served as attendant censor alongside Zhongmin. When Zheng Zhu of Binning came to court, Kuan lay prostrate at the gate and impeached him: "He deals with edict commissioners inside the palace and binds with court officials outside, shuttling between them to extort wealth by divination." Emperor Wenzong paid no attention. When Zhu came to power, Kuan was driven out as well. During Kaicheng he rose to Remonstrance Grandee, then served as prefect of Suzhou and later as prefect of Hongzhou and Jiangxi observation commissioner. Du Mu has his own biography elsewhere. Gao Yuanyu, whose courtesy name was Jinggui, was a native of Bohai. His grandfather was Xing. His father Ji held a low post. Yuanyu passed the jinshi under the name Yunzhong; early in Taihe, as attendant censor, he memorialized to change his name to Yuanyu. He rose to director of the Left Secretariat. When Li Zongmin became chief minister he made Yuanyu Remonstrance Grandee and soon Secretariat drafter. In the ninth year, when Zongmin was disgraced and sent south, Yuanyu went out of the city to see him off; Li Xun was enraged and sent Yuanyu out as prefect of Langzhou. When Zheng Zhu entered the Hanlin, Yuanyu drafted his appointment text, noting that Zhu had been summoned for his medical skill—Zhu was furious. Combined with his farewell to Zongmin, this led to his demotion. After Xun and Zhu were executed he was recalled as Remonstrance Grandee.

開成三年，充翰林侍講學士。文宗寵莊恪太子，欲正人為師友。乃兼太子賓客。四年，改御史中丞，風望峻整。上言曰：「御史府紀綱之地，官屬選用，宜得實才。其不稱者，臣請出之。」監察御史杜宣猷、柳壞、崔郢、侍御史魏中庸、高弘簡，並以不稱，出為府縣之職。尋而藍田縣人賀蘭，進與裏內五十余人相聚念佛，神策鎮將皆捕之，以為謀逆，當大辟。元裕疑其冤，上疏請出賀蘭進等付臺覆問，然後行刑，從之。

In the third year of Kaicheng he became Hanlin lecture academician. Wenzong favored Heir Apparent Zhuangke and wished upright men as his teachers and companions. Yuanyu was also made Mentor of the Heir Apparent. In the fourth year he became vice censor-in-chief, commanding stern respect. He wrote: "The Censorate is the seat of discipline; its staff should be men of real ability. Those unfit for the post I ask permission to remove." Investigating censors Du Xuanyou, Liu Huai, and Cui Ying and attendant censors Wei Zhongyong and Gao Hongjian were all removed as unfit and sent to prefectural and county posts. Soon Helan Jin of Lantian County and more than fifty neighbors who had gathered to chant the Buddha's name were arrested by Divine Strategy garrison officers as rebels plotting treason and sentenced to death. Yuanyu suspected a miscarriage of justice and memorialized to have Helan Jin and the others remanded to the Censorate for re-examination before execution; the request was granted.

會昌中，為京兆尹。大中初，為刑部尚書。二年，檢校吏部尚書、襄州刺史，加銀青光祿大夫、渤海郡公、山南東道節度使。入為吏部尚書，卒。元裕兄少逸、元恭。

During Huichang he served as metropolitan governor. Early in Dazhong he was Minister of Punishments. In the second year he was acting Minister of Civil Office Appointments and prefect of Xiangzhou, with the titles Silver-Gleam Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, Duke of Bohai, and Shannan East Circuit military commissioner. He was recalled as Minister of Civil Office Appointments and died in office. Yuanyu's elder brothers were Shaoyi and Yuangong.

少逸，長慶末為侍御史，坐弟元裕貶官，左授贊善大夫，累遷左司郎中。元裕為中丞，少逸遷諫議大夫，代元裕為侍講學士。兄弟叠處禁密，時人榮之。會昌中，為給事中，多所封奏。大中初，檢校禮部尚書、華州刺史、潼關防禦、鎮國軍使。入為左散騎常侍、工部尚書，卒。

Shaoyi was attendant censor at the end of Changqing; implicated in his brother Yuanyu's demotion, he was demoted to Mentor of the Heir Apparent and later rose to director of the Left Secretariat. When Yuanyu became vice censor-in-chief, Shaoyi was made Remonstrance Grandee and replaced him as lecture academician. The brothers held successive posts in the inner palace, and contemporaries regarded it as an honor. During Huichang he was Attendant-in-Ordinary and submitted many sealed memorials. Early in Dazhong he was acting Minister of Rites, prefect of Huazhou, Tong Pass defense commissioner, and Zhenguo Army commissioner. He was recalled as Left Attendant-in-Ordinary and Minister of Public Works and died.

元裕子璩，登進士第。大中朝，由內外制歷丞郎，判度支。咸通中，守中書侍郎、平章事。李漢，字南紀，宗室淮陽王道明之後。道明生景融，景融生務該，務該生思，思生岌。岌已上無名位，及岌為蜀州晉原尉。岌生荊，荊為陜州司馬。荊生漢。

Yuanyu's son Jun passed the jinshi. In the Dazhong reign he rose from edict drafter through vice director posts to oversee the Department of Public Works. During Xiantong he served as Vice Director of the Secretariat and chief minister. Li Han, whose courtesy name was Nanji, was a descendant of Imperial Prince Daoming of Huaiyang. Daoming begot Jingrong, Jingrong begot Wugai, Wugai begot Si, and Si begot Ji. None of Ji's forebears above him held office until Ji became magistrate of Jinyuan in Shuzhou. Ji begot Jing, who served as military adjutant of Shaanzhou. Jing begot Han.

漢，元和七年登進士第，累辟使府。長慶末，為左拾遺。敬宗好治宮室，波斯賈人李蘇沙獻沈香亭子材。漢上疏論之曰：「若以沈香為亭子，即與瑤臺瓊室事同。」寶歷中，王政日僻，漢與同列薛廷老，因入閣，廷奏曰：「近日除授不由中書，擬議多是宣出施行。臣恐自此紀綱大壞，奸邪恣行。願陛下各敕有司，稍存典故。」坐言忤旨，出為興元從事。

Han passed the jinshi in the seventh year of Yuanhe and served repeatedly on commissioner staffs. At the end of Changqing he was Left Reminder. Jingzong loved building palaces; the Persian merchant Li Susa presented agarwood timber for a pavilion. Han memorialized: "To build a pavilion of agarwood is no different from the jade towers and jasper chambers of old." During Baoli, as governance grew ever more erratic, Han and his colleague Xue Tinglao entered the inner court; Ting memorialized: "Lately appointments have bypassed the Secretariat, with most orders issued directly from the palace. I fear that from this point discipline will collapse and the wicked will act at will. I beg Your Majesty to charge each office to preserve the old precedents." For speaking against the emperor's wishes he was sent out as staff member in Xingyuan.

文宗即位，召為屯田員外郎、史館修撰。漢，韓愈子婿，少師愈為文，長於古學，剛訐亦類愈。預修《憲宗實錄》，尤為李德裕所憎。太和四年，轉兵部員外郎。李宗閔作相，用為知制誥，尋遷駕部郎中。

When Wenzong ascended the throne he was recalled as vice director in the Bureau of State Farms and historiographic compiler. Han was Han Yu's son-in-law; Yu excelled in letters and ancient learning, and Han's stern, censorious manner resembled his. He helped compile the 《Veritable Records of Xianzong》 and was especially disliked by Li Deyu. In the fourth year of Taihe he was made vice director in the Bureau of Military Appointments. When Li Zongmin became chief minister he made Han edict drafter and soon director in the Bureau of Imperial Transport.

八年，代宇文鼎為御史中丞。時李程為左僕射，以儀註不定，奏請定制。先是，太和三年，兩省官同定左右僕射儀註：御史中丞已下，與僕射相遇，依令致敬，斂馬側立待。僕射謝官日，大夫中丞、三院御史，就幕次參見，其觀象門外立班，既以後至為重。大夫中丞到班後，朝堂所由引僕射就位，傳呼贊導，始大夫就列之儀。班退，贊導亦如之。御史大夫與僕射道途相遇，則分道而行。舊事，左右僕射初上，御史中丞、吏部侍郎已下羅拜。四年，中書奏曰：「僕射受中丞侍郎拜，則似太重；答郎官已下拜，則太輕。起今後，諸司四品已下官，及御史臺六品已下並郎官，並望準故事，余依元和七年敕處分。」可之。至是，因李程奏，漢議曰：「左右僕射初上，受左右丞、諸曹侍郎、諸司四品及御史中丞已下拜。謹按《開元禮》及《六典》，並無此儀註，不知所起之由。或以為僕射師長百僚，此語亦無證據，唯有曹魏時賈詡《讓官表》中一句語耳。且尚書令是正長，尚無受拜之文。故事，與御史中丞、司隸校尉，號三獨坐。伏以朝廷比肩，同事聖主，南面受拜，臣下何安？縱有明文，尚須厘革。故《禮記》曰：『君於士不答拜，非其臣則答之。』況御史中丞、殿中御史是供奉官，尤為不可。儀制令雖有隔品之文，不知便是受拜否？及御史大夫，亦曾受御史已下拜，今並不行。蓋以禮數僭逼，非人臣所安。元和六年七月，詔崔邠、段平仲與當時禮官王涇、韋公肅等同議其事，理甚精詳。今請舉而行之，庶為折衷。」時程入省，竟依舊儀，議者以漢奏為是。

In the eighth year he replaced Yuwen Ding as vice censor-in-chief. At that time Li Cheng was Left Vice Director; because court ceremonial rules were unsettled, he memorialized to fix them. Earlier, in the third year of Taihe, officials of both departments had fixed the ceremonial rules for the vice directors: from the vice censor-in-chief down, when meeting a vice director one paid respects by reining in and standing aside. On the day a vice director thanked for office, censorate grandees and the three bureaus' censors paid respects at the tent; outside the Gate of Observing Phenomena they stood in ranks, with later arrival counted as greater honor. After the censorate officers took their places, court ushers led the vice director in with announced guidance before the grandees assumed their ranks. When the ranks withdrew, the same procedure applied. When the censor-in-chief and a vice director met on the road, they took separate paths. By old practice, when the Left and Right Vice Directors first took office, the vice censor-in-chief, Vice Minister of Civil Office Appointments, and those below bowed in rows. In the fourth year the Secretariat memorialized: "For vice directors to receive bows from vice censors and vice ministers seems too weighty a honor. To return bows only to director-level officials and below would be too slight. Henceforth officials of fourth rank and below in the ministries, and sixth rank and below in the Censorate together with director-level officials, should follow old precedent; the rest per the Yuanhe seventh-year edict." This was approved. On this occasion, responding to Li Cheng's memorial, Han argued: "When the Left and Right Vice Directors first take office, they receive bows from the Left and Right Assistants, bureau vice ministers, fourth-rank officials, and the vice censor-in-chief and below. I have examined the 《Kaiyuan Rites》 and the 《Six Canons》—neither records this ceremony, and I do not know when it began. Some say vice directors are elders to all officials, but this has no support—only a single line in Jia Xu's Memorial Declining Office from Cao Wei. Moreover the Director of the Department of State Affairs is the true chief and has no provision for receiving bows. By tradition, together with the vice censor-in-chief and the colonel director of convicts they are called the Three Who Sit Alone. At court they stand as equals serving the same sovereign—how can subordinates be at ease if one faces south to receive their bows? Even if there is written authority, it should still be reformed. The 《Book of Rites》 says: "A lord does not return a gentleman's bow; if the man is not his minister, he may return it." Moreover the vice censor-in-chief and palace censors are attendance officials—for them it is especially improper. Though the Ceremonial Code mentions separated ranks, it is unclear whether this means receiving bows. The censor-in-chief too once received bows from censors below him—now none of these are practiced. This is because such ceremonial excess is not what a subject can comfortably accept. In the seventh month of Yuanhe sixth year the court ordered Cui Bin, Duan Pingzhong, and ritual officials Wang Jing and Wei Gongsu to deliberate—their reasoning was thorough. I beg that their decision be adopted as the balanced standard." Cheng then entered the Secretariat and kept the old ceremony anyway; critics held that Han was right.

七年，轉禮部侍郎。八年。改戶部侍郎。九年四月，轉吏部侍郎。六月，李宗閔得罪罷相，漢坐其黨，出為汾州刺史。宗閔再貶，漢亦改汾州司馬，仍三二十年不得錄用。會昌中，李德裕用事，漢竟淪躓而卒。

In the seventh year he was made Vice Minister of Rites. In the eighth year. He was made Vice Minister of Revenue. In the fourth month of the ninth year he became Vice Minister of Civil Office Appointments. In the sixth month Li Zongmin was disgraced and removed; implicated in his faction, Han was sent out as prefect of Fenzhou. When Zongmin was demoted again, Han was reduced to military adjutant of Fenzhou and went twenty or thirty years without appointment. During Huichang, when Li Deyu held power, Han fell into obscurity and died.

漢弟浐、洗、潘，皆登進士第。潘，大中初為禮部侍郎。漢子貺，亦登進士第。李景儉，字寬中，漢中王瑀之孫。父褚，太子中舍。景儉，貞元十五年登進士第。性俊朗，博聞強記，頗閱前史，詳其成敗。自負王霸之略，於士大夫間無所屈降。

Han's younger brothers Chan, Xi, and Pan all passed the jinshi. Pan served as Vice Minister of Rites early in Dazhong. Han's son Kuang also passed the jinshi. Li Jingjian, whose courtesy name was Kuanzhong, was grandson of Prince Yu of Hanzhong. His father Chu was mentor of the heir apparent's household. Jingjian passed the jinshi in the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan. He was handsome and quick-witted, widely read with a strong memory, steeped in history and versed in its turns of fortune. He fancied himself a strategist in the mold of ancient kings and hegemons and deferred to no colleague.

貞元末，韋執誼、王叔文東宮用事，尤重之，待以管、葛之才。叔文竊政，屬景儉居母喪，故不及從坐。韋夏卿留守東都，辟為從事。竇君為御史中丞，引為監察御史。群以罪左遷，景儉坐貶江陵戶曹。累轉忠州刺史。

Late in Zhenyuan, when Wei Zhiyi and Wang Shuwen ran the heir apparent's household, they prized him and treated him as a Guan Zhong or Zhuge Liang. When Shuwen seized power, Jingjian was mourning his mother and thus escaped implication. Wei Xiaqing, left to guard the Eastern Capital, recruited him to his staff. When Dou became vice censor-in-chief he brought Jingjian in as investigating censor. When Qun was demoted for his crimes, Jingjian was demoted to revenue clerk in Jiangling. He was eventually made prefect of Zhongzhou.

元和末入朝。執政惡之，出為澧州刺史。與元稹、李紳相善。時紳、稹在翰林，屢言於上前。及延英辭日，景儉自陳己屈，穆宗憐之，追詔拜倉部員外郎。月余，驟遷諫議大夫。

At the end of Yuanhe he returned to court. The ruling faction disliked him and sent him out as prefect of Lizhou. He was close to Yuan Zhen and Li Shen. Shen and Zhen were then in the Hanlin and spoke repeatedly of him to the emperor. At his Yanchi farewell audience Jingjian pleaded that he had been wronged; Muzong took pity and recalled him as vice director in the Bureau of Granaries. A little over a month later he was abruptly made Remonstrance Grandee.

性既矜誕，寵擢之後，淩蔑公卿大臣，使酒尤甚。中丞蕭俛、學士段文昌相交輔政，景儉輕之，形於談謔。二人俱訴之，穆宗不獲已，貶之。制曰：「諫議大夫李景儉，擢自宗枝，嘗探儒術，薦歷臺閣，亦分郡符。動或違仁，行不由義。附權幸以虧節，通奸黨之陰謀。眾情皆疑，群議難息。據因緣之狀，當置嚴科；順長養之時，特從寬典。勉宜省過，無或徇非。可建州刺史。」未幾元稹用事，自郡召還，復為諫議大夫。

Proud and unrestrained by nature, after his rapid promotion he looked down on the highest officials and drank to excess. Vice censor-in-chief Xiao Xian and academician Duan Wenchang were alternating in power; Jingjian slighted them openly in jest. Both complained to the emperor; unable to refuse, Muzong demoted him. The edict read: "Remonstrance Grandee Li Jingjian, raised from the imperial clan, once studied the classics, served in the Censorate and Secretariat, and held prefectural office. His conduct often strayed from humaneness and did not follow righteousness. He clung to the powerful at the cost of integrity and trafficked in factional intrigue. Public suspicion was widespread and criticism would not cease. By the evidence of his associations he deserved severe punishment; but in this season of nurturing growth he is granted leniency instead. Let him examine his faults and not persist in error. He is appointed prefect of Jianzhou." Soon Yuan Zhen came to power, recalled him from his prefecture, and restored him as Remonstrance Grandee.

其年十二月，景儉朝退，與兵部郎中知制誥馮宿、庫部郎中知制誥楊嗣復、起居舍人溫造、司勛員外郎李肇、刑部員外郎王鎰等同謁史官獨孤朗，乃於史館飲酒。景儉乘醉詣中書謁宰相，呼王播、崔植、杜元穎名，面疏其失，辭頗悖慢。宰相遜言止之，旋奏貶漳州刺史。是日同飲於史館者皆貶逐。

That twelfth month, after court Jingjian joined Military Appointments director and edict drafter Feng Su, Treasury director and edict drafter Yang Sifu, diarist Wen Zao, Merit Records vice director Li Zhao, and Punishments vice director Wang Yi in visiting historiographer Dugu Lang, and they drank in the History Office. Drunk, Jingjian went to the Secretariat and confronted the chief ministers, naming Wang Bo, Cui Zhi, and Du Yuanying and rebuking their faults to their faces in insolent language. The chief ministers humored him into stopping and soon had him demoted to prefect of Zhangzhou. That day all who had drunk in the History Office were demoted and banished.

景儉未至漳州而元稹作相，改授楚州刺史。議者以景儉使酒，淩忽宰臣，詔令才行，遽遷大郡。稹懼其物議，追還，授少府少監。從坐者皆召還。而景儉竟以忤物不得誌而卒。景儉疏財尚議，雖不厲名節，死之日，知名之士鹹惜之。

Before Jingjian reached Zhangzhou, Yuan Zhen became chief minister and reassigned him to prefect of Chuzhou. Critics held that Jingjian, drunk and insolent to the chief ministers, had barely been banished when he was suddenly given a major prefecture. Fearing public criticism, Zhen recalled him and made him vice director of the Court of the Imperial Treasury. Those punished with him were all recalled. Yet Jingjian never achieved his ambitions, having offended too many, and died. Jingjian was generous with money and loved debate; though not strict about reputation, noted men regretted his death.

景儉弟景儒、景信、景仁，皆有藝學，知名於時。景信、景仁，皆登進士第。【贊】史臣曰：仲尼有言：「不得中行而與之，必也狂狷乎！」若渤論考第，仲方駁謚，誠知後悔，不能息言，可謂狷歟？當賊註挾邪之辰，群公結舌而寢默，而中敏、李甘、元裕，或肆其言，或奮其筆，暴揚醜跡，不憚撩須。謂之為狂，即有遺恨，比夫請劍斷佞，亦可同年而語也。南紀有良史才，足以自立，而協比權幸，顛沛終身。君子慎獨，庸可忽諸。景儉自負太過，蕩而無檢，良驥中年跅弛之患也。

His younger brothers Jingru, Jingxin, and Jingren were all accomplished scholars renowned in their day. Jingxin and Jingren both passed the jinshi. [Praise] The historiographer writes: Confucius said, "If one cannot keep company with those of the middle way, one must settle for the impetuous and the narrow!" When Bo argued over evaluation ranks and Zhongfang rebutted a posthumous title—knowing regret yet unable to hold his tongue—was that not the narrow type? When the villain Zhu held sway, most officials held their tongues, yet Zhongmin, Li Gan, and Yuanyu—some with speech, some with the pen—exposed his foul deeds without fear of provoking his wrath. To call them merely impetuous is too slight; they may be compared with those who begged a sword to cut down a flatterer. Nanji had the talent of a fine historian and could have stood on his own, yet he aligned with the powerful and spent his life in turmoil. The gentleman is cautious even in solitude—this cannot be neglected. Jingjian thought too well of himself, was dissolute and unrestrained—the affliction of a fine horse going slack in midlife.

贊曰：張、李切言，利刃決云。裴諫方士，深誠愛君。言排賊註，高、李不群。漢、儉朋比，夫何足云。

Praise: Zhang and Li spoke with cutting force, like a sharp blade parting the clouds. Pei remonstrated against wonder-workers out of deep loyalty to his sovereign. They spoke against the villain Zhu; Gao and Li stood apart from the crowd. Han and Jianian clung to faction—what more need be said?

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