1
毛璋，本滄州小校。 梁將戴思遠帥滄州，時莊宗已定魏博，思遠勢蹙，棄州遁去，璋據城歸莊宗， 〈（《玉堂閑話》：戴思遠任浮陽日，有部曲毛璋，為性輕悍。 嘗與數十卒追捕盜賊，還宿於逆旅，毛枕劍而寢。 夜分，其劍忽大吼，躍出鞘外，從卒聞者愕然驚異，毛亦神之。 乃持劍祝曰：「某若異日有此山河，爾當更鳴躍，否則已。」 毛復寢，未熟，劍吼躍如初，毛深自負。 其後戴離鎮，毛請留，戴從之。 未幾，毛以州歸命於唐莊宗，莊宗以毛為其州刺史，後竟帥滄海。）〉 曆貝州、遼州刺史。 璋性凶悖，有膽略，從征河上，屢有戰功。 梁平，授滄州節度使。 王師討蜀，以璋為行營右廂馬軍都指揮使； 蜀平，璋功居多。 明年，蕭牆禍起，繼岌自西川至渭南，部下散亡，其川貨妓樂，為璋所掠。 明宗嗣位，錄平蜀功，授邠州節度使。
Mao Zhang had begun his career as a low-ranking officer in Cangzhou. When Liang general Dai Siyuan held Cangzhou, Emperor Zhuangzong had already secured Weibo. With his position collapsing, Siyuan abandoned the prefecture and fled, and Zhang seized the city and submitted to Zhuangzong, (According to Tales from the Jade Hall: While Dai Siyuan was governing Fuyang, one of his retainers was Mao Zhang, known for his reckless, aggressive nature. On one occasion he took several dozen men in pursuit of bandits. On the way back they put up at an inn, and Mao went to sleep with his sword under his head. At midnight his sword suddenly gave a great roar and jumped clear of its scabbard. The soldiers who heard it were stunned; Mao, too, regarded the event as an omen. Taking the sword in hand, he addressed it: "If I should one day come to rule these lands, you will roar and leap again; if not, let this be the end of it. Mao went back to sleep. Before he had settled into deep slumber, the sword roared and leapt again just as before. From that moment he was convinced of his destiny. When Dai later left his command, Mao asked to stay behind, and Dai agreed. Not long afterward Mao turned the prefecture over to Tang Emperor Zhuangzong, who made him prefect of Qizhou; he eventually rose to command the Canghai circuit.)〉 He later served in turn as prefect of Beizhou and Liaozhou. Zhang was violent and lawless by nature, yet bold and capable. On campaigns along the Yellow River he won repeated martial honors. After the Liang dynasty fell, he was made military commissioner of Cangzhou. During the imperial campaign against Shu, he was appointed overall commander of the right-wing cavalry in the field headquarters; After Shu was pacified, Zhang's contribution ranked among the greatest. The following year, palace intrigue erupted into disaster. As Li Jiji made his way from western Sichuan to Weinan, his forces melted away, and Zhang seized the Sichuan wealth, entertainers, and musicians in his train. When Emperor Mingzong took the throne, Zhang's role in the conquest of Shu was formally acknowledged, and he was given Binzhou as his circuit.
2
璋既家富於財，有蜀之妓樂，驕僭自大，動多不法，招致部下，繕理兵仗。 朝廷移授昭義節度使，璋謀欲不奉詔，判官邊蔚密言規責，乃僶勉承命。 洎至潞州，狂妄不悛，每擁川妓於山亭院，服赭黃，縱酒，令為王衍在蜀之戲。 事聞於朝，征為金吾上將軍。 其年秋，東川節度使董璋上言：「毛璋男廷贇齎父書往西川，慮有陰事。」 因追廷贇及同行人趙延祚，與璋俱下御史台獄。 廷贇乃璋之假侄，稱有叔在蜀，欲往省之，亦無私書，詔停任，令歸私第。 初，延祚在獄，多言璋陰事，璋許重賂，以塞其口。 及免，延祚征其賂，璋拒而不與，以至延祚詣台訴璋翻覆，復下御史台訊鞫。 中丞呂夢奇以璋前蒙昭雪，今延祚以責賂之故，復加織羅，故稍佑璋。 及款狀上聞，或云夢奇受璋賂，所以獄不盡情，執之，移於軍巡。 璋具狀曾許延祚賂未與，又云曾借馬與夢奇，別無行賂之事。 朝廷懲其宿惡，長流儒州，賜死於路。
Flush with wealth and in possession of Shu's courtesans and musicians, Zhang grew arrogant and overbearing. He habitually flouted the law, gathering followers and stockpiling arms. When the court reassigned him to the Zhaoyi circuit, Zhang considered defying the order. Only after his secretary Bian Wei quietly reprimanded him did he grudgingly accept. Once at Luzhou he remained as reckless as ever. He often gathered Sichuan courtesans in the Mountain Pavilion courtyard, dressed in imperial ochre-yellow, drank heavily, and had them reenact the amusements of Wang Yan's court in Shu. When the court learned of this, he was recalled to serve as Senior General of the Golden Guard. That autumn, Dong Zhang, military commissioner of Dongchuan, memorialized: "Mao Zhang's son Tingyun is carrying a letter from his father to western Sichuan, and I fear some covert design lies behind the journey. On that basis Tingyun and his traveling companion Zhao Yanzuo were seized, and Mao Zhang was imprisoned by the censorate as well. Tingyun was Zhang's adoptive nephew. He said he had an uncle in Shu whom he wished to visit, and no secret letter was found. An edict relieved Zhang of his post and ordered him home. While Zhao Yanzuo was in custody, he testified at length about Zhang's covert activities. Zhang promised him a large bribe to keep quiet. After Yanzuo was freed, he demanded payment, but Zhang refused. Yanzuo then returned to the censorate and accused Zhang of going back on his word, and Zhang was again taken into custody for questioning. Censor-in-chief Lü Mengqi felt that Zhang had already been cleared once and that Yanzuo was now pressing the case only because a promised bribe had not been paid. Believing the new accusations were contrived, he leaned somewhat in Zhang's favor. When the written confession reached the throne, some said Lü Mengqi had taken a bribe from Zhang and had therefore not pursued the case fully. Mengqi was arrested himself, and the investigation was transferred to the military patrol office. Zhang's full statement acknowledged that he had promised Yanzuo a bribe but never paid it, and that he had once lent a horse to Mengqi, but denied any other bribery. The court, punishing his long record of misconduct, banished him to Ruzhou and ordered him put to death on the way.
3
聶嶼，鄴中人。 少為僧，漸學吟詠。 鄭玨之再主禮闈也，與鄉人趙都俱赴鄉薦，都納賄於玨，人報翌日登第，嶼聞不捷，詬來人以嚇之，玨懼，俾俱成名。 漸為拾遺，依郭崇韜為鎮州書記。 明宗時，為起居舍人。 雙眸若懸，性氣乖僻，人多忌之。 天成初，除鄴都留守判官，與趙敬怡、呂夢奇不足。 又改河東節度，及至，常鄙其土風，薄其人士。 或達於重誨，會敬怡入為樞密使，與夢奇同構殺之。 嶼早依郭崇韜門庭，致身朱紫，名登兩史，浙江使回，生涯巨萬。 嶼內河東節判時，郭氏次子之婦，孀居於家，嶼喪偶未久，復忍而納幣，人皆罪之。 明宗在藩邸時，素聞其醜聲。 天成中，與溫韜等同詔賜死。
Nie Yu came from Ye. As a youth he entered the monastic life and gradually learned to write poetry. When Zheng Jue again oversaw the civil examinations, Nie and his fellow townsman Zhao Du both sought provincial recommendation. Du paid Jue a bribe, and word spread that he would pass the next day. On learning he had failed, Nie cursed the messenger in a deliberate attempt to intimidate him. Frightened, Jue saw to it that both men passed. He eventually rose to the post of remonstrance officer and served under Guo Chongtao as secretary at Zhen Prefecture. Under Emperor Mingzong he served as a diarist. His eyes bulged prominently, his temper was odd and difficult, and many came to dislike him. Early in the Tiancheng era he was made aide to the Ye garrison commander and fell out with Zhao Jingyi and Lü Mengqi. He was next posted to Hedong circuit, where he constantly sneered at the local ways and held its gentry in contempt. Word of this reached An Chonghui. When Jingyi entered the capital as director of the Bureau of Military Affairs, he and Mengqi together plotted to have Nie killed. Nie had risen through Guo Chongtao's patronage to high office, earned mention in both official histories, and after returning from an envoy mission to Zhejiang had accumulated a fortune numbering in the tens of thousands. While serving as internal secretary and circuit judge in Hedong, Nie learned that the wife of Guo's second son was living at home as a widow. Though he had himself been widowed only recently, he brazenly sent betrothal gifts to her, to universal condemnation. Even when Mingzong was still a prince, he had heard repeated reports of Nie's disgraceful conduct. During the Tiancheng era he was, by imperial edict together with Wen Tao and others, commanded to take his own life.
4
溫韜，華原人。 少為盜，據華原，事李茂貞，名彥韜，後降於梁，更名昭圖。 為耀州節度，唐諸陵在境者悉發之，取所藏金寶：而昭陵最固，悉藏前世圖書，鍾、王紙墨，筆跡如新。 〈（案：以下有闕文。）〉 移許州節度使，累官至檢校太尉、平章事。 韜素善趙岩，每依附之。 莊宗入汴，岩恃韜與己素厚，遂奔許州。 韜延之於第，斬首傳送闕下。 同光初，韜來朝，郭崇韜曰：「此劫陵賊，罪不可赦。」 韜納賂劉後，賜姓，名紹衝，遽遣還鎮。 明宗即位，流於德州，俄賜死。
Wen Tao came from Huayuan. As a youth he turned bandit, seized control of Huayuan, and entered Li Maozhen's service under the name Yan Tao. He later surrendered to the Liang and took the name Zhaotu. As military commissioner of Yaozhou, he opened every Tang imperial tomb within his jurisdiction and looted the gold and treasures inside. The Zhao Mausoleum, the most securely built of all, held books and maps from earlier ages as well as calligraphy by Zhong You and Wang Xizhi—works whose ink looked as though it had been written yesterday. (Note: the text below is missing.)〉 He was transferred to Xuzhou as military commissioner and eventually rose to acting Grand Preceptor and Grand Councilor. Tao had long been close to Zhao Yan and habitually relied on his patronage. When Emperor Zhuangzong entered Bian, Yan counted on his long friendship with Tao and fled to Xuzhou. Tao received him at his residence, beheaded him, and sent the head to the imperial court. Early in the Tongguang era, Tao came to court. Guo Chongtao said, "This tomb-raiding bandit—his crime cannot be forgiven. Tao bribed Empress Liu, was granted the imperial surname and the name Shaochong, and was promptly sent back to his post. When Emperor Mingzong took the throne, he was exiled to Dezhou and soon commanded to take his own life.
5
長子延浚，清泰中為泥水關使； 次延招，為父牙帳都校； 次延袤，鄧州指揮使； 鹹聚居許下。 晉天福初，聞張從賓作亂於河陽，鹹往依之。 從賓慮其難製，悉斬於帳下。
His eldest son Yanjun served as commander of Nishui Pass during the Qingtai era; the second son Yanzhao was chief commandant of his father's personal guard; the third son Yanmao was commander at Deng Prefecture; They all lived together at Xuzhou. Early in the Tianfu era of Jin, on hearing that Zhang Congbin had rebelled at Heyang, they all went to join him. Congbin feared they would be difficult to control and had them all executed in his camp.
6
段凝，開封人也。 本名明遠，少穎悟，多智數。 初為澠池簿，脫荷衣以事梁祖，梁祖漸器之。 開平三年十月，自東頭供奉官授右威衛大將軍，充左軍巡使兼水北巡檢使。 凝妹為梁祖美人，故稍委心腹。 四年五月，授懷州刺史。 乾化元年十二月，梁祖北征回，過郡，凝貢獻加等，梁祖大悅。 梁祖復北，凝迎奉進貢，有加於前。 梁祖次相州，刺史李思安迎奉疏怠，梁祖怒，貶思安。 製云：「懷州刺史段明遠，少年治郡，庶事惟公，兩度隻奉行鑾，數程宿食本界，動無遺闕，舉必周豐，蓋能罄竭於家財，務在顯酬夫明獎。 觀明遠之忠勤若此，見思安之悖慢何如！」 其見賞如此。 其後，遷鄭州刺史，監大軍於河上。 梁末帝以戴思遠為北面招討使。 行師不利，用王彥章代之，受任之翌日，取德勝之南城，軍聲大振。 張漢倫等推功於凝，凝掎摭彥章之失以間之。 〈（《通鑒》：彥章棄鄒家口，復趨楊劉。 遊奕將李紹興敗梁遊兵於清邱縣南，段凝以為唐兵已自上流渡，驚駭失色，麵數彥章，尤其深入。）〉 梁末帝怒，罷彥章兵權。 凝納賂於趙、張二族，求為招討使，敬翔、李振極言不可，竟不能止。 凝以眾五萬營於高陵津，裨將康延孝叛歸莊宗，延孝具陳梁軍虛實，莊宗遂決長驅之計。 未幾，莊宗入汴，凝自滑率兵而南，前鋒杜晏球至封丘，解甲聽命。 翌日，凝率大軍乞降於汴郊，莊宗釋之，復以凝為滑州兵馬留後，賜姓，名紹欽。 有頃，正授節度，改兗州節度使。 凝初見莊宗，因伶人景進通貨於宮掖。 凝天性奸佞，巧言飾智，善候人意。 其年，契丹寇幽州，命宣徽使李紹宏監護諸軍，以禦契丹，凝與董璋戍瓦橋關。 凝巧事紹宏，紹宏嘗乘間奏凝蓋世奇才，可以大任，屢請以兵柄委之。 郭崇韜曰：「段凝亡國敗軍之將，奸諂難狀，不要信也。」 凝在藩鎮，私用庫物數萬計，有司促償，中旨貰其負。 同光三年四月，移授鄧州節度使。 四年二月，趙在禮據鄴城，李紹宏請用凝為大將，莊宗許之，令具方略條奏。 凝所請偏裨皆取其己黨，莊宗疑之，乃止。 明宗至洛陽，霍彥威怒其前事，與溫韜同收下獄，詔釋之，放歸田里。 明年，竄於遼州，竟與溫韜同製賜死。
Duan Ning was a native of Kaifeng. His original name was Mingyuan. As a youth he was quick-witted and adept at intrigue. He began as a clerk in Mianchi County, then cast off his scholar's robe to enter the service of the Liang founder, who gradually came to esteem him. In the tenth month of the third year of Kaiping he was promoted from Eastern Head Attendant to General of the Right Weiwu Guard, with concurrent duties as Left Army Patrol Commissioner and Northern Waters Inspector. Ning's younger sister was a favored consort of the Liang founder, and on that account he was gradually treated as an inner-circle confidant. In the fifth month of the fourth year he was appointed prefect of Huaizhou. In the twelfth month of the first year of Qianhua, the Liang founder returned from a northern campaign and passed through his prefecture. Ning doubled his tribute, and the founder was greatly pleased. When the founder marched north again, Ning received him with tribute even more lavish than before. When the founder halted at Xiangzhou, Prefect Li Si'an received him with slack courtesy. The founder was enraged and demoted him. The edict declared: "Duan Mingyuan, prefect of Huaizhou, though young in governing a commandery, conducts every affair with scrupulous fairness. Twice he alone attended the imperial carriage; for several marches he provided lodging and provisions within his jurisdiction without a single lapse, and never with less than full abundance. He has clearly drained his family fortune and seeks thereby to make plain the value of enlightened reward. Compare Mingyuan's loyalty and diligence with this, and see how Si'an's insolence and neglect measure up! Such was the esteem in which he was held. Thereafter he was transferred to Zheng Prefecture to supervise the army on the Yellow River front. The last Liang emperor appointed Dai Siyuan commander-in-chief of the northern campaign. When campaigns went badly, Wang Yanzhang replaced him. The day after taking command, Yanzhang seized the southern citadel of Desheng, and army morale soared. Zhang Hanlun and others credited Ning with the success, and Ning seized on Yanzhang's faults to drive a wedge between them. (According to the Zizhi Tongjian: Yanzhang abandoned Zujiakou and hurried toward Yangliu. Patrol general Li Shaoxing defeated Liang scouts south of Qingqiu County. Ning concluded that Tang troops had already crossed upstream, turned pale with fright, and berated Yanzhang to his face, reproaching him above all for advancing too far.)〉 The last Liang emperor was enraged and stripped Yanzhang of his military command. Ning bribed the Zhao and Zhang clans in pursuit of the post of campaign commander-in-chief. Jing Xiang and Li Zhen argued strenuously against the appointment but could not prevent it. Ning encamped fifty thousand men at Gaoling Ford. Subordinate general Kang Yanxiao defected to Emperor Zhuangzong and gave a full account of the Liang army's strengths and weaknesses, and Zhuangzong thereupon resolved on a direct advance. Before long Emperor Zhuangzong entered Bian. Ning led troops south from Hua, and vanguard commander Du Yanqiu reached Fengqiu, laid down his arms, and awaited orders. The next day Ning led the main army to surrender in the suburbs of Bian. Emperor Zhuangzong spared him, reappointed him military reserve officer of Hua Prefecture, granted him the imperial surname, and gave him the name Shaoqin. Shortly thereafter he received a full appointment as military commissioner and was transferred to Yanzhou. When Ning first met Emperor Zhuangzong, he used the actor Jing Jin to convey gifts into the inner palace. By nature Ning was treacherous and sycophantic, skilled at polished speech and feigned wisdom, and adept at reading what others wished to hear. That year the Khitan raided Youzhou. Li Shaohong, commissioner of the Palace Secretariat, was appointed to oversee the armies against them; Ning and Dong Zhang garrisoned Waqiao Pass. Ning skillfully ingratiated himself with Shaohong, who on one occasion memorialized that Ning was a rare genius fit for great responsibility and repeatedly asked that military command be entrusted to him. Guo Chongtao said, "Duan Ning is a defeated general of a ruined state; his treachery and flattery are beyond description—do not trust him. At his fief Ning privately used treasury goods worth tens of thousands. When the relevant office pressed for repayment, an imperial order remitted his debt. In the fourth month of the third year of Tongguang he was transferred to military commissioner of Deng Prefecture. In the second month of the fourth year Zhao Zaili seized Ye City. Li Shaohong asked that Ning be appointed commander; Emperor Zhuangzong agreed and ordered him to submit a detailed plan. Every subordinate commander Ning requested was from his own faction. Emperor Zhuangzong grew suspicious and halted the appointment. When Emperor Mingzong reached Luoyang, Huo Yanwei, angry at his past conduct, had him imprisoned together with Wen Tao. An edict released them and sent them back to their homes. The following year he fled to Liaozhou and was ultimately, by edict together with Wen Tao, commanded to take his own life.
7
孔謙， 〈（《通鑒》作魏州人。）〉 莊宗同光初，為租庸副使。 謙本州之幹吏，上自天祐十二年，帝平定魏博，會計皆委製置。 謙能曲事權要，效其才力，帝委以泉貨之務，設法箕斂，七八年間，軍儲獲濟。 及帝即位於鄴城，謙已當為租庸使。 物議以謙雖有經營濟贍之勞，然人地尚卑，不欲驟總重任。 樞密使郭崇韜舉魏博觀察判官張憲為租庸使，以謙為副，謙悒然不樂者久之。
Kong Qian, (The Zizhi Tongjian gives his nativity as Weizhou.)〉 Early in the Tongguang era under Emperor Zhuangzong, he served as deputy commissioner of taxation and corvée. Qian had been a capable clerk in the prefecture. From the twelfth year of Tianyou, when the emperor pacified Weibo, all fiscal accounting was placed under his management. Qian knew how to defer skillfully to the powerful and put his talents to use. The emperor entrusted him with fiscal affairs; he devised methods of heavy exaction, and over seven or eight years the army's stores were kept supplied. When the emperor took the throne at Ye City, Qian ought already to have become commissioner of taxation and corvée. Public opinion held that although Qian had worked hard to manage and supply provisions, his rank and standing were still too low, and people did not want to see him suddenly given chief responsibility. Guo Chongtao, director of the Bureau of Military Affairs, recommended Zhang Xian, observation commissioner aide of Weibo, as commissioner of taxation and corvée and made Qian his deputy. Qian remained displeased for a long time.
8
帝既平梁汴，謙徑自魏州馳之行在，因謂崇韜曰：「魏都重地，須大臣彈壓，以謙籌之，非張憲不可。」 崇韜以為忠告，即奏憲為鄴都副留守，乃命宰臣豆盧革專判租庸。 謙彌失望，乃尋革過失。 時革以手書便省庫錢數十萬，謙以手書示崇韜，亦辭避。 帝問：「當委何人為可？」 崇韜曰：「孔謙雖久掌貨泉，然物議未當居大任，以臣所見，當委張憲為便。」 帝促征之。 憲性精辨，為趨時者所忌，人不祐之。 謙乘間訴於豆盧革曰：「租庸錢穀，悉在眼前，委一小吏可辦。 鄴都本根之地，不可輕付於人。 興唐尹王正言無裨益之才，徒有獨行，詔書既征張憲，復以何人為代？」 豆盧革言於崇韜，崇韜曰：「鄴都分司列職，皆主上舊人，委王正言何慮不辦？」 革曰：「俱是失也，設不獲已，以正言掌租庸，取書於大臣，或可辦矣； 若付之方面，必敗人事。」 謙以正言非德非勳，懦而易製，曰：「此議為便。」 然非己誌。 尋掎正言之失，泣訴於崇韜，厚賂閹伶，以求進用，人知奸諂，沮之，乃上章請退。 帝怒其規避，將置於法，樂人景進於帝前解喻而止。 王正言風病恍惚，不能綜三司事，景進屢言於帝，乃以正言守禮部尚書，以謙為租庸使。 謙以國用不足，奏：「諸道判官員數過多，請隻置節度、觀察、判官、書記、支使、推官各一員。 留守置判官各一員。 三京府置判官、推官，餘並罷俸錢。」 又奏：「百官俸錢雖多，折支非實，請減半數，皆支實錢。」 並從之。 未幾，半年俸復從虛折。 〈（案：以下原闕。 《北夢瑣言》：明宗即位，誅租庸使孔謙等。 孔謙者，魏州孔目。 莊宗圖霸，以供饋兵食，謙有力焉。 既為租庸使，曲事嬖幸，奪宰相權，專以聚斂為意，剝削為端。 以犯眾怒，伏誅。）〉
After the emperor had pacified Liang and Bian, Qian raced directly from Weizhou to the imperial camp and told Chongtao, "Ye is a critical territory and requires a senior minister to keep order. As I see it, no one but Zhang Xian will do. Chongtao took this as sincere counsel, immediately memorialized Zhang Xian as deputy garrison commander of Ye, and ordered chief minister Dou Lüge to oversee taxation and corvée exclusively. Qian was all the more disappointed and set about looking for Ge's faults. At the time Ge had used a personal note to draw several hundred thousand from the treasury for convenience. Qian showed the note to Chongtao, who also declined the post. The emperor asked, "To whom should I entrust this office? Chongtao said, "Although Kong Qian has long managed fiscal affairs, public opinion holds that he should not yet hold great responsibility. In my view Zhang Xian would be the better choice." The emperor urgently summoned him. Zhang was by nature sharp and discerning; those who curried favor resented him, and no one came to his support. Qian seized an opportunity to complain to Dou Lüge: "The revenues and grain of taxation and corvée are all right before one's eyes; a minor clerk could handle the task. Ye is the foundation of the realm and must not be lightly entrusted to anyone. Xingtang prefect Wang Zhengyan lacks talent of real use and possesses only a reputation for integrity. Now that an edict has summoned Zhang Xian, who is to replace him? Dou Lüge spoke to Chongtao, who said, "All the branch offices and posts at Ye are the emperor's old associates; if Wang Zhengyan is entrusted with the task, why worry that he cannot manage it?" Ge said, "Both choices would be mistakes. If there is no help for it, let Zhengyan manage taxation and corvée while taking counsel from senior ministers—that might work; but if entrusted with a regional command, he is sure to ruin affairs." Qian, knowing Zhengyan lacked virtue and merit and was cowardly and easy to control, said, "This plan is convenient." Yet it was not what he wanted. Before long he seized on Zhengyan's faults and tearfully complained to Chongtao, bribed eunuch actors heavily to seek advancement; when people recognized his treachery and flattery they blocked him, and he submitted a memorial asking to retire. The emperor was angry at his evasion and was about to punish him by law, but the musician Jing Jin explained matters before the emperor and stopped it. Wang Zhengyan suffered from wind ailment and mental confusion and could not manage the three offices. Jing Jin repeatedly spoke to the emperor, whereupon Zhengyan was made Minister of Rites and Qian was made commissioner of taxation and corvée. Citing insufficient state revenue, Qian memorialized: "The number of aides in the various circuits is excessive. I request that each circuit be limited to one military commissioner aide, one observation commissioner aide, one secretary, one staff officer, and one investigative officer. Garrison commanders were to have one aide each. The three capital prefectures were to have aides and investigative officers; salaries for all other such posts were to be abolished. He also memorialized: "Although official salaries are nominally large, payment in kind does not reflect real value. I request that salaries be cut by half and paid entirely in cash." All were approved. Before long, half-year salaries were again paid in kind at inflated rates. (Note: the original text below is missing. Miscellaneous Notes from Northern Dreams: When Emperor Mingzong took the throne, he executed commissioner of taxation and corvée Kong Qian and others. Kong Qian had been a clerical officer in Weizhou. When Emperor Zhuangzong pursued hegemony, Qian contributed greatly to supplying the army with provisions. Once he became commissioner, he deferentially served the emperor's favorites, usurped the chancellor's authority, and devoted himself to accumulation and exploitation. Provoking universal anger, he was executed.)〉
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李鄴，魏州人也。 幼事楊師厚，及莊宗入魏，漸轉裨將，曆數郡刺史，後遷亳州。 為政貪穢，有奴為人持金以賂鄴，奴隱其金，鄴殺之。 其家上訴，因訐其陰事，詔貶郴州司戶參軍，又貶崖州長流百姓，所在賜自盡。
Li Ye came from Weizhou. In youth he served Yang Shihou. When Emperor Zhuangzong entered Wei he gradually rose to subordinate general, served in turn as prefect of several commanderies, and was later transferred to Bozhou. His governance was greedy and corrupt. A slave held gold on someone's behalf to bribe Ye; the slave kept the gold for himself, and Ye killed him. The family appealed upward; on account of denunciations of his secret misdeeds, an edict demoted him to registrar of Chen Prefecture. He was further demoted and exiled to Yazhou as a commoner, and wherever he went was ordered to take his own life.
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史臣曰：《易》云：「積不善之家，必有餘殃。」 又曰：「惡不積不足以滅身。」 如毛璋之儔，可謂積惡而滅其身矣，況溫韜之發陵寢，段凝之敗國家，罪不容誅，死猶差晚。 餘皆瑣瑣，何足議焉。
The historian says: The Book of Changes states, "A house that accumulates nothing good is sure to have surplus calamity. It also says, "Evil not accumulated is insufficient to destroy one's person." Men like Mao Zhang may be said to have accumulated evil until it destroyed them; how much more Wen Tao, who opened imperial tombs, and Duan Ning, who ruined the state—their crimes were beyond what execution could answer, and even death came too late. The rest are trifling matters, unworthy of discussion.