1
熊概 〈（葉春）〉 陳鎰李儀 〈（丁璿）〉 陳泰李棠 〈（曾翚）〉 賈銓王宇崔恭劉孜 〈（宋傑邢宥）〉 李侃 〈（雷復李綱）〉 原傑彭誼牟俸夏壎 〈（子鍭）〉 高明楊繼宗
Xiong Gai (Supplementary biography: Ye Chun)〉 Chen Yi; Li Yi (Supplementary biography: Ding Xuan)〉 Chen Tai; Li Tang (Supplementary biography: Zeng Kun)〉 Jia Quan; Wang Yu; Cui Gong; Liu Zi (Supplementary biographies: Song Jie, Xing You)〉 Li Kan (Supplementary biographies: Lei Fu, Li Gang)〉 Yuan Jie; Peng Yi; Mou Feng; Xia Xun (Supplementary biography: Zi Yu)〉 Gao Ming; Yang Jizong
2
熊概，字元節，豐城人。 幼孤，隨母適胡氏，冒其姓。 永樂九年進士。 授御史。 十六年擢廣西按察使。 峒溪蠻大出掠，布政使議請靖江王兵遏之。 概不可，曰：「吾等居方面，寇至無捍禦，顧煩王耶？ 且寇必不至，戒嚴而已。」 已而果然。 久之，調廣東。
Xiong Gai, styled Yuanjie, came from Fengcheng. Orphaned young, he went with his mother when she remarried into the Hu clan and bore their surname. He passed the metropolitan examination in the ninth year of the Yongle reign. He was appointed an investigating censor. In the sixteenth year he was promoted to provincial surveillance commissioner of Guangxi. When the Dongxi tribesmen raided in force, the provincial administration commissioner proposed calling on troops from the Prince of Jingjiang to stop them. Gai refused, saying, "We hold frontier posts—if bandits arrive and we cannot defend ourselves, must we trouble the prince? Besides, the raiders will surely not come; we need only stand on guard. And so it turned out. After some time he was transferred to Guangdong.
3
洪熙元年正月，命以原官與布政使周幹、參政葉春巡視南畿、浙江。 初，夏原吉治水江南還，代以左通政趙居任，兼督農務。 居任不恤民，歲以豐稔聞。 成祖亦知其誣罔。 既卒，左通政嶽福繼之，庸懦不事事。 仁宗監國時，嘗命概以御史署刑部，知其賢，故有是命。 是年八月，幹還，言有司多不得人，土豪肆惡，而福不任職。 宣宗召福還，擢概大理寺卿，與春同往巡撫。 南畿、浙江設巡撫自此始。
In the first month of the first year of Hongxi, he was ordered to keep his present rank and, together with Administration Commissioner Zhou Gan and Vice Commissioner Ye Chun, tour the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang. Earlier, after Xia Yuanji returned from river works in Jiangnan, Left Assistant Minister Zhao Juren succeeded him and also oversaw agricultural affairs. Juren neglected the people yet reported bountiful harvests year after year. Emperor Chengzu knew as well that he was lying. After Juren died, Left Assistant Minister Yue Fu took his place—a timid, ineffectual man who attended to nothing. When the future Renzong was overseeing the realm as heir apparent, he had once had Gai serve at the Ministry of Justice in his capacity as censor and knew his ability—hence this order. That August, when Gan returned, he reported that many local offices lacked capable men, local bullies ran wild, and Fu was failing in his post. Emperor Xuanzong recalled Fu and promoted Gai to chief judge of the Court of Judicial Review, dispatching him with Chun as touring pacification commissioners. The post of touring pacification commissioner for the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang dates from this appointment.
4
浙西豪持郡邑短長為不法。 海鹽民平康暴橫甚，御史捕之，遁去。 會赦還，益聚黨八百余人。 概捕誅之。 已，悉捕豪惡數十輩，械至京，論如法。 於是奸宄帖息。 諸衛所糧運不繼，軍乏食。 概以便宜發諸府贖罪米四萬二千余石贍軍，乃聞於朝。 帝悅，諭戶部勿以專擅罪概。 概用法嚴，奸民憚之，騰謗書於朝。 宣德二年，行在都御史劾概與春所至作威福，縱兵擾民。 帝弗問，陰使御史廉之，無所得。 由是益任概。 明年七月賜璽書獎勵。 概亦自信，諸當興革者皆列以聞。 時屢遣部官至江南造紙、市銅鐵。 概言水澇民饑，乞罷之。
Powerful families in western Zhejiang exploited local officials' weaknesses and acted with impunity. Ping Kang, a salt worker of Haiyan, was notoriously brutal; when a censor arrested him, he escaped. Released under an amnesty, he rallied a band of more than eight hundred followers. Gai captured and executed him. He then arrested dozens of powerful wrongdoers, sent them in chains to the capital, and had them punished according to law. After that, lawless elements quieted down. Grain shipments to the guard units fell behind, and the troops went hungry. On his own authority Gai released more than forty-two thousand shi of redemption grain from the prefectures to feed the troops, then reported the matter to court. The emperor was pleased and told the Ministry of Revenue not to punish Gai for exceeding his authority. Gai enforced the law rigorously, and wrongdoers feared him, so they flooded the court with slanderous reports. In the second year of Xuande, the acting chief censor impeached Gai and Chun for abusing their power wherever they went and allowing troops to harass the populace. The emperor took no notice and secretly sent censors to investigate, but they found nothing. The emperor thereafter relied on Gai all the more. The following July he received an imperial letter of commendation. Gai grew confident as well, reporting every reform he thought necessary. At the time the court repeatedly sent ministry officials to Jiangnan to make paper and buy copper and iron. Gai reported that floods had left the people hungry and asked that the missions be halted.
5
五年還朝，始復姓。 亡何，遷右都御史，治南院事。 行在都御史顧佐疾，驛召概代領其職，兼署刑部。 九年十月錄囚，自朝至日宴，未暇食，忽風眩卒。 賜祭，給舟歸其喪。
In the fifth year he returned to court and at last resumed his own surname. Before long he was made right chief censor and managed affairs of the southern court. When acting chief censor Gu Zuo fell ill, Gai was summoned by courier to take his post and also serve at the Ministry of Justice. In the tenth month of the ninth year, while reviewing prisoners from morning until the evening banquet without pausing to eat, he was suddenly struck by vertigo and died. The court granted sacrificial offerings and provided a boat to convey his coffin home.
6
概性剛決，巡視江南，威名甚盛。 及掌臺憲，聲稱漸損於初。
Gai was firm and decisive; on his tour of Jiangnan his authority was widely feared. Once he headed the censorate, his reputation gradually fell short of its early height.
7
葉春者，海鹽人。 起家掾吏，歷禮部郎中兩淮鹽運使，改四川右參政。 與概巡撫江、浙諸府。 既復奉命與錦衣指揮任啟、御史賴英、太監劉寧巡視。 先後凡三蒞浙西，治事於鄉，人無議其私者。 概遷都御史。 春同日進刑部右侍郎。 卒於官。
Ye Chun was a native of Haiyan. He began as a clerk, served as a director in the Ministry of Rites and as salt transport commissioner of the Two Huai, and was then made right vice commissioner of Sichuan. He served with Gai as touring pacification commissioner over the Jiangsu and Zhejiang prefectures. He was again ordered to tour with Brocade Guard Commander Ren Qi, Censor Lai Ying, and Eunuch Liu Ning. He came to western Zhejiang three times in all; though he governed in his home country, no one accused him of favoritism. Gai was promoted to chief censor. Chun was promoted the same day to right vice minister of the Ministry of Justice. He died in office.
8
陳鎰，字有戒，吳縣人。 永樂十年進士。 授御史。 遷湖廣副使，歷山東、浙江，皆有聲。
Chen Yi, styled Youjie, came from Wu County. He passed the metropolitan examination in the tenth year of the Yongle reign. He was appointed an investigating censor. He was made vice commissioner of Huguang and later served in Shandong and Zhejiang, earning a strong reputation in each post.
9
九年春進右都御史，鎮守如故。 秦中饑，乞蠲租十之四，其余米布兼收。 時瓦剌也先漸強，遣人授罕東諸衛都督喃哥等為平章，又置甘肅行省名號。 鎰以聞，請嚴為之備。 已，命與靖遠伯王驥巡視甘肅、寧夏、延綏邊務，聽便宜處置。 以災沴頻仍，條上撫安軍民二十四事，多議行。
In the spring of the ninth year he was promoted to right chief censor while continuing his command as before. When famine struck Shaanxi, he asked that four-tenths of the land tax be remitted and the remainder collected in grain and cloth. At the time the Oirat leader Esen was growing stronger; he sent envoys to appoint commanders of the Han East guards, including Nange, as pingzhang, and even set up a Gansu Branch Secretariat in name. Yi reported the matter and urged strict preparations. He was then ordered, together with Jingyuan Earl Wang Ji, to inspect border affairs in Gansu, Ningxia, and Yansui, with authority to act as he saw fit. Because disasters struck again and again, he submitted twenty-four detailed measures to reassure troops and civilians, and many were adopted.
10
鎰嘗恐襄、漢間流民嘯聚為亂，請命河南、湖廣、陜西三司官親至其地撫恤之。 得旨允行，而當事者不以為意。 王文亦相繼力言有司怠忽，恐遺禍。 至成化時，乃有項忠之役，人益思鎰言。
Yi once feared that refugees between the Xiang and Han rivers might gather and rebel, and asked that officials of the Henan, Huguang, and Shaanxi administrations go in person to comfort them. The court approved his request, but those in charge paid no attention. Wang Wen also repeatedly warned that local officials were negligent and that disaster might follow. Not until the Chenghua reign, when Xiang Zhong's campaign took place, did people recall Yi's warnings.
11
英宗北狩，景帝監國，鎰合大臣廷論王振。 於是振侄王山伏誅。 也先將入犯，以于謙薦，出撫畿內。 事寧，召還，進左都御史。
When Emperor Yingzong was captured on the northern campaign and Emperor Jingdi oversaw the realm, Yi joined the chief ministers in court deliberation on Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen's nephew Wang Shan was then executed. When Esen was about to invade, on Yu Qian's recommendation he was sent out to pacify the metropolitan region. When order was restored he was recalled and promoted to left chief censor.
12
景泰二年，陜西饑，軍民萬余人，「願得陳公活我。」 監司以聞，帝復命之。 鎰至是凡三鎮陜，先後十余年，陜人戴之若父母。 每還朝，必遮道擁車泣。 再至，則歡迎數百里不絕。 其得軍民心，前後撫陜者莫及也。
In the second year of Jingtai, when Shaanxi suffered famine, more than ten thousand soldiers and civilians cried, "We beg Lord Chen to save our lives. The provincial commissioners reported this, and the emperor sent him back. By then Yi had governed Shaanxi three times over more than ten years, and the people revered him as they would their parents. Whenever he returned to court they blocked the road, pressed around his carriage, and wept. When he came again, the welcome stretched for hundreds of li without end. In winning the loyalty of troops and civilians, none who governed Shaanxi before or after could match him.
13
三年春召還，加太子太保，與王文並掌都察院。 文威嚴，諸御史畏之若神。 鎰性寬恕，少風裁，譽望損於在陜時。 明年秋以疾致仕。 卒，贈太保，謚僖敏。 天順七年，詔官其子伸為刑部照磨。
In the spring of the third year he was recalled, made Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent, and shared control of the Censorate with Wang Wen. Wen was stern and formidable; the censors feared him like a deity. Yi was forgiving by nature and exercised little stern authority, and his reputation fell short of what it had been in Shaanxi. The following autumn he retired on grounds of illness. He died and was posthumously made Grand Mentor, with the posthumous name Ximin. In the seventh year of Tianshun an edict appointed his son Shen registrar of the Ministry of Justice.
14
李儀，涿人。 永樂間以薦舉授戶部主事。 宣宗既平高煦，義請去趙王護衛。 尚書張本亦言：「往歲孟賢謀逆，趙王未必不知。 高煦亦謂與趙合謀。 儀言是。」 帝不聽。 既而言者益眾。 帝封其詞，遣使諭王如儀指。 王即獻護衛，趙卒無事。 儀尋出知九江府，有惠政。
Li Yi came from Zhuo. During the Yongle reign he entered service by recommendation and was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. Once Emperor Xuanzong had put down Gao Xu's rebellion, Yi petitioned to strip the Prince of Zhao of his guard troops. Minister Zhang Ben also argued: "When Meng Xian plotted rebellion in earlier years, the Prince of Zhao can hardly have been ignorant of it. Gao Xu himself had said he acted in concert with the Prince of Zhao. Yi agreed." The emperor would not heed them. Before long more and more officials joined in urging the same course. The emperor sealed up their memorials and sent an envoy to tell the prince to do as Yi had proposed. The prince at once gave up his guard troops, and the Prince of Zhao escaped further trouble. Yi was soon sent out as prefect of Jiujiang, where his rule brought real benefit to the people.
15
英宗即位之歲，始設諸邊巡撫。 僉都御史丁璿方督大同、宣府軍儲，而儀以右僉都御史巡撫其地，盛有所建置。 明年請以大同東西二路分責於總兵官羅文、方政。 從之。 時朝議遣方政、楊洪出塞，與甘肅將蔣貴、史昭合擊朵兒只伯。 儀言：「四裔為患，自古有之，在備禦有方耳。 和寧殘部，窮無所歸，乍臣乍叛，小為邊寇。 邊將謹待之，將自遁，何必窮兵。 萬一乘虛襲我，少有失，適足為笑，乞敕政等無窮追。」 不納。
The year Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne saw the first appointment of touring pacification commissioners on the frontiers. Censor-in-chief Ding Xuan was then overseeing military supplies at Datong and Xuanfu, while Yi served as right censor-in-chief touring and pacifying the region and put many useful measures in place. The following year he proposed dividing responsibility for Datong's eastern and western routes between the regional commanders Luo Wen and Fang Zheng. The court approved. At the time the court was debating a plan to send Fang Zheng and Yang Hong beyond the border to join Gansu generals Jiang Gui and Shi Zhao in a joint strike against Toghon Tayisiur. Yi argued: "Disturbances from the border peoples are as old as the realm itself; what matters is sound defense. The surviving Hening bands are exhausted and homeless, submitting one moment and rebelling the next, and pose only a minor border nuisance. If our border commanders handle them prudently, they will withdraw on their own; why drive the army to exhaustion? If they exploit a gap in our defenses and we suffer even a minor defeat, we will only invite ridicule; I ask that Fang Zheng and the others be ordered not to pursue them relentlessly." His counsel was rejected.
16
督糧參政劉璉不職，儀劾之。 璉乃誣儀淫亂事。 適參將石亨欲奏鎮守中官郭敬罪，先咨儀。 儀誤緘咨牒於核餉主事文卷中，戶部以聞，致亨、敬相奏訐。 詔儀、璉自陳，而切責敬等。 璉止停俸二歲。 儀雖引罪，自負其直，詞頗激，遂被劾下吏瘐死。 正統二年二月也。 儀居官廉謹，邊人素德之。 聞其死，建昭德祠以祀。
Liu Lian, the grain-supply administration commissioner, was neglecting his duties, and Yi impeached him. Liu Lian then retaliated by accusing Yi of sexual misconduct. At the same time assistant regional commander Shi Heng wanted to memorialize the garrison eunuch Guo Jing for misconduct and sought Yi's advice first. Yi accidentally enclosed the consultation draft in a packet of documents belonging to the grain-audit director; when the Ministry of Revenue reported the matter, Shi Heng and Guo Jing began accusing each other at court. An edict commanded Yi and Liu Lian to submit their own accounts while sharply censuring Guo Jing and his associates. Liu Lian received no more than a two-year suspension of salary. Yi admitted fault, but trusting in his own rectitude he spoke too sharply; he was impeached, turned over to the judicial authorities, and died in custody from illness. It happened in the second month of the second year of Zhengtong. Yi had served with integrity and restraint, and the frontier people had long held him in esteem. When they learned of his death, they erected the Zhaode Shrine in his honor.
17
丁璿，上元人。 永樂中進士。 由御史擢居是職。 正統五年將征麓川，命乘傳往備儲餉。 尋言用兵便宜，遂命撫雲南。 麓川平，召為左副都御史，所至有聲。
Ding Xuan came from Shangyuan. He passed the metropolitan examination during the Yongle reign. He rose from investigating censor to this office. In the fifth year of Zhengtong, as preparations began for the Luchuan campaign, he was ordered to travel by courier relay to ready stores and supplies. Soon afterward he submitted advice on the conduct of the campaign and was appointed to pacify Yunnan. After Luchuan was pacified he was recalled as left vice chief censor, and wherever he served he earned a strong reputation.
18
陳泰，字吉亨，光澤人。 幼從外家曹姓，既貴，乃復故。 舉鄉試第一，除安慶府學訓導。
Chen Tai, styled Jiheng, came from Guangze. As a child he had taken his maternal family's surname, Cao; only after he rose to office did he restore his original surname. He ranked first in the provincial examination and was appointed instructor at the Anqing Prefectural school.
19
正統初，廷臣交薦，擢御史，巡按貴州。 官軍征麓川，歲取土兵二千為鄉導，戰失利，輒殺以冒功，泰奏罷之。 再按山西。 時百官俸薄，折鈔又不能即得。 泰上章乞量增祿廩，俾足養廉，然後治贓汙，則貪風自息。 事格不行。 六年夏言：「連歲災異，咎在廷臣，請敕御史給事中糾彈大臣，去其尤不職者，而後所司各考核其屬。」 帝從之。 於是御史馬謹等交章劾吏部尚書郭琎等數十人。 已，復出按山東。 泰素勵操行，好搏擊。 三為巡按，懲奸去貪，威棱甚峻。
At the start of the Zhengtong reign court officials repeatedly recommended him; he was promoted to censor and sent to inspect Guizhou. During the Luchuan campaign the army each year drafted two thousand native troops as guides, and when operations failed they were killed to fabricate merit; Tai memorialized to end the practice. He was sent to inspect Shanxi again. Official salaries were meager at the time, and even the paper notes paid in lieu could not be collected promptly. Tai memorialized asking that salaries be raised enough to support honest living; only then, he argued, could corruption be punished effectively and greed brought under control. The proposal was rejected and never carried out. In the summer of the sixth year he argued: "Disasters have struck year after year, and the blame rests with the ministers at court. I ask that censors and supervising secretaries be ordered to impeach the chief ministers and remove the worst offenders, after which each office should review its own subordinates." The emperor accepted his proposal. Censors such as Ma Jin then submitted a stream of memorials impeaching dozens of officials, including Minister of Personnel Guo Jin. He was then sent out again to inspect Shandong. Tai had always been strict with himself and was eager to prosecute wrongdoing. In three tours as inspector he punished the wicked and uprooted corruption, and his awesome severity was widely feared.
20
九年超擢四川按察使，與鎮守都御史寇深相失。 十二年八月，參議陳敏希深指，劾泰擅杖武職，毆輿夫至死。 逮刑部獄，坐斬。 泰奏辯，大理卿俞士悅亦具狀以聞。 皆不聽。
In the ninth year he was suddenly promoted to surveillance commissioner of Sichuan and came into conflict with garrison chief censor Kou Shen. In the eighth month of the twelfth year administration councilor Chen Min, seeking to curry favor with Shen, impeached Tai for unlawfully beating a military officer and for beating a sedan-chair bearer to death. He was arrested and imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice, and sentenced to decapitation. Tai memorialized in his own defense, and Court of Judicial Review chief judge Yu Shiyue also submitted a detailed report to the throne. The court would not listen.
21
景帝監國，赦復官。 于謙薦守紫荊關。 也先入犯，關門不守，復論死。 景帝宥之，命充為事官，從總兵官顧興祖築關隘自效。 景泰元年擢大理右少卿，守備白羊口。 四月，都督同知劉安代寧遠伯任禮巡備涿、易、真、保諸城，命泰以右僉都御史參其軍務。 三年兼巡撫保定六府。 尋命督治河道。 自儀真至淮安，浚渠百八十里，塞決口九，築壩三，役六萬人，數月而畢。 七年移撫蘇、松。
When the Jing Emperor assumed the regency, Tai was pardoned and restored to office. Yu Qian recommended him to hold Zijing Pass. When Esen invaded, the pass was lost, and Tai was again condemned to death. The Jing Emperor spared him and appointed him an official serving at reduced rank to redeem himself, ordering him to follow regional commander Gu Xingzu in building frontier defenses. In the first year of Jingtai he was promoted to right vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review and put in charge of defending Baiyang Pass. In the fourth month Vice Commissioner-in-chief Liu An replaced Ningyuan Earl Ren Li in patrolling and defending Zhuo, Yi, Zhen, Bao, and the other garrison towns; Tai was appointed right censor-in-chief to assist in military affairs. In the third year he was also made touring pacification commissioner of the six Baoding prefectures. He was soon ordered to oversee river works. From Yizhen to Huai'an he dredged one hundred eighty li of channels, closed nine breaches, built three dams, mobilized sixty thousand laborers, and completed the work in a few months. In the seventh year his pacification duties were moved to Suzhou and Songjiang.
22
天順改元，罷巡撫官，改廣東副使，以憂去。 四川盜起，有言泰嘗蒞其地，有威名，乃復故官，往巡撫。 八年進右副都御史，總督漕運兼巡撫淮、揚諸府。 蒞淮三年，謝政歸。 成化六年卒。
When the reign title was changed to Tianshun the touring pacification posts were abolished; he was made vice commissioner of Guangdong and left office to observe mourning. When banditry broke out in Sichuan, officials noted that Tai had once governed there and enjoyed a formidable reputation, so he was restored to his former rank and sent to pacify the province. In the eighth year he was promoted to right vice chief censor, put in charge of the Grand Canal transport while also pacifying the Huai and Yang prefectures. After three years on the Huai frontier he retired from office. He passed away in the sixth year of Chenghua.
23
李棠，字宗楷，縉雲人。 宣德五年進士。 授刑部主事，為尚書魏源所器。 金濂代源，以剛嚴懾下。 棠與辯論是非，譴訶不為動，濂亦器之。 進員外郎。 錄囚南畿，多所平反，進郎中。 景帝嗣位，超擢本部侍郎。 未幾，巡撫廣西，提督軍務。 所部多寇，棠以次討平之。 正己帥下，令行政舉。
Li Tang, styled Zongkai, came from Jinyun. He passed the metropolitan examination in the fifth year of Xuande. He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Justice and won the esteem of Minister Wei Yuan. When Jin Lian succeeded Yuan, he kept subordinates in line through harsh severity. Tang argued with him over right and wrong and did not flinch under his scolding; Lian came to respect him as well. He was promoted to bureau director. While reviewing prisoners in the Southern Metropolitan Region he overturned many wrongful convictions and was promoted to bureau director. When the Jing Emperor ascended the throne, he was suddenly promoted to vice minister of the same ministry. Before long he was appointed to pacify Guangxi and supervise military affairs there. Banditry was widespread in his jurisdiction, and Tang put down the outbreaks one after another. He disciplined himself and set an example for his subordinates, so that orders were obeyed and governance improved.
24
景泰三年，思明土知府黃老，子鈞嗣。 庶兄矰使其子殺父子，滅其家，而以他盜為亂告。 棠檄右參政曾翚副使劉仁宅按其事。 翚等誘執矰父子下之獄。 矰窘則遣使走京師，上書請帝廢太子立己子。 帝大喜，立擢矰都督同知，出其子於獄。 事具《懷獻太子》及《土司傳》。 棠既不得竟黃矰獄，郁郁累疏謝病歸。 不攜嶺表一物，以清節顯。
In the third year of Jingtai the native prefect of Siming, Huang Lao, died and was succeeded by his son Jun. His elder half-brother Zeng had his own son murder father and son, wipe out the household, and then report the uprising as the work of other bandits. Tang ordered Right Administration Commissioner Zeng Kun and Vice Commissioner Liu Renzhai to investigate the case. Kun and his colleagues lured Zeng and his son into custody and imprisoned them. Cornered, Zeng sent an envoy to the capital with a memorial asking the emperor to depose the heir apparent and install his own son in his place. The emperor was delighted, promptly promoted Zeng to vice commissioner-in-chief, and released his son from prison. The full story is recorded in the biography of the heir apparent Huai/Xian and in the Treatise on Native Officials. Unable to see the case against Huang Zeng through to the end, Tang grew despondent and repeatedly memorialized to retire on grounds of illness. He brought home not a single object from the south and was famed for his spotless integrity.
25
曾翚，字時升，泰和人。 宣德八年進士。 治秦府永興王葬，卻有司饋遺。 歷刑部員外郎。 尚書金濂器之，俾典奏牘。 有重獄，諸郎不能決，輒以屬翚。 秦王訐巡撫陳鎰狎妓。 翚按得其情，劾藩府誣大臣，鎰得白。
Zeng Kun, styled Shisheng, came from Taihe. He passed the metropolitan examination in the eighth year of Xuande. While overseeing the burial of Prince Yongxing of the Qin princely establishment, he refused gifts from local officials. He served as a bureau director in the Ministry of Justice. Minister Jin Lian valued him and put him in charge of drafting memorials. Whenever a major case stumped the bureau directors, they would turn it over to Kun. The Prince of Qin accused touring pacification commissioner Chen Yi of consorting with courtesans. Kun investigated and found the truth, impeached the princely establishment for slandering a chief minister, and Chen Yi was exonerated.
26
正統十三年進郎中。 以何文淵薦，擢廣西右參政。 李棠檄翚及副使劉仁宅按黃矰父子。 矰使人持千金賄於道，且擁精兵挾之。 二人佯許諾，已，誘執矰下之獄。 棠以聞。 未幾，矰以上書擢都督同知，父子俱出獄，翚等太息而已。 尋以憂去。 服闋，起官河南御史。 清軍者利得軍，多枉及民，翚辨釋甚眾。 南陽諸府多流戶，眾議驅逐，人情惶急，翚與巡撫撫安之。
In the thirteenth year of Zhengtong he was promoted to bureau director. Recommended by He Wenyuan, he was promoted to right administration vice commissioner of Guangxi. Li Tang dispatched Kun and vice commissioner Liu Renzhai to investigate Huang Zeng and his son. Zeng sent men to offer a thousand taels of gold in bribes along the way, backed by elite troops meant to intimidate them. The two men pretended to accept; then they tricked Zeng into custody and imprisoned him. Tang reported the matter to the throne. Before long Zeng was promoted to vice commissioner-in-chief after petitioning the throne; father and son were both released from prison, and Kun and his colleagues could only sigh in frustration. He soon left office to observe mourning. When his mourning period ended he was recalled and appointed censor of Henan. Inspectors clearing military registers profited from every soldier they enrolled and often wrongfully implicated civilians; Kun exonerated a great many of them. The Nanyang prefectures had many migrant households; officials debated expelling them and the populace grew fearful, so Kun and the touring pacification commissioner settled and reassured them.
27
天順五年遷山東右布政使。 民墾田無賦者，奸民指為閑田，獻諸戚畹。 部使者來勘，翚曰：「祖制，民墾荒田，永不科稅，奈何奪之？」 使者奏如言，乃免。 成化初，轉左。 河南歲饑，計開封積粟多，奏請平糶，貧民賴以濟。 召拜刑部左侍郎，仍食從二品俸。 尋巡視浙江，考察官吏，奏罷不職者百余人，他弊政多所厘革。 還朝，久之，謝病去。
In the fifth year of Tianshun he was made right administration commissioner of Shandong. Land that peasants had cleared but that owed no tax was denounced by local ruffians as idle land and handed over to imperial in-laws. When a ministry envoy came to investigate, Kun said, "By ancestral law, wasteland reclaimed by the people is never taxed—how can it be seized away?" The envoy reported Kun's words to the throne, and the land was spared. At the start of the Chenghua reign he was transferred to left administration commissioner. When Henan suffered famine that year, noting the large grain reserves in Kaifeng, he memorialized requesting that grain be sold at fair price, and the poor were saved by it. He was summoned to the capital and appointed left vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, retaining secondary second-rank emoluments. He soon toured Zhejiang to inspect the province, evaluated officials, and memorialized for the removal of more than a hundred incompetent officers; he also reformed many other abuses. After returning to court he eventually resigned, citing illness.
28
翚操行謹，所至有聲。 及歸，生計蕭然，絕跡公府，鄉人以為賢。
Kun was scrupulous in conduct and earned a fine reputation wherever he served. After he retired home his household lived plainly, he kept away from official circles entirely, and his neighbors regarded him as a man of integrity.
29
賈銓，字秉鈞，邯鄣人。 永樂末進士。 宣德四年授禮科給事中，數有參駁。
Jia Quan, styled Bingjun, came from Handan. He passed the metropolitan examination near the end of the Yongle reign. In the fourth year of Xuande he was appointed supervising secretary in the Ministry of Rites, where he repeatedly censured and rebutted official misconduct.
30
英宗踐阼，既肆赦，復命讞在京重囚，多所原宥。 從銓請，推之南京。 秩滿，出為大理知府。 王驥征麓川，饋運有勞。 驥薦之。 麓川平，擢雲南左參政，仍知府事。 尋以驥言，還治司事。 正統十二年，左布政使闕，軍民數萬人頌銓，參贊軍務侍郎侯琎等亦疏請，銓遂得擢。 土官十余部，歲當貢馬輸差發銀及海<貝巴>，八府民歲當輸食鹽米鈔。 至景泰初，皆積逋不能償。 銓等為言除之。 治行聞，賜誥旌異。 景泰七年，九載滿，當入都，軍民乞留。 命還任。
When the Ying Emperor took the throne, after proclaiming a general amnesty he ordered a review of serious prisoners held in the capital, and many were pardoned. At Quan's request the same review was extended to Nanjing. When his term expired he was appointed prefect of Dali. During Wang Ji's campaign against Luchuan, Quan distinguished himself in supplying the army. Ji recommended him for promotion. After Luchuan was pacified he was promoted to left administration vice commissioner of Yunnan while continuing to administer the prefecture. Soon, at Ji's recommendation, he returned to managing the provincial administration. In the twelfth year of Zhengtong, when the left administration commissioner post fell vacant, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians praised Quan, and military affairs vice minister Hou Jin and others also petitioned on his behalf, and Quan was duly promoted. More than ten native chieftaincies owed annual tribute of horses, corvée silver, and cowrie shells, while the people of the eight prefectures owed annual deliveries of grain, salt, rice, and paper notes. By the beginning of the Jingtai reign all had fallen far behind and could not make payment. Quan and his colleagues memorialized asking that these levies be remitted. When word of his governance spread, the court granted him a commendatory edict honoring his exceptional service. In the seventh year of Jingtai, when his nine-year term was complete and he was due to report to the capital, soldiers and civilians petitioned to keep him. The court ordered him to remain in office.
31
天順四年與梁楘等舉政績卓異。 戶部初闕尚書，王翺欲擢銓。 帝問李賢，賢曰：「聞其名，未見其人也。」 及是來覲，帝命賢視之，還奏貌寢。 乃以為右副都御史巡撫山東，尋兼撫河南。 山東歲侵，請召還清軍御史。 河南饑，請停征課馬。 皆許之。 成化初，左都御史李秉督師遼東，召銓署院事。 中官唐慎等從征荊、襄還，杖死淮安知事谷淵，自奏丐免。 銓請罪之。 乃付慎等司禮監，命法司罪其從人。 未幾，卒官。 謚恭靖。
In the fourth year of Tianshun he was commended with Liang You and others for outstanding administrative achievement. When the Ministry of Revenue first had no minister in place, Wang Ao wanted to promote Quan to the post. The emperor asked Li Xian, who replied, "I have heard his name but have never met him." When Quan then came to court for audience, the emperor had Xian look him over; on returning Xian reported that his appearance was rather homely. Quan was therefore appointed right vice chief censor and touring pacification commissioner of Shandong, and soon given concurrent charge of Henan as well. When Shandong suffered a bad harvest that year, he requested that the censor clearing military registers be recalled. When Henan suffered famine he requested that the levy of tribute horses be suspended. Both requests were granted. At the start of the Chenghua reign, when left chief censor Li Bing took command in Liaodong, Quan was summoned to administer the censorate in his absence. The eunuch Tang Shen and others, returning from the Jing and Xiang campaign, beat Huai'an official Gu Yuan to death and then memorialized asking to be spared punishment. Quan memorialized asking that they be punished. Shen and the others were handed over to the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the judicial authorities were ordered to punish their followers. He died in office not long afterward. He was given the posthumous title Gongjing, "Respectful and Tranquil."
32
銓在雲南，治行為一時冠。 比為巡撫，清靜不自表暴，吏民亦安之。
In Yunnan Quan's record of governance was the finest of his generation. As a touring pacification commissioner he governed quietly without ostentation, and officials and commoners alike were at ease under him.
33
王宇，字仲宏，祥符人。 童丱時，日記萬言，巡撫侍郎于謙奇之。 登正統四年進士，授南京戶部主事。 秩滿當轉郎中，吏部以宇才，特用為撫州知府。 為政簡靜，而鋤強遏奸，凜不可犯，一府大治。
Wang Yu, styled Zhonghong, came from Xiangfu. As a boy he could compose ten thousand characters a day from memory; touring pacification vice minister Yu Qian was greatly impressed by him. He passed the metropolitan examination in the fourth year of Zhengtong and was appointed a secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue. When his term expired he was due for promotion to bureau director, but the Ministry of Personnel, impressed by Yu's ability, instead appointed him prefect of Fuzhou. His rule was plain and restrained, yet he crushed the powerful and checked wrongdoing with an authority none dared defy, and the whole prefecture was brought to good order.
34
天順元年，所司上其治行，詔賜誥命。 頃之，擢山東右布政使，命撫恤所屬饑民。 明年遷右副都御史，巡撫宣府。 中官嚴順、都督張林等令家人承納芻糧。 宇劾奏。 都御史寇深為解，帝切責深。 尋命兼撫大同。 石亨及從子彪驕恣，大同其舊鎮地，征索尤橫。 宇抗疏論其奸，乞置之法。 疏雖不行，聞者敬憚。 督餉郎中楊益不能備芻槁，為宇所劾。 戶部庇之，宇並劾尚書沈固等。 皆輸罪。 遭喪，起復為大理卿。 固辭，不許。
In the first year of Tianshun his superiors reported his record of governance, and the court issued him a commendatory patent. Soon he was promoted to right administration commissioner of Shandong and ordered to relieve the famine victims in his jurisdiction. The following year he was made right vice chief censor and touring pacification commissioner of Xuanfu. The eunuch Yan Shun, regional commander Zhang Lin, and others had their retainers take contracts to supply fodder and grain. Yu impeached them by memorial. Chief censor Kou Shen tried to shield them, and the emperor sharply rebuked Shen. He was soon given concurrent charge of Datong as well. Shi Heng and his nephew Biao were arrogant and overbearing; Datong was their old power base, and their exactions there were especially ruthless. Yu submitted a bold memorial denouncing their misconduct and asking that they be punished by law. Although the memorial was not acted on, all who heard of it regarded him with respect and awe. Supply supervisor Yang Yi failed to provide adequate fodder and was impeached by Yu. When the Ministry of Revenue shielded Yang, Yu also impeached Minister Shen Gu and others. All of them pleaded guilty. After a bereavement he was recalled from mourning and appointed chief judge of the Court of Judicial Review. He firmly declined, but the court would not allow it.
35
宇剛介，所至有盛名。 居大理，平反為多。 七年卒。
Yu was upright and unyielding, and he earned a formidable reputation wherever he served. At the Court of Judicial Review he overturned many wrongful convictions. He died in the seventh year of Chenghua.
36
崔恭，字克讓，廣宗人。 正統元年進士。 除戶部主事。 出理延綏倉儲，有能聲。 以楊溥薦，擢萊州知府。 內地輸遼東布，悉貯郡庫，歲久朽敝，守者多破家。 恭別構屋三十楹貯之，請約計歲輸外，余以充本府軍餉，遂放遣守者八百人。 也先犯京師，遣民兵數千入援。 廷議城臨清，檄發役夫。 恭以方春民乏食，請俟秋成。 居府六年，萊人以比漢楊震。
Cui Gong, styled Kerang, came from Guangzong. He passed the metropolitan examination in the first year of Zhengtong. He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. Sent to manage the Yan-Sui granaries, he earned a reputation for competence. Recommended by Yang Pu, he was promoted to prefect of Laizhou. Cloth levied from the interior for Liaodong was stored in the prefectural treasury; over the years it rotted away, and the officials responsible for guarding it often ruined their families. Gong built thirty storehouse bays to hold the cloth, arranged that anything beyond the fixed annual delivery be used for the prefecture's military rations, and dismissed eight hundred guards. When Esen attacked the capital he sent several thousand militiamen to reinforce the defense. When the court decided to fortify Linqing, it issued orders mobilizing corvée laborers. Gong argued that since it was spring and the people were short of food, the work should wait until after the autumn harvest. After six years as prefect the people of Laizhou ranked him with the Han dynasty's Yang Zhen.
37
景泰中，超遷湖廣右布政使。 諸司供給，率取之民。 恭與僚佐約，悉罷之。 公安、監利流民擅相殺。 恭下令願附籍者聽，否則迨秋遣歸，眾遂定。 尋遷江西左布政使。 司有廣濟庫，官吏幹沒五十萬。 恭白於巡撫韓雍，典守者鹹獲罪。 定均徭法，酌輕重，十年一役，遂為定例。
During the Jingtai reign he was suddenly promoted to right administration commissioner of Huguang. The various offices routinely extracted their supplies from the people. Gong agreed with his subordinates to abolish all such extractions. Migrant communities in Gong'an and Jianli were killing one another with impunity. Gong ordered that those willing to register locally might stay, while the rest would be sent home after autumn, and the disturbance subsided. He was soon transferred to left administration commissioner of Jiangxi. The provincial administration maintained a Guangji treasury from which officials had embezzled five hundred thousand cash. Gong reported the matter to touring pacification commissioner Han Yong, and all those responsible were punished. He established a balanced corvée system, weighing lighter and heavier obligations and fixing service at once every ten years, which thereafter became standard practice.
38
天順二年，寧王奠培不法，恭劾之。 削其護衛，王稍戢。 遷右副都御史，代李秉巡撫蘇、松諸府。 按部，進耆老言利病，為興革。 與都督徐恭浚儀真漕河，又浚常、鎮河，避江險。 已，大治吳淞江。 起昆山夏界口，至上海白鶴江，又自白鶴江至嘉定卞家渡，迄莊家涇，凡浚萬四千二百余丈。 又浚曹家港、蒲匯塘、新涇諸水。 民賴其利，目曹家港為「都堂浦」。 初，周忱奏定耗羨則例，李秉改定以賦之輕重遞盈縮。 其例甚平，而難於稽算，吏不勝煩擾。 恭乃罷去，悉如忱舊。
In the second year of Tianshun Prince Mo of Ning, Dian Pei, acted unlawfully, and Gong impeached him. The prince's guard corps was removed, and he restrained himself somewhat. He was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and succeeded Li Bing as touring pacification commissioner of Suzhou, Songjiang, and the other prefectures. On his inspection tours he sought out village elders to hear what helped and what harmed the people, and instituted reforms accordingly. Together with regional commander Xu Gong he dredged the canal at Yizhen and also cleared the waterways of Changzhou and Zhenjiang to bypass the dangers of the Yangtze. He then undertook a major project on the Wusong River. The work ran from Xiajiekou in Kunshan to Baihe River in Shanghai, then from Baihe River to Bianjiadu in Jiading and on to Zhuangjia Stream — more than fourteen thousand two hundred zhang dredged in all. He also dredged Caojiagang, Puhuitang, Xinjing, and other channels. The people benefited greatly and nicknamed Caojiagang the "Commissioner's Stream." Zhou Chen had originally fixed the formula for surcharges on grain wastage and surplus; Li Bing had revised it so that rates rose and fell according to the weight of each assessment. The revised rates were equitable in principle, but the calculations were burdensome and clerks were driven to distraction by the paperwork. Gong abolished Li Bing's system and restored Zhou Chen's original rules in full.
39
吏部缺右侍郎，李賢、王翺舉恭。 遂召用。 置「勸懲簿」，有聞皆識之。 翺甚倚恭，轉左。 父憂起復。 憲宗即位，乞致仕。 不允。 成化五年，尚書李秉罷。 商輅欲用姚夔，彭時欲用王概，而北人居言路者，謂時實逐秉，喧謗於朝。 時稱疾不出，侍讀尹直以時、概皆已鄉人，恐因此得罪，急言於輅，以恭代秉。 越五月，母喪歸。 服除，起南京吏部，劾罷諸司不識者數人。 十一年春命參贊機務。 居三年，致仕。 又二年卒。 贈太子少保，謚莊敏。
When the post of right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel fell vacant, Li Xian and Wang Ao recommended Gong. He was summoned to the capital and appointed. He kept a "Record of Encouragement and Admonition" in which he noted every report that reached him. Wang Ao relied heavily on Gong and had him moved to the left vice ministership. When his father died he left office to mourn, but was recalled before the mourning period was complete. After Emperor Xianzong ascended the throne, he petitioned to retire. The request was denied. In the fifth year of Chenghua, Minister Li Bing was dismissed from office. Shang Lu favored Yao Kui for the post; Peng Shi favored Wang Gai. Northerners among the remonstrance officials, however, claimed that Peng Shi had really forced Li Bing out, and the court was soon buzzing with accusation. Peng Shi pleaded illness and stayed away from court. Attendant reader Yin Zhi, fearing that Peng Shi and Wang Gai — both natives of the same region — would be caught up in the backlash, urgently advised Shang Lu to appoint Gong in Li Bing's place. Five months later his mother died and he returned home to mourn. When his mourning was complete he was appointed to the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, where he impeached and removed several incompetent officials. In the spring of the eleventh year he was appointed to assist in managing state affairs. After three years he retired from office. Two years later he died. He was posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous name Zhuangmin ("Dignified and Keen").
40
劉孜，字顯孜，萬安人。 正統十年進士。 授御史，出按遼東。 景帝即位，有建南遷議者。 孜馳奏，乞斬言者以定人心。 期滿當代，朝議邊務方殷，復留一歲。 再按畿輔。 時方築淪州城，以孜言罷。 擢山東按察使。
Liu Zi, styled Xianzi, was a native of Wan'an. He received his jinshi degree in the tenth year of Zhengtong. He was appointed censor and dispatched to inspect Liaodong. When Emperor Jing ascended the throne, some at court proposed moving the capital south. Zi sent an urgent memorial asking that the advocates be executed to steady public morale. When his term expired and he was due to be replaced, the court — with border affairs still urgent — kept him on for another year. He conducted a second inspection tour of the capital region. Work was then underway on the walls of Cangzhou; at Zi's urging the project was abandoned. He was promoted to surveillance commissioner of Shandong.
41
天順四年，吏部舉天下治行卓異，按察使惟孜一人，遷左布政使。 明年春，以右副都御史巡撫江南十府。 蘇、松財賦，自周忱立法後，代者多紛更。 孜首訪忱遺積，斟酌行之，民稱便。 成化元年，應天饑，方振貸，而江北饑民就食者眾。 孜請盡發諸縣廩，全活無算。 時民間多積困：瀕江官田久廢沒，仍責輸賦； 蘇、松、杭、嘉諸府僉補富戶； 南京廊房既傾圮，猶征鈔； 上元、江寧農民代河泊所綱戶采鰣魚； 應天都稅宣課諸司額外增稅； 江陰諸縣民戶償納荒租； 六合、江浦官牛歲征犢。 孜皆疏罷之。
In the fourth year of Tianshun the Ministry of Personnel singled out officials of outstanding conduct across the empire; among surveillance commissioners Liu Zi alone was chosen, and he was promoted to left administration commissioner. The following spring he was appointed right vice censor-in-chief and touring pacification commissioner of ten Jiangnan prefectures. Since Zhou Chen had set the tax system for Suzhou and Songjiang, nearly every successor had tinkered with it. Zi first studied what Zhou Chen had left behind, adapted it judiciously, and the people found the result greatly to their benefit. In the first year of Chenghua famine struck Yingtian. Relief was already underway when large numbers of starving people from north of the Yangtze arrived seeking food. Zi petitioned to open every county granary to the full; countless lives were saved. The people were burdened by many longstanding abuses: long-submerged official fields along the river were still taxed; wealthy households in Suzhou, Songjiang, Hangzhou, and Jiaxing were arbitrarily pressed into tax service; corridor shops in Nanjing that had already collapsed were still assessed for tax in paper notes; farmers in Shangyuan and Jiangning were compelled to catch shad on behalf of the river depot's fishing households; the Yingtian metropolitan tax bureau and other offices such as the Xuan tax bureau levied surcharges beyond their quotas; households in Jiangyin and other counties were forced to pay taxes on long-abandoned fields; official ox herds in Liuhe and Jiangpu were taxed each year for calves. Zi memorialized to abolish every one of these practices.
42
召拜南京刑部尚書，以宋傑代。 四年致仕，道卒。
He was recalled and appointed minister of justice at Nanjing, with Song Jie succeeding him as commissioner. He retired in the fourth year and died en route.
43
孜廉慎，治事精審。 然持法過嚴，時議其刻。 傑為人長者。 居二年，罷去，而邢宥代。
Zi was scrupulously honest and careful, and handled affairs with precision. But he enforced the law with excessive rigor, and contemporaries considered him unyielding. Song Jie was a man of gentle forbearance. After two years he was removed from office and replaced by Xing You.
44
宥，文昌人。 正統十三年進士。 授御史，出巡福建。 民十人被誣為盜，當刑呼冤。 宥為緩之，果得真盜。 天順中，出為臺州知府，有治績。 坐累謫晉江丞。 憲宗復其職，改知蘇州。 奸民攬納秋賦，置之法，得其贓萬緡，以隄沙河，甓官道。 大水，民饑，不待奏輒發米二十萬斛以振。 宥素廉介，及治蘇，嚴而不苛。 傑薦於朝，詔加浙江左參政仍理府事，賜璽書。 居半歲，遂以右僉都御史代傑巡撫。 開丹陽河，築奔牛閘，省兌運冗費，民以為便。 尋兼理兩浙鹽政，考察屬吏，奏黜不識者百七十余人。 居數載，引疾歸。
Xing You was a native of Wenchang. He received his jinshi degree in the thirteenth year of Zhengtong. He was appointed censor and dispatched on an inspection tour of Fujian. Ten men had been falsely accused of banditry; at the moment of sentencing they cried out that they were innocent. You stayed their execution, and the real culprits were soon found. During the Tianshun reign he served as prefect of Taizhou with distinction. He was implicated in another official's offense and demoted to assistant magistrate of Jinjiang. When Emperor Xianzong came to the throne his rank was restored and he was appointed prefect of Suzhou. He prosecuted corrupt agents who had monopolized collection of the autumn grain tax, confiscated bribes totaling ten thousand strings of cash, and used the funds to build embankments along the Sha River and pave the official highway with brick. When severe flooding brought famine, he did not wait for imperial approval before releasing two hundred thousand hu of grain for relief. Xing You had always been incorrupt and upright; as prefect of Suzhou he was firm without being oppressive. Song Jie recommended him at court; the emperor promoted him to left administration vice commissioner of Zhejiang while allowing him to retain charge of Suzhou, and bestowed on him an imperial sealed letter of appointment. Half a year later he was appointed right assistant censor-in-chief and succeeded Song Jie as touring pacification commissioner. He opened the Danyang River and built the Benniu sluice, cutting redundant costs from the grain transport system, to the great benefit of the people. He soon took charge of salt administration in both Zhejiangs as well, inspected subordinate officials, and memorialized for the dismissal of more than one hundred seventy incompetents. After several years he retired on grounds of illness.
45
李侃，字希正，東安人。 正統七年進士。 授戶科給事中。 景帝監國，陳簡將才、募民壯、用戰車三事。 也先逼京師議者欲焚城外馬草。 侃言敵輕剽，無持久心，乞勿焚，免復斂為民累。 皆報許。 時父母在容城，侃曉夜悲泣，乞假，冒險迎之。 景泰初，議錄扈從死事諸臣後。 侃因言避難偷生者，宜嚴譴以厲臣節。 上皇將還，與同官劉福等言禮宜從厚。 忤旨，被詰，尚書胡濙為解，乃已。
Li Kan, styled Xizheng, was a native of Dong'an. He received his jinshi degree in the seventh year of Zhengtong. He was appointed supervising secretary of the Revenue Section. While the Jing Emperor served as regent, Kan memorialized on three matters: selecting capable generals, recruiting able-bodied civilians, and deploying war chariots. When Esen threatened the capital, some at court proposed burning the fodder stored outside the city walls. Kan argued that the enemy was raiding lightly and would not linger, and urged that the fodder be spared lest the people be taxed again to replace it. The emperor approved all his proposals. His parents were trapped in Rongcheng; Kan wept day and night, took leave, and risked his life to bring them to safety. Early in the Jingtai reign the court debated ennobling the descendants of officials who had died in the emperor's service during the crisis. Kan added that officials who had fled and saved themselves should be sternly punished to uphold the standard of loyalty. When the former emperor was about to return from captivity, Kan and his colleagues Liu Fu and others argued that he should be received with full ceremonial honors. This offended the emperor, and Kan was called to account; Minister Hu Ying interceded for him and the matter was dropped.
46
再遷都給事中。 軍興，減天下學校師儒俸廩。 侃奏復之。 戶部尚書金濂違詔征租，侃論濂，下之吏。 石亨從子彪侵民業，侃請置重典，並嚴禁勛戚、中官不得豪奪細民，有司隱者同罪。 帝宥亨、彪，余如其請。 時給事中敢言者，林聰稱首，侃亦矯抗有直聲。 廷議易儲，諸大臣唯唯。 侃泣言東宮無失德，聰與御史朱英亦言不可，時議壯之。 擢詹事府丞。
He was promoted to chief supervising secretary. When war broke out, stipends for teachers at schools throughout the empire were cut. Kan memorialized for their restoration. When Minister of Revenue Jin Lian collected rents in violation of an imperial edict, Kan impeached him and had the case referred to the judicial authorities. When Shi Heng's nephew Biao seized commoners' land, Kan called for heavy penalties and urged a strict ban on meritorious nobles and eunuchs wresting property from ordinary people, with equal punishment for officials who looked the other way. The emperor pardoned Shi Heng and Biao, but granted the remainder of Kan's requests. Among the outspoken supervising secretaries of the day, Lin Cong was foremost; Kan too was boldly upright and earned a reputation for integrity. When the court debated replacing the crown prince, the senior ministers nodded assent in silence. Kan wept and declared that the crown prince had done nothing wrong; Lin Cong and censor Zhu Ying spoke against the change as well, and contemporaries applauded their courage. He was promoted to vice director of the Heir Apparent's Household.
47
天順元年改太常丞，進太仆卿。 明年復設山西巡撫，遷侃右僉都御史任之。 奏言：「塞北之地，與窮荒無異。 非生長其間者，未有能寧居而狎敵者也。 今南人戍西北邊，怯風寒，聞寇股栗。 而北人戍南，亦不耐暑，多潛逃。 宜令南北清勾之軍，各就本土補伍，人情交便，戎備得修。」 時不能用。 奏發巡按李傑罪，傑亦訐侃。 按傑事有驗，除名。 侃無贓罪，獲宥。 六年考察屬吏，奏罷布政使王允、李正芳以下百六十人。 因言：「諸臣年與臣若、不堪任事者，臣悉退之，臣亦當罷。」 詔不許。 侃性剛方，力振風紀，貪墨者屏跡。 其年冬以母喪歸，軍民擁泣，至不得行。 服除，遂不出，家居十余年卒。
In the first year of Tianshun he was transferred to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and then promoted to minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. The following year the post of touring pacification commissioner of Shanxi was restored, and Kan was appointed right assistant censor-in-chief to fill it. In a memorial he wrote: "The lands beyond the northern frontier are scarcely distinguishable from utter wilderness. Only those raised in such country can dwell there in peace and grow accustomed to facing the enemy. Southerners now garrison the northwest frontier: they cannot endure the wind and cold, and at word of an enemy raid they tremble with fear. Northerners posted to garrison the south cannot bear the heat either, and many desert their posts. Soldiers from both north and south who have been cleared from the rolls should be assigned to fill vacancies in their home regions. This would suit men better on both sides, and frontier defenses would be properly maintained. The court did not act on the proposal at that time. He memorialized exposing the crimes of the touring inspector Li Jie, and Jie in turn accused Kan. An investigation confirmed the charges against Jie, and he was dismissed and struck from the rolls. No corruption was found against Kan, and he was pardoned. In the sixth year of his tenure he reviewed subordinate officials and memorialized for the dismissal of one hundred sixty men, from the administration commissioners Wang Yun and Li Zhengfang on down. He added: "Any official of my age who is no longer fit for office should be removed—and I should be removed as well. The emperor refused. Kan was stern and upright by nature. He vigorously restored public discipline, and the corrupt dared not show themselves. That winter, when he left to observe mourning for his mother, soldiers and civilians thronged around him weeping until he could hardly make his way through. When the mourning period ended he never returned to office, and after more than ten years at home he died.
48
侃事親孝，好學安貧，歿幾不能殮。 弘治初，國子生江紀等言，前祭酒胡儼，都御史高明、李侃學行事功，彰著耳目，並乞賜謚。 寢不行。 侃二子：德恢，嚴州知府； 德仁，河東鹽運使。
Kan was filial toward his parents, devoted to learning, and content with poverty; at his death his family could scarcely afford his funeral. Early in the Hongzhi reign, National University students led by Jiang Ji petitioned that the former libationer Hu Yan, the censor-in-chief Gao Ming, and Li Kan had distinguished themselves in learning, conduct, and public service, and asked that posthumous titles be granted to all three. The petition was shelved and nothing was done. Kan had two sons: Dehui, prefect of Yanzhou; and Deren, salt transport commissioner of Hedong.
49
雷復，字景昜，湖廣寧遠人。 正統初進士。 授行人，歷官廣西副使。 藤縣民胡趙成構瑤陷縣治，復與參將範信討斬之。 成化初以大臣會薦，擢山東右布政使。 七年征拜禮部右侍郎。 尋改右副都御史，巡撫山西。 繼李侃後，端恪守法，得軍民心。 敗寇紅沙煙，再敗之煙寺溝、石人村，賜敕獎勞。 時山西大浸，而廷議以陜西用兵，令預征芻餉，轉輸榆林。 復上言：「自山西至榆林，道路險絕，民賫銀往易，價騰湧，不免稱貸，償責多破產。 今雨雪愆違，饑民疾病流離，困悴萬狀，而應輸綾帛、藥果諸物，又不下萬計。 乞依山東例蠲除，仍發帑振贍。」 帝從之。 及發金三萬不足，請鬻鹽四十萬引，並令民入粟授散官。 皆報可。 十年夏卒於官。
Lei Fu, styled Jingyang, was a native of Ningyuan in Huguang. He passed the jinshi examination early in the Zhengtong reign. He was appointed a courier and rose to become vice commissioner of Guangxi. When a Teng County man named Hu Zhaocheng incited Yao tribesmen to overrun the county seat, Fu joined regional commander Fan Xin in a punitive campaign and had him executed. Early in the Chenghua reign he was promoted to right administration commissioner of Shandong on the joint recommendation of senior ministers. In the seventh year he was summoned to the capital and appointed right vice minister of Rites. He was soon made right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Shanxi. Succeeding Li Kan in the post, he governed with upright integrity, strictly observed the law, and won the trust of both soldiers and civilians. He defeated bandits at Hongsha Pass and again routed them at Yansi Gully and Shiren Village, for which he received an imperial letter of commendation. Shanxi was then suffering severe floods, yet the court, because of the war in Shaanxi, ordered fodder and provisions collected in advance and transported to Yulin. Fu memorialized: "The route from Shanxi to Yulin is treacherous and remote. People must carry silver to buy supplies, prices have soared, and many who borrow to meet the demand are ruined when the debts come due. Rain and snow have come at the wrong season; the hungry are sick and displaced in every imaginable misery, yet the tribute of silk, medicine, fruit, and other goods still due runs to tens of thousands of items. I ask that these levies be remitted as was done in Shandong, and that treasury funds be released for relief. The emperor approved. When thirty thousand taels from the treasury proved insufficient, he asked permission to sell four hundred thousand salt certificates and to accept grain contributions from the people in return for honorary rank. All his requests were approved. In the summer of the tenth year he died in office.
50
原傑，字子英，陽城人。 正統十年進士。 又二年，授南京御史，尋改北。 巡按江西，捕誅劇盜，奸宄斂跡。 復按順天諸府。 大水，牧官馬者乏芻，馬多斃，有司責償，傑請免之。 開中鹽引入米振饑。 疏入，為部所格，景帝卒從傑議。 超擢江西按察使。 發寧王奠培淫亂事，革其護衛。 治行聞，賜誥旌異，遷山東左布政使。
Yuan Jie, styled Ziying, was a native of Yangcheng. He passed the jinshi examination in the tenth year of the Zhengtong reign. Two years later he was appointed a censor at Nanjing, and was soon transferred to the northern capital. As touring inspector of Jiangxi he captured and executed major bandits, and lawlessness subsided. He next served as touring inspector of the Shuntian prefectures. During a severe flood, keepers of government horses ran out of fodder and many horses died; when the local offices demanded compensation, Jie petitioned for the charges to be waived. He opened the salt-certificate system to accept grain contributions in exchange for relief during the famine. The ministry blocked his memorial at first, but the Jingdi emperor eventually adopted Jie's proposal. He was promoted out of turn to surveillance commissioner of Jiangxi. He exposed the Prince of Ning, Dianpei, for licentious conduct and had his personal guard abolished. When word of his governance spread, he was granted an imperial patent commending his exceptional service and was made left administration commissioner of Shandong.
51
成化二年就拜右副都御史，巡撫其地。 歲兇振救，民無流移。 召為戶部左侍郎。 時黃河遷決不常，彼陷則此淤。 軍民就淤墾種。 奸徒指為園場屯地，獻王府邀賞，王府輒據有之。 傑請獻者謫戍，並罪受獻者。 從之。 江西盜起，以傑嘗再蒞其地得民，詔往治。 捕戮六百余人，余悉解散。 改左副都御史，還佐院事。
In the second year of the Chenghua reign he was appointed right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Shandong on the spot. In years of crop failure he organized relief so effectively that the people did not flee the region. He was summoned to the capital as left vice minister of Revenue. The Yellow River then shifted and broke its banks unpredictably; where one stretch collapsed, another silted up. Soldiers and civilians began farming the newly silted land. Schemers declared the land princely garden or garrison property, offered it to imperial clansmen in hope of reward, and the princes promptly seized it. Jie proposed that those who offered such land be banished to military service on the frontier and that those who accepted it be punished as well. The court agreed. When banditry broke out in Jiangxi, the emperor sent Jie to deal with it, knowing that he had governed the province twice before and enjoyed the people's trust. He captured and executed more than six hundred men and dispersed the rest. He was made left vice censor-in-chief and returned to assist in the affairs of the Censorate.
52
荊、襄流民數十萬，朝廷以為憂。 祭酒周洪謨嘗著《流民圖說》，謂當增置府縣，聽附籍為編氓，可實襄、鄧戶口，俾數百年無患。 都御史李賓以聞，帝善之。 十二年，遂命傑出撫。 遍歷山溪，宣朝廷德意，諸流民欣然願附籍。 於是大會湖廣、河南、陜西撫、按官籍之，得戶十一萬三千有奇，口四十三萬八千有奇。 其初至，無產及平時頑梗者，驅還其鄉，而附籍者用輕則定田賦。 民大悅。 因相地勢，以襄陽所轄鄖縣，居竹、房、上津、商、洛諸縣中，道路四達，去襄陽五百余裏。 山林阻深，將吏鮮至，猝有盜賊，府難遙制。 乃拓其城，置鄖陽府，以縣附之。 且置湖廣行都司，增兵設戍，而析竹山置竹溪，析鄖置鄖西，析漢中之洵陽置白河，與竹山、上津、房鹹隸新府。 又於西安增山陽，南陽增南召、桐柏，汝州增伊陽，各隸其舊府。 制既定，薦知鄧州吳遠為鄖陽知府，諸縣皆擇鄰境良吏為之。 流人得所，四境乂安。 將還，以地界湖廣、河南、陜西，事無統紀，因薦御史吳道宏自代。 詔即擢道宏大理少卿，撫治鄖陽、襄陽、荊州、南陽、西安、漢中六府。 鄖陽之有撫治，自此始也。 傑以功進右都御史。
Several hundred thousand displaced people had gathered in the Jing and Xiang regions, and the court was deeply troubled. Libationer Zhou Hongmo had written 《A Treatise on Migrant Populations with Maps》, arguing that new prefectures and counties should be created and migrants allowed to register locally as ordinary subjects, thereby strengthening the population of Xiangyang and Dengzhou and securing the region for centuries to come. Censor-in-chief Li Bin forwarded the proposal, and the emperor approved. In the twelfth year Jie was dispatched to pacify the region. Traveling through the mountains and river valleys, he proclaimed the court's benevolent intentions, and the migrants gladly offered to register. He then convened the grand coordinators and touring inspectors of Huguang, Henan, and Shaanxi to register the population, recording more than 113,000 households and 438,000 persons. Recent arrivals without property and habitual troublemakers were sent back to their home districts, while those who registered were given lighter land-tax assessments. The people were greatly pleased. Surveying the terrain, he noted that Yun County, under Xiangyang's jurisdiction, lay among the counties of Zhushan, Fang, Shangjin, Shang, and Luo. Though roads ran in all directions, it was more than five hundred li from Xiangyang. The mountains and forests were rugged and remote, officials seldom reached the area, and if bandits struck suddenly the prefecture could not control matters from so far away. He therefore expanded the county seat, established Yunyang Prefecture, and made the county its seat. He also established a regional military commission for Huguang, increased garrisons, carved Zhuxi out of Zhushan, Yuxi out of Yun, and Baihe out of Xunyang in Hanzhong, and placed these together with Zhushan, Shangjin, and Fang County under the new prefecture. He also created Shanyang under Xi'an, Nanzhao and Tongbai under Nanyang, and Yiyang under Ruzhou, each remaining under its original prefecture. Once the new arrangements were in place, he recommended Wu Yuan, magistrate of Dengzhou, as prefect of Yunyang and selected capable officials from neighboring districts to serve as county magistrates. The migrants found settled homes, and peace was restored throughout the region. As he prepared to return, he saw that the region straddled Huguang, Henan, and Shaanxi and needed unified oversight, and so recommended Censor Wu Daohong to succeed him. The emperor immediately promoted Wu Daohong to vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review and charged him with overseeing pacification in the six prefectures of Yunyang, Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Nanyang, Xi'an, and Hanzhong. Thus began the office of pacification superintendent for Yunyang. For this achievement Jie was promoted to right censor-in-chief.
53
傑數揚歷於外，既居內臺，不欲出。 荊、襄之命，非其意也。 事竣，急請還朝。 會南京兵部缺尚書，以傑任之。 傑疏辭。 不許。 遂卒於南陽，年六十一。 鄖、襄民為立祠，詔贈太子太保，錄其子宗敏為國子生。
Jie had served repeatedly in the provinces, and once he held a post at the capital Censorate he did not wish to leave again. The assignment to the Jing and Xiang region was not what he had wanted. As soon as the work was done he urgently petitioned to return to the capital. When the post of minister of war at Nanjing fell vacant, Jie was appointed to fill it. Jie memorialized declining the appointment. The emperor refused. He died at Nanyang at the age of sixty-one. The people of Yunyang and Xiangyang erected shrines in his honor. The emperor posthumously granted him the title Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent and enrolled his son Zongmin in the National University.
54
彭誼，字景宜，東莞人。 正統中，由鄉舉除工部司務。 嘗與尚書辯事，無所阿。 景帝立，用薦改御史。 從尚書石璞塞沙灣決河，進秩二等。 復決，再往塞之。
Peng Yi, styled Jingyi, was a native of Dongguan. During the Zhengtong reign he entered service through the provincial examination and was appointed registrar of the Ministry of Works. He once debated policy with his minister and would not yield or flatter. When the Jingdi emperor came to the throne he was made a censor on recommendation. He assisted Minister of Works Shi Pu in repairing the Shawan breach on the Yellow River and was promoted two ranks. When the river broke through again he returned to repair the breach once more.
55
景泰五年，以從大學士王文巡視江、淮，擒獲蘇州賊，擢大理寺丞。 時年二月擢右僉都御史，提督紫荊、倒馬諸關。 劾都指揮胡璽納賄縱軍罪。 天順初，罷巡撫官。 中朝有不悅誼者，下遷紹興知府。 歲饑，輒發廩振貸。 吏白當俟朝命，誼曰：「民方急，安得循故事耶？」 築白馬閘障海潮。 歷九載，多惠政。 超擢山東左布政使，入為工部左侍郎。
In the fifth year of the Jingtai reign he accompanied Grand Secretary Wang Wen on an inspection of the Yangzi and Huai regions, helped capture bandits in Suzhou, and was promoted to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review. In the second month of that year he was promoted to right assistant censor-in-chief and placed in charge of Zijing Pass, Daoma Pass, and other frontier passes. He impeached regional commander Hu Xi for accepting bribes and allowing his troops to run wild. Early in the Tianshun reign the post of grand coordinator was abolished. Enemies at court had him demoted to prefect of Shaoxing. In years of famine he promptly opened the granaries to provide relief grain on loan. When an aide said he should wait for orders from the capital, Yi replied: "The people are in desperate need—how can I wait for precedent? He also built the White Horse Sluice to hold back the tide. During nine years in office he carried out many policies that benefited the people. He was promoted out of turn to left administration commissioner of Shandong and then summoned to the capital as left vice minister of Works.
56
成化四年，遼東巡撫張岐得罪，吏部舉代者。 帝曰：「遼東自王翺後，屢更巡撫，多不稱，可於大臣中求之。」 乃改誼右副都御史以往，鎮守中官橫征諸屬衛。 誼下令，凡文牒不經巡撫審定者，所司毋輒行，虐焰為息。 十年冬，戶部檄所司開黑山金場。 誼奏永樂中太監王彥等開是山，督夫六千人，三閱月止得金八兩，請罷之。 遂止。
In the fourth year of the Chenghua reign the grand coordinator of Liaodong, Zhang Qi, fell from favor, and the Ministry of Personnel proposed candidates to replace him. The emperor said: "Since Wang Ao served in Liaodong, we have changed grand coordinators repeatedly, and most have proved unsuitable. We should look among the senior ministers. Yi was accordingly made right vice censor-in-chief and sent to Liaodong, where the eunuch charged with frontier defense was extorting the subordinate guards. Yi ordered that no document might be executed unless the grand coordinator had reviewed and approved it, and the reign of extortion came to an end. In the winter of the tenth year the Ministry of Revenue ordered the local offices to reopen the Heishan gold mines. Yi reported that in the Yongle era the eunuch Wang Yan and others had worked that same mountain with six thousand conscripted laborers and, after three months, had recovered only eight liang of gold. He asked that the operation be shut down. The order was withdrawn.
57
誼好古博學，通律歷、占象、水利、兵法之屬。 平居謙厚簡默，臨事毅然有斷。 鎮遼八年，軍令振肅。 年未老，四疏告歸，家居四十余年卒。
Yi was a lover of antiquity and a wide-ranging scholar, fluent in calendrics, astrology, hydraulic works, military strategy, and kindred subjects. In daily life he was humble, warm, and quiet; when business came before him he acted with firm resolve. In eight years on the Liaodong frontier he restored military discipline to its full rigor. Before he had grown old he submitted four memorials asking to retire, lived at home for more than forty years, and then died.
58
牟俸，巴人。 景泰初進士。 授御史，巡按雲南。 南寧伯毛勝鎮金齒，俸列其違縱罪，將吏皆聳。 天順元年出為福建僉事。 成化初，進秩副使。 久之，遷江西按察使，政尚嚴厲，入為太仆卿。
Mou Feng was from Ba. He passed the jinshi examination early in the Jingtai reign. He was made a censor and sent to inspect Yunnan. The Earl of Nanning, Mao Sheng, held Jinchi. Feng laid out his crimes of disobedience and lax command, and every officer in the command stood in awe. In the first year of the Tianshun reign he was posted to Fujian as an assistant commissioner. Early in the Chenghua reign he was promoted to vice commissioner. In time he was moved to Jiangxi as surveillance commissioner, where his rule was stern. He was then summoned to the capital as Minister of the Imperial Stud.
59
八年以左僉都御史巡撫山東。 歲祲，請發濟南倉儲減價以糶，令臨清關稅收米麥濟振。 皆從之。 時大饑，雖獲振，饑民眾，轉徙益多。 俸請敕鄰境撫、按隨所在安輯，秋成資遣復業。 又乞開中淮、浙鹽百萬引，盡蠲州縣逋課。 詔如所請，更命移臨清倉粟十萬石振之。 至七月，俸又言公私困竭，救荒靡策，乞開納粟例，令胥吏得就選，富民授散官，且截留漕糧備振。 十月復言：「今救荒者止救其饑，不謀其寒。 縱得食，終不免僵死，乞貸貧民布棉。」 帝皆嘉納。 俸又檄發東昌、濟寧倉粟十萬余石為軍士月糧，而以德州、臨清寄庫銀易米振濟，奏請伏專擅罪。 帝特宥之。 已，復以俸奏免柴夫折價銀，移河南輸邊粟濟山東，而別給銀為邊餉，山東輸京租二十萬石，給本地用。 十年又饑，請發倉儲出貸。 撫山東五年，盡心荒政，活饑民不可勝數。
In the eighth year he was appointed grand coordinator of Shandong with the rank of left vice censor-in-chief. When the harvest failed that year, he asked that Jinan's granaries be opened and grain sold at reduced prices, and that customs at Linqing accept rice and wheat in payment of duties for famine relief. The court approved every request. Famine was severe. Relief helped, but the starving were still countless, and more and more people drifted from place to place. Feng asked for an imperial order directing neighboring grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners to settle refugees wherever they were found and, once the autumn harvest came in, help them return home and resume their work. He also asked to open one million salt certificates under the grain-for-salt system in Huai and Zhejiang, and to cancel all overdue tax payments owed by prefectures and counties. The emperor granted his requests and further ordered one hundred thousand shi of grain transferred from the Linqing granary for relief. By the seventh month Feng reported again that public and private resources were exhausted and that famine relief had no further remedy. He asked to revive the grain-donation precedent so clerks could qualify for office, wealthy men could receive honorary ranks, and grain from the tribute transport could be held back for relief. In the tenth month he wrote again: "Relief today feeds the hungry but does nothing for the cold. Even with food in hand, people will still freeze to death. I ask that cloth and cotton be loaned to the poor. The emperor praised and approved every proposal. Feng also ordered more than one hundred thousand shi of grain released from the Dongchang and Jining granaries as monthly rations for the troops, and used silver held in the Dezhou and Linqing treasuries to buy rice for relief. He then submitted a memorial asking to be punished for having acted without authorization. The emperor expressly pardoned him. Soon afterward Feng memorialized again to abolish the silver commutation for firewood-bearer corvée, to divert Henan's frontier grain shipments to relieve Shandong while paying the frontier garrisons in silver instead, and to retain two hundred thousand shi of Shandong's tribute grain destined for the capital for local use. When famine returned in the tenth year, he asked that the granaries be opened and grain lent out for relief. In five years as grand coordinator of Shandong he gave himself wholly to famine relief and saved more starving people than could be counted.
60
以右副都御史改撫蘇、松。 俸性嚴。 以所部多巨室，欲故摧抑之，乃禁索私租，勸富家出谷備振動千計，怨謗紛然。 中官汪直有事南京，或譖俸。 直歸，未發也。 俸初在山東，與布政陳鉞負氣不相下。 後鉞從容言俸短，直信之。 十四年，俸議事至京，直請執俸下詔獄。 先是，所親學士江朝宗除服還朝，俸迓之九江，聯舟並下。 所至，有司供張頗盛。 直因謂朝宗有所關說，並下獄。 詞連僉事吳扁等十余人，俱被逮。 系獄半歲，謫戍湖廣。
He was reassigned as grand coordinator of Suzhou and Songjiang with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief. Feng was stern by nature. Because his jurisdiction held many great families, he deliberately sought to bring them down. He banned the collection of private rents and pressed wealthy households to contribute thousands of measures of grain for relief, and resentment and slander spread everywhere. The eunuch Wang Zhi was on business in Nanjing, and someone denounced Feng to him. Wang Zhi returned to court but had not yet moved against him. When Feng had been in Shandong, he and the administration commissioner Chen Yue, both proud men, had refused to defer to each other. Later Chen Yue spoke at leisure of Feng's failings, and Wang Zhi believed every word. In the fourteenth year Feng came to the capital on official business, and Wang Zhi asked that he be seized and thrown into the imperial prison. Earlier, his close friend the academician Jiang Chaozong, having finished mourning, was returning to court. Feng met him at Jiujiang, and they traveled downriver in linked boats. Wherever they stopped, local officials entertained them with lavish hospitality. Wang Zhi then claimed that Jiang Chaozong had been pulling strings for someone, and had both men thrown into prison. The case dragged in the assistant commissioner Wu Bian and more than ten others, all of whom were arrested. After half a year in prison they were banished to military service in Huguang.
61
俸在江西時，共成許聰獄，人多議其深文。 至是被禍，皆知為直誣，然無白其冤者。 逾年，卒戍所。
While Feng was in Jiangxi he had helped build the case against Xu Cong, and many criticized him for twisting the law. When this disaster fell on him, everyone knew Wang Zhi had framed him, yet no one spoke up to clear his name. A little more than a year later he died in exile.
62
夏壎，字宗成，天臺人。 景泰二年進士。 授御史。 天順初，巡按福建，繼清軍江西，發鎮守中官葉達恣橫狀，達為斂威。 以薦超擢廣東按察使。 時用師歲久，役民守城，壎至悉遣之。
Xia Xun, styled Zongcheng, was from Tiantai. He passed the jinshi examination in the second year of the Jingtai reign. He was appointed a censor. Early in the Tianshun reign he inspected Fujian, then reviewed troops in Jiangxi and exposed the abuses of the frontier eunuch Ye Da, who thereafter checked his conduct. On recommendation he was promoted out of turn to surveillance commissioner of Guangdong. The army had been in the field for years, and civilians had been conscripted to man the walls. When Xun arrived he sent them all home.
63
成化初，奏：「瑤、僮弗靖，用兵無功，由有司撫字乖方，賊因得誘良民為徒黨。 劇寇數百，脅從萬千，進則驅之當前，退則殺以抒憤，害常在民，而利常在彼。 況用兵不已，供斂日增。 以易搖之人心，責無窮之軍費。 恐外患未除，內變先作。 請慎選監司守令，撫綏遺民，彼被脅之眾自聞風來歸。」 帝深納其言。 尋遷布政使，調江西。
Early in the Chenghua reign he memorialized: "The Yao and Zhuang are unsettled, and military campaigns have failed because local officials have governed badly. Bandits have therefore been able to lure good people into their ranks. The hard core of bandits numbers only in the hundreds, yet those coerced to follow them run into the thousands. When they advance they drive these people ahead as shields; when they retreat they kill them to vent their rage. The harm always falls on the people, while the profit always falls on the bandits. Moreover, as the fighting goes on without end, levies and exactions grow heavier every day. With hearts so easily shaken among the people, one cannot meet endless military expenses. I fear that before the external threat is removed, internal disorder will break out first. I ask that circuit supervisors and prefectural and county magistrates be chosen with care, that displaced people be settled and comforted, and that those coerced into following the bandits will then come back of their own accord when they hear of it. The emperor took his advice to heart. He was soon promoted to administration commissioner and transferred to Jiangxi.
64
八年以右副都御史巡撫四川。 苗、僚時為寇。 壎立互知會捕法，賊為之戢。 古州苗萬余，居爛土久，時議逐之，壎謂非計。 松潘參將堯彧請益戍兵三千，又力陳不可。 皆得寢。 已，奏所部將校多犯法，奏請逾時，輒至遁逸。 請先逮系，然後奏聞。 帝可之。
In the eighth year he was appointed grand coordinator of Sichuan with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief. Miao and Lao raiders struck from time to time. Xun instituted a system of mutual notification for joint pursuit and capture, and the bandits accordingly checked themselves. More than ten thousand Miao of Guzhou had long lived on poor wasteland, and some proposed driving them out. Xun said that would be no solution. When the deputy commander of Songpan, Yao Yu, asked for three thousand additional garrison troops, Xun again argued forcefully against it. Both proposals were dropped. Soon afterward he reported that many officers under his command broke the law and, because memorials took too long to reach the throne, often fled before they could be arrested. He asked that offenders be arrested and detained first, and only then reported to the throne. The emperor agreed.
65
壎剛介，善聽斷，所至民不冤。 在蜀二年，民夷畏服。 然厭繁劇，與時多齟齬。 子堠獻詩勸歸，壎欣然納焉。 年未五十，即求退。 章四上，得請。 既歸，杜門養親，不按賓客。 又五年卒。
Xun was upright and unyielding, skilled at hearing cases and reaching judgment; wherever he served, the people were not wronged. In two years in Shu, both Chinese and non-Chinese peoples feared and respected him. Yet he wearied of heavy and complicated duties and often found himself at odds with the age. His son Hou wrote a poem urging him to retire, and Xun gladly took the counsel. Before he was fifty he asked to retire. He submitted four memorials before his request was granted. Once home, he shut his doors to care for his parents and refused to receive guests. Five years later he died.
66
鍭，舉進士。 弘治四年謁選入都，上書請復李文祥、鄒智等官，罷大學士劉吉。 忤旨，下獄，得釋。 久之，除南京大理評事。 疏論賦斂、徭役、馬政、鹽課利弊及宗藩、戚裏侵漁狀。 不報。 鍭素無宦情。 居官僅歲餘，念母老，乞侍養，遂歸。 家居三十余年，竟不復出。
Hou also passed the jinshi examination. In the fourth year of the Hongzhi reign, when he went to the capital to await appointment, he submitted a memorial asking that Li Wenxiang, Zou Zhi, and others be restored to office and that Grand Secretary Liu Ji be removed. He offended the throne, was thrown into prison, and was later released. In time he was appointed reviewing officer of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review. He memorialized on the strengths and failings of taxation, corvée labor, horse administration, and salt levies, and on the encroachments of imperial clansmen and maternal relatives. The court gave no answer. Hou had never cared for official life. After little more than a year in office, mindful that his mother was old, he asked leave to care for her and went home. He lived at home for more than thirty years and never returned to office.
67
高明，字上達，貴溪人。 幼事母以孝聞。 登景泰二年進士，授御史。 聞內苑造龍舟，切諫。 有指揮為大臣所陷，論死，辯出之。 徐州民訴有司於朝，時例，越訴者戍邊。 明言：「戍邊，防誣訴也。 今訴不誣，法止當杖。」 民有為妖言者，吏貪功，誣以謀反。 明按無反狀，止坐妖言律。 皆報許。
Gao Ming, styled Shangda, was from Guixi. From childhood he was known for filial devotion to his mother. He passed the jinshi examination in the second year of the Jingtai reign and was appointed a censor. When he learned that the inner park was building dragon boats, he remonstrated sharply. A commander had been framed by a senior minister and sentenced to death; Ming argued on his behalf and secured his release. Commoners of Xuzhou appealed to the court against local officials. At the time the rule was that anyone who bypassed the usual channels of appeal was sent to frontier exile. Ming said: "Frontier exile is meant to deter false accusations. When the appeal is not false, the law requires no more than beating with the rod. Some commoners had spread sorcery tales, and officials hungry for credit accused them of plotting rebellion. Ming investigated and found no evidence of rebellion; he applied only the statute on sorcery speech. The court approved every recommendation.
68
巡撫河南，黜屬吏六十人。 再按畿輔，入總諸道章奏。 天順初，尚書陳汝言有罪，偕諸御史劾，下之獄。 四年，御史趙明等劾天下朝覲官，觸帝怒，詰草疏主名。 眾大懼，明獨自承。 都御史寇深言：「頻年章疏，盡出明手，幸勿以細故加罪。」 帝意解，反稱明能。 石亨既誅，僮仆皆收。 明言不宜，坐免者百人。 擢大理寺丞。
As grand coordinator of Henan he dismissed sixty subordinate officials. On a second inspection tour of the capital region he entered the capital to oversee memorials from every circuit. Early in the Tianshun reign Minister Chen Ruyan was found guilty; Gao Ming joined the other censors in impeaching him, and Chen was imprisoned. In the fourth year Zhao Ming and other censors memorialized against officials from across the empire who had come to court for audience, which enraged the emperor, who demanded to know who had authored the draft. The others were terrified; Zhao Ming alone stepped forward and admitted authorship. Censor-in-chief Kou Shen said: "For years every memorial has been written by Ming; please do not punish him over a trifling matter. The emperor relented and instead praised Ming for his competence. After Shi Heng was put to death, all his household servants were taken into custody. Ming argued that this was wrong, and as a result a hundred people were released from liability. He was promoted to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review.
69
憲宗立，拜南京右僉都御史。 以留都春夏淫雨，請修人事以回天意。 時納馬入監者至萬余人，明請區別。 薦郎中孫瓊、陳鴻漸、梅倫、何宜，主事宋瑛，皆端方廉潔，恬於進取，宜顯擢以風有位。 疏下所司。
When the Xianzong emperor came to the throne, Ming was appointed right vice censor-in-chief at Nanjing. Citing the prolonged spring and summer rains at the southern capital, he urged moral and administrative reform to answer Heaven's displeasure. More than ten thousand men had bought their way into the Imperial College with horses; Ming requested that their cases be reviewed separately. He recommended several bureau directors and a section chief as upright, incorrupt officials who shunned self-advancement, urging that they be promoted conspicuously to set an example for officeholders. The memorial was referred to the appropriate departments.
70
成化三年，揚州鹽寇起，守兵失利，詔明討之。 造巨艦，名曰「籌亭」，往來江上督戰，並江置邏堡候望。 賊縱跡無所匿，遂平之。 內官鬻私鹽，據法沒入，鹽政大治。 因條上利病十余事，多議行。 仍還原任，以親老乞終養歸。
In Chenghua year 3 salt smugglers turned bandit in Yangzhou; after the garrison suffered defeat, Ming was ordered to pacify them. He had large warships built, named Chou Pavilion, patrolled the river to direct operations, and set up lookout forts along both banks. The bandits could find no refuge wherever they fled, and the disturbance was pacified. He confiscated illicit salt sold by palace eunuchs and brought salt administration under firm control. He then memorialized more than ten specific reforms, most of which were adopted. He returned to his former post, then sought leave to care for his aged parents and went home for good.
71
十四年，上杭盜發。 詔起巡撫福建，督兵往討。 擒誅首惡，余皆減死遣戍。 以上杭地接江西、廣東，盜易嘯聚，請析置永定縣。 移疾徑歸。 久之，卒。 楊繼宗，字承芳，陽城人。 天順初進士。 授刑部主事。 囚多疫死，為時其食飲，令三日一櫛沐，全活甚眾。 又善辨疑獄。 河間獲盜，遣裏民張文、郭禮送京師，盜逸。 文謂禮曰：「吾二人並當死。 汝母老，鮮兄弟，以我代盜，庶全汝母子命。」 禮泣謝，從之。 文桎梏詣部，繼宗察非盜，竟辨出之。
In year fourteen banditry broke out in Shanghang. He was recalled from retirement as grand coordinator of Fujian and sent with troops to suppress them. The chief culprits were captured and executed; the others received commuted sentences and were banished to garrison duty. Shanghang bordered Jiangxi and Guangdong and was prone to bandit mustering; he requested the creation of Yongding County. He pleaded illness and returned home at once. After some time he died. Yang Jizong, styled Chengfang, came from Yangcheng. He passed the jinshi examination early in the Tianshun reign. He was appointed a section chief in the Ministry of Justice. Many inmates died of epidemic illness; he saw that they were fed on schedule, had them bathe and comb their hair every three days, and saved a great many lives. He was also adept at unraveling doubtful criminal cases. After bandits were captured in Hejian, two local men were dispatched to escort them to the capital, but the prisoners escaped en route. Zhang Wen said to Guo Li: "We will both be executed. Your mother is old and you have almost no brothers; let me stand in for the fugitives so that you and your mother may live. Guo Li wept his thanks and agreed. Zhang Wen presented himself in shackles at the ministry; Jizong saw he was no bandit and finally got him exonerated.
72
成化初，用王翺薦，擢嘉興知府。 以一仆自隨，署齋蕭然。 性剛廉孤峭，人莫敢犯。 而時時集父老問疾苦，為祛除之。 大興社學，民間子弟八歲不就學者，罰其父兄； 遇學官以賓禮。 師儒競勸，文教大興。 御史孔儒清軍，裏老多撻死。 繼宗榜曰：「御史杖人至死者，詣府報名。」 儒怒。 繼宗入見曰：「為治有體。 公但剔奸弊，勸懲官吏。 若比戶稽核，則有司事，非憲體也。」 儒不能難，而心甚銜之。 瀕行，突入府署，發篋視之，敝衣數襲而已。 儒慚而去。 中官過者，繼宗遺以菱芡、歷書。 中官索錢，繼宗即發牒取庫金，曰：「金具在，與我印券。」 中官咋舌不敢受。 入覲，汪直欲見之，不可。 憲宗問直：「朝覲官孰廉？」 直對曰：「天下不愛錢者，惟楊繼宗一人耳。」 九載秩滿，超遷浙江按察使。 數與中官張慶忤。 慶兄敏在司禮，每於帝前毀繼宗。 帝曰：「得非不私一錢之楊繼宗乎？」 敏惶恐，遺書慶曰：「善遇之，上已知其人矣。」 聞母喪，立出。 止驛亭下，盡籍廨中器物付有司。 惟攜一仆、書數卷而還。
Early in Chenghua he was promoted to prefect of Jiaxing on Wang Ao's recommendation. He kept only one servant; his yamen was starkly plain. Stern, incorrupt, and forbiddingly upright, he brooked no familiarity from anyone. Yet he regularly summoned village elders to hear their grievances and set them right. He greatly expanded community schools; if a boy of eight did not attend school, his father and elder brothers were fined; he received school officers with the courtesy due to guests. Teachers vied in their efforts, and local education flourished. When Censor Kong Ru conducted a troop inspection, many village elders were flogged to death. Jizong posted a notice: "Any censor who flogs someone to death must report to the prefecture and give his name. Kong Ru was incensed. Jizong called on him and said: "Government has its proper structure. Your duty is to expose wrongdoing and admonish or punish officials. House-by-house scrutiny is the work of the regular administration, not the proper scope of an investigating censor. Kong Ru had no reply, but he deeply resented Jizong. Before departing he barged into the yamen, opened Jizong's chests, and found only a few threadbare garments. Kong Ru withdrew in embarrassment. When eunuchs passed through, Jizong gave them water caltrops and almanacs. When a eunuch demanded cash, Jizong at once issued a voucher to draw gold from the treasury, saying: "The gold is ready—give me your stamped receipt. The eunuch fell silent and dared not take it. During an audience visit Wang Zhi wanted to meet him; Jizong refused. The Xianzong emperor asked Wang Zhi: "Which of the officials at audience is incorrupt? Wang Zhi replied: "Under Heaven, the only man who will not take money is Yang Jizong alone. After nine years in office he was promoted out of turn to surveillance commissioner of Zhejiang. He repeatedly crossed the eunuch Zhang Qing. Zhang Qing's brother Min, who served in the Directorate of Ceremonial, often maligned Jizong before the emperor. The emperor said: "Surely you do not mean Yang Jizong, who would not keep a single coin for himself? Min was alarmed and wrote to Zhang Qing: "Treat him well—the emperor already knows what sort of man he is. When he learned his mother had died, he resigned at once. He halted at the post station, listed every item in the yamen, and handed all over to the appropriate authorities. He went home with only one servant and a few books.
73
服除，以右僉都御史巡撫順天。 畿內多權貴莊田，有侵民業者，輒奪還之。 按行關塞，武備大飭。 星變，應詔陳言，歷指中官及文武諸臣貪殘狀，且請召還中官出鎮者。 益為權貴所嫉。 治中陳翼訐其過，權貴因中之，左遷雲南副使。
After mourning he was appointed grand coordinator of Shuntian with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief. He recovered lands that powerful families in the capital region had seized from commoners. He toured the frontier passes and greatly strengthened defenses. When a celestial portent appeared he memorialized at the emperor's call, denouncing corrupt eunuchs and officials and urging recall of eunuchs stationed on the frontiers. He earned still greater hatred from the powerful. A subordinate denounced him; the elite seized the chance to ruin him, and he was demoted to vice commissioner in Yunnan.
74
孝宗立，遷湖廣按察使。 既至，命汲水百斛，洗滌廳事而後視事，曰：「吾以除穢也。」 居無何，復以僉都御史巡撫雲南。 三司多舊僚，相見歡然。 既而出位揖之曰：「明日有公事，諸君幸相諒。」 遂劾罷不職者八人。 未幾卒。
Under Xiaozong he was made surveillance commissioner of Huguang. When he took up his post he had a hundred hu of water brought to wash the reception hall, saying: "I am washing away the filth left behind. Soon afterward he was again appointed grand coordinator of Yunnan. Many officials in the three provincial offices were former colleagues; they greeted one another warmly. Then he left his seat and bowed to them, saying: "Tomorrow we have official business; I trust you will understand. The next day he impeached and removed eight unfit officials. He died soon after.
75
繼宗力持風節，而居心慈厚，自處必以禮。 為知府，謁上官必衣繡服，朝覲謁吏部亦然。 或言不可，笑曰：「此朝廷法服也，此而不服，將安用之？」 為浙江按察時，倉官十余人坐缺糧系獄，至鬻子女以償。 繼宗欲寬之而無由。 一日，送月俸至，命量之，則溢原數。 較他司亦然。 因悟倉吏缺糧之由，將具實以聞。 眾懼，請於繼宗，願捐俸代償。 由是十人者獲釋。 嘗監鄉試得二卷，具朝服再拜曰：「二子當大魁天下，吾為朝廷得人賀耳。」 及拆卷，王華、李旻也，後果相繼為狀元。 人服其鑒。 天啟初，謚貞肅。
Jizong held fast to integrity yet was kind at heart and always conducted himself with propriety. As prefect he wore the prescribed embroidered court dress when calling on superiors and when attending audience at the Ministry of Personnel. When others objected, he laughed and said: "This is the court's prescribed dress—if I do not wear it here, what is it for? As Zhejiang surveillance commissioner he found more than ten granary officials jailed for grain shortages, some selling their children to cover the deficit. Jizong wanted to show mercy but saw no way to do so. One month when his salary arrived he had it measured and found it exceeded the proper sum. The same was true in other offices. He realized why the granary officials were short and prepared to report the truth. The officials panicked and begged Jizong to let them make up the difference from their own pay. Ten of them were thus released. While supervising the provincial examinations he read two papers, put on court dress, and bowed twice, saying: "These two men will lead the empire in the examinations; I congratulate the court on finding such talent. When the names were revealed they were Wang Hua and Li Min, who later became chief graduates in succession. All marveled at his eye for talent. Early in the Tianqi reign he was posthumously titled Zhen Su.
76
贊曰：明初以十五布政司分治天下，諸邊要害則遣侯伯勛臣鎮扼之。 永樂之季，敕蹇義等二十六人巡行天下，安撫軍民，事竣還朝，不為經制。 宣德初，始命熊概巡撫蘇、松、兩浙。 越數年，而江西、河南諸省以次專設巡撫官。 天順初，暫罷復設，諸邊亦稍用廷臣出鎮或參贊軍務。 蓋以地大物眾，法令滋章，三司謹奉教條，修其常職； 而興利除弊，均賦稅，擊貪濁，安善良，惟巡撫得以便宜從事。 熊概以下諸人，強幹者立聲威，愷悌者流惠愛，政績均有可紀。 于謙、周忱巡撫最為有名，而勛業尤盛，故別著焉。
The historian remarks: Early in the Ming, fifteen provincial administrations divided the empire, while marquises, earls, and meritorious nobles were posted to key frontiers. Late in Yongle, twenty-six officials including Jian Yi were sent on empire-wide inspection tours; when finished they returned—this was not yet a fixed system. In early Xuande Xiong Gai became the first grand coordinator of Suzhou, Songjiang, and the two Zhejiang circuits. Within a few years Jiangxi, Henan, and other provinces gained dedicated grand coordinators in succession. Early in Tianshun the posts were briefly abolished then restored; court ministers were gradually sent to frontier commands. The empire was vast and its population great, and regulations multiplied; the three provincial offices dutifully followed orders and handled routine affairs; yet only grand coordinators had discretionary power to promote good, remove abuses, balance taxes, punish corruption, and protect the law-abiding. From Xiong Gai onward, the forceful built reputation while the gentle spread kindness—all left records worthy of note. Yu Qian and Zhou Chen were the most celebrated coordinators, but their achievements were so great they receive separate biographies.