1
周新李昌祺 〈（蕭省身）〉 陳士啟應履平林碩況鐘 〈（朱勝）〉 陳本深 〈（羅以禮莫愚趙泰）〉 彭勖 〈（孫鼎）〉 夏時黃潤玉楊瓚 〈（王懋葉錫趙亮）〉 劉實陳選夏寅陳壯張昺宋端儀
Zhou Xin and Li Changqi (Xiao Shenshen)]〉 Chen Shiqi, Ying Luping, Lin Shuo, and Kuang Zhong (Zhu Sheng)]〉 Chen Benshen (Luo Yili, Mo Yu, and Zhao Tai)]〉 Peng Xu (Sun Ding)]〉 Xia Shi, Huang Runyu, and Yang Zan (Wang Mao, Ye Xi, and Zhao Liang)]〉 Liu Shi, Chen Xuan, Xia Yin, Chen Zhuang, Zhang Bing, and Song Duanyi
2
周新，南海人。 初名誌新，字日新。 成祖常獨呼「新」，遂為名，因以誌新字。 洪武中以諸生貢入太學。 授大理寺評事，以善決獄稱。
Zhou Xin was a native of Nanhai. He had originally been named Zhixin, with the style Rixin. The Yongle Emperor habitually addressed him simply as "Xin," and that became his name, with Zhixin adopted as his style. During the Hongwu reign he entered the Imperial Academy on a student tribute. Appointed reviewing officer at the Court of Judicial Review, he won renown for his skill in adjudicating cases.
3
還朝，即擢雲南按察使。 未赴，改浙江。 冤民系久，聞新至，喜曰：「我得生矣。」 至果雪之。 初，新入境，群蚋迎馬頭，跡得死人榛中，身系小木印。 新驗印，知死者故布商。 密令廣市布，視印文合者捕鞫之，盡獲諸盜。 一日，視事，旋風吹葉墜案前，葉異他樹。 詢左右，獨一僧寺有之。 寺去城遠，新意僧殺人。 發樹，果見婦人屍。 鞫實，磔僧。 一商暮歸，恐遇劫，藏金叢祠石下，歸以語其妻。 旦往求金不得，訴於新。 新召商妻訊之，果商妻有所私。 商驟歸，所私尚匿妻所，聞商語，夜取之。 妻與所私皆論死。 其他發奸摘伏，皆此類也。
Upon his return to court he was immediately promoted to surveillance commissioner of Yunnan. Before he could take up the post he was reassigned to Zhejiang. People wrongfully imprisoned for years, hearing that Xin had arrived, cried with joy, "Now I shall live!" And when he arrived he did in fact vindicate them. Early in his tenure, as he entered the province, a swarm of gnats swirled before his horse; following them he found a corpse in a hazel thicket with a small wooden seal tied to the body. Xin inspected the seal and identified the victim as a former cloth merchant. He secretly flooded the markets with cloth; anyone whose seal matched the imprint was arrested and questioned, and the entire band of thieves was taken. One day at court a whirlwind blew a leaf onto his desk—a species unlike any tree nearby. Inquiry showed that only one monastery in the area bore such trees. The monastery lay far from the city, and Xin suspected a monk there of murder. They dug beneath the tree and found a woman's body. The facts proved out in interrogation, and the monk was executed by dismemberment. A merchant coming home at dusk, fearing bandits, hid his gold under a stone in a roadside shrine; at home he told his wife where it lay. At dawn he went to recover the gold but found it gone, and lodged a complaint with Xin. Xin summoned the merchant's wife for questioning and learned that she had taken a lover. The merchant hurried home; the lover was still concealed in the house, and hearing the husband's account, he stole the gold that night. Both the wife and her lover were condemned to death. His other unmaskings of fraud and hidden crime followed the same pattern.
4
新微服行部，忤縣令。 令欲拷治之，聞廉使且至，系之獄。 新從獄中詢諸囚，得令貪汙狀。 告獄吏曰：「我按察使也。」 令驚謝罪，劾罷之。 永樂十年，浙西大水，通政趙居任匿不以聞，新奏之。 夏原吉為居任解。 帝命覆視，得蠲振如新言。 嘉興賊倪弘三劫旁郡，黨數千人，累敗官軍。 新督兵捕之，列木柵諸港汊。 賊陸走，追躡之桃源，縶以獻。 當是時，周廉使名聞天下。
Touring his jurisdiction in disguise, Xin gave offense to a district magistrate. The magistrate meant to have him beaten, but hearing that the surveillance commissioner was due, he threw him in jail instead. From his cell Xin questioned the other prisoners and gathered proof of the magistrate's corruption. He told the jailer, "I am the surveillance commissioner." The magistrate was thunderstruck and begged pardon; Xin impeached him and had him removed. In the tenth year of Yongle, western Zhejiang was stricken by severe floods; Transmission Commissioner Zhao Juren concealed the disaster and failed to report it, and Xin memorialized the throne. Xia Yuanji pleaded on Juren's behalf. The Emperor ordered a fresh inspection, and tax relief and famine aid were granted exactly as Xin had urged. The Jiaxing bandit Ni Hongsan raided neighboring prefectures at the head of several thousand followers and repeatedly routed government forces. Xin led troops against him and erected wooden barriers across every inlet and creek. The bandits fled overland; he pursued them to Taoyuan, captured them, and sent them up in bonds. By then Surveillance Commissioner Zhou's fame had spread across the empire.
5
錦衣衛指揮紀綱使千戶緝事浙江，攫賄作威福。 新欲按治之，遁去。 頃之，新賫文冊入京，遇千戶涿州，捕系州獄。 脫走訴於綱，綱誣奏新罪。 帝怒，命逮新。 旗校皆錦衣私人，在道榜掠無完膚。 既至，伏陛前抗聲曰：「陛下詔按察司行事，與都察院同。 臣奉詔擒奸惡，奈何罪臣？」 帝愈怒，命戮之。 臨刑大呼曰：「生為直臣，死當作直鬼！」 竟殺之。
Ji Gang, commander of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard, dispatched a chiliarch to investigate in Zhejiang, extorting bribes and abusing his authority. When Xin moved to prosecute him, the man fled. Soon afterward, bearing official documents to the capital, Xin met the chiliarch at Zhuozhou, arrested him, and locked him in the prefectural prison. The man broke free and appealed to Gang, who then lodged a false accusation against Xin. The Emperor flew into a rage and ordered Xin's arrest. The escort officers were all Gang's personal retainers; on the road they flogged Xin until his flesh hung in tatters. On reaching court he prostrated himself before the steps and cried out, "Your Majesty's edict empowers the surveillance commissions to act with the same authority as the Censorate. I was obeying that edict when I seized a villain—why am I now the criminal?" The Emperor's fury only deepened, and he ordered Xin put to death. At the block he shouted, "In life I was an upright minister—in death I shall be an upright ghost!" And so they killed him.
6
他日，帝悔，問侍臣曰：「周新何許人？」 對曰：「南海。」 帝嘆曰：「嶺外乃有此人，枉殺之矣！」 後帝若見人緋衣立日中，曰「臣周新已為神，為陛下治奸貪吏」雲。 後紀綱以罪誅，事益白。
Later the Emperor regretted his act and asked his attendants, "Where was Zhou Xin from?" They replied, "Nanhai." The Emperor sighed, "That such a man could come from beyond the mountains—and I killed him in vain!" Thereafter the Emperor would seem to see a figure in scarlet standing in broad daylight, saying, "Your servant Zhou Xin has become a spirit and will punish corrupt officials on Your Majesty's behalf." When Gang was later executed for his crimes, the truth of the matter became still plainer.
7
妻有節操。 新未遇時，縫紉自給。 及貴，偶赴同官妻內宴，荊布如田家婦。 諸婦慚，盡易其衣飾。 新死無子。 妻歸，貧甚。 廣東巡撫楊信民曰：「周誌新當代第一人，可使其夫人終日餒耶？」 時時赒給之。 妻死，浙人仕廣東者皆會葬。
His wife was a woman of steadfast integrity. Before Xin rose to office, she supported herself by needlework. After he had risen high in office she once attended a wives' gathering at a colleague's home clad in coarse hemp like a peasant woman. The other wives were shamed into changing out of their finery. Xin died without a son. His widow returned home in dire poverty. Yang Xinmin, grand coordinator of Guangdong, said, "Zhou Zhixin was the foremost man of his age—shall his widow go hungry day after day?" He saw to her support from time to time. When she died, every Zhejiang native serving in Guangdong came together for her burial.
8
李昌祺，名禎，以字行，廬陵人。 永樂二年進士。 選庶吉士。 預修《永樂大典》，僻書疑事，人多就質。 擢禮部郎中，遷廣西左布政使。 坐事謫役，尋宥還。 洪熙元年，起故官河南。 與右布政使蕭省身繩豪猾，去貪殘，疏滯舉廢，救災恤貧，數月政化大行。 憂歸，宣宗已命侍郎魏源代。 而是時河南大旱，廷臣以昌祺廉潔寬厚，河南民懷之，請起昌祺。 命奪喪赴官，撫恤甚至。 正統改元，上書言三事，皆報可。 四年致仕。 家居二十余年，屏跡不入公府，故廬裁蔽風雨，伏臘不充。 景泰二年卒。
Li Changqi, whose personal name was Zhen but who was known by his style, came from Luling. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of Yongle. He was chosen as a Hanlin bachelor. He helped compile the Yongle Encyclopedia, and scholars flocked to him with questions about recondite texts and doubtful points. Promoted to director in the Ministry of Rites, he was then appointed left administration commissioner of Guangxi. Convicted of an offense, he was sentenced to corvée labor but was soon pardoned and restored. In the first year of Hongxi he was recalled to his former post in Henan. Together with Right Administration Commissioner Xiao Shenshen he reined in the powerful and cunning, drove out the greedy and cruel, cleared backlogs, revived neglected projects, and brought relief in famine—within months good government prevailed throughout the province. When he went home on mourning leave, the Xuande Emperor had already appointed Vice Minister Wei Yuan to take his place. Henan was then in the grip of severe drought; court officials, citing Changqi's integrity, generosity, and the people's affection for him, petitioned for his recall. Ordered to leave mourning and resume office, he devoted himself to relief with exceptional thoroughness. At the inauguration of the Zhengtong reign he memorialized the throne on three matters, all of which were approved. In the fourth year he retired from office. For more than twenty years he lived in retirement, never setting foot in official halls; his old house scarcely kept out the weather, and at the festivals he could barely make ends meet. He died in the second year of Jingtai.
9
蕭省身，泰和人。 與昌祺同舉進士。 洪熙元年，布政考滿，當給誥命。 奏父年八十余，願以給父。 帝嘉而許之，後遂為例。 居河南十二年，治行與昌祺等。
Xiao Shenshen was a native of Taihe. He received his jinshi in the same year as Changqi. In the first year of Hongxi, at the close of his term as administration commissioner, he was due to receive an edict of appointment. He memorialized that his father was over eighty and asked that the edict be granted to his father instead. The Emperor commended the request and granted it, and the practice later became precedent. He served twelve years in Henan with a record of governance equal to Changqi's.
10
陳士啟，名雷，以字行，泰和人。 永樂二年進士。 選庶吉士，擢禮部郎中。 尚書呂震險忮，屬吏皆憚之，承奉唯謹，士啟獨不少徇。
Chen Shiqi, whose personal name was Lei but who was known by his style, came from Taihe. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of Yongle. Chosen as a Hanlin bachelor, he was promoted to director in the Ministry of Rites. Minister Lü Zhen was treacherous and jealous; his subordinates all feared him and deferred obsequiously, but Shiqi alone refused to bend.
11
十二年三月，吏部言布、按二司多缺官。 帝曰：「布政、按察，吾方嶽臣。 方數千里地懸數人手，其簡廷臣賢能者，分別用之。」 於是諸曹郎、給事中出為監司者二十余人，而士啟得山東右參政。 盡心吏事，不為察察名。 督徭賦，不峻期約。 青州饑，疏請振之粟。 使至，而饑民倍。 士啟復上疏，先出粟予民，謂使者曰：「有罪吾獨任。」 廷議竟從之。
In the third month of the twelfth year the Ministry of Personnel reported numerous vacancies in the provincial administration and surveillance commissions. The Emperor said, "Administration and surveillance commissioners are my frontier ministers. Provinces of thousands of li depend on a handful of men—select worthy and capable court officials and assign them accordingly." More than twenty bureau directors and supervising secretaries were dispatched as provincial commissioners, and Shiqi was appointed right administration commissioner of Shandong. He threw himself into official business and sought no reputation for petty severity. In collecting corvée and taxes he did not impose harsh deadlines. When Qingzhou was stricken by famine he memorialized for relief grain. By the time the envoy arrived the number of famine victims had doubled. Shiqi memorialized again, distributed grain to the people at once, and told the envoy, "If blame falls, let it fall on me alone." The court in the end approved his action.
12
坐唐賽兒亂下獄，數月，釋還職。 高煦謀不軌，士啟自青州暮馳歸語三司，密聞於朝。 高煦既執，從薛祿、張本錄余黨，撫安人民。 事竣，命清理山東軍籍。 宣德六年卒於官。
Implicated in the Tang Sai'er rebellion, he was imprisoned for several months before being released and restored to office. When Gao Xu plotted rebellion, Shiqi galloped from Qingzhou at dusk to alert the three commissions and secretly reported to the capital. After Gao Xu's capture he joined Xue Lu and Zhang Ben in registering the remaining conspirators and pacifying the populace. When the affair was concluded he was ordered to rectify the military registers of Shandong. He died in office in the sixth year of Xuande.
13
應履平，奉化人。 建文二年進士。 授德化知縣。 歷官吏部郎中，出為常德知府。
Ying Luping was a native of Fenghua. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of Jianwen. He was appointed magistrate of Dehua. He rose to director in the Ministry of Personnel and was then appointed prefect of Changde.
14
宣宗初，擢貴州按察使。 所至祛除奸蠹，數論時政。 舊制，都督府遣使於外，必領內勘合，下都司，不敢輒下衛。 至是軍府浸橫，使者挾關文四馳，歷諸衛，朘軍伍。 宣德七年，履平抗疏言：「勘合之設，所以防詐偽。 今右軍府遣發至黔者，不遵故事，小人恁勢橫求，詐冒何從省。」 宣宗善其言，都督陳政引罪。 帝令諸司永守之，軍府為之戢。
Early in the Xuande reign he was promoted to surveillance commissioner of Guizhou. Wherever he served he rooted out corruption and repeatedly memorialized on current affairs. By regulation, envoys dispatched abroad by the regional military commission had to carry internal verification tallies issued through the provincial command and could not proceed directly to the guards. By then the military offices had grown overbearing; their envoys bore transit documents and galloped through every guard, draining the military rolls. In the seventh year of Xuande Luping submitted a forceful memorial: "Verification tallies exist to prevent fraud. Yet envoys from the Right Military Commission reaching Qian ignore precedent; petty men abuse their authority—how can fraud be detected?" The Xuande Emperor approved; Regional Commander Chen Zheng confessed his fault. The Emperor ordered all offices to observe the rule permanently, and the military offices were restrained.
15
明年，上書言四事。 一，鎮遠六府，自湖廣改屬貴州，當食川鹽。 去蜀道遠，仍食淮鹽為便。 一，軍衛糧支於重慶，舟楫不通，易就輕賫多耗費，請以鎮遠秋糧輸湖廣者就近支給。 一，停黎平諸府歲辦黃白蠟。 一，貴州初開，三司月俸止一石，今糧漸充裕，請增給。 並從之。
The following year he memorialized on four matters. First, the six Zhenyuan prefectures, transferred from Huguang to Guizhou, ought to use Sichuan salt. The road to Sichuan being distant, Huai salt would be more convenient. Second, guard grain was supplied from Chongqing, but waterways were impassable and light delivery wasted much; he asked that Zhenyuan autumn grain bound for Huguang be issued locally instead. Third, suspend the annual levy of yellow and white wax from Liping and neighboring prefectures. Fourth, when Guizhou was first opened the three commissions received only one picul monthly; now supplies are ample—he requested an increase. All were approved.
16
時方面以公事行部者，例不給驛。 履平言僦車舟必擾民，請給驛便。 又以軍伍不足，請令衛所官旂犯雜死及徒流者，俱送鎮將立功，期滿還伍； 邊軍犯盜及土官民與官旂罪輕者，入粟缺儲所贖罪。 並從之。 三年遷雲南左布政使。 時麓川用兵，屢奏勞績。 八年致仕歸。
At that time provincial officials touring on public business were not entitled to relay transport. Luping argued that hiring carts and boats would burden the people and requested relay transport instead. Because military rolls were short, he also asked that officers and bannermen convicted of capital crimes or exile be sent to frontier generals to earn merit, then restored to the rolls; frontier soldiers guilty of theft, native officials, commoners, and officers and bannermen with lesser offenses should redeem their guilt by contributing grain to depleted granaries. All were approved. In the third year he was transferred to left administration commissioner of Yunnan. During the Lucchuan campaign he repeatedly memorialized his achievements in supply and administration. In the eighth year he retired and returned home.
17
林碩，字懋弘，閩縣人。 永樂十年進士。 授御史，出按山東。
Lin Shuo, whose style was Maohong, came from Min county. He received his jinshi degree in the tenth year of Yongle. Appointed censor, he was dispatched to investigate Shandong.
18
宣德初，按浙江。 為治嚴肅，就擢按察使。 千戶湯某結中官裴可烈為奸利，碩將繩以法。 中官誣碩毀詔書，被逮。 碩叩頭言：「臣前為御史，官七品。 今擢按察使，官三品。 日夜淬勵，思報上恩。 小人不便，欲去臣，唯陛下裁察。」 帝動容曰：「朕固未之信，召汝面訊耳。」 立釋碩，復其官，敕責可烈。 碩在浙久，人懷其惠。
Early in Xuande he investigated Zhejiang. His governance was stern and severe, and he was promptly promoted to surveillance commissioner. A chiliarch surnamed Tang had joined the eunuch Pei Kelie in illicit profiteering; Shuo moved to punish them by law. The eunuch falsely accused Shuo of defaming an imperial edict, and he was arrested. Shuo kowtowed and said, "When I was a censor I held rank seven. Now promoted to surveillance commissioner I hold rank three. Day and night I strive to repay Your Majesty's grace. Petty men who find me inconvenient wish me removed—may Your Majesty judge." The Emperor was moved and said, "I never believed it—I summoned you to question you in person." He released Shuo at once, restored his office, and issued an edict rebuking Kelie. Shuo served long in Zhejiang, and the people cherished his kindness.
19
正統三年誤引赦例出人死，僉事耿定劾之。 逮訊，輸贖還職。 其冬遷廣東布政使，未及任而卒。 其後寧波知府鄭珞劾可烈不法，可烈竟罷去。
In the third year of Zhengtong he mistakenly applied an amnesty and released a condemned man; Vice Commissioner Geng Ding impeached him. Arrested and tried, he paid a fine and returned to office. That winter he was transferred to administration commissioner of Guangdong but died before taking up the post. Later Ningbo Prefect Zheng Luo impeached Kelie for misconduct, and Kelie was finally dismissed.
20
況鐘，字伯律，靖安人。 初以吏事尚書呂震，奇其才，薦授儀制司主事。 遷郎中。
Kuang Zhong, whose style was Bolü, came from Jing'an. He began as a clerk under Minister Lü Zhen, who marveled at his talent and recommended him as registrar of the Rites Protocol Bureau. He was promoted to director.
21
宣德五年，帝以郡守多不稱職，會蘇州等九府缺，皆雄劇地，命部、院臣舉其屬之廉能者補之。 鐘用尚書蹇義、胡濙等薦，擢知蘇州，賜敕以遣之。
In the fifth year of Xuande, finding many prefects unfit for office and nine difficult prefectures including Suzhou vacant, the Emperor ordered ministry and court officials to recommend incorrupt and capable subordinates to fill the posts. On the recommendation of Ministers Jian Yi, Hu Ying, and others, Zhong was appointed magistrate of Suzhou and dispatched with an imperial letter of appointment.
22
蘇州賦役繁重，豪猾舞文為奸利，最號難治。 鐘乘傳至府。 初視事，群吏環立請判牒。 鐘佯不省，左右顧問，惟吏所欲行止。 吏大喜，謂太守暗，易欺。 越三日，召詰之曰：「前某事宜行，若止我； 某事宜止，若強我行； 若輩舞文久，罪當死。」 立捶殺數人，盡斥屬僚之貪虐庸懦者。 一府大震，皆奉法。 鐘乃蠲煩苛，立條教，事不便民者，立上書言之。
Suzhou's taxes and corvée were crushing; the powerful twisted documents for illicit gain—it was reckoned the hardest prefecture to govern. Zhong traveled by relay to the prefectural seat. On his first day in office the clerks crowded round asking him to sign documents. Zhong pretended not to understand, glanced about for advice, and let the clerks do as they pleased. The clerks were delighted, thinking the prefect dull and easy to deceive. Three days later he summoned them and said, "The other day a certain matter ought to have gone forward and you stopped me; another ought to have stopped and you forced me to proceed; you have twisted documents for years—the crime deserves death." He had several beaten to death at once and dismissed every greedy, cruel, mediocre, or cowardly subordinate. The whole prefecture was shaken into obedience. Zhong then abolished vexatious exactions, established regulations, and memorialized at once on any matter that burdened the people.
23
清軍御史李立勾軍暴，同知張徽承風指，動以酷刑抑配平人。 鐘疏免百六十人，役止終本身者千二百四十人。 屬縣逋賦四年，凡七百六十余萬石。 鐘請量折以鈔，為部議所格，然自是頗蠲減。 又言：「近奉詔募人佃官民荒田，官田準民田起科，無人種者除賦額。 昆山諸縣民以死徙從軍除籍者，凡三萬三千四百余戶，所遺官田二千九百八十余頃，應減稅十四萬九千余石。 其他官田沒海者，賦額猶存，宜皆如詔書從事。 臣所領七縣，秋糧二百七十七萬九千石有奇。 其中民糧止十五萬三千余石，而官糧乃至二百六十二萬五千余石，有畝征至三石者，輕重不均如此。 洪、永間，令出馬役於北方諸驛，前後四百余匹，期三歲遣還，今已三十余歲矣。 馬死則補，未有休時。 工部征三梭闊布八百匹，浙江十一府止百匹，而蘇州乃至七百，乞敕所司處置。」 帝悉報許。
Army-clearance Censor Li Li conscripted troops with violence; Vice Prefect Zhang Hui followed his lead and routinely used torture to press commoners into service. Zhong memorialized to exempt 160 men and limit corvée to a single lifetime for 1,240 others. Subordinate counties owed four years of back taxes—more than 7.6 million piculs in all. Zhong requested partial conversion to paper money; the ministry blocked it, but considerable remissions followed. He also memorialized: "A recent edict recruits cultivators for abandoned official and private land; official land is to be taxed like private land, and untilled quotas are to be removed. In Kunshan and neighboring counties more than 33,400 households had been struck from the registers through death, migration, or military service, leaving more than 2,980 qing of official land for which tax ought to be reduced by more than 149,000 piculs. Other official land lost to the sea still carried tax quotas; the edict ought to be applied throughout. The seven counties under my jurisdiction owe more than 2,779,000 piculs of autumn grain. Of this only 153,000 piculs is private grain, while official grain reaches more than 2,625,000 piculs; some fields are taxed up to three piculs per mu—such is the imbalance. Between Hongwu and Yongle more than 400 horses were sent on corvée to northern relay stations, with a three-year term of service; more than thirty years have passed. Dead horses were replaced, and the obligation has never ended. The Ministry of Works levied 800 bolts of triple-weave broad cloth; Zhejiang's eleven prefectures owed only 100, yet Suzhou alone owed 700—he begged the relevant offices to rectify the levy." The Emperor approved all in reply.
24
當是時，屢詔減蘇、松重賦。 鐘與巡撫周忱悉心計畫，奏免七十余萬石。 凡忱所行善政，鐘皆協力成之。 所積濟農倉粟歲數十萬石，振荒之外，以代民間雜辦及逋租。 其為政，韱悉周密。 嘗置二簿識民善惡，以行勸懲。 又置通關勘合簿，防出納奸偽。 置綱運簿，防運夫侵盜。 置館夫簿，防非理需求。 興利除害，不遺余力。 鋤豪強，植良善，民奉之若神。
At that time edicts repeatedly ordered reductions in the heavy levies of Suzhou and Songjiang. Zhong and Grand Coordinator Zhou Chen planned together and secured exemptions of more than 700,000 piculs. Every good policy Chen enacted, Zhong helped bring to fruition. Grain in the famine-relief granaries reached hundreds of thousands of piculs yearly; beyond famine relief it covered miscellaneous levies and rent arrears. In governance he was meticulous and thorough. He kept two registers recording each household's conduct, for reward and punishment. He kept a register of transit verification tallies to prevent fraud in receipts and disbursements. He kept a transport convoy register to prevent carriers from embezzling grain. He kept a courier register to prevent unreasonable requisitions. In promoting benefit and removing harm he spared no effort. He uprooted the powerful and promoted the good; the people revered him as a god.
25
先是，中使織造采辦及購花木禽鳥者踵至。 郡佐以下，動遭笞縛。 而衛所將卒，時淩虐小民。 鐘在，斂跡不敢肆。 雖上官及他省吏過其地者，鹹心憚之。
Before this, palace eunuchs on weaving, procurement, and exotic-goods missions arrived in an endless stream. Officials below the prefectural aides were frequently flogged and bound. Guard-station commanders and soldiers often bullied ordinary people. While Zhong was in office, they restrained themselves and dared not misbehave. Even superiors and officials from other provinces passing through feared him.
26
鐘雖起刀筆，然重學校，禮文儒，單門寒士多見振贍。 有鄒亮者，獻詩於鐘。 鐘欲薦之，或為匿名書毀亮。 鐘曰：「是欲我速成亮名耳。」 立奏之朝。 召授吏、刑二部司務。 遷御史。
Although Zhong rose from clerical service, he valued schools, honored scholars, and many poor scholars from humble families received his support. A man named Zou Liang presented poems to Zhong. Zhong wished to recommend him, but someone sent an anonymous letter slandering Liang. Zhong said, "They want me to make Liang's name famous all the sooner." He immediately memorialized the court on his behalf. He was summoned and appointed clerk in the Ministries of Personnel and Justice. He was promoted to censor.
27
初，鐘為吏時，吳江平思忠亦以吏起家，為吏部司務，遇鐘有恩。 至是鐘數延見，執禮甚恭，且令二子給侍，曰：「非無仆隸，欲籍是報公耳。」 思忠家素貧，未嘗緣故誼有所幹。 人兩賢之。
Early on, when Zhong was a clerk, Wu Jiang's Ping Sizhong also rose from clerical service and served as a clerk in the Ministry of Personnel; he had shown Zhong kindness. By then Zhong repeatedly received him with great courtesy, had his two sons attend him, and said, "It is not that I lack servants—I wish to repay you in this way." Sizhong's family had always been poor; he had never used their old bond to ask for favors. People praised them both.
28
鐘嘗丁母憂，郡民詣闕乞留。 詔起復。 正統六年，秩滿當遷，部民二萬余人，走訴巡按御史張文昌，乞再任。 詔進正三品俸，仍視府事。 明年十二月卒於官。 吏民聚哭，為立祠。
When Zhong entered mourning for his mother, prefectural subjects went to the capital to beg that he be retained. An edict recalled him to office before his mourning ended. In the sixth year of Zhengtong, when his term ended and transfer was due, more than 20,000 local people appealed to touring censor Zhang Wenchang to beg another term. An edict raised his salary to the right third rank and ordered him to continue governing the prefecture. The following year, in the twelfth month, he died in office. Officials and the people gathered to mourn and erected a shrine in his honor.
29
鐘剛正廉潔，孜孜愛民，前後守蘇者莫能及。 鐘之後李從智、朱勝相繼知蘇州，鹹奉敕從事，然敕書委寄不如鐘矣。 李從智，宜賓人。
Zhong was upright, incorruptible, and tirelessly devoted to the people; none of Suzhou's prefects before or after matched him. After Zhong, Li Congzhi and Zhu Sheng succeeded him as prefect of Suzhou; both served under imperial commission, but the commissions entrusted them with less authority than Zhong had enjoyed. Li Congzhi was a native of Yibin.
30
朱勝，金華人。 勝廉靜精敏，下不能欺。 嘗曰：「吏貪，吾不多受牒。 隸貪，吾不行杖。 獄卒貪，吾不系囚。」 由是公庭清肅，民安而化之。 居七年，超遷江南左布政使。
Zhu Sheng was a native of Jinhua. Sheng was incorruptible, reserved, and keenly intelligent; subordinates could not deceive him. He once said, "If clerks are greedy, I will not accept many petitions. If runners are greedy, I will not authorize beatings. If jailers are greedy, I will not imprison people." Hence the yamen was orderly and the people lived in peace and were transformed by his example. After seven years he was promoted directly to Left Provincial Administration Commissioner of Jiangnan.
31
初與鐘同薦者，戶部郎中羅以禮知西安，兵部郎中趙豫知松江，工部郎中莫愚知常州，戶部員外郎邵旻知武昌，刑部員外郎馬儀知杭州，陳本深知吉安，御史陳鼎知建昌，何文淵知溫州，皆賜敕乘傳行。
Those first recommended with Zhong were Luo Yili of the Ministry of Revenue as prefect of Xi'an, Zhao Yu of the Ministry of War as prefect of Songjiang, Mo Yu of the Ministry of Works as prefect of Changzhou, Shao Min of the Ministry of Revenue as prefect of Wuchang, Ma Yi of the Ministry of Justice as prefect of Hangzhou, Chen Benshen as prefect of Ji'an, Chen Ding as prefect of Jianchang, and He Wenyuan as prefect of Wenzhou—all received imperial commissions and traveled by relay horse.
32
陳本深，字有源，鄞人。 永樂初，由鄉舉入國子監。 授刑部主事。 善發奸。 畿內盜殺人，亡匿。 有司系無辜十八人於獄。 本深以計獲盜，十八人皆免。 遷員外郎。
Chen Benshen, style Youyuan, was a native of Yin. Early in Yongle he entered the Imperial Academy through provincial recommendation. He was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Justice. He was skilled at exposing wrongdoing. A bandit in the capital region murdered someone and fled into hiding. The authorities imprisoned eighteen innocent men. Benshen captured the robber by stratagem, and all eighteen were released. He was promoted to vice director.
33
與況鐘等同受敕為知府，本深知吉安。 吉安多豪強，好訐訟。 巨猾彭摶等十九人橫閭裏，本深遣人與相結。 為具召與飲，伏壯士後堂，拉殺之，皆曳其屍以出，一府大驚。 樂安大盜曾子良據大盤山，眾萬余。 本深設伏大破之，斬子良。
Together with Kuang Zhong and others he received an imperial commission as prefect; Benshen governed Ji'an. Ji'an had many powerful local bullies who loved litigation. Nineteen notorious ruffians led by Peng Tuan tyrannized the neighborhoods; Benshen sent men to befriend them. He feasted them, hid braves in the rear hall, seized and killed them, and dragged their corpses out—the whole prefecture was shocked. The Le'an bandit chief Zeng Ziliang held Dapan Mountain with more than 10,000 men. Benshen ambushed and routed them, beheading Ziliang.
34
本深為政舉大綱，不屑苛細。 大猾既殲，府中無事。 晨起，鼓而升堂，吏無所白，輒鼓而休。 間有所訟，呼至榻前，析曲直遣之，亦不受狀。 有抑不伸者，雖三尺童子，皆得往白。 久之，民恥爭訟。 尤折節士人，飾治學宮，奏新先儒歐陽修、周必大、楊邦乂、胡銓、楊萬里、文天祥祠廟。 正統六年，滿九載當遷，郡人乞留，詔予正三品俸。 廨前民嫁女，本深聞鼓樂聲，笑曰：「吾來時，乳下兒也。 今且嫁，我尚留此耶？」 遂請老。 前後守吉安十八年，既去，郡人肖像祀之。
Benshen governed by broad principles and disdained petty detail. Once the chief ruffians were exterminated, the prefecture was untroubled. Each morning he opened court at the drum; when clerks had nothing to report he dismissed court at once. When disputes arose he called the parties before him, judged right from wrong, and sent them away without accepting written petitions. Anyone with an unredressed grievance—even a small child—could come and speak to him directly. In time the people grew ashamed of quarreling in court. He especially honored scholars, renovated the school temple, and memorialized new shrines to the former Confucians Ouyang Xiu, Zhou Bida, Yang Bangyi, Hu Quan, Yang Wanli, and Wen Tianxiang. In the sixth year of Zhengtong, when nine years were complete and transfer was due, the people begged he be retained; an edict granted him the salary of the right third rank. When a commoner before the yamen was marrying off his daughter, Benshen heard drums and pipes and laughed, saying, "When I arrived, she was still nursing. Now she is marrying—should I still remain here?" He then requested retirement. He governed Ji'an for eighteen years in all; after he left, the people worshipped his portrait.
35
羅以禮，桂陽人。 永樂十三年進士。 由郎中知西安府。 遭喪，補紹興。 再以喪去。 代者不稱職，部民追思，乞以禮於朝。 詔起復視事。 歲滿，進秩復任。 已，移知建昌。 所至皆有惠愛。 歷三郡，凡二十七年，乃致仕。
Luo Yili was a native of Guiyang. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirteenth year of Yongle. From the rank of director he was appointed prefect of Xi'an. After bereavement he was reassigned to Shaoxing. He again left office for mourning. His replacement was incompetent; local people missed him and petitioned the court to recall Yili. An edict recalled him to office before his mourning ended. When his term ended he was promoted in rank and reappointed. Thereafter he was transferred to govern Jianchang. Wherever he served he showed kindness and care. He governed three commanderies for twenty-seven years in all before retiring.
36
莫愚，臨桂人。 由鄉舉，以郎中出知常州。 奏請減宜興歲進茶數，禁公差官淩虐有司，嚴核上官薦劾之實。 皆報可。 郡民陳思保年十二，世業漁。 其父兄行劫，思保在舟中，有司以為從論，當斬。 愚疏言：「小兒依其父兄，非為從比。 令全家舟居，將舉家坐耶？」 宣宗命釋之，謂廷臣曰：「為守能言此，可謂有仁心矣。」 正統六年秩滿，郡民乞留，巡撫周忱以聞。 詔進二階復往。
Mo Yu was a native of Lingui. Through provincial recommendation he went out as a director to govern Changzhou. He memorialized to reduce Yixing's annual tea tribute, forbid traveling officials from bullying local administrators, and strictly verify superiors' recommendations and impeachments. All were approved. A local man named Chen Sibao, twelve years old, came from a fishing family. His father and elder brother committed robbery; Sibao was in the boat, and the authorities judged him an accomplice and sentenced him to death. Yu memorialized: "The boy relied on his father and elder brother; he cannot be treated as an accomplice. If a whole family lives on a boat, will the entire household be punished?" The Xuande Emperor ordered his release and told court officials, "For a prefect to speak thus shows a benevolent heart." In the sixth year of Zhengtong, when his term ended, the people begged he be retained, and Grand Coordinator Zhou Chen reported it. An edict promoted him two ranks and sent him back.
37
與愚同時為同知者，潞城趙泰，字熙和。 由鄉舉入國子監。 歷事都察院，授常州同知。 浚孟瀆、得勝二河，作魏村閘。 周忱、況鐘議減蘇州重糧，泰亦檢常州官田租，請並減之。 遷工部郎中，命塞東昌決河。 忱薦為協同都運，益勤其職。 亡何，疾卒。
Serving as vice prefect alongside Yu was Zhao Tai of Lucheng, style Xihe. Through provincial recommendation he entered the Imperial Academy. After service at the Censorate he was appointed vice prefect of Changzhou. He dredged the Mengdu and Desheng rivers and built the Weicun sluice gate. Zhou Chen and Kuang Zhong worked to reduce Suzhou's heavy grain levies; Tai also examined Changzhou's official-field rents and requested reductions. He was promoted to director in the Ministry of Works and ordered to block the breached river at Dongchang. Chen recommended him as joint director of transport, and he became even more diligent in his duties. Before long he died suddenly of illness.
38
彭勖，字祖期，永豐人。 七歲，入佛寺不拜。 僧強之，叱曰：「彼不衣冠而袒跣，何拜為！」
Peng Xu, style Zuqi, was a native of Yongfeng. At seven he entered a Buddhist temple and refused to bow. When the monk forced him, he rebuked him: "They wear no proper dress but go bare-chested and barefoot—why should I bow to them!"
39
永樂十三年舉進士。 親老，乞近地以養，除南雄府教授。 學舍後有祠，數現光怪。 學官弟子率禱祀，勖撤而焚之。 滿考，補建寧教授。 副使王增有疾，醫者許宗道誣諸生遊亨魘魅，以舍旁童五郎祠為征。 增怒，置亨家七人重罪，下近祠居民獄四百家。 勖抗論遊氏非巫者，五郎非邪神，初捐地築城人也，事載郡誌中。 增愕，索圖經證之，大慚悔，事得解。 建寧朱子故宅，有祠無祭。 勖疏請春秋祭，蠲子孫徭。 又創尊賢堂，祀胡安國、蔡沈、真德秀。 諸生翕然向學。
In the thirteenth year of Yongle he passed the jinshi examination. His parents were aged; he begged a nearby post to support them and was appointed instructor of Nanxiong Prefecture. Behind the school quarters was a shrine that frequently manifested strange lights. School officials and students regularly prayed there; Xu demolished the shrine and burned it. When his term ended he was reassigned as instructor of Jianning. Vice Commissioner Wang Zeng fell ill; the physician Xu Zongdao falsely accused the student You Heng of sorcery, citing the Tong Wulang shrine beside the school as evidence. Zeng in anger imposed heavy penalties on seven members of Heng's family and imprisoned four hundred households living near the shrine. Xu argued forcefully that the You clan were not sorcerers and that Wulang was no evil spirit but a man who had originally donated land to build the city wall—a fact recorded in the prefectural gazetteer. Zeng was astonished. He sought out maps and gazetteers to verify the claim, was deeply ashamed, and the matter was resolved. At Zhu Xi's former residence in Jianning there was a shrine, but no sacrifices were performed. Xu memorialized requesting spring and autumn sacrifices and an exemption from corvée labor for Zhu Xi's descendants. He also founded the Hall of Esteemed Worthies, where Hu Anguo, Cai Shen, and Zhen Dexiu were enshrined. The students all eagerly turned to their studies.
40
孫鼎，字宜鉉，廬陵人。 永樂間舉人。 歷松江教授。 正統八年，楊溥薦為御史，董南畿學政。 置「本源錄」，錄諸生善行。 行部不令人知，單輿猝至。 諸生謁，輒閉門試之，即日定甲乙。 諸生試歸，榜已揭通衢，請托者無所措手。 通州旱饑，奏蠲糧三千四百余石。 英宗北狩，鼎試罷，謂諸生曰：「故事當簪花宴，今臣子枕戈之秋，不敢陷諸君不義。」 設茗飲，步送諸門。 既而詣闕上書，請隨所用效死。 不報。 未幾，以親老致仕。 知府張瑄疏言：「鼎孝追曾、閔，學繼朱、程，宜起居論思之職。」 帝不允。 天順元年卒於家。
Sun Ding, style Yixuan, was a native of Luling. During the Yongle reign he passed the provincial examination. He served as instructor of Songjiang. In the eighth year of Zhengtong, Yang Pu recommended him for appointment as censor to supervise education in the Southern Metropolitan Region. He established a "Record of Origins" to record the good deeds of his students. When touring his jurisdiction he kept his movements secret, arriving without warning in a simple carriage. When students came to pay their respects, he would shut the door and examine them on the spot, ranking them that same day. By the time the students returned from the examination, the results were already posted in the public square, leaving no room for favor-seekers to intervene. When Tongzhou suffered drought and famine, he memorialized for the remission of more than three thousand four hundred shi of grain. When Emperor Yingzong was captured on the northern campaign, Ding, after the examinations ended, told the students, "By precedent we should hold a flower-wearing banquet, but this is a time when ministers must sleep upon their spears. I dare not lead you gentlemen into impropriety." He offered tea instead and escorted them on foot to the gates. He then went to court and submitted a memorial, offering to serve wherever needed even unto death. He received no response. Before long he retired to care for his aged parents. Prefect Zhang Xuan memorialized, saying, "Ding's filial piety rivals that of Zeng Shen and Min Ziqian, and his learning follows Zhu Xi and the Cheng brothers. He is suited for a court post of daily counsel and deliberation." The emperor did not approve. He died at home in the first year of Tianshun.
41
夏時，字以正，錢塘人。 永樂十六年進士。 授戶科給事中。
Xia Shi, style Yizheng, was a native of Qiantang. In the sixteenth year of Yongle he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed supervising secretary of the Household Section.
42
洪熙元年議改鈔法。 時力言其擾市肆，無裨國用，疏留中。 鈔果大沮，民多犯禁。 議竟寢。 帝思時言，命侍皇太子祀孝陵，所過有災傷，輒白太子，發粟以振。 留署南京戶科。
In the first year of Hongxi the court deliberated changing the paper-money law. Shi argued forcefully that the change would disrupt the markets without benefiting state revenue. His memorial was held at court without action. Paper money did indeed collapse in value, and many people violated the prohibitions. The proposal was eventually abandoned. Recalling Shi's words, the emperor ordered him to accompany the Crown Prince in sacrificing at Xiaoling. Wherever they encountered disaster or hardship along the way, he would inform the prince and disburse grain for relief. He remained in charge of the Nanjing Household Section.
43
宣德初，一日三上封事。 稱旨，命署尚寶司，兼理吏、禮、兵、刑四科，視七篆，無留事。 命核後湖黃冊，陳便宜十四事。 邳、徐、濟寧、臨清、武清旱，以時請，遣官振之。 尋擢江西僉事。
In the early Xuande reign he submitted three sealed memorials in a single day. Pleased with him, the emperor ordered him to serve at the Imperial Seals Office while concurrently handling the Personnel, Rites, War, and Punishments sections. He oversaw seven seals and left no backlog. He was ordered to audit the Houhu yellow registers and submitted fourteen practical proposals. When Pi, Xu, Jining, Linqing, and Wuqing suffered drought, he memorialized promptly and officials were dispatched to provide relief. Soon he was promoted to assistant commissioner of Jiangxi.
44
正統三年奏：「今守令多刻刑無辜，傷和幹紀。 乞令御史、按察司官遍閱罪囚，釋冤滯。 逮按枉法官吏。」 從之。 遷參議。 七年奏恤民六事，多議行。 十二年以大臣薦，超擢廣西左布政使。 前後所上又十余疏，雖不盡用，天下壯其敢言。 年未七十，致仕歸，卒。 其為僉事時，進知州柯暹所撰《教民條約》及《均徭冊式》，刊為令，人皆便之。
In the third year of Zhengtong he memorialized: "Nowadays prefects and magistrates often impose harsh punishments on the innocent, harming social harmony and violating discipline. I beg that censors and surveillance officials be ordered to review prisoners throughout the realm and release those wrongly detained. And that officials who pervert justice be arrested and investigated." The emperor approved. He was promoted to administrative commissioner. In the seventh year he memorialized on six measures to relieve the people, and many were adopted. In the twelfth year, on the recommendation of senior officials, he was exceptionally promoted to Left Administration Commissioner of Guangxi. He submitted more than ten further memorials before and after. Though not all were adopted, people throughout the realm admired his courage in speaking out. Before he turned seventy he retired and returned home, where he died. While serving as assistant commissioner, he submitted Prefect Ke Xian's Instructions for the People and Format for Equal Corvée, which were published as regulations. People everywhere found them convenient.
45
時為人廉潔好義。 親歿，廬墓有異征。 歿而鄉人祀之，名其祠曰「孝廉」。
Shi was an incorruptible man who loved righteousness. After his parents died, he mourned at their tomb, and miraculous signs appeared. After his death the people of his district enshrined him and named the shrine "Filial and Incorruptible."
46
黃潤玉，字孟清，鄞人。 五歲，侍母疾，夜不就寢。 十歲，道見遺金不拾。 永樂初，徙南方富民實北京，潤玉請代父行，官少之。 對曰：「父去，日益老，兒去，日益長。」 官異其言，許之。
Huang Runyu, style Mengqing, was a native of Yin. At five he nursed his ailing mother and would not go to bed at night. At ten he saw lost gold on the road and did not pick it up. In early Yongle, when wealthy families from the south were relocated to populate Beijing, Runyu asked to go in his father's place. The officials thought little of him. He replied, "If my father goes, he grows older with each passing day; if your son goes, he grows taller with each passing day." The officials marvelled at his words and granted his request.
47
十八年舉順天鄉試。 授建昌府學訓導。 父喪除，改官南昌。 宣德中，用薦擢交阯道御史。 出按湖廣，斥兩司以下不職者至百有二十人。
In the eighteenth year he passed the Shuntian provincial examination. He was appointed instructor of the Jianchang Prefectural School. After his mourning period for his father ended, he was transferred to Nanchang. During the Xuande reign, on recommendation he was promoted to censor of the Jiaozhi circuit. Sent to inspect Huguang, he dismissed as many as one hundred and twenty incompetent officials below the provincial commissioners.
48
正統初，詔推舉提學官。 以楊士奇薦，擢廣西僉事，提督學政。 時寇起軍興，有都指揮妄掠子女萬余口，潤玉劾而歸之。 副使李立入民死罪至數百人，亦為辨釋。 南丹衛處萬山中，戍卒冒瘴多死，為奏徙夷曠地。
In the early Zhengtong reign an edict called for the recommendation of education commissioners. On Yang Shixi's recommendation he was promoted to assistant commissioner of Guangxi and put in charge of education. At the time bandits had risen and the army was mobilized. A regional commander wantonly seized more than ten thousand men, women, and children, and Runyu impeached him and had them returned to their families. Vice Commissioner Li Li had imposed death sentences on hundreds of commoners, and Runyu exonerated them as well. Nandan Guard lay deep in the mountains, where garrison soldiers sickened on the miasma and many died. He memorialized to relocate them to open, healthier land.
49
母憂歸，起官湖廣。 論罷巡撫李實親故二人。 實憤，奏潤玉不諳刑律，坐謫含山知縣。 以年老歸。 歸二十年，年八十有九卒。 學者稱「南山先生」。
He returned home to mourn his mother, then was recalled to serve in Huguang. He censured and dismissed two relatives and associates of Grand Coordinator Li Shi. Resentful, Shi memorialized that Runyu did not understand penal law, and on that charge Runyu was demoted to magistrate of Hanshan. He returned home on account of his age. Twenty years after returning home, he died at the age of eighty-nine. Scholars called him "Master Nanshan."
50
楊瓚，蠡縣人。 永樂末進士。 知趙城縣，課績為山西最，超擢鳳陽知府。 正統十年大計天下群吏，始命舉治行卓異者，瓚及王懋、葉錫、趙亮等與焉。 鳳陽帝鄉，勛臣及諸將子孫多犯令。 瓚請立戶稽出入，由是始遵約束。 瓚言民間子弟可造者多，請增廣生員毋限額。 禮部采瓚言，考取附學。 天下學校之有附學生，由瓚議始。
Yang Zan was a native of Lixian. In the late Yongle reign he passed the jinshi examination. As magistrate of Zhaocheng his performance ranked first in Shanxi, and he was exceptionally promoted to prefect of Fengyang. In the tenth year of Zhengtong, during the grand review of officials throughout the realm, the court for the first time ordered recommendations of those with outstanding governance and conduct. Zan, Wang Mao, Ye Xi, Zhao Liang, and others were among them. Fengyang was the imperial homeland, and descendants of meritorious officials and generals often violated the laws. Zan requested establishing household registers to track comings and goings, and from then on they began to observe the law. Zan observed that many promising sons could be found among the common people and requested that the student quota be expanded without limit. The Ministry of Rites adopted Zan's proposal, examining candidates and admitting them as supplementary students. The institution of supplementary students in schools throughout the realm began with Zan's proposal.
51
擢浙江右布政使。 與鎮守侍郎孫原貞共平陶得二之亂。 景泰二年，瓚以湖州諸府官田賦重，請均之民田賦輕者，而嚴禁詭寄之弊。 詔與原貞督之，田賦稱平。 久之，卒官。
He was promoted to Right Administration Commissioner of Zhejiang. Together with Garrison Commissioner Sun Yuanzhen he pacified the rebellion of Tao Der. In the second year of Jingtai, noting that official fields in Huzhou and other prefectures bore heavy levies, Zan requested that they be equalized with lighter-taxed private fields and that the abuse of false registration be strictly forbidden. An edict ordered him and Yuanzhen to supervise the reform, and the land taxes were deemed fair. After many years he died in office.
52
王懋，修武人。 永樂末進士，為海豐知縣。 後超擢西安知府，亦有聲。
Wang Mao was a native of Xiuwu. A jinshi of the late Yongle reign, he served as magistrate of Haifeng. He was later exceptionally promoted to prefect of Xi'an, where he also earned a fine reputation.
53
葉錫，永嘉人。 宣德五年進士。 為吳縣知縣，舉卓異遷。 奸民訐於朝，將逮系。 吳人群詣闕頌錫，乃令視事如故，抵誣者罪。 尋擢寧國知府。 而趙亮為慶雲典史，亦在舉中，同被宴賚。 時人以為榮。 秩滿，擢知本縣。
Ye Xi was a native of Yongjia. In the fifth year of Xuande he passed the jinshi examination. As magistrate of Wu County he was recommended as outstanding and promoted. Wicked men denounced him at court, and he was about to be arrested. The people of Wu massed at court to praise Xi. He was then ordered to resume his duties as before, and the accusers were punished. Soon he was promoted to prefect of Ningguo. Zhao Liang, who served as clerk of Qingyun, was also among those recommended and together they received banquet gifts from the court. People of the time considered it a great honor. When his term ended he was promoted to magistrate of his home county.
54
劉實，字嘉秀，安福人。 宣德五年舉進士。 居三年，選庶吉士。 正統初，授金華府通判。 仍歲荒旱，請蠲租，且贖還饑民子女。 義門鄭氏族大，不能自給，又買馬出丁，供山西郵傳，困甚，亦以實言獲免。 母喪歸，廬墓三載，起順天府治中。
Liu Shi, style Jiaxiu, was a native of Anfu. In the fifth year of Xuande he passed the jinshi examination. After three years he was chosen as a Hanlin bachelor. In the early Zhengtong reign he was appointed vice prefect of Jinhua Prefecture. Famine and drought struck year after year; he petitioned for tax remission and for the return of sons and daughters whom starving families had been forced to sell. The great Yimen Zheng clan could not sustain itself and was further burdened with buying horses and furnishing couriers for the Shanxi postal relay; in dire straits, they too won exemption when Shi laid out the facts. After his mother's death he went home and kept vigil at her grave for three years, then was recalled to serve as assistant prefect of Shuntian Prefecture.
55
景泰時，侍臣薦其文學。 召修《宋元通鑒綱目》。 實為人耿介，意所不可，雖達官貴人不稍遜。 然頗自是。 見同曹所纂不當，輒大笑，聲徹廷陛，人亦以此忌之。
During the Jingtai reign, palace attendants commended his literary learning. He was summoned to help compile the Outline and Details of the Comprehensive Mirror of Song and Yuan. Shi was a man of uncompromising integrity: toward what he judged wrong he would not yield even to the highest officials. Yet he could be stubbornly sure of himself. Whenever he found a colleague's draft amiss he would break into loud laughter that rang through the hall, and many came to resent him for it.
56
天順初，還原任。 四年擢知南雄府。 商稅巨萬，舊皆入守橐。 實無所私。 中官至南雄，入譖言，府僚參謁，留實折辱之。 民競前擁之出，中官慚，將召謝之，實不往。 中官去，至韶州，聞韶人言：「南雄守且訟於朝矣。」 懼，馳奏，誣實毀敕，大不敬。 逮下詔獄。 實從獄中上書言：「臣官三十年，未嘗以妻子自隨，食粗衣敝，為國家愛養小民，不忍困之，以是忤朝使。」 帝覽書，意稍解，且釋之，而實竟瘐死。
In the early Tianshun reign he returned to his former post. In the fourth year he was promoted to prefect of Nanxiong. Commercial taxes amounted to tens of thousands, and in the past the whole sum had gone into the prefect's own pocket. Shi kept none of it for himself. A eunuch envoy reached Nanxiong, entered the yamen, and slandered Shi; when the prefectural staff came to pay their respects, the eunuch detained Shi and publicly humiliated him. Commoners surged forward and escorted him out; the eunuch, ashamed, meant to summon him for an apology, but Shi refused to come. The eunuch left, and when he reached Shaozhou he heard locals say, "The prefect of Nanxiong is about to sue at court." Alarmed, he dispatched an urgent memorial falsely charging Shi with defaming an imperial edict—an offense of grave disrespect. Shi was arrested and thrown into the imperial prison. From prison Shi submitted a memorial: "I have served in office for thirty years without ever bringing my wife and children with me. I eat plain food and wear threadbare clothes, and in the state's service I have sought to cherish the common people and not burden them—therefore I gave offense to the imperial envoy." The Emperor read the memorial and was somewhat mollified; he was on the point of releasing him, but Shi died of illness in prison.
57
實苦節自持。 政務紛遝，未嘗廢書，士大夫重其學行。 其歿也，南雄人哀而祠之。 孫丙，自有傳。
Shi held himself to austere integrity all his life. Though official duties pressed in upon him, he never set aside his books, and the gentry esteemed both his scholarship and his character. When he died, the people of Nanxiong mourned him and raised a shrine in his honor. His grandson Sun Bing has a separate biography.
58
陳選，字士賢，臨海人。 父員韜，宣德五年進士。 為御史，出按四川，黜貪獎廉，雪死囚四十余人。 正統末，大軍征鄧茂七，往撫其民，釋被誣為賊者千余家。 都指揮蔣貴要所部賄，都督範雄病不能治軍，皆劾罷之。 歷廣東右參政，福建右布政使。 廣東值黃蕭養亂後，而福建亦寇盜甫息，員韜所至，拊循教養，得士民心。
Chen Xuan, style Shixian, was a native of Linhai. His father Yuan Tao was a jinshi of the fifth year of Xuande. As a censor he toured Sichuan, removing the greedy and commending the upright, and vindicated more than forty prisoners under sentence of death. At the end of the Zhengtong reign, when imperial forces marched against Deng Maozhi, he went to pacify the populace and freed more than a thousand households falsely accused of banditry. Regional commander Jiang Gui extorted bribes from his subordinates, and commander-in-chief Fan Xiong was too ill to govern the army; Yuan Tao impeached and removed them both. He served successively as right vice administrator of Guangdong and right provincial administration commissioner of Fujian. Guangdong was still recovering from the Huang Xiaoyang uprising, and in Fujian banditry had only just subsided; wherever Yuan Tao served he comforted and instructed the people, winning the loyalty of officials and commoners alike.
59
選自幼端愨寡言笑，以聖賢自期。 天順四年會試第一，成進士。 授御史，巡按江西，盡黜貪殘吏。 時人語曰：「前有韓雍，後有陳選。」 廣寇流入贛州，奏聞，不待報，遣兵平之。
From childhood Xuan was grave and sparing of speech, holding himself to the standard of the sages. In the fourth year of Tianshun he topped the metropolitan examination and received his jinshi degree. Appointed censor, he conducted an inspection tour of Jiangxi and removed every greedy and brutal official he found. People said at the time, "Before there was Han Yong; after him, Chen Xuan." When Guangdong bandits spilled into Ganzhou he reported to court and, without waiting for orders, sent troops to suppress them.
60
成化六年遷河南副使。 尋改督學政，立教如南畿。 汪直出巡，都御史以下皆拜謁，選獨長揖。 直問：「何官？」 選曰：「提學副使。」 直曰：「大於都御史耶？」 選曰：「提學何可比都御史，但忝人師，不敢自詘辱。」 選詞氣嚴正，而諸生亦群集署外。 直氣懾，好語遣之。
In the sixth year of Chenghua he was transferred to vice commissioner of Henan. He was soon reassigned to oversee education and established the same standards of instruction used in the Southern Capital region. When Wang Zhi went on an inspection tour, the censor-in-chief and all ranks below prostrated themselves in audience; Xuan alone offered a standing bow. Wang Zhi asked, "What is your office?" Xuan replied, "Education vice commissioner." Wang Zhi said, "Greater than a censor-in-chief, then?" Xuan said, "An education commissioner cannot compare with a censor-in-chief—but I am, however unworthily, a teacher of men, and I dare not demean myself." Xuan's tone was stern and unyielding, and students had massed outside the yamen as well. Wang Zhi, intimidated, dismissed him with conciliatory words.
61
久之，進按察使。 決遣輕系數百人，重囚多所平反，囹圄為空。 治尚簡易，獨於贓吏無所假。 然受賂百金以上者，坐六七镮而止。 或問之，曰：「奸人惜財亦惜命，若盡挈所賂以貨要人，即法撓矣。」 歷廣東左、右布政使。 肇慶大水，不待報，輒發粟振之。
After some time he was promoted to surveillance commissioner. He disposed of several hundred minor cases and reversed many convictions of serious offenders until the prisons stood empty. He governed with plain directness, yet toward corrupt officials he granted no quarter. Yet even for officials who had taken bribes of a hundred gold pieces or more, he would impose fines of only six or seven thousand cash. When asked about this, he said, "Villains value their money as much as their lives; if you confiscate every coin of their bribes, they will spend it all buying off the powerful—and then the law itself is bent." He later served as left and right provincial administration commissioner of Guangdong. When catastrophic floods struck Zhaoqing, he issued grain for relief without waiting for authorization.
62
二十一年詔減省貢獻，而市舶中官韋眷奏乞均徭戶六十人添辦方物。 選持詔書爭，帝命與其半，眷由是怒選。 番人馬力麻詭稱蘇門答剌使臣欲入貢，私市易。 眷利其厚賄，將許之，選立逐之去。 撒馬兒罕使者自甘肅貢獅子，將取道廣東浮海歸，雲欲往滿喇加更市以進。 選疏言不可許，恐遺笑外番，輕中國。 帝納其言，而眷憾選甚。
In the twenty-first year an edict called for cutting tribute levies, yet Wei Juan, the eunuch overseer of maritime trade, memorialized asking that sixty corvée households be added to supply local tribute goods. Xuan contested the request, edict in hand; the Emperor ordered half the number granted, and from that point Juan bore a grudge against Xuan. A foreigner named Mali Maji falsely claimed to be an envoy of Samudera come to offer tribute, while conducting private trade on the side. Juan, eager for the rich bribes, was about to approve him; Xuan immediately had him expelled. An envoy from Samarkand had brought a lion as tribute from Gansu and planned to return by sea through Guangdong, saying he wished to stop at Malacca to trade further before presenting it at court. Xuan memorialized that this must not be allowed, lest foreign states mock the affair and hold China in contempt. The Emperor accepted his advice, but Juan's hatred of Xuan only deepened.
63
先是，番禺知縣高瑤沒眷通番資鉅萬，選移檄獎之，且聞於朝。 至是眷誣奏選、瑤朋比為貪墨。 詔遣刑部員外郎李行會巡按御史徐同愛訊之。 選有所黜吏張褧，眷意其怨選，引令誣證選。 褧堅不從，執褧拷掠無異辭。 行、同愛畏眷，竟坐選如眷奏，與瑤俱被征。 士民數萬號泣遮留，使者辟除乃得出。 至南昌，病作。 行阻其醫藥，竟卒。 年五十八。
Earlier, Gao Yao, magistrate of Panyu, had confiscated Juan's illicit foreign-trade assets worth tens of thousands; Xuan issued a commendation and reported the matter to court. Now Juan falsely memorialized that Xuan and Yao were partners in corruption. An edict dispatched Li Xing, vice director in the Ministry of Justice, together with inspecting censor Xu Tong'ai to conduct the inquiry. Xuan had dismissed a clerk named Zhang Jiong; Juan assumed Jiong bore a grudge and had him brought forward to testify falsely against Xuan. Jiong steadfastly refused; they arrested and tortured him, yet he would not alter his account. Li Xing and Xu Tong'ai, fearing Juan, ultimately convicted Xuan on the charges Juan had lodged; both Xuan and Yao were summoned to the capital. Tens of thousands of officials and commoners wept and blocked the road to keep them from leaving; the escorts had to force a path before they could proceed. When they reached Nanchang, Xuan fell ill. Li Xing blocked his access to medicine, and Xuan died. He was fifty-eight.
64
編修張元禎為選治喪，殮之。 褧聞選死，哀悼，乃上書曰：
Compiler Zhang Yuanzhen arranged Xuan's funeral and prepared his body for burial. When Jiong learned of Xuan's death, he mourned him and submitted a memorial:
65
臣聞口能鑠金，毀足銷骨。 竊見故罪人選，抱孤忠，孑處群邪之中，獨立眾憎之地。 太監眷通番敗露，知縣瑤按法持之。 選移文獎厲，以激貪懦，固賢監司事也。 都御史宋旻及同愛怯勢養奸，致眷橫行胸臆，穢蔑清流。 勘官行頤指鍛煉，竟無左證。 臣本小吏，詿誤觸法，被選黜罷，實臣自取。 眷意臣憾選，厚賂啖臣，臣雖胥役，敢昧素心。 眷知臣不可誘，嗾行等逮臣致理，拷掠彌月。 臣忍死籲天，終無異口。 行等乃依傍眷語，文致其詞。 劾選勘災不實，擅便發倉，曲庇屬官，意圖報謝。 必如所雲，是毀共姜為夏姬，詬伯夷為莊蹻也。
I have heard that a mouth can melt gold and that slander can grind bone to dust. I have seen the late convict Xuan, who clung to solitary loyalty, standing alone among the wicked in a place where all despised him. When the eunuch Juan's illicit foreign trade was exposed, Magistrate Yao upheld the law against him. Xuan issued a commendation to encourage upright conduct and stir the greedy and the timid to action—surely the deed of a worthy supervising official. Censor-in-chief Song Min and Xu Tong'ai, cringing before power and indulging villainy, let Juan ride roughshod over all and defile the ranks of the upright. Investigating officer Li Xing barked orders and tortured witnesses into confessions, yet in the end produced no corroborating evidence. I was but a petty clerk who stumbled into violation of the law and was dismissed by Xuan—a punishment I brought on myself. Juan assumed I bore Xuan a grudge and tried to buy me with heavy bribes; though I am only a menial clerk, I would not betray my conscience. When Juan saw I could not be bought, he incited Li Xing and the others to arrest me and put me on trial, torturing me for a full month. I endured torture and cried out to Heaven, yet to the end I would not change my account. Li Xing and the others then took Juan's word for it and fabricated the indictment. They charged Xuan with falsifying disaster investigations, issuing grain from the granary without authorization, shielding subordinate officials, and expecting favors in return. If these charges were true, it would be like calling the chaste Gong Jiang a wanton Xia Ji, or reviling the upright Boyi as the rebel Zhuang Jiao.
66
頃年嶺外地震水溢，漂民廬舍。 屬郡交牒報災，老弱引領待哺。 而撫、按、藩臬若罔聞知。 選獨抱隱憂，食不下咽。 謂展轉行勘，則民命垂絕，所以便宜議振，誌在救民，非有他也。 選故剛正，不堪屈辱，憤懣旬日，嬰疾而殂。 行幸其殞身，陰其醫療。 訖命之日，密走報眷，小人佞毒，一至於此！ 臣擯黜罪人，秉耒田野，百無所圖，誠痛忠良銜屈，而為聖朝累也。 不報。
In recent years beyond the Lingnan ranges, earthquakes and floods swept away people's homes. Subordinate prefectures sent dispatch after dispatch reporting disaster; the old and weak waited with outstretched necks for relief. Yet the governor, the regional inspector, and the provincial and surveillance commissioners acted as though they had heard nothing. Xuan alone bore a private anguish that left him unable to eat. He reasoned that if relief waited on the usual round of investigations, lives would be lost; he acted on his own authority to organize famine relief because his sole aim was to save the people—nothing more. Xuan had always been stern and upright and could not endure humiliation; after ten days of bitter outrage he sickened and died. Li Xing was glad Xuan had died and secretly blocked his medical care. On the day Xuan died, he secretly sent word to Juan—such is the sycophantic malice of petty men! I am a dismissed convict tilling the fields, with nothing to gain; I grieve only that the loyal and upright suffer injustice, to the shame of this sagely court. No reply came.
67
員韜父子皆持操甚潔。 而員韜量能容物，選務克己，因自號克菴，遇物亦稍峻。 人謂員韜德性，四時皆備。 選得其秋焉。 嘗割田百四十畝贍其族人，暨卒，族人以選子戴貧，還之，戴不可而止。 弘治初，主事林沂疏雪選冤，詔復官禮葬。 正德中，追贈光祿卿，謚忠湣。
Yuan Tao and his son Chen Xuan both maintained lives of exceptional integrity. Yet Yuan Tao measured others' capacities and made room for them, while Xuan strove to restrain himself and styled himself Ke'an; in dealing with the world he could also be stern. People said Yuan Tao's virtue held all four seasons within it. In Xuan they found only autumn. He once set aside one hundred and forty mu of fields to support his clansmen; after his death the clan, seeing that his son Dai was poor, tried to return the land, but Dai refused and they let the matter rest. In the early Hongzhi reign, Principal Secretary Lin Yi memorialized to vindicate Xuan's wrongful conviction; the throne restored his rank and ordered him buried with full honors. During the Zhengde reign he was posthumously ennobled as Grand Master for Splendid Happiness and given the posthumous name Zhongmin.
68
夏寅，字正夫，松江華亭人。 正統十三年舉進士。 授南京吏部主事。 力學，為文以宏奧稱。 進郎中。
Xia Yin, style Zhengfu, was a native of Huating in Songjiang. In the thirteenth year of Zhengtong he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. He applied himself strenuously to learning and was renowned for writing of grand depth and subtlety. He was promoted to director.
69
成化元年考滿入都，上言：「徐州旱澇，民不聊生。 饑餒切身，必為盜賊。 乞特遣大臣鎮撫，蠲租發廩。 沿途貢船，丁夫不足，役及老稚。 而所載官物僅一箱，余皆私賫，乞嚴禁絕。 淮、徐、濟寧軍士，赴京操練，然其地實南北要沖，宜各設文武官鎮守，訓兵屯田，常使兩京聲勢聯絡，倉猝可以制變。」 章下所司行之，唯不設文武官。
In the first year of Chenghua, when his term assessment was complete, he entered the capital and submitted a memorial: "Xuzhou suffers drought and flood, and the people have no way to live. Hunger presses upon them; they will surely turn to banditry. I beg that a senior minister be specially dispatched to pacify the region, remit taxes, and open the granaries. Along the tribute route laborers are insufficient for the boats, and corvée reaches even the aged and the young. Yet the official cargo aboard amounts to only one chest, and the rest is private baggage; I beg that this be strictly forbidden. The soldiers of Huai, Xu, and Jining go to the capital for drill, yet these places are truly the vital junction between north and south; at each site civil and military officials should be posted to train troops and open garrison farms, keeping the two capitals' strength in constant contact so that sudden crises can be met." The memorial was forwarded to the responsible offices for implementation, though no civil and military officials were appointed.
70
遷江西副使，提督學校。 其教務先德行。 進浙江右參政。 處州民苦虐政，走山谷。 寅檄招之，眾皆解散。 久之，進山東右布政使。 弘治初，致仕歸。
He was transferred to Jiangxi as vice commissioner with charge over the schools. In his teaching he put moral conduct first. He was promoted to right vice administrator of Zhejiang. The people of Chuzhou, ground down by oppressive government, fled into the hills. Yin issued proclamations calling them back, and the crowds dispersed. After some time he was promoted to right provincial administration commissioner of Shandong. In the early Hongzhi reign he retired and returned home.
71
寅清直無黨援。 嘗語人曰：「君子有三惜：此生不學，一可惜。 此日閑過，二可惜。 此身一敗，三可惜。」 世傳為名言。
Yin was upright and independent, without factional backing. He once told others: "The noble person has three regrets: to live this life without learning—that is the first regret. To let this day pass in idleness—that is the second regret. To ruin one's own person—that is the third regret." Later generations handed it down as a celebrated saying.
72
陳壯，字直夫，其先浙江山陰人。 祖坐事謫戍交阯，後調京衛，遂家焉。 壯舉天順八年進士，授南京御史。 編修章懋等建言得罪，抗疏救之。 帝遣中官采花木，復疏諫。 尚書陳翌請以馬豆代百官俸，壯言飼馬之物，不可養士大夫。 事乃寢。
Chen Zhuang, style Zhifu, was descended from a family of Shanyin in Zhejiang. His grandfather, convicted of an offense, was banished to garrison Jiaozhi; later transferred to a capital guard unit, the family settled there. Zhuang passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of Tianshun and was appointed censor in Nanjing. When Compiler Zhang Mao and others submitted memorials and were punished, Zhuang submitted a resolute memorial in their defense. When the emperor dispatched eunuchs to collect flowers and trees, Zhuang again memorialized in remonstrance. Minister Chen Yi proposed substituting horse beans for officials' salaries; Zhuang argued that what feeds horses cannot be used to sustain scholar-officials. The matter was dropped.
73
壯家素寠，常祿外一無所取。 父母歿，廬墓側，居喪一循古禮。 歷江西僉事，致仕歸。 家居十余年。 弘治中，以尚書張悅薦，起官福建。 居二年，又乞致仕。 時倪嶽為吏部，素賢之，擢河南副使。 歲荒振饑，民懷其惠。 僉都御史林俊謝病，舉以自代。 未及遷，而壯又乞致仕。 巡撫孫需奏留之。 又二年，竟致仕去。
Zhuang's family had long been poor; beyond his regular salary he took nothing. When his parents died he built a hut beside their graves and observed mourning strictly according to ancient rites. He served as vice commissioner of Jiangxi, then retired. He lived at home for more than ten years. During the Hongzhi reign, on Minister Zhang Yue's recommendation, he was recalled to office in Fujian. After two years in office he again petitioned to retire. At the time Ni Yue was Minister of Personnel; he had long esteemed Zhuang and promoted him to vice commissioner of Henan. In a year of famine he organized famine relief, and the people cherished his kindness. Vice Censor-in-Chief Lin Jun, resigning on grounds of illness, recommended Zhuang to succeed him. Before the transfer could take place, Zhuang again petitioned to retire. Grand Coordinator Sun Xu memorialized asking that he be retained. Two years later he finally retired and left office.
74
張昺，字仲明，慈溪人，都御史楷孫也。 舉成化八年進士，授鉛山知縣。 性剛明，善治獄。 有嫁女者，及婿門而失女，互以訟於官，不能決。 昺行邑界，見大樹妨稼，欲伐之。 民言樹有神巢其巔。 昺不聽，率眾往伐。 有衣冠三人拜道左。 昺叱之，忽不見。 比伐樹，血流出樹間。 昺怒，手斧之，卒仆其樹。 巢中墮二婦人，言狂風吹至樓上。 其一即前所嫁女也。 有巫能隱形，淫人婦女。 昺執巫痛杖之，無所苦。 已，並巫失去。 昺馳縛以歸，印巫背鞭之，立死。 乃盡毀諸淫祠。 寡婦惟一子，為虎所噬，訴於昺。 昺與婦期五日，乃齋戒祀城隍神。 及期，二虎伏庭下，昺叱曰：「孰傷吾民，法當死。 無罪者去。」 一虎起，斂尾去。 一虎伏不動，昺射殺之，以畀節婦。 一縣稱神。 鉛山俗，婦人夫死輒嫁； 有病未死，先受聘供湯藥者。 昺欲變其俗，令寡婦皆具牒受判。 署二木。 曰「羞」，嫁者跪之。 曰「節」，不嫁者跪之。 民傅四妻祝誓死守，舅姑紿令跪「羞」木下，昺判從之，祝投後園池中死。 邑大旱，昺夢婦人泣拜，覺而識其裏居姓氏，往詰其狀。 及啟土，貌如生。 昺哭之慟曰：「殺婦者，吾也。」 為文以祭，改葬焉，天遂大雨。 諸異政多類此。
Zhang Bing, style Zhongming, was a native of Cixi and grandson of Censor-in-Chief Kai. He passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of Chenghua and was appointed magistrate of Qianshan. By nature stern and clear-minded, he was skilled at adjudicating cases. There was a bride who vanished at her husband's gate on her wedding day; both families sued at court, and no judgment could be reached. Bing was traveling the county boundary and saw a large tree obstructing the crops; he meant to cut it down. The people said a spirit nested in its crown. Bing paid no heed and led a crowd to fell it. Three figures in caps and gowns bowed by the roadside. Bing shouted at them, and they suddenly vanished. When the tree was cut, blood flowed from within it. Bing grew angry, took an axe himself, and finally brought the tree down. From the nest fell two women, who said a violent wind had blown them onto the tower. One was the bride who had vanished earlier. There was a shaman who could make himself invisible and molest married women. Bing seized the shaman and whipped him severely, yet the man seemed to feel no pain. Presently both the shaman and his bonds vanished. Bing rode in pursuit, bound him, and brought him back; he stamped the shaman's back and flogged him there, and the man died on the spot. He then demolished all improper shrines. A widow had only one son, who was devoured by a tiger; she appealed to Bing. Bing set a five-day deadline with the woman, then fasted and sacrificed to the City God. When the day came, two tigers crouched in the courtyard below; Bing shouted: "Whoever harmed my people must die by law. The innocent may go." One tiger rose, tucked its tail, and departed. One tiger crouched without moving; Bing shot and killed it and gave the carcass to the chaste widow. The whole county proclaimed him divine. In Qianshan custom, when a woman's husband died she remarried at once; Some, while their husbands were still ill and not yet dead, already accepted betrothal gifts and supplied medicine. Bing wished to change this custom and required widows to submit petitions and receive judgment. He set up two wooden posts. One was labeled "Shame"—women who remarried knelt before it. One was labeled "Chastity"—those who would not remarry knelt before it. A commoner named Fu Si had four wives; Zhu had vowed to remain chaste and keep her husband's death vigil; her parents-in-law deceived her into kneeling at the "Shame" post; Bing ruled accordingly; Zhu threw herself into the rear garden pool and drowned. The county suffered great drought; Bing dreamed of a woman weeping and bowing; upon waking he recognized her neighborhood and surname and went to inquire into the matter. When the earth was opened, her face looked as if she were still alive. Bing wept bitterly and said: "The one who killed this woman—it was I." He composed a funeral text and sacrificed, had her reburied, and then heaven sent heavy rain. His extraordinary governance was largely of this kind.
75
先是，昺以雷震孝陵柏樹，與同官劾大學士劉吉等十余人，給事中周纮亦與同官劾吉，吉銜之。 其冬，昺、纮奉命閱軍，軍多缺伍。 兩人欲劾奏守備中官蔣琮，琮先事劾兩人。 章下內閣，吉修隙，擬黜之外。 尚書王恕抗章曰：「不治失伍之罪，而罪執法之臣，何以服天下！」 再疏爭，言官亦論救。 乃調昺南京通政司經歷，纮南京光祿寺署丞。
Earlier, because lightning had struck a cypress at the Xiaoling tomb, Bing together with colleagues impeached Grand Secretary Liu Ji and more than ten others; Supervising Secretary Zhou Hong also joined colleagues in impeaching Ji, and Ji nursed a grudge. That winter, Bing and Hong were ordered to inspect the army; many units were short of full roster. Both men intended to memorialize against eunuch defender Jiang Zong; Jiang moved first and impeached them both. The memorial reached the inner cabinet; Ji nursed the feud and drafted their dismissal to posts outside the capital. Minister Wang Su submitted a resolute memorial: "Not to punish the crime of roster shortfall, yet to punish officials who enforce the law—how will this satisfy the realm!" He memorialized again in protest; censors also petitioned in their defense. Bing was then transferred to senior secretary in the Nanjing Office of Transmission, and Hong to acting vice director in the Nanjing Court of Imperial Entertainments.
76
久之，昺用薦遷四川僉事。 富豪殺人，屢以賄免。 御史檄昺治，果得其情。 尋進副使。 守備中官某將進術士周慧於朝，昺擒慧，論徙之極邊。 歲餘，引疾歸。 環堵蕭然，擁經史自娛。 都御史王璟以振荒至，饋昺百金，堅拒不得，授下戶饑民粟以答其意。 知縣丁洪，昺令鉛山所取士也，旦夕候起居，為具蔬食。 昺曰：「吾誠不自給，奈何以此煩令君。」 卒弗受。 炊煙屢絕，處之淡如。 及卒，含斂不具，洪為經紀其喪。
After some time, on recommendation Bing was transferred to vice commissioner of Sichuan. A wealthy house had committed murder and repeatedly escaped punishment through bribery. The censor dispatched an order for Bing to investigate; he indeed obtained the facts. Soon he was promoted to vice commissioner. A eunuch defender wished to present the sorcerer Zhou Hui at court; Bing seized Hui and sentenced him to exile at the far frontier. After more than a year he cited illness and returned home. Four bare walls—all desolate; he amused himself with the Classics and histories. Censor-in-Chief Wang Jing came on famine relief and offered Bing a hundred taels of gold; Bing steadfastly refused and would not accept it; Jing instead distributed grain among the famished households below to honor his intention. Magistrate Ding Hong, a student Bing had selected in Qianshan, visited morning and evening to attend him and prepared plain meals. Bing said: "I truly cannot support myself—why trouble the magistrate with this?" In the end he would not accept. His hearth often went cold, yet he bore poverty with calm indifference. When he died there was not even enough for proper burial; Hong arranged his funeral.
77
宋端儀，字孔時，莆田人。 成化十七年進士。 官禮部主事。 雲南缺提學官，部議屬端儀，吏先期泄之。 端儀曰：「啟事未登，已喧眾口，人其謂我幹乞乎！」 力辭之。 已，進主客員外郎，貢使以贄見，悉卻不納。
Song Duanyi, whose style was Kongshi, came from Putian. He received his jinshi degree in the seventeenth year of Chenghua. He served as secretary in the Ministry of Rites. When Yunnan needed an education intendant the ministry deliberated appointing Duanyi, but a clerk leaked the news prematurely. Duanyi said, "The appointment has not even been submitted, yet rumor is already abroad—will people not say I am lobbying for the post!" He firmly declined. Later promoted to vice director of the Host-Guest Bureau, he refused every gift presented by tribute envoys.
78
初在國學，為祭酒丘濬所知。 及濬柄政，未嘗一造其門。 廣東提學缺，部以端儀名上，濬竟沮之。 濬卒，始以按察僉事督廣東學校。 卒官。
At the Imperial Academy he had won the notice of Rector Qiu Jun. When Jun came to power he never once paid a call at his door. When Guangdong needed an education intendant the ministry nominated Duanyi, but Jun blocked the appointment. Only after Jun's death was he appointed assistant surveillance commissioner to supervise Guangdong schools. He died in office.
79
端儀慨建文朝忠臣湮沒，乃搜輯遺事，為《革除錄》。 建文忠臣之有錄，自端儀始也。
Grieved that loyal ministers of the Jianwen reign had been erased from memory, Duanyi gathered surviving accounts into the Record of the Purge. The written record of Jianwen's loyal ministers began with Duanyi.
80
贊曰：明初重監司守牧之任。 尚書有出為布政使，而侍郎為參政者，監司之入為卿貳者，比比也。 守牧稱職，增秩或至二品。 天順而後，巡撫之寄專，而監司守牧不得自展布，重內輕外之勢成矣。 夫賦政於外，於民最親。 李昌祺、陳本深之屬，靜以愛民，況鐘、張昺能於其職。 所謂承宣德化，為天子分憂者，非耶？ 周新、陳選，冤死為可哀。 讀張褧書，又以見公正之服人者至，而直道之終不泯也。
The appraisal says: In the early Ming, surveillance commissioners and prefects were held in high esteem. Ministers went out as administration commissioners and vice ministers as vice commissioners; surveillance officials entered the capital as vice ministers—such cases were common. Prefects who performed well might be raised in rank even to the second grade. From the Tianshun reign onward grand coordinators held exclusive authority, and surveillance commissioners and prefects could no longer act freely—the court's bias toward the capital and away from the provinces took firm shape. Those who govern in the provinces stand closest to the people. Men such as Li Changqi and Chen Benshen governed quietly and loved the people; Kuang Zhong and Zhang Bing excelled in their offices. Were they not truly receiving and spreading the sovereign's transforming influence and sharing the Son of Heaven's cares? Zhou Xin and Chen Xuan died unjustly—a matter for sorrow. Reading Zhang Jiong's memorial, one sees again how integrity can win men's hearts, and that the upright way is never finally extinguished.