1
陶成 〈（子魯）〉 陳敏丁瑄王得仁 〈（子一夔）〉 葉禎伍驥毛吉林錦郭緒姜昂 〈（子龍）〉
Tao Cheng (son Lu)]〉 Chen Min, Ding Xuan, and Wang Deren (son Yikui)]〉 Ye Zhen, Wu Ji, Mao Ji, Lin Jin, Guo Xu, and Jiang Ang (son Long)]〉
2
陶成，字孔思，郁林人。 永樂中，舉於鄉，除交阯鳳山典史。 尚書黃福知其賢，命署諒江府教授，交人化之。 秩滿，遷山東按察司檢校，用薦擢大理評事。
Tao Cheng, whose style name was Kongsi, was a native of Yulin. During the Yongle reign he passed the provincial examination and was appointed clerk of Fengshan in Jiaozhi. Minister Huang Fu recognized his talent and had him serve as acting instructor of Liangjiang Prefecture, where he won over the people of Jiaozhi. After his term ended he was moved to inspector of the Shandong surveillance commission, then promoted on recommendation to reviewing censor at the Court of Judicial Review.
3
正統中，以劉中敷薦，超擢浙江僉事。 成有智略，遇事敢任。 倭犯桃渚，成密布釘板海沙中。 倭至，艤舟躍上，釘洞足背。 倭畏之，遠去。 秩滿，進副使。
During the Zhengtong reign Liu Zhongfu recommended him, and he was promoted by exception to assistant commissioner of Zhejiang. Cheng was resourceful and bold in taking charge when crises arose. When Japanese pirates attacked Taozhu, Cheng had nail-studded boards hidden throughout the beach sand. When the pirates landed and leaped from their boats, the nails pierced their feet. Terrified, the pirates withdrew to distant waters. At the end of his term he was promoted to vice commissioner.
4
魯，字自強，蔭授新會丞。 當是時，廣西瑤流劫高、廉、惠、肇諸府，破城殺吏無虛月。 香山、順德間，土寇蜂起，新會無賴子群聚應之。 魯召父老語曰：「賊氣吞吾城，不早備且陷，若輩能率子弟捍禦乎？」 皆曰「諾」。 乃築堡寨，繕甲兵，練技勇，以孤城捍賊沖。 建郭掘濠，布鐵蒺藜刺竹於外，城守大固。 賊來犯，輒擊破之。 天順七年，秩滿，巡撫葉盛上其績，就遷知縣。 尋以破賊功，進廣州同知，仍知縣事。
His son Lu, whose style name was Ziqiang, inherited appointment as assistant magistrate of Xinhui. At that time Yao raiders from Guangxi were pillaging the prefectures of Gao, Lian, Hui, and Zhao, storming cities and killing officials nearly every month. Between Xiangshan and Shunde local bandits rose in swarms, and Xinhui's rowdies gathered to join them. Lu summoned the village elders and said, "The rebels' momentum threatens to swallow our city. If we do not prepare now it will fall. Can you lead your sons and kin to defend it?" They all answered, "We will." He then built fortresses and stockades, repaired arms and armor, trained the militia, and held the isolated city against the rebels' onslaught. He built outer walls, dug moats, and laid iron caltrops and thorny bamboo outside the walls until the city's defenses were formidable. Whenever the rebels attacked, he drove them back. In the seventh year of Tianshun, when his term ended, Grand Coordinator Ye Sheng reported his achievements and he was promoted on the spot to magistrate. Soon afterward, for his success against the rebels, he was promoted to vice prefect of Guangzhou while continuing to administer the county.
5
成化二年從總督韓雍征大藤峽。 雍在軍嚴重，獨於魯未嘗不虛己。 用其策，輒有功。 雍請擢魯為僉事，專治新會、陽江、陽春、瀧水、新興諸縣兵。 其冬會參將王瑛破劇賊廖婆保等於欽、化二州，大獲，璽書嘉勞。 明年，賊首黃公漢等猖獗，偕參將夏鑒等連破之思恩、潯州。 未幾，賊陷石康，執知縣羅紳。 復偕鑒追擊至六菊山，敗之。 兩廣自韓雍去，罷總督不設，帥臣觀望相推諉，寇盜滋蔓。 魯奏請重臣仍開府梧州，遂為永制。 秩滿，課最，進副使。 兵部尚書余子俊奏其撫輯勞，賚銀幣。
In the second year of Chenghua he joined Grand Coordinator Han Yong's campaign against Dateng Gorge. Yong was famously stern in camp, yet with Lu alone he always deferred to his counsel. Whenever he adopted Lu's plans, victory followed. Yong petitioned to promote Lu to assistant commissioner with sole charge of military affairs in Xinhui, Yangjiang, Yangchun, Longshui, and Xinxing. That winter, joining Vice Commander Wang Ying, he routed the notorious rebel Liao Popao and his followers in Qin and Hua prefectures in a major victory, for which the throne sent a sealed edict of commendation. The following year, when rebel leaders including Huang Gonghan grew bold, he joined Vice Commander Xia Jian and others in a series of victories against them in Si'en and Xunzhou. Before long the rebels overran Shikang and took Magistrate Luo Shen prisoner. He joined Jian again in pursuit to Liuju Mountain and routed them. After Han Yong left the Two Guangs, the grand coordinator's office was left vacant; regional commanders looked on and passed blame to one another while banditry spread unchecked. Lu memorialized that a senior official should again establish headquarters at Wuzhou, and this became permanent policy. When his term ended he received the top performance rating and was promoted to vice commissioner. Minister of War Yu Zijun reported his labors in pacifying the region, and the court rewarded him with silver and silks.
6
魯治兵久。 賊剽兩粵，大者會剿，小者專征，所向奏捷。 賊讎之次骨，劫其郁林故居，焚誥命，發先塋，戕其族黨。 魯聞大慟。 詔徙籍廣東，補給封誥，慰勞有加，益奮誌討賊。
Lu had commanded troops for many years. When rebels raided the Two Yues, he joined coordinated campaigns against the largest bands and led independent expeditions against smaller ones, winning wherever he marched. The rebels hated him to the bone. They raided his family home in Yulin, burned his patent of appointment, desecrated his ancestors' graves, and slaughtered his kin. Lu was overcome with grief when he heard the news. The throne ordered his household register transferred to Guangdong, reissued his patents of honor, and sent him special consolation, after which he fought the rebels with renewed zeal.
7
二十年，以征荔浦瑤功，增俸一級。 又九載，課最，進湖廣按察使，治兵兩廣如故。 郁林、陸川賊黃公定、胡公明等為亂，與參將歐磐分五路進討，大破之，毀賊巢一百三十。
In his twentieth year of service, for his campaign against the Yao of Lipu, his salary was raised one grade. Nine years later, with another top performance rating, he was promoted to surveillance commissioner of Huguang while continuing to command troops in the Two Guangs as before. When the rebels Huang Gongding, Hu Gongming, and others of Yulin and Luchuan rose up, he joined Vice Commander Ou Pan in a five-column advance, routed them, and destroyed one hundred thirty rebel strongholds.
8
弘治四年，總督秦纮遣平德慶瑤，進湖廣右布政使。 魯言身居兩廣，而官以湖廣為名，於事體非便，乃改湖廣左布政使兼廣東按察副使，領嶺西道事。 人稱之為「三廣公」。
In the fourth year of Hongzhi, Grand Coordinator Qin Hong sent him to pacify the Yao of Deqing, after which he was promoted to right administration commissioner of Huguang. Lu pointed out that although he served in the Two Guangs, his title bore the name Huguang, which was awkward in practice. He was therefore made left administration commissioner of Huguang while also serving as vice surveillance commissioner of Guangdong, with charge of the Lingxi circuit. People called him the "Lord of the Three Guangs."
9
十一年，總督鄧廷瓚請官其子，俾統魯所募健卒備征討。 乃授其子荊民錦衣百戶。 是年，魯卒。 荊民復陳父功，遂進副千戶，世襲。
In the eleventh year, Grand Coordinator Deng Tingzan petitioned to appoint Lu's son to command the elite troops Lu had raised for future campaigns. His son Jingmin was accordingly appointed a hundred-household guard of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. That year Lu died. Jingmin then reported his father's further achievements and was promoted to vice thousand-household with a hereditary commission.
10
魯善撫士，多智計，謀定後戰。 鑿池公署後，為亭其中，不置橋。 夜則召部下計事。 以版度一人，語畢，令退。 如是凡數人，乃擇其長而參伍用之，故常得勝算而機不泄。 羽書狎至，戎裝宿戒，聲色不動。 審賊可乘，潛師出城，中夜合圍，曉輒奏凱。 賊善偵，終不能得要領。 歷官四十五年，始終不離兵事。 大小數十戰，凡斬馘二萬一千四百有奇，奪還被掠及撫安復業者十三萬七千有奇，兩廣人倚之如長城。 然魯將兵不專尚武，嘗言：「治寇賊，化之為先，不得已始殺之耳。」 每平賊，率置縣建學以興教化。
Lu excelled at winning his men's loyalty, was full of stratagems, and never fought until his plans were set. He dug a pool behind his yamen and built a pavilion in the middle of it, deliberately leaving no bridge. At night he summoned his officers there one by one to discuss plans. He ferried each man across on a plank, and when the consultation ended sent him back alone. After consulting several officers in this way, he combined their best ideas into his plans, which is why he so often won while keeping his intentions secret. Though urgent dispatches arrived in rapid succession, he slept in his armor on constant alert yet never showed alarm in voice or bearing. When he judged the enemy vulnerable, he led troops out of the city in secret, surrounded them at midnight, and by dawn had already reported victory. Though the rebels were skilled scouts, they never learned his true intentions. Over forty-five years in office he never left military affairs. In several dozen engagements large and small he killed or captured more than twenty-one thousand four hundred enemies, recovered or resettled more than one hundred thirty-seven thousand people, and the people of the Two Guangs relied on him as they would on the Great Wall. Yet Lu did not rely on force alone. He once said, "In dealing with bandits, transformation comes first; killing is only the last resort." Whenever he pacified a region he established counties and schools to promote civilizing education.
11
魯初為丞，年才弱冠，知縣王重勉之學。 重故老儒，魯遂請執弟子禮。 每晨，授經史講解而後視事。 後重卒官，魯執喪如父禮，且資其二子。 又敬事名儒陳獻章，獻章亦重之。 宋陸秀夫、張世傑盡節崖山，未有廟祀，特為建祠，請祠額，賜名大忠。 嘉靖初，魯歿三十載矣，新會人思其德，頌於朝，賜祠祀之。
When Lu first took office as assistant magistrate he was barely twenty, and Magistrate Wang Chong urged him to pursue his studies. Wang was a venerable Confucian scholar, and Lu asked to become his formal disciple. Each morning he received instruction in the classics and histories before turning to official business. When Wang later died in office, Lu mourned him as he would a father and supported his two sons. He also revered the renowned scholar Chen Xianzhang, who held him in equal regard. The Song loyalists Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie, who died defending Yashan, had no temple in the region. Lu built a shrine for them, petitioned for an official plaque, and received the name Dazhong, Great Loyalty. Early in the Jiajing reign, thirty years after Lu's death, the people of Xinhui, remembering his virtue, petitioned the court in his praise, and he was granted official shrine worship.
12
陳敏，陜西華亭人。 宣德時，為四川茂州知州。 遭喪去官，所部諸長官司及番民百八十人詣闕奏言：「州僻處邊僥萬山中，與松藩、疊溪諸番鄰，歲被其患。 自敏蒞州，撫馭有方，民得安業。 今以憂去職，軍民失所依。 乞矜念遠方，還此良牧。」 帝立報可。
Chen Min was a native of Huating in Shaanxi. During the Xuande reign he served as magistrate of Maozhou in Sichuan. When he left office to observe mourning, the native chieftains under his jurisdiction and one hundred eighty tribal subjects traveled to the capital and petitioned: "Our prefecture lies remote in the border mountains, neighboring the tribes of Songpan, Diexi, and elsewhere, and suffers their raids year after year. Since Minister Min took office, his governance has been exemplary and the people live in peace. Now that he has left on account of mourning, soldiers and civilians have lost their protector. We beg the court to show compassion for this distant region and restore this worthy magistrate." The Emperor immediately approved the request.
13
正統中，九載滿，軍民復請留。 進成都府同知，視茂州事。 都司徐甫言，敏及指揮孫敬在職公勤，群番信服。 章下都御史王翺等核實，進敏右參議，仍視州事。 以監司秩蒞州，前此未有也。
During the Zhengtong reign, when his nine-year term ended, soldiers and civilians again petitioned for his retention. He was promoted to vice prefect of Chengdu while continuing to administer Maozhou. Xu Fu of the regional military commission reported that Min and Commander Sun Jing were diligent and upright in office, and that all the tribes trusted them. The memorial was referred to Censor-in-Chief Wang Ao and others for verification, after which Min was promoted to right assistant administration commissioner while still administering the prefecture. Never before had a surveillance commissioner ranked official been appointed to govern a prefecture.
14
黑虎寨番掠近境，為官軍所獲。 敏從其俗，與誓而遣之。 既復出掠，為巡按御史陳員韜所劾。 詔貰之。 提督都御史寇深器其才，言敏往來撫恤番人，贊理軍政，乞別除知州，俾敏專戎務。 吏部以敏蒞茂久，別除恐未悉番情，猝難馴服，宜增設同知一人佐之。 報可。 敏既以參議治州，其體儷監司。 遂劾按察使陳泰無故杖死番人。 泰亦訐敏，帝不問。 而泰下獄論罪。
Tribesmen from Heihu Stockade raided the borderlands and were captured by government troops. Min followed local custom, exchanged oaths with them, and released them. When they raided again, Touring Censor Chen Yuntao impeached him. The throne pardoned him by edict. Supervising Censor-in-Chief Kou Shen valued his talent and reported that Min traveled constantly to comfort the tribes and assist in military administration. He petitioned to appoint a separate magistrate so that Min could devote himself entirely to military affairs. The Ministry of Personnel replied that Min had governed Maozhou for so long that a new appointee might not understand tribal affairs and could not quickly win their trust. It recommended adding a vice prefect to assist him instead. The court approved. Min now governed the prefecture at assistant commissioner rank, with standing equal to a surveillance commissioner. He then impeached Surveillance Commissioner Chen Tai for beating a tribesman to death without cause. Tai counter-impeached Min, but the Emperor took no action against either. Tai, however, was imprisoned and convicted.
15
景泰改元，參議滿九載，進右參政，視州事如前。 蒞州二十余年，威信大行，番民胥悅。 秩漸高，諸監司郡守反位其下，同事多忌之者。 為按察使張淑所劾，罷去。
At the beginning of the Jingtai reign, when his nine-year term as assistant commissioner ended, he was promoted to right administration commissioner while continuing to administer the prefecture as before. He governed the prefecture for more than twenty years, his authority became formidable, and all the tribal peoples were content. As his rank rose, surveillance commissioners and prefectural magistrates found themselves subordinate to him, and many colleagues grew jealous. Surveillance Commissioner Zhang Shu impeached him, and he was dismissed from office.
16
丁瑄，不知何許人。 正統間為御史。 初，福建多礦盜，命御史柳華捕之。 華令村聚皆置望樓，編民為甲，擇其豪為長，得自置兵仗，督民巡僥。 沙縣佃人鄧茂七素無賴，既為甲長，益以氣役屬鄉民。 其俗佃人輸租外，例饋田主。 茂七倡其黨令毋饋，而田主自往受粟。 田主訴於縣，縣逮茂七，不赴。 下巡檢追攝，茂七殺弓兵數人。 上官聞，遣軍三百捕之。 被殺傷幾盡，巡檢及知縣並遇害。 茂七遂大剽略，偽稱「鏟平王」，設官屬，黨數萬人，陷二十余縣。 都指揮範真、指揮彭璽等先後被殺。 時福建參政交阯人宋新，賄王振得遷左布政使，侵漁貪惡，民不能堪，益相率從亂。 東南騷動。
Ding Xuan was a man of unknown origin. During the Zhengtong reign he served as a censor. At first Fujian was plagued by mining bandits, and the court appointed Censor Liu Hua to suppress them. Hua ordered every village to build watch towers, organized the populace into militia companies under local strongmen, allowed them to arm themselves, and supervised border patrols. Deng Maoqi, a tenant farmer of Shaxian who had long been a ruffian, became a militia captain and used his authority to bully the villagers. Local custom required tenants to present gifts to their landlords in addition to paying rent. Maoqi urged his followers to stop sending gifts and instead require landlords to come collect the grain themselves. A landlord complained to the county magistrate, who summoned Maoqi, but he refused to appear. When a patrol inspector was sent to arrest him, Maoqi killed several government archers. When superiors learned of this, they sent three hundred troops to capture him. Nearly all were killed or wounded, including the patrol inspector and the county magistrate. Maoqi then launched large-scale raids, proclaimed himself the "King Who Levels All," established a rebel government, rallied tens of thousands of followers, and overran more than twenty counties. Regional Commander Fan Zhen, Commander Peng Xi, and others were killed in succession. At that time Fujian's administration commissioner Song Xin, a native of Jiaozhi, bribed the powerful eunuch Wang Zhen for promotion to left administration commissioner. His extortion and cruelty drove the people to join the rebellion in ever greater numbers. The southeast was thrown into turmoil.
17
十三年四月，茂七圍延平。 刷卷御史張海登城撫諭。 賊訴乞貰死，免三年徭役，即解散為良民。 海以聞。 命瑄往招討，以都督劉聚、僉都御史張楷大軍繼其後。 瑄既至，先令人賫敕往撫。 茂七不肯降，瑄馳赴沙縣圖之。 賊首林宗政等萬余人攻後坪，欲立寨。 瑄令通判倪冕等率眾先據要害，而身與都指揮雍埜等邀其歸路，斬賊二百余級，獲其渠陳阿巖。
In the fourth month of the thirteenth year, Maoqi besieged Yanping. Document-reviewing Censor Zhang Hai mounted the city wall to address the rebels. The rebels pleaded for their lives, exemption from three years of corvée labor, and promised to disband and return to peaceful life. Hai reported this to the court. The court ordered Xuan to negotiate and suppress the rebels, with Regional Commander Liu Ju and Censor-in-Chief Zhang Kai's main force to follow. Upon arrival, Xuan first sent an envoy bearing an imperial edict offering amnesty. Maoqi refused to surrender, and Xuan rushed to Shaxian to plan his capture. Rebel leader Lin Zongzheng and more than ten thousand followers attacked Houping, intending to establish a stronghold. Xuan ordered Vice Prefect Ni Mian and others to seize strategic positions while he personally joined Regional Commander Yong Ye in cutting off the rebels' retreat, killing more than two hundred and capturing their leader Chen Ayan.
18
明年二月，瑄誘賊復攻延平，督眾軍分道沖擊。 賊大敗，遁走，指揮劉福追之，遂斬茂七，招脅從復業。 未幾，復擒其黨林子得等。 尤溪賊首鄭永祖率四千人攻延平。 瑄偕埜等邀擊，擒之，斬首五百有奇，余黨潰散。
The following February, Xuan lured the rebels into attacking Yanping again, then directed his forces in a multi-pronged assault. The rebels were routed and fled. Commander Liu Fu pursued them, killed Maoqi, and persuaded the coerced followers to return to peaceful life. Before long he captured Maoqi's followers Lin Zide and others. The Youxi rebel leader Zheng Yongzu led four thousand men in an attack on Yanping. Xuan joined Ye and others in an ambush, captured Zheng, killed more than five hundred rebels, and the rest scattered.
19
楷之監大軍討賊也，至建寧頓不進，日置酒賦詩為樂。 聞瑄破賊，則馳至延平攘其功。 瑄被脅依違具奏。 福不能平，訴之。 詔責瑄具狀。 楷等皆獲罪。 瑄有功不問，功亦竟不錄。 茂七雖死，其從子伯孫等復熾。 朝廷更遣陳懋等以大軍討，瑄乃還朝。 景泰初，出為廣東副使，卒。
When Kai was appointed to supervise the main army against the rebels, he halted at Jianning without advancing, spending his days feasting and composing poetry. When he heard that Xuan had defeated the rebels, he rushed to Yanping to claim the credit. Under pressure, Xuan filed an equivocal report. Liu Fu, unable to accept this injustice, appealed to the court. The throne rebuked Xuan and ordered a full factual report. Kai and his associates were all punished. Xuan was not punished, but his achievements were never officially recorded. Though Maoqi was dead, his nephews Bo and Sun and other followers revived the rebellion. The court dispatched Chen Mao and others with a main army to continue the campaign, and Xuan returned to the capital. Early in the Jingtai reign he was appointed vice commissioner of Guangdong, where he died in office.
20
當是時，浙、閩盜所在剽掠為民患。 將帥率玩寇，而文吏勵民兵拒賊，往往多斬獲。 閩則有張瑛、王得仁之屬。 浙江則金華知府石瑁擒遂昌賊蘇才於蘭溪。 處州知府張佑擊敗賊眾，擒斬千余人。 於是帝降敕，數詰讓諸將帥。 都指揮鄧安等因歸咎於前御史柳華。 時王振方欲殺朝士威眾，命逮華。 華已出為山東副使，聞命，仰藥死。 詔籍其家，男戍邊，婦女沒入浣衣局。 而御史汪澄、柴文顯亦以是得罪。
At that time bandits in Zhejiang and Fujian were raiding everywhere and plaguing the populace. Military commanders for the most part neglected the threat, while civil officials rallied militia to resist the rebels and often won significant victories. In Fujian there were men such as Zhang Ying and Wang Deren. In Zhejiang, Jinhua Prefect Shi Yao captured the Suicang rebel Su Cai at Lanxi. Chuzhou Prefect Zhang You defeated a rebel force, capturing and killing more than a thousand. The Emperor then issued repeated edicts rebuking the military commanders. Regional Commander Deng An and others shifted the blame onto the former censor Liu Hua. Wang Zhen, seeking to intimidate the court by executing officials, ordered Hua's arrest. Hua had already been transferred to vice commissioner of Shandong. On hearing the order he took poison and died. The court confiscated his property, banished his sons to the frontier, and sent the women of his household to the imperial laundry. Censors Wang Cheng and Chai Wenxian were also punished on related charges.
21
初，澄按福建，以茂七亂，檄浙江、江西會討。 尋以賊方議降，止兵毋進。 既知賊無降意，復趣進兵，而賊已不可制。 浙江巡按御史黃英恐得罪，具白澄止兵狀，兵部因劾澄失機。 福建三司亦言，賊初起，按臣柴文顯匿不奏，釀成今患。 遂俱下吏。 獄成，詔磔文顯，籍其家。 澄棄市。 而宋新及按察使方冊等十人俱坐斬。 遇赦，謫驛丞。 天順初，復官。
When Cheng was touring Fujian, he issued orders to Zhejiang and Jiangxi to join the campaign against Maoqi's rebellion. When the rebels began negotiating surrender, he ordered the armies to halt. When he learned the rebels had no intention of surrendering, he ordered the advance resumed, but by then the rebellion was beyond control. Zhejiang Touring Censor Huang Ying, fearing blame, reported Cheng's order to halt the troops, and the Ministry of War impeached Cheng for missing the opportunity. Fujian's three provincial offices also reported that when the rebellion first broke out, touring official Chai Wenxian had concealed it from the court, allowing the present disaster. All were accordingly imprisoned and tried. When the trials concluded, Wenxian was sentenced to dismemberment and his property confiscated. Cheng was executed in the marketplace. Song Xin, Surveillance Commissioner Fang Ce, and ten others were all sentenced to decapitation. An amnesty commuted their sentences to demotion to post-station assistants. Early in the Tianshun reign their offices were restored.
22
論者謂華所建置未為過，澄、文顯罪不至死。 武將不能滅賊，反罪文吏。 華、文顯至與叛逆同科，失刑實由王振雲。 華，吳縣人。 文顯，浙江建德人。 澄仁和人。
Later commentators held that Hua's policies had not been excessive and that Cheng and Wenxian did not deserve death. The military had failed to suppress the rebels yet civil officials were punished instead. That Hua and Wenxian were punished as rebels was a perversion of justice attributable to Wang Zhen. Hua was a native of Wu County. Wenxian was a native of Jiande in Zhejiang. Cheng was a native of Renhe.
23
王得仁，名仁，以字行，新建人。 本謝姓，父避仇外家，因冒王氏。 得仁五歲喪母，哀號如成人。 初為衛吏，以才薦授汀州府經歷。 廉能勤敏，上下愛之。 秩滿當遷，軍民數千人乞留，詔增秩再任。 居三年，推官缺，英宗從軍民請，就令遷擢。 數辯冤獄，卻饋遺，抑鎮守內臣苛索，政績益著。
Wang Deren, whose given name was Ren but who was known by his style name, was a native of Xinjian. His family surname was originally Xie. His father, fleeing a blood feud, took refuge with his wife's family and adopted the surname Wang. Deren lost his mother at the age of five and mourned with the grief of an adult. He began as a guard clerk and was recommended for his ability to the post of intendant of Tingzhou Prefecture. Honest, capable, diligent, and alert, he was beloved by superiors and subordinates alike. When his term ended and he was due for transfer, several thousand soldiers and civilians petitioned for his retention, and the court increased his rank and reappointed him. After three years, when the post of investigating censor fell vacant, Emperor Yingzong granted the people's petition and promoted him on the spot. He repeatedly overturned wrongful convictions, refused bribes, and curbed the exactions of garrison eunuchs, and his reputation for effective governance grew.
24
沙縣賊陳政景，故鄧茂七黨也。 糾清流賊藍得隆等攻城。 得仁與守將及知府劉能擊敗之，擒政景等八十四人，余賊驚潰。 諸將議窮搜，得仁恐濫及百姓，下令招撫，辨釋難民三百人。 都指揮馬雄得通賊者姓名，將按籍行戮，得仁力請焚其籍。 賊復寇寧化，率兵往援，斬首甚眾。 民多自拔歸，賊勢益衰。
The Shaxian rebel Chen Zhengjing was a former follower of Deng Maoqi. He joined forces with the Qingliu rebel Lan Delong and others to attack the city. Deren joined the garrison commander and Prefect Liu Neng in defeating them, capturing Zhengjing and eighty-four others while the rest fled in panic. When the generals proposed a thorough manhunt, Deren feared innocent civilians would be harmed and ordered a policy of amnesty, releasing three hundred refugees who had been wrongly detained. Regional Commander Ma Xiong obtained a list of those who had aided the rebels and prepared to execute them by the register. Deren strongly petitioned to have the list burned. When the rebels again attacked Ninghua, he led troops to the relief and killed a great many. Many civilians voluntarily returned to government control, and rebel strength steadily declined.
25
賊退屯將樂，得仁將追滅之，俄遘疾。 眾欲輿歸就醫，得仁不可，曰：「吾一動，賊必長驅。」 乃起坐帳中，諭將吏戮力平賊，遂卒。 時正統十四年夏也。 軍民哀慟。 喪還，哭奠者道路相屬，多繪像祀之。 天順末，吏民乞建祠。 有司為請，詔如廣東楊信民故事，春秋致祭。
The rebels withdrew to Jiangle, and Deren was preparing to pursue and destroy them when he suddenly fell ill. His officers wished to carry him back for treatment, but Deren refused, saying, "If I withdraw, the rebels will advance unchecked." He then sat up in his tent and urged his officers to exert every effort to pacify the rebels, and died. This was the summer of the fourteenth year of Zhengtong. Soldiers and civilians mourned him deeply. When his coffin was borne home, mourners lined the roads, and many painted his portrait for veneration. Late in the Tianshun reign, officials and commoners petitioned for a shrine in his honor. The local authorities petitioned on their behalf, and the court granted seasonal sacrifices in spring and autumn, following the precedent of Yang Xinmin of Guangdong.
26
子一夔，天順四年舉進士第一。 授修撰，進左諭德。 成化七年，彗星見。 應詔陳五事：請正宮闈，親大臣，開言路，慎刑獄，戒妄費。 語極剴摯，被旨切責。 累遷工部尚書。 卒，贈太子少保。 正德中，謚文莊。
His son Yikui placed first in the metropolitan examination in the fourth year of Tianshun. He was appointed a Hanlin compiler and later promoted to left preceptor of the heir apparent. In the seventh year of Chenghua a comet appeared. In response to an imperial edict he presented five recommendations: rectify the inner palace, draw close to senior ministers, open channels for remonstrance, exercise caution in criminal justice, and guard against wasteful spending. His language was forthright and impassioned, and he received a stern imperial rebuke. He rose through successive promotions to Minister of Works. He died and was posthumously granted the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. During the Zhengde reign he was granted the posthumous title Wenzhuang.
27
葉禎，字夢吉，高要人。 舉於鄉，授潯州府同知。 補鳳翔，調慶遠。
Ye Zhen, styled Mengji, was from Gaoyao. After passing the provincial examination, he was appointed vice prefect of Xunzhou Prefecture. He served at Fengxiang and was later transferred to Qingyuan.
28
兩廣瑤賊蜂起，列郡鹹被害，將吏率縮朒觀望。 禎誓不與賊俱生，募健兒日訓練。 峒酋韋父強數敗官軍，禎生縶之，其黨忿，悉眾攻城。 旗山守將擁兵不救。 禎率健兒出戰，賊卻去。 旋躡禎，戰相當，禎子公榮殲焉。
Yao rebels rose in swarms across the Two Guangs, and prefecture after prefecture fell victim; most commanders and officials cowered and held back. Zhen vowed that he and the rebels could not both live, recruited stalwart fighters, and drilled them every day. The cave chieftain Wei Fuqiang had repeatedly routed government forces. Zhen took him alive, and his followers, furious, rallied their full strength to besiege the city. The garrison commander at Qishan kept his troops idle and refused to come to the rescue. Zhen led his fighters out to meet them, and the rebels fell back. They soon pressed hard on Zhen's heels. In the fierce exchange, his son Gongrong was killed.
29
頃之，賊圍雞刺諸村，禎率三百人趨赴。 道遇賊人頭山下，鏖戰，禎被數槍，手刃賊一人，與從子官慶及三百人皆死。 時天順三年正月晦也。 嶺南素無雪，是夜大雷電，雪深尺許。 賊釋圍去，諸村獲全。 事聞，贈朝列大夫、廣西參議，守臣為立廟祀之。
Before long the rebels besieged the villages around Jici, and Zhen rushed to their relief with three hundred men. On the march he met the rebels below Rentou Mountain and fought a desperate battle. Zhen took several spear wounds, cut down one rebel with his own hand, and fell together with his nephew Guanqing and all three hundred of his men. This was the last day of the first lunar month in the third year of Tianshun. Snow was unknown in Lingnan, yet that night thunder cracked and lightning flashed, and snow piled more than a foot deep. The rebels broke off the siege and withdrew, and the villages were spared. When word reached the court, he was posthumously granted the rank of Court Rank Grand Master and Guangxi Assistant Administration Commissioner, and local officials erected a shrine in his honor.
30
伍驥，字德良，安福人。 景泰五年進士。 授御史。 莊重寡言笑，見義敢為。
Wu Ji, styled Deliang, was from Anfu. He passed the palace examination in the fifth year of Jingtai. He was appointed an investigating censor. Grave and reserved, he spoke little and laughed less, yet he acted boldly whenever justice demanded it.
31
天順七年巡按福建。 先是，上杭賊起，都指揮僉事丁泉，汶上人，善捍禦。 賊屢攻城，皆為所卻。 已而賊轉熾。 驥聞，立馳入汀州，調援兵四集。 驥單騎詣賊壘。 賊不意御史猝至，皆擐甲露刃。 驥從容立馬，諭以禍福。 賊見其至誠，感悟泣下，歸附者千七百余戶。 給以牛種，俾復故業。
In the seventh year of Tianshun he served as touring censor of Fujian. Earlier, rebels had risen at Shanghang. The assistant regional commander Ding Quan, a native of Wen County, was an able defender. They assaulted the city again and again, and each time he drove them back. Before long the rebellion grew still fiercer. When Ji heard the news, he galloped at once to Tingzhou and gathered relief forces from every quarter. Ji rode alone to the rebel camp. The rebels had not expected a censor to appear so suddenly; they armored themselves and drew their blades. Ji sat his horse calmly and addressed them on the consequences of their choices. Seeing his sincerity, the rebels were moved to tears, and more than seventeen hundred households submitted. He supplied them with oxen and seed so they could return to their former livelihoods.
32
惟賊首李宗政負固不服，遂與泉深入破之。 泉力戰，為賊所害。 驥吊死恤傷，激以忠義，復與賊戰。 連破十八寨，俘斬八百余人，四境悉平。 而驥冒瘴癘成疾，班師至上杭卒。 軍民哀之如父母，旦夕臨者數千人，爭出財立祠。 成化中以知縣蕭宏請，詔與泉並祀，賜祠名「褒忠」。
Only the rebel chieftain Li Zongzheng held out stubbornly, so Ji joined Quan in a deep strike that broke his resistance. Quan fought fiercely and was killed by the rebels. Ji mourned the dead, tended the wounded, and roused his men with appeals to loyalty and duty before fighting the rebels again. He captured eighteen stockades in succession, killed or captured more than eight hundred rebels, and pacified the entire region. Ji had contracted a malarial fever in the pestilential lowlands, and he died at Shanghang as the army withdrew. Soldiers and civilians mourned him as they would a parent. Thousands came day and night to pay their respects, and they competed to donate funds for a memorial shrine. During the Chenghua reign, at the petition of County Magistrate Xiao Hong, the court ordered Ji and Quan worshipped together and named the shrine "Praise Loyalty."
33
毛吉，字宗吉，余姚人。 景泰五年進士。 除刑部廣東司主事。 司轄錦衣衛。 衛卒伺百官陰事，以片紙入奏即獲罪，公卿大夫莫不惴恐。 公行請屬，狎侮官司，即以罪下刑部者，亦莫敢捶撻。 吉獨執法不撓，有犯必重懲之。 其長門達怙寵肆虐，百官道遇率避馬，吉獨舉鞭拱手過，達怒甚。 吉以疾失朝，下錦衣獄。 達大喜，簡健卒，用巨梃搒之。 肉潰見骨，不死。
Mao Ji, styled Zongji, was from Yuyao. He passed the palace examination in the fifth year of Jingtai. He was appointed principal clerk in the Guangdong Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. That bureau had jurisdiction over the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Guard soldiers spied on officials' private affairs, and a single slip of paper sent to the throne could ruin a career. Grand ministers and high officials lived in constant dread. On their rounds they solicited favors and treated official offices with contempt, and even when guards were sent to the Ministry of Justice on criminal charges, no one dared beat them. Ji alone enforced the law without flinching and punished every offense to the full extent of the statutes. Their commander Men Da abused his imperial favor and terrorized the capital. Officials who met him on the road usually dismounted and gave way, but Ji alone rode past with a salute of his whip. Men Da was furious. When Ji missed court because of illness, he was thrown into the Embroidered Uniform Guard prison. Men Da was delighted. He picked his strongest guards and had Ji beaten with heavy clubs. His flesh rotted away until the bone showed, yet he survived.
34
天順五年擢廣東僉事，分巡惠、潮二府。 痛仰豪右，民大悅。 及期當代，相率籲留之。
In the fifth year of Tianshun he was promoted to Guangdong assistant surveillance commissioner with jurisdiction over Huizhou and Chaozhou. He cracked down hard on powerful local families, to the great delight of the common people. When his term ended and a successor was due, the people petitioned en masse to keep him in office.
35
程鄉賊楊輝者，故劇賊羅劉寧黨也。 已撫復叛，與其黨曾玉、謝瑩分據寶龍、石坑諸洞，攻陷江西安遠，剽閩、廣間。 已，欲攻程鄉。 吉先其未至，募壯士合官軍得七百人。 抵賊巢。 先破石坑，斬玉； 次擊瑩，馘之。 復生擒輝。 諸洞悉破，凡俘斬千四百人。 捷聞，憲宗進吉副使，璽書嘉勞。 移巡高、雷、廉三府。 時民遭賊躪，數百里無人煙，諸將悉閉城自守，或以賊告，反被撻。 有自賊中逸歸者，輒誣以通賊，撲殺之。 吉不勝憤，以平賊為己任。 按部雷州。 海康知縣王騏，雲南太和人也，日以義激其民，賊至輒奮擊。 吉壯其勇節，獎勵之。 適報賊掠鄉聚，吉與騏各率所部擊敗之。 薦騏，遷雷州通判。 未聞命，戰死。 贈同知，蔭其子為國子生。
A rebel named Yang Hui of Chengxiang had once belonged to the notorious bandit Luo Liuning's faction. After submitting once, he rebelled again. With his lieutenants Zeng Yu and Xie Ying he seized the cave strongholds of Baolong and Shikeng, overran Anyuan in Jiangxi, and raided across Fujian and Guangdong. He then set his sights on Chengxiang. Ji moved before they could arrive, recruiting stalwart fighters and joining them with government troops until he had seven hundred men. He marched straight to the rebel stronghold. He first stormed Shikeng and killed Zeng Yu; then he attacked Xie Ying and took his head. He then captured Yang Hui alive. Every cave stronghold was overrun, and more than fourteen hundred rebels were killed or captured. When news of the victory reached the court, the Chenghua Emperor promoted Ji to vice surveillance commissioner and sent an imperial commendation. He was reassigned to oversee Gaozhou, Leizhou, and Lianzhou. The people had been ravaged by bandits, and for hundreds of li the land lay deserted. Generals everywhere shut themselves inside their city walls, and some who reported rebel sightings were beaten for their trouble. Refugees who escaped from the rebels were often falsely accused of collusion and beaten to death. Ji was outraged and made pacifying the rebels his personal mission. He toured Leizhou on inspection. The county magistrate of Haikang, Wang Qi, a native of Taihe in Yunnan, daily roused his people with appeals to duty, and whenever bandits appeared he fought them fiercely. Ji admired his courage and rewarded him generously. Word then came that rebels were raiding nearby villages, and Ji and Qi each led their forces out and routed them. Ji recommended Qi for promotion, and he was appointed subprefect of Leizhou. Before the appointment reached him, he was killed in battle. The court posthumously granted him the rank of vice prefect and enrolled his son in the Imperial Academy by yin privilege.
36
方吉出軍時，賫千金犒，委驛丞余文司出入，已用十之三。 吉既死，文憫其家貧，以所余金授吉仆，使持歸治喪。 是夜，仆婦忽坐中堂作吉語，顧左右曰：「請夏憲長來。」 舉家大驚，走告按察使夏塤。 塤至。 起揖曰：「吉受國恩，不幸死於賊。 今余文以所遺官銀付吉家，雖無文簿可考，吉負垢地下矣。 願亟還官，毋汙我。」 言畢，仆地，頃之始蘇。 於是歸金於官。 吉死時年四十，後賜謚忠襄。
When Ji marched out with his troops, he brought a thousand ounces of silver in reward funds and entrusted Post Station Assistant Yu Wen with their disbursement. Nearly a third had already been spent. After Ji's death, Wen took pity on his family's poverty and gave the remaining funds to Ji's servant to carry home for the funeral. That night the maid suddenly seated herself in the main hall and spoke in Ji's voice, then turned to those around her and said, "Please ask Chief Censor Xia to come." The entire household was terrified and rushed to tell Surveillance Commissioner Xia Kun. Xia Kun came at once. She rose, bowed, and said, "Ji received the state's grace and met an untimely death at the hands of bandits. Now Yu Wen has given the remaining official silver to my family. Even though there is no ledger to account for it, I would bear this stain in the grave. Please return it to the government at once and do not let this dishonor me." When she had finished speaking, she collapsed. After a moment she came to her senses. The silver was then returned to the government. Ji was forty when he died. He was later granted the posthumous title Zhongxiang, Loyal and Assisting.
37
林錦，字彥章，連江人。 景泰初，由鄉貢授合浦訓導。 瑤寇充斥，內外無備。 錦條具方略，悉中機宜。 巡撫葉盛異之，檄署靈山縣事。 城毀於賊，錦因形便，為柵以守，廣設戰具，賊不敢逼。 滿秩去官，民曰：「公去，賊復至，誰禦者？」 悉逃入山。 盛以狀聞，詔即以錦為知縣。 馳驛之官，民復來歸。
Lin Jin, styled Yanzhang, was from Lianjiang. Early in the Jingtai reign, after graduating through provincial recommendation, he was appointed instructor at Hepu. Yao bandits swarmed the region, and the county was defenseless inside and out. Jin submitted a detailed plan of action, and every measure proved sound. Grand Coordinator Ye Sheng was impressed and ordered him by dispatch to take charge of Lingshan County. The city walls had been destroyed by bandits. Jin used the terrain to build palisades, stocked them with weapons, and the rebels dared not approach. When his term ended and he prepared to leave office, the people said, "When you go, the bandits will return. Who will defend us?" They all fled into the hills. Ye Sheng reported this to the court, and an edict immediately appointed Jin county magistrate. He traveled post-haste to take up his post, and the people returned.
38
適歲饑，諸瑤益剽掠無虛日。 錦單騎詣壘，曉以禍福。 瑤感悟，附縣二十五部鹹聽命。 其不服者則討之。 天順六年破賊羅禾水，再破之黃姜嶺，又大破之新莊。 先後斬獲千余級，還所掠人口，賊悉平，乃去柵，築土城。
That year famine struck, and Yao raids grew daily without respite. Jin rode alone to their camp and addressed them on the consequences of their choices. The Yao were moved to submit, and all twenty-five tribal divisions under the county came under his authority. Those who refused submission he attacked. In the sixth year of Tianshun he defeated the rebels at Luoheshui, routed them again at Huangjiangling, and won a great victory at Xinzhuang. In these campaigns he killed or captured more than a thousand rebels, recovered the people they had seized, and pacified them entirely. He then dismantled the palisades and built an earthen city wall.
39
盛及監司屢薦其才。 成化改元，會廉州為賊所陷，乃以錦為試知府。 歲復大饑，賊四出劫掠。 錦諭散千余人，誅梗化者，而綏輯其流移。 境內悉平。
Ye Sheng and the provincial overseers repeatedly recommended him for his ability. When the Chenghua reign began, Lianzhou fell to bandits, and Jin was appointed acting prefect. Famine struck again that year, and bandits ranged far and wide in pillaging raids. Jin persuaded more than a thousand men to disband, put the recalcitrant to death, and brought order to the homeless wanderers. The entire territory was pacified.
40
四年，上官交薦，請改授憲職，令專備欽、廉群盜。 乃以為按察使僉事，益勤於政。 十年賜敕旌異。 久之，進副使。 錦以所部屢有盜警，思為經久計，乃設團河營於西，設新寮營於南，而別設洪崖營以杜諸寇出沒路。 易靈山土城，更築高墉，亙五百丈，卒為巖邑。 十四年，兵部上其撫輯功，被賚。
In the fourth year his superiors jointly recommended him for reassignment to the censorate, with sole responsibility for suppressing the outlaw gangs of Qinzhou and Lianzhou. He was made an assistant regional inspector and threw himself even more zealously into his duties. In the tenth year the throne issued an edict singling him out for special praise. In time he was promoted to deputy commissioner. Bandit raids kept flaring across Jin's district, so he looked to a permanent solution: Tuanhe Camp in the west, Xinlao Camp in the south, and Hongya Camp on a separate line to seal off the raiders' routes of ingress and egress. He tore down Lingshan's mud fortifications and raised high walls five hundred zhang long, turning the county into a rock-hard bastion. In the fourteenth year the war office reported his success in restoring order, and he was rewarded by the throne.
41
錦在兵間，以教化為務。 靈山尚鬼，則禁淫祠，修學校，勸農桑。 其治廉、欽，皆飭學宮，振起文教。 為人誠實，洞見肺腑，瑤蠻莫不愛信。 其行軍，與士卒同甘苦，有功輒推以與人，以故士多效死，所在祠祀。
Even amid military campaigns, Jin made moral instruction his foremost concern. Lingshan was sunk in spirit worship; he outlawed improper shrines, restored the schools, and promoted agriculture and silk. Whether governing Lianzhou or Qinzhou, he refurbished the Confucian halls and revived learning and culture. Utterly sincere—his heart lay open to all—and Yao and tribal peoples alike loved and trusted him. On campaign he ate and suffered as his men did; credit for every success he gave away. For that soldiers gladly died for him, and shrines rose to him wherever he had served.
42
郭緒，字繼業，太康人。 成化十七年進士。 使楚府，卻其饋。 授戶部主事，督餉二十萬於陜西給軍。 主者以羨告，悉還之。 歷遷雲南參議。
Guo Xu, style name Jiye, came from Taikang. He passed the palace examination in the seventeenth year of Chenghua. On mission to the Princedom of Chu, he refused its presents. Made a principal secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, he oversaw two hundred thousand units of grain pay in Shaanxi for the troops. When the manager reported a surplus, he sent every bit of it back. He was eventually promoted to assistant commissioner in Yunnan.
43
初，孟密宣撫司之設也，實割木邦宣慰司地。 既而孟密思揲復於界外侵木邦地二十七所。 屬諭之還。 不聽。 乃調孟養宣撫思祿兵脅之。 思揲始還所侵地，然多殺孟養兵。 思祿仇之，發兵越金沙江奪木邦故割孟密地十有三所。 兩酋構怨不已。
The Mengmi Pacification Commission had originally been carved out of the Mu-Bang Regional Command. Later Si Die of Mengmi seized twenty-seven Mu-Bang holdings beyond the frontier. The court repeatedly ordered him to give them back. He refused. The court then mobilized Si Lu of Mengyang to pressure him by force. Si Die finally restored the seized land—but slaughtered many of Mengyang's troops in the process. Si Lu nursed a grievance, crossed the Jinsha with an army, and retook thirteen of the old Mu-Bang districts ceded to Mengmi. The two chiefs remained locked in feud.
44
巡撫陳金承詔，遣緒與副使曹玉往諭之。 旬余抵金齒。 參將盧和先統軍距所據地二程而舍，遣官馳驛往諭，皆留不報。 和懼，還軍至幹崖遇緒，語故，戒勿進。 緒不可。 玉以疾辭。 緒遂單騎從數人行，旬日至南甸，峻險不可騎，乃斬棘徒步引繩以登。 又旬日至一大澤。 土官以象輿來，緒乘之往。 行毒霧中，泥沙踸踔。 又旬日至孟賴，去金沙江僅二舍。 手自為檄，使持過江，諭以朝廷招徠意。 蠻人相顧驚曰：「中國使竟至此乎？」 發兵率象馬數萬夜渡江，持長槊勁弩，環之數重。 從行者懼，請勿進。 緒拔刀叱曰：「明日必渡江，敢阻者斬！」 思祿既得檄，見譬曉禍福甚備，又聞至者才數人，乃遣酋長來聽令，且致饋。 緒卻之，出敕諭宣示。 思祿亦繼至。 緒先敘其勞，次白其冤狀，然後責其叛。 諸酋聞，鹹俯伏呼萬歲，請歸侵地。 緒詰前所留使人，乃盡出而歸之。 和及玉聞報馳至，則已歸地納款矣。 時弘治十四年五月也。
Acting on imperial orders, Grand Coordinator Chen Jin sent Xu and Deputy Commissioner Cao Yu to reason with them. In little over ten days they reached Jinchi. Lu He, the deputy commander, had camped his force two stages short of the chiefs' holdings and sent envoys by relay post; every envoy was held and never answered. Frightened, Lu He fell back; at Ganya he met Xu, explained what had happened, and urged him not to go forward. Xu refused. Cao Yu begged off, claiming illness. Xu rode on alone with a handful of companions. Ten days later they reached Nandian, where the cliffs were too sheer for horses; he hacked through thorns and climbed on foot, hauling himself up by ropes. Ten days more brought them to a vast swamp. A local chieftain sent an elephant howdah; Xu rode it onward. They passed through poison mists, sinking deep in mire and sand at every step. Ten days later they arrived at Menglai, a bare two marches from the Jinsha. He drafted a proclamation himself, sent it across the river, and set forth the court's wish to bring them back into the fold. The tribesmen stared at one another in shock: "An envoy of China has truly come this far?" They mustered tens of thousands of elephants and horses, crossed the river by night armed with long spears and heavy crossbows, and ringed him round in layer after layer. His escort panicked and begged him to turn back. Xu bared his blade and roared: "I cross the river tomorrow. Stand in my way and you die!" Once Si Lu read the proclamation—with its exhaustive lesson on reward and ruin—and learned that only a handful of men had come, he sent chieftains to take orders and offered presents. Xu declined the gifts, produced the throne's directive, and read it aloud. Si Lu arrived shortly afterward. Xu first acknowledged their services, then voiced their complaints, and only then censured them for defiance. The chiefs prostrated themselves and shouted their allegiance, pledging to restore all seized lands. Xu demanded the envoys Lu He had left behind; they were freed and sent home. Lu He and Cao Yu raced up when word arrived—only to find the land already restored and peace secured. This was May of the fourteenth year of Hongzhi.
45
越三年，擢緒四川督儲參政。 武宗即位，始以雲南功，加俸一級。 明年致仕歸。
Three years on he was promoted to grain-supply commissioner in Sichuan. After the Wuzong emperor took the throne, his Yunnan service was finally recognized with a one-step rise in stipend. The following year he retired and went home.
46
姜昂，字恒頫，太倉人。 成化八年進士。 除棗強知縣。 授御史。 偕同官劾方士李孜省，杖午門外。 以母老乞改南，尋出為河南知府。 吏白事畢，退闔門讀書，鞭箠懸不用。 藩府人有犯，立決遣之。 改知寧波，擢福建參政。 請終養歸，服闋而卒。
Jiang Ang, style name Hengfu, came from Taicang. He passed the palace examination in the eighth year of Chenghua. He was made magistrate of Zaoqiang. He was made a supervising censor. He joined fellow censors in indicting the sorcerer Li Zisheng and was flogged outside the Meridian Gate. His mother's age moved him to seek a southern post; he was soon sent out as prefect of Henan. When the day's petitions were done he shut his door to read; the whip and bastinado hung idle on the wall. Princely retainers who broke the law he tried and punished on the spot. He became prefect of Ningbo, then was promoted to assistant commissioner of Fujian. He asked to return home to nurse his mother through her final years; he died soon after the mourning period ended.
47
昂在官，日市少肉供母，而自食菜茹。 子弟學書，不聽用官紙筆，家居室不蔽風雨。
In office he bought a little meat each day for his mother and lived on greens himself. His children learned to write without official stationery; at home he lived in a roof that barely kept out the weather.
48
子龍，字夢賓，正德三年進士。 歷禮部郎中。 武宗南巡，率同官諫。 罰跪五日，杖幾死。 出為建寧同知，尋遷雲南副使，備兵瀾滄、姚安。 滇故盜藪，龍讓土酋曰：「爾世官，縱盜寧非賄乎？」 酋懼，撫諭群盜，悉聽命。 巨盜方定者，既降而貧，為妻妾所詬，卒不忍負龍，竟仰藥死。 南安大盜千人，御史欲征兵，龍檄三日散盡。 四川鹽井剌馬仁、雲南曬江和歌仲讎殺數十年，龍撫諭，遂解。 大候州土官猛國恃險肆暴，龍擒之。 在滇四年，番、漢大治。 鄧川州立三正人祠，祀袁州郭紳、莆田林俊及龍。
His son Long, style name Mengbin, passed the palace examination in the third year of Zhengde. He rose to serve as a director in the Ministry of Rites. When the emperor set out on his southern tour, Long led fellow officials in memorializing against it. He was forced to kneel for five days and beaten within an inch of his life. Exiled to Jianning as deputy prefect, he was soon made Yunnan vice commissioner and charged with military affairs at Lancang and Yao'an. Yunnan had long been a robbers' nest; Long challenged the native chief: "Your post is hereditary—is letting bandits run free not simply taking bribes?" Terrified, the chief pacified the outlaw bands, and they all submitted. Fang Ding, a major outlaw, surrendered but lived in poverty; mocked by his wives and concubines, he could not bring himself to fail Long and finally took poison. A thousand bandits plagued Nan'an; when the censor wanted to call out the army, Long's edict dispersed them in three days. Lama Ren of the Sichuan salt wells and Hege Zhong of Shaijiang in Yunnan had been blood-feuding for decades; Long's mediation ended it. Meng Guo, the tribal officer of Dahan, tyrannized from his mountain fastness until Long seized him. In four years among them, both tribesmen and Han were brought to good order. Dengchuan erected a Hall of Three Worthies honoring Guo Shen of Yuanzhou, Lin Jun of Putian, and Long.
49
贊曰：陶成、陳敏諸人，以監司守令著征剿功，而成及毛吉、葉禎身死王事，勞烈顯著，亦可以愧戎帥之畏懦戚蹜者矣。 林錦威能臨制，材足綏懷，邊疆皆得斯人，何憂不治？ 郭緒單騎入險，諭服兩酋，令當洪、永間亦何至尚淹常調哉。 平世秉國者，多抑邊功，謂恐生事。 然大帥倚內援，敘祿又多逾等，適足以長武夫玩寇之心，而無以獎勞臣致死之節。 國家以賞罰馭世，曷可不公乎！
Comment: Tao Cheng, Chen Min, and their fellows won renown as provincial overseers and magistrates for suppressing rebellion; Cheng, Mao Ji, and Ye Zhen died in the emperor's service—their heroic sacrifice stands bright—and they might well shame the cowardly, cringing commanders who hang back from the field. Lin Jin had the force to impose order and the gifts to win people over—if every border post had such a man, what frontier could fail to know peace? Guo Xu rode alone into the wilds and talked two chiefs into submission—men like him in the days of Hongwu and Yongle would never have been left mouldering in ordinary ranks. In tranquil times those who ran the empire often downplayed border successes, lest they stir up trouble. Yet frontier generals thrived on court patronage and drew pay above their rank—encouraging soldiers to treat the enemy lightly while doing nothing to honor those who died in the emperor's service. The realm rules through reward and punishment—how can they be anything but just!