1
陳循 〈（蕭鎡）〉 王文江淵許彬陳文萬安 〈（彭華）〉 劉珝 〈（子鈗）〉 劉吉尹直
Chen Xun (Xiao Zi)〉 Wang Wen, Jiang Yuan, Xu Bin, Chen Wen, and Wan An (Peng Hua)〉 Liu Xu (Zi Yun)〉 Liu Ji and Yin Zhi
2
陳循，字德遵，泰和人。 永樂十三年進士第一。 授翰林修撰。 習朝廷典故。 帝幸北京，命取秘閣書詣行在，遂留侍焉。
Chen Xun, whose style name was Dezun, came from Taihe. In 1415 he took first place in the metropolitan examination. He was appointed a reviser in the Hanlin Academy. He mastered the court's institutional precedents. When the emperor went to Beijing, Chen was ordered to bring books from the Secret Repository to the traveling court and remained there in attendance.
3
洪熙元年，進侍講。 宣德初，受命直南宮，日承顧問。 賜第玉河橋西，巡幸未嘗不從。 進侍講學士。 正統元年兼經筵官。 久之，進翰林院學士。 九年入文淵閣，典機務。
In 1425 he was promoted to lecturing reader. Early in the Xuande reign he was assigned to the Southern Palace and received the emperor's counsel every day. The court granted him a residence west of Jade River Bridge, and he never failed to accompany the emperor on tour. He was promoted to lecturing academician. In 1436 he also served on the Classics Lecture. After some years he was promoted to Hanlin academician. In 1444 he entered the Wenyuan Pavilion and took charge of state affairs.
4
初，廷議天下吏民建言章奏，皆三楊主之。 至是榮、士奇已卒，循及曹鼐、馬愉在內閣，禮部援故事請。 帝以楊溥老，宜優閑，令循等預議。 明年進戶部右侍郎，兼學士。 土木之變，人心洶懼。 循居中，所言多采納。 進戶部尚書，兼職如故。 也先犯京師，請敕各邊精騎入衛，馳檄回番以疑敵。 帝皆從其計。
At first the Three Yangs had handled all court deliberation on memorials from officials and commoners across the empire. By then Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi had died; Chen Xun, Cao Qi, and Ma Yu sat in the Grand Secretariat, and the Ministry of Rites cited precedent in petitioning the throne. The emperor thought Yang Pu too old for heavy duties and should be spared; he ordered Chen Xun and the others to join the deliberations. The following year he was promoted to Right Vice Minister of Revenue while retaining his academician title. After the Tumu disaster public alarm was widespread. Chen Xun held a central role, and most of his counsel was adopted. He was promoted to Minister of Revenue while keeping his other posts. When Esen threatened the capital, he urged that elite cavalry from every frontier be summoned to defend the city and that urgent dispatches be sent to the Western Regions to sow doubt among the enemy. The emperor adopted every one of these measures.
5
景泰二年，以葬妻與鄉人爭墓地，為前後巡按御史所不直，循輒訐奏。 給事中林聰等極論循罪。 帝是聰言，而置循不問。 循本以才望顯，及是素譽隳焉。
In 1451, while burying his wife, he quarreled with a fellow townsman over a grave site; successive touring censors ruled against him, and Chen Xun repeatedly struck back with impeachments. Supervising secretaries including Lin Cong denounced Chen Xun's conduct in the strongest terms. The emperor accepted Lin Cong's argument but took no action against Chen Xun. Chen Xun had risen on talent and reputation, but this affair destroyed his standing among scholars.
6
二年十二月進少保兼文淵閣大學士。 帝欲易太子，內畏諸閣臣，先期賜循及高谷白金百兩，江淵、王一寧、蕭鎡半之。 比下詔議，循等遂不敢諍，加兼太子太傅。 尋以太子令旨賜百官銀帛。 逾月，帝復賜循等六人黃金五十兩，進華蓋殿大學士，兼文淵閣如故。 循子英及王文子倫應順天鄉試被黜，相與構考官劉儼、黃諫，為給事中張寧等所劾。 帝亦不罪。
In the twelfth month of that year he was promoted to Junior Guardian and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. The emperor wished to replace the heir apparent and feared opposition from the grand secretaries; he preemptively gave Chen Xun and Gao Gu one hundred taels of silver each and Jiang Yuan, Wang Yining, and Xiao Zi half as much. When the edict was issued for deliberation, Chen Xun and the others did not dare object; he was also made Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Soon afterward, on the heir apparent's order, silver and silks were distributed to the entire bureaucracy. A month later the emperor gave Chen Xun and five colleagues fifty taels of gold each, promoted him to Grand Secretary of the Huagai Hall, and left his Wenyuan post unchanged. Chen Xun's son Ying and Wang Wen's son Lun failed the Shuntian provincial examination and together framed the examiners Liu Yan and Huang Jian; supervising secretaries led by Zhang Ning impeached them. The emperor again declined to punish them.
7
英宗復位，于謙、王文死，杖循百，戍鐵嶺衛。
When Emperor Yingzong was restored to the throne, Yu Qian and Wang Wen were put to death; Chen Xun received one hundred strokes of the cane and was exiled to Tieling Guard.
8
循在宣德時，御史張楷獻詩忤旨。 循曰「彼亦忠愛也」，遂得釋。 御史陳祚上疏，觸帝怒，循婉為解，得不死。 景帝朝，嘗集古帝王行事，名《勤政要典》，上之。 河南江北大雪，麥苗死，請發帑市麥種給貧民。 因事進言，多足采者。 然久居政地，刻躁為士論所薄。 其嚴譴則石亨輩為之，非帝意也。
During the Xuande reign, when censor Zhang Kai presented a poem that offended the emperor, Chen Xun said, "He too is moved by loyal devotion," and Zhang was released. When censor Chen Zuo submitted a memorial that enraged the emperor, Chen Xun interceded tactfully and Chen was spared execution. Under the Jingtai Emperor he compiled the deeds of ancient rulers into a work called Essentials of Diligent Governance and presented it to the throne. When heavy snow in Henan and the region north of the Yangtze killed the wheat crop, he urged that treasury funds be used to buy seed grain for the poor. Much of the counsel he offered on current affairs was worth adopting. Yet after long years in power his harsh and irritable temper earned him contempt among the literati. His harsh punishment was chiefly the work of Shi Heng and his faction, not the emperor's own wish.
9
亨等既敗，循自貶所上書自訟，言：「天位，陛下所固有。 當天與人歸之時，群臣備法駕大樂，恭詣南內，奏請臨朝。 非特宮禁不驚，抑亦可示天下萬世。 而亨等僥倖一時，計不出此，卒皆自取禍敗。 臣服事累葉，曾著微勞，實為所擠，惟陛下憐察。」 詔釋為民，一年卒。 成化中，于謙事雪，循子引例請恤，乃復官賜祭。
After Shi Heng's faction fell, Chen Xun wrote from exile to plead his case: "The throne is Your Majesty's by right. When heaven and the people turned back to you, the ministers should have brought out the imperial carriage and ceremonial music, gone respectfully to the Southern Palace, and asked you to resume the throne. That would not only have kept the palace calm but would have set an example for all posterity. But Shi Heng and his followers seized a moment's advantage and never conceived such a plan; in the end they brought ruin on themselves. Your servant has served through several reigns and once rendered modest service; I was in truth forced out—may Your Majesty look upon me with compassion." An edict restored him to commoner status; he died a year later. In the Chenghua reign, after Yu Qian's name was cleared, Chen Xun's son cited precedent to seek posthumous honors; Chen's office was restored and imperial sacrifices were granted.
10
同邑蕭鎡。 字孟勤。 宣德二年進士，需次於家。 八年，帝命楊溥合選三科進士，拔二十八人為庶吉士，鎡為首。 英宗即位，授編修。 正統三年進侍讀。 久之，代李時勉為國子監祭酒。 景泰元年以老疾辭。 既得允，監丞鮑相率六館生連章乞留。 帝可其奏。 明年以本官兼翰林學士，與侍郎王一寧並入直文淵閣。 又明年進戶部右侍郎，兼官如故。 易儲議起，鎡曰：「無易樹子，霸者所禁，矧天朝乎。」 不聽。 加太子少師。 《寰宇通志》成，進戶部尚書。 帝不豫，諸臣議復憲宗東宮。 李賢私問鎡，鎡曰：「既退，不可再也。」 英宗復位，遂削籍。 天順八年卒。 成化中，復官賜祭。 鎡學問該博，文章爾雅。 然性猜忌，遇事多退避雲。
Xiao Zi, a fellow townsman. His style name was Mengqin. He passed the metropolitan examination in 1427 and waited at home for appointment. In 1433 the emperor ordered Yang Pu to select graduates from three examination cycles; twenty-eight were chosen as Hanlin bachelors, with Xiao Zi at the head of the list. When Emperor Yingzong acceded, he was appointed a compiler. In 1438 he was promoted to reader-in-waiting. After some years he succeeded Li Shimian as chancellor of the Imperial University. In 1450 he resigned citing age and illness. Once his resignation was approved, assistant director Bao Xiang led students from all six halls in joint memorials asking that he be retained. The emperor granted their request. The following year he was also made Hanlin academician and, together with Vice Minister Wang Yining, entered regular duty in the Wenyuan Pavilion. The year after that he was promoted to Right Vice Minister of Revenue while keeping his other posts. When debate arose over replacing the heir apparent, Xiao Zi said: "Do not displace the established heir—hegemons forbade it; how much more should the Son of Heaven's house." His counsel went unheeded. He was made Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent. When the Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Realm was completed, he was promoted to Minister of Revenue. When the emperor fell ill, the ministers debated restoring the future Chenghua Emperor as heir apparent. Li Xian asked him privately; Xiao Zi replied, "Once deposed, an heir cannot be restored." When Emperor Yingzong was restored, Xiao Zi was struck from the official rolls. He died in 1464. In the Chenghua reign his office was restored and imperial sacrifices were granted. Xiao Zi's learning was broad and his prose elegant. Yet he was suspicious by nature and habitually shrank from confrontation.
11
王文，字千之，初名強，束鹿人。 永樂十九年進士。 授監察御史。 持廉奉法，為都御史顧佐所稱。 宣德末，奉命治彰德妖賊張普祥獄。 還奏稱旨，賜今名。
Wang Wen, whose style name was Qianzhi and whose original name was Qiang, came from Shulu. He passed the metropolitan examination in 1421. He was appointed an investigating censor. He upheld integrity and the law and won praise from Censor-in-Chief Gu Zuo. Late in the Xuande reign he was ordered to try the sorcerer-rebel Zhang Puxiang of Zhangde. His report on returning pleased the emperor, who granted him his present name.
12
景泰改元，召掌院事。 文為人深刻有城府，面目嚴冷，與陳鎰同官，一揖外未嘗接談。 諸御史畏之若神，廷臣無敢幹以私者，然中實柔媚。 初，按大理少卿薛瑄獄，希王振指，欲坐瑄死。 至是治中官金英縱家奴不法事，但抵奴罪。 給事中林聰等劾文、鎰畏勢長奸，下詔獄。 二人俱伏，乃宥之。 二年六月，學士江淵上言法司斷獄多枉。 文及刑部尚書俞士悅求罷。 且言淵嘗私以事，不聽，故見誣。 帝兩置之。
When the Jingtai reign began, he was summoned to head the Censorate. Wang Wen was deep and calculating, his face stern and cold; though he served alongside Chen Yi, beyond a single bow he never spoke with him. His subordinate censors feared him like a god; no courtier dared approach him for private favor, yet inwardly he was servile and fawning. Earlier, while investigating Vice Minister of Justice Xue Xuan, he had followed Wang Zhen's wishes and tried to have Xue condemned to death. Now, when the eunuch Jin Ying's household slaves broke the law, he punished only the slaves. Supervising secretaries led by Lin Cong impeached Wang Wen and Chen Yi for bowing to power and abetting wrongdoing; both were sent to the imperial prison. Both confessed and were then pardoned. In the sixth month of the second year Academician Jiang Yuan memorialized that the judiciary often rendered unjust verdicts. Wang Wen and Minister of Justice Yu Shiyue asked to be relieved of office. They also claimed that Jiang Yuan had once sought private favors from them, which they had refused, and that he now slandered them for that reason. The emperor took no action on either side.
13
三年春，加太子太保。 時陳鎰鎮陜西，將還，文當代。 諸御史交章留之，乃改命侍郎耿九疇。 南京地震，江、淮北大水，命巡視。 偕南九卿議上軍民便宜九事。 又言徐、淮間饑甚，而南京儲蓄有余，請盡發徐、淮倉粟振貸，而以應輸南京者輸徐、淮，補其缺。 皆報可。
In the spring of the third year he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. At that time Chen Yi was commanding Shaanxi and was about to return; Wang Wen was to succeed him. The censors submitted joint memorials asking that he stay, and the court instead appointed Vice Minister Geng Jiuchou. After an earthquake at Nanjing and great floods on the Jianghuai plain, he was ordered to tour the affected regions. Together with the nine chief ministers of the southern capital he proposed nine relief measures for soldiers and civilians. He also reported severe famine between Xuzhou and the Huai while Nanjing's granaries were full, and urged that all grain in the Xuzhou and Huai stores be released for relief loans, with grain destined for Nanjing redirected to Xuzhou and the Huai to cover the gap. The emperor approved all of these proposals.
14
是時，陳循最任，好剛自用。 高谷與循不相能，以文強悍，思引與共政以敵之，乃疏請增閣員。 循舉其鄉人蕭維禎，谷遂舉文。 而文得中官王誠助，於是詔用文。 尋自江、淮還朝，改吏部尚書，兼翰林院學士，直文淵閣。 二品大臣入閣自文始。 尋遭母喪，奪哀如前。 文雖為谷所引，而谷遲重，循性明決，文反與循合而不附谷。 其後以子倫故，欲傾考官，又用谷言而罷。 由是兩人卒不相得。
At this time Chen Xun held the greatest influence and was stubborn and self-willed. Gao Gu was at odds with Chen Xun; seeing Wang Wen as forceful and aggressive, he hoped to bring him into the Grand Secretariat to counter Xun and memorialized to add a seat. Chen Xun recommended his fellow townsman Xiao Weizhen, and Gao Gu in turn recommended Wang Wen. Wang Wen won support from the eunuch Wang Cheng, and an edict appointed him. Soon after returning from the Jianghuai tour he was made Minister of Personnel and Hanlin academician with regular duty in the Wenyuan Pavilion. Wang Wen was the first second-rank minister to enter the Grand Secretariat. He soon lost his mother and, as before, was ordered back to office without completing mourning. Though Gao Gu had brought Wang Wen in, Gao was slow and ponderous while Chen Xun was sharp and decisive; Wang Wen sided with Chen Xun instead of Gao Gu. Later, on account of his son Lun, he tried to bring down the examiners but again heeded Gao Gu and dropped the matter. From then on the two men never reconciled.
15
五年三月，江、淮大水，復命巡視。 先是蘇、松、常、鎮四府糧四石折白銀一兩，民以為便。 後戶部復征米，令輸徐、淮，凡一百十余萬石。 率三石而致一石，有破家者。 文用便宜停之。 又發廩振饑民三百六十余萬。 時年饑多盜，文捕長洲盜許道師等二百人。 欲張其功，坐以謀逆。 大理卿薛瑄辨其誣。 給事中王鎮乞會廷臣勘實，得為盜者十六人置之法，而余得釋。 還進少保，兼東閣大學士。 再進謹身殿大學士，仍兼東閣。
In the third month of the fifth year great floods struck the Jianghuai, and he was again ordered to tour the region. Previously the four prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang had been allowed to pay one tael of silver in lieu of four piculs of grain, which the people found convenient. Later the Ministry of Revenue again demanded grain payment and ordered delivery to Xuzhou and the Huai, more than 1.1 million piculs in all. It often took three piculs to deliver one, and some families were ruined. Wang Wen used his discretionary authority to halt the levy. He also opened granaries to relieve more than 3.6 million famine sufferers. Famine that year bred many bandits; Wang Wen arrested more than two hundred Changzhou bandits led by Xu Daoshi. Seeking to magnify his achievement, he charged them with plotting treason. Minister of Justice Xue Xuan showed that the charge was false. Supervising secretary Wang Zhen asked that court ministers investigate jointly; sixteen were found to be bandits and punished, and the rest were released. On returning he was promoted to Junior Guardian and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. He was further promoted to Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall while retaining his Eastern Pavilion post.
16
初，英宗之還也，廷臣議奉迎禮。 文時為都御史，厲聲曰：「公等謂上皇果還耶？ 也先不索土地、金帛而遽送駕來耶？」 眾素畏文，皆愕然不決而罷。 及易儲議起，文率先承命。 景帝不豫，群臣欲乞還沂王東宮。 文曰：「安知上意誰屬？」 乃疏請早選元良。 以是中外喧傳文與中官王誠等謀召取襄世子。
When Emperor Yingzong first returned from captivity, the court debated the ceremony for welcoming him back. Wang Wen was then censor-in-chief and said sharply: "Do you really believe the Retired Emperor will come back? Would Esen send him back without demanding territory, gold, and silks? The ministers had long feared Wang Wen; they were stunned, could reach no decision, and dispersed. When debate arose over replacing the heir apparent, Wang Wen was the first to accept the emperor's will. When the Jingtai Emperor fell ill, ministers wished to ask that the Prince of Qi's son be restored as heir apparent. Wang Wen said: "How can we know whom the emperor favors?" He then memorialized urging early selection of a crown prince. Rumors spread inside and outside the court that Wang Wen and the eunuch Wang Cheng were plotting to summon the heir of the Prince of Xiang.
17
英宗復位，即日與于謙執於班內。 言官劾文與謙等謀立外藩，命鞫於廷。 文力辯曰：「召親王須用金牌信符，遣人必有馬牌，內府兵部可驗也。」 辭氣激壯。 逮車駕主事沈敬按問，無跡。 廷臣遂坐謙、文召敬謀未定，與謙同斬於市，諸子悉戍邊。 敬亦坐知謀反故縱，減死，戍鐵嶺。 文之死，人皆知其誣。 以素刻忮，且迎駕、復儲之議不愜輿論，故冤死而民不思。 成化初，赦其子還，尋復官，贈太保，謚毅湣。
The day Emperor Yingzong was restored, Wang Wen and Yu Qian were seized in the court assembly. Censorial officials impeached Wang Wen and Yu Qian for plotting to enthrone a prince of the frontier; they were ordered tried in open court. Wang Wen argued forcefully: "Summoning an imperial prince requires the gold tally and credentials, and any envoy must carry a horse tally—the inner palace and Ministry of War can verify this." His manner was fierce and defiant. When Director of Imperial Carriages Shen Jing investigated, no evidence was found. The court then convicted Yu Qian and Wang Wen of summoning Shen Jing while the plot was still unsettled; Wang Wen was beheaded in the market like Yu Qian, and all his sons were exiled to the frontier. Shen Jing was also convicted of knowing of the plot and deliberately allowing it; his death sentence was commuted and he was exiled to Tieling. Everyone knew Wang Wen's execution was a frame-up. Because he had long been harsh and jealous, and because his opposition to welcoming the emperor home and restoring the former heir had offended public opinion, though he died unjustly the people did not mourn him. Early in the Chenghua reign his son was pardoned and allowed to return; Wang Wen's office was soon restored, he was posthumously made Grand Guardian, and given the posthumous title Yimin.
18
倫，改名宗彜。 成化初進士。 歷戶部郎中，出理遼東餉。 中官汪直東征，言宗彜督餉勞，擢太仆少卿。 弘治中，累官南京禮部尚書。 卒，謚安簡。
Lun changed his name to Zongyi. He passed the metropolitan examination early in the Chenghua reign. He rose to director in the Ministry of Revenue and was sent to manage provisions for Liaodong. When the eunuch Wang Zhi campaigned in the east, he reported Zongyi's arduous work supervising provisions, and Zongyi was promoted to Vice Director of the Imperial Stud. Under the Hongzhi Emperor he rose to Minister of Rites at Nanjing. He died and was given the posthumous title Anjian.
19
江淵，字世用，江津人。 宣德五年庶吉士，授編修。 正統十二年詔與杜寧、裴綸、劉儼、商輅、陳文、楊鼎、呂原、劉俊、王玉共十人，肄業東閣，曹鼐等為之師。
Jiang Yuan, whose style name was Shiyong, came from Jiangjin. Selected as a Hanlin bachelor in 1430, he was appointed a compiler. In 1447 an edict named him with Du Ning, Pei Lun, Liu Yan, Shang Lu, Chen Wen, Yang Ding, Lü Yuan, Liu Jun, and Wang Yu—ten in all—to study in the Eastern Pavilion under Cao Qi and others.
20
郕王監國，徐有貞倡議南遷，太監金英叱出之，踉蹌過左掖門。 淵適入，迎問之。 有貞曰：「以吾議南遷不合也。」 於是淵入，極陳固守之策。 遂見知於王，由侍講超擢刑部右侍郎。 也先薄京師，命淵參都督孫鏜軍事。
When the Prince of Cheng acted as regent, Xu Youzhen proposed moving the capital south; the eunuch Jin Ying drove him out, and he staggered past the Left Flank Gate. Jiang Yuan was just entering and met him to ask what had happened. Xu Youzhen said: "They rejected my proposal to move the capital south." Jiang Yuan then entered and argued at length for holding the capital firm. He thereby won the prince's trust and was promoted from lecturing reader directly to Right Vice Minister of Justice. When Esen threatened the capital, Jiang Yuan was ordered to assist Regional Commander Sun Tang.
21
景泰元年出視紫荊、倒馬、白羊諸關隘，與都指揮同知翁信督修雁門關。 其秋遂以本官兼翰林學士，入閣預機務。 尋改戶部侍郎，兼職如故。 明年六月以天變條上三事：一，厚結朵顏、赤斤諸衛，為東西藩籬； 一，免京軍余丁，以資生業； 一，禁訐告王振余黨，以免枉濫。 詔悉從之。 又明年二月改吏部，仍兼學士。 是春，京師久雨雪。 淵上言：「漢劉向曰，凡雨陰也，雪又雨之陰也。 仲春少陽用事，而寒氣脅之，占法謂人君刑法暴濫之象。 陛下恩威溥洽，未嘗不赦過宥罪，竊恐有司奉行無狀，冤抑或有未伸。 且向者下明詔，免景泰二年田租之三。 今復移檄追征，則是朝廷自失大信於民。 怨氣郁結，良由此也。」 帝乃令法司申冤濫，詰戶部違詔，下尚書金濂於獄，卒免稅加詔。 東宮既易，加太子少師。 四川巡撫僉都御史李匡不職，以淵言罷之。 母憂起復。 初侍講學士倪謙遭喪，淵薦謙為講官，謙遂奪哀。 至是御史周文言淵引謙，正自為今日地。 帝以事既處分，不問，而令自今群臣遭喪無濫保。
In 1450 he inspected the Zijing, Daoma, and Baiyang passes and, with Regional Assistant Commander Weng Xin, supervised repairs to Yanmen Pass. That autumn he was also made Hanlin academician and entered the Grand Secretariat to handle state affairs. Soon he was transferred to Vice Minister of Revenue while keeping his other posts. In the sixth month of the following year, citing celestial warnings, he listed three proposals: first, cultivate close ties with the Duoyan and Chijin guards as bulwarks east and west; second, exempt surplus sons of capital garrison troops so they could pursue livelihoods; third, forbid informers against Wang Zhen's remaining followers to prevent wrongful prosecutions. An edict approved all three. In the second month of the following year he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel while retaining his academician title. That spring the capital had prolonged rain and snow. Jiang Yuan memorialized: "Liu Xiang of Han said that rain is yin, and snow is yin within yin. In mid-spring lesser yang should prevail, yet cold forces press upon it; prognostication treats this as a sign that the ruler's punishments are harsh and excessive. Your Majesty's grace and authority reach everywhere, and you have never failed to pardon faults; yet I fear that officials may carry out orders improperly and some injustices may remain unredressed. Moreover you recently issued a clear edict exempting one-third of the second-year Jingtai land tax. Now urgent orders pursue collection again; the court itself is breaking faith with the people. Popular resentment has built up largely for this reason." The emperor then ordered the judiciary to review wrongful cases, rebuked the Ministry of Revenue for violating the edict, imprisoned Minister Jin Lian, and in the end exempted the tax and issued a further proclamation. After the heir apparent was replaced, he was made Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Sichuan Grand Coordinator Li Kuang was derelict in duty and was dismissed on Jiang Yuan's recommendation. He was recalled from mourning for his mother. Earlier, when lecturing academician Ni Qian was in mourning, Jiang Yuan had recommended him as lecturer, and Ni Qian was then compelled to leave mourning. Now censor Zhou Wen said Jiang Yuan had brought in Ni Qian precisely to prepare for his own recall today. The emperor, since the matter had already been settled, took no further action but ordered that henceforth no minister in mourning should be indiscriminately recommended back to office.
22
五年春，山東、河南、江北饑，命同平江侯陳預往撫。 淵前後條上軍民便宜十數事。 並請築淮安月城以護常盈倉，廣徐州東城以護廣運倉。 悉議行。 時江北洊饑，淮安糧運在塗者，淵悉追還備振，漕卒乘機侵耗。 事聞，遣御史按實。 淵被劾。 當削籍。 廷臣以淵守便宜，不當罪。 帝宥之。
In the spring of the fifth year Shandong, Henan, and the region north of the Yangtze suffered famine; he was ordered to go with the Marquis of Pingjiang Chen Yu to provide relief. Jiang Yuan proposed more than ten relief measures for soldiers and civilians. He also asked that Huai'an's outer wall be built to protect the Changying granary and Xuzhou's eastern wall expanded to protect the Guangyun granary. All were approved and carried out. Famine recurred on the northern bank; Jiang Yuan ordered all grain still in transit at Huai'an recalled for relief, and transport soldiers took the chance to embezzle supplies. When the matter was reported, a censor was sent to investigate. Jiang Yuan was impeached. He should have been struck from the official rolls. Court ministers held that Jiang Yuan had acted within his discretionary authority and should not be punished. The emperor pardoned him.
23
閣臣既不相協，而陳循、王文尤刻私。 淵好議論，每為同官所抑，意忽忽不樂。 會兵部尚書于謙以病在告，詔推一人協理部事。 淵心欲得之。 循等佯推淵，而密令商輅草奏，示以「石兵江工」四字，淵在旁不知也。 比詔下，調工部尚書石璞於兵部，而以淵代璞。 淵大失望。 英宗復位，與陳循等俱謫戍遼東，未幾卒。
The grand secretaries already failed to cooperate, and Chen Xun and Wang Wen were especially harsh and self-serving. Jiang Yuan loved to debate policy and was often overruled by his colleagues; he grew restless and unhappy. When Minister of War Yu Qian took sick leave, an edict called for someone to assist in ministry affairs. Jiang Yuan hoped to get the post. Chen Xun and the others pretended to recommend Jiang Yuan but secretly had Shang Lu draft the memorial with the code "Shi Bing Jiang Gong"—transfer Shi to War, Jiang to Works—while Jiang Yuan stood by unaware. When the edict was issued, Minister of Works Shi Pu was transferred to the Ministry of War and Jiang Yuan replaced him at Works. Jiang Yuan was deeply disappointed. When Emperor Yingzong regained the throne, Jiang Yuan was exiled with Chen Xun and others to serve as a garrison soldier in Liaodong; he died soon afterward.
24
初，黃矰之奏易儲也，或疑淵主之。 丘浚曰：「此易辨也，廣西紙與京師紙異。」 索奏視之，果廣西紙，其誣乃白。 成化初，復官。
Earlier, when Huang Kan submitted his memorial proposing a change of crown prince, some had suspected that Jiang Yuan was behind it. Qiu Jun said, "This is easy to tell apart—the paper from Guangxi is not the same as paper from the capital. They demanded the memorial for inspection; it proved to be Guangxi paper, and the slander against Jiang Yuan was cleared. Early in the Chenghua reign his official rank was restored.
25
許彬，字道中，寧陽人。 永樂十三年進士。 改庶吉士，授檢討。 正統末，累遷太常少卿，兼翰林待詔，提督四夷館。 上皇將還，遣彬至宣府奉迎。 上皇命書罪己詔及諭群臣敕，遣祭土木陣亡官軍。 以此受知上皇。 還擢本寺卿。 石亨等謀復上皇，以其謀告彬，彬進徐有貞，語具有貞傳。 英宗復位，進禮部左侍郎，兼翰林院學士。 入直文淵閣。 未幾，為石亨所忌，出為南京禮部右侍郎，甫行，貶陜西參政。 至則乞休去。 憲宗立，命以侍郎致仕，尋卒。
Xu Bin, courtesy name Daozhong, was a native of Ningyang. He passed the metropolitan examination in 1415. He was made a Hanlin bachelor-at-large and appointed reviser. Late in the Zhengtong reign he rose through repeated promotions to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, concurrently Hanlin attendant drafter, with charge of the Four Barbarians Institute. When the captive emperor was about to return, Xu Bin was dispatched to Xuanfu to receive him. The retired emperor had him draft the self-reproach edict and an edict instructing the ministers, and sent him to offer sacrifices for the officers and soldiers killed at Tumu. In this way he won the retired emperor's trust. After his return he was promoted to chief minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Shi Heng and others plotted to restore the retired emperor; they confided their plan to Xu Bin, who introduced Xu Youzhen—the full story is told in Xu Youzhen's biography. When Emperor Yingzong regained the throne, Xu Bin was promoted to left vice minister of rites, concurrently Hanlin academician. He took up regular duty in the Wenyuan Pavilion. Before long Shi Heng came to resent him; Xu Bin was posted out as right vice minister of rites at Nanjing, and scarcely had he departed when he was demoted to administrative vice commissioner in Shaanxi. Once he arrived he petitioned to retire and withdrew from office. When Emperor Xianzong came to the throne, Xu Bin was permitted to retire with the rank of vice minister; he died soon afterward.
26
彬性坦率，好交遊，不能擇人，一時浮蕩士多出其門。 晚參大政，方欲杜門謝客，而客惡其變態，競相騰謗，竟不安其位。
Xu Bin was candid by nature and loved company; he could not choose his associates, and many restless men of letters of the day passed through his door. Late in life he entered high politics; just as he tried to shut his door to visitors, those guests resented his change of ways and vied in spreading slander, and in the end he could not hold his position.
27
景泰二年，閣臣高谷薦文才，遂擢雲南右布政使，貴州比歲用兵，資餉雲南，民困轉輸。 文令商賈代輸，而民倍償其費，皆稱便。 稅課額鈔七十余萬，吏俸所取給，典者侵蝕，吏或累歲不得俸。 文悉按治，課日羨溢。 雲南產銀，民間用銀貿易，視內地三倍。 隸在官者免役，納銀亦三之，納者不為病。 文曰：「雖如是，得無傷廉乎？」 損之，復令減隸額三之一。 名譽日起，遷廣東左布政使，母憂未赴。
In 1451 Grand Secretary Gao Gu recommended Chen Wen for his literary talent, and Chen was promoted to right administration commissioner of Yunnan; Guizhou had seen fighting year after year, and because supplies were drawn from Yunnan the people were worn down by transport duties. Chen Wen had merchants deliver supplies in lieu of the people, while the people paid them double the cost in return—everyone pronounced the arrangement convenient. The tax quota ran to more than seven hundred thousand paper notes, from which clerks' salaries were drawn; the officials in charge skimmed funds, and some clerks went years without pay. Chen Wen prosecuted every abuse, and the tax receipts daily grew ever more ample. Yunnan produced silver, and the people traded in silver at three times the rate used in the interior. Bond servants attached to officials were exempt from corvée, and the silver substitute levy was likewise tripled—yet those who paid did not find it onerous. Chen Wen said, "Even so, does this not compromise our integrity? He lowered the levy and again ordered the bond-servant quota reduced by one third. His reputation rose daily; he was transferred to left administration commissioner of Guangdong but had not yet taken up the post because he was in mourning for his mother.
28
英宗即復位，一日謂左右曰：「向侍朕編修，皙而長者安在？」 左右以文對，即召為詹事。 乞終制。 不允。 入侍東宮講讀。 學士呂原卒，帝問李賢誰可代者，曰：「柯潛可。」 出告王翺，翺曰：「陳文以次當及，奈何抑之？」 明日，賢入見，如翺言。
As soon as Emperor Yingzong regained the throne, one day he asked those around him, "Where is that fair-skinned, tall reviser who once attended me? Those around him named Chen Wen; the emperor at once summoned him to be grand preceptor of the heir apparent. Chen Wen asked to complete his period of mourning. The request was denied. He entered the Eastern Palace to lecture and read with the heir apparent. When Academician Lü Yuan died, the emperor asked Li Xian who could replace him; Li said, "Ke Qian would serve. On leaving he told Wang Ao, who said, "Chen Wen should be next in line by seniority—why pass him over?" The next day Li Xian entered audience and spoke as Wang Ao had urged.
29
七年二月進禮部右侍郎兼學士，入內閣。 文既入，數撓賢以自異，曰：「吾非若所薦也。」 侍讀學士錢溥與文比舍居，交甚歡。 溥嘗授內侍書。 其徒多貴幸，來謁，必邀文共飲。 英宗大漸，東宮內侍王綸私詣溥計事，不召文。 文密覘之。 綸言：「帝不豫，東宮納妃，如何？」 溥謂：「當奉遺詔行事。」 已而英宗崩，賢當草詔。 文起奪其筆曰：「無庸，已有草者。」 因言綸、溥定計，欲逐賢以溥代之，而以兵部侍郎韓雍代尚書馬昂。 賢怒，發其事。 是時憲宗初立，綸自謂當得司禮，氣張甚。 英宗大殮，綸衰服襲貂，帝見而惡之。 太監牛玉恐其軋己，因數綸罪，逐之去。 溥謫知順德縣，雍浙江參政。 詞所連，順天府尹王福，通政參議趙昂，南寧伯毛榮，都督馬良、馮宗、劉聚，錦衣都指揮僉事門達等皆坐謫。 雍亦文素所不悅者也。 改吏部左侍郎，同知經筵事。
In the second month of the seventh year of Chenghua he was promoted to right vice minister of rites, concurrently academician, and entered the Grand Secretariat. Once Chen Wen had entered the cabinet, he repeatedly crossed Li Xian to distinguish himself, saying, "I am not someone you recommended. Lecturing reader-in-waiting Qian Pu lived next door to Chen Wen, and the two were on very close terms. Qian Pu had once taught palace eunuchs calligraphy. Many of his pupils were powerful favorites at court; whenever they came to visit, Chen Wen was always asked to join them for drink. As Emperor Yingzong lay near death, Eastern Palace eunuch Wang Lun went privately to Qian Pu to plot affairs and did not summon Chen Wen. Chen Wen watched them in secret. Wang Lun said, "The emperor is ill—what if the Eastern Palace takes a consort? Qian Pu replied, "We should act according to the dying emperor's testament." Before long Emperor Yingzong died, and Li Xian was to draft the accession proclamation. Chen Wen rose, seized his brush, and said, "No need—there is already a draft. He then disclosed that Wang Lun and Qian Pu had plotted to drive out Li Xian and install Qian Pu in his place, and to replace Minister of War Ma Ang with Vice Minister Han Yong. Li Xian was furious and exposed the affair. At that time Emperor Xianzong had just acceded; Wang Lun believed he would obtain the Directorate of Ceremonials and carried himself with great arrogance. At Emperor Yingzong's encoffining, Wang Lun wore mourning garments over sable fur; the new emperor saw it and took offense. Eunuch Niu Yu feared Wang Lun would overpower him and therefore listed his crimes until Wang Lun was driven out. Qian Pu was demoted to magistrate of Shunde County; Han Yong to administrative vice commissioner in Zhejiang. Those implicated in the testimony were all sentenced to demotion: Shuntian prefectural intendant Wang Fu, Secretariat of Transmission assistant policy adviser Zhao Ang, Naning Earl Mao Rong, regional commanders Ma Liang, Feng Zong, and Liu Ju, and Jinyi chief assistant commandant Men Da, among others. Han Yong was also someone Chen Wen had long disliked. Chen Wen was transferred to left vice minister of personnel, jointly managing Classic Colloquium affairs.
30
文素以才自許，在外頗著績效，士大夫多冀其進用。 及居宮端，行事鄙猥。 既參大政，無所建明。 朝退則引賓客故人置酒為曲宴，專務請屬。 性卞急，遇睚眥怨必報。 及賢卒，文益恣意行，名節大喪。 歿後，禮部主事陸淵之、御史謝文祥皆疏論文不當得美謚。 帝以事已施行，不許。
Chen Wen had always prided himself on his talent; in provincial office he achieved notable results, and many scholar-officials hoped he would rise to high office. Once he stood at the head of government, his conduct proved base and vulgar. Having entered high politics, he offered nothing of substance. After court he would gather guests and old friends for convivial drinking, devoting himself entirely to lobbying and patronage. He was impatient by nature and nursed every slight; the smallest grudge he had to repay. After Li Xian died, Chen Wen acted all the more recklessly, and his reputation and integrity collapsed. After his death, Ministry of Rites registrar Lu Yuanzhi and censor Xie Wenxiang both memorialized that Chen Wen did not deserve a flattering posthumous title. The emperor held that the matter had already been settled and refused.
31
萬安，安循吉，眉州人。 長身魁顏，眉目如刻畫，外寬而深中。 正統十三年進士。 改庶吉士，授編修。
Wan An, courtesy name Xunji, was a native of Meizhou. Tall and imposing in bearing, with brows and eyes cut as if by the chisel, he seemed open outwardly but was deep and calculating within. He passed the metropolitan examination in 1448. He was made a Hanlin bachelor-at-large and appointed compiler.
32
成化初，屢遷禮部左侍郎。 五年命兼翰林學士，入內閣參機務。 同年生詹事李泰，中官永昌養子也，齒少於安。 安兄事之，得其歡。 自為同官，每當遷，必推安出己上。 至是議簡閣臣，泰復推安曰：「子先之，我不患不至。」 故安得入閣，而泰忽暴病死。
Early in the Chenghua reign he rose through repeated promotions to left vice minister of rites. In the fifth year of Chenghua he was ordered to serve concurrently as Hanlin academician and entered the Grand Secretariat to deliberate on state affairs. His fellow metropolitan graduate Li Tai, grand preceptor of the heir apparent, was the adopted son of the eunuch Yongchang and younger than Wan An. Wan An treated him with the deference of a younger brother and won his favor. From the time they served together, whenever promotion was discussed Li Tai always put Wan An ahead of himself. When the time came to select Grand Secretariat members, Li Tai again urged Wan An forward, saying, "You go first—I need not fear that I will not follow. Thus Wan An entered the cabinet, while Li Tai suddenly died of an acute illness.
33
安無學術，既柄用，惟日事請托，結諸閹為內援。 時萬貴妃寵冠後宮，安因內侍致殷勤，自稱子侄行。 妃嘗自愧無門閥，聞則大喜，妃弟錦衣指揮通，遂以族屬數過安家。 其妻王氏有母至自博興。 王謂母曰：「向家貧時，以妹為人娣，今安在？」 母曰：「第憶為四川萬編修者。」 通心疑是安，訪之則安小婦，由是兩家婦日往來。 通妻著籍禁內，恣出入，安得備知宮中動靜，益自固。 侍郎刑讓、祭酒陳鑒與安同年不相能。 安構獄，除兩人名。
Wan An had no scholarship; once he held power he did nothing each day but solicit favors, cultivating eunuchs as backers within the palace. At that time the Noble Consort Wan dominated the inner palace; Wan An sent warm greetings through palace eunuchs and styled himself their nephew by kinship. The consort had once been ashamed of lacking a great clan; on hearing this she was overjoyed. Her younger brother Wan Tong, a Jinyi commander, then visited the Wan household repeatedly as kin. Wan An's wife, Lady Wang, had a mother who came from Boxing. Lady Wang asked her mother, "When our family was poor we gave my younger sister away as a bondservant—where is she now? Her mother replied, "I only remember her being with a Wan who was a reviser in Sichuan." Wan Tong inwardly suspected it was Wan An; on inquiry it proved to be Wan An's concubine, and from then on the two families' wives visited each other daily. Wan Tong's wife was registered in the inner palace and came and went freely; Wan An thus learned everything that moved within the palace and grew more secure in power. Vice Minister Xing Rang and libationer Chen Jian were Wan An's fellow graduates and were on bad terms with him. Wan An fabricated prosecutions and struck both men's names from the rolls.
34
七年冬，彗見天田，犯太微。 廷臣多言君臣否隔，宜時召大臣議政。 大學士彭時、商輅力請。 司禮中官乃約以禦殿日召對，且曰：「初見，情未洽，勿多言，姑俟他日。」 將入，復約如初。 比見，時言天變可畏，帝曰：「已知，卿等宜盡心。」 時又言：「昨御史有疏，請減京官俸薪，武臣不免觖望，乞如舊便。」 帝可之。 安遂頓首呼萬歲。 欲出，時、輅不得已，皆叩頭退。 中官戲朝士曰：「若輩嘗言不召見。 及見，止知呼萬歲耳。」 一時傳笑，謂之「萬歲閣老」。 帝自是不復召見大臣矣。
In the winter of the seventh year of Chenghua a comet appeared in the Celestial Field constellation and encroached on the Supreme Palace. Court ministers repeatedly urged that ruler and ministers were estranged and that the emperor should regularly summon senior ministers to discuss policy. Grand Secretaries Peng Shi and Shang Lu pressed the request with special force. Eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonials then agreed to summon them for audience on imperial audience days, but warned, "At the first meeting feelings are not yet close—do not say much; wait for another day. As they were about to enter audience, the eunuchs repeated the same warning. When they were received, Peng Shi spoke of how heaven's warnings were to be feared; the emperor said, "I already know—you ministers should do your utmost. Peng Shi also said, "Yesterday a censor memorialized to cut Beijing officials' salaries; military officers cannot avoid resentment—please leave things as they were." The emperor agreed. Wan An thereupon kowtowed and shouted, "Long live the emperor!" About to withdraw, Peng Shi and Shang Lu had no choice but to kowtow and retire with him. The eunuchs mocked the court officials: "You always complain that you are never summoned to audience. Yet once you are summoned, all you know is to shout 'Long live! For a time the story circulated as a joke, and Wan An was nicknamed the "Long-Live Grand Secretary." From that day forward the emperor never again summoned senior ministers to audience.
35
其後尹直入閣，欲請見帝計事。 安止之曰：「往彭公請召對，一語不合，輒叩頭呼萬歲，以此貽笑。 今吾輩每事盡言，太監擇而聞之，上無不允者，勝面對多矣。」 其容悅不識大體，且善歸過於人如此。
Later Yin Zhi joined the Grand Secretariat and sought an audience with the emperor to discuss state business. Wan An dissuaded him, saying, "When Lord Peng once requested a summoned audience, a single remark fell wrong and he at once kowtowed shouting 'Long live the emperor'—and became a laughingstock. Now we speak freely on every matter; the eunuchs choose what to report, and the throne grants everything—far better than facing the emperor in person. Wan An's manner was affable, but he lacked grasp of larger principle and habitually shifted blame onto others in just this fashion.
36
九年進禮部尚書。 久之，改戶部。 十三年加太子少保，俄改文淵閣大學士。 孝宗出閤，進吏部尚書、謹身殿大學士，尋加太子太保。 時彭時已歿，商輅以忤汪直去，在內閣者劉珝、劉吉。 而安為首輔，與南人相黨附； 珝與尚書尹旻、王越又以北人為黨，互相傾軋。 然珝疏淺而安深鷙，故珝卒不能勝安。
In the ninth year he was promoted to Minister of Rites. After some time he was moved to the Ministry of Revenue. In the thirteenth year he received the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and was soon appointed Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. When the heir apparent Xiaozong left the inner palace, Wan An was promoted to Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall, and soon thereafter named Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. By then Peng Shi was dead and Shang Lu had been driven out for opposing Wang Zhi; the Grand Secretariat held only Liu Xu and Liu Ji. Wan An served as chief minister and banded together with southerners in a faction; Liu Xu allied with Ministers Yin Min and Wang Yue in a northern faction, and the two camps constantly undermined each other. Liu Xu was shallow where Wan An was deep and ruthless, and in the end Liu Xu could not prevail over him.
37
十八年，汪直寵衰，言官請罷西廠。 帝不許。 安具疏再言之，報可，中外頗以是稱安。 《文華大訓》成，進太子太傅、華蓋殿大學士。 復進少傅、太子太師，再進少師。
In the eighteenth year, as Wang Zhi's influence faded, censors memorialized to abolish the Western Depot. The emperor refused. Wan An submitted a detailed memorial repeating the request; the throne approved, and court and country alike praised him for it. Upon completion of the Great Compendium of Literary Cultivation, he was promoted to Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent and Grand Secretary of the Huagai Hall. He was further promoted to Junior Tutor and Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, and then again to Junior Preceptor.
38
當是時，朝多秕政，四方災傷日告。 帝崇信道教，封金闕、玉闕真君為上帝，遣安祭於靈濟宮。 而李孜省、鄧常恩方進用，安因彭華潛與結，藉以排異己。 於是珝及王恕、馬文升、秦纮、耿裕諸大臣相繼被逐，而華遂由詹事遷吏部侍郎，入內閣。 朝臣無敢與安牴牾者。
In those years government was riddled with abuses, and reports of disaster and famine arrived daily from every quarter. The emperor devoted himself to Daoism, elevated the Lords of the Golden and Jade Gates to the rank of Supreme Emperor, and dispatched Wan An to offer sacrifice at Lingji Palace. Li Zhisheng and Deng Chang'en were then coming into power; Wan An secretly joined them through Peng Hua and used the alliance to purge rivals. Liu Xu, Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng, Qin Hong, Geng Yu, and other leading ministers were driven out one after another, while Peng Hua rose from Grand Mentor to Vice Minister of Personnel and entered the Grand Secretariat. No court minister dared stand against Wan An.
39
華，安福人，大學士時之族弟，舉景泰五年會試第一。 深刻多計數，善陰伺人短，與安、孜省比。 嘗嗾蕭彥莊攻李秉，又逐尹旻、羅璟，人皆惡而畏之。 逾年，得風疾去。
Peng Hua was from Anfu, a younger cousin of Grand Secretary Peng Shi, and had ranked first in the metropolitan examination of Jingtai 5. Ruthless and calculating, adept at ferreting out others' weaknesses, he was of the same stamp as Wan An and Li Zhisheng. He had once set Xiao Yanzhuang on Li Bing, and later drove out Yin Min and Luo Jing; everyone loathed him but dared not defy him. A year later he resigned, stricken with paralysis.
40
孝宗嗣位，安草登極詔書，禁言官假風聞挾私，中外嘩然。 御史湯鼐詣閣。 安從容言曰：「此裏面意也。」 鼐即以其語奏聞，謂安抑塞言路，歸過於君，無人臣禮。 於是庶吉士鄒智，御史文貴、姜洪等交章列其罪狀。 先是，歙人倪進賢者，粗知書，無行，諂事安，日與講房中術。 安昵之，因令就試，得進士。 授為庶吉士，除御史。 帝一日於宮中得疏一小篋，則皆論房中術者，末署曰「臣安進」。 帝命太監懷恩持至閣曰：「此大臣所為耶？」 安愧汗伏地，不能出聲。 及諸臣彈章入，復令恩就安讀之。 安數跪起求哀，無去意。 恩直前摘其牙牌曰：「可出矣。」 始惶遽索馬歸第，乞休去。 時年已七十余。 尚於道上望三臺星，冀復用。 居一年卒，贈太師，謚文康。
At Xiaozong's accession Wan An drafted the enthronement edict forbidding censors to lodge charges on hearsay for private ends, provoking outrage throughout the empire. Censor Tang Xi came to the Grand Secretariat. Wan An said calmly, "That came from inside the palace. Tang Xi at once reported his words to the throne, charging that Wan An had choked off remonstrance, blamed the emperor for his own doing, and violated the duties of a subject. Hanlin probationer Zou Zhi and censors Wen Gui, Jiang Hong, and others then submitted memorial after memorial detailing his offenses. Earlier there had been one Ni Jinxian of She, barely literate and utterly without principle, who fawned on Wan An and daily discussed sexual cultivation techniques with him. Wan An favored him and had him sit for the examinations; he passed as a jinshi. He was made a Hanlin probationer and then appointed censor. One day in the palace the emperor found a small box of memorials, all on sexual cultivation techniques, signed at the end "Presented by your subject An." The emperor ordered the eunuch Huai En to bring them to the Grand Secretariat and ask, "Would a great minister do this? Wan An, flushed with shame, prostrated himself and could not speak. When the ministers' impeachment memorials arrived, the emperor again sent Huai En to read them aloud to Wan An. Wan An knelt and rose again and again pleading for mercy, yet showed no sign of departing. Huai En stepped forward, snatched his ivory tally of office, and said, "You may leave now. Only then did Wan An, in panic, send for a horse, hurry home, and submit a request to retire. He was then more than seventy years old. Even on the road home he looked up at the Three Terraces stars, hoping for recall to office. A year later he died and was posthumously honored as Grand Preceptor with the posthumous name Wenkang.
41
初，孝穆皇太后之薨，內庭籍籍指萬貴妃。 孝宗立，魚臺縣丞徐項上書發其事。 廷臣議逮鞫萬氏戚屬曾出入宮掖者。 安驚懼不知所為，曰：「我久不與萬氏往來矣。」 而劉吉先與萬氏姻，亦自危。 其黨尹直尚在閣，共擬旨寢之。 孝宗仁厚，亦置不問，安、吉得無事。
When Empress Dowager Xiaomu died, palace rumor had long fingered the Noble Consort Wan. After Xiaozong's accession, Xu Xiang, assistant magistrate of Yutai, memorialized to expose what had happened. The court debated arresting and interrogating Wan kinsmen who had once had access to the inner palace. Wan An was terrified and at a loss, saying, "I have had no dealings with the Wan clan for years. Liu Ji, who had earlier married into the Wan clan, feared for himself as well. His ally Yin Zhi remained in the Grand Secretariat; together they drafted an edict to bury the case. The benevolent Xiaozong let the matter drop, and both Wan An and Liu Ji escaped unscathed.
42
安在政府二十年，每遇試，必令其門生為考官，子孫甥婿多登第者。 子翼，南京禮部侍郎。 孫弘璧，翰林編修。 安死無幾，翼、弘璧相繼死，安竟無後。
During Wan An's twenty years in power, every examination saw his protégés appointed as examiners, and his sons, grandsons, and sons-in-law repeatedly passed. His son Wan Yi served as Vice Minister of Rites at Nanjing. His grandson Wan Hongbi was a Hanlin compiler. Soon after Wan An's death his son and grandson died in turn, and his line ended altogether.
43
劉珝，字叔溫，壽光人。 正統十三年進士。 改庶吉士，授編修。 天順中，歷右中允，侍講東宮。
Liu Xu, courtesy name Shuwen, was a native of Shouguang. He received his jinshi degree in the thirteenth year of Zhengtong. He entered the Hanlin as a probationer and was appointed compiler. During the Tianshun reign he served as Right Vice Director and lectured in the heir apparent's palace.
44
憲宗即位，以舊宮僚屢遷太常卿，兼侍讀學士，直經筵日講。 成化十年進吏部左侍郎，充講官如故。 珝每進講，反覆開導，詞氣侃侃，聞者為悚。 學士劉定之稱為講官第一，憲宗亦愛重之。 明年詔以本官兼翰林學士，入閣預機務。 帝每呼「東劉先生」，賜印章一，文曰「嘉猷贊翊」。 尋進吏部尚書，再加太子少保、文淵閣大學士。 《文華大訓》成。 加太子太保，進謹身殿大學士。
At Xianzong's accession, as a former palace tutor he rose repeatedly to Minister of Imperial Sacrifices, also serving as Reader-in-waiting and lecturing daily at the Classics Colloquium. In Chenghua 10 he was promoted to Left Vice Minister of Personnel while continuing his duties as lecturer. Each time Liu Xu lectured he expounded point by point with unwavering earnestness, and his listeners were moved to awe. Academician Liu Dingzhi ranked him the finest lecturer of his day, and Xianzong held him in special regard. The following year an edict named him Hanlin academician while retaining his present rank, and he entered the Grand Secretariat to share in state secrets. The emperor habitually addressed him as "Eastern Lord Liu" and bestowed a seal inscribed "Fine plans assist and support." He was soon promoted to Minister of Personnel and further honored as Junior Guardian and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. When the Great Compendium of Literary Cultivation was completed, he was further honored. He was named Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and promoted to Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall.
45
珝性疏直。 自以宮僚舊臣，遇事無所回護。 員外郎林俊以劾梁芳、繼曉下獄，珝於帝前解之。 李孜省輩左道亂政，欲動搖東宮。 珝密疏諫，謀少阻。 素薄萬安，嘗斥安負國無恥。 安積忿，日夜思中珝。 初，商輅之劾汪直也，珝與萬安、劉吉助之爭，得罷西廠。 他日，珝又折王越於朝，越慚而退。 已而西廠復設，珝不能有所諍。 至十八年，安見直寵衰，揣知西廠當罷，邀珝同奏。 珝辭不與，安遂獨奏。 疏上，帝頗訝無珝名。 安陰使人訐珝與直有連。 會珝子鎡邀妓狎飲，裏人趙賓戲為《劉公子曲》，或增飾穢語，雜教坊院本奏之。 帝大怒，決意去珝。 遣中官覃昌召安、吉赴西角門，出帝手封書一函示之。 安等佯驚救。 次日，珝具疏乞休。 令馳驛，賜月廩、歲隸、白金、楮幣甚厚。 其實排珝使去者，安、吉兩人謀也。
Liu Xu was by nature blunt and forthright. As a veteran of the heir apparent's household, he never shrank from any matter. When Section Vice Director Lin Jun was imprisoned for impeaching Liang Fang and Ji Xiao, Liu Xu pleaded his case before the emperor and secured his release. Li Zhisheng and his ilk practiced heterodox arts, threw government into disorder, and sought to undermine the heir apparent. Liu Xu submitted a secret memorial of remonstrance, and their designs were partly thwarted. He had long held Wan An in contempt and once denounced him as a shameless traitor to the realm. Wan An nursed a grudge and plotted day and night to bring Liu Xu down. When Shang Lu first moved against Wang Zhi, Liu Xu had joined Wan An and Liu Ji in the fight, and the Western Depot was abolished. On another occasion Liu Xu publicly rebuked Wang Yue at court until Wang Yue withdrew in humiliation. Before long the Western Depot was restored, and Liu Xu proved unable to protest it effectively. In the eighteenth year Wan An saw Wang Zhi's star fading, guessed the Western Depot would be shut down, and asked Liu Xu to join him in memorializing. Liu Xu refused; Wan An submitted the memorial alone. When the memorial reached the throne, the emperor was surprised to find Liu Xu's name absent. Wan An secretly spread word that Liu Xu was connected with Wang Zhi. About then Liu Xu's son Zi entertained prostitutes; a neighbor, Zhao Bin, wrote a lampoon called 《The Lord Liu's Son Ballad》, to which others added obscene verses that were performed alongside brothel skits. The emperor flew into a rage and resolved to dismiss Liu Xu. He sent the eunuch Tan Chang to summon Wan An and Liu Ji to the West Corner Gate and showed them a packet sealed in the emperor's own hand. Wan An and the others pretended shock and made a show of intervening on his behalf. The next day Liu Xu submitted a formal request to retire. He was sent home by courier post with lavish gifts of monthly grain, annual stipend, silver, and paper money. In truth it was Wan An and Liu Ji who had engineered his removal.
46
時內閣三人，安貪狡，吉陰刻。 珝稍優，顧喜譚論，人目為狂躁。 珝既倉卒引退，而彭華、尹直相繼入內閣，安、吉之黨乃益固。 珝初遭母憂，廬墓三年。 比歸，侍父盡孝。 父歿，復廬於墓。 弘治三年卒，謚文和。 嘉靖初，以言官請，賜祠額曰「昭賢」，仍遣官祭之。
The Grand Secretariat then held three men: Wan An was greedy and treacherous, Liu Ji secretly cruel. Liu Xu was somewhat better, but he loved to talk at length and was thought rash and excitable. Once Liu Xu had been hurried from office, Peng Hua and Yin Zhi entered the Grand Secretariat in turn, and the Wan–Liu faction tightened its grip. At his mother's death Liu Xu first mourned at her grave in a hut for three years. After returning home he attended his father with complete filial devotion. When his father died he again kept vigil at the tomb. He died in Hongzhi 3 and was posthumously named Wenhe. Early in Jiajing, at censors' request, his shrine received the plaque title "Manifest Worthy," and the court continued to send officers to offer sacrifice.
47
子鈗，字汝中。 八歲時，憲宗召見，愛其聰敏，且拜起如禮，即命為中書舍人。 宮殿門閾高，同官楊一清常提之出入。 帝慮牙牌易損，命易以銀。 歷官五十余年，嘉靖中至太常卿，兼五經博士，仍供事內閣誥敕房。 博學有行誼，與長洲劉棨並淹貫故實，時稱「二劉」。
His son Liu Jun, courtesy name Ruzhong. When he was eight, Xianzong received him in audience, delighted in his quick wit, and because he bowed and rose with proper ceremony, immediately appointed him Central Draftsman. The palace gate sills were so high that his colleague Yang Yiqing often had to lift him over them when he went in and out. The emperor feared his ivory tally would wear out easily and ordered it remade in silver. He served in office for more than fifty years; under Jiajing he rose to Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, concurrently held the Five Classics doctorate, and still worked in the Grand Secretariat's Edict and Patent Office. Learned and principled, he and Liu Qi of Changzhou were alike steeped in historical precedent; contemporaries called them "the Two Liu."
48
劉吉，字祐之，博野人。 正統十三年進士。 改庶吉士，授編修，充經筵官。 《寰宇通志》成，進修撰。 天順四年侍講讀於東宮，以憂歸。
Liu Ji, courtesy name Youzhi, was a native of Boye. In Zhengtong 13 he passed the metropolitan examination. He was made a Hanlin bachelor, appointed compiler, and served on the Classics Lecture. When the Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Realm was completed, he was promoted to senior compiler. In Tianshun 4 he lectured and read at the Eastern Palace, then went home to mourn.
49
憲宗即位。 召纂《英宗實錄》。 至京，上疏乞終制。 不允，進侍讀。 《實錄》成，遷侍讀學士，直經筵。 累遷禮部左侍郎。
When Xianzong ascended the throne, he was summoned to compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong. On reaching the capital he memorialized asking to complete his mourning period. The request was denied, and he was promoted to reader-in-waiting. When the Veritable Records were finished he was made lecturing academician with regular duty at the Classics Lecture. He rose in stages to Left Vice Minister of Rites.
50
成化十一年與劉珝同受命，兼翰林學士，入閣預機務。 尋進禮部尚書。 孝宗出閤，加太子少保兼文淵閣大學士。 十八年遭父喪，詔起復。 吉三疏懇辭，而陰屬貴戚萬喜為之地，得不允。 《文華大訓》成，加太子太保，進武英殿大學士。 久之，進戶部尚書、謹身殿大學士，尋加少保兼太子太傅。
In Chenghua 11 he received appointment together with Liu Xu, concurrently as Hanlin academician, and entered the Grand Secretariat to share in state deliberations. Soon after he was promoted to Minister of Rites. When Xiaozong left the palace school, Liu Ji was made Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. In the eighteenth year his father died; an edict ordered him recalled from mourning. Liu Ji thrice memorialized earnestly to decline, yet secretly had the powerful kinsman Wan Xi lobby on his behalf, and the court would not allow it. When the Great Compendium of Literary Cultivation was completed, he was made Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall. After a long interval he was promoted to Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall, and soon after was made Junior Mentor while also serving as Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent.
51
初，吉與萬安、劉珝在成化時，帝失德，無所規正，時有「紙糊三閣老，泥塑六尚書」之謠。 至是見孝宗仁明，同列徐溥、劉健皆正人，而吉於閣臣居首，兩人有論建，吉亦暑名，復時時為正論，竊美名以自蓋。
Earlier, in the Chenghua reign, Liu Ji together with Wan An and Liu Xu had done nothing to correct the emperor's misconduct, and people had a rhyme: "three Grand Secretaries of pasted paper, six ministers of molded clay." Now he saw Xiaozong as benevolent and clear-sighted, and his colleagues Xu Pu and Liu Jian were both upright men; as the senior Grand Secretary, whenever the two offered policy critiques Liu Ji also signed his name, and from time to time voiced upright opinions, stealing a good reputation to cover himself.
52
弘治二年二月旱，帝令儒臣撰文禱雨。 吉等言：「邇者奸徒襲李孜省、鄧常恩故術，見月宿在畢，天將陰雨，遂奏請祈禱，覬一驗以希進用。 倖門一開，爭言祈禱，要寵召禍，實基於此。 祝文不敢奉詔。」 帝意悟，遂已之。 五月以災異請帝修德防微，慎終如始。 八月又以災異陳七事。 代王獻海青，吉等言登極詔書已卻四方貢獻，乞勿受。 明年三月偕同列上言：「陛下聖質清羸，與先帝不同。 凡宴樂遊觀，一切嗜好之事，宜悉減省。 左右近臣有請如先帝故事者，當以太祖、太宗典故斥退之。 祖宗令節宴遊皆有時，陛下法祖宗可也。」 土魯番使者貢獅子還，帝令內閣草敕，遣中官送之。 吉等言不宜優寵太過，使番戎輕中國。 事遂寢。 既又言：「獅子諸獸，日飼二羊，歲當用七百二十，又守視校尉日五十人，皆繁費。 宜絕諸獸食，聽自斃。」 帝不能用。 十二月，星變，又言：「邇者妖星出天津，歷杵臼，迫營室，其占為兵，為饑，為水旱。 今兩畿、河南、山西、陜西旱蝗； 四川、湖廣歲不登。 倘明年復然，恐盜賊竊發，禍亂將作。 願陛下節用度，罷宴遊，屏讒言，斥異教，留懷經史，講求治道。 沙河修橋，江西造瓷器，南海子繕垣墻，俱非急務，宜悉停止。」 帝嘉納之。 帝惑近習言，頗崇祈禱事，發經牌令閣臣作贊，又令擬神將封號。 吉等極言邪說當斥。
In Hongzhi 2, during a drought in the second month, the emperor ordered Confucian officials to compose texts praying for rain. Liu Ji and the others said: "Of late villains have revived the old arts of Li Zisheng and Deng Chang'en; seeing the moon's lodge in Bi, they claim that heaven will soon send rain, and so they memorialize begging for prayer, hoping that one fulfilled omen will win them advancement. Once the gate of favoritism opens, everyone will vie to speak of prayer; courting favor invites disaster—and the root of it lies here. We dare not accept the edict to draft the prayer text. The emperor took their point and dropped the matter. In the fifth month, citing abnormal omens, they urged the emperor to cultivate virtue, guard against the slightest lapse, and treat the end as earnestly as the beginning. In the eighth month they again set forth seven matters in light of abnormal omens. The Prince of Dai presented a sea hawk; Liu Ji and the others said the accession edict had already declined tribute from all quarters and begged that it not be accepted. In the third month of the following year they joined their colleagues in memorializing: "Your Majesty's sacred constitution is clear and slight, unlike the Former Emperor's. Every feast, amusement, excursion, and indulgence should be wholly reduced. If close attendants ask to follow the Former Emperor's precedents, they should be rebuffed with the models of Taizu and Taizong. Our ancestors set fixed times for festival feasts and excursions; Your Majesty may take the ancestors as your law. The Turfan envoy who had presented a lion was returning; the emperor ordered the Grand Secretariat to draft an edict and sent an inner eunuch to escort him home. Liu Ji and the others said he should not be favored beyond measure, lest the frontier peoples hold China cheap. The affair was dropped. They spoke again: "Lions and other beasts are fed two sheep a day—seven hundred twenty a year—and fifty guards watch over them daily; all of this is wasteful extravagance. Cut off food for all such beasts and let them die on their own. The emperor would not accept this. In the twelfth month, with a stellar anomaly, they again said: "Of late an evil star appeared at Tianjin, passed Pestle and Mortar, and pressed Camp; its portent is war, famine, and flood or drought. Now the two metropolitan regions, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi suffer drought and locusts; Sichuan and Huguang have had poor harvests. If next year is the same, I fear bandits may rise in secret and calamity and rebellion will follow. We pray that Your Majesty will economize expenditure, cease feasts and excursions, banish slander, reject heterodox cults, keep the classics in mind, and study the way of governance. Repairing the bridge on the Sha River, making porcelain in Jiangxi, and mending walls at the Southern Park are none of them urgent—let all be halted. The emperor praised and adopted their advice. The emperor, swayed by his close attendants, came greatly to esteem prayer; he issued sutra placards ordering the Grand Secretaries to compose encomia and also commanded them to draft titles for divine generals. Liu Ji and the others strenuously argued that such heterodox doctrines must be rejected.
53
吉自帝初即位進少傅，兼太子太師，吏部尚書。 及《憲宗實錄》成。 又進少師、華蓋殿大學士。 吉柄政久，權勢烜赫。 帝初傾心聽信，後眷頗衰。 而吉終無去誌。 五年，帝欲封後弟伯爵，命吉撰誥券。 吉言必盡封二太后家子弟方可。 帝不悅，遣中官至其家，諷令致仕，始上章引退。 良賜敕，馳驛如故事。
From the emperor's first accession Liu Ji had been advanced to Junior Mentor, concurrently Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent and Minister of Personnel. When the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong were completed, he was further made Junior Preceptor and Grand Secretary of the Huagai Hall. Liu Ji had held power for a long time; his authority blazed bright. At first the emperor leaned on him and trusted him; later the emperor's regard waned considerably. Yet Liu Ji to the end showed no wish to leave office. In the fifth year the emperor wished to enfeoff the empress's younger brother as earl and ordered Liu Ji to draft the patent and certificate. Liu Ji said that the clansmen of both empress dowagers must all be enfeoffed alike before this could be done. The emperor was displeased; he sent a eunuch to Liu Ji's home to hint that he retire, whereupon Liu Ji at last submitted a memorial withdrawing from office. He was graciously granted an edict and post horses under established precedent.
54
吉多智數，善附會，自緣飾，銳於營私，時為言路所攻。 居內閣十八年，人目之為「劉綿花」，以其耐彈也。 吉疑其言出下第舉子，因請舉人三試不第者，不得復會試。 時適當會試期，舉子已群集都下，禮部為請。 詔姑許入試，後如令。 已而吉罷，令亦不行。 吉歸，逾年卒。 贈太師，謚文穆。
Liu Ji was full of stratagems and skilled at trimming his sails; he adorned himself and was keen to pursue private profit, and from time to time came under attack from the remonstrance officials. After eighteen years in the Grand Secretariat, people called him "Liu Cotton Flower" for how he endured being bounced about by criticism. Liu Ji suspected the saying came from failed metropolitan candidates and therefore requested that any provincial graduate who failed the metropolitan examination three times should not sit again. The metropolitan examination happened to fall just then; candidates had already gathered in the capital, and the Ministry of Rites petitioned on their behalf. An edict allowed them to sit this once; hereafter the rule would apply. Before long Liu Ji left office and the order never took effect. Liu Ji returned home and died the following year. He was posthumously made Grand Preceptor and given the posthumous name Wenmu.
55
尹直，字正言，泰和人。 景泰五年進士。 改庶吉士，授編修。
Yin Zhi, courtesy name Zhengyan, was a native of Taihe. In Jingtai 5 he passed the metropolitan examination. He was made a Hanlin bachelor and appointed compiler.
56
成化初，充經筵講官，與修《英宗實錄》。 總裁欲革去景泰帝號，引漢昌邑、更始為比。 直辨曰：「《實錄》中有初為大臣，後為軍民者。 方居官時，則稱某官某，既罷去而後改稱。 如漢府以謀逆降庶人，其未反時，書王書叔如故也。 豈有逆計其反，而即降從庶人之號者哉！ 且昌邑旋立旋廢，景泰帝則為宗廟社稷主七年。 更始無所受命，景泰帝則策命於母後。 當時定傾危難之中，微帝則京師非國家有。 雖易儲失德，然能不惑於盧忠、徐振之言，卒全兩宮，以至今日。 其功過足相準，不宜去帝號。」 時不能難。 既成，進侍讀，歷侍讀學士。
Early in Chenghua he served as lecturer on the Classics Lecture and helped compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong. The chief editor wished to strip the Jingtai emperor's title, citing the Han cases of the King of Changyi and Emperor Gengshi as parallels. Yin Zhi rebutted: "In the Veritable Records there are men who were first great ministers and later soldiers or commoners. While still in office one calls them by their title; only after they leave office does the record change the designation. As when a Han prince was demoted to commoner for conspiracy—before he rebelled, the record still calls him 'king' and 'uncle' as before. How could one, anticipating rebellion, at once demote him to a commoner's style! Moreover the King of Changyi was enthroned and deposed in quick succession, whereas the Jingtai emperor was lord of the ancestral temples and altars for seven years. Gengshi received no mandate; the Jingtai emperor was invested by edict from the empress dowager. In the crisis when the state teetered, without him the capital would not have remained the dynasty's. Though changing the heir was a fault, he was not misled by Lu Zhong and Xu Zhen, and in the end preserved both palaces down to the present day. Merit and fault balance; the imperial title should not be removed. At the time they could not refute him. When the work was finished he was promoted to reader-in-waiting and rose through lecturing academician.
57
六年上疏乞纂修《大明通典》，並續成《宋元綱目》，章下所司。 十一年遷禮部右侍郎，辭，不許。 丁父憂，服除，起南京吏部右侍郎，就改禮部左侍郎。
In the sixth year he memorialized asking to compile the Grand Statutes of the Great Ming and to continue completing the Outline of Song and Yuan; the memorial was sent to the relevant offices. In the eleventh year he was transferred to Right Vice Minister of Rites and declined; the court would not allow it. When his father died and mourning ended, he was recalled as Right Vice Minister of Personnel at Nanjing, then immediately shifted to Left Vice Minister of Rites.
58
二十二年春，召佐兵部。 占城王古來為安南所逼，棄國來求援。 議者欲送之還，直曰：「彼窮來歸，我若驅使還國，是殺之也。 宜遣大臣即詢，量宜處置。」 詔從之，命都御史屠滽往。 貴州鎮巡官奏苗反，請發兵，廷議將從之。 直言起釁邀功，不可信。 命官往勘，果無警。 是年九月改戶部兼翰林學士，入內閣。 逾月，進兵部尚書，加太子太保。
In the spring of the twenty-second year he was summoned to assist the Ministry of War. The king of Champa, Gulai, was pressed by Annam, abandoned his kingdom, and came begging for aid. Deliberators wished to send him back; Yin Zhi said: "He comes to us in extremity; if we drive him back to his kingdom, we kill him. A senior minister should be sent at once to inquire and dispose of the matter as circumstances require. The court approved; Censor-in-chief Tu Yong was ordered to go. Guizhou frontier defense officials reported a Miao rebellion and asked for troops; court deliberation was about to consent. Yin Zhi said they were stirring up trouble to claim merit—untrustworthy. Officers were sent to investigate; in fact there was no alarm. That year in the ninth month he was shifted to the Ministry of Revenue with concurrent Hanlin academician and entered the Grand Secretariat. A month later he was promoted to Minister of War and made Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent.
59
直明敏博學，練習朝章，而躁於進取。 性矜忌，不自檢飭，與吏部尚書尹旻相惡。 直初覬禮部侍郎，而旻薦他人。 直以中旨得之。 次日遇旻於朝，舉笏謝。 旻曰：「公所謂簡在帝心者。」 自是怨益深。 後在南部八年，郁郁不得誌，屬其黨萬安、彭華謀內召，旻輒持不可。 諸朝臣亦皆畏直，幸其在南。 及推兵部左、右侍郎，吏部列何琮等八人。 詔用琮，而直以安、華及李孜省力，中旨召還。 至是修怨，與孜省等比。 陷旻父子得罪，又構罷江西巡撫閔珪，物論喧然不平。 刑部郎袁清者，安私人，又幸於內侍郭閏。 勘事浙江，夌轢諸大吏，吏部尚書李裕惡之。 比還，即除紹興知府。 清懼，累章求改，裕極論其罪，下詔獄。 安、閏以屬直，為言於孜省，取中旨赦之，改知鄖陽。
Yin Zhi was bright, keen, and learned, well versed in court regulations, yet rash in his pursuit of advancement. By nature proud and jealous, he did not restrain himself and was at odds with Minister of Personnel Yin Min. Yin Zhi had first hoped for the vice ministership of rites, but Yin Min recommended someone else. Yin Zhi received the post by secret edict instead. The next day he met Yin Min at court and raised his tablet in thanks. Yin Min said, "So much for being singled out in the emperor's heart. From then on their enmity only deepened. Later, during eight years in the south, he brooded over his thwarted ambitions; he had his allies Wan An and Peng Hua scheme for his recall, and Yin Min consistently blocked it. The court ministers feared Yin Zhi as well and were relieved that he remained in the south. When left and right vice ministers of war were to be chosen, the Ministry of Personnel nominated eight candidates including He Cong. An edict appointed He Cong, but through Wan An, Peng Hua, and Li Zisheng, Yin Zhi secured a secret edict recalling him to the capital. Now he settled old scores and joined forces with Li Zisheng and his faction. He framed Yin Min and his son, engineered the dismissal of Jiangxi Grand Coordinator Min Gui, and public opinion boiled with outrage. Yuan Qing, a director in the Ministry of Justice, was Wan An's protégé and also enjoyed favor with the inner attendant Guo Run. While investigating affairs in Zhejiang he bullied senior officials, and Minister of Personnel Li Yu detested him. On his return he was immediately appointed prefect of Shaoxing. Yuan Qing panicked and submitted repeated memorials asking for reassignment; Li Yu denounced his crimes in full and had him sent to the imperial prison. Wan An and Guo Run appealed to Yin Zhi, who spoke to Li Zisheng; a secret edict pardoned Yuan Qing and appointed him prefect of Yunyang.
60
孝宗立，進士李文祥，御史湯鼐、姜洪、繆樗，庶吉士鄒智等連章劾直。 給事中宋琮及御史許斌言直自初為侍郎以至入閣，夤緣攀附，皆取中旨。 帝於是薄其為人，令致仕。 弘治九年表賀萬壽，並以太子年當出閤，上《承華箴》，引先朝少保黃淮事，冀召對。 帝卻之。 正德中卒，謚文和。
When Emperor Xiaozong acceded, metropolitan graduate Li Wenxiang, censors Tang Xi, Jiang Hong, and Miu Chu, Hanlin bachelor Zou Zhi, and others submitted successive memorials impeaching Yin Zhi. Supervising secretary Song Cong and censor Xu Bin charged that from his first vice ministership through entering the Grand Secretariat, Yin Zhi had curried favor and secured every promotion by secret edict. The emperor then lost regard for him and ordered him to retire. In 1496 he presented birthday congratulations and, noting that the heir apparent had reached the age to leave the palace school, submitted Admonitions for the Eastern Palace, citing the former Junior Guardian Huang Huai in hope of a court audience. The emperor declined. He died during the Zhengde reign and was given the posthumous title Wenhe.
61
贊曰：《易》稱內君子外小人，為泰； 外君子內小人，為否。 況端揆之寄，百僚具瞻者乎！ 陳循以下諸人，雖不為大奸慝，而居心刻忮，務逞己私。 同己者比，異己者忌； 比則相援，忌則相軋。 至萬安、劉吉要結近幸，蒙恥固位。 猶幸同列多賢，相與彌縫匡救，而穢跡昭彰，小人之歸，何可掩哉！
The historian comments: The Book of Changes says that when gentlemen are within and petty men without, there is peace; when gentlemen are without and petty men within, there is obstruction. How much more when the charge is the chief helm of state, upon whom all officials look! Chen Xun and those who followed, though not great villains, were harsh and jealous at heart and bent on gratifying private ends. They banded with those who agreed with them and resented those who did not; in alliance they supported one another, in resentment they crushed one another. As for Wan An and Liu Ji, they courted those near the throne, endured shame, and clung to power. Fortunately many of their colleagues were worthy men who together patched and remedied matters; yet their foul conduct was plain for all to see—the lot of petty men cannot be concealed.