1
羅亨信侯琎楊寧王來孫原貞 〈（孫需張憲）〉 朱鑒楊信民張驥 〈（竺淵耿定王晟鄧颙）〉 馬謹程信白圭 〈（子鉞）〉 張瓚 〈（謝士元）〉 孔鏞 〈（李時敏）〉 鄧廷瓚王軾劉丙
Luo Hengxin, Hou Jin, Yang Ning, Wang Lai, and Sun Yuanzhen Sun Xu and Zhang Xian)〉 Zhu Jian, Yang Xinmin, and Zhang Ji Zhu Yuan, Geng Ding, Wang Sheng, and Deng Yong)〉 Ma Jin, Cheng Xin, and Bai Gui Zi Yue)〉 Zhang Zan Xie Shiyuan)〉 Kong Yong Li Shimin)〉 Deng Tingzan, Wang Shi, and Liu Bing
2
羅亨信，字用實，東莞人。 永樂二年進士。 改庶吉士，授工科給事中。 出視浙江水災，奏蠲三縣租。 進吏科右給事中，坐累謫交阯為吏。 居九年，仁宗嗣位，始召入為御史。 核通州倉儲，巡按畿內，清軍山西，皆有聲。 宣德中，有薦其堪方面者。 命食按察僉事俸，待遷。
Luo Hengxin, whose style was Yongshi, came from Dongguan. He became a jinshi in Yongle 2 (1404). He was made a Hanlin junior compiler, then appointed supervising secretary in the Ministry of Works. Dispatched to inspect flooding in Zhejiang, he secured remission of land tax for three counties. Promoted to right supervising secretary in the Ministry of Personnel, he was caught up in a case and banished to Jiaozhi as a lowly clerk. Nine years later, when the Renzong Emperor came to the throne, he was finally recalled and made a censor. Whether auditing Tongzhou's granaries, investigating the capital region, or inspecting troops in Shanxi, he earned a strong reputation. During the Xuande reign someone recommended him for provincial office. He was given an assistant surveillance commissioner's salary pending appointment.
3
英宗即位之三月，擢右僉都御史，練兵平涼、西寧。 正統二年，蔣貴討阿臺、朵兒只伯，亨信參其軍務。 至魚兒海，貴等以芻餉不繼，留十日引還。 亨信讓之曰：「公等受國厚恩，敢臨敵退縮耶？ 死法孰與死敵？」 貴不從。 亨信上章言貴逗遛狀。 帝以其章示監督尚書王驥等。 明年進兵，大破之。 亨信以參贊功，進秩一等。
Three months after the Yingzong Emperor took the throne, he was promoted to vice censor-in-chief on the right and put in charge of training troops at Pingliang and Xining. In Zhengtong 2 (1437), when Jiang Gui marched against Atai and Duo'erzhibo, Hengxin joined the campaign staff. At Yurhai, Gui and his commanders halted ten days for lack of fodder and supplies, then turned back. Hengxin rebuked them: "You have received great favor from the state—how dare you flinch before the enemy? Is it better to die by the law or die facing the foe?" Gui would not listen. Hengxin memorialized the throne reporting Gui's delay and withdrawal. The Emperor showed the memorial to the supervising minister Wang Ji and his colleagues. The following year the army advanced and won a crushing victory. For his service on the campaign staff, Hengxin was promoted one grade.
4
父喪歸葬。 還朝，改命巡撫宣府、大同。 參將石亨請簡大同民三之一為軍，亨信奏止之。 十年進右副都御史，巡撫如故。 時遣官度二鎮軍田，一軍八十畝外，悉征稅五升。 亨信言：「文皇帝時，詔邊軍盡力墾田，毋征稅，陛下復申命之。 今奈何忽為此舉？ 塞上諸軍，防邊勞苦，無他生業，惟事田作。 每歲自冬徂春，迎送瓦剌使臣，三月始得就田，七月又復刈草，八月以後，修治關塞，計一歲中曾無休暇。 況邊地磽瘠，霜早收薄，若更征稅，則民不復井，必致竄逸。 計臣但務積粟，不知人心不固，雖有粟，將誰與守？」 帝納其言而止。
When his father died he went home to observe mourning and bury him. Back at court he was reassigned as grand coordinator of Xuanfu and Datong. Assistant commander Shi Heng asked to draft one-third of Datong's civilians into the army; Hengxin memorialized and blocked the plan. In the tenth year he was promoted to vice censor-in-chief on the right while retaining his coordinating duties. Officials were then sent to measure military farmland in both garrisons, with a tax of five sheng levied on everything above eighty mu per soldier. Hengxin said: "Under the Hongwu Emperor, border troops were ordered to farm to the full and pay no tax, and Your Majesty has reaffirmed that policy. Why suddenly do this now? Frontier soldiers endure harsh border duty and have no other livelihood—they live only by the plow. Each year from winter into spring they escort Oirat envoys; they cannot reach the fields until the third month, must cut fodder again in the seventh, and from the eighth month on repair passes and walls—in all, they have almost no leisure in a year. The border country is poor and thin-soiled, with early frost and scant harvests; further taxation would drive people from their farms and send them fleeing. Your planners care only to hoard grain, not seeing that if the people are unsettled, grain alone will not hold the frontier—who will defend it?" The Emperor accepted his advice and halted the levy.
5
初，亨信嘗奏言：「也先專候釁端，以圖入寇。 宜預於直北要害，增置城衛為備。 不然，恐貽大患。」 兵部議，寢不行。 及土木之變，人情洶懼。 有議棄宣府城者，官吏軍民紛然爭出。 亨信仗劍坐城下，令曰：「出城者斬！」 又誓諸將為朝廷死守，人心始定。 也先挾上皇至城南，傳命啟門。 亨信登城語曰：「奉命守城，不敢擅啟。」 也先逡巡引去。 赤城、雕鶚、懷來、永寧、保安諸守將棄城遁，並按其罪。
Earlier Hengxin had warned: "Esen waits only for a pretext to raid. We should strengthen walled garrisons at the vital passes north of the capital before he strikes. Otherwise we risk grave harm." The Ministry of War discussed it, and the plan was shelved. After the Tumu disaster panic spread everywhere. Some urged abandoning Xuanfu; officials, troops, and townspeople rushed to flee. Hengxin sat below the wall with his sword drawn and proclaimed: "Whoever leaves the city dies!" He then bound his officers by oath to hold the city for the throne, and morale steadied. Esen brought the captive emperor to the south wall and demanded the gates be opened. Hengxin mounted the wall and replied: "I am under orders to defend the city and dare not open the gates without command." Esen lingered, then withdrew. The garrison commanders at Chicheng, Diaoe, Huailai, Yongning, and Bao'an had abandoned their posts; he had them all punished.
6
侯琎。 字廷玉。 澤州人。 少慷慨有誌節。 登宣德二年進士，授行人。
Hou Jin. His style was Tingyu. He was a native of Zezhou. From youth he was openhanded and firm in purpose. He took his jinshi in Xuande 2 (1427) and was made a courier.
7
烏撒、烏蒙土官以爭地相仇殺，詔遣琎及同官章聰諭解之，正其疆理而還。 副侍郎章敞使交阯，關門卑，前驅傴而入，琎叱曰：「此狗竇耳，奈何辱天使！」 交人為毀關，乃入。 及歸，饋遺無所受。 遷兵部主事。
Native chiefs of Wusa and Wumeng were feuding over territory; the court sent Jin and Zhang Cong to mediate, fix the borders, and return. When Vice Minister Zhang Chang went to Jiaozhi, the gate was so low his escort had to stoop; Jin cried out: "This is a dog hole—how dare you humiliate the emperor's envoy!" The Annamese tore the gate down before they would enter. On the way home he refused every gift offered him. He was promoted to secretary in the Ministry of War.
8
正統初，從尚書柴車等出鐵門關禦阿臺有功，進郎中。 從王驥征麓川，至金齒。 驥自統大軍擊思任發，而遣琎援大侯州。 賊眾三萬至，督都指揮馬讓、盧鉞擊走之。 遂由高黎貢山兼程夜行，會大軍，壓其巢。 麓川平，拜禮部右侍郎，參贊雲南軍務，詔與楊寧二年更代。 驥再征麓川。 琎以功遷左。 九年代還。 母憂，起復，尋調兵部。 十一年復代寧鎮雲南。 思機發竄孟養，驥復南征。 琎與都督張軏分兵進抵金沙江，破之鬼哭山。 璽書褒賚。
Early in Zhengtong he served under Minister Chai Che at Iron Gate Pass against Atai with distinction and was made a director. He joined Wang Ji's Luchuan campaign as far as Jingchi. Ji led the main force against Si Renfa while dispatching Jin to relieve Dahu. When thirty thousand rebels arrived, he directed regional commanders Ma Rang and Lu Yue to beat them back. He then marched day and night over the Gaoligong range, joined the main army, and pressed the enemy's lair. After Luchuan was pacified he became vice minister of rites and military adviser in Yunnan, with orders to rotate with Yang Ning every two years. Ji campaigned in Luchuan a second time. For his service Jin was moved to the left-hand vice ministership. In the ninth year he returned on rotation. After his mother's death he was recalled from mourning and soon moved to the Ministry of War. In the eleventh year he again relieved Ning as commander in Yunnan. Si Jifa had fled to Mengyang, and Ji marched south once more. Jin and regional commander Zhang Ruan advanced in separate columns to the Jinsha River and routed the enemy at Ghost-Weeping Mountain. An imperial letter praised and rewarded him.
9
景泰初，貴州苗韋同烈叛，圍新添、平越、清平、興隆諸衛。 命琎總督貴州軍務討之。 時副總兵田禮巳解新添、平越圍，琎遂遣兵攻敗都盧、水西諸賊，貴州道始通。 又調雲南兵，由烏撒會師，開畢節諸路，檄普安土兵援安南衛，而自率師攻紫塘、彌勒等十余寨。 會賊復圍平越，回師擊退之。 遂分哨七盤坡、羊腸河、楊老堡，解清平圍，東至重安江，與驥兵會。 興隆抵鎮遠道皆通。 捷聞，進兵部尚書。 進克賞改苗，擒其渠王阿同等三十四人。 別賊阿趙偽稱趙王，率眾掠清平，琎復討擒之。 水西苗阿忽等六族皆自乞歸化，詔琎隨方處置。
Early in the Jingtai reign the Guizhou Miao leader Wei Tonglie rebelled and besieged the guards of Xintian, Pingyue, Qingping, and Xinglong. Jin was ordered to take overall command in Guizhou and suppress the revolt. Vice commander Tian Li had already relieved Xintian and Pingyue; Jin then sent troops to defeat the rebels of Dulou and Shuixi, and the roads through Guizhou were cleared. He brought up Yunnan troops, united them at Wusa, opened the Bijie routes, called Pu'an native levies to relieve Annan Guard, and personally attacked more than ten strongholds including Zitang and Mile. When rebels again besieged Pingyue he wheeled about and repulsed them. He then sent detachments to Qipanpo, Yangchang River, and Yanglaobao, relieved Qingping, and marched east to the Chong'an River to join Wang Ji. The road from Xinglong to Zhenyuan was fully open. Victory reported, he was made minister of war. He advanced against the Shanggai Miao and captured their chieftain Wang Atong and thirty-four others. Another rebel, A Zhao, styled himself Prince Zhao and raided Qingping; Jin campaigned again and took him. Six Shuixi Miao tribes led by A Hu all offered submission; the court ordered Jin to settle them as local conditions allowed.
10
楊寧，字彥謐，歙人。 宣德五年進士。 授刑部主事。 機警多才能，負時譽。
Yang Ning, whose style was Yanmi, came from She County. He became a jinshi in Xuande 5 (1430). He was appointed secretary in the Ministry of Justice. Quick-witted and widely capable, he enjoyed a strong contemporary reputation.
11
正統初，從尚書魏源巡視宣、大。 四年與都督吳亮征麓川。 賊款軍門約降，寧曰：「兵未加而先降，誘我也，宜嚴兵待之。」 不聽，令寧督運金齒。 已而賊果大至，官兵敗績。 諸將獲罪，寧擢郎中。 復從王驥至騰沖破賊，寧與太仆少卿李蕡督戰，並有功。 師還，寧超拜刑部右侍郎。 遭母憂，奪情。
Early in Zhengtong he joined Minister Wei Yuan on an inspection tour of Xuanfu and Datong. In the fourth year he campaigned in Luchuan with regional commander Wu Liang. The rebels came to camp offering surrender; Ning said, "They are surrendering before we have even fought—this is a trap. Keep the army on full alert." His advice was ignored, and Ning was ordered to supervise supplies to Jingchi. Soon the rebels came in force and the army was routed. The generals were punished while Ning was promoted to director. He again followed Wang Ji to Tengchong, where Ning and Vice Minister of the Imperial Stud Li Fen directed the fighting; both were credited with merit. On the army's return Ning was exceptionally promoted to vice minister of justice on the right. When his mother died he was recalled from mourning to duty.
12
九年代侯琎參贊雲南軍務。 時麓川甫平，寧以騰沖地要害，與都督沐昂築城置衛，設戍兵控諸蠻。 邊方遂定。 居二年，召還。
In the ninth year he relieved Hou Jin as military adviser in Yunnan. Luchuan had just been pacified; judging Tengchong vital, Ning and regional commander Mu Ang built a walled city, established a guard, and posted troops to hold the tribes in check. The frontier was thus stabilized. After two years he was recalled to court.
13
閩、浙盜起，命寧鎮江西。 賊至，輒擊敗之。 暇則詢民疾苦，境內向服。
When banditry broke out in Fujian and Zhejiang, he was ordered to pacify Jiangxi. Whenever rebels appeared he beat them back. In quieter moments he asked after the people's hardships, and the province came to accept his rule.
14
景泰初，召拜禮部尚書，偕胡濙理部事。 迤北可汗遣使入貢，寧言：「宜留使數日，宴勞賜予，視也先使倍厚。 彼性多猜，二人必內構，邊患可緩。」 帝務誠信，不許。 其冬，以足疾調南刑部。 七年為御史莊升所劾，遣核未報。 寧力詆言官，都察院再劾寧脅制言路。 詔免其罪，錄狀示之。 英宗復辟，命致仕。 逾年卒。
Early in the Jingtai reign he was made minister of rites and ran the ministry with Hu Ying. When the northern khan sent tribute envoys, Ning urged, "Keep them several days, feast and reward them, and treat them twice as generously as Esen's missions. They are suspicious by nature; the two will turn on each other, and the frontier threat will ease." The Emperor, committed to good faith, refused. That winter he was moved to the southern Ministry of Justice because of a foot ailment. In the seventh year censor Zhuang Sheng impeached him; an inquiry was sent but brought no report. Ning fiercely attacked the censors; the Censorate in turn impeached him for intimidating the remonstrance offices. An edict pardoned him and had the record read to him. When the Yingzong Emperor was restored to the throne, he was ordered to retire. He died the following year.
15
寧有才而善交權貴。 嘗自敘前後戰功，乞世蔭。 子堣方一歲，遂得新安衛副千戶。
Ning was capable but fond of cultivating the powerful. He once set out his battle record himself and asked for a hereditary privilege. His son Kun was only one year old yet was made vice commander of a thousand in the Xin'an Guard.
16
王來，字原之，慈溪人。 宣德二年以會試乙榜授新建教諭。 寧王府以諸生充樂舞，來請易以道士。 諸王府設樂舞生始此。
Wang Lai, whose style was Yuanzhi, came from Cixi. In Xuande 2 (1427) he placed on the B list of the metropolitan exam and was made instructor at Xinjian. The Prince of Ning's household used students as ritual dancers; Lai asked that Daoist priests replace them. This was the origin of ritual-dance students in princely households.
17
六年，以薦擢御史，出按蘇、松、常、鎮四府。 命偕巡撫周忱考察屬吏，敕有「請自上裁」語。 來言：「賊民吏，去之惟恐不速，必請而後行，民困多矣。」 帝為改敕賜之。 中官陳武以太后命使江南，橫甚，來數抑之。 武還，訴於帝。 帝問都御史顧佐：「巡按誰也？」 佐以來對。 帝嘆息稱其賢，曰「識之」。 及報命，獎諭甚至。
In the sixth year he was recommended and made censor, investigating Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang. He was ordered with Grand Coordinator Zhou Chen to examine subordinate officials; the edict required them to "request the sovereign's decision." Lai said, "Corrupt officials prey on the people; we should remove them as fast as we can. If we must ask permission first, the people will suffer far more." The Emperor revised the edict accordingly. The eunuch Chen Wu went to the south on the empress dowager's orders and behaved tyrannically; Lai repeatedly checked him. Wu returned and complained to the emperor. The emperor asked Censor-in-Chief Gu Zuo, "Who is that investigating censor?" Zuo answered that it was Lai. The emperor sighed and praised his worth, saying, "Remember him." When he reported back, the commendation was unusually generous.
18
英宗即位，以楊士奇薦，擢山西左參政。 言：「流民所在成家。 及招還故土，每以失產復逃去。 乞請隨在附籍便。」 又言：「郡縣官不以農業為務，致民多遊惰，催征輒致已命。 朝廷憫其失業，下詔蠲除，而田日荒閑，租稅無出，累及良民。 宜擇守長賢者，以課農為職。 其荒田，令附近之家通力合作，供租之外，聽其均分，原主復業則還之。 蠶桑可裨本業者，聽其規畫。 仍令提學風憲官督之，庶人知務本。」 從之。
When the Yingzong Emperor came to the throne, Yang Shiji recommended him and he was made left administrative vice commissioner of Shanxi. He said, "Wandering people settle and form households wherever they end up. When summoned home they often flee again because they have lost their land. I ask that they be allowed to register wherever they are." He also said, "Local officials neglect agriculture, so many people drift idle; when taxes are pressed, lives are lost. The court pities their plight and remits taxes, yet fields lie idle, no rent is paid, and honest taxpayers are dragged down with them. Choose worthy magistrates and make promoting agriculture their chief duty. For abandoned fields, let nearby households farm them together; after rent is paid, let them share the harvest, and return the land if the original owner resumes farming. Where sericulture can supplement farming, let them plan it. Have educational and surveillance officials oversee this so the people return to their proper work." The court agreed.
19
來居官廉，練達政事。 侍郎于謙撫山西，亟稱其才，可置近侍。 而來執法嚴，疾惡尤甚，以公事杖死縣令不職者十人。 逮下獄，當徒。 遇赦，以原官調補廣東。 來自此始折節為和平，而政亦修舉。 正統十三年遷河南左布政使。 明年改左副都御史，巡撫河南及湖廣襄陽諸府。 也先逼京師，來督兵勤王。 渡河，聞寇退，乃引還。
In office Lai was incorrupt and adept at administration. When Vice Minister Yu Qian governed Shanxi he repeatedly praised Lai's talent and said he deserved a post close to the throne. Yet Lai enforced the law harshly and hated corruption fiercely; on official business he had ten negligent magistrates beaten to death. He was arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to penal servitude. An amnesty allowed him to resume his former rank in Guangdong. From then on Lai moderated his manner, and his governance improved. In Zhengtong 13 (1448) he became left administrative commissioner of Henan. The next year he became vice censor-in-chief on the left, grand coordinating Henan and the Xiangyang prefectures of Huguang. When Esen threatened the capital, Lai led troops to the emperor's relief. He crossed the river, heard the enemy had withdrawn, and turned back.
20
賊平，班師。 詔留來、缶鎮撫。 尋命來兼巡撫貴州。 奏言：「近因黔、楚用兵，暫行鬻爵之例。 今寇賊稍寧，惟平越、都勻等四衛乏餉。 宜召商中鹽，罷納米例。」 從之。
When the rebels were pacified, the army withdrew. An edict ordered Lai and Liang Fu, Duke of Baoding, to remain and pacify the region. Soon he was also made grand coordinator of Guizhou. He memorialized, "Because of the recent campaigns in Guizhou and Huguang, the temporary sale of offices was allowed. Now the rebels are quieter, but the four guards including Pingyue and Duyun lack funds. Summon merchants to advance salt revenue and abolish the grain-payment scheme." The court agreed.
21
三年十月召還，加兼大理寺卿。 缶以來功大，乞加旌異。 都給事中蘇霖駁之，乃止。 來還在道，以貴州苗復反，敕回師進討。 明年，事平。 召為南京工部尚書。 英宗復辟，六尚書悉罷。 來歸。 成化六年卒於家。
In the tenth month of the third year he was recalled and additionally made chief of the Court of Judicial Review. Liang Fu, judging Lai's merit great, asked for special commendation. Chief supervising secretary Su Lin objected, and the proposal was dropped. Lai was still on the road when Guizhou Miao rebelled again; an edict ordered him to turn back and campaign. The following year the rebellion was pacified. He was summoned as minister of works at Nanjing. When the Yingzong Emperor was restored, all six Nanjing ministers were dismissed. Lai went home. He died at home in Chenghua 6 (1470).
22
孫原貞，名瑀，以字行，德興人。 永樂十三年進士。 授禮部主事，歷郎中。 英宗初，用薦擢河南右參政。 居官清慎，有吏才。
Sun Yuanzhen, personal name Yu, was known by his style; he came from Dexing. He became a jinshi in Yongle 13 (1415). He was appointed secretary in the Ministry of Rites and rose to director. Early in the Yingzong reign he was recommended and made right administrative vice commissioner of Henan. In office he was scrupulous and capable as an administrator.
23
正統八年，大臣會薦，遷浙江左布政使。 久之，盜大起閩、浙間，赦而再叛。 景帝即位，發兵討之。 原貞嘗策賊必叛，上方略，請為備。 至是即命原貞參議軍事，深入擒其魁。 而溫州余賊猶未滅，命都指揮李信為都督僉事，調軍討之。 遂拜原貞兵部左侍郎，參信軍務，鎮守浙江。 丁母憂，當去，副都御史軒輗請留之。 報可。
In Zhengtong 8 (1443) senior ministers jointly recommended him, and he became left administrative commissioner of Zhejiang. Before long banditry flared across Fujian and Zhejiang; pardoned once, the rebels rose again. When the Jingdi Emperor came to the throne, troops were sent to suppress them. Yuanzhen had long predicted they would rebel again; he had drawn up plans and asked to prepare. He was now ordered to join the military staff, penetrate deep, and capture the rebel leaders. Remaining rebels in Wenzhou were not yet crushed; regional commander Li Xin was made vice regional commander and troops were sent against them. Yuanzhen was then made vice minister of war on the left, joined Li Xin's staff, and garrisoned Zhejiang. When his mother died he should have left office, but vice censor-in-chief Xuan Yu asked that he be retained. The request was approved.
24
景泰元年，原貞進兵搗賊巢。 俘斬賊首陶得二等，招撫三千六百余人，追還被掠男女。 捷聞，璽書獎勵。 請奔喪。 逾月，還鎮。 復分兵剿平余寇。 奏析瑞安地增置泰順，析麗水、青田二縣地置雲和、宣平、景寧四邑，建官置戍，盜患遂息。 論功，進秩一等。 浙官田賦重，右布政使楊瓚請均於民田輕額者。 詔原貞督之，田賦以平。 三年請褒贈禦賊死事武臣。 指揮同知脫綱、王瑛，都指揮僉事沈轔、崔源，皆得贈恤。 六月進兵部尚書，鎮守如故。 未幾，命考察福建庶官，因留鎮焉。 福州、建寧二府，舊有銀冶，因寇亂罷。 朝議復開，原貞執不可，乃寢。
In Jingtai 1 (1450) Yuanzhen advanced and struck the rebels' lair. He captured and killed chiefs including Tao De'er, pacified more than 3,600 people, and recovered abducted men and women. Victory reported, an imperial letter praised him. He asked leave to observe mourning. A month later he returned to his post. He again sent detachments and wiped out the remaining rebels. He memorialized to carve Taishun from Ruian and the districts of Yunhe, Xuanping, and Jingning from Lishui and Qingtian, establish officials and garrisons, and banditry subsided. For his merit he was promoted one grade. Official fields in Zhejiang bore heavy land taxes; Right Administrative Commissioner Yang Zan asked that their levies be averaged with those on civilian fields assessed at lower rates. The throne ordered Yuanzhen to oversee the reform, and land taxes were brought into balance. In the third year he memorialized for posthumous honors for military officers who had died fighting bandits. Assistant regional commanders Tuogang and Wang Ying and vice regional commanders Shen Lin and Cui Yuan all received posthumous honors and pensions. In the sixth month he was promoted to minister of war while retaining his garrison command. Before long he was ordered to inspect ordinary officials in Fujian and remained on garrison duty there. Fuzhou and Jianning prefectures had once operated silver smelters, but these were shut down during the bandit troubles. The court debated reopening the smelters; Yuanzhen firmly opposed it, and the proposal was dropped.
25
五年冬，疏言：
In the winter of the fifth year he submitted a memorial stating:
26
四方屯軍，率以營繕、轉輸諸役妨耕作。 宜簡精銳實伍，余悉歸之農。 茍增萬人屯，即歲省支倉糧十二萬石，且積余糧六萬石，兵食豈有不足哉。
"Garrison troops everywhere are kept from farming by construction work, transport duty, and other corvée labor. Pick the best men to fill the ranks properly and send all the rest back to the fields. If ten thousand more men were put to garrison farming, the state would save one hundred twenty thousand shi of grain from the granaries each year and build a surplus of sixty thousand shi—would troops ever go hungry?
27
今歲漕數百萬石，道路費不貲。 如浙江糧軍兌運米，石加耗米七斗。 民自運米，石加八斗。 其余計水程遠近加耗。 是田不加多，而賦斂實倍，欲民無困，不可得也。 況今太倉無十數年之積，脫遇水旱，其何以濟！ 宜量入為出，汰冗食浮費。 俟倉儲既裕，漸減歲漕數，而民困可蘇也。
This year millions of shi of tribute grain are shipped north, and the cost of transport on the roads is beyond reckoning. In Zhejiang, when grain soldiers deliver transport rice, seven dou of wastage allowance is added to every shi. When civilians transport their own rice, eight dou are added to every shi. Elsewhere wastage is calculated according to the distance of the water route. The fields are no larger, yet the actual levies are doubled; to expect the people not to suffer is impossible. Moreover Taicang now holds less than a decade's reserves; if flood or drought should strike, how would we provide relief? Income and outlay should be balanced, and useless mouths and wasteful spending cut away. Once the granaries are full again, the annual tribute shipments can be reduced step by step, and the people's hardship eased.
28
臣昔官河南，稽諸逃民籍凡二十余萬戶，悉轉徙南陽、唐、鄧、襄、樊間。 群聚謀生，安保其不為盜？ 宜及今年豐，遣近臣循行，督有司籍為編戶，給田業，課農桑，立社學、鄉約、義倉，使敦本務業。 生計既定，徐議賦役，庶無他日患。 時不能盡用。 後劉千斤之亂，果如原貞所料。
When I served in Henan I examined the registries of fugitive households: more than two hundred thousand in all, scattered among Nanyang, Tang, Deng, Xiang, and Fan. Massed together and struggling to live—how can we be sure they will not turn to banditry? We should take advantage of this year's harvest, send trusted ministers to tour the region, and have local officials register them as regular households, grant them fields, assign farming and sericulture, and establish community schools, village compacts, and charity granaries so they return to honest work. Once their livelihoods are secure, levies and corvée can be discussed gradually, and future trouble may be avoided." At the time the court could not adopt all of it. Later the uprising of Liu Qianjin unfolded exactly as Yuanzhen had predicted.
29
已，復鎮浙江。 英宗復位，罷歸。 成化十年卒，年八十七。 原貞所至有勞績，在浙江尤著名。
Afterward he returned to garrison Zhejiang. When the Yingzong Emperor was restored, he was dismissed and sent home. He died in Chenghua 10 (1474) at the age of eighty-seven. Wherever Yuanzhen served he left a record of achievement; his fame was greatest in Zhejiang.
30
孫需，字孚吉，成化八年進士。 為常州府推官，疑獄立剖，擢南京御史。 劾僧繼曉，忤旨，予杖，出為四川副使。 弘治中，累官右副都御史，巡撫河南。 歲兇，募民築汴河堤，堤成而饑者亦濟。 鎮守中官劉郎貪橫。 奸民赴郎訟者，需以法論之遣戍。 郎為跪請，執不聽，郎恨次骨。 大臣子橫於鄉，需抑之。 郎與謀，改需撫陜西。 尋改撫鄖陽，安輯流民，占籍者九萬余戶。 正德元年召為南京兵部右侍郎。 四年就拜禮部尚書。 未兩月，劉瑾惡之，追論撫河南時事，罰米輸邊。 廷推需刑部尚書，中旨令致仕。 瑾誅，起南京工部尚書，就改刑部，再改吏部。 十三年乞休去。 嘉靖初卒，謚清簡。
Sun Xu, style name Fují, became a jinshi in Chenghua 8 (1472). As reviewing official of Changzhou prefecture he cut through doubtful cases at once and was promoted to censor at Nanjing. He impeached the monk Jixiao, offended the emperor, was beaten with rods, and was sent out as vice commissioner of Sichuan. During the Hongzhi reign he rose to right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Henan. In a famine year he hired civilians to build the Bian River dike; when the work was done the hungry were fed as well. The eunuch garrison commissioner Liu Lang was greedy and tyrannical. When scoundrels went to Lang to bring lawsuits, Xu tried them by law and banished them to frontier service. Lang knelt to plead for them, but Xu would not yield; Lang hated him to the bone. The son of a senior minister bullied people in the countryside, and Xu restrained him. Lang plotted with others and had Xu transferred to grand coordinator of Shaanxi. He was soon reassigned as grand coordinator of Yunyang, where he settled wandering people and registered more than ninety thousand households. In Zhengde 1 (1506) he was summoned to serve as right vice minister of war at Nanjing. In the fourth year he was appointed minister of rites on the spot. Within two months Liu Jin turned against him, dredged up affairs from his tenure in Henan, and fined him grain to be sent to the frontier. The court recommended Xu for minister of punishments, but an imperial rescript ordered him to retire. After Jin was executed he was recalled as minister of works at Nanjing, then moved at once to punishments and afterward to personnel. In the thirteenth year he asked to retire and left office. He died early in the Jiajing reign and was posthumously titled Qingjian, "Pure and Simple."
31
張憲，字廷式，與需同里，同舉進士，相代為尚書。 嘗為浙江右布政使，後以工部右侍郎督易州山廠，公帑無毫髮私。 歷南京禮部尚書。 劉瑾勒致仕。 瑾誅，起工部。 卒。
Zhang Xian, style name Tingshi, came from the same home district as Xu; both became jinshi and served as minister in turn. He had served as right administrative commissioner of Zhejiang; later, as right vice minister of works, he supervised the Yizhou mountain works and never touched a coin of public funds for himself. He served as minister of rites at Nanjing. Liu Jin forced him into retirement. After Jin was executed he was recalled to the Ministry of Works. He died.
32
朱鑒，字用明，晉江人。 童時刲股療父疾。 舉鄉試，授蒲圻教諭。
Zhu Jian, style name Yongming, came from Jinjiang. As a boy he cut flesh from his thigh to treat his father's illness. He passed the provincial examination and was appointed instructor at Puqi.
33
宣德二年，與廬陵知縣孔文英等四十三人以顧佐薦，召於各道觀政三月，遂擢御史。 巡按湖廣，諭降梅花峒賊蕭啟寧等。 請復舊制，同副使、僉事按行所部，問民疾苦。 湖湘俗，男女婚嫁多逾三十。 鑒申明禮制，其俗遂變。 三載代歸。
In Xuande 2 (1427), he and forty-two others including Kong Wenying, magistrate of Luling, were recommended by Gu Zuo, summoned to observe government in the various circuits for three months, and then promoted to censor. As investigating censor in Huguang he persuaded the Meihua Cave bandits, including Xiao Qining, to surrender. He asked that the old practice be restored, under which the censor toured his jurisdiction together with the vice commissioner and assistant commissioner to inquire into the people's hardships. In Hunan and Hubei it was customary for men and women to marry only after thirty. Jian enforced the ritual code, and the custom changed. After three years his term ended and he returned.
34
正統五年復按廣東。 奏設欽州守備都指揮。 奉命錄囚，多所平反，招撫逋叛甚眾。 還朝，請天下按察司增僉事一人，專理屯田，遂為定制。
In Zhengtong 5 (1440) he again served as investigating censor in Guangdong. He memorialized to establish a garrison regional commander at Qinzhou. Ordered to review prisoners, he reversed many wrongful verdicts and pacified large numbers of fugitive rebels. On returning to court he asked that every provincial surveillance commission add one assistant commissioner devoted solely to garrison fields, and this became permanent practice.
35
七年，用薦擢山西左參政。 奏減平陽采薪供邊夫役。 景帝監國，進布政使。 尋擢右副都御史，巡撫其地。 上言：「也先奸詭百端，殺掠無已。 復假和親，遣使覘伺。 以送駕為名，覬得開關延接。 稍示抗拒，彼即有辭。 其謀既深，我慮宜遠。 宜暫罷中貴監軍之制，假總兵以生殺權，使誌無所撓，計有所施。 整散兵，募勇士，重懸賞格。 鼓勸義旅，征勤王兵，數道並進，戮力復仇。 庶大駕可還，敵兵自退。 曩者江南寇發，皆以誅王振為名。 夫事歸朝廷則治，歸宦官則亂。 昔高皇帝與群臣議事，必屏去左右，恐泄事機。 乞杜權幸之門，凡軍國重事，屬任大臣，必當有濟。」 景帝嘉納之。
In the seventh year he was recommended and promoted to left administrative vice commissioner of Shanxi. He memorialized to reduce the Pingyang corvée of gathering firewood for frontier supply. When the Jingdi Emperor was regent, he was promoted to administrative commissioner. He was soon promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and made grand coordinator of the region. He memorialized: "Esen is treacherous in countless ways and kills and plunders without end. Again feigning a marriage alliance, he sends envoys to spy. Under the pretext of escorting the captive emperor home, he hopes the passes will be opened to receive him. Show even slight resistance and he at once has a pretext. His schemes run deep; our foresight must run farther. For the time being the system of eunuch army supervisors should be suspended and regional commanders granted the power of life and death, so that resolve is not undermined and plans can be executed. Reorganize scattered troops, recruit brave men, and offer heavy rewards. Rouse loyal volunteers, levy troops to rescue the throne, advance on several fronts at once, and join in common purpose to avenge the realm. Then perhaps the emperor can be recovered and the enemy will withdraw of their own accord. When bandits rose in Jiangnan before, they all rallied under the cry of punishing Wang Zhen. When affairs rest with the court there is order; when they rest with eunuchs there is chaos. In former times the Hongwu Emperor, when deliberating with his ministers, always dismissed attendants from the room, fearing the leakage of state secrets. Shut the gate to the favored and powerful; entrust all weighty military and state affairs to senior ministers, and the realm will surely be saved." The Jingdi Emperor praised and accepted it.
36
時瓦剌窺塞下，鑒日夜為守禦計。 景泰元年，敵數萬騎攻雁門，都指揮李端擊卻之。 尋犯河曲及義井堡，殺二指揮，圍忻、代諸州，石亨等不能禦。 長驅抵太原城北，山西大震。 命鑒移鎮雁門，而別遣都督僉事王良鎮太原。 援兵漸集，敵亦饜，乃引去。 時山西仍遘兵荒，鑒外飭戎備，內撫災民，勞瘁備至。
At the time the Oirats watched below the frontier passes, and Jian worked day and night on defensive plans. In Jingtai 1 (1450) enemy forces numbering tens of thousands of horsemen attacked Yanmen; Regional Commander Li Duan drove them back. They soon raided Hequ and Yijing Fort, killed two commanders, and besieged Xin and Dai prefectures; Shi Heng and others could not stop them. They drove straight to the north wall of Taiyuan, and all Shanxi was shaken. Jian was ordered to shift his headquarters to Yanmen, while Vice Regional Commander Wang Liang was separately sent to garrison Taiyuan. Relief troops gradually gathered; the enemy, having had their fill of plunder, then withdrew. Shanxi was still ravaged by war and famine; Jian tightened defenses on the frontier and comforted stricken civilians within, exhausting himself in the effort.
37
二年十月，鎮守山西都御史羅通召還。 命鑒兼領其事。 明年詔遣大臣行天下，黜陟有司。 禮部侍郎鄒幹至山西，多所論劾。 鑒請召幹還，幹因極論鑒徇護，帝是幹言。 其年十月召鑒佐院事。 至京，致仕去。
In the tenth month of the second year Luo Tong, the grand coordinator garrisoning Shanxi, was recalled. Jian was ordered to take over those duties as well. The next year an edict dispatched senior ministers to tour the realm and promote or dismiss local officials. Vice Minister of Rites Zou Qian reached Shanxi and impeached many officials. Jian asked that Zou be recalled; Zou thereupon argued forcefully that Jian was shielding officials, and the emperor sided with Zou. That October Jian was summoned to assist in Censorate affairs. On reaching the capital he retired.
38
初，景帝易儲，鑒貽大學士陳循書，言不可。 且曰：「陛下於上皇，當避位以全大義。」 循大駭。 英宗復位，鑒詣闕上表賀。 帝曰：「鑒老疾，何妄來？ 其速令還。」 家居二十余年卒。
Earlier, when the Jingdi Emperor changed the heir apparent, Jian wrote to Grand Secretary Chen Xun saying it should not be done. He also wrote: "Your Majesty ought to yield the throne to the Retired Emperor to uphold the greater moral obligation." Chen Xun was deeply alarmed. When the Yingzong Emperor was restored to the throne, Jian came to court and submitted a congratulatory memorial. The Emperor said: "Jian is old and ailing — why did he come so rashly? Send him back at once." He lived at home for more than twenty years before he died.
39
楊信民，名誠，以字行，浙江新昌人。 鄉舉入國學。 宣德時，除工科給事中。 母憂歸。 營葬土石必躬舁數百步，曰：「吾葬吾母而專役他人，吾不安也。」 服闋，改刑科。
Yang Xinmin, whose personal name was Cheng and who was known by his style, came from Xinchang in Zhejiang. Recommended from his district, he entered the Imperial Academy. During the Xuande reign he was appointed supervising secretary in the Ministry of Works. When his mother died he returned home to observe mourning. When preparing the burial he always personally carried earth and stone for several hundred paces, saying: "I am burying my own mother yet would leave all the labor to others — I could not rest easy." When his mourning ended he was transferred to the Penal Affairs section.
40
正統中，清軍江西，還奏民隱五事，多議行。 尋以王直薦，擢廣東左參議。 清操絕俗，嘗行田野，訪利弊為更置。 性剛負氣，按察使郭智不法，信民劾之下獄。 黃翰代智，信民復發其奸。 已，又劾僉事韋廣，廣遂訐信民，因與翰俱被逮。 軍民嘩然，詣闕下乞留信民。 詔復信民官，而翰、廣鞫實，除名。
During the Zhengtong reign he inspected army rolls in Jiangxi; on returning he memorialized five grievances of the people, and most were approved. Soon, on Wang Zhi's recommendation, he was promoted to left assistant administration commissioner of Guangdong. His integrity was beyond the common run; he often traveled the countryside, investigated local abuses, and reformed what needed changing. By nature he was stern and proud; when Surveillance Commissioner Guo Zhi broke the law, Xinmin impeached him and had him imprisoned. Huang Han replaced Guo Zhi, and Xinmin again exposed his misconduct. Later he also impeached Assistant Surveillance Commissioner Wei Guang; Guang then denounced Xinmin in turn, and both Huang Han and Xinmin were arrested. Soldiers and civilians erupted in uproar and went to the palace gate to beg that Xinmin be retained in office. An edict restored Xinmin to office, while Huang Han and Wei Guang were tried on the facts and dismissed.
41
景帝監國，于謙薦之，命守備白羊口。 會廣東賊黃蕭養圍廣州急，嶺南人乞信民，乃以為右僉都御史巡撫其地。 士民聞而相慶曰：「楊公來矣。」 時廣州被圍久，將士戰輒敗，禁民出入，樵采絕。 而鄉民避賊來者拒不納，多為賊所害，民益愁苦歸賊。 信民至，開城門，發倉廩，刻木鍥給民，得出入。 賊見木鍥曰：「此楊公所給也」，不敢傷。 避賊者悉收保，民若更生。 信民益厲甲兵，多方招撫，降者日至。 乃使使持檄入賊營，諭以恩信。 蕭養曰：「得楊公一言，死不恨。」 克日請見。 信民單車詣之，隔濠與語。 賊黨望見，歡曰：「果楊公也！」 爭羅拜，有泣下者。 賊以大魚獻，信民受之不疑。
When the Jingdi Emperor was regent, Yu Qian recommended him and he was ordered to garrison Baiyang Pass. Just then the Guangdong rebel Huang Xiaoyang was pressing the siege of Guangzhou hard; the people of Lingnan begged for Xinmin, and he was appointed right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of the region. Officials and commoners, hearing the news, congratulated one another: "Master Yang has come." Guangzhou had long been under siege; the garrison was defeated in every engagement; civilians were forbidden to enter or leave, and firewood gathering ceased entirely. Country folk fleeing the rebels were turned away at the gates, and many were killed by the bandits; the people grew ever more desperate and went over to the rebels. When Xinmin arrived he opened the city gates, released grain from the granaries, and issued carved wooden tallies so the people could come and go freely. When bandits saw the tallies they said, "These were issued by Master Yang," and did not dare harm the bearers. All who fled the rebels were taken in and protected, and the people seemed born anew. Xinmin further strengthened the garrison and sought in many ways to win people over; surrendering rebels arrived daily. He then sent an envoy bearing a proclamation into the rebel camp to offer clemency and good faith. Xiaoyang said: "To receive one word from Master Yang — I would die without regret." On a set day he requested a meeting. Xinmin went alone in a single cart to meet him and spoke with him across the moat. The rebel followers, seeing him from afar, rejoiced: "It truly is Master Yang!" They scrambled to bow before him, and some wept. The rebels presented a large fish as a gift; Xinmin accepted it without suspicion.
42
張驥，字仲德，安化人。 永樂中舉於鄉，入國學。 宣德初授御史。 出按江西，慮囚福建，有仁廉聲。
Zhang Ji, whose style was Zhongde, came from Anhua. During the Yongle reign he passed the provincial examination and entered the Imperial Academy. At the beginning of the Xuande reign he was appointed censor. He toured Jiangxi as investigating censor, reviewed prisoners in Fujian, and gained a reputation for benevolence and integrity.
43
正統八年，吏部尚書王直等應詔，博舉廷臣公廉有學行者，驥與焉。 遷大理右寺丞，巡撫山東。 先是，濟南設撫民官，專撫流民。 後反為民擾，驥奏罷之。 俗遇旱，輒伐新葬冢墓，殘其肢體，以為旱所由致，名曰「打旱骨樁」，以驥言禁絕。 還朝，進右少卿。 已，命巡視濟寧至淮、揚饑民。 驥立法捕蝗，停不急務，蠲逋發廩，民賴以濟。
In Zhengtong 8 (1443) Minister of Personnel Wang Zhi and others, responding to an imperial edict, broadly recommended upright, incorrupt, and cultivated court officials; Ji was among them. He was transferred to right assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and made grand coordinator of Shandong. Earlier Jinan had established officials to pacify the people, charged solely with settling displaced persons. Later the office itself became a burden on the people; Ji memorialized to abolish it. By custom, when drought struck people would dig up newly buried graves and mutilate the corpses, believing drought was thus caused — a practice called "beating drought bone stakes"; on Ji's recommendation it was forbidden. Returning to court, he was promoted to right vice minister. Later he was ordered to inspect famine victims from Jining to the Huai and Yang regions. Ji established laws for catching locusts, halted non-urgent tasks, remitted arrears and released granary grain, and the people were thereby saved.
44
十三年冬，巡撫浙江。 初，慶元人葉宗留與麗水陳鑒胡聚眾盜福建寶豐諸銀礦，已而群盜自相殺，遂為亂。 九年七月，福建參議竺淵往捕，被執死。 宗留僭稱王。 時福建鄧茂七亦聚眾反，勢甚張。 宗留、鑒胡附之，流剽浙江、江西、福建境上。 參議耿定，僉事王晟及都督僉事陳榮，指揮劉真，都指揮吳剛、龔禮，永豐知縣鄧颙，前後敗歿。 遂昌賊蘇牙、俞伯通剽蘭溪，又與相應，遠近震動。 驥至，遣金華知府石瑁擊斬牙等，撫定其余黨。 而鑒胡方以爭忿殺宗留，專其眾，自稱大王，國號太平，建元泰定。 偽署將帥，圍處州，分掠武義、松陽、龍泉、永康、義烏、東陽、浦江諸縣。 未幾，茂七死，鑒胡勢孤。 驥命麗水丞丁寧率老人王世昌等賫榜入賊巢招之，鑒胡遂偕其黨出降。 惟陶得二不就撫，殺使者，入山為亂如故。 時十四年四月也。 驥既招降鑒胡，而別賊蘇記養等掠金華，亦為官軍所獲，賊勢乃益衰。
In the winter of the thirteenth year he was made grand coordinator of Zhejiang. Initially Ye Zongliu of Qingyuan and Chen Jianhu of Lishui gathered bands to plunder the silver mines of Baofeng and elsewhere in Fujian; later the bandits turned on one another and the affair became open rebellion. In the seventh month of the ninth year Fujian Assistant Administration Commissioner Zhu Yuan went to capture them and was seized and killed. Zongliu presumptuously styled himself king. At the time Deng Maoqi of Fujian also raised a rebellion, and his power grew very great. Zongliu and Jianhu joined him and ranged in plunder across the borders of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian. Assistant Administration Commissioner Geng Ding, Assistant Surveillance Commissioner Wang Sheng, Vice Regional Commander Chen Rong, Commander Liu Zhen, Regional Commanders Wu Gang and Gong Li, and Yongfeng Magistrate Deng Yong were defeated and killed one after another. The Suichang bandits Su Ya and Yu Botong plundered Lanxi and joined the rising as well; the whole region was shaken. When Ji arrived he dispatched Jinhua Prefect Shi Mao to attack and behead Su Ya and the others, and pacified the remaining followers. Meanwhile Jianhu, in a quarrel, had just killed Zongliu and taken sole command of the band; he styled himself Great King, named his state Taiping, and adopted the reign title Taiding. He appointed his own generals and commanders, besieged Chuzhou, and sent detachments to plunder the counties of Wuyi, Songyang, Longquan, Yongkang, Yiwu, Dongyang, and Pujiang. Before long Maoqi died and Jianhu was left isolated. Ji ordered Lishui Assistant Magistrate Ding Ning to lead the elder Wang Shichang and others, bearing proclamations into the rebel stronghold to summon them; Jianhu then came out with his followers and surrendered. Only Tao De'er would not accept pacification; he killed the envoy and fled into the mountains to rebel as before. This was in the fourth month of the fourteenth year. After Ji had won Jianhu's surrender, other bandits such as Su Jiyang plundered Jinhua but were also captured by government troops, and rebel strength declined further.
45
其秋，景帝嗣位，召驥還，卒於道。 驥所至，鹹有建樹，山東、兩浙民久而思之。 鑒胡至京，帝宥不誅。 更遇赦，釋充留守衛軍。 也先入犯，鑒胡乘間亡，被獲，伏誅。
That autumn the Jingdi Emperor succeeded to the throne, recalled Ji, and Ji died on the road home. Wherever Ji went he achieved results; the people of Shandong and the two Zhes long remembered him. Jianhu reached the capital; the Emperor pardoned him and did not execute him. He later benefited from an amnesty and was released to serve as a garrison soldier at the capital. When Esen invaded, Jianhu seized an opening and fled; he was captured and executed.
46
竺淵，奉化人。 耿定，和州人。 王晟鄆城人。 鄧颙，樂昌人。 俱進士。 颙兵潰被執，不屈死。 詔為營葬。 淵等贈官，錄一子。
Zhu Yuan was a native of Fenghua. Geng Ding was a native of Hezhou. Wang Sheng was a native of Yuncheng. Deng Yong was a native of Lechang. All were jinshi. Yong's troops were routed; he was captured and died refusing to submit. An edict ordered that burial be arranged for him. Yuan and the others were posthumously granted office, and one son of each was enrolled in service.
47
馬謹，字守禮，新樂人。 宣德二年進士。 事父母孝，遭喪，親負土以葬。
Ma Jin, whose style was Shouli, came from Xinle. He became a jinshi in Xuande 2 (1427). He served his parents filially; when they died he personally carried earth for their burial.
48
正統中，以御史按浙江。 時修備倭海船，征材於嚴、衢諸郡。 謹恐軍士藉勢肆斬伐，請禁飭之，報可。 所至，貪猾屏跡。 疏振臺、處、寧、紹四府饑。 吏部驗封郎中缺人久，帝令推擇。 會謹九載滿，尚書郭琎薦謹廉直，遂用之。 十年薦擢湖廣右布政使。
During the Zhengtong reign he served as investigating censor in Zhejiang. At the time warships against Japanese pirates were being repaired and materials were levied from the prefectures of Yan and Qu. Jin feared soldiers would abuse their authority to cut timber recklessly; he requested that this be forbidden and disciplined, and the request was approved. Wherever he went, the greedy and cunning vanished from sight. He memorialized relief for famine in the four prefectures of Tai, Chu, Ning, and Shao. The post of director in the Ministry of Personnel's Credentials Verification Bureau had long gone unfilled; the Emperor ordered candidates to be selected. When Jin's nine-year term was complete, Minister Guo Jin recommended him as upright and incorrupt, and he was appointed. In the tenth year he was recommended and promoted to right administrative commissioner of Huguang.
49
正統末，湖南叛苗掠靖州。 命謹同御史侯爵撫諭，參將張善率兵繼之。 謹等至，招數千人復業，其出掠者擊敗之。 尋與善破淇溪諸寨。 景泰初，復與善大破臘婆諸洞。 已，同參將李震擊破青龍渡、馬楊山諸賊，追奔至雞心嶺，先後斬首千四百有奇。 師還，靖州賊復出掠，搗其巢，斬獲如前。 武岡、城溪諸賊結廣西蠻，據青肺山，復與震攻破之。 獲賊楊光拳等五百六十人，斬首倍之。 扶城諸寨，聞風款附。
At the end of the Zhengtong reign rebellious Miao in Hunan plundered Jingzhou. Jin was ordered, together with Censor Hou Jue, to pacify and instruct them; Assistant Regional Commander Zhang Shan led troops in support. When Jin and the others arrived they brought several thousand people back to their livelihoods and defeated those who went out raiding. Soon, together with Shan, he broke the stockades of Qixi and elsewhere. At the beginning of Jingtai he again joined Shan in a great defeat of the caves of Laba and elsewhere. Later, together with Assistant Regional Commander Li Zhen, he broke the bandits at Qinglong Ford, Mayang Mountain, and elsewhere, pursued the fleeing enemy to Jixin Ridge, and in all beheaded more than fourteen hundred. When the army returned, the Jingzhou bandits again came out to plunder; their nests were struck and heads and captives taken as before. The bandits of Wugang, Chengxi, and elsewhere joined with Guangxi tribesmen, held Qingfei Mountain, and were again broken by Jin together with Li Zhen. They captured five hundred sixty bandits including Yang Guangquan and beheaded twice that number. The stockades of Fucheng and elsewhere, hearing the news, came over in submission.
50
謹出入行間三歲，沖冒鋒鏑，與諸將同，而運籌轉餉功尤多。 轉左布政使。 錄功，進秩一等。 六年五月，遷右副都御史，仍支二品俸。 巡撫河南，撫流民三萬一千余戶。 天順初，廢巡撫官，謹亦罷歸，久之卒。
Jin went in and out among the ranks for three years, braving arrows and blades together with the generals, yet his achievements in planning and moving supplies were especially great. He was transferred to left administrative commissioner. In recognition of his merit, his rank was raised one grade. In the fifth month of the sixth year he was made right vice censor-in-chief, while continuing to receive a second-rank salary. Serving as grand coordinator of Henan, he resettled more than thirty-one thousand refugee households. Early in the Tianshun reign the grand coordinator posts were abolished; Jin was dismissed and sent home, and died some time later.
51
謹性廉介，楊士奇嘗稱為「冰霜鐵石」。
Jin was by nature incorruptible and upright; Yang Shiqi once called him "frost, ice, iron, and stone."
52
程信，字彥實，其先休寧人。 洪武中戍河間，因家焉。 信舉正統七年進士，授吏科給事中。
Cheng Xin, style name Yanshi, came from a family originally of Xiuning. During the Hongwu reign he was posted to garrison duty at Hejian, and his family made its home there. Cheng Xin passed the jinshi examination in Zhengtong 7 and was appointed a supervising secretary in the Ministry of Personnel section of the Secretariat.
53
景帝即位，薦起薛瑄等三人。 也先犯京師，信督軍守西城，上言五事。 都督孫鏜擊也先失利，欲入城，信不納，督軍從城上發箭炮助之。 鏜戰益力，也先遂卻。
When Emperor Jing took the throne, he recommended that Xue Xuan and two others be recalled to office. When Esen attacked the capital, Cheng Xin directed troops defending the western wall and submitted five recommendations to the throne. Regional Commander Sun Tang had been beaten in his attack on Esen and tried to re-enter the city; Cheng Xin refused him entry but directed troops on the wall to rain arrows and cannon fire in support. Sun Tang redoubled his fighting, and Esen eventually withdrew.
54
景泰元年請振畿輔饑民，復河間學官、生徒因用兵罷遣者，皆報可。 進左給事中。 以天變上中興固本十事。 其言敬天，則請帝敦孝友之實以答天心。 帝嘉納之。
In Jingtai 1 he requested famine relief for the metropolitan districts and the restoration of Hejian's school officials and students who had been dismissed for war service; all was approved. He was promoted to left supervising secretary. Citing heaven-sent omens, he submitted ten proposals for reviving the dynasty and strengthening its foundations. On revering Heaven, he urged the Emperor to embody true filial piety and fraternity in order to answer Heaven's will. The Emperor praised and accepted his recommendations.
55
明年二月出為山東右參政，督餉遼東。 巡撫寇深奏盜糧一石以上者死，又置新斛視舊加大，屬信鉤考。 信立碎之，曰：「奈何納人於死！」 深由是不悅信。 尋以憂去，服闋，起四川參政。 理松潘餉，偕侍郎羅綺破黑虎諸寨。
In the second month of the following year he was posted as right vice administrator of Shandong to supervise grain supplies for Liaodong. Grand Coordinator Kou Shen proposed the death penalty for anyone who stole a shi of grain or more, and had new grain measures made larger than the old standard; Cheng Xin was ordered to investigate. Cheng Xin immediately smashed them, saying, "How can you send people to their deaths!" From then on Kou Shen bore a grudge against Cheng Xin. He soon left office to mourn; when his mourning ended he was recalled as vice administrator of Sichuan. He managed grain supplies for Songpan and, together with Vice Minister Luo Qi, captured the Heihu stockades and others.
56
明年，改左僉都御史，巡撫遼東。 都指揮夏霖恣不法，僉事胡鼎發其四十罪，信以聞，下霖錦衣獄。 門達言信不當代奏，帝責令陳狀。 時寇深方掌都察院，修前郤，劾信。 征下詔獄，降南京太仆少卿。 五年召為刑部右侍郎。 母憂歸。
The following year he became left assistant censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Liaodong. Regional Commander Xia Lin ran riot with impunity; Commissioner Hu Ding laid bare forty crimes he had committed; Cheng Xin reported the matter, and Xia Lin was sent to the Embroidered-Uniform Prison. Men Da argued that Cheng Xin should not have submitted the memorial on another's behalf; the Emperor rebuked him and ordered him to explain his conduct. Kou Shen was then head of the Censorate; he settled an old score and impeached Cheng Xin. He was summoned, imprisoned in the imperial prison, and demoted to vice minister of the Nanjing Imperial Stud. In the fifth year he was recalled as right vice minister of Justice. He returned home to mourn his mother.
57
成化元年起兵部，尋轉左。 四川戎縣山都掌蠻數叛，陷合江等九縣。 廷議發大軍討之。 以襄城伯李瑾充總兵官，太監劉恒為監督，進信尚書，提督軍務。 至永寧，分道進。 都督芮成由戎縣； 巡撫貴州都御史陳宜、參將吳經由芒部； 都指揮崔旻由普市冰腦； 南寧伯毛榮由李子關； 巡撫四川都御史汪浩、參將宰用由渡船鋪； 左右遊擊將軍羅秉忠、穆義由金鵝池； 而信與瑾居中節制。 轉戰六日，破龍背、豹尾諸寨七百五十余。 明年至大壩，焚寨千四百五十。 前後斬首四千五百有奇，俘獲無算。 按諸九姓不奉化者遷瀘州衛，於渡船鋪增置關堡。 改大壩為太平川長官司，分山都掌地，設官建治控制之。 帝降璽書嘉勞。 錄功，進兼大理寺卿，與白圭同蒞兵部。 言官劾信上首功不實。 信四疏乞休，不許。 信欲有為，而阻於圭，不自得，數稱疾。
In Chenghua 1 he was appointed to the Ministry of War, and soon became left vice minister. The Shanduzhang Miao of Rong County in Sichuan rose repeatedly, overrunning Hejiang and eight other counties. The court debated sending a large army to suppress them. Li Jin, Baron of Xiangcheng, was made supreme commander; the eunuch Liu Heng served as supervisor; Cheng Xin was promoted to minister and placed in overall command of military affairs. Reaching Yongning, they advanced along separate routes. Regional Commander Rui Cheng by way of Rong County; Grand Coordinator and Censor-in-Chief of Guizhou Chen Yi and regional vice commander Wu Jing by way of Mangbu; Regional Commander Cui Min by way of Pushi Bingnao; Mao Rong, Baron of Nanning, by way of Lizi Pass; Grand Coordinator and Censor-in-Chief of Sichuan Wang Hao and regional vice commander Zai Yong by way of Duchuanpu; The left and right mobile-detachment generals Luo Bingzhong and Mu Yi by way of Jine Chi; While Cheng Xin and Li Jin held the center and directed operations. After six days of continuous fighting they took more than seven hundred fifty stockades, including Longbei and Baowei. The following year they reached Daba and burned one thousand four hundred fifty stockades. In all they took more than four thousand five hundred heads, while captives and booty were beyond reckoning. Those among the nine surname groups who would not submit were relocated to Luzhou Guard, and new passes and forts were established at Duchuanpu. Daba was reorganized as the Taipingchuan native chieftaincy; Shanduzhang lands were partitioned, officials appointed, and permanent administration established to keep control. The Emperor issued an imperial commendation bearing the imperial seal. In recognition of his merit he was promoted and concurrently appointed chief minister of the Court of Judicial Review; he and Bai Gui jointly directed the Ministry of War. Censorial officials impeached Cheng Xin for inflating the head count in his victory report. Cheng Xin four times asked to retire; each time the request was denied. Cheng Xin wished to accomplish things, but Bai Gui stood in his way; frustrated, he repeatedly claimed illness.
58
六年春旱，應詔言兵事宜更張者四，兵弊宜申理者五。 大略言：延綏、兩廣歲遭劫掠，宜擇大臣總制； 四方流民多聚荊、襄，宜早區畫； 京軍操練無法，功次升賞未當。 語多侵圭。 圭奏寢之。 改南京兵部，參贊機務。 明年致仕，逾年卒。 贈太子少保，謚襄毅。
During the spring drought of the sixth year, answering an imperial edict, he set forth four military reforms that were needed and five abuses that ought to be cleared up. In general he argued that Yan-Sui and the two Guang provinces suffered raids every year, and that senior ministers ought to be chosen to take overall command; refugees from all quarters had gathered heavily in Jing and Xiang, and ought early to be organized and settled; metropolitan troops were drilled without proper method, and promotions and rewards by merit roll were improper. Much of what he said cut at Bai Gui. Bai Gui memorialized the throne and had the proposals shelved. He was transferred to the Nanjing Ministry of War to assist in deliberations on state affairs. The following year he retired from office; he died a year later. He was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous name Xiangyi.
59
信有才力，識大體。 征南蠻時，制許便宜從事。 迄班師，未嘗擅賞、戮一人。 曰：「刑賞，人主大柄也，不得已而假之人。 幸而事集，輒自專，非人臣所宜。」 在南京，守備臣欲預錢谷訟獄事，信曰：「守備重臣，所以謹非常也。 若此，乃有司職耳。」 論者韙之。 子敏政，見《文苑傳》。
Cheng Xin was capable and understood the larger principles of governance. On the southern campaign he was authorized to act at discretion as circumstances required. Until the army returned he never on his own authority rewarded or executed anyone. He said, "Punishment and reward are the great prerogatives of the ruler; only when unavoidable are they delegated to others. If matters fortunately succeed and one then acts on one's own authority, that is not what a minister should do." In Nanjing the defense commandant wished to intervene in revenue, grain, lawsuits, and punishments; Cheng Xin said, "The defense commandant is a weighty official whose purpose is to guard against the unexpected. Affairs such as these are simply the duties of regular officials." Commentators praised his stand. His son Minzheng is biographied in the Treatise on Men of Letters.
60
白圭，字宗玉，南宮人。 正統七年進士。 除御史，監朱勇軍，討兀良哈有功。 巡按山西，辨疑獄百余。 從車駕北征，陷土木。 脫還，景帝命往澤州募兵。 尋遷陜西按察副使，擢浙江右布政使。 福建賊鄭懷冒流剽處州，協諸將平之。
Bai Gui, style name Zongyu, was a native of Nangong. He passed the jinshi examination in Zhengtong 7. Appointed censor, he oversaw Zhu Yong's army in the campaign against Wuliangha and distinguished himself. On an inspection tour of Shanxi he cleared more than a hundred doubtful cases. He accompanied the emperor on the northern expedition and was caught in the disaster at Tumu. After he escaped and returned, Emperor Jing ordered him to Zezhou to raise troops. He was soon made vice commissioner of the Shaanxi surveillance commission, then promoted to right administrative commissioner of Zhejiang. The Fujian bandit Zheng Huai, posing as a refugee, raided Chuzhou; Bai Gui coordinated the generals and suppressed him.
61
天順二年，貴州東苗幹把豬等僭號，攻劫都勻諸處。 詔進右副都御史，贊南和侯方瑛軍往討。 圭以谷種諸夷為東苗羽翼，先剿破百四十七寨。 遂會兵青崖，復破四百七十余寨，乘勝攻六美山。 幹把豬就擒，諸苗震詟。 湖廣災，就命圭巡撫。
In Tianshun 2, Gan Baizhu and others of the Eastern Miao in Guizhou declared themselves kings and raided the Duyun region. An edict promoted him to right vice censor-in-chief to assist Fang Ying, Marquis of Nanhe, in leading troops against them. Bai Gui regarded the Guzhong tribes and others as allies of the Eastern Miao and first destroyed one hundred forty-seven stockades. He then united his forces at Qingya, took another four hundred seventy-odd stockades, and pressed the attack on Mount Liumei. Gan Baizhu was captured, and the Miao bands were stricken with fear. When Huguang was stricken by disaster, he was appointed on the spot as grand coordinator.
62
四年召為兵部右侍郎。 明年，孛來寇莊浪。 圭與都御史王竑贊都督馮宗軍務，分兵巡邊。 圭敗之固原州。 七年進工部尚書。
In the fourth year he was recalled as right vice minister of War. The following year Bo Lai raided Zhuanglang. Bai Gui and Censor-in-Chief Wang Hong assisted Regional Commander Feng Zong in military affairs, dividing forces to patrol the frontier. Bai Gui defeated him at Guyuan. In the seventh year he was promoted to minister of Works.
63
成化元年，荊、襄賊劉千斤等作亂。 敕撫寧伯朱永為總兵官，都督喜信、鮑政為左右參將，中官唐慎、林貴奉監之，而以圭提督軍務，發京軍及諸道兵會討。
In Chenghua 1, Liu Qianjin and other rebels rose in Jing and Xiang. An edict made Zhu Yong, Baron of Funing, supreme commander; Xi Xin and Bao Zheng regional commanders as his lieutenants; eunuchs Tang Shen and Lin Gui supervisors; and Bai Gui overall director of military affairs, with metropolitan troops and regional forces converging for the campaign.
64
千斤，名通，河南西華人。 縣門石狻猊重千斤，通只手舉之，因以為號。 正統中，流民聚荊、襄間，通竄入為妖言，潛謀倡亂。 石龍者，號石和尚，聚眾剽掠。 通與共起兵，偽稱漢王，建元德勝，流民從者四萬人。 圭等至南漳，賊迎戰，敗之，乘勝逼其巢。 通奔壽陽，謀走陜西。 圭遣兵扼其道，通乃退保大市，與苗龍合。 官軍又破之雁坪，斬通子聰及其黨苗虎等。 賊退保後巖山，據險下木石如雨。 諸軍四面攻，圭往來督戰，士皆蟻附登。 賊大敗。 擒通及其眾三千五百余人，獲賊子女萬一千有奇，焚其廬舍，夷險阻而還。 石龍與其黨劉長子等逸去，轉掠四川，連陷巫山、大昌。 圭等分兵蹙之，長子縛龍以降，余寇悉平。 錄功，加圭太子少保，增俸一級。 遭父憂，葬畢，視事。
Qianjin—personal name Tong—was from Xihua in Henan. A stone suanni lion at the county gate weighed a thousand jin; Tong lifted it one-handed and took that as his nickname. During the Zhengtong reign refugees gathered in Jing and Xiang; Tong hid among them spreading seditious talk and secretly plotted rebellion. A man called Shi Long, known as the Stone Monk, gathered followers and raided the countryside. Tong joined him in revolt, proclaimed himself King of Han, adopted the era name Desheng, and drew forty thousand refugees to his banner. When Bai Gui's force reached Nanzhang the rebels came out to fight; he defeated them and pressed on toward their stronghold. Tong fled to Shouyang and planned to escape west into Shaanxi. Bai Gui sent troops to cut off his route; Tong withdrew to Dashi and joined forces with Miao Long. The government troops defeated them again at Yanping, beheading Tong's son Cong along with Miao Hu and other partisans. The rebels fell back to Houyan Mountain, held the heights, and hurled timber and stones down like a storm. The armies assaulted from every side. Bai Gui rode the lines urging them on, and his men swarmed up the slopes like ants. The rebels were routed. They took Tong and more than thirty-five hundred of his men, captured over eleven thousand women and children, burned the rebel camps, cleared the mountain strongholds, and withdrew. Shi Long and his lieutenant Liu Changzi got away, swung into Sichuan, and took Wushan and Dachang in quick succession. Bai Gui split his forces to harry them. Liu Changzi bound Shi Long and submitted, and the remaining rebels were wiped out. When the honors were tallied, Bai Gui was made Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince and given a raise of one grade. After his father's death he observed mourning, and once the funeral rites were done he returned to duty.
65
三年改兵部尚書，兼督十二團營。 六年，阿羅出等駐牧河套，陜西數被寇。 圭言鎮巡官偷肆宜治。 延綏巡撫王銳、鎮守太監秦剛、總兵官房能俱獲罪去。 圭乃議大舉搜河套，發京兵及他鎮兵十萬屯延綏。 而以輸餉責河南、山西、陜西民，不給，則預征明年賦。 於是內地騷然。 而前後所遣三大將朱永、趙輔、劉聚，皆畏怯不任戰，卒以無功。 十年卒官，年五十六。 贈少傅，謚恭敏。
In the third year he became Minister of War and was put in charge of the Twelve Corps as well. In the sixth year Aluo Chu and his Mongols settled in the Ordos, and Shaanxi suffered raid after raid. Bai Gui argued that the frontier commanders' negligence deserved punishment. Wang Rui, grand coordinator of Yansui; Qin Gang, the garrison eunuch; and Fang Neng, supreme commander—all were dismissed for their offenses. Bai Gui then proposed a full-scale campaign to drive the Mongols from the Ordos, mustering a hundred thousand metropolitan and regional troops at Yansui. Supplying the army fell to the people of Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi; those who could not meet the demand had next year's taxes collected ahead of time. The heartland was thrown into turmoil. The three commanders dispatched in turn—Zhu Yong, Zhao Fu, and Liu Ju—proved too timid for combat, and the campaign ended in failure. He died in office in the tenth year, aged fifty-six. He was posthumously made Junior Mentor and given the posthumous name Gongmin, "Reverent and Keen."
66
圭性簡重，公退即閉閣臥，請謁皆不得通。 在貴州時，有憤中官虐而欲刺之者，誤入圭所。 圭擁衾問之，其人驚曰：「乃吾公耶？」 即自刎，不殊，仆於地。 圭呼燭起視，傅以善藥，遣之。 人服其量。
Bai Gui was austere and reserved. After office hours he shut himself in and would see no one. Once in Guizhou, a man enraged by eunuch abuses came to assassinate one of them and blundered into Bai Gui's quarters instead. Bai Gui sat up under his covers and questioned him. The man cried out in alarm, "You are my lord? Then he slashed his own throat. The wound was not fatal, and he collapsed on the floor. Bai Gui had a lamp brought, tended the wound with medicine, and let him go. All admired his forbearance.
67
次子鉞，字秉德。 進士及第，授編修。 累官太子少保，禮部尚書。 習典故，以詞翰稱。 卒，贈太子太保，謚文裕。
His second son, Yue, styled Bingde. He passed the jinshi examination and was made a Hanlin compiler. He rose to Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince and Minister of Rites. Well versed in institutional precedent, he was known for his literary skill. At his death he was posthumously made Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince and given the posthumous name Wenyu, "Cultured and Generous."
68
張瓚，字宗器，孝感人。 正統十三年進士。 授工部主事，遷郎中，歷知太原、寧波二府，有善政。
Zhang Zan, styled Zongqi, was from Xiaogan. He passed the jinshi examination in Zhengtong 13 (1448). He served as a secretary in the Ministry of Works, rose to director, and governed Taiyuan and Ningbo with a record of sound administration.
69
成化初，市舶中官福住貪恣，瓚禁戢其下。 住誣瓚於朝，瓚遂列住罪。 住被責，其黨多抵法。 大臣會薦，遷廣東參政，轉浙江左布政使。
Early in the Chenghua reign the maritime-trade eunuch Fuzhu ran riot with greed; Zhang Zan reined in his men. Fuzhu denounced Zhang Zan at court, and Zhang Zan answered by laying out Fuzhu's offenses. Fuzhu was censured, and many of his associates were punished by law. Recommended by senior ministers, he became administrative commissioner of Guangdong and then Left Provincial Administration Commissioner of Zhejiang.
70
十年冬，以右副都御史巡撫四川。 播州致仕宣慰楊輝言，所屬夭壩幹、灣溪諸寨及重安長官司為生苗竊據，請王師進討。 詔瓚諭還侵地，不服則征之。 瓚率兵討定，請設安寧宣撫司，即授輝子友為宣撫以鎮。 詔可，賜敕獎勞。 以母老乞歸，母已卒。
In the winter of the tenth year he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Sichuan. Yang Hui, the retired Pacification Commissioner of Bozhou, reported that Yaobagan, Wanxi, and other stockades under his jurisdiction, along with the Chong'an chief's domain, had been seized by unsubjugated Miao tribes, and asked for an imperial expedition. The court ordered Zhang Zan to demand the return of the seized territory and to attack if they refused. Zhang Zan led troops to pacify the region, proposed creating the Anning Pacification Commission, and installed Yang Hui's son You as its commissioner. The court approved and sent an edict of commendation. He asked to retire to care for his aged mother—only to learn she had already died.
71
會松、茂番寇邊，詔起復視事。 先是，僉事林璧言：「松茂曩為大鎮。 都御史寇深、侍郎羅綺嘗假便宜，專制其地，故有功。 今惟設兩參將，以副使居中調度。 事權輕，臨敵稟令制府，千里請戰，謀泄機緩，未有能獲利者。 宜別置重臣彈壓，或即命瓚兼領，專其責成。」 十二年七月命瓚兼督松茂、安綿、建昌軍務。 瓚至軍，審度形勢，改大壩舊設副使於安綿，而令副總兵堯彧軍松潘，參將孫暠軍威、疊，為夾攻計。 乘間修河西舊路，作浮梁，治月城。 避偏橋棧道，軍獲安行，轉餉無阻。 十四年六月攻白草壩、西坡、禪定數大寨，斬獲亡算。 徇茂州、疊溪，所過降附。 抵曲山三寨，攻破之，再討平白草壩余寇。 先後破滅五十二寨，賊魁撒哈等皆殲。 他一百五寨悉獻馬納款，諸番盡平。 留兵戍要害，增置墩堡，乃班師。 帝嘉其功，征拜戶部左侍郎，辭歸終制。
When Song and Mao tribes raided the border, the court recalled him from mourning. Earlier, Assistant Surveillance Commissioner Lin Bi had argued, "Song and Mao were once a major command. Censor-in-Chief Kou Shen and Vice Minister Luo Qi once held discretionary power over the region and won victories because of it. Now there are only two regional commanders, with an assistant commissioner mediating between them. Their authority is too weak: in battle they must petition provincial headquarters a thousand li away for permission to fight. Plans leak, momentum is lost, and no one has profited. A senior official should be posted with full authority, or Zhang Zan should be given concurrent command and held solely accountable. In the seventh month of the twelfth year Zhang Zan was put in charge of military affairs in Song-Mao, Anmian, and Jianchang. On reaching the front Zhang Zan studied the terrain, shifted the assistant commissioner formerly at Daba to Anmian, stationed Vice Commander Yao Yu at Songpan and Regional Commander Sun Gao at Wei and Die, and laid plans for a pincer assault. When opportunity allowed he reopened the old west-bank route, built a pontoon bridge, and repaired Moon Fort. By bypassing the treacherous Pianqiao plank road, troops marched safely and supplies moved without hindrance. In the sixth month of the fourteenth year he stormed the great stockades at Baicao Dam, Xipo, and Chanding, with kills and captures beyond numbering. He swept through Maozhou and Diexi, and every place he passed submitted. He took the three Qushan stockades by storm, then returned to mop up the remaining rebels at Baicao Dam. In all he destroyed fifty-two stockades and wiped out the rebel leaders, including Sahha. Another hundred and fifty stockades offered horses in submission, and every tribe was pacified. He left garrisons at key points, built new watchtowers and forts, and marched home. The emperor commended his achievement and summoned him as Left Vice Minister of Revenue, but he declined and went home to finish mourning.
72
十五年起左副都御史，總督漕運，兼巡撫江北諸府。 十八年，歲大祲，疏請振濟。 發銀五萬兩，復敕瓚移淮安倉糧分振，而瓚已卒。
In the fifteenth year he was recalled as Left Vice Censor-in-Chief, put in charge of Grand Canal transport, and made grand coordinator of the Jiangbei prefectures. In the eighteenth year, amid severe famine, he memorialized for relief grain. The court released fifty thousand taels of silver and ordered Zhang Zan to distribute grain from the Huai'an granaries—but he had already died.
73
瓚功名著西蜀。 其後撫蜀者如謝士元輩，雖有名，不及瓚。 惟夭壩幹之役，或言楊輝溺愛庶長子友，欲官之，詐言生苗為亂，瓚信而興師，其功不無矯飾雲。
Zhang Zan's reputation in western Sichuan was unmatched. Later governors of Sichuan, men like Xie Shiyuan, enjoyed reputations of their own but never matched Zhang Zan. Only the Yaobagan campaign drew criticism: some said Yang Hui, doting on his eldest son by a concubine, You, wanted an office for him and fabricated a Miao rebellion. Zhang Zan believed him and marched—and the victory was not without a touch of stagecraft.
74
謝士元，字仲仁，長樂人。 景泰五年進士。 授戶部主事。 督通州倉，陳四弊，屢與監倉宦官忤。 天順七年擢建昌知府。 地多盜，為軍將所庇。 士元以他事持軍將，奸發輒得。 民懷券訟田宅，士元叱曰：「偽也，券今式，而所訟乃二十年事。」 民驚服，訟為衰止。 考滿，進從三品俸，治府事如故，以憂去。
Xie Shiyuan, styled Zhongren, was from Changle. He passed the jinshi examination in Jingtai 5 (1454). He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. While supervising the Tongzhou granaries he exposed four abuses and repeatedly crossed the eunuchs who ran them. In Tianshun 7 (1463) he was promoted to prefect of Jianchang. Banditry was rife, shielded by local commanders. Xie Shiyuan seized on other offenses to hold the commanders to account, and wrongdoing turned up at every turn. When a man produced a deed to sue over land, Xie Shiyuan snapped, "This is a forgery. Deeds now follow the current format, yet your claim concerns events twenty years past. The man was astonished into silence, and litigation dwindled away. At the end of his term he was given junior third-rank pay while continuing to govern; he later left office to mourn.
75
服闋，起知廣信。 永豐有銀礦，處州民盜發之，聚數千人。 將士憚其驍廣，不敢剿。 士元勒兵趨之，賊遮刺士元，傷左股。 裹創力戰，獲其魁，塞礦穴而還。 入覲，改永平。 遭喪不赴。
When mourning ended he was recalled as prefect of Guangxin. At Yongfeng a silver mine drew thousands of illicit miners from Chuzhou. The troops feared their numbers and ferocity and would not move against them. Xie Shiyuan led troops against them; the miners ambushed him and wounded his left thigh. He bandaged the wound and fought on, took the ringleader, sealed the mine shafts, and withdrew. After an audience at court he was transferred to Yongping. Bereavement kept him from taking up the post.
76
服闋，擢四川右參政，進右布政使。 弘治元年就擢右副都御史，巡撫其地。 土番大小姓者，將煽亂，士元托行邊，馳詣其地。 賊恐，羅拜道左，徐慰遣之。 歲大祲，流民趨就食。 士元振恤有方，全活者數萬。 明年，坐事下獄。 事白，遂致仕。
When mourning ended he was made Right Administrative Commissioner of Sichuan and then Right Provincial Administration Commissioner. In Hongzhi 1 (1488) he was promptly made Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Sichuan. The Da and Xiao Yi clans were on the verge of revolt. Xie Shiyuan rode to their territory under the pretext of a frontier tour. Terrified, they lined the road to pay homage; he reassured them and sent them home. In a year of severe famine refugees streamed in seeking food. Xie Shiyuan organized relief effectively and saved tens of thousands of lives. The following year he was jailed on a charge. When the case was cleared he retired from office.
77
孔鏞，字韶文，長洲人。 景泰五年進士。 知都昌縣，分戶九等以定役，設倉水次，便收斂，民甚賴之。 以弟銘尚寧府郡主，改知連山。 瑤、僮出沒鄰境，縣民悉竄。 鏞往招之，民驚走。 鏞炊飯民舍，留錢償其直以去。 民乃漸知親鏞，相率還。 鏞慰勞振恤，俾復故業，教以戰守。 道路漸通，縣治遂復。 都御史葉盛征廣西，以鏞從。 諸將妄殺者，鏞輒力爭，所全活甚眾。
Kong Yong, styled Shaowen, was from Changzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in Jingtai 5 (1454). As magistrate of Duchang he ranked households in nine grades to fix corvée labor, set up riverside granaries to ease tax collection, and the people benefited greatly. When his younger brother Ming married a princess of the Ning fief, he was transferred to magistrate of Lianshan. Yao and Zhuang raiders struck the neighboring districts, and the county's people fled en masse. Kong Yong went to summon them back, but the people ran in fear. He cooked a meal in a villager's home, left money to pay for it, and went on. Gradually the people came to trust him and returned in groups. Kong Yong comforted them, gave relief, helped them resume their livelihoods, and trained them in defense. Roads reopened one by one, and the county seat was restored. When Censor-in-Chief Ye Sheng led a campaign in Guangxi, Kong Yong accompanied him. Whenever generals killed indiscriminately, Yong argued against it and saved a great many lives.
78
成化元年，用葉盛等薦，擢高州試知府。 前知府劉海以瑤警，閉城門自護。 鄉民避瑤至者輒不納，還為瑤所戕。 又疑民陰附賊，輒戮之。 賊緣是激眾怒，為內應，城遂陷。 鏞至，開門納來者，流亡日歸。 城不能容，別築城東北居之。 附郭多暴骸，民以疫死，復為義冢瘞焉。
In Chenghua 1 (1465), on the recommendation of Ye Sheng and others, he was appointed acting prefect of Gaozhou. The previous prefect, Liu Hai, had shut the city gates to protect himself when Yao raiders threatened. When villagers fleeing the Yao reached the gates he refused them entry, and they were killed by the raiders instead. He also suspected civilians of secretly aiding the rebels and had them executed. The rebels exploited this to incite popular anger, found inside help, and the city fell. When Kong Yong arrived he opened the gates to refugees, and exiles returned day by day. The city could not hold everyone, so he built a new settlement northeast of the wall. Unburied corpses lay outside the suburbs where plague had killed many; he had charity tombs built to bury them.
79
時賊屯境內者凡十余部，而其魁馮曉屯化州，鄧公長屯茅峒，屢招不就。 鏞一日單騎從二人直抵茅峒。 峒去城十里許，道遇賊徒，令還告曰：「我新太守也。」 公長驟聞新守至，亟呼其黨擐甲迎。 及見鏞坦易無騶從，氣大沮。 鏞徐下馬，入坐庭中，公長率其徒馳甲羅拜。 鏞諭曰：「汝曹故良民，迫凍餒耳。 前守欲兵汝，吾今奉命為汝父母。 汝，我子也。 信我，則送我歸，賚汝粟帛。 不信，則殺我，即大軍至，無遺種矣。」 公長猶豫，其黨皆感悟泣下。 鏞曰：「餒矣，當食我。」 公長為跪上酒饌。 既食，曰：「日且暮，當止宿。」 夜解衣酣寢。 賊相顧駭服。 再宿而返。 見道旁裸而懸樹上者累累，詢之，皆諸生也，命盡釋之。 公長遣數十騎擁還，城中人望見，皆大驚，謂知府被執，來紿降也，盡登陴。 鏞止騎城外，獨與羸卒入，取谷帛，使載歸。 公長益感激，遂焚其巢，率黨數千人來降。
More than ten rebel bands were camped within the prefecture. Their leaders, Feng Xiao at Huazhou and Deng Gongchang at Maodong, had been summoned repeatedly without submitting. One day Kong Yong rode alone to Maodong with only two companions. Maodong lay about ten li from the city. On the road he met bandits and sent them back with word: "Tell your chief—the new prefect has come. Deng Gongchang heard the new prefect had arrived and hurriedly summoned his men, fully armed, to meet him. When he saw Kong Yong plain and unarmed, with no mounted escort, his fighting spirit collapsed. Kong Yong dismounted slowly, walked into the courtyard, and sat down. Gongchang led his armored followers to surround him and kowtow in a ring. Kong Yong addressed them: "You were once law-abiding people, driven to this by hunger and cold. The last prefect meant to use force against you; I am ordered to be a father and mother to you. You are my children. Trust me, escort me home, and I will give you grain and cloth. If you do not trust me, kill me—but then the army will come and leave no one alive. Gongchang wavered; his followers were moved to tears. Kong Yong said: "I'm hungry. You should feed me. Gongchang knelt and served him wine and food. After the meal he said: "It's getting late. I should stay the night. That night he undressed and slept soundly. The bandits exchanged looks, stunned and subdued. He stayed two nights, then returned. Along the road he saw many naked bodies hung from trees—all scholars, he learned—and ordered them cut down and freed. Gongchang sent dozens of horsemen to escort him back. Those on the walls saw them and panicked, thinking the prefect had been captured and this was a ruse to draw them out; they manned the ramparts. Kong Yong left the cavalry outside, entered with a small escort, loaded grain and cloth, and sent it back with them. Gongchang was deeply moved, burned his stronghold, and led several thousand followers to surrender.
80
公長既降，諸賊次第納款，惟曉恃險不服。 鏞選壯士二百人，乘夜抵化州。 曉倉皇走匿，獲其妻子以歸，撫恤甚厚，曉亦以五百人降。 已，與僉事陶魯敗賊廖婆保。 他賊先後來犯，多敗去。 境內大定。 上官交薦，擢按察副使，分巡高、雷二府。 益招劇賊染定、侯大六、鄧辛酉等，給田產，分處內地為官，備他盜。 廣西賊犯信宜、岑溪，皆擊敗之。 治績聞，賜誥命旌異。 遭喪，服除，改廣西。 瑤、僮聞鏞至，悉遠循。
After Gongchang submitted, other bands surrendered in turn; only Feng Xiao, safe in rough terrain, refused. Kong Yong picked two hundred stalwart men and reached Huazhou by night. Feng Xiao fled in panic. Kong Yong took his wife and children, treated them kindly, and Xiao surrendered with five hundred followers. He and Assistant Commissioner Tao Lu then defeated the rebel Liaopobao. Other rebels attacked in succession and were mostly beaten back. The prefecture was largely pacified. His superiors recommended him repeatedly; he was promoted to Assistant Surveillance Commissioner with jurisdiction over Gaozhou and Leizhou. He recruited more hardened rebels—Ran Ding, Hou Dalu, Deng Xinyou, and others—granted them land, resettled them inland as local officials, and used them against other bandits. When Guangxi rebels raided Xinyi and Cenxi he defeated them all. His record reached the throne; he received an imperial commendation and special honors. After a bereavement and the end of mourning he was transferred to Guangxi. At word that Kong Yong had arrived, Yao and Zhuang raiders fled the region.
81
十四年，兵部上其功，賚銀幣，尋進按察使。 荔浦賊來寇，總督朱英以兵屬鏞，擊平之，進食二品祿。
In year fourteen the Ministry of War reported his achievements; he received silver and silk rewards and was soon promoted to Surveillance Commissioner. When Lipu rebels raided, Governor Zhu Ying put troops under Kong Yong, who crushed them and was granted second-rank stipend.
82
已，遷左布政使。 旋以右副都御史巡撫貴州。 清平部苗阿溪者，桀驁多智。 其養子阿賴尤有力，橫行諸部中，守臣皆納溪賂，驕不可制。 鏞行部至清平，詢得溪所昵者二人。 遂以計擒溪，磔之，並討平雞背苗，郡蠻震懾。
He was later transferred to Left Administrative Commissioner. He was soon appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Guizhou. Axi, a Miao chieftain of the Qingping region, was fierce, proud, and cunning. His adopted son Alai was especially strong and terrorized neighboring tribes. Local officials took Axi's bribes; he was too proud to control. On an inspection tour to Qingping, Kong Yong learned who Axi's two closest confidants were. By stratagem he captured Axi and executed him by dismemberment, crushed the Jibeimiao as well, and the tribes of the region were shaken into submission.
83
鏞居官廉。 歷仕三十余年，皆在邊陲，觸瘴成疾。 乞骸骨，不許。 弘治二年召為工部右侍郎，道卒，年六十三。
Kong Yong served with integrity. For more than thirty years he served on the frontier, contracted miasmal illness, and fell gravely ill. He petitioned to retire but was refused. In Hongzhi 2 (1489) he was summoned as Right Vice Minister of Works but died on the journey at sixty-three.
84
平樂李時敏者，為信宜知縣。 嘗與鏞共平瑤亂，有功，遷知化州。 粵人以孔李並稱。
Li Shimin of Pingle was magistrate of Xinyi. He had helped Kong Yong quell Yao unrest with distinction and was transferred to prefect of Huazhou. In Guangdong, Kong and Li were spoken of in the same breath.
85
鄧廷瓚，字宗器，巴陵人。 景泰五年進士。 知淳安縣，有惠政。 丁母憂，服除，遷太仆寺丞。 貴州新設程番府，地在萬山中，蠻僚雜居，吏部難其人，特擢廷瓚為知府。 至則悉心規畫，城郭、衢巷、學校、壇廟、廨舍，以次興建。 榜諭諸僚受約束。 政平令和。 巡撫陳儼上其治行。 帝令久任。 九載秩滿，始遷山東左參政，尋進右布政使。
Deng Tingzan, styled Zongqi, was from Baling. He passed the jinshi examination in Jingtai 5 (1454). As magistrate of Chun'an he governed with benevolence. After mourning his mother he was appointed Assistant Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud. When Chenfan Prefecture was newly established in Guizhou—deep in the mountains, with mixed tribal settlement—the Ministry of Personnel could find no suitable appointee and specially promoted Deng Tingzan to prefect. On arrival he planned carefully; walls, streets, schools, temples, and government offices were built in turn. He posted notices requiring the tribes to submit to law. The region grew peaceful and orderly. Grand Coordinator Chen Yan reported his excellent governance to the throne. The emperor ordered him retained in office. After nine years, when his term ended, he was transferred to Left Assistant Commissioner in Shandong and soon promoted to Right Administrative Commissioner.
86
弘治二年以右副都御史巡撫貴州。 廷瓚自令至守，淹常調者逾三十年。 至是去知府止三歲，遂得開府。 以生母憂歸。 服闋，還原任。 都勻苗乜富架、長腳等作亂，敕廷瓚提督軍務，同湖廣總兵官顧溥、貴州總兵官王通等討之。 副使吳倬遣熟苗詐降富架，誘令入寇，伏兵擒其父子。 官軍乘勝連破百余寨，生系長腳以歸，群蠻震懾。 廷瓚言：「都勻； 清平舊設二衛、九長官司，其人皆世祿，自用其法，恣虐，激變苗民，亂四十余年。 今元兇就除，非大更張不可。 請改為府縣，設流官與土官兼治，庶可久安。」 因上善後十一事，帝悉從之。 遂設府一，曰都勻，州二，曰獨山、麻哈； 縣一，曰清平。 苗患自此漸戢。 論功，進右都御史。
In Hongzhi 2 (1489) he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Guizhou. From county magistrate to prefect, Deng Tingzan had lingered in routine postings for more than thirty years. Only three years after leaving the prefecture did he at last receive a grand coordinator's commission. He returned home to mourn his birth mother. When mourning ended he resumed his former post. When Duyun Miao chieftains Mi Fujia and Changjiao rebelled, the emperor put Deng Tingzan in charge of the campaign, with Regional Commanders Gu Pu of Huguang and Wang Tong of Guizhou. Vice Commissioner Wu Zhuo sent allied Miao to feign surrender to Fujia, lure him into an attack, and ambush him—capturing father and son. Government troops pressed the advantage, took more than a hundred stockades in succession, captured Changjiao alive, and the tribes were shaken into submission. Deng Tingzan memorialized: "In Duyun— Qingping formerly had two guard posts and nine native chieftainships whose officers held hereditary stipends, applied their own law as they pleased, abused the people, and stirred Miao revolt for more than forty years. With the ringleaders gone, nothing less than sweeping reform will suffice. He proposed converting the region into prefectures and counties under both regular and native officials so peace might last. He then submitted eleven reforms for pacification; the emperor approved them all. One prefecture was set up, Duyun; two subprefectures, Dushan and Maha; and one county, Qingping. Miao unrest gradually subsided thereafter. For his service he was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief.
87
八年召掌南京都察院事。 甫數月，命提督兩廣軍務兼巡撫。 越二年，進左。 廷瓚治尚簡易，於吏事但總大綱，結群蠻以恩信，不輕用兵，而兵出必成功。 郁林、雲壚、大桂諸蠻及四會饑民作亂，以次討平，兩廣遂無事。 十三年復召掌南院。 未行，卒。 贈太子少保，謚襄敏。
In year eight he was summoned to head the Nanjing Censorate. Only months later he was ordered to command military affairs in the Two Guangs and serve as Grand Coordinator. Two years later he was promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief. Deng Tingzan governed with simplicity, grasping only the broad outlines of administration. He won tribal allegiance through grace and trust, avoided force when he could, and yet every campaign succeeded. Rebellions by the tribes of Yulin, Yunqiu, and Dagui and by famine-driven people in Sihui were crushed in turn, and the Two Guangs were pacified. In year thirteen he was again summoned to head the Southern Censorate. Before he could take up the post he died. He was posthumously made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent with the posthumous name Xiangmin.
88
廷瓚有雅量，待人不疑，時多稱其長者。 至所設施，動中機宜。 其在貴州平苗功為尤偉雲。
Deng Tingzan was magnanimous and trusting; contemporaries often praised his forbearance. Yet what he enacted always struck the mark. His pacification of the Miao in Guizhou was his greatest achievement of all.
89
王軾，字用敬，公安人。 天順八年進士。 授大理右評事，遷右寺正。 錄囚四川，平反百余人，擢四川副使。 歲兇，請官銀十萬兩為糴費。 以按嘉定同知盛崇仁贓罪，被訐下吏。 事白，還職，改陜西。
Wang Zhi, styled Yongjing, was from Gong'an. He passed the jinshi examination in Tianshun 8 (1464). He was appointed Right Reviewing Officer of the Court of Judicial Review and later promoted to Right Assistant Director of the Court. While reviewing prisoners in Sichuan, he overturned more than a hundred wrongful convictions and was promoted to Vice Commissioner of Sichuan. When famine struck, he requested one hundred thousand taels of government silver for grain purchases. While investigating corruption charges against Sheng Chongren, Vice Magistrate of Jiading, he was denounced and turned over to the judicial authorities. Once the matter was cleared, he was restored to office and transferred to Shaanxi.
90
弘治初，擢四川按察使。 三年遷南京右僉都御史，提督操江。 八年進右副都御史，總理南京糧儲，旋命巡撫貴州。 明年入為大理卿，詔與刑部裁定條例頒天下。
At the start of the Hongzhi reign, he was promoted to Surveillance Commissioner of Sichuan. In Hongzhi 3 (1490) he was made Right Vice Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing and placed in charge of the Yangtze patrol fleet. In Hongzhi 8 (1495) he was promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief to oversee Nanjing grain reserves, and was soon afterward appointed Grand Coordinator of Guizhou. The following year he entered the capital as Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. An edict ordered him and the Ministry of Justice to finalize legal regulations and promulgate them empire-wide.
91
十三年拜南京戶部尚書。 尋命兼左副都御史，督貴州軍務，討普安賊婦米魯。 時鎮守中官楊友、總兵官曹愷、巡撫錢鉞共發兵討魯，大敗於阿馬坡。 都指揮吳遠被執，普安幾陷。 友等請濟師，乃以命軾。 軾未至，而友等遣人招賊。 賊揚言欲降，益擁眾攻圍普安、安南衛城，斷盤江道，勢愈熾。 又乘間劫執友。 右布政使閭鉦，按察使劉福，都指揮李宗武、郭仁、史韜、李雄、吳達等死焉。
In Hongzhi 13 (1500) he was appointed Minister of Revenue at Nanjing. He was soon ordered also to serve as Left Assistant Censor-in-Chief, supervise military affairs in Guizhou, and suppress the bandit leader Milu of Pu'an. At the time the resident eunuch Yang You, regional commander Cao Kai, and Grand Coordinator Qian Yue jointly marched against Milu and suffered a crushing defeat at Amapo. Regional Commander Wu Yuan was captured, and Pu'an nearly fell. Yang You and the others requested reinforcements, and Wang Zhi was given the command. Before Wang Zhi arrived, Yang You and his colleagues sent envoys to negotiate with the bandits. The bandits claimed they wished to surrender, but instead gathered more followers, besieged Pu'an and Annan Guard, cut the Pan River route, and grew ever bolder. They also seized an opportunity to capture Yang You. Right Provincial Administration Commissioner Lu Zheng, Surveillance Commissioner Liu Fu, and Regional Commanders Li Zongwu, Guo Ren, Shi Tao, Li Xiong, Wu Da, and others were killed.
92
軾至，以便宜調廣西、湖廣、雲南、四川官軍、土兵八萬人，合貴州兵，分八道進，使致仕都督王通將一軍。 十五年正月，參將趙晟破六墜寨。 賊遁，過盤江。 都指揮張泰等渡江追擊，指揮劉懷等遂進解安南衛圍，而愷、通及都指揮李政亦各破賊寨。 賊還攻平夷衛及大河、扼勒諸堡，都御史陳金以雲南兵禦之。 賊遁歸馬尾籠寨。 官軍聚攻益急，土官鳳英等格殺米魯，余黨遂平。 用兵凡五月，破賊寨千余，斬首四千八百有奇，俘獲一千二百。 捷聞，帝大喜，嘉勞。 召還京，賜賚有加，錄功，加太子少保。 已，改南京兵部，參贊機務。 連乞致仕，不允。 武宗立，遇疾復請。 詔加太子太保。 賜敕乘傳歸。 卒，贈太保，謚襄簡。
When Wang Zhi arrived, he exercised discretionary authority to mobilize eighty thousand regular and native troops from Guangxi, Huguang, Yunnan, and Sichuan, combined them with Guizhou forces, divided them into eight columns, and put retired Chief Commander Wang Tong in command of one army. In the first month of Hongzhi 15 (1502), Assistant Commander Zhao Sheng captured Liuzhui Stockade. The bandits fled across the Pan River. Regional Commander Zhang Tai and others crossed the river in pursuit; Commander Liu Huai and others advanced and lifted the siege of Annan Guard, while Cao Kai, Wang Tong, and Regional Commander Li Zheng each captured bandit stockades as well. The bandits turned back to attack Pingyi Guard and the forts at Dahe, Ele, and elsewhere; Censor-in-Chief Chen Jin repelled them with Yunnan troops. The bandits retreated to Maweilong Stockade. Government troops pressed the attack ever harder; native official Feng Ying and others killed Milu in battle, and the remaining bandits were pacified. The campaign lasted five months. More than a thousand bandit stockades were captured, nearly four thousand eight hundred heads were taken, and twelve hundred prisoners were seized. When news of the victory arrived, the emperor was greatly pleased and issued rewards and commendations. He was recalled to the capital, richly rewarded, and his merit recorded with promotion to Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He was then transferred to the Ministry of War at Nanjing to participate in state affairs. He repeatedly requested retirement, but the request was denied. When Emperor Wuzong acceded to the throne, he fell ill and again requested retirement. An edict promoted him to Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He was granted an imperial letter and allowed to return home by official relay. He died and was posthumously made Grand Guardian with the posthumous name Xiangjian.
93
劉丙，字文煥，南雄知府實孫也。 成化末，登進士。 選庶吉士，改御史，巡按雲南。 雲南諸司吏，舊不得給由，父滿子代，丙請如例考入官。 流戍僉發，必經兵部，多淹延致死。 丙請屬之撫、按。 土官無後者，請錄其弟侄，勿令妻妾冒冠服。 俱著為例。 後督兩淮鹽課，中官請引二萬為織造費，部議許之，丙執不可，得減四之三。 歷福建、四川副使，俱督學校，三遷四川左布政使。
Liu Bing, styled Wenhuan, was the grandson of Liu Shi, Prefect of Nanxiong. At the end of the Chenghua reign he passed the jinshi examination. Selected as a Hanlin bachelor, he was transferred to censor and sent to inspect Yunnan. Clerks in Yunnan's local offices had long been denied formal certificates of appointment, with sons succeeding fathers when terms expired. Liu Bing petitioned that they be allowed to enter office through examination, as elsewhere. Exiles sent to frontier garrison duty had to be processed through the Ministry of War, and many died from the delays. Liu Bing petitioned that authority over such cases be vested in the grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners. Where native officials left no heirs, he petitioned that younger brothers and nephews be registered as successors, and that wives and concubines not be allowed to assume official rank and regalia. All of these proposals were established as precedent. Later, while supervising the Two Huai salt tax, a eunuch requested twenty thousand salt certificates to fund imperial weaving. The ministry approved, but Liu Bing firmly objected, and the amount was cut by three-fourths. He served as Vice Commissioner in Fujian and Sichuan, supervising schools in both posts, and after three promotions became Left Provincial Administration Commissioner of Sichuan.
94
正德六年以右副都御史巡撫湖廣。 所部鎮溪千戶所、筸子坪長官司與貴州銅仁，四川酉陽、梅桐諸土司，犬牙相錯。 弘治中，錯溪苗龍麻陽與銅仁苗龍童保聚眾攻剽，土官李樁等實縱之，而筸子百夫長龍真與通謀。 後遂四出劫掠，遠近騷然，先後守臣莫能制。 丙將討之，賊入連山深箐，為拒守計。 丙率師破其數寨。 賊走據天生崖及六龍山。 貴州巡撫沈林兵繼至，連攻破之。 前後擒童保等二百人，斬首八百九十余級。 都指揮潘勛又破鎮、筸諸寨，擒麻陽等百六十人，斬首級如前，余賊遠遁。 璽書獎勵。
In Zhengde 6 (1511) he was appointed Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Huguang. Within his jurisdiction, Zhenxi Guard Battalion, Ganziping Native Official Office, Tongren in Guizhou, and the native chieftaincies of Youyang and Meitong in Sichuan interlocked in a tangled borderland. During the Hongzhi reign, the Miao bandits Long Mayang of Cuoxi and Long Tongbao of Tongren gathered followers to raid and plunder. Native officials such as Li Chun abetted them, and Ganzi Company Commander Long Zhen colluded with them. They then ranged widely in raids, throwing the region into turmoil, and successive frontier officials proved unable to suppress them. As Liu Bing prepared to suppress them, the bandits withdrew into the deep ravines of the linked mountains to make a stand. Liu Bing led troops and captured several of their stockades. The bandits fled and held Tiansheng Cliff and Liulong Mountain. Grand Coordinator Shen Lin of Guizhou arrived with reinforcements and captured both positions in succession. In all they captured Tongbao and two hundred others and took more than eight hundred ninety heads. Regional Commander Pan Xun then captured the stockades at Zhen and Gan, seized Mayang and one hundred sixty others, took a comparable number of heads, and the remaining bandits fled deep into the hinterland. An imperial letter of commendation was issued.
95
丙操履清介，敢任事。 所至嚴明，法令修舉。 遷工部右侍郎，采木入山。 越二載，犯風痹得疾，卒。 詔贈尚書，謚恭襄。
Liu Bing was upright and incorruptible, and bold in shouldering responsibility. Wherever he served he was strict and clear-minded, and laws and ordinances were rigorously enforced. He was transferred to Right Vice Minister of Works and entered the mountains to procure timber. Two years later he contracted paralysis and died of the illness. An edict posthumously made him Minister with the posthumous name Gongxiang.
96
贊曰：英、景間，瓦剌逼西陲，邊圉孔棘； 而黃蕭養、葉宗留之徒劫掠嶺南、浙、閩境上。 其後荊、襄流民嘯聚，則以劉通、石龍為之魁。 他若都勻、松、茂、黔、楚諸苗、瑤叛者數起。 羅亨信、侯琎諸人，保固封圻，誅虓禁亂，討則有功，撫則信著，宣力封疆，無忝厥任矣。 孔鏞以知府服叛瑤，其才力有過人者。 韓愈言柳中丞行事適機宜，風采可畏愛。 不如是，惡能以有為哉。
The commentator writes: During the reigns of the Ying and Jing emperors, the Oirats pressed the western frontier and the border defenses were critically strained; while Huang Xiaoyang, Ye Zongliu, and their followers raided the borders of Lingnan, Zhejiang, and Fujian. Later, displaced people in Jing and Xiang rose in rebellion under the leadership of Liu Tong and Shi Long. Elsewhere, Miao and Yao rebellions broke out repeatedly in Duyun, Songpan, Maozhou, Guizhou, and Huguang. Luo Hengxin, Hou Jin, and their colleagues held the frontiers firm, punished the violent and suppressed disorder. They succeeded in campaigns and won trust in pacification, serving the borderlands without disgracing their commissions. Kong Yong subdued rebellious Yao while serving as prefect—a man whose talent and force surpassed the ordinary. Han Yu wrote of Vice Censor-in-Chief Liu that his actions always suited the moment and his bearing inspired both awe and affection. Without such qualities, how could one achieve anything worth doing?