Volume 190 Biographies 78: Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, Shi Jiubao

楊廷和梁儲蔣冕毛紀石缶〈（兄玠）〉

Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu, Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, and Shi Jiubao. (elder brother Jie))〉

楊廷和，字介夫，新都人。父春，湖廣提學僉事。廷和年十二舉於鄉。成化十四年，年十九，先其父成進士。改庶吉士，告歸娶，還朝授檢討。

Yang Tinghe, whose style was Jiefu, came from Xindu. His father Yang Chun had served as an assistant education intendant in Huguang. Tinghe passed the provincial civil service examination when he was only twelve. In 1478, at nineteen, he passed the metropolitan examination and became a jinshi before his father did. He was made a Hanlin academician-expositor, went home to marry, and on returning to court was appointed a reviser in the Hanlin Academy.

廷和為人美風姿，性沈靜詳審，為文簡暢有法。好考究掌故、民瘼、邊事及一切法家言，郁然負公輔望。弘治二年進修撰。《憲宗實錄》成，以預纂修進侍讀。改左春坊左中允，侍皇太子講讀。修《會典》成，超拜左春坊大學士，充日講官。正德二年由詹事入東閣，專典誥敕。以講筵指斥佞幸，忤劉瑾，傳旨改南京吏部左侍郎。五月遷南京戶部尚書。又三月召還，進兼文淵閣大學士，參預機務。明年加少保兼太子太保。瑾摘《會典》小誤，奪廷和與大學士李東陽等俸二級。尋以成《孝宗實錄》功還之。明年加光祿大夫、柱國，遷改吏部尚書、武英殿大學士。

Tinghe was a man of fine presence, calm and meticulous by nature, and his writing was concise, fluent, and disciplined. He loved to study historical precedents, the people's grievances, frontier affairs, and the whole body of legalist thought, and he already carried himself like a future chief minister. In 1489 he was promoted to compiler in the Hanlin Academy. When the Veritable Records of the Chenghua reign were finished, he was promoted to reader-in-waiting for his work on the project. He was made left assistant in the Eastern Palace and attended the crown prince's lectures. When the Collected Statutes were completed, he was promoted out of turn to grand secretary of the Eastern Palace and made a daily lecturer at court. In 1507 he entered the Eastern Pavilion from the post of tutor of the heir apparent and was put in sole charge of drafting edicts and patents of nobility. At a lecture he denounced the emperor's favorites and offended Liu Jin, who had him transferred by imperial order to left vice minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. Five months later he was made minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue. Three months after that he was recalled, made concurrent grand secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion, and admitted to deliberations on state affairs. The following year he was given the additional titles of Junior Guardian and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. Jin seized on minor errors in the Collected Statutes and cut Tinghe's salary, along with that of Grand Secretary Li Dongyang and others, by two grades. Soon afterward their salaries were restored for their work on the Veritable Records of the Hongzhi reign. The next year he received the titles of Grand Master for Glorious Blessing and Pillar of the State and was made minister of the Ministry of Personnel and grand secretary of the Wuying Hall.

時瑾橫益甚，而焦芳、張糸采為中外媾。廷和與東陽委曲其間，小有劑救而已。安化王寘鐇反，以誅瑾為名。廷和等草赦詔，請擢邊將仇鉞，以離賊黨。鉞果執寘鐇。會張永發瑾罪，瑾伏誅，廷和等乃復論功，進少傅兼太子太傅、謹身殿大學士，予一子中書舍人。

By then Jin was growing ever more tyrannical, while Jiao Fang and Zhang Cai acted as liaisons between the inner and outer courts. Tinghe and Li Dongyang had to maneuver tactfully among them and could manage only small acts of relief. The Prince of Anhua, Zhu Zhifan, rebelled under the banner of executing Liu Jin. Tinghe and his colleagues drafted an amnesty edict and urged that the frontier general Qiu Yue be promoted so as to split the rebel ranks. Qiu did in fact capture Zhifan. When Zhang Yong exposed Jin's crimes and Jin was put to death, Tinghe and his colleagues were again rewarded: he was made Junior Mentor and Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent and grand secretary of the Jinshen Hall, and one of his sons was granted the post of secretary in the Secretariat.

流賊劉六、劉七、齊彥名反，楊一清薦馬中錫討之。廷和言：「中錫，文士也，不任此。」時業已行，果不能平賊。廷和請逮中錫下獄，以陸完代之，而斬故受賕縱賊者參將桑玉。已，又用學士陳霽言，調諸邊兵討河南賊趙鐩等，而薦彭澤為總制。賊平論功，錄廷和一子錦衣衛千戶。辭，特加少師、太子太師、華蓋殿大學士。東陽致政，廷和遂為首輔。

The bandit leaders Liu Liu, Liu Qi, and Qi Yanming rose in revolt, and Yang Yiqing recommended Ma Zhongxi to put them down. Tinghe said, "Zhongxi is a scholar-official and is not equal to this task. The appointment had already gone out, and as Tinghe had warned, he failed to pacify the bandits. Tinghe asked that Zhongxi be arrested and imprisoned, that Lu Wan replace him, and that the former vice commander Sang Yu, who had taken bribes and let the bandits escape, be executed. Later, following Academician Chen Ji's advice, he transferred frontier troops to campaign against the Henan bandits led by Zhao Secheng and recommended Peng Ze as supreme commander. When the bandits were pacified and rewards were distributed, one of Tinghe's sons was enrolled as a chiliarch in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard. He declined the hereditary post and was instead given the titles of Junior Preceptor, Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, and grand secretary of the Huagai Hall. When Li Dongyang retired, Tinghe became chief grand secretary.

張永既去瑾而驕，捕得男子臂龍文者以為功，援故太監劉永誠例，覬封侯。廷和言「永誠從子聚自以戰功封伯耳，且非永誠身受之也」，乃止。彭澤將西討鄢本恕，問計廷和。廷和曰：「以君才，賊不足平，所戒者班師早耳。」澤後破誅本恕等即班師，而余黨復猬起不可制。澤既發復留，乃嘆曰：「楊公先見，吾不及也。」

After helping bring down Jin, Zhang Yong grew arrogant; he seized a man with a dragon tattoo on his arm and claimed it as a great exploit, citing the precedent of the former eunuch Liu Yongcheng, and sought to be enfeoffed as a marquis. Tinghe replied that "Yongcheng's nephew Ju was enfeoffed as a count only for military merit, and even that was not a title Yongcheng himself received," and the request was dropped. When Peng Ze was about to march west against Yan Benshu, he asked Tinghe for advice. Tinghe said, "With your ability the rebels are not hard to defeat; what you must guard against is withdrawing too soon. Peng Ze later defeated and killed Benshu and his followers and then withdrew, whereupon the remaining rebels flared up again and could no longer be controlled. Having already set out, Peng Ze turned back to remain on campaign and sighed, "Master Yang saw this coming; I was not his equal."

乾清宮災，廷和請帝避殿，下詔罪己，求直言。因與其僚上疏，勸帝早朝晏罷，躬九廟祭祀，崇兩宮孝養，勤日講。復面奏開言路、達下情、還邊兵、革宮市、罷皇店、出西僧、省工作、減織造，凡十余條，皆切至。帝不省。尋以父卒乞奔喪，不許。三請乃許。遣中官護行。旋復起之，三疏辭，始許。閣臣之得終父母喪者，自廷和始也。服甫闋，即召至。帝方獵宣府，使使賜廷和羊酒、銀幣。廷和疏謝，因請回鑾，不報。復與大學士蔣冕馳至居庸，欲身出塞請。帝令谷大用扼關門，乃歸。帝命回鑾日群臣各制旗帳迎，廷和曰：「此裏俗以施之親舊耳。天子至尊，不敢瀆獻。」帝再使使諭意，執不從，乃已。

When fire destroyed the Qianqing Palace, Tinghe urged the emperor to move to another hall, issue a self-reproach edict, and invite frank criticism. He and his colleagues then submitted a memorial urging the emperor to hold early audiences and end court late, perform sacrifices at the nine ancestral temples in person, honor both palaces in filial devotion, and attend diligently to the daily lectures. He also spoke in person to open channels of remonstrance, convey the people's condition, return frontier troops, abolish palace markets, close imperial shops, expel Western monks, reduce construction, and cut textile manufacture—more than ten proposals in all, each pointed and urgent. The emperor paid no heed. Soon afterward, when his father died, he asked leave to rush home for mourning and was refused. Only after three requests was he allowed to go. The court sent a palace eunuch to escort him on the journey. He was soon recalled to office, but after three memorials declining the summons he was at last allowed to remain in mourning. He was the first grand secretary in living memory allowed to complete the full mourning period for his parents. Hardly had his mourning ended when he was recalled to court. The emperor was hunting at Xuanfu and sent envoys to reward Tinghe with mutton, wine, silver, and silks. Tinghe thanked him in a memorial and asked that the imperial procession return; he received no answer. He then rushed with Grand Secretary Jiang Mian to Juyong Pass, intending to go beyond the frontier in person to plead with the emperor. The emperor ordered Gu Dayong to block the pass, and they had to turn back. The emperor ordered that on the day of his return every official should prepare banners and canopies to welcome him. Tinghe said, "That is a village custom for relatives and friends. The Son of Heaven is supreme; I dare not offer such a thing irreverently. The emperor sent envoys again to explain his wish, but Tinghe stood firm and would not comply, and the matter was dropped.

當廷和柄政，帝恒不視朝，恣遊大同、宣府、延綏間，多失政。廷和未嘗不諫，俱不聽。廷和亦不能執奏。以是邑邑不自得，數移疾乞骸骨，帝亦不聽。中官谷大用、魏彬、張雄，義子錢寧、江彬輩，恣橫甚。廷和雖不為下，然亦不能有所裁禁，以是得稍自安。

While Tinghe held power, the emperor constantly neglected court audiences and roamed at will through Datong, Xuanfu, and Yansui, and government suffered accordingly. Tinghe remonstrated again and again, but the emperor would not listen. Nor could Tinghe force the issue by insisting on memorializing. He grew depressed and uneasy, and several times asked to retire on grounds of illness, but the emperor would not allow it. The eunuchs Gu Dayong, Wei Bin, and Zhang Xiong, together with the emperor's favorites Qian Ning, Jiang Bin, and their like, ran wild. Although Tinghe did not submit to them, he could not restrain them either, and for that reason he was left in relative peace.

御史蕭淮發寧王宸濠反謀，錢寧輩猶庇之，詆淮離間。廷和請如宣宗諭趙王故事，遣貴戚大臣賫敕往諭，收其護衛屯田。於是命中官賴義、駙馬都尉崔元等往，未至而宸濠反。帝欲帥師親征，廷和等力阻之。帝乃自稱總督軍務、威武大將軍、總兵官、後軍都督府、太師、鎮國公朱壽，統各京邊將士南討。而安邊伯許泰為威武副將軍、左都督劉暉為平賊將軍前驅，鎮守、撫、按悉聽節制。命廷和與大學士毛紀居守。以乾清、坤寧二宮工成，推恩錄一子錦衣衛副千戶，辭。時廷和當草大將軍征南敕諭，謝弗肯，帝心恚。會推南京吏部尚書劉春理東閣誥敕，以廷和私其鄉人，切責之。廷和謝罪，乞罷，不許。少師梁儲等請與俱罷，復不許。廷和方引疾不入，帝遂傳旨行之。時十四年八月也。帝既南，兩更歲朔。廷和頗以鎮靜持重，為中外所推服。凡請回鑾者數十疏，皆不復省。帝歸，駐蹕通州。廷和等舉故事，請帝還大內御殿受俘，然後正宸濠等誅，而帝已不豫。趨召廷和等至通州受事，即行在執宸濠等僇之，駕乃旋。

Censor Xiao Huai exposed the Prince of Ning Zhu Chenhao's plot to rebel, but Qian Ning and his faction still shielded the prince and accused Huai of sowing discord. Tinghe proposed following the precedent of Emperor Xuanzong's admonition to the Prince of Zhao: send a royal kinsman or senior minister with an edict to warn the prince and seize his guard troops and military colonies. The court then sent the eunuch Lai Yi, the emperor's son-in-law Cui Yuan, and others, but before they arrived Chenhao had already rebelled. The emperor wished to lead the army in person, and Tinghe and his colleagues strongly opposed it. The emperor then took the titles Supervisor of Military Affairs, Awesome-and-Mighty Grand General, Commander-in-Chief, Rear Army Commander-in-Chief, Grand Preceptor, and Defender of the State Duke Zhu Shou, and led the capital and frontier armies south. Xu Tai, Earl Defender of the Border, was made Awesome-and-Mighty Vice General, and Liu Hui, left chief commander, was made Pacification General in the vanguard; all regional commanders, grand coordinators, and surveillance commissioners were placed under his command. Tinghe and Grand Secretary Mao Ji were ordered to remain in the capital as regents. When the Qianqing and Kunning palaces were completed, he was granted an enfeoffment enrolling one of his sons as a vice chiliarch in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard; he declined. At that time Tinghe was expected to draft the Grand General's southern campaign edict, but he refused; the emperor took it ill. When Nanjing Minister of Personnel Liu Chun was recommended to manage Eastern Pavilion edicts and patents, the emperor sharply rebuked Tinghe for favoring a fellow townsman. Tinghe apologized and asked to resign, but the emperor would not allow it. Junior Preceptor Liang Chu and others asked to resign with him; again the emperor refused. Tinghe was then pleading illness and would not come to court, so the emperor issued an order and carried the appointment through without him. This was in the eighth month of the fourteenth year of the reign. After the emperor marched south, two New Year observances passed. Tinghe won wide respect inside and outside the court for his calm steadiness. Dozens of memorials asking that the imperial procession return went unread. When the emperor returned, he halted at Tongzhou. Tinghe and his colleagues cited precedent and asked that the emperor return to the inner palace to receive the captives in audience before punishing Chenhao and the others, but the emperor was already unwell. He urgently summoned Tinghe and his colleagues to Tongzhou to take charge; they immediately executed Chenhao and his followers at the traveling palace, and only then did the imperial carriage turn back.

明年正月，帝郊祀，嘔血輿疾歸，逾月益篤。時帝無嗣。司禮中官魏彬等至閣言：「國醫力竭矣，請捐萬金購之草澤。」廷和心知所謂，不應，而微以倫序之說風之，彬等唯唯。三月十四日丙寅，谷大用、張永至閣，言帝崩於豹房。以皇太后命，移殯大內，且議所當立。廷和舉《皇明祖訓》示之曰：「兄終弟及，誰能瀆焉！興獻王長子，憲宗之孫，孝宗之從子，大行皇帝之從弟，序當立。」梁儲、蔣冕、毛紀鹹贊之。乃令中官入啟皇太后，廷和等候左順門下。頃之，中官奉遺詔及太后懿旨，宣諭群臣，一如廷和請，事乃定。

In the first month of the following year the emperor performed the suburban sacrifice, vomited blood, and was carried back to the palace ill; after more than a month his condition worsened. The emperor had no heir. Directorate eunuchs led by Wei Bin came to the Grand Secretariat and said, "The imperial physicians have done all they can; please donate ten thousand taels of silver to seek a remedy among the common people. Tinghe understood what they meant, made no direct reply, but subtly admonished them with the doctrine of succession; Wei Bin and the others murmured assent. On the fourteenth day of the third month, Gu Dayong and Zhang Yong came to the Grand Secretariat and announced that the emperor had died in the Leopard Quarters. By the empress dowager's order the coffin was moved to the inner palace, and deliberation began on who should succeed. Tinghe produced the Ancestral Instructions of the August Ming and said, "When an elder brother ends his reign, a younger brother succeeds—who can violate that rule? The eldest son of the Prince of Xingxian is a grandson of Emperor Xianzong, a grandnephew of Emperor Xiaozong, and a younger cousin of the late emperor; by right he should succeed. Liang Chu, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji all agreed. They then sent a eunuch in to inform the empress dowager, while Tinghe and the others waited below the Left Gate of Compliance. Before long a eunuch brought the testamentary edict and the empress dowager's decree and proclaimed them to the officials; everything was as Tinghe had proposed, and the succession was settled.

廷和遂以遺詔令太監張永、武定侯郭勛、安邊伯許泰、尚書王憲選各營兵，分布皇城四門、京城九門及南北要害，廣衛御史以其屬捍掫。傳遺命罷威武營團練諸軍，各邊兵入衛者俱重賚散歸鎮，革皇店及軍門辦事官校悉還衛，哈密、土魯番、佛郎機諸貢使皆給賞遣還國，豹房番僧及少林僧、教坊樂人、南京快馬船、諸非常例者，一切罷遣。又以遺詔釋南京逮擊囚，放遣四方進獻女子，停京師不急工務，收宣府行宮金寶歸諸內庫。中外大悅。時平虜伯江彬擁重兵在肘腋間，知天下惡之，心不自安。其黨都督僉事李琮尤狠黠，勸彬乘間以其家眾反，不勝則北走塞外。彬猶豫未決。於是廷和謀以皇太后旨捕誅彬，遂與同官蔣冕、毛紀及司禮中官溫祥四人謀。張永伺知其意，亦密為備。司禮魏彬者，故與彬有連。廷和以其弱可脅也，因題大行銘旌，與彬、祥及他中官張銳、陳嚴等為詳言江彬反狀，以危語怵之。彬心動，惟銳力言江彬無罪，廷和面折之。冕曰：「今日必了此，乃臨。」嚴亦從旁贊決，因俾祥、彬等入白皇太后。良久未報，廷和、冕益自危。頃之，嚴至曰：「彬已擒矣。」彬既誅，中外相慶。

By the testamentary edict Tinghe ordered the eunuch Zhang Yong, the Marquis of Wuding Guo Xun, the Earl Defender of the Border Xu Tai, and Minister Wang Xian to select troops from each camp and deploy them at the four gates of the Imperial City, the nine gates of the capital, and other key points; surveillance censors posted their subordinates to guard and patrol. By the dying command he abolished the Awesome-and-Mighty Battalion and all drilled troops, richly rewarded frontier troops who had come to guard the capital and sent them back to their posts, abolished imperial shops and returned military-gate clerks and runners to their guards, rewarded and sent home the tribute envoys from Hami, Turfan, and Portugal, and dismissed altogether the Western monks of the Leopard Quarters and Shaolin, the music-office performers, the Nanjing fast horse-boats, and all other irregular practices. The testamentary edict also released prisoners held in Nanjing, sent away women presented from all quarters, halted non-urgent construction in the capital, and returned the gold and jewels of the Xuanfu traveling palace to the inner treasury. Court and country alike rejoiced. At the time Jiang Bin, Pacification Baron, held a large army at the emperor's very side; knowing how widely he was hated, he grew uneasy. His follower, Vice Commander Li Cong, was especially ruthless and shrewd; he urged Jiang Bin to seize an opening and rise in rebellion with his household troops, and if defeated to flee north into the borderlands. Jiang Bin hesitated and could not make up his mind. Tinghe then plotted to arrest and execute Jiang Bin by order of the empress dowager, taking counsel with his colleagues Jiang Mian and Mao Ji and the Directorate eunuch Wen Xiang. Zhang Yong detected their intent and also made secret preparations. The Directorate eunuch Wei Bin had formerly been allied with Jiang Bin. Tinghe judged Wei Bin weak and susceptible to pressure; he therefore inscribed the late emperor's mourning banner and, with Wei Bin, Wen Xiang, and the other eunuchs Zhang Rui and Chen Yan, laid out Jiang Bin's treason in detail, terrifying them with dire warnings. Wei Bin wavered, but Zhang Rui alone insisted that Jiang Bin was innocent; Tinghe openly confronted him. Jiang Mian said, "This must be settled today before we go to court. Chen Yan also seconded the decision from the side, and sent Wen Xiang, Wei Bin, and the others in to inform the empress dowager. A long time passed with no answer, and Tinghe and Jiang Mian grew increasingly alarmed. Before long Chen Yan came and said, "Jiang Bin has already been seized. Once Jiang Bin had been put to death, the court and the empire rejoiced together.

廷和總朝政幾四十日，興世子始入京師即帝位。廷和草上登極詔書，文書房官忽至閣中，言欲去詔中不便者數事。廷和曰：「往者事齟齬，動稱上意。今亦新天子意耶？吾儕賀登極後，當面奏上，問誰欲削詔草者！」冕、紀亦相繼發危言，其人語塞。已而詔下，正德中蠹政厘抉且盡。所裁汰錦衣諸衛、內監局旗校工役為數十四萬八千七百，減漕糧百五十三萬二千余石。其中貴、義子、傳升、乞升一切恩幸得官者大半皆斥去。中外稱新天子「聖人」，且頌廷和功。而諸失職之徒銜廷和次骨，廷和入朝有挾白刃伺輿旁者。事聞，詔以營卒百人衛出入。帝御經筵，廷和知經筵事。修《武宗實錄》，充總裁。廷和先已加特進，一品滿九載，兼支大學士俸，賜敕旌諭。至是加左柱國。帝召對者三，慰勞備至。廷和益欲有所發攄，引用正人，布列在位。

Tinghe directed the government for nearly forty days before the heir of the Prince of Xing entered the capital and ascended the throne. Tinghe drafted the accession edict; an officer from the Document Drafting Office suddenly appeared in the Grand Secretariat and said he wanted to strike several inconvenient passages from the draft. Tinghe said, "In the past, whenever matters went awry, it was always called the emperor's will. Is this the new emperor's will as well? After we have offered our congratulations on the accession, we shall memorialize the throne in person and ask who wants to cut passages from the draft edict! Jiang Mian and Mao Ji also spoke sternly in turn, and the man was left without a reply. Before long the edict was promulgated, and the corrupt practices of the Zhengde reign were rooted out almost entirely. The cuts eliminated 148,700 bannermen, runners, and laborers from the Embroidered-Uniform Guard and other guards and from the inner palace offices, and reduced grain transport tribute by more than 1,532,000 shi. Inner favorites, adopted sons, and the many who had gained office through transferred promotions, petitioned promotions, and other imperial favor were for the most part dismissed. Court and country alike hailed the new emperor as a "Sage," and praised Tinghe's achievement as well. But those who had lost their positions hated Tinghe bitterly; when he came to court, a man with a bare blade waited beside his sedan chair. When the matter was reported, an edict ordered a hundred camp soldiers to guard him whenever he went out or returned. The emperor attended the Classics Lectures, and Tinghe was placed in charge of them. He oversaw compilation of the Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong as chief compiler. Tinghe had already been granted Supernumerary Promotion; after nine years at the first rank he drew a grand secretary's salary as well and received an edict of commendation. At this point he was further promoted to Left Pillar of State. The emperor summoned him for private audience three times and comforted him with exceptional warmth. Tinghe wished all the more to act boldly, bring in upright men, and place them throughout the government.

給事、御史交章論王瓊罪狀，下詔獄。瓊迫，疏訐廷和以自解。法司當瓊奸黨律論死，瓊力自辨，得減戍邊。或疑法司承廷和指者。會石缶自禮部尚書掌詹事府，改吏部，廷和復奏改之掌詹事司誥敕。人或謂廷和太專。然廷和以帝雖沖年，性英敏，自信可輔太平，事事有所持諍。錢寧、江彬雖伏誅，而張銳、張忠、於經、許泰等獄久不決。廷和等言：「不誅此曹，則國法不正，公道不明，九廟之靈不安，萬姓之心不服，禍亂之機未息，太平之治未臻。」帝乃籍沒其資產。廷和復疏請敬天戒，法祖訓，隆孝道，保聖躬，務民義，勤學問，慎命令，明賞罰，專委任，納諫諍，親善人，節財用。語多剴切，皆優詔報可。

Supervising secretaries and censors submitted memorial after memorial detailing Wang Qiong's crimes, and he was sent to the imperial prison. Hard pressed, Wang Qiong memorialized the throne slandering Tinghe in an effort to save himself. The legal offices judged Wang Qiong under the law on treacherous factions as deserving death; he defended himself vigorously and the sentence was reduced to exile on the frontier. Some suspected that the legal offices were acting at Tinghe's direction. When Shi Jiubao moved from the Ministry of Rites and the Directorate of the Heir Apparent to the Ministry of Personnel, Tinghe again memorialized that he be reassigned to manage patents and edicts in the Directorate of the Heir Apparent. Some said Tinghe had grown too domineering. Yet Tinghe believed that although the emperor was young, he was bright and quick-witted; confident that he could help bring about an age of peace, he remonstrated firmly on every issue. Although Qian Ning and Jiang Bin had been put to death, the cases of Zhang Rui, Zhang Zhong, Yu Jing, Xu Tai, and others dragged on without resolution. Tinghe and his colleagues said, "If these men are not executed, state law will not stand upright, public justice will remain clouded, the spirits of the imperial ancestors will not rest, the people will not be satisfied, the seeds of rebellion will not be uprooted, and true peace will not be achieved. The emperor then ordered their assets confiscated. Tinghe again memorialized urging the emperor to revere Heaven and be vigilant, follow ancestral instruction, exalt filial piety, preserve his health, serve the people's welfare, study diligently, issue commands carefully, make rewards and punishments clear, delegate authority resolutely, accept remonstrance, keep company with good men, and restrain expenditure. His language was forthright and searching, and in every case the emperor replied with gracious edicts of approval.

及議「大禮」，廷和持論益不撓，卒以是忤帝意。先是，武宗崩，廷和草遺詔。言皇考孝宗敬皇帝親弟興獻王長子某，倫序當立。遵奉《祖訓》兄終弟及之文，告於宗廟，請於慈壽皇太后，迎嗣皇帝位。既令禮官上禮儀狀，請由東安門入居文華殿。翼日，百官三上箋勸進，俟令旨俞允，擇日即位。其箋文皆循皇子嗣位故事。世宗覽禮部狀，謂：「遺詔以吾嗣皇帝位，非為皇子也。」及至京，止城外。廷和固請如禮部所具儀，世宗不聽。乃御行殿受箋，由大明門直入，告大行几筵，日中即帝位。詔草言「奉皇兄遺詔入奉宗祧」，帝遲回久之，始報可。越三日，遣官往迎帝母興獻妃。未幾，命禮官議興獻王主祀稱號。廷和檢漢定陶王、宋濮王事授尚書毛澄曰：「是足為據，宜尊孝宗曰『皇考』，稱獻王為『皇叔考興國大王』，母妃為『皇叔母興國太妃』，自稱『侄皇帝』名，別立益王次子崇仁王為興王，奉獻王祀。有異議者即奸邪，當斬。」進士張璁與侍郎王瓚言，帝入繼大統，非為人後。瓚微言之，廷和恐其撓議，改瓚官南京。五月，澄會廷臣議上，如廷和言。帝不悅。然每召廷和從容賜茶慰諭，欲有所更定，廷和卒不肯順帝指。乃下廷臣再議。廷和偕蔣冕、毛紀奏言：「前代入繼之君，追崇所生者，皆不合典禮。惟宋儒程頤《濮議》最得義理之正，可為萬世法。至興獻王祀，雖崇仁王主之，他日皇嗣繁衍，仍以第二子為興獻王後，而改封崇仁王為親王，則天理人情，兩全無失。」帝益不悅，命博考典禮，務求至當。廷和、冕、紀復言：「三代以前，聖莫如舜，未聞追崇其所生父瞽瞍也。三代以後，賢莫如漢光武，未聞追崇其所生父南頓君也。惟皇上取法二君，則聖德無累，聖孝有光矣。」澄等亦再三執奏。帝留中不下。

When the Great Rites controversy arose, Tinghe held his ground ever more firmly and ultimately offended the emperor. Earlier, when Emperor Wuzong died, Tinghe drafted the testamentary edict. It stated that the eldest son of the Prince of Xing, the late Emperor Xiaozong's younger brother by birth, should succeed by right of precedence. Invoking the Ancestral Instructions on succession when an elder brother dies without an heir, it reported to the ancestral temples, sought the approval of Empress Dowager Cishou, and welcomed him to the imperial throne. It then ordered the ritual officials to submit a protocol proposing that he enter through the East Gate and take up residence in the Wenhua Hall. The next day the officials submitted memorials urging accession three times; once imperial approval was granted, a date was chosen for enthronement. The memorials all followed the precedent for a prince succeeding to the throne. When the future Shizong read the Ministry of Rites protocol, he said, "The testamentary edict makes me successor to the imperial throne; it is not treating me as a prince. When he reached the capital, he halted outside the city walls. Tinghe firmly insisted on the ritual prepared by the Ministry of Rites; the future emperor refused. He then received the memorials at the traveling hall, entered directly through the Great Ming Gate, announced himself before the late emperor's spirit tablet, and took the throne at noon. The draft edict said that he was "following his late imperial brother's testamentary edict to enter and serve the ancestral line"; the emperor hesitated for a long time before finally approving it. Three days later he dispatched officials to welcome his mother, the Princess Consort of Xing. Before long he ordered the ritual officials to deliberate the sacrificial rites and titles due to the Prince of Xing. Tinghe reviewed the cases of the Han Prince of Dingtao and the Song Prince of Pu and gave them to Minister Mao Cheng, saying, "These are sufficient precedent. Xiaozong should be honored as 'Imperial Father'; the Prince of Xing should be styled 'Imperial Uncle Father, King of Xing'; his consort as 'Imperial Uncle Mother, Grand Princess of Xing'; the emperor should style himself 'Nephew Emperor'; and the Prince of Yi's second son, the Prince of Chongren, should be established separately as Prince of Xing to maintain the Prince of Xing's sacrifices. Anyone who disagrees is a traitor and should be put to death. Presented Scholar Zhang Cong, together with Vice Minister Wang Zan, argued that in taking the throne the emperor was succeeding to the imperial line, not becoming another man's heir. Wang Zan hinted at this view; fearing that he would disrupt the debate, Tinghe transferred him to Nanjing. In the fifth month Mao Cheng convened the court ministers and submitted their recommendation, following Tinghe's position. The emperor was displeased. Yet each time he summoned Tinghe he offered tea and spoke reassuringly, hoping to secure changes; Tinghe ultimately refused to yield to the emperor's wishes. He then ordered the court ministers to deliberate again. Tinghe, together with Jiang Mian and Mao Ji, memorialized, saying, "Previous emperors who succeeded by adoption and then posthumously honored their biological parents all violated proper ritual. Only the Song Confucian Cheng Yi's Debate on the Prince of Pu most fully captures the right principle and may serve as a model for all ages. As for the Prince of Xing's sacrifices, although the Prince of Chongren would preside over them, when imperial heirs multiply in the future the second son should still succeed as heir to the Prince of Xing, while the Prince of Chongren would be re-enfeoffed as a prince of the blood; in that way principle and human feeling would both be satisfied. The emperor grew still more displeased and ordered a wide review of ritual precedents, insisting on a fully satisfactory solution. Tinghe, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji replied again, "Before the Three Dynasties, none was more sage than Shun, yet he never posthumously honored his biological father Gusou. After the Three Dynasties, none was more worthy than Emperor Guangwu of Han, yet he never posthumously honored his biological father, the Lord of Nandun. If Your Majesty takes these two rulers as your model, your sagely virtue will remain untarnished and your filial piety will shine all the brighter. Mao Cheng and the others also repeatedly submitted firm memorials. The emperor kept the memorials at court and issued no reply.

七月，張璁上疏謂當繼統，不繼嗣。帝遣司禮太監持示廷和，言此議遵祖訓，據古禮，宜從。廷和曰「秀才安知國家事體」，復持入。無何，帝御文華殿召廷和、冕、紀，授以手敕，令尊父母為帝、后。廷和退而上奏曰：「《禮》謂為所後者為父母，而以其所生者為伯叔父母，蓋不惟降其服而又異其名也。臣不敢阿諛順旨。」仍封還手詔。群臣亦皆執前議。帝不聽。迨九月，母妃至京，帝自定儀由中門入，謁見太廟，復申諭欲加稱興獻帝、后為「皇」。廷和言：「漢宣帝繼孝昭後，謚史皇孫、王夫人曰悼考、悼后，光武上繼元帝，鉅鹿、南頓君以上立廟章陵，皆未嘗追尊。今若加皇字，與孝廟、慈壽並，是忘所後而重本生，任私恩而棄大義，臣等不得辭其責。」因自請斥罷。廷臣諍者百余人。帝不得已，乃以嘉靖元年詔稱孝宗為「皇考」，慈壽皇太后為「聖母」，興獻帝、后為本生父母，不稱「皇」。

In the seventh month Zhang Cong memorialized that the emperor should succeed to the imperial line, not to another's heirship. The emperor sent a grand eunuch of the Directorate to show the memorial to Tinghe, saying that this proposal followed the ancestral instructions and ancient rites and ought to be accepted. Tinghe said, "What does a newly minted scholar know about affairs of state?" and sent it back. Before long the emperor held court at the Wenhua Hall, summoned Tinghe, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji, and handed them a sealed edict ordering that his parents be honored as emperor and empress. Tinghe withdrew and memorialized, saying, "The Rites teach that one's parents are those to whom one succeeds, while one's biological parents are treated as uncle and aunt; this not only lowers the mourning garments but also changes their titles. Your servant dares not flatter the throne and simply obey. He returned the sealed edict unopened. The other ministers also held to their earlier position. The emperor would not listen. By the ninth month, when his mother reached the capital, the emperor himself prescribed the ritual for her entry through the middle gate and her audience at the Imperial Ancestral Temple; he again declared his wish to add the designation "Imperial" to his father and mother, the Prince of Xing and his consort. Tinghe said, "When Emperor Xuandi of Han succeeded after Emperor Xiaozhao, he gave the posthumous titles Mourning Father and Mourning Mother to Emperor Shihuangsun and Lady Wang; when Guangwu succeeded after Emperor Yuandi, he erected temples at Zhangling for the Lord of Julu, the Lord of Nandun, and their forebears—yet in none of these cases was there posthumous elevation. If the title 'Imperial' is added now, placing them on a par with Xiaozong's temple and Empress Dowager Cishou, that means forgetting the line one has succeeded and exalting one's biological parents over public duty, indulging private feeling at the expense of great principle; we ministers cannot escape blame. He thereupon asked to be dismissed. More than a hundred court ministers remonstrated. Left with no alternative, the emperor issued an edict in the first year of Jiajing styling Xiaozong as "Imperial Father," Empress Dowager Cishou as "Holy Mother," and the Prince of Xing and his consort as biological parents without the designation "Imperial."

當是時，廷和先後封還御批者四，執奏幾三十疏，帝常忽忽有所恨。左右因乘間言廷和恣無人臣禮。言官史道、曹嘉遂交劾廷和。帝為薄謫道、嘉以安廷和，然意內移矣。尋論定策功，封廷和、冕、紀伯爵，歲祿千石，廷和固辭。改蔭錦衣衛指揮使，復辭。帝以賞太輕，加蔭四品京職世襲，復辭。會滿四考，超拜太傅，復四辭而止。特賜敕旌異，錫宴於禮部，九卿皆與焉。

By then Tinghe had returned four imperial rescripts unopened and submitted nearly thirty firm memorials; the emperor often nursed a brooding resentment. Those around the emperor therefore took the opportunity to say that Tinghe had grown willful and lacked a subject's proper deference. The remonstrance officials Shi Dao and Cao Jia then submitted memorial after memorial impeaching Tinghe. The emperor lightly punished Dao and Jia to reassure Tinghe, but inwardly his sympathies had already shifted. Soon afterward, when rewards were granted for settling the succession, Tinghe, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji were enfeoffed as earls with stipends of a thousand shi; Tinghe firmly declined. The reward was changed to a hereditary commandership in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard; he declined again. The emperor thought the reward too modest and added a hereditary fourth-rank capital office; Tinghe declined again. When his four appraisals were complete he was promoted out of turn to Grand Preceptor; he declined four times and then accepted. He was specially granted an edict of exceptional commendation and a banquet at the Ministry of Rites attended by all nine ministers.

廷和先累疏乞休，其後請益力。又以持考獻帝議不合，疏語露不平。三年正月，帝聽之去。責以因辭歸咎，非大臣道。然猶賜璽書，給輿廩郵護如例，申前蔭子錦衣衛指揮使之命。給事、御史請留廷和，皆不報。廷和去，始議稱孝宗為「皇伯考」。於是，廷和子修撰慎率群臣伏闕哭爭，杖謫雲南。既而王邦奇誣訐廷和及其次子兵部主事惇、婿修撰金承勛、鄉人侍讀葉桂章與彭澤弟沖交關請屬，俱逮下詔獄。鞫治無狀，乃得解。七年，《明倫大典》成，詔定議禮諸臣罪。言廷和謬主《濮議》，自詭門生天子、定策國老，法當僇市，姑削職為民。明年六月卒，年七十一。居久之，帝問大學士李時：「太倉所積幾何？」時對曰：「可支數年。由陛下初年詔書裁革冗員所致。」帝慨然曰：「此楊廷和功，不可沒也。」隆慶初，復官，贈太保，謚文忠。

Tinghe had already submitted repeated memorials asking to retire, and his requests grew ever more urgent. Moreover, because his stubborn stand in the debate over honoring the emperor's biological father did not accord with the throne's wishes, the tone of his memorials betrayed his resentment. In the first month of the third year, the emperor allowed him to retire. He was rebuked for using his resignation to shift blame—conduct unbecoming a great minister. Yet he still received an imperial letter under seal, carriage, stipends, and postal escort as usual, and the earlier appointment of his son as hereditary commandant of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard was confirmed. Supervising secretaries and censors asked that Tinghe be kept in office; the throne issued no reply. Only after Tinghe left did deliberations begin to style Emperor Xiaozong as "Imperial Uncle-Father." Thereupon Tinghe's son, Hanlin Reviser Yang Shen, led the officials in kneeling at the palace gate to weep and remonstrate; they were beaten with the rod and banished to Yunnan. Soon afterward Wang Bangqi falsely accused Tinghe, his second son Dun of the Ministry of War, his son-in-law Hanlin Reviser Jin Chengxun, his fellow townsman Hanlin Reader Ye Guizhang, and Peng Ze's younger brother Chong of corrupt dealings and soliciting favors; all were arrested and sent to the imperial prison. Investigation found no basis for the charges, and they were released. In the seventh year, when the Minglun Dadian was completed, an edict fixed the offenses of the officials who had deliberated on the rites. It charged that Tinghe had wrongly upheld the Puyi precedent, falsely styling himself the emperor's teacher and the elder statesman who settled the succession; by law he deserved execution at the market, but for the present his office was stripped and he was reduced to commoner status. The following year, in the sixth month, he died at seventy-one. After some time, the emperor asked Grand Secretary Li Shi, "How much grain is stored at Taicang? Li Shi replied, "It can supply several years. This is owing to the edicts in Your Majesty's early reign cutting redundant personnel." The emperor said with feeling, "This was Yang Tinghe's achievement; it must not be forgotten." At the beginning of Longqing his office was posthumously restored, he was granted the title Grand Preceptor, and given the posthumous name Wenzhong.

初，廷和入閣，東陽謂曰：「吾於文翰，頗有一日之長，若經濟事須歸介夫。」及武宗之終，卒安社稷者，廷和力也，人以東陽為知言。弟廷儀，兵部右侍郎。子慎、惇，孫有仁，皆進士。慎自有傳。

Early on, when Tinghe entered the Grand Secretariat, Dong Yang told him, "In literary matters I have some advantage, but in statecraft one must defer to Jiefu. When Emperor Wuzong's reign ended, it was Tinghe's effort that ultimately stabilized the realm; people regarded Dong Yang as having spoken truly. His younger brother Tingyi was Vice Minister of the Right in the Ministry of War. His sons Shen and Dun and his grandson Youren all passed the jinshi examination. Shen has his own biography.

梁儲，字叔厚，廣東順德人。受業陳獻章。舉成化十四年會試第一，選庶吉士，授編修，尋兼司經局校書。弘治四年，進侍講。改洗馬，侍武宗於東宮。冊封安南，卻其饋。久之，擢翰林學士，同修《會典》，遷少詹事，拜吏部右侍郎。正德初，改左，進尚書，專典誥敕，掌詹事府。劉瑾摘《會典》小疵，儲坐降右侍郎。《孝宗實錄》成，復尚書，尋加太子少保，調南京吏部。瑾誅，以吏部尚書兼文淵閣大學士，入參機務。屢加少傅、太子太傅，進建極殿。十年，楊廷和遭喪去，儲為首輔。進少師、太子太師、華蓋殿大學士。時方建乾清、坤寧宮，又營太素殿、天鵝房、船塢，儲偕同官靳貴、楊一清切諫。明年春，以國本未定，請擇宗室賢者居京師，備儲貳之選，皆不報。其秋，一清罷，蔣冕代之。至明年，貴亦罷，毛紀入閣。

Liang Chu, styled Shuhou, was from Shunde in Guangdong. He studied under Chen Xianzhang. In Chenghua 14 he ranked first in the metropolitan examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, appointed reviser, and soon also served as collator in the Directorate of Education. In Hongzhi 4 he was promoted to Hanlin expositor. He was reassigned as junior tutor and attended the future Emperor Wuzong in the Eastern Palace. When sent to invest the ruler of Annan, he declined the gifts offered him. After some time he was promoted to Hanlin academician, helped compile the Huidian, was made junior tutor of the heir apparent, and appointed Vice Minister of the Right in the Ministry of Personnel. At the beginning of the Zhengde reign he was moved to the left, promoted to minister, put in charge of drafting edicts of appointment, and made head of the Directorate of the Heir Apparent. Liu Jin seized on minor flaws in the Huidian, and Chu was demoted to vice minister on the right. When the Veritable Records of Emperor Xiaozong were completed, he was restored as minister; soon he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and transferred to the Ministry of Personnel at Nanjing. After Jin was executed, he served as Minister of Personnel concurrently with Grand Secretary in the Wenyuan Pavilion and entered to deliberate on state affairs. He was repeatedly elevated to Junior Mentor and Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent, and entered the Jianji Hall. In the tenth year, when Yang Tinghe left for mourning, Chu became chief minister. He was promoted to Junior Preceptor, Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, and Grand Secretary in the Huagai Hall. At that time the Qianqing and Kunning palaces were being built, along with the Taisu Hall, swan enclosure, and shipyard; Chu together with Jin Gui and Yang Yiqing remonstrated urgently. The next spring, because no heir had been designated, he asked that talented members of the imperial clan be brought to the capital as candidates for the succession; the throne issued no reply. That autumn Yang Yiqing was dismissed and Jiang Mian replaced him. By the following year Jin Gui was also dismissed and Mao Ji entered the Grand Secretariat.

帝好微行，嘗出西安門，經宿返。儲等諫，不聽，然猶慮外廷知。是春，從近幸言召百官至左順門，明告以郊祀畢，幸南海子觀獵。儲等暨廷臣諫，皆不納。八月朔，微服從數十騎幸昌平。次日，儲、冕、紀始覺，追至沙河不及，連疏請回鑾。越十有三日乃旋。儲等以國無儲副，而帝盤遊不息，中外危疑，力申建儲之請，亦不報。九月，帝馳出居庸關，幸宣府，命谷大用守關，無縱廷臣出。遂由宣府抵大同，遇寇於應州，幾殆。儲等憂懼，請回鑾益急。章十余上，帝不為動，歲除竟駐宣府。當是時，帝失德彌甚。群小竊權，濁亂朝政，人情惶惶。儲懼不克任，以廷和服闋，屢請召之。廷和還朝，儲遂讓而處其下。鳳陽守備中官丘德及鎮守延綏、寧夏、大同、宣府諸中官皆乞更敕書兼理民事，帝許之。儲等極言不可，弗聽。

The emperor liked to travel incognito; once he went out through Xi'an Gate and did not return until the next day. Chu and the others remonstrated, but the emperor would not listen; yet he still feared that the outer court would learn of it. That spring, on the advice of his close attendants, he summoned all officials to Zuoshun Gate and openly announced that after the suburban sacrifice he would visit the Southern Park to watch the hunt. Chu and the others, together with the court officials, remonstrated; none of it was heeded. On the first day of the eighth month, in plain dress and with several dozen horsemen, he visited Changping. The next day Chu, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji learned of it, pursued him as far as Shahe but could not catch up, and submitted memorial after memorial asking him to return. More than thirteen days passed before he returned. Chu and the others, because the state had no heir apparent and the emperor's roaming amusements never ceased, said alarm and doubt filled court and realm, and urgently renewed their request to establish an heir; again there was no reply. In the ninth month the emperor galloped out through Juyong Pass to Xuanfu; he ordered Gu Dayong to hold the pass and not let court officials through. He then went from Xuanfu to Datong and encountered bandits at Yingzhou, nearly losing his life. Chu and the others were filled with alarm and pressed ever more urgently for his return. More than ten memorials were submitted; the emperor was unmoved, and at year's end he was still lodged at Xuanfu. At that time the emperor's misconduct grew ever worse. Petty men usurped power, governance was corrupted and disordered, and public sentiment was terrified. Chu feared he could not bear the burden; as Tinghe's mourning period had ended, he repeatedly asked that Tinghe be summoned back. When Tinghe returned to court, Chu yielded and placed himself below him. The eunuch Qiu De, garrison commander at Fengyang, and the eunuchs garrisoning Yan-sui, Ningxia, Datong, Xuanfu, and other posts all requested revised edicts to administer civil affairs as well; the emperor granted it. Chu and the others spoke out strongly against it; the emperor would not listen.

十三年七月，帝從江彬言，將遍遊塞上。托言邊關多警，命總督軍務、威武大將軍、總兵官朱壽統六師往征，令內閣草敕。閣臣不可，帝復集百官左順門面諭。廷和、冕在告，儲、紀泣諫，眾亦泣，帝意不可回。已而紀亦引疾。儲獨廷爭累日，帝竟不聽。逾月，帝以「大將軍壽」肅清邊境，令加封「鎮國公」。儲、紀上言：「公雖貴，人臣耳。陛下承祖宗業，為天下君，奈何謬自貶損。既封國公，則將授以誥券，追封三代。祖宗在天之靈亦肯如陛下貶損否？況鐵券必有免死之文，陛下壽福無疆，何甘自菲薄，蒙此不祥之辭。名既不正，言自不順。臣等斷不敢阿意茍從，取他日戮身亡家之禍也。」不報。帝遂歷宣府、大同，直抵延綏。儲等疏數十上，悉置不省。

In the seventh month of the thirteenth year, following Jiang Bin's advice, the emperor planned to tour the entire northern frontier. On the pretext that the border posts were greatly alarmed, he ordered Zhu Shou, Grand Coordinator of Military Affairs, Awesome General, and regional commander, to lead the six armies on campaign, and commanded the Grand Secretariat to draft the edict. The grand secretaries refused; the emperor then assembled the hundred officials at Zuoshun Gate and addressed them in person. Tinghe and Jiang Mian were on sick leave; Chu and Mao Ji remonstrated through tears, the assembly wept as well, but the emperor's mind could not be turned. Soon Mao Ji also pleaded illness and withdrew. Chu alone remonstrated at court for days on end, but in the end the emperor would not listen. A month later, citing the "Great General Shou's" pacification of the frontier, he ordered that he be additionally enfeoffed as Duke Who Stabilizes the State. Chu and Mao Ji memorialized, "A duke, however exalted, is still only a subject. Your Majesty inherits the work of the ancestral temple and is sovereign of all under Heaven—why demean yourself? Once enfeoffed as State Duke, he will be given an iron certificate and his three generations of ancestors will receive posthumous titles. Would the ancestral spirits in Heaven consent to such demeaning as Your Majesty proposes? Moreover an iron certificate necessarily contains language granting exemption from death—Your Majesty's life and blessing are boundless; why willingly demean yourself with such ill-omened words? When the name is not correct, the words cannot be in order. We dare not flatter and follow against our conscience, inviting the calamity of execution and the ruin of our families. No reply was issued. The emperor then passed through Xuanfu and Datong and went straight to Yan-sui. Chu and the others submitted dozens of memorials; all were set aside unread.

秦王請關中閑田為牧地，江彬、錢寧、張忠等皆為之請。帝排群議許之，命閣臣草制。廷和、冕引疾，帝怒甚。儲度不可爭，乃上制草曰：「太祖高皇帝著令，茲土不畀藩封。非吝也，念其土廣饒，藩封得之，多蓄士馬，富而且驕，奸人誘為不軌，不利宗社。王今得地，宜益謹。毋收聚奸人，毋多蓄士馬，毋聽狂人謀不軌，震及邊方，危我社稷，是時雖欲保親親不可得已。」帝駭曰：「若是其可虞！」事遂寢。明年，帝將南巡。言官伏闕諫，儲、冕、紀亦以為言。會諸曹多諫者，乃止。寧王宸濠反，帝南征，儲、冕扈從。在道聞賊滅，連疏請駕旋。抵揚州，帝議南京行郊禮。儲、冕計此議行，則回鑾益無日，極陳不可，疏三上始得請。帝以宸濠械將至，問處置之宜。儲等請如宣宗征高煦故事，罪人既得，即日班師。又因郊期改卜，四方災異、邊警，乞還乘輿。疏八九上，帝殊無還意。是秋，行在有物若豕首墮帝前，色碧，又進御婦人室中，若懸人首狀。人情益驚。儲、冕危言諫，帝頗心動。而群小猶欲導帝遊浙西，泛江、漢。儲、冕益懼，手疏跪泣行宮門外，歷未至酉。帝遣人取疏入，諭之起。叩頭言：「未奉俞旨，不敢起也。」帝不得已，許不日還京，乃叩頭出。

The Prince of Qin requested idle lands in Guanzhong as pasture; Jiang Bin, Qian Ning, Zhang Zhong, and others all pleaded on his behalf. The emperor brushed aside collective opposition and granted it, ordering the grand secretaries to draft the edict. Tinghe and Jiang Mian pleaded illness; the emperor was furious. Chu judged the matter could not be contested, so he submitted a draft edict saying, "The founding emperor Gaozu issued an ordinance that these lands are not to be granted to feudal princes. It was not stinginess—he considered that the land is broad and fertile; if a feudal prince obtained it, he would gather many soldiers and horses, grow rich and arrogant, and wicked men would induce him toward disloyalty, to the detriment of the ancestral temple and state. The prince now receiving this land should be all the more cautious. Do not gather wicked men, do not amass many soldiers and horses, do not heed madmen plotting treason—if alarm reaches the borderlands and endangers our state, then even if he wishes to preserve kinship ties, it will be impossible. The emperor was alarmed and said, "If so, this is greatly to be feared!" The matter was dropped. The next year the emperor planned to tour the south. Censorial officials remonstrated kneeling at the palace gate; Chu, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji also spoke on it. As many offices joined in remonstrance, he stopped. When the Prince of Ning Zhu Chenhao rebelled, the emperor marched south; Chu and Jiang Mian accompanied him. On the road he heard the rebel had been destroyed; memorial after memorial asked that the imperial carriage return. Reaching Yangzhou, the emperor discussed performing the suburban rite at Nanjing. Chu and Jiang Mian calculated that if this proposal went forward, the return would be delayed indefinitely; they argued strongly against it, and only after three memorials did he consent. The emperor, since Chenhao in fetters was about to arrive, asked how he should be disposed of. Chu and the others requested that it follow the precedent of the Xuande emperor's campaign against Gao Xu: once the culprit was taken, the army should withdraw the same day. They also cited the rescheduling of the suburban sacrifice, calamities and prodigies throughout the realm, and frontier alarms, begging that the imperial carriage return. Eight or nine memorials were submitted; the emperor showed not the least intention of returning. That autumn at the traveling palace something like a pig's head fell before the emperor, green in color; another appeared in the chamber of an imperial woman, shaped like a severed human head. Public sentiment grew ever more alarmed. Chu and Jiang Mian remonstrated in the strongest terms; the emperor was somewhat moved. Yet the petty men still wished to guide the emperor to tour western Zhejiang and sail the Yangzi and Han. Chu and Jiang Mian grew still more fearful; they wrote memorials by hand and, kneeling in tears outside the traveling palace gate, remained there until nearly the hour of you. The emperor sent someone to take the memorials in and ordered them to rise. They kowtowed and said, "Without Your Majesty's approving edict, we dare not rise." The emperor, having no choice, promised to return to the capital within days, and they kowtowed and withdrew.

帝崩，楊廷和等定策迎興世子。故事，當以內閣一人與中貴勛戚偕禮官往。廷和欲留蔣冕自助，而慮儲老或憚行，乃佯惜儲憊老，阻其行。儲奮曰：「事孰有大於此者，敢以憊辭！」遂與定國公徐光祚等迎世子安陸邸。既即位，給事中張九敘等劾儲結納權奸，持祿固寵。儲三疏求去，命賜敕馳傳，遣行人護行，歲給廩隸如制。卒，子鈞奏請贈謚。吏部侍郎桂萼等言，儲立身輔政，有幹公議，因錄上兩京言官彈章。帝念先朝舊臣，特贈太師，謚文康。

When the emperor died, Yang Tinghe and others settled on welcoming the heir of the Prince of Xing. By precedent, one grand secretary was to go with palace eunuchs, ennobled kin, and ritual officials. Tinghe wished to keep Jiang Mian at court to help him govern, but feared the elderly Chu might shrink from the journey, so he feigned concern that Chu was worn out and too old—and blocked his going. Chu exclaimed, "What affair is greater than this? How dare I plead weariness! Thereupon, together with the Duke of Dingguo Xu Guangzuo and others, he went to welcome the heir at the Anlu residence. After enthronement, Supervising Secretary Zhang Jiuxu and others impeached Chu for cultivating ties with powerful favorites and clinging to office to preserve influence. Chu submitted three memorials asking to retire; the throne ordered an edict under seal with courier transport, a palace attendant to escort him homeward, and annual stipends and household servants as usual. When he died, his son Jun memorialized requesting posthumous honors and an honorific posthumous title. Vice Minister of Personnel Gui E and others said that in deportment and in office Chu had offended public opinion; they therefore forwarded the censorial memorials from both capitals. Mindful of a veteran of the previous reign, the emperor specially posthumously ennobled him Grand Preceptor with the posthumous title Wenkang.

先是，儲子次攄為錦衣百戶。居家與富人楊端爭民田，端殺田主，次攄遂滅端家二百余人。事發，武宗以儲故，僅發邊衛立功。後還職，累冒功至廣東都指揮僉事。

Earlier, Chu's son Cishu had served as a centurion in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard. While living at home he disputed farmland with a wealthy man named Yang Duan; when Duan killed the landholder, Cishu exterminated more than two hundred members of Duan's household. When the affair came to light, Wuzong, for Chu's sake, merely sent him to earn merit on the frontier. Later restored to office, he repeatedly claimed merit fraudulently until he reached vice commander of the Guangdong regional military commission.

蔣冕，字敬之，全州人。兄昇，南京戶部尚書，以謹厚稱。冕舉成化二十三年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。弘治十三年，太子出閣，兼司經局校書。正德中，累官吏部左侍郎，改掌詹事府，典誥敕，進禮部尚書，仍掌府事。

Jiang Mian, styled Jingzhi, was from Quanzhou. His elder brother Sheng was Minister of Revenue at Nanjing and was known for caution and integrity. Mian passed the jinshi in Chenghua 23, was selected a Hanlin bachelor, and appointed reviser. In Hongzhi 13 the crown prince left the palace school; he also served as collator in the Directorate of Education. During the Zhengde reign he rose to Vice Minister of the Left in the Ministry of Personnel, was reassigned to head the Directorate of the Heir Apparent and draft edicts of appointment, was promoted Minister of Rites, and still headed the directorate.

冕清謹有器識，雅負時望。十一年命兼文淵閣大學士，預機務。明年改武英殿，加太子太傅。近幸冒邊功，大行升賞，冕及梁儲亦蔭錦衣世千戶。兩人力辭，乃改文蔭。

Mian was clear-minded, cautious, and far-sighted, and enjoyed the esteem of his age. In the eleventh year he was ordered to serve concurrently as Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Hall and to take part in state deliberations. The next year he was moved to the Wuying Hall and made Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Favorites claimed frontier merit fraudulently, and broad promotions followed; Mian and Liang Chu also received hereditary commandancy of a thousand households in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard. Both men strenuously declined; they were then given hereditary civil appointments instead.

帝之以「威武大將軍」行邊也，冕時病在告，疏諫曰：「陛下自損威重，下同臣子，倘所過諸王以大將軍禮見，陛下何辭責之？曩睿皇帝北征，六軍官屬近三十萬，猶且陷於土木。今宿衛單弱，經行邊僥，寧不寒心？請治左右引導者罪。」不報。十四年扈帝南征還，加少傅兼太子太傅、戶部尚書、謹身殿大學士。帝崩，與楊廷和協誅江彬。

When the emperor went to the frontier as "Valiant and Martial Grand General," Mian was then ill on leave; he memorialized in remonstrance, saying, "Your Majesty diminishes your own majesty and descends to the level of your subjects; if the princes you pass receive you with the courtesy due a grand general, with what words will Your Majesty reprove them? When the Chenghua emperor campaigned north, the officers and men of the six armies numbered nearly three hundred thousand, yet they still met disaster at Tumu. Now the palace guard is thin, and the route skirts the frontier by chance—should one not be chilled at heart? I beg that those at Your Majesty's side who guide this course be punished." No reply was issued. In the fourteenth year, having accompanied the emperor on the southern expedition and returned, he was made Junior Tutor and concurrent Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent, Minister of Revenue, and Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall. When the emperor died, together with Yang Tinghe he cooperated in executing Jiang Bin.

世宗即位，議定策功，加伯爵，固辭。改蔭錦衣世指揮，又辭。乃蔭五品文職，仍進一階。御史張鵬疏評大臣賢否，請罷冕。御史趙永亨詆石缶不可掌銓衡。冕、缶遂求去。朝議不平，諸給事、御史皆言其不可去。帝乃命鴻臚諭留，再下優詔，始起視事。

When Shizong took the throne, deliberations on rewards for settling the succession offered him an earldom; he firmly declined. It was changed to hereditary commandant in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard; he declined again. He was then given a hereditary fifth-rank civil post and still advanced one step in rank. Censor Zhang Peng in a memorial judged whether the great ministers were worthy and asked that Mian be dismissed. Censor Zhao Yongheng denounced Shi Jiubao as unfit to hold the power of appointment. Mian and Shi thereupon asked to leave. Court opinion was indignant; the supervising secretaries and censors all said they should not be allowed to leave. The emperor then ordered the Court of State Ceremonial to instruct them to stay, and issued favorable edicts a second time before they resumed office.

嘉靖三年遣官織造江南，命冕草敕。冕以江南被災，具疏請止，帝不從，敕亦久不進。帝責其違慢，冕引罪而止。

In Jiajing 3 officials were dispatched to supervise weaving in Jiangnan; Mian was ordered to draft the edict. Mian, because Jiangnan had suffered disaster, fully memorialized asking that it be halted; the emperor did not agree, and the edict was long withheld. The emperor reproached him for disobedience and delay; Mian took blame and desisted.

「大禮」議起，冕固執為人後之說，與廷和等力爭之。帝始而婉諭，繼以譙讓，冕執議不回。及廷和罷政，冕當國，帝愈欲尊崇所生。逐禮部尚書汪俊以怵冕，而用席書代之，且召張璁、桂萼。物情甚沸，冕乃抗疏極諫曰：「陛下嗣承丕基，固因倫序素定。然非聖母昭聖皇太后懿旨與武宗皇帝遺詔，則將無所受命。今既受命於武宗，自當為武宗之後。特兄弟之名不容紊，故但兄武宗，考孝宗，母昭聖。而於孝廟、武廟皆稱嗣皇帝，稱臣，稱御名，以示繼統承祀之義。今乃欲為本生父母立廟奉先殿側，臣雖至愚，斷斷知其不可。自古人君嗣位謂之承祧踐阼，皆指宗祀而言。《禮》為人後者惟大宗，以大宗尊之統也，亦主宗廟祭祀而言。自漢至今，未有為本生父母立廟大內者。漢宣帝為叔祖昭帝後，止立所生父廟於葬所。光武中興，本非承統平帝，而止立四親廟於章陵。宋英宗父濮安懿王，亦止即園立廟。陛下先年有旨，立廟安陸，與前代適同，得其當矣。豈可既奉大宗之祀，又兼奉小宗之祀？夫情既重於所生，義必不專於所後，將孝、武二廟之靈安所托乎！竊恐獻帝之靈亦將不能安，雖聖心亦自不能安也。邇者復允汪俊之去，趣張璁、桂萼之來，人心益駭。是日廷議建廟，天本晴明，忽變陰晦，至暮風雷大作。天意如此，陛下可不思變計哉？」因力求去。帝得疏不悅，猶以大臣故，優詔答之。未幾，復請罷建廟之議，且乞休，疏中再以天變為言。帝益不悅，遂令馳傳歸，給月廩、歲夫如制。

When the Great Rites dispute arose, Mian firmly held to the doctrine of being an heir to another line and strove against the emperor's course together with Tinghe and the others. The emperor at first gave gentle instruction, then turned to reproach; Mian held to his view and did not yield. When Tinghe left office, Mian headed the government; the emperor all the more wished to honor his natural parents. He drove out Minister of Rites Wang Jun to intimidate Mian, appointed Xi Shu in his place, and also summoned Zhang Cong and Gui E. Public sentiment seethed; Mian then submitted a forceful memorial remonstrating to the utmost, saying, "Your Majesty has succeeded to the great foundation; this is indeed because the order of succession was long settled. Yet but for the august instruction of Empress Dowager Zhaosheng and the testamentary edict of Emperor Wuzong, there would have been no source from which to receive the mandate. Now that you have received the mandate from Wuzong, you should naturally be Wuzong's successor. Only the name of brother cannot be disordered; therefore you merely treat Wuzong as elder brother, Xiaozong as father in the rites, and Zhaosheng as mother. Yet toward the shrines of Xiaozong and Wuzong you are styled "successor emperor," call yourself subject, and use their taboo names—showing that you inherit the succession and continue the sacrifices. Now you wish to erect temples for your natural parents beside the Hall of Imperial Ancestors; though I am utterly foolish, I am absolutely certain this cannot be done. From antiquity, when a ruler succeeded to the throne it was called receiving the ancestral line and treading the dais—all referred to ancestral sacrifice. The Rites says that one who becomes another's heir serves only the great lineage, because the great lineage honors the succession—and this too concerns chiefly ancestral temples and sacrifice. From Han until now, there has never been a case of erecting temples to one's natural parents within the inner palace. Emperor Xuan of Han became heir to his uncle-grandfather Emperor Zhao and only erected a temple to his natural father at the burial place. When Guangwu restored the dynasty, he had not in origin succeeded Emperor Ping, and only erected temples to four forebears at Zhangling. Emperor Yingzong of Song—his father was Prince Pu'an the Respectful and Majestic—and he too only erected a temple at the princely estate. Your Majesty in an earlier year issued an edict to erect a temple at Anlu, matching former ages and hitting what was fitting. How can you already serve the sacrifices of the great lineage and also jointly serve those of the lesser lineage? If feeling weighs heavier toward those who bore you, duty cannot be devoted solely to those to whom you are heir—where then will the spirits of the Xiaozong and Wuzong shrines find their resting place! I fear that the spirit of the late Prince of Xing will likewise be unable to rest, and even Your Majesty's own heart will be unable to rest. Recently you again allowed Wang Jun to leave and hastened the coming of Zhang Cong and Gui E; popular hearts grew still more alarmed. On that day, when the court deliberated on erecting the temple, the sky had been clear and bright, then suddenly turned dark and gloomy; by evening wind and thunder broke out greatly. Heaven's intent is thus—can Your Majesty not consider changing your plan?" He thereupon strove to leave office. The emperor received the memorial displeased, yet because he was a great minister, answered with a favorable edict. Before long he again asked that the plan to erect the temple be abandoned and begged to retire; in the memorial he again cited heaven's warnings. The emperor grew still more displeased and ordered him to return home by courier transport, granting monthly stipends and annual corvée laborers as usual.

冕當正德之季，主昏政亂，持正不撓，有匡弼功。世宗初，朝政雖新，而上下捍格彌甚，冕守之不移。代廷和為首輔僅兩閱月，卒齟齬以去，論者謂有古大臣風。《明倫大典》成，落職閑住，久之卒。隆慶初復官，謚文定。

In the late Zhengde period, when the ruler was benighted and government chaotic, Mian held firm without bending and had the merit of aiding and correcting. At the beginning of Shizong's reign, though court affairs were renewed, obstruction between high and low grew still worse; Mian held his ground without shifting. Replacing Tinghe as chief minister for only two months, he finally left in discord; commentators said he had the bearing of the great ministers of antiquity. When the Minglun Dadian was completed, he was stripped of office and lived in retirement; after a long time he died. At the beginning of Longqing his office was restored; he was given the posthumous title Wending.

毛紀，字維之，掖縣人。成化末，舉鄉試第一，登進士，選庶吉士。弘治初，授檢討，進修撰，充經筵講官，簡侍東宮講讀。《會典》成，遷侍讀。武宗立，改左諭德。坐《會典》小誤，降侍讀。《孝宗實錄》成，擢侍講學士，為講官。正德五年進學士，遷戶部右侍郎。

Mao Ji, styled Weizhi, was from Yexian. At the end of Chenghua he ranked first in the provincial examination, passed the jinshi, and was selected a Hanlin bachelor. At the beginning of Hongzhi he was appointed proofreader, promoted to reviser, served as lecturer at the classics colloquium, and was chosen to attend the crown prince in the Eastern Palace as reader. When the Huidian was completed, he was transferred to reader. When Wuzong took the throne, he was reassigned as Left Mentor. For a minor error in the Huidian he was demoted to reader. When the Veritable Records of Xiaozong were completed, he was promoted to expositor and academician and served as lecturer. In Zhengde 5 he was advanced to academician and transferred to Vice Minister of the Right in the Ministry of Revenue.

十年，由吏部左侍郎拜禮部尚書。烏思藏入貢，其使言有活佛能前知禍福。帝遣中官劉允迎之。攜錦衣官百三十，衛卒及私仆隸數千人，芻糧、舟車費以百萬計。紀等上言：「自京師至烏思藏二萬餘里，公私煩費，不可勝言。且自四川雅州出境，過長河西行數月而後至。無有郵驛、村市。一切資費，取辦四川。四川連歲用兵，流賊甫平，蠻寇復起。困竭之余，重加此累，恐生意外變。」疏再上，內閣梁儲、靳貴、楊一清皆切諫，不報。郊祀畢，請勤朝講，又以儲嗣未建，乞早定大計，亦不聽。尋改理誥敕，掌詹事府。十二年兼東閣大學士入預機務。其秋加太子太保，改文淵閣。帝南征，紀佐楊廷和居守。駕旋，晉少保、戶部尚書、武英殿大學士。

In the tenth year, from Vice Minister of the Left in the Ministry of Personnel he was appointed Minister of Rites. When U-Tsang sent tribute, its envoy said there was a living buddha who could foreknow fortune and misfortune. The emperor dispatched the palace eunuch Liu Yun to welcome him. He took with him one hundred thirty officers of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard, several thousand guardsmen and private servants and retainers, with fodder, grain, and costs for boats and carts reckoned in the millions. Ji and others memorialized, saying, "From the capital to U-Tsang is more than twenty thousand li; the trouble and expense to public and private cannot be fully stated. Moreover, from leaving the border at Yazhou in Sichuan and traveling west of the Long River, several months pass before one arrives. There are no postal stations or market villages. All supplies are raised from Sichuan. Sichuan had waged war year after year; bandits had only just been pacified and barbarian raiders rose again. On top of exhaustion, to add this burden again may give rise to unforeseen changes." The memorial was submitted again; Liang Chu, Jin Gui, and Yang Yiqing of the Grand Secretariat all remonstrated urgently; no reply was issued. When the suburban sacrifice was completed, he asked that the emperor attend court diligently and lecture on the classics, and because the heir had not yet been established, begged that the succession be settled early; this too was not heeded. Soon he was reassigned to manage patents and edicts and to head the Directorate of the Heir Apparent. In the twelfth year he served concurrently as Grand Secretary of the East Pavilion and entered confidential deliberations. That autumn he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and transferred to the Wenyuan Hall. When the emperor marched south, Ji assisted Yang Tinghe in holding the capital. When the emperor returned from the southern tour, Ji was promoted to Junior Guardian, Minister of Revenue, and Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall.

世宗即位，錄定策功，加伯爵，再疏辭免。嘉靖初，帝欲追尊興獻帝，閣臣執奏，忤旨。三年，廷和、冕相繼去國。紀為首輔，復執如初。帝欲去本生之稱，紀與石缶合疏爭之。帝召見平臺，委曲諭意，紀終不從。朝臣伏闕哭爭者，俱逮系，紀具疏乞原。帝怒，傳旨責紀要結朋奸，背君報私。紀乃上言曰：「曩蒙聖諭，國家政事商確可否，然後施行。此誠內閣職業也，臣愚不能仰副明命。邇者大禮之議，平臺召對，司禮傳諭，不知其幾似乎商榷矣。而皆斷自聖心，不蒙允納，何可否之有。至於笞罰廷臣，動至數百，乃祖宗來所未有者，亦皆出自中旨，臣等不得與聞。宣召徒勤，捍格如故。慰留雖切，詰責隨加。臣雖有體國之心，不能自盡。宋司馬光告神宗曰：『陛下所以用臣，蓋察其狂直，庶有補於國家，若徒以祿位榮之而不取其言，是以官私非其人也。臣以祿位自榮，而不能救正，是徒盜竊名器以私其身也。』臣於陛下，敢舉以為告。夫要結朋奸，背君報私，正臣平日所痛憤而深疾者。有一於此，罪何止罷黜！今陛下以之疑臣，尚可一日顏朝寧間哉。乞賜骸骨歸鄉里，以全終始。尤望陛下法祖典學，任賢納諫，審是非，辨忠邪，以養和平之福。」帝銜紀亢直，允其去，馳驛給夫廩如故事。

When Shizong took the throne, his role in securing the succession was rewarded with an earldom; he memorialized twice to decline. Early in Jiajing the emperor wished to posthumously honor his biological father; the grand secretaries held firm in memorial and defied his will. In the third year Yang Tinghe and Jiang Mian left office in succession. Ji became chief grand secretary and again held his ground as before. When the emperor sought to drop the title of biological father, Ji and Shi Jiubao submitted a joint memorial of protest. The emperor summoned him to Pingtai and explained his wishes at length, but Ji would not yield. Officials who knelt weeping at the palace gate in protest were all arrested; Ji submitted a detailed memorial begging pardon for them. Enraged, the emperor issued an edict accusing Ji of forming factions, betraying his sovereign, and serving private ends. Ji then memorialized, saying, "Your Majesty once instructed me that state affairs should be weighed for feasibility before they were enacted. That is the Grand Secretariat's proper charge—and I, in my folly, have failed to meet Your clear command. In the recent Great Rites debate there were audiences at Pingtai and edicts relayed by the Directorate of Ceremonial—how often they seemed like genuine consultation! Yet every decision came from Your Majesty's own mind; none of our views was accepted—where was there any weighing of yes or no? As for flogging court officials by the hundreds—a thing unknown since the founding of the dynasty—all issued from inner edicts of which we were never informed. Imperial summons came again and again, yet obstruction remained unchanged. Though we were urged to stay with the utmost earnestness, reproof and censure followed at once. Though I cherish the state in my heart, I can no longer give it my all. Sima Guang of the Song told Emperor Shenzong: 'Your Majesty employs me because you discern my bold straightforwardness, hoping I may serve the state. If you honor me with salary and rank but heed none of my words, you treat office as a private reward and I am not the man for the post. If I glory in salary and rank yet cannot set things right, I merely steal title and office for my private gain. Toward Your Majesty I dare offer the same counsel. Forming factions and betraying one's sovereign for private ends—upright ministers deplore these every day and hate them to the bone. To harbor the slightest trace of them—what punishment would fall short of dismissal! Now that Your Majesty suspects me of them, how can I still show my face at court for even a day? I beg leave to take my old bones home and preserve my beginning and end in full. Above all I hope Your Majesty will follow the ancestral models, study the classics, employ the worthy and heed remonstrance, judge right from wrong and loyalty from treachery, and so nurture the blessings of peace. The emperor resented Ji's stubborn rectitude but granted his request, providing courier transport and grain stipends as usual.

紀有學識，居官廉靜簡重。與廷和、冕正色立朝，並為縉紳所倚賴。其代冕亦僅三月。後《明倫大典》成，追論奪官。久之，廷和、冕皆淪喪，紀以恩詔敘復，帝亦且忘之。二十一年，年八十，撫按以聞。詔遣官存問，再賜夫廩。又三年卒。贈太保，謚文簡。子渠，進士，太仆卿。

Ji was learned and erudite; in office he was incorruptible, reserved, and grave. With Tinghe and Mian he stood at court in stern rectitude, and the whole official class relied on them. His tenure replacing Mian likewise lasted only three months. Later, when the Minglun Dadian was completed, his office was retrospectively stripped in the settling of accounts. Long afterward, when Tinghe and Mian had both died, Ji was restored by grace edict; the emperor had nearly forgotten him. In the twenty-first year, at eighty, the provincial surveillance officials reported his condition. An edict sent an official to inquire after him and again granted courier transport and grain. Three years later he died. He was posthumously made Grand Guardian with the posthumous title Wenjian. His son Qu, a jinshi, rose to Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud.

石缶，字邦彥，槁城人。父玉，山東按察使。缶與兄玠同舉成化末年進士，改庶吉士，授檢討，數謝病居家。孝宗末，始進修撰。正德改元，擢南京侍讀學士。歷兩京祭酒，遷南京吏部右侍郎。召改禮部，進左侍郎。武宗始遊宣府，缶上疏力諫，不報。改掌翰林院事。廷臣諫南巡，禍將不測，缶疏救之。十六年拜禮部尚書，掌詹事府。

Shi Jiubao, styled Bangyan, was from Gaocheng. His father Yu had served as regional inspector of Shandong. Jiubao and his elder brother Jie both passed the jinshi at the end of Chenghua, entered the Hanlin as bachelors, were appointed proofreaders, and repeatedly took leave to convalesce at home. Only at the end of Xiaozong's reign was he promoted to reviser. When Zhengde began he was made Reader in the Nanjing Hanlin. He served as libationer in both capitals and was transferred to Vice Minister of Personnel at Nanjing. Recalled to the Ministry of Rites, he was promoted to Left Vice Minister. When Wuzong first toured Xuanfu, Jiubao memorialized in forceful remonstrance but received no reply. He was reassigned to direct the Hanlin Academy. When court officials remonstrated against the southern tour and calamity seemed near, Jiubao memorialized to save them. In the sixteenth year he was made Minister of Rites and director of the Directorate of the Heir Apparent.

世宗立，代王瓊為吏部尚書。自群小竊柄，銓政混濁。缶剛方，謝請托，諸犯清議者多見黜，時望大孚，而內閣楊廷和有所不悅。甫二月，復改掌詹事府，典誥敕。嘉靖元年遣祀闕里及東嶽。事竣還家，屢乞致仕。言官以缶望重，交章請留，乃起赴官。

When Shizong took the throne he replaced Wang Qiong as Minister of Personnel. Petty men had seized power, and appointments had grown murky and corrupt. Jiubao was upright and unyielding; he refused patronage and petitions, and many who had offended upright opinion were dismissed—public esteem swelled, though Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe was somewhat displeased. After barely two months he was again reassigned to the Directorate of the Heir Apparent to manage patents and edicts. In Jiajing 1 he was dispatched to perform sacrifices at Qufu and Mount Tai. When the rites were completed he returned home and repeatedly begged to retire. Because Jiubao's standing was weighty, censorial officials memorialized one after another asking that he stay; he was then recalled to office.

三年五月，詔以吏部尚書兼文淵閣大學士入參機務。帝欲以奉先殿側別建一室祀獻帝，缶抗疏言其非禮。及廷臣伏闕泣爭，缶與毛紀助之。無何，「大禮」議定，紀去位。缶復諫曰：「大禮一事已奉宸斷，無可言矣。但臣反復思之，終有不安於心者。心所不安而不以言，言恐觸忤而不敢盡，則陛下將焉用臣，臣亦何以仰報君父哉？夫孝宗皇帝與昭聖皇太后，乃陛下骨肉至親也。今使疏賤讒佞小人輒行離間，但知希合取寵，不復為陛下體察。茲孟冬時享在邇，陛下登獻對越，如親見之，寧不少動於中乎？夫事亡如事存。陛下承列聖之統，以總百神，臨萬方，焉得不加慎重，顧聽細人之說，幹不易之典哉？」帝得奏不悅，戒勿復言。

In the fifth month of year 3 an edict made him Minister of Personnel concurrent with Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Hall to join in confidential deliberations. The emperor wished to build a separate chamber beside the Hall of Imperial Ancestors to sacrifice to his biological father; Jiubao remonstrated forcefully that it violated ritual. When court officials knelt weeping at the palace gate in protest, Jiubao and Mao Ji supported them. Before long the Great Rites were settled and Ji left office. Jiubao remonstrated again, saying, "The Great Rites have already received Your Majesty's final decision; nothing more remains to be said. Yet pondering it again and again, I still cannot set my heart at ease. What the heart cannot rest easy with yet goes unspoken—if one fears offense and therefore dares not speak fully—how will Your Majesty employ me, and how shall I repay my sovereign and father? Emperor Xiaozong and Empress Dowager Zhaosheng are your flesh and blood, your closest kin. Now base slanderers and flatterers at once sow division; they know only how to curry favor and no longer weigh matters for Your Majesty's sake. The winter seasonal sacrifice draws near; when Your Majesty ascends to present offerings and faces the spirits across, as if seeing them in person—will you not be moved within? To serve the dead as one serves the living. Your Majesty inherits the line of the sage emperors, presiding over the hundred spirits and facing the ten thousand realms—how can you fail to be cautious? Yet you heed petty men's words and overturn unchanging canonical rites! The emperor received the memorial unhappily and warned him not to speak again.

明年建世廟於太廟東。帝欲從何淵言，毀神宮監，伐林木，以通輦道。給事中韓楷，御史楊秦、葉忠等交諫，忤旨奪俸。給事中衛道繼言之，貶秩調外。缶復抗章，極言不可，弗聽。及世廟成，帝欲奉章聖皇太后謁見，張璁、桂萼力主之。禮官劉龍等爭不得，諸輔臣以為言，帝不報，趣具儀。缶乃上疏曰：「陛下欲奉皇太后謁見世廟，臣竊以為從令固孝，而孝有大於從令者。臣誠不敢阿諛以誤君上。竊惟祖宗家法，后妃已入宮，未有無故復出者。且太廟尊嚴，非時享祫祭，雖天子亦不輕入，況后妃乎？璁輩所引廟見之禮，今奉先殿是也。聖祖神宗行之百五十年，已為定制，中間納后納妃不知凡幾，未有敢議及者，何至今日忽倡此議？彼容悅佞臣豈有忠愛之實，而陛下乃欲聽之乎？且陰陽有定位，不可侵越。陛下為天地百神之主，致母后無故出入太廟街門，是坤行乾事，陰侵陽位，不可之大者也。臣豈不知君命當承，第恐上累聖德，是以不敢順旨曲從，以成君父之過，負覆載之德也。」奏入，帝大慍。

The next year the Shizong shrine was built east of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The emperor wished to follow He Yuan's proposal to demolish the Directorate of Divine Music, fell timber, and open an imperial processional route. Supervising Secretary Han Kai and Censors Yang Qin, Ye Zhong, and others remonstrated in turn; they offended the throne and had their salaries seized. Supervising Secretary Wei Dao spoke next and was demoted and transferred outside the capital. Jiubao again submitted a forceful memorial saying it must not be done; the emperor would not listen. When the Shizong shrine was completed the emperor wished to lead Empress Dowager Zhangsheng to visit it; Zhang Cong and Gui E strongly urged it. Ritual officials Liu Long and others protested in vain; the chief ministers spoke as well, but the emperor gave no reply and ordered the ceremonies prepared. Jiubao then memorialized, saying, "Your Majesty wishes to lead the empress dowager to visit the Shizong shrine; I venture to think that obeying the command is filial, yet there is a filial piety greater than mere obedience. I truly dare not flatter and mislead my sovereign. Consider the ancestral household law: once an empress or consort has entered the palace, none has ever left without cause. Moreover the Imperial Ancestral Temple is august; except at seasonal sacrifices and joint offerings, even the Son of Heaven does not enter lightly—how much less an empress or consort? The temple-audience rite Zhang and his faction cite is today performed at the Hall of Imperial Ancestors. The Holy Ancestor and Shenzong practiced it for a hundred fifty years until it became fixed custom; empresses and consorts entered the palace beyond counting, yet none dared raise this question—why suddenly advocate it today? Those fawning wicked ministers—do they harbor any real loyalty? And yet Your Majesty would heed them? Moreover yin and yang have fixed positions and must not be transgressed. Your Majesty is lord of the hundred spirits of heaven and earth; to let the empress dowager pass without cause through the Imperial Temple's gate—to let yin perform yang's office, the feminine encroaching on the masculine—is the greatest of violations. I know well that a subject must obey his sovereign; I only fear this will stain Your sacred virtue—therefore I dare not bend to the command and thereby complete a fault of sovereign and father, failing the debt heaven and earth bear toward us. When the memorial arrived, the emperor was greatly enraged.

珤為人清介端亮，孜孜奉國。數以力行王道，清心省事，辨忠邪，敦寬大，毋急近效為帝言。帝見為迂闊，弗善也。議「大禮」時，帝欲援以自助，而缶據禮爭，持論堅確，失帝意，璁、萼輩亦不悅。璁、萼朝夕謀輔政，攻擊費宏無虛日，以缶行高，不能有所加。至明年春，奸人王邦奇訐楊廷和，誣缶及宏為奸黨，兩人遂乞歸。帝許宏馳驛，而責缶歸怨朝廷，失大臣誼，一切恩典皆不予。歸，裝襆被車一輛而已。都人嘆異，謂自來宰臣去國，無若缶者。自缶及楊廷和、蔣冕、毛紀以強諫罷政，迄嘉靖季，密勿大臣無進逆耳之言者矣。

Jiubao was pure, upright, and luminous in character, tireless in serving the state. He often urged the emperor to practice the kingly way, purify the heart and lighten affairs, distinguish loyalty from treachery, cherish magnanimity, and not chase quick results. The emperor found him pedantic and impractical and took no liking to him. During the Great Rites controversy the emperor wished to enlist his support, but Jiubao argued from ritual and held firm, losing imperial favor; Zhang Cong, Gui E, and their faction were displeased as well. Zhang and Gui plotted day and night for a share in power, attacking Fei Hong daily without respite; because Jiubao's conduct was too lofty, they could find no hold on him. By the spring of the following year the villain Wang Bangqi denounced Yang Tinghe and falsely charged Jiubao and Hong as traitors in league; the two men thereupon begged to retire. The emperor granted Hong courier transport but rebuked Jiubao for nursing resentment against the court and failing the duty of a great minister; no grace whatever was granted. On returning home, a single cart of bedding was his entire baggage. The people of the capital marveled, saying that in living memory no departing minister had been like Jiubao. From the dismissal of Jiubao, Yang Tinghe, Jiang Mian, and Mao Ji for forceful remonstrance until the end of Jiajing, no confidential minister dared speak words that offended the ear.

珤加官，自太子太保至少保。七年冬卒，謚文隱。隆慶初，改謚文介。

Jiubao's accumulated offices ran from Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent to Junior Guardian. In the winter of year 7 he died and was given the posthumous title Wenyin. At the beginning of Longqing the posthumous title was changed to Wenjie.

玠，字邦秀。弘治中，由汜水知縣召為御史。出核大同軍儲，按甘肅及陜西，所條上邊務，悉中機宜，為都御史戴珊所委寄。嘗因災異劾南京刑部尚書翟瑄以下二十七人。

Jie, styled Bangxiu. During Hongzhi he was summoned from his post as magistrate of Sishui to serve as censor. He was sent to audit Datong military stores and to inspect Gansu and Shaanxi; every item he submitted on frontier affairs was entirely to the point, and Censor-in-Chief Dai Shan placed great trust in him. On one occasion he used portents and natural disasters as grounds to impeach Nanjing Minister of Justice Zhai Xuan and twenty-six officials beneath him.

正德中，累官右副都御史，巡撫大同，召拜兵部右侍郎。海西部長數犯邊，泰寧三衛與別部相攻，久缺貢市，遣玠以左侍郎兼僉都御史往遼東巡視。出關撫諭，皆受約束。帝大喜，璽書嘉勞，召還。左都御史陸完遷，廷推代者，三上悉不用，最後推玠，乃以為右都御史掌院事。御史李隱劾玠夤緣，不報。十年拜戶部尚書。中官史大鎮雲南，請獨領銀場務。杜甫鎮湖廣，請借鹽船稅銀為進貢資。劉德守涼州，請帶食茶六百引。玠皆執不可。西僧闡教王請船三百艘販載食鹽，玠極言其害。帝初出居庸，玠切諫。及在宣府，需銀百萬兩，玠持不可。帝弗從，乃進其半。王瓊欲以哈密事害彭澤，玠獨廷譽之。奸民欲牟鹽利者，賄朱寧為請，玠不可，連章執奏。廷臣諫南巡跪闕下，諸大臣莫敢言，玠獨論救。群小激帝怒，嚴旨責令自陳，遂引疾去。賜敕馳傳給廩隸如故事。家居二年卒，贈太子少傅。

During the Zhengde reign he rose step by step to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Datong, then was summoned to the capital as Vice Minister of War. Haixi chiefs raided the frontier repeatedly; the three Taining guards and other tribes were fighting one another; tribute trade had long been cut off—so Jie was sent to Liaodong as Left Vice Minister with the concurrent title of Censor-in-Chief to conduct an inspection. Once he went beyond the pass to pacify and instruct them, all submitted to his authority. The emperor was delighted, sent him an imperial letter under seal commending his service, and recalled him to court. When Left Censor-in-Chief Lu Wan was transferred, the court put forward successors three times without success; Jie was finally nominated and appointed Right Censor-in-Chief to head the Censorate. Censor Li Yin accused Jie of winning office through backdoor influence, but the memorial went unanswered. In the tenth year of Zhengde he was appointed Minister of Revenue. The eunuch Shi Da, who held command in Yunnan, asked to take sole charge of the silver-mining administration. Du Fu, military commissioner of Huguang, asked to divert salt-transport tax silver to pay for tribute goods. Liu De, defending Liangzhou, asked permission to take six hundred yin of tribute tea for his own use. Jie refused every request. The Tibetan Dharma-King Who Spreads the Teaching asked for three hundred ships to carry and sell table salt; Jie memorialized at length on the damage this would do. When the emperor first set out through Juyong Pass, Jie remonstrated in the strongest terms. When the emperor was at Xuanfu and demanded a million taels of silver, Jie insisted the demand could not be met. The emperor would not heed him, and only half the sum was finally supplied. Wang Qiong sought to use the Hami affair to ruin Peng Ze, but Jie alone spoke in Peng's defense at court. Unscrupulous men hoping to profit from the salt trade bribed Zhu Ning to plead their case; Jie refused and submitted repeated memorials insisting on denial. When court officials knelt at the palace gate to remonstrate against the southern tour, the chief ministers dared not speak; Jie alone pleaded for their lives. Petty favorites inflamed the emperor's wrath; a stern edict ordered Jie to explain himself, whereupon he pleaded illness and resigned. He was granted an imperial edict, express relay transport, and stipends and household retainers as usual for a retiring minister. Two years after returning home he died and was posthumously enfeoffed as Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent.

玠有操行，居官亦持正。其為都御史時，胡世寧論寧王，玠與李士實請罪世寧，以是為人所譏。

Jie was a man of moral integrity and remained upright in office. While he was Censor-in-Chief, Hu Shining denounced the Prince of Ning; Jie and Li Shishi called for Hu to be punished—a move for which he was widely criticized.

贊曰：武宗之季，君德日荒，嬖幸盤結左右。廷和為相，雖無能改於其德，然流賊熾而無土崩之虞，宗藩叛而無瓦解之患者，固賴廟堂有經濟之遠略也。至其誅大奸，決大策，扶危定傾，功在社稷，即周勃、韓琦殆無以過。儲雖蒙物議，而大節無玷。蔣冕、毛紀、石缶，清忠鯁亮，皆卓然有古大臣風。自時厥後，政府日以權勢相傾。或脂韋淟涊，持祿自固。求如諸人，豈可多得哉。

The historians comment: In the closing years of Emperor Wuzong the throne's virtue daily declined, and favorites clustered around the emperor. Yang Tinghe as chief minister could not reform the emperor's conduct, yet while bandits raged the state did not crumble, and while enfeoffed princes rebelled it did not fall apart—this owed much to far-sighted statecraft at the top of government. In executing the great traitor, settling great policies, and shoring up a tottering dynasty, his service to the state was such that even Zhou Bo and Han Qi could hardly have done better. Liang Chu, though he drew criticism, was without stain on the great points of conduct. Jiang Mian, Mao Ji, and Shi Jiubao were pure, loyal, and outspoken—each unmistakably a minister in the ancient mold. From that time on, the government grew ever more a contest of power against power. Some were slick and servile, clinging to office merely to preserve their stipends. To find men like these again—how could one hope for many?

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