1
姚鏌張嵿伍文定蔡天祐詹榮劉天和楊守禮張岳郭宗臯趙時春
Yao Mo; Zhang Ding; Wu Wending; Cai Tianyou; Zhan Rong; Liu Tianhe; Yang Shouli; Zhang Yue; Guo Zonggao; Zhao Shichun.
2
姚鏌,字英之,慈溪人。 弘治六年進士。 除禮部主事,進員外郎。 擢廣西提學僉事。 立宣成書院,延《五經》師以教士子。 桂人祀山魈卓旺。 鏌毀像,俗遂變。 遷福建副使,未幾改督學政。 正德九年擢貴州按察使。 十五年拜右副都御史,巡撫延綏。 上邊務六事,皆議行。 嘉靖元年,吉囊入涇陽。 鏌遣遊擊彭楧出西路,釋指揮卜雲于獄,使副之。 夜半邀擊,斬其二將,乃遁。 璽書褒諭。 尋召為工部右侍郎,出督漕運,改兵部左侍郎。
Yao Mo, styled Yingzhi, was a native of Cixi. In Hongzhi year 6 he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Rites, then promoted to assistant department director. He was promoted to assistant education intendant of Guangxi. He founded the Xuancheng Academy and invited instructors in the Five Classics to teach the students. The people of Guangxi worshipped the mountain spirit Zhuo Wang. Mo destroyed the image, and local custom changed accordingly. He was transferred to Fujian as vice commissioner and soon afterward was reassigned to oversee educational affairs. In Zhengde year 9 he was promoted to surveillance commissioner of Guizhou. In year 15 he was appointed right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Yan-sui. He submitted six proposals on frontier affairs, and all were approved for implementation. In Jiajing 1, Jirong invaded Jingyang. Mo sent mobile commander Peng Yuan by the western route, released Commander Bu Yun from prison, and appointed him as his deputy. They launched a midnight ambush, beheaded two enemy generals, and the raiders then withdrew. The emperor sent a personal edict commending him. He was soon summoned as right vice minister of Works, sent out to supervise the grain transport system, and then transferred to left vice minister of War.
3
四年,遷右都御史,提督兩廣軍務兼巡撫。 田州土官岑猛謀不軌。 鏌調永順、保靖兵,使沈希儀與張經、李璋、張佑、程鑒各統兵八萬,分道討。 而鏌與總兵官硃麒等攻破定羅、丹梁。 用希儀計,結猛婦翁岑璋使為內應,大破之,斬猛子邦彥。 璋誘殺猛,獻其首。 詔進鏌左都御史,加太子少保,任一子官,諸將進秩有差。 鏌請改設流官,陳善後七事,制可。 乃命參議汪必東、僉事申惠與參將張經以兵萬人鎮其地。 必東、惠移疾他駐。 猛党盧蘇、王受等詐言猛不死,借交阯兵二十萬且至,夷民信之。 蘇等薄城,經突圍走,城遂陷。 王受亦攻入思恩府。 巡按御史石金劾鏌失策罔上,並論前總督盛應期。 帝以鏌有功,許便宜撫剿。 蘇、受數求赦,鏌不許,將大討之。 會廷議起王守仁督兩廣軍,令鏌與同事。 鏌引疾乞罷,許馳驛歸。
In year 4 he was promoted to right censor-in-chief, placed in overall command of Guangdong-Guangxi military affairs, and also appointed grand coordinator. Cen Meng, the native official of Tianzhou, plotted rebellion. Mo mobilized the Yongshun and Baojing forces and had Shen Xiyi, Zhang Jing, Li Zhang, Zhang You, and Cheng Jian each lead eighty thousand troops in a multi-pronged campaign. Mo himself, together with regional commander Zhu Qi and others, took Dingluo and Danliang. Following Shen Xiyi's plan, he secured Meng's father-in-law Cen Zhang as an inside ally, inflicted a crushing defeat, and beheaded Meng's son Bangyan. Zhang lured Meng to his death and presented his head. An edict promoted Mo to left censor-in-chief, conferred on him the additional title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, granted office to one of his sons, and advanced the generals in rank to varying degrees. Mo asked that native offices be replaced with regular officials and submitted seven proposals for postwar consolidation; the court approved. The court then ordered participating secretary Wang Bidong, assistant commissioner Shen Hui, and assistant regional commander Zhang Jing to garrison the area with ten thousand troops. Wang Bidong and Shen Hui pleaded illness and moved their garrisons elsewhere. Meng's partisans Lu Su, Wang Shou, and others spread the false report that Meng was still alive and that two hundred thousand Annamese troops were on their way; the tribal peoples believed them. Lu and his men pressed the city; Zhang Jing broke out and fled, and the city was lost. Wang Shou also attacked and captured Sien Prefecture. Investigating censor Shi Jin impeached Mo for strategic failure and deceiving the throne, and also criticized the former supreme commander Sheng Yingqi. The emperor held that Mo still had merit and allowed him discretionary authority to pacify or suppress as circumstances required. Lu and Wang repeatedly petitioned for amnesty, but Mo refused and was preparing a major punitive campaign. The court then resolved to recall Wang Shouren to command the Guangdong-Guangxi armies and ordered Mo to serve alongside him. Mo pleaded illness and asked to be relieved of duty; he was permitted to return home by express relay.
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初,廣東提學道魏校毀諸寺觀田數千畝,盡入霍韜、方獻夫諸家。 鏌至廣,追還之官。 韜、獻夫恨甚,與張璁、桂萼合排鏌。 謂大同當征而反撫,田州當撫而反征,皆費宏謀國不臧,釀成南北患。 時宏雖去,猶借鏌以排之也。 鏌既得請,方候代,千夫長韋貴、徐伍攻復思恩。 鏌上其狀。 詔先賞貴等,而以撫剿事宜俟守仁處置。 既而鏌奏辯石金前疏,詆金阻撓養寇。 金亦再疏詆鏌。 帝先入璁等言,落鏌職閑住。
Earlier, Guangdong education intendant Wei Xiao had seized thousands of mu of temple and monastery land, all of which ended up in the hands of Huo Tao, Fang Xianfu, and their allies. When Mo arrived in Guangdong, he recovered the land for the government. Huo and Fang resented him deeply and joined Zhang Cong and Gui E in a concerted attack on Mo. They charged that where Datong should have been fought he had chosen to pacify, and where Tianzhou should have been pacified he had chosen to fight—all fruits of Fei Hong's unsound governance, which had bred disasters in both north and south. Although Hong was already out of office, they still used Mo to attack him by implication. After Mo's request for relief was granted, while he was awaiting his successor, company commanders Wei Gui and Xu Wu attacked and recovered Sien. Mo reported this to the throne. An edict first rewarded Wei and the others, but left questions of pacification and suppression to Wang Shouren's judgment. Mo then submitted a memorial rebutting Shi's earlier accusation, charging Shi with obstruction and with nurturing the rebels. Shi likewise submitted another memorial denouncing Mo. The emperor, having already been persuaded by Zhang Cong and his allies, stripped Mo of office and ordered him to live in retirement.
5
其後,蘇、受復叛,帝漸思鏌。 十三年,三邊闕總制。 大學士費宏、李時同召對。 宏薦鏌,時亦助之。 遂命以兵部尚書總制三邊軍務。 未赴,宏卒。 鏌辭。 帝不悅,仍落職閑住。 鏌既罷,薦者至二十疏,不用。 家居數年卒。
Later, when Lu and Wang rebelled again, the emperor gradually came to regret dismissing Mo. In year 13 the supreme command over the three frontiers fell vacant. Grand Secretaries Fei Hong and Li Shi were summoned together for an audience. Hong recommended Mo, and Shi seconded the recommendation. Mo was accordingly ordered to take up the post of Minister of War with overall command of military affairs on the three frontiers. Before he could take up the appointment, Hong died. Mo declined the appointment. The emperor was displeased and again stripped him of office, ordering him to live in retirement. After Mo was dismissed, as many as twenty recommendation memorials were submitted on his behalf, but he was not reappointed. He lived at home for several years and then died.
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子淶,字維東。 嘉靖二年殿試第一。 授翰林修撰。 爭「大禮」,廷杖。 又議郊祀合祀,不當輕易。 召修《明倫大典》,懇辭不與。 累官侍讀學士。
His son Lai, styled Weidong. In Jiajing year 2 he placed first in the palace examination. He was appointed Hanlin Academician Expositor. He joined the dispute over the Grand Rites and was beaten in court. He also argued that the merger of suburban sacrifices should not be undertaken lightly. When summoned to compile the Great Canon of Ming Ethics, he earnestly declined and did not take part. He rose through successive posts to Reader-in-waiting of the Hanlin Academy.
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張嵿,字時俊,蕭山人。 成化二十三年進士。 弘治初,修《憲宗實錄》,命往蘇、松諸府采軼事。 事竣,授上饒知縣。 遷南京兵部主事,就進刑部郎中。 正德初,遷興化知府。 隆平侯張祐無子,弟祿與族人爭襲,訴于南京法司,久不決,復訴京師。 劉瑾方擅政,遂削尚書樊瑩、都御史高銓籍。 嵿以郎承勘,為民。 瑾敗,起知南雄。 擢江西參政,進右布政使。 舉治行卓異,遷左。 甯王宸濠欲拓地,廣其居,嵿執不可。 大恚,遣人饋之。 嵿發視,則棗梨姜芥,蓋隱語也。 未幾,召為光祿卿。 以右副都御史巡撫保定諸府,忤中貴,移疾歸。
Zhang Ding, styled Shijun, was a native of Xiaoshan. In Chenghua year 23 he passed the jinshi examination. Early in the Hongzhi reign, while compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong, he was sent to Suzhou, Songjiang, and other prefectures to gather overlooked material. When the work was completed, he was appointed magistrate of Shangrao. He was transferred to principal clerk in the Nanjing Ministry of War and was soon promoted in place to director in the Ministry of Punishments. Early in the Zhengde reign he was transferred to prefect of Xinghua. Marquis of Longping Zhang You had no son; his younger brother Lu and kinsmen disputed the succession, appealed to the Nanjing judiciary, and after long delay appealed again to the capital. Liu Jin was then in control of the government and stripped Minister Fan Ying and Censor-in-chief Gao Quan of their official standing. Ding, as the investigating director, took on the case and was himself reduced to commoner status. After Jin's fall he was restored to office and appointed magistrate of Nanxiong. He was promoted to administration commissioner of Jiangxi and then to right provincial administration commissioner. Cited for outstanding administrative performance, he was transferred to the left commissionership. The Prince of Ning, Zhu Chenhao, wished to seize more land and enlarge his residence; Ding refused to allow it. Enraged, Chenhao sent someone to present him with gifts. When Ding opened the parcel, he found jujubes, pears, ginger, and mustard—a veiled curse by homophonic wordplay. Before long he was summoned to serve as Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Appointed right vice censor-in-chief to grand-coordinate the Baoding prefectures, he offended powerful eunuchs and retired on grounds of illness.
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伍文定,字時泰,松滋人。 父琇,貴州參議。 文定登弘治十二年進士。 有膂力,便弓馬,議論慷慨。 授常州推官,精敏善決獄,稱強吏。 魏國公徐俌與民爭田,文定勘,歸之民。 劉瑾入俌重賄,興大獄,巡撫艾朴以下十四人悉被逮。 文定已遷成都同知,亦下詔獄,斥為民。 瑾敗,起補嘉興。
Wu Wending, styled Shitai, was a native of Songzi. His father Xiu had served as administration commissioner of Guizhou. Wending passed the jinshi examination in Hongzhi year 12. He was powerfully built, skilled at archery and horsemanship, and spoke with passionate conviction. Appointed investigating commissioner of Changzhou, he was acute and decisive in judgment and was known as a formidable magistrate. When Duke of Wei Xu Si disputed land with commoners, Wending investigated the case and restored the fields to the people. Liu Jin accepted heavy bribes from Xu Si and launched a major prosecution; grand coordinator Ai Pu and fourteen others were all arrested. Wending had already been transferred to vice prefect of Chengdu, but he too was thrown into the imperial prison and reduced to commoner status. After Jin's fall he was restored to office and appointed magistrate of Jiaxing.
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江西姚源賊王浩八等流劫浙江開化,都御史俞諫檄文定與參將李隆、都指揮江洪、僉事儲珊討之,軍華埠。 而都指揮白弘與湖州知府黃衷別營馬金。 賊党劉昌三破,執弘,官軍大挫。 浩八突華埠,洪、文定擊敗之,追及于孔埠。 隆、珊亦追至池淮,破其巢,進攻淫田。 洪以奇兵深入,中賊誘,與指揮張琳等皆被執。 文定等殿后得還,賊亦遁歸江西。 諫等上文定忠勇狀,詔所司獎勞。 擢河南知府,計擒劇賊張勇、李文簡。 以才任治劇,調吉安。 計平永豐及大茅山賊。 已,佐巡撫王守仁平桶岡、橫水。 宸濠反,吉安士民爭亡匿。 文定斬亡者一人,眾乃定。 乃迎守仁入城。 知府邢珣、徐璉、戴德孺等先後至,共討賊。 文定當大帥。 丙辰之戰,身犯矢石、火燎須不動。 賊平,功最,擢江西按察使。 張忠、許泰至南昌,欲冒其功,而守仁已俘宸濠赴浙江。 忠等失望,大恨。 文定出謁,遂縛之。 文定罵曰:「吾不恤九族,為國家平大賊,何罪? 汝天子腹心,屈辱忠義,為逆賊報仇,法當斬。」 忠益怒,椎文定僕地。 文定求解任,不報。
Wang Haoba and other Yaoyuan bandits from Jiangxi raided Kaihua in Zhejiang; Censor-in-chief Yu Jian ordered Wending, together with regional vice commander Li Long, commander-in-chief Jiang Hong, and assistant commissioner Chu Shan, to suppress them, and they encamped at Huabu. Commander-in-chief Bai Hong and Huzhou prefect Huang Zhong, however, set up a separate camp at Majin. The bandit Liu Chang defeated them three times, captured Hong, and the government forces suffered a major defeat. Haoba struck at Huabu; Hong and Wending repulsed him and pursued as far as Kongbu. Long and Shan also pursued the bandits to Chihuai, destroyed their stronghold, and advanced against Yintian. Hong led a picked force deep into enemy territory, fell into an ambush, and was captured along with Commander Zhang Lin and others. Wending and the others covered the retreat and got back safely; the bandits also fled into Jiangxi. Yu Jian and the others submitted a memorial praising Wending's loyal courage; an edict ordered the relevant offices to reward him. Promoted to prefect of Henan, he devised stratagems and captured the major bandits Zhang Yong and Li Wenjian. Recognizing his talent for governing difficult jurisdictions, the court transferred him to Ji'an. By stratagem he pacified the bandits of Yongfeng and Mount Damao. He later assisted Grand Coordinator Wang Shouren in pacifying Tonggang and Hengshui. When Chenhao rebelled, the gentry and commoners of Ji'an scrambled to flee and hide. Wending beheaded one man who tried to flee, and the people were thereby steadied. He then welcomed Shouren into the city. Prefects Xing Xun, Xu Lian, Dai Deru, and others arrived one after another, and together they marched against the rebels. Wending served as the chief commander. In the battle on the bingchen day he exposed himself to arrows and stones; though fire scorched his beard, he did not flinch. When the rebels were pacified, his merit ranked first, and he was promoted to surveillance commissioner of Jiangxi. Zhang Zhong and Xu Tai reached Nanchang intending to steal the credit, but Shouren had already captured Chenhao and was escorting him to Zhejiang. Zhong and his party were disappointed and filled with hatred. When Wending came out to pay his respects, they bound him on the spot. Wending cursed them, saying, "I did not spare my own kin in order to pacify a great rebel for the state—what crime is that? You are the Son of Heaven's closest retainers, yet you humiliate loyal men and avenge rebels—by law you deserve execution. Zhong grew even angrier and clubbed Wending to the ground. Wending asked to be relieved of duty, but received no reply.
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尋遷廣東右布政使。 未赴,而世宗嗣位。 上忠等罪狀,且曰:「曩忠、泰與劉暉至江西,忠自稱天子弟,暉稱天子兒,泰稱威武副將軍,與天子同僚。 折辱命吏,誣害良民。 需求萬端,漁獵盈百萬。 致餓殍遍野,盜賊縱橫。 雖寸斬三人,不足謝江西百姓。 今大憝江彬、強尼皆已伏法,三人實其黨與。 乞速正天誅,用章國典。」 又請發宸濠資財,還之江西,以資經費; 矜釋忠、泰所陷無辜及甯府宗人不預謀者,以清冤獄。 帝並嘉納之。 論功,進右副都御史,提督操江。 嘉靖三年,討獲海賊董效等二百餘人,賜敕獎勞。 尋謝病歸。
He was soon transferred to right provincial administration commissioner of Guangdong. Before he could take up the appointment, Emperor Shizong succeeded to the throne. He submitted a memorial detailing the crimes of Zhong and the others, saying, "When Zhong and Tai came to Jiangxi with Liu Hui, Zhong called himself the emperor's younger brother, Hui called himself the emperor's son, and Tai styled himself Vice General of Might and Prestige, claiming to be the emperor's equal. They insulted commissioned officials and falsely persecuted innocent people. Their exactions were endless, and their plunder exceeded a million. They left the fields strewn with the starved dead and bandits running rampant. Even if the three were cut to pieces inch by inch, it would not be enough to answer to the people of Jiangxi. Now the great criminals Jiang Bin and Qian Ning have both been executed; these three were in fact their accomplices. I beg that they be swiftly punished by law to uphold the statutes of the realm. He also asked that Chenhao's assets be disbursed and returned to Jiangxi to fund public expenses; and that innocents framed by Zhong and Tai, together with Ning princely clansmen who had not joined the plot, be shown mercy in order to clear wrongful imprisonments. The emperor approved all of these proposals. In recognition of his merit he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and placed in command of the Caojiang defense. In Jiajing year 3 he captured more than two hundred sea bandits including Dong Xiao and was rewarded with an imperial edict of commendation. He soon retired on grounds of illness.
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六年召拜兵部右侍郎。 其冬擢右都御史,代胡世寧掌院事。 雲南士酋安銓反,敗參政黃昭道,攻陷尋甸、嵩明。 明年,武定土酋鳳朝文亦反,殺同知以下官,與銓合兵圍雲南。 詔進文定兵部尚書兼前職,提督雲南、四川、貴州、湖廣軍討之,以侍郎梁材督餉。 會芒部叛酋沙保子普奴為亂,並以屬文定。 文定未至雲南,銓等已為巡撫歐陽重所破,遂移師征普奴。 左都御史李承勳極言川、貴殘破,不當用兵,遂召還,命提督京營。 文定至湖廣,疏乞省祭歸。 已,四川巡按御史戴金復上言:「叛酋稱亂之初,勢尚可撫。 而文定決意進兵,一無顧惜。 飛芻挽糧,糜數十萬。 及有詔罷師,尚不肯已。 又極論土酋阿濟等罪。 軍民訛言,幾復生變。 臣愚以為文定可罪也。」 尚書方獻夫、李承勳因詆文定好大喜功,傷財動眾,乃令致仕。
In year 6 he was summoned to serve as right vice minister of War. That winter he was promoted to right censor-in-chief to replace Hu Shining as head of the Censorate. The Yunnan tribal chief An Quan rebelled, defeated administration vice commissioner Huang Zhaodao, and captured Xundian and Songming. The following year the Wuding tribal chief Feng Chaowen also rebelled, killed officials below the rank of sub-prefect, and joined forces with Quan to besiege Yunnan. An edict promoted Wending to Minister of War while retaining his former duties, placed him in overall command of the armies of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Huguang to suppress them, and appointed Vice Minister Liang Cai to supervise supplies. At the same time Pulu, son of the Mangbu rebel chief Shabao, rose in revolt, and this campaign was also assigned to Wending. Before Wending reached Yunnan, Quan and his followers had already been defeated by Grand Coordinator Ouyang Chong, so he shifted his army to campaign against Pulu. Left censor-in-chief Li Chengxun argued forcefully that Sichuan and Guizhou were too devastated for war; Wending was recalled and ordered to command the capital barracks. When Wending reached Huguang, he memorialized asking leave to return home for ancestral sacrifices. Later, Sichuan investigating censor Dai Jin submitted another memorial, saying, "When the rebel chiefs first rose, their strength could still have been pacified. Yet Wending resolved to advance troops without the slightest regard for consequences. He rushed grain forward by forced labor, squandering hundreds of thousands. Even after an edict ordered the troops withdrawn, he still would not stop. He also vehemently denounced the crimes of tribal chiefs such as Aji. Soldiers and civilians spread rumors, and unrest nearly broke out again. This subject, in his ignorance, believes Wending deserves punishment. Ministers Fang Xianfu and Li Chengxun accordingly denounced Wending for grandstanding, wasting resources, and disturbing the populace, and he was ordered to retire.
12
文定忠義自許,遇事敢為,不與時俯仰。 芒部之役,憤小丑數亂,欲為國伸威,為議者旁撓。 廟堂專務姑息,以故功不克就。 九年七月卒於家。 天啟初,追諡忠襄。
Wending prided himself on loyalty and righteousness, dared to act decisively, and would not bend with the times. In the Mangbu campaign he was angered that petty chiefs repeatedly rebelled and wished to vindicate the state's authority, but was thwarted by critics on the sidelines. The court devoted itself solely to appeasement, and for this reason his achievement could not be brought to completion. In the seventh month of year 9 he died at home. Early in the Tianqi reign he was posthumously granted the title Loyal and Assisting.
13
邢珣,當塗人,弘治六年進士。 正德初,曆官南京戶部郎中。 忤劉瑾,除名。 瑾誅,起南京工部,遷贛州知府。 招降劇盜滿總等,授廬給田,撫之甚厚。 後討他盜,多藉其力。 守仁征橫水、桶岡,珣常為軍鋒。 功最,增二秩。 宸濠反,以重賞誘總。 總執其使送珣,遂從珣共平宸濠。
Xing Xun, a native of Dangtu, passed the jinshi examination in Hongzhi year 6. Early in the Zhengde reign he rose through posts to director in the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue. He offended Liu Jin and was struck from the official register. After Jin was executed he was restored to the Nanjing Ministry of Works and transferred to prefect of Ganzhou. He induced the major bandit Man Zong and others to surrender, granted them houses and fields, and treated them with great generosity. Later, in campaigns against other bandits, he relied heavily on their strength. When Shouren campaigned against Hengshui and Tonggang, Xun often served as the army vanguard. His merit ranked first, and he received a two-rank advancement. When Chenhao rebelled, he tried to win Zong over with rich rewards. Zong seized Chenhao's envoy and sent him to Xun, then followed Xun in pacifying Chenhao.
14
徐璉,朝邑人。 文定同年進士。 由戶部郎中出為袁州知府。 從討宸濠,獲首功千餘。 事定,珣、璉遷江西右參政。 世宗錄功,各增秩二等。 嘉靖二年大計,給事御史劾監司不職者二十二人,珣、璉與焉。 吏部以軍功未酬,請進秩布政使致仕,從之。 二人竟廢。
Xu Lian was a native of Chaoyi. He was a jinshi of the same year as Wending. From a post as director in the Ministry of Revenue he went out to serve as prefect of Yuanzhou. In the campaign against Chenhao he took more than a thousand enemy heads. When the affair was settled, Xun and Lian were transferred to right administration commissioners of Jiangxi. Emperor Shizong recorded their merit, and each received a two-rank advancement. In the grand review of Jiajing year 2, supervising secretaries and censors impeached twenty-two surveillance and administration officials for dereliction of duty; Xun and Lian were among them. The Ministry of Personnel, citing unpaid military merit, requested that they be advanced to administration commissioners and allowed to retire; this was approved. In the end the two men were cast aside entirely.
15
珣子埴嘗學于張璁。 嘉靖初登鄉薦。 璁貴顯,屢欲援之,辭不應。 授浦城知縣。 有徐浦者,役公府。 埴一見異之,令與子同學,為娶妻。 後登第為給事中。 其家世世祀埴。 弟址,進士,曆御史,終山東鹽運使。 以清操聞。
Xun's son Zhi had once studied under Zhang Cong. Early in the Jiajing reign he passed the provincial examination. When Cong rose to power he repeatedly wished to support him, but Zhi declined and would not accept. He was appointed magistrate of Pucheng. There was a man named Xu Pu who served in the government office. At first sight Zhi recognized his unusual talent, had him study with his son, and found him a wife. Later he passed the metropolitan examination and became a supervising secretary. His family worshipped Zhi generation after generation. His younger brother Zhi, a jinshi, served through posts as censor and ended his career as salt transport commissioner of Shandong. He was known for his pure integrity.
16
戴德孺,臨海人。 弘治十八年進士。 曆工部員外郎。 監蕪湖稅,有清名。 再遷臨江知府。 宸濠反,遣使收府印,德孺斬之。 與家人誓曰:「吾死守孤城。 脫有急,若輩沉池中,吾不負國也。」 即日戒嚴。 旋與守仁共滅宸濠。 以憂去。 世宗以德孺馭軍最整,獨增三秩,為雲南右布政使。 舟次徐州,覆水死。 後贈光祿寺卿,予一子官。
Dai Deru was a native of Linhai. He passed the jinshi examination in Hongzhi year 18. He rose through posts to assistant department director in the Ministry of Works. While supervising the Wuhu tax, he earned a reputation for integrity. He was transferred to serve as prefect of Linjiang. When Chenhao rebelled, he sent envoys to seize the prefectural seal; Deru beheaded them. He swore to his family, "I will die defending this lone city. If danger comes, you are to drown yourselves in the pool—I will not fail the state. That very day he put the city under martial law. He soon joined Shouren in destroying Chenhao. He left office to observe mourning. Because Deru had disciplined his troops most strictly, Emperor Shizong alone gave him a three-rank advancement and appointed him right provincial administration commissioner of Yunnan. When his boat stopped at Xuzhou, he drowned in a capsize. Later he was posthumously granted the title Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and office was granted to one of his sons.
17
珣、璉等倡義討賊,月余成大功。 當事者以嫉守仁故,痛裁抑之。 或賞或否,又往往借考功法逐之去。 守仁之再疏辭爵也,為諸人訟曰:
Xun, Lian, and the others took the lead in the righteous campaign against the rebels and within little more than a month achieved a great victory. Those in power, because they resented Shouren, harshly suppressed them. Sometimes rewarded and sometimes not, they were often driven from office under the pretext of the evaluation law. When Shouren twice memorialized declining enfeoffment, he spoke on their behalf, saying:
18
宸濠變初起,勢焰猖熾,人心疑懼退阻。 當時首從義師,自伍文定、邢珣、徐璉、戴德孺諸人外,又有知府陳槐、曾璵、胡堯元等,知縣劉源清、馬津、傅南喬、李美、李楫及楊材、王冕、顧佖、劉守緒、王軾等,鄉官都御史王懋中,編修鄒守益,御史張鰲山、伍希儒、謝源等。 或摧鋒陷陣,或遮邀伏擊,或贊畫謀議,監錄經紀,所謂同功一體者也。 帳下之士,若聽選官雷濟,已故義官蕭禹,致仕縣丞龍光,指揮高睿,千戶王佐等,或詐為兵檄以撓其進止,壞其事機,或偽書反間以離其心腹,散其黨與。 今聞紀功文冊,改造者多所刪削。 舉人冀元亨為臣勸說甯王,反為奸人構陷,竟死獄中,尤傷心慘目,負之冥冥之中者。
When Chenhao's rebellion first erupted, its momentum was fierce and overwhelming; people's hearts were filled with doubt, fear, and hesitation. At that time, those who first joined the righteous army included, besides Wu Wending, Xing Xun, Xu Lian, Dai Deru, and others, the prefects Chen Huai, Zeng Yu, and Hu Yaoyuan; the magistrates Liu Yuanqing, Ma Jin, Fu Nanqiao, Li Mei, Li Ji, Yang Cai, Wang Mian, Gu Bi, Liu Shouxu, and Wang Shi; the local censor-in-chief Wang Maozhong; the compiler Zou Shouyi; and the censors Zhang Aoshan, Wu Xiru, and Xie Yuan. Some broke enemy lines and charged formations, some lay in ambush and launched surprise attacks, some assisted in planning and deliberation and supervised records and logistics—the so-called shared merit as one body. Men under his command—such as the selected official Lei Ji, the deceased merit appointee Xiao Yu, the retired county assistant Long Guang, the commander Gao Rui, and the company commander Wang Zuo—either forged military dispatches to disrupt the enemy's movements and ruin their plans, or forged letters to sow discord among their trusted followers and break up their faction. Now I hear that in the merit records and registers, the revisions have cut away much of what was recorded. The presented scholar Ji Yuanheng persuaded the Prince of Ning on my behalf, yet was framed by villains and died in prison—a case especially heartbreaking and gruesome to behold, and one for which I bear a debt in the deepest dark.
19
夫宸濠積威淩劫,雖在數千里外,無不震駭失措。 而況江西諸郡縣切近剝床,觸目皆賊兵,隨處有賊黨,非真有捐軀赴難之義,戮力報主之忠,孰肯甘齏粉之禍,從赤族之誅,蹈必死之地,以希萬一難冀之功乎!
Chenhao's accumulated power and intimidation were such that even thousands of li away, none failed to be shaken and alarmed into confusion. How much more so for the Jiangxi prefectures and counties directly exposed to danger—everywhere one looked there were rebel troops, rebel agents at every turn—unless one truly had the righteousness of giving one's body to meet calamity and the loyalty of exerting all strength to repay one's lord, who would willingly accept being ground to powder, submit to the execution of the whole clan, tread ground certain to mean death, and hope for merit one in ten thousand times unlikely to be obtained!
20
今臣獨崇封爵,而此同事諸人者,或賞不行而並削其績,或賞未及而罰已先行,或虛受升職之名而因使退閑,或冒蒙不忠之號而隨以廢斥。 非獨為已斥諸權奸所誣構挫辱而已也。 群憎眾嫉,惟事指摘搜羅以為快,曾未見有鳴其不平、伸其屈抑者,臣竊痛之。
Now I alone am grandly enfeoffed with titles, while these fellow participants—some received no reward and moreover had their merits cut away; some were punished before any reward arrived; some nominally received promotions yet were thereby made to retire; and some falsely bore the label of disloyalty and were then dismissed. Nor is it only that they were already slandered and framed by the various powerful villains and humiliated. Hostility and envy abound; all that matters is picking faults and searching them out for pleasure. I have never seen anyone voice their injustice or redress their wrongs, and I am deeply pained.
21
奏入,卒寢不行。
The memorial was submitted and ultimately shelved without being implemented.
22
蔡天祐,字成之,睢州人。 父晟,濟南知府,以廉惠聞。 天祐登弘治十八年進士,改庶起士,授吏科給事中,出為福建僉事。 曆山東副使,分巡遼陽。 歲歉,活饑民萬余。 辟濱海圩田數萬頃,民名之曰「蔡公田」。 累遷山西按察使。
Cai Tianyou, styled Chengzhi, was a native of Suizhou. His father Sheng was prefect of Jinan and was known for integrity and benevolence. Tianyou passed the jinshi examination in Hongzhi year 18, was appointed a Hanlin probationer, was made supervising secretary in the Secretariat Personnel Bureau, and went out to serve as administration vice commissioner of Fujian. He served as Shandong vice commissioner with responsibility for patrolling Liaoyang. In a year of famine he kept more than ten thousand starving people alive. He opened tens of thousands of acres of coastal embankment fields, and the people named them "Lord Cai's fields." He was steadily promoted to surveillance commissioner of Shanxi.
23
嘉靖三年,大同兵亂,巡撫張文錦遇害。 詔曲赦亂卒,改巡撫宣府都御史李鐸撫之。 鐸以母憂不至,乃擢天祐右僉都御史,巡撫大同。 天祐從數騎馳入城,諭軍士獻首惡,眾心稍定。 會尚書金獻民、總兵官杭雄出師甘肅,道大同,亂卒疑見討,復鼓噪。 天祐懼,急請再赦。 兵部言「元惡不除無以警後」。 請特遣大臣總督宣、大軍務,以制其變。 乃命戶部侍郎胡瓚偕都督魯綱統京軍三千人以往。 瓚等未發而進士李枝齎餉銀至。 亂卒曰:「此承密詔盡殺大同人,為軍犒也。」 夜中火起,圍枝館,出牒示之乃解。 尋復殺知縣王文昌,圍代王府,脅王奏乞赦。 王急攜二郡王走宣府。 巡按御史王官言:「亂卒方囂,大兵壓境,是趣之叛也。 請亟止禁軍,容臣密圖。」 乃命瓚駐兵宣府。 頃之,天祐奏總兵官桂勇已捕五十四人,請止京軍勿遣。 帝責以阻撓,令必獲首惡郭鑒等。 既而瓚次陽和,勇、天祐令千戶苗登擒斬鑒等十一人,函首送瓚,請班師。
In Jiajing year 3 the Datong troops mutinied and Grand Coordinator Zhang Wenjin was killed. An edict offered a partial pardon to the mutinous soldiers and transferred Grand Coordinator of Xuanfu Li Duo to pacify them. Duo did not come on account of mourning for his mother, so Tianyou was promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed Grand Coordinator of Datong. Tianyou rushed into the city with only a few horsemen, exhorted the soldiers to surrender the ringleaders, and the troops gradually calmed. When Minister Jin Xianmin and Regional Commander Hang Xiong marched toward Gansu and passed through Datong, the mutinous soldiers suspected they had come to attack and again raised a clamor. Tianyou grew afraid and urgently requested another pardon. The Ministry of War said, "Unless the chief villains are removed there is no way to warn those who come after." They requested that a special senior minister be dispatched to take overall command of military affairs in Xuanfu and Datong to control the situation. Hu Zan, Vice Minister of Revenue, was then ordered to go together with Commander Lu Gang at the head of three thousand capital troops. Before Zan and the others set out, the jinshi Li Zhi arrived carrying supply silver. The mutinous soldiers said, "This carries out a secret edict to kill all the people of Datong—it is bounty for the army. That night fire broke out; they surrounded Li Zhi's lodge, and only when documents were produced and shown to them did they disperse. Soon afterward they again killed Magistrate Wang Wenchang, surrounded the Prince of Dai's residence, and coerced the prince to memorialize begging pardon. The prince urgently fled with two commandery princes to Xuanfu. Investigating Censor Wang Guan said, "The mutinous soldiers are just now clamorous, and great armies press the border—this will only drive them to rebel. I beg that the capital troops be halted immediately and that I be allowed to plan in secret. Zan was then ordered to halt his troops at Xuanfu. Before long Tianyou memorialized that Regional Commander Gui Yong had already captured fifty-four men and requested that the capital troops not be dispatched. The emperor rebuked him for obstruction and ordered that the ringleaders Guo Jian and others must be captured. Soon afterward Zan reached Yanghe; Yong and Tianyou had Company Commander Miao Deng capture and behead Jian and eleven others, sent the heads in boxes to Zan, and requested withdrawal of the army.
24
甫二日,鑒父郭疤子復糾徐氈兒等夜殺勇家人,又毀苗登家。 瓚言非盡殲不可。 帝乃切讓天祐,召勇還京,以故總兵硃振代之,敕瓚仍駐宣府。 居無何,天祐捕戮徐氈兒等,瓚等遂班師。 明年正月,侍郎李昆、孟春,總兵官馬永交章言疤子潛逃塞外,必為後患。 帝將遣使勘,會瓚還京言逃卒無足患,帝乃罷勘官勿遣。 疤子復潛入城,焚振第。 明旦,天祐閉城大索。 獲疤子及其黨三十四人,悉斬以徇。 盡宥脅從,人心乃大定。 事聞,賚銀幣。 已,進副都御史,巡撫如故。
Barely two days later, Jian's father Guo Bazizi again gathered Xu Zhan'er and others to kill Yong's family at night and also destroyed Miao Deng's house. Zan said the mutineers could not be pacified unless they were completely annihilated. The emperor then sharply rebuked Tianyou, recalled Yong to the capital, replaced him with the former regional commander Zhu Zhen, and ordered Zan to remain stationed at Xuanfu. Before long Tianyou captured and executed Xu Zhan'er and others, and Zan and the others then withdrew the army. In the first month of the following year, Vice Ministers Li Kun and Meng Chun and Regional Commander Ma Yong jointly memorialized that Bazizi had secretly fled beyond the frontier and would surely become a future threat. The emperor was about to dispatch an inspector when Zan returned to the capital and said the escaped soldiers were no great concern; the emperor then canceled sending the inspector. Bazizi again secretly entered the city and burned Zhen's residence. At dawn the next day Tianyou closed the city and conducted a thorough search. They captured Bazizi and thirty-four of his followers and executed them all as a public warning. All who had been coerced were pardoned, and public sentiment was greatly settled. When the affair was reported, silver and silks were bestowed as reward. Thereafter he was promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief while continuing as grand coordinator.
25
尋就進兵部右侍郎。 久之,召還部。 天祐以籓祿久缺,又歲當繕邊垣,用便宜增淮鹽引價,每引萬加銀五千,被訐。 帝宥之。 至是,御史李宗樞復追論前事,天祐因引疾去。 居二年,奉詔起用。 未至京,得疾告歸,卒。 年九十五。
Soon afterward he was further promoted to Vice Minister of the Right in the Ministry of War. After a long time he was recalled to the ministry. Tianyou, because fief stipends had long been in arrears and it was also the year for repairing the frontier walls, used his discretionary authority to raise the price of Huai salt certificates, adding five thousand taels of silver per certificate, and was impeached. The emperor pardoned him. At this time Censor Li Zongshu again pursued investigation of the earlier affair, and Tianyou therefore cited illness and resigned. After two years he was ordered by edict to return to service. Before reaching the capital he fell ill, requested leave to return home, and died. He was ninety-five years old.
26
天祐有才智。 兵變時。 左右皆賊耳目,幕府動靜悉知之。 天祐廣招星卜藝士往來軍中,因具得其情,卒賴以成功。 在鎮七年,威德大著,父老為立安輯祠。
Tianyou had talent and wisdom. At the time of the military mutiny. Those around him were all the rebels' eyes and ears; every movement of the headquarters was fully known to them. Tianyou widely recruited astrologers and men of various arts to come and go in the army, and thereby fully learned their situation; success in the end relied on this. During seven years in the post his prestige and virtue were greatly noted, and the elders established an Anji Temple for him.
27
胡瓚,字伯珩,永平人。 進士。 官終南京工部尚書。
Hu Zan, styled Boheng, was a native of Yongping. He was a jinshi. He ended his career as Minister of Works in Nanjing.
28
張文錦,安丘人。 弘治十二年進士,授戶部主事。 正德初,為劉瑾所陷,逮系詔獄,斥為民。 瑾誅,起故官。 再遷郎中。 督稅陝西,條上籌邊裕民十事。 遷安慶知府。 度甯王宸濠必反,與都指揮楊銳為禦備計。 宸濠果反,浮江下。 文錦等慮其攻南都,令軍士登城詬之。 宸濠乃留攻,卒不能克。 事具《楊銳傳》。 璽書褒美,擢太僕少卿。 嘉靖元年,拜右副都御史,巡撫大同。 文錦性剛。 以拒賊得重名,遂銳意振刷,操切頗無序。 大同北四望平衍,寇至無可禦。 文錦曰:「寇犯宣府不能近鎮城者,以葛谷、白陽諸堡為外蔽也。 今城外即戰場,何以示重?」 議於城北九十里外,增設五堡,曰水口、宣寧、只河、柳溝、樺溝。 參將賈鑒督役嚴,卒已怨。 及堡成,欲徙鎮卒二千五百家戍之。 眾憚行,請募新丁,僚吏鹹以為言。 文錦怒曰:「如此,則令不行矣。 鎮親兵先往,孰敢後!」 親兵素遊惰有室。 聞當發,大恐。 請孑身往,得分番。 又不聽,嚴趣之。 鑒承風,杖其隊長。 諸邊卒自甘州五衛殺巡撫許銘,朝廷處之輕,頗無忌。 至是,卒郭鑒、柳忠等乘眾憤,遂倡亂。 殺賈鑒,裂其屍,走出塞,屯焦山墩。 文錦恐與外寇連,令副將時陳等招之入城,即索治首亂者。 郭鑒等大懼,復聚為亂,焚大同府門,入行都司縱獄囚,又焚都御史府門。 文錦逾垣走,匿博野王府第。 亂卒欲燔王宮。 王懼,出文錦。 郭鑒等殺之,亦裂其屍,遂焚鎮守總兵公署。 出故總兵硃振于獄,脅為帥。 時嘉靖三年八月也。 事聞,帝命侍郎李昆赦亂卒。 昆為文錦請恤典,不報,久之,文錦父政訟其子守安慶功,禮部為之請,終不許。 文錦妻李氏復上疏哀請。 帝怒,命執齎疏者治之。 副都御史陳洪謨言:「文錦僨事,朝廷戮之可也。 假手士卒,傳之四方,損國威不小。」 復降旨詰責。 自是,廷臣不敢言。 萬曆中,始贈右都御史。 天啟初,追諡忠湣。
Zhang Wenjin was a native of Anqiu. He passed the jinshi examination in Hongzhi year 12 and was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue. Early in the Zhengde reign he was framed by Liu Jin, arrested and imprisoned in the imperial prison, and dismissed as a commoner. After Jin was executed he was restored to his former post. He was promoted again to bureau director. While supervising tax collection in Shaanxi, he submitted ten measures for securing the frontier and enriching the people. He was transferred to serve as prefect of Anqing. He judged that Prince of Ning Chenhao would surely rebel and with Regional Commander Yang Rui made plans for defense. Chenhao did rebel and sailed down the river. Wenjin and the others feared he would attack the Southern Capital and had soldiers mount the walls to revile him. Chenhao therefore stayed to attack but ultimately could not take it. The affair is fully related in the Biography of Yang Rui. An imperial edict of commendation praised him, and he was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Stud. In Jiajing 1 he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Datong. Wenjin was by nature stern. Because resisting the rebels had won him a heavy reputation, he thereupon set his mind on vigorous reform; his handling was sharp and rather disordered. North of Datong the land was level and open on every side; when raiders came there was nothing to block them. Wenjin said, "When raiders invade Xuanfu they cannot approach the garrison city because Ge Valley, Baiyang, and other forts serve as outer screens. Now the battlefield is right outside the city walls—how can this show weight? It was decided to add five forts ninety li north of the city: Shuikou, Xuannning, Zhihe, Liugou, and Huagou. Assistant Regional Commander Jia Jian supervised the labor strictly, and the soldiers were already resentful. When the forts were completed, he wished to transfer twenty-five hundred garrison households to guard them. The troops feared going and requested recruiting new recruits instead; the subordinate officials all spoke in favor of this. Wenjin angrily said, "If it is like this, then orders will not be carried out. The garrison's personal troops go first—who would dare lag behind! The personal troops had long been idle pleasure-seekers with families. Hearing they were to be dispatched, they were greatly terrified. They requested going alone without their families, in rotation. This too was not granted, and strict orders hurried them on. Jian, taking his cue from above, caned their squad leader. The frontier soldiers, since the five guards of Ganzhou had killed Grand Coordinator Xu Ming and the court had treated the matter lightly, had little fear. At this time soldiers Guo Jian, Liu Zhong, and others, taking advantage of the crowd's anger, then incited the mutiny. They killed Jia Jian, tore his corpse apart, fled beyond the frontier, and encamped at Jiaoshan Beacon. Wenjin feared they would join with external raiders and ordered Vice General Shi Chen and others to summon them back into the city, then immediately demanded the punishment of the ringleaders. Guo Jian and the others, seized with terror, rose again in mutiny. They burned the gate of Datong Prefecture, entered the Regional Military Commission to free the prisoners, and burned the gate of the grand coordinator's yamen as well. Wenjin scaled the wall and fled, taking refuge in the mansion of the Prince of Boye. The mutinous soldiers wanted to burn the princely residence. The prince, in fear, handed Wenjin over. Guo Jian and his followers killed him, tore his corpse apart, and then burned the headquarters of the regional commander. They freed the former regional commander Zhu Zhen from prison and forced him to serve as their leader. This occurred in the eighth month of Jiajing year 3. When word reached the throne, the emperor ordered Vice Minister Li Kun to grant amnesty to the mutinous soldiers. Li Kun petitioned for posthumous honors for Wenjin, but received no response. Long afterward, Wenjin's father Zheng brought suit over his son's merits in defending Anqing; the Ministry of Rites interceded on his behalf, but the throne still refused. Wenjin's wife, Lady Li, submitted another memorial pleading in anguish. The emperor flew into a rage and ordered the bearer of the memorial arrested and punished. Vice Censor-in-Chief Chen Hongmo said, "Wenjin brought ruin upon himself through reckless conduct; the court could have put him to death. But to leave the killing to mutinous soldiers and let the story spread across the realm has done no small harm to the dynasty's prestige." Another imperial edict was issued reproaching Lady Li. After that, no one at court dared raise the matter again. Only during the Wanli reign was he posthumously granted the rank of Right Censor-in-Chief. Early in the Tianqi reign, he was posthumously honored with the title Zhongmin, "Loyal and Compassionate."
29
詹榮,字仁甫,山海衛人。 嘉靖五年進士。 授戶部主事,曆郎中。
Zhan Rong, styled Renfu, was a native of Shanhai Guard. He passed the jinshi examination in Jiajing year 5. He was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue and rose to department director.
30
督餉大同,值兵變,殺總兵官李瑾。 總督劉源清率師圍城,久不下。 榮素有智略,善應變。 叛卒掠城中,無犯榮者。 週邊益急,榮密約都指揮紀振、遊擊戴濂、鎮撫王寧同盟討賊。 察叛卒馬升、楊麟無逆志,乃陽令寧持官民狀詣源清所,為叛卒乞原,而陰以榮謀告,請宥升、麟死,畀三千金,俾募死士自效。 會源清已罷,巡撫樊繼祖許之。 升、麟遂結心腹,擒首惡黃鎮等九人戮之。 榮乃開城門,延繼祖入,復捕斬二十六人。 錄功,擢光祿寺少卿,再遷太常寺少卿。
While supervising grain supplies at Datong, he was caught up in a mutiny in which the soldiers killed Regional Commander Li Jin. Grand Coordinator Liu Yuanqing led an army to besiege the city, but could not reduce it for a long time. Rong had always been quick-witted and resourceful, skilled at adapting to crisis. Though the mutineers plundered the city, none laid a hand on Rong. As the siege tightened, Rong secretly pledged an alliance with Regional Commander Ji Zhen, Mobile Commander Dai Lian, and Garrison Commander Wang Ning to put down the rebels together. Finding that the rebel soldiers Ma Sheng and Yang Lin bore no treasonous intent, he openly sent Wang Ning with a petition from officials and townspeople to Yuanqing's camp seeking amnesty for the mutineers, while secretly apprising Yuanqing of his plan: spare Ma and Yang from execution, grant them three thousand taels of silver, and let them raise a corps of die-hard fighters to prove their loyalty. By then Yuanqing had already been removed from office, and Grand Coordinator Fan Jizu approved the arrangement. Ma and Yang rallied their trusted followers, seized the ringleaders Huang Zhen and eight others, and put them to death. Rong then opened the city gates, admitted Fan Jizu, and twenty-six more men were arrested and executed. His service was officially recognized: he was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, then transferred to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
31
二十二年,以右僉都御史巡撫甘肅。 魯迷貢使留甘州者九十余人,總兵官楊信驅以禦寇,死者十之一。 榮言:「彼以好來,而用之鋒鏑,失遠人心,且示中國弱。」 詔奪信官,槥死者送之歸。 番人感悅。 逾年,以大同巡撫趙錦與總兵官周尚文不相能,詔榮與錦易任。 俺答數萬騎入掠,榮與尚文破之黑山陽,進右副都御史。 寇復大舉犯中路,參將張鳳等陣歿。 榮與尚文及總督翁萬達嚴兵備陽和,而遣騎邀擊,多所殺傷,寇乃引去。 代府奉國將軍充灼行剽,榮奏奪其祿。 充灼等結小王子入寇,謀據大同。 榮告尚文捕得,皆伏辜。 榮以大同無險,乃築東路邊牆百三十八里,堡七,墩台百五十四。 又以守邊當積粟。 而近邊弘賜諸堡三十一所,延亙五百餘里,辟治之皆膏腴田,可數十萬頃。 乃奏請召軍佃作,復其租徭,移大同一歲市馬費市牛賦之; 秋冬則聚而遏寇。 帝立從焉。 寇入犯,與尚文破之彌陀山,斬一部長。
In Jiajing year 22, he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Gansu. More than ninety tribute envoys from Rum who were staying at Ganzhou were driven by Regional Commander Yang Xin into battle against raiders; one in ten died. Rong memorialized: "They came in friendship, yet we sent them into the clash of arms. This alienates distant peoples and advertises the empire's weakness." The throne ordered Yang Xin's dismissal, had the dead placed in coffins, and sent them home. The frontier peoples were deeply gratified. The following year, because Grand Coordinator Zhao Jin of Datong and Regional Commander Zhou Shangwen could not work together, the throne ordered Rong and Zhao to swap posts. When Altan led tens of thousands of horsemen in a raid, Rong and Zhou Shangwen routed them on the sunny slope of Black Mountain, and Rong was promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief. The raiders returned in force against the middle sector; Regional Vice Commander Zhang Feng and others fell on the field. Rong, Zhou Shangwen, and Grand Coordinator Weng Wanda massed their forces at Yanghe, sent cavalry to harry the enemy along the route, inflicted heavy casualties, and the raiders withdrew. Chong Zhuo, a State Supporting General of the Princedom of Dai, had taken to raiding; Rong memorialized for the confiscation of his stipend. Chong Zhuo and his confederates colluded with the Little Prince to raid the frontier and plotted to seize Datong. Rong alerted Zhou Shangwen, who captured them; all were duly punished. Concluding that Datong lacked natural defenses, Rong built one hundred thirty-eight li of border wall along the eastern route, seven forts, and one hundred fifty-four beacon towers. He also argued that frontier defense required stored grain. Thirty-one nearby forts of the Hongsi sector stretched more than five hundred li; once cleared and cultivated, they yielded fertile fields totaling several hundred thousand qing. He memorialized to have troops called out to farm the land, exempt them from rents and corvée labor, and repurpose Datong's annual horse-purchase budget to buy oxen for distribution. In autumn and winter the troops would muster there to block raiders. The emperor promptly approved. When raiders struck again, he and Zhou Shangwen defeated them at Mount Mituo and beheaded a tribal chief.
32
榮先以靖亂功,進兵部右侍郎,又以繕邊破敵,累被獎賚。 召還理部事,進左。 尚書趙廷瑞罷,榮署部務,奏行秋防十事。 已而翁萬達入為尚書,遭母喪,榮復當署部務,辭疾乞休。 帝怒,奪職閑住。 越二年卒。
For quelling the mutiny he was promoted to Right Vice Minister of War; for fortifying the frontier and defeating the enemy he received repeated rewards from the throne. He was recalled to manage affairs at the Ministry of War and promoted to Left Vice Minister. When Minister Zhao Tingrui was removed, Rong acted in his stead and submitted ten measures for autumn frontier defense. Soon afterward Weng Wanda entered the ministry as minister but was mourning his mother; Rong was again expected to act in his place, yet he pleaded illness and asked to retire. The emperor, angered, stripped him of rank and sent him home in disgrace. Two years later he died.
33
當榮之撫大同也,萬達為總督,尚文為總兵。 三人皆有才略,寇數入不能得志。 自後代者不能任,寇無歲不入躪邊,人益思榮等。 明年,俺答薄京師,萬達、榮皆已去。 論者謂二人在,寇未必至此。 萬曆中,榮孫延為順天通判,上書訟榮功。 贈工部尚書,予恤如制。
While Rong served as grand coordinator of Datong, Weng Wanda was frontier governor-general and Zhou Shangwen was regional commander. All three were men of talent and skill; though raiders struck repeatedly, they never gained their object. Their successors proved unequal to the task; raiders crossed the border every year, and men looked back all the more fondly on Rong and his colleagues. The following year Altan raided to the very walls of the capital; by then both Weng Wanda and Rong were gone. Commentators held that had the two men still been in office, the raiders might never have come so far. During the Wanli reign, Rong's grandson Yan, serving as deputy magistrate of Shuntian, submitted a memorial vindicating his grandfather's record. Rong was posthumously granted the rank of Minister of Works, with mourning benefits according to regulation.
34
劉源清,字汝澄,東平人。 正德九年進士。 授進賢知縣。
Liu Yuanqing, styled Rucheng, was a native of Dongping. He passed the jinshi examination in Zhengde year 9. He was appointed magistrate of Jinxian.
35
宸濠反,源清積薪環室,命家人曰:「事急,火吾家。」 一僕逸,手刃以徇。 縣中諸惡少與賊通者,悉杖殺之。 宸濠妃弟婁伯歸上饒募兵,源清邀戮之。 賊檄至,立斬其使。 會余幹知縣馬津、龍津驛丞孫天祐亦起兵拒賊。 賊七殿下者,奪運舟于龍津,天祐與戰,殺數人。 賊党募兵過龍津,天祐追殺之,焚其舟。 婁氏家眾西下,亦為天祐所遏,擒七十餘人。 賊兵不敢經湖東以窺兩浙者,三人力也。 賊平,源清征為御史。 嘉靖改元,津亦入為御史。 津,滁州人。 終福建副使。 源清尋遷大理丞,謝病歸。
When the Prince of Ning rebelled, Yuanqing piled firewood around his house and told his family, "If matters turn desperate, burn this house down." One servant tried to flee; Yuanqing cut him down with his own hand as an example to the rest. Every local ruffian who had dealings with the rebels he had beaten to death. Lou Bo, younger brother of the Prince of Ning's consort, returned to Shangrao to raise troops; Yuanqing ambushed and killed him. When a rebel manifesto arrived, he immediately beheaded the bearer. Meanwhile Yegan Magistrate Ma Jin and Longjin Post assistant Sun Tianyou also took up arms against the rebels. A rebel known as the Seventh Highness seized transport boats at Longjin; Sun Tianyou fought him and killed several of his men. When rebel recruits passed through Longjin, Sun Tianyou pursued them, killed many, and burned their boats. The Lou family's armed followers marching west were likewise blocked by Sun Tianyou, who captured more than seventy men. That rebel forces dared not cross east of Lake Poyang to threaten the two Zhe provinces was owed to these three men. After the rebellion was suppressed, Yuanqing was summoned to serve as a censor. At the beginning of the Jiajing reign, Ma Jin also entered service as a censor. Ma Jin was a native of Chuzhou. He ended his career as vice commissioner of Fujian. Yuanqing was soon promoted to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review, then retired citing illness.
36
六年夏,以右僉都御史巡撫宣府。 滴水崖賊郭春據城叛,稱王。 源清遣卒捕之,為所覺。 副總兵劉淵令曰「止擒元惡」,以旗繞城而呼。 其黨皆散,春等自剄死。 總兵官郤永虐下,源清劾罷之。 進副都御史。 十二年,以邊警遷兵部左侍郎,總制宣、大、山西、保定諸鎮軍務。 大同總兵官李瑾浚天城左孤店濠四十里,趣工急。 卒王福勝等焚殺瑾,因焚巡撫潘亻放署。 亻放奏瑾激變,帝命源清同總兵郤永討之。 源清榜令解散。 而榜言五堡變,處之過寬,五堡遺孽大懼。 師次陽和,亻放等密捕亂卒杖死十餘人,系賊首王保等七十餘人以獻,請旋師。 源清懲昔胡瓚事,不欲已,以囚屬御史蘇祐。 囚妄言前總兵硃振失職首亂,且多引無辜。 源清遣參將趙綱入城大索。 城中訛言城且屠,亂卒遂鼓噪,殺千戶張欽。 會僉事孫允中自源清所至,諭源清意,撫慰之始定。 振前為亂卒所擁,實不反,詣源清自明。 不能白,發憤自殺。
In the summer of Jiajing year 6, he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Xuanfu. The bandit Guo Chun of Dingshui Cliff seized a city in revolt and declared himself king. Yuanqing sent soldiers to capture him, but the operation was discovered. Vice Regional Commander Liu Yuan issued an order to "capture the ringleader only" and, banners unfurled, rode around the city calling out the terms. Guo Chun's followers scattered; Guo and his associates slit their own throats. Regional Commander Xi Yong abused his subordinates; Yuanqing impeached him and had him removed. He was promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief. In Jiajing year 12, amid frontier emergencies, he was appointed Left Vice Minister of War with overall command of the garrisons of Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, and Baoding. Datong Regional Commander Li Jin ordered a forty-li moat dug at Zuogudian in Tiancheng and drove the labor relentlessly. Soldiers Wang Fusheng and others killed Li Jin by fire and burned the yamen of Grand Coordinator Pan Fang. Pan Fang memorialized that Li Jin had provoked the mutiny; the emperor ordered Yuanqing and Regional Commander Xi Yong to suppress it. Yuanqing issued a proclamation ordering the mutineers to disband. But the proclamation cited the earlier Five Forts mutiny as having been treated too leniently, and the surviving mutineers were seized with terror. When the army encamped at Yanghe, Pan Fang and others secretly arrested mutineers and beat more than ten to death, delivered more than seventy ringleaders including Wang Bao in bonds, and petitioned to withdraw the troops. Still mindful of the earlier debacle involving Hu Zan, Yuanqing refused to stand down and turned the prisoners over to Censor Su You. Under interrogation the prisoners falsely claimed that former Regional Commander Zhu Zhen had failed in duty and sparked the mutiny, implicating many innocent men besides. Yuanqing sent Regional Vice Commander Zhao Gang into the city on a sweeping manhunt. Rumors swept the city that a general massacre was imminent; the mutineers rose in uproar and killed Thousand-Commander Zhang Qin. Vice Commissioner Sun Yunzhong arrived from Yuanqing's headquarters, explained Yuanqing's intent, and only after his reassurances did the city quiet down. Zhu Zhen had been coerced by the mutineers and had never truly rebelled; he went to Yuanqing to clear his name. Unable to clear his name, he killed himself in despair.
37
永兵至城下大掠,五堡遺孽遂盡反。 迎戰,殺遊擊曹安。 官軍攻據四關,晝夜圍擊。 亂卒出前參將黃鎮等於獄,奉為帥,死守。 亻放與鎮國將軍俊郐隱等登城,止毋攻。 俊郐隱出見永請緩兵,皆不聽。 允中縋城出,言將士妄殺狀。 源清叱曰:「汝為賊遊說耶!」 欲囚之。 允中不敢歸。 源清因多設邏卒,遏王府及有司軍民章疏,而請益師至五萬。 帝命侍郎錢如京、都督江桓統京軍八千以往。 已忽悟,罷弗遣,專責源清、永討賊。 亻放馳疏言,將士妄殺激變,速旋師,亂中已。 源清亦詆亻放媚賊。 張孚敬主源清,侍郎顧鼎臣、黃綰言用兵謬,帝不能決。 城圍久大困,毀王府及諸廨舍供爨。 兵部復下安撫令,源清亦樹幟招降,叛卒稍稍自投。 首惡黃鎮等亦分日出見,乞通樵采路,永許諾。 翌日采薪者出,永悉執之。 城中人益懼,亂卒復叛,勾外寇為助。 永遇之,大敗而遁。 叛卒遂引寇十餘騎入城,指代府曰:「以此為那顏居。」 「那顏」者,華言大人也。 城中人聞之,皆巷哭。 明日,外寇攻東南二關,叛卒與犄角,官軍殊死戰,互有殺傷。 寇知叛卒不足賴,倒戈擊之,大詬而去。 是時,寇游騎南掠至朔、應。 源清請募九邊兵,增總制官禦之,己得一意攻城,帝不許。 源清乃百道攻,穴城,為毒煙熏死者相籍。 復請壅水灌之。 帝大不懌,奪其職閑住,以兵部侍郎張瓚代之。 瓚未至,郎中詹榮等已悉捕首惡。
When Xi Yong's army arrived at the walls and looted the city, the surviving mutineers from the Five Forts rose in full revolt. They gave battle and killed Mobile Commander Cao An. Government forces stormed and held the four passes, pressing the siege around the clock. The mutineers freed former Regional Commander Huang Zhen and others from jail, proclaimed them leaders, and prepared to die defending the city. Pan Fang, State-maintaining General Jun Yin, and others went up on the walls and urged that the assault be halted. Jun Yin went out to meet Xi Yong and begged for a respite in the fighting, but his pleas went unheeded. Sun Yunzhong was let down from the wall by rope and reported the indiscriminate killings by the troops. Yuanqing rebuked him: "Are you acting as the rebels' advocate?" He meant to have him arrested. Sun Yunzhong did not dare go back inside the city. Yuanqing then posted extra patrols to intercept memorials from the princely residence and from officials and civilians alike, and asked that reinforcements be raised to fifty thousand men. The emperor ordered Vice Minister Qian Rujing and Commissioner Jiang Huan to lead eight thousand capital troops to the scene. He soon thought better of it, canceled the deployment, and held Yuanqing and Xi Yong solely responsible for putting down the mutiny. Pan Fang sent an urgent memorial stating that indiscriminate killings by the troops had provoked the revolt, and urging a swift withdrawal of the army so the disorder might be ended. Yuanqing in turn denounced Pan Fang for appeasing the rebels. Zhang Fuyi sided with Yuanqing, while Vice Ministers Gu Dingchen and Huang Wan argued that military action was misguided, and the emperor could not make up his mind. As the siege wore on, the city fell into desperate straits, and the mutineers demolished the princely residence and government buildings for fuel. The Ministry of War issued fresh pacification orders, and Yuanqing also raised surrender banners; mutineers began trickling in one by one. The ringleader Huang Zhen and others also came out on successive days, asking that woodcutters be allowed to pass in and out, and Xi Yong agreed. The next day, when woodcutters went out, Xi Yong had them all arrested. Terror spread through the city; the mutineers rebelled again and called in outside raiders for help. Xi Yong met them in battle, was routed, and fled. The mutineers then brought more than ten raider horsemen into the city, pointed at the residence of the Prince of Dai, and said, "This shall be the nayan's dwelling." "Nayan" means "great lord" in Chinese. When the townspeople heard this, they wept in the streets. The next day the outside raiders attacked the two southeastern passes while the mutineers struck from another angle; government troops fought desperately, and both sides suffered losses. Finding the mutineers unreliable, the raiders turned on them, cursed them roundly, and withdrew. Meanwhile the raiders' scouting horsemen swept south as far as Shuo and Ying. Yuanqing asked to raise troops from the nine frontier garrisons and appoint an additional overall commander to hold them off so that he could devote himself to the siege, but the emperor refused. Yuanqing then assaulted from every direction, dug tunnels under the walls, and the dead from poisonous smoke lay heaped together. He again petitioned to dam the water and flood the city. The emperor was deeply displeased, dismissed him from office to live in retirement, and replaced him with Vice Minister of War Zhang Zan. Before Zhang Zan arrived, Director Jin Rong and others had already seized all the ringleaders.
38
黃綰勘功罪,言源清、永實罪魁,具劾其婪賄不貲狀。 兵科曾忭等言,宸濠亂,源清有保障功,當蒙八議之貸。 帝怒,下忭等詔獄,逮源清治之。 獄久不決,綰憂去,乃減死,斥為民。 俺答薄京師,即家起之,未赴而卒。 隆慶初,贈兵部尚書。
Huang Wan reviewed merits and faults, declared Yuanqing and Xi Yong the true culprits, and impeached them in detail for extortionate bribery. Supervising Secretaries Zeng Bian and others argued that during the Prince of Ning rebellion Yuanqing had distinguished himself in defense and deserved the leniency afforded by the Eight Deliberations. The emperor was enraged, imprisoned Zeng Bian and his colleagues, and had Yuanqing arrested and prosecuted. The case dragged on without resolution; after Huang Wan withdrew in distress, the sentence was commuted from death and Yuanqing was banished as a commoner. When Altan Khan threatened the capital, Yuanqing was recalled from retirement, but died before he could report for duty. At the opening of the Longqing reign, he was posthumously appointed Minister of War.
39
劉天和,字養和,麻城人。 正德三年進士。 授南京禮部主事。 劉瑾黜御史十八人,改他曹二十四人補之,天和與焉。 出按陝西。 鎮守中官廖堂奉詔辦食禦物於蘭州,天和謂非所部,辭不往。 堂奏天和拒命,詔逮之。 部民哭送者萬人。 錮詔獄久不釋,吏部尚書楊一清疏救,法司奏當贖杖還職,中旨謫金壇丞。 刑部主事孫繼芳抗章救,不報。 屢遷湖州知府,多惠政。
Liu Tianhe, styled Yanghe, came from Macheng. He passed the jinshi examination in Zhengde year 3. He was appointed a secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. When Liu Jin dismissed eighteen censors and filled their posts with twenty-four men transferred from other offices, Tianhe was among the replacements. He was sent out as investigating censor in Shaanxi. When the eunuch frontier commander Liao Tang was ordered to procure food and tribute goods at Lanzhou, Tianhe held that this lay outside his jurisdiction and refused to go. Liao Tang memorialized that Tianhe had defied orders, and an imperial edict ordered his arrest. Ten thousand local people wept as they escorted him away. Held long in the imperial prison, he was defended in a memorial by Minister of Personnel Yang Yiqing; the judicial offices recommended a fine and caning followed by reinstatement, but an imperial rescript instead demoted him to assistant magistrate of Jintan. Sun Jifang, a secretary in the Ministry of Punishments, submitted an urgent memorial in his defense, but received no reply. After several promotions he became prefect of Huzhou, where he carried out many policies that benefited the people.
40
嘉靖初,擢山西提學副使。 累遷南京太常少卿。 以右僉都御史督甘肅屯政。 請以肅州丁壯及山、陝流民于近邊耕牧,且推行于諸邊。 尋奏當興革者十事,田利大興。 改撫陝西。 請撤鎮守中官及罷為民患者三十余事,帝皆從之。 洮、岷番四十二族蠢動,天和誅不順命者。 又討平湖店大盜及漢中妖賊,就進右副都御史。
At the start of the Jiajing reign he was promoted to Vice Commissioner for Education in Shanxi. He rose through successive promotions to Vice Director of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Sacrifices. As Vice Censor-in-Chief he oversaw military colonization in Gansu. He proposed settling able-bodied men from Suzhou and displaced people from Shanxi and Shaanxi to farm and herd along the near frontier, and extending the policy to other border regions. He soon submitted ten recommended reforms, and frontier agriculture flourished. He was transferred to serve as grand coordinator of Shaanxi. He petitioned to remove the eunuch frontier commanders and to abolish more than thirty practices that harmed the people, and the emperor approved every proposal. When forty-two Tibetan tribes of Tao and Min grew restless, Tianhe executed those who refused to submit. He also suppressed the major bandits of Pinghu Store and the sorcerer rebels of Hanzhong, and was promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief on that account.
41
母憂,服闋以故官總理河道。 黃河南徙,曆濟、徐皆旁溢。 天和疏汴河,自硃仙鎮至沛飛雲橋,殺其下流。 疏山東七十二泉,自鳧、尼諸山達南旺河,浚其下流。 役夫二萬,不三月訖工。 加工部右侍郎。 故事,河南八府歲役民治河,不赴役者人出銀三兩。 天和因歲饑,請盡蠲旁河受役者課,遠河未役者半之。 詔可。
After mourning his mother, he resumed his former rank and was put in charge of the Grand Canal. When the Yellow River shifted southward, the regions of Ji and Xu were flooded on every side. Tianhe dredged the Bian River from Zhuxian Town to Feiyun Bridge in Pei, cutting back its lower course. He cleared the seventy-two springs of Shandong from Mount Fu, Mount Ni, and other peaks down to the Nanwang River, dredging their lower channels. Using twenty thousand laborers, the work was completed in less than three months. He was promoted to Right Vice Minister of Works. By precedent the eight prefectures of Henan conscripted laborers each year for river work; those who did not serve paid three taels of silver apiece. Because of famine that year, Tianhe asked that levies on those near the river who were liable for corvée be wholly remitted, and that those farther away who had not yet served pay half. The emperor approved the request.
42
十五年改兵部左侍郎,總制三邊軍務。 兵車皆雙輪,用二十人,遇險即困,又行遲不適於用。 天和請仿前總督秦紘只輪車,上置砲槍斧戟,廂前樹狻猊牌,左右虎盾,連二車可蔽三四十人。 一人挽之,推且翼者各二人。 戰則護騎士其中,敵遠則施火器,稍近發弓弩,又近乃出短兵,敵走則騎兵追。 復製隨車小帳,令士不露宿。 又毒弩矢,修邊牆濠塹。 皆從之。
In Jiajing year 15 he was appointed Left Vice Minister of War with overall command of the Three Frontiers. The army wagons all had two wheels and required twenty men to move; they bogged down in rough terrain, moved too slowly, and were ill suited to campaigning. Tianhe proposed reviving the single-wheeled cart used by the former overall commander Qin Hong, mounting cannon, muskets, axes, and halberds on it, placing suanni shields before the carriage and tiger shields to either side, and linking two carts so that thirty or forty men could fight under cover. One man hauled it, two pushed, and two more flanked it on each side. In battle cavalry sheltered inside; at long range they used firearms, at medium range bows and crossbows, at close quarters short weapons, and when the enemy fled cavalry gave chase. He also devised small tents carried with the carts so the men would not have to sleep in the open. He also poisoned crossbow bolts and repaired the frontier walls, moats, and trenches. All his proposals were approved.
43
吉囊十萬眾屯賀蘭山後,遣別部寇涼州,副將王輔逐奪其纛。 寇莊浪,總兵官姜奭屢敗之。 進天和右都御史。 寇復大集兵將入犯。 天和策寇瞰西有備必東,密檄延綏副將白爵宵行,與參將吳瑛合。 寇果東入黑河墩,遇爵伏兵,大創而去。 既又入蒺藜川,爵尾擊之,寇多死。 尋入寇家澗、張家塔,為爵、瑛所敗。 犯寧夏者,總兵官王效復破之。 帝大喜,進天和左都御史。 吉囊犯河西,天和禦卻之,進兵部尚書。 寇將入平虜城,天和伏兵花馬池。 寇戰不勝,走河上。 遇伏兵,多死于水。 吉囊乘虛寇固原,剽掠且饜。 會淫潦,弓矢盡膠,無鬥志。 而諸將多畏縮,天和斬指揮二人,召故總兵周尚文令立功。 會陝西總兵官魏時角寇至黑水苑,尚文盡銳夾擊,殺吉囊子小十王。 寇退寧夏,巡撫楊守禮、總兵官任傑等復邀擊,敗之鐵柱泉,斬獲共四百四十餘級。 論功,加天和太子太保,廕一子錦衣千戶,前後齎銀幣十數。 遷南京戶部尚書,召為兵部尚書督團營。 言官論天和衰老,遂乞休歸。 家居三年卒。 贈少保,諡莊襄。
Jicang encamped with a hundred thousand men behind Helan Mountain and sent a detachment against Liangzhou; Vice General Wang Fu pursued them and captured their battle standard. When they raided Zhuanglang, Regional Commander Jiang Yi defeated them repeatedly. Tianhe was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief. The raiders massed again and prepared to invade. Reasoning that the raiders, finding the west well defended, would strike east, Tianhe secretly ordered Yan-Sui Vice General Bai Jue to march by night and join Regional Vice Commander Wu Ying. The raiders did enter from the east at Heihe Dun, ran into Bai Jue's ambush, suffered heavy losses, and withdrew. When they entered Jili Chuan again, Bai Jue struck from the rear and many raiders were killed. They soon raided Jiajian and Zhangjiata and were defeated by Bai Jue and Wu Ying. The force that struck Ningxia was again defeated by Regional Commander Wang Xiao. The emperor was greatly pleased and promoted Tianhe to Left Censor-in-Chief. When Jicang invaded west of the river, Tianhe drove him back and was promoted to Minister of War. As the raiders were about to enter Pinglu Fort, Tianhe laid an ambush at Huamachi. The raiders were defeated in battle and fled toward the river. They ran into the ambush, and many drowned. Jicang seized the opportunity to raid Guyuan and plundered to his fill. Heavy rains set in, glueing up bows and arrows, and the troops lost all fighting spirit. Many of the generals hung back in fear; Tianhe executed two commanders and recalled the former regional commander Zhou Shangwen, ordering him to redeem himself in battle. When Shaanxi Regional Commander Wei Shi intercepted the raiders at Heishui Yuan, Zhou Shangwen brought up all his crack troops in a pincer attack and killed Jicang's son, the Little Tenth Prince. As the raiders withdrew toward Ningxia, Grand Coordinator Yang Shouli, Regional Commander Ren Jie, and others intercepted them again, defeated them at Tiezhu Quan, and took more than four hundred forty heads and captives in all. For these achievements Tianhe was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, one son was granted a hereditary post as commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he received silver and silks on more than ten occasions. He was transferred to Minister of Revenue at Nanjing, then recalled to serve as Minister of War and supervise the Corps Divisions. When censorial officials criticized him as too old for office, he requested retirement and returned home. After three years at home he died. He was posthumously awarded the title of Junior Guardian, with the posthumous name Zhuangxiang.
44
天和初舉進士,劉瑾欲與敘宗姓,謝不往。 晚年內召,陶仲文以刺迎,稱戚屬。 天和返其刺曰:「誤矣,吾中外姻連無是人。」 仲文恚,其罷官有力焉。
When Tianhe first passed the jinshi examination, Liu Jin wished to acknowledge him as a kinsman and discuss their shared lineage, but he politely declined and would not go. In his later years, when he was summoned to court, Tao Zhongwen welcomed him with a calling card and addressed him as a kinsman by marriage. Tianhe returned the card and said, "You are mistaken. Among all my marital connections, near and far, there is no such person." Zhongwen took offense, and he had no small part in bringing about Tianhe's dismissal from office.
45
楊守禮,字秉節,蒲州人。 正德六年進士。 除戶部主事。 嘉靖初,屢遷湖廣僉事。 以計擒公安賊魁。 坐事謫敘州通判。 累遷右副都御史,巡撫四川。 與副將何卿平諸番亂,齎銀幣。 初,守禮貶敘州,為僉事張文奎所辱。 至是,文奎遷四川參議,恐守禮修隙,先以所摭事奏。 詔二人俱解職歸。
Yang Shouli, styled Bingjie, was a native of Puzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in Zhengde year 6. He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. At the beginning of the Jiajing reign he was repeatedly promoted until he became surveillance vice commissioner of Huguang. By stratagem he captured the bandit chieftain of Gong'an. For an offense he was demoted to assistant prefect of Xuzhou. Through successive promotions he became Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Sichuan. Together with deputy general He Qing he pacified the rebellions of the various tribes and was awarded silver and silks. Earlier, when Shouli had been demoted to Xuzhou, he was humiliated by surveillance vice commissioner Zhang Wenkui. At this point Wenkui was transferred to Sichuan as administration vice commissioner. Fearing that Shouli would settle old scores, he first memorialized the court with charges he had dredged up. An edict ordered both men to resign their posts and return home.
46
守禮才器敏達,中外以為能。 居家未久,工部尚書秦金等會薦,起河南參政。 再遷右副都御史,巡撫寧夏。 寇犯固原,為總督劉天和所敗。 欲自寧夏去,守禮與總兵任傑等邀敗之。 會天和召還,進守禮右都御史總督軍務代之。 錄前功,進兵部尚書。 總兵官李義、楊信連卻吉囊,三賜璽書銀幣。 尋上疏乞休,帝惡其避難,降俸二級。
Shouli was quick and capable, and both inside and outside the court he was regarded as a man of talent. Not long after he returned home, Minister of Works Qin Jin and others jointly recommended him, and he was recalled to serve as administration commissioner of Henan. He was again promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed Grand Coordinator of Ningxia. When raiders invaded Guyuan, they were defeated by Grand Coordinator Liu Tianhe. As they tried to withdraw from Ningxia, Shouli together with regional commander Ren Jie and others intercepted and defeated them. When Tianhe was recalled, Shouli was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief and appointed to supervise military affairs in his place. For his earlier achievements he was promoted to Minister of War. Regional commanders Li Yi and Yang Xin repeatedly drove back Jicang, and on three occasions imperial edicts accompanied by silver and silks were bestowed. Soon afterward he memorialized requesting retirement. The emperor resented him for shirking hardship and reduced his salary by two grades.
47
其秋,寇三萬騎抵綏德。 遊擊張鵬卻之,總兵官吳英等追至塞外,東路參將周文兵亦至,夾擊敗之。 巡按御史殷學言,寇入內地五百里,請治諸將罪。 部議延綏遊兵俱調宣、大,寇方避實擊虛。 而我能以寡勝眾,宜錄其功。 乃加守禮太子少保,學謫外。 守禮尋以憂去。 俺答薄都城,廷臣首以守禮薦,詔趣上道。 寇退,止不行。 久之卒。
That autumn thirty thousand mounted raiders reached Suide. Mobile detachment commander Zhang Peng drove them back, regional commander Wu Ying and others pursued them beyond the frontier, and Eastern Route deputy commander Zhou Wen's troops also arrived; in a pincer attack the raiders were defeated. Investigating censor Yin Xue argued that since the raiders had penetrated five hundred li into the interior, the generals should be punished. The ministry replied that the mobile troops of Yan-Sui had all been transferred to Xuan-Da, and the raiders had deliberately avoided strong points to strike where defenses were weak. Yet the commanders had defeated a larger force with fewer troops, and their merit ought to be recorded. Shouli was then made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, while Xue was demoted and sent away from court. Shouli soon left office to observe mourning. When Altan Khan approached the capital, court officials first recommended Shouli, and an edict ordered him to set out at once. When the raiders withdrew, the summons was canceled and he did not go. After some time he died.
48
張岳,字維喬,惠安人。 自幼好學,以大儒自期。 登正德十一年進士,授行人。 武宗寢疾豹房。 請令大臣侍從,台諫輪直起居,視藥餌,防意外變。 不報。 與同官諫南巡,杖闕下,謫南京國子學正。 世宗嗣位,復故官,遷右司副。 母老乞便養,改南京武選員外郎,曆主客郎中。 方議大禘禮。 張璁求始祖所自出者實之,禮官皆唯唯。 岳言于尚書李時曰:「不如為皇初祖位,毋實以人。」 時大喜,告璁。 璁不謂然,以初議上。 帝竟令題皇初祖主,如嶽言。 璁銜之,出為廣西提學僉事。 行部柳州,軍缺餉大嘩,城閉五日。 嶽令守城啟門,召詰嘩者予餉去。 尋以計擒首惡,置之理。 入賀,改提學江西。 不謝璁,璁黜廣西選貢七人,謫嶽廣東鹽課提舉。 遷廉州知府。 督民墾棄地,教以桔槔運水。 廉民多盜珠池。 岳居四年,未嘗入一珠。
Zhang Yue, styled Weiqiao, was a native of Huian. From youth he loved learning and set his sights on becoming a great Confucian scholar. He passed the jinshi examination in Zhengde year 11 and was appointed a courier. Emperor Wuzong lay ill in the Leopard Quarter. He requested that grand ministers attend the emperor, that censorial officials take turns watching over his daily routine, inspect his medicines, and guard against any unexpected turn of events. There was no response. Together with fellow officials he remonstrated against the southern tour, was beaten at the palace gate, and was demoted to director of studies at the Nanjing Imperial Academy. When Emperor Shizong succeeded to the throne, Yue was restored to his former post and promoted to Right Bureau Vice Director. Because his mother was aged, he requested a convenient post so he could care for her; he was transferred to vice director of Military Appointments at Nanjing and later served as bureau director of Receptions. At that time the court was debating the Grand Sacrifice rite. Zhang Cong sought to identify and substantiate the emperor's actual founding ancestor, and the ritual officials all murmured their assent. Yue said to Minister Li Shi, "It would be better to reserve a place for the Imperial Primordial Ancestor without identifying it with any particular person." Li Shi was greatly pleased and told Zhang Cong. Zhang Cong did not agree and submitted the original proposal. The emperor ultimately ordered the tablet inscribed with the title Imperial Primordial Ancestor, just as Yue had advised. Zhang Cong harbored resentment, and Yue was sent out to serve as education intendant vice commissioner of Guangxi. While on tour in Liuzhou, the troops went unpaid and raised a great uproar; the city gates were shut for five days. Yue ordered the garrison to open the gates, summoned the rioters for questioning, paid them their arrears, and sent them away. Soon afterward, by stratagem, he captured the ringleaders and brought them to justice. When he entered court to offer congratulations, he was transferred to education intendant of Jiangxi. Because he did not thank Zhang Cong, Cong dismissed seven selected tribute students from Guangxi and demoted Yue to salt tax intendant of Guangdong. He was promoted to prefect of Lianzhou. He supervised the people in reclaiming abandoned land and taught them to irrigate it with shadufs. The people of Lianzhou often poached from the pearl pools. Yue lived there four years and never once entered a pearl pool.
49
帝使使往安南詰莫登庸殺主,岳言于總督張經曰:「莫氏篡黎,可無勘而知也,使往受謾詞辱國,請留使者毋前。」 經不可。 知欽州林希元上書請決討莫氏,嶽貽書止之,復條上不可討六事。 為書貽執政曰:「據邊民報,黎賙襲封無嗣,以兄子譓為子。 陳暠作亂,賙遇害,暠篡。 未幾國人擁立譓,暠奔諒山。 訁惠立七年,為莫登庸所逼,出居昇華。 登庸立譓幼弟騑而相之,卒弑騑自立,國分為三。 黎在南,莫居中,陳在西北。 後諒山亦為登庸有,陳遂絕。 而黎所居即古日南地,與占城鄰,限大海,登庸不能逾之南,故兩存。 近登庸又以交州付其孫福海,而自營海東府地都齋居之。 蓋安南諸府,惟海東地最大,即所謂王山郡也。 此賊負篡逆名,常練兵備我,又時揚言求入貢。 邊人以非故王也,弗敢聞。 愚以為彼內亂未嘗有所侵犯,可且置之,待其亂定乃貢。 若必用兵,勝負利純非嶽所敢知。」 執政得書不能決。 已,毛伯溫來視師,張經一以軍事委嶽。 又以翁萬達才,進二人于伯溫。 岳與伯溫語數日,伯溫曰:「交事屬君矣。」 許登庸如嶽議。 會嶽遷浙江提學副使,又遷參政,伯溫馳奏留之,乃改廣東參政,分守海北。 登庸降,加嶽俸一級,賜銀幣。 尋以征瓊州叛黎功,加俸及賜如之。
The emperor sent an envoy to Annam to investigate Mo Dengyong's murder of the ruler. Yue said to Grand Coordinator Zhang Jing, "The Mo clan usurped the Le dynasty; that much can be known without any investigation. If the envoy goes, he will only receive deceitful words and disgrace the state. Please detain the envoy and do not let him proceed." Zhang Jing would not agree. Lin Xiyuan, magistrate of Qinzhou, memorialized requesting a decisive campaign against the Mo clan. Yue sent him a letter urging him to stop and also submitted six reasons in separate items why an attack should not be launched. He wrote to the chief ministers, saying, "According to reports from border people, Le Cong inherited the throne without a son of his own and adopted his elder brother's son Hui. Chen Gao launched a rebellion, Cong was killed, and Gao usurped the throne. Before long the people supported Hui, and Gao fled to Lang Son. Hui ruled for seven years before Mo Dengyong forced him out to live at Sinh Hoa. Dengyong installed Hui's younger brother Fei and served as his prime minister, then finally assassinated Fei and seized the throne himself, and the state split into three parts. The Le held the south, the Mo the center, and the Chen the northwest. Later Lang Son also fell to Dengyong, and the Chen line was finally extinguished. The territory held by the Le was the ancient Rinan region, bordering Champa and bounded by the sea; Dengyong could not cross south of it, and so both regimes survived. Recently Dengyong entrusted Jiaozhou to his grandson Fuhai while establishing his own residence at Do Du in the Hai Dong prefecture. Of all the prefectures of Annam, Hai Dong alone had the largest territory; this was the so-called Wangshan Commandery. This rebel bears the stigma of usurpation and treason, constantly drills troops against us, and from time to time loudly professes a wish to offer tribute. Because he was not the former king, the border people dared not report these overtures. I am inclined to think that since their internal disorder has not yet led to any invasion of our territory, the matter can be set aside for now and tribute accepted only after their turmoil has settled. If war must be waged, the outcome, whether victory or defeat, profit or loss, is beyond what Yue dares presume to know." The chief ministers received the letter but could not reach a decision. Then Mao Bowen came to inspect the army, and Zhang Jing wholly entrusted military affairs to Yue. Because Weng Wanda was also talented, he recommended both men to Bowen. Yue spoke with Bowen for several days, and Bowen said, "The Annam affair is in your hands." He allowed Dengyong to proceed according to Yue's proposal. When Yue was transferred to vice education intendant of Zhejiang and then to administration commissioner, Bowen urgently memorialized to retain him; he was then reassigned as administration commissioner of Guangdong with separate responsibility for Haibei. When Dengyong surrendered, Yue's salary was raised one grade and he was awarded silver and silks. Soon afterward, for his achievements in campaigning against the rebel Li of Qiongzhou, he received the same salary increase and gifts.
50
塞上多事,言官薦岳邊才。 伯溫言:「岳可南,翁萬達可北也。」 遂擢嶽右僉都御史,撫治鄖陽。 旋移撫江西,進右副都御史,總督兩廣軍務兼巡撫。 討破廣東封川僮蘇公樂等,進兵部右侍郎。 平廣西馬平諸縣瑤賊,先後俘斬四千,招撫二萬餘人,誅賊魁韋金田等,增俸一級。 召為刑部右侍郎,以御史徐南金言命留任。 連山賊李金與賀縣賊倪仲亮等,出沒衡、永、郴、桂,積三十年不能平,嶽大合兵討擒之。 蒞鎮四年,巨寇悉平,召拜兵部左侍郎。
With much trouble on the frontier, remonstrating officials recommended Yue for his frontier expertise. Bowen said, "Yue can serve in the south, and Weng Wanda can serve in the north." Yue was then promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed Pacification Commissioner of Yunyang. He was soon transferred to Jiangxi as grand coordinator, promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, and appointed supreme commander of military affairs in the Two Guangs with concurrent duties as grand coordinator. He defeated the Yao bandits of Fengchuan in Guangdong, including Su Gongle and others, and was promoted to Right Vice Minister of War. He pacified the Yao bandits in counties such as Maping in Guangxi, capturing and beheading four thousand in all, pacifying and recruiting more than twenty thousand people, executing bandit chiefs including Wei Jintian, and receiving a one-grade salary increase. He was summoned to serve as Right Vice Minister of Punishments, but on the memorial of censor Xu Nanjin an order was issued for him to remain in his current post. Li Jin, a bandit of Lianshan, and Ni Zhongliang and other bandits of Hexian had roamed Heng, Yong, Chen, and Gui for thirty years without being pacified; Yue mustered a large force and captured them. After four years in command, all the major bandits had been pacified, and he was summoned and appointed Left Vice Minister of War.
51
湖貴間有山曰蠟爾,諸苗居之。 東屬鎮溪千戶所筸子坪長官司,隸湖廣; 西屬銅仁、平頭二長官司,隸貴州; 北接四川酉陽,廣袤數百里。 諸苗數反,官兵不能制。 侍郎萬鏜征之,四年不克。 乃授其魁龍許保冠帶。 湖苗暫息,而貴苗反如故。 鏜班師,龍許保及其党吳黑苗復亂。 貴州巡撫李義壯告警,乃命岳總督湖廣、貴州、四川軍務,討之。 進右都御史。 義壯持鏜議欲撫,嶽劾其阻兵,罷之。 先義壯撫貴州者,僉都御史王學益與鏜附嚴嵩,主撫議,數從中撓嶽。 嶽持益堅。 許保襲執印江知縣徐文伯及石阡推官鄧本忠以去,嶽坐停俸。 乃使總兵官沈希儀、參將石邦憲等分道進,躬入銅仁督之。 先後斬賊魁五十三人,獨許保、黑苗跳不獲。 岳以捷聞,言貴苗漸平,湖苗聽撫,請遣土兵歸農,朝議許之。 未幾,酉陽宣慰冉元嗾許保、黑苗突思州,劫執知府李允簡。 邦憲兵邀奪允簡還,允簡竟死。 嵩父子故憾岳,欲逮治之,徐階持不可。 乃奪右都御史,以兵部侍郎督師。 邦憲等旋破賊。 岳搜山箐,餘賊獻思州印及許保。 湖廣兵亦破擒首惡李通海等。 岳以黑苗未獲,不敢報功。 已而冉元謀露,嶽發其奸。 元賄嚴世蕃責岳絕苗黨。 邦憲竟得黑苗以獻,苗患乃息。
Between Huguang and Guizhou there is a mountain called La'er where various Miao peoples live. To the east it belonged to the Gaoziping Native Official Office of Zhenxi Guard Station, under Huguang; to the west to the two native official offices of Tongren and Pingtou, under Guizhou; and to the north it bordered Youyang in Sichuan, extending hundreds of li in every direction. The various Miao rebelled repeatedly, and government troops could not bring them under control. Vice Minister Wan Yao campaigned against them for four years without success. The court then invested the chieftain Long Xubao with official cap and belt. The Miao of the lake region briefly quieted, but those in Guizhou rose again as before. When Yao withdrew his army, Long Xubao and his follower Wu Heimiao rose in rebellion once more. When Guizhou grand coordinator Li Yizhuang sounded the alarm, Yue was appointed to oversee military affairs in Huguang, Guizhou, and Sichuan and ordered to suppress the rebels. He was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief. Yizhuang held to Yao's conciliation policy, but Yue impeached him for blocking the use of force and had him removed from office. Wang Xueyi, who had preceded Yizhuang as grand coordinator of Guizhou, had aligned with Yao and Yan Song in favor of conciliation and repeatedly undermined Yue from court. Yue held his position all the more firmly. Xubao raided and took captive the magistrate of Yinjiang, Xu Wenbo, and the assistant prefectural judge of Shiqian, Deng Benzhong; Yue's salary was suspended as punishment. He dispatched Regional Commander Shen Xiyi and Assistant Regional Commander Shi Bangxian along separate routes, while he personally entered Tongren to direct the campaign. They successively executed fifty-three rebel chiefs, but Xubao and Heimiao alone escaped capture. Yue reported his victory, noting that the Guizhou Miao were being subdued and the lake-region Miao had accepted conciliation, and requested permission to send native troops back to their farms; the court agreed. Before long, Youyang pacification commissioner Ran Yuan incited Xubao and Heimiao to attack Si Prefecture and abduct Prefect Li Yunjian. Shi Bangxian's troops intercepted the band and recovered Yunjian, but he died in the end. Yan Song and his son had long resented Yue and wanted him arrested and punished, but Xu Jie held firm against it. He was stripped of his rank as Right Censor-in-Chief and demoted to Vice Minister of War to command the army. Shi Bangxian and the others soon broke the rebels. Yue searched the mountain strongholds, and the remaining rebels surrendered the Si Prefecture seal along with Xubao. Huguang troops also defeated and captured the ringleader Li Tonghai and others. Since Heimiao had not yet been captured, Yue did not dare claim credit for victory. When Ran Yuan's conspiracy came to light, Yue exposed his treachery. Ran bribed Yan Shifan to criticize Yue for exterminating the Miao partisans. Shi Bangxian finally captured Heimiao and presented him to Yue, and the Miao unrest was ended.
52
岳卒於沅州。 喪歸,沅人迎哭者不絕。 已,敘功,復右都御史,贈太子少保,諡襄惠。
Yue died at Yuanzhou. As his coffin was borne home, the people of Yuanzhou lined the road in unbroken mourning. Later, when his merits were reviewed, his rank as Right Censor-in-Chief was restored, he was posthumously awarded the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and given the posthumous name Xianghui.
53
岳博覽,工文章,經術湛深,不喜王守仁學,以程、硃為宗。
Yue was widely read, adept at literary composition, and deeply grounded in classical learning; he rejected Wang Shouren's doctrines and adhered to the teachings of the Cheng-Zhu school.
54
李允簡,融縣人。 由舉人起家。 以郡境多寇,道孥歸,獨與孫炳文居。 祖孫皆被執,許保挾以求厚贖。 允簡則傳語邦憲令亟進兵。 在賊中自投高崖下,賊拽出,棄之途。 思人舁還,至清浪衛而卒。 詔贈貴州副使,賜祭葬,官一子。
Li Yunjian was a native of Rong County. He entered official service through the provincial examination. Because bandits were rampant in the prefecture, he sent his wife and children home along the road and remained alone with his grandson Sun Bingwen. Both grandfather and grandson were taken captive; Xubao held them hostage to extract a large ransom. From captivity, Yunjian sent word to Shi Bangxian urging him to advance immediately. While in the bandits' hands he threw himself from a high cliff; the bandits pulled him out and left him by the roadside. The people of Si Prefecture carried him back, but he died upon reaching Qinglang Guard. An edict posthumously conferred on him the rank of Vice Commissioner of Guizhou, granted him state sacrificial rites and a state funeral, and gave one son an official appointment.
55
郭宗皋,字君弼,福山人。 嘉靖八年進士。 選庶起士。 尋詔與選者皆改除,得刑部主事。 擢御史。 十二年十月,星隕如雨。 未幾,哀沖太子薨,大同兵亂。 宗皋勸帝惇崇寬厚,察納忠言,勿專以嚴明為治。 帝大怒,下詔獄,杖四十釋之。 曆按蘇、松、順天。 行部乘馬,不禦肩輿。 會廷推保定巡撫劉夔還理院事,宗皋論夔嘗薦大學士李時子,諂媚無行,不任風紀,坐奪俸兩月。 尋出為雁門兵備副使,轉陝西參政,遷大理少卿。
Guo Zonggao, styled Junbi, was a native of Fushan. He passed the jinshi examination in Jiajing year 8. He was selected as a Hanlin Bachelor. Soon an edict reassigned all those selected from the Hanlin, and he was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Justice. He was promoted to censor. In the tenth month of year 12, meteors fell like rain. Before long Crown Prince Aichong died, and the garrison at Datong rose in mutiny. Zonggao urged the emperor to embrace generosity and magnanimity, heed loyal counsel, and not rely exclusively on severity as a method of rule. The emperor was furious, had him imprisoned in the edict prison, beaten forty strokes, and then released. He served in turn as investigating censor for Suzhou, Songjiang, and Shuntian. When making the rounds of his jurisdiction he rode on horseback and refused a sedan chair. When the court nominated Baoding grand coordinator Liu Kui to return and head the Censorate, Zonggao charged that Kui had once recommended the son of Grand Secretary Li Shi, was obsequious and corrupt, and unfit to uphold censorial standards; for this Zonggao was punished with two months' suspension of salary. He was soon posted as vice commissioner for the Yanmen defense circuit, transferred to administration commissioner of Shaanxi, and promoted to Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
56
二十三年十月,寇入萬全右衛,抵廣昌,列營四十里。 順天巡撫硃方下獄,擢宗皋右僉都御史代之,寇已去。 宗皋言:「密雲最要害,宜宿重兵。 乞敕馬蘭、太平、燕河三屯歲發千人,以五月赴密雲,有警則總兵官自將赴援。 居庸、白楊,地要兵弱,遇警必待部奏,不能及事。 請預擬借調之法,令建昌三屯軍,平時則協助密雲,遇警則移駐居庸。」 俱報可。 久之,宗皋聞敵騎四十萬欲分道入,奏調京營、山東、河南兵為援。 已竟無實,坐奪俸一年。 故事,京營歲發五軍詣薊鎮防秋。 宗皋請罷三軍,以其犒軍銀充本鎮募兵費。 又請發修邊餘銀,增築燕河營、古北口。 帝疑有侵冒,令罷歸聽勘。 既而事得白。 起故官,巡撫大同,與宣府巡撫李仁易鎮。
In the tenth month of year 23, raiders entered Wanquan Right Guard, advanced to Guangchang, and pitched camp in a forty-li line. Shuntian grand coordinator Zhu Fang was thrown into prison, and Zonggao was promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief to replace him, by which time the raiders had already withdrawn. Zonggao memorialized: "Miyun is the most critical point and should be garrisoned with substantial forces. I request that the three garrisons of Malan, Taiping, and Yanhe be ordered to send a thousand men each year in the fifth month to Miyun, and that when alarm arises the regional commander himself should lead reinforcements. Juyong and Baiyang are strategically vital but weakly garrisoned; in an emergency troops cannot be moved in time because one must wait for approval from the ministry. I propose prearranged transfer arrangements under which the three Jianchang garrisons would support Miyun in peacetime and redeploy to Juyong when alarm arises." All proposals were approved. After some time Zonggao heard reports that four hundred thousand enemy horsemen were preparing to invade by separate routes, and he memorialized requesting reinforcements from the capital garrisons, Shandong, and Henan. The report proved entirely false, and he was punished with one year's suspension of salary. By established practice, the capital garrisons each year dispatched the Five Armies to Ji Town for autumn defense. Zonggao requested that three of the armies be discontinued and their reward funds used to cover local recruitment costs for the garrison. He also requested that surplus funds from border repairs be used to strengthen the Yanhe camp and Gubeikou. The emperor suspected corruption and ordered him dismissed and sent home pending investigation. Before long he was cleared of wrongdoing. He was restored to office, appointed grand coordinator of Datong, and exchanged posts with Li Ren, grand coordinator of Xuanfu.
57
尋進兵部右侍郎,總督宣、大、山西軍務。 俺答三萬騎犯萬全左衛,總兵官陳鳳、副總兵林椿與戰鷂兒嶺,殺傷相當,宗皋坐奪俸。 明年再犯大同,總兵官張達及椿皆戰死,宗皋與巡撫陳燿坐奪俸。 給事中唐禹追論死事狀,因言全軍悉陷,乃數十年未有之大衄。 帝乃逮宗皋及燿,各杖一百,燿遂死,宗皋戍陝西靖虜衛。
He was soon promoted to Right Vice Minister of War and appointed grand coordinator of military affairs in Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi. Altan invaded Wanquan Left Guard with thirty thousand horsemen; Regional Commander Chen Feng and Vice Regional Commander Lin Chun engaged them at Yaor Ling with roughly equal losses on both sides, and Zonggao's salary was suspended as punishment. The following year the raiders struck Datong again; Regional Commander Zhang Da and Lin Chun were both killed in battle, and the salaries of Zonggao and grand coordinator Chen Yao were suspended. Supervising Secretary Tang Yu reviewed the circumstances of the fallen and declared that the entire army had been annihilated — a catastrophe unmatched in decades. The emperor then had Zonggao and Yao arrested and beaten one hundred strokes each; Yao died from the beating, and Zonggao was exiled to Jinglu Guard in Shaanxi.
58
隆慶改元,從戍所起刑部右侍郎,改兵部,協理戎政。 旋進南京右都御史,就改兵部尚書參贊機務。 給事中莊國禎劾宗皋衰庸,宗皋亦自以年老求去,詔許之。 萬曆中,再存問,歲給廩隸。 十六年,宗皋年九十,又遣行人存問。 是年卒。 贈太子太保,諡康介。
At the beginning of the Longqing reign he was recalled from exile as Right Vice Minister of Justice, transferred to the Ministry of War, and charged with assisting in military administration. He was soon promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing, then transferred to Minister of War with a role in state council deliberations. Supervising Secretary Zhuang Guozhen impeached Zonggao as senile and incompetent; Zonggao, finding himself too old to serve, also requested retirement, and the emperor granted his request. During the Wanli reign the court twice sent envoys to inquire after him and granted him an annual stipend and attendants. In year 16, when Zonggao reached ninety, the court again dispatched a palace emissary to inquire after him. He died that same year. He was posthumously awarded the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous name Kangjie.
59
趙時春,字景仁,平涼人。 幼與群兒嬉,輒列旗幟,部勒如兵法。 年十四舉於鄉。 逾四年,為嘉靖五年,會試第一。 選庶起士。 以張璁言改官,得戶部主事。 尋轉兵部。 九年七月,上疏曰:「陛下以災變求言已旬月,大小臣工率浮詞面謾。 蓋自靈寶知縣言河清受賞,都御史汪鋐繼進甘露,今副都御史徐贊、訓導范仲斌進瑞麥,指揮張楫進嘉禾,鋐及御史楊東又進鹽華,禮部尚書李時再請表賀。 仲斌等不足道,鋐、贊司風紀,時典三禮,乃罔上欺君,壞風傷政。」 帝責其妄言,且令獻讜言善策。 時春惶恐引咎未對。 帝趣之,於是時春上言:
Zhao Shichun, styled Jingren, was a native of Pingliang. As a child, when playing with other boys he would set up banners and drill them as if by the art of war. At fourteen he passed the provincial examination. Four years later, in Jiajing year 5, he ranked first in the metropolitan examination. He was selected as a Hanlin Bachelor. On Zhang Cong's recommendation he was reassigned and appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue. He was soon transferred to the Ministry of War. In the seventh month of year 9 he submitted a memorial, saying, "Your Majesty has sought counsel regarding calamities and portents for a full month, yet officials high and low have mostly offered empty words and face-to-face flattery. Ever since the magistrate of Lingbao was rewarded for reporting that the Yellow River had run clear, Censor-in-Chief Wang Hong presented sweet dew; now Vice Censor-in-Chief Xu Zan and instructor Fan Zhongbin have presented auspicious wheat, Commander Zhang Ji has presented fine grain, Hong and Censor Yang Dong have presented salt flowers, and Minister of Rites Li Shi has again requested a formal congratulatory address. Men like Fan Zhongbin are beneath notice, but Hong and Zan oversee censorial discipline and Shi presides over the three rites — yet they deceive the throne, corrupt public morals, and damage governance." The emperor rebuked him for reckless speech and ordered him to submit loyal counsel and sound policies. Shichun, filled with alarm, accepted blame but had not yet responded. When the emperor pressed him, Shichun submitted a memorial:
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當今之務最大者有四,最急者有三。 最大者,曰崇治本。 君之喜怒,賞罰所自出,勿以逆心事為可怒,則賞罰大公而天下治。 曰信號令。 無信一人之言,必參諸公論; 毋狃一時之近,必稽之永遠。 苟利十而害一,則利不必興; 功百而費半,則功不必舉。 如是而天下享安靜之福矣。 曰廣延訪。 宜仿古人輪對及我朝宣召之制,使大臣、台諫、侍從各得敷納殿陛間,群吏則以其職事召問之。 曰勵廉恥。 大臣宜待以禮,取大節略小過。 台諫言是者用之,非者寬容之。 庶臣工自愛,不敢不勵。
Among present priorities, four are greatest and three are most urgent. Of the greatest priorities, the first is to honor the foundations of governance. The ruler's moods are the wellspring of rewards and punishments; do not treat unwelcome truths as cause for anger, and rewards and punishments will be just and the realm well governed. The second is to uphold the credibility of commands. Do not rely on the word of a single person; weigh all informed opinion; do not fixate on immediate advantage; measure policies by their lasting effects. If a policy yields ten parts gain and one part harm, the gain is not worth pursuing; if a project yields a hundred parts benefit but consumes half as much again in cost, it is still not worth undertaking. In this way the realm will enjoy lasting peace and stability. The third is to broaden consultation. The court should revive the ancient practice of rotating audiences and the Ming custom of imperial summons, so that ministers, censorial remonstrators, and attendants may each speak freely before the throne, while officials at large are summoned to account for their duties. The fourth is to nurture integrity and a sense of shame. Ministers should be treated with respect; weigh their essential loyalty and overlook minor faults. When censorial remonstrators speak rightly, heed them; when they are wrong, treat them with forbearance. In this way officials will value their honor and exert themselves without need of compulsion.
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其最急者,曰惜人才。 凡得罪諸臣,其才不當棄,其過或可原,宜霈然發命,召還故秩。 且因南郊禮成,除謫戍之罪,與之更始。 曰固邊圉。 敗軍之律宜嚴,臨陣而退者,裨將得以戮士卒,大將得以戮裨將,總制官得以戮大將,則人心震悚,而所向用命。 曰正治教。 請復古冠婚、喪祭之禮,絕醮祭、禱祀之術。 凡佛老之徒有假引符籙、依託經懺、幻化黃白、飛升遐景以冒寵祿者,即賜遣斥,則正道修明而民志定。
Of the most urgent priorities, the first is to preserve human talent. Officials who have fallen from favor should not have their talents discarded; their faults may be pardonable. A generous decree should restore them to their former offices. Moreover, when the southern suburban rites are completed, remit the penalties of exile and frontier service and give them a fresh start. The second is to secure the borderlands. The laws governing defeated armies should be strict: when troops retreat in battle, vice commanders should be empowered to execute soldiers, regional commanders to execute vice commanders, and supreme commanders to execute regional commanders. This would strike fear into every heart and make all obey their orders. The third is to rectify governance and moral instruction. I request restoring the ancient rites of capping, marriage, mourning, and sacrifice, and putting an end to spirit offerings and prayer rituals. Any Buddhist or Daoist who falsely claims magical talismans, performs scripture-based penance, pretends to transmute gold and silver, or claims to ascend to immortality in order to win favor and office should immediately be dismissed and banished. In this way the right path will be maintained and the people's convictions will be settled.
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帝覽之,益怒,下詔獄掠治,黜為民。 久之,選東宮官屬,起翰林編修兼司經局校書。
The emperor read the memorial, grew even angrier, and had him thrown into prison for interrogation under torture, then reduced to commoner status. After some time, when selecting Eastern Palace officials, he was recalled as Hanlin Compiler and concurrently appointed collator of the Classics Collation Bureau.
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帝有疾,時春與羅洪先、唐順之疏請東宮禦殿,受百官正旦朝賀。 帝大怒,復黜為民。 京師被寇,朝議以時春知兵,起兵部主事,贊理京營務,統民兵訓練。 大將軍仇鸞倡馬市,時春憤曰:「此秦檜續耳。 身為大將,而效市儈,可乎?」 忤鸞,為所構,幾重得罪。 稍遷山東僉事,進副使。
When the emperor fell ill, Shichun, Luo Hongxian, and Tang Shunzhi submitted a memorial requesting that the crown prince preside in the palace hall and receive the officials' New Year's Day court audience. The emperor was furious and again dismissed him to commoner status. When raiders struck the capital, the court decided that Shichun understood military affairs; he was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of War to assist in managing capital garrison affairs and placed in charge of training militia. Grand General Qiu Luan advocated establishing a horse market. Shichun said angrily, "This is nothing but a revival of Qin Hui's policy. To hold the rank of grand general yet behave like a market huckster — is that acceptable? He offended Qiu and was framed by him, nearly incurring serious punishment again. He was gradually transferred to Shandong Assistant Commissioner and then promoted to Vice Commissioner.
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三十二年,擢僉都御史,巡撫山西。 時春慷慨負奇氣,善騎射。 慨寇縱橫,將帥不任職,數謂人:「使吾領選卒五千,俺答、邱福不足平也。」 作《禦寇論》,論戰守甚悉。 既秉節鉞,益思以武功自奮。 其年九月,寇入神池、利民諸堡,時春率馬步兵往禦之。 至廣武,諸將畢會。 謀報寇騎二千餘,去兩舍。 時春擐甲欲馳,大將李淶固止之。 時春大言曰:「賊知吾來必遁,緩追即不及。」 遂策馬前。 及於大蟲嶺,伏兵四起,敗績。 倉皇投一墩,守卒縋之上乃得免,淶軍竟覆。 被論,解官聽調。 時春喜談兵,至是一戰而敗。 然當是時將帥率避寇不擊。 為督撫者安居堅城,遙領軍事,無躬搏寇者。 時春功雖不就,天下皆壯其氣。
In year 32 he was promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed grand coordinator of Shanxi. Shichun was bold-spirited and possessed of unusual confidence; he was skilled in horsemanship and archery. Grieved that raiders ranged freely while commanders failed in their duties, he often told people, "If I were given command of five thousand picked troops, Altan and Qiu Fu would be easy to subdue." He wrote On Repelling Raiders, setting forth offense and defense in great detail. Once he held military command, he was all the more determined to distinguish himself on the battlefield. That September raiders entered the forts of Shenchi, Limin, and elsewhere; Shichun led cavalry and infantry to repel them. Reaching Guangwu, he assembled all the generals. Intelligence reported more than two thousand enemy horsemen, about sixty li away. Shichun armored himself and prepared to charge; Grand General Li Lai firmly restrained him. Shichun declared boldly, "Once the bandits know I have arrived they will surely flee; delay pursuit and we will never catch them." Thereupon he spurred his horse forward. At Dachong Ridge ambushers sprang up on every side, and the force was routed. In panic he fled to a signal tower; the garrison soldiers lowered a rope and hauled him up, and only thus did he escape; Li Lai's army was entirely destroyed. Impeached, he was dismissed from office and held pending reassignment. Shichun had always loved to talk of military affairs, yet here one engagement brought defeat. Yet at that time commanders generally avoided the raiders and refused to engage. Governors and coordinators sat safely in fortified cities, directing military affairs from a distance; none personally engaged the raiders. Though Shichun's campaign failed, people throughout the realm admired his courage.
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時春讀書善強記,文章豪肆,與唐順之、王慎中齊名。 詩,伉浪自喜類其為人。
Shichun read widely and had an excellent memory; his prose was bold and expansive, and he ranked among the leading literati alongside Tang Shunzhi and Wang Shenzhong. His poetry was equally bold and self-assured, much like the man himself.
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贊曰:姚鏌等封疆宣其擘畫,軍務暢其機謀,勳績咸有可紀。 伍文定從王守仁平宸濠之難,厥功最懋。 趙時春將略自命,一出輒躓。 夫危事而易言之,固知兵者所弗取乎。
The encomium states: Yao Mo and his colleagues distinguished themselves on the frontiers through their planning; in military affairs their stratagems proved effective, and their achievements all merit record. Wu Wending followed Wang Shouren in suppressing the Prince of Ning rebellion; his achievement was the greatest of them all. Zhao Shichun fancied himself a strategist, yet his first campaign ended in defeat. To speak lightly of grave affairs — is that not precisely what those who truly understand warfare refuse to do?