1
桑喬 〈（胡汝霖）〉 謝瑜 〈（王曄伊敏生童漢臣等）〉 何維柏徐學詩 〈（葉經陳紹）〉 厲汝進 〈（查秉彜等）〉 王宗茂周冕趙錦吳時來張翀董傳策鄒應龍 〈（張槚）〉 林潤
Sang Qiao (Hu Rulin)〉 Xie Yu (Wang Ye, Yi Minsheng, Tong Hanchen, and others)〉 He Weibai and Xu Xueshi (Ye Jing and Chen Shao)〉 Li Rujin (Zha Bingyi and others)〉 Wang Zongmao, Zhou Mian, Zhao Jin, Wu Shilai, Zhang Chong, Dong Chuance, and Zou Yinglong (Zhang Song)〉 Lin Run
2
桑喬，字子木，江都人。 嘉靖十一年進士。 十四年冬，由主事改御史，出按山西。 所部頻寇躪，喬奏請盡蠲徭賦，厚恤死者家。 參將葉宗等將萬人至荊家莊，陷賊伏中，大潰，賊遂深入。 天城、陽和兩月間五遭寇。 巡撫樊繼祖、總兵官魯綱以下，皆為喬劾，副將李懋及宗等六人並逮治。
Sang Qiao, styled Zimu, came from Jiangdu. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Jiajing reign. In the winter of the fourteenth year he was transferred from department director to censor and sent to inspect Shanxi. The regions under his jurisdiction were repeatedly ravaged by bandits; Qiao memorialized asking that corvée levies be remitted entirely and the families of the dead generously relieved. Regional Commander Ye Zong and others led ten thousand men to Jingjiazhuang, walked into an enemy ambush, and were routed; the bandits then pushed deep into the interior. Tiancheng and Yanghe suffered five bandit raids within two months. Grand Coordinator Fan Jizu, supreme commander Lu Gang, and their subordinates were all impeached by Qiao; Vice Commander Li Mao and Zong and six others were arrested and punished together.
3
十六年夏，雷震謹身殿，下詔求言。 喬偕同官陳三事，略言營造兩宮山陵，多侵冒； 吉囊恣橫，邊備積弛。 而末言：「陛下遇災而懼，下詔修省。 修省不外人事，人事無過擇官。 尚書嚴嵩及林庭昂、張瓚、張雲皆上負國恩，下乖輿望，災變之來，由彼所致。」 疏奏，四人皆乞罷。 詔庭昂、雲致仕，留嵩、瓚如故。 嵩再疏辨，且詆言者。 給事中胡汝霖言：「大臣被論，引罪求退而已。 嵩負穢行，召物議，逞辭奏辨，陰擠言官，無大臣體。」 帝下詔戒飭如汝霖指。 時嵩拜尚書甫半歲，方養交遊，揚聲譽，為進取地，舉朝猶未知其奸，喬獨首發之。
In the summer of the sixteenth year lightning struck the Hall of Cultivation, and the throne issued an edict calling for remonstrance. Qiao and his colleagues memorialized on three matters, noting briefly that construction of the two palaces and the imperial tombs involved much embezzlement; the Jinang were running rampant and border defenses had long been neglected. At the end he said: "Your Majesty, meeting this calamity, became fearful and issued an edict for self-examination. Self-examination lies in human affairs alone, and among human affairs nothing surpasses choosing officials. Ministers Yan Song, Lin Tingzhen, Zhang Zan, and Zhang Yun all fail the state's grace above and betray public expectation below; these portents have come because of them. When the memorial was submitted, all four men asked to be dismissed. An edict ordered Tingzhen and Yun to retire while Song and Zan were kept in office as before. Song memorialized again in his own defense and also vilified those who had spoken out. Supervising Secretary Hu Rulin said: "When a great minister is impeached, he should admit guilt and seek withdrawal—that is all. Song bears a foul record and invites public censure, yet he vaunts his words in memorials of defense and secretly undermines remonstrating officials—he lacks the bearing of a great minister. The Emperor issued an edict of admonition along the lines Rulin had indicated. At that time Song had been Minister for only half a year and was still cultivating connections and burnishing his reputation to advance; the whole court still did not know his treachery—Qiao alone was the first to expose it.
4
喬尋巡按畿輔，引疾。 都御史王廷相以規避劾之，嵩因構其罪。 逮下詔獄，廷杖，戍九江。 居戍所二十六年而卒。 隆慶初，贈恤如制。
Soon afterward Qiao inspected the capital region and cited illness. Censor-in-Chief Wang Tingxiang impeached him for evading duty, and Song thereupon framed charges against him. He was arrested and sent to the imperial prison, beaten at court, and exiled to garrison duty at Jiujiang. After twenty-six years in exile he died. At the beginning of the Longqing reign, posthumous honors and relief were granted according to regulation.
5
胡汝霖，綿州人。 由庶吉士除戶科給事中。 二十年四月，九廟災。 偕同官聶靜、御史李乘雲劾文武大臣救火緩慢者二十六人，嵩與焉。 帝怒所劾不盡，下詔獄訊治，俱鐫級調外。 汝霖得太平府經歷。 既謫官，則請解於嵩，反附以進。 累遷至右僉都御史，巡撫甘肅。 及嵩敗，以嵩黨奪官。
Hu Rulin came from Mianzhou. From Hanlin bachelor he was appointed supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Revenue. In the fourth month of the twentieth year the nine ancestral temples burned. Together with his colleague Nie Jing and Censor Li Chengyun he impeached twenty-six civil and military great ministers for sluggish firefighting, Song among them. The Emperor was angry that the impeachments were incomplete and had them all sent to the imperial prison for investigation; all were demoted one grade and transferred outside the capital. Rulin was assigned as registrar of Taiping Prefecture. After his demotion he asked to be released from any quarrel with Song and instead attached himself to him for advancement. He rose through repeated promotions to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Gansu. When Song fell, he was stripped of office as a member of Song's faction.
6
謝瑜，字如卿，上虞人。 嘉靖十一年進士。 由南京御史改北。 十九年正月，禮部尚書嚴嵩屢被彈劾求去，帝慰留。 瑜言：「嵩矯飾浮詞，欺罔君上，箝制言官。 且援明堂大禮、南巡盛事為解，而謂諸臣中無為陛下任事者，欲以激聖怒。 奸狀顯然。」 帝留疏不下。 嵩奏辨，且言：「瑜擊臣不已，欲與朝廷爭勝」。 帝於是切責瑜，而慰諭嵩甚至。 居二歲，竟用嵩為相。
Xie Yu, styled Ruqing, came from Shangyu. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Jiajing reign. He was transferred from Nanjing censor to the northern capital. In the first month of the nineteenth year Minister of Rites Yan Song, having been repeatedly impeached and asked to resign, was comforted and kept in office by the Emperor. Yu said: "Song dresses up empty words, deceives his sovereign above, and muzzles remonstrating officials below. Moreover he cites the Bright Hall rites and the magnificent southern tour as his defense, yet says that among the officials none truly serves Your Majesty—he means to provoke the sage ruler's anger. His treachery is plain to see. The Emperor kept the memorial and did not act on it. Song memorialized in his defense and added: "Yu has attacked your minister without cease, wishing to contend with the court for victory." The Emperor thereupon sharply rebuked Yu while comforting and reassuring Song to an extraordinary degree. Two years later Song was at last made chief minister.
7
甫逾月，瑜疏言：「武廟盤遊佚樂，邊防宜壞而未甚壞。 今聖明在上，邊防宜固而反大壞者，大臣謀國不忠，而陛下任用失也。 自張瓚為中樞，掌兵而天下無兵，擇將而天下無將。 說者謂瓚形貌魁梧，足稱福將。 夫誠邊塵不聳，海宇晏然，謂之福可也。 今瓚無功而恩蔭屢加，有罪而褫奪不及，此其福乃一身之福，非軍國之福也。 昔舜誅四兇，萬世稱聖。 今瓚與郭勛、嚴嵩、胡守中，聖世之四兇。 陛下旬月間已誅其二，天下翕然稱聖，何不並此二兇，放之流之，以全帝舜之功也？ 大學士翟鑾起廢棄中，授以巡邊之寄，乃優遊曼衍，靡費供億。 以盛苞苴者為才，獻淫樂者為敬，遂使邊軍益瘠，邊備更弛。 行邊若此，將焉用之！ 故不清政本，天下必不治也。 不易本兵，武功必不競也。」
Just over a month later Yu memorialized: "Under the Martial Ancestor's court there was roaming dissipation and pleasure; the borders were liable to break down but had not yet broken down severely. Now, under a sage and brilliant sovereign, the borders ought to be secure yet have instead collapsed—great ministers do not plan loyally for the state, and Your Majesty has erred in whom you appoint. Ever since Zhang Zan became head of the central military administration, though he holds command of troops the realm has no troops, and though he chooses generals the realm has no generals. Some say Zan's imposing stature is enough to make him a general of good fortune. If the border alarms truly did not rise and the realm were tranquil, one might call that fortune. Now Zan has no merit yet enfeoffment favors are repeatedly added; when guilty he is not stripped of rank—this fortune is fortune for him alone, not fortune for army and state. In antiquity Shun executed the Four Malefactors and was called sage for ten thousand generations. Now Zan, Guo Xun, Yan Song, and Hu Shouzhong are the Four Malefactors of this sage age. Within a fortnight Your Majesty has already executed two of them and all under heaven calls you sage—why not deal with these two malefactors as well, banishing or exiling them, to complete the achievement of Emperor Shun? Grand Secretary Zhai Luan was raised from disgrace and entrusted with touring the borders, yet he wandered at leisure in elaborate display, lavishly consuming provisions and funds. Those who gave lavish gifts he deemed talented; those who presented licentious music he deemed reverent—so border troops grew leaner and border defenses slackened further. To tour the borders in this fashion—of what use is he! Therefore without clarifying the root of government, the realm will surely fall into disorder. Without changing the head of military affairs, military achievement will surely not be achieved."
8
疏入，留不下。 嵩復疏辯，帝更慰諭，瑜復被譙讓。 然是時帝雖響嵩，猶未深罪言者，嵩亦以初得政，未敢顯擠陷，故瑜得居職如故。 未幾，假他事貶其官。 又三載，大計，嵩密諷主者黜之。 比疏上，令如貪酷例除名，瑜遂廢棄，終於家。
When the memorial was submitted, it was kept and not acted upon. Song again memorialized in defense; the Emperor comforted him still more and Yu was rebuked again. Yet at this time, though the Emperor inclined toward Song, he had not yet deeply punished those who spoke out; Song too, having just gained power, did not dare openly entrap them, so Yu remained in office as before. Before long, on a pretext in another matter his rank was reduced. Three years later, at the great evaluation, Song secretly urged the presiding official to dismiss him. When the memorial went up, the order was to remove his name under the precedent for the greedy and cruel; Yu was cast aside and ended his life at home.
9
始瑜之為御史也，武定侯郭勛陳時政，極詆大小諸臣不足任，請復遣內侍出鎮守。 詔從之。 瑜抗章奏曰：「勛所論諸事，影響恍惚，而復設鎮守，則其本意所註也。 勛交通內侍，代之營求，利他日重賄。 其言：『官吏貪濁，由陛下無心腹耳目之人在四方』。 又曰：『文武懷奸避事，許內臣劾奏，則奸貪自息』。 果若勛言，則內臣用事莫如正德時，其為太平極治耶？ 陛下革鎮守內臣，誠聖明善政，而勛詆以偏私。 在朝百官，孰非天子耳目？ 而勛詆以不足任。 欲陛下盡疑天下士大夫，獨倚宦官為腹心耳目，臣不知勛視陛下為何如主？」 會給事中朱隆禧亦以為言，勛奏始寢。 瑜，隆慶初復官贈太仆少卿。
When Yu had first been censor, Marquis of Wuding Guo Xun presented views on current affairs, denouncing great and small officials as unfit for office and asking that eunuch ambassadors again be sent to garrison and hold command. An edict approved this. Yu submitted a memorial in opposition: "What Xun discussed in various matters was shadowy and vague, yet in restoring garrison commands his underlying intention is clear. Xun maintains relations with inner eunuchs, acting on their behalf in pursuit of office, looking to heavy bribes on another day. He also said: 'Officials are greedy and corrupt because Your Majesty has no trusted eyes and ears in the four quarters.' And he said: 'When civil and military officials harbor treachery and shirk affairs, permit inner eunuchs to impeach them, and treacherous corruption will cease of itself.' If Xun's words were true, then never were inner eunuchs so powerful as under the Zhengde reign—was that an age of supreme peace and perfect governance? Your Majesty abolished garrison eunuchs—a truly sage and enlightened policy—yet Xun slandered it as partial favoritism. Of the hundred officials at court, who is not the Son of Heaven's eyes and ears? Yet Xun slandered them as unfit for office. He wishes Your Majesty wholly to distrust the scholar-officials of the realm and rely on eunuchs alone as trusted eyes and ears—I do not know what sort of sovereign Xun takes Your Majesty to be? Supervising Secretary Zhu Longxi also spoke to this effect, and Xun's memorial was then shelved. Yu, at the beginning of the Longqing reign, had his office restored and was posthumously made Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud.
10
王曄，字韜孟，金壇人。 嘉靖十四年進士。 授吉安推官，召拜南京吏科給事中。 二十年九月偕同官上言：「外寇陸梁，本兵張瓚及總督尚書樊繼祖、新遷侍郎費寀不堪重寄」。 帝下其章於所司。 居兩月，復劾瓚，因及禮部尚書嚴嵩、總督侍郎胡守中，與巨奸郭勛相結納。 嵩所居第宅，則勛私人代營之。 逾月，御史伊敏生、鄭蕓、陳策亦雲嵩居宅乃勛私人孫澐所居，澐籍沒，嵩第應在籍中。 帝怒，奪敏生等俸一級。 嵩不問，而守中竟由曄疏獲罪。 明年秋，嵩入內閣。 吏科都給事中沈良才、御史喻時等交章劾嵩。 逾月，山西巡按童漢臣章上。 又逾月，曄與同官陳塏、御史陳紹等章亦上。 大指皆論嵩奸貪，而曄疏並及嵩子世蕃，語尤剴切，帝皆不省。 嵩憾甚，未有以中也。 久之，為山東僉事，給由入都，道病後期，嵩遂奪其官。 曄在臺，嘗劾罷方面官三十九人，直聲甚著。 比歸，環堵蕭然，數年卒。
Wang Ye, styled Taomeng, came from Jintan. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of the Jiajing reign. Appointed magistrate of Ji'an, he was summoned and appointed supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Personnel at Nanjing. In the ninth month of the twentieth year he and his colleagues memorialized: "Outer bandits run riot; head of military affairs Zhang Zan, supervising minister Fan Jizu, and newly transferred Vice Minister Fei Cai are unfit to bear heavy trust." The Emperor referred their memorial to the responsible offices. Two months later they again impeached Zan, and also Minister of Rites Yan Song, supervising Vice Minister Hu Shouzhong, and their collusion with the great villain Guo Xun. The mansion in which Yan Song lived had been built for him by Guo Xun's private agents. A month later, censors Yi Minsheng, Zheng Yun, and Chen Ce likewise reported that Yan Song's residence was the house formerly occupied by Sun Yun, a retainer of Guo Xun; since Yun's property had been confiscated, Song's mansion should have been included in the forfeited estate. The Emperor was enraged and stripped one rank of salary from Minsheng and the others. Yan Song went unprosecuted, yet Hu Shouzhong was ultimately punished on account of Wang Ye's memorial. The following autumn, Yan Song entered the Grand Secretariat. Chief supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Personnel Shen Liangcai, censor Yu Shi, and others submitted a stream of memorials impeaching Yan Song. A month later, the memorial of Shanxi surveillance commissioner Tong Hanchen reached the throne. Another month later, memorials from Wang Ye, his colleague Chen Kan, censor Chen Shao, and others also arrived. All alike charged Yan Song with treachery and greed; Ye's memorial also named Song's son Shifan, and its language was especially cutting, yet the Emperor paid no heed to any of them. Yan Song nursed a deep grudge but as yet had no way to bring him down. Long afterward he was appointed assistant commissioner in Shandong; while proceeding to the capital with his credentials he fell ill en route and arrived late, whereupon Yan Song stripped him of his post. While Wang Ye served at the Censorate he had once impeached and removed thirty-nine regional officials, and his reputation for moral courage was widely known. When he returned home his dwelling was bare and destitute; he died a few years later.
11
伊敏生，上元人。 鄭蕓、陳策，俱莆田人。 敏生官至山東參政。 策，臺州知府。 蕓，終御史。
Yi Minsheng came from Shangyuan. Zheng Yun and Chen Ce were both from Putian. Minsheng rose to become administrative commissioner of Shandong. Chen Ce ended his career as prefect of Taizhou. Zheng Yun ended his career as a censor.
12
沈良才，泰州人。 起家庶吉士，歷官至兵部侍郎。 三十六年大計自陳，已調南京矣，嵩附批南京科道拾遺疏中，落其職。 喻時，光山人。 官至南京兵部侍郎。
Shen Liangcai came from Taizhou. He began as a Hanlin bachelor and rose through the ranks to Vice Minister of War. In the triennial evaluation of the thirty-sixth year he filed a self-report; though already transferred to Nanjing, Yan Song appended a note to the Nanjing censorate's memorial on official omissions and had him removed from office. Yu Shi came from Guangshan. He rose to become Vice Minister of War at Nanjing.
13
童漢臣，錢塘人。 由魏縣知縣入為御史。 寇大入宣府、大同，總督樊繼祖等掩敗，三以捷聞。 漢臣等劾之，得罪。 其按山西，督諸將擊卻俺答之薄太原者，會方劾嵩，觸其怒。 明年，漢臣與巡撫李玨覈上繼祖等失事狀。 章下吏部。 漢臣前劾嵩並劾吏部尚書許贊，贊亦憾漢臣。 因言漢臣劾遲延，宜並論。 嵩遂擬旨鐫玨一階留任，謫漢臣湖廣布政司都事。 舉朝皆知為嵩所中，莫能救也。 久之，為泉州知府。 倭賊薄城，有保障功。 終江西副使。
Tong Hanchen came from Qiantang. He advanced from magistrate of Wei County to censor. When raiders made a major incursion into Xuanda and Datong, grand coordinator Fan Jizu and others concealed their defeats and three times reported victories. Hanchen and others impeached them and themselves were punished. While inspecting Shanxi he directed the generals to repel Altan's forces as they pressed Taiyuan; he was at the same time impeaching Yan Song, which provoked Song's wrath. The following year Hanchen and grand coordinator Li Jue jointly verified and memorialized the failures of Fan Jizu and his colleagues. The memorial was referred to the Ministry of Personnel. Hanchen had earlier impeached Yan Song and also impeached Minister of Personnel Xu Zan, who likewise bore a grudge against Hanchen. He therefore argued that Hanchen's impeachment had been unduly delayed and that both charges should be adjudicated together. Yan Song then drafted the rescript reducing Li Jue by one rank while keeping him in post, and demoting Hanchen to director-general of affairs in the Huguang Provincial Administration Commission. The whole court knew Hanchen had been brought down by Yan Song, yet no one could save him. Long afterward he was appointed prefect of Quanzhou. When pirate raiders pressed the city, he earned merit in its defense. He ended his career as vice commissioner in Jiangxi.
14
陳塏，余姚人。 後為嵩斥罷。
Chen Kan came from Yuyao. He was later dismissed by Yan Song.
15
何維柏，字喬仲，南海人。 嘉靖十四年進士。 選庶吉士，授御史。 雷震謹身殿，維柏言四海困竭，所在流移，而所司議加賦，民不為盜不止。 因請罷沙河行宮、金山功德寺工作，及安南問罪之師。 帝頗嘉納。 尋引疾歸。 久之，起巡按福建。 二十四年五月疏劾大學士嚴嵩奸貪罪，比之李林甫、盧杞。 且言嵩進顧可學、盛端明修合方藥，邪媚要寵。 帝震怒，遣官逮治。 士民遮道號哭，維柏意氣自如。 下詔獄，廷杖，除名。 家居二十余年。 隆慶改元，召復官，擢大理少卿。 遷左僉都御史。 疏請日禦便殿，召執政大臣謀政事，並擇大臣有才德者與講讀儒臣更番入直。 宮中燕居，慎選謹厚內侍調護聖躬，俾遊處有常，幸禦有節。 非隆冬盛寒，毋輟朝講。 報聞。 進左副都御史。 母憂歸。 萬歷初，還朝。 歷吏部左、右侍郎，極論鬻官之害。 御史劉臺劾大學士張居正，居正乞罷，維柏倡九卿留之。 及居正遭父喪，詔吏部諭留。 尚書張瀚叩維柏，維柏曰：「天經地義，何可廢也？」 瀚從之而止。 居正怒，取旨罷瀚，停維柏俸三月。 旋出為南京禮部尚書。 考察自陳，居正從中罷之。 卒謚端恪。
He Weibai, styled Qiaozhong, came from Nanhai. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of the Jiajing reign. Selected as a Hanlin bachelor, he was appointed censor. When thunder shook the Jinshen Hall, Weibai said the empire was exhausted, displacement was everywhere, yet the responsible offices still discussed raising taxes; unless the people turned to banditry, the disorder would not cease. He therefore asked to halt construction of the Shahe traveling palace and the Jinshan Merit Temple, and the punitive campaign against Annan. The Emperor largely approved and accepted his advice. Soon afterward he cited illness and returned home. Long afterward he was recalled to serve as surveillance commissioner of Fujian. In the fifth month of the twenty-fourth year he memorialized impeaching Grand Secretary Yan Song for treachery and greed, comparing him to Li Linfu and Lu Qi. He also said Song had promoted Gu Kexue and Sheng Duanming to prepare elixir prescriptions, using wicked flattery to win imperial favor. The Emperor was greatly enraged and sent officials to arrest and try him. Officials and commoners blocked the road in tears, yet Weibai's bearing remained as composed as ever. He was sent to the imperial prison, beaten at court, and struck from the rolls. He lived at home for more than twenty years. At the beginning of the Longqing reign he was summoned back to office and promoted to Vice Minister of the Court of Revision. He was promoted to Left Vice Censor-in-Chief. He memorialized asking that the Emperor hold daily audience in the convenient hall, summon the chief ministers to deliberate on state affairs, and select talented and virtuous ministers to rotate in attendance with the Confucian lecturers on duty. In palace leisure he urged careful selection of prudent, solid eunuchs to attend the imperial person, so that recreation had fixed limits and imperial outings were restrained. Except in deep winter or bitter cold, court lectures should not be suspended. The court acknowledged his memorial. He was promoted to Left Assistant Censor-in-Chief. Upon his mother's death he returned home to observe mourning. At the beginning of the Wanli reign he returned to court. He served as Left and Right Vice Minister of Personnel and spoke at length on the evils of selling offices. When censor Liu Tai impeached Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng and Juzheng asked to resign, Weibai led the nine ministers in urging that he remain in office. When Juzheng entered mourning for his father, an edict ordered the Ministry of Personnel to instruct him to remain at his post. Minister Zhang Han consulted Weibai; Weibai replied, "Heaven's constant and earth's righteousness—how can they be set aside? Zhang Han followed his counsel and desisted. Juzheng was enraged, obtained a rescript dismissing Zhang Han, and suspended Weibai's salary for three months. He was soon sent out as Minister of Rites at Nanjing. In the triennial evaluation he filed a self-report; Juzheng had him dismissed from behind the scenes. After his death he was given the posthumous title Duangong.
16
徐學詩，字以言，上虞人。 嘉靖二十三年進士。 授刑部主事，歷郎中。 二十九年，俺答薄京師。 既退，詔廷臣陳制敵之策。 諸臣多掇細事以應。 學詩憤然曰：「大奸柄國，亂之本也。 亂本不除，能攘外患哉？」 即上疏言：
Xu Xueshi, styled Yiyan, came from Shangyu. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-third year of the Jiajing reign. He was appointed a director in the Ministry of Justice and rose to department director. In the twenty-ninth year Altan pressed the capital. After the enemy withdrew, an edict ordered court ministers to present policies for dealing with the enemy. Many ministers offered only petty measures in reply. Xueshi said in anger, "A great villain holds the state—that is the root of disorder. If the root of disorder is not removed, how can outer threats be repelled? He immediately submitted a memorial stating:
17
大學士嵩輔政十載，奸貪異甚。 內結權貴，外比群小。 文武遷除，率邀厚賄，致此輩掊克軍民，釀成寇患。 國事至此，猶敢謬引佳兵不祥之說，以謾清問。 近因都城有警，密輸財賄南還。 大車數十乘，樓船十余艘，水陸載道，駭人耳目。 又納奪職總兵官李鳳鳴二千金，使鎮薊州，受老廢總兵官郭琮三千金，使督漕運。 諸如此比，難可悉數。 舉朝莫不嘆憤，而無有一人敢牴牾者，誠以內外盤結，上下比周，積久勢成。 而其子世蕃又兇狡成性，擅執父權。 凡諸司奏請，必先白其父子，然後敢聞於陛下。 陛下亦安得而盡悉之乎？
Grand Secretary Yan Song has directed government for ten years; his treachery and greed are extreme. Inwardly he bonds with the powerful and noble; outwardly he bands with petty men. Civil and military appointments and dismissals are mostly bought with heavy bribes, driving his followers to squeeze the army and the people and breed border troubles. With state affairs at such a pass, he still dares wrongly to cite the saying that fine weapons are inauspicious, so as to deceive the Emperor's inquiry. Recently, when the capital was threatened, he secretly shipped wealth and bribes south. Several dozen large carts and more than ten tower ships filled the roads by land and water, shocking all who saw them. He also took two thousand taels from Li Fengming, a regional commander stripped of office, to let him garrison Jizhou, and three thousand taels from Guo Cong, an old dismissed regional commander, to let him supervise grain transport. Cases like these are too numerous to recount in full. The whole court seethed with indignation, yet not one man dared openly to defy him—truly because court and provinces were entangled, superiors and subordinates colluded, and long accumulation had made his power unassailable. Moreover his son Shifan is fierce and cunning by nature and usurps his father's authority. Whatever memorial any office submits must first be cleared with father and son before it dare reach Your Majesty. How can Your Majesty fully know any of it?
18
蓋嵩權力足以假手下石，機械足以先發制人，勢利足以廣交自固，文詞便給足以掩罪飾非。 而精悍警敏，揣摩巧中，足以趨利避害； 彌縫缺失，私交密惠，令色脂言，又足以結人歡心，箝人口舌。 故前後論嵩者，嵩雖不能顯禍之於正言之時，莫不假事托人陰中之於遷除考察之際。 如前給事中王曄、陳塏，御史謝瑜、童漢臣輩，於時亦蒙寬宥，而今皆安在哉？ 陛下誠罷嵩父子，別簡忠良代之，外患自無不寧矣。
Yan Song's power is enough to use others' hands to strike down his foes; his schemes are enough to strike first and control others; his influence is enough to weave alliances and entrench himself; his glib prose is enough to cover crimes and gloss over wrongs. His sharp vigilance and agility are enough to seize advantage and evade harm. Papering over faults, private deals and secret favors, pleasing looks and oily speech are also enough to win men's hearts and silence their tongues. Therefore those who criticized Yan Song before and after—though he could not openly ruin them when they spoke plainly—none failed to be struck down secretly through contrived charges at the moments of transfer and triennial evaluation. Such as the former supervising secretaries Wang Ye and Chen Kan, censors Xie Yu and Tong Hanchen, and the like—at the time they too were spared; where are they now? If Your Majesty truly dismisses the Song father and son and separately appoints loyal and capable men in their place, outer troubles will naturally be pacified.
19
帝覽奏，頗感動。 方士陶仲文密言嵩孤立盡忠，學詩特為所私修隙耳。 帝於是發怒，下之詔獄。 嵩不自安，求去，帝優詔慰諭。 嵩疏謝，佯為世蕃乞回籍，帝亦不許。 學詩竟削籍。 先劾嵩者葉經、謝瑜、陳紹與學詩皆同里，時稱「上虞四諫」。 隆慶初，起學詩南京通政參議。 未之官，卒。 贈大理少卿。
The Emperor, reading the memorial, was somewhat moved. The Daoist adept Tao Zhongwen secretly told the Emperor that Yan Song stood alone in utter loyalty, and that Xu Xueshi had merely nursed a private grudge and manufactured a quarrel. The Emperor thereupon flew into a rage and had him sent to the imperial prison. Yan Song, ill at ease, asked to resign; the Emperor issued a gracious edict to comfort and reassure him. Yan Song submitted a memorial of thanks, feigning to ask that Yan Shifan be allowed to retire to his native place; the Emperor would not allow that either. Xu Xueshi was in the end struck from the rolls. Those who had first impeached Yan Song—Ye Jing, Xie Yu, and Chen Shao—were all from the same district as Xu Xueshi; contemporaries called them the "Four Remonstrators of Shangyu." At the beginning of the Longqing reign Xu Xueshi was recalled as vice director of the Nanjing Transmission Office. Before he could take up the post, he died. He was posthumously granted the title Vice Minister of the Court of Revision.
20
初，學詩族兄應豐以善書擢中書舍人，供事無逸殿，悉嵩所為。 嵩疑學詩疏出應豐指，會考察，屬吏部斥之。 應豐詣迎和門辭，特旨留用，嵩恚益甚。 居數年以誤寫科書譖於帝，竟杖殺之。
Earlier, Xu Xueshi's elder clansman Yingfeng had been promoted to Secretariat Drafter for his skill in calligraphy and served in the Hall of Unceasing Ease—all through Yan Song's patronage. Yan Song suspected Xu Xueshi's memorial had been prompted by Yingfeng; when the triennial evaluation came, he had the Ministry of Personnel dismiss him. Yingfeng went to the Yinghe Gate to bid farewell; a special edict kept him in office, and Yan Song's rage grew worse still. Several years later, for a mistaken transcription in a roster document he slandered him to the Emperor and in the end had him beaten to death at court.
21
陳紹終韶州知府。
Chen Shao ended his career as prefect of Shaozhou.
22
厲汝進，字子修，灤州人。 嘉靖十一年進士。 授池州推官，征拜吏科給事中。 湖廣巡撫陸傑以顯陵工成，召為工部等郎。 汝進言傑素犯清議，不宜佐司空，並劾尚書甘為霖、樊繼祖不職。 不納。 三遷至戶科都給事中。 戶部尚書王杲下獄，汝進與同官海寧查秉彜、馬平徐養正、巴縣劉起宗、章丘劉祿合疏言：「兩淮副使張祿遣使入都，廣通結納。 如太常少卿嚴世蕃、府丞胡奎等，皆承賂受囑有證。 世蕃竊弄父權，嗜賄張焰。」 詞連倉場尚書王暐。 嵩上疏自理，且求援於中官以激帝怒。 帝責其代杲解釋，命廷杖汝進八十，余六十，並謫雲南、廣西典史。 明年，嵩復假考察，奪汝進職。 隆慶初，起故官。 未至京，卒。
Li Rujin, style Zixiu, was a native of Luanzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of Jiajing. He was appointed investigating magistrate of Chizhou, then summoned to serve as supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Personnel. Lu Jie, grand coordinator of Huguang, was recalled to the Ministry of Works as a director and the like once the Xian Mausoleum works were completed. Rujin argued that Jie had long offended public opinion and ought not assist the Minister of Works, and jointly impeached Ministers Gan Weilin and Fan Jizu for neglect of duty. The memorial was not accepted. After three promotions he rose to chief supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Revenue. When Minister of Revenue Wang Gao was imprisoned, Rujin and his colleagues Zha Bingyi of Haining, Xu Yangzheng of Maping, Liu Qizong of Baxian, and Liu Lu of Zhangqiu jointly memorialized: "The Vice Commissioner of the Two Huai, Zhang Lu, sent envoys to the capital and widely cultivated connections and patronage. Men such as Vice Minister of Rites Yan Shifan and Assistant Intendant Hu Kui all took bribes and accepted private entreaties, and there is proof. Yan Shifan usurped his father's authority and was insatiably gluttonous for bribes. The memorial also implicated Granary Commissioner Wang Hui. Yan Song submitted a memorial in his own defense and also sought help from palace eunuchs to inflame the Emperor's wrath. The Emperor rebuked them for speaking on Wang Gao's behalf, ordered Rujin beaten eighty strokes at court and the others sixty, and banished them all to clerkships in Yunnan and Guangxi. The following year Yan Song again used the triennial evaluation as a pretext and stripped Rujin of his office. At the beginning of the Longqing reign he was restored to his former office. Before he reached the capital, he died.
23
秉彜由黃州推官歷戶科左給事中。 數建白時事。 終順天府尹。 養正以庶吉士歷戶科右給事中。 隆慶中，官至南京工部尚書。
Zha Bingyi rose from investigating magistrate of Huangzhou to left supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Revenue. He repeatedly offered forthright counsel on affairs of the day. He ended his career as prefect of Shuntian. Xu Yangzheng advanced from Hanlin Bachelor through right supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Revenue. During the Longqing reign he rose to Minister of Works at Nanjing.
24
起宗初除衢州推官。 召為戶科給事中。 延綏幾饑，請帑金振救。 終遼東苑馬寺卿。 祿以行人司擢戶科給事。 謫後，自免歸。
Liu Qizong was first appointed investigating magistrate of Quzhou. He was summoned to serve as supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Revenue. When Yan-sui was on the verge of famine, he requested treasury funds for relief. He ended as director of the Liaodong Stud Farms. Liu Lu was promoted from the Messenger Office to supervising secretary in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Revenue. After his banishment he resigned of his own accord and returned home.
25
王宗茂，字時育，京山人。 父橋，廣東布政使。 從父格，太仆卿。 宗茂登嘉靖二十六年進士，授行人。 三十一年擢南京御史。 時先後劾嚴嵩者皆得禍，沈煉至謫佃保安。 中外懾其威，益箝口。 宗茂積不平，甫拜官三月，上疏曰：
Wang Zongmao, style Shiyu, was a native of Jingshan. His father Qiao had served as Provincial Administration Commissioner of Guangdong. His uncle Ge had served as Minister of the Imperial Stud. Zongmao passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing and was appointed Messenger. In the thirty-first year he was promoted to censor at Nanjing. At that time everyone who impeached Yan Song, sooner or later, met disaster; Shen Lian was even banished to farm as a tenant at Bao'an. Inside and outside the court men feared his power and clamped their mouths tighter still. Zongmao had long nursed indignation; scarcely three months after taking office he submitted a memorial saying:
26
嵩本邪諂之徒，寡廉鮮恥。 久持國柄，作福作威。 薄海內外，罔不怨恨。 如吏、兵二部每選，請屬二十人，人索賄數百金，任自擇善地。 致文武將吏盡出其門。 此嵩負國之罪一也。
Yan Song is by nature a sycophant, scant in integrity and thin in shame. He has long held the reins of state, wielding blessings and terrors as he pleases. From every corner of the realm within the seas, none fail to resent him. Whenever the Ministries of Personnel and War make selections, he requests twenty appointments on his behalf; each man pays a bribe of several hundred taels and may choose his own desirable post. Thus civil officials, military officers, and generals all issue from his gate. This is Yan Song's first crime against the state.
27
任私人萬寀為考功郎。 凡外官遷擢，不察其行能，不計其資歷，唯賄是問。 致端方之士不得為國家用。 此嵩負國之罪二也。
He appointed his private creature Wan Cai as Director of Merits. Whenever an outside official was transferred or promoted, conduct and ability went unexamined and seniority uncounted—only bribes mattered. Thus upright men could not be put to the state's service. This is Yan Song's second crime against the state.
28
往歲遭人論劾，潛輸家資南返，輦載珍寶，不可數計。 金銀人物，多高二三尺者。 下至溺器，亦金銀為之。 不知陛下宮中亦有此器否耶？ 此嵩負國之罪三也。
In past years, when men impeached him, he secretly shipped his household wealth south; cartloads of treasure were beyond counting. Gold, silver, and human figures—many stood two or three chi high. Even down to chamber pots, these too were made of gold and silver. Does Your Majesty's palace also possess such vessels? This is Yan Song's third crime against the state.
29
廣布良田，遍於江西數郡。 又於府第之後積石為大坎，實以金銀珍玩，為子孫百世計。 而國計民瘼，一不措懷。 此嵩負國之罪四也。
He has planted fertile fields across several commanderies of Jiangxi. Behind his mansion he piled stone into a great vault and filled it with gold, silver, and precious curios, laying up wealth for his descendants for a hundred generations. Yet state accounts and the people's suffering he does not heed in the least. This is Yan Song's fourth crime against the state.
30
畜家奴五百余人，往來京邸。 所至騷擾驛傳，虐害居民，長吏皆怨怒而不敢言。 此嵩負國之罪五也。
He keeps more than five hundred household slaves, coming and going through the capital lodges. Wherever they went they harassed relay stations and abused residents; local officials all seethed with anger yet dared not speak. This is Yan Song's fifth crime against the state.
31
陛下所食大官之饌不數品，而嵩則窮極珍錯。 殊方異產，莫不畢致。 是九州萬國之待嵩有甚於陛下。 此嵩負國之罪六也。
Your Majesty's table from the Grand Steward's kitchen numbers scarcely a few dishes, yet Yan Song exhausts every rare delicacy. Exotic products from distant regions—none fail to reach his table. Thus the nine regions and ten thousand states serve Yan Song more lavishly than they serve Your Majesty. This is Yan Song's sixth crime against the state.
32
往歲寇迫京畿，正上下憂懼之日，而嵩貪肆益甚。 致民俗歌謠，遍於京師，達於沙漠。 海內百姓，莫不祝天以冀其早亡，嵩尚恬不知止。 此嵩負國之罪七也。
When in past years raiders pressed on the capital region—just when court and country were gripped by fear—Yan Song's greed and license grew worse still. Folk songs and ballads spread through the capital and reached the desert. The people within the seas all pray Heaven for his early death, yet Yan Song remains complacent and knows no limit. This is Yan Song's seventh crime against the state.
33
募朝士為幹兒義子至三十余輩。 若尹耕、梁紹儒，早已敗露。 此輩實衣冠之盜，而皆為之爪牙，助其虐焰，致朝廷恩威不出於陛下。 此嵩負國之罪八也。
He recruited more than thirty court gentlemen as sworn sons and godsons. Men such as Yin Geng and Liang Shaoru had long since been exposed. These men are robbers in official dress, yet all serve as his claws and teeth, fanning his cruelty, so that the court's grace and wrath no longer issue from Your Majesty. This is Yan Song's eighth crime against the state.
34
夫天下之所恃以為安者，財也，兵也。 不才之文吏，以賂而出其門，則必剝民之財，去百而求千，去千而求萬，民奈何不困？ 不才之武將以賂而出其門，則必克軍之餉，或缺伍而不補，或逾期而不發，兵奈何不疲？ 邇者，四方地震，其占為臣下專權。 試問今日之專權者，寧有出於嵩右乎？ 陛下之帑藏不足支諸邊一年之費，而嵩所蓄積可贍儲數年。 與其開賣官鬻爵之令以助邊，盍去此蠹國害民之賊，籍其家以紓患也？ 臣見數年以來，凡論嵩者不死於廷杖，則役於邊塞。 臣亦有身家，寧不致惜，而敢犯九重之怒，攖權相之鋒哉？ 誠念世受國恩，不忍見祖宗天下壞於賊嵩之手也。
What the realm relies on for peace is wealth and arms. When incompetent civil clerks leave his gate through bribes, they must strip the people—from a hundred they seek a thousand, from a thousand they seek ten thousand; how can the people not be ruined? When incompetent military officers leave his gate through bribes, they must bite into army rations—sometimes leaving ranks unfilled, sometimes missing pay days; how can the troops not be exhausted? Recently earthquakes have shaken the four quarters—the omen reads as subordinates monopolizing power. Ask today who monopolizes power—can any exceed Yan Song? Your Majesty's treasury can scarcely supply the borders for one year, yet Yan Song's hoard could fill the stores for several years. Rather than open orders to sell offices and peddle ranks to aid the borders, why not remove this vermin that harms state and people, confiscate his household property, and ease the distress? In recent years, Your servant has seen, all who criticized Yan Song either died under the court rod or were sent to border garrisons. Your servant too has family and life—would he not cherish them?—yet he dares provoke the wrath of the throne and touch the blade of the power-holding minister? It is only that Your servant has received the state's grace generation after generation and cannot bear to see the ancestral realm ruined by the thief Yan Song.
35
疏至，通政司趙文華密以示嵩，留數日始上，由是嵩得預為地。 遂以誣詆大臣，謫平陽縣丞。
When the memorial arrived, Zhao Wenhua of the Transmission Office secretly showed it to Yan Song; it was held several days before being forwarded, and thus Yan Song was able to prepare his ground beforehand. Thereupon, on the charge of slandering a great minister, he was banished to assistant magistrate of Pingyang County.
36
方宗茂上疏，自謂必死。 及得貶，恬然出都。 到官半歲，以母憂歸。 嵩無以釋憾，奪其父橋官。 橋竟憤悒卒。 嵩罷相之日，宗茂亦卒。 隆慶初，贈光祿少卿。
When Zongmao submitted his memorial, he was certain he would die. When he was merely demoted, he left the capital calmly. Half a year after taking up his post, he returned home to mourn his mother. Yan Song, unable to vent his rancor, stripped Zongmao's father Qiao of office. Qiao in the end died of indignant distress. On the day Yan Song was dismissed from the chancellorship, Zongmao also died. At the opening of the Longqing reign he was posthumously granted the rank of Vice Director of the Directorate for Imperial Sacrifices.
37
周冕，資縣人。 嘉靖二十年進士。 授太常博士，擢貴州道試御史。 重建太廟成，奉安神主，帝將遣官代祭。 御史鄢懋卿言其不可。 帝怒，降手詔數百言諭廷臣，且言更有協君取譽者，必罪不宥。 舉朝悚息，無敢復言，冕獨抗章爭之。 帝震怒，立下冕詔獄搒掠。 終以其言直，釋還職。 是時太子生十一年矣，猶未出閣講學。 冕極言教諭不可緩，請早降綸言，慎選侍從。 帝又大怒，謫雲南通海縣典史。 冕雖遠竄，意慷慨無所屈。
Zhou Mian was a native of Zixian County. He received his jinshi degree in the twentieth year of Jiajing. He was appointed an erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, then promoted to probationary censor on the Guizhou circuit. When the rebuilt Imperial Ancestral Temple was finished and the spirit tablets were enshrined, the Emperor intended to send officials to sacrifice in his place. The censor Yan Maoqing argued that this should not be allowed. The Emperor grew angry and issued a handwritten edict of several hundred words to admonish the court, adding that anyone else who colluded with the throne for reputation would be punished without mercy. The whole court trembled and none dared speak again, but Mian alone submitted a defiant memorial disputing the policy. The Emperor was furious and at once had Mian cast into the imperial prison and flogged. In the end, because his words were forthright, he was released and restored to his post. At that time the heir apparent had lived eleven years, yet still had not been brought out of the palace to receive instruction. Mian urgently argued that the heir's education could not be delayed, begging for an early imperial edict and careful selection of attendants. The Emperor was enraged again and demoted him to clerk of Tonghai County in Yunnan. Though banished far from court, Mian remained generous in spirit and unbowed.
38
數遷至武選郎中。 楊繼盛劾嚴嵩及嚴效忠冒功事，語侵歐陽必進。 必進奏辯，章下兵部。 冕上言：
After several promotions he rose to director in the Bureau of Military Appointments. Yang Jisheng impeached Yan Song and the affair of Yan Xiaozhong's fraudulent merit, and his language also touched Ouyang Bijin. Bijin memorialized in defense, and the memorial was referred to the Ministry of War. Mian memorialized:
39
臣奉詔檢得二十七年通政司狀，效忠年十六，因武會試未第，咨兩廣軍門聽用。 已而必進及總兵官陳圭奏黎賊平，遣效忠報捷，授錦衣試所鎮撫。 未逾月，嚴鵠言兄效忠曾斬首七級，並功加賞，應得署副千戶。 今效忠身抱痼疾，鵠請代職。 臣心疑其偽，方將核實以聞。 嵩子世蕃乃自創一槁付臣，屬臣依違題覆。 臣觀其槁，率誕謾舛戾，請得一一折之。
Obeying Your Majesty's command, your servant has examined the twenty-seventh-year report from the Office of Transmission: Xiaozhong was sixteen, and having failed the military metropolitan examination he petitioned the military headquarters of the two Guang provinces for service. Soon after, Bijin and regional commander Chen Gui reported that the Li rebels had been pacified and sent Xiaozhong to announce victory; he was granted the post of acting battalion commander in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard. Within a month Yan Hu claimed that his elder brother Xiaozhong had once taken seven heads and that the combined merit entitled him to an acting vice battalion commandership. Now Xiaozhong suffers a chronic illness, and Hu asks to hold the post in his place. Your servant suspected fraud and was about to verify the facts before reporting. Song's son Shifan then composed a draft himself and handed it to your servant, directing him to answer evasively. Your servant examined the draft and found it for the most part absurd, reckless, and contradictory, and asks leave to refute it point by point.
40
如效忠曾中武舉，何初無本籍起送文牒，今又稱民人，而不言武舉？ 如效忠果鵠之兄，世蕃之子，則世蕃數子俱幼，未有名效忠者。 如效忠果斬首七級，則當時狀稱年止十六，豈能赴戰？ 何軍門諸將俱未聞斬獲功，獨宰相一孫乃驍勇冠三軍？ 如曰效忠對敵，脛臂受創，計臨陣及差委，相去未一月，何以萬里軍情即能馳報？ 如曰效忠到京以創甚疾故，何以鵠代職之日，止告不能受職？ 如曰效忠鎮撫當代，則奏捷功止及身，例無傳襲。 如曰效忠功當並論，例先奏請，何止用通狀，而逼令司官奉行？
If Xiaozhong had passed the military provincial examination, why was there at first no dispatch document from his native registry, and why is he now called a commoner with no mention of that examination? If Xiaozhong were truly Hu's elder brother and Shifan's son, then all of Shifan's sons were still young and none bore the name Xiaozhong. If Xiaozhong had truly taken seven heads, the report at the time said he was only sixteen—how could he have gone into battle? Why had none of the commanders at headquarters reported such captures, while the chief minister's grandson alone was called the bravest in the three armies? If Xiaozhong faced the enemy and wounded shins and arms, the time from battle to reassignment was less than a month—how could news from armies ten thousand li away have arrived so fast? If Xiaozhong came to the capital because his wounds were grave, why on the day Hu asked to replace him did he report only that he could not take the post? If Xiaozhong's command should be handed on, the victory report covered only him personally, and by precedent there was no hereditary succession. If his merit should be counted together, precedent required a memorial of request first—why rely only on the transmission report and compel the responsible official to obey?
41
臣悉心廉訪，初未有名效忠者赴軍門聽用，鵠亦非效忠親弟。 其姓名乃詭設，首級亦要買，而非有纖毫實跡也。 必進既嵩鄉曲，圭又世蕃姻親，依阿朋比，共為欺罔。 臣如不言，陛下何從知其奸？ 且自累朝以來，未聞有宰相之子孫送軍門報效者。 今嵩不唯咨送軍門，而且詭托名姓，破壞祖宗之制，彼蔣應奎、唐國相輩何怪其效尤耶？ 臣職守攸關，義不敢隱，乞特賜究正，使天下曉然知朝廷有不可幸之功、不可犯之法。 臣雖得罪，死無所恨。
Your servant has investigated thoroughly: at first no one named Xiaozhong went to headquarters for service, and Hu is not Xiaozhong's true younger brother. The name was invented, the heads were purchased, and there was not the slightest truth in it. Bijin was Song's fellow townsman and Gui was related to Shifan by marriage; they fawned on one another and together practiced deceit. If your servant did not speak, how would Your Majesty learn of their treachery? Moreover, since antiquity within the dynasty, no chief minister's son or grandson has been sent to a military headquarters to serve. Now Song not only petitioned to send men to headquarters but invented false names and broke the ancestral institutions—can Jiang Yingkui, Tang Guoxiang, and their like be blamed for imitating him? Your servant's office is directly concerned and duty forbids concealment; I beg special investigation and correction, so that all under Heaven may know clearly that the court has merit that cannot be seized by fortune and laws that cannot be broken. Though your servant should offend and die for it, he would have no regret.
42
疏奏，直聲震朝廷。 嵩父子大懼，力事彌縫。 帝責冕報復，下詔獄拷訊，斥為民。 冕既得罪，而尚書覆奏如世蕃指矣。 隆慶初，錄先朝直臣，起冕太仆少卿。 遭母憂，未任，卒。
When the memorial was submitted, his forthright voice shook the court. Song and his son were greatly afraid and worked hard to smooth matters over. The Emperor accused Mian of retaliation, cast him into the imperial prison for torture, and reduced him to commoner status. After Mian had been punished, the minister still memorialized in reply as Shifan directed. At the opening of Longqing, when straight-speaking ministers of the previous reign were honored, Mian was recalled as Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. He was overtaken by mourning for his mother, had not assumed the post, and died.
43
趙錦，字元樸，余姚人。 嘉靖二十三年進士。 授江陰知縣，征授南京御史。 江洋有警，議設總兵官於鎮江。 錦言：「小寇剽掠，不足煩重兵。」 帝乃罷之。 已，疏言：「淮兗數百里，民多流傭，乞寬租徭，簡廷臣督有司拊循。」 報可。 軍興，民輸粟馬，得官錦衣，錦極陳不可。 尋清軍雲南。
Zhao Jin, whose style was Yuanpu, was a native of Yuyao. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-third year of Jiajing. He was appointed magistrate of Jiangyin, then summoned to serve as a Nanjing censor. When there was alarm on the rivers and seas, officials proposed establishing a regional commander at Zhenjiang. Jin said: "Petty raiders do not warrant deploying heavy forces." The Emperor then dropped the plan. Soon after he memorialized: "For several hundred li across Huai and Yan the people mostly hire themselves out as laborers; I beg that rents and corvée be eased and that court ministers be appointed to oversee local officials in their relief." The request was approved. When campaigns began, people who paid grain and horses could receive posts in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard; Jin urgently argued that this should not be permitted. He was soon sent to inspect troops in Yunnan.
44
三十二年元旦，日食。 錦以為權奸亂政之應，馳疏劾嚴嵩罪。 其略曰：
On New Year's Day of the thirty-second year there was a solar eclipse. Jin took it as Heaven's response to powerful traitors corrupting government and hurriedly memorialized impeaching Yan Song's crimes. The gist read:
45
臣伏見日食元旦，變異非常。 又山東、徐、淮仍歲大水，四方頻地震，災不虛生。 昔太祖高皇帝罷丞相，散其權於諸司，為後世慮至深遠矣。 今之內閣，無宰相之名，而有其實，非高皇帝本意。 頃夏言以貪暴之資，恣睢其間。 今大學士嵩又以佞奸之雄，繼之怙寵張威，竊權縱欲，事無鉅細，罔不自專。 人有違忤，必中以禍，百司望風惕息。 天下事未聞朝廷，先以聞政府。 白事之官，班候於其門； 請求之賂，幅輳於其室。 銓司黜陟，本兵用舍，莫不承意指。 邊臣失事，率朘削軍資納賕嵩所，無功可以受賞，有罪可以逭誅。 至宗藩勛戚之襲封，文武大臣之贈謚，其遲速予奪，一視賂之厚薄。 以至希寵幹進之徒，妄自貶損。 稱號不倫，廉恥掃地，有臣所不忍言者。
Your servant observes a solar eclipse on New Year's Day—an omen most extraordinary. Moreover Shandong, Xu, and Huai have suffered great floods year after year, earthquakes have been frequent everywhere, and calamities do not arise without cause. Formerly the founding Emperor Taizu abolished the chancellorship and dispersed its powers among the ministries, with foresight for later ages most profound. Today's Grand Secretariat bears no title of chancellor yet holds its substance—this was not the founding Emperor's intent. Not long ago Xia Yan, greedy and violent by nature, acted arrogantly within it. Now Grand Secretary Song, another villainous flatterer, has succeeded him, relying on favor to swell his power, stealing authority and indulging his desires; nothing great or small escapes his sole decision. Whoever opposed him was surely struck down; the hundred offices looked to the wind and trembled. Affairs of the realm were not first heard at court but first heard in the Grand Secretariat. Officials who came to report waited in ranks at his gate; bribes requested as gifts piled in rolls within his chambers. Dismissals and promotions in the Bureau of Personnel, appointments and removals in the Ministry of War—all followed his will. Border commanders who failed in duty mostly stripped military funds to bribe Song's household; without merit one could still be rewarded, and with guilt one could escape punishment. Even enfeoffments for imperial clansmen and meritorious kin, and posthumous honors for great civil and military ministers—their delay, grant, or denial all turned on the thickness of bribes. Even men who curried favor and pressed for advancement debased themselves without shame. Their titles were unfitting and integrity was swept away—there are things your servant cannot bear to recount.
46
陛下天縱聖神，乾綱獨運，自以予奪由宸斷，題覆在諸司，閣臣擬旨取裁而已。 諸司奏稿，並承命於嵩，陛下安得知之？ 今言誅，而嵩得播惡者，言剛暴而疏淺，惡易見，嵩柔佞而機深，惡難知也。 嵩窺伺逢迎之巧，似乎忠勤，諂諛側媚之態，似乎恭順。 引植私人，布列要地，伺諸臣之動靜，而先發以制之，故敗露者少。 厚賂左右親信之人，凡陛下動靜意向，無不先得，故稱旨者多。 或伺聖意所註，因而行之以成其私； 或乘事機所會，從而鼓之以肆其毒。 使陛下思之，則其端本發於朝廷； 使天下指之，則其事不由於政府。 幸而洞察於聖心，則諸司代嵩受其罰； 不幸而遂傳於後世，則陛下代嵩受其愆。 陛下豈誠以嵩為賢邪？ 自嵩輔政以來，惟恩怨是酬，惟貨賄是斂。 群臣憚陰中之禍，而忠言不敢直陳； 四方習貪墨之風，而閭閻日以愁困。
Your Majesty, Heaven-granted in sacred intelligence, holds the regnet alone and believes that grant and denial rest with the throne, memorial replies with the ministries, and that Grand Secretaries merely draft edicts for imperial approval. The ministries' memorial drafts all take orders from Song—how would Your Majesty know of them? Now Yan is punished while Song spreads his evil: Yan was violent and shallow, his evil easy to see; Song is soft, flattering, and deep in scheming, his evil hard to discern. Song watches for chances to ingratiate himself, seeming loyal and diligent; his fawning and sidelong flattery seem respectful and obedient. He plants private men in key posts, spies on every official's movements, and strikes first to control them—so few of his deeds are exposed. He lavishes bribes on those close to Your Majesty; whatever Your Majesty's movements and intentions may be, he learns them first, and so much accords with Your pleasure. Sometimes he watches what the sacred mind favors and acts accordingly to serve his private ends; sometimes he seizes what the occasion affords and stirs it up to unleash his malice. If Your Majesty reflects on it, the origin seems to arise from court; if all under Heaven points to it, the affair does not seem to come from the Grand Secretariat. If Your Majesty penetrates it in the sacred mind, the ministries bear Song's punishment in his stead; if unhappily it passes to later generations, Your Majesty bears Song's guilt in his stead. Does Your Majesty truly regard Song as worthy? Since Song entered government, he has repaid only favors and grudges and gathered only bribes and goods. Officials fear the disaster of secret strikes, and loyal words dare not be spoken plainly; the four quarters learn corruption, and the lanes and alleys grow more wretched day by day.
47
頃自庚戌之後，外寇陸梁。 陛下嘗募天下之武勇以足兵，竭天下之財力以給餉，搜天下之遺逸以任將，行不次之賞，施莫測之威，以風示內外矣。 而封疆之臣卒未有為陛下寬宵旰憂者。 蓋緣權臣行私，將吏風靡，以掊克為務，以營競為能。 致朝廷之上，用者不賢，賢者不用； 賞不當功，罰不當罪。 陛下欲致太平，則群臣不足承德於左右； 欲遏戎寇，則將士不足禦侮於邊疆。 財用已竭，而外患未見底寧； 民困已極，而內變又虞將作。 陛下躬秉至聖，憂勤萬幾，三十二年於茲矣，而天下之勢其危如此，非嵩之奸邪，何以致之？
Recently, since the gengxu year, outer enemies have grown rampant. Your Majesty once recruited the realm's brave to fill the armies, exhausted the realm's wealth to pay rations, searched out hidden talent to appoint generals, granted extraordinary rewards, and exercised immeasurable authority to admonish within and without. Yet among border officials there has finally been none to ease Your Majesty's worries that keep you sleepless till dawn. This is because powerful ministers act for private ends, officers and troops follow the fashion, taking extortion as their task and factional striving as their skill. It has brought it about that above the court, the unworthy are employed and the worthy are passed over; rewards do not match merit and punishments do not match crimes. If Your Majesty wishes to attain great peace, then the hundred officials are insufficient to bear virtue at your side; if you wish to check barbarian raiders, then officers and troops are insufficient to repel insult at the borders. Resources are already exhausted, yet outer calamity has not yet reached its end; The people are exhausted past endurance, and there is fear that internal upheaval may be about to erupt. Your Majesty embodies supreme sagacity and has toiled over the myriad affairs of state without rest for thirty-two years now—yet the realm stands in such peril. If not for Yan Song's treachery, what could have brought us here?
48
臣願陛下觀上天垂象，察祖宗立法之微，念權柄之不可使移，思紀綱之不可使亂，立斥罷嵩，以應天變，則朝廷清明，法紀振飭。 寇戎雖橫，臣知其不足平矣。
I beg Your Majesty to heed Heaven's warnings, ponder the subtle purpose of our ancestors' legislation, remember that authority must not be shifted, reflect that order and discipline must not be thrown into chaos, and immediately dismiss Yan Song to answer Heaven's signs—then the court will be restored to clarity and the laws made whole again. Even if the frontier raiders rage unchecked, I know they will not be difficult to subdue.
49
當是時，楊繼盛以劾嵩得重譴，帝方蓄怒以待言者。 周冕爭冒功事亦下獄，而錦疏適至。 帝震怒，手批其上，謂錦欺天謗君，遣使逮治，復慰諭嵩備至。 於是錦萬里就征，屢墮檻車，瀕死者數矣。 既至，下詔獄拷訊，搒四十，斥為民。 父塤，時為廣西參議，亦投劾罷。
By then Yang Jisheng had been severely punished for impeaching Yan Song, and the Emperor was nursing his wrath, waiting for the next memorialist. Zhou Mian too had been imprisoned over his challenge to false merit claims, and Zhao Jin's memorial arrived at that very moment. The Emperor flew into a rage, wrote a personal endorsement on the memorial accusing Jin of deceiving Heaven and slandering his sovereign, dispatched agents to seize him, and again comforted Yan Song with every possible kindness. Jin then journeyed ten thousand li to answer the summons, repeatedly tumbling from the prison cart, and several times nearly died on the road. Once he arrived he was cast into the imperial prison for interrogation, beaten forty strokes of the cangue, and stripped of office to live as a commoner. His father Kun, then Guangxi Participating Administrator, likewise submitted his resignation and was removed from office.
50
錦家居十五年，穆宗即位，起故官。 擢太常少卿，未上，進光祿卿。 江陰歲進子鱭萬斤，奏減其半。 隆慶元年以右副都御史巡撫貴州，破擒叛苗龍得鲊等。 宣慰安氏素桀驁，畏錦，為效命。 入為大理卿，歷工部左、右侍郎。 嘗署部事，有所爭執。
Jin remained at home for fifteen years until Muzong ascended the throne and restored him to his former post. He was promoted to Vice Minister of Rites and, before he could take up the appointment, advanced to Minister of Imperial Entertainments. Jiangyin had been sending ten thousand jin of young hairtail each year as tribute; he memorialized to cut the levy in half. In the first year of Longqing, as Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief he pacified Guizhou, routed the rebels, and captured Long Dezha of the Miao and his fellows. The An clan's Pacification Commissioner had long been proud and defiant, but he feared Jin and submitted to his command. He entered the capital as Minister of Justice and later served as both Left and Right Vice Minister of Works. On one occasion while acting head of the ministry he became embroiled in a dispute.
51
萬歷二年，遷南京右都御史，改刑部尚書。 張居正遭喪，南京大臣議疏留。 錦及工部尚書費三旸不可而止。 移禮部，又移吏部，俱在南京。 錦以居正操切，頗訾議之。 語聞，居正令給事中費尚伊劾錦講學談禪，妄議朝政，錦遂乞休去。 居正死，給事、御史交薦，起故官。 十一年召拜左都御史。 是時，方籍居正貲產。 錦言：「世宗籍嚴嵩家，禍延江西諸府。 居正私藏未必逮嚴氏，若加搜索，恐貽害三楚，十倍江西民。 且居正誠擅權，非有異志。 其翊戴沖聖，夙夜勤勞，中外寧謐，功亦有不容泯者。 今其官蔭贈謚及諸子官職並從褫革，已足示懲，乞特哀矜，稍寬其罰。」 不納。
In the second year of Wanli he was transferred to Right Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing, then made Minister of Punishments. When Zhang Juzheng entered mourning, the senior ministers at Nanjing debated submitting a memorial to keep him in office. Jin and Minister of Works Fei Sanyang objected and put a stop to the plan. He was transferred to Rites and then to Personnel, both appointments in Nanjing. Jin found Zhang Juzheng overbearing and often spoke against him. When word reached Juzheng, he had supervising secretary Fei Shangyi impeach Jin for preaching Neo-Confucian learning and Chan doctrine and meddling rashly in state affairs; Jin then asked to retire. After Juzheng's death, supervising secretaries and censors recommended him in turn, and he was restored to his former post. In the eleventh year he was recalled and appointed Left Censor-in-Chief. At that time the court was seizing Zhang Juzheng's estate. Jin said: "When Shizong confiscated the Yan Song household, the harm spread across the prefectures of Jiangxi. Juzheng's private wealth may not have rivaled the Yan family's, but if the search is pushed further, I fear the Three Chu will suffer tenfold what Jiangxi endured. Moreover, though Juzheng did monopolize power, he harbored no treasonous ambition. He upheld the young sovereign and labored day and night; the realm within and without grew calm—achievements that ought not be wholly erased. His hereditary privileges, posthumous honors, and his sons' offices have already been revoked—that is punishment enough. I beg Your Majesty to show special mercy and lighten the penalty somewhat." The memorial was not accepted.
52
二品六年滿，加太子少保，尋加兵部尚書，掌院事如故。 錦摘陳御史封事可采者數條，請旨行之。 四川巡按雒遵憾錦，假條奏指錦為奸臣。 御史周希旦、給事中陳與郊不直遵，交章論列，遂調遵外任。 帝幸山陵，再奉敕居守。 其冬，以繼母喪歸。 十九年召拜刑部尚書。 年七十六矣，再辭，不許。 次蘇州卒。 贈太子太保，謚端肅。
After six years at the second rank he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent; soon afterward he was further named Minister of War while continuing to head the Censorate. Jin picked out several worthwhile proposals from the censors' sealed memorials and asked that the throne order them implemented. Sichuan investigating censor Luo Zun resented Jin and, seizing on a procedural clause, memorialized calling him a traitorous minister. Censor Zhou Xidan and supervising secretary Chen Yujiao refused to support Zun; they submitted memorials in turn refuting him, and Zun was transferred to service outside the capital. When the Emperor went to the imperial tombs, Jin was again entrusted by edict to remain and guard the capital. That winter he went home to observe mourning for his stepmother. In the nineteenth year he was recalled and appointed Minister of Punishments. He was seventy-six years old and twice begged to decline the post, but was not allowed. He died at Suzhou on the journey to his post. He was posthumously made Junior Grand Guardian with the posthumous name Duansu.
53
錦始終厲清操，篤信王守仁學，而教人則以躬行為本。 守仁從祀孔廟，錦有力焉。 始忤嚴嵩，得重禍。 及之官貴州，道嵩裏，見嵩葬路旁，惻然憫之，屬有司護視。 後忤居正罷官，居正被籍，復為營救。 人以是稱錦長者。
Throughout his life Jin held to stern integrity, was a devoted follower of Wang Yangming's teaching, and in instructing others made personal conduct the foundation. When Wang Yangming was enshrined in the Confucian temple, Jin had helped bring it about. At first he crossed Yan Song and suffered grave punishment. On his way to Guizhou he passed Yan Song's home district, saw Song's grave by the roadside, was moved to pity, and instructed the local officials to guard it. Later he offended Zhang Juzheng and was dismissed; when Juzheng's estate was seized, he again intervened on his behalf. For this people praised Jin as a man of true magnanimity.
54
吳時來，字惟修，仙居人。 嘉靖三十二年進士。 授松江推官，攝府事。 倭犯境，鄉民攜妻子趨城，時來悉納之。 客兵獷悍好剽掠，時來以恩結其長，犯即行法，無嘩者。 賊攻城，驟雨，城壞數丈。 時來以勁騎扼其沖，急興版築，三日城復完，賊乃棄去。
Wu Shilai, styled Weixiu, came from Xianju. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-second year of Jiajing. He was appointed magistrate of Songjiang Prefecture and served as acting prefect. When pirates raided the district, villagers fled toward the city with wives and children in tow; Shilai took them all in. The mercenary troops were violent and prone to looting; Shilai bound their leaders with kindness, and when any transgressed he punished them on the spot—none dared make trouble. When bandits assaulted the city, a sudden downpour collapsed several zhang of the wall. Shilai blocked the breach with elite cavalry, rushed repairs, and in three days the wall was whole again; the bandits then withdrew.
55
擢刑科給事中。 劾罷兵部尚書許論、宣大總督楊順及巡按御史路楷。 皆嚴嵩私人，嵩疾之甚。 會將遣使琉球，遂以命時來。 三十七年三月，時來抗章劾嵩曰：「頃陛下赫然震怒，逮治僨事邊臣，人心莫不欣快。 邊臣朘軍實、饋執政，罪也。 執政受其饋，朋奸罔上，獨得無罪哉？ 嵩輔政二十年，文武遷除，悉出其手。 潛令子世蕃出入禁所，批答章奏。 世蕃因招權示威，頤指公卿，奴視將帥，筐篚苞苴，輻輳山積，猶無饜足。 用所親萬寀為文選郎，方祥為職方郎，每行一事，推一官，必先稟命世蕃而後奏請。 陛下但知議出部臣，豈知皆嵩父子私意哉！ 他不具論。 如趙文華、王汝孝、張經、蔡克廉以及楊順、吳嘉會輩，或祈免死，或祈遷官，皆剝民膏以營私利，虛官帑以實權門，陛下已洞見其一二。 言官如給事中袁洪愈、張墱，御史萬民英亦嘗屢及之。 顧多旁指微諷，無直攻嵩父子者。 臣竊謂除惡務本。 今邊事不振由於軍困，軍困由官邪，官邪由執政之好貨。 若不去嵩父子，陛下雖宵旰憂勞，邊事終不可為也。」
He was promoted to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Punishments. He memorialized for the dismissal of Minister of War Xu Lun, Xuanda Grand Coordinator Yang Shun, and investigating censor Lu Kai. All were Yan Song's creatures, and Song hated him bitterly. An envoy was about to be dispatched to Ryukyu, and the mission was assigned to Shilai. In the third month of the thirty-seventh year Shilai submitted a bold memorial impeaching Yan Song, saying: "Not long ago Your Majesty erupted in anger and had the border officials who bungled the campaign arrested; every heart in the realm rejoiced. Those border officials hollowed out the army and paid tribute to the chief minister—that is crime enough. Yet the chief minister took their bribes, conspired with villains, and deceived his sovereign—can he alone go unpunished? Yan Song has directed the government for twenty years; every civil and military appointment passes through his hand. He secretly allowed his son Shifan to enter the forbidden precinct and draft replies to memorials. Shifan then traded on his father's power, jerking his chin at the high ministers and treating generals as servants; gifts heaped up like mountains, yet he was never satisfied. He installed his favorites Wan Cai as Director of the Bureau of Appointments and Fang Xiang as Director of the Bureau of Military Appointments; for every act and every promotion they first sought Shifan's leave and only then submitted the request. Your Majesty believes the ministries deliberate on their own—how could you know it is all the private will of Yan Song and his son! I will not rehearse every other charge here. Men such as Zhao Wenhua, Wang Ruxiao, Zhang Jing, Cai Kelian, Yang Shun, and Wu Jiahui—some pleaded for their lives, some for promotion—all wrung the people dry for private gain and drained the treasury to enrich the powerful. Your Majesty has already seen through a few such cases. Remonstrating officials too—supervising secretaries Yuan Hongyu and Zhang Deng, censor Wan Minying—have raised these matters again and again. Yet for the most part they only hinted and circled; none struck directly at Yan Song and his son. I hold that to root out evil one must strike at the root. The frontier languishes because the armies are exhausted; the armies are exhausted because officials are corrupt; officials are corrupt because the chief minister is greedy. Unless Yan Song and his son are removed, Your Majesty may labor from dusk till dawn, yet the frontier will never be saved."
56
時張翀、董傳策與時來同日劾嵩。 而翀及時來皆徐階門生，傳策則階邑子，時來先又官松江，於是嵩疑階主使。 密奏三人同日構陷，必有人主之，且時來乃憚琉球之行，借端自脫。 帝入其言，遂下三人詔獄，嚴鞫主謀者。 三人瀕死不承，第言「此高廟神靈教臣為此言耳。」 主獄者乃以三人相為主使讞上。 詔皆戍煙瘴，時來得橫州。
That day Zhang Chong and Dong Chuance impeached Yan Song on the same day as Shilai. Chong and Shilai were both pupils of Xu Jie; Chuance was Jie's townsman; Shilai had earlier served at Songjiang—Yan Song therefore suspected Jie had orchestrated the attack. He secretly memorialized that the three had conspired on the same day and must have had a patron, and that Shilai had dreaded the Ryukyu mission and seized on the memorial to escape it. The Emperor believed him, sent all three to the imperial prison, and rigorously interrogated them for the mastermind. Near death, the three still would not confess, saying only, "The spirit of the dynastic founder taught your servant to speak thus. The interrogators then reported that the three had masterminded one another. An edict sent all three into miasmic exile; Shilai was banished to Hengzhou.
57
隆慶初，召復故官。 進工科給事中。 條上治河事宜，又薦譚綸、俞大猷、戚繼光宜用之薊鎮，專練邊兵，省諸鎮征調。 帝皆從之。 撫治鄖陽。 僉都御史劉秉仁被劾且調用，時來言秉仁薦太監李芳，無大臣節，秉仁遂坐罷。 帝免喪既久，臨朝未嘗發言，時來上保泰九劄，報聞。 尋擢順天府丞。
At the start of Longqing he was recalled and restored to his former post. He was promoted to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Works. He memorialized in detail on river control, and recommended Tan Lun, Yu Dayou, and Qi Jiguang for service at the Ji garrison to train frontier troops locally and spare the other commands constant redeployment. The Emperor approved every proposal. He was appointed to pacify and administer Yunyang. Vice Censor-in-Chief Liu Bingren had been impeached and was due for transfer; Shilai said Bingren had recommended the eunuch Li Fang and lacked a statesman's dignity, and Bingren was dismissed on that account. The Emperor's mourning period had long ended, yet he had never spoken at court; Shilai submitted nine memorials on preserving the throne's stability, and the court acknowledged them. Soon afterward he was made Vice Director of Shuntian Prefecture.
58
隆慶二年，拜南京右僉都御史提督操江。 移巡撫廣東。 將行，薦所屬有司至五十九人。 給事中光懋等劾其濫舉。 會高拱掌吏部，雅不喜時來，貶雲南副使。 復為拱門生給事中韓楫所劾，落職閑住。
In the second year of Longqing he was made Right Vice Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing with command of the Yangtze fleet. He was transferred to Grand Coordinator of Guangdong. Before he departed he recommended fifty-nine subordinate officials. Supervising secretary Guang Mao and others impeached him for reckless recommendations. Gao Gong then headed the Ministry of Personnel and had long disliked Shilai; Shilai was demoted to Vice Commissioner in Yunnan. He was impeached again by Han Ji, a supervising secretary and Gao Gong's pupil, and dismissed to live in retirement.
59
萬歷十二年，始起湖廣副使。 俄擢左通政，歷吏部左侍郎。 十五年拜左都御史。 誠意伯劉世延怙惡，數抗朝令，時來劾之，下所司訊治。 時來初以直竄，聲振朝端。 再遭折挫，沈淪十余年。 晚節不能自堅，委蛇執政間。 連為饒伸、薛敷教、王麟趾、史孟麟、趙南星、王繼光所劾，時來亦連乞休歸。 未出都，卒。 贈太子太保，謚忠恪。 尋為禮部郎中於孔兼所論，奪謚。
In the twelfth year of Wanli he was at last restored as Vice Commissioner of Huguang. Soon he was promoted to Left Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and later served as Left Vice Minister of Personnel. In the fifteenth year he was appointed Left Censor-in-Chief. The Earl of Cheng Yi, Liu Shiyan, clung to his crimes and repeatedly defied court orders; Shilai impeached him and he was sent to the appropriate office for trial. At first he shot to prominence through blunt remonstrance, and his name resounded through the court. He suffered setback after setback and languished in obscurity for more than ten years. In his later years he could not hold his ground and wound his way deferentially among those in power. He was impeached in turn by Rao Shen, Xue Fujiao, Wang Linzhi, Shi Menglin, Zhao Nanxing, and Wang Jiguang, and Shilai too repeatedly asked to resign and go home. Before he left the capital, he died. He was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, with the posthumous name Zhongke (Loyal and Respectful). Soon Yu Kongjian of the Ministry of Rites impeached him, and his posthumous name was stripped away.
60
張翀，字子儀，柳州人。 嘉靖三十二年進士。 授刑部主事。 疾嚴嵩父子亂政，抗章劾之。 其略曰：
Zhang Chong, style Ziyi, was a native of Liuzhou. He received his jinshi degree in the thirty-second year of the Jiajing reign. He was appointed a principal clerk in the Ministry of Punishments. Outraged that Yan Song and his son were throwing government into chaos, he submitted a defiant memorial impeaching them. The gist ran:
61
竊見大學士嵩貴則極人臣，富則甲天下。 子為侍郎，孫為錦衣、中書，賓客滿朝班，親姻盡朱紫。 犬馬尚知報主，乃嵩則不然。 臣試以邊防、財賦、人才三大政言之。
I observe that Grand Secretary Song in rank has reached the summit of subjecthood and in wealth surpasses all under Heaven. His son is a vice minister; his grandsons serve in the Embroidered Uniform Guard and as Secretariat drafters; his clients pack the court ranks, and every marriage tie wears purple or scarlet. Even dogs and horses know how to repay their master—yet Song does not. Your servant will address this through the three great policies: frontier defense, finance, and talent.
62
國家所恃為屏翰者，邊鎮也。 自嵩輔政，文武將吏率由賄進。 其始不核名實，但通關節，即與除授。 其後不論功次，但勤問遺，即被超遷。 托名修邊建堡，覆軍者得蔭子，濫殺者得轉官。 公肆詆欺，交相販鬻。 而祖宗二百年防邊之計盡廢壞矣。
What the state relies on as its screen and rampart are the frontier commands. Since Song took up the Grand Secretariat, civil and military officers and generals have advanced chiefly through bribery. At first they did not examine merit or credentials—only pull strings, and appointment followed. Afterward they did not weigh merit or seniority—only keep the gifts flowing, and promotion came out of turn. Under the pretext of repairing the frontier and building forts, commanders who lost armies saw their sons ennobled, and those who killed recklessly were transferred and promoted. They openly slandered and deceived one another, trading offices back and forth. Thus the forefathers' two-hundred-year plan for frontier defense was utterly ruined.
63
戶部歲發邊餉，本以贍軍。 自嵩輔政，朝出度支之門，暮入奸臣之府。 輸邊者四，饋嵩者六。 臣每過長安街，見嵩門下無非邊鎮使人。 未見其父，先饋其子。 未見其子，先饋家人。 家人嚴年富已逾數十萬，嵩家可知。 私藏充溢，半屬軍儲； 邊卒凍餒，不保朝夕。 而祖宗二百年豢養之軍盡耗弱矣。
Each year the Ministry of Revenue disbursed frontier pay—originally to feed the troops. Since Song came to power, silver leaves the revenue office in the morning and by evening enters the villain's mansion. Four parts reach the frontier; six parts are presented to Song. Whenever I pass Chang'an Street, I see at Song's gate nothing but envoys from the frontier commands. Before they see the father, they first present gifts to the son. Before they see the son, they first present gifts to the household staff. The retainer Yan Nian's wealth already exceeds several hundred thousand taels—Song's household may be imagined from that. Private hoards overflow; half of it is army provisions; Frontier soldiers freeze and starve, with no assurance of the morrow. Thus the army the forefathers nurtured for two hundred years was utterly drained and weakened.
64
邊防既隳。 邊儲既虛，使人才足供陛下用，猶不足憂也。 自嵩輔政，藐蔑名器，私營囊橐。 世蕃以狙獪資，倚父虎狼之勢，招權罔利，獸攫烏鈔。 無恥之徒，絡繹奔走，靡然成風，有如狂易。 而祖宗二百年培養之人才盡敗壞矣。
Frontier defense was already in ruins. Frontier stores are already empty—if talent alone were enough to serve Your Majesty, there would still be little to fear. Since Song came to power, he has scorned offices and titles while privately filling his purse. Shifan, cunning and treacherous by nature, leans on his father's tiger-and-wolf power to seize authority and profit—beasts clawing, crows snatching. Shameless men hurried to his door in an unbroken stream until it became the prevailing wind, like a fever in the land. Thus the talent the forefathers cultivated for two hundred years was utterly corrupted.
65
夫嵩險足以傾人，詐足以惑世，辨足以亂政，才足以濟奸。 附己者加諸膝，異己者墜之淵。 箝天下口使不敢言，而其惡日以恣。 此忠義之士，所以搤腕憤激，懷深長之憂者也。 陛下誠賜斥譴，以快眾憤，則緣邊將士不戰而氣自倍，百司庶府不令而政自新。
Song's malice is enough to overturn men, his deceit enough to bewilder the age, his eloquence enough to disorder government, and his talent enough to advance villainy. Those who sided with him he drew to his knee; those who differed from him he cast into the abyss. He clamped shut the mouths of all under Heaven so none dared speak, while his wickedness grew day by day. This is why men of loyalty and righteousness clench their fists in fury and harbor a grief that will not pass. If Your Majesty would truly dismiss and reprimand him to satisfy public wrath, frontier officers and soldiers would double their spirit without a battle, and the hundred offices would renew their governance without a command.
66
書奏，逮下詔獄拷訊，謫戍都勻。
When the memorial was submitted, he was arrested, sent to the imperial prison for interrogation under torture, and then banished to garrison duty at Duyun.
67
穆宗嗣位，召為吏部主事，再遷大理少卿。 隆慶二年春，以右僉都御史巡撫南、贛。 所部萬羊山跨湖廣、福建、廣東境，故盜藪，四方商民種藍其間。 至是，盜出劫，翀遣守備董龍剿之。 龍聲言搜山，諸藍戶大恐。 盜因煽之，嘯聚千余人。 兵部令二鎮撫臣協議撫剿之宜，久乃定。 南雄劇盜黃朝祖流劫諸縣，轉掠湖廣，勢甚熾。 翀討擒之。 移撫湖廣。 召拜大理卿，進兵部右侍郎。 以侍養歸。
When Muzong succeeded to the throne, he was recalled as a principal clerk in the Ministry of Personnel and soon promoted to Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. In the spring of the second year of Longqing he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Nan and Gan. Within his jurisdiction Mount Wanyang straddled the borders of Huguang, Fujian, and Guangdong—a former bandit haunt where merchants from every quarter cultivated indigo. At this time bandits came out to plunder, and Chong sent the garrison commander Dong Long to suppress them. Long announced he would search the mountains, and all the indigo growers were terrified. The bandits incited them, and they mustered more than a thousand men. The Ministry of War ordered two grand coordinators to deliberate on whether to pacify or suppress them; only after a long delay was a plan settled. The fierce bandit Huang Chaozu of Nanxiong raided county after county and swept into Huguang; his power burned bright. Chong campaigned against him and captured him. He was transferred to serve as grand coordinator of Huguang. He was recalled and appointed Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, then promoted to Right Vice Minister of War. He returned home to care for his parents.
68
萬歷初，起故官，督漕運。 召為刑部右侍郎，不拜，連章乞休。 卒於家。 天啟初，贈兵部尚書，謚忠簡。
At the start of the Wanli reign he was restored to his former office and put in charge of grain transport on the Grand Canal. He was recalled as Right Vice Minister of Punishments, but refused to accept the post and sent repeated memorials begging to retire. He died at home. At the start of the Tianqi reign he was posthumously made Minister of War, with the posthumous name Zhongjian (Loyal and Uncomplicated).
69
董傳策，字原漢，松江華亭人。 嘉靖二十九年進士。 除刑部主事。 三十七年抗疏劾大學士嚴嵩，略言：
Dong Chuance, style Yuanhan, was a native of Huating in Songjiang. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing reign. He was appointed a principal clerk in the Ministry of Punishments. In the thirty-seventh year he submitted a defiant memorial impeaching Grand Secretary Yan Song. The gist ran:
70
嵩諗惡誤國，陛下豈不洞燭其奸？ 特以輔政故，尚為優容，令自省改。 而嵩恬不知戒，負恩愈深。 居位一日，天下受一日之害。 臣竊痛之。
Song is wilfully wicked and misleads the state—has Your Majesty not already seen through his treachery? Only because he assists in government has he still been treated leniently and told to reflect and reform. Yet Song is heedless of warning, and his ingratitude grows deeper. Each day he holds office, the empire suffers a day's harm. Your servant grieves in secret.
71
夫邊疆督撫將帥欲得士卒死力，必資財用。 今諸邊軍餉歲費百萬，強半賂嵩。 遂令軍士饑疲，寇賊深入。 此其壞邊防之罪一也。
Frontier grand coordinators and commanders who wish to win the troops' utmost effort must have funds to spend. Today frontier pay costs a million taels a year—and more than half is bribed to Song. Hence the soldiers starve and weaken, and bandits drive deep inland. This is his first crime: ruining frontier defense.
72
吏、兵二部持選簿就嵩填註。 文選郎萬寀、職方郎方祥甘聽指使，不異卒隸。 都門諺語至以「文武管家」目之。 此其鬻官爵之罪二也。
The Ministries of Personnel and War carry their selection registers to Song for him to fill in. The bureau directors Wan Cai and Fang Xiang gladly take his orders, no different from camp runners. Capital street talk even calls them the "civil-and-military house stewards." This is his second crime: selling offices and ranks.
73
侍郎劉伯躍以采木行部，擅斂民財及郡縣贓罪，輦輸嵩家，前後不絕。 其他有司破冒攘敚，入獻於嵩者更不可數計。 嵩家私藏，富於公帑。 此其蠹國用之罪三也。
Vice Minister Liu Boyue, touring the departments to collect timber, extorted private wealth and magistrates' bribes and carted them to Song's house without cease. Other officials who broke rules and seized by force what they offered Song are beyond counting. Song's private hoards are richer than the public treasury. This is his third crime: gnawing at the state's finances.
74
趙文華以罪放逐，嵩沒其囊橐巨萬，而令人護送南還。 恐喝州縣，私役民夫，致道路驛騷，公私煩費。 此其黨罪人之罪四也。
Zhao Wenhua was banished for his crimes; Song seized his baggage, worth tens of thousands, yet sent men to escort him south. He intimidated prefectures and counties, impressed private labor, and threw roads and relay posts into turmoil, wasting public and private funds. This is his fourth crime: shielding the guilty.
75
天下藩臬諸司，歲時問遺，動以千計，勢不得不掊克小民。 民財日殫，嵩貲日積。 於是水陸舟車載還其鄉，月無虛日。 所至要索供億，勢如虎狼。 此其騷驛傳之罪五也。
Provincial and circuit offices everywhere send seasonal gifts by the thousand—they must squeeze the common people. The people's wealth is daily exhausted while Song's hoard daily grows. Then by water and land, cart and boat, they carried it back to his home district—not a month without traffic. Wherever they passed they demanded supplies; their force was that of tiger and wolf. This is his fifth crime: harassing the relay system.
76
嵩久握重權，灸手而熱。 幹進無恥之徒，附亶逐穢，麕集其門。 致士風日偷，官箴日喪。 此其壞人才之罪六也。
Song long held heavy power—touch him and you burn. Shameless men seeking advancement clung to his stench and swarmed his gate like deer to a salt lick. Hence scholar-official conduct decayed day by day and official integrity died day by day. This is his sixth crime: ruining talent.
77
嵩以蔽欺行其專權，生死予奪惟意所為。 而世蕃又以無賴之子，竊威助惡。 父子肆兇，中外飲憤。 有臣如此，非國法可容。 臣待罪刑曹，宜詰奸慝。 陛下誠不惜嚴氏以謝天下，則臣亦何惜一死以謝權奸！
Song wields sole power through concealment and deceit; life and death, grant and seizure—all follow his whim alone. Shifan, a worthless son, again steals authority and helps the evil along. Father and son run riot in cruelty; within and without the court, all choke on rage. When there is such a minister, the state's law cannot bear it. Your servant holds office in the Ministry of Punishments and ought to interrogate wickedness. If Your Majesty would truly not spare the Yan clan to answer the empire, then what death would your servant spare to answer the powerful villain!
78
疏入，下詔獄。 謫戍南寧。
When the memorial was received, he was sent to the imperial prison. He was banished to garrison duty at Nanning.
79
穆宗立，召復故官。 歷郎中。 隆慶五年累遷南京大理卿，進工部右侍郎。 萬歷元年就改禮部。 言官劾傳策受人賄，免歸。 繩下過急，竟為家奴所害。
When Muzong ascended the throne, he was recalled to his former post. He rose through the ranks to director. In the fifth year of Longqing he was promoted in succession to Vice Censor-in-chief of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review, then to Vice Minister of Works. In the first year of Wanli he was at once transferred to the Ministry of Rites. Censorial officials impeached Dong Chuance for accepting bribes, and he was dismissed and sent home. In disciplining subordinates he was excessively harsh and was ultimately killed by a household slave.
80
鄒應龍，字雲卿，長安人。 嘉靖三十五年進士。 授行人，擢御史。 嚴嵩擅政久，廷臣攻之者輒得禍，相戒莫敢言。 而應龍知帝眷已潛移，其子世蕃益貪縱，可攻而去也，乃上疏曰：
Zou Yinglong, courtesy name Yunqing, was a native of Chang'an. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing. Appointed as a courier, he was promoted to censor. Yan Song had monopolized government for a long time; court officials who attacked him invariably met with disaster, and one warned another not to speak. Yet Yinglong knew the Emperor's favor had secretly shifted, and that Song's son Shifan was growing greedier and more unrestrained—an opening by which he could be attacked and removed—so he submitted a memorial saying:
81
工部侍郎嚴世蕃憑藉父權，專利無厭。 私擅爵賞，廣致賂遺。 使選法敗壞，市道公行。 群小競趨，要價轉鉅。 刑部主事項治元以萬三千金轉吏部，舉人潘鴻業以二千二百金得知州。 夫司屬郡吏賂以千萬，則大而公卿方嶽，又安知紀極？
Vice Minister of Works Yan Shifan, riding his father's power, seeks profit without end. He usurps bestowal of ranks and rewards and amasses bribes far and wide. He has ruined the selection system so that the marketplace of office is open for all to see. Petty men rush to compete, and the prices they demand grow ever greater. Criminal Affairs bureau director Xiang Zhiyuan bought a transfer to the Ministry of Personnel for thirteen thousand taels of gold; examination graduate Pan Hongye paid twenty-two hundred taels for a prefecture. When junior officials and district clerks can bribe by the tens of millions, how can one know any limit for grand ministers and frontier governors?
82
平時交通贓賄，為之居間者不下百十余人，而其子錦衣嚴鵠、中書嚴鴻、家人嚴年、幕客中書羅龍文為甚。 年尤桀黠，士大夫無恥者至呼為鶴山先生。 遇嵩生日，年輒獻萬金為壽。 臧獲富侈若是，主人當何如？
In ordinary times those who trafficked in illicit gifts and served as go-betweens for him number no fewer than a hundred or more; worst among them are his sons the yishiwei Yan He and Secretariat drafter Yan Hong, the household steward Yan Nian, and his client the Secretariat drafter Luo Longwen. Nian was especially insolent and cunning; shameless literati even addressed him as "Mr. Crane Mountain." On Song's birthdays Nian would present ten thousand taels in congratulatory gold. When slaves and attendants grow so rich and extravagant, what must their master be like?
83
嵩父子故籍袁州，乃廣置良田美宅於南京、揚州，無慮數十所，以豪仆嚴冬主之。 抑勒侵奪，民怨入骨。 外地牟利若是，鄉里又何如？
Though the Song father and son were originally registered in Yuanzhou, they widely bought fertile fields and fine mansions at Nanjing and Yangzhou—doubtless several dozen properties—managed by the brash bondservant Yan Dong. By extortion and seizure they stirred resentment that pierced to the bone. If they profit thus abroad, what must they be like in their home districts?
84
尤可異者，世蕃喪母，陛下以嵩年高，特留侍養，令鵠扶櫬南還。 世蕃乃聚狎客，擁艷姬，恒舞酣歌，人紀滅絕。 至鵠之無知，則以祖母喪為奇貨。 所至驛騷，要索百故。 諸司承奉，郡邑為空。
Strangest of all: when Shifan was in mourning for his mother, the Emperor, considering Song's advanced age, specially allowed him to remain and nurse his father, ordering He to escort the coffin south. Shifan instead gathered pleasure companions and kept bejeweled concubines, ever dancing and singing in drunken revelry, till human decorum was extinguished. As for He's shamelessness, he treated his grandmother's funeral as a rare windfall. Wherever they passed they threw the courier stations into turmoil and demanded payment under every conceivable pretext. Every agency groveled before them; entire prefectures were drained empty.
85
今天下水旱頻仍，南北多警。 而世蕃父子方日事掊克，內外百司莫不竭民脂膏，塞彼溪壑。 民安得不貧？ 國安得不病？ 天人災變安得不叠至也？ 臣請斬世蕃首懸之於市，以為人臣兇橫不忠之戒。 茍臣一言失實，甘伏顯戮。 嵩溺愛惡子，召賂市權，亦宜亟放歸田，用清政本。
Today floods and drought strike again and again, and alarms multiply north and south. Yet the Shifan father and son daily practice extortion, while inside and outside the hundred offices none fail to squeeze the people's fat to fill those ravines and gullies. How can the people not grow poor? How can the state not grow sick? How can Heaven-and-man portents not come one upon another? Your servant asks that Shifan's head be cut off and hung in the marketplace as a warning to ministers who are brutal, overbearing, and disloyal. If a single word of your servant proves false, I willingly accept public execution. Song, who dotes on this wicked son and has drawn bribes to trade in power, should likewise be promptly sent home to his fields to cleanse the foundations of government.
86
帝頗知世蕃居喪淫縱，心惡之。 會方士藍道行以扶乩得幸，帝密問輔臣賢否。 道行詐為乩語，具言嵩父子弄權狀，帝由是疏嵩而任徐階。 及應龍奏入，遂勒嵩致仕，下世蕃等詔獄，擢應龍通政司參議。 然帝雖罷嵩，念其贊修玄功，意忽忽不樂，手劄諭階：「嵩已退，其子已伏辜，敢再言者，當並應龍斬之。」 應龍深自危，不敢履任，賴階調護始視事。 御史張槚巡鹽河東，不知帝指，上疏言：「陛下已顯擢應龍，而王宗茂、趙錦輩首發大奸未召，是曲突者不賞也。」 帝大怒，立逮至，杖六十，斥為民。 久之，世蕃誅，應龍乃自安。
The Emperor had already known something of Shifan's licentious conduct during mourning and inwardly detested it. It happened that the Daoist Lan Daoxing, who gained favor through planchette divination, was secretly asked whether his chief ministers were worthy. Daoxing fabricated spirit-writing that fully described how the Songs father and son manipulated power; the Emperor therefore grew distant from Song and relied on Xu Jie. When Yinglong's memorial arrived, he compelled Song to retire, sent Shifan and the rest to the imperial prison, and promoted Yinglong to Secretary in the Office of Transmission. Yet though the Emperor had dismissed Song, he still remembered Song's help in cultivating the mysteries and was listless and unhappy; he wrote in his own hand to instruct Xu Jie: "Song has retired and his son has paid the penalty; whoever dares speak again shall be executed together with Yinglong. Yinglong was in deep dread for his life and did not dare take up his post; only with Xu's mediation and protection did he finally assume office. Censor Zhang Chong, inspecting salt in Hedong, did not know the Emperor's intent and memorialized: "Your Majesty has already conspicuously promoted Yinglong, while Wang Zongmao, Zhao Jin, and others who first exposed the great villain have not been summoned—this is rewarding the man who mended the chimney while slighting those who warned of the fire. The Emperor was furious, had him seized at once, beaten sixty blows, and reduced to commoner status. After a long while, when Shifan was executed, Yinglong at last felt secure.
87
隆慶初，以副都御史總理江西、江南鹽屯。 遷工部右侍郎。 鎮守雲南黔國公沐朝弼驕恣，廷議遣大臣有威望者鎮之，乃改應龍兵部侍郎兼右僉都御史巡撫雲南。 至則發朝弼罪，朝弼竟被逮。 萬歷改元，鐵索箐賊作亂，討平之。 已，番人栂犭發反，合土漢兵進討，斬獲各千余人。
At the beginning of Longqing he was made Vice Censor-in-chief to oversee salt colonies in Jiangxi and south of the Yangzi. He was transferred to Vice Minister of Works. Mu Chaobu, Prince of Qian who guarded Yunnan, was arrogant and unruly; court discussion favored sending a senior minister of prestige to rein him in, so Yinglong was changed to Vice Minister of War with concurrent appointment as Vice Censor-in-chief and Pacification Commissioner of Yunnan. On arrival he exposed Chaobu's crimes, and Chaobu was ultimately arrested. When Wanli began its reign, bandits of Tiesuo Ravine rose in revolt and were pacified. Soon after, the tribal chieftain Mei Fa rebelled; combining native and Han troops he advanced to punish them, beheading and capturing more than a thousand each.
88
應龍有才氣，初以劾嚴嵩得名，驟致通顯。 及為太常，省牲北郊，東廠太監馮保傳呼至，導者引入，正面爇香，儼若天子。 應龍大駭，劾保僭肆，保深銜之。 至是，京察自陳，保修郤，令致仕。 臨安土官普崇明、崇新兄弟構爭。 崇明引廣南儂兵為助，崇新則召交兵。 已，交兵退，儂兵尚留，應龍命部將楊守廉往剿。 守廉掠村聚，殺人。 儂賊乘之，再敗官軍，人以咎應龍。 應龍聞罷官，不俟代徑歸。 代者王凝欲自以為功，力排應龍。 給事中裴應章遂劾應龍僨事。 巡按御史郭廷梧雅不善應龍，勘如凝言。 應龍遂削籍，卒於家。
Yinglong had talent and spirit; he first won fame by impeaching Yan Song and swiftly rose to conspicuous station. When he served as Director of the Imperial Sacrifices and inspected sacrificial animals at the Northern Suburb, the Eastern Depot eunuch Feng Bao had himself announced and escorted in; his guide led him before the altar to burn incense face-on, just like the Son of Heaven. Yinglong was greatly alarmed and impeached Bao for presumptuous arrogance; Bao bore a deep grudge. At this capital evaluation he filed a self-report; Bao secured his dismissal and he was ordered to retire. The native chieftains Pu Chongming and Chongxin, brothers, were at feud. Chongming brought in Zhuang troops from Guangnan as allies; Chongxin in turn summoned Annamese troops. The Annamese troops later withdrew but the Zhuang troops remained; Yinglong ordered his deputy Yang Shoulian to go suppress them. Shoulian plundered villages and hamlets and killed people. The Zhuang rebels seized the chance and twice defeated government troops; people blamed Yinglong. Yinglong heard he had been dismissed from office and, without waiting for his successor, went straight home. His replacement Wang Ning wished to claim the credit himself and strove to exclude Yinglong. Supervising Secretariat drafter Pei Yingzhang then impeached Yinglong for bungling affairs. Investigating censor Guo Tingwu had never favored Yinglong; his inquiry endorsed Ning's account. Yinglong was then struck from the registers and died at home.
89
十六年，陜西巡撫王璇言應龍歿後，遺田不及數畝，遺址不過數楹，恤典未被，朝野所恨。 帝命復應龍官，予祭葬。
In the sixteenth year Shaanxi Pacification Commissioner Wang Xuan reported that after Yinglong's death his bequeathed fields amounted to less than a few mu and his remaining house to no more than a few bays; no posthumous honors had been granted—the court and countryside alike resented it. The Emperor ordered Yinglong's office restored and granted him funeral rites.
90
張槚，江西新城人。 嘉靖三十八年進士。 居臺中，敢言。 穆宗初，復官。 屢疏抗中官，嘗劾大學士高拱。 拱復入閣掌吏部，槚已遷太仆少卿，坐不謹罷歸。 萬歷中，累官工部右侍郎。
Zhang Chong was a native of Xincheng in Jiangxi. He passed the jinshi in the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing. While in the censorate he dared to speak forth. At the beginning of Muzong's reign his office was restored. He repeatedly memorialized against eunuchs and once impeached Grand Secretary Gao Gong. When Gong re-entered the Grand Secretariat and took charge of the Ministry of Personnel, Chong had already been promoted to Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud; he was dismissed for lack of caution and sent home. In the Wanli reign he rose in stages to Vice Minister of Works.
91
林潤，字若雨，莆田人。 嘉靖三十五年進士。 授臨川知縣。 以事之南豐，寇猝至，為畫計卻之。 征授南京御史。 嚴世蕃置酒召潤，潤談辨風生，世蕃心憚之。 既罷，屬客謂之曰：「嚴侍郎謝君，無刺當世事。」 潤到官，首論祭酒沈坤擅殺人，置之理。 已，劾副都御史鄢懋卿五罪，嚴嵩庇之，不問。 伊王典楧不道，數遭論列不悛，潤復糾之。 典楧累奏辨，詆潤挾私。 部科交章論王抗朝命，脅言官。 世蕃納其賄，下詔責讓而已。 潤因言宗室繁衍，歲祿不繼，請亟議變通。 帝為下所司集議。
Lin Run, courtesy name Ruoyu, was a native of Putian. He passed the jinshi in the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing. Appointed magistrate of Linchuan. While on business at Nanfeng, bandits suddenly arrived; he devised a plan to repel them. Summoned and appointed Nanjing censor. Yan Shifan set out wine and summoned Run; Run's debate flowed like wind and Shifan inwardly feared him. When the banquet ended he had a guest tell him, "Vice Minister Yan thanks you, sir; do not needle current affairs. Once Run took office he first charged Academician Shen Kun with killing without authority and had him brought to justice. He then impeached Vice Censor-in-chief Yan Maoqing on five counts; Yan Song shielded him and no inquiry was made. Dian Mu, director of the Princely Establishment of Yi, was lawless; though repeatedly impeached he did not reform, and Run impeached him again. Dian Mu repeatedly memorialized in his defense, slandering Run for private motives. Ministries and supervising offices together memorialized that the prince resisted court orders and intimidated censorial officials. Shifan accepted his bribes; the Emperor merely issued an edict of rebuke. Run then said the imperial clansmen had proliferated and annual stipends could not keep pace; he asked that adaptation be urgently discussed. The Emperor had the responsible agencies assemble for deliberation.
92
會帝用鄒應龍言，戍世蕃雷州，其黨羅龍文尋州。 世蕃留家不赴。 龍文一詣戍所，即逃還徽州，數往來江西，與世蕃計事。 四十三年冬，潤按視江防，廉得其狀，馳疏言：「臣巡視上江，備訪江洋群盜，悉竄入逃軍羅龍文、嚴世蕃家。 龍文卜築深山，乘軒衣蟒，有負險不臣之心。 而世蕃日夜與龍文誹謗時政，搖惑人心。 近假名治第，招集勇士至四千余人。 道路恟懼，鹹謂變且不測。 乞早正刑章，以絕禍本。」 帝大怒，即詔潤逮捕送京師。 世蕃子紹庭官錦衣，聞命亟報世蕃，使詣戍所。 方二日，潤已馳至。 世蕃猝不及赴，乃械以行，龍文亦從梧州捕至。 遂盡按二人諸不法事，二人竟伏誅。
It happened that the Emperor followed Zou Yinglong's advice and banished Shifan to garrison Leizhou while his follower Luo Longwen was sent to garrison Xun. Shifan remained at home and did not report to his post. Longwen visited the place of exile once, then fled back to Huizhou and repeatedly traveled to and from Jiangxi to plot with Shifan. In the winter of the forty-third year Run inspected river defenses on patrol, learned the facts in full, and hurried a memorial saying: "Your servant, patrolling the upper Yangzi, made thorough inquiries among the river pirates and found they had all taken refuge in the homes of the fugitive soldier Luo Longwen and Yan Shifan. Longwen has chosen a site deep in the mountains, rides in a carriage and wears python robes, and harbors a heart unwilling to submit while trusting in rugged terrain. Shifan night and day with Longwen rails against current policy and stirs the people's hearts. Recently, under the false name of building a residence, he has gathered braves to more than four thousand men. Travelers on the roads are terrified; all say trouble may erupt at any moment. I beg that criminal law be applied early to cut off the root of calamity. The Emperor flew into a rage and at once issued an edict ordering Lin Run to arrest them and escort them to the capital. Shifan's son Shaoting served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard; on hearing the order he rushed word to Shifan and urged him to report to his exile post. Within two days Lin Run had already raced there. Shifan could not get there in time; he was shackled and marched off, and Luo Longwen was likewise seized at Wuzhou. The court then fully prosecuted every crime of the two men, and both were put to death.
93
潤尋擢南京通政司參議，歷太常寺少卿。 隆慶元年以右僉都御史巡撫應天諸府。 屬吏懾其威名，鹹震慄。 潤至，則持寬平，多惠政，吏民皆悅服。 居三年，卒官。 年甫四十。
Lin Run was soon promoted to vice commissioner in the Nanjing Secretariat for Promoting Governance and later served as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the first year of Longqing he was appointed Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of the Yingtian prefectures. His subordinates feared his formidable reputation and all trembled before him. When Lin Run took up his post he governed with leniency and fairness, enacted many measures of real benefit, and officials and people alike gladly submitted. After three years in office he died at his post. He was only forty years old.
94
潤鄉郡興化陷倭，特疏請蠲復三年，發帑金振恤。 鄉人德之。 喪歸，遮道四十里，為位祭哭凡三日。
When Xinghua in his home district was overrun by Japanese pirates, he submitted a special memorial requesting a three-year remission of taxes and corvée and the release of treasury funds for relief. His countrymen were deeply grateful. When his coffin was borne home the people lined the road for forty li, set up mourning stations, and wept and made offerings for three full days.
95
贊曰：世宗非庸懦主也。 嵩相二十余年，貪裛盈貫。 言者踵至，斥逐罪死，甘之若飴，而不能得君心之一悟。 唐德宗言：「人謂盧杞奸邪，朕殊不覺。」 各賢其臣，若蹈一轍，可勝嘆哉！ 世蕃之誅，發於鄒應龍，成於林潤。 二人之忠，非過於楊繼盛，其言之切直，非過於沈煉、徐學詩等，而大憝由之授首。 蓋惡積滅身，而鄒、林之彈擊適會其時歟！
Commentary: Emperor Shizong was no mediocre or timid sovereign. Yet Yan Song held the chief ministership for more than twenty years, his greed beyond all measure. Critics came one after another—expelled, banished, sent to their deaths—yet bore it as sweetly as honey, and still could not stir the sovereign's heart to a single moment of clarity. Emperor Dezong of Tang said, "People call Lu Qi treacherous and wicked; I scarcely notice it at all." Each ruler thinks his own minister virtuous, as if treading the same rut—how endlessly one must sigh! Yan Shifan's downfall began with Zou Yinglong and was brought to completion by Lin Run. Their loyalty did not exceed Yang Jisheng's, nor were their words more blunt and forceful than Shen Lian's, Xu Xueshi's, and the rest—yet through them the arch-villain lost his head. Perhaps when evil piles high the man is undone, and Zou and Lin's impeachments merely struck at the appointed hour!