Volume 211 Biographies 99: Ma Yong, Liang Zhen, Wang Xiao, Zhou Shangwen, Ma Fang, He Qing, Shen Xiyi, Shi Bangxian

馬永梁震〈（祝雄）〉王效〈（劉文）〉周尚文〈（趙國忠）〉馬芳〈（子林孫炯爌飈）〉何卿沈希儀石邦憲

Ma Yong, Liang Zhen (Zhu Xiong)〉 Wang Xiao (Liu Wen)〉 Zhou Shangwen (Zhao Guozhong)〉 Ma Fang (Sons Lin; grandsons Jiong, Huang, and Biao)〉 He Qing, Shen Xiyi, Shi Bangxian

馬永，字天錫，遷安人。生而魁岸，驍果有謀。習兵法，好《左氏春秋》。嗣世職為金吾左衛指揮使。正德時，從陸完擊賊有功，進都指揮同知。江彬練兵西內，永當隸彬，稱疾避之。守備遵化，寇入馬蘭峪，參將陳乾被劾，擢永代。戰柏崖、白羊峪，皆有功。

Ma Yong, styled Tiansi, came from Qian'an. He was tall and imposing from youth, bold and resourceful. He studied warfare and loved the Zuo Commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals. He succeeded to the hereditary office of commander of the Left Gold Crow Guard. During the Zhengde reign he served under Lu Wan against bandits with distinction and was promoted to vice regional commander. When Jiang Bin drilled troops in the Western Inner Palace, Yong was ordered to serve under him, but he pleaded illness to stay clear. While defending Zunhua, he was promoted to replace Assistant Commander Chen Qian, who was impeached after raiders entered Malan Pass. He distinguished himself in fighting at Baiya and Baiyang passes.

十三年進都督僉事，充總兵官，鎮守薊州。盡汰諸營老弱，聽其農賈，取備直給健卒，由是永所將獨雄於諸鎮。武宗至喜峰口，欲出塞，永叩馬諫。帝註視久之，笑而止。中路擦崖當敵沖，無城堡，耕牧者輒被掠。永令人持一月糧，營崖表，版築其內。城廨如期立，乃遷軍守之。錄功，進署都督同知。

In the thirteenth year he was made junior regional commander and regional commander-in-chief at Jizhou. He cleared every camp of the old and weak, let them farm or trade, and used their pay to equip hardy troops; the force under his command alone outmatched the other garrisons. When Emperor Wuzong reached Xifeng Pass intending to ride beyond the border, Yong caught his bridle and pleaded against it. The emperor stared at him a long moment, then laughed and gave up the plan. Cayai on the middle route lay in the enemy's path with no fortifications, and farmers and herdsmen were raided again and again. Yong sent men up with a month's provisions to camp on the cliff and build walls behind them. The fort rose on schedule, and he shifted the garrison to hold it. His service was recognized and he was promoted to acting regional commander.

嘉靖元年，金山礦盜作亂。遣指揮康雄討平之，塞其礦。朵顏把兒孫結諸部邀賞不得，盜邊。永迎擊洪山口，而伏兵斷其後，斬獲過當，進右都督。已，復馘其驍將，把兒孫不敢復擾邊。大同兵變，殺巡撫張文錦，命桂勇為總兵官往鎮，而議將撫之。永言：「逆賊幹紀，朝廷赦其脅從，恩至渥也，顧猶抗命。今不剿，春和北寇南牧，叛卒勾連，禍滋大。宜亟調鄰鎮兵，克期攻城，曉譬利害，懸破格之賞，令賊自相斬為功，元兇不難殄也。」乃命永督諸軍與侍郎胡瓚往。會亂平，乃還鎮。

In the first year of Jiajing, mine bandits rebelled at Jinshan. He sent Commander Kang Xiong to put down the revolt and closed the mines. Ba'ersun of the Tümed, having mustered allied tribes for rewards in vain, turned to border raiding. Yong met them at Hongshan Pass while ambushers cut their retreat; the tally of heads and captives exceeded the enemy force, and he was made right regional commander. Soon after he slew another of their best fighters, and Ba'ersun never raided the border again. When the Datong garrison mutinied and killed Grand Coordinator Zhang Wenjin, Gui Yong was sent as regional commander while some at court argued for conciliation. Yong argued: "These rebels have broken the law. The court already pardoned those who were coerced—a mercy as broad as could be—yet they still resist. If we do not strike now, northern enemies will drive south in spring and the mutineers will join them—the disaster will only widen. We should call in neighboring garrisons at once, set a date to storm the city, explain the stakes, offer extraordinary bounties, and let the rebels earn credit by killing one another—the ringleaders would fall easily." The court then ordered Yong to take command and march with Vice Minister Hu Zan. The revolt was already settled by the time he arrived, and he returned to his post.

永上書為陸完請恤典，且乞宥議禮獲罪諸臣。帝大怒，奪永官，寄祿南京後府。巡按御史丘養浩言：「永仁以恤軍，廉以律已，固邊防，卻強敵，軍民安堵，資彼長城。聞永去，遮道乞留，且攜子女欲遂逃移。夫陸完久死炎瘴，非有權勢可托。永徒感國士知，欲救區區之報。不負知己，寧負國家？祈曲賜優容，俾還鎮。」順天巡撫劉澤及給事、御史交章救之，俱被譴。永竟廢不用。永杜門讀書，清約如寒士。久之，用薦僉書南京前府。大同軍再亂，廷臣交薦。召至，已就撫，復還南京。

Yong petitioned for posthumous honors for Lu Wan and for clemency toward the officials condemned in the Rites Controversy. The emperor was furious, stripped Yong of rank, and kept him on salary at the Nanjing Rear Palace. Investigating censor Qiu Yanghao wrote: "Yong is humane toward his men, strict with himself, steadfast on the frontier, and formidable against strong foes. Soldiers and civilians live in peace because they lean on him like a long wall. When they heard Yong was leaving, they blocked the road to beg him to stay, some packing up their families to flee with him. Lu Wan has long been dead in the southern wilds; he holds no power anyone could lean on. Yong acted only from gratitude to a patron and wished to repay a small debt of honor. Would he betray a friend rather than betray the realm? I beg Your Majesty's gracious indulgence to let him return to his command." Shuntian grand coordinator Liu Ze joined supervising secretaries and censors in pleading for him, and all were censured. Yong was never restored to office. Yong withdrew to his books and lived as plainly as a poor scholar. Years later, on recommendation, he was appointed assistant in the Nanjing Front Palace. When Datong mutinied again, officials at court urged his recall in one memorial after another. He was summoned, but the revolt was already settled, and he went back to Nanjing.

十四年，遼東兵變。罷總兵官劉淮，以永代之。大清堡守將徐顥誘殺泰寧衛九人。部長把當孩怒，寇邊，永擊斬之。其族屬把孫借朵顏兵報讎，復為永所卻。已，復入犯。中官王永戰敗，永坐戴罪。

In the fourteenth year the Liaodong garrison mutinied. Regional commander Liu Huai was removed and Yong took his place. Xu Hao, defender of Daqing Fort, tricked and killed nine men of the Taining Guard. The chief Badanghai raided in anger; Yong struck and killed him. His kinsman Basun borrowed Tümed troops for revenge and was driven off again. They raided again not long after. When the eunuch Wang Yong was defeated, Yong was sentenced to serve with a demerit on his record.

遼東自軍變後，首惡雖誅，漏綱者眾。悍卒無所憚，結黨叫呼，動懷不逞。廣寧卒佟伏、張鑒等乘旱饑，倡眾為亂，諸營軍憚永無應者。伏等登譙樓，鳴鼓大噪，永率家眾仰攻。千戶張斌被殺，永戰益力，盡殲之。事聞，進左都督。

After the Liaodong mutiny the ringleaders were killed, but many accomplices remained at large. Hardened troops feared nothing, banded together in uproar, and were always ripe for trouble. At Guangning, Tong Fu, Zhang Jian, and others exploited drought and famine to stir a revolt, but troops in the other camps feared Yong and would not join. Fu's band seized the watchtower, beat drums, and roared; Yong led his household guard in an assault up the tower. Thousand-commander Zhang Bin fell in the fight, but Yong fought harder still and wiped them out to the last man. When word reached the court, he was promoted to left regional commander.

永畜士百余人，皆西北健兒，驍勇敢戰。遼東變初定，帝問將於李時。時薦永，且曰：「其家眾足用也。」帝曰：「將須文武兼，寧專恃勇乎？」時曰：「遼土新定，須有威力者鎮之。」至是，竟得其力。都御史王廷相言：「永善用兵，且廉潔，宜仍用之薊鎮，作京師藩屏。」未及調，卒。遼人為罷市。喪過蘇州，州人亦灑泣。兩鎮並立祠。

Yong kept more than a hundred retainers, northwestern hardmen who fought with exceptional courage. As the Liaodong crisis was settling, the emperor asked Grand Secretary Li Shi whom to send. Li Shi recommended Yong and added, "His household guard alone would suffice." The emperor replied, "A commander needs both civil and martial gifts. Can courage alone suffice?" Li Shi answered, "Liaodong has only just been pacified. It needs a man of overwhelming force to hold it." In the event, that judgment proved exactly right. Censor-in-chief Wang Tingxiang urged: "Yong commands troops well and is incorruptible. He should return to Jizhou as a shield for the capital." Before the transfer could be made, he died. The people of Liaodong shut their markets in mourning. When his funeral train passed Suzhou, townspeople wept along the road. Both garrisons raised shrines in his honor.

永為將，厚撫間諜，得敵人情偽，故戰輒勝。雅知人，所拔卒校，後多至大帥。尚書鄭曉稱永與梁震有古良將風。

As a commander Yong paid his spies well and learned the enemy's true intentions, which is why he seldom lost a battle. He had a gift for spotting talent; many officers he promoted later became leading generals. Minister Zheng Xiao said Yong and Liang Zhen bore the spirit of the great generals of old.

梁震，新野人。襲榆林衛指揮使。嘉靖七年進署都指揮僉事，協守寧夏興武營。尋充延綏遊擊將軍。廉勇，好讀兵書，善訓士，力挽強命中，數先登。擢延綏副總兵。與總兵官王效卻敵鎮遠關，進都督僉事。

Liang Zhen came from Xinye. He succeeded to command of the Yulin Guard. In the seventh year of Jiajing he became acting junior regional commander and helped defend the Xingwu camp in Ningxia. He was soon made mobile corps general on the Yan-sui front. Upright and fearless, he studied military texts, drilled his men hard, shot powerfully and accurately, and often led the assault. He was promoted to vice regional commander on the Yan-sui front. With regional commander Wang Xiao he drove the enemy from Zhenyuan Pass and was made junior regional commander.

吉囊、俺答犯延綏，震敗之黃甫川。尋犯響水、波羅，參將任傑大敗之。吉囊復以十萬騎入寇，震大破之幹溝，獲首功百余。先後被獎賚。已，增俸一等。幹溝凡三十里，當敵沖。震浚使深廣，築土墻其上，寇不復輕犯。

When Jinong and Altan raided Yan-sui, Zhen defeated them at Huangfu River. They struck again at Xiangshui and Boluo, where Assistant Commander Ren Jie routed them. Jinong returned with a hundred thousand horsemen; Zhen shattered them at Gangan Ravine and claimed more than a hundred heads. He received repeated imperial rewards. His salary was later raised one grade. Gangan Ravine ran thirty li along the enemy's main route. Zhen deepened and widened the ravine and raised earthen walls along it, and raiders no longer crossed it lightly.

十四年進都督同知，充陜西總兵官。尋論黃甫川功，進右都督。明年移鎮大同。大同亂兵連殺巡撫張文錦、總兵官李瑾。繼瑾者魯綱，威不振，兵益驕，文武大吏不敢要束。廷議以為憂，移震往。震素畜健兒五百人，至則下令軍中，申約束。鎮兵素憚震，由是帖服。寇入犯，震破之牛心山，斬級百余。寇慎，駐近邊伺隙。時車駕祀山陵，震伏將士於諸路。寇果入，大破之宣寧灣，又破之紅崖兒，斬獲甚眾。進左都督，蔭一子百戶。震父棟，前陣亡。震辭蔭子，乞父祭葬，帝喜而許之。毛伯溫督師，與震修鎮邊諸堡，不數月工成。卒，贈太子太保，賜其家銀幣，加贈太保，謚武壯。

In the fourteenth year he became regional commander and regional commander-in-chief of Shaanxi. Soon afterward his victory at Huangfu River won him promotion to right regional commander. The following year he was transferred to Datong. Datong's mutineers had already killed Grand Coordinator Zhang Wenjin and Regional Commander Li Jin in turn. Lu Gang succeeded Li Jin, but his authority never took hold; the troops grew bolder still, and neither civil nor military superiors dared discipline them. Alarmed at the situation, the court sent Zhen to Datong. Zhen had long maintained five hundred tough fighters; as soon as he arrived he laid down strict discipline throughout the army. The garrison had always feared him, and now fell into line. When raiders struck, he routed them at Niuxin Mountain with more than a hundred kills. The enemy grew wary and lingered near the frontier, watching for a chance. While the emperor was at the tombs for sacrifice, Zhen posted troops along every approach. The raiders came as expected; he crushed them at Xuannig Bay and again at Hongyai'er, taking a great toll in heads and captives. He was promoted to left regional commander, and one son received a hereditary hundred-household command. Zhen's father Dong had fallen in battle years before. Zhen declined the ennoblement for his son and asked instead for proper funeral honors for his father; the emperor gladly agreed. Under Mao Bowen's overall command, Zhen rebuilt the frontier forts, finishing the work within months. At his death he was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent; the court gave his family silver and silks, then raised him to Grand Tutor with the posthumous name Martial and Strong.

震有機略，號令明審。前後百十戰，未嘗少挫。時率健兒出塞劫敵營，或議其啟釁。震曰：「凡啟釁者，謂寇不擾邊，我橫挑邀功也。今數深入，乃不思一挫之耶？」震歿，健兒無所歸。守臣以聞，編之伍，邊將猶頗得其力。

Zhen was resourceful, and his orders were always clear and firm. In well over a hundred engagements he never once suffered a real defeat. He often led his tough fighters across the border to strike enemy camps, and some accused him of provoking war. Zhen replied: "People call it provocation when the enemy is quiet and we pick a fight for glory. But they raid deep into our territory again and again—should we not strike back at least once? When Zhen died, his warriors were left without a leader. Local officials reported the situation, enrolled them in regular units, and frontier commanders still found them highly useful.

代震者遼東祝雄，起家世蔭。歷都督僉事。自山西副總兵遷鎮大同。被劾解職，起鎮薊州。善撫士，治軍肅。寇入塞，率子弟為士卒先。子少卻，行法不貸。世宗書其名禦屏。為將三十年，布袍氈笠，不異卒伍。既歿，遺貲僅供殮具。薊人祠祀之。

Zhen was succeeded by Zhu Xiong of Liaodong, who entered service through hereditary privilege. He eventually reached junior regional commander. He moved from vice regional commander in Shanxi to command Datong. After impeachment and dismissal, he was later recalled to command Jizhou. He treated his men well and ran a tight army. When raiders crossed the border, he put his sons and kinsmen at the head of the charge. If a son so much as flinched, he punished him by the full letter of military law. Emperor Shizong had his name inscribed on the imperial screen of favored officers. For thirty years as a commander he dressed in plain cloth and felt hat, indistinguishable from his men. When he died, his estate barely covered the cost of his coffin. The people of Jizhou raised a shrine in his honor.

王效，延綏人。讀書能文辭，嫻韜略。騎射絕人，中武會試。嘉靖中，累官都指揮僉事，充延綏右參將。出神木塞，搗寇雙乃山，斬獲多。尋擢延綏副總兵。十一年冬，進署都督僉事，充總兵官，代周尚文鎮寧夏。吉囊犯鎮遠關，效與梁震敗之柳門。追北蜂窩山，蹙溺之河，斬首百四十有奇。璽書獎賚。

Wang Xiao came from Yan-sui. He was literate and skilled in prose, and well versed in military strategy. An exceptional horseman and archer, he passed the military metropolitan examination. During Jiajing he rose to junior regional commander and served as right assistant commander on the Yan-sui front. Sallying from Shenmu Pass, he raided the enemy at Shuangnai Mountain and took many heads and captives. He was soon made vice regional commander on the Yan-sui front. In the winter of the eleventh year he became acting junior regional commander and regional commander-in-chief at Ningxia, succeeding Zhou Shangwen. When Jinong attacked Zhenyuan Pass, Xiao and Liang Zhen drove him off at Liumen. Pursuing north to Fengwo Mountain, they drove the enemy into the river and drowned many, taking more than 140 heads. The emperor sent a letter of commendation and rewards.

吉囊十萬騎復窺花馬池，效、震拒之不得入，轉犯幹溝。震分兵擊，遂趨固原。總兵官劉文力戰，寇趨青山峴，大掠安定、會寧。效方敗別部於鼠湖，追至沙湖，疾移師往援，破之安定，再破之靈州，先後斬首百五十余級。總制三邊尚書唐龍以大捷聞，而巡按御史奏諸將失事罪。給事中戚賢往勘，奏：「安、會二縣多殺掠，文當罪。然麾下卒僅八千，倍道蒙險，攖八九萬方張之寇，殊死戰，宜以功贖。震幹溝，效鼠湖、沙湖、安定、靈州之戰，以孤軍八百，當寇萬余，功俱足錄。龍亦善調度。」詔文奪職，震、效賚銀幣，龍一子入監。是役也功多，執政尼之，故賞薄。御史周鈇以為言，龍、效、震各加一級，效進都督同知。尋以清水營功，進右都督。寇以輕騎犯寧夏，效伏兵打鎧口，俟其半入橫擊，敗之，而防河卒復以戰艘邀斬其奔渡者。捷聞，進左都督。寇憤，設伏誘敗之，貶右都督。十六年移鎮宣府。逾年卒，謚武襄。

Jinong returned with a hundred thousand horsemen to probe Huama Pool; Xiao and Zhen kept him out, so he turned toward Gangan Ravine. Zhen split his force to strike, and the enemy veered toward Guyuan. Regional commander Liu Wen fought hard, but the raiders swung toward Qingshan Pass and ravaged Anding and Huining. Xiao had just routed another enemy band at Shuhu Lake and pursued to Shahu; he wheeled his troops to the rescue, broke the raiders at Anding, and defeated them again at Lingzhou, taking more than 150 heads in all. Frontier minister Tang Long reported a great victory, but the investigating censor charged the generals with failures in the campaign. Supervising secretary Qi Xian investigated and reported: "Anding and Huining suffered heavy slaughter and looting, and Wen should be held accountable. Yet with only eight thousand men he forced a march through peril and met eighty or ninety thousand raiders at full strength in a desperate battle; his merit should offset his fault. At Gangan Ravine and in the fights at Shuhu, Shahu, Anding, and Lingzhou, Zhen and Xiao each with only eight hundred men faced more than ten thousand raiders—merits fully worthy of record. Long too had directed the campaign skillfully." The edict stripped Wen of office, rewarded Zhen and Xiao with silver and silks, and enrolled one of Long's sons in the Imperial Academy. The victory deserved far richer rewards, but court factions blocked it, so the honors were thin. When censor Zhou Fu protested, Long, Xiao, and Zhen each gained a rank, and Xiao was made regional commander. Soon afterward his service at Qingshui Camp won him promotion to right regional commander. Raiders entered Ningxia with light cavalry; Xiao ambushed them at Dakai Pass, let half cross, then struck and routed them, while river guards in war junks cut down those fleeing the ford. On news of the victory he was promoted to left regional commander. The enemy laid an ambush and lured him into a defeat; he was demoted to right regional commander. In the sixteenth year he was transferred to Xuanfu. He died the following year and was given the posthumous name Martial and Assisting.

效言行謹飭，用兵兼謀勇，威名著西陲。與馬永、梁震、周尚文並為名將。

Xiao was disciplined in conduct, combined strategy and courage in battle, and his fame dominated the western frontier. He ranks with Ma Yong, Liang Zhen, and Zhou Shangwen among the great generals of the age.

劉文者，陽和衛人。襲指揮同知。屢遷署都督僉事，涼州右副總兵。嘉靖八年以總兵官鎮陜西。大破洮、岷叛番若籠、板爾諸族，斬首三百六十有奇。十一年，寇西掠還，將犯寧夏河東，文擊破之。積前功，進都督同知。後落職，起鎮延綏，改甘肅。卒，亦謚武襄。

Liu Wen came from the Yanghe Guard. He succeeded to the office of vice commander. He rose through acting junior regional commander to right vice regional commander at Liangzhou. In the eighth year of Jiajing he became regional commander-in-chief in Shaanxi. He crushed the rebel Tibetan clans Ruolong, Ban'er, and others in Tao and Min, taking more than 360 heads. In the eleventh year, as raiders returning from a western raid were about to strike east of the Ningxia River, Wen defeated them. His accumulated service won him promotion to regional commander. Later dismissed, he was recalled to Yan-sui and then transferred to Gansu. At his death he too received the posthumous name Martial and Assisting.

周尚文，字彥章，西安後衛人。幼讀書，粗曉大義。多謀略，精騎射。年十六，襲指揮同知。屢出塞有功，進指揮使。寘鑠反，遏黃河渡口，獲叛賊丁廣等，推掌衛事。關內回賊四起，倚南山，尚文次第平之。御史劉天和劾中貴廖堂系詔獄，事連尚文。拷掠令引天和，終不承，久之始釋。已，守備階州。計擒叛番，進署都指揮僉事，充甘肅遊擊將軍。嘉靖元年改寧夏參將。尋進都指揮同知，為涼州副總兵。御史按部莊浪，猝遇寇。尚文亟分軍擁御史，而自引麾下射之，寇乃遁。嘗追寇出塞，寇來益眾。尚文軍半至，麾下皆恐。乃從容下馬，解鞍背崖力戰，所殺傷相當。部將丁杲來援，寇始退。尚文被創甚，乃告歸。尋起故官。吉囊數踏冰入。尚文築墻百二十里，澆以水，冰滑不可上。冰泮則令力士持長竿鐵鉤，鉤殺渡者。九年，擢署都督僉事，充寧夏總兵官。王瓊築邊墻，尚文督其役。且浚渠開屯，軍民利之。寇掠西海，過寧夏，巡撫楊誌學議發兵邀。尚文不從，劾解職。久之，起山西副總兵。寇由偏頭關趨岢嵐，尚文轉戰三百里，破之，與子君佐俱傷，賚銀幣。尋以總兵官鎮延綏。寇犯紅山墩，力戰敗之，被賚。吉囊復大掠清平堡，坐奪俸。

Zhou Shangwen, styled Yanzhang, came from the Xi'an Rear Guard. As a boy he studied and gained a working knowledge of the classics. He was resourceful and an expert horseman and archer. At sixteen he succeeded to vice commander. Repeated forays beyond the border won him promotion to commander. When Prince An rebelled, he held the Yellow River crossing, captured rebels including Ding Guang, and was pressed to take charge of the guard. Hui rebels rose throughout the interior, sheltering in the southern hills; Shangwen suppressed them in succession. When censor Liu Tianhe impeached the favored eunuch Liao Tang, who was thrown into prison, Shangwen was dragged into the case. Under torture he was pressed to implicate Tianhe, but he never confessed and was released only after a long ordeal. He later served as garrison commander at Jiezhou. By stratagem he captured rebel Tibetans and was made acting junior regional commander and mobile corps general of Gansu. In the first year of Jiajing he became assistant commander at Ningxia. He was soon promoted to regional commander and made vice regional commander at Liangzhou. While a censor was on inspection in Zhuanglang, raiders struck without warning. Shangwen quickly detached troops to shield the censor while he led his own men in archery; the raiders fled. Once, pursuing raiders beyond the border, he found the enemy growing ever stronger. Only half his force had caught up, and his men were terrified. He calmly dismounted, stripped his saddle, and with his back to the cliff fought until casualties were roughly even on both sides. When Assistant Commander Ding Gao arrived, the raiders finally withdrew. Badly wounded, Shangwen asked to retire. He was soon restored to his former post. Jinong repeatedly crossed the frozen river to raid. Shangwen built a 120-li wall and flooded it so the ice was too slick to climb. When the ice broke up he posted strong men with long poles and iron hooks to drag down anyone who tried to ford. In the ninth year he became acting junior regional commander and regional commander-in-chief at Ningxia. When Wang Qiong built the frontier wall, Shangwen oversaw the work. He also dredged canals and opened military farms, to the great benefit of troops and civilians alike. When raiders plundered the Western Sea and passed through Ningxia, Grand Coordinator Yang Zhixue urged an ambush. Shangwen refused; he was impeached and removed from office. Years later he was recalled as vice regional commander in Shanxi. When raiders from Piantou Pass drove toward Kelan, Shangwen fought them for three hundred li and broke them; he and his son Junzuo were both wounded and received imperial silver and silks. He was soon made regional commander-in-chief on the Yan-sui front. When raiders struck Hongshan Beacon, he fought them off and was rewarded by the throne. Jinong raided Qingping Fort again, and Shangwen was penalized with loss of salary.

尚文優將才，負氣桀傲，所至與文吏競。文吏又往往挫折之，以故彌不相得。巡撫賈啟劾尚文老誖，兵部請調之甘肅。帝不從，各奪其俸。巡按張光祖言兩人必不可共處，乃革尚文任，亦貶啟秩。吉囊大入，抵固原。天和時已為總督，激尚文立功。奮擊之黑水苑，殺其子號小十王者，獲首功百三十余。乃以為都督同知。

Shangwen was a gifted commander, proud and headstrong, and everywhere he served he clashed with civil officials. Civil officials in turn often checked him, so the two sides grew ever more hostile. Grand Coordinator Jia Qi accused Shangwen of senility and obstinacy, and the Ministry of War asked to transfer him to Gansu. The emperor refused, and both men had their salaries stripped. Investigating censor Zhang Guangzu declared that the two could not serve together; Shangwen was dismissed and Qi's rank was lowered as well. Jinong launched a major invasion and pushed as far as Guyuan. Tianhe was already governor-general by then and pressed Shangwen to win distinction in battle. He drove the enemy hard at Heishui Garden, killed Jinong's son known as the Little Ten King, and claimed more than a hundred and thirty heads. For this he was promoted to regional commander.

二十一年，用薦為東官廳聽征總兵官兼僉後府事。嚴嵩為禮部尚書，子世蕃官後府都事，驕蹇。尚文面叱，將劾奏之，嵩謝得免。調世蕃治中，以避尚文，銜次骨。其秋以總兵官鎮大同，請增餉及馬。兵部言尚文陳請過當，方被詔切責，而尚文與巡撫趙錦不協，乞休，弗允，日相構。御史王三聘乞移之他鎮。廷議：大同敵沖，尚文假此避，不宜墮其奸謀。乃以錦為甘肅巡撫。吉囊數萬騎犯前衛。尚文與戰黑山，殺其子滿罕歹，追至涼城。斬獲多，進右都督。已，寇由宣府逼畿甸，出大同塞而北。尚文邀之，稍有俘獲。後寇復大舉，犯鵓鴿谷，將南下。尚文備陽和，遣騎四出邀寇。寇遁，賜敕獎勞之。

In the twenty-first year he was recommended as campaign-attendance regional commander at the Dongguan Office, with concurrent duties in the Rear Office. Yan Song was Minister of Rites, and his son Shifan, a director in the Rear Office, was insufferably arrogant. Shangwen publicly berated him and prepared to impeach him; Yan Song apologized and escaped punishment. Shifan was transferred to another post to keep him away from Shangwen, and he nursed a hatred that went to the bone. That autumn he took command at Datong and asked for more funds and horses. The Ministry of War said Shangwen's requests were excessive, and he had just been sharply rebuked by edict; he and Grand Coordinator Zhao Jin could not work together, and though he asked to retire and was refused, the two feuded daily. Censor Wang Sanpin urged that Shangwen be moved to another post. The court decided that Datong bore the brunt of enemy pressure, that Shangwen was using the dispute to shirk duty, and that they must not play into his scheme. Zhao Jin was instead transferred to Gansu as grand coordinator. Jinong invaded the vanguard guard with tens of thousands of horsemen. Shangwen met him at Heishan, killed his son Manhandai, and chased the enemy to Liangcheng. With many kills and captures to his credit, he was promoted to right regional commander. Soon afterward raiders from Xuanfu threatened the capital approaches, then withdrew north through the Datong frontier. Shangwen intercepted them and took a modest haul of prisoners and spoils. The raiders returned in strength, entered Bobo Valley, and prepared to push south. Shangwen stood ready at Yanghe and sent cavalry out in every direction to intercept them. The raiders withdrew, and the throne sent an edict of commendation and reward.

總督翁萬達議築邊墻，自宣府西陽和至大同開山口，延袤二百余裏，以屬尚文。乃益築陽和以西至山西丫角山，凡四百余裏，敵臺千余。斥屯田四萬余頃，益軍萬三千有奇。帝嘉其功，進左都督，加太子太保，永除屯稅。叛人充灼召小王子寇邊，尚文偵得其使者，加太保，蔭子錦衣世千戶。終明之世，總兵官加三公者，尚文一人而已。

Governor-General Weng Wanda proposed a border wall from Yanghe west of Xuanfu to Kaishankou at Datong, more than two hundred li long, to be placed under Shangwen's charge. He extended the work west from Yanghe to Yajiao Mountain in Shanxi—more than four hundred li in all, with over a thousand watchtowers. More than forty thousand qing of garrison land were brought under cultivation, and the force was expanded by over thirteen thousand troops. The emperor praised his work, promoted him to left regional commander and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and permanently abolished garrison taxes. When the defector Chong Zhuo summoned the Lesser King to raid the frontier, Shangwen intercepted his messenger; he was made Grand Preceptor, and his son received hereditary thousand-household rank in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Through the whole Ming dynasty, Shangwen alone among regional commanders was ever raised to one of the Three Dukes.

初，俺答及吉囊諸子盛強，諸邊歲受其患，大同尤甚。自尚文蒞鎮，與總督萬達、巡撫詹榮規畫戰守備邊，民息肩者數年。尚文益招叛人，孤敵勢，歸者相屬。二十七年八月，俺答伏兵五堡旁，誘指揮顧相等出，圍之彌陀山。尚文急督副總兵林椿、參將呂勇、遊擊李梅及二子君佐、君仁出塞援，圍始解。相及指揮周奉，千戶呂愷、郝經等已陣歿。尚文轉戰，次野口，伏突起。殊死戰，斬其長一人。相持月余乃引去。尚文設伏，殺其殿卒而還。尚文三子俱罪戍，至是以父功得釋。俺答數萬騎犯宣府，萬達檄尚文大破之曹家莊。錄功兼太子太傅，賜賚有加。其年卒，年七十五。

Earlier Altan, Jinong, and their sons had been at the height of their power; the frontiers suffered yearly, and Datong worst of all. Once Shangwen took command, he and Governor-General Wanda and Grand Coordinator Zhan Rong planned defense together, and the people enjoyed years of relief. Shangwen also recruited defectors, isolating the enemy, and deserters kept coming over in steady streams. In the eighth month of the twenty-seventh year Altan ambushed troops near the Five Forts, drew Commander Gu Xiang and his men out, and trapped them on Mount Mituo. Shangwen hurried Vice Regional Commander Lin Chun, Assistant Commander Lü Yong, Mobile Corps General Li Mei, and his sons Junzuo and Junren across the border to the rescue, and the siege was finally broken. Gu Xiang, Commander Zhou Feng, and thousand-household officers Lü Kai and Hao Jing were already dead on the field. Shangwen fought on as he withdrew, but at Yekou an ambush sprang up. In a desperate fight he cut down one of their leaders. The two sides grappled for more than a month before the enemy pulled back. Shangwen laid an ambush, cut down the enemy rearguard, and withdrew. All three of Shangwen's sons had been sentenced to frontier service for crimes; now they were freed on account of their father's service. Altan invaded Xuanfu with tens of thousands of horsemen; Weng Wanda dispatched Shangwen, who shattered them at Caojiazhuang. His victory was recorded and he was made Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent as well, with rewards beyond the usual measure. He died that same year, at seventy-five.

尚文清約愛士，得士死力。善用間，知敵中曲折，故戰輒有功。自二十年後，俺答頻擾邊。宿將王效、馬永、梁震皆前死，惟尚文存，威名最盛。嚴嵩父子謀傾陷。功高，帝方籍以抗強敵，讒不得入。暨卒，格恤典不予，給事中沈束以為言。嵩激帝怒，錮束詔獄。穆宗立，始贈太傅，謚武襄。

Shangwen lived plainly and cared for his men, and they served him unto death. He was adept with spies and knew the enemy's inner workings, so his battles usually ended in victory. After the twentieth year Altan raided the frontier again and again. The veteran generals Wang Xiao, Ma Yong, and Liang Zhen were already dead; Shangwen alone remained, and his fame stood highest. Yan Song and his son plotted to destroy him. His achievements were too great; the emperor still needed him against a formidable foe, and no slander could reach him. When he died, the usual posthumous honors were denied; Supervising Secretary Shen Shu protested. Yan Song provoked the emperor's wrath, and Shen Shu was thrown into the edict prison. Only when Muzong took the throne was Shangwen posthumously made Grand Tutor with the posthumous name Wuxiang.

趙國忠，字伯進，錦州衛人，嗣指揮職。嘉靖八年舉武會試，進都指揮僉事，守備叆陽。擢錦義右參將。連破敵，增秩，賜金幣，進署都督僉事，為遼東總兵官。禦敵有功，斬級百七十有奇。進都督同知，賜賚逾等。敵以八百騎從鴉鶻關入。都指揮康雲戰歿，裨將三人亦死，詔國忠戴罪立功。已，坐事被劾，命白衣視事。守備張文瀚禦敵死，國忠坐解任。尋起西官廳右參將，授都督僉事，提督東官廳。俺答大舉犯宣府，總兵官趙卿不任戰，命國忠代之。至岔道，寇已為周尚文所敗，東走。國忠命參將孫勇率精卒逆擊於大滹沱，敗之。與尚文分道擊，寇盡走，以功受賚。復坐寇入，降俸二等。俺答薄京師，國忠趨入衛，壁沙河北。已，移護諸陵。寇騎至天壽山，見國忠陣紅門前，不敢入。三十一年，再鎮遼東。小王子打來孫以數萬騎寇錦州，國忠禦卻之。明年入獅子口，督參將李廣等逐出塞，斬擒五十人。寇屢入榆林堡、高臺、蛤利河。先後掩擊，獲首功百五十有奇，進秩一等。尋被論罷。

Zhao Guozhong, styled Bojin, came from Jinzhou Guard and inherited a commander's commission. In the eighth year of Jiajing he passed the military metropolitan examination, became junior regional commander, and was posted as garrison commander at Aiyang. He was promoted to right assistant commander on the Jin-Yi front. After repeated victories he was promoted, rewarded with gold and silks, made acting junior regional commander, and appointed regional commander-in-chief of Liaodong. In defending against the enemy he distinguished himself, claiming more than a hundred and seventy heads. He was promoted to regional commander and rewarded beyond the usual measure. Eight hundred enemy horsemen came in through Yahugu Pass. Regional Commander Kang Yun was killed in battle along with three subordinate generals, and Guozhong was ordered to redeem himself through service. Later he was impeached for misconduct and ordered to serve in plain clothes while retaining his duties. Garrison Commander Zhang Wenhan was killed defending against the enemy, and Guozhong was removed from office. He was soon recalled as right assistant commander of the Xiguan Office, made junior regional commander, and placed in charge of the Dongguan Office. When Altan launched a major invasion of Xuanfu, Regional Commander Zhao Qing proved unequal to the fight, and Guozhong was ordered to replace him. By the time he reached Chadao, Zhou Shangwen had already beaten the raiders, who were retreating east. Guozhong sent Assistant Commander Sun Yong with elite troops to strike them at the Great Hutuo and routed them. He and Shangwen struck by separate routes until the raiders were driven off entirely, and he was rewarded for his service. He was again penalized when raiders broke through, and his salary was cut by two grades. When Altan threatened the capital, Guozhong rushed to its defense and entrenched north of the Shahe River. He was later reassigned to guard the imperial tombs. Enemy cavalry reached Tianshou Mountain, saw Guozhong drawn up before the Red Gate, and dared not advance. In the thirty-first year he returned to command Liaodong. The Lesser King Dalai Sun invaded Jinzhou with tens of thousands of horsemen, and Guozhong drove him back. The next year they came through Shizikou; he sent Assistant Commander Li Guang and others to chase them out and took fifty kills and captures. Raiders struck repeatedly at Yulin Fort, Gaotai, and the Hali River. In a series of ambushes he claimed more than a hundred and fifty heads and was promoted one rank. He was soon impeached and removed from office.

國忠善戰，射穿劄，為將有威嚴。歷兩鎮，繕亭障，練士馬，邊防賴之。

Guozhong was a capable fighter whose arrows pierced armor, and he commanded with real authority. Across two frontier commands he repaired defenses, trained troops and horses, and the border depended on him.

馬芳，字德馨，蔚州人。十歲為北寇所掠，使之牧。芳私以曲木為弓，剡矢射，俺答獵，虎虓其前，芳一發斃之。乃授以良弓矢、善馬，侍左右。芳陽為之用，而潛自間道亡歸。周尚文鎮大同，奇之，署為隊長。數禦寇有功，當得官，以父貧，悉受賞以養。

Ma Fang, styled Dexin, came from Yuzhou. At ten he was taken by northern raiders and put to tending herds. Fang secretly fashioned a bow from bent wood and sharpened arrows; while Altan was hunting, a tiger charged before him, and Fang brought it down with a single shot. Altan then gave him a fine bow, good arrows, and a strong horse, and kept him in attendance. Fang pretended to serve willingly, but slipped away by a hidden route and made his escape home. When Zhou Shangwen took command at Datong, he was impressed and made Fang a squad leader. He fought raiders with repeated success and could have won office, but his father was poor, so he took every reward to support him.

嘉靖二十九年秋，寇犯懷柔、順義。芳馳斬其將，授陽和衛總旗。寇嘗入威遠，伏驍騎鹽場，而以二十騎挑戰。芳知其詐，用百騎薄伏所，三分其軍銳，以次擊之。奮勇跳蕩，敵騎辟易十里，斬首凡九十級。已，復禦之新平。寇營野馬川，克日戰。芳度寇且遁，急乘之，斬級益多。眾方賀，芳遽策馬曰：「賊至矣。」趣守險，而身斷後。頃之，寇果麕至。芳戰益力，寇乃去。亡何，戰泥河，復大破之。累遷指揮僉事。以功，進都指揮僉事，充宣府遊擊將軍。復以功，超遷都督僉事，隸總督為參將。戰鎮山墩不利，奪俸。已，襲寇有功，進二秩，為右都督。尋以功進左，賜蟒袍。偏裨加左都督，自芳始也。

In the autumn of Jiajing 29 raiders struck Huairou and Shunyi. Fang rode out and cut down an enemy general, and was made chief pennant of Yanghe Guard. Once when raiders entered Weiyuan, they hid elite cavalry at the salt flats and sent twenty horsemen forward to provoke a fight. Fang saw the trap; he closed on the ambush with a hundred horsemen, split his best troops three ways, and hit them in turn. He fought with fierce charges, and enemy cavalry scattered for ten li; he took ninety heads in all. He later fought them off again at Xinping. The raiders camped at Yemachuan and fixed a day for battle. Fang guessed they would run, pressed the pursuit hard, and took still more heads. The men were still cheering victory when Fang suddenly wheeled his horse and cried, "The enemy is upon us!" He ordered a retreat to defensible ground and took the rear guard himself. In no time the raiders came swarming after them, just as he had said. Fang fought all the harder, and the raiders withdrew. Soon after he fought at Nihe and routed them again. He rose through the ranks to Assistant Commander. For his exploits he was made Assistant Regional Commander and Mobile Corps General at Xuanfu. Further exploits won him a special jump promotion to Assistant Regional Commissioner, serving the supreme commander as deputy general. A defeat at Zhenshandun cost him his stipend. Later he struck raiders with success, advanced two ranks, and became Right Regional Commissioner. Before long merit earned him promotion to Left Commissioner and the gift of a python robe. From Fang onward, subordinate commanders could rise to Left Regional Commissioner.

三十六年，遷薊鎮副總兵，分守建昌。土蠻十萬騎薄界嶺口，芳與總兵官歐陽安斬首數十，獲驍騎猛克兔等六人。寇不知芳在，芳免胄示之，驚曰：「馬太師也！」遂卻。捷聞，蔭世總旗。未幾，辛愛、把都兒大入，躪遵化、玉田。芳追戰金山寺有功，而州縣破殘多，總督王忬以下俱獲罪，芳亦貶都督僉事。尋移守宣府。寇大入山西，芳一日夜馳五百里及之，七戰皆捷。已，復為左都督，就擢總兵官，以功進二秩。寇薄通州，芳入衛，令專護京師。寇退，再進一秩。尋與故總兵劉漢出北沙灘，搗寇巢。已，坐寇入，令戴罪。

In year thirty-six he became deputy supreme commander at Jizhen, with independent charge of Jianchang. When Tumen brought a hundred thousand horsemen up to Jieling Pass, Fang and Regional Commander Ouyang An took dozens of heads and captured six elite riders, Mengketu among them. The raiders had not known Fang was there. He lifted his helmet to show his face, and they cried in alarm, "Marshal Ma!" At that they fell back. Word of victory earned his son a hereditary chief pennant. Before long Xin Ai and Batuer stormed deep into the frontier, ravaging Zunhua and Yutian. Fang fought well in pursuit at Jinshan Temple, but widespread ruin in the prefectures and counties brought punishment on Governor Wang Xuan and his subordinates; Fang was demoted to Assistant Regional Commissioner. He was soon reassigned to defend Xuanfu. When raiders plunged deep into Shanxi, Fang rode five hundred li in a day and a night to overtake them and won seven battles in a row. He was later restored to Left Commissioner, promoted on the spot to regional commander, and advanced two ranks for merit. When raiders neared Tongzhou, Fang rushed in to defend the capital and was charged solely with guarding Beijing. After the raiders withdrew, he won another rank. Soon he and the former regional commander Liu Han marched to North Shatan and struck the raiders in their camps. Later, when raiders broke through again, he was ordered to redeem himself in battle.

四十五年七月，辛愛以十萬騎入西路，芳迎之馬蓮堡。堡圮，眾請塞之，不可。請登臺，亦不可。開堡四門，偃旗鼓，寂若無人。比暮，野燒燭天，囂呼達旦。芳臥，日中不起，敵騎窺者相屬，莫測所為。明日，芳蹶然起，乘城，指示眾曰：「彼軍多反顧，且走。」勒兵追擊，大破之。隆慶初，或為辛愛謀，以五萬騎犯蔚州，誘芳出，而以五萬騎襲宣府城，可得誌。芳豫伐木環城，寇至不可上，遂解去。頃之，率參將劉潭等出獨石塞外二百里，襲其帳於長水海。還至塞，追者及鞍子山。迎戰，又大敗之。蔭子千戶。

In the seventh month of year forty-five Xin Ai brought a hundred thousand horsemen in by the western route, and Fang met him at Malian Fort. The fort walls had crumbled. His men asked to block the breach, but he refused. They asked to man the watchtower; again he refused. He opened all four gates, furled flags and stilled drums, until the fort seemed deserted. By nightfall fires blazed across the steppe and the enemy shouted and jeered until dawn. Fang slept on and did not rise until noon, while enemy scouts came and went in succession, utterly baffled. The next day Fang leapt up, climbed the wall, and told his men, "They keep glancing back—they are on the verge of running." He led his men in pursuit and crushed them. Early in Longqing someone plotted for Xin Ai: fifty thousand horsemen would hit Yu Prefecture to draw Fang out, while another fifty thousand would strike Xuanfu itself—the plan could succeed. Fang had timber felled and stacked around the walls; when the raiders came they could not scale the defenses and broke off the siege. Before long he led Deputy General Liu Tan and others two hundred li beyond Dushi Pass and struck their camp at Changshuihai. On the return march pursuers caught up at Anzi Mountain. He turned to fight and routed them again. His son received a hereditary company command.

芳有膽智，諳敵情，所至先士卒。一歲數出師搗巢，或躬督戰，或遣裨將。家蓄健兒，得其死力。嘗命三十人出塞四百里，多所斬獲，寇大震。芳乃帥師至大松林，頓舊興和衛，登高四望，耀兵而還。

Fang was brave and shrewd, knew the enemy well, and always led from the front. In a single year he often marched out to smash enemy camps, sometimes commanding in person, sometimes delegating to his deputies. He kept a household guard of stalwart fighters who would die for him. Once he sent thirty men four hundred li beyond the border; they took many heads and spoils, and the raiders were badly shaken. Fang then marched to Great Pine Forest, camped at the old site of Xinghe Guard, climbed a height to survey all around, showed his strength, and withdrew.

時大同被寇，視宣府尤甚。總督陳其學恐擾畿輔，令總兵官趙岢扼紫荊關。寇乃縱掠懷仁、山陰間，岢坐貶三秩，遂調芳與易鎮。俺答轉犯威遠幾破，會其學率胡鎮等救，而芳軍亦至，相拒十余日，乃走。芳謂諸將曰：「大同非宣府比，與我間一墻耳。寇不時至，非大創之不可。」乃將兵出右衛，戰威寧海子，破之。其年，俺答就撫，塞上遂無事。

Datong was under heavy raid pressure then, worse even than Xuanfu. Supreme Commander Chen Qixue, fearing raids on the capital approaches, ordered Regional Commander Zhao Ke to hold Zijing Pass. The raiders swept through Huairen and Shanyin instead; Zhao Ke was demoted three ranks, and Fang was shifted to swap frontier commands with him. Altan turned on Weiyuan and nearly took it; Chen Qixue brought Hu Zhen and others to its relief, Fang's force arrived as well, and after more than ten days of stalemate the raiders withdrew. Fang told his officers, "Datong is not like Xuanfu—we are only a wall apart. The raiders strike whenever they please; nothing less than a crushing blow will stop them." He marched out from Right Guard, fought at Weininghaizi, and broke them. That year Altan submitted to peace terms, and the frontier at last grew quiet.

萬歷元年，閱視侍郎吳百朋發芳行賄事，勒閑住。已，起僉書前軍都督府。順義王要賞，聲言渝盟，復用芳鎮宣府。七年以疾乞歸。又二年卒。

In Wanli 1 Touring Censor Wu Baipeng exposed Fang's bribery and had him sent home in disgrace. He was later recalled as registrar of the Forward Army Command. When the Prince of Shunyi demanded tribute and threatened to break the treaty, Fang was restored to command at Xuanfu. In year seven he retired on grounds of illness. Two years later he died.

芳起行伍，十余年為大帥。戰膳房堡、朔州、登鷹巢、鴿子堂、龍門、萬全右衛、東嶺、孤山、土木、乾莊、岔道、張家堡、得勝堡、大沙灘，大小百十接，身被數十創，以少擊眾，未嘗不大捷。擒部長數十人，斬馘無算，威名震邊陲，為一時將帥冠。石州城陷，副將田世威、參將劉寶論死，芳乞寢己蔭子，贖二將罪，為御史所劾，敕戒諭。後世威復為將，遇芳薄，芳不與校，識者多之。

Fang had risen from the ranks to supreme command in little more than a decade. He fought at Shanfang Fort, Shuozhou, Eagle Nest Heights, Pigeon Hall, Longmen, Wanquan Right Guard, East Ridge, Lone Mountain, Tumu, Ganzhuang, Chadadao, Zhangjiapu, Desheng Fort, Great Sandy Beach—well over a hundred battles in all. He took dozens of wounds, yet fighting outnumbered he always won a great victory. He took dozens of tribal chiefs captive and heads beyond count; his name shook the frontier, and among the commanders of his day he stood foremost. When Shizhou fell, Deputy General Tian Shiwei and Deputy General Liu Bao were condemned to death. Fang asked to give up his son's hereditary privilege to spare them; a censor impeached him, and the throne sent a reprimand. Shiwei later returned to command; he treated Fang coldly when they met, but Fang did not take offense, and thoughtful men admired him for it.

二子，棟、林。棟官至都督，無所見。林，由父蔭累官大同參將。萬歷二十年，順義王撦力克縶獻史、車二部長，林以制敵功，進副總兵。二十七年擢署都督僉事，為遼東總兵官。林雅好文學，能詩，工書，交遊多名士，時譽籍甚，自許亦甚高。嘗陳邊務十策，語多觸文吏，寢不行。稅使高淮橫恣，林力與抗。淮劾奏之，坐奪職。給事中侯先春論救，改林戍煙瘴，先春亦左遷二官。久之，遇赦免。

He had two sons: Dong and Lin. Dong rose to regional commissioner but left no mark in the records. Lin inherited his father's privilege and rose to deputy general at Datong. In Wanli 20 the Prince of Shunyi Chelik bound and delivered two chiefs of the Shi and Che tribes; Lin was promoted to deputy supreme commander for helping check the enemy. In year twenty-seven he was acting assistant regional commissioner and regional commander of Liaodong. Lin was a literary man who wrote poetry and practiced calligraphy, kept company with leading scholars, enjoyed wide renown, and thought highly of himself. He once submitted ten proposals on frontier affairs; much of it affronted the civil bureaucracy, and the plans were buried. Tax commissioner Gao Huai ran rampant; Lin fought him hard. Gao Huai denounced him at court, and Lin lost his post. Supervising Secretary Hou Xianchun pleaded for him; Lin was sent to serve exile in the malarial south, and Hou was demoted two ranks as well. In time he was pardoned by imperial amnesty.

遼左用兵，詔林以故官從征。楊鎬之四路出師也，令林將一軍由開原出三岔口，而以遊擊竇永澄監北關軍並進。林軍至尚間崖結營浚壕，嚴斥堠自衛。及聞杜松軍敗，方移營，而大清兵已逼。乃還兵，別立營，浚壕三周，列火器壕外，更布騎兵於火器外，他士卒皆下馬，結方陣壕內。又一軍西營飛芬山。杜松軍既覆，大清兵乘銳薄林軍。見林壕內軍已與壕外合而陳，縱精騎直前沖之。林軍不能支，遂大敗。副將麻巖戰死，林僅以數騎免。死者彌山谷，血流尚間崖下，水為之赤。大清遂移兵擊飛芬山。僉事潘宗顏等一軍亦覆。北關兵聞之，遂不敢進。林既喪師，謫充為事官，俾守開原。時蒙古宰賽、煖兔許助林兵，林與結約，恃此不設備。其年六月，大清兵忽臨城。林列眾城外，分少兵登陴。大清兵設盾梯進攻，而別以精騎擊破林軍之營東門外者。軍士爭門入，遂乘勢奪門，攻城兵亦逾城入。林城外軍望見盡奔。大清兵據城邀擊，壕不得渡，悉殲之。林及副將於化龍、參將高貞、遊擊於守誌、守備何懋官等，皆死焉。尋贈都督同知，進世蔭二秩。林雖更歷邊鎮，然未經強敵，無大將才。當事以虛名用之，故敗。

When war broke out in Liaodong he was recalled to serve at his old rank. In Yang Hao's four-pronged campaign Lin led one corps from Kaiyuan through Sanchakou while Mobile Corps Commander Dou Yongcheng brought the Beiguan force up alongside. Lin camped at Shangjian Cliff, dug trenches, and posted pickets in tight defense. When word came that Du Song's force had been destroyed, he was still shifting camp when the Qing army was already upon him. He pulled his men back, pitched a fresh camp, dug three rings of trenches, placed firearms beyond the inner ditch, cavalry beyond the guns, and had the rest dismount and form square inside the works. A second detachment encamped west at Feifen Mountain. With Du Song destroyed, the Qing army swept on at full momentum against Lin. Seeing Lin's inner and outer formations already united in line, they sent elite cavalry in a headlong charge. Lin's force could not hold and was routed. Deputy General Ma Yan was killed; Lin escaped with only a handful of riders. Dead filled the valleys; blood ran below Shangjian Cliff until the stream ran red. The Qing army then turned on Feifen Mountain. Commissioner Pan Zongyan's corps was wiped out as well. The Beiguan force, hearing this, dared not push forward. After losing his army Lin was reduced to probationary status and ordered to hold Kaiyuan. Mongol leaders Zaisai and Nuantu had pledged to help; Lin trusted their pact and left his defenses slack. That June the Qing army appeared suddenly before the city. Lin drew up his main force outside the walls and kept only a handful of men on the ramparts. The Qing brought up shields and scaling ladders while elite cavalry broke the camp Lin had outside the east gate. Soldiers fought to get through the gate; the Qing seized it in the scramble, and assault troops scaled the walls as well. Lin's troops outside the walls broke and ran at the sight. The Qing held the walls and struck them at the moat; unable to cross, they were slaughtered to the last man. Lin, Deputy General Yu Hualong, Deputy General Gao Zhen, Mobile Corps Commander Yu Shouzhi, Garrison Commander He Maoguan, and others all died in the fall. He was soon posthumously made Associate Regional Commissioner and his family's hereditary rank was raised two steps. Lin had held border commands, but he had never met a truly formidable foe and lacked a great commander's gifts. Court appointees used him for his renown alone, and that was why he failed.

林五子，燃、熠、炯、爌，飈。燃、熠，戰死尚間崖。炯，天啟中湖廣總兵官。協討貴州叛賊，從王三善至大方，數戰皆捷。已，大敗，三善自殺。炯潰歸。得疾而卒。

Lin had five sons—Ran, Yi, Jiong, Huang, and Biao. Ran and Yi were killed in battle at Shangjian Cliff. Jiong served as regional commander of Huguang during the Tianqi reign. He joined the campaign against Guizhou rebels, marching with Wang Sanshan to Dafang and winning victory after victory. Soon afterward they were routed in a major defeat, and Sanshan took his own life. Jiong broke and fled home. He fell ill and died.

爌幼習兵略，天啟中為遼東遊擊。督師閣部孫承宗以其父死王事，獎用之，命代王楹守中右所。及巡撫袁崇煥更營制，以故官掌前鋒左營。數有功，屢遷至副總兵，守徐州。崇禎八年正月，賊陷鳳陽，大掠而去。爌及守備駱舉率兵入，以恢復告，遂留戍其地。八月，賊擾河南。總督朱大典命移駐潁、毫。事定，還徐州。十年，賊犯桐城，爌赴救，破之羅唱河。尋以護陵功，增秩一級。歸德、徐州間有地曰朱家廠，土寇據之，時出掠。爌剿滅之。賊犯固始，大典檄爌及遊擊張士儀等分戍霍兵西南，扼賊東下，賊遂走六安。大典又移爌等駐壽州東，兼護二陵。當是時，長、淮南北，專以陵寢為重。爌馳驅數年，幸無失事。

Huang had studied military strategy since boyhood and, during the Tianqi reign, served as a mobile corps commander in Liaodong. Grand Secretary and supreme commander Sun Chengzong, honoring him because his father had died in the state's service, gave him preferment and ordered him to replace Wang Ying in holding the Central-Right Garrison. When Grand Coordinator Yuan Chonghuan reorganized the camp structure, Huang kept his old rank and took command of the Vanguard Left Battalion. After repeated victories he rose through the ranks to deputy regional commander and was posted to guard Xuzhou. In the first month of the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign, rebels seized Fengyang, looted the city thoroughly, and withdrew. Huang and garrison commander Luo Ju marched in, reported the city's recovery, and were left to garrison the area. In the eighth month rebels raided Henan. Grand Coordinator Zhu Dadian ordered him to shift his camp to the Ying and Bo region. Once the crisis had passed, he returned to Xuzhou. In the tenth year, when rebels struck Tongcheng, Huang hurried to its relief and routed them on the Luochang River. Soon after, his rank was raised one grade for his service in protecting the imperial tombs. Between Guide and Xuzhou lay a place called Zhujia Factory, held by local bandits who sallied out to plunder whenever they could. Huang wiped them out. When rebels invaded Gushi, Dadian dispatched Huang and mobile corps commander Zhang Shiyi and others to split their forces and hold positions southwest of Huoqiu, cutting off the enemy's eastward drive; the rebels then fled toward Lu'an. Dadian then moved Huang and his men to a camp east of Shouzhou, with the added duty of guarding the two imperial tombs. In those years, from the Yangtze to the Huai and on both banks, defense of the imperial tombs took precedence over everything else. Huang rode hard from post to post for years and, by good fortune, never failed in his charge.

十二年六月擢總兵官，鎮守天津。久之，移鎮甘肅。十五年督三協副將王世寵、王加春、魯胤昌等討破叛番，斬首七百余級，撫安三十八族而還。其冬，督師孫傳庭檄召不至，疏劾之。帝令察爌堪辦賊，許戴罪圖功，否即以賜劍從事。及爌至軍，傳庭貸其罪。已，復以逗留淫掠被劾，帝仍令載罪自效。明年秋，傳庭將出關。有傳賊自內鄉窺商、雒者，檄爌移商州扼其北犯。已而傳庭師覆，爌遂還鎮。未幾，賊陷延綏、寧夏，遂陷蘭州，渡河抵甘州還攻之。爌與巡撫林日瑞竭力固守。賊乘雪夜坎而登。士卒寒甚，不能戰，城遂陷。爌、日瑞及中軍哈維新、姚世儒皆死焉。弟飈為沔陽州同知，城陷，亦死之。爌父子兄弟並死國難。

In the sixth month of the twelfth year he was promoted to regional commander and assigned to guard Tianjin. In time he was transferred to command Gansu. In the fifteenth year he led assistant deputy commanders Wang Shichong, Wang Jiachun, Lu Yinchang, and others against rebel tribes, took more than seven hundred heads, pacified thirty-eight clans, and returned in triumph. That winter supreme commander Sun Chuanting summoned him by dispatch, but Huang failed to appear; Chuanting then impeached him in a memorial. The emperor ordered an inquiry into whether Huang was fit to fight the rebels, allowing him to redeem his guilt through service—or else face execution by the imperial sword. Once Huang reached the camp, Chuanting remitted his punishment. Soon he was impeached again for dawdling and allowing his men to plunder at will, yet the emperor still ordered him to serve on, bearing his guilt until he could prove himself. The next autumn Chuanting prepared to lead his army out through the pass. Word came that rebels from Neixiang were probing toward Shang and Luo; Chuanting ordered Huang to shift to Shangzhou and block their northward thrust. Chuanting's army was soon destroyed, and Huang returned to his post. Before long the rebels took Yan'an and Ningxia, then Lanzhou; they crossed the river, reached Ganzhou, and turned back to besiege the city. Huang and Grand Coordinator Lin Rirui strained every resource to hold the city. The rebels used a snowy night to undermine the wall and scale it. The troops were frozen stiff and could not fight; the city fell. Huang, Lin Rirui, and staff officers Ha Weixin and Yao Shiru all perished in the fall. His younger brother Biao, serving as subprefectural judge of Mianyang, also died when the city fell. Father, sons, and brothers of the Lin family alike perished in the nation's calamity.

何卿，成都衛人。有誌操，習武事。正德中，嗣世職為指揮僉事。以能，擢筠連守備。從巡撫盛應期擊斬叛賊謝文禮、文義。世宗立，論功，進署都指揮僉事，充左參將，協守松潘。

He Qing was a native of the Chengdu Guard. He was a man of firm principle and well trained in military affairs. During the Zhengde reign he inherited his family's post as assistant commander. On account of his ability he was promoted to garrison commander of Junlian. Serving under Grand Coordinator Sheng Yingqi, he attacked and killed the rebel leaders Xie Wenli and Wenyi. When Emperor Shizong took the throne, merits were reckoned; Qing was promoted to acting assistant regional commander, made left assistant commander, and assigned to help guard Songpan.

嘉靖初，芒部土舍隴政、土婦支祿等叛。卿討之，斬首二百余級，降其眾數百人。政奔烏撒，卿檄土官安寧擒以獻。寧佯諾，而匿政不出。巡撫湯沐言狀，帝奪卿冠帶。川、貴兵合討，賊始滅，還冠帶如初。五年春擢卿副總兵，仍鎮松潘。隴氏已絕，改芒部為鎮雄府，設流官。未幾，政遺黨沙保復叛。卿偕參將魏武、參議姚汝臯等並進，斬保等賊首七人，余盡殄。錄功，武最，卿次之，賜賚有差。黑虎五砦番反，圍長安諸堡，烏都、鵓鴿諸番亦繼叛。卿皆破平之，就進都督僉事。威茂番十余砦連兵劫軍餉，且攻茂州及長寧諸堡，要撫賞。卿與副使朱紈築茂州外城以困之。旋以計殘其眾，戰屢捷，遂攻深溝，焚其碉砦。諸番窘，請贖罪。卿責獻首惡，番不應。復分剿淺溝、渾水二砦殲之。諸番乃爭獻首惡，插血斷指耳，誓不復叛。卿乃與刻木為約，分處其曹，畫疆守，松潘路復通。巡撫潘鑒等上二人功，詔賚銀幣，進署都督同知，鎮守如故。久之，以疾致仕。

Early in the Jiajing reign the Mangbu chieftain Long Zheng, the tribal woman Zhi Lu, and their followers rose in rebellion. Qing marched against them, took more than two hundred heads, and brought several hundred of their followers to surrender. Zheng fled to Wusa, and Qing ordered the tribal officer An Ning to seize him and deliver him up. An Ning feigned agreement but hid Zheng and refused to hand him over. Grand Coordinator Tang Mu reported what had happened, and the emperor stripped Qing of his rank insignia. Sichuan and Guizhou forces campaigned together until the rebels were wiped out, and Qing's rank insignia was restored. In the spring of the fifth year he was promoted to deputy regional commander and continued to command Songpan. With the Long line extinguished, Mangbu was reorganized as Zhenxiong Prefecture and placed under appointed civil officials. Before long Zheng's remaining partisans, led by Sha Bao, rebelled again. Qing advanced with Assistant Commander Wei Wu, Administrative Commissioner Yao Rugao, and others, beheaded seven rebel leaders including Sha Bao, and annihilated the rest. When merits were recorded, Wei Wu ranked first and Qing second; both received imperial rewards in due measure. The Heihu Five Stockade tribes rose up and besieged the forts around Chang'an, and the Wudu and Boge tribes rebelled in turn. Qing defeated and pacified them all and was promptly promoted to assistant regional commander. More than ten Weimao stockades joined forces to raid army supplies and attack Maozhou and the forts of Changning, demanding pacification payments. Qing and Vice Commissioner Zhu Wan built an outer wall around Maozhou to pin the rebels down. He soon crippled their strength by stratagem, won battle after battle, stormed Shengou, and burned their blockhouses and stockades. Hard pressed, the tribes asked to submit and atone for their crimes. Qing demanded the ringleaders be handed over, but the tribes refused. He then split his forces and wiped out the two stockades at Qiankou and Hunshui. The tribes then vied to deliver up the ringleaders, swearing blood oaths and severing fingers to vow they would never rebel again. Qing carved their pact into wood, resettled the tribes by group, fixed boundaries for each to hold, and the road to Songpan was open once more. Grand Coordinator Pan Jian and others reported the achievements of the two commanders; the court bestowed silver and silks, and Qing was promoted to acting regional vice commander while retaining his command. In time he retired on grounds of illness.

二十三年，塞上多警。召卿，以疾辭。帝怒，奪其都督，命以都指揮使詣部聽調。未幾，寇逼畿輔，命營盧溝橋。松潘副總兵李爵為巡撫丘養浩劾罷，詔以卿代。給事中許天倫言卿賄養浩劾爵，自為地。帝怒，褫卿及養浩官，令巡按冉崇禮核實。時兵事棘，翁萬達復薦卿，還其都督僉事，都東官廳軍馬。已而崇禮具言爵貪汙，「卿鎮松潘十七年，為蜀保障，軍民頌德，且貧，安所得賄？」帝意乃解。四川白草番為亂，副總兵高岡鳳被劾。兵部尚書路迎奏卿代之。卿再蒞松潘，將士鹹喜。乃會巡撫張時徹討擒渠惡數人，俘斬九百七十有奇，克營砦四十七，毀碉房四千八百，獲馬牛器械儲積各萬計。進署都督同知。卿素有威望，為番人所憚。自威茂迄松潘、龍安夾道築墻數百里，行旌往來，無剽奪患。先後蒞鎮二十四年，軍民戴之若慈母。再以疾歸。

In the twenty-third year alarms multiplied along the northern frontier. The court summoned him, but he declined on account of illness. The emperor was enraged, stripped him of his regional commander's rank, and ordered him to report to the ministry as a regional commander awaiting orders. Before long raiders threatened the capital region, and he was ordered to encamp at Lugou Bridge. Songpan deputy regional commander Li Jue was impeached and removed by Grand Coordinator Qiu Yanghao, and the emperor ordered Qing to take his place. Supervising Secretary Xu Tianlun charged that Qing had bribed Qiu Yanghao to impeach Li Jue and clear the way for his own appointment. The emperor was furious, stripped both Qing and Qiu Yanghao of their posts, and ordered Investigating Censor Ran Chongli to investigate. With military affairs pressing, Weng Wanda recommended Qing again; his rank as assistant regional commander was restored and he was put in charge of the Eastern Official Hall troops. Ran Chongli then reported in full that Li Jue was corrupt: "Qing has held Songpan for seventeen years as the shield of Shu; soldiers and civilians praise his virtue, and he is poor besides—where would he find money for bribes?" The emperor's anger subsided. When the Baicao tribes of Sichuan rose in revolt, deputy regional commander Gao Gangfeng was impeached. Minister of War Lu Ying memorialized that Qing should replace him. When Qing returned to Songpan, officers and soldiers alike rejoiced. He joined Grand Coordinator Zhang Shiche in a campaign that captured several ringleaders, killed more than nine hundred seventy of the enemy, took forty-seven camp stockades, destroyed four thousand eight hundred blockhouse dwellings, and seized horses, cattle, weapons, and stores by the tens of thousands. He was promoted to acting regional vice commander. Qing had long commanded respect, and the tribes feared him. From Weimao through Songpan to Long'an, walls were built for hundreds of li along the road, and travelers passed without fear of robbery. Across twenty-four years of command, soldiers and civilians honored him as they would a devoted mother. He retired again on account of illness.

三十三年，倭寇海上。詔卿與沈希儀各率家眾赴蘇、松軍門。明年充副總兵，總理浙江及蘇、松海防。卿，蜀中名將，不諳海道，年已老，兵與將不習，竟不能有所為。為巡按御史周如鬥劾罷，卒。

In the thirty-third year Japanese pirates raided the coast. The court ordered Qing and Shen Xiyi each to lead their household troops to the Suzhou-Songjiang military headquarters. The next year he served as deputy regional commander with overall charge of coastal defense in Zhejiang and the Suzhou-Songjiang region. Qing was a celebrated general of Shu, but he knew nothing of sea warfare; he was already old, and his troops and officers were strangers to one another—in the end he achieved nothing. Investigating Censor Zhou Rudou impeached and removed him; he died soon after.

沈希儀，字唐佐，貴縣人。嗣世職為奉議衛指揮使。機警有膽勇，智計過絕於人。正德十二年，調征永安。以數百人搗陳村砦，馬陷淖中，騰而上，連馘三酋，破其余眾。進署都指揮僉事。義寧賊寇臨桂，還巢，希儀追之。巢有兩隘，賊伏兵其一，使熟瑤紿官兵入。希儀策其詐，急從別隘直抵賊巢。賊倉卒還救，遂大破之。荔浦賊八千渡江東掠，希儀率五百人駐白面砦，待其歸。砦去蛟龍、滑石兩灘各數里。希儀以滑石灘狹，雖眾可薄，蛟龍灘廣，濟則難圖，欲誘致之滑石。乃樹旗百蛟龍灘，守以羸卒，然柴以疑之。賊果趨滑石。希儀預以小艦載勁卒伏葭葦中。賊渡且半，乘瀧急沖之，兩岸軍噪而前，賊眾多墜水死，收所掠而還。從副總兵張祐連破臨桂、灌陽、古田賊。進署都指揮同知，掌都司事。

Shen Xiyi, styled Tangzuo, was a native of Guixian. He inherited his family's post as commander of the Fengyi Guard. Quick-witted and bold, his resourcefulness was unmatched. In the twelfth year of the Zhengde reign he was transferred to the Yong'an campaign. At the head of several hundred men he stormed Chencun Stockade; when his horse sank in the mire he sprang free, cut down three chieftains in succession, and routed the rest. He was promoted to acting assistant regional commander. When bandits from Yining raided Lingui and withdrew to their lair, Xiyi pursued them. The lair had two passes. The bandits lay in ambush at one of them and sent assimilated Yao to lure the government troops inside. Xiyi saw through the ruse and hurried by the other pass straight to the bandits' lair. The bandits rushed back to defend their lair in disarray, and he routed them completely. When eight thousand Lipu bandits crossed the river to raid the east, Xiyi took five hundred men to hold Baimian Stockade and wait for them to come back. The stockade stood several li from each of two fords, Jiaolong and Huashi. Xiyi judged that Huashi Ford was narrow enough that even a large force could be pressed and overwhelmed there, whereas Jiaolong Ford was wide and once the bandits crossed it would be hard to strike; he meant to lure them to Huashi. He planted a hundred banners at Jiaolong Ford, left a thin garrison there, and lit fires to make the enemy suspect a trap. The bandits duly made for Huashi. Xiyi had already hidden picked troops aboard small boats in the reeds. When the bandits were half across, he struck with the current at full speed while troops on both banks shouted and pressed forward. Many bandits drowned; he recovered the plunder and withdrew. Serving under Deputy Regional Commander Zhang You, he broke bandit forces at Lingui, Guanyang, and Gutian in succession. He was promoted to acting regional assistant commander and put in charge of the regional military administration.

嘉靖五年，總督姚鏌將討田州岑猛。用希儀計，間猛婦翁歸順土酋岑璋，使圖猛，而分兵五哨進。希儀將中哨，當工堯。工堯，賊要地，聚眾守之。希儀夜遣軍三百人，緣山上，繞出其背。比明合戰，則所遣軍已立幟山巔，賊大潰敗。猛走歸順，為璋所執，田州平。希儀功最，鏌抑之，止受賚。鏌議設流官，希儀曰：「思恩以流官故，亂至今未已。田州復然，兩賊且合從起。」鏌不從。以希儀為右參將，分守思、田。希儀請還鄉治裝。以參將張經代守。甫一月，田州復叛，鏌罷歸。王守仁代，多用希儀計，思、田復定。

In the fifth year of the Jiajing reign, Grand Coordinator Yao Mo prepared to campaign against Cen Meng of Tianzhou. Following Xiyi's plan, he turned Meng's father-in-law, the Guishun chieftain Cen Zhang, against him and sent the army forward in five columns. Xiyi led the central column against Gongyao. Gongyao was a key bandit position, and they massed troops to hold it. That night Xiyi sent three hundred men up the mountain to get behind the enemy. At daybreak, as the battle opened, his detachment was already planting banners on the summit; the bandits broke and fled in complete defeat. Meng fled to Guishun, where Zhang captured him, and Tianzhou was pacified. Though Xiyi's achievement was greatest, Mo downplayed it and he received only an imperial gift. When Mo proposed appointing direct officials, Xiyi said, "Si'en has been in turmoil ever since direct officials were installed. If Tianzhou goes the same way, the two rebel groups will join forces and rise again. Mo would not listen. Xiyi was appointed right assistant general with divided responsibility for Si'en and Tianzhou. Xiyi asked to go home and prepare his equipment. Assistant General Zhang Jing was left to hold the garrison in his stead. Barely a month later Tianzhou rebelled again; Mo was removed and sent home. Wang Shouren took his place, relied heavily on Xiyi's plans, and pacified Si'en and Tianzhou once more.

改右江柳慶參將，駐柳州。象州、武宣、融縣瑤反，討破之。謝病歸，頃之還故任。柳在萬山中，城外五里即賊巢，軍民至無地可田，而官軍素罷不任戰。又賊耳目遍官府，閨闥動靜無不知。希儀謂欲大破賊，非狼兵不可，請於制府。調那地狼兵二千來，戍兵稍振。乃求得與瑤通販易者數十人，持其罪而厚撫之，使诇賊。賊動靜，希儀亦無不知。希儀每出兵，雖肘腋親近不得聞。至期鳴號，則諸軍鹹集。令一人挾旗引諸軍行，不測所往。及駐軍設伏，賊必至，遇伏輒奔。官軍擊之，無不如誌。已，賊寇他所，官軍又先至。遠村僻聚，賊度官軍所不逮者，往寇之，官軍又未嘗不在，賊驚以為神。希儀得賊巢婦女畜產，果鄰巢者悉還之，惟取陰助賊者。諸瑤盡詟伏，無敢向賊。

He was reassigned as assistant general of the Youjiang and Liuqing circuit and stationed at Liuzhou. When the Yao of Xiangzhou, Wuxuan, and Rongxian rose in revolt, he defeated them in campaign. He resigned on grounds of illness, but before long resumed his former command. Liuzhou sat deep in the mountains; bandit lairs lay only five li beyond the walls, soldiers and civilians had no land safe enough to farm, and the government troops had long been slack and unfit for fighting. Bandit informants had infiltrated the yamen, and nothing that happened even in the inner quarters escaped their notice. Xiyi argued that only Lang troops could break the bandits for good and asked the governor-general for them. Two thousand Lang troops from Nadi were sent up, and the garrison's morale improved. He found several dozen men who traded with the Yao, held their offenses over them while treating them well, and turned them into spies. Soon Xiyi knew every move the bandits made. Whenever Xiyi marched out, not even his closest aides were told beforehand. At the appointed hour he sounded the call, and the troops assembled at once. He had one man carry a banner and lead the column, with no one knowing where they were bound. Wherever he halted to lay ambushes, the bandits always appeared—and always broke and ran when they struck the trap. Government attacks never failed to go as he intended. When the bandits struck elsewhere, government troops were already there waiting. Even in remote hamlets the bandits thought beyond government reach, troops were waiting when they arrived. The bandits came to believe Xiyi was uncanny. When he captured women, livestock, and goods from a bandit lair, he returned everything to neighboring settlements and kept only those who had secretly helped the bandits. The Yao were thoroughly cowed and no longer dared aid the bandits.

希儀初至，令熟瑤得出入城中，無所禁。因厚賞其黠者，使為諜。後漸令瑤婦入見其妻，賚以酒食繒帛。其夫常以賊情告者，則陰厚之。諸瑤婦利賞，爭勸其夫輸賊情，或自入府言之。以故，賊益無所匿形。希儀每於風雨晦冥夜，偵賊所止宿，分遣人賫銃潛伏舍旁。中夜銃舉，賊大駭曰：「老沈來矣！」鹹挈妻子匍匐上山。兒啼女號，或寒凍觸厓石死，爭怨悔作賊非計。至曉下山，則寂無人聲。他巢亦然，眾愈益驚。潛遣人入城偵之，則希儀故居城中不出也。賊膽落，多易面為熟瑤。

When Xiyi first arrived, he allowed assimilated Yao free passage in and out of the city. He richly rewarded the sharpest among them and turned them into spies. Gradually he had Yao women visit his wife and rewarded them with food, wine, silk, and cloth. When their husbands brought word of the bandits, he secretly rewarded the families well. Greedy for the rewards, Yao women urged their husbands to report on the bandits or came to the yamen themselves with news. Because of this the bandits had nowhere left to hide. On dark, stormy nights Xiyi would locate where the bandits were sleeping and send men with muskets to hide beside their houses. At midnight the muskets cracked; the bandits cried in terror, "Old Shen is here! They grabbed their wives and children and crawled up the mountainside. Children wailed and women screamed; some froze to death against the cliffs; all cursed the life of banditry they had chosen. At daybreak they came down the mountain to find nothing but silence. The same thing happened at other lairs, and their fear only grew. They secretly sent men to spy in the city and found Xiyi still at home, never having left. Their courage broke; many disguised themselves as assimilated Yao and gave up the life.

韋扶諫者，馬平瑤魁也，累捕不得。有報扶諫逃鄰賊三層巢者，希儀潛率兵剿之，則又與三層賊往劫他所。希儀盡俘三層巢妻子歸，希儀俘賊妻子盡以畀狼兵，至是獨閉之空舍，飲食之。使熟瑤往語其夫曰：「得韋扶諫，還矣。」諸瑤聞，悉來謁希儀。今入室視之，妻子固無恙。乃共誘扶諫出巢，縛以獻，易妻子還。希儀剜扶諫目，支解之，懸諸城門。諸瑤服希儀威信，益不敢為盜。自是，柳城四旁數百里，無敢攘奪者。

Wei Fujian was a Yao chieftain of Maping who had eluded capture again and again. When he learned that Fujian had fled to the neighboring Sanceng lair, Xiyi led a secret raid—only to find that Fujian had already gone raiding elsewhere with the Sanceng bandits. Xiyi took all the wives and children of the Sanceng lair captive. Before, he had handed captured families over to the Lang troops; this time he locked them in empty houses and fed them himself. He sent assimilated Yao to tell the husbands, "Hand over Wei Fujian and your families will be returned. Hearing this, the Yao came in numbers to see Xiyi. When they were allowed inside to look, their wives and children were indeed unharmed. Together they lured Fujian out of hiding, bound him, and handed him over in exchange for their families. Xiyi gouged out Fujian's eyes, dismembered him, and displayed the remains at the city gates. The Yao submitted to Xiyi's authority and no longer dared turn to banditry. After that, for hundreds of li around Liucheng, no one dared rob or plunder.

希儀嘗上書於朝，言狼兵亦瑤、僮耳。瑤、僮所在為賊，而狼兵死不敢為非，非狼兵順，而瑤、僮逆也。狼兵隸土官，瑤、僮隸流官。土官令嚴足以制狼兵，流官勢輕不能制瑤、僮。若割瑤、僮分隸之旁近土官，土官世世富貴，不敢有他望。以國家之力制土官，以土官之力制瑤、僮，皆為狼兵，兩廣世世無患矣。時不能用。至十六年而有思恩岑金之變。

Xiyi once memorialized the court, observing that Lang troops were Yao and Zhuang like any other. Yao and Zhuang where they lived under direct officials turned to banditry, while Lang troops would not dare misbehave even on pain of death—not because Lang troops were naturally obedient and Yao and Zhuang naturally rebellious. Lang troops answered to native chiefs; Yao and Zhuang answered to direct officials. Native chiefs ruled strictly enough to control Lang troops, but direct officials lacked the authority to control Yao and Zhuang. If Yao and Zhuang territories were divided among neighboring native chiefs, those chiefs would remain wealthy and honored for generations and would not dare aspire to more. The state would control the native chiefs, the native chiefs would control the Yao and Zhuang, and all would serve like Lang troops—then Guangdong and Guangxi would know peace for generations. The court did not adopt his proposal. In the sixteenth year came the rebellion of Cen Jin of Si'en.

初，思恩土官岑浚既誅，改設流官，以其酋二人韋貴、徐五為土巡檢，分掌其兵各萬余。夷民不樂漢法，凡數叛。鎮安有男子名金，自言浚子。鎮安土官乃潛召其舊部酋長，出金而與之盟曰：「若小主也。」諸酋羅拜，擁金歸，聚兵五千，將攻城，復故地，遠近洶洶。浚誅時，其酋楊留者無所歸，率黨千余人詣賓州，應募為打手。希儀在賓，留入言，欲往見小主人。希儀故患金，及聞留言，益大駭。因好謂留曰：「是岑浚第九子耶？我向征田州固聞之。」因自語：「岑氏其復乎？」欲以深動留，留果喜。已，召留密室，言：「予我重賂，即為金復官。」且出，復呼入曰：「韋貴、徐五今分將思恩兵，必讎金，善防之。」留益大信。金遂從五千人因留以見。門者奔告，請無納。希儀罵曰：「金，土官子，非賊，奈何不納？」引入，厚結之，又引以詣兵備副使，隨以計漸散其五千人。卒縛金，留亦自恨死，思恩復寧。已，從總督張經大破斷藤峽、弩灘賊，受賚歸。

Earlier, after the Si'en native ruler Cen Jun was executed and direct officials were installed, two of his chiefs, Wei Gui and Xu Wu, were made native assistant inspectors, each commanding more than ten thousand men. The tribal peoples resented Han administration and rebelled repeatedly. At Zhen'an a man named Jin claimed to be Cen Jun's son. The Zhen'an native chief secretly summoned Jun's former subordinate chiefs, produced Jin, and swore them to him, saying, "This is your rightful lord. The chiefs bowed in homage, escorted Jin home, raised five thousand men, and prepared to storm the city and reclaim their old lands; alarm spread far and wide. When Jun was executed, one of his chiefs, Yang Liu, had nowhere to go; he led more than a thousand followers to Binzhou and enlisted as mercenary fighters. Xiyi was stationed at Binzhou when Liu came to him and said he wanted to go see the young lord. Xiyi had already been worried about Jin, and Liu's words alarmed him still further. He spoke warmly to Liu and asked, "Is this Cen Jun's ninth son? I heard of him when I campaigned in Tianzhou. Then, as if to himself, he murmured, "Will the Cen house rise again? He meant to stir Liu deeply, and Liu was delighted. Then he drew Liu into a private room and said, "Bring me a rich reward and I will restore Jin to office. As Liu was leaving, he called him back and added, "Wei Gui and Xu Wu now command Si'en's forces between them; they will surely seek revenge on Jin—be on your guard. Liu believed him completely. Jin then came with five thousand men, led by Liu, to see Xiyi. The gatekeeper ran in and urged that they not be admitted. Xiyi rebuked him: "Jin is a native chief's son, not a bandit—why turn him away? He admitted them, treated Jin generously and won his trust, then escorted him to the vice commissioner for military affairs while gradually dispersing his five thousand followers by stratagem. In the end Jin was bound; Liu died consumed by remorse, and Si'en was pacified once more. Later, serving under Grand Coordinator Zhang Jing, he routed the bandits of Duanteng Gorge and Nudan, received an imperial reward, and returned home.

希儀鎮柳、慶久，渠魁宿猾捕誅殆盡。先後搗巢，斬馘積五千余級，未嘗悉奏功，故多不敘。十九年復謝病，柳人祀之山雲祠。旋起四川左參將，分守敘、滬及貴州迤西諸處。其冬，擢署都督僉事，充總兵官，鎮貴州。復謝病歸。塞上多警，召天下名將至京師，希儀在召中。希儀鎮柳、慶，每戰必先登，身數被創，陰雨輒痛劇，故數謝病。至京，亦以病辭。帝疑其規避，褫都督官，令赴部候用。翁萬達薦其才。會江、淮多盜，議設督捕總兵官，乃復希儀署都督僉事以往。

Xiyi held Liuzhou and Qing for many years, hunting down ringleaders and old hands until scarcely any remained. He raided their strongholds again and again, piling up more than five thousand enemy heads, but he never reported every victory—so much of his merit went unrecorded. In the nineteenth year he again retired on grounds of illness, and the people of Liuzhou honored him at the Shanyun Temple. He was soon recalled as left vice commander of Sichuan, charged with defending Xu, Luzhou, and the western reaches of Guizhou. That winter he was elevated to acting assistant regional commander and appointed regional commander of Guizhou. He again pleaded illness and went home. Alarm piled upon alarm on the northern frontier, and famous generals from across the empire were summoned to the capital—Xiyi among them. At Liuzhou and Qing, Xiyi had always been the first man over the wall; he bore many wounds, and rainy days brought him agony—hence his many retirements on grounds of illness. Once in the capital, he too declined service on account of illness. The emperor suspected he was shirking duty, stripped him of his commander's rank, and ordered him to wait at the ministry for reassignment. Weng Wanda spoke up for his abilities. Banditry flared along the Yangtze and Huai, and the court proposed a regional commander to hunt them down; Xiyi was restored as acting assistant regional commander and sent to take the post.

二十六年以為廣東副總兵。命自今將領至自川、廣、雲、貴者，毋推京營及西北邊，著為令。從總督張嶽大破賀縣賊倪仲亮等，予實授，仍賚銀幣。瓊州五指山熟黎素畏法，供徭賦，知州邵浚虐取之。其酋那燕遂結崖州、感恩、昌化諸黎為亂。總督歐陽必進議並萬州、陵水黎討之，分兵五道。希儀適病，最後至，謂必進曰：「萬州、陵水黎未有黨惡之實，奈何並誅，益樹敵？莫若止三道。」必進從之。希儀乃偕參將武鸞、俞大猷等直入五指山下，斬那燕及其黨五千四百有奇，俘獲者五之一，招降三千七百人。捷聞，進都督同知，改貴州總兵官。復從嶽平銅仁叛苗龍許保、吳黑苗。又以病歸。倭寇海上，命督川、廣兵赴剿。無功，為周如鬥劾罷。

In the twenty-sixth year he was appointed deputy regional commander of Guangdong. The court decreed that hereafter generals coming up from Sichuan, Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guizhou were not to be posted to the capital garrison or the northwest frontier—a rule written into law. Serving under Grand Coordinator Zhang Yue, he routed the Hexian bandits led by Ni Zhongliang and others; he received a confirmed commission and another grant of silver and silk. The settled Li of Wuzhi Mountain in Qiongzhou had long obeyed the law and paid taxes and corvée, but Prefect Shao Jun preyed on them with brutal exactions. Their chieftain Nayang then joined the Li of Yazhou, Ganan, and Changhua in revolt. Grand Coordinator Ouyang Bijin proposed to punish them along with the Li of Wanzhou and Lingshui, dividing the army into five routes. Xiyi had fallen ill and arrived last; he told Bijin, "The Li of Wanzhou and Lingshui have done nothing to prove they joined the rebels—why strike them down together and only breed more enemies? Better to send only three columns. Bijin took his advice. Xiyi then marched with vice commanders Wu Luan and Yu Dayou straight beneath Wuzhi Mountain, killing Nayang and more than five thousand four hundred of his followers; one-fifth were taken prisoner, and three thousand seven hundred submitted. When news of the victory arrived, he was promoted to assistant regional commander and reassigned as regional commander of Guizhou. He again followed Zhang Yue in pacifying the Tongren rebel Miao Long Xubao and Wu Heimiao. He retired again on grounds of illness. When Japanese pirates struck the coast, he was ordered to lead Sichuan and Guangdong troops against them. He accomplished nothing and was impeached and removed by Investigating Censor Zhou Rudou.

希儀為人坦率，居恒謔笑，洞見肺腑。及臨敵，應變出奇，人莫測。尤善撫士卒。常染危病，卒多自戕以禱於神。最後一人，至以箭穿其喉。其得士心如此。

Xiyi was open by nature—he joked easily in daily life, and what he felt showed plainly on his face. Yet in battle he shifted with the moment and struck from unexpected angles—no one could read his next move. Above all he knew how to win soldiers' hearts. When he lay gravely ill, many of his men mutilated themselves in prayer to the gods for his recovery. The last of them drove an arrow through his own throat. Such was the hold he had on his men's loyalty.

石邦憲，字希尹，貴州清平衛人。嘉靖七年嗣世職為指揮使。累功，進署都指揮僉事，充銅仁參將。苗龍許保、吳黑苗叛，總督張嶽議征之，而賊陷印江、石阡，邦憲坐逮問。嶽以銅仁賊巢穴，而邦憲有謀勇，乃奏留之。邦憲遂與川、湖兵進貴州，破苗砦十有五。竄山箐者，搜戮殆盡。上功，邦憲第一。未及敘，而許保等突入思州，執知府李允簡以去。邦憲急邀，奪之歸。坐是停俸戴罪。賊既破思州，復糾余黨，與湖廣蠟爾山苗合，欲攻石阡。不克，還過省溪。千戶安大朝等邀之，斬獲大半，盡奪其輜重，賊不能軍。邦憲乃使使購老穀、老犭革等執許保送軍門，而黑苗竄如故。復以計購烏朗土官田興邦等斬黑苗，賊盡平。遂進署都督僉事，充總兵官，代沈希儀鎮貴州。

Shi Bangxian, styled Xiyin, was a native of Qingping Guard in Guizhou. In the seventh year of the Jiajing reign he inherited his family's hereditary post as garrison commander. After repeated victories he was promoted to acting assistant regional commander and appointed vice commander of Tongren. When the Miao Long Xubao and Wu Heimiao rose in rebellion, Grand Coordinator Zhang Yue planned a punitive campaign, but the rebels took Yinjiang and Shiqian, and Bangxian was arrested and brought to account. Yue argued that Tongren was the rebels' nest and that Bangxian had both wit and courage, and memorialized to keep him in service. Bangxian then marched into Guizhou with Sichuan and Huguang troops and overran fifteen Miao stockades. Those who fled into the mountain ravines were hunted down almost to the last man. When the victory rolls were submitted, Bangxian stood first in merit. Before honors could be granted, Xubao and his men burst into Sizhou and carried off Prefect Li Yunjian. Bangxian raced to intercept them and brought Li back. For this lapse his pay was suspended and he was ordered to serve under penalty. Having overrun Sizhou, the rebels regrouped their remnants and joined the La'er Mountain Miao of Huguang, intending to strike Shiqian. They failed in the attempt and withdrew by way of Xingxi. Centurion An Dachao and others cut them off, killing or capturing more than half and seizing all their baggage; the rebels could no longer keep an army in the field. Bangxian then sent agents to bribe Lao Gu, Lao Ge, and others into seizing Xubao and delivering him to headquarters, while Heimiao still lurked in hiding. Again by stratagem he induced Tian Xingbang and other native officials of Wulang to behead Heimiao, and the rebels were fully subdued. He was then promoted to acting assistant regional commander, appointed regional commander, and replaced Shen Xiyi as commander of Guizhou.

臺黎砦苗關保倡亂，四川容山、廣西洪江諸苗應之。遠近騷然，撫剿莫能定。邦憲與湖廣兵分道討破之，傳檄十八砦，許執首惡贖罪。諸苗聽撫，設盟受約而還。

Guanbao of the Tailai Stockade Miao raised rebellion, and the Miao of Rongshan in Sichuan and Hongjiang in Guangxi answered his call. Alarm spread far and wide, and neither conciliation nor force could restore order. Bangxian and the Huguang troops broke them on separate routes, issued proclamations to eighteen stockades, and promised pardon to those who handed over the ringleaders. The Miao submitted to pacification; after oaths were sworn and pledges received, he withdrew his forces.

播州宣慰楊烈殺長官王黼，黼黨李保等治兵相攻且十年，總督馮嶽與邦憲討平之。真州苗盧阿項為亂，邦憲以兵七千編筏渡江，直抵磨子崖。策賊必夜襲，先設備。賊至，擊敗之。賊求援於播州吳鯤。諸將懼，邦憲曰：「水西宣慰安萬銓，播州所畏也。吾調水西兵攻烏江，聲楊烈縱鯤助逆罪，烈奚暇救人乎？」已，水西兵至。邦憲進逼其巢，乘風縱火，斬關而登，賊大奔潰，擒賊首父子，斬獲四百七十余人。進署都督同知。

Yang Lie, native commissioner of Bozhou, killed Assistant Prefect Wang Fu; Fu's faction under Li Bao and others raised armies and fought for nearly ten years until Grand Coordinator Feng Yue and Bangxian put them down. When the Zhenzhou Miao Lu Axian rebelled, Bangxian took seven thousand men, lashed rafts together to cross the river, and marched straight to Mozi Cliff. He judged the rebels would strike by night and made ready in advance. When they came, he routed them. The rebels sent for help to Wu Kun of Bozhou. The other generals were alarmed, but Bangxian said, "An Wanyin, native commissioner of Shuixi, is the man Bozhou dreads. If I summon Shuixi troops against the Wu River and proclaim Yang Lie's crime in letting Kun aid rebellion, will Lie have time to save anyone? Before long the Shuixi troops arrived. Bangxian pressed their stronghold, set fires with the wind behind him, cut through their barriers and stormed the heights; the rebels broke and fled, the chieftain and his son were captured, and more than four hundred seventy were killed or taken. He was promoted to acting assistant regional commander.

破地隆阡叛苗四砦，又破答千諸砦，擒其渠魁。地隆阡遺賊龍老三、龍得奎結龍停苗老夭、扳凳苗石章保等縱兵掠，執石耶洞土官妻冉氏以歸，攻梅平砦。官軍要擒老三。得奎走免，復與老夭等攻破平南營囤。邦憲偵冉氏在老夭所，陽議贖，而潛擊殺老夭。官軍遂入龍停砦，並執扳凳砦苗龍老內，令執獻章保。於是諸苗悉降。白洗、養鵝諸苗叛，討擒其魁，降百余砦。

He overran four rebel Miao stockades at Dilongqian and then broke the stockades at Daqian, capturing their chieftains. Remnant rebels at Dilongqian—Long Laosan and Long Dekui—joined Lao Yao of the Longting Miao and Shi Zhangbao of the Bandeng Miao in raiding at will; they carried off Lady Ran, wife of the native official of Shiyedong, and attacked Meiping Stockade. Government troops lay in wait to seize Laosan. Dekui escaped, then joined Lao Yao and the others in storming the depot at Pingnan Camp. Bangxian learned Lady Ran was held in Lao Yao's camp; he feigned ransom talks while secretly striking and killing Lao Yao. Government troops then entered Longting Stockade and also seized Long Laonei of the Bandeng Miao, ordering him to capture Zhangbao and deliver him up. Thereupon all the Miao submitted. When the Baixi and Yang'e Miao rebelled, he suppressed them, captured their chieftains, and received the surrender of more than a hundred stockades.

湖廣漵浦瑤沈亞當等為亂，總督石勇檄邦憲討之，生擒亞當，斬獲二百有奇。漵浦甫平，銅仁、都勻苗相煽叛。邦憲亟馳還，率守備安大朝進剿。先破彪山砦賊，乘勝略定諸砦。獲賊首龍老羅、王三等，余黨盡平。又與總督黃光升，修湖北墩臺、烽堠百十所，招降冷水溪諸洞苗二十八砦。

When the Yao Shen Yadang and others of Xupu in Huguang rose in revolt, Grand Coordinator Shi Yong ordered Bangxian against them; Yadang was taken alive and more than two hundred rebels were killed or captured. Xupu had barely been pacified when the Miao of Tongren and Duyun stirred one another to rebellion. Bangxian galloped back at once and led Garrison Commander An Dachao in pursuit. He first broke the rebels at Biaoshan Stockade and, pressing the advantage, largely brought the other stockades to heel. Rebel chiefs Long Laoluo and Wang San were captured, and the remaining followers were fully subdued. Together with Grand Coordinator Huang Guangsheng he rebuilt more than a hundred and ten signal towers and beacon mounds in Hubei and persuaded twenty-eight Miao stockades in the Lengshuixi caves to submit.

播州容山副長官土舍韓甸與正長官土舍張問相攻，甸屢勝，遂糾生苗剽湖、貴境，垂二十年。問亦糾黨自助。邦憲討之，斬百余人。問潛出，被獲。官軍乘勝入甸巢。會暮，大雨，迷失道。守備葉勛、百戶魏國相等陷伏中，死焉。邦憲奪圍出，還軍鎮遠。再征之，賊沿江守。邦憲佯與爭，而別自上流三十里編竹以渡。水陸並進，大破之。斬甸，容山平。進右都督。

Han Dian, deputy native assistant of Rongshan in Bozhou, and Zhang Wen, the chief native assistant, warred against each other; Dian won again and again and then rallied raw Miao to raid the Huguang and Guizhou frontier for nearly twenty years. Wen likewise gathered allies of his own. Bangxian campaigned against them and killed more than a hundred men. Wen slipped out in secret but was captured. Government troops pressed their advantage into Dian's stronghold. At dusk a torrential rain fell and they lost their way. Garrison Commander Ye Xun, Centurion Wei Guoxiang, and others walked into an ambush and were killed. Bangxian fought his way out of the encirclement and withdrew to Zhenyuan. On a second campaign the rebels held the river line. Bangxian feigned a frontal contest while, thirty li upstream, he lashed bamboo into rafts and crossed. Advancing by land and water together, he broke them completely. Dian was executed and Rongshan was pacified. He was promoted to right regional commander.

邦憲生長黔土，熟苗情。善用兵，大小數十百戰，無不摧破。前後進秩者四，賚銀幣十有三。所得俸賜，悉以饗士，家無贏資。為總兵官十七年，威鎮蠻中。與四川何卿、廣西沈希儀並稱一時名將。明年卒官。贈左都督。

Bangxian had grown up in Guizhou soil and knew the Miao world inside out. He was a master of war; in dozens upon dozens of battles, large and small, he never failed to break his enemy. His rank was raised four times in all, and he received imperial gifts of silver and silk on thirteen occasions. Every stipend and reward he received he spent entirely on his men; his household kept nothing in reserve. For seventeen years as regional commander his authority held sway over the frontier tribes. He was counted among the great generals of the age together with He Qing of Sichuan and Shen Xiyi of Guangxi. The following year he died in office. He was posthumously honored as left regional commander.

贊曰：嗚呼，明至中葉，曷嘗無邊材哉！如馬永、梁震、周尚文、沈希儀之徒，出奇制勝，得士卒死力，雖古名將何以加焉？然功高賞薄，起蹶靡常。此無異故，其抗懷奮激，無以結歡在朝柄政重人，宜其齟齬不相入也。馬芳三代為將，父子兄弟先後殉國，偉矣哉！

The commentator writes: Alas—in the Ming dynasty's middle years, when did the empire ever lack men of frontier genius! Men like Ma Yong, Liang Zhen, Zhou Shangwen, and Shen Xiyi struck with unexpected stratagems and won their soldiers' utter devotion—what famous general of antiquity could have done more? Yet their deeds outran their rewards, and their fortunes rose and fell without pattern. The reason is plain: proud and fierce by nature, they had no gift for winning over the powerful men who held the court—and no wonder they grated against one another and against the capital. Ma Fang's house gave the empire generals for three generations—father, sons, and brothers dying for the state one after another. What grandeur!

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