Volume 213 Biographies 101: Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng

徐階弟:陟子:璠等高拱附:郭樸張居正曾孫:同敞

Related figures: Xu Jie's younger brother Sheng and his sons including Fan; with Gao Gong's account, Guo Pu is included; Zhang Juzheng's great-grandson was Tongchang.

徐階，字子升，松江華亭人。生甫周歲，墮眢井，出三日而蘇。五歲從父道括蒼，墮高嶺，衣掛於樹不死。人咸異之。嘉靖二年進士第三人。授翰林院編修，予歸娶。丁父憂，服除，補故官。階為人短小白皙，善容止。性穎敏，有權略，而陰重不泄。讀書為古文辭，從王守仁門人游，有聲士大夫間。

Xu Jie, whose style was Zisheng, came from Huating in Songjiang. Barely a year old, he fell into an abandoned well and did not come to until three days later. At five, traveling with his father toward Kuocang, he tumbled from a high cliff; his garment snagged on a tree and saved his life. People everywhere marveled at him. In 1523 he took third place on the jinshi examination. He was made a Hanlin compiler and sent home on leave to marry. After his father's death he observed mourning, then returned to his former office. Jie was slight and fair-complexioned, with an easy, polished manner. Quick-witted and resourceful, he was inwardly reserved and never let his designs show. He read widely and wrote in the classical style, moved among Wang Yangming's followers, and won esteem among the literati.

帝用張孚敬議，欲去孔子王號，易像為木主，籩豆禮樂皆有所損抑。下儒臣議，階獨持不可。孚敬召階盛氣詰之，階抗辯不屈。孚敬怒曰：「若叛我。」階正色曰：「叛生於附。階未嘗附公，何得言叛？」長揖出。斥為延平府推官。連攝郡事。出繫囚三百，毀淫祠，創鄉社學，捕劇盜百二十人。遷黃州府同知，擢浙江按察僉事，進江西按察副使，俱視學政。

Following Zhang Fuyi's advice, the emperor sought to strip Confucius of his royal title, replace his statue with a spirit tablet, and pare back the ritual vessels, music, and ceremony. When the court asked the Confucian officials to deliberate, Jie alone stood firm against the change. Fuyi summoned him and berated him hotly, but Jie argued back without bending. Fuyi snapped, "So you have turned against me. Jie answered gravely, "One can betray only after one has first attached oneself. I never attached myself to you, sir—how can you call this betrayal?" With a deep bow he walked out. He was banished to serve as judicial assessor in Yanping Prefecture. He was repeatedly called on to administer the prefecture in the magistrate's stead. He freed three hundred prisoners, tore down illicit shrines, founded village schools, and seized a hundred and twenty hardened bandits. He rose from vice prefect of Huangzhou to surveillance commissioner in Zhejiang and then assistant surveillance commissioner in Jiangxi, always with charge of education.

皇太子出閣，召拜司經局洗馬兼翰林院侍講。丁母憂歸。服除，擢國子祭酒，遷禮部右侍郎，尋改吏部。故事，吏部率鐍門，所接見庶官不數語。階折節下之。見必深坐，咨邊腹要害，吏治民瘼。皆自喜得階意，願為用。尚書熊浹、唐龍、周用皆重階。階數署部事，所引用宋景、張岳、王道、歐陽德、范皆長者。用卒，聞淵代，自處前輩，取立斷。階意不樂，求出避之。命兼翰林院學士，教習庶吉士。尋掌院事，進禮部尚書。

When the crown prince left the inner quarters, Jie was summoned as reader in the Classics Directorate and Hanlin lecturer. He went home to mourn his mother. After mourning he became chancellor of the National University, then right vice minister of Rites, and soon after moved to Personnel. By custom the Ministry of Personnel kept its doors shut tight and barely spoke to the junior officials who came to call. Jie lowered himself to treat them with courtesy. He would sit with each visitor at length, asking about frontier weak points and interior defenses, bureaucratic performance, and the people's grievances. They were all glad to have gained his confidence and eager to serve his purposes. Ministers Xiong Xian, Tang Long, and Zhou Yong all held him in high regard. Often acting head of the ministry, he promoted such seasoned men as Song Jing, Zhang Yue, Wang Dao, Ouyang De, and Fan Yong. After Zhou Yong died, Wen Yuan took his place, assumed the air of a senior, and liked to decide matters on the spot. Jie was unhappy and asked to leave the ministry to get away from him. He was given concurrent appointment as Hanlin academician to tutor the probationary scholars. Before long he headed the Hanlin Academy and rose to minister of Rites.

帝察階勤，又所撰青詞獨稱旨，召直無逸殿。與大學士張治、李本俱賜飛魚服及上方珍饌、上尊無虛日。廷推吏部尚書，不聽，不欲階去左右也。階遂請立皇太子，不報。復連請之，皆不報。後當冠婚，復請先裕王，後景王，帝不懌。尋以推恩加太子太保。

The emperor noted his diligence and was especially pleased with the Daoist prayers he drafted; Jie was called to duty in the Hall of Unceasing Vigil. He and Grand Secretaries Zhang Zhi and Li Ben were given flying-fish robes and daily gifts of imperial delicacies and fine wine from the palace kitchens. When the court nominated him for minister of Personnel, the emperor refused—he did not want Jie away from him. Jie then urged that a crown prince be named, but received no answer. He pressed the matter repeatedly, always without response. When the princes came of age for capping and marriage, he again asked that Prince Yu precede Prince Jing, which displeased the emperor. Soon afterward he received the additional title of grand guardian of the heir apparent as an act of grace.

俺答犯京，階請釋周尚文及戴綸、歐陽安等自效，報可。已，請帝還大內，召群臣計兵事，從之。中官陷寇歸，以俺答求貢書進。帝以示嚴嵩及階，召對便殿。嵩曰：「飢賊耳，不足患。」階曰：「傅城而軍，殺人若刈菅，何謂飢賊？」帝然之，問求貢書安在。嵩出諸袖曰：「禮部事也。」帝復問階。階曰：「寇深矣，不許恐激之怒，許則彼厚要我。請遣譯者紿緩之，我得益為備。援兵集，寇且走。」帝稱善者再。嵩、階因請帝出視朝。寇尋飽去，乃下階疏，弗許貢。

When Altan threatened the capital, Jie urged the release of Zhou Shangwen, Dai Lun, Ouyang An, and others to serve again; the emperor agreed. He then urged the emperor back into the Forbidden City and to convene the court on military affairs; the emperor agreed. A eunuch captured by the enemy came back bearing Altan's letter asking for tributary relations. The emperor showed the letter to Yan Song and Xu Jie and called them to audience in a side hall. Song said, "They are only hungry raiders—hardly worth worrying over. Jie replied, "They lay siege to our cities and kill as if mowing grass—how can you call them hungry raiders?" The emperor agreed and asked where the tribute letter was. Song pulled it from his sleeve and said, "That belongs to the Ministry of Rites. The emperor turned to Jie again. Jie said, "The invaders are deep inside our borders. Refusal may enrage them, but acceptance will let them drive a hard bargain. Send an interpreter to stall them with promises while we strengthen our defenses. Once reinforcements arrive, the raiders will withdraw. The emperor praised the advice twice over. Song and Jie then urged the emperor to appear at court. When the raiders had their fill and left, Jie submitted a memorial refusing tribute.

嵩怙寵弄權，猜害同列。既仇夏言置之死，而言嘗薦階，嵩以是忌之。初，孝烈皇后崩，帝欲祔之廟，念壓於先孝潔皇后，又睿宗入廟非公議，恐後世議祧，遂欲當己世預祧仁宗，以孝烈先祔廟，自為一世，下禮部議。階抗言女後無先入廟者，請祀之奉先殿。禮科都給事中楊思忠亦以為然。疏上，帝大怒。階皇恐謝罪，不能守前議。帝又使階往邯鄲落成呂仙祠。階不欲行，乃以議祔廟解，得緩期。至寇逼城，帝益懈，乃使尚書顧可學行，而內銜階。摘思忠元旦賀表誤，廷杖之百，斥為民，以怵階。嵩因謂階可間也，中傷之百方。一日獨召對，語及階，嵩徐曰：「階所乏非才，但多二心耳。」蓋以其嘗請立太子也。階危甚，度未可與爭，乃謹事嵩，而益精治齋詞迎帝意，左右亦多為地者。帝怒漸解。未幾，加少保，尋進兼文淵閣大學士，參預機務。密疏發咸寧侯仇鸞罪狀。嵩以階與鸞嘗同直，欲因鸞以傾階。及聞鸞罪發自階，乃愕然止，而忌階益甚。

Song abused the emperor's favor to wield power and systematically undermined his peers. He had already destroyed Xia Yan, who had once recommended Jie; for that reason Song came to resent Jie. When Empress Xiaolie died, the emperor wanted her enshrined in the ancestral temple. She would rank below the late Empress Xiaojie, and Ruizong's admission had never won broad approval—he feared future debate over removing an ancestor. He therefore planned to remove Renzong from the temple in his own lifetime, install Xiaolie first as a separate generation, and sent the question to the Ministry of Rites. Jie argued that no empress had ever entered the main temple ahead of her predecessors and urged worship for her in the Hall of Ancestors instead. Yang Sizhong, chief supervising secretary for rites, agreed with him. When the memorial reached him, the emperor flew into a rage. Jie was terrified and apologized, unable to stand by his earlier view. The emperor also ordered him to Handan to dedicate the shrine to the Immortal Lü. Unwilling to go, he used the temple dispute as a pretext and won a delay. When the enemy reached the walls the emperor relented and sent Minister Gu Kexue in his place, but inwardly he bore a grudge against Jie. He seized on a mistake in Sizhong's New Year memorial, had him beaten a hundred strokes at court, and banished him to common status to frighten Jie. Song decided Jie was vulnerable and attacked him from every angle. One day, in a private audience, talk turned to Jie. Song said slowly, "Jie is not short of talent—only of single-minded loyalty. He meant Jie's earlier petitions to name the crown prince. Jie was in grave peril. Seeing he could not yet fight back, he deferred to Song while polishing the ritual prayers that pleased the emperor; courtiers around the throne also smoothed his way. The emperor's anger slowly subsided. Soon he was made junior guardian, then grand secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion with a voice in policy. In a secret memorial he exposed the crimes of Marquis Qiu Luan of Xianning. Song hoped to use Luan—who had once served on duty with Jie—to bring Jie down. Learning that Jie had exposed Luan, he halted in shock but hated him all the more.

帝既誅鸞，益重階，數與謀邊事。時議減鸞所益衛卒，階言：「不可減。又京營積弱之故，卒不在乏而在冗，宜精汰之，取其廩以資賞費。」又請罷提督侍郎孫禬。帝始格於嵩，久而皆用之。一品滿三載，進勛，為柱國，再進兼太子太傅、武英殿大學士。滿六載，兼食大學士俸，再錄子為中書舍人，加少傅。九載，改兼吏部尚書。賜宴禮部，璽書褒諭有加。帝雖重階，稍示形跡。嘗以五色芝授嵩，使練藥，謂階政本所關，不以相及。階皇恐請，乃得之。帝亦漸委任階，亞於嵩。

After Luan's execution the emperor valued Jie more highly and often consulted him on frontier policy. When the court debated cutting the guard troops Luan had added, Jie said, "They must not be cut. The capital armies had grown weak not from too few men but from too many idle ones; he urged a careful purge and redirecting saved rations to rewards. He also urged abolishing the supervisory post held by Vice Minister Sun Kai. At first Song blocked these ideas, but in time the emperor adopted them all. After three years at the top rank he was ennobled Pillar of the State, then made grand tutor of the heir apparent and grand secretary of the Wuying Hall. After six years he drew a second grand secretary's salary, his son was again enrolled as a drafting clerk, and he received the title of junior tutor. In his ninth year he was given concurrent appointment as minister of Personnel. The court gave him a banquet at the Ministry of Rites and an imperial letter of special praise. Though the emperor still valued Jie, he began to show his preferences openly. Once he gave Song five-colored lingzhi to prepare elixirs, saying Jie handled the foundations of government and should not be bothered with such matters. Jie pleaded in alarm before he too was given a share. The emperor also came to rely on Jie, though still below Song.

楊繼盛諭嵩罪，以二王為徵，下錦衣獄。嵩屬陸炳究主使者。階戒炳曰：「即不慎，一及皇子，如宗社何！」又為危語動嵩曰：「上惟二子，必不忍以謝公，所罪左右耳。公奈何顯結宮邸怨也。」嵩忄雙懼，乃寢。倭躪東南，帝數以問階，階力主發兵。階又念邊卒苦飢，請收畿內麥數十萬石，自居庸輸宣府，紫荊輸大同。帝悅，密傳諭行之。楊繼盛之劾嵩也，嵩固疑階。趙錦、王宗茂劾嵩，階又議薄其罰。及是給事中吳時來、主事董傳策、張翀劾嵩不勝，皆下獄。傳策，階裡人；時來、翀，階門生也。嵩遂疏辨，顯謂階主使，帝不聽。有所密詢，皆舍嵩而之階。尋加太子太師。

Yang Jisheng denounced Song's crimes, citing the two princes as proof, and was thrown into the Brocade Guard prison. Song told Lu Bing to find who was behind the accusation. Jie warned Bing, "One careless step that implicates the princes—what then becomes of the dynasty? He also alarmed Song: "The emperor has only those two sons; he will never sacrifice you to settle this—the blame will fall on your retainers. Why openly make enemies of the princes' households?" Song was terrified and let the case drop. As Japanese raiders ravaged the southeast, the emperor repeatedly consulted Jie, who strongly urged military action. Mindful of starving frontier troops, he proposed collecting hundreds of thousands of piculs of wheat from the capital region—shipping it from Juyong to Xuanfu and from Zijing to Datong. The emperor was pleased and secretly ordered it done. When Yang Jisheng attacked Song, Song had already suspected Jie was behind it. When Zhao Jin and Wang Zongmao attacked Yan Song, Jie again urged lighter penalties. Then supervising secretary Wu Shilai and section chiefs Dong Chuance and Zhang Chong attacked Song and failed; all were imprisoned. Chuance was from Jie's home district; Shilai and Chong were his students. Song countered in a memorial, openly accusing Jie of orchestrating the attacks; the emperor would not hear it. On confidential matters the emperor bypassed Song and turned to Jie. Soon he was made grand preceptor of the heir apparent.

帝所居永壽宮災，徙居玉熙殿，隘甚，欲有所營建，以問嵩。嵩請還大內，帝不懌。問階，階請以三殿所余材，責尚書雷禮營之，可計月而就。帝悅，如階議。命階子尚寶丞璠兼工部主事，董其役，十旬而功成。帝即日徙居之，命曰萬壽宮。以階忠，進少師，兼支尚書俸，予一子中書舍人。子璠亦超擢太常少卿。嵩乃日屈。嵩子世蕃貪橫淫縱狀亦漸聞，階乃令御史鄒應龍劾之。帝勒嵩致仕，擢應龍通政司參議。階遂代嵩為首輔。已而帝念嵩供奉勞，憐之。又以調去，忽忽不樂，乃降諭，欲退而修真且傳嗣，復責階等奈何以官與邪物，謂應龍也。階言：「退而傳嗣，臣等不敢奉命。應龍之轉，乃二部奉旨行之。」帝乃已。

When fire destroyed the Yongshou Palace, the emperor moved to the cramped Yuxi Hall and wanted to build anew; he asked Song. Song urged him back into the Forbidden City, which displeased him. Asked Jie, he proposed using surplus timber from the three main halls and putting Minister Lei Li in charge—work that could finish within a month. The emperor agreed and followed Jie's plan. He put Jie's son Fan, a director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, in charge as concurrent Works section chief; the project finished in a hundred days. The emperor moved in the same day and named it the Palace of Long Life. For his loyalty Jie was made junior preceptor, drew a minister's salary as well, and a son was enrolled as a drafting clerk. His son Fan was also leapfrogged to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Song's influence waned daily. As word spread of Shifan's greed and excess, Jie had censor Zou Yinglong impeach him. The emperor forced Song to retire and promoted Yinglong to a post in the Secretariat. Jie then replaced Song as chief grand secretary. Soon the emperor remembered Song's years of service and felt pity. Depressed by Song's removal, he issued a decree saying he wished to retire to cultivate immortality and settle the succession, and blamed Jie for promoting the worthless Yinglong. Jie replied, "We dare not obey an order to abdicate and name an heir. Yinglong's promotion was carried out by the ministries on your order. The emperor dropped the matter.

帝以嵩在直久，而世蕃顧為奸於外，因命階無久直。階窺帝意，言苟為奸，在外猶在內，固請入直。帝以嵩直廬賜階。階榜三語其中曰：「以威福還主上，以政務還諸司，以用舍刑賞還公論。」於是朝士侃侃，得行其意。袁煒數出直，階請召與共擬旨。因言：「事同眾則公，公則百美基；專則私，私則百弊生。」帝頷之。階以張孚敬及嵩導帝猜刻，力反之，務以寬大開帝意。帝惡給事御史抨擊過當，欲有所行遣。階委曲調劑，得輕論。會問階知人之難，階對曰：「大奸似忠，大詐似信。惟廣聽納，則窮凶極惡，人為我攖之；深情隱慝，人為我發之。故聖帝明王，有言必察。即不實，小者置之，大則薄責而容之，以鼓來者。」帝稱善。言路益發舒。

Since Song had held long duty while Shifan schemed outside, the emperor told Jie not to stay on duty indefinitely. Reading the emperor's mind, Jie said villains could scheme from outside as well as within and firmly asked to resume regular duty. The emperor gave Jie Song's duty quarters. Jie posted three maxims there: "Return power to the throne, administration to the ministries, and appointments and punishments to public opinion. Court officials spoke freely again and could act on their convictions. When Yuan Wei came on duty, Jie asked that he join in drafting imperial rescripts. He said, "Shared deliberation is public; public deliberation is the root of every good policy; monopoly is private, and private rule breeds a hundred abuses. The emperor nodded in agreement. Knowing Zhang Fuyi and Song had made the emperor suspicious and harsh, Jie worked to soften him through magnanimity. The emperor resented censors who attacked too fiercely and wanted to punish them. Jie mediated tactfully so lighter penalties were imposed. Asked about the difficulty of judging men, he said, "Great villains seem loyal; great deceivers seem trustworthy. Only by listening widely will others expose the utterly vicious for me; and hidden schemes be brought to light by others for me. That is why sage rulers examine every word spoken to them. Even false reports: dismiss small ones, lightly rebuke large ones but tolerate them, to encourage future speakers. The emperor praised the advice. Free speech at court grew still more open.

寇由牆子嶺入，直趨通州。帝方祠釐，兵部尚書楊博不敢奏，謀之階，檄宣府總兵官馬芳、宣大總督江東入援。芳兵先至，階請亟賞之，又請重東權，俾統諸道兵。寇從通掠香河，階請亟備順義，而以奇兵邀之古北口。寇趨順義，不得入，乃走古北口。其後軍遇參將郭琥伏而敗，頗得其所掠人畜輜重。始帝怒博不早聞與總督楊選之任寇入也，欲罪之未發。階言：「博雖以祠釐禁不敢聞，而二鎮兵皆其所先檄。若選則非尾寇，乃送之出境耳。」帝竟誅選，不罪博。進階建極殿大學士。

Raiders entered through Qiangzi Ridge and drove straight for Tongzhou. While the emperor was at ritual observances, War Minister Yang Bo dared not report the crisis and consulted Jie, who ordered Ma Fang and Jiang Dong to march to the rescue. Fang's troops arrived first; Jie urged immediate rewards and greater authority for Jiang Dong to command all relief forces. As raiders swept from Tongzhou into Xianghe, Jie urged defenses at Shunyi and an ambush at Gubeikou. The raiders rushed Shunyi, failed to break in, and fled toward Gubeikou. Their rear guard fell into Guo Hu's ambush and was routed; much loot was recovered. The emperor was furious that Bo had not reported sooner and that Yang Xuan had let the enemy through, and was about to punish them. Jie said, "Bo could not report during the ritual prohibition, but he had already ordered both garrisons forward. Xuan did not merely trail the enemy—he escorted them out of the realm. The emperor executed Xuan but spared Bo. Jie was promoted to grand secretary of the Jianji Hall.

袁煒以疾歸，道卒，階獨當國。屢請增閣臣，且乞骸骨。乃命嚴訥、李春芳入閣，而待階益隆。以一品十五載考，恩禮特厚，復賜玉帶、繡蟒、珍藥。帝手書問階疾，諄懇如家人，階益恭謹。帝或有所委，通夕不假寐，應制之文，未嘗逾頃刻期。帝日益愛階。階採輿論利便者，白而行之。嘉靖中葉，南北用兵。邊鎮大臣小不當帝指，輒逮下獄誅竄，閣臣復竊顏色為威福。階當國後，緹騎省減，詔獄漸虛，任事者亦得以功名終。於是論者翕然推階為名相。

Yuan Wei fell ill on the road home and died; Jie alone directed the government. He repeatedly asked to add colleagues to the Grand Secretariat and sought retirement. Yan Na and Li Chunfang were brought into the Grand Secretariat while Jie was honored still more highly. At his fifteen-year review at the top rank he received exceptional honors—again a jade belt, python robes, and precious medicines. The emperor wrote in his own hand to ask after Jie's health, as warmly as family; Jie became still more deferential. When entrusted with tasks he worked through the night; imperial compositions never missed their deadline. The emperor's affection for him deepened daily. He gathered sound proposals from public opinion and put them into practice. In mid-Jiajing the empire fought wars north and south. Frontier commanders who displeased the emperor were seized, imprisoned, or executed, while grand secretaries abused his moods for private power. Under Jie the secret police were curbed, the imperial prison emptied, and officials could finish their careers with honor. Commentators hailed him as a statesman of the first rank.

給事、御史多起廢籍，恃階而強，言多過激。帝不能堪，諭階等處之。同列欲擬譴，階曰：「上欲譴，我曹當力爭，乃可導之譴乎。」請傳諭令省改。帝亦勿之罪。是年，詔翰林撰中秋宴致語，階言：「先帝未撤几筵，不可宴樂。」帝為罷宴。帝命中官分督團營，階力陳不可而止。南京振武營兵屢嘩，階欲汰之。慮其據孝陵不可攻也，先令操江都御史唐繼錄督江防兵駐陵傍，而徐下兵部分散之。事遂定。群小璫毆御史於午門，都御史王廷將糾之，階曰：「不得主名，劾何益？且慮彼先誣我。」乃使人以好語誘大璫，先錄其主名。廷疏上，乃分別逮治有差。階之持正應變，多此類也。

Many censors restored from dismissal relied on Jie and spoke with excessive harshness. The emperor could not endure it and told Jie to handle them. Colleagues wanted formal reprimands; Jie said, "If the emperor wants to punish them, we should resist—not help him punish. He asked that they be told privately to moderate their tone. The emperor did not punish them. That year the court ordered Mid-Autumn banquet addresses; Jie said, "The late emperor's mourning rites are not finished—there can be no feast. The emperor canceled the banquet. When the emperor ordered eunuchs to supervise army camps separately, Jie argued fiercely until the order was withdrawn. Troops of Nanjing's Zhenwu Camp mutinied repeatedly; Jie wanted to reduce their numbers. Fearing they might seize the imperial mausoleum and become unassailable, he first stationed river-defense troops nearby, then gradually dispersed them through the military commissions. The crisis was settled. Petty eunuchs beat a censor at the Meridian Gate; when Wang Ting prepared to impeach them, Jie said, "Without names, impeachment is useless. They may accuse us first. He sent someone to coax a senior eunuch with friendly words and record the ringleaders' names. When Wang Ting's memorial went up, the culprits were arrested and punished according to their roles. Jie's integrity and resourcefulness took many such forms.

階所持諍，多宮禁事，行者十八九，中官多側目。會帝幸南海子，階諫，不從。方乞休，而給事中張齊以私怨劾階，階因請歸。帝意亦漸移，許之。賜馳驛。以春芳請，給夫廩，璽書褒美，行人導行，如故事。陛辭，賜白金、寶鈔、彩幣、襲衣。舉朝皆疏留，報聞而已。王廷後刺得張齊納賄事，劾戍之邊。階既行，春芳為首輔，未幾亦歸。拱再出，扼階不遺餘力。郡邑有司希拱指，爭齮晷階，盡奪其田，戍其二子。會拱復為居正所傾而罷，事乃解。萬曆十年，階年八十，詔遣行人存問，賜璽書、金幣。明年卒。贈太師，諡文貞。階立朝有相度，保全善類。嘉、隆之政，多所匡救。間有委蛇，亦不失大節。

Most of his remonstrances concerned palace affairs; the emperor accepted most of them, and many eunuchs resented him. When the emperor visited the Southern Park, Jie remonstrated in vain. He was seeking retirement when Zhang Qi attacked him out of private spite; Jie asked to go home. The emperor's mind had shifted, and he agreed. He was granted imperial post horses. At Li Chunfang's request he received porters, grain allowance, an imperial letter of praise, and an escort home by precedent. At his farewell audience he received silver, treasure notes, silks, and ceremonial robes. The whole court memorialized to keep him; the emperor merely acknowledged receipt. Wang Ting later exposed Zhang Qi's bribery and had him exiled to the frontier. After Jie left, Li Chunfang became chief minister; soon he too retired. When Gao Gong returned to power, he attacked Jie without restraint. Local officials eager to please Gong seized his lands and exiled his two sons. When Gong was in turn ousted by Zhang Juzheng, the persecution ended. In 1582, when Jie was eighty, the throne sent an envoy with an imperial letter, gold, and silks. He died the following year. He was posthumously made grand preceptor with the posthumous title Wenzhen, "Cultivated and Steadfast." In office Jie showed true statesmanship and protected good men. He corrected many abuses of the Jiajing and Longqing reigns. He could be flexible when circumstances required, but he never abandoned his fundamental principles.

弟陟

His younger brother was Sheng.

子璠等

His sons included Fan and others.

階弟陟，嘉靖二十六年進士。累官南京刑部侍郎。子璠，以廕官太常卿；琨、瑛，尚寶卿。孫元春，進士，亦官太常卿。元春孫本高，官錦衣千戶，天啟中拒魏忠賢建祠奪職。崇禎改元，以薦起，累官左都督。諸生念祖，國變城破，與妻張，二妾陸、李，皆自縊。

Jie's younger brother Sheng became a jinshi in 1547. He rose through the ranks to become vice minister of justice at Nanjing. His son Fan entered office by yin privilege and became chief ritual official of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices; Kun and Ying served as directors of the imperial seal. His grandson Yuanchun, also a jinshi, held the same post of chief ritual official. Yuanchun's grandson Bengao was a battalion commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard; under Tianqi he refused to support Wei Zhongxian's temple project and lost his post. At the start of the Chongzhen reign he was recalled on recommendation and eventually rose to left chief commander. The licentiate Nianzu, when the dynasty collapsed and the city fell, hanged himself along with his wife Zhang and his two concubines, Lu and Li.

高拱，字肅卿，新鄭人。嘉靖二十年進士。選庶吉士。逾年，授編修。穆宗居裕邸，出閣請讀，拱與檢討陳以勤併為侍講。世宗諱言立太子，而景王未之國，中外危疑。拱侍裕邸九年，啟王益敦孝謹，敷陳剴切。王甚重之，手書「懷賢忠貞」字賜焉。累遷侍講學士。

Gao Gong, whose style was Suqing, came from Xinzheng. He became a jinshi in 1541. He was chosen as a Hanlin bachelor. A year later he was made a compiler. When the future Muzong was lodged at the Prince of Yu's residence and began formal study outside the inner palace, Gong and Chen Yiqin were appointed together as his lecture companions. Shizong refused even to discuss naming an heir, and since the Prince of Jing had not yet left for his fief, the court and the realm were racked with uncertainty. Gong served at the Prince of Yu residence for nine years, urging the prince toward greater filial devotion and restraint and instructing him with forceful clarity. The prince held him in high esteem and personally wrote the words "Cherishing Worth, Loyal and Steadfast" as a gift. He rose through successive promotions to reader-in-waiting of the Hanlin Academy.

嚴嵩、徐階遞當國，以拱他日當得重，薦之世宗。拜太常卿，掌國子監祭酒事。四十一年，擢禮部左侍郎。尋改吏部，兼學士，掌詹事府事。進禮部尚書，召入直廬。撰齋詞，賜飛魚服。四十五年，拜文淵閣大學士，與郭樸同入閣。拱與樸皆階所薦也。

Yan Song and Xu Jie each held the reins of government in turn, and both recommended Gong to Shizong, judging that he would one day wield great influence. He was made chief ritual official and placed in charge of the chancellor's duties at the Imperial Academy. In 1562 he was promoted to left vice minister of rites. He was soon moved to the Ministry of Personnel, made a grand secretary as well, and put in charge of the Heir Apparent's Household. He was promoted to minister of rites and summoned to take up duty at the palace secretariat. He drafted fasting liturgies and was rewarded with flying-fish robes. In 1566 he was made grand secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion and entered the cabinet alongside Guo Pu. Both Gong and Pu had been Xu Jie's protégés.

世宗居西苑，閣臣直廬在苑中。拱未有子，移家近直廬，時竊出。一日，帝不豫，誤傳非常，拱遽移具出。始階甚親拱，引入直。拱驟貴，負氣頗忤階。給事中胡應嘉，階鄉人也，以劾拱姻親自危。且瞷階方與拱郤，遂劾拱不守直廬，移器用於外。世宗病，勿省也。拱疑應嘉受階指，大憾之。

Shizong lived in the Western Park, and the grand secretaries' duty quarters were inside it. Gong had no son yet, so he moved his family close to the duty quarters and would slip away from time to time. One day, when the emperor fell ill, a false rumor of crisis spread, and Gong hastily moved his household goods out of the quarters. At first Xu Jie had been very close to Gong and had brought him into palace service. Once Gong's rise was sudden, his proud temperament increasingly put him at odds with Xu Jie. Hu Yingjia, a supervising secretary and fellow townsman of Xu Jie, impeached Gong's relatives by marriage and thereby courted danger for himself. Seeing that Xu Jie and Gong were already estranged, he went on to accuse Gong of abandoning the duty quarters and moving his belongings out. Shizong was ill and took no notice of it. Gong believed Yingjia had been acting on Xu Jie's orders and was deeply embittered.

穆宗即位，進少保兼太子太保。階雖為首輔，而拱自以帝舊臣，數與之抗，樸復助之，階漸不能堪。而是時以勤與張居正皆入閣，居正亦侍裕邸講。階草遺詔，獨與居正計，拱心彌不平。會議登極賞軍及請上裁去留大臣事，階悉不從拱議，嫌益深。應嘉掌吏科，佐部院考察，事將竣，忽有所論救。帝責其牴牾，下閣臣議罰。樸奮然曰：「應嘉無人臣禮，當編氓。」階旁睨拱，見拱方怒，勉從之。言路謂拱以私怨逐應嘉，交章劾之。給事中歐陽一敬劾拱尤力。階於拱辯疏，擬旨慰留，而不甚譴言者。拱益怒，相與忿詆閣中。御史齊康為拱劾階，康坐黜。於是言路論拱者無虛日，南京科道至拾遺及之。拱不自安，乞歸，遂以少傅兼太子太傅、尚書、大學士養病去。隆慶元年五月也。拱以舊學蒙眷注，性強直自遂，頗快恩怨，卒不安其位去。既而階亦乞歸。

When Muzong took the throne, Gong was promoted to junior guardian and concurrently junior guardian of the crown prince. Although Xu Jie was chief minister, Gong considered himself the emperor's former tutor and repeatedly challenged him; Guo Pu backed him, and Xu Jie found the situation increasingly unbearable. By then Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng had both entered the cabinet, and Juzheng too had served as a tutor at the Prince of Yu residence. Xu Jie drafted the deathbed edict in consultation with Zhang Juzheng alone, which only deepened Gong's resentment. When the court debated accession rewards for the army and which ministers the emperor should retain or dismiss, Xu Jie rejected every proposal Gong made, and their feud grew worse. Yingjia, who headed the personnel section of the censorate, was assisting the ministries in their evaluations when, just as the work was nearly complete, he suddenly intervened on someone's behalf. The emperor rebuked him for obstruction and sent the matter to the grand secretaries to decide his punishment. Guo Pu declared heatedly, "Yingjia has no sense of a minister's duty and ought to be struck from the rolls and made a commoner." Xu Jie glanced at Gong, saw that he was furious, and reluctantly agreed. Censorial officials charged that Gong had expelled Yingjia out of private spite, and memorial after memorial was submitted against him. Ouyang Yijing, a supervising secretary, attacked Gong with especial vigor. When Gong submitted a defense, Xu Jie drafted a rescript reassuring him and keeping him in office, but did not punish his critics severely. Gong grew still angrier, and within the cabinet they exchanged furious recriminations. The censor Qi Kang, acting for Gong, impeached Xu Jie, and Qi Kang himself was dismissed in consequence. After that, censorial attacks on Gong came almost daily, and the Nanjing censorate even dredged up old grievances against him. Uneasy in office, Gong asked to retire and left on grounds of illness, retaining the titles of junior mentor, junior mentor of the crown prince, minister, and grand secretary. This was in the fifth month of 1567. Favored as the emperor's old tutor, Gong was forceful and self-willed by nature and rather quick to settle old scores; in the end he could not hold his place and withdrew. Soon afterward Xu Jie too asked to retire.

三年冬，帝召拱以大學士兼掌吏部事。拱乃盡反階所為，凡先朝得罪諸臣以遺詔錄用贈恤者，一切報罷。且上疏極論之曰：「《明倫大典》頒示已久。今議事之臣假托詔旨，凡議禮得罪者悉從褒顯，將使獻皇在廟之靈何以為享？先帝在天之靈何以為心？而陛下歲時入廟，亦何以對越二聖？臣以為未可。」帝深然之。法司坐方士王金等子弒父律。拱覆上疏曰：「人君隕於非命，不得正終，其名至不美。先帝臨御四十五載，得歲六十有餘。末年抱病，經歲上賓，壽考令終，曾無暴遽。今謂先帝為王金所害，誣以不得正終，天下後世視先帝為何如主？乞下法司改議。」帝復然拱言，命減戍。拱之再出，專與階修郤，所論皆欲以中階重其罪。賴帝仁柔，弗之竟也。階子弟頗橫鄉里。拱以前知府蔡國熙為監司，簿錄其諸子，皆編戍。所以扼階者，無不至。逮拱去位，乃得解。

In the winter of the third year of Longqing the emperor recalled Gong as grand secretary and put him in charge of the Ministry of Personnel as well. Gong then overturned everything Xu Jie had done, canceling every restoration, posthumous honor, and grant of relief that the deathbed edict had bestowed on ministers punished in the previous reign. He also submitted a forceful memorial arguing that "the Grand Canon of Bright Moral Relations has been in force for a long time. Now the ministers who deliberate policy are using the edict as a pretext to commend and rehabilitate everyone punished in the rites controversy. How can the spirit of Xianhuang in the ancestral temple accept its offerings? What will the late emperor's spirit in heaven make of this? And when Your Majesty enters the temple at the seasonal sacrifices, how will you answer before the two imperial spirits? Your subject believes this cannot be allowed. The emperor strongly agreed. The judicial offices convicted the Daoist Wang Jin and his associates under the statute punishing a son who kills his father. Gong submitted a reply memorial saying, "When a ruler dies by violence and cannot end his life properly, the reputation is utterly unspeakable. The late emperor reigned for forty-five years and lived to more than sixty. In his final years he was ill; after a year he passed away—a long life and a proper end, with nothing sudden about it. To say now that the late emperor was killed by Wang Jin is to slander him with an improper death. What kind of ruler will the world and posterity think he was? I beg that the judicial offices be ordered to revise their finding. The emperor again agreed with Gong and ordered the sentence reduced from exile. On his second return to power Gong devoted himself chiefly to settling his feud with Xu Jie; every proposal he made was intended to strike at Jie and magnify his offenses. Only the emperor's mild temperament kept matters from going that far. Xu Jie's sons and younger kinsmen had become quite overbearing in their home district. Gong sent the former prefect Cai Guoxi as surveillance commissioner to inventory Xu Jie's sons, and all were banished to frontier service. There was no measure he did not use to squeeze Xu Jie. Only when Gong left office did the pressure ease.

拱練習政體，負經濟才，所建白皆可行。其在吏部，欲遍識人才，授諸司以籍，使署賢否，志里姓氏，月要而歲會之。倉卒舉用，皆得其人。又以時方憂邊事，請增置兵部侍郎，以儲總督之選。由侍郎而總督，由總督而本兵，中外更番，邊材自裕。又以兵者專門之學，非素習不可應卒。儲養本兵，當自兵部司屬始。宜慎選司屬，多得智謀才力曉暢軍旅者，久而任之，勿遷他曹。他日邊方兵備督撫之選，皆於是取之。更各取邊地之人以備司屬，如銓司分省故事，則題覆情形可無扞格，並重其賞罰以鼓勵之。凡邊地有司，其責頗重，不宜付雜流及遷謫者。皆報可，著為令。拱又奏請科貢與進士並用，勿循資格。其在部考察，多所參伍，不盡憑文書為黜陟，亦不拘人數多寡，黜者必告以故，使眾咸服。古田瑤賊亂，用殷正茂總督兩廣。曰：「是雖貪，可以集事。」貴州撫臣奏土司安國亨將叛，命阮文中代為巡撫。臨行語之曰：「國亨必不叛，若往，無激變也。」即而如其言。以廣東有司多貪黷，特請旌廉能知府侯必登，以歷其餘。又言馬政、鹽政之官，名為卿、為使，而實以閒局視之，失人廢事，漸不可訓。惟教官驛遞諸司，職卑錄薄，遠道為難，宜銓注近地，以恤其私。詔皆從之。拱所經畫，皆此類也。

Gong understood the workings of government, had genuine talent for statecraft, and every proposal he made was practical. At the Ministry of Personnel he sought to know the full roster of talent: he gave each department registers in which to mark men as worthy or unworthy and record their native places and surnames, with monthly summaries and an annual review. Even when appointments had to be made in haste, the right men were always found. Because border affairs were then pressing, he also asked to add vice ministers of war to build up a reserve pool for grand coordinator appointments. Promotion from vice minister to grand coordinator, and from grand coordinator to minister of war, with rotation between court and frontier, would naturally produce an ample supply of border talent. He also argued that warfare is a specialized art and that without long training one cannot meet sudden emergencies. Training future ministers of war should begin with the Ministry of War's own staff. Staff should be chosen with care, favoring men of intelligence, strategy, ability, and military experience; they should serve long terms and not be transferred to other departments. Future appointments to frontier defense and governorships should all be drawn from this pool. Men from each frontier region should also be recruited for staff posts, following the old practice of dividing personnel work by province, so that memorials and replies would not be at cross purposes; rewards and punishments should be strengthened to encourage them. Frontier prefects and magistrates bear heavy responsibility and should not be entrusted to miscellaneous appointees or men under demotion and transfer. All of these proposals were approved and promulgated as regulations. Gong also memorialized that tribute graduates and jinshi be employed together, without slavish adherence to seniority. In his ministry evaluations he weighed many factors and did not rely solely on paperwork for promotions and demotions; he also did not fix a quota for dismissals, and those dismissed were always told why, so that all were persuaded. When Yao rebels rose in Gutian, he appointed Yin Zhengmao grand coordinator of Guangdong and Guangxi. He said, "Greedy though he is, he can get things done. When the Guizhou governor reported that the native chieftain An Guoheng was about to rebel, he appointed Ruan Wenzhong to replace him as grand coordinator. Before Ruan left, Gong told him, "Guoheng will not rebel; when you arrive, do not provoke trouble. Soon afterward events proved him right. Because so many Guangdong officials were corrupt, he specially recommended honoring the upright and capable prefect Hou Bideng as an example to the rest. He also argued that the officials in charge of horse policy and salt policy, though titled directors and commissioners, were treated in practice as sinecures; talent was wasted, business neglected, and the custom had become a bad precedent. For education officers, courier offices, and the like, whose posts were low in rank and pay and for whom distant assignment was a hardship, he urged that appointments be made close to home as a measure of consideration. The throne approved all of these proposals. Gao Gong's plans were all of this kind.

俺答孫把漢那吉來降，總督王崇古受之，請於朝，乞授以官。朝議多以為不可，拱與居正力主之。遂排眾議請於上，而封貢以成。事具崇古傳。進拱少師兼太子太師、尚書、大學士，改建極殿。拱以邊境稍寧，恐將士惰玩，復請敕邊臣及時閒暇，嚴為整頓，仍時遣大臣閱視。帝皆從之。遼東奏捷，進柱國、中極殿大學士。

Altan Khan's grandson Ba Han Naji came over to the Ming side; Grand Coordinator Wang Chonggu received him, reported the matter to court, and asked that an official post be granted to him. Most at court thought it inadvisable, but Gong and Zhang Juzheng vigorously argued in its favor. He overrode the opposition and appealed to the emperor, and tribute relations were successfully established. The affair is fully recorded in Wang Chonggu's biography. Gong was promoted to Junior Preceptor with concurrent titles as Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent, Minister, and Grand Secretary, and given the Jianji Hall grand secretaryship. Because the frontier had grown somewhat quiet, Gong feared the troops would slacken and grow careless; he again asked that border officials be ordered, in any spare time they had, to tighten discipline and defenses, and that senior ministers be sent from time to time to inspect. The emperor approved all of these proposals. After Liaodong reported a victory, he was promoted to Pillar of State and Grand Secretary of Zhongji Hall.

尋考察科道，拱請與都察院同事。時大學士趙貞吉掌都察院，持議稍異同。給事中韓楫劾貞吉有所私庇。貞吉疑拱嗾之，遂抗章劾拱，拱亦疏辨。帝不直貞吉，令致仕去。拱既逐貞吉，專橫益著。尚寶卿劉奮庸上疏陰斥之，給事中曹大埜疏劾其不忠十事，皆謫外任。拱初持清操，後其門生、親串頗以賄聞，致物議。帝終眷拱不衰也。

Soon afterward, when the censorate and remonstrance officials were being evaluated, Gong asked to take part in the work together with the Censorate. At the time Grand Secretary Zhao Zhenji was directing the Censorate, and his views differed somewhat from Gong's. Supervising Secretary Han Ji impeached Zhao Zhenji for showing favoritism. Zhenji suspected Gong had put Han up to it and submitted a forceful memorial impeaching Gong; Gong in turn submitted a memorial defending himself. The emperor did not take Zhenji's side and ordered him to retire from office. Once Gong had driven Zhenji out, his overbearing conduct became even more conspicuous. Court of Imperial Seals Director Liu Fenyong submitted a memorial that obliquely rebuked him, and Supervising Secretary Cao Daye submitted a memorial impeaching him on ten counts of disloyalty; both were demoted to posts outside the capital. At first Gong had a reputation for integrity, but later his students and kinsmen were often rumored to accept bribes, provoking public criticism. The emperor's favor toward Gong never waned.

始拱為祭酒，居正為司業，相友善，拱亟稱居正才。及是李春芳、陳以勤皆去，拱為首輔，居正肩隨之。拱性直而傲，同官殷士儋輩不能堪，居正獨退然下之，拱不之察也。馮保者，中人，性黠，次當掌司禮監，拱薦陳洪及孟沖，帝從之，保以是怨拱。而居正與保深相結。六年春，帝得疾，大漸，召拱與居正、高儀受顧命而崩。初，帝意專屬閣臣，而中官矯遺詔命與馮保共事。

When Gong first served as chancellor of the National Academy and Juzheng as vice chancellor, they were on friendly terms, and Gong often praised Juzheng's talent. By then Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin had both left office; Gong became chief grand secretary, and Juzheng followed close behind him. Gong was upright but arrogant by nature; colleagues such as Yin Shidan could not endure him, but Juzheng alone deferentially kept himself below Gong, and Gong did not notice. Feng Bao was a eunuch, clever by nature, and next in line to head the Directorate of Ceremonial. Gong recommended Chen Hong and Meng Chong instead; the emperor agreed, and Bao resented Gong for it. Juzheng, meanwhile, had formed a deep alliance with Bao. In the spring of the sixth year the emperor fell gravely ill; he summoned Gong, Juzheng, and Gao Yi to receive his deathbed charge, then died. At first the emperor had intended to entrust affairs solely to the grand secretaries, but the eunuchs forged the testamentary edict so that Gong was ordered to serve jointly with Feng Bao.

神宗即位，拱以主上幼沖，懲中官專政，條奏請詘司禮權，還之內閣。又命給事中雒遒、程文合疏攻保，而己從中擬旨逐之。拱使人報居正，居正陽諾之，而私以語保。保訴於太后，謂拱擅權，不可容。太后頷之。明日，召群臣入，宣兩宮及帝詔。拱意必逐保也，急趨入。比宣詔，則數拱罪而逐之。拱伏地不能起，居正掖之出，僦騾車出宣武門。居正乃與儀請留拱，弗許。請得乘傳，許之。拱既去，保憾未釋。復構王大臣獄，欲連及拱，已而得寢。居家數年，卒。居正請復其官，與祭葬如例。中旨給半葬，祭文仍寓貶詞雲。久之，廷議論拱功，贈太師，諡文襄，廕嗣子務觀為尚寶丞。

When Shenzong ascended the throne, Gong, seeing that the emperor was still a child and mindful of eunuch domination, submitted a detailed memorial asking that the Directorate of Ceremonial be stripped of its power and that authority be restored to the inner cabinet. He also ordered Supervising Secretaries Luo Qiu and Cheng Wen to submit a joint memorial attacking Bao, while he himself would draft from within an edict to dismiss him. Gong sent word to Juzheng; Juzheng agreed openly, but secretly told Bao. Bao appealed to the empress dowager, saying Gong was seizing power and could not be tolerated. The empress dowager nodded in agreement. The next day the ministers were summoned in, and edicts from the two palaces and the emperor were proclaimed. Gong assumed Bao would surely be expelled and hurried in. When the edicts were read, they listed Gong's crimes and expelled him instead. Gong prostrated himself and could not get up; Juzheng helped him out, and he hired a mule cart and left through Xuanwu Gate. Juzheng then joined Gao Yi in asking that Gong be kept on, but the request was denied. They asked that he be allowed use of the post relay, and this was granted. After Gong had gone, Bao's resentment was still not satisfied. He again engineered the Wang Dachen case, hoping to implicate Gong, but in the end the matter was dropped. He lived at home for several years, then died. Juzheng asked that his offices be restored and that he be granted the customary sacrificial and burial honors. An imperial rescript granted only half the customary burial honors, and the sacrificial text still contained language of censure. After some time the court reviewed Gong's merits; he was posthumously granted the title Grand Preceptor, given the posthumous name Wenxiang, and his heir son Wuguan was granted appointment as Assistant Director of the Court of Imperial Seals.

附郭樸

Appended biography: Guo Pu.

郭樸，字質夫，安陽人。嘉靖十四年進士。選庶吉士。累官禮部右侍郎，入直西苑。歷吏部左、右侍郎兼太子賓客。南京禮部缺尚書，帝憐樸久次，特加太子少保擢任之。樸辭曰：「幸與撰述，不欲遠離闕下。」帝大喜，命即以太子少保、禮部尚書、詹事府侍直如故。頃之，吏部尚書歐陽必進罷，即以樸代之。越二年，以父喪去。及嚴訥由吏部入閣，帝謀代者。時董份以工部尚書行吏部左侍郎事，方受帝眷，而為人貪狡無行。徐階慮其代訥，急言於帝，起樸故官。樸固請終制，不許。尋以考績，加太子太保。

Guo Pu, whose style was Zhifu, came from Anyang. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of Jiajing. He was selected as a junior compiler in the Hanlin Academy. He rose through the ranks to Vice Minister of Rites and entered service at the Western Park. He successively served as Left and Right Vice Minister of Personnel, concurrently as Preceptor to the Heir Apparent. When the Nanjing Ministry of Rites lacked a minister, the emperor, taking pity on Pu's long wait for promotion, specially added the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and promoted him to the post. Pu declined, saying, "I have the good fortune to assist in compilation and do not wish to leave Your Majesty's presence." The emperor was greatly pleased and ordered that he be immediately appointed Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and Minister of Rites, while continuing his attendance at the Directorate of the Household of the Heir Apparent as before. Soon afterward Minister of Personnel Ouyang Bijin was dismissed, and Pu replaced him. Two years later he left office to observe mourning for his father. When Yan Ne entered the cabinet from the Ministry of Personnel, the emperor began looking for a replacement. At the time Dong Fen, as Minister of Works acting in the duties of Left Vice Minister of Personnel, was enjoying imperial favor, but he was greedy, cunning, and utterly without principle. Xu Jie, fearing that Dong would replace Ne, urgently spoke to the emperor and had Pu restored to his former office. Pu firmly asked to complete his mourning period, but the request was denied. Soon afterward, on the basis of his performance review, he was given the concurrent title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

四十五年，兼武英殿大學士，入預機務，與高拱並命。階早貴，權重，春芳、訥事之謹，至不敢講鈞禮。而樸與拱鄉里相得，事階稍倨，拱尤負才自恣。及世宗崩，階草遺詔，盡反時政之不便者。拱與樸不得與聞，大恚，兩人遂與階有隙。言路劾拱者多及樸。拱謝病歸，樸不自安，亦求去。帝固留之。時樸已加至少傅、太子太傅矣。御史龐尚鵬、凌儒等攻不止，遂三疏乞歸。家居二十餘年卒。贈太傅，諡文簡。

In the forty-fifth year he was concurrently made Grand Secretary of Wuying Hall, entered to participate in state affairs, and appointed together with Gao Gong. Jie had risen early and wielded great power; Chunfang and Ne served him with such deference that they did not even dare insist on equal ceremonial standing. But Pu and Gong, being fellow townsmen, got along well; they were somewhat haughty toward Jie, and Gong especially relied on his talent and acted willfully. When Shizong died, Jie drafted the testamentary edict, reversing all the policies that had proved inconvenient. Gong and Pu were not allowed to take part; greatly angered, the two thereafter fell out with Jie. Many of the remonstrance officers' attacks on Gong also implicated Pu. Gong resigned citing illness and returned home; Pu felt uneasy and also asked to leave office. The emperor firmly kept him in office. By then Pu had already been promoted to Junior Tutor and Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Censors Pang Shangpeng, Ling Ru, and others kept up their attacks without cease; he submitted three memorials asking to retire. He lived at home for more than twenty years, then died. He was posthumously granted the title Grand Tutor and given the posthumous name Wenjian.

樸為人長者，兩典銓衡，以廉著。輔政二年無過。特以拱故，不容於朝，時頗有惜之者。

Pu was by nature a dignified elder; twice he presided over personnel selection and was known for his integrity. In two years as a grand secretary he committed no fault. Only because of his association with Gong could he not remain at court, and many at the time regretted it.

張居正

Zhang Juzheng.

張居正，字叔大，江陵人。少穎敏絕倫。十五為諸生。巡撫顧璘奇其文，曰：「國器也。」未幾，居正舉於鄉，璘解犀帶以贈，且曰：「君異日當腰玉，犀不足溷子。」嘉靖二十六年，居正成進士，改庶吉士。日討求國家典故。徐階輩皆器重之。授編修，請急歸，亡何還職。

Zhang Juzheng, whose style was Shuda, came from Jiangling. From youth he was exceptionally quick and clever. At fifteen he became a licensed student. Grand Coordinator Gu Lin was struck by his writing and said, "This is material for state service. Before long Juzheng passed the provincial examination; Gu unfastened his rhinoceros-horn belt and gave it to him, adding, "One day you will wear jade at your waist; rhinoceros horn is not fit to sully you. In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing Juzheng passed the jinshi examination and was appointed a junior compiler. Day by day he studied the institutions and precedents of the state. Xu Jie and his circle all held him in high regard. Appointed compiler, he requested emergency leave to return home, and before long resumed his post.

居正為人，頎面秀眉目，須長至腹。勇敢任事，豪傑自許。然沉深有城府，莫能測也。嚴嵩為首輔，忌階，善階者皆避匿。居正自如，嵩亦器居正。遷右中允，領國子司業事。與祭酒高拱善，相期以相業。尋還理坊事，遷侍裕邸講讀。王甚賢之，邸中中官亦無不善居正者。而李芳數從問書義，頗及天下事。尋遷右諭德兼侍讀，進侍講學士，領院事。

Juzheng was long-faced, with handsome brows and eyes, and a beard that reached to his belly. Bold and willing to take on affairs, he considered himself a man of heroic stature. Yet he was deep and guarded, and no one could fathom him. Yan Song was chief grand secretary; he envied Jie, and those who favored Jie all kept out of sight. Juzheng conducted himself as usual, and Song also appreciated him. Promoted to Right Sub-Reader, he took charge of the vice-chancellorship of the National Academy. He was on good terms with Chancellor Gao Gong, and they pledged to each other a career as grand secretaries. Soon he returned to Hanlin duties and was promoted to serve the Prince of Yu's establishment as lecturer. The prince held him in high regard, and among the eunuchs in the prince's household none failed to speak well of Juzheng. Li Fang often came to inquire about the meaning of texts, and their talk often ranged to affairs under heaven. Soon he was promoted to Right Preceptor with concurrent duty as Reader, then advanced to Lecturing Academician and head of the academy.

階代嵩首輔，傾心委居正。世宗崩，階草遺詔，引與共謀。尋遷禮部右侍郎兼翰林院學士。月余，與裕邸故講官陳以勤俱入閤，而居正為吏部左侍郎兼東閣大學士。尋充《世宗實錄》總裁，進禮部尚書兼武英殿大學士，加少保兼太子太保，去學士五品僅歲余。時徐階以宿老居首輔，與李春芳皆折節禮士。居正最後入，獨引相體，倨見九卿，無所延納。間出一語輒中肯，人以是嚴憚之，重於他相。

When Jie succeeded Song as chief grand secretary, he entrusted Juzheng with his full confidence. When Shizong died, Jie drafted the testamentary edict and consulted with him. Soon he was promoted to Vice Minister of Rites with concurrent Hanlin Academician. After a little more than a month he and Chen Yiqin, formerly lecturers in the Prince of Yu's establishment, both entered the cabinet, while Juzheng became Left Vice Minister of Personnel with concurrent Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. Soon he was appointed chief compiler of the Veritable Records of Shizong; promoted to Minister of Rites with concurrent Grand Secretary of Wuying Hall, and given the additional titles Junior Guardian with concurrent Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent—advancing more than five ranks in little over a year since leaving his fifth-rank academician post. At the time Xu Jie, an elder statesman, held the chief grand secretaryship, and he and Li Chunfang both humbled themselves to honor scholars. Juzheng had entered the cabinet last, yet he alone assumed the air of a chief minister—haughtily receiving the Nine Ministers and refusing to solicit or welcome others. When he did speak, a single remark would strike to the heart of the matter; men therefore stood in awe of him, and feared him more than they did the other grand secretaries.

高拱以很躁被論去，徐階亦去，春芳為首輔。亡何，趙貞吉入，易視居正。居正與故所善掌司禮者李芳謀，召用拱，俾領吏部，以扼貞吉，而奪春芳政。拱至，益與居正善。春芳尋引去，以勤亦自引，而貞吉、殷士儋皆為所構罷，獨居正與拱在，兩人益相密。拱主封俺答，居正亦贊之，授王崇古等以方略。加柱國、太子太傅。六年滿，加少傅、吏部尚書、建極殿大學士。以遼東戰功，加太子太師。和市成，加少師，余如故。

Gao Gong was driven from office for his harsh and impetuous conduct; Xu Jie departed as well, and Li Chunfang became chief grand secretary. Before long Zhao Zhenji entered the cabinet and treated Juzheng with open contempt. Juzheng conspired with Li Fang, an old ally who controlled the Directorate of Ceremonial, to recall Gao Gong and put him in charge of the Ministry of Personnel—checking Zhao Zhenji and stripping Li Chunfang of real authority. When Gong arrived, he and Juzheng drew even closer. Li Chunfang soon resigned; Chen Yiqin withdrew as well; Zhao Zhenji and Yin Shidan were both framed and driven out. Only Juzheng and Gong remained, and the two grew ever more intimate. Gong advocated enfeoffing Altan Khan; Juzheng endorsed the policy and entrusted Wang Chonggu and others with the strategy. He was given the additional titles Pillar of the State and Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. When his six-year term was complete, he was made Junior Tutor, Minister of Personnel, and Grand Secretary of Jianji Hall. For military merit in Liaodong, he was made Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. When the border market was established, he was made Junior Preceptor; his other titles remained unchanged.

初，徐階既去，令三子事居正謹。而拱銜階甚，嗾言路追論不已，階諸子多坐罪。居正從容為拱言，拱稍心動。而拱客構居正納階子三萬金，拱以誚居正。居正色變，指天誓，辭甚苦。拱謝不審，兩人交遂離。拱又與居正所善中人馮保郄。穆宗不豫，居正與保密處分後事，引保為內助，而拱欲去保。神宗即位，保以兩宮詔旨逐拱，事具拱傳，居正遂代拱為首輔。帝御平臺，召居正獎諭之，賜金幣及繡蟒斗牛服。自是賜賚無虛日。

At first, after Xu Jie had left office, he ordered his three sons to attend on Juzheng with strict deference. But Gao Gong nursed a deep grudge against Xu Jie and incited the censorate and remonstrance officials to pursue him without letup; many of Jie's sons were convicted. Juzheng spoke calmly on Jie's behalf, and Gong was somewhat moved. Then a client of Gong's fabricated a charge that Juzheng had accepted thirty thousand taels of gold from Jie's sons, and Gong used it to rebuke him. Juzheng's face changed; he pointed to heaven and swore his innocence, his words full of anguish. Gong apologized for not having verified the charge, but the friendship between the two was broken. Gong also fell out with Feng Bao, the eunuch whom Juzheng favored. When Emperor Muzong fell ill, Juzheng and Feng Bao secretly made arrangements for what would follow, bringing Bao in as an ally within the palace—while Gong wanted Bao removed. When Emperor Shenzong ascended the throne, Feng Bao used edicts from the two palaces to drive Gao Gong out—the full account is in Gong's biography—and Juzheng then replaced him as chief grand secretary. The emperor went to the terrace, summoned Juzheng, and praised him, bestowing gold, silk coins, and an embroidered python robe with fighting-bull insignia. From then on, gifts and rewards came almost every day.

帝虛己委居正，居正亦慨然以天下為己任，中外想望丰采。居正勸帝遵守祖宗舊制，不必紛更，至講學、親賢、愛民、節用皆急務。帝稱善。大計廷臣，斥諸不職及附麗拱者。復具詔召群臣廷飭之，百僚皆惕息。帝當尊崇兩宮。故事，皇后與天子生母並稱皇太后，而徽號有別。保欲媚帝生母李貴妃，風居正以並尊。居正不敢違，議尊皇后曰仁聖皇太后，皇貴妃曰慈聖皇太后，兩宮遂無別。慈聖徙乾清宮，撫視帝，內任保，而大柄悉以委居正。

The emperor emptied himself and entrusted all affairs to Juzheng; Juzheng in turn took the welfare of the realm upon himself with resolve, and court and country alike looked to him with admiration. Juzheng urged the emperor to hold to the ancestral institutions and avoid needless change, and told him that lecturing on the classics, drawing near to the worthy, cherishing the people, and practicing thrift were all urgent duties. The emperor approved. In the grand assessment of court officials, he expelled the incompetent and those who had attached themselves to Gao Gong. He also drafted an edict summoning the officials to court for a public admonition, and the whole bureaucracy trembled in fear. The emperor was to honor both empress dowagers. By precedent, the empress and the emperor's biological mother were both styled Empress Dowager, but their honorific titles differed. Feng Bao wished to flatter the emperor's biological mother, Consort Li, and hinted to Juzheng that both should be honored equally. Juzheng dared not refuse; it was decided to honor the empress as Empress Dowager Rensheng and the imperial consort as Empress Dowager Cisheng, and the two palaces were thus made equal. Empress Dowager Cisheng moved to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to care for the emperor, trusted Feng Bao within the palace, and entrusted all major power to Juzheng.

居正為政，以尊主權、課吏職、信賞罰、一號令為主。雖萬里外，朝下而夕奉行。黔國公沐朝弼數犯法，當逮，朝議難之。居正擢用其子，馳使縛之，不敢動。既至，請貸其死，錮之南京。氵曹河通，居正以歲賦逾春，發水橫溢，非決則涸，乃採氵曹臣議，督艘卒以孟冬月兌運，及歲初畢發，少罹水患。行之久，太倉粟充盈，可支十年。互市饒馬，乃減太僕種馬，而令民以價納，太僕金亦積四百余萬。又為考成法以責吏治。初，部院覆奏行撫按勘者，嘗稽不報。居正令以大小緩急為限，誤者抵罪。自是，一切不敢飾非，政體為肅。南京小奄醉辱給事中，言者請究治。居正謫其尤激者趙參魯於外以悅保，而徐說保裁抑其黨，毋與六部事。其奉使者，時令緹騎陰詗之。其黨以是怨居正，而心不附保。

Juzheng governed on four principles: revering imperial authority, holding officials to their duties, making rewards and punishments credible, and unifying commands. Even ten thousand li away, what was ordered in the morning was carried out by evening. The Duke of Qian, Mu Chaobi, had repeatedly broken the law and ought to be arrested, but the court hesitated. Juzheng promoted Chaobi's son to office and sent a fast courier to bind him; Chaobi did not dare resist. Once Chaobi arrived at court, Juzheng asked that his life be spared and had him confined in Nanjing. The Grand Canal was open to shipping, but because the annual tribute grain levy extended past spring, when floodwaters surged and overflowed—breaching dikes if not released, drying up if they were—Juzheng adopted the proposals of canal transport officials and supervised boat crews to load and transport grain in the tenth month, completing dispatch by the year's start and suffering far less from flooding. Maintained over time, the Taicang granaries filled to capacity—enough grain to last ten years. Border markets supplied horses in abundance, so he reduced the Court of Imperial Stud's breeding herds and had commoners pay a fee in lieu of stud service; the court's funds eventually accumulated to more than four million taels. He also instituted the accountability assessment law to enforce official discipline. At first, when ministries and boards submitted memorials for provincial governors and surveillance commissioners to investigate, replies were often long delayed or never sent at all. Juzheng set deadlines according to the magnitude and urgency of each matter; those who missed them were punished. From then on no one dared conceal faults, and the conduct of government grew stern. A minor eunuch in Nanjing, drunk, insulted a supervising secretary; memorialists called for investigation and punishment. Juzheng banished the most vehement critic, Zhao Canlu, to a post abroad to please Feng Bao, and gradually persuaded Bao to restrain his faction from meddling in the affairs of the Six Ministries. For eunuchs sent on missions, he would at times have imperial guards secretly watch them. The eunuch faction therefore resented Juzheng, yet their loyalty to Feng Bao was not wholehearted.

居正以御史在外，往往凌撫臣，痛欲折之。一事小不合，詬責隨下，又敕其長加考察。給事中余懋學請行寬大之政，居正以為風己，削其職。御史傅應禎繼言之，尤切。下詔獄，杖戍。給事中徐貞明等群擁入獄，視具橐饘，亦逮謫外。御史劉台按遼東，誤奏捷。居正方引故事繩督之，台抗章論居正專恣不法，居正怒甚。帝為下臺詔獄，命杖百，遠戍。居正陽具疏救之，僅奪其職。已，卒戍台。由是諸給事御史益畏居正，而心不平。

Juzheng resented that censors abroad often overrode provincial officials, and was determined to break their arrogance. On the slightest disagreement, rebukes and blame followed at once; he also ordered their superiors to mark them down in the official assessment. Supervising Secretary Yu Maoxue called for a more lenient government; Juzheng took it as a personal attack and stripped him of his post. Censor Fu Yingqi followed with the same argument, even more sharply. He was sent to the imperial prison, beaten, and banished to frontier service. Supervising Secretaries Xu Zhenming and others crowded into the prison to bring him food; they too were arrested and banished to posts abroad. Censor Liu Tai was inspecting Liaodong when he mistakenly memorialized a false victory. Juzheng was invoking precedent to discipline him when Tai submitted a defiant memorial accusing Juzheng of arbitrary and unlawful conduct; Juzheng was furious. The emperor had Tai sent to the imperial prison, ordered him beaten a hundred strokes, and banished him to distant service. Juzheng ostensibly submitted a memorial to save him, asking only that he be stripped of his post. Before long, Tai was banished to frontier service after all. From this the supervising secretaries and censors feared Juzheng all the more, yet nursed deeper resentment.

當是時，太后以帝沖年，尊禮居正甚至，同列呂調陽莫敢異同。及吏部左侍郎張四維入，恂恂若屬吏，不敢以僚自處。

At this time the empress dowager, because the emperor was still a boy, honored Juzheng to the utmost; his colleague Lü Diaoyang dared not disagree. When Left Vice Minister of Personnel Zhang Siwei entered the cabinet, he was deferential as a subordinate might be, not daring to treat himself as Juzheng's equal.

居正喜建豎，能以智數馭下，人多樂為之盡。俺答款塞，久不為害。獨小王子部眾十余萬，東北直遼左，以不獲通互市，數入寇。居正用李成梁鎮遼，戚繼光鎮薊門。成梁力戰卻敵，功多至封伯，而繼光守備甚設。居正皆右之，邊境晏然。兩廣督撫殷正茂、凌雲翼等亦數破賊有功。浙江兵民再作亂，用張佳胤往撫即定，故世稱居正知人。然持法嚴。核驛遞，省冗官，清庠序，多所澄汰。公卿群吏不得乘傳，與商旅無別。郎署以缺少，需次者輒不得補。大邑士子額隘，艱於進取。亦多怨之者。

Juzheng loved to build his reputation and could use stratagem to control subordinates; many gladly gave their all for him. Altan Khan had submitted at the border and had long ceased to threaten the realm. Only the Little Prince, with a following of more than a hundred thousand, pressing northeast toward eastern Liaodong, raided repeatedly because he could not obtain access to the border markets. Juzheng put Li Chenliang in command at Liaodong and Qi Jiguang at Jimen. Chenliang fought hard and drove the enemy back, accumulating enough merit to be enfeoffed as an earl; Jiguang's defenses were meticulously prepared. Juzheng backed both men, and the borders were tranquil. The governors-general and grand coordinators of the Two Guangs—Yin Zhengmao, Ling Yunyi, and others—also repeatedly defeated bandits with distinction. When soldiers and commoners in Zhejiang rebelled again, Juzheng sent Zhang Jiayin to pacify them and the trouble was quickly settled; the age therefore praised Juzheng for knowing how to choose men. Yet he enforced the law with rigor. He audited the courier relay system, cut redundant officials, cleared out the schools, and eliminated many posts in a general review. Grand dukes, ministers, and officials could no longer ride the official relay horses; they were treated no differently from merchants and travelers. Because offices lacked vacancies, those waiting their turn for appointment could not be placed. In large prefectures the examination quotas were tight, and advancement was hard. Many resented him as well.

時承平久，群盜蝟起，至入城市劫府庫，有司恆諱之，居正嚴其禁。匿弗舉者，雖循吏必黜。得盜即斬決，有司莫敢飾情。盜邊海錢米盈數，例皆斬，然往往長系或瘐死。居正獨亟斬之，而追捕其家屬。盜賊為衰止。而奉行不便者，相率為怨言，居正不恤也。

Peace had lasted so long that bandits sprang up everywhere, even entering cities to loot treasuries; local officials habitually concealed the fact, and Juzheng strictly forbade such cover-ups. Those who concealed crimes and failed to report them were dismissed—even conscientious officials. Bandits were executed on capture, and officials dared not shield them. Bandits who stole grain or money along the coast in amounts that met the statutory threshold were by rule all executed, yet in practice they were often held for long periods or died in custody from illness. Juzheng alone insisted on swift execution and pursuit of the culprits' families. Banditry accordingly declined. Those for whom the new measures were inconvenient joined in complaint, but Juzheng paid no heed.

慈聖太后將還慈寧宮，諭居正謂：「我不能視皇帝朝夕，恐不若前者之向學、勤政，有累先帝付托。先生有師保之責，與諸臣異。其為我朝夕納誨，以輔台德，用終先帝憑幾之誼。」因賜坐蟒、白金、彩幣。未幾，丁父憂。帝遣司禮中官慰問，視粥藥，止哭，絡繹道路，三宮膊贈甚厚。

As Empress Dowager Cisheng was about to return to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, she instructed Juzheng: "I cannot watch over the emperor morning and evening; I fear he will not study and govern as diligently as before, and so fail the trust the late emperor placed in us. Sir, you bear the responsibility of tutor and guardian—unlike the other ministers. Please instruct him for me day and night, to nurture his virtue as ruler and fulfill the bond the late emperor sealed at his deathbed." She then bestowed on him a python robe for seated wear, white gold, and colored silks. Before long he entered mourning for his father's death. The emperor sent eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial to console him, oversee his gruel and medicine, and restrain excessive weeping; they thronged the roads, and the three palaces sent lavish condolence gifts.

戶部侍郎李幼孜欲媚居正，倡奪情議，居正惑之。馮保亦固留居正。諸翰林王錫爵、張位、趙志皋、吳中行、趙用賢、習孔教、沈懋學輩皆以為不可，弗聽。吏部尚書張瀚以持慰留旨，被逐去。御史曾士楚、給事中陳三謨等遂交章請留。中行、用賢及員外郎艾穆、主事沈思孝、進士鄒元標相繼爭之。皆坐廷杖，謫斥有差。時彗星從東南方起，長亙天。人情洶洶，指目居正，至懸謗書通衢。帝詔諭群臣，再及者誅無赦，謗乃已。於是使居正子編修嗣修與司禮太監魏朝馳傳往代司喪。禮部主事曹誥治祭，工部主事徐應聘治喪。居正請無造朝，以青衣、素服、角帶入閣治政，侍經筵講讀，又請辭歲俸。帝許之。及帝舉大婚禮，居正吉服從事。給事中李淶言其非禮，居正怒，出為僉事。時帝顧居正益重，常賜居正札，稱「元輔張少師先生」，待以師禮。

Vice Minister of Revenue Li Youzhi wished to flatter Juzheng and initiated the debate on retaining office during mourning; Juzheng was swayed. Feng Bao also pressed hard for Juzheng to remain in office. The Hanlin scholars Wang Xijue, Zhang Wei, Zhao Zhigao, Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, Xi Kongjiao, Shen Maoxue, and others all said it was impermissible; he would not listen. Minister of Personnel Zhang Han, for refusing to endorse the edict urging Juzheng to remain, was driven from office. Censors Zeng Shichu, supervising secretaries Chen Sanmo, and others then submitted successive memorials asking that he stay. Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, Outside Section Director Ai Mu, Section Director Shen Sixiao, and jinshi graduate Zou Yuanbiao successively protested. All were sentenced to beating at court and banishment in varying degrees. At the time a comet rose in the southeast and stretched long across the sky. Public feeling ran high; eyes turned on Juzheng, and slander sheets were even posted in the public streets. The emperor issued an edict instructing the officials that anyone who raised the matter again would be executed without pardon; the slander then ceased. The emperor then sent Juzheng's son, Hanlin Compiler S Xiu, and the Director of Ceremonies eunuch Wei Chao by relay post to Jiangling to manage the funeral rites on his behalf. Ministry of Rites Section Director Cao Gao oversaw the sacrificial rites, and Ministry of Works Section Director Xu Yingpin oversaw the funeral arrangements. Juzheng asked to be excused from court audience, to enter the Grand Secretariat in blue garments, plain mourning dress, and a cornered belt to conduct state business, to continue lecturing at the Classics Lectern, and also to forgo his annual stipend. The emperor granted his requests. When the emperor celebrated his grand wedding, Juzheng took part wearing festive ceremonial dress. Supervising Secretary Li Lai protested that this violated ritual propriety; Juzheng, enraged, had him transferred out to serve as an Assistant Commissioner. The emperor now held Juzheng in ever higher esteem, often sending him personal notes addressed to "Grand Tutor Zhang, Junior Preceptor, Sir," and treating him with the deference owed a teacher.

居正乞歸葬父，帝使尚寶少卿鄭欽、錦衣指揮史繼書護歸，期三月，葬畢即上道。仍命撫按諸臣先期馳賜璽書敦諭。范「帝賚忠良」銀印以賜之，如楊士奇、張孚敬例，得密封言事。戒次輔呂調陽等「有大事毋得專決，馳驛之江陵，聽張先生處分。」居正請廣內閣員，詔即令居正推。居正因推禮部尚書馬自強、吏部右侍郎申時行入閣。自強素迕居正，不自意得之，頗德居正，而時行與四維皆自昵於居正，居正乃安意去。帝及兩宮賜賚慰諭有加禮，遣司禮太監張宏供張餞郊外，百僚班送。所過地，有司節廚傳，治道路。遼東奏大捷，帝復歸功居正。使使馳諭，俾定爵賞。居正為條列以聞。調陽益內慚，堅臥，累疏乞休不出。

Juzheng petitioned to return home and bury his father. The emperor sent Vice Commissioner of the Imperial Insignia Zheng Qin and Embroidered-Uniform Guard Commander Shi Jishu to escort him, granting three months' leave and ordering him to resume the journey as soon as the funeral was over. He also ordered the provincial surveillance and administration officials along the route to send ahead imperial sealed letters of encouragement and instruction. He had cast for him a silver seal bearing the inscription "The Emperor Rewards the Loyal and Worthy," following the precedents of Yang Shiqi and Zhang Fuyi, and granted him the privilege of submitting sealed memorials on state affairs. He instructed Secondary Grand Secretary Lü Diaoyang and the others: "On major affairs you must not decide on your own; send word by relay post to Jiangling and defer to Master Zhang's judgment." Juzheng then asked to enlarge the Grand Secretariat, and an edict immediately directed him to submit nominations. Juzheng accordingly nominated Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang and Vice Minister of Personnel Shen Shixing for appointment to the Grand Secretariat. Ma Ziqiang had long been at odds with Juzheng and never expected the appointment; he was deeply grateful. Shen Shixing and Zhang Siwei both cultivated close ties with Juzheng of their own accord, and so Juzheng left for home with his mind at ease. The emperor and both palaces showered him with gifts and words of consolation befitting his rank, sent Ceremonies eunuch Zhang Hong to provide a farewell feast outside the city, and the entire official corps lined up to see him off. Everywhere he passed, local officials prepared relay stations and provisions and saw to the repair of the roads. When Liaodong reported a great victory, the emperor once again credited Juzheng with the achievement. He dispatched envoys by relay post to convey the news and instructed Juzheng to determine the ranks and rewards to be granted. Juzheng drew up an itemized recommendation and submitted it to the throne. Lü Diaoyang grew ever more ashamed at heart; he took to his bed and repeatedly submitted memorials begging to retire, refusing to come out.

居正言母老不能冒炎暑，請俟清涼上道。於是內閣、兩都部院寺卿、給事、御史俱上章，請趣居正亟還朝。帝遣錦衣指揮翟汝敬馳傳往迎，計日以俟；而令中官護太夫人以秋日由水道行。居正所過，守臣率長跪，撫按大吏越界迎送，身為前驅。道經襄陽，襄王出候，要居正宴。故事，雖公侯謁王執臣禮，居正具，賓主而出。過南陽，唐王亦如之。抵郊外，詔遣司禮太監何進宴勞，兩宮亦各遣大璫李琦、李用宣諭，賜八寶金釘川扇、御膳、餅果、醪醴，百僚復班迎。入朝，帝慰勞懇篤，予假十日而後入閣，仍賜白金、彩幣、寶鈔、羊酒，因引見兩宮。及秋，魏朝奉居正母行，儀從煊赫，觀者如堵。比至，帝與兩宮復賜賚加等，慰諭居正母子，幾用家人禮。

Juzheng said his mother was too old to endure the summer heat and asked to delay his return until the weather turned cool. Thereupon the Grand Secretariat, ministers and directors of the Two Capitals' boards, commissions, and courts, supervising secretaries, and censors all submitted memorials urging Juzheng to return to court at once. The emperor sent Embroidered-Uniform Guard Commander Zhai Rujing by relay post to welcome him home, counting the days until his return; and ordered eunuchs to escort his mother by water in the autumn. Wherever Juzheng passed, local defending officials invariably knelt in long obeisance; provincial grand officers crossed their jurisdictions to welcome and escort him, riding ahead in person as outriders. Passing through Xiangyang, the Prince of Xiang came out to receive him and insisted on hosting a banquet for Juzheng. By precedent, even dukes and marquises paid obeisance to a prince as subjects; Juzheng appeared in full official regalia, and he and the prince received each other as equals. Passing through Nanyang, the Prince of Tang did the same. When he reached the suburbs of the capital, an edict sent Ceremonies eunuch He Jin to feast and welcome him; both palaces also dispatched senior eunuchs Li Qi and Li Yong with messages of instruction, bestowing eight-treasure gold-studded Sichuan fans, imperial meals, cakes and fruit, and fine liquor, while the full corps of officials again lined up to receive him. When he entered court, the emperor consoled him with deep warmth, granted ten days' leave before resuming duty in the Grand Secretariat, again bestowed white silver, brocade silks, treasure notes, mutton and wine, and then presented him to both palaces. When autumn came, Wei Chao escorted Juzheng's mother on the journey; the ceremonial procession was dazzling in its splendor, and spectators packed the streets wall to wall. When they arrived, the emperor and both palaces again bestowed gifts of elevated rank and words of consolation on Juzheng and his mother, treating them almost as members of the imperial household.

時帝漸備六宮，太倉銀錢多所宣進。居正乃因戶部進御覽數目陳之，謂每歲入額不敵所出，請帝置坐隅時省覽，量入為出，罷節浮費。疏上，留中。帝復令工部鑄錢給用，居正以利不勝費止之。言官請停蘇、松織造，不聽。居正為面請，得損大半。復請停修武英殿工，及裁外戚遷官恩數，帝多曲從之。帝御文華殿，居正侍講讀畢，以給事中所上災傷疏聞，因請振。復言：「上愛民如子，而在外諸司營私背公，剝民罔上，宜痛鉗以法。而皇上加意撙節，於宮中一切用度、服御、賞賚、佈施，裁省禁止。」帝首肯之，有所蠲貸。居正以江南貴豪怙勢及諸奸猾吏民善逋賦，選大吏精悍者嚴行督責。賦以時輸，國藏日益充，而豪猾率怨居正。

The emperor was gradually filling the Six Palaces, and large sums of silver and coin from the Great Treasury were being ordered into the inner quarters. Juzheng then drew on the revenue figures the Ministry of Revenue submitted for imperial review and memorialized that annual income could not keep pace with expenditure. He asked the emperor to keep the accounts at hand for frequent review, to spend according to income, and to cut back on wasteful expenses. The memorial was submitted and held at court without response. The emperor again ordered the Ministry of Works to cast coin for circulation, but Juzheng blocked the plan on the grounds that the costs would outweigh any benefit. Censorial officials asked that Suzhou and Songjiang textile manufacture be halted, but the emperor would not agree. Juzheng pleaded in person and secured a reduction of more than half. He also asked to halt repairs on the Hall of Martial Glory and to reduce the number of preferments granted to maternal kin; the emperor largely went along. When the emperor held audience at the Hall of Literary Glory and Juzheng had finished his lecturing duties, he reported a supervising secretary's memorial on disaster damage and requested relief funds. He went on to say: "Your Majesty loves the people as a father loves his children, yet officials in the provinces pursue private gain at public expense, squeezing the people and deceiving the throne. They should be sternly restrained by law. Your Majesty should also pay special heed to thrift, cutting back and forbidding all palace expenditures, apparel, rewards, grants, and charitable disbursements." The emperor nodded assent and granted certain remissions and relief. Because Jiangnan's great families relied on their power and many crafty officials and commoners were skilled at evading taxes, Juzheng selected tough, capable senior officials to enforce collection strictly. Taxes were delivered on schedule, the national treasury grew steadily fuller, and the powerful and unscrupulous largely came to resent Juzheng.

居正服將除，帝召吏部問期日，敕賜白玉帶、大紅坐蟒、盤蟒。御平臺召對，慰諭久之。使中官張宏引見慈慶、慈寧兩宮，皆有恩賚，而慈聖皇太后加賜御膳九品，使宏侍宴。

As Juzheng's mourning period was about to end, the emperor summoned the Ministry of Personnel to inquire about the date and by edict bestowed a white jade belt, grand red sitting-python robes, and coiled-python robes. At the Imperial Platform the emperor summoned him for audience and consoled and instructed him at length. He had eunuch Zhang Hong present him to the Ciqing and Cining palaces; both bestowed gifts of favor, and Empress Dowager Cisheng additionally granted a banquet of nine imperial courses and ordered Hong to attend the feast.

帝初政，居正嘗纂古治亂事百余條，繪圖，以俗語解之，使帝易曉。至是，復屬儒臣紀太祖列聖《寶訓》、《寶錄》分類成書，凡四十：曰創業艱難，曰勵精圖治，曰勤學，曰敬天，曰法祖，曰保民，曰謹祭祀，曰崇孝敬，曰端好尚，曰慎起居，曰戒游佚，曰正宮闈，曰教儲貳，曰睦宗籓，曰親賢臣，曰去奸邪，曰納諫，曰理財，曰守法，曰儆戒，曰務實，曰正紀綱，曰審官，曰久任，曰重守令，曰馭近習，曰待外戚，曰重農桑，曰興教化，曰明賞罰，曰信詔令，曰謹名分，曰裁貢獻，曰慎賞賚，曰敦節儉，曰慎刑獄，曰褒功德，曰屏異端，曰節武備，曰御戎狄。其辭多警切，請以經筵之暇進講。又請立起居注，紀帝言動與朝內外事，日用翰林官四員入直，應制詩文及備顧問。帝皆優詔報許。

Early in the reign, Juzheng had compiled more than a hundred episodes of order and disorder from antiquity, illustrated them, and explained them in plain language so the young emperor could easily grasp them. At this point he again charged scholar-officials to compile selections from the Precious Admonitions and Veritable Records of the Taizu and successive emperors, classified into forty volumes: Founding Hardships, Exerting Oneself to Govern Well, Diligence in Learning, Reverence for Heaven, Following the Ancestors, Protecting the People, Care in Sacrifices, Honoring Filial Piety and Respect, Upright Preferences, Care in Daily Conduct, Warning Against Dissipation, Correcting the Inner Palace, Instructing the Heir Apparent, Harmony with the Imperial Clan and Feudatories, Drawing Near Worthy Ministers, Removing the Wicked and Corrupt, Accepting Remonstrance, Managing Finances, Upholding the Law, Warning and Admonition, Pursuing Practical Results, Correcting Institutions and Norms, Examining Officials, Long Tenure in Office, Emphasizing Prefects and Magistrates, Controlling Close Attendants, Treating Maternal Kin, Valuing Agriculture and Sericulture, Promoting Education and Moral Transformation, Clarifying Rewards and Punishments, Trustworthiness of Edicts and Orders, Care in Names and Ranks, Curtailing Tribute Offerings, Care in Bestowal of Rewards, Encouraging Thrift, Care in Penalties and Prisons, Commending Merit and Virtue, Blocking Heterodox Doctrines, Moderating Military Preparations, and Controlling Frontier Barbarians. The language was largely stern and admonitory, and he asked to present and discuss the volumes during intervals at the Classics Lectern. He also asked to establish Daily Records to chronicle the emperor's words and actions and affairs within and beyond the court, with four Hanlin officials on daily duty to compose poetry and prose on command and serve as advisers. The emperor replied to each request with gracious edicts granting approval.

居正自奪情後，益偏恣。其所黜陟，多由愛憎。左右用事之人多通賄賂。馮保客徐爵擢用至錦衣衛指揮同知，署南鎮撫。居正三子皆登上第。蒼頭游七入貲為官，勛戚文武之臣多與往還，通姻好。七具衣冠報謁，列於士大夫。世以此益惡之。

After Juzheng retained office during mourning against custom, he grew all the more partial and overbearing. His dismissals and promotions were largely driven by personal likes and dislikes. Those around him who wielded power were deeply involved in bribery. Feng Bao's client Xu Jue was promoted to Assistant Commander of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard and served as acting Southern Commissioner. All three of Juzheng's sons passed the highest level of the civil examinations. His house servant You Qi bought an official post with money, and many meritorious kin and civil and military officials associated with him and formed marriage alliances. You Qi, dressed in cap and gown, paid return calls of visit and took his place among scholar-officials. Public opinion for this reason turned against him all the more.

亡何，居正病。帝頻頒敕諭問疾，大出金帛為醫藥資。四閱月不愈，百官並齋醮為祈禱。南都、秦、晉、楚、豫諸大吏，亡不建醮。帝令四維等理閣中細務，大事即家令居正平章。居正始自力，後憊甚不能遍閱，然尚不使四維等參之。及病革，乞歸。上復優詔慰留，稱「太師張太岳先生」。居正度不起，薦前禮部尚書潘晟及尚書梁夢龍、侍郎余有丁、許國、陳經邦，已，復薦尚書徐學謨、曾省吾、張學顏、侍郎王篆等可大用。帝為黏御屏。晟，馮保所受書者也，強居正薦之。時居正已昏甚，不能自主矣。及卒，帝為輟朝，諭祭九壇，視國公兼師傅者。居正先以六載滿，加特進中極殿大學士；以九載滿，加賜坐蟒衣，進左柱國，廕一子尚寶丞；以大婚，加歲祿百石，錄子錦衣千戶為指揮僉事；以十二載滿，加太傅；以遼東大捷，進太師，益歲祿二百石，子由指揮僉事進同知。至是，贈上柱國，諡文忠，命四品京卿、錦衣堂上官、司禮太監護喪歸葬。於是四維始為政，而與居正所薦引王篆、曾省吾等交惡。

Before long Juzheng fell ill. The emperor repeatedly issued edicts inquiring after his illness and disbursed large sums of gold and silk for medical expenses. After four months without recovery, officials throughout the court held abstinent rites and prayers on his behalf. Grand officers of the Southern Capital and the Qin, Jin, Chu, and Yu regions all set up prayer altars without exception. The emperor ordered Zhang Siwei and the others to handle minor affairs in the Grand Secretariat, while major matters were to be decided at home by Juzheng. At first Juzheng forced himself to keep working; later he was so exhausted he could not review everything, yet he still would not let Siwei and the others take part. When his illness reached crisis, he begged to retire home. The emperor again replied with a gracious edict consoling him and urging him to remain, addressing him as "Grand Preceptor Master Zhang Taiyue." Believing he would not recover, Juzheng recommended former Minister of Rites Pan Sheng, Minister Liang Menglong, and Vice Ministers Yu Youding, Xu Guo, and Chen Jingbang; he then also recommended Ministers Xu Xuemo, Zeng Shengwu, and Zhang Xueyan, Vice Minister Wang Zhuan, and others as men of great talent. The emperor had the names pasted on the imperial screen. Pan Sheng was a man to whom Feng Bao owed a debt of gratitude, and Feng Bao had pressured Juzheng into recommending him. By then Juzheng was already deeply confused and could no longer decide for himself. When he died, the emperor suspended court and ordered sacrifices at nine altars, treating him as a state duke who had also served as imperial tutor. After six years in office, Juzheng had been specially promoted to Grand Secretary of the Hall of Central Supremacy; after nine years he had been granted sitting-python robes, advanced to Left Pillar of the State, and had one son ennobled as Vice Commissioner of the Imperial Insignia; on account of the grand wedding his annual stipend had been increased by one hundred shi, and his son, a thousand-household Embroidered-Uniform Guard officer, had been enrolled as Assistant Commander; after twelve years he had been made Grand Tutor; after the great Liaodong victory he had been advanced to Grand Preceptor, his annual stipend increased by two hundred shi, and his son promoted from Assistant Commander to Vice Commander. Now he was posthumously enfeoffed as Upper Pillar of the State, given the posthumous name Wenzhong, and four-rank capital directors, senior Embroidered-Uniform Guard officers, and Ceremonies eunuchs were ordered to escort the funeral home for burial. Thereupon Zhang Siwei at last took charge of government, and he fell into bitter conflict with Wang Zhuan, Zeng Shengwu, and others whom Juzheng had promoted.

初，帝所幸中官張誠見惡馮保，斥於外，帝使密詗保及居正。至是，誠復入，悉以兩人交結恣橫狀聞，且謂其寶藏逾天府。帝心動。左右亦浸言保過惡，而四維門人御史李植極論徐爵與保挾詐通姦諸罪。帝執保禁中，逮爵詔獄。謫保奉御居南京，盡籍其家金銀珠寶巨萬計。帝疑居正多蓄，益心艷之。言官劾篆、省吾，並劾居正，篆、省吾俱得罪。新進者益務攻居正。詔奪上柱國、太師，再奪諡。居正諸所引用者，斥削殆盡。召還中行、用賢等，遷官有差。劉台贈官，還其產。御史羊可立復追論居正罪，指居正構遼庶人憲節獄。庶人妃因上疏辯冤，且曰：「庶人金寶萬計，悉入居正。」帝命司禮張誠及侍郎丘橓偕錦衣指揮、給事中籍居正家。誠等將至，荊州守令先期錄人口，錮其門，子女多遁避空室中。比門啟，餓死者十余輩。誠等盡發其諸子兄弟藏，得黃金萬兩，白金十余萬兩。其長子禮部主事敬修不勝刑，自誣服寄三十萬金於省吾、篆及傅作舟等，尋自縊死。事聞，時行等與六卿大臣合疏，請少緩之；刑部尚書潘季馴疏尤激楚。詔留空宅一所、田十頃，贍其母。而御史丁此呂復追論科場事，謂高啟愚以舜、禹命題，為居正策禪受。尚書楊巍等與相駁。此呂出外，啟愚削籍。後言者復攻居正不已。詔盡削居正官秩，奪前所賜璽書、四代誥命，以罪狀示天下，謂當剖棺戮死而姑免之。其弟都指揮居易、子編修嗣修，俱發戍煙瘴地。

Earlier, the eunuch Zhang Cheng, whom the emperor favored, had been hated by Feng Bao and expelled from court; the emperor had him secretly investigate Feng Bao and Juzheng. At this point Zhang Cheng returned to court and fully reported on the two men's collusion and reckless arrogance, adding that their treasure stores exceeded those of the Imperial Treasury. The emperor was shaken. Those around the emperor also gradually denounced Feng Bao's misdeeds, while Zhang Siwei's protégé, Censor Li Zhi, argued at length that Xu Jue and Feng Bao had committed fraud, adultery, and other crimes. The emperor seized Feng Bao and confined him within the palace, and Xu Jue was arrested and sent to the edict prison. Feng Bao was demoted to palace attendant and sent to Nanjing, and the gold, silver, pearls, and jewels of his household were fully inventoried, amounting to tens of thousands. The emperor suspected that Juzheng too had amassed great wealth, and his mind turned all the more to coveting it. Censorial officials impeached Wang Zhuan and Zeng Shengwu, and also impeached Juzheng; Zhuan and Shengwu both suffered punishment. Newly arrived officials devoted themselves all the more to attacking Juzheng. An edict stripped his posthumous enfeoffment as Upper Pillar of the State and Grand Preceptor, and again stripped his posthumous name. Nearly all of those Juzheng had brought into office were dismissed and demoted. Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, and others were recalled and promoted in varying degrees. Liu Tai was posthumously awarded office, and his property was restored. Censor Yang Keli again pursued charges against Juzheng, accusing him of fabricating the treason case against the deposed Liaodong heir Xianjie. The deposed heir's consort thereupon submitted a memorial pleading her innocence, and furthermore said: "The deposed heir's gold and treasure numbered in the tens of thousands — all of it went to Juzheng." The emperor ordered Ceremonies Director Zhang Cheng, Vice Minister Qiu Yun, an Embroidered-Uniform Guard commander, and a supervising secretary to inventory Juzheng's household. As Zhang Cheng and the others were about to arrive, the prefectural and county magistrates of Jingzhou beforehand recorded the household register and bolted the gates; Juzheng's sons and daughters mostly fled and hid in empty rooms. By the time the gate was opened, more than ten people inside had died of starvation. Zhang Cheng and the others fully opened the stores of Juzheng's sons and brothers and found ten thousand taels of gold and more than one hundred thousand taels of silver. His eldest son, Ministry of Rites Section Director Jingxiu, unable to bear the torture, falsely confessed of his own accord that he had sent three hundred thousand taels of gold to Zeng Shengwu, Wang Zhuan, Fu Zuozhou, and others; shortly afterward he hanged himself. When news of the matter reached court, Shen Shixing and others joined the six-minister grand secretaries in a joint memorial asking that the investigation be slightly eased; Minister of Justice Pan Jixun's memorial was especially sharp and uncompromising. An edict granted one vacant residence and ten qing of land to support Jingxiu's mother. Meanwhile Censor Ding Cilu again pursued the examination scandal, alleging that Gao Qiyu's essay topics on Shun and Yu were a design by Juzheng to arrange abdication and succession. Ministers Yang Wei and others rebutted these claims in turn. Ding Cilu was dismissed from office, and Gao Qiyu was struck from the register. Afterward critics again attacked Juzheng without letup. An edict fully stripped Juzheng of all official rank, confiscated the seal letters and patent letters of enfeoffment previously granted to four generations of his family, and published his crimes to the realm, declaring that he deserved to have his coffin opened and corpse executed but was for the moment spared. His younger brother, the commander Yijian, and his son, Hanlin compiler Sizheng, were both banished to miasmic frontier regions.

終萬曆世，無敢白居正者。熹宗時，廷臣稍稍追述之。而鄒元標為都御史，亦稱居正。詔復故官，予葬祭。崇禎三年，禮部侍郎羅喻義等訟居正冤。帝令部議，復二廕及誥命。十三年，敬修孫同敞請復武廕，並復敬修官。帝授同敞中書舍人，而下部議敬修事。尚書李日宣等言：「故輔居正，受遺輔政，事皇祖者十年，肩勞任怨，舉廢飭弛，弼成萬曆初年之治。其時中外乂安，海內殷阜，紀綱法度，莫不修明。功在社稷，日久論定，人益追思。」帝可其奏，復敬修官。

Throughout the remainder of the Wanli reign, no one dared speak up on Juzheng's behalf. Under Emperor Xizong, court officials gradually began to speak of him again. When Zou Yuanbiao served as censor-in-chief, he too spoke in praise of Juzheng. An edict restored his former offices and granted him funeral and sacrificial honors. In the third year of Chongzhen, Vice Minister of Rites Luo Yuyi and others petitioned that Juzheng had been unjustly condemned. The emperor ordered the ministry to deliberate and restored two hereditary privilege appointments and the patent letters of enfeoffment. In the thirteenth year, Jingxiu's grandson Tongchang requested restoration of the military hereditary privilege and the restoration of Jingxiu's office as well. The emperor appointed Tongchang secretary in the Secretariat and referred Jingxiu's case to the ministry for deliberation. Minister Li Rixuan and others stated: "The late Grand Secretary Juzheng received the deathbed charge and assisted in government, serving Our Grandfather for ten years, shouldering toil and accepting blame, raising what was abandoned and tightening what was slack, and helping bring about the good order of the early Wanli years. At that time the empire was peaceful at home and abroad, prosperously abundant throughout the land, and every law and institution was brought into good order. His merit lay with the altars of state; as time passed and judgment settled, people remembered him all the more." The emperor approved the memorial and restored Jingxiu's office.

曾孫同敞

Great-grandson: Tongchang

同敞負志節，感帝恩，益自奮。十五年，奉敕慰問湖廣諸王，因令調兵雲南。未覆命，兩京相繼失，走詣福建。唐王亦念居正功，復其錦衣世廕，授同敞指揮僉事。尋奉使湖南。聞汀州破，依何騰蛟於武岡。永明王用廷臣薦，改授同敞侍讀學士。為總兵官劉承胤所惡，言翰林、吏部、督學必用甲科，乃改同敞尚寶卿。以大學士瞿式耜薦，擢兵部右侍郎兼翰林侍讀學士，總督諸路軍務。

Tongchang possessed lofty integrity; moved by the emperor's kindness, he strove all the more. In the fifteenth year, by imperial order he went to convey condolences to the princes of Huguang and was moreover ordered to mobilize troops in Yunnan. Before he could report back, both capitals fell in succession, and he fled to Fujian. The Prince of Tang also remembered Juzheng's service, restored the family's Embroidered-Uniform Guard hereditary privilege, and appointed Tongchang vice commander. Shortly afterward he was sent on mission to Hunan. When he heard Tingzhou had fallen, he joined He Tengjiao at Wugang. At court recommendation, the Prince of Yongming changed Tongchang's appointment to Reader-in-Waiting in the Hanlin Academy. Disliked by regional commander Liu Chengyin, who argued that the Hanlin Academy, Ministry of Personnel, and education commissioners must be filled from jinshi graduates, Tongchang was then reassigned as Minister of the Court of Imperial Entry. On Grand Secretary Qu Shisi's recommendation, he was promoted to Vice Minister of War and concurrent Hanlin Reader-in-Waiting, with overall command of military affairs on all routes.

同敞有文武材，意氣慷慨。每出師，輒躍馬為諸將先。或敗奔，同敞危坐不去，諸將復還戰，或取勝。軍中以是服同敞。大將王永祚等久圍永州，大兵赴救，胡一青率眾迎敵，戰敗。同敞馳至全州，檄楊國棟兵策應，乃解去。順治七年，大兵破嚴關，諸將盡棄桂林走。城中虛無人，獨式耜端坐府中。適同敞自靈川至，見式耜。式耜曰：「我為留守，當死此。子無城守責，盍去諸？」同敞正色曰：「昔人恥獨為君子，公顧不許同敞共死乎？」式耜喜，取酒與飲，明燭達旦。侵晨被執，諭之降，不從。令為僧，亦不從。乃幽之民舍。雖異室，聲息相聞，兩人日賦詩倡和。閱四十余日，整衣冠就刃，顏色不變。既死，同敞屍植立，首墜躍而前者三，人皆辟易。

Tongchang had both civil and military talent, and his spirit was bold and generous. Whenever he took the field, he would leap on his horse and lead all the other generals. When his troops broke and fled, Tongchang would sit upright without moving; the generals would return to the fight, and sometimes they won. Because of this the army came to respect Tongchang. General Wang Yongzuo and others had long besieged Yongzhou; Qing relief forces arrived; Hu Yiqing led troops to meet them and was defeated. Tongchang galloped to Quanzhou, ordered Yang Guodong's troops to coordinate support from the flank, and the siege was then lifted. In the seventh year of Shunzhi, the Qing army broke through Yanguan Pass; the generals all abandoned Guilin and fled. The city was nearly empty; Shisi alone sat upright in the prefectural yamen. Just then Tongchang arrived from Lingchuan and went to see Shisi. Shisi said: "I am the garrison commissioner; I ought to die here. You bear no responsibility for holding the city — why not go?" Tongchang said sternly: "The ancients were ashamed to stand alone as the gentleman — will you, sir, not allow Tongchang to die with you?" Shisi was delighted; he brought wine for them to drink, and they talked by bright candlelight until dawn. At daybreak they were seized; urged to surrender, they refused. Ordered to become monks, they again refused. They were then confined in a commoner's dwelling. Though they were in separate rooms, they could hear each other's breathing; every day the two composed poems in reply to each other. After more than forty days, they straightened their robes and caps and went to meet the blade; their expressions did not change. After his death, Tongchang's corpse stood upright; his head fell, then leaped forward three times — and everyone shrank back in fear.

而居正第五子允修，字建初，廕尚寶丞。崇禎十七年正月，張獻忠掠荊州，允修題詩於壁，不食而死。

Juzheng's fifth son Yunxiu, whose style was Jianchu, held a hereditary appointment as vice director of the Court of Imperial Regalia. In the first month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong plundered Jingzhou; Yunxiu wrote a poem on the wall and starved himself to death.

贊曰：徐階以恭勤結主知，器量深沉。雖任智數，要為不失其正。高拱才略自許，負氣凌人。及為馮保所逐，柴車即路。傾輒相尋，有自來已。張居正通識時變，勇於任事。神宗初政，起衰振隳，不可謂非幹濟才。而威柄之操，幾於震主，卒致禍發身後。《書》曰「臣罔以寵利居成功」，可弗戒哉！

The commentator says: Xu Jie, through reverence and diligence, won the sovereign's confidence, and his capacity was deep and forbearing. Though he employed stratagem, in the essentials he never lost his rectitude. Gao Gong prided himself on talent and strategy, and with overbearing spirit looked down on others. When he was driven out by Feng Bao, he took to the road in an oxcart. One downfall chasing another — such has it always been. Zhang Juzheng thoroughly understood the changes of the times and was bold in taking on affairs. In the early government of Emperor Shenzong, he raised what was declining and restored what was ruined; one cannot say he was not a man of practical administrative talent. Yet in grasping such awesome power he nearly overshadowed his sovereign, and in the end brought upon himself disaster that erupted after his death. The Book of Documents says, "A minister must not rest in favor and gain upon success" — ought one not take warning from this!

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