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卷二百十四 列傳第一百〇二 楊博 馬森 劉體乾 王廷 葛守禮 靳學顏

Volume 214 Biographies 102: Yang Bo, Ma Sen, Liu Tigan, Wang Ting, Ge Shouli, Jin Xueyan

Chapter 214 of 明史 · History of Ming
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1
Yang Bo (son Junmin)〉 Ma Sen, Liu Tigan, and Wang Ting (Mao Kai)〉 Ge Shouli and Jin Xueyan (younger brother Xuezeng)〉
2
調 使
Yang Bo, styled Weiyue, was a native of Puzhou. His father Yang Zhan served as a censor and ended his career as Surveillance Vice Commissioner of Sichuan. Bo passed the jinshi examinations in the eighth year of the Jiajing reign (1529), was appointed magistrate of Zhouzhi, and was then transferred to Chang'an. He was summoned to serve as a secretary in the Armory Bureau of the Ministry of War and rose through the ranks to become a director in the Operations Bureau. When Grand Secretary Zhai Luan inspected the Nine Frontier Circuits, he took Bo along with him. Everywhere they went, he recorded in memorials the lay of the land, local customs, and how many troops there were and how strong they were. When they reached Suzhou, several hundred dependent tribesmen blocked the road demanding gifts. Zhai worried that still more would arrive and that they could not afford to reward them all. Bo urged Zhai to parade his full ceremonial guard, gather the tribesmen outside the camp gate, and rebuke them: the Son of Heaven's chief minister had arrived, yet they had not all come far to welcome him—they would be bound and handed over to the local magistrates. The tribesmen prostrated themselves and pleaded for mercy; he then gave modest rewards only to those who had come first, and the rest, terrified, did not come again. On his return, Zhai recommended Bo as someone fit to be entrusted with weighty affairs. Year after year Ginggang and Altan raided the frontier, and Minister Zhang Zan relied on Bo for everything. The emperor would sometimes send handwritten edicts in the middle of the night; Bo answered each matter point by point, and every reply pleased him. When Mao Bowen succeeded Zhang Zan, Bo was due for promotion elsewhere, but the emperor specially ordered that he be kept on. He was later transferred to serve as Vice Commissioner of Education in Shandong, and then became Grain Transport Administrative Commissioner.
3
In the twenty-fifth year of Jiajing (1546), he was promoted by special appointment to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed Grand Coordinator of Gansu. The military colonies at Daxing were profitable; he asked that civilians be recruited to open new fields there, with rent waived forever. When he had leisure he also repaired beacon towers at Yushuquan in Suzhou and at Daluquan beyond the border at Pingchuan in Ganzhou, and opened irrigation canals at Longshou and elsewhere. Earlier, dependent tribes of Handom had fled the turmoil in Turfan and moved onto the borders of Suzhou, where they often clashed with and killed local residents. Supervising student Li Shiyang brought the matter to attention, and it was referred to the local guarding officials. Bo built seven forts at Jinta and Baicheng, summoned their chiefs, and ordered them to lead their people to relocate there. More than seven hundred tribal households moved, and the prefecture was thereby pacified. Regional Commander Wang Jizu drove the raiders from Yongchang; Deputy Regional Commander Cai Xun and others fought at Zhenfan and Shandan, reported victory three times, and took more than 140 heads. Bo was promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief. He returned home to observe mourning for his mother. While Qiu Luan held command in Gansu, Grand Coordinator Zeng Xian impeached him, and an edict ordered his arrest and trial. Bo also exposed thirty charges of his greed and deceit. After Qiu was appointed Grand General, he repeatedly slandered Bo, but the emperor would not listen. When his mourning ended, Qiu had already been executed; Bo was summoned and appointed Right Vice Minister of War. He was transferred to the left vice ministership and took charge of military affairs in Jizhou and Baoding.
4
宿 退
Earlier, when Altan threatened the capital and entered by the Chaohé River valley, officials all clamored for defenses to be prepared. The current was too swift and violent to build walls along it. Bo followed the water's course to build stone blockhouses, stationed guards there, and also supervised the capital's Nine Gates. Because of the threat of raids, every year in the seventh month troops were assigned to man the ramparts. Bo said, "When the enemy comes, we must keep our composure—why throw ourselves into turmoil before anything has happened?" The order was rescinded. Soon afterward he was appointed Grand Coordinator of military affairs in Ji, Liaodong, and Baoding. Bo held that because Ji lay hard against the capital, the chief task was to protect the metropolitan district and the imperial tombs; he deployed the various commanders and divided the territory into defensive zones. In the autumn of the thirty-third year (1554), Batu and Taisun led more than a hundred thousand horsemen against Jizhen and attacked the wall. The emperor was deeply anxious and repeatedly sent riders to learn how Bo was faring. Bo donned armor and slept on the walls of Gubeikou, pressing Regional Commander Zhou Yichang and the others to defend with all their strength. The emperor was overjoyed and at once sent him a crimson unicorn robe and rewarded the army with ten thousand taels of gold. The raiders attacked for four days and nights without breaking in, then turned together on Gushankou and scaled the wall. The government troops cut off one man's wrist, whereupon the raiders withdrew and encamped on Hutou Mountain. Bo recruited daredevils who by night set fires to panic the enemy camp; the raiders fell into disorder, and by dawn all had gone. He was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief, and his son was granted the hereditary rank of battalion commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The following year Taisun again invaded Yichang, and Bo drove him back. Bo was then promoted to Minister of War; his merit in the autumn defense was recorded, and he was given the additional title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent.
5
西 西使 西
Yan Song and his son used their power for profit, and every office was subject to their interference, but Bo blocked every request they made. Yan resented Bo, and when Bo happened to leave office upon his father's death, [Yan seized the chance]. When Minister of War Xu Lun was dismissed, the emperor recalled Bo to replace him. Bo had not yet completed his mourning period and submitted a memorial declining the appointment. But because Datong Right Guard was in urgent peril, the emperor reassigned Bo as Grand Coordinator of military affairs in Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi. Still in mourning dress, Bo raced out through the pass. Before he arrived, Vice Minister Jiang Dong and others advanced with a large army, and the raiders withdrew. The Right Guard had been besieged for six months; the defending commander Wang De had died in battle; fodder and grain in the city were nearly exhausted, yet the soldiers held on with undivided loyalty. Bo treated them generously and memorialized ten measures for recovery after the siege. On the urging of Supervising Secretary Zhang Xueyan, Bo was kept on to pacify the region. He memorialized to remit taxes in the raided districts and enrolled able-bodied men as volunteer militia, assigning them to the various commanders. Bo said the border troops were unused to chariot warfare and could not hold when raiders entered; he asked that a hundred box wagons be built so that in an alarm the wagons of the Right Guard would move east and those of the Left Guard west, giving one another support. He also held that because the Datong wall had collapsed, repairs were the urgent priority; next, to block the passes at Yinchai, Yima, and elsewhere, to shut off the route toward Zijing; to fortify the southern slopes of Juyong, to block the route toward the imperial tombs and the capital district; and to repair the walls and ditches at Yangshendi and elsewhere, to block the route into Shanxi. He then built nine forts at Niuxinshan in Datong and elsewhere, along with ninety-two beacon towers, linking the Gaoshan station of the Left Guard to the garrison city. He dug two great moats, each eighteen li long, and sixty-four smaller ones. The work was completed in fifty days, and the emperor issued an edict of commendation and reward.
6
The emperor repeatedly wished to recall Bo, yet also worried about the frontier, and consulted Yan Song. Yan had never liked Bo; he asked that Jiang Dong be left in charge at the ministry and that recall be discussed only after the autumn defense was over—so Bo was not summoned. When the autumn defense ended, he was given the additional title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and remained at his post as before. Bosala and the renegade Duduji and others repeatedly raided the border with light cavalry; Bo captured them one after another by stratagem. He also repeatedly sent surprise detachments against the raiders, who gradually moved their camps farther off. He then proposed rebuilding the border wall that former Grand Coordinator Weng Wanda had created and brought back more than sixteen hundred inland people who had been seized by raiders. He also asked to open irrigation on wasteland in Xuanfu and Datong and to lighten the rent. The court approved. He was transferred to Grand Coordinator of Ji and Liaodong. When the autumn defense ended, the court debated recalling Bo, but Minister of Personnel Wu Peng would not agree. Zheng Xiao, acting Minister of War, argued: "With Bo in Ji and Liaodong, Ji and Liaodong are secure; with him at the central ministry, all Nine Frontier Circuits are secure." He was then recalled and given the additional title of Junior Guardian.
7
使使
The emperor was deeply anxious about the frontier; Bo always prepared defenses before trouble arose, and the emperor relied on him as on his own two hands. He once told the Grand Secretaries, "Since Bo took office, whenever I worry about the frontier, I speak with Bo and plan ahead." Bo memorialized, "Of the Nine Frontier Circuits today, Jizhen is the most critical. I ask that frontier officials be ordered to drive off the Datong raiders so they cannot approach Ji; the generals in Xuanfu and Datong should scout from Dushi; and key points such as Huanghua and Gubei should be prepared so that not a single horseman enters the pass—that alone would be the highest merit." The emperor approved.
8
In the tenth month of the forty-second year (1563), the raiders gathered in force and probed Jizhou, claiming they would attack Liaoyang. Grand Coordinator Yang Xuan led his army eastward; Bo sent orders to halt him. He also wrote three personal letters in succession, but Yang still would not obey. Bo struck the table and said, "We are lost." He urgently levied troops to reinforce the capital, but the raiders had already broken through at Qiangziling and invaded Tongzhou. The emperor sighed, "The disaster of the gengxu year has come again." Troops from the various routes arrived one after another. He ordered Grand Coordinator Jiang Dong of Xuanfu and Datong to lead civil and military officials in guarding the Imperial City and the capital, while Marquis Gu Huan of Zhenyuan deployed capital-garrison troops throughout the city inside and out. The raiders broke away and marched east, overrunning Shunyi and Sanhe before departing, sated with plunder. The relief forces never loosed a single arrow; they collected corpses along the roads and the odd wounded rider and reported them as victories. The emperor was deeply displeased and said to Bo, "The raiders have feasted on our lands and ridden off again—how will we deter those who come after?" Yang Xuan was then executed. Bo feared he would be implicated as well; Xu Jie intervened forcefully on his behalf. Mindful of Bo's earlier service, the emperor did not punish him. After some time he was appointed Minister of Personnel.
9
西 滿
At the beginning of the Longqing reign, he asked that the late emperor's testament be followed, that officials who had remonstrated be recorded, and that the dead among them all receive posthumous honors and relief. At the time officials were being evaluated for retention or dismissal, and not a single man from Shanxi was removed. Supervising Secretary Hu Yingjia impeached Bo for favoring his fellow provincials; Bo submitted repeated memorials asking to retire. The emperor comforted him and kept him in office, and also rebuked his accusers. When he completed three evaluations at the first rank, he was promoted to Junior Tutor and concurrently Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. When the emperor was about to tour the Southern Park, Bo led his colleagues in remonstrating against it. Censor Zhan Yangbi was dismissed for speaking out plainly; Bo argued forcefully on his behalf. Salt-field Censor Pang Shangpeng came under attack; Bo argued that he should be kept on. Regretting that he had displeased the emperor, he resigned on grounds of illness and returned home. Minister Liu Tigan and others submitted joint memorials asking that he be retained, but the emperor would not listen. Grand Secretary Gao Gong, acting at the Ministry of Personnel, recommended Bo as fit to head the Ministry of War. An edict ordered him to handle Ministry of War affairs while retaining his post as Minister of Personnel. He set forth strategies for fighting and defending in Ji and Changping, saying, "Debaters call wall defense cowardly; their words sound plausible, but in fact they achieve nothing. Striking outside the wall brings seven harms against three benefits; fighting inside the wall brings one benefit against nine harms. To defend by relying on the wall is what is called taking the battlefield first and awaiting the enemy. It is called defense, but in truth it is combat. When I served as Grand Coordinator, I once repelled a hundred thousand of Taisun's horde, and I hold that wall defense is beyond question." He then set forth matters of timely reinforcement, strengthened garrison duty, disposition of the capital army, instruction of dependent tribes, and repair of internal governance; the emperor approved them all.
10
Bo was tall and powerfully built; in affairs he was calm and possessed discernment and breadth of view. For more than forty years moving between court and frontier, he was known throughout for military affairs. In the sixth year, when Gao Gong was dismissed, Bo was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and promoted to Junior Preceptor and concurrently Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. The following autumn he fell ill and submitted three memorials asking to retire and return home. A year later he died. He was posthumously honored as Grand Tutor with the posthumous name Xiangyi.
11
使
When Gao held power, he wished to entrap Xu Jie in ruin; Bo visited Gao and worked hard to clear the matter. Gao was moved as well, and the affair was dropped. Later, when Zhang Juzheng drove Gao out and was about to weave a full indictment of his crimes, Bo argued against it with firm resolve. When the case of the Xingwang ministers arose, Bo and Censor-in-Chief Ge Shouli went to Zhang Juzheng and worked hard to obtain a resolution. Zhang said angrily, "Do you two gentlemen think I am bent on destroying Lord Gao?" Bo said, "We dare not think so, yet without you, sir, heaven itself cannot be turned back." When the emperor ordered Shouli together with Regional Commander Zhu Xixiao to conduct a joint inquiry, Bo secretly devised a plan by which guards intimidated the ministers into changing their testimony; he also had Gao's servants mixed among the crowd and told the ministers to identify them; in the confusion they could tell nothing apart, and the affair was cleared. People therefore praised Bo as a man of mature and generous character.
12
使 西使使 使
His son Junmin, styled Bozhang, passed the jinshi examinations in the forty-first year of Jiajing (1562). He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and rose to become a director in the Ministry of Rites. At the beginning of the Longqing reign he was transferred to serve as Vice Commissioner of Education in Henan. At the beginning of the Wanli reign he rose to Junior Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. When his father Bo retired from office, he went home to attend him. He was recalled to his former post and was promoted in succession to Left Vice Minister of War, acting head of the ministry. At the time the court debated whether Ligdan, descendant of Tümen, should succeed to a hereditary title. Junmin said, "The peace agreement cannot be abruptly abandoned. We need only strengthen our defenses within and press the western tribes from without, make them all return to their camps, fix market quotas, and prevent excessive demands—that is all." The debate was then settled. He was promoted to Minister of Revenue and appointed Grand Coordinator of the granary depots. In the nineteenth year he returned to handle affairs at the ministry. Henan suffered a great famine in which people ate one another; he asked that several hundred thousand taels of silver and piculs of grain be issued. Some criticized his delay; he therefore impeached himself and asked to be dismissed. He submitted six memorials; none was granted. Petty men competed to ask that mines be opened; Junmin could not prevail in argument, and tax commissioners were then dispatched in all directions. The empire was thrown into turmoil, and at the time the blame was laid on Junmin. In office he passed three evaluations and was repeatedly given the additional title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He died in office and was posthumously honored as Junior Guardian. Later, when merit in transporting supplies for the eastern campaign was recorded, he was posthumously honored as Junior Tutor and concurrently Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent.
13
紿 西使
Ma Sen, styled Kongyang, was a native of Huai'an. His father Jun had a son late in life; a servant holding the child let him fall, and the child died. Jun told his wife, "It was my fault," and did not punish anyone. A year later Sen was born. In the fourteenth year of Jiajing (1535) he passed the jinshi examinations, was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, and later served as prefect of Taiping. When brothers came to court against one another, he gave them a mirror and told them to look at themselves, saying, "You two are already old—can you bear to wound the bond of kinship?" Both wept and withdrew with thanks. He was transferred again to serve as Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangxi. A jinshi kept a concubine and murdered his wife; the governor and surveillance commissioner wished to ease his case, but Sen in the end had him punished according to law.
14
使 西使 調
He rose to serve as Left Administrative Commissioner and was then promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator. He entered the capital as Right Vice Minister of Justice and was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. Earlier, when Sen was in Jiangxi, he had recommended Administrative Commissioner Song Chun. Song later governed Nan and Gan and was ruined by corruption; Sen was implicated and transferred to serve as chief minister of the Court of Judicial Review. He repeatedly overturned doubtful cases and, together with Minister of Justice Zheng Xiao and Censor-in-Chief Zhou Yan, was known as one of the "Three Fair Ones." He returned home on grounds of illness, then was recalled to serve as Right Vice Minister of Works in Nanjing. He was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, supervised the granary depots, and soon moved to the left vice ministership. As Right Censor-in-Chief he served as Grand Coordinator of the grain transport and concurrently Grand Coordinator of Fengyang, then was appointed Minister of Revenue in Nanjing. At the beginning of the Longqing reign he was transferred to the northern ministry in Beijing.
15
At that time the accession edict remitted half the land tax throughout the empire. Annual receipts into the Taicang granary were small and could not meet expenditures, while the Beijing and Tongzhou depots had little in store. Sen audited accounts minutely and set forth more than ten detailed measures. He also listed figures for revenue and expenditure and urged the emperor to practice frugality. The emperor sent a handwritten edict rebuking him and ordering remedies; Sen memorialized, "Under the ancestral system, four million piculs from south of the Yellow and Huai rivers supplied the capital, and eight million from the north supplied the frontier. One year's income was sufficient for one year's expenses. Later the frontier saw many troubles and expenditures gradually grew complex; one change brought the annual quota for guest troops, and a second brought the annual quota for regular troops. At first it was only three or five hundred thousand, but later it gradually rose to more than 2.3 million. Military colonies lost seven or eight tenths of their yield, the salt monopoly was discounted four or five tenths, and civilian transport defaulted two or three tenths—all were made up from the annual quota. On the frontier there were no more soldiers and horses than before; into Taicang no more was delivered than before—yet expenditures were several times greater. Added to this was the remission ordered in the edict, so today's shortage is greater than in past years. What I planned before, reckoned to the last cash, only eased the present urgency; I had no leisure to think deeply about the great structure of the state or the vital strength of the people. I wish that many minds be gathered and that court officials each set forth their views." He also memorialized on salt levies in Hedong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Fujian, Guangdong, and Lingzhou. Edicts approved all as he had requested. The emperor once ordered the eunuch Cui Min to take sixty thousand taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue to buy gold. Sen held that it could not be done and also said that by precedent all imperial rescripts passed through the Grand Secretariat; none went directly from the Directorate of Ceremonial—and the matter was stopped. Soon after, he was again ordered to purchase pearls and gems; Sen argued forcefully again, but the emperor would not listen. In the third year, on grounds that his mother was old, he asked to retire and care for her until the end. He was granted post-horses for his return home; later he was repeatedly recommended but would not take office again.
16
婿
When Sen served as an examiner, a son-in-law of Xia Yan had been his student and wished to introduce him to Yan; Sen declined and would not go. Yan Song heard of this and was pleased with him, yet Sen would not attach himself to Yan either. Xu Jie valued him and brought him into office. At home in retirement, he praised Grand Coordinator Pang Shangpeng for implementing the single-whip method of taxation, and his fellow townsmen erected a shrine in his honor. He died in the eighth year of Wanli (1580). He was posthumously honored as Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent with the posthumous name Gongmin.
17
Liu Tigan, styled Ziyuan, was a native of Dong'an. He passed the jinshi examinations in the twenty-third year of Jiajing (1544). He was appointed a courier and transferred to serve as a supervising secretary in the Bureau of War. Eunuch-director Bao Zhong of the Directorate of Ceremonial died; his follower Li Qing asked that transfers be granted to his nephew Bao En and seven others. The emperor had already agreed, but on Tigan's urging only three were approved. He was transferred to serve as a left supervising secretary.
18
宿 使
Because state finances were strained, the emperor ordered court officials to gather for deliberation. Most asked to pursue old arrears and increase tax quotas. Tigan alone memorialized, "Su Shi said, 'The way to enrich the treasury is only to remove what harms the treasury. Today the greatest harms are two: redundant officials and redundant expenditures. Official systems of successive dynasties: Han had 7,500 posts, Tang 18,000, and Song at its most redundant reached 34,000. In our dynasty, from the fifth year of Chenghua onward, military posts already exceeded 80,000. Together with civil posts, there are probably more than a hundred thousand. Today promotions for frontier merit, requests from nobles, added bureaus, ministers' hereditary privileges, together with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, supervisory offices, braves, artisans, and the like increase month by month and cannot all be listed. One more official means one more official's expense. I ask that the various bureaus be strictly ordered to purge redundant and excessive appointments; reducing salaries alone will not suffice. I also hear that gold in the Guanglu Treasury from the beginning of the Jiajing reign to the fifteenth year had accumulated to eight hundred thousand taels. From the twenty-first year onward, daily expenditures grew and the surplus was suddenly exhausted. Fruits and vegetables presented to the palace at first had no fixed quota; the inner eunuchs showed only a slip of paper and supplies were furnished as ordered. They embezzled freely and promptly resold the goods to merchants. Other bureaus plundered even more. This should be set down as statute; at year's end censorial officials should audit accounts to clear redundant expenditures. Once the two redundancies are removed, state finances will naturally be ample. To abandon this and instead pursue arrears and increase levies is to ladle boiling water to stop the pot from boiling over." The ministry then deliberated and asked to reduce artisans in the various supervisory offices. The emperor approved.
19
使 西
He rose in succession to Commissioner of the Court of Transmission and was transferred to Left Vice Minister of Justice. He was transferred to Left Vice Minister of Revenue and appointed Grand Coordinator of the granary depots. At the beginning of the Longqing reign he was promoted to Minister of Revenue in Nanjing. In the Southern Metropolitan Region, Huguang, and Jiangxi, arrears in silver, cloth, silk, and grain accumulated to more than 2.6 million; at the Fengyang imperial tombs nine guards had forty thousand troops, yet the depots had not a month's stores. Tigan again memorialized asking that local officials be held responsible and also set forth six measures in detail; all were approved.
20
When Ma Sen left office, Tigan was summoned to the northern ministry in Beijing. An edict ordered three hundred thousand taels of silver taken from the Taicang granary treasury. Tigan said, "Only 3.7 million taels remain in Taicang, while the Nine Frontier Circuits' annual quota is more than 2.76 million, army grain and market prices in the capital exceed one million—not counting extraordinary requests from Jizhou, Datong, and other garrisons. If more is taken for palace supply, how are regular expenditures to be met?" The emperor would not listen. Tigan memorialized again, "Today's state finances are strained—this is known to officials great and small. Even the figures now in store were recently gathered by censors sent out; next year there will be no remedy. To spend it all now on useless expenses—if sudden crisis arises, what will become of state finances?" Supervising secretaries Li Yi, Yang Yikui, and Long Guang, censors Liu Siwen, Su Shirun, He Yigui, and Fu Mengchun submitted joint memorials supporting Tigan; Grand Secretaries Li Chunfang and others all memorialized as well—and the emperor ordered only one hundred thousand taels advanced. He also memorialized that the incense tax at Mount Taihe should follow the Mount Tai precedent, supervised by regular officials and not entrusted to inner eunuchs. He offended the emperor and had his salary suspended for half a year.
21
西
The emperor once asked about frontier army pay, annual disbursements from Taicang, and tribute delivered from the four directions. Tigan memorialized, "In the ancestral reign there were only the four garrisons of Liaodong, Datong, Xuanfu, and Yansui; then Ningxia and Gansu were added, then Jizhou, then Guyuan and Shanxi; today Miyun, Changping, Yongping, and Yizhou all have garrisons. Each garrison had regular troops for defense. Later came added recruitment and added guest troops, and those who ate rations without fighting grew ever more numerous. Each garrison had military colonies for fodder and pay. Later came added civilian grain levies, added salt duties, added capital transport—and extraneous costs grew ever more." He then listed annual disbursements since the Longqing reign. He also memorialized, "State annual income is insufficient for expenditures, yet extraordinary requests are many. I ask that all internal and external expenditures that should be kept or abolished be compiled into a book." The court approved.
22
綿 綿
An edict ordered twenty-five thousand jin of cotton purchased; Tigan asked to wait for the tribute shipment from Huzhou. The emperor would not agree and urged haste. Supervising Secretary Li Yi said, "The third month is not the season for cotton use; merchants should not be heavily disturbed." Tigan argued again as well, and the emperor ordered only ten thousand jin advanced. A year later an edict urged advance of floral silver and also purchase of cat's-eye, emerald, and other rare treasures. Li Yi memorialized forcefully in remonstrance; Tigan asked that his words be followed—the emperor would not accept. The inner Chengyun Treasury used an informal white letter to demand one hundred thousand taels from the ministry treasury. Tigan held firm in memorial; Supervising Secretary Liu Jiwen also said that white letters were improper procedure. The emperor replied that he had made up his mind and took the funds in the end. Tigan also asked that the Chengyun Treasury reduce its tax quota by two hundred thousand, but was blocked by the eunuch Cui Min and could not obtain approval. At this time inner palace supplies were already heavy; repeatedly the ministry was ordered to take Taicang silver, and pearls, yellow-green jade, and other goods were urgently purchased. Tigan was upright, forceful, and principled; he argued in every memorial, accumulated offense to the emperor, and in the end was stripped of office. Supervising Secretary Guang Mao, Censor Ling Guan, and others submitted joint memorials asking that he be retained; the emperor would not listen.
23
Wang Ting, styled Zizheng, was a native of Nanchong. He passed the jinshi examinations in the eleventh year of Jiajing (1532). He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and transferred to serve as a censor. He memorialized impeaching Minister of Personnel Wang Hong and was demoted to assistant magistrate of Bozhou. He served as prefect of Suzhou and earned a reputation for good governance. He was promoted in succession to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and supervised the waterways. In the thirty-ninth year (1560) he was transferred to Right Vice Minister of Revenue in Nanjing and appointed Grand Coordinator of grain storage. Supervision of storage in Nanjing after Chenghua had always been led by a censor-in-chief; only in the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing was a vice minister of revenue ordered to handle it concurrently. When the Zhenwu Camp troops mutinied, critics asked to restore the old system; Vice Censor-in-Chief Zhang Huan was then put solely in charge, and Ting was transferred to the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing. Before he took up the post, he was reassigned as Right Vice Minister of Revenue and concurrently Left Vice Censor-in-Chief, Grand Coordinator of the grain transport and Grand Coordinator of Fengyang and other prefectures.
24
As the pirate turmoil was not yet settled, Ting proposed that south of the Yangzi fall under the regional commander stationed solely at Wusong, and north of the river fall under the deputy regional commander on defense duty stationed solely at Langshan. This then became the fixed regulation. When Huai'an suffered great famine, he and touring censor Zhu Gang memorialized to retain merchant tax to feed the army and were sharply rebuked by edict. Supervising Secretary Li Bangyi thereupon impeached Ting for being inflexible; Minister of Personnel Yan Ne argued on Ting's behalf, and the matter was finally cleared. He was transferred to the left vice ministership and returned to handle ministry affairs. For merit in defending against pirates at Tongzhou, his salary rank was raised two grades. He was transferred to serve as Minister of Rites in Nanjing and summoned to serve as Left Censor-in-Chief. He memorialized to implement six measures: careful selection and appointment, greater weight on circuit inspection, caution in criminal cases, rectitude in personal example, strict discipline, and fairness in impeachment and recommendation.
25
In the sixth month of the first year of Longqing (1567), rain and floods in the capital destroyed houses; Ting was ordered to supervise censors in dividing routes for relief. When officials from throughout the empire came for the audience, Ting asked that gifts be strictly forbidden and travel expenses regulated, to warn against official corruption and ease the people's burden. When the emperor visited the tombs, he ordered Ting together with the Duke of Ying, Zhang Rong, to remain and guard the capital. The eunuch Xu Yi used a blade to extort people's property and was beaten by city-patrol censor Li Xuedao. A crowd of eunuchs waited for Xuedao at the early audience and ambushed him outside the Left Flank Gate. Ting reported the facts, and banishment was imposed in varying degrees.
26
Censor Qi Kang, acting for Gao Gong, impeached Xu Jie; Ting said, "Kang harbors treacherous factional intent; without heavy punishment the nation's right course cannot be settled." The emperor demoted Kang on his account and ordered that Jie be retained. Gao then cited illness and withdrew from office. But Supervising Secretary Zhang Qi had once toured the frontier and accepted gold from a merchant. When the matter leaked slightly, he secretly sought Xu Jie's son Fan as intermediary; Fan declined and would not see him. Qi hated this and picked phrases from Kang's memorial to attack Jie again; Jie also cited illness and withdrew from office. Ting then exposed Qi's corrupt dealings, saying, "Qi earlier received orders to reward troops in Xuanfu and Datong, accepted several thousand taels of gold from salt merchant Yang Sihe, and spoke for relief to frontier merchants and abolition of surplus salt and other matters—all blocked by Grand Secretary Jie. Sihe went to Qi to recover the bribe, and the trail was rather exposed. Qi feared punishment and therefore attacked Jie in the hope of covering himself." Qi was then sent to the imperial prison by edict. Minister of Justice Mao Kai sentenced Qi to banishment, but an edict released him as a commoner. When Gao was raised and became chief minister again, Ting feared he would nurse a grudge, and Kai too had been introduced by Jie; they therefore asked to retire one after another to avoid him. Supervising Secretary Zhou Yun and Censor Li Chunpu pleaded Qi's case, saying Ting and Kai favored Jie's intent and fabricated charges against the innocent. Minister of Justice Liu Ziqiang memorialized in reply, "Qi's offenses have no substance; Ting and Kai bent the law for private ends." An edict stripped Kai of office, dismissed Ting as a commoner, pardoned Qi, and appointed him assistant magistrate of Tongzhou.
27
At the beginning of the Wanli reign, Qi was dismissed for impropriety; Kai had already died earlier. Zhejiang touring censor Xie Tingjie pleaded that Kai was upright and pure with the air of the ancients; he lost office for handling Zhang Qi's case, and now that Qi has been removed, it is enough to show Kai upheld righteousness. An edict restored Kai's office posthumously. Then Grand Coordinator of Sichuan Zeng Shengyu said, "When Ting governed Suzhou, people compared him to Zhao Qingxian. His upright integrity and firm spirit never changed from start to finish. He should, like Mao Kai, have his office restored." An edict ordered him to retire with his former rank. In the sixteenth year he was given bearers and grain allowance as regulations provide, and because of his great age was specially granted an imperial inquiry after his welfare. The following year he died and was given the posthumous name Gongjie.
28
Mao Kai, styled Dahe, was a native of Jiangshan. He passed the jinshi examinations in the fourteenth year of Jiajing (1535). He was appointed a courier and promoted to censor. Because he argued that Grand Mentor Zou Shouyi should not be sent to a remote post, he was hated by those in power and demoted to investigating officer of Ningguo. He rose to serve as Minister of Justice. The eunuch Li Fang suddenly remonstrated and offended the Muzong emperor; the Ministry of Justice was ordered to impose the death penalty. Kai memorialized, "Fang's crimes are not yet clear; this is not how to show fairness to the empire." Fang still obtained commutation to exile. Kai was posthumously honored as Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent with the posthumous name Duanjian.
29
使西使西使
Ge Shouli, styled Yuli, was a native of Dezhou. In the seventh year of Jiajing (1528) he placed first in the provincial examination. The following year he passed the jinshi examinations and was appointed investigating officer of Zhangde. A great bandit falsely accused a wealthy family, and more than a hundred people were implicated; Shouli released them all. The officer in charge of the case slandered him to the censor. It happened that a princely establishment case long unresolved was assigned to Shouli; one interrogation produced the truth, and all were greatly astonished and convinced. At the winter solstice the Prince of Zhao admonished officials to wear court dress in congratulation; Shouli alone would not agree. He was transferred to serve as a secretary in the Ministry of War. When mourning for his father ended, he was assigned to the Ministry of Rites. Clansmen of the Ning princely establishment had all been imprisoned in high walls; later they gradually escaped and therefore asked for enfeoffment. Minister of Rites Xia Yan deliberated restoring several assistant commandants. Before it was submitted, Yan entered the Grand Secretariat and Yan Song replaced him. Shouli had just been transferred to serve as a director in the Bureau of Ceremonial Regulations and rejected it; the proposal was not implemented. By precedent, when a commandery prince's line died out, a collateral branch might administer the establishment with its own rank but could not succeed to the enfeoffment. Collateral lines at Jiaocheng, Huairen, and Xiangyuan had died out and asked for succession enfeoffment; Shouli held firm against it. When he happened to be on leave for illness, people of the three establishments seized the chance to offer bribes and obtained approval. Banner guards investigated the matter and reported it. Recorded bribes amounted to more than a hundred thousand, but Shouli's name alone was absent; the emperor thereby knew Shouli was incorrupt. He was transferred to serve as Vice Commissioner of Education in Henan, then to Surveillance Commissioner of Shanxi, advanced to Administrative Commissioner of Shaanxi, and promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Henan. He entered the capital as Vice Minister of Revenue and supervised supplies in Xuanfu and Datong. He was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. From Left Vice Minister he was transferred to Minister of Rites in Nanjing. Li Ben was acting at the Ministry of Personnel; following Yan Song's intent in evaluating court officials, he marked Shouli for low rating and forced him to retire. Later the emperor asked where Shouli was; those around him falsely answered that he was old and ill. The emperor sighed in regret for a long time.
30
西 簿 簿 調
In the first year of Longqing (1567) he was recalled as Minister of Revenue. He memorialized, "In the metropolitan region and Shandong displaced persons grow daily in number because local officials change laws and disturb norms, initial assessments are too heavy, and levies are unequal. Moreover north and south of the Yellow River and east and west of the mountains, the land is barren; regular tribute cannot even be supplied, yet corvée is again increased. Artisans and great merchants all escape service because they have no fields, while farmers alone suffer the hardship—this is what is called perversity. I ask that land-tax regulations be rectified and the method of categorized levies be abolished. Again, in the founding of the state grain was levied: the Ministry of Revenue fixed depot names and picul counts and values, circulated them to offices, assigned common people, and had them deliver according to depot—completed and outstanding amounts were clear and auditable. Recently it was fixed as the single-whip method, assessing silver by mu. Depot outlets were not distinguished and picul counts were not asked. Clerks used connections to commit fraud, increasing, decreasing, and scattering assignments; abuses appeared in hundreds. As for collection and delivery, it again changed into the linked-bells method, called collective receipt and divided delivery. Those who collected did not deliver; those who delivered did not collect; collectors gained surplus funds, deliverers bore the burden of compensation. Funds and grain must have clear fractions before audit is thorough; to mix them into one is to give room for diversion. I wish the responsible offices be ordered to consider restoring the old regulations." An edict ordered all implemented. He then memorialized to fix the form of the state accounts book and promulgated it throughout the empire. From the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing onward, figures for completion and arrears, initial delivery, pursuit of collection, and poor people unable to pay were all recorded in the book. From prefectures, departments, and counties up to the provincial administration commission, they were sent to the Ministry of Revenue for audit to clear abuses of concealment, leakage, diversion, and embezzlement. He also held that since the Ministry of Revenue specially manages finances and taxes, it must thoroughly know surplus and shortage in depots throughout the empire before it can economize and adjust. In ancestral times the empire yearly reported to the ministry in written registers; he then asked that censors Tan Qi, Ma Mingmo, Zhang Wenming, and Zhao Yan be sent throughout the empire to supervise the matter, bearing imperial orders as they went. By grace ordinances border troops were sometimes rewarded; some said ranks were falsely claimed and that rewards should be used to weed them out. Shouli said, "This is a great grace of the court—are we to purchase resentment?" The proposal was then stopped.
31
Grand Secretary Gao Gong and Xu Jie were incompatible, and the whole court attacked Gao. Vice Ministers Xu Yangzheng and Liu Ziqiang, whom Gao favored, also went to speak with Shouli. Shouli would not agree; Yangzheng and the others then attacked Gao. Shouli soon asked to return home to care for his mother. When Gao became chief minister again, he deeply appreciated Shouli and raised him to Minister of Justice. Earlier Jie had fixed the case of the alchemist Wang Jin and others, sentencing them for rashly presenting drugs by analogy to the statute on a son killing his father. An edict ordered the judiciary to conduct a joint inquiry. Shouli and others deliberated that Jin's rash presentation of drugs had no factual basis, but that he practiced the arts of the late Tao Zhongwen, misled the masses by heterodox ways, and should be sentenced as an accomplice by statute to military exile. Supervising Secretary Zhao Fen said, "The judiciary exists to bring fairness to the empire. Formerly it leaned wholly toward conviction and did not spare the late emperor's position; now it leans wholly toward acquittal and does not care for later generations' judgment. Crimes have principals before there are followers; Jin and the others are followers—who is the principal? If Tao Zhongwen is taken as principal, Tao has long been dead. If the law is applied thus, on what can Your Majesty rely!" The memorial was received and acknowledgment was returned.
32
仿使
Soon Shouli was transferred to Left Censor-in-Chief. He memorialized, "Within the capital region the terrain is low; waterways are blocked, and when floods come a thousand li become ravines. I ask that following the ancient well-field system, ditches and canals be dredged and repaired so that drought and flood may be provided against." The memorial was sent down to responsible offices. He also clarified grand coordinator affairs and listed six matters of official admonition and scholarly integrity. Shouli's deliberation in the Wang Jin case agreed with Gao, yet he did not attach himself to Gao. Later Zhang Juzheng wished to use the Wang Dachen affair to frame and kill Gao; Shouli worked hard to obtain a resolution, and Gao was spared. Jie, Gao, and Juzheng held power in turn, mutually pressing one another. Shouli moved among them with stern integrity and independence; people thought it difficult. In the third year of Wanli (1575), on grounds of age he asked to retire. An edict added the title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent; he returned home by post-horses. He died in the sixth year. He was posthumously honored as Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent with the posthumous name Duansu.
33
使 祿 西
Jin Xueyan, styled Ziyu, was a native of Jining. In the thirteenth year of Jiajing (1534) he placed first in the provincial examination. The following year he passed the jinshi examinations, was appointed investigating officer of Nanyang, and was known for integrity and fairness. He served as prefect of Ji'an; his governance was eminent, and he was promoted in succession to Left Administrative Commissioner. At the beginning of the Longqing reign he entered the capital as Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud and was transferred to the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Soon he was appointed Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Grand Coordinator of Shanxi. In response to an edict he set forth financial administration in more than ten thousand words. He said that selecting troops, casting coin, and storing grain were most urgent. The summary says:
34
簿
At the beginning of Song the forbidden army was one hundred thousand; all circuits throughout the empire together were also no more than one hundred thousand; later between the Qingli and Zhiping reigns it rose to more than a million. Yet at that time state finances were not strained. Our dynasty's frontier troops number four hundred thousand. Later, though troops and garrisons were increased, regular troops are mostly understrength—not even a tenth of what the Song had at the beginning. Yet from the Jiajing period strain has been reported—why? Though Song increased troops, the empire had no cost of maintaining troops. Our dynasty uses the people to maintain troops, and the new army again relies entirely on the Taicang treasury. Old pay is not reduced while new pay increases daily—this is the first expense. Zhou's Feng and Hao, Han's four capitals—all had the name but not the reality. Our dynasty's establishment of a secondary capital creates offices and guards that eat from the public treasury without working—this is the second expense. Tang and Song imperial clansmen either entered the registers of office or were scattered among the people. Our dynasty enfeoffs and ranks them; they neither farm nor hold office, sucking the marrow of the people—this is the third expense. With these three, how can stored wealth not be exhausted? Among them what most drains the empire's wealth is the army alone. To break the vanguard and crush the strong, banners and drums matched—this is what soldiers are for. Today frontier troops see battle, but interior troops may go a lifetime without once facing the enemy. Whenever bandits steal out, if not yin-yang masters, physicians, or miscellaneous officials, then assistant prefects and registrars serve as commanders; if not village people and neighborhood wardens, then volunteer militia and bold youths serve as troops. In the north they borrow salt laborers and mine workers; in the south they borrow Lang native troops. These are all proofs that interior troops are insufficient for use. They should be limited by the method of rotating turns for garrison duty. Those too distant to be levied or too weak to be entrusted should be allowed to farm and trade, and their rations shifted to feed the frontier. Such as exempting rotating troops and collecting compensation, reducing banishment and accepting ransom—this too is one flexible measure. To make capital troops strong, they too should be charged with rotating garrison duty. The capital is only several hundred li from Xuanfu and Jizhen; the capital garrison has ninety thousand soldiers—if ten thousand garrison the two circuits each year, the cycle completes in nine years, which is no great hardship, and the timid would share the frontier troops' vigor. Use metropolitan-region troops to fill gaps in capital garrison duty; their units, orders, monthly grain, and rewards would be the same as capital troops, and metropolitan-region troops would all become personal troops. If capital troops garrison Jizhen, the cost of Yan and Gu can be saved. If they garrison Xuanfu, the spirit of Xuanfu and Datong would naturally rise. Raiders would fear the power of Xuanfu and Datong holding their rear and the vigor of capital troops blocking their front—then uphill attacks and deep penetration would be rare.
35
貿 祿
I also see the people of the empire anxiously worried about shortage—not that cloth, silk, and the five grains are insufficient, but silver alone. Silver cannot be worn against cold or eaten against hunger; it is only for exchange to circulate the use of clothing and food—why use silver alone and abandon coin? As coin is further abandoned, silver circulates alone all the more. Alone in circulation, hoarding grows deeper, silver grows dearer, goods grow cheaper, and conversion payments grow harder. Powerful families buy when goods are cheap and sell when silver is dear. Silver accumulated by the powerful grows thicker; that circulating in the empire grows less. After several more decades, I do not know where it will end. Coin is a spring; it cannot be absent for a day. Planners say the difficulties of coinage are two: profit does not cover capital, and the people are unwilling to circulate it. Neither is so. The court uses products of mountains and seas as material, the strength of hundreds of millions as labor, and worthy scholar-officials as overseers—what cost of capital? Truly order the people to redeem crimes with copper and charcoal, and take artisans from the military camps—with one command coin would spread throughout the empire. As for those who disregard circulating coin, it is only the powerful schemers. I ask that from now on precedent purchases, fines and ransoms, taxation, gifts and rewards, clan stipends, official salaries, army pay, and the like all pay in both silver and coin. Above levies thus, below pays thus—why worry that it will not circulate?
36
滿 滿
I also hear that the Central Plain is the root of the frontier marches. The common people are the root of the Central Plain; a man may go a lifetime without silver but cannot go a year without clothing or a day without food. Today what keeps officials busy day and night is silver, not grain—I worry about this privately. The state established its capital in Youyan; northward there is no protection of commanderies and states; what it relies on as heart and limbs is the loyalty of the people in Henan, Shandong, Jiangbei, and the eight metropolitan prefectures. Those people are generally fierce and bold, lightly esteem life, easily stirred and hard to restrain, wandering for food and storing little. At one disappointment they lightly leave their native place; often one man raises trouble and a thousand respond—past affairs have repeatedly proved this. The plan to calm them is nothing more than to comfort farming to bind their families, provide sufficient food to bind their persons, and gather kin to bind their hearts. Now try auditing what official granaries store: if each prefecture has several hundred thousand, the finance officers may rest easy. With thirty thousand it is still enough to satisfy those who would migrate. If it does not reach ten thousand, how can they not lose heart? I privately suspect that those not reaching ten thousand are many.
37
I recently memorialized asking to store grain and have already received approval. I only fear officials will not exert themselves fully and cannot fulfill the clear edict. I venture to elaborate on my proposal:
38
仿
The first is official granaries, purchasing grain with official silver. The second is community granaries, collecting people's grain to fill them. Official granaries cannot be undertaken except in very abundant years; community granaries can be undertaken even in average years. When Tang opened charity granaries, each year from princes and dukes downward all contributed. Song took one-twentieth of the regular tax levied on the people as community stock. Truly imitate and extend this, suit local custom, accord with human feeling, read the seasons to adapt changes, calculate each year's intake of the two granaries to verify achievement, set it as statute, repair yearly, and gather or release according to abundance or shortage. What is in official granaries is used to relieve when the people suffer great famine. What is in people's granaries is not lent even when the state has great corvée. By this store wealth among the people—that is to store wealth in the state. Today those who speak of finances do not worry that grain is insufficient but worry that silver is insufficient. Silver truly breeds disorder; grain truly calms disorder. If silver is insufficient, currency can replace it; if the five grains are insufficient, what can replace them? Therefore it is said that an enlightened ruler does not treasure gold and jade but treasures the five grains—I humbly hope Your Majesty will give heed.
39
When the memorial entered, it was sent down to responsible offices for deliberation; in the end it could not all be implemented.
40
西使
Soon he was summoned as Right Vice Minister of Works, transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, and promoted to Left Vice Minister. Xueyan's inner conduct was cultivated and pure; seeing Gao Gong as chief minister control appointments and act with great arbitrariness, he resigned on grounds of illness and died. His younger brother Xuezeng served as Vice Commissioner of Shanxi. His governance was also well regarded.
41
歿
The appraiser says: In the mid-Ming, frontier defense declined and funds were scarce. Among ministers then in charge of affairs, few paid heed to this. Men such as Yang Bo, Ma Sen, Liu Tigan, Ge Shouli, and Jin Xueyan were perhaps those who bore strategies of state economy. As for their measures and what they proposed, even if fully carried out they would only patch the moment; moreover, what was said was not fully done, and what was done could not long endure! From that time onward, Zhang Juzheng first brought a general rectification. When Juzheng died, everything was pursued in empty words until the dynasty fell. Its ruin was not the work of a morning or an evening.
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