Volume 223 Biographies 111: Cheng Yingqi, Zhu Heng, Pan Jixun, Wan Gong, Wu Guifang, Wang Zongmu, Liu Dongxing, Xu Zhenming

盛應期朱衡〈（翁大立潘誌伊）〉潘季馴萬恭吳桂芳〈（傅希摯）〉王宗沐〈（子士崧士琦士昌從子士性）〉劉東星〈（胡瓚）〉徐貞明〈（伍袁萃）〉

Sheng Yingqi; Zhu Heng (Weng Dali; Pan Zhiyi)〉 Pan Jixun; Wan Gong; Wu Guifang (Fu Xizhi)〉 Wang Zongmu (sons Shisong, Shiqi, and Shichang; nephew Shixing)〉 Liu Dongxing (Hu Zan)〉 Xu Zhenming (Wu Yuancui)〉

盛應期，字思徵，吳江人。弘治六年進士。授都水主事，出轄濟寧諸閘。太監李廣家人市私鹽至濟，畏應期，投鹽水中去。會南京進貢內官誣應期阻薦新船，廣從中構逮應期及主事範璋下詔獄。璋筦衛河，亦忤中貴者也。獄具，謫雲南驛丞。稍遷祿豐知縣。正德初，歷雲南僉事。武定知府鳳應死，其妻攝府事，子朝鳴為寇。應期單車入其境，母子惶怖，歸所侵。策鳳氏終亂，奏降其秩，設官制之。寢不行，後卒叛。與御史張璞、副使晁必登抑鎮守太監梁裕。裕劾三人，俱逮下詔獄，璞竟拷死。

Sheng Yingqi, styled Sizheng, was a native of Wujiang. In the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal officer in the Directorate of Waterways and sent out to supervise the locks around Jining. When the eunuch Li Guang's household servants came to Jining to sell illicit salt, they feared Yingqi and threw the salt into the water before fleeing. Meanwhile a palace eunuch from Nanjing delivering tribute falsely accused Yingqi of blocking the recommendation of new grain boats, and Guang engineered from within to have Yingqi and the principal officer Fan Zhang arrested and sent to the imperial prison. Zhang had charge of the Wei River canal and had likewise offended the palace eunuchs. When the case was concluded, he was demoted to assistant at a courier station in Yunnan. He was soon promoted to magistrate of Lufeng. At the beginning of the Zhengde reign he served as assistant commissioner in Yunnan. When Feng Ying, the prefect of Wuding, died, his wife took charge of the prefecture while their son Chaoming turned to banditry. Yingqi drove alone into their territory; mother and son were terrified and returned what they had seized. Judging that the Feng clan would eventually rebel, he memorialized to reduce their rank and place them under regular official control. The proposal was shelved and never carried out; they rebelled in the end. Together with the censor Zhang Pu and the vice commissioner Chao Bideng, he reined in the resident eunuch Liang Yu. Yu impeached all three men; they were arrested and sent to the imperial prison, and Pu was tortured to death.

會乾清宮災，應期得復職，四遷至陜西右布政使。擢右副都御史，巡撫四川。討平天全六番招討使高文林。會泉江僰蠻普法惡作亂，富順奸民謝文禮、文義附之。法惡死，指揮何卿等先後討誅文禮、文義。應期賚銀幣，以憂歸。嘉靖二年，起故官，巡撫江西。宸濠亂後，瘡痍未復，奏免雜調緡錢數十萬，請留轉輸南京米四十七萬，銀二十萬，以食饑民。又令諸府積谷備荒至百余萬。尋進兵部右侍郎，總督兩廣軍務。將行，籍上積谷數。帝以陳洪謨代，而獎賚應期。後洪謨積益多，亦被賚。應期至廣，偕撫寧侯朱麒督參將李璋等，討平思恩土目劉召，復賚銀幣。朝議大征岑猛。應期條上方略七事，言廣兵疲弱不可用。麒等恚。會御史許中劾應期暴虐，麒等因相與為流言。御史鄭洛書復劾應期賄結權貴。應期已遷工部侍郎，引疾歸。

When the Qianqing Palace burned, Yingqi was restored to office and rose through four promotions to right administration commissioner of Shaanxi. He was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Sichuan. He suppressed Gao Wenlin, pacification commissioner of the six Tianshan fan tribes. When the Bo chieftain Pufa'e of Quanjiang rebelled, the Fushun ruffians Xie Wenli and Wenyi joined him. After Pufa'e died, the commanders He Qing and others in turn campaigned against and executed Wenli and Wenyi. Yingqi was rewarded with silver and silks, then went home on mourning leave. In the second year of Jiajing he was recalled to his former rank and appointed grand coordinator of Jiangxi. After the Prince of Ning rebellion the province had not recovered; he memorialized to remit several hundred thousand strings in miscellaneous levies and asked to retain 470,000 piculs of grain being shipped from Nanjing and 200,000 taels of silver to feed the hungry. He also ordered the prefectures to build famine reserves until the total exceeded one million piculs. He was soon promoted to right vice minister of War and made supreme commander of military affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi. Before he departed, he registered and reported the amount of stored grain. The emperor replaced him with Chen Hongmo but rewarded Yingqi. Later Hongmo accumulated even more grain and was rewarded as well. When Yingqi reached Guangdong, he joined the Marquis of Funing Zhu Qi in directing Regional Commander Li Zhang and others to suppress the Sinan native chieftain Liu Zhao and was again rewarded with silver and silks. The court debated launching a major campaign against Cen Meng. Yingqi submitted a seven-point strategy and argued that the Guang troops were weak and exhausted and unfit for service. Qi and his allies were furious. When the censor Xu Zhong impeached Yingqi for cruelty, Qi and his allies spread rumors together. The censor Zheng Luoshu again impeached Yingqi for bribing powerful officials. Yingqi had already been transferred to vice minister of Works and retired citing illness.

六年，黃河水溢入漕渠，沛北廟道口淤數十里，糧艘為阻，侍郎章拯不能治。尚書胡世寧、詹事霍韜、僉事江良材請於昭陽湖東別開漕渠，為經久計。議未定，以御史吳仲言召拯還，即家拜應期右都御史以往。應期乃議於昭陽湖東，北進江家口，南出留城口，開浚百四十餘里，較疏舊河力省而利永。夫六萬五千，銀二十萬兩，克期六月。工未成，會旱災修省，言者多謂開河非計，帝遽令罷役。應期請展一月竟其功，不聽。初，應期請令郎中柯維熊分浚支河，維熊力贊新河之議，至是亦言不便。應期上章自理，帝怒，詔與維熊俱奪職。世寧言：「新河之議倡自臣。應期克期六月，今四月，功已八九。緣程工促急，怨讟煩興。維熊反覆變詐，傾大臣，誤國事。自古國家僨大事，必責首議，臣請與同罷。」帝不許。後更赦，復官致仕，卒。應期罷後三十年，朱衡循新河遺跡成之，運道蒙利焉。

In the sixth year the Yellow River overflowed into the grain transport canal; north of Pei the Miaodao mouth silted up for dozens of li and grain boats were blocked, and Vice Minister Zhang Zheng could not fix it. Minister Hu Shining, Grand Mentor Huo Tao, and Assistant Commissioner Jiang Liangcai proposed opening a separate grain canal east of Zhaoyang Lake as a lasting solution. Before the plan was settled, on Censor Wu Zhong's recommendation Zhang was recalled and Yingqi was appointed right censor-in-chief from his home to take charge. Yingqi then proposed a route east of Zhaoyang Lake, entering north at Jiangjiakou and exiting south at Liuchengkou, dredging more than 140 li—less labor than clearing the old river and more lasting benefit. It would require 65,000 laborers and 200,000 taels of silver, with a six-month deadline. Before the work was finished, a drought prompted austerity measures; many argued that opening the new canal was unwise, and the emperor abruptly ordered the labor halted. Yingqi asked for one more month to finish the work, but the request was denied. Earlier Yingqi had assigned Director Ke Weixiong to dredge branch canals separately; Weixiong had strongly supported the new canal plan, but now also declared it impractical. Yingqi submitted a memorial in his own defense; the emperor was angry and ordered both him and Weixiong stripped of office. Shining said, "The proposal for the new canal originated with me. Yingqi set a six-month deadline; it is now the fourth month and the work is eight or nine tenths complete. Because the tight schedule pressed the laborers hard, complaints and slander arose. Weixiong reversed himself deceitfully, brought down a senior minister, and harmed state affairs. Since antiquity, when the state failed in a great undertaking it always held the first proposer responsible; I ask to be dismissed along with him." The emperor did not agree. Later, after another amnesty, his office was restored and he retired; he then died. Thirty years after Yingqi's dismissal, Zhu Heng followed the traces of the new canal and completed it, and the transport route reaped the benefit.

朱衡，字士南，萬安人。嘉靖十一年進士。歷知尤溪、婺源，有治聲。遷刑部主事，歷郎中。出為福建提學副使，累官山東布政使。三十九年，進右副都御史巡撫其地。奏言：「比遼左告饑，暫弛登、萊商禁，轉粟濟之。猾商遂竊載他貨，往來販易，並開青州以西路。海島亡命，陰相構結，禁之便。」從之。召為工部右侍郎。

Zhu Heng, styled Shinan, was a native of Wan'an. In the eleventh year of the Jiajing reign he passed the jinshi examination. He served successively as magistrate of Youxi and Wuyuan and earned a reputation for effective governance. He was transferred to principal officer in the Ministry of Punishments and rose to director. He was posted as Fujian education vice commissioner and eventually rose to administration commissioner of Shandong. In the thirty-ninth year he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Shandong. He memorialized, "Recently eastern Liaodong reported famine; the commercial ban on Dengzhou and Laizhou was temporarily relaxed and grain was shipped to relieve it. Crafty merchants then secretly loaded other goods and traded back and forth, also opening routes west of Qingzhou. Outlaws on the coastal islands were secretly in league with them; it would be best to forbid this again." The memorial was approved. He was summoned to serve as right vice minister of Works.

四十四年，進南京刑部尚書。其秋，河決沛縣飛雲橋，東註昭陽湖，運道淤塞百餘里。改衡工部尚書兼右副都御史，總理河漕。衡馳至決口，舊渠已成陸。而故都御史盛應期所開新河，自南陽以南東至夏村，又東南至留城，故址尚在。其地高，河決至昭陽湖止，不能復東，可以通運，乃定議開新河，築堤呂孟湖以防潰決。河道都御史潘季馴以為浚舊渠便，議與衡不合。衡持益堅，引鮎魚、薛沙諸水入新渠，築馬家橋堤以遏飛雲橋決口，身自督工。劾罷曹濮副使柴淶，重繩吏卒不用命者，浮議遂起。明年，給事中鄭欽劾衡虐民幸功，詔遣給事中何起鳴往勘，工垂竣矣。及秋，河決馬家橋，議者紛然謂功不可成。起鳴初主衡議，亦變其說，與給事中王元春、御史黃襄交章請罷衡。會新河已成，乃止。河長一百九十四里。漕艘由境山入，通行至南陽。未幾，季馴以憂去，詔衡兼理其事。

In the forty-fourth year he was promoted to minister of Punishments at Nanjing. That autumn the river burst at Feiyun Bridge in Pei County and flowed east into Zhaoyang Lake, silting the transport route for more than 100 li. Heng was reassigned as minister of Works with concurrent right vice censor-in-chief to oversee rivers and grain transport. Heng rushed to the breach; the old canal had become dry land. But the new canal opened by the former censor-in-chief Sheng Yingqi, running from south of Nanyang east to Xiacun and then southeast to Liucheng, still had its traces. The ground there was high; when the river burst it stopped at Zhaoyang Lake and could not flow farther east, yet transport could still pass—so they decided to open the new canal and build dikes at Lümeng Lake to prevent breaches. River-route Censor-in-Chief Pan Jixun argued that dredging the old canal would be better, and his plan clashed with Heng's. Heng held firm, diverted the Nianyu, Xuesha, and other streams into the new channel, built the Majiaqiao dike to block the Feiyun Bridge breach, and personally supervised the work. He impeached and removed the Cao-Pu vice commissioner Chai Lian and strictly punished clerks and soldiers who disobeyed orders, and loose talk soon arose. The next year Supervising Secretary Zheng Qin impeached Heng for oppressing the people to claim merit; the emperor ordered Supervising Secretary He Qiming to investigate on site; the work was nearly finished. By autumn the river burst at Majiaqiao, and critics clamored that the project could not succeed. Qiming had initially supported Heng's plan but changed his position as well; together with Supervising Secretary Wang Yuanchun and Censor Huang Xiang he submitted successive memorials asking that Heng be removed. Just then the new canal was completed, and the calls to remove him ceased. The canal was 194 li long. Grain boats entered at Jingshan and could pass through to Nanyang. Before long Jixun left on mourning leave, and the emperor ordered Heng to take charge of river-route affairs as well.

隆慶元年，加太子少保。山水驟溢，決新河，壞漕艘數百。給事中吳時來言：「新河受東、兗以南費、嶧、鄒、滕之水。以一堤捍群流，豈能不潰？宜分之以殺其勢。」衡乃開支河四，泄其水入赤山湖。明年秋，召還部。又明年，衡上疏曰：「先臣宋禮浚治舊渠，測量水平，計濟寧平地與徐州境山巔相準，北高南下，懸流三十丈。故魯橋閘以南稍啟立涸，舟行半月始達。東、兗之民增閘挑淺，苦力役者百六十年。屬者改鑿新渠，遠避黃流，舍卑就高，地形平衍，諸閘不煩起閉，舟行日可百餘里，夫役漫無事事。近河道都御史翁大立奏請裁革，宜可聽。」於是汰閘官五，夫役六千余，以其僦直為修渠費。四年秋，河決睢寧，起季馴總理。明年冬，閱視河道給事中雒遵劾罷季馴，言廷臣可使，無出衡右者。六年正月，詔兼左副都御史，經理河道。

In the first year of Longqing he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. Mountain floods suddenly swelled, breached the new canal, and destroyed several hundred grain boats. Supervising Secretary Wu Shilai said, "The new canal receives the waters of Fei, Yi, Zou, and Teng south of Dong and Yan. With a single dike holding back so many streams, how can it fail to burst? They should be divided to reduce their force." Heng then opened four branch canals and discharged the water into Chishan Lake. The following autumn he was recalled to the ministry. The year after that Heng submitted a memorial saying, "The former minister Song Li dredged the old canal, measured water levels, and found that the flat ground at Jining was level with the summit of Jingshan in Xuzhou—higher in the north and lower in the south, a drop of thirty zhang. Therefore south of the Luqiao lock the gates had to be opened slightly and then closed to hold water, and boats took half a month to pass through. The people of Dong and Yan added locks and dredged shallows, suffering corvée labor for 160 years. Recently the new canal was cut to keep clear of the Yellow River current, abandoning low ground for high; the terrain is level, the locks need not be opened and closed, boats can travel more than 100 li a day, and laborers have little to do. Recently River-route Censor-in-Chief Weng Dali memorialized to cut these posts; this should be approved." Thereupon five lock officials and more than 6,000 laborers were cut, and their hire payments were used for canal repair. In the autumn of the fourth year the river burst at Suining and Jixun was recalled as supreme commissioner. The next winter the inspecting supervising secretary Luo Zun impeached and removed Jixun, saying that among court officials none was better than Heng. In the first month of the sixth year he was ordered to serve concurrently as left vice censor-in-chief to manage the river route.

穆宗崩，大學士高拱以山陵工請召衡。會邳州工亦竣，衡遂還朝。衡先後在部，禁止工作，裁抑浮費，所節省甚眾。穆宗時，內府監局加征工料，濫用不訾，衡隨時執奏。未幾，詔南京織造太監李佑趨辦袍緞千八百余匹，衡因言官孫枝、姚繼可、嚴用和、駱問禮先後諫，再疏請，從之。帝切責太監崔敏，傳令南京加造緞十余萬匹。衡議停新造，但責歲額，得減新造三之二。命造鰲山燈，計費三萬余兩，又命建光泰殿、瑞祥閣於長信門，衡皆奏止之。及神宗即位，首命停織造，而內臣不即奉詔，且請增織染所顏料。衡奏爭，皆得請。皇太后傳諭發帑金修涿州碧霞元君廟。衡復爭，報聞。

When the Muzong emperor died, Grand Secretary Gao Gong asked to recall Heng for the imperial tomb works. Just then the Pizhou works were also finished and Heng returned to court. During Heng's successive terms in the ministry he halted unnecessary works, cut wasteful spending, and saved a great deal. Under Muzong the inner palace directorates added labor and materials levies and spent recklessly; Heng memorialized against this whenever it occurred. Before long the emperor ordered the Nanjing weaving eunuch Li You to hurry production of more than 1,800 bolts of robe satin; Heng cited the remonstrances of the officials Sun Zhi, Yao Jike, Yan Yonghe, and Luo Wenli and memorialized again, and the order was withdrawn. The emperor sharply rebuked the eunuch Cui Min and ordered Nanjing to add more than 100,000 bolts of satin. Heng proposed halting new production and requiring only the annual quota, reducing new production by two thirds. He was ordered to make the Aoshan lantern, costing more than 30,000 taels, and to build the Guangtai Hall and Ruixiang Pavilion at the Changxin Gate; Heng memorialized to stop all of these. When the Shenzong emperor ascended the throne his first order was to halt weaving, but the inner eunuchs did not immediately obey and asked to increase dyes for the dyeing offices. Heng memorialized in protest and in each case prevailed. The empress dowager transmitted an order to disburse treasury funds to repair the Bixia Yuanjun Temple in Zhuozhou. Heng protested again, and word came back that the order was stopped.

衡性強直，遇事不撓，不為張居正所喜。萬歷二年，給事中林景旸劾衡剛愎。衡再疏乞休。詔加太子太保，馳驛歸。其年夏，大雨壞昭陵恩殿，追論督工罪，奪宮保。卒年七十三。子維京，自有傳。

Heng was forceful and upright by nature, unyielding in affairs, and was not liked by Zhang Juzheng. In the second year of Wanli Supervising Secretary Lin Jingyang impeached Heng for obstinacy. Heng memorialized again asking to retire. He was made Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent and sent home by express post. That summer heavy rain destroyed the grace hall of the Zhaoling tomb; his supervision of the works was reviewed and his Grand Mentor title was stripped. He died at the age of seventy-three. His son Weijing has his own biography.

翁大立，余姚人。嘉靖十七年進士。累官山東左布政使。三十八年，以右副都御史巡撫應天、蘇州諸府。蘇州以倭警募壯士，後兵罷無所歸，群聚剽奪。大立得其主名，捕甚急。惡少懼，夜劫縣衛獄，縱囚自隨，攻都御史行署，大立率妻子遁。知府王道行督兵力拒之，乃斬葑門，奔入太湖為盜。命大立戴罪捕賊，尋被劾罷。久之，起故官，巡撫山東。遭喪不赴。

Weng Dali was a native of Yuyao. In the seventeenth year of the Jiajing reign he passed the jinshi examination. He rose to left administration commissioner of Shandong. In the thirty-eighth year he was made right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Yingtian and the Suzhou prefectures. Suzhou had recruited strong men because of the wokou alarm; after the troops were disbanded they had nowhere to go and gathered to plunder. Dali learned the ringleader's name and pressed the arrest urgently. The ruffians were afraid; by night they raided the county guard prison, freed prisoners to follow them, and attacked the censor-in-chief's quarters; Dali fled with his wife and children. Prefect Wang Daoxing directed troops to resist them; they then cut through the Feng Gate and fled into Lake Tai as bandits. Dali was ordered to capture the bandits while under penalty; he was soon impeached and dismissed. After a long time he was recalled to his former post as grand coordinator of Shandong. He encountered mourning and did not take up the post.

隆慶二年，命督河道。朱衡既開新河，漕渠便利。大立因頌新河之利有五，而請浚回回墓以達鴻溝，引昭陽之水沿鴻溝出留城，以溉湖下腴田千頃。未幾，又請鑿邵家嶺，令水由地浜溝出境山，入漕河。帝皆從之。三年七月，河大決沛縣，漕艘阻不進。帝從大立請，大行振貸。大立又請漕艘後至者貯粟徐州倉，平價出糶。詔許以三萬石賚民。大立以下民昏墊、閭閻愁困狀帝莫能周知，乃繪圖十二以獻。且言：「時事可憂，更不止此。東南財賦區，而江海泛溢，粒米不登，京儲可慮一也。邊關千里，悉遭洪水，墩堡傾頹，何恃以守？可慮二也。畿輔、山東、河南，霪雨既久，城郭不完，寇盜無備，可慮三也。江海間颶風鼓浪，舟艦戰卒，悉入波流，海防可慮四也。淮、浙鹽場鹹泥盡沒，竈戶流移，商賈不至，國課可慮五也。望陛下以五患十二圖付公卿博議，速求拯濟之策。」帝留圖備覽，下其奏於所司。

In the second year of Longqing he was ordered to supervise the river route. After Zhu Heng had opened the new canal, the grain transport route was convenient. Dali therefore praised five benefits of the new canal and asked to dredge the Huihui tomb channel to reach the Honggou, drawing Zhaoyang Lake water along the Honggou out at Liucheng to irrigate a thousand qing of fertile fields below the lake. Before long he also asked to cut through Shaojialing so water could pass through the Dibin ditch at Jingshan into the grain canal. The emperor approved all of these. In the seventh month of the third year the river burst badly at Pei County and grain boats were blocked and could not advance. The emperor followed Dali's request and carried out large-scale relief loans. Dali also asked that grain boats arriving later store grain in the Xuzhou granary and sell it at fair price. The emperor approved using 30,000 piculs to relieve the people. Dali thought the emperor could not fully know how the common people were mired in hardship and how neighborhoods were in distress, and so painted twelve pictures to present. He also said, "Present affairs are worrisome and go beyond this. The southeast is the region of wealth and taxes, yet rivers and sea overflow and grain does not ripen—the capital stores are the first worry. Border passes for a thousand li have all suffered floods; beacon towers and forts have collapsed—what can we rely on to defend? This is the second worry. The capital region, Shandong, and Henan have had prolonged rains; city walls are incomplete and bandits are unprepared for—this is the third worry. Between river and sea hurricanes stir waves; ships and fighting soldiers have all gone into the currents—coastal defense is the fourth worry. Huai and Zhe salt fields are wholly submerged in brine mud; saltern households have fled; merchants do not come—state revenue is the fifth worry. I hope Your Majesty will entrust the five worries and twelve pictures to the high officials for broad discussion and quickly seek policies of relief." The emperor kept the pictures for reference and sent his memorial to the relevant offices.

當是時，黃河既決，淮水復漲。自清河縣至通濟閘抵淮安城西淤三十餘里，決方、信二壩出海，平地水深丈余，寶應湖堤往往崩壞。山東沂、莒、郯城水溢，從沂河、直河出邳州，人民多溺死。大立奔走經營，至四年六月，鴻溝、境山諸工，及淮流疏浚，次第告成。帝喜，錫賚有差。時大立已升工部右侍郎，旋改兵部，為左。會代者陳大賓未至，而山東沙、薛、汶、泗諸水驟漲，決仲家淺諸處，黃河又暴至，茶城復淤。已而淮自泰山廟至七里溝亦淤十餘里。其明年，遂為給事中宋良佐劾罷。萬歷二年，起南京刑部右侍郎，就改吏部。明年入為刑部右侍郎，再遷南京兵部尚書。六年，致仕歸。

At that time the Yellow River had already burst and the Huai River had risen again. From Qinghe County to the Tongji Lock and west of Huai'an city it silted for more than thirty li; the Fang and Xin dams were breached to discharge to the sea; on flat ground water was more than a zhang deep; the Baoying Lake dikes often collapsed. In Shandong Yi, Ju, and Tancheng overflowed; water went out through the Yi River and Zhih River at Pizhou and many people drowned. Dali rushed about managing affairs; by the sixth month of the fourth year the Honggou and Jingshan works and Huai River dredging were completed in turn. The emperor was pleased and bestowed rewards in varying degrees. By then Dali had been promoted to right vice minister of Works, then transferred to War and made left vice minister. His successor Chen Dabin had not yet arrived when Shandong's Sha, Xue, Wen, and Si waters suddenly rose, breached at Zhongjiaqian and elsewhere, the Yellow River surged again, and Chacheng silted once more. Soon the Huai from Taishan Temple to Qiligou also silted for more than ten li. The next year he was impeached and dismissed by Supervising Secretary Song Liangzuo. In the second year of Wanli he was recalled as right vice minister of Punishments at Nanjing and then transferred to Personnel. The next year he entered the capital as right vice minister of Punishments and was again transferred to minister of War at Nanjing. In the sixth year he retired and returned home.

先是，隆慶末，有錦衣指揮周世臣者，外戚慶雲侯裔也。家貧無妻，獨與婢荷花兒居。盜入其室，殺世臣去。把總張國維入捕盜，惟荷花兒及仆王奎在，遂謂二人奸弒其主。獄成，刑部郎中潘誌伊疑之，久不決。及大立以侍郎署部事，憤荷花兒弒主，趣誌伊速決。誌伊終疑之，乃委郎中王三錫、徐一忠同讞。竟無所平反，置極刑。逾數年，獲真盜。都人競稱荷花兒冤，流聞禁中。帝大怒，欲重譴大立等。會給事中周良寅、蕭彥復劾之，乃追奪大立職，調一忠、三錫於外。誌伊時已知九江府，亦謫知陳州。

Earlier, at the end of Longqing, there was a Brocade Guard commandant Zhou Shichen, a descendant of the Marquis of Qingyun by marriage. His family was poor and he had no wife; he lived alone with the maid Hehua'er. Thieves entered his room, killed Shichen, and left. The garrison commander Zhang Guowei entered to catch the thieves; only Hehua'er and the servant Wang Kui were there, so he said the two had committed adultery and murdered their master. The case was concluded; Ministry of Punishments Director Pan Zhiyi doubted it and long delayed a decision. When Dali served as vice minister in charge of the ministry, angry that Hehua'er had murdered her master, he pressed Zhiyi to decide quickly. Zhiyi still doubted and delegated the directors Wang Sanxi and Xu Yizhong to judge together. In the end they found no grounds to reverse the verdict and imposed the extreme penalty. After several years the real thieves were captured. People in the capital all said Hehua'er had been wronged; the story reached the inner palace. The emperor was greatly angry and wished to punish Dali and the others severely. When Supervising Secretaries Zhou Liangyin and Xiao Yan again impeached them, Dali's office was stripped and Yizhong and Sanxi were transferred outside the capital. Zhiyi was then prefect of Jiujiang and was also demoted to prefect of Chenzhou.

誌伊，吳江人。進士，終廣西右參政。歷官有聲。

Zhiyi was a native of Wujiang. A jinshi, he ended his career as right vice commissioner of Guangxi. Throughout his offices he had a good reputation.

潘季馴，字時良，烏程人。嘉靖二十九年進士。授九江推官。擢御史，巡撫廣東。行均平裏甲法，廣人大便。臨代去，疏請飭後至者守其法，帝從之。進大理丞。四十四年，由左少卿進右僉都御史，總理河道。與朱衡共開新河，加右副都御史。尋以憂去。隆慶四年，河決邳州、睢寧。起故官，再理河道，塞決口。明年，工竣，坐驅運船入新溜漂沒多，為勘河給事中雒遵劾罷。

Pan Jixun, styled Shiliang, was a native of Wucheng. In the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing reign he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed investigating censor of Jiujiang. He was promoted to censor and appointed grand coordinator of Guangdong. He implemented the equalized lijia method; the people of Guangdong greatly benefited. As he was about to leave at the end of his term, he memorialized asking that his successor be ordered to keep his methods; the emperor agreed. He was promoted to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review. In the forty-fourth year, from left vice director he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief to oversee the river route. Together with Zhu Heng he opened the new canal and was made right vice censor-in-chief. Soon he left on mourning leave. In the fourth year of Longqing the river burst at Pizhou and Suining. He was recalled to his former post to manage the river route again and block the breach. The next year the work was finished; because many transport boats driven into the new current were lost, he was impeached and dismissed by the inspecting supervising secretary Luo Zun.

萬歷四年夏，再起官，巡撫江西。明年冬，召為刑部右侍郎。是時，河決崔鎮，黃水北流，清河口淤澱，全淮南徙，高堰湖堤大壞，淮、揚、高郵、寶應間皆為巨浸。大學士張居正深以為憂。河漕尚書吳桂芳議復老黃河故道，而總河都御史傅希摯欲塞決口，束水歸漕，兩人議不合。會桂芳卒，六年夏，命季馴以右都御史兼工部左侍郎代之。季馴以故道久湮，雖浚復，其深廣必不能如今河，議築崔鎮以塞決口，築遙堤以防潰決。又：「淮清河濁，淮弱河強，河水一斗，沙居其六，伏秋則居其八，非極湍急，必至停滯。當藉淮之清以刷河之濁，築高堰束淮入清口，以敵河之強，使二水並流，則海口自浚。即桂芳所開草灣，亦可不復修治。」遂條上六事，詔如議。

In the fourth summer of Wanli he was recalled and appointed grand coordinator of Jiangxi. The next winter he was summoned as right vice minister of Punishments. At that time the river burst at Cuizhen; Yellow River water flowed north; Qinghekou silted up; the whole Huai shifted south; the Gaoyan lake dikes were badly damaged; and the region between the Huai, Yangzhou, Gaoyou, and Baoying became a vast flood. Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng was deeply worried. River and grain transport minister Wu Guifang proposed restoring the old Yellow River route, while Supreme River-route Censor Fu Xizhi wanted to block the breach and confine the water to the grain route; the two plans clashed. When Guifang died, in the sixth summer Jixun was ordered as right censor-in-chief with concurrent left vice minister of Works to replace him. Jixun thought the old route had long been buried; even if dredged, its depth and breadth could not match the present river; he proposed building at Cuizhen to block the breach and building distant dikes to prevent collapse. He also said, "The Huai is clear and the Yellow River muddy; the Huai is weak and the river strong. In one dou of river water, sand is six tenths; in flood season it is eight tenths. Unless the current is extremely swift, it must stagnate. One must borrow the Huai's clarity to scour the river's mud, build the Gaoyan dike to confine the Huai into Qingkou to match the river's strength, and let the two waters flow together—then the sea mouth will scour itself. Even the Caowan that Guifang opened need not be repaired." He then submitted six items; the emperor approved as proposed.

明年冬，兩河工成。又明年春，加太子太保，進工部尚書兼左副都御史。季馴初至河上，歷虞城、夏邑、商丘，相度地勢。舊黃河上流，自新集經趙家圈、蕭縣，出徐州小浮橋，極深廣。自嘉靖中北徙，河身既淺，遷徙不常，曹、單、豐、沛常苦昏墊。上疏請復故河。給事中王道成以方築崔鎮高堰，役難並舉。河南撫按亦陳三難，乃止。遷南京兵部尚書。十一年正月，召改刑部。

The next winter work on both rivers was finished. The next spring he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and promoted to minister of Works with concurrent left vice censor-in-chief. When Jixun first reached the river he went through Yucheng, Xiayi, and Shangqiu to survey the terrain. The old upper Yellow River from Xinji through Zhaojiaquan and Xiao County exited at the small floating bridge of Xuzhou, extremely deep and broad. Since it shifted north in the Jiajing period the riverbed had become shallow and its course unstable; Cao, Shan, Feng, and Pei often suffered inundation. He memorialized to restore the old river. The supervising secretary Wang Daocheng said that with Cuizhen and Gaoyan dikes being built, the works could not be undertaken together. The Henan grand coordinator and surveillance commissioner also listed three difficulties, and it was stopped. He was transferred to minister of War at Nanjing. In the first month of the eleventh year he was summoned and changed to Punishments.

季馴之再起也，以張居正援。居正歿，家屬盡幽系，子敬修自縊死。季馴言：「居正母逾八旬，旦暮莫必其命，乞降特恩宥釋。」又以治居正獄太急，宣言居正家屬斃獄者已數十人。先是，御史李植、江東之輩與大臣申時行、楊巍相訐。季馴力右時行、巍，痛詆言者，言者交怒。植遂劾季馴黨庇居正，落職為民。十三年，御史李棟上疏訟曰：「隆慶間，河決崔鎮，為運道梗。數年以來，民居既奠，河水安流，咸曰：『此潘尚書功也。』昔先臣宋禮治會通河，至於今是賴，陛下允督臣萬恭之請，予之謚蔭。今季馴功不在禮下，乃當身存之日，使與編戶齒，寧不隳諸臣任事之心，失朝廷報功之典哉！」御史董子行亦言季馴罪輕責重。詔俱奪其俸。其後論薦者不已。

When Jixun was recalled it was with Zhang Juzheng's support. When Juzheng died his family were all imprisoned; his son Jingxiu hanged himself. Jixun said, "Juzheng's mother is over eighty; morning and evening her life is uncertain; I beg special grace for release." He also said that because the case against Juzheng was handled too harshly, he declared that dozens of Juzheng's family had already died in prison. Earlier the censors Li Zhi, Jiang Dongzhi, and others had quarreled with the ministers Shen Shixing and Yang Wei. Jixun strongly sided with Shixing and Wei and bitterly attacked the critics; the critics were furious in turn. Zhi then impeached Jixun for shielding Juzheng and he was reduced to commoner status. In the thirteenth year Censor Li Dong memorialized in defense saying, "In the Longqing period the river burst at Cuizhen and blocked the transport route. For several years since, people have settled and the river flows peacefully; all say, This is Minister Pan's achievement. The former minister Song Li managed the Huitong Canal and we still rely on it today; Your Majesty approved Supervisor Wan Gong's request and gave posthumous honors. Now Jixun's achievement is not below Song Li's, yet while he still lives you make him count as a common household—will this not destroy officials' will to serve and lose the court's standard for rewarding merit? Censor Dong Zixing also said Jixun's punishment was heavy for a light fault. The emperor ordered both to forfeit salary. After that recommendations continued without end.

十六年，給事中梅國樓復薦，遂起季馴右都御史，總督河道。自吳桂芳後，河漕皆總理，至是復設專官。明年，黃水暴漲，沖入夏鎮，壞田廬，居民多溺死。季馴復築塞之。十九年冬，加太子太保、工部尚書兼右都御史。

In the sixteenth year Supervising Secretary Mei Guolou recommended again and Jixun was recalled as right censor-in-chief, supreme commander of the river route. After Wu Guifang, river and grain transport had been jointly managed; now a separate post was restored. The next year Yellow River water surged, poured into Xiazhen, destroyed fields and houses, and many people drowned. Jixun again built and blocked it. In the nineteenth winter he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, minister of Works, and concurrent right censor-in-chief.

季馴凡四奉治河命，前後二十七年，習知地形險易。增築設防，置官建閘，下及木石樁埽，綜理纖悉，積勞成病。三疏乞休，不允。二十年，泗州大水，城中水三尺，患及祖陵。議者或欲開傅寧湖至六合入江，或欲浚周家橋入高、寶諸湖，或欲開壽州瓦埠河以分淮水上流，或欲弛張福堤以泄淮口。季馴謂祖陵王氣不宜輕泄，而巡撫周寀、陳於陛、巡按高舉謂周家橋在祖陵後百里，可疏浚，議不合。都給事中楊其休請允季馴去。歸三年卒，年七十五。

Jixun received river orders four times over twenty-seven years and knew the terrain's hazards and advantages. He strengthened dikes and defenses, set up offices and locks, down to timber, stone, piles, and fascines—managing every detail until overwork brought illness. Three times he memorialized to retire; it was not granted. In the twentieth year Sizhou flooded; water in the city was three chi deep and threatened the imperial ancestral tombs. Some proposed opening Funing Lake to Liuhe to enter the Yangtze, dredging Zhoujiaqiao into the Gaoyou and Baoying lakes, opening the Wabu River at Shouzhou to divide the upper Huai, or relaxing the Zhangfu dike to discharge at the Huai mouth. Jixun said the tombs' royal qi should not be lightly released; but Grand Coordinators Zhou Cai, Chen Yubing, and Surveillance Commissioner Gao Ju said Zhoujiaqiao was a hundred li behind the tombs and could be dredged—the plans did not agree. Chief Supervising Secretary Yang Qixiu asked that Jixun be allowed to leave. Three years after returning home he died at seventy-five.

萬恭，字肅卿，南昌人。嘉靖二十三年進士。授南京文選主事，歷考功郎中。壽王喪過南京，中貴欲令朝王妃，恭厲聲曰：「禮不朝後，況妃乎！」遂止。就遷光祿少卿，入改大理。

Wan Gong, styled Suqing, was a native of Nanchang. In the twenty-third year of the Jiajing reign he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal officer of the Nanjing Bureau of Appointments and served as director in the Bureau of Evaluations. When the Prince of Shou's funeral passed Nanjing, inner eunuchs wanted him to pay court to the princess; Gong said sternly, "By ritual one does not pay court to a consort after the ruler—how much less a princess!" It was stopped. He was soon transferred to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and then moved to the Court of Judicial Review.

四十二年，寇逼通州，帝方急兵事。以兵部右侍郎蔡汝楠、協理戎政侍郎喻時不勝任，調之南京，欲代以鄭曉、楊順、葛縉，手詔問徐階。階以曉文士，順、縉匪人，請命吏部推擇。帝乃諭尚書嚴訥越格求之，遂以湖廣參政李燧代時，而命恭代汝楠。恭列上選兵、議將、練兵車、火器諸事，皆報可。明年，燧罷，眾將推恭，恭引疾。及用趙炳然，恭起視事。於是給事中胡應嘉劾恭奸欺。恭奏辯，部議調恭。詔勿問。恭不自安，力請劇邊自效。乃命兼僉都御史，巡撫山西。甫至，寇犯龍須墩，恭伏兵擊卻之。未幾，寇五萬騎至朔州川，恭與戰老高墓。列車為陣，發火器，寇少卻。忽風起，火反焚車，寇復大至。諸將殊死戰，寇乃去。事聞，賚銀幣。巡撫故無旗牌，恭請得之。濱河州縣患套寇東掠，歲鑿冰以防，恭為築墻四十里。教人以耕及用水車法，民大利之。浹歲，以內艱歸。

In the forty-second year bandits threatened Tongzhou and the emperor was urgently concerned with military affairs. Thinking Vice Minister of War Cai Runan and Vice Commissioner for Military Affairs Yu Shi unfit, he transferred them to Nanjing and wished to replace them with Zheng Xiao, Yang Shun, or Ge Jin, sending a personal edict to ask Xu Jie. Jie said Xiao was a literary man and Shun and Jin were unworthy men; he asked the Ministry of Personnel to select. The emperor then told Minister Yan Na to seek beyond normal rules; Li Sui of Huguang was made to replace Shi, and Gong was ordered to replace Runan. Gong listed selecting troops, discussing generals, drilling war carts, and firearms; all were approved. The next year Sui was dismissed; the generals recommended Gong but Gong cited illness. When Zhao Bingran was appointed, Gong took up his duties. Then Supervising Secretary Hu Yingjia impeached Gong for deceit. Gong memorialized in defense; the ministry proposed transferring Gong. The emperor ordered that it not be pursued. Gong was uneasy and strongly asked to serve on a dangerous frontier himself. He was ordered as concurrent vice censor-in-chief, grand coordinator of Shanxi. As soon as he arrived, bandits attacked Longxudun and Gong ambushed and repelled them. Before long fifty thousand mounted bandits reached Shuozhou plain; Gong fought them at Laogao Tomb. He arrayed war carts in formation and fired firearms; the bandits retreated slightly. Suddenly the wind rose and fire burned back into the carts; the bandits came again in force. The generals fought to the death and the bandits then withdrew. When word came, he was rewarded with silver and silks. Grand coordinators originally had no signal boards; Gong asked and obtained them. River-border prefectures and counties suffered Tatar raids from the east; each year they cut ice as defense; Gong built a wall forty li long. He taught people farming and the water-wheel method; the people greatly benefited. After less than a year he returned on inner mourning leave.

隆慶初，給事中岑用賓等拾遺及恭。吏部尚書楊博議，仍用之邊方。暨服闋，恭遂不出。六年春，給事中劉伯燮薦恭異才。會河決邳州，運道大阻，已遣尚書朱衡經理，復命恭以故官總理河道。恭與衡築長堤，北自磨臍溝迄邳州直河，南自離林迄宿遷小河口，各延三百七十里。費帑金三萬，六十日而成。高、寶諸河，夏秋泛濫，歲議增堤，而水益漲。恭緣堤建平水閘二十余，以時泄蓄，專令浚湖，不復增堤，河遂無患。

At the beginning of Longqing, Supervising Secretary Cen Yongbin and others included Gong in remonstrance memorials. Minister of Personnel Yang Bo proposed still using him on the frontier. When mourning ended Gong did not come out. In the sixth spring Supervising Secretary Liu Boxie recommended Gong as exceptional talent. When the river burst at Pizhou and the transport route was badly blocked, Minister Zhu Heng had already been sent to manage it; Gong was again ordered in his former post as supreme commissioner of the river route. Gong and Heng built long dikes from Mojigou north to the Zhih River at Pizhou, and from Lilin south to the Xiaohekou at Suqian, each extending 370 li. It cost 30,000 taels of treasury silver and was finished in sixty days. The Gaoyou and Baoying rivers flooded in summer and autumn; each year they debated raising dikes but the water rose higher. Gong built more than twenty level-water locks along the dikes to store and release by season, ordering only lake dredging and no more dike-raising; the rivers were then untroubled.

恭強毅敏達，一時稱才臣。治水三年，言者劾其不職，竟罷歸。家居垂二十年卒。孫燝，自有傳。

Gong was forceful, resolute, and quick-witted; for a time he was called a talented minister. After three years managing water, critics impeached him for incompetence and he was dismissed. He lived at home nearly twenty years and died. His grandson Can has his own biography.

吳桂芳，字子實，新建人。嘉靖二十三年進士。授刑部主事。有崔鑒者，年十三，忿父妾淩母，手刃之。桂芳為著論擬赦。尚書聞淵曰：「此董仲舒《春秋》斷獄，柳子厚《復讎議》也。鑒遂得宥。及淵入吏部，欲任以言職。會聞繼母病，遽請歸，留之不可。起補禮部，歷遷揚州知府。禦倭有功，遷俸一級。又建議增築外城。揚有二城，自桂芳始。歷浙江左布政使，進右僉都御史，巡撫福建。父喪歸。起故官，撫治鄖陽。尋進右副都御史總理河道，未任。兩廣總督張臬以非軍旅才被劾罷，部議罷總督，改桂芳兵部右侍郎兼右僉都御史，提督兩廣軍務兼理巡撫。

Wu Guifang, styled Zishi, was a native of Xinjian. In the twenty-third year of the Jiajing reign he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal officer in the Ministry of Punishments. There was a Cui Jian, thirteen years old, who because his father's concubine bullied his mother killed her with his own hand. Guifang wrote a treatise proposing pardon. Minister Wen Yuan said, "This is Dong Zhongshu's Spring and Autumn adjudication and Liu Zongyuan's 'On Revenge'. Jian was then pardoned. When Yuan entered the Ministry of Personnel he wished to appoint Guifang to a remonstrance post. When he heard his stepmother was ill he abruptly asked to return; they could not keep him. He was recalled to Rites and rose to prefect of Yangzhou. He had merit resisting the wokou and was promoted one rank in salary. He also proposed enlarging and building the outer city wall. Yangzhou had two walled cities, beginning with Guifang. He served as left provincial administration commissioner of Zhejiang, was promoted to right assistant censor-in-chief, and toured Fujian as grand coordinator. He returned home upon his father's death. Recalled to his former post, he pacified and governed Yunyang. Soon promoted to right vice censor-in-chief to oversee the river route, but he did not take up the post. The Liangguang governor-general Zhang Nie was impeached and dismissed for lacking military talent; the ministry proposed abolishing the governor-generalship and appointed Guifang vice minister of War with concurrent right assistant censor-in-chief to direct Liangguang military affairs while also handling grand coordination.

兩廣群盜河源李亞元、程鄉葉丹樓連歲為患，潮州舊倭屯據鄒塘。桂芳先討倭。以降賊伍端為前驅，官軍繼進，一日夜克三巢，焚斬四百余人。帝深嘉之，令與南贛提督吳百朋乘勝滅賊。而新倭寇福建省為戚繼光所敗，流入境。桂芳、百朋會調土、漢兵，乘其初至，急擊之。倭懼，悉奔甲子崎沙，奪漁舟入海。暴風起，皆覆溺死。脫者還海豐，副總兵湯克寬擒斬殆盡。因建議海道副使轄東莞以西至瓊州，領番夷市舶，更設海防僉事，巡東莞以東至惠潮，專禦倭寇。又進討亞元、丹樓，平之。

Bandits in Liangguang—Li Yayuan of Heyuan and Ye Danlou of Chengxiang—had plagued the region for years, and old wokou in Chaozhou were encamped at Zoutang. Guifang attacked the wokou first. Using the surrendered bandit Wu Duan as vanguard, government troops followed; in one day and night they took three lairs, burning and beheading more than four hundred men. The emperor greatly commended him and ordered him to join Nan'gan supervising censor Wu Baipeng in pressing the victory to exterminate the bandits. Meanwhile new wokou defeated in Fujian by Qi Jiguang flowed into the territory. Guifang and Baipeng jointly mobilized native and Han troops and, striking while the enemy had just arrived, attacked urgently. The wokou in fear all fled to Jiaziqi Beach, seized fishing boats, and put to sea. A violent storm arose and all were capsized and drowned. Those who escaped returned to Haifeng; deputy commander Tang Kekuan captured and beheaded nearly all of them. He therefore proposed that the maritime-route vice commissioner govern from Dongguan westward to Qiongzhou, overseeing foreign trade ships, and that a separate maritime-defense intendant be established to patrol from Dongguan eastward to Huizhou and Chaozhou, devoted solely to repelling wokou. He then advanced to attack Yayuan and Danlou and pacified them.

降賊王西橋、吳平已撫復叛。西橋掠東莞，敗都指揮劉世恩兵，執肇慶同知郭文通以求撫。桂芳擒斬之，進討平。平初據南澳，為戚繼光、俞大猷所敗，奔饒平鳳凰山，掠民舟出海，自陽江奔安南。桂芳檄安南萬寧宣撫司進剿，遣克寬以舟師會之，夾擊平萬橋山下。乘風縱火，平軍死無算，擒斬三百九十余人。參將傅應嘉言平已擒，後復雲溺死。福建巡撫汪道昆奏聞，桂芳不肯，曰：「風火交熾時，何以知其必死也？」平黨林道乾復窺南澳，時議設參將戍守。桂芳言：「澳中地險而腴。元時曾設兵戍守，戍兵即據以叛，此禦盜生盜也，不如戍柘林便。」從之。召為南京兵部右侍郎，尋改北部。隆慶初，轉左，以疾乞歸。言官數論薦。

Surrendered bandits Wang Xiqiao and Wu Ping, having been pacified, rebelled again. Xiqiao raided Dongguan, defeated the troops of regional commander Liu Shi'en, and seized Zhaoqing sub-prefect Guo Wentong to demand pacification. Guifang captured and executed him, then advanced against Ping. Ping had first held Nan'ao, was defeated by Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, fled to Fenghuang Mountain in Raoping, plundered civilian boats to go to sea, and from Yangjiang fled to Annam. Guifang ordered the Wanning pacification commission of Annam to advance in suppression, sent Kekuan with a fleet to join them, and attacked Ping from both sides below Wanqiao Mountain. Riding the wind they set fires; Ping's army suffered immeasurable deaths, and more than three hundred ninety were captured and beheaded. Regional vice commander Fu Yingjia reported that Ping had been captured, but later again claimed he had drowned. Fujian grand coordinator Wang Daokun memorialized the throne; Guifang refused, saying, "When wind and fire blazed together, how could one know he must have died?" Ping's follower Lin Daoqian again eyed Nan'ao, and at the time there was discussion of posting a regional vice commander to garrison it. Guifang said, "The land in the bay is strategically perilous yet fertile. In Yuan times troops were posted to garrison it and the garrison troops promptly seized it to rebel—this is using thieves to guard against thieves; it would be better to garrison Zhelin." The court approved. He was summoned as right vice minister of War at Nanjing, soon transferred to the northern ministry. At the beginning of Longqing he transferred to the left post and asked to retire on grounds of illness. Remonstrating officials repeatedly recommended him in memorials.

萬歷三年冬，即家起故官，總督漕運兼巡撫鳳陽。明年春，桂芳以淮、揚洪潦奔流，惟云梯關一徑入海，致海湧橫沙，河流泛溢，而興、鹽、高、寶諸州縣所在受災，請益開草灣及老黃河故道以廣入海之路，修築高郵東西二堤以蓄湖水。皆下所司議行。未幾，草灣河工告成。是年秋，河決曹縣、徐州、桃源，給事中劉鉉疏議漕河，語侵桂芳。桂芳疏辯曰：「草灣之開，以高、寶水患沖嚙，疏以拯之，非能使上遊亦不復漲也。今山陽以南諸州縣，水落布種，鬥米四分，則臣斯舉亦既得策矣。若徐、邳以上，非臣所屬，臣何與焉。」因請罷。御史邵陛言：「諸臣以河漲歸咎草灣，阻任事氣，乞策勵桂芳，益底厥績，而詰責河臣傅希摯曠職。」從之。

In the winter of Wanli year 3 he was recalled from home to his former post as grain-transport governor-general concurrent Fengyang grand coordinator. The next spring Guifang, because floods in Huai and Yang surged unchecked and only the Yuntiliguan route led to the sea, causing tidal surges and shifting sand and rivers to overflow, with Xing, Yan, Gao, and Bao prefectures and counties all suffering disaster, requested further opening of Caowan and the old Yellow River channel to widen the route to the sea and building east and west dikes at Gaoyou to store lake water. All were referred to the relevant offices for deliberation and implementation. Before long the Caowan river works were completed. That autumn the river breached at Caoxian, Xuzhou, and Taoyuan; supervising secretary Liu Xuan memorialized on the grain route, with words impugning Guifang. Guifang memorialized in defense, saying, "The opening of Caowan was because Gao and Bao suffered flood damage and erosion; it was dredged to rescue them—it could not keep the upper reaches from rising again. Now in the prefectures and counties south of Shanyang, as the water receded they sowed seed and a dou of rice cost four fen—then my measure has already achieved its aim. As for Xu and Pi and above, that is not within my jurisdiction—what have I to do with it?" He therefore asked to be dismissed. Censor Shao Bi said, "The various officials blame Caowan for the river's rise, dampening the spirit of those who take on tasks; I beg encouragement for Guifang to complete his achievements, and censure river-route minister Fu Xizhi for neglect of duty." The court approved.

其明年，希摯議塞崔鎮決口，束水歸漕，而桂芳欲沖刷成河以為老黃河入海之道。廷議以二人意見不合，改希摯撫陜西，以李世達代。未幾，又改世達他任，命桂芳兼理河漕。六年正月，詔進工部尚書兼右副都御史，居職如故。未逾月，卒。尋以高郵湖堤成，贈太子少保。

The next year Xizhi proposed blocking the breach at Cuizhen to confine water to the grain route, while Guifang wanted to scour and form a channel as the old Yellow River route to the sea. Court deliberation held that the two men's views did not agree; Xizhi was transferred to grand coordinator of Shaanxi and Li Shida replaced him. Before long Shida was again transferred elsewhere and Guifang was ordered to manage river and grain transport concurrently. In the first month of year 6 an edict promoted him to minister of Works with concurrent right vice censor-in-chief, his duties unchanged. In less than a month he died. Soon, because the Gaoyou lake dikes were completed, he was posthumously granted Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

傅希摯，衡水人。累官右僉都御史，巡撫山東。隆慶末，戶部以餉乏議裁山東、河南民兵，希摯爭之而止。改總理河道。以茶城淤塞，開梁山以下寧洋山，出右洪口。萬歷五年，進右副都御史，巡撫陜西。已遷戶部右侍郎，坐隴右礦賊未靖，論罷。起總督漕運，歷南京戶、兵二部尚書。召理戎政，以老被劾。加太子少保致仕。

Fu Xizhi was a native of Hengshui. Through successive posts he rose to right assistant censor-in-chief and toured Shandong as grand coordinator. At the end of Longqing the Ministry of Revenue, because supplies were short, proposed cutting militia in Shandong and Henan; Xizhi argued against it and the plan stopped. He was transferred to oversee the river route. Because Chacheng was silted, he opened from below Liangshan through Ningyang Mountain, exiting at Youhongkou. In Wanli year 5 he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Shaanxi. Already transferred to right vice minister of Revenue, he was dismissed on grounds that bandits in Longyou mines were not yet pacified. Recalled as grain-transport governor-general, he served successively as minister of Revenue and minister of War at Nanjing. Summoned to manage military affairs, he was impeached on grounds of age. Granted Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and retired.

王宗沐，字新甫，臨海人。嘉靖二十三年進士。授刑部主事。與同官李攀龍、王世貞輩，以詩文相友善。宗沐尤習吏治。歷江西提學副使。修白鹿洞書院，引諸生講習其中。

Wang Zongmu, styled Xinfu, was a native of Linhai. In the twenty-third year of the Jiajing reign he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal officer in the Ministry of Punishments. With fellow officials Li Panlong, Wang Shizhen, and others he was on friendly terms through poetry and prose. Zongmu was especially versed in administrative governance. He served as educational intendant of Jiangxi. He restored Bailudong Academy and gathered students there for instruction.

三遷山西右布政使。所部歲祲，宗沐因入覲上疏曰：「山西列郡俱荒，太原尤甚。三年於茲，百餘里不聞雞聲。父子夫婦互易一飽，命曰『人市』。宗祿八十五萬，累歲缺支，饑疫死者幾二百人。夫山西京師右掖，自故關出真定，自忻、代出紫荊，皆不過三日。宣、大之糧雖派各郡，而運本色者皆在太原。饑民一聚，蹂踐劫奪，歲供宣、大兩鎮六十七萬餉，誰為之辦？此可深念者一也。四方奏水旱者以十分上，部議常裁而為三，所免不過存留者而已。今山西所謂存留者，二鎮三關之輸也。存留乃反急於起運，是山西終不蒙分毫之寬。此可深念者二也。開疆萬山之中，巖阻巉絕，太原民不得至澤、潞，安望就食他所？獨真定米稍可通。然背負車運，率二鬥而致一斗，甫至壽陽，則價已三倍矣。是可深念者三也。饑民相聚為盜，招之不可，勢必撲殺。小則支庫金，大則請內帑。與其發帑以賞殺盜之人，孰若發帑使不為盜？此可深念者四也。近丘富往來誘惑，邊民妄傳募人耕田不取租稅。愚民何知，急不暇擇，長邊八百餘里，誰要之者？彼誘而眾，我逃而虛。此可深念者五也。」因請緩征逋賦，留河東新增鹽課以給宗祿。尋改廣西左布政使，再補山東。

Through three promotions he became right provincial administration commissioner of Shanxi. His jurisdiction suffered famine year after year; Zongmu therefore on audience memorialized, saying, "Every prefecture in Shanxi is desolate, Taiyuan most of all. For three years now, for more than a hundred li one hears no cockcrow. Fathers and sons, husbands and wives exchanged one another for a full belly—the market was called the 'human market'. Stipends for the imperial clan totaled eight hundred fifty thousand, unpaid for years; hunger and plague killed nearly two hundred. Shanxi is the right arm of the capital; from Guguan one reaches Zhending, from Xin and Dai one exits Zijing—all within three days. Though grain for Xuan and Da was apportioned among the prefectures, those transporting actual grain all did so at Taiyuan. Once starving people gather, they trample, rob, and plunder—the annual supply of six hundred seventy thousand for the two garrisons of Xuan and Da, who will provide it? This is the first matter deserving deep thought. Memorials on flood and drought from all quarters report ten parts in full; the ministry's deliberation usually cuts them to three—the exemption is no more than what is retained locally. What Shanxi calls retained is the tribute for the two garrisons and three passes. Retained goods are instead more urgently forwarded than transported tribute—thus Shanxi never receives the slightest relief. This is the second matter deserving deep thought. Opening territory amid ten thousand mountains, cliffs steep and paths cut off, Taiyuan people cannot reach Ze and Lu—how can they hope to seek food elsewhere? Only Zhending rice can somewhat be brought through. Yet carried on the back or by cart, on average two dou yield one dou delivered; by the time it reaches Shouyang the price has already tripled. This is the third matter deserving deep thought. Starving people gather to become bandits; summoning them does not work—they must inevitably be suppressed and killed. For small cases branch treasury funds; for large ones request funds from the inner treasury. Rather than disbursing treasury funds to reward those who kill bandits, is it not better to disburse treasury funds so they do not become bandits? This is the fourth matter deserving deep thought. Recently Qiu Fu went back and forth enticing; border people falsely spread word that men were recruited to farm fields without rent or tax. What do ignorant people know? In urgent straits they cannot choose—the long border of more than eight hundred li, who wants them? They entice and the crowd grows; we flee and the land is emptied. This is the fifth matter deserving deep thought." He therefore requested deferral of overdue taxes and retention of newly added salt levies east of the river to pay imperial clan stipends. Soon transferred to left provincial administration commissioner of Guangxi, he was again assigned to Shandong.

隆慶五年，給事中李貴和請開膠萊河。宗沐以其功難成，不足濟運，遺書中朝止之。拜右副都御史，總督漕運兼巡撫鳳陽，極陳運軍之苦，請亟優恤。又以河決無常，運者終梗，欲復海運，上疏曰：「自會通河開浚以來，海運不講已久。臣近官山東，嘗條斯議。巡撫都御史梁夢龍毅然試之，底績無壅，而慮者輒苦風波。夫東南之海，天下眾水之委也，茫渺無山，趨避靡所，近南水暖，蛟龍窟宅。故元人海運多驚，以其起自太倉、嘉定而北也。若自淮安而東，引登、萊以泊天津，是謂北海，中多島嶼，可以避風。又其地高而多石，蛟龍有往來而無窟宅。故登州有海市，以石氣與水氣相搏，映石而成，石氣能達於水面，以石去水近故也。北海之淺，是其明驗。可以佐運河之窮，計無便於此者。」因條上便宜七事。明年三月遂運米十二萬石自淮入海，五月抵天津。敘功，與夢龍俱進秩，賜金幣。而南京給事中張煥言：「比聞八舟漂沒，失米三千二百石。宗沐預計有此，私令人糴補。夫米可補，人命可補乎？宗沐掩飾視聽，非大臣誼。」宗沐疏辯求勘。詔行前議，習海道以備緩急。未幾，海運至即墨，颶風大作，覆七舟，都給事中賈三近、御史鮑希顏及山東巡撫傅希摯俱言不便，遂寢。時萬歷元年也。

In the fifth year of Longqing supervising secretary Li Guihe requested opening the Jiaolai River. Zongmu held that the work would be hard to complete and insufficient to aid transport; he sent letters to the court to stop it. Appointed right vice censor-in-chief as grain-transport governor-general concurrent Fengyang grand coordinator, he fully described the sufferings of transport troops and urgently requested generous relief. Also because river breaches were unpredictable and transport was ultimately obstructed, he wished to restore maritime transport and memorialized, saying, "Since the Huitong River was dredged, maritime transport has long gone unconsidered. When I recently served in Shandong I once set forth this proposal. Grand coordinator and censor-in-chief Liang Menglong resolutely tried it; the achievement was completed without obstruction, yet those who worried constantly complained of wind and waves. The sea of the southeast is where all the waters under heaven converge—boundless, without mountains, with nowhere to flee; farther south the water is warm and dragons and serpents make their lairs. Hence Yuan maritime transport often met with alarm, because it set out from Taicang and Jiading northward. If from Huai'an eastward one leads through Deng and Lai to moor at Tianjin, this is called the North Sea; it has many islands where one can avoid wind. Moreover the land there is high and stony; dragons and serpents pass through but have no lairs. Hence Dengzhou has the sea mirage—stone vapor and water vapor contend, reflecting stone to form it; stone vapor can reach the water surface because stone is close to water. The shallowness of the North Sea is clear proof of this. It can assist the grain canal in extremity; no plan is more convenient than this." He therefore submitted in detail seven expedient measures. The next year in the third month they transported one hundred twenty thousand shi of rice from Huai to sea; in the fifth month it reached Tianjin. Merit was recorded; Zongmu and Menglong were both promoted in rank and granted gold and silks. But Nanjing supervising secretary Zhang Huan said, "I have lately heard eight boats were lost in wreck and three thousand two hundred shi of rice lost. Zongmu had anticipated this and privately had people purchase grain to make up the loss. Rice can be made up—can human lives be made up? Zongmu concealed this from sight and hearing—not the conduct of a great minister." Zongmu memorialized in defense requesting investigation. An edict ordered the previous proposal carried out and maritime routes practiced against emergency. Before long maritime transport reached Jimo; a hurricane arose and seven boats capsized; chief supervising secretary Jia Sanjin, censor Bao Xiyan, and Shandong grand coordinator Fu Xizhi all said it was inconvenient, and the plan was shelved. It was Wanli year 1.

宗沐以徐、邳俗獷悍，多奸猾，濱海鹽徒出沒，六安、霍山礦賊竊發，奏設守將。又召豪俠巨室三百余人充義勇，責令捕盜，後多以功給冠帶。遷南京刑部右侍郎，召改工部。尋進刑部左侍郎，奉敕閱視宣、大、山西諸鎮邊務。母喪歸。九年，以京察拾遺罷，不敘。居家十余年卒。贈刑部尚書。天啟初，追謚襄裕。

Zongmu, because customs in Xu and Pi were fierce and many were cunning, coastal salt smugglers came and went, and bandits in Lu'an and Huoshan mines stole out, memorialized to establish defending generals. He also summoned more than three hundred bold spirits of great houses to serve as volunteers, charging them to capture bandits; many later received official caps and sashes for merit. Transferred to right vice minister of Punishments at Nanjing, he was summoned and transferred to Works. Soon promoted to left vice minister of Punishments, he received imperial orders to inspect border affairs of the garrisons of Xuan, Da, and Shanxi. He returned home upon his mother's death. In year 9, in the capital review of retained officials he was dismissed without reassignment. At home for more than ten years he died. Posthumously granted minister of Punishments. At the beginning of Tianqi he was posthumously granted the posthumous title Xiangyu.

子士崧、士琦、士昌，從子士性，皆進士。士崧官刑部主事。士琦歷重慶知府。播州宣慰使楊應龍叛，承總督邢玠檄至松坎撫定之。遂進兵備副使，治其地。尋以山東參政監軍朝鮮有功，超擢河南右布政使。坐應龍復叛，降湖廣右參政。歷山東右布政使，佐余宗浚封順義王，進秩賜金。擢右副都御史巡撫大同，被劾擬調。未幾卒。

His sons Shisong, Shiqi, and Shichang and nephew Shixing all became jinshi. Shisong served as principal officer in the Ministry of Punishments. Shiqi served successively as prefect of Chongqing. Pacification commissioner Yang Yinglong of Bozhou rebelled; receiving Governor-general Xing Jie's dispatch he reached Songkan to pacify and settle them. He was then promoted to vice commissioner for military preparedness and governed the region. Soon, as Shandong administrative commissioner supervising troops in Korea with merit, he was specially promoted to right provincial administration commissioner of Henan. Because Yinglong rebelled again he was demoted to right administrative commissioner of Huguang. Serving as right provincial administration commissioner of Shandong he assisted Yu Zongjun in enfeoffing the Prince of Shunyi and was promoted in rank and granted gold. Promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Datong, he was impeached and slated for transfer. Before long he died.

士昌由龍谿知縣擢兵科給事中。寇犯固原、甘肅，方議諸將罪，而延綏兩以捷聞。兵部請告廟宣捷，士昌奏止之。改禮科。礦稅興，疏言：「近日禦題黃纛，遍布關津；聖旨朱牌，委褻蔀屋。遂使三家之村，雞犬悉盡；五都之市，絲粟皆空。且稅以店名，無異北齊之市肆；官從內遣，何啻西苑之斜封！」不報。二十九年，帝將冊立東宮，而故緩其期。士昌偕同官楊天民極諫，謫貴州鎮遠典史。屢遷大理右丞署事，與張問達共定張差獄。旋進右少卿，擢右僉都御史，巡撫福建。歸卒。

Shichang rose from magistrate of Longxi to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Military Affairs. When bandits invaded Guyuan and Gansu, generals' guilt was under discussion, yet Yan and Sui twice reported victories. The Ministry of War requested announcing victory at the temple; Shichang memorialized to stop it. Transferred to the Bureau of Rites. When the mining tax was instituted he memorialized, saying, "Recently imperial yellow banners were posted everywhere at passes and posts; imperial vermilion placards were delegated to humble thatched houses. Thus in villages of three households chickens and dogs were all taken; in markets of five capitals silk and grain were all emptied. Moreover tax by shop name was no different from Northern Qi market stalls; officials dispatched from within—how was it not like the slanting seals of the Western Garden!" No response. In year 29 the emperor was about to invest the heir apparent but deliberately delayed the date. Shichang together with fellow official Yang Tianmin remonstrated urgently and was demoted to record keeper of Zhenyuan in Guizhou. Repeatedly promoted to right vice director of the Court of Judicial Review acting in office, he together with Zhang Wenda settled the Zhang Cha case. Soon promoted to right vice director, then to right assistant censor-in-chief touring Fujian as grand coordinator. He returned home and died.

士性，字恒叔，由確山知縣征授禮科給事中。首陳天下大計，言朝廷要務二，曰親章奏，節財用；官司要務三，曰有司文網，督學科條，王官考核；兵戎要務四，曰中州武備，晉地要害，北寇機宜，遼左戰功。疏凡數千言，深切時弊，多議行。詔制鰲山燈，未幾，慈寧宮火，士性請停前詔，帝納之。楊巍議黜丁此呂，士性劾巍阿輔臣申時行，時行納巍邪媚，皆失大臣誼。寢不行。時行，士性座主也。久之，疏言：「朝廷用人，不宜專取容身緘默，緩急不足恃者。請召還沈思孝、吳中行、艾穆、鄒元標、黃道瞻、蔡時鼎、聞道立、顧憲成、孫如法、姜應麟、馬應圖、王德新、盧洪春、彭遵古、諸壽賢、顧允成等。忤旨，不報。遷吏科給事中，出為四川參議，歷太仆少卿。河南缺巡撫，廷推首王國，士性次之。帝特用士性。士性疏辭，言資望不及國。帝疑其矯，且謂國實使之，遂出國於外，調士性南京。久之，就遷鴻臚卿，卒。

Shixing, styled Hengshu, was summoned from magistrate of Queshan and appointed supervising secretary in the Bureau of Rites. First he set forth the great plan of the realm, saying the court's essential tasks were two: personally reading memorials and economizing expenditures; the essential tasks of officials three: the legal net of local magistrates, examination regulations of educational supervisors, and assessment of civil officials; the essential tasks of military affairs four: armaments of the central provinces, key points of Jin territory, measures against northern bandits, and achievements in Liaodong. The memorial ran to several thousand words, penetrating the ills of the time; much was deliberated and carried out. An edict ordered construction of the Aoshan lanterns; before long Cining Palace burned and Shixing requested stopping the prior edict—the emperor accepted it. Yang Wei proposed dismissing Ding Cilü; Shixing impeached Wei for currying favor with Grand Secretary Shen Shixing, and Shixing for accepting Wei's sycophancy—both failed in the conduct of great ministers. The matter was shelved without action. Shixing was Shen Shixing's examination patron. After a long time he memorialized, saying, "In employing men the court should not exclusively take those who preserve themselves in silence and cannot be relied on in urgency. I request recall of Shen Siliao, Wu Zhongxing, Ai Mu, Zou Yuanbiao, Huang Daozhan, Cai Shiding, Wen Daoli, Gu Xiancheng, Sun Rufa, Jiang Yinglin, Ma Yingtu, Wang Dexin, Lu Hongchun, Peng Zungu, Zhu Shouxian, Gu Yuncheng, and others. Contravening the imperial will, no response. Promoted to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Personnel, he went out as Sichuan administrative commissioner and served as vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Henan lacked a grand coordinator; court recommendation ranked Wang Guo first and Shixing second. The emperor specially used Shixing. Shixing memorialized declining, saying his seniority did not match Guo. The emperor suspected pretense and also thought Guo had instigated it; he therefore sent Guo outside and transferred Shixing to Nanjing. After a long time he was promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and died.

劉東星，字子明，沁水人。隆慶二年進士。改庶吉士，授兵科給事中。大學士高拱攝吏部，以非時考察，謫蒲城縣丞。徙盧氏知縣，累遷湖廣左布政使。萬歷二十年，擢右僉都御史，巡撫保定。時朝鮮以倭難告。王師調集，悉會天津，而天津、靜海、滄州、河間皆被災。東星請漕米十萬石平糶，民乃濟。召為左副都御史。進吏部右侍郎，以父老請侍養歸，瀕行而父卒。

Liu Dongxing, styled Ziming, was a native of Qinshui. In the second year of the Longqing reign he passed the jinshi examination. Transferred to Hanlin bachelor, he was appointed supervising secretary in the Bureau of Military Affairs. Grand Secretary Gao Gong acting in the Ministry of Personnel, because the review was not at the proper time, demoted him to assistant magistrate of Pucheng. Transferred to magistrate of Lushi, he rose through successive posts to left provincial administration commissioner of Huguang. In Wanli year 20 he was promoted to right assistant censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Baoding. At the time Korea reported distress from wokou. Imperial troops were mobilized and all gathered at Tianjin, while Tianjin, Jinghai, Cangzhou, and Hejian all suffered disaster. Dongxing requested one hundred thousand shi of transport grain for fair sale and the people were thereby relieved. Summoned as left vice censor-in-chief. Promoted to right vice minister of Personnel, he asked to return to serve his aged father; on the eve of departure his father died.

二十六年，河決單之黃堌，運道堙阻，起工部左侍郎兼右僉都御史，總理河漕。初，尚書潘季馴議開黃河上流，循商、虞而下，歷丁家道口出徐州小浮橋，即元賈魯所浚故道也，朝廷以費巨未果。東星即其地開浚。起曲裏鋪至三仙臺，抵小浮橋。又浚漕渠自徐、邳至宿。計五閱月工竣，費僅十萬。詔嘉其績，進工部尚書兼右副都御史。明年，渠邵伯、界首二湖。又明年，奉開泇河。泇界滕、嶧間，南通淮、海，引漕甚便。前總督翁大立首議開浚，後尚書朱衡、都御史傅希摯復言之。朝廷數遣官行視，乞無成畫。河臣舒應龍嘗鑿韓莊，工亦中輟。東星力任其役。初議費百二十萬，及工起，費止七萬，而渠已成十之三。會有疾，求去。屢旨慰留。卒官。後李化龍循其遺跡，與李三才共成之，漕永便焉。

In year 26 the river breached at Huang'gu in Shan; the transport route was blocked; he was recalled as left vice minister of Works with concurrent right assistant censor-in-chief to oversee river and grain transport. Initially Minister Pan Jixun proposed opening the upper Yellow River, following Shang and Yu downward through Dingjiakou to the small pontoon bridge at Xuzhou—the old channel dredged by Jia Lu of Yuan—but the court, because expense was huge, did not succeed. Dongxing opened and dredged at that place. From Qulipu to Sanxiantai, reaching the small pontoon bridge. He also dredged the grain canal from Xu and Pi to Su. In five months the work was completed at a cost of only one hundred thousand. An edict commended his achievement; he was promoted to minister of Works with concurrent right vice censor-in-chief. The next year he dredged the Shaobo and Jieshou lakes. The year after he received orders to open the Si River. The Si lies between Teng and Yi, south connecting Huai and sea—drawing the grain route was very convenient. Former governor-general Weng Dali first proposed opening and dredging; later Minister Zhu Heng and censor-in-chief Fu Xizhi again spoke of it. The court repeatedly sent officials to inspect on site, begging without a completed plan. River-route minister Shu Yinglong once excavated Hanzhuang but the work also halted midway. Dongxing forcefully undertook the labor. Initial deliberation estimated cost at one million two hundred thousand; once work began cost was only seventy thousand and the channel was already one-third complete. Then he fell ill and asked to leave. Repeated edicts comforted and retained him. He died in office. Later Li Hualong followed his traces and together with Li Sancai completed it; grain transport was forever convenient.

東星性儉約。歷官三十年，敝衣蔬食如一日。天啟初，謚莊靖。

Dongxing was frugal and abstemious by nature. Through thirty years of office, worn clothes and plain food were as one day. At the beginning of Tianqi he was posthumously granted the posthumous title Zhuangjing.

胡瓚，字伯玉，桐城人。萬歷二十三年進士。授都水主事。分司南旺司兼督泉閘，駐濟寧。泗水所註，瓚修金口壩遏之。造舟汶上，為橋於寧陽，民不病涉。河決黃堌，瓚憂之。會劉東星來總河漕，瓚與往復論難。謂黃堌不杜，勢且易黃而漕；漕南北七百里，以涓涓之泉，安能運萬千有奇之艘，使及期飛渡？贊東星浚賈魯河故道，益治汶、泗間泉數百。尋源竟委，著《泉河史》上之。瓚治泉，一夫浚一泉，各有分地，省其勤惰而賞罰之。冬則養其余力，不征於官。以疏浚運道有功，增秩一等。二十七年督修琉璃河橋。三年橋成，省費七萬有奇。累官江西左參政。予告歸，久之卒。

Hu Zan, styled Boyu, was a native of Tongcheng. In the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed principal officer in the Directorate of Waterways. As deputy director of Nanwang Office he also supervised spring locks, stationed at Jining. Where the Si River entered, Zan repaired the Jinkou dam to check it. He built boats at Wenshang and made a bridge at Ningyang so the people were not troubled crossing. When the river breached at Huang'gu, Zan was troubled. When Liu Dongxing came to oversee river and grain transport, Zan debated back and forth with him. He said if Huang'gu were not blocked the situation would soon shift the Yellow River and the grain route; the grain route ran seven hundred li north and south—how could a trickle of springs move thousands of odd boats and make them fly across on schedule? He supported Dongxing in dredging Jia Lu's old channel and further managed several hundred springs between Wen and Si. Tracing sources to their ends he wrote the History of the Spring River and submitted it. Zan managed springs—one laborer dredged one spring, each with assigned territory; he inspected diligence and laziness and rewarded and punished. In winter he maintained their surplus strength without requisition from the government. For merit in dredging the transport route he was promoted one rank in salary. In year 27 he supervised repair of the Liulihe bridge. In three years the bridge was completed, saving more than seventy thousand in expense. Through successive posts he rose to left administrative commissioner of Jiangxi. Granted leave to return home, after a long time he died.

徐貞明，字孺東，貴溪人。父九思，見《循吏傳》。貞明舉隆慶五年進士。知浙江山陰縣，敏而有惠。萬歷三年，征為工科給事中。會御史傅應禎獲罪，貞明入獄調護，坐貶太平府知事。十三年，累遷尚寶司丞。初，貞明為給事中，上水利、軍班二議，謂：

Xu Zhenming, styled Rudong, was a native of Guixi. His father Jiusi is treated in the Biographies of Diligent Officials. Zhenming passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Longqing reign. As magistrate of Shanyin in Zhejiang he was quick-witted and benevolent. In Wanli year 3 he was summoned as supervising secretary in the Bureau of Public Works. When censor Fu Yingzhen was punished, Zhenming entered prison to care for him and was demoted to clerk of Taiping Prefecture. In year 13 he rose through successive posts to director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Initially when Zhenming was supervising secretary he submitted two proposals on water conservancy and military households, saying:

神京雄據上遊，兵食宜取之畿甸，今皆仰給東南。豈西北古稱富強地，不足以實廩而練卒乎？夫賦稅所出，括民脂膏，而軍船夫役之費，常以數石致一石，東南之力竭矣。又河流多變，運道多梗，竊有隱憂。聞陜西、河南故渠廢堰，在在有之；山東諸泉，引之率可成田；而畿輔諸郡，或支河所經，或澗泉自出，皆足以資灌溉。北人未習水利，惟苦水害，不知水害未除，正由水利未興也。蓋水聚之則為害，散之則為利。今順天、真定、河間諸郡，桑麻之區，半為沮洳，由上流十五河之水惟泄於貓兒一灣，欲其不泛濫而壅塞，勢不能也。今誠於上流疏渠浚溝，引之灌田，以殺水勢，下流多開支河，以泄橫流，其澱之最下者，留以瀦水，稍高者，皆如南人築圩之制，則水利興，水患亦除矣。至於永平、灤州抵滄州、慶雲，地皆萑葦，土實膏腴。元虞集欲於京東濱海地築塘捍水以成稻田。若仿集意，招徠南人，俾之耕藝，北起遼海，南濱青齊，皆良田也。宜特簡憲臣，假以事權，毋阻浮議，需以歲月，不取近功。或撫窮民而給其牛種，或任富室而緩其征科，或選擇健卒分建屯營，或招徠南人許其占籍。俟有成績，次及河南、山東、陜西。庶東南轉漕可減，西北儲蓄常充，國計永無絀矣。

The divine capital sits astride the upper reaches; military grain should be taken from the capital region—now all depend on supply from the southeast. Can the northwest, anciently called a rich and strong land, truly be insufficient to fill granaries and drill troops? Taxes and levies squeeze the people's fat and grease, while military boats and corvée often cost several shi to deliver one shi—the strength of the southeast is exhausted. Moreover rivers change often and the transport route is often blocked—I have private worry. I hear old channels and abandoned weirs in Shaanxi and Henan exist everywhere; springs in Shandong, led forth, can mostly become fields; and in the capital region's prefectures, whether branch rivers pass through or spring streams issue on their own, all can suffice for irrigation. Northerners are unaccustomed to water works—they only suffer from water harm, not knowing that until water harm is removed it is precisely because water works are not developed. When water gathers it becomes harm; when dispersed it becomes benefit. Now in Shuntian, Zhending, and Hejian prefectures, mulberry and hemp districts are half bog and marsh, because the fifteen rivers of the upper reaches all discharge only at Maorwan—wishing them not to overflow and silt up is impossible. Now if truly at the upper reaches channels are dredged and ditches cleared to lead water to irrigate fields and reduce water force, and at the lower reaches many branch rivers are opened to release cross-flow, keeping the lowest silt for storing water and the slightly higher land all in dyke systems like southerners—then water works flourish and water disaster is also removed. As for Yongping and Luanzhou reaching Cangzhou and Qingyun, the land is all reeds and rushes and the soil is truly fertile. Yu Ji of Yuan wished to build dikes on coastal land east of the capital to hold back water and form rice fields. If following Ji's idea one summons southerners to teach them cultivation, from Liaohai in the north to Qing and Qi on the south coast—all would be good fields. One should specially select upright officials, lend them authority, not obstruct by empty talk, and need years and months—not seek near-term achievement. Or comfort the destitute and give them oxen and seed, or charge wealthy households and defer their levies, or select sturdy soldiers to establish garrison farms in divisions, or summon southerners and permit them registered residence. Wait until there are achievements, then extend next to Henan, Shandong, and Shaanxi. Then southeast transport tribute can be reduced, northwest stores always filled, and state finances forever without deficit.

其議軍班則言：

His proposal on military households then said:

東南民素柔脆，莫任遠戍。今數千里勾軍，離其骨肉。而軍壯出於戶丁，幫解出於裏甲，每軍不下百金。而軍非土著，誌不久安，輒賂衛官求歸。衛官利其賂，且可以冒餉也，因而縱之。是困東南之民，而實無補於軍政也。宜仿匠班例，軍戶應出軍者，歲征其錢，而召募土著以足之便。

Southeastern people are by nature soft and fragile—they cannot bear distant garrison duty. Now soldiers are levied from thousands of li, parted from flesh and blood. Strong soldiers come from household sons; escort costs come from village tithing—each soldier costs no less than one hundred gold. Yet soldiers are not native to the place and do not long intend to settle—they promptly bribe guard officials to seek return. Guard officials profit from the bribes and can also falsely claim rations, and thus release them. This harms the people of the southeast yet truly adds nothing to military governance. One should follow the artisan-household precedent: military households that should supply soldiers yearly pay money, and native recruits are summoned to fill the quota—that is convenient.

事皆下所司。兵部尚書譚綸言勾軍之制不可廢。工部尚書郭朝賓則以水田勞民，請俟異日。事遂寢。及貞明被謫，至潞河，終以前議可行，乃著《潞水客談》以畢其說。其略曰：

Both matters were referred to the relevant offices. Minister of War Tan Lun said the system of levying soldiers cannot be abolished. Minister of Works Guo Chaobin then said paddy fields would weary the people and requested waiting for another day. The matter was shelved. When Zhenming was demoted, at the Lu River he finally held the prior proposal feasible and therefore wrote the Traveler's Talk on the Lu River to complete his argument. Its summary says:

西北之地，旱則赤地千里，潦則洪流萬頃，惟雨旸時若，庶樂歲無饑，此可常恃哉？惟水利興而後旱潦有備，利一。中人治生，必有常稔之田，以國家之全盛，獨待哺於東南，豈計之得哉？水利興則余糧棲畝皆倉庾之積，利二。東南轉輸，其費數倍。若西北有一石之入，則東南省數石之輸，久則蠲租之詔可下，東南民力庶幾稍蘇，利三。西北無溝洫，故河水橫流，而民居多沒。修復水田，則可分河流，殺水患，利四。西北地平曠，寇騎得以長驅。若溝洫盡舉，則田野皆金湯，利五。遊民輕去鄉土，易於為亂。水利興則業農者依田裏，而遊民有所歸，利六。招南人以耕西北之田，則民均而田亦均，利七。東南多漏役之民，西北罹重徭之苦，以南賦繁而役減，北賦省而徭重也。使田墾而民聚，則賦增而北徭可減，利八。沿邊諸鎮有積貯，轉輸不煩，利九。天下浮戶依富家為佃客者何限，募之為農而簡之為兵，屯政無不舉矣，利十。塞上之卒，土著者少。屯政舉則兵自足，可以省遠募之費，蘇班戍之勞，停攝勾之苦，利十一。宗祿浩繁，勢將難繼。今自中尉以下，量祿之田，使自食其土，為長子孫計，則宗祿可減，利十二。修復水利，則仿古井田，可限民名田。而自昔養民之政漸可舉行，利十三。民與地均，可仿古比閭族黨之制，而教化漸興，風俗自美，利十四也。

In the northwest when drought then a thousand li of bare earth, when flood then ten thousand qing of rushing water—only when rain and sunshine are timely can one hope for a good year without famine—can this be always relied on? Only when water works flourish are drought and flood provided against—benefit one. A middling man managing livelihood must have fields of regular harvest—to have the realm in full strength depend solely on feeding from the southeast, is that a winning plan? When water works flourish surplus grain in the fields is all granary accumulation—benefit two. Southeast transport costs several times over. If the northwest has one shi entering, the southeast saves several shi in transport; in time edicts remitting rent can be issued and southeastern people's strength may somewhat revive—benefit three. The northwest has no ditches and canals, so river water runs wild and people's dwellings are mostly submerged. Restoring paddy fields can divide rivers and reduce water disaster—benefit four. The northwest is flat and open and bandit cavalry can charge at length. If ditches and canals are fully established then fields are all impregnable fortresses—benefit five. Vagrant people lightly leave native soil and easily become disorderly. When water works flourish those who farm depend on fields and hamlets and vagrants have somewhere to return—benefit six. Summoning southerners to farm northwest fields—then people are equal and fields are equal—benefit seven. The southeast has many who evade corvée; the northwest suffers heavy corvée—the south has heavy levies and light corvée, the north light levies and heavy corvée. If fields are opened and people gather then levies increase and northern corvée can be reduced—benefit eight. Border garrisons have accumulated stores and relay transport is not troublesome—benefit nine. How many floating households under great families as tenant laborers are there under heaven? Recruit them to farm and select them as soldiers—garrison policy is fully achieved—benefit ten. Soldiers on the frontier are few natives. When garrison policy is achieved troops suffice of themselves—distant recruitment expense can be saved, corvée garrison labor relieved, and substitute levy suffering stopped—benefit eleven. Imperial clan stipends are vast and will be hard to continue. Now from middle-rank princes downward, allot stipend fields so they eat their own soil and plan for long generations—then clan stipends can be reduced—benefit twelve. Restoring water works then following ancient well-field systems one can limit people's named fields. And policies nourishing the people of old can gradually be carried out—benefit thirteen. When people and land are equal one can follow ancient bi, lü, zu, and dang systems—and teaching gradually rises and customs naturally become fine—benefit fourteen.

譚綸見而美之曰：「我歷塞上久，知其必可行也。」已而順天巡撫張國彥、副使顧養謙行之薊州、永平、豐潤、玉田，皆有效。及是貞明還朝，御史蘇瓚、徐待力言其說可行，而給事中王敬民又特疏論薦，帝乃進貞明少卿，賜之敕，令往會撫按諸臣勘議。

Tan Lun read it and praised it, saying, "I have long been on the frontier and know it must be feasible." Later Shuntian grand coordinator Zhang Guoyan and vice commissioner Gu Yangqian carried it out in Jizhou, Yongping, Fengrun, and Yutian—all had effect. At this time Zhenming returned to court; censors Su Zan and Xu Dai strongly said his plan was feasible, and supervising secretary Wang Jingmin also specially memorialized recommending him—the emperor then promoted Zhenming to vice director and granted him an edict ordering him to meet grand coordinators and other officials for inspection and deliberation.

時瓚方奉命巡關，復獻議曰：「治水與墾田相濟，未有水不治而田可墾者。畿輔為患之水莫如盧溝、滹沱二河。盧溝發源於桑乾，滹沱發源於泰戲，源遠流長。又合深、易、濡、泡、沙、滋諸水，散入各澱，而泉渠溪港悉註其中。以故高橋、白洋諸澱，大者廣圍一二百里，小亦四五十里。每當夏秋淫潦，膏腴變為瀉鹵，菽麥化為萑葦，甚可惜也。今治水之策有三：浚河以決水之壅，疏渠以殺澱之勢，撤曲防以均民之利而已。」帝並下貞明。

At the time Zan was just ordered to inspect the passes and again submitted a proposal, saying, "Managing water and opening fields assist each other—never is there land that can be opened without water first being managed. In the capital region the waters causing disaster are none like the Lugou and Hutuo rivers. Lugou rises from Sanggan, Hutuo from Tai'xi—sources distant, flows long. They also join the Shen, Yi, Ru, Pao, Sha, and Zi waters, dispersing into various marshes, while springs, channels, streams, and harbors all pour into them. Hence Gaojiao, Baiyang, and other marshes—the large ones a hundred or two hundred li in circumference, the small forty or fifty li. Whenever summer and autumn bring excessive rain, fertile land turns to saline flats and beans and wheat become reeds and rushes—deeply regrettable. Now the policies for managing water are three: dredge rivers to release blocked water, clear channels to reduce marsh force, and remove curved dikes to equalize people's benefit—that is all." The emperor also referred both to Zhenming.

貞明乃躬歷京東州縣，相原隰，度土宜，周覽水泉分合，條列事宜以上。戶部尚書畢鏘等力贊之，因采貞明疏，議為六事：請郡縣有司以墾田勤惰為殿最，聽貞明舉劾；地宜稻者以漸勸率，宜黍宜粟者如故，不遽責其成；召募南人，給衣食農具，俾以一教十；能墾田百畝以上，即為世業，子弟得寄籍入學，其卓有明效者，仿古孝弟力田科，量授鄉遂都鄙之長；墾荒無力者，貸以谷，秋成還官，旱潦則免；郡縣民壯，役止三月，使疏河芟草，而墾田則募專工。帝悉從之。其年九月，遂命貞明兼監察御史領墾田使，有司撓者劾治。

Zhenming then personally traveled the eastern capital prefectures and counties, surveyed high and low ground, measured soil suitability, and thoroughly viewed the joining and parting of springs and waters, listing matters in memorial. Minister of Revenue Bi Feng and others strongly supported it; adopting Zhenming's memorial they deliberated six measures: request that prefectural and county officials take diligence in opening fields as basis for merit review, and permit Zhenming to recommend and impeach; where land suits rice gradually encourage it; where it suits millet or sorghum leave as before—not immediately demanding completion; summon southerners, provide food, clothing, and farm tools, and have one teach ten; those who can open more than one hundred mu of fields make it hereditary estate and sons and brothers may register for school elsewhere; those with outstanding clear effect follow the ancient Filial Piety and Diligent Farming subject and are measured out as heads of districts and hamlets; those without strength to open wasteland are loaned grain, repaid at autumn harvest, exempt in drought and flood; able-bodied men of prefectures and counties serve corvée only three months, making them dredge rivers and cut grass, while field opening employs specialized labor. The emperor fully approved. That year in the ninth month he was ordered Zhenming concurrently as investigating censor leading the field-opening commissioner; officials who obstructed were impeached and punished.

貞明先詣永平，募南人為倡。至明年二月，已墾至三萬九千余畝。又遍歷諸河，窮源竟委，將大行疏浚。而奄人、勛戚之占閑田為業者，恐水田興而己失其利也，爭言不便，為蜚語聞於帝。帝惑之。三月，閣臣申時行等以風霾陳時政，力言其利。帝意終不釋。御史王之棟，畿輔人也，遂言水田必不可行，且陳開滹沱不便者十二。帝乃召見時行等，諭令停役。時行等請罷開河，專事墾田。已，工部議之棟疏，亦如閣臣言。帝卒罷之，而欲追罪建議者，用閣臣言而止。貞明乃還故官。尋乞假歸。十八年卒。

Zhenming first went to Yongping and recruited southerners as pioneers. By the second month of the next year fields opened reached more than thirty-nine thousand mu. He also traveled all the rivers, tracing sources to ends, and was about to carry out large-scale dredging. But eunuchs and imperial kinsmen who held idle land as livelihood feared that if paddy fields flourished they would lose their profit and competed to say it was inconvenient, spreading slander to reach the emperor. The emperor was perplexed. In the third month Grand Secretaries Shen Shixing and others, citing sandstorms, set forth current policy and strongly spoke of the benefit. The emperor's mind was still not released. Censor Wang Zhidong, a man of the capital region, then said paddy fields absolutely could not be carried out and also set forth twelve inconveniences of opening the Hutuo. The emperor then summoned Shen Shixing and others and ordered labor stopped. Shen Shixing and others requested abandoning river opening and devoting effort solely to field opening. Then the Ministry of Works deliberated Zhidong's memorial, also like the grand secretaries' words. The emperor finally stopped it and wished to pursue guilt against those who proposed it; by grand secretaries' words he stopped. Zhenming then returned to his former post. Soon he asked leave to return home. In year 18 he died.

貞明識敏才練，慨然有經世誌。京東水田實百世利，事初興而即為浮議所撓，論者惜之。初議時，吳人伍袁萃謂貞明曰：「民可使由，不可使知。君所言，得無太盡耶？」貞明問故。袁萃曰：「北人懼東南漕儲派於西北，煩言必起矣。」貞明默然。已而之棟竟劾奏如袁萃言。

Zhenming was perceptive and skilled, with expansive will to order the age. Eastern capital paddy fields were truly benefit for a hundred generations; the matter had just begun when empty talk obstructed it—commentators regret it. At the initial deliberation Wu man Wu Yuancui said to Zhenming, "The people may be made to follow but not to know. What you say—would it not be too complete?" Zhenming asked why. Yuancui said, "Northerners fear southeast transport stores will be apportioned to the northwest—troublesome talk will surely arise." Zhenming was silent. Before long Zhidong indeed impeached and memorialized just as Yuancui had said.

袁萃，字聖起，吳縣人。舉萬歷五年會試。又三年釋褐，授貴溪知縣。擢兵部主事，進員外郎，署職方事。李成梁子如楨求為錦衣大帥，袁萃力爭，寢之。出為浙江提學僉事。巡撫牒數十人寄學，立卻還之。歷廣東海北道副使。中官李敬轄珠池，其參隨擅殺人，袁萃捕論如法。請告歸。所撰《林居漫錄》、《彈園雜志》多貶斥當世公卿大夫，而於李三才、於玉立尤甚雲。

Yuancui, styled Shengqi, was a native of Wu County. He passed the metropolitan examination in the fifth year of the Wanli reign. Three years later he entered office and was appointed magistrate of Guixi. Promoted to principal officer in the Ministry of War, advanced to vice director, acting in the Bureau of Appointments. Li Chengliang's son Ruzhen sought to be grand commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard; Yuancui forcefully contended and the matter was shelved. He went out as educational intendant of Zhejiang. The grand coordinator's dispatch placed dozens of people in registered study; he immediately refused and returned them. He served as vice commissioner of the Haibei circuit in Guangdong. Eunuch Li Jing oversaw the pearl pool; his attendants arbitrarily killed people and Yuancui arrested and tried them according to law. He requested leave to return home. His works Forest Dwelling Miscellany and Bullet Garden Miscellany mostly disparage the great ministers of the age, and toward Li Sancai and Yu Yuli he was especially severe.

贊曰：事功之難立也，始則群疑朋興，繼而忌口交鑠，此勞臣任事者所為腐心也。盛應期諸人治漕營田，所規畫為軍國久遠大計，其奏效或在數十年後。而當其時浮議滋起，或以輟役，或以罷官，久之乃食其利而思其功。故曰：「可與樂成，難與慮始。」信夫！

The commentators say: How hard it is to establish achievement! At first many doubts rise together; afterward mouths that eat cross and burn—this is what laboring ministers undertaking tasks agonize over. Sheng Yingqi and the others in managing grain transport and planning fields laid out long-term plans for army and state; their effect might come decades later. Yet at the time empty talk flourished—some halted labor, some dismissed officials—only after long years did people enjoy the benefit and think on their achievement. Hence the saying, "One can rejoice in completion but it is hard to plan the beginning." How true!

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