Volume 226 Biographies 114: Hai Rui, Qiu Shun, Lu Kun, Guo Zhengyu

海瑞附:何以尚丘橓呂坤郭正域

Hai Rui, with appended biographies of He Yishang, Qiu Shun, Lu Kun, and Guo Zhengyu

海瑞，字汝賢，瓊山人。舉鄉試。入都，即伏闕上《平黎策》，欲開道置縣，以靖鄉土。識者壯之。署南平教諭。御史詣學宮，屬吏鹹伏謁，瑞獨長揖，曰：「台謁當以屬禮，此堂，師長教士地，不當屈。」遷淳安知縣。布袍脫粟，令老僕藝蔬自給。總督胡宗憲嘗語人曰：「昨聞海令為母壽，市肉二斤矣。」宗憲子過淳安，怒驛吏，倒懸之。瑞曰：「曩胡公按部，令所過毋供張。今其行裝盛，必非胡公子。」發雚金數千，納之庫，馳告宗憲，宗憲無以罪。都御史鄢懋卿行部過，供具甚薄，抗言邑小不足容車馬。懋卿恚甚。然素聞瑞名，為斂威去，而屬巡鹽御史袁淳論瑞及慈谿知縣霍與瑕。與瑕，尚書韜子，亦抗直不諂懋卿者也。時瑞已擢嘉興通判，坐謫興國州判官。久之，陸光祖為文選，擢瑞戶部主事。

Hai Rui, styled Ruxian, was a native of Qiongshan. He qualified in the provincial civil examination. As soon as he reached the capital, he knelt outside the palace gate and presented his "Strategy for Pacifying the Li," calling for new roads and administrative counties to bring peace to his homeland. Men of insight praised his courage. He served as acting district instructor at Nanping. When a touring censor came to the school, all the subordinate staff kowtowed in greeting. Rui alone made a formal bow and said, "At the yamen one pays respects as a subordinate, but this hall is where the master teaches his scholars—we should not abase ourselves here." He was then appointed magistrate of Chun'an. He dressed in plain hemp and ate simple grain, and had his elderly servant grow vegetables to support himself. Grand Coordinator Hu Zongxian once remarked to someone, "I heard yesterday that Magistrate Hai bought a whole two jin of pork for his mother's birthday feast. When Zongxian's son passed through Chun'an, he flew into a rage at a courier-station clerk and had him hung upside down. Rui said, "When Lord Hu made his inspection rounds before, he ordered that no provisions be furnished along his route. This party's baggage is so lavish—they cannot be Lord Hu's son. He seized several thousand taels of silver, deposited them in the county treasury, and promptly reported the matter to Zongxian, who could find no cause to charge him. When Censor-in-Chief Yan Maoqing toured the region, Hai Rui offered only the scantest hospitality and bluntly declared that the county was too small to accommodate his carriage and escort. Maoqing was furious. Yet he had long heard of Rui's reputation and restrained his anger before moving on, though he instructed the touring salt censor Yuan Chun to bring charges against Rui and Huo Yuxia, magistrate of Cixi. Yuxia was the son of Minister Huo Tao and, like Rui, was forthright and refused to flatter Maoqing. Rui had already been promoted to vice-prefect of Jiaxing, but on these charges was demoted to assistant magistrate of Xingguo Prefecture. Some time later, when Lu Guangzu headed the Bureau of Appointments, he promoted Rui to a clerkship in the Ministry of Revenue.

時世宗享國日久，不親朝，深居西苑，專意齋醮。督撫大吏爭上符瑞，禮官輒表賀。廷臣自楊最、楊爵得罪後，無敢言時政者。四十五年二月，瑞獨上疏曰：

By then Emperor Shizong had ruled for many years without holding court, secluding himself in the Western Park and devoting himself entirely to fasting and Daoist ritual. Provincial governors competed to report auspicious omens, and the ritual officials unfailingly submitted congratulatory memorials. After Yang Zui and Yang Jue were punished, no one at court dared speak on affairs of state. In the second month of the forty-fifth year of the reign, Rui alone submitted a memorial that read:

臣聞君者天下臣民萬物之主也，其任至重。欲稱其任，亦惟以責寄臣工，使盡言而已。臣請披瀝肝膽，為陛下陳之。

I have heard that the ruler is lord of all under Heaven, of officials and people and every living thing, and that his burden is exceedingly great. To bear it worthily, he need only charge his ministers to speak their minds without reserve. I beg leave to lay bare my heart and speak plainly to Your Majesty.

昔漢文帝賢主也，賈誼猶痛哭流涕而言。非苛責也，以文帝性仁而近柔，雖有及民之美，將不免於怠廢，此誼所大慮也。陛下天資英斷，過漢文遠甚。然文帝能充其仁恕之性，節用愛人，使天下貫朽粟陳，幾致刑措。陛下則銳精未久，妄念牽之而去，反剛明之質而誤用之。至謂遐舉可得，一意修真，竭民脂膏，濫興土木，二十餘年不視朝，法紀弛矣。數年推廣事例，名器濫矣。二王不相見，人以為薄于父子。以猜疑誹謗戮辱臣下，人以為薄於君臣。樂西苑而不返，人以為薄于夫婦。吏貪官橫，民不聊生，水旱無時，盜賊滋熾。陛下試思今日天下，為何如乎？

Even Emperor Wen of Han, a worthy ruler, was addressed by Jia Yi with tears streaming down his face. This was no harsh rebuke: Wen's nature was benevolent and inclined to leniency, and though he had done good for the people, he risked slipping into negligence—this was what Jia Yi most feared. Your Majesty's natural gifts are keen and decisive, far surpassing those of Emperor Wen. Yet Wen was able to live out his benevolent and forgiving nature, practicing thrift and cherishing his people, until cash strings rotted in the treasuries and grain lay piled in the granaries, and corporal punishment all but ceased. Your Majesty, however, had been diligent in governing for only a short while before delusion drew you away, turning your naturally firm and clear character to mistaken ends. You came to believe transcendence was within reach, devoted yourself wholly to spiritual cultivation, drained the people's substance, launched construction projects without restraint, and for more than twenty years have not held court—so that law and discipline have collapsed. In recent years the sale of offices by precedent has spread, debasing titles and honors. The two princes do not meet; people take this as neglect of the bond between father and son. You punish and humiliate ministers on suspicion of slander; people take this as neglect of the bond between ruler and subject. You delight in the Western Park and do not return; people take this as neglect of the bond between husband and wife. Officials are corrupt and magistrates oppressive; the people can barely survive; floods and droughts strike without cease; banditry grows ever worse. Your Majesty, consider what the realm is like today.

邇者嚴嵩罷相，世蕃極刑，一時差快人意。然嵩罷之後，猶嵩未相之前而已，世非甚清明也，不及漢文帝遠甚。蓋天下之人不直陛下久矣。古者人君有過，賴臣工匡弼。今乃修齋建醮，相率進香，仙桃天藥，同辭表賀。建宮築室，則將作竭力經營；購香市寶，則度支差求四出。陛下誤舉之，而諸臣誤順之，無一人肯為陛下正言者，諛之甚也。然愧心餒氣，退有後言，欺君之罪何如！

Recently Yan Song was dismissed and Yan Shifan executed to the full extent of the law—for a moment this gave people some satisfaction. Yet after Song's fall the age is no better than before he rose to power; the world is scarcely more enlightened, and falls far short of Emperor Wen's reign. For the people of the realm have long ceased to regard Your Majesty as upright. In antiquity, when rulers erred, they relied on their ministers to set them right. Now you practice fasting and erect altars for Daoist rites; officials vie to present incense; immortal peaches and celestial elixirs are greeted with identical congratulatory memorials. When palaces and halls are to be built, the Directorate of Public Works labors at full stretch; when incense and precious objects are to be purchased, the Bureau of Revenue dispatches agents in every direction. Your Majesty has mistakenly undertaken these things, and your ministers have mistakenly gone along; not one is willing to speak plainly to you—this is flattery in the extreme. Yet with guilty hearts they speak differently in private—what of the crime of deceiving one's ruler!

夫天下者，陛下之家，人未有不顧其家者，內外臣工皆所以奠陛下之家而磐石之者也。一意修真，是陛下之心惑。過於苛斷，是陛下之情偏。而謂陛下不顧其家，人情乎？諸臣徇私廢公，得一官多以欺敗，多以不事事敗，實有不足當陛下意者。其不然者，君心臣心偶不相值也，而遂謂陛下厭薄臣工，是以拒諫。執一二之不當，疑千百之皆然，陷陛下于過舉，而恬不知怪，諸臣之罪大矣。《記》曰「上人疑則百姓惑，下難知則君長勞」，此之謂也。

All under Heaven is Your Majesty's household; is there anyone who does not care for his own home? The ministers within and without the court exist to secure your household and make it firm as bedrock. To devote yourself wholly to spiritual cultivation is a delusion of the mind. To be excessively harsh in judgment is a bias of temperament. Yet to say that Your Majesty does not care for his household—is that in accord with human nature? Your ministers pursue private interest and neglect public duty; many who gain office fall through deceit, many through neglect of duty—there truly are those unworthy of your trust. In other cases the ruler's mind and the minister's simply fail to meet, and they conclude that Your Majesty despises his ministers and therefore refuse to remonstrate. They seize on one or two improprieties and suspect that all are alike, trapping Your Majesty in wrongful actions while remaining unaware that anything is amiss—the ministers' crime is great indeed. The Record of Rites says, "When those above are doubtful, the people are confused; when those below are hard to read, rulers are wearied"—this is what is meant.

且陛下之誤多矣，其大端在於齋醮。齋醮所以求長生也。自古聖賢垂訓，修身立命曰「順受其正」矣，未聞有所謂長生之說。堯、舜、禹、湯、文、武，聖之盛也，未能久世，下之亦未見方外士自漢、唐、宋至今存者。陛下受術于陶仲文，以師稱之。仲文則既死矣，彼不長生，而陛下何獨求之？至於仙桃天藥，怪妄尤甚。昔宋真宗得天書於乾祐山，孫奭曰：「天何言哉？豈有書也！」桃必采而後得，藥必制而後成。今無故獲此二物，是有足而行耶？曰天賜者，有手執而付之耶？此左右奸人，造為妄誕以欺陛下，而陛下誤信之，以為實然，過矣。

Moreover, Your Majesty's errors are many; the greatest lies in fasting and Daoist ritual. Fasting and Daoist ritual are undertaken to seek long life. Since antiquity the sages have taught that in cultivating the self one should "accept one's proper allotment in accordance with the Way"—never have I heard of any doctrine of immortality. Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu were the greatest of sages, yet they could not endure forever; nor have I seen any Daoist adept from Han, Tang, or Song times who survives to the present. Your Majesty received the arts from Tao Zhongwen and addressed him as teacher. Yet Zhongwen is already dead; he did not attain long life—why should Your Majesty alone seek it? As for immortal peaches and celestial elixirs, their absurdity is still greater. Formerly Emperor Zhenzong of Song received a celestial book at Mount Qianyou; Sun Shi said, "What does Heaven speak? How could there be a book! Peaches must be picked before they can be had; medicines must be prepared before they can be made. Now these two things appear without cause—do they have feet and walk of themselves? If you say Heaven bestowed them, was there a hand that held them out and delivered them? These are wicked men at your side who fabricate absurd falsehoods to deceive you, and you have mistakenly believed them as real—this is going too far.

陛下將謂懸刑賞以督責臣下，則分理有人，天下無不可治，而修真為無害已乎？太甲曰：「有言逆於汝心，必求諸道；有言遜於汝志，必求諸非道。」用人而必欲其唯言莫違，此陛下之計左也。既觀嚴嵩，有一不順陛下者乎？昔為同心，今為戮首矣。梁材守道守官，陛下以為逆者也，歷任有聲，官戶部者至今首稱之。然諸臣寧為嵩之順，不為材之逆，得非有以窺陛下之微，而潛為趨避乎？即陛下亦何利於是。

Your Majesty will say that by hanging rewards and punishments over your ministers, duties are assigned and nothing is beyond governance—so that spiritual cultivation does no harm? Tai Jia said, "When words run counter to your heart, you must seek their meaning in the Way; when words accord with your wishes, you must seek their meaning outside the Way. To employ men yet insist that they never speak except to agree—this is a mistaken plan on Your Majesty's part. Consider Yan Song: was there ever one word that did not accord with your wishes? Once he was of one mind with you; now he is executed and his head displayed. Liang Cai upheld the Way and held to his office; you regarded him as rebellious, yet in every post he won renown, and among those who served in the Ministry of Revenue he is still chiefly praised to this day. Yet your ministers would rather be compliant like Song than upright like Cai—is this not because they have discerned something of your inner mind and secretly steer to avoid trouble? What benefit do you gain from this?

陛下誠知齋齋無益，一旦翻然悔悟，日禦正朝，與宰相、侍從、言官講求天下利害，洗數十年之積誤，置身於堯、舜、禹、湯、文、武之間，使諸臣亦得自洗數十年阿君之恥，置其身於皋、夔、伊、傅之列，天下何憂不治，萬事何憂不理。此在陛下一振作間而已。釋此不為，而切切於輕舉度世，敝精勞神，以求之於系風捕影、茫然不可知之域，臣見勞苦終身，而終於無所成也。今大臣持祿而好諛，小臣畏罪而結舌，臣不勝憤恨。是以冒死，願盡區區，惟陛下垂聽焉。

If you truly know that fasting is of no benefit and one day turn about in repentance, holding court daily and discussing with your chancellor, attendants, and remonstrating officials the welfare of the realm, washing away decades of accumulated error, placing yourself among Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu, and enabling your ministers to wash away decades of shame at flattering their ruler, placing themselves among Gao Yao, Kui, Yi Yin, and Fu Yue—what worry would there be that the realm would not be governed, that affairs would not be ordered? This depends on a single effort of renewal on your part. You set this aside and do not do it, yet are earnest about lightly attempting to transcend the world, exhausting your spirit and wearing out your mind, seeking in the realm of tying down the wind and catching shadows—I foresee that you will toil your whole life and in the end achieve nothing. Now the great ministers hold their salaries and love to flatter; the lesser officials fear punishment and hold their tongues—I cannot contain my indignation. Therefore, risking death, I offer this humble effort—may Your Majesty deign to listen.

帝得疏，大怒，抵之地，顧左右曰：「趣執之，無使得遁！」宦官黃錦在側曰：「此人素有癡名。聞其上疏時，自知觸忤當死，市一棺，訣妻子，待罪於朝，僮僕亦奔散無留者，是不遁也。」帝默然。少頃復取讀之，日再三，為感動太息，留中者數月。嘗曰：「此人可方比干，第朕非紂耳。」會帝有疾，煩懣不樂，召閣臣徐階議內禪，因曰：「海瑞言俱是。朕今病久，安能視事。」又曰：「朕不自謹惜，致此疾困。使朕能出禦便殿，豈受此人詬詈耶？」遂逮瑞下詔獄，究主使者。尋移刑部，論死。獄上，仍留中。戶部司務何以尚者，揣帝無殺瑞意，疏請釋之。帝怒，命錦衣衛杖之百，錮詔獄，晝夜搒訊。越二月，帝崩，穆宗立，兩人並獲釋。

When the Emperor received the memorial, he was furious, dashed it to the ground, and turning to those beside him said, "Seize him at once—do not let him escape! The eunuch Huang Jin, standing beside him, said, "This man has long borne the reputation of a simpleton. I hear that when he submitted his memorial, knowing he had given offense and must die, he bought a coffin, bade farewell to his wife and children, and waited at court to receive punishment; his servants too have scattered and none remain—he is not fleeing. The Emperor fell silent. After a little while he picked it up and read it again, two or three times a day, moved to deep sighs; he kept it withheld at court for several months. He once said, "This man may be compared to Bigan—but I am no King Zhou. When the Emperor fell ill, vexed and unhappy, he summoned Grand Secretary Xu Jie to discuss abdication in favor of the heir, and said, "Everything Hai Rui said is true. I have been ill so long—how can I attend to affairs of state? He also said, "I did not restrain and cherish myself, and brought on this illness and distress. Had I been able to go out and hold court in the side hall, how would I have endured this man's reviling? He then had Rui arrested and sent to the imperial prison, investigating who had instigated him. Shortly afterward the case was transferred to the Ministry of Justice, which sentenced him to death. When the sentence was submitted, it was again withheld at court. He Yishang, a clerk in the Ministry of Revenue, surmising that the Emperor had no intention of executing Rui, submitted a memorial requesting his release. The Emperor was enraged and ordered the Embroidered-Uniform Guard to beat him one hundred strokes, imprison him in the imperial prison, and interrogate him day and night under torture. Two months later the Emperor died and the Muzong Emperor ascended the throne; both men were released together.

帝初崩，外庭多未知。提牢主事聞狀，以瑞且見用，設酒饌款之。瑞自疑當赴西市，恣飲啖，不顧。主事因附耳語：「宮車適晏駕，先生今即出大用矣。」瑞曰：「信然乎？」即大慟，盡嘔出所飲食，隕絕於地，終夜哭不絕聲。既釋，復故官。俄改兵部。擢尚寶丞，調大理。

When the Emperor first died, those outside the palace for the most part did not yet know. The chief prison officer, hearing what had happened and that Rui would soon be restored to office, prepared wine and a meal to welcome him warmly. Rui assumed he was bound for the Western Market execution ground, so he ate and drank his fill without a care. The chief officer leaned close and whispered: "The Emperor has just died; sir, you are about to be released and given high office. Rui asked, "Can that be true?" He broke into violent grief at once, vomited everything he had consumed, collapsed senseless to the floor, and wept without stopping through the night. After his release, he was reinstated in his former post. Before long he was moved to the Ministry of War. He was promoted to Vice Director of the Office of Imperial Seals, then transferred to the Court of Judicial Review.

隆慶元年，徐階為御史劉康所劾，瑞言：「階事先帝，無能救于神仙土木之誤，畏威保位，誠亦有之。然自執政以來，憂勤國事，休休有容，有足多者。康乃甘心鷹犬，捕噬善類，其罪又浮于高拱。」人韙其言。

In the first year of Longqing, Censor Liu Kang impeached Xu Jie. Hai Rui said: "In serving the late Emperor, Xu Jie could not pull him back from his obsession with immortality elixirs and grand building projects, and he feared power enough to cling to office—that much is true. But from the time he came to power he has toiled over state affairs with generous forbearance, and there is much in him to commend. Kang, by contrast, gladly plays the hawk and hound, hunting down and tearing apart the worthy—and his offense exceeds even Gao Gong's. People widely agreed with what he said.

曆兩京左、右通政。三年夏，以右僉都御史巡撫應天十府。屬吏憚其威，墨者多自免去。有勢家硃丹其門，聞瑞至，黝之。中人監織造者，為減輿從。瑞銳意興革，請浚吳淞、白茆，通流入海，民賴其利。素疾大戶兼併，力摧豪強，撫窮弱。貧民田入于富室者，率奪還之。徐階罷相裏居，按問其家無少貸。下令飆發淩厲，所司惴惴奉行，豪有力者至竄他郡以避。而奸民多乘機告訐，故家大姓時有被誣負屈者。又裁節郵傳冗費。士大夫出其境率不得供頓，由是怨頗興。都給事中舒化論瑞，滯不達政體，宜以南京清秩處之，帝猶優詔獎瑞。已而給事中戴鳳翔劾瑞庇奸民，魚肉搢紳，沽名亂政，遂改督南京糧儲。瑞撫吳甫半歲。小民聞當去，號泣載道，家繪像祀之。將履新任，會高拱掌吏部，素銜瑞，並其職于南京戶部，瑞遂謝病歸。

He held the posts of Left and Right Vice Commissioner of Transmission in both capitals in turn. In the summer of the third year, he was made Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed grand coordinator over the ten prefectures of Yingtian. Officials under his command feared his stern authority, and many corrupt among them resigned of their own accord. One influential household had painted its gate vermillion; on hearing that Rui was on his way, they hurriedly daubed it black. The eunuchs overseeing the imperial weaving offices cut back their carriages and attendants. Rui pressed hard for reform. He petitioned to dredge the Wusong and Baimao waterways so their currents could reach the sea, and the people prospered from the work. He had always detested the consolidation of estates by great families, and he worked relentlessly to break the mighty while sheltering the poor. Land that poor farmers had lost to rich households was, as a rule, taken back and restored to them. Even after Xu Jie had left office and retired to his home, Rui scrutinized his household and showed not the slightest leniency. His edicts issued with fierce urgency; the offices charged with carrying them out obeyed in dread, and the boldest local powers fled to neighboring prefectures to escape him. At the same time, unscrupulous men often seized the moment to lodge accusations, and established clans were sometimes falsely charged and wronged. He also pared away wasteful spending in the postal and relay service. Official travelers leaving his territory were usually denied the customary provisions and lodging, and ill will toward him mounted accordingly. Chief Supervising Secretary Shu Hua argued that Rui was inflexible and failed to understand how government should work, and should be given a quiet honorary post in Nanjing—yet the Emperor still issued a gracious edict commending Rui. Soon afterward Supervising Secretary Dai Fengxiang accused Rui of protecting rascals, bullying the gentry, courting reputation, and sowing disorder in government, and Rui was transferred to oversee grain storage in Nanjing. Hai Rui had governed the Wu region for barely six months. When the common people learned he was leaving, they wailed along every road, and households painted his likeness to honor him in worship. Just as he was about to assume his new appointment, Gao Gong took charge of the Ministry of Personnel. Gao had long resented Rui and folded Rui's office into the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue; Rui thereupon pleaded illness and went home.

萬曆初，張居正當國，亦不樂瑞，令巡按御史廉察之。御史至山中視，瑞設雞黍相對食，居舍蕭然，御史歎息去。居正憚瑞峭直，中外交薦，卒不召。十二年冬，居正已卒，吏部擬用左通政。帝雅重瑞名，畀以前職。明年正月，召為南京右僉都御史，道改南京吏部右侍郎，瑞年已七十二矣。疏言衰老垂死，願比古人屍諫之義，大略謂：「陛下勵精圖治，而治化不臻者，貪吏之刑輕也。諸臣莫能言其故，反借待士有禮之說，交口而文其非。夫待士有禮，而民則何辜哉？」因舉太祖法剝皮囊草及洪武三十年定律枉法八十貫論絞，謂今當用此懲貪。其他規切時政，語極剴切。獨勸帝虐刑，時議以為非。御史梅鶤祚劾之。帝雖以瑞言為過，然察其忠誠，為奪鶤祚俸。

Early in the Wanli reign, Zhang Juzheng directed the government and likewise had no fondness for Rui; he sent the touring censor to investigate his conduct. When the censor came to see him in the hills, Rui offered a simple meal of chicken and millet and ate with him face to face. His home was plainly furnished and empty; the censor sighed and left. Zhang Juzheng feared Rui's unyielding uprightness. Recommendations poured in from within and outside the court, yet in the end Rui was never recalled. In the winter of the twelfth year, after Zhang Juzheng's death, the Ministry of Personnel proposed appointing Rui Left Vice Commissioner of Transmission. The Emperor held Rui's name in high regard and restored him to his previous rank. In the first month of the next year he was summoned as Right Vice Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing, then reassigned on the road to Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. Rui was already seventy-two. In a memorial he declared that he was old and close to death and wished to follow the ancient example of remonstrating even with one's corpse. In essence he wrote: "Your Majesty labors tirelessly to bring order to the realm, yet good governance still falls short because corrupt officials are punished too lightly. No minister will say why this is so; instead they invoke the principle that scholars should be treated with courtesy and, speaking as one, dress up the fault as virtue. If courtesy is owed to officials, what wrong have the people done to deserve this? He pointed to the founding Emperor's punishment of flaying the skin and stuffing it with straw, and to the thirtieth year of Hongwu statute that sentenced officials who perverted the law for eighty strings of cash to death by strangulation, arguing that these measures should be revived to chastise corruption. On other points as well he remonstrated against current affairs in language that was piercing and unsparing. Only his counsel that the Emperor impose cruel punishments was judged mistaken by opinion at the time. Censor Mei Guizuo submitted an impeachment against him. Although the Emperor thought Rui had gone too far, he saw the sincerity behind the words and punished Guizuo by stripping his salary instead.

帝屢欲召用瑞，執政陰沮之，乃以為南京右都御史。諸司素偷惰，瑞以身矯之。有御史偶陳戲樂，欲遵太祖法予之杖。百司惴恐，多患苦之。提學御史房寰恐見糾擿，欲先發，給事中鐘宇淳復慫恿，寰再上疏醜詆。瑞亦屢疏乞休，慰留不允。十五年，卒官。

The Emperor wanted again and again to recall Rui to service, but those in power quietly blocked it, and Rui was given the post of Right Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing. The departments had long been slack and indolent; Rui set himself against the habit and reformed them by his own conduct. Once, when a censor casually spoke of music and amusement, Rui wanted to apply the founding Emperor's law and have him flogged with the rod. Every office quaked with fear, and many found his rule hard to bear. Education Intendant Censor Fang Huan, fearing he would be called out and punished, tried to get ahead of Rui; Supervising Secretary Zhong Yuchun urged him on again, and Fang submitted another memorial full of ugly abuse. Rui too sent memorial after memorial asking to retire, yet the court's pleas that he remain were never accepted. In the fifteenth year, he died at his post.

瑞無子。卒時，僉都御史王用汲入視，葛幃敝籝，有寒士所不堪者。因泣下，醵金為斂。小民罷市。喪出江上，白衣冠送者夾岸，酹而哭者百里不絕。贈太子太保，諡忠介。

Rui left no son. At his death, Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Yongji came to inspect his quarters and found coarse hemp curtains and battered chests—possessions a poor scholar could scarcely bear. He wept and gathered a collection to pay for the funeral. Shopkeepers shut their stalls in mourning. As the funeral procession moved along the river, mourners in white lined both banks; for a hundred li, none who poured libations and wept ceased their lamentation. He was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, with the posthumous epithet Zhongjie, 'Loyal and Upright.'

瑞生平為學，以剛為主，因自號剛峰，天下稱剛峰先生。嘗言：「欲天下治安，必行井田。不得已而限田，又不得已而均稅，尚可存古人遺意。」故自為縣以至巡撫，所至力行清丈，頒一條鞭法。意主于利民，而行事不能無偏雲。

Rui built his life's learning on uncompromising integrity; he styled himself Gangfeng, 'Rigid Peak,' and the world knew him as Master Gangfeng. He once declared: 'To bring peace and order to the realm, the well-field system must be restored. Failing that, impose land limits; failing even that, equalize taxation—by such steps the intent of the ancients may yet be preserved. Accordingly, from his days as a county magistrate through his tenure as grand coordinator, wherever he served he drove land surveys and implemented the single-whip method of taxation. His aim was above all to benefit the people—yet even his admirers concede that his methods could not but show partiality.

何以尚

He Yishang

始救瑞者何以尚，廣西興業人，起家鄉舉。出獄，擢光祿丞。又以劾高拱坐謫。拱罷，起雷州推官，終南京鴻臚卿。

The man who first rescued Hai Rui was He Yishang, a native of Xingye in Guangxi who had entered office through the provincial examination. Released from prison, he was promoted to vice director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He was banished again after impeaching Gao Gong. When Gao Gong fell, he was restored as judicial assistant at Leizhou and ended his days as director of ceremonies at Nanjing.

丘橓，字茂實，諸城人。嘉靖二十九年進士。由行人擢刑科給事中。三十四年七月，倭六七十人失道流劫，自太平直逼南京。兵部尚書張時徹等閉城不敢出，閱二日引去。給事御史劾時徹及守備諸臣罪，時徹亦上其事，詞多隱護。 舜劾其欺罔，時徹及侍郎陳洙皆罷。帝久不視朝，嚴嵩專國柄。橓言權臣不宜獨任，朝綱不宜久弛，嚴嵩深憾之。已，劾嵩党寧夏巡撫謝淮、應天府尹孟淮貪黷，謝淮坐免。是年，嵩敗，舜劾由嵩進者順天巡撫徐紳等五人，帝為黜其三。遷兵科都給事中。劾南京兵部尚書李遂、鎮守兩廣平江伯陳王謨、錦衣指揮魏大經鹹以賄進，大經下吏，王謨革任。已，又劾罷浙江總兵官盧鏜。寇犯通州，總督楊選被逮。及寇退，橓偕其僚陳善後事宜，指切邊弊。帝以橓不早劾選，杖六十，斥為民，余謫邊方雜職。橓歸，敝衣一篋，圖書一束而已。隆慶初，起任禮科，不至。尋擢南京太常少卿，進大理少卿。病免。神宗立，言官交薦。張居正惡之，不召。

Qiu Shun, styled Maoshi, was a native of Zhucheng. He qualified as a metropolitan graduate in the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing reign. From the post of courier he was raised to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Punishments. In the thirty-fourth year, seventh month, sixty or seventy pirates, having lost their way, swept through in a raid from Taiping straight to Nanjing. Minister of War Zhang Shiche and his colleagues shut the city gates and dared not sally forth; after two days the raiders withdrew. Supervising secretaries and censors impeached Shiche and the garrison commanders; Shiche submitted his own account as well, wording it largely to conceal and shield them. Shun impeached him for deception; Shiche and Vice Minister Chen Zhu were both removed from office. The emperor had long ceased to hold court; Yan Song held the reins of state alone. Shun argued that no single powerful minister should wield unchecked authority and that court discipline must not long lie in abeyance; Yan Song deeply resented him for it. Later he impeached two men of Yan Song's faction—Ningxia grand coordinator Xie Huai and Nanjing metropolitan prefect Meng Huai—for corruption and abuse; Xie Huai was dismissed from office. That same year, after Yan Song's fall, Shun impeached five officials who had risen through his patronage, including Shuntian grand coordinator Xu Shen; the emperor dismissed three of them. He was transferred to chief supervising secretary in the Bureau of War. He impeached Nanjing Minister of War Li Sui, the commander-in-chief of the Two Guang, Pingjiang Earl Chen Wangmo, and Embroidered Uniform Guard commander Wei Dajing—all for having bought their way into office; Dajing was handed over to the courts and Wangmo was stripped of his command. Later he impeached Zhejiang regional commander Lu Zuan and brought about his dismissal. When raiders struck Tongzhou, Grand Coordinator Yang Xuan was arrested. After the raiders withdrew, Shun and his colleagues jointly memorialized on the aftermath, cutting straight to the abuses along the frontier. The emperor, holding that Shun should have impeached Xuan sooner, had him beaten sixty strokes and expelled to commoner status; the others were relegated to minor frontier posts. When Shun went home, he possessed only a single basket of threadbare clothes and one bundle of books. At the opening of the Longqing reign he was recalled to the Bureau of Rites but declined to serve. Soon he was promoted to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices at Nanjing, then advanced to vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Illness forced his retirement. When Shenzong took the throne, censorial officials recommended him one after another. Zhang Juzheng, who despised him, refused to recall him.

萬曆十一年秋，起右通政。未上，擢左副都御史，以一柴車就道。既入朝，陳吏治積弊八事，言：

In the autumn of the eleventh year of Wanli he was recalled as right vice commissioner of the Surveillance Bureau. Before he could take up that post, he was promoted to left vice censor-in-chief and set out for the capital in a single cart of firewood. Once he had entered court, he laid out eight longstanding abuses in governance, saying:

臣去國十餘年，士風漸靡，吏治轉汙，遠近蕭條，日甚一日。此非世運適然，由風紀不振故也。如京官考滿，河南道例書稱職。外吏給由，撫按官概與保留。以朝廷甄別之典，為人臣交市之資。敢徇私而不敢盡法，惡無所懲，賢亦安勸？此考績之積弊，一也。

I have been away from the capital for more than ten years; the spirit of the scholar-official class has slackened, governance has grown filthy, and desolation near and far worsens by the day. This is no mere turn of fortune—it is because discipline and standards have not been upheld. Consider the capital officials' term evaluations: the Henan circuit routinely marks every man 'competent.' When local officials receive their credentials, the grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners invariably retain them in post. They have turned the court's system of evaluation and selection into currency for mutual favor-trading among officials. Men dare show partiality but dare not enforce the law to the full—how then are the wicked to be punished, or the worthy to be encouraged? This is the first of the longstanding abuses in performance evaluation.

御史巡方，未離國門，而密屬之姓名，已盈私牘。甫臨所部，而請事之竿牘，又滿行台。以豸冠持斧之威，束手俯眉，聽人頤指。此請托之積弊，二也。

When censors set out to inspect the provinces, even before they leave the capital the names of those who have privately enlisted their help already fill private letters. Hardly have they reached their jurisdiction when the bamboo slips of petitioners again fill the touring office. Armed with the censor's cap and axe—the emblems of their authority—they fold their hands, bow their brows, and let others order them about at will. This is the second entrenched abuse: patronage and entreaty.

撫按定監司考語，必托之有司。有司則不顧是非，侈加善考，監司德且畏之。彼此結納，上下之分蕩然。其考守令也亦如是。此訪察之積弊，三也。

When grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners draft evaluation comments for circuit intendants, they invariably delegate the task to local officials. Those officials ignore right and wrong and heap on glowing evaluations, and the circuit intendants feel both indebted and intimidated. Each side forges bonds of mutual obligation until the distinction between superior and subordinate is utterly lost. Their evaluation of prefects and magistrates follows the same pattern. This is the third entrenched abuse: inspection and surveillance.

貪墨成風，生民塗炭，而所劾罷者大都單寒軟弱之流。苟百足之蟲，傅翼之虎，即贓穢狼籍，還登薦剡。嚴小吏而寬大吏，詳去任而略見任。此舉劾之積弊，四也。

Corruption has become the prevailing wind and the common people suffer as if scorched by fire, yet those impeached and dismissed are mostly humble and powerless men. If a man is a centipede with a hundred legs or a tiger given wings, even when his corruption is notorious he still receives a recommendation dispatch. They are strict with petty clerks but lenient with grand officials, meticulous about men leaving office but lax about men still in office. This is the fourth entrenched abuse: recommendation and impeachment.

懲貪之法在提問。乃豺狼見遺，狐狸是問，徒有其名。或陰縱之使去，或累逮而不行，或批駁以相延，或朦朧以倖免。即或終竟其事，亦必博長厚之名，而以盡法自嫌。苞苴或累萬金，而贓止坐之銖黍。草菅或數十命，而罰不傷其毫釐。此提問之積弊，五也。

The law for punishing corruption lies in interrogation under torture. Yet wolves and jackals are overlooked while foxes are questioned—the practice exists in name only. Some are secretly allowed to flee; some are repeatedly summoned but never brought in; some cases are rejected by memorial to stall proceedings; some are left deliberately vague so the accused may slip free by chance. Even when a case is finally concluded, the judge must win a reputation for leniency and restraint and shrink from applying the full penalty. Bribes may amount to tens of thousands in gold, yet only grains and millet are charged as the sum of corruption. Dozens of lives may be treated like grass, yet the punishment does not touch a hair's breadth of the guilty. This is the fifth entrenched abuse: interrogation.

薦舉糾劾，所以勸儆有司也。今薦則先進士而舉監，非有憑藉者不與焉。劾則先舉監而進士，縱有訾議者罕及焉。晉接差委，專計出身之途。於是同一官也，不敢接席而坐，比肩而行。諸人自分低昂，吏民觀瞻頓異。助成驕縱之風，大喪賢豪之氣。此資格之積弊，六也。

Recommendation and impeachment exist to warn and admonish local officials. Today in recommendations, metropolitan degree-holders are promoted first and purchased-office holders only afterward; those without backing are excluded. In impeachments, purchased-office holders are struck first and metropolitan degree-holders afterward; even when there is criticism, it rarely reaches the latter. In daily reception and assignment of duties, everything turns on the path by which one entered officialdom. Thereupon officials of the same rank dare not sit on the same mat or walk shoulder to shoulder. The men rank themselves high and low, and the view held by clerks and commoners is suddenly transformed. This helps foster a spirit of arrogance and indulgence and greatly erodes the confidence of worthy and heroic men. This is the sixth entrenched abuse: qualification and seniority.

州縣佐貳雖卑，亦臨民官也，必待以禮，然後可責以法。今也役使譴訶，無殊輿隸。獨任其汙黷害民，不屑禁治。禮與法兩失之矣。學校之職，賢才所關，今不問職業，而一聽其所為。及至考課，則曰「此寒官也」，概與上考。若輩知上官不我重也，則因而自棄；知上官必我憐也，又從而日偷。此處佐貳教職之積弊，七也。

The assistant and second-rank posts in prefectures and districts, though low, are still officials who face the people; they must be treated with courtesy before they can be held accountable under the law. Today they are ordered about and rebuked no differently than carriage footmen. Yet their corruption and harm to the people are left entirely to them alone, with no inclination to restrain or punish. Both courtesy and law are lost. The duties of schools concern men of talent; today no one asks after their professional conduct but leaves them entirely to their own devices. When evaluations come, they say, "These are humble posts," and give them uniformly top marks. When such men know their superiors do not value them, they abandon themselves accordingly; when they know their superiors will surely pity them, they likewise grow more lax day by day. This is the seventh entrenched abuse: the treatment of assistant officials and teaching posts.

科場取士，故有門生、座主之稱。若巡按，舉劾其職也。乃劾者不任其怨，舉者獨冒為恩。尊之為舉主，而以門生自居，筐篚問遺，終身不廢。假明揚之典，開賄賂之門，無惑乎清白之吏不概見於天下也。方今國與民俱貧，而官獨富。既以官而得富，還以富而市官。此餽遺之積弊，八也。

In the examination hall men of talent are selected, hence the terms pupil and examiner-patron. For a touring censor, however, recommendation and impeachment are his proper duties. Yet the impeacher does not bear the resentment, while the recommender alone claims the favor as his own. They honor him as recommender-patron and take the status of pupils upon themselves; gifts in baskets and cases continue for a lifetime without cease. Under the pretext of the statute for open recommendation, they open the door to bribery—little wonder that uncorrupt officials are not seen everywhere under Heaven. At present both the state and the people are poor, while officials alone are rich. Having grown rich through office, they then use their riches to buy office. This is the eighth entrenched abuse: gift-giving.

要此八者，敗壞之源不在於外，從而轉移亦不在於下也。昔齊威王烹一阿大夫，封一即墨大夫，而齊國大治。陛下誠大奮乾剛，痛懲吏弊，則風行草偃，天下可立治矣。

In sum, these eight are sources of ruin that lie not outside but within, and their shifting downward does not begin below. Formerly King Wei of Qi executed one Lord of A and enfeoffed one Lord of Jimo, and the state of Qi was greatly well governed. If Your Majesty will truly exert imperial vigor and severely punish official corruption, then the wind will blow and the grass will bend—all under Heaven can quickly be brought to order.

疏奏，帝稱善。敕所司下撫按奉行，不如詔者罪。

The memorial was submitted, and the Emperor praised it. He ordered the relevant offices to transmit it to the provincial governors and surveillance commissioners for enforcement; failure to comply with the edict would be punished.

頃之，言：「故給事中魏時亮、周世選，御史張檟、李復聘以忤高拱見黜，文選郎胡汝桂以忤尚書被傾，宜賜甄錄。御史于應昌構陷劉台與王宗載同罪，宗載遺戍而應昌止罷官。勞堪巡撫福建，殺侍郎洪朝選。御史張一鯤監應天鄉試，王篆子之鼎夤緣中式。錢岱監湖廣鄉試，先期請居正少子還就試，會居正卒不果，遂私中篆子之衡。曹一夔身居風憲，盛稱馮保為顧命大臣。硃璉則結馮保為父，游七為兄。此數人者，得罪名教，而亦止罷官。此綱紀所以不振，人心所以不服。臣初八台，誓掃除積弊。今待罪三月，而大吏恣肆，小吏貪殘，小民怨咨，四方賂遺如故，臣不職可見。請罷斥以儆有位。」時已遷刑部右侍郎。帝優詔報之。召時亮、世選、檟、復聘、汝桂還，削慶昌、堪、一鯤、一夔、璉籍，貶岱三秩。未幾，偕中官張誠往籍張居正家。還，轉左侍郎，增俸一秩。尋拜南京吏部尚書，卒官。贈太子太保，諡簡肅。

Before long, he memorialized: "The late Supervising Secretary Wei Shiliang and Zhou Shixuan, and the Censors Zhang Jiao and Li Fupin, were dismissed for offending Gao Gong; the Director of Personnel Hu Rugui was ruined for offending the Minister. They should be granted restored appointment and recognition. The Censor Yu Yingchang fabricated charges against Liu Tai together with Wang Zongzai on the same offense; Zongzai was banished beyond the frontier while Yingchang was only dismissed from office. Lao Kan, as grand coordinator of Fujian, killed Vice Minister Hong Chaoxuan. The Censor Zhang Yikun supervised the provincial examination of Yingtian; Wang Zhuan's son Zhi Ding obtained a jinshi degree through illicit connections. Qian Dai supervised the provincial examination of Huguang and in advance requested that Zhang Juzheng's youngest son return to take the examination; when Juzheng died the plan failed, and he privately placed Zhuan's son Zhiheng on the list. Cao Yikui, holding the power of the censorate, loudly praised Feng Bao as a chief minister appointed on the deathbed. Zhu Lian made Feng Bao his adoptive father and You Qi his adoptive elder brother. These several men have offended the teachings of moral culture, yet they too were only dismissed from office. This is why discipline and standards fail to be upheld and hearts do not submit. When I first entered the Censorate, I vowed to sweep away longstanding abuses. Now after three months in a degraded post, grand officials act without restraint, petty officials are greedy and cruel, common people murmur in complaint, and gifts from all quarters continue as before—my unfitness for office is plain to see. I beg to be dismissed to warn those who hold high position." By then he had already been transferred to Right Vice Minister of Justice. The Emperor responded with a gracious edict. He recalled Shiliang, Shixuan, Jiao, Fupin, and Rugui; struck Yingchang, Kan, Yikun, Yikui, and Lian from the registers; and demoted Dai by three ranks. Not long after, he went together with the eunuch Zhang Cheng to confiscate the household of Zhang Juzheng. On his return he was transferred to Left Vice Minister and given an additional rank of salary. Soon afterward he was appointed Minister of Personnel in Nanjing and died in office. He was posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous epithet Jiansu.

橓強直好搏擊，其清節為時所稱雲。

Qiao was forceful and upright and loved to attack wrongdoing; his integrity was praised by his contemporaries.

呂坤，字叔簡，甯陵人。萬曆二年進士。為襄垣知縣，有異政。調大同，征授戶部主事，曆郎中。遷山東參政、山西按察使、陝西右布政使。擢右僉都御史，巡撫山西。居三年，召為左僉都御史。曆刑部左、右侍郎。

Lu Kun, styled Shujian, was a native of Ningling. In the second year of Wanli he passed the metropolitan examination. As magistrate of Xiangyuan he distinguished himself with exceptional governance. He was transferred to Datong, then summoned and appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue; he rose through the ranks to director. He was moved to administrative commissioner of Shandong, surveillance commissioner of Shanxi, and right provincial administration commissioner of Shaanxi. He was promoted to Right Censor and grand coordinator of Shanxi. After three years in that post he was recalled as Left Censor. He served successively as left and right vice minister of Justice.

二十五年五月，書疏陳天下安危，其略曰：

In the fifth month of the twenty-fifth year of Wanli he submitted a memorial setting forth the safety or danger of the realm; its gist read:

竊見元旦以來，天氣昏黃，日光黯淡，占者以為亂徵。今天下之勢，亂象已形，而亂勢未動。天下之人，亂心已萌，而亂人未倡。今日之政，皆播亂機使之動，助亂人使之倡者也。臣敢以救時要務，為陛下陳之。

I observe that since New Year's Day the weather has been murky and yellow, the sunlight dim—diviners take this as a sign of disorder. Today the trend of the realm already shows the image of disorder, though the momentum of disorder has not yet moved. The people of the realm already harbor hearts inclined to disorder, though the men who would raise disorder have not yet taken the lead. The policies of today all scatter the mechanisms that make disorder move and assist the men who make disorder take the lead. I dare set forth urgent tasks to save the times for Your Majesty.

自古幸亂之民有四。一曰無聊之民。飽溫無由，身家俱困，因懷逞亂之心，冀緩須臾之死。二曰無行之民。氣高性悍，玩法輕生，居常愛玉帛子女而不得，及有變則淫掠是圖。三曰邪說之民。白蓮結社，遍及四方，教主傳頭，所在成聚。倘有招呼之首，此其歸附之人。四曰不軌之民。乘釁蹈機，妄思雄長。惟冀目前有變，不樂天下太平。陛下約己愛人，損上益上，則四民皆赤子，否則悉為寇仇。

Since antiquity there have been four kinds of people who rejoice in disorder. First, people without occupation. Unable to obtain warmth and full bellies, their persons and households alike in distress, they therefore harbor thoughts of reckless disorder, hoping to postpone death for a little while. Second, people without proper conduct. Proud in spirit and fierce by nature, they treat the law lightly and hold life cheap; in ordinary times they covet jade, silk, women, and children without obtaining them, and when trouble comes they aim at plunder. Third, people of heterodox teachings. The White Lotus societies have spread in all directions; wherever the cult leader passes on leadership, crowds assemble. Should there arise a man to summon them, these are the ones who would attach themselves to him. Fourth, people of unlawful intent. They seize opportunities and tread on crises, rashly hoping to play the bold leader. They only hope for turmoil before their eyes and do not rejoice in peace under Heaven. If Your Majesty restrains yourself and cherishes the people, reducing what is taken from above to benefit those below, then the four classes will all be your true children; otherwise they will all become enemies and foes.

今天下之蒼生貧困可知矣。自萬曆十年以來，無歲不災，催科如故。臣久為外吏，見陛下赤子凍骨無兼衣，饑腸不再食，垣舍弗蔽，苫槁未完；流移日眾，棄地猥多；留者輸去者之糧，生者承死者之役。君門萬里，孰能仰訴？今國家之財用耗竭可知矣。數年以來，壽宮之費幾百萬，織造之費幾百萬，寧夏之變幾百萬，黃河之潰幾百萬，今大工、采木費，又各幾百萬矣。土不加廣，民不加多，非有雨菽湧金，安能為計？今國家之防禦疏略可知矣。三大營之兵以衛京師也，乃馬半羸敝，人半老弱。九邊之兵以禦外寇也，皆勇於挾上，怯於臨戎。外衛之兵以備徵調資守禦也，伍缺於役占，家累于需求，皮骨僅存，折沖奚賴？設有千騎橫行，兵不足用，必選民丁。以怨民鬥怨民，誰與合戰？

Today the destitution of the common people under Heaven can clearly be seen. Since the tenth year of Wanli there has been disaster every year, yet tax collection proceeds as before. I long served as a local official and have seen Your Majesty's true children with frozen bones who have no second garment, hungry bellies that know no second meal, walls and houses unroofed, thatched sheds unfinished; refugees increase day by day, and abandoned land grows vast. Those who remain must deliver grain for those who have fled; the living must bear the corvée duties of the dead. The palace gates are ten thousand li away—who can look up and plead? Today the exhaustion of the state's finances can clearly be seen. Over the past several years, expenses for the longevity palace have run to millions, weaving and manufacture to millions, the Ningxia rebellion to millions, the Yellow River breach to millions—and now great works and timber-gathering each cost millions more. The land does not grow wider and the people do not grow more numerous—unless beans and gold rain from the sky, how can such accounts be met? Today the laxity of the state's defenses can clearly be seen. The troops of the three great camps exist to guard the capital, yet half the horses are emaciated and worn, half the men old and weak. The troops of the nine border regions exist to repel foreign invaders, yet all are bold in oppressing their superiors and timid in facing the enemy. The outer garrison troops exist to supply mobilization and support defense, yet companies are depleted by corvée requisition, households crushed by exactions—only skin and bone remain; on whom can one rely to repel the foe? Should a thousand horsemen ride rampant, the troops would not suffice and civilian conscripts would have to be chosen. To set resentful commoners fighting resentful commoners—who will join battle together?

人心者，國家之命脈也。今日之人心，惟望陛下收之而已。關隴氣寒土薄，民生實艱。自造花絨，比戶困趣逼。提花染色，日夜無休，千手經年，不成一匹。他若山西之，蘇、松之錦綺，歲額既盈，加造不已。至饒州磁器，西域回青，不急之須，徒累小民敲骨。陛下誠一切停罷，而江南、陝西之人心收矣。

The hearts of the people are the lifeblood of the state. The hearts of the people today only hope that Your Majesty will win them back. Guanlong's air is cold and its soil thin; the people's livelihood is truly hard. Since the manufacture of patterned velvet began, every household has been driven to distress. Raising patterns and applying dyes, day and night without rest—a thousand hands labor for a year and cannot finish one bolt. Likewise Shanxi ramie, Suzhou and Songjiang brocades and silks—once the annual quota is filled, additional production never ceases. As for Raozhou porcelain and Western Regions cobalt blue, they are not urgent needs yet they only burden common people to the bone. If Your Majesty will truly halt all of these entirely, then the hearts of Jiangnan and Shaanxi will be won back.

以采木言之。丈八之圍，非百年之物。深山窮穀，蛇虎雜居，毒霧常多，人煙絕少，寒暑饑渴瘴癘死者無論矣。乃一木初臥，千夫難移，倘遇阻艱，必成傷殞。蜀民語曰：「入山一千，出山五百」。哀可知也。至若海木，官價雖一株千兩，比來都下，為費何止萬金！臣見楚、蜀之人，談及采木，莫不哽咽。苟損其數，增其直，多其歲月，減其尺寸，而川、貴、湖廣之人心收矣。

To speak of timber-gathering: A trunk eight chi in girth is not a thing of a mere hundred years. In deep mountains and remote valleys snakes and tigers dwell together, poisonous mists are frequent, human habitation is extremely sparse—to say nothing of those who die from cold, heat, hunger, thirst, and malarial vapors. Yet when one tree first lies felled, a thousand men can scarcely move it; should they meet obstruction and hardship, injuries and deaths are inevitable. The people of Shu have a saying: "A thousand enter the mountains, five hundred leave them." The sorrow can be imagined. As for timber from the sea, though the official price is a thousand taels per tree, in the capital lately the cost has been far more than ten thousand in gold! I have seen the people of Chu and Shu—when they speak of timber-gathering, none can do so without choking with grief. If the number were reduced, the price increased, the time extended, and the dimensions lessened, then the hearts of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Huguang would be won back.

以採礦言之。南陽諸府，比歲饑荒。生氣方蘇，菜色未變。自責報殷戶，是半已驚逃。自供應礦夫工食、官兵口糧，而多至累死。自都御史李盛春嚴旨切責，而撫按畏罪不敢言。今礦沙無利，責民納銀，而奸人仲春復為攘奪侵漁之計。朝廷得一金，郡縣費千倍。誠敕戒使者，毋散砂責銀，有侵奪小民若仲春者，誅無赦，而四方之人心收矣。

To speak of mining: The prefectures of Nanyang have suffered famine in recent years. Life has just revived and the look of hunger has not yet faded. Since prosperous households were registered for tribute quotas, half have already fled in alarm. Since supplying miners' rations and soldiers' provisions, many have been worked to death. Since Censor-in-Chief Li Shengchun received stern orders and sharp rebuke, the provincial governors and surveillance commissioners fear punishment and dare not speak. Now the ore yields no profit, yet the people are charged to deliver silver—and the scoundrel Zhong Chun again devises schemes of seizure and plunder. The court gains one ounce of gold while the prefectures and districts spend a thousandfold. If Your Majesty will truly command the envoys not to demand silver for worthless sand, and execute without mercy any who plunder common people as Zhong Chun does, then the hearts of the four quarters will be won back.

宮店租銀收解，自趙承勳造四千之說，而皇店開。自朝廷有內官之遣，而事權重。夫市井之地，貧民求升合絲毫以活身家者也，陛下享萬方之富，何賴於彼？且馮保八店，為屋幾何，而歲有四千金之課。課既四千，徵收何止數倍。不奪市民，將安取之？今豪家遣僕設肆，居民尚受其殃，況特遣中貴，賜之敕書，以壓卵之威，行竭澤之計，民困豈顧問哉？陛下撤還內臣，責有司輸課，而畿甸之人心收矣。

As for the collection and delivery of shop-rent silver, since Zhao Chengxun invented the tale of four thousand, imperial shops were opened. Since the court began dispatching inner-court eunuchs, their power grew heavy. Marketplaces are places where poor people seek a cup or a grain to sustain their persons and households—Your Majesty enjoys the wealth of all regions; why rely on them? Moreover Feng Bao's eight shops—how many buildings do they occupy?—yet the annual levy is four thousand in gold. Once the levy is four thousand, collection is surely several times more. If one does not seize from city dwellers, whence will it be taken? Today when great families send servants to set up shops, residents still suffer harm—how much more when specially dispatched palace eunuchs are granted imperial edicts, wielding the power to crush an egg and carrying out a plan to drain the pond dry; will the people's distress be heeded? If Your Majesty will recall the inner-court eunuchs and charge the local officials to deliver the levies, then the hearts of the capital region will be won back.

天下宗室，皆九廟子孫。王守仁、王錦襲蓋世神奸，藉隔數千里，而冒認王弼子孫；事隔三百年，而妄稱受寄財產。中間偽造絲綸，假傳詔旨，明欺聖主，暗陷親王，有如楚王銜恨自殺，陛下何辭以謝高皇帝之靈乎？此兩賊者，罪應誅殛，乃止令回籍，臣恐萬姓驚疑。誠急斬二賊以謝楚王，而天下宗籓之心收矣。

The imperial clansmen throughout the realm are all descendants of the nine ancestral temples. Wang Shouren and Wang Jinxi, inheritors of consummate villainy, relying on a distance of several thousand li, falsely claimed to be descendants of Wang Bi; though the matter was separated by three hundred years, they rashly claimed entrusted property. In between they forged imperial silks and falsely transmitted edicts, openly deceiving the sage ruler and secretly trapping a princely kinsman—as when the Prince of Chu died bearing resentment by his own hand; with what words can Your Majesty answer the spirit of the Founding Emperor? These two villains deserved execution, yet they were only ordered back to their native places—I fear the myriad people are alarmed and doubtful. If Your Majesty will truly swiftly execute the two villains to appease the Prince of Chu, then the hearts of the imperial clans throughout the realm will be won back.

崇信伯費甲金之貧，十廂珠寶之誣，皆通國所知也。始誤於科道之風聞，嚴追猶未為過。今真知其枉，又加禁錮，實害無辜。請還甲金革去之祿，復五城廠衛降斥之官，而勳戚之人心收矣。

The poverty of Marquis Chongxin Fei Jiajin and the false charge of ten cases of jewels are known throughout the realm. At first one was misled by rumor from the censorate and surveillance bureau—a strict pursuit was not yet excessive. Now knowing his innocence, yet adding imprisonment—this truly harms the guiltless. I beg that Jiajin be restored and his stipend returned, and that the officials of the Five Wards and the factory guards who were demoted and dismissed be reinstated—then the hearts of meritorious kinsmen will be won back.

法者所以平天下之情。其輕其重，太祖既定為律，列聖又增為例。如輕重可以就喜怒之情，則例不得為一定之法。臣待罪刑部三年矣，每見詔獄一下，持平者多拂上意，從重者皆當聖心。如往年陳恕、王正甄、常照等獄，臣等欺天罔人，已自廢法，陛下猶以為輕，俱加大辟。然則律例又安用乎！誠俯從司寇之平，勉就祖宗之法，而囹圄之人心收矣。

Law exists to level the feelings of all under Heaven. Its lightness and severity the Founding Emperor fixed as statutes, and successive sage emperors added precedents. If lightness and severity may follow the mood of joy or anger, then precedents cannot serve as fixed law. I have awaited punishment in the Ministry of Justice for three years; each time an imperial prison case is opened, those who hold the balance often go against the sovereign's intent, while those who follow the heavier penalty always match the sage heart. As in the cases of Chen Shu, Wang Zhenzhen, and Chang Zhao in former years—we deceived Heaven and misled men and ourselves abandoned the law, yet Your Majesty still thought it too light and all were given the death penalty. Then of what use are statutes and precedents! If Your Majesty will truly defer to the Minister of Justice's balanced judgment and strive to follow the laws of the ancestors, then the hearts of those in prison will be won back.

自古聖明之君，豈樂誹謗之語。然而務求言賞諫者，知天下存亡，系言路通塞也。比來驅逐既多，選補皆罷。天閽邃密，法座崇嚴，若不廣達四聰，何由明照萬里？今陛下所聞，皆眾人之所敢言也，其不敢言者，陛下不得聞矣。一人孤立萬乘之上，舉朝無犯顏逆耳之人，快在一時，憂貽他日。陛下誠釋曹學程之系，還吳文梓等官，凡建言得罪者，悉分別召用，而士大夫之心收矣。

Since antiquity, have sage and enlightened rulers rejoiced in slanderous words? Yet they earnestly sought words and rewarded remonstrance because they knew that the survival or destruction of the realm depends on whether the avenue of speech is open or blocked. Lately many have been driven out and replacements have all been halted. The heavenly gate is deep and secluded, the dharma seat lofty and solemn—if one does not broadly extend the four keen ears, how can one clearly illuminate ten thousand li? What Your Majesty hears today is only what the multitude dares to say; what they dare not say, Your Majesty cannot hear. One man stands alone above ten thousand chariots, and the whole court has no one who offends the countenance or grates on the ear—pleasure for a moment, but worry for days to come. If Your Majesty will truly release Cao Xuecheng from bonds, restore Wu Wenzhi and others to office, and recall and employ separately all who were punished for memorializing, then the hearts of scholar-officials will be won back.

朝鮮密邇東陲，近吾肘腋，平壤西鄰鴨綠，晉州直對登、萊。倘倭夷取而有之，籍眾為兵，就地資食，進則斷我漕運，退則窺我遼東。不及一年，京城坐困，此國家大憂也。乃彼請兵而二三其說，許兵而延緩其期；力窮勢屈，不折入為倭不止。陛下誠早決大計，並力東征，而屬國之人心收矣。

Korea borders closely on the eastern frontier, near our elbow and armpit—Pyongyang adjoins the Yalu to the west, and Jinzhou directly faces Dengzhou and Laizhou. Should the Japanese barbarians seize and hold it, enroll the masses as soldiers, and supply food on the spot, advancing they would cut our grain transport by sea and retreating they would spy on our Liaodong. In less than a year the capital would sit trapped—this is a great worry for the state. Yet when they request troops the explanations are contradictory, and when troops are promised the deadline is delayed; when strength is exhausted and the situation desperate, unless they submit they will not cease to be Japanese. If Your Majesty will truly decide the great plan early and unite strength for an eastern campaign, then the hearts of the tributary state will be won back.

四方輸解之物，營辦既苦，轉運尤艱。及入內庫，率至朽爛，萬姓脂膏，化為塵土。倘歲一稽核，苦窳者嚴監收之刑，朽腐者重典守之罪。一整頓間，而一年可備三年之用，歲省不下百萬，而輸解之人心收矣。

Goods delivered in tribute from the four quarters are already painful to procure, and transport is especially arduous. Once they enter the inner treasury they mostly rot away—the fat and cream of the myriad people turn to dust. If there were an annual audit, imposing strict penalties on receivers for shoddy goods and heavy punishment on custodians for rotten stores, with one round of rectification one year's supply could serve three years, saving no less than a million annually—and the hearts of those who deliver tribute will be won back.

自抄沒法重，株連數多。坐以轉寄，則並籍家資。誣以多贓，則互連親識。宅一封而雞豚大半餓死，人一出則親戚不敢藏留。加以官吏法嚴，兵番搜苦，少年婦女，亦令解衣。臣曾見之，掩目酸鼻。此豈盡正犯之家、重罪之人哉？一字相牽，百口難解。奸人又乘機恐嚇，挾取資財，不足不止。半年之內，擾遍京師，陛下知之否乎？願慎抄沒之舉，釋無辜之系，而都下之人心收矣。

Since the law of confiscation grew heavy, implicated persons have been many. Charge transfer of goods for safekeeping and the whole household's assets are registered and seized. Falsely charge much stolen goods and relatives and acquaintances are implicated together. Seal one house and most chickens and pigs starve to death; once a man goes out, kin dare not shelter him. Add to this strict officials and soldiers searching with cruelty—even young women are ordered to disrobe. I have seen this and covered my eyes, my nose stinging with acid grief. Are these all households of true offenders and men of grave crime? One word links another and a hundred mouths cannot explain. Villains again seize the opportunity to intimidate and extort property, not stopping until they have enough. Within half a year disturbance has spread throughout the capital—does Your Majesty know this? I wish that confiscation be undertaken cautiously and the guiltless in bonds be released—then the hearts of those in the capital will be won back.

列聖在禦之時，豈少宦官宮妾，然死于箠楚者，未之多聞也。陛下數年以來，疑深怒盛。廣廷之中，狼籍血肉，宮禁之內，慘戚啼號。厲氣冤魂，乃聚福祥之地。今環門守戶之眾，皆傷心側目之人。外表忠勤，中藏憸毒。既朝暮不能自保，即九死何愛一身。陛下臥榻之側，同心者幾人？暮夜之際，防患者幾人？臣竊憂之。願少霽威嚴，慎用鞭撲，而左右之人心收矣。

When the successive sage emperors held the throne, were eunuchs and palace women ever few? Yet those who died under the whip and cudgel were not often heard of. Your Majesty in recent years has been deep in suspicion and abundant in wrath. In the broad court flesh and blood lie scattered; within the palace precincts mournful cries and wails sound. Fell vapors and wronged souls gather in a place of blessing and good omen. Today the multitude who guard the gates and keep the doors are all men with wounded hearts and sidelong glances. Outwardly loyal and diligent, inwardly hiding malice. Since morning and evening they cannot protect themselves, what love have they for a single body against nine deaths? Beside Your Majesty's couch, how many share one heart? In the dark of night, how many stand guard against harm? I privately worry about this. I wish that Your Majesty will slightly ease his august severity and use the whip and cudgel cautiously—then the hearts of those at your side will be won back.

祖宗以來，有一日三朝者，有一日一朝者。陛下不視朝久，人心懈弛已極，奸邪窺伺已深，守衛官軍祇應故事。今乾清修造，逼近御前，軍夫往來，誰識面貌？萬一不測，何以應之？臣望發宮鑰於質明，放軍夫於日昃。自非軍國急務，慎無昏夜傳宣。章奏不答，先朝未有。至於今日，強半留中。設令有國家大事，邀截實封，揚言於外曰「留中矣」，人知之乎？願自今章疏未及批答者，日於御前發一紙，下會極門，轉付諸司照察，庶君臣雖不面談，而上下猶無欺蔽。

Since the ancestors, some emperors held court three times a day, some once a day. Your Majesty has long not attended court; hearts are slack to the utmost, villains watch and wait deeply, and the guard soldiers respond only as a formality. Now the Qianqing Palace is under renovation, close before the imperial presence—soldiers and laborers come and go; who knows their faces? Should anything unforeseen occur, how will it be answered? I hope the palace keys will be issued at dawn and the soldiers and laborers dismissed at sunset. Unless there is urgent military or state business, take care not to transmit orders in the dark of night. Memorials unanswered—former dynasties had never known this. As for today, more than half are kept within. Suppose there were a great matter of state and someone intercepted the sealed memorial and proclaimed outside, "It has been kept within"—would people know? I wish that from now on, for memorials not yet answered with a rescript, one sheet daily be issued before the throne and sent down through the Gate of Universal Reach to the various offices for inspection, so that though ruler and ministers do not meet face to face, above and below may still be without deception.

臣觀陛下昔時勵精為治，今當春秋鼎盛，曾無夙夜憂勤之意，惟孜孜以患貧為事。不知天下之財，止有此數，君欲富則天下貧，天下貧而君豈獨富？今民生憔悴極矣，乃採辦日增，誅求益廣，斂萬姓之怨於一言，結九重之仇于四海，臣竊痛之。使六合一家，千年如故，即宮中虛無所有，誰忍使陛下獨貧？今禁城之內，不樂有君。天下之民，不樂有生。怨讟愁歎，難堪入聽。陛下聞之，必有食不能咽，寢不能安者矣。臣老且衰，恐不得復見太平，籲天叩地，齋宿七日，敬獻憂危之誠。惟陛下密行臣言，翻然若出聖心警悟者，則人心自悅，天意自回。苟不然者，陛下他日雖悔，將何及耶！

I observe that Your Majesty in former times strove with vigor to govern; now in the prime of life there is no thought of early and late worry and diligence, but only tireless concern with fear of poverty. One does not know that the wealth of all under Heaven has only this measure—if the ruler grows rich then all under Heaven grows poor; if all under Heaven is poor, can the ruler alone be rich? Today the people's livelihood is exhausted to the utmost, yet procurement increases daily and exactions grow broader, gathering the resentment of the myriad people in a single word and forging enmity with the ninefold palace across the four seas—I privately grieve at this. If the six directions were one household and a thousand years unchanged, even were the palace utterly empty, who could bear to let Your Majesty alone be poor? Today within the Forbidden City they take no joy in having a ruler. The people of all under Heaven take no joy in being alive. Resentment, slander, grief, and sighs are unbearable to hear. When Your Majesty hears this, there must be times when food cannot be swallowed and sleep cannot be found. I am old and declining, fearing I will not again see peace; I call to Heaven and knock upon the earth, fast and purify myself for seven days, and respectfully present the sincerity of worry and danger. If only Your Majesty will secretly act on my words and turn about as if awakened from the sage heart, then hearts will naturally rejoice and Heaven's intent will naturally turn back. If not, though Your Majesty may regret it another day, what will there be time for!

疏入，不報。坤遂稱疾乞休，中旨許之。於是給事中戴士衡劾坤機深志險，謂石星大誤東事，孫鑛濫殺不辜，坤顧不言，曲為附會，無大臣節。給事中劉道亨言往年孫丕揚劾張位，位疑疏出坤手，故使士衡劾坤。位奏辨。帝以坤既罷，悉置不問。

The memorial was submitted; no response was given. Kun then pleaded illness and requested retirement; an edict from the inner court granted it. Thereupon Supervising Secretary Dai Shiheng impeached Kun as deep in scheming and dangerous in intent, saying Shi Xing had greatly erred in eastern affairs and Sun Kuang had indiscriminately killed the innocent; Kun looked on without speaking and twisted matters to support them, lacking the integrity of a grand minister. Supervising Secretary Liu Daohang said that in former years Sun Piyang impeached Zhang Wei, and Wei suspected the memorial came from Kun's hand, therefore causing Shiheng to impeach Kun. Wei memorialized in defense. The Emperor, since Kun had already been dismissed, set everything aside without inquiry.

初，坤按察山西時，嘗撰《閨範圖說》，內侍購入禁中。鄭貴妃因加十二人，且為制序，屬其伯父承恩重刊之。士衡遂劾坤因承恩進書，結納宮掖，包藏禍心。坤持疏力辨。未幾，有妄人為《閨範圖說》跋，名曰《憂危竑議》，略言：「坤撰《閨範》，獨取漢明德後者，後由貴人進中宮，坤以媚鄭貴妃也。坤疏陳天下憂危，無事不言，獨不及建儲，意自可見。」其言絕狂誕，將以害坤。帝歸罪於士衡等，其事遂寢。

Earlier, when Kun was surveillance commissioner of Shanxi, he had compiled Illustrations and Explanations of Women's Standards, which inner-court attendants purchased and brought into the Forbidden City. Consort Zheng added twelve figures and also wrote a preface, instructing her uncle Chengen to republish it. Shiheng then impeached Kun for presenting the book through Chengen, forming ties with the inner palace and harboring treacherous intent. Kun held a memorial and forcefully argued in his defense. Not long after, a reckless man wrote a postface to Illustrations and Explanations of Women's Standards titled "Anxiety and Danger Broad Discourse," which in summary said: "Kun compiled Women's Standards and took only Empress Mingde of Han—she rose from honored lady to empress of the inner palace; Kun did this to flatter Consort Zheng. In his memorial Kun set forth the realm's anxiety and danger and spoke of everything, yet alone did not touch on establishing the heir—the intent can clearly be seen." The words were utterly mad and absurd, intending to harm Kun. The Emperor placed blame on Shiheng and others, and the matter was dropped.

坤剛介峭直，留意正學。居家之日，與後進講習。所著述，多出新意。初，在朝與吏部尚書孫丕揚善。後丕揚復為吏部，屢推坤左都御史未得命，言：「臣以八十老臣保坤，冀臣得親見用坤之效。不效，甘坐失舉之罪，死且無憾。」已，又薦天下三大賢，沈鯉、郭正域，其一即坤。丕揚前後推薦，疏至二十餘上，帝終不納。福王封國河南，賜莊田四萬頃。坤在籍，上言：「國初分封親籓二十有四，賜田無至萬頃者。河南已封周、趙、伊、徽、鄭、唐、崇、潞八王，若皆取盈四萬，占兩河郡縣且半，幸聖明裁減。」復移書執政言之。會廷臣亦力爭，得減半。卒，天啟初，贈刑部尚書。

Kun was rigid, independent, and steeply upright, and devoted attention to orthodox learning. In the days when he lived at home, he lectured and studied with junior scholars. What he wrote and compiled mostly contained fresh ideas. Earlier, while at court he was on good terms with Minister of Personnel Sun Piyang. Later Piyang again became Minister of Personnel and repeatedly recommended Kun as Left Censor-in-Chief without obtaining approval, saying: "I, an old man of eighty, vouch for Kun, hoping to live to see the effect of employing Kun. If it fails, I am willing to sit under the crime of mistaken recommendation and die without regret." Later he again recommended the three greatest worthies under Heaven—Shen Li, Guo Zhengyu, one of whom was Kun. Piyang's recommendations before and after amounted to more than twenty memorials, yet the Emperor ultimately did not accept them. The Prince of Fu was enfeoffed in Henan and granted forty thousand qing of estate land. Kun, while at home, memorialized: "At the founding of the state twenty-four imperial princes were enfeoffed, and granted land never reached ten thousand qing. Henan has already enfeoffed the eight princes of Zhou, Zhao, Yi, Hui, Zheng, Tang, Chong, and Lu; if all take the full forty thousand, they would occupy nearly half the commanderies and districts of the two Henans—may the sage ruler cut and reduce." He also sent a letter to the chief ministers saying the same. When court officials also strove forcefully, the grant was reduced by half. He died; at the beginning of Tianqi he was posthumously enfeoffed as Minister of Justice.

郭正域

Guo Zhengyu

郭正域，字美命，江夏人。萬曆十一年進士。選庶起士，授編修，與修撰唐文獻同為皇長子講官。皆三遷至庶子，不離講帷。每講畢，諸內侍出相揖，惟二人不交一言。

Guo Zhengyu, styled Meiming, was a native of Jiangxia. In the eleventh year of Wanli he passed the metropolitan examination. Selected as a Hanlin bachelor, he was appointed compiler and together with Academician Tang Wenxian served as lecturer to the heir apparent. Both were promoted three times to tutor and never left the lecture curtain. After each lecture the inner-court attendants came out and bowed to one another; only these two exchanged not a word.

出為南京祭酒。諸生納貲許充貢，正域奏罷之。李成梁孫以都督就婚魏國徐弘基家，騎過文廟門，學錄李維極執而抶之。李氏蒼頭數十人蹋邸門，弘基亦至。正域曰：「今天子尚皮弁拜先聖，人臣乃走馬廟門外乎？且公侯子弟入學習禮，亦國子生耳，學錄非抶都督也。」令交相謝而罷。

He went out as Chancellor of the National University in Nanjing. Students who paid money were permitted to serve as tribute graduates; Zhengyu memorialized to abolish this. The grandson of Li Chengliang, a military commissioner, went to marry into the household of the Duke of Wei Xu Hongji and rode past the Confucian temple gate; the university recorder Li Weiji seized and flogged him. Several dozen of the Li family's servants trampled the residence gate, and Hongji also arrived. Zhengyu said: "Today the Son of Heaven still wears the leather cap to bow to the Sage; can a subject gallop outside the temple gate? Moreover the sons of dukes and marquises who enter the school to learn ritual are also National University students—the recorder is not flogging a military commissioner." He ordered them to apologize to each other and the matter ended.

三十年，征拜詹事，復為東宮講官。旋擢禮部右侍郎，掌翰林院。三十一年三月，尚書馮琦卒，正域還署部事。夏，廟饗，會日食，正域言：「《禮》，當祭日食，牲未殺，則廢。朔旦宜專救日，詰朝享廟。」從之。方澤陪祀者多托疾。正域謂祀事不虔，由上不躬祀所致。請下詔飭厲，冬至大祀，上必親行。帝然之，而不能用。

In the thirtieth year he was summoned and appointed Grand Tutor, again serving as lecturer in the Eastern Palace. Soon he was promoted to Right Vice Minister of Rites and put in charge of the Hanlin Academy. In the third month of the thirty-first year Minister Feng Qi died, and Zhengyu returned to administer the ministry's affairs. In summer, at the temple feast, an eclipse of the sun coincided; Zhengyu said: "According to the Rites, when an eclipse occurs on a day of sacrifice, if the victim has not yet been killed, the rite is abandoned. On the first day of the month one should devote oneself solely to rescuing the sun, and on the following day perform the temple offering." This was followed. Many who attended sacrifice at the Square Mound pleaded illness. Zhengyu said the sacrificial affairs were not reverent because the sovereign did not personally perform the rites. He requested an edict of admonition—that at the great sacrifice of the winter solstice the sovereign must personally attend. The Emperor agreed but could not implement it.

初，正域之入館也，沈一貫為教習師。後服闋授編修，不執弟子禮，一貫不能無望。至是，一貫為首輔，沈鯉次之。正域與鯉善，而心薄一貫。會台官上日食占，曰：「日從上食，占為君知佞人用之，以亡其國。」一貫怒而詈之，正域曰：「宰相憂盛危明，顧不若瞽史邪？」一貫聞之怒。兩淮稅監魯保請給關防，兼督江南、浙江織造，鯉持不可，一貫擬予之，正域亦力爭。秦王以嫡子夭未生，請封其庶長子為世子，屢詔趣議。前尚書馮琦持不上，正域亦執不許。王復請封其他子為郡王，又不可。一貫使大璫以上命脅之，正域榜於門曰：「秦王以中尉進封，庶子當仍中尉，不得為郡王。妃年未五十，庶子亦不得為世子。」一貫無以難。及建議欲奪黃光升、許論、呂本諡，一貫與硃賡皆本同鄉也，曰：「我輩在，誰敢奪者！」正域援筆判曰：「黃光升當諡，是海瑞當殺也。許論當諡，是沈煉當殺也。呂本當諡，是鄢懋卿、趙文華皆名臣，不當削奪也。」議上，舉朝韙之，而卒不行。

Earlier, when Zhengyu entered the Academy, Shen Yiguan was his instructor. Later, after mourning, he was appointed compiler and did not observe the ritual of pupil to master; Yiguan could not be without resentment. At this time Yiguan was chief grand secretary and Shen Li second. Zhengyu was friendly with Li but inwardly looked down on Yiguan. When censorial officials submitted an eclipse prognostication saying, "The sun is eaten from above; the omen is that the ruler knows flatterers and employs them, thereby destroying his state, Yiguan angrily reviled them; Zhengyu said: "A chief minister should worry in prosperity, be wary in peace, and be clear in danger—does he not even match a blind historian?" Yiguan heard this and grew angry. Lu Bao, tax supervisor of the two Huai regions, requested an official seal and concurrently to supervise weaving in Jiangnan and Zhejiang; Li held this impossible, Yiguan drafted approval, and Zhengyu also strove forcefully against it. The Prince of Qin, his legitimate son having died young with no [new] birth, requested that his eldest son by a concubine be enfeoffed as heir; repeated edicts urged deliberation. The former Minister Feng Qi withheld submission; Zhengyu also firmly refused permission. The prince again requested that another son be enfeoffed as commandery prince—again this was not permitted. Yiguan sent a great eunuch to threaten him with the sovereign's command; Zhengyu posted a notice on the gate saying: "The Prince of Qin was advanced from security-commissioner rank to prince; a son by a concubine should remain at security-commissioner rank and may not be enfeoffed as commandery prince. The consort is not yet fifty years old; a son by a concubine also may not become heir." Yiguan had no way to refute this. When deliberation arose on stripping the posthumous titles of Huang Guangsheng, Xu Lun, and Lü Ben, Yiguan and Zhu Geng were both natives of Ben's home district and said: "While we are here, who dares strip them!" Zhengyu took up the brush and judged: "If Huang Guangsheng deserves a posthumous title, then Hai Rui should be killed. If Xu Lun deserves a posthumous title, then Shen Lian should be killed. If Lü Ben deserves a posthumous title, then Yan Maoqing and Zhao Wenhua are all famous ministers and should not be stripped." When the deliberation was submitted, the whole court approved it, yet in the end it was not carried out.

初，一貫屬正域毋言通政司匿疏事。及華勣疏上，正域主行勘。一貫言親王不當勘，但當體訪。正域曰：「事關宗室，台諫當亦言之。」一貫微笑曰：「台諫斷不言也。」及帝從勘議，楚王懼，奉百金為正域壽，且屬毋竟楚事，當酬萬金，正域嚴拒之。已而湖廣巡撫趙可懷、巡按應朝卿勘上，言詳審無左驗，而王氏持之堅，諸郡主縣主則雲「罔知真偽」，乞特遣官再問。詔公卿雜議于西闕門，日晏乃罷。議者三十七人，各具一單，言人人殊。李廷機以左侍郎代正域署部事，正域欲盡錄諸人議，廷機以辭太繁，先撮其要以上。一貫遂嗾給事中楊應文、御史康丕揚劾禮部壅閼群議，不以實聞。正域疏辨，且發子木匿疏、一貫阻勘及楚王饋遺狀。一貫益恚，謂正域遣家人導華勣上疏，議令楚王避位聽勘，私庇華勣。

Earlier Yiguan had instructed Zhengyu not to speak of the Transmission Office concealing memorials. When Hua Xun's memorial was submitted, Zhengyu advocated conducting an investigation. Yiguan said an imperial prince should not be investigated but only discreetly inquired into. Zhengyu said: "The matter concerns the imperial clan; censorial and remonstrance officials should also speak." Yiguan smiled slightly and said: "Censorial and remonstrance officials will certainly not speak." When the Emperor followed the investigation proposal, the Prince of Chu was afraid and presented a hundred in gold as birthday gift for Zhengyu, and also entrusted him not to pursue the Chu affair, promising ten thousand in gold in return; Zhengyu sternly refused. Before long Huguang Grand Coordinator Zhao Kehuai and Surveillance Commissioner Ying Chaoqing submitted their investigation, saying the examination was detailed but there was no corroborating evidence, while the Wang clan held firm; the various commandery princesses and district princesses said they "did not know true from false," and begged that officials be specially dispatched to inquire again. An edict ordered the grand secretaries and ministers to deliberate jointly at the Western Gate; the sun set before they adjourned. Thirty-seven men deliberated, each submitting his own sheet—and no two opinions matched. Li Tingji, now left vice minister, took over the ministry from Zhengyu. Zhengyu wanted every opinion copied in full; Tingji thought the record too long and submitted only a summary. Yiguan then incited Yang Yingwen and Kang Piyang to accuse the Ministry of Rites of suppressing the joint deliberation and withholding the truth. Zhengyu answered with a defense memorial that also exposed how Zimu had hidden memorials, how Yiguan had blocked the investigation, and the bribes offered by the Prince of Chu. Yiguan's rage deepened. He claimed Zhengyu had coached Hua Xun to submit his memorial, had pushed for the prince to step aside pending investigation, and was secretly protecting Hua Xun.

當是時，正域右宗人，大學士沈鯉右正域，尚書趙世卿、謝傑、祭酒黃汝良則右楚王。給事中錢夢皋遂希一貫指論正域，詞連次輔鯉。應文又言正域父懋嘗笞辱于楚恭王，故正域因事陷之。正域疏辨，留中不報。一貫、鯉以楚事皆求去，廷機復請再問。帝以王嗣位二十餘年，何至今始發，且夫訐妻證，不足憑，遂罷楚事勿按。正域四疏乞休去。楚王既得安，遂奏劾正域，大略如應文言；且訐其不法數事，請褫正域官。詔下部院集議。廷機微刺正域，而謂其已去，可無苛求。給事中張問達則謂籓王欲進退大臣，不可訓，乃不罪正域，而令巡按御史勘王所訐以聞。

Zhengyu backed the clansmen; Shen Li backed Zhengyu; Zhao Shiqing, Xie Jie, and Huang Ruliang backed the Prince of Chu. Qian Menggao then took Yiguan's cue and attacked Zhengyu, dragging the second grand secretary Li into the accusation. Yingwen added that Zhengyu's father Mao had once been beaten and shamed by the Prince of Chu's father—hence Zhengyu's vendetta. Zhengyu submitted another defense; the memorial was shelved without reply. Both Yiguan and Li tried to resign over the Chu case; Tingji again asked for a fresh investigation. The Emperor said the prince had reigned more than twenty years—why bring this up now?—and that a wife's accusation was no proof. The Chu case was dropped. Zhengyu sent four memorials begging to be dismissed and go home. Once safe, the Prince of Chu memorialized against Zhengyu, echoing Yingwen's charges; he listed several crimes and asked that Zhengyu be stripped of rank. An edict ordered the ministries and courts to meet and decide. Tingji offered a veiled rebuke of Zhengyu but argued that, since he was already gone, no further punishment was needed. Zhang Wenda said a prince had no business trying to remove a chief minister and could not be lectured like a subject. Zhengyu went unpunished, but a touring censor was told to verify the prince's charges.

俄而妖書事起。一貫以鯉與己地相逼，而正域新罷，因是陷之，則兩人必得重禍，乃為帝言臣下有欲相傾者為之。蓋微引其端，以動帝意。亡何，錦衣衛都督王之禎等四人以妖書有名，指其同官周嘉慶為之。東廠又捕獲妖人皦生光。巡城御史康丕揚為生光訟冤，言妖書、楚事同一根柢，請少緩其獄，賊兄弟可授首闕下。意指正域及其兄國子監丞正位。帝怒，以為庇反賊，除其名。一貫力救始免。丕揚乃先後捕僧人達觀、醫者沈令譽等，而同知胡化則告妖書出教官阮明卿手。未幾，廠衛又捕可疑者一人曰毛尚文。數日間鋃鐺旁午，都城人人自危。嘉慶等皆下詔獄。嘉慶旋以治無驗，令革任回籍。令譽故嘗往來正域家，達觀亦時時游貴人門，嘗為正域所搒逐，尚文則正域僕也。一貫、丕揚等欲自數人口引正域，而化所訐阮明卿，則錢夢皋婿。夢皋大恚，上疏顯攻正域，言：「妖書刊播，不先不後，適在楚王疏入之時。蓋正域乃沈鯉門徒，而沈令譽者，正域食客，胡化又其同鄉同年，群奸結為死黨。乞窮治根本，定正域亂楚首惡之罪，勒鯉閑住。」帝令正域還籍聽勘，急嚴訊諸所捕者。達觀拷死，令譽亦幾死，皆不承。法司迫化引正域及歸德。歸德，鯉所居縣也。化大呼曰：「明卿，我仇也，故訐之。正域舉進士二十年不通問，何由同作妖書？我亦不知誰為歸德者。」帝知化枉，釋之。

Soon afterward came the demonic-book scandal. Yiguan, whose power bordered Li's and who had just seen Zhengyu fall, saw a chance to destroy them both. He hinted to the Emperor that rival ministers were plotting against one another. He planted the suggestion carefully to sway the Emperor. Soon Wang Zhizhen and three fellow commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, also named in the book, accused their colleague Zhou Jiaqing of writing it. The Eastern Depot also arrested a man called Jiao Shenguang, linked to the book. Kang Piyang, on city patrol, pleaded for Shenguang and said the book and the Chu case sprang from the same plot. Delay the trial, he urged, and the real culprits would soon lose their heads at the palace gate. He meant Zhengyu and his elder brother Zhengwei, superintendent of the Imperial College. The Emperor, believing he was protecting traitors, struck Kang from the rolls. Yiguan intervened and Kang was spared dismissal. Piyang went on to arrest the monk Daguang, the physician Shen Lingyu, and others. Vice Prefect Hu Hua claimed the book had been written by Instructor Ruan Mingqing. The factory and guard soon seized another suspect, Mao Shangwen. Within days the clank of shackles filled the capital and no one felt safe. Jiaqing and the rest were thrown into the imperial prison. Investigation cleared Jiaqing; he was dismissed and sent home. Lingyu had frequented Zhengyu's house; Daguang had visited great men's gates and once been beaten and expelled by Zhengyu; Shangwen was Zhengyu's servant. Yiguan and Piyang hoped to tie many tongues to Zhengyu. The Ruan Mingqing named by Hu Hua was Qian Menggao's son-in-law. Menggao, furious, openly attacked Zhengyu: "The book appeared neither earlier nor later—it surfaced the very day the Prince of Chu's memorial went in. Zhengyu is Shen Li's protégé; Lingyu is his client; Hu Hua is their townsman and classmate—a cabal sworn to ruin their enemies. I beg a full inquiry, the death penalty for Zhengyu as the ringleader who stirred up Chu, and that Li be forced into retirement. The Emperor sent Zhengyu home to await trial and ordered harsh interrogation of every prisoner. Daguang died under torture; Lingyu nearly did too. Neither would confess. The courts pressed Hu Hua to name Zhengyu and Guidé. Guidé was Li's home county. Hu shouted: "Mingqing is my enemy—that is why I accused him. Zhengyu passed his exams twenty years ago and we have never spoken—how could we plot together? I do not even know who this Guidé man is." Seeing the injustice, the Emperor set Hu free.

都督陳汝忠掠訊尚文，遂發卒圍正域舟於楊村，盡捕媼婢及傭書者男女十五人，與生光雜治，終無所得。汝忠以錦衣告身誘尚文曰：「能告賊，即得之。」令引令譽，且以乳媼龔氏十歲女為徵。比會訊，東廠太監陳矩詰女曰：「汝見妖書版有幾？」曰：「盈屋。」矩笑曰：「妖書僅二三紙，版顧盈屋邪？」詰尚文曰：「令譽語汝刊書何日？」尚文曰：「十一月十六日。」戎政尚書王世揚曰；「妖書以初十日獲，而十六日又刊，將有兩妖書邪？」拷生光妻妾及十歲兒，以針刺指爪，必欲引正域，皆不應。生光仰視夢皋、丕揚，大罵曰：「死則死耳，奈何教我迎相公指，妄引郭侍郎乎？」都御史溫純等力持之，事漸解，然猶不能具獄。

Chen Ruzhong tortured Shangwen, then sent troops to surround Zhengyu's boat at Yangcun. They seized fifteen servants and scribes, male and female, and tried them with Shenguang—but got nothing. Ruzhong offered Shangwen an Guard commission: "Denounce the culprit and it is yours. He told Shangwen to name Lingyu and produced the wet nurse Gong's ten-year-old daughter as a witness. At the joint hearing, the eunuch Chen Ju asked the girl: "How many blocks for the book did you see?" Enough to fill the room," she said. Ju laughed. "The book was two or three pages—could blocks fill a room?" He turned to Shangwen: "What day did Lingyu tell you to print it?" The sixteenth of the eleventh month," Shangwen said. Minister of War Wang Shiyang objected; "You seized the book on the tenth, yet it was printed again on the sixteenth—are there two books? They tortured Shenguang's wife, concubines, and ten-year-old child, driving needles into fingers and nails to force a link to Zhengyu. None would speak. Shenguang glared at Menggao and Piyang and cursed: "Kill me if you will—why make me lie and frame Vice Minister Guo at the chief minister's bidding?" Censor-in-Chief Wen Chun and others held firm; the case began to collapse, though no full verdict could be reached.

光宗在東宮，數語近侍曰：「何為欲殺我好講官？」諸人聞之皆懼。詹事唐文獻偕其僚楊道賓等詣一貫爭之，李廷機亦力為之地，獄益解。刑部尚書蕭大亨具爰書，猶欲坐正域。郎中王述古抵稿于地，大亨乃止。遂坐生光極刑，釋諸波及者，而正域獲免。方獄急時，邏卒圍鯉舍及正域舟，鈴柝達旦。又聲言正域且逮，迫使自裁。正域曰：「大臣有罪，當伏屍都市，安能自屏野外？」既而幸無事，乃歸。歸三年，巡按御史史學遷勘上楚王所訐事，無狀。給事顧士琦因請召還正域，不報。

In the Eastern Palace the heir apparent told his attendants more than once: "Why do they want to kill my teacher? Those who heard it were terrified. Grand Tutor Tang Wenxian, Yang Daobin, and others confronted Yiguan; Li Tingji also fought for Zhengyu, and the prosecution unraveled further. Justice Minister Xiao Daheng drafted the verdict and still wanted Zhengyu convicted. Director Wang Shugu threw the draft on the floor; Daheng backed down. Shenguang alone was executed; the rest were freed; Zhengyu was spared. At the height of the crisis, couriers ringed Li's house and Zhengyu's boat, watch-clappers sounding all night. Rumors spread that arrest was imminent, pressuring Zhengyu to kill himself. Zhengyu replied: "If a minister is guilty, let him die in the open market—he does not slink off to die in the wilderness." In the end nothing happened, and he went home. Three years later, touring censor Shi Xueqian reported on the Prince of Chu's charges: nothing held up. Gu Shiqi asked that Zhengyu be recalled; the court did not answer.

正域博通載籍，勇於任事，有經濟大略，自守介然，故人望歸之。扼于權相，遂不復起，家居十年卒。後四年，贈禮部尚書。光宗遺詔，加恩舊學，贈太子少保，諡文毅，官其子中書舍人。

Zhengyu was deeply read, fearless in office, far-sighted in policy, and incorruptibly self-contained—men looked to him with respect. Crushed by the chief minister's faction, he never served again. He lived at home ten years and died. Four years after his death he was posthumously made Minister of Rites. The Taichang Emperor's deathbed grace honored his old tutors: Zhengyu was made Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent posthumously, given the epithet Wenyi, and his son received a post in the Secretariat.

贊曰：海瑞秉剛勁之性，戇直自遂，蓋可希風漢汲黯、宋包拯。苦節自厲，誠為人所難能。丘橓、呂坤，雖非瑞匹，而指陳時政，炳炳鑿鑿，鯁亮有足稱者。郭正域持楚獄，與執政異趣，險難忽發，慬而後免，危矣哉！以妖書事與坤相首尾，故並著焉。

The historian writes: Hai Rui was rigid and blunt, going his own way without compromise—in spirit he recalls Han's Ji An and Song's Bao Zheng. His austere self-discipline was something few could match. Qiu Shun and Lu Kun did not equal Hai Rui, yet in diagnosing the ills of their age they spoke with clarity and courage and deserve remembrance. Guo Zhengyu stood his ground on the Chu case against the chief minister; disaster struck suddenly and he barely survived—how close it was! Because the demonic-book scandal and Lu Kun's affair rose and fell together, both are told here.

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