Volume 229 Biographies 117: Liu Tai, Fu Yingzhen, Wang Yongji, Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, Ai Mu, Shen Sixiao

劉臺〈（馮景隆孫繼先）〉傅應禎王用汲吳中行〈（子亮元從子宗達）〉趙用賢〈（孫士春）〉艾穆〈（喬璧星葉春及）〉沈思孝〈（丁此呂）〉

Liu Tai Feng Jinglong, Sun Jixian)〉 Fu Yingzhen, Wang Yongji, Wu Zhongxing Ziliang, Yuan Cong, Zizongda)〉 Zhao Yongxian Sun Shichun)〉 Ai Mu Qiao Bixing, Ye Chunji)〉 Shen Sixiao Ding Cilü)〉

劉臺，字子畏，安福人。隆慶五年進士。授刑部主事。萬歷初，改御史。巡按遼東，坐誤奏捷，奉旨譙責。四年正月，臺上疏劾輔臣張居正，曰：

Liu Tai, styled Ziwei, was a native of Anfu. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Longqing. He was appointed principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments. At the beginning of the Wanli reign, he was transferred to the post of censor. While serving as touring inspector of Liaodong, he was faulted for incorrectly reporting a military victory and received an imperial reprimand. In the first month of the fourth year, Tai submitted a memorial impeaching Chief Minister Zhang Juzheng, saying:

臣聞進言者皆望陛下以堯、舜，而不聞責輔臣以臯、夔。何者？陛下有納諫之明，而輔臣無容言之量也。高皇帝鑒前代之失，不設丞相，事歸部院，勢不相攝，而職易稱。文皇帝始置內閣，參預機務。其時官階未峻，無專肆之萌。二百年來，即有擅作威福者，尚惴惴然避宰相之名而不敢居，以祖宗之法在也。乃大學士張居正偃然以相自處，自高拱被逐，擅威福者三四年矣。諫官因事論及，必曰：「吾守祖宗法。」臣請即以祖宗法正之。

I have heard that those who offer counsel all hope Your Majesty will be like Yao and Shun, but I have not heard anyone demand that the chief minister be like Gao Yao and Qi. Why is this? Your Majesty has the discernment to accept remonstrance, but the chief minister lacks the magnanimity to tolerate open speech. The August Emperor, taking warning from the failures of earlier dynasties, abolished the chancellorship and entrusted affairs to the ministries and boards, whose powers did not restrain one another and whose duties were easier to discharge. The Literary Emperor first established the Grand Secretariat to take part in confidential state business. At that time official rank was not yet exalted, and there was no seed of arbitrary power. For two hundred years afterward, even those who monopolized authority and favor still trembled at the name of prime minister and dared not claim it, because the laws of the ancestors still stood. Yet Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng presumes to act as prime minister; since Gao Gong was driven from office, he has monopolized authority and favor for three or four years. When remonstrating officials raise any matter, he always says, "I am keeping the laws of the ancestors." I beg to hold him to account by those very laws.

祖宗進退大臣以禮。先帝臨崩，居正托疾以逐拱，既又文致之王大臣獄。及正論籍籍，則抵拱書，令勿驚死。既迫逐以示威，又遺書以市德，徒使朝廷無禮於舊臣。祖宗之法若是乎？

The ancestors advanced and dismissed great ministers with due propriety. When the late emperor lay dying, Juzheng feigned illness to drive out Gao Gong, and afterward fabricated charges to place Wang Dachen in prison. When upright opinion grew widespread, he sent Gao Gong a letter telling him not to die of fright. Having driven him out to display his power, he also sent a letter to purchase goodwill, leaving the court without propriety toward a former minister. Is this how the laws of the ancestors run?

祖宗朝，非開國元勛，生不公，死不王。成國公朱希忠，生非有奇功也，居正違祖訓，贈以王爵。給事中陳吾德一言而外遷，郎中陳有年一爭而斥去。臣恐公侯之家，布賄厚施，緣例陳乞，將無底極。祖宗之法若是乎？

Under the ancestors, unless one were a founding merit-holder, no one was enfeoffed as duke in life or given the title of king after death. Duke of Chengguo Zhu Xizhong had performed no extraordinary service in life, yet Juzheng violated ancestral instruction and posthumously granted him the title of king. Supervising Secretary Chen Wude spoke up once and was transferred away; Bureau Director Chen Younian objected once and was dismissed. I fear that in the houses of dukes and marquises, lavish bribery and gifts, with petitions citing precedent, will know no limit. Is this how the laws of the ancestors run?

祖宗朝，用內閣冢宰，必由廷推。今居正私薦用張四維、張瀚。四維在翰林，被論者數矣。其始去也，不任教習庶吉士也。四維之為人也，居正知之熟矣。知之而顧用之，夫亦以四維善機權，多憑藉，自念親老，旦暮不測，二三年間謀起復，任四維，其身後托乎？瀚生平無善狀。巡撫陜西，贓穢狼籍。及驟躇銓衡，唯諾若簿吏，官缺必請命居正。所指授者，非楚人親戚知識，則親戚所援引也；非宦楚受恩私故，則恩故之黨助也。瀚惟日取四方小吏，權其賄賂，而其他則徒擁虛名。聞居正貽南京都御史趙錦書，臺諫毋議及冢宰，則居正之脅制在朝言官，又可知矣。祖宗之法如是乎？

Under the ancestors, appointing a chief minister of the Grand Secretariat required recommendation by the court. Now Juzheng has privately recommended and appointed Zhang Siwei and Zhang Han. Siwei had served in the Hanlin Academy and had been criticized on several occasions. When he first left office, he was not even allowed to instruct the Hanlin bachelors. Juzheng knows full well what sort of man Siwei is. Knowing this yet still employing him—surely it is because Siwei is skilled at maneuvering and has many connections, and Juzheng, mindful that his parents are old and tomorrow uncertain, plans within two or three years to seek restoration and entrust his affairs after death to Siwei? Han had no record of merit throughout his life. As grand coordinator of Shaanxi, his corruption was notorious. When he suddenly took charge of the Ministry of Personnel, he assented like a clerk; for every vacancy he had to seek Juzheng's orders. Those he appointed were either natives of Chu who were relatives or acquaintances, or men whom relatives had recommended; or else men who had served in Chu and received private favors, or the factions of such benefactors. Han spent his days extracting bribes from petty officials sent from every quarter, while in all other matters he merely held an empty title. I have heard that Juzheng sent Nanjing Censor-in-Chief Zhao Jin a letter telling censors and remonstrators not to discuss the chief minister—so his coercion of remonstrating officials at court is plain enough. Is this how the laws of the ancestors run?

祖宗朝，詔令不便，部臣猶訾閣擬之不審。今得一嚴旨，居正輒曰「我力調劑故止是」；得一溫旨，居正又曰「我力請而後得之」。由是畏居正者甚於畏陛下，感居正者甚於感陛下。威福自己，目無朝廷。祖宗之法若是乎？

Under the ancestors, when an edict was ill-advised, ministry officials still criticized the Grand Secretariat draft as insufficiently considered. Now whenever a severe edict is issued, Juzheng always says, "Through my exertions in adjusting matters it stopped at this"; whenever a mild edict is issued, he again says, "I strenuously requested it and only then obtained it." Hence officials fear Juzheng more than they fear Your Majesty, and feel gratitude toward him more than toward Your Majesty. He monopolizes authority and favor and looks upon the court with contempt. Is this how the laws of the ancestors run?

祖宗朝，一切政事，臺省奏陳，部院題覆，撫按奉行，未聞閣臣有舉劾也。居正定令，撫按考成章奏，每具二冊，一送內閣，一送六科。撫按延遲，則部臣糾之。六部隱蔽，則科臣糾之。六科隱蔽，則內閣糾之。夫部院分理國事，科臣封駁奏章，舉劾，其職也。閣臣銜列翰林，止備顧問，從容論思而已。居正創為是說，欲脅制科臣，拱手聽令。祖宗之法若是乎？

Under the ancestors, for all government affairs the censorate memorialized, ministries and boards replied, and grand coordinators and touring inspectors carried out orders—one never heard of Grand Secretariat members conducting impeachments. Juzheng fixed a regulation that evaluation memorials from grand coordinators and touring inspectors should each be prepared in duplicate, one copy sent to the Grand Secretariat and one to the Six Offices. If grand coordinators or touring inspectors were delayed, ministry officials impeached them. If the Six Ministries concealed matters, censorial officials impeached them. If the Six Offices concealed matters, the Grand Secretariat impeached them. Ministries and boards divide and manage state affairs; censorial officials seal, reject, and memorialize—and impeachment is their proper duty. Grand Secretariat members bear Hanlin titles and serve only as advisers, discussing matters at leisure. Juzheng invented this doctrine to coerce censorial officials and make them fold their hands and obey his orders. Is this how the laws of the ancestors run?

至於按臣回道考察，茍非有大敗類者，常不舉行，蓋不欲重挫抑之。近日御史俞一貫以不聽指授，調之南京。由是巡方短氣，莫敢展布，所憚獨科臣耳。居正於科臣既啖之以遷轉之速，又恐之以考成之遲，誰肯舍其便利，甘彼齮龁，而盡死言事哉？往年趙參魯以諫遷，猶曰外任也；余懋學以諫罷，猶曰禁錮也；今傅應禎則謫戍矣，又以應禎故，而及徐貞明、喬巖、李禎矣。摧折言官，仇視正士。祖宗之法如是乎？

As for touring inspectors returning for evaluation, unless there were grave failures the inquiry was usually not pursued, for the court did not wish to strike them down heavily. Recently Censor Yu Yiguan, for not obeying instructions, was transferred to Nanjing. Hence touring inspectors across the realm lost heart and none dared act freely; they feared only the censorial officials. Juzheng both tempted censorial officials with rapid promotion and threatened them with delayed performance evaluations—who would abandon such advantage, willingly endure his persecution, and speak to the death? In former years Zhao Canlu was transferred for remonstrance, yet it was still called an outside appointment; Yu Maoxue was dismissed for remonstrance, yet it was still called confinement; Now Fu Yingzhen has been banished to frontier service, and because of him Xu Zhenming, Qiao Yan, and Li Zhen have been implicated as well. He breaks remonstrating officials and treats upright men as enemies. Is this how the laws of the ancestors run?

至若為固寵計，則獻白蓮白燕，致詔旨責讓，傳笑四方矣。規利田宅，則誣遼王以重罪，而奪其府地，今武岡王又得罪矣。為子弟謀舉鄉試，則許御史舒鰲以京堂，布政施堯臣以巡撫矣。起大第於江陵，費至十萬，制擬宮禁，遣錦衣官校監治，鄉郡之脂膏盡矣。惡黃州生儒議其子弟幸售，則假縣令他事窮治無遺矣。編修李維楨偶談及其豪富，不旋踵即外斥矣。蓋居正之貪，不在文吏而在武臣，不在內地而在邊鄙。不然，輔政未幾，即富甲全楚，何由致之？宮室輿馬姬妾，奉禦同於王者，又何由致之？

As for schemes to secure favor, he presented a white lotus and a white swallow, drawing an edict of reprimand and becoming a laughingstock throughout the realm. To seize fields and houses for profit, he falsely charged the Prince of Liao with a grave crime and seized his estate lands; now the Prince of Wugang has been charged as well. To secure his sons' success in the provincial examination, he promised Censor Shu Ao a capital post and Administration Commissioner Shi Yaochan a grand coordinator's post. He built a great mansion at Jiangling at a cost reaching one hundred thousand taels, its design rivaling the palace precincts, and sent brocade-clad guards to supervise construction until the wealth of his home district was drained dry. Angered that Huangzhou student-scholars discussed how his sons had luckily passed the examinations, he used the county magistrate on other pretexts to investigate and punish them without mercy. Compiler Li Weizhen casually mentioned his enormous wealth, and before he could turn around was expelled to an outside post. Juzheng's greed lay not among civil officials but among military officers, not in the interior but on the frontiers. Otherwise, how could he, having assisted government only a short while, already be the richest man in all Chu—by what means did he obtain such wealth? Palaces, carriages, horses, and concubines, with attendants serving him like a king—by what means did he obtain these?

在朝臣工，莫不憤嘆，而無敢為陛下明言者，積威之劫也。臣舉進士，居正為總裁。臣任部曹，居正薦改御史。臣受居正恩亦厚矣，而今敢訟言攻之者，君臣誼重，則私恩有不得而顧也。願陛下察臣愚悃，抑損相權，毋俾僨事誤國，臣死且不朽。

Every official at court raged and sighed, yet none dared speak plainly to Your Majesty—such is the coercion of accumulated power. I passed the jinshi examination with Juzheng as chief examiner. When I served in a ministry bureau, Juzheng recommended my transfer to censor. I have received great favor from Juzheng as well, yet I dare openly accuse him because the bond between ruler and minister outweighs private obligation. I beg Your Majesty to discern my sincere intent, restrain the chief minister's power, and not let ruinous affairs harm the state—then even in death I shall not perish.

疏上，居正怒甚，廷辯之，曰：「在令，巡按不得報軍功。去年遼東大捷，臺違制妄奏，法應降謫。臣第請旨戒諭，而臺已不勝憤。後傅應禎下獄，究詰黨與。初不知臺與應禎同邑厚善，實有所主。乃妄自驚疑，遂不復顧藉，發憤於臣。且臺為臣所取士，二百年來無門生劾師長者，計惟一去謝之。」因辭政，伏地泣不肯起。帝為降禦座手掖之，慰留再三。居正強諾，猶不出視事，帝遣司禮太監孫隆賫手敕宣諭，乃起。遂捕臺至京師，下詔獄，命廷杖百，遠戍。居正陽具疏救，乃除名為民，而居正恨不已。臺按遼東時，與巡撫張學顏不相得。至是學顏為戶部，誣臺私贖鍰，居正屬御史於應昌巡按遼東核之，而令王宗載巡撫江西，廉臺里中事。應昌、宗載等希居正意，實其事以聞，遂戍臺廣西。臺父震龍、弟國，俱坐罪。臺至潯州未幾，飲於戍主所，歸而暴卒。是日居正亦卒。

When the memorial was submitted, Juzheng was greatly angered and argued in court, saying, "By regulation, touring inspectors may not report military merit. Last year there was a great victory in Liaodong; Tai violated regulations and memorialized rashly; by law he should be demoted and banished. I only requested an edict of admonition, yet Tai was already unable to contain his rage. Later Fu Yingzhen was imprisoned and his faction was investigated. At first I did not know that Tai and Yingzhen were from the same district and on close terms, and that there was in fact a patron behind them. Then he rashly alarmed himself with suspicion, no longer showed regard, and vented his rage upon me. Moreover, Tai was a student I had passed in examination; in two hundred years there has been no student who impeached his teacher—his only course can be to come once and apologize." Thereupon he resigned his office, prostrated himself weeping, and refused to rise. The emperor descended from the imperial seat and raised him by the hand, repeatedly urging him to remain in office. Juzheng forced himself to assent but still did not attend to affairs; the emperor sent the Directorate of Ceremonial eunuch Sun Long with an imperial letter of instruction, and only then did he resume office. Tai was then arrested and brought to the capital, imprisoned in the imperial prison, ordered to receive one hundred blows in court, and banished to a distant post. Juzheng outwardly submitted a memorial to save him, and Tai was only struck from the rolls and made a commoner, but Juzheng's hatred did not cease. When Tai was inspecting Liaodong, he did not get along with Grand Coordinator Zhang Xueyan. At this time Xueyan was in the Ministry of Revenue and falsely charged Tai with privately redeeming fines; Juzheng directed Censor Yu Yingchang, touring inspector of Liaodong, to verify it, and ordered Wang Zongzai, grand coordinator of Jiangxi, to investigate Tai's affairs in his home district. Yingchang, Zongzai, and others conformed to Juzheng's wishes, substantiated the charges in their report, and Tai was banished to Guangxi. Tai's father Zhenlong and his brother Guo were both punished as well. Not long after Tai reached Xunzhou, he drank at his guard commander's quarters, returned home, and died suddenly. On that same day Juzheng also died.

明年，御史江東之訟臺冤，劾宗載、應昌。詔復臺官，罷宗載、應昌，下所司廉問。南京給事中馮景隆因言遼東巡撫周詠與應昌共陷臺，應昌已罷，詠尚為薊遼總督，亦宜罷。南京御史孫繼先亦發學顏陷臺罪。帝方向學顏。以景隆疏中並劾李成梁，學顏為成梁訟。繼先又並劾學顏、成梁。乃謫景隆薊州判官，繼先臨清州判官，置學顏不問。已而江西巡撫曹大埜、遼東巡撫李松，勘報宗載、應昌等朋比傾陷皆有狀。刑部以故入論，奏宗載等遣戍、除名、降黜有差。贈臺光祿少卿，蔭一子。天啟初，追謚毅思。

The next year Censor Jiang Dongzhi pleaded Tai's injustice and impeached Zongzai and Yingchang. An edict restored Tai's office, dismissed Zongzai and Yingchang, and ordered the relevant offices to investigate. Nanjing Supervising Secretary Feng Jinglong stated that Liaodong Grand Coordinator Zhou Yong had joined Yingchang in framing Tai; Yingchang had already been dismissed, but Yong still served as supreme commander of Jizhou and Liaodong and should be dismissed as well. Nanjing Censor Sun Jixian also exposed Xueyan's crime in framing Tai. The emperor was still inclined toward Xueyan. Because Feng Jinglong's memorial also impeached Li Chengliang, Xueyan pleaded Chengliang's case. Sun Jixian again impeached both Xueyan and Chengliang. Feng Jinglong was demoted to assistant magistrate of Jizhou and Sun Jixian to assistant magistrate of Linqing, while Xueyan was left unpunished. Later Jiangxi Grand Coordinator Cao Daye and Liaodong Grand Coordinator Li Song investigated and reported that Zongzai, Yingchang, and others had formed a faction to frame Tai, all with substantiated facts. The Ministry of Punishments judged them for intentional injury and memorialized that Zongzai and the others be banished, struck from the rolls, and demoted in varying degrees. Tai was posthumously granted Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, with one son given hereditary privilege. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, he was posthumously given the temple name Yisi.

馮景隆，浙江山陰人。萬歷五年進士。嘗訟趙世卿冤，且請召張位、習孔教，申救御史魏允貞，至是謫官。後量移南陽推官。

Feng Jinglong was a native of Shanyin in Zhejiang. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Wanli. He had once pleaded Zhao Shiqing's injustice, requested the recall of Zhang Wei and Xi Kongjiao, and interceded for Censor Wei Yunzhen; now he was demoted. Later he was transferred to judicial assistant at Nanyang.

孫繼先，字胤甫，盂人。隆慶五年進士。居正既敗，繼先請召吳中行、趙用賢、艾穆、沈思孝、鄒元標並及余懋學、趙應元、傅應禎、朱鴻謨、孟一脈、王用汲。又薦魏學曾、宋糸熏、張嶽、毛綱、胡執禮、王錫爵、賈三近、溫純、曹科、陳有年、朱光宇、趙參魯等諸人。既坐謫，終南京吏部主事。

Sun Jixian, styled Yinfu, was a native of Yu. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Longqing. After Juzheng's fall, Jixian requested the recall of Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, Ai Mu, Shen Sixiao, Zou Yuanbiao, and also Yu Maoxue, Zhao Yingyuan, Fu Yingzhen, Zhu Hongmo, Meng Yimai, and Wang Yongji. He also recommended Wei Xuezeng, Song Xun, Zhang Yue, Mao Gang, Hu Zhili, Wang Xijue, Jia Sanjin, Wen Chun, Cao Ke, Chen Younian, Zhu Guangyu, Zhao Canlu, and others. Having been punished with demotion, he ended his career as principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel.

傅應禎，字公善，安福人。隆慶五年進士。除零陵知縣。殲洞庭劇寇，論殺祁陽巨猾，民賴以安。調知溧水。萬歷三年，征授御史。張居正當國，應禎其門生也，有所感憤，疏陳重君德、蘇民困、開言路三事，言：

Fu Yingzhen, styled Gongshan, was a native of Anfu. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Longqing. He was appointed magistrate of Lingling. He destroyed fierce bandits on Dongting Lake and sentenced to death a great villain of Qiyang; the people relied on him for peace. He was transferred to serve as magistrate of Lishui. In the third year of Wanli he was summoned and appointed censor. When Zhang Juzheng held power, Yingzhen was his student; stirred by indignation, he memorialized on three matters—honoring the ruler's virtue, relieving the people's distress, and opening the path of remonstrance—saying:

邇者雷震端門獸吻，京師及四方地震疊告，曾未聞發詔修省，豈真以天變不足畏耶？真定抽分中使，本非舊典，正統間嘗暫行之，先帝納李芳言，已詔罷遣，而陛下顧欲踵行失德之事，豈真以祖宗不足法耶？給事中朱東光奏陳保治，初非折檻解衣者比，乃竟留中不報，豈真以人言不足恤耶？此三不足者，王安石以之誤宋，不可不深戒也。

Recently thunder shook the beast finials of the Gate of Correct Deportment, and earthquakes in the capital and throughout the realm were reported in succession, yet no edict of self-examination was issued—does Your Majesty truly hold that heavenly changes are not to be feared? The eunuch commissioners for levy at Zhending were never an established institution; they were briefly employed in the Zhengtong reign, and the late emperor, accepting Li Fang's advice, had already ordered them dismissed—yet Your Majesty wishes to follow unworthy precedents; does Your Majesty truly hold that the ancestors are not to be followed? Supervising Secretary Zhu Dongguang memorialized on preserving order; he was no desperate remonstrator, yet his memorial was kept at court and not reported—does Your Majesty truly hold that human speech is not to be heeded? These three attitudes—Wang Anshi used them to mislead Song; they must be deeply taken as warning.

陛下登極初，自隆慶改元以前逋租，悉賜蠲除，四年以前免三征七，恩至渥也。乃上軫恤已至，而下延玩自如，曾未有擔負相屬者，何哉？小民一歲之入，僅足給一歲，無遺力以償負也。近乃定輸不及額者，按撫聽糾，郡縣聽調。諸臣畏譴，督趣倍嚴。致流離接踵，怨咨愁嘆，上徹於天。是豈太平之象，陛下所樂聞者哉？請下明詔，自非官吏幹沒，並曠然除之。民困既蘇，則災沴自弭。

When Your Majesty first ascended the throne, all arrears of rent before the Longqing reign change were entirely remitted, and for four years prior three parts in seven were exempted—grace reached the utmost. Yet though compassion from above had arrived, below officials delayed and played as before, and burdens were never passed upward—why? The common people's yearly income barely suffices for one year; they have no surplus strength to repay debts. Recently it was fixed that where payment fell short of quota, grand coordinators and touring inspectors might impeach, and prefectures and counties might be transferred. Officials feared punishment and pressed collection twice as harshly. This caused displacement to follow in succession, resentment and lament to reach heaven. Is this the image of great peace that Your Majesty delights to hear? I beg that a clear edict be issued: except where officials have embezzled, all debts be broadly remitted. Once the people's distress is relieved, calamities will naturally cease.

陛下登極初，召用直臣石星、李已，臣工無不慶幸。近則趙參魯糾中涓而謫為典史，余懋學陳時政而錮之終身，他如胡執禮、裴應章、侯於趙、趙煥等封事累上，一切置之，如初政何？臣請擢參魯京職，還懋學故官，為人臣進言者勸。

When Your Majesty first ascended the throne, upright ministers Shi Xing and Li Yi were summoned and employed; officials rejoiced without exception. Recently Zhao Canlu impeached a palace eunuch and was demoted to record keeper; Yu Maoxue stated current policy and was confined for life; others such as Hu Zhili, Pei Yingzhang, Hou Yuzhao, and Zhao Huan submitted sealed memorials repeatedly, all set aside—how does this compare with the early reign? I beg to promote Canlu to a capital post and restore Maoxue to his former office, to encourage those who speak as ministers.

疏奏，居正以疏中王安石語侵己，大怒，調旨切責；以其詞及懋學，執下詔獄，窮治黨與。應禎瀕死無所承，乃謫戍定海。給事中嚴用和、御史劉天衢等疏救，不聽。方應禎下獄，給事中徐貞明偕御史李禎、喬巖入視之。錦衣帥余蔭以聞，三人亦坐謫。

When the memorial was submitted, Juzheng, offended by the Wang Anshi language in the memorial, was greatly angered and had an edict drafted to rebuke him sharply; because the wording touched on Maoxue, he had Yingzhen seized and imprisoned in the imperial prison and thoroughly investigated his faction. Yingzhen, on the verge of death, confessed to nothing and was banished to garrison service at Dinghai. Supervising Secretary Yan Yonghe, Censor Liu Tianqu, and others memorialized to save him; the emperor did not listen. When Yingzhen was imprisoned, Supervising Secretary Xu Zhenming together with Censors Li Zhen and Qiao Yan entered to visit him. The brocade-clad guard commander Yu Yin reported it, and the three were also punished with demotion.

十一年，用御史孫繼先言，召復官。帝將幸昌平閱壽宮，而薊鎮告警，應禎止帝勿行，且陳邊備甚悉。優詔答之。俄擢南京大理寺丞。將行，奏薦海內知名士三十七人。尋移疾歸，三年而卒。贈本寺右少卿。應禎與同邑劉臺同舉進士，為御史，同忤居正得禍，鄉人並祠祀之。

In the eleventh year, on the word of Censor Sun Jixian, he was recalled and restored to office. The emperor was about to visit Changping to inspect the mausoleum, but the Jizhou garrison reported alarm; Yingzhen urged the emperor not to go and stated frontier defense in great detail. A gracious edict answered him. Soon he was promoted to vice director of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review. Before departing he memorialized recommending thirty-seven renowned scholars throughout the realm. Soon he pleaded illness and returned home; three years later he died. He was posthumously granted Right Vice Director of that court. Yingzhen and Liu Tai of the same district passed the jinshi together, served as censors, and alike offended Juzheng and suffered disaster; fellow townsmen jointly enshrined them.

王用汲，字明受，晉江人。為諸生時，郡被倭，客兵橫市中。會御史按部至，用汲言狀。知府曰：「此何與諸生事？」用汲曰：「範希文秀才時，以天下為己任，矧鄉井之禍乃不關諸生耶？」舉隆慶二年進士，授淮安推官。稍遷常德同知，入為戶部員外郎。

Wang Yongji, styled Mingshou, was a native of Jinjiang. When he was a student, the prefecture suffered Japanese raids and mercenary troops rampaged in the market. When a censor arrived on inspection tour, Yongji reported the situation. The prefect said, "What has this to do with a student's affairs?" Yongji said, "When Fan Xiwen was a student he took the realm as his own charge—how can the calamity of one's home district not concern a student?" He passed the jinshi in the second year of Longqing and was appointed judicial assistant at Huai'an. He was gradually transferred to vice prefect of Changde and entered service as a bureau director in the Ministry of Revenue.

萬歷六年，首輔張居正歸葬其親，湖廣諸司畢會。巡按御史趙應元獨不往，居正嗛之。及應元事竣得代，即以病請。僉都御史王篆者，居正客也，素憾應元，且迎合居正意，屬都御史陳炌劾應元規避，遂除名。用汲不勝憤，乃上言：

In the sixth year of Wanli, Chief Minister Zhang Juzheng returned to bury his parent; all offices of Huguang assembled. Touring Inspector Zhao Yingyuan alone did not go; Juzheng resented him. When Yingyuan finished his term and was to be replaced, he immediately pleaded illness. Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Zhuan was Juzheng's client, had long resented Yingyuan, and conformed to Juzheng's wishes, directing Censor-in-Chief Chen Can to impeach Yingyuan for evasion; he was struck from the rolls. Yongji, unable to contain his anger, then memorialized, saying:

御史應元以不會葬得罪輔臣，遂為都御史炌所論，坐托疾欺罔削籍，臣竊恨之。夫疾病人所時有，今在廷大小諸臣，曾以病請者何限。御史陸萬鐘、劉光國、陳用賓皆以巡方事訖引疾，與應元不異也，炌何不並劾之？即炌當世宗朝，亦養病十余年。後夤緣攀附，驟列要津。以退為進，宜莫如炌。己則行之，而反以責人，何以服天下？陛下但見炌論劾應元，以為恣情趨避，罪當罷斥。至其意所從來，陛下何由知之。如昨歲星變考察，將以弭災也，而所挫抑者，半不附宰臣之人。如翰林習孔教，則以鄒元標之故；禮部張程，則以劉臺之故；刑部浮躁獨多於他部，則以艾穆、沈思孝而推戈；考後劣轉趙誌臯，又以吳中行、趙用賢而遷怒。蓋能得輔臣之心，則雖屢經論列之潘晟，且得以不次蒙恩；茍失輔臣之心，則雖素負才名之張嶽，難免以不及論調。臣不意陛下省災塞咎之舉，僅為宰臣酬恩報怨之私。且凡附宰臣者，亦各藉以酬其私，可不為太息矣哉！

Censor Yingyuan offended the chief minister by not attending the funeral and was impeached by Censor-in-Chief Can, punished for feigning illness and deception and struck from the rolls—I resent this deeply. Illness is something all people sometimes have; among great and small officials at court today, how many have pleaded illness? Censors Lu Wanzhong, Liu Guangguo, and Chen Yongbin all pleaded illness when their regional tours ended, no different from Yingyuan—why did Can not impeach them all? Can himself, in the Shizong reign, also nursed illness for more than ten years. Later he climbed by connections and was suddenly placed in a key post. Using withdrawal as advance, none should be like Can. He does it himself yet blames others—how can he win the realm? Your Majesty only saw Can impeach Yingyuan and thought him willfully evasive, deserving dismissal. As for whence his intent came, how could Your Majesty know? As in last year's evaluation after the stellar anomaly, meant to quell calamity—yet half of those struck down were men not attached to the chief minister. Hanlin Compiler Xi Kongjiao, because of Zou Yuanbiao; Ministry of Rites Zhang Cheng, because of Liu Tai; the Ministry of Punishments alone had many judged frivolous beyond other ministries, because of Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao the spear was turned; after evaluation Zhao Zhigao was transferred for inferiority, again from anger at Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian. For those who could win the chief minister's heart, even Pan Sheng, though repeatedly impeached, could receive extraordinary favor; if they lost the chief minister's heart, even Zhang Yue, though long famed for talent, could not escape transfer on grounds of inadequacy. I did not expect that Your Majesty's measures to examine calamity and block fault would serve only the chief minister's private settling of favors and grudges. Moreover, all who attached to the chief minister likewise used this to settle their private scores—can one not sigh deeply!

孟子曰：「逢君之惡其罪大。」臣則謂逢相之惡其罪更大也。陛下天縱聖明，從諫勿咈。諸臣熟知其然，爭欲碎首批鱗以自見。陛下欲織錦綺，則撫臣、按臣言之；欲采珍異，則部臣、科臣言之；欲取太倉光祿，則臺臣、科臣又言之。陛下悉見嘉納，或遂停止，或不為例。至若輔臣意之所向，不論是否，無敢一言以正其非，且有先意結其歡，望風張其焰者，是臣所謂逢也。今大臣未有不逢相之惡者，炌特其較著者爾。

Mencius said, "To meet the ruler's evil is a great crime. I would say that flattering the chief minister's wrongdoing is an even greater crime. Your Majesty is endowed with natural sagacity and welcomes remonstrance without turning it aside. The officials all know this, and each races to risk his life in remonstrance to make himself known. When Your Majesty wanted brocades and silks, touring and investigating censors raised the matter; when you sought rare curiosities, ministry and supervising-secretariat officials spoke up; when you drew on the state granaries and the Court of Imperial Entertainments, censorate and supervising-secretariat officials spoke again. Your Majesty accepted their advice in full—sometimes halting the matter outright, sometimes refusing to set a precedent. But where the chief minister's will pointed, right or wrong, no one dared speak to correct him; some anticipated his wishes to win his favor and fanned his arrogance wherever they sensed his mood—this is what I mean by flattery. Today there is hardly a senior minister who does not pander to the chief minister's wishes; Can is merely the most conspicuous example.

以臣觀之，天下無事不私，無人不私，獨陛下一人公耳。陛下又不躬自聽斷，而委政於眾所阿奉之大臣。大臣益得成其私而無所顧忌，小臣益苦行私而無所訴告，是驅天下而使之奔走乎私門矣。陛下何不日取庶政而勤習之，內外章奏躬自省覽，先以意可否焉，然後宣付輔臣，俾之商榷。閱習既久，智慮益弘，幾微隱伏之間，自無逃於天鑒。夫威福者，陛下所當自出；乾綱者，陛下所當獨攬。寄之於人，不謂之旁落，則謂之倒持。政柄一移，積重難返，此又臣所日夜深慮，不獨為應元一事已也。

In my view, nothing under heaven is free of private interest, and no man is free of it—Your Majesty alone stands for the public good. Yet Your Majesty does not hear and decide cases yourself, but delegates authority to the minister whom all fawn upon. The senior minister grows bolder in pursuing his private ends; junior officials follow suit with no one to whom they can appeal—thus the whole realm is driven to scramble at private doorways. Why not take up the daily business of government and study it diligently, read memorials from within and without court yourself, form your own judgment first, and only then hand matters to the chief minister for deliberation? With long practice your discernment will broaden, and nothing in the subtlest hidden matters will escape your judgment. The power to reward and punish is yours to wield; the imperial prerogative is yours alone to hold. To entrust them to others is either to let authority slip from your hands or to hand someone the hilt while the blade points back at you. Once power shifts, it gathers weight and cannot easily be reclaimed—this too weighs on me day and night, and not only because of the Yingyuan case.

疏入，居正大怒，欲下獄廷杖。會次輔呂調陽在告，張四維擬削用汲籍，帝從之。居正以罪輕，移怒四維，厲色待之者累日。用汲歸，屏居郭外，布衣講授，足不賤城市。居正死，起補刑部。未上，擢廣東僉事。尋召為尚寶卿，進大理少卿。會法司議胡槚、龍宗武殺吳仕期獄，傅以謫戍。用汲駁奏曰：「按律，刑部及大小官吏，不依法律、聽從上司主使、出入人罪者，罪如之。蓋謂如上文，罪斬、妻子為奴、財產入官之律也。仕期之死，槚非主使者乎？宗武非聽上司主使者乎？今僅謫戍，不知所遵何律也。」上欲用用汲言，閣臣申時行等謂仕期自斃，宜減等，獄遂定。尋遷順天府尹。歷南京刑部尚書，致仕。

When the memorial arrived, Juzheng was furious and wanted him imprisoned and beaten at court. As it happened the second chief minister Lü Diaoyang was on leave; Zhang Siwei proposed striking Yongji from the register, and the emperor agreed. Juzheng, deeming the penalty too mild, turned his anger on Siwei and treated him with a harsh face for days on end. Yongji went home, lived in seclusion outside the walls, taught in plain clothes, and would not set foot in the city. After Juzheng's death he was recalled to a post in the Ministry of Punishments. Before he assumed the post he was promoted to vice commissioner of Guangdong. Soon he was summoned as Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, then promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Judicial Review. When the judiciary reviewed the case of Hu Zhu and Long Zongwu in the killing of Wu Shiqi, they proposed exile to frontier garrison duty. Yongji rebutted in a memorial: "Under the code, officials of the Ministry of Punishments and all officers great and small who, disregarding the law, follow a superior's orders to manipulate guilt are punished as for the principal offense. That is, the statute above prescribing decapitation, enslavement of wife and children, and confiscation of property to the state. In Shiqi's death, was Zhu not the one who instigated it? Did Zongwu not follow a superior's orders? Yet now they receive only banishment to the frontier—I do not know which statute that follows. The emperor wished to follow Yongji's argument, but Grand Secretaries Shen Shixing and others said Shiqi had died by his own hand and the penalty should be reduced; the case was closed on that basis. Soon he was made prefect of Shuntian. He rose to Minister of Punishments at Nanjing and then retired.

用汲為人剛正，遇事敢為。自尹京後，累遷皆在南，以強直故也。卒，贈太子太保，謚恭質。

Yongji was upright and resolute, daring to act when the occasion demanded. After he governed the capital, every further promotion kept him in the south—on account of his uncompromising character. At his death he was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, with the posthumous title Gongzhi.

吳中行，字子道，武進人。父性，兄可行，皆進士。性，尚寶丞。可行，檢討。中行甫冠，舉鄉試，性誡無躁進，遂不赴會試。隆慶五年成進士，選庶吉士，授編修。大學士張居正，中行座主也。萬歷五年，居正遭父喪，奪情視事。御史曾士楚、吏科都給事中陳三謨倡疏奏留，舉朝和之，中行獨憤。適彗出西南，長竟天，詔百官修省，中行乃首上疏曰：「居正父子異地分暌，音容不接者十有九年。一旦長棄數千里外，陛下不使匍匐星奔，憑棺一慟，必欲其違心抑情，銜哀茹痛於廟堂之上，而責以訏謨遠猷，調元熙載，豈情也哉！居正每自言謹守聖賢義理，祖宗法度。宰我欲短喪，子曰：『予有三年之愛於其父母乎？』王子請數月之喪，孟子曰：『雖加一日愈於已。』聖賢之訓何如也？在律，雖編氓小吏，匿喪有禁；惟武人得墨缞從事，非所以處輔弼也。即雲起復有故事，亦未有一日不出國門，而遽起視事者。祖宗之制何如也？事系萬古綱常，四方視聽，惟今日無過舉，然後後世無遺議。銷變之道，無逾此者。」

Wu Zhongxing, styled Zidao, was a native of Wujin. His father Xing and elder brother Kexing had both passed the jinshi examination. Xing served as deputy director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Kexing was a reviser in the Hanlin Academy. Zhongxing had just come of age when he passed the provincial examination; Xing warned him against hasty advancement, so he did not sit for the metropolitan examination. In the fifth year of Longqing he passed the jinshi examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and appointed compiler. Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng had been Zhongxing's chief examiner. In the fifth year of Wanli, Juzheng's father died; he was released from mourning obligations and continued in office. Censor Zeng Shichu and supervising secretary Chen Sanmo of the Ministry of Personnel led memorials asking him to stay; the whole court echoed them; Zhongxing alone was outraged. Just then a comet appeared in the southwest and stretched across the heavens; an edict ordered all officials to examine themselves; Zhongxing was the first to submit a memorial, saying: "Father and son, Juzheng and his father, have lived apart; they have not heard each other's voice or seen each other's face for nineteen years. Now his father lies dead thousands of li away, yet Your Majesty will not let him rush home on hands and knees to mourn at the coffin; you insist that he stifle his grief and serve in the hall of state, and still demand of him grand strategy and the work of governing the realm—can this be human? Juzheng often declares that he strictly upholds the teachings of the sages and the regulations of the ancestors. When Zai Wo wished to shorten mourning, the Master said, "Did you have three years of love for your parents? When a prince asked for mourning of only a few months, Mencius said, "Even one day more would be better than stopping altogether. What do the sages teach on this? Under the law, even commoners and petty clerks are forbidden to conceal a death; only soldiers may wear ink mourning and remain on duty—that is no way to treat a chief counselor. Even if recall from mourning while still in mourning has precedent, never has a man failed to leave the capital for a single day and then abruptly resumed office. What do the ancestral regulations say? This touches the moral order for all time and the eyes of the realm; only if Your Majesty commits no error today will posterity have no reproach to leave behind. There is no better way to dispel this portent than this."

疏既上，以副封白居正。居正愕然曰：「疏進耶？」中行曰：「未進不敢白也。」明日，趙用賢疏入。又明日，艾穆、沈思孝疏入。居正怒，謀於馮保，欲廷杖之。翰林院侍講趙誌臯、張位、於慎行、張一桂、田一俊、李長春，修撰習孔教、沈懋學俱具疏救，格不入。學士王錫爵乃會詞臣數十人，求解於居正，弗納。遂杖中行等四人。明日，進士鄒元標疏爭，亦廷杖，五人者，直聲震天下。中行、用賢並稱吳、趙。南京御史朱鴻謨疏救五人，亦被斥。中行等受杖畢，校尉以布曳出長安門，舁以板扉，即日驅出都城。中行氣息已絕，中書舍人秦柱挾醫至，投藥一匕，乃蘇。輿疾南歸，刲去腐肉數十臠，大者盈掌，深至寸，一肢遂空。

After submitting the memorial, he showed the sealed copy to Juzheng. Juzheng said in astonishment, "Has the memorial gone in? Zhongxing said, "Not yet—I dared not tell you before it went in." The next day Zhao Yongxian's memorial was submitted. The day after that came memorials from Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao. Juzheng was furious; he consulted Feng Bao and wanted them beaten at court. Hanlin lecturers Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Yu Shenxing, Zhang Yigui, Tian Yijun, and Li Changchun, and compilers Xi Kongjiao and Shen Maoxue all submitted memorials in their defense; none was accepted. Academician Wang Xijue then gathered several dozen literary officials to plead with Juzheng for mercy; he refused. Zhongxing and the other four were then beaten at court. The next day the jinshi Zou Yuanbiao protested in a memorial and was beaten at court as well; the five men's reputation for integrity resounded throughout the realm. Zhongxing and Yongxian came to be known together as Wu and Zhao. Nanjing censor Zhu Hongmo memorialized in their defense and was dismissed as well. After the beating, guards dragged Zhongxing and the others out Chang'an Gate wrapped in cloth, carried them on plank doors, and expelled them from the capital that same day. Zhongxing had stopped breathing; Secretariat drafter Qin Zhu brought a physician, gave him a spoonful of medicine, and he came back to life. He was carried home to the south, grievously wounded; dozens of pieces of rotten flesh were cut away, some as large as a palm and an inch deep, until one limb was hollowed out.

九年，大計京官，列五人察籍，錮不復敘。居正死，士楚當按蘇、松，憮然曰：「吾何面目見吳、趙二公！」遂引疾去。三謨已擢太常少卿，尋與士楚俱被劾削籍。廷臣交薦中行，召復故官，進右中允，直經筵。大學士許國攻李植、江東之，詆中行、用賢為其黨。中行奏辨，因乞罷，不許。再遷右諭德。御史蔡系周劾植，復侵中行，中行求去，章四上。詔賜白金、文綺，馳傳歸。言者屢薦，執政抑不召。久之，起侍講學士，掌南京翰林院。同里僉事徐常吉嘗訟中行，事已解，給事中王嘉謨復摭舊事劾之，命家居俟召。尋卒。後贈禮部右侍郎。

In the ninth year, at the general evaluation of capital officials, the five were entered on the scrutiny register and permanently barred from office. After Juzheng's death, Shichu was assigned to inspect Suzhou and Songjiang and said in anguish, "How can I face Lords Wu and Zhao! He pleaded illness and resigned. Sanmo had already been promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices; soon he and Shichu were both impeached and struck from the register. Court officials repeatedly recommended Zhongxing; he was recalled to his former post, promoted to right lecturing attendant, and served at the Classics Colloquium. Grand Secretary Xu Guo attacked Li Zhi and Jiang Dongzhi and denounced Zhongxing and Yongxian as members of their clique. Zhongxing memorialized in his own defense and asked to resign; the request was denied. He was promoted again to right preceptor. Censor Cai Xizhou impeached Zhi and again dragged Zhongxing into the matter; Zhongxing asked to resign and submitted four memorials. An edict granted him silver and brocade and sent him home by imperial relay. Critics repeatedly recommended him, but those in power blocked his recall. After a long interval he was appointed lecturing academician and put in charge of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. His fellow townsman Vice Commissioner Xu Changji had once brought suit against him; that matter had been settled; supervising secretary Wang Jiamo then dredged up old charges to impeach him again, and he was ordered to remain at home awaiting recall. Before long he died. He was later posthumously made Right Vice Minister of Rites.

子亮、元，從子宗達。亮官御史，坐累貶官，終大理少禦。元，江西布政使。宗達，少傅、建極殿大學士。亮尚誌節，與顧憲成諸人善。而元深疾東林，所輯《吾徵錄》，詆毀不遺力。兄弟異趣如此。

He had sons Liang and Yuan, and a nephew Zongda. Liang served as a censor, was demoted when implicated in a case, and ended his career as Vice Director of the Grand Court. Yuan became administrative commissioner of Jiangxi. Zongda rose to Junior Tutor and Grand Secretary of the Jianji Hall. Liang still prized integrity and was close to Gu Xiancheng and his circle. Yuan, by contrast, loathed the Eastern Forest faction and in his compiled Records of My Travels attacked them relentlessly. Between the brothers the contrast was that sharp.

趙用賢，字汝師，常熟人。父承謙，廣東參議。用賢舉隆慶五年進士，選庶吉士。萬歷初，授檢討。張居正父喪奪情，用賢抗疏曰：「臣竊怪居正能以君臣之義效忠於數年，不能以父子之情少盡於一日。臣又竊怪居正之勛望積以數年，而陛下忽敗之一旦。莫若如先朝楊溥、李賢故事，聽其暫還守制，刻期赴闕，庶父子音容乖暌阻絕於十有九年者，得區區稍伸其痛於臨穴憑棺之一慟也。國家設臺諫以司法紀、任糾繩，乃今嘵嘵為輔臣請留，背公議而徇私情，蔑至性而創異論。臣愚竊懼士氣之日靡，國是之日淆也。」疏入，與中行同杖除名。用賢體素肥，肉潰落如掌，其妻臘而藏之。用賢有女許御史吳之彥子鎮。之彥懼及，深結居正，得巡撫福建。過裏門，不為用賢禮，且坐鎮於其弟下，曰：「婢子也」，以激用賢。用賢怒，已察知其受居正黨王篆指，遂反幣告絕。之彥大喜。

Zhao Yongxian, styled Rushi, was a native of Changshu. His father Chengqian served as administrative vice commissioner of Guangdong. In the fifth year of Longqing Yongxian passed the jinshi examination and was chosen as a Hanlin bachelor. Early in the Wanli reign he was appointed reviser. When Zhang Juzheng's father died and he was released from mourning to remain in office, Yongxian submitted a defiant memorial: "I find it strange that Juzheng could serve loyally as minister for years in the name of duty between ruler and subject, yet could not honor for a single day the bond between father and son. I am also struck that Juzheng's merit and standing had been built up over years, only for Your Majesty to undo it all in a single stroke. Better to follow the Yang Pu and Li Xian precedents of the previous reign: let him go home briefly to complete mourning, with a fixed date to return to court, so that a father and son kept apart in life for nineteen years may at least pour out some fraction of their grief at the grave. The state created the censorate and remonstrance bureaus to uphold law and discipline and to hold officials to account—yet now they clamor to keep the chief minister in office, siding with private feeling against public opinion and scorning the deepest obligations of filial piety to invent a new doctrine. I fear in my folly that the moral fiber of the scholar-official class is being worn down day by day, and that the settled direction of the state is being muddied." When the memorial was received, he was beaten and dismissed from office, as Wu Zhongxing had been. Yongxian had always been heavyset; after the beating, flesh sloughed off in palm-sized pieces, and his wife preserved it in wax and kept it. Yongxian had a daughter betrothed to Zhen, son of the censor Wu Zhiyan. Fearing he would be implicated, Zhiyan cultivated a close alliance with Juzheng and secured appointment as grand coordinator of Fujian. Passing through his home district, he refused to pay Yongxian the proper courtesy and seated Zhen below his own younger brother, saying, "She is but a servant girl," to goad Yongxian. Yongxian, enraged, had already seen that Zhiyan was acting at the instigation of Juzheng's partisan Wang Zhuan; he returned the betrothal gifts and broke off the match. Zhiyan was delighted.

居正死之明年，用賢復故官，進右贊善。江東之、李植輩爭向之，物望皆屬焉。而用賢性剛，負氣傲物，數訾議大臣得失，申時行、許國等忌之。會植、東之攻時行，國遂力詆植、東之，而陰斥用賢、中行，謂：「昔之專恣在權貴，今乃在下僚；昔顛倒是非在小人，今乃在君子。意氣感激，偶成一二事，遂自負不世之節，號召浮薄喜事之人，黨同伐異，罔上行私，其風不可長。」於是用賢抗辨求去，極言朋黨之說，小人以之去君子、空人國，詞甚激憤。帝不聽其去。黨論之興，遂自此始。

The year after Juzheng died, Yongxian was restored to office and promoted to Right Supplementer. Jiang Dongzhi, Li Zhi, and their circle vied to align with him, and public esteem settled on him. But Yongxian was stiff by nature, proud and quick to look down on others; he repeatedly passed judgment on the great ministers' conduct, and Shen Shixing, Xu Guo, and others came to resent him. When Li Zhi and Jiang Dongzhi attacked Shen Shixing, Xu Guo vigorously denounced them while covertly censuring Yongxian and Wu Zhongxing, saying: "In the past, willful power lay with the mighty at court; now it lies with junior officials; In the past, twisting right and wrong was the work of petty men; now it is the work of gentlemen. Stirred by righteous indignation, they chance upon one or two successes and fancy themselves men of unrivaled integrity; they rally the frivolous and meddlesome, band together to attack their foes, and deceive their superiors for private ends. Such a spirit cannot be indulged." Yongxian answered in a defiant memorial asking to resign, arguing at length that the charge of faction is a tool by which petty men drive out gentlemen and leave the state without worthy men; his language was fiercely indignant. The emperor refused to let him go. The rise of factional politics dates from this moment.

尋充經筵講官。再遷右庶子，改南京祭酒。薦舉人王之士、鄧元錫、劉元卿，清修積學。又請建儲，宥言官李沂罪。居三年，擢南京禮部右侍郎。以吏部郎中趙南星薦，改北部。尋以本官兼教習庶吉士。

He was soon appointed lecturer at the imperial lecture series. He was promoted again to Right Sublector, then transferred to serve as libationer at Nanjing. He recommended the licentiates Wang Zhishi, Deng Yuanxi, and Liu Yuanqing—scholars of pure conduct and deep learning. He also urged that a crown prince be named and that the remonstrating official Li Yi be pardoned. After three years he was promoted to Vice Minister of Rites at Nanjing. On the recommendation of Zhao Nanxing, a director in the Ministry of Personnel, he was transferred to the northern capital. Soon afterward he was given his present rank while also serving as instructor to the Hanlin bachelors.

二十一年，王錫爵復入內閣。初，用賢徙南，中行、思孝、植、東之已前貶，或罷去，故執政安之。及是，用賢復以爭三王並封語侵錫爵，為所銜。會改吏部左侍郎，與文選郎顧憲成辨論人才，群情益附，錫爵不便也。用賢故所絕婚吳之彥者，錫爵裏人，時以僉事論罷，使其子鎮訐用賢論財逐婿，蔑法棄倫。用賢疏辨，乞休。詔禮官平議。尚書羅萬化以之彥其門生，引嫌力辭。錫爵乃上議曰：「用賢輕絕，之彥緩發，均失也。今趙女已嫁，難問初盟；吳男未婚，無容反坐。欲折其衷，宜聽用賢引疾，而曲貸之彥。」詔從之。用賢遂免歸。戶部郎中楊應宿、鄭材復力詆用賢，請據律行法。都御史李世達、侍郎李禎疏直用賢，斥兩人讒諂，遂為所攻。高攀龍、吳弘濟、譚一召、孫繼有、安希範輩皆坐論救褫職。自是朋黨論益熾。中行、用賢、植、東之創於前，元標、南星、憲成、攀龍繼之。言事者益裁量執政，執政日與枝拄，水火薄射，訖於明亡雲。

In the twenty-first year of the reign, Wang Xijue returned to the Grand Secretariat. Earlier, when Yongxian had been sent south, Wu Zhongxing, Shen Sixiao, Li Zhi, and Jiang Dongzhi had already been demoted or dismissed, and the ruling ministers had felt secure. Now Yongxian again gave offense with his opposition to the concurrent enfeoffment of the three princes, and Xijue nursed a grievance against him. When he was appointed Left Vice Minister of Personnel and debated the merits of officials with Gu Xiancheng, the Selection Secretary, public sentiment rallied to him all the more, to Xijue's discomfort. Wu Zhiyan, whose betrothal Yongxian had broken off, was a fellow townsman of Xijue's; recently dismissed as a vice commissioner on charges, he had his son Zhen accuse Yongxian of using money to drive out a son-in-law—an attack that scorned law and abandoned moral order. Yongxian submitted a memorial in his own defense and asked to retire. The emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites to adjudicate the matter fairly. The minister Luo Wanhua, citing conflict of interest because Zhiyan was his student, firmly declined to sit in judgment. Xijue then submitted his opinion: "Yongxian broke the engagement too lightly, and Zhiyan was slow to bring his accusation—both were in the wrong. Zhao's daughter is already married elsewhere, so the original betrothal cannot be revisited; Wu Zhiyan's son remains unmarried, so there is no basis to convict him in turn. To strike a balance, Yongxian should be allowed to retire on grounds of illness, while Zhiyan should be leniently excused." The edict approved his recommendation. Yongxian was dismissed and sent home. Yang Yingsu and Zheng Cai, directors in the Ministry of Revenue, again attacked Yongxian vigorously and demanded that he be punished under the law. The censor-in-chief Li Shida and Vice Minister Li Zhen submitted memorials in Yongxian's defense, denouncing the two men as slanderers and flatterers; they in turn came under attack. Gao Panlong, Wu Hongji, Tan Yizhao, Sun Jiyou, An Xifan, and others were all punished for speaking up on his behalf and stripped of their posts. From this point factional politics burned hotter still. Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, Li Zhi, and Jiang Dongzhi had opened the way; Zou Yuanbiao, Zhao Nanxing, Gu Xiancheng, and Gao Panlong carried it on. Remonstrators increasingly sat in judgment over the ministers in power, and those ministers clashed with them day after day like fire against water, arrows flying close—until, it is said, the dynasty fell.

用賢長身聳肩，議論風發，有經濟大略。蘇、松、嘉、湖諸府，財賦敵天下半，民生坐困。用賢官庶子時，與進士袁黃商榷數十晝夜，條十四事上之。時行、錫爵以為吳人不當言吳事，調旨切責，寢不行。家居四年卒。天啟初，贈太子少保、禮部尚書，謚文毅。

Yongxian was tall and broad-shouldered; his speech came in gusts, and he had a statesman's grasp of practical policy. In Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, and Huzhou, tax revenue rivaled half the empire, while the common people languished under the burden. While serving as sublector, he and the jinshi Yuan Huang debated for many days and nights and submitted a memorial listing fourteen reforms. Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue held that a man of Wu had no business speaking on Wu affairs; the court issued a sharp rebuke, and the proposal was shelved. He lived in retirement for four years and then died. Early in the Tianqi reign he was posthumously made Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince and Minister of Rites, with the posthumous name Wenyang.

孫士春、士錦，崇禎十年同舉進士。士春，字景之。第三人及第，授編修。明年，兵部尚書楊嗣昌奪情視事，未幾入閣。少詹事黃道周劾之，下獄。士春上疏曰：「嗣昌墨衰視事，既已罔效，陛下簡入綸扉，自應力辭新命。乃閱其奏牘，徒計歲月久近間，絕無哀痛惻怛之念，何奸悖一至此也！陛下破格奪情，曰人才不足故耳。不知人才所以不振，正由愛功名、薄忠孝致之。且無事不講儲材，有事輕言破格，非用人無弊之道也。臣祖用賢，首論故相奪情，幾斃杖下，臘敗肉示子孫。臣敢背家學，負明主，坐視綱常掃地哉？」帝怒，謫廣東布政司照磨。祖孫並以攻執政奪情斥，士論重之。後復故官，終左中允。

His grandsons Shichun and Shijin both passed the jinshi examination in the tenth year of Chongzhen. Shichun, styled Jingzhi. He placed third in the palace examination and was appointed a Hanlin compiler. The following year Yang Sichang, Minister of War, was released from mourning to resume office and soon entered the Grand Secretariat. The Junior Mentor Huang Daozhou impeached him, and he was thrown into prison. Shichun submitted a memorial: "Sichang has been conducting affairs while still in mourning dress, and he has already proved ineffective. Your Majesty has summoned him to the Grand Secretariat; he ought firmly to decline the new appointment. Yet reading his memorials, one finds only calculations of how many months have passed—no trace of grief or compassion. How wicked and perverse can a man become! Your Majesty made an exceptional release from mourning, saying there were not enough men of talent. You do not see that talent fails to flourish precisely because men prize fame and slight loyalty and filial piety. In peace you speak constantly of nurturing talent, yet in crisis you lightly invoke exceptions to the rules—this is not a sound way to employ men. My grandfather Yongxian was the first to protest when the former chief minister was released from mourning; he nearly died under the rod, and preserved the flesh that had sloughed from his wounds in wax to show his descendants. How could I betray my family's teaching, fail my enlightened sovereign, and sit by while the pillars of moral order are swept away?" The emperor was enraged and demoted him to registrar in the Guangdong administrative commission. Grandfather and grandson were both cast out for attacking the ministers over the release from mourning, and men of learning held them in high regard. He was later restored to office and ended his career as Left Household Gentleman.

艾穆，字和父，平江人。以鄉舉署阜城教諭，鄰郡諸生趙南星、喬璧星皆就學焉。入為國子助教。張居正知穆名，欲用為誥敕房中書舍人，不應。萬歷初，擢刑部主事。進員外郎，錄囚陜西。時居正法嚴，決囚不如額者罪。穆與御史議，止決二人。御史懼不稱，穆曰：「我終不以人命博官也。」還朝，居正盛氣譙讓。穆曰：「主上沖年，小臣體好生德，佐公平允之治，有罪甘之。」揖而退。

Ai Mu, styled Hefu, was a native of Pingjiang. Having passed the provincial examination, he was appointed acting instructor at Fucheng; Zhao Nanxing and Qiao Bixing, students from a neighboring prefecture, both studied under him. He entered service as an assistant instructor at the National University. Zhang Juzheng knew Mu by reputation and wished to appoint him as a drafting secretary in the Edict Bureau, but Mu declined. Early in the Wanli reign he was promoted to director in the Ministry of Punishments. He was promoted to vice director and sent to review prisoners in Shaanxi. At the time Juzheng's law was strict—officials who failed to execute prisoners up to the quota were themselves punished. Mu discussed the matter with the censor and authorized the execution of only two men. The censor feared they would not meet the quota; Mu said, "I will never trade men's lives for promotion." When he returned to court, Juzheng confronted him in a towering rage. Mu said, "The sovereign is still young; as a minor official I embody the virtue of sparing life and assist in fair and balanced governance—if I am guilty, I accept punishment willingly." He bowed and withdrew.

及居正遭喪奪情，穆私居嘆息，遂與主事沈思孝抗疏諫曰：「自居正奪情，妖星突見，光逼中天。言官曾士楚、陳三謨甘犯清議，率先請留，人心頓死，舉國如狂。今星變未銷，火災繼起。臣敢自愛其死，不灑血一為陛下言之！陛下之留居正也，動曰為社稷故。夫社稷所重，莫如綱常。而元輔大臣者，綱常之表也。綱常不顧，何社稷之能安？且事偶一為之者，例也；而萬世不易者，先王之制也。今棄先王之制，而從近代之例，如之何其可也。居正今以例留，腆顏就列矣。異時國家有大慶賀、大祭祀，為元輔者，欲避則害君臣之義，欲出則傷父子之情。臣不知陛下何以處居正，居正又何以自處也！徐庶以母故辭於昭烈曰：『臣方寸亂矣。』居正獨非人子而方寸不亂耶？位極人臣，反不修匹夫常節，何以對天下後世！臣聞古聖帝明王勸人以孝矣，未聞從而奪之也。為人臣者，移孝以事君矣，未聞為所奪也。以禮義廉恥風天下猶恐不足，顧乃奪之，使天下為人子者，皆忘三年之愛於其父，常紀墜矣。異時即欲以法度整齊之，何可得耶！陛下誠眷居正，當愛之以德，使奔喪終制，以全大節；則綱常植而朝廷正，朝廷正而百官萬民莫不一於正，災變無不可弭矣。」

When Juzheng's father died and he was released from mourning to remain in office, Mu sighed at home, then joined the director Shen Sixiao in a defiant memorial of remonstrance: "Since Juzheng was released from mourning, an evil star has suddenly appeared, its light pressing upon the zenith. The remonstrating officials Zeng Shichu and Chen Sanmo willingly defied upright opinion and were first to urge that he stay; public morale collapsed at once, and the whole realm seemed unhinged. The stellar omen has not yet faded, and fires break out one after another. How could I value my life so highly as to hold back from pouring out my heart's blood once for Your Majesty! In keeping Juzheng at court, Your Majesty always says it is for the sake of the altars of state. Of all that the altars of state depend upon, nothing matters more than the pillars of moral order. The chief minister is the outward face of those pillars. If those pillars are ignored, how can the altars of state stand secure? What is done once as an exception becomes precedent; what never changes for ten thousand generations is the institution of the former kings. To abandon the institutions of the former kings and follow recent precedents—how can this be permitted? Juzheng now remains by precedent and takes his seat in court without shame. When the state holds great celebrations or great sacrifices, the chief minister will be caught either way: to stay away harms the duty between ruler and minister, yet to attend wounds the bond between father and son. I do not know how Your Majesty will resolve this for Juzheng, nor how Juzheng will resolve it for himself! When Xu Shu declined Liu Bei for his mother's sake, he said, "My heart is in turmoil. Is Juzheng not also a son—yet his heart is untroubled? Having risen to the highest rank among ministers, he will not observe the ordinary proprieties of a son—how can he answer to the world and to posterity! I have heard that the sage emperors of antiquity exhorted men to filial piety; I have never heard that they then seized it away. A minister shifts filial piety to the service of his lord; I have never heard that it is taken from him. You would use ritual, righteousness, shame, and disgrace to shape the realm, and still fear it is not enough—yet now you seize filial piety away, so that sons everywhere forget the three years' love owed their fathers. The enduring standards of conduct have collapsed. If you ever wish later to restore order through law and ritual, how will that be possible! If Your Majesty truly esteems Juzheng, you should cherish him through virtue—let him go home for mourning and observe the full term of filial duty, so that his supreme integrity remains intact; then the foundations of propriety will stand firm and the court will be set right; when the court is right, officials and common people alike will follow suit, and no disaster or portent will fail to be allayed."

時吳中行、趙用賢請令居正奔喪，葬畢還朝，而穆、思孝直請令終制，故居正尤怒。中行、用賢杖六十，穆、思孝皆八十加梏堣，置之詔獄。越三日，以門扉舁出城，穆遣戍涼州。創重不省人事，既而復蘇，遂詣戍所。穆，居正鄉人也。居正語人曰：「昔嚴分宜時未有同鄉攻擊者，我不得比分宜矣。」九年，大計，復置穆、思孝察籍。

At the time Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian urged that Juzheng be sent home for mourning and recalled after the funeral, while Mu and Sixiao insisted he observe the full mourning period to the end—so Juzheng was especially enraged. Zhongxing and Yongxian were flogged sixty blows; Mu and Sixiao each received eighty blows with cangue and shackles, and were consigned to the imperial prison. Three days later they were borne out of the city on door panels; Mu was exiled to garrison service in Liangzhou. His injuries were severe and he lost consciousness; once he recovered, he made his way to his place of banishment. Mu was from the same home district as Juzheng. Juzheng remarked to others, "In Yan Song's day no one from his own district assailed him—I am not fit to be compared with Fenyi. In the ninth year, at the triennial evaluation, Mu and Sixiao were again entered on the surveillance rolls.

及居正死，言官交薦，起戶部員外郎。遷西川僉事，屢遷太仆少卿。十九年秋，擢右僉都御史，巡撫四川。故崇陽知縣周應中、賓州知州葉春及行義過人，穆舉以自代，不報。既之官，有告播州宣慰使楊應龍叛者，貴州巡撫葉夢熊請征之。蜀人多言應龍強，未易輕舉，穆亦不欲加兵，與夢熊異。朝命兩撫臣會勘，應龍不願赴貴州，乃逮至重慶，對簿論斬，輸贖，放之還。穆病歸，未幾卒。後應龍復叛，議者追咎穆，奪其職。

After Juzheng's death, remonstrating officials recommended him in turn, and he was recalled as Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue. He was moved to Vice Commissioner in western Sichuan and, after several promotions, became Vice Minister of the Imperial Stud. In the autumn of the nineteenth year he was promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Right and appointed Grand Coordinator of Sichuan. The former magistrate of Chongyang, Zhou Yingzhong, the prefect of Binzhou, Ye Chunji, and others of outstanding conduct—Mu recommended them to succeed him, but received no response. Once in office, word came that Yang Yinglong, Pacification Commissioner of Bozhou, had rebelled; Ye Mengxiong, Grand Coordinator of Guizhou, petitioned for a punitive campaign. Many in Sichuan said Yinglong was formidable and not to be provoked lightly; Mu too was reluctant to commit troops, and disagreed with Mengxiong. The court ordered both coordinators to conduct a joint inquiry; Yinglong refused to go to Guizhou, so he was brought to Chongqing, tried with a capital sentence, ransomed himself, and was sent home. Mu fell ill and retired; he died not long after. When Yinglong rebelled again, critics blamed Mu in hindsight and stripped his posthumous honors.

喬璧星，臨城人。官右僉都御史，亦巡撫四川。

Qiao Bixing was a native of Lincheng. He served as Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Right and likewise as Grand Coordinator of Sichuan.

葉春及，歸善人。由鄉舉授福清教諭。上書陳時政，纚纚三萬言。終戶部郎中。

Ye Chunji was a native of Guishan. Recommended through the provincial examination, he was appointed Instructor at Fuqing. He submitted a memorial on current affairs, a flowing discourse of thirty thousand characters. He rose no higher than Director in the Ministry of Revenue.

沈思孝，字純父，嘉興人。舉隆慶二年進士。又三年，謁選。高拱署吏部，欲留為屬曹，思孝辭焉，乃授番禺知縣。殷正茂總制兩廣，欲聽民與番人互市，且開海口諸山征其稅，思孝持不可。

Shen Sixiao, courtesy name Chunfu, was a native of Jiaxing. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of the Longqing reign. Three years later he presented himself for office. Gao Gong was acting head of the Ministry of Personnel and wished to keep him on staff; Sixiao declined, and was appointed magistrate of Panyu. Yin Zhengmao, supreme commander of the two Guang provinces, wished to permit trade between the populace and the tribes, and to open Haikou and the hill country to taxation; Sixiao firmly opposed it.

萬歷初，舉卓異，又為刑部主事。張居正父喪奪情，與艾穆合疏諫。廷杖，戍神電衛。居正死，召復官，進光祿少卿。政府惡李植、江東之及思孝輩。思孝遷太常少卿，御史龔仲慶希指詆之，思孝遂求去，不許。尋遷順天府尹，坐寬縱冒籍舉人，貶三秩視事。思孝禦三品服自若，被劾，調南京太仆卿，仍貶三秩。未幾，謝病歸。

Early in the Wanli reign he was cited for exceptional service and returned to the Ministry of Punishments as a principal secretary. When Zhang Juzheng was recalled to office despite mourning his father, he joined Ai Mu in a joint memorial of protest. He was flogged at court and exiled to the Shen Dian Guard. After Juzheng's death he was recalled to office and promoted to Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The ruling faction despised Li Zhi, Jiang Dongzhi, and men of Sixiao's circle. Sixiao was transferred to Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Rites; Censor Gong Zhongqing attacked him to curry favor; Sixiao then asked to resign, but was refused. He was soon made Prefect of Shuntian; for laxity in permitting false registrants among examination candidates he was demoted three ranks but kept at his post. Sixiao continued to wear third-rank robes as though nothing had changed; impeached, he was transferred to Minister of the Imperial Stud at Nanjing and demoted three ranks again. Before long he resigned on grounds of illness and went home.

吏部尚書陸光祖起為南京光祿卿。尋進右僉都御史，巡撫挾西。寧夏哱拜叛，詔思孝移駐下馬關，為總督魏學曾聲援。思孝以兵少，請募浙江及宣、大騎卒各五千，發內帑供軍，並乞宥故都御史李材罪，令立功。詔思孝近地召募，而罷材勿遣。思孝與學曾議軍事不合，給事中侯慶遠劾思孝舍門戶而守堂奧，設邏卒以衛妻孥，不任封疆事。改撫河南，辭不赴。

Lu Guangzu, Minister of Personnel, recalled him as Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices at Nanjing. He was soon promoted to Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Right and appointed Grand Coordinator of Shaanxi. When Pida rebelled in Ningxia, the court ordered Sixiao to move his headquarters to Xiamaguan to reinforce the supreme commander Wei Xueceng. Finding his forces inadequate, Sixiao asked to raise five thousand cavalry each from Zhejiang and from Xuanfu and Datong, to fund the army from the privy purse, and to pardon the former Censor-in-Chief Li Cai so that he might redeem himself in battle. The court ordered Sixiao to recruit locally and refused to send Li Cai. Sixiao and Xueceng clashed over military strategy; Supervising Secretary Hou Qingyuan impeached Sixiao for abandoning the frontier to shelter in the inner quarters, posting patrols to guard his wife and children, and being unfit for border command. Reassigned to Henan as grand coordinator, he declined and did not take up the post.

頃之，召為大理卿。中官郝金詐傳懿旨下獄，刑部薄其罪，思孝駁誅之。帝悅，進工部左侍郎。陜西織羊絨為民患，以思孝奏，減十之四。進右都御史，協理戎政。初，廷推李禎為首，思孝次之，帝特用思孝。或疑有奧援，給事中楊東明、鄒廷彥相繼疏劾。帝以廷彥受東明指，謫東明，奪廷彥俸。

Before long he was summoned as President of the Court of Judicial Review. The eunuch Hao Jin was imprisoned for forging an order in the Empress Dowager's name; the Ministry of Punishments treated the offense leniently, but Sixiao overturned the ruling and had him sentenced to death. The emperor was pleased and promoted him to Left Vice Minister of Works. The weaving of camel-hair fleece in Shaanxi had become a scourge on the people; on Sixiao's memorial the levy was cut by two fifths. He was promoted to Censor-in-Chief of the Right and given charge of military administration. Initially the court had recommended Li Zhen first and Sixiao second, but the emperor chose Sixiao over the recommendation. Some suspected he enjoyed secret backing; Supervising Secretaries Yang Dongming and Zou Tingyan impeached him in turn. The emperor judged that Tingyan had acted at Dongming's instigation, demoted Dongming, and stripped Tingyan of his salary.

二十三年，吏部尚書孫丕揚掌外察，黜參政丁此呂。思孝與東之素善此呂。會御史趙文炳劾文選郎蔣時馨受賄，時馨疑思孝嗾之，遂訐思孝先庇此呂，後求吏部不得，以此二事憾已，遂結江東之、劉應秋等，令李三才屬文炳。帝惡時馨，罷其官。思孝等疏辨，且求去。丕揚言時馨無罪，此呂受贓有狀，思孝不當庇。因上此呂訪單，乞歸。訪單者，吏部當察時，咨公論以定賢否，廷臣因得書所聞以投掌察者。事率核實，然間有因以中所惡者。帝降詔慰留丕揚，逮此呂，詰讓思孝。御史俞價、強思、馮從吾，給事中黃運泰、祝世祿，皆為時馨訟冤，語侵思孝、東之。給事中楊天民、馬經綸、馬文卿又各疏劾思孝，大抵言文炳之疏由思孝，藉以搖丕揚也。思孝屢乞罷，因詆丕揚負國。員外郎嶽元聲言大臣相攻，宜兩罷，似並論丕揚、思孝，而其指特攻時馨以及丕揚。疏方上，文炳忽變其說，謂：「元聲、東之述思孝意，迫之救此呂、劾時馨，非己意也。帝皆置不問。

In the twenty-third year Sun Piyang, as Minister of Personnel, oversaw the outer evaluation and dismissed Vice Commissioner Ding Cilü. Sixiao and Dongzhi had long been friendly with Cilü. When Censor Zhao Wenbing impeached Jiang Shixin of the Appointments Bureau for bribery, Shixin suspected Sixiao had put him up to it and accused Sixiao of first shielding Cilü and later failing to win him a post at the Ministry of Personnel; nursing these grievances, he allied with Jiang Dongzhi, Liu Yingqiu, and others and had Li San'cai set Wenbing in motion. The emperor despised Shixin and removed him from office. Sixiao and his allies submitted memorials in their defense and asked to resign. Piyang declared Shixin innocent, held that Cilü's guilt of bribery was established, and argued that Sixiao should not have protected him. He submitted Cilü's investigation slip and asked to retire. An investigation slip was a document through which, at evaluation time, the Ministry of Personnel consulted public opinion to judge merit; court officials could record what they had heard and submit it to the officer conducting the review. Reports were usually checked against fact, yet now and then a personal enemy was struck down through the process. The emperor issued an edict reassuring Piyang and urging him to stay, ordered Cilü arrested, and rebuked Sixiao. Censors Yu Jia, Qiang Si, and Feng Congwu, and Supervising Secretaries Huang Yuntai and Zhu Shilu, all pleaded Shixin's innocence, their language turning against Sixiao and Dongzhi. Supervising Secretaries Yang Tianmin, Ma Jinglun, and Ma Wenqing each memorialized to impeach Sixiao, arguing broadly that Wenbing's memorial originated with Sixiao as a means to undermine Piyang. Sixiao repeatedly asked to be dismissed and denounced Piyang as betraying the state. Vice Director Yue Yuansheng argued that the senior ministers were tearing one another apart and both sides ought to go—appearing to address Piyang and Sixiao alike, yet aiming chiefly at Shixin and Piyang. Hardly had the memorial been submitted when Wenbing abruptly reversed himself, claiming: "Yuansheng and Dongzhi relayed Sixiao's wishes and pressured me to save Cilü and impeach Shixin—it was not my own doing. The emperor let all of it pass without investigation.

思孝素以直節高天下，然尚氣好勝，動輒多忤，以此呂故，頗被物議。然時馨、此呂皆非端人，丕揚、思孝亦各有所左右。其明年，御史林培請辨忠邪，又力詆思孝、東之；且言：「丕揚杜門半載，辭疏十上，意必得請而後已。思孝則杜門未幾，近見從吾、運泰等罷，謂朝廷不難去言官五六人以安我。此人不去，為朝端害。」帝顧思孝厚，謫培官。乾清宮災，思孝請行皇長子冠禮以回天心。又以日本封事大壞，請亟修戰守備，並論趙誌臯、石星誤國。其秋，丕揚去位，思孝亦引疾，詔馳傳歸，朝端議論始息。久之，丕揚復起為吏部，御史史記事復詆思孝與顧天飐合謀欲構陷丕揚。顧憲成、高攀龍力辨其誣，而思孝卒矣。天啟中，贈太子少保。

Sixiao had long been renowned for upright integrity, yet he was proud and combative, quick to give offense; the Cilü affair brought him considerable public censure. Yet neither Shixin nor Cilü was an upright man, and both Piyang and Sixiao had their own favorites. The following year Censor Lin Pei petitioned to distinguish loyal from treacherous ministers and again fiercely attacked Sixiao and Dongzhi; adding: "Piyang has kept his doors shut for half a year and submitted ten resignation memorials—he plainly will not rest until his request is granted. Sixiao has barely shut his doors; seeing Congwu, Yuntai, and others dismissed of late, he assumes the court would not hesitate to remove five or six remonstrating officials to placate him. Unless this man is removed, he will poison the summit of the court. The emperor, who favored Sixiao, demoted Pei. When the Palace of Heavenly Purity burned, Sixiao urged that the heir apparent's capping ceremony be held to win back Heaven's favor. He also argued that the Japanese investiture negotiations had collapsed disastrously, urged immediate strengthening of defenses, and impeached Zhao Zhigao and Shi Xing for misleading the state. That autumn Piyang left office; Sixiao too pleaded illness and was ordered home by express relay; the wrangling at court finally subsided. Long afterward Piyang was recalled as Minister of Personnel; Censor Shi Jishi again accused Sixiao and Gu Tiansong of conspiring to entrap him. Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong vigorously refuted the accusation, but by then Sixiao was already dead. During the Tianqi reign he was posthumously made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

丁此呂，字右武，新建人。萬歷五年進士。由漳州推官征授御史。慈寧宮災，請撤鰲山，停織造、燒造，還建言譴謫諸臣，去張居正余黨，速誅徐爵、遊七。報聞。尋劾禮部侍郎高啟愚命題示禪授意，謫潞安推官。語詳《李植傳》。尋遷太仆丞，歷浙江右參政。考察論黜，復遣官逮之。大學士趙誌臯等再疏乞宥，且言此呂有氣節，未必果貪汙。丕揚亦言此呂無逮問條，乞免送詔獄。帝皆不從，逮下鎮撫，謫戍邊。

Ding Cilü, courtesy name Youwu, was a native of Xinjian. He received his jinshi degree in the fifth year of the Wanli reign. Summoned from his post as judicial assistant at Zhangzhou, he was appointed investigating censor. When the Cining Palace burned, he urged removal of the lantern displays, a halt to imperial weaving and kiln production, restoration of censured remonstrators, purge of Zhang Juzheng's remaining followers, and swift execution of Xu Jue and You Qi. The court acknowledged his memorial. He soon impeached Vice Minister of Rites Gao Qiyu for examination questions hinting at abdication and succession, and was himself demoted to judicial assistant at Lu'an. The full account appears in the biography of Li Zhi. He was soon made Assistant Minister of the Imperial Stud and later served as Right Vice Commissioner of Zhejiang. At the triennial evaluation he was marked for dismissal, and officers were again dispatched to arrest him. Grand Secretary Zhao Zhigao and others again petitioned for clemency, arguing that Cilü was a man of principle and not necessarily guilty of corruption. Piyang too argued that Cilü did not meet the criteria for arrest and interrogation, and asked that he not be sent to the imperial prison. The emperor refused all appeals; Cilü was arrested, handed to the Brocade Guard, and exiled to frontier garrison duty.

贊曰：劉臺諸人，皆以論張居正得罪。罰最重者，名亦最高。用汲之免也，幸耳。平心論之，居正為相，於國事不為無功；諸人論之，不無過當。然聞謗而不知懼，忿戾怨毒，務快己意。虧盈好還，禍釀身後。傳曰：「惟善人能受盡言。」於戲難哉！

The historian comments: Liu Tai and his fellows all fell afoul of power because they criticized Zhang Juzheng. Those who suffered the harshest penalties won the highest renown. That Yongji escaped punishment was mere luck. Judged fairly, Juzheng as chief minister did not serve the state without merit; yet their attacks on him were not without excess. Yet when he heard criticism he felt no fear; resentful, cruel, and spiteful, he was bent on having his own way. Heaven's balance demands repayment; the disaster he brewed came after his death. The tradition says, "Only the good man can bear the fullest remonstrance." Alas, how difficult!

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