Volume 234 Biographies 122: Lu Hongchun, Li Maohui, Li Yi, Luo Yuren, Ma Jinglun, Liu Gang, Dai Shiheng, Cao Xuecheng, Weng Xianxiang, Xu Daxiang

盧洪春〈（範俊董基王就學等）〉李懋檜李沂〈（周弘禴潘士藻）〉雒於仁馬經綸〈（林熙春林培）〉劉綱戴士衡曹學程〈（子正儒郭實）〉翁憲祥徐大相

Lu Hongchun (Fan Jun, Dong Ji, Wang Jiuxue, and others)]〉 Li Maohui and Li Yi (Zhou Hongsi and Pan Shizao)]〉 Luo Yuren and Ma Jinglun (Lin Xichun and Lin Pei)]〉 Liu Gang, Dai Shiheng, and Cao Xuecheng (Zi Zhengru and Guo Shi)]〉 Weng Xianxiang and Xu Daxiang

盧洪春，字思仁，東陽人。父仲佃，廣西布政使。洪春舉萬歷五年進士，授旌德知縣，擢禮部祠祭主事。十四年十月，帝久不視朝，洪春上疏曰：「陛下自九月望後，連日免朝，前日又詔頭眩體虛，暫罷朝講。時享太廟，遣官恭代，且云『非敢偷逸，恐弗成禮』。臣愚捧讀，驚惶欲涕。夫禮莫重於祭，而疾莫甚於虛。陛下春秋鼎盛，諸癥皆非所宜有。不宜有而有之，上傷聖母之心，下駭臣民之聽，而又因以廢祖宗大典，臣不知陛下何以自安也。抑臣所聞，更有異者。先二十六日傳旨免朝，即聞人言籍籍，謂陛下試馬傷額，故引疾自諱。果如人言，則以一時馳騁之樂，而昧周身之防，其為患猶淺。倘如聖諭，則以目前衽席之娛，而忘保身之術，其為患更深。若乃為聖德之累，則均焉而已。且陛下毋謂身居九重，外廷莫知。天子起居，豈有寂然無聞於人者？然莫敢直言以導陛下，則將順之意多，而愛敬之心薄也。陛下平日遇頌諛必多喜，遇諫諍必多怒，一涉宮闈，嚴譴立至，孰肯觸諱，以蹈不測之禍哉？群臣如是，非主上福也。願陛下以宗社為重，毋務矯托以滋疑。力制此心，慎加防檢。勿以深宮燕閑有所恣縱，勿以左右近習有所假借，飭躬踐行，明示天下，以章律度，則天下萬世，將慕義無窮。較夫挾數用術，文過飾非，幾以聾瞽天下之耳目者，相去何如哉！」疏入，帝震怒。傳諭內閣百余言，極明謹疾遣官之故。以洪春悖妄，命擬旨治罪。閣臣擬奪官，仍論救。帝不從，廷杖六十，斥為民。諸給事中申救，忤旨，切讓。諸御史疏繼之，帝怒，奪俸有差。洪春遂廢於家，久之卒。光宗嗣位，贈太仆少卿。

Lu Hongchun, styled Siren, came from Dongyang. His father Zhongtian had served as provincial administrative commissioner of Guangxi. Hongchun passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Wanli reign, was appointed magistrate of Jingde, and rose to principal officer of sacrificial worship in the Ministry of Rites. In the tenth month of the fourteenth year, the emperor had long ceased to hold court. Hongchun submitted a memorial: "Your Majesty, since the full moon of the ninth month, has excused court day after day; only recently an edict announced dizziness and bodily weakness and a temporary suspension of court lectures. When sacrifice at the Imperial Ancestral Temple fell due, you sent officials to perform the rites in your stead, adding that you "dare not be idle" but fear the ceremony might not be properly completed. Your humble subject read this with alarm and was nearly brought to tears. Of all rites none is weightier than sacrifice, and of all ailments none is graver than debility. Your Majesty is in the prime of life; such symptoms are not what you ought to suffer at all. That you should suffer them when you ought not wounds the empress dowager's heart, alarms officials and commoners alike, and leads to the abandonment of the great ancestral ceremonies—I do not see how Your Majesty can be at ease. Yet what I have heard is stranger still. On the twenty-sixth, when the order excusing court went out, rumor at once ran thick that Your Majesty had injured your forehead while testing horses and therefore invoked illness to conceal it. If the rumor is true, then for a moment's pleasure in galloping you neglected to guard your person—the harm would still be comparatively slight. If it is as the sacred edict says, then for present comfort on couch and mat you have forgotten the art of preserving yourself—the harm runs deeper still. As for being a burden on Your Majesty's sagely virtue, the one is as bad as the other. Moreover, Your Majesty must not suppose that, dwelling deep within the palace, the outer court knows nothing. Can the Son of Heaven's comings and goings pass entirely without anyone hearing of them? Yet if none dares speak plainly to guide Your Majesty, compliance is plentiful while reverent love runs thin. Your Majesty daily takes much pleasure in flattery and much offense at remonstrance; touch the inner palace and severe punishment follows at once—who would risk taboo and court unforeseen disaster? When ministers act thus, it is no blessing to their sovereign. I pray Your Majesty hold the altars of state and grain paramount and not insist on strained excuses that breed doubt. Restrain this heart and guard yourself with care. Do not indulge yourself in idle ease deep within the palace; do not lend yourself to attendants close at hand. Order your person and act accordingly, make your conduct manifest to all under heaven, and clarify law and measure—then for ten thousand generations the realm will admire righteousness without end. How does this compare with grasping stratagem and wielding artifice, glossing over faults and decking out errors, nearly deafening and blinding the ears and eyes of all under heaven!" When the memorial arrived, the emperor was shaken with rage. He transmitted more than a hundred characters of instruction to the Grand Secretariat, elaborating at length why he had excused court on account of illness and dispatched officials in his stead. Because Hongchun had been insolent and presumptuous, he ordered a draft rescript for his punishment. The grand secretaries proposed stripping him of office while still interceding on his behalf. The emperor would not agree; Hongchun received sixty strokes at court and was expelled as a commoner. The supervising secretaries all pleaded for him; defying the edict, they were sharply rebuked. The censors followed with successive memorials; the emperor grew angry and reduced their salaries by varying degrees. Hongchun was thereby cast aside at home; after a long while he died. When Emperor Guangzong succeeded to the throne, Hongchun was posthumously given the title of vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud.

御史範俊嘗陳時政。帝方疾，見俊疏中「防人欲」語，斥之。主事董基以諫內操謫官。其後員外郎王就學因諫帝托疾不送梓宮，尋罷去。皆與洪春疏相類。

Censor Fan Jun once submitted a memorial on current affairs. The emperor was then ill; seeing in Jun's memorial the phrase "guard against human desire," he rejected it. Principal officer Dong Ji was demoted for remonstrating against inner-palace drill. Later, vice director Wang Jiuxue, for remonstrating that the emperor feigned illness and did not escort the spirit tablet, was soon dismissed. All were of the same sort as Hongchun's memorial.

範俊，字國士，高安人。萬歷五年進士。為義烏知縣，征授御史。十二年正月，陳時政十事，語皆切至，而中言「人欲宜防，力以靡曼麹蘗為戒」。先是，慈寧宮災，給事中鄒元標疏陳六事，忤帝意。及帝遘微疾，大臣方問安，而俊疏適入。帝恚曰：「向未罪元標，致俊復爾，當重懲之。」申時行等擬鐫秩。帝猶怒，將各予杖。是夜大雷雨，明日朝門外水三尺余。帝怒少霽，時行等亦力救，乃斥為民。明年，給事中張維新請推用譴謫諸臣，詔許量移，惟俊不敘。給事中孫世禎、御史方萬山等言俊不宜獨遺，坐奪俸。自是屢薦不起，裏居數十年卒。天啟初，復官，贈光祿少卿。

Fan Jun, styled Guoshi, came from Gao'an. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Wanli reign. While serving as magistrate of Yiwu, he was summoned and appointed censor. In the first month of the twelfth year he set forth ten points on current affairs, all trenchant; among them he urged that human desire be guarded against and warned sternly against dissipation and wine. Earlier, when Cining Palace burned, supervising secretary Zou Yuanbiao memorialized six points and offended the emperor. When the emperor contracted a slight illness and grand ministers were just paying their respects, Jun's memorial happened to arrive. The emperor said in anger: "Because I did not punish Yuanbiao before, Jun has done the same again—he must be severely punished." Shen Shixing and the others proposed reducing his rank. The emperor was still angry and was about to have them all beaten. That night there was a great thunderstorm; the next day water outside the court gate stood more than three feet deep. The emperor's anger eased somewhat; Shen and the others also exerted themselves to save him, and Jun was expelled as a commoner. The following year supervising secretary Zhang Weixin asked that dismissed and demoted officials be promoted; an edict permitted them to be moved up in rank by degrees, but Jun alone was not restored. Supervising secretary Sun Shizhen, censor Fang Wanshan, and others said Jun ought not to be singled out for exclusion; they were penalized by reduction of salary. From then on, though recommended repeatedly, he was never recalled; he lived at home for decades and died. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign his office was restored; he was posthumously given vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments.

董基，字巢雄，掖縣人。萬歷八年進士。授刑部主事。十二年，帝集內豎三千人，授以戈甲，操於內廷。尚書張學顏諫，不納。基抗疏曰：「內廷清嚴地，無故聚三千之眾，輕以兇器嘗試，竊為陛下危之。陛下以為行幸山陵，有此三千人可無恐乎？不知此皆無當實用。設遇健卒勁騎，立見披靡，車駕不可恃以輕出也。夫此三千人安居美食，筋力柔靡，一旦使執銳衣堅，蒙寒犯暑，臣聞頃者竟日演練，中暍瀕死者數人，若輩未有不怨者。聚三千蓄怨之人於肘腋，危無逾此者。且自內操以來，賞賚已二萬金。長此不已，安有殫竭？有用之財，糜之無用之地，誠可惜也。」疏入，忤旨，命貶二秩，調邊方。九卿、給事、御史交章論救，且請納基言，不聽。竟謫基萬全都司都事。明年，兵科給事中王致祥言：「祖宗法，非宿衛士不得持寸兵。今授群不逞利器，出入禁門，禍不細。」大學士申時行亦語司禮監曰：「此事系禁廷，諸人擐甲執戈，未明而入。設奸人竄其中，一旦緩急，外廷不得聞，宿衛不及備，此公等剝膚患也。」中官悚然，乘間力言。帝乃留致祥疏，即日罷之。會謫降官皆量移，基亦遷南京禮部主事，終南京大理卿。致祥，忻州人。隆慶五年進士。歷官右僉都御史，巡撫順天。

Dong Ji, styled Chaoxiong, came from Ye County. He passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed principal officer in the Ministry of Punishments. In the twelfth year the emperor assembled three thousand inner eunuchs, gave them halberds and armor, and drilled them within the inner court. Minister Zhang Xueyan remonstrated but was not heeded. Ji submitted a forceful memorial: "The inner court is a place of strict purity; to gather three thousand men without cause and lightly try deadly weapons—I must say Your Majesty is endangered. Does Your Majesty think that when traveling to the imperial tombs, with these three thousand men you need fear nothing? You do not know that they are wholly useless in practice. Suppose you met hardy troops and strong cavalry—they would at once be routed; the imperial carriage cannot be lightly ventured abroad relying on them. These three thousand live at ease on fine food; their sinews are soft and lax. Suddenly to make them grasp sharp weapons and don hard armor, brave cold and suffer heat—I hear that in recent days, drilling all day long, several collapsed from heatstroke near death; such men must resent it. To gather three thousand men nursing resentment at your elbow—danger cannot exceed this. Moreover, since the inner drill began, rewards have already reached twenty thousand taels of gold. If this goes on without end, how can exhaustion be avoided? Useful funds squandered on a useless enterprise—truly it is pitiable." When the memorial arrived, it defied the edict; he was ordered demoted two ranks and transferred to the borderlands. The nine ministers, supervising secretaries, and censors submitted joint memorials in his defense and asked that Ji's words be adopted; they were not heeded. In the end Ji was demoted to company commander in the Wanquan garrison. The next year military supervising secretary Wang Zhixiang said: "By ancestral law none but palace guards may bear the smallest weapon. Now a disorderly throng is given sharp weapons and passes in and out of the forbidden gates—the misfortune is no small matter." Grand Secretary Shen Shixing also spoke to the Directorate of Ceremonial: "This affair concerns the forbidden court. These men don armor and take up halberds, entering before dawn. If villains should slip among them, then in a sudden emergency the outer court would not hear, palace guards could not prepare in time—this is a calamity that flays your very skin." The eunuchs were startled and seized an opening to speak forcefully. The emperor then kept Zhixiang's memorial and that same day abolished the drill. When demoted officials were all moved up in rank by degrees, Ji was also transferred to principal officer in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites and ended as Nanjing chief minister of punishments. Zhixiang came from Xinzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Longqing reign. He rose to right vice censor-in-chief and served as grand coordinator of Shuntian.

王就學，字所敬，武進人。萬歷十四年進士。授戶部主事。三王並封議起，朝論大嘩。就學，王錫爵門人也，偕同年生錢允元往規之，為流涕。會庶吉士李騰芳投錫爵書，與就學語相類。錫爵悟，並封詔得寢。就學改禮部，進員外郎，尋調吏部。二十四年，孝安陳太后梓宮發引，帝嫡母也，當送門外，以有疾，遣官代行。吏部侍郎孫繼臯言之，帝怒，抵其疏於地。就學抗疏曰：「人子於親惟送死為大事。今乃靳一攀送，致聖孝不終。豈獨有乖古禮，即聖心豈能自安。於此而不用其情，烏乎用其情？於此而可忍，烏乎不可忍？恐難以宣諸詔諭，書諸簡冊，傳示天下萬世也。」疏奏，不省。逾二年，詔甄別吏部諸郎，斥就學為民。尋卒於家。

Wang Jiuxue, styled Suojing, came from Wujin. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed principal officer in the Ministry of Revenue. When debate arose over enfeoffing the three princes together, court opinion erupted. Jiuxue was a student of Wang Xijue; together with his year-mate Qian Yunyuan he went to admonish him and wept. At the same time Hanlin bachelor Li Tengfang sent Xijue a letter with language akin to Jiuxue's. Xijue came to his senses, and the joint-enfeoffment edict was shelved. Jiuxue was transferred to the Ministry of Rites, advanced to vice director, and soon moved to the Ministry of Personnel. In the twenty-fourth year, when the funeral procession of Empress Dowager Xia'an Chen departed, she being the emperor's legal mother, he should have escorted her beyond the gate; but pleading illness, he dispatched an official to perform the rite in his place. Vice Minister of Personnel Sun Jigao remonstrated on the matter; the emperor flew into a rage and threw his memorial to the floor. Jiuxue submitted a forceful memorial: [For a son, nothing toward his parents is greater than seeing them properly to their grave. Yet now Your Majesty withholds even a single moment at the coffin to bid farewell, leaving sacred filial piety incomplete. This not only departs from ancient rites; how can Your Majesty's own heart find peace in it? If filial feeling is not spent here, where then should it ever be spent? If this can be tolerated, what outrage could not be? I fear it will scarcely do to proclaim in edicts, inscribe in the annals, and show all under Heaven for ages to come. ] The memorial was submitted, and the emperor took no notice. More than two years later, an edict ordered a review of the Ministry of Personnel's bureau directors, and Jiuxue was stripped of office and reduced to commoner status. Before long he died at home.

繼臯抗疏未幾，給事中劉道亨劾文選員外郎蔡夢麟紊銓政，並及繼臯。乞罷，不報。及三殿災，大臣自陳，皆慰留，獨繼臯致仕去。卒，贈禮部尚書。繼臯，字以德，無錫人。萬歷二年進士第一。

Soon after Jigao's forceful memorial, Supervising Secretary Liu Daoheng impeached Selection Bureau Vice Director Cai Menglin for corrupting appointment policy, implicating Jigao as well. He asked to be removed from office, but received no answer. When fire destroyed the three main halls, the grand ministers each submitted self-accusations; all were comforted and kept in office, but Jigao alone retired and departed. When he died, he was posthumously granted the title of Minister of Rites. Jigao, styled Yide, came from Wuxi. He took first place among jinshi graduates in the second year of the Wanli reign.

李懋檜，字克蒼，安溪人。萬歷八年進士。除六安知州，入為刑部員外郎。十四年三月，帝方憂旱，命所司條上便宜。懋檜及部郎劉復初等爭言皇貴妃及恭妃冊封事，章一日並上。帝怒，欲加重譴，言者猶不已。閣臣請帝詔諸曹建言止及所司職掌，且不得專達，以慰解帝意。居數日，帝亦霽威，諸疏皆留中。而懋檜疏又有保聖躬、節內供、禦近習、開言路、議蠲振、慎刑罰、重舉刺、限田制七事，亦寢不行。

Li Maohui, styled Kechang, came from Anxi. He passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Lu'an, then entered the capital as vice director in the Ministry of Punishments. In the third month of the fourteenth year, as the emperor was troubled by drought, he ordered the relevant offices to submit practical proposals. Maohui, section director Liu Fuchu, and others all spoke out on the investiture of the Imperial Noble Consort and the Honored Consort, and their memorials were submitted together in a single day. The emperor was enraged and wanted to punish them more severely, but the memorialists would not cease. Grand secretaries asked the emperor to issue an edict limiting memorials to each office's proper jurisdiction and forbidding direct access to the throne, hoping to ease his anger. Within a few days the emperor's anger subsided, and all the memorials were shelved without response. Maohui's memorial also proposed seven measures: protecting the emperor's health, reducing palace expenditures, guarding against close attendants, opening channels of remonstrance, discussing tax relief and famine aid, exercising restraint in punishment, strengthening censorial oversight, and imposing limits on landholding—all of which were likewise ignored.

明年，給事中邵庶因論誠意伯劉世延，刺及建言諸臣。懋檜上言：「庶因世延條奏，波及言者，欲概絕之。『防人之口，甚於防川』，庶豈不聞斯語哉？今天下民窮財殫，所在饑饉，山、陜、河南，婦子仳離，僵仆滿道，疾苦危急之狀，蓋有鄭俠所不能圖者，陛下不得聞且見也。邇者雷擊日壇，星墜如鬥，天變示儆於上；畿輦之間，子弒父，仆殺主，人情乖離於下。庶以為海內盡無可言已乎？夫在廷之臣，其為言官者十僅二三。言官不必皆智，不為言官者不必皆愚。無論往事，即如邇歲馮保、張居正交通亂政，其連章保留，頌功詡德，若陳三謨、曾士楚者，並出臺垣，而請劍引裾杖謫以去者，非庶僚則新進書生也。果若庶言，天下幸無事則可，脫有不虞之變，陛下何從而知？庶復以堂上官禁止司屬為得計，伏睹《大明律》，百工技藝之人，若有可言之事，直至御前奏聞，但有阻遏者斬。《大明會典》及皇祖《臥碑》亦屢言之。百工技藝之人，有言尚不敢阻，況諸司百執事乎？庶言一出，誌士解體，善言日壅，主上不得聞其過，群下無所獻其忠，禍天下必自庶始。陛下必欲重百官越職之禁，不若嚴言官失職之罰。當言不言，坐以負君誤國之罪。輕則記過，重則褫官。科道當遷，一視其章奏多寡得失為殿最，則言官無不直言，庶官無事可言，出位之禁無庸，太平之效自致矣。」

The following year, Supervising Secretary Shao Shu, while discussing Marquis of Chengyi Liu Shiyan, took indirect aim at those who had submitted memorials. Maohui submitted a memorial: [Drawing on Liu Shiyan's memorial, Shu has cast his net over those who speak out and would cut them off altogether. 'To dam men's mouths is more perilous than damming a river'—can Shu truly never have heard this saying? Today the people are destitute and the treasury drained; famine is everywhere. In Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan, wives and children are torn apart and the dead litter the roads. The misery is beyond what even Zheng Xia's painting could capture, yet Your Majesty neither hears of it nor sees it. Not long ago lightning struck the Altar of the Sun and a star fell the size of a dipper—heaven's warnings are plain above; within the capital, sons murder fathers and servants kill masters—human bonds are breaking apart below. Does Shu imagine that throughout the realm there is truly nothing left worth saying? Of the officials at court, only two or three in ten hold censorial posts. Censorial officials are not all wise, and those who are not censorial officials are not all foolish. Leave aside earlier events: in recent years, when Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng colluded to corrupt government, those who submitted linked memorials begging to keep them in power and praising their merits—men such as Chen Sanmo and Zeng Shichu—came from the Censorate, while those who begged the sword, seized the emperor's robe, and were beaten and banished were ordinary officials or newly appointed scholars. If Shu's view prevailed and all remained quiet, that would be well enough; but should unforeseen calamity arise, how would Your Majesty ever learn of it? Shu further treats it as sound policy for bureau chiefs to silence their subordinates. Yet I see in the Great Ming Code that artisans and craftsmen who have matters to report may go straight to the throne, and anyone who blocks them is to be executed. The Great Ming Institutes and the imperial ancestor's Sleeping Stele say the same again and again. If even artisans who speak up may not be obstructed, how much less may the officials of every department be silenced? Once Shu's proposal is adopted, men of principle will lose heart, good counsel will be choked off day by day, the sovereign will hear nothing of his faults, and subordinates will have no way to offer loyal remonstrance. Disaster for the realm will begin with Shu. If Your Majesty truly wishes to tighten the ban on officials speaking outside their duties, it would be better to punish censorial officials who fail in their duty. Those who ought to speak but remain silent should be charged with betraying the sovereign and misleading the state. In minor cases they should be marked for fault; in serious cases they should be stripped of office. When censorate officials are due for promotion, let their performance be judged solely on the quantity and quality of their memorials. Then censorial officials will speak plainly, ordinary officials will have no cause to overstep their posts, and the ban on speaking out of turn will become unnecessary—peace will follow of itself.]

帝責其沽名，命貶一秩。科道合救，不允。庶偕同列胡時麟、梅國樓、郭顯忠復交章論劾，乃再降一秩，為湖廣按察司經歷。歷禮部主事，以憂歸，屢薦不起。家居二十年，始起故官。進南京兵部郎中。天啟初，終太仆少卿。

The emperor accused him of courting reputation and ordered his rank reduced by one step. Censorate officials jointly petitioned for his pardon, but the emperor refused. Shu, together with colleagues Hu Shilin, Mei Guolou, and Guo Xianzhong, submitted further linked memorials in protest, whereupon Maohui was demoted another rank and appointed commissioner of the Huguang Surveillance Commission. He served as principal officer in the Ministry of Rites, then returned home for mourning; though repeatedly recommended, he refused to resume office. He lived at home for twenty years before being recalled to his former post. He was promoted to director in the Nanjing Ministry of War. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, he ended his career as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Stud.

李沂，字景魯，嘉魚人。萬歷十四年進士。改庶吉士。十六年冬，授吏科給事中。中官張鯨掌東廠，橫肆無憚。御史何出光劾鯨死罪八，並及其黨錦衣都督劉守有、序班邢尚智。尚智論死，守有除名，鯨被切讓，而任職如故。御史馬象乾復劾鯨，詆執政甚力，帝下象乾詔獄。大學士申時行等力救，且封還禦批，不報。許國、王錫爵復各申救，乃寢前命，而鯨竟不罪。外議謂鯨以金寶獻帝獲免。沂拜官甫一月，上疏曰：「陛下往年罪馮保，近日逐宋坤，鯨惡百保而萬坤，奈何獨濡忍不去？若謂其侍奉多年，則壞法亦多年；謂痛加省改，猶足供事，則未聞可馴虎狼使守門戶也。流傳鯨廣獻金寶，多方請乞，陛下猶豫，未忍斷決。中外臣民，初未肯信，以為陛下富有四海，豈愛金寶；威如雷霆，豈徇請乞。及見明旨許鯨策勵供事，外議藉藉，遂謂為真。虧損聖德，夫豈淺甚！且鯨奸謀既遂，而國家之禍將從此始，臣所大懼也。」是日，給事中唐堯欽亦具疏諫。帝獨手沂疏，震怒，謂沂欲為馮保、張居正報仇，立下詔獄嚴鞫。時行等乞宥，不從。讞上，詔廷杖六十，斥為民。禦批至閣，時行等欲留禦批，中使不可，持去。帝特遣司禮張誠出監杖。時行等上疏，俱詣會極門候進止。帝言：「沂置貪吏不言，而獨謂朕貪，謗誣君父，罪不可宥。」竟杖之。太常卿李尚智、給事中薛三才等抗章論救，俱不報。國、錫爵以言不見用，引罪乞歸。錫爵言：「廷杖非正刑，祖宗雖間一行之，亦未有詔獄、廷杖並加於一人者。故事，惟資賊大逆則有打問之旨，今豈可加之言官。」帝優詔慰留錫爵，卒不聽其言。

Li Yi, styled Jinglu, came from Jiayu. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed a Hanlin bachelor. In the winter of the sixteenth year he was appointed supervising secretary in the Personnel Section. The eunuch Zhang Jing controlled the Eastern Depot and acted with unchecked arrogance. Censor He Chuguang impeached Zhang Jing on eight capital charges and also implicated his allies, Elder Guard Commander Liu Shouyou and orderly Xing Shangzhi. Xing Shangzhi was sentenced to death, Liu Shouyou was stripped of rank, and Zhang Jing received a stern rebuke, yet remained in office as before. Censor Ma Xiangqian again impeached Zhang Jing, denouncing the chief ministers with unusual force, and the emperor sent Xiangqian to the imperial prison by edict. Grand Secretary Shen Shixing and others interceded forcefully and even returned the imperial rescript sealed, but received no answer. Xu Guo and Wang Xijue each interceded again, and the earlier order was set aside, yet Zhang Jing was never punished. Public rumor held that Zhang Jing escaped punishment by presenting gold and jewels to the emperor. Yi had held office barely a month when he submitted a memorial: [Your Majesty punished Feng Bao in earlier years and recently expelled Song Kun. Zhang Jing's wickedness exceeds Bao's a hundredfold and Kun's ten thousandfold—why show indulgence to him alone and leave him in place? If one says he has served many years, then he has broken the law for just as many; if one says he has been sternly corrected and is still fit to serve, I have never heard of taming tigers and wolves to guard one's gate. Rumor spreads that Zhang Jing has lavished gold and jewels upon the court and begged through many channels, while Your Majesty hesitates and cannot bear to decide. At first officials and commoners within and without the court refused to believe it, thinking Your Majesty owns all within the four seas—how could you covet gold and jewels; your authority is like thunder—how could you yield to pleading. But when they saw the explicit edict allowing Zhang Jing to continue in office with encouragement, public talk swelled, and people then took the rumor for truth. The damage to Your Majesty's virtue—can it be called slight! Moreover, once Zhang Jing's wicked designs succeed, the state's calamity will begin here—and that is what your servant most dreads. ] That same day, Supervising Secretary Tang Yaoqin also submitted a full memorial of remonstrance. The emperor singled out Yi's memorial, flew into a rage, and declared that Yi sought to avenge Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng; he immediately sent him to the imperial prison for harsh interrogation. Shixing and the others pleaded for leniency, but the emperor would not listen. When the verdict was submitted, an edict ordered sixty blows at court and his dismissal to commoner status. When the imperial rescript reached the Grand Secretariat, Shixing and the others tried to withhold it, but the palace messenger refused and carried it away. The emperor specially dispatched Zhang Cheng of the Directorate of Ceremonial to supervise the beating in person. Shixing and the others submitted memorials and all went to the Gate of Gathering of Ultimate to await the emperor's decision. The emperor said: [Yi says nothing of corrupt officials, yet accuses me alone of greed—slandering and falsely accusing his sovereign and father; the crime cannot be forgiven. ] In the end the beating was carried out. Court of Imperial Sacrifices Minister Li Shangzhi, Supervising Secretary Xue Sancai, and others submitted forceful memorials in his defense, but all went unanswered. Xu Guo and Wang Xijue, finding their remonstrance ignored, accepted blame and asked to retire. Xijue said: [Court beating is not orthodox punishment. Though the imperial ancestors occasionally applied it, never before have imperial imprisonment and court beating both been imposed on one man. By precedent, beating interrogation was reserved for capital treason and rebellion. How can it now be applied to censorial officials? ] The emperor issued a gracious edict comforting Xijue and keeping him in office, but in the end paid no heed to his words.

初，馮保獲罪，實鯨為之，故帝雲然。或謂鯨罪不至如保。張誠掌司禮，素德保，授意言者發之，事秘莫能明也。其時，周弘禴、潘士藻皆以忤鯨得罪，而沂禍為烈。家居十八年，未召而卒。光宗嗣位，贈光祿少卿。

At the outset, Feng Bao's downfall had in fact been Zhang Jing's doing, which is why the emperor spoke as he did. Some held that Zhang Jing's offenses did not equal Feng Bao's. Zhang Cheng, who controlled the Directorate of Ceremonial, had long felt indebted to Feng Bao and prompted memorialists to raise the matter; the affair remained secret and none could fully clarify it. At that time Zhou Hongxi and Pan Shizao both offended Zhang Jing and were punished, but Li Yi suffered the harshest fate. He lived at home for eighteen years and died before being recalled. When Emperor Guangzong succeeded to the throne, Li Yi was posthumously granted vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments.

弘禴，字元孚，麻城人。倜儻負奇，好射獵。舉萬歷二年進士，授戶部主事。降無為州同知，遷順天通判。十三年春，上疏指斥朝貴，言：「兵部尚書張學顏被論屢矣。陛下以學顏故，逐一給事中、三御史，此人心所共憤也。學顏結張鯨為兄弟，言官指論學顏而不敢及鯨，畏其勢耳。若李植之論馮保，似乎忠讜矣，實張宏門客樂新聲為謀主。其巡按順天，納娼為小妻，猖狂幹紀，則恃宏為內援也。鯨、宏既竊陛下權，而植又竊司禮勢，此公論所不容。《祖訓》，大小官許至御前言事。今吏科都給事中齊世臣乃請禁部曹建言。曩居正竊權，臺省群頌功德，而首發其奸者，顧在艾穆、沈思孝，部曹言事果何負於國哉？居正惡員外郎管誌道之建白也，御史龔懋賢因誣以老疾；惡主事趙世卿之條奏也，尚書王國光遂錮以王官。論者切齒，為其附權奸而棄直言，長壅蔽之禍也。今學顏、植交附鯨、宏，鯨敢竊柄，世臣豈不聞？已不敢言，奈何反欲人不言乎？前此長吏垣者周邦傑、秦耀。當居正時，耀則甘心獵犬，邦傑則比跡寒蟬。今耀官太常，邦傑官太仆矣，諫職無補，坐陟京卿，尚謂臺省足恃乎？而乃禁諸臣言事也。夫逐一人之言者其罪小，禁諸臣之言者其罪大。往者嚴嵩及居正猶不敢明立此禁，何世臣無忌憚一至此哉！乞放學顏、植歸裏，出耀、邦傑於外，屏張鯨使閑居，而奪世臣諫職，嚴敕司禮張誠等止掌內府禮儀，毋幹政事，天下幸甚。」帝怒，謫代州判官，再遷南京兵部主事。

Hongxi, styled Yuanfu, came from Macheng. He was free-spirited and unconventional, and loved archery and hunting. He passed the jinshi examination in the second year of the Wanli reign and was appointed principal officer in the Ministry of Revenue. He was demoted to assistant prefect of Wuwei, then transferred to assistant prefect of Shuntian. In the spring of the thirteenth year he submitted a memorial denouncing court grandees: [Minister of War Zhang Xueyan has been impeached many times already. Yet for Xueyan's sake Your Majesty has dismissed supervising secretaries and three censors one after another—this is what all hearts condemn. Xueyan swore brotherhood with Zhang Jing, and censorial officials criticize Xueyan yet dare not touch Jing—merely because they fear his power. Take Li Zhi's attack on Feng Bao—it seems loyal and outspoken, but in truth the real strategist was Yue Xinsheng, a retainer in Zhang Hong's household. When he served as touring inspector of Shuntian, he took a prostitute as a concubine and brazenly violated discipline—all because he relied on Zhang Hong for support within the palace. Zhang Jing and Zhang Hong have already usurped Your Majesty's authority, and Li Zhi has usurped the power of the Directorate of Ceremonial—this is what public opinion cannot abide. The Ancestral Instructions permit officials of every rank to speak on affairs before the throne. Yet Qi Shichen, chief supervising secretary of the Personnel Section, now asks to forbid department officials from offering counsel. When Zhang Juzheng usurped power in the past, the censorate and provincial offices together praised his merits, yet those who first exposed his treachery were none other than Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao—what harm have department officials who speak on affairs really done the state? Juzheng hated the forthright proposals of section vice-director Guan Zhidao, so censor Gong Maoxian falsely charged him with age and illness; he hated the itemized memorials of principal officer Zhao Shiqing, and Minister Wang Guoguang thereupon confined him to a princely appointment. Critics gnashed their teeth, for by siding with the power-holding villain and abandoning forthright speech they prolonged the disaster of obstruction. Now Xueyan and Zhi have attached themselves to Jing and Hong, and Jing dares to usurp real power—has Shichen not heard of this? He already dares not speak himself—how then can he turn around and wish that others not speak? Before this, the heads of the Personnel Section were Zhou Bangjie and Qin Yao. During Juzheng's time, Yao willingly served as a hunting hound, while Bangjie modeled himself on the winter cicada. Now Yao is minister of ceremonies and Bangjie minister of the imperial stud—useless in their remonstrance duties, yet promoted to metropolitan ministerial posts—and you still say the censorate can be relied upon? And yet he would forbid all officials from speaking on affairs. To drive away one man's speech is a small crime; to forbid all officials from speaking is a great one. In the past even Yan Song and Zhang Juzheng did not dare openly establish such a prohibition—how has Shichen become so utterly without restraint! I beg that Xueyan and Zhi be sent home, that Yao and Bangjie be posted outside, that Zhang Jing be removed to idle retirement, that Shichen be stripped of his remonstrance post, and that Zhang Cheng and others of the Directorate of Ceremonial be strictly ordered to manage only inner-palace ritual and not meddle in state affairs—the realm would be greatly fortunate. ] The emperor was angry and demoted him to magistrate of Daizhou, then transferred him again to principal officer in the Nanjing Ministry of War.

十七年，帝始倦勤，章奏多留中不下。弘禴疏諫，且請早建皇儲，不報。尋召為尚寶丞。明年冬，命監察御史閱視寧夏邊務。巡撫僉都御史梁問孟、巡茶御史鐘化民，取官帑銀交際，弘禴疏發之。詔褫問孟職，調化民於外。河東有秦、漢二壩，弘禴請以石為之，浚渠北達鴛鴦諸湖，大興水利。還朝，以將材薦哱承恩、土文秀、哱雲。明年，承恩等反，坐謫澄海典史。投劾歸，卒於家。天啟初，以嘗請建儲，贈太仆少卿。

In the seventeenth year the emperor first grew weary of governing; memorials were often kept within and never answered. Zhou Hongxi memorialized in remonstrance and also asked that the heir apparent be established early, but received no answer. He was soon recalled as vice director of the Imperial Seal Office. The following winter he was appointed investigating censor to inspect border affairs in Ningxia. Grand coordinator and vice censor-in-chief Liang Wenmeng and tea-route censor Zhong Huamin had taken official treasury silver for private exchange; Zhou Hongxi exposed them in a memorial. An edict stripped Liang Wenmeng of his post and transferred Zhong Huamin to an outside appointment. East of the river stood the Qin and Han dams; Zhou Hongxi proposed rebuilding them in stone, dredging channels north to the Mandarin Duck lakes and beyond, and greatly expanding irrigation works. On returning to court, he recommended Bo Chengen, Tu Wenxiu, and Bo Yun as men of military talent. The next year Chengen and the others rebelled, and Zhou Hongxi was demoted to recorder of Chenghai on that account. He submitted his resignation and returned home, where he died. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, because he had once asked that the heir be established, he was posthumously granted vice minister of the Court of Imperial Stud.

潘士藻，字去華，婺源人。萬歷十一年進士。授溫州推官。擢御史，巡視北城。慈寧宮近侍侯進忠、牛承忠私出禁城，狎婦女。邏者執之，為所毆，訴於士藻。私牒司禮監治之。帝恚曰：「東廠何事？乃自外庭發。」杖兩閹，斃其一。鯨方掌東廠，怒。會火災修省，士藻言：「今天下之患，莫大於君臣之意不通。宜仿祖制，及近時平臺暖閣召對故事，面議所當施罷。撤大工以俟豐歲，蠲織造、燒造以昭儉德，免金花額外征以佐軍食。且時召講讀諸臣，問以經史。對賢人君子之時多，自能以敬易肆，以義奪欲。修省之實，無過於此。」鯨乃激帝怒，謫廣東布政司照磨。科道交章論救，不聽。尋擢南京吏部主事。再遷尚寶卿，卒官。

Pan Shizao, styled Quhua, came from Wuyuan. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed investigating magistrate of Wenzhou. He was promoted to censor and assigned to inspect the North City. Palace attendants Hou Jinzhong and Niu Chengzhong of Cining Palace had left the forbidden city without permission and were dallying with women. Patrolmen seized them but were beaten in the struggle and appealed to Pan Shizao. He privately sent a note to the Directorate of Ceremonial asking that they be punished. The emperor, angry, said: [What business is the Eastern Depot? Yet this was initiated from the outer court. ] He had the two eunuchs beaten, and one died. Zhang Jing was then in charge of the Eastern Depot and was furious. When a fire prompted court self-examination, Pan Shizao said: [Today's greatest calamity under Heaven is the failure of ruler and ministers to understand one another. Your Majesty should follow ancestral institutions and the recent precedents of audience at the Level Platform and Warm Pavilion, and discuss face to face what should be enacted or abolished. Suspend major construction until years of plenty; remit weaving and kiln manufacture to display frugal virtue; exempt extra levies of gold-flower silver to supplement military provisions. Moreover, summon the lecturing and reading officials from time to time and question them on the classics and histories. When one spends more time with worthy men and gentlemen, one can naturally replace laxity with reverence and overcome desire with righteousness. The substance of true self-examination goes no further than this. ] Zhang Jing then stirred the emperor's anger, and Pan Shizao was demoted to aide in the Guangdong Provincial Administration Commission. Censorial officials submitted linked memorials pleading for him, but the emperor would not listen. He was soon promoted to principal officer in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. He was transferred again to director of the Imperial Seal Office and died in office.

雒於仁，字少涇，涇陽人。父遵，吏科都給事中。神宗初即位，馮保竊權。帝御殿，保輒侍側。遵言：「保一侍從之仆，乃敢立天子寶座，文武群工拜天子邪，抑拜中官邪？欺陛下幼沖，無禮至此！」遵乃大學士高拱門生。保疑遵受拱指，遂謀逐拱。遵疏留中。尋劾兵部尚書譚綸，因薦海瑞。吏部尚書楊博稱綸才，詆瑞迂滯，疏遂寢。頃之，綸陪祀日壇，咳不止。御史景嵩、韓必顯劾綸衰病。居正素善綸，而馮保欲緣是為遵罪，因傳旨詰嵩、必顯欲用何人代綸，令會遵推舉，遵等惶懼不敢承。俱貶三秩，調外。遵得浙江布政司照磨。保敗，屢遷光祿卿。改右僉都御史，巡撫四川。罷歸，卒。

Luo Yuren, styled Shaojing, came from Jingyang. His father Zun was chief supervising secretary of the Personnel Section. When the Shenzong Emperor first succeeded to the throne, Feng Bao usurped power. Whenever the emperor held court, Feng Bao always stood at his side. Zun said: [Feng Bao is only a serving attendant—how dare he stand beside the Son of Heaven's throne? Do the civil and military officials bow to the Son of Heaven, or to a palace eunuch? He takes advantage of Your Majesty's youth—such impudence has never been seen! ] Zun was a disciple of Grand Secretary Gao Gong. Feng Bao suspected that Zun had acted at Gao Gong's direction and thereupon plotted to drive Gong out. Zun's memorial was kept within and never answered. Soon he impeached Minister of War Tan Lun and on that occasion recommended Hai Rui. Minister of Personnel Yang Bo praised Tan Lun's talent and reviled Hai Rui as pedantic and obstructive, and the memorial was shelved. Shortly afterward Tan Lun attended sacrifice at the Sun Altar and could not stop coughing. Censors Jing Song and Han Bixian impeached Tan Lun for decline and illness. Zhang Juzheng had long been on good terms with Tan Lun, but Feng Bao wished to use this to make a crime of Zun; he therefore transmitted an order questioning Jing Song and Han Bixian as to whom they wished to use to replace Lun, and ordered them to meet with Zun to recommend someone—Zun and the others were fearful and dared not comply. All were demoted three ranks and transferred to outside appointments. Zun was given the post of aide in the Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commission. After Feng Bao's fall, he was repeatedly promoted, eventually reaching director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He was appointed vice censor-in-chief on the right and grand coordinator of Sichuan. He was dismissed and returned home, where he died.

於仁舉萬歷十一年進士。歷知肥鄉、清豐二縣，有惠政。十七年，入為大理寺評事。疏獻四箴以諫。其略曰：

Luo Yuren passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He successively served as magistrate of Feixiang and Qingfeng, where his benevolent administration won praise. In the seventeenth year he entered service as evaluator in the Court of Judicial Review. He submitted a memorial presenting his Four Admonitions in remonstrance. Its summary reads:

臣備官歲餘，僅朝見陛下者三。此外惟聞聖體違和，一切傳免。郊祀廟享遣官代行，政事不親，講筵久輟。臣知陛下之疾，所以致之者有由也。臣聞嗜酒則腐腸，戀色則伐性，貪財則喪誌，尚氣則戕生。陛下八珍在禦，觴酌是耽，卜晝不足，繼以長夜。此其病在嗜酒也。寵「十俊」以啟幸門，溺鄭妃，靡言不聽。忠謀擯斥，儲位久虛。此其病在戀色也。傳索帑金，括取幣帛。甚且掠問宦官，有獻則已，無則譴怒。李沂之瘡痍未平，而張鯨之貲賄復入。此其病在貪財也。今日榜宮女，明日抶中官，罪狀未明，立斃杖下。又宿怨藏怒於直臣，如範俊、姜應麟、孫如法輩，皆一詘不申，賜環無日。此其病在尚氣也。四者之病，膠繞身心，豈藥石所可治？今陛下春秋鼎盛，猶經年不朝，過此以往，更當何如？

Your servant has held office for more than a year and has seen Your Majesty at court only three times. Apart from this, one hears only that Your Majesty's health is unwell and that all duties are passed along as exemptions. Suburban sacrifice and temple offerings are performed by substitute officials; state affairs are not handled in person, and the lecture hall has long been suspended. Your servant knows that Your Majesty's illness has causes by which it was brought about. I have heard that fondness for wine rots the intestines, attachment to beauty wastes one's nature, greed for wealth destroys the will, and indulgence in temper harms life. Your Majesty has the eight delicacies at the imperial table and is devoted to cups and goblets; daylight drinking is not enough, and the revelry continues through the long night. This is an illness whose root is fondness for wine. Favoring the "Ten Handsome Men" to open the gate of favor, drowning in Consort Zheng—no word of hers goes unheeded. Loyal counsel is cast aside, and the heir's place has long stood empty. This is an illness whose root is attachment to beauty. Orders are transmitted demanding treasury gold; silks and cloth are seized and gathered. So far as to plunder and interrogate palace eunuchs—if there is an offering it stops; if not, there is rebuke and rage. The wounds of Li Yi's case had not yet healed, yet Zhang Jing's bribes entered the palace again. This is an illness whose root is greed for wealth. Today palace women are posted for punishment; tomorrow palace eunuchs are beaten—the crimes are not yet clear, yet they are immediately beaten to death. Moreover, old grudges and hidden anger are stored against forthright officials such as Fan Jun, Jiang Yinglin, and Sun Rufa—all have suffered one defeat without redress, and the day of restored office is nowhere in sight. This is an illness whose root is indulgence in temper. These four illnesses cling to body and mind—how can drugs and stones cure them? Now Your Majesty is in the prime of life, yet for years has not held court—beyond this, what then?

孟軻有取於法家拂士，今鄒元標其人也。陛下棄而置之，臣有以得其故矣。元標入朝，必首言聖躬，次及左右。是以明知其賢，忌而弗用。獨不思直臣不利於陛下，不便於左右，深有利於宗社哉！陛下之溺此四者，不曰操生殺之權，人畏之而不敢言，則曰居邃密之地，人莫知而不能言。不知鼓鐘於宮，聲聞於外，幽獨之中，指視所集。且保祿全軀之士可以威權懼之，若懷忠守義者，即鼎鋸何避焉！臣今敢以四箴獻。若陛下肯用臣言，即立誅臣身，臣雖死猶生也。惟陛下垂察。

Mencius valued the renegade scholars who dared to oppose power; today Zou Yuanbiao is such a man. Your Majesty casts him aside and leaves him unused—your servant has grounds for knowing the reason. When Zou Yuanbiao enters court, he always speaks first of Your Majesty's person, next of those at Your Majesty's side. Therefore, though knowing his worth, Your Majesty resents him and will not employ him. Will Your Majesty not reflect that forthright officials may be inconvenient to you and to those at your side, yet are deeply advantageous to the altars of state? Your Majesty's drowning in these four things—if one does not say you hold the power of life and death and men fear you and dare not speak, then one says you dwell in deep seclusion and men do not know and cannot speak. One does not know that when drums and bells sound in the palace, the sound is heard outside; even in solitary seclusion, every glance and whisper converge upon you. Those who care only for their stipends and their skins may be cowed by power—but a man who holds loyalty and righteousness in his heart has nothing to fear from torture or death. Your servant now dares to present four admonitions. If Your Majesty will heed what I say, then even if you have me executed on the spot, I shall die and yet live on. I beg Your Majesty to weigh this with care.

酒箴曰：耽彼麹蘗，昕夕不輟。心誌內懵，威儀外缺。神禹疏狄，夏治興隆。進藥陛下，醲醑勿崇。

The Admonition on Wine reads: Drowning in ferment and brew, from morning till night without pause. The spirit dulls within, and dignity and decorum fail without. The Divine Yu kept his distance from wine, and the rule of Xia flourished. A remedy I offer Your Majesty: do not elevate strong drink.

色箴曰：艷彼妖姬，寢興在側。啟寵納侮，爭妍誤國。成湯不邇，享有遐壽。進藥陛下，內嬖勿厚。

The Admonition on Pleasure reads: Those bewitching women, at your waking and at your sleeping ever at your side. Bestowing favor invites contempt; rivalry for beauty brings ruin to the realm. King Tang kept no such company and enjoyed a long reign. A remedy I offer Your Majesty: do not lavish favor on inner favorites.

財箴曰：「競彼镠鐐，錙銖必盡。公帑稱盈，私家懸罄。武散鹿臺，八百歸心。隋煬剝利，天命難諶。進藥陛下，貨賄勿侵。

The Admonition on Wealth reads: "Scrambling after gold and silver, not the smallest coin is left untouched. The public coffers are said to overflow, while private homes are stripped bare. King Wu opened the stores of Lutai, and the lords of the realm gave him their hearts. Emperor Yang of Sui scraped for every profit, and Heaven's mandate slipped from his grasp. A remedy I offer Your Majesty: do not reach for wealth and graft.

氣箴曰：逞彼忿怒，恣睢任情。法尚操切，政盩公平。虞舜溫恭，和以致祥。秦皇暴戾，群怨孔彰。進藥陛下，舊怨勿藏。

The Admonition on Anger reads: Unleashing wrath, arrogant and wilful, following every impulse. Law ought to be firm yet measured; government ought to be steady and just. Yu Shun was mild and courteous, and harmony brought forth blessings. The First Emperor of Qin was savage and cruel, and popular hatred showed plainly on every side. A remedy I offer Your Majesty: do not harbor old resentments.

疏入，帝震怒。會歲暮，留其疏十日。所雲「十俊」，蓋十小閹也。明年正旦，召見閣臣申時行等於毓德宮，手於仁疏授之。帝自辨甚悉，將置之重典。時行等委曲慰解，見帝意不可回，乃曰：「此疏不可發外，恐外人信以為真。願陛下曲賜優容，臣等即傳諭寺卿，令於仁去位可也。」帝乃頷之。居數日，於仁引疾，遂斥為民。久之卒。天啟初，贈光祿少卿。

When the memorial was submitted, the Emperor flew into a rage. It chanced to be year's end, and he kept the memorial for ten days. The so-called "Ten Worthies" were in truth ten low-ranking eunuchs. On New Year's Day the following year, he summoned Grand Secretaries including Shen Shixing to the Yude Palace and personally handed them Yu Ren's memorial. The Emperor rebutted the charges at length and was about to impose the harshest punishment. Shen and the others gently soothed and reasoned with him; seeing that the Emperor's mind could not be moved, they said, "This memorial must not be circulated outside the court, lest outsiders take it for truth. We beg Your Majesty to show gracious forbearance; we shall at once instruct the Director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship to have Yu Ren leave his post, and that will suffice. The Emperor nodded assent. After several days Yu Ren pleaded illness and was dismissed, reduced to commoner status. After a long while he died. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, he was posthumously granted the title of Vice Director of the Ceremonial Guard.

馬經綸，字主一，順天通州人。萬歷十七年進士。除肥城知縣，入為御史。二十三年冬，兵部考選軍政。帝謂中有副千戶者，不宜擅署四品職。責部臣徇私，兵科不糾發。降武選郎韓範、都給事中吳文梓雜職。鐫員外郎曾偉芳、主事江中信、程僖、陳楚產、給事中劉仕瞻三秩，調極邊。以御史區大倫、俞價、強思、給事中張同德言事常忤旨，亦鐫三秩。而五城御史夏之臣、朱鳳翔、塗喬遷、時偕行、楊述中籍中官客用家，不稱旨，並謫邊遠典史。又以客用貲財匿崇信伯費甲金家，刑部拷訊無實，謫郎中徐維濂於外。一時嚴旨頻下，且不得千戶主名，舉朝震駭。時東廠太監張誠失帝意。誠家奴錦衣副千戶霍文炳當遷指揮僉事，部臣先已奏請，而帝欲尋端罪言官，遂用是為罪。旋移怒兩京科道，以為緘默，命掌印者盡鐫三秩。於是給事中耿隨龍、鄒廷彥、黎道昭、孫羽侯、黃運泰、毛一公，御史李宗延、顧際明、袁可立、綦才、吳禮嘉、王有功、李固本，南京給事中伍文煥、費必興、盧大中，御史柳佐、聶應科、李文熙等十九人俱調外，留者並停俸一年。又令吏部列上職名，再罷御史馮從吾、薛繼茂、王慎德、姚三讓四人。大學士趙誌臯、陳於陛、沈一貫及九卿各疏爭，尚書石星請罷職以寬諸臣，皆不納。於陛又特疏申救。帝怒，命降諸人雜職，悉調邊方。尚書孫丕揚等以詔旨轉嚴，再疏乞宥。帝益怒，盡奪職為民。經綸憤甚，抗疏曰：

Ma Jinglun, styled Zhuyi, was a native of Tongzhou in Shuntian Prefecture. He passed the jinshi examination in the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Feicheng, then entered the Censorate. In the winter of the twenty-third year, the Ministry of War conducted its evaluation and selection for military appointments. The Emperor said that among those selected was an assistant chiliarch, who ought not to have been assigned a fourth-rank post on his own authority. He blamed the ministry officials for showing favoritism and the military section of the Office of Scrutiny for failing to expose the matter. He demoted Han Fan, Military Selection Officer, and Wu Wenzu, Supervising Secretary, to miscellaneous posts. He stripped three ranks from Outside Department Secretary Zeng Weifang, Directors Jiang Zhongxin, Cheng Xi, and Chen Chuchan, and Supervising Secretary Liu Shizhan, and posted them to the remotest frontier. Because Censors Ou Dalun, Yu Jia, and Qiang Si and Supervising Secretary Zhang Tongde often offended the throne in their memorials, he likewise stripped three ranks from each. The Five-Office censors Xia Zhichen, Zhu Fengxiang, Tu Qiaoqian, Shi Xiexing, and Yang Shuzhong had relied on the household of Ke Yong, a client of the inner eunuchs, and failed to please the throne; all were relegated to distant district secretary posts. Because Ke Yong's funds were suspected of being hidden in the home of Baron Fei Jiajin of Chongxin, and interrogation under torture by the Ministry of Justice found no proof, Section Director Xu Weilian was relegated outside the capital. For a time harsh edicts poured down in succession, and because the name of the chiliarch was never disclosed, the whole court was shaken with alarm. At the time the Eastern Depot eunuch Zhang Cheng had fallen from imperial favor. Zhang's household slave Huo Wenbing, an assistant chiliarch in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard, was due for promotion to Assistant Commandant; the ministry had already memorialized the appointment, but the Emperor sought a pretext to punish the remonstrating officials and used this as the charge. He soon turned his wrath on the supervising secretaries and censors of both capitals, charging them with silence, and ordered those holding the seals to strip three ranks from each. Thereupon Supervising Secretaries Geng Suilong, Zou Tingyan, Li Daozhao, Sun Yuhou, Huang Yuntai, and Mao Yigong; Censors Li Zongyan, Gu Jiming, Yuan Keli, Qi Cai, Wu Lijia, Wang Yougong, and Li Guben; Nanjing Supervising Secretaries Wu Wenhuan, Fei Bixing, and Lu Dazhong; and Censors Liu Zuo, Nie Yingke, and Li Wenxi—nineteen men in all—were transferred outside the capital, while those who remained all had their salaries suspended for one year. He also ordered the Ministry of Personnel to submit a list of names by rank and again dismissed Censors Feng Congwu, Xue Jimao, Wang Shende, and Yao Sanrang. Grand Secretaries Zhao Zhigao, Chen Yubi, and Shen Yiguan and the Nine Ministers each submitted memorials in protest; Minister Shi Xing asked to resign in the hope of winning leniency for the officials, but none of it was accepted. Yu Bi submitted a separate memorial to plead for them. The Emperor grew angry and ordered the men demoted to miscellaneous posts and all transferred to the frontier. Ministers Sun Piyang and others, seeing the edict grow ever harsher, memorialized again begging for pardon. The Emperor grew still angrier and stripped them all of office, reducing them to commoners. Jinglun was deeply indignant and submitted a defiant memorial, saying:

頃屢奉嚴旨，斥逐南北言官。臣幸蒙恩，罰俸供職，今日乃臣諫諍之日矣。陛下數年以來，深居靜攝，君臣道否，中外俱抱隱憂。所恃言路諸臣，明目張膽為國家裁辨邪正，指斥奸雄。雖廟堂處分，未必盡協輿論，而縉紳公議，頗足維持世風，此高廟神靈實鑒佑之。所資臺省耳目之用大矣，陛下何為一旦自塗其耳目邪？

Recently I have repeatedly received harsh edicts expelling remonstrating officials north and south. Your servant has been fortunate enough to receive grace, punished only with salary withheld while remaining at his post; today is the day for me to remonstrate. For several years Your Majesty has dwelt in deep seclusion; the bond between ruler and minister is broken, and court and country alike harbor hidden dread. What the realm relied upon were the remonstrating officials, who with open eyes and bold hearts judged right and wrong for the state and denounced villains and usurpers. Though decisions from the throne may not always accord with public opinion, the shared judgment of the gentry is enough to uphold the moral tone of the age—and the spirit of Grand Ancestor truly witnesses and blesses this. The Censorate and Secretariat serve as eyes and ears of incomparable value—why should Your Majesty in a single day blind and stop up his own eyes and ears?

夫以兵部考察之故，而罪兵科是已。乃因而蔓及於他給事，又波連於諸御史。去者不明署其應得之罪，留者不明署其姑恕之由。雖聖意淵微，未易窺測，而道路傳說，嘖有煩言。陛下年來厭苦言官，動輒罪以瀆擾，今忽變而以箝口罪之。夫以無言罪言官，言官何辭。臣竊觀陛下所為罪言官者，猶淺之乎罪言官也。乃言官今日之箝口不言者，有五大罪焉。陛下不郊天有年矣，曾不能援故典排闥以諍，是陷陛下之不敬天者。罪一。陛下不享祖有年矣，曾不能開至誠牽裾以諍，是陷陛下之不敬祖者。罪二。陛下輟朝不禦，停講不舉，言官言之而不能卒復之，是陷陛下不能如祖宗之勤政。罪三。陛下去邪不決，任賢不篤，言官言之而不能強得之，是陷陛下不能如祖宗之用人。罪四。陛下好貨成癖，禦不少恩，肘腋之間，叢怨蓄變，言官俱慮之，而卒不能批鱗諫止，是陷陛下甘棄初政，而弗猶克終。罪五。言官負此大罪，陛下肯奮然勵精而以五罪罪之，豈不當哉！奈何責之箝口不言者，不於此而於彼也！

To punish the military section of the Office of Scrutiny over the Ministry of War's evaluation would have been enough. Yet the matter spread to other supervising secretaries and rippled outward to the various censors. For those sent away, the crimes they deserved were never clearly stated; for those who remained, the reasons for provisional leniency were never made clear. Though the sage intent is profound and not easy to fathom, rumor runs through the streets and vexing talk abounds. In recent years Your Majesty has wearied of remonstrating officials and often punished them for irreverent disturbance; now suddenly the charge has changed to keeping silent. To punish remonstrators for saying nothing—what defense can remonstrators offer? I privately observe that in punishing remonstrators, Your Majesty has still not punished them as they deserve. For the remonstrators' present silence there are five great crimes. Your Majesty has not performed the suburban sacrifice to Heaven for many years, yet they never invoked precedent and forced the gate to remonstrate—thus implicating Your Majesty in disrespect for Heaven. First crime. Your Majesty has not offered sacrifice to the ancestors for many years, yet they never opened their utmost sincerity and clutched your robe to admonish—thus implicating Your Majesty in disrespect for the ancestors. Second crime. Your Majesty has ceased holding court and stopped the lecture hall, and though remonstrators spoke of it they could not in the end restore these practices—thus implicating Your Majesty in failing to match the ancestors' diligence in governance. Third crime. Your Majesty removes the wicked without resolve and employs the worthy without steadfastness; remonstrators spoke of it but could not force the issue—thus implicating Your Majesty in failing to match the ancestors in employing men. Fourth crime. Your Majesty's craving for wealth has become a habit; you grant no sparing grace, and in your closest quarters grievances gather and trouble brews; all remonstrators feared this yet in the end could not touch the dragon's scales to stop it—thus implicating Your Majesty in willingly abandoning the early policies without achieving a good end. Fifth crime. That remonstrators bear these great crimes—if Your Majesty would vigorously rouse yourself and punish them with these five crimes, would that not be fitting! Yet why punish them for keeping silent here, and not for keeping silent there!

日者廷臣交章論救，不惟不肯還職，而且落職為民。夫諸臣本出草莽，今還初服，亦復何憾。獨念朝廷之過舉不可遂，大臣之忠懇不可拂。陛下不聽閣疏之救，改降級而為雜職，則輔臣何顏？是自離其腹心也。不聽部疏之救，改雜職而為編氓，則九卿何顏？是自戕其股肱也。夫君臣一體，元首雖明，亦賴股肱腹心耳目之用。今乃自塞其耳目，自離其腹心，自戕其股肱，陛下將誰與共理天下事乎！

Recently court ministers submitted memorial after memorial in their defense, yet not only were the dismissed not restored to office—they were reduced to commoners. Those officials originally came from humble life; now restored to plain dress, what regret need they have? I reflect only that the court's mistaken acts must not be allowed to stand, and a great minister's loyal earnestness must not be brushed aside. If Your Majesty will not heed the Grand Secretariat's intercession and change demotion to miscellaneous posts instead, what face can the chief ministers show? This is to cut yourself off from your own heart and core. If you will not heed the ministry's intercession and change miscellaneous posts to common status, what face can the Nine Ministers show? This is to maim your own arms and legs. Ruler and minister are one body; though the head be bright, it still relies on its arms, legs, heart, core, eyes, and ears. Now you stop up your own eyes and ears, cut yourself off from your own heart and core, maim your own arms and legs—with whom, Your Majesty, will you govern the affairs of the realm!

夫人君受命於天，與人臣受命於君一也。言官本無大罪，一旦震怒，罪以失職，無一敢抗命者。既大失人心，必上拂天意。萬一上天震怒，以陛下之不郊不帝、不朝不講、不惜才、不賤貨，咎失人君之職，而赫然降非常之災，不知陛下爾時能抗天命否乎？臣不能抗君，君不能抗天，此理明甚，陛下獨不思自為社稷計乎？

A ruler receives his mandate from Heaven just as a minister receives his mandate from his ruler. The remonstrators had committed no great crime; in a burst of wrath they were punished with loss of office, and not one dared resist the command. Having already lost the hearts of men, this must surely go against Heaven's intent above. If by chance Heaven is shaken with wrath, charging that for failing to sacrifice at the suburbs, to perform the Di sacrifice, to hold court, to lecture, to cherish talent, and to disdain wealth Your Majesty has lost a ruler's duty, and sends down a manifest extraordinary calamity—at that time, can Your Majesty resist Heaven's mandate? Your servant cannot resist his ruler, nor can a ruler resist Heaven; this principle is abundantly clear—does Your Majesty alone refuse to think for the sake of the altars of state?

帝大怒，亦貶三秩，出之外。

The Emperor was greatly angered and likewise stripped three ranks from him and sent him outside the capital.

經綸既獲譴，工科都給事中海陽林熙春等上疏曰：「陛下怒言官緘默，斥逐三十余人，臣等不勝悚懼。今御史經綸慷慨陳言，竊意必溫旨褒嘉，顧亦從貶斥。是以建言罪邪，抑以不言罪邪？臣等不能解也。前所罪者，既以不言之故，今所罪者又以敢言之故，令臣等安所適從哉？陛下誠以不言為溺職，則臣等不難進憂危之苦詞；誠以直言為忤旨，則臣等不難效喑默之成習。但恐廟堂之上，率諂佞取容，非君上之福也。臣等富貴榮辱之念豈與人殊，然寧為此不為彼者，毋亦沐二百余年養士之恩，不負君父，且不負此生耳。陛下奈何深怒痛疾，而折辱至是哉！」帝益怒，謫熙春茶鹽判官，加貶經綸為典史。熙春遂引疾去。是日，御史定興鹿久徵等亦上疏，請與諸臣同罪，貶澤州判官。二疏列名凡數十人，悉奪俸。

After Jinglun had been punished, Supervising Secretaries of the Office of Works including Lin Xichun of Haiyang submitted a memorial saying, "Your Majesty was angered that remonstrators kept silent and expelled more than thirty men; we are overcome with dread and fear. Now Censor Jinglun spoke forthrightly and passionately; we privately thought he would surely receive a gracious edict of praise, yet he too was demoted and expelled. Is the crime speaking out, or is the crime not speaking? We cannot make sense of it. Those punished before were condemned for keeping silent; those punished now are condemned for daring to speak—how are we to know what to do? If Your Majesty truly holds silence to be dereliction of duty, we would not hesitate to speak the bitter truths of worry and peril; if frank speech is truly held to offend the imperial will, we would just as readily fall back into the settled habit of mute silence. We only fear that the court will fill with flatterers and sycophants seeking favor—and that can bring the sovereign no good. Our thoughts of wealth, honor, and disgrace are no different from anyone else's. Yet we choose to speak out rather than stay silent because we have received more than two hundred years of imperial nurture for scholars—we owe it to our ruler and to our own lives not to fail in our duty. Why must Your Majesty be so deeply enraged and humiliate us to this degree!" The Emperor grew still angrier. Xichun was demoted to judicial administrator of tea and salt, and Jinglun was further reduced to archivist. Xichun thereupon resigned, citing illness. That same day, Censor Lu Jiuzheng of Dingxing and others also submitted a memorial asking to share the other officials' punishment and were demoted to judicial administrators of Zezhou. The two memorials named several dozen men in all, and all had their salaries suspended.

頃之，南京御史東莞林培疏陳時政。帝追怒經綸，竟斥為民。既歸，杜門卻掃凡十年。卒，門人私謚聞道先生。

Before long, Nanjing Censor Lin Pei of Dongguan submitted a memorial on current affairs. The Emperor, still angry at Jinglun, ultimately stripped him of office and banished him to commoner status. After returning home, he shut his doors to the world and lived in seclusion for ten years. When he died, his disciples privately gave him the posthumous title Master Who Heard the Way.

培由鄉舉為新化知縣。縣僻陋，廣置社學教之。民有死於盜者，不得。禱於神，隨蝴蝶所至獲盜，時驚為神。征授南京御史，劾罪誠意伯劉世延，置其爪牙於法。已，上書言徐維濂不當謫；陜西織花絨、購回青擾民，宜罷；湖廣以魚鲊、江南以織造並奪撫按官俸，蘇州通判至以織造故褫官，皆不可訓；並論及沈思孝等。帝怒，謫福建鹽運知事。告歸，卒。

Pei entered office through the provincial examination and became magistrate of Xinhua. The county was remote and backward, so he established community schools throughout it to educate the people. When a commoner was killed by robbers, the culprits could not be found. He prayed to the local deity and, following wherever butterflies flew, captured the robber; people at the time marveled at it as a miracle. He was summoned and appointed Nanjing Censor, impeached Marquis Liu Shiyan of Chengyi, and brought his henchmen to justice. Later he submitted a memorial arguing that Xu Weilian should not have been demoted; that Shaanxi's production of flowered velvet and procurement of huiqing blue pigment harassed the people and should be stopped; that Huguang withheld provincial officials' salaries over fish paste levies, and Jiangnan did the same over weaving levies, until even the vice prefect of Suzhou was stripped of office for weaving matters—all of which set a ruinous example; He also addressed Shen Sixiao and others. The Emperor was angered and demoted him to attendant of Fujian salt transport. He requested retirement, returned home, and died.

天啟初，復經綸官，贈太仆少卿。培贈光祿少卿，熙春亦還故職。屢遷大理卿，年老乞罷。時李宗延、柳佐輩鹹官於朝，頌其先朝建言事。詔加戶部右侍郎，致仕。

At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, Jinglun's office was restored and he was posthumously granted the title of Vice Minister of the Imperial Stud. Pei was posthumously granted the title of Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and Xichun also had his former office restored. He was repeatedly promoted until he became President of the Court of Judicial Review; in old age he asked to retire. At the time Li Zongyan, Liu Zuo, and others then in office at court praised his remonstrances under the previous reign. An edict promoted him to Vice Minister of the Right in the Ministry of Revenue, and he retired from office.

劉綱，邛州人。祖文恂，孝子。父應辰，舉鄉試，不仕，亦以孝義聞。綱舉萬歷二十三年進士，改庶吉士。二十五年七月，上疏曰：

Liu Gang was a native of Qiongzhou. His grandfather Wen Xun was renowned for filial piety. His father Yingchen passed the provincial examination but declined office and was also known for filial piety and righteousness. Gang passed the metropolitan examination in the twenty-third year of Wanli and was appointed a Hanlin academician. In the seventh month of the twenty-fifth year, he submitted a memorial saying:

去歲兩宮災，詔示天下，略無禹、湯罪己之誠，文、景蠲租之惠，臣已知天心之未厭矣。比大工肇興，伐木榷稅，采石運瓷，遠者萬里，近者亦數百里。小民竭膏血不足供費，絕筋骨不足任勞，鬻妻子不能償貸。加以旱魃為災，野無青草，人情胥怨，所在如仇。而天下悔禍，三殿復災。《五行志》曰：「君不思道，厥災燒宮。」陛下試自省，晝之為、夜之息，思在道乎，不在道乎？

Last year the two palaces burned, yet the edict issued to the realm showed scarcely the self-reproach of Yu and Tang or the rent remissions of Wen and Jing—I knew then that Heaven was not yet appeased. When major construction began, timber was felled and monopoly taxes levied, stone quarried and porcelain transported—supplies came from as far as ten thousand li away, and even nearby sources lay several hundred li distant. Common people drained their flesh and blood yet could not meet the costs, broke their bodies with labor yet could not finish the work, and sold wives and children yet still could not repay their debts. On top of this came drought; the fields withered bare of green grass, resentment spread everywhere, and men looked on one another as enemies. Yet even as the realm repented its calamities, the Three Halls burned again. The Treatise on the Five Elements says, "When the ruler does not reflect on the Way, the calamity is the burning of the palace." Your Majesty, examine yourself: in what you do by day and in what you rest from by night, are your thoughts on the Way, or not?

凡敬天法祖，親賢遠奸，寡欲保身，賤貨慎德，俱謂之道，反是非道矣。陛下比年以來，簡禋祀，罷朝講，棄股肱，閡耳目，斷地脈，忽天象，君臣有數載之隔，堂陛若萬里而遙。陛下深居靜攝，所為祈天永命者何狀，即外廷有不知，上天寧不見邪？今日之災，其應以類，天若曰：皇之不極，於誰會歸，何以門為？朝儀久曠，於誰稟仰，何以殿為？元宰素餐，有汙政地，何以閣為？其所以示警戒，勸更新者，至深切矣。尚可因循玩愒，重怒上帝哉！

Revering Heaven and honoring the ancestors, drawing close to the worthy and keeping the wicked at a distance, limiting desires and preserving oneself, disdaining wealth and guarding virtue—all these are the Way; their opposites are not. In recent years Your Majesty has simplified sacrificial rites, abolished court lectures, cast aside close ministers, blocked his eyes and ears, disturbed the earth's veins, and ignored celestial signs—so that ruler and ministers have been separated for years, and the throne seems ten thousand li from the court. Your Majesty dwells deep in seclusion—what form do your acts of praying to Heaven for enduring mandate take? Even if the outer court does not know, would Heaven above not see? Today's calamity answers in kind; Heaven seems to say: the royal failure—upon whom should blame fall? What need is there for gates? Court ceremony has long been neglected—upon whom do men look for guidance? What need is there for halls? The chief minister draws salary without serving and has a place that defiles governance—what need is there for the Grand Secretariat? The warning shown and the urging to renew could not be more profound. How can one still drift along in delay and idleness and again anger the Lord on High!

臣聞五行之性，忌積喜暢。積者，災之伏也，請冒死而言積之狀。皇長子冠婚、冊立久未舉行，是曰積典。大小臣僚以職事請，強半不報，是曰積牘。外之司府有官無人，是曰積缺。罪斥諸臣，概不錄敘，是曰積才。閫外有揚帆之醜，中原起揭竿之徒，是曰積寇。守邊治河，諸臣虛詞罔上，恬不為怪，是曰積玩。諸所為積，陛下不能以明斷決，元輔趙誌臯不能以去就爭，天應隨之，毫髮不爽。陛下何不召九卿、臺諫面議得失，見兔顧犬，未為晚也。若必專任誌臯，處堂相安，小之隳政事而羞士類，大之叢民怨而益大怒。天下大計奈何以此匪人當之！此不可令關白諸酋聞也。

I have heard that the nature of the Five Elements hates accumulation and delights in release. Accumulation is where calamity lies hidden; I beg leave to risk death and describe what has accumulated. The capping, marriage, and investiture of the heir apparent have long gone unperformed—this is accumulated ritual neglect. Great and small officials submit business on their duties, yet more than half receive no reply—this is accumulated paperwork. Outside the capital, offices have posts but no men to fill them—this is accumulated vacancy. Officials punished and expelled are on the whole not restored to service—this is accumulated talent wasted. Beyond the passes pirates sail with impunity, and in the Central Plain men rise in rebellion—this is accumulated disorder. In guarding the borders and managing the rivers, officials offer empty words to deceive their superiors and feel no shame—this is accumulated negligence. For all these accumulations, Your Majesty cannot resolve them with clear judgment, and Chief Minister Zhao Zhigao will not fight over staying or leaving—Heaven's response follows, not a hair's breadth astray. Why does Your Majesty not summon the Nine Ministers and the remonstrating censors to discuss affairs face to face? It is not yet too late to loose the hound when the hare appears. If Your Majesty insists on relying solely on Zhigao, sitting at ease in the hall, in small matters he will ruin governance and shame the scholar class; in great matters he will heap up popular resentment and increase Heaven's wrath. How can the fate of the realm be entrusted to such a worthless man! This must not be allowed to reach the ears of the Jurchen chiefs.

帝得疏，恚甚，將罪之。以方遘殿災，留中不報。

When the Emperor received the memorial, he was furious and was about to punish him. Because the palace had just suffered a fire, the memorial was kept at court and no reply was issued.

已而授編修。居二年，京察。坐浮躁，調外任，遂歸。明年卒。故事，翰林與政府聲氣相屬。綱直攻誌臯短，故嗛之不置，假察典中之。明世以庶吉士專疏建言者，前惟鄒智，後則劉之綸與綱，並四川人。

Before long he was appointed compiler. After two years came the capital evaluation. He was judged for being frivolous and impetuous, transferred to an outside post, and then returned home. The next year he died. By precedent, the Hanlin Academy and the chief ministers moved in concert. Gang had directly attacked Zhigao's faults, so Zhigao resented him without end and got at him through the evaluation. In the Ming dynasty, the Hanlin academicians who devoted themselves to memorial remonstrance were, earlier, only Zou Zhi, and later Liu Zhilun and Gang—all natives of Sichuan.

戴士衡，字章尹，莆田人。萬歷十七年進士。除新建知縣，擢吏科給事中。薊州總兵官王保濫殺南兵，士衡極論其罪。已，請亟補言官，劾石星誤國大罪五。山東稅使陳增請假便宜得舉刺將吏，淮、揚魯保亦請節制有司，士衡力爭。仁聖太后梓宮發引，帝不親送，士衡言：「母子至情，送死大事，奈何於內庭數武地，靳一舉足勞。今山陵竣事，願陛下扶杖出迎神主，庶少慰聖母之靈，答臣民之望。」錦衣千戶鄭一麟奏開昌平銀礦。士衡以地逼天壽山，抗疏爭。皆不報。

Dai Shiheng, styled Zhangyin, was a native of Putian. He passed the metropolitan examination in the seventeenth year of Wanli. He was appointed magistrate of Xinjian, then promoted to Supervising Secretary in the Office of Personnel. Wang Bao, regional commander of Jizhou, wantonly killed southern troops; Shiheng argued his crimes at length. Later he asked that remonstrating officials be urgently replenished and impeached Shi Xing on five great counts of harming the state. Chen Zeng, tax commissioner of Shandong, asked leave to investigate and impeach generals and officials at his discretion; Lu Bao of Huai and Yang also asked to control civil officials—Shiheng contested both vigorously. When the coffin of Empress Dowager Rensheng was sent on its way, the Emperor did not escort it in person. Shiheng said, "The bond between mother and son is the deepest feeling in the world; sending off the dead is a grave duty—how can one, within the inner court over a distance of a few paces, begrudge the effort of a single step? Now that the imperial tomb is finished, I wish that Your Majesty would lean on a staff and go out to receive the spirit tablet, so as to give some comfort to the Empress Dowager's spirit and answer the hopes of officials and people." Battalion Commander Zheng Yilin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard memorialized to open the silver mine at Changping. Shiheng, because the site lay close to Tianshou Mountain, submitted a forceful memorial in opposition. None received a reply.

二十五年正月，極陳天下大計，言：「方今事勢不可知者三：天意也，人心也，氣運也。大可慮者五：紀綱廢弛也，戎狄侵陵也，根本動搖也，武備疏略也，府藏殫竭也。其切要而當亟正者一，則君心也。陛下高拱九重，目不睹師保之容，耳不聞丞弼之議，美麗當前，燕惰自佚，即欲殫聰明以計安社稷，其道無由。誠宜時禦便殿，召執政大臣講求化理，則心清欲寡，政事自修。」亦不報。

In the first month of the twenty-fifth year, he set forth the great plan of the realm at length, saying, "At present there are three things in the situation that cannot be known: Heaven's intent, the hearts of men, and the turn of fortune. There are five things greatly to be feared: the laws and institutions lie in ruin, the barbarians invade and encroach, the foundations are shaken, military preparedness is neglected, and the treasury is exhausted. There is one thing most urgent and needing immediate correction: the ruler's heart. Your Majesty sits high and withdrawn within the palace; your eyes do not behold the faces of tutors and guardians, your ears do not hear the deliberations of ministers and assistants; beauty lies before you, and in ease and idleness you give yourself to pleasure—even if you wished to exhaust your intelligence to secure the altars of state, there would be no way to do so. It is truly fitting to hold court from time to time in the side hall, summon the chief ministers to discuss the principles of good governance, and then the heart will be clear and desires few, and governance will right itself." This too received no reply.

日本封事敗，再劾星及沈惟敬、楊方亨，且列上防倭八事。多議行。俄劾南京工部尚書葉夢熊、刑部侍郎呂坤、薊遼總督孫幰及通政參議李宜春。時幰已罷，宜春自引歸，坤亦以直諫去。給事中劉道亨右坤，力詆士衡，謂其受大學士張位指。士衡亦劾道亨與星同鄉，為星報復。帝以言官互爭，皆報寢。尋劾罷文選郎中白所知。帝惡吏部郎，貶黜者二十二人，因詰責吏科朋比。都給事中劉為楫、楊廷蘭、張正學、林應元及士衡俱引罪。詔貶為楫一秩，與廷蘭等並調外。士衡得蘄州判官。無何，詔改遠方，乃授陜西鹽課副提舉。未赴，會《憂危竑議》起，竟坐遣戍。

When the investiture of Japan failed, he again impeached Shi Xing as well as Shen Weijing and Yang Fangheng, and also submitted eight measures for guarding against Japanese pirates. Many of the proposals were adopted. Before long he impeached Ye Mengxiong, Minister of Works at Nanjing; Lu Kun, Vice Minister of Justice; Sun Han, Grand Coordinator of Jiliao; and Li Yichun, Vice Commissioner of the Office of Transmission. At the time Han had already been dismissed, Yichun had withdrawn and returned home on his own, and Kun had also left after frank remonstrance. Supervising Secretary Liu Daoheng sided with Kun and fiercely denounced Shiheng, saying he acted at the direction of Grand Secretary Zhang Wei. Shiheng also impeached Daoheng as a fellow townsman of Shi Xing, acting in revenge for Shi. The Emperor, because the remonstrating officials were quarreling with one another, shelved all the memorials without action. Before long he impeached and had dismissed Bai Suozhi, Director in the Bureau of Appointments. The Emperor hated the Ministry of Personnel directors; twenty-two were demoted and expelled, and he thereupon rebuked the Office of Personnel for factional collusion. Chief Supervising Secretaries Liu Weiji, Yang Tinglan, Zhang Zhengxue, and Lin Yingyuan, together with Shiheng, all took blame upon themselves. An edict demoted Liu Weiji one rank and transferred him, along with Tinglan and the others, to posts outside the capital. Shiheng was appointed assistant magistrate of Qizhou. Before long an edict reassigned him to a distant post, and he was made Deputy Salt-tax Intendant of Shaanxi. Before he could take up the post, the affair of the "Youwei Jiong Memorial" erupted, and he was ultimately banished to frontier guard duty.

先是，士衡再劾坤，謂潛進《閨範圖說》，結納宮闈，因請舉冊立、冠婚諸禮。帝不悅。至是有跋《閨範》後者，名曰《憂危竑議》，誣坤與貴妃從父鄭承恩、戶部侍郎張養蒙、山西巡撫魏允貞、吏科給事中程紹、吏部員外郎鄧光祚及道亨、所知等同盟結納，羽翼貴妃子。承恩大懼。以坤、道亨、所知故與士衡有隙，而全椒知縣樊玉衡方上疏言國本，指斥貴妃，遂妄指士衡實為之，玉衡與其謀。帝震怒，貴妃復泣訴不已，夜半傳旨逮下詔獄拷訊。比明，命永戍士衡廉州、玉衡雷州。御史趙之翰復言：「是書非出一人，主謀者張位，奉行者士衡，同謀者右都御史徐作、禮部侍郎劉楚先、國子祭酒劉應秋、故給事中楊廷蘭、禮部主事萬建昆也。諸臣皆位心腹爪牙，宜並斥。」帝入其言，下之部院。時位已落職閑住，署事侍郎裴應章、副都御史郭惟賢力為作等解，不聽。奪楚先、作官，出應秋於外，廷蘭、建昆謫邊方，應章等復論救。帝不悅，斥位為民。

Earlier, Shiheng had again impeached Lu Kun, alleging that he had secretly submitted the Illustrated Expositions on Women's Virtues, cultivated connections within the inner palace, and thereby pressed for the performance of investiture, capping, and wedding ceremonies. The Emperor was displeased. At this point a postscript to the Women's Virtues appeared, called the Youwei Jiong Memorial, falsely accusing Kun of forming a clique with the Noble Consort's maternal uncle Zheng Chengen, Vice Minister of Revenue Zhang Yangmeng, Grand Coordinator of Shanxi Wei Yunzhen, Supervising Secretary of the Personnel Office Cheng Shao, Vice Director of Personnel Deng Guangzuo, and Daoheng, Suozhi, and others to bolster the Noble Consort's son. Chengen was terrified. Because of old enmity between them and Shiheng over Kun, Daoheng, and Suozhi, and because Fan Yuheng, magistrate of Quanjiao, had just submitted a memorial on the succession denouncing the Noble Consort, they falsely claimed that Shiheng had actually authored it and that Yuheng had plotted with him. The Emperor was shaken with rage. The Noble Consort wept and pleaded again without end, and at midnight an edict was transmitted ordering their arrest and interrogation in the imperial prison. By dawn he ordered Shiheng permanently exiled to Lianzhou and Yuheng to Leizhou. Censor Zhao Zhihan again said, "This book did not come from one man alone. The chief plotter was Zhang Wei; the one who carried it out was Shiheng; the co-conspirators were Right Censor-in-Chief Xu Zuo, Vice Minister of Rites Liu Chuxian, Chancellor of the Imperial Academy Liu Yingqiu, the late Supervising Secretary Yang Tinglan, and Principal Clerk in the Ministry of Rites Wan Jiankun. All these officials were Zhang Wei's trusted confidants and henchmen and should be expelled together." The Emperor accepted his words and referred the matter to the ministries and boards. Zhang Wei had already been dismissed and was living in retirement. Acting Vice Minister Pei Yingzhang and Vice Censor-in-Chief Guo Weixian pleaded strenuously on behalf of Zuo and the others, but the Emperor would not listen. Chuxian and Zuo were stripped of office; Yingqiu was posted outside the capital; Tinglan and Jiankun were banished to the frontier; and Yingzhang and the others again petitioned for their pardon. The Emperor was displeased and reduced Zhang Wei to commoner status.

士衡等再更赦，皆不原。四十五年，士衡卒於戍所。巡按御史田生金請脫其戍籍，釋玉衡生還，帝不許。天啟中，贈太仆少卿。

When amnesties were proclaimed again and again, Shiheng and the others were never pardoned. In the forty-fifth year, Shiheng died in exile. Touring Censor Tian Shengjin asked that Shiheng's exile record be cleared and Yuheng released to return home alive; the Emperor refused. During the Tianqi reign he was posthumously enfeoffed as Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud.

曹學程，字希明，全州人。萬歷十一年進士。歷知石首、海寧。治行最，擢御史。帝命將援朝鮮。已而兵部尚書石星聽沈惟敬言，力請封貢。乃以李宗城、楊方亨為正副使，往行冊封禮。未至日本，而惟敬言漸不售，宗城先逃歸。帝復惑星言，欲遣給事中一人充使，因察視情實。學程抗疏言：「邇者封事大壞，而方亨之揭，謂封事有緒。星、方亨表裏應和，不足倚信。為今日計，遣科臣往勘則可，往封則不可。石星很很自用，趙誌臯碌碌依違，東事之潰裂，元輔、樞臣俱不得辭其責。」初，朝鮮甫陷，御史郭實論經略宋應昌不足任，並陳七不可。帝以實沮撓，謫懷仁典史。後已遷刑部主事。會封貢議既罷，而朝鮮復懇請之。帝乃追怒前主議者，以實倡首，斥為民。並敕石星盡錄異議者名，將大譴責。誌臯等力解乃已。及遣使不得要領，因欲別遣，已而罷之，即以方亨為正使矣。而學程方督畿輔屯田，不知也。疏入，帝大怒，謂有暗囑關節，逮下錦衣衛嚴訊。榜掠無所得，移刑部定罪。尚書蕭大亨請宥，帝不許，命坐逆臣失節罪斬。刑科給事中侯廷佩等訟其冤。誌臯及陳於陛、沈一貫言尤切，皆不納。自是救者不絕，多言其母年九十余，哭子待斃。帝卒弗聽，數遇赦亦不原。

Cao Xuecheng, styled Ximing, was a native of Quanzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He served successively as magistrate of Shishou and Haining. Rated highest in administrative performance, he was promoted to censor. The Emperor ordered troops sent to aid Korea. Before long Minister of War Shi Xing, heeding Shen Weijing, strongly urged investiture and tribute. Li Zongcheng and Yang Fangheng were appointed chief and deputy envoys to carry out the investiture ceremony. Before they reached Japan, Shen Weijing's assurances gradually lost credence, and Zongcheng fled home first. The Emperor again fell under Shi's influence and wished to send a supervising secretary as envoy to investigate the true situation. Xuecheng submitted a forceful memorial saying, "Recently the investiture has gone badly awry, yet Fangheng's report claims it is making progress. Shi and Fangheng echo each other inside and out and cannot be relied upon. For the present, sending a censorial official to investigate is acceptable; sending one to investiture is not. Shi Xing is stubbornly self-willed; Zhao Zhigao is feckless and indecisive. Neither the chief minister nor the minister of war can evade responsibility for the collapse of affairs in the East." Earlier, when Korea had just fallen, Censor Guo Shi argued that Grand Coordinator Song Yingchang was unfit for the post and set forth seven reasons why he should not serve. The Emperor regarded Shi as obstructive and demoted him to record keeper of Huairen. By then he had already been transferred to Principal Clerk in the Ministry of Justice. When the proposal for investiture and tribute had already been abandoned, Korea again pleaded earnestly for it. The Emperor then turned his wrath on those who had earlier led the debate, made Shi the chief offender, and reduced him to commoner status. He also ordered Shi Xing to record fully the names of all dissenters, intending to punish them severely. Zhigao and the others pleaded strenuously before he desisted. When sending envoys yielded no clear result, he wished to dispatch others instead; but this was abandoned, and Fangheng was made chief envoy. Xuecheng, however, was then supervising military colonies in the capital region and knew nothing of this. When the memorial was submitted, the Emperor was greatly enraged, alleging covert interference, and ordered Xuecheng seized and rigorously interrogated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Torture under the rod yielded nothing, and the case was transferred to the Ministry of Justice for judgment. Minister Xiao Daheng requested clemency, but the Emperor refused and ordered execution on the charge of a traitorous subject who had lost his integrity. Supervising Secretaries of the Justice Office Hou Tingpei and others pleaded his innocence. Zhigao, Chen Yubi, and Shen Yiguan spoke most urgently; all were rejected. From then on pleas for mercy did not cease; many noted that his mother was over ninety and wept for her son awaiting execution. The Emperor ultimately would not listen; even when amnesties were repeatedly proclaimed, he was not pardoned.

其子正儒，朝夕不離犴狴。見父憔悴骨立，嘔血仆地，久之乃蘇，因刺血書奏乞代父死，終不省。三十四年九月，始用朱賡言，謫戍湖廣寧遠衛。久之，放歸，卒。天啟初，贈太仆少卿。崇禎時，旌正儒為孝子。

His son Zhengru never left the prison, day or night. Seeing his father wasted to the bone, he vomited blood and collapsed; long afterward he revived, then wrote a memorial in his own blood begging to die in his father's place, but it was never heeded. In the ninth month of the thirty-fourth year, the Emperor at last heeded Zhu Geng and banished him to guard duty at Ningyuan Post in Huguang. After a long while he was released to return home, and there he died. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign he was posthumously enfeoffed as Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. During the Chongzhen reign, Zhengru was honored as a filial son.

郭實，字伯華，高邑人。萬歷十一年進士。授朝邑知縣，選授御史。御史王麟趾劾湖廣巡撫秦耀結政府狀，謫徐溝丞。實復劾耀，耀乃罷。比去任，侵贓贖銀巨萬，為衡州同知沈鈇所發，下吏戍邊。故事，撫按贓贖率貯州縣為公費，自耀及都御史李采菲、御史沈汝梁、祝大舟鹹以自潤敗。自是率預滅其籍，無可稽矣。實以論朝鮮事黜。久之，封貢不成，星下吏。給事中侯廷佩請還實官，不許。家居十五年，起南京刑部主事，終大理右寺丞。

Guo Shi, styled Bohua, was a native of Gaoyi. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Chaoyi, then selected and appointed censor. Censor Wang Linzhi impeached Grand Coordinator of Huguang Qin Yao for currying favor with the central government and was demoted to assistant magistrate of Xu Gou. Shi again impeached Yao, and Yao was dismissed. Upon leaving office it was found he had embezzled over ten thousand taels of restitution silver; exposed by Vice Magistrate of Hengzhou Shen Fu, he was handed over to the courts and exiled to the frontier. By precedent, restitution silver from provincial commissioners was generally stored at prefectures and counties for public expenses; from Yao onward, as well as Censor-in-Chief Li Caifei and Censors Shen Ruliang and Zhu Dazhou, all came to ruin through self-enrichment. From then on they habitually expunged the records in advance, so nothing could be audited. Shi was dismissed for his remarks on the Korean affair. After a long while, when investiture and tribute failed, Shi Xing was handed over to the courts. Supervising Secretary Hou Tingpei requested that Shi's office be restored; this was refused. After fifteen years at home he was recalled as Principal Clerk in the Nanjing Ministry of Justice and ended as Vice Director of the Right Office of the Court of Judicial Review.

翁憲祥，字兆隆，常熟人。萬歷二十年進士。為鄞縣知縣。課最，入為禮科給事中。以憂去。補吏科，疏陳銓政五事。其一論掣簽法，言：「使盡付之無心，則天官之職一吏可代。茍為不然，則地本預擬，何必於大廷中為掩飾之術。請亟停罷。」時不能從。故事，正郎不奉使，撫按必俟代，至是多反之。而江西巡撫許弘綱以父憂徑歸，廣西巡撫楊芳亦以憂乞免代，憲祥極言非制。弘綱貶官，芳亦被責。言者詆朱賡、李廷機輒被譴，憲祥疏論。已，劾雲南巡撫陳用賓、兩廣總督戴耀，並不報。是時大僚多缺。而侍郎楊時喬、楊道賓旬日間相繼物故，吏、禮二部長貳遂無一人。兵部止一尚書，養屙不出。戶、刑、工三部暨都察院堂上官，俱以人言註籍。通政大理亦無見官。憲祥言九卿俱曠，甚傷國體。因陳補缺官、起遺佚數事，報聞。屢遷刑科都給事中。吏部尚書孫丕揚、副都御史許弘綱以考察為言路所攻，求去。憲祥言：「一時賢者，直道難容，相率引避。國是如此，可為寒心。」既而軍政拾遺，疏為錦衣都督王之楨所撓，久不下。罪人陳用賓等已論死，疏亦留中。憲祥皆抗章論駁。知縣滿朝薦、李嗣善，同知王邦才，以忤稅使系獄，乃請釋之。會冬至停決囚，復請推緩刑德意，宥撝臣、矜楚獄。帝皆不報。尋調吏科。四十一年，命輔臣葉向高典會試，給事中曾六德以論救被察官坐貶，旨皆從內出。憲祥力諫。中官黃勛、趙祿、李朝用、胡濱等不法，亦連疏彈劾。久之，擢太常少卿。居數年卒。

Weng Xianxiang, styled Zhaolong, was a native of Changshu. He passed the jinshi examination in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign. He served as magistrate of Yin County. Rated highest in assessment, he entered the Office of Rites as supervising secretary. He left office upon bereavement. Transferred to the Office of Personnel, he submitted a memorial setting forth five matters on appointment policy. The first concerned the lottery-drawing method of appointment, saying, "If everything is left entirely to chance, then the duties of the Ministry of Personnel could be performed by a single clerk. If that is not so, then the posts are predetermined in advance—why resort in the great court to a method of concealment? I beg that it be stopped at once." At the time this could not be accepted. By precedent, full directors did not go on missions, and grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners had to await their replacements; by this time the practice was often reversed. Grand Coordinator of Jiangxi Xu Honggang returned directly home upon his father's death; Grand Coordinator of Guangxi Yang Fang also asked to be excused from awaiting replacement on grounds of bereavement; Xianxiang forcefully argued this was contrary to regulations. Honggang was demoted; Fang was also reprimanded. When critics denounced Zhu Geng and Li Tingji and they were repeatedly rebuked, Xianxiang submitted a memorial in their defense. Later he impeached Grand Coordinator of Yunnan Chen Yongbin and Grand Coordinator of the Two Guangs Dai Yao; both memorials went unanswered. At this time many high offices stood vacant. Within ten days Vice Ministers Yang Shiqiao and Yang Daobin died in succession, and the ministries of Personnel and Rites had not a single chief or deputy left. The Ministry of War had only one minister, who nursed his illness and would not appear. The ministers and vice ministers of Revenue, Justice, and Works, together with the chief officers of the Censorate, were all suspended from office on public criticism. The Office of Transmission and the Court of Judicial Review likewise had no incumbent officials. Xianxiang said the Nine Ministers were all vacant, which gravely injured the dignity of the state. He therefore submitted several proposals to fill vacant posts and recall overlooked men of talent; acknowledgment was received. He was repeatedly promoted to Chief Supervising Secretary of the Justice Office. Minister of Personnel Sun Piyang and Vice Censor-in-Chief Xu Honggang, attacked by the remonstrating officials over the personnel evaluation, asked to leave office. Xianxiang said, "For a time the worthy have found the straight path hard to endure and have withdrawn one after another. When the state is like this, one must feel chill at heart." Later, on matters of military administration he submitted supplementary memorials that were blocked by Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Wang Zhizhen and long went unanswered. When the convicted Chen Yongbin and others had already been sentenced to death, his memorial was also retained at court. Xianxiang submitted forceful memorials arguing against all of this. Magistrates Man Chaojian and Li Sishan and Vice Magistrate Wang Bangcai, imprisoned for offending the tax commissioner—he asked to have them released. On the occasion of the winter solstice halt in executions, he again asked that the Emperor extend his virtue of lenient punishment, pardon erring officials, and show mercy to prisoners in distant jails. The Emperor responded to none of it. He was soon transferred to the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel. In the forty-first year the emperor ordered Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao to preside over the metropolitan examination; supervising secretary Zeng Liude was demoted for pleading on behalf of an official under review—and the rescripts all issued from within the palace. Xianxiang remonstrated forcefully. The eunuchs Huang Xun, Zhao Lu, Li Chaoyong, Hu Bin, and others acted unlawfully; he also submitted successive memorials impeaching them. After a long while he was promoted to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Several years later he died.

徐大相，字覺斯，江西安義人。萬歷四十四年進士。授東昌推官。改武學教授，稍遷國子博士。四十七年九月朔，百僚將早朝，司禮中官盧受傳免。眾趨出，受從後姍侮。大相憤，歸草二疏。一論遼左事，一論受奸邪。時接疏者即受也。見遼事疏曰：「此小臣，亦敢言事。」及帝閱第二疏，顧受曰：「此即論汝罪者。」受錯愕，叩頭流血請罪，曰：「奴當死。」疏乃留中。是日，南京國子學錄喬拱璧亦疏劾受，不報。明年，遷兵部主事。天啟二年，調吏部稽勛主事，移考功。明年，進驗封員外郎。進士薛邦瑞為其祖蕙請謚，大相與尚書張問達議如其請。熹宗方惡恤典冗濫，鐫大相三秩，出之外。問達等引罪，不問。大學士葉向高、都御史趙南星等連疏救，乃改鐫二秩。大相方候命，群奄黨受者數十輩，持梃噪於門。比搜大相橐，止俸金七十兩，乃哄然散。家居，杜門讀書，裏人罕見其面。

Xu Daxiang, styled Juesi, came from Anyi in Jiangxi. He passed the jinshi examination in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed investigating censor of Dongchang. He was transferred to instructor at the military academy and soon rose to erudite of the National University. On the first day of the ninth month of the forty-seventh year, as the hundred officials were about to attend early court, the ceremonial eunuch Lu Shou transmitted an order excusing court. The crowd hurried out; Shou followed behind with slow, insulting steps. Daxiang was indignant; returning home he drafted two memorials. One discussed affairs on the Liaodong frontier; one impeached Shou for wicked conduct. The one then receiving memorials was Shou himself. Seeing the Liaodong memorial he said: "This petty official also dares speak on affairs." When the emperor read the second memorial he turned to Shou and said: "This is the one who impeaches your crimes." Shou was startled and abashed; he kowtowed until blood flowed and begged forgiveness, saying: "Your slave deserves death." The memorial was then kept at court. That same day Nanjing University instructor Qiao Gongbi also submitted a memorial impeaching Shou; there was no reply. The following year he was transferred to principal officer in the Ministry of War. In the second year of the Tianqi reign he was transferred to principal officer of merit records in the Ministry of Personnel, then moved to the bureau of evaluation. The next year he advanced to vice director of seal verification. Jinshi Xue Bangrui asked a posthumous title for his grandfather Hui; Daxiang and Minister Zhang Wendá deliberated and agreed to the request. Emperor Xizong was then resentful of redundant and excessive mourning honors; Daxiang was reduced three ranks and sent outside the capital. Wendá and others cited guilt; they were not investigated. Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao, censor-in-chief Zhao Nanxing, and others submitted successive memorials in his defense; the reduction was changed to two ranks. Daxiang was just awaiting his order when several dozen eunuch partisans of Shou, carrying clubs, made a clamor at his gate. When they searched Daxiang's bags they found only seventy taels of salary silver; then they dispersed with a hubbub. Living at home, he shut his door to read; townspeople rarely saw his face.

贊曰：神宗中年，德荒政圮。懷忠發憤之士，宜其激昂抗詞以匡君失。然納諫有方，務將以誠意。絞訐摩上，君子弗為。謂其忠厚之意薄，而衒沽之情勝也。雒於仁、馬經綸詆譏譙讓，幾為儕偶所不能堪矣。聖人取諷諫，意者殆不如是乎！

The eulogist says: In the middle years of Emperor Shenzong, virtue was abandoned and government collapsed. Men who cherished loyalty and gave vent to indignation—it was fitting that they should speak boldly in opposition to correct their ruler's faults. Yet there is a proper way to accept remonstrance, and one must employ sincere intent. To wrangle and nitpick while wearing down the sovereign—the gentleman does not do this. One may say their thick and honest intent ran thin while the impulse to display and court reputation prevailed. Luo Yuren and Ma Jinglun reviled and reproached with such vehemence that their peers could scarcely bear it. When the sage accepts indirect admonition, his intent is probably not like this!

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