Volume 236 Biographies 124: Li Zhi, Jiang Dongzhi, Tang Zhaojing, Jin Shiheng, Wang Yuanhan, Sun Zhenji, Ding Yuanjian, Li Pu, Xia Jiayu

李植〈（羊可立）〉江東之湯兆京金士衡王元翰孫振基〈（子必顯）〉丁元薦〈（于玉立）〉李樸夏嘉遇

Li Zhi (Yang Keli)]〉 Jiang Dongzhi, Tang Zhaojing, Jin Shiheng, Wang Yuanhan, and Sun Zhenji (Zi Bixian)]〉 Ding Yuanjian (Yu Yuli)]〉 Li Pu and Xia Jiayu

李植，字汝培。父承式，自大同徙居江都，官福建布政使。植舉萬歷五年進士，選庶吉士，授御史。十年冬，張居正卒，馮保猶用事。其黨錦衣指揮同知徐爵居禁中，為閱章奏，擬詔旨如故。居正黨率倚爵以自結於保，爵勢益張。而帝雅銜居正、保，未有以發。御史江東之首暴爵奸，並言兵部尚書梁夢龍與爵交歡，以得吏部，宜斥。帝下爵獄，論死，夢龍罷去。植遂發保十二大罪。帝震怒，罪保。植、東之由是受知於帝。

Li Zhi, styled Rupei. His father Chengshi had moved from Datong to Jiangdu and held the post of Fujian Provincial Administration Commissioner. Zhi passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Wanli reign, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed censor. In the winter of the tenth year, Zhang Juzheng died, yet Feng Bao still wielded power at court. His ally Xu Jue, an assistant commissioner of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard, lived inside the palace, reviewed memorials, and drafted edicts just as before. Juzheng's faction routinely used Jue to curry favor with Bao, and Jue's influence grew ever stronger. The emperor had long harbored resentment toward Juzheng and Bao, but had lacked an occasion to strike. The censor Jiang Dongzhi was the first to expose Jue's crimes, and charged that Minister of War Liang Menglong had won the Ministry of Personnel through his intimacy with Jue and ought to be removed. The emperor had Jue thrown into prison and sentenced to death, and Menglong was dismissed from office. Zhi then enumerated twelve grave crimes committed by Bao. The emperor was furious and punished Bao. Through this, Zhi and Dongzhi won the emperor's favor.

明年，植巡按畿輔，請寬居正所定百官乘驛之禁，從之。帝用禮部尚書徐學謨言，將卜壽宮於大峪山。植扈行閱視，謂其地未善。欲偕東之疏爭，不果。明年，植還朝。時御史羊可立亦以追論居正受帝知。三人更相結，亦頗引吳中行、趙用賢、沈思孝為重。執政方忌中行、用賢，且心害植三人寵。會爭御史丁此呂事及論學謨卜壽宮之非，與申時行等相拄，卒被斥去。

The following year, as investigating censor in the capital region, Zhi asked that the restrictions Juzheng had placed on officials' use of courier stations be eased, and the court agreed. Acting on the advice of Minister of Rites Xu Xuemo, the emperor planned to select a mausoleum site at Dayu Mountain. Zhi accompanied the imperial tour to inspect the site and declared the location unsuitable. He wished to join Dongzhi in a memorial of protest, but could not carry it through. The following year Zhi returned to the capital. At that time the censor Yang Keli likewise won imperial favor by pressing the case against Juzheng. The three men banded together and also looked to Wu Zhongxing, Zhao Yongxian, and Shen Sixiao as allies of standing. The chief ministers already resented Zhongxing and Yongxian, and inwardly resented the favor the emperor showed Zhi and his two allies. When the dispute over Censor Ding Cilü and objections to Xuemo's mausoleum site brought them into conflict with Shen Shixing and his colleagues, all three were eventually driven from office.

初，兵部員外郎嵇應科、山西提學副使陸檄、河南參政戴光啟為鄉會試考官，私居正子嗣修、懋修、敬修。居正敗，此呂發其事。又言：「禮部侍郎何雒文代嗣修、懋修撰殿試策，而侍郎高啟愚主南京試，至以『舜亦以命禹』為題，顯為勸進。」大學士申時行、余有丁、許國皆嗣修等座主也，言考官止據文藝，安知姓名，不宜以此為罪，請敕吏部核官評，以定去留。尚書楊巍議黜雒文，改調應科、檄，留啟愚、光啟，而言此呂不顧經旨，陷啟愚大逆。此呂坐謫。植、東之及同官楊四知、給事中王士性等不平，交章劾巍，語侵時行。東之疏言：「時行以二子皆登科，不樂此呂言科場事。巍雖庇居正，實媚時行。」時行、巍並求去。帝欲慰留時行，召還此呂，以兩解之。有丁、國言不謫此呂，無以安時行、巍心。國反覆詆言者生事，指中行、用賢為黨。中行、用賢疏辨求去，語皆侵國，用賢語尤峻。國避位不出。於是左都御史趙錦，副都御史石星，尚書王遴、潘季馴、楊兆，侍郎沈鯉、陸光祖、舒化、何起鳴、褚鈇，大理卿溫純，及都給事中齊世臣、御史劉懷恕等，極論時行、國、巍不宜去。主事張正鵠、南京郎中汪應蛟、御史李廷彥、蔡時鼎、黃師顏等又力攻請留三臣者之失。中行亦疏言：「律禁上言大臣德政。邇者襲請留居正遺風，輔臣辭位，群起奏留，贊德稱功，聯章累牘。此諂諛之極，甚可恥也。祖宗二百余年以來，無諫官論事為吏部劾罷者，則又壅蔽之漸，不可長也。」帝竟留三臣，責言者如錦等指。其後，啟愚卒為南京給事中劉一相劾去，時行亦不能救也。

Earlier, Ji Yingke of the Ministry of War, Lu Xi, vice commissioner for education in Shanxi, and Dai Guangqi, administrative commissioner in Henan, had served as examiners in the provincial and metropolitan examinations and had favored Juzheng's sons Siziu, Maoxiu, and Jingxiu. After Juzheng fell, Cilü exposed the affair. He further charged that Vice Minister of Rites He Luowen had written the palace examination essays for Siziu and Maoxiu, while Vice Minister Gao Qiyu had presided over the Nanjing examination and even set the theme 'Shun likewise entrusted Yu'—plainly a bid to urge Juzheng's sons forward. Grand Secretaries Shen Shixing, Yu Youding, and Xu Guo had all been chief examiners to Siziu and his brothers. They argued that examiners judge only literary merit and cannot know candidates' names, that such charges should not stand as crimes, and asked that the Ministry of Personnel review official evaluations to decide dismissals and retention. Minister Yang Wei proposed dismissing Luowen and transferring Yingke and Xi while retaining Qiyu and Guangqi, and charged that Cilü had twisted the classics and falsely imputed treason to Qiyu. Cilü was demoted in consequence. Zhi, Dongzhi, their colleague Yang Sizhi, the supervising secretary Wang Shixing, and others were outraged and submitted successive memorials impeaching Wei, with language that touched Shen Shixing as well. Dongzhi wrote: 'Shixing, whose two sons both passed the examinations, was displeased that Cilü raised matters of the examination halls. Though Wei shielded Juzheng, he was in fact currying favor with Shixing. Shixing and Wei both asked to resign. The emperor wished to keep Shixing and comfort him, recalled Cilü, and sought to reconcile both sides. Youding and Guo argued that unless Cilü were demoted, Shixing and Wei could not be reassured. Guo repeatedly denounced the memorialists as troublemakers and branded Zhongxing and Yongxian a faction. Zhongxing and Yongxian memorialized in their own defense and asked to resign; both attacked Guo, and Yongxian's language was especially harsh. Guo withdrew from his post and refused to attend court. Thereupon Zhao Jin, Left Censor-in-Chief, Shi Xing, Vice Censor-in-Chief, Ministers Wang Lin, Pan Jixun, and Yang Zhao, Vice Ministers Shen Li, Lu Guangzu, Shu Hua, He Qiming, and Chu Tie, Chief Judge Wen Chun of the Court of Judicial Review, Chief Supervising Secretary Qi Shichen, Censor Liu Huaishu, and others argued at length that Shixing, Guo, and Wei ought not to resign. Section Director Zhang Zhenghu, Nanjing Bureau Director Wang Yingjiao, and Censors Li Tingyan, Cai Shiding, and Huang Shiyan in turn attacked sharply the errors of those who had pleaded to keep the three ministers. Zhongxing also wrote: 'The law forbids memorializing on a great minister's virtue and achievements. Of late, following the custom left from Juzheng's day, whenever a chief minister offered to resign the whole body rose to beg him stay, praising his virtue and proclaiming his merit in memorial after memorial. This is flattery at its worst, and deeply shameful. In more than two hundred years since the founding of the dynasty, no remonstrating official has been impeached and dismissed by the Ministry of Personnel for discussing affairs of state; this is again the beginning of obstruction and must not be allowed to grow. The emperor ultimately kept the three ministers and rebuked the memorialists as Jin and his allies had urged. Later Qiyu was impeached and removed by Nanjing Supervising Secretary Liu Yixiang, and even Shixing could not save him.

帝追仇居正甚，以大臣陰相庇，獨植、東之、可立能發其奸，欲驟貴之，風示廷臣。一相又劾錦衣都督劉守有匿居正家資。帝乃諭內閣黜守有，超擢居正所抑丘橓、余懋學、趙世卿及植、東之凡五人。時行等力為守有解，言橓等不宜驟遷。帝重違大臣意，議雖寢，心猶欲用植等。頃之，植劾刑部尚書潘季馴朋黨奸逆，誣上欺君，季馴坐削籍。帝遂手詔吏部擢植太仆少卿，東之光祿少卿，可立尚寶少卿，並添註。廷臣益忌植等。

The emperor pursued his vendetta against Juzheng with zeal. Seeing that great ministers still sheltered him in secret, he found that only Zhi, Dongzhi, and Keli could expose his crimes, wished to raise them swiftly in rank, and made this plain to the court. Yixiang also impeached Embroidered-Uniform Guard Commander Liu Shouyou for concealing Juzheng's family wealth. The emperor then ordered the Grand Secretariat to dismiss Shouyou and to promote beyond the usual limits Qiu Zhen, Yu Maoxue, and Zhao Shiqing, whom Juzheng had held back, together with Zhi and Dongzhi—five men in all. Shixing and his colleagues strove to exonerate Shouyou and argued that Zhen and the others ought not be promoted so abruptly. The emperor was reluctant to defy the great ministers; though the proposal was set aside, he still wished to employ Zhi and his allies. Before long Zhi impeached Minister of Justice Pan Jixun for forming a treacherous faction and deceiving the throne; Jixun was struck from the registers. The emperor then personally ordered the Ministry of Personnel to promote Zhi to Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud, Dongzhi to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and Keli to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Seals, each with an additional appointment. Court officials resented Zhi and his allies all the more.

十三年四月旱，御史蔡系周言：「古者，朝有權臣，獄有冤囚，則旱。植數為人言：『至尊呼我為兒，每觀沒入寶玩則喜我。』其無忌憚如此。陛下欲雪枉，而刑部尚書之枉，先不得雪。今日之旱，實由於植。」又曰：「植迫欲得中行柄國，以善其後；中行迫欲得植秉銓，而騁其私。倘其計得行，勢必盡毒善類，今日旱災猶其小者。」其他語絕狂誕。所稱尚書，謂季馴也。疏上，未報，御史龔懋賢、孫愈賢繼之。東之發憤上疏曰：「思孝、中行、用賢及張嶽、鄒元標數臣，忠義天植，之死不移，臣實安為之黨，樂從之遊。今指植與交歡為黨，則植猶未若臣之密，願先罷臣官。」不允。可立亦抗言：「奸黨懷馮、張私惠，造不根之辭，以傾建言諸臣，勢不盡去臣等不止。」乞罷職。章下內閣，時行等請詰可立奸黨主名。帝仍欲兩為之解，寢閣臣奏，而敕都察院：「自今諫官言事，當顧國家大體，毋以私滅公，犯者必罪。」植、東之求去，不許。給事御史齊世臣、吳定等交章劾可立不當代植辨。報曰：「朕方憂旱，諸臣何紛爭？」乃已。七月，御史龔仲慶又劾植、中行、思孝為邪臣，帝惡其排擠，出之外。世臣及御史顧鈐等連章論救，不聽。

In the fourth month of the thirteenth year there was drought. Censor Cai Xizhou wrote: 'In antiquity, when the court harbored powerful ministers or the prisons held the wrongly convicted, drought followed. Zhi has often boasted: "The sovereign calls me his son, and whenever he views the confiscated treasures he is pleased with me. His lack of restraint is such as this. Your Majesty wishes to redress wrongs, yet the wrong done to the Minister of Justice has not first been redressed. Today's drought is in truth owing to Zhi.' He also said: 'Zhi is urgently trying to have Zhongxing wield state power so as to secure his own future; Zhongxing is urgently trying to have Zhi hold the power of appointment so as to pursue his private ends. If their scheme succeeds, they will surely destroy all good men; today's drought would be the lesser of the evils. His other language was utterly wild and absurd. The minister he referred to was Jixun. The memorial was submitted but received no reply; Censors Gong Maoxian and Sun Yuxian followed with memorials of their own. Dongzhi, in indignation, memorialized: 'Sixiao, Zhongxing, Yongxian, Zhang Yue, Zou Yuanbiao, and several other ministers were loyal and righteous by nature and unshaken unto death. How could I be their faction? I am glad to keep company with them. Now if Zhi's intimacy is called a faction, then Zhi is not yet as close to me as that; I ask that my office be dismissed first. This was not granted. Keli also protested: 'The wicked faction, cherishing private favors from Feng and Zhang, fabricates groundless charges to overthrow the memorializing ministers; they will not stop until we are all removed.' He begged to resign his post. The memorial was sent to the Grand Secretariat; Shixing and his colleagues asked that Keli be required to name the leaders of the wicked faction. The emperor still wished to reconcile both sides, set aside the Grand Secretaries' memorial, and instructed the Censorate: 'From now on, when remonstrating officials discuss affairs of state, they must consider the greater interest of the realm, must not let private ends destroy the public good, and offenders will certainly be punished.' Zhi and Dongzhi asked to resign but were not permitted. Supervising secretaries and censors Qi Shichen, Wu Ding, and others submitted successive memorials impeaching Keli for improperly speaking on Zhi's behalf. The reply said: 'I am now troubled by drought—why are the ministers quarreling?' And thereupon the matter ceased. In the seventh month Censor Gong Zhongqing again impeached Zhi, Zhongxing, and Sixiao as wicked ministers; the emperor, disgusted by the factional strife, sent them out of the capital. Shichen and Censor Gu Qian and others submitted successive memorials pleading for them, but the emperor would not listen.

是時，竟用學謨言，作壽宮於大峪山。八月，役既興矣，大學士王錫爵，植館師，東之、可立又嘗特薦之於朝，錫爵故以面折張居正，為時所重。三人念時行去，錫爵必為首輔，而壽宮地有石，時行以學謨故主之，可用是罪也，乃合疏上言：「地果吉則不宜有石，有石則宜奏請改圖。乃學謨以私意主其議，時行以親故贊其成。今鑿石以安壽宮者，與曩所立表，其地不一。朦朧易徙，若弈棋然，非大臣謀國之忠也。」時行奏辨，言：「車駕初閱時，植、東之見臣直廬，力言形龍山不如大峪。今已二年，忽創此議。其借事傾臣明甚。」帝責三人不宜以葬師術責輔臣，奪俸半歲。三人以明習葬法薦侍郎張嶽、太常何源。兩人方疏辭，錫爵忽奏言恥為植三人所引，義不可留，因具奏不平者八事。大略言：「張、馮之獄，上誌先定，言者適投其會，而輒自附於用賢等攖鱗折檻之黨。且謂舍建言別無人品；建言之中，舍采摭張、馮舊事，別無同誌。以中人之資，乘一言之會，超越朝右，日尋戈矛。大臣如國、巍、化輩，曩嘗舉為正人。一言相左，日謀事刂刃，皆不平之大者。」御史韓國楨，給事中陳與郊、王敬民等因叠攻植等，帝下敬民疏，貶植戶部員外郎，東之兵部員外郎，可立大理評事。張嶽以諸臣紛爭，具疏評其賢否，頗為植、東之、可立地，請令各宣力一方，以全終始。於時行、國、錫爵、巍、化、光祖、世臣、定、愈賢皆褒中寓刺，而力詆季馴、懋賢、系周、仲慶，惟中行、用賢、思孝無所譏貶。帝責嶽頌美大臣，且支蔓，不足定國是，嶽坐免。帝猶以植言壽宮有石數十丈，如屏風，其下皆石，恐寶座將置於石上。閏月，復躬往視之，終謂大峪吉，遂調三人於外。御史柯梃因自言習葬法，力稱大峪之美，獲督南畿學政。而植同年生給事中盧逵亦承風請正三人罪，士論哂之。

At this time the emperor ultimately followed Xuemo's advice and built the mausoleum at Dayu Mountain. In the eighth month, once construction had begun, Grand Secretary Wang Xijue—Zhi's tutor in the academy, and whom Dongzhi and Keli had also specially recommended at court—was respected in his time for having openly rebuked Zhang Juzheng to his face. The three men reasoned that when Shixing left, Xijue would surely become chief grand secretary, and that since the mausoleum site contained stone and Shixing had backed the plan because of Xuemo, they could use this as a charge. They therefore submitted a joint memorial: 'If the ground is truly auspicious it ought not contain stone; if it contains stone one ought to memorialize and request a change of plan. Yet Xuemo had led the discussion from private motive, and Shixing had aided its completion because of personal ties. Now in carving away stone to place the mausoleum, the ground is not the same as the marker set up before. Shifting the site obscurely as if moving pieces on a chessboard—this is not the loyalty with which great ministers plan for the state. Shixing memorialized in defense: 'When the imperial carriage first inspected the site, Zhi and Dongzhi came to my lodge in the palace and strongly argued that Xinglong Mountain was inferior to Dayu. Now two years have passed and they suddenly raise this objection. Their using the affair to overthrow me is very clear. The emperor rebuked the three men for improperly using geomantic arts to charge the chief minister and docked their salaries for half a year. The three men, claiming expertise in burial practice, recommended Vice Minister Zhang Yue and Court of Imperial Sacrifices Director He Yuan. The two men had just memorialized to decline, when Xijue suddenly wrote that he was ashamed to be cited by Zhi and the other three, that by right he could not remain, and set forth eight grievances in full. In general he wrote: 'In the cases of Zhang and Feng, the sovereign's mind was already set; the memorialists merely happened to strike the moment, yet they at once attached themselves to the faction of Yongxian and others who had grasped the dragon's scales and broken the balustrade. Moreover they held that apart from memorializing there was no other measure of character; Among the memorializers, apart from recycling old stories about Zhang and Feng, they shared no other bond of purpose. With only mediocre talent, they seized the chance of a single remark, rose above their seniors at court, and daily provoked strife. Great ministers such as Guo, Wei, and Hua had once been acclaimed as upright men. At the slightest disagreement they daily plotted against them with drawn blades—all grave grievances. Censor Han Guozhen, Supervising Secretaries Chen Yujiao and Wang Jingmin, and others piled attacks on Zhi and his allies. The emperor issued Jingmin's memorial and demoted Zhi to Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue, Dongzhi to Vice Director in the Ministry of War, and Keli to Reviewing Officer in the Court of Judicial Review. Because the ministers were quarreling, Zhang Yue submitted a full memorial evaluating their worth, spoke rather on behalf of Zhi, Dongzhi, and Keli, and asked that each be sent to serve in one region so as to preserve his course from start to finish. Of Shixing, Guo, Xijue, Wei, Hua, Guangzu, Shichen, Ding, and Yuxian he offered praise laced with barbs, while fiercely denouncing Jixun, Maoxian, Xizhou, and Zhongqing; only Zhongxing, Yongxian, and Sixiao escaped censure. The emperor rebuked Yue for praising great ministers and said the memorial was rambling and insufficient to settle the affairs of state; Yue was dismissed in consequence. The emperor still believed Zhi's claim that the mausoleum had a stone screen dozens of feet high, with stone beneath, and feared the imperial seat would rest upon stone. In the intercalary month he again went in person to inspect the site, still judged Dayu auspicious, and transferred the three men out of the capital. Censor Ke Ting, claiming expertise in burial practice, strongly praised Dayu's excellence and was appointed to supervise education in the southern capital region. Zhi's fellow jinshi Supervising Secretary Lu Kui likewise followed the trend and asked that the three men's crimes be corrected; public opinion sneered at him.

植、東之、可立自以言事見知，未及三歲而貶。植得綏德知州，旋引疾歸。居十年，起沅州知州。屢官右僉都御史，巡撫遼東。時二十六年也。植墾土積粟，得田四萬畝，歲獲糧萬石。戶部推其法九邊。以倭寇退，請因師旋，選主、客銳卒，驅除宿寇，恢復舊遼陽。詔下總督諸臣詳議，不果行。奏稅監高淮貪暴，請召還，不報。後淮激變，委阻撓罪於植。植疏辨乞休，帝慰留之。明年，錦、義失事，巡按御史王業弘劾植及諸將失律。植以卻敵聞，且詆業弘。業弘再疏劾植欺蔽，詔解官聽勘。勘已，命家居聽用，竟不召。卒，贈兵部右侍郎。

Zhi, Dongzhi, and Keli, who had thought themselves known for memorializing, were demoted before three years had passed. Zhi was appointed prefect of Suide and soon returned home citing illness. After ten years at home he was recalled as prefect of Yuanzhou. He rose repeatedly to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and served as grand coordinator of Liaodong. This was in the twenty-sixth year. Zhi opened land and stockpiled grain, reclaiming forty thousand mu of fields and harvesting ten thousand shi of grain each year. The Ministry of Revenue promoted his method to the nine border regions. When the Japanese pirates withdrew, he asked that as the army returned home, crack troops be selected to drive out entrenched bandits and recover old Liaoyang. An edict was issued for the grand coordinators to discuss the plan in detail, but it was not carried out. He memorialized on the greed and violence of mining tax supervisor Gao Huai and asked that he be recalled; no reply came. Later, when Huai stirred up trouble, he shifted blame for obstruction onto Zhi. Zhi memorialized in his own defense and asked to retire; the emperor comforted him and kept him in office. The following year, when Jin and Yi suffered defeat, Investigating Censor Wang Yehong impeached Zhi and the generals for breach of discipline. Zhi was known for repelling the enemy and also vilified Yehong. Yehong again memorialized impeaching Zhi for deception; an edict removed him from office pending investigation. After the investigation he was ordered to remain at home awaiting employment, but was never summoned. At his death he was posthumously granted Vice Minister of War.

可立，汝陽人。由安邑知縣為御史，與植等並擢。已，由評事調大名推官。終山東僉事。

Keli was a native of Ruyang. From magistrate of Anyi he became censor and was promoted together with Zhi and the others. Later he was transferred from reviewing officer to push officer of Daming. He ended his career as Surveillance Commissioner of Shandong.

江東之，字長信，歙人。萬歷五年進士。由行人擢御史。首發馮保、徐爵奸，受知於帝。僉都御史王宗載嘗承張居正指，與於應昌共陷劉臺，東之疏劾之。故事，御史上封事，必以副封白長官。東之持入署，宗載迎謂曰：「江御史何言？」曰：「為死御史鳴冤。」問為誰？曰：「劉臺也。」宗載失氣反走，遂與應昌俱得罪。東之出視畿輔屯政，奏駙馬都尉侯拱宸從父豪奪民田，置於理。先是，皇子生，免天下田租三之一，獨不及皇莊及勛戚莊田。東之為言，減免如制。還朝，擢光祿少卿，改太仆。坐爭壽宮事，與李植、羊可立皆貶。東之得霍州知州，以病免。久之，起鄧州，進湖廣僉事。三遷大理寺右少卿。二十四年，以右僉都御史巡撫貴州。擊高砦叛苗，斬首百余級。京察，被劾免官。復以遣指揮楊國柱討楊應龍敗績事，黜為民。憤恨抵家卒。

Jiang Dongzhi, styled Changxin, came from She county. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Wanli reign. From a post as messenger in the Court of State Ceremonial he was promoted to censor. He was the first to expose the crimes of Feng Bao and Xu Jue and won the emperor's favor. Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Zongzai had once carried out Zhang Juzheng's orders and, together with Yu Yingchang, had framed Liu Tai; Dongzhi memorialized to impeach him. By precedent, when a censor submitted a sealed memorial he had to inform the chief official with a copy. Dongzhi brought it into the office. Zongzai greeted him and asked, "What does Censor Jiang say? He said, "I speak for a dead censor to right a wrong." Asked for whom? He said, "Liu Tai. Zongzai turned pale and fled; he and Yingchang were both punished. Dongzhi went out to inspect military colonies in the capital region and memorialized that Marquis Hou Gongchen, the emperor's son-in-law, had had his father violently seize commoners' fields; he placed the matter before the law. Earlier, when a prince was born, one-third of the land tax nationwide was remitted, but this did not extend to imperial estates or the estates of meritorious kin. Dongzhi spoke on the matter and reductions were granted as prescribed. Returning to court he was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and transferred to the Court of the Imperial Stud. For disputing the mausoleum affair together with Li Zhi and Yang Keli he was demoted with them. Dongzhi was appointed prefect of Huozhou and retired on grounds of illness. After a long interval he was recalled to Dengzhou and promoted to Surveillance Commissioner of Huguang. After three promotions he became Right Vice Director of the Court of Judicial Review. In the twenty-fourth year, as Right Vice Censor-in-Chief he served as grand coordinator of Guizhou. He attacked rebellious Miao at Gaozhai and beheaded more than a hundred. In the capital evaluation he was impeached and dismissed from office. He was again reduced to commoner status for dispatching Commander Yang Guozhu to campaign against Yang Yinglong and suffering defeat. Full of resentment, he died upon reaching home.

東之官行人時，刑部郎舒邦儒闔門病疫死，遺孤一歲，人莫敢過其門。東之經紀其喪，提其孤歸，乳之。舒氏卒有後。

When Dongzhi was a messenger in the Court of State Ceremonial, Bureau Director Shu Bangru's whole household died in an epidemic, leaving an orphan of one year; no one dared pass his gate. Dongzhi managed the funeral, took the orphan home, and nursed him. The Shu family ultimately had descendants.

湯兆京，字伯閎，宜興人。萬歷二十年進士。除豐城知縣。治最，征授御史。連劾禮部侍郎朱國祚、薊遼總督萬世德，帝不問。巡視西城，貴妃宮閹豎塗辱禮部侍郎敖文禎，兆京彈劾，杖配南京。時礦稅繁興，奸人競言利。有謂開海外機易山，歲可獲金四十萬者，有請征徽、寧諸府契稅，鬻高淳諸縣草場者，帝意俱向之。兆京偕同官金忠士、史學遷、溫如璋交章力諫，不報。出按宣府、大同，請罷稅使張曄、礦使王虎、王忠，亦不納。掌河南道。佐孫丕揚典京察，所譴黜皆當，而被黜者之黨爭相攻擊。兆京亦十余疏應之。其詞直，卒無以奪也。詳具丕揚傳中。尋出按順天諸府。守陵中官李浚誣軍民盜陵木，逮系無虛日。兆京按宣府時奏之，浚亦誣訐兆京。帝遣使按驗，事已白，而諸被系者猶未釋，兆京悉縱遣之。東廠太監盧受縱其下橫都市，兆京論如法。

Tang Zhaojing, styled Bohong, came from Yixing. He passed the jinshi examination in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Fengcheng. His governance was rated the best; he was summoned and appointed censor. He successively impeached Vice Minister of Rites Zhu Guozuo and Liaodong Grand Coordinator Wan Shide; the emperor took no notice. While inspecting the western ward, he found eunuchs of the consort's palace had abused Vice Minister of Rites Ao Wenzhen; Zhaojing impeached them and they were beaten and exiled to Nanjing. At that time mining taxes proliferated and schemers vied to speak of profit. Some said opening Mount Jiayi overseas could yield four hundred thousand taels of gold a year; others asked to levy deed taxes in the Huizhou and Ning regions and sell pasturelands in Gaochun and other counties—the emperor was inclined to approve them all. Zhaojing, together with his colleagues Jin Zhongshi, Shi Xueqian, and Wen Ruzhang, submitted successive memorials in forceful protest; no reply came. On inspection tour in Xuanfu and Datong, he asked that tax envoy Zhang Ye and mining envoys Wang Hu and Wang Zhong be abolished; this too was not accepted. He held the Henan circuit. Assisting Sun Piyang in conducting the capital evaluation, those censured were all fitting, but the faction of those censured attacked in turn. Zhaojing also responded with more than ten memorials. His language was direct, and in the end they could not prevail against him. Details are given in Piyang's biography. Soon he went out to inspect the prefectures of Shuntian and elsewhere. Tomb-guarding eunuch Li Jun falsely charged soldiers and civilians with stealing tomb timber and arrested people day after day. Zhaojing had memorialized on this when inspecting Xuanfu; Jun also slandered Zhaojing in return. The emperor sent envoys to investigate; though the affair was cleared, those still detained were not released; Zhaojing released them all. Eastern Depot Director Lu Shou let his subordinates run riot in the markets; Zhaojing prosecuted them according to law.

還復掌河南道。福王久不之國，兆京倡給事御史伏闕固請，卒不得命。南京缺提學御史，吏部尚書趙煥調浙江巡按呂圖南補之，尋以年例出三御史於外，皆不咨都察院。兆京引故事爭。圖南之調，為給事中周永春所劾，棄官歸。兆京及御史王時熙、汪有功為圖南申雪，語侵永春，並及煥，二人連章辨，兆京亦爭之強。帝欲安煥，為稍奪兆京俸。兆京以不得其職，拜疏徑歸。御史李邦華、周起元、孫居相遂助兆京攻煥。帝亦奪其俸，然煥亦引去。

On his return he again held the Henan circuit. The Prince of Fu long delayed going to his fief; Zhaojing led supervising secretaries and censors in kneeling at the palace gate to petition firmly, but in the end they could not obtain the order. When Nanjing lacked a censor for education, Minister Zhao Huan transferred Zhejiang Investigating Censor Lü Tunan to fill the post; soon, by annual rule, three censors were sent outside without consulting the Censorate. Zhaojing cited precedent and protested. Tunan's transfer was impeached by Supervising Secretary Zhou Yongchun, who then abandoned office and returned home. Zhaojing and Censors Wang Shixi and Wang Yougong cleared Tunan's name, with language that touched Yongchun and extended to Huan; the two submitted successive defenses and Zhaojing argued fiercely as well. The emperor wished to reassure Huan and slightly docked Zhaojing's salary. Unable to carry out his duties, Zhaojing submitted a memorial and went straight home. Censors Li Banghua, Zhou Qiyuan, and Sun Juxiang then aided Zhaojing in attacking Huan. The emperor also docked their salaries, yet Huan resigned as well.

兆京居官廉正，遇事慷慨。其時黨勢已成，正人多見齮龁。兆京力維持其間，清議倚以為重。屢遭排擊，卒無能一言汙之者。天啟中，贈太仆少卿。

In office Zhaojing was upright and incorrupt; when affairs arose he was passionate and bold. By then factional power had taken shape and upright men were often harmed. Zhaojing strove to uphold the balance among them, and pure criticism relied on him as its anchor. Though repeatedly attacked, in the end no one could besmirch him with a single word. In the Tianqi reign he was posthumously granted Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud.

金士衡，字秉中，長洲人。父應徵，雲南參政，以廉能稱。士衡舉萬歷二十年進士，授永豐知縣，擢南京工科給事中。疏陳礦稅之害，言：「曩者采於山，榷於市，今則不山而采，不市而榷矣。刑余小醜，市井無藉，安知遠謀，假以利柄，貪饕無厭。楊榮啟釁於麗江，高淮肆毒於遼左，孫朝造患於石嶺，其尤著者也。今天下水旱盜賊，所在而有。蕭、碭、豐、沛間河流決堤，居人為魚鱉，乃復橫征巧取以蹙之。獸窮則攫，鳥窮則啄，禍將有不可言者。」甘肅地震，復上疏曰：「往者湖廣冰雹，順天晝晦，豐潤地陷，四川星變，遼東天鼓震，山東、山西則牛妖，人妖、今甘肅天鳴地裂，山崩川竭矣。陛下明知亂徵，而泄泄從事，是以天下戲也。」因極言邊糈告匱，宜急出內帑濟餉，罷撤稅使，毋事掊克，引鹿臺、西園為戒。帝皆不聽。南京督儲尚書王基、雲南巡撫陳用賓拾遺被劾，給事中錢夢臯、御史張以渠等考察被黜，為沈一貫所庇，帝皆留之。士衡疏爭。侍郎周應賓、黃汝良、李廷機當預推內閣。士衡以不協人望，抗章論。姜士昌、宋燾言事得罪，並申救之。給事中王元翰言軍國機密不宜抄傳，詔並禁章奏未下者。由是中朝政事，四方寂然不得聞。士衡力陳其非便。疏多不行。帝召王錫爵為首輔，以被劾奏辨，語過憤激，士衡馳疏劾之。尋擢南京通政參議。時元翰及李三才先後為言者所攻，士衡並為申雪。三十九年，大計京官。掌南察者，南京吏部侍郎史繼偕，齊、楚、浙人之黨也，與孫丕揚北察相反，凡助三才、元翰者悉斥之。士衡亦謫兩浙鹽運副使，不赴。天啟初，起兵部員外郎。累遷太仆少卿。引疾去，卒於家。

Jin Shiheng, styled Bingzhong, came from Changzhou. His father Yingzheng, administrative commissioner in Yunnan, was known for integrity and ability. Shiheng passed the jinshi in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign, was appointed magistrate of Yongfeng, and was promoted to Nanjing supervising secretary in the Ministry of Works. He memorialized on the harm of mining taxes, writing: 'Formerly ore was mined in the mountains and levies collected in the markets; now there is mining without mountains and levying without markets. Petty castrated creatures and market riffraff—how would they know far-reaching plans? Lent the power to profit, their greed knows no bounds. Yang Rong stirred trouble at Lijiang, Gao Huai ran riot in eastern Liaodong, and Sun Chao caused calamity at Shiling—these are the most notorious examples. Under heaven today, flood, drought, and bandits exist everywhere. Between Xiao, Dang, Feng, and Pei the river dikes burst and the inhabitants were drowned like fish and turtles—yet they were harshly taxed and cleverly squeezed all the tighter. When beasts are cornered they claw; when birds are cornered they peck—disaster will become beyond telling. When Gansu suffered an earthquake, he memorialized again, writing: 'Formerly Hubei had hail, Shuntian had daytime darkness, Fengrun had ground collapse, Sichuan had stellar anomalies, Liaodong had sky-drum thunder, Shandong and Shanxi had bovine and human omens—and now in Gansu heaven sounds and earth splits, mountains collapse and rivers run dry. Your Majesty clearly sees the signs of disorder yet proceeds complacently—thus the realm is mocked.' He urgently argued that border provisions were exhausted, that the inner treasury should quickly fund rations, tax commissioners be abolished, and the people no longer squeezed—citing Lutai and Xiyuan as warnings. The emperor would not heed any of it. Nanjing grain-intendant Minister Wang Ji and Yunnan Grand Coordinator Chen Yongbin were impeached for remonstrance lapses; Supervising Secretary Qian Menggao, Censor Zhang Yiqu, and others were dismissed on inspection—all shielded by Shen Yiguan, and the emperor kept them all. Shiheng memorialized in protest. Vice Ministers Zhou Yingbin, Huang Ruliang, and Li Tingji were due for preliminary recommendation to the Grand Secretariat. Shiheng, arguing they did not match public expectations, submitted a defiant memorial disputing the nominations. Jiang Shichang and Song Tao had offended by speaking on affairs; he also pleaded for their rescue. Supervising Secretary Wang Yuanhan said military and state secrets should not be copied and transmitted; an edict also forbade circulating memorials not yet issued. From this, affairs at the center of government fell silent throughout the realm and could no longer be heard. Shiheng forcefully argued that this was harmful. Most of his memorials went unheeded. The emperor recalled Wang Xijue as chief grand secretary; defending himself against impeachment in overly angry language, Shiheng urgently memorialized to impeach him. Soon he was promoted to Nanjing Assistant Director of the Court of Transmission. At the time Yuanhan and Li Sancai were successively attacked by memorialists; Shiheng cleared both their names. In the thirty-ninth year came the major evaluation of capital officials. In charge of southern inspection was Nanjing Vice Minister of Personnel Shi Jixie, of the Qi-Chu-Zhe faction, opposed to Sun Piyang's northern inspection; all who had aided Sancai and Yuanhan were expelled. Shiheng was also demoted to Vice Salt Transport Commissioner for the Two Zhes; he did not take up the post. At the start of the Tianqi reign he was raised to Vice Director in the Ministry of War. He was successively promoted to Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Citing illness he resigned and died at home.

先是，楊應龍伏誅，貴州宣慰使安疆臣邀據故所侵地。總督王象乾不許。士衡遂劾象乾起釁。後象乾弟象恒巡撫蘇、松，以兄故頗銜士衡。廉知其清介狀，稱說不置雲。

Previously, after Yang Yinglong was executed, Guizhou Pacification Commissioner An Jiangchen opportunistically seized the lands he had formerly encroached upon. Grand Coordinator Wang Xiangqian did not permit it. Shiheng then impeached Xiangqian for starting the quarrel. Later Xiangqian's brother Xiangheng, grand coordinator of Suzhou and Songjiang, bore considerable resentment toward Shiheng because of his brother. Learning of his integrity and upright character, he praised him without cease.

王元翰，字伯舉，雲南寧州人。萬歷二十九年進士。選庶吉士。三十四年，改吏科給事中。意氣陵厲，以諫諍自任。時廷臣習偷惰，法度盡弛。會推之柄散在九列科道。率推京卿，每署數倍舊額。而建言諸臣，一斥不復。大臣被彈，率連章詆訐。元翰悉疏論其非。

Wang Yuanhan, styled Boju, came from Ningzhou in Yunnan. He passed the jinshi in the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign. He was selected as a Hanlin bachelor. In the thirty-fourth year he was transferred to supervising secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. His spirit was fierce and overbearing; he took remonstrance as his duty. At the time court ministers had grown accustomed to laziness and slackness, and regulations were wholly relaxed. The power of collective recommendation was scattered among the nine ministerial ranks and the censorate and supervising secretaries. They generally recommended capital ministers, each list several times the old quota. Yet memorializing ministers, once dismissed, never returned. When grand ministers were impeached, they generally submitted successive memorials of slander. Yuanhan memorialized against all of these abuses.

尋進工科右給事中，巡視廠庫，極陳惜薪司官多之害。其秋上疏，極言時事敗壞，請帝昧爽視朝，廷見大臣，言官得隨其後，日陳四方利病。尋復陳時事，言：「輔臣，心膂也。朱賡輔政三載，猶未一覯天顏，可痛哭者一。九卿強半虛懸，甚者闔署無一人。監司、郡守，亦曠年無官，或一人綰數符。事不切身，政自茍且，可痛哭者二。兩都臺省寥寥幾人。行取入都者，累年不被命。庶常散館亦越常期。御史巡方事竣，遣代無人。威令不行，上下胥玩，可痛哭者三。被廢諸臣，久淪山谷。近雖奉詔敘錄，未見連茹匯征。茍更閱數年，日漸銷鑠。人之雲亡，邦國殄瘁，可痛哭者四。九邊歲餉，缺至八十余萬，平居凍餒，脫巾可虞；有事怨憤，死綏無望。塞北之患，未可知也。京師十余萬兵，歲靡餉二百余萬，大都市井負販遊手而已。一旦有急，能驅使赴敵哉？可痛哭者五。天子高拱深居，所恃以通下情者，只章疏耳，今一切高閣。慷慨建白者莫不曰『吾知無濟，第存此議論耳』。言路惟空存議論，世道何如哉！可痛哭者六。榷稅使者滿天下，致小民怨聲徹天，降災召異。方且指殿工以為名，借停止以愚眾。是天以回祿警陛下，陛下反以回祿剝萬民也。眾心離叛，而猶不知變，可痛哭者七。郊廟不親，則天地祖宗不相屬；朝講不禦，則伏機隱禍不上聞。古今未有如此而天下無事者。且青宮輟講，亦已經年，親宦官宮妾，而疏正人端士，獨奈何不為宗社計也！可痛哭者八。」帝皆不省。

Soon promoted to Right Supervising Secretary in the Ministry of Works, he inspected factory storehouses and urgently argued the harm of too many officials in the Firewood Office. That autumn he memorialized, urgently stating that affairs were ruined, asking the emperor to hold court at dawn, receive ministers in audience, let remonstrance officials follow, and daily present the ills and benefits of the four directions. Soon he again presented on current affairs, writing: 'Grand secretaries are the heart and sinew of the state. Zhu Geng has assisted government for three years yet has not once beheld the imperial countenance—this is the first cause for weeping. More than half the posts among the nine ministers are empty; in extreme cases entire offices have not a single person. Circuit intendants and prefects also go years without officials, or one man holds several seals. Because affairs do not touch one's person, government naturally becomes perfunctory—this is the second cause for weeping. At the two capitals the censorate and secretariat have scarcely a few men. Those selected by promotion exam for the capital go years without appointment. Hanlin bachelors leaving the academy also exceed the usual term. When regional censors finish their tours, no one is sent to replace them. Authority and orders are not enforced; upper and lower all treat affairs lightly—this is the third cause for weeping. Dismissed ministers long languish in mountain valleys. Recently, though an edict ordered their reinstatement, one does not see them gathered like gourds on a vine and summoned together. If several more years pass, they will daily wane and fade away. As men are lost, the state is wasted and afflicted—this is the fourth cause for weeping. Nine-border annual pay falls short by more than eight hundred thousand; in normal times the troops freeze and starve, and mutiny is to be feared; in crisis they resent and rage, with no hope of dying loyally in service. Trouble on the northern frontier cannot be foreseen. The capital's hundred thousand-odd troops consume more than two million in annual pay—they are great-city peddlers and idlers, nothing more. Once emergency comes, can they be driven to face the enemy? This is the fifth cause for weeping. The Son of Heaven sits high and deep within; the only means to communicate the feelings of those below is memorials—and now all are shelved. Bold memorialists all say: 'I know it will not help; I merely preserve this opinion.' The remonstrance path holds only empty opinions—what has become of the age! This is the sixth cause for weeping. Tax commissioners fill the realm, driving the common people's cries of resentment to heaven and bringing down disasters and omens. Yet they point to palace construction as their pretext and use pretended halts to fool the masses. Heaven uses conflagration to warn Your Majesty, yet Your Majesty uses conflagration to strip the myriad people. Popular hearts turn away in rebellion, yet still there is no knowing to change—this is the seventh cause for weeping. Not personally attending suburban and temple rites, then Heaven, Earth, and the ancestral temples are not connected; Not holding court lectures, then hidden schemes and concealed calamities are not heard above. Never in antiquity or the present has the realm been untroubled with such things. Moreover the Eastern Palace has suspended lectures for years already, favoring eunuchs and palace women while keeping distant upright gentlemen—how can you alone fail to reckon for the altars of state! This is the eighth cause for weeping. The emperor paid no heed to any of it.

武定賊阿克作亂。元翰上言：「克本小醜，亂易平也。至雲南大害，莫甚貢金、榷稅二事。民不堪命，至殺稅使，而征榷如故。貢金請減，反增益之。眾心憤怒，使亂賊假以為名。賊首縱撲滅，虐政不除，滇之為滇，猶未可保也。」俄言：「礦稅之設，本為大工。若捐內帑數百萬金，工可立竣，毋徒苦四方萬姓。」疏皆不報。尋兩疏劾貴州巡撫郭子章等凡四人，言：「子章曲庇安疆臣，堅意割地，貽西南大憂。且嘗著《婦寺論》，言人主當隔絕廷臣，專與宦官宮妾處，乃相安無患。子章罪當斬。」不納。

The bandit Ake of Wuding rebelled. Yuanhan submitted: 'Ke is originally a petty villain; the disorder is easily pacified. As for Yunnan's great harm, nothing exceeds tribute gold and tax levies. The people cannot bear their lives; they even kill tax commissioners, yet levies continue as before. When tribute gold was requested to be reduced, it was instead increased. Popular hearts rage with anger, letting rebels borrow this as their justification. Even if the rebel chief is crushed, if cruel government is not removed, whether Yunnan can remain Yunnan is still uncertain. Soon he said: 'Mining taxes were established originally for great construction. If several million from the inner treasury were donated, the work could be quickly finished—do not vainly torment the myriad people of the four directions. His memorials received no response. Soon in two memorials he impeached Guizhou Grand Coordinator Guo Zizhang and three others, writing: 'Zizhang openly shielded An Jiangchen, insisted on ceding land, and bequeathed great worry to the southwest. Moreover he once wrote On Wives and Eunuchs, saying the ruler should cut off court ministers and keep only to eunuchs and palace women, then all would be secure without trouble. Zizhang's crime deserves decapitation. It was not accepted.

先是，廷推閣臣。元翰言李廷機非宰相器。已而黃汝良推吏部侍郎，全天敘推南京禮部侍郎。汝良，廷機邑人；天敘，朱賡同鄉也。元翰極論會推之弊，譏切政府，二人遂不用。至是，將推兩京兵部尚書蕭大亨、孫幰為吏部尚書。元翰亦疏論二人，並言職方郎申用懋為大亨謀主，太常少卿唐鶴征為幰謀主，亦當斥。尋因災異，乞亟罷賡、大亨及副都御史詹沂。且言：「近更有二大變。大小臣工誌期得官，不顧嗤笑，此一變也。陛下不恤人言，甚至天地譴告亦悍然弗顧，此又一變也。有君心之變，然後臣工之變因之。在今日，挽天地洪水寇賊之變易，挽君心與臣工之變難。」又言：「陛下三十年培養之人才，半掃除於申時行、王錫爵，半禁錮於沈一貫、朱賡。」因薦鄒元標、顧憲成等十余人。無何，又劾給事中喻安性、御史管橘敗群叢穢，皆不報。掌廠內官王道不法，疏暴其罪，亦弗聽。

Previously, there was court recommendation for grand secretaries. Yuanhan said Li Tingji was not material for a chief minister. Soon Huang Ruliang was recommended for Vice Minister of Personnel and Quan Tianxu for Nanjing Vice Minister of Rites. Ruliang was Tingji's townsman; Tianxu was Zhu Geng's fellow townsman. Yuanhan urgently argued the evils of collective recommendation and satirized the government sharply; the two were then not used. At this point, the two-capital Ministers of War Xiao Daheng and Sun Kan were to be recommended for Minister of Personnel. Yuanhan also memorialized against the two, further saying Bureau of Appointments Director Shen Yongmao was Daheng's plot-master and Vice Director of Sacrificial Ceremonies Tang Hezheng was Kan's plot-master—they too should be expelled. Soon afterward, citing calamities and portents, he pleaded for the immediate dismissal of Zhu Geng, Quan Tianxu, and Vice Censor-in-Chief Zhan Yi. He went on: 'Recently there have been two great transformations. Officials high and low are bent on winning appointments, heedless of ridicule—this is the first transformation. Your Majesty pays no heed to public opinion, and even Heaven and Earth's warnings are defiantly ignored—this is the second. Once the sovereign's heart turns, the conduct of his officials follows suit. Today it would be easy to reverse floods, banditry, and other calamities sent from Heaven and Earth—but far harder to reverse the change in the sovereign's heart and in his officials.' He added: 'The talent Your Majesty cultivated over thirty years—half was swept away by Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue, half kept in confinement by Shen Yiguan and Zhu Geng.' On that basis he recommended Zou Yuanbiao, Gu Xiancheng, and more than a dozen others. Before long he impeached Supervising Secretary Yu Anxing and Censor Guan Ju for the filth of a corrupt clique, but the court took no notice. When the depot eunuch Wang Dao broke the law, Yuanhan exposed his crimes in a memorial, but that too was ignored.

元翰居諫垣四年，力持清議。摩主闕，拄貴近，世服其敢言。然銳意搏擊，毛舉鷹鷙，舉朝鹹畏其口。吏科都給事中陳治則與元翰不相能，御史鄭繼芳，其門人也，遂劾元翰盜庫金，克商人貲，奸贓數十萬。元翰憤甚，辨疏詆繼芳北鄙小賊，語過激。於是繼芳黨劉文炳、王紹徽、劉國縉等十余疏並攻之，而史記事、胡忻、史學遷、張國儒、馬孟禎、陳於廷、吳亮、金士衡、高節、劉蘭輩則連章論救。帝悉不省。元翰乃盡出其筐篋，舁置國門，縱吏士簡括，慟哭辭朝而去。吏部坐擅離職守，謫刑部檢校。後孫丕揚主京察，斥治則、國縉等，亦以浮躁坐元翰，再貶湖廣按察知事。方繼芳之發疏也，即潛遣人圍守元翰家。及元翰去，所劾贓無有，則謂寄之記事家。兩黨分爭久不息。而是時劾李三才者亦指其貪，諸左右元翰者又往往左右三才，由是臣僚益相水火，而朋黨之勢成矣。

Yuanhan spent four years in the remonstrance offices, staunchly upholding righteous criticism. He admonished the throne on its failings, stood up to the powerful at court, and the age admired his outspoken courage. Yet he was eager to attack, nitpicking with hawkish ferocity, and the whole court feared his tongue. Chen Zheze, chief supervising secretary of the personnel section, was at odds with Yuanhan; his disciple, Censor Zheng Jifang, then impeached Yuanhan for embezzling treasury funds, extorting merchants, and amassing corrupt gains in the hundreds of thousands. Furious, Yuanhan replied in a defense memorial calling Jifang a petty northern rustic, in language far too inflammatory. Jifang's allies—Liu Wenbing, Wang Shaohui, Liu Guojin, and more than ten others—then flooded the court with attacking memorials, while Shi Jishi, Hu Xin, Shi Xueqian, Zhang Guoru, Ma Mengzhen, Chen Yuting, Wu Liang, Jin Shiheng, Gao Jie, Liu Lan, and others filed linked memorials in his defense. The emperor ignored them all. Yuanhan then emptied every chest and basket he owned, had the goods carried to the capital gate, invited officials to search them, wept as he took leave of court, and departed. The Ministry of Personnel found him guilty of abandoning his post without leave and demoted him to proofreader in the Ministry of Justice. Later, when Sun Piyang presided over the capital evaluation of officials, he dismissed Zheze, Guojin, and their allies, and also punished Yuanhan for rashness, demoting him again to assistant surveillance intendant in Huguang. The moment Jifang filed his memorial, he had secretly sent men to surround Yuanhan's house. After Yuanhan left, none of the bribes alleged against him could be found; his accusers then claimed he had hidden them at Jishi's home. The two factions quarreled on without end. At the same time, those attacking Li Sancai charged him with corruption, while Yuanhan's allies often rallied to Sancai as well; officials grew ever more bitterly opposed, and court faction hardened into a fixed pattern.

天啟初，累遷刑部主事。魏忠賢亂政，其黨石三畏劾之，削籍。莊烈帝即位，復官。將召用，為尚書王永光所尼。元翰乃流寓南都，十年不歸。卒，遂葬焉。

Early in the Tianqi reign he rose through repeated promotions to principal secretary in the Ministry of Justice. When Wei Zhongxian threw the government into chaos, his follower Shi Sanwei impeached him and he was removed from the official rolls. When the Chongzhen Emperor came to the throne, Yuanhan was restored to office. Just as he was about to be recalled to service, Minister Wang Yongguang blocked the appointment. Yuanhan then lived in exile in Nanjing and did not return for ten years. When he died, he was buried there.

孫振基，字肖岡，潼關衛人。萬歷二十九年進士。除莘縣知縣，調繁安丘。三十六年四月，以治行征，與李成名等十七人當授給事中，先除禮部主事。四十年十月命始下，振基得戶科。時吏部推舉大僚，每患乏才，振基力請起廢。

Sun Zhenji, styled Xiaogang, was a native of Tongguan Guard. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Xin County, then transferred to the demanding post of Anqiu. In the fourth month of the thirty-sixth year he was summoned to the capital for excellent administration; he and Li Chengming and sixteen others were slated for supervising secretary posts, and he was first appointed principal secretary in the Ministry of Rites. The appointment did not come through until the tenth month of the fortieth year, when Zhenji received a post in the Household Section. At the time the Ministry of Personnel often found itself short of talent when recommending high officials; Zhenji forcefully petitioned to recall dismissed men to service.

韓敬者，歸安人也，受業宣城湯賓尹。賓尹分校會試，敬卷為他考官所棄。賓尹搜得之，強總裁侍郎蕭雲舉、王圖錄為第一。榜發，士論大嘩。知貢舉侍郎吳道南欲奏之，以雲舉、圖資深，嫌擠排前輩，隱不發。及廷對，賓尹為敬夤緣得第一人。後賓尹以考察褫官，敬亦稱病去，事三年矣。會進士鄒之麟分校順天鄉試，所取童學賢有私，於是御史孫居相並賓尹事發之。下禮官，會吏部都察院議，顧不及賓尹事。振基乃抗疏請並議，未得命。禮部侍郎翁正春等議黜學賢，謫之麟，亦不及賓尹等。振基謂議者庇之，再疏論劾。帝乃下廷臣更議。御史王時熙、劉策、馬孟禎亦疏論其事，而南京給事中張篤敬證尤力。方賓尹之分校也，越房取中五人，他考官效之，競相搜取，凡十七人。時賓尹雖廢，中朝多其黨，欲藉是寬敬。正春乃會九卿趙煥及都給事中翁憲祥、御史余懋衡等六十三人議坐敬不謹，落職閑住。御史劉廷元、董元儒、過庭訓，敬同鄉也，謂敬關節果真，罪非止不謹，執不署名，意欲遷延為敬地。正春等不從，持初議上。廷元遂疏劾之，公議益憤。振基、居相、篤敬及御史魏雲中等連章論列。給事中商周祚亦敬同鄉，議並罪道南。孟禎以道南發奸，不當罪，再疏糾駁。帝竟如廷元等言，敕部更核。廷元黨亓詩教遂劾正春首鼠兩端，正春尋引去。

Han Jing, a native of Gui'an, had studied under Tang Binyin of Xuancheng. When Binyin served as an examiner for the metropolitan examination, Jing's paper had been rejected by another grader. Binyin hunted it down and forced the chief examiners, Vice Presidents Xiao Yunju and Wang Tu, to rank it first. When the results were posted, educated opinion erupted in outrage. Wu Daonan, the vice president overseeing the examination, wanted to report the affair, but Yunju and Tu were senior men and he feared seeming to attack his elders, so he kept silent. At the palace examination Binyin pulled strings so that Jing won first place. Later Binyin was stripped of office in the regular evaluation, and Jing also pleaded illness and withdrew; three years had passed since the scandal. When the jinshi Zou Zhilin graded the Shuntian provincial examination and showed favoritism toward Tong Xuexian, Censor Sun Juxiang exposed both that case and Binyin's earlier scandal. The matter was sent to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Personnel and Censorate met to discuss it—but deliberately left Binyin's case out. Zhenji then submitted a forceful memorial demanding that Binyin's case be included; the court gave no answer. Vice Minister of Rites Weng Zhengchun and others recommended dismissing Xuexian and demoting Zhilin, but again stopped short of Binyin and his allies. Zhenji charged that the deliberators were shielding the guilty and filed a second impeachment memorial. The emperor then ordered the court to reconsider. Censors Wang Shixi, Liu Ce, and Ma Mengzhen also memorialized on the case, while Nanjing Supervising Secretary Zhang Dujing bore witness with especial force. When Binyin graded examinations he crossed into other examiners' rooms and passed five candidates; other graders copied him, competing to pull favored papers, seventeen men in all. Though Binyin had already been dismissed, many of his allies remained at court and hoped to use the broader scandal to soften the punishment of Jing. Zhengchun then convened Zhao Huan, the Nine Ministers, Chief Supervising Secretary Weng Xianxiang, Censor Yu Maoheng, and sixty-three others, who decided to punish Jing for negligence and dismiss him to idle residence. Censors Liu Tingyuan, Dong Yuanru, and Guo Tingxun were Jing's fellow townsmen; they argued that his exam fraud was genuine and the offense went beyond negligence, refused to sign, and hoped to stall the case in Jing's favor. Zhengchun and the others would not yield and submitted their original recommendation. Tingyuan then filed an impeachment memorial against them, and public outrage only grew. Zhenji, Juxiang, Dujing, Censor Wei Yunzhong, and others filed a barrage of linked memorials pressing the case. Supervising Secretary Shang Zhouzuo, another of Jing's fellow townsmen, recommended that Daonan be punished as well. Mengzhen argued that Daonan had exposed the fraud and should not be punished, and filed another memorial to rebut the charge. The emperor finally sided with Tingyuan and his allies and ordered the ministry to review the case again. Tingyuan's ally Qi Shijiao then impeached Zhengchun for vacillation, and Zhengchun soon resigned.

會熊廷弼之議亦起。初，賓尹家居，嘗奪生員施天德妻為妾，不從，投繯死。諸生馮應祥、芮永縉輩訟於官，為建祠，賓尹恥之。後永縉又發諸生梅振祚、宣祚朋淫狀。督學御史熊廷弼素交歡賓尹，判牒言此施、湯故智，欲藉雪賓尹前恥。又以所司報永縉及應祥行劣，杖殺永縉。巡按御史荊養喬遂劾廷弼殺人媚人，疏上，徑自引歸。廷弼亦疏辨。都御史孫瑋議鐫養喬秩，令廷弼解職候勘。時南北臺諫議論方囂，各自所左右。振基、孟禎、雲中策及給事李成名、麻僖、陳伯友，御史李邦華、崔爾進、李若星、潘之祥、翟鳳翀、徐良彥等持勘議甚力。而篤敬及給事中官應震、姜性、吳亮嗣、梅之煥、亓詩教、趙興邦，御史黃彥士，南京御史周遠等駁之，疏凡數十上。振基及諸給事御史復極言廷弼當勘，斥應震等黨庇，自是黨廷弼者頗屈。帝竟納瑋言，今廷弼解職。其黨大恨。吏部尚書趙煥者，惟詩教言是聽，乃以年例出振基及雲中、時熙於外。振基得山東僉事，瑋亦引去。

About the same time the controversy over Xiong Tingbi also erupted. Earlier, while living at home, Binyin had seized the wife of licentiate Shi Tiande to make her his concubine; when she refused, she hanged herself. Students Feng Yingxiang, Rui Yongjin, and others sued in court and built a shrine in her honor; Binyin was shamed by it. Later Yongjin also exposed licentious conduct among the students Mei Zhenzuo and Xuan Zuo. Education-intendant Censor Xiong Tingbi had long been on friendly terms with Binyin; in a judgment he called this the old trick of Shi and Tang, plainly seeking to erase Binyin's earlier disgrace. He also had the responsible office report Yongjin and Yingxiang for misconduct and had Yongjin beaten to death. Investigating Censor Jing Yangqiao then impeached Tingbi for killing a man to curry favor; after submitting the memorial he withdrew from office and returned home. Tingbi also submitted a memorial in his own defense. Censor-in-Chief Sun Wei recommended demoting Yangqiao and suspending Tingbi pending investigation. At the time remonstrance officials north and south were shouting one another down, each faction backing its own men. Zhenji, Mengzhen, Wei Yunzhong, Liu Ce, and Supervising Secretaries Li Chengming, Ma Xi, and Chen Boyou, together with Censors Li Banghua, Cui Erjin, Li Ruoxing, Pan Zhixiang, Zhai Fengchong, and Xu Liangyan, strongly upheld the call for investigation. But Dujing, Supervising Secretaries Guan Yingzhen, Jiang Xing, Wu Liangsi, Mei Zhihuan, Qi Shijiao, and Zhao Xingbang, Censor Huang Yanshi, Nanjing Censor Zhou Yuan, and others rebutted them in dozens of memorials. Zhenji and the other remonstrance officials again insisted that Tingbi must face investigation and denounced Yingzhen and his allies for partisan shielding; from then on Tingbi's faction was largely on the defensive. The emperor finally accepted Sun Wei's recommendation and had Xiong Tingbi relieved of office. His faction hated it bitterly. Minister of Personnel Zhao Huan listened only to Qi Shijiao; he then used the annual rotation rule to post Zhenji, Wei Yunzhong, and Wang Shixi outside the capital. Zhenji was posted as intendant in Shandong, and Sun Wei resigned as well.

振基勁直敢言。居諫垣僅半歲，數有建白。既去，科場議猶未定，策復上疏極論。而賓尹黨必欲十七人並罪，以寬敬。孫慎行代正春，復集廷臣議。仍坐敬關節，而為十七人昭雪。疏竟留中。賓尹、敬有奧援，外廷又多助之，故議久不決。篤敬復上疏論敬，陰詆諸黨人。諸黨人旋出之外，並逐慎行。既而居相、策引去，之祥外遷。孟禎不平，疏言：「廷弼聽勘一事，業逐去一總憲，外轉兩言官矣，獨介介於之祥。敬科場一案，亦去兩侍郎、兩言官矣，復斷斷於篤敬，毋乃已甚乎！」孟禎遂亦調外。凡與敬為難者，朝無一人。敬由是得寬典，僅謫行人司副。蓋七年而事始竣雲。振基到官，尋以憂去，卒於家。

Zhenji was forceful, upright, and outspoken. He served in the remonstrance offices barely half a year, yet repeatedly offered constructive proposals. After he left, the examination controversy remained unsettled, and Liu Ce submitted another forceful memorial. But Binyin's faction insisted that all seventeen men be punished together so as to soften the sentence for Jing. Sun Shenxing replaced Zhengchun and again convened the court to discuss the case. They still found Jing guilty of exam fraud, yet cleared the seventeen men. The memorial was shelved in the palace and never acted upon. Binyin and Jing enjoyed hidden backing, and many officials in the outer court aided them as well, so the case dragged on unresolved. Dujing again memorialized against Jing, covertly denouncing the faction members. The faction members were soon posted outside the capital, and Shenxing was driven out as well. Soon Juxiang and Ce resigned, and Zhixiang was transferred out of the capital. Indignant, Mengzhen memorialized: 'In the Tingbi investigation affair, a censor-in-chief has already been removed and two remonstrance officials transferred out—yet they fixate only on Zhixiang. In Han Jing's examination scandal, two vice ministers and two remonstrance officials have already been removed, yet they persistently target Dujing—is this not going too far!' Mengzhen was then transferred out of the capital as well. Not a single man who had opposed Han Jing remained at court. Han Jing thereby escaped with a light sentence, demoted only to vice director of the Court of Imperial Stud. Seven years passed before the affair was finally laid to rest. After Zhenji took up his post, he soon left on mourning obligations and died at home.

子必顯，字克孝。萬歷四十四年進士。官文選員外郎，為尚書趙南星所重。天啟五年冬，魏忠賢羅織清流，御史陳睿謨劾其世投門戶，遂削籍。崇禎二年，起驗封郎中，移考功。明年，移文選。尚書王永光雅不喜東林，給事中常自裕因劾其推舉不當數事，且詆以貪汙。御史吳履中又劾其紊亂選法。必顯兩疏辨，帝不聽，謫山西按察司經歷，量移南京禮部主事。道出柘城、歸德，適流賊來犯，皆為設守，完其城。一時推知兵。歷尚寶司丞、大理左寺丞。十一年冬，都城被兵，兵部兩侍郎皆缺，尚書楊嗣昌請不拘常格，博推才望者遷補，遂擢必顯右侍郎。甫一月，無疾而卒。

Zi Bixian, styled Kexiao. He passed the jinshi examination in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign. He served as vice director in the Selection Office and was highly regarded by Minister Zhao Nanxing. In the winter of the fifth year of Tianqi, as Wei Zhongxian fabricated charges against the upright faction, Censor Chen Ruimo impeached him for generations of factional allegiance, and he was removed from the official rolls. In the second year of the Chongzhen reign, he was recalled to serve as director in the Seal Verification Bureau, then transferred to the Bureau of Evaluations. The following year he was transferred to the Bureau of Appointments. Minister Wang Yongguang had always disliked the Donglin faction. Supervising Secretary Chang Ziyu impeached him for several improper appointments and accused him of corruption as well. Censor Wu Lüzhong also impeached him for muddling the appointment regulations. Bixian submitted two memorials in his defense, but the emperor would not heed them. He was demoted to administrative assistant in the Shanxi Surveillance Commission, then later reassigned by discretionary transfer to chief clerk in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. Traveling through Zhecheng and Guide, he found both cities under attack by roving bandits. He organized defenses at each place and kept their walls intact. For a time he was widely praised for his knowledge of military affairs. He served successively as vice director of the Seal Keeper's Office and vice director of the left branch of the Court of Judicial Review. In the winter of the eleventh year, as the capital came under attack, both vice ministers of the Ministry of War were vacant. Minister Yang Sichang asked that normal procedures be set aside and men of talent and reputation be broadly considered for appointment, and Bixian was promoted to right vice minister. Barely a month later, he died suddenly without known illness.

丁元薦，字長孺，長興人。父應詔，江西僉事。元薦舉萬歷十四年進士。請告歸。家居八年，始謁選為中書舍人。甫期月，上封事萬言，極陳時弊。言今日事勢可寒心者三：饑民思亂也，武備積弛也，日本封貢也。可浩嘆者七：征斂苛急也，賞罰不明也，忠賢廢錮也，輔臣妒嫉也，議論滋多也，士習敗壞也，褒功恤忠未備也。坐視而不可救藥者二，則紀綱、人心也。其所言輔臣，專斥首輔王錫爵，元薦座主也。

Ding Yuanjian, styled Changru, was from Changxing. His father Yingzhao served as regional inspector of Jiangxi. Yuanjian passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign. He requested leave and returned home. After eight years at home, he finally presented himself for office and was appointed secretariat drafter. Barely a month into his term, he submitted a sealed memorial ten thousand characters long, laying bare the evils of the age in exhaustive detail. He named three aspects of the present situation that chilled the heart: starving people turning toward rebellion, military readiness long neglected, and relations with Japan over tribute and trade. Seven things worthy of deep lament: oppressive taxation, unclear rewards and punishments, imprisonment of loyal and worthy men, jealousy among grand secretaries, ever multiplying factional wrangling, corruption of scholar-official conduct, and failure to honor merit and care for the loyal. Two evils that could only be watched idly, yet seemed beyond remedy, were the breakdown of basic order and the loss of the people's hearts. The grand secretary he singled out for attack was Chief Grand Secretary Wang Xijue—Yuanjian's own former examiner.

二十七年京察。元薦家居，坐浮躁論調。閱十有二年，起廣東按察司經歷，移禮部主事。甫抵官，值京察事竣，尚書孫丕揚力清邪黨，反為其黨所攻。副都御史許弘綱故共掌察，見群小橫甚，畏之，累疏請竣察典，語頗示異。群小藉以攻丕揚。察疏猶未下，人情杌隉，慮事中變，然無敢言者。元薦乃上言弘綱持議不宜前卻，並盡發諸人隱狀。黨人惡之，交章論劾無虛日。元薦復再疏辨晰，竟不安其身而去。其後邪黨愈熾，正人屏斥殆盡，至有以「《六經》亂天下」語入鄉試策問者。元薦家居不勝憤，復馳疏闕下，極詆亂政之叛高皇、邪說之叛孔子者。疏雖不報，黨人益惡之。四十五年京察，遂復以不謹削籍。天啟初，大起遺佚。元薦格於例，獨不召。至四年，廷臣交訟其冤，起刑部檢校，歷尚寶少卿。明年，朝事大變，復削其籍。

In the twenty-seventh year the capital performance review was held. Yuanjian was at home at the time and was judged frivolous and contentious. Twelve years later he was recalled as administrative assistant in the Guangdong Surveillance Commission, then transferred to chief clerk in the Ministry of Rites. Hardly had he reached his post when the capital review concluded. Minister Sun Piyang strove to purge the corrupt faction, only to be attacked by that very faction. Vice Censor-in-Chief Xu Honggang had originally shared supervision of the review. Seeing how brazen the petty faction had become, he was afraid and repeatedly submitted memorials asking that the review be brought to a close—language that plainly signaled his dissent. The petty faction seized on this to attack Sun Piyang. The review report had not yet been issued. Public sentiment was unsettled, and many feared the outcome might yet change—but no one dared speak up. Yuanjian then submitted a memorial arguing that Xu Honggang should not vacillate on his position, and fully exposed the hidden misconduct of those involved. The faction hated him, and impeachment memorials poured in day after day without cease. Yuanjian submitted two more memorials clarifying his position, but in the end could not remain at his post and left. Thereafter the corrupt faction grew ever stronger, upright men were driven out almost entirely, and there were even provincial examination policy questions framed around the phrase "The Six Classics disorder the realm." Unable to contain his anger at home, Yuanjian rushed another memorial to the palace gate, fiercely denouncing corrupt government as treason against the Hongwu Emperor and heterodox doctrines as treason against Confucius. Though the memorial went unanswered, the faction hated him all the more. At the capital review of the forty-fifth year, he was again struck from the rolls for lack of prudent conduct. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, the court broadly recalled men who had long been passed over. Yuanjian alone was not summoned, barred by precedent. By the fourth year court officials had repeatedly argued that he had been wronged. He was appointed proofreader in the Ministry of Punishments and eventually rose to vice director of the Seal Keeper's Office. The following year court affairs changed dramatically, and he was again removed from the rolls.

元薦初學於許孚遠，已，從顧憲成遊。慷慨負氣，遇事奮前，屢躓無少挫。通籍四十年，前後服官不滿一載。同郡沈淮召入閣，邀一見，謝不往。嘗過高攀龍，請與交歡，辭曰：「吾老矣，不能涉嫌要津。」遽別去。當東林、浙黨之分，浙黨所彈射東林者，李三才之次，則元薦與於玉立。

Yuanjian first studied under Xu Fuyuan, then became a follower of Gu Xiancheng. Bold and proud in spirit, he charged ahead whenever a cause arose. Though he stumbled again and again, he was never much deterred. Though on the rolls for forty years, he held office for less than a year in total. Shen Huai of the same prefecture was summoned into the Grand Secretariat and invited him to meet, but he declined to go. Once, visiting Gao Panlong, Gao asked to befriend him. He declined, saying, "I am old and cannot court suspicion by associating with men at critical posts." With that he immediately took his leave and departed. When the Donglin and Zhejiang factions were at odds, after Li Sancai the Donglin men most targeted by the Zhejiang faction were Yuanjian and Yu Yuli.

玉立，字中甫，金壇人。萬歷十一年進士。除刑部主事，進員外郎。二十年七月，疏陳時政闕失，言：「陛下寵幸貴妃，宴逸無度。恣行威怒，鞭笞群下，宮人奄豎無辜死者千人。夫人懷必死之心，而使處肘腋房闥間，倘因利乘便，甘心一逞，可不寒心！田義本一奸豎，陛下寵信不疑。邇者奏牘或下或留，推舉或用或否，道路籍籍，鹹謂義簸弄其間。蓋義以陛下為城社，而外廷之憸邪又以義為城社。黨合謀連，其禍難量。且陛下一惑於嬖幸，而數年以來，問安視膳，郊廟朝講，一切不行。至邊烽四起，禍亂成形，猶不足以動憂危之情，奪晏安之習。是君身之不修，未有甚於今日者矣。夫宮庭震驚，而陛下若罔聞，何以解兩宮之憂？深拱禁中，開夤緣之隙，致邪孽侵權，而陛下未察其奸，何以杜旁落之漸？萬國欽輩未嘗忤主，而終於禁錮，何以勵骨鯁之臣？上下隔越，國議、軍機無由參斷，而陛下稱旨下令，終不出閨闥之間，何以盡大臣之謀？忠良多擯，邪佞得名，何以作群臣之氣？遠近之民，皆疑至尊日求般樂，不顧百姓塗炭，何以系天下之心？」因力言李如松、麻貴不可為大將，鄭洛不當再起，石星不堪為本兵。疏入，不報。

Yu Yuli, styled Zhongfu, was from Jintan. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed chief clerk in the Ministry of Punishments and promoted to vice director. In the seventh month of the twentieth year he submitted a memorial laying out the failings of current policy, saying, "Your Majesty dotes on the Noble Consort and indulges in feasting and leisure without limit. You unleash your wrath at will and lash your subordinates; among palace women and eunuchs, a thousand innocents have died. When people carry death in their hearts yet are kept at your very side, within arm's reach in the inner chambers, should they seize a moment of opportunity to vent their grievance, would that not chill the heart! Tian Yi was originally a treacherous eunuch, yet Your Majesty favors and trusts him without reservation. Recently memorials have sometimes been issued and sometimes held back, recommendations sometimes accepted and sometimes rejected. Rumors fill the roads, and all say Tian Yi is manipulating affairs behind the scenes. Tian Yi uses Your Majesty as his shield, and the sycophants of the outer court in turn use Tian Yi as theirs. Factions unite and conspiracies multiply—the disaster they portend is incalculable. Moreover, ever since Your Majesty fell under the spell of favorites, for several years now visits to the empress dowager, attendance at meals, suburban sacrifices, ancestral rites, court audiences, and lectures have all been neglected. Even when frontier beacons blaze on every side and disaster and rebellion take shape, this still does not stir feelings of anxiety and peril or break the habit of ease and comfort. Never has a ruler's neglect of self-cultivation been more extreme than it is today. When the palace is shaken with alarm and Your Majesty acts as though you heard nothing, how can you ease the worries of the empress dowagers? Deeply withdrawn within the Forbidden City, you open gaps for opportunists and allow evil minions to encroach on power—yet fail to detect their treachery. How can you check the gradual erosion of imperial authority? Men like Wan Guoqin never offended the throne yet ended in imprisonment—how can you encourage blunt and upright ministers? Court and throne are estranged; state policy and military affairs cannot be jointly decided, yet orders that accord with your wishes issue only from the inner apartments—how can you draw on the full counsel of your grand ministers? Loyal men are cast aside while evil flatterers win renown—how can you raise the morale of the officials? People near and far suspect that the Son of Heaven seeks only varied pleasures each day and pays no heed to the people's suffering—how can you hold the hearts of the realm?" He then forcefully argued that Li Rusong and Ma Gui were unfit to serve as grand generals, that Zheng Luo should not be restored to office, and that Shi Xing was unfit to serve as minister of war. The memorial was submitted but received no response.

尋進郎中，謝病歸。久之，起故官。康丕揚輩欲以妖書陷郭正域，玉立獨左右之。會有言醫人沈令譽實為妖書者，搜其篋，得玉立與吏部郎中王士騏書，中及其起官事。帝方下吏部按問，而玉立遽疏辨。帝怒，褫其官。

Soon he was promoted to director and retired on grounds of illness. After a long interval he was restored to his former office. Kang Piyang and his faction tried to entrap Guo Zhengyu with the demonic book affair; Yuli alone stood by him. Just then someone claimed that the physician Shen Lingyu was the true author of the demonic book. Searching his case, investigators found letters between Yuli and Wang Shiqi of the Ministry of Personnel that touched on Yuli's restoration to office. The emperor had just ordered the Ministry of Personnel to investigate when Yuli hastily submitted a memorial in his defense. The emperor was enraged and stripped him of his office.

玉立倜儻好事。海內建言廢錮諸臣，鹹以東林為歸。玉立與通聲氣，東林名益盛。而攻東林者，率謂玉立遙制朝權，以是詬病東林。玉立居家久之，數被推薦。三十七年，稍起光祿丞，辭不赴。言者猶齮龁不已，御史馬孟禎抗章直之，帝皆不省。又三年，以光祿少卿召，終不出。天啟初，錄先朝罪譴諸臣，玉立已前卒，贈尚寶卿。

Yuli was unconventional and always ready to take up a cause. Throughout the realm, memorializing officials who had been imprisoned all looked to the Donglin faction as their rallying point. Yuli maintained contact with them, and the Donglin name grew ever more eminent. But those who attacked the Donglin generally claimed that Yuli remotely controlled court power—and on that basis smeared the Donglin faction. Yuli lived at home for a long time and was repeatedly recommended for office. In the thirty-seventh year he was offered appointment as vice director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments; he declined to take it up. His critics still attacked him relentlessly. Censor Ma Mengzhen submitted a forceful memorial in his defense, but the emperor paid no heed. Three years later he was summoned as vice director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, but he never emerged from retirement. At the beginning of the Tianqi reign, when the court posthumously honored men punished in the previous reign, Yuli had already died. He was granted the posthumous title of director of the Seal Keeper's Office.

李樸，字繼白，朝邑人。萬歷二十九年進士。由彰德推官入為戶部主事。四十年夏，樸以朝多朋黨，清流廢錮，疏請破奸黨，錄遺賢，因為顧憲成、於玉立、李三才、孫丕揚辨謗，而薦呂坤、姜士昌、鄒元標、趙南星。帝不聽。明年，再遷郎中。齊、楚、浙三黨勢盛，稍持議論者，群噪逐之。主事沈正宗、賀烺皆與相拄，坐貶官。樸性戇，積憤不平。其年十二月，上疏曰：

Li Pu, styled Jibai, was from Chaoyi. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign. He entered service as chief clerk in the Ministry of Revenue after serving as magistrate's aide in Zhangde. In the summer of the fortieth year, seeing the court riddled with factions and upright officials imprisoned, Pu submitted a memorial asking that corrupt factions be broken up and overlooked talent restored. He cleared slander against Gu Xiancheng, Yu Yuli, Li Sancai, and Sun Piyang, and recommended Lü Kun, Jiang Shichang, Zou Yuanbiao, and Zhao Nanxing. The emperor did not heed it. The following year he was promoted again to director. The Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions were ascendant; anyone who ventured even a slightly independent opinion was hounded out by clamoring mobs. Chief clerks Shen Zhengzong and He Lang both stood against them and were demoted. Blunt by nature, Pu nursed a growing sense of injustice. In the twelfth month of that year he submitted a memorial saying:

朝廷設言官，假之權勢，本責以糾正諸司，舉刺非法，非欲其結黨逞威，挾制百僚，排斥端人正士也。今乃深結戚畹近坐，威制大僚；日事請寄，廣納賂遺；褻衣小車，遨遊市肆，狎比娼優；或就飲商賈之家，流連山人之室。身則鬼蜮，反誣他人。此蓋明欺至尊不覽章奏，大臣柔弱無為，故猖狂恣肆，至於此極。臣謂此輩皆可斬也。

The court establishes remonstrating officials and grants them power and authority, charging them to correct the various offices and expose wrongdoing—not to form factions, flaunt their power, coerce fellow officials, and drive out upright men. Now they form deep ties with consort kin and those close to the throne, and bully grand officials; they daily accept entrustments and widely accept bribes; dressed in plain clothes and riding in small carriages, they roam the markets and consort with prostitutes and actors; sometimes drinking at merchants' homes, lingering in the dwellings of reclusive scholars. They themselves are treacherous as devils and serpents, yet turn to slander others. This plainly exploits the fact that the Son of Heaven does not read memorials and that grand ministers are weak and inactive, and so they run wild without restraint to this extreme. Your subject holds that this lot should all be put to death.

孫瑋、湯兆京、李邦華、孫居相、周起元各爭職掌，則群攻之。今或去或罰，惟存一居相，猶謂之黨。夫居相一人耳，何能為？彼浙江則姚宗文、劉廷元輩，湖廣則官應震、吳亮嗣、黃彥士輩，山東則亓詩教、周永春輩，四川則田一甲輩，百人合為一心，以擠排善類，而趙興邦輩附麗之。陛下試思居相一人敵宗文輩百人，孰為有黨耶？乃攻東林者，今日指為亂政，明日目為擅權，不知東林居何官？操何柄？在朝列言路者，反謂無權，而林下投閑杜門樂道者，反謂有權，此不可欺三尺豎子，而乃以欺陛下哉！至若黃克纘贓私鉅萬，已敗猶見留；顧憲成清風百代，已死猶被論；而封疆坐死如陳用賓，科場作奸如韓敬，趨時鬻爵如趙煥，殺人媚人如熊廷弼，猶為之營護，為之稱冤。國典安在哉！

When Sun Wei, Tang Zhaojing, Li Banghua, Sun Juxiang, and Zhou Qiyuan each disputed their jurisdictions, the faction attacked them collectively. Some have already been removed or punished, and only Sun Juxiang remains—and still they call it a faction. But Juxiang is only one man. What can he do alone? In Zhejiang there are Yao Zongwen, Liu Tingyuan, and their kind; in Huguang, Guan Yingzhen, Wu Liangsi, Huang Yanshi, and their kind; in Shandong, Qi Shijiao, Zhou Yongchun, and their kind; in Sichuan, Tian Yijia and his kind—a hundred men united in one purpose to squeeze out and destroy good officials, with Zhao Xingbang and his cohort attaching themselves to them. Your Majesty, consider: one Juxiang against a hundred men like Zongwen—who really forms the faction? Those who attack the Donglin today call them subversives; tomorrow they accuse them of usurping power. Yet what offices do the Donglin hold? What power do they wield? Officials in active remonstrance posts are said to have no power, while retired Donglin men who have shut their doors to pursue the Way are said to wield power. A child could see through this—yet they would use it to deceive Your Majesty! Huang Kezuan's private graft ran to tens of thousands—though already exposed, he is still retained; Gu Xiancheng, whose integrity would shine for a hundred generations—though already dead, he is still attacked; yet Chen Yongbin, who died at his frontier post; Han Jing, who rigged the examinations; Zhao Huan, who sold offices to suit the times; and Xiong Tingbi, who killed men to curry favor—all are still shielded and proclaimed innocent. Where are the laws of the realm!

望俯察臣言，立賜威斷，先斬臣以謝諸奸，然後斬諸奸以謝天下，宗社幸甚。

I beg Your Majesty to examine my words and act decisively: first execute me to atone to the villains, then execute the villains to atone to the realm. The altars of state would be greatly blessed.

疏奏，臺諫皆大恨。宗文等及其黨力詆，並侵居相，而一甲且羅織其贓私。帝雅不喜言官，得樸疏，心善之。會大學士葉向高、方從哲亦謂樸言過當，乃下部院議罰。而樸再疏發亮嗣、應震、彥士、一甲贓私，及宗文、廷元庇韓敬、興邦媚趙煥狀，且言：「詩教為群兇盟主，實社稷巨蠹，陛下尤不可不察。」帝為下詔切責言官，略如樸指。黨人益怒，排擊無虛日。侍郎李汝華亦以屬吏出位妄言劾樸。部院議鐫樸三級，調外任，帝持不下。至明年四月，吏部奉詔起廢，樸名預焉。於是黨人益嘩，再起攻樸，並及文選郎郭存謙。存謙引罪，攻者猶未已。樸益憤，復陳浙人空國之由，追咎沈一貫，詆宗文及毛一鷺甚力，以兩人皆浙產也。頃之，又再疏劾宗文、一鷺及其黨董定策等。帝皆置不問。其年六月，始用閣臣言，下部院疏，謫樸州同知。自後黨人益用事，遂以京察落其職。

When the memorial was submitted, the censorate remonstrators were deeply resentful. Zongwen and his faction attacked it fiercely, also assailing Juxiang, while Yijia even fabricated charges of corruption against him. The emperor had never liked remonstrating officials, but when he received Pu's memorial, he was favorably disposed toward it. But Grand Secretaries Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe also held that Pu's words had gone too far, and the matter was sent down to the ministries and courts to discuss punishment. But Pu submitted another memorial exposing the corruption of Liangsi, Yingzhen, Yanshi, and Yijia, and the circumstances in which Zongwen and Tingyuan shielded Han Jing and Xingbang fawned on Zhao Huan, saying furthermore: "Shijiao is chieftain of the band of villains and is in truth a great parasite on the altars of state—Your Majesty especially must not fail to see this. The emperor then issued an edict sharply rebuking the remonstrating officials, largely along the lines Pu had indicated. The factionists grew angrier still and attacked without respite. Vice Minister Li Ruhua also impeached Pu, claiming that a subordinate had spoken out of turn with reckless words. The ministries and courts recommended demoting Pu by three ranks and transferring him to an outside post, but the emperor withheld approval. By the fourth month of the following year, when the Ministry of Personnel carried out an edict recalling dismissed officials, Pu's name was included. The factionists grew noisier still, again attacking Pu and extending their attack to Guo Cunqian, secretary in the Bureau of Appointments. Cunqian acknowledged guilt, but the attackers still did not stop. Pu grew angrier still. He again explained how men from Zhejiang had hollowed out the state, traced the blame to Shen Yiguan, and attacked Zongwen and Mao Yilu fiercely—both natives of Zhejiang. Shortly afterward, he submitted another memorial impeaching Zongwen, Yilu, and their follower Dong Dingce and others. The emperor ignored it all. In the sixth month of that year, the court at last heeded the grand secretaries and sent down a memorial to the ministries and courts demoting Pu to prefectural vice-director. Thereafter the factionists wielded ever greater power and removed him from office through the capital evaluation.

天啟初，起用，歷官參議。卒，贈太仆少卿。魏忠賢竊柄，御史安伸追論，詔奪其贈。崇禎初，復焉。

At the beginning of the Tianqi reign he was recalled to service and rose to assistant administrator. When he died he was posthumously granted the title of vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. When Wei Zhongxian seized power, Censor An Shen pursued the matter, and an edict revoked the posthumous honor. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign it was restored.

夏嘉遇，字正甫，松江華亭人。萬歷三十八年進士。授保定推官。

Xia Jiayu, styled Zhengfu, was from Huating in Songjiang. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-eighth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate's aide in Baoding.

四十五年，用治行征。當擢諫職，先註禮部主事。帝久倦勤，方從哲獨柄國。碌碌充位，中外章奏悉留中。惟言路一攻，則其人自去，不待詔旨。臺諫之勢，積重不返，有齊、楚、浙三方鼎峙之名。齊則給事中亓詩教、周永春，御史韓浚。楚則給事中官應震、吳亮嗣。浙則給事中姚宗文、御史劉廷元。而湯賓尹輩陰為之主。其黨給事中趙興邦、張延登、徐紹吉、商周祚，御史駱骎曾、過庭訓、房壯麗、牟誌夔、唐世濟、金汝諧、彭宗孟、田生金、李徵儀、董元儒、李嵩輩，與相倡和，務以攻東林排異己為事。其時考選久稽，屢趣不下，言路無幾人，盤踞益堅。後進當入為臺諫者，必鉤致門下，以為羽翼，當事大臣莫敢攖其鋒。

In the forty-fifth year he was summoned to the capital on account of his record in governance. He should have been promoted to a remonstrance post but was instead registered first as chief clerk in the Ministry of Rites. The emperor had long grown weary of governing; Fang Congzhe alone held the reins of state. He filled his seat in mediocrity while memorials from within and without the court were all held within the palace. Yet once the remonstrance channel attacked someone, that person would leave of his own accord without waiting for an edict. The power of the censorate remonstrators had accumulated until it could not be reversed; they were known as the three regional blocs of Qi, Chu, and Zhe, standing in tripartite rivalry. The Qi bloc was led by supervising secretaries Qi Shijiao and Zhou Yongchun and censor Han Jun. The Chu bloc by supervising secretaries Guan Yingzhen and Wu Liangsi. The Zhe bloc by supervising secretary Yao Zongwen and censor Liu Tingyuan. Tang Binyin and his kind were secretly their masters behind the scenes. Their faction included supervising secretaries Zhao Xingbang, Zhang Yandeng, Xu Shaoji, and Shang Zhouzuo, and censors Luo Qinzeng, Guo Tingxun, Fang Zhuangli, Mou Zhikui, Tang Shiji, Jin Ruixie, Peng Zongmeng, Tian Shengjin, Li Zhengyi, Dong Yuanru, Li Song, and others. They echoed one another, devoting themselves to attacking the Donglin and driving out dissenters. Examination and selection were long delayed; though repeatedly urged, nothing was issued. With few remonstrators in place, their grip on power grew ever firmer. Junior officials slated for censorate posts had to be recruited into their fold as allies; no leading minister dared challenge them.

詩教者，從哲門生，而吏部尚書趙煥鄉人也。煥耄昏，兩人一聽詩教。詩教把持朝局，為諸黨人魁。武進鄒之麟者，浙人黨也。先坐事謫上林典簿，至是為工部主事，附詩教、浚。求吏部不得，大恨，反攻之，並詆從哲。詩教怒，煥為黜之麟。時嘉遇及工部主事鐘惺、中書舍人尹嘉賓、行人魏光國皆以才名，當列言職。詩教輩以與之麟善，抑之，俾不與考選。以故嘉遇不能無怨。

Shijiao was a pupil of Congzhe, and Minister of Personnel Zhao Huan was his fellow townsman. Huan was senile and confused; the two of them left everything to Shijiao. Shijiao controlled the court and was chieftain of the factionists. Zou Zhilin of Wujin belonged to the Zhejiang faction. He had earlier been demoted to clerk in the Upper Forest Office for an offense; by this time he was chief clerk in the Ministry of Works and had attached himself to Shijiao and Jun. When he failed to obtain appointment through the Ministry of Personnel, he hated this deeply, turned to attack them, and also slandered Congzhe. Shijiao was furious, and Huan dismissed Zhilin for him. At that time Jiayu, chief clerk Zhong Xing in the Ministry of Works, secretariat drafter Yin Jiabin, and courier Wei Guangguo were all famed for talent and should have been appointed to remonstrance posts. Shijiao and his group, allied with Zhilin, suppressed them and barred them from examination and selection. For this reason Jiayu could not but resent it.

四十七年三月，遼東敗書聞，嘉遇遂抗疏言：「遼左三路喪師，雖緣楊鎬失策，揆厥所由，則以縱貸李維翰故。夫維翰喪師辱國，罪不容誅，乃僅令回籍聽勘。誰司票擬？則閣臣方從哲也；誰司糾駁？則兵科趙興邦也。參貂白鏹，賂遺繹絡，國典邊防，因之大壞。惟陛下立斷。」疏入，未報。從哲力辨，嘉遇再疏劾之，並及詩教。於是詩教、興邦及亮嗣、延登、壯麗輩交章力攻。詩教謂嘉遇不得考選，故挾私狂逞。嘉遇言：「詩教於從哲，一心擁戴，相倚為奸。凡枚卜、考選諸大政，百方撓阻，專務壅蔽，遏絕主聰。遂致綱紀不張，戎馬馳突，臣竊痛之。今內治盡壞，縱日議兵食、談戰守，究何益於事？故臣為國擊奸，冀除禍本，雖死不避，尚區區計升沈得喪哉！」

In the third month of the forty-seventh year, when news arrived of the defeat in Liaodong, Jiayu submitted a bold memorial saying: "The loss of armies on the three routes in eastern Liaodong, though caused by Yang Hao's faulty strategy, traced to its root to leniency toward Li Weihan. Weihan lost armies and shamed the state—a crime deserving death—yet he was merely ordered to return home pending investigation. Who drafted the rescript? Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe; Who was charged with review and censure? Zhao Xingbang of the Bureau of Military Affairs. Sable and silver—bribes flowed in an unbroken stream; the laws of the state and frontier defense were thereby ruined. Your Majesty must act decisively. The memorial was submitted but received no response. Congzhe argued forcefully in his defense; Jiayu submitted another memorial impeaching him and also implicating Shijiao. Shijiao, Xingbang, Liangsi, Yandeng, Zhuangli, and their allies then submitted memorial after memorial attacking with full force. Shijiao claimed that Jiayu, denied appointment through examination and selection, was venting private grievances in reckless outrage. Jiayu said: "Shijiao gives Congzhe his wholehearted support; they rely on each other in wickedness. On every major matter—selecting grand secretaries, conducting examinations and appointments—they obstruct by every means, devoting themselves to concealment and cutting off the sovereign's access to truth. Thus discipline collapsed and war-horses charged unchecked—I grieve at this from the bottom of my heart. Internal governance is utterly ruined; even if day after day we discuss troops and provisions and debate strategy, what good can it ultimately do? I strike at villains for the sake of the state, hoping to uproot the source of calamity. I do not shrink from death—why would I fuss over petty promotions and demotions!"

時興邦以右給事中掌兵科。先有旨，俟遼東底寧，從優敘錄。至是以嘉遇連劾，吏部遂立擢為太常少卿。嘉遇益憤，疏言：「四路奏功，興邦必將預其賞。則今日事敗，興邦安得逃其罰？且不罰已矣，反從而超陟之。是臣彈章適為薦剡，國家有如是法紀哉！」疏奏，諸御史復合詞攻嘉遇。嘉遇復疏言：「古人有雲，見無禮於君者逐之，如鷹鹯之逐鳥雀也。詩教、興邦謂臣不得臺諫而怒。夫爵位名秩，操之天子，人臣何敢幹？必如所言，是考選予奪，二臣實專之。此無禮於君者一。事寧優敘，非明旨乎？乃竟蔑而棄之。此無禮於君者二。魏光國疏論詩教，為通政沮格。夫要截實封者斬。自來奸臣不敢為，而詩教為之。此無禮於君者三。二奸每事請托，一日以七事屬職方郎楊成喬。成喬不聽，遂逐之去。詩教以舊憾欲去其鄉知府，考功郎陳顯道不從，亦逼之去。夫吏、兵二部，天子所以馭天下也，而二奸敢侵越之。此無禮於君者四。有臣如此，臣義豈與俱生哉！」

At the time Xingbang, as right supervising secretary, supervised the Bureau of Military Affairs. An earlier edict had promised that once Liaodong was pacified, he would be favorably promoted. At this point, despite Jiayu's repeated impeachments, the Ministry of Personnel immediately promoted him to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Jiayu grew angrier still and submitted a memorial saying: "When the four routes report success, Xingbang will surely share in the reward. Then when affairs fail today, how can Xingbang escape blame? Not only is he not punished—he is promoted beyond his rank. My impeachment has served precisely as a letter of recommendation—does the state have such laws! When the memorial was submitted, the censors again joined in attacking Jiayu. Jiayu submitted another memorial saying: "The ancients said that when one sees a man behave without propriety toward the ruler, one drives him away as a hawk drives small birds. Shijiao and Xingbang claim I am angry because I failed to obtain a censorate post. Ranks and titles belong to the Son of Heaven—how dare a subject interfere? If what they say were true, then these two ministers in fact monopolize the granting and withholding of appointments. This is the first act of impropriety toward the ruler. Favorable promotion once affairs are settled—was that not a clear edict? Yet they despised it and cast it aside. This is the second act of impropriety toward the ruler. Wei Guangguo submitted a memorial discussing Shijiao, but the Office of Transmission obstructed and blocked it. Intercepting sealed memorials is punishable by death. Evil ministers had never dared do this—yet Shijiao did. This is the third act of impropriety toward the ruler. The two villains routinely traded in favors; one day they entrusted seven matters to Yang Chengqiao, secretary in the Bureau of Military Appointments. Chengqiao refused, and they drove him out. Shijiao, nursing an old grudge, sought to remove the prefect of his native district; Chen Xiandao, secretary in the Bureau of Evaluations, refused, and they forced him out as well. The ministries of Personnel and War are how the Son of Heaven governs the realm—yet these two villains dare to encroach upon them. These are four ways he has shown disrespect toward the ruler. With ministers such as these, how could I in conscience go on living among them!"

先是，三黨諸魁交甚密，後齊與浙漸相貳。布衣汪文言者，素遊黃正賓、於玉立之門，習知黨人本末。後玉立遣之入都，益悉諸黨人所為，策之曰：「浙人者，主兵也，齊、楚則應兵。成功之後，主欲逐客矣，然柄素在客，未易逐，此可構也。」遂多方設奇間之，諸人果相疑。而鄒之麟既見惡齊黨，亦交鬥其間。揚言齊人張鳳翔為文選，必以年例斥宗文、廷元。於是齊、浙之黨大離。及是嘉遇五疏力攻，詩教輩亦窘。而浙人唐世濟、董元儒遂助嘉遇排擊。自是亓、趙之勢頓衰，興邦竟不果遷，自引去。時論快焉。

Earlier the chiefs of the three factions had been very close; later the Qi and Zhe factions gradually grew estranged. A commoner named Wang Wenyan had long moved in the circles of Huang Zhengbin and Yu Yuli and knew the factionalists' history inside out. Later Yuli sent him to the capital, where he learned still more of what the factionalists were doing and laid a plan: 'The Zhe men command the troops; Qi and Chu answer to them. After success the master will wish to drive out the guests, yet power has long lain with the guests and they are not easily expelled—this can be engineered. Thereupon he devised stratagems on many sides to sow discord among them, and they indeed grew suspicious of one another. Zou Zhilin, already hated by the Qi faction, also joined in the mutual strife. Rumor had it that Zhang Fengxiang of the Qi faction, once in charge of the Selection Office, would use the annual rule to dismiss Zongwen and Tingyuan. Thereupon the Qi and Zhe factions split sharply apart. At this point Jiayu attacked forcefully in five memorials, and Shijiao and his group were also hard pressed. The Zhe men Tang Shiji and Dong Yuanru then aided Jiayu in pressing the attack. From this the power of the Qi and Zhao factions suddenly declined; Xingbang in the end did not obtain transfer and withdrew on his own. Public opinion rejoiced.

光宗立，嘉遇乞改南部，就遷吏部員外郎。天啟中，趙南星秉銓，召為考功員外郎，改文選署選事。時左光鬥、魏大中以嘉遇與之麟、韓敬同年相善，頗疑之。已，見嘉遇公廉，亦皆親善。及陳九疇劾謝應祥，語連嘉遇，鐫三級，調外，語具南星傳。未幾，黨人張訥誣劾南星，並及嘉遇，遂除名。尋鍛煉光鬥、大中獄，誣嘉遇嘗行賄。逮訊論徒，憤恨發病卒。崇禎初，贈太常少卿。

When Emperor Guangzong ascended the throne, Jiayu asked to transfer to the southern capital and was appointed Vice Director in the Ministry of Personnel. In the Tianqi reign Zhao Nanxing held the power of appointment and summoned him as Vice Director of the Bureau of Evaluations, then transferred him to the Selection Office to handle appointments. At that time Zuo Guangdou and Wei Zhongxian, knowing Jiayu was on friendly terms with his fellow jinshi Zhilin and Han Jing, were rather suspicious of him. Later, seeing Jiayu's public integrity, they all drew close to him as well. When Chen Jiuchou impeached Xie Yingxiang, language implicated Jiayu; he was reduced three grades and transferred outside the capital—the details are given in Nanxing's biography. Before long the factionalist Zhang Ne falsely impeached Nanxing and implicated Jiayu as well; he was struck from the registers. Soon, in forging the cases against Guangdou and Dazhong in prison, they falsely charged that Jiayu had once given bribes. When he was arrested, interrogated, and sentenced to penal servitude, he died of illness brought on by indignation. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign he was posthumously granted Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

贊曰：李植、江東之諸人，風節自許，矯首抗俗，意氣橫厲，抵排群枉，跡不違乎正。而質之矜而不爭、群而不黨之義，不能無疚心焉。「古之矜也廉，今之矜也忿戾」，聖人所為致慨於末世之益衰也。

The eulogist says: Li Zhi, Jiang Dongzhi, and their fellows prided themselves on integrity and moral bearing, held their heads high against the vulgar world, were fierce and overbearing in spirit, struck down the wicked in groups, and in their conduct did not depart from the right. Yet measured against the principle of being proud yet not contentious, banding together yet not forming factions, they cannot be without a troubled conscience. "In antiquity pride meant integrity; today pride means resentment and violence"—it is for this that the sage lamented the ever greater decline of the late age.

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