1
周嘉謨張問達 〈（陸夢龍傅梅）〉 汪應蛟王紀 〈（楊東明）〉 孫瑋鐘羽正陳道亨 〈（子弘緒）〉
Zhou Jiamo and Zhang Wenda (Lu Menglong, Fu Mei)〉 Wang Yingjiao and Wang Ji (Yang Dongming)〉 Sun Wei, Zhong Yuzheng, and Chen Daoheng (son Hongxu)〉
2
周嘉謨
Zhou Jiamo
3
周嘉謨，字明卿，漢川人。 隆慶五年進士。 除戶部主事，歷韶州知府。
Zhou Jiamo, styled Mingqing, came from Hanchuan. He received his jinshi degree in the fifth year of the Longqing reign. He was made a principal secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and later served as prefect of Shaozhou.
4
萬歷十年遷四川副使，分巡瀘州。 窮治大猾楊騰霄，置之死。 建武所兵燔總兵官沈思學廨，單車諭定之。 尋撫白草番。 督兵邛州、灌縣，皆有方略。 居五年，進按察使，移疾歸。 久之，起故官。 榷稅中官丘乘雲播虐，逮系相屬。 嘉謨檄所司拒絕，而搒殺奸民助虐者，乘雲為戢。
In the tenth year of the Wanli reign he was made Vice Commissioner of Sichuan with touring authority over Luzhou. He pursued the great outlaw Yang Tengxiao to the end and had him executed. When troops of Jianwu Guard burned Regional Commander Shen Sixue's headquarters, he went out alone in a carriage to reason with them and restored order. He soon pacified the Bai Cao tribes. Whether directing troops in Qiongzhou or Guan County, he showed sound strategy in each. After five years he was promoted to surveillance commissioner, then pleaded illness and went home. After a long interval he was recalled to his former post. The eunuch monopoly-tax commissioner Qiu Chengyun spread terror, and arrests came one after another. Jiamo ordered the local offices to resist him and had wicked men who aided the oppression beaten to death; Chengyun was thus curbed.
5
就遷左布政使。 擢右副都御史，巡撫雲南。 隴川宣撫多安民叛，入緬，據蠻灣。 嘉謨討擒之，立其弟安靖而還。 進兵部右侍郎，巡撫如故。 黔國公沐昌祚侵民田八千余頃，嘉謨劾治之，復劾其孫啟元罪狀。 久之，改督兩廣軍務兼巡撫廣東。 滿考，加右都御史。 廣西土酋引交址兵內犯，官軍拒退之，嘉謨為增兵置戍。 南海、三水、高要、四會、高明諸邑大水，壞圩岸，留贖鍰築之。
He was thereupon made Left Administration Commissioner. He was promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and appointed grand coordinator of Yunnan. Duo Anmin, the Longchuan pacification commissioner, rebelled, fled into Burma, and seized Manwan. Jiamo campaigned against him, captured him, installed his younger brother Anjing in his place, and returned. He was promoted to Right Vice Minister of War while retaining his grand coordinator post. The Duke of Qian, Mu Changzuo, had seized more than eight thousand qing of commoners' land; Jiamo impeached and punished him, and later impeached his grandson Qiyuan for further offenses. After some time he was reassigned to supervise military affairs in the Two Guangs while serving as grand coordinator of Guangdong. When his term ended he was given the additional rank of Right Censor-in-Chief. Guangxi chieftains brought in Annamese troops to raid the interior; government forces drove them back, and Jiamo added troops and strengthened the garrisons. Great floods in Nanhai, Sanshui, Gaoyao, Sihui, Gaoming, and other districts destroyed the dikes; he set aside redemption fines to rebuild them.
6
遷南京戶部尚書，尋召拜工部尚書。 孝定後喪，內廷宣索不貲。 嘉謨言喪禮有中制，不當信左右言，妄耗國帑，不納。 俄改吏部尚書。
He was transferred to Minister of Revenue at Nanjing and soon summoned to serve as Minister of Works. When Empress Dowager Xiaoding died, the inner court demanded enormous outlays for the mourning. Jiamo argued that mourning rites had fixed middle standards and that the court should not heed attendants and squander the treasury; his advice was rejected. He was soon made Minister of Personnel.
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四十八年七月，神宗崩。 八月丙午朔，光宗即位。 鄭貴妃據乾清宮，且邀封皇太后。 嘉謨從言官楊漣、左光鬥等言，以大義責貴妃從子養性，示以利害。 貴妃乃移慈寧宮，封後事亦寢。 外廷皆言貴妃進侍姬八人，致帝得疾。 二十六日，嘉謨因召見，以寡欲進規，帝註視久之，令皇長子諭外廷：「傳聞不可信。」 諸臣乃退。 二十九日，帝疾大漸，嘉謨偕大學士方從哲、劉一燝、韓爌等受顧命。 其夕，帝崩。 質明，九月乙亥朔，光宗遺詔皇長子嗣位，而李選侍專制宮中，勢頗張，廷臣慮不測。 既入臨，請見皇長子，呼萬歲，奉至文華殿受朝，送居慈慶宮。 嘉謨奏言：「殿下之身，社稷是托，出入不宜輕脫。 大小殮，朝暮臨，須臣等至乃發。」 皇長子頷之。 諸大臣定議：皇長子以九月六日即位。 選侍居乾清自如，且欲挾皇長子同居。 嘉謨亟草疏率廷臣請移宮，光鬥、漣繼之。 五日，選侍始移噦鸞宮。 時大故頻仍，國勢杌隉，首輔從哲首鼠兩端，一燝、爌又新秉政，嘉謨正色立朝，力持大議，中外倚以為重。 神宗末，齊、楚、浙三黨為政，黜陟之權，吏部不能主。 及嘉謨秉銓，惟才是任。 光、熹相繼踐祚，嘉謨大起廢籍，耆碩滿朝。 向稱三黨之魁及朋奸亂政者，亦漸自引去，中朝為清。 已，極陳吏治敝壞，請責成撫、按、監司。 上官註考，率用四六儷語，多失實，嘉謨請以六事定官評：一曰守，二曰才，三曰心，四曰政，五曰年，六曰貌。 各註其實，毋飾虛詞。 帝稱善，行之。
In the seventh month of the forty-eighth year of his reign, Emperor Shenzong died. On the first day of the eighth month, a bingwu day, Emperor Guangzong ascended the throne. Consort Zheng held the Palace of Heavenly Purity and also sought to be ennobled as empress dowager. Following remonstrance officials such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, Jiamo pressed Consort Zheng's nephew Yangxing with the weight of principle and showed him what he stood to gain or lose. The consort then moved to the Palace of Imperial Tranquility, and the bid for empress dowager status was dropped. Throughout the outer court it was said that the consort had presented eight attendants and thereby brought on the emperor's illness. On the twenty-sixth day Jiamo was summoned to audience and urged restraint of desire; the emperor looked at him a long while and had the eldest imperial son tell the outer court, "Rumors are not to be trusted." The officials then withdrew. On the twenty-ninth day the emperor's illness turned critical; Jiamo, together with Grand Secretaries Fang Congzhe, Liu Yijing, Han Kuang, and others, received his deathbed charge. That same evening the emperor died. At dawn on the first day of the ninth month, a yihai day, Guangzong's testament named the eldest imperial son as successor; yet Lady Li dominated the palace and her power was swelling, and the court feared what might come. Once they had entered to mourn, they asked to see the eldest imperial son, cried "Long live the Emperor!", escorted him to Wenhua Hall to receive the court's homage, and sent him to live at Ciqing Palace. Jiamo memorialized: "Your Highness's person is entrusted with the altars of state; you should not go in and out lightly. For the major and minor encoffining and for morning and evening attendance at the lying-in-state, you must wait until we arrive before proceeding." The eldest imperial son nodded in assent. The senior ministers resolved that the eldest imperial son would ascend the throne on the sixth day of the ninth month. Lady Li continued to occupy Qianqing as before and even wished to keep the eldest imperial son living with her. Jiamo urgently drafted a memorial and led the court in demanding that she move palace; Zuo Guangdou and Yang Lian followed with their own. On the fifth day Lady Li at last moved to Yanluan Palace. Deaths in the imperial house came one after another and the state tottered; Chief Minister Fang Congzhe wavered, while Liu Yijing and Han Kuang had only just taken power. Jiamo stood in court with stern bearing, forcefully upheld the great decisions of the day, and court and country alike looked to him as their anchor. At the end of Shenzong's reign the Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions controlled government, and the Ministry of Personnel could no longer command appointments and dismissals. Once Jiamo held the power of appointment, he assigned office solely by talent. Guangzong and Xizong succeeded to the throne in turn; Jiamo brought back large numbers of men from the dismissed rolls until venerable worthies filled the court. Those long called leaders of the three factions and clique villains who had thrown government into disorder also gradually withdrew on their own, and the central court grew clean. He then urgently described how official governance had decayed and asked that grand coordinators, surveillance commissioners, and circuit intendants be held accountable. Superiors' written evaluations mostly used polished parallel prose and often missed the truth; Jiamo asked that official appraisals be grounded in six matters: integrity, talent, mind, administration, years of service, and appearance. Each item was to record what was true, without ornamental phrasing. The emperor approved and put the reform into practice.
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天啟元年，御史賈繼春得罪，其同官張慎言、高弘圖疏救，帝欲並罪之。 嘉謨等力為解，乃奪慎言、弘圖俸而止。 朱欽相、倪思輝被謫，嘉謨亦申救。 給事中霍維華希魏忠賢指劾王安，置之死。 嘉謨惡之，出維華於外。 忠賢怒，嗾給事中孫傑劾嘉謨受劉一燝屬為安報仇，且以用袁應泰、佟卜年等為嘉謨罪。 嘉謨求退，忠賢矯旨許之。 大學士葉向高等請留嘉謨竣大計事，不聽。 明年，廣寧陷，嘉謨憂憤，馳疏劾兵部尚書張鶴鳴主戰誤國罪。 五年秋，忠賢黨周維持復劾嘉謨曲庇王安，遂削籍。
In the first year of the Tianqi reign, Censor Jia Jichun was punished for an offense; his colleagues Zhang Shenyan and Gao Hongtu memorialized in his defense, and the emperor wished to punish them too. Jiamo and others pressed hard for their release, and in the end only Shenyan's and Hongtu's salaries were suspended. When Zhu Qinxiang and Ni Sihui were demoted, Jiamo interceded for them as well. Supervising Secretary Huo Weihua, seeking to please Wei Zhongxian, impeached Wang An and had him executed. Jiamo detested this and had Weihua posted outside the capital. Zhongxian was furious and incited Supervising Secretary Sun Jie to impeach Jiamo for taking Liu Yijing's commission to avenge Wang An, and also cited Jiamo's appointment of Yuan Yingtai, Tong Bunian, and others as offenses. Jiamo asked to retire, and Zhongxian forged an edict granting his request. Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao and others asked that Jiamo be kept until the great evaluation of officials was finished, but the court would not listen. The following year, when Guangning fell, Jiamo, stricken with grief and anger, sent an urgent memorial impeaching Minister of War Zhang Heming for advocating war and misleading the state. In the autumn of the fifth year, Zhongxian's follower Zhou Weichi again impeached Jiamo for shielding Wang An, and he was struck from the official rolls.
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崇禎元年，薦起南京吏部尚書，加太子太保。 明年，卒官，年八十四。 贈少保。
In the first year of the Chongzhen reign he was recommended and recalled as Minister of Personnel at Nanjing, with the added title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. The following year he died in office, aged eighty-four. He was posthumously ennobled as Junior Guardian.
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張問達
Zhang Wenda
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張問達，字德允，涇陽人。 萬歷十一年進士。 歷知高平、濰二縣，有惠政。 征授刑科給事中。 寧夏用兵，請盡蠲全陜逋賦，從之。 父喪除，起故官，歷工科左給事中。 帝方營建兩宮，中官利乾沒，復興他役，問達力請停止，不納。 俄陳礦稅之害，言：「閹尹一朝銜命，輒敢糾彈郡守，甚且糾撫按重臣。 而孫朝所攜程守訓、陳保輩，至箠殺命吏，毀室廬，掘墳墓。 不一按問，若萬方怨恫何！」 典試山東，疏陳道中饑饉流離狀，請亟罷天下礦稅，皆不報。 已，巡視廠庫。 故事，令商人辦內府器物，僉名以進，謂之僉商。 而諸高貲者率賄近幸求免，帝輒許之。 問達兩疏爭執，又極論守訓罪，並寢不行。 進禮科都給事中。 劾晉江李贄邪說惑眾，逮死獄中。 贄事具《耿定向傳》。
Zhang Wenda, styled Deyun, came from Jingyang. He received his jinshi degree in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He served in turn as magistrate of Gaoping and Wei, where his rule won popular gratitude. He was summoned and appointed supervising secretary in the Bureau of Punishments. When war broke out in Ningxia, he asked that all land-tax arrears throughout Shaanxi be remitted, and the court agreed. When his mourning for his father ended he was recalled to his former post and rose to Left Supervising Secretary in the Bureau of Works. The emperor was then building the Two Palaces; eunuchs profited from embezzlement and revived other labor projects, and Wenda pressed hard for them to stop, but his plea was rejected. He soon set forth the harm of the mining tax, saying, "Once a eunuch commissioner receives his mandate, he dares impeach prefects at will, and even grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners. Men such as Cheng Shouxun and Chen Bao, whom Sun Chao brought with him, went so far as to beat appointed officials to death, destroy houses, and dig up graves. If they are not prosecuted, how can the empire's outrage be answered!" While conducting examinations in Shandong he memorialized on the famine, destitution, and displacement he saw along the way and urgently asked that mining taxes be abolished empire-wide; none of it received a reply. He was then assigned to inspect the factories and storehouses. By precedent merchants were ordered to supply goods for the inner palace, their names submitted collectively for approval; this was called the collective-merchant system. Wealthy merchants usually bribed favored attendants to win exemption, and the emperor invariably granted it. Wenda memorialized twice in protest and also pressed Cheng Shouxun's crimes to the limit; all were shelved without action. He was promoted to Chief Supervising Secretary in the Bureau of Rites. He impeached Li Zhi of Jinjiang for heterodox teachings that misled the people; Li was arrested and died in prison. Li Zhi's case is treated fully in the 《Biography of Geng Dingxiang》.
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三十年十月，星變，復請盡罷礦稅。 時比年日食皆在四月，問達以純陽之月其變尤大，先後疏請修省，語極危切，帝終不納。 尋遷太常少卿，以右僉都御史巡撫湖廣。 所部水災，數請蠲貸。 帝方營三殿，采木楚中，計費四百二十萬有奇，問達多方拮據，民免重困。 久之，召拜刑部右侍郎，署部事兼署都察院事。
In the tenth month of the thirtieth year, when a star changed, he again asked that mining taxes be abolished entirely. Solar eclipses had fallen in the fourth month several years running; Wenda held that in this month of pure yang the omen was especially grave, and he memorialized again and again calling for moral reform in language of utmost urgency, yet the emperor never listened. He was soon made Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and appointed grand coordinator of Huguang as Right Vice Censor-in-Chief. His jurisdiction suffered floods, and he repeatedly asked for tax remission and relief grain. The emperor was then building the Three Halls and procuring timber in Chu at a projected cost of more than 4.2 million taels; Wenda cut costs on every front, sparing the people crushing burdens. After some time he was summoned as Right Vice Minister of Justice, acting head of the ministry while also acting head of the Censorate.
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四十三年五月，讞問張差梃擊事。 問達從員外郎陸夢龍言，令十三司會訊，詞連鄭貴妃宮監龐保、劉成。 中外籍籍，疑貴妃弟國泰為之。 問達等奏上差獄。 帝見保、成名，留疏不下。 尋召方從哲、吳道南及問達等於慈寧宮，命並磔二人。 甫還宮，帝意復變，乃先戮差，令九卿三法司會訊保、成於文華門。 保、成供原姓名曰鄭進、劉登雲，而不承罪。 方鞫時，東宮傳諭曰：「張差情實風癲，誤入宮門，擊傷內侍，罪不赦。 後招保、成系內官，欲謀害本宮。 彼何益，當以仇誣，從輕擬罪。」 問達等以鞫審未盡，上疏曰：「奸人闖宮，事關宗社。 今差已死，二囚易抵飾。 文華門尊嚴之地，臣等不敢刑訊，何由得情？ 二囚偏詞，何足為據？ 差雖死，所供詞故在，其同謀馬三道等亦皆有詞在案，孰得而滅之？ 況慈寧召對，面諭並決。 煌煌天語，通國共聞。 若不付之外庭，會官嚴鞫，安肯輸情？ 既不輸情，安從正法？ 祖宗二百年來，未有罪囚不付法司，輒令擬罪者。 且二人系內臣。 法行自近，陛下尤當嚴其銜轡，而置之重辟。 奈何任彼展辨，不與天下共棄之也。」 帝以二囚涉鄭氏，付外庭，議益滋，乃潛斃之於內，言皆以創重身死。 而馬三道等五人，命予輕比坐流配。 其事遂止。 是年解都察院事。 久之，遷戶部尚書，督倉場。 尋兼署刑部，拜左都御史。 光宗疾大漸，同受顧命。
In the fifth month of the forty-third year the court reviewed judgment in the Zhang Cha club-assault case. Wenda took the advice of Registrar Lu Menglong and ordered a joint interrogation by the thirteen bureaus; testimony linked Consort Zheng's palace stewards Pang Bao and Liu Cheng. Rumors spread at court and beyond, and many suspected the consort's brother Guotai was behind it. Wenda and his colleagues memorialized the court with the findings in Zhang Cha's case. When the emperor saw Pang Bao and Liu Cheng named, he held the memorial and issued no response. He soon summoned Fang Congzhe, Wu Daonan, Wenda, and others to Cining Palace and ordered both men torn apart by execution. Barely back in the palace the emperor changed his mind again: Cha was executed first, and the Nine Ministers with the three judicial offices were ordered to interrogate Bao and Cheng jointly at Wenhua Gate. Bao and Cheng gave their original names as Zheng Jin and Liu Dengyun but refused to confess. Midway through the interrogation the Eastern Palace sent word: "Zhang Cha was truly mad; he blundered into the palace gate and wounded inner attendants—a crime that cannot be pardoned. He later implicated Bao and Cheng as palace eunuchs plotting against this palace. What could they gain from it? Charge him with trumped-up hatred and fix a lighter sentence." Wenda and others, holding that the inquiry was incomplete, memorialized: "A villain forced his way into the palace—the matter touches the fate of the state. With Zhang Cha dead, the two prisoners can easily cover for one another and fabricate testimony. Wenhua Gate is a place of solemn dignity; we dare not torture there—how are we to get at the truth? The two prisoners' one-sided statements are hardly evidence at all. Though Zhang Cha is dead, his testimony remains, and co-conspirators such as Ma Sandao likewise have statements on file—who can erase them? Moreover, at an audience in Cining Palace you ordered them executed together in person. Those august words from the throne were heard throughout the realm. Unless the case is handed to the outer court for a rigorous joint interrogation, why should they confess? Without a confession, how can the law be properly applied? In two hundred years under our founders no convicted prisoner has ever been sentenced without referral to the judicial offices. Moreover, both men are palace eunuchs. The law begins with those nearest the throne; Your Majesty should hold them to an especially strict rein and impose the severest penalty. How can you let them argue at length and not cast them out together with the judgment of the empire?" Because the two prisoners implicated the Zheng family, the emperor referred them to the outer court; as debate intensified he had them quietly killed inside, alleging death from severe wounds. Ma Sandao and four others were sentenced to penal exile on comparatively light grounds. The affair was thus brought to a close. That year he stepped down from his Censorate duties. Before long he was made Minister of Revenue and put in charge of the granaries. He soon also acted head of the Ministry of Justice and was appointed Left Censor-in-Chief. When Guangzong's illness turned critical, he shared in receiving the deathbed charge.
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天啟元年冬，代周嘉謨為吏部尚書。 連掌內外大計，悉葉公論。 當是時，萬歷中建言詿誤獲譴諸臣棄林下久，死者已過半。 問達等定議：以廷杖、系獄、遣戍者為一等，贈官蔭子； 貶竄、削籍者為一等，但贈官。 獲恤者七十五人。
In the winter of the first year of Tianqi he succeeded Zhou Jiamo as Minister of Personnel. He presided over successive grand evaluations of inner and outer officials, and in every case followed prevailing opinion. By then most of the officials punished during Wanli for ill-fated memorials had long been out of office; more than half were already dead. Wenda and colleagues resolved that those who had been beaten at court, imprisoned, or exiled ranked first and should receive posthumous honors and privileges for their sons; those demoted, banished, or struck from the registers ranked second and should receive posthumous office only. Seventy-five men received this relief.
15
會孫慎行、鄒元標追論「紅丸」，力攻方從哲。 詔廷臣集議，與議者百十余人。 問達既集眾議，乃會戶部尚書汪應蛟等上疏曰：
Meanwhile Sun Shenxing and Zou Yuanbiao reopened the "Red Pill" controversy and pressed hard against Fang Congzhe. The throne ordered the court to deliberate; more than one hundred officials took part. After collecting the consensus Wenda joined Minister of Revenue Wang Yingjiao and others in a memorial that read:
16
按慎行奏，首罪李可灼進紅丸。 可灼先見從哲，臣等初未知。 及奉召進乾清宮，候於丹墀，從哲與臣等共言李可灼進藥，俱慎重未決。 俄宣臣等至宮內跪御前，先帝自言「朕躬虛弱」，語及壽宮，並諭輔陛下為堯、舜，因問「可灼安在」。 可灼趨入，和藥以進，少頃又進。 聖躬安舒就寢。 此進藥始末，從哲及文武諸臣所共見者。 是時群情倉惶，淒然共切，弒逆二字，何可忍言。 在諸臣固諒從哲無是心，即慎行疏中亦已相諒。 若可灼輕易進藥，非但從哲未能止，臣與眾人亦未能止，臣等均有罪焉。 及御史王安舜等疏論可灼，從哲自應重擬，乃先止罰俸，繼令養疾，則失之太輕。 今不重罪可灼，何以慰先帝而服中外之心？ 宜提付法司，正以刑辟。 若崔文升妄投涼藥，罪亦當誅。 請並下法司，與可灼並按。 從哲則應如其自請，削去官階，為法任咎，此亦大臣引罪之道宜然，而非臣等所敢議也。
"Pursuant to Shenxing's memorial, the chief guilt lies with Li Kezhuo for presenting the red pill. Kezhuo had first approached Congzhe; we ministers knew nothing of it at first. When we were summoned into Qianqing Palace we waited on the red steps; Congzhe and we ministers discussed Li Kezhuo's offering of medicine together, and all were cautious and undecided. We were soon summoned inside to kneel before the emperor; the late emperor himself said, "My body is weak," spoke of his tomb, urged us to assist Your Majesty as Yao and Shun had their successors, and then asked, "Where is Kezhuo?" Kezhuo hurried in, mixed the medicine, and presented it; shortly afterward he presented it again. The emperor's person grew comfortable and he fell asleep. This entire course of administering the medicine was witnessed jointly by Congzhe and the civil and military officials. At that moment panic gripped the court; grief was raw and urgent, and the word regicide was unbearable even to speak. The ministers themselves were sure Congzhe harbored no such intent; even Shenxing's memorial had already made allowance for him. If Kezhuo was allowed to present medicine so casually, not only Congzhe could not have stopped him—neither could I nor the others; we are all at fault. When Censor Wang Anshun and others memorialized against Kezhuo, Congzhe should have imposed a heavy penalty; instead he first fined Kezhuo's salary and then allowed him to convalesce—far too lenient. If Kezhuo is not punished severely now, how can we console the late emperor or satisfy court and country? He should be handed over to the judicial offices and punished under the law. If Cui Wensheng recklessly administered cooling medicine, he too deserves death. We ask that both men be sent to the judicial offices and tried together with Kezhuo. Congzhe, as he himself requested, should be stripped of rank and bear legal responsibility—that is how a senior minister accepts blame and is only fitting; it is not for us to debate further.
17
至選侍欲垂簾聽政，群臣初入臨，閽者阻不容入，群臣排闥而進。 哭臨畢，奉聖躬至文華殿，行朝謁嵩呼禮，復奉駕還慈慶宮。 因議新主登極，選侍不當復居乾清。 九卿即公疏請移，言官繼之，從哲始具揭奏請，選侍遂即日移宮。 然輿論猶憾從哲之奏，不毅然為百僚倡。 倘非諸臣共挾大義，連章急趨，則乾清何地，猶然混居，令得假竊魁柄，將如陛下登極還宮何！
When the lady attendant sought to rule from behind a curtain, the ministers on first entering to mourn found gatekeepers barring the way; they pushed through the doors and went in. After the mourning rites they escorted the emperor to Wenhua Hall for the court homage and thrice-cried ceremony, then escorted him back to Ciqing Palace. They then argued that with the new emperor's accession the lady attendant should no longer remain in Qianqing. The Nine Ministers immediately submitted a joint memorial demanding she move; censors followed; Congzhe at last drafted a formal request, and the lady attendant moved that very day. Public opinion still faulted Congzhe for failing to lead the officials resolutely in his own memorial. Had the ministers not seized on principle and pressed memorial after memorial, she might still have shared Qianqing and usurped power—what would have become of Your Majesty's accession and return to the palace!
18
疏入，帝謂從哲心跡自明，不當輕議，止逮可灼下吏。 文升已安置南京，弗問。
When the memorial arrived the emperor said Congzhe's intentions were clear and should not be lightly criticized; he ordered only that Kezhuo be arrested and handed to the courts. Wensheng had already been posted to Nanjing and was not pursued.
19
問達歷更大任，「梃擊」、「紅丸」、「移宮」三大案並經其手。 持議平允，不激不隨。 先以秩滿，加太子太保，至是乞休，疏十三上。 詔加少保，乘傳歸。
Wenda rose through the highest offices; the three great cases—the "Stick-wielding Assault," the "Red Pill," and the "Moving Palace"—all passed through his hands. He held his positions evenly, neither inflammatory nor merely compliant. Earlier, when his term expired, he had been made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent; now he begged to retire, submitting thirteen memorials. The throne made him Junior Guardian and sent him home by imperial post.
20
五年，魏忠賢擅國。 御史周維持劾問達力引王之寀植黨亂政，遂削奪。 御史牟誌夔復誣問達贓私，請下吏按問。 命捐貲十萬助軍興。 頃之，問達卒。 以巡撫張維樞言，免其半，問達家遂破。 崇禎初，贈太保，予一子官。 維持、誌夔鹹名掛逆案。
In the fifth year Wei Zhongxian dominated the government. Censor Zhou Weichi impeached Wenda for forcibly promoting Wang Zhicai to build a faction and subvert government; he was stripped of rank and honors. Censor Mou Zhikui again accused Wenda of corruption and asked that he be handed to the courts for investigation. He was ordered to contribute one hundred thousand taels toward military expenses. Before long Wenda died. On Grand Coordinator Zhang Weixu's plea half the sum was remitted, but Wenda's family was ruined nonetheless. Early in Chongzhen he was posthumously made Grand Guardian and one son was granted an office. Weichi and Zhikui were both listed among the Donglin faction.
21
陸夢龍傅梅
Lu Menglong and Fu Mei
22
陸夢龍，字君啟，會稽人。 萬歷三十八年進士。 授刑部主事，進員外郎。
Lu Menglong, styled Junqi, came from Kuaiji. He received his jinshi degree in the thirty-eighth year of the Wanli reign. He entered the Ministry of Justice as a principal clerk and was later promoted to registrar.
23
張差獄起，引凡向宮殿射箭、放彈、投磚石等律當以斬。 獄具，提牢主事王之寀奏差口詞甚悉，乞敕會問，大理丞王士昌亦上疏趣之。 時夢龍以典試廣東杜門，主事邢臺傅梅過之曰：「人情庇奸，而甘心儲皇。 吾雖恤刑山右，當上疏極論，君能共事乎？」 夢龍曰：「張公遇我厚，遽上疏，若張公何？ 當力爭之耳。」 乃偕見問達。 時郎中胡士相等不欲再鞫，趣問達具疏請旨，以疏入必留中，其事可遂寢。 夢龍得其情，止勿復請。 眾曰：「提馬三爺、李外父輩，非得旨不可。」 夢龍曰：「堂堂法司，不能捕一編氓，須天子詔耶？ 差所供，必當訊實。」 問達以為然。
When Zhang Cha's case arose he cited statutes on shooting at palaces, firing pellets, and hurling stones—all capital offenses. Once the case was ready, Prison Registrar Wang Zhicai memorialized that Zhang Cha's testimony was thorough and begged an imperial order for joint interrogation; Assistant Director Wang Shichang also urged the same. Menglong was then presiding over the Guangdong examinations with his doors closed when Principal Clerk Fu Mei of Xingtai visited him and said, "The world shields the guilty yet is ready to sacrifice the heir apparent. Though I am posted to Shanxi on penal review, I mean to memorialize forcefully—will you act with me? Menglong said, "Director Zhang has been generous to me; if I suddenly memorialized, what would that do to him? We should fight it out in the inquiry instead. Then together they went to see Wenda. Registrar Hu Shixiang and others did not want another interrogation; they urged Wenda to submit a memorial asking the throne to decide, knowing that once it was held within the matter could be quietly dropped. Menglong saw through the plan and stopped him from memorializing. The others said, "To arrest Uncle Ma San, Father-in-law Li, and the rest we need an imperial order. Menglong said, "Can the Court of Judicature not seize a single commoner without an edict from the Son of Heaven? What Zhang Cha confessed must be verified in full. Wenda agreed.
24
明日，會訊，士相、永嘉、會禎、夢龍、梅、之寀及鄒紹先凡七人，惟之寀、梅與夢龍合。 將訊，眾鹹囁嚅。 夢龍呼刑具三，無應者，擊案大呼，始具。 差長身駢脅，睨視傲語，無風癲狀。 夢龍呼紙筆，命畫所從入路。 梅問：「汝何由識路？」 差言：「我薊州人，非有導者，安得入？」 問：「導者誰？」 曰：「大老公龐公，小老公劉公。」 且曰：「豢我三年矣，予我金銀壺各一。」 夢龍曰：「何為？」 曰：「打小爺。」 於是士相立推坐起曰：「此不可問矣。」 遂罷訊。 夢龍必欲得內豎名。 越數日，問達再令十三司會審，差供逆謀及龐保、劉成名，一無所隱。 士相主筆，躊躇不敢下，郎中馬德灃趣之，永嘉復以為難。 夢龍咈然曰：「陸員外不肯匿，誰敢匿？」 獄乃具。 給事中何士晉遂疏詆鄭國泰。 帝於是斃保、成於內，而棄差市，梅慮其潛易，躬請監刑。 當是時，自夢龍、之寀、梅、德灃外，鮮不為鄭氏地者。 已而之寀、德灃悉被罪，梅以京察罷官。 夢龍賴問達力獲免，由郎中歷副使。
The next day seven men joined the interrogation—Shixiang, Yongjia, Huizhen, Menglong, Mei, Zhicai, and Zou Shaoxian; only Zhicai and Mei sided with Menglong. As the interrogation was about to begin everyone hesitated and murmured. Menglong called three times for the torture implements; no one moved; he slammed the table and shouted until they were brought out. Cha was tall and broad-shouldered, glaring and speaking arrogantly, showing no sign of madness. Menglong called for brush and paper and ordered him to sketch the route by which he had entered. Mei asked, "How do you know the way in?" Zhang Cha replied, "I am from Jizhou. Without a guide, how could I have gotten in?" They asked, "Who was your guide?" He said, "Elder Master Pang and Younger Master Liu." He added, "They kept me for three years and gave me one gold and one silver flask apiece." Menglong asked, "What for?" He answered, "To beat the young master." At that Shixiang sprang up from his seat and said, "We must not pursue this line of questioning. The interrogation was then broken off. Menglong was bent on learning the names of the palace eunuchs involved. A few days later Wenda ordered another joint trial by the Thirteen Offices; Zhang Cha confessed the conspiracy and named Pang Bao and Liu Cheng without withholding anything. Shixiang held the brush but hesitated to commit anything to paper; Registrar Ma Defeng pressed him, while Yongjia again balked. Menglong snorted and said, "If Assistant Director Lu will not hide anything, who would dare to? The case record was finally completed. Supervising Secretary He Shijin then submitted a memorial attacking Zheng Guotai. The emperor then had Bao and Cheng put to death inside the palace and handed Cha over to public execution; fearing a secret swap, Mei asked in person to oversee the execution. At the time, aside from Menglong, Zhicai, Mei, and Defeng, scarcely anyone failed to plead the Zheng family's cause. Soon Zhicai and Defeng were both punished, and Mei was removed from office in the capital personnel review. Menglong escaped punishment thanks to Wenda's backing and advanced from registrar to vice commissioner.
25
天啟四年，貴州賊未靖，總督蔡復一薦夢龍知兵，改右參政，監軍討賊，安邦彥犯普定。 夢龍偕總兵黃鉞以三千人禦之。 曉行大霧中，直前薄賊，賊大敗。 三山苗叛，思州告急。 夢龍夜遣中軍吳家相進搗賊巢，撾苗鼓，聲振山谷，苗大奔潰，焚其巢而還。 尋改湖廣監軍，遷廣東按察使。 上官建忠賢祠，列夢龍名，亟遣使鏟去之。
In the fourth year of Tianqi, rebels in Guizhou were still unrested; Grand Coordinator Cai Fuyi recommended Menglong as skilled in military affairs; he was made Right Administration Vice Commissioner to supervise troops against the rebels, while An Bangyan attacked Puding. Menglong joined Regional Commander Huang Yue in meeting them with three thousand men. Advancing at dawn through thick fog, they charged straight at the enemy and routed them completely. The Miao of Sanshan rose in revolt, and Sizhou sent urgent appeals for help. Menglong sent Central Army Wu Jiaxiang by night to strike the rebel stronghold, beating Miao drums until the valleys echoed; the Miao broke and fled, and the troops burned their camps and withdrew. He was soon reassigned to supervise troops in Huguang and promoted to Guangdong Surveillance Commissioner. His superiors erected a shrine to loyal worthies and inscribed Menglong's name on it; he quickly sent men to have it chiseled away.
26
而傅梅，崇禎中歷台州知府，解職歸。 十五年冬，捐金佐知府吉孔嘉守城。 城破殉難，贈太常少卿。
As for Fu Mei, he served as prefect of Taizhou under Chongzhen, then resigned and went home. In the winter of the fifteenth year he contributed money to help Prefect Ji Kongjia hold the city. When the city fell he died in its defense and was posthumously made Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
27
汪應蛟
Wang Yingjiao.
28
汪應蛟，字潛夫，婺源人。 萬歷二年進士。 授南京兵部主事，歷南京禮部郎中。 給由入都，值吏部侍郎陸光祖與御史江東之等相訐，應蛟不直光祖，抗疏劾之，於政府多所譏切。
Wang Yingjiao, styled Qianfu, came from Wuyuan. He passed the metropolitan examination in the second year of Wanli. He was made a clerk in the Nanjing Ministry of War and later served as a registrar in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. When he went to the capital on official business, Vice Minister Lu Guangzu and Censor Jiang Dongzhi were locked in mutual accusations; Yingjiao sided against Lu and memorialized to impeach him, sharply criticizing the administration.
29
累遷山西按察使。 治兵易州，陳礦使王虎貪恣狀，不報。 朝鮮再用兵，移應蛟天津。 及天津巡撫萬世德經略朝鮮，即擢應蛟右僉都御史代之，屢上兵食事宜，扼險列屯，軍聲甚振。 稅使王朝死，帝將遣代。 應蛟疏請止之，忤旨，切責。 朝鮮事寧，移撫保定。 歲旱蝗，振恤甚力。 已，極言畿民困敝，請盡罷礦稅。 會奸人柳勝秋等妄言括畿輔稅可得銀十有三萬，應蛟三疏力爭，然僅得減半而已。 三十年春，帝命停礦稅，俄中止。 應蛟復力爭，不納。
He rose in stages to become Shanxi Surveillance Commissioner. While directing troops at Yizhou he reported the Mining Commissioner Wang Hu's corruption, but received no reply. When war broke out again in Korea, Yingjiao was posted to Tianjin. When Grand Coordinator Wan Shide of Tianjin went to command in Korea, Yingjiao was promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief to replace him; he repeatedly submitted plans on supplies and troops, fortified key passes, and the army's morale rose sharply. When Tax Commissioner Wang Chao died, the emperor prepared to send a successor. Yingjiao memorialized asking that the appointment be halted; he offended the throne and was sharply rebuked. After the Korean campaign ended, he was made grand coordinator of Baoding. In a year of drought and locusts he threw himself into relief work. He then argued at length that the people around the capital were exhausted and asked that all mining levies be abolished. When villains such as Liu Shengqiu claimed that taxing the capital region could raise 130,000 taels of silver, Yingjiao fought the proposal in three memorials but managed only to cut the levy in half. In the spring of the thirtieth year the emperor ordered mining taxes suspended, but the order was soon reversed. Yingjiao protested again, but his advice was rejected.
30
應蛟在天津，見葛沽、白塘諸田盡為汙萊，詢之土人，鹹言斥鹵不可耕。 應蛟念地無水則堿，得水則潤，若營作水田，當必有利。 乃募民墾田五千畝，為水田者十之四，畝收至四五石，田利大興。 及移保定，乃上疏曰：「天津屯兵四千，費餉六萬，俱斂諸民間。 留兵則民告病，恤民則軍不給，計惟屯田可以足食。 今荒土連封，蒿萊彌望，若開渠置堰，規以為田，可七千頃，頃得谷三百石。 近鎮年例，可以兼資，非獨天津之餉足取給也。」 因條畫墾田丁夫及稅額多寡以請，得旨允行。
At Tianjin, Yingjiao found the fields around Gegu and Baitang lying waste; locals told him the saline soil could not be farmed. He reasoned that without water the soil stayed alkaline but would soften when irrigated, and that converting it to paddy would pay off. He recruited settlers to reclaim five thousand mu, turned two-fifths into paddy, and yields reached four or five shi per mu; the project flourished. After his transfer to Baoding he memorialized: "Tianjin's four thousand garrison troops cost sixty thousand taels in rations, all squeezed from the populace. Keeping the troops burdens the people, but easing that burden leaves the army unfed; only garrison farming can make the troops self-sufficient. Wasteland stretches everywhere, overgrown with weeds; if we dig canals and build dikes we could reclaim seven thousand qing, each yielding three hundred shi of grain. The nearby garrisons' annual quotas could be met as well; Tianjin would not be the only beneficiary." He then laid out labor, tax rates, and reclamation plans in detail and won imperial approval to carry them out.
31
已，請廣興水利。 略言：「臣境內諸川，易水可以溉金臺，滹水可以溉恒山，溏水可以溉中山，滏水可以溉襄國，漳水來自鄴下，西門豹嘗用之，瀛海當諸河下流，視江南澤國不異。 其他山下之泉，地中之水，所在而有，鹹得引以溉田。 請通渠築防，量發軍夫，一準南方水田之法行之。 所部六府，可得田數萬頃，歲益谷千萬石，畿民從此饒給，無旱潦之患。 即不幸漕河有梗，亦可改折於南，取糴於北。」 工部尚書楊一魁亟稱其議，帝亦報許，後卒不能行。 召為工部右侍郎，未上，予告去。 已，進兵部左侍郎，以養親不出。 親沒，竟不召。
He then asked to expand irrigation works more widely. He wrote in summary: "The rivers in my jurisdiction could irrigate vast stretches—the Yi could water Jintai, the Huo Hengshan, the Tang Zhongshan, the Fu Xiangguo; the Zhang flows from Ye, where Ximen Bao once drew on it; Yinghai sits at the rivers' lower reaches and is no less a wetland than Jiangnan. Springs on the hillsides and groundwater are found everywhere and could all be channeled into the fields. I ask that we open canals, build dikes, assign troops to the work, and follow the southern paddy-field model throughout. The six prefectures under my charge could gain tens of thousands of qing of farmland and millions of shi of grain each year; the capital region would become self-sufficient and spared drought and flood. Even if the Grand Canal were blocked, the court could shift grain payments southward and buy grain in the north instead." Minister of Works Yang Yikui strongly endorsed the plan, and the emperor approved it in principle, but the scheme was never implemented. He was summoned to be Right Vice Minister of Works but left on leave before taking up the post. He was later promoted to Left Vice Minister of War but declined to serve in order to care for his parents. After their deaths he was never recalled.
32
應蛟為人，亮直有守，視國如家。 謹出納，杜虛耗，國計賴之。 帝保母客氏求墓地逾制，應蛟持不予，遂見忤。 會有言其老不任事者，力乞骸骨。 詔加太子少保，馳傳歸。 陛辭，疏陳聖學，引宋儒語，以宦官、宮妾為戒。 久之，卒於家。 應蛟學主誠敬，其出處辭受一軌於義。 裏居，謝絕塵事，常衣缊枲。
Yingjiao was upright and principled, treating the state as his own household. He watched revenues and expenditures closely, checked waste, and the treasury depended on him. When the emperor's nursemaid Lady Ke sought an oversize burial plot, Yingjiao refused and earned her enmity. When others said he was too old for duty, he pressed hard to retire. The throne made him Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and sent him home with relay horses. In his farewell audience he urged the emperor to pursue sage learning, quoted Song Neo-Confucians, and warned against eunuchs and palace women. He died at home some years later. Yingjiao's scholarship centered on sincerity and reverence; whether he took office or left it, accepted or refused, he measured everything by duty. At home he shunned worldly business and usually wore plain padded hemp.
33
王紀，字惟理，芮城人。 萬歷十七年進士。 授池州推官。 入為祠祭主事，歷儀制郎中。 秉禮持正，時望蔚然。 二十九年，帝將冊立東宮，數遷延不決，紀抗疏極論。 其冬，禮成，擢光祿少卿，引疾去。
Wang Ji, styled Weili, came from Ruicheng. He passed the metropolitan examination in the seventeenth year of Wanli. He was made investigating magistrate of Chizhou. He entered the capital as a clerk in the Office of Imperial Sacrifices and rose to registrar in the Office of Ceremonial Regulations. He upheld ritual and integrity, and his reputation among contemporaries was outstanding. In the twenty-ninth year, as the emperor kept postponing investiture of the crown prince, Ji memorialized forcefully on the matter. That winter, after the investiture was completed, he was made Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments but resigned citing illness.
34
四十一年，自太常少卿擢右僉都御史，巡撫保定諸府。 連歲水旱，紀設法救荒甚備。 稅監張曄請征恩詔已蠲諸稅，紀兩疏力爭，曄竟取中旨行之。 紀劾曄抗違詔書，沮格成命，皆不報。 居四年，部內大治，遷戶部右侍郎，總督漕運兼巡撫鳳陽諸府。 歲大兇，振救如畿輔。 光宗立，召拜戶部尚書，督倉場。
In the forty-first year he rose from Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Baoding and neighboring prefectures. After successive floods and droughts he organized relief measures with exceptional thoroughness. Tax Supervisor Zhang Ye sought to reimpose taxes already forgiven by imperial grace; Ji fought him in two memorials, but Zhang secured a palace edict and enforced the levy anyway. Ji impeached Zhang for defying imperial orders and blocking settled policy, but received no reply. After four years his jurisdiction was well governed; he was made Right Vice Minister of Revenue and put in charge of the Grand Canal while also serving as grand coordinator of Fengyang and neighboring prefectures. In a year of severe famine he mounted relief efforts as thorough as those around the capital. When Emperor Guangzong ascended the throne, Ji was summoned as Minister of Revenue to oversee the granaries.
35
天啟二年，代黃克纘為刑部尚書。 時方會議「紅丸」事，紀偕侍郎楊東明署議，言：「方從哲知有貴妃，不知有君父。 李可灼進藥駕崩，反慰以恩諭，賚之銀幣，國典安在？ 不逮可灼，無以服天下； 不逮崔文升，無以服可灼； 不削奪從哲官階祿蔭，無以泄天地神人之憤。」 議出，群情甚竦。
In the second year of Tianqi he succeeded Huang Kezuan as Minister of Justice. While the court was debating the "Red Pill" affair, Ji and Vice Minister Yang Dongming signed a joint opinion stating, "Fang Congzhe knew the imperial consort but forgot his sovereign and father. Li Kezhuo administered the drug and the emperor died, yet Fang comforted him with gracious edicts and rewarded him with silver—where is the law of the realm? Unless Li Kezhuo is punished, the empire will not be satisfied; unless Cui Wensheng is punished, Li Kezhuo will not be satisfied; unless Fang Congzhe is stripped of rank, salary, and hereditary privilege, the wrath of Heaven, earth, and the people cannot be appeased. When the opinion was published, public sentiment was deeply stirred.
36
主事徐大化者，素無賴，日走魏忠賢門，構陷善類，又顯劾給事中周朝瑞、惠世揚。 紀憤甚，劾大化溺職狀，因言：「大化誠為朝廷擊賊，則大臣中有交結權珰，誅鋤正士，如宋蔡京者，何不登彈文，而與正人日尋水火。」 其言大臣，指大學士沈纮也。 大化由此罷去，而纮及忠賢深憾之。 御史楊維垣與大化有連，且素附纮，遂助纮詆紀，言紀所劾大臣無主名，請令指實。 紀遂直攻纮，言：「纮與京，生不同時，而事實相類。 其結納魏忠賢，與京之契合童貫同也； 乞哀董羽宸，與京之懇款陳瓘同也； 要盟死友邵輔忠、孫傑，與京之固結吳居厚同也； 逐顧命元臣劉一燝、周嘉謨，與安置呂大防、蘇軾同也； 斥逐言官江秉謙、熊德陽、侯震旸，與貶謫安常民、任伯雨同也。 至於賄交婦寺，竊弄威權，中旨頻傳而上不悟，朝柄陰握而下不知，此又京迷國罔上，百世合符者。」 客、魏聞之怒，為纮泣訴帝前。 帝謂紀煩言，加譙責焉。
Principal Clerk Xu Dahua was a habitual troublemaker who daily courted Wei Zhongxian, framed upright officials, and openly impeached Supervising Secretaries Zhou Chaorui and Hui Shiyang. Ji was furious and impeached Dahua for dereliction, adding: "If Dahua truly fights villains for the throne, why does he never impeach the great ministers who collude with powerful eunuchs and destroy upright men, like Song's Cai Jing, yet daily wages war on the righteous? His reference to great ministers meant Grand Secretary Shen Yi. Dahua was dismissed as a result, while Shen Yi and Wei Zhongxian bore him deep resentment. Censor Yang Weiyuan was tied to Dahua and had long sided with Shen Yi; he joined in attacking Ji, saying Ji had named no minister in his charges and demanding that he identify them. Ji then attacked Shen Yi directly, saying, "Yi and Cai Jing lived in different ages, yet their conduct is much the same. His alliance with Wei Zhongxian matches Cai Jing's intimacy with Tong Guan; his pleading to Dong Yuchen matches Cai Jing's cordial treatment of Chen Guan; his pact with sworn friends Shao Fuzhong and Sun Jie matches Cai Jing's tight bond with Wu Juhou; his removal of entrusted senior ministers Liu Yizao and Zhou Jiamo matches Cai Jing's banishment of Lü Dafang and Su Shi; his expulsion of remonstrating officials Jiang Bingqian, Xiong Deyang, and Hou Zhenyang matches Cai Jing's demotion and exile of Liu Anshi (styled Anchang) and Ren Boyu. As for bribery and collusion with palace women and eunuchs, secret manipulation of power, repeated secret edicts while the emperor remained unaware, and covert control of the court while officials knew nothing—here too Shen Yi mirrored Cai Jing's deception of ruler and realm, a pattern that recurs across the ages." Madam Ke and Wei Zhongxian were enraged and wept before the emperor in Shen Yi's defense. The emperor said Ji was tiresome in his speech and rebuked him further.
37
初，李維翰、熊廷弼、王化貞下吏，紀皆置之重辟。 而與都御史、大理卿上廷弼、化貞爰書，微露兩人有可矜狀，而言不測特恩，非法官所敢輕議。 有千總杜茂者，賫登萊巡撫陶郎先千金，行募兵，金盡而兵未募，不敢歸，返薊州僧舍，為邏者所獲，詞連佟卜年。 卜年，遼陽人，舉進士，歷知南皮、河間，遷夔州同知，未行，經略廷弼薦為登萊監軍僉事。 邏者搒掠。 茂言嘗客於卜年河間署中三月，與言謀叛，因挾其二仆往通李永芳。 行邊尚書張鶴鳴以聞。 鶴鳴故與廷弼有隙，欲藉卜年以甚其罪。 朝士皆知卜年冤，莫敢言。 及鎮撫既成獄，移刑部，紀疑之，以問諸曹郎。 員外郎顧大章曰：「茂既與二仆往來三千里，乃拷訊垂斃，終不知二仆姓名，其誣服何疑，卜年雖非間諜，然實佟養真族子，流三千里可也。」 紀議從之。 邏者又獲奸細劉一巘，忠賢疑劉一燝昆弟，欲立誅一讞與卜年，因一讞以株連一燝。 紀皆執不可。 纮遂劾紀護廷弼，緩卜年等獄，為二大罪。 帝責紀陳狀，遂斥為民。 以侍郎楊東明署部事，坐卜年流二千里。 獄三上三卻。 給事中成明樞、張鵬雲、沈惟炳，卜年同年生也，為發憤，摭他事連劾東明。 卜年獲長系，瘐死，而東明遂引疾去。
Earlier, when Li Weihan, Xiong Tingbi, and Wang Huazhen were committed to judicial custody, Ji had pressed for the severest punishments in each case. Yet when he and the Censor-in-Chief and the chief judge of the Court of Judicial Review submitted the final report on Tingbi and Huazhen, he hinted that both men deserved some mercy, adding that any extraordinary imperial favor was beyond what legal officials could presume to recommend. A battalion commander named Du Mao had carried a thousand taels of silver from Grand Coordinator Tao Langxian of Deng-Lai to raise troops; when the funds ran out before any soldiers were enlisted, he dared not return home and hid at a monastery in Jizhou, where border patrols seized him and his confession implicated Tong Bunian. Bunian was a native of Liaoyang who had passed the jinshi examination, served as magistrate of Nanpi and Hejian, and been promoted to vice prefect of Kuizhou; before he could take up that post, Commissioner-in-Chief Xiong Tingbi had recommended him as assistant commissioner for military supervision at Deng-Lai. The border patrol tortured him under interrogation. Mao claimed he had lodged for three months in Bunian's Hejian yamen, plotted rebellion with him, and then set out with two servants to contact Li Yongfang. Minister of Border Affairs Zhang Heming reported the case to the throne. Heming had long been at odds with Tingbi and hoped to use the Bunian case to magnify Tingbi's guilt. Everyone at court knew Bunian was innocent, but no one dared say so. Once the prison interrogation was finished and the case moved to the Ministry of Justice, Ji had doubts and consulted the bureau directors. Director Gu Dazhang said, "If Mao really made a three-thousand-li round trip with two servants, yet under torture was nearly beaten to death without ever learning their names, how can his confession be trusted? Bunian may not be a spy, but he is indeed a kinsman of Tong Yangzhen—exiling him three thousand li would be acceptable. Ji accepted this view. Border patrols soon captured another agent, Liu Yizhan; Zhongxian suspected he was kin to Liu Yizao and wanted Yizhan and Bunian executed at once, then to implicate Yizao through Yizhan. Ji refused on every point. Shen Yi then impeached Ji on two major counts: shielding Tingbi and softening the prosecutions of Bunian and the others. The emperor ordered Ji to explain himself, then stripped him of office and reduced him to commoner status. Vice Minister Yang Dongming was put in charge of the ministry and sentenced Bunian to exile two thousand li. The verdict was submitted three times and sent back three times. Supervising Secretaries Cheng Mingshu, Zhang Pengyun, and Shen Weibing, who had been Bunian's classmates, indignantly seized on other issues to impeach Dongming in concert. Bunian remained imprisoned for a long time until he died of illness, and Dongming then resigned citing ill health.
38
紀既斥，大學士葉向高、何宗彥、史繼偕論救，皆不聽。 後閹黨羅織善類，紀先卒，乃免。 崇禎元年復官，贈少保，蔭一子，謚莊毅。
After Ji was dismissed, Grand Secretaries Ye Xianggao, He Zongyan, and Shi Jixie pleaded for him, but the emperor would not listen. Later, when the eunuch faction began framing upright officials, Ji had already died and so escaped persecution. In the first year of Chongzhen his rank was restored posthumously; he was granted the title Junior Guardian, one son received hereditary office, and he was given the posthumous name Zhuangyi.
39
楊東明
Yang Dongming (biography)
40
楊東明，字啟修，虞城人。 官給事中。 請定國本，出閣豫教，早朝勤政，酌宋應昌、李如松功罪之平。 上《河南饑民圖》，薦寺丞鐘化民往振。 掌吏科，協孫丕揚主大計。 後以劾沈思孝，思孝與相詆，貶三官為陜西布政司照磨。 裏居二十六年。 光宗立，起太常少卿。 天啟中，累遷刑部右侍郎。 既歸，遂卒。 崇禎初，贈刑部尚書。
Yang Dongming, styled Qixiu, came from Yucheng. He served as a supervising secretary. He urged fixing the succession, early exit from the palace for the heir's preparatory education, diligent attendance at morning audience, and a fair assessment of Song Yingchang's and Li Ruzong's merits and faults. He submitted the 《Map of Henan Famine Victims》 and recommended Temple Director Zhong Huamin to lead relief efforts. As head of the personnel bureau, he assisted Sun Piyang in conducting the grand evaluation of officials. Later he impeached Shen Sixiao; the two traded accusations, and he was demoted three ranks to registrar in the Shaanxi provincial administration commission. He lived in retirement for twenty-six years. When Emperor Guangzong took the throne, he was recalled as vice minister of rites. Under the Tianqi emperor he rose to vice minister of justice. After returning home, he soon died. Early in the Chongzhen reign he was posthumously made minister of justice.
41
孫瑋，字純玉，渭南人。 萬歷五年進士。 授行人，擢兵科給事中。 劾中官魏朝及東廠辦事官鄭如金罪，如金坐下詔獄。 二人皆馮保心腹也。
Sun Wei, styled Chunyu, came from Weinan. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed a courier, then promoted to supervising secretary in the bureau of war. He impeached the eunuch Wei Chao and Eastern Depot officer Zheng Rujin; Rujin was sent to the imperial prison. Both were trusted confidants of Feng Bao.
42
初，張居正以刑部侍郎同安洪朝選輕遼王罪，銜之。 後勞堪巡撫福建，希居正意，諷同安知縣金枝捃摭朝選事，堪飛章奏之。 命未下，捕置之獄，絕其飯食三日，死，禁勿殮，屍腐獄中。 堪尋召為左副都御史，未至京而居正卒。 朝選子都察院檢校競訴冤闕下，堪復飛書抵馮保，削競籍，廷杖遣歸。 至是，瑋白髮其事，並及堪諸貪虐狀，堪免官。 未幾，朝選妻訴冤，邱橓亦為訟，競復援胡槚、王宗載事，請與堪俱死，乃遣堪戍。 當是時，廠衛承馮保余威，濫受民訟； 撫按訪察奸猾，多累無辜； 有司斷獄，往往罪外加罰； 帝好用立枷，重三百余斤，犯者立死。 瑋皆極陳其害。 詔立枷如故，余從瑋言。 以母病，不候命擅歸，坐謫桃源主簿。 久之，歷遷太常卿。
Earlier, when Zhang Juzheng was vice minister of justice, he and Hong Chaoxuan of Tong'an had treated the Prince of Liao's offense too leniently, and Juzheng resented him for it. Later Lao Kan became grand coordinator of Fujian and, seeking to please Zhang Juzheng, induced Tong'an magistrate Jin Zhi to dig up evidence against Hong Chaoxuan and sent an urgent memorial impeaching him. Before the imperial order arrived, Chaoxuan was seized and imprisoned, denied food for three days until he died; burial was forbidden and his body rotted in the jail. Kan was soon recalled as left vice censor-in-chief but had not reached Beijing when Zhang Juzheng died. Chaoxuan's son Jing, a secretary in the censorate, petitioned for justice at the palace gates; Kan again wrote urgently to Feng Bao, Jing was struck from the rolls, beaten at court, and sent home. Now Sun Wei brought the case to light and also detailed Kan's greed and cruelty; Kan was dismissed. Soon Chaoxuan's widow petitioned for justice; Qiu Zheng joined the appeal; Jing again invoked the precedents of Hu Gao and Wang Zongzai and asked that he and Kan both be put to death, whereupon Kan was banished. At that time the Brocade Guard and Eastern Depot, riding on Feng Bao's lingering power, accepted civilian lawsuits indiscriminately; provincial officials investigating local troublemakers often swept up the innocent as well; local magistrates frequently added penalties beyond what the law allowed; the emperor favored the standing cangue, weighing over three hundred jin, on which prisoners died on their feet. Sun Wei protested each of these abuses at length. An edict kept the standing cangue unchanged but adopted his recommendations on the other points. When his mother fell ill he left his post without permission and was demoted to registrar of Taoyuan. After many years he rose to minister of rites.
43
三十年，以右副都御史巡撫保定。 朝鮮用兵，置軍天津，月餉六萬，悉派之民間。 先任巡撫汪應蛟役軍大治水田，以所入充餉。 瑋踵行之，田益墾，遂免加派，歲比不登，旱蝗、大水相繼，瑋多方振救，帝亦時出內帑佐之。 所條荒政，率報允。 畿輔礦使倍他省，礦已竭而搜鑿不已，至歲責民賠納。 瑋累疏陳其害，且列天津稅使馬堂六大罪，皆不省。
In the thirtieth year of Wanli he became right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Baoding. During the Korean campaign armies were stationed at Tianjin with monthly pay of sixty thousand taels, all assessed on the local population. His predecessor Wang Yingjiao had mobilized troops to develop paddy fields on a large scale, using the harvest to cover military pay. Sun Wei continued the policy; more land was brought under cultivation and special levies were lifted; when harvests failed in successive years and drought, locusts, and floods struck in turn, he organized relief on many fronts while the emperor sometimes released funds from the inner treasury to help. Most of his proposals for famine relief were approved. Mining commissioners in the capital region were twice as numerous as elsewhere; even after the mines were exhausted they kept digging, until each year the populace was forced to pay make-up quotas. Sun Wei repeatedly memorialized against these abuses and listed six major crimes of Tianjin tax commissioner Ma Tang, but the throne took no notice.
44
就進兵部侍郎，召為右都御史，督倉場。 進戶部尚書，督倉場如故。 大僚多缺，命署戎政。 已，又兼署兵部。 瑋言：「陛下以累累三印悉畀之臣，豈真國無人耶？ 臣所知大僚則有呂坤、劉元震、汪應蛟，庶僚則有鄒元標、孟一脈、趙南星、姜士昌、劉九經，臺諫則有王德完、馮從吾輩，皆德立行修，足備任使。 茍更閱數年，陛下即欲用之，不可得矣。」 弗聽。
He was promoted to vice minister of war, then summoned as right censor-in-chief to supervise the grain depots. He was promoted to minister of revenue while continuing to supervise the granary depots. With many senior posts unfilled, he was ordered to act as military affairs commissioner. Soon he was also made acting minister of war. Sun Wei said, "Your Majesty has piled three great seals on me in succession—is there truly no one else in the empire? Among senior officials I know of Lü Kun, Liu Yuanzhen, and Wang Yingjiao; among junior officials Zou Yuanbiao, Meng Yimai, Zhao Nanxing, Jiang Shichang, and Liu Jiujing; among censors and remonstrators Wang Dewan, Feng Congwu, and others—all men of integrity fit for office. If Your Majesty waits a few more years, you will no longer be able to call on them. The emperor ignored him.
45
都御史自溫純去後，八年不置代。 至四十年十二月，外計期迫，始命瑋以兵部尚書掌左都御史事。 瑋素負時望，方欲振風紀，而是時朋黨勢成，言路大橫。 會南畿巡按御史荊養喬與提學御史熊廷弼相訐，瑋議廷弼解職候勘。 廷弼黨官應震、吳亮嗣輩遂連章攻瑋。 瑋累疏乞休，帝皆慰留。 無何，吏部以年例出兩御史於外，不關都察院。 瑋以失職，求去益力，疏十余上。 明年七月稽首文華門，出郭候命。 至十月，始予告歸。
After Left Censor-in-Chief Wen Chun left office, no successor was appointed for eight years. In the twelfth month of the fortieth year of Wanli, with the provincial evaluation deadline looming, Sun Wei was finally ordered to serve as minister of war while acting as left censor-in-chief. Sun Wei had long enjoyed public esteem and hoped to restore discipline, but factional power was entrenched and the censorate and remonstrance bureaus ran rampant. When South Jiangxi touring censor Jing Yangqiao and education censor Xiong Tingbi impeached each other, Sun Wei ruled that Tingbi should step down pending investigation. Tingbi's allies Guan Yingzhen, Wu Liangsi, and others then bombarded Sun Wei with memorials. Sun Wei repeatedly asked to retire; each time the emperor urged him to stay. Soon the Ministry of Personnel, following the routine rotation, assigned two censors to provincial posts without consulting the censorate. Feeling he had lost authority, Sun Wei pressed harder to resign, submitting more than ten memorials. In the seventh month of the following year he kowtowed at the Wenhua Gate and waited outside the city for the imperial reply. Not until the tenth month was he granted leave to go home.
46
天啟改元，起南京吏部尚書，改兵部，參贊機務。 三年，召拜刑部尚書。 囚系眾，獄舍至不能容，瑋請近畿者就州縣分系。 內使王文進殺人，下司禮議罪，其余黨付法司。 瑋言一獄不可分兩地，請並文進下吏，不聽。 其冬，以吏部尚書再掌左都御史事，累以老疾辭，不允。 明年秋，疾篤，上疏曰：「今者天災叠見，民不聊生。 內而城社可憂，外而牖戶未固。 法紀淩遲，人心瓦解。 陛下欲圖治平，莫如固結人心； 欲固結人心，莫如登用善類。 舊輔臣劉一燝，憲臣鄒元標，尚書周嘉謨、王紀、孫慎行、盛以弘、鐘羽正等，侍郎曹於汴，詞臣文震孟，科臣侯震旸，臺臣江秉謙，寺臣滿朝薦，部臣徐大相，並老成蹇諤，跧伏草野，良可嘆惜。 倘蒙簡擢，必能昭德塞違，為陛下收拾人心。 尤望寡欲以保聖躬，勤學以進主德，優容以廣言路，明斷以攬大權。 臣遘疾危篤，報主無期，敢竭微忱，用當屍諫。」 遂卒，贈太子太保。 魏忠賢用事，陜西巡撫喬應甲劾瑋素黨李三才、趙南星，不當叨冒恩恤。 詔追誥命，奪其蔭。 崇禎初，復之。 後謚莊毅。
When the Tianqi reign began he was recalled as minister of personnel in Nanjing, then transferred to minister of war with a seat in military deliberations. In the third year he was summoned to Beijing as minister of justice. The prisons were overcrowded; he asked that detainees from the capital region be held in prefectural and county jails. The palace eunuch Wang Wenjin killed someone; the Directorate of Ceremonial was asked to decide his punishment while the rest of his followers were sent to the regular courts. Sun Wei argued that one case could not be split between two jurisdictions and asked that Wenjin be tried in the regular courts as well; the emperor refused. That winter he again served as minister of personnel while acting as left censor-in-chief, and repeatedly pleaded age and illness; the emperor would not release him. The following autumn his illness grew grave; he memorialized, "Heavenly disasters now appear one after another and the people can barely survive. Within, the altars of state are at risk; without, the frontier is not secure. Law and discipline erode and popular loyalty crumbles. If Your Majesty wishes peace and good government, nothing matters more than winning hearts; and to win hearts, nothing matters more than employing worthy men. Former grand secretary Liu Yizao, censor-in-chief Zou Yuanbiao, ministers Zhou Jiamo, Wang Ji, Sun Shengxing, Sheng Yihong, and Zhong Yuzheng, vice minister Cao Yuqian, academician Wen Zhenmeng, supervising secretary Hou Zhenyang, censor Jiang Bingqian, temple official Man Chaojian, and ministry official Xu Daxiang—all seasoned, upright men now languishing in retirement: a loss the throne can ill afford. If Your Majesty would promote them, they can surely display virtue, check wrongdoing, and help win the people's hearts back for you. Above all I urge few desires to safeguard your health, diligent study to advance your virtue, forbearance to keep counsel flowing, and decisive rule to hold the reins of power. Grievously ill, I can no longer serve you in person; I offer this final plea as one who admonishes even unto death." With that he died; the court posthumously made him Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. When Wei Zhongxian was in power, the Shaanxi grand coordinator Qiao Yingjia impeached Wei as an old associate of Li Sancai and Zhao Nanxing who had undeservedly received favor and posthumous honors. An edict revoked his patent of nobility and stripped his hereditary privileges. In the early Chongzhen years these honors were restored. Later he was posthumously titled Zhuangyi (Steadfast and Resolute).
47
鐘羽正
Zhong Yuzheng
48
鐘羽正，字叔濂，益都人。 萬歷八年進士。 除滑縣知縣。 甫弱冠，多惠政，征授禮科給事中。 疏言朝講不宜輟，張鯨不宜赦，不報。
Zhong Yuzheng, styled Shulian, came from Yidu. He passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Hua County. Though barely past twenty, he introduced many popular measures and was called up as a supervising secretary in the bureau of rites. He argued that imperial lectures should continue and that Zhang Jing should not be pardoned; the throne did not respond.
49
遷工科左給事中，出視宣府邊務。 哈剌慎詟老把都諸部挾增市賞二十七萬有奇，羽正建議裁之。 與參政王象乾詟以利害，莫敢動。 兵部左侍郎許守謙先撫宣府，以賄聞，羽正劾去之。 又劾罷副總兵張充實等，而悉置諸侵盜軍資者於理。
He was promoted to left supervising secretary in the bureau of works and sent to inspect border affairs at Xuanfu. Halahan Mongols intimidated the Laobadu tribes into pressing for market rewards increased by more than 270,000 taels; Zhong proposed reductions. Together with administrator Wang Xiangqian he confronted them with the costs and consequences, and none dared press the demand. Xu Shouqian, vice minister of war, had earlier served in Xuanfu and was notorious for graft; Zhong impeached him and had him removed. He also impeached and dismissed deputy commander Zhang Chongshi and others, and prosecuted everyone who had embezzled military funds.
50
還為吏科都給事中。 劾禮部侍郎韓世能，薊遼總督蹇達，大理少卿楊四知、洪聲遠不職，四知、聲遠坐貶謫。 時當朝覲，請禁饋遺，言：「臣罪莫大於貪。 然使內臣貪而外臣不應，外臣貪而內臣不援，則尚相顧畏莫敢肆。 今內以外為府藏，外以內為窟穴，交通賂遺，比周為奸，欲仕路清、世運泰，不可得也。」 帝善其言，敕所司禁之。 且命閣部大臣公事議於朝房，毋私邸接賓客。 吏部推孟一脈應天府丞，蔡時鼎江西提學，副以呂興周、馬猶龍。 帝惡一脈、時鼎嘗建言，皆用副者。 羽正率同列上言：「陛下不用一脈、時鼎，中外謂建白之臣，不惟一時見斥，而且復進無階，銷忠直之氣，結諫諍之舌，非國家福。」 疏入，忤旨，奪俸有差。
On returning to court he became chief supervising secretary in the bureau of personnel. He impeached vice minister of rites Han Shineng, the Jizhou-Liaodong grand coordinator Jian Da, and assistant ministers of punishments Yang Sizhi and Hong Shengyuan for dereliction; Sizhi and Shengyuan were demoted. At the biannual audience he called for a ban on gift-giving, writing: " No fault is greater for an official than greed. Yet when eunuchs are corrupt and civil officials refuse to collude—or civil officials are corrupt and eunuchs refuse to shelter them—each side still checks the other and none dares act with impunity. Today the inner court treats the outer bureaucracy as its storehouse and the outer bureaucracy treats the inner court as its refuge; gifts and payoffs flow between them and factions close ranks. As long as this continues, an honest civil service and a well-governed realm are impossible. The emperor endorsed his proposal and ordered the relevant offices to enforce the ban. He also instructed grand secretaries and ministers to conduct public business in the palace council rooms rather than receiving visitors at home. The ministry of personnel recommended Meng Yimai for assistant prefect of Yingtian and Cai Shiding for Jiangxi education commissioner, with Lu Xingzhou and Ma Youlong as alternates. The emperor disliked Yimai and Shiding for having spoken out before and appointed only the alternates. Zhong led his colleagues in protesting: " By passing over Yimai and Shiding, Your Majesty sends a message that outspoken officials are not only dismissed once but barred forever from office—stifling straight talk and silencing remonstrance. That cannot benefit the realm. The memorial angered the throne, and those involved had their salaries reduced by varying degrees.
51
二十年正月，偕同官李獻可等請皇長子出閣豫教。 帝怒，謫獻可官。 羽正以己實主議，請與同謫，竟斥為民。 杜門讀書，士大夫往來其地，率辭不見。 林居幾三十年。 光宗立，起太仆少卿。 未至，進本寺卿。
In the first month of his twentieth year on the throne, he and colleagues led by Li Xiank asked that the heir apparent leave the palace for formal instruction. The emperor was furious and demoted Li Xiank. Zhong, acknowledging that he had led the petition, asked to share Xiank's punishment and was eventually stripped of office and sent home as a commoner. He closed his doors to study; when officials came to visit he usually refused to see them. He lived in retirement for nearly thirty years. When the Guangzong emperor ascended the throne he was recalled as vice minister of the court of the imperial stud. Before he had even arrived he was promoted to director of the same bureau.
52
天啟二年，吏部將用為左副都御史，羽正辭曰：「馮公從吾僉院已久，吾後入先之，是長競也。 西臺何地，可以是風有位乎？」 乃受僉都御史而讓從吾為副。 甫入署，即言：「方從哲進藥議謚，封後移宮，無謀鮮斷，似佞似欺，宜免其官秩，使為法受過。 沈纮結內援，招權賄，宜遄決其去。」 群小多不悅。 熊廷弼、王化貞之獄，眾議紛呶。 羽正言：「向者開原、鐵嶺之罪不明，致失遼陽； 遼陽之罪不明，致失廣寧。 朝廷疆土，堪幾番敗壞！」 由是二人皆坐大辟。 會朱童蒙以講學擊鄒元標及從吾，羽正言書院之設，實為京師首善勸，不當議禁，因自劾乞休。 頃之，代從吾為左副都御史，俄改戶部右侍郎，督倉場。
In the second year of Tianqi the ministry of personnel was ready to name him left vice censor-in-chief; Zhong objected: " Feng Congyu has served on the censorate far longer than I. For me to leap ahead of him would invite destructive competition. What would it say about the censorate if I took precedence over a senior colleague? He accepted appointment as censor-in-chief and let Congyu take the vice post instead. On taking office he immediately attacked Fang Congzhe for his role in the red-pill affair and the posthumous-title controversy and for delaying the empress's move to the Palace of Celestial Purity, calling him indecisive and deceitful and demanding that he be stripped of rank and punished by law. He also demanded the swift removal of Shen Hong, who had court patrons and sold influence for bribes. The court's factionalists were mostly displeased. Debate raged over the cases of Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen. Zhong argued: " When accountability failed after the defeats at Kaiyuan and Tieling, Liaoyang fell; when no one was held responsible for Liaoyang, Guangning was lost. How many more times can the empire afford to lose territory because no one is punished? On this basis both men were sentenced to death. When Zhu Tongmeng attacked Zou Yuanbiao and Feng Congyu on the pretext of lecturing, Zhong defended the academies as the capital's chief moral institutions and should not be shut down; he then submitted his own resignation. Soon afterward he succeeded Congyu as left vice censor-in-chief, then was made right vice minister of revenue to supervise the granaries.
53
明年春，拜工部尚書。 故事，奄人冬衣隔歲一給。 是夏六月，群奄千余人請預給，蜂擁入署，碎公座，毆掾吏，肆罵而去。 蓋忌羽正者嗾奄使發難也。 羽正疏聞，因求罷。 詔司禮太監杖謫群奄，而諭羽正出視事。 羽正求去益堅，因言：「今帑藏殫虛，九邊壯士日夜荷戈寢甲，弗獲一飽； 慶陵工卒負重乘高，暴炎風赤日中，求傭錢不得； 而獨內官請乞，朝至夕從。 此輩聞之，其誰不含憤？ 臣奉職不稱，義當罷黜。」 復三疏自引歸。
The next spring he was appointed minister of works. By precedent eunuchs received winter clothing every other year. That summer, in the sixth month, more than a thousand eunuchs demanded early payment; they stormed his office, smashed his chair, beat his staff, and stormed out hurling abuse. His enemies had evidently incited the eunuchs to provoke him. Zhong reported the incident to the throne and asked to resign. The emperor ordered the chief eunuch of ceremonial to cane and demote the ringleaders and told Zhong to return to duty. Zhong pressed harder to resign, writing: " The treasury is bankrupt, yet soldiers on the nine frontiers stand to their arms day and night without a full meal; laborers on the Qingling tombs haul loads in blazing wind and sun and cannot get their wages; while eunuchs' demands are met from morning to night. How can such favoritism not enrage everyone who hears of it? I have failed in my duties and should be removed. He submitted three more resignations and went home.
54
逾年，逆黨霍維華追理三案，言羽正委身門戶，遂削奪。 崇禎初，復官。 久之，卒。 贈太子太保。
A year later Huo Weihua, revisiting the Three Cases, accused Zhong of serving a political faction and had his honors revoked. In the early Chongzhen years his office was restored. Years later he died. He was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.
55
陳道亨
Chen Daoheng
56
陳道亨，字孟起，新建人。 萬歷十四年進士。 除刑部主事，歷南京吏部郎中。 同里鄧以贊、衷貞吉亦官南都，人號「江右三清」。 遭母喪，家毀於火，僦屋以居。 窮冬無幃，妻禦葛裳，與子拾遺薪爇以禦寒，或有贈遺，拒弗受。 由湖廣參政遷山東按察使、右布政使，轉福建為左，所至不私一錢。 以右副都御史提督操江。 光宗立，進工部右侍郎，總督河道。
Chen Daoheng, styled Mengqi, came from Xinjian. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed a principal secretary in the ministry of punishments and later served as a director in the Nanjing ministry of personnel. His fellow townsmen Deng Yizan and Zhong Zhenji also served in Nanjing; people called them the "Three Pure Ones of Jiangyou." During his mother's mourning his home burned down, and he rented a house to live in. One bitter winter they had no bed curtains; his wife wore hemp clothes, and he and his son gathered scrap firewood to keep warm; he refused every gift offered them. From Huguang administrator he rose to Shandong surveillance commissioner and right administration commissioner, then became left administration commissioner in Fujian; nowhere did he keep a private coin for himself. As right vice censor-in-chief he supervised Changjiang river defense. When Guangzong ascended the throne he was promoted to right vice minister of works and grand coordinator of the Grand Canal.
57
天啟二年，妖賊徐鴻儒作亂。 道亨守濟寧，扼諸要害，以衛漕舟。 事平，增俸賜銀幣。 尋拜南京兵部尚書，參贊機務。 楊漣等群擊魏忠賢，被譙責。 道亨憤，偕九卿上言：「高皇帝定令，內臣止供掃除，不得典兵預政。 陛下徒念忠賢微勞，舉魁柄授之，恣所欲為，舉朝忠諫皆不納。 何重視宦豎輕天下士大夫至此？」 疏入，不納。 道亨遂連疏求去，詔許乘傳歸。 逾年卒。
In the second year of Tianqi the sorcerer-rebel Xu Hongru rebelled. Daoheng held Jining and secured the key passes to protect the grain-transport fleet. When the rebellion was suppressed his salary was raised and he received gifts of silver and silk. Soon he was appointed minister of war at Nanjing to assist in military affairs. Yang Lian and others jointly impeached Wei Zhongxian and were rebuked for it. Enraged, Daoheng joined the nine ministers in memorializing: "The founding emperor decreed that palace eunuchs were to handle only menial service and must not command troops or take part in government. Your Majesty thinks only of Zhongxian's small services, yet hands him the full reins of power, lets him do as he pleases, and rejects every loyal remonstrance in the court. Why should palace eunuchs matter more than the empire's scholar-officials? The memorial was ignored. Daoheng then sent repeated resignations; the emperor allowed him to return home with post horses. A year later he died.
58
道亨貞亮有守。 自參政至尚書，不以家累自隨，一蒼頭執爨而已。 崇禎初，贈太子少保，謚清襄。
Daoheng was upright, principled, and incorruptible. From provincial administrator to minister he traveled without his family—only one old servant cooked for him. In the early Chongzhen years he was posthumously made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous title Qingxiang.
59
子弘緒
His son Hongxu.
60
子弘緒，字士業。 為晉州知州，以文名。
His son Hongxu, styled Shiye. He served as prefect of Jinzhou and was renowned as a writer.
61
贊曰：光、熹之際，朝廷多故，又承神宗頹廢之余，政體怠弛，六曹罔修厥職。 周嘉謨、張問達諸人，懇懇奉公，《詩》所稱「不懈於位」者，蓋庶幾焉。 汪應蛟持國計，謹出納，水田之議，鑿鑿可見施行。 孫瑋請登用善類，鐘羽正請禁饋遺，韙哉，救時之良規也。
The historians comment: Under the Guangzong and Xizong emperors the court faced one crisis after another, still bearing the slack legacy of the Shenzong reign; government grew lax and the six ministries barely performed their duties. Zhou Jiamo, Zhang Wenda, and their peers served the public good with tireless devotion—men who nearly matched the Odes' praise of those "unwearied in office." Wang Yingjiao managed state finances with scrupulous care; his proposals on paddy fields were sound enough to be put into practice. Sun Wei urged the promotion of worthy men and Zhong Yuzheng urged a ban on gifts—excellent measures for their troubled times.