1
陳邦瞻畢懋康 〈（兄懋良）〉 蕭近高白瑜程紹翟鳳翀 〈（郭尚賓）〉 洪文衡 〈（何喬遠）〉 陳伯友 〈（李成名）〉 董應舉林材朱吾弼 〈（林秉漢）〉 張光前
Chen Bangzhan; Bi Maokang (elder brother Maoliang)〉 Xiao Jingao; Bai Yu; Cheng Shao; Zhai Fengchong (Guo Shangbin)〉 Hong Wenheng (He Qiaoyuan)〉 Chen Boyou (Li Chengming)〉 Dong Yingju; Lin Cai; Zhu Wubi (Lin Binghan)〉 Zhang Guangqian
2
陳邦瞻，字德遠，高安人。 萬歷二十六年進士。 授南京大理寺評事。 歷南京吏部郎中，出為浙江參政。 進福建按察使，遷右布政使。 改補河南，分理彰德諸府。 開水田千頃，建滏陽書院，集諸生講習。 士民祠祀之。 就改左布政使，以右副都御史巡撫陜西。
Chen Bangzhan, whose style was Deyuan, came from Gao'an. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed a reviewing officer at the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review. After serving as a director in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, he was posted abroad as administrative commissioner of Zhejiang. He rose to surveillance commissioner of Fujian and was then made right provincial administration commissioner. Reassigned to Henan, he took charge of the prefectures in the Zhangde region. He reclaimed a thousand qing of paddy land, founded the Fuyang Academy, and gathered students there for study. Local gentry and commoners erected a shrine in his honor. He was soon made left provincial administration commissioner and appointed grand coordinator of Shaanxi with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief.
3
上林土官黃德勛弟德隆及子祚允叛德勛，投田州土酋岑茂仁。 茂仁納之，襲破上林，殺德勛，掠妻子金帛。 守臣問狀，詭言德勛病亡，乞以祚允繼。 邦瞻請討於朝。 會光宗嗣位，即擢邦瞻兵部右侍郎，總督兩廣軍務兼巡撫廣東，遂移師討擒之。 海寇林莘老嘯聚萬余人侵掠海濱，邦瞻扼之，不得逞。 澳夷築室青州，奸民與通，時侵內地，邦瞻燔其巢。 召拜工部右侍郎。 未上，改兵部，進左。
Huang Dexun, the native official of Shanglin, was betrayed by his younger brother Delong and his son Zuoyun, who defected to Cen Maoren, the tribal chief of Tianzhou. Maoren took them in, overran Shanglin, killed Dexun, and carried off his family, gold, and silks. When local officials investigated, they falsely claimed Dexun had died of illness and petitioned that Zuoyun succeed him. Bangzhan asked the court to send a punitive expedition. When Emperor Guangzong came to the throne, Bangzhan was promptly made right vice minister of War and supreme commander of the Two Guangs, with concurrent duties as grand coordinator of Guangdong; he then marched his forces out and captured the rebels. The pirate Lin Xin rallied more than ten thousand men to raid the coast, but Bangzhan hemmed him in and kept him from acting. Macao foreigners built settlements at Qingzhou, and local ruffians who dealt with them periodically raided inland; Bangzhan burned out their strongholds. He was recalled and appointed right vice minister of Works. Before he assumed office, he was transferred to the Ministry of War and promoted to left vice minister.
4
天啟二年五月疏陳四事，中言：「客氏既出復入，乃陛下過舉。 輔臣不封還內降，引義固爭，致罪謫言者，再蹈拒諫之失，其何解於人言？」 疏入，忤旨譙讓。 尋兼戶、工二部侍郎，專理軍需。 明年卒官，詔贈尚書。
In the fifth month of the second year of Tianqi he submitted a memorial on four matters, writing in part: "That Nurse Ke was sent away and then brought back was a mistake on Your Majesty's part. Yet the chief ministers did not seal and return the inner rescript, and though they argued on principle, they allowed remonstrators to be punished and banished—once again refusing counsel. How can this be squared with public opinion? When the memorial reached the throne, it drew an imperial rebuke. He was soon given concurrent appointments as vice minister of Revenue and of Works, with sole responsibility for military supplies. The following year he died in office, and the throne posthumously granted him the rank of minister.
5
邦瞻好學，敦風節。 服官三十年，吏議不及。
Bangzhan was devoted to learning and steadfast in moral principle. Through thirty years of service, no official censure ever touched him.
6
畢懋康，字孟侯，歙人。 萬歷二十六年進士。 以中書舍人授御史。 言內閣不當專用詞臣，邊臣失律者宜重按，部郎田大年、賀盛瑞，中書舍人丁元薦以忤權要廢，當雪，疏留中。 視鹽長蘆。
Bi Maokang, whose style was Menghou, came from She county. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign. While serving as a secretarial draftsman, he was appointed an investigating censor. He argued that the Grand Secretariat should not rely exclusively on literary officials, that delinquent frontier commanders deserved stern investigation, and that the dismissed officials Tian Danian, He Shengrui, and Ding Yuanjian—punished for offending the powerful—ought to be rehabilitated; the memorial was held at court. He was assigned to inspect the Changlu salt administration.
7
畿輔多河渠，湮廢不治。 懋康言：「保定清河，其源發於滿城，抵清苑而南十里，則湯家口為上閘，又十里則清楊為下閘，順流東下，直抵天津。 旁近易、安諸州，新安、雄、完、唐、慶都諸縣，並通舟楫仰其利。 二閘創自永樂初，日久頹圮，急宜修復，歲漕臨、德二倉二十萬石餉保定、易州、紫荊諸軍，足使士卒宿飽。 往者，密雲、昌平故不通漕，萬歷初，總督劉應節、楊兆疏潮、白二河，陵泉諸水，漕粟以餉二鎮，二鎮之軍賴之。 此可仿而行也。」 詔從之。 巡按陜西，疏陳邊政十事，劾罷副總兵王學書等七人。 請建宗學如郡縣學制，報可。 改按山東，擢順天府丞，以憂去。 天啟四年起右僉都御史，撫治鄖陽。
Many rivers and canals in the capital region had silted up and been left unrepaired. Maokang wrote: "The Qing River in Baoding rises at Mancheng; ten li south of Qingyuan, Tangjiakou forms the upper lock, and ten li farther on, Qingyang is the lower lock. Following the current eastward, it runs straight to Tianjin. The neighboring prefectures of Yi and An and the counties of Xin'an, Xiong, Wan, Tang, and Qingdu could all navigate it and share in its benefits. The two locks were built early in the Yongle reign but had long since crumbled and urgently needed repair. Two hundred thousand shi of grain could be shipped yearly from the Lin and De granaries to supply the garrisons at Baoding, Yizhou, and Zijing, keeping the troops fully fed. Miyun and Changping once had no canal access; at the start of the Wanli reign, supreme commanders Liu Yingjie and Yang Zhao dredged the Chao and Bai rivers and the Lingquan waters and shipped grain to both garrisons, on which their troops depended. The same approach can be followed here. The court approved his proposal. While touring Shaanxi as censor, he submitted ten proposals on frontier policy and secured the dismissal of seven officials, including vice commander Wang Xueshu. He petitioned to establish a princely academy modeled on the prefectural and county schools, and the request was approved. Transferred to Shandong as touring censor, he was promoted to vice prefect of Shuntian but left office to observe mourning. In the fourth year of Tianqi he was recalled as right vice censor-in-chief to administer Xiangyang.
8
懋康雅負器局，揚歷中外，與族兄懋良並有清譽，稱「二畢」。
Maokang was a man of real capacity who served widely at court and abroad; he and his kinsman Maoliang both enjoyed reputations for integrity and were known as "the two Bis."
9
懋良，字師臯。 先懋康舉進士。 由萬載知縣擢南京吏部主事。 歷副使，至左布政使，俱在福建。 振饑民，減加派，撫降海寇，以善績稱。 懋康為巡撫之歲，懋良亦自順天府尹擢戶部右侍郎，督倉場。 魏忠賢以懋康為趙南星所引，欲去之。 御史王際逵劾其附麗邪黨，遂削籍。 而懋良亦以不附忠賢，為御史張訥所論，落職閑住。 兄弟相繼去國，士論更以為榮。
Maoliang, whose style was Shigao, had passed the jinshi examination before Maokang. He rose from magistrate of Wanzai to a secretaryship in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. He served through vice commissioner up to left provincial administration commissioner, all in Fujian. He relieved famine victims, cut supplemental levies, pacified surrendered pirates, and won praise for effective governance. The year Maokang became grand coordinator, Maoliang was promoted from prefect of Shuntian to right vice minister of Revenue in charge of the granaries. Because Maokang had been promoted by Zhao Nanxing, Wei Zhongxian sought to remove him. Censor Wang Jikui impeached him for siding with a corrupt faction, and he was stripped of office. Maoliang, for refusing to align with Zhongxian, was denounced by Censor Zhang Ne and dismissed to private life. The brothers left office in succession, and public opinion held it all the more honorable.
10
崇禎初，起懋康南京通政使。 越二年，召拜兵部右侍郎，尋罷。 而懋良亦起兵部左侍郎。 會京師戒嚴，尚書張鳳翔以下皆獲罪，懋良得原，致仕去。 懋康再起南京戶部右侍郎，督糧儲。 旋引疾歸。 兄弟皆卒於家。
Early in the Chongzhen reign, Maokang was recalled as transmission commissioner at Nanjing. Two years later he was summoned as right vice minister of War but was soon dismissed. Maoliang was also appointed left vice minister of War. When the capital was placed under martial law, Minister Zhang Fengxiang and his subordinates were all punished; Maoliang was pardoned and retired. Maokang was again appointed right vice minister of Revenue at Nanjing to oversee grain reserves. He soon pleaded illness and went home. Both brothers died at home.
11
蕭近高，字抑之，廬陵人。 萬歷二十三年進士。 授中書舍人。 擢禮科給事中。 甫拜官，即上疏言罷礦稅、釋系囚、起廢棄三事，明詔已頒，不可中止。 帝怒，奪俸一年。 頃之，論江西稅使潘相擅刑宗人罪，不報。 既而停礦分稅之詔下，相失利，擅移駐景德鎮，請專理窯務。 帝即可之，近高復力爭。 後江西撫按並劾相，相以為近高主之，疏詆甚力。 近高疏辨，復劾相。 疏雖不行，相不久自引去。
Xiao Jingao, whose style was Yizhi, came from Luling. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed a secretarial draftsman. He was promoted to supervising secretary in the Rites Section. As soon as he took office, he memorialized urging the abolition of mining taxes, the release of prisoners, and the recall of dismissed officials, arguing that clear edicts had already been issued and must not be reversed. The emperor was angered and suspended his salary for a year. Soon afterward he denounced Pan Xiang, the Jiangxi tax commissioner, for unlawfully punishing a member of the imperial clan; the court did not respond. When an edict later halted mining and divided tax receipts, Xiang lost revenue; he moved on his own authority to Jingdezhen and asked to oversee the porcelain kilns exclusively. The emperor promptly approved, and Jingao protested again with force. Later the Jiangxi governor and surveillance commissioner jointly impeached Xiang, who believed Jingao was behind it and attacked him fiercely in a memorial. Jingao defended himself in a memorial and again impeached Xiang. Though the memorial went unanswered, Xiang soon withdrew on his own.
12
屢遷刑科都給事中。 知縣滿朝薦、諸生王大義等皆忤中使，系獄三年。 近高請釋之，不報。 遼東稅使高淮激民變，近高劾其罪，請撤還，帝不納。 又以淮誣奏逮同知王邦才、參將李獲陽，近高復論救。 會廷臣多劾淮者，帝不得已征還，而邦才等系如故。 無何，極陳言路不通、耳目壅蔽之患。 未幾，又言王錫爵密揭行私，宜止勿召； 朱賡被彈六十余疏，不當更留。 皆不報。 故事，六科都給事中內外遞轉。 人情輕外，率規避，近高自請外補。 吏部侍郎楊時喬請亟許以成其美。 乃用為浙江右參政，進按察使。 以病歸。 起浙江左布政使。 所至以清操聞。
He rose through several posts to chief supervising secretary of the Punishments Section. Magistrate Man Chaojian, student Wang Dayi, and others had offended eunuch agents and languished in prison for three years. Jingao petitioned for their release, but received no answer. Gao Huai, the Liaodong tax commissioner, provoked a popular uprising; Jingao impeached him and asked that he be recalled, but the emperor refused. When Huai had Vice Prefect Wang Bangcai and Regional Commander Li Huoyang arrested on false charges, Jingao again pleaded for them. When many court officials impeached Huai, the emperor had no choice but to recall him, yet Wang Bangcai and the others remained in custody. Soon afterward he spoke at length about the dangers of a blocked remonstrance channel and stifled intelligence reaching the throne. Before long he argued that Wang Xijue had used secret memorials for private ends and should not be recalled; and that Zhu Geng, impeached in more than sixty memorials, ought not to remain in office. None of these petitions received a response. By precedent, the chief supervising secretaries of the Six Sections rotated between capital and provincial posts. Most officials disdained provincial posts and tried to avoid them, but Jingao volunteered for provincial service. Vice Minister of Personnel Yang Shiqiao urged that the request be granted promptly to honor his integrity. He was then appointed right administrative commissioner of Zhejiang and promoted to surveillance commissioner. He retired home because of illness. He was recalled as left provincial administration commissioner of Zhejiang. Wherever he served, he was known for integrity.
13
白瑜，字紹明，永平人。 萬歷二十三年進士。 選庶吉士，授兵科給事中。 帝既冊立東宮，上太后徽號，瑜請推廣孝慈，以敦儉、持廉、惜人才、省冤獄四事進，皆引《祖訓》及先朝事以規時政，辭甚切。 三十年，京師旱，陜西河南黃河竭。 禮官請修省，瑜言：「修省宜行實政。 今逐臣久錮，累臣久羈，一蒙矜釋，即可感格天心。」 末言礦稅之害。 皆不報。
Bai Yu, whose style was Shaoming, came from Yongping. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-third year of the Wanli reign. Selected as a Hanlin bachelor, he was appointed supervising secretary in the War Section. After the heir apparent was invested and the empress dowager was given an honorific title, Yu urged the extension of filial devotion and compassion, proposing frugality, integrity, cherishing talent, and reducing wrongful imprisonment—citing the Ancestral Injunctions and earlier precedents to admonish current policy in forceful terms. In the thirtieth year, the capital suffered drought, and the Yellow River ran dry in Shaanxi and Henan. When the ritual officials called for repentance and self-examination, Yu wrote: "Repentance must take the form of real policy. Banished officials have long been imprisoned and convicted men long held in custody; a single act of mercy would move Heaven itself. He ended by denouncing the harm of mining taxes. None of these petitions received a response.
14
累遷工科都給事中。 帝於射場營乾德臺，瑜抗疏力諫，又再疏請斥中官王朝、陳永壽，帝不能無憾。 會瑜論治河當專任，遂責其剿拾陳言，謫廣西布政使照磨。 以疾歸。 光宗立，起光祿少卿，三遷太常卿。 給事中倪思輝、朱欽相，御史王心一以直言被謫，瑜抗疏論救。
He rose to chief supervising secretary of the Works Section. When the emperor built the Qiande Terrace at the archery ground, Yu protested in a forceful memorial and twice asked that eunuchs Wang Chao and Chen Yongshou be expelled; the emperor took offense. When Yu argued that river control required a dedicated commissioner, he was accused of recycling platitudes and demoted to assistant registrar in the Guangxi provincial administration commission. He retired home because of illness. When Emperor Guangzong came to the throne, Yu was recalled as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and rose through three posts to minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Supervising secretaries Ni Sihui and Zhu Qinxiang and Censor Wang Xinyi were banished for outspoken remonstrance; Yu submitted a forceful memorial in their defense.
15
天啟二年，由通政使拜刑部右侍郎，署部事。 鄭貴妃兄子養性奉詔還籍，逗遛不去，其家奴張應登訐其通塞外。 永寧伯王天瑞者，顯皇后弟也，以後故銜鄭氏，遂偕其弟錦衣天麟交章劾養性不軌。 瑜以鄭氏得罪先朝，而交通事實誣，乃會都御史趙南星、大理卿陳於廷等讞上其獄，請抵奴誣告罪，勒養性居遠方。 制可。 明年進左侍郎。 卒官。 贈尚書。
In the second year of Tianqi he was appointed right vice minister of Justice from his post as transmission commissioner and directed ministry affairs. Yangxing, a nephew of Consort Zheng, had been ordered home by edict but lingered on; his household slave Zhang Yingdeng accused him of dealing with foreigners beyond the frontier. Wang Tianrui, Baron of Yongning, was the younger brother of Empress Xian; resenting the Zheng clan because of the empress, he and his younger brother Tianlin of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard jointly impeached Yangxing for treasonable conduct. Yu held that the Zheng clan had already been punished in the previous reign and that the charge of illicit communication was fabricated; joining Censor-in-Chief Zhao Nanxing and Chief Justice Chen Yuting, he reported the case for judgment, asked that the slave be punished for false accusation, and required Yangxing to live in exile. The court approved. The following year he was promoted to left vice minister. He died in office. He was posthumously granted the rank of minister.
16
程紹，字公業，德州人。 祖瑤，江西右布政使。 紹舉萬歷十七年進士。 除汝寧推官，征授戶科給事中。 巡視京營。 副將佟養正等五人行賄求遷，皆劾置於理。 帝遣使采礦河南，紹兩疏言宜罷，皆不報。
Cheng Shao, whose style was Gongye, came from Dezhou. His grandfather Yao had served as right provincial administration commissioner of Jiangxi. Shao received his jinshi degree in the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed investigating magistrate of Runing, then summoned as supervising secretary in the Revenue Section. He was assigned to inspect the capital garrison. Vice generals Tong Yangzheng and four others tried to bribe their way to promotion; he impeached them all and had them prosecuted. When the emperor sent envoys to open mines in Henan, Shao twice memorialized that the practice should cease; both petitions went unanswered.
17
再遷吏科左給事中。 會大計京官，御史許聞造訐戶部侍郎張養蒙等，語侵吏部侍郎裴應章。 紹言聞造挾吏部以避計典，且附會閣臣張位，聞造乃貶邊方。 主事趙世德考察貶官，廷議征楊應龍，兵部舉世德知兵，紹駁止之。 又劾文選郎楊守峻，守峻自引去。 饒州通判沈榜貶官，夤緣稅監潘相得留，紹極言非法。 山西稅使張忠以夏縣知縣韓薰忤己，奏調之僻地，紹又爭之，帝怒，斥為民。 以沈一貫救，詔鐫一秩，出之外。 給事中李應策、御史李炳等爭之，帝益怒，並薰斥為民，而奪應策等俸。 紹家居二十年。 光宗即位，起太常少卿。
He was promoted to left supervising secretary of the Personnel Section. During the great evaluation of capital officials, Censor Xu Wenzao denounced Vice Minister of Revenue Zhang Yangmeng and others in language that also impugned Vice Minister of Personnel Pei Yingzhang. Shao argued that Wenzao was manipulating the Ministry of Personnel to evade evaluation and was aligning himself with Grand Secretary Zhang Wei; Wenzao was banished to the frontier. Director Zhao Shide was demoted in the evaluation; when the court debated campaigning against Yang Yinglong, the Ministry of War recommended Shide as militarily capable, but Shao blocked the appointment. He also impeached Selection Director Yang Shoujun, who resigned on his own. Shen Bang, vice prefect of Raozhou, had been demoted but remained in office through connections with tax commissioner Pan Xiang; Shao protested that this was unlawful. Zhang Zhong, the Shanxi tax commissioner, had Magistrate Han Xun of Xia county transferred to a remote post because Han had offended him; when Shao protested again, the emperor angrily stripped him of office. After Shen Yiguan interceded, an edict reduced his rank by one step and sent him out of the capital. Supervising Secretary Li Yingce, Censor Li Bing, and others protested; the emperor grew angrier, dismissed both Han Xun and the protesters from office, and suspended their salaries. Shao lived in retirement for twenty years. When Emperor Guangzong came to the throne, he was recalled as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
18
天啟四年，歷右副都御史，巡撫河南。 宗室居儀封者為盜窟，紹列上其狀，廢徙高墻。 臨漳民耕地漳濱，得玉璽，龍紐龜形，方四寸，厚三寸，文曰：「受命於天，既壽永昌」，以獻紹。 紹聞之於朝，略言：「秦璽不足征久矣。 今璽出，適在臣疆，既不當復埋地下，又不合私秘人間。 欲遣官恭進闕廷，跡涉貢媚。 且至尊所寶，在德不在璽，故先馳奏聞，候命進止。 昔王孫圉不寶玉珩，齊威王不寶照乘，前史美之。 陛下尊賢愛士，野無留良。 尚有一代名賢，如鄒元標、馮從吾、王紀、周嘉謨、盛以弘、孫慎行、鐘羽正、余懋衡、曹於汴等皆憂國奉公，白首魁艾。 其他詞林臺諫一錮不起者，並皇國禎祥，盛朝珍寶。 臣不能汲致明廷，徒獻符貢瑞，臣竊羞之。 願陛下惟賢是寶。 在朝之忠直，勿事虛拘； 在野之老成，亟圖登進。 彼區區秦璽之真偽，又安足計哉。」 魏忠賢方斥逐耆碩，見之不悅。 後忠賢勢益張，紹遂引疾歸。
In the fourth year of Tianqi he became right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Henan. Imperial clansmen at Yifeng had become a nest of bandits; Shao reported their crimes and had them deposed and confined to the high wall. A farmer of Linzhang working along the Zhang River found a jade seal with a dragon knob in tortoise form, four inches square and three inches thick, inscribed "Receiving the Mandate from Heaven, long life and eternal prosperity," and presented it to Shao. Shao reported the find to court, writing in part: "The Qin imperial seal has long ceased to be meaningful proof. Now that this seal has appeared within my jurisdiction, it should neither be buried again nor kept secretly in private hands. To dispatch an official to present it respectfully at court would look like flattery. Moreover, what the sovereign should treasure is virtue, not a seal; I therefore report first and await your orders. Prince Sun Yu of Chu did not treasure a jade tablet, and King Wei of Qi did not treasure a luminous carriage—earlier histories praised such restraint. Your Majesty honors the worthy and cherishes scholars, yet worthy men still languish unused in retirement. Men of the highest stature still remain—Zou Yuanbiao, Feng Congwu, Wang Ji, Zhou Jiamo, Sheng Yihong, Sun Shenxing, Zhong Yuzheng, Yu Maoheng, Cao Yubian, and others—all white-haired elders who have served the state with devotion. Others in the Hanlin Academy and remonstrance offices who remain locked away are likewise treasures of a flourishing age and auspicious signs for the realm. I cannot draw such men to court, and I would be ashamed merely to offer talismans and auspicious objects. I urge Your Majesty to treasure worthies above all. Do not keep loyal and upright men at court in empty constraint; and urgently advance seasoned elders still in retirement. As for whether this petty Qin seal is genuine, what does it matter? Wei Zhongxian was then driving out elder statesmen and took offense at the memorial. As Zhongxian's power grew, Shao pleaded illness and retired.
19
崇禎六年，薦起工部右侍郎。 越二年，以年老，四疏乞休去。 卒，贈本部尚書。
In the sixth year of Chongzhen he was recommended and appointed right vice minister of Works. Two years later, citing old age, he submitted four memorials requesting retirement and left office. He died and was posthumously granted the rank of minister of his ministry.
20
翟鳳翀，字淩元，益都人。 萬歷三十二年進士。 歷知吳橋、任丘，有治聲，征授御史。 疏薦鐘羽正、趙南星、鄒元標等，因言：「宋季邪諂之徒，終日請禁偽學，信口詆諆。 近年號講學者，不幸類此。」 出按遼東。 宰賽、暖兔二十四營環開原而居，歲為邊患。 宰賽尤桀驁，數敗官軍，殺守將，因挾邊吏增賞。 慶雲參將陳洪範所統止羸卒二千，又恇怯不任戰。 鳳翀奏請益兵，易置健將，開原始有備。 又請所在建常平倉，括贖鍰，節公費，易粟備荒。 帝善其議，命推行於諸邊。 故遼陽參將吳希漢失律聽勘，以內援二十年不決，且謀復官，鳳翀一訊成獄，置之大辟，邊人快之。
Zhai Fengchong, whose style was Lingyuan, came from Yidu. He received his jinshi degree in the thirty-second year of the Wanli reign. He served as magistrate of Wuqiao and Renqiu with a reputation for good governance and was summoned as investigating censor. He memorialized recommending Zhong Yuzheng, Zhao Nanxing, Zou Yuanbiao, and others, writing: "The flatterers of late Song spent their days demanding bans on heterodox learning and slandering at will. Those who call themselves advocates of learning in recent years are, alas, much the same. He was sent to tour Liaodong as censor. The twenty-four camps of Zaisai and Nuan Tu ringed Kaiyuan and plagued the frontier year after year. Zaisai was especially arrogant, repeatedly defeating government troops and killing frontier commanders, then coercing officials into increasing rewards. Regional Commander Chen Hongfan of Qingyun commanded only two thousand weak troops and was too timid for battle. Fengchong memorialized for reinforcements, replacement of the commander with a capable general, and restoration of Kaiyuan's former defenses. He also asked that ever-normal granaries be built everywhere, fines collected, public expenses cut, and grain stockpiled against famine. The emperor approved his proposals and ordered them implemented on all frontiers. Former Regional Commander Wu Xihan of Liaoyang had violated discipline and awaited trial; through court connections the case dragged on twenty years while he plotted reinstatement; Fengchong concluded the case in one hearing, sentenced him to death, and frontier people rejoiced.
21
帝因「梃擊」之變，召見廷臣於慈寧宮。 大學士方從哲、吳道南無所言，御史劉光復方發口，遽得罪。 鳳翀上言：「陛下召對廷臣，天威開霽，千載一時。 輔臣宜舉朝端大政，如皇太子、皇長孫講學，福府莊田鹺引，大僚空虛，考選沈閣，以及中旨頻降，邊警時聞，水旱盜賊之相仍，流移饑殍之載道，一一縷奏於前，乃緘默不言，致光復以失儀獲罪。 光復一日未釋，輔臣未可晏然也。」 忤旨，切責。 山東大饑，以鳳翀疏，遣御史過庭訓賫十六萬金振之。
After the Club Assault incident, the emperor summoned court officials to audience at the Cining Palace. Grand Secretaries Fang Congzhe and Wu Daonan said nothing; Censor Liu Guangfu had barely spoken when he was punished. Fengchong wrote: "When Your Majesty summoned the court for audience, imperial majesty cleared like the sky—a moment that comes once in a thousand years. The chief ministers should have laid out the great affairs of state—the education of the crown prince and imperial great-grandson, the Fu princedom's manor lands and salt monopolies, empty high offices, stalled examinations and appointments, frequent inner rescripts, frontier alarms, successive floods, droughts, and banditry, and refugees and famine corpses filling the roads—item by item; instead they kept silent, leaving Guangfu punished for a breach of decorum. As long as Guangfu remains unreleased, the chief ministers cannot rest easy. The memorial offended the throne and drew a sharp rebuke. When Shandong suffered great famine, the court sent Censor Guo Tingxun with one hundred sixty thousand taels of silver for relief on the strength of Fengchong's memorial.
22
中官呂貴假奸民奏，留督浙江織造。 冉登提督九門，誣奏市民毆門卒，下兵馬指揮歐相之吏。 邢洪辱御史淩漢翀於朝，給事中郭尚賓等劾之，帝釋洪不問。 漢翀為廢將淩應登所毆，洪復曲庇應登。 鳳翀抗疏極論貴、登、洪三人罪，且曰：「大臣造膝無從，小臣叩閽無路。 宦寺浸用，政令多違，實開群小假借之端，成太阿倒持之勢。」 帝大怒，謫山西按察使經歷。 而是時，尚賓亦上疏極言：「比來擬旨不由內閣，托以親裁。 言官稍涉同類，輒雲黨附，將使大臣不肯盡言，小臣不敢抗論，天下事尚可為哉？ 乞陛下明詔閣臣，封還內降，容納直諫，以保治安。」 忤旨，謫江西布政使檢校。 閣臣及言官論救，皆不納。 帝於章疏多不省，故廷臣直諫者久不被譴。 至是二人同日謫官，時稱「二諫」。
Eunuch Lu Gui, on a scoundrel's false petition, remained in Zhejiang to supervise imperial weaving. Ran Deng, superintendent of the Nine Gates, falsely reported that citizens had beaten gate guards and had the cavalry commander's subordinates handed over to the magistrate. Xing Hong insulted Censor Ling Hanchong at court; Supervising Secretary Guo Shangbin and others impeached him, but the emperor let him go unpunished. Hanchong had been beaten by the dismissed general Ling Yingdeng, and Hong again shielded Yingdeng. Fengchong submitted a forceful memorial detailing the crimes of Gui, Deng, and Hong, writing: "Great ministers have no access for intimate counsel, and lesser officials have no way to reach the throne. Eunuchs are increasingly employed, edicts are often ignored, and this opens the way for petty men to borrow authority—creating a situation in which power is held by the blade rather than the hilt. The emperor was furious and demoted him to assistant surveillance commissioner of Shanxi. At the same time Shangbin submitted a forceful memorial: "Recently draft rescripts have bypassed the Grand Secretariat under the label of personal imperial decision. If remonstrance officials are even slightly associated with like-minded colleagues, they are accused of factionalism; great ministers will refuse to speak fully and lesser officials will fear to argue—can the empire still be governed? I beg Your Majesty to issue a clear edict requiring the Grand Secretariat to seal and return inner rescripts, accept forthright remonstrance, and preserve peace and order. The memorial offended the throne and he was demoted to inspector of the Jiangxi provincial administration commission. Grand secretaries and remonstrance officials pleaded for them, but the emperor refused. Because the emperor often did not read memorials through, forthright remonstrators had long escaped punishment. When the two men were demoted on the same day, contemporaries called them "the two remonstrators."
23
鳳翀既謫，三遷。 天啟初，為南京光祿少卿。 四年，以大理少卿進右僉都御史，巡撫延綏。 魏忠賢黨御史卓邁、汪若極連章論之，遂削籍。 崇禎二年起兵部右侍郎，尋出撫天津。 以疾歸。 卒，贈兵部尚書。
Once demoted, Fengchong was reassigned three times. Early in the Tianqi reign he became vice minister of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Entertainments. In year four he was promoted from vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review to right vice censor-in-chief and sent to govern Yan-sui as grand coordinator. Censors Zhuo Mai and Wang Ruoji, allies of Wei Zhongxian, attacked him in a series of memorials, and he was stripped from office. In Chongzhen year two he was made right vice minister of War and soon sent out to govern Tianjin as grand coordinator. He retired because of illness. He died and was posthumously granted the title of minister of War.
24
尚賓，字朝諤，南海人，鳳翀同年進士。 自吉安推官授刑科給事中。 遇事輒諫諍，尤憤中官之橫。 嘗因事論稅使李鳳、高寀、潘相，頗稱敢言。 已，竟謫官。 光宗時乃復起，累官刑部右侍郎，亦以不附忠賢削籍。 崇禎初，為兵部右侍郎。 卒，贈尚書。
Shangbin, styled Chaoe, was from Nanhai and had passed the jinshi examination in the same year as Fengchong. He rose from magistrate's aide at Ji'an to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Punishments. He remonstrated at every turn and particularly hated eunuch arrogance. On one occasion he criticized the tax commissioners Li Feng, Gao Cai, and Pan Xiang and gained a reputation for bold speech. Eventually he was banished from office. He was restored under Guangzong and eventually reached right vice minister of Justice, but was again struck from the rolls for refusing to align with Zhongxian. Early in Chongzhen he became right vice minister of War. He died and was posthumously granted the title of minister.
25
洪文衡，字平仲，歙人。 萬歷十七年進士。 授戶部主事。 帝將封皇長子為王，偕同官賈巖合疏爭。 尋改禮部。 與郎中何喬遠善，喬遠坐詿誤被謫，文衡已遷考功主事，竟引病歸。
Hong Wenheng, styled Pingzhong, was from She. In Wanli year seventeen he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed a director in the Ministry of Revenue. When the emperor planned to enfeoff the eldest imperial son as a prince, he and his colleague Jia Yan submitted a joint memorial in protest. He was soon transferred to the Ministry of Rites. He was close to bureau director He Qiaoyuan; when Qiaoyuan was demoted on a procedural charge, Wenheng had already been promoted to director in the Bureau of Merit, but he still cited illness and retired.
26
起補南京工部，歷郎中。 力按舊章，杜中貴橫索，節冗費為多。 官工部九年，進光祿少卿。 改太常，督四夷館。 中外競請起廢，帝率報寢。 久之，乃特起顧憲成。 憲成已辭疾，忌者猶憚其進用，御史徐兆魁首疏力攻之。 文衡慮帝惑兆魁言，抗章申雪，因言：「今兩都九列，強半無人，仁賢空虛，識者浩嘆。 所堪選擇而使者，只此起廢一途。 今憲成尚在田間，已嬰羅罔，俾聖心愈疑。 連茹無望，貽禍賢者，流毒國家，實兆魁一疏塞之矣。」 尋進大理少卿。 以憂去。
Recalled to the Nanjing Ministry of Works, he served through successive bureau directorships. He enforced old regulations rigorously, blocked eunuchs' arbitrary exactions, and cut a great deal of wasteful spending. After nine years in the Ministry of Works he was promoted to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He was transferred to the Court of Sacrificial Worship and put in charge of the Bureau for Tribute from the Four Barbarians. Officials inside and outside the court clamored for dismissed men to be recalled, but the emperor routinely shelved the requests. Only after a long delay did he specially recall Gu Xiancheng. Xiancheng had already declined on grounds of illness, yet his enemies still feared his appointment; Censor Xu Zhaokui led the attack with a vehement memorial. Wenheng feared the emperor would be swayed by Zhaokui and submitted a forceful memorial in his defense, writing: "Today more than half the senior posts in both capitals stand empty; the ranks of the worthy are hollow, and informed observers sigh in despair. The only avenue left for choosing and appointing men is this path of recalling the dismissed. Xiancheng is still in retirement yet already entangled in accusations, which can only deepen Your Majesty's doubts. There is no hope of gathering worthy men in office; harm to the worthy and poison to the state—truly Xu Zhaokui's single memorial has blocked the way. Soon afterward he was promoted to vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review. He left office to observe mourning.
27
泰昌元年起太常卿。 光宗既崩，議升祔。 文衡請祧睿宗，曰：「此肅宗一時崇奉之情，不合古誼。 且睿宗嘗為武宗臣矣，一旦加諸其上，禮既不合，情亦未安。 當時臣子過於將順，因循至今。 夫情隆於一時，禮垂於萬世，更定之舉正在今時。」 疏格不行。 未幾卒，贈工部右侍郎。
In the first year of Taichang he was appointed minister of the Court of Sacrificial Worship. After Guangzong's death, the court debated installing his spirit tablet for joint worship. Wenheng petitioned to remove Ruizong's tablet, writing: "This was only the Jiajing emperor's momentary devotion and violates ancient ritual propriety. Moreover Ruizong had once been a subject of Wuzong; to set him suddenly above Wuzong is ritually improper and emotionally unsettling. The ministers of that day went too far in flattery, and the error has persisted to the present. A moment's emotion may run high, but ritual endures for ten thousand generations; the work of correction must be done now. The memorial was rejected and never carried out. Before long he died and was posthumously granted the title of right vice minister of Works.
28
文衡天性孝友。 居喪，斷酒肉不處內者三年。 生平不妄取一介。
Wenheng was by nature devoted in filial piety and brotherly love. While in mourning he abstained from wine and meat and did not enter the inner quarters for three years. Throughout his life he never accepted the smallest thing unrightfully.
29
喬遠，字稚孝，晉江人。 萬歷十四年進士。 除刑部主事，歷禮部儀制郎中。 神宗欲封皇長子為王，喬遠力爭不可。 同官陳泰來等言事被謫，抗疏救之。 石星主封倭，而朝鮮使臣金晬泣言李如松、沈惟敬之誤，致國人束手受刃者六萬余人。 喬遠即以聞，因進累朝馭倭故事，帝頗心動。 而星堅持己說，疏竟不行。 坐累謫廣西布政使經歷，以事歸。 裏居二十余年，中外交薦，不起。
Qiaoyuan, styled Zhixiao, was from Jinjiang. In Wanli year fourteen he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed a director in the Ministry of Justice and later served as bureau director of Ritual Regulation in the Ministry of Rites. When Shenzong sought to enfeoff the eldest imperial son as a prince, Qiaoyuan argued forcefully that it must not be allowed. When his colleagues Chen Tailai and others were demoted for remonstrating, he submitted a forceful memorial to save them. Shi Xing favored appeasing Japan, but the Korean envoy Jin Zui tearfully reported that the mistakes of Li Rusong and Shen Weijing had left more than sixty thousand of his countrymen helpless before the sword. Qiaoyuan reported this at once and submitted precedents from successive reigns on controlling Japan; the emperor was somewhat moved. But Shi Xing held to his own view, and the memorial was never implemented. On cumulative charges he was demoted to assistant in the Guangxi provincial administration commission and returned home. He lived in retirement for more than twenty years; court and provinces alike recommended him, but he refused to serve.
30
光宗立，召為光祿少卿，移太仆。 王化貞駐兵廣寧，主戰。 喬遠畫守禦策，力言不宜輕舉。 無何，廣寧竟棄。 天啟二年進左通政。 鄒元標建首善書院，朱童蒙等劾之，喬遠言：「書院上梁文實出臣手，義當並罷。」 語侵童蒙。 進光祿卿、通政使。 五疏引疾，以戶部右侍郎致仕。 崇禎二年，起南京工部右侍郎。 給事中盧兆龍劾其衰庸，自引去。
When Guangzong took the throne, he was summoned as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and then transferred to the Court of the Imperial Stud. Wang Huazhen held troops at Guangning and advocated war. Qiaoyuan drafted a defensive strategy and argued forcefully against rash military action. Before long Guangning was indeed lost. In Tianqi year two he was promoted to left chief administrator of the Court of Transmission. When Zou Yuanbiao founded the Shoushan Academy, Zhu Tongmeng and others impeached it; Qiaoyuan wrote: "The academy's beam-raising inscription came from my own hand; by right I should be dismissed along with it. His words were aimed at Tongmeng. He was promoted to minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and chief administrator of the Court of Transmission. After five memorials citing illness he retired with the rank of right vice minister of Revenue. In Chongzhen year two he was recalled as right vice minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Works. Supervising secretary Lu Zhaolong impeached him as senile and incompetent, and he withdrew on his own initiative.
31
喬遠博覽，好著書。 嘗輯明十三朝遺事為《名山藏》，又纂《閩書》百五十卷，頗行於世，然援據多舛雲。
Qiaoyuan was widely read and fond of authorship. He once compiled surviving tales from the thirteen Ming reigns into 《Famous Mountains Store》, and also compiled 《Books of Min》 in 150 juan, which circulated widely, though its citations are often unreliable.
32
陳伯友，字仲恬，濟寧人。 萬歷二十九年進士。 授行人。 擢刑科給事中。 甫拜命，即罷河南巡撫李思孝。 俄論鄒之麟科場弊宜勘； 奄豎辱駙馬冉興讓，宜置之法； 楚宗英憔、蘊鈁，良吏滿朝薦、王邦才等宜釋。 已，又言：「陛下清明之心，不幸中年為利所惑，皇皇焉若不足，以致財匱民艱，家成徹骨之貧，人抱傷心之痛。 今天下所以杌隉傾危而不可救藥者，此也。」 又言：「李廷機去國，操縱不出上裁。 至外而撫按，內而庶僚，去留無所斷決。 士大夫意見分岐，議論各異，陛下漫無批答。 曷若盡付外廷公議，於以平曲直、定國是乎？」 帝皆不省。 熊廷弼為荊養喬所訐，伯友與李成名等力主行勘。
Chen Boyou, styled Zhongtian, was from Jining. In Wanli year twenty-nine he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed a courier in the courier service. He was promoted to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Punishments. As soon as he took office, he memorialized to dismiss Grand Coordinator Li Sixiao of Henan. Soon he argued that examination abuses involving Zou Zhilin should be investigated; that when a eunuch insulted the imperial son-in-law Ran Xingrang, the offender should be punished by law; that Ying Qiao and Yun Qin of the Chu princely house, and worthy officials such as Man Chaochang and Wang Bangcai, ought to be released. He then wrote: "Your Majesty's clear mind has, in midlife, been beguiled by profit; restless as though never satisfied, until the treasury is empty, the people strained, the state reduced to bone-deep poverty, and the people left heartbroken. This is why the realm today is unstable, tottering, and beyond remedy. He added: "When Li Tingji left office, power was wielded without imperial sanction. Whether grand coordinators and surveillance commissioners in the provinces or the myriad officials at court, no one could secure a clear decision on who should stay or go. Scholar-officials were divided in opinion and debate, yet Your Majesty offered no clear responses. Why not leave everything to open deliberation in the outer court, so that right and wrong may be settled and the nation's course fixed? The emperor ignored it all. When Xiong Tingbi was impeached by Jing Yangqiao, Boyou joined Li Chengming and others in strongly urging a formal investigation.
33
既又陳時政四事，言：「擬旨必由內閣。 昨科臣曾六德之處分，閣臣葉向高之典試，悉由內降。 而福王之國之旨，亦於他疏批行。 非獨褻天言，抑且貽陰禍。 法者天下所共，黔國公沐昌祚請令其孫啟元代鎮，已非法矣。 乃撫按據法請勘，而以內批免之，疑中有隱情。 御史呂圖南改提學，此爭為賢，彼爭為不肖，盍息兩家戈矛，共圖軍國大計？ 福王久應之國，今春催請不下數百疏，何以忽易期？」 疏亦留中。 尋以艱去。 及服除，廷議多排東林，遂不出。
He then set forth four points on current affairs, writing: "Draft rescripts must pass through the Grand Secretariat. Yesterday's punishment of censor Zeng Liude and Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao's appointment to preside over the examinations both came by inner rescript. Yet the edict on the Prince of Fu's departure to his fief was also approved on another memorial. This not only profanes imperial words but also invites hidden calamity. Law belongs to the whole realm; the Duke of Qian, Mu Changzuo, asked that his grandson Qiyuan hold the commandery in his stead, which was already unlawful. Yet when provincial officials asked for investigation under the law, an inner rescript exempted him, raising suspicion of hidden dealings. When Censor Lü Tunan was reassigned as education intendant, one faction praised him as worthy and another denounced him as unworthy—why not lay down both factions' quarrels and together address the great affairs of army and state? The Prince of Fu should long since have gone to his fief; this spring hundreds of memorials urging departure went unanswered—why suddenly change the deadline? That memorial, too, was kept at court. Soon he left office to observe mourning. When his mourning ended, court opinion largely excluded the Donglin faction, and he therefore did not return to office.
34
至四十六年，以年例，即家除河南副使。 天啟四年，屢遷太常寺卿，治少卿事。 楊漣劾魏忠賢，伯友亦偕卿胡世賞等抗疏極論。 明年十二月，御史張樞劾其倚附東林，遂削奪。 莊烈帝即位，詔復官，未及用而卒。
In the forty-sixth year, under the routine of annual promotion, he was appointed from home as vice commissioner of Henan. In Tianqi year four he was repeatedly promoted to minister of the Court of Sacrificial Worship, while performing the duties of the vice minister. When Yang Lian impeached Wei Zhongxian, Boyou joined Minister Hu Shishang and others in a forceful memorial denouncing him at length. In the twelfth month of the following year Censor Zhang Shu impeached him for relying on the Donglin faction, and he was stripped of office and rank. When the Chongzhen emperor took the throne, an edict restored his office, but he died before he could be appointed.
35
成名，字寰知，太原衛人。 祖應時，南京戶部員外郎，以清白著。 成名舉萬歷三十二年進士，授中書舍人。 擢吏科給事中。 疏陳銓政失平，語侵尚書趙煥。 俄請釋累臣滿朝薦，言朝薦不釋則諸珰日肆，國家患無已。 吏部侍郎方從哲，中旨起官，成名抗疏劾之，並及其子恣橫狀。 從哲求去，帝不許。 是時，黨人日攻東林，成名遂移疾歸。
Li Chengming, whose courtesy name was Huanzhi, came from Taiyuan Guard. His grandfather Ying Shi had served as an assistant department director in the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and was famed for his spotless conduct. Chengming earned his jinshi degree in the thirty-second year of the Wanli reign and was made a draftsman in the Secretariat. He was then promoted to supervising secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. He memorialized that personnel appointments had grown unfair, and his language impugned Minister Zhao Huan. He soon petitioned for the release of Man Chaojian, a long-imprisoned official, arguing that unless Chaojian were freed the eunuchs would grow bolder each day and the dynasty's troubles would never cease. When Fang Congzhe, vice minister of personnel, was recalled to office by an irregular palace edict, Chengming submitted a bold memorial impeaching him and detailing the lawless behavior of his son. Fang Congzhe asked to resign, but the emperor refused. Factionalists were then assailing the Donglin party day after day, and Chengming cited illness and went home.
36
家居五年，起山東副使。 天啟初，遷湖廣參政，入為太仆少卿。 四年春，擢右僉都御史，巡撫南、贛。 魏忠賢以成名為趙南星所用，因所屬給由，犯禦諱，除其名。 為巡撫止八月，士民祠祀焉。 崇禎改元，召拜戶部右侍郎，以左侍郎專理邊餉。 京師戒嚴，改兵部。 帝召對平臺，區畫兵事甚悉。 數月而罷，卒於家。
After five years in retirement he was recalled as deputy commissioner of Shandong. Early in the Tianqi reign he was moved to administrative commissioner of Huguang, then brought into the capital as vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. In the spring of the fourth year he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Nan and Gan. Wei Zhongxian, regarding Chengming as a man Zhao Nanxing had used, seized the credentials his subordinates had submitted, found a violation of the imperial name taboo, and struck his name from office. Though he served as grand coordinator only eight months, officials and commoners erected shrines in his honor. When the Chongzhen reign began he was summoned as right vice minister of Revenue and, as left vice minister, placed in charge of frontier supplies. When the capital was placed under martial law, he was transferred to the Ministry of War. The emperor summoned him to audience on the terrace, and he mapped out military affairs with meticulous thoroughness. Within a few months he was dismissed from office and died at home.
37
董應舉，字崇相，閩縣人。 萬歷二十六年進士。 除廣州教授。 與稅監李鳳爭學傍壖地，鳳舍人馳騎文廟前，縶其馬，用是有名。
Dong Yingju, whose courtesy name was Chongxiang, came from Min County. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed professor at Guangzhou. He clashed with the tax commissioner Li Feng over land beside the school embankment; when Feng's retainer galloped through the ground before the Confucian temple, Yingju seized his horse—and thereby won renown.
38
遷南京國子博士，再遷南京吏部主事。 召為文選主事。 歷考功郎中，告歸。 起南京大理丞。 四十六年閏四月，日中黑子相鬥。 五月朔，有黑日掩日，日無光。 時遼東撫順已失，應舉言：「日生黑眚，乃強敵侵淩之征。 亟宜勤政修備，以消禍變。」 因條上方略。 帝置不省。
He was moved to a doctorate at the Nanjing Imperial Academy, then again to a clerk in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. He was summoned to serve as a clerk in the Selection Office. After serving as a director in the Records Office, he petitioned to retire and went home. He was recalled as assistant director of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review. In the intercalary fourth month of the forty-sixth year, black sunspots seemed to wrestle with one another at noon. On the first day of the fifth month a black disk blotted out the sun until it shone no more. Fushun in Liaodong had already fallen. Yingju said, "When the sun shows a black omen, it is a sign that a powerful foe is pressing upon us. Your Majesty should urgently attend to government and strengthen defenses to avert disaster. He then set out a series of strategic proposals. The emperor set the memorial aside and paid it no heed.
39
天啟改元，再遷太常少卿，督四夷館。 二年春，陳急務數事，極言天下兵耗民離，疆宇日蹙，由主威不立，國法不行所致。 帝以為應舉知兵，令專任較射演武。
When the Tianqi reign began he was promoted again to vice minister of Rites and put in charge of the Four Barbarians Institute. In the spring of the second year he laid out several urgent matters, arguing forcefully that armies were exhausted, the people estranged, and the realm shrinking day by day—all because the throne's authority stood unsteady and the laws of the state went unenforced. The emperor judged that Yingju understood military affairs and put him solely in charge of archery trials and martial drills.
40
已，上言保衛神京在設險營屯。 遂擢應舉太仆卿兼河南道御史，經理天津至山海屯務。 應舉以責太重，陳十難十利，帝悉敕所司從之。 乃分處遼人萬三千余戶於順天、永平、河間、保定，詔書褒美。 遂用公帑六千買民田十二萬余畝，合閑田凡十八萬畝，廣募耕者，畀工廩、田器、牛種，浚渠築防，教之藝稻，農舍、倉廨、場圃、舟車畢具，費二萬六千，而所收黍麥谷五萬五千余石。 廷臣多論其功，就進右副都御史。 天津葛沽故有水陸兵二千，應舉奏令屯田，以所入充歲餉，屯利益興。
Soon afterward he memorialized that the defense of the sacred capital lay in establishing fortified garrison colonies. He was then promoted to minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud and concurrently made censor of the Henan circuit, charged with managing garrison colonies from Tianjin to Shanhai Pass. Finding the burden too great, Yingju set forth ten difficulties and ten advantages; the emperor ordered every relevant office to follow his plan. He resettled more than thirteen thousand Liaodong households across Shuntian, Yongping, Hejian, and Baoding, and an imperial edict commended the work. He spent six thousand taels from the public treasury to buy more than 120,000 mu of private land; with idle fields added, the total reached 180,000 mu. He recruited cultivators on a broad scale, furnished labor rations, farm tools, and oxen for seeding, dredged canals and built dikes, and taught them to grow rice. Farmhouses, granaries, threshing yards, boats, and carts were all provided at a cost of 26,000 taels, yet the harvest yielded more than 55,000 shi of millet, wheat, and grain. Court officials widely praised his achievements, and he was promptly promoted to right vice censor-in-chief. At Gegu in Tianjin there had formerly been two thousand land and naval troops; Yingju memorialized that they should farm garrison land, using the yield to meet annual provisions, and the profits of the colonies began to rise.
41
五年六月，朝議以屯務既成，當廣鼓鑄。 乃改應舉工部右侍郎，專領錢務，開局荊州。 尋議給兩淮鹽課為鑄本，命兼戶部侍郎，並理鹽政。 應舉至揚州，疏請厘正鹽規，議商人補行積引，增輸銀視正引之半，為部議所格。 應舉方奏析，而巡鹽御史陸世科惡其侵官，劾之，魏忠賢傳旨詰讓，御史徐揚先遂希指再劾，落職閑住。 崇禎初，復官。
In the sixth month of the fifth year the court debated that, with the garrison colonies established, coinage ought to be expanded. Yingju was therefore transferred to right vice minister of Works, placed solely in charge of coinage, and opened a mint at Jingzhou. Soon the court resolved to supply the salt revenues of the two Huai circuits as casting capital, and ordered him to serve concurrently as vice minister of Revenue while also overseeing salt administration. When Yingju reached Yangzhou he memorialized to reform the salt regulations, proposing that merchants redeem accumulated salt certificates and pay supplemental silver at half the rate of a standard certificate—but the ministry's deliberation blocked the plan. While Yingju was still submitting explanatory memorials, the touring salt censor Lu Shike, resenting his encroachment on another's jurisdiction, impeached him. Wei Zhongxian transmitted an edict of rebuke, and the censor Xu Yangxian, eager to follow the cue, impeached him again. Yingju was dismissed and lived in retirement. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign his office was restored.
42
應舉好學善文。 其居官，慷慨任事； 在家，好興利捍患。 比沒，海濱人祠祀之。
Yingju loved learning and wrote well. In office he was openhanded and bold in undertaking affairs; at home he delighted in promoting public benefit and warding off calamity. After his death, people along the coast erected shrines in his honor.
43
林材，字謹任，閩縣人。 萬歷十一年進士。 授舒城知縣。 擢工科給事中。 吏部推鄭洛戎政尚書，起張九一貴州巡撫，材極言兩人不當用，九一遂罷。 王錫爵赴召，材疏論，並及趙誌臯、張位。 再請建儲豫教，又爭三王並封之謬。
Lin Cai, whose courtesy name was Jinren, came from Min County. He received his jinshi degree in the eleventh year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Shucheng. He was promoted to supervising secretary in the Ministry of Works. When the Ministry of Personnel recommended Zheng Luo for minister of frontier military affairs and recalled Zhang Jiuyi as grand coordinator of Guizhou, Cai argued vehemently that neither appointment was fit—and Jiuyi's recall was dropped. When Wang Xijue answered the imperial summons, Cai memorialized against him and also took Zhao Zhigao and Zhang Wei to task. He again petitioned to invest the crown prince and provide him early instruction, and again fought the folly of enfeoffing all three princes at once.
44
屢遷吏科都給事中。 劾罷南京尚書郝傑、徐元泰。 經略宋應昌惑沈惟敬，力請封貢，材乞斬應昌、惟敬，不報。 誌臯、位擬旨失當，材抗疏駁之。 二十二年夏六月，西華門災，材偕同官上言，切指時政缺失。 帝慍甚，以方修省不罪。 吏部推顧養謹總理河道，材論止之。 兵部將大敘平壤功，材力詆石星罔上，星乃不敢濫敘。 其冬，復率同官言成憲不當為祭酒，馮夢禎不當為詹事，劉元震不當為吏部侍郎。 帝積前怒，言材屢借言事誣謗大臣，今復暗傷善類，乃貶三官，余停俸一歲。 會御史崔景榮等論救，再貶程鄉典史。 材遂歸裏不出。
After several promotions he became chief supervising secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. He impeached and brought down the Nanjing ministers Hao Jie and Xu Yuantai. The frontier commissioner Song Yingchang had been misled by Shen Weijing and pressed hard for enfeoffment and tribute payments. Cai petitioned that both men be executed, but the court did not respond. When Zhigao and Wei drafted edicts improperly, Cai submitted a bold memorial refuting them. In the sixth month of summer in the twenty-second year fire struck the Xihua Gate; Cai and his colleagues memorialized together, pointing sharply to failings in current governance. The emperor was deeply angered, yet because he was then observing a period of self-restraint he imposed no punishment. When the Ministry of Personnel recommended Gu Yangqian to oversee the Grand Canal, Cai argued against the appointment and blocked it. When the Ministry of War was preparing a major commendation for the Pyongyang campaign, Cai fiercely denounced Shi Xing for deceiving the throne, and Xing no longer dared to distribute rewards indiscriminately. That winter he again led his colleagues in arguing that Cheng Xian should not be made director of the Imperial Academy, Feng Mengzhen should not be made junior mentor of the heir apparent, and Liu Yuanzhen should not be made vice minister of Personnel. The emperor, nursing earlier grievances, declared that Cai had repeatedly used memorials to slander senior ministers and was now again covertly harming worthy men. He demoted three of them in rank and suspended the salaries of the rest for a year. When the censor Cui Jingrong and others pleaded on his behalf, he was demoted again to archive clerk of Chengxiang. Cai then went home and never returned to office.
45
光宗即位，始起尚寶丞，再遷太仆少卿。 還朝未幾，即乞歸。 天啟中，起南京通政使，卒。 崇禎初，贈右都御史。
When Emperor Guangzong took the throne, Cai was first recalled as assistant director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, then promoted again to vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Soon after his return to court he petitioned to retire. During the Tianqi reign he was recalled as commissioner of transmissions at Nanjing, and there he died. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign he was posthumously ennobled as right censor-in-chief.
46
朱吾弼，字諧卿，高安人。 萬歷十七年進士。 授寧國推官。 征授南京御史。
Zhu Wubi, whose courtesy name was Xieqing, came from Gao'an. He received his jinshi degree in the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed investigating censor of Ningguo. He was summoned and appointed a censor at Nanjing.
47
大學士趙誌臯弟學仕為南京工部主事，以贓敗。 南京刑部因誌臯故，輕其罪，議調饒州通判。 吾弼疏論，竟謫戍之。 奏請建國本，簡閣臣，補言官，罷礦稅，不報。 山西巡撫魏允貞為稅使孫朝所訐，吾弼乞治朝欺罔罪。 廣東稅使李鳳乾沒，奸人王遇桂請稅江南田契，吾弼皆疏論其罪。 時無賴子蜂起言利，廷臣輒連章力爭，帝雖不盡從，亦未嘗不容其切直。 雷震皇陵，吾弼請帝廷見大臣，講求祖宗典制，次第舉行，與天下更始。 尋復言：「陛下孝敬疏於郊廟，惕厲弛於朝講； 土木盛宮苑，榛蕪遍殿廷，群小橫中外，正士困囹圄； 閭閻以礦稅竭，郵傳以輸免疲，流亡以水旱增，郡縣以征求困； 草澤生心，衣冠喪氣； 公卿不能補牘，臺諫無從引裾。 不可不深察而改圖也。」 末言禮部侍郎郭正域疾惡嚴，居己峻，不可以楚事棄。
Zhao Zhigao's younger brother Xueshi served as a clerk in the Nanjing Ministry of Works and was brought down by corruption. Because of Zhigao's influence, the Nanjing Ministry of Justice softened his sentence and proposed transferring him to be vice prefect of Raozhou. Wubi memorialized against the leniency and ultimately secured his banishment to frontier garrison duty. He petitioned to invest the crown prince, streamline the grand secretaries, fill vacant remonstrance posts, and abolish mining taxes—but received no reply. When the Shanxi grand coordinator Wei Yunzhen was impeached by the tax commissioner Sun Chao, Wubi petitioned that Chao be punished for deceiving the throne. The Guangdong tax commissioner Li Feng had embezzled funds wholesale, and the schemer Wang Yugui petitioned to levy taxes on land deeds in Jiangnan. Wubi memorialized against the crimes of each. Rascals were then swarming forth with schemes for profit, and court officials answered with linked memorials of fierce protest. The emperor did not always heed them, yet he never refused their blunt candor. When thunder shook the imperial tombs, Wubi urged the emperor to receive his ministers in audience, recover the institutions of the ancestors, put them into practice step by step, and begin anew with the realm. Soon he added, "Your Majesty's filial reverence has grown slack toward the suburban temples and ancestral halls, and your vigilance has loosened at court lectures; construction flourishes in the palace gardens while weeds overrun the halls and courts; petty men run rampant at court and beyond, and upright gentlemen languish in prison; lanes and alleys are drained by mining taxes, the courier system is exhausted by transport exemptions, exiles multiply through flood and drought, and commanderies and counties are crushed by exactions; the countryside breeds rebellious hearts, and the gentry have lost their spirit; grand secretaries cannot mend what is broken, and censors and remonstrators have no way to seize Your Majesty's robe. These matters must be examined deeply and the course of state changed. He closed by saying that Guo Zhengyu, vice minister of rites, hated evil with stern rigor and held himself to a severe standard, and must not be cast aside because of the Chu affair.
48
先是，楚假王議起，首輔沈一貫陰左右王，以正域請行勘，嗾其黨錢夢臯阜輩逐之去。 舉朝無敢留正域及言楚事者，吾弼獨抗章申理，而御史林秉漢以楚宗人戕殺巡撫，亦請詳勘。 且言：「王既非假，何憚於勘？」 吾弼、秉漢遂為一貫等所惡。 會夢臯京察將黜，遂訐秉漢為正域鷹犬，語侵沈鯉、楊時喬、溫純。 秉漢坐貶貴州按察司檢校，而夢臯得留。 郎中劉元珍論之，反獲譴。 吾弼復疏直元珍，請黜夢臯，因力詆一貫，亦忤旨，停俸一年，遂移疾去。 居三年，起南京光祿少卿，召為大理右丞。 齊、楚、浙三黨用事，吾弼復辭疾歸。 熹宗立，召還。 屢遷南京太仆卿。 天啟五年為御史吳裕中劾罷。
Earlier, when the controversy over the supposed prince of Chu arose, Chief Grand Secretary Shen Yiguan had secretly favored the prince. Because Guo Zhengyu had petitioned for a formal investigation, Shen incited his allies Qian Menggao and others to drive him from office. No one in court dared retain Guo Zhengyu or speak of the Chu affair, yet Wubi alone submitted a bold memorial in his defense. The censor Lin Binghan, noting that a clansman of Chu had murdered the grand coordinator, likewise petitioned for a thorough investigation. He added, "If the prince is not an impostor, why fear an investigation? Wubi and Binghan were therefore detested by Shen Yiguan and his allies. When Menggao was about to be demoted in the capital evaluation, he denounced Binghan as Guo Zhengyu's henchman, and his language also impugned Shen Li, Yang Shiqiao, and Wen Chun. Binghan was demoted to archive clerk of the Guizhou surveillance commission, while Menggao was permitted to remain in office. Director Liu Yuanzhen spoke up on the matter and was punished in turn. Wubi memorialized again in Yuanzhen's defense, asked that Menggao be dismissed, and fiercely denounced Yiguan; this too offended the throne, his salary was suspended for a year, and he retired on grounds of illness. After three years at home he was recalled as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments at Nanjing and summoned as right vice president of the Court of Judicial Review. When the Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions held power, Wubi again pleaded illness and went home. When Emperor Xizong came to the throne, he was recalled. He rose through several posts to minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud at Nanjing. In the fifth year of Tianqi, Censor Wu Yuzhong impeached him and he was dismissed.
49
秉漢，字伯昭，長泰人。 按廣東，亦再疏劾李鳳。 既謫，尋移疾歸，卒於家。 天啟中，贈太仆少卿。
Binghan, whose style was Bozhao, came from Changtai. While touring Guangdong as censor, he twice memorialized impeaching Li Feng. After his banishment he soon pleaded illness, went home, and died there. During the Tianqi reign he was posthumously granted the rank of vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud.
50
張光前，字爾荷，澤州人。 萬歷三十八年進士。 授蒲圻知縣，補安肅。 甫四月，擢吏部驗封主事。 歷文選員外郎、稽勛郎中。 乞假去。
Zhang Guangqian, whose style was Erhe, came from Zezhou. He received his jinshi degree in the thirty-eighth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Puqi and later transferred to Ansu. After only four months he was promoted to director in the Ministry of Personnel's Seals and Investitures Section. He served as vice director in the Appointments Section and as director in the Merit Records Section. He took leave and left office.
51
天啟四年，趙南星為尚書，起為文選郎中。 甫視事，魏忠賢欲逐南星，假廷推謝應祥事矯旨切責。 南星時與推應祥者，員外郎夏嘉遇，非光前也。 光前抗疏爭之，曰：「南星人品事業昭灼人耳目，忽奉嚴旨責以不公忠，臣竊惑之。 選郎，諸曹領袖，尚書臂指，南星所甄別進退，臣實佐之。 功罪與共，乞先賜罷斥。」 亦被旨切責。 未幾，以推喬允升等代南星，忤忠賢意，削侍郎陳於廷及楊漣、左光鬥籍。 光前又抗疏曰：「會推尚書，於廷主議，臣執筆，謹席稿待罪。」 遂貶三秩，調外任。
In the fourth year of Tianqi, when Zhao Nanxing became minister of Personnel, Guangqian was recalled as director of the Appointments Section. As soon as he took office, Wei Zhongxian sought to oust Nanxing and, using the court nomination of Xie Yingxiang as a pretext, forged an imperial rescript of sharp rebuke. Nanxing's colleague in nominating Yingxiang had been Vice Director Xia Jiayu, not Guangqian. Guangqian submitted a forceful protest, writing: "Nanxing's character and achievements are plain for all to see; to receive a stern rescript charging him with partiality and disloyalty leaves me deeply perplexed. The appointments director leads all bureaus and serves as the minister's right hand; I in fact assisted in every promotion and dismissal Nanxing made. Credit and blame should be shared; I beg that I be dismissed first. He too received a sharp imperial rebuke. Soon afterward, because he had nominated Qiao Yunsheng and others to replace Nanxing, offending Zhongxian, Vice Ministers Chen Yuting, Yang Lian, and Zuo Guangdou were struck from the rolls. Guangqian protested again: "In the joint nomination of a minister, Chen Yuting presided and I held the brush; I await punishment with the draft before me. He was demoted three ranks and transferred to a provincial post.
52
光前操行清嚴，峻卻請謁。 知縣石三畏贓私狼籍，得奧援，將授臺諫，光前出之為王官，其黨鹹側目。 明年，光前兄右布政使光縉治兵遵化，為奄黨門克新所劾，亦削籍。 兄弟並以忤奄去，見稱於世。 崇禎元年，起光祿少卿，不赴。 三年，起太常。 已，進大理少卿。 累疏乞休，及家而卒。
Guangqian was pure and stern in conduct and firmly refused solicitations. Magistrate Shi Sanwei was flagrantly corrupt; with powerful backing he was about to receive a remonstrance appointment, but Guangqian posted him out as a princely attendant, to the resentment of his faction. The following year his elder brother Guangjin, right provincial administration commissioner training troops at Zunhua, was impeached by the eunuch partisan Men Kexin and also struck from the rolls. Both brothers left office for defying the eunuchs and were praised by contemporaries. In the first year of Chongzhen he was recalled as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments but declined. In the third year he was recalled to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He was soon promoted to vice president of the Court of Judicial Review. He repeatedly petitioned to retire and died after reaching home.
53
贊曰：朝政弛，則士大夫騰空言而少實用。 若陳邦瞻、畢懋康、翟鳳翀、董應舉，尚思有所建立，惜不逢明作之朝，故所表見止此耳。 蕭近高、洪文衡諸人皆以清素自矢，白瑜論鄭氏獄能持平，固卿貳之錚錚者歟。
The appraiser writes: When court governance slackens, scholar-officials excel at empty words and achieve little in practice. Men such as Chen Bangzhan, Bi Maokang, Zhai Fengchong, and Dong Yingju still sought to accomplish something, but they did not live in an age of enlightened governance; what they achieved was therefore limited. Xiao Jingao, Hong Wenheng, and the others held themselves to purity and integrity; Bai Yu judged the Zheng clan case with impartiality—they were indeed the clearest voices among the vice ministers.