Volume 245 Biographies 133: Zhou Qiyuan, Miao Changqi, Zhou Shunchang, Zhou Zongjian, Huang Zunsu, Li Yingsheng, Wan Jing

周起元繆昌期周順昌〈（子茂蘭朱祖文顏佩韋等）〉周宗建〈（蔣英）〉黃尊素李應升萬燝〈（丁乾學等）〉

Zhou Qiyuan, Miao Changqi, Zhou Shunchang (Sub-biographies: Zi Maolan, Zhu Zuweng, Yan Peiwei, and others)〉 Zhou Zongjian (Jiang Ying)〉 Huang Zunsu, Li Yingsheng, Wan Jing (Ding Qianxue and others)〉

周起元，字仲先，海澄人。萬歷二十八年鄉試第一，明年成進士。歷知浮梁、南昌，以廉惠稱。

Zhou Qiyuan, styled Zhongxian, was a native of Haicheng. In the twenty-eighth year of the Wanli reign he topped the provincial examinations, and the following year he passed the jinshi degree. He served in turn as magistrate of Fuliang and Nanchang, where he won renown for integrity and humane governance.

行取入都，註湖廣道御史。方候命，值京察。御史劉國縉疑鄭繼芳假書出起元及李邦華、李炳恭、徐縉芳、徐良彥手，遂目為「五鬼」，繼芳且入之疏中。起元憤，上章自明。居二年，御史命始下。

Chosen for promotion to the capital, he was slated for appointment as investigating censor of the Huguang circuit. While he was still awaiting his commission, the capital evaluation of officials was held. Censor Liu Guojin suspected that a memorial in Zheng Jifang's name had actually been drafted by Qiyuan together with Li Banghua, Li Binggong, Xu Jinfang, and Xu Liangyan, and dubbed them the "Five Demons"; Zheng Jifang even inserted the label into his own memorial. Qiyuan was outraged and submitted a memorial to clear his name. Only after two years was his commission as censor finally issued.

會太仆少卿徐兆魁以攻東林為御史錢春所劾，起元亦疏劾之。奸人劉世學者，誠意伯劉藎臣從祖也，疏詆顧憲成，起元憤，力斥其謬。藎臣遂訐起元，益詆憲成。起元再疏極論，其同官翟鳳翀、余懋衡、徐良彥、魏雲中、李邦華、王時熙、潘之祥亦交章論列。且下令捕世學，世學遂遁去。吏部侍郎方從哲由中旨起官，起元力言不可，並刺給事中亓詩教、周永春，吏部侍郎李養正、郭士望等。吏部尚書趙煥出雲中、時熙於外，起元劾其背旨擅權，坐停俸。煥去，鄭繼之代，又出之祥及張鍵。起元亦抗疏糾駁，因言張光房等五人不當擯之部曹。與黨人牴牾，忌者益眾。

At that time Xu Zhaokui, vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, was impeached by Censor Qian Chun for attacking the Donglin faction, and Qiyuan likewise submitted a memorial impeaching him. A scoundrel named Liu Shixue, a collateral kinsman of the Marquis of Sincerity Liu Jinchen, submitted a memorial defaming Gu Xiancheng; Qiyuan was incensed and forcefully exposed the absurdity of his charges. Jinchen then impeached Qiyuan in turn and heaped further slander on Xiancheng. Qiyuan submitted a second memorial arguing the case at length, and his colleagues Zhai Fengchong, Yu Maoheng, Xu Liangyan, Wei Yunzhong, Li Banghua, Wang Shixi, and Pan Zhixiang likewise weighed in with a stream of memorials. An order was also issued to arrest Shixue, who promptly fled. When Vice Minister of Personnel Fang Congzhe was reappointed by a palace edict bypassing regular channels, Qiyuan argued strenuously that this must not stand, and also took aim at supervising secretaries Qi Shijiao and Zhou Yongchun and vice ministers of personnel Li Yangzheng and Guo Shiwan, among others. Minister of Personnel Zhao Huan posted Yunzhong and Shixi to posts outside the capital; Qiyuan impeached him for defying the throne's intent and usurping authority, and was himself penalized with suspension of salary. After Huan left office, Zheng Jizhi took his place and again posted Zhixiang and Zhang Jian outside the capital. Qiyuan also submitted a defiant memorial of rebuttal, arguing that Zhang Guangfang and four others ought not to be banished to lowly posts in the ministries. He clashed repeatedly with his factional enemies, and those who bore him ill will grew ever more numerous.

尋巡按陜西，風采甚著。卒以東林故，出為廣西參議，分守右江道。柳州大饑，群盜蜂起，起元單騎招劇賊，而振恤饑民甚至。移四川副使，未上。會遼陽破，廷議通州重地，宜設監司，乃命起元以參政蒞之。

Before long he was sent to tour and inspect Shaanxi as investigating censor, where his authority and bearing were widely noted. In the end, on account of his Donglin ties, he was posted out as administration vice commissioner of Guangxi, charged with guarding the Right River circuit. When Liuzhou was stricken by severe famine and bandits swarmed everywhere, Qiyuan rode out alone to win over the most violent gangs, while extending relief to the starving with extraordinary thoroughness. He was transferred to serve as vice commissioner of Sichuan but had not yet reported to his new post. When Liaoyang fell, the court debated whether Tongzhou, a place of critical importance, should have a supervising commissioner, and Qiyuan was ordered to take up the post as administration commissioner.

天啟三年入為太仆少卿。旋擢右僉都御史，巡撫蘇、松十府。公廉愛民，絲粟無所取。遇大水，百方拯恤，民忘其困。織造中官李實素貪橫，妄增定額，恣誅求。蘇州同知楊姜署府事，實惡其不屈，摭他事劾之。起元至，即為姜辨冤，且上去蠹七事，語多侵實。實欲姜行屬吏禮，再疏誣逮之。起元再疏雪姜，更切直。魏忠賢庇實，取嚴旨責起元，令速上姜貪劣狀。起元益頌姜廉謹，詆實誣毀，因引罪乞罷。忠賢大怒，矯旨斥姜為民。起元復劾實貪恣不法數事，而為姜求寬。實以此斂威，而忠賢遂銜起元不置。分守參政朱童蒙者，先為兵科都給事中，以攻鄒元標講學外遷，失誌狂暴，每行道輒鞭撲數十人，血肉狼籍。起元欲糾之，童蒙遂稱病去，起元乃列其貪虐狀以聞。忠賢遂矯旨削起元籍，擢童蒙京卿。

In the third year of the Tianqi reign he was recalled to the capital as vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. He was soon promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of the ten prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang. Upright, incorruptible, and devoted to the people, he would not take so much as a thread or a grain for himself. When catastrophic floods struck, he tried every means to rescue and relieve the people, who came to forget their hardship under his care. The weaving commissioner eunuch Li Shi had long been greedy and tyrannical, arbitrarily raising fixed quotas and extorting at will. Yang Jiang, vice prefect of Suzhou, was acting in the prefect's stead; Li Shi resented his refusal to yield and trumped up other charges to impeach him. As soon as Qiyuan arrived, he pleaded Yang Jiang's innocence and also submitted to the throne seven proposals for rooting out corruption, many of which struck directly at Li Shi. Li Shi wanted Yang Jiang to observe the ceremonial deference owed a subordinate official and submitted a second memorial with false charges to have him arrested. Qiyuan submitted a second memorial to clear Yang Jiang's name, even more blunt and uncompromising than before. Wei Zhongxian shielded Li Shi and procured a stern edict rebuking Qiyuan, ordering him to submit at once a report on Yang Jiang's greed and misconduct. Qiyuan praised Yang Jiang's integrity and prudence all the more strongly, denounced Li Shi's slanderous charges, and submitted his own resignation in protest. Zhongxian was furious and forged an edict stripping Yang Jiang of office and reducing him to commoner status. Qiyuan again impeached Li Shi on several counts of greed, arrogance, and lawlessness, while pleading for leniency toward Yang Jiang. Li Shi moderated his arrogance somewhat as a result, but Zhongxian henceforth nursed an implacable grudge against Qiyuan. Zhu Tongmeng, the guarding administration commissioner, had earlier served as chief supervising secretary in the Bureau of War; after he was posted out of the capital for attacking Zou Yuanbiao's lecturing activities, he lost his bearings and turned savage, whipping and beating dozens of people whenever he traveled, leaving the roads strewn with blood. When Qiyuan moved to impeach him, Tongmeng claimed illness and left his post; Qiyuan then submitted a detailed report of his greed and cruelty to the throne. Zhongxian then forged an edict stripping Qiyuan of his official registry and promoting Tongmeng to a capital ministerial post.

六年二月，忠賢欲殺高攀龍、周順昌、繆昌期、黃尊素、李應升、周宗建六人，取實空印疏，令其黨李永貞、李朝欽誣起元為巡撫時乾沒帑金十余萬，日與攀龍輩往來講學，因行居間。矯旨逮起元，至則順昌等已斃獄中。許顯純酷榜掠，竟如實疏，懸贓十萬。罄貲不足，親故多破其家。九月斃之獄中，吳士民及其鄉人無不垂涕者。

In the second month of the sixth year, Zhongxian set out to kill Gao Panlong, Zhou Shunchang, Miao Changqi, Huang Zunsu, Li Yingsheng, and Zhou Zongjian. He seized on Li Shi's memorial concerning blank official seals and had his partisans Li Yongzhen and Li Chaoqin fabricate charges that Qiyuan, while serving as grand coordinator, had embezzled more than a hundred thousand taels from the treasury, met daily with Panlong and the others for scholarly gatherings, and acted as their go-between. A forged edict ordered Qiyuan's arrest; by the time he reached the capital, Shunchang and the others had already perished in prison. Xu Xianchun tortured him brutally under interrogation until the confession matched Li Shi's memorial, and a fine of a hundred thousand taels in illicit gains was imposed. Even when his entire estate was liquidated the sum could not be met, and many relatives and friends were ruined in the effort. In the ninth month he was beaten to death in prison; among the gentry and common people of the Wu region and his fellow townsmen, there was scarcely one who did not weep.

莊烈帝嗣位，贈兵部右侍郎，官一子。福王時，追謚忠惠。

When the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, Qiyuan was posthumously granted the rank of right vice minister of war, and one son was given an official appointment. Under the Prince of Fu he was posthumously granted the posthumous title Loyal and Kind.

繆昌期，字當時，江陰人。為諸生有盛名，舉萬歷四十一年進士，改庶吉士，年五十有二矣。有同年生忌之，揚言為於玉立所薦，自是有東林之目。

Miao Changqi, styled Dangshi, was a native of Jiangyin. As a licentiate he enjoyed great renown; in the forty-first year of the Wanli reign he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed a Hanlin bachelor, by which time he was already fifty-two. A fellow graduate who envied him spread word that he had been recommended by Yu Yuli, and from that point he was marked as a Donglin man.

張差梃擊事，劉廷元倡言瘋癲，劉光復和之，疏詆發訐者，謂不當詫之為奇貨，居之為元功。昌期憤，語朝士曰：「奸徒狙擊青宮，此何等事，乃以『瘋癲』二字庇天下亂臣賊子，以『奇貨元功』四字沒天下忠臣義士哉！」廷元輩聞其語，深疾之。給事中劉文炳劾大學士吳道南，遂陰詆昌期。時方授檢討，文炳再疏顯攻，昌期即移疾去。既而京察，廷元輩復思中之，學士劉一燝力持乃免。

In the Zhang Chai club-attack affair, Liu Tingyuan took the lead in calling the assailant mad, Liu Guangfu echoed him, and in a memorial they vilified those who had exposed the plot, arguing that the incident ought not be treated as a political prize or claimed as a supreme achievement. Changqi was incensed and said to his colleagues at court: "Villains lay in wait to strike at the heir apparent—what manner of crime is this, that with the word 'madness' you would shield every rebel and traitor in the realm, and with the phrase 'rare prize, supreme achievement' you would bury every loyal and righteous man! When Tingyuan and his allies heard these words, they came to hate him bitterly. Supervising Secretary Liu Wenbing impeached Grand Secretary Wu Daonan and took the opportunity to slander Changqi in secret. At the time he had just been appointed revising compiler; Wenbing submitted a second memorial openly attacking him, and Changqi promptly submitted notice of illness and resigned. Later, at the capital evaluation of officials, Tingyuan's faction again tried to bring him down, but Bachelor Liu Yijin forcefully intervened and he was spared.

天啟元年還朝。一燝以次輔當國。其冬，首輔葉向高至。小人間一燝於向高，謂欲沮其來，向高不悅。會給事中孫傑承魏忠賢指，劾一燝及周嘉謨，忠賢遽傳旨允放。昌期急詣向高，力言二人顧命重臣，不可輕逐，內傳不可奉。向高怫然曰：「上所傳，何敢不奉？」昌期曰：「公，三朝老臣。始至之日，以去就力爭，必可得也。若一傳而放兩大臣，異日天子手滑，不復可止矣。」向高默然。昌期因備言一燝質直無他腸，向高意少解。會顧大章亦為向高言之，一燝乃得善去。兩人故向高門下士也。

In the first year of the Tianqi reign he returned to court. Liu Yijin was serving as secondary grand secretary and directing affairs of state. That winter, Chief Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao arrived at court. Petty men sowed discord between Yijin and Xianggao, claiming that Yijin wished to obstruct his arrival; Xianggao was displeased. At that point Supervising Secretary Sun Jie, acting on Wei Zhongxian's instructions, impeached Yijin and Zhou Jiamo, and Zhongxian promptly transmitted an edict approving their dismissal. Changqi hurried to see Xianggao and argued forcefully that the two men were weighty ministers entrusted at the deathbed and must not be dismissed lightly, and that edicts transmitted from within the palace must not simply be obeyed. Xianggao said, displeased, "What the sovereign transmits—how dare we refuse to obey? Changqi replied, "Your Excellency is an elder statesman who has served three reigns. On the very day you take office, if you stake your own position on this fight, you are sure to prevail. If at a single transmitted edict two great ministers are dismissed, then another day when the emperor's hand slips, there will be no stopping it." Xianggao fell silent. Changqi then explained at length that Yijin was honest and straightforward and harbored no hidden designs, and Xianggao's mind was somewhat eased. Gu Dazhang also spoke to Xianggao on Yijin's behalf, and Yijin was thus able to leave office with honor intact. Both men had formerly been protégés in Xianggao's circle.

昌期尋遷左贊善，進諭德。楊漣劾忠賢疏上，昌期適過向高。向高曰：「楊君此疏太率易。其人於上前時有匡正。鳥飛入宮，上乘梯手攫之，其人挽衣不得上。有小珰賜緋者，叱曰：『此非汝分，雖賜不得衣也。』其強直如此。是疏行，安得此小心謹慎之人在上左右？」昌期愕然曰：「誰為此言以誤公？可斬也。」向高色變，昌期徐起去。語聞於漣，漣怒。向高亦內慚，密具揭，請帝允忠賢辭，忠賢大慍。會有言漣疏乃昌期代草者，忠賢遂深怒不可解。及向高去，韓爌秉政，忠賢逐趙南星、高攀龍、魏大中及漣、光鬥，爌皆具揭懇留。忠賢及其黨謂昌期實左右之。而昌期於諸人去國，率送之郊外，執手太息，由是忠賢益恨。昌期知勢不可留，具疏乞假，遂落職閑住。

Changqi was soon promoted to left tutor in the heir apparent's establishment and then to preceptor. When Yang Lian's memorial impeaching Zhongxian was submitted, Changqi happened to be visiting Xianggao. Xianggao said, "Master Yang's memorial is far too rash. The man has at times offered the emperor sound correction. Once a bird flew into the palace; the emperor climbed a ladder to seize it by hand, and the man held his robe so that he could not climb up. When a junior eunuch was granted crimson robes, he rebuked him, saying, 'That rank is not yours; even if it is granted, you may not wear it.' Such was his forceful uprightness. If this memorial goes forward, how can such a careful and prudent man remain at the emperor's side? Changqi said in astonishment, "Who told you such things and led you astray? That person deserves execution." Xianggao's expression changed; Changqi rose slowly and took his leave. Word of this reached Yang Lian, who was furious. Xianggao was inwardly ashamed as well; he secretly prepared a memorial asking the emperor to accept Zhongxian's resignation, and Zhongxian was furious. Rumors then spread that Yang Lian's memorial had been drafted by Changqi, and Zhongxian's rage became irreconcilable. After Xianggao left office, Han Kuang took charge of government; Zhongxian drove out Zhao Nanxing, Gao Panlong, Wei Dazhong, and Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, and each time Kuang submitted earnest memorials asking that they be retained. Zhongxian and his faction claimed that Changqi was really pulling the strings behind Kuang. Whenever these men were driven from office, Changqi would as a rule escort them to the suburbs, take their hands, and sigh deeply; Zhongxian hated him all the more for it. Changqi saw that the situation could not be sustained, submitted a memorial requesting leave, and was stripped of office to live in retirement.

五年春，以汪文言獄詞連及，削職提問。忠賢恨不置。明年二月復於他疏責昌期已削籍猶冠蓋延賓，令緹騎逮問。逾月，復入之李實疏中，下詔獄。昌期慷慨對簿，詞氣不撓，竟坐贓三千，五毒備至。四月晦，斃於獄。

In the spring of the fifth year he was implicated through testimony in the Wang Wenyan case, stripped of office, and summoned for interrogation. Zhongxian's hatred knew no bounds. In the second month of the following year, in yet another memorial he rebuked Changqi for, though already stripped of his registry, still keeping official carriage and receiving guests, and ordered the imperial guards to arrest and interrogate him. A month later he was once more named in a memorial by Li Shi and thrown into the secret prison on imperial orders. Changqi faced interrogation with fierce courage, his tone never breaking; he was ultimately found guilty of three thousand taels in graft and subjected to every form of the five tortures. On the final day of the fourth month he perished in jail.

莊烈帝即位，贈詹事兼侍讀學士，錄其一子，詔並予謚。而是時，姚希孟以詞臣持物論，雅不善左光鬥、周宗建，力尼之，遂並昌期及周起元、李應升、黃尊素、周朝瑞、袁化中、顧大章，皆不獲謚。福王時，始謚文貞。

After the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, Changqi was posthumously honored as Grand Mentor and concurrent Reader-in-Waiting of the Hanlin Academy, one son was given an official appointment, and an edict granted him a posthumous title as well. Yet Yao Ximeng, a court writer who shaped public discourse, had long disliked Zuo Guangdou and Zhou Zongjian and fought hard to stop it—so neither Changqi nor Zhou Qiyuan, Li Yingsheng, Huang Zunsu, Zhou Chaorui, Yuan Huazhong, nor Gu Dazhang received posthumous honors. Only in the reign of the Prince of Fu was he finally granted the posthumous name Wen Zhen.

周順昌，字景文，吳縣人。萬歷四十一年進士。授福州推官。捕治稅監高寀爪牙，不少貸。寀激民變，劫辱巡撫袁一驥，質其二子，並質副使呂純如。或議以順昌代，順昌不可，純如以此銜順昌。擢吏部稽勛主事。天啟中，歷文選員外郎，署選事。力杜請寄，抑僥幸，清操爵然。乞假歸。

Zhou Shunchang, styled Jingwen, came from Wu County. He became a jinshi in the forty-first year of Wanli. He was made investigating censor in Fuzhou. He seized and prosecuted the agents of the tax intendant Gao Chai without the slightest mercy. Gao Chai provoked a riot among the people, seized and abused Grand Coordinator Yuan Yiji, took his two sons as hostages, and did the same to Vice Commissioner Lü Chunru. Some suggested sending Shunchang in Lü's place, but Shunchang would not agree—and from that day Lü Chunru nursed a grievance against him. He was raised to principal secretary in the Ministry of Personnel's Bureau of Merit Records. In the Tianqi period he rose through the Bureau of Appointments to vice director and for a time oversaw official selection. He worked hard to shut down backdoor appointments and curb the lucky climbers, his moral conduct shining unmistakably above the rest. He asked for leave and went home.

順昌為人剛方貞介，疾惡如仇。巡撫周起元忤魏忠賢削籍，順昌為文送之，指斥無所諱。魏大中被逮，道吳門，順昌出餞，與同臥起者三日，許以女聘大中孫。旂尉屢趣行，順昌瞋目曰：「若不知世間有不畏死男子耶？歸語忠賢，我故吏部郎周順昌也。」因戟手呼忠賢名，罵不絕口。旂尉歸，以告忠賢。御史倪文煥者，忠賢義子也，誣劾同官夏之令，致之死。順昌嘗語人，他日倪御史當償夏御史命。文煥大恚，遂承忠賢指，劾順昌與罪人婚，且誣以贓賄，忠賢即矯旨削奪。先所忤副使呂純如，順昌同郡人，以京卿家居，挾前恨，數譖於織造中官李實及巡撫毛一鷺。已，實追論周起元，遂誣順昌請囑，有所乾沒，與起元等並逮。

Shunchang was rigidly honest and unbending in character, hating evil with the passion of a sworn foe. When Grand Coordinator Zhou Qiyuan crossed Wei Zhongxian and was removed from office, Shunchang wrote a farewell essay for him, condemning the eunuch with nothing held back. When Wei Dazhong was taken into custody and came through Wu Gate, Shunchang went out to bid him farewell, slept and ate at his side for three days, and pledged his daughter to Dazhong's grandson. The emperor's runners kept pressing them to move on; Shunchang fixed them with a glare and said, "Don't you know this world holds men who are not afraid to die? Go tell Zhongxian for me—I am Zhou Shunchang, once a secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. He thrust out his hand toward heaven, shouting Zhongxian's name and raining curses without pause. The guards went back and told Zhongxian everything. The censor Ni Wenhuan was Zhongxian's sworn son; he framed his fellow censor Xia Zhiling on false charges and had him killed. Shunchang had once remarked to others, "The day will come when Censor Ni pays for Censor Xia's life." Wenhuan flew into a rage, followed Zhongxian's lead, and impeached Shunchang for betrothing his daughter to a criminal's kin while also accusing him of graft; Zhongxian at once forged an edict to strip him of rank and honors. Lü Chunru—the vice commissioner Shunchang had crossed long before, a man of the same county now retired at home as a senior metropolitan official—nursed his old resentment and repeatedly denounced Shunchang to the weaving commissioner eunuch Li Shi and Grand Coordinator Mao Yilu. Before long Li Shi reopened the case against Zhou Qiyuan and then claimed Shunchang had solicited favors and skimmed money; Shunchang was arrested together with Qiyuan and the rest.

順昌好為德於鄉，有冤抑及郡中大利害，輒為所司陳說，以故士民德順昌甚。及聞逮者至，眾鹹憤怒，號冤者塞道。至開讀日，不期而集者數萬人，鹹執香為周吏部乞命。諸生文震亨、楊廷樞、王節、劉羽翰等前謁一鷺及巡按御史徐吉，請以民情上聞。旗尉厲聲罵曰：「東廠逮人，鼠輩敢爾！」大呼：「囚安在？」手擲鋃鐺於地，聲瑯然。眾益憤，曰：「始吾以為天子命，乃東廠耶！」蜂擁大呼，勢如山崩。旂尉東西竄，眾縱橫毆擊，斃一人，余負重傷，逾垣走。一鷺、吉不能語。知府寇慎、知縣陳文瑞素得民，曲為解諭，眾始散。順昌乃自詣吏。又三日北行，一鷺飛章告變，東廠刺事者言吳人盡反，謀斷水道，劫漕舟，忠賢大懼。已而一鷺言縛得倡亂者顏佩韋、馬傑、沈揚、楊念如、周文元等，亂已定，忠賢乃安。然自是緹騎不出國門矣。

Shunchang was generous with his neighbors: whenever someone suffered wrongful treatment or the prefecture faced a matter of great public consequence, he would take the case to the proper officials—and for this the gentry and people loved him dearly. When news spread that the arresting officers were coming, the whole populace erupted in anger, and the streets filled with voices pleading innocence. On the day the edict of arrest was to be read, tens of thousands assembled without being summoned, incense in hand, begging heaven for the life of the former minister Zhou. Students Wen Zhenheng, Yang Tingji, Wang Jie, Liu Yuhan, and others came forward to petition Mao Yilu and touring censor Xu Ji, urging them to relay the people's feelings to the throne. A flag guard snarled, "The Eastern Depot has come to take a man—how dare you rats act this way! He roared, "Where is the prisoner?" He hurled shackles to the ground with a ringing crash. The people grew still more furious and cried, "We thought this was the Son of Heaven's order—so it is the Eastern Depot! They pressed in with a thunderous shout, their force like a collapsing mountain. The guards scattered in every direction as the mob fell upon them; one was beaten to death, the others left grievously wounded and fled over the walls. Mao Yilu and Xu Ji could not utter a word. Prefect Kou Shen and Magistrate Chen Wenrui, both men the people had long trusted, spoke to them with patience and tact, and at last the crowd broke up. Shunchang then went of his own accord to surrender to the authorities. Three days later, as Shunchang was escorted north, Mao Yilu fired off an urgent report of insurrection; Eastern Depot spies claimed all Wu had revolted and planned to block the canals and seize the grain barges—and Zhongxian was terrified. Soon Mao Yilu wrote that the instigators Yan Peiwei, Ma Jie, Shen Yang, Yang Nianru, Zhou Wenyuan, and others had been captured; with the trouble declared over, Zhongxian finally eased his mind. Yet from that time forward the emperor's arrest squads never again dared leave the capital.

順昌至京師，下詔獄。許顯純鍛煉，坐贓三千，五日一酷掠，每掠治，必大罵忠賢。顯純椎落其齒，自起問曰：「復能罵魏上公否？」順昌噀血唾其面，罵益厲。遂於夜中潛斃之。時六年六月十有七日也。

Upon reaching the capital, Shunchang was consigned to the secret prison by imperial order. Xu Xianchun tortured a confession out of him and fixed his guilt at three thousand taels in stolen funds; every five days came a brutal round of beating, and each time Shunchang would hurl abuse at Zhongxian with all his might. Xu Xianchun smashed out his teeth with a club, stood up, and demanded, "Can you still curse the Grand Duke Wei? Shunchang sprayed blood and spittle into his face and cursed him all the harder. That night he was quietly murdered in his cell. The date was the seventeenth day of the sixth month in the sixth year of Tianqi.

明年，莊烈帝即位，文煥伏誅，實下吏，一鷺、吉坐建忠賢祠，純如坐頌珰，並麗逆案。順昌贈太常卿，官其一子。給事中瞿式耜訟諸臣冤，稱順昌及楊漣、魏大中清忠尤著，詔謚忠介。

The next year, when the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, Wenhuan was put to death, Li Shi was arrested, Mao Yilu and Xu Ji were condemned for erecting shrines to Zhongxian, and Lü Chunru for lauding the eunuch clique—all swept into the roll of traitors. Shunchang was posthumously elevated to Grand Master of Ceremonies, and one son received an official post. Supervising Secretary Qu Shisi appealed for the wronged officials, praising Shunchang together with Yang Lian and Wei Dazhong as paragons of loyal integrity; the throne granted Shunchang the posthumous name Zhongjie.

長子茂蘭，字子佩，刺血書疏，詣闕訴冤，詔以所贈官推及其祖父。茂蘭更上疏，請給三世誥命，建祠賜額。帝悉報可，且命先後慘死諸臣，鹹視此例。茂蘭好學砥行，不就蔭敘。國變後，隱居不出，以壽終。

His eldest son Maolan, styled Zipei, pricked his finger and wrote a memorial in blood, then went to court to plead his father's case; an edict extended the posthumous honors to his grandfather as well. Maolan memorialized again, asking for patent letters of honor for three generations, a commemorative shrine, and an imperial inscription. The Emperor granted every request and commanded that the other officials who had died in similar agony be honored by the same standard. Maolan devoted himself to study and upright living, and would not accept appointment through inherited privilege. After the fall of the dynasty he withdrew from the world and never came forth again, living out his years in peace.

諸生朱祖文者，都督先之孫。當順昌被逮，間行詣都，為納饘粥、湯藥。及征贓令急，奔走稱貸諸公間。順昌櫬歸，祖文哀慟發病死。

Among the students was Zhu Zuwen, grandson of the regional commander Zhu Xianzhi. When Shunchang was taken, Zhu Zuwen stole his way to the capital to bring him porridge and medicine. When the demand for payment of the falsely assessed bribes turned fierce, he ran from one patron to another begging loans on Shunchang's behalf. When Shunchang's coffin came home, Zuwen mourned himself into sickness and died.

佩韋等皆市人，文元則順昌輿隸也，論大辟。臨刑，五人延頸就刃，語寇慎曰：「公好官，知我等好義，非亂也。」監司張孝流涕而斬之。吳人感其義，合葬之虎丘傍，題曰：「五人之墓」。其地即一鷺所建忠賢普惠祠址也。

Peiwei and his companions were common tradesmen; Wenyuan had been Shunchang's chair bearer—all received the death sentence. At the block the five men offered their necks willingly and told Kou Shen, "You are an honest magistrate—you know we acted from loyalty, not rebellion. The supervising official Zhang Xiao, weeping, carried out the execution. The people of Wu, honoring their sacrifice, buried them together near Tiger Hill under the inscription "Tomb of the Five Men." That very ground was where Mao Yilu had erected his temple to Zhongxian, called Puhui.

周宗建，字季侯，吳江人，尚書用曾孫也。萬歷四十一年進士。除武康知縣，調繁仁和，有異政，入為御史。

Zhou Zongjian, styled Jihou, came from Wujiang and was the great-grandson of the minister Zhou Yong. He took his jinshi degree in the forty-first year of Wanli. He served first as magistrate of Wukang, then was moved to the demanding county of Renhe, where his administration won notice; afterward he entered the capital as a censor.

天啟元年，為顧存仁、王世貞、陶望齡、顧憲成請謚，追論萬歷朝小人，歷數錢夢臯、康丕揚、亓詩教、趙興邦亂政罪，並詆李三才、王圖。時遼事方棘，上疏責備輔臣。無何，沈陽破，宗建責當事大臣益急，因請破格用人，召還熊廷弼。已，論兵部尚書崔景榮不當信奸人劉保，輔臣劉一燝不當抑言路，因刺右通政林材、光祿卿李本固。材、本固移疾去。魏大中劾王德完庇楊鎬、李如楨，宗建為德完力攻大中，其持論數與東林左。會是歲冬，奉聖夫人客氏既出宮復入，宗建首抗疏極諫，中言：「天子成言，有同兒戲。法宮禁地，僅類民家。聖朝舉動有乖，內外防閑盡廢。此輩一叨隆恩，便思逾分，狎溺無紀，漸成驕恣，釁孽日萌，後患難杜。王聖、朱娥、陸令萱之覆轍，可為殷鑒。」忤旨，詰責。清議由此重之。

In the first year of Tianqi he memorialized for posthumous honors for Gu Cunren, Wang Shizhen, Tao Wangling, and Gu Xiancheng, rehearsed the misdeeds of Wanli's small men, itemized the corrupt rule of Qian Menggao, Kang Piyang, Qi Shijiao, and Zhao Xingbang, and assailed Li Sancai and Wang Tu as well. With the Liaodong emergency at its height, he submitted a memorial reproaching the grand secretaries. Soon after, Shenyang fell; Zongjian pressed the ministers in charge ever more sharply, calling for bold appointments outside the usual channels and the recall of Xiong Tingbi. He went on to charge that War Minister Cui Jingrong should never have trusted the schemer Liu Bao, and that Grand Secretary Liu Yiqian should not have muzzled the censorial voice—aiming obliquely at Vice Commissioner Lin Cai and Chamberlain Li Bengu. Lin Cai and Li Bengu both pleaded illness and left office. When Wei Dazhong impeached Wang Dewan for protecting Yang Hao and Li Ruzhen, Zongjian threw his weight behind Dewan and savaged Dazhong—his views repeatedly set him at odds with the Donglin party. That same winter, after Nurse Ke—the Lady of Favor—had been sent from the palace and then recalled, Zongjian led the court in a fierce remonstrance, writing among other things: "The Son of Heaven's solemn word is tossed about like a child's game. The august inner palace has come to resemble an ordinary home. The conduct of this sacred age has lost its way, and every safeguard between inner and outer court has been cast aside. No sooner do such people taste high favor than they reach beyond their rank, dissolving into unrestrained intimacy, swelling by degrees into arrogance and license; day by day the seeds of disaster take root, and the evils to come cannot be checked. The ruined careers of Wang Sheng, Zhu E, and Lu Lingxuan stand before us as grim warnings. The memorial ran against the imperial will and brought down stern censure. Clear-minded opinion in the capital therefore esteemed him all the more.

明年，廣寧失。廷臣多庇王化貞，欲甚熊廷弼罪。宗建不平，為剖兩人罪案，頗右廷弼，諸庇化貞者乃深疾宗建。京師久旱，五月雨雹。宗建謂陰盛陽衰之征，歷陳四事：一專譏大學士沈纮；一請寬建言廢黜諸臣；一言廷弼已有定案，不當因此羅織朝士，陰刺兵部尚書張鶴鳴、給事中郭鞏；一則專攻魏進忠，略言：「近日政事，外廷嘖嘖，鹹謂奧{穴交}之中，莫可測識，諭旨之下，有物憑焉。如魏進忠者，目不識一丁，而陛下假之嚬笑，日與相親。一切用人行政，墮於其說，東西易向而不知，邪正顛倒而不覺。況內廷之借端，與外廷之投合，互相扶同。離間之漸將起於蠅營，讒構之釁必生於長舌。其為隱禍，可勝言哉！」進忠者，魏忠賢故名也。時方結客氏為對食，廷臣多陰附之，其勢漸熾，見宗建疏，銜次骨，未發也。鄒元標建首善書院，宗建實司其事。元標罷，宗建乞與俱罷，不從。巡視光祿，與給事中羅尚忠力剔奸弊，節省為多。尋請核上供器物，中官怒，取旨詰責。宗建等再疏力持，中人滋不悅。

The following year Guangning fell. Many at court rallied to Wang Huazhen's defense and tried to heap the greater blame on Xiong Tingbi. Zongjian would not have it; he laid out both men's records and largely vindicated Tingbi, and those who had shielded Huazhen thereafter hated Zongjian to the core. The capital had suffered a long drought; in the fifth month hailstones fell. Zongjian read this as a portent of yin overwhelming yang and laid out four grievances: first, a direct attack on Grand Secretary Shen Hong; second, a plea to restore the officials dismissed for speaking out; third, the argument that Xiong Tingbi's case was already closed and must not be used to trap other courtiers—aimed covertly at War Minister Zhang Heming and Supervising Secretary Guo Gong; and fourth, a direct assault on Wei Jinzhong, who wrote in part: "Lately in public affairs the outer court buzzes with complaint—all say that in the deep inner quarters of the palace nothing can be discerned, and that something stands behind every edict that comes down. A man like Wei Jinzhong cannot read a single character, yet Your Majesty shares smiles with him and keeps him close day after day. Every appointment and every policy bends to his word; directions are swapped without your knowing it, and right and wrong stand on their heads while you remain unaware. Worse still, the inner court seizes every excuse while the outer court falls into step—each side propping up the other. The first rifts of division will begin with the buzzing of flies; the opening of calumny will surely come from long, loose tongues. The concealed calamities such conduct invites—who could exhaust them in words? Jinzhong was the name Wei Zhongxian had borne before his rise. He was then living in a paired household with Nurse Ke; many officials quietly sided with him, and his power grew daily. When he read Zongjian's memorial he hated him to the marrow—but he had not yet struck. Zou Yuanbiao had established the Shou Shan Academy, and Zongjian in practice ran its affairs. When Yuanbiao was removed from office, Zongjian asked to resign with him, but the court would not allow it. While inspecting the Grand Provisionerate, he worked with Supervising Secretary Luo Shangzhong to purge corruption aggressively, and the savings were substantial. He soon petitioned for an audit of imperial tribute goods. The eunuchs were furious and secured an edict denouncing him. Zongjian and others followed with further memorials in stout defense of him, and the eunuchs grew still more hostile.

給事中郭鞏者，先以劾廷弼被謫。廷弼敗，復官，遂深結進忠。知進忠最惡宗建，乃疏詆廷弼，因詆朝廷之薦廷弼者，而宗建與焉。其鋒銳甚，南京御史塗世業和之，詆宗建誤廷弼，且誤封疆。宗建憤，疏駁世業，語侵鞏，抉其結納忠賢事。鞏亦憤，上疏數千言，詆宗建益力，並及劉一燝、鄒元標、周嘉謨、楊漣、周朝瑞、毛士龍、方震孺、江秉謙、熊德陽輩數十人，悉指為廷弼逆黨。宗建益憤，抗疏力駁其謬，且曰：「李維翰、楊鎬、袁應泰、王化貞，皆壞封疆之人也；亓詩教力主催戰，趙興邦賄賣邊臣，皆誤封疆之人也；其他薦維翰、薦鎬、薦應泰、化貞者，亦誤封疆之人也。鞏胡不一擊之，而獨苛求廷弼，且詆薦廷弼者為逆黨哉？」當是時，忠賢勢益盛。宗建慮內外合謀，其禍將大，三年二月遂抗疏直攻忠賢，略言：

Supervising Secretary Guo Gong had been demoted earlier for impeaching Xiong Tingbi. After Tingbi's downfall, Gong was restored to office and soon forged a close alliance with Wei Zhongxian. Knowing that Wei Zhongxian loathed Zhou Zongjian above all others, Gong submitted a memorial vilifying Tingbi—and, by extension, everyone at court who had recommended him, Zongjian included. The assault was savagely pointed. Nanjing Censor Tu Shiye took it up, accusing Zongjian of having misled Tingbi and, in doing so, ruined the frontier defense. Zongjian, enraged, answered with a memorial rebutting Shiye. His language cut at Gong and laid bare Gong's collusion with the eunuch faction led by Zhongxian. Gong, equally furious, submitted a memorial thousands of words long, redoubling his attack on Zongjian and dragging in dozens of men—Liu Yicheng, Zou Yuanbiao, Zhou Jiamou, Yang Lian, Zhou Chaorui, Mao Shilong, Fang Zhenru, Jiang Bingqian, Xiong Deyang, and others—branding them all traitorous partisans of Tingbi. Zongjian's fury only mounted. He submitted a defiant memorial forcefully dismantling the charges, writing: "Li Weihan, Yang Hao, Yuan Yingtai, and Wang Huazhen were all men who wrecked the frontier; Qi Shijiao pressed relentlessly for rash campaigns, and Zhao Xingbang sold frontier appointments for bribes—both were men who misled the frontier; and every official who recommended Weihan, Hao, Yingtai, or Huazhen was likewise a man who misled the frontier. Why does Gong not assail them all, yet singles out Tingbi for relentless attack and brands Tingbi's supporters as traitors? By then Wei Zhongxian's power was waxing daily. Fearing that inner and outer factions were closing ranks against him and that catastrophe was near, Zongjian in the second month of the third year submitted a defiant memorial aimed straight at Zhongxian, writing in part:

臣於去歲指名劾奏，進忠無一日忘臣。於是乘私人郭鞏入都，嗾以傾臣，並傾諸異己者。鞏乃創為「新幽大幽」之說，把持察典，編廷臣數十人姓名為一冊，思一網中之。又為匿名書，羅織五十余人，投之道左，給事中則劉弘化為首，次及周朝瑞、熊德陽輩若而人，御史則方震孺為首，次及江秉謙輩若而人，而臣亦其中一人也。既欲羅諸臣，以快報復之私，更欲獨中臣，以釋進忠之恨。是察典不出於朝廷，乃鞏及進忠之察典也。幸直道在人，鞏說不行，始別借廷弼，欲一阱陷之。

Last year I named Wei Zhongxian in a direct impeachment. He has not let a single day pass without remembering it. He has now seized on the arrival in the capital of my old enemy Guo Gong, goading him to bring me down—and with me, every man who stands apart from them. Gong invented the doctrine of the 'Lesser Purge and Greater Purge,' took hold of the metropolitan examination, compiled the names of dozens of court officials into a single register, and plotted to sweep them all up in one net. He also drafted an anonymous denunciation, fabricating charges against more than fifty men and leaving it by the roadside. Among the supervising secretaries, Liu Honghua was named first, then Zhou Chaorui, Xiong Deyang, and others; among the censors, Fang Zhenru led the list, followed by Jiang Bingqian and the rest—and my name appeared among them as well. He meant to entangle the whole corps of officials to satisfy a private hunger for revenge, yet strike me alone above all, to appease Wei Zhongxian's hatred. This was no examination run by the court—it was an examination run by Gong and Wei Zhongxian. Fortunately, public regard for upright conduct still held, and Gong's scheme failed. He then seized on Tingbi as a fresh pretext, hoping to snare me in a single trap.

鞏又因臣論及王安，笑臣有何瓜葛。陛下亦知安之所以死乎？身首異處，肉飽烏鳶，骨投黃犬，古今未有之慘也。鞏即心昵進忠，何至背公滅理，且牽連劉一燝、周嘉謨、楊漣、毛士龍輩，謂盡安黨。請陛下窮究安死果出何人傾害，則此事即進忠一大罪案。鞏之媚進忠，即此可為證據矣。

When my memorial touched on Wang An, Gong mocked me: what possible tie could I have to the man? Does Your Majesty know how Wang An met his end? Head and body hacked apart, flesh left for crows and kites to glut upon, bones fed to mangy dogs—a horror without precedent in all history. Gong may be intimate with Wei Zhongxian in his heart, but how can he turn his back on the public good and cast aside all principle, dragging in Liu Yicheng, Zhou Jiamou, Yang Lian, Mao Shilong, and others as though they were all partisans of Wang An? I beg Your Majesty to pursue to the end the question of who truly destroyed Wang An. That inquiry alone would expose one of Wei Zhongxian's gravest crimes. Gong's sycophancy toward Wei Zhongxian is proof enough in itself.

先朝汪直、劉瑾，雖皆梟獍，幸言路清明，臣僚隔絕，故非久即敗。今權珰報復，反借言官以伸；言官聲勢，反借權珰以重。數月以來，熊德陽、江秉謙、侯震旸、王紀、滿朝薦斥矣，鄒元標、馮從吾罷矣，文震孟、鄭鄤逐矣，近且扼孫慎行、盛以弘，而絕其揆路。摘瓜抱蔓，正人重足。舉朝各愛一死，無敢明犯其鋒者。臣若尚顧微軀，不為入告，將內有進忠為之指揮，旁有客氏為之羽翼，外有劉朝輩為典兵示威，而又有鞏輩蟻附蠅集，內外交通，驅除善類，天下事尚忍言哉！疏入，進忠益怒。率劉朝等環泣帝前，乞自髡以激帝怒。乃令宗建陳交通實狀，將加重譴，宗建回奏益侃直。進忠議廷杖之，閣臣力爭，乃止，奪俸。

In earlier reigns, Wang Zhi and Liu Jin were monsters both, yet the channels of remonstrance remained open and courtiers were kept at a remove from them—so neither lasted long before ruin. Today the eunuch in power pursues revenge, yet does so through the censorial corps; and the censorial corps, in turn, inflates its authority by leaning on the eunuch's power. For months now, Xiong Deyang, Jiang Bingqian, Hou Zhenyang, Wang Ji, and Man Chao have been impeached and driven out; Zou Yuanbiao and Feng Congwu dismissed; Wen Zhenmeng and Zheng Man banished; and lately Sun Shenxing and Sheng Yihong have been choked off from the route to the grand secretariat. Pluck one melon and the whole vine follows; honest men walk as if on cracking ice. The entire court clings to life, and none dares meet their edge head-on. If I still prized my own skin and held my tongue, Wei Zhongxian would command from within, Ke Shi would shield him from the side, Liu Chao and his kind would parade military power without, and men like Gong would swarm in like ants and flies—inner and outer factions in league, the good driven out—and then who could bear to speak of the fate of the realm! When the memorial reached the throne, Wei Zhongxian's rage only deepened. He gathered Liu Chao and the others to weep in a ring before the emperor, begging to shave their own heads so as to stoke the sovereign's fury. The emperor ordered Zongjian to set out the facts of his alleged collusion, intending heavier punishment. Zongjian's reply came back all the bolder. Wei Zhongxian pressed for a beating in open court. The grand secretaries fought the measure to a halt, and Zongjian was spared—though his salary was stripped away.

會給事中劉弘化、御史方大任等交章助宗建攻進忠、鞏，鞏復力詆諸人。詔下諸疏平議，廷臣為兩解之。乃嚴旨切責，奪鞏、宗建俸三月。是時，劉朝典內操，遂謀行邊。廷臣微聞之，莫敢言。宗建曰：「鞏自謂未嘗通內，今誠能出片紙遏朝，吾請為洗交結之名。」鞏噤不敢發。宗建乃抗疏極諫，歷陳三不可、九害。會朝與進忠有隙，事亦中寢。其冬出按湖廣，以憂歸。

About then, Supervising Secretary Liu Honghua, Censor Fang Daren, and others piled on with memorials backing Zongjian's assault on Wei Zhongxian and Gong. Gong answered with fresh vitriol against them all. An edict went out ordering all the memorials reviewed on neutral ground, and court officials worked to settle the quarrel between the two camps. A sharp edict followed, rebuking both sides and withholding three months' salary from Gong and Zongjian. At that time Liu Chao commanded the palace guard and began plotting a personal tour of the frontier. Word reached the court in whispers, but no one dared raise the matter openly. Zongjian said, "Gong insists he has never trafficked with the inner court. If he can now produce a single line to stop Liu Chao, I will gladly clear his name of collusion. Gong shut his mouth and would not answer. Zongjian then submitted a defiant memorial of fierce remonstrance, laying out in full three reasons the plan must not proceed and nine harms it would bring. As it happened, Liu Chao and Wei Zhongxian had fallen out, and the scheme died halfway to execution. That winter he went out on provincial inspection in Huguang, then returned home to observe mourning.

五年三月，大學士馮銓銜御史張慎言嘗論己，屬其門生曹欽程誣劾，而以宗建為首，並及李應升、黃尊素。忠賢遂矯詔削籍，下撫按追贓。明年以所司具獄緩，遣緹騎逮治。俄入之李實疏中，下詔獄毒訊。許顯純厲聲罵曰：「復能詈魏上公一丁不識乎！」竟坐納廷弼賄萬三千，斃之獄。

In the third month of the fifth year, Grand Secretary Feng Quan, still smarting from Censor Zhang Shenyan's past criticism of him, set his protégé Cao Qincheng to lodge a fabricated impeachment. Zhou Zongjian was named as ringleader, with Li Yingsheng and Huang Zunsu dragged in as well. Wei Zhongxian then forged an edict striking them from the official rolls and ordered the provincial governor and surveillance commissioner to recover their ill-gotten wealth. The following year, finding the responsible offices had prepared too lenient a case, he sent the imperial arresters to seize and punish them. Before long they were folded into a memorial by Li Shi and consigned to the imperial prison for savage interrogation. Xu Xianchun snarled, "Still dare curse Lord Wei when you cannot read a single character! In the end he was convicted of taking thirteen thousand taels in bribes from Tingbi and was beaten to death in prison.

宗建既死，征贓益急。其所親副使蔣英代之輸，亦坐削籍。忠賢敗，詔贈宗建太仆寺卿，官其一子。福王時，追謚忠毅。

After Zongjian's death, the hunt for his supposed graft grew only fiercer. His close associate, Vice Commissioner Jiang Ying, paid the demanded sum on his behalf and was himself struck from the rolls. After Wei Zhongxian's fall, an edict posthumously honored Zongjian as Grand Master of the Stud and granted office to one of his sons. Under the Prince of Fu, he was posthumously granted the title Loyal and Resolute.

蔣英，嘉善人。舉進士，歷知松溪、漳浦、宜興。天啟時，由南京驗封郎中，出為福建副使，遂遭珰禍。忠賢敗，以故官分巡蘇、松，坐事貶秩。未行而宜興民變，上官以英先治宜興，得民心，檄之撫治。宜興非英所轄，辭不得，則單騎往諭，懲豪家僮客數人，令亂民自獻其首惡，亂遂定。宜興故多豪家，修撰陳於泰、編修陳於鼎兄弟尤橫，遂激民變，群執兵鼓噪，勢洶洶。賴英，事旋定。而周延儒方枋國，與陳氏有連，銜英，再貶兩秩，遂歸。

Jiang Ying was a native of Jiashan. A jinshi degree-holder, he served in turn as magistrate of Songxi, Zhangpu, and Yixing. Under the Tianqi Emperor he advanced from chief secretary of the Nanjing Verification Bureau to Fujian Vice Commissioner—and there fell prey to the eunuch faction. After Wei Zhongxian's downfall, he was restored to his old rank and assigned to inspect Suzhou and Songjiang, but was soon demoted for an offense. Before he could depart, the people of Yixing rose in revolt. His superiors, recalling that Ying had once governed Yixing and held the people's trust, ordered him to go and restore order. Yixing lay outside his jurisdiction, but he could not refuse. He rode alone to address the crowd, punished several retainers of powerful local houses, demanded that the rioters hand over their own ringleaders, and the unrest subsided. Yixing had long been dominated by powerful clans. The Hanlin compiler brothers Chen Yutai and Chen Yuding were especially overbearing, and their conduct sparked the uprising—armed mobs beating drums and roaring until the tumult seemed unstoppable. Thanks to Jiang Ying, the crisis was quickly brought under control. But Zhou Yanru was then chief minister and connected to the Chen family. Bearing a grudge against Ying, he had him demoted two more ranks, and Ying retired home.

鞏，遷安人。以附忠賢，驟遷至兵部侍郎。莊烈帝定逆案，削籍論配。我大清拔遷安，鞏遁去，後詣闕自言拒聘，上所撰《卻聘書》。兵部尚書梁廷棟論之，下獄坐死。巡撫楊嗣昌為訟冤，得遣戍。

Guo Gong was a native of Qian'an. By clinging to Wei Zhongxian's coattails, he was vaulted in short order to Vice Minister of War. When the Chongzhen Emperor adjudicated the treason cases, Gong was struck from the rolls and sentenced to penal exile. Our Great Qing took Qian'an, and Gong fled. He later came before the throne claiming he had refused service under the new dynasty; the sovereign thereupon composed for him the Declination of Employment. War Minister Liang Tingdong prosecuted the claim. Gong was thrown into prison and condemned to death. Grand Coordinator Yang Sichang pleaded on his behalf, and the sentence was commuted to exile.

黃尊素，字真長，余姚人。萬歷四十四年進士。除寧國推官，精敏強執。

Huang Zunsu, styled Zhenchang, was a native of Yuyao. He received his jinshi degree in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign. Appointed assistant magistrate of Ningguo, he proved keen, efficient, and unyielding.

天啟二年，擢御史，謁假歸。明年冬還朝，疏請召還余懋衡、曹於汴、劉宗周、周洪謨、王紀、鄒元標、馮從吾，而劾尚書趙秉忠、侍郎牛應元、通政丁啟睿頑鈍。秉忠、應元俱引去。山東妖賊既平，余黨復煽，巡撫王惟儉不能撫馭，尊素疏論之，因言：「巡撫本內外兼用，今盡用京卿，不若揚歷外服者之練習。」又數陳邊事，力詆大將馬世龍，忤樞輔孫承宗意。時帝在位數年，未嘗一召見大臣。尊素請復便殿召對故事，面決大政，否則講筵之暇，令大臣面商可否。帝不能用。

In the second year of Tianqi he was promoted to censor and went home on leave. The following winter he returned to court and memorialized for the recall of Yu Maoheng, Cao Yubian, Liu Zongzhou, Zhou Hongmo, Wang Ji, Zou Yuanbiao, and Feng Congwu, while impeaching Ministers Zhao Bingzhong and Niu Yingyuan and Transmission Commissioner Ding Qirui as sluggish and obtuse. Zhao Bingzhong and Niu Yingyuan both resigned. After the rebel cult in Shandong was crushed, surviving followers stirred up trouble again, and Grand Coordinator Wang Weijian could not keep order. Zunsu memorialized against him, adding: "Grand coordinators were once drawn from both capital and provinces alike. To fill the post exclusively with capital officials is far inferior to appointing men tempered by service in the field. He also spoke repeatedly on frontier affairs and savaged General Ma Shilong, crossing Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong in the process. By then the emperor had reigned several years without once calling a senior minister to audience. Zunsu petitioned for a return to the old custom of holding audience in the Side Hall to decide great affairs in person—or, failing that, to use the intervals of the lecture sessions for ministers to debate policy face to face. The emperor would not act on the proposal.

四年二月，大風揚沙，晝晦，天鼓鳴，如是者十日。三月朔，京師地震三，乾清宮尤甚。適帝體違和，人情惶懼。尊素力陳時政十失，末言：「陛下厭薄言官，人懷忌諱，遂有剽竊皮毛，莫犯中扃者。今阿保重於趙嬈，禁旅近於唐末，蕭墻之憂慘於敵國。廷無謀幄，邊無折沖，當國者昧安危之機，誤國者護恥敗之局。不於此進賢退不肖，而疾剛方正直之士如仇仇，陛下獨不為社稷計乎？」疏入，魏忠賢大怒，謀廷杖之。韓爌力救，乃奪俸一年。

In the second month of the fourth year, fierce winds whipped sand through the air until daylight dimmed, and heaven drums sounded—ten days of it without cease. On the first day of the third month, the capital was struck by three earthquakes, the Palace of Heavenly Purity suffering the worst. The emperor's health was failing at the same time, and fear spread through the populace. Zunsu forcefully enumerated ten failures of the age, concluding: "Your Majesty scorns the remonstrating officials. Men walk on eggshells, and so some merely parrot empty phrases, never daring to touch what lies at the heart of power. Today favored minions outweigh the Zhao sisters of old; the palace guard recalls the dying days of Tang; and the danger within the palace walls is worse than any threat from abroad. The court has no council of strategy; the frontier has no general to break the enemy's charge. Those who govern cannot read the hinge between safety and ruin, while those who ruin the state cling to a position already steeped in disgrace. Rather than advance the worthy and cast out the unfit, you treat upright and principled men like mortal foes. Does Your Majesty spare no thought at all for the altars of state? When the memorial arrived, Wei Zhongxian flew into a rage and plotted a beating in open court. Han Kuang fought hard to save him, and the punishment was reduced to forfeiture of a year's salary.

既而楊漣劾忠賢，被旨譙讓。尊素憤，抗疏繼之，略言：「天下有政歸近幸，威福旁移，而世界清明者乎？天下有中外洶洶，無不欲食其肉，而可置之左右者乎？陛下必以為曲謹可用，不知不小曲謹，不大無忌；必以為惟吾駕馭，不知不可駕馭，則不可收拾矣。陛下登極以來，公卿臺諫累累罷歸，致在位者無固誌。不於此稱孤立，乃以去一近侍為孤立耶？今忠賢不法狀，廷臣已發露無余，陛下若不早斷，彼形見勢窮，復何顧忌。忠賢必不肯收其已縱之韁，而凈滌其腸胃；忠賢之私人，必不肯回其已往之棹，而默消其冰山。始猶與士大夫為仇，繼將以至尊為註。柴柵既固，毒螫誰何？不惟臺諫折之不足，即幹戈取之亦難矣。」忠賢得疏愈恨。

Not long after, Yang Lian impeached Wei Zhongxian and was himself rebuked by imperial edict. Zunsu, burning with indignation, submitted a defiant follow-up memorial, writing in part: "Has there ever been an age in which power passed to favored intimates, in which authority and favor shifted into their hands, yet the realm remained clear and bright? Has there ever been a man whom court and country alike revile, every soul wishing to tear his flesh from his bones, yet who is still kept at the sovereign's elbow? Your Majesty surely believes his petty compliance makes him manageable—not understanding that one who is not small in petty compliance will not be small in boundless audacity; you surely believe only you can rein him in—not understanding that what cannot be reined in cannot afterward be brought under control. Since Your Majesty took the throne, ministers and censorial officials have been dismissed and sent home in waves, until those who remain dare hold no firm conviction at all. If this is not what you call isolation, do you call the dismissal of a single intimate attendant isolation? Wei Zhongxian's crimes have already been laid bare by court officials down to the last detail. If Your Majesty does not act while there is still time, once he sees his position exposed and his power spent, what will still restrain him? Wei Zhongxian will surely refuse to pull back the reins he has already let slip or to cleanse his corrupt heart; His private agents will surely refuse to turn back the course they have already embarked upon or quietly melt away the hidden power they have built; At first they made enemies only of scholar-officials; next they will turn the sovereign himself into their mark. Once their barricade is set, who will be able to check their venomous sting? Remonstrance from the censorate will not suffice to break them—and even armed force will hardly suffice to take them down. When Wei Zhongxian received the memorial, his hatred deepened.

萬燝既廷杖，又欲杖御史林汝翥，諸言官詣閣爭之。小珰數百人擁入閣中，攘臂肆罵，諸閣臣俯首不敢語。尊素厲聲曰：「內閣絲綸地，即司禮非奉詔不敢至，若輩無禮至此！」乃稍稍散去。無何，燝以創重卒。尊素上言：「律例，非叛逆十惡無死法。今以披肝瀝膽之忠臣，竟殞於磨牙礪齒之兇豎。此輩必欣欣相告，吾儕借天子威柄，可鞭笞百僚。後世有秉董狐筆，繼朱子《綱目》者，書曰『某月某日，郎中萬燝以言事廷杖死』，豈不上累聖德哉！進廷杖之說者，必曰祖制，不知二正之世，王振、劉瑾為之；世祖、神宗之朝，張璁、嚴嵩、張居正為之。奸人欲有所逞，憚忠臣義士掣其肘，必借廷杖以快其私，使人主蒙拒諫之名，己受乘權之實，而仁賢且有抱蔓之形。於是乎為所欲為，莫有顧忌，而禍即移之國家。燝今已矣，辱士殺士，漸不可開。乞復故官，破格賜恤，俾遺孤得扶櫬還鄉，燝死且不朽。」疏入，益忤忠賢意。

After Wan Jing had already been beaten in court, the palace also sought to beat investigating censor Lin Ruhu; remonstrating officials went to the Grand Secretariat to protest. Several hundred minor eunuchs pushed into the Grand Secretariat, rolled up their sleeves, and cursed at will; the grand secretaries bowed their heads and dared not speak. Zunsu cried out in a stern voice: "The inner cabinet is where imperial edicts are issued; even the Directorate of Ceremonial does not dare enter without an edict—how dare you be so insolent! At that they gradually dispersed. Before long, Wan Jing died from the severity of his wounds. Zunsu submitted a memorial: "By law, only rebellion and the ten capital offenses carry the death penalty. Now a loyal minister who poured out his heart and soul has perished at the hands of a vicious scoundrel grinding his teeth for blood. These men will surely rejoice among themselves: "We can wield the Son of Heaven's authority to lash and beat the hundred officials." When some future historian wielding Dong Hu's brush and following Zhu Xi's Outline and Details writes, "On such-and-such date, Director Wan Jing died by court beating for remonstrance," will this not stain Your Majesty's sacred virtue? Those who advocate court beatings will surely cite ancestral precedent—forgetting that in the reigns of the two Zheng emperors it was Wang Zhen and Liu Jin who introduced them; In the reigns of the Hongwu and Wanli emperors, Zhang Cong, Yan Song, and Zhang Juzheng did it. When villains wish to have their way but fear that loyal ministers will check them, they resort to court beatings to serve their private ends—leaving the ruler with the name of rejecting remonstrance while they seize real power, and leaving the worthy with the appearance of those who cling to a fading vine. Then they do as they please without restraint, and the calamity falls upon the state. Wan Jing is gone now; to humiliate scholars and kill them is a breach that must not be opened. I beg that his former rank be restored and extraordinary posthumous honors granted, so his orphaned family may carry his coffin home—and Wan Jing's death will not have been in vain. When the memorial arrived, it further provoked Wei Zhongxian's wrath.

八月，河南進玉璽。忠賢欲侈其事，命由大明門進，行受璽禮，百僚表賀。尊素上言：「昔宋哲宗得璽，蔡確等競言祥瑞，改年元符，宋祚卒不競。本朝弘治時，陜西獻玉璽，止令取進，給賞五金。此祖宗故事，宜從。」事獲中止。五年春，遣視陜西茶馬。甫出都，逆黨曹欽程劾其專擊善類，助高攀龍、魏大中虐焰，遂削籍。

In the eighth month, Henan presented a jade seal. Wei Zhongxian wished to lavish ceremony upon the affair, ordering that the seal enter through the Great Ming Gate, that the seal-receiving rite be performed, and that the hundred officials submit congratulatory memorials. Zunsu submitted a memorial: "When Emperor Zhezong of Song obtained a seal, Cai Que and others vied to call it an auspicious omen and changed the reign title to Yuanfu—yet the Song dynasty still did not endure. In our dynasty during the Hongzhi reign, when Shaanxi presented a jade seal, the court merely had it brought in and gave a reward of the five metals. This is the precedent of our forebears and should be followed. The affair was halted. In the spring of the fifth year, he was dispatched to inspect the tea-and-horse trade in Shaanxi. Hardly had he left the capital when the factional enemy Cao Qincheng impeached him for singling out worthy men for attack and fanning the persecutions of Gao Panlong and Wei Dazhong; he was then struck from the rolls.

尊素謇諤敢言，尤有深識遠慮。初入臺，鄒元標實援之，即進規曰：「都門非講學地，徐文貞已叢議於前矣。」元標不能用。楊漣將擊忠賢，魏大中以告，尊素曰：「除君側者，必有內援。楊公有之乎？一不中，吾儕無噍類矣。」萬燝死，尊素諷漣去，漣不從，卒及於禍。大中將劾魏廣微，尊素曰：「廣微，小人之包羞者也，攻之急，則鋌而走險矣。」大中不從，廣微益合於忠賢，以興大難。

Zunsu was upright and outspoken, with especially deep insight and far-reaching foresight. When he first entered the censorate, Zou Yuanbiao had recommended him; he immediately offered counsel: "The capital is not a place for public lecturing; Xu Wenzhen had already drawn fierce criticism for it. Yuanbiao did not heed him. When Yang Lian was about to move against Wei Zhongxian, Wei Dazhong told Zunsu; Zunsu said: "To remove a favorite at the ruler's side, one must have backing within the palace. Does Lord Yang have that? If it fails once, none of us will survive. After Wan Jing died, Zunsu urged Lian to withdraw; Lian refused, and in the end met with disaster. When Dazhong was about to impeach Wei Guangwei, Zunsu said: "Guangwei is a petty man who still knows shame; press him too hard and he will take desperate measures. Dazhong did not heed him; Guangwei drew all the closer to Wei Zhongxian, and the great calamity ensued.

是時，東林盈朝，自以鄉里分朋黨。江西章允儒、陳良訓與大中有隙，而大中欲駁尚書南師仲恤典，秦人亦多不悅。尊素急言於大中，止之。最後，山西尹同臯、潘雲翼欲用其座主郭尚友為山西巡撫，大中以尚友數問遺朝貴，執不可。尊素引杜征南數遺洛中貴要為言，大中卒不可，議用謝應祥，難端遂作。

At that time the Donglin faction dominated the court, dividing themselves into cliques by native place. Zhang Yunru and Chen Liangxun of Jiangxi were at odds with Dazhong; Dazhong also wished to reject the mourning honors for Minister Nan Shizhong, which displeased many from Shaanxi. Zunsu urgently spoke to Dazhong and stopped him. Finally, Yin Tonggao and Pan Yunyi of Shanxi wished to appoint their patron Guo Shangyou as grand coordinator of Shanxi; Dazhong, citing Shangyou's repeated gifts to court magnates, adamantly refused. Zunsu cited how Du Zhengnan had repeatedly sent gifts to eunuch powers in Luoyang, but Dazhong still would not yield; the nomination fell to Xie Yingxiang, and trouble began from there.

汪文言初下獄，忠賢即欲羅織諸人。已，知為尊素所解，恨甚。其黨亦以尊素多智慮，欲殺之。會吳中訛言尊素欲效楊一清誅劉瑾，用李實為張永，授以秘計。忠賢大懼，遣刺事者至吳中凡四輩。侍郎烏程沈演家居，奏記忠賢曰：「事有跡矣。」於是日遣使譙訶實，取其空印白疏，入尊素等七人姓名，遂被逮。使者至蘇州，適城中擊殺逮周順昌旗尉，其城外人並擊逮尊素者。逮者失駕帖，不敢至。尊素聞，即囚服詣吏，自投詔獄。許顯純、崔應元搒掠備至，勒贓二千八百，五日一追比。已，知獄卒將害己，叩首謝君父，賦詩一章，遂死，時六年閏六月朔日也，年四十三。崇禎初，贈太仆卿，任一子。福王時，追謚忠端。

When Wang Wényan was first imprisoned, Wei Zhongxian immediately sought to frame the others in a fabricated case. Learning afterward that Zunsu had thwarted the scheme, Wei Zhongxian hated him bitterly. His faction also wished him dead, knowing how shrewd Zunsu was. A rumor spread in Wu that Zunsu meant to imitate Yang Yiqing's execution of Liu Jin—using Li Shi in the role Zhang Yong had played—and had entrusted him with a secret plan. Wei Zhongxian was greatly alarmed and sent four groups of secret agents to Wu. Vice Minister Shen Yan of Wucheng, living in retirement, wrote to Wei Zhongxian: "There are already signs of the plot. Thereupon they sent envoys day after day to berate Li Shi, seized a blank-seal memorial from him, inserted the names of Zunsu and six others, and the arrests followed. When the envoys reached Suzhou, the populace within the city had killed the banner guards sent to arrest Zhou Shunchang; outside the city they also attacked those sent to arrest Zunsu. The arresting officers lost their warrant tablets and dared not enter the city. When Zunsu heard of this, he put on prisoner garb and presented himself to the officials, surrendering to the imperial prison of his own accord. Xu Xianchun and Cui Yingyuan tortured him relentlessly, forcing a confession of embezzlement totaling 2,800 taels and demanding payment every five days. Learning that the prison guards meant to kill him, he kowtowed in farewell to his sovereign and composed a final poem before he died—on the first day of the intercalary sixth month of the sixth year; he was forty-three. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he was posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Master of the Imperial Stud and one son was granted office. Under the Prince of Fu, he was posthumously given the posthumous title Zhongduan—Loyal and Upright.

李應升，字仲達，江陰人。萬歷四十四年進士。授南康推官。出無辜十九人於死，置大猾數人重辟。士民服其公廉，為之謠曰：「前林後李，清和無比。」林謂晉江林學曾，卒官南京戶部侍郎，以清慎著稱者也。九江、南康間有柯、陳二大族，相傳陳友諒苗裔，負固強梗，嘗拒捕，有司議兵之。應升單騎往諭，皆叩頭聽命，出所匿罪人，一方以定。

Li Yingsheng, styled Zhongda, was a native of Jiangyin. In the forty-fourth year of Wanli he passed the jinshi examination. He was appointed magistrate of Nankang. He saved nineteen innocent men from death and imposed heavy punishments on several notorious criminals. Scholars and commoners admired his fairness and integrity and made a rhyme about him: "Before Lin, after Li—pure and mild beyond compare." Lin" refers to Lin Xuezeng of Jinjiang, who ended his career as Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue and was renowned for purity and prudence. Between Jiujiang and Nankang were two powerful clans, the Ke and the Chen, said to be descendants of Chen Youliang; entrenched and violent, they once resisted arrest, and officials debated sending troops against them. Yingsheng rode alone to address them; all kowtowed in submission, surrendering the criminals they had sheltered, and the region was pacified.

天啟二年，征授御史，謁假歸。明年秋，還朝。時天子暗弱，庶政怠弛。應升上疏曰：「方今遼土淪沒，黔、蜀用兵，紅夷之焰未息，西部之賞日增；逃兵肆掠於畿輔，窮民待盡於催科。逗遛習慣，大將畏敵而不敢前；法紀陵夷，驕兵鼓噪而弗能問。在在增官，日日會議；覆疏衍為故套，嚴旨等若空言。陛下不先振竦精神，發皇誌氣，群臣孰肯任怨以破情面之世界者？祖宗有早午晚三朝，猶時禦便殿咨訪時政。願俯納臣言，奮然力行，天下事尚可為也。」報聞。

In the second year of Tianqi he was summoned and appointed investigating censor; he took leave and returned home. The following autumn he returned to court. At that time the emperor was weak and ineffective, and government had grown slack throughout. Yingsheng submitted a memorial: "Liaodong has fallen; armies fight in Guizhou and Sichuan; the Dutch threat has not abated; payments to the western frontier grow daily; Deserters plunder freely around the capital; the destitute are driven to destitution by tax levies. Delay has become habit; great generals fear the enemy and dare not advance; Law and discipline decay; arrogant soldiers clamor in mutiny, yet no one can hold them to account. Offices multiply everywhere, meetings are held every day; Reply memorials rehash the same formulas; stern edicts ring as empty words. If Your Majesty does not first rouse your spirit and summon your imperial resolve, which minister will dare bear resentment to break this world built on personal connections? Our forebears held audiences morning, noon, and evening, and still from time to time consulted on affairs of state from the side hall. I beg Your Majesty to heed my words, act with resolve, and then affairs under Heaven may still be saved. The memorial was acknowledged.

頃之，復陳時政，略曰：「今天下敝壞極矣，在君臣奮興而力圖之。陛下振紀綱，則片紙若霆；大臣捐私曲，則千里運掌；臺諫任糾彈，則百司飲冰。今動議增官，為人營窟，紛紜遷徙，名實乖張。自登、萊增巡撫，而侵冒百余萬；增招練監軍，而侵冒又十余萬。邊關內地，將領如蟻，剝軍侵饟，又不知幾十萬。增置總督，何補塞垣；增置京堂，何裨政事。樞貳添註矣，孰慷慨以行邊；司空添註矣，孰拮據以儲備；大將添註矣，只工媒孽而縱逋逃；禮、兵司屬添註二三十人矣，誰儲邊才而精典禮。濫開邊俸，捷徑燃灰，則吏治日壞；白衣攘臂，邪人入幕，則奸弁充斥。臣請斷自聖心，一切報罷。」又言：「今事下部曹，十九寢閣，宜重申國典，明正將領之罪。錦衣旗尉，半歸權要，宜遣官巡視，如京營之制。衛官襲職，比試不嚴，宜申明舊章，無使幸進將校蠶食。逃軍不招，私募乞兒，半分其饟，宜力為創懲。窮民敲撲，號哭滿庭，奸吏侵漁，福堂安坐，宜嚴其法制。」時不能用。俄劾南京都御史王永光庇部郎範得誌，顛倒公論，永光尋自引去。

Before long, he again addressed current affairs, writing in part: "The realm is broken to the utmost; salvation depends on ruler and ministers rousing themselves to act with force. If Your Majesty restores discipline and order, a single edict will land like thunder; If great ministers set aside private interest, governance at a thousand li's remove will move at their fingertips; If censors and remonstrators take up impeachment, the hundred offices will tremble like men swallowing ice; Now at every turn new offices are proposed, dens are carved out for favorites, appointments shuffle without end, and titles and realities no longer match. Since a grand coordinator was added for Dengzhou and Laizhou, more than a million taels have been embezzled; After adding supervisors for recruitment and training, another hundred thousand plus was embezzled. On the frontiers and in the interior, generals swarm like ants; stripping troops and stealing rations—who knows how many hundreds of thousands more. What do added governors-general contribute to the frontier defenses? What do added capital-rank officials contribute to governance? Deputy posts at the military commission have been stacked on—yet who boldly goes to serve on the frontier? Vice minister posts at the Ministry of Works have been stacked on—yet who scrimps to build reserves? Great general posts have been stacked on—yet the holders only craft slanders and let deserters slip away; Twenty or thirty junior posts in the Ministries of Rites and War have been stacked on—yet who grooms frontier talent or masters ritual and ceremony? Indiscriminate frontier salaries and shortcuts that burn like kindling will only worsen governance day by day; Commoners thrust themselves forward, unworthy men enter staff posts—and treacherous officers fill the ranks. I beg Your Majesty to decide from your own sacred judgment and reject all of these appointments outright. He also wrote: "Now when matters reach the ministries, nine in ten are shelved; the national precedents should be reaffirmed and the crimes of generals openly punished. Half the banner guards of the Embroidered Uniform Guard serve powerful patrons; inspectors should be dispatched as with the capital garrison system. For guard officers inheriting their posts, comparative examinations are lax; the old regulations should be reaffirmed so that lucky officers do not devour the ranks like silkworms. Deserters go unrecalled while officers privately hire beggar boys and split rations with them—this should be sternly punished. The destitute are beaten until the court rings with wailing; corrupt officials plunder at will while sitting at ease in their halls—the law should be strictly enforced. At the time his advice went unheeded. Soon he impeached Nanjing censor-in-chief Wang Yongguang for shielding department director Fan Dezhi and reversing public opinion; Yongguang soon resigned.

四年正月，疏陳外番、內盜及小人三患，譏切近習，魏忠賢惡之。已，復疏陳民隱，言有十害宜急除，五反宜急去，帝為戒飭所司。京師一日地三震，疏請保護聖躬，速停內操。忠賢領東廠，好用立枷，有重三百斤者，不數日即死，先後死者六七十人。應升極言宜罷，忠賢大恨。應升知忠賢必禍國，密草疏列其十六罪，將上，為兄所知，攘其疏毀之，怏怏而止。

In the first month of the fourth year, he submitted a memorial on three calamities—foreign tribes, internal bandits, and petty men—and satirized favored intimates; Wei Zhongxian hated him for it. Afterward, he again submitted a memorial on the people's hidden sufferings, listing ten harms to remove urgently and five reversals to abandon urgently; the emperor issued admonitions to the relevant offices. The capital experienced three earthquakes in one day; he submitted a memorial asking that the emperor's person be protected and inner drill halted at once. Wei Zhongxian headed the Eastern Depot and favored standing cangues; some weighed three hundred jin, and victims died within days—sixty or seventy in succession. Yingsheng spoke forcefully that this practice should be abolished; Wei Zhongxian hated him deeply. Yingsheng knew Wei Zhongxian would ruin the state; he secretly drafted a memorial listing sixteen crimes and was about to submit it when his elder brother learned of it, seized and destroyed the memorial, and he stopped in frustration.

楊漣劾忠賢，得嚴旨，應升憤，即抗疏繼之。中言：「從來奄人之禍，其始莫不有小忠小信以固結主心，根株既深，毒手乃肆。今陛下明知其罪，曲賜包容。彼緩則圖自全之計，急則作走險之謀。蕭墻之間，能無隱禍？故忠賢一日不去，則陛下一日不安。臣為陛下計，莫如聽忠賢引退，以全其命；為忠賢計，亦莫若早自引決，以乞帷蓋之恩。不然惡稔貫盈，他日欲保首領，不可得矣。」又曰：「君側不清，安用彼相。一時寵利有盡，千秋青史難欺。不欲為劉健、謝遷者，並不能為東陽。倘畫策投歡，不幾與焦芳同傳耶？」

When Yang Lian impeached Wei Zhongxian and received a stern edict, Yingsheng, indignant, immediately submitted a defiant follow-up memorial. In the middle he wrote: "From of old the calamity of eunuchs always begins with small loyalties and small trusts to bind the ruler's heart; once the roots run deep, the poisonous hand is unleashed. Now Your Majesty clearly knows his crimes yet indulgently shelters him. When unhurried he plots for self-preservation; when pressed he turns to desperate measures. Within the palace walls, can hidden calamity be avoided? Therefore as long as Wei Zhongxian is not removed, Your Majesty cannot be at ease for a single day. I advise Your Majesty to allow Wei Zhongxian to withdraw and thereby preserve his life; and for Wei Zhongxian himself, nothing so well as early withdrawal to beg the grace of imperial protection. Otherwise, when evil is fully ripe, another day you will wish to keep your head and will not be able to. He also wrote: "If those at the ruler's side are not cleared, of what use is that chancellor? Favor and profit for a time have their limit; the annals of a thousand autumns cannot be deceived. Those who do not wish to be Liu Jian and Xie Qian cannot be Li Dongyang either. If you instead plot to win favor, will you not share a biography with Jiao Fang?"

時魏廣微方深結忠賢，為之謀主，知應升譏己，大恨。萬燝之死也，應升極言廷杖不可再，士氣不可折，譏切忠賢輩甚至。已，代高攀龍草疏劾崔呈秀。呈秀窘，昏夜款門，長跪乞哀，應升正色固拒，含怒而去。十月朔，帝廟享頒歷，廣微後至，為魏大中等所糾。廣微恚，辨疏詆言者。應升復抗疏論之，且曰：「廣微父允貞為言官，得罪輔臣以去，聲施至今。廣微奈何比言官路馬，斥為此輩？夫不與此輩為伍者，必別與一輩為緣。乞陛下戒諭廣微，退讀父書，保其家聲，毋倚三窟，與言官為難，他日庶可見乃父地下。」廣微益怒，謀之忠賢，將鐫秩。首輔韓爌力救，乃奪祿一年。其月，趙南星等悉被逐，朝事大變。

At that time Wei Guangwei was deeply aligned with Wei Zhongxian as his strategist; knowing Yingsheng satirized him, he hated him deeply. When Wan Jing died, Yingsheng spoke forcefully that court beatings must not be repeated and scholar-official morale must not be broken, satirizing Wei Zhongxian's faction to the utmost. Afterward, he drafted on Gao Panlong's behalf a memorial impeaching Cui Chengxiu. Chengxiu, cornered, came knocking at his door in the dead of night and knelt long begging for mercy; Yingsheng sternly refused, and Chengxiu left in rage. On the first day of the tenth month, when the emperor distributed calendars at the ancestral temple audience, Guangwei arrived late and was impeached by Wei Dazhong and others. Guangwei, enraged, submitted a defense memorial slandering the accusers. Yingsheng again submitted a defiant memorial on the matter, writing: "Guangwei's father Yunzhen was a remonstrating official who left office after offending a chief minister—his reputation endures to this day. How can Guangwei compare remonstrating officials to roadside horses and dismiss them as this lot? One who will not stand with this lot must stand with some other lot instead. I beg Your Majesty to admonish Guangwei to withdraw and read his father's writings, preserve his family's reputation, not rely on three burrows, and not make enemies of remonstrating officials—then someday he may yet meet his father in the underworld. Guangwei grew angrier still, plotted with Wei Zhongxian, and sought to demote Yingsheng's rank. Chief minister Han Kuang fought hard to save him, and the punishment was reduced to forfeiture of a year's salary. That month, Zhao Nanxing and the rest were all driven out, and court affairs changed greatly.

明年三月，工部主事曹欽程劾應升護法東林，遂削籍。忠賢恨未已。六年三月，假李實劾周起元疏，入應升名。遂逮下詔獄，酷掠，坐贓三千。尋於閏六月二日斃之，年甫三十四。崇禎初，贈太仆卿，錄一子。福王時，追謚忠毅。

In the third month of the following year, Works Ministry director Cao Qincheng impeached Yingsheng for shielding the Donglin faction's laws, and he was struck from the rolls. Wei Zhongxian's hatred was still not satisfied. In the third month of the sixth year, using Li Shi's impeachment memorial against Zhou Qiyuan, they inserted Yingsheng's name. He was then arrested and thrown into the imperial prison, tortured cruelly, and convicted of embezzling three thousand taels. Soon, on the second day of the intercalary sixth month, he was killed; he was only thirty-four. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he was posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Master of the Imperial Stud and one son was granted office. Under the Prince of Fu, he was posthumously given the posthumous title Zhongyi—Loyal and Resolute.

萬燝，字暗夫，南昌人，兵部侍郎恭孫也。少好學，砥礪名行。舉萬歷四十四年進士，授刑部主事。嘗疏論刑獄幹和。

Wan Jing, styled Anfu, was a native of Nanchang and grandson of Vice Minister of War Wan Gong. From youth he loved learning and honed his reputation and conduct. He passed the jinshi examination in the forty-fourth year of Wanli and was appointed a director in the Ministry of Justice. He once submitted a memorial discussing interference in criminal cases.

天啟初元，兵事棘，工部需才，調燝工部營繕主事。督治九門垣墉，市銅江南，皆勤於其職。遷虞衡員外郎，司鼓鑄。時慶陵大工未竣，費不貲。燝知內府廢銅山積，可發以助鑄，移牒內官監言之。魏忠賢怒，不發，燝遂具疏以請。忠賢益怒，假中旨詰責。燝旋進屯田郎中，督陵務。

At the beginning of Tianqi, military affairs were urgent and the Works Ministry needed talent; Jing was transferred to director of construction in the Works Ministry. He supervised repair of the walls and ramparts of the nine gates and procured copper in Jiangnan—diligent in his duties throughout. He was promoted to vice director of the Bureau of Forestry and Timber and oversaw bell and coin casting. At that time the great works at Qingling were not yet finished, and the expense was incalculable. Jing knew the inner palace had mountains of scrap copper piled up that could be released to aid casting; he sent an official letter to the Directorate of Palace Eunuchs stating this. Wei Zhongxian was angered and would not release it; Jing then submitted a full memorial requesting it. Wei Zhongxian grew angrier still and, using a forged edict from the inner palace, rebuked and censured him. Jing was soon promoted to director of garrison fields and supervised tomb works.

其時，忠賢益肆，廷臣楊漣等交擊，率被嚴旨。燝憤，抗章極論，略言：「人主有政權，有利權，不可委臣下，況刑余寺人哉？忠賢性狡而貪，膽粗而大，口銜天憲，手握王爵，所好生羽毛，所惡成瘡痏。蔭子弟，則一世再世；賚廝養，則千金萬金。毒痡士庶，斃百余人；威加搢紳，空十數署。一切生殺予奪之權盡為忠賢所竊，陛下猶不覺悟乎？且忠賢固供事先帝者也，陛下之寵忠賢，亦以忠賢曾供事先帝也。乃於先帝陵工，略不厝念。臣嘗屢請銅，靳不肯予。間過香山碧雲寺，見忠賢自營墳墓，其規制弘敞，擬於陵寢。前列生祠，又前建佛宇，璇題耀日，珠網懸星，費金錢幾百萬。為己墳墓則如此，為先帝陵寢則如彼，可勝誅哉！今忠賢已盡竊陛下權，致內廷外朝止知有忠賢，不知有陛下，尚可一日留左右耶？」疏入，忠賢大怒，矯旨廷杖一百，斥為民。執政言官論救，皆不聽。

At that time Wei Zhongxian grew all the more unrestrained; court officials such as Yang Lian attacked him in turn and mostly received stern edicts. Jing, indignant, submitted a defiant memorial arguing to the utmost, stating in part: "The ruler holds governmental authority and fiscal authority—they must not be entrusted to ministers, much less to castrated palace eunuchs! Wei Zhongxian is cunning and greedy, bold and brazen; he holds heaven's edicts in his mouth and princely ranks in his hand—what he favors grows feathers, what he hates becomes sores. To ennoble sons and nephews—one generation, then two; to reward servants and attendants—a thousand gold, ten thousand gold. He poisons and cripples scholars and commoners, killing more than a hundred; his authority presses upon the gentry and officials, emptying more than ten offices. All power of life, death, grant, and seizure has been stolen by Wei Zhongxian—is Your Majesty still not awakened? Moreover, Wei Zhongxian originally served the late emperor; Your Majesty's favor for him is also because he once served the late emperor. Yet regarding the late emperor's tomb works, he scarcely spares a thought. I repeatedly requested copper, but he begrudged and would not grant it. Once, passing Xiangshan and Biyun Temple, I saw Wei Zhongxian building his own tomb—its scale grand and spacious, modeled on an imperial tomb. Before it stood a living shrine, and before that a Buddhist hall; inscribed plaques dazzled in the sun, pearl nets hung like stars—the cost in gold and silver ran to several million. For his own tomb it was thus; for the late emperor's tomb it was as that—can this not be condemned? Now Wei Zhongxian has fully stolen Your Majesty's authority, so that inner court and outer court know only Wei Zhongxian and not Your Majesty—can he still be kept at your side for one day? When the memorial arrived, Wei Zhongxian was greatly angered and forged an edict for a court beating of one hundred strokes and dismissal as a commoner. The chief ministers and remonstrating officials argued for his rescue, but none was heeded.

當是時，忠賢惡廷臣交章劾己，無所發忿，思借燝立威。乃命群奄至燝邸，摔而毆之，比至闕下，氣息才屬。杖已，絕而復蘇。群奄更肆蹴踏，越四日即卒，時四年七月七日也。

At that time Wei Zhongxian hated that court officials submitted memorial after memorial impeaching him with nowhere to vent his rage; he wished to use Jing to establish his authority. He then ordered a crowd of eunuchs to Jing's residence, threw him down and beat him; by the time they reached below the palace gate, his breath barely remained. After the beating he died and revived. The crowd of eunuchs trampled him all the more fiercely; within four days he died—on the seventh day of the seventh month of the fourth year.

忠賢恨猶不置，羅織其罪，誣以贓賄三百。燝廉吏，破產乃竣。崇禎初，贈光祿卿，官其一子。福王時，謚忠貞。

Wei Zhongxian's hatred was still not satisfied; he fabricated charges and falsely accused him of embezzlement and bribery of three hundred taels. Jing was an incorrupt official; his family was ruined before the case was closed. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he was posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Master for Splendid Happiness and one son was granted office. Under the Prince of Fu, he was given the posthumous title Zhongzhen—Loyal and Chaste.

燝杖死未幾，巡城御史福清林汝翥嘗笞內侍曹進、傅國興，忠賢矯旨杖汝翥如燝。汝翥懼，逃之遵化，自歸於巡撫鄧渼。渼以聞，卒杖之。汝翥起家鄉舉，知沛縣，徐鴻儒攻沛甚急，堅守不下，由此擢御史。崇禎時，仕至浙江副使。汝翥雖受杖，幸不死。而是時，丁乾學、夏之令、吳裕中、劉鐸、吳懷賢、蘇繼歐、張汶諸人，皆忤忠賢致死。

Not long after Jing was beaten to death, city-inspecting censor Lin Ruhu of Fuqing had once flogged inner attendants Cao Jin and Fu Guoxing; Wei Zhongxian forged an edict to beat Ruhu as with Jing. Ruhu, afraid, fled to Zunhua and surrendered himself to grand coordinator Deng Mei. Mei reported this, and in the end Ruhu was beaten. Ruhu rose from a provincial graduate, served as magistrate of Pei County, and when Xu Hongru attacked Pei with great urgency held firm and did not fall—by this he was promoted to investigating censor. Under Chongzhen he rose to vice commissioner of Zhejiang. Although Ruhu was beaten, he fortunately did not die. But at that time Ding Ganxue, Xia Zhiling, Wu Yuzhong, Liu Duo, Wu Huaixian, Su Ji'ou, and Zhang Wen—all who offended Wei Zhongxian—met their deaths.

乾學，浙江山陰人，寄籍京師，官檢討。天啟四年，偕給事中郝土膏典試江西，發策刺忠賢。忠賢怒，矯旨鐫三秩，復除其名。已，使人詐為校尉往逮，挫辱之，竟憤郁而卒。崇禎初，贈侍讀學士。

Ganxue was a native of Shanyin, Zhejiang, with registered residence in the capital, and served as reviser. In the fourth year of Tianqi, together with supervising secretary Hao Tugao he presided over the Jiangxi provincial examination and set examination questions that satirized Wei Zhongxian. Wei Zhongxian was angered and forged an edict demoting him three ranks and then removing his name from the rolls. Afterward, he sent men disguised as guards to arrest him, humiliated him, and in the end Ganxue died of indignant depression. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he was posthumously enfeoffed as Reader-in-Waiting.

之令，光山人。知攸、歙二縣，征授御史。嘗疏論邊事，力詆毛文龍不足恃。忠賢庇文龍，傳旨削之令籍，閣臣救免。及巡皇城，內使馮忠等犯法，劾治之，益為忠賢所銜，崔呈秀亦以事銜之。遂屬御史卓邁劾之令黨比熊廷弼，有詔削奪。頃之，御史倪文煥復劾之令計陷文龍，幾誤疆事。遂逮下詔獄，坐贓拷死。

Zhiling was a native of Guangshan. He served as magistrate of You and She counties and was summoned and appointed investigating censor. He once submitted a memorial discussing frontier affairs, forcefully denouncing Mao Wenlong as unworthy of reliance. Wei Zhongxian shielded Wenlong and transmitted an edict stripping Zhiling from the rolls; grand secretaries intervened and he was spared. When inspecting the imperial city, he found inner attendants Feng Zhong and others violating the law and impeached and punished them; this made Wei Zhongxian hate him all the more, and Cui Chengxiu also bore a grudge over an affair. Thereupon investigating censor Zhuo Mai was set to impeach Zhiling for factional ties with Xiong Tingbi, and an edict stripped and confiscated his honors. Before long, investigating censor Ni Wenhuan again impeached Zhiling for scheming against Wenlong and nearly ruining frontier affairs. He was arrested, thrown into the imperial prison on a charge of embezzlement, and tortured to death.

裕中，江夏人。為順德知縣，征授御史。大學士丁紹軾陷熊廷弼死，裕中有疏詆紹軾。忠賢傳旨詰裕中為廷弼姻戚，代之報仇，廷杖一百，創重卒。崇禎初，賜贈蔭。

Wu Yuzhong was a native of Jiangxia. He served as magistrate of Shunde, then was summoned to the capital and appointed investigating censor. Grand Secretary Ding Shaozhi framed Xiong Tingbi to his death; Yuzhong submitted a memorial denouncing Shaozhi. Wei Zhongxian transmitted an edict rebuking Yuzhong as Xiong Tingbi's in-law seeking revenge for him; he received a court beating of one hundred strokes and died from severe wounds. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he received posthumous honors and hereditary privilege for a son.

鐸，廬陵人。由刑部郎中為揚州知府。憤忠賢亂政，作詩書僧扇，有「陰霾國事非」句，偵者得之，聞於忠賢。倪文煥者，揚州人也，素銜鐸，遂嗾忠賢逮治之。鐸雅善忠賢子良卿，事獲解，許還故官。良卿從容問鐸：「曩錦衣往逮，索金幾何？」曰：「三千金耳。」良卿令錦衣還之。其人怒，日夜伺鐸隙，言鐸系獄時，與囚方震孺同謀居間，遂再下獄。會鐸家人有夜醮者，參將張體乾誣鐸咒詛忠賢，刑部尚書薛貞坐以大辟。忠賢誅，貞、體乾並抵罪，鐸贈太仆少卿。

Liu Duo was a native of Luling. Promoted from director in the Ministry of Justice, he became prefect of Yangzhou. Angered at Wei Zhongxian's disorderly rule, he wrote a poem on a monk's fan with the line "dark clouds hang over state affairs—wrong!"; spies obtained it and reported it to Wei Zhongxian. Ni Wenhuan was a native of Yangzhou who had long borne a grudge against Duo and thus incited Wei Zhongxian to arrest and punish him. Duo was on good terms with Wei Zhongxian's son Liangqing; the affair was resolved and he was permitted to return to his former office. Liangqing casually asked Duo: "When the Embroidered Uniform Guard came to arrest you earlier, how much gold did they demand? He said: "Three thousand taels only." Liangqing ordered the guard to return it. That man, enraged, day and night watched for an opening against Duo, claiming that while Duo was imprisoned he had conspired with the prisoner Fang Zhenru as go-between, and Duo was again thrown into prison. It happened that Duo's family held a night ritual; Brigadier Zhang Tigan falsely accused Duo of cursing Wei Zhongxian, and Minister of Justice Xue Zhen sentenced him to death. When Wei Zhongxian was executed, Zhen and Tigang both received punishment, and Duo was posthumously enfeoffed as Vice Master of the Imperial Stud.

懷賢，休寧人。由國子監生授內閣中書舍人。同官傅應升者，忠賢甥也，懷賢遇之無加禮，應升恨之。楊漣劾忠賢疏出，懷賢書其上曰：「宜如韓魏公治任守忠故事，即時遣戍。」又與工部主事吳昌期書，有「事極必反，反正不遠」語。忠賢偵知之，大怒曰：「何物小吏，亦敢謗我！」遂矯旨下詔獄，坐以結納汪文言，為左光鬥、魏大中鷹犬，拷掠死。崇禎初，贈工部主事。

Wu Huaixian was a native of Xiuning. Rising from a student of the Imperial Academy, he was appointed secretary in the Grand Secretariat. His colleague Fu Yingsheng was Wei Zhongxian's nephew; Huaixian did not treat him with extra courtesy, and Yingsheng resented him. When Yang Lian's impeachment memorial against Wei Zhongxian came out, Huaixian wrote upon it: "One should follow the precedent of Han Qi's treatment of Ren Shouzhong—immediately banish him to garrison duty. He also wrote to Works Ministry director Wu Changqi with the words "when affairs reach the extreme they must reverse; the reversal is not far." Wei Zhongxian learned through spies and raged: "What kind of petty clerk dares slander me! He then forged an edict and threw him into the imperial prison, convicted of associating with Wang Wényan and serving as hawk and hound to Zuo Guangdou and Wei Dazhong, and tortured him to death. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he was posthumously granted the rank of director in the Works Ministry.

繼歐，許州人。歷知元氏、真定、柏鄉，入為吏部稽勛主事，累遷考功郎中。將調文選，中旨謂為楊漣私黨，削籍歸。時緹騎四出，同里副使孫織錦素附忠賢，遣人怵繼歐曰：「逮者至矣。」繼歐自經死。崇禎初，贈太常寺卿。

Su Ji'ou was a native of Xuzhou. He served successively as magistrate of Yuanshi, Zhending, and Baixiang; entered the Ministry of Personnel as director of merit records; and rose in turn to director in the Bureau of Evaluations. When about to be transferred to the Bureau of Appointments, an inner edict declared him Yang Lian's private partisan; he was struck from the rolls and sent home. At that time mounted arrest guards ranged everywhere; his fellow townsman Vice Commissioner Sun Zhijin had long attached himself to Wei Zhongxian and sent a man to threaten Ji'ou: "The arresting officers have arrived. Ji'ou hanged himself. At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign, he was posthumously granted the title Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

汶，邯鄲人。尚書國彥曾孫也。由蔭敘為後軍都督府經歷。嘗被酒詆忠賢，下獄拷掠死。亦獲贈恤。

Zhang Wen was a native of Handan. He was the great-grandson of the minister Guo Yan. By hereditary privilege he entered service as administrator in the Rear Military Commission. Once, drunk, he denounced Wei Zhongxian; he was thrown into prison and tortured to death. He too received posthumous honors and mourning gifts.

贊曰：自古閹宦之甘心善類者，莫甚於漢、唐之季，然皆倉卒一時，為自救計耳。魏忠賢之殺諸人也，揚毒焰以快其私，肆無忌憚。蓋主荒政比之余，公道淪亡，人心敗壞，兇氣參會，群邪翕謀，故搢紳之禍烈於前古。諸人之受禍也，酷矣哉！

The eulogist says: From of old, among eunuchs who set their hearts on destroying worthy men, none surpassed those at the end of Han and Tang—yet even they acted in haste for a moment, as plans for self-preservation. In killing these men, Wei Zhongxian spread poisonous flames to gratify his private ends, reckless and without scruple. This was because amid the ruler's neglect of government, public right collapsed, men's hearts rotted, violent airs converged, and a host of villains joined in conspiracy—so the calamity of the gentry exceeded that of earlier ages. How bitter was the calamity these men suffered!

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