1
梅之煥劉策 〈（徐縉芳陳一元）〉 李若星耿如杞 〈（胡士容）〉 顏繼祖 〈（王應豸等）〉 李繼貞方震孺徐從治 〈（謝璉余大成等）〉
Mei Zhihuan; Liu Ce. (Supplementary biographies of Xu Jinfang and Chen Yiyuan.)〉 Li Ruoxing; Geng Ruqi. (Supplementary biography of Hu Shirong.)〉 Yan Jizu. (Supplementary biographies of Wang Yingbi and others.)〉 Li Jizhen; Fang Zhenru; Xu Congzhi. (Supplementary biographies of Xie Lian, Yu Dacheng, and others.)〉
2
梅之煥，字彬父，麻城人，侍郎國楨從子也。 年十四為諸生。 御史行部閱武，之煥騎馬突教場。 御史怒，命與材官角射，九發九中，長揖上馬而去。
Mei Zhihuan, whose style name was Binfu, came from Macheng and was a nephew of Vice Minister Mei Guozhen. At fourteen he became a licentiate. When a touring censor came to inspect military drill, Zhihuan galloped straight onto the parade ground. The censor was furious and ordered him to shoot against a military officer; he loosed nine arrows and hit nine times, then made a deep bow, mounted, and rode away.
3
萬歷三十二年舉進士，改庶吉士。 居七年，授吏科給事中。 東廠太監李浚誣拷商人，之煥劾其罪。 尋上言：「今天下民窮餉匱，寇橫兵疲。 言官舍國事爭時局，部曹舍職掌建空言，天下盡為虛文所束縛。 有意振刷者，不曰生事，則曰苛求。 事未就而謗興，法未伸而怨集，豪傑灰心，庸人養拙，國事將不可為矣。 請陛下嚴綜核以責實事，通言路以重紀綱，別臧否以惜人才，庶於國事有濟。」 時朝臣部黨角立，之煥廉觚自勝，嘗言：「附小人者必小人，附君子者未必君子。 蠅之附驥，即千里猶蠅耳。」 時有追論故相張居正者，之煥曰：「使今日有綜名實、振紀綱如江陵者，訁翕訿之徒敢若此耶？」 其持平不欲傅會人如此。 出為廣東副使，擒誅豪民沈殺烈女者，民服其神。 海寇袁進掠潮州，之煥扼海道，招散其黨，卒降進。 改視山東學政。 天啟元年以通政參議召遷太常少卿，擢右僉都御史，巡撫南、贛。 丁內外艱，家居。 當此之時，魏、客亂政，應山楊漣首發忠賢之奸。 忠賢恚甚，拷殺漣。 由此悍然益誅鋤善類，忄買慀楚人矣。 謂漣被逮時，過麻城，漣罪人也，之煥與盤桓流涕，當削籍，其實漣未嘗過麻城也。 無何，逆黨梁克順誣以贓私，詔征贓。
In the thirty-second year of the Wanli reign he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed a Hanlin bachelor. After seven years he was appointed supervising secretary in the Office of Personnel. When the Eastern Depot eunuch Li Jun falsely tortured merchants, Zhihuan impeached him for the crime. Soon afterward he memorialized the throne: "The empire today is exhausted—its people impoverished, its supplies spent, bandits rampant, and its armies weary. Censors abandon state business to quarrel over factional alignments; department officials abandon their proper duties to heap up empty talk; the whole realm is strangled by hollow formalities. Anyone who tries to set things right is called either a troublemaker or a nitpicker. Before a task is finished, slander begins; before justice is done, resentment piles up; men of talent lose heart, mediocrities cling to their dullness—and state affairs will soon be beyond saving. I beg Your Majesty to enforce strict verification so that real work is demanded, open the channels of memorializing so that discipline is strengthened, and distinguish merit from fault so that talent is cherished—only then may state affairs be helped." At that time court ministers stood in rival factions. Zhihuan held himself aloof with integrity and once said: "Those who attach themselves to petty men are surely petty men themselves; those who attach themselves to gentlemen are not necessarily gentlemen. A fly that clings to a thousand-li steed is still a fly, even if it runs a thousand li with the horse." When some pursued a posthumous reckoning with the former chief minister Zhang Juzheng, Zhihuan said: "If today there were someone who, like Jiangling, matched names to realities and revived discipline, would the carping slanderers dare behave like this?" In this way he was even-handed and unwilling to curry favor with others. Sent out as vice commissioner of Guangdong, he captured and executed a powerful local who had drowned a chaste woman, and the people revered him as almost supernatural in his justice. When the sea bandit Yuan Jin raided Chaozhou, Zhihuan blocked the sea routes, recruited and dispersed his followers, and in the end Yuan Jin surrendered. He was transferred to oversee educational administration in Shandong. In the first year of Tianqi he was summoned from his post as vice commissioner of communications, promoted to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and then raised to right vice censor-in-chief as grand coordinator of Nan and Gan. He observed mourning for both parents and retired to his home. At this time Wei Zhongxian and Lady Ke threw the government into disorder; Yang Lian of Yingshan was the first to expose Zhongxian's villainy. Zhongxian was consumed with rage and tortured Lian to death. From this he became ever bolder in hunting down and rooting out the good, and bore still greater enmity toward men of Chu. It was alleged that when Lian was arrested he had passed through Macheng; Lian was a criminal, yet Zhihuan had lingered with him in tears—he ought to be struck from the rolls; in fact Lian had never passed through Macheng at all. Before long the partisan Liang Keshun falsely accused him of corruption, and an edict ordered the recovery of illicit gains.
4
之煥雖文士，負材武，善射，既廢，無所見。 所居縣，阻山多盜。 之煥無事，輒率健兒助吏捕，無脫者。 先是，甘肅兵變，其潰卒畏捕誅，往往亡命山谷間，為群盜，賊勢益張。 至是，賊數萬來攻麻城，望見之煥部署，輒引去。 帝追敘甘肅前後功，復之煥官，蔭子，然終不召。 明年病卒。
Though Zhihuan was a literary man, he possessed martial talent and was skilled in archery; once dismissed, he had no outlet for it. The county where he lived was cut off by mountains and full of bandits. Whenever he had nothing else to do, Zhihuan would lead stalwart youths to help the clerks capture them, and none escaped. Earlier, when the Gansu army mutinied, its scattered troops, fearing capture and execution, often fled into the mountain valleys and became bandit gangs, and rebel strength grew ever greater. At this time tens of thousands of bandits came to attack Macheng; when they saw Zhihuan's dispositions they withdrew. The emperor, reviewing Zhihuan's earlier and later merit in Gansu, restored his office and granted hereditary privilege to his son, yet in the end never summoned him back. The next year he died of illness.
5
劉策，字範董，武定人。 萬歷二十九年進士。 由保定新城知縣入為御史，疏劾太仆少卿徐兆魁，復力爭熊廷弼行勘及湯賓尹科場事。 賓尹雖家居，遙執朝柄，嗾其黨逐攻者孫振基、王時熙。
Liu Ce, whose style name was Fandong, came from Wuding. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign. From magistrate of Xincheng in Baoding he entered office as censor, memorialized to impeach Xu Zhaokui, vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, and again forcefully argued over Xiong Tingbi's field investigation and Tang Binyin's examination scandal. Though Binyin lived at home, he held the reins of court power from afar and incited his faction to drive out his attackers Sun Zhenji and Wang Shixi.
6
已而給事中劉文炳劾兩淮巡鹽御史徐縉芳，言策入葉向高幕，幹票擬； 策同官陳一元，向高姻親，顧權利。 時策按宣、大，疏言：「文炳為湯賓尹死友，代韓敬反噬。 昔年發奸如振基、時熙輩，今皆安在？」 向高亦以策無私交，為辨雪。 文炳、策屢疏相詆，南京御史吳良輔言：「文炳一疏而彈御史縉芳、一元、策及李若星，再疏而彈詞臣蔡毅中、焦竑及監司李維楨，他波及尚多。 人才摧殘甚易，清品如策，雅望如竑，不免詆斥，天下寧有完人？」 策復詆文炳倚方從哲為冰山，茍一時富貴，不顧清議。 一元論銓政，嘗譏切向高，時按江西，見文炳疏，憤甚，遂揭文炳陰事。 且曰：「向高行矣。 今秉政者從哲，文炳鄉人，奴顏婢膝，任好為之。」 御史馬孟楨亦言：「敬關節實真，既斥兩侍郎、兩給諫謝之矣。 乃伉直之劉策，攻擊不休，而同發奸之張篤敬復驅除將及，何太甚也！」 疏入，帝皆不省。 策憤，謝病去。 時攻兆魁、廷弼、賓尹輩者，黨人率指目為東林，以年例出之外。 至四十六年秋，在朝者已無可逐，乃即家徙策為河南副使，策辭疾不赴。
Before long the supervising secretary Liu Wenbing impeached Xu Jinfang, the touring salt censor of the two Huai circuits, saying that Ce had entered Ye Xianggao's staff and interfered in nomination slips; Ce's colleague Chen Yiyuan was Xianggao's affinal relative and looked to power and profit. At the time Ce was touring Xuan and Da and memorialized: "Wenbing is Binyin's sworn friend and acts for Han Jing in counterattack. Those who once exposed wrongdoing, such as Zhenji and Shixi—where are they now? Those who once exposed wrongdoing, such as Zhenji and Shixi—where are they now?" Xianggao also, because Ce had no private tie with him, spoke to clear him. Wenbing and Ce repeatedly memorialized against each other. The Nanjing censor Wu Liangfu said: "With one memorial Wenbing impeached the censors Jinfang, Yiyuan, Ce, and Li Ruoxing; with a second he impeached the academicians Cai Yizhong and Jiao Hong and the surveillance commissioner Li Weizhen, and many others were drawn in besides. Talent is destroyed all too easily; men of pure character like Ce and of lofty reputation like Hong cannot escape vilification—can there be perfect men under heaven?" Ce again vilified Wenbing for relying on Fang Congzhe as an iceberg, grasping momentary wealth and honor without regard for public opinion. Yiyuan, discussing personnel administration, had once sharply criticized Xianggao; at the time he was touring Jiangxi, and when he saw Wenbing's memorial he was furious and exposed Wenbing's secret affairs. He also said: "Xianggao is leaving. Now the one holding power is Congzhe; Wenbing is his fellow townsman, fawning and servile, doing whatever he pleases." The censor Ma Mengzhen also said: "Jing's integrity was real; two vice ministers and two supervising secretaries have already been dismissed in his cause. Yet the upright Liu Ce attacks without cease, and Zhang Dujing, who likewise exposed wrongdoing, is about to be driven out as well—how excessive!" When the memorials entered court, the emperor paid no heed to any of them. Ce, furious, resigned on grounds of illness. At the time those who attacked Zhaokui, Tingbi, Binyin, and the like were generally pointed at by factionalists as Donglin men and, by seniority rule, sent out of the capital. By autumn of the forty-sixth year there was no one left in court to drive out; they then transferred Ce from his home to vice commissioner of Henan, and Ce declined on grounds of illness and did not go.
7
天啟元年春，起天津兵備。 擢右僉都御史，巡撫山西。 召拜兵部右侍郎，協理戎政。 五年冬，黨人劾策為東林遺奸，遂削籍。 崇禎二年夏，起故官，兼右僉都御史，總理薊、遼、保定軍務。 大清兵由大安口入內地，策不能禦，被劾。 祖大壽東潰，策偕孫承宗招使還。 明年正月與總兵張士顯並逮，論死，棄市。
In the spring of the first year of Tianqi he was raised to defend military affairs at Tianjin. He was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Shanxi. He was summoned and appointed vice minister of War, assisting in military administration. In the winter of the fifth year factionalists impeached Ce as a surviving Donglin villain, and he was struck from the rolls. In the summer of the second year of Chongzhen he was restored to his former office and also made right vice censor-in-chief to oversee military affairs in Ji, Liao, and Baoding. The Great Qing army entered the interior through Daankou; Ce could not defend against them and was impeached. Zu Dashou fled east in collapse; Ce together with Sun Chengzong summoned him and brought him back. In the first month of the next year he and the regional commander Zhang Shixian were arrested together, sentenced to death, and executed in the marketplace.
8
縉芳，晉江人。 為御史，首為顧憲成請謚，劾天津稅監馬堂九大罪，有敢言名。 巡兩淮，頗通賓客賂遺，被劾，坐贓。 天啟中，遣戍。
Jinfang was a native of Jinjiang. As censor he was the first to request a posthumous title for Gu Xiancheng and impeached the Tianjin tax commissioner Ma Tang on nine great crimes, earning a reputation for daring speech. While touring the two Huai circuits he widely entertained guests and accepted gifts, was impeached, and convicted of corruption. In the Tianqi period he was sent into exile.
9
一元，侯官人。 在江西，振饑有法。 移疾去。 天啟初，起歷應天府丞。 御史余文縉劾向高，及一元，遂落職。 崇禎初，復官。 溫體仁柄國，惡其附東林，而以為己門生也，引嫌不召。 卒於家。
Yiyuan was a native of Houguan. In Jiangxi he relieved famine with effective methods. He resigned on grounds of illness. At the beginning of Tianqi he was raised and served in succession as vice prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. The censor Yu Wenjin impeached Xianggao and also Yiyuan, and Yiyuan was dismissed from office. At the beginning of Chongzhen his office was restored. When Wen Tiren held power he hated Yiyuan for siding with the Donglin and, because he regarded him as his own student, declined to summon him on grounds of personal connection. He died at home.
10
李若星，字紫垣，息縣人。 萬歷三十二年進士。 歷知棗強、真定。 擢御史，首劾南京兵部尚書黃克纘。 巡視庫藏，陳蠹國病商四弊，請得稽十庫出納，以杜侵漁，不報。 巡按山西，請撤稅使。 因再劾克纘為沈一貫私人、湯賓尹死友，宜罷，不從。 還朝，出為福建右參議，移疾歸。
Li Ruoxing, whose style name was Ziyuan, came from Xi County. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-second year of the Wanli reign. He served in succession as magistrate of Zaoqiang and Zhending. He was promoted to censor and was the first to impeach Huang Kezuan, minister of War at Nanjing. While inspecting the treasuries he set forth four abuses that harmed the state and injured merchants, and asked to audit the receipts and disbursements of the ten treasuries to stop embezzlement; no reply came. While touring Shanxi he asked that the tax commissioners be withdrawn. He therefore again impeached Kezuan as a private man of Shen Yiguan and a sworn friend of Tang Binyin and said he ought to be dismissed; the court did not agree. Returning to court, he went out as right vice commissioner of Fujian and resigned on grounds of illness.
11
天啟初，起官陜西，召為尚寶少卿，再遷大理右少卿。 三年春，以右僉都御史巡撫甘肅。 陛辭，發魏忠賢、客氏之奸。 明年，遣將丁孟科、官維賢擊河套松山諸部鎮番，斬首二百四十余級。 捷聞，未敘，有傳若星將起義兵清君側之惡者。 忠賢聞之，即令許顯純入之汪文言獄詞，誣其賄趙南星，得節鉞。 五年三月遂除若星名，下河南撫按提問。 明年，獄上，杖之百，戍廉州。
At the beginning of Tianqi he was raised to office in Shaanxi, summoned as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Seals, and again promoted to right vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review. In the spring of the third year he was made right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Gansu. At his audience of leave he exposed the villainy of Wei Zhongxian and Lady Ke. The next year he sent the generals Ding Mengke and Guan Weixian to strike the Ordos and Songshan tribes at Zhenfan, taking more than two hundred forty heads. When victory was reported, before rewards were granted there was a rumor that Ruoxing would raise an army of righteousness to purge the evil at the ruler's side. When Zhongxian heard it, he immediately had Xu Xianchun insert it into the case testimony of Wang Wenyan, falsely accusing Ruoxing of bribing Zhao Nanxing to obtain a command baton. In the third month of the fifth year Ruoxing was formally dismissed and handed over to the Henan grand coordinator and touring censor for interrogation. The following year, when the case was concluded, he received one hundred strokes of the rod and was exiled to Lianzhou.
12
福王時，解職。 以鄉邑殘破，寓居貴州。 桂王遷武岡，召為吏部尚書。 未赴，遭亂，死於兵。 耿如杞，字楚材，館陶人。 萬歷四十四年進士。 除戶部主事。
Under the Prince of Fu he was restored and relieved of his former sentence. With his home region devastated by war, he made his home in Guizhou. When the Prince of Gui withdrew to Wugang, Ruoxing was called to serve as minister of Personnel. He never reached his post; caught in the chaos of war, he perished in battle. Geng Ruqi, whose style name was Chucai, came from Guantao. He became a metropolitan graduate in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign. He received appointment as a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue.
13
天啟初，以才歷職方郎中。 軍書旁午，日應數十事。 出為陜西參議，遷遵化兵備副使。 當是時，逆奄竊柄，諂子無所不至，至建祠祝禧。 巡撫劉詔懸忠賢畫像於喜峰行署，率文武將吏五拜三稽首，呼九千歲。 如杞見其像，冕旒也，半揖而出。 忠賢令詔劾之，逮下詔獄，坐贓六千三百，論死。
At the opening of the Tianqi reign his ability won him appointment as a director in the Bureau of Military Appointments. Military dispatches poured in from every quarter, and he disposed of dozens of cases every day. He left the capital as a Shaanxi vice commissioner and was promoted to vice commissioner for military defense at Zunhua. In those days the eunuch faction held the reins of power, and sycophants went to every extreme, even erecting temples to pray for his longevity. Grand Coordinator Liu Zhao displayed Zhongxian's portrait at his field headquarters in Xifeng, led civil and military officers in five bows and three full prostrations, and cried, "Nine thousand years!" Ruqi saw that the portrait bore the imperial crown and regalia; he offered only a half bow and walked out. Zhongxian had Zhao impeach him. Ruqi was arrested and thrown into the imperial prison, convicted on a charge of embezzling six thousand three hundred taels, and condemned to death.
14
時又有胡士容者，薊州參議也，數忤其鄉官崔呈秀，呈秀銜之。 將為忠賢建祠，士容又不奉命。 及士容遷江西副使，道通州，遂誣以多乘驛馬，侵盜倉儲，捕下詔獄掠治，坐贓七千，論死。
There was also Hu Shirong, a Jizhou vice commissioner, who repeatedly defied his fellow townsman Cui Chengxiu, and Chengxiu nursed a deep grievance against him. When officials planned a temple for Zhongxian, Shirong once again refused to comply. After Shirong was promoted to Jiangxi vice commissioner and passed through Tongzhou, he was framed for abusing relay horses and looting the granaries, seized and thrown into the imperial prison, tortured until convicted of embezzling seven thousand taels, and condemned to death.
15
插漢虎墩兔據順義王地，為邊患，戰款無定策。 如杞言守邊為上，修塞垣，繕戰壘，鏟山塹谷，事有緒矣。 二年，京師戒嚴，如杞率總兵官張鴻功以卒五千人赴援，先至京師。 軍令，卒至之明日，汛地既定，而後乃給餉。 如杞兵既至，兵部令守通州，明日調昌平，又明日調良鄉，汛地累更，軍三日不得餉，乃噪而大掠。 帝聞之，大怒，詔逮如杞、鴻功，廷臣莫敢救者。 四年竟斬西市。
Chaahan Tudun held the Prince of Shunyang's territory and plagued the frontier, while court policy lurched between fighting and negotiating without a fixed course. Ruqi urged that defense of the frontier came first: repair the walls, rebuild the fortifications, cut passes through the mountains and dig trenches in the valleys—and the work was finally gaining momentum. In the second year, when Beijing was placed on war footing, Ruqi marched to the capital at the head of five thousand men under Regional Commander Zhang Honggong and was the first to arrive. Army regulations required that rations be issued only after a unit's garrison station had been fixed on the day following its arrival. Ruqi's men had barely arrived when the Ministry of War ordered them to Tongzhou, then to Changping the next day, and to Liangxiang the day after that. Station after station was changed; for three days the troops received no pay, and they mutinied and plundered wildly. The emperor was enraged when he heard of it and ordered Ruqi and Honggong seized; not one minister at court dared speak in their defense. In the fourth year he was finally executed at the West Market.
16
方如杞之為職方郎也，與主事鹿善繼黨張鶴鳴，排熊廷弼而庇王化貞，疆事由是大壞，及是得罪。
In his days as a Bureau of Military Appointments director, Ruqi had banded with Chief Clerk Lu Shanji behind Zhang Heming, had driven out Xiong Tingbi and protected Wang Huazhen, and the frontier had suffered grievously for it; now he paid the price.
17
士容既釋出獄，二年除陜西副使，進右參政，卒於官。 士容初令長洲，捕豪惡，築婁江石塘，有政聲。
Once released from prison, Shirong was appointed Shaanxi vice commissioner in the second year, rose to right vice commissioner, and died in office. Shirong had first served as magistrate of Changzhou, where he seized local bullies, built the Loujiang stone dike, and earned a name for effective rule.
18
福王時，贈如杞右僉都御史。 子章光，進士，尚寶卿。 士容，字仁常，廣濟人。
Under the Prince of Fu, Ruqi was posthumously honored as right vice censor-in-chief. His son Zhangguang passed the metropolitan examination and rose to court of imperial seals minister. Hu Shirong, whose style name was Renchang, came from Guangji.
19
遷工科右給事中。 三年，巡視京城十六門濠塹，疏列八事，劾監督主事方應明曠職。 帝杖斥應明。 外城庳薄，議加高厚，繼祖言時絀難舉贏而止。 再遷吏科都給事中，疏陳時事十大弊。 憂歸。
Jizu was promoted to right supervising secretary in the Ministry of Works. In the third year he inspected the moats and walls of the capital's sixteen gates, set forth eight recommendations in a memorial, and impeached Supervising Secretary Fang Yingming for dereliction of duty. The emperor had Yingming flogged and driven from office. The outer walls were low and flimsy, and officials debated raising and thickening them, but Jizu argued that resources were too scarce to take on more and the proposal was abandoned. He was promoted again to chief supervising secretary of the Ministry of Personnel and submitted a memorial on ten grave abuses of the age. He resigned and returned home to observe mourning.
20
八年起故官，上言：「六部之政筦於尚書，諸司之務握之正郎，而侍郎及副郎、主事止陪列畫題，政事安得不廢？ 督撫諸臣獲罪者接踵，初皆由會推。 然會推但六科掌篆者為主，卿貳、臺臣罕至。 且九卿、臺諫止選郎傳語，有唯諾，無翻異，何名會推？」 帝稱善。
In the eighth year he was restored to office and submitted a memorial: "The Six Ministries are governed by their ministers, and each bureau's affairs should be handled by its chief directors; yet vice ministers, associate directors, and chief clerks do nothing but sit in attendance and sign their names—how can government fail to collapse? Grand coordinators and governors who met punishment fell one after another, and all had originally been chosen through the collaborative nomination process. Yet collaborative nomination was dominated by the heads of the Six Offices of Scrutiny, while vice ministers and censorial officials seldom appeared. Worse, the nine ministers and censorial remonstrators heard only a selection clerk relay the names; they nodded assent but never raised objection—what sort of collaborative nomination was this? The emperor approved and praised the memorial.
21
尋擢太常少卿，以右僉都御史巡撫山東。 分兵扼境上，河南賊不敢窺青、濟。 劾故撫李懋芳侵軍餉二萬有奇，被旨嘉獎。 十一年，畿輔戒嚴，命繼祖移駐德州。 時標下卒僅三千，而奉本兵楊嗣昌令，五旬三更調。 後令專防德州，濟南由此空虛。 繼祖屢請敕諸將劉澤清、倪寵等赴援，皆逗遛不進。 明年正月，大清兵克濟南，執德王。 繼祖一人不能兼顧，言官交章劾繼祖，繼祖咎嗣昌，且曰：「臣兵少力弱，不敢居守德之功，不敢不分失濟之罪。 請以爵祿還朝廷，以骸骨還父母。」 帝不從，逮下獄，棄市。
He was soon promoted to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and sent out as grand coordinator of Shandong with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief. He deployed troops to block the frontier, and Henan bandits did not dare threaten Qingzhou and Jizhou. He impeached the former grand coordinator Li Maofang for embezzling more than twenty thousand taels in military rations and was rewarded with an imperial commendation. In the eleventh year, when the capital region went on war footing, Jizu was ordered to shift his headquarters to Dezhou. He had barely three thousand men under his command, yet obeying Minister of War Yang Sichang's orders he was reassigned every fortnight. He was later ordered to concentrate on Dezhou alone, leaving Jinan dangerously undefended. Jizu repeatedly petitioned for imperial orders dispatching Generals Liu Zeqing, Ni Chong, and others to his aid, but they all stalled and refused to march. In the first month of the following year Qing forces captured Jinan and seized the Prince of De. Jizu could not be everywhere at once; remonstrating officials flooded the court with impeachments. Jizu blamed Sichang and declared: "My force is too small and too weak; I dare not claim credit for holding Dezhou, nor can I escape blame for the fall of Jinan. I beg to surrender my rank and emoluments to the throne and my worn body to my parents. The emperor refused. Jizu was arrested, imprisoned, and executed in the public marketplace.
22
終崇禎世，巡撫被戮者十有一人：薊鎮王應豸，山西耿如杞，宣府李養沖，登萊孫元化，大同張翼明，順天陳祖苞，保定張其平，山東顏繼祖，四川邵捷春，永平馬成名，順天潘永圖，而河南李仙風被逮自縊，不與焉。
Through the entire Chongzhen reign eleven grand coordinators were executed: Wang Yingbi of Jizhou, Geng Ruqi of Shanxi, Li Yangchong of Xuanfu, Sun Yuanhua of Deng-Lai, Zhang Yiming of Datong, Chen Zubao of Shuntian, Zhang Qiping of Baoding, Yan Jizu of Shandong, Shao Jiechun of Sichuan, Ma Chengming of Yongping, and Pan Yongtu of Shuntian. Li Xianfeng of Henan was arrested and took his own life and is not included in the count.
23
王應豸，掖縣人。 為戶部主事，諂魏忠賢，甫三歲，驟至巡撫，加右都御史。 崇禎二年春，薊卒索餉，噪而甲，參政徐從治諭散其眾。 應豸置毒飯中，欲誘而盡殺之，諸軍復大亂。 帝命巡按方大任廉得其克餉狀，論死。
Wang Yingbi came from Ye County. While serving as a Ministry of Revenue secretary he fawned on Wei Zhongxian, and in a mere three years was abruptly elevated to grand coordinator and right censor-in-chief. In the spring of Chongzhen 2 the Jizhou garrison demanded back pay, mutinied, and seized their weapons; Vice Commissioner Xu Congzhi reasoned with them and broke up the crowd. Yingbi laced the rations with poison, hoping to lure the men in and slaughter them wholesale; the troops erupted in chaos once more. The emperor ordered Touring Censor Fang Daren to investigate and confirmed that he had withheld pay; Yingbi was condemned to death.
24
李養沖，永年人。 歷兵部右侍郎，巡撫宣府，崇禎二年既謝事，御史吳玉劾其侵盜撫賞銀七萬，及冒功匿敗諸狀。 論死，斃於獄。
Li Yangchong came from Yongnian. He rose to vice minister of the Ministry of War and served as grand coordinator of Xuanfu. In Chongzhen 2, after he had already retired, Censor Wu Yu impeached him for embezzling seventy thousand taels in frontier reward funds and for claiming victories while hiding defeats. He was condemned to death and died in prison.
25
張翼明，永城人。 以兵部右侍郎巡撫大同。 崇禎元年，插漢虎墩兔入犯，殺掠萬計。 翼明及總兵官渠家楨不能禦，並坐死。
Zhang Yiming came from Yongcheng. He served as grand coordinator of Datong in the capacity of vice minister of the Ministry of War. In Chongzhen 1 Chaahan Tudun raided across the border, killing and looting on a scale of tens of thousands. Yiming and Regional Commander Qu Jiazhen failed to drive him off; both were sentenced to death.
26
陳祖苞，海寧人。 崇禎十年，以右副都御史巡撫順天，明年坐失事系獄，飲鴆卒。 帝怒祖苞漏刑，錮其子編修之遴，永不敘。
Chen Zubao came from Haining. In Chongzhen 10 he was appointed grand coordinator of Shuntian with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief; the following year, convicted of failure in office, he was imprisoned and took poison. The emperor was enraged that Zubao had cheated the executioner; he permanently barred his son, Compiler Zhi Lin, from official service.
27
張其平，偃師人。 歷右僉都御史，巡撫保定。 十一年冬，坐屬邑失亡多，與繼祖駢死西市。
Zhang Qiping came from Yanshi. He advanced to right vice censor-in-chief and served as grand coordinator of Baoding. In the winter of the eleventh year, convicted because too many counties under his jurisdiction had been lost, he was executed at the West Market alongside Jizu.
28
馬成名，溧陽人。 潘永圖，金壇人，與成名為姻婭。 崇禎十四年冬，成名以右僉都御史巡撫永平。 永圖亦起昌平兵備僉事，未浹歲，至巡撫。 畿輔被兵，成名、永圖並以失機，十六年斬西市。 余自有傳。
Ma Chengming came from Liyang. Pan Yongtu came from Jintan and was connected to Chengming by marriage. In the winter of Chongzhen 14 Chengming was appointed grand coordinator of Yongping with the rank of right vice censor-in-chief. Yongtu likewise rose from vice commissioner for military defense at Changping and within a year had become grand coordinator. When war swept the capital region, Chengming and Yongtu were both condemned for failing to seize the moment; in the sixteenth year they were executed at the West Market. Yu Dacheng has his own biography elsewhere.
29
李繼貞，字征尹，太倉州人。 萬歷四十一年進士。 除大名推官，歷遷兵部職方主事。 天啟四年秋，典試山東，坐試錄刺魏忠賢，降級，已而削籍。
Li Jizhen, whose style name was Zhengyin, came from Taicang Prefecture. He became a metropolitan graduate in the forty-first year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed investigating censor of Daming and rose through the ranks to chief clerk in the Bureau of Military Appointments. In the autumn of Tianqi 4, while chief examiner in Shandong, he was demoted because the examination record mocked Wei Zhongxian and was later removed from the register of officials.
30
繼貞為人強項，在事清執，請謁不得行。 大學士周延儒，繼貞同年生，屬總兵官於繼貞。 繼貞瞠目謝曰：「我不奉命，必獲罪。 刑部獄甚寬，可容繼貞也。」 延儒銜之。 已，加尚寶寺卿。 當遷，帝輒令久任。 田貴妃父弘遇以坐門功求優敘不獲，屢疏詆繼貞，帝不聽。 中官曹化淳欲用私人為把總，繼貞不可； 乃囑戎政尚書陸完學言於尚書張鳳翼以命繼貞，繼貞亦不可，鳳翼排繼貞議而用之。 化淳怒，與弘遇日伺其隙，讒之帝，坐小誤，貶三秩。 會敘甘肅功，繼貞請起用故巡撫梅之煥，帝遂發怒，削繼貞籍。 已，論四川桃紅壩功，復官，致仕。
Jizhen was unyielding by nature; in office he held to principle without compromise, and no favor could move him. Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru, who had passed the examinations the same year, asked Jizhen to place a regional commander on his behalf. Jizhen fixed him with a stare and refused, saying, "If I do as you ask, I am sure to end up in prison. The Ministry of Punishments runs a very spacious prison—it has room enough for me. Yanru never forgave the slight. He was subsequently promoted to court of imperial seals minister. Each time a transfer came due, the emperor ordered him to remain in office. Hongyu, father of Consort Tian, sought preferential promotion for his service at the palace gate; denied, he repeatedly memorialized to vilify Jizhen, but the emperor paid no heed. The eunuch Cao Huachun wanted to install a protégé as a company commander, and Jizhen refused; Huachun then had Military Affairs Minister Lu Wanxue speak to Minister Zhang Fengyi to pass down the order, but Jizhen refused again; Fengyi overruled him and made the appointment. Huachun was furious; he and Hongyu watched daily for a chance to denounce Jizhen to the emperor, and on a trifling error he was demoted three ranks. During the review of Gansu campaign honors, Jizhen petitioned to restore former Grand Coordinator Mei Zhihuan to office; the emperor erupted in anger and removed Jizhen from the register. Later, when honors were granted for the Taohongba campaign in Sichuan, his rank was restored and he retired.
31
十一年用薦起，歷兩京尚寶卿。 明年春召對，陳水利屯田甚悉，遷順天府丞。 尋超拜兵部右侍郎兼右僉都御史，巡撫天津，督薊、遼軍餉。 乃大興屯田，列上經地、招佃、用水、任人、薄賦五議。 白塘、葛沽數十里間，田大熟。
In the eleventh year he was recalled on recommendation and served successively as court of imperial seals minister in both capitals. The following spring he was summoned to audience and laid out a detailed plan for irrigation and military colonies; he was promoted to vice director of the Shuntian prefectural administration commission. He was soon elevated to vice minister of the Ministry of War and right vice censor-in-chief, sent out as grand coordinator of Tianjin to oversee military rations for Ji and Liaodong. He then launched a major program of military colonies and submitted five proposals on land surveys, tenant recruitment, water management, personnel, and tax relief. For dozens of li around Baitang and Gegu, the farmland yielded an abundant harvest.
32
十四年冬，詔發水師援遼，坐戰艦不具，除名。 明年夏，召為兵部添註右侍郎。 得疾，卒於途。 是夕，星隕中庭。 贈右都御史，官一子。
That winter, the court ordered the navy to reinforce Liaodong; because his warships were not ready, he was dismissed from office. The following summer he was recalled as concurrently appointed right vice minister of the Ministry of War. He took ill and died en route. That same night, a meteor fell in the courtyard. The court posthumously honored him as right censor-in-chief and granted an official post to one of his sons.
33
方震孺，字孩未，桐城人，移家壽州。 萬歷四十一年進士。 由沙縣知縣入為御史。
Fang Zhenru, whose style name was Haiwei, came from Tongcheng but later moved his family to Shouzhou. He earned his jinshi degree in the forty-first year of the Wanli reign. He rose from magistrate of Shaxian County to become a censor at court.
34
遼陽既破，震孺一日十三疏，請增巡撫，通海運，調邊兵，易司馬。 日五鼓撾公卿門，籌畫痛哭，而自請犒師。 是時，三岔河以西四百里，人煙絕，軍民盡竄，文武將吏無一騎東者。 帝壯其言，發帑金二十萬震孺犒師。 六月，震孺出關，延見將士，吊死扶傷，軍民大悅。 因上言：「河廣不七十步，一葦可航，非有驚濤怒浪之險，不足恃者一。 兵來，斬木為排，浮以土，多人推之，如履平地，不足恃者二。 河去代子河不遠，兵從代子徑渡，守河之卒不滿二萬，能望其半渡而遏之乎？ 不足恃者三。 沿河百六十里，築城則不能，列柵則無用，不足恃者四。 黃泥窪、張叉站沖淺之處，可修守，今地非我有，不足恃者五。 轉眼冰合，遂成平地，間次置防，猶得五十萬人，兵從何來？ 不足恃者六。」 又言：「我以退為守，則守不足； 我以進為守，則守有余。 專倚三岔作家，萬一時事偶非，榆關一線遂足鎖薊門哉？」 疏入，帝命震孺巡按遼東，監紀軍事。
Once Liaoyang had fallen, Zhenru filed thirteen memorials in a single day, calling for more grand coordinators, resumed maritime supply lines, redeployment of frontier troops, and replacement of the regional commander. Every day before dawn he hammered on the doors of ranking officials, weeping as he laid out his plans, and volunteered to go distribute rewards to the army himself. At that point, for four hundred li west of the Sancha River the land was utterly deserted; troops and civilians had all fled, and not one civil or military official rode eastward. Moved by his plea, the emperor released two hundred thousand taels from the imperial treasury for Zhenru to use in rewarding the troops. In the sixth month Zhenru crossed the frontier, met with officers and men, consoled the dead and cared for the wounded, winning the deep gratitude of soldiers and civilians alike. He then memorialized: "The river is less than seventy paces across—a reed raft can cross it—and there are no treacherous surges or raging waters. That is the first reason not to trust it as a barrier. When enemy troops arrive, they can chop timber into rafts, load them with earth, and push them across with many hands as easily as walking dry land. That is the second reason. The river lies close to the Daizi River, allowing troops to ford there directly. With fewer than twenty thousand men guarding the river, how could we hope to intercept them halfway across? That is the third reason it cannot be trusted. For one hundred sixty li along the river, we cannot build walls and palisades would be useless. That is the fourth reason. The shallow crossings at Huangniwa and Zhangchazhan could be held, but that ground is no longer in our hands. That is the fifth reason. Before long the ice will freeze solid and the river will become open plain. Even spaced defenses would need five hundred thousand men—where would such an army come from? That is the sixth reason." He also argued: "If we make retreat our strategy of defense, our defenses will never suffice; but if we make advance our strategy of defense, our defenses will be more than adequate. To stake everything on Sancha alone—if fortune turns against us, can Yugu Pass's thin line truly seal off the gateway to Ji?" After the memorial was received, the emperor appointed Zhenru touring censor of Liaodong with authority to oversee military affairs.
35
震孺按遼，居不廬、食不火者七月。 議者欲棄三岔河，退守廣寧，震孺請駐兵振武。 軍法不嚴，震孺請敕寧前監軍，專斬逃軍逃將。 並從其言。 然是時，經撫不和，疆事益壞。 震孺再疏言山海無外衛，宜亟駐兵中前，以為眼目，不省。
During his inspection of Liaodong, Zhenru went seven months without proper shelter or cooked meals. Some officials wanted to abandon the Sancha River and withdraw to Guangning, but Zhenru urged that troops be posted at Zhenwu. Because military discipline was lax, Zhenru asked that the frontier supervisor before Ning be empowered to execute deserters and fleeing officers without further appeal. The court accepted all of his recommendations. But by then the regional commander and grand coordinator were at odds, and the frontier situation deteriorated further. Zhenru memorialized again that Shanhaiguan lacked outer defenses and that troops should immediately be posted at Zhongqian as forward watchpoints; the court ignored him.
36
明年正月，任滿，候代前屯，而大清兵已再渡三岔河。 先鋒孫得功不戰，而呼於振武曰「兵敗矣」，遂走。 巡撫王化貞在廣寧，亦倉皇走。 列城聞之皆走，惟震孺前屯無動。 當是時，西平守將羅一貫已戰死，參將祖大壽擁殘兵駐覺華島上。 於是震孺召水師帥張國卿相與謀曰：「今東師四外搜糧，聞祖將軍在島上有米豆二十余萬，兵十余萬，人民數萬，戰艦、器仗、馬牛無數，東師即媾得島兵，得島兵以攻榆關，豈有幸哉？」 於是震孺、國卿航海見大壽，慷慨語曰：「將軍歸，相保以富貴； 不歸，震孺請以頸血濺將軍。」 大壽泣，震孺亦泣，遂相攜以歸，獲軍民輜重無算。
The following first month, as his term ended and he waited for his successor at Qiantun, Qing forces had already crossed the Sancha River for the second time. The vanguard Sun Degong refused to fight, shouted "We're beaten!" at Zhenwu, and fled. Grand Coordinator Wang Huazhen, stationed at Guangning, fled in disarray as well. Every fortified town took flight upon hearing the news—only Zhenru at Qiantun held his ground. By then Xiping's garrison commander Luo Yiguan had fallen in battle, and Vice Commander Zu Dashou had gathered the survivors on Juehua Island. Zhenru then summoned naval commander Zhang Guoqing to plan together: "The Qing army is scouring the countryside for supplies. General Zu reportedly has over two hundred thousand shi of grain on the island, more than one hundred thousand soldiers, tens of thousands of civilians, and abundant warships, arms, horses, and cattle. If the Qing forces pacify him and seize his army to strike Yugu Pass, what hope would we have?" So Zhenru and Guoqing sailed to meet Dashou and spoke with passion: "General, if you come back with us, we will see you honored and enriched; if you refuse, I ask leave to die here and stain you with my blood." Dashou wept, Zhenru wept as well, and they returned together, bringing back an incalculable store of troops, civilians, and supplies.
37
有主事徐大化者，忠賢黨也，劾震孺曰「攘差」。 都御史鄒元標奮筆曰：「方御史保全山海，無過且有社稷功。」 給事中郭興治遂借道學以逐元標。 元標去，震孺亦即罷歸。 明年，忠賢、廣微興大獄，再募劾方御史者，興治再論震孺河西贓私。 逮問掠治，坐贓六千有奇，擬絞。 而揚州守劉鐸咒詛之獄又起，遂誣震孺與交通，坐大辟，系獄。 有邏卒時時佐震孺飲啖，問之，則曰：「小人有妻，聞公精忠，手治以獻者也。」 輒報珰曰：「某病革，某瀕死。」 珰以是防益疏。
One director Xu Dahua, a follower of Wei Zhongxian, impeached Zhenru for overstepping his assigned duties. Censor-in-chief Zou Yuanbiao wrote forcefully in his defense: "Investigator Fang saved Shanhaiguan and its hinterland—not only without fault but with service to the realm." Supervising secretary Guo Xingzhi then used accusations of partisan learning to force Yuanbiao from office. With Yuanbiao gone, Zhenru was also dismissed and sent home. The following year Zhongxian and Wei Guangwei opened a major purge, recruiting new accusers against Investigator Fang; Guo Xingzhi renewed charges of embezzlement against Zhenru west of the river. Arrested and tortured under interrogation, he was convicted of embezzling more than six thousand taels and sentenced to strangulation. When the case of Yangzhou prefect Liu Duo for casting curses erupted, Zhenru was falsely implicated as his accomplice, condemned to death, and thrown into prison. A prison guard sometimes brought Zhenru food and drink; when asked, he said, "My wife, hearing of your steadfast loyalty, prepared this herself as an offering to you." He would then tell the eunuch agents, "So-and-so is deathly ill" or "So-and-so is at death's door." The eunuch handlers, believing this, slackened their watch ever further.
38
明年，莊烈帝嗣位，得釋還。 八年春，流賊犯壽州，州長吏適遷秩去，震孺倡士民固守，賊自是不敢逼壽州。 巡撫史可法上其功，用為廣西參議。 尋擢右僉都御史，巡撫廣西。 京師陷，福王立南京，即日拜疏勤王。 馬士英、阮大鋮憚之，敕還鎮。 震孺竟郁郁憂憤而卒。
The following year, upon the Chongzhen Emperor's accession, he was freed and allowed to go home. In the spring of the eighth year, rebel bands besieged Shouzhou just as its chief magistrate was transferred elsewhere; Zhenru rallied local gentry and townspeople to hold the city, and the rebels never dared approach. Grand Coordinator Shi Kefa memorialized his achievement, and he was appointed administrative vice commissioner of Guangxi. He was soon promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Guangxi. After Beijing fell and the Prince of Fu was enthroned at Nanjing, Zhenru immediately submitted a memorial offering to march to the emperor's aid. Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, wary of him, ordered him to return to his jurisdiction. In the end Zhenru died of grief and suppressed rage.
39
徐從治，字仲華，海鹽人。 母夢神人舞戈於庭，寤而生。 從治舉萬歷三十五年進士，除桐城知縣。 累官濟南知府，以卓異遷兗東副使，駐沂州。
Xu Congzhi, whose style name was Zhonghua, came from Haiyan. His mother dreamed of a god dancing with a halberd in the courtyard, and gave birth to him upon waking. Congzhi earned his jinshi in the thirty-fifth year of Wanli and was appointed magistrate of Tongcheng. He rose through the ranks to prefect of Jinan, then—marked for exceptional service—was promoted to eastern Yan deputy commissioner, based at Yizhou.
40
天啟元年，妖賊徐鴻儒反鄆城，連陷鄒、滕、嶧縣。 從治捕得其黨之伏沂者殺之，請就家起故總兵楊肇基主兵事，而獻搗賊中堅之策，遂滅鴻儒。 事詳《趙彥傳》。
In the first year of Tianqi, the sorcerer-rebel Xu Hongru rose at Yuncheng and swiftly overran Zou, Teng, and Yi counties. Congzhi rooted out and executed Hongru's agents hidden in Yizhou, petitioned to recall retired regional commander Yang Zhaoji to command the campaign, and proposed a strategy to destroy the rebel core—bringing about Hongru's defeat. The full account appears in the biography of Zhao Yan.
41
從治警敏通變，其禦賊類主剿不主撫，故往往滅賊。 旋以右參政分守濟南。 錄功，從治最，進右布政使，督漕江南。 妖賊再起，巡撫王惟儉奏留從治，仍守沂。 按臣主撫，從治議不合，遂告歸。
Quick-witted and resourceful, Congzhi generally favored crushing rebels over negotiating with them, and repeatedly succeeded in wiping them out. He was soon appointed right administrative vice commissioner with responsibility for the Jinan circuit. When rewards were tallied, Congzhi's service ranked first; he was promoted to right administration commissioner and put in charge of grain transport on the Jiangnan route. When sorcerer-rebels rose again, Grand Coordinator Wang Weijian petitioned to keep Congzhi in Shandong, still stationed at Yizhou. The touring censor favored a conciliatory approach, which Congzhi opposed; he resigned and returned home.
42
中外計議調，崇禎初，以故秩飭薊州兵備。 薊軍久缺餉，圍巡撫王應豸於遵化。 從治單騎馳入，陰部署夷丁、標兵，分營四門，按甲不動，登城而呼曰：「給三月糧，趣歸守汛地，否將擊汝！」 眾應聲而散。 其應變多類此。 進秩左布政使，再請告歸。
After deliberation at court and in the provinces, he was recalled at the start of the Chongzhen reign, at his former rank, to oversee military preparedness at Jizhou. Long deprived of pay, the Ji garrison mutinied and besieged Grand Coordinator Wang Yingzhi at Zunhua. Congzhi rode in alone, secretly positioning foreign auxiliaries and regular troops at all four gates. Without drawing weapons, he mounted the wall and shouted: "Issue three months' pay and send them back to their posts—or I will attack you!" The mutineers dispersed at once. He handled crises in this manner again and again. Promoted to left administration commissioner, he once more petitioned to retire.
43
四年，起飭武德兵備。 孔有德反山東，巡撫余大成檄從治監軍。 明年正月馳赴萊州，而登州已陷。 大成削籍，遂擢從治右副都御史代之，與登萊巡撫謝璉並命。 詔璉駐萊州，從治駐青州，調度兵食。 從治曰：「吾駐青，不足鎮萊人心； 駐萊，足系全齊命。」 乃與璉同受事於萊。
In the fourth year he was recalled to oversee military preparedness in the Wude circuit. When Kong Youde rebelled in Shandong, Grand Coordinator Yu Dacheng dispatched Congzhi to supervise the campaign. The following first month he rushed to Laizhou, only to find Dengzhou already lost. Yu Dacheng was dismissed from the rolls; Congzhi was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief to replace him, receiving simultaneous appointment alongside Deng-Lai Grand Coordinator Xie Lian. The court ordered Xie Lian to base himself at Laizhou and Congzhi at Qingzhou to coordinate troops and supplies. Congzhi argued: "Stationing me at Qingzhou won't steady morale in Laizhou; but basing myself at Laizhou would hold all of Shandong together." He and Xie Lian therefore both took up their posts at Laizhou.
44
有德者，遼人。 與耿仲明、李九成、毛承祿輩皆毛文龍帳下卒也。 文龍死，走入登州。 登萊巡撫孫元化官遼久，素言遼人可用，乃用承祿為副將，有德、仲明為遊擊，九成為偏裨，且多收遼人為牙兵。 是年，大淩河新城被圍，部檄元化發勁卒泛海，趨耀州鹽場，示牽制。 有德詭言風逆，改從陸赴寧遠。 十月晦，有德及九成子千總應元統千余人以行，經月抵吳橋，縣人罷市，眾無所得食。 一卒與諸生角，有德抶之，眾大嘩。 九成先賫元化銀市馬塞上，用盡無以償，適至吳橋。 聞眾怨，遂與應元謀，劫有德，相與為亂，陷陵縣、臨邑、商河，殘齊東，圍德平。 既而舍去，陷青城、新城，整眾東。
Kong Youde was a native of Liaodong. He, along with Geng Zhongming, Li Jiucheng, Mao Chenglu, and others, had all served as soldiers under Mao Wenlong. After Wenlong's death, they fled to Dengzhou. Deng-Lai Grand Coordinator Sun Yuanhua, a longtime Liaodong official who insisted Liaodong veterans were trustworthy, appointed Mao Chenglu vice general, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming as mobile brigade commanders, Li Jiucheng as a staff officer, and recruited many Liaodong men as his personal guard. That year, as Dalinghe New City came under siege, the ministry ordered Yuanhua to send elite troops by sea toward the Yaozhou salt fields as a diversion. Youde falsely claimed adverse winds and diverted the march overland toward Ningyuan instead. On the last day of the tenth month, Youde set out with more than a thousand men under Li Jiucheng's son, company commander Yingyuan. After a month on the road they reached Wuqiao, where townspeople had shut the markets and the troops found nothing to eat. When a soldier quarreled with a local scholar, Youde had him beaten, provoking a general uproar. Li Jiucheng had earlier been given Sun Yuanhua's silver to buy horses on the frontier, spent it all without accounting for it, and happened to arrive at Wuqiao just then. Hearing the men's anger, he conspired with Yingyuan to coerce Youde into mutiny; together they plundered Ling, Linyi, and Shanghe, ravaged eastern Shandong, and besieged Deping. They then abandoned those targets, seized Qingcheng and Xincheng, regrouped, and marched eastward.
45
余大成者，江寧人也。 不知兵。 初為職方，嘗奏發大學士劉一燝私書，齮之去。 後又以事忤魏忠賢，削籍歸，有清執名。 而巡撫山東，則白蓮妖賊方熾，又有逃兵之變，皆不能討。 及聞有德叛，即托疾數日不能出，不得已遣中軍沈廷諭參將陶廷鑨往禦，則皆敗而走。 大成恐，遂定議撫，而元化軍亦至。
Yu Dacheng was a native of Jiangning. He knew nothing of military matters. Early in his career he served in the Bureau of Appointments; he once exposed Grand Secretary Liu Yihuan's private correspondence and forced his removal through factional attack. He later clashed with Wei Zhongxian, was dismissed from the rolls, and returned home with a reputation for upright integrity. Yet as grand coordinator of Shandong, he proved unable to put down the raging White Lotus rebels or the mutiny of deserting soldiers. On hearing of Kong Youde's rebellion, he promptly feigned illness and stayed indoors for days; only under pressure did he dispatch Shen Tingyu and Tao Tingxun to oppose the rebels — both were routed and fled. Terrified, Yu Dacheng resolved on a policy of appeasement, just as Sun Yuanhua's troops arrived.
46
元化者，故所號善西洋大炮者也，至是亦主撫，檄賊所過郡縣無邀擊。 賊長驅，無敢一矢加者。 賊佯許元化降。 元化師次黃山館而返，賊遂抵登州。 元化遣將張燾率遼兵駐城外，總兵張可大率南兵拒賊。 元化猶招降賊，賊不應。 五年正月戰城東，遼兵遽退，南兵遂敗。 燾兵多降賊，賊遣之歸，士民爭請拒勿內，元化不從，賊遂入。 日夕，城中火起，中軍耿仲明、都司陳光福等導賊入自東門，城遂陷。 可大死之。 元化自刎不殊，與參議宋光蘭、僉事王征及府縣官悉被執。 大成馳入萊州。
Sun Yuanhua — once famed for his mastery of Western artillery — now likewise favored appeasement, ordering every prefecture and county in the rebels' path to hold their fire. The rebels marched unopposed, and not a single arrow was fired in their direction. The rebels pretended to accept Sun Yuanhua's offer of surrender. Sun Yuanhua halted his army at Huangshan Station and withdrew, and the rebels pressed on to Dengzhou. Sun Yuanhua posted Zhang Tao with Liaodong troops outside the city while regional commander Zhang Keda led southern troops to hold the rebels at bay. Sun Yuanhua continued to negotiate surrender, but the rebels ignored him. In the first month of year five they fought east of the city; the Liaodong troops broke ranks at once, and the southern force was routed. Many of Zhang Tao's men defected and were sent back by the rebels; townspeople begged to keep them out, but Sun Yuanhua refused — and the rebels walked in. By evening fires were burning inside the walls; Geng Zhongming, Chen Guangfu, and others opened the east gate to the rebels, and the city fell. Zhang Keda was killed. Sun Yuanhua slashed his own throat but survived; Song Guanglan, Wang Zheng, and every prefectural and county official were taken prisoner. Yu Dacheng fled posthaste to Laizhou.
47
初，登州被圍，朝廷鐫大成、元化三級，令辦賊。 及登失守，革元化職，而以謝璉代。 有德既破登州，推九成為主，己次之，仲明又次之。 用巡撫印檄州縣餉，趣元化移書求撫於大成曰：「畀以登州一郡，則解。」 大成聞於朝。 帝怒，命革大成職，而以從治代。
When Dengzhou first came under siege, the court cut Yu Dacheng and Sun Yuanhua three ranks and ordered them to destroy the rebels. After Dengzhou fell, Sun Yuanhua was dismissed and replaced by Xie Lian. After capturing Dengzhou, Kong Youde installed Li Jiucheng as chief, with himself second and Geng Zhongming third in rank. Using the grand coordinator's seal they requisitioned supplies from surrounding counties and had Sun Yuanhua write Yu Dacheng proposing appeasement: "Give us Dengzhou prefecture and we will dissolve." Yu Dacheng relayed the proposal to the throne. The emperor was incensed, dismissed Yu Dacheng, and installed Xu Congzhi in his stead.
48
先是，賊攻破黃縣，知縣吳世揚死之。 至是，攻萊，從治、璉與總兵楊禦蕃等分陴守。 禦蕃，肇基子。 肇基，從治所共剿滅妖賊鄒、滕者也。 禦蕃積戰功至通州副總兵。 會登州陷，兵部尚書熊明遇奏署總兵官，盡將山東兵，與保定總兵劉國柱、天津總兵王洪兼程進。 遇賊新城，洪先走。 禦蕃拒之二日，不勝，突圍出，遂入萊城，從治、璉倚以剿賊。 賊攻萊不下，分兵陷平度，知州陳所問自經。 賊益攻萊，輦元化所制西洋大炮，日穴城，城多頹。 從治等投火灌水，穴者死無算。 使死士時出掩擊之，毀其炮臺，斬獲多。 而明遇卒惑大成撫議也，命主事張國臣為贊畫往撫之，曰「安輯遼人之在山東者」，以國臣亦遼人也。 國臣先遣廢將金一鯨入賊營，已而國臣亦入，為賊移書，遣一鯨還報曰：「毋出兵壞撫局。」 從治等知其詐，叱退一鯨，遣間使三上疏，言賊不可撫。 最後言：「萊城被圍五十日，危如累卵。 日夜望援兵，卒不至，知必為撫議誤矣。 國臣致書臣，內抄詔旨並兵部諭帖，乃知部臣已據國臣報，達聖聽。 夫國臣桑梓情重，忍欺聖明而陷封疆。 其初遣一鯨入賊營，何嘗有止兵不攻之事？ 果止兵，或稍退舍，臣等何故不樂撫？ 特國臣以撫為賊解，而賊實借撫為緩兵計。 一鯨受賊賄，對援師則誑言賊數萬，不可輕進； 對諸將則誑言賊用西洋炮攻，城將陷矣，賴我招撫，賊即止攻。 夫一鯨三入賊營，每入，賊攻益急。 而國臣乃雲賊嗔我縋城下擊，致彼之攻。 是使賊任意攻擊，我不以一矢加遺，如元化斷送登城，然後可成國臣之撫耶？ 當賊過青州，大成擁兵三千，剿賊甚易。 元化遺書謂『賊已就撫，爾兵毋東』，大成遂止勿追，致賊延蔓。 今賊視臣等猶元化，乃為賊解，曰吳橋激變有因也，一路封刀不殺也，聞天子詔遂止攻掠也。 將誰欺！ 盈庭中國臣妄報，必謂一紙書賢於十萬兵，援師不來，職是故矣。 臣死當為厲鬼以殺賊，斷不敢以撫謾至尊，淆國是，誤封疆，而戕生命也。」 疏入，未報。
The rebels had already overrun Huang County, where Magistrate Wu Shiyang died fighting. Now besieging Laizhou, the rebels found Xu Congzhi, Xie Lian, and regional commander Yang Yufan manning separate sections of the walls. Yang Yufan was the son of Yang Zhaoji. Yang Zhaoji had fought alongside Xu Congzhi to wipe out the rebel cults at Zou and Teng. Yang Yufan had earned promotion to deputy regional commander at Tongzhou through repeated victories. When Dengzhou fell, War Minister Xiong Mingyu named him acting regional commander and ordered him to march every Shandong soldier alongside Liu Guozhu of Baoding and Wang Hong of Tianjin at top speed. At Xincheng they met the rebels, and Wang Hong was the first to run. Yang Yufan held them off for two days, then fought his way out and entered Laizhou, where Xu Congzhi and Xie Lian pinned their hopes on him to break the siege. Unable to crack Laizhou, the rebels sent a detachment to seize Pingdu, where Prefect Chen Suowen hanged himself. The rebels redoubled their assault on Laizhou, deploying Sun Yuanhua's Western artillery and tunneling day after day until great stretches of wall crumbled. Xu Congzhi's defenders flooded the tunnels with fire and water, killing untold numbers of miners. Elite raiding parties sallied forth repeatedly, wrecking rebel gun emplacements and inflicting heavy casualties. But Xiong Mingyu had fallen under the spell of Yu Dacheng's appeasement policy; he dispatched staff officer Zhang Guochen to negotiate, declaring the mission was "to pacify the Liaodong troops in Shandong" — Guochen being a Liaodong native himself. Guochen first sent the cashiered general Jin Yijing into the rebel camp, then entered himself and drafted letters on the rebels' behalf; Yijing returned with a message: "Send no troops — you will wreck the peace talks." Xu Congzhi saw through the ruse, drove Jin Yijing away, and sent secret couriers bearing three memorials insisting the rebels could not be appeased. The final memorial read: "Laizhou has been under siege for fifty days, balanced on a knife's edge. We watch day and night for relief that never arrives; we know the appeasement policy has doomed us. Zhang Guochen wrote me enclosing edicts and War Ministry orders — and only then did I learn the ministry had relayed his reports straight to the emperor. Guochen's loyalty to his homeland runs deep — how could he bear to lie to the throne and sacrifice the realm? When he first sent Jin Yijing to the rebel camp, did the rebels ever once stop fighting? If they had truly stood down — even pulled back a little — why would we oppose appeasement? Guochen treats appeasement as a way to free the rebels — but the rebels use it purely to buy time. Jin Yijing took rebel bribes; to the relief force he lied that the rebels numbered in the tens of thousands and must not be engaged lightly; to the generals he claimed the rebels were battering the walls with Western artillery and the city was about to fall — but thanks to his negotiations, the rebels had halted their attack. Each of Jin Yijing's three visits to the rebel camp was followed by a fiercer assault. Yet Guochen claimed the rebels were angry because our men had sallied from the walls — provoking the onslaught. Are we meant to let the rebels attack freely while we hold our fire — as Sun Yuanhua did before surrendering Dengzhou — so that Guochen's appeasement can succeed? When the rebels passed Qingzhou, Yu Dacheng had three thousand men at hand — crushing them would have been simple. Sun Yuanhua wrote that the rebels had accepted terms and ordered, "Do not march east"; Yu Dacheng stopped the pursuit, and the rebellion spread. Now the rebels treat us as they treated Sun Yuanhua, spinning excuses: the Wuqiao mutiny had its provocation, they sheathed their swords all along the march, and they stopped looting once they heard the emperor's decree. Who do they imagine they are fooling! At court Guochen's lies hold sway; they must think one letter outweighs a hundred thousand soldiers — and that is exactly why no relief has come. If I die, I will return as a vengeful ghost to kill these rebels; I will never use appeasement to deceive the throne, muddy national policy, betray the frontier, and waste lives." The memorial reached the throne; no answer followed.
49
當是時，外圍日急，國柱、洪及山東援軍俱頓昌邑不敢進，兩撫臣困圍城中。 於是廷議更設總督一人，以兵部右侍郎劉宇烈任之。 調薊門、四川兵，統以總兵鄧玘，調密雲兵，統以副將牟文綬，以右布政使楊作楫監之，往援萊。 三月，宇烈、作楫、國柱、洪、玘及監視中官呂直，巡按御史王道純，義勇副將劉澤清，新兵參將劉永昌、朱廷祿，監紀推官汪惟效等並集昌邑。 玘、國柱、洪、澤清等至萊州，馬步軍二萬五千，氣甚盛。 而宇烈無籌略，諸師懦怯，抵沙河，日十輩往議撫，縱還所獲賊陳文才。 於是賊盡得我虛實，益以撫愚我，而潛兵繞其後，盡焚我輜重。 宇烈懼，遂走青州，撤三將兵就食。 玘等夜半拔營散，賊乘之，大敗。 洪、國柱走青、濰，玘走昌邑，澤清接戰於萊城，傷二指，亦敗走平度，惟作楫能軍。 三將既敗，舉朝嘩然，而明遇見官軍不可用，撫議益堅。
By then the siege was tightening daily; Liu Guozhu, Wang Hong, and every Shandong relief column stalled at Changyi, afraid to advance, while both grand coordinators were trapped inside Laizhou. The court then created a new governor-generalship and appointed War Vice Minister Liu Yulie to the post. Deng Qi was given Jimen and Sichuan troops; Mou Wenshou took command of Miyun forces; Administration Commissioner Yang Zuoji was sent to oversee them — all marching to relieve Laizhou. In the third month Liu Yulie, Yang Zuoji, Liu Guozhu, Wang Hong, Deng Qi, the supervising eunuch Lü Zhi, Censor Wang Daochun, Liu Zeqing, Liu Yongchang, Zhu Tinglu, Registrar Wang Weixiao, and a host of others gathered at Changyi. Deng Qi, Liu Guozhu, Wang Hong, Liu Zeqing, and their combined force of twenty-five thousand horse and foot reached Laizhou in high spirits. But Liu Yulie had no strategy and his commanders were timid; at Shahe they sent ten delegations a day to negotiate appeasement and even freed the captured rebel Chen Wencai. The rebels learned every detail of our strength, played for time with feigned talks, sent troops around our rear, and burned our entire supply train. Liu Yulie panicked, fled to Qingzhou, and dispersed his three generals to forage for food. Deng Qi and the others broke camp and scattered at midnight; the rebels struck and routed them utterly. Wang Hong and Liu Guozhu fled toward Qingzhou and Weifang; Deng Qi retreated to Changyi; Liu Zeqing fought at Laizhou, lost two fingers, and was driven back to Pingdu — only Yang Zuoji distinguished himself in battle. After the three generals' rout the court erupted in alarm — yet Xiong Mingyu, convinced the army was useless, doubled down on appeasement.
50
先是，登州總兵可大死，以副將吳安邦代之，安邦尤怯鈍。 奉令屯寧海，規取登州。 仲明揚言以城降，安邦信之，離城二十五里而軍。 中軍徐樹聲薄城被擒，安邦走還寧海。 登既不能下，而賊困萊久，璉、從治、禦蕃日堅守待救。 至四月十六日，從治中炮死，萊人大臨，守陴者皆哭。
After Zhang Keda's death, the inept and timid Wu Anbang replaced him as Dengzhou regional commander. Ordered to encamp at Ninghai, he planned an assault on Dengzhou. Geng Zhongming announced he would surrender the city; Wu Anbang believed him and camped twenty-five li away. When headquarters officer Xu Shusheng approached the walls he was captured; Wu Anbang fled back to Ninghai. Dengzhou could not be retaken, and as the siege of Laizhou dragged on, Xie Lian, Xu Congzhi, and Yang Yufan held the walls day after day, waiting for rescue. On the sixteenth of the fourth month Xu Congzhi was killed by cannon fire; Laizhou wept as one, and every defender on the walls broke down in tears.
51
山東士官南京者，合疏攻宇烈，請益兵。 於是調昌平兵三千，以總兵陳洪範統之，洪範亦遼人。 明遇日跂望曰：「往哉，其可撫也。」 天津舊將孫應龍者，大言於眾曰：「仲明兄弟與我善，我能令其縛有德、九成來。」 巡撫鄭宗周予之兵二千，從海道往。 仲明聞之，偽函他死人頭紿之曰：「此有德也。」 應龍率舟師抵水城。 延之入，猝縛斬之，無一人脫者。 賊得巨艦，勢益張。 島帥黃龍攻之不克而還。 遂破招遠，圍萊陽。 知縣梁衡固守，賊敗去。
Shandong officials stationed in Nanjing submitted a joint memorial denouncing Liu Yulie and demanding reinforcements. Three thousand Changping troops were mobilized under regional commander Chen Hongfan — another native of Liaodong. Xiong Mingyu watched eagerly and said, "Go — they can still be appeased." Sun Yinglong, a former Tianjin general, boasted to the assembly: "The Zhongming brothers are my friends — I can have them bind Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng and deliver them." Grand Coordinator Zheng Zongzhou gave him two thousand men and sent him by sea. Geng Zhongming heard of the mission and sent a severed head from another corpse, claiming: "This is Kong Youde." Sun Yinglong sailed his fleet to Shuicheng. They lured him ashore, bound him, and executed him — not one man escaped. With great warships in hand, the rebels' power swelled. Island commander Huang Long attacked but failed and withdrew. They overran Zhaoyuan and laid siege to Laiyang. Magistrate Liang Heng held the city; the rebels were beaten off.
52
宇烈復至昌邑，洪範、文綬等亦至。 萊州推官屈宜陽請入賊營講撫，賊佯禮之。 宜陽使言賊已受命，宇烈奏得請，乃手書諭賊令解圍。 賊邀宇烈，宇烈懼不往。 營將嚴正中舁龍亭及河，賊擁之去，而令宜陽還萊，文武官出城開讀，圍即解。 禦蕃不可，璉曰：「圍且六月，既已無可奈何，宜且從之。」 遂偕監視中官徐得時、翟升，知府朱萬年出。 有德等叩頭扶伏，涕泣交頤，璉慰諭久之而還。 明日復令宜陽入，請璉、禦蕃同出。 禦蕃曰：「我將家子，知殺賊，何知撫事？」 璉等遂出。 有德執之，猝攻城，卻令萬年呼降。 萬年呼曰：「吾死矣，汝等宜固守。」 罵不絕口而死。 賊送璉及二中官至登囚之，正中、宜陽皆死。
Liu Yulie returned to Changyi, joined by Chen Hongfan, Mou Wenshou, and others. Laizhou Registrar Qu Yiyang volunteered to enter the rebel camp to negotiate; the rebels treated him with false civility. Qu Yiyang reported the rebels had received imperial sanction; Liu Yulie memorialized for approval and personally wrote ordering them to lift the siege. The rebels summoned Liu Yulie, but he was too frightened to go. Camp commander Yan Zhengzhong carried the imperial pavilion to the riverbank; the rebels seized it, sent Qu Yiyang back to Laizhou, and promised to lift the siege if officials came out to read the proclamation aloud. Yang Yufan refused; Xie Lian said, "The siege has lasted nearly six months — we have no choice but to comply for now." So he went out with the supervising eunuchs Xu Deshi and Zhai Sheng and Prefect Zhu Wannian. Kong Youde and the others kowtowed and prostrated themselves, weeping; Xie Lian reassured them at length and returned inside. The next day they sent Qu Yiyang back to summon Xie Lian and Yang Yufan outside the walls. Yang Yufan replied, "I am a soldier's son — I know how to kill rebels, not how to negotiate surrender." Xie Lian and the others went out nonetheless. Kong Youde seized them, launched a sudden assault, and forced Zhu Wannian to shout for the city to surrender. Zhu Wannian cried out, "I am already dead — hold the walls!" He died cursing without pause. The rebels sent Xie Lian and the two eunuchs to Deng and imprisoned them; Yan Zhengzhong and Qu Yiyang were both killed.
53
初，撫議興，獨從治持不可。 宇烈諸將信之，而尚書明遇主其議。 從治死，璉遂被擒。 於是舉朝恚憤，逮宇烈下獄，調關外勁卒剿之，罷總督及登萊巡撫不設，專任代從治者朱大典以行。 明遇坐主撫誤國，罷歸，遂絕撫議。 八月，大典合兵救萊。 兵甫接，賊輒大敗，圍解。 有德走登州，九成殺璉及二中官。 大典圍登，九成戰死。 城破，追剿，有德、仲明入海遁。 生擒承祿等，斬應元，賊盡平。 事詳《大典傳》。 詔贈從治兵部尚書，賜祭葬，蔭錦衣百戶，建祠曰「忠烈」； 贈璉兵部右侍郎，亦賜祭葬，建祠，蔭子； 以禦蕃功多，加署都督同知，總兵，鎮登、萊。 而宇烈以次年遣戍。 璉，字君實，監利人。 宇烈，綿竹人，大學士宇亮兄也。 其戍也，人以為失刑。 大成逮下獄，遣戍。 赦還，卒於家。
When the appeasement policy first took hold, Xu Congzhi alone stood against it. Liu Yulie and his generals believed in it; War Minister Xiong Mingyu championed the policy. With Congzhi dead, Lian was taken prisoner. The whole court burned with indignation. Liu Yulie was thrown into prison, tough troops from beyond the passes were brought in to crush the rebels, the supreme command and the Deng-Lai grand coordinator's post were abolished, and only Zhu Dadian was left to carry on Congzhi's work. Xiong Mingyu was punished for having championed appeasement and misled the state, dismissed and sent home, and the appeasement policy was ended for good. In the eighth month Zhu Dadian united his armies to break the siege of Laizhou. At the first clash the rebels were routed and the siege was raised. Youde fled to Dengzhou, where Jiucheng killed Lian and the two supervising eunuchs. Dadian laid siege to Dengzhou, and Jiucheng fell in the fighting. After the city fell they pursued the rebels; Youde and Zhongming fled by sea. Chenglu and others were captured alive, Yingyuan was beheaded, and the rebellion was entirely suppressed. The affair is treated in detail in Dadian's biography. An edict posthumously honored Congzhi as minister of War, granted him sacrificial rites and a state burial, enfeoffed a hundred households in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and erected a shrine called Loyal and Steadfast; Lian was posthumously made vice minister of War, granted sacrificial rites and burial, given a shrine, and his son received an enfeoffment; Because Yufan's merits were great, he was given acting rank as commissioner-in-chief of the right, made regional commander, and stationed at Deng and Lai. The following year Yulie was banished. Lian, whose style name was Junshi, came from Jianli. Yulie came from Mianzhu and was the elder brother of Grand Secretary Yuliang. When he was exiled, many thought the punishment did not fit the crime. Dacheng was thrown into prison and then banished. After an amnesty he returned home but died there.
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元化，字初陽，嘉定人。 天啟間舉於鄉。 所善西洋炮法，蓋得之徐光啟雲。 廣寧覆沒，條備京、防邊二策。 孫承宗請於朝，得贊畫經略軍前。 主建炮臺教練法，因請據寧遠、前屯，以策幹王在晉，在晉不能用。 承宗行邊，還奏，授兵部司務。 承宗代在晉，遂破重關之非，築臺制炮，一如元化言。 還授元化職方主事，已，元化贊畫袁崇煥寧遠。 還朝，尋罷。
Sun Yuanhua, whose style name was Chuyang, came from Jiading. During the Tianqi reign he passed the provincial examination. He mastered Western artillery methods, said to have been learned from Xu Guangqi. After the fall of Guangning he submitted two plans for defending the capital and the frontier. Sun Chengzong recommended him at court, and he was appointed planning officer on the frontier commander's staff. He advocated building gun platforms and training methods, and therefore urged holding Ningyuan and Qiantun, memorializing against Wang Zaijin, who would not adopt his plan. Chengzong toured the frontier and, on returning, memorialized the throne; Yuanhua was appointed clerk in the Ministry of War. When Chengzong replaced Zaijin he refuted the folly of abandoning the key passes, building platforms and deploying artillery exactly as Yuanhua had urged. On his return he made Yuanhua chief clerk in the Bureau of Military Appointments; Yuanhua later served as planning officer under Yuan Chonghuan at Ningyuan. He returned to the capital but was soon dismissed.
55
崇禎初，起武選員外郎，進職方郎中。 崇煥已為經略，乞元化自輔，遂改元化山東右參議，整飭寧前兵備。 三年，皮島副將劉興治為亂，廷議復設登萊巡撫，遂擢元化右僉都御史任之，駐登州。 明年，島眾殺興治，元化奏副將黃龍代，汰其兵六千人。 及有德反，朝野由是怨元化之不能討也。 賊縱元化還，詔逮之。 首輔周延儒謀脫其死，不得也； 則援其師光啟入閣圖之，卒不得，同張燾棄市。 光蘭、征充軍。
At the opening of the Chongzhen reign he was raised in the Bureau of Military Selection and promoted to bureau director. Chonghuan was already frontier commissioner and asked that Yuanhua assist him; Yuanhua was therefore transferred to right vice commissioner of Shandong to organize Ningqian defenses. In the third year Pidao deputy commander Liu Xingzhi mutinied; the court debated restoring the Deng-Lai grand coordinator and promoted Yuanhua to right vice censor-in-chief at Dengzhou. The following year the island garrison killed Xingzhi; Yuanhua memorialized that Huang Long replace him as deputy commander and cut six thousand troops. Once Youde rebelled, everyone at court and in the country blamed Yuanhua for failing to put him down. The rebels let Yuanhua go; an edict then ordered his arrest. Chief Minister Zhou Yanru tried to secure his life but failed; he then tried to use his teacher Guangqi's entry into the cabinet to save him, but still failed; Yuanhua was executed in the marketplace together with Zhang Tao. Guanglan and Zheng were banished to military service on the frontier.
56
贊曰：疆圉多故，則思任事之臣。 梅之煥諸人，風采機略尚大異於巽懦恇怯之徒，而牽於文法，或廢或死，悲夫！ 叛將衡行，縛而斬之，一偏裨力耳。 中撓撫議，委堅城畀之，援師觀望不進，徒擾擾焉。 設官命將，何益之有？ 撫議之誤國也，可勝言哉！
The historian comments: When the frontier is in turmoil, one longs for men who will take responsibility. Men such as Mei Zhihuan were still worlds apart in spirit and resourcefulness from the timid and craven, yet bound by formal rules they were either dismissed or put to death—how lamentable! When rebel generals ran riot, binding and beheading them was work a single junior officer could do. Yet at court appeasement was undermined, strong cities were handed over, and relief armies stood by without advancing—only to bustle about in vain. Of what use was it to create offices and appoint generals? The harm the appeasement policy did the state—can it even be told in full?