Volume 251 Biographies 139: Li Biao, Liu Hongxun, Qian Longxi, Cheng Jiming, He Ruchong, Xu Guangqi, Wen Zhenmeng, Jiang Dejing, Fang Yuegong

李標〈（李國𣚴周道登）〉劉鴻訓錢龍錫〈（錢士升士晉）〉成基命何如寵〈（兄如申錢象坤）〉徐光啟〈（鄭以偉林釬）〉文震孟〈（周炳謨）〉蔣德璟〈（黃景昉）〉方岳貢〈（邱瑜瑜子之陶）〉

Li Biao (Li Guogan; Zhou Daodeng))〉 Liu Hongxun; Qian Longxi (Qian Shisheng; Qian Shijin))〉 Cheng Jiming; He Ruchong (his elder brother He Rushen; Qian Xiangkun))〉 Xu Guangqi (Zheng Yiwei; Lin Qian))〉 Wen Zhenmeng (Zhou Bingmo))〉 Jiang Dejing (Huang Jingfang))〉 Fang Yuegong (Qiu Yu; Qiu Zhi; Tao Zhizhi))〉

李標，字汝立，高邑人。萬歷三十五年進士。改庶吉士，授檢討。泰昌時，累遷少詹事。天啟中，擢拜禮部右侍郎，協理詹事府。標師同邑越南星，黨人忌之，列名《東林同誌錄》中。標懼禍，引疾歸。

Li Biao, whose style was Ruli, came from Gaoyi. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-fifth year of the Wanli reign. He was made a Hanlin bachelor and then appointed reviser. During the Taichang reign he rose step by step to Junior Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent. Under Tianqi he was elevated to Right Vice Minister of Rites and put in charge of the Household of the Heir Apparent. Biao had studied under Yue Nanxing, a fellow townsman; enemies in the factions resented this and entered his name in the Record of Donglin Comrades. Fearing reprisals, Biao pleaded illness and went home.

莊烈帝嗣位，即家拜禮部尚書兼東閣大學士。崇禎元年三月入朝。未幾，李國𣚴、來宗道、楊景辰相繼去，標遂為首輔。帝銳意圖治，恒召大臣面決庶政。宣府巡撫李養沖疏言旗尉往來如織，蹤跡難憑，且慮費無所出。帝以示標等曰：「邊情危急，遣旗尉偵探，奈何以為偽？且祖宗朝設立廠衛，奚為者？」標對曰：「事固宜慎。養沖以為不賂恐毀言日至，賂之則物力難勝耳。」帝默然。同官劉鴻訓以增敕事為御史吳玉所糾，帝欲置鴻訓於法，標力辯其納賄之誣。溫體仁訐錢謙益引己結浙闈事為詞，給事中章允儒廷駁之。帝怒，並謙益將重譴，又欲罪給事中瞿式耜、御史房可壯等。標言：「陛下處分謙益、允儒，本因體仁言，體仁乃不安求罷。乞陛下念謙益事經恩詔，姑令回籍；於允儒仍許自新，而式耜等概從薄罰。諸臣安，體仁亦安。」帝不從，自是深疑朝臣有黨，標等遂不得行其誌。是冬，韓爌還朝，標讓為首輔，尋與爌等定逆案。

When the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, Biao was summoned from retirement as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. He came to court in the third month of Chongzhen 1. Before long Li Guogan, Lai Zongdao, and Yang Jingchen had all left office in turn, and Biao became chief grand secretary. The emperor was determined to set things right and often called ministers before him to settle routine business on the spot. Li Yangchong, grand coordinator of Xuanfu, reported that banner guards swarmed back and forth like woven cloth, their movements impossible to track, and that the cost had nowhere to come from. The emperor showed the memorial to Biao and his colleagues and said, "The frontier is in crisis—we send banner guards to scout. How can you call that false? Besides, why did our forefathers set up the factory guards in the first place?" Biao answered, "The matter certainly calls for caution. What Yangchong means is that without bribes he will face slander every day, but if he bribes them the treasury cannot bear the strain. The emperor said nothing. His colleague Liu Hongxun was impeached by Censor Wu Yu for altering an imperial rescript; the emperor wanted to punish Liu by law, but Biao insisted the bribery allegation was false. Wen Tiren attacked Qian Qianyi on the pretext that Qian had drawn him into the Zhejiang metropolitan examination affair; Supervising Secretary Zhang Yunru refuted him in open court. The emperor was furious and was ready to punish Qianyi severely; he also wanted to punish Supervising Secretary Qu Shisun, Censor Fang Kezhuang, and others. Biao said, "Your Majesty's treatment of Qianyi and Yunru began with Tiren's accusation, yet now Tiren himself is uneasy and asks to resign. I beg Your Majesty to remember that Qianyi's case was already covered by an amnesty edict and for now let him return to his native place; allow Yunru a chance to reform, and impose only light penalties on Shisun and the rest. The ministers will be settled, and Tiren will be settled as well. The emperor would not agree. From then on he deeply suspected that court officials formed factions, and Biao and his colleagues could no longer put their plans into effect. That winter Han Kuang returned to court; Biao yielded the chief ministership to him, and soon joined him in settling the case of the rebels.

三年正月，爌罷，標復為首輔，累加至少保兼太子太保、戶部尚書、武英殿大學士。先是，與標並相者六人，宗道、景辰以附珰斥，鴻訓以增敕戍，周道登、錢龍錫被攻去，獨標在，遂五疏乞休。至三月得請。家居六年卒。贈少傅，謚文節。

In the first month of the third year Han was dismissed and Biao again became chief grand secretary, eventually rising to Junior Guardian, concurrently Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, Minister of Revenue, and Grand Secretary of the Hall of Military Glory. Earlier, six men had served as grand secretaries alongside Biao: Zongdao and Jingchen were driven out for siding with the eunuch faction; Hongxun was banished for altering the rescript; Zhou Daodeng and Qian Longxi were hounded from office; only Biao remained, and he submitted five memorials asking to retire. In the third month his request was granted. He died at home six years later. He was posthumously enfeoffed as Junior Tutor and given the posthumous title Wenjie.

李國𣚴，字元治，高陽人。萬歷四十一年進士。由庶吉士歷官詹事。天啟六年七月，超擢禮部尚書入閣。釋褐十四年即登宰輔，魏忠賢以同鄉故援之也。然國𣚴每持正論。劉誌選劾張國紀以撼中宮，國𣚴言：「子不宜佐父難母，而況無間之父母乎！」國紀乃得免罪。御史方震孺及高陽令唐紹堯系獄，皆力為保全。崇禎初，以登極恩進左柱國、少師兼太子太師、吏部尚書、中極殿大學士。國子監生胡煥猷劾國𣚴等褫衣冠，國普薦復之，時人稱為長厚。元年五月得請歸裏，薦韓爌、孫承宗自代。卒，贈太保，謚文敏。宗道、景辰事見《黃立極傳》中。

Li Guogan, whose style was Yuanzhi, came from Gaoyang. He passed the jinshi examination in the forty-first year of the Wanli reign. From Hanlin bachelor he rose through the ranks to Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent. In the seventh month of Tianqi 6 he was abruptly promoted to Minister of Rites and entered the Grand Secretariat. Only fourteen years after leaving the scholar's robe he reached the chief ministry—Wei Zhongxian had backed him because they were from the same district. Yet Guogan often spoke on the side of right. Liu Zhixuan impeached Zhang Guoji in order to shake the empress; Guogan said, "A son should not help his father make trouble for his mother—how much less when the parents are not estranged!" Zhang Guoji was thus spared punishment. When Censor Fang Zhenru and the Gaoyang magistrate Tang Shaoyao were imprisoned, he worked hard to save them both. At the beginning of Chongzhen, under the enthronement grace he was advanced to Left Pillar of the State, Junior Tutor concurrently Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent, Minister of Personnel, and Grand Secretary of the Central Peak Hall. The National University student Hu Huanyou impeached Guogan and others and stripped them of court dress; Guogan recommended their restoration, and contemporaries praised his magnanimity. In the fifth month of the first year he obtained leave to return home and recommended Han Kuang and Sun Chengzong as his successors. After his death he was posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Tutor and given the posthumous title Wenmin. The affairs of Zongdao and Jingchen are recorded in the biography of Huang Liji.

周道登，吳江人。萬歷二十六年進士。由庶吉士歷遷少詹事。天啟時，為禮部左侍郎，頗有所爭執。以病歸。五年秋，廷推禮部尚書，魏忠賢削其籍。崇禎初，與李標等同入閣。道登無學術，奏對鄙淺，傳以為笑。御史田時震、劉士禎、王道直、吳之仁、任贊化，給事中閻可陛交劾之，悉下廷議。吏部尚書王永光等言道登黨護樞臣王在晉及宗生朱統飾、鄉人陳於鼎館選事，俱有實跡，乃罷歸。閱五年而卒。

Zhou Daodeng came from Wujiang. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign. From Hanlin bachelor he rose to Junior Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent. Under Tianqi he served as Left Vice Minister of Rites and often took part in disputes. He went home on grounds of illness. In the autumn of the fifth year, when the court recommended candidates for Minister of Rites, Wei Zhongxian struck his name from the rolls. At the beginning of Chongzhen he entered the Grand Secretariat together with Li Biao and others. Daodeng had no learning; his answers at audience were crude and shallow, and people passed the story around as a joke. Censors Tian Shizhen, Liu Shizhen, Wang Daozhi, Wu Zhiren, and Ren Zanhua, and Supervising Secretary Yan Kedi jointly impeached him; all cases were sent to joint deliberation at court. Minister of Personnel Wang Yongguang and others reported that Daodeng had factionally shielded Grand Secretary Wang Zaijin, the licentiate Zhu Tongshi, and his fellow townsman Chen Yuding in examination appointments—all with verified facts—and he was dismissed and sent home. Five years later he died.

劉鴻訓，字默承，長山人。父一相，由進士歷南京吏科給事中。追論故相張居正事，執政忌之，出為隴右僉事。終陜西副使。

Liu Hongxun, whose style was Mocheng, came from Changshan. His father Yixiang, a jinshi, served as Supervising Secretary in the Nanjing Bureau of Personnel. He pursued judgment on the late Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng's case; the ruling faction resented him and he was sent out as Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of Longyou. He ended his career as Vice Commissioner of Shaanxi.

萬歷四十一年，鴻訓登第，由庶吉士授編修。神、光二宗相繼崩，頒詔朝鮮。甫入境，遼陽陷。朝鮮為造二洋舶，從海道還。沿途收難民，舶重而壞。跳淺沙，入小舟，飄泊三日夜，僅得達登州報命。遭母喪，服闋，進右中允，轉左諭德，父喪歸。天啟六年冬，起少詹事，忤魏忠賢，斥為民。

In the forty-first year of Wanli, Hongxun passed the examination; from Hanlin bachelor he was appointed compiler. The Shenzong and Guangzong emperors died in succession, and edicts were promulgated in Korea. He had barely crossed the border when Liaoyang fell. Korea built two ocean-going ships for him, and he returned by sea. Along the way he took aboard refugees; the ships grew heavy and were wrecked. He waded through shallows into small boats and drifted for three days and nights, barely reaching Dengzhou to report his mission complete. He mourned his mother; when the mourning period ended he was promoted to Right Middle Gentleman-for-Instruction, then transferred to Left Tutor of the Heir Apparent, and returned home for his father's mourning. In the winter of Tianqi 6 he was recalled as Junior Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent; he offended Wei Zhongxian and was reduced to commoner status.

莊烈帝即位，拜禮部尚書兼東閣大學士，參預機務，遣行人召之。三辭，不允。崇禎元年四月還朝。當是時，忠賢雖敗，其黨猶盛，言路新進者群起抨擊之。諸執政嘗與忠賢共事，不敢顯為別白。鴻訓至，毅然主持，斥楊維垣、李恒茂、楊所修、田景新、孫之獬、阮大鋮、徐紹吉、張訥、李蕃、賈繼春、霍維華等，人情大快。而御史袁弘勛、史褵、高捷本由維垣輩進，思合謀攻去鴻訓，則黨人可安也。弘勛乃言所修、繼春、維垣夾攻表裏之奸，有功無罪，而誅鋤自三臣始；又詆鴻訓使朝鮮，滿載貂參而歸。錦衣僉事張道浚亦訐攻鴻訓，鴻訓奏辯。給事中顏繼祖言：「鴻訓先朝削奪。朝鮮一役，舟敗，僅以身免。乞諭鴻訓入直，共籌安攘之策。至弘勛之借題傾人，道浚之出位亂政，非重創未有已也。」帝是之。給事中鄧英乃盡發弘勛贓私，且言弘勛以千金贄維垣得御史。帝怒，落弘勛職候勘。已而高捷上疏言鴻訓斥擊奸之維垣、所修、繼春、大鋮，而不納孫之獬流涕忠言；謬主焚毀《要典》，以便私黨孫慎行進用。帝責以妄言，停其俸。史褷復佐捷攻之。言路多不直兩人，兩人遂罷去。

When the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, Hongxun was appointed Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, with a role in state affairs; an emissary was sent to summon him. He declined three times but was not allowed to refuse. In the fourth month of Chongzhen 1 he returned to court. At that time, although Zhongxian had fallen, his faction was still strong, and newly risen critics at the censorate attacked in groups. The chief ministers had once served with Zhongxian and dared not openly set the record straight. When Hongxun arrived he took charge resolutely, denouncing Yang Weiyuan, Li Hengmao, Yang Suoxiu, Tian Jingxin, Sun Zhixi, Ruan Dayue, Xu Shaoji, Zhang Na, Li Fan, Jia Jichun, Huo Weihua, and others—to widespread satisfaction. But Censors Yuan Hongxun, Shi Li, and Gao Jie had originally risen through Weiyuan's faction and thought to join forces to drive Hongxun out so their party could rest easy. Hongxun then argued that Suoxiu, Jichun, and Weiyuan had exposed traitors within and without, were meritorious and guiltless, and that the purge had wrongly begun with these three ministers; he also slandered Hongxun's mission to Korea, claiming he returned laden with sable and ginseng. Assistant Commander of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard Zhang Daojun also impeached Hongxun; Hongxun memorialized in his own defense. Supervising Secretary Yan Jizu said, "Hongxun was demoted and stripped of rank in the previous reign. In the Korea campaign his fleet was defeated, and he barely escaped with his life. I ask that Hongxun be summoned to direct service so we may jointly devise policies for pacification and defense. As for Hongxun's habit of seizing on any pretext to ruin others and Daojun's overstepping his station to disrupt government, unless they are severely punished there will be no end to it." The Emperor agreed. Supervising Secretary Deng Ying then fully exposed Hongxun's corruption, and also charged that Hongxun had bought his censor's post with a thousand taels of gold paid to Weiyuan. The Emperor was enraged and dismissed Hongxun from office pending investigation. Before long Gao Jie memorialized, charging that Hongxun had attacked the traitors Weiyuan, Suoxiu, Jichun, and Dayue while refusing to heed Sun Zhixi's tearful loyal counsel; he had wrongly advocated burning the Compendium of Essentials so that his private ally Sun Shenxing could be promoted. The Emperor rebuked him for reckless speech and suspended his salary. Shi Li again joined Jie in attacking him. Most of the censorate did not side with the two men, and both were dismissed.

七月，以四川賊平，加鴻訓太子太保，進文淵閣。帝數召見廷臣。鴻訓應對獨敏，謂民困由吏失職，請帝久任責成。以尚書畢自嚴善治賦，王在晉善治兵，請帝加倚信。帝初甚向之。關門兵以缺餉鼓噪，帝意責戶部，而鴻訓請發帑三十萬，示不測恩，由是失帝指。

In the seventh month, with the Sichuan rebels pacified, Hongxun was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and entered the Wenyuan Pavilion. The Emperor frequently summoned court ministers for audience. Hongxun answered with unusual quickness, arguing that the people's hardship stemmed from officials' dereliction of duty, and urging the Emperor to keep men in office long enough to hold them accountable. Noting that Minister Bi Ziyan was skilled at managing taxation and Wang Zaijin at managing troops, he asked the Emperor to place greater trust in them. At first the Emperor was strongly inclined toward him. Soldiers at Shanhaiguan clamored over unpaid rations; the Emperor meant to blame the Ministry of Revenue, but Hongxun asked to disburse three hundred thousand taels from the treasury as an unexpected favor, and thereby lost the Emperor's favor.

至九月而有改敕書之事。舊例，督京營者，不轄巡捕軍。惠安伯張慶臻總督京營，敕有「兼轄捕營」語，提督鄭其心以侵職論之。命核中書賄改之故，下舍人田佳璧獄。給事中李覺斯言：「稿具兵部，送輔臣裁定，乃令中書繕寫。寫訖，復審視進呈。兵部及輔臣皆當問。」十月，帝御便殿，問閣臣，皆謝不知。帝怒，令廷臣劾奏；尚書自嚴等亦謝不知，帝益怒。給事中張鼎延、御史王道直鹹言慶臻行賄有跡，不知誰主使。御史劉玉言：「主使者，鴻訓也。」慶臻曰：「改敕乃中書事，臣實不預知。且增轄捕卒，取利幾何，乃行重賄？」帝叱之。閱兵部揭有鴻訓批西司房語，佳璧亦供受鴻訓指，事遂不可解，而侍郎張鳳翔詆之尤力。閣臣李標、錢龍錫言鴻訓不宜有此，請更察訪。帝曰：「事已大著，何更訪為？」促令擬旨。標等逡巡未上，禮部尚書何如寵為鴻訓力辯，帝意卒不可回。乃擬旨，鴻訓、慶臻並革職候勘。無何，御史田時震劾鴻訓用田仰巡撫四川，納賄二千金；給事中閻可陛劾副都御史賈毓祥由賂鴻訓擢用。鴻訓數被劾，連章力辯，因言「都中神奸狄姓者，詭誆慶臻千金，致臣無辜受禍。」帝不聽，下廷臣議罪。

By the ninth month the affair of altering an imperial edict had arisen. By established precedent, the supervisor of the capital garrison did not command the patrol and arrest troops. The Earl of Huian, Zhang Qingzhen, supervised the capital garrison, but the edict contained the phrase "also commanding the patrol battalion," and Superintendent Zheng Qixin charged this as an encroachment on his authority. He ordered an investigation into how the Secretariat had been bribed to alter the edict, and imprisoned the drafter Tian Jiabi. Supervising Secretary Li Juesi said, "The draft was prepared by the Ministry of War, sent to the chief ministers for approval, and only then ordered copied by the Secretariat. Once copying was finished, it was reviewed again before being submitted. Both the Ministry of War and the chief ministers should be questioned." In the tenth month the Emperor held audience in the side hall and questioned the Grand Secretaries; all pleaded ignorance. The Emperor was enraged and ordered court ministers to impeach and report; Minister Bi Ziyan and the others also pleaded ignorance, and the Emperor grew still angrier. Supervising Secretary Zhang Dingyan and Censor Wang Daozhi also said there was evidence that Qingzhen had paid bribes, though they did not know who had instigated it. Censor Liu Yu said, "The instigator was Hongxun." Qingzhen said, "Altering the edict was a matter for the Secretariat; I truly had no foreknowledge. Besides, what profit could there be in adding command over a few patrol soldiers, that one would pay a heavy bribe?" The Emperor rebuked him sharply. On examining the Ministry of War memorial there were words in Hongxun's hand from the West Office; Jiabi also confessed to acting on Hongxun's orders, and the matter became impossible to explain away, while Vice Minister Zhang Fengxiang denounced him with especial force. Grand Secretaries Li Biao and Qian Longxi said Hongxun ought not to have done this and asked for further investigation. The Emperor said, "The matter is already fully exposed—why investigate further?" He pressed them to draft the rescript. Biao and the others hesitated and did not submit; Minister of Rites He Ruchong argued forcefully for Hongxun, but the Emperor's mind could not in the end be changed. They then drafted the rescript: Hongxun and Qingzhen were both stripped of office pending investigation. Before long Censor Tian Shizhen impeached Hongxun for appointing Tian Yang governor of Sichuan after accepting a bribe of two thousand taels; Supervising Secretary Yan Keshou impeached Vice Censor-in-Chief Jia Yuxiang for having been promoted through bribes paid to Hongxun. Hongxun was impeached repeatedly and memorialized again and again in his own defense, saying, "In the capital there is a sinister schemer surnamed Di who tricked Qingzhen out of a thousand taels and caused me to suffer punishment without guilt." The Emperor would not listen and referred the matter to court ministers to determine punishment.

明年正月，吏部尚書王永光等言：「鴻訓、慶臻罪無可辭，而律有議貴條，請寬貸。兵部尚書王在晉、職方郎中苗思順贓證未確，難懸坐。」帝不許。鴻訓謫戍代州，在晉、思順並削籍，慶臻以世臣停祿三年。覺斯、鼎延、道直、玉、時震以直言增秩一級。

In the first month of the following year Minister of Personnel Wang Yongguang and others said, "Hongxun and Qingzhen are guilty beyond excuse, but the law has a provision for deliberating on the punishment of the eminent—we ask for leniency. Minister of War Wang Zaijin and Bureau Director Miao Sishun lack firm evidence of corruption and cannot be condemned on suspicion alone." The Emperor refused. Hongxun was banished to garrison duty at Daizhou; Zaijin and Sishun were both struck from the rolls; Qingzhen, as a hereditary minister, had his salary suspended for three years. Juesi, Dingyan, Daozhi, Yu, and Shizhen were each promoted one rank for their forthright speech.

鴻訓居政府，銳意任事。帝有所不可，退而曰：「主上畢竟是沖主。」帝聞，深銜之，欲置之死。賴諸大臣力救，乃得稍寬。七年五月卒戍所。福王時，復官。

While Hongxun served in government he was keen to take charge of affairs. When the Emperor disapproved of something, he would withdraw and say, "After all, the sovereign is still a young and emerging ruler." When the Emperor heard this he deeply resented it and wished to have him executed. Only through the chief ministers' forceful intercession was the punishment somewhat lightened. In the fifth month of the seventh year he died in exile. Under the Prince of Fu his office was restored.

錢龍錫，字稚文，松江華亭人。萬歷三十五年進士。由庶吉士授編修，屢遷少詹事。天啟四年擢禮部右侍郎，協理詹事府。明年改南京吏部右侍郎。忤魏忠賢，削籍。

Qian Longxi, courtesy name Zhiwen, was a native of Huating in Songjiang. He passed the metropolitan examination in Wanli 35. From Hanlin Bachelor he was appointed Compiler and was repeatedly promoted to Junior Mentor. In Tianqi 4 he was promoted to Vice Minister of Rites and assisted in managing the Household of the Heir Apparent. The following year he was transferred to Vice Minister of Personnel at Nanjing. He offended Wei Zhongxian and was struck from the rolls.

莊烈帝即位，以閣臣黃立極、施鳳來、張瑞圖、李國𣚴皆忠賢所用，不足倚，詔廷臣推舉，列上十人。帝仿古枚卜典，貯名金甌，焚香肅拜，以次探之，首得龍錫，次李標、來宗道、楊景辰。輔臣以天下多故，請益一二人，復得周道登、劉鴻訓，並拜禮部尚書兼東閣大學士。明年六月，龍錫入朝，立極等四人俱先罷，宗道、景辰亦以是月去。標為首輔，龍錫、鴻訓協心輔理，朝政稍清。尋以蜀寇平，加太子太保，改文淵閣。

When Emperor Zhuanglie ascended the throne, because Grand Secretaries Huang Liji, Shi Fenglai, Zhang Ruitu, and Li Guo'an had all been men used by Zhongxian and could not be relied on, he ordered court ministers to recommend candidates and ten names were submitted. The Emperor followed the ancient lot-drawing rite: names were stored in a golden urn; after burning incense and bowing reverently he drew them in order—Longxi came first, then Li Biao, Lai Zongdao, and Yang Jingchen. The chief ministers, citing the many troubles in the realm, asked that one or two more be added; Zhou Daodeng and Liu Hongxun were also chosen, and all were appointed Ministers of Rites and Grand Secretaries of the Eastern Pavilion. In the sixth month of the following year Longxi entered court; Liji and the other four had all been dismissed earlier, and Zongdao and Jingchen also left that same month. Biao became chief minister; Longxi and Hongxun worked together in governing, and court affairs grew somewhat clearer. Soon, with the Sichuan rebels pacified, he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and transferred to the Wenyuan Pavilion.

帝好察邊事，頻遣旗尉偵探。龍錫言：「舊制止行於都城內外，若遠遣恐難委信。」海寇犯中左所，總兵官俞咨臯棄城遁，罪當誅。帝欲並罪巡撫朱一馮。龍錫言：「一馮所駐遠，非棄城者比，罷職已足蔽辜。」瑞王出封漢中，請食川鹽。龍錫言：「漢中食晉鹽，而瑞藩獨用川鹽，恐奸徒借名私販，莫敢譏察。」故事，纂修實錄，分遣國學生采事跡於四方，龍錫言「實錄所需在邸報及諸司奏牘，遣使無益，徒滋擾，宜停罷。」烏撒土官安效良死，其妻改適沾益土官安邊，欲兼有烏撒，部議將聽之。龍錫言：「效良有子其爵，立其爵以收烏撒，存亡繼絕，於理為順。安邊淫亂，不可長也。」帝悉從之。明年，帝以漕船違禁越關，欲復設漕運總兵官。龍錫言：「久裁而復，宜集廷臣議得失。」事竟止。廷議汰冗官，帝謂學官尤冗。龍錫言：「學官舊用歲貢生，近因舉人乞恩選貢，纂修占缺者多，歲貢積至二千六百有奇，皓首以歿，良可憫。且祖宗設官，於此稍寬者，以師儒造士需老成故也。」帝亦納之。言官鄒毓祚、韓一良、章允儒、劉斯來獲譴，並為申救。

The Emperor liked to investigate border affairs and frequently sent banner guards as spies. Longxi said, "The old prohibition applied only within and around the capital; if men are sent far away, I fear they will be hard to trust." Sea bandits attacked Zhongzuo Station; Regional Commander Yu Zigao abandoned the city and fled—a crime deserving execution. The Emperor wished also to punish Governor Zhu Yifeng. Longxi said, "Yifeng's post was far away; he cannot be compared with one who abandoned the city—dismissal from office is enough to answer for the fault." When Prince Rui received his fief at Hanzhong, he requested to consume Sichuan salt. Longxi said, "Hanzhong consumes Jin salt, yet Prince Rui alone would use Sichuan salt—I fear scoundrels would trade on his name to smuggle salt privately, and no one would dare investigate." By precedent, when compiling the Veritable Records, Imperial University students were dispatched to gather materials throughout the realm; Longxi said, "What the Veritable Records require is found in the Gazette and in memorials from the various offices—sending envoys is useless and only creates disturbance; this should be stopped." The native chieftain An Xiaoliang of Wusa died; his wife remarried An Bian, chieftain of Zhanyi, who wished to take Wusa as well; the ministry deliberated and was about to approve. Longxi said, "Xiaoliang had a son, Qi Jue—install Qi Jue to recover Wusa; preserving what was endangered and continuing what was broken off is in accord with principle. An Bian is licentious and disorderly and must not be indulged." The Emperor fully agreed. The following year, because grain-transport ships had violated prohibitions and passed through customs, the Emperor wished to restore the post of Grand Coordinator of Grain Transport. Longxi said, "This office was abolished long ago and would now be restored—it is fitting to gather court ministers to discuss its advantages and disadvantages." The matter was dropped in the end. At court they debated eliminating redundant offices; the Emperor said educational officials were especially redundant. Longxi said, "Educational posts were formerly filled from annual tribute students; recently, because licentiates begged favors and were selected as tribute students, many took vacancies reserved for compilation work, and annual tribute students accumulated to more than twenty-six hundred—white-haired men dying in office, truly pitiable. Moreover, in establishing these offices our forefathers were somewhat lenient because teachers who cultivate scholars require maturity." The Emperor also accepted this. Censors Zou Yuzuo, Han Yiliang, Zhang Yunru, and Liu Silai were punished, and he interceded for them all.

御史高捷、史褷既罷，王永光力引之，頗為龍錫所扼，兩人大恨。逆案之定，半為龍錫主持，奸黨銜之次骨。及袁崇煥殺毛文龍，報疏云：「輔臣龍錫為此一事低徊過臣寓。」復上善後疏言：「閣臣樞臣，往復商確，臣以是得奉行無失。」時文龍擁兵自擅，有跋扈聲，崇煥一旦除之，即當寧不以為罪也。其冬十二月，大清兵薄都城。帝怒崇煥戰不力，執下獄，而捷、褷已為永光引用。捷遂上章，指通款殺將為龍錫罪，且言祖大壽師潰而東，由龍錫所挑激。帝以龍錫忠慎，戒無過求。龍錫奏辯，言：「崇煥陛見時，臣見其貌寢，退謂同官『此人恐不勝任』。及崇煥以五年復遼自詭，往詢方略，崇煥云：『恢復當自東江始。文龍可用則用之，不可用則去之易易耳。』迨崇煥突誅文龍，疏有『臣低徊』一語。臣念文龍功罪，朝端共知，因置不理。奈何以崇煥誇詡之詞，坐臣朋謀罪？」又辯挑激大壽之誣，請賜罷黜。帝慰諭之，龍錫即起視事。捷再疏攻，帝意頗動。龍錫再辯，引疾，遂放歸。時兵事旁午，未暇竟崇煥獄。

After Censors Gao Jie and Shi Li were dismissed, Wang Yongguang worked hard to bring them back, but Longxi largely blocked them, and the two men deeply resented him. In settling the case of the traitors, Longxi had presided over half of it, and the villainous faction hated him to the marrow. When Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, his report said, "Chief Minister Longxi lingered at my residence over this matter." He then submitted a follow-up memorial on handling the aftermath, saying, "The Grand Secretaries and the minister of war discussed back and forth, and I was thereby able to carry out the orders without error." At the time Wenlong held troops and acted on his own authority, with a reputation for arrogance; that Chonghuan removed him at a stroke ought not to have been treated as a crime by the throne. That winter, in the twelfth month, the Great Qing army pressed close to the capital. The Emperor was enraged that Chonghuan had not fought vigorously and had him arrested and imprisoned; by then Jie and Li had already been brought back by Yongguang. Jie then memorialized, charging that colluding with the enemy and killing a general were Longxi's crimes, and also saying that Zu Dashou's army had collapsed and fled east because Longxi had provoked it. The Emperor, considering Longxi loyal and cautious, warned against pressing the charges too far. Longxi memorialized in his defense, saying, "When Chonghuan had audience, I saw that his appearance was poor and withdrew, telling a colleague, 'This man may not be up to the task. When Chonghuan boasted that he would recover Liaodong within five years, I went to ask his strategy; Chonghuan said, 'Recovery should begin from the Eastern Jiang. If Wenlong can be used, use him; if not, remove him—easily done. When Chonghuan suddenly executed Wenlong, his memorial contained the phrase 'I lingered. I considered Wenlong's merits and faults, which everyone at court knew, and therefore set the matter aside. How then can I be convicted of conspiracy on the strength of Chonghuan's boastful words?' He also rebutted the false charge that he had provoked Dashou, and asked to be dismissed. The Emperor reassured him, and Longxi at once returned to office. Jie attacked again in a further memorial, and the Emperor was substantially swayed. Longxi memorialized in his defense once more, then pleaded illness and was sent home. Military crises were pressing on all sides, and there was no time to bring Chonghuan's case to a conclusion.

至三年八月，褷復上疏言：「龍錫主張崇煥斬帥致兵，倡為款議，以信五年成功之說。賣國欺君，其罪莫逭。龍錫出都，以崇煥所畀重賄數萬，轉寄姻家，巧為營幹，致國法不伸。」帝怒，敕刑官五日內具獄。於是錦衣劉僑上崇煥獄詞。帝召諸臣於平臺，置崇煥重辟。責龍錫私結邊臣，蒙隱不舉，令廷臣議罪。是日，群議於中府，謂：「斬帥雖龍錫啟端，而兩書有『處置慎重』語，意不在擅殺，殺文龍乃崇煥過舉。至講款，倡自崇煥，龍錫始答以『酌量』，繼答以『天子神武，不宜講款』。然軍國大事，私自商度，不抗疏發奸，何所逃罪？」帝遂遣使逮之。十二月逮至，下獄。復疏辯，悉封上崇煥原書及所答書，帝不省。時群小麗名逆案者，聚謀指崇煥為逆首，龍錫等為逆黨。更立一逆案相抵。謀既定，欲自兵部發之，尚書梁廷棟憚帝英明，不敢任而止。乃議龍錫大辟，且用夏言故事，設廠西市以待。帝以龍錫無逆謀，令長系。

In the eighth month of the third year, Shi Fu memorialized again: "Longxi backed Chonghuan's killing of the general that brought disaster to the army, promoted peace negotiations with the enemy, and lent credence to the boast that Liaodong would be recovered within five years. In betraying the realm and deceiving the throne, his crimes brooked no mercy. After Longxi left the capital, he took the tens of thousands in heavy bribes Chonghuan had given him, parked them with in-laws, maneuvered craftily behind the scenes, and saw to it that justice was not done." The Emperor was enraged and ordered the judicial officials to close the case within five days. Thereupon Liu Qiao of the Embroidered Uniform Guard submitted the record of Chonghuan's case. The Emperor summoned the ministers to the Platform and condemned Chonghuan to death. He charged Longxi with secretly cultivating ties to border commanders and covering up what should have been exposed, and ordered the court to deliberate his sentence. That day the ministers assembled in the inner yamen and judged: "Although Longxi opened the way for the general's execution, both letters contain the phrase 'handle with caution'—the intent was not to authorize murder at will. Killing Wenlong was Chonghuan's overreach. As for negotiating peace, the initiative came from Chonghuan; Longxi first answered 'weigh the matter carefully,' then 'the Son of Heaven is divinely martial—peace talks are out of the question.' Yet on matters of war and state, to discuss them in private correspondence without memorializing to expose the wrongdoing—what guilt could he escape?" The Emperor then sent envoys to arrest him. Arrested and brought in during the twelfth month, he was cast into prison. He memorialized again in his defense, submitting Chonghuan's original letters and his own replies in full, but the Emperor would not look into them. Petty men who had built their reputations on treason prosecutions now met to plot, naming Chonghuan the ringleader of rebellion and Longxi and his associates accomplices. They proposed an additional treason case to offset it. Once the plot was fixed, they meant to launch it through the Ministry of War, but Minister Liang Tingdong, fearing the Emperor's sharp judgment, did not dare take responsibility and let the matter drop. They then voted for Longxi's execution and, following the precedent of Xia Yan, prepared the West Market at the Eastern Depot for his death. The Emperor judged that Longxi had no part in treason and ordered him held indefinitely.

四年正月，右中允黃道周疏言龍錫不宜坐死罪。忤旨，貶秩調外，而帝意浸解矣。夏五月大旱，刑部尚書胡應臺等乞宥龍錫，給事中劉斯來繼言之，詔所司再讞。乃釋獄，戍定海衛。在戍十二年，兩遇赦不原。其子請輸粟贖罪，會周延儒再當國，尼不行。福王時，復官歸裏。未幾卒，年六十有八。

In the first month of the fourth year, Huang Daozhou, Right Middle Attendant, memorialized that Longxi did not deserve the death penalty. Defying the throne, he was demoted and posted away—yet the Emperor's anger toward Longxi slowly abated. In the fifth month of summer a great drought struck; Minister of Justice Hu Yingtai and others pleaded for Longxi's pardon, and Supervising Secretary Liu Silai added his voice; the throne ordered a rehearing. Longxi was released from prison and banished to serve at Dinghai garrison. Through twelve years of exile he twice missed general amnesties. His son offered grain to redeem his sentence, but Zhou Yanru had again taken power and blocked it. Under the Prince of Fu he was restored to office and sent home. He died soon after, at sixty-eight.

錢士升，字抑之，嘉善人。萬歷四十四年殿試第一，授修撰。天啟初，以養母乞歸。久之，進左中允，不赴。高邑趙南星、同里魏大中受珰禍，及江西同年生萬燝杖死追贓，皆力為營護，破產助之，以是為東林所推。

Qian Shisheng, styled Yizhi, was from Jiashan. He topped the palace examination in the forty-fourth year of Wanli and was appointed Hanlin Compiler. Early in the Tianqi reign he retired to care for his mother. Later promoted to Left Middle Assistant, he declined to serve. When Zhao Nanxing of Gaoyi and his townsman Wei Dazhong fell victim to the eunuch faction, and when his Jiangxi classmate Wan Zuan was beaten to death in pursuit of restitution, he threw himself into their defense at the cost of his fortune—and won the Donglin faction's esteem.

帝操切，溫體仁以刻薄佐之，上下囂然。士升因撰《四箴》以獻，大指謂寬以禦眾，簡以臨下，虛以宅心，平以出政，其言深中時病。帝雖優旨報聞，意殊不懌也。

The Emperor ruled with harsh exactitude; Wen Tiren abetted him with pitiless severity, and the court was in an uproar. Shisheng wrote the "Four Admonitions" and submitted them: rule the people with magnanimity, lead subordinates with restraint, keep the heart uncluttered, and govern with even hand. His words struck deep at the maladies of the age. The Emperor acknowledged the memorial graciously on paper but was far from pleased.

無何，武生李琎請括江南富戶，報名輸官，行首實籍沒之法。士升惡之，擬旨下刑部提問，帝不許，同官溫體仁遂改輕擬。士升曰：「此亂本也，當以去就爭之。」乃疏言：「自陳啟新言事，擢置省闥。比來借端幸進者，實繁有徒，然未有誕肆如琎者也。其曰縉紳豪右之家，大者千百萬，中者百十萬，以萬計者不能枚舉。臣不知其所指何地。就江南論之，富家數畝以對，百計者什六七，千計者什三四，萬計者千百中一二耳。江南如此，何況他省。且郡邑有富家，固貧民衣食之源也。地方水旱，有司令出錢粟，均糶濟饑，一遇寇警，令助城堡守禦，富家未嘗無益於國。《周禮》荒政十二，保富居一。今以兵荒歸罪於富家朘削，議括其財而籍沒之，此秦皇不行於巴清、漢武不行於卜式者，而欲行聖明之世乎？今秦、晉、楚、豫已無寧宇，獨江南數郡稍安。此議一倡，無賴亡命相率而與富家為難，不驅天下之民胥為流寇不止。或疑此輩乃流寇心腹，倡橫議以搖人心，豈直借端幸進已哉！」疏入，而琎已下法司提問。帝報曰：「即欲沽名，前疏已足致之，毋庸汲汲。」前疏謂《四箴》也。士升惶懼，引罪乞休，帝即許之。

Before long the military licentiate Li Jin proposed registering Jiangnan's wealthy households, forcing them to declare themselves and pay up, and confiscating their property by name and deed. Shisheng loathed the proposal and drafted a rescript referring Li to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation; the Emperor refused, and his colleague Wen Tiren softened the draft. Shisheng said, "This is the seed of rebellion. I must fight it with my office." He memorialized: "Since Chen Qixin's memorializing won him a place in the inner cabinet, men who seize any pretext to climb have been many of late, but none so reckless as Jin. He claims that among gentry and magnates the greatest hold millions, the middling hundreds of thousands, and households worth ten thousand taels are beyond counting. I do not know what region he has in mind. In Jiangnan alone, if one reckons wealth by land holdings, seven or eight in ten wealthy families count their fortunes in the hundreds, three or four in ten in the thousands, and only one or two in a thousand reach ten thousand. If this is true of Jiangnan, what of the other provinces? Moreover, wealthy families in the counties are the very source of livelihood for the poor. In flood or drought, magistrates call on them for grain and cash to sell at fair rates and feed the hungry; at the first alarm of raiders, they are summoned to help man the walls. The wealthy have never ceased to serve the realm. The Rites of Zhou list twelve famine policies, and protecting the wealthy comes first. To blame war and famine on the rich, strip them bare, seize their wealth and confiscate their estates—measures Qin Shihuang would not have imposed on Ba Qing, nor Han Wudi on Bu Shi—is this what we propose for an age of enlightened rule? Shaanxi, Shanxi, Huguang, and Henan have known no peace; only a few prefectures of Jiangnan remain calm. Let this proposal gain a hearing and ruffians and desperadoes will flock to make war on the wealthy—not long before the whole empire turns to brigandage without end. One might suspect these men are the agents of the bandits themselves, peddling reckless schemes to shake public confidence—is this not far more than mere careerism!" By the time the memorial arrived, Jin had already been sent to the judicial offices for interrogation. The Emperor replied, "If you mean to burnish your reputation, your last memorial was fame enough—there is no need for such zeal. The "previous memorial" meant the "Four Admonitions." Shisheng, shaken, confessed fault and asked to retire; the Emperor granted his request at once.

士升初入閣，體仁頗援之。體仁推轂謝升、唐世濟，士升皆為助。文震孟被擠，士升弗能救，論者咎之。至是乃以讜言去位。

When Shisheng first joined the Grand Secretariat, Tiren had been a strong backer. Tiren promoted Xie Sheng and Tang Shiji, and Shisheng backed them both. When Wen Zhenmeng was forced out, Shisheng could not shield him, and critics held it against him. Only now did he leave office for speaking plain truth to power.

弟士晉，萬歷中由進士除刑部主事。恤刑畿輔，平反者千百人。崇禎時，以山東右布政擢雲南巡撫。築師宗、新化六城，浚金針、白沙等河，平土官岑、儂兩姓之亂，頗著勞績。已而經歷吳鯤化訐其營賄，體仁即擬嚴旨，且屬同官林釬弗泄，欲因弟以逐其兄。命下，而士晉已卒，事乃已。士升，國變後七年乃卒。

His brother Shijin, a jinshi under Wanli, was appointed Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Justice. Reviewing cases in the capital region, he reversed convictions for hundreds upon hundreds. Under Chongzhen he rose from Right Commissioner of Shandong to Grand Coordinator of Yunnan. He built six fortifications at Shizong and Xinhua, dredged the Jin Zhen, Baisha, and other rivers, and quelled rebellions among the native chieftains of the Cen and Nong clans, earning substantial credit. Soon Administrative Assistant Wu Kunhua accused him of bribery; Tiren drafted a harsh edict at once and told his colleague Lin Qian to keep silent, planning to use the brother to destroy the elder Shisheng. By the time the order went out, Shijin was already dead, and the affair ended there. Shisheng died seven years after the dynastic collapse.

成基命，字靖之，大名人，後避宣宗諱，以字行。萬歷三十五年進士。改庶吉士，歷司經局洗馬，署國子監司業事。天啟元年，疏請幸學不先白政府，執政者不悅，令以原官還局，遂請告歸。尋起少詹事。累官禮部右侍郎兼太子賓客，改掌南京翰林院事。六年，魏忠賢以基命為楊漣同門生，落職閑住。

Cheng Jiming, styled Jingzhi, was from Daming; later, to avoid the taboo name of the Xuanzong Emperor, he was known by his style. He took his jinshi degree in the thirty-fifth year of Wanli. Made a Hanlin probationer, he served as Lecturer in the Directorate of Education and acting Vice Director of the Imperial Academy. In Tianqi's first year he memorialized for an imperial academy visit without clearing it with the chief ministers first; the ruling cabinet took offense, sent him back to his original post in the bureau, and he retired. He was soon recalled as Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He rose to Right Vice Minister of Rites and Companion to the Heir Apparent, then was shifted to head the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. In the sixth year Wei Zhongxian, noting that Jiming had studied under the same teacher as Yang Lian, stripped him of office and sent him home.

崇禎元年，起吏部左侍郎。明年十月，京師戒嚴，基命請召還舊輔孫承宗，省一切浮議，仿嘉靖朝故事，增設樞臣，帝並可之。逾月，拜禮部尚書兼東閣大學士，入閣輔政。庶吉士金聲薦僧申甫為將。帝令基命閱其所部兵，極言不可用，後果一戰而敗。袁崇煥、祖大壽入衛，帝召見平臺，執崇煥屬吏，大壽在旁股栗。基命獨叩頭請慎重者再，帝曰：「慎重即因循，何益？」基命復叩頭曰：「敵在城下，非他時比。」帝終不省。大壽至軍，即擁眾東潰，帝憂之甚。基命曰：「令崇煥作手劄招之，當歸命也。」時兵事孔棘，基命數建白，皆允行。及戒嚴，召對文華殿，帝言法紀廢弛，宜力振刷。基命曰：「治道去太甚，譬理亂絲，當覓其緒，驟紛更益擾亂。」帝曰：「慢則糾之以猛，何謂紛更？」其後溫體仁益導帝以操切，天下遂大亂。

In Chongzhen's first year he was recalled as Left Vice Minister of Personnel. The following tenth month, with the capital under martial law, Jiming urged recall of former Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong, an end to empty quarrels, and new military strategist posts as in the Jiajing reign; the Emperor approved all. A month later he was made Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, entering the cabinet as chief minister. Hanlin probationer Jin Sheng recommended the monk Shen Fu for command. The Emperor had Jiming inspect his troops; Jiming declared them utterly useless, and they were indeed routed at the first engagement. Yuan Chonghuan and Zu Dashou arrived to defend the capital; summoned to the Platform, Chonghuan was handed to the legal officers while Dashou shook at his side. Jiming alone kowtowed twice for caution. The Emperor said, "Caution is only foot-dragging—what good does it do?" Jiming kowtowed again. "The enemy is at the gates—this is not like other times." The Emperor would not heed him. Dashou reached his command and at once led his troops in a rout to the east; the Emperor was deeply alarmed. Jiming said, "Have Chonghuan write him a personal letter of summons—he will come back." Military affairs were desperate; Jiming's repeated proposals were all approved and implemented. During the martial-law crisis, called to audience in the Wenhua Hall, the Emperor declared that law and discipline had collapsed and must be restored by force. Jiming said, "Good government trims excess. It is like untangling silk—find the thread and pull gently; sudden wholesale changes only make the knot worse. The Emperor said, "When men grow slack, whip them to attention—what 'wholesale changes' do you mean?" Thereafter Wen Tiren steered the Emperor toward ever-harsher rule, and the empire slid into chaos.

三年二月，工部主事李逢申劾基命欲脫袁崇煥罪，故乞慎重。基命求罷，帝為貶逢申一秩。韓爌、李標相繼去，基命遂為首輔，與周延儒、何如寵、錢象坤共事。以恢復永平敘功，並加太子太保，進文淵閣。至六月，溫體仁、吳宗達入，延儒、體仁最為帝所眷，比而傾基命，基命遂不安其位矣。方崇煥之議罪也，基命病足不入直。錦衣張道浚以委卸劾之，工部主事陸澄源疏繼上。基命奏辯曰：「澄源謂臣當兩首廷推，皆韓爌等欲藉以救崇煥。當廷推時，崇煥方倚任，安知後日之敗，預謀救之。其說祖逢申、道浚，不逐臣不止，乞放歸。」帝慰留之。卒三疏自引去。

In the second month of the third year, Li Fengshen of the Ministry of Works impeached Jiming for seeking to spare Yuan Chonghuan and therefore pleading for caution. Jiming offered to resign; the Emperor demoted Fengshen one rank in Jiming's defense. When Han Kuang and Li Biao left in turn, Jiming became chief Grand Secretary, serving alongside Zhou Yanru, He Ruchong, and Qian Xiangkun. Credited for the recovery of Yongping, he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and promoted to Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. By the sixth month Wen Tiren and Wu Zongda had joined the cabinet; Yanru and Tiren, the Emperor's favorites, worked together to undermine Jiming, who could no longer hold his ground. While Chonghuan's sentence was being debated, Jiming, laid up with a foot ailment, did not attend cabinet duty. Zhang Daojun of the Embroidered Uniform Guard impeached him for dereliction of duty, and Lu Chengyuan of the Ministry of Works added a memorial in turn. Jiming submitted a memorial in his defense: "Chengyuan claims I headed court nomination twice, both times because Han Kuang and his faction meant to exploit the process to save Chonghuan. At the time of those nominations Chonghuan was still in imperial favor; who could have foreseen his later downfall or schemed beforehand to rescue him? His story echoes Fengshen and Daojun, and they will not rest until I am removed; I beg leave to retire." The Emperor reassured him and kept him in office. He eventually submitted three resignations and left office.

基命性寬厚，每事持大體。先是，四城未復，兵部尚書梁廷棟銜總理馬世龍，將更置之，以撼樞輔承宗，基命力調劑，世龍卒收遵、永功。尚書張鳳翔、喬允升、韓繼思相繼下吏，並為申理。副都御史易應昌下詔獄，以基命言，改下法司。御史李長春、給事中杜齊芳坐私書事，將置重典。基命力救，不聽，長跪會極門，言：「祖宗立法，真死罪猶三覆奏，豈有詔獄一訊遽置極刑？」自辰至酉未起。帝意解，得遣戍。逢申初劾基命，後以炮炸下獄擬戍，帝猶以為輕，亦以基命言得如擬。為首輔者數月，帝欲委政延儒，遂為其黨所逐。八年卒於家。贈少保，謚文穆。

Jiming was generous and even-tempered, always keeping sight of the larger picture. Earlier, with the four lost cities still unrestored, Minister of War Liang Tingdong resented overall commander Ma Shilong and planned to replace him to undermine Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong. Jiming worked hard to mediate, and Shilong finally retook Zunhua and Yongping. When Ministers Zhang Fengxiang, Qiao Yunsheng, and Han Jisi were sent before the courts in succession, he pleaded their cases. Vice Censor-in-Chief Yi Yingchang was committed to the imperial prison, but at Jiming's urging his case was moved to the regular courts. Censor Li Changchun and Supervising Secretary Du Qifang were charged in a private-correspondence case and faced severe penalties. Jiming fought to save them in vain, then knelt at the Huaji Gate from dawn, saying, "Our ancestors' law required three reviews even for genuine capital offenses—how can the imperial prison condemn men to death after a single hearing?" He remained kneeling from morning until evening. The Emperor relented, and they were banished instead. Fengshen had first impeached Jiming; later he himself was imprisoned after a cannon accident and sentenced to exile. The Emperor still thought that too lenient, but at Jiming's urging the proposed sentence stood. He served as chief minister for only a few months; the Emperor meant to entrust power to Yanru, and Yanru's faction forced him out. In the eighth year he died at home. He was posthumously made Junior Guardian with the title Wenmu.

何如寵，字康侯，桐城人。父思鰲，知棲霞縣，有德於民。如寵登萬歷二十六年進士，由庶吉士累遷國子監祭酒。天啟時，官禮部右侍郎，協理詹事府。五年正月，廷推左侍郎，魏廣微言如寵與左光鬥同里友善，遂奪職閑住。

He Ruchong, styled Kanghou, was from Tongcheng. His father Si'ao served as magistrate of Qixia County and was beloved by the people. Ruchong took his jinshi in Wanli 26, rose from Hanlin probationer to Chancellor of the Imperial Academy. Under Tianqi he served as Right Vice Minister of Rites and helped administer the Heir Apparent's household. In the first month of the fifth year, when the Left Vice Minister was nominated at court, Wei Guangwei charged that Ruchong was on friendly terms with his fellow townsman Zuo Guangdou; Ruchong was stripped of office and sent home.

崇禎元年，起為吏部右侍郎。未至，拜禮部尚書。宗藩婚嫁命名，例請於朝。貧者為部所稽，自萬歷末至是，積疏累千，有白首不能完家室，骨朽而尚未名者。用如寵請，貧宗得嫁娶者六百余人。大學士劉鴻訓以增敕事，帝怒不測，如寵力為剖析，得免死戍邊。明年冬，京師戒嚴，都人桀黠者，請以私財聚眾助官軍，朝議壯之。如寵力言其叵測，不善用，必啟內釁。帝召問，對如初。帝出片紙示之，則得之偵事，與如寵言合，由是受知。十二月，命與周延儒、錢象坤俱以本官兼東閣大學士，入閣輔政。帝欲族袁崇煥，以如寵申救，免死者三百余口。累加少保、戶部尚書、武英殿大學士。

In Chongzhen's first year he was recalled as Right Vice Minister of Personnel. Before he even arrived, he was appointed Minister of Rites. Imperial clansmen were required by precedent to seek court permission for marriages and the naming of children. Poor clansmen were stalled by the ministry; from late Wanli onward petitions piled up by the thousand. Some grew old unable to marry, others died unnamed. At Ruchong's urging, more than six hundred impoverished clansmen were allowed to marry. Grand Secretary Liu Hongxun provoked the Emperor's wrath over unauthorized edicts; Ruchong argued his case forcefully, and Liu escaped execution and was banished to the border. The following winter, with the capital under martial law, enterprising townsfolk proposed raising private funds and crowds to aid the army; many at court applauded the idea. Ruchong strongly warned that such schemes were unpredictable and dangerous, and would surely spark internal unrest. The Emperor summoned him and questioned him; he gave the same answer. The Emperor showed him a slip of intercepted intelligence that bore out Ruchong's warning, and from then on Ruchong won the Emperor's confidence. In the twelfth month he was appointed, along with Zhou Yanru and Qian Xiangkun, Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion while retaining his existing posts, and entered the cabinet. When the Emperor sought to exterminate Yuan Chonghuan's entire clan, Ruchong's appeal spared more than three hundred lives. He was successively made Junior Guardian, Minister of Revenue, and Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall.

四年春，副延儒總裁會試。事竣，即乞休，疏九上乃允。陛辭，陳惇大明作之道。抵家，復請時觀《通鑒》，察古今理亂忠佞，語甚切。六年，延儒罷政，體仁當為首輔。而延儒憾體仁排己，謀起如寵以抑之，如寵畏體仁，六疏辭，體仁遂為首輔。

In the spring of the fourth year he assisted Yanru in overseeing the metropolitan examination. Once the examination was done, he immediately sought retirement; only after nine memorials was he allowed to leave. Taking leave of the throne, he expounded the Way of earnestly upholding the Ming dynasty. After returning home he wrote again, urging the Emperor to read the Comprehensive Mirror regularly and weigh loyalty against treachery across history; his words were urgent and sincere. In the sixth year Yanru left office, and Tiren was slated to become chief minister. Yanru, resenting Tiren for forcing him out, plotted to recall Ruchong to counter him; Ruchong, afraid of Tiren, declined six times, and Tiren became chief minister.

如寵性孝友。母年九十，色養不衰。操行恬雅，與物無競，難進易退，世尤高之。十四年卒。福王時，贈太保，謚文端。

Ruchong was deeply filial and devoted to his kin. His mother lived to ninety, and he cared for her with undiminished devotion. Gentle and uncontentious, reluctant to seek office yet quick to leave it, he was especially admired by his contemporaries. He died in the fourteenth year. Under the Prince of Fu he was posthumously made Grand Guardian with the title Wenduan.

兄如申，與如寵同舉進士。官戶部郎中，督餉遼東。有清操，軍士請復留二載。終浙江右布政使。

His elder brother Rushen passed the jinshi examination in the same year as Ruchong. He served as a director in the Ministry of Revenue, overseeing grain supplies in Liaodong. Known for his integrity, the troops asked that he be kept on for another two years. He ended his career as Right Provincial Commissioner of Zhejiang.

錢象坤，字弘載，會稽人。萬歷二十九年進士。改庶吉士，授檢討，進諭德，轉庶子。泰昌改元，官少詹事，直講筵。講畢，見中官王安與執政議事，即趨出。安使人延之，堅不入。天啟中，給事中論織造，語侵中貴，詔予杖，閣臣救不得。象坤語葉向高講筵面奏之，乃免。時行立枷法，慘甚，象坤白之帝，多所寬釋。再遷禮部右侍郎兼太子賓客。

Qian Xiangkun, styled Hongzai, was from Kuaiji. He took his jinshi degree in the twenty-ninth year of Wanli. Made a Hanlin probationer, he served as Reviser, rose to Preceptor, and became Junior Tutor. At the beginning of the Taichang reign he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and lectured before the throne. After lecturing he saw the eunuch Wang An consulting with the chief ministers and immediately withdrew. Wang An sent someone to fetch him, but he steadfastly refused to join them. Under Tianqi a supervising secretary criticized imperial silk production in terms that offended senior eunuchs; the Emperor ordered him beaten, and the Grand Secretaries could not intervene. Xiangkun asked Ye Xianggao to raise the matter at the lecture hall; the beating was canceled. The cangue punishment had lately been imposed with terrible severity; Xiangkun appealed to the Emperor and secured the release of many prisoners. He was promoted again to Right Vice Minister of Rites and Companion to the Heir Apparent.

四年七月，向高辭位。御史黃公輔慮象坤柄政，請留向高，詆象坤甚力。象坤遂辭去。六年，廷推南京禮部尚書。魏忠賢私人指為繆昌期黨，落職閑住。

In the seventh month of the fourth year Ye Xianggao resigned. Censor Huang Gongfu, fearing Xiangkun would dominate the government, urged that Ye Xianggao be retained and attacked Xiangkun vigorously. Xiangkun resigned in response. In the sixth year he was nominated Minister of Rites at Nanjing. A follower of Wei Zhongxian denounced him as an ally of Miao Changqi, and he was stripped of office and sent home.

崇禎元年，召拜禮部尚書，協理詹事府。明年冬，都城被兵，條禦敵三策。奉命登陴分守，祁寒不懈。帝覘知，遂與何如寵並相。明年，溫體仁入，象坤其門生，讓而居其下。累加少保，進武英殿。象坤在翰林，與龍錫、謙益、士升並負物望，有「四錢」之目。及體仁相，無附和跡。

In Chongzhen's first year he was recalled as Minister of Rites and helped administer the Heir Apparent's household. The following winter, when enemy troops threatened the capital, he submitted three plans for defense. Ordered to the ramparts to hold a sector of the wall, he kept at his post through fierce cold without flagging. The Emperor took note and appointed him Grand Secretary alongside He Ruchong. The following year Wen Tiren joined the cabinet; Xiangkun, his former student, deferentially ranked below him. He was successively made Junior Guardian and promoted to the Wuying Hall. As a Hanlin scholar Xiangkun, together with Longxi, Qianyi, and Shisheng, enjoyed great public esteem and was counted among the "Four Qians." When Tiren became chief minister, Xiangkun showed no sign of currying favor.

四年，御史水佳允連劾兵部尚書梁廷棟，廷棟不待旨即奏辯。廷棟故出象坤門，佳允疑象坤泄之，語侵象坤。延儒以廷棟嘗發其私人贓罪，惡之，並惡象坤。象坤遂五疏引疾去，廷棟落職。給事中吳執禦、傅朝佑稱象坤難進易退，不當以門生累，不聽。家居十年，無病而卒。贈太保，謚文貞，蔭一子中書舍人。

In the fourth year Censor Shui Jiayun repeatedly impeached Minister of War Liang Tingdong, who defended himself by memorial without waiting for the throne's directive. Tingdong had been Xiangkun's protégé; Jiayun suspected Xiangkun had tipped him off and turned his attack on Xiangkun. Yanru hated Tingdong for having once exposed corruption among his clients, and extended that hatred to Xiangkun. Xiangkun submitted five sick-leave memorials and resigned; Tingdong was dismissed. Supervising Secretaries Wu Zhiyu and Fu Chaoyou argued that Xiangkun, who was slow to seek office and quick to leave it, should not be punished for a protégé's conduct; the Emperor would not listen. After ten years at home he died without ever having been ill. He was posthumously made Grand Guardian with the title Wenzhen, and one son received the hereditary privilege of Secretariat Drafter.

徐光啟，字子先，上海人。萬歷二十五年舉鄉試第一，又七年成進士。由庶吉士歷贊善。從西洋人利瑪竇學天文、歷算、火器，盡其術。遂遍習兵機、屯田、鹽策、水利諸書。

Xu Guangqi, styled Zixian, was from Shanghai. He placed first in the provincial exams in Wanli 25 and took his jinshi seven years later. After serving as a Hanlin probationer he rose to Supporter in the Heir Apparent's household. He studied astronomy, calendrical science, and firearms with the Westerner Matteo Ricci and mastered Ricci's learning. He went on to study military affairs, garrison agriculture, salt administration, hydraulic works, and related subjects in depth.

楊鎬四路喪師，京師大震。累疏請練兵自效，神宗壯之，超擢少詹事兼河南道御史。練兵通州，列上十議。時遼事方急，不能如所請。光啟疏爭，乃稍給以民兵戎械。

When Yang Hao lost his armies on four fronts, the capital was convulsed with alarm. He repeatedly petitioned to train troops and serve in person; the Wanli Emperor was impressed and abruptly promoted him to Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and concurrent censor of the Henan circuit. He drilled troops at Tongzhou and submitted ten reform proposals. Liaodong was in crisis, and the court could not grant what he asked. Guangqi protested by memorial, and the court finally granted him some militia arms and equipment.

未幾，熹宗即位。光啟誌不得展，請裁去，不聽。既而以疾歸。遼陽破，召起之。還朝，力請多鑄西洋大炮，以資城守。帝善其言。方議用，而光啟與兵部尚書崔景榮議不合，御史邱兆麟劾之，復移疾歸。天啟三年起故官，旋擢禮部右侍郎。五年，魏忠賢黨智鋌劾之，落職閑住。

Before long the Tianqi Emperor ascended the throne. Unable to carry out his plans, Guangqi asked that his post be abolished, but the Emperor refused. He soon retired on grounds of illness. After Liaoyang fell he was recalled to office. Back at court, he strongly urged casting large numbers of Western-style cannons for city defense. The Emperor approved the proposal. While adoption was under discussion, Guangqi clashed with Minister of War Cui Jingrong; Censor Qiu Zhaolin impeached him, and he retired again on grounds of illness. In Tianqi 3 he was restored to his former post and soon promoted to Right Vice Minister of Rites. In the fifth year a follower of Wei Zhongxian named Zhi Ting impeached him, and he was stripped of office and sent home.

崇禎元年召還，復申練兵之說。未幾，以左侍郎理部事。帝憂國用不足，敕廷臣獻屯鹽善策。光啟言屯政在乎墾荒，鹽政在嚴禁私販。帝褒納之，擢本部尚書。時帝以日食失驗，欲罪臺官。光啟言：「臺官測候本郭守敬法。元時嘗當食不食，守敬且爾，無怪臺官之失占。臣聞歷久必差，宜及時修正。」帝從其言，詔西洋人龍華民、鄧玉函、羅雅谷等推算歷法，光啟為監督。

Recalled in Chongzhen's first year, he again pressed his plan for training troops. Before long he was put in charge of the ministry as Left Vice Minister. Worried about insufficient state revenue, the Emperor ordered court officials to propose sound policies on military farming and the salt monopoly. Guangqi argued that military colonies depended on reclaiming wasteland, and salt policy on strictly prohibiting illicit trade. The Emperor praised his advice and adopted it, elevating him to Minister of Rites. Around this time a predicted solar eclipse failed to match observation, and the Emperor wanted to punish the officials of the Astronomic Bureau. Guangqi said, "The Bureau's calculations follow Guo Shoujing's methods. Even in Yuan times eclipses sometimes failed to appear when predicted; even Guo Shoujing's system had such errors—there is nothing surprising in the Bureau's mistake. I have heard that calendars inevitably drift with time; they should be revised promptly. The Emperor agreed and ordered the Westerners Long Hua Min, Deng Yuhan, and Luo Yagu to work out a new calendar, with Guangqi overseeing the project.

四年春正月，光啟進《日躔歷指》一卷、《測天約說》二卷、《大測》二卷、《日躔表》二卷、《割圜八線表》六卷、《黃道升度》七卷、《黃赤距度表》一卷、《通率表》一卷。是冬十月辛丑朔日食，復上測候四說。其辯時差裏差之法，最為詳密。

In the first month of spring in the fourth year, Guangqi submitted eight works: one juan of A Calendrical Guide to Solar Motion; two of Essential Notes on Heavenly Measurement; two of The Great Survey; two of Tables of Solar Motion; six of Tables of the Eight Lines for Circle Division; seven of Ascension along the Yellow Path; one of Tables of Ecliptic and Equatorial Distances; and one of Tables of General Ratios. That winter, on the first day of the tenth month (xinchou), a solar eclipse occurred, and he submitted four additional treatises on observation and calculation. His exposition of time difference and parallax was the most thorough and precise of all.

五年五月，以本官兼東閣大學士，入參機務，與鄭以偉並命。尋加太子太保，進文淵閣。光啟雅負經濟才，有誌用世。及柄用，年已老，值周延儒、溫體仁專政，不能有所建白。明年十月卒。贈少保。

In the fifth month of the fifth year he was made Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion while retaining his ministry post, entered the inner councils, and was appointed at the same time as Zheng Yiwei. He was soon further appointed Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and promoted to the Wenyuan Pavilion. Guangqi had long been known for practical statesmanship and a desire to serve the realm. By the time he wielded real influence he was already old; with Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren in control, he was unable to put forward any lasting reforms. He died the following tenth month. He was posthumously honored as Junior Guardian.

鄭以偉，字子器，上饒人。萬歷二十九年進士。改庶吉士，授檢討，累遷少詹事。泰昌元年，官禮部右侍郎。天啟元年，光宗祔廟，當祧憲宗，太常少卿洪文衡以睿宗不當入廟，請祧奉玉芝宮，以偉不可而止，論者卒是文衡。尋以左侍郎協理詹事府。四年，以偉直講筵，與珰忤，上疏告歸。崇禎二年，召拜禮部尚書。久之，與光啟並相，再辭，不允。以偉修潔自好，書過目不忘，文章奧博，而票擬非其所長。嘗曰：「吾富於萬卷，窘於數行，乃為後進所藐。」章疏中有「何況」二字，誤以為人名也，擬旨提問，帝駁改始悟。自是詞臣為帝輕，遂有館員須歷推知之諭，而閣臣不專用翰林矣。以偉累乞休，不允。明年六月，卒官，贈太子太保。御史言光啟、以偉相繼沒，蓋棺之日，囊無余貲，請優恤以愧貪墨者。帝納之，乃謚光啟文定，以偉文恪。

Zheng Yiwei, styled Ziqi, was a native of Shangrao. He passed the jinshi examination in Wanli 29. Made a Hanlin bachelor, he was appointed reviser and rose step by step to Junior Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent. In Taichang 1 he was Right Vice Minister of Rites. In Tianqi 1, when the late Emperor Guangzong was installed in the ancestral temple, Emperor Xianzong was to be removed to make room. Vice Director Hong Wenheng of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices argued that Emperor Ruizong ought not remain in the temple and proposed shifting his worship to Yuzhi Palace; Yiwei blocked the proposal and the matter ended—but commentators ultimately sided with Wenheng. He was soon made Left Vice Minister and put in charge of the Household of the Heir Apparent. In the fourth year his blunt conduct at the imperial lectures brought him into conflict with the eunuch faction; he submitted a memorial asking to retire. In Chongzhen 2 he was recalled and appointed Minister of Rites. Before long he was made grand secretary alongside Guangqi; he declined twice, but the Emperor would not accept. Yiwei was fastidious and morally self-disciplined; he never forgot a book once read; his essays were learned and deep—but drafting imperial rescripts was not his forte. He once said, "I am rich in ten thousand volumes but helpless before a few lines of draft—and so the younger officials look down on me. In one memorial he misread the phrase "how much more so" (hekuang) as someone's name and drafted a rescript ordering that person brought in for questioning; only when the Emperor sent it back for revision did he realize his mistake. From then on the literary Hanlin were held lightly by the Emperor; an edict followed that academy officials must first serve as local magistrates, and the Grand Secretariat no longer drew exclusively from the Hanlin. Yiwei repeatedly asked to retire, but was refused each time. He died in office the following sixth month and was posthumously honored as Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. A censor noted that Guangqi and Yiwei had died in quick succession with empty purses on the day their coffins were sealed, and asked that they be handsomely honored so as to shame the corrupt. The Emperor agreed, posthumously naming Guangqi Wendīng and Yiwei Wenkè.

其後二年，同安林釬為大學士，未半歲而卒。亦有言其清者，得謚文穆。釬，字實甫，萬歷四十四年殿試第三人，授編修。天啟時，任國子司業。監生陸萬齡請建魏忠賢祠於太學旁，具簿醵金，強釬為倡。釬援筆塗抹，即夕掛冠欞星門徑歸，忠賢矯旨削其籍。崇禎改元，起少詹事。九年由禮部侍郎入閣，有謹願誠恪之稱。

Two years later Lin Qian of Tong'an was made grand secretary, but died within half a year. Reports of his integrity earned him the posthumous title Wenmu. Qian, styled Shifu, placed third in the palace examination of Wanli 44 and was appointed a compiler. During the Tianqi reign he served as Vice Director of the Imperial Academy. An academy student named Lu Wanling proposed building a shrine to Wei Zhongxian beside the Imperial Academy, drew up a subscription register, and tried to bully Qian into leading the contributions. Qian scratched out the entry, that very evening hung up his official cap at the Gathering Stars Gate and went straight home; Zhongxian forged an edict striking him from the rolls. At the start of the Chongzhen reign he was recalled as Junior Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent. In the ninth year he entered the Grand Secretariat from the post of Vice Minister of Rites and was known for diligence, sincerity, and integrity.

久之，帝念光啟博學強識，索其家遣書。子驥入謝，進《農政全書》六十卷。詔令有司刊布，加贈太保，其孫為中書舍人。

Long afterward the Emperor remembered Guangqi's erudition and retentive mind and asked his family for his surviving manuscripts. His son Ji came to court to give thanks and presented the sixty-juan Complete Treatise on Agriculture. The court ordered the work published, further posthumously honored Guangqi as Grand Guardian, and appointed his grandson a Secretariat Drafter.

文震孟，字文起，吳縣人，待詔征明曾孫也。祖國子博士彭，父衛輝同知元發，並有名行。震孟弱冠以《春秋》舉於鄉，十赴會試。至天啟二年，殿試第一，授修撰。

Wen Zhenmeng, styled Wenqi, was from Wuxian and was the great-grandson of the celebrated artist Wen Zhengming. His grandfather Peng had been a Doctor of the Imperial Academy; his father Yuanfa had served as Vice Prefect of Weihui—both men were noted for their character. Zhenmeng passed the provincial examination in the Spring and Autumn Annals while still young and sat the metropolitan examination ten times. At last in Tianqi 2 he came in first in the palace examination and was appointed Senior Compiler.

時魏忠賢漸用事，外廷應之，數斥逐大臣。震孟憤，於是冬十月上《勤政講學疏》，言：「今四方多故，無歲不蹙地陷城，覆軍殺將，乃大小臣工臥薪嘗膽之日。而因循粉飾，將使祖宗天下日銷月削。非陛下大破常格，鼓舞豪傑心，天下事未知所終也。陛下昧爽臨朝，寒暑靡輟，政非不勤，然鴻臚引奏，跪拜起立，如傀儡登場已耳。請按祖宗制，唱六部六科，則六部六科以次白事，糾彈敷奏，陛下與輔弼大臣面裁決焉。則聖智日益明習，而百執事各有奮心。若僅揭帖一紙，長跪一諾，北面一揖，安取此鴛行豸繡、橫玉腰金者為？經筵日講，臨禦有期，學非不講，然侍臣進讀，鋪敘文辭，如蒙師誦說已耳。祖宗之朝，君臣相對，如家人父子。咨訪軍國重事，閭閻隱微，情形畢照，奸詐無所藏，左右近習亦無緣蒙蔽。若僅尊嚴如神，上下拱手，經傳典謨徒循故事，安取此正笏垂紳、展書簪筆者為？且陛下既與群臣不洽，朝夕侍禦不越中涓之輩，豈知帝王宏遠規模？於是危如山海，而閣臣一出，莫挽偷安之習；慘如黔圍，而撫臣坐視，不聞嚴譴之施。近日舉動，尤可異者。鄒元標去位，馮從吾杜門，首揆冢宰亦相率求退。空人國以營私窟，幾似濁流之投；詈道學以逐名賢，有甚偽學之禁。唐、宋末季，可為前鑒。」疏入，忠賢屏不即奏。乘帝觀劇，摘疏中「傀儡登場」語，謂比帝於偶人，不殺無以示天下，帝頷之。一日，講筵畢，忠賢傳旨，廷杖震孟八十。首輔葉向高在告，次輔韓爌力爭。會庶吉士鄭鄤疏復入，內批俱貶秩調外。言官交章論救，不納。震孟亦不赴調而歸。六年冬，太倉進士顧同寅、生員孫文豸坐以詩悼惜熊廷弼，為兵馬司緝獲。御史門克新指為妖言，波及震孟，與編修陳仁錫、庶吉士鄭鄤並斥為民。

By then Wei Zhongxian was steadily amassing power, the outer court falling in line, and senior ministers were being driven out one after another. Indignant, Zhenmeng that winter submitted his Memorial on Diligent Rule and Lecturing, writing, "The realm is beset on every side; year after year territory is lost and cities fall, armies are wiped out and commanders killed—this is when every official, high and low, must brace himself as if sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall. Yet if we go on dawdling and papering things over, the empire our ancestors built will erode day by day and month by month. Unless Your Majesty boldly breaks with routine and fires the hearts of the able, there is no telling where the realm will end up. Your Majesty holds court at dawn through every season—no one can call you idle. Yet when the Court of State Ceremonial leads memorials forward and officials kneel and rise in turn, it is no more than puppets treading a stage. I ask that we restore the ancestral practice of calling the six ministries and six censorial offices in turn to report business, impeach, and petition, so that Your Majesty and the grand secretaries may decide matters face to face. Your wisdom would grow sharper by the day, and every official would find renewed purpose. If all that is required is to submit a slip, kneel long, murmur assent, and bow toward the throne, what need is there for officials bearing mandarin-duck insignia, unicorn badges, jade pendants, and gold belts? The daily classics lectures are held on schedule and learning is not neglected—yet the lecturing officials merely recite fine phrases like village schoolmasters droning through a text. In the days of our forefathers emperor and minister spoke as freely as father and son within a household. They consulted on weighty matters of war and state and on hidden troubles among the people; nothing escaped view, fraud had nowhere to hide, and even those closest to the throne could not mislead him. If the throne is remote as a god, courtesies are exchanged in silence, and the classics are recited as empty ritual, what purpose is served by scholars holding their tablets, robes falling in order, books spread open, and brushes tucked in their caps? Since Your Majesty is estranged from his ministers and day and night sees only palace eunuchs, how can you grasp the emperor's wider vision? Peril mounts like mountains and seas, yet when a grand secretary steps in, no one can break the habit of complacency; Disaster spreads like the siege of Qian, yet provincial governors sit idle and no stern punishment follows. Recent conduct has been especially alarming. Zou Yuanbiao has left office, Feng Congwu has shut his door, and even the chief grand secretary and chief minister have one after another asked to resign. The state is emptied so private factions may build their nests—almost as if filth were being poured into the stream; Abusing the Learning of the Way to purge worthy men—a prohibition worse than the "False Learning" purge of old. The late Tang and Song dynasties stand as warnings before us. When the memorial arrived, Zhongxian kept it from the Emperor and did not present it at once. Waiting until the Emperor was watching a play, he seized on the phrase "puppets taking the stage," claiming Zhenmeng had compared the Emperor to wooden dolls and saying he must die to give the realm an example; the Emperor nodded. One day, as the lecture session ended, Zhongxian relayed an order that Zhenmeng be beaten eighty strokes in court. Chief Grand Secretary Ye Xianggao was on leave, but Secondary Grand Secretary Han Kuang protested fiercely. At the same time a memorial from Hanlin bachelor Zheng Man reached the throne; an inner rescript demoted both men and transferred them to posts outside the capital. Censors petitioned one after another on their behalf, but the Emperor would not listen. Zhenmeng likewise refused his assignment and went home. That winter in the sixth year the Taicang jinshi Gu Tongyin and student Sun Wenchi were seized by the city patrol for poems lamenting Xiong Tingbi's fate. Censor Men Kexin denounced the poems as seditious talk; the case implicated Zhenmeng, and he was stripped of rank along with Compiler Chen Renxi and Bachelor Zheng Man.

崇禎元年以侍讀召。改左中允，充日講官。三年春，輔臣定逆案者相繼去國，忠賢遺黨王永光輩日乘機報復，震孟抗疏糾之。帝方眷永光，不報。震孟尋進左諭德，掌司經局，直講如故。五月，復上疏曰：「群小合謀，欲借邊才翻逆案。天下有無才誤事之君子，必無懷忠報國之小人。今有平生無恥，慘殺名賢之呂純如，且藉奧援思辯雪。永光為六卿長，假竊威福，倒置用舍，無事不專而濟以狠，發念必欺而飾以樸，以年例大典而變亂祖制，以考選盛舉而擯斥清才。舉朝震恐，莫敢訟言。臣下雷同，豈國之福！」帝令指實再奏。震孟言：「殺名賢者，故吏部郎周順昌。年例則抑吏科都給事中陳良訓，考選則擯中書舍人陳士奇、潘有功是也。」永光窘甚，密結大奄王永祚謂士奇出姚希孟門，震孟，希孟舅也。帝心疑之。永光辯疏得溫旨，而責震孟任情牽詆。然群小翻案之謀亦由是中沮。

In Chongzhen 1 he was recalled as Lecturer-in-Waiting. He was made Left Messenger and served as a daily lecturer at court. In the spring of the third year the ministers who had settled Wei Zhongxian's treason case were leaving office one after another; survivors of Zhongxian's faction such as Wang Yongguang were daily seizing chances for revenge, and Zhenmeng memorialized against them. The Emperor was still favoring Yongguang, and no answer came. Zhenmeng was soon promoted to Left Instructor, put in charge of the Classics Bureau, and continued lecturing as before. In the fifth month he memorialized again: "Petty men are conspiring to use frontier appointments to reopen the treason cases. The realm has no shortage of decent men who lack talent and blunder—but it has no petty men who truly serve the state in loyalty. Now there is Lu Chunru—shameless his whole life, who had a celebrated worthy brutally killed—and he even seeks rehabilitation through court connections. Yongguang, as senior among the six ministers, usurped authority at every turn, reversing merit and dismissal as he pleased—arrogant in all things and ruthless in support, cunning in every scheme yet cloaking himself in plain virtue, using the annual review to upend ancestral practice and the civil-service examinations to shut out men of merit. The whole court stood in dread and no one dared speak out. When every official parrots the same line, what blessing is that for the state? The Emperor ordered him to name names and submit another memorial with specifics. Zhenmeng replied, "The man who had the worthy killed was the late Director Zhou Shunchang of the Ministry of Personnel. The annual review case was the suppression of Chief Supervising Secretary Chen Liangxun of the Personnel Office; the examination case was the rejection of Secretariat Drafters Chen Shiji and Pan Yougong. Mortified, Yongguang secretly colluded with the senior eunuch Wang Yongzuo, claiming Shiji had been a protégé of Yao Ximeng—and Zhenmeng was Ximeng's uncle. The Emperor grew suspicious. Yongguang's defense received a soothing imperial reply, while Zhenmeng was rebuked for reckless accusations. Still, the petty faction's plan to reopen the treason cases was stopped in its tracks.

震孟在講筵，最嚴正。時大臣數逮系，震孟講《魯論》「君使臣以禮」一章，反覆規諷，帝即降旨出尚書喬允升、侍郎胡世賞於獄。帝嘗足加於膝，適講《五子之歌》，至「為人上者，奈何不敬」，以目視帝足，帝即袖掩之，徐為引下。時稱「真講官」。既忤權臣，欲避去。出封益府，便道歸，遂不復出。

At the lecture sessions Zhenmeng was stern and upright above all others. When several senior ministers were being arrested one after another, Zhenmeng lectured on the Analects passage "If the ruler treats his ministers with propriety," admonishing the Emperor again and again by indirection; the Emperor promptly ordered Ministers Qiao Yunsheng and Vice Minister Hu Shishang released from prison. Once, as the Emperor rested his foot on his knee, Zhenmeng was lecturing on the Songs of the Five Sons and came to the line, "Those who stand above others—how can they fail to be reverent?" He glanced at the Emperor's foot; the Emperor at once hid it in his sleeve and slowly withdrew it. People of the day called him a lecturer in the true sense of the word. After offending a powerful minister, he sought to withdraw from office. Sent on duty to the Yi princely establishment, he took the opportunity to return home and never entered service again.

五年，即家擢右庶子。久之，進少詹事。初，天啟時，詔修《光宗實錄》，禮部侍郎周炳謨載神宗時儲位臲卼及「妖書」、「梃擊」諸事，直筆無所阿。其後忠賢盜柄，御史石三畏劾削炳謨職。忠賢使其黨重修，是非倒置。震孟摘尤謬者數條，疏請改正。帝特禦平臺，召廷臣面議，卒為溫體仁、王應熊所沮。

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, he was promoted to Right Sub-Expositor while still at home. In time he was promoted to Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Earlier, in the Tianqi reign, the court ordered the compilation of the Veritable Records of Emperor Guangzong. Vice Minister of Rites Zhou Bingmo recorded the peril surrounding the heir apparent under Emperor Shenzong, along with the Demonic Book and Club Assault affairs, writing truthfully without deferring to anyone. Later, after Wei Zhongxian seized power, Censor Shi Sanwei impeached Zhou Bingmo and had him removed from office. Zhongxian had his clique revise the records, reversing right and wrong. Zhenmeng singled out several of the worst errors and submitted a memorial asking that they be corrected. The Emperor personally presided at the Level Platform and summoned the court to debate the matter face to face, but in the end Wen Tiren and Wang Yingxiong blocked the proposal.

八年正月，賊犯鳳陽皇陵。震孟歷陳致亂之源，因言：「當事諸臣，不能憂國奉公，一統之朝，強分畛域，加膝墜淵，總由恩怨。數年來，振綱肅紀者何事，推賢用能者何人，安內攘外者何道，富國強兵者何策？陛下宜奮然一怒，發哀痛之詔，按失律之誅，正誤國之罪，行撫綏之實政，寬閭閻之積逋。先收人心以遏寇盜，徐議浚財之源，毋徒竭澤而漁。盡斥患得患失之鄙夫，廣集群策群力以定亂，國事庶有瘳乎！」帝優旨報之，然亦不能盡行也。

In the first month of the eighth year, rebels attacked the imperial tombs at Fengyang. Zhenmeng traced in detail the roots of the chaos and said: "Those who hold office cannot put the state's interests first or serve selflessly. In a court that ought to be one, they carve out rival camps, raising favorites to their knees and casting enemies into the abyss—all of it driven by private resentment and patronage. For years now, what have they done to restore discipline? Whom have they raised up for merit and ability? What means have they used to secure the interior and drive off foreign threats? What strategy have they pursued to make the state rich and the army strong? Your Majesty should summon a righteous wrath, proclaim your grief and remorse, punish those who failed in duty, hold accountable those who have misled the state, enact policies that genuinely bring order to the people, and forgive the long-standing tax debts of the common folk. First win back the people's loyalty to check rebellion; only then discuss how to reopen the springs of revenue—not simply drain the marshes dry for a single catch. Expel every petty official who clings to rank out of fear of loss; rally every counsel and every strength to quell the chaos—then perhaps the state may yet recover! The Emperor responded with a gracious edict, yet he could not put the recommendations fully into practice.

故事，講筵不列《春秋》。帝以有裨治亂，令擇人進講。震孟，《春秋》名家，為體仁所忌，隱不舉。次輔錢士升指及之，體仁佯驚曰：「幾失此人！」遂以其名上。及進講，果稱帝旨。

By established practice, the Spring and Autumn Annals were not part of the imperial lecture program. The Emperor, believing it useful for understanding order and chaos, ordered suitable lecturers chosen to expound it. Zhenmeng was a celebrated scholar of the Spring and Autumn Annals, but Tiren envied him and quietly omitted his name. Second Assistant Qian Shisheng mentioned him, whereupon Tiren feigned astonishment and said, "We nearly overlooked this man! He then forwarded Zhenmeng's name to the throne. When Zhenmeng delivered his lectures, they proved exactly what the Emperor had hoped to hear.

六月，帝將增置閣臣，召廷臣數十人，試以票擬。震孟引疾不入，體仁方在告。七月，帝特擢震孟禮部左侍郎兼東閣大學士，入閣預政。兩疏固辭，不許。閣臣被命，即投刺司禮大奄，兼致儀狀，震孟獨否。掌司禮者曹化淳，故屬王安從奄，雅慕震孟，令人輾轉道意，卒不往。震孟既入直，體仁每擬旨必商之，有所改必從，喜謂人曰：「溫公虛懷，何雲奸也？」同官何吾騶曰：「此人機深，詎可輕信？」越十余日，體仁窺其疏，所擬不當，輒令改，不從，則徑抹去。震孟大慍，以諸疏擲體仁前，體仁亦不顧。

In the sixth month the Emperor planned to add Grand Secretaries and summoned several dozen ministers to a test in drafting memorial responses. Zhenmeng pleaded illness and stayed away; Tiren happened to be on sick leave. In the seventh month the Emperor specially promoted Zhenmeng to Left Vice Minister of Rites and concurrently Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, bringing him into the cabinet. He twice memorialized a firm refusal, but the Emperor would not accept it. Upon appointment, Grand Secretaries customarily paid courtesy calls on the Director of Ceremonial eunuchs and sent formal gifts; Zhenmeng alone refused. The head of the Directorate of Ceremonial was Cao Huachun, once a follower of the eunuch Wang An, who had long admired Zhenmeng. Through intermediaries Cao repeatedly expressed his wish to meet; Zhenmeng never went. Once in office, Zhenmeng found that whenever Tiren drafted an edict he consulted him first and always accepted his revisions. Delighted, Zhenmeng told others, "Master Wen is open-minded—how can anyone call him a schemer? His colleague He Wuzao said, "That man is deeply cunning—how can you trust him so readily? A little over ten days later Tiren began scrutinizing his drafts. Whenever he found wording he disliked, he ordered changes; if Zhenmeng refused, Tiren simply struck the passage out. Furious, Zhenmeng flung the memorials down before Tiren, who ignored him.

都給事中許譽卿者，故劾忠賢有聲，震孟及吾騶欲用為南京太常卿。體仁忌譽卿伉直，諷吏部尚書謝升劾其與福建布政使申紹芳營求美官。體仁擬以貶謫，度帝欲重擬必發改，已而果然。遂擬斥譽卿為民，紹芳提問。震孟爭之不得，咈然曰：「科道為民，是天下極榮事，賴公玉成之。」體仁遽以聞。帝果怒，責吾騶、震孟徇私撓亂。吾騶罷，震孟落職閑住。

Chief Supervising Secretary Xu Yuqing had gained renown for impeaching Wei Zhongxian. Zhenmeng and He Wuzao wanted to appoint him Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in Nanjing. Tiren resented Yuqing's blunt integrity and prompted Minister of Personnel Xie Sheng to impeach him for conspiring with Fujian Administrative Commissioner Shen Shaofang to procure a lucrative post. Tiren drafted a reduced punishment, calculating that if the Emperor wanted something harsher he would send the draft back for revision—and that is exactly what happened. He then drafted the dismissal of Yuqing to commoner status and the summoning of Shaofang for investigation. Zhenmeng protested in vain, then said bitterly, "For a censor to be stripped to commoner rank is the highest honor in the realm—thanks to you for making it happen. Tiren at once reported the remark to the throne. The Emperor was indeed furious and rebuked He Wuzao and Zhenmeng for favoritism and obstruction. He Wuzao was dismissed; Zhenmeng was stripped of his post and sent home.

方震孟之拜命也，即有旨撤鎮守中官。及次輔王應熊之去，忌者謂震孟為之。由是有譖其居功者，帝意遂移。震孟剛方貞介，有古大臣風，惜三月而斥，未竟其用。

No sooner had Zhenmeng taken office than an edict went out recalling the palace eunuchs serving as military overseers. When Second Assistant Wang Yingxiong left office, Zhenmeng's enemies claimed he had orchestrated it. Slander then spread that Zhenmeng had taken credit for the change, and the Emperor's regard turned against him. Zhenmeng was upright, principled, and incorruptible, with the air of the great ministers of old; yet after only three months he was dismissed and his abilities were never fully employed.

歸半歲，會甥姚希孟卒，哭之慟，亦卒。廷臣請恤，不允。十二年，詔復故官。十五年，贈禮部尚書，賜祭葬，官一子。福王時，追謚文肅。二子秉、乘。乘遭國變，死於難。

Six months after returning home, his nephew Yao Ximu died. Zhenmeng mourned him so bitterly that he too fell ill and died. The court requested posthumous honors for him, but the Emperor refused. In the twelfth year, an edict restored his former rank. In the fifteenth year he was posthumously made Minister of Rites, granted state funeral rites, and one son received an official appointment. Under the Prince of Fu he was posthumously granted the temple name Wensu. He had two sons, Bing and Cheng. Cheng perished in the cataclysm that befell the dynasty.

周炳謨，子仲覲，無錫人。父子義，嘉靖中庶吉士，萬歷中仕至吏部侍郎，卒謚文恪。炳謨，萬歷三十二年進士。當重修《光宗實錄》時，炳謨已先卒。崇禎初，贈禮部尚書，謚文簡。父子皆以學行稱於世。

Zhou Bingmo, styled Zhongjing, was a native of Wuxi. His father Zhou Ziyi, a presented scholar under Jiajing, rose under Wanli to Vice Minister of Personnel and was posthumously titled Wenge. Bingmo passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-second year of Wanli. By the time the Veritable Records of Emperor Guangzong were being revised, Bingmo had already died. At the outset of Chongzhen he was posthumously made Minister of Rites with the posthumous title Wenjian. Both father and son were celebrated throughout the realm for scholarship and character.

蔣德璟，字申葆，晉江人。父光彥，江西副使。德璟，天啟二年進士。改庶吉士，授編修。

Jiang Dejing, styled Shenbao, was a native of Jinjiang. His father Jiang Guangyan served as Vice Commissioner of Jiangxi. Dejing passed the jinshi examination in the second year of Tianqi. He entered the Hanlin as a presented scholar and was appointed Compiler.

崇禎時，由侍讀歷遷少詹事，條奏救荒事宜。尋擢禮部右侍郎。時議限民田，德璟言：「民田不可奪，而足食莫如貴粟。北平、山、陜、江北諸處，宜聽民開墾，及課種桑棗，修農田水利。府縣官考滿，以是為殿最。至常平義倉，歲輸本色，依令甲行之足矣。」十四年春，楊嗣昌卒於軍，命九卿議罪。德璟議曰：「嗣昌倡聚斂之議，加剿餉、練餉，致天下民窮財盡，胥為盜，又匿失事，飾首功。宜按仇鸞事，追正其罪。」不從。

Under Chongzhen he rose from Reader-in-Waiting to Junior Tutor and submitted detailed proposals for famine relief. He was soon promoted to Right Vice Minister of Rites. When the court debated capping private landholdings, Dejing argued: "Private land must not be confiscated; the surest way to ensure food is to keep grain prices high. In Beiping, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and northern Jiangsu, people should be encouraged to reclaim wasteland, plant mulberry and jujube, and repair irrigation works. When prefects and magistrates came up for performance review, these measures should weigh most heavily in their ratings. As for the Ever-Normal and Charity Granaries, delivering grain in kind each year as regulations require would suffice. In the spring of the fourteenth year Yang Sichang died in the field; the Emperor ordered the Nine Ministers to determine what penalties applied. Dejing's finding read: "Sichang championed ruthless taxation, imposing the bandit-suppression and training surtaxes until the people were ruined and the treasury empty and men turned to banditry; he also hid defeats and invented victory reports. His case should be handled like Qiu Luan's, with his crimes formally corrected posthumously. The Emperor did not accept the recommendation.

十五年二月，耕耤禮成，請召還原任侍郎陳子壯、祭酒倪元璐等，帝皆錄用。六月，廷推閣臣，首德璟。入對，言邊臣須久任，薊督半載更五人，事將益廢弛。帝曰：「不稱當更。」對曰：「與其更於後，曷若慎於初。」帝問：「天變何由弭？」對曰：「莫如拯百姓。近加遼餉千萬，練餉七百萬，民何以堪！祖制，三協止一督、一撫、一總兵，今增二督、三撫、六總兵，又設副將數十人，權不統一，何由制勝！」帝頷之。首輔周延儒嘗薦德璟淵博，可備顧問，文體華贍，宜用之代言。遂擢德璟及黃景昉、吳甡為禮部尚書兼東閣大學士，同入直。延儒、甡各樹門戶，德璟無所比。性鯁直，黃道周召用，劉宗周免罪，德璟之力居多。開封久被圍，自請馳督諸將戰，優詔不允。

In the second month of the fifteenth year, after the spring plowing ceremony, he requested the recall of former Vice Minister Chen Zizhuang, Sacrificial Official Ni Yuanlu, and others; the Emperor approved and reinstated them all. In the sixth month, when Grand Secretaries were nominated, Dejing topped the list. At his audience he argued that border commanders needed long tenures: in half a year Ji Province had seen five governors, and affairs would only grow more neglected. The Emperor said, "If they are incompetent, replace them. He replied, "Better to choose carefully from the first than to keep replacing them later. The Emperor asked, "How can these heavenly portents be abated? He answered, "There is no better way than to rescue the common people. The Liaodong levy has lately been raised by ten million, the training levy by seven million—how can the people endure it! Under ancestral practice the three defense zones had one governor, one commissioner, and one commander-in-chief; now two governors, three commissioners, and six commanders-in-chief have been added, with dozens of deputy generals—command is fragmented; how can we prevail! The Emperor nodded in agreement. Chief Assistant Zhou Yanru had recommended Dejing as deeply learned and fit for counsel, with a polished style suited to drafting imperial pronouncements. Dejing was accordingly promoted with Huang Jingfang and Wu Shen to Minister of Rites and concurrently Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, and all three entered the inner cabinet. Yanru and Wu Shen each cultivated their own followings; Dejing attached himself to neither. Blunt and upright by nature, he did more than anyone to bring Huang Daozhou back to office and secure leniency for Liu Zongzhou. When Kaifeng was under long siege he asked leave to ride out and direct the generals in person, but the Emperor declined in a gracious edict.

明年，進《禦覽備邊冊》，凡九邊十六鎮新舊兵食之數，及屯、鹽、民運、漕糧、馬價悉誌焉。已，進《諸邊撫賞冊》及《禦覽簡明冊》。帝深嘉之。諸邊士馬報戶部者，浮兵部過半，耗糧居多，而屯田、鹽引、民運，每鎮至數十百萬，一聽之邊臣。天津海道輸薊、遼歲米豆三百萬，惟倉場督臣及天津撫臣出入，部中皆不稽核。德璟語部臣，合部運津運、各邊民運、屯、鹽，通為計畫，餉額可足，而加派之餉可裁。因復條十事以責部臣，然卒不能盡厘也。

The following year he submitted the Imperial Review Frontier Defense Register, documenting for all nine borders and sixteen garrisons the old and new figures for troops and supplies, together with garrison farming, salt monopolies, civilian transport, canal grain, and remount costs. He soon followed with the Frontier Pacification Reward Register and the Imperial Review Abridged Register. The Emperor commended the work in the highest terms. Frontier troop returns sent to the Ministry of Revenue inflated those sent to the Ministry of War by more than half, with wasted provisions the main excess; garrison farming, salt certificates, and civilian transport worth millions per garrison were left entirely to the border commanders. The Tianjin sea route shipped three million piculs of grain and beans each year to Ji and Liaodong; only the granary superintendent and the Tianjin governor managed the accounts, with no ministry oversight at all. Dejing urged the ministry officials to integrate ministry transport, Tianjin transport, frontier civilian transport, garrison farming, and salt revenues into a single plan so that regular quotas could be met and emergency surtaxes reduced. He submitted ten additional items holding the ministries accountable, yet in the end the abuses could not be fully cleared up.

一日召對，帝語及練兵。德璟曰：「《會典》，高皇帝教練軍士，一以弓弩刀槍行賞罰，此練軍法。衛所總、小旗補役，以槍勝負為升降。凡武弁比試，必騎射精嫻，方準襲替，此練將法。豈至今方設兵？」帝為悚然。又言：「祖制，各邊養軍止屯、鹽、民運三者，原無京運銀。自正統時始有數萬，迄萬歷末，亦止三百余萬。今則遼餉、練餉並舊餉計二千余萬，而兵反少於往時，耗蠹乃如此。」又言：「文皇帝設京衛七十二，計軍四十萬。畿內八府，軍二十八萬。又有中部、大寧、山東、河南班軍十六萬。春秋入京操演，深得居重馭輕勢。今皆虛冒。且自來征討皆用衛所官軍，嘉靖末，始募兵，遂置軍不用。至加派日增，軍民兩困。願憲章二祖，修復舊制。」帝是之，而不果行。

One day at audience the Emperor raised the subject of training troops. Dejing said: "The Collected Statutes show that the Founding Emperor trained troops with rewards and punishments tied solely to bow, crossbow, blade, and spear—that is the law for training soldiers. When guard and battalion officers of chief and junior rank filled vacancies, promotion and demotion depended on spear contests. Whenever military officers were examined, they had to prove mastery of mounted archery before inheriting their posts—that is the law for training commanders. Did the dynasty wait until now to raise an army? The Emperor was struck to silence. He also said, "By ancestral law the frontiers fed their armies through garrison farming, salt revenues, and civilian transport alone—there was never any silver shipped from the capital. Capital silver shipments began in the Zhengtong era at only tens of thousands of taels; by the end of Wanli they still totaled barely three million. Today Liaodong pay, training levies, and the old quotas together exceed twenty million taels, yet the army is smaller than ever—the waste and corruption have reached this pitch." He went on: "The Martial Emperor raised seventy-two capital guards, with four hundred thousand troops on the rolls. In the eight prefectures of the capital region alone there were two hundred eighty thousand. There were another one hundred sixty thousand rotating troops from the Middle Region, Dening, Shandong, and Henan. Each spring and autumn they marched into the capital for drill, giving the dynasty the full advantage of a heavy center commanding a lighter periphery. Today those rolls are almost entirely padded with phantom names. Moreover, every campaign had relied on guard and battalion regulars; only at the end of Jiajing did the state begin hiring mercenaries, and thereafter the standing armies were left idle. Supplemental levies kept mounting until both soldiers and civilians were crushed alike. I beg Your Majesty to uphold the statutes of the two Founding Emperors and restore the old system." The Emperor assented in principle, but never put the plan into effect.

十七年，戶部主事蔣臣請行鈔法，言歲造三千萬貫，一貫價一兩，歲可得銀三千萬兩。侍郎王鰲永贊行之。帝特設內寶鈔局，晝夜督造，募商發賣，無一人應者。德璟言：「百姓雖愚，誰肯以一金買一紙。」帝不聽。又因局官言，責取桑穰二百萬斤於畿輔、山東、河南、浙江。德璟力爭，帝留其揭不下，後竟獲免。先以軍儲不足，歲僉畿輔、山東、河南富戶，給值令買米豆輸天津，多至百萬，民大擾。德璟因召對面陳其害，帝即令擬諭罷之。

In the seventeenth year Jiang Chen, a principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue, urged adoption of paper currency, arguing that minting thirty million strings a year at one tael per string would yield thirty million taels of silver annually. Vice Minister Wang Ao Yong spoke in its favor. The Emperor set up a special Inner Treasury Paper Currency Bureau, pressing production day and night and calling on merchants to sell the notes—not one answered. Dejing said, "However simple the people may be, who would trade an ounce of silver for a scrap of paper?" The Emperor would not hear of it. Then, on the bureau officials' advice, he ordered two million jin of mulberry pulp collected from the capital region, Shandong, Henan, and Zhejiang. Dejing fought the order hard; the Emperor held his memorial back, and in the end the levy was dropped. Earlier, with military stores running short, wealthy households in the capital region, Shandong, and Henan had been drafted each year, paid a set price, and ordered to buy grain and beans for delivery to Tianjin—sometimes as much as a million piculs—and the people were thrown into turmoil. At audience Dejing laid out the harm in person, and the Emperor at once ordered a rescript drafted to abolish the scheme.

二月，帝以賊勢漸逼，令群臣會議，以二十二日奏聞。都御史李邦華密疏雲輔臣知而不敢言。翼日，帝手其疏問何事。陳演以少詹事項煜東宮南遷議對，帝取視默然。德璟從旁力贊，帝不答。

In the second month, with rebel armies closing in, the Emperor ordered the ministers to confer and report back by the twenty-second. Censor-in-Chief Li Banghua sent a secret memorial saying the chief ministers knew the truth but dared not speak. The next day the Emperor took the memorial in hand and asked what it was about. Chen Yan answered with Junior Grand Mentor Xiang Yu's proposal to move the heir apparent south; the Emperor read it and said nothing. Dejing pressed the case from the side, but the Emperor gave no answer.

給事中光時亨追論練餉之害。德璟擬旨：「向來聚斂小人倡為練餉，致民窮禍結，誤國良深。」帝不悅，詰曰：「聚斂小人誰也？」德璟不敢斥嗣昌，以故尚書李待問對。帝曰：「朕非聚斂，但欲練兵耳。」德璟曰：「陛下豈肯聚斂。然既有舊餉五百萬，新餉九百余萬，復增練餉七百三十萬，臣部實難辭責。且所練兵馬安在？薊督練四萬五千，今止二萬五千。保督練三萬，今止二千五百；保鎮練一萬，今止二百；若山、永兵七萬八千，薊、密兵十萬，昌平兵四萬，宣大、山西及陜西三邊各二十余萬，一經抽練，原額兵馬俱不問，並所抽亦未練，徒增餉七百余萬，為民累耳。」帝曰：「今已並三餉為一，何必多言！」德璟曰：「戶部雖並為一，州縣追比，仍是三餉。」帝震怒，責以朋比。德璟力辯，諸輔臣為申救。尚書倪元璐以鈔餉乃戶部職，自引咎，帝意稍解。明日，德璟具疏引罪。帝雖旋罷練餉，而德璟竟以三月二日去位。給事中汪惟效、檢討傅鼎銓等交章乞留，不聽。德璟聞山西陷，未敢行。及知廷臣留己，即辭朝，移寓外城。賊至，得亡去。

Censor Guang Shiheng renewed his attack on the harm done by training levies. Dejing drafted a rescript: "Petty men bent on extraction invented the training levy, driving the people to ruin and calamity and doing the state grave harm." The Emperor was displeased and demanded, "Who are these petty extractors?" Dejing dared not name Sichang outright and answered with the former minister Li Daiwen. The Emperor said, "I am no extractor—I only wanted to train troops." Dejing said, "Your Majesty would never stoop to extraction. Yet with old pay at five million, new pay at more than nine million, and training levies adding another seven million three hundred thousand, my ministry can hardly escape blame. And where are the troops that were supposedly trained? The Ji supervisor was to train forty-five thousand men; today there are only twenty-five thousand. The Baoding supervisor was to train thirty thousand; today there are only two thousand five hundred; Baoding garrison was to train ten thousand; today there are only two hundred; The Shan and Yong armies numbered seventy-eight thousand, Ji and Miyun one hundred thousand, Changping forty thousand, and Xuan-Da, Shanxi, and the three Shaanxi frontiers each more than two hundred thousand—yet once men were skimmed off for training, no one tracked the original rolls, the skimmed troops were never trained, and seven million taels in pay were added for nothing but a burden on the people." The Emperor said, "The three levies are already merged into one—why harp on it!" Dejing said, "The Ministry may have merged them on the books, but when prefectures and counties press for payment it is still three levies." The Emperor flew into a rage and accused him of factional collusion. Dejing defended himself vigorously while the chief ministers pleaded on his behalf. Minister Ni Yuanlu, holding that paper currency and pay were the ministry's charge, took the blame on himself, and the Emperor's anger eased. The next day Dejing submitted a formal memorial accepting blame. Though the Emperor soon abolished the training levy, Dejing still left office on the second day of the third month. Censors Wang Weixiao, Compiler Fu Dingquan, and others sent memorial after memorial begging that he be kept on—the Emperor would not listen. When Dejing heard that Shanxi had fallen, he dared not leave the capital. Learning that the court was keeping him there, he resigned from audience and moved his lodging to the outer city. When the rebels arrived, he managed to escape.

福王立於南京，召入閣。自陳三罪，固辭。明年，唐王立於福州，與何吾騶、黃景昉並召。又明年以足疾辭歸。九月，王事敗，而德璟適病篤，遂以是月卒。

When the Prince of Fu was enthroned at Nanjing, he was summoned into the Grand Secretariat. He confessed three faults of his own and firmly declined. The next year, when the Prince of Tang was enthroned at Fuzhou, he was summoned together with He Wusi and Huang Jingfang. The year after that he resigned and went home, citing a foot ailment. In the ninth month the princes' cause collapsed; Dejing happened to be gravely ill and died that same month.

黃景昉，字太稚，亦晉江人。天啟五年進士。由庶吉士歷官庶子，直日講。崇禎十一年，帝御經筵，問用人之道。景昉言「近日考選不公，推官成勇、朱天麟廉能素著，乃不得預清華選。」又言「刑部尚書鄭三俊四朝元老，至清無儔，不當久系獄。」退復上章論之，三俊旋獲釋，勇等亦俱改官。

Huang Jingfang, courtesy name Taizhi, was also a native of Jinjiang. He passed the metropolitan examination in the fifth year of Tianqi. From Hanlin bachelor he rose to Junior Tutor and served on daily lecture duty at court. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, at the classics lecture the Emperor asked how men should be chosen for office. Jingfang said, "Recent examinations have been unfair. Magistrate-advisors Cheng Yong and Zhu Tianlin have long been known for integrity and talent, yet they were passed over for elite appointments." He also said, "Minister of Justice Zheng Sanjun, a veteran of four reigns and unmatched in probity, ought not languish in prison." After leaving court he submitted another memorial on the matter; Sanjun was soon released, and Yong and the others were all given new posts.

景昉尋進少詹事。嘗召對，言：「近撤還監視中官高起潛，關外輒聞警報，疑此中有隱情。臣家海濱，見沿海將吏每遇調發，即報海警，冀得復留。觸類而推，其情自見。」帝頷之。十四年以詹事兼掌翰林院。時庶常停選已久，景昉具疏請復，又請召還修撰劉同升、編修趙士春，皆不報。

Jingfang was soon promoted to Junior Grand Mentor. On one occasion at audience he said, "The supervising eunuch Gao Qiqian was recently recalled from the frontier, and alarms at once sounded beyond the passes—I suspect something hidden behind this. My family lives on the coast; I have seen coastal officers report a naval alarm whenever transfer orders arrive, hoping to be kept in place. Draw the parallel and the motive becomes plain." The Emperor nodded. In the fourteenth year he served as Grand Mentor while also heading the Hanlin Academy. Hanlin probationary appointments had long been suspended; Jingfang submitted a detailed memorial asking that they be restored, and also asked that Compiler Liu Tongsheng and Editor Zhao Shichun be recalled—none of it received a reply.

十五年六月召對稱旨，與蔣德璟、吳甡並相。明年並加太子少保，改戶部尚書、文淵閣。南京操江故設文武二員，帝欲裁去文臣，專任誠意伯劉孔昭。副都御史惠世揚遲久不至，帝命削其籍。景昉俱揭爭，帝不悅，遂連疏引歸。唐王時，召入直，未幾，復告歸。國變後，家居十數年始卒。

In the sixth month of the fifteenth year he pleased the Emperor at audience and was made Grand Secretary together with Jiang Dejing and Wu Shen. The next year all three were made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent; he was transferred to Minister of Revenue and the Wenyuan Pavilion. Nanjing river defense had long been entrusted to both a civil and a military commissioner; the Emperor wished to abolish the civil post and give sole charge to the Earl of Chengyi, Liu Kongzhao. Vice Censor-in-Chief Hui Shiyang was long overdue and had not reported; the Emperor ordered his name struck from the rolls. Jingfang memorialized against both decisions; the Emperor was displeased, and he sent successive memorials asking to retire. Under the Prince of Tang he was summoned back to court; before long he again asked leave to go home. After the fall of the dynasty he lived at home for more than ten years before he died.

方岳貢，字四長，谷城人。天啟二年進士。授戶部主事，進郎中。歷典倉庫，督永平糧儲，並以廉謹聞。

Fang Yuegong, courtesy name Sichang, was a native of Gucheng. He passed the metropolitan examination in the second year of Tianqi. He was appointed a principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue and rose to director. He successively managed the granaries and supervised Yongping grain reserves, earning a reputation in both posts for integrity and diligence.

崇禎元年，出為松江知府。海濱多盜，捕得輒杖殺之。郡東南臨大海，颶潮沖擊，時為民患，築石堤二十里許，遂為永利。郡漕京師數十萬石，而諸倉乃相距五里，為築城垣護之，名曰「倉城」。他救荒助役、修學課士，鹹有成績，舉卓異者數矣。薛國觀敗，其私人上海王陛彥下吏，素有隙，因言岳貢嘗饋國觀三千金，遂被逮。士民詣闕訟冤，巡撫黃希亦白其誣，下法司讞奏。一日，帝晏見輔臣，問：「有一知府積俸十余年，屢舉卓異者誰也？」蔣德璟以岳貢對。帝曰：「今安在？」德璟復以陛彥株連對，帝頷之。法司讞上，言行賄無實跡，宜復官。帝獎其清執，報可。

In the first year of Chongzhen he was sent out as prefect of Songjiang. Pirates were rife along the coast; when captured they were beaten to death on the spot. The prefecture's southeast faced the sea, and hurricane tides battered the shore to the people's ruin; he built a stone dike some twenty li long and turned the flood into lasting benefit. The prefecture shipped several hundred thousand shi of tribute grain to the capital, yet its granaries stood five li apart; he built walls to protect them and called the place Granary City. In famine relief, public labor, rebuilding schools, and examining scholars he likewise achieved results and was several times recommended for outstanding service. When Xue Guoguan fell, his client Wang Shiyan of Shanghai was arrested; having long borne a grudge, Shiyan claimed Yuegong had once given Guoguan three thousand taels of gold, and Yuegong was arrested. Gentry and commoners went to the palace gates to plead his innocence; Governor Huang Xi also reported that the charge was false, and the case was sent to the legal offices for judgment. One day at an informal evening audience the Emperor asked the chief ministers, "Which prefect has served more than ten years on accumulated salary and been repeatedly recommended for outstanding service?" Dejing answered with Yuegong. The Emperor said, "Where is he now?" Dejing answered that he had been implicated through Shiyan; the Emperor nodded. The legal offices reported that there was no solid evidence of bribery and that his office should be restored. The Emperor praised his incorruptible conduct and approved.

無何，給事中方士亮薦岳貢及蘇州知府陳洪謐，乃擢山東副使兼右參議，總理江南糧儲。所督漕艘，如期抵通州。帝大喜。吏部尚書鄭三俊舉天下廉能監司五人，岳貢與焉。帝趣使入對，見於平臺，問為政何先，對曰：「欲天下治平，在擇守令；察守令賢否，在監司；察監司賢否，在巡方；察巡方賢否，在總憲。總憲得人，御史安敢以身試法。」帝善之，賜食，日晡乃出。越六日，即超擢左副都御史。嘗召對，帝適以事詰吏部尚書李遇知。遇知曰：「臣正糾駁。」岳貢曰：「何不即題參？」深合帝意。翼日，命以本官兼東閣大學士，時十六年十一月也。故事，閣臣無帶都御史銜者，自岳貢始。

Before long Censor Fang Shiliang recommended Yuegong and Chen Hongmi, prefect of Suzhou; Yuegong was promoted to Vice Commissioner of Shandong while also serving as Right Assistant Commissioner, with general charge of Jiangnan grain reserves. The grain barges under his supervision reached Tongzhou on schedule. The Emperor was greatly pleased. Minister of Personnel Zheng Sanjun nominated five incorruptible and capable surveillance commissioners from across the realm, and Yuegong was among them. The Emperor urgently summoned him for audience, received him at the Ping Platform, and asked what should come first in governing; he answered, "If the realm is to be brought to order and peace, the first thing is choosing prefects and magistrates; to judge whether prefects and magistrates are worthy lies with the surveillance commissioners; to judge whether surveillance commissioners are worthy lies with the touring inspectors; to judge whether touring inspectors are worthy lies with the censor-in-chief. With the right chief surveillance commissioner in place, no censor would dare flout the law." The emperor was pleased, gave him a meal, and did not let him leave until late afternoon. Six days later he was abruptly promoted to Left Vice Censor-in-Chief. On one occasion when summoned to audience, the emperor happened to be questioning Minister of Personnel Li Yuzhi about a matter. Yuzhi said, "I am in the midst of impeaching and rebutting the case." Yuegong said, "Why not submit a memorial at once?" This struck the emperor as exactly right. The next day he was ordered to keep his present office while also serving as Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion—it was the eleventh month of the sixteenth year. By precedent no grand secretary had held the censor-in-chief title; Yuegong was the first.

岳貢本吏材。及為相，務勾檢簿書，請核赦前舊賦，意主搜括，聲名甚損。十七年二月命以戶、兵二部尚書兼文淵閣大學士總督漕運、屯田、練兵諸務，駐濟寧。已而不行。

Yuegong was by nature a man of administrative talent. Once he became chief minister he devoted himself to auditing ledgers and called for verification of old levies antedating amnesty, aiming chiefly at exaction—and his reputation suffered greatly. In the second month of the seventeenth year he was ordered to serve as Minister of Revenue and Minister of War while also Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Depth, directing grain transport, military colonies, troop training, and other affairs from Jining. Before long the arrangement was not carried out.

李自成陷京師，岳貢及邱瑜被執，幽劉宗敏所。賊索銀，岳貢素廉，貧無以應，拷掠備至。搜其邸，無所有，松江賈人為代輸千金。四月朔日與瑜並釋。十二日，賊既殺陳演等，令監守者並殺二人，監守者奉以繯，二人並縊死。

When Li Zicheng took the capital, Yuegong and Qiu Yu were seized and held in Liu Zongmin's quarters. The rebels demanded silver; Yuegong had always been incorrupt and was too poor to pay, and he was tortured without mercy. They searched his residence and found nothing; a merchant from Songjiang paid a thousand taels on his behalf. On the first day of the fourth month he and Qiu were released together. On the twelfth day, after the rebels had killed Chen Yan and others, they ordered the guards to kill the two men as well; the guards offered them cords, and both hanged themselves.

邱瑜，宜城人。天啟五年進士。由庶吉士授檢討。崇禎中，屢遷少詹事。襄陽陷，瑜上恤難宗、擇才吏、旌死節、停催征、蘇郵困、禁勞役六事。帝采納焉。歷禮部左右侍郎。因召對，言：「督師孫傳庭出關，安危所系，慎勿促之輕出。俾鎮定關中，猶可號召諸將，相機進剿。」帝不能從。十七年正月以本官兼東閣大學士，同範景文入閣。都城陷，受拷掠者再，搜獲止二千金，既而被害。

Qiu Yu came from Yicheng. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign. From Hanlin bachelor he was appointed reviser. Under Chongzhen he rose repeatedly to Junior Commissioner of the Household for the Heir Apparent. When Xiangyang fell, Qiu memorialized six measures: succor for the imperial clan in distress, selection of talented officials, commendation of those who died loyal, halting urgent levies, relief for postal distress, and prohibition of corvée labor. The emperor adopted them. He rose through the Left and Right Vice Minister posts of Rites. When summoned to audience he said, "Grand Coordinator Sun Chuanting's sortie beyond the passes bears on the fate of the realm—take care not to urge him to march out lightly. Let him steady Guanzhong; he can still rally the generals and advance to suppress the enemy when the moment is right. The emperor would not follow this advice. In the first month of the seventeenth year he was ordered to keep his present office while also serving as Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, entering the Grand Secretariat together with Fan Jingwen. When the capital fell he was tortured twice; only two thousand taels were found in the search, and afterward he was killed.

瑜子之陶，年少有幹略。李自成陷宜城，瑜父民忠罵賊而死。之陶被獲，用為兵政府從事，尋以本府侍郎守襄陽。襄陽尹牛佺，賊相金星子，其倚任不如也。之陶以蠟丸書貽傳庭曰：「督師與之戰，吾詭言左鎮兵大至，搖其心，彼必返顧。督師擊其後，吾從中起，賊可滅也。」傳庭大喜，報書如其言，為賊邏者所得。傳庭恃內應，連營前進，之陶果舉火，報左兵大至。自成驗得其詐，召而示以傳庭書，責其負己。之陶大罵曰：「吾恨不斬汝萬段，豈從汝反耶！」賊怒，支解之。

Qiu's son Zhizhi was young but capable and resourceful. When Li Zicheng took Yicheng, Qiu's father Minzhong cursed the rebels and died. Zhizhi was captured and employed as an aide in the military government; soon he was made vice minister of that government to guard Xiangyang. Niu Quan, magistrate of Xiangyang, was the son of the rebel minister Venus; Li relied on him less than on Zhizhi. Zhizhi sent Sun Chuanting a letter in a wax pellet, saying, "When you fight him, I will falsely report that the Left Garrison's troops have arrived in force to shake their hearts—they are sure to look back. You strike from the rear, I rise in the middle—and the rebels can be destroyed." Chuanting was greatly pleased and replied as proposed; the letter was captured by rebel scouts. Chuanting relied on the inside contact and advanced camp after camp; Zhizhi indeed raised signal fires, reporting that the Left Garrison's troops had arrived in force. Zicheng verified the deception, summoned him, showed him Chuanting's letter, and reproached him for betraying him. Zhizhi cursed loudly, "I regret I could not cut you into ten thousand pieces—how would I follow you in rebellion!" The rebels were enraged and dismembered him.

贊曰：莊烈帝在位僅十七年，輔相至五十余人。其克保令名者，數人而已，若標等是也。基命能推轂舊輔以定危難，震孟以風節顯，德璟諳悉舊章。以陸喜之論薛瑩者觀之，所謂侃然體國，執正不懼，斟酌時宜，時獻微益者乎。至於扶危定傾，殆非易言也。嗚呼，國步方艱，人材亦與俱盡，其所由來者漸矣。

The commentator says: The Chongzhen Emperor reigned only seventeen years, yet chief ministers numbered more than fifty. Those who could preserve a good name were only a few—men such as Biao. Jiming could promote old chief ministers to settle crisis; Zhenmeng was distinguished by integrity; Dejing was thoroughly versed in old regulations. Judged by the standard of Lu Xi's praise of Xue Ying, they were men who uprightly embodied the state, held to right without fear, weighed the times, and from time to time offered modest benefits. As for supporting a tottering state and setting it upright, that was another matter entirely. Alas—the realm was already in peril, and talent was exhausted along with it; the causes had long been gathering.

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