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王應熊 〈（何吾騶）〉 張至發 〈（孔貞運黃士俊劉宇亮）〉 薛國觀 〈（袁愷）〉 程國祥 〈（蔡國用範復粹方逢年張四知等）〉 陳演魏藻德 〈（李建泰）〉
Wang Yingxiong (He Wuyao)〉 Zhang Zhifa (Kong Zhenyun, Huang Shijun, and Liu Yuliang)〉 Xue Guoguan (Yuan Kai)〉 Cheng Guoxiang (Cai Guoyong, Fan Fuchun, Fang Fengnian, Zhang Sizhi, and others)〉 Chen Yan and Wei Zaode (Li Jiantai)〉
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王應熊
Wang Yingxiong
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王應熊，字非熊，巴縣人。 萬歷四十一年進士。 天啟中，歷官詹事，以憂歸。
Wang Yingxiong, whose style name was Feixiong, came from Baxian. He earned his jinshi degree in the forty-first year of the Wanli reign. Under the Tianqi emperor he rose to Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent before retiring to mourn a parent.
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崇禎三年，召拜禮部右侍郎。 明年冬，帝遣宦官出守邊鎮，應熊上言：「陛下焦勞求治，何一不倚信群臣，乃群臣不肯任勞任怨，致陛下萬不獲已，權遣近侍監理。 書之青史，謂有聖明不世出之主，而群工不克仰承，直當愧死。 且自神宗以來，士習人心不知職掌何事，有舉《會典》律例告之者，反訝為申、韓刑名。 近日諸臣之病，非臨事不擔當之故，乃平時未講求之過也； 亦非因循於夙習之故，實愆忘於舊章之過也。」 語皆迎帝意，遂蒙眷註。 嘗酗酒，詬尚書黃汝良，為給事中馮元飆所劾，汝良為之隱，乃解。 五年，進左侍郎，元飆發其貪汙狀，帝不省。
In the third year of Chongzhen he was recalled and made Vice Minister of Rites. The following winter the emperor sent eunuchs to take charge of the border garrisons. Yingxiong submitted a memorial: "Your Majesty labors tirelessly to bring order to the realm and relies on your ministers in every respect; yet because they refuse to shoulder hardship and blame, you have been driven, with no other choice, to dispatch your close attendants to supervise affairs on a provisional basis. When this is written into history, posterity will say that a sage emperor without peer had ministers who could not rise to his trust; they ought to die of shame. Since Shenzong's day scholars and officials have lost sight of their proper duties; cite the Administrative Compendium or the code of statutes and you are met with surprise, as though you were preaching the harsh legalism of Shen Buhai and Han Fei. The fault of today's ministers lies not in refusing responsibility at the moment of crisis, but in failing to study their duties in quieter times; nor is it mere habit and inertia, but a real neglect of established precedent." Every line flattered the emperor's views, and he won the throne's special favor. On one occasion, drunk, he abused Minister Huang Ruliang. Supervising Secretary Feng Yuanbiao impeached him, but Huang covered for him and the matter was dropped. In the fifth year he was promoted to Left Vice Minister. Yuanbiao laid out evidence of his corruption, but the emperor paid no heed.
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應熊博學多才，熟諳典故，而性谿刻強很，人多畏之。 周延儒、溫體仁援以自助，鹹與親善。 及延儒罷，體仁援益力。 六年冬，廷推閣臣，應熊望輕不與，特旨擢禮部尚書兼東閣大學士，與何吾騶並入參機務。 命下，朝野胥駭。 給事中章正宸劾之曰：「應熊強愎自張，縱橫為習，小才足覆短，小辨足濟貪，今大用，必且芟除異己，報復恩仇，混淆毀譽。 況狼籍封靡，淪於市行。 願收還成命，別選忠良。 且訛言謂左右先容，由他途以進，使天下薰心捷足之徒馳騁而起，為聖德累不小。」 帝大怒，下正宸詔獄，削籍歸。 有勸應熊為文彥博者，應熊咈然，佯具疏引退，語多憤激。 屢為給事中範淑泰、御史吳履中所攻，帝皆不問。
Yingxiong was learned and capable, with a deep command of precedent, but he was narrow, harsh, and unyielding by nature, and many stood in fear of him. Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren enlisted him as an ally, and both cultivated close ties with him. After Yanru fell from power, Tiren backed him all the more vigorously. That winter the court nominated candidates for the Grand Secretariat; Yingxiong's reputation was too slight to make the list, yet a special edict raised him to Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, and he entered the privy council alongside He Wuyao. When the appointment was announced, the whole realm was stunned. Supervising Secretary Zhang Zhenchen impeached him: "Yingxiong is stubborn and overbearing, skilled in intrigue; a little talent hides his faults and a little eloquence serves his greed. Give him high office and he will purge rivals, settle scores, and twist reputation to his ends. He is dissolute and extravagant, no better than a market hustler. I beg Your Majesty to revoke the appointment and choose a worthy man instead. Rumor moreover says court favorites smoothed his path and that he rose by back channels, encouraging every schemer in the land to rush forward—a grave stain on Your Majesty's virtue." The emperor flew into a rage, had Zhenchen thrown into the imperial prison, struck him from the rolls, and sent him home. Some advised him to emulate the magnanimous statesman Wen Yanbo; he snorted in annoyance, feigned a resignation memorial, and wrote in bitter, angry tones. Supervising Secretary Fan Shutai and Censor Wu Lüzhong attacked him again and again, but the emperor ignored every charge.
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八年正月，流賊陷鳳陽，毀皇陵。 巡撫楊一鵬，應熊座主； 巡按吳振纓，體仁姻也。 二人恐帝震怒，留一鵬、振纓疏未上，俟恢復報同奏之，遂擬旨令撫按戴罪。 主事鄭爾說、胡江交章詆應熊、體仁朋比誤國，帝怒謫二人，而給事中何楷、許譽卿、範淑泰，御史張纘曾、吳履中、張肯堂言之不已。 淑泰言：「一鵬《恢復疏》以正月二十一日，《核察失事情形疏》以正月二十八日，天下有未失事先恢復者哉？ 應熊改填月日，欺誑之罪難辭。」 且劾其他受賄事。 帝顧應熊厚，皆不聽，而鐫楷、纘曾秩，慰諭應熊。 應熊亦屢疏辯，謂：「座主門生，誼不容薄，敢辭比之名。 票擬實臣起草，敢辭誤之罪。」 楷益憤，屢疏糾之，最後復疏言：「故事，奏章非發抄，外人無由聞； 非奉旨，邸報不許抄傳。 臣疏六月初十日上，十四日始奉明旨，應熊乃於十三日奏辯，旨尚未下，應熊何由知？ 臣不解者一。 且旨下必由六科抄發。 臣疏十四日下，而百戶趙光修先送錦衣堂上官，則疏可不由科抄矣。 臣不解者二。」 應熊始懼，具疏引罪。 帝下其家人及直日中書七人於獄。 獄具，家人戍邊，中書貶二秩。 應熊乃屢疏乞休去，乘傳賜道里費，行人護行。 帝亦知應熊不協人望，特己所拔擢，不欲以人言去也。
In the first month of the eighth year rebel armies captured Fengyang and desecrated the imperial mausoleums. Grand Coordinator Yang Yipeng had been Yingxiong's chief examiner; Investigating Censor Wu Zhenying was Wen Tiren's kinsman by marriage. Fearing the emperor's wrath, the two held back Yipeng's and Zhenying's reports until they could file a recovery notice with them, then drafted an edict letting the coordinator and censor keep office while bearing guilt. Section Heads Zheng Ershuo and Hu Jiang memorialized in turn accusing Yingxiong and Tiren of factional collusion that ruined the state. The emperor angrily demoted the two memorialists, but Supervising Secretaries He Kai, Xu Yuqing, and Fan Shutai and Censors Zhang Zuanzeng, Wu Lüzhong, and Zhang Kentang kept pressing the case. Shutai wrote: "Yipeng's 'Recovery Memorial' is dated the twenty-first of the first month and his 'Memorial Investigating the Loss' the twenty-eighth—who in the world reports recovery before the disaster has even occurred? Yingxiong altered the dates on the documents—a charge of fraud he cannot evade." He also accused him of other acts of bribery. The emperor favored Yingxiong and rejected every charge, demoting He Kai and Zhang Zuanzeng instead while reassuring Yingxiong. Yingxiong defended himself in repeated memorials: "Between examiner and student the bond of duty forbids neglect—I cannot accept the label of factional collusion. I myself drafted the rescript; I cannot deny responsibility for the mistake." Kai grew angrier still and impeached him again and again. At last he wrote: "By precedent a memorial cannot be known outside the court unless it is released for copying; without an imperial order the Court Gazette may not circulate it. I submitted my memorial on the tenth of the sixth month and received the imperial response only on the fourteenth. Yingxiong filed his defense on the thirteenth, before the order was issued—how could he have known? That is the first thing I cannot understand. Moreover every edict must be copied and released through the Six Offices for Scrutiny. My memorial was issued on the fourteenth, yet Company Commander Zhao Guangxiu had already delivered it to the Brocade Guard—so the memorial need not pass through the Offices at all. That is the second thing I cannot understand." Only then did Yingxiong grow afraid and submit a full confession. The emperor imprisoned his household staff and seven secretaries on duty in the Grand Secretariat. After the trial the household servants were exiled to the frontier and the secretaries demoted two ranks. Yingxiong repeatedly asked to retire. He was given relay horses, traveling funds, and an imperial messenger to escort him home. The emperor knew Yingxiong lacked public support, but because he had personally elevated him he was unwilling to dismiss him on rumor alone.
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十二年遣官存問。 其弟應熙橫於鄉，鄉人詣闕擊登聞鼓，列狀至四百八十余條，贓一百七十余萬，詞連應熊。 詔下撫按勘究。 會應熊復召，事得解。
In the twelfth year the court sent officials to inquire after him. His younger brother Yingxi terrorized the countryside until locals went to the capital and beat the Denunciation Drum, filing more than four hundred eighty accusations involving over 1.7 million in bribes and implicating Yingxiong. An edict ordered the provincial authorities to investigate. When Yingxiong was summoned back to court the case was dropped.
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時延儒再相，患言者攻己，獨念應熊剛很，可藉以制之，力言於帝。 十五年冬，遣行人召應熊。 明年六月，應熊未至，延儒已罷歸。 給事中龔鼎孳密疏言：「陛下召應熊，必因其秉國之日，眾口交攻，以為孤立無黨； 孰知其同年密契，肺腑深聯，恃延儒在也。 臣去年入都，聞應熊賄延儒為再召計。 延儒對眾大言，至尊欲起巴縣。 巴縣者，應熊也。 未幾，召命果下。 以政本重地，私相援引，是延儒雖去猶未去，天下事何堪再誤！」 帝得疏心動，留未下。 已而延儒被逮，不即赴，俟應熊至，始尾之行。 一日，帝顧中官曰：「延儒何久不至？」 對曰：「需王應熊先入耳。」 帝益疑之。 九月，應熊至，宿朝房。 請入對，不許； 請歸田，許之，乃慚沮而返。
Yanru was chief minister again and, harassed by critics, decided that Yingxiong's harsh stubbornness could be used to silence them; he pressed the point hard with the emperor. That winter the court dispatched an envoy to recall Yingxiong. By the sixth month of the following year Yingxiong had not yet arrived and Yanru had already been dismissed and sent home. Supervising Secretary Gong Dingzi wrote a secret memorial: "Your Majesty recalls Yingxiong because, when he held office, critics attacked him from every side and he seemed isolated and factionless; yet who knows that he and Yanru were classmates bound heart to heart, and that he counted on Yanru's backing? When I reached the capital last year I heard that Yingxiong had bribed Yanru to arrange his recall. Yanru announced publicly that the Sovereign meant to recall the man from Baxian. The man from Baxian was Yingxiong. Soon afterward the summons came down as he had said. To fill this weighty post through private patronage means Yanru is gone in name but not in power—how can the realm endure another such mistake!" The emperor was shaken by the memorial and withheld it without acting. When Yanru was arrested he did not go at once but waited until Yingxiong arrived and only then set out behind him. One day the emperor asked his eunuchs: "Why is Yanru taking so long to arrive?" They replied: "He is waiting for Wang Yingxiong to reach the capital first." The emperor's suspicions deepened. In the ninth month Yingxiong arrived and stayed in the court lodging quarters. He asked for an audience and was refused; he asked to retire to his estate and was allowed to do so, and went home in shame and dismay.
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十七年三月，京師陷。 五月，福王立於南京。 八月，張獻忠陷四川。 乃改應熊兵部尚書兼文淵閣大學士，總督川、湖、雲、貴軍務，專辦川寇。 時川中諸郡，惟遵義未下，應熊入守之，縞素誓師，開幕府，傳檄討賊。 明年奏上方略，請敕川陜、湖貴兩總督，鄖陽、湖廣、貴州、雲南四巡撫出師合討，並劾四川巡撫馬體乾縱兵淫掠，革職提問。 命未達而南都亡，雲乾居職如故。 已而獻忠死，諸將楊展等各據州縣自雄，應熊不能制。 其部將曾英最有功，復重慶，屢破賊兵。 王祥亦出師綦江相犄角。 祥才武不及英，而應熊委任過之。 又明年十月，獻忠余黨孫可望、李定國等南走重慶，英戰歿。 可望襲破遵義，應熊遁入永寧山中，旋卒於畢節衛。 一子陽禧，死於兵，竟無後。
In the third month of the seventeenth year the capital fell to the rebels. In the fifth month the Prince of Fu was enthroned at Nanjing. In the eighth month Zhang Xianzhong overran Sichuan. Yingxiong was then made Minister of War and Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Depth, with overall command of military affairs in Sichuan, Huguang, Yunnan, and Guizhou, charged specifically with suppressing the Sichuan rebels. Of all Sichuan only Zunyi still held out. Yingxiong entered to defend it, swore his troops in white, opened a field headquarters, and issued proclamations calling for the rebels' destruction. The following year he submitted his strategy, asking the throne to order the two regional commanders of Shaanxi-Sichuan and Huguang-Guizhou and the four grand coordinators of Xiangyang, Huguang, Guizhou, and Yunnan to launch a joint offensive, and impeached Sichuan Grand Coordinator Ma Tigan for allowing his troops to loot and ravage, stripping him of office for trial. Before the order arrived the Southern Capital fell, and Ma Tigan kept his post unchanged. After Xianzhong's death generals such as Yang Zhan seized prefectures and counties and ruled as petty warlords, and Yingxiong could not restrain them. His subordinate Zeng Ying won the greatest distinction, recovered Chongqing, and repeatedly routed rebel forces. Wang Xiang also marched from Qijiang to support him in a pincer movement. Wang Xiang was less capable than Zeng Ying, yet Yingxiong favored him above the better man. In the tenth month of the next year Xianzhong's followers Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo marched south on Chongqing, and Zeng Ying was killed in battle. Kewang stormed Zunyi; Yingxiong fled into the Yongning hills and soon died at Bijie. His only son Yangxi died in the fighting, and he left no descendants.
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何吾騶，香山人。 萬歷四十七年進士。 由庶吉士歷官少詹事。 崇禎五年，擢禮部右侍郎。 六年十一月，加尚書，同王應熊入閣。 溫體仁久柄政，欲斥給事中許譽卿。 已擬旨，文震孟爭之，吾騶亦助為言。 體仁訐奏，帝奪震孟官，兼罷吾騶。 詳見《震孟傳》。
He Wuyao came from Xiangshan. He earned his jinshi degree in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli reign. After serving as a Hanlin Bachelor he rose to Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent. In the fifth year of Chongzhen he was made Vice Minister of Rites. In the eleventh month of the sixth year he was raised to ministerial rank and entered the Grand Secretariat alongside Wang Yingxiong. Wen Tiren had dominated the government for years and sought to oust Supervising Secretary Xu Yuqing. The rescript had already been drafted when Wen Zhenmeng objected, and Wuyao added his voice in support. Tiren filed a denunciatory memorial, and the emperor stripped Zhenmeng of office and dismissed Wuyao as well. For details see the biography of Wen Zhenmeng.
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居久之，唐王自立於福州，召為首輔，與鄭芝龍議事輒相牴牾。 閩疆既失，踉蹌回廣州。 永明王以原官召之，為給事中金堡、大理寺少卿趙昱等所攻。 引疾辭去，卒於家。
After some time the Prince of Tang set up court at Fuzhou and made him chief minister, but he and Zheng Zhilong clashed repeatedly over policy. When Fujian fell he fled in disorder back to Guangzhou. The Prince of Yongming recalled him to his former post, but Supervising Secretary Jin Bao, Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review Zhao Yu, and others attacked him. He resigned on grounds of illness and died at home.
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張至發
Zhang Zhifa
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張至發，淄川人。 萬歷二十九年進士。 歷知玉田、遵化。 行取，授禮部主事，改御史。 時齊、楚、浙三黨方熾，至發，齊黨也，上疏陳內降之弊。 因言：「陛下惡結黨，而秉揆者先不能超然門戶外。 頃讀科臣疏云：『日來慰諭輔臣溫旨，輔臣與司禮自相參定，方聽禦批。』 果若人言，天下事尚可問耶？」 語皆刺葉向高，帝不報。 時言官爭排東林，戶部郎中李樸不平，抗疏爭。 至發遂劾樸背公死黨，誑語欺君，帝亦不報。
Zhang Zhifa came from Zichuan. He earned his jinshi degree in the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign. He served as magistrate of Yutian and then of Zunhua. Selected for service in the capital, he became a secretary in the Ministry of Rites and was later made a censor. The Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions were then at their height; Zhifa, a Qi man, memorialized against the abuse of edicts issued from within the palace. He wrote: "Your Majesty detests factionalism, yet the chief ministers cannot themselves stand above party lines. He cited a supervising secretary's memorial: 'Lately the reassuring edicts to the chief ministers are agreed between the ministers and the Directorate of Ceremonial before the imperial rescript is issued.' If that is true, can the affairs of the realm still be entrusted to them? Every line was aimed at Ye Xianggao; the emperor did not respond. Censors were then competing to attack the Donglin faction; Section Head Li Pu submitted a forceful memorial in protest. Zhifa then impeached Pu for betraying the public interest and clinging to faction, with deceitful words that misled the throne; again the emperor did not respond.
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尋出按河南。 福王之藩洛陽，中使相望於道。 至發以禮裁之，無敢橫。 宗祿不給，為置義田，以贍貧者。 四十三年，豫省饑，請留餉備振，又請改折漕糧，皆報聞。 還朝，引病歸。
He was soon sent out as investigating censor in Henan. When the Prince of Fu went to his fief at Luoyang, palace envoys thronged the route. Zhifa held them to proper ritual, and none dared abuse his authority. When clan stipends went unpaid, he established charitable fields to support the needy. In the forty-third year, during famine in Henan, he asked to retain grain reserves for relief and to convert tribute grain to cash payments; both requests were approved. On returning to the capital he cited illness and retired.
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天啟元年，進大理寺丞。 三年請終養。 魏忠賢黨薦之，矯旨令吏部擢用，至發方養親不出。
In the first year of Tianqi he was made vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review. In the third year he asked leave to complete mourning for a parent. Wei Zhongxian's faction recommended him and a forged edict ordered the Ministry of Personnel to promote him, but Zhifa was in mourning and refused to serve.
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崇禎五年，起順天府丞，進光祿卿。 精核積弊，多所厘正，遂受帝知。 八年春，遷刑部右侍郎。 六月，帝將增置閣臣，以翰林不習世務，思用他官參之，召廷臣數十人，各授一疏，令擬旨。 遂擢至發禮部左侍郎兼東閣大學士，與文震孟同入直。 自世宗朝許贊後，外僚入閣，自至發始。
In the fifth year of Chongzhen he was recalled as vice minister of Shuntian Prefecture and promoted to Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He rigorously investigated long-standing abuses and corrected many of them, winning the emperor's confidence. In the spring of the eighth year he was made Right Vice Minister of Justice. In the sixth month the emperor planned to add Grand Secretaries; finding Hanlin scholars unversed in practical administration, he summoned dozens of officials, gave each a memorial, and ordered them to draft rescripts. He was then promoted to Left Vice Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, entering the privy council alongside Wen Zhenmeng. Since Xu Zan under Jiajing, he was the first outside official to enter the Grand Secretariat.
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時溫體仁為首輔，錢士升、王應熊、何吾騶次之。 越二年，體仁輩盡去，至發遂為首輔。 萬歷中，申時行、王錫爵先後柄政，大旨相紹述，謂之「傳衣缽」。 至發代體仁，一切守其所為，而才智機變遜之，以位次居首，非帝之所註也。 嘗簡東宮講官，擯黃道周，為給事中馮元飆所刺。 至發怒，兩疏詆道周，而極頌體仁孤執不欺，復為編修吳偉業所劾。 講官項煜論至發把持考選，庇兒女姻任浚而抑成勇。 至發上章辯，帝遂逐煜去。
Wen Tiren was then chief minister, followed by Qian Shisheng, Wang Yingxiong, and He Wuyao. Two years later, when Tiren and the others had all left office, Zhifa became chief minister. Under Wanli, Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue had held power in turn, passing on a single line of policy known as 'transmitting the robe and bowl.' Zhifa succeeded Tiren and preserved all his policies, but lacked his wit and flexibility; he held first rank without enjoying the emperor's favor. When selecting lecturers for the Eastern Palace he excluded Huang Daozhou, drawing impeachment from Supervising Secretary Feng Yuanbiao. In anger Zhifa submitted two memorials attacking Daozhou while praising Tiren's solitary integrity, and was impeached again by Compiler Wu Weiye. Lecturer Xiang Yu accused Zhifa of controlling examinations and appointments, favoring his son-in-law Ren Jun while suppressing Cheng Yong. Zhifa defended himself in a memorial, and the emperor dismissed Yu.
18
內閣中書黃應恩悍戾，體仁、至發輩倚任之，恃勢恣橫。 及為正字，不當復為東宮侍書，恐帝與太子開講同日也。 至發不諳故事，令兼之。 應恩不能兼，講官撰講義送應恩繕錄，拒不納。 檢討楊士聰論之，至發揭寢其疏，士聰復上書閣中，極論其事，至發終庇之。 會復故總督楊鶴官，許給誥命，應恩當撰文。 因其子嗣昌得君，力為洗雪。 忤旨，將加罪，至發擬公揭救。 同官孔貞運、傅冠曰：「曩許士柔事，吾輩未嘗救，獨救應恩何也？」 至發咈然曰：「公等不救，我自救之。」 連上三揭。 帝不聽，特降諭削應恩籍，嗣昌疏救，亦不聽。 無何，大理寺副曹荃發應恩賕請事，詞連至發。 至發憤，連疏請勘。 帝雖優旨褒答，卒下應恩獄。 至發乃具疏，自謂當去者三，而未嘗引疾，忽得旨回籍調理，時人傳笑，以為遵旨患病雲。
Grand Secretariat Secretary Huang Ying'en was violent and overbearing; Tiren and Zhifa relied on him, and he abused his power at will. As Correcting Writer he should not also serve as Eastern Palace calligrapher, lest the emperor and crown prince lecture on the same day. Unfamiliar with precedent, Zhifa ordered him to hold both posts. Unable to manage both, Ying'en refused to copy lecture drafts sent by the lecturers. Reviewer Yang Shicong criticized this; Zhifa suppressed his memorial, and when Shicong wrote again to the secretariat Zhifa still protected Ying'en. When former supreme commander Yang He was restored and was to receive an edict of appointment, Ying'en was to draft the text. Because his son Sichang enjoyed imperial favor, he worked hard to clear Yang He's name. This offended the throne and was to be punished; Zhifa drafted a joint memorial in his defense. Colleagues Kong Zhenyun and Fu Guan said: "In Xu Shirou's case we never intervened—why save Ying'en alone? Zhifa retorted: "If you will not save him, I will." He submitted three joint memorials in succession. The emperor refused and issued a special edict striking Ying'en from the rolls; Sichang memorialized in his defense, but the emperor would not relent. Soon Vice Minister Cao Quan of the Court of Judicial Review exposed Ying'en's bribery, implicating Zhifa. Zhifa angrily submitted repeated memorials demanding investigation. Though the emperor replied with gracious edicts, he ultimately imprisoned Ying'en. Zhifa then memorialized giving three reasons he should leave, though he had never cited illness; suddenly he was ordered home to recuperate—people mocked him for 'obeying the edict by falling ill.'
19
至發頗清強。 起自外吏，諸翰林多不服，又始終惡異己，不能虛公延攬。 帝亦惡其泄漏機密，聽之去。 且不遣行人護行，但令乘傳，賜道里費六十金、彩幣二表裏，視首輔去國彜典，僅得半焉。 既歸，捐貲改建淄城，賜敕優獎。 俄以徽號禮成，遣官存問。 十四年夏，帝思用舊臣，特敕召周延儒、賀逢聖及至發，獨至發四疏辭。 明年七月病歿。 先屢加太子太傅、禮部尚書、文淵閣大學士。 及卒，贈少保，祭葬，蔭子如制。
Zhifa was a forceful, upright man. An outsider among the Hanlin, he was resented by many scholars and never welcomed rivals, failing to recruit talent impartially. The emperor also disliked his leaking secrets and allowed him to leave. No imperial messenger escorted him; he was given relay horses, sixty taels, and two rolls of brocade—only half what a departing chief minister normally received. Back home he donated funds to rebuild Zichuan and received an edict of commendation. Soon after the posthumous-title rites were completed, officials were sent to inquire after him. In the summer of the fourteenth year the emperor recalled Zhou Yanru, He Fengsheng, and Zhifa; only Zhifa declined four times. In the seventh month of the following year he died of illness. He had repeatedly been made Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent, Minister of Rites, and Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Depth. At his death he was posthumously made Junior Guardian, with state sacrifices and hereditary privilege for his son as prescribed.
20
代至發為首輔者，孔貞運。 代貞運者，劉宇亮。 貞運，句容人，至聖十三代孫也。 萬歷四十七年以殿試第二人授編修。 天啟中，充經筵展書官，纂修《兩朝實錄》。 莊烈帝嗣位，貞運進講《皇明寶訓》，稱述祖宗勤政講學事，帝嘉納之。
Kong Zhenyun succeeded Zhifa as chief minister. Liu Yuliang succeeded Zhenyun. Zhenyun came from Jurong and was a thirteenth-generation descendant of Confucius. In the forty-seventh year of Wanli he placed second in the palace examination and was appointed Hanlin compiler. Under Tianqi he lectured at the classics mat and helped compile the Veritable Records of the Two Reigns. At Chongzhen's accession Zhenyun lectured on the Imperial Instructions, praising the founders' diligence and study; the emperor approved.
21
崇禎元年，擢國子監祭酒，尋進少詹，仍管監事。 二年正月，帝臨雍，貞運進講《書經》。 唐貞觀時，祭酒孔穎達講《孝經》，有釋奠頌。 孔氏子孫以國師進講，至貞運乃再見。 帝以聖裔故，從優賜一品服。 冬十月，畿輔被兵，條上御敵城守應援數策。 尋以艱歸。 六年服闋，起南京禮部侍郎。 越二年，遷吏部左侍郎。
In the first year of Chongzhen he became Director of the Imperial Academy, then Junior Mentor while retaining charge of the Academy. In the first month of the second year the emperor visited the Academy and Zhenyun lectured on the Book of Documents. In Tang's Zhenguan era Director Kong Yingda lectured on the Classic of Filial Piety with a libation hymn. A Kong descendant lecturing as state teacher was not seen again until Zhenyun. As a descendant of the sage, the emperor granted him first-rank robes as a special honor. That winter the capital region was invaded; he submitted plans for defense, garrison duty, and relief. He soon returned home to mourn a parent. When mourning ended in the sixth year he was recalled as Vice Minister of Rites in Nanjing. Two years later he was made Left Vice Minister of Personnel.
22
九年六月，與賀逢聖、黃士俊並入內閣。 時體仁當國，欲重治復社，值其在告，貞運從寬結之。 體仁怒語人曰：「句容亦聽人提索矣。」 自是不敢有所建白。 及至發去位，貞運代之，乃揭救鄭三俊、錢謙益，俱從寬擬。 帝親定考選諸臣，下輔臣再閱，貞運及薛國觀有所更。 迨命下，閣擬悉不從，而帝以所擇十八卷下部議行。 適新御史郭景昌等謁貞運於朝房，貞運言所下諸卷，說多難行。 景昌與辯，退即上疏劾之。 帝雖奪景昌俸，貞運卒引歸。 十七年五月，莊烈帝哀詔至，貞運哭臨，慟絕不能起。 舁歸，得疾遽卒。
In the sixth month of the ninth year he entered the Grand Secretariat with He Fengsheng and Huang Shijun. Tiren then ruled and wished to punish the Fushe society harshly; during his leave Zhenyun settled the case leniently. Tiren said angrily: "Even Jurong lets people lead him by the nose now. After that Zhenyun dared not offer proposals. When Zhifa left, Zhenyun succeeded him and submitted a joint memorial saving Zheng Sanjun and Qian Qianyi, both treated leniently. The emperor personally chose examination candidates for the ministers to review; Zhenyun and Xue Guoguan altered his list. When the order came down the secretariat's list was rejected and the emperor's eighteen chosen scrolls were sent for deliberation. New censor Guo Jingchang called on Zhenyun in the court lodging; Zhenyun said the issued scrolls were mostly impractical. Jingchang argued with him and, on leaving, immediately impeached him. The emperor fined Jingchang's salary, but Zhenyun ultimately resigned and went home. In the fifth month of the seventeenth year, when the Chongzhen Emperor's mourning edict arrived, Zhenyun wept at the proclamation and collapsed in grief. Carried home, he fell suddenly ill and died.
23
黃士俊，順德人。 萬歷三十五年殿試第一。 授修撰，歷官禮部尚書。 崇禎九年入閣，累加少傅，予告歸。 父母俱在堂，錦衣侍養，人以為榮。 唐王以原官召，未赴。 後相永明王，耄不能決事，數為臺省論列。 辭歸而卒。
Huang Shijun was from Shunde. In Wanli 35 he took first place in the palace examination. Appointed Compiler, he rose to Minister of Rites. In Chongzhen 9 he entered the secretariat, was made Junior Mentor, and took leave to go home. Both parents still alive, he attended them in official brocade—a thing others regarded as glory. The Prince of Tang recalled him to his former post; he did not go. Later he served the Prince of Yongming; too aged to decide affairs, he was repeatedly attacked by censorial officials. He resigned, returned home, and died.
24
劉宇亮
Liu Yuliang
25
劉宇亮，綿竹人。 萬歷四十七年進士。 屢遷吏部右侍郎。 崇禎十年八月，擢禮部尚書，與傅冠、薛國觀同入閣。 宇亮短小精悍，善擊劍。 居翰林，常與家僮角逐為樂。 性不嗜書，館中纂修、直講、典試諸事，皆不得與。 座主錢士升為之援，又力排同鄉王應熊，張己聲譽，竟獲大用。 明年六月，貞運罷歸，遂代為首輔。 其冬，都城戒嚴，命閱視三大營及勇衛營軍士，兩日而畢。 又閱視內城九門，外城七門，皆茍且卒事。
Liu Yuliang was from Mianzhu. A jinshi of Wanli 47. He rose repeatedly to Vice Minister of Personnel. In the eighth month of Chongzhen 10 he was made Minister of Rites and entered the secretariat with Fu Guan and Xue Guoguan. Short and fierce, Yuliang was skilled at swordplay. In the Hanlin he often raced his servants for sport. He cared little for books and was barred from compilation, lecturing, and examination duties. Patron Qian Shisheng backed him; he sidelined fellow townsman Wang Yingxiong, burnished his own name, and won high office. The next sixth month Zhenyun resigned; Yuliang succeeded him as chief minister. That winter the capital went on alert; ordered to inspect the Three Great Camps and Brave Guard Camp, he finished in two days. He also inspected the inner city's nine gates and outer city's seven—all perfunctorily dispatched.
26
時大清兵深入，帝憂甚，宇亮自請督察軍情。 帝喜，即革總督盧象升任，命宇亮往代。 字亮請督察，而帝忽改為總督，大懼，與國觀及楊嗣昌謀，且具疏自言。 乃留象升，而宇亮仍往督察，各鎮勤王兵皆屬焉。 甫抵保定，聞象升戰歿，過安平，偵者報大清兵將至，相顧無人色，急趨晉州避之，知州陳弘緒閉門不納，士民亦歃血誓不延一兵。 宇亮大怒，傳令箭：亟納師，否則軍法從事。 弘緒亦傳語曰：「督師之來以禦敵也，今敵且至，奈何避之？ 芻糧不繼，責有司，欲入城，不敢聞命。」 宇亮乃馳疏劾之，有旨逮治。 州民詣闕訟冤，願以身代者千計，弘緒得鐫級調用。 帝自是疑宇亮不任事，徒擾民矣。
With Qing forces deep inside the realm, the emperor was deeply worried; Yuliang volunteered to inspect the armies. Pleased, the emperor removed supreme commander Lu Xiangsheng and ordered Yuliang to replace him. Yuliang had asked to inspect, but the emperor suddenly made him supreme commander; terrified, he conspired with Guoguan and Yang Sichang and memorialized in his own defense. Xiangsheng was kept on; Yuliang still went out as inspector, with all provincial relief armies under his command. Reaching Baoding, he learned Xiangsheng had fallen; near Anping scouts reported Qing forces approaching—they went white with fear and fled toward Jizhou; Prefect Chen Hongxu shut the gates, and townsfolk swore by blood to admit not one soldier. Yuliang raged and sent a command arrow: admit the army at once or face military justice. Hongxu replied: "The supervising commander came to fight the enemy; the enemy is near—why flee? Fodder runs short—blame the officials. You seek entry—I dare not obey. Yuliang hastily impeached him; an edict ordered his arrest. Prefecture folk went to court pleading injustice; a thousand offered to die in his place; Hongxu was reduced one rank and transferred. From then on the emperor doubted Yuliang's competence and thought he only harassed the people.
27
明年正月至天津。 憤諸將退避，疏論之，因及總兵劉光祚逗遛狀。 國觀方冀為首輔，與嗣昌謀傾宇亮，遽擬旨軍前斬光祚。 比旨下，光祚適有武清之捷，宇亮乃系光祚於獄，而具疏乞宥，繼上武清捷音。 國觀乃擬嚴旨，責以前後矛盾，下九卿科道議。 僉謂宇亮玩弄國憲，大不敬。 宇亮疏辯，部議落職閑住，給事中陳啟新、沈迅復重劾之，改擬削籍。 帝令戴罪圖功，事平再議。 宇亮竟以此去位，而國觀代為首輔矣。 已而定失事者五案，宇亮終免議。 久之，卒於家。
The next first month he reached Tianjin. Angered at the generals' retreats, he memorialized against them and cited Regional Commander Liu Guangzuo's stalling. Guoguan, hoping for chief minister, conspired with Sichang to ruin Yuliang and swiftly drafted an edict to behead Guangzuo at the front. When the edict arrived Guangzuo had just won at Wuqing; Yuliang imprisoned him but memorialized for pardon, then reported the Wuqing victory. Guoguan drafted a harsh edict citing Yuliang's contradiction and sent the case to the Nine Ministers and censorate. All agreed Yuliang had mocked state law—a grave offense. Yuliang defended himself; the ministry recommended dismissal; supervising secretaries Chen Qixin and Shen Xun impeached him again, changing the penalty to strippage from the rolls. The emperor ordered him to redeem himself through merit and be judged again when peace returned. Yuliang ultimately fell over this, and Guoguan became chief minister. Later five dereliction cases were settled, and Yuliang was spared further judgment. In time he died at home.
28
薛國觀
Xue Guoguan
29
薛國觀，韓城人。 萬歷四十七年進士。 授萊州推官。 天啟四年，擢戶部給事中，數有建白。 魏忠賢擅權，朝士爭擊東林。 國觀所劾御史遊士任、操江都御史熊明遇、保定巡撫張鳳翔、兵部侍郎蕭近高、刑部尚書喬允升，皆東林也。 尋遷兵科右給事中，於疆事亦多所論奏。 忠賢遣內臣出鎮，偕同官疏爭。 七年，再遷刑科都給事中。
Xue Guoguan was from Hancheng. A jinshi of Wanli 47. He was appointed subprefectural judge in Laizhou. In Tianqi 4 he became a revenue supervising secretary and often offered proposals. With Wei Zhongxian in power, court officials competed to attack the Donglin. Censor You Shiren, River Defense Coordinator Xiong Mingyu, Baoding Coordinator Zhang Fengxiang, Vice Minister of War Xiao Jin'gao, and Minister of Justice Qiao Yunsheng—all Donglin men—were impeached by Guoguan. Soon made right supervising secretary of military affairs, he memorialized often on frontier matters. When Zhongxian posted eunuchs to frontier commands, Guoguan joined colleagues in protesting. In the seventh year he rose to chief supervising secretary of punishments.
30
崇禎改元，忠賢遺黨有欲用王化貞，寬高，出胡嘉棟者，國觀力持不可。 奉命祭北鎮醫無閭，還言關內外營伍虛耗、將吏侵克之弊，因薦大將滿桂才。 帝褒以忠讜，令指將吏侵克者名，列上副將王應暉等六人，詔俱屬之吏。 陜西盜起，偕鄉人仕於朝者，請設防速剿，並追論故巡撫喬應甲納賄縱盜罪。 削應甲籍，籍其贓。 國觀先附忠賢，至是大治忠賢黨，為南京御史袁耀然所劾。 國觀懼，且虞掛察典，思所以撓之，乃劾吏科都給事中沈惟炳、兵科給事中許譽卿，言：「兩人主盟東林，與瞿式耜掌握枚卜。 文華召對，陛下惡章允儒妄言，嚴旨處分。 譽卿乃持一疏授惟炳，使同官劉斯珣邀臣列名，臣拒不應，遂使耀然劾臣。 臣自立有品，不入東林，遂罹其害。 今朝局惟論東林異同向背，借崔、魏為題，報仇傾陷。 今又把持京察，而式耜以被斥之人，久居郭外，遙制察典，舉朝無敢言。」 末詆耀然賄劉鴻訓得御史。 帝雖以撓察典責之，國觀卒免察。 然清議不容，旋以終養去。
At Chongzhen's accession, Zhongxian's remnants sought to restore Wang Huazhen, leniency for Gao Yingxian, and Hu Jiadong's release; Guoguan forcefully opposed it. Sent to sacrifice at the northern shrine of Yiwu Lü, he returned reporting wasted garrisons and officers' embezzlement, recommending the great general Man Gui. The emperor praised his candor and ordered names of embezzling officers; he listed Deputy General Wang Yinghui and five others, whom an edict turned over for prosecution. When Shaanxi bandits rose, he and fellow Hancheng officials at court called for swift defense and renewed charges against former coordinator Qiao Yingjia for bribery and indulging bandits. Yingjia was struck from the rolls and his gains confiscated. Once Zhongxian's ally, Guoguan now prosecuted his faction and was impeached by Nanjing censor Yuan Yaoran. Afraid and fearing entanglement in the capital evaluation, Guoguan impeached Shen Weibing and Xu Yuqing, saying: "Both lead the Donglin and, with Qu Shisi, control official selection. At Wenhua audiences the Emperor hated Zhang Yunru's reckless talk and issued harsh punishment. Yuqing handed a memorial to Weibing and had Liu Sixun ask me to sign; I refused, so he set Yaoran on me. I have always stood apart and never joined the Donglin—so they struck at me. Today's court cares only whether one is for or against the Donglin, using Cui and Wei as pretexts for revenge. Now they control the capital evaluation while Shisi, long banished outside the walls, steers it from afar—and none in court dare speak. He ended by accusing Yaoran of bribing Liu Hongxun for the censorate. Though rebuked for obstructing the evaluation, Guoguan ultimately escaped it. Public opinion would not bear him, and he soon retired on grounds of final parental mourning.
31
三年秋，用御史陳其猷薦，起兵科都給事中。 遭母憂，服闋，起禮科都給事中，遷太常少卿。 九年，擢左僉都御史。 明年八月，拜禮部左侍郎兼東閣大學士，入參機務。 國觀為人陰鷙谿刻，不學少文。 溫體仁因其素仇東林，密薦於帝，遂超擢大用之。
In the third year's autumn, on censor Chen Qiyou's recommendation, he became chief supervising secretary of military affairs. After mourning his mother he was recalled as chief rites supervising secretary and promoted Vice Minister of Imperial Sacrifices. In the ninth year he became Left Vice Censor-in-Chief. The next eighth month he was made Vice Minister of Rites and Eastern Lodge Grand Secretary, joining state deliberations. Secretive, harsh, and narrow, Guoguan lacked learning and polish. Wen Tiren, knowing Guoguan's hatred of the Donglin, secretly recommended him and he was abruptly raised to high power.
32
十一年六月，進禮部尚書。 其冬，首輔劉宇亮出督師，國觀與楊嗣昌比，構罷宇亮。 明年二月代其位。 敘剿寇功，加太子太保、戶部尚書，進文淵閣； 敘城守功，加少保、吏部尚書，進武英殿。
In the sixth month of the eleventh year he became Minister of Rites. That winter chief minister Yuliang went out to command; Guoguan joined Yang Sichang and engineered his fall. The next second month he took Yuliang's place. For bandit-suppression merit he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and Minister of Revenue and entered the Hall of Literary Depth; For defending the capital he was made Junior Guardian and Minister of Personnel and entered the Hall of Military Glory.
33
先為首輔者，體仁最當帝意，居位久。 及張至發、孔貞運、劉宇亮繼之，皆非帝意所屬，故旋罷去。 國觀得誌，一踵體仁所為，導帝以深刻，而才智彌不及，操守亦弗如。 帝初頗信響之，久而覺其奸，遂及於禍。
Of earlier chief ministers, Tiren best pleased the emperor and lasted longest. Zhang Zhifa, Kong Zhenyun, and Liu Yuliang who followed were none the emperor's men and were soon dismissed. In power, Guoguan wholly copied Tiren, steering the emperor toward harshness—yet fell even shorter in talent and integrity. At first the emperor trusted him; in time he saw the treachery—and ruin followed.
34
始帝燕見國觀，語及朝士貪婪。 國觀對曰：「使廠衛得人，安敢如是。」 東廠太監王德化在側，汗流沾背，於是專察其陰事。 國觀任中書王陛彥，而惡中書周國興、楊余洪，以漏詔旨、招權利劾之，並下詔獄。 兩人老矣，斃廷杖下，其家人密緝國觀通賄事，報東廠。 而國觀前匿史褷所寄銀，周、楊兩家又誘褷蒼頭首告。 由是諸事悉上聞，帝意漸移。
At an informal audience the emperor spoke with Guoguan of official greed. Guoguan replied: "If the secret police had able men, who would dare act so? Eastern Depot director Wang Dehua stood by, sweat drenching his back—and from then on devoted himself to Guoguan's secrets. Guoguan favored drafter Wang Biyan but hated Zhou Guoxing and Yang Yuhong, impeaching them for leaking edicts and profiteering; both went to the imperial prison. Both old men died under the beating; their families secretly gathered evidence of Guoguan's bribery and reported to the Eastern Depot. Guoguan had hidden silver entrusted by Shi Kun; the Zhou and Yang families also turned Shi Kun's servant informant. Everything reached the emperor, and his favor gradually turned.
35
史褷者，清苑人。 為御史無行，善結納中官，為王永光死黨。 巡按淮、揚，括庫中贓罰銀十余萬入己橐。 攝巡鹽，又掩取前官張錫命貯庫銀二十余萬。 及以少卿家居，檢討楊士聰劾吏部尚書田唯嘉納周汝弼金八千推延綏巡撫，褷居間，並發褷盜鹽課事。 褷得旨自陳，遂訐士聰，而鹽課則請敕淮、揚監督中官楊顯名核奏。 俄而錫命子沆訐褷，給事中劉焜芳復劾褷侵盜有據。 又嘗勒富人於承祖萬金，事發，則遣家人賫重貲謀於黠吏，圖改舊籍。 帝乃怒，褫褷職，褷急攜數萬金入都，主國觀邸。 謀既定，出疏攻焜芳及其弟炳芳、煒芳。 閣臣多徇褷，擬嚴旨，帝不聽，止奪焜芳官候訊。 及顯名核疏上，力為褷解，而不能諱者六萬金； 褷下獄。 會有兵事，獄久不結，瘐死。 都人籍籍謂褷所攜貲盡為國觀有，家人證之，事大著。 國觀猶力辨褷贓為黨人構陷，帝不聽。
Shi Kun was from Qingyuan. A censor of no character, he cultivated eunuchs and was Wang Yongguang's sworn follower. Inspecting Huai and Yang, he pocketed over 100,000 taels of fines from the treasury. Acting salt inspector, he seized over 200,000 taels his predecessor Zhang Ximing had stored. At home as a vice minister, reviewer Yang Shicong impeached Minister Tian Weijia for taking eight thousand taels from Zhou Rubi to secure the Yansui coordinator post—with Shi Kun as broker—and exposed Shi Kun's salt revenue theft. Shi Kun was ordered to explain himself and counter-attacked Shicong; on salt revenue he asked the Huai-Yang supervising eunuch Yang Xianming to investigate. Soon Zhang Ximing's son Hang accused Shi Kun, and supervising secretary Liu Kunfang impeached him again with proof of theft. He had extorted ten thousand taels from the magnate Yu Chengzu; when exposed, he sent family with heavy bribes to clever clerks to falsify the records. The emperor stripped him of office; Shi Kun hurried to the capital with tens of thousands of taels and lodged at Guoguan's house. Plot in place, he memorialized against Kunfang and his brothers Bingfang and Weifang. Most grand secretaries sided with Shi Kun and drafted a harsh edict; the emperor refused and only stripped Kunfang pending inquiry. When Yang Xianming's verification memorial arrived, Guoguan fought hard to clear Shi Kun—yet sixty thousand taels in gold could not be hidden. Shi Kun went to prison. War intervened; the case dragged on, and he wasted away and died in custody. Beijing whispered that Shi Kun's baggage had all ended up with Guoguan; kin bore witness, and the scandal broke wide open. Guoguan still insisted Shi Kun had been framed by factional enemies; the emperor refused to hear it.
36
帝初憂國用不足，國觀請借助，言：「在外群僚，臣等任之； 在內戚畹，非獨斷不可。」 因以武清侯李國瑞為言。 國瑞者，孝定太后兄孫，帝曾祖母家也。 國瑞薄庶兄國臣，國臣憤，詭言「父貲四十萬，臣當得其半，今請助國為軍貲」。 帝初未允，因國觀言，欲盡借所言四十萬者，不應則勒期嚴追。 或教國瑞匿貲勿獻，拆毀居第，陳什器通衢鬻之，示無所有。 嘉定伯周奎與有連，代為請。 帝怒，奪國瑞爵，國瑞悸死。 有司追不已，戚畹皆自危。 因皇五子病，交通宦官宮妾，倡言孝定太后已為九蓮菩薩，空中責帝薄外家，諸皇子盡當夭，降神於皇五子。 俄皇子卒，帝大恐，急封國瑞七歲兒存善為侯，盡還所納金銀，而追恨國觀，待隙而發。
The emperor first fretted over empty coffers; Guoguan proposed forced "loans," saying: "Out in the provinces, we ministers can handle the rest; but among the imperial in-laws at court, only Your Majesty can decide. He pointed to Martial Tranquility Marquis Li Guorui. Guorui was a grandson on Empress Dowager Xiaoding's side—the emperor's maternal great-grandmother's kin. Guorui scorned his elder half-brother Guochen, who in anger fabricated a tale: "Father left four hundred thousand taels; half is mine—I offer it now to aid the army." The emperor at first refused, but swayed by Guoguan he meant to seize all of the claimed four hundred thousand—and if Guorui balked, pursue him on a hard deadline. Counselors urged Guorui to conceal his fortune, demolish his house, and hawk his furnishings in the public way to prove poverty. Jiading Duke Zhou Kui, a relation, interceded for him. The emperor in fury took Guorui's title; Guorui died of terror. Officials kept dunning him, and every imperial relative trembled. When the fifth prince sickened, eunuchs and palace women were enlisted to claim Xiaoding had become the Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva, that heaven rebuked the emperor for coldness toward his in-laws, that every prince would die young—and that a spirit had entered the fifth son. Soon the prince was dead; the emperor, terrified, made Guorui's seven-year-old Cunshan a marquis, returned every ingot seized—and still brooded on Guoguan, biding his time.
37
國觀素惡行人吳昌時。 及考選，昌時虞國觀抑己，因其門人以求見。 國觀偽與交歡，擬第一，當得吏科。 迨命下，乃得禮部主事。 昌時大恨，以為賣己，與所善東廠理刑吳道正謀，發丁憂侍郎蔡奕琛行賄國觀事。 帝聞之，益疑。
Guoguan had always despised courier Wu Changshi. At the selection examinations Changshi feared Guoguan would block him and used a protégé to gain access. Guoguan pretended warmth, put him first on the list, and promised him the personnel supervising secretaryship. When orders issued, he got only a principal secretary in the Ministry of Rites. Changshi, convinced he had been betrayed, conspired with Eastern Depot judge Wu Daozheng to expose mourning vice minister Cai Yichen's bribes to Guoguan. The emperor heard—and doubted all the more.
38
十三年六月，楊嗣昌出督師，有所陳奏。 帝令擬諭，國觀乃擬旨以進。 帝遂發怒，下五府九卿科道議奏。 掌都督府魏國公徐允禎、吏部尚書傅永淳等不測帝意，議頗輕，請令致仕或閑住。 帝度科道必言之，獨給事中袁愷會議不署名，且疏論永淳徇私狀，而微詆國觀藐肆妒嫉。 帝不懌，抵疏於地曰：「成何糾疏！」 遂奪國觀職，放之歸，怒猶未已。
In the sixth month of year thirteen Yang Sichang took field command and memorialized on several matters. The emperor ordered a reply drafted; Guoguan wrote it and sent it in. The emperor erupted and referred the matter to the Five Offices, Nine Ministries, and censorate for joint memorial. Xu Yunzhen of Wei, chief of the military commission, Fu Yongchun of Personnel, and others misread the throne; their report was mild—retirement or idle post. He expected the censors to weigh in; only Yuan Kai withheld his signature at the conference, memorialized Yongchun's partiality, and quietly assailed Guoguan's arrogance and spite. Displeased, the emperor threw the paper down: "What sort of accusation is this! He stripped Guoguan and sent him home—but rage still burned.
39
國觀出都，重車累累，偵事者復以聞。 而東廠所遣伺國觀邸者，值陛彥至，執之，得其招搖通賄狀。 詞所連及，永淳、奕琛暨通政使李夢辰、刑部主事朱永佑等十一人。 命下陛彥詔獄窮治。 頃之，愷再疏，盡發國觀納賄諸事，永淳、奕琛與焉。 國觀連疏力辨，詆愷受昌時指使，帝不納。
Guoguan quit the capital under wagons piled high; spies reported it again. An Eastern Depot watcher at Guoguan's house caught Biyan, seized him, and extracted confession of open bribery. His words dragged in Yongchun, Yichen, Li Mengchen of the Transmission Office, Zhu Yongyou of Punishments, and eleven others. Biyan was ordered into the imperial prison for exhaustive inquiry. Soon Kai memorialized again, laying bare Guoguan's graft—Yongchun and Yichen included. Guoguan fought back in serial memorials, claiming Kai acted for Changshi; the emperor would not listen.
40
至十月，陛彥獄未成，帝以行賄有據，即命棄市，而遣使逮國觀。 國觀遷延久不赴，明年七月入都。 令待命外邸，不以屬吏，國觀自謂必不死。 八月初八日夕，監刑者至門，猶鼾睡。 及聞詔使皆緋衣，蹶然曰：「吾死矣！」 倉皇覓小帽不得，取蒼頭帽覆之。 宣詔畢，頓首不能出聲，但言「吳昌時殺我」，乃就縊。 明日，使者還奏。 又明日許收斂，懸梁者兩日矣。 輔臣戮死，自世廟夏言後，此再見雲。 法司坐其贓九千，沒入田六百畝，故宅一區。
Come the tenth month the Biyan case remained open—yet with bribery deemed proven, the emperor ordered him beheaded and messengers sent for Guoguan. Guoguan lingered abroad until the seventh month of the next year, then entered the capital. He was told to wait at an outer lodge, not remanded to jail; Guoguan assured himself he would live. On the eighth month's eighth evening the execution party came; he still slept. Hearing the messengers wore crimson, he jolted awake: "I am finished! He hunted for his cap, found none, and covered his head with a groom's hat. After the edict he kowtowed wordlessly, cried "Wu Changshi killed me," and hanged himself. Next day the messengers reported back. Burial was allowed only on the morrow—two days on the beam. A chief minister executed—to be seen again only since Xia Yan in the Jiajing reign. The law officers assessed nine thousand taels in graft, seized six hundred mu and one manor.
41
國觀險忮，然罪不至死，帝徒以私憤殺之，贓又懸坐，人頗有冤之者。
Guoguan was vicious and spiteful, but death was excessive—the emperor slew him from private fury on trumped-up loot, and many called it injustice.
42
袁愷，聊城人。 既劾罪國觀，後為給事中宋之普所傾，罷去。 福王時，起故官，道卒。
Yuan Kai came from Liaocheng. Having ruined Guoguan, he was later undone by supervising secretary Song Zhipu and driven out. Restored under the Prince of Fu, he died en route to office.
43
程國祥
Cheng Guoxiang
44
程國祥，字仲若，上元人。 舉萬歷三十二年進士。 歷知確山、光山二縣，有清名。 遷南京吏部主事，乞養歸。 服闋，起禮部主事。 天啟四年，吏部尚書趙南星知其可任，調為己屬，更歷四司。 發御史楊玉珂請屬，玉珂被謫，國祥亦引疾歸。 其冬，魏忠賢既逐南星，御史張訥劾國祥為南星邪黨，遂除名。
Cheng Guoxiang, styled Zhongruo, was from Shangyuan. He took the jinshi in Wanli 32. Magistrate of Queshan and then Guangshan, he earned a name for clean rule. Raised to principal secretary at Nanjing Personnel, he sought leave to care for his parents and went home. After mourning he returned as a Rites principal secretary. In Tianqi 4 Zhao Nanxing of Personnel, deeming him fit, pulled him onto his staff; he rotated through four bureaus. He caught censor Yang Yuke soliciting favor; Yuke was banished and Guoxiang retired on illness. That winter, with Nanxing ousted by Wei Zhongxian, censor Zhang Ne branded Guoxiang a Nanxing partisan and erased his name.
45
崇禎二年，起稽勛員外郎。 遷考功郎中，主外計，時稱公慎。 御史龔守忠詆國祥通賄，國祥疏辯。 帝褒以清執，下都察院核奏，事得白，守忠坐褫官。 尋遷大理右寺丞。 歷太常卿、南京通政使，就遷工部侍郎，復調戶部。
Chongzhen 2 restored him as vice director of meritorious service. As evaluation director overseeing provincial reviews, he was hailed for fairness. Censor Gong Shouzhong charged him with graft; Guoxiang defended himself by memorial. The emperor commended his integrity, ordered the Censorate to investigate; he was cleared and Shouzhong dismissed. He soon became vice director at the Right Review Court. He served as Minister of Ceremonies and Nanjing transmission commissioner, became vice minister of Works, then moved to Revenue.
46
九年冬，召拜戶部尚書。 楊嗣昌議增餉，國祥不敢違。 而是時度支益匱，四方奏報災傷者相繼。 國祥多方區畫，亦時有所蠲減，最後建議，借都城賃舍一季租，可得五十萬，帝遂行之。 勛戚奄豎悉隱匿不奏，所得僅十三萬，而怨聲載途。 然帝由是眷國祥。
In the winter of year nine he was summoned Minister of Revenue. Yang Sichang wanted higher levies; Guoxiang did not dare refuse. Yet the treasury thinned while disaster reports flooded in from every province. Guoxiang juggled accounts, sometimes winning remissions; finally he proposed seizing one season's rent on Beijing leaseholds—five hundred thousand taels—and the emperor agreed. Nobles and eunuchs hid their properties; only 130,000 came in—and outrage filled the streets. Still, the emperor's regard for Guoxiang deepened.
47
十一年六月，帝將增置閣臣，出禦中極殿，召廷臣七十余人親試之。 發策言：「年來天災頻仍，今夏旱益甚，金星晝見五旬，四月山西大雪。 朝廷腹心耳目臣，務避嫌怨。 有司舉劾，情賄關其心。 克期平賊無功，而剿兵難撤。 外敵生心，邊餉日絀。 民貧既甚，正供猶艱。 有司侵削百方，如火益熱。 若何處置得宜，禁戢有法，卿等悉心以對。」 會天大雨，諸臣面對後，漏已深，終考者止三十七人。 顧帝意已前定，特假是為名耳。 居數日，改國祥禮部尚書，與楊嗣昌、方逢年、蔡國用、範復粹俱兼東閣大學士，入參機務。 時劉宇亮為首輔，傅冠、薛國觀次之，又驟增國祥等五人。 國觀、嗣昌最用事，國祥委蛇其間，自守而已。 明年四月召對，無一言。 帝傳諭責國祥緘默，大負委任，國祥遂乞休去。
In the sixth month of year eleven he meant to enlarge the secretariat, entered the Central Apex Hall, and personally tested seventy-odd officials. The question ran: "Disasters multiply; this summer's drought is worse. Venus shone by day fifty days; Shanxi snowed in the fourth month. The emperor's inner circle shuns blame. Impeachments turn on favor and silver. Bandit deadlines fail while suppression armies cannot come home. Foreign foes grow bold; border funds dwindle daily. The people are destitute; lawful dues are still hard to raise. Magistrates squeeze from every angle, heat upon heat. How restore order and bind abuse by law? Answer with your whole mind. Rain fell in torrents; after audiences the night was far gone—only thirty-seven completed the exam. The emperor's choices were already made; the exam was theater. Days later Guoxiang became Minister of Rites; with Yang Sichang, Fang Fengnian, Cai Guoyong, and Fan Fuchun he entered the Eastern Pavilion as grand secretary. Liu Yuliang headed the cabinet, Fu Guan and Xue Guoguan followed—and five more, Guoxiang among them, were rushed in. Guoguan and Sichang ruled; Guoxiang drifted between them and kept his head down. Called to audience in the fourth month of the next year, he said nothing. The throne rebuked his silence as betrayal of trust; Guoxiang asked to withdraw.
48
國祥始受業於焦竑，歷任卿相，布衣蔬食，不改儒素。 與其子上俱撰有詩集。 國祥歿後，家貧，不能舉火。 上營葬畢，感疾卒，無嗣。
A pupil of Jiao Hong, he reached the highest offices yet kept coarse cloth and plain fare. He and his son Shang each left books of verse. When Guoxiang died his family was too poor to light a hearth. Shang buried him, sickened, and died without sons.
49
蔡國用，金溪人。 萬歷三十八年進士。 由中書舍人擢御史。 天啟五年陳時政六事，詆葉向高、趙南星，而薦亓詩教、趙興邦、邵輔忠、姚宗文等七人，魏忠賢喜，矯旨褒納。 尋忤珰意，勒令閑住。
Cai Guoyong came from Jinxi. He took the jinshi in Wanli 38. Raised from drafter to censor. In Tianqi 5 he listed six policy points, attacked Ye Xianggao and Zhao Nanxing, praised Qi Shijiao, Zhao Xingbang, Shao Fuzhong, Yao Zongwen, and seven others; Wei Zhongxian forged an edict of approval. Soon he crossed the eunuchs and was sidelined.
50
崇禎元年起故官，屢遷工部右侍郎。 督修都城，需石甚急，不克辦。 國用建議取牙石用之。 牙石者，舊列崇文、宣武兩街，備駕出除道者也。 帝閱城，嘉其功，遂欲大用。 十一年六月，廷推閣臣，國用望輕，不獲與，特旨擢禮部尚書，入閣辦事。 累加少保，改吏部尚書、武英殿。 十三年六月卒於官，贈太保，謚文恪。 國用居位清謹，與同列張四知皆庸才，碌碌無所見。
Restored in Chongzhen 1, he rose to vice minister of Works. Overseeing capital wall repairs, he needed stone urgently and could not meet the demand. Guoyong proposed stripping merlon stone from the walls. These ceremonial merlon stones had traditionally lined Chongwen and Xuanwu streets so the emperor’s procession could have the road cleared in advance. When the emperor toured the fortifications, he applauded the work and resolved to promote Guoyong to greater responsibility. In the sixth month of Chongzhen 11, court nomination for the Grand Secretariat passed him over as a lightweight; the throne then singled him out for Minister of Rites and a seat in the cabinet. Further honors made him Junior Guardian; he was reassigned as Minister of Personnel with a seat in the Hall of Military Glory. He died in office in the sixth month of Chongzhen 13 and was posthumously made Grand Guardian with the temple name Wenge. Guoyong served with sober integrity, but he and fellow Grand Secretary Zhang Sizhi were undistinguished men who left no mark on policy.
51
範復粹，黃縣人。 萬歷四十七年進士。 除開封府推官。 崇禎元年為御史。 廷議移毛文龍內地，復粹言：「海外億萬生靈誰非赤子，倘棲身無所，必各據一島為盜，後患方深。」 又言：「袁崇煥功在全遼，而尚寶卿董懋中詆為逆黨所庇，持論狂謬。」 懋中遂落職，文龍亦不果移。
Fan Fuchun came from Huang County. He earned his jinshi degree in Wanli 47. His first appointment was as investigating censor in Kaifeng Prefecture. In Chongzhen 1 he entered the Censorate. When the court weighed relocating Mao Wenlong inland, Fuchun argued that countless people overseas were still the emperor’s subjects; strip them of refuge and they would occupy islands as bandits, with worse trouble to follow. He also insisted that Yuan Chonghuan had held all Liaodong, while Director Dong Maozhong’s charge that Yuan was protected by traitor cliques was reckless nonsense. Dong Maozhong lost his post, and Mao Wenlong was never relocated.
52
巡按江西，請禁有司害民六事。 時大厘郵傳積弊，減削過甚，反累民，復粹極陳不便。 丁艱歸。 服闋，還朝，出按陜西。 陳治標治本之策：以任將、設防、留餉為治標； 廣屯、蠲賦、招撫為治本。 帝褒納之。 廷議有司督賦缺額，兼罪撫按，復粹力言不可。
On provincial inspection in Jiangxi, he asked the throne to ban six abuses by local magistrates against the people. When reforms of the postal relay system slashed costs so sharply that commoners suffered, Fuchun pressed the emperor that the cuts were unworkable. He left office to observe mourning. After the mourning period he resumed duty and toured Shaanxi as investigating censor. He framed both urgent and lasting remedies—generals, fortifications, and retained rations as immediate measures; while expanded garrison farming, tax relief, and pacification through settlement would strike at the roots. The emperor commended the plan and adopted it. He fought a proposal to punish governors and surveillance commissioners whenever local officials missed tax quotas.
53
由大理右寺丞進左少卿。 居無何，超拜禮部左侍郎兼東閣大學士。 時同命者五人，翰林惟方逢年，余皆外僚，而復粹由少卿，尤屬異數。 蓋帝欲閣臣通知六部事，故每部簡一人：首輔劉宇亮由吏部，國祥以戶，逢年以禮，嗣昌以兵，國用以工，刑部無人，復粹以大理代之。 累加少保，進吏部尚書、武英殿。
He rose from right assistant director to left vice minister in the Court of the Great Canon. Soon he was leapfrogged to Vice Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. Five were named together; only Fang Fengnian among them came from the Hanlin, the others from outside, and Fuchun’s promotion straight from a vice ministership was a singular honor. The throne wanted cabinet ministers versed in every ministry, so each ministry supplied one man—Liu Yuliang from Personnel, Guoxiang from Revenue, Fengnian from Rites, Sichang from War, Guoyong from Works—while Fuchun, from the judiciary side at the Court of the Great Canon, stood in for Punishments. Further honors made him Junior Guardian, then Minister of Personnel in the Hall of Military Glory.
54
十三年六月，國觀罷，復粹為首輔。 給事中黃雲師言「宰相須才識度三者」，復粹恚，因自陳三者無一，請罷，溫旨慰留。 御史魏景琦劾復粹及張四知學淺才疏，伴食中書，遺譏海內。 帝以妄詆下之吏。 明年，加少傅兼太子太傅，改建極殿。 賊陷洛陽，復粹等引罪乞罷，不允。 帝御乾清宮左室，召對廷臣，語及福王被害，泣下。 復粹曰：「此乃天數。」 帝曰：「雖氣數，亦賴人事挽回。」 復粹等不能對。 帝疾初愈，大赦天下，命復粹錄囚，自尚書傅宗龍以下，多所減免。 是年五月致仕。 國變後，卒於家。
After Guo Guan’s dismissal in the sixth month of Chongzhen 13, Fuchun became chief minister. When Huang Yunshi wrote that a chief minister needed talent, insight, and magnanimity, Fuchun—furious—confessed he had none of the three and begged to resign; the emperor soothed him and refused. Censor Wei Jingqi attacked Fuchun and Zhang Sizhi as learned only in name, useless at the drafting table, and a laughingstock nationwide. The throne treated the charge as malicious libel and sent Wei Jingqi to the courts. The following year he received junior tutor and heir-apparent tutor titles and a seat in the Hall of Establishing the Ultimate. After rebels captured Luoyang, Fuchun and colleagues offered their resignations; the emperor declined. In the left annex of the Palace of Heavenly Purity the emperor held audience, spoke of the slain Prince of Fu, and broke into tears. Fuchun replied, “This was fate. The emperor answered, “Even cosmic cycles can be bent back by what men do.” Fuchun and his colleagues had nothing to say. Fresh from illness the emperor declared a great amnesty and had Fuchun review cases, commuting punishments from Minister Fu Zonglong on down. He resigned in the fifth month of that year. He died at home after the fall of the dynasty.
55
方逢年，遂安人。 萬歷四十四年進士。 天啟四年，以編修典湖廣試，發策有「巨珰大蠹」語，且雲「宇內豈無人焉？ 有薄士大夫而覓臯、夔、稷、契於黃衣閹尹之流者」。 魏忠賢見之，怒，貶三秩調外。 御史徐復陽希指劾之，削籍為民。
Fang Fengnian came from Suian. He took his jinshi in Wanli 44. In Tianqi 4, supervising the Huguang exams as a compiler, he set a policy theme denouncing “giant eunuchs and great parasites” and asked whether the empire truly lacked able men. He mocked officials who despised the gentry yet hoped to find sages like Gao Yao, Qi, Ji, and Xie among the eunuchs in yellow robes. Wei Zhongxian read the papers, flew into a rage, stripped him of three ranks, and sent him into provincial exile. Censor Xu Fuyang, eager to please, impeached him and had him expelled from the register as a private citizen.
56
崇禎初，起原官，累遷禮部侍郎。 十一年詔廷臣舉邊才，逢年以汪喬年應。 未幾，擢禮部尚書，入閣輔政。 其冬，刑科奏摘參未完疏，逢年以犯贓私者，人亡產絕，親戚坐累，幾同瓜蔓，遂輕擬以上。 而帝意欲罪刑部尚書劉之鳳，責逢年疏忽。 逢年引罪，即罷歸。
When Chongzhen began he was reinstated and rose to Vice Minister of Rites. In Chongzhen 11 the throne called for border experts; Fengnian recommended Wang Qiaonian. Soon he became Minister of Rites and joined the cabinet. That winter the punishment scrutiny office listed pending impeachments; Fengnian argued that punishing relatives when the corrupt official was dead and penniless smacked of collective guilt, and he leaned toward lenient approval. The emperor, intent on punishing Minister Liu Zhifeng, faulted Fengnian for carelessness. Fengnian accepted blame and was immediately dismissed.
57
福王時，復原官，不召。 魯王三召之，用其議，定稱魯監國。 紹興破，王航海，逢年追不及，與方國安等降於我大清。 已而以蠟丸書通閩，事泄被誅。
The Prince of Fu restored his rank but never called him back. The Prince of Lu summoned him thrice, followed his advice, and settled on the style “Regent of Lu.” After Shaoxing fell the prince fled by sea; Fengnian failed to follow and surrendered with Fang Guoan and others to the Qing. He later tried to reach the Fujian court with a wax-sealed message; discovery of the plot brought his execution.
58
張四知者，費縣人。 天啟二年進士。 由庶吉士授檢討。 崇禎中，歷官禮部右侍郎。 貌寢甚，嘗患惡瘍。 十一年六月，廷推閣臣忽及之。 給事中張淳劾其為祭酒時貪汙狀，四知憤，帝前力辨，言己孤立，為廷臣所嫉。 帝意頗動，薛國觀因力援之。 明年五月與姚明恭、魏照乘俱拜禮部尚書兼東閣大學士。
Zhang Sizhi came from Fei County. He earned his jinshi in Tianqi 2. After the Hanlin academy he served as reviser. In the Chongzhen reign he became Vice Minister of Rites. He was remarkably plain in face and had once been afflicted with a noisome sore. In the sixth month of Chongzhen 11 court nomination for the cabinet suddenly named him. Supervising Secretary Zhang Chun accused him of graft as university chancellor; Sizhi, furious, told the emperor he was isolated and hated by his peers. The emperor wavered, and Xue Guoguan pressed hard on his behalf. The following fifth month he, Yao Minggong, and Wei Zhaocheng all became Ministers of Rites and Eastern Pavilion grand secretaries.
59
明恭，蘄水人。 出趙興邦門，公論素不予。 崇禎十一年，由詹事遷禮部侍郎，教習庶吉士。 給事中耿始然劾其與副都御史袁鯨比而為奸利，帝不聽。 明年遂柄用。
Yao Minggong came from Qishui. A protégé of Zhao Xingbang, he had long lacked public esteem. In Chongzhen 11 he went from heir-apparent tutor to Vice Minister of Rites and mentor of Hanlin bachelors. Supervising Secretary Geng Shiran accused him and Vice Censor Yuan Jing of profiteering together; the throne ignored it. The following year he was brought into the cabinet.
60
照乘，滑人。 天啟時，為吏部都給事中。 崇禎十一年，歷官兵部侍郎。 明年，國觀引入閣。
Wei Zhaocheng came from Hua. In the Tianqi era he served as supervising secretary in Personnel. By Chongzhen 11 he was Vice Minister of War. The next year Guoguan installed him in the cabinet.
61
陳演，井研人。 祖效，萬歷間以御史監征倭軍，卒於朝鮮，贈光祿卿。 演登天啟二年進士，改庶吉士，授編修。 崇禎時，歷官少詹事，掌翰林院，直講筵。 十三年正月，擢禮部右侍郎，協理詹事府。
Chen Yan came from Jingyan. His grandfather Xiao, a Wanli-era censor who oversaw anti-Wokou levies, died in Korea and was posthumously made Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Yan took jinshi in Tianqi 2, joined the Hanlin as bachelor, and became compiler. In Chongzhen he was junior grand secretary, headed the Hanlin Academy, and lectured before the throne. In the first month of Chongzhen 13 he became Vice Minister of Rites and helped run the heir-apparent’s household.
62
演庸才寡學，工結納。 初入館，即與內侍通。 莊烈帝簡用閣臣，每親發策，以所條對覘能否。 其年四月，中官探得帝所欲問數事，密授演，條對獨稱旨，即拜禮部左侍郎兼東閣大學士，與謝升同入閣。 明年，進禮部尚書，改文淵閣。 十五年，以山東平盜功加太子少保，改戶部尚書、武英殿。 被劾乞罷，優旨慰留。 明年五月，周延儒去位，遂為首輔。 尋以城守功，加太子太保。 十七年正月考滿，加少保，改吏部尚書、建極殿。 逾月罷政。 再逾月，都城陷，遂及於難。
Chen Yan was a man of little learning and ordinary ability, adept at networking. From his first days in the Hanlin he cultivated palace eunuchs. Emperor Sizong, choosing cabinet ministers, personally drafted policy questions to probe their competence. That fourth month eunuchs learned what the emperor would ask, tipped Yan off, and only his answers satisfied the throne—he was instantly made Vice Minister of Rites and Eastern Pavilion grand secretary alongside Xie Sheng. The following year he became Minister of Rites in the Hall of Literary Depth. In Chongzhen 15, rewarded for quelling Shandong bandits, he became junior tutor to the heir apparent and Minister of Revenue in the Hall of Military Glory. After impeachment he asked to quit; a kind edict refused and kept him at post. The next fifth month, after Zhou Yanru’s departure, he became chief minister. Shortly afterward, for defending the capital, he was made grand tutor to the heir apparent. In the first month of Chongzhen 17, at the end of his evaluation cycle, he became Junior Guardian and Minister of Personnel in the Hall of Establishing the Ultimate. A little over a month later he was dismissed from power. Another month after that the city fell, and he perished in the catastrophe.
63
演為人既庸且刻。 惡副都御史房可壯、河南道張煊不受屬，因會推閣臣讒於帝，可壯等六人俱下吏。 王應熊召至，旋放還，演有力焉。
Chen Yan was at once dull and cruel. Resenting Fang Kezhuang and Zhang Xuan for spurning his influence, he poisoned the emperor’s ear during a cabinet nomination, and six men including Fang were arrested. Wang Yingxiong was called to the capital and then sent home again, largely through Yan’s pull.
64
自延儒罷後，帝最倚信演。 臺省附延儒者，盡趨演門。 當是時，國勢累卵，中外舉知其不支。 演無所籌畫，顧以賄聞。 及李自成陷陜西，逼山西，廷議撤寧遠吳三桂兵入守山海關，策應京師。 帝意亦然之，演持不可。 後帝決計行之，三桂始用海船渡遼民入關，往返者再，而賊已陷宣、大矣。 演懼不自安，引疾求罷。 詔許之，賜道里費五十金，彩幣四表裏，乘傳行。
Once Zhou Yanru was gone, the emperor trusted Chen Yan above all other ministers. Censors and officials who had clustered around Zhou Yanru now flocked to Chen Yan. The dynasty teetered like eggs stacked on one another; everyone knew collapse was near. Chen Yan offered no strategy at all and was notorious for graft. After Li Zicheng overran Shaanxi and threatened Shanxi, ministers debated pulling Wu Sangui’s garrison from Ningyuan to hold Shanhaiguan and relieve Beijing. The emperor agreed in principle, but Chen Yan objected. When the emperor finally ordered it, Wu Sangui began ferrying Liaodong refugees through Shanhaiguan by sea—twice across the waters—while the rebels were already seizing Xuanfu and Datong. Uneasy and afraid, Chen Yan pleaded illness and asked to leave office. The emperor assented, giving him fifty taels for the journey, four bundles of ceremonial silk, and post-horses to carry him home.
65
演既謝事，薊遼總督王永吉上疏力詆其罪，請置之典刑，給事中汪惟效、孫承澤亦極論之。 演入辭，謂佐理無狀，罪當死。 帝怒曰：「汝一死不足蔽辜！」 叱之去。 演貲多，不能遽行。 賊陷京師，與魏藻德等俱被執，系賊將劉宗敏營中。 其日獻銀四萬，賊喜，不加刑。 四月八日，已得釋。 十二日，自成將東禦三桂，慮諸大臣為後患，盡殺之。 演亦遇害。
Hardly had Chen Yan stepped down when the Jili-Liaodong governor Wang Yongji memorialized in fierce condemnation, demanding the full penalty of the law; the supervising secretaries Wang Weixiao and Sun Chengyze joined the attack with equal vehemence. When Chen Yan came to bid farewell, he admitted he had governed without merit and deserved death. The emperor blazed with anger: "One death from you would not atone for your sins!" He drove him out with a rebuke. Chen Yan was too wealthy to leave in haste—there was too much to gather and move. When the rebels seized Beijing, he was taken along with Wei Zaode and held in the camp of the rebel general Liu Zongmin. He handed over forty thousand taels of silver that day; the rebels were delighted and spared him torture. By the eighth day of the fourth month he had already been freed. On the twelfth, as Li Zicheng prepared to march east against Wu Sangui, he feared the captive ministers would trouble him afterward and had them all put to death. Chen Yan perished among them.
66
魏藻德
Wei Zaode
67
魏藻德，順天通州人。 崇禎十三年舉進士。 既殿試，帝思得異才，復召四十八人於文華殿，問：「今日內外交訌，何以報仇雪恥？」 藻德即以「知恥」對，又自敘十一年守通州功。 帝善之，擢置第一，授修撰。
Wei Zaode came from Tongzhou in the Shuntian jurisdiction. He earned his jinshi degree in the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen reign. After the palace examination the emperor, hungering for extraordinary talent, summoned forty-eight candidates back to the Wenhua Hall and asked, "The realm is torn within and without—how shall we avenge our wrongs and wash away our disgrace? Wei Zaode answered with a single phrase—"know shame"—and went on to recount how he had held Tongzhou for eleven years. The emperor was pleased, ranked him first, and made him a Hanlin compiler.
68
十五年，都城戒嚴，疏陳兵事。 明年三月，召對稱旨。 藻德有口才。 帝以己所親擢，且意其有抱負，五月，驟擢禮部右侍郎兼東閣大學士，入閣輔政。 藻德力辭部銜，乃改少詹事。 正統末年，兵事孔棘，彭時以殿試第一人，逾年即入閣，然仍故官修撰，未有超拜大學士者。 陳演見帝遇之厚，曲相比附。 八月，補行會試引為副總裁，越蔣德璟、黃景昉而用之。 藻德居位，一無建白，但倡議令百官捐助而已。 十七年二月，詔加兵部尚書兼工部尚書、文淵閣大學士，總督河道、屯田、練兵諸事，駐天津，而命方嶽貢駐濟寧，蓋欲出太子南京，俾先清道路也。 有言百官不可令出，出即潛遁者，遂止不行。
In the fifteenth year, as the capital went on war footing, he submitted a memorial on military matters. The next year, in the third month, his answers in a private audience delighted the emperor. Wei Zaode was a fluent and persuasive speaker. The emperor had raised him by his own hand and believed him capable; in the fifth month he was abruptly made Vice Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, joining the inner cabinet. Wei Zaode vigorously refused the ministry rank and was given the post of Junior Supervisor of the Heir Apparent instead. In the crises of late Zhengtong, Peng Shi had entered the cabinet a year after topping the palace exam but still served as a mere compiler—no one had ever vaulted straight to grand secretary until now. Seeing the emperor's extraordinary favor, Chen Yan curried his alliance. In the eighth month he was named associate chief examiner for the deferred metropolitan exam, leapfrogging Jiang Dejing and Huang Jingfang. As grand secretary, Wei Zaode offered no policy of substance—only a chorus calling on every official to donate funds. In the second month of the seventeenth year he was made Minister of War, Minister of Works, and Wenyuan Grand Secretary, charged with rivers, garrison agriculture, and training troops at Tianjin, while Fang Yuegong was posted at Jining—the plan being to move the crown prince to Nanjing and secure the route ahead of him. Critics warned that officials sent away would simply abscond, and the scheme was abandoned.
69
及演罷，藻德遂為首輔。 同事者李建泰、方嶽貢、範景文、邱瑜，皆新入政府，莫能補救。 至三月，都城陷，景文死之，藻德、嶽貢、瑜並被執，幽劉宗敏所。 賊下令勒內閣十萬金，京卿、錦衣七萬，或五三萬，給事、御史、吏部、翰林五萬至一萬有差，部曹數千，勛戚無定數。 藻德輸萬金，賊以為少，酷刑五日夜，腦裂而死。 復逮其子追征，訴言：「家已罄盡。 父在，猶可丐諸門生故舊。 今已死，復何所貸？」 賊揮刃斬之。
After Chen Yan's fall, Wei Zaode became chief grand secretary. His colleagues were Li Jiantai, Fang Yuegong, Fan Jingwen, and Qiu Yu, all fresh to power and none able to stanch the bleeding. When the capital fell in the third month, Fan Jingwen died loyal to the throne; Wei Zaode, Fang Yuegong, and Qiu Yu were taken and held by Liu Zongmin. The rebels set ransoms: one hundred thousand taels from the inner cabinet, seventy or fifty or thirty thousand from capital ministers and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, supervising secretaries, censors, the Ministry of Personnel, and Hanlin scholars from fifty thousand down to ten thousand by rank, ministry clerks in the thousands, and no fixed sum for imperial in-laws. Wei Zaode paid ten thousand taels; the rebels deemed it miserly and tortured him for five days and nights until his skull split and he died. They seized his son to squeeze out more; the son pleaded, "Our house is stripped bare. While my father lived we could still beg his students and old friends. Now that he is dead, who would lend us anything?" The rebels cut him down with their blades.
70
李建泰
Li Jiantai
71
李建泰，曲沃人。 天啟五年進士。 歷官國子祭酒，頗著聲望。 崇禎十六年五月，擢吏部右侍郎。 十一月，以本官兼東閣大學士，與方嶽貢並命。 疏陳時政切要十事，帝皆允行。
Li Jiantai came from Quwo. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign. He rose to Chancellor of the Imperial Academy and enjoyed a strong reputation. In the fifth month of Chongzhen sixteen he was made Vice Minister of the right in the Ministry of Personnel. In the eleventh month he was named Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion while keeping his ministry post, appointed alongside Fang Yuegong. He submitted a memorial on ten pressing reforms, and the emperor approved every one.
72
明年正月，李自成逼山西。 建泰慮鄉邦被禍，而家富於貲，可藉以佐軍，毅然有滅賊誌，常與同官言之。 會平陽陷，帝臨朝嘆曰：「朕非亡國之君，事事皆亡國之象。 祖宗櫛風沐雨之天下，一朝失之，何面目見於地下！ 朕願督師親決一戰，身死沙場無所恨，但死不瞑目耳！」 語畢痛哭。 陳演、蔣德璟諸輔臣請代，俱不許。 建泰頓首曰：「臣家曲沃，願出私財餉軍，不煩官帑，請提師以西。」 帝大喜，慰勞再三，曰：「卿若行，朕仿古推轂禮。」 建泰退，即請復故御史衛楨固官； 授進士淩駉職方主事，並監軍； 參將郭中傑為副總兵，領中軍事； 薦進士石釭聯絡延、寧、甘、固義士，討賊立功。 帝俱從之。 加建泰兵部尚書，賜尚方劍，便宜從事。
The next year, in the first month, Li Zicheng threatened Shanxi. Li Jiantai feared his homeland would be ravaged; his family was wealthy enough to feed troops, and he burned with resolve to crush the rebels, saying so often to his colleagues. When Pingyang fell, the emperor lamented at court, "I am no destined ruin of a dynasty, yet every omen says the dynasty is falling. The empire our forebears won through hardship—gone in a morning—what face shall I show them in the grave! I would take command myself and fight one decisive battle; I would not regret dying on the field, but I would die with my eyes still open! He broke into bitter weeping as he finished. Chen Yan, Jiang Dejing, and the other grand secretaries volunteered to go in his place; the emperor refused them all. Li Jiantai kowtowed and said, "My home is Quwo; I will supply the army from my own purse without touching the treasury—let me lead troops west." The emperor was overjoyed, praising him again and again: "If you march, I will honor you with the ancient rite of sending a general to war. Li Jiantai withdrew and at once asked that the former censor Wei Zhen be restored to office; he named the jinshi Ling Ting Director of the Bureau of Appointments and army supervisor; Regimental Commander Guo Zhongjie was made deputy commander-in-chief in charge of the central army; he recommended the jinshi Shi Gang to rally loyalists in Yan, Ning, Gan, and Gu to strike the rebels and earn glory. The emperor approved every appointment. Li Jiantai was made Minister of War and granted the Imperial Sword to act as he saw fit.
73
二十六日，行遣將禮。 駙馬都尉萬煒以特牲告太廟。 日將午，帝御正陽門樓，衛士東西列，自午門抵城外，旌旗甲仗甚設。 內閣五府六部都察院掌印官及京營文武大臣侍立，鴻臚贊禮，御史糾儀。 建泰前致辭，帝獎勞有加，賜之宴。 禦席居中，諸臣陪侍，酒七行，帝手金卮親酌建泰者三，即以賜之，乃出手敕曰「代朕親征」。 宴畢，內臣為披紅簪花，用鼓樂導尚方劍而出。 建泰頓首謝，且辭行，帝目送之。 行數里，所乘肩輿忽折，眾以為不祥。
On the twenty-sixth the court held the rite of dispatching the commander. Chief Commandant of the Horse Wan Wei offered sacrificial oxen at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Near noon the emperor took the Zhengyang Gate tower; guards lined east and west from the Meridian Gate to beyond the walls, banners and armor in full array. Grand secretaries, heads of the Five Offices and Six Ministries, Censorate chiefs, and capital military commanders stood by; the Court of Imperial Entertainments led the ceremony while censors enforced decorum. Li Jiantai stepped forward with parting words; the emperor heaped praise upon him and ordered a feast. The emperor sat at the center with ministers attending; after seven rounds he thrice poured from a golden cup for Li Jiantai with his own hand, gifted him the cup, and issued a personal edict: "Fight as my proxy." When the feast ended, palace eunuchs robed him in red and pinned victory flowers; drums and music led the Imperial Sword out of the gate. Li Jiantai kowtowed in thanks and set out; the emperor watched until he was gone. A few li from the city the sedan chair he rode snapped in two; onlookers read it as a dire omen.
74
建泰以宰輔督師，兵食並絀，所攜止五百人。 甫出都，聞曲沃已破，家貲盡沒，驚怛而病。 日行三十里，士卒多道亡。 至定興，城門閉不納。 留三日，攻破之，笞其長吏。 抵保定，賊鋒已逼，不敢前，入屯城中。 已而城陷，知府何復、鄉官張羅彥等並死之。 建泰自刎不殊，為賊將劉方亮所執，送賊所。
As a grand secretary turned field commander, Li Jiantai had too few troops and too little grain—only five hundred men followed him. Barely out of Beijing he learned Quwo had fallen and his family fortune was gone; shock and grief laid him low. He managed thirty li a day while his soldiers melted away on the march. At Dingxing the gates were shut against him. After three days he forced the gates, entered, and flogged the local magistrate. At Baoding the rebel vanguard was already near; he dared not march on and holed up inside the city. Soon the city fell; Prefect He Fu, the local leader Zhang Luoyan, and others died defending it. Li Jiantai tried to cut his throat but survived; the rebel general Liu Fangliang seized him and sent him to the rebel camp.
75
賊既敗，大清召為內院大學士。 未幾，罷歸。 姜襄反大同，建泰遙應之。 兵敗被擒，伏誅。
After the rebels were broken, the Qing summoned him as a Grand Secretary of the Inner Court. Before long he was dismissed and sent home. When Jiang Xiang rose in Datong, Li Jiantai lent support from afar. When his forces were crushed he was captured and put to death.
76
贊曰：天下治亂，系於宰輔。 自溫體仁導帝以刻深，治尚操切，由是接踵一跡。 應熊剛很，至發險忮。 國觀陰鷙，一效體仁之所為，而國家之元氣已索然殆盡矣。 至於演、藻德之徒，機智弗如，而庸庸益甚，禍中於國，旋及其身，悲夫！
The historian comments: Whether the realm knows order or chaos hangs on its chief ministers. From Wen Tiren onward the emperor was steered toward severity; government prized harsh control, and minister after minister walked the same path. Xue Yingxiong was rigid and brutal; Chen Zhifa was treacherous and jealous. Zhou Guo'an was secretive and cruel, mimicking Wen Tiren in everything, until the dynasty's vital breath was all but spent. Men like Chen Yan and Wei Zaode were less cunning still and even more feckless; disaster swallowed the realm and quickly swallowed them too—how lamentable!