Volume 254 Biographies 142: Qiao Yunsheng, Cao Yubian, Sun Juxiang, Cao Guang, Chen Yuting, Zheng Sanjun, Li Rixuan, Zhang Wei

喬允升〈（易應昌等）〉曹於汴孫居相〈（弟鼎相）〉曹光陳於廷鄭三俊李日宣張瑋〈（金光辰）〉

Qiao Yunsheng (Yi Yingchang et al. appended)〉 Cao Yubian and Sun Juxiang (Younger brother Dingsiang appended)〉 Cao Guang, Chen Yuting, Zheng Sanjun, Li Rixuan, and Zhang Wei (Jin Guangchen appended)〉

喬允升，字吉甫，洛陽人。萬歷二十年進士。除太谷知縣。以治行高等征授御史。歷按宣、大、山西、畿輔，並著風采。

Qiao Yunsheng, whose style was Jifu, came from Luoyang. He received his jinshi degree in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign. He was made magistrate of Taigu county. On the strength of an outstanding administrative record, he was called to the capital and appointed censor. He served in turn as touring censor for Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, and the metropolitan districts, and everywhere earned a reputation for forceful integrity.

三十九年，大計京官。允升協理河南道，力鋤匪類。而主事秦聚奎、給事中朱一桂鹹為被察者訟冤。察疏猶未下，允升慮帝意動搖，三疏別白其故，且劾吏部侍郎蕭雲舉佐察行私，事乃獲竣，雲舉亦引去。尋遷順天府丞，進府尹。齊、楚、浙三黨用事，移疾歸。

In the thirty-ninth year the court conducted its grand evaluation of capital officials. Yunsheng helped oversee the Henan circuit and worked hard to purge corrupt and unworthy men. Section chief Qin Jukui and supervising secretary Zhu Yigui, however, all petitioned on behalf of officials slated for removal, claiming they had been wronged. Before the inspection report could be promulgated, Yunsheng feared the emperor might waver. He submitted three memorials setting out the facts in detail and also impeached Vice Minister of Personnel Xiao Yunju for using the inspection to pursue private ends. The evaluation was finally concluded, and Yunju resigned as well. He was soon promoted to vice prefect of Shuntian Prefecture and then to prefect. When the Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions came to dominate the court, he resigned on grounds of illness and returned home.

天啟初，起歷刑部左、右侍郎。三年，進尚書。魏忠賢逐吏部尚書趙南星，廷推允升代。忠賢以允升為南星黨，並逐主議者，允升復移疾歸。既而給事中薛國觀劾允升主謀邪黨，詔落職閑住。

When the Tianqi reign began, he was recalled and served successively as left and right vice minister of justice. In the third year he was promoted to minister of justice. Wei Zhongxian ousted Zhao Nanxing from the Ministry of Personnel, and the court nominated Yunsheng to succeed him. Zhongxian treated Yunsheng as one of Nanxing's party and purged those who had backed his nomination as well. Yunsheng once more resigned on grounds of illness and went home. Soon afterward supervising secretary Xue Guoguan accused Yunsheng of masterminding a corrupt faction, and an edict removed him from office and confined him to private life.

崇禎初，召拜故官。時訟獄益繁，帝一切用重典。允升執法不撓，多所平反。先是，錢謙益典試浙江。有奸人金保元、徐時敏偽作關節，授舉子錢千秋，千秋故有文，獲薦，覺保元、時敏詐，與之哄。事傳京師，為部、科磨勘者所發。謙益大駭，詰知二奸所為，疏劾之，並千秋俱下吏。罪當戍，二奸瘐死，千秋更赦釋還。事已七年矣，溫體仁以枚卜不與，疑謙益主之，復發其事。詔逮千秋再訊。帝深疑廷臣結黨，蓄怒以待，而體仁又密伺於旁，廷臣相顧惕息。允升乃會都御史曹於汴、大理卿康新民等讞鞫者再，千秋受拷無異詞，允升等具以聞。帝不悅，命覆勘。體仁慮謙益事白，己且獲譴，再疏劾法官六欺，且言獄詞盡出謙益手。允升憤，求去。帝雖慰留，卒如體仁言，奪謙益官閑住。千秋荷校死。

At the outset of the Chongzhen reign he was recalled to his former post. Litigation was mounting, and the emperor resorted to harsh penalties in every case. Yunsheng held firm to the law and reversed numerous unjust verdicts. Earlier, Qian Qianyi had served as chief examiner for Zhejiang. Schemers Jin Baoyuan and Xu Shimin forged leaked examination passages and passed them to the candidate Qian Qianqiu. Qianqiu was already a skilled writer and won recommendation, but when he realized the fraud he quarreled with the two men. Word reached the capital, and investigators in the ministries and censorate uncovered the case. Qianyi was deeply shaken. Once he learned what the two men had done, he memorialized to impeach them, and Qianqiu was sent to the courts along with them. The sentence was exile, but the two schemers died in custody. Qianqiu was later pardoned and sent home. Seven years had passed when Wen Tiren, passed over in the ministerial sortition, suspected Qianyi had blocked him and reopened the case. An edict ordered Qianqiu arrested and tried again. The emperor was convinced the court was faction-ridden and nursed his wrath, while Tiren watched from the shadows. Ministers glanced at one another in dread. Yunsheng joined Censor-in-Chief Cao Yubian, Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review Kang Xinmin, and others in a second trial. Under torture Qianqiu did not alter his confession, and they reported the result to the throne. The emperor was displeased and ordered the case reviewed again. Fearing that if Qianyi were cleared he would be punished himself, Tiren memorialized again, accusing the judges of six kinds of deceit and claiming the trial record had been written entirely by Qianyi. Yunsheng, furious, asked to resign. The emperor urged him to stay, but in the end heeded Tiren: Qianyi was stripped of office and sent into retirement. Qianqiu died in the cangue.

二年冬，我大清兵薄都城，獄囚劉仲金等百七十人破械出，欲逾城，被獲。帝震怒，下允升及左侍郎胡世賞、提牢主事敖繼榮獄，欲置之死。中書沈自植乘間摭劾允升他罪，章並下按問。副都御史掌院事易應昌以允升等無死罪，執奏再三，帝益怒，並下應昌獄，鐫僉都御史高弘圖、大理寺卿金世俊級，奪少卿周邦基以下俸，令再讞。弘圖等乃坐允升絞，而微言其年老可念。帝謂允升法當死，特高年篤疾減死，與繼榮俱戍邊，世賞贖杖為民。尚書胡應臺等上應昌罪，帝以為輕。杖郎中徐元嘏於廷，鐫應臺秩視事，應昌論死。四年四月，久旱求言，多請緩刑，乃免應昌及工部尚書張鳳翔、御史李長春、給事中杜齊芳、都督李如楨死，遣戍邊衛。允升赴戍所，未幾死。允升端方廉直，揚歷中外，具有聲績，以詿誤獲重譴，天下惜之。

That winter, in the second year of the reign, Qing forces approached the capital. One hundred seventy prisoners led by Liu Zhongjin broke their shackles and tried to escape over the wall but were captured. The emperor was furious and imprisoned Yunsheng, Vice Minister Hu Shishang, and prison registrar Aoji Rong, intending to execute them. Secretariat drafter Shen Zizhi seized the moment to compile further charges against Yunsheng, and that memorial too was sent for investigation. Vice Censor-in-Chief Yi Yingchang, acting head of the Censorate, insisted that Yunsheng and the others deserved no death sentence and memorialized again and again. The emperor only grew angrier, imprisoned Yingchang as well, demoted Gao Hongtu and Jin Shijun, docked the salaries of Zhou Bangji and other junior officials, and ordered the case retried. Hongtu and the others then imposed strangulation on Yunsheng, while quietly noting that his age might merit mercy. The emperor declared that Yunsheng deserved death by law but, given his age and illness, commuted the sentence. He and Jirong were banished to the frontier; Shishang paid a fine in lieu of flogging and was reduced to commoner status. Minister Hu Yingtai and others submitted the charges against Yingchang, but the emperor found the proposed punishment too lenient. Director Xu Yuangeng was flogged in court. Yingtai was demoted but kept at his post. Yingchang was sentenced to death. In the fourth month of the fourth year, after a long drought the court called for memorials. Many urged clemency, and Yingchang was spared along with Zhang Fengxiang, Li Changchun, Du Qifang, and Li Ruzhen—all commuted to frontier exile. Yunsheng set out for exile and died soon afterward. Upright and incorruptible, Yunsheng had served with distinction at court and in the provinces, yet a mishap brought him severe punishment, and the empire mourned his fall.

易應昌，字瑞芝，臨川人。萬歷四十一年進士。熹宗時，由御史累遷大理少卿。逆黨劾為東林，削籍。崇禎二年，起左僉都御史，進左副都御史，與曹於汴持史褷、高捷起官事，為時所重，至是獲罪。福王時，召復故官，遷工部右侍郎。國變後卒。

Yi Yingchang, whose style was Ruizhi, came from Linchuan. He received his jinshi degree in the forty-first year of Wanli. Under the Xizong emperor he rose from censor to junior minister of the Court of Judicial Review. The ruling faction denounced him as a Donglin partisan and struck his name from the register. In the second year of Chongzhen he was made Left Vice Censor-in-Chief and then Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief. With Cao Yubian he opposed reinstating Shi Shi and Gao Jie, winning wide respect—until this case brought him down. Under the Prince of Fu he was recalled to his former post and promoted to Right Vice Minister of Works. He died after the fall of the dynasty.

帝在位十七年，刑部易尚書十七人。薛貞以奄黨抵死，蘇茂相半歲而罷，王在晉，未任改兵部去，允升遣戍，韓繼思坐議獄除名，胡應臺獨得善去，馮英被劾遣戍，鄭三俊坐議獄逮系，劉之鳳坐議獄論絞，瘐死獄中，甄淑坐納賄下詔獄，改系刑部，瘐死，李覺斯坐議獄削籍去，劉澤深卒於位，鄭三俊再為尚書，改吏部，範景文未任，改工部，徐石麒坐議獄落職閑住，胡應臺再召不赴，繼其後者張忻，賊陷京師，與子庶吉士端並降。

In the emperor's seventeen years on the throne, the Ministry of Justice had seventeen ministers. Xue Zhen was executed as an eunuch partisan; Su Maoxiang lasted half a year; Wang Zaijin was shifted to the Ministry of War before he could take office; Yunsheng was exiled; Han Jisi was struck from the rolls over a political trial; Hu Yingtai alone left with his reputation intact; Feng Ying was impeached and banished; Zheng Sanjun was jailed in a political case; Liu Zhifeng was condemned to strangulation in another such case and died in prison; Zhen Shu entered the imperial prison for bribery, was moved to the Ministry of Justice, and died there; Li Juesi was struck from the rolls in yet another political trial; Liu Zeshen died in office; Zheng Sanjun served again, then moved to Personnel; Fan Jingwen never took office in Justice, being transferred to Works; Xu Shiqi was removed in a political case; Hu Yingtai declined a second summons; his successor Zhang Xin surrendered with his son Duan, a Hanlin bachelor, when the rebels took the capital.

曹於汴，字自梁，安邑人。萬歷十九年舉鄉試第一。明年成進士，授淮安推官。以治行高第，授吏科給事中。疏劾兩京兵部尚書田樂、邢玠及雲南巡撫陳用賓，樂、玠遂引去。吏部郎趙邦清被誣，於汴疏雪之。謁告歸，僦屋以居，不蔽風日。

Cao Yubian, whose style was Ziliang, came from Anyi. In the nineteenth year of Wanli he topped the provincial examinations. The following year he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed investigating censor in Huai'an. On the strength of an outstanding administrative record, he was made a supervising secretary in the Personnel Section. He memorialized against the Ministers of War at both capitals, Tian Le and Xing Jie, and against Yunnan grand coordinator Chen Yongbin. Tian and Xing resigned. When bureau director Zhao Bangqing was falsely accused, Yubian memorialized to clear his name. On leave he went home and rented a dwelling so poor it scarcely kept out wind and weather.

起歷刑科左、右給事中。朝房災，請急補曠官，修廢政。遼左有警，朝議增兵，於汴言：「國家三歲遣使者閱邊，盛獎邊臣功伐，蟒衣金幣之賜，官秩之增，未嘗或靳。今廢防至此，宜重加按問。邊道超擢，當於秩滿時閱實其績，毋徒循資俸，坐取建牙開府。」進吏科都給事中。給事中胡嘉棟發中官陳永壽兄弟奸，永壽反訐嘉棟。於汴極論永壽罪。故事，章疏入會極門，中官直達之御前，至是必啟視然後進禦。於汴謂乖祖制，泄事機，力請禁之。三十八年典外察，去留悉當。明年，典京察，屏湯賓尹、劉國縉等，而以年例出王紹徽、喬慶甲於外。其黨群起力攻，於汴持之堅，卒不能奪。以久次擢太常少卿，疏寢不下，請告又不報，候命歲餘，移疾歸。

Recalled, he served successively as left and right supervising secretary in the Punishments Section. After fire destroyed the court chambers, he urged prompt filling of vacant posts and revival of neglected reforms. When trouble flared on the Liaodong frontier, the court debated reinforcing the armies. Yubian said: "Every three years the court sends inspectors to the borders, lavishing praise on frontier commanders, granting python robes and gold, and promoting their ranks without stint. Yet defenses have collapsed to this point. Those responsible should be rigorously investigated. Extraordinary promotions on the frontier should follow a full review of actual achievement at term's end, not mere seniority that lets men raise banners and open grand headquarters without merit." He was promoted to Chief Supervising Secretary of the Personnel Section. Supervising secretary Hu Jiadong exposed the eunuch Chen Yongshou and his brothers; Yongshou counter-attacked. Yubian pressed the case against Yongshou with full force. By precedent memorials entering the Gate of Ultimate Polarity were carried straight to the emperor by eunuchs. Now they had to be opened and read before reaching the throne. Yubian argued this violated ancestral practice and leaked state secrets, and he pressed hard for a ban. In the thirty-eighth year he ran the outer inspection, and every dismissal and retention was judged fairly. The next year he ran the capital inspection, removing Tang Binyin, Liu Guojin, and others, while Wang Shaohui and Qiao Qingjia were sent out under the regular rotation rule. Their faction attacked in force, but Yubian held firm and they could not overturn his decisions. Long service won him promotion to Junior Minister of Imperial Sacrifices, but his memorials went unanswered and his requests for leave were ignored. After more than a year waiting on orders, he resigned on grounds of illness and went home.

光宗立，始以太常少卿召。至則改大理少卿，遷左僉都御史，佐趙南星京察。事竣，進左副都御史。天啟三年秋，吏部缺右侍郎，廷推馮從吾，以於汴副，中旨特用於汴。於汴以從吾名位先己，義不可越，四辭不得，遂引疾歸。明年，起南京右都御史，辭不拜。時紹徽、應甲附魏忠賢得誌，必欲害於汴，屬其黨石三畏以東林領袖劾之，遂削奪。

When Emperor Guangzong took the throne, Yubian was first recalled as Junior Minister of Imperial Sacrifices. On arrival he was shifted to the Court of Judicial Review, then made Left Vice Censor-in-Chief and assisted Zhao Nanxing in the capital inspection. When the inspection ended, he was promoted to Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief. In the autumn of Tianqi year three the Ministry of Personnel needed a right vice minister. The court nominated Feng Congwu with Yubian as alternate, but an imperial rescript appointed Yubian instead. Yubian held that Feng Congwu outranked him and that propriety forbade stepping ahead of him. He declined four times, was overruled, and resigned on grounds of illness. The next year he was offered the post of Right Censor-in-Chief at Nanjing but refused it. Shaohui and Yingjia, having attached themselves to Wei Zhongxian, were determined to destroy Yubian. They had their partisan Shi Sanwei impeach him as a Donglin leader, and he was stripped of rank.

崇禎元年，召拜左都御史。振舉憲規，約敕僚吏，臺中肅然。明年京察，力汰匪類，忠賢余黨幾盡，仕路為清。溫體仁訐錢謙益，下錢千秋法司，訊不得實，體仁以於汴謙益座主也，並訐之。於汴亦發體仁欺罔狀。帝終信體仁，謙益竟獲罪。

In the first year of Chongzhen he was recalled as Left Censor-in-Chief. He revived censorial discipline, restrained his staff, and the Censorate became a model of order. The next year's capital inspection purged the corrupt almost to a man, nearly wiping out Zhongxian's remaining allies and clearing the road to office. Wen Tiren attacked Qian Qianyi and sent Qian Qianqiu to the courts, but the trial found no proof. Tiren then attacked Yubian as well, since Yubian had been Qianyi's examination patron. Yubian in turn exposed Tiren's deceptions. The emperor ultimately sided with Tiren, and Qianyi was punished.

先是，詔定逆案。於汴與大學士韓爌、李標、錢龍錫，刑部尚書喬允升平心參決，不為已甚，小人猶惡之。故御史高捷、史褷素憸邪，為清議所擯，吏部尚書王永光力薦之。故事，御史起官，必都察院咨取，於汴惡其人，久弗咨。永光憤，再疏力爭。已得請，於汴猶以故事持之，兩人遂投牒自乞，於汴益惡之，卒持不予。兩人竟以部疏起官，遂日夜謀傾於汴。

Earlier an edict had established the roster of traitors from the previous reign. Yubian joined Grand Secretaries Han Kuang, Li Biao, and Qian Longxi and Minister Qiao Yunsheng in judging the case even-handedly and without excess, yet petty men still hated them for it. Former censors Gao Jie and Shi Shi were notoriously corrupt and had been ostracized by upright opinion, yet Minister Wang Yongguang strongly recommended them for reinstatement. By precedent reinstating a censor required consultation with the Censorate. Yubian despised the men and for a long time refused to consult. Yongguang, furious, memorialized again and fought the decision fiercely. Even after approval was granted, Yubian still insisted on precedent. The two men petitioned on their own behalf, which only deepened Yubian's hostility, and he ultimately refused to consult. They were reinstated anyway through a Ministry memorial and then plotted day and night to bring Yubian down.

中書原抱奇者，賈人子也，嘗誣劾大學士爌。至是再劾爌及於汴並及尚書孫居相、侍郎程啟南、府丞魏光緒，目為「西黨」，請皆放黜，以五人籍山西也。帝絀抱奇言不聽。而工部主事陸澄源復劾於汴朋奸六罪。帝雖謫澄源，於汴卒謝事去。及辭朝，以敦大進規。七年卒，年七十七。贈太子太保。

Secretariat drafter Yuan Baoqi was a merchant's son who had once falsely impeached Grand Secretary Han Kuang. Now he impeached Han Kuang and Yubian again, along with Minister Sun Juxiang, Vice Minister Cheng Qinan, and Vice Magistrate Wei Guangxu, branding them the "Western Faction" and demanding their dismissal—all five being natives of Shanxi. The emperor rebuked Baoqi and ignored his charges. Works section chief Lu Chengyuan then impeached Yubian on six counts of factional corruption. The emperor demoted Chengyuan, but Yubian ultimately resigned anyway. On his farewell audience he offered earnest counsel to the throne. He died in the seventh year, at the age of seventy-seven. He was posthumously honored as Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

於汴篤誌正學，操履粹白。立朝，正色不阿，崇獎名教，有古大臣風。

Yubian was devoted to orthodox learning and lived with spotless integrity. At court he was stern and unbending, upheld moral teaching, and bore the bearing of the great ministers of antiquity.

孫居相，字伯輔，沁水人。萬歷二十年進士。除恩縣知縣。征授南京御史。負氣敢言。嘗疏陳時政，謂：「今內自宰執，外至郡守縣令，無一人得盡其職。政事日廢，治道日乖，天變人怨，究且瓦解土崩。縱珠玉金寶亙地彌天，何救危亂！」帝不省。誠意伯劉世延屢犯重辟，廢為庶人，錮原籍。不奉詔，久居南京，益不法，妄言星變，將勒兵赴闕。居相疏發其奸，並及南京勛臣子弟暴橫狀。得旨下世延吏，安遠、東寧、忻城諸侯伯子弟悉按問，強暴為戢。稅使楊榮激變雲南，守太和山中官黃勛嗾道士毆辱知府，居相皆極論其罪。

Sun Juxiang, whose style was Bofu, came from Qinshui. He received his jinshi degree in the twentieth year of Wanli. He was made magistrate of En county. He was called to the capital and appointed censor at Nanjing. Proud and outspoken, he did not shrink from speaking his mind. He once memorialized on affairs of state, saying: "From the chief ministers within to prefects and magistrates without, not one man can fully perform his duties. Government grows more feeble by the day, the way of rule more perverse, heaven sends warnings and the people seethe with resentment—and in the end the state will collapse like a mound of earth. Even if pearls and gold covered the earth from horizon to horizon, what good would they do against such peril!" The emperor paid no heed. Earl of Sincerity Liu Shiyan had repeatedly committed capital crimes, was reduced to commoner status, and was confined to his native district. He ignored the edict, lingered in Nanjing, grew more lawless, spread rumors of celestial omens, and plotted to march troops on the capital. Juxiang exposed his crimes in a memorial and also denounced the violent conduct of noble heirs at Nanjing. An edict sent Shiyan to the courts, and the sons of the Anyuan, Dongning, and Xincheng nobles were all investigated until violence subsided. Tax commissioner Yang Rong provoked an uprising in Yunnan; eunuch Huang Xun, guarding Mount Taihe, incited Daoist priests to assault the prefect—and Juxiang pressed the full weight of the law against them all.

時中外多缺官，居相兼攝七差，署諸道印，事皆辦治。大學士沈一貫數被人言，居相力詆其奸貪植黨，一貫乃去，居相亦奪祿一年。連遭內外艱。服闋，起官，出巡漕運，還發湯賓尹、韓敬科場事。廷議當褫官，其黨為營護，旨下法司覆勘。居相復發敬通賄狀，敬遂不振。故事，御史年例外轉，吏部、都察院協議。王時熙、魏雲中之去，都御史孫瑋不與聞。居相再疏劾尚書趙煥，煥引退。及鄭繼之代煥，復以私意出宋槃、潘之祥於外，居相亦據法力爭。吏部侍郎方從哲由中旨起官，中書張光房等五人以持議不合時貴，擯不與科道選，居相並抗章論列。

Many posts stood vacant at court and in the provinces. Juxiang held seven concurrent appointments, sealed documents for multiple circuits, and handled every matter competently. Grand Secretary Shen Yiguan had long been a target of criticism. Juxiang fiercely denounced his corruption and faction-building. Yiguan resigned, and Juxiang too lost a year's salary. He suffered successive bereavements at home and in office. When mourning ended he returned to office, inspected the grain transport, and on his return exposed the examination scandal involving Tang Binyin and Han Jing. The court agreed they should be stripped of office, but their faction intervened and an edict sent the case back to the judiciary for review. Juxiang exposed Han Jing's bribery anew, and Jing never recovered his standing. By precedent transfers of censors outside the regular rotation required joint deliberation by the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate. When Wang Shixi and Wei Yunzhong were transferred out, Censor-in-Chief Sun Wei was not consulted. Juxiang impeached Minister Zhao Huan again, and Huan resigned. When Zheng Jizhi succeeded Huan, he again sent Song Pan and Pan Zhixiang out on personal grounds, and Juxiang fought the decision on legal grounds. Vice Minister Fang Congzhe was appointed by imperial rescript. Five secretariat drafters including Zhang Guangfang, whose views offended the powerful, were barred from censorial selection—and Juxiang protested each case in turn.

當是時，朋黨勢成，言路不肖者率附吏部，以驅除異己，勢張甚。居相挺身與抗，氣不少沮。於是過庭訓、唐世濟、李征儀、劉光復、趙興邦、周永春、姚宗文、吳亮嗣、汪有功、王萬祚輩群起為難，居相連疏搘拄，諸人迄不能害。至四十五年，亦以年例出居相江西參政，引疾不就。

By then factions were entrenched. Unworthy men in the censorate attached themselves to the Ministry of Personnel to purge opponents, and their power swelled. Juxiang stood up to them without flinching. Guo Tingxun, Tang Shiji, Li Zhengyi, Liu Guangfu, Zhao Xingbang, Zhou Yongchun, Yao Zongwen, Wu Liangsi, Wang Yougong, Wang Wanzuo, and others attacked in concert. Juxiang countered with a stream of memorials, and they could not bring him down. In the forty-fifth year he too was rotated out as Jiangxi administrative commissioner under the regular rule, but he cited illness and declined the post.

天啟改元，起光祿少卿。改太仆，擢右僉都御史，巡撫陜西。四年春，召拜兵部右侍郎。其冬，魏忠賢盜柄，復引疾歸。無何，給事中陳序謂居相出趙南星門，與楊漣交好，序同官虞廷陛又劾居相力薦李三才，遙結史記事，遂削奪。

When the Tianqi reign began he was recalled as Junior Minister of Imperial Entertainments. He was shifted to the Court of the Imperial Stud, then promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and grand coordinator of Shaanxi. In the spring of the fourth year he was recalled as Right Vice Minister of War. That winter, as Wei Zhongxian seized power, he resigned on grounds of illness and went home. Soon supervising secretary Chen Xu denounced Juxiang as a follower of Zhao Nanxing and ally of Yang Lian. Chen's colleague Yu Tingbi accused him of promoting Li Sancai and conspiring with Shi Jishi—and Juxiang was stripped of rank.

崇禎元年，起戶部右侍郎，專督鼓鑄。尋改吏部，進左侍郎，以戶部尚書總督倉場。轉漕多雇民舟，民憊甚，以居相言獲蘇。高平知縣喬淳貪虐，為給事中楊時化所劾，坐贓二萬有奇。淳家京師，有奧援，乞移法司覆訊，且訐時化請囑致隙。時化方憂居，通書居相，報書有「國事日非，邪氛益惡」語，為偵事者所得，聞於朝。帝大怒，下居相獄，謫戍邊。七年，卒於戍所。

In the first year of Chongzhen he was recalled as Right Vice Minister of Revenue with charge of coinage. He was soon moved to Personnel, promoted to Left Vice Minister, and as Minister of Revenue supervised the granary depots. Grain transport relied heavily on hired civilian boats, exhausting the people—but Juxiang's intervention brought them relief. Gaoping magistrate Qiao Chun was corrupt and brutal. Supervising secretary Yang Shihua impeached him for embezzling more than twenty thousand taels. Chun's family had powerful connections in the capital. He asked for a retrial in the judiciary and accused Shihua of soliciting favors to create a feud. Shihua was in mourning and wrote to Juxiang. Juxiang's reply said that "state affairs grow worse by the day and the atmosphere of corruption grows worse." Spies intercepted the letter and it reached the court. The emperor was furious, imprisoned Juxiang, and banished him to the frontier. He died in exile in the seventh year.

弟鼎相，歷吏部郎中、副都御史，巡撫湖廣，亦有名東林中。

His younger brother Dingsiang served as bureau director in Personnel, Deputy Censor-in-Chief, and grand coordinator of Huguang, and was likewise noted among the Donglin.

曹光，字用韋，益都人。萬歷二十九年進士。授戶部主事，督皇城四門。倉衛軍貸群珰子錢，償以月餉，軍不支餉者三年。及餉期，群珰抱券至，光命減息，珰大嘩。光曰：「並私券奏聞，聽上處分耳。」群珰請如命，軍困稍蘇。以憂去。

Cao Guang, whose style was Yongwei, came from Yidu. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-ninth year of Wanli. He was made a section chief in the Ministry of Revenue with charge of the four gates of the imperial city. Depot guards borrowed from eunuchs' sons and repaid from monthly stipends, so for three years the troops went unpaid. When pay day came the eunuchs arrived with their bonds. Guang ordered interest reduced, and they protested loudly. Guang said: "Submit these private bonds together in a memorial and let the emperor decide." The eunuchs complied, and the troops' hardship eased somewhat. He left office to observe mourning.

起補兵部武選主事，歷職方郎中。大珰私人求大帥，光不可。東廠太監盧受疏申職掌，光亦請敕受約束部卒，毋陷良民。稍遷河東參政，引疾歸。久之，起南京太常少卿。光宗驟崩，馳疏言：「先帝春秋鼎盛，奄棄群臣，道路鹹知奸黨陰謀，醫藥雜進，以至於此。天下之弒逆，有毒而非鴆、戕而非刃者，此與先年梃擊，同一奸宄。乞明詔輔臣，直窮奸狀，以雪先帝之仇。」報聞。

Recalled, he served as section chief for military selection in the Ministry of War and rose to director in the Bureau of Operations. A great eunuch's agent sought a major command for a protégé; Guang refused. Eastern Depot director Lu Shou memorialized to assert his jurisdiction. Guang asked that an edict bind Shou to restrain his men and not entrap innocent civilians. He was soon made administrative commissioner of Hedong, then resigned on grounds of illness. Long afterward he was recalled as Junior Minister of Imperial Sacrifices at Nanjing. When Emperor Guangzong died suddenly, Guang rushed a memorial: "The late emperor was in his prime yet suddenly abandoned his ministers. Everyone knows the wicked faction plotted in secret, administering mixed medicines until this end. Regicide need not use aconite or a blade. This is the same villainy as the club attack years before. I beg that assisting ministers be clearly ordered to pursue the villains to the end and avenge the late emperor." The court acknowledged receipt.

天啟初，敘職方時邊功，加光祿卿，進太常大理卿。魏忠賢亂政，大獄紛起，光請告歸。尋為給事中潘士聞所劾，落職閑住。御史盧承欽歷攻東林，詆光狎主邪盟，遂削奪。

At the start of Tianqi, frontier merit from his Bureau of Operations service won him promotion to Minister of Imperial Entertainments and then joint head of Imperial Sacrifices and the Court of Judicial Review. As Wei Zhongxian threw the government into chaos and political trials multiplied, Guang asked to retire. Soon supervising secretary Pan Shiwen impeached him, and he was removed from office. Censor Lu Chengqin repeatedly attacked the Donglin, accused Guang of leading a corrupt alliance, and he was stripped of rank.

崇禎元年，起戶部右侍郎，督錢法，尋遷左侍郎。三年，拜工部尚書。光初名珍，避仁宗諱，始改名。五年，陵工成，加太子少保。桂王重建府第，議加江西、河南、山東、山西田賦十二萬有奇；浙江逋織造銀十余萬，巡撫陸完學請編入正額。光皆持不可。

In the first year of Chongzhen he was recalled as Right Vice Minister of Revenue with charge of coinage, then promoted to Left Vice Minister. In the third year he was appointed Minister of Works. Guang was originally named Zhen; he changed his name to avoid the taboo on the Renzong emperor's name. In the fifth year, when the mausoleum works were completed, he was honored as Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. The Prince of Gui rebuilt his mansion, and a proposal would add more than 120,000 taels to land taxes in Jiangxi, Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi; Zhejiang owed more than 100,000 taels in weaving-office arrears; grand coordinator Lu Wanxue asked to fold them into the regular tax quota. Guang opposed every proposal.

中官張彜憲總理戶、工兩部事，議設座於部堂，光不可。右侍郎高弘圖履任，彜憲欲共設公座，光與弘圖約，比彜憲至，皆曰「事竣矣」，撤座去，彜憲怏怏。及主事金鉉、馮元飏交疏劾彜憲，彜憲疑出光，日捃摭其隙。會山永巡撫劉宇烈請料價萬五千兩、鉛五萬斤，工部無給銀例，與鉛之半，宇烈怒，奏鉛皆濫惡。彜憲取粗鉛進曰「庫鉛盡然」，欲以罪光。嚴旨盡熔庫鉛，司官中毒死者三人，內外官多獲罪。彜憲乃糾巡視科道許國榮等十一人，光疏救，忤旨詰責。彜憲又指閘工冒破齮龁之，光累疏乞骸骨歸，五月得請。屢薦不起。家居十四年卒。

Eunuch Zhang Yixian took charge of Revenue and Works affairs and proposed a seat in the ministry hall; Guang refused. Right Vice Minister Gao Hongtu took office. Yixian wanted a joint seat in the hall. Guang and Hongtu agreed that when Yixian arrived they would say the business was done and remove the seat. Yixian was furious. When section chiefs Jin Xuan and Feng Yuanyang impeached Yixian in turn, Yixian suspected Guang and daily hunted for faults. Shanyong grand coordinator Liu Yulie requested 15,000 taels for materials and 50,000 jin of lead. Works had no precedent for paying silver and supplied only half the lead. Yulie was furious and reported that all the lead was defective. Yixian presented coarse lead to the throne, claiming all depot stock was the same, intending to blame Guang. A stern edict ordered all depot lead melted. Three officials died from fumes, and many others were punished. Yixian then implicated eleven touring censors including Xu Guorong. Guang memorialized in their defense and was rebuked by edict. Yixian also accused him over sluice-work embezzlement and harassed him relentlessly. Guang repeatedly asked to retire and was permitted in the fifth month. Though repeatedly recommended, he never returned to office. He lived in retirement fourteen years and died.

陳於廷，字孟諤，宜興人。萬歷二十三年進士。歷知光山、唐山、秀水三縣，征授御史。甫拜命，即論救給事中汪若霖，詆大學士朱賡甚力，坐奪俸一年。頃之，劾職方郎中申用懋、趙拱極、黃克謙為宰相私人，不宜處要地，又劾賡及王錫爵當斥。已，言諭德顧天飐素幹清議，不宜久玷詞林。語皆峻切。視鹺河東，劾稅使張忠撓鹽政。正陽門災，極陳時政闕失。父喪歸。服除，起按江西。時稅務已屬有司，而中官潘相欲親督湖口稅，於廷劾其背旨虐民。淮府庶子常洪作奸，論置之法。改按山東。

Chen Yuting, whose style was Meng'e, came from Yixing. He received his jinshi degree in the twenty-third year of Wanli. He served as magistrate of Guangshan, Tangshan, and Xiushui in turn, then was called to the capital as censor. As soon as he took office he memorialized to defend supervising secretary Wang Ruolin, fiercely attacking Grand Secretary Zhu Geng, and lost a year's salary. Soon he impeached Bureau of Operations directors Shen Yongmao, Zhao Gongji, and Huang Keqian as the chief minister's creatures, unfit for key posts, and demanded the dismissal of Zhu Geng and Wang Xijue. He then argued that exposition tutor Gu Tianqi, a leader of moral criticism, should not long remain in the Hanlin. His remonstrances were uniformly sharp and uncompromising. While inspecting the Hedong salt monopoly, he impeached the tax commissioner Zhang Zhong for interfering with salt policy. After fire destroyed the Zhengyang Gate, he presented an extensive memorial detailing failures in government. He returned home to observe mourning for his father. After the mourning period, he was recalled as touring censor for Jiangxi. Tax administration had already been restored to the regular bureaucracy, but the eunuch Pan Xiang sought to supervise Hukou collections in person; Chen Yuting impeached him for violating imperial instructions and oppressing the populace. When Chang Hong, a household officer of the Huai prince's establishment, committed crimes, he prosecuted him to the full penalty of the law. His post was changed to touring censor in Shandong.

光宗立，擢太仆少卿，徙太常。議「紅丸」事，極言崔文升、李可灼當斬。尚書王紀被斥，特疏申救。再進大理卿、戶部右侍郎，改吏部，進左侍郎。尚書趙南星既逐，於廷署事。大學士魏廣微傳魏忠賢意，欲用其私人代南星，且許擢於廷總憲，於廷不可，以喬允升、馮從吾、汪應蛟名上。忠賢大怒，謂所推仍南星遺黨，矯旨切責，並楊漣、左光鬥盡斥為民。文選郎張可前、御史袁化中、房可壯亦坐貶黜。自是清流盡逐，小人日用事矣。

After Guangzong's accession, he was promoted vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud and then moved to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the debate over the "red pill" affair, he argued forcefully that Cui Wensheng and Li Kezhuo deserved execution. When Minister of Rites Wang Ji was dismissed, he filed a special memorial in his defense. He was promoted again—to chief of the Court of Judicial Review, then right vice minister of Revenue, transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, and advanced to left vice minister. After Zhao Nanxing was ousted as minister, Chen Yuting acted in his capacity. Grand Secretary Wei Guangwei relayed Wei Zhongxian's wishes, seeking to install a protégé in Zhao Nanxing's place while offering to promote Chen Yuting to censor-in-chief; Chen Yuting refused and instead nominated Qiao Yunsheng, Feng Congwu, and Wang Yingjiao. Wei Zhongxian was furious, denouncing the nominees as remnants of Zhao Nanxing's faction; a forged edict sharply rebuked them, and Chen Yuting was expelled to commoner status along with Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou. Selection bureau director Zhang Keqian and censors Yuan Huazhong and Fang Kezhuang were demoted as well. From then on the upright faction was cleared out, and favor-seekers ran the government day by day.

崇禎初，起南京右都御史。與鄭三俊典京察，盡去諸不肖者。南御史差竣，例聽北考，於廷請先考於南，報可。召拜左都御史。以巡方責重，列上糾大吏、薦人才、修荒政、核屯鹽、禁耗羨、清獄囚、訪奸豪、弭寇盜八事，請於回道日核實課功。優詔褒納。給事中馬思理，御史高倬、余文縉坐事下吏，並抗疏救之。秩滿，加太子少保。三疏乞休，不允。

Early in the Chongzhen reign he was recalled as right censor-in-chief in Nanjing. With Zheng Sanjun he conducted the metropolitan officials' review and purged every unfit appointee. When Nanjing censors completed their tours, precedent called for evaluation in the north; Chen Yuting petitioned for southern evaluation first, and the request was approved. He was summoned to the capital and appointed left censor-in-chief. Given the heavy responsibilities of provincial inspection, he submitted eight proposals: impeach senior officials, recommend talent, repair famine relief, audit garrison colonies and salt, ban illicit surcharges, clear the prisons, investigate powerful wrongdoers, and suppress banditry—asking that performance be verified when censors returned from tour. The emperor responded with an approving edict of praise. When supervising-secretary Ma Sili and censors Gao Zhuo and Yu Wenjin were imprisoned on charges, he filed forceful memorials in defense of all three. At the end of his term he was promoted to Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He submitted three memorials requesting retirement, but each was denied.

兩浙巡鹽御史祝徽、廣西巡按御史畢佐周並擅撻指揮，非故事。事聞，帝方念疆場多故，欲倚武臣，旨下參核。於廷等言：「軍官起世胄，率不循法度，概列彈章，將不勝擾，故小過薄責以懲。凡御史在外者盡然，不自二臣始。」帝以指揮秩崇，非御史得杖，令會兵部稽典制以聞，典制實無杖指揮事，乃引巡撫敕書提問四品武職語以對。帝以比擬不倫，責令再核，於廷等終右御史，所援引悉不當帝意。疏三上三卻，竟削籍歸。家居二年卒。福王時，贈少保。

Zhu Hui, the Zhejiang salt censor, and Bi Zuozhou, the Guangxi touring censor, had both flogged military commanders on their own authority—contrary to precedent. When the reports reached the throne, the emperor—mindful of crises on the frontiers and eager to lean on military commanders—ordered an investigation. Chen Yuting and others argued: "Military officers, drawn from hereditary families, mostly disregard regulations; if censors filed impeachments indiscriminately, commanders would be overwhelmed, so minor offenses have been punished lightly as a warning. Every censor on provincial assignment has done the same; this did not begin with these two men alone. The emperor held that commanders' rank was too exalted for censors to flog them and ordered the Ministry of War to check the regulations and report back; the regulations in fact contained no provision for beating commanders, so Chen Yuting cited the language in grand coordinators' commissions authorizing interrogation of fourth-rank military officers. The emperor deemed the analogy improper and ordered a further review; Chen Yuting and his colleagues continued to defend the censors, and every precedent they cited failed to satisfy him. He submitted three memorials and was rebuffed three times; in the end he was struck from the register and sent home. He died two years after returning to private life. Under the Prince of Fu he was posthumously ennobled as Junior Guardian.

於廷端亮有守。周延儒當國，於廷其裏人，無所附麗。與溫體仁不合，故卒獲重譴去。

Chen Yuting was upright, principled, and unwavering. When Zhou Yanru dominated the government, Chen Yuting was his fellow townsman yet would attach himself to no faction. He was at odds with Wen Tiren, and in the end incurred severe punishment and left office.

鄭三俊，字用章，池州建德人。萬歷二十六年進士。授元氏知縣。累遷南京禮部郎中、歸德知府、福建提學副使。家居七年，起故官，督浙江糧儲。

Zheng Sanjun, styled Yongzhang, was a native of Jiande in Chizhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed magistrate of Yuanshi. He rose through the posts of bureau director in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, prefect of Guide, and Fujian vice commissioner of education. After seven years in retirement he was recalled to his former rank to supervise grain storage in Zhejiang.

天啟初，召為光祿少卿，改太常。未上，陳中官侵冒六事。時魏忠賢、客氏離間後妃，希得見帝，而三俊疏有「篤厚三宮，妖冶不列於禦」語。忠賢遣二豎至閣中，摘「妖冶」語，令重其罪，閣臣力爭，而擬旨則以先朝故事為辭。三俊復疏言：「近日麋爛荼毒，無逾中珰，閣臣悉指為故事。古人言奄豎聞名，非國之福。今聞名者已有人，內連外結，恃閣臣彈壓抑損之，而閣臣輒阿諛自溺其職，可為寒心。」忠賢益怒，以語侵內閣，留中不下。擢左僉都御史，疏陳兵食大計，規切內外諸司。吏部郎中徐大相言事被謫，抗疏救之。

Early in the Tianqi reign he was summoned as vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and then transferred to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Before he assumed office, he memorialized on six abuses of eunuch encroachment and embezzlement. At the time Wei Zhongxian and Lady Ke were sowing discord among the palace women and angling for access to the emperor; Zheng Sanjun's memorial contained the phrase "show sincere devotion to the three palaces; let no seductive beauty appear before the throne." Wei Zhongxian sent two palace attendants to the Grand Secretariat to seize on the words "seductive beauty" and demand a heavier penalty; the grand secretaries argued strenuously, but the draft rescript cited precedent from earlier reigns. Zheng Sanjun memorialized again: "Of late nothing has rotted and poisoned the state more than the inner eunuchs, yet grand secretaries cite everything as precedent. The ancients said that when palace eunuchs become famous by name, it is no blessing to the state. Today such men are already notorious; they conspire inside and out, counting on grand secretaries to suppress criticism, while those secretaries flatter and abandon their duties—it is chilling to behold. Wei Zhongxian grew still angrier; the language impugned the inner cabinet, and the memorial was held back and never promulgated. He was promoted to left vice censor-in-chief and memorialized on grand strategy for troops and provisions, sternly admonishing departments throughout the government. When Xu Daxiang, a bureau director in the Ministry of Personnel, was banished for a memorial, Zheng Sanjun filed a forceful petition in his defense.

四年正月，遷左副都御史。戶部右侍郎楊漣劾忠賢，三俊亦上疏極論。尋署倉場事。太倉無一歲蓄，三俊奏行足儲數事。忠賢盡逐漣等，三俊遂引疾去。明年，忠賢黨張訥請毀天下書院，劾三俊與鄒元標、馮從吾、孫慎行、余懋衡合汙同流，褫職閑住。

In the first month of the fourth year he was transferred to left assistant censor-in-chief. When Yang Lian, right vice minister of Revenue, impeached Wei Zhongxian, Zheng Sanjun also submitted a memorial denouncing him in the strongest terms. He soon took charge of granary affairs in an acting capacity. The Great Granary held less than a year's supply; Zheng Sanjun memorialized on several measures to restore full reserves. After Wei Zhongxian had driven out Yang Lian and his allies, Zheng Sanjun pleaded illness and resigned. The following year Zhang Na, a member of Wei Zhongxian's faction, petitioned to destroy private academies throughout the empire and impeached Zheng Sanjun together with Zou Yuanbiao, Feng Congwu, Sun Shenxing, and Yu Maoheng as birds of a feather; their offices were stripped and they were ordered to live in retirement.

崇禎元年，起南京戶部尚書兼掌吏部事。南京諸僚多忠賢遺黨，是年京察，三俊澄汰一空。京師被兵，大臣大獲譴。明年春，三俊以建儲入賀，力言：「皇上憂勞少過，人情郁結未宣。百職庶司，救過不贍，上下睽孤，足為隱慮。願保聖躬以保天下，收人心以收封疆。」帝褒納之。南糧歲額八十二萬七千有奇，積逋至數百萬，而兵部又增兵不已。三俊初至，倉庫不足一月餉。三俊力祛宿弊，糾有司尤怠玩者數人，屢與兵部爭虛冒，久之，士得宿飽。萬歷時，稅使四出，蕪湖始設關，歲征稅六七萬，泰昌時已停。至是，度支益絀，科臣解學龍請增天下關稅，南京宣課司亦增二萬。三俊以為病民，請減其半，以其半征之蕪湖坐賈，戶部遂派蕪湖三萬，復設關征商。三俊請罷征，並於工部分司計舟輸課，不稅貨物，皆不從，遂為永制。蕪湖、淮安、杭州三關皆隸南戶部，所遣司官李友蘭、霍化鵬、任俶皆貪，三俊悉劾罷之。

In the first year of Chongzhen he was recalled as minister of revenue at Nanjing, with concurrent charge of the Ministry of Personnel. Most of the Nanjing staff were holdovers from Wei Zhongxian's faction; in that year's metropolitan review Zheng Sanjun purged them all. After the capital came under attack, senior ministers were heavily censured. The following spring Zheng Sanjun came to the capital to congratulate the establishment of the heir apparent and urged forcefully: "Your Majesty's anxieties and labors have gone somewhat too far; popular sentiment is pent up and has not been heard. Officials at every level scramble merely to cover mistakes; court and country are estranged—this is cause for grave concern. I pray that Your Majesty will guard your health to guard the realm, and win back the people's hearts to win back the frontiers. The emperor praised the advice and accepted it. The southern grain quota was more than 827,000 piculs a year, with arrears mounting into the millions, while the Ministry of War kept adding troops without end. When Zheng Sanjun first took office, the granaries held less than a month's rations. He worked vigorously to uproot longstanding abuses, impeached several especially negligent officials, and repeatedly challenged inflated troop rolls with the Ministry of War; in time the soldiers were reliably fed. Under Wanli, tax commissioners were dispatched everywhere; a customs post was first established at Wuhu, collecting sixty or seventy thousand taels a year, but the levy had been suspended in the Taichang reign. By this time revenue was increasingly strained; censor Xie Xuelong proposed raising transit duties empire-wide, and the Nanjing revenue office added twenty thousand taels as well. Zheng Sanjun argued that this burdened the people and asked to cut the increase in half, levying half of it on resident merchants in Wuhu; the Ministry of Revenue nevertheless assigned Wuhu thirty thousand taels and re-established the post to tax merchants. He petitioned to abolish the levy and have the Ministry of Works branch count boat-transport fees without taxing cargo; his proposals were all rejected, and the arrangement became permanent. The customs posts at Wuhu, Huai'an, and Hangzhou all fell under the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue; the officials Li Youlan, Huo Huapeng, and Ren Ju whom it dispatched were all corrupt, and Zheng Sanjun impeached and removed every one of them.

居七年，就移吏部。八年正月，復當京察，斥罷七十八人，時服其公。旋上議官評、杜請屬、慎差委三事，帝皆采納。流寇大擾江北，南都震動，三俊數陳防禦策。禮部侍郎陳子壯下獄，抗疏救之。

After seven years he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. In the first month of the eighth year, when the metropolitan review came due again, he dismissed seventy-eight officials; contemporaries admired his fairness. He soon memorialized on three reforms—merit review of officials, blocking favor-seeking, and careful appointments—and the emperor adopted them all. As roving bandits ravaged the north bank of the Yangtze and the southern capital was shaken, Zheng Sanjun repeatedly submitted defense plans. When Vice Minister of Rites Chen Zizhuang was imprisoned, he filed a forceful memorial in his defense.

考績入都，留為刑部尚書，加太子少保。帝以陰陽愆和，命司禮中官錄囚，流徒以下皆減等。三俊以文武諸臣詿誤久系者眾，請令出外候讞。因論告訐株蔓之弊，乞敕「內外諸臣行惻隱實政。內而五城訊鞫，非重辟不必參送法司；外而撫按提追，非真犯不必盡解京師；刑曹決斷，以十日為期。」帝皆從之。代州知州郭正中因天變，請舉寒審之典，帝命考故事。三俊稽歷朝寶訓，得祖宗冬月錄囚數事，備列上奏，寢不行。前尚書馮英坐事遣戍，其母年九十有一，三俊乞釋還侍養，不許。

On arriving in the capital for his performance review, he was retained as minister of justice and given the additional title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. Because heaven and earth were out of harmony, the emperor ordered eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial to review prisoners, and all exiles and lesser offenders had their sentences reduced by one grade. Zheng Sanjun noted that many civil and military officials had been held for long periods on tangled charges and asked that they be released to await trial outside prison. He went on to discuss the abuses of informers and guilt by association, and begged an edict that "officials throughout the government should practice compassionate and effective justice. Within the capital, the Five Wards should interrogate cases, but unless the crime carries the death penalty, cases need not be referred to the judiciary; in the provinces, governors and touring censors should pursue offenders, but unless the culprit is genuinely guilty, not every suspect need be sent to the capital; and the Ministry of Justice should decide cases within ten days. The emperor accepted every proposal. Guo Zhengzhong, prefect of Daizhou, cited a celestial portent to request a winter review of prisoners; the emperor ordered precedents to be investigated. Zheng Sanjun searched the sacred instructions of successive reigns, found several instances in which the founding emperors had reviewed prisoners in winter, listed them fully in a memorial, and submitted it; the proposal was shelved and never carried out. Former Minister Feng Ying had been banished for an offense; his mother was ninety-one; Zheng Sanjun begged that he be released to support her, but the request was denied.

初，戶部尚書侯恂坐屯豆事下獄，帝欲重譴之。三俊屢讞上，不稱旨。讒者謂恂與三俊皆東林，曲法縱舍。工部錢局有盜穴其垣，命按主者罪，三俊亦擬輕典。帝大怒，褫其官下吏。應天府丞徐石麒適在京，上疏力救，忤旨切責。帝御經筵，講官黃景昉稱三俊至清，又偕黃道周各疏救。帝不納，切責三俊欺罔。以無贓私，令出獄候訊。宣大總督盧象升復救之，大學士孔貞運等復以為言，乃許配贖。

Earlier, Minister of Revenue Hou Xiong had been imprisoned in connection with the garrison-grain affair, and the emperor wished to punish him severely. Zheng Sanjun repeatedly submitted judicial recommendations that failed to satisfy the emperor. Slanderers claimed that Hou Xiong and Zheng Sanjun, both associated with the Donglin faction, were bending the law to shield one another. Thieves had tunneled into the wall of the Ministry of Works mint; the emperor ordered an investigation of those responsible, and Zheng Sanjun again proposed a lenient penalty. The emperor was furious, stripped him of office, and handed him over to the judicial authorities. Xu Shiqi, vice magistrate of Yingtian prefecture, happened to be in the capital and memorialized forcefully in his defense; he was sharply rebuked for defying the throne. At the imperial lecture session Huang Jingfang, the lecturer, praised Zheng Sanjun as exceptionally incorrupt; Huang Daozhou joined him in submitting rescue memorials. The emperor would not relent and sharply rebuked Zheng Sanjun for deceiving the throne. Finding no evidence of graft, he ordered Zheng Sanjun released from prison to await trial. Lu Xiangsheng, governor-general of Xuanfu and Datong, interceded again, and Grand Secretary Kong Zhenyun and others spoke up once more; only then was he allowed to redeem his sentence by fine.

十五年正月，召復故官。會吏部尚書李日宣得罪，即命三俊代之。時值考選，外吏多假繕城、墾荒名，減俸行取，都御史劉宗周疏論之。諸人乃夤緣周延儒，囑兵部尚書張國維以知兵薦，帝即欲召對親擢。三俊言：「考選者部、院事，天子且不得專，況樞部乎？乞先考定，乃請聖裁。」帝不悅，召三俊責之，對不屈。宗周復言：「三俊欲俟部、院考後，第其優劣純疵，恭請欽定。若但以奏對取人，安能得真品？」帝不從，由是幸進者眾。帝下詔求賢，三俊舉李邦華、劉宗周自代，且薦黃道周、史可法、馮元飏、陳士奇四人。姜埰、熊開元言事下獄，及宗周獲嚴譴，三俊皆懇救。先後奏罷不職司官數人，銓曹悉廩廩。大僚缺官，三俊數引薦，賢士之廢斥者多復用。刑部尚書徐石麒獲罪，率同官合疏乞留。

In the first month of the fifteenth year [of Chongzhen], he was summoned to restore his former office. When Minister of Personnel Li Rixuan fell afoul of the throne, the emperor at once appointed Zheng Sanjun in his place. Evaluation and selection were under way; many local officials cited fictitious merits in wall repair and land reclamation to secure reduced-salary promotions to the capital, and Censor-in-Chief Liu Zongzhou memorialized against the practice. They then curried favor with Zhou Yanru and had War Minister Zhang Guowei recommend them for military talent; the emperor at once wanted to summon them for interview and personal promotion. Zheng Sanjun said, "Evaluation and selection are the business of the Ministry of Personnel and the censorate; even the Son of Heaven may not monopolize them—how much more the Ministry of War? I beg that the evaluation be completed first, and only then that the imperial decision be sought." The emperor was displeased, summoned Zheng Sanjun, and rebuked him; he replied without yielding. Liu Zongzhou added, "Zheng Sanjun wishes to wait until the Ministry of Personnel and the censorate have finished their evaluation, rank candidates by merit and defect, and respectfully submit them for imperial determination. If men are chosen only by interview at court, how can true caliber be obtained?" The emperor would not agree; from then on, many were advanced by imperial favor. The emperor issued an edict seeking worthies; Zheng Sanjun recommended Li Banghua and Liu Zongzhou to succeed him, and also recommended Huang Daozhou, Shi Kefa, Feng Yuanyang, and Chen Shiji. When Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan were imprisoned for their memorials, and when Liu Zongzhou received severe punishment, Zheng Sanjun earnestly interceded for them all. He successively memorialized to dismiss several incompetent bureau officials, and the personnel bureau trembled before him. When high offices lacked incumbents, Zheng Sanjun repeatedly recommended candidates, and many dismissed worthies were restored to office. When Minister of Justice Xu Shiqi was punished, Zheng Sanjun led his colleagues in a joint memorial begging that he be retained.

三俊為人端嚴清亮，正色立朝。惟引吳昌時為屬，頗為世詬病。時文選缺郎中，儀制郎中吳昌時欲得之。首輔周延儒力薦於帝，且以囑三俊，他輔臣及言官亦多稱其賢，三俊遂請調補。帝特召問，三俊復徇眾意以對。帝頷之，明日即命下。以他部調選郎，前此未有也。帝惡言官不職，欲多汰之，嘗以語三俊，三俊與昌時謀出給事四人、御史六人於外。給事、御史大嘩，謂昌時紊制弄權，連章力攻，並詆三俊。三俊懇乞休致，詔許乘傳歸。國變後，家居十余年乃卒。

Zheng Sanjun was upright, severe, pure, and bright in character; he stood at court with proper countenance. Only in recommending Wu Changshi as a subordinate was he much criticized by contemporaries. At the time the Civil Appointments Bureau lacked a director; Wu Changshi, a director in the Bureau of Rites Regulations, wished to obtain the post. Chief Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru strongly recommended him to the emperor and also pressed Zheng Sanjun; other grand secretaries and remonstrance officials likewise praised Wu Changshi, and Zheng Sanjun then requested a transfer to fill the vacancy. The emperor specially summoned and questioned him; Zheng Sanjun again followed the crowd's intent in his reply. The emperor nodded assent; the next day the order was issued at once. Transferring a selection director from another department was unprecedented. The emperor hated remonstrance officials for neglecting duty and wished to eliminate many; he once told Zheng Sanjun, who with Wu Changshi plotted to send out four supervising secretaries and six censors to provincial posts. The supervising secretaries and censors raised a great uproar, charging that Wu Changshi disordered institutions and manipulated power; they submitted linked memorials attacking him forcefully and also slandered Zheng Sanjun. Zheng Sanjun earnestly begged to retire; an edict permitted him to return home by relay post. After the fall of the dynasty, he lived in retirement for more than ten years before he died.

李日宣，字晦伯，吉水人。萬歷四十一年進士。授中書舍人，擢御史。

Li Rixuan, style Huibo, was a native of Jishui. In the forty-first year of Wanli he passed the metropolitan examination. He was appointed a court document drafter and was promoted to censor.

天啟元年，遼陽破。請帝時召大僚，面決庶政。尋請宥侯震旸以開言路，厚中宮以肅名分。忤旨，切責。已，又薦丁元薦、鄒維璉、麻僖等十余人，乞召還朱欽相、劉廷宣等，帝以濫薦逐臣，停俸三月。旋出理河東鹽政。還朝，以族父邦華佐兵部，引嫌歸。五年七月，逆黨倪文煥劾邦華、日宣為東林邪黨，遂削籍。

In the first year of Tianqi, Liaoyang fell. He asked that the emperor at times summon high ministers to decide routine affairs face to face. Soon he asked to pardon Hou Zhenyang to open the path of remonstrance, and to enrich the inner palace to solemnize name and rank. He defied the imperial will and was sharply rebuked. Later he again recommended Ding Yuanjian, Zou Weilian, Ma Xi, and more than ten others, and begged to recall Zhu Qinxiang, Liu Tingxuan, and others; the emperor, charging indiscriminate recommendation of banished ministers, stopped his salary for three months. Shortly afterward he was sent out to manage Hedong salt administration. On returning to court, because his clansman Li Banghua was assisting the Ministry of War, he cited scruple and resigned. In the seventh month of the fifth year, the partisan Ni Wenhuan impeached Li Banghua and Li Rixuan as an evil Donglin faction; they were then struck from the rolls.

莊烈帝即位，復故官，以邦華在朝，久不出。崇禎三年，起故官，巡按河南。還朝，掌河南道事。中官王坤訐大學士周延儒，日宣率同官言：「內臣監兵，不宜侵輔臣，且插款中疑，邊情多故，坤責亦不可逭。」報聞。遷大理丞，屢進太常卿。九年冬，擢兵部右侍郎，鎮守昌平。久之，進左侍郎，協理戎政。尋敘護陵功，加兵部尚書。十三年九月，擢吏部尚書。

When the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, Li Rixuan was restored to his former office; because Li Banghua was at court, he long declined to take office. In the third year of Chongzhen he was raised to his former office and toured Henan as investigating censor. On returning to court, he held affairs of the Henan remonstrance circuit. The eunuch Wang Kun accused Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru; Li Rixuan led his colleagues in saying, "Inner servants who supervise troops should not encroach on grand secretaries; moreover, inserting suspicions into treaties—with the border situation unsettled, Wang Kun's guilt also cannot be escaped." The memorial was noted. He was transferred to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review and was repeatedly promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the winter of the ninth year he was promoted to vice minister of war and garrisoned Changping. After a long time he was advanced to left vice minister and co-managed military administration. Soon, on account of merit in guarding the imperial tombs, he was given the additional title of minister of war. In the ninth month of the thirteenth year he was promoted to minister of personnel.

十五年五月，會推閣臣，日宣等以蔣德璟、黃景昉、姜曰廣、王錫袞、倪元璐、楊汝成、楊觀光、李紹賢、鄭三俊、劉宗周、吳甡、惠世揚、王道直名上。帝令再推數人，而副都御史房可壯、工部右侍郎宋玫、大理寺卿張三謨與焉。大僚不獲推者，為流言入內，且創二十四氣之說，帝深惑之。逾月，召日宣及與推諸臣入中左門，偕輔臣賜食。已，出禦中極殿，令諸臣奏對。玫陳九邊形勢甚辯，帝惡其幹進，叱之，乃命德璟、景昉、甡入閣，而以徇情濫舉責日宣等回奏。奏上，帝怒不解，復禦中左門，太子及定、永二王侍。帝召日宣，聲甚厲。次召吏科都給事中章正宸、河南道御史張煊，及玫、可壯、三謨，詰其妄舉。日宣奏辯。帝曰：「汝嘗言秉公執法，今何事不私？」正宸奏：「日宣多遊移，臣等常劾之。然推舉事，實無所徇。」日宣復為玫等三人解。帝命錦衣官提下日宣等六人，並褫冠帶就執。時帝怒甚，侍臣皆股栗失色。德璟、景昉、甡叩頭辭新命，因言：「臣等並在會推中。若諸臣有罪，臣等豈能安。」大學士周延儒等亦乞優容。帝皆不許，遂下刑部。廷臣交章申救，不納，帝疑其未就獄，責刑部臣克期三日定讞。侍郎惠世揚、徐石麒擬予輕比，帝大怒，革世揚職，鐫石麒二秩，郎中以下罪有差。御史王漢言：「枚卜一案，日宣等無私。陛下懷疑，重其罪，刑官莫知所執。」不聽。獄上，日宣、正宸、煊戍邊，玫、可壯、三謨削籍。久之，赦還，卒。

In the fifth month of the fifteenth year, at joint recommendation for grand secretaries, Li Rixuan and others submitted the names of Jiang Dejing, Huang Jingfang, Jiang Yueguang, Wang Xichong, Ni Yuanlu, Yang Rucheng, Yang Guanguang, Li Shaoxian, Zheng Sanjun, Liu Zongzhou, Wu Shen, Hui Shiyang, and Wang Daozhi. The emperor ordered several more men to be recommended, and Vice Censor-in-Chief Fang Kezhuang, Vice Minister of Works Song Mei, and Director of the Court of Judicial Review Zhang Sanmo were included. High ministers who were not recommended spread rumors into the inner court and even invented a theory of the "twenty-four qi"; the emperor was deeply confused by it. After more than a month, the emperor summoned Li Rixuan and the recommending ministers into the central left gate and, together with the grand secretaries, granted them food. Then he went out to receive them at the Hall of the Central Ultimate and ordered the ministers to speak at audience. Song Mei stated the situation on the nine borderlands very eloquently; the emperor hated his pushing for advancement and shouted him down; he then ordered Jiang Dejing, Huang Jingfang, and Wu Shen into the cabinet, and charged Li Rixuan and the others to reply on grounds of favoritism and indiscriminate recommendation. When the memorial was submitted, the emperor's anger did not abate; he again received them at the central left gate, with the crown prince and the princes of Ding and Yong in attendance. The emperor summoned Li Rixuan; his voice was very harsh. Next he summoned Chief Supervising Secretary of the Personnel Circuit Zhang Zhenchen, Henan Circuit Censor Zhang Huang, and Song Mei, Fang Kezhuang, and Zhang Sanmo, and interrogated them on their reckless recommendation. Li Rixuan memorialized in defense. The emperor said, "You once said you would uphold the law impartially—now what matter is not private?" Zhang Zhenchen memorialized, "Li Rixuan is much evasive; we have often impeached him. Yet on the matter of recommendation, there was truly no favoritism." Li Rixuan again spoke in defense of Song Mei and the other three men. The emperor ordered brocade-clad guard officers to take down Li Rixuan and the other six men, stripped their caps and belts, and had them arrested on the spot. At the time the emperor's anger was extreme; the attending ministers all trembled and turned pale. Jiang Dejing, Huang Jingfang, and Wu Shen kowtowed and declined the new appointment, saying, "We too were all in the joint recommendation. If the various ministers are guilty, how can we be at ease?" Grand Secretaries Zhou Yanru and others also begged lenient treatment. The emperor would not permit any of it and sent them down to the Ministry of Justice. Court ministers submitted linked memorials pleading for them, but the emperor did not accept; suspecting they had not yet entered prison, he ordered the Ministry of Justice to fix a verdict within three days. Vice Ministers Hui Shiyang and Xu Shiqi drafted a light sentence; the emperor was greatly enraged, dismissed Hui Shiyang from office, cut Xu Shiqi two ranks, and punished directors and below according to degree. Censor Wang Han said, "In the cabinet-selection case, Li Rixuan and the others were without private interest. Your Majesty harbors suspicion and has made their guilt heavy; the punishment officials know not what standard to uphold." He was not listened to. When the case was submitted, Li Rixuan, Zhang Zhenchen, and Zhang Huang were exiled to the border; Song Mei, Fang Kezhuang, and Zhang Sanmo were struck from the rolls. After a long time he was amnestied and returned; he died.

張瑋，字席之，武進人。少孤貧，取糠秕自給，不輕受人一飯，為同里薛敷教所知。講學東林書院，師孫慎行。其學以慎獨研幾為宗。

Zhang Wei, style Xizhi, was a native of Wujin. Orphaned and poor in youth, he fed himself on chaff and bran and would not lightly accept a single meal from others; he was noticed by his fellow townsman Xue Fujiao. He lectured at the Donglin Academy and studied under Sun Shenxing. His learning took cautious solitude and probing of subtle beginnings as its root.

萬歷四十年，舉應天鄉試第一。越七年，成進士，授戶部主事。調兵部職方，歷郎中，出為廣東提學僉事。粵俗奢麗，督學至，宮室供張輿馬餼牽之奉甲他省，象犀文石，名花珠具，磊砢璀璨，瑋悉屏去弗視也。大吏建魏忠賢祠，乞上梁文於瑋，瑋即日引去。瑋廉，歸而布袍草履，授徒於家。

In the fortieth year of Wanli he placed first in the Yingtian provincial examination. Seven years later he passed the metropolitan examination, was made a graduate, and was appointed a director in the Ministry of Revenue. He was transferred to the Ministry of War Bureau of Appointments, served as a director, and went out as education intendant of Guangdong. Cantonese customs were luxurious; when the education superintendent arrived, the furnishings of palaces, carriages, horses, and feast gifts exceeded every other province—ivory, rhinoceros horn, carved stone, famous flowers, pearl implements, piled dazzling and bright—and Zhang Wei screened them all away and would not look. High officials built a temple to Wei Zhongxian and begged a beam-raising essay from Zhang Wei; Zhang Wei withdrew the same day. Zhang Wei was incorruptible; on returning he wore a cloth robe and straw sandals and taught disciples at home.

莊烈帝即位，起江西參議，歷福建、山東副使。大學士吳宗達謂瑋難進而易退，言之吏部，召為尚寶卿，進太仆少卿。坐事調南京大理丞，引疾去。久之，起應天府丞。是歲，四方大旱，瑋以軍食可虞，奏請：「禁江西、湖廣遏糴，而令應天、常、鎮、淮、揚五郡折輸漕糧銀，赴彼易米，則小民免催科之苦，太倉無顆粒之虧。他十庫所收銅、錫、顏料、皮布，非州縣土產者，悉解折色，且盡改民解為官解，以救民湯火。」所司多議行。

When the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne, Zhang Wei was raised to administration commissioner of Jiangxi and served successively as vice commissioner in Fujian and Shandong. Grand Secretary Wu Zongda said Zhang Wei was hard to advance and easy to withdraw; he spoke to the Ministry of Personnel, and Zhang Wei was summoned as director of the Court of Imperial Seals and advanced to vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. On account of an offense he was transferred to vice director of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review and cited illness in resigning. After a long time he was raised to vice magistrate of Yingtian prefecture. That year there was great drought in all directions; Zhang Wei, fearing for army provisions, memorialized requesting, "Forbid grain hoarding in Jiangxi and Huguang, and order the five prefectures of Yingtian, Chang, Zhen, Huai, and Yang to convert their tribute-grain delivery into silver, send it there to exchange for rice—then the common people will be spared the suffering of forced collection, and the great granary will suffer no loss of grain. As for copper, tin, pigments, hides, and cloth collected in the other ten treasuries that are not products of the counties, let all be remitted in commuted cash; moreover, entirely change people's delivery into official delivery, to rescue the people from boiling fire." The responsible offices mostly discussed carrying it out.

遷南京光祿卿，召入為右僉都御史，遷左副都御史。時劉宗周、金光辰並總憲紀，瑋乃上《風勵臺班疏》曰：「懲往正以監來。今極貪則原任巡按蘇松御史王誌舉，極廉則原任南京試御史成勇。勇與臣曾不相知，家居聞勇被逮，士民泣送者萬輩，百里不休。後入南都，始知勇在臺不濫聽一辭，不輕贖一鍰，不受屬吏一蔬一果；傑紳悍吏為民害者，不少假借；委曲開導民以孝弟。臣離南中，輒扳轅願借成御史，惠我南人。雖前奉嚴譴，宜召為諸御史勸。」疏上，一時稱快。詔下誌舉法司逮治，成勇敘用。

He was transferred to director of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Entertainments, summoned in as right vice censor-in-chief, and transferred to left deputy censor-in-chief. At the time Liu Zongzhou and Jin Guangchen were both overseeing censorate discipline; Zhang Wei then submitted a "Memorial to Encourage the Censorate Ranks," saying, "Punish the past to rectify and monitor the future. Today the most greedy is former touring inspector of Su-Song, Censor Wang Zhiju; the most incorrupt is former Nanjing trial censor Cheng Yong. Cheng Yong and I were once strangers; at home I heard Cheng Yong was arrested—gentry and commoners who wept and saw him off numbered tens of thousands, for a hundred li without cease. Later, on entering the southern capital, I then learned that at the censorate Cheng Yong did not indiscriminately hear a single case, did not lightly redeem a single fine, and did not accept from subordinate officials a single vegetable or fruit; toward outstanding gentry and fierce officials who harmed the people, he gave little indulgence; he tactfully guided the people in filial piety and brotherly duty. When I left the south central region, people always pulled at my carriage shaft and wished to borrow Censor Cheng to benefit us southerners. Although he had before received severe punishment, he ought to be summoned as an encouragement to the censors." When the memorial went up, the court rejoiced as one. An edict sent Zhi Ju to the courts for punishment and restored Cheng Yong to office.

瑋旋以病謝歸，未幾卒。福王時，贈左都御史，謚清惠。

Zhang Wei soon resigned on grounds of illness and went home; he died not long afterward. Under the Prince of Fu he was posthumously honored as Left Censor-in-Chief with the posthumous name Qinghui (Pure Kindness).

金光辰，字居垣，全椒人。崇禎元年進士。授行人。擢御史，巡視西城。內使周二殺人，牒司禮監捕之，其人方直御前，叩頭乞哀。帝曰：「此國家法，朕不得私。」卒抵罪。出按河南，條奏至三百余章，彈劾不避權勢。九年，還朝。京師戒嚴，光辰分守東直門，劾兵部尚書張鳳翼三不可解，一大可憂。帝以鳳翼方在行間，寢其奏。

Jin Guangchen, whose style was Juyuan, came from Quanjiao. He received his jinshi degree in the first year of Chongzhen. He was appointed a court envoy. He was promoted to censor with charge of inspecting the Western City. Inner attendant Zhou Er committed murder. A warrant went to the Directorate of Ceremonial for his arrest, but he was standing before the emperor and kowtowed for mercy. The emperor said: "This is the law of the state. I cannot show favoritism." In the end he was punished as the law required. On tour in Henan he submitted more than three hundred memorials and impeached the powerful without fear. In the ninth year he returned to the capital. When the capital was placed under martial law, Guangchen helped guard the East Straight Gate and impeached Minister Zhang Fengyi for three inexplicable failures and one grave danger. Because Fengyi was in the field, the emperor shelved the memorial.

時帝久罷內遣，然以邊警，諸臣類萎腇不任，仍分遣中官盧維寧等總監通、津、臨、德等處兵馬糧餉，而意頗諱言之。光辰疏請罷遣，帝怒，召對平臺。風雨驟至，侍臣立雨中，至以袖障溜。久之，帝召光辰責之。光辰對曰：「皇上以文武諸臣無實心任事，委任內臣。臣愚以任內臣，諸臣益弛卸不任。」帝大怒，聲色俱厲，將重譴光辰，而迅雷直震禦座，風雨聲大作。光辰因言：「臣往在河南，見皇上撤內臣而喜。」語未終，帝沈吟，即雲「汝言毋復爾」，然意亦稍解。人謂光辰有天幸雲。時張元佐以兵部右侍郎出守昌平，同時內臣提督天壽山者即日往。帝顧閣臣曰：「內臣即日往，侍臣三日未出，朕之用內臣過耶？」翼日有詔，光辰鐫三級調外。

The emperor had long stopped sending eunuchs on missions, but with frontier alarms mounting and ministers mostly timid and useless, he again dispatched eunuchs such as Lu Weining to supervise troops and supplies at Tong, Jin, Lin, and De—though he was reluctant to speak openly of it. Guangchen memorialized to end the eunuch missions. The emperor was furious and summoned him to audience at the Terrace of Peace. A sudden storm broke. Attending ministers stood in the rain, some shielding themselves with their sleeves. After a long wait the emperor summoned Guangchen and rebuked him. Guangchen replied: "Your Majesty entrusts affairs to eunuchs because civil and military officials lack sincere commitment to their duties. I hold that entrusting eunuchs only makes officials more slack and irresponsible." The emperor flew into a rage and was about to punish Guangchen severely when thunder shook the throne and the storm broke in full force. Guangchen added: "When I was in Henan I saw how glad the people were whenever Your Majesty withdrew the eunuchs." Before he could finish, the emperor fell silent, then said, "Do not speak that way again"—but his anger had already begun to ease. People said Heaven had favored Guangchen. Zhang Yuanzuo had just gone out as Right Vice Minister of War to guard Changping, while the eunuch supervising Tianshou Mountain set out the same day. The emperor turned to the grand secretaries and said: "The eunuch leaves today, but the minister has not set out in three days—am I relying too heavily on eunuchs?" The next day an edict demoted Guangchen three ranks and transferred him to an outside post.

久之，由浙江按察司照磨召為大理寺正，進太仆丞。十三年五月，復偕諸大臣召對平臺，咨以禦邊、救荒、安民之策。光辰班最後，時已夜，光辰獨對燭影中，娓娓數百言，帝為聳然聽。明日諭諸臣各繕疏以進。尋移尚寶丞。陳罷練總、換授、私派、僉報數事，報聞。歷光祿少卿、左通政。十五年五月，復偕諸臣召對德政殿，備陳賊形勢。帝悅，擢左僉都御史。無何，以救劉宗周，仍鐫三級調外，事具《宗周傳》。明年丁父憂。福王時，起故官。未赴，國變，家居二十余年卒。

Long afterward he was recalled from a registrar post in the Zhejiang surveillance commission to be director of the Court of Judicial Review, then promoted to vice director of the Court of the Imperial Stud. In the fifth month of the thirteenth year he again joined senior ministers in audience at the Terrace of Peace, where the emperor asked for policies on frontier defense, famine relief, and pacifying the people. Guangchen spoke last, deep into the night, alone in the candlelight. He spoke at length—several hundred words—and the emperor listened with rapt attention. The next day the emperor ordered each minister to submit a written memorial. He was soon made vice director of the Court of Imperial Seals. He memorialized to abolish the training general system, exchange appointments, private assignments, and collective reporting practices. The court acknowledged receipt. He served successively as Junior Minister of Imperial Entertainments and Left Commissioner of Transmission. In the fifth month of the fifteenth year he again joined ministers in audience at the Hall of Virtuous Government and gave a full account of the rebel situation. The emperor was pleased and promoted him to Left Vice Censor-in-Chief. Soon afterward, for interceding for Liu Zongzhou, he was again demoted three ranks and sent outside—the full account is in Liu Zongzhou's biography. The next year his father died and he entered mourning. Under the Prince of Fu he was recalled to his former post. He never took up the post. The dynasty fell. He lived at home more than twenty years and died.

贊曰：明自神宗而後，士大夫峻門戶而重意氣。其賢者敦厲名檢，居官有所執爭，即清議翕然歸之。雖其材識不遠，耳目所熟習，不能不囿於風會，抑亦一時之良也。遭時孔棘，至救過不暇，顧安得責以挽回幹濟之業哉？

The historian comments: From the Shenzong emperor onward, Ming scholar-officials hardened factional boundaries and prized defiant zeal. The worthy among them cultivated moral discipline; when they took a stand in office, pure criticism rallied to them at once. Their talent and vision were limited, and they could not escape the spirit of their age—but they were nonetheless the best men of their time. They lived in desperate times, struggling merely to stave off disaster—how could one demand of them the grand work of national salvation?

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