1
許譽卿
Xu Yuqing
2
許譽卿，字公實，華亭人。 萬歷四十四年進士，授金華推官。
Xu Yuqing, whose courtesy name was Gongshi, came from Huating. He took his jinshi degree in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign and was posted as magistrate of Jinhua.
3
天啟三年，徵拜吏科給事中。 疏言錦衣世職，不當濫畀保姆閹尹。 織造中官李實誣劾蘇州同知楊姜侵撫按職。 中旨謂姜賄譽卿出疏，停譽卿俸半年。 楊漣劾魏忠賢，譽卿亦抗疏極論忠賢大逆不道：「視漢之朋結趙嬈，唐之勢傾中外，宋之典兵矯詔、謀間兩宮何異！」 忠賢大怒。 又言：「內閣政本重地，而票擬大權拱手授之內廷。 廠衛一奉打問之旨，五毒備施。 邇復用立枷法，士民槁項斃者不知凡幾。 又行數十年不行之廷杖，流毒縉紳，豈所以昭君德哉！ 祖制，宦官不典兵。 今禁旅日繁，內操未罷，聚虎狼於蕭墻之內，逞金革於禁闥之中，不為早除，必貽後患。」 於是忠賢怒益甚。 會趙南星、高攀龍被逐，譽卿偕同列論救，遂鐫秩歸。
In 1623 he was called to court and made a supervising secretary in the personnel division of the Secretariat. He memorialized that hereditary offices in the Embroidered Uniform Guard should not be handed out indiscriminately to imperial wet nurses and eunuch attendants. Li Shi, the eunuch superintendent of the weaving bureau, falsely accused Yang Jiang, the vice prefect of Suzhou, of usurping the authority of the provincial governor and censor. An imperial rescript from the inner court claimed that Yang had bribed Xu to file the memorial, and Xu's salary was withheld for six months. When Yang Lian impeached Wei Zhongxian, Xu Yuqing likewise filed a bold memorial fiercely condemning Wei's capital crime of treason: "What difference is there from the Han faction that rallied around Zhao Feiyan, from Tang eunuchs whose power eclipsed court and countryside, or from Song generals who seized the army, forged edicts, and schemed between the two palaces!" Wei Zhongxian was furious. He went on: "The Grand Secretariat is the vital center of government, yet the authority to draft and endorse memorials has been surrendered to the inner court. As soon as the Brocade Guard and Eastern Depot receive a warrant for interrogation, every form of torture is brought to bear. Lately the standing cangue has been revived as well, and countless scholars and commoners have perished with their necks broken in the stocks. Court flogging, abandoned for decades, has been revived, spreading terror through the official class—is this how the sovereign's virtue is to be shown! Ancestral law forbade eunuchs from holding military command. Today the palace armies swell daily, internal drill has not ceased, wolves are massed within the palace walls, and weapons are exercised inside the forbidden gates—unless they are removed soon, disaster is sure to follow." At this Wei Zhongxian's fury only deepened. When Zhao Nanxing and Gao Panlong were expelled, Xu joined his colleagues in pleading for them and was in turn stripped of rank and sent home.
4
七年起故官，歷工科都給事中。 明年正月，流賊陷潁州，譽卿請急調五千人守鳳陽。 疏入而鳳陽已陷，皇陵毀焉。 譽卿痛憤，直發本兵張鳳翼固位失事，及大學士溫體仁、王應熊玩寇速禍罪。 言：「賊在秦、晉時，早設總督，遏其渡河，禍止西北一隅耳，乃侍郎彭汝楠避不肯行。 及賊入楚、豫，人言交攻，然後不得已而議設之。 侍郎汪慶百又避不行，乃推極邊之陳奇瑜。 鞭長不及，釀成今日之禍，非樞臣之固位失事乎？ 流寇發難已久，樞臣因東南震鄰，始有淮撫操江移鎮之疏，識者已恨其晚。 及奉旨，則曰不必移鎮。 臣觀各地方稍有兵力，賊即不敢輕犯。 鳳陽何地，使巡撫早移，豈有今日！ 今樞臣以曾請移鎮藉口，撫臣以不必移鎮為詞，則輔臣欲諱玩寇速禍，其可得哉！」 帝以苛求責之。
In the seventh year of Chongzhen he was reinstated and rose to chief supervising secretary in the works division. The next year, in the first month, rebel armies captured Yingzhou, and Xu Yuqing urged that five thousand troops be rushed to defend Fengyang. By the time his memorial reached the throne, Fengyang had already fallen and the imperial tombs lay in ruins. Grief-stricken and furious, Xu openly accused Minister of War Zhang Fengyi of clinging to his post and bungling the campaign, and Grand Secretaries Wen Tiren and Wang Yingxiong of treating the rebels lightly and bringing calamity on the realm. He wrote: "While the rebels were still in Shaanxi and Shanxi, a supreme commander should have been appointed at once to stop them from crossing the Yellow River, and the damage would have been confined to the northwest alone—but Vice Minister Peng Runan refused to take the post. Only after the rebels entered Hubei and Henan, when criticism from every quarter converged, was the post grudgingly created. Vice Minister Wang Qingbai likewise declined to go, and Chen Qiyu, posted on the remotest frontier, was pushed forward instead. Authority could not reach far enough, and today's catastrophe was brewed—is this not the fruit of senior ministers clinging to their posts and failing in their duties? The rebel armies had been active for years; only when alarm spread in the southeast did senior ministers propose transferring the Huai governor and river-defense command—and informed observers already deplored how late that was. When the imperial edict arrived, it declared that no transfer was necessary. I observe that wherever a province has even modest forces in place, the rebels do not dare attack lightly. What region is Fengyang! Had the governor transferred there in time, how could we have come to this! Now the senior ministers cite their earlier request to transfer troops, while the governor cites the edict that no transfer was needed—how can the grand secretaries still hide their negligence in treating the rebels lightly and hastening disaster?" The emperor reproached him for making excessive demands.
5
而是時言官吳履中等復交章劾體仁、應熊交相贊美，「其擬旨慰留曰忠悃，曰藎畫，曰絕私奉公，曰弘濟時艱。 不知時事至此，忠藎安在，而奉公濟艱者何事也？」 譽卿再疏論，帝仍不問。 譽卿曰：「皇上臨馭有年，法無假貸，獨於誤國輔臣不一問。 今者巡撫楊一鵬、巡按吳振纓且相繼就逮矣。 輔臣顧從容入直，退食委蛇，謂可超然事外乎？」 帝終不聽。
Meanwhile censors such as Wu Luzhong filed further memorials impeaching Wen and Wang for praising each other: "The draft rescripts urging them to stay speak of loyal devotion, faithful counsel, selfless public service, and relieving the empire's hardships. Do they not see that affairs have come to this—where is their loyal devotion, and what have they done to serve the public or relieve the empire's distress?" Xu Yuqing memorialized again, but the emperor still paid no heed. Xu Yuqing wrote: "Your Majesty has reigned for many years, and the law knows no mercy—yet toward the grand secretaries who have harmed the state you have not asked a single question. Already Grand Coordinator Yang Yipeng and Regional Inspector Wu Zhenyong are being arrested one after another. Yet the grand secretaries stroll calmly into the palace, dine at leisure, and retire—do they imagine they can stand above these affairs?" In the end the emperor would not heed him.
6
譽卿在天啟時，謝升方為文選郎。 及是，升長吏部，譽卿猶滯垣中。 以資深當擢京卿，升希體仁意，出之南京。 大學士文震孟慍語侵升，升亦慍。 適山東布政使勞永嘉賄營登萊巡撫，主給事中宋之普家，升等列之舉首，為給事中張第元所發。 帝以詰升，言路因欲攻升及都御史唐世濟。 譽卿以世濟恃體仁，惡尤甚，當先去之。 御史張纘曾乃獨劾升，升疑出譽卿及震孟意，之普又構之升。 先是，福建布政使申紹芳亦欲得登萊巡撫，譽卿曾言之升。 升遂疏攻譽卿，謂其營求北缺，不欲南遷，為把持朝政地，並及囑紹芳事。 體仁從中主之，譽卿遂削籍，紹芳逮問遣戍。 十五年，御史劉逵及給事中楊枝起相繼論薦，竟不果用。 福王立，起光祿卿，不赴。 國變，發為僧，久之卒。
During the Tianqi reign Xu Yuqing had known Xie Sheng when the latter was a clerk in the personnel selection bureau. By now Xie headed the Ministry of Personnel, while Xu Yuqing still remained stuck in the censorate. By seniority he should have been promoted to a capital ministry post, but Xie, eager to please Wen Tiren, sent him to Nanjing instead. Grand Secretary Wen Zhenmeng spoke angrily in terms that slighted Xie, and Xie was offended in turn. At that time Shandong provincial commissioner Lao Yongjia bribed his way toward the Dengzhou-Laizhou governorship; Chief Supervising Secretary Song Zhipu hosted him at home, and Xie and others placed his name first on the nomination list—until Supervising Secretary Zhang Diyuan exposed the affair. The emperor questioned Xie about it, and the censorial corps then moved to attack both Xie and Censor-in-Chief Tang Shiji. Xu Yuqing argued that Tang Shiji, who relied on Wen Tiren, was the greater evil and ought to be removed first. Censor Zhang Zuanzeng alone impeached Xie; Xie suspected this sprang from Xu Yuqing and Wen Zhenmeng, while Song Zhipu also fed Xie false charges. Earlier Fujian provincial commissioner Shen Shaofang had also sought the Dengzhou-Laizhou post, and Xu Yuqing had once mentioned him to Xie. Xie then filed a memorial attacking Xu Yuqing, charging that he had lobbied for a northern post, refused to accept transfer to the south, and sought leverage to dominate court politics, and he also implicated Xu in the Shen Shaofang affair. Wen Tiren backed the attack from within, and Xu Yuqing was struck from the official rolls; Shen Shaofang was arrested, tried, and exiled to frontier service. In the fifteenth year Censor Liu Kui and Supervising Secretary Yang Zhiqi successively recommended him, but he was never reappointed. When the Prince of Fu was enthroned, Xu was appointed Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments but declined to serve. After the fall of the dynasty he became a monk, and many years later he died.
7
華允誠
Hua Yuncheng
8
華允誠，字汝立，無錫人。 曾祖舜欽，瑞州知府。 祖啟直，四川參政。 允誠舉天啟二年進士。 從同里高攀龍講學首善書院，先後旋裏，遂受業為弟子，傳其主靜之學。 四年春，從攀龍入都，授都水司主事。 攀龍去官，允誠亦告歸。
Hua Yuncheng, whose courtesy name was Ruli, came from Wuxi. His great-grandfather Shunqin had served as prefect of Ruizhou. His grandfather Qizhi had been administration vice commissioner of Sichuan. Yuncheng received his jinshi degree in the second year of the Tianqi reign. He studied under his fellow townsman Gao Panlong at the Shoushan Academy; when Gao later returned home, Hua became his disciple and carried on his doctrine of cultivating inner stillness. In the spring of the fourth year he followed Gao Panlong to the capital and was appointed a director in the Directorate of Waterways. When Gao Panlong resigned, Hua Yuncheng likewise asked to retire home.
9
崇禎改元，起營繕主事，進員外郎。 二年冬，京師戒嚴，分守德勝門，四十余日不懈，帝微行察知之，賜白金，敘功，加俸一年，改職方員外郎。 五年六月，以溫體仁、閔洪學亂政，疏陳三大可惜、四大可憂。 略言：
At the beginning of the Chongzhen reign he was recalled as a construction director and promoted to vice director. In the winter of the second year, when the capital was placed under martial law, he was assigned to defend Desheng Gate and for more than forty days never slackened; the emperor learned of this on a secret inspection tour, rewarded him with silver, recorded his merit, granted an extra year's salary, and transferred him to the Bureau of Military Appointments as vice director. In the sixth month of the fifth year he memorialized that Wen Tiren and Min Hongxue were corrupting government, setting forth three grave regrets and four grave worries. In summary he wrote:
10
當事借皇上剛嚴，而佐以舞文擊斷之術，倚皇上綜核，而騁其訟逋握算之能，遂使和恒之世競尚刑名，清明之躬浸成叢脞。 以聖主圖治之盛心，為諸臣鬥智之捷徑。 可惜一。
Those in power exploit the emperor's stern severity and reinforce it with legalistic severity and harsh judgments; they lean on his demand for comprehensive scrutiny and parade their skill in lawsuits, tax arrears, and accounts—so that in what should be an age of harmony, punitive law is exalted, and upon a ruler of clarity, petty administration takes hold. The sage ruler's earnest desire to govern well has become a shortcut for ministers' contests of wits. The first regret.
11
帥屬大僚，驚魂於回奏認罪； 封駁重臣，奔命於接本守科。 遂使直指風裁徒征事件，長吏考課惟問錢糧。 以多士靖共之精神，為案牘鉤較之能事。 可惜二。
Field commanders and senior officials live in terror of drafting replies and confessing guilt; while remonstrating ministers exhaust themselves receiving drafts and guarding procedural rules. Thus censorial integrity is reduced to chasing isolated cases, and the evaluation of senior officials asks only about taxes and grain. The spirit by which the empire's scholars should work in harmony has become chiefly a talent for checking documents and comparing figures. The second regret.
12
廟堂不以人心為憂，政府不以人才為重。 四海漸成土崩瓦解之形，諸臣但有角戶分門之念。 意見互犄，議論滋擾。 遂使剿撫等於築舍，用舍有若舉棋。 以興邦啟聖之歲時，為即聾從昧之舉動。 可惜三。
The court does not worry about the people's hearts, and the government does not value talent. The empire is gradually taking the shape of collapse, while ministers think only of factional rivalry and divided cliques. Opinions clash, and debate grows ever more turbulent. Thus suppression and appeasement are like building on sand, and appointments and dismissals are like moving pieces on a chessboard. In years meant to revive the state and inaugurate sage rule, the court acts like the blind leading the blind. The third regret.
13
人主所以總一天下者，法令也。 喪師誤國之王化貞，與楊鎬異辟； 潔己愛民之余大成，與孫元化並逮。 甚至一言一事之偶誤，執訊隨之。 遂使刑罰不中，鈇鉞無威。 一可憂也。
What binds the empire together under the sovereign is law. Wang Huazhen, who lost armies and harmed the state, was punished differently from Yang Hao; while Yu Dacheng, who kept himself pure and loved the people, was arrested together with Sun Yuanhua. Even a single mistaken word or act brings immediate arrest and interrogation. Thus punishments miss their mark, and the instruments of execution lose their authority. The first worry.
14
國家所恃以為元氣者，公論也。 直言敢諫之士一鳴輒斥，指佞薦賢之章目為奸黨，不惟不用其言，並錮其人，又加之罪。 遂使喑默求容，是非共蔽。 二可憂也。
What the state relies on as its vital breath is public opinion. Men who speak plainly and dare remonstrate are expelled at the first word; memorials denouncing flatterers and recommending the worthy are labeled traitorous factions—not only are their words ignored, but the men are imprisoned and further charged with crimes. Thus silence and self-preservation prevail, and right and wrong are obscured together. The second worry.
15
國家所賴以防維者，廉恥也。 近者中使一遣，妄自尊大，群僚趨走，惟恐後時。 皇上以近臣可倚，而不知幸竇已開； 以操縱惟吾，而不知屈辱士大夫已甚。 遂使阿諛成風，羞惡盡喪。 三可憂也。
What the state relies on to hold itself together is integrity and shame. Lately whenever a palace envoy is dispatched, he arrogantly sets himself above others, and officials rush to attend him, fearing only to be late. Your Majesty believes palace intimates can be relied upon, but does not see that the gate of favoritism has been opened; that all control rests in your hands, but does not see how deeply the scholar-officials have already been humiliated. Thus flattery becomes the fashion, and shame and moral revulsion are altogether lost. The third worry.
16
國家所藉以進賢退不肖者，銓衡也。 我朝罷丞相，以用人之權歸之吏部，閣臣不得侵焉。 今次輔體仁與冢臣洪學，同邑朋比，惟異己之驅除。 閣臣兼操吏部之權，吏部惟阿閣臣之意，造門請命，夜以為常。 黜陟大柄，只供報復之私。 甚至庇同鄉，則逆黨公然保舉，而白簡反為罪案； 排正類，則講官借題逼逐，而薦剡遂作爰書。 欺莫大於此矣，擅莫專於此矣，黨莫固於此矣。 遂使威福下移，舉措倒置。 四可憂也。
What the state uses to advance the worthy and dismiss the unworthy is the personnel selection system. Our dynasty abolished the chief counselor and returned the power of appointment to the Ministry of Personnel, which grand secretaries may not encroach upon. Now Second Grand Secretary Wen Tiren and Minister Hongxue, fellow townsmen in league, seek only to drive out those unlike themselves. Grand secretaries now wield the Ministry of Personnel's power as well; the ministry follows only their wishes, and visiting their doors for orders at night has become routine. The great power of appointment and dismissal serves only private revenge. To shield a fellow townsman, members of the opposing faction are openly recommended, while impeachment memorials in turn become criminal cases; To purge upright officials, lecturing officials seize pretexts to drive them out, and letters of recommendation in turn become criminal indictments. No deception is greater than this, no usurpation more absolute than this, and no faction more entrenched than this. Thus power and favor have shifted downward, and government measures are turned upside down. The fourth worry.
17
疏入，帝詰其別有指使。 允誠乃列上洪學徇私數事，且曰：「體仁生平，紾臂塗顏，廉隅掃地。 陛下排眾議而用之，以其悻直寡諧，豈知包藏禍心，陰肆其毒。 又有如洪學者，為之羽翼，遍植私人，戕盡善類，無一人敢犯其鋒者，臣復受何人指使？」 帝以體仁純忠亮節，而摘疏中「握定機關」語，再令陳狀。 允誠復上言：「二人朋比，舉朝共知。 溫育仁不識一丁，以家貲而首拔。 鄧英以論沈演而謫，羅喻義以『左右非人』一語而逐。 此非事之章明較著者乎？」 帝亦悟兩人同里有私，乃奪允誠俸半年，而洪學亦旋罷去。
When the memorial reached the throne, the emperor demanded to know who had put him up to it. Yuncheng then listed several instances of Hongxue's favoritism and wrote: "Throughout his career Wen Tiren has been a man who would strangle an arm and smear a face—his integrity utterly destroyed. Your Majesty overrode widespread opposition to appoint him, thinking him stubbornly upright and hard to get along with—who could have known he harbored treacherous intent and secretly unleashed his poison? Men like Hongxue serve as his wings, planting private followers everywhere and destroying every worthy man, so that no one dares challenge them—so from whom could I possibly be taking orders?" The emperor, convinced that Wen Tiren was purely loyal and upright, seized on the phrase "grasping the levers of power" in the memorial and ordered Hua to elaborate further. Hua Yuncheng memorialized again: "The two men are in league—this the whole court knows. Wen Yuren could not recognize a single character and was promoted first because of family wealth. Deng Ying was demoted for criticizing Shen Yan; Luo Yuyi was expelled for the single phrase "those at your side are not proper men." Are these not matters clear for all to see?" The emperor also saw that the two men, fellow townsmen, had private ties, and so withheld Hua's salary for six months, while Hongxue was soon dismissed as well.
18
其冬，以省親歸，孝養母。 母年八十三而終。 後為福王驗封員外郎，十餘日即引疾歸。
That winter he returned home on leave to visit his parents and devoted himself to caring for his mother. His mother died at the age of eighty-three. Later, under the Prince of Fu, he was appointed verification-seal vice director, but after little more than ten days he cited illness and returned home.
19
允誠踐履篤實，不慕榮達。 延儒再召，遣人以京卿啖之，允誠拒不應。 入南都，士英先造請，亦不報謝。 國變後，屏居墓田，不肯發，與從孫尚濂駢斬於南京。
Hua Yuncheng's conduct was earnest and solid; he did not covet glory or advancement. When Zhou Yanru was recalled again, he sent someone to tempt Hua with a capital ministry post, but Hua refused to respond. When he entered the Southern Capital, Ma Shiying was the first to call on him, but he did not return the courtesy. After the fall of the dynasty he secluded himself on his family's tomb lands and would not emerge; he and his nephew Shang Lian were executed together at Nanjing.
20
魏呈潤
Wei Chengrun
21
魏呈潤，字中嚴，龍溪人。 崇禎元年進士。 由庶吉士改兵科給事中。
Wei Chengrun, whose courtesy name was Zhongyan, came from Longxi. He received his jinshi degree in the first year of the Chongzhen reign. From Hanlin bachelor he was transferred to supervising secretary in the war division of the Secretariat.
22
三年冬，疏陳兵屯之策：「請敕順天、保定兩巡撫簡所部壯士，大邑五百人，小邑二三百人，分營訓練。 而天津翟鳳翀、通州範景文、昌平侯恂並建節鉞，宜令練兵之外兼營屯田。」 又陳閩海剿撫機宜六事。 並議行。
In the winter of the third year he memorialized on military colonies: "I request that the grand coordinators of Shuntian and Baoding be ordered to select able-bodied men from their jurisdictions—five hundred for large districts, two or three hundred for small ones—and train them in separate camps. Zhai Fengchong at Tianjin, Fan Jingwen at Tongzhou, and Marquis Hou Xun at Changping all hold military commissions—they should be ordered, in addition to drilling troops, to establish garrison farms as well." He also set forth six points on the proper measures for suppressing and appeasing the Fujian coast. All were approved and implemented.
23
明年夏，久旱求言。 疏言：「驛站所裁，才六十萬，未足充軍餉十一，而郵傳益疲，勢必再編裏甲。 是猶剜肉醫瘡，瘡未瘳而肉先潰。 關外舊兵十八萬，額餉七百余萬； 今兵止十萬七千，合薊門援卒，非溢原數，加派五百九十萬外，新增又百四十余萬，猶憂不足，可不為稽核乎！ 邊報告急，非臣子言功之日，而小捷頻聞，躐加峻秩，門客廝養詭名戎籍，不階而升，悉糜俸料，臣懼其難繼也。 江淮旱災，五湖之間，海岸為谷，舊谷不登，新絲未熟，上供織造，宜且暫停。 銓法壞於事例，正途日壅，不可不疏通。 撫按諸臣捐貲助餉，大抵索之民間，顧奉急公之褒。 上蒙而下削，不可不禁飭。」 又條陳數策，請大修北方水政。 帝皆納其言。
The next summer, after a prolonged drought, the court solicited advice. He memorialized: "The cuts to courier stations amount to only six hundred thousand taels, not enough to supply even a tenth of military pay, while the postal relay grows ever more exhausted—the lijia registers will inevitably have to be reorganized again. This is like cutting flesh to treat a sore—the sore is not healed while the flesh rots first. Formerly there were one hundred eighty thousand troops beyond the passes, with allotted pay of more than seven million taels; now there are only one hundred seven thousand troops, and counting Jizhou relief soldiers, they do not exceed the original number—yet beyond the additional levy of five million nine hundred thousand taels, new additions exceed one million four hundred thousand more, and still there is worry of insufficiency—should this not be audited! Border reports are urgent—this is not the time for ministers to boast of merit—yet small victories are frequently reported, and steep promotions leapfrogged; retainers and servants are falsely entered on military rolls, rise without steps, and all drain salary funds—I fear this cannot be sustained. The Jiang-Huai region suffers from drought; between the five lakes the seacoast has become valleys, last year's grain has not ripened, and this year's silk is not yet ready—tribute weaving for the court should be suspended for the time being. The selection law is ruined by precedents; the regular path of advancement grows daily blocked—it must be cleared. Grand coordinators and regional inspectors donate funds to aid military pay, but for the most part they exact them from the people while seeking praise for urgent public service. The upper levels are deceived while the lower are squeezed—this must be forbidden and corrected." He also itemized several policies and requested a major overhaul of northern water administration. The emperor accepted all his proposals.
24
宣府監視中官王坤以冊籍委頓，劾巡按御史胡良機。 帝奪良機官，即令坤按核。 呈潤上言：「我國家設御史巡九邊，秩卑而任鉅。 良機在先朝以糾逆璫削籍，今果有罪，則有回道考核之法在，而乃以付坤。 且邊事日壞，病在十羊九牧。 既有將帥，又有監司； 既有督撫，有巡方，又有監視。 一官出，增一官擾，中貴之威，又復十倍。 御史偶獲戾，且莫自必其命，誰復以國事抗者。 異日九邊聲息，監視善惡，奚從而聞之？ 乞召還良機，毋使仰鼻息於中貴。」 帝以呈潤黨比，貶三級，出之外。
Wang Kun, the eunuch supervisor at Xuanfu, impeached Regional Inspector Hu Liangji on the grounds that the registers were in disorder. The emperor stripped Hu of his office and immediately ordered Kun to investigate. Wei Chengrun memorialized: "Our state appoints censors to tour the nine border regions—low in rank but great in responsibility. Hu Liangji in the previous reign was struck from the rolls for impeaching the treacherous eunuch; if he is truly guilty now, there is the law of return-route assessment—yet he is handed over to Kun. Moreover border affairs worsen daily—the disease lies in too many masters for too few tasks. There are already generals and commanders, and also surveillance commissioners; there are already supreme commanders and grand coordinators, regional inspectors, and also eunuch supervisors. Each new official adds another layer of interference, and the eunuch's authority is multiplied tenfold. A censor who happens to offend cannot even be sure of his life—who will again speak up for the state's affairs? In future, news from the nine borders—whether the supervisors are good or bad—from what source will it be heard? I beg that Hu Liangji be recalled and not made to depend on the breath of eunuchs." The emperor, holding that Wei Chengrun was factional, demoted him three ranks and sent him into exile.
25
良機者，南昌人也，字省之。 萬曆四十四年進士。 天啟間為御史，嘗糾魏忠賢之惡不減汪直、劉瑾。 忠賢憾之，以年例遷廣東參議。 良機方按貴州，不候代而去，遂斥為民。 崇禎元年起故官，按宣、大二鎮。 年滿當代，以其敏練，再巡一年。 至是，遂為坤劾罷。
Hu Liangji was a man of Nanchang, whose courtesy name was Shengzhi. He received his jinshi degree in the forty-fourth year of the Wanli reign. During the Tianqi reign he served as censor and once impeached Wei Zhongxian, saying his evil was no less than that of Wang Zhi or Liu Jin. Zhongxian resented him and, under the seniority rule, transferred him to administration vice commissioner of Guangdong. Hu was then inspecting Guizhou; he left without waiting for his replacement and was consequently reduced to commoner status. In the first year of Chongzhen he was restored to his former office and inspected the Xuanfu and Datong garrisons. When his term was full and he should have been replaced, because of his alert competence he was allowed to inspect for one more year. At this point he was impeached and dismissed by Wang Kun.
26
時又有御史李曰輔者，亦以論中官獲譴，廷臣交章論救，不聽。 而御史趙東曦又疏劾坤，亦獲譴云。
At this time there was also Censor Li Yefu, who likewise was punished for criticizing palace eunuchs; court ministers submitted successive memorials pleading for him, but the emperor would not listen. Censor Zhao Dongxi also memorialized impeaching Kun and likewise was punished.
27
李曰輔
Li Yefu
28
曰輔，字元卿，亦南昌人也，與胡良機同里闬。 萬歷中舉於鄉，為成都推官。 與巡撫朱燮元計兵事，偕諸將攻復重慶。 崇禎四年，擢南京御史。 時中官四出，張彜憲總理戶、工錢糧，唐文征提督京營戎政，王坤監餉宣府，劉文忠監餉大同，劉允中監餉山西。 又命王應期監軍關、寧，張國元監軍東協，王之心監軍中協，鄧希詔監軍西協，又命吳直監餉登島，李茂奇監茶馬陜西。 曰輔上疏諫曰：「邇者一日遣內臣四，尋又遣用五，非兵機則要地也。 廷臣方交章，而登島、陜西又有兩閹之遣。 假專擅之權，駭中外之聽，啟水火之隙，開依附之門，灰任事之心，藉委卸之口。 臣愚實為寒心。 陛下踐阼初，盡撤內臣，中外稱聖。 昔何以撤，今何以遣？ 天下多故，擇將為先。 陛下不築黃金臺招頗、牧，乃汲汲內臣是遣，曾何補理亂之數哉！」 帝怒，謫曰輔廣東布政司照磨。
Yefu, whose courtesy name was Yuanqing, was also a man of Nanchang and a fellow townsman of Hu Liangji. During the Wanli reign he passed the provincial examination and served as magistrate of Chengdu. With Grand Coordinator Zhu Xieyuan he planned military affairs and, together with the generals, attacked and recovered Chongqing. In the fourth year of Chongzhen he was promoted to censor at Nanjing. At this time palace eunuchs were dispatched in four directions: Zhang Yixian superintended the funds of the Ministries of Revenue and Works; Tang Wenzheng supervised military affairs of the capital garrison; Wang Kun supervised rations at Xuanfu; Liu Wenzhong supervised rations at Datong; and Liu Yunzhong supervised rations at Shanxi. Wang Yingqi was also ordered to supervise troops at Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan; Zhang Guoyuan the eastern defense; Wang Zhixin the central defense; Deng Xizhao the western defense; Wu Zhi to supervise rations at Dengzhou and the islands; and Li Maoqi to supervise tea and horses in Shaanxi. Li Yefu memorialized in remonstrance: "Recently four palace eunuchs were dispatched in one day, and soon five more were sent out—each to a military post or vital place. Court ministers were just submitting successive memorials, when Dengzhou, the islands, and Shaanxi received two more eunuch dispatches. They borrow arbitrary power, alarm listeners inside and out, open rifts of fire and water, open doors of dependency, extinguish the will to serve, and provide excuses for shirking duty. I am truly chilled at heart. When Your Majesty first ascended the throne, all palace eunuchs were withdrawn, and inside and out proclaimed you sage. Why were they withdrawn then, and why are they dispatched now? The realm has many troubles—choosing generals should come first. Your Majesty does not build a golden terrace to summon a Lian Po or Li Mu, but is eager to dispatch palace eunuchs—how does this aid the reckoning of order and disorder!" The emperor was angry and demoted Li Yefu to registrar of the Guangdong provincial administration commission.
29
趙東曦
Zhao Dongxi
30
東曦，字馭初，上海人。 萬歷四十七年進士。 崇禎五年，由知縣人為刑科給事中，請興屯塞下，以充軍用，不報。 適宣塞有私和事，王坤時監宣餉，且請代。 東曦上言：「宣塞失事，陛下赫然震怒，逮巡撫沈棨，罷本兵熊明遇。 乃監視王坤方會飲城樓，商榷和議，邊臣倚庇，欺蔽日甚。 坤不得辭扶同罪，反侈邊烽已熄為己功，且請代。 夫內臣之遣，陛下一用之，非不易之典，今即盡撤之，猶謂不早。 坤顧請代，圖彌縫於去後。 願陛下正坤罪，撤各使還京。」 帝言：「宣鎮擅和，實坤奏發，何謂欺隱？」 調東曦外任，謫福建布政司都事。
Dongxi, whose courtesy name was Yuchu, came from Shanghai. He received his jinshi degree in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli reign. In the fifth year of Chongzhen, from magistrate he entered service as supervising secretary in the punishments division, requesting garrison colonies below the passes to supply military use—no reply was given. Just then there was a private peace affair at Xuan garrison; Wang Kun was then supervising Xuan rations and also requested replacement. Zhao Dongxi memorialized: "When Xuan garrison failed in duty, Your Majesty was greatly angered, arrested Grand Coordinator Shen Qi, and dismissed Minister of War Xiong Mingyu. Yet Supervisor Wang Kun was just then feasting on the city tower, discussing peace terms; border officials relied on his protection, and deception grew daily worse. Kun cannot escape the crime of abetting it, yet instead boasts that border beacons have been extinguished as his own merit, and moreover requests replacement. The dispatch of palace eunuchs—Your Majesty uses it once, and it is not an unchangeable institution; even if all were now withdrawn, it would still be said it was not early enough. Kun only requests replacement, plotting to paper over matters after he leaves. I wish Your Majesty would punish Kun's crime and recall all the envoys to the capital." The emperor said: "Xuan garrison's unauthorized peace was in fact exposed by Kun's memorial—how can this be called concealment?" Zhao Dongxi was transferred to an outside post and demoted to secretary of the Fujian provincial administration commission.
31
異時呈潤起官，以光祿署丞終。 良機起光祿典簿，終南京吏部主事。 東曦稍遷行人司正、禮部郎中，奉使還裏。 福王時，召東曦為給事中，曰輔為御史，而二人者皆已死矣。
Later Wei Chengrun was restored to office and ended as deputy director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Hu Liangji was restored as registrar of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and ended as director in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel. Zhao Dongxi was gradually promoted to chief of the embassy service and bureau director in the Ministry of Rites, and returned home after an imperial mission. Under the Prince of Fu, Zhao Dongxi was summoned as supervising secretary and Li Yefu as censor—but both men were already dead.
32
毛羽健
Mao Yujian
33
毛羽健，字芝田，公安人。 天啟二年進士。 崇禎元年，由知縣征授御史。 好言事，首劾楊維垣八大罪及阮大鋮反覆變幻狀，二人遂被斥。
Mao Yujian, whose courtesy name was Zhitian, came from Gong'an. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of the Tianqi reign. In the first year of Chongzhen, from magistrate he was summoned and appointed censor. He was outspoken on state affairs and led with an impeachment of Yang Weiyuan on eight grave charges, together with an account of Ruan Dacheng's treacherous reversals; both men were expelled from office.
34
王師討安邦彥久無功。 羽健言：「賊巢在大方，黔其前門，蜀遵、永其後戶。 由黔進兵，必渡陸廣奇險，七晝夜抵大方，一夫當關，千人自廢，王三善、蔡復一所以屢敗也。 遵義距大方三日程，而畢節止百余裏平衍，從此進兵，何患不克？」 因畫上足兵措餉方略，並薦舊總督朱燮元、閔夢得等。 帝即議行，後果平賊。 已，陳驛遞之害：「兵部勘合有發出，無繳入。 士紳遞相假，一紙洗補數四。 差役之威如虎，小民之命如絲。」 帝即飭所司嚴加厘革，積困為蘇。
The court's campaign against An Bangyan had dragged on without victory. Yujian argued: "The rebels' stronghold lies at Dafang—Guizhou blocks their front gate, while Zunyi and Yong in Sichuan guard their rear exit. An advance from Guizhou forces troops through the deadly Luguang route; even after seven days and nights to reach Dafang, a single defender at the pass can nullify a thousand men—hence the repeated defeats of Wang Sanshan and Cai Fuyi. Zunyi is only three days from Dafang, and Bijie lies barely a hundred li away over open terrain; march from there, and how could victory be in doubt?" He then submitted a detailed plan for troop strength and provisioning, and recommended former grand coordinators Zhu Xieyuan, Min Mengde, and others. The emperor promptly ordered the plan implemented, and the rebels were eventually crushed. Soon after he memorialized on abuses in the courier relay: "The Ministry of War issues travel warrants that are never returned. Officials pass them among themselves; a single document may be washed and patched four or five times over. Runners wield power like tigers, while ordinary people's lives hang by a thread." The emperor at once ordered the relevant agencies to crack down and reform the system, easing burdens that had piled up for years.
35
當是之時，閹黨既敗，東林大盛。 而朝端王永光陰陽閃爍，溫體仁猾賊，周延儒回佞。 言路新進標直之徒，尤競抨擊以為名高。 體仁之訐錢謙益也，以科場舊事，延儒助之惡，且目攻己者為結黨欺君，帝怒而為之罷會推矣。 御史黃宗昌疏糾體仁熱中枚卜，欲以「結黨」二字破前此公論之不予，且箝後來言路之多口。 羽健亦憤朋黨之說，曰：「彼附逆諸奸既不可用，勢不得不用諸奸擯斥之人。 如以今之連袂登進者為相黨而來，抑將以昔之鱗次削奪者為相黨而去乎！ 陛下不識在朝諸臣與奸黨諸臣之孰正孰邪，不觀天啟七年前與崇禎元年後之天下乎，孰危孰安？ 今日語太平則不足，語剔弊則有余，諸臣亦何負國家哉！ 一夫高張，輒疑舉朝皆黨，則株連蔓引，不且一網盡哉！」 帝責羽健疑揣，而以前條陳驛遞原之。
By then the eunuch faction had fallen, and the Donglin party was at its height. Yet at court Wang Yongguang was evasive and two-faced, Wen Tiren cunning and treacherous, and Zhou Yanru sly and obsequious. Newly risen censors and memorialists, eager to appear upright, competed in denunciations to burnish their reputations. Wen Tiren's attack on Qian Qianyi rested on an old examination scandal; Zhou Yanru abetted the scheme, and Tiren branded his critics as a faction deceiving the throne. The emperor's anger led him to suspend the regular joint recommendation process. Censor Huang Zongchang impeached Wen Tiren for scheming after the chancellorship, aiming to use the charge of "faction" to overturn prior public opposition and silence future critics in the remonstrance offices. Yujian likewise bristled at factional rhetoric: "The traitors who sided with the rebels cannot be used—but that leaves no choice but to employ men those traitors once expelled. If today's men rising together are a faction arriving, were yesterday's men stripped of office one after another a faction departing? Your Majesty cannot tell which court ministers are upright and which belonged to the traitor faction; you do not compare the empire before the seventh year of Tianqi with that after the first year of Chongzhen—which was dangerous, and which was safe? We are far from peace, yet there is no shortage of abuses to expose—how have your ministers wronged the state? Let one man grow bold, and you suspect the entire court of factionalism; pursue guilt by association, and will you not sweep everyone into one net?" The emperor rebuked Yujian for suspicion and presumption, but pardoned him because of his earlier memorial on the courier relay.
36
太常少卿謝升求巡撫於永光，永光長吏部，升當推薊鎮，畏而引病以避，後推太仆則不病。 羽健劾升、永光朋比，宜並罪。 永光召對文華殿，力詆羽健，請究主使之者。 大學士韓爌曰：「究言官，非體也。」 帝不從，已而宥之。 一日，帝御文華殿，獨召延儒語良久，事秘，舉朝疑駭。 羽健曰：「召見不以盈廷而以獨侍，清問不以朝參而以燕間； 更漏已沈，閣門猶啟。 漢臣有言『所言公，公言之； 所言私，王者不受私』。」 疏入，切責。 羽健既積忤權要，其黨思因事去之。 及袁崇煥下獄，主事陸澄源以羽健嘗疏譽崇煥，劾之，落職歸。 卒。
Vice Minister of Rites Xie Sheng asked Wang Yongguang for a provincial post. As head of the Ministry of Personnel, Yongguang was to recommend Sheng for Jizhen; Sheng feigned illness to avoid the appointment, yet showed no illness when later slated for the Court of Imperial Studs. Yujian impeached Sheng and Yongguang for collusion and demanded that both be punished. Summoned to audience in the Wenhua Hall, Yongguang fiercely denounced Yujian and demanded investigation of whoever had put him up to it. Grand Secretary Han Kuang said: "Investigating a censor is not proper procedure." The emperor refused, but later pardoned Yujian. One day the emperor presided in the Wenhua Hall and summoned Zhou Yanru alone for a long private audience; the matter was kept secret, and the whole court was uneasy. Yujian protested: "An audience should fill the hall, not isolate a single minister; imperial questions belong in formal court, not in private leisure. The night watches had long run down, yet the privy council gate still stood open. As a Han minister once said, "What concerns the public, speak in public; what is private—the ruler does not accept private words." When the memorial arrived, the emperor rebuked him sharply. Yujian had long offended the powerful, and their allies looked for a chance to drive him out. When Yuan Chonghuan was thrown into prison, chief clerk Lu Chengyuan impeached Yujian for having once praised Chonghuan in a memorial; Yujian was stripped of office and sent home. He died soon after.
37
黃宗昌
Huang Zongchang
38
黃宗昌，字長倩，即墨人。 天啟二年進士。 崇禎初，為御史，請斥矯旨偽官，言：「先帝賓天在八月二十三日。 三殿敘功止先一日，正當帝疾大漸之時，豈能安閑出詔？ 凡加銜進秩，皆魏氏官也。」 得旨：「汰敘功冒濫者。」 宗昌爭曰：「臣所糾乃矯旨，非冒濫也。 冒濫猶可容，矯偽不可貸。」 遂列上黃克纘、範濟世、霍維華、邵輔忠、呂純如等六十一人，乞罷免。 帝以列名多，不聽。 尋劾罷逆黨尚書張我續、侍郎呂圖南、通政使嶽駿聲、給事中潘士聞、御史王珙。 又劾周延儒貪穢數事，帝怒，停俸半年。 既而劾體仁，不納。
Huang Zongchang, whose courtesy name was Changqian, came from Jimo. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of the Tianqi reign. Early in the Chongzhen reign he became a censor and demanded removal of officials appointed under forged edicts, arguing: "The late emperor died on the twenty-third day of the eighth month. Merit rolls for the three halls were issued only the day before, when the emperor lay gravely ill—how could he calmly have promulgated an edict? Every added title and promotion was a Wei-clique appointment." The response was: "Purge those who falsely claimed merit in the reward rolls." Zongchang objected: "What I impeach is forged edicts, not mere padding of merit rolls. Inflated claims might be tolerated; outright forgery cannot be forgiven." He then submitted a list of sixty-one men including Huang Kezuan, Fan Jishi, Huo Weihua, Shao Fuzhong, and Lü Chunru, asking that they all be removed. The emperor refused, citing the length of the list. He soon impeached and ousted rebel-party officials: Minister Zhang Woxu, Vice Minister Lü Tunan, Communications Commissioner Yue Junsheng, Supervising Secretary Pan Shiwen, and Censor Wang Gong. He later impeached Zhou Yanru on multiple counts of corruption; the emperor was furious and suspended his salary for six months. He then impeached Wen Tiren, but the memorial was rejected.
39
二年冬，巡按湖廣。 岷王禋洪為校尉侍聖及善化王長子企鋀等所弒，參政龔承薦等不以實聞，獄不決者久之。 宗昌至，群奸始伏辜。 帝責問前諸臣失出罪，宗昌糾承薦等。 時體仁、延儒皆已入閣，而永光意忌，以為不先劾承薦也。 鐫宗昌四級，宗昌遂歸。
In the winter of the second year he was assigned as touring inspector of Huguang. Prince Chen Hong of Min was murdered by the bodyguard Shisheng and Qi Mao, eldest son of the Prince of Shanhua, among others; Vice Minister Gong Chengjian and others concealed the facts, and the case dragged on unresolved. When Zongchang arrived, the conspirators were finally brought to justice. The emperor blamed the earlier officials for failing to report the truth; Zongchang impeached Chengjian and his colleagues. By then Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru had both entered the Grand Secretariat, but Wang Yongguang resented Zongchang for not having impeached Chengjian first. Zongchang was demoted four ranks and returned home.
40
十五年，即墨被兵，宗昌率鄉人拒守，城全。 仲子基中流矢死，其妻周氏及三妾郭氏、二劉氏殉之，謂之「一門五烈」。
In the fifteenth year, when Jimo came under attack, Zongchang led local defense and the city held. His second son Ji died of an arrow wound; his wife Lady Zhou and three concubines—Lady Guo and two Ladies Liu—followed him in death, earning the epithet "five martyrs in one household."
41
韓一良
Han Yiliang
42
莊烈帝初在位，銳意圖治，數召見群臣論事。 然語不合，輒訶譴。 而王永光長吏部，尤樂沮之。 澄城人韓一良者，元年授戶科給事中，言：「陛下平臺召對，有『文官不愛錢』語，而今何處非用錢之地？ 何官非愛錢之人？ 向以錢進，安得不以錢償。 以官言之，則縣官為行賄之首，給事為納賄之尤。 今言者俱咎守令不廉，然守令亦安得廉？ 俸薪幾何，上司督取，過客有書儀，考滿、朝覲之費，無慮數千金。 此金非從天降，非從地出，而欲守令之廉，得乎？ 臣兩月來，辭卻書帕五百金，臣寡交猶然，余可推矣。 伏乞陛下大為懲創，逮治其尤者。」 帝大喜，召見廷臣，即令一良宣讀。 讀已，以疏遍視閣臣曰：「一良忠鯁，可僉都御史。」 永光請令指實。 一良唯唯，如不欲告訐人者，則令密奏。 五日不奏，而舉周應秋、閻鳴泰一二舊事為言，語頗侵永光。 帝乃再召見一良、永光及廷臣，手前疏循環頌，音瑯然，而曰「此金非從天降，非從地出」，則掩卷而嘆。 問一良：「五百金誰之饋也？」 一良卒無所指。 固問，則對如前。 帝欲一良指實，將有所懲創，一良卒以風聞謝，大不懌。 謂大學士劉鴻訓曰：「都御史可輕授耶！」 叱一良前後矛盾，褫其官。
Early in his reign the Chongzhen Emperor was determined to restore good government and often summoned ministers to debate policy. Yet whenever replies displeased him, he would rebuke and berate them on the spot. Wang Yongguang, as head of the Ministry of Personnel, was especially eager to thwart such exchanges. Han Yiliang of Chengcheng, appointed supervising secretary of the Household Section in the first year, said: "Your Majesty declared at court that civil officials should not love money—yet where today is money not spent? What office is not filled by men who love money? They bought their way in—how could they not pay their way out? By rank, the district magistrate leads in giving bribes, and the supervising secretary leads in taking them. Critics today blame prefects and magistrates for corruption—yet how can they stay honest? Their salaries are trifling, yet superiors demand levies, traveling guests bring customary gifts, and costs for term reviews and capital audiences run to thousands of taels. That money does not fall from heaven or rise from the earth—yet you expect magistrates to remain honest. Is that possible? In two months I have refused gift money totaling five hundred taels; with my few connections I still face this much—imagine the rest. I beg Your Majesty to punish corruption severely and prosecute the worst offenders." The emperor was delighted, summoned the court, and ordered Yiliang to read the memorial aloud. After the reading he showed the memorial to the Grand Secretaries, saying: "Yiliang is loyal and outspoken—appoint him Censor-in-Chief." Yongguang asked that he name names. Yiliang hedged, as if reluctant to accuse anyone, and was told to submit a secret memorial instead. Five days passed without a memorial; he finally cited old cases involving Zhou Yingqiu and Yan Mingtai, wording that edged toward an attack on Yongguang. The emperor summoned Yiliang, Yongguang, and the court again, took the memorial in hand, and recited it aloud in a ringing voice; at the line "this money does not fall from heaven or rise from the earth" he closed the scroll and sighed. He asked Yiliang: "Who gave you those five hundred taels?" Yiliang ultimately named no one. Pressed again and again, he gave the same evasive answer. The emperor wanted names so he could punish offenders; Yiliang finally pleaded that his charges rested on rumor, and the emperor was furious. He told Grand Secretary Liu Hongxun: "Can the post of Censor-in-Chief be handed out so lightly?" He denounced Yiliang's contradictions and stripped him of office.
43
吳執禦
Wu Zhiyu
44
吳執禦，字朗公，黃巖人。 天啟二年進士。 除濟南推官。 德州建魏忠賢祠，不赴。
Wu Zhiyu, whose courtesy name was Langgong, came from Huangyan. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of the Tianqi reign. He was named investigating magistrate of Jinan. When Dezhou erected a shrine to Wei Zhongxian, he refused to take part.
45
崇禎三年，征授刑科給事中。 明年請除掣簽法，使人地相配，議格不行。 請蠲畿輔加派，示四方停免之期，曉然知息肩有日，不至召亂。 請罷捐助搜括，毋為貪墨藏奸藪。 帝以沽名市德責之。
In the third year of Chongzhen he was called to the capital and made supervising secretary of the Punishments Section. The following year he asked to abolish the lottery system for appointments so that officials might be matched to suitable posts; the proposal was blocked. He asked to remit surtaxes in the capital region and announce to the provinces a firm date when extra levies would end, so people would know relief was coming and rebellion might be averted. He urged an end to donation drives and exactions, lest they become havens where the corrupt hide their crimes. The emperor accused him of currying favor and trading on moral posturing.
46
劾吏部尚書王永光比匪：「用王元雅而封疆誤，聽張道浚賄舉尹同臯而祖制紊。 國家立法懲貪，而永光誨貪，官邪何日正，寵賂何日清。」 帝以永光清慎，不納其言。 請召黃克纘、劉宗周、鄭鄤，忤旨譙讓。 又言：「往者邊警，袁崇煥、王元雅擁金錢數百萬，士馬數十萬，狼狽失守，而史應聘、王象雲、張星、左應選以一邑抗強敵。 故曰籌邊不在增兵餉，而在擇人。 請畿輔東北及秦、晉沿邊州縣，選授精敏甲科，賜璽書，畀本地租賦，撫練軍民自禦寇。 邊關文武吏繕修戰守外，責以理財，如先臣王翺、葉盛輩所為。 客兵可撤，餉省可數百萬。」 帝時未審執禦所論畿輔、秦、晉也，而曰：「歲賦留本地，則國用何資？」 不聽。
He impeached Minister Wang Yongguang as no better than a bandit: "You appointed Wang Yuanya and the frontier suffered; you allowed Zhang Daojun to bribe his way into recommending Yin Tonggao and ancestral rules were overturned. The state makes laws against corruption, yet Yongguang teaches corruption—when will official vice end and patronage be cleansed?" The emperor rejected the memorial, deeming Yongguang scrupulous and prudent. He asked that Huang Kezuan, Liu Zongzhou, and Zheng Man be summoned to court; for defying the throne he was rebuked. He also argued: "When the frontier was threatened, Yuan Chonghuan and Wang Yuanya commanded millions in funds and tens of thousands of troops yet lost their posts in disgrace, while Shi Yingpin, Wang Xiangyun, Zhang Xing, and Zuo Yingxuan held a single county against a powerful foe. Hence the saying: frontier defense depends not on more troops and funds, but on choosing the right men. He proposed that in the northeast of the capital region and along the Qin and Jin frontiers, outstanding jinshi graduates be appointed with imperial sealed commissions, entrusted with local tax revenues, and empowered to train troops and civilians for self-defense against raiders. Besides fortifying defenses, frontier officials should also be charged with fiscal management, as Wang Hao, Ye Sheng, and other predecessors had done. Mercenary garrisons could be withdrawn, saving millions in military pay." The emperor had not yet understood that Zhiyu's plan covered the capital region and the Qin and Jin frontiers, and replied: "If annual taxes stay in the locality, how will the state treasury be funded?" The proposal was rejected.
47
又劾首輔周延儒攬權，其姻親陳於泰及幕客李元功等交關為奸利。 初，執禦行取入都，延儒遣元功招之，不赴，至是竟劾延儒。 又陳內外陰陽之說：「九邊、中原、廟堂之上，無非陰氣； 心膂大臣，不皆君子。」 帝以所稱「陽剛君子」無主名，令指實。 執禦乃以前所薦劉宗周三人，及姜曰廣、文震孟、陳仁錫、黃道周、倪元璐、曹於汴、惠世揚、羅喻義、易應昌對。 會御史吳彥芳言：「執禦所舉固真君子，他若侍郎李瑾、李邦華、畢懋康、倪思輝、程紹皆忠良當用，通政使章光嶽邪媚當斥。」 帝怒其朋比，執政復從中構之，遂削二人籍，下法司訊。 時御史王績燦方以薦李邦華、劉宗周等下獄，而執禦、彥芳復繼之，舉朝震駭。 言官為申救，卒坐三人贖徒三年。
He further impeached Chief Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru for hoarding power, accusing his kinsman Chen Yutai and retainers such as Li Yuangong of corrupt dealings. Earlier, when Zhiyu came to the capital on metropolitan assignment, Yanru had sent Yuangong to recruit him; Zhiyu refused, and now at last denounced Yanru. He also advanced a theory of inner and outer imbalance: "On the nine frontiers, in the heartland, and at court—yin forces prevail everywhere; among the emperor's closest ministers, not all are true gentlemen." Because Zhiyu's "upright yang ministers" were unnamed, the emperor ordered him to name names. Zhiyu named Liu Zongzhou and two others he had recommended earlier, plus Jiang Yueguang, Wen Zhenmeng, Chen Renxi, Huang Daozhou, Ni Yuanlu, Cao Yubian, Hui Shiyang, Luo Yuyi, and Yi Yingchang. Censor Wu Yanfang added: "Zhiyu's nominees are indeed worthy men; but Vice Ministers Li Jin, Li Banghua, Bi Maokang, Ni Sihui, and Cheng Shao are also loyal and should serve, while Communications Commissioner Zhang Guangyue is sycophantic and ought to be removed." The emperor raged at their collusion; the chief ministers engineered the case from within, and both men were struck from the rolls and handed to the judiciary. Censor Wang Jican was already in prison for recommending Li Banghua and Liu Zongzhou; when Zhiyu and Yanfang followed, the court was stunned. Censors pleaded for mercy; in the end all three received three years' penal servitude, commutable by ransom.
48
吳彥芳、王績燦
Wu Yanfang and Wang Jican
49
彥芳，字延祖，歙縣人，為御史。 大淩被圍，疏論孫承宗。 又駁逆案呂純如辨冤之謬。 登州用兵，請設監島中官。 至是譴歸。
Yanfang, whose courtesy name was Yanzu, came from She County and served as a censor. When Daling came under siege, he memorialized on Sun Chengzong's conduct. He also rebutted Lü Chunru's attempt to clear his name in the treason case. During the Dengzhou campaign he asked that a supervising eunuch be posted to the island. He was now dismissed and sent home.
50
績燦，宇偉奏，安福人。 與給事中鄧英陳奸吏私派之弊，又進賜環、起廢、容諫三說。 薦張鳳翔、李邦華、劉宗周、惠世揚，遂獲罪卒。 福王時，復官。
Jican, whose courtesy name was Weizou, came from Anfu. With Supervising Secretary Deng Ying he exposed corrupt officials' private exactions, and proposed three reforms: restoring honors to the disgraced, recalling the dismissed, and tolerating frank counsel. He recommended Zhang Fengxiang, Li Banghua, Liu Zongzhou, and Hui Shiyang, was punished for it, and died. Under the Prince of Fu his post was restored.
51
彥芳、績燦兩人者，皆以天啟五年舉進士。 彥芳授莆田知縣，績燦授興化知縣，又皆以治行高等擢崇禎四年御史，並有聲。 其免官也，又皆以薦才不中，與吳執禦同論譴雲。
Both Yanfang and Jican received their jinshi degrees in the fifth year of Tianqi. Yanfang became magistrate of Putian and Jican of Xinghua; both were later promoted to censor in the fourth year of Chongzhen for distinguished governance and won renown. They lost office for the same reason as Wu Zhiyu—recommending talent the throne would not accept—and shared his fate of dismissal.
52
章正宸
Zhang Zhenchen
53
章正宸，字羽侯，會稽人。 從學同里劉宗周，有學行。 崇禎四年進士。 由庶吉士改禮科給事中。 勸帝法周、孔，黜管、商，崇仁義，賤富強。
Zhang Zhenchen, whose courtesy name was Yuhou, came from Kuaiji. He studied under his fellow townsman Liu Zongzhou and was known for learning and integrity. He received his jinshi degree in the fourth year of Chongzhen. After serving as a Hanlin bachelor he was transferred to supervising secretary of the Rites Section. He urged the emperor to follow the Zhou and Confucius, reject Legalist doctrines, exalt benevolence and righteousness, and scorn mere wealth and force.
54
禮部侍郎王應熊者，溫體仁私人也，廷推閣臣，望輕不得與。 體仁引為助，為營入閣。 正宸上言：「應熊強愎自張，何緣特簡。 事因多擾，變以刻成，綜核傷察，宜存渾厚。 奈何使很傲之人，與贊平明之治哉？」 帝大怒，下獄拷訊，竟削籍歸。
Vice Minister of Rites Wang Yingxiong was Wen Tiren's protégé; in the regular Grand Secretariat recommendation his standing was too low to be included. Tiren enlisted him as an ally and maneuvered him into the Grand Secretariat. Zhenchen memorialized: "Yingxiong is stubborn and overbearing—why should he receive a special appointment? Too many disturbances breed harsh remedies; excessive scrutiny wounds governance—what is needed is magnanimity. How can a proud, truculent man help sustain enlightened rule?" The emperor was furious, had him imprisoned and tortured, and finally struck him from the rolls and sent him home.
55
九年冬，召為戶科給事中，遷吏科都給事中。 周延儒再相，帝尊禮之特重。 正宸出其門，與搘拄。 歲旦朝會，帝隆師傅禮，進延儒等而揖之曰：「朕以天下聽先生。」 正宸曰：「陛下隆禮閣臣，願閣臣積誠以格君心。 毋緣中官，毋修恩怨，毋以寵利居成功，毋以爵祿私親昵。」 語皆風刺延儒。 延儒欲用宣府巡撫江禹緒為宣大總督，正宸持不可，吏部希延儒指，用之。 延儒欲起江陵知縣史調元，正宸止之。 延儒以罪輔馮銓力得再召，欲假守涿功復銓冠帶，正宸爭之，事遂寢。 其不肯阿徇如此。 未幾，會推閣臣，救李日宣，謫戍均州。 語在《日宣傳》。
In the winter of the ninth year he was recalled as supervising secretary of the Household Section and promoted to chief supervising secretary of the Personnel Section. When Zhou Yanru returned as chief minister, the emperor honored him with exceptional deference. Zhenchen was his protégé and supported him in turn. At the New Year audience the emperor treated Yanru with the ceremony due a teacher, advanced to greet him, and said: "I leave the empire in your hands, sir." Zhenchen replied: "Your Majesty honors the Grand Secretaries; may they repay that honor with sincere devotion to move your heart. Do not court eunuchs, nurse private vendettas, treat patronage as achievement, or distribute offices to cronies." Every line was a barbed rebuke of Yanru. Yanru wanted to make Xuanfu grand coordinator Jiang Yuxu supreme commander of Xuan-Da; Zhenchen objected, but the Ministry of Personnel, eager to please Yanru, appointed Jiang anyway. Yanru sought to recall Jiangling magistrate Shi Tiaoyuan; Zhenchen blocked it. Yanru, indebted to disgraced Grand Secretary Feng Quan for helping secure his return to power, tried to use the defense of Zhuo to restore Quan's rank; Zhenchen fought the move and it was dropped. Such was his refusal to curry favor. Soon afterward, during a Grand Secretariat recommendation, he spoke up for Li Rixuan and was banished to military service at Junzhou. The story is told in the Biography of Li Rixuan.
56
福王立，召復正宸故官。 正宸痛舉朝無討賊心，上疏曰：「比者河北、山左各結營寨，擒殺偽官，為朝廷效死力。 忠義所激，四方響應。 宜亟檄江北四鎮，分渡河、淮，聯絡諸路，一心齊力，互為聲援。 兩京血脈通，而後塞井陘，絕孟津，據武關以攻隴右。 陛下縞素，親率六師，駐蹕淮上，聲靈震動，人切同仇，勇氣將自倍。 簡車徒，選將帥，繕城塹，進寸則寸，進尺則尺，據險處要，以規中原。 天下大矣，渠無人應運而出哉？」 魏國公徐弘基薦逆案張捷，部議並起用鄒之麟、張孫振、劉光鬥，安遠侯柳祚昌等薦起阮大鋮，正宸並疏諫，不納。 改大理丞，正宸請假歸。 魯王監國，署舊官。 事敗，棄家為僧。
When the Prince of Fu took the throne, Zhenchen was recalled to his former post. Anguished that the court showed no zeal to punish the rebels, Zhenchen memorialized: "Recently in Hebei and Shandong loyalists have raised camps, killed puppet officials, and fought to the death for the dynasty. Righteous fervor is stirring echoes across the empire. Urge the four northern commands to cross the Yellow and Huai in concert, link all loyal routes, and act as one with mutual support. Once the two capitals are reconnected, seal Jingxing, cut Mengjin, and hold Wuguan to strike into Longyou. Your Majesty should don mourning garb, lead the six armies in person, and halt on the Huai—your presence would shake the realm, unite every heart in vengeance, and redouble courage. Choose troops and commanders, repair walls and moats, advance inch by inch and foot by foot, hold strategic passes, and plan the reconquest of the central plains. The empire is vast—surely men will rise to meet the moment!" Duke Xu Hongji recommended Zhang Jie of the traitor roll; the ministry moved to restore Zou Zhilin, Zhang Sunzhen, and Liu Guangdou; Marquis Liu Zuochang urged recalling Ruan Dacheng—Zhenchen protested all these appointments, but in vain. After transfer to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review, Zhenchen took leave and went home. When the Prince of Lu became regent, Zhenchen resumed his former title. When the cause collapsed, he abandoned his family and took monastic vows.
57
黃紹傑
Huang Shaojie
58
黃紹傑，萬安人。 天啟五年進士。 授中書舍人。
Huang Shaojie came from Wan'an. He received his jinshi degree in the fifth year of Tianqi. He was appointed a secretarial draftsman.
59
七年五月，因旱求言。 紹傑疏論大學士溫體仁曰：「漢世災異，策免三公，宰執亦引罪以求罷。 今者久旱，陛下修明政治，納讜言，可謂應天以實矣，而雨澤不降，何哉？ 天有所甚怒而不解也。 次輔溫體仁者，秉政數載，上幹天和，無歲不旱暵，無日不風霾，無處不盜賊，無人不愁怨。 秉政既久，窺間益工，中外趨承益巧。 一人當用，則曰：『體仁意未遽爾也。』 一事當行，則曰：『體仁聞恐不樂也。』 覆一疏，建一議，又曰：『慮體仁有他屬。』 不然，則：『體仁忌諱，毋攖其兇鋒也。』 凡此召變之尤。 願陛下罷體仁以回天意。 體仁罷而甘霖不降，殺臣以正欺君之罪。」 帝方眷體仁，貶紹傑一秩。 體仁辨，且訐其別有指授。 紹傑言：「廷臣言事，指及乘輿，猶荷優容，一字涉體仁，必遭貶黜。 誰不自愛，為人指授耶？」 因列其罪狀：東南不肯設立總督，庇兵部侍郎彭汝楠，致失機宜； 用貪穢胡鐘麟為職方郎，而黜李繼貞； 囑尚書閔洪學起私人唐世濟為南京總憲，錮正人瞿式耜等； 庇姻婭沈棨為宣撫，私款辱國； 庇主考丁進，從寬磨勘。 且曰：「臣所仰祝聖明，洞燭體仁奸欺者，其說則有兩端。 下惟朋黨一語，可以箝言官之口，挑善類之禍； 上惟票擬一語，可以激聖明之怒，蓋僨誤之愆。」 體仁猶辨，且以朋黨為言。 紹傑遂言：「體仁受銅商王誠金，體仁長子受巡撫棨及兩淮巡鹽高欽順等金，皆萬計。 體仁用門幹王治，東南之利皆其轉輸。 體仁私邸兩被盜，失黃金寶玉無算，匿不敢言。」 帝怒，調為上林苑署丞，遷行人司副。 八年，賊犯皇陵，紹傑再劾體仁誤國召寇，再謫應天府檢校。 屢遷南京吏部郎中，卒。
In the fifth month of the seventh year, drought prompted the emperor to invite criticism. Shaojie memorialized against Grand Secretary Wen Tiren: "When Han China suffered omens, the three dukes were dismissed by edict and chief ministers confessed fault to offer their resignations. Today drought persists though Your Majesty has reformed government and welcomed counsel—you have answered Heaven in deed—yet rain still withholds its grace. Why? Heaven harbors a wrath that will not be appeased. Vice Grand Secretary Wen Tiren has ruled for years, offending Heaven itself: drought every year, dust storms every day, bandits everywhere, misery in every household. Long in power, he has grown adept at exploiting openings; court and country compete in sycophantic ingenuity. When a man deserves appointment, officials say: "Tiren is not ready for that yet." When a policy should proceed, they say: "Tiren would be displeased to hear of it." On every memorial or proposal they add: "We fear Tiren favors someone else. Or else: "Tiren is touchy—do not provoke his wrath. These are the greatest causes of Heaven's anger. Dismiss Tiren, I beg, to restore Heaven's favor. If you remove Tiren and rain still withholds, execute me for deceiving the throne." The emperor, still devoted to Tiren, demoted Shaojie one rank. Tiren defended himself and accused Shaojie of acting on others' orders. Shaojie replied: "Ministers who criticize the throne itself may still be tolerated, yet one word against Tiren brings demotion. Who would risk his career merely to carry out someone else's orders?" He then enumerated Tiren's crimes: refusing a southeastern supreme commander, shielding Vice Minister Peng Runan, and losing strategic opportunities; appointing the corrupt Hu Zhonglin to the Bureau of Appointments while ousting Li Jizhen; ordering Minister Min Hongxue to install his protégé Tang Shiji as Nanjing censor-in-chief while imprisoning upright men such as Qu Shisi; protecting his kinsman Shen Qi as pacification commissioner despite private dealings that shamed the nation; and shielding chief examiner Ding Jin from full investigation. He added: "I pray Your Majesty sees through Tiren's deceit by two familiar tactics. Downward, the charge of faction silences censors and brings disaster on the worthy; upward, the charge of mishandling rescripts provokes Your Majesty's wrath and conceals his own blunders." Tiren defended himself again, again invoking factionalism. Shaojie then charged that Tiren took gold from the copper merchant Wang Cheng; that Tiren's eldest son took gold from Grand Coordinator Qi and Huai salt supervisors Gao Qinshun and others, each in sums of ten thousand. Tiren used his gate steward Wang Zhi to channel southeastern profits. Tiren's private residence was robbed twice of untold gold and jewels, which he concealed and dared not report." The emperor, furious, demoted him to assistant director of the Imperial Park, then transferred him to vice director of the Messenger Office. In the eighth year, after rebels raided the imperial tombs, Shaojie again accused Tiren of misleading the state and inviting invasion, and was demoted again to inspector of Yingtian Prefecture. He was eventually promoted to director in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, where he died.
60
李世祺
Li Shiqi
61
先是，七年正月，給事中李世祺論溫體仁及大學士吳宗達，並劾兵部尚書張鳳翼溺職狀。 帝怒，謫福建按察司檢校。
Earlier, in the first month of the seventh year, Supervising Secretary Li Shiqi attacked Wen Tiren and Grand Secretary Wu Zongda and impeached Minister of War Zhang Fengyi for neglect of duty. The emperor was furious and demoted him to inspector of the Fujian surveillance commission.
62
世祺，字壽生，青浦人。 天啟二年進士，授行人。
Shiqi, whose courtesy name was Shousheng, came from Qingpu. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of Tianqi and was appointed a court messenger.
63
崇禎三年，擢刑科給事中，陳大計之當定者二：曰兵食之計，民生之計； 大弊之當厘者三：曰六曹之弊在吏胥，邊吏之弊在欺隱，貪墨之弊在奢靡。 夏旱，禱雨未應，乃進修政之說三：曰恤畿甸，議催科，預儲備。 帝並納之。 中官出鎮，世祺上言：「祖宗立法，錢谷兵馬，軍民各分事權，防專擅。 內閣入奉天顏，出司兵食，內廷意旨既得而陰伺之，外廷事權又得而顯操之。 魏忠賢盜弄神器，則賴聖天子躬翦除之，而奈何復躬自蹈之。」 不聽。
In the third year of Chongzhen he was promoted to supervising secretary of the Punishments Section and proposed two fundamental plans: military supply and the people's livelihood; and three abuses requiring reform: clerical corruption in the six ministries, deception among frontier officials, and extravagance among the greedy. During a summer drought, when rain prayers failed, he proposed three reforms: relief for the capital region, reconsideration of tax collection, and advance provisioning. The emperor accepted all three. When eunuchs were sent to command frontier garrisons, Shiqi memorialized: "Ancestral law divided fiscal, military, and civil authority to prevent monopoly. The Grand Secretariat attends the throne and controls troops and supplies—inner intentions are enforced in secret while outer authority is wielded openly. Wei Zhongxian usurped imperial power until the sage emperor destroyed him—why walk that path again?" The memorial was rejected.
64
五年八月，淫雨損山陵，昌平地動。 世祺上言：「日者輔理調燮無聞，精神為固寵之用； 統軍衡才無術，緩急無可恃之人。 中樞決策，掩耳盜鈴； 主計持籌，醫瘡剜肉。 州縣迫功令，鞭策不前； 六曹窘簿書，救過不贍。 簪筆執簡之臣，接跡囹圄； 考槃絪軸之士，抗聲鴻舉。 一人議，疑及眾人； 一事訾，疑及眾事。 黃衣之使，頡頏卿貳之堂； 貂蟬之座，雄踞節鉞之上。 低眉則氣折，強項則釁開。 各邊監視之遣，已將期月，初雖間有摘發，至竟同歸模棱，效不效可概見。 伏願撤回各使，以明陰不幹陽之分。 然後采公論以進退大臣，酌事情以衡量小臣，釋疑忌之根，開功名之路，庶天變可回，時艱可濟。」 帝以借端瀆奏，切責之。
In the eighth month of the fifth year, torrential rains damaged the imperial tombs and Changping was shaken by earthquake. Shiqi memorialized: "The chief ministers offer no harmonizing governance; their energies go only to securing favor; they cannot command armies or judge talent, and no one can be trusted in crisis. Central policy-making is self-deception; the finance ministry treats sores by cutting flesh. Local officials, crushed by performance quotas, cannot keep pace; the six ministries are buried in paperwork and can only patch errors. Memorialists march one after another into prison; while reclusive scholars raise voices in protest. One man speaks, and suspicion falls on all; one fault alleged, and every affair is suspect. Eunuch envoys strut equal to vice ministers; courtiers in finery lord it over field commanders. Bow and spirit is crushed; stand firm and conflict erupts. Frontier supervisors have been in place nearly a month; initial exposures faded into equivocation—results are plain to see. Recall all these envoys, I beg, to restore the boundary between inner and outer power. Then heed public opinion in appointing ministers, judge lesser officials by their deeds, end suspicion, and reopen the path to merit—only then may omens relent and the crisis be overcome." The emperor accused him of using omens as a pretext for insolence and rebuked him sharply.
65
給事中陳贊化劾周延儒，謂：「延儒嘗語人曰：今上，羲皇上人也。 此成何語？ 臣聞之世祺。」 帝詰世祺，則言聞之贊化。 帝詰責者再三，世祺執如初，乃已。 至是論體仁絕世之奸，大貪之尤，遂貶官。 久之，起行人司副，屢遷太仆寺卿。 遣祭魯王，事竣旋裏。 國變，杜門不出，久之卒。
Supervising Secretary Chen Zanhua impeached Zhou Yanru, quoting him as saying: "The present sovereign is a sage of Fuxi's age. What manner of speech is this? I heard this from Shiqi." The emperor questioned Shiqi, who said he had heard it from Zanhua. The emperor pressed them repeatedly; Shiqi held firm, and the matter was dropped. When he later denounced Tiren as the age's greatest traitor and greediest minister, Shiqi was demoted. He was later restored as vice director of the Messenger Office and rose to director of the Court of Imperial Studs. After conducting sacrifices for the Prince of Lu, he returned home. When the dynasty collapsed, he secluded himself at home until his death.
66
傅朝佑
Fu Chaoyou
67
傅朝佑，字右君，臨川人。 有孝行。 萬歷中舉鄉試第一，師事鄒元標。 天啟二年成進士，授中書舍人。
Fu Chaoyou, whose courtesy name was Youjun, came from Linchuan. He was known for filial piety. In the Wanli reign he topped the provincial examinations and studied under Zou Yuanbiao. He became a jinshi in the second year of Tianqi and was appointed a secretarial draftsman.
68
崇禎三年，考選給事中。 永平初復，列上善後七事。 帝采納之，補授兵科。 明年八月，疏劾首輔周延儒：「以機械變詐之心，運刑名督責之術。 見佞則加之膝，結袁弘勛、張道浚為腹心； 遇賢則墜之淵，擯錢象坤、劉宗周於草莽。 傾陷正士，加之極刑，曰『上意不測也』； 攘竊明旨，播諸朝右，曰『吾意固然也』。 皇上因旱求言，則恐其揚己過，故削言官以立威； 皇上慎密兵機，則欲其箝人口，故挫直臣以怵眾。 往時糾其罪惡者盡遭斥逐，而親知鄉曲遍列要津。 大臣之道固如是乎？」 忤旨切責。
In the third year of Chongzhen he passed the selection examination and became a supervising secretary. When Yongping was recovered, he submitted seven proposals for consolidating the victory. The emperor accepted them and appointed him to the Military Section. The next August he impeached Chief Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru: "With a devious, calculating heart he wields penal law and harsh supervision. He elevates flatterers like Yuan Hongxun and Zhang Daojun as his inner circle; and drives the worthy such as Qian Xiangkun and Liu Zongzhou into exile. He destroys upright men with extreme penalties, claiming "the sovereign's intent is unfathomable"; he steals imperial directives and spreads them through court, saying, "This is what I intended." When Your Majesty sought counsel during drought, he feared exposure and silenced censors to assert his power; when Your Majesty guarded military secrets, he crushed outspoken ministers to intimidate the court. Those who denounced him were expelled while his kin and cronies filled every key post. Is this the conduct of a great minister? The emperor rebuked him sharply for defying the throne.
69
屢遷工科左給事中，陳當務十二事：一納諫，二恤民，三擇相，四勿以內批用輔臣，五勿使中官司彈劾，六勿令法外加濫刑，七止緹騎，八停內操，九抑武臣驕玩，十廣起廢，十一敕有司修城積粟，十二講聖諭六條。 出封益藩，事竣還裏。
Promoted to left supervising secretary of the Works Section, he proposed twelve urgent reforms: heed remonstrance, cherish the people, choose a chief minister, cease inner appointments of Grand Secretaries, keep eunuchs from impeaching officials, forbid illegal punishments, abolish the Embroidered Uniform Guard, halt palace drilling, restrain arrogant generals, recall the dismissed, order wall repairs and grain storage, and expound the six articles of imperial instruction. After an ennoblement mission to the Prince of Yi, he returned home.
70
九年，即家進刑科都給事中。 還朝愆期，為給事中陳啟新所劾，貶秩調外。 未行，疏論溫體仁六大罪。 略言：
In the ninth year he was promoted from home to chief supervising secretary of the Punishments Section. He returned late to court and was impeached by Supervising Secretary Chen Qixin, demoted, and transferred to an outer post. Before leaving, he memorialized on Wen Tiren's six great crimes. In summary:
71
陛下當邊警時，特簡體仁入閣。 體仁乃不以道事君，而務刑名。 窺陛下意在振作，彼則借以快恩仇； 窺陛下治尚精明，彼則托以張威福。 此謂得罪於天子。 鳳陽、昌平鐘靈之地，體仁曾無未雨綢繆，兩地失守，陵寢震驚。 此謂得罪於祖宗。 燮理職在三公，體仁為相，日月交蝕，星辰失行，風霾叠見，四方告災，歲比不登，地震河決，城陷井枯，曾莫之懲，則日尋恩怨，圖報睚眥。 此謂得罪於天地。 強敵內逼，大盜四起，高麗旦暮且陷。 體仁冒賞冒蔭，中外解體因之。 此謂得罪於封疆。 體仁子見屏於復社諸生，募人糾彈，株連不已。 且七年又議裁減茂才，國家三百年取士之經，一旦壞於體仁之手。 此謂得罪於聖賢。 同生天地，誰無本心，體仁自有肺腸，偏欲殘害忠良。 只今文武臣僚，幾數百人，駢首囹圄，天良盡喪。 此謂得罪於心性。
Your Majesty specially chose Tiren for the Grand Secretariat when the frontier was threatened. Yet Tiren did not serve by moral principle but by penal law. Seeing Your Majesty eager for revival, he exploited it to settle private scores; seeing Your Majesty demand sharp governance, he used it to expand his power. This offends the Son of Heaven. Fengyang and Changping guard the imperial tombs; Tiren made no provision, both fell, and the mausoleums were desecrated. This offends the ancestors. Harmonizing the realm is the chancellor's duty; yet under Tiren came eclipses, errant stars, dust storms, famine, earthquakes, broken rivers, fallen cities, and dry wells—he punished none of it but nursed petty vendettas. This offends Heaven and Earth. Strong enemies press inward, rebels rise everywhere, and Korea will fall any day. Tiren hoarded rewards and hereditary privileges until court and country lost cohesion. This offends the frontiers. Tiren's son was ostracized by Fushe scholars; Tiren launched endless impeachments in revenge. In the seventh year he sought to cut examination quotas, destroying three centuries of civil-service tradition. This offends the sages. All men share a conscience, yet Tiren's heart seeks only to destroy the loyal. Hundreds of civil and military officials now fill the prisons, their conscience destroyed. This offends human nature itself.
72
夫人主之辨奸在明，而人主之去奸在斷。 伏願陛下大施明斷，速去體仁。 毋以天變為不足畏，毋以人言為不足恤，毋以群小之逢迎為必可任，毋以一己之清明為必可恃。 大赦天下，除苛政，庶倒懸可解，太平可致。
A ruler discerns treachery through clarity and removes it through decisiveness. I beg Your Majesty to act with clarity and decisiveness and remove Tiren at once. Do not dismiss omens, ignore counsel, trust flatterers, or rely on your own judgment alone. Proclaim a general amnesty and end harsh rule, and the people's suffering may end in peace.
73
帝怒，除名，下吏按治。 逾月，體仁亦罷。
The emperor struck his name from the rolls and handed him to the judiciary. A month later Tiren was dismissed as well.
74
中官杜勛雅重朝佑，令其上疏請罪，而己從中主之，可復故官，朝佑不應。 十一年冬，國事益棘，獲罪者益眾，獄幾滿。 朝佑乃從獄中上書，請寬恤，語過激。 會有邊警，未報也。 明年春，責以顛倒賢奸，恣意訕侮，廷杖六十，創重而卒。
Eunuch Du Xun, who admired Chaoyou, urged him to plead guilty so Du could restore him from within; Chaoyou refused. By the winter of the eleventh year affairs were desperate, prisoners multiplied, and the jails were nearly full. Chaoyou submitted from prison a plea for leniency, his language excessively harsh. Frontier alarm intervened before a response came. The next spring he was accused of reversing worthy and wicked and insulting the throne; after sixty blows at court he died of his wounds.
75
當時臺省競言事，言不中多獲譴。 章正宸、莊鰲獻、李汝璨之徒好直諫，朝佑嘗疏稱之。
Censors then competed in memorializing; many who missed the mark were punished. Zhang Zhenchen, Zhuang Aoxian, and Li Rucan were known for blunt counsel; Chaoyou once praised them in a memorial.
76
莊鰲獻、李汝璨
Zhuang Aoxian and Li Rucan
77
鰲獻，字任公，晉江人。 崇禎六年，由庶吉士改兵科給事中，上《太平十二策》，極論東廠之害。 忤旨，貶浙江布政司照磨。
Aoxian, whose courtesy name was Rengong, came from Jinjiang. In the sixth year of Chongzhen he moved from Hanlin bachelor to supervising secretary of the Military Section and submitted the Twelve Policies for Great Peace, fiercely attacking the Eastern Depot. For defying the throne he was demoted to assistant registrar in Zhejiang.
78
汝璨，字用章，南昌人。 崇禎時為刑科給事中。 十年閏月因旱求言，陳回天四要，論財用政事之弊。 又言：「八、九年來，幹和召災，始於端揆，積於四海。 水旱盜賊，頻見疊出，勢將未已，何怪其然。」 帝怒，削籍歸。 國變，衰绖北面哀號，作《祈死文》祈死，竟死。
Rucan, whose courtesy name was Yongzhang, came from Nanchang. Under Chongzhen he served as supervising secretary of the Punishments Section. In the tenth year's intercalary month, when drought prompted calls for counsel, he proposed four essentials for restoring Heaven's favor and attacked fiscal and administrative abuses. He argued: "For eight or nine years, disharmony at the top has summoned disaster, beginning with the chief ministers and spreading across the realm. Floods, droughts, and rebels recur without end; the crisis will only deepen—why be surprised?" The emperor struck him from the rolls and sent him home. When the dynasty fell, he donned mourning, faced north, and wailed; he wrote a Prayer for Death and starved himself to death.
79
汝璨、朝佑既死，福王時，復官。 鰲獻事福王，復官，久之卒。
After Rucan and Chaoyou died, their offices were restored under the Prince of Fu. Aoxian served the Prince of Fu, was restored to office, and died some years later.
80
姜埰，字如農，萊陽人。 崇禎四年進士。 授密雲知縣，調儀真，遷禮部主事。 十五年，擢禮科給事中。
Jiang Cai, whose courtesy name was Runong, came from Laiyang. He received his jinshi degree in the fourth year of Chongzhen. He served as magistrate of Miyun, was transferred to Yizhen, and rose to chief clerk in the Ministry of Rites. In the fifteenth year he was promoted to supervising secretary of the Rites Section.
81
山陽武舉陳啟新者，崇禎九年詣闕上書，言：「天下三大病。 士子作文，高談孝悌仁義，及服官，恣行奸慝。 此科目之病也。 國初典史授都御史，貢士授布政，秀才授尚書，嘉靖時猶三途並用，今惟一途。 舉貢不得至顯官，一舉進士，橫行放誕。 此資格之病也。 舊制，給事、御史，教官得為之，其後途稍隘，而舉人、推官、知縣猶與其列，今惟以進士選。 彼受任時，先以給事、御史自待，監司、郡守承奉不暇，剝下虐民，恣其所為。 此行取考選之病也。 請停科目以絀虛文，舉孝廉以崇實行，罷行取考選以除積橫之習，蠲災傷田賦以蘇民困，專拜大將以節制有司便宜行事。」 捧疏跪正陽門三日，中官取以進。 帝大喜，立擢吏科給事中，歷兵科左給事中。 劉宗周、詹爾選等先後論之。 歙人楊光先訐其出身賤役，及徇私納賄狀。 帝悉不究。 然啟新在事所條奏，率無關大計。 御史王聚奎劾其溺職，帝怒，謫聚奎。 以僉都御史李先春議聚奎罰輕，並奪其職。 久之，御史倫之楷劾其請托受賕，還鄉驕橫，始詔行勘。 未上而啟新遭母憂，埰因劾其不忠不孝，大奸大詐。 遂削啟新籍，下撫按追贓擬罪。 啟新竟逃去，不知所之。 國變後，為僧以卒。
Chen Qixin of Shanyang, a military licentiate, reached the capital in the ninth year of Chongzhen and memorialized: "The empire suffers three great diseases. Scholars preach filial piety and righteousness in their essays, yet in office practice wickedness freely. This is the disease of the civil examinations. Early in the dynasty, record clerks became censors-in-chief and tribute scholars became provincial administrators; even in Jiajing three paths to office coexisted—now only the jinshi path remains. Tribute scholars cannot reach high office, while jinshi graduates swagger without restraint. This is the disease of rank and qualification. Formerly censors and supervising secretaries could be drawn from instructors and local officials; now only jinshi are chosen. New appointees already act like future censors; prefects and magistrates fawn on them while they abuse the people at will. This is the disease of metropolitan selection and court appointment. He urged ending the examinations, promoting filial men of integrity, abolishing metropolitan selection, remitting disaster taxes, and empowering great generals with discretionary authority." He knelt at the Zhengyang Gate for three days until eunuchs carried his memorial to the throne. The delighted emperor made him supervising secretary of the Personnel Section and later left supervising secretary of the Military Section. Liu Zongzhou, Zhan Erxuan, and others criticized him in turn. Yang Guangxian of She impeached his menial origins and taking of bribes. The emperor investigated none of these charges. Yet Qixin's proposals were generally trivial. Censor Wang Jukui impeached him for neglect of duty; the emperor demoted Jukui instead. Because Censor-in-Chief Li Xianchun deemed Jukui's punishment too light, Li lost his post as well. Eventually Censor Lun Zhikai charged him with patronage and bribery and arrogance at home; only then was an investigation ordered. Before the report arrived Qixin entered mourning for his mother; Cai impeached him as disloyal, unfilial, and utterly treacherous. Qixin was struck from the rolls and the provincial authorities ordered to recover bribes and fix punishment. Qixin fled and was never found. After the fall of the dynasty he became a monk and died.
82
時帝以寇氛未息，民罹鋒鏑，建齋南城。 埰上疏諫，不報。 已，陳蕩寇二策，曰明農業，收勇敢。 帝善其言。
Because rebels still threatened the realm and the people suffered war, the emperor ordered fasting rites in the southern city. Cai remonstrated; the memorial went unanswered. He then proposed two strategies against bandits: strengthen agriculture and recruit the brave. The emperor approved.
83
初，溫體仁及薛國觀排異己及建言者。 周延儒再相，盡反所為，廣引清流，言路亦蜂起論事。 忌者乃造二十四氣之說，以指朝士二十四人，直達御前。 帝適下詔戒諭百官，責言路尤至。 埰疑帝已入其說，乃上言：「陛下視言官重，故責之嚴。 如聖諭雲『代人規卸，為人出缺』者，臣敢謂無其事。 然陛下何所見而雲？ 倘如二十四氣蜚語，此必大奸巨憝，恐言者不利己，而思以中之，激至尊之怒，箝言官之口，人皆喑默，誰與陛下言天下事者？」 先是，給事中方士亮論密雲巡撫王繼謨不勝任，保定參政錢天錫因夤緣給事中楊枝起、廖國遴，以屬延儒，及廷推，遂得俞旨。 適帝有「為人出缺」諭，蓋舉廷臣積習告戒之，非為天錫發也。 埰探之未審，謂帝實指其事，倉卒拜疏。 而帝於是時方憂勞天下，默告上帝，戴罪省愆，所頒戒諭，詞旨哀痛，讀者感傷。 埰顧反覆詰難，若深疑於帝者，帝遂大怒，曰：「埰敢詰問詔旨，藐玩特甚。」 立下詔獄考訊。 掌鎮撫梁清宏以獄詞上，帝曰：「埰情罪特重。 且二十四氣之說，類匿名文書，見即當毀，何故累騰奏牘？ 其速按實以聞。」 時行人熊開元亦以建言下錦衣衛。 帝怒兩人甚，密旨下衛帥駱養性，令潛斃之獄。 養性懼，以語同官。 同官曰：「不見田爾耕、許顯純事乎？」 養性乃不敢奉命，私以語同鄉給事中廖國遴，國遴以語同官曹良直。 良直即疏劾養性「歸過於君，而自以為功。 陛下無此旨，不宜誣謗； 即有之，不宜泄。」 請並誅養性、開元。 養性大懼，帝亦不欲殺諫臣，疏竟留中。 會鎮撫再上埰獄，言掠訊者再，供無異詞。 養性亦封還密旨。 乃命移刑官定罪，尚書徐石麒等擬埰戍，開元贖徒。 帝責以徇情骫法，令對狀。 乃奪石麒及郎中劉沂春官，而逮埰、開元至午門，並杖一百。 埰已死，埰弟垓口溺灌之，乃復蘇，仍系刑部獄。 明年秋，大疫，命諸囚出外收保。 埰、開元出，即謁謝賓客。 帝以語刑部尚書張忻，忻懼，復禁之獄。 十七年二月始釋埰，戍宣州衛。 將赴戍所而都城陷。
Earlier Wen Tiren and Xue Guanguan had purged dissenters and memorialists. When Zhou Yanru returned as chief minister he reversed their policies, promoted upright men, and censors again swarmed with memorials. Enemies fabricated a "twenty-four qi" slander naming twenty-four court officials and sent it to the throne. The emperor issued an edict admonishing officials, especially the censors. Fearing the emperor had believed the slander, Cai wrote: "Your Majesty values censors and therefore reproaches them harshly. As for the charge of "filling vacancies for others"—I dare say it does not exist. Yet on what evidence does Your Majesty say so? If this refers to the twenty-four qi rumor, some great villain fears censors and seeks to silence them by inflaming Your Majesty's wrath—who then will speak of the realm's affairs?" Earlier Supervising Secretary Fang Shiliang had judged Miyun grand coordinator Wang Jimo incompetent; Baoding vice minister Qian Tianxi, through Supervising Secretaries Yang Zhiqi and Liao Guolin, curried favor with Yanru and won appointment at court recommendation. The emperor's warning about "filling vacancies for others" targeted general court corruption, not Tianxi specifically. Cai, investigating poorly, assumed the edict targeted that case and hastily memorialized. Yet the emperor then labored under care for the realm, confessed guilt before Heaven, and issued an admonition of heartbreaking sincerity. Cai instead challenged the edict as if doubting the emperor himself; the emperor raged: "Cai dares question an imperial edict—this is extreme contempt." He was sent at once to the imperial prison for interrogation. Prison director Liang Qinghong submitted the case; the emperor said: "Cai's guilt is especially grave. The twenty-four qi rumor resembles anonymous libel and should be destroyed—why keep memorializing about it? Verify the facts and report at once." Messenger Xiong Kaiyuan was also imprisoned in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for remonstrance. The emperor's rage at both men led to a secret order to Prison Commander Luo Yangxing to kill them quietly in prison. Yangxing, afraid, confided in his colleagues. They said: "Have you forgotten Tian Ergeng and Xu Xianchun?" Yangxing refused, telling fellow townsman Supervising Secretary Liao Guolin, who told colleague Cao Liangzhi. Liangzhi immediately impeached Yangxing for shifting blame onto the ruler while claiming credit. If Your Majesty issued no such order, this is slander; if there was, it should not have been leaked." He asked that Yangxing and Kaiyuan both be executed. Yangxing was terrified; the emperor did not wish to kill censors, and the memorial was withheld. When the prison director resubmitted Cai's case, repeated torture had produced no change in testimony. Yangxing returned the sealed secret edict unopened. The case went to the Ministry of Justice; Minister Xu Shiji proposed garrison duty for Cai and penal servitude for Kaiyuan. The emperor accused them of bending the law and ordered a court confrontation. He stripped Xu Shiji and Director Liu Yichun of office and had Cai and Kaiyuan flogged one hundred strokes at the Meridian Gate. Cai seemed dead; his brother Gai poured water into his mouth and revived him; he remained in prison. The next autumn a plague broke out and prisoners were released on bail. Cai and Kaiyuan went out and immediately visited supporters to give thanks. The emperor told Minister Zhang Xin, who, afraid, returned them to prison. In the second month of the seventeenth year Cai was released to garrison Xuanzhou. He was marching to his post when the capital fell.
84
福王立，遇赦，起故官。 丁父艱，不赴。 國變後，流寓蘇州以卒。 且死，語其二子曰：「吾奉先帝命戍宣州，死必葬我敬亭之麓。」 二子如其言。
When the Prince of Fu took the throne, an amnesty restored his former office. He entered mourning for his father and did not take up the post. After the fall he lived in exile in Suzhou until his death. Near death he told his sons: "The late emperor ordered me to Xuanzhou; bury me on Jingting Mountain." His sons obeyed.
85
弟垓
Younger brother Gai
86
垓，字如須，崇禎十三年進士。 授行人。 埰下獄，垓盡力營護。 後聞鄉邑破，父殉難，一門死者二十余人。 垓請代兄系獄，釋埰歸葬，不許。 即日奔喪，奉母南走蘇州。 初，垓為行人，見署中題名碑，崔呈秀、阮大鋮與魏大中並列，立拜疏請去二人名。 及大鋮得誌，滋欲殺垓甚。 垓乃變姓名，逃之寧波。 國亡乃解。
Gai, whose courtesy name was Ruxu, became a jinshi in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen. He was appointed a court messenger. When Cai was imprisoned, Gai did everything to protect him. He later learned their home had fallen, their father had died for the dynasty, and more than twenty kin perished. Gai asked to take his brother's place in prison so Cai could bury their father; permission was denied. He rushed home to mourn and fled south with his mother to Suzhou. As a messenger he had seen Cui Chengxiu and Ruan Dacheng listed beside Wei Dazhong on the office memorial tablet and memorialized to remove their names. When Ruan Dacheng rose to power, he sought Gai's life all the more. Gai changed his name and fled to Ningbo. Only when the dynasty fell was he safe.
87
熊開元
Xiong Kaiyuan
88
熊開元，字魚山，嘉魚人。 天啟五年進士。 除崇明知縣，調繁吳江。
Xiong Kaiyuan, whose courtesy name was Yushan, came from Jiayu. He received his jinshi degree in the fifth year of Tianqi. He was magistrate of Chongming, then transferred to the demanding post of Wujiang.
89
崇禎四年，征授吏科給事中。 帝遣中官王應期等監視關、寧軍馬，開元抗疏爭，不納。 王化貞久系不決，奸人張應時等疏頌其功，請以身代死，俾戴罪立功。 開元疏駁之，言：「化貞家貲鉅萬，每會朝審，輒買燕市少年，雜立道旁，投熊廷弼瓦礫，嗟嘆化貞不休，以此熒惑上聽。 今應時復敢為此請，宜立肆化上貞市朝。」 化貞卒正法。
In the fourth year of Chongzhen he was summoned as supervising secretary of the Personnel Section. When the emperor sent eunuch Wang Yingqi to supervise Shanhai and Ningyuan forces, Kaiyuan protested in vain. Wang Huazhen had long languished in prison; villain Zhang Yingshi memorialized praising his merits and offering to die in his stead so Wang could redeem himself in battle. Kaiyuan rebutted: "Huazhen's wealth runs to tens of thousands; at every trial he hired market youths to pelt Xiong Tingbi with stones while praising Huazhen endlessly, deceiving the throne. Now Yingshi dares repeat this plea—Huazhen should be executed and exposed in the public market." Huazhen was executed in the end.
90
時有令，有司征賦不及額者不得考選。 給事中周瑞豹考選而後完賦，帝怒，貶謫之，命如瑞豹者悉以聞。 於是開元及御史鄭友元等三人並貶二秩調外，開元不赴官。 久之，起山西按察司照磨，遷光祿寺監事。
An order then barred officials who missed tax quotas from court selection. Supervising Secretary Zhou Ruibao passed selection before finishing levies; the emperor demoted him and ordered similar cases reported. Kaiyuan, Censor Zheng Youyuan, and two others were demoted two ranks and transferred; Kaiyuan refused the post. He was later restored as assistant registrar in Shanxi and promoted to supervisor of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
91
十三年，遷行人司副。 左降官率驟遷，開元以淹久頗觖望。 會光祿丞缺，開元詣首輔周延儒述己困頓狀。 延儒適以他事輒命駕出，開元大慍。 會帝以畿輔被兵求言，官民陳事者，報名會極門，即日召對。
In the thirteenth year he became vice director of the Messenger Office. Demoted officials were usually promoted quickly; Kaiyuan, long in limbo, grew resentful. When a vice directorship opened, Kaiyuan appealed to Chief Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru about his hardships. Yanru abruptly left on other business; Kaiyuan was furious. When the capital region came under attack, the emperor invited memorials; petitioners registered at the Jiji Gate for same-day audience.
92
開元欲論延儒，次日即請見。 帝召入文昭閣，開元請密論軍事。 帝屏左右，獨輔臣在，開元不敢言，但奏軍事而出。 越十余日，復請見。 帝御德政殿，秉燭坐，開元從輔臣入，奏言：「《易》稱『君不密則失臣，臣不密則失身』，請輔臣暫退。」 延儒等引退者再，帝不許。 開元遂言：「陛下求治十五年，天下日以亂，必有其故。」 帝曰：「其故安在？」 開元言：「今所謀畫，惟兵食寇賊。 不揣其本，而末是圖，雖終日夜不寢食，求天下治無益也。 陛下臨禦以來，輔臣至數十人，不過陛下曰賢，左右曰賢而已，未必諸大夫國人皆曰賢也。 天子心膂股肱，而任之易如此。 庸人在高位，相繼為奸，人禍天殃，迄無衰止。 迨言官發其罪狀，誅之斥之，已敗壞不可復救矣。」 帝與詰問久之，疑開元有所為，曰：「爾意有人欲用乎？」 開元辨無有，且奏且頻目延儒。 延儒謝，帝曰：「天下不治皆朕過，於卿等何與？」 開元言：「陛下令大小臣工不時面奏，而輔臣在左右，誰敢為異同之論以速禍？ 且昔日輔臣，繁刑厚斂，屏棄忠良，賢人君子攻之。 今輔臣奉行德意，釋累囚，蠲逋賦，起廢籍，賢人君子皆其所引用。 偶有不平，私慨嘆而已。」 帝責開元有私。 開元辨，延儒等亦前為解。
Kaiyuan planned to denounce Yanru and requested an audience the next day. The emperor summoned him to the Wenzhao Pavilion; Kaiyuan asked to discuss military affairs in private. The emperor dismissed attendants, leaving only the Grand Secretaries; Kaiyuan dared not speak and reported only on military matters. Ten days later he requested audience again. At the Dezheng Hall, candle in hand, Kaiyuan entered with the Grand Secretaries and said: "The Changes warns that rulers and ministers who lack secrecy lose one another—I beg the Grand Secretaries to withdraw." Yanru and the others withdrew twice; the emperor refused. Kaiyuan continued: "Your Majesty has sought order for fifteen years, yet chaos deepens daily—there must be a cause." The emperor asked: "What cause?" Kaiyuan replied: "Today's planning fixes only on troops, grain, and rebels. Ignore the root and chase the branches, and even sleepless toil will never bring order. Since Your Majesty took the throne, dozens of chief ministers have served—yet worthiness is declared only by you and your intimates, not by the court and country. The emperor's closest ministers are entrusted far too lightly. Mediocrities in high office breed one another's corruption; human and heavenly disasters never cease. Only when censors expose and punish them is the damage already beyond repair." The emperor questioned him at length, suspecting a plot: "Does someone wish to be appointed?" Kaiyuan denied it, glancing repeatedly at Yanru as he spoke. Yanru apologized; the emperor said: "If the realm is disorderly, the fault is mine alone—what have you done wrong?" Kaiyuan said: "Your Majesty bars irregular audiences while the Grand Secretaries stand at your side—who dares dissent and invite ruin? Former ministers imposed harsh law and heavy taxes and drove out the loyal—worthy men attacked them for it. Today's ministers follow your humane intent, freeing prisoners, remitting taxes, restoring the dismissed—worthy men they promote. Any remaining grievance is only private sighing." The emperor accused Kaiyuan of bias. Kaiyuan protested; Yanru and the others defended themselves.
93
開元復請遍召廷臣，問以輔臣賢否。 「輔臣心事明，諸臣流品亦別。 陛下若不察，將吏狃情面賄賂，失地喪師，皆得無罪，誰復為陛下捐軀報國者？」 延儒等奏情面不盡無，賄賂則無有。 開元復言：「敵兵入口四十余日，未聞逮治一督、撫。」 帝曰：「督、撫初推，人以為賢，數月後即以為不賢，必欲去之而後快。 邊方與內地不同，使人何以展布。」 開元言：「四方督、撫，率自監司。 明日廷推，今日傳單，其人姓名不列。 至期，吏部出諸袖，諸臣唯唯而已。 既推後，言官轉相采訪，而其人伎倆亦自露於數月間，故人得而指之。 非初以為賢，繼以為不賢也。」 帝命之退。 延儒等請令補牘，從之。
Kaiyuan again asked that all ministers be summoned to judge the Grand Secretaries. "The Grand Secretaries' intentions are clear and officials' ranks are distinct. Without scrutiny, commanders will cling to patronage and bribes, lose territory yet escape punishment—who will die for Your Majesty?" Yanru replied that patronage existed but not bribery. Kaiyuan added: "The enemy has been within the passes forty days, yet no commander has been punished." The emperor said: "Commanders seem worthy at appointment and unworthy months later—critics demand removal before they are satisfied. The frontier is not the interior—how can men function under such pressure?" Kaiyuan said: "Frontier commanders all rise from surveillance posts. Court recommendation comes tomorrow, yet today's slip omits the nominee's name. On the day, the Ministry of Personnel produces names from its sleeve and ministers merely assent. After appointment, censors investigate and incompetence shows within months—hence the later denunciations. It is not that they were worthy at first and unworthy later." The emperor dismissed him. Yanru asked that Kaiyuan submit a written supplement; the emperor agreed.
94
當是時，開元欲發延儒罪，以其在側不敢言。 而延儒慮其補牘，謀沮之。 大理卿孫晉、兵部侍郎馮元飆責開元：「首輔多引賢者。 首輔退，賢者且盡逐。」 開元意動。 大理丞吳履中至，亦以開元言為驟。 禮部郎中吳昌時者，開元知吳江時所拔士也，復致書言之。 開元乃止述奏辭，不更及延儒他事。 帝方信延儒，大清兵又未退，焦勞甚。 得奏，大怒，令錦衣衛逮治。 衛帥駱養性，開元鄉人也，雅怨延儒，次日即以獄上。 帝益怒，曰：「開元讒譖輔弼，必使朕孤立於上，乃便彼行私，必有主使者。 養性不加刑，溺職甚，其再嚴訊以聞。」 十二月朔，嚴刑詰供主謀。 開元堅不承，而盡發延儒之隱，養性具以聞。 帝乃廷杖開元，系獄。
Kaiyuan had meant to expose Yanru but dared not while Yanru stood beside the throne. Yanru feared the supplemental memorial and plotted to block it. Chief Minister of Justice Sun Jin and Vice Minister Feng Yuankuang warned Kaiyuan: "The chief minister has promoted many worthy men. If he falls, the worthy will be swept out with him. Kaiyuan wavered. Vice Director Wu Lüzhong likewise called Kaiyuan rash. Rites Director Wu Changshi, whom Kaiyuan had promoted at Wujiang, also wrote urging restraint. Kaiyuan then softened his memorial and omitted further charges against Yanru. The emperor still trusted Yanru; the Qing army had not withdrawn, and he was exhausted with care. Reading the memorial, he ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest Kaiyuan. Prison Commander Luo Yangxing, Kaiyuan's fellow townsman and Yanru's enemy, reported the case next day. The emperor raged: "Kaiyuan slanders the chief minister to isolate me and serve some private plot—someone put him up to this. He rebuked Yangxing for failing to torture Kaiyuan and ordered harsher interrogation." On the first day of the twelfth month, torture sought the mastermind. Kaiyuan confessed no mastermind but exposed Yanru's secrets in full; Yangxing reported all. The emperor had Kaiyuan flogged at court and imprisoned.
95
始，方士亮劾罷密雲巡撫王繼謨，參政錢天錫得巡撫。 御史孫鳳毛發其事，劾給事中楊枝起、廖國遴為天錫夤緣，因言開元面奏，實二人主之，欲令邱瑜秉政，陳演為首輔。 御史李陳玉亦言之。 帝以開元已下吏，不問，而責令鳳毛陳奏。 鳳毛死，其子訴冤，謂國遴、枝起鴆殺之。 兩人及天錫並削職下獄。 士亮又言恐代繼謨者未能勝繼謨，繼謨得留任。 十六年六月，延儒罷，言官多救開元者，不報。 刑部擬贖徒，不許。 明年正月，遣戍杭州。
Earlier Fang Shiliang had removed Miyun grand coordinator Wang Jimo, and Vice Minister Qian Tianxi won the post. Censor Sun Maofa exposed the affair, impeaching Yang Zhiqi and Liao Guolin for securing Tianxi's appointment and claiming Kaiyuan's audience was their plot to install Qiu Yu and Chen Yan. Censor Li Chenyu said the same. The emperor, Kaiyuan already imprisoned, ordered Maofa to submit particulars. When Maofa died, his son claimed Guolin and Zhiqi had poisoned him. Both supervising secretaries and Tianxi were stripped of office and imprisoned. Shiliang argued the replacement might not equal Jimo, and Jimo kept his post. In the sixth month of the sixteenth year Yanru fell; censors pleaded for Kaiyuan in vain. The Ministry of Justice proposed commutable penal servitude; the emperor refused. The following first month he was banished to Hangzhou.
96
未幾，京師陷，福王召起吏科給事中。 丁母艱，不赴。 唐王立，起工科左給事中。 連擢太常卿、左僉都御史，隨征東閣大學士。 乞假歸。 汀州破，棄家為僧，隱蘇州之靈巖以終。
Soon the capital fell; the Prince of Fu recalled him as supervising secretary of the Personnel Section. He entered mourning for his mother and did not take up the post. Under the Prince of Tang he became left supervising secretary of the Works Section. He rose to Minister of Rites, left censor-in-chief, and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion on the eastern expedition. He took leave and went home. When Tingzhou fell he became a monk and lived in seclusion at Lingyan in Suzhou until his death.
97
方士亮
Fang Shiliang
98
士亮，歙縣人。 崇禎四年進士。 歷嘉興、福州推官，擢兵科給事中。 與同官朱徽、倪仁禎等謁大學士謝升於朝房，升言：「人主以不用聰明為高。 今上太用聰明，致天下盡壞。」 又曰：「款事諸君不必言，皇上祈簽奉先殿，意已決。」 諸人退，謂升誹謗君父，泄禁中語。 仁禎、國遴等交章論之，斥升大不道，無人臣禮。 士亮及他言官繼之，疏數十上。 帝大怒，削升籍。 已而士亮連劾諸督撫張福臻、徐世蔭、朱大典、葉廷貴，及兵部侍郎呂大器、甘肅總兵馬爌，事多施行。 又請召舊諫臣姚思孝、何楷、李化龍、張作楫、張焜芳、李模、詹爾選、李右讜、林蘭友、成勇、傅元初，而恤已死者吳執禦、魏呈潤、傅朝佑、吳彥芳、王績燦、葛樞，帝頗采納。 周延儒出督師，請士亮贊畫軍務。 延儒獲譴，士亮亦削職下獄，久之釋歸。 福王時，復官。 國變後卒。
Shiliang came from She County. He received his jinshi degree in the fourth year of Chongzhen. He served as investigating magistrate at Jiaxing and Fuzhou, then became supervising secretary of the Military Section. With colleagues Zhu Hui and Ni Renzhen he visited Grand Secretary Xie Sheng, who said: "A ruler is lofty when he does not rely on cleverness. This sovereign uses cleverness too much and has ruined the realm. He added: "On peace talks, do not speak—the emperor has decided by lot at the Hall of Imperial Ancestors." They withdrew accusing Sheng of slandering the throne and leaking palace secrets. Renzhen, Guolin, and others memorialized that Sheng had committed grave iniquity and violated ministerial propriety. Shiliang and other censors followed with dozens of memorials. The emperor struck Sheng from the rolls. Shiliang then impeached commanders Zhang Fuzhen, Xu Shiyin, Zhu Dadian, Ye Tinggui, Vice Minister Lü Daqi, and Gansu commander Ma Huang—many charges succeeded. He asked to recall former censors Yao Sixiao, He Kai, Li Hualong, and others, and honor the dead Wu Zhiyu, Fu Chaoyou, Wang Jican, and others—the emperor largely agreed. When Zhou Yanru took field command he asked Shiliang to assist in military planning. When Yanru was punished, Shiliang was stripped and imprisoned, later released. Under the Prince of Fu his office was restored. He died after the fall of the dynasty.
99
詹爾選
Zhan Erxuan
100
詹爾選，字思吉，撫安人。 崇禎四年進士。 授太常博士。 八年，擢御史。 時詔廷臣舉守令，爾選言：「縣令多而難擇，莫若精擇郡守。 郡守賢，縣令無不賢。」 因請起用侍郎陳子壯、推官湯開遠，報聞。
Zhan Erxuan, whose courtesy name was Siji, came from Fu'an. He received his jinshi degree in the fourth year of Chongzhen. He was appointed an erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the eighth year he was promoted to censor. When the court ordered recommendations of local officials, Erxuan argued: "Magistrates are too numerous to judge well—choose prefects carefully instead. Worthy prefects will produce worthy magistrates." He asked to recall Vice Minister Chen Zizhuang and investigating magistrate Tang Kaiyuan; the court noted his request.
101
明年，疏劾陳啟新：「宜召九卿科道，覿面敷陳，罄其底蘊。 果有他長，然後授官。 遽爾授官，非所以重名器。 吏部尚書謝升、大學士溫體仁不加駁正，屍素可愧。」 帝怒。 未幾，大學士錢士升以爭武生李琎搜括富戶，忤旨，引罪乞休去。 爾選上疏曰：
The next year he impeached Chen Qixin: "Summon the nine ministers and censors, hear them in person, and test their substance. Only if they prove capable should offices be granted. Hasty appointment dishonors public office. Minister Xie Sheng and Grand Secretary Wen Tiren failed to object—such deadwood is shameful." The emperor was furious. Soon Grand Secretary Qian Shisheng, opposing military licentiate Li Zhen's exactions from wealthy households, offended the throne and resigned. Erxuan memorialized:
102
輔臣引咎求黜，遽奉回籍之諭。 夫人臣所以不肯言者，其源在不肯去耳。 輔臣肯言肯去，臣實榮之，獨不能不為朝廷惜此一舉也。 琎以非法導主上，其端一開，大亂將至。 輔臣憂心如焚，忽奉改擬之命，遂爾執奏。 皇上方嘉許不暇，顧以為疑君要譽耶？ 人臣無故疑其君，非忠也； 乃謂吾君萬舉萬當者，第容悅之借名，必非忠。 人臣沽名，義所不敢出也，乃人主不以名譽鼓天下，使其臣屍位保寵，寡廉鮮恥，亦必非國家利。
The chief minister confessed fault and sought dismissal, yet was sent home at once. Ministers refuse to speak because they refuse to leave office. A minister willing both to speak and to resign honors us—but the court cannot afford this loss. Zhen led Your Majesty by illegal means; once that gate opens, catastrophe follows. The chief minister, anguished, held to his memorial despite a revised order. Your Majesty had just praised him—was this deemed disloyal self-promotion? Groundless suspicion of the ruler is not loyalty; yet calling the ruler infallible while flattering him is no loyalty either. Ministers must not trade in reputation—but rulers must not reward flattery that keeps corrupt men in office.
103
況今天下疑皇上者不少矣。 將驕卒惰，尚方不靈，億萬民命，徒供武夫貪冒，則或疑過於右武。 穿劄與操觚並課，非是者弗錄。 人見賣牛買馬，絀德齊力，徒使強寇混跡於道途，父兄莫必其子弟，則或疑緩於敷文。 免覲之說行，上意在蘇民困也，而或疑朝宗之大義，不敵數萬路用之金錢； 駁問之事煩，上意在懲奸頑也，而或疑明啟之刑書，幾禁加等之紛亂。
Moreover many today doubt Your Majesty. Arrogant generals, lax soldiers, the imperial sword unused while millions feed military greed—some suspect excessive martialism. Military drill and literary tests are judged together; others are rejected. People see oxen sold for horses, merit leveled down, bandits mingling on the roads while families cannot trust their own—some suspect neglect of civil order. Exempting officials from court audiences was meant to ease hardship, yet some suspect toll revenue outweighs the duty to attend court; Repeated interrogations were meant to punish the wicked, yet some suspect the penal code itself is in confusion.
104
其君子憂驅策之無當，其小人懼陷累之多門，明知一切茍且之政，或拊心愧恨，或對眾欷歔。 輔臣不過偶因一事，代天下發憤耳，而竟郁郁以去，恐後之大臣無復有敢言者矣。 大臣不敢言，而小臣愈難望其言矣。 所日與皇上言者，惟苛細刻薄不識大體之徒，似忠似直，如狂如癡，售則挺身招搖，敗則潛形逋竄，駭心誌而爚耳目，毀成法而釀隱憂，天下事尚忍言哉！ 祈皇上以遠大宅心，以簡靜率憲，責大臣弼違之義，作言官敢諫之風。 寧獻可替否，毋藉口聖明獨斷，掩聖主之謙沖； 寧進禮退義，毋藉口君恩未酬，飾引身之濡滯。 臣愚不勝忄卷忄卷。
The worthy fear misguided policy; the base fear endless entrapment; all see expedient government and grieve openly or in secret. The chief minister spoke once for the realm and left in sorrow—fearing no minister will speak again. If great ministers fall silent, lesser officials will hardly speak. Those who daily address you are petty, harsh men who seem loyal yet rave like madmen—success brings swagger, failure brings flight—destroying law and brewing hidden disaster. How can the realm endure! I beg Your Majesty to think broadly, govern simply, demand correction from ministers, and restore bold remonstrance among censors. Better frank counsel than invoking imperial sole decision to silence humility; better to advance by ritual and withdraw by righteousness than to plead unpaid grace while clinging to office. Your servant is earnestly anxious beyond words.
105
疏入，帝震怒，召見武英殿，詰之曰：「輔臣之去，前旨甚明，汝安得為此言？」 對曰：「皇上大開言路，輔臣乃以言去國，恐後來大臣以言為戒，非皇上求言意。」 帝曰：「建言乃諫官事，大臣何建言？」 對曰：「大臣雖在格心，然非言亦無由格。 大臣止言其大者，決無不言之理。 大臣不言，誰當言者？」 帝曰：「朕如此焦勞，天下尚疑朕乎？ 即尚方劍何嘗不賜，彼不能用，何言不靈？」 對曰：「誠如聖諭。 但臣見督理有參疏，未蒙皇上大處分，與未賜何異？」 帝曰：「刑官擬罪不合，朕不當駁乎？」 對曰：「刑官不職，但當易其人，不當侵其事。」 帝曰：「汝言一切茍且之政，何者為茍且？」 對曰：「加派。」 帝曰：「加派，因賊未平，賊平何難停。 汝尚有言乎？」 對曰：「搜括抽扣亦是。」 帝曰：「此供軍國之用，非輸之內帑。 汝更何言？」 對曰：「即捐助亦是。」 帝曰：「本令願捐者聽，何嘗強人？」 時帝聲色俱厲，左右皆震懾，而爾選詞氣不撓。 帝又詰發憤諸語，及帖黃簡略，斥為欺罔，命錦衣提下。 爾選叩頭曰：「臣死不足惜，皇上幸聽臣，事尚可為。 即不聽，亦可留為他日思。」 帝愈怒，罪且不測，諸大臣力救，乃命系於直廬。 明日下都察院議罪，議止停俸。 帝以語涉誇詡，並罪視草御史張三謨，令吏部同議。 請鐫五級，以雜職用。 復不許，乃削籍歸。 自後言者屢薦，皆不聽。 十五年，給事中沈迅、左懋第相繼薦。 有詔召還，未及赴而都城陷。
When the memorial arrived, the emperor summoned him to the Wuying Hall in fury: "The chief minister's departure was clearly ordered—how dare you say this? He replied: "Your Majesty opened the path of speech; the chief minister leaves because he spoke—I fear ministers will shun speech hereafter." The emperor said: "Remonstrance is for censors—why do great ministers remonstrate?" He replied: "Though ministers rectify the heart, they cannot do so without speaking. They speak on great matters; they cannot remain silent. If ministers do not speak, who will?" The emperor said: "I labor in such anxiety—does the realm still doubt me? The imperial sword was bestowed—commanders failed to use it—how is that ineffective speech?" He replied: "As Your Majesty says. Yet I see impeachments unanswered by great punishment—as if the sword were never given. The emperor said: "When punishments proposed do not fit, should I not reject them?" He replied: "Replace incompetent judges—do not usurp their role." The emperor said: "You cite expedient policies—which ones?" He replied: "Additional levies." The emperor said: "Levies continue because rebels are not pacified; they will stop when rebels fall. Have you more to say?" He replied: "Search, exaction, and withholding as well." The emperor said: "That funds the army and state—not the inner treasury. What else?" He replied: "Donation drives too." The emperor said: "Donations were voluntary—who was forced?" The emperor's voice was fierce; attendants trembled, yet Erxuan did not bend. The emperor challenged his indignant phrases and brief summary as deceit and ordered the guard to seize him. Erxuan kowtowed: "My death is nothing—if Your Majesty listens, affairs may yet be saved. Even if not, keep my words for another day. The emperor raged; ministers rescued him; he was imprisoned in the privy council quarters. The next day the Censorate proposed only salary suspension. The emperor, citing boastful language, also punished drafting censor Zhang Sanmo and ordered the Ministry of Personnel to join deliberation. They proposed demotion five ranks to miscellaneous posts. The emperor refused; Erxuan was struck from the rolls and sent home. Censors repeatedly recommended him—in vain. In the fifteenth year Shen Xun and Zuo Maodi recommended him. A recall was ordered; before he could arrive the capital fell.
106
福王立，首起故官。 未上，群小用事，憚爾選鯁直，令補外僚，遂不出。 國變後，又十二年而終。
The Prince of Fu first restored his former office. Petty men in power feared his blunt integrity and posted him outside; he refused to serve. He died twelve years after the fall of the dynasty.
107
湯開遠
Tang Kaiyuan
108
湯開遠，字伯開，主事顯祖子也。 早負器識，經濟自許。 崇禎五年，由舉人為河南府推官。 帝惡廷臣玩愒，持法過嚴。 開遠疏諫曰：
Tang Kaiyuan, whose courtesy name was Bokai, was the son of Director Tang Xianzu. He showed early talent and aspired to practical statesmanship. In the fifth year of Chongzhen he became investigating magistrate of Henan Prefecture. The emperor despised court laxity and enforced the law harshly. Kaiyuan remonstrated:
109
陛下臨禦以來，明罰敕法。 自小臣至大臣，蒙重譴下禁獄者相繼，幾於刑亂國用重典矣。 見廷臣薦舉不當，疑為黨徇； 惡廷臣執奏不移，疑為藐抗。 以策勵望諸臣，於是戴罪者多，而不開以立功之路； 以詳慎責諸臣，於是引罪者眾，而不諒其致誤之由。 墨吏宜逮，然望稍寬出入，無絀能臣。 至三時多害，五方交警，諸臣怵參罰，惟急催科，民窮則易為亂。 陛下寬一分在臣子，即寬一分在民生，此可不再計決者。 尤望推諸臣以心，待諸臣以禮，諭中外法司以平允。 至錦衣禁獄，非寇賊奸宄，不宜輕入。
Since Your Majesty took the throne, punishments have been sternly enforced. From petty clerks to great ministers, imprisonment followed imprisonment—nearly the chaos of a state ruled by harsh law. Improper recommendations were suspected as factional favor; firm memorials were suspected as defiant contempt. Urged to strive, many bore guilt yet no path opened to merit through achievement; charged with excessive scrutiny, many confessed fault without understanding why they erred. Corrupt officials should be seized, yet with some leniency so able men are not lost. When disasters struck every season and alarms rose on every side, officials feared impeachment and only pressed taxes—exhausted people rebel easily. Leniency toward ministers is leniency toward the people—this needs no further debate. Extend your heart to ministers, treat them with ritual, and instruct all courts in fairness. The guard prison should not receive anyone but traitors and felons.
110
帝怒，摘其疏中「桁楊慘毒，遍施勞臣」語，責令指實。 乃上奏曰：
The emperor seized the phrase "cruel torture spread over toiling ministers" and demanded specifics. He submitted:
111
時事孔棘，諸臣有過可議，亦有勞可準； 有罪可程，亦有情可原。 究之議過不足懲過，而後事轉因前事以灰心； 聲罪不足服罪，而故者更藉誤者以實口。 綜核太過則要領失措，懲創太深則本實多缺。 往往上以為宜詳宜新之事，而下以為宜略宜仍之事； 朝所為縲辱擯棄不少愛之人，又野所為推重愾嘆不可少之人。 上與下異心，朝與野異議，欲天下治平，不可得也。
Times are desperate; ministers have faults to judge and merit to weigh; guilt to measure and circumstance to forgive. Debating faults does not punish them; later work dies because of earlier blame; denunciation does not satisfy justice; the guilty hide behind the mistaken. Excessive scrutiny loses essentials; excessive punishment hollows governance. What the court calls innovation, the country calls needless change; men the court disgraces are men the country esteems; court and country at odds—peace is impossible.
112
蘇州僉事左應選任昌黎縣令，率土著保孤城。 事平之日，擢任監司。 乃用小過，卒以贓擬。 城池失守者既不少貸，捍禦著績者又不獲原，諸臣安所適從哉？ 事急則鉅萬可捐，事平則錙銖必較。 向使昌黎不守，同於遵、永，不知費朝廷幾許金錢，安所得涓滴而問之？ 臣所惜者此其一。
Suzhou vice commissioner Zuo Yingxuan, as magistrate of Changli, led local militia to hold the isolated city. After peace was restored, he was promoted to surveillance commissioner. Yet a minor fault led to a corruption charge. City-losers were spared little while defenders won no mercy—what path remains for officials? In crisis millions are spent freely; in peace every coin is counted. Had Changli fallen like Zunyi and Yong, what vast sums would the court have spent—and who could begrudge a trifle afterward? This is my first regret.
113
給事中馬思理、御史高倬，值草場火發，狂奔盡氣，無救燎原，此不過為法受過耳，更欲以他罪論，則甚矣。 今歲盛夏雪雹，地震京圻，草場不爇自焚。 陛下不寬刑修省，反嚴鞫而長系之，非所以召天和，稱善事也。 臣所惜者此其一。
Ma Sili and Gao Zhuo exhausted themselves fighting a pasture fire they could not stop—punishment under law is enough; further charges go too far. That summer brought hail, earthquakes around the capital, and a pasture fire that lit itself. Instead of easing punishment and examining yourself, you interrogate and imprison them—this does not restore Heaven's harmony. This is another regret.
114
宣大巡按胡良機，陛下知其諳練，兩任巖疆，尋因過誤褫革，輿論惜之，豈成命終難反汗哉！ 臣所惜者此其一。
Frontier inspector Hu Liangji, twice proven on the border, was dismissed for a fault the public regretted—can such appointments never be reversed? This is a third regret.
115
監兌主事吳澧，宵旦河干，經營漕事，運弁稽違，量行責戒，乃褫革之，又欲究治之。 夫兵嘩則為兵易將，將嘩則為武抑文，勇於嘩而怯於鬥，安用此驕兵驕將為也！ 臣所惜者此又其一。
Grain supervisor Wu Li toiled on the river; when transport officers violated rules he rebuked them proportionally—yet he was dismissed and threatened with further punishment. Soldiers mutiny so replace soldiers; generals mutiny so civil authority is crushed—bold in mutiny, cowardly in battle—what use are such arrogant troops? This is yet another regret.
116
末復為都御史陳於廷、易應昌申辨。 帝怒，切責之。
He also pleaded for Censor-in-Chief Chen Yuting and Yi Yingchang. The emperor rebuked him sharply.
117
河南流賊大熾，開遠監左良玉軍，躬擐甲胄，屢致克捷。 帝以天下用兵，意頗重武，督、撫失事多逮系，而大將率姑息。 開遠以為偏，八年十月上疏曰：
When Henan rebels raged, Kaiyuan supervised Zuo Liangyu's army in armor and won repeated victories. With war everywhere the emperor valued the military; failed civil commanders were imprisoned while generals were indulged. Finding this unjust, in the tenth month of the eighth year he memorialized:
118
比年寇賊縱橫，撫、鎮為要。 乃陛下於撫臣則懲創之，於鎮臣則優遇之。 試觀近日諸撫臣，有不褫奪、不囚系者乎？ 諸帥臣及偏裨，有一禮貌不崇、升蔭不遂者乎？ 即觀望敗衄罪狀顯著者，有不寬假優容者乎？ 夫懲創撫臣，欲其惕而戒也； 優遇武臣，欲其感而奮也。 然而封疆日破壞、寇賊日蔓延者，分別之法少也。 撫臣中清操如沈棨，幹濟如練國事，捍禦兩河、身自為將如元默，拮據兵事、沮賊長驅如吳甡，或麗爰書，或登白簡，其他未可悉數。 而武臣桀驁恣睢，無日不上條陳，爭體統。 一旦有警，輒逡巡退縮，即嚴旨屢頒，褒如充耳。 如王樸、尤世勛、王世恩輩，其罪可勝誅哉！
In recent years rebels ran rampant; grand coordinators and regional commanders were essential. Yet Your Majesty punishes coordinators while favoring regional commanders. Look at recent coordinators—is any not stripped or imprisoned? Among commanders and subordinates, who lacks honors or hereditary privilege? Even manifest cowards and defeaters—who is not pardoned? Punishing coordinators should make them vigilant; favoring generals should stir them to fight. Yet frontiers collapse and rebels spread—the distinction is too weak. Worthy coordinators like Shen Qi, Lian Guoshi, Yuan Mo, and Wu Shen faced impeachment or the block; the list is long. Yet generals grow arrogant, daily memorializing over protocol. At alarm they shrink; stern edicts pass like empty praise. Wang Pu, You Shixun, and Wang Shien deserve death many times over!
119
秦撫甘學闊有《法紀全疏》一疏，請正縱賊諸弁以法，明旨顧切責之。 然則自今以後，敗將當不問矣。 文臣未必無才能，乃有寧甘斥黜必不肯任不敢任者，以任亦罪，不任亦罪，不任之罪猶輕，而任之罪更重也。 誠欲使諸臣踴躍任事，在寬文法，原情實，分別去留，毋以一眚棄賢才。 至韎韐之夫，不使怯且欺者幸乎其間，則賞罰以平，文武用命矣。
Shaanxi coordinator Gan Xuekuo asked to punish officers who let rebels escape; the throne rebuked him instead. From now on, defeated generals need never answer. Able civil officials refuse office because serving is punished and refusing is punished—and serving is punished more harshly. To make ministers serve boldly, relax law, weigh circumstances, distinguish merit and fault, and not discard talent for one error. Among armored men, do not let cowards and frauds thrive—then rewards and punishments will balance and all will obey.
120
帝以撫臣不任者，無所指實，責令再陳。 乃上言曰：
The emperor, finding no names, ordered specifics. He submitted:
121
朝廷賞罰無章，於是諸臣之不肯任不敢任者罪，而肯任敢任者亦罪，且其罪反重。 勸懲無當，欲勘定大亂，未之前聞。 從來無詘督臣以伸庸帥者，至今而楊嗣昌不得關其說； 從來無抑言路以伸劣弁者，至今而王肇坤不得保其秩。 王樸恇怯暴著，聽敵飽去，猶得與吳甡並論，播之天下，不大為口實哉！ 若撫臣之不肯任不敢任者，如了陜西之胡廷晏，山西之仙克謹、宋統殷、許鼎臣，何以當日處分視後皆輕？ 練國事、元默承大壞極敝之後，竭力撐持，何以當日處分較前更重？ 且近日為辦寇而誅督臣者一，逮督臣撫臣者二，褫撫臣者亦二。 甚至巡方與撫臣並議，而並逮兩按臣； 計典與失事牽合，而並褫南樞臣。 若監司、守令之獲重譴者，不可勝紀。 試問前後諸帥臣，有一誅且逮者乎？ 即降而偏裨，有一誅且逮者乎？ 甚至避寇、縱寇、養寇、助寇者，皆置弗問。 即或處分，不過降級戴罪而已。 然則諸將之不肯任不敢任者，直謂之無罪可乎？ 是陛下於文武二途，委任同，責成不同。 明旨所謂一體者，終非一體矣。
Without clear rewards and punishments, those who refuse office and those who accept it are both guilty—and the willing bear the heavier guilt. Misplaced encouragement makes quelling chaos unheard of. Never before were civil supervisors disgraced to elevate mediocre commanders—until Yang Sichang could not prevail; never before was the remonstrance path crushed for inferior officers—until Wang Zhaokun lost his rank. Wang Pu let the enemy depart sated yet ranks with Wu Shen—what scandal for the realm! Coordinators who failed like Hu Tingyan and Xu Dingchen were punished more lightly than later cases—why? Lian Guoshi and Yuan Mo, inheriting ruin, strove to hold the line—why were they punished more harshly? Recently one supreme commander was executed for bandits, two coordinators seized, two stripped. Even touring inspectors were seized with coordinators; examination honors were tied to failure and the southern chief minister stripped. Countless surveillance officials, prefects, and magistrates were heavily punished. Name a commander who was executed or seized. Name a subordinate officer executed or seized. Those who avoided, released, fed, or aided rebels went unpunished. When punished at all, it was mere demotion or wearing guilt. Are generals who refuse service truly guiltless? Your Majesty entrusts civil and military alike yet demands different standards. Edicts speak of unity—yet civil and military are not one.
122
不特此也。 按臣曾周當舊撫艱去，力障寇鋒，初非失事，乃竟從逮配，將來無肯任敢任之按臣矣。 道臣祝萬齡拮據兵食，寢餌俱廢，至疽發於背，而遽行削籍，將來無肯任敢任之監司矣。 史洪謨作令宜陽，戰守素備，賊渡澠池，不敢薄城，及知六安，復有全城之績，而褫奪驟加，將來無肯任敢任之州縣矣。 賊薄永寧，舊蜀撫張論與子給事鼎延傾貲募士，夙夜登陴，及論物故，鼎延請恤，並其子官奪之，將來無肯任敢任之鄉官矣。 吏部惟雜職多弊，臣鄉吳羽文竭力厘剔，致刀筆賈豎哄然而起，羽文略不為撓，乃以起廢一事，長系深求，將來無肯任敢任之部曹矣。
Nor is that all. Inspector Zeng Zhou blocked rebels during a coordinator's mourning yet was banished—who will serve boldly on inspection tours? Circuit intendant Zhu Wanling labored until sores broke on his back yet was struck from the rolls—who will serve as intendant? Magistrate Shi Hongmo held Yiyang and Lu'an yet was suddenly stripped—who will hold local office boldly? Zhang Lun and his son defended Yongning at their own cost yet lost office when the father died—who will serve as local gentry? Wu Yuwen rectified ministry abuses and was long imprisoned for raising the dismissed—who will serve in the ministries boldly?
123
臣讀明旨，謂諸事皆經確核，以議處有銓部，議罪有法司，稽核糾舉有按臣也。 不知詔旨一下，銓部即議降議革，有肯執奏曰「此不當處」者乎？ 一下法司，即擬配擬戍，有肯執奏曰「此不當罪」者乎？ 至查核失事，按臣不過據事上聞，有原功中之罪、罪中之功，乞貸於朝廷者乎？ 是非諸臣不肯分別也，知陛下一意重創，言之必不聽，或反以甚其罪也。 所以行間失事，無日不議處議罪，而於蕩寇安民毫無少補。 則今日所少者，豈非大公之賞罰哉！
The edict says all was verified—yet the Ministry of Personnel, courts, and inspectors each only report upward. Once edicts descend, the Ministry of Personnel demotes at once—who dares object? Courts at once propose banishment—who dares say the guilt does not fit? Inspectors report failures—who begs the throne to weigh merit within guilt? Ministers do not refuse to distinguish—they know the throne demands harsh punishment and silence deepens guilt. Daily punishments on the frontiers bring no peace to the people. What lacks today is great public justice in rewards and punishments!
124
帝得奏大怒，命削籍，撫按解京訊治。 河南人聞之，若失慈母。 左良玉偕將士七十余人合奏乞留，巡按金光辰亦備列其功狀以告。 帝為動容，命釋還戴罪辦賊。
The emperor struck him from the rolls and ordered him sent to the capital for trial. Henan mourned him as if losing a mother. Zuo Liangyu and seventy officers begged to keep him; inspector Jin Guangchen listed his merits. Moved, the emperor released him to serve wearing guilt against bandits.
125
十年正月，討平舞陽大盜楊四。 論功當進秩，總理王家禎復薦之。 乃擢按察僉事，監安、廬二郡軍。 其年冬，太子將出閣。 奏言：「陛下言教不如身教。 請謹幽獨，恤民窮，優大臣，容直諫，寬拙吏，薄貨財，疏滯獄，俾太子得習見習聞，為他日出治臨民之本。」 帝深納之。
In the tenth year, first month, he pacified the great bandit Yang Si of Wuyang. Merit entitled him to promotion; Supreme Commander Wang Jiazhen recommended him again. He was made vice surveillance commissioner supervising An and Lu armies. That winter the heir apparent was to leave the palace. He memorialized: "Teaching by example surpasses words. Guard your solitude, pity the poor, favor ministers, tolerate frank counsel, spare clumsy officials, lighten levies, clear prisons—so the heir may learn to govern. The emperor deeply accepted it.
126
是時，賊大擾江北，開遠數有功。 巡撫史可法薦其治行卓異，進秩副使，監軍如故。 十三年，與總兵官黃得功等大破革裏眼諸賊，賊遂乞降。 朝議將用為河南巡撫，竟以勞瘁卒官，軍民鹹為泣下。 贈太仆少卿。
Bandits then ravaged Jiangbei; Kaiyuan won repeated victories. Grand coordinator Shi Kefa praised his governance; he was promoted to vice commissioner while keeping military supervision. In the thirteenth year he and Huang Degong crushed the Ge liyan rebels, who surrendered. The court was to make him Henan grand coordinator, but he died of exhaustion in office; soldiers and civilians wept. He was posthumously made Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Studs.
127
成勇，字仁有，安樂人。 天啟五年進士。 授饒州推官。 謁鄒元標於吉水，師事之。 中使至，知府以下郊迎，勇不往，且捕笞其從人。 丁內外艱。 歷開封、歸德二府推官。 流賊攻歸德，擊走之。
Cheng Yong, whose courtesy name was Renyou, came from Anle. He received his jinshi degree in the fifth year of Tianqi. He was appointed investigating magistrate of Raozhou. He visited Zou Yuanbiao at Jishui and became his student. When palace envoys arrived, the prefect welcomed them in the suburbs; Yong refused and flogged their attendants. He mourned both parents. He served as investigating magistrate at Kaifeng and Guide. When rebels attacked Guide, he drove them off.
128
崇禎十年，行取入京。 時變考選例，優者得為翰林。 公論首勇，而吏部尚書田唯嘉抑之，勇得南京吏部主事以去。 明年二月，帝御經筵，問講官保舉考選得失，諭德黃景昉訟勇及朱天麟屈。 帝親策諸臣，天麟得翰林，而勇以先赴南京不與。 尋用御史塗必泓言，授南京御史。
In the tenth year of Chongzhen he entered the capital on metropolitan selection. Selection rules changed; top candidates could enter the Hanlin. Public opinion favored Yong, but Minister Tian Weijia suppressed him; Yong took a Nanjing ministry post and left. The next year at the classics lecture the emperor asked about selection; Lecturer Huang Jingfang pleaded Yong and Zhu Tianlin were wronged. The emperor examined candidates personally; Tianlin entered Hanlin while Yong, already in Nanjing, did not participate. Soon, on Censor Tu Bihong's recommendation, he became a Nanjing censor.
129
楊嗣昌奪情入閣，言者鹹獲譴。 勇憤，其年九月上疏言：「嗣昌秉樞兩年，一籌莫展，邊警屢驚，群寇滿野。 清議不畏，名教不畏，萬世公義不畏，臣竊為青史慮。」 疏入，帝大怒，削籍提訊，詰主使姓名。 勇獄中上書言：「臣十二年外吏，數十日南臺，無權可招，無賄可納，不知有黨。」 帝怒，竟戍寧波衛。 中外薦者十余疏，不召。 後以御史張瑋言，執政合詞請擢用，帝以勇宥罪方新，不當復職，命以他官用。 甫聞命，而京師陷。
Yang Sichang entered the Grand Secretariat while still in mourning; every critic was punished. Furious, Yong memorialized that September: "Sichang has held power two years without a plan; the frontier alarms repeatedly and rebels fill the countryside. He fears neither public opinion, nor moral teaching, nor eternal justice—I fear for how history will judge this." The emperor struck him from the rolls, interrogated him, and demanded who had put him up to it. From prison Yong wrote: "Twelve years as a local official, weeks as a censor—I had no patron to serve and no bribes to take; I know no faction." The emperor banished him to Ningbo Guard. More than ten recommendation memorials came from court and country—in vain. Later the chief ministers asked to employ him on Zhang Wei's recommendation; the emperor said his pardon was too recent and ordered another post— but before he could take it the capital fell.
130
福王時，起御史，不赴。 披緇為僧，越十五年而終。
The Prince of Fu made him a censor; he refused. He became a monk and died fifteen years later.
131
陳龍正
Chen Longzheng
132
陳龍正，字惕龍，嘉善人。 父於王，福建按察使。 龍正遊高攀龍門。 崇禎七年成進士，授中書舍人。 時政尚綜核，中外爭為深文以避罪，東廠緝事尤冤濫。
Chen Longzheng, whose courtesy name was Tielong, came from Jiashan. His father Yu Wang was Fujian surveillance commissioner. Longzheng studied under Gao Panlong. He became a jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen and was appointed a secretarial draftsman. Government favored harsh scrutiny; officials everywhere wrote severe charges to avoid blame, and the Eastern Depot was worst of all.
133
十一年五月，熒惑守心，下詔修省，有「哀懇上帝」語。 龍正讀之泣，上《養和》、《好生》二疏。 略曰：「回天在好生，好生無過減死。 臯陶贊舜曰『罪疑惟輕』，是聖人於折獄不能無失也。 蓋獄情至隱，人命至重，故不貴專信，而取兼疑，不務必得，而甘或失。 臣居家所見聞，四方罪犯，無甚窮兇奇謀者，及來京師，此等乃無虛月。 且罪案一成，立就誅磔，亦宜有所懲戒，何犯者若此累累？ 臣願陛下懷帝舜之疑，寧使聖主有過仁之舉，臣下獲不經之愆。」 蓋陰指東廠事也。 越數日，果諭提督中官王之心不得輕視人命雲。 其冬，京師戒嚴，詔廷臣舉堪任督、撫者。 御史葉紹颙舉龍正。 久之，刑部主事趙奕昌請訪求天下真賢才。 帝令奕昌自舉，亦以龍正對。 帝皆不用。
In the eleventh year, fifth month, Mars stood in the Heart; the emperor ordered self-examination, pleading earnestly to Heaven. Longzheng wept and submitted his Nurturing Harmony and Cherishing Life memorials. He argued: "Restoring Heaven's favor means cherishing life—and cherishing life means sparing the condemned. Gao Yao praised Shun: when guilt is doubtful, judge lightly—even sages err in court. Cases are hidden and lives precious—so doubt the prosecution rather than demand certainty, and accept occasional mercy over relentless punishment. At home I saw few truly monstrous criminals; in the capital scarcely a month passes without executions. Cases end in immediate execution—yet offenders only multiply. Where is the deterrent? I beg Your Majesty to harbor Shun's doubt—better the ruler seem overly humane than ministers fear to speak." This covertly targeted the Eastern Depot. Days later the throne instructed eunuch Wang Zhixin not to treat life lightly. That winter, with the capital on alert, ministers were asked to recommend commanders and coordinators. Censor Ye Shaoyong recommended Longzheng. Later chief clerk Zhao Yichang asked the throne to seek true talent nationwide. The emperor told Yichang to name someone; he too named Longzheng. The emperor used neither man.
134
龍正居冷曹，好言事。 十二年十月，彗星見。 是歲冬至，大雷電雨雹。 十三年二月，京師大風，天黃日眚，浹旬不解。 龍正皆應詔條奏，大指在聽言省刑。
Longzheng held a minor post and loved to speak on policy. In the twelfth year, tenth month, a comet appeared. That winter solstice brought thunder, lightning, and hail. In the thirteenth year, second month, great winds yellowed the sky and dimmed the sun for ten days. Longzheng answered each omen with memorials urging the throne to listen and lighten punishments.
135
十五年夏，帝復下詔求言，云「拯困蘇殘，不知何道」。 龍正上言：「拯困蘇殘，以生財為本，但財非折色之謂。 以折色為財，則取於人而易盡，必知本色為財，則生於地而不窮。 今持籌之臣曰設處，曰搜括，曰加派，皆損下之事，聚斂之別名也。 民日病，國奚由足？ 臣謂宜專意墾荒，申明累朝永不起科之制，招集南人巨賈，盡墾荒田，使畿輔、河南、山東菽粟日多，則京倉之積，邊軍之餉，皆可隨宜取給。 或平糴，或拜爵，或中監，國家命脈不專倚數千里外之轉運，則民間加派自可盡除。」 然是時中原多殘破，有田不得耕，龍正執常理而已。 翌日復進《用人探本疏》，帝皆優容焉。
In the fifteenth summer the emperor again sought counsel: "To rescue the distressed—I know not how." Longzheng replied: "Relief begins with real wealth—not converted silver levies. Silver taken from the people is soon exhausted; grain from the earth is inexhaustible. Today's financiers speak of arrangement, exaction, and surtaxes—all names for squeezing the people. The people grow poorer daily—how can the state be rich? Open wasteland, uphold the old rule that new fields pay no tax, recruit southern merchants to farm idle land in the capital region, Henan, and Shandong—then granaries and frontier pay need not depend on distant transport. Fair sales, honors, or supervised farming could follow—then the realm need not depend on transport from afar and surtaxes could end." Yet the central plains lay in ruins and fields could not be tilled—Longzheng spoke from principle alone. The next day he submitted Probing the Root of Employing Men; the emperor received it leniently.
136
給事中黃雲師劾其學非而博，言偽而辯，又以進墾荒議為陵競。 帝不問。 時議欲用龍正為吏部，御史黃澍以偽學詆之。 十七年正月，左遷南京國子監丞。 甫抵家而京師陷。
Supervising Secretary Huang Yunshi impeached his learning as shallow but showy and his wasteland proposal as presumptuous. The emperor ignored it. Some wished to appoint him to the Ministry of Personnel; Censor Huang Shu denounced him as a false scholar. In the seventeenth year, first month, he was demoted to vice director of the Nanjing Directorate of Education. He had just reached home when the capital fell.
137
福王立於南京，用為祠祭員外郎，不就。 南京不守，龍正已得疾，遂卒。
The Prince of Fu appointed him sacrifices attendant; he refused. When Nanjing fell, Longzheng was already ill and died.
138
贊曰：崇禎時，僉壬相繼枋政，天下多故，事之可言者眾矣。 許譽卿諸人，抨擊時宰，有直臣之風。 然傅朝佑死杖下，姜埰、熊開元得重譴，而詹爾選抗雷霆之威，顧獲放免。 言天子易，言大臣難，信哉。 湯開遠以疏遠處僚，侃侃論事，憤惋溢於辭表。 就其所列國勢，亦重可慨矣夫！
The historian comments: Under Chongzhen, crafty men held power in succession; the realm was troubled and much deserved to be said. Xu Yuqing and his fellows attacked the ministers of the day with a censor's integrity. Fu Chaoyou died under the rod; Jiang Cai and Xiong Kaiyuan were heavily punished; yet Zhan Erxuan defied imperial wrath and was spared. Criticizing the emperor is easy; criticizing great ministers is hard—how true. Tang Kaiyuan, from a distant post, spoke frankly while grief and anger filled his memorials. Judging from the state of the realm he described, how deeply it moves one to sigh!