1
宋一鶴 〈（沈壽崇蕭漢）〉 馮師孔 〈（黃絅等）〉 林日瑞 〈（郭天吉等）〉 蔡懋德 〈（趙建極等）〉 衛景瑗 〈（朱家仕等）〉 朱之馮 〈（朱敏泰等）〉 陳士奇 〈（陳纁等）〉 龍文光 〈（劉佳引）〉 劉之勃 〈（劉鎮藩）〉
Song Yihe (Shen Shoucong, Xiao Han)〉 Feng Shikong (Huang Yin and others)〉 Lin Rirui (Guo Tianji and others)〉 Cai Maode (Zhao Jianji and others)〉 Wei Jingyuan (Zhu Jiashi and others)〉 Zhu Zhifeng (Zhu Mintai and others)〉 Chen Shiqi (Chen Xi and others)〉 Long Wenguang (Liu Jiayin)〉 Liu Zhibo (Liu Zhenfan)〉
2
宋一鶴，宛平人。 為諸生，見天下大亂，即究心兵事。 崇禎三年舉於鄉。 授教諭，以薦遷丘縣知縣，復以薦加東昌同知，仍知縣事。
Song Yihe was from Wanping. While still a licentiate, he saw the empire falling into chaos and threw himself into the study of war. He passed the provincial examination in Chongzhen 3. He was made an instructor, then recommended up to magistrate of Qiu County, and recommended again to serve as vice-prefect of Dongchang while continuing to administer the county.
3
巡按御史禹好善以一鶴知兵，薦之。 授兵部員外郎，尋擢天津兵備僉事，改飭汝南兵備，駐信陽。
Touring censor Yu Haoshan recommended him on the ground that Yihe knew warfare. He was appointed a vice director in the Ministry of War, soon promoted to vice commissioner for Tianjin military preparations, then reassigned to oversee Runan defenses and stationed at Xinyang.
4
時熊文燦總理南畿、河南、山西、陜西、湖廣、四川軍務，主撫議。 一鶴降其盜魁黃三耀，又降其死賊順天王之黨劉喜才。 一鶴先後剿劇賊，斬首七百有奇。 從副將龍在田破賊固始，一鶴毒殺其賊千人。 左良玉降其賊李萬慶，一鶴撫而定之數萬。 文燦屢上其功，薦之，進副使，調鄖陽。
Xiong Wencan then directed military affairs across the southern capital region, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan, and favored a conciliatory policy toward the rebels. Yihe induced the bandit leader Huang Sanyao to submit, and likewise won over Liu Xicai, a follower of the slain rebel known as Shuntianwang. In successive campaigns against major rebel bands he took more than seven hundred heads. He followed vice general Long Zaitian in defeating rebels at Gushi, and himself poisoned a thousand of the enemy. After Zuo Liangyu induced the rebel Li Wanqing to surrender, Yihe pacified and settled tens of thousands of his followers. Wencan repeatedly memorialized his achievements and had him promoted to vice commissioner and transferred to Yunyang.
5
文燦誅，楊嗣昌代，以一鶴能，薦之，擢右僉都御史，代方孔炤巡撫湖廣。 時湖廣賊為諸將所逼，多竄入四川。 一鶴以雲南軍移鎮當陽，中官劉元斌以京軍移鎮荊門，相掎角。 左良玉等大破賊於瑪瑙山，一鶴敘功增俸。 遣副將王允成、孫應元等大破賊汝才五大營於豐邑坪，斬首三千余級。 嗣昌署一鶴荊楚第一功。 獻忠陷襄陽，與革裏眼、左金王等東萃黃州、汝寧間。 一鶴移駐蘄州，焚舟，遏賊渡。 賊移而北，一鶴又斷橫江，賊不敢渡。
After Wencan was put to death, Yang Sichang succeeded him; impressed by Yihe's ability, he recommended him for promotion to right vice censor-in-chief and appointment as grand coordinator of Huguang in place of Fang Kongzhao. By then the Huguang rebels, harried by the field commanders, were mostly slipping into Sichuan. Yihe shifted the Yunnan troops to hold Dangyang while the eunuch Liu Yuanbin moved capital troops to Jingmen, the two posts working in mutual support. Zuo Liangyu and others routed the rebels at Mount Manao, and Yihe's rewards were entered on the rolls with an increase in salary. He sent vice generals Wang Yuncheng and Sun Yingyuan and others to crush the five main camps of the rebel Rucai at Fengyiping, taking more than three thousand heads. Sichang credited Yihe with the foremost achievement in the Jing-Chu theater. Xianzhong seized Xiangyang and, with Geli Yan, Zuo Jinwang, and others, massed east of the line between Huangzhou and Runing. Yihe shifted his headquarters to Qizhou, burned the boats, and blocked the rebels from crossing the river. When the rebels moved north, Yihe again blocked the Hengjiang crossing and they did not dare attempt a passage.
6
嗣昌卒，丁啟睿代。 啟睿破獻忠於麻城，會一鶴及鳳陽總督朱大典、安慶巡撫鄭二陽蹙賊左金王、老回回等於潛山、懷寧山中。 一鶴又督參將王嘉謨等追破左金王、爭世王、治世王於燈草坪，斬首千八百級。 十五年，遣部將陳治等合江北兵，破賊於桐城、舒城。
After Sichang died, Ding Qirui took his place. Qirui defeated Xianzhong at Macheng, then joined Yihe, Fengyang governor Zhu Dadian, and Anqing grand coordinator Zheng Eryang in driving Zuo Jinwang, Lao Huihui, and others into the Qianshan and Huaining hills. Yihe then directed brigade generals including Wang Jiamo in a pursuit that broke Zuo Jinwang, Zhengshiwang, and Zhishiwang at Dengcaoping, taking eighteen hundred heads. In year fifteen he sent subordinates such as Chen Zhi to combine with troops north of the Yangzi and defeat the rebels at Tongcheng and Shucheng.
7
一鶴起鄉舉，不十年秉節鉞，廷臣不能無忮。 御史衛周允上疏醜詆一鶴。 一鶴屢建功，然亦往往蒙時詬。 嗣昌父名鶴，一鶴投揭，自署其名曰「一鳥」，楚人傳笑之。 一鶴亦連疏引疾，帝疑其偽，下所司嚴核。 先以襄陽陷，奪職戴罪，至是許解官候代。
Yihe had entered service through the provincial examinations and within a decade held military command; courtiers could hardly avoid envy. Censor Wei Zhouyun memorialized the throne with a vicious attack on Yihe. Though Yihe won repeated victories, he was just as often caught up in the controversies of the day. Sichang's father had been named He, so when Yihe submitted a memorial he signed himself "One Bird" instead of "One Crane," and the people of Chu made a laughingstock of it. Yihe too sent repeated memorials pleading illness; the emperor suspected pretense and ordered a strict inquiry by the relevant offices. He had already been stripped of rank and left to atone after the fall of Xiangyang; now he was allowed to resign and wait for a successor.
8
趨救汝寧，汝寧城已陷。 十二月，襄陽、德安、荊州連告陷，一鶴趨承天護獻陵。 陵軍柵木為城，賊積薪燒之，煙窨純德山。 城穿，一鼓而登，犯獻陵，毀禋殿。 守陵巡按御史李振聲、總兵官錢中選皆降，遂攻承天，歲除，明年正月二日，有以城下賊者。 城陷，一鶴自經，故留守沈壽崇、鐘祥知縣蕭漢俱死，分巡副使張鳳翥走入山中。 先是左良玉軍擾襄、樊，一鶴疏糾之。 既，良玉自襄走承天，軍饑而掠，乞餉於一鶴，不許。 良玉銜之。 至是，一鶴謀留良玉兵，良玉走武昌，故及於難。
He rushed to relieve Runing only to find the city already lost. In the twelfth month came word that Xiangyang, De'an, and Jingzhou had fallen in turn; Yihe raced to Chengtian to defend the Xian Mausoleum. The garrison threw up a timber palisade; the rebels piled fuel against it and set it ablaze until smoke wrapped Mount Chunde. Once the defenses gave way they scaled the wall at a single rush, entered the mausoleum precinct, and wrecked the main sacrificial hall. Touring censor Li Zhensheng and commander Qian Zhongxuan, charged with guarding the mausoleum, both surrendered; the rebels then turned on Chengtian. On New Year's Eve and the second day of the first month of the new year, someone inside opened the gates to them. When the city fell Yihe hanged himself. Former garrison commander Shen Shoucong and Zhongxiang magistrate Xiao Han died with him, while circuit vice commissioner Zhang Fengzhu escaped into the hills. Earlier, when Zuo Liangyu's troops had been ravaging Xiangyang and Fancheng, Yihe had memorialized against him. Later Liangyu withdrew from Xiangyang toward Chengtian; his hungry troops looted the countryside and asked Yihe for pay, which he refused. Liangyu never forgave the slight. Now Yihe hoped to keep Liangyu's force at hand, but Liangyu marched off to Wuchang instead, leaving Yihe to face the calamity alone.
9
壽崇，宣城人，都督有容子。 崇禎初武進士。 忤巡按，被劾罷，未行而賊至，遂及於難。 贈都督僉事，蔭子錦衣百戶。
Shoucong, a native of Xuancheng, was the son of regional commander You Rong. He took his military jinshi degree early in the Chongzhen reign. He had clashed with a touring censor, been impeached, and was on the point of leaving when the rebels arrived and he perished in the fighting. He was posthumously made vice regional commander, and his son was ennobled as a hereditary commander of one hundred households in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard.
10
漢，字雲濤，南豐人。 崇禎十年進士。 秩滿將行，賊薄城，即辭家廟，授帨於妾媵曰：「男忠女烈，努力自盡。」 遂出登陴，拒守五晝夜。 元旦，突圍出，趨獻陵。 賊騎環之，漢大呼：「鐘祥令在，誰敢驚陵寢者！」 賊挾之去，不殺，說降，不聽。 明日，城陷，送漢吉祥寺，謹視之，求死不得。 越三日，從僧榻得剃刀，藏之，取敝紙書楊繼盛絕命詞，紙盡，投筆起，復拾土塊畫「鐘祥縣令蕭漢願死此寺」十字於壁，即對壁自剄，血正濺字上，死矣。 賊嘉其義，用錦衣斂而瘞之。 賊退，其門人改斂之以時服，曰：「嗚呼，大白其無黷乎！ 吾師肯服賊服乎！」 悉易之。 詔贈漢大理寺丞。
Han, whose courtesy name was Yuntao, came from Nanfeng. He passed the metropolitan examination in Chongzhen 10. As his term ended and he prepared to leave, rebels closed on the city; he went straight to the family shrine and gave his sash to a concubine, saying, "Let the men be loyal and the women resolute—do your utmost to die with honor." Then he went out to the walls and held the city for five days and nights. On New Year's Day he fought his way out and rushed toward the Xian Mausoleum. Rebel horsemen ringed him about; Han cried out, "The magistrate of Zhongxiang is here—who dares disturb the royal tombs!" The rebels seized him but did not kill him; they urged him to submit, and he refused. The next day the city fell; they took Han to Jixiang Temple and kept him under close guard so that he could not find a way to die. Three days later he found a razor by a monk's pallet, hid it, and on scraps of paper copied Yang Jisheng's death poem; when the paper ran out he threw down the brush, took up a lump of earth, and wrote on the wall, "Zhongxiang Magistrate Xiao Han wishes to die in this temple." He then faced the wall and cut his throat; the blood fell squarely on the characters, and he died. The rebels admired his integrity and buried him in silken robes. After the rebels withdrew, his disciples reburied him in proper dress, saying, "Would the Great White Star suffer defilement! Would our teacher have worn rebel garb! They replaced every article of the rebel burial. An edict posthumously made him vice director of the Court of Judicial Review.
11
振聲，米脂人。 與自成同縣而同姓，自成呼之為兄，後復殺之。 將發獻陵，大聲起山谷，若雷震虎嗥，懼，乃止。
Zhensheng was from Mizhi. He shared Zicheng's county and surname; Zicheng called him elder brother, yet later had him killed. As they prepared to plunder the mausoleum, a great noise rolled through the valleys like thunder and tiger roars; terrified, they desisted.
12
馮師孔，字景魯，原武人。 萬歷四十四年進士。 授刑部主事，歷員外郎、郎中。 恤刑陜西，釋疑獄百八十人。 天啟初，出為真定知府，遷井陘兵備副使，憂歸。
Feng Shikong, courtesy name Jinglu, was from Yuanwu. He received his jinshi degree in Wanli 44. He entered the Ministry of Justice as a principal clerk and rose through vice director to director. While reviewing capital cases in Shaanxi he freed one hundred eighty prisoners whose guilt was uncertain. Early in Tianqi he became prefect of Zhending, then vice commissioner for Jingxing military preparations, and returned home in mourning.
13
崇禎二年，起臨鞏兵備，改固原，再以憂歸。 服闋，起懷來兵備副使，移密雲。 忤鎮守中官鄧希詔。 希詔摭他事劾之，下吏，削籍歸。
In Chongzhen 2 he was recalled to oversee defenses at Lingong, transferred to Guyuan, and again went home in mourning. After mourning he resumed service as vice commissioner at Huailai and was moved to Miyun. He clashed with the garrison eunuch Deng Xizhao. Xizhao found other charges with which to impeach him; he was arrested, struck from the register, and sent home in disgrace.
14
十五年詔舉邊才，用薦起故官，監通州軍。 勤王兵集都下，剽劫公行，割婦人首報功。 師孔大怒，以其卒抵死。 明年，舉天下賢能方面官，鄭三俊薦師孔。 六月，擢右僉都御史，代蔡官治巡撫陜西，調兵食，趣總督孫傳庭出關。
In year fifteen an edict sought frontier talent; on recommendation he was restored to office and placed in charge of troops at Tongzhou. Relief armies massed outside the capital, looting openly and even cutting off women's heads to claim battle honors. Shikong flew into a rage and set his troops on them until they were killed. The next year the court called for able frontier officials empire-wide, and Zheng Sanjun recommended Shikong. In the sixth month he was made right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Shaanxi in place of Cai Guanzhi; he mustered men and grain and pressed governor-general Sun Chuanting to take the field beyond the passes.
15
當是之時，賊十三家七十二營降，師殆盡，惟李自成、張獻忠存。 自成尤強，據襄陽。 以河洛、荊襄四戰之地，關中其故鄉，士馬甲天下，據之可以霸，決策西向。 憚潼關天險，將自淅川龍車寨間道入陜西。 傳庭聞之，令師孔率四川、甘肅兵駐商、雒為掎角，而師孔趣戰。 無何，我師敗績於南陽，賊遂乘勝破潼關，大隊長驅，勢如破竹。 師孔整眾守西安，人或咎師孔趣師致敗也。 賊至，守將王根子開門入之。 十月十一日，城陷，師孔投井死。 同死者，按察使黃絅，長安知縣吳從義，秦府長史章尚絅，指揮崔爾達。
By then the thirteen rebel houses and seventy-two camps had largely submitted and their armies were spent; only Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong still held out. Zicheng was the strongest of all and held Xiangyang. He judged that the Yellow-Luo and Jing-Xiang regions were perpetual battlegrounds, that Guanzhong was his homeland and its armies the finest in the empire, and that possession of them would make him master of the realm; he decided to strike west. Wary of the natural fortress at Tong Pass, he meant to slip into Shaanxi by a side route from Xichuan through Longche Stockade. When Chuanting learned of the plan he ordered Shikong to station Sichuan and Gansu troops at Shang and Luo in mutual support, but Shikong urged an immediate engagement. Soon afterward the imperial army was routed at Nanyang; the rebels pressed the advantage, smashed through Tong Pass, and swept forward in main force with irresistible momentum. Shikong rallied his troops to hold Xi'an, though some blamed his eagerness to fight for the disaster. When the rebels arrived, the garrison commander Wang Genzi opened the gates to them. On the eleventh of the tenth month the city fell and Shikong drowned himself in a well. He was joined in death by surveillance commissioner Huang Yin, Chang'an magistrate Wu Congyi, Qin princedom chief steward Zhang Shangjiong, and commander Cui Erda.
16
炯，字季侯，光州人。 天啟二年進士。 崇禎中，以淮海兵備副使憂歸。 流賊陷州城，絅方廬墓山中，子彜如死於賊，其妹亦被難。 服除，起臨鞏兵備副使，調番兵，大破李自成潼關原。 尋以右參政分守洮岷，擢陜西按察使。 自成勸之降，叱曰：「潼關之役，汝，我戮余也，今日肯降汝耶？」 妻王赴井，絅得間亦赴井，皆死。 贈太常卿，謚忠烈。
Yin, courtesy name Jihou, was from Guangzhou. He took his jinshi degree in Tianqi 2. During the Chongzhen reign he went home in mourning from his post as Huai-Hai defense vice commissioner. When bandits seized the prefectural seat, Yin was living in mourning seclusion in the hills; his son Yiru was killed by the rebels and his sister perished in the turmoil as well. After mourning he resumed service at Lingong, raised tribal auxiliaries, and routed Li Zicheng on Tongguan Plain. He was soon made right administrative commissioner for Tao and Min and then promoted to Shaanxi surveillance commissioner. Zicheng urged him to submit; he shouted back, "At Tong Pass you were the butcher and I the butchered—would I bow to you now?" His wife Wang threw herself into a well; Yin found a moment and followed her—both died. He was posthumously made vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices with the posthumous title Zhonglie, "Loyal and Stern."
17
尚絅，會稽人。 聞城陷，投印井中，冠服趨王府端禮門雉經。 贈按察司副使。
Shangjiong was from Kuaiji. When he heard the city had fallen he threw his seal into a well, put on his official cap and robes, and hanged himself at the princedom's Duanli Gate. He was posthumously made vice surveillance commissioner.
18
從義，山陰人。 兒時夢一人拊其背曰：「歲寒松柏，其在斯乎。」 崇禎十三年成進士，之官，兵荒，從義練丁壯三百人殺賊。 賊破秦，從義曰：「嗟乎，豈非天哉！ 吾唯昔夢是踐矣。」 遂投井死。 贈按察司僉事。
Congyi was from Shanyin. As a boy he dreamed that someone clapped his shoulder and said, "When the year turns cold, the pine and cypress endure—is that not you?" He passed the metropolitan examination in Chongzhen 13; when he took up his post amid war and famine, he trained three hundred able-bodied men and fought the rebels. When the rebels overran Qin, Congyi said, "Alas—was this not foretold by Heaven! I have only to fulfill the dream of my youth." Then he threw himself into a well and died. He was posthumously made surveillance vice commissioner.
19
爾達，不知何許人，亦投井死之。 自是長安多義井。
Erda, whose home is unknown, likewise drowned himself in a well. After that Chang'an was dotted with wells remembered for righteous suicides.
20
賊遂執秦王存樞，處其宮署，置百官，稱王西安。 坐王府中，日執士大夫拷掠，索金錢，分兵四出攻抄。 有小吏邱從周者，長不及三尺，乘醉罵自成曰：「若一小民無賴，妄踞王府，將僭偽號，而所為暴虐若此，何能久！」 賊怒，斫殺之。 而布政使平湖陸之祺及裏居吏部郎乾州宋企郊、提學僉事真寧鞏焴皆降賊，得寵用。
The rebels seized Prince Cunshu of Qin, took over the princely compound, set up a full bureaucracy, and proclaimed a kingdom at Xi'an. From the princely palace he had scholar-officials seized daily, tortured for gold and silver, and sent troops in every direction to raid and loot. A petty clerk named Qiu Congzhou, less than three feet tall, cursed Zicheng while drunk: "You base ruffian have seized the princely palace and mean to play at kingship, yet rule with such cruelty—how long can you last!" The rebels flew into a rage and cut him down. Provincial administration commissioner Lu Zhiqi of Pinghu, retired Ministry of Personnel director Song Qijiao of Qianzhou, and education vice commissioner Gong Huang of Zhenning all submitted to the rebels and won favor.
21
先是，戶部尚書倪元璐奏曰：「天下諸藩，孰與秦、晉？ 秦晉山險，用武國也。 請諭二王，以剿賊保秦責秦王，以遏賊不入責晉王。 王能殺賊，假王以大將軍權； 不能殺賊，悉輸王所有餉軍，與其賫盜。 賊平，益封王各一子如親王，亦足以明報矣。 二王獨不鑒十一宗之禍乎？ 賢王忠而熟於計，必知所處矣。」 書上，不報。 至是，賊果破秦，悉為賊有焉。
Earlier Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu had memorialized: "Among all the imperial princedoms, which can match Qin and Jin? Qin and Jin occupy rugged mountain country—they are martial domains by nature. Let the two princes be told that the Prince of Qin must suppress rebels to save Qin, and the Prince of Jin must keep rebels from entering Jin territory. If a prince can destroy the rebels, grant him the powers of a great general; if he cannot, let him surrender all his wealth to feed the army rather than enrich the enemy. When peace is restored, ennoble one son of each prince at the rank of a full imperial prince—that would be reward enough. Will these two princes alone refuse to learn from the ruin of the eleven princedoms? Princes who are loyal and shrewd will surely know what to do." The memorial went up unanswered. Now the rebels did break Qin, and the whole region fell into their hands.
22
林日瑞，字浴元，詔安人。 萬歷四十四年進士。 崇禎初，以江西右參政憂歸。 服闋，起故官，分守湖廣。 屬縣鉛山界閩，妖人聚山中謀不軌，圍鉛山。 日瑞擊敗之，搗其巢。 屢遷陜西左、右布政使。
Lin Rirui, courtesy name Yuyuan, was from Zhao'an. He received his jinshi degree in Wanli 44. Early in Chongzhen he went home in mourning from his post as right administrative commissioner of Jiangxi. After mourning he resumed his former rank with divided defense duties in Huguang. The subordinate county of Qianshan bordered Fujian; cultists gathered in the hills to plot rebellion and besieged the city. Rirui routed them and destroyed their stronghold. He rose through the left and right provincial administration commissions of Shaanxi.
23
十五年夏，遷右僉都御史，代呂大器巡撫甘肅。 明年十一月，李自成屠慶陽。 其別將賀錦犯蘭州，蘭州人開城迎賊。 賊遂渡河。 涼州、莊浪二衛降，即進逼甘州。 日瑞聞賊急，結西羌，嚴兵以待，而自率副將郭天吉等扼諸河干。 十二月，賊踏冰過，直抵甘州城下。 日瑞入城，戰且守。 大雪深丈許，樹盡介，角幹折，手足皸瘃，守者鹹怨。 賊乘夜坎雪而登，城陷，執日瑞。 誘以官，不從，磔於市。
In the summer of year fifteen he was made right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Gansu in place of Lü Daqi. The following eleventh month Li Zicheng sacked Qingyang. His lieutenant He Jin struck at Lanzhou, and the townspeople opened the gates to the rebels. The rebels then crossed the Yellow River. The guards of Liangzhou and Zhuanglang submitted, and the rebels advanced straight on Ganzhou. Hearing of the emergency, Rirui allied with the Western Qiang, marshaled his forces, and personally led vice generals including Guo Tianji to hold the river crossings. In the twelfth month the rebels crossed on the ice and marched straight to the walls of Ganzhou. Rirui entered the city and fought on the walls. Snow lay more than ten feet deep; trees were encased in ice, branches snapped, and the defenders' hands and feet cracked with frost—all morale collapsed into bitter complaint. The rebels piled snow into ramps by night and scaled the walls; the city fell and Rirui was taken. They offered him office; he refused and was torn apart in the marketplace.
24
初，日瑞撫甘肅，廷議以其不任也，遣楊汝經代之。 未至，日瑞遂及於難。
When Rirui first governed Gansu the court had judged him unequal to the post and sent Yang Rujing to replace him. He had not yet arrived when Rirui met his end.
25
天吉及總兵官馬爌，撫標中軍哈維新、姚世儒，監紀同知藍臺，裏居總兵官羅俊傑、趙宦，並死之。 賊殺居民四萬七千余人。 三邊既陷，列城望風降，惟西寧衛固守不下。 賊無後顧，乃長驅而東。 福王時，贈日瑞兵部尚書，臺太仆寺少卿，皆賜祭葬。
Guo Tianji, commander Ma Huang, grand-coordinator staff officers Ha Weixin and Yao Shiru, supervising secretary Lan Tai, and retired generals Luo Junjie and Zhao Huan all died with him. The rebels slaughtered more than forty-seven thousand civilians. With the Three Frontiers lost, city after city submitted at the rebels' approach; only Xining Guard held out. Free of any threat behind them, they marched east at full speed. Under the Prince of Fu, Rirui was posthumously made minister of war and Lan Tai vice director of the Court of the Imperial Stud; both were granted state funeral honors.
26
蔡懋德，字維立，昆山人。 少慕王守仁為人，著《管見》，宗良知之說。 舉萬歷四十七年進士，授杭州推官。 天啟間，行取入都。 同鄉顧秉謙柄國，懋德不與通，秉謙怒，以故不得顯擢。 授禮部儀制主事，進祠祭員外郎。 尚書率諸司往謁魏忠賢祠，懋德托疾不赴。
Cai Maode, courtesy name Weili, was from Kunshan. In youth he admired Wang Shouren and wrote Guanjian, taking Liangzhi's philosophy as his guide. He passed the metropolitan examination in Wanli 47 and was appointed investigating censor of Hangzhou. During Tianqi he was selected for capital service by special promotion. His fellow townsman Gu Bingqian dominated the government; Maode refused all contact, Gu took offense, and Maode was passed over for high promotion. He entered the Ministry of Rites as principal clerk for ceremonial regulations and rose to vice director for ancestral sacrifices. When the minister led the bureaus to worship at Wei Zhongxian's shrine, Maode pleaded illness and stayed away.
27
崇禎初，出為江西提學副使，好以守仁《拔本塞源論》教諸生，大抵釋氏之緒論。 遷浙江右參政，分守嘉興、湖州。 劇盜屠阿醜有眾千余，出沒太湖。 懋德曰：「此可計擒也。」 悉召瀕湖豪家，把其罪，簡壯士與同發，遂擒阿醜。 皆曰：「懋德知兵。」 內艱，服除，起井陘兵備。 旱，懋德禱，即雨。 他鄉爭迎以禱，又輒雨。 調寧遠，以守松山及修臺堡功，數敘賚。 會災異求言，懋德上《省過》、《治平》二疏，規切君相，一時鹹笑為迂。
Early in Chongzhen he became Jiangxi education vice commissioner and taught students from Shouren's Baben Siyuan Lun—discourses that were largely Buddhist in tone. He was transferred to right administrative commissioner of Zhejiang with defense duties at Jiaxing and Huzhou. The bandit chieftain Tu A'chou commanded more than a thousand men and raided around Lake Tai. Maode said, "This fellow can be taken by a ruse." He summoned the powerful families along the lake, held their crimes over them, picked stalwart men from among them, and captured A'chou. Everyone said, "Maode understands war." After mourning his mother he resumed service as Jingxing defense commissioner. During a drought Maode prayed and rain fell at once. Neighboring districts competed to bring him in to pray, and rain followed each time. He was transferred to Ningyuan, where his defense of Songshan and repair of platform forts won him repeated rewards. When omens prompted a call for frank counsel, Maode submitted his Sheng Guo and Zhi Ping memorials, rebuking emperor and chief minister alike; contemporaries dismissed him as hopelessly earnest.
28
懋德好釋氏，律身如苦行頭陀。 楊嗣昌謂其清修弱質，不宜處邊地，改濟南道。 濟南新殘破，大吏多缺人，懋德攝兩司及三道印。 遷山東按察使、河南右布政使。 田荒谷貴，民苦催科，賊復以先服不輸租相煽誘。 懋德亟檄州縣停征，上疏自劾，詔鐫七級視事。 十四年冬，擢右僉都御史，巡撫山西。 召對，賜酒饌、銀幣。 明年春，抵任，討平大盜王冕。 十月，統兵入衛京師，詔扼守龍泉、固關二關。 李自成已陷河南，懋德禦之河上。
Maode was devoted to Buddhism and disciplined himself like an ascetic monk. Yang Sichang judged his ascetic habits and slight frame unsuited to the frontier and moved him to the Jinan circuit. Jinan had just been devastated and senior posts were vacant; Maode held the seals of both commissions and all three circuits at once. He became Shandong surveillance commissioner and then right provincial administration commissioner of Henan. Fields lay fallow and grain was dear; the people groaned under tax levies, and rebels stirred them up with promises that those who had once submitted need pay no rent. Maode urgently ordered the districts to halt collection, memorialized impeaching himself, and was ordered to continue in office after a seven-grade demotion. In the winter of year fourteen he was made right vice censor-in-chief and grand coordinator of Shanxi. Called to audience, he was given wine, food, silver, and silk. The following spring he took up his post and put down the bandit chieftain Wang Mian. In the tenth month he marched troops to defend the capital and was ordered to hold the Longquan and Guguan passes. Li Zicheng had already overrun Henan, and Maode held the line along the Yellow River.
29
十六年冬，自成破潼關，據西安，盡有三秦。 十二月，懋德師次平陽，遣副將陳尚智扼守河津。 山西、京師右背、蒲州北抵保德，悉鄰賊，依黃河為險。 然窮冬冰合，賊騎得長驅。 懋德連章告急，請禁旅及保定、宣府、大同兵疾赴河干合拒。 中朝益積憂山西，言防河者甚眾，然無兵可援。 懋德以疲卒三千，當百萬狂寇。 時太原洶洶，晉王手教趣懋德還省。 十八日，懋德去平陽。 二十日，賊抵河津，自船窩東渡，尚智走還平陽。 二十二日，賊攻平陽，拔之。 尚智奔入泥源山中。 二十八日，懋德還太原。
In the winter of year sixteen Zicheng broke through Tongguan, took Xi'an, and controlled all of Shaanxi. In the twelfth month Maode encamped at Pingyang and sent deputy commander Chen Shangzhi to hold Hejin. Shanxi, the capital's right flank, and the country from Puzhou north to Baode all bordered rebel territory and looked to the Yellow River for protection. But in deep winter the river froze solid, and rebel horsemen could ride straight across. Maode sent urgent memorial after urgent memorial asking the capital garrison and forces from Baoding, Xuanfu, and Datong to rush to the river and join in blocking the enemy. The court grew increasingly alarmed for Shanxi; many officials urged river defense, but no reinforcements could be spared. Maode stood with three thousand worn-out troops against a horde said to number a million. Taiyuan was in uproar, and the Prince of Jin sent a personal letter urging Maode back to the provincial seat. On the eighteenth Maode withdrew from Pingyang. On the twentieth the rebels reached Hejin, crossed east from Chuanwo by boat, and Shangzhi fled back to Pingyang. On the twenty-second the rebels stormed Pingyang and captured it. Shangzhi fled into the mountains at Niyuan. On the twenty-eighth Maode returned to Taiyuan.
30
明年正月，自成稱王於西安。 賊既渡河，轉掠河東，列城皆陷。 於是山西巡按御史汪宗友上言曰：「晉河二千里，平陽居其半。 撫臣懋德不待春融冰泮，遽爾平陽返旆，賊即於明日報渡矣。 隨行馬步千人，即時倍道西向，召集陳尚智叛卒，移檄各路防兵援剿，乃不發一兵。 歲終至省，臣言宜提一旅，星馳而前，張疑聲討，尚冀桑榆之收，無如不聽何。 賊日遣偽官，匝月，余郡皆失，是誰之過歟！」 有詔奪官候勘，以郭景昌代之。
The following first month Zicheng declared himself king at Xi'an. After crossing the river the rebels turned to ravage the east bank, and walled city after walled city fell. Then Shanxi touring censor Wang Zongyou memorialized, saying, "Shanxi's rivers run two thousand li, and Pingyang stands at their center. Grand Coordinator Maode did not wait for the spring thaw but abruptly withdrew from Pingyang, and the very next day came word that the rebels had crossed. The thousand horse and foot who had gone with him should have marched at forced speed westward at once, rallied Chen Shangzhi's scattered troops, and called on every defensive garrison to reinforce and strike—yet not one soldier was dispatched. When he reached the provincial capital at year's end, your subject urged him to lead a single detachment and ride ahead at forced march to threaten the enemy with a feint, still hoping for a late recovery—but what could be done when he would not listen? The rebels sent their pretended officials day after day, and within a month the remaining prefectures were all lost. Whose fault is this!" An edict stripped Maode of office pending investigation and appointed Guo Jingchang to replace him.
31
二十三日，尚智叛降於賊。 於是懋德誓師於太原，布政使趙建極，監司毛文炳、藺剛中、畢拱辰，太原知府孫康周，署陽曲縣事長史範誌泰等官吏軍民鹹在。 懋德哭，眾皆哭。 罷官命適至，或請出城候代。 懋德不可，曰：「吾已辦一死矣，景昌即至，吾亦與俱死。」 調陽和兵三千協守東門。 剛中慮其內應，移之南關之外。 遣部將張雄分守新南門，召中軍副總兵應時盛入參謀議。 懋德等登城。
On the twenty-third Shangzhi defected and surrendered to the rebels. Maode then rallied the troops at Taiyuan. Provincial Administration Commissioner Zhao Jianji, surveillance commissioners Mao Wenbing, Lin Gangzhong, and Bi Gongchen, Taiyuan prefect Sun Kangzhou, Chief Clerk Fan Zhita acting as magistrate of Yangqu, and the rest of the officials, soldiers, and people were all there. Maode wept, and everyone wept with him. The order stripping him of office arrived just then, and some urged him to leave the city and await his successor. Maode refused, saying, "I have already resolved to die. When Jingchang arrives, I shall die with him as well." He assigned three thousand Yanghe troops to help hold the east gate. Gangzhong, fearing they would collude from within, posted them outside the south gate. He sent division commander Zhang Xiong to hold the new south gate and summoned deputy commander Ying Shisheng of the central army to join the war council. Maode and the others went up on the walls.
32
二月五日，賊至城下。 遣部將牛勇、朱孔訓、王永魁出戰，死之。 明日，自成具鹵簿，督眾攻城，陽和兵叛降賊。 又明日，晝晦，懋德草遺表。 須臾大風起，拔木揚砂。 調張雄守大南門，雄已縋城出降，語其黨曰：「城東南角樓，火器火藥皆在，我下即焚樓。」 夜中火起，風轉烈，守者皆散。 賊登城，懋德北面再拜，出遺表付友人賈士璋間道達京師，語人曰：「吾學道有年，已勘了死生，今日吾致命時也。」 即自剄，麾下持之。 時盛請下城巷戰，顧懋德曰：「上馬。」 懋德上馬，時盛持矛突殺賊數十人。 至炭市口，賊騎充斥，時盛呼曰：「出西門。」 懋德遽下馬曰：「我當死封疆，諸君自去。」 眾復擁懋德上馬，至水西門。 懋德叱曰：「諸君欲陷我不忠耶！」 復下馬，據地坐。 時盛已出城，殺妻子，還顧不見，復斫門入，語懋德曰：「請與公俱死。」 遂偕至三立祠。 懋德就縊未絕，時盛釋甲加其肩，乃絕。 時盛取弓弦自經。 建極危坐公堂，賊擁之見自成，不屈，將斬之。 下階呼萬歲者再，曰：「臣失守封疆，死有余罪。」 自成以為呼己也，曳還。 建極瞋目曰：「我呼大明皇帝，寧呼賊耶！」 立射殺之。 時自成執晉王，據王宮雲。
On the fifth of the second month the rebels reached the city walls. He sent division commanders Niu Yong, Zhu Kongxun, and Wang Yongkui out to fight, and all three were killed. The next day Zicheng appeared with full imperial regalia, directed the assault on the walls, and the Yanghe troops defected to the rebels. The day after that daylight turned dark, and Maode drafted his final memorial. Suddenly a fierce wind rose, uprooting trees and hurling sand through the air. Maode reassigned Zhang Xiong to the great south gate, but Xiong had already lowered himself from the wall by rope and surrendered, telling his comrades, "All the firearms and gunpowder are in the southeast corner tower. Once I come down I shall burn it." That night fire broke out. The wind grew fiercer still, and the defenders fled in every direction. The rebels scaled the walls. Maode bowed twice toward the north, gave his death memorial to his friend Jia Shizhang to carry to the capital by a secret route, and told those around him, "I have studied the Way for many years and have already settled the question of life and death. Today is the day I give my life." At once he cut his own throat, and his attendants held him up. Shisheng asked to go down and fight in the streets, turned to Maode, and said, "Mount up." Maode mounted, and Shisheng, spear in hand, charged through and killed dozens of rebels. At Tanishikou rebel horsemen filled the streets. Shisheng shouted, "Out the west gate!" Maode dismounted at once and said, "I am bound to die defending this territory. The rest of you go on." The crowd pressed Maode back onto his horse again and they reached the west water gate. Maode rebuked them, saying, "Do you mean to make a traitor of me!" He dismounted again and sat down on the ground. Shisheng had already left the city, killed his wife and children, looked back and not seeing Maode, hacked his way back through the gate, and said to him, "I ask to die with you, sir." Together they went to the Sanli Shrine. Maode had hanged himself but was not yet dead. Shisheng removed his armor and laid it on Maode's shoulders, and then Maode died. Shisheng took a bowstring and hanged himself. Jianji sat upright in the hall of government. The rebels dragged him before Zicheng; he refused to submit, and they were about to execute him. As he came down the steps he cried "Long live!" twice and said, "Your subject failed to hold the territory, and even death would not expiate the guilt." Zicheng thought Jianji was hailing him and had him dragged back. Jianji glared and said, "I was calling on the Great Ming emperor. Would I call on a bandit!" He was shot dead on the spot. By then Zicheng held the Prince of Jin and occupied the princely palace.
33
文炳被殺，妻趙、妾李亦投井死，子兆夢甫數歲，賊掠去。 士民以其忠臣子也，贖而歸之。 欲降剛中，不從，殺之。 首即墮，復躍起丈余，賊皆辟易。 賊適得新刀，拱辰睨之。 問：「何睨！」 曰：「欲得此斫頭耳。」 遂取斬之。 康周巷戰死，誌泰不食死。 自懋德而下，太原死事凡四十有六人，賊皆屍之城上。 自成恨懋德之不降也，驗其屍，以刃斷頸而去。 福王時，以懋德不守河為失策，乃謚忠襄，賜祭葬而不予贈蔭，余賜恤有差。 間考四十六人，行事多缺，姓名不傳，莫得而次雲。
Wenbing was killed. His wife Zhao and concubine Li threw themselves into a well and died. His son Zhaomeng, only a few years old, was carried off by the rebels. Because he was the son of a loyal minister, the townspeople ransomed him and brought him home. They tried to force Gangzhong to submit; he refused, and they killed him. His head fell at once, yet his body leaped up more than ten feet; the rebels all shrank back in terror. The rebels had just acquired a new blade, and Gongchen glanced at it. They asked, "Why the sidelong look!" He said, "I only wanted that blade to cut off your head." So they took the blade and beheaded him. Kangzhou died fighting in the streets, and Zhita starved himself to death. From Maode on down, forty-six people died defending Taiyuan, and the rebels piled their bodies on the walls. Zicheng hated Maode for refusing to submit; he inspected the body, hacked through the neck with a blade, and left. Under the Prince of Fu, Maode's failure to hold the river was judged a strategic mistake; he was given the posthumous name Zhongxiang and granted sacrificial rites and burial, but not posthumous honors or benefits for his descendants, while the others received graded awards of condolence. On closer examination of the forty-six, most of their deeds were poorly recorded and their names were not preserved, so they cannot be listed in order.
34
建極，河南永寧人。 賊掠永寧時，建極五子皆死，後生三子又夭，至是趙氏一門竟絕。
Jianji was from Yongning in Henan. When bandits ravaged Yongning, all five of Jianji's sons died. Three more sons born later also died young, and by then the Zhao line was extinguished altogether.
35
文炳，字夢石，鄭州人。 以吏科給事中出為山西兵備副使。 為給事時，楊嗣昌督師，議調民兵討賊。 文炳言：「民兵可守不可調，不若官軍乘馬便殺賊。」 又言：「當大計，主計者喜奔競，抑廉靜，宜令官得互糾不公者。」 帝皆納其言。
Wenbing, courtesy name Mengshi, was from Zhengzhou. He left the Office of Personnel as a supervising secretary to become Shanxi vice commissioner for military preparations. While serving as supervising secretary, he served under Yang Sichang as grand coordinator and debated mobilizing militia to suppress the rebels. Wenbing said, "Militia can hold ground but should not be mobilized. Regular cavalry are better suited to killing bandits." He also said, "At the grand evaluation those who control the assessments favor frantic self-promotion and suppress the quiet and upright. Officials should be allowed to impeach one another for injustice." The emperor accepted all his proposals.
36
剛中，字坦生，陵縣人。 為南京給事中，奏保護留都六事，又陳漕事救弊之要。 山東饑，疏言：「民死而丁存，田荒而賦在，安得不為盜！ 宜清戶口並裏甲。」 皆切時病。 遷山西副使。
Gangzhong, courtesy name Tansheng, was from Ling County. As a Nanjing supervising secretary he memorialized six measures to protect the southern capital and laid out the essentials for reforming abuses in the grain transport system. During famine in Shandong he memorialized, saying, "The people are dead but corvée obligations remain; fields lie waste but taxes remain. How can they not turn to banditry! Household registers and village registers should be cleared and consolidated." All struck at the ailments of the times. He was transferred to vice commissioner of Shanxi.
37
拱辰，字星伯，掖縣人。 知朝邑、鹽城二縣，數遷數貶。 歷淮徐兵備僉事，督漕侍郎史可法謂其不任，移之冀寧。
Gongchen, courtesy name Xingbo, was from Ye County. He served as magistrate of Chaoyi and Yancheng and was promoted and demoted again and again. He served as assistant commissioner for military preparations on the Huai-Xu circuit, but Transport Commissioner Shi Kefa judged him unfit and moved him to Jining.
38
建極、文炳、剛中、拱辰由進士。 康周，字晉侯，安丘人，由鄉舉。 時盛，遼陽諸生。 為懋德所知，拔隸幕下，至都督僉事。 誌泰，虞城人。 余莫考。
Jianji, Wenbing, Gangzhong, and Gongchen all entered service as jinshi graduates. Kangzhou, courtesy name Jinhou, was from Anqiu and entered by the provincial examination. Shisheng was a licentiate from Liaoyang. Recognized by Maode, he was brought onto his staff and rose to vice commander-in-chief. Zhita was from Yucheng. The rest I have been unable to trace.
39
太原既破，賊移檄遠近，所至郡縣望風結寨以拒官兵。 而其仗義死難，陷胸斷脰而甘心者，則有若安邑知縣房之屏，宛平人，起家鄉舉。 城陷，北向拜天子，入署拜其母，命妻子各自盡，遂投井，賊曳出斬之。 忻州知州楊家龍，字惕若，曲陽人。 為寧鄉知縣，凡七年，流亡復其業。 遷忻，賊即至，曰：「此城必不守，我出，爾民可全也。」 出城罵賊而死。 州人祠祀之。 代州參將閻夢夔，鹿邑人，汾州知州侯君昭，皆城亡與亡。 汾陽知縣劉必達袖出罵賊文，賊誦而殺之。 其義勇範奇芳，刺殺一偽都尉而自剄。 寧武兵備副使王孕懋，字有懷，由太原知府遷。 自成既陷太原，遣使說降，孕懋斬之，與總兵官周遇吉共守，城陷自殺，妻楊投井殉之。 孕懋，霸州人，進士。 遇吉自有傳。 寧武失，賊破三關，犯大同。
After Taiyuan fell the rebels issued proclamations far and wide, and wherever they went local prefectures and counties fortified camps at the first rumor to resist government troops. Yet among those who upheld righteousness and willingly met death—even pierced breasts and severed necks—was Anyi magistrate Fang Zhiping of Wanping, who had begun his career through the provincial examination. When the city fell he bowed toward the emperor in the north, went to the yamen and bowed to his mother, ordered his wife and children to take their own lives, then threw himself into a well. The rebels dragged him out and beheaded him. Xinzhou prefect Yang Jialong, courtesy name Tiruo, was from Quyang. He had served seven years as magistrate of Ningxiang and restored refugees to their livelihoods. When he was transferred to Xinzhou, the rebels arrived immediately. He said, "This city cannot be held. If I go out, your people may be spared." He went out of the city, cursed the rebels, and died. The people of the prefecture built a shrine to him and offered sacrifice. Yan Mengkui, assistant commander at Daizhou, from Luyi, and Hou Junzhao, prefect of Fenzhou, both died when their cities fell. Liu Bida, magistrate of Fenyang, drew from his sleeve a written tirade against the rebels; they read it aloud and killed him. A local volunteer, Fan Qifang, stabbed and killed a rebel colonel and then cut his own throat. Wang Yunmao, deputy commissioner for military preparations at Ningwu, courtesy name Youhuai, had been transferred from the prefecture of Taiyuan. After Li Zicheng took Taiyuan, he sent envoys to urge surrender; Yunmao beheaded them and, with regional commander Zhou Yuji, held the city together. When it fell he killed himself, and his wife Yang drowned herself in a well. Yunmao was from Bazhou and a jinshi graduate. Zhou Yuji has his own biography. Ningwu fell; the rebels broke through the Three Passes and marched on Datong.
40
衛景瑗，字仲玉，韓城人。 天啟五年進士，授河南推官。
Wei Jingyuan, courtesy name Zhongyu, was from Hancheng. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Tianqi and was appointed investigating censor of Henan.
41
崇禎四年征授御史，劾首輔周延儒納賄行私數事，復劾吏部侍郎曾楚卿憸邪。 帝不納。 出按真定諸府。 父喪，不俟命竟歸。 服闋，起故官。 疏救給事中傅朝佑、李汝璨以論溫體仁下吏，故帝不懌，左遷行人司正。 歷尚寶、大理丞，進少卿。 十五年春，擢右僉都御史，巡撫大同。 歲饑疫，疏乞振濟。 搜軍實，練火器，戢豪宗，聲績甚著。
In the fourth year of Chongzhen he was recalled and appointed censor. He impeached Chief Grand Secretary Zhou Yanru for several counts of bribery and private dealings, and again impeached Vice Minister of Personnel Zeng Chuqing for sycophancy and corruption. The emperor did not act on the charges. He went out as a touring censor to inspect Zhending and the surrounding prefectures. When his father died, he went home without waiting for imperial leave. When his mourning period ended, he was recalled to his former post. He submitted a memorial to save Supervising Secretaries Fu Chaoyou and Li Ruocan, who had been imprisoned for criticizing Wen Tiren. The emperor took offense and demoted him to chief of the courier service. He served as director of the imperial treasuries and vice director of the Court of Judicial Review, then was promoted to vice minister. In the spring of the fifteenth year he was promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and made governor of Datong. When famine and plague struck, he memorialized requesting relief funds. He audited the army's strength, trained men in firearms, restrained powerful clans, and won a strong reputation.
42
十七年正月，李自成將犯山西，宣大總督王繼謨檄大同總兵官姜襄扼之河上，襄潛使納款而還。 景瑗不知其變也，及山西陷，景瑗邀襄歃血守。 襄出告人曰：「衛巡撫，秦人也，將應賊矣。」 代王疑之，不見景瑗，永慶王射殺景瑗仆。 會景瑗有足疾，不時出，兵事，襄主之。 襄兄瑄，故昌平總兵也，勸襄降賊。 襄慮其下不從，人犒之銀，言勵守城將士，代王信之。 諸郡王分門守，襄每門遣卒二百人助守。
In the first month of the seventeenth year, Li Zicheng was about to invade Shanxi. Xuanda Grand Coordinator Wang Jimo ordered Datong regional commander Jiang Xiang to block him at the river, but Xiang secretly sent terms of surrender and withdrew. Jingyuan knew nothing of this betrayal. After Shanxi fell, he invited Xiang to swear a blood oath and hold the city together. Xiang went out and told people, "Governor Wei is a man of Qin and is about to collude with the rebels." The Prince of Dai grew suspicious, refused to see Jingyuan, and the Prince of Yongqing shot and killed Jingyuan's servant. Jingyuan happened to suffer from a foot ailment and did not go out regularly, so military affairs fell under Xiang's control. Xiang's elder brother Xuan, formerly regional commander at Changping, urged him to surrender to the rebels. Xiang feared his men would not follow him, so he distributed silver to the troops, claiming it was to encourage the defenders—and the Prince of Dai believed him. The various princes each defended a gate; at every gate Xiang posted two hundred men to assist.
43
至三月朔，賊抵城下。 襄即射殺永慶王，開門迎賊入。 紿景瑗計事，景瑗乘馬出，始知其變也，自墜馬下。 賊執之見自成，自成欲官之。 景瑗據地坐，大呼皇帝而哭，賊義之，曰「忠臣也」，不殺。 景瑗猝起，以頭觸階石，血淋漓。 賊引出，顧見襄，罵曰：「反賊，與我盟而叛，神其赦汝耶！」 賊使景瑗母勸之降。 景瑗曰：「母年八十余矣，當自為計。 兒，國大臣，不可以不死。」 母出，景瑗謂人曰：「我不罵賊者，以全母也。」 初六日自縊於僧寺。 賊嘆曰：「忠臣！」 移其妻子空舍，戒毋犯。 殺代王傳齊及其宗室殆盡。
On the first day of the third month the rebels reached the city walls. Xiang immediately shot and killed the Prince of Yongqing and opened the gates to welcome the rebels in. He tricked Jingyuan into coming out to discuss strategy. Jingyuan rode out and only then learned of the betrayal, falling from his horse in shock. The rebels seized him and brought him before Li Zicheng, who wanted to give him an official post. Jingyuan sat on the ground, cried out to the emperor, and wept. The rebels admired him, saying "A loyal minister," and did not kill him. Jingyuan suddenly rose and smashed his head against the step-stone until blood streamed down. The rebels led him out. Seeing Xiang, he cursed, "Traitor! You swore an oath with me and then betrayed me—will the spirits forgive you!" The rebels had Jingyuan's mother urge him to surrender. Jingyuan said, "Mother is more than eighty years old; you must look after yourself. As for your son, a minister of state cannot fail to die." After his mother left, Jingyuan said to those around him, "The reason I did not curse the rebels was to protect my mother." On the sixth he hanged himself in a Buddhist temple. The rebels sighed and said, "A loyal minister!" They moved his wife and children to an empty house and ordered that they must not be harmed. They killed the Prince of Dai Zhu Chuanji and nearly exterminated the princely clan.
44
分巡副使朱家仕，盡驅妻妾子女入井，而己從之，死者十有六人。 督儲郎中徐有聲、山陰知縣李倬亦死之。 諸生李若蔡自題其壁曰：「一門完節」，一家九人自經。 家仕，河州人。
Assistant commissioner for circuit patrol Zhu Jiashi drove all his wives, concubines, and children into a well and then followed them; sixteen people died. Supervising secretary for grain storage Xu Yousheng and Li Chuo, magistrate of Shanyin, also died. The licentiate Li Ruocai wrote on his wall, "A household of complete integrity"; nine members of one family hanged themselves. Jiashi was from Hezhou.
45
福王時，贈景瑗兵部尚書，謚忠毅。 賊既陷大同，以兵徇陽和，長驅向宣府。
Under the Prince of Fu, Jingyuan was posthumously made Minister of War with the posthumous name Zhongyi ("Steadfast and Resolute"). After the rebels took Datong, they marched through Yanghe and drove straight toward Xuanfu.
46
朱之馮，字樂三，大興人。 天啟五年進士。 授戶部主事，榷稅河西務。 課贏，貯公帑無所私。 以外艱去。
Zhu Zhifeng, courtesy name Lesan, was from Daxing. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Tianqi. He was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and collected transit duties at Hexiwu. His collections exceeded the quota, yet he deposited the surplus in the public treasury without keeping anything for himself. He left office to mourn his wife's father.
47
崇禎二年起故官，進員外郎。 坐罣誤，謫浙江布政司理問。 稍遷行人司副，歷刑部郎中，浙江驛傳僉事，青州參議。 盜劫沂水民，株連甚眾。 之馮捕得真盜，大獄盡解。 擒治樂安土豪李中行，權貴為請，不聽。 進副使，賫表入都，寄家屬濟南。 濟南破，妻馮匿姑及子於他所，而自沈於井。 姑李聞之，為絕粒而死。 柩還，之馮廬墓側三年。 起河東副使。 河東大猾朱全宇潛通秦賊，之馮至則執殺之，部內以寧。 之馮自妻死不再娶，亦不置妾媵，一室蕭然。
In the second year of Chongzhen he was recalled to his former post and promoted to vice director. For a procedural error he was demoted to judicial assistant in the Zhejiang provincial administration commission. He was gradually promoted to vice chief of the courier service, then served as bureau director in the Ministry of Justice, assistant commissioner for courier stations in Zhejiang, and vice commissioner of Qingzhou. Bandits robbed the people of Yishui, and a great many innocents were implicated. Zhifeng captured the real bandits and the entire case was dismissed. He arrested and punished the local tyrant Li Zhongxing of Le'an. Powerful men interceded for him, but Zhifeng refused. Promoted to vice commissioner, he carried a memorial to the capital and left his family in Jinan. When Jinan fell, his wife Feng hid his mother and son elsewhere, then drowned herself in a well. His mother Li, hearing of it, starved herself to death. When the coffin returned, Zhifeng lived by the tomb in mourning for three years. He was recalled to serve as vice commissioner of Hedong. The great rogue Zhu Quanyu of Hedong had secretly communicated with the Shaanxi rebels; when Zhifeng arrived he arrested and executed him, and the region was pacified. After his wife's death Zhifeng never remarried and kept no concubines; his household was spare and austere.
48
十六年正月，擢右僉都御史，巡撫宣府。 司餉主事張碩抱以克餉激變，群縛碩抱。 之馮出撫諭，貸商民貲給散，而密捕誅首惡七人，劾碩抱下吏。 軍情帖然。
In the first month of the sixteenth year he was promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and made governor of Xuanfu. Zhang Shuobao, chief secretary for provisions, provoked a mutiny by withholding rations, and the men bound him en masse. Zhifeng went out to calm them, borrowed funds from merchants to distribute, secretly arrested and executed seven ringleaders, and impeached Shuobao, sending him to the magistrates. Military morale settled.
49
明年三月，李自成陷大同。 之馮集將吏於城樓，設高皇帝位，歃血誓死守，懸賞格勵將士。 而人心已散，監視中官杜勛且與總兵王承允爭先納款矣，見之馮叩頭，請以城下賊。 之馮大罵曰：「勛，爾帝所倚信，特遣爾，以封疆屬爾，爾至即通賊，何面目見帝！」 勛不答，笑而去。 俄賊且至，勛蟒袍鳴騶，郊迎三十里之外，將士皆散。 之馮登城太息，見大炮，語左右：「為我發之！」 默無應者。 自起爇火，則炮孔丁塞，或從後掣其肘。 之馮撫膺嘆曰：「不意人心至此！」 仰天大哭。 賊至城下，承允開門入之，訛言賊不殺人，且免徭賦，則舉城嘩然皆喜，結彩焚香以迎。 左右欲擁之馮出走，之馮叱之，乃南向叩頭，草遺表，勸帝收人心，厲士節，自縊而死。 賊棄屍濠中，濠旁犬日食人屍，獨之馮無損也。
The following year, in the third month, Li Zicheng took Datong. Zhifeng gathered officers on the city tower, set up a seat for the High Emperor, swore a blood oath to defend to the death, and posted reward notices to encourage the troops. But morale had already collapsed. Supervising eunuch Du Xun and regional commander Wang Chengyun were already racing to surrender first. When they saw Zhifeng they kowtowed and asked to hand the city over to the rebels. Zhifeng cursed loudly, "Xun, the emperor relied on and trusted you and specially sent you here, entrusting the frontier to you—and the moment you arrived you colluded with rebels. What face have you to show the emperor!" Xun made no reply and walked off laughing. Before long the rebels were about to arrive. Xun, in python robes with outriders clearing the way, went thirty li beyond the suburbs to welcome them, and officers and soldiers all scattered. Zhifeng climbed the wall and sighed deeply. Seeing the great cannon, he said to those beside him, "Fire it for me!" There was silence; no one responded. He rose to light the fuse himself, but the touchhole was plugged tight, and someone pulled his elbow from behind. Zhifeng clutched his chest and sighed, "I never expected morale could sink so low!" He looked up to heaven and wept aloud. When the rebels reached the walls, Chengyun opened the gates and let them in. Rumors that the rebels would not kill and would exempt corvée and taxes sent the whole city into clamorous joy; people hung decorations and burned incense to welcome them. Those beside him tried to hustle Zhifeng away, but he rebuked them. Then facing south he kowtowed, drafted a death memorial urging the emperor to win men's hearts and stiffen soldiers' integrity, and hanged himself. The rebels threw his corpse into the moat. Dogs beside the moat daily ate human corpses, yet Zhifeng alone was untouched.
50
同日死者，督糧通判朱敏泰、諸生姚時中、副將寧龍及系獄總兵官董用文、副將劉九卿及裏居知縣申以孝，其他婦女死義者又十余人。 福王時，贈之馮兵部尚書，謚忠壯。
On the same day Zhu Mintai, grain transport intendant; Yao Shizhong, licentiate; Ning Long, vice general; Dong Yongwen, regional commander held in prison; Liu Jiuqing, vice general; and Shen Yixiao, magistrate living at home, also died; more than ten other women died for righteousness as well. Under the Prince of Fu, Zhifeng was posthumously made Minister of War with the posthumous name Zhongzhuang ("Loyal and Stalwart").
51
勛既降賊，從攻京師，射書於城中。 城中初聞勛死宣府，帝為予贈蔭立祠，至是以為鬼。 守城監王承恩倚女墻而與語，縋勛入見帝，盛稱自成，「上可自為計」。 復縋之出，笑語諸守監曰：「吾輩富貴自在也。」
After Xun surrendered to the rebels, he followed them in attacking the capital and shot letters into the city. The city had first heard that Xun died at Xuanfu, and the emperor had granted posthumous honors and established a shrine for him; now they took him for a ghost. City-defending supervisor Wang Chengen leaned on the parapet and spoke with him. They lowered Xun on a rope to see the emperor, who lavishly praised Li Zicheng, saying "Your Majesty may decide for yourself." They lowered him out again. Laughing, he said to the other defending supervisors, "Our wealth and rank are ours to enjoy."
52
陳士奇，字平人，漳浦人也。 好學，有文名，不知兵。 舉天啟五年進士，授中書舍人。 崇禎四年考選，授禮部主事，擢廣西提學僉事。 父憂歸。 服闋，起重慶兵備，尋改貴州，復督學政。 母憂闋，起贛州兵備參議，進副使，督四川學政。 廷臣交章薦士奇知兵。
Chen Shiqi, courtesy name Pingren, was from Zhangpu. He loved learning, had a literary reputation, and knew nothing of warfare. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Tianqi and was appointed a drafting secretary. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, in the qualifying examination he was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Rites and promoted to assistant commissioner for education in Guangxi. He returned home to mourn his father. When his mourning period ended, he was recalled to military preparations at Chongqing; soon he was transferred to Guizhou and again supervised educational administration. When his mourning for his mother ended, he was recalled to serve as military preparations commissioner at Ganzhou, promoted to vice commissioner, and put in charge of Sichuan's educational administration. Officials at court submitted memorial after memorial praising Shiqi's military expertise.
53
十五年秋，擢右僉都御史，代廖大奇巡撫四川。 松潘兵變，眾數萬，士奇諭以禍福，鹹就撫。 搖、黃賊十三家，縱橫川東北十余年，殺掠軍民無算； 執少壯，文其面為軍，至數十萬。 士奇檄副使陳其赤、葛征奇，參將趙榮貴等進討，屢告捷。 而賊狡，迄不能制。 士奇本文人，再督學政，好與諸生談兵，朝士以士奇知兵。 及秉節鉞，反以文墨為事，軍政廢弛。 石砫女將秦良玉嘗圖全蜀形勢，請益兵分守十三隘，扼賊奔突。 置不問，蜀以是擾。
In the autumn of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he was promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and appointed governor of Sichuan in place of Liao Daqi. When a mutiny erupted at Songpan among tens of thousands of troops, Shiqi reasoned with them about the consequences of their actions, and they all accepted pacification. Thirteen Yao and Huang bandit bands had terrorized northeastern Sichuan for more than a decade, slaughtering and plundering soldiers and civilians without number; they seized the young and able-bodied, marked their faces with tattoos to press them into service, and amassed forces numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Shiqi ordered Vice Commissioners Chen Qichi and Ge Zhengqi and Assistant General Zhao Ronggui and others to march against them, and victory reports came in again and again. Yet the bandits were cunning, and in the end he could not bring them under control. Shiqi was a scholar by training. Having twice overseen the provincial examinations, he enjoyed debating military strategy with students, and court officials came to believe he understood warfare. Once he held real military authority, he devoted himself to literary pursuits instead, and military administration lapsed into disorder. Qin Liangyu, the female general of Shizhu, once drew up a map of Sichuan's overall strategic situation and asked for reinforcements to hold the thirteen mountain passes, cutting off the bandits' avenues of attack. He paid no attention, and Sichuan was thrown into turmoil as a result.
54
明年十二月，朝議以其不任，命龍文光代之。 士奇方候代，而陽平將趙光遠擁兵二萬，護瑞王常浩自漢中來奔，士民避難者又數萬，至保寧，蜀人震駭。 士奇馳責光遠曰：「若退守陽平關，為吾捍衛，不惜二萬金犒軍。 如頓此，需厚餉，吾頭可斷，餉不可得也。」 光遠退屯陽平，王以三千騎奔重慶。 明年四月，文光受代，士奇將行，京師告變。 士奇自以知兵也，曰：「必報國仇。」 遂留駐重慶，遣水師參將曾英擊賊於忠州，焚其舟； 遣趙榮貴禦賊於梁山。 獻忠由葫蘆壩左步右騎，翼舟而上，二將敗奔，遂奪佛圖關，陷涪州。 士奇征石砫援兵不至。 或勸：「公已謝事，宜去。」 士奇不可。 賊抵城下，擊以滾炮，賊死無數。 二十日夜，黑雲四布，賊穴地轟城。 城陷，王、士奇及副使陳糸熏、知府王行儉、知縣王錫俱被執。 士奇大罵，賊縛於教場，將殺之，忽雷雨晦冥，咫尺不見。 獻忠仰而詬曰：「我殺人，何與天事！」 用大炮向天叢擊。 俄晴霽，遂肆僇。 士奇罵不絕口而死，王亦遇害，賊集軍民三萬七千余人，斫其臂。 遂犯成都。
In the twelfth month of the following year, the court judged him unfit for the post and ordered Long Wenguang to replace him. Shiqi was awaiting his successor when Yangping General Zhao Guangyuan arrived with twenty thousand troops, escorting Prince of Rui Chang Hao in flight from Hanzhong, followed by tens of thousands of refugees. When they reached Baoning, all of Sichuan was shaken with fear. Shiqi rode posthaste to rebuke Guangyuan. "Withdraw to Yangping Pass and hold the line for me," he said, "and I will not hesitate to spend twenty thousand taels of gold to reward your troops. But if you linger here and demand heavy rations, you may have my head — yet you will not get your provisions. Guangyuan withdrew to Yangping, while the prince rode to Chongqing with three thousand cavalry. In the fourth month of the following year, Wenguang took up the post, and just as Shiqi prepared to leave, word arrived that catastrophe had struck the capital. Shiqi, who still regarded himself as a man who understood war, declared, "I must avenge the nation. He therefore remained at Chongqing, dispatching Naval Assistant General Zeng Ying to strike the rebels at Zhongzhou and burn their fleet; and sending Zhao Ronggui to hold the rebels at bay at Liangshan. Xianzhong advanced through Hulu Ba with infantry on the left flank and cavalry on the right, his boats moving upstream in support. Both generals were routed and fled, and Xianzhong seized Fotu Pass and took Fuzhou. Shiqi called on Shizhu for reinforcements, but none came. Some urged him, "Your term of office is already over — you ought to go. Shiqi refused. When the rebels reached the walls, the defenders answered with rolling cannon fire, and the dead were beyond counting. On the twentieth, black clouds blotted out the sky. The rebels tunneled beneath the walls and set off explosions. The city fell. The prince, Shiqi, Vice Commissioner Chen Xi, Prefect Wang Xingjian, and Magistrate Wang Xi were all taken prisoner. Shiqi rained curses upon them. The rebels bound him on the drill ground and were about to execute him when thunder and rain suddenly blotted out the sky, so that one could not see an arm's length ahead. Xianzhong looked up and railed at the sky: "I kill men — what business is that of Heaven! He ordered his great guns fired in volleys toward the heavens. Before long the sky cleared, and the massacre proceeded. Shiqi died still cursing. The prince was killed as well. The rebels then assembled more than thirty-seven thousand soldiers and civilians and hacked off their arms. They then marched on Chengdu.
55
糸熏，本關南兵備副使，護瑞王入蜀，及於難。 行儉，字質行，宜興人。 崇禎十年進士，守重慶，善撫馭，為賊臠死。 錫，新建人，崇禎十三年進士，除巴縣知縣。 嘗從士奇殲土寇彭長庚之黨，又斬搖、黃賊魁馬超。 至是，賊蒙巨板穴城，錫灌以熱油，多死。 及被執，大罵，抉其齒，罵不已。 捶膝使跪，益仡立。 舁至教場，縛樹上射之，又臠而烙之。 既死，復毀其骨。
Chen Xi had formerly served as vice commissioner of military preparations for Guannan and had escorted the Prince of Rui into Sichuan; he too perished in the catastrophe. Wang Xingjian, styled Zhixing, was a native of Yixing. A jinshi of the tenth year of Chongzhen, he held Chongqing and governed with skill and compassion, yet was dismembered and killed by the rebels. Wang Xi was a native of Xinjian and a jinshi of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, appointed magistrate of Ba County. He had once served under Shiqi in wiping out the band of the local outlaw Peng Changgeng and had also beheaded Ma Chao, chieftain of the Yao and Huang rebels. On this occasion the rebels shielded themselves with massive planks as they tunneled beneath the walls; Xi poured boiling oil on them, and many perished. Once taken, he cursed them without restraint. They pried out his teeth, yet still he would not stop. They struck his knees to force him to kneel, but he stood all the more rigidly upright. They carried him to the drill ground, bound him to a tree, and shot him; then they carved up his body and seared it with hot irons. Even after he was dead, they smashed his bones.
56
指揮顧景聞城陷，入瑞王府，以己所乘馬乘王，鞭而走，遇賊呼曰：「賊寧殺我，無犯帝子。」 賊刺殺王，景遂死之。
When the city fell, Commander Gu Jingwen entered the residence of the Prince of Rui, placed the prince on his own horse, and lashed it into a gallop. Encountering rebels, he shouted, "Kill me if you must, but do not lay a hand on the emperor's son! The rebels stabbed the prince to death, and Jingwen died defending him.
57
龍文光，馬平人，天啟二年進士。 崇禎十七年，以川北參政擢右僉都御史，代陳士奇巡撫四川。 聞命，與總兵官劉佳引率兵三千，由順慶馳赴之。 部署未定，數日而城陷。 賊盡驅文武將吏及軍民男婦於東門之外，將戮之，忽有龍尾下垂，賊以為瑞，遂停刑。 文光、佳引卒不屈，賊殺文光於濯錦橋，佳引自投於浣花溪。
Long Wenguang was a native of Maping and a jinshi of the second year of Tianqi. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, while serving as administration commissioner for northern Sichuan, he was promoted to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and appointed governor of Sichuan in Chen Shiqi's place. On receiving the appointment, he and Commander Liu Jiayin led three thousand troops posthaste from Shunqing toward the capital. Before their dispositions were even complete, the city fell within days. The rebels herded every civil and military official, soldier, and civilian — men and women alike — outside the east gate to be slaughtered. Suddenly a dragon's tail appeared descending from the sky; the rebels took it as an omen of good fortune and stayed the execution. Wenguang and Jiayin would not yield to the end. The rebels killed Wenguang at Zhuojin Bridge, and Jiayin drowned himself in Huanhua Stream.
58
劉之勃，字安侯，鳳翔人。 崇禎七年進士。 授行人，擢御史。 上節財六議，言：「先朝馬萬計，草場止五六所，今馬漸少，場反增二倍，可節省者一。 水衡工役費，歲幾百萬，近奉明旨，朝廷不事興作，而節慎庫額數襲為常，可節省者二。 諸鎮兵馬時敗潰而餉額不減，虛伍必多，可節省者三。 光祿宴享賜賚，大抵從簡，而監局廚役多冗濫，可節省者四。 三吳織造，澤、潞機杼，以及香蠟、藥材、陶器，無歲不貢，積之內為廢物，輸之下皆金錢，可節省者五。 軍前監紀、監軍、贊畫之官，不可勝紀，平時則以一人而縻千百人之餉，臨敵又以千百人而衛一人之身，耗食兼耗兵，可節省者六。」 又疏陳東廠三弊，言：「東廠司緝訪，而內五城，外巡按，以及刑部、大理皆不能舉其職，此不便於官守。 奸民千里首告，假捏姓名，一紙株連，萬金立罄，此不便於民生。 子弟訐父兄，奴仆訐家主，部民訐官長，東廠皆樂聞，此不便於國體。」 帝皆納其言。
Liu Zhibo, styled Anhou, was a native of Fengxiang. He passed the jinshi examination in the seventh year of Chongzhen. He was appointed a courier and later promoted to censor. He submitted six proposals for fiscal restraint, writing: "In earlier reigns the imperial stables held tens of thousands of horses across no more than five or six pasture grounds; today the horses grow fewer while the pastures have doubled — here is one area for savings. Expenditure on palace construction runs to nearly a million taels a year. The throne has lately decreed that the court shall undertake no new building projects, yet the Jieshen Treasury continues to disburse funds as before — here is a second area for savings. The garrisons of the frontier posts are repeatedly routed in battle, yet their pay quotas remain unchanged; ghost soldiers on the rolls must be legion — here is a third area for savings. The Imperial Household's banquets and gifts are already kept frugal, yet the kitchens and staffs of the supervisory bureaus are bloated with redundant personnel — here is a fourth area for savings. Silks from the Three Wu region, looms from Ze and Lu, and tribute of incense, wax, medicinal herbs, and pottery arrive every year without fail. Within the palace they pile up as useless clutter; below they drain the treasury of silver — here is a fifth area for savings. Camp inspectors, army supervisors, and strategic advisers in the field are beyond numbering. In peacetime a single officer consumes the rations of hundreds; in battle hundreds guard one man's person. Food and fighting strength are wasted together — here is a sixth area for savings. He also submitted a memorial on three abuses of the Eastern Depot, writing: "The Eastern Depot has charge of investigation and arrest, yet the Five Cities within the capital, the touring censors in the provinces, and even the Ministry of Justice and Court of Review cannot perform their own duties — this is an affront to the regular order of government. Malicious informers denounce others from a thousand li away, inventing names at will; a single accusation can ruin an entire clan and drain ten thousand taels in an instant — this is an affliction upon the people's livelihood. Sons accuse their fathers and elder brothers, servants accuse their masters, commoners accuse their magistrates — and the Eastern Depot welcomes every such report. This is a stain upon the dignity of the state. The emperor accepted every one of his recommendations.
59
十五年出按四川。 十六年秋，類報災異，請緩賦省刑，亦弭災一術，時不能用。 明年正月，張獻忠大破川中郡邑。 四月，聞都城失守，人心益恟懼。 舉人楊鏘、劉道貞等謀擁蜀王至澍監國，之勃不可，躍入池中，議乃寢。 八月，賊逼成都，之勃與巡撫龍文光、建昌兵備副使劉士鬥等分陴拒守，總兵官劉鎮藩出戰而敗。 賊穴城，實以火藥； 又刳大木長數丈者合之，纏以帛，貯藥，向城樓。 之勃厲眾奮擊，賊卻二三里，皆喜，以為將去也。 初九日黎明，火發，北樓陷，木石飛蔽天，守陴者皆散，賊遂入城。 蜀王率妃妾自沈於菊井。 鎮藩突圍出，赴浣花溪死之。 之勃等被執，賊以之勃同鄉，欲用之，之勃勸以不殺百姓，輔立蜀世子。 不從，遂大罵，賊攢箭射殺之。 時福王立於南京，擢之勃右僉都御史，巡撫四川，已不及聞矣。
In the fifteenth year he was dispatched to conduct an inspection tour of Sichuan. In the autumn of the sixteenth year, reports of calamities and portents poured in one after another. He petitioned for tax relief and lighter punishments, arguing that these too were means to still the heavens' wrath — but the court could not act on his advice. In the first month of the following year, Zhang Xianzhong smashed one prefecture and county after another across Sichuan. In the fourth month, when word came that the capital had fallen, panic spread through every heart. The juren Yang Qiang, Liu Daozhen, and others plotted to install Prince of Shu Zhi Shu as regent. Zhibo would not countenance it and leaped into a pond; the scheme was abandoned. In the eighth month the rebels closed in on Chengdu. Zhibo, together with Governor Long Wenguang, Jianchang Vice Commissioner Liu Shidou, and others, manned the ramparts in a divided defense. Commander Liu Zhenfan sallied forth and was routed. The rebels dug tunnels beneath the walls and packed them with gunpowder; they also hollowed out logs several zhang in length, fitted them together, wrapped them in cloth, loaded them with explosives, and aimed them at the gate towers. Zhibo roused the defenders to a fierce counterattack, and the rebels fell back two or three li. Everyone rejoiced, believing the siege was lifting. At dawn on the ninth, the charges detonated. The north tower collapsed, wood and stone filled the sky, the defenders on the walls fled in every direction, and the rebels poured into the city. The Prince of Shu led his consorts and concubines to drown themselves in Chrysanthemum Well. Zhenfan fought his way out of the encirclement, made for Huanhua Stream, and died there. Zhibo and the others were taken prisoner. Because Zhibo was a fellow townsman, the rebels wished to put him to use; he urged them to spare the common people and install the heir of Shu as ruler. When they refused, he cursed them without restraint, and the rebels riddled him with arrows. By then the Prince of Fu had been enthroned at Nanjing and had promoted Zhibo to Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief and governor of Sichuan — but the news reached him too late.
60
贊曰：潼關既破，李自成乘勝遂有三秦，渡河而東，勢若燎原。 宣、大繼覆，明亡遂決。 一時封疆諸臣後先爭死，可不謂烈哉！ 然平陽之旆甫東，船窩之警旋告。 死非難，所以處死為難，君子不能無憾於懋德焉已。 若夫一鶴之死顯陵，士奇之死夔州，劉之勃、龍文光之死成都，不亦得死所者歟！
The commentator writes: Once Tong Pass fell, Li Zicheng rode his victory to seize the Three Qins and crossed the Yellow River eastward, his momentum spreading like wildfire across the plain. When Xuanfu and Datong followed, the doom of the Ming dynasty was sealed. In that hour the frontier officials vied with one another to die for their posts — was their valor not beyond reproach! Yet no sooner had the banners departed Pingyang for the east than word came of disaster at Chuanwo. To die is not the hard part; to die well is. Even men of principle cannot withhold their regret where Maode is concerned. Yet if Yihe fell at Xianling, Shiqi at Kuizhou, and Liu Zhibo and Long Wenguang at Chengdu — did they not each find a death worthy of their station!