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楊維楨附:陸居仁錢惟善胡翰苏伯衡王冕附:郭奎劉炳戴良附:王逢丁鶴年危素張以寧附:石光霽秦裕伯趙壎附:宋僖等徐一夔趙捴謙附:樂良等袁凱高啟附:楊基等高啟附:楊基等孫蕡附:王佐等王蒙附:郭傳
Yang Weizhen, with supplementary notices on Lu Juren and Qian Weishan; Hu Han; Su Boheng; Wang Mian, with supplementary notices on Guo Kui and Liu Bing; Dai Liang, with supplementary notices on Wang Feng and Ding Henian; Wei Su; Zhang Yining, with supplementary notices on Shi Guangji, Qin Yubo, and Zhao Yan, and on Song Xi and others; Xu Yikui; Zhao Lüqian, with supplementary notices on Yue Liang and others; Yuan Kai; Gao Qi, with supplementary notices on Yang Ji and others; Gao Qi, with supplementary notices on Yang Ji and others; Sun Sen, with supplementary notices on Wang Zuo and others; Wang Meng, with supplementary notices on Guo Chuan.
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明初，文學之士承元季虞、柳、黃、吳之後，師友講貫，學有本原。 宋濂、王禕、方孝孺以文雄，高、楊、張、徐、劉基、袁凱以詩著。 其他勝代遺逸，風流標映，不可指數，蓋蔚然稱盛已。 永、宣以還，作者遞興，皆沖融演迤，不事鉤棘，而氣體漸弱。 弘、正之間，李東陽出入宋、元，溯流唐代，擅聲館閣。 而李夢陽、何景明倡言復古，文自西京、詩自中唐而下，一切吐棄，操觚談藝之士翕然宗之。 明之詩文，於斯一變。 迨嘉靖時，王慎中、唐順之輩，文宗歐、曾，詩仿初唐。 李攀龍、王世貞輩，文主秦、漢，詩規盛唐。 王、李之持論，大率與夢陽、景明相倡和也。 歸有光頗後出，以司馬、歐陽自命，力排李、何、王、李，而徐渭、湯顯祖、袁宏道、鐘惺之屬，亦各爭鳴一時，於是宗李、何、王、李者稍衰。 至啟、禎時，錢謙益、艾南英準北宋之矩矱，張溥、陳子龍擷東漢之芳華，又一變矣。 有明一代，文士卓卓表見者，其源流大抵如此。 今博考諸家之集，參以眾論，錄其著者，作《文苑傳》。
In the early Ming, literary scholars carried on from the late-Yuan masters Yu Ji, Liu Ji, Huang Gongwang, and Wu Zhen; guided by teachers and companions, they pursued learning in depth, and their scholarship rested on solid foundations. Song Lian, Wang Yi, and Fang Xiaoru towered in prose, while Gao Qi, Yang Ji, Zhang Yu, Xu Zhen, Liu Ji, and Yuan Kai won fame in poetry. Countless other gifted recluses from the previous dynasty left their mark on the age, their brilliance beyond numbering; the literary world had, in short, reached a splendid height. From the Yongle and Xuande reigns onward, authors appeared one after another; their work tended to be smooth and expansive, shunning contorted diction, yet its vigor slowly declined. During the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods, Li Dongyang drew freely on Song and Yuan models while looking back to the Tang, and his name dominated the literary circles of the court. Then Li Mengyang and He Jingming called for a revival of antiquity, rejecting all prose after the Western Han and all poetry after the mid-Tang; writers who took up the pen and debated craft flocked to their banner. At this juncture Ming poetry and prose turned in a new direction. By the Jiajing reign, Wang Shenzhong, Tang Shunzhi, and their circle looked to Ouyang Xiu and Zeng Gong for prose and to early Tang poets for verse. Li Panlong, Wang Shizhen, and their followers took Qin and Han prose as their standard and measured poetry against the High Tang. The views of the Wang and Li schools largely echoed and reinforced those of Li Mengyang and He Jingming. Gui Youguang emerged somewhat later, claiming the mantle of Sima Qian and Ouyang Xiu and vigorously opposing the Li–He and Wang–Li schools; meanwhile Xu Wei, Tang Xianzu, Yuan Hongdao, Zhong Xing, and others each made their voice heard, and devotion to the older archaist factions began to wane. In the Tianqi and Chongzhen years, Qian Qianyi and Ai Nan'ying looked to Northern Song models, while Zhang Pu and Chen Zilong drew on the brilliance of the Eastern Han, and the literary scene shifted once again. Such, in broad outline, were the main currents among the distinguished writers of the Ming. I have now surveyed the collected works of the leading authors and weighed contemporary judgment, selecting the most notable figures for these 'Biographies of the Literary Garden.'
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楊維楨附陸居仁錢惟善
Yang Weizhen, with supplementary notices on Lu Juren and Qian Weishan.
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楊維楨，字廉夫，山陰人。 母李，夢月中金錢墜懷，而生維楨。 少時，日記書數千言。 父宏，築樓鐵崖山中，繞樓植梅百株，聚書數萬卷，去其梯，俾誦讀樓上者五年，因自號鐵崖。 元泰定四年成進士，署天台尹，改錢清場鹽司令。 狷直忤物，十年不調。 會修遼、金、宋三史成，維楨著《正統辯》千余言，總裁官歐陽元功讀且嘆曰：「百年後，公論定於此矣。」 將薦之而不果，轉建德路總管府推官。 擢江西儒學提舉，未上，會兵亂，避地富春山，徙錢塘。 張士誠累招之，不赴，遣其弟士信咨訪之，因撰五論，具書復士誠，反覆告以順逆成敗之說，士誠不能用也。 又忤達識丞相，徙居松江之上，海內薦紳大夫與東南才俊之士，造門納履無虛日。 酒酣以往，筆墨橫飛。 或戴華陽巾，披羽衣坐船屋上，吹鐵笛，作《梅花弄》。 或呼侍兒歌《白雪》之辭，自倚鳳琶和之。 賓客皆蹁躚起舞，以為神仙中人。
Yang Weizhen, styled Lianfu, came from Shanyin. His mother, née Li, dreamed that gold coins dropped from the moon into her lap; soon after, Weizhen was born. As a boy he could memorize several thousand characters of text in a single day. His father Hong built a study tower on Iron Cliff Mountain, ringed it with a hundred plum trees, and stocked it with tens of thousands of books; he removed the ladder and kept his son reading aloft for five years, after which the son took the sobriquet Iron Cliff. He passed the jinshi examination in the fourth year of the Yuan Taiding reign (1327), served as acting prefect of Tiantai, and was later appointed commissioner of the Qianqing salt depot. Blunt and unyielding, he made enemies and went ten years without a new appointment. When the official histories of Liao, Jin, and Song were finished, Weizhen submitted a 'Discourse on Legitimate Succession' of over a thousand characters; the chief compiler Ouyang Yuan read it and exclaimed, 'A century from now, posterity will judge by this essay. Ouyang was on the point of recommending him, but the appointment never came through; Weizhen was instead transferred to serve as judicial administrator under the Jiande Route government. Promoted to Educational Intendant of Jiangxi, he never assumed the post; with rebellion spreading, he fled to Fuchun Mountain and later settled in Qiantang. Zhang Shicheng invited him again and again, but he refused; Zhang then sent his brother Shixin to seek his advice. Weizhen wrote Five Discourses and sent Zhang a detailed letter, arguing at length how loyalty and rebellion lead to triumph or ruin—but Zhang would not heed him. He also fell out with Chancellor Dachi and moved to the upper reaches of the Song River; scholars and officials from across the realm and gifted men of the southeast flocked to his door daily. Once warmed with wine, he would write with uninhibited brilliance. At times he would don a Huayang cap and feathered robes, sit atop a houseboat, play an iron flute, and perform the 'Plum Blossom Melody.' At other times he had a attendant sing the 'White Snow' lyrics while he accompanied her on a phoenix-shaped pipa. His guests would rise and dance in delight, taking him for a being from the realm of immortals.
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洪武二年，太祖召諸儒纂禮樂書，以維楨前朝老文學，遣翰林詹同奉幣詣門，維楨謝曰：「豈有老婦將就木，而再理嫁者邪？」 明年，復遣有司敦促，賦《老客婦謠》一章進御，曰：「皇帝竭吾之能，不強吾所不能則可，否則有蹈海死耳。」 帝許之，賜安車詣闕廷，留百有一十日，所纂敘便例定，即乞骸骨。 帝成其志，仍給安車還山。 史館胄監之士祖帳西門外，宋濂贈之詩曰：「不受君王五色詔，白衣宣至白衣還」，蓋高之也。 抵家卒，年七十五。
In 1369 the founding emperor called on scholars to compile works on ritual and music; deeming Weizhen a veteran man of letters from the previous regime, he sent Academician Zhan Tong with gifts of invitation. Weizhen refused, saying, 'Would an old woman on her deathbed take another husband? The following year officials pressed him again; he submitted a 'Ballad of the Old Serving Woman' to the throne, declaring, 'Let Your Majesty use all I can give; do not demand what I cannot give—or I shall throw myself into the sea.' The emperor agreed, sent a carriage to bring him to court, and kept him for 111 days; once the draft regulations were finished, he asked to retire at once. The emperor honored his wish and again provided a carriage for his journey home. Historians and students of the Directorate saw him off outside the western gate; Song Lian wrote in praise, 'He refused the emperor's colored decree—called from private life, he went home as he came,' a tribute to his integrity. He died soon after reaching home, at the age of seventy-five.
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胡翰，字仲申，金華人。 幼聰穎異常兒。 七歲時，道拾遺金，坐守侍其人還之。 長從蘭溪吳師道、浦江吳萊學古文，復登同邑許謙之門。 同郡黃溍、柳貫以文章名天下，見翰文，稱之不容口。 游元都，公卿交譽之。 與武威余闕、宣城貢師泰尤善。 或勸之仕，不應。 既歸，遭天下大亂，避地南華山，著書自適。 文章與宋濂、王禕相上下。 太祖下金華，召見，命與許元等會食中書省。 後侍臣復有薦翰者，召至金陵。 時方籍金華民為兵，翰從容進曰：「金華人多業儒，鮮習兵，籍之，徒糜餉耳。」 太祖即罷之。 授衢州教授。 洪武初，聘修《元史》，書成，受賚歸。 愛北山泉石，卜築其下，徜徉十數年而終，年七十有五。 所著有《春秋集義》，文曰《胡仲子集》，詩曰《長山先生集》。
Hu Han, styled Zhongshen, was from Jinhua. As a child he was exceptionally bright. At seven he found gold on the road, sat and waited for the owner, and returned it when the man came back. As a young man he studied ancient prose under Wu Shidao of Lanxi and Wu Lai of Pujiang, and later became a pupil of Xu Qian in his home county. Huang Jin and Liu Guan, renowned writers of the region, read his work and could not praise him enough. In the Yuan capital, officials and nobles vied to praise him. He was especially close to Yu Que of Wuwei and Gong Shitai of Xuancheng. When others urged him to enter government service, he refused. Back home amid civil war, he withdrew to Nanhua Mountain and devoted himself to writing. His prose ranked with that of Song Lian and Wang Yi. When the founding emperor took Jinhua, Han was summoned and invited to dine at the Secretariat with Xu Yuan and others. Later, courtiers recommended him again, and he was called to Jinling. The court was then enrolling Jinhua men as soldiers; Han spoke up calmly: 'The people of Jinhua are mostly scholars, not soldiers—conscripting them would only waste rations. The founding emperor at once canceled the enrollment. He was appointed instructor at Quzhou. Early in the Hongwu reign he was hired to help compile the History of Yuan; when the work was done, he received an imperial gift and went home. He loved the landscape of Beishan, built a home there, and spent his last dozen years in leisurely retirement; he died at seventy-five. His works include Collected Meanings of the Spring and Autumn, the prose collection Works of Master Hu Zhongzi, and the poetry collection Works of Master Changshan.
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蘇伯衡
The biography of Su Boheng.
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蘇伯衡，字平仲，金華人，宋門下侍郎轍之裔也。 父友龍，受業許謙之門，官蕭山令，行省都事。 明師下浙東，坐長子仕閩，謫徙滁州。 李善長奏官之，力辭歸。 伯衡警敏絕倫，博洽群籍，為古文有聲。 元末貢於鄉。 太祖置禮賢館，伯衡與焉。 歲丙午用為國子學錄，遷學正。 被薦，召見，擢翰林編修。 力辭，乞省覲歸。 洪武十年，學士宋濂致仕，太祖問誰可代者，濂對曰：「伯衡，臣鄉人，學博行修，文詞蔚贍有法。」 太祖即征之，入見，復以疾辭，賜衣鈔而還。 二十一年聘主會試，事竣復辭還。 尋為處州教授，坐表箋誤，下吏死。 二子恬、怡，救父，並被刑。
Su Boheng, styled Pingzhong, was from Jinhua and a descendant of Su Zhe, the Song vice director of the Secretariat. His father Youlong had studied under Xu Qian and served as magistrate of Xiaoshan and secretary of the provincial administration. When Ming armies took eastern Zhe, his father was exiled to Chuzhou because his eldest son had served the Fujian regime. Li Shanchang recommended him for office, but he firmly refused and went home. Boheng was exceptionally quick-witted, widely read, and celebrated for his classical prose. At the end of the Yuan he passed the provincial tribute examination. When the founding emperor founded the Hall for Honoring the Worthy, Boheng was among its members. In 1366 he was appointed recorder of the Imperial Academy and later promoted to director of studies. On recommendation he was summoned to court and appointed Hanlin compiler. He declined firmly and asked to go home on family leave. In 1377, when Song Lian retired, the emperor asked whom he would recommend; Song replied, 'Boheng, a fellow townsman of mine—learned, upright, and a writer of rich yet disciplined prose. The emperor summoned him at once; he appeared at court but again pleaded illness, received gifts of robes and money, and went home. In 1388 he was hired to preside over the metropolitan examination; when it was over he declined further service and went home. He was soon appointed instructor at Chuzhou, but an error in a congratulatory memorial led to his arrest and execution. His sons Tian and Yi tried to save him and were executed as well.
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王冕附郭奎劉炳
Wang Mian, with supplementary notices on Guo Kui and Liu Bing.
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王冕，字元章，諸暨人。 幼貧，父使牧牛，竊入學舍，聽諸生誦書，墓乃返，亡其牛，父怒撻之，已而復然。 母曰：「兒痴如此，曷不聽其所為。」 冕因去依僧寺，夜坐佛膝上，映長明燈讀書。 會稽韓性聞而異之，錄為弟子，遂稱通儒。 性卒，門人事冕如事性。 屢應舉不中，棄去，北游燕都，客秘書卿泰不花家，擬以館職薦，力辭不就。 既歸，每大言天下將亂，攜妻孥隱九里山，樹梅千株，桃杏半之，自號梅花屋主，善畫梅，求者踵至，以幅長短為得米之差。 嘗仿《周官》著書一卷，曰：「持此遇明主，伊、呂事業不難致也。」 太祖下婺州，物色得之，置幕府，授諮議參軍，一夕病卒。
Wang Mian, styled Yuanzhang, was from Zhuji. Born poor, he was put to tending cattle as a boy; he would slip into the village school to listen to the pupils recite, return at dusk having lost the ox, be beaten by his father—and do it again. His mother said, 'The child is so obsessed with learning—why not let him follow his bent? Mian then left home for a monastery, where he read at night by the perpetual lamp, seated on the Buddha's knee. Han Xing of Kuaiji, hearing of him, took him as a pupil; he soon gained renown as a broadly learned scholar. After Han Xing's death, his pupils treated Mian as their new master. After repeated failure in the civil examinations, he gave up and went north to the Yuan capital, staying with Secretary Director Taibuhua, who wished to recommend him for a court post; he firmly refused. Back home he often predicted that the empire would collapse; he withdrew with his family to Jiuli Mountain, planted a thousand plum trees and as many peach and apricot, called himself Master of the Plum Blossom House, and supported himself by painting plum blossoms—buyers lined up, and the size of the painting set the price in grain. He once wrote a book modeled on the Offices of Zhou and said, 'With this in hand, if I met a worthy ruler, the careers of Yi Yin and Lü Shang would be within reach. When the founding emperor took Wuzhou, he sought Mian out, brought him into his staff, and appointed him advising staff officer; Mian died of illness that very night.
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同時郭奎、劉炳皆早參戎幕，以詩名。 奎，字子章，巢縣人。 從余闕學，治經，闕亟稱之。 太祖為吳國公，來歸，從事幕府。 硃文正開大都督府於南昌，命奎參其軍事，文正得罪，奎坐誅。 炳，字彥昺，鄱陽人。 至正中，從軍於浙。 太祖起淮南，獻書言事，用為中書典簽。 洪武初，從事大都督府，出為知縣。 閱兩考，以病告歸，久之卒。
Guo Kui and Liu Bing, contemporaries of his, had also joined the military staff early and were known for their poetry. Guo Kui, styled Zizhang, was from Chaoxian. He studied the classics under Yu Que, who often praised him. When the future founding emperor was Duke of Wu, Guo joined him and served on his staff. When Zhu Wen-zheng established the chief military commission at Nanchang, he appointed Guo to his staff; when Zhu fell from favor, Guo was executed along with him. Liu Bing, styled Yanbing, was from Poyang. During the Zhizheng reign he served with the army in Zhejiang. When the founding emperor rose in Huainan, Liu submitted a memorial on state affairs and was appointed a clerk in the Secretariat. Early in the Hongwu reign he served in the chief military commission, then was appointed county magistrate. After two terms in office he retired on grounds of illness and died some years later.
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戴良附王逢丁鶴年
Dai Liang, with supplementary notices on Wang Feng and Ding Henian.
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戴良，字叔能，浦江人。 通經、史百家暨醫、卜、釋、老之說。 學古文於黃溍、柳貫、吳萊。 貫卒，經紀其家。 太祖初定金華，命與胡翰等十二人會食省中，日二人更番講經、史，陳治道。 明年，用良為學正，與宋濂、葉儀輩訓諸生。 太祖既旋師，良忽棄官逸去。 辛丑，元順帝用薦者言，授良江北行省儒學提舉。 良見時事不可為，避地吳中，依張士誠。 久之，見士誠將敗，挈家泛海，抵登、萊，欲間行歸擴廓軍，道梗，寓昌樂數年。 洪武六年始南還，變姓名，隱四明山。 太祖物色得之。 十五年召至京師，試以文，命居會同館，日給大官膳，欲官之，以老疾固辭，忤旨。 明年四月暴卒，蓋自裁也。 元亡後，惟良與王逢不忘故主，每形於歌詩，故卒不獲其死雲。 良世居金華九靈山下，自號九靈山人。
Dai Liang, styled Shuneng, was from Pujiang. He was versed in the classics and histories, the hundred schools, and the traditions of medicine, divination, Buddhism, and Daoism. He studied classical prose under Huang Jin, Liu Guan, and Wu Lai. When Liu Guan died, Dai managed his household affairs. When the founding emperor first took Jinhua, he had Dai dine at the provincial yamen with Hu Han and eleven others; each day two of them lectured in turn on the classics and histories and discussed principles of government. The following year he was appointed director of studies and, with Song Lian, Ye Yi, and others, instructed the students. As soon as the founding emperor withdrew his troops, Dai abruptly resigned and disappeared. In the xinchou year (1361), the last Yuan emperor, following a recommendation, appointed Dai Liang Confucian Educational Intendant of the Jiangbei Branch Secretariat. Seeing that the times offered no hope, Dai fled to the Wu region and entered the service of Zhang Shicheng. In time, convinced that Shicheng's cause was doomed, he put his family to sea, landed at Dengzhou and Laizhou, and tried to slip through to rejoin Köke Temür's forces; blocked on the road, he stayed at Changle for several years. He did not return south until the sixth year of Hongwu (1373), when he assumed a new name and withdrew to Siming Mountain. The founding emperor tracked him down. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382) he was called to the capital, examined on his writing, and housed at the Huitong Hostel with daily meals from the imperial kitchen; when the emperor sought to appoint him, Dai steadfastly refused, citing age and illness, and thereby offended the throne. The following April he died suddenly, apparently by his own hand. After the fall of the Yuan, Dai Liang and Wang Feng alone stayed loyal to the old dynasty in their verse, and it is said that Dai therefore did not die a natural death. The Dai family had long lived at the foot of Jiuling Mountain in Jinhua, and he took the style Mountain Man of Jiuling.
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逢，字原吉，江陰人。 至正中，作《河清頌》，台臣薦之，稱疾辭。 張士誠據吳，其弟士德用逢策，北降於元以拒明。 太祖滅士誠，欲辟用之，堅臥不起，隱上海之烏涇，歌詠自適。 洪武十五年以文學征，有司敦迫上道。 時子掖為通事司令，以父年高，叩頭泣請，乃命吏部符止之。 又六年卒，年七十，有《梧溪詩集》七卷。 逢自稱席帽山人。
Wang Feng, styled Yuanji, was from Jiangyin. During the Zhizheng era he wrote "Eulogy on the River's Clarity"; when censorial officials recommended him for office, he declined on grounds of illness. When Zhang Shicheng held Wu, his brother Shide followed Feng's counsel and submitted to the Yuan in the north to hold off the Ming. After the founding emperor destroyed Shicheng, he tried to recruit Feng, but Feng refused to leave his bed and withdrew to Wujing near Shanghai, where he contented himself with song and verse. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382) he was summoned for his literary attainments, and the local authorities pressed him relentlessly to depart. His son Wang Ye, then director of the Bureau of Translators, kowtowed and wept, begging that his aged father be spared; the Ministry of Personnel then issued an order halting the summons. Six years later he died at seventy, leaving his Collected Poems of Wuxi in seven scrolls. Wang Feng styled himself the Hermit of the Flat-Topped Hat.
15
時又有丁鶴年者，回回人。 曾祖阿老丁與弟烏馬兒皆世商。 元世祖征西域，軍乏饟，老丁杖策軍門，盡以貲獻。 論功，賜田宅京師，奉朝請。 烏馬兒累官甘肅行省左丞。 父職馬祿丁，以世廕為武昌縣達魯花赤，有惠政，解官，留葬其地。 至正壬辰，武昌被兵，鶴年年十八，奉母走鎮江。 母歿，鹽酪不入口者五年。 避地四明。 方國珍據浙東，最忌色目人，鶴年轉徙逃匿，為童子師，或寄僧舍，賣漿自給。 及海內大定，牒請還武昌，而生母已道阻前死，瘞東村廢宅中，鶴年慟哭行求，母告以夢，乃齧血沁骨，斂而葬焉。 烏斯道為作《丁孝子傳》。 鶴年自以家世仕元，不忘故國，順帝北遁後，飲泣賦詩，情詞凄惻。 晚學浮屠法，廬居父墓，以永樂中卒。 鶴年好學洽聞，精詩律，楚昭、庄二王咸禮敬之。 正統中，憲王刻其遺文行世。
There was also Ding Henian, a Hui poet from a Muslim family. His great-grandfather Alading and Alading's brother Umar had been merchants for generations. When Kublai campaigned in the Western Regions and his army ran short of supplies, Alading came to the camp with a staff in hand and gave all he owned. For this service he was rewarded with fields and a house in the capital and appointed an Attendant at Court. Umar rose to serve as Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Gansu Branch Secretariat. His father Zhimaluding inherited office as darughachi of Wuchang County; known for humane rule, he resigned and was buried there. In 1352, when war reached Wuchang, the eighteen-year-old Ding fled with his mother to Zhenjiang. After his mother died, he abstained from seasoned food for five years in mourning. He took refuge in the Siming region. Fang Guozhen, who held eastern Zhejiang, especially distrusted semu peoples; Henian moved from place to place in hiding, taught children, sometimes lodged in monasteries, and sold gruel to live. Once the empire was pacified, he was officially called back to Wuchang, only to learn that his mother had died when the roads were cut and had been buried in an abandoned house in East Village; searching and weeping, he was guided by a dream, bit his finger until blood seeped into the bones, gathered them, and gave her a proper burial. Wu Sidao wrote a Biography of the Filial Son Ding in his honor. Henian's family had served the Yuan for generations, and he never forgot the fallen dynasty; after the last emperor fled north, he wept as he wrote poetry of piercing sorrow. In later life he took up Buddhist practice, built a hut by his father's tomb, and died during the Yongle reign. A learned and widely read man, Henian excelled in regulated verse, and the Princes Zhao and Zhuang of Chu both honored him. During the Zhengtong reign, Prince Xian of Chu had his surviving works printed and circulated.
16
時亂將亟，素每抗論得失。 十八年參中書省事，請專任平章定住總西方兵，毋迎帝師悞軍事，用普顏不花為參政，經略江南，立兵農宣撫使司以安畿內，任賢守令以撫流竄之民。 且曰：「今日之事，宜臥薪嘗膽，力圖中興。」 尋進御史台治書侍御史。 二十年拜參知政事，俄除翰林學士承旨，出為嶺北行省左丞。 言事不報，棄官居房山。 素為人侃直，數有建白，敢任事。 上都宮殿火，敕重建大安、睿思二閣，素諫止之。 請親祀南郊，筑北郊，以斥合祭之失。 因進講陳民間疾苦，詔為發錢粟振河南、永平民。 淮南兵亂，素往廉問，假便宜發楮幣，振維揚、京口飢。 居房山者四年。 明師將抵燕，淮王帖木兒不花監國，起為承旨如故。 素甫至而師入，乃趨所居報恩寺，入井。 寺僧大梓力挽起之，曰：「國史非公莫知。 公死，是死國史也。」 素遂止。 兵迫史庫，往告鎮撫吳勉輩出之，《元實錄》得無失。
As the empire slid toward collapse, Wei Su repeatedly spoke out frankly on what had gone wrong. In the eighteenth year he became a participant in the Central Secretariat and urged that Pingzhang Dingzhu alone command the western armies, that welcoming the Imperial Preceptor be avoided lest it disrupt military affairs, that Puhuabuhua be appointed Vice Administrator to manage Jiangnan, that Military-Agricultural Pacification Commissions be established to stabilize the capital region, and that able local officials be appointed to care for displaced people. He added: "Our task now is to endure humiliation and labor for revival with every ounce of strength." He was soon promoted to Supervising Censor in the Censorate. In the twentieth year he was made Vice Administrator; shortly afterward he was appointed Chancellor of the Hanlin Academy and then dispatched as Left Vice Censor of the Lingbei Branch Secretariat. When his memorials went unanswered, he resigned and retired to Fangshan. Wei Su was blunt and outspoken, submitted many proposals, and did not shrink from responsibility. When fire destroyed the palaces at Shangdu, the court ordered the Da'an and Ruosi pavilions rebuilt; Wei Su remonstrated and the project was halted. He urged the emperor to perform the southern rites in person, to establish a northern altar, and thereby reject the improper practice of combined sacrifices. In an audience lecture he described the people's hardships, and the throne ordered grain and money sent to relieve the people of Henan and Yongping. When Huainan fell into rebellion, Wei Su was sent to investigate with full authority, issued paper currency on his own initiative, and relieved famine in Yangzhou and Jingkou. He lived at Fangshan for four years. As Ming armies approached Yan, Prince Huai Temür Buqa was left to govern; Wei Su was recalled to his old post as Hanlin Chancellor. Wei Su had barely arrived when the Ming forces entered the city; he rushed to Ba'en Temple and threw himself into a well. The monk Dazi pulled him out, saying, "No one but you knows the history of the dynasty. If you die, the history of the state dies with you." Wei Su then abandoned the attempt. When fighting threatened the history archive, he urged the pacification officer Wu Mian and others to evacuate its holdings, saving the Veritable Records of the Yuan.
17
洪武二年授翰林侍講學士，數訪以元興亡之故，且詔撰《皇陵碑》文，皆稱旨。 頃之，坐失朝，被劾罷。 居一歲，復故官，兼弘文館學士，賜小庫，免朝謁。 嘗偕諸學士賜宴，屢遣內官勸之酒，御制詩一章，以示恩寵，命各以詩進，素詩最後成，帝獨覽而善之曰：「素老成，有先憂之意。」 時素已七十余矣。 御史王著等論素亡國之臣，不宜列侍從，詔謫居和州，守余闕廟，歲余卒。
In the second year of Hongwu (1369) he was made Hanlin Attendant Lecturer; the emperor repeatedly questioned him on the rise and fall of the Yuan and ordered him to draft the text of the Imperial Mausoleum Stele—all to the emperor's satisfaction. Soon afterward he was impeached and dismissed for failing to attend court. After a year he was restored to his old post, also made a scholar of the Hongwen Hall, granted use of a minor treasury, and exempted from daily attendance at court. Once, at a banquet for the academicians, inner eunuchs repeatedly urged wine on the guests; the emperor composed a poem to show his favor and asked each man to submit one in return; Wei Su finished last, but the emperor read his alone and praised it: "Su is seasoned and thoughtful, and his poem shows foresight born of concern." By then Wei Su was over seventy. The censor Wang Zhu and others argued that as a minister of the fallen Yuan, Wei Su had no place among the emperor's close attendants; he was banished to Hezhou to tend the Yuque Temple and died there a little over a year later.
18
先是，至元間，西僧嗣古妙高欲毀宋會稽諸陵。 夏人楊輦真珈為江南總攝，悉掘徽宗以下諸陵，攫取金寶，裒帝後遺骨，瘞於杭之故宮，築浮屠其上，名曰鎮南，以示厭勝，又截理宗顱骨為飲器。 真珈敗，其資皆籍於官，顱骨亦入宣政院，以賜所謂帝師者。 素在翰林時，宴見，備言始末。 帝嘆息良久，命北平守將購得顱骨於西僧汝納所，諭有司厝於高坐寺西北。 其明年，紹興以永穆陵圖來獻，遂敕葬故陵，實自素髮之雲。
Earlier, during the Zhiyuan era, the Tibetan monk Sigu Miaogao had sought to destroy the Song imperial tombs at Kuaiji. Yang Lianzhenjia, a Tangut who served as chief administrator of Jiangnan, opened every tomb from Emperor Huizong's onward, looted gold and jewels, collected the imperial bones, buried them in Hangzhou's old palace, and built atop them a pagoda called "Subjugating the South" as a ritual of conquest; he even fashioned Emperor Lizong's skull into a drinking cup. After Lianzhenjia fell, his property was confiscated, and the skull was sent to the Xuanzheng Court and given to the Imperial Preceptor. While serving in the Hanlin, he gave the emperor a full account of the affair at a banquet audience. The emperor sighed for a long time and ordered the Beiping garrison commander to buy the skull back from the monk Runa and have it reburied northwest of Gaozuo Temple. The following year Shaoxing sent a map of the Yongmu Mausoleum, and the emperor ordered the bones restored to their original tomb—an initiative that, it is said, began with Wei Su.
19
張以寧附石光霽秦裕伯
Zhang Yining, with supplementary notices on Shi Guangji and Qin Yubo.
20
張以寧，字志道，古田人。 父一清，元福建、江西行省參知政事。 以寧年八歲，或訟其伯父於縣系獄，以寧詣縣伸理，尹異之，命賦《琴堂詩》，立就，伯父得釋，以寧用是知名。 泰定中，以《春秋》舉進士，由黃岩判官進六合尹，坐事免官，滯留江、淮者十年。 順帝征為國子助教，累至翰林侍讀學士，知制誥。 在朝宿儒虞集、歐陽元、揭傒斯、黃溍之屬相繼物故，以寧有俊才，博學強記，擅名於時，人呼小張學士。
Zhang Yining, styled Zhidao, was from Gutian. His father Zhang Yiqing had served the Yuan as Vice Administrator of the Fujian and Jiangxi branch secretariats. When Zhang Yining was eight, a lawsuit landed his uncle in county jail; the boy went to the yamen to argue the case himself; astonished, the magistrate set him the topic "Poem on the Magistrate's Hall," and when he composed it on the spot his uncle was freed—his reputation dates from that episode. During the Taiding era he earned his jinshi degree in the Spring and Autumn Annals, rose from assistant magistrate of Huangyan to magistrate of Luhe, lost his post after an incident, and remained stranded in the Jiang-Huai region for ten years. Emperor Shun summoned him as an assistant instructor at the Directorate of Education, and he eventually rose to Hanlin Reader-in-Waiting and drafter of imperial documents. As court seniors such as Yu Ji, Ouyang Xuan, Jie Xisi, and Huang Jin died one after another, Zhang Yining's brilliance, erudition, and remarkable memory made him the age's leading scholar—people called him "Junior Academician Zhang."
21
明師取元都，與危素等皆赴京，奏對稱旨，復授侍講學士，特被寵遇。 帝嘗登鐘山，以寧與硃升、秦裕伯等扈從擁翠亭，給筆札賦詩。 洪武二年秋，奉使安南，封其主陳日煃為國王，御制詩一章遣之。 甫抵境，而日煃卒，國人乞以印詔授其世子，以寧不聽，留居洱江上，諭世子告哀於朝，且請襲爵。 既得令，俟後使者林唐臣至，然後入境將事。 事竣，教世子服三年喪，令其國人效中國行頓首稽首禮。 天子聞而嘉之，賜璽書，比諸陸賈、馬援，再賜御制詩八章。 及還，道卒，詔有司歸其柩，所在致祭。
When Ming forces took the Yuan capital, he went to the capital with Wei Su and others; his answers at audience pleased the emperor, who reappointed him Attendant Lecturer and favored him especially. On one visit to Zhong Mountain, the emperor had Zhang Yining, Zhu Sheng, Qin Yubo, and others attend him at Yongcui Pavilion and provided brush and paper for poetry. In the autumn of the second year of Hongwu (1369) he was dispatched to Annam to invest its ruler Chen Rikui as king, bearing an imperial poem for the journey. He had barely crossed the border when Chen Rikui died; the Annamese asked that the seal and edict be given to the heir at once, but Zhang refused, stayed on the Er River, and told the heir to send condolences to the Ming court and request formal investiture. After receiving imperial approval, he waited for the follow-up envoy Lin Tangchen before entering the country to complete the investiture. When the mission was complete, he instructed the heir to observe three years of mourning and taught the Annamese to perform the full Chinese prostration rites. The emperor praised his conduct, sent a sealed edict comparing him to Lu Jia and Ma Yuan, and bestowed eight more imperial poems. He died on the journey home; the throne ordered local authorities to return his coffin to the capital and perform rites at every stop along the route.
22
以寧為人潔清，不營財產，奉使往還，補被外無他物。 本以《春秋》致高第，故所學尤專《春秋》，多所自得，撰《胡傳辨疑》最辨博，惟《春王正月考》未就，寓安南逾半歲，始卒業。 元故官來京者，素及以寧名尤重。 素長於史，以寧長於經。 素宋、元史藁俱失傳，而以寧《春秋》學遂行。
Zhang Yining was incorruptible and owned nothing beyond a patched quilt when he traveled on embassy. Having earned high standing through the Spring and Autumn Annals, he devoted himself chiefly to that classic and formed many original views; his Discerning Doubts on Hu's Commentary was especially learned, though his Examination of the Spring King and First Month remained unfinished until a stay of more than half a year in Annam allowed him to complete it. Among former Yuan officials summoned to the capital, none carried more weight than Wei Su and Zhang Yining. Wei Su excelled in history; Zhang Yining in the classics. Wei Su's drafts of the Song and Yuan histories were both lost, but Zhang Yining's scholarship on the Spring and Autumn Annals endured.
23
門人石光霽，字仲濂，泰州人。 讀書五行俱下。 洪武十三年以明經舉，授國子學正，進博士，作《春秋鉤玄》，能傳以寧之學。
His student Shi Guangji, styled Zhonglian, was from Taizhou. He could read five lines at a glance. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380) he passed the Classicist Examination, became director of the Imperial Academy, rose to erudite, wrote Hooks into the Mystery of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and carried on Zhang Yining's scholarship.
24
裕伯，字景容，大名人。 仕元，累官至福建行省郎中。 遭世亂，棄官，客揚州。 久之，復避地上海。 居母喪盡禮。 張士誠據姑蘇，遣人招之，拒不納。 吳元年，太祖命中書省檄起之。 裕伯對使者曰：「食元祿二十餘年而背之，不忠也。 母喪未終，忘哀而出，不孝也。」 乃上中書省固辭。 洪武元年復征，稱病不出。 帝乃手書諭之曰：「海濱民好斗，裕伯智謀之士而居此地，堅守不起，恐有後悔。」 裕伯拜書，涕泗橫流，不得已，偕使者入朝。 授侍讀學士，固辭，不允。 與張以寧等扈從，登鐘山擁翠亭，給筆札賦詩，甚見寵待。 二年改待制，旋為治書侍御史。 三年始詔設科取士，以裕伯與御史中丞劉基為京畿主考官。 裕伯博辨善論說，占奏悉當帝意，帝數稱之。 出知隴州，卒於官。
Qin Yubo, styled Jingrong, was from Daming. He served the Yuan and rose to secretary of the Fujian Branch Secretariat. When the empire fell into chaos, he resigned and lived as a guest in Yangzhou. In time he moved again to take refuge in Shanghai. He observed every propriety while mourning his mother. Zhang Shicheng, holding Suzhou, sent messengers to recruit him, but Qin refused. In the first year of the Wu regime, the founding emperor ordered the Central Secretariat to summon him by edict. Qin Yubo told the envoy, "To eat the Yuan's salary for more than twenty years and then turn against it would be disloyalty. To leave mourning before my mother's rites are complete would be unfilial." He then sent a formal petition to the Central Secretariat declining the appointment. Summoned again in the first year of Hongwu (1368), he pleaded illness and stayed home. The emperor then wrote to him in his own hand: "The coastal folk are unruly; a man of your wisdom and counsel should not stay away so long—you may come to regret it." Qin Yubo wept as he kowtowed before the letter and, with no choice left, went to court with the envoy. He was appointed Attendant Reader; he declined again, but the emperor would not accept his refusal. Escorting the Emperor alongside Zhang Yining and others, he climbed to Yongcui Pavilion on Zhongshan, where he was given writing materials to compose verse and received exceptional imperial favor. In the second year of the reign his title was changed to Daizhi, and shortly afterward he was appointed Secretary-Drafter and Attending Censor. In the third year the throne first instituted civil examinations; Yubo and Vice Censor-in-Chief Liu Ji were appointed chief examiners for the capital districts. Broadly learned and a forceful debater, Yubo drafted memorials that consistently pleased the Emperor, who often singled him out for praise. He was sent out as prefect of Longzhou and died while serving in that post.
25
趙壎附宋僖等
[Biography of] Zhao Xun, with appended notes on Song Xi and others.
26
趙壎，字伯友，新喻人，好學，工屬文。 元至正中舉於鄉，為上猶教諭。 洪武二年，太祖詔修《元史》，命左丞相李善長為監修官，前起居注宋濂、漳州府通判王禕為總裁官，征山林遺逸之士汪克寬、胡翰、宋僖、陶凱、陳基、曾魯、高啟、趙汸、張文海、徐尊生、黃篪、傅恕、王錡、傅著、謝徽為纂修官，而壎與焉。 以是年二月，開局天界寺，取元《經世大典》諸書，用資參考。 至八月成，諸儒並賜齎遣歸。 而順帝一朝史猶未備，乃命儒士歐陽祐等往北平採遺事。 明年二月還朝，重開史局，仍以宋濂、王禕為總裁，征四方文學士硃右、貝瓊、硃廉、王彝、張孟兼、高遜志、李懋、李汶、張宣、張簡、杜寅、殷弼、俞寅及壎為纂修官。 先後纂修三十人，兩局並與者，壎一人而已。 閱六月，書成，諸儒多授官，惟壎及硃右、硃廉不受歸。
Zhao Xun, styled Boyou, came from Xinyu. He loved study and was accomplished in literary writing. During the Yuan Zhizheng era he passed the provincial examination and was appointed instructor at Shangyou. In the second year of Hongwu the Founding Emperor ordered the compilation of the History of the Yuan. He named Left Grand Councillor Li Shanchang supervising compiler and former Veritable Records officer Song Lian and Zhangzhou administrative vice-prefect Wang Yi chief compilers. He then summoned reclusive scholars including Wang Kuan, Hu Han, Song Xi, Tao Kai, Chen Ji, Zeng Lu, Gao Qi, Zhao Fen, Zhang Wenhai, Xu Zunsheng, Huang Chi, Fu Shu, Wang Qi, Fu Zhu, and Xie Hui as compilers; Xun was numbered among them. In the second month of that year the project opened at Tianjie Temple, drawing on works such as the Yuan's Comprehensive Institutions of State for reference. By the eighth month the work was finished, and all the scholars were rewarded and dismissed to their homes. Because the annals of Emperor Shun's reign remained unfinished, the court ordered the scholar Ouyang You and others to travel to Beiping to gather scattered records. In the second month of the following year they returned to court and the history bureau was reopened. Song Lian and Wang Yi again served as chief compilers, and literary men from across the realm—including Zhu You, Bei Qiong, Zhu Lian, Wang Yi, Zhang Mengjian, Gao Xunzhi, Li Mao, Li Wen, Zhang Xuan, Zhang Jian, Du Yin, Yin Bi, Yu Yin, and Xun—were recruited as compilers. Thirty men took part in the two rounds of compilation, but Xun alone served in both bureaus. After six months the book was complete. Most scholars were offered posts, but only Xun, Zhu You, and Zhu Lian declined appointment and went home.
27
尋召修日曆，授翰林編修。 高麗遣使朝貢，賜宴，樂作，使者以國喪辭。 熏進曰：「小國之喪，不廢大國之禮。」 太祖甚悅，命與宋濂同職史館，濂兄事之。 嘗奉詔撰《甘露頌》，太祖稱善。 出為靖江王府長史，卒。
He was soon recalled to work on the imperial calendar and was appointed Hanlin Compiler. When Goryeo sent tribute envoys, the court held a feast in their honor; as the music started the envoys begged off, citing mourning in their country. Xun came forward and argued, "When a lesser kingdom is in mourning, it should not interrupt the rites due a greater power. The Emperor was much pleased and ordered him to serve in the History Office alongside Song Lian, who treated him with the deference due an elder brother. On one occasion he was commanded to draft the "Ode to Sweet Dew," which the Founding Emperor commended. He was later appointed chief secretary to the Prince of Jingjiang and died in that service.
28
始與壎同纂修者汪克寬、陶凱、曾魯、高啟、趙汸、貝瓊、高遜志並有傳，今自宋僖以下可考者，附著於篇。
Wang Kuan, Tao Kai, Zeng Lu, Gao Qi, Zhao Fen, Bei Qiong, and Gao Xunzhi, who first compiled alongside Xun, already have separate biographies; what follows from Song Xi downward records those others for whom accounts can be verified.
29
宋僖，字無逸，余姚人。 元繁昌教諭，遭亂歸。 史事竣，命典福建鄉試。
Song Xi, styled Wuyi, was a native of Yuyao. During the Yuan he served as instructor in Fanchang; when chaos erupted he returned home. After the history project concluded, he was appointed to administer the Fujian provincial examinations.
30
陳基，字敬初，臨海人。 少與兄聚受業於義烏黃溍，從溍游京師，授經筵檢討。 嘗為人草諫章，力陳順帝並後之失，順帝欲罪之，引避歸里。 已，奉母入吳，參太尉張士誠軍事。 士誠稱王，基獨諫止，欲殺之，不果。 吳平，召修《元史》，賜金而還。 洪武三年冬卒。 初，士誠與太祖相持，基在其幕府，書檄多指斥，及吳亡，吳臣多見誅，基獨免。 世所傳《夷白集》，其指斥之文猶備列雲。
Chen Ji, styled Jingchu, came from Linhai. In his youth he and his elder brother Ju studied under Huang Jin of Yiwu; traveling with Jin to the capital, he was appointed lecturer and examiner in the Classics Collation Office. He once ghost-wrote a memorial that sharply criticized Emperor Shun for elevating a second empress. When Shun moved to punish the author, Ji fled home to avoid involvement. Thereafter he brought his mother into Wu territory and entered Zhang Shicheng's staff as a military adviser. When Shicheng proclaimed himself king, Ji alone urged him to desist. Shicheng wanted him killed but did not carry it out. After Wu was pacified he was summoned to help compile the History of the Yuan, received a gift of gold, and returned home. He died in the winter of the third year of Hongwu. While Shicheng and the Founding Emperor were locked in struggle, Ji served in Shicheng's secretariat, and many of his proclamations had denounced the Ming cause. After Wu fell, most of Shicheng's ministers were put to death, yet Ji alone was spared. In his transmitted Collection of Plain White, the condemnatory pieces he wrote during that period are still preserved in full.
31
張文海，鄞人，與同里傅恕併入史館。
Zhang Wenhai, a native of Yin, entered the History Office together with his townsman Fu Shu.
32
徐尊生，字大年，淳安人。 《元史》成，受賜歸，復同修日曆。 後以宋濂薦授翰林應奉，文字草制，悉稱旨。 尋以老疾辭還。
Xu Zunsheng, styled Danian, came from Chun'an. When the History of the Yuan was finished he accepted his reward and went home, then was again called back to help compile the imperial calendar. Later, on Song Lian's recommendation, he was made Hanlin Attendant-Drafter; the memorials and edicts he drafted consistently met with imperial approval. Before long he resigned on grounds of age and infirmity and went home.
33
傅恕，字如心，鄞人。 學通經史，與同郡烏斯道、鄭真皆有文名。 洪武二年詣闕陳治道十二策，曰：正朝廷、重守令、馭外蕃、增祿秩、均民田、更法役、黜異端、易服制、興學校、慎選舉、罷榷鹽、停榷茶。 太祖嘉納之，遂命修《元史》。 事竣，授博野知縣，後坐累死。
Fu Shu, styled Ruxin, was from Yin. His learning ranged broadly over the Classics and histories; he and his countrymen Wu Sidao and Zheng Zhen all enjoyed literary renown. In the second year of Hongwu he came to court and submitted twelve proposals for governance: strengthen the central government, elevate prefects and magistrates, manage frontier peoples, raise official salaries, redistribute land evenly, reform labor service, suppress heterodox doctrines, revise dress codes, promote schools, tighten selection by examination, end the salt monopoly, and abolish the tea monopoly. The Emperor praised and accepted his recommendations, then put him to work on the History of the Yuan. When the project ended he was appointed magistrate of Boye, but later died after being implicated in a case involving overwork.
34
斯道，字繼善，慈溪人，與兄本良俱有學行。 洪武中，斯道被薦授石龍知縣，調永新，坐事謫役定遠，放還，卒。 斯道工古文，兼精書法。 子緝，亦善詩文。 洪武四年舉鄉試第一，授臨淮教諭。 入見，賜之宴，賦詩稱旨，除廣信教授，自號榮陽外史。
Wu Sidao, styled Jishan, was from Cixi; he and his elder brother Benliang were both noted for learning and integrity. During Hongwu, Sidao was recommended and made magistrate of Shilong, then transferred to Yongxin. After being convicted he was sentenced to labor at Dingyuan, later released; he died after returning home. Sidao excelled at ancient-style prose and was also accomplished in calligraphy. His son Ji was likewise gifted in poetry and prose. In the fourth year of Hongwu he ranked first in the provincial examination and was appointed instructor at Linhuai. Called into audience, he was granted a banquet; poetry he composed pleased the throne, and he was promoted to professor at Guangxin, taking for himself the style "Outer Historian of Rongyang."
35
傅著，字則明，長洲人。 史成，歸為常熟教諭。 魏觀行鄉飲酒禮，長洲教諭周敏侍其父南老，著侍其父玉，皆降而北面立，觀禮者以為盛事焉。 歷官知府，卒。
Fu Zhu, styled Zeming, came from Changzhou. After the history was finished he went home and became instructor at Changshu. When Wei Guan held the district wine-drinking ceremony, Changzhou instructor Zhou Min stood below attending his father Nannai, and Zhu below attending his father Yu, each facing north; witnesses regarded the scene as a splendid occasion. He later rose to prefectural magistrate and died in office.
36
謝徽，字元懿，長洲人。 史成，授翰林國史院編修。 尋擢吏部郎中，力辭不拜，歸。 復起國子助教，卒。 徽博學工詩文，與同邑高啟齊名。 弟恭，字元功，亦能詩。
Xie Hui, styled Yuanyi, was from Changzhou. When the history was complete he was appointed compiler in the Hanlin National History Institute. He was soon promoted to Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel but firmly declined the post and went home. He was later recalled as assistant instructor at the National University and died in that role. Broadly learned and skilled in poetry and prose, Hui enjoyed a reputation equal to that of his townsman Gao Qi. His younger brother Gong, styled Yuangong, was also a capable poet.
37
硃右，字伯賢，臨海人。 史成，辭歸。 已，征修日曆、寶訓，授翰林編修。 遷晉府右長史。 九年卒官。
Zhu You, styled Boxian, came from Linhai. When the history project ended he declined office and returned home. Later he was recalled to compile the calendar and imperial admonitions and was appointed Hanlin Compiler. He was transferred to serve as right chief secretary to the Prince of Jin. He died in office in the ninth year of the reign.
38
硃廉，字伯清，義烏人。 幼力學，從黃溍學古文。 知府王宗顯辟教郡學。 李文忠鎮嚴州，延為釣台書院山長。 洪武初，《元史》成，不受官歸。 尋征修日曆，除翰林編修。 八年扈駕中都，進詩十章，太祖稱善，為和六章賜之。 已而授楚王經，遷楚府右長史。 久之，辭疾歸。 廉好程、硃之學，嘗取《硃子語類》，摘其精義，名曰《理學纂言》。
Zhu Lian, styled Boqing, was a native of Yiwu. From youth he studied diligently and studied ancient prose under Huang Jin. Prefect Wang Zongxian engaged him to teach at the prefectural school. When Li Wenzhong was stationed at Yanzhou, he invited Lian to serve as head of Diaotai Academy. At the beginning of Hongwu, when the History of the Yuan was finished, he declined appointment and went home. He was soon recalled to work on the calendar and was appointed Hanlin Compiler. In the eighth year he accompanied the Emperor to Zhongdu and presented ten poems; the Founding Emperor commended them and wrote six poems in reply as a gift. Shortly afterward he was made tutor to the Prince of Chu and then promoted to right chief secretary of the Chu princely establishment. After some years he resigned citing illness and returned home. Lian devoted himself to the teachings of the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi; he distilled the essential points from Zhu Xi's Classified Conversations into a work titled Compendium of Neo-Confucian Doctrine.
39
王彝，字常宗，其先蜀人，父為昆山教授，遂卜居嘉定。 少孤貧，讀書天台山中，師事王貞文，得蘭溪金履祥之傳，學有端緒。 嘗著論力詆楊維楨，目為文妖。 《元史》成，賜銀幣還。 又以薦入翰林，母老乞歸。 坐知府魏觀事，與高啟俱被殺。
Wang Yi, styled Changzong, was descended from families of Shu; his father served as professor at Kunshan, after which the family moved to Jiading. Orphaned and poor in his youth, he studied in the Tiantai Mountains under Wang Zhenwen and received the intellectual lineage of Jin Lixiang of Lanxi, giving his learning a firm foundation. He once wrote a polemic fiercely attacking Yang Weizhen, branding him a literary aberration. When the History of the Yuan was finished he was rewarded with silver and silks and sent home. Later, on recommendation, he entered the Hanlin Academy, but begged leave to return when his mother grew old. Implicated in the case of Prefect Wei Guan, he was executed together with Gao Qi.
40
張孟兼，浦江人，名丁，以字行。 史成，授國子學錄，歷禮部主事、太常司丞。 劉基嘗為太祖言：「今天下文章，宋濂第一，其次即臣基，又次即孟兼。」 太祖頷之。 孟兼性傲，嘗坐累謫輸作。 已，復官，太祖顧孟兼謂濂曰：「卿門人邪？」 濂對：「非門人，乃邑子也。 其為文有才，臣劉基嘗稱之。」 太祖熟視孟兼曰：「生骨相薄，仕宦，徐徐乃可耳。」 未幾，用為山西僉事。 廉勁疾惡，糾摘奸猾，令相牽引，每事輒株連數十人。 吏民聞張僉事行部，凜然墮膽。 聲聞於朝，擢山東副使。 布政使吳印者，僧也，太祖驟貴之，寵眷甚，孟兼易之。 印謁孟兼，由中門入，孟兼杖守門卒。 已，又以他事與相拄。 太祖先入印言，逮笞孟兼。 孟兼憤，捕為印書奏者，欲論以罪。 印覆上書言狀，太祖大怒曰：「豎儒與我抗邪！」 械至闕下，命棄市。
Zhang Mengjian, a native of Pujiang, bore the given name Ding but was known by his courtesy name. When the history was finished he was made recorder at the National University, then served as section chief in the Ministry of Rites and vice director of the Grand Harmony Office. Liu Ji once told the Founding Emperor, "Among writers in the realm today, Song Lian ranks first, I myself second, and Mengjian third. The Emperor nodded in agreement. Mengjian was proud by nature; on one occasion he was convicted on accumulated charges and sentenced to labor service. After he was restored to office, the Emperor turned to Mengjian and asked Lian, "Is he your disciple? Lian answered, "Not my disciple, but a man from my home district. He is talented in writing; I, Liu Ji, have praised him before. The Emperor studied Mengjian closely and remarked, "His physiognomy is thin—if he enters official life, advancement will come only slowly. Before long he was appointed Vice Commissioner of Shanxi. Stern and incorruptible, he hated villainy; when he investigated and exposed the crafty he had them implicate one another, and every case entangled dozens of people. Officials and commoners alike quaked with fear whenever Vice Commissioner Zhang went on circuit. His reputation reached the capital, and he was promoted to Vice Commissioner of Shandong. The provincial administrator Wu Yin had formerly been a monk; the Founding Emperor had suddenly elevated him and showered him with favor, which Mengjian openly despised. When Yin called on Mengjian and entered through the middle gate, Mengjian had the gatekeeper beaten. Soon afterward the two clashed again over another affair. The Emperor first heard Yin's account and had Mengjian seized and flogged. Enraged, Mengjian arrested the men who had drafted Yin's memorials, intending to prosecute them. Yin sent a memorial to the throne detailing the matter; the Emperor flew into a rage and cried, "This contemptible pedant dares resist me! He was shackled and brought to the capital, where the Emperor ordered him executed in the marketplace.
41
李汶，字宗茂，當塗人。 博學多才，史成，除巴東知縣，移南和。 晚年歸里，以經學訓後進。
Li Wen, courtesy name Zongmao, was a native of Dangtu. A man of wide learning and many gifts, he was appointed magistrate of Badong once the history was finished, and later transferred to Nanhe. In his later years he returned home and taught the younger generation the classics.
42
張宣，字藻重，江陰人。 洪武初，以考禮征。 尋預修《元史》，太祖親書其名，召對殿廷，即日授翰林編修，呼為小秀才。 奉詔歸娶，年已三十矣。 六年坐事謫徙濠梁，道卒。
Zhang Xuan, courtesy name Zaozhong, was from Jiangyin. In the early Hongwu period he was summoned to assist in the revision of ritual regulations. He soon took part in compiling the History of Yuan; the Founding Emperor wrote his name in his own hand, summoned him for an audience in the palace, and that same day appointed him Hanlin Compiler, affectionately calling him "Little Scholar." By imperial order he returned home to marry, though he was already thirty. In the sixth year he was punished and banished to Haoliang, but died on the way.
43
張簡，字仲簡，吳縣人。 初師張雨為道士，隱居鴻山。 元季兵亂，以母老歸養，遂返儒服。 洪武三年，薦修《元史》。 當元季，浙東、西士大夫以文墨相尚，每歲必聯詩社，聘一二文章鉅公主之，四方名士畢至，宴賞窮日夜，詩勝者輒有厚贈。 臨川饒介為元淮南行省參政，豪於詩，自號醉樵，嘗大集諸名士賦《醉樵歌》。 簡詩第一，贈黃金一餅； 高啟次之，得白金三斤； 楊基又次之，猶贈一鎰。
Zhang Jian, courtesy name Zhongjian, was a native of Wu County. He first took Zhang Yu as his master and became a Daoist priest, living in seclusion on Mount Hong. During the warfare at the end of the Yuan, he came home to support his aged mother and put aside his Daoist robes for scholar's dress once more. In the third year of Hongwu he was recommended to help compile the History of Yuan. At the end of the Yuan, scholar-officials in eastern and western Zhejiang vied in literary accomplishment; each year they formed poetry clubs and invited one or two leading writers to preside. Men of letters from every quarter gathered, feasting and composing through day and night, and the winners of these contests were richly rewarded. Rao Jie of Linchuan, who served as Vice Administrator of the Yuan Huainan Branch Secretariat, was a bold poet styling himself the Drunken Woodcutter; he once gathered many celebrated writers to compose poems on the "Song of the Drunken Woodcutter." Zhang Jian's poem ranked first, and he was given an ingot of gold; Gao Qi came second and received three jin of silver; Yang Ji placed third and was still given one yi of silver.
44
杜寅，字彥正，吳縣人。 史成，官岐寧衛知事。 洪武八年，番賊既降復叛，寅與經歷熊鼎俱被害。
Du Yin, courtesy name Yanzheng, was a native of Wu County. After the history was finished, he served as records officer of the Qining Guard. In the eighth year of Hongwu, tribal rebels who had surrendered rose again; Yin and the assistant commander Xiong Ding were both killed.
45
徐一夔
Xu Yikui
46
徐一夔，字大章，天台人。 工文，與義烏王禕善。 洪武二年八月詔纂修禮書，一夔及儒士梁寅、劉於、曾魯、周子諒、胡行簡、劉宗弼、董彝、蔡深、滕公琰並與焉。 明年書成，將續修《元史》，禕方為總裁官，以一夔薦。 一夔遺書曰：
Xu Yikui, courtesy name Dazhang, was a native of Tiantai. He was accomplished in letters and on close terms with Wang Yi of Yiwu. In the eighth month of the second year of Hongwu an edict ordered the compilation of ritual texts, and Yikui joined the Confucian scholars Liang Yin, Liu Yu, Zeng Lu, Zhou Ziliang, Hu Xingjian, Liu Zongbi, Dong Yi, Cai Shen, and Teng Gongyan in the work. The following year the book was finished, and as work was about to resume on the History of Yuan, Yi, who was then chief editor, recommended Yikui. Yikui wrote back in a letter:
47
邇者縣令傳命，言朝廷以續修《元史》見征，且雲執事謂僕善敘事，薦之當路，私心竊怪執事何忄卷忄卷於不材多病之人也。 僕素謂執事知我，今自審終不能副執事之望，何也？
Recently the district magistrate relayed an order that the court had summoned me to continue compiling the History of Yuan, and that you had praised my narrative skill and recommended me to the authorities. Privately I wondered why you should take such warm interest in a man as untalented and sickly as myself. I had always believed that you understood me, yet on reflection I see that I can never live up to your expectations—why is that?
48
近世論史者，莫過於日曆，日曆者，史之根柢也。 自唐長壽中，史官姚璹奏請撰時政記，元和中，韋執誼又奏撰日曆。 日曆以事系日，以日系月，以月系時，以時系年，猶有《春秋》遺意。 至於起居注之說，亦專以甲子起例，蓋紀事之法無逾此也。
Among recent discussions of historiography, nothing matters more than the Daily Calendar, for the Daily Calendar is the foundation of all history. As early as the Changshou era of Tang, the historiographer Yao Shou petitioned for the compilation of Current Affairs Records, and in the Yuanhe reign Wei Zhiyi petitioned again for a Daily Calendar. The Daily Calendar links events to days, days to months, months to seasons, and seasons to years, preserving something of the spirit of the Spring and Autumn Annals. The Court Diary, too, takes the sexagenary cycle as its organizing principle; in the recording of events there is no better method than this.
49
往宋極重史事，日曆之修，諸司必關白。 如詔誥則三省必書，兵機邊務則樞司必報，百官之進退，刑賞之予奪，台諫之論列，給舍之繳駁，經筵之論答，臣僚之轉對，侍從之直前啟事，中外之囊封匭奏，下至錢谷、甲兵、獄訟、造作，凡有關政體者，無不隨日以錄。 猶患其出於吏牘，或有訛失。 故歐陽修奏請宰相監修者，於歲終檢點修撰官日所錄事，有失職者罰之。 如此，則日曆不至訛失，他時會要之修取於此，實錄之修取於此，百年之後紀、志、列傳取於此，此宋氏之史所以為精確也。
The Song dynasty once placed the highest importance on historical record-keeping, and every office was required to report to the compilers of the Daily Calendar. Edicts and proclamations were entered by the Three Departments; military and frontier matters were reported by the Privy Council; appointments and dismissals, rewards and punishments, censorial remonstrances, rejected memorials, discussions at the imperial lecture hall, rotating audiences with the throne, attendants' direct reports, and sealed memorials from within and without the court—all the way down to revenue, grain, arms, lawsuits, and public works—whatever touched the governance of the realm was entered day by day without exception. Even so they worried that material drawn from routine paperwork might contain mistakes. Ouyang Xiu therefore petitioned that the chief counselor overseeing compilation should, at the end of each year, review the daily entries made by the compiling officials and punish any who had been negligent. In this way the Daily Calendar remained accurate; later institutional histories, Veritable Records, and, a century afterward, annals, treatises, and biographies all drew upon it—that is why the Song historical records are so exact.
50
元朝則不然，不置日曆，不置起居注，獨中書置時政科，遣一文學掾掌之，以事付史館。 及一帝崩，則國史院據所付修實錄而已。 其於史事，固甚疏略。 幸而天歷間虞集仿六典法，纂《經世大典》，一代典章文物粗備。
The Yuan dynasty did otherwise: it established neither a Daily Calendar nor Court Diaries, but only a Current Affairs Section within the Secretariat, staffed by a single literary clerk who forwarded materials to the History Office. Only when an emperor died would the State History Office compile a Veritable Record from whatever materials had been handed over. Its handling of historical record-keeping was, to be sure, extremely lax. Fortunately, during the Tianli reign Yu Ji followed the model of the Tang Six Canon and compiled the Comprehensive Institutions for Governing the Age, so that the institutions and cultural records of the dynasty were at least broadly preserved.
51
是以前局之史，既有十三朝實錄，又有此書可以參稽，而一時纂修諸公，如胡仲申、陶中立、趙伯友、趙子常、徐大年輩皆有史才史學，{廠堇}而成書。 至若順帝三十六年之事，既無實錄可據，又無參稽之書，惟憑採訪以足成之，竊恐事未必核也，言未必馴也，首尾未必穿貫也。 而向之數公，或受官，或還山，復各散去。 乃欲以不材多病如僕者承之於後，僕雖欲仰副執事之望，曷以哉！ 謹奉狀左右，乞賜矜察。
The earlier compilation thus had not only the Veritable Records of thirteen reigns but also this work for cross-reference, and the editors of the day—Hu Zhongshen, Tao Zhongli, Zhao Boyou, Zhao Zichang, Xu Danian, and their colleagues—were all men of historical talent and learning who brought the book to completion through painstaking labor. But the thirty-six years of Emperor Shun's reign have no Veritable Record to rely on and no supplementary work for verification; one must depend on gathered interviews to fill the gaps. I fear the facts may not be checked, the wording may not be disciplined, and the narrative may not hold together from beginning to end. Meanwhile those earlier scholars have either taken office or retired to the hills and have all gone their separate ways. And now you would have a man as untalented and sickly as myself carry on the work. Even if I wished to meet your expectations, how could I? I respectfully submit this account for your consideration and beg you to judge my case with understanding.
52
一夔遂不至。 未幾，用薦署杭州教授。 召修《大明日曆》，書成，將授翰林院官，以足疾辭，賜文綺遣還。
Yikui therefore never went. Before long, on recommendation, he was appointed instructor at Hangzhou. He was summoned to compile the Great Ming Daily Calendar, and when the work was finished he was to be given a post in the Hanlin Academy, but he declined on account of a foot ailment and was sent home with a gift of brocade.
53
趙捴謙附樂良等
Zhao Luqian, with supplementary notices on Le Liang and others
54
趙捴謙，名古則，更名謙，余姚人。 幼孤貧，寄食山寺，與硃右、謝肅、徐一夔輩定文字交。 天台鄭四表善《易》，則從之受《易》。 定海樂良、鄞鄭真明《春秋》，山陰趙俶長於說《詩》，迮雨善樂府，廣陵張昱工歌詩，無為吳志淳、華亭硃芾工草書篆隸，捴謙悉與為友。 博究《六經》、百氏之學，尤精六書，作《六書本義》，復作《聲音文字通》，時目為考古先生。 洪武十二年命詞臣修《正韻》，捴謙年二十有八，應聘入京師，授中都國子監典簿。 久之，以薦召為瓊山縣學教諭。 二十八年，卒於番禺。 其後，門人柴欽，字廣敬，以庶吉士與修《永樂大典》，進言其師所撰《聲音文字通》當採錄，遂奉命馳傳，即其家取之。
Zhao Luqian, whose original name was Guze and who later took the name Qian, was a native of Yuyao. Orphaned in youth and destitute, he lived on charity at a mountain monastery and formed a circle of literary friends with Zhu You, Xie Su, Xu Yikui, and others. Zheng Sibiao of Tiantai was accomplished in the Book of Changes, and Luqian studied the Changes under him. Le Liang of Dinghai and Zheng Zhen of Yin were versed in the Spring and Autumn Annals; Zhao Chu of Shanyin was an able commentator on the Odes; Ze Yu wrote yuefu poetry; Zhang Yu of Guangling was a master of lyric verse; Wu Zhichun of Wuwei and Zhu Fei of Huating excelled in cursive, seal, and clerical script—Luqian numbered them all among his friends. He pursued the Six Classics and the teachings of the hundred schools with breadth and depth, and was especially masterful in the six scripts; he wrote Origins of the Six Scripts and also Comprehensive Sound and Writing, and his contemporaries called him the Master of Antiquarian Studies. In the twelfth year of Hongwu the court ordered its literary ministers to compile the Correct Rhymes; Luqian, then twenty-eight, answered the summons to the capital and was appointed assistant registrar of the Zhongdu Directorate of Education. After some time he was summoned on recommendation and appointed instructor at the county school of Qiongshan. In the twenty-eighth year he died at Panyu. Later his disciple Chai Qin, courtesy name Guangjing, who served as a junior compiler on the Yongle Encyclopedia, memorialized that his teacher's Comprehensive Sound and Writing should be included in the work; the court ordered a relay courier sent at once to fetch the manuscript from his home.
55
樂良，字季本。 迮雨，字士霖。 趙俶，字本初。 洪武中，官國子監博士。 以年老乞歸，加翰林待制。
Le Liang, courtesy name Jiben. Ze Yu, courtesy name Shilin. Zhao Chu, courtesy name Benchu. During the Hongwu reign he served as an erudite of the Directorate of Education. He asked to retire on account of age and was granted the additional title of Hanlin Attendant Drafter.
56
張昱，字光弼，廬陵人。 仕元，為江浙行省左、右司員外郎，行樞密院判官。 留居西湖壽安坊，貧無以葺廬，酒間為瞿佑誦所作詩，笑曰：「我死埋骨湖上，題曰詩人張員外墓足矣。」 太祖征至京，憫其老，曰「可閒矣」，厚賜遣還，乃自號可閒老人。 年八十三卒。
Zhang Yu, courtesy name Guangbi, was a native of Luling. Under the Yuan he served as Vice Director in the left and right bureaus of the Zhejiang Branch Secretariat and as Vice Commissioner of the mobile Privy Council. He lived on at Shou'an Lane beside West Lake, too poor to repair his dwelling; over wine he recited his own poems to Qu You and laughed, saying, "When I die, bury my bones by the lake with an inscription reading 'Tomb of the Poet Vice Commissioner Zhang'—that will be enough. The Founding Emperor summoned him to the capital, took pity on his age, and said, "You may take your ease," richly rewarded him and sent him home; he then styled himself the Elder Who May Rest. He died at the age of eighty-three.
57
吳志淳，字主一，元末知靖安、都昌二縣。 奏除待制翰林，為權幸所阻，避兵於鄞。
Wu Zhichun, courtesy name Zhuyi, served at the end of the Yuan as magistrate of Jing'an and Duchang. He was recommended for appointment as Hanlin Attendant Drafter, but powerful favorites blocked the appointment, and he took refuge from the fighting at Yin.
58
硃芾，字孟辨，洪武初，官編修，改中書舍人。
Zhu Fei, courtesy name Mengbian, served in the early Hongwu period as a compiler and was later transferred to the post of Secretariat Drafter.
59
陶宗儀附顧德輝等
Tao Zongyi, with supplementary notices on Gu Dehui and others
60
陶宗儀，字九成，黃岩人。 父煜，元福建、江西行樞密院都事。 宗儀少試有司，一不中即棄去，務古學，無所不窺。 出遊浙東、西，師事張翥、李孝光、杜本。 為詩文，咸有程度，尤刻志字學，習舅氏趙雍篆法。 浙帥泰不華、南台御史醜驢舉為行人，又辟為教官，皆不就。 張士誠據吳，署為軍諮，亦不赴。 洪武四年詔征天下儒士，六年命有司舉人才，皆及宗儀，引疾不赴。 晚歲，有司聘為教官，非其志也。 二十九年率諸生赴禮部試，讀《大誥》，賜鈔歸，久之卒。 所著有《輟耕錄》三十卷，又葺《說郛》、《書史會要》、《四書備遺》，並傳於世。
Tao Zongyi, courtesy name Jiucheng, was a native of Huangyan. His father Yu served the Yuan as chief officer of the Fujian and Jiangxi mobile Privy Council. Zongyi attempted the civil examinations in his youth, but after failing once he abandoned them and devoted himself to antiquarian studies, leaving no field unexplored. He traveled through eastern and western Zhejiang and studied under Zhang Zhu, Li Xiaoguang, and Du Ben. His poetry and prose were all accomplished, and he was especially devoted to the study of writing, practicing the seal script of his maternal uncle Zhao Yong. The Zhejiang commander Taibuhua and the South Censorate censor Choulu recommended him for appointment as an emissary, and he was also invited to serve as an instructor, but he declined every offer. When Zhang Shicheng held Wu he appointed Zongyi military adviser, but he again refused to serve. In the fourth year of Hongwu an edict summoned scholars from across the realm, and in the sixth year local offices were ordered to recommend men of talent; Zongyi was named in both summonses, but he pleaded illness and stayed away. In his later years local offices engaged him as an instructor, though this was not what he wished. In the twenty-ninth year he led his students to the Ministry of Rites examination, recited the Great Admonitions, received a gift of paper money, and returned home; he died some time later. His writings include Recording from the Plough in thirty volumes, and he also compiled Shuofu, Union of Books and History, and Supplement to the Four Books, all of which have been handed down.
61
顧德輝，字仲瑛，昆山人。 家世素封，輕財結客，豪宕自喜。 年三十，始折節讀書，購古書、名畫、彝鼎、秘玩，築別業於茜涇西，曰玉山佳處，晨夕與客置酒賦詩其中。 四方文學士河東張翥、會稽楊維楨、天台柯九思、永嘉李孝光，方外士張雨、於彥、成琦、元璞輩，咸主其家。 園池亭榭之盛，圖史之富暨餼館聲伎，並冠絕一時。 而德輝才情妙麗，與諸名士亦略相當。 嘗舉茂才，授會稽教諭，辟行省屬官，皆不就。 張士誠據吳，欲強以官，去隱於嘉興之合溪。 尋以子元臣為元水軍副都萬戶，封德輝武略將軍、飛騎尉、錢塘縣男。 母喪歸綽溪，士誠再辟之，遂斷髮廬墓，自號金粟道人。 及吳平，父子並徙濠梁。 洪武二年卒。 士誠之據吳也，頗收召知名士，東南士避兵於吳者依焉。
Gu Dehui, courtesy name Zhongying, was a native of Kunshan. His family had long been wealthy; he spent freely to gather friends about him and lived with bold, carefree self-satisfaction. At thirty he began to settle down to study, collecting ancient books, famous paintings, bronze vessels, and rare curios; he built a villa west of Qian Creek called the Jade Mountain Retreat, where morning and evening he feasted with guests and composed poetry. Men of letters from every quarter—Zhang Zhu of Hedong, Yang Weizhen of Kuaiji, Ke Jiusi of Tiantai, and Li Xiaoguang of Yongjia—as well as recluses such as Zhang Yu, Yu Yan, Cheng Qi, and Yuan Pu all made his house their center. The splendor of his gardens, ponds, pavilions, and towers, the wealth of his library, and the hospitality and entertainment he offered guests were unmatched in his day. Dehui's own talent and sensibility were exquisitely refined, and he held his own among these celebrated men. He was once nominated as a maocai and offered the post of instructor at Kuaiji, and was also invited to serve on the staff of the branch secretariat, but he declined every appointment. When Zhang Shicheng held Wu and tried to impose an office on him, he withdrew and lived in seclusion at Hexi in Jiaxing. Soon afterward, because his son Yuanchen served as Vice Commander of the Yuan navy, Dehui was enfeoffed as General of Military Strategy, Commandant of Flying Cavalry, and Baron of Qiantang. After his mother's death he returned to Chuo Creek; when Shicheng summoned him again he shaved his head and built a mourning hut by her tomb, styling himself the Golden Millet Daoist. When Wu fell, he and his son were both banished to Haoliang. He died in the second year of Hongwu. While Shicheng held Wu he gathered many celebrated scholars, and men of letters from the southeast who sought refuge from the fighting found shelter with him.
62
孫作，字大雅，江陰人。 為文醇正典雅，動有據依。 嘗著書十二篇，號《東家子》，宋濂為作《東家子傳》。 元季，挈家避兵於吳，盡棄他物，獨載書兩簏。 士誠廩祿之，旋以母病謝去，客松江，眾為買田築室居焉。 洪武六年聘修《大明日曆》，授翰林編修，乞改太平府教授。 召為國子助教，尋分教中都，逾年還國學，抉授司業，歸卒於家。
Sun Zuo, courtesy name Daya, was a native of Jiangyin. His writing was polished, upright, and elegant, and every argument rested on solid grounds. He once wrote twelve essays under the title The Eastern House Master, and Song Lian composed a biography of him bearing that name. In the closing years of the Yuan he fled the fighting with his family to Wu, abandoning everything else and carrying only two chests of books. Shicheng granted him a stipend, but he soon resigned when his mother fell ill and settled in Songjiang, where friends purchased land and built a house for him. In the sixth year of Hongwu he was appointed to help compile the Great Ming Calendar and was made a Hanlin compiler, but he requested transfer to the post of instructor at Taiping Prefecture. He was summoned as an assistant instructor at the Imperial Academy, then sent to teach at the secondary capital; after a year he returned to the main academy and was promoted to Vice Rector. He retired and died at home.
63
元末文人最盛，其以詞學知名者，又有張憲、周砥、高明、藍仁之屬。
In the late Yuan, men of letters flourished as never before; others famous for their command of literature included Zhang Xian, Zhou Di, Gao Ming, Lan Ren, and the like.
64
張憲，字思廉，山陰人。 學詩於楊維楨，最為所許。 負才不羈，嘗走京師，恣言天下事，眾駭其狂。 還入富春山，混緇流以自放。 一日，升高呼所親，語曰：「禍至矣，亟去！」 三日而寇至，死者五百家。 後仕張士誠，為樞密院都事。 吳平，變姓名，寄食杭州報國寺以歿。
Zhang Xian, courtesy name Sikian, was a native of Shanyin. He studied poetry under Yang Weizhen and won the master's highest esteem. Gifted and unrestrained, he once went to the capital and spoke bluntly about state affairs, shocking everyone with his audacity. He withdrew to Mount Fuchun and lost himself among Buddhist monks. One day he climbed to a height, summoned those close to him, and cried, "Disaster is upon us—flee at once!" Three days later the raiders came, and five hundred households perished. He later entered Zhang Shicheng's service as chief secretary of the Bureau of Military Affairs. When Wu fell, he changed his name and ended his days as a dependent at Baoguo Temple in Hangzhou.
65
周砥，字履道，吳人，僑無錫。 博學工文詞，與宜興馬治善，遭亂客治家，治為具舟車，盡窮陽羡山溪之勝。 其鄉多富人，與治善者咸置酒招砥。 砥心厭之，一日貽書別治，夜半遁去，游會稽，歿於兵。 治，字孝常，亦能詩。 洪武時為內丘知縣，終建昌知府。
Zhou Di, courtesy name Lüdao, was a native of Wu who had settled in Wuxi. A learned man skilled in belles-lettres, he was close friends with Ma Zhi of Yixing; during the turmoil he stayed at Ma's home, and Ma supplied boats and carriages so they could tour every scenic spot in the Yangxian hills and streams. The area was full of wealthy men, and all who were friendly with Ma Zhi hosted feasts to court Zhou Di. Zhou Di grew weary of this; one day he sent Ma Zhi a letter of farewell, fled at midnight, traveled through Kuaiji, and died amid the fighting. Ma Zhi, courtesy name Xiaochang, was also a poet. During the Hongwu reign he served as magistrate of Neiqiu and eventually rose to prefect of Jianchang.
66
高明，字則誠，永嘉人。 至正五年進士，授處州錄事，辟行省掾。 方國珍叛，省臣以明諳海濱事，擇以自從，與論事不合。 及國珍就撫，欲留置幕下，即日解官，旅寓鄞之櫟社。 太祖聞其名，召之，以老疾辭，還卒於家。
Gao Ming, courtesy name Zecheng, was a native of Yongjia. A jinshi of the fifth year of Zhizheng, he was appointed clerk at Chuzhou and then recruited to the staff of the provincial administration. When Fang Guozhen rebelled, the provincial officials chose Ming to accompany them because he knew coastal affairs, but his views did not accord with theirs in council. When Guozhen submitted to pacification and wished to keep him on staff, he resigned immediately and took lodging at Lishe in Yin. The Founder heard his fame and summoned him, but he declined on grounds of age and illness, returned home, and died there.
67
藍仁，字靜之。 弟智，字明之，崇安人。 元時，清江杜本隱武夷，崇尚古學，仁兄弟俱往師之，授以四明任士林詩法，遂謝科舉，一意為詩。 後辟武夷書院山長，遷邵武尉，不赴。 內附後，例徙濠梁，數月放歸，卒。 智，洪武十年被薦，起家廣西僉事，著廉聲。
Lan Ren, courtesy name Jingzhi. His younger brother Zhi, courtesy name Mingzhi, was a native of Chong'an. During the Yuan, Du Ben of Qingjiang lived in seclusion on Mount Wuyi and championed ancient learning; both Lan brothers studied under him and learned the poetics of Ren Shilin of Siming, then turned away from the examination system and devoted themselves entirely to verse. He was later invited to serve as head of Wuyi Academy and then offered the post of commandant at Shaowu, but he accepted neither appointment. After the region submitted to the Ming, he was resettled at Haoliang by regulation; several months later he was released to return home, where he died. Zhi was recommended in the tenth year of Hongwu, entered office as assistant commissioner in Guangxi, and won renown for his integrity.
68
袁凱，字景文，松江華亭人。 元末為府吏，博學有才辨，議論飆發，往往屈座人。 洪武三年薦授御史。 武臣恃功驕恣，得罪者漸眾，凱上言：「諸將習兵事，恐未悉君臣禮。 請於都督府延通經學古之士，令諸武臣赴都堂聽講，庶得保族全身之道。」 帝敕臺省延名士直午門，為諸將說書。 後帝慮囚畢，命凱送皇太子覆訊，多所矜減。 凱還報，帝問「朕與太子孰是？」 凱頓首言：「陛下法之正，東宮心之慈。」 帝以凱老猾持兩端，惡之。 凱懼，佯狂免，告歸，久之以壽終。 凱工詩，有盛名。 性詼諧，自號海叟。 背戴烏巾，倒騎黑牛，遊行九峰間，好事者至繪為圖。 初，在楊維楨座，客出所賦《白燕詩》，凱微笑，別作一篇以獻。 維楨大驚賞，遍示座客，人遂呼袁白燕雲。
Yuan Kai, courtesy name Jingwen, was a native of Huating in Songjiang. In the late Yuan he served as a prefectural clerk; widely read and quick in debate, his speech poured forth and often reduced those seated with him to silence. In the third year of Hongwu he was recommended and appointed censor. Military officers, emboldened by their achievements, grew arrogant, and more and more fell afoul of the law; Kai memorialized the throne: "The generals are trained in warfare but may not yet fully understand the rites governing sovereign and subject. I ask that the Military Commission invite scholars versed in the classics and ancient learning, and require the military officers to attend lectures in the central hall, so that they may learn how to preserve their families and their lives." The Emperor ordered the censorate and central offices to invite eminent scholars to lecture at the Meridian Gate for the generals. Later, after the Emperor had finished reviewing prisoners, he ordered Kai to accompany the Crown Prince in re-examining the cases; many sentences were reduced out of mercy. When Kai returned to report, the Emperor asked, "Between the Crown Prince and me, who was right?" Kai kowtowed and answered, "Your Majesty upheld the law correctly; the Eastern Palace showed a merciful heart." The Emperor took Kai for a slippery old man playing both sides and came to dislike him. Kai grew afraid, feigned madness to obtain dismissal, and returned home, where he lived out a long life. Kai was an accomplished poet and enjoyed wide renown. Humorous by nature, he styled himself the Old Man of the Sea. He wore a black kerchief on his back and rode a black ox facing backward as he wandered among the Nine Peaks; admirers even painted the scene. Once, at a gathering hosted by Yang Weizhen, a guest read aloud his poem on the white swallow; Kai smiled and wrote another poem to present in its place. Weizhen was astonished and delighted, showed the poem to everyone present, and thereafter people called Kai "Yuan the White Swallow."
69
高啟附楊基等
Gao Qi, with supplementary notices on Yang Ji and others.
70
高啟，字季迪，長洲人。 博學工詩。 張士誠據吳，啟依外家，居吳淞江之青丘。 洪武初，被薦，偕同縣謝徽召修《元史》，授翰林院國史編修官，覆命教授諸王。 三年秋，帝御闕樓，啟、徽俱入對，擢啟戶部右侍郎，徽吏部郎中。 啟自陳年少不敢當重任，徽亦固辭，乃見許。 已，並賜白金放還。 啟嘗賦詩，有所諷刺，帝嗛之未發也。 及歸，居青丘，授書自給。 知府魏觀為移其家郡中，旦夕延見，甚歡。 觀以改修府治，獲譴。 帝見啟所作上梁文，因發怒，腰斬於市，年三十有九。 明初，吳下多詩人，啟與楊基、張羽、徐賁稱四傑，以配唐王、楊、盧、駱雲。
Gao Qi, courtesy name Jidi, was a native of Changzhou. He was widely learned and a master of poetry. While Zhang Shicheng held Wu, Qi lived with his mother's family at Qingqiu on the Wusong River. In the early Hongwu years he was recommended and, together with Xie Hui of the same county, summoned to help compile the History of the Yuan; he was made a Hanlin compiler of national history and then ordered to instruct the princes. In the autumn of the third year the Emperor ascended the gate tower; Qi and Hui were both summoned for audience, and Qi was promoted to Vice Minister of Revenue while Hui was made a director in the Ministry of Personnel. Qi pleaded that he was too young for so weighty an office, and Hui also firmly declined; their requests were granted. They were then given gifts of silver and sent home. Qi had once written poetry containing satirical barbs, and though the Emperor resented it, he had not yet acted on his anger. After returning home he lived at Qingqiu and supported himself by teaching. Prefect Wei Guan had Qi's family moved into the prefectural city and received him morning and evening with great warmth. Wei Guan was punished for rebuilding the prefectural offices. When the Emperor read the ridgepole essay Qi had written, he flew into a rage and had him executed by waist-slicing in the marketplace. He was thirty-nine. In the early Ming, poets flourished in the Wu region; Qi, together with Yang Ji, Zhang Yu, and Xu Ben, were hailed as the Four Masters, paired with the Tang luminaries Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, and Luo Binwang.
71
基，字孟載，其先蜀嘉州人，祖宦吳中，生基，遂家焉。 九歲背誦《六經》，及長著書十萬余言，名曰《論鑒》。 遭亂，隱吳之赤山。 張士誠辟為丞相府記室，未幾辭去，客饒介所。 明師下平江，基以饒氏客安置臨濠，旋徙河南。 洪武二年放歸。 尋起為滎陽知縣，謫居鐘離。 被薦為江西行省幕官，以省臣得罪，落職。 六年起官，奉使湖廣。 召還，授兵部員外郎，遷山西副使。 進按察使，被讒奪官，謫輸作，竟卒於工所。 初，會稽楊維楨客吳中，以詩自豪。 基於座上賦《鐵笛歌》，維楨驚喜，與俱東，語從游者曰：「吾在吳，又得一鐵矣。 若曹就之學。 優於老鐵學也。」
Yang Ji, courtesy name Mengzai, came from a family originally of Jiazhou in Shu; his grandfather had served as an official in the Wu region, and Ji was born there, so the family made its home in Wu. At nine he could recite the Six Classics from memory, and in adulthood he wrote a work of more than a hundred thousand characters entitled On the Mirror. When turmoil broke out he withdrew to Red Mountain in Wu. Zhang Shicheng invited him to serve as secretary in the chancellor's office, but he soon resigned and stayed as a guest in Rao Jie's household. When the Ming forces took Pingjiang, Ji was resettled at Linhao as a guest of the Rao family, and was soon moved again to Henan. In the second year of Hongwu he was released to return home. He was soon appointed magistrate of Xingyang but was later demoted and sent to live at Zhongli. He was recommended for a staff post in the Jiangxi provincial administration, but lost the appointment when the provincial official who had brought him in fell from favor. In the sixth year he was restored to office and sent on a mission to Huguang. He was recalled, appointed vice director in the Ministry of War, and then transferred to assistant commissioner in Shanxi. He was promoted to surveillance commissioner, but after slander stripped him of office he was condemned to corvée labor and ultimately died at the worksite. Earlier, Yang Weizhen of Kuaiji had sojourned in the Wu region and prided himself on his poetry. At a gathering Ji composed the Iron Flute Song; Weizhen was astonished and delighted, and traveling east with him said to his followers, "In Wu I have found another iron. You had better go study with him. Better than studying under Old Iron himself."
72
張羽，字來儀，後以字行，本潯陽人。 從父宦江浙，兵阻不獲歸，與友徐賁約，卜居吳興。 領鄉薦，為安定書院山長，再徙於吳。 洪武四年征至京師，應對不稱旨，放還。 再征授太常司丞。 太祖重其文，十六年自述滁陽王事，命羽撰廟碑。 尋坐事竄嶺南，未半道，召還。 羽自知不免，投龍江以死。 羽文章精潔有法，尤長於詩，作畫師小米。
Zhang Yu, courtesy name Laiyi, later went by that name in daily life; he was originally from Xunyang. He followed his father to an official post in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but war blocked his return home; he and his friend Xu Ben agreed to settle at Wuxing. He received a local recommendation, served as head of Anding Academy, and later moved again to Wu. In the fourth year of Hongwu he was summoned to the capital, but his responses failed to please the Emperor and he was sent home. He was summoned again and appointed director of the Imperial Sacrifices Office. Taizu admired his writing; in the sixteenth year he personally recounted the deeds of Prince Chuyang and ordered Yu to compose the temple stele. He was soon banished to Lingnan for an offense, but was recalled before he had gone halfway. Yu knew he could not escape punishment and drowned himself in the Long River. Zhang Yu's prose was polished and disciplined, he excelled above all in poetry, and in painting he followed the style of Mi Youren.
73
徐賁，字幼文，其先蜀人，徙常州，再徙平江。 工詩，善畫山水。 張士誠辟為屬，已謝去。 吳平，謫徙臨濠。 洪武七年被薦至京。 九年春，奉使晉、冀，有所廉訪。 暨還，檢其橐，惟紀行詩數首，太祖悅，授給事中。 改御史，巡按廣東。 又改刑部主事，遷廣西參議。 以政績卓異，擢河南左布政使。 大軍征洮、岷，道其境，坐犒勞不時，下獄瘐死。
Xu Ben, courtesy name Youwen, came from a family originally of Shu that had moved to Changzhou and then to Pingjiang. He was accomplished in poetry and skilled at landscape painting. Zhang Shicheng invited him to serve on his staff, but he declined and withdrew. When Wu fell he was banished to Linhao. In the seventh year of Hongwu he was recommended and summoned to the capital. In the spring of the ninth year he was sent on a mission to Shanxi and Hebei to conduct integrity inspections. When he returned, his baggage was searched and found to contain only a few travel poems; Taizu was pleased and appointed him supervising secretary. He was transferred to the post of censor and sent to inspect Guangdong. He was later made a director in the Ministry of Punishments and then promoted to assistant administrator in Guangxi. On account of his outstanding record in office he was promoted to left provincial administrator of Henan. When the main army marched against Tao and Min and passed through his territory, he was charged with failing to provide timely supplies and rewards, thrown into prison, and died there of neglect.
74
王行附唐肅宋克等
Wang Hang, with supplementary notices on Tang Su, Song Ke, and others.
75
王行，字止仲，吳縣人。 幼隨父依賣藥徐翁家，徐媼好聽稗官小說，行日記數本，為媼誦之。 媼喜，言於翁，授以《論語》，明日悉成誦。 翁大異之，俾盡讀家所有書，遂淹貫經史百家言。 未弱冠，謝去，授徒齊門，名士咸與交。 富人沈萬三延之家塾，每文成，酬白金鎰計，行輒麾去曰：「使富而可守，則然臍之慘不及矣。」 洪武初，有司延為學校師。 已，謝去，隱於石湖。 其二子役於京，行往視之，涼國公藍玉館於家，數薦之太祖，得召見。 後玉誅，行父子亦坐死。
Wang Hang, courtesy name Zhizhong, was a native of Wu County. As a boy he lived with his father in the household of Old Xu, a medicine seller; Old Xu's wife loved to hear popular tales, and Hang wrote down several volumes each day and read them aloud to her. Delighted, the old lady told her husband, who began teaching him the Analects; by the next day the boy could recite the entire text from memory. Greatly impressed, Old Xu had him read every book in the house, and Hang soon gained a thorough mastery of the classics, histories, and the full range of traditional learning. Before he came of age he left the Xu household to teach students near the Qi Gate, where he won the friendship of many leading literati. The wealthy Shen Wansan engaged him as tutor in his household school and paid him handsomely in silver for every piece he wrote, but Hang always refused the money, saying, "If riches could truly be preserved, men like Shen would not meet so dreadful an end. In the early Hongwu reign, local officials engaged him as a school instructor. Before long he resigned and retired to seclusion at Stone Lake. When his two sons were drafted for labor service in the capital, he went to see them; Lan Yu, Duke of Liangguo, stayed at his home, recommended him several times to the founding emperor, and he was summoned to court. After Lan Yu was executed in the purge, Hang and his sons were condemned and died with him.
76
始吳中用兵，所在多列砲石自固，行私語所知曰：「兵法柔能制剛，若植大竹於地，系布其端，砲石至，布隨之低昂，則人不能害，而砲石無所用矣。」 後常遇春取平江，果如其法。 行亦自負知兵，以及於禍雲。
Early in the war for Wu, defenders everywhere relied on catapults and stone projectiles; Hang confided to friends, "The soft overcomes the hard in warfare: drive tall bamboo into the ground, tie cloth to the tops, and when stones strike the cloth will give with the blow so that men remain unhurt and the siege engines lose their force. When Chang Yuchun later captured Pingjiang, his forces used exactly that device with success. Hang took equal pride in his military insight, a confidence that in the end brought ruin upon him.
77
初，高啟家北郭，與行比鄰，徐賁、高遜志、唐肅、宋克、余堯臣、張羽、呂敏、陳則皆卜居相近，號北郭十友，又稱十才子。 啟、賁、遜志、羽自有傳。
Gao Qi lived in Suzhou's northern suburbs next to Hang, and Xu Ben, Gao Xunzhi, Tang Su, Song Ke, Yu Yaochan, Zhang Yu, Lü Min, and Chen Ze all settled nearby; together they were known as the Ten Friends of the North Suburb, or the Ten Talents. Gao Qi, Xu Ben, Gao Xunzhi, and Zhang Yu are treated in biographies of their own.
78
唐肅，字處敬，越州山陰人。 通經史，兼習陰陽、醫卜、書數。 少與上虞謝肅齊名，稱會稽二肅。 至正壬寅舉鄉試。 張士誠時，為杭州黃岡書院山長，遷嘉興路儒學正。 士誠敗，例赴京。 尋以父喪還。 洪武三年用薦召修禮樂書，擢應奉翰林文字。 其秋，科舉行，為分考官，免歸。 六年謫佃濠梁，卒。 子之淳，字愚士，宋濂亟稱之。 建文二年，用方孝孺薦，擢翰林侍讀，與孝孺共領修書事，卒於官。
Tang Su, courtesy name Chujing, was a native of Shanyin in Yuezhou. He was deeply versed in the classics and histories and also trained in cosmology, medicine, divination, calligraphy, and mathematics. In his youth he shared equal renown with Xie Su of Shangyu, and the two were known as the Two Su of Kuaiji. He passed the provincial civil examination in the renchen year of Zhizheng (1362). Under Zhang Shicheng he served as headmaster of Huanggang Academy in Hangzhou and was later appointed Confucian instructor for Jiaxing prefecture. After Zhang Shicheng's defeat he was, by established rule, summoned to the capital. He soon returned home to observe mourning for his father. In Hongwu 3 (1370) he was recommended, called to help compile the work on rites and music, and appointed a Hanlin literary attendant. That autumn, when the civil examinations were held, he served as an examiner and was then permitted to go home. In Hongwu 6 he was exiled to tenant farming at Haoliang, where he died. His son Tang Zhichun, courtesy name Yushi, won repeated praise from Song Lian. In Jianwen 2 (1400), on Fang Xiaoru's recommendation, he was made Hanlin reader-in-waiting and shared with Xiaoru the direction of the court's book projects, dying in that post.
79
謝肅，官至福建僉事，坐事死。
Xie Su rose to the post of vice commissioner in Fujian and was executed after being implicated in a case.
80
宋克，字仲溫，長洲人。 偉軀幹，博涉書史。 少任俠，好學劍走馬，家素饒，結客飲博。 迨壯，謝酒徒，學兵法，周流無所遇，益以氣自豪。 張士誠欲羅致之，不就。 性抗直，與人議論期必勝，援古切今，人莫能難也。 杜門染翰，日費十紙，遂以善書名天下。 時有宋廣，字昌裔，亦善草書，稱二宋。 洪武初，克任鳳翔同知，卒。
Song Ke, courtesy name Zhongwen, was a native of Changzhou. He had a powerful physique and read widely in history and the classics. As a young man he lived boldly, took up fencing and horsemanship, and, coming from a wealthy family, kept company with roving companions for drinking and gambling. In adulthood he gave up his carousing, turned to military studies, traveled widely without finding a patron, and grew only prouder in temperament. Zhang Shicheng tried to win him into service, but he refused. Blunt and uncompromising by nature, he argued to win, drawing on the past to judge the present, and few could best him in disputation. Retiring behind closed doors to practice calligraphy, he went through ten sheets of paper a day and soon won a national reputation as a master of the brush. Song Guang, courtesy name Changyi, was another master of cursive script, and the two were known as the Two Songs. In the early Hongwu reign Song Ke served as assistant prefect of Fengxiang, where he died.
81
堯臣，字唐卿，永嘉人。 入吳，為士誠客。 城破，例徙濠梁。 洪武二年放還，授新鄭丞。
Yu Yaochan, courtesy name Tangqing, was a native of Yongjia. He went to Wu and entered Zhang Shicheng's service as a retainer. After the city's fall he was, by established rule, resettled at Haoliang. In Hongwu 2 he was allowed to return and was appointed assistant magistrate of Xinzheng.
82
呂敏，字志學，無錫人。 元時為道士，洪武初，官無錫教諭。 十三年舉人才，不知其官所終。
Lü Min, courtesy name Zhixue, was a native of Wuxi. Under the Yuan he had been a Daoist priest; in early Hongwu he was appointed Confucian instructor for Wuxi. In Hongwu 13 he was recommended as a talent, but the record does not say where his career ended.
83
陳則，字文度，昆山人。 洪武六年舉秀才，授應天府治中。 俄擢戶部侍郎，以閱實戶口，出為大同府同知，進知府。
Chen Ze, courtesy name Wendu, was a native of Kunshan. In Hongwu 6 he passed the xiucai selection and was made vice director of the Yingtian prefectural administration. He was soon promoted to vice minister of Revenue, then, after conducting a household census, was transferred to assistant prefect and later prefect of Datong.
84
孫蕡附王佐等
Sun Shen, with supplementary notices on Wang Zuo and others.
85
孫蕡，字仲衍，廣東順德人。 性警敏，書無所不窺。 詩文援筆立就，词采爛然。 負節概，不妄交游。 何真據嶺南，開府辟士，與王佐、趙介、李德、黃哲並受禮遇，稱五先生。 廖永忠南征，蕡為真草降表，永忠辟典教事。 洪武三年始行科舉，蕡與其選，授工部織染局使，遷虹縣主簿。 兵燹後，蕡勞徠安輯，民多復業。 居一年，召為翰林典籍，與修《洪武正韻》。 九年遣監祀四川。 居久之，出為平原主簿。 坐累逮系，俾築京師望都門城垣。 蕡謳唫為粵聲，主者以奏。 召見，命誦所歌詩，語皆忠愛，乃釋之。 十五年起為蘇州經歷，復坐累戍遼東。 已，大治藍玉黨，蕡嘗為玉題畫，遂論死。 臨刑，作詩長謳而逝。 時門生黎貞亦戍遼東，蕡屍乃得收斂。 貞，字彥晦，新會人。 工詩文，嘗為本邑訓導，以事被誣，戍遼陽十八年，從游者甚眾。 放還卒。 蕡所著，有《通鑒前編綱目》、《孝經集善》、《理學訓蒙》及《西庵集》、《和陶集》，多佚不傳。 番禺趙純稱其究極天人性命之理，為一時儒宗雲。
Sun Shen, courtesy name Zhongyan, was a native of Shunde in Guangdong. Quick-witted by nature, he read voraciously across every field of learning. His poems and essays flowed from the brush at once, bright with color and polish. He held himself to a strict moral code and would not enter into casual friendships. When He Zhen controlled the south and opened his staff to men of letters, Shen joined Wang Zuo, Zhao Jie, Li De, and Huang Zhe among the honored scholars known as the Five Masters. During Liao Yongzhong's southern campaign Shen wrote He Zhen's surrender memorial and was then engaged to oversee educational affairs. When the civil examinations were restored in Hongwu 3, Shen passed the selection, served as director of the Ministry of Works weaving and dyeing bureau, and was later made registrar of Hong County. In the wake of wartime devastation he worked to recall and reassure the people, and many families resumed their livelihoods. After a year he was called to the Hanlin Academy as archivist and helped compile the Hongwu Correct Rhymes. In Hongwu 9 he was sent to Sichuan as imperial sacrifice commissioner. After a long interval at court he was posted as registrar of Pingyuan. Caught up in a related case, he was imprisoned and ordered to labor on the city wall by the capital's Wangdu Gate. While at work Shen sang in the Cantonese manner, and his supervisor reported it to the throne. Summoned before the emperor, he recited his songs; their language proved wholly loyal and affectionate in tone, and he was set free. In Hongwu 15 he was restored as administrative commissioner of Suzhou, but was soon implicated again and exiled to military service in Liaodong. Later, in the great purge of Lan Yu's faction, he was condemned to death because he had once written an inscription for Lan Yu on a painting. At the block he composed a long poem and sang it as he went to his death. His student Li Zhen, then also serving exile in Liaodong, was able at last to recover and bury his body. Li Zhen, courtesy name Yanhui, was a native of Xinhui. A gifted poet and essayist, he had once been district instructor in his home county; wrongly accused in a case, he spent eighteen years in exile at Liaoyang, where many students gathered around him. After his release and return home he died. Shen's writings included Outline and Substance of the Mirror of History, Collected Excellence of the Classic of Filial Piety, Instruction in Neo-Confucian Learning for Beginners, and the collections Western Hermitage and Harmonizing with Tao, but most of these works are now lost. Zhao Chun of Panyu held that in his mastery of the principles of Heaven, human nature, and fate, Shen stood as the leading Confucian scholar of his day.
86
王佐，字彥舉，先河東人，元末侍父官南雄，經亂不能歸，遂占籍南海。 與蕡結詩社。 構辭敏捷，佐不如蕡，句意沉著，蕡亦不如佐。 何真使佐掌書記，參謀議。 真歸朝，佐亦還里。 洪武六年被薦，征為給事中。 太祖賜宋濂黃馬，復為歌，命侍臣屬和，佐立成。 性不樂樞要，將告歸。 時告者多獲重譴，或尼之曰：「君少忍，獨不虞性命邪？」 佐乃遲徊二年，卒乞骸歸。
Wang Zuo, courtesy name Yanju, was originally from Hedong; in the late Yuan he accompanied his father to a post at Nanxiong, and when turmoil prevented their return he took up residence in Nanhai. He and Sun Shen founded a poetry society together. Zuo could not match Shen for speed of composition, but Shen in turn fell short of Zuo in the gravity and depth of his lines. He Zhen put Wang Zuo in charge of his secretariat and consulted him on policy. When He Zhen surrendered and went to court, Wang Zuo returned home as well. In Hongwu 6 he was recommended and appointed supervising secretary at court. When the founding emperor gave Song Lian a yellow horse and composed a poem, ordering the court to supply matching lines, Wang Zuo answered on the spot. He had no taste for high office at the center of power and prepared to ask leave to retire. Many officials who sought retirement in those days were harshly punished, and a friend urged him, "Be patient a while longer—have you no thought for your own life? Wang Zuo waited two uneasy years before he finally obtained permission to retire on grounds of age.
87
趙介，字伯貞，番禺人。 博通六籍及釋、老書。 氣豪邁，無仕進意。 行以囊自隨，遇景，賦詩投其中，日往來西樵泉石間。 有司累薦，皆辭免。 洪武二十二年坐累逮赴京，卒於南昌舟次。 四子，潔、絢、繹、純，皆善詩文，工篆隸。 絢，隱居不出，有父風。 純，仕御史。
Zhao Jie, courtesy name Bozhen, was a native of Panyu. He was deeply versed in the Six Classics as well as Buddhist and Daoist writings. Bold and free in temperament, he had no ambition for official career. He kept a satchel at his side on his travels, jotting poems whenever the landscape moved him, and spent his days wandering among the streams and cliffs of Mount Xiqiao. Though local officials recommended him again and again, he always refused appointment. In Hongwu 22 he was implicated, summoned to the capital under arrest, and died aboard ship at Nanchang. His four sons—Jie, Xuan, Yi, and Chun—were all accomplished in poetry and prose and skilled in seal and clerical script. Xuan lived in reclusion and never took office, inheriting his father's ways. Chun entered government service as a censor.
88
李德，字仲修，番禺人。 洪武三年以明經薦授洛陽典史，歷南陽、西安二府幕官，並能其職。 以年衰乞改漢陽教諭，秩滿，調義寧。 義寧在粵西，荒陋甚，德為振舉，文教漸興，解官歸卒。 德初好為詩，晚究洛、閩之學，謂誠意為古聖喆心要，故嶺南人稱理學，必曰李仲修雲。 黃哲，亦番禺人。 歷仕州郡，以治行稱。
Li De, courtesy name Zhongxiu, was a native of Panyu. Recommended in Hongwu 3 for classical learning, he became clerk of Luoyang and later served on the staffs of the Nanyang and Xi'an prefectures, distinguishing himself in each post. In old age he asked to be made Confucian instructor at Hanyang, and after his term expired was transferred to Yining. Yining lay in remote western Guangdong, backward and neglected; Li De revived its schools, culture gradually took root, and after resigning he returned home and died. Li De began as a poet but in later life devoted himself to the Luoyang and Fujian traditions of Neo-Confucianism, teaching that sincerity of mind was the core of the sages' way; in Lingnan, whenever learning of principle is mentioned, his name—Li Zhongxiu—is the one cited. Huang Zhe was likewise a native of Panyu. He held a series of posts in local government and was known for competent, upright administration.
89
王蒙附郭傳
Wang Meng, with supplementary notice on Guo Chuan.
90
王蒙，字叔明，湖州人，趙孟頫之甥也。 敏於文，不尚榘度。 工畫山水，兼善人物。 少時賦宮詞，仁和俞友仁見之，曰「此唐人佳句也」，遂以妹妻焉。 元末官理問，遇亂，隱居黃鶴山，自稱黃鶴山樵。 洪武初，知泰安州事。 蒙嘗謁胡惟庸於私第，與會稽郭傳、僧知聰觀畫。 惟庸伏法，蒙坐事被逮，瘐死獄中。
Wang Meng, courtesy name Shuming, was a native of Huzhou and a nephew of Zhao Mengfu on his mother's side. Gifted in letters, he cared little for conventional restraint. He painted landscapes with great skill and was equally adept at figure painting. As a youth he wrote palace-style verse; Yu Youren of Renhe read them and declared, "These are lines worthy of the Tang masters," and gave him his sister in marriage. Near the end of the Yuan he held the post of administrative inquirer; when turmoil came he retired to Yellow Crane Mountain, where he called himself the Recluse of Yellow Crane Mountain. Early in the Hongwu reign he governed Taian Prefecture. Wang Meng once visited Hu Weiyong at his home, where he viewed paintings with Guo Chuan of Kuaiji and the monk Zhicong. After Hu Weiyong was executed, Wang Meng was implicated, arrested, and died in prison of an illness brought on by his confinement.
91
郭傳，一名正傳，字文遠。 洪武七年，帝御武樓，賜學士宋濂坐，謂曰：「天下既定，朕方垂意宿學之士，卿知其人乎？」 對曰：「會稽有郭傳者，學有淵源，其文雄贍新麗，其議論根據《六經》，異才也。」 既而濂持其文以進，帝召見於謹身殿，授翰林應奉，直起居注。 遷兵部主事，再遷考功監丞，進監令，出署湖廣布政司參政。
Guo Chuan, also known as Zhengchuan, styled Wenyuan. In 1374 the emperor received Song Lian at the Martial Tower and asked, 'The empire is already at peace; I wish to honor veteran scholars—do you know any worthy men? Song answered, 'There is Guo Chuan of Kuaiji—his scholarship runs deep, his writing is bold and brilliant, and his arguments rest on the Six Classics. He is an extraordinary talent.' Song then submitted Guo's writings; the emperor summoned him to the Hall of Prudent Conduct, appointed him Hanlin attendant, and assigned him to the Office of Daily Records. He rose to secretary in the Ministry of War, then vice director of the Bureau of Evaluations, then director of that bureau, and finally served as acting administrative commissioner in Huguang.