1
李芳馮保張鯨陳增 〈（陳奉高淮梁永楊榮）〉 陳矩王安魏忠賢王體乾 〈（李永貞等）〉 崔文升張彜憲高起潛王承恩方正化
Li Fang, Feng Bao, Zhang Jing, and Chen Zeng (Chen Feng, Gao Huai, Liang Yong, and Yang Rong)〉 Chen Ju, Wang An, Wei Zhongxian, and Wang Tigan (Li Yongzhen and others)〉 Cui Wensheng, Zhang Yixian, Gao Qiqian, Wang Chengen, and Fang Zhenghua
2
李芳，穆宗朝內官監太監也。 帝初立，芳以能持正見信任。 初，世宗時，匠役徐杲以營造躐官工部尚書，修盧溝橋，所侵盜萬計。 其屬冒太僕少卿、苑馬卿以下職銜者以百數。 隆慶元年二月，芳劾之。 時杲已削官，乃下獄遣戍，盡汰其所冒冗員。 又奏革上林苑監增設皂隸，減光祿歲增米鹽及工部物料，以是大為同類所嫉。 而是時，司禮諸閹滕祥、孟沖、陳洪方有寵，爭飾奇技淫巧以悅帝意，作鰲山燈，導帝為長夜飲。 芳切諫，帝不悅。 祥等復媒孽之，帝遂怒，勒芳閑住。 二年十一月復杖芳八十，下刑部監禁待決。 尚書毛愷等言：「芳罪狀未明，臣等莫知所坐。」 帝曰：「芳事朕無禮，其錮之。」 芳錮，祥等益橫。 前司禮太監黃錦已革蔭，祥輒復予之。 工部尚書雷禮劾祥：「傳造采辦器物及修補壇廟樂器，多自加徵，糜費巨萬。 工廠存留大木，斬截任意。 臣禮力不能爭，乞早賜罷。」 帝不罪祥，而令禮致仕。 沖傳旨下海戶王印於鎮撫司，論戍，法司不預聞。 納肅藩輔國將軍縉貴賄，越制得嗣封肅王。 洪尤貪肆，內閣大臣亦有因之以進者。 三人所糜國帑無算。 帝享太廟，三人皆冠進賢冠，服祭服以從，爵賞辭謝與六卿埒。 廷臣論劾者，太常少卿周審怡以外補去，給事中石星、李已、陳吾德，御史詹仰庇，尚寶丞鄭履淳，皆廷杖削籍。 三人各蔭錦衣官至二十人，而芳獨久系獄。 四年四月，刑科都給事中舒化等以熱審屆期，請宥芳，乃得釋，充南京凈軍。
Li Fang served as a supervising eunuch of the Directorate of Palace Eunuchs under Emperor Muzong. When the emperor first ascended the throne, Fang won trust because he could uphold what was right. Earlier, during the Jiajing reign, the craftsman Xu Gao had vaulted by palace construction to Minister of Works; while repairing the Lugou Bridge he had embezzled sums reckoned in the tens of thousands. His followers had usurped ranks as low as Vice Minister of the Imperial Stud and Director of the Imperial Parks—well over a hundred such cases. In the second month of Longqing 1, Fang impeached him. By then Xu Gao had already been stripped of rank; he was thrown into prison and banished, and every post his men had falsely held was abolished. He also urged abolishing extra runners at the Shanglin Park Directorate and trimming the annual increases in grain, salt, and Ministry of Works supplies—moves that made his fellow eunuchs hate him. Meanwhile the favored eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial—Teng Xiang, Meng Chong, and Chen Hong—competed in bizarre luxuries to please the emperor, built Tortoise Mountain lamps, and drew him into nights of ceaseless drinking. Fang remonstrated bluntly, and the emperor took offense. They slandered him again; the emperor flew into a rage and forced Fang into idle retirement. In the eleventh month of year two he was beaten eighty strokes with the rod and held in the Ministry of Justice prison awaiting execution. Minister Mao Kai and others said, "Fang's guilt is still unclear—we do not know what charge he faces. The emperor replied, "Fang has treated Us without proper respect—put him in confinement." With Fang confined, Xiang and his allies grew bolder than ever. Huang Jin, the former Director of Ceremonial, had already lost his hereditary privilege, but Xiang immediately restored it. Minister of Works Lei Li impeached Xiang: "In palace commissions and repairs to ritual instruments he piled on extra levies and squandered vast sums. Stockpiled timber at the workshops was hacked apart as he pleased. I lack the power to fight him; please dismiss me at once. The emperor did not punish Xiang; he let Li retire instead. Meng Chong sent down an edict consigning the maritime household Wang Yin to the Brocade Guard for banishment without the law courts hearing the case. He took bribes from Jin Gui, auxiliary-state general of the Su princedom, and bent the rules so Jin could inherit as Prince of Su. Chen Hong was greedier still, and even chief grand secretaries owed their rise to him. Between them they drained the treasury beyond measure. At the imperial ancestral sacrifice all three wore the Advancement of Worthies cap and ritual dress beside the emperor, matching the six ministers in rank, honors, and ceremonial precedence. Critics paid dearly: Zhou Shenyi was posted away; Shi Xing, Li Yi, Chen Wude, Zhan Yangbi, and Zheng Luchun were flogged at court and expelled from office. Each secured Brocade Guard sinecures for up to twenty kinsmen, while Fang alone rotted in jail. In the fourth month of year four, as the summer prison review approached, Shu Hua and others secured Fang's release; he was sent to Nanjing as a purifying soldier.
3
穆宗甫崩，保言於后妃，斥孟沖而奪其位，又矯遺詔令與閣臣同受顧命。 及帝登極，保升立寶座旁不下，舉朝大駭。 保既掌司禮，又督東廠，兼總內外，勢益張。 拱諷六科給事中程文、十三道御史劉良弼等，交章數其奸，而給事中雒遵、陸樹德又特疏論列，拱意疏下即擬旨逐保。 而保匿其疏，亟與居正定謀，遂逐拱去。
The moment Muzong died, Bao persuaded the palace women to oust Meng Chong and seize his office, and forged the testamentary edict naming himself among the regents with the grand secretaries. At the accession Bao mounted the dais beside the throne and refused to descend—the court was horrified. He held the Directorate of Ceremonial, ran the Eastern Depot, and dominated court and camp alike. Gao Gong prompted Cheng Wen, Liu Liangbi, and others to denounce Bao in waves of memorials; Luo Zun and Lu Shude added their own; Gong meant to draft an edict the moment the papers arrived. Bao suppressed the papers, plotted with Zhang Juzheng, and ousted Gong instead.
4
初，穆宗崩，拱於閣中大慟曰：「十歲太子，如何治天下。」 保譖於后妃曰：「拱斥太子為十歲孩子，如何作人主。」 后妃大驚，太子聞之亦色變。 迨拱去，保憾猶未釋。 萬曆元年正月，有王大臣者，偽為內侍服，入乾清宮，被獲下東廠。 保欲緣此族拱，與居正謀，令家人辛儒飲食之，納刃其袖中，俾言拱怨望，遣刺帝。 大臣許之。 逾日，錦衣都督朱希孝等會鞫。 大臣疾呼曰：「許我富貴，乃掠治我耶！ 且我何處識高閣老？」 希孝懼，不敢鞫而罷。 會廷臣楊博、葛守禮等保待之，居正亦迫眾議微諷保。 保意稍解，乃以生漆酒喑大臣，移送法司坐斬，拱獲免。 由是舉朝皆惡保，而不肖者多因之以進。
When Muzong died, Gong had wailed in the Grand Secretariat, "A ten-year-old heir—how will he rule the realm? Bao told the palace women Gong had mocked the heir as "a ten-year-old child unfit to be sovereign." They were terrified; the crown prince turned pale when he heard. Even after Gong was gone, Bao's grudge had not cooled. In the first month of Wanli 1, Wang Dachen entered the Palace of Heavenly Purity in palace dress and was seized by the Eastern Depot. Bao meant to implicate Gong's whole clan; with Juzheng he fed Wang Dachen, hid a blade in his sleeve, and coached him to claim Gong had sent him to kill the emperor. Wang Dachen agreed. Next day Zhu Xixiao of the Brocade Guard and others interrogated him jointly. Wang Dachen shouted, "You promised me riches—now you torture me! And how would I even know Senior Grand Secretary Gao? Zhu Xixiao, afraid, broke off the inquiry. Yang Bo, Ge Shouli, and others defended Bao; Juzheng, under public pressure, quietly warned him. Bao relented, silenced Wang with lacquer wine, sent him to the law courts for execution, and Gong was spared. The court despised Bao, yet the unscrupulous still climbed by his favor.
5
慈聖太后遇帝嚴。 保倚太后勢，數挾持帝，帝甚畏之。 時與小內豎戲，見保入，輒正襟危坐曰：「大伴來矣。」 所昵孫海、客用為乾清宮管事牌子，屢誘帝夜遊別宮，小衣窄袖，走馬持刀，又數進奇巧之物，帝深寵幸。 保白太后，召帝切責。 帝長跪受教，惶懼甚。 保屬居正草帝罪己手詔，令頒示閣臣。 詞過挹損，帝年已十八，覽之內慚，然迫於太后，不得不下。 居正乃上疏切諫。 又緣保意劾去司禮秉筆孫德秀、溫太及掌兵伏局周海，而令諸內侍俱自陳。 由是保所不悅者，斥退殆盡，時八年十一月也。
Empress Dowager Cisheng kept the emperor on a short leash. Bao leaned on her authority and often bullied the emperor, who was deeply afraid of him. Playing with junior eunuchs, he would sit bolt upright at Bao's entrance and say, "Elder Companion is here. His favorites Sun Hai and Ke Yong, stewards of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, lured him on night rides in tight dress with sword in hand and fed him novelties—the emperor adored them. Bao told the empress dowager, who summoned the emperor and scolded him harshly. The emperor knelt in terror through the lecture. Bao had Juzheng draft a handwritten imperial confession and circulate it to the grand secretaries. The language was humiliating beyond measure; at eighteen the emperor burned with shame yet could not refuse the empress dowager. Juzheng then memorialized in blunt protest. At Bao's urging he purged Sun Dexiu, Wen Tai, and depot chief Zhou Hai and made every eunuch confess. By the eleventh month of year eight, Bao's enemies were nearly all gone.
6
保善琴能書。 帝屢賜牙章曰「光明正大」，曰「爾惟鹽梅」，曰「汝作舟楫」，曰「魚水相逢」，曰「風雲際會」，所以待之甚隆。 後保益橫肆，即帝有所賞罰，非出保口，無敢行者。 帝積不能堪，而保內倚太后，外倚居正，帝不能去也。 然保亦時引大體。 內閣產白蓮，翰林院有雙白燕，居正以進。 保使使謂居正曰：「主上沖年，不可以異物啟玩好。」 又能約束其子弟，不敢肆惡，都人亦以是稱之。
Bao played the zither well and wrote a fine hand. The emperor gave him ivory seals inscribed "Bright and Upright," "You Are the Salt and Plum," "You Are the Boat and Oar," "Fish and Water Meet," and "Wind and Cloud Join"—honors rarely seen. Later even rewards and punishments required Bao's word before anyone dared carry them out. The emperor seethed, but with the empress dowager within and Juzheng without, he could not oust Bao. Still, Bao sometimes upheld the larger good. Juzheng presented a white lotus from the Grand Secretariat and twin white swallows from the Hanlin. Bao warned Juzheng, "The sovereign is young—do not feed his taste for wonders with such omens. He also kept his kin from running wild, which won praise in the capital.
7
居正固有才，其所以得委任專國柄者，由保為之左右也。 然保性貪，其私人錦衣指揮徐爵、內官張大受，為保、居正交關語言。 且數用計使兩人相疑，旋復相好，兩人皆在爵術中。 事與籌畫，因恃勢招權利，大臣亦多與通。 爵夜至禁門，守衛者不敢詰，其橫如此。 居正之奪情及杖吳中行等，保有力焉。 已而居正死，其黨益結保自固。 居正以遺疏薦其座主潘晟入閣，保即遣官召之。 御史雷士楨、王國，給事中王繼光相繼言其不可用，晟中途疏辭。 內閣張四維度申時行不肯為晟下，擬旨允之，帝即報可。 保時病起，詬曰：「我小恙，遽無我耶？」 皇太子生，保欲封伯爵，四維以無故事難之，擬蔭弟侄一人都督僉事。 保怒曰：「爾由誰得今日，而負我！」 御史郭惟賢請召用吳中行等，保責其黨護，謫之。 吏部尚書王國光罷，保輒用其鄉人梁夢龍代。 爵、大受等竊權如故。
Juzheng had real talent, but his monopoly on power owed everything to Bao's backing. Yet Bao was greedy; his creatures Xu Jue of the Brocade Guard and Zhang Dashou shuttled between him and Juzheng. He repeatedly set them against each other and reconciled them again—both danced in Xu Jue's net. They plotted with him, traded on his power, and many ministers dealt through them. Xu Jue reached the palace gates at night unchallenged—such was their arrogance. Bao had a hand in Juzheng's refusal to mourn and in flogging Wu Zhongxing and others. After Juzheng died, his faction clung tighter to Bao. Juzheng's death memorial recommended his patron Pan Sheng for the Grand Secretariat; Bao immediately sent to fetch him. Censors Lei Shizhen and Wang Guo and supervising secretary Wang Jiguang said Pan Sheng was unfit; Sheng declined en route. Zhang Siwei guessed Shen Shixing would not draft Sheng's appointment; they drafted approval and the emperor assented at once. Bao, just risen from illness, raged, "A little sickness and you write me off already? When the crown prince was born, Bao wanted an earldom; Siwei cited precedent and offered only a regional command for a nephew. Bao snarled, "Who made you what you are today—and this is how you repay me! Censor Guo Weixian asked to recall Wu Zhongxing and others; Bao called it factional favoritism and banished him. When Wang Guoguang left the Ministry of Personnel, Bao installed his townsman Liang Menglong. Xu Jue, Zhang Dashou, and the rest stole power as before.
8
然是時太后久歸政，保失所倚，帝又積怒保。 東宮舊閹張鯨、張誠乘間陳其過惡，請令閑住。 帝猶畏之，曰：「若大伴上殿來，朕奈何？」 鯨曰：「既有旨，安敢復入。」 乃從之。 會御史李植、江東之彈章入，遂謫保奉御，南京安置，久之乃死。 其弟佑、從子邦寧並官都督，削職下獄，瘐死。 大受及其黨周海、何忠等八人，貶小火者，司香孝陵。 爵與大受子，煙瘴永戍。 盡籍其家，保金銀百餘萬，珠寶瑰異稱是。
By then the empress dowager had returned power; Bao had lost his pillar, and the emperor's wrath had piled up. Old palace eunuchs Zhang Jing and Zhang Cheng seized the moment to list his crimes and ask that he retire. The emperor still feared him: "If Elder Companion enters the hall, what can We do? Jing said, "With an edict in force, he would not dare return." The emperor agreed. When censors Li Zhi and Jiang Dongzhi impeached him, Bao was demoted to palace attendant in Nanjing, where he died after long years. His brother You and nephew Bangning, both regional commanders, were stripped, jailed, and died in prison. Zhang Dashou and eight allies including Zhou Hai and He Zhong were demoted to tend incense at the Xiaoling tomb. Xu Jue and Zhang Dashou's sons were exiled for life to the southern miasma. Their property was seized; Bao alone held over a million in gold and silver, with gems to match.
9
保之發南京也，太后問故。 帝曰：「老奴為張居正所惑，無他過，行且召還。」 時潞王將婚，所需珠寶未備，太后間以為言。 帝曰：「年來無恥臣僚，盡貨以獻張、馮二家，其價驟貴。」 太后曰：「已籍矣，必可得。」 帝曰：「奴黠猾，先竊而逃，未能盡得也。」 而其時，錦衣都督劉守有與僚屬張昭、龐清、馮昕等，皆以籍罪人家，多所隱沒，得罪。
When Bao left for Nanjing, the empress dowager asked why. The emperor said, "The old servant was led astray by Zhang Juzheng—no other fault; We shall recall him soon. The Prince of Lu's wedding jewels were still lacking, and the empress dowager brought it up from time to time. The emperor said, "Shameless officials have been selling everything to the Zhang and Feng cliques, and prices have shot up. The empress dowager said, "His property was seized—you can surely get them." The emperor said, "The old rogue was sly—he stole away with the best before we could take it all." Meanwhile Liu Shouyou of the Brocade Guard and his men Zhang Zhao, Pang Qing, and Feng Xin, who had looted convicted estates and hidden the takings, were punished.
10
張鯨，新城人，太監張宏名下也。 內豎初入宮，必投一大珰為主，謂之名下。 馮保用事，鯨害其寵，為帝畫策害保。 寵謂鯨曰：「馮公前輩，且有骨力，不宜去之。」 鯨不聽。 既譖逐保，宏遂代保掌司禮監，而鯨掌東廠。 宏無過惡，以賢稱，萬曆十二年卒。 張誠代掌司禮監。 十八年，鯨罷東廠，誠兼掌之。 二十四年春，以誠聯姻武清侯，擅作威福，降奉御，司香孝陵，籍其家，弟侄皆削職治罪。
Zhang Jing of Xincheng had entered service under the eunuch Zhang Hong. Junior eunuchs had to attach to a senior patron—called being "under his name." Jing resented Feng Bao's favor and coached the emperor in schemes against him. Hong warned Jing, "Director Feng is a senior with backbone—you should not remove him. Jing would not listen. Once Bao was ousted, Hong became Director of Ceremonial and Jing ran the Eastern Depot. Hong was regarded as virtuous and died in Wanli 12. Zhang Cheng succeeded him at the Directorate of Ceremonial. In year eighteen Jing left the Eastern Depot and Cheng took it over. In the spring of year twenty-four Cheng was demoted for marrying into the Wuqing marquisate and lording it over others; his estate was seized and his kin punished.
11
鯨性剛果，帝倚任之。 其在東廠兼掌內府供用庫印，頗為時相所憚。 而其用事司房邢尚智，招權受賕。 萬曆十六年冬，御史何出光劾鯨及其黨鴻臚序班尚智與錦衣都督劉守有相倚為奸，專擅威福，罪當死者八。 帝命鯨策勵供事，而削尚智、守有職，余黨法司提問。 給事中陳尚象、吳文梓、楊文煥，御史方萬策、崔景榮復相繼論列，報聞。 法司奏鯨等贓罪，尚智論死，鯨被切責。 給事中張應登再疏論之，御史馬象乾並劾大學士申時行阿縱。 帝皆不聽，命下象乾詔獄。 以時行及同官許國、王錫爵等申救，象乾疏乃留中。 給事中李沂至謂帝納鯨金寶，故寬鯨罪。 帝大怒，言沂等為張居正、馮保報復，杖六十，削其官，鯨亦私家閑住。 已而南京兵部尚書吳文華率南九卿請罪鯨而宥言者，帝亦不聽。 尋復召鯨入。 給事中陳與郊、御史賈希夷、南京吏部尚書陸光祖、給事中徐常吉、御史王以通等言益力，俱不報。 最後大理評事雒於仁上酒色財氣四箴，指鯨以賄復進。 帝怒甚，召申時行等於毓德宮，命治於仁罪，而召鯨，令時行等傳諭責訓之，鯨寵遂衰。 尚智後減死充軍。
Jing was bold and decisive, and the emperor leaned on him. He held the Eastern Depot and the inner supply depot seal, and chief ministers feared him. His clerk Xing Shangzhi traded on his power for bribes. In the winter of Wanli 16, censor He Chuguang impeached Jing, Shangzhi, and Liu Shouyou for eight capital crimes of shared tyranny. The emperor told Jing to serve harder, stripped Shangzhi and Shouyou, and sent the rest to the law courts. More memorials followed from Chen Shangxiang, Wu Wenzhi, Yang Wenhuan, Fang Wance, and Cui Jingrong—to no effect. The law courts convicted them; Shangzhi was sentenced to death and Jing was scolded. Zhang Yingdeng memorialized again; censor Ma Xiangqian impeached Shen Shixing for indulging Jing. The emperor refused and sent Ma Xiangqian to the imperial prison. Shixing, Xu Guo, and Wang Xijue interceded, and Ma Xiangqian's memorial was shelved. Li Yi went so far as to say the emperor had taken Jing's gold and gems and therefore spared him. The emperor raged that they avenged Juzheng and Bao, flogged Li Yi sixty strokes and expelled him, and put Jing in private retirement. Later Wu Wenhua and the southern nine ministers asked to punish Jing and pardon the critics; the emperor refused. Soon Jing was recalled. Chen Yuhe, Jia Xiyi, Lu Guangzu, Xu Changji, Wang Yitong, and others pressed harder—all unanswered. Finally Luo Yuren of the Court of Review submitted his four admonitions on wine, sex, wealth, and wrath, naming Jing's bribe-fueled return. The emperor summoned Shixing to Yude Palace to punish Luo Yuren, then summoned Jing for a dressing-down—and Jing's star fell. Shangzhi's death sentence was later commuted to military exile.
12
陳奉高淮梁永楊榮等
Chen Feng, Gao Huai, Liang Yong, Yang Rong, and others
13
陳增，神宗朝礦稅太監也。 萬曆十二年，房山縣民史錦奏請開礦，下撫按查勘，不果行。 十六年，中使祠五臺山，還言紫荊關外廣昌、靈丘有礦砂，可作銀冶。 帝聞之喜，以大學士申時行等言而止。 十八年，易州民周言、張世才復言阜平、房山各產礦砂，請遣官開礦。 時行等仍執不可。
Chen Zeng was a mining-tax eunuch under Emperor Shenzong. In Wanli 12, Shi Jin of Fangshan asked to open mines; investigators blocked it. In year sixteen, envoys from Wutai reported ore sand outside Zijing Pass at Guangchang and Lingqiu fit for silver. The emperor was delighted but Shen Shixing and others stopped him. In year eighteen, Zhou Yan and Zhang Shicai of Yizhou again urged mining at Fuping and Fangshan. Shixing and others still refused.
14
至二十年，寧夏用兵，費帑金二百餘萬。 其冬。 朝鮮用兵，首尾八年，費帑金七百餘萬。 二十七年，播州用兵，又費帑金二三百萬。 三大征踵接，國用大匱。 而二十四年，乾清、坤寧兩宮災。 二十五年，皇極、建極、中極三殿災。 營建乏資，計臣束手，礦稅由此大興矣。 其遣官自二十四年始，其後言礦者爭走闕下，帝即命中官與其人偕往，天下在在有之。 真、保、薊、永則王亮，昌黎、遷安則田進，昌平、橫嶺、淶水、珠寶窩山則王忠，真定復益以王虎，並采山西平定、稷山，浙江則曹金，後代以劉忠，陜西則趙欽，山西則張忠，河南則魯坤，廣東則李鳳、李敬，雲南則楊榮，遼東則高淮，江西則潘相，福建則高寀，湖廣則陳奉，而增奉敕開采山東。 通都大邑皆有稅監，兩淮則有鹽監，廣東則有珠監，或專遣，或兼攝。 大珰小監縱橫繹騷，吸髓飲血，以供進奉。 大率入公帑者不及什一，而天下蕭然，生靈塗炭矣。 其最橫者增及陳奉、高淮。
By year twenty the Ningxia war had cost over two million taels. That winter, the Korean war ran eight years and cost over seven million. In year twenty-seven the Bozhou campaign cost another two or three million. Three great campaigns in succession emptied the treasury. In year twenty-four the Palaces of Heavenly Purity and Earthly Tranquility burned. In year twenty-five the three main halls burned. Rebuild funds ran out and finance ministers were helpless—mining taxes exploded. Dispatch began in year twenty-four; then every petitioner at the gate won a eunuch partner—mines spread everywhere. Eunuchs fanned out: Wang Liang in Hebei, Tian Jin in the northeast, Wang Zhong in the west, Cao Jin in Zhejiang, Zhao Qin in Shaanxi, Zhang Zhong in Shanxi, Lu Kun in Henan, Li Feng and Li Jing in Guangdong, Yang Rong in Yunnan, Gao Huai in Liaodong, Pan Xiang in Jiangxi, Gao Cai in Fujian, Chen Feng in Huguang—and Zeng was ordered to mine Shandong. Major cities gained tax supervisors; Liang-Huai had salt monitors; Guangdong had pearl monitors—some dedicated, some doubled up. Senior and junior eunuchs ran riot, bleeding the realm to feed the palace. Perhaps one part in ten reached the treasury; the land was ruined and the people crushed. The worst were Zeng, Chen Feng, and Gao Huai.
15
二十四年，增始至山東，即劾福山知縣韋國賢，帝為逮問削職。 益都知縣吳宗堯抗增，被陷幾死詔獄。 巡撫尹應元奏增二十大罪，亦罰俸。 已，復命增兼徵山東店稅，與臨清稅監馬堂相爭。 帝為和解，使堂稅臨清，增稅東昌。 增益肆無忌，其黨內閣中書程守訓、中軍官仝治等，自江南北至浙江，大作奸弊。 稱奉密旨搜金寶，募人告密。 誣大商巨室藏違禁物，所破滅什伯家，殺人莫敢問。 御史劉曰梧具以狀聞，鹽務少監魯保亦奏守訓等阻塞鹽課，帝俱弗省。 久之，鳳陽巡撫李三才劾守訓奸贓。 增懼，因搜得守訓違禁珍寶及賕銀四十餘萬，聞於朝。 命械入京鞫治，乃論死。 而增肆惡山東者十年，至三十三年始死。
In year twenty-four Zeng reached Shandong and immediately impeached Fushan magistrate Wei Guoxian, who was arrested and dismissed. Yidu magistrate Wu Zongyao defied Zeng and nearly died in the imperial prison. Grand coordinator Yin Yingyuan listed twenty crimes against Zeng and was fined a year's salary himself. Later Zeng was also ordered to levy Shandong shop taxes, clashing with Linqing supervisor Ma Tang. The emperor split them: Tang took Linqing, Zeng took Dongchang. Zeng grew bolder; his men Cheng Shouxun and Tong Zhi committed outrages from the Yangtze to Zhejiang. They claimed secret orders to hunt gold and gems and recruited informers. They accused great merchants of hoarding contraband, ruined dozens of families, and killed with impunity. Censor Liu Yuewu reported all; salt supervisor Lu Bao said Shouxun blocked salt revenue—the emperor ignored both. Eventually Fengyang grand coordinator Li Sancai impeached Shouxun for graft. Zeng, afraid, searched Shouxun's stash, found forbidden treasures and four hundred thousand in bribes, and reported up. Shouxun was shackled to the capital, tried, and executed. Zeng terrorized Shandong for ten years and died only in year thirty-three.
16
陳奉，御馬監奉御也。 萬曆二十七年二月命徵荊州店稅，兼采興國州礦洞丹砂及錢廠鼓鑄事。 奉兼領數使，恣行威虐。 每托巡歷，鞭笞官吏，剽劫行旅。 商民恨刺骨，伺奉自武昌抵荊州，聚數千人噪於塗，競擲瓦石擊之。 奉走免，遂誣襄陽知府李商井黃州知府趙文煒、荊州推官華鈺、荊門知州高則巽、黃州經歷車任重等煽亂。 帝為逮鈺、任重，而謫商井等官。 興國州奸人漆有光，訐居民徐鼎等掘唐相李林甫妻楊氏墓，得黃金巨萬。 騰驤衛百戶仇世亨奏之，帝命奉括進內庫。 奉因毒拷責償，且悉發境內諸墓。 巡按御史王立賢言所掘墓乃元呂文德妻，非林甫妻。 奸人訐奏，語多不仇，請罷不治，而停他處開掘，不報。
Chen Feng was an attendant of the Imperial Horse Directorate. In the second month of Wanli 27 he was ordered to levy Jingzhou shop taxes and mine cinnabar at Xingguo while running the mint. Feng held several posts at once and ruled by terror. On "inspection tours" he flogged officials and robbed travelers. Merchants hated him; thousands stoned him on the road from Wuchang to Jingzhou. Feng escaped and framed Xiangyang prefect Li Shangjing, Huangzhou prefect Zhao Wenwei, Jingzhou judge Hua Yu, Jingmen prefect Gao Zexun, and Huangzhou registrar Che Wuzhong for inciting riot. The emperor arrested Yu and Wuzhong and demoted the others. A Xingguo scoundrel, Qi Youguang, claimed locals had dug Li Linfu's wife's tomb for vast gold. Centurion Qiu Shixiang reported it; the emperor ordered Feng to seize everything for the inner treasury. Feng tortured for repayment and opened every tomb in the region. Regional censor Wang Lixian said the tomb was Yuan minister Lü Wende's wife, not Li Linfu's. The informer's tale contradicted itself; Wang asked to stop digging—no reply.
17
二十八年十二月，武昌民變。 南京吏部主事吳中明奏言：「奉嚇詐官民，僭稱千歲。 其黨至直入民家，奸淫婦女，或掠入稅監署中。 王生之女、沈生之妻，皆被逼辱。 以致士民公憤，萬餘人甘與奉同死，撫按三司護之數日，僅而得全。 而巡撫支可大，曲為蒙蔽。 天下禍亂，將何所底！」 大學士沈一貫亦言：「陳奉入楚，始而武昌一變，繼之漢口、黃州、襄陽、武昌、寶慶、德安、湘潭等處，變經十起，幾成大亂。 立乞撤回，以收楚民之心。」 帝皆置不問。
In the twelfth month of year twenty-eight Wuchang rose in revolt. Nanjing Ministry director Wu Zhongming wrote: "Feng terrorizes the realm and calls himself 'a thousand years. His men entered homes, raped women, or dragged them into the tax depot. Mr. Wang's daughter and Mr. Shen's wife were among those violated. Ten thousand commoners were ready to die with Feng; officials shielded him for days before he barely escaped. Grand Coordinator Zhi Kedai covered for him. Where will the realm's disasters end!' Chief Grand Secretary Shen Yiguan wrote: "Since Feng entered Chu there have been ten uprisings from Wuchang to Xiangtan—near rebellion. Recall him to win back the people of Chu." The emperor ignored everything.
18
奉復使人開谷城礦，不獲，脅其庫金，為縣所逐。 武昌兵備僉事馮應京劾奉十大罪，奉隨誣奏，降應京雜職。 奉又開棗陽礦，知縣王之翰以顯陵近，執不可。 奉劾之翰及襄陽通判邸宅、推官何棟如，緹騎逮訊，並追逮應京。 應京素有惠政，民號哭送之。 奉又榜列應京罪狀於衢。 民切齒恨，復相聚圍奉署，誓必殺奉。 奉逃匿楚王府，眾乃投奉黨耿文登等十六人於江，以巡撫可大護奉，焚其轅門。 事聞，一貫及給事中姚文蔚等請撤奉，不報。 而御馬監監丞李道方督理湖口船稅，亦奏奉水沮商舟，陸截販賈，徵三解一，病國剝民。 帝始召奉歸，而用一貫請，革可大職。 奉在湖廣二年，慘毒備至。 及去，金寶財物巨萬計，可大懼為民所掠，多與徒衛，導之出疆，楚民無不毒恨者。 奉至京師，給事中陳維春、郭如星復極言其罪。 帝不懌，降二人雜職。 三十二年始釋應京歸，之翰卒瘐死。
Feng opened a mine at Gucheng, found nothing, extorted the county treasury, and was driven out. Wuchang intendant Feng Yingjing impeached Feng's ten crimes; Feng slandered him back and Yingjing was demoted. Feng opened a Zaoyang mine; magistrate Wang Zhihan refused because it was near the imperial tomb. Feng impeached Zhihan, Qiu Zhai, and He Dongru; guards arrested them and pursued Yingjing. Yingjing had ruled with kindness; the people wept as he was taken away. Feng posted Yingjing's alleged crimes in the streets. The people surrounded Feng's depot, swearing to kill him. Feng fled to the Chu princely mansion; the crowd drowned sixteen of his men and burned Kedai's gate because he shielded Feng. Yiguan and Yao Wenwei asked to withdraw Feng—no reply. Imperial Horse director Li Daofang also said Feng blocked boats on the river and peddlers on land, taking three parts and releasing one. The emperor finally recalled Feng and, at Yiguan's request, stripped Kedai of office. For two years in Huguang, Feng's cruelty knew no limit. When he left, his loot ran to tens of thousands; Kedai feared the mob and sent guards to escort it out—Chu hated him to the bone. At the capital, Chen Weichun and Guo Ruxing again denounced his crimes. The emperor was displeased and demoted both men. In year thirty-two Yingjing was freed; Zhihan died in prison.
19
當奉劾商井等時，臨清民亦噪而逐馬堂。 馬堂者，天津稅監也，兼轄臨清。 始至，諸亡命從者數百人，白晝手鋃鐺奪人產，抗者輒以違禁罪之。 僮告主者，畀以十之三，中人之家破者大半，遠近為罷市。 州民萬餘縱火焚堂署，斃其黨三十七人，皆黥臂諸偷也。 事聞，詔捕首惡，株連甚眾。 有王朝佐者，素仗義，慨然出曰：「首難者，我也。」 臨刑，神色不變。 知府李士登恤其母妻，臨清民立祠以祀。 後十餘年，堂擅往揚州，巡鹽御史徐縉芳劾其九罪，不問。
When Feng impeached Shangjing, Linqing rioted and drove out Ma Tang. Ma Tang was Tianjin tax supervisor with authority over Linqing. Hundreds of ruffians followed him; by day they seized property in shackles and charged resisters with contraband crimes. Informers got a tenth; half the middling households were ruined and markets shut down. Ten thousand townspeople burned Tang's depot and killed thirty-seven tattooed thieves in his service. The court ordered the ringleaders seized and implicated many. Wang Chaozuo, a man of principle, stepped forward: "I am the ringleader. At execution his face never changed. Prefect Li Shideng cared for his family; Linqing built him a shrine. A decade later Tang went to Yangzhou; salt censor Xu Jifang impeached nine crimes—ignored.
20
高淮，尚膳監監丞也。 神宗寵愛諸稅監，自大學士趙誌臯、沈一貫而下，廷臣諫者不下百餘疏，悉寢不報。 而諸稅監有所糾劾，朝上夕下，輒加重譴。 以故諸稅監益驕，而淮及梁永尤甚。 淮與陳奉同時采礦徵稅遼東。 委官廖國泰，虐民激變，淮誣系諸生數十人。 巡按楊宏科救之，不報。 參隨楊永恩婪賄事發，奉旨會勘，卒不問。 淮又惡遼東總兵馬林不為己下，劾罷之。 給事中候先春疏救，遂戍林而謫先春雜職。 巡按何爾健與淮互訐奏，淮遣人邀於路，責其奏事人，錮之獄，匿疏不以聞。 又請復遼東馬市，巡撫趙楫力爭，始得寢。
Gao Huai was a director of the Imperial Catering Directorate. Emperor Shenzong favored tax eunuchs; over a hundred memorials from Zhao Zhigao, Shen Yiguan, and others were shelved. When tax eunuchs impeached someone, punishment followed at once. Tax eunuchs grew bolder; Huai and Liang Yong were the worst. Huai mined and taxed Liaodong alongside Chen Feng. His agent Liao Guotai provoked revolt; Huai jailed dozens of students on false charges. Regional censor Yang Hongke intervened—ignored. Attendant Yang Yong'en's bribery was exposed; joint investigation was ordered—then dropped. Huai hated commander Ma Lin for not bowing to him and had him removed. Hou Xianchun defended Ma Lin; Lin was exiled and Hou demoted. He Erjian and Huai traded impeachments; Huai intercepted He on the road, jailed his clerk, and suppressed the memorial. He asked to reopen the Liaodong horse market; Zhao Ji blocked it.
21
三十一年夏，淮率家丁三百餘，張飛虎幟，金鼓震天，聲言欲入大內謁帝，潛住廣渠門外。 給事中田大益、孫善繼、姚文蔚等言：「淮搜括士民，取金至數十萬，招納諸亡命降人，意欲何為？」 吏部尚書李戴、刑部尚書蕭大亨皆劾淮擅離信地，挾兵潛住京師，乃數百年未有之事。 御史袁九臯、劉四科、孔貞一，給事中梁有年等，各疏劾淮，不報。 巡撫楫劾淮罪惡萬端，且無故打死指揮張汝立，亦不報。 淮因上疏自稱鎮守協同關務，兵部奏其妄。 帝心護淮，謬曰：「朕固命之矣。」
In the summer of year thirty-one Huai camped three hundred armed retainers outside Guangqu Gate claiming he would enter the palace. Tian Dayi, Sun Shanji, and Yao Wenwei asked what Huai meant by extorting hundreds of thousands and recruiting desperadoes. Li Dai and Xiao Daheng impeached him for bringing armed men to the capital—unheard of in centuries. Censors Yuan Jiugao, Liu Sike, Kong Zhenyi, and Liang Younian memorialized—no reply. Grand Coordinator Ji listed his crimes including killing commander Zhang Ruli—ignored. Huai claimed the title of frontier coordinator; the Ministry of War called it false. The emperor shielded him: "I ordered it myself."
22
淮自是益募死士，時時出塞射獵，髮黃票龍旗，走朝鮮索冠珠、貂馬，數與邊將爭功，山海關內外咸被其毒。 又扣除軍士月糧。 三十六年四月，前屯衛軍甲而噪，誓食淮肉。 六月，錦州、松山軍復變。 淮懼內奔，誣同知王邦才、參將李獲陽逐殺欽使，劫奪御用錢糧。 二人皆逮問，邊民益嘩。 薊遼總督蹇達再疏暴淮罪，乃召歸，而以通灣稅監張曄兼領其事。 獲陽竟死獄中，邦才至四十一年乃釋。
He recruited braves, hunted beyond the pass under dragon banners, extorted Korea for pearls and horses, fought generals for credit, and poisoned the whole northeast. He also cut soldiers' monthly rations. In the fourth month of year thirty-six Qiantun troops mutinied, vowing to eat Huai alive. In the sixth month Jinzhou and Songshan troops mutinied again. Huai fled inward and framed Wang Bangcai and Li Huoyang for killing envoys and robbing imperial funds. Both were arrested and the frontier erupted. Supreme commander Qian Da exposed Huai's crimes; he was recalled and Zhang Ye took over. Huoyang died in prison; Bangcai was freed only in year forty-one.
23
梁永，御馬監監丞也。 萬曆二十七年二月命往陜西征收名馬貨物。 稅監故不典兵，永獨畜馬五百匹，招致亡命，用千戶樂綱出入邊塞。 富平知縣王正誌發其奸，並劾礦監趙欽。 詔逮正誌，瘐死詔獄中。 渭南知縣徐斗牛，廉吏也。 永責賂，箠斃縣吏卒，斗牛憤恨自縊死。 巡撫賈待問奏之，帝顧使永會勘。 永反劾西安同知宋賢，並劾待問有私，請皆勘。 帝從之，而宥待問。 永又請兼鎮守職銜。 又請率兵巡花馬池、慶陽諸鹽池，徵其課。 緣是帥諸亡命，具旌蓋鼓吹，巡行陜地。 盡發歷代陵寢，搜摸金玉，旁行劫掠。 所至，邑令皆逃。 杖死縣丞鄭思顏、指揮劉應聘、諸生李洪遠等。 縱樂綱等肆為淫掠，私宮良家子數十人。 稅額外增耗數倍，藍田等七關歲得十萬。 復用奸人胡奉言，索咸陽冰片五十斤、羊毛一萬斤、麝香二十斤。 知縣宋時際怒，勿予。
Liang Yong was a director of the Imperial Horse Directorate. In the second month of Wanli 27 he was sent to Shaanxi to levy horses and goods. Tax eunuchs did not command troops; Yong kept five hundred horses and used centurion Yue Gang on the frontier. Fuping magistrate Wang Zhengzhi exposed Yong and impeached mining supervisor Zhao Qin. Zhengzhi was arrested and died in the imperial prison. Weinan magistrate Xu Douniu was incorrupt. Yong demanded bribes and beat clerks to death; Douniu hanged himself in rage. Grand Coordinator Jia Daiwen reported it; the emperor sent Yong to investigate himself. Yong impeached Song Xian and accused Daiwen of bias, demanding investigation of all. The emperor agreed but spared Daiwen. Yong also asked for a frontier commander's title. He asked to lead troops to inspect salt pans at Huama Pool and Qingyang and levy dues. He toured Shaanxi with banners, drums, and a host of ruffians. He opened dynastic tombs for gold and jade and plundered everywhere. County magistrates fled wherever he went. He beat to death Zheng Siyan, Liu Yingpin, Li Hongyuan, and others. Yue Gang and others raped and plundered; Yong seized dozens of respectable sons. He multiplied tax quotas; seven Lantian passes alone yielded a hundred thousand a year. He used Hu Fengyan to demand fifty jin of borneol, ten thousand jin of wool, and twenty jin of musk. Magistrate Song Shiji refused.
24
咸寧人道行遇盜，跡之，稅使役也，知縣滿朝薦捕得之。 永誣時際、朝薦劫稅銀，帝命逮時際，而以朝薦到官未久，鐫秩一級。 陜西巡撫顧其志盡發其奸，且言秦民萬眾，共圖殺永。 大學士沈鯉、朱賡請械永歸，以安眾心。 帝悉置不報，而釋時際勿逮，復朝薦官。
A Xianning traveler was robbed by tax depot runners; magistrate Man Chaojian caught them. Yong charged them with robbing tax silver; Shiji was ordered arrested and Chaojian cut one rank. Grand Coordinator Gu Qizhi exposed Yong and said a hundred thousand Qin people plotted to kill him. Shen Li and Zhu Geng asked that Yong be shackled and returned. The emperor ignored them but spared Shiji and restored Chaojian.
25
會御史余懋衡方按陜西，永懼，使綱鴆懋衡幾死。 訟於朝，言官攻永者數十疏，永部下諸亡命乃稍稍散。 其渠魁王九功、石君章等賫重寶，輜軿盈路，詐為上供物，持劍戟弓弩，結陣以行。 而永所遣人解馬匹者，已乘郵傳先發。 九功等急馳，欲追及與同出關。 朝薦疑其盜，見九功等後至無驗，邏兵與格鬥，追至渭南，殺數人，盡奪其裝。 御史懋衡以捕盜殺傷聞。 永大窘，聽樂綱謀，使人系疏發中馳奏：「九功等各貢名馬、金珠、睛綠諸寶物，而咸寧知縣朝薦承余御史指，伏兵渭南遮劫之，臠君章等，誣以盜。」 帝怒曰：「御史鴆無恙，而朝薦代為報復，且劫貢物。」 敕逮朝薦，而令撫按護永等還京。 三十四年事也。
Censor Yu Maohang inspected Shaanxi; Yong had Gang poison him nearly to death. The case reached court; dozens attacked Yong; his ruffians dispersed. Ringleaders Wang Jiugong and Shi Junzhang marched with treasure carts disguised as tribute, armed with swords and crossbows. Yong's horse couriers had already left by post road. Jiugong galloped to catch the horse train and leave the pass together. Chaojian thought them robbers, fought them at Weinan, killed several, and seized their goods. Censor Maohang reported killing robbers in the fight. Yong had a rider report that Chaojian, at Yu Maohang's direction, ambushed tribute bearers at Weinan. The emperor raged that Chaojian had robbed tribute while the poisoned censor lived. Chaojian was arrested; Yong was escorted to the capital. This was in year thirty-four.
26
是年，楊榮為雲南人所殺。 初，榮妄奏阿瓦、猛密諸番願內屬，其地有寶井，可歲益數十萬，願賜敕領其事。 帝許之。 既而榮所進不得什一，乃誣知府熊鐸侵匿，下法司。 又請詔麗江土知府木增獻地聽開采。 巡按御史宋興祖言：「太祖令木氏世守茲土，限石門以絕西域，守鐵橋以斷土蕃，奈何自撤藩蔽，生遠人心。」 不報。 榮由是愈怙寵，誣劾尋甸知府蔡如川、趙州知州甘學書，皆下詔獄。 已，又誣劾雲南知府周鐸，下法司提問。 百姓恨榮入骨，相率燔稅廠，殺委官張安民。 榮弗悛，恣行威虐，杖斃數千人。 至是怒指揮使樊高明後期，榜掠絕觔，枷以示眾。 又以求馬不獲，系指揮使賀瑞鳳，且言將盡捕六衛官。 於是指揮賀世勛、韓光大等率冤民萬人焚榮第，殺之，投火中，並殺其黨二百餘人。 事聞，帝為不食者數日，欲逮問守土官。 大學士沈鯉揭爭，且密屬太監陳矩剖示。 帝乃止誅世勛等，而用巡撫陳用賓議，令四川稅使丘乘雲兼攝雲南事。
That year Yang Rong was killed in Yunnan. Rong had falsely claimed Ava and Mengmi wished to submit and that treasure wells would yield hundreds of thousands yearly. The emperor agreed. His yield was less than a tenth; he charged prefect Xiong Duo with concealment. He asked Mu Zeng of Lijiang to cede land for mining. Song Xingzu said Taizu had made the Mu clan guard the frontier—why remove the barrier and stir distant tribes? No reply. Rong grew bolder, impeaching Xundian prefect Cai Ruchuan and Zhao prefect Gan Xueshu. He also impeached Yunnan prefect Zhou Duo. The people burned the tax depot and killed Zhang Anmin. Rong beat thousands to death without remorse. He flogged late commander Fan Gaoming until he could not eat and cangued him for display. He imprisoned He Ruifeng for failing to deliver horses and threatened all six guards. Commanders He Shixun and Han Guangda led ten thousand people to burn Rong's house and kill him and two hundred of his men. The emperor fasted for days and wanted to punish local officials. Shen Li argued and had eunuch Chen Ju explain privately. The emperor executed Shixun and had Sichuan tax envoy Qiu Chengyun take Yunnan.
27
當是時，帝所遣中官，無不播虐逞凶者。
Every eunuch the emperor sent spread cruelty.
28
湖口稅監李道劾降九江府經歷樊圃充，又劾逮南康知府吳寶秀、星子知縣吳一元，降臨江知府顧起淹。
Li Dao demoted Fan Yuanchong, arrested Wu Baoxiu and Wu Yiyuan, and demoted Gu Qiyan.
29
山西稅監孫朝劾降夏縣知縣韓薰。 給事中程紹以救薰鐫一級，給事中李應策等復救之，遂削紹、薰職。 巡撫魏允貞以阻撓罷去。
Shanxi tax supervisor Sun Chao demoted Han Xun of Xia county. Cheng Shao was cut one rank for rescuing Xun; Li Yingce tried again—both Shao and Xun lost office. Grand Coordinator Wei Yunzhen was dismissed for obstructing the tax eunuchs.
30
廣東稅監李鳳劾逮鄉官通判吳應鴻等。 鳳與珠池監李敬相仇，巡按李時華恃敬援劾鳳。 給事中宋一韓言鳳乾沒五千餘萬，他珍寶稱是。 吏部尚書李戴等言鳳釀禍，致潮陽鼓噪，粵中人爭欲殺之。 帝不問。 而敬惡亦不減於鳳，采珠七八年，歲得珠近萬兩。 其後珠池盜起，敬乃請罷采。
Li Feng of Guangdong impeached and arrested vice prefect Wu Yinghong and others. Feng feuded with pearl supervisor Li Jing; censor Li Shihua, backed by Jing, impeached Feng. Song Yihan said Feng had embezzled over fifty thousand taels and comparable gems. Li Dai said Feng had provoked riots in Chaoyang and that Cantonese wanted him dead. The emperor ignored it. Jing was no better; for seven or eight years he dived pearls, yielding nearly ten thousand taels a year. When pearl-pool bandits appeared, Jing asked to stop.
31
山西礦監張忠劾降夏縣知縣袁應春，又劾逮西城兵馬戴文龍。
Zhang Zhong demoted Yuan Yingchun of Xia county and arrested Dai Wenlong.
32
江西礦監潘相激浮梁景德鎮民變，焚燒廠房。 饒州通判陳奇可諭散之，相反劾逮奇可。 相檄上饒縣勘礦洞，知縣李鴻戒邑人敢以食物市者死。 相竟日饑渴，憊而歸，乃螫鴻，罷其官。
Pan Xiang provoked a riot in Jingdezhen and burned the factories. Chen Qike dispersed the crowd and was arrested in turn. Xiang ordered a mine survey; magistrate Li Hong forbade anyone to feed him. Xiang went hungry all day, returned exhausted, then ruined Li Hong and dismissed him.
33
橫嶺礦監王虎以廣昌民變，劾降易州知州孫大祚。
Wang Hu blamed a Guangchang riot on Yizhou magistrate Sun Dazuo and demoted him.
34
蘇、杭織造太監兼管稅務孫隆激民變，遍焚諸劄委稅官家，隆急走杭州以免。
Weaving supervisor Sun Long provoked riots; tax offices burned and he fled to Hangzhou.
35
福建稅監高寀薦布政使陳性學，立擢巡撫。 居閩十餘年，廣肆毒害。 四十二年四月，萬眾洶洶欲殺寀，寀率甲士二百餘人入巡撫袁一驥署，露刃劫之，令諭眾退。 復挾副使李思誠、僉事呂純如等至私署要盟，始釋一驥。 復拘同知陳豸於署者久之。 事聞，帝召寀還，命出豸，而一驥由此罷。
Gao Cai promoted Chen Xingxue straight to grand coordinator. He ruled Fujian over ten years with great cruelty. In the fourth month of year forty-two a mob tried to kill Cai; he seized Grand Coordinator Yuan Yiji at blade point. He held Li Sicheng and Lü Chunru hostage before releasing Yiji. He detained Vice Commissioner Chen Zhi for a long time. The emperor recalled Cai and released Chen Zhi; Yiji was dismissed.
36
他若山東張曄、河南魯坤、四川丘乘雲輩，皆為民害。 迨帝崩，始下遺詔罷礦稅，撤諸中使還京。
Zhang Ye, Lu Kun, and Qiu Chengyun likewise harmed the people. At the emperor's death a testamentary edict ended mining taxes and recalled the eunuchs.
37
陳矩，安肅人。 萬曆中，為司禮秉筆太監。 二十六年提督東廠。 為人平恕識大體。 嘗奉詔收書籍，中有侍郎呂坤所著《閨範圖說》，帝以賜鄭貴妃，妃自為序，鋟諸木。 時國本未定，或作《閨範圖說》跋，名曰《憂危竑議》，大指言貴妃欲奪儲位，坤陰助之，並及張養蒙、魏允貞等九人，語極妄誕。 逾三年，皇太子立。
Chen Ju was from Ansu. Under Wanli he served as Ceremonial director. In year twenty-six he took charge of the Eastern Depot. He was even-tempered and saw the larger picture. Collecting books for the palace, he found Lü Kun's Illustrated Admonitions for the Inner Quarters, which Consort Zheng had published with her own preface. Before the heir was settled, someone forged a postface, The Mysterious Discussion of Peril, claiming the consort plotted with Kun to seize the succession. Three years later the crown prince was named.
38
至三十一年十一月甲子昧爽，自朝房至勛戚大臣門，各有匿名書一帙，名曰《續憂危竑議》，言貴妃與大學士朱賡，戎政尚書王世揚，三邊總督李汶，保定巡撫孫瑋，少卿張養誌，錦衣都督王之楨，千戶王名世、王承恩等相結，謀易太子，其言益妄誕不經。 矩獲之以聞，大學士賡奏亦入。 帝大怒，敕矩及錦衣衛大索，必得造妖書者。 時大獄猝發，緝校交錯都下，以風影捕系，所株連甚眾。 之楨欲陷錦衣指揮周嘉慶，首輔沈一貫欲陷次輔沈鯉、侍郎郭正域，俱使人屬矩。 矩正色拒之。 已而百戶蔣臣捕生光至。 生光者，京師無賴人也，嘗偽作富商包繼誌詩，有「鄭主乘黃屋」之句，以脅國泰及繼誌金，故人疑而捕之。 酷訊不承，妻妾子弟皆掠治無完膚。 矩心念生光即冤，然前罪已當死，且獄無主名，上必怒甚，恐輾轉攀累無已。 禮部侍郎李廷機亦以生光前詩與妖書詞合。 乃具獄，生光坐淩遲死。 鯉、正域、嘉慶及株連者，皆賴矩得全。
In year thirty-one anonymous booklets, Continuation of the Mysterious Discussion of Peril, accused the consort and ministers of plotting to replace the crown prince. Ju reported the booklets; Zhu Geng's memorial followed. The emperor ordered Ju and the Brocade Guard to find the author at all costs. Investigators crisscrossed the capital and implicated many on suspicion. Zhizhen tried to frame Zhou Jiaqing; Shen Yiguan tried to frame Shen Li and Guo Zhengyu—all asked Ju to cooperate. Ju refused. Centurion Jiang Chen arrested Sheng Guang. Sheng Guang was a ruffian who had forged a poem extorting Guotai and Jizhi—people suspected him and arrested him. Under torture he would not confess; his whole family was beaten raw. Ju knew Sheng Guang was likely innocent but feared endless implication if no culprit were named. Li Tingji said Sheng Guang's earlier poem matched the booklet. The case closed with Sheng Guang executed by slicing. Shen Li, Guo Zhengyu, Jiaqing, and others were saved by Ju.
39
三十三年掌司禮監，督廠如故。 帝欲杖建言參政姜士昌，以矩諫而止。 雲南民殺稅監楊榮，帝欲盡捕亂者，亦以矩言獲免。 明年奉詔慮囚，御史曹學程以阻封日本酋關白事，系獄且十年，法司請於矩求出，矩謝不敢。 已而密白之，竟重釋，余亦多所平反。 又明年卒，賜祠額曰清忠。 自馮保、張誠、張鯉相繼獲罪，其黨有所懲，不敢大肆。 帝亦惡其黨盛，有缺多不補。 迨晚年，用事者寥寥，東廠獄中至生青草。 帝常膳舊以司禮輪供，後司禮無人，乾清宮管事牌子常雲獨辦，以故偵卒稀簡，中外相安。 惟四方采榷者，帝實縱之，故貪殘肆虐，民心憤怨，尋致禍亂雲。
In year thirty-three he headed the Directorate of Ceremonial while keeping the depot. The emperor wanted to beat Jiang Shichang; Ju stopped it. When Yunnan killed Yang Rong, the emperor wanted mass arrests; Ju spared them. The next year, reviewing prisoners, Ju declined to release Cao Xuecheng, jailed ten years for opposing Hideyoshi's enfeoffment. He later secretly secured Cao's release and reversed many sentences. He died the following year and received the shrine title Clear Loyalty. After Feng Bao, Zhang Cheng, and Zhang Jing fell, their factions were restrained. The emperor also left many eunuch posts vacant. In his last years few eunuchs held power; grass grew in the Eastern Depot prison. With Ceremonial posts empty, steward Chang Yun alone fed the emperor and spies grew rare. Only mining-tax eunuchs he indulged remained greedy and cruel until rebellion followed.
40
初，西宮李選侍怙寵陵熹宗生母王才人，安內忿不平。 及光宗崩，選侍與心腹閹李進忠等謀挾皇長子自重，安發其謀於漣。 漣偕一燝等入臨，安紿選侍抱皇長子出，擇吉即位，選侍移別宮去。 事詳一燝等傳。 熹宗心德安，言無不納。
Lady Li of the Western Palace bullied Lady Wang, Xizong's mother; Wang An resented it. When Guangzong died, Lady Li and eunuch Li Jinzhong plotted to hold the heir hostage; An told Yang Lian. Lian and Yifan attended the deathbed; An brought out the heir and Lady Li was moved aside. The affair is told in Yifan's biography. Xizong trusted An completely.
41
安為人剛直而疏，又善病，不能數見帝。 魏忠賢始進，自結於安名下魏朝，朝日夕譽忠賢，安信之。 及安怒朝與忠賢爭客氏也，勒朝退，而忠賢、客氏日得志，忌安甚。 天啟元年五月，帝命安掌司禮監，安以故事辭。 客氏勸帝從其請，與忠賢謀殺之。 忠賢猶豫未忍，客氏曰：「爾我孰若西李，而欲遺患耶？」 忠賢意乃決，嗾給事中霍維華論安，降充南海子凈軍，而以劉朝為南海子提督，使殺安。 劉朝者，李選侍私閹，故以移宮盜庫下獄宥出者。 既至，絕安食。 安取籬落中蘆菔啖之，三日猶不死，乃撲殺之。 安死三年，忠賢遂誣東林諸人與安交通，興大獄，清流之禍烈矣。 莊烈帝立，賜祠額曰昭忠。
An was blunt and often ill, so he seldom saw the emperor. Wei Zhongxian attached to An's man Wei Chao, who praised him until An trusted him. An ousted Chao over Lady Ke while Zhongxian and Ke grew powerful and hated An. In the fifth month of Tianqi 1 the emperor ordered An to head Ceremonial; An declined on precedent. Lady Ke urged acceptance of his resignation and plotted his murder with Zhongxian. Zhongxian hesitated; Lady Ke said, "Are we not like Western Li—why leave a future enemy? Zhongxian incited Huo Weihua to impeach An, demoted him to the Southern Park, and sent Liu Chao to kill him. Liu Chao was Lady Li's eunuch, freed after the palace-shift theft case. He cut off An's food. An ate fence radishes; after three days Liu beat him to death. Three years later Zhongxian framed Eastern Lodge men as An's allies and unleashed the great purge. Emperor Chongzhen granted him the shrine title Manifest Loyalty.
42
魏忠賢
Wei Zhongxian
43
魏忠賢，肅寧人。 少無賴，與群惡少博，少勝，為所苦，恚而自宮，變姓名曰李進忠。 其後乃復姓，賜名忠賢雲。 忠賢自萬曆中選入宮，隸太監孫暹，夤緣入甲字庫，又求為皇長孫母王才人典膳，諂事魏朝。 朝數稱忠賢於安，安亦善遇之。 長孫乳媼曰客氏，素私侍朝，所謂對食者也。 及忠賢入，又通焉。 客氏遂薄朝而愛忠賢，兩人深相結。
Wei Zhongxian was from Suning. As a youth he gambled, lost, castrated himself in rage, and took the name Li Jinzhong. Later he resumed Wei and received the name Zhongxian. He entered palace service under Sun Xian, reached the A-storehouse, became Lady Wang's meal steward, and fawned on Wei Chao. Chao praised him to Wang An, who favored him. The heir's wet nurse Lady Ke had long been Chao's "paired eating" partner. Zhongxian also took up with her. Lady Ke turned from Chao to Zhongxian.
44
光宗崩，長孫嗣立，是為熹宗。 忠賢、客氏並有寵。 未逾月，封客氏奉聖夫人，蔭其子侯國興、弟客光先及忠賢兄釗俱錦衣千戶。 忠賢尋自惜薪司遷司禮秉筆太監兼提督寶和三店。 忠賢不識字，例不當入司禮，以客氏故，得之。
When Guangzong died the grandson succeeded as Xizong. Zhongxian and Lady Ke both won favor. Within a month Lady Ke was ennobled; her kin and Zhongxian's brother won Brocade Guard posts. Zhongxian rose from Fuelwood to Ceremonial director and supervised palace shops. Illiterate, he should not have entered Ceremonial—but Lady Ke secured it.
45
天啟元年詔賜客氏香火田，敘忠賢治皇祖陵功。 御史王心一諫，不聽。 及帝大婚，御史畢佐周、劉蘭請遣客氏出外，大學士劉一燝亦言之。 帝戀戀不忍舍，曰：「皇后幼，賴媼保護，俟皇祖大葬議之。」 忠賢顓客氏，逐魏朝。 又忌王安持正，謀殺之，盡斥安名下諸閹。 客氏淫而狠。 忠賢不知書，頗強記，猜忍陰毒，好諛。 帝深信任此兩人，兩人勢益張，用司禮臨王體乾及李永貞、石元雅、塗文輔等為羽翼，宮中人莫敢忤。 既而客氏出，復召入。 御史周宗建、侍郎陳邦瞻、御史馬鳴起、給事中侯震昜先後力諍，俱被詰責。 給事中倪思輝、朱欽相、王心一復言之，並謫外，尚未指及忠賢也。 忠賢乃勸帝選武閹、煉火器為內操，密結大學士沈纮為援。 又日引帝為倡優聲伎，狗馬射獵。 刑部主事劉宗周首劾之，帝大怒，賴大學士葉向高救免。
Tianqi 1 granted Lady Ke temple lands and credited Zhongxian with tomb merit. Censor Wang Xinyi objected in vain. At the grand wedding, censors and Liu Yifan asked to send Lady Ke out. The emperor refused: "The empress is young and needs her nurse until the imperial burial. Zhongxian monopolized Lady Ke and drove off Wei Chao. He plotted against upright Wang An, killed him, and expelled his followers. Lady Ke was licentious and cruel. Zhongxian was illiterate but cunning, cruel, and addicted to flattery. The emperor trusted them utterly; Wang Tigan, Li Yongzhen, and others became their wings. Lady Ke was sent out, then recalled. Zhou Zongjian, Chen Bangzhan, Ma Mingqi, and Hou Zhenyi remonstrated and were rebuked. Ni Sihui, Zhu Qinxiang, and Wang Xinyi spoke again and were banished—still without naming Zhongxian. Zhongxian trained martial eunuchs as inner guards and enlisted Shen Que. He led the emperor to actors, music, hunting, and debauchery. Liu Zongzhou first impeached him; the emperor raged but Ye Xianggao saved him.
46
初，神宗在位久，怠於政事，章奏多不省。 廷臣漸立門戶，以危言激論相尚，國本之爭，指斥宮禁。 宰輔大臣為言者所彈擊，輒引疾避去。 吏部郎顧憲成講學東林書院，海內士大夫多附之，「東林」之名自是始。 既而「梃擊」、「紅丸」、「移宮」三案起，盈廷如聚訟。 與東林忤者，眾目之為邪黨。 天啟初，廢斥殆盡，識者已憂其過激變生。 及忠賢勢成，其黨果謀倚之以傾東林。 而徐大化、霍維華、孫傑首附忠賢，劉一燝及尚書周嘉謨並為傑劾去。 然是時葉向高、韓爌方輔政，鄒元標、趙南星、王紀、高攀龍等皆居大僚，左光斗、魏大中、黃尊素等在言路，皆力持清議，忠賢未克逞。
Long before, Shenzong had neglected government and ignored memorials. Court officials formed rival factions, competing in shrill rhetoric; succession struggles turned their fire on the inner palace. When remonstrators attacked them, chief ministers would plead illness and quit. Gu Xiancheng of the Personnel Department taught at the Donglin Academy; scholars nationwide rallied to him, and the name "Donglin" began here. Then came the Stick Beating, Red Pill, and Palace Shift cases, and the court erupted in factional quarrels. Anyone who opposed the Donglin was branded a wicked faction. Early in Tianqi the purge was nearly complete; wise observers already feared the backlash. Once Zhongxian was entrenched, his followers plotted to use him to destroy the Donglin. Xu Dahua, Huo Weihua, and Sun Jie were first to join Zhongxian; Sun Jie impeached Liu Yihuan and Minister Zhou Jiamo from office. Yet Ye Xianggao and Han Kuang governed; Zou Yuanbiao, Zhao Nanxing, Wang Ji, and Gao Panlong held high office; Zuo Guangdou, Wei Dazhong, and Huang Zunsu held remonstrating posts—they upheld righteous opinion, and Zhongxian could not yet prevail.
47
二年敘慶陵功，蔭忠賢弟侄錦衣衛指揮僉事。 給事中惠世揚、尚書王紀論沈纮交通客、魏，俱被譴去。 會初夏雨雹，周宗建言雹不以時，忠賢讒慝所致。 修撰文震孟、太僕少卿滿朝薦相繼言之，亦俱黜。
In year two, for Qingling merit, Zhongxian's brother and nephew won Brocade Guard assistant command posts. Hui Shiyang and Wang Ji denounced Shen Hong for colluding with Lady Ke and Zhongxian; both were punished and dismissed. Early-summer hail prompted Zhou Zongjian to blame Zhongxian's slander and malice. Drafting secretary Wen Zhenmeng and Vice Minister Manchao Jian spoke next; they too were dismissed.
48
三年春，引其私人魏廣微為大學士。 令御史郭鞏訐宗建、一燝、元標及楊漣、周朝瑞等保舉熊廷弼，黨邪誤國。 宗建駁鞏受忠賢指揮，御史方大任助宗建攻鞏及忠賢，皆不勝。 其秋，詔忠賢及客氏子國興所蔭錦衣官並世襲。 兵部尚書董漢儒、給事中程註、御史汪泗論交諫，不從。 忠賢益無忌，增置內操萬人，衷甲出入，恣為威虐。 矯詔賜光宗選侍趙氏死。 裕妃張氏有娠，客氏譖殺之。 又革成妃李氏封。 皇后張氏娠，客氏以計墮其胎，帝由此乏嗣。 他所害宮嬪馮貴人等，太監王國臣、劉克敬、馬鑒等甚眾。 禁掖事秘，莫詳也。 是冬，兼掌東廠事。
In spring of year three he installed his man Wei Guangwei as grand secretary. He had censor Guo Gong accuse Zongjian, Yihuan, Yuanbiao, Yang Lian, and Zhou Chaorui of backing Xiong Tingbi and abetting factional evil. Zongjian rebutted that Gong obeyed Zhongxian; Fang Daren joined the attack—but they lost. That autumn an edict made Zhongxian's and Lady Ke's son Guo Xing's Brocade Guard posts hereditary. Minister Dong Hanru, Cheng Zhu, and censor Wang Si remonstrated together in vain. Zhongxian grew brazen—ten thousand inner guards, armor in the palace, terror and cruelty unchecked. By forged edict he had Guangzong's attendant Lady Zhao executed. Consort Zhang of Yu was pregnant; Lady Ke slandered her to death. He also stripped Consort Li of Cheng of her rank. Empress Zhang was pregnant; Lady Ke engineered a miscarriage, and the emperor thereafter had no heirs. Other victims included Lady Feng and eunuchs Wang Guochen, Liu Kejing, Ma Jian, and many more. Palace secrets leave the full toll unknown. That winter he also took charge of the Eastern Depot.
49
四年，給事中傅櫆結忠賢甥傅應星為兄弟，誣奏中書汪文言，並及左光斗、魏大中。 下文言鎮撫獄，將大行羅織。 掌鎮撫劉僑受葉向高教，止坐文言。 忠賢大怒，削僑籍，而以私人許顯純代。 是時御史李應升以內操諫，給事中霍守曲以忠賢乞祠額諫，御史劉廷佐以忠賢濫蔭諫，給事中沈惟炳以立枷諫，忠賢皆矯旨詰責。 於是副都御史楊漣憤甚，劾忠賢二十四大罪。 疏上，忠賢懼，求解於韓爌不應，遂趨帝前泣訴，且辭東廠，而客氏從旁為剖析，體乾等翼之。 帝懵然不辨也。 遂溫諭留忠賢，而於次日下漣疏，嚴旨切責。 漣既絀，魏大中及給事中陳良訓、許譽卿，撫寧侯朱國弼，南京兵部尚書陳道亨，侍郎嶽元聲等七十餘人，交章論忠賢不法。 向高及禮部尚書翁正春請遣忠賢歸私第以塞謗，不許。
In year four, Fu Chu swore brotherhood with Zhongxian's nephew Fu Yingxing and falsely impeached Wang Wenyan, implicating Zuo Guangdou and Wei Dazhong. Wang was sent to the guard prison; a great frame-up was underway. Warden Liu Qiao, coached by Ye Xianggao, convicted only Wenyan. Zhongxian raged, stripped Qiao of rank, and installed Xu Xianchun. Censor Li Yingsheng, Huo Shouqu, Liu Tingzuo, and Shen Weibing remonstrated on inner guards, temple plaques, lavish grants, and the cangue—Zhongxian answered each with forged rebukes. Then Vice Censor-in-Chief Yang Lian impeached Zhongxian for twenty-four major crimes. The memorial terrified Zhongxian; Han Kuang refused help; he wept before the emperor and offered to quit the Depot while Lady Ke and Tigan defended him. The emperor was too confused to judge. He gently kept Zhongxian—and the next day rebuked Lian harshly. After Lian's disgrace, Wei Dazhong, Chen Liangxun, Xu Yuqing, Zhu Guobi, Chen Daohang, Yue Yuansheng, and seventy others denounced Zhongxian's lawlessness. Xianggao and Weng Zhengchun asked to send Zhongxian home to silence slander; the emperor refused.
50
當是時，忠賢憤甚，欲盡殺異己者。 顧秉謙因陰籍其所忌姓名授忠賢，使以次斥逐。 王體乾復昌言用廷杖，威脅廷臣。 未幾，工部郎中萬燝上疏刺忠賢，立杖死。 又以御史林汝翥事辱向高，向高遂致仕去，汝翥亦予杖。 廷臣俱大詟。 一時罷斥者，吏部尚書趙南星、左都御史高攀龍、吏部侍郎陳於廷及楊漣、左光斗、魏大中等先後數十人，已又逐韓爌及兵部侍郎李邦華。 正人去國，紛紛若振槁。 乃矯中旨召用例轉科道。 以朱童蒙、郭允厚為太僕少卿，呂鵬雲、孫傑為大理丞，復霍維華、郭興治為給事中，徐景濂、賈繼春、楊維垣為御史，而起徐兆魁、王紹徽、喬應甲、徐紹吉、阮大鋮、陳爾翌、張養素、李應薦、李嵩、楊春懋等，為之爪牙。 未幾，復用擬戍崔呈秀為御史。 呈秀乃造《天鑒》、《同志》諸錄，王紹徽亦造《點將錄》，皆以鄒元標、顧憲成、葉向高、劉一燝等為魁，盡羅入不附忠賢者，號曰東林黨人，獻於忠賢。 忠賢喜，於是群小益求媚忠賢，攘臂攻東林矣。
Zhongxian now wanted every opponent dead. Gu Bingqian secretly listed his enemies for Zhongxian, who expelled them one by one. Wang Tigan again urged court beatings to terrorize officials. Soon Bureau of Works chief Wan Huang attacked Zhongxian in a memorial and was beaten to death. Over censor Lin Ruzhu he humiliated Xianggao into retirement; Ruzhu was beaten as well. The court was terrified. Zhao Nanxing, Gao Panlong, Chen Yuting, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Wei Dazhong, and dozens more fell in succession; then Han Kuang and Li Banghua followed. Righteous men fled the court like dry stalks in a gale. By forged edict he filled the censorate and remonstrance posts with his own transfers. He installed Tongmeng, Yunhou, Pengyun, Sun Jie, Huo Weihua, Guo Xingzhi, Xu Jinglian, Jia Jichun, Yang Weiyuan, Xu Zhaokui, Wang Shaohui, Qiao Yingjia, and a host of others as his henchmen. Soon he restored Cui Chengxiu, slated for frontier exile, as censor. Chengxiu compiled the Heavenly Mirror and Like Minds records; Wang Shaohui compiled the Record of Marshaling Generals—branding Zou Yuanbiao, Gu Xiancheng, Ye Xianggao, and Liu Yihuan as ringleaders and listing every opponent as a Donglin partisan. Zhongxian was delighted; his petty followers flattered him ever harder and fell upon the Donglin.
51
初，朝臣爭三案及辛亥、癸亥兩京察與熊廷弼獄事，忠賢本無預。 其黨欲藉忠賢力傾諸正人，遂相率歸忠賢，稱義兒，且云：「東林將害翁。」 以故，忠賢欲甘心焉。 御史張訥、倪文煥，給事中李魯生，工部主事曹欽程等，競搏擊善類為報復。 而御史梁夢環復興汪文言獄，下鎮撫司拷死。 許顯純具爰書，詞連趙南星、楊漣等二十餘人，削籍遣戍有差。 逮漣及左光斗、魏大中、周朝瑞、袁化中、顧大章等六人，至牽入熊廷弼案中，掠治死於獄。 又殺廷弼，而杖其姻御史吳裕中至死。 又削逐尚書李宗延、張問達，侍郎公鼐等五十餘人，朝署一空。 而特召元詩教、劉述祖等為御史，私人悉不次超擢。 於是忠賢之黨遍要津矣。
At first Zhongxian had nothing to do with quarrels over the three cases, the xinhai and guihai reviews, or the Xiong Tingbi affair. His faction wanted his power to crush upright men; they flocked to him as sworn sons, saying, "The Donglin will harm the Old Man. So Zhongxian resolved to destroy them utterly. Censors Zhang Na and Ni Wenhuan, Li Lusheng, Cao Qincheng, and others vied to destroy good men in revenge. Censor Liang Menghuan revived Wang Wenyan's case; he was tortured to death in the guard prison. Xu Xianchun's indictment implicated Zhao Nanxing, Yang Lian, and twenty others; ranks were stripped and exile assigned. Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Wei Dazhong, Zhou Chaorui, Yuan Huazhong, and Gu Dazhang were arrested, tied to the Xiong Tingbi case, and tortured to death. Tingbi was killed too, and his in-law Wu Yuzhong was beaten to death. Ministers Li Zongyan and Zhang Wenda, Vice Minister Gong Dai, and fifty others were purged; the court was hollow. Yuan Shijiao and Liu Shuzu were specially summoned as censors; favorites were promoted out of turn. Zhongxian's faction now held every vital post.
52
當是時，東廠番役橫行，所緝訪無論虛實輒糜爛。 戚臣李承恩者，寧安大長公主子也，家藏公主賜器。 忠賢誣以盜乘輿服御物，論死。 中書吳懷賢讀楊漣疏，擊節稱嘆。 奴告之，斃懷賢，籍其家。 武弁蔣應陽為廷弼訟冤，立誅死。 民間偶語，或觸忠賢，輒被擒僇，甚至剝皮、刲舌，所殺不可勝數，道路以目。 其年，敘門功，加恩三等，蔭都督同知。 又蔭其族叔魏志德都督僉事。 擢傅應星為左都督，且旌其母。 而以魏良卿僉書錦衣衛，掌南鎮撫司事。
Eastern Depot runners ran rampant; every investigation, true or false, ended in mangled corpses. Li Chengen, son of the Grand Princess of Ning'an, kept vessels the princess had bestowed. Zhongxian charged him with stealing imperial regalia and sentenced him to death. Drafter Wu Huaixian read Yang Lian's memorial and beat his thigh in admiration. A slave reported him; Huaixian was beaten to death and his property seized. Officer Jiang Yingyang pleaded Tingbi's innocence and was executed on the spot. Casual talk that touched Zhongxian brought capture, flaying, tongue-cutting, and death beyond counting; people dared only glance in the streets. That year, for gate merit, favor rose three grades and a hereditary vice commissioner's post was granted. Clansman Wei Zhide won a hereditary assistant commissioner's post. Fu Yingxing was made left commissioner and his mother honored. Wei Liangqing was put in charge of the Brocade Guard and the southern guard prison.
53
六年二月，鹵簿大駕成，蔭都督僉事。 復使其黨李永貞偽為浙江太監李實奏，逮治前應天巡撫周起元及江、浙裏居諸臣高攀龍、周宗建、繆昌期、周順昌、黃尊素、李應升等。 攀龍赴水死，順昌等六人死獄中。 蘇州民見順昌逮，不平，毆殺二校尉，巡撫毛一鷺為捕顏佩韋等五人悉誅死。 刑部尚書徐兆魁治獄，視忠賢所怒，即坐大辟。 又從霍維華言，命顧秉謙等修《三朝要典》，極意詆諸黨人惡。 御史徐復陽請毀講學書院，以絕黨根。 御史盧承欽又請立東林黨碑。 海內皆屏息喪氣。 霍維華遂教忠賢冒邊功矣。
In the second month of year six, when the imperial guard of honor was complete, an assistant commissioner's post was granted. Follower Li Yongzhen forged a memorial as Zhejiang eunuch Li Shi, arresting Zhou Qiyuan and retired Jiangsu-Zhejiang officials including Gao Panlong, Zhou Zongjian, Miao Changqi, Zhou Shunchang, Huang Zunsu, and Li Yingsheng. Panlong drowned; Shunchang and five others died in prison. Suzhou rose when Shunchang was taken, killed two guard runners; Mao Yilu arrested Yan Peiwei and four others and executed them. Minister Xu Zhaokui tried cases—whomever Zhongxian hated died. Following Huo Weihua, he ordered Gu Bingqian to compile the Essentials of Three Reigns, vilifying the faction with all their might. Censor Xu Fuyang asked to destroy lecture academies and uproot the faction. Censor Lu Chengqin asked for a stele listing Donglin partisans. Across the realm people held their breath in despair. Huo Weihua then taught Zhongxian to claim false frontier merit.
54
遼陽男子武長春遊妓家，有妄言，東廠擒之。 許顯純掠治，故張其辭云：「長春敵間，不獲且為亂，賴廠臣忠智立奇勛。」 詔封忠賢侄良卿為肅寧伯，賜宅第、莊田，頒鐵券。 吏部尚書王紹徽請崇其先世，詔贈忠賢四代如本爵。 忠賢又矯詔遣其黨太監劉應坤、陶文、紀用鎮山海關，收攬兵柄。 再敘功，蔭都督同知，世襲錦衣衛指揮使，各一人。 浙江巡撫潘汝楨奏請為忠賢建祠。 倉場總督薛貞言草場火，以忠賢救，得無害。 於是頌功德者相繼，諸祠皆自此始矣。
Wu Changchun of Liaoyang spoke recklessly in a brothel; the Eastern Depot seized him. Xu Xianchun tortured him and inflated his confession: "Changchun was an enemy spy who would have rebelled; the depot chief's loyalty saved the realm. An edict made Liangqing Baron of Suning, granted mansions, estates, and an iron certificate. Wang Shaohui asked to honor Zhongxian's ancestors; four generations were posthumously ennobled at his rank. By forged edict he sent Liu Yingkun, Tao Wen, and Ji Yong to garrison Shanhai Pass and seize military power. Merit was recorded again; hereditary vice commissioner and Brocade Guard commander posts were granted. Pan Ruzhen of Zhejiang asked to build a shrine to Zhongxian. Granary commissioner Xue Zhen claimed Zhongxian quenched a hayfield fire. Eulogies followed; the cult of shrines to Zhongxian began here.
55
編修吳孔嘉與宗人吳養春有仇，誘養春仆告其主隱占黃山，養春父子瘐死。 忠賢遣主事呂下問、評事許誌吉先後往徽州籍其家，株蔓殘酷。 知府石萬程不忍，削髮去，徽州幾亂。 其黨都督張體乾誣揚州知府劉鐸代李承恩謀釋獄，結道士方景陽詛忠賢，鐸竟斬。 又以睚眥怨，誣新城侯子錦衣王國興，論斬，並黜主事徐石麒。 御史門克新誣吳人顧同寅、孫文豸誄熊廷弼，坐妖言律斬。 又逮侍郎王之寀，斃於獄。 凡忠賢所宿恨，若韓爌、張問達、何士晉、程註等，雖已去，必削籍，重或充軍，死必追贓破其家。 或忠賢偶忘之，其黨必追論前事，激忠賢怒。
Wu Kongjia hated clansman Wu Yangchun; he induced a slave to accuse Yangchun of seizing Mount Huang; father and son died in prison. Zhongxian sent Lü Xiawen and Xu Zhiji to Huizhou to confiscate the estate; implicated kin suffered cruelly. Prefect Shi Wancheng shaved his head and fled; Huizhou nearly exploded. Follower Zhang Tigang charged Yangzhou prefect Liu Duo with plotting Li Chengen's release and joining Fang Jingyang in cursing Zhongxian; Duo was beheaded. Over a petty grudge he charged Marquis of Xincheng's son Wang Guoxing, had him beheaded, and dismissed Xu Shiqi. Censor Men Kexin charged Gu Tongyin and Sun Wenchi with eulogizing Xiong Tingbi and executed them under the sorcery law. Vice Minister Wang Zhicai was arrested and beaten to death in prison. All Zhongxian hated—Han Kuang, Zhang Wenda, He Shijin, Cheng Zhu—though gone, lost rank; the worst were exiled; the dead had their estates ruined for restitution. If Zhongxian forgot a grudge, his followers would revive it and stoke his rage.
56
當此之時，內外大權一歸忠賢。 內豎自王體乾等外，又有李朝欽、王朝輔、孫進、王國泰、梁棟等三十餘人，為左右擁護。 外廷文臣則崔呈秀、田吉、吳淳夫、李夔龍、倪文煥主謀議，號「五虎」。 武臣則田爾耕、許顯純、孫雲鶴、楊寰、崔應元主殺僇，號「五彪」。 又吏部尚書周應秋、太僕少卿曹欽程等，號「十狗」。 又有「十孩兒」、「四十孫」之號。 而為呈秀輩門下者，又不可數計。 自內閣、六部至四方總督、巡撫，遍置死黨。 心忌張皇后，其年秋，誣後父張國紀縱奴不法，矯中宮旨，冀搖後。 帝為致奴法，而誚讓國紀。 忠賢未慊，復使順天府丞劉誌選、御史梁夢環交發國紀罪狀，並言後非國紀女。 會王體乾危言沮之，乃止。
By then every lever of power, court and camp alike, rested in Zhongxian's hands. Besides Wang Tigan and the like, more than thirty inner eunuchs—Li Chaoqin, Wang Chaofu, Sun Jin, Wang Guotai, Liang Dong, and others—surrounded and protected him. On the civil side Cui Chengxiu, Tian Ji, Wu Chunfu, Li Kuilong, and Ni Wenhuan held counsel and were styled the "Five Tigers." Military men Tian Ergeng, Xu Xianchun, Sun Yunhe, Yang Huan, and Cui Yingyuan directed bloodshed and were called the "Five Leopards." Minister Zhou Yingqiu of Personnel, Vice Minister Cao Qincheng of the Imperial Stud, and others were styled the "Ten Dogs." There were also factions called the "Ten Children" and the "Forty Grandsons." Disciples in Chengxiu's train were beyond number. From the Grand Secretariat and Six Ministries to every governor-general and grand coordinator in the realm, they seeded diehard loyalists. Resenting Empress Zhang, that autumn they framed her father Zhang Guoji for lawless slaves, forged the empress's authority, and tried to shake her position. The emperor punished the slaves by law and rebuked Guoji. Unsatisfied, Zhongxian had Liu Zhixuan of Shuntian and censor Liang Menghuan pile on charges—and claim the empress was not Guoji's daughter. Wang Tigan's grave warning stopped them.
57
其冬，三殿成。 李永貞、周應秋奏忠賢功，遂進上公，加恩三等。 魏良卿時已晉肅寧侯矣，亦晉寧國公，食祿如魏國公例，再加恩蔭錦衣指揮使一人，同知一人。 工部尚書薛鳳翔奏給賜第。 已而太監陶文奏築喜峰隘口成，督師王之臣奏築山海城，刑部尚書薛貞奏大盜王之錦獄，南京修孝陵工竣，甘鎮奏捷，蕃育署丞張永祚獲盜，並言忠賢區畫方略。 忠賢又自奏三年緝捕功，詔書褒獎。 半歲中，所蔭錦衣指揮使四人、同知三人、僉事一人。 授其侄希孟世襲錦衣同知，甥傅之琮、馮繼先並都督僉事，而擢崔呈秀弟凝秀為薊鎮副總兵。 名器僭濫，於是為極。 其同類盡鎮薊、遼，山西宣、大諸阨要地。 總兵梁柱朝、楊國棟等歲時賂名馬、珍玩勿絕。
That winter the Three Halls were finished. Li Yongzhen and Zhou Yingqiu credited Zhongxian's merit; he was raised to Duke Superior with favor increased three grades. Wei Liangqing, already Marquis of Suning, was made Duke of Ning with stipend matching the Duke of Wei; added favor granted hereditary Brocade Guard posts—a commander and an assistant commissioner. Minister of Works Xue Fengxiang asked that a mansion be granted him. Eunuch Tao Wen reported Xifeng Pass finished; Wang Zhichen the Shanhai wall; Minister Xue Zhen the bandit Wang Zhijin's case; Nanjing the Xiaoling repairs; Gansu a victory; Fanning Office aide Zhang Yongzuo captured bandits—all credited Zhongxian's strategy. Zhongxian again claimed three years' pursuit merit; an edict praised him. In half a year his proteges won four Brocade Guard commanders, three assistant commissioners, and one vice commissioner. Nephew Ximeng became hereditary Brocade Guard assistant commissioner; nephews-in-law Fu Zhicong and Feng Jixian became Chief Military Commission vice commissioners; Chengxiu's brother Ningxiu was made deputy commander at Ji. Abuse of rank and office had reached its zenith. His followers commanded Ji, Liaodong, and the Xuan-Datong passes of Shanxi. Commanders Liang Zhuchao and Yang Guodong sent famous horses and curios year-round without end.
58
七年春，復以崔文升總漕運，李明道總河道，胡良輔鎮天津。 文升故侍光宗藥，為東林所攻者也。 海內爭望風獻諂，諸督撫大吏閻鳴泰、劉詔、李精白、姚宗文等，爭頌德立祠，洶洶若不及。 下及武夫、賈豎、諸無賴子亦各建祠。 窮極工巧。 攘奪民田廬，斬伐墓木，莫敢控。 而監生陸萬齡至請以忠賢配孔子，以忠賢父配啟聖公。
Spring of year seven again saw Cui Wensheng head grain transport, Li Mingdao the Grand Canal, and Hu Liangfu command Tianjin. Wensheng had served Guangzong's medicine—the man the Donglin had attacked. Officials everywhere rushed to flatter; Yan Mingtai, Liu Zhao, Li Jingbai, Yao Zongwen, and other governors vied to praise him and build shrines as if racing to catch up. Even soldiers, petty traders, and thugs built shrines of their own. They competed in extravagant craftsmanship. They seized fields and homes, felled graveyard trees, and no one dared protest. Supervising student Lu Wanling even asked to enshrine Zhongxian beside Confucius and Zhongxian's father beside the Sage's Father.
59
初，潘汝禎首上疏，御史劉之待會槁遲一日，即削籍。 而薊州道胡士容以不具建祠文，遵化道耿如杞入祠不拜，皆下獄論死。 故天下風靡，章奏無巨細，輒頌忠賢。 宗室若楚王華煃、中書朱慎鑒，勛戚若豐城侯李永祚，廷臣若尚書邵輔忠、李養德、曹思誠，總督張我續及孫國楨、張翌明、郭允厚、楊維和、李時馨、汪若極、何廷樞、楊維新、陳維新、陳爾翼、郭如暗、郭希禹、徐溶輩，佞詞累牘，不顧羞恥。 忠賢亦時加恩澤以報之。 所有疏，咸稱「廠臣」不名。 大學士黃立極、施鳳來、張瑞圖票旨，亦必曰「朕與廠臣」，無敢名忠賢者。 山東產麒麟，巡撫李精白圖象以聞。 立極等票旨云：「廠臣修德，故仁獸至。」 其誣罔若此。 前後賜獎敕無算，誥命皆擬九錫文。
Pan Ruzhen led with the first memorial; Liu Zhida's draft came a day late and he was instantly expelled from the rolls. Hu Shirong of Jizhou was jailed for omitting shrine text; Geng Ruqi of Zunhua for refusing to bow in the shrine—they were sentenced to death. The realm followed suit; every memorial, great or small, praised Zhongxian. Prince of Chu Huaqi, drafter Zhu Shenjian, Marquis of Fengcheng Li Yongzuo, Ministers Shao Fuzhong, Li Yangde, and Cao Sizheng, Governors-General Zhang Woxu, Sun Guozhen, Zhang Yiming, Guo Yunhou, Yang Weihe, Li Shixin, Wang Ruoji, He Tingshu, Yang Weixin, Chen Weixin, Chen Eryi, Guo Ru'an, Guo Xiyu, Xu Rong, and others poured out sycophantic memorials without shame. Zhongxian repaid them with periodic favors. Every memorial called him "Depot Minister"—never by name. Grand secretaries Huang Liji, Shi Fenglai, and Zhang Ruitu drafted responses as "We and the Depot Minister"; none dared name Zhongxian. A qilin appeared in Shandong; Grand Coordinator Li Jingbai sent up its portrait. Liji and others drafted: "The Depot Minister's virtue brought the benevolent beast. Their deceit ran to such lengths. Rewards poured forth beyond count; patents echoed the language of the Nine Bestowals.
60
是年自春及秋，忠賢冒款汪燒餅、擒阿班歹羅銕等功，積蔭錦衣指揮使至十有七人。 其族孫希孔、希孟、希堯、希舜、鵬程，姻戚董芳名、王選、楊六奇、楊祚昌，皆至左、右都督及都督同知、僉事等官。 又加客氏弟光先亦都督。 魏撫民又從錦衣改尚寶卿。 而忠賢誌願猶未極，會袁崇煥奏寧遠捷，忠賢乃令周應秋奏封其從孫鵬翼為安平伯。 再敘三大工功，封從子良棟為東安侯，加良卿太師，鵬翼少師，良棟太子太保。 因遍賚諸廷臣。 用呈秀為兵部尚書兼左都御史，獨絀崇煥功不錄。 時鵬翼、良棟皆在繈褓中，未能行步也。 良卿至代天子饗南北郊，祭太廟。 於是天下皆疑忠賢竊神器矣。
From spring through autumn that year Zhongxian stole credit for Wang Shaobing's surrender and Abandai Luotie's capture, piling up seventeen hereditary Brocade Guard commanders. Grand-nephews Xikong, Ximeng, Xiyao, Xishun, and Pengcheng and in-laws Dong Fangming, Wang Xuan, Yang Liuqi, and Yang Zuochang rose to commissioner ranks of every grade. Lady Ke's brother Guangxian was also made a commissioner. Wei Fumin moved from the Brocade Guard to Guardian of the Imperial Seals. Still unsated, when Yuan Chonghuan reported Ningyuan, Zhongxian had Zhou Yingqiu enfeoff grand-nephew Pengyi as Baron of Anping. Crediting the three great works again, he made Liangdong Marquis of Dong'an; Liangqing Grand Preceptor, Pengyi Junior Preceptor, Liangdong Grand Guardian of the Heir. Court ministers were rewarded across the board. Chengxiu became Minister of War and Left Censor-in-Chief; Chonghuan alone was snubbed. Pengyi and Liangdong were still in swaddling clothes, unable to walk. Liangqing even performed the emperor's suburban rites and Temple sacrifices. The realm now suspected Zhongxian of stealing the sacred regalia of rule.
61
帝性機巧，好親斧鋸髹漆之事，積歲不倦。 每引繩削墨時，忠賢輩輒奏事。 帝厭之，謬曰：「朕已悉矣，汝輩好為之。」 忠賢以是恣威福惟己意。 歲數出，輒坐文軒，羽幢青蓋，四馬若飛，鐃鼓鳴鏑之聲，轟隱黃埃中。 錦衣玉帶靴褲握刀者，夾左右馳，廚傳、優伶、百戲、輿隸相隨屬以萬數。 百司章奏，置急足馳白乃下。 所過，士大夫遮道拜伏，至呼九千歲，忠賢顧盼未嘗及也。 客氏居宮中，脅持皇后，殘虐宮嬪。 偶出歸私第，騶從赫奕照衢路，望若鹵簿。 忠賢故騃無他長，其黨日夜教之，客氏為內主，群凶煽虐，以是毒痡海內。
Clever with his hands, the emperor loved carpentry and lacquerwork and never tired of it. Whenever he marked wood for cutting, Zhongxian's faction would present business. Annoyed, he waved them off: "I know it all—you may do as you please. Zhongxian took that as license to wield power as he pleased. He went out several times a year in an ornamented carriage with feather banners and green canopy, four horses flying, gongs and drums thundering through yellow dust. Brocade-clad swordsmen flanked him; kitchen trains, actors, variety troupes, and attendants followed by the ten thousand. Every office waited until express runners reached Zhongxian before memorials were acted on. Officials prostrated in the road, some crying "Nine Thousand Years"; Zhongxian never deigned to look. Lady Ke lived in the palace, bullied the empress, and tormented consorts. When she visited her private house, her escort lit the streets like an imperial procession. Zhongxian was dull and untalented; his faction coached him daily while Lady Ke ruled within—together they poisoned the realm.
62
七年秋八月，熹宗崩，信王立。 王素稔忠賢惡，深自儆備，其黨自危。 楊所修、楊維垣先攻崔呈秀以嘗帝，主事陸澄原、錢元愨，員外郎史躬盛遂交章論忠賢。 帝猶未發。 於是嘉興貢生錢嘉徵劾忠賢十大罪：一並帝，二蔑後，三弄兵，四無二祖列宗，五克削藩封，六無聖，七濫爵，八掩邊功，九朘民，十通關節。 疏上，帝召忠賢，使內侍讀之。 忠賢大懼，急以重寶啖信邸太監徐應元求解。 應元，故忠賢博徒也。 帝知之，斥應元。 十一月，遂安置忠賢於鳳陽，尋命逮治。 忠賢行至阜城，聞之，與李朝欽偕縊死。 詔磔其屍。 懸首河間。 笞殺客氏於浣衣局。 魏良卿、侯國興、客光先等並棄市，籍其家。 客氏之籍也，於其家得宮女八人，蓋將效呂不韋所為，人尤疾之。
In the eighth month of autumn, year seven, Xizong died and the Prince of Xin ascended. The new emperor knew Zhongxian's evil and was on guard; the faction trembled. Yang Suoxiu and Yang Weiyuan tested the emperor by attacking Chengxiu; Lu Chengyuan, Qian Yuankai, and Shi Gongsheng then barraged the throne with charges against Zhongxian. The emperor still held back. Jiaxing student Qian Jiazheng charged ten crimes: usurping the emperor, insulting the empress, misusing troops, dishonoring the Founders, stripping princes, lacking virtue, corrupt ranks, stealing frontier credit, fleecing the people, and peddling influence. The memorial arrived; the emperor summoned Zhongxian and had it read aloud. Terrified, Zhongxian bribed the Prince of Xin's eunuch Xu Yingyuan with heavy gifts. Yingyuan had been Zhongxian's gambling crony. The emperor learned of it and expelled Yingyuan. In the eleventh month Zhongxian was sent to Fengyang; soon orders came to arrest him. At Fucheng he heard the news and hanged himself with Li Chaoqin. An edict ordered his corpse torn apart. His head was displayed at Hejian. Lady Ke was flogged to death at the Laundry Bureau. Wei Liangqing, Hou Guoxing, Ke Guangxian, and others were executed and their estates confiscated. Searching Lady Ke's house turned up eight palace women—evidently copying Lü Buwei—and the outrage deepened.
63
崇禎二年命大學士韓爌等定逆案，始蓋逐忠賢黨，東林諸人復進用。 諸麗逆案者日夜圖報復。 其後溫體仁、薛國觀輩相繼柄政，潛傾正人，為翻逆案地。 帝亦厭廷臣黨比，復委用中珰。 而逆案中阮大鋮等卒肆毒江左，至於滅亡。
In Chongzhen 2 Han Kuang and fellow grand secretaries fixed the treason roll, purged Zhongxian's faction, and brought the Donglin back. Those on the treason roll plotted revenge nightly. Later Wen Tiren and Xue Guoguan took power, undermined upright men, and laid groundwork to reverse the verdicts. Weary of factional court politics, the emperor again leaned on eunuchs. Men like Ruan Dacheng on the treason roll finally poisoned the lower Yangzi—and helped bring ruin.
64
王體乾
Wang Tigan
65
李永貞等
Li Yongzhen and others
66
王體乾、李永貞、塗文輔，皆忠賢黨。 體乾，昌平人，柔佞深險。 熹宗初，為尚膳太監，遷司禮秉筆。 王安之辭司禮掌印也，體乾急謀於客、魏奪之，而置安於死。 用是，一意附忠賢，為之盡力。 故事，司禮掌印者位東廠上。 體乾避忠賢，獨處其下，故忠賢一無所忌。 楊漣劾忠賢疏上，帝命體乾誦之，置疏中切要語不讀，漣遂得譴。 萬燝之死，出體乾意。 忠賢不識字，體乾與永貞等為之謀主，遇票紅文書及改票，動請御筆，體乾獨奏，忠賢默然也。 及忠賢冒陵工、殿工、邊功等賞，體乾、永貞輩亦各蔭錦衣官數人。 嘗疑選人錢受益、黃願素為錢謙益、黃尊素兄弟，欲並禁錮，其阿媚忠賢如此。 及莊烈帝定逆案，革體乾職，籍其家。
Wang Tigan, Li Yongzhen, and Tu Wenfu all belonged to Zhongxian's faction. Tigan came from Changping—smooth, fawning, and treacherous. Early in Xizong's reign he was Director of Imperial Catering and rose to Ceremonial Director with brush. When Wang An gave up the Ceremonial seal, Tigan plotted with Lady Ke and Wei to seize it and kill him. He therefore attached himself wholly to Zhongxian and served him with all his strength. By precedent the Ceremonial seal-holder outranked the Eastern Depot chief. Tigan deferentially ranked himself below Zhongxian, who therefore feared nothing from him. When Yang Lian's impeachment reached the throne the emperor had Tigan read it; Tigan omitted the crucial passages and Lian was punished. Wan Liao's death was Tigan's doing. Illiterate, Zhongxian relied on Tigan, Yongzhen, and others as his strategists; on red-ink drafts Tigan alone reported while Zhongxian stayed silent. When Zhongxian stole rewards for tomb, palace, and frontier work, Tigan and Yongzhen also secured hereditary Brocade Guard posts for their men. He once tried to imprison selected officials Qian Shouyi and Huang Yuan as brothers of Qian Qianyi and Huang Zunsu—such was his sycophancy toward Zhongxian. When the Chongzhen Emperor fixed the treason case, Tigan lost his post and his estate was confiscated.
67
永貞，通州人。 萬曆中為內侍，犯法被系者十八年，光宗立，得釋。 忠賢用事，引其黨諸棟、史賓等為秉筆。 永貞入棟幕，與忠賢掌班劉榮為死友。 棟死，夤緣得通於忠賢，由文書房升秉筆太監，匝月五遷，與體乾、文輔及石元雅共為忠賢心腹。 凡章奏入，永貞等先鈐識窾要，白忠賢議行。 崔呈秀所獻諸錄，永貞等各置小冊袖中，遇有處分，則爭出冊告曰：「此某錄中人也。」 故無得免者。 永貞性貪，督三殿工，治信王邸，所侵沒無算。 莊烈帝立，永貞陽引退，行十五萬金於體乾及司體王永祚、王本政求援。 三人惡其反覆，首於帝。 永貞懼，遂亡去。 既而被獲，謫鳳陽，尋以偽草李實奏，逮至，伏誅。
Yongzhen came from Tongzhou. During Wanli he was an inner attendant; a legal offense kept him in custody eighteen years until Guangzong's accession brought release. Once Zhongxian ruled, he installed his men Zhu Dong, Shi Bin, and others as memorial brush-holders. Yongzhen joined Dong's household and swore brotherhood with Zhongxian's shift chief Liu Rong. After Dong died Yongzhen worked his way to Zhongxian through flattery; from the Document Office he reached Ceremonial Director with brush in five promotions within a month, joining Tigan, Wenfu, and Shi Yuanya as Zhongxian's trusted inner circle. Every memorial that arrived Yongzhen and his fellows first marked for key passages, then reported to Zhongxian before anything was done. The registers Chengxiu had submitted—Yongzhen and the others each kept pocket booklets; when someone was to be punished they would whip out a booklet and cry, "This man is on such-and-such list. Thus no one could escape. Greedy by nature, Yongzhen oversaw the Three Halls and the Prince of Xin's mansion and embezzled beyond reckoning. When the Chongzhen Emperor took the throne Yongzhen pretended to retire and sent 150,000 taels of gold to Tigan and the Ceremonial seal-holders Wang Yongzuo and Wang Bencheng to buy protection. The three loathed his double-dealing and denounced him to the emperor first. Terrified, Yongzhen fled. He was later captured and banished to Fengyang; soon a forged memorial in Li Shi's name brought him back—and to execution.
68
文輔，初為客氏子侯國興授讀，諂附忠賢，由司禮秉筆歷掌御馬監，總督太倉、節慎二庫。 奪寧安大長公主第為廨，署曰「戶工總部。」 騶從常數百人，部郎以下皆庭參，勢焰出群閹上。 莊烈帝立，復附徐應元，謫南京。
Wenfu had first tutored Lady Ke's son Hou Guoxing; fawning on Zhongxian he rose from Ceremonial brush-holder to head the Imperial Horse Directorate and oversee the Taicang and Jieshen storehouses. He seized the Grand Princess Chang of Ning'an's mansion for his offices and called it the "Headquarters of Revenue and Works. His mounted escort ran to several hundred; every department director and rank below paid court audience—and his power outshone every other eunuch. When the Chongzhen Emperor ascended he again clung to Xu Yingyuan and was banished to Nanjing.
69
時有劉若愚者，故隸陳矩名下。 善書，好學有文。 天啟初，李永貞取入內直房，主筆劄。 永貞多密謀，若愚心識之，不敢與外廷通。 忠賢敗，若愚為楊維坦所劾，充孝陵凈軍。 已，御史劉重慶以李實誣高攀龍等七人事劾實。 實疏辨言系空印紙，乃忠賢逼取之，令永貞填書者。 帝驗疏，墨在朱上，遂誅永貞，坐若愚大辟。 久之，得釋。 若愚當忠賢時，祿賜未嘗一及，既幽囚，痛己之冤，而恨體乾、文輔輩之得漏網也，作《酌中志》以自明，凡四卷，見者鄰之。
There was then Liu Ruoyu, once attached to Chen Ju's household. He wrote well, loved learning, and had literary talent. Early in Tianqi, Li Yongzhen brought him into the inner secretariat to draft documents. Yongzhen plotted in secret; Ruoyu understood but dared not speak with the outer court. When Zhongxian fell, Yang Weitan impeached Ruoyu and he was sent as a purifying soldier to the Xiaoling tomb. Then censor Liu Chongqing impeached Li Shi for framing Gao Panlong and six others. Shi defended himself in a memorial, saying the blank sealed paper had been seized by Zhongxian and filled in on Yongzhen's orders. The emperor inspected the memorial: the ink sat atop the vermilion seal. Yongzhen was executed and Ruoyu sentenced to death. After a long while he was released. Under Zhongxian Ruoyu had never received salary or favor; imprisoned, he brooded on his injustice and on Tigan, Wenfu, and others who had slipped the net. He wrote the Record from the Balanced Measure in four volumes to clear himself—and readers pitied him.
70
崔文升
Cui Wensheng
71
崔文升者，鄭貴妃宮中內侍也。 光宗立，升司禮秉筆，掌禦藥房。 時貴妃進帝美女四人，帝幸焉，既而有疾。 文升用大黃藥，益劇，不視朝。 外廷洶洶，皆言文升受貴妃指，有異謀。 給事中楊漣言：「陛下哀毀之余，萬幾勞瘁。 文升誤用伐藥，又構造流言，謂侍御蠱惑，損陛下令名。 陛下奈何置賊臣於肘腋間哉！」 然構造之說，漣疑文升誤用藥，故為此以圖禦罪，其實出於文升果否，未知也。 未幾，光宗服鴻臚丞李可灼紅丸，遂崩。 言者交攻可灼及閣臣方從哲，惟御史鄭宗周等直指文升。 給事中魏大中言文升之惡不下張差，御史吳甡亦謂其罪浮可灼。 下廷議，可灼論戍，文升謫南京。 及忠賢用事，召文升總督漕運兼管河道。 莊烈帝即位，召回。 御史吳煥復劾之。 疏甫上，文升即結同黨伏宮門號哭，聲徹御座。 帝大怒，並其黨皆杖一百，充孝陵凈軍。
Cui Wensheng was an inner attendant in Consort Zheng's palace household. When Guangzong ascended he was made Ceremonial brush-holder and put in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy. The consort had presented four beautiful women; the emperor favored them and soon fell ill. Wensheng prescribed rhubarb; the illness worsened and the emperor stopped holding court. The outer court was in uproar: Wensheng, they said, had acted on the consort's orders with some hidden design. Supervising secretary Yang Lian said: "Your Majesty, still grieving and exhausted, is worn thin by the myriad burdens of rule. Wensheng misused purging drugs and spread rumors that attendants bewitched you—damaging Your Majesty's good name. How can Your Majesty harbor a traitorous minister at your very elbow! Yet the charge of fabrication may have been Lian's own invention—suspecting Wensheng of misprescribing, he may have framed this to force a reckoning. Whether Wensheng truly spread such rumors is unknown. Before long Guangzong took the red pill from Honglu Director Li Kezhuo and died. Critics assailed Kezhuo and Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe together; only censor Zheng Zongzhou and a few others singled out Wensheng. Supervising secretary Wei Dazhong said Wensheng's wickedness matched Zhang Cha's; censor Wu Shen said his crime outweighed Kezhuo's. Court deliberation followed: Kezhuo was sentenced to frontier service; Wensheng was banished to Nanjing. When Zhongxian ruled, Wensheng was recalled to oversee grain transport and the waterways together. When the Chongzhen Emperor ascended he was recalled again. Censor Wu Huan impeached him again. The memorial had barely reached the throne when Wensheng and his faction prostrated themselves wailing at the palace gate—the sound carried to the imperial seat. The emperor was furious; Wensheng and his whole faction each took a hundred blows of the rod and were sent as purifying soldiers to the Xiaoling tomb.
72
張彝憲
Zhang Yixian
73
張彜憲，莊烈帝朝司禮太監也。 帝初即位，鑒魏忠賢禍敗，盡撤諸方鎮守中官，委任大臣。 既而廷臣競門戶，兵敗餉絀，不能贊一策，乃思復用近侍。 崇禎四年九月，遣王應朝等監視關、寧，又遣王坤宣府，劉文忠大同，劉允中山西，監視軍馬。 而以彜憲有心計，令鉤校戶、工二部出入，如塗文輔故事，為之建署，名曰戶工總理，其權視外總督，內團營提督焉。 給事中宋可久、馮元飆等十餘人論諫，不納。 吏部尚書閔洪學率朝臣具公疏爭，帝曰：「茍群臣殫心為國，朕何事乎內臣。」 眾莫敢對。 南京侍郎呂維祺疏責輔臣不能匡救，禮部侍郎李孫宸亦以召對力諫，俱不聽。 彜憲遂按行兩部，踞尚書上，命郎中以下謁見。 工部侍郎高弘圖不為下，抗疏乞歸，削籍去。 彜憲益驕縱，故勒邊鎮軍器不發。 管盔甲主事孫肇興恐稽滯軍事，因劾其誤國。 帝命回奏，罪至遣戍。 主事金鉉、周鑣皆以諫斥去。 工部尚書周士樸以不赴彜憲期，被詰問，罷去。
Zhang Yixian was a Ceremonial Director in the Chongzhen reign. At first, warned by Wei Zhongxian's ruin, the emperor withdrew eunuch garrison commissioners everywhere and entrusted great ministers. Soon court officials were consumed by faction; armies lost and funds ran dry—not one useful plan—and the emperor turned again to close attendants. In the ninth month of Chongzhen 4 he sent Wang Yingchao and others to oversee Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan; Wang Kun to Xuanfu, Liu Wenzhong to Datong, Liu Yunzhong to Shanxi—to supervise troops and horses. Finding Yixian shrewd, he had him audit Revenue and Works accounts—following Wenfu's precedent—built him an office called Director General of Revenue and Works, and gave him power rivaling outer governors-general and the Inner Training Corps commander. More than ten supervising secretaries, Song Kejiu and Feng Yuanbiao among them, remonstrated; the emperor would not listen. Minister of Personnel Min Hongxue led the court in a joint protest; the emperor said: "If you ministers gave your whole hearts to the state, what need would I have of inner attendants? No one dared answer. Nanjing Vice Minister Lü Weiqi rebuked the grand secretaries for failing to intervene; Vice Minister of Rites Li Sunchen remonstrated forcefully at audience—neither was heeded. Yixian then toured both departments, seated himself above the ministers, and ordered every director and rank below to attend audience. Vice Minister of Works Gao Hongtu refused to bow; he protested by memorial, asked to retire, and was struck from the rolls. Yixian grew ever bolder and deliberately held back frontier arsenals' weapons. Sun Zhaoxing, a director in charge of armor, fearing military delay, impeached him for harming the state. The emperor ordered a reply memorial; the sentence reached banishment to frontier service. Directors Jin Xuan and Zhou Biao were both expelled for remonstrating. Minister of Works Zhou Shipu, for missing an appointment with Yixian, was questioned and dismissed.
74
是時，中珰勢復大振。 王坤至宣府，甫逾月，即劾巡按御史胡良機。 帝落良機職，命坤按治。 給事中魏呈潤爭之，亦謫外。 坤性狂躁敢言，朝中大吏有欲倚之相傾擠者。 於是坤抗疏劾修撰陳於泰，謂其盜竊科名，語侵周延儒。 給事中傅朝佑言坤妄幹彈劾之權，且其文詞練達，機鋒挑激，必有陰邪險人主之，其意指溫體仁。 帝置不問。 左副都御史王志道言：「近者內臣舉動，幾於手握皇綱，而輔臣終不敢一問。 至於身被彈擊，猶忍辱不言。 何以副明主之知？」 皆備責延儒，欲以動帝。 帝怒，削其籍。 時帝方一意用內臣，故言者多得罪。
By then the power of inner eunuchs had surged again. Wang Kun reached Xuanfu; within a month he impeached touring censor Hu Liangji. The emperor stripped Liangji of rank and ordered Kun to investigate. Supervising secretary Wei Chengrun protested and was banished from the capital as well. Kun was rash and outspoken; great officials at court wanted to use him to crush rivals. Kun then submitted a direct memorial impeaching compiler Chen Yutai for stealing his examination rank—language that implicated Zhou Yanru. Supervising secretary Fu Chaoyou said Kun had usurped impeachment power; his polished prose and barbed edge betrayed some hidden, devious master—meaning Wen Tiren. The emperor ignored it. Left Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Zhidao said: "Lately inner attendants have nearly grasped the imperial reins, yet the grand secretaries never dare ask a single question. Even when impeached themselves they swallow insult in silence. How can they repay an enlightened sovereign's trust? All blame fell on Yanru—they meant to stir the emperor. The emperor was angry and struck him from the rolls. The emperor was then set on inner attendants alone; most who spoke out paid for it.
75
到八年八月始下詔曰：「往以廷臣不職，故委寄內侍。 今兵制粗立，軍餉稍清，盡撤監視總理。」 又明年，命彜憲守備南京，尋死。 然帝卒用高起潛輩典兵監鎮，馴至開關延賊，遂底滅亡。
Not until the eighth month of year 8 did he issue an edict: "Formerly, because court officials failed in duty, I entrusted inner attendants. Now military organization is roughly set and army funds somewhat cleared—I withdraw all overseers and directors-general. The next year he assigned Yixian to garrison Nanjing; soon Yixian died. Yet in the end he still employed Gao Qiqian and his kind to command troops and oversee garrisons—gradually opening passes to bandits until ruin was complete.
76
高起潛
Gao Qiqian
77
高起潛，在內侍中，以知兵稱，帝委任之。 五年命偕其儕呂直督諸將征孔有德於登州，明年凱旋。 時流賊大熾，命太監陳大金、閻思印、謝文舉、孫茂霖等為內中軍，分入大帥曹文詔、左良玉、張應昌諸營，名曰監軍，在邊鎮者，悉名監視。 而起潛得監視寧、錦諸軍。 已而諸監多侵克軍資，臨敵輒擁精兵先遁，諸將亦恥為之下，緣是皆無功。 八年盡撤諸鎮內臣，惟起潛監視如故。
Among inner attendants Gao Qiqian was famed for military knowledge, and the emperor entrusted him. In year 5 he and his peer Lü Zhi were ordered to supervise generals against Kong Youde at Dengzhou; the next year they returned in triumph. When bandits raged, eunuchs Chen Dajin, Yan Siyin, Xie Wenju, Sun Maolin, and others were made inner army chiefs and sent into the camps of Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, Zhang Yingchang, and other great commanders—styled army supervisors; at frontier posts all were called overseers. Qiqian was given oversight of the Ningyuan and Jinzhou armies. Soon most overseers embezzled funds; at battle they hoarded elite troops and fled first—generals were ashamed to serve under them, and nothing was won. In year 8 all garrison eunuchs were withdrawn; only Qiqian kept his overseer's post.
78
九年七月復遣太監李國輔、許進忠等分守紫荊、倒馬諸關，孫惟武、劉元斌防馬水河。 時兵部尚書張鳳翼出督援軍，宣大總督梁廷棟亦引兵南，特命起潛為總監，給金三萬、賞功牌千，以司禮大珰張雲漢、韓贊周副之。 然起潛實未嘗決一戰，惟割死人首冒功而已。 明年，起潛行部視師，令監司以下悉用軍禮。 永平道劉景耀、關內道楊於國疏爭，被黜。 既而與兵部尚書楊嗣昌比，致宣大總督盧象昇孤軍戰歿，又匿不言狀，人多疾之。
In the seventh month of year 9 eunuchs Li Guofu, Xu Jinzhong, and others were again sent to hold passes including Zijing and Daoma; Sun Weiwu and Liu Yuanbin guarded Mashui River. Minister of War Zhang Fengyi led relief armies; Xuan-Datong Governor-General Liang Tingdong marched south as well; Qiqian was specially made overall director, given 30,000 taels of gold and a thousand merit plaques, with Ceremonial grand eunuchs Zhang Yunhan and Han Zanzhou as deputies. Yet Qiqian never fought a decisive battle—he only severed dead men's heads to claim merit. The next year Qiqian toured departments to inspect troops and ordered every circuit intendant and rank below to use military courtesy. Yongping circuit intendant Liu Jingyao and Guannei circuit intendant Yang Yuguo protested by memorial and were dismissed. Then, aligned with Minister Yang Sichang, he left Governor-General Lu Xiangsheng to fight alone until death—and concealed the reports; many despised him.
79
十七年，李自成將犯闕，帝復命起潛監寧、前諸軍，而以杜勛鎮宣府。 勛至鎮即降賊。 事聞，廷臣請急撤城守太監，忽傳旨云：「杜勛罵賊殉難，予蔭祠。」 蓋為內臣蒙蔽也。 未幾，勛從賊至，自成設黃幄坐廣寧門外，秦、晉二王左右席地坐，勛侍其下，呼城上請入見。 守城諸珰縋之上，同入大內，盛稱賊勢，勸帝自為計。 左右請留之，勛曰：「不返，則二王危。」 乃縱之出，復縋下，語守城諸珰曰：「吾曹富貴固在也。」 俄而城陷，諸珰皆降。 及賊敗將遁，乃下令盡逐內豎，無貴賤老弱皆號哭徒跣，破面流血，走出京城門。 賊遂捆載其金帛珠寶西去。
In year 17, as Li Zicheng was about to assault the capital, the emperor again ordered Qiqian to oversee the Ning and frontier armies and placed Du Xun in command at Xuanfu. Xun reached his post and at once surrendered to the bandits. When word arrived, court officials urgently asked to withdraw city-garrison eunuchs; suddenly an edict came: "Du Xun cursed the bandits and died a martyr—I grant posthumous honors and a shrine. Inner attendants had deceived the emperor. Before long Xun came with the bandits; Zicheng set a yellow canopy outside Guangning Gate with the Princes of Qin and Jin seated on the ground to either side; Xun waited below and called up to the wall asking to be admitted. The eunuchs on the wall lowered a rope and hauled him up; together they entered the inner palace, greatly exaggerating the bandits' strength and urging the emperor to save himself. Those around the emperor asked to detain him; Xun said: "If I do not return, the two princes will be in peril. They let him out, lowered him again, and told the wall eunuchs, "Our wealth and rank are safe." Soon the city fell and the eunuchs all surrendered. When the rebels fled they expelled every eunuch; rich and poor alike fled barefoot, faces bloodied, through the city gates. The rebels loaded gold, silk, and jewels and marched west.
80
初，內臣奉命守城，已有異志，令士卒皆持白楊杖，朱其外，貫鐵環於端使有聲，格擊則折，至是賊即以其杖驅焉。 廣寧門之啟，或日太監曹化淳獻之，或曰化淳實守東直門，而化淳入國朝，上疏奏辨甚力，時倉卒莫能明也。 起潛赴寧、前，中道棄關走。 福王召為京營提督，後亦降於我大清。
The wall eunuchs had issued brittle white poplar staves that snapped in a fight—the rebels now drove them with those same sticks. Some say Cao Huachun opened Guangning Gate; others say he guarded Dongzhi and protested his innocence in memorials no one could verify in the chaos. Gao Qiqian abandoned the frontier passes and fled en route. The Prince of Fu made him capital camp director; he later surrendered to the Qing.
81
王承恩
Wang Chengen
82
王承恩，太監曹化淳名下也，累官司禮秉筆太監。 崇禎十七年三月，李自成犯闕，帝命承恩提督京營。 是時，事勢已去，城陴守卒寥寥，賊架飛梯攻西直、平則、德勝三門。 承恩見賊坎墻，急發炮擊之，連斃數人，而諸珰泄泄自如。 帝召承恩，令亟整內官，備親征。 夜分，內城陷。 天將曙，帝崩於壽皇亭，承恩即自縊其下。 福王時，謚忠湣。 本朝賜地六十畝，建祠立碑旌其忠，附葬故主陵側。
Wang Chengen served under Cao Huachun and rose to Ceremonial director. In the third month of Chongzhen 17, Li Zicheng attacked the capital and the emperor put Chengen in charge of the capital camp. The cause was already lost; few defenders remained as rebels set ladders against three western gates. Chengen fired cannon and killed several rebels while the other eunuchs remained idle. The emperor ordered him to ready the palace eunuchs for a personal campaign. At midnight the inner city fell. At dawn the emperor died at Shouhuang Pavilion; Chengen hanged himself below. The Prince of Fu granted him the posthumous title Loyal and Mourned. The dynasty granted land, built a shrine, and buried him beside the emperor's tomb.
83
方正化
Fang Zhenghua
84
方正化，山東人。 崇禎時，為司禮太監。 十五年冬，畿輔被兵，命總監保定軍務，有全城功，已而撤還。 十七年二月復命出鎮，正化頓首辭，帝不許。 又頓首曰：「奴此行萬無能為，不過一死報主恩爾。」 帝亦垂涕遣之。 既至，與同知邵宗元等登陴共守。 有請事者，但曰：「我方寸已亂，諸公好為之。」 及城陷，擊殺數十人，賊問：「若為誰？」 厲聲曰：「我總監方公也！」 賊攢刀斫殺之，其從奄皆死。 時內臣殉難者，更有故司禮掌印太監高時明，司禮秉筆太監李鳳翔，提督諸監局太監褚憲章、張國元四人。 督東廠太監王之心家最富，既降，賊勒其貲，拷死。 南渡時，建旌忠祠祀諸死難者，以王承恩為正祀，內臣正化等附祀，而之心亦濫與焉。
Fang Zhenghua was from Shandong. Under Chongzhen he was Ceremonial director. In the winter of year fifteen he held Baoding and saved the city, then was recalled. In the second month of year seventeen he was ordered out again; Zhenghua declined; the emperor refused. He said, "I can do nothing on this journey but die to repay my lord. The emperor wept as he sent him off. He joined Shao Zongyuan on the battlements to defend. When asked for orders he said only, "My mind is chaos—do your best. When the city fell he killed dozens; the rebels asked who he was. He shouted, "I am Director Fang!" The rebels hacked him to death; his attendants died with him. Other eunuch martyrs included Gao Shiming, Li Fengxiang, Chu Xianzhang, and Zhang Guoyuan. Eastern Depot director Wang Zhixin, the richest, was beaten to death after surrender when rebels extorted his wealth. At the Southern Crossing a shrine honored the dead with Wang Chengen chief and Zhenghua among associates; Zhixin was wrongly included.