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南齊書卷卷四十八‧列傳第二十九
Book of Southern Qi, Volume 48, Biographies 29
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From his youth Tuan had a spirited temperament and loved literary composition and discourse on the abstruse. Recommended as a provincial graduate, he was repeatedly offered posts as aide in various princes' households but declined them all. As Gui lay dying he wrote to his elder brother Yan: "The Historian Lord's talent and insight are admirable—he is fully equal to carrying on our ancestral foundation." "Historian Lord" was Tuan's childhood name.
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Before his mourning obligations were fulfilled, Yan launched a rebellion in Yong Province and was put to death; Emperor Ming of Song threw Yan's body into the Yangtze and forbade anyone to recover it for burial. Tuan took one old family slave, dressed as a commoner, and stole about in secret searching for the body; only after more than forty days did he find it, and he secretly buried it on the ridge behind Stone Fortress, carrying the earth on his own back. He carried Yan's collected writings with him and never let them out of his hands. Only after Emperor Ming's death did he give Yan a proper reburial. His collateral paternal uncle, Minister Over the Masses Can, and his maternal uncle, General Who Campaigns West Cai Xingzong, both valued him highly.
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He was appointed military aide to the Prince of Ancheng on the Pacification campaign staff, then recorder, palace secretariat attendant, and sent out as interior governor of Luling and Yuzhou administrator; he later served as recorder to the Founding Emperor in his capacities as grand tutor and chancellor of state, and as secretary director. In debate over the national history he objected that Tan Chao's 《Astronomical Treatise》 recorded the ordering of coordinates and degrees while his 《Treatise on the Five Phases》 recorded contemporary omens and disasters—the two chapters covered overlapping material, and since solar eclipses are calamities they ought to fall under the 《Five Phases》. Chao also wanted to create a separate "Biographies of Recluses." Tuan said: "Only when someone's affairs bear on public service may one set down his name and conduct at length. The recluses of today reject the throne and trample on generals and ministers—such eccentric conduct cannot be held up to reshape custom, which is why Sima Qian's history did not pass their lives down and Ban Gu's did not compile them. A modest virtue cannot simply be dropped; list their surname and profession and attach it as a note in some other chapter."
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He was appointed Friend of the Prince of Shixing but firmly declined the post. The Founding Emperor dispatched Minister of Personnel He Zhan with an edict commanding him to take up the appointment. He was promoted to secretariat attendant and concurrently served as vice director in the heir apparent's household. He also retained his secretariat post while serving concurrently as imperial censor-in-chief. He was transferred to gentleman at the yellow gates while continuing to hold the censor-in-chief post as before. He was dismissed from office because his impeachment memorial against Xie Chaozong had been equivocal and inconsistent. Before long he was reappointed adviser on the Pacification of the West staff and interior governor of Nanping. He was appointed gentleman at the yellow gates but had not yet assumed the post when he was transferred to chief clerk and interior governor of Nan commandery, with charge of Jingzhou affairs. He returned to the capital as Junior Mentor in the heir apparent's household and Grand Rectifier of his home province. He was sent out as General Who Establishes Might with supervisory authority over Wu commandery.
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Tuan was by nature inflexible; he had once offended the Emperor with an oblique remark, and he was also on bad terms with Wang Yan. The Emperor was in a side hall, cutting a melon with a gold-handled knife, when Yan beside him said: "There is talk abroad of a 'golden knife'—I fear it would be unwise to use such an object." The Emperor was taken aback and pressed to know why. Yan said: "Yuan Tuan told me this." The sovereign nursed his anger for a long while; when Tuan reached his commandery he was charged with misappropriating salary funds, stripped of office, and consigned to the Eastern Workshop prison. On an excursion to Sun Mound the Emperor looked toward the Eastern Workshop and said: "There is a fine gentleman among the prisoners there." A few days later the imperial procession, with the court ministers, visited the workshop, toured the storehouses, and held a feast there, bestowing wine and meat on the prisoners; he ordered Tuan brought out to speak with him, and released him the following day. Before long he was handling South Xuzhou affairs in unofficial dress, then served as adviser to the minister over the masses and chief clerk on the guards army staff, and was promoted to palace attendant.
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Tuan was corpulent in build, markedly unlike others. Whenever he accompanied the imperial hunt for pheasants in the open country, several men had to prop him up before he could walk at all. His mother died when he was still a boy; he was raised by his aunt, Lady Wang, and treated her exactly as he would his own mother. Within the family he was renowned for filial devotion and moral integrity. He died in the first year of the Longchang reign. He was forty-eight years old. He was given the posthumous title Lord Jing.
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Kong Zhigui, whose style name was Dezhang, came from Shanyin in Kuaiji commandery. His grandfather Daolong had served as palace attendant. His father Lingchan had retired from the post of grand administrator of Jin'an during the Taishi era. He cherished thoughts of withdrawal from the world; on Mount Yujing he built a lodge and practiced the Way with fervent devotion, and on auspicious days in a quiet chamber he bowed toward the four directions until tears streamed down his face. When he traveled east and passed the north suburb of Qiantang he would bow from his boat toward the tomb of Du Zigong; from that point until he reached the capital he always sat facing east and never turned his back or even sideways. During the Yuanhui era he held the posts of regular attendant and grand master of the palace. He was well versed in astronomy and fond of occult calculation. When the Founding Emperor was regent, Shen Youzhi rose in arms; Lingchan secretly told him: "Though Youzhi's troops are numerous, judged by the seasons of heaven and the hidden reckonings of fate, he can accomplish nothing." The Founding Emperor found his prediction borne out and promoted him to grand master for the glorious. He had Lingchan carried in a hamper up to the Observatory and ordered him to observe the heavens and report omens. He sent Lingchan a white-feather fan and a plain armrest for reclining. He said: "You love antiquity, so I give you these antique things."
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Zhigui was widely read from his youth and enjoyed an excellent reputation. Grand Administrator Wang Sengqian took notice of him and valued him, appointing him recorder. The province recommended him as a provincial graduate. Upon entering office he served as acting aide in the law section on the staff of the Prince of Ancheng as cavalry general, then was transferred to palace secretariat attendant. When the Founding Emperor held the post of rapid cavalry general, he recruited Zhigui for his literary gifts as headquarters recorder, pairing him with Jiang Yan to share responsibility for official prose. He was promoted to regular attendant, secretariat attendant, and left assistant director of the imperial secretariat. When his father died he left office and returned with his elder brother Zhongzhi to live at their father's mountain retreat. Zhongzhi's concubine Lady Li was arrogant, jealous, and insolent; Zhigui reported her to Grand Administrator Wang Jingze, who had her put to death. After mourning he served as attendant of the minister over the masses, provincial administrator, vice director, aide, and senior rectifier of his home commandery.
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永明七年，轉驍騎將軍，復領左丞。 遷黃門郎，左丞如故。 轉太子中庶子，廷尉。 江左相承用晉世張杜律二十卷，世祖留心法令，數訊囚徒，詔獄官詳正舊注。 先是七年，尚書刪定郎王植撰定律章表奏之，曰：「臣尋《晉律》，文簡辭約，旨通大綱，事之所質，取斷難釋。 張斐杜預同注一章，而生殺永殊。 自晉泰始以來，唯斟酌參用。 是則吏挾威福之勢，民懷不對之怨，所以溫舒獻辭於失政，絳侯慷慨而興歎。 皇運革祚，道冠前王，陛下紹興，光開帝業。 下車之痛，每惻上仁，滿堂之悲，有矜聖思。 爰發德音，刪正刑律，敕臣集定張杜二注。 謹礪愚蒙，盡思詳撰，削其煩害，錄其允衷。 取張注七百三十一條，杜注七百九十一條。 或二家兩釋，於義乃備者，又取一百七條。 其注相同者，取一百三條。 集爲一書。 凡一千五百三十二條，爲二十卷。 請付外詳校，擿其違謬。」 從之。 於是公卿八座參議，考正舊注。 有輕重處，竟陵王子良下意，多使從輕。 其中朝議不能斷者，制旨平決。 至九年，稚珪上表曰：
In the seventh year of Yongming he was transferred to valiant cavalry general and again took charge as left assistant director. He was promoted to gentleman at the yellow gates while continuing as left assistant director as before. He was transferred to Junior Mentor in the heir apparent's household and Chamberlain for Law Enforcement. South of the Yangtze had long followed the Jin-era Zhang-Du code in twenty scrolls; the Emperor took a close interest in law, frequently interrogated prisoners himself, and ordered the prison officials to revise the old commentaries in detail. Earlier, in the seventh year, Wang Zhi, editing and fixing attendant of the imperial secretariat, drafted the statutes and submitted a memorial, saying: "Your servant has examined the 《Jin Code》: its text is spare and its language concise, its purport grasping the great outline, yet on the matters at issue judgments are hard to extract and apply. Zhang Fei and Du Yu comment on the same article, yet their rulings on life and death forever diverge. Since the Jin Taishi era officials have only weighed and applied them selectively. Thus clerks wield arbitrary power while the people nurse grievances of unanswered justice—hence Wen Shu offered his remonstrance against misrule, and the Marquis of Jiang sighed aloud in indignation. Heaven has changed the mandate; Your Majesty's Way surpasses the kings of old; Your Majesty has succeeded and revived, brilliantly opening the imperial enterprise. The suffering of those newly in office touches Your Majesty's benevolence at every turn; the sorrow filling the hall awakens Your Majesty's compassionate concern. Thereupon Your Majesty issued a benevolent edict to revise the penal statutes and ordered your servant to assemble and fix the Zhang and Du commentaries. Your servant has diligently applied his dull wit, exhausting thought in detailed compilation, cutting away what is cumbersome and harmful and recording what is fair and fitting. He took seven hundred thirty-one articles from Zhang's commentary and seven hundred ninety-one from Du's. Where both schools offered paired explanations that together made the meaning complete, he took another one hundred seven articles. Where the commentaries agreed, he took one hundred three articles. He assembled them into a single work. In all there were one thousand five hundred thirty-two articles in twenty scrolls. I request that it be sent out for detailed collation so that errors and inconsistencies may be identified." The request was approved. Thereupon the ministers and the eight chief offices deliberated together to examine and correct the old commentaries. Where questions of severity arose, the Prince of Jingling, Zi Liang, issued instructions that generally favored the lighter penalty. Points on which court debate could not reach a decision were settled by imperial rescript. By the ninth year Zhigui submitted a memorial, saying:
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Your servant has heard that the craftsman of the ten thousand things takes the inked line as his standard, and the ruler of a great state takes law and principle as his foundation. For this reason the sage kings of antiquity, when they held court, pondered good order; they guarded far off against the sprouting of evil and deeply blocked the gradual advance of treachery—all relying on law and principle to accomplish transformation and clarifying punishments and rewards to establish merit. Bowingly considering that Your Majesty has ascended the throne in accordance with the calendar, mounted the imperial chart and taken up the imperial path—heaven and earth have been rebuilt, sun and moon unfurled anew, the five rites torn apart and sewn together again, the six music scores scattered and now gathered in. Thereupon Your Majesty issued a benevolent pronouncement and sent down a luminous edict, promulgating texts of compassionate punishment and reaffirming the canon of cautious penalties, ordering your servant together with the ministers and eight chief offices jointly to revise the annotated statutes. Your servant respectfully received the sacred command, consulted with the Minister Over the Masses, your servant Zi Liang, received the established regulations, and set up the framework of articles. He assigned the concurrent supervisor, your servant Song Gong, and the concurrent adjudicator, your servant Wang Zhi, and others to copy and compile similarities and differences and determine what to retain and what to discard. The eight chief offices deliberated in detail; the grand marshal, your servant Yan, passed final judgment. Among these, great doubts and major debates on which opinions conflicted were settled by Your Majesty's sage illumination, decided by the brush of heaven itself. At last the 《Statutory Text》 in twenty scrolls and the 《Record and Preface》 in one scroll were completed—in all twenty-one scrolls. I now submit this for Your Majesty's information and request that it be sent out for application and proclaimed throughout the realm.
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臣又聞老子、仲尼曰：「古之聽獄者，求所以生之； 今之聽獄者，求所以殺之。」 「與其殺不辜，寧失有罪。」 是則斷獄之職，自古所難矣。 今律文雖定，必須用之； 用失其平，不異無律。 律書精細，文約例廣，疑似相傾，故誤相亂，一乖其綱，枉濫橫起。 法吏無解，旣多謬僻，監司不習，無以相斷，則法書徒明於帙裏，冤魂猶結於獄中。 今府州郡縣千有餘獄，如令一獄歲枉一人，則一年之中，枉死千餘矣。 冤毒之死，上干和氣，聖明所急，不可不防。 致此之由，又非但律吏之咎，列邑之宰，亦亂其經。 或以軍勳餘力，或以勞吏暮齒，獷情濁氣，忍并生靈，昏心狠態，吞剝氓物，虐理殘其命，曲文被其罪，冤積之興，復緣斯發。 獄吏雖良，不能爲用。 使于公哭於邊城，孝婦冤於遐外。 陛下雖欲宥之，其已血濺九泉矣。
Your servant has also heard that Laozi and Confucius said: "Those who heard cases in antiquity sought means to let men live; those who hear cases today seek means to put men to death." "Better to let the guilty go free than to execute the innocent." Thus the duty of judging cases has been difficult since antiquity. Now that the statutory text is fixed, it must actually be applied; if application loses its fairness, it is no different from having no law at all. The law books are minute, their text spare yet their precedents broad; where doubt and likeness lean against each other, errors tangle together—once the guiding principle is lost, wrongful judgments rise up unchecked. Law clerks without understanding commit many perverse errors; supervising officials untrained have no means to pass judgment—then the law books shine only within their bindings while wronged souls still knot themselves in the prisons. Today in prefectures, provinces, commanderies, and counties there are more than a thousand prisons; if each prison wrongly kills one person a year, then in a single year more than a thousand die unjustly. Deaths born of poisonous injustice offend heaven's harmonious qi—a matter Your Sagely Illumination urgently cares about and cannot fail to guard against. The causes leading to this are not solely the fault of law clerks; the magistrates of the various districts also disorder the guiding principles. Some rely on residual military merit, others on long-serving clerks in their twilight years—brutish in feeling, turbid in spirit, they cruelly swallow the living; dark of heart and savage in manner, they devour the common people, torturing principle to destroy lives and twisting texts to cloak guilt—the rise of accumulated injustice springs again from this. Though prison clerks be good, they cannot be put to use. It makes Lord Yu weep at the border fortress and the filial wife suffer injustice in distant lands. Though Your Majesty may wish to pardon them, their blood has already splashed the nine springs.
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Searching among the celebrated men of antiquity, many mastered legal studies. Hence Shizhi and Dingguo, their fame shining on the Han terrace; Yuanchang and Wenhui, their achievements reflected in the Wei pavilion. Today's scholars refuse to make it their profession; even those who study it are slighted in public opinion. Truly because they toil empty years without meeting a single morning's reward, amassing learning for years only to be mocked by their neighborhood in the end. I fear this book will forever fall into the hands of low runners. Now if we enlarge their ranks and rewards, open paths of encouragement, set examinations for officials in service, extend instruction to imperial scions, select those of penetrating mastery to place in inner bureaus, choose the talented and good to hold outer posts, have regional governors all select for ability and district chiefs together promote for skill—then Gao Yao's counsels could be attained at a gesture, and the achievements of Du and Zheng, how distant could they be? Then the wicked would have nowhere to escape punishment, and evil clerks could not hide their fraud—as hand and body drive each other, as bowstring and frame join together.
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臣以疏短，謬司大理。 陛下發自聖衷，憂矜刑網，御廷奉訓，遠照民瘼。 臣謹仰述天官，伏奏雲陛。 所奏繆允者，宜寫律上，國學置律助教，依《五經》例，國子生有欲讀者，策試上過高第，卽便擢用，使處法職，以勸士流。
Your servant, being shallow and deficient, has wrongly presided over the Court of Review. Your Majesty, moved from the sacred heart, grieves for the penal net; at court you receive instruction and cast your light far upon the people's afflictions. Your servant respectfully sets forth the offices of heaven and submits this memorial prostrate before the cloud steps. What your servant has memorialized in error yet approved should be inscribed above the statutes; the National University should establish an assistant instructor in law following the precedent of the 《Five Classics》; imperial students who wish to study it should sit for examination and, if they pass with high marks, be immediately promoted to legal posts to encourage the scholar stream.
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詔報從納，事竟不施行。
An edict replied that his proposal was accepted, but in the end it was not carried out.
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He was transferred to imperial censor-in-chief, then promoted to chief clerk of the rapid cavalry general and general who assists the state. At the beginning of Jianwu he was transferred to General Who Establishes Might, chief clerk of the Pacification of the West, and grand administrator of Nan commandery. Because the barbarians had invaded the south year after year, corvée labor never ceased, and the common people were dying and wounded, Zhigui submitted a memorial, saying:
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匈奴爲患，自古而然，雖三代智勇，兩漢權奇，筭略之要，二塗而已。 一則鐵馬風馳，奮威沙漠； 二則輕車出使，通驛虜庭。 搉而言之，優劣可睹。 今之議者，咸以丈夫之氣，恥居物下，況我天威，寧可先屈？ 吳、楚勁猛，帶甲百萬，截彼鯨鯢，何往不碎？ 請和示弱，非國計也。 臣以爲戎狄獸性，本非人倫，鴟鳴狼踞，不足喜怒，蜂目蠆尾，何關美惡。 唯宜勝之以深權，制之以遠，弘之以大度，處之以蟊賊。 豈足肆天下之忿，捐蒼生之命，發雷電之怒，爭蟲鳥之氣。 百戰百勝，不足稱雄，橫尸千里，無益上國。 而蟻聚蠶攢，窮誅不盡，馬足毛羣，難與競逐。 漢高橫威海表，窘迫長圍； 孝文國富刑清，事屈陵辱； 宣帝撫納安靜，朔馬不驚； 光武卑辭厚禮，寒山無靄。 是兩京四主，英濟中區，輸寶貨以結和，遣宗女以通好，長轡遠馭，子孫是賴。 豈不欲戰，惜民命也。 唯漢武藉五世之資，承六合之富，驕心奢志，大事匈奴。 遂連兵積歲，轉戰千里，長驅瀚海，飲馬龍城，雖斬獲名王，屠走凶羯，而漢之卒甲十亡其九。 故衞霍出關，千隊不反，貳師入漠，百旅頓降，李廣敗於前鋒，李陵沒於後陣，其餘奔北，不可勝數。 遂使國儲空懸，戶口減半，好戰之功，其利安在？ 戰不及和，相去何若？
The Xiongnu have been a scourge since antiquity; though the Three Dynasties had wisdom and courage and the Two Han had resourceful stratagems, the essentials of calculation and planning are only two paths. One is iron horses racing with the wind, exerting might in the desert; the other is light carriages sent on embassy, opening post roads to the barbarian court. Weighing them together, their relative merit is plain to see. Those who debate today all invoke manly spirit and shrink from standing beneath others; how much more under our heavenly majesty—could we yield first? Wu and Chu are fierce and strong, with a million armored men—cut down those whales and krakens, where would they not be shattered? To sue for peace and show weakness is no state policy. Your servant holds that the Rong and Di have the nature of beasts and fundamentally belong outside human relations—the owl's cry and wolf's crouch are not worth joy or anger; wasp eyes and scorpion tails have nothing to do with beauty or ugliness. One should only overcome them with deep strategy, control them from afar, magnify them with great forbearance, and treat them as grain-devouring pests. How could one unleash the world's wrath, cast away the lives of the black-haired people, loose thunder-and-lightning anger, and contend over the spirit of insects and birds? A hundred battles, a hundred victories—insufficient to be called heroic; corpses strewn for a thousand li—of no benefit to the superior state. Yet they gather like ants and swarm like silkworms; pursued to the end they cannot be exterminated—a flock at every horse's hoof, hard to race against. Emperor Gaozu of Han swept might across the sea's margin yet was pressed hard in prolonged siege; Emperor Xiaowen made the state rich and punishments clear, yet affairs bent to insult and humiliation; Emperor Xuandi soothed and accepted them into quiet, and the northern horses were not startled; Emperor Guangwu used humble words and generous gifts, and the cold mountains knew no mist. These two capitals and four sovereigns brilliantly aided the central realm, sending treasure to seal peace and dispatching imperial daughters to open friendship—reins held far, descendants thereby secured. Was it that they did not wish to fight? They cherished the people's lives. Only Emperor Wu of Han, relying on five generations' accumulation and inheriting the wealth of the six directions, with proud heart and extravagant will, made the Xiongnu his great enterprise. Thereupon he linked armies year after year, battled across a thousand li, drove far into the Han Sea, watered horses at Dragon City—though he beheaded famous kings and slaughtered fleeing fierce Jie, nine-tenths of Han's soldiers and armor perished. Thus, when Wei Qing and Huo Qubing campaigned beyond the passes, a thousand companies failed to return; when the General of Ershi entered the desert, a hundred formations surrendered at once. Li Guang was defeated in the vanguard and Li Ling was lost in the rear; the others who fled in defeat were beyond counting. Thus state stores hung empty and registered households were halved—where lay the profit in loving war? How does war compare with peace—how far apart are they?
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自西朝不綱，東晉遷鼎，羣胡沸亂，羌狄交橫，荊棘攢於陵廟，豺虎咆於宮闈，山淵反覆，黔首塗地，逼迫崩騰，開闢未有。 是時得失，略不稍陳。 近至元嘉，多年無事，末路不量，復挑彊敵。 遂迺連城覆徙，虜馬飲江，青、徐之際，草木爲人耳。 建元之初，胡塵犯塞，永明之始，復結通和，十餘年間，邊候且息。
From the time the Western dynasty lost its guiding rope and Eastern Jin moved the tripod, the many Hu boiled in chaos and Qiang and Di crossed paths—thorns piled at imperial tombs, jackals and tigers roared in palace gates, mountains and abysses overturned, the black-haired people smeared the ground, pressed to collapse and turmoil such as since the world's opening had never been seen. The gains and losses of that time I shall not set forth even briefly. Coming down to the Yuanjia era, many years passed without incident, yet at the end they failed to measure their strength and again provoked a powerful foe. Thereupon linked cities were overturned and populations uprooted; barbarian horses drank at the Yangtze; between Qing and Xu, every tree and blade of grass seemed a man. At the beginning of Jianyuan, Hu dust violated the frontier; at the start of Yongming, communication and peace were renewed—for more than ten years the border beacons rested somewhat.
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陛下張天造曆，駕日登皇，聲雷宇宙，勢壓河岳。 而封豕殘魂，未屠劔首，長蛇餘喘，偷窺外甸，烽亭不靜，五載於斯。 昔歲蟻壞，瘻食樊、漢，今茲蟲毒，浸淫未已。 興師十萬，日費千金，五歲之費，寧可貲計。 陛下何惜匹馬之驛，百金之賂，數行之詔，誘此凶頑，使河塞息肩，關境全命，蓄甲養民，以觀彼弊。 我策若行，則爲不世之福； 若不從命，不過如戰失一隊耳。 或云「遣使不受，則爲辱命」。 夫以天下爲量者，不計細恥，以四海爲任者，寧顧小節。 一城之沒，尚不足惜； 一使不反，曾何取慚？ 且我以權取貴，得我略行，何嫌其恥？ 所謂尺蠖之屈，以求伸也。 臣不言遣使必得和，自有可和之理； 猶如欲戰不必勝，而有可勝之機耳。 今宜早發大軍，廣張兵勢，徵犀甲於岷峨，命樓船於浦海。 使自青徂豫，候騎星羅，沿江入漢，雲陣萬里。 據險要以奪其魂，斷糧道以折其膽，多設疑兵，使精悉而計亂，固列金湯，使神茹而慮屈。 然後發衷詔，馳輕驛，辯辭重幣，陳列吉凶。 北虜頑而愛奇，貪而好貨，畏我之威，喜我之賂，畏威喜賂，願和必矣。 陛下用臣之啟，行臣之計，何憂玉門之下，而無款塞之胡哉？
Your Majesty spreads heaven's creation and calendar, mounts the sun to ascend the throne—your fame thunders through the cosmos, your power presses down on rivers and mountains. Yet the sealed boar's lingering soul has not been beheaded by the sword; the long serpent's remaining breath steals glances at outer districts—the beacon towers have not been quiet for five years now. Last year ants undermined the dikes and fistulas devoured Fan and Han; this year insect poison spreads and has not yet ceased. To raise an army of a hundred thousand costs a thousand gold pieces a day; five years' expense—can it be reckoned in coin? Why should Your Majesty begrudge a relay of a single horse, a bribe of a hundred gold, an edict of a few lines—to entice these fierce and stubborn ones, let the Yellow River frontier rest its shoulders, preserve lives at the passes, store armor and nourish the people, and watch their decline? If my plan is followed, it will be a blessing unmatched in the age; if it is not followed, the loss is no more than losing one company in battle. Some say, "If an envoy is sent and not received, it is a disgrace to the mission." One who takes the empire as his measure does not reckon small shame; one who takes the four seas as his charge would rather not cling to minor points. The fall of one city is still not worth regretting; one envoy who does not return—what shame is there in that? Moreover, if by stratagem we gain advantage and our plan advances even slightly, why shrink from the shame? This is what is meant by the inchworm's bend in order to stretch forward. Your servant does not say that sending envoys must secure peace—there is simply a rationale by which peace is possible; just as wishing to fight does not guarantee victory, yet there may be an opportunity for victory. Now we should early dispatch a great army and broadly display military might, levy rhinoceros armor from Min and Emei, and order tower ships from the sea's shore. Send them from Qing to Yu, scout horsemen star-clustered, along the river into Han—a cloud of formations for ten thousand li. Hold strategic passes to seize their spirit, cut grain routes to break their courage, set many decoy forces to make their keen scouts know too much and their plans fall into chaos, firmly array golden ramparts so their gods shrink and their counsels bend. Then issue a heartfelt edict, dispatch swift relays, eloquent words and heavy gifts, and set forth fortune and misfortune. The northern barbarians are stubborn yet love the unusual, greedy yet fond of goods—they fear our might and delight in our bribes; fearing might and delighting in bribes, they will surely wish for peace. If Your Majesty employs your servant's proposal and carries out your servant's plan, why worry that below Jade Gate there would be no Hu come in sincerity at the frontier?
22
彼之言戰旣慇懃，臣之言和亦慊闊。 伏願察兩塗之利害，檢二事之多少，聖照玄省，灼然可斷。 所表謬奏，希下之朝省，使同博議。 臣謬荷殊恩，奉佐侯岳，敢肆瞽直，伏奏千里。
Their words for war are already earnest; your servant's words for peace are likewise full and broad. I bow and wish that Your Majesty examine the benefit and harm of the two paths and weigh the greater and lesser of the two affairs—by sage illumination and mysterious scrutiny, the decision may clearly be made. This memorial, though mistaken in its presentation, I hope may be sent down to the court ministries for broad deliberation together. Your servant wrongly bears extraordinary grace, assisting a frontier prince—I dare unleash blind forthrightness and submit this memorial from a thousand li away.
23
帝不納。 徵侍中，不行，留本任。
The Emperor did not accept it. He was summoned as palace attendant but did not go, remaining in his original post.
24
Zhigui's bearing and charm were clear and spare; he loved literary composition and song, and could drink seven or eight dou of wine. With his cousin by marriage Zhang Rong he matched in temperament and taste; he also had warm friendships with Wang Siyuan of Langye, He Dian of Lujiang, and Dian's younger brother Yin. He took no joy in worldly affairs; his residence lavishly arranged mountains and waters—leaning on his armrest he drank alone, with nothing else beside him. Within his gates and courtyard the grass was not cut; frogs croaked within, and someone asked him: "Do you wish to be like Chen Fan?" Zhigui laughed and said: "I take this as music from both orchestras—why must I expect to emulate Zhongju?"
25
In the first year of Yongyuan he became minister of justice for the capital, was transferred to grand tutor of the heir apparent, and was given the additional post of regular attendant of the cavalry. In the third year Zhigui fell ill; Emperor Donghun had him expelled and he fled in a carrying litter; because of this his illness grew severe and he died. He was fifty-five years old. He was posthumously awarded grand master of the golden seal and purple ribbon.
26
Liu Hui, whose style name was Shizhang, came from Pengcheng and was the younger brother of Minister of Ceremonies Jun. His father Mian, a powerful figure at the end of Song, had many guests at his door; he had Hui converse with them, and his responses were fluent. Mian said with pleasure: "If later you gird yourself and stand at court, you may speak with guests." Upon entering office he became compiler at the historian's office and acting aide on the staff of the Founding Emperor as grand commandant. The Founding Emperor saw him and sighed: "Lord Liu is not dead after all."
27
When the Prince of Yuzhang, Yan, took up the governorship of Jiang province, he appointed Hui recorder of the left army. He followed the garrison to Jiangling, then served as military aide in the external troops section of the Pacification of the West and as recorder on the rapid cavalry general's staff. Hui was keen-witted and literarily accomplished, skilled in clerical script; repeatedly summoned to court, he answered with brilliant quickness in audience—among the staff none was favored like him. Wang Xu of Langye served as merit evaluator and advanced himself through bureaucratic competence. Yan told his staff: "Though I cannot find a successor to Chen Fan, within my gate there are two fine steeds all the same." He later served as Record-Office and Registry Officer for the Minister of Works, was transferred to Groom of the Heir Apparent and adviser to the Grand Marshal, and headed the registry office. At the time the Prince of Yuzhang, Yan, and the Literary and Graceful Heir Apparent differed in age and rank; rumor held that palace and princely establishment were at odds, and Hui pressed hard to leave the capital, becoming chancellor of Nankang. Whenever commandery duties allowed, he devoted himself entirely to lecturing. The sovereign's attendant Chen Hong requested leave to return south and was asked how Hui was faring in the commandery? Afterward he remarked: "Nankang is the throat and tongue of three provinces; it requires a capable administrator. How can one put a young lecturer in charge there?" He was recalled and made chief of staff to the guards army of the Prince of Anlu, then transferred to secretariat attendant in charge of edicts and proclamations. He was ordered to assist National University rector He Yin in compiling and ordering ritual and ceremony.
28
At the end of Yongming, gentlemen of the capital flourished in literary composition and discourses on principle, all gathering at the western residence of the Prince of Jingling. Hui stood at the head of the younger generation, quick-witted and multitalented. At the time Zhang Rong and Zhou Yong both excelled in speech: Rong's tones were leisurely in cadence, Yong's phrasing elegant and swift, while Hui's utterance was further marked by rhythmic pauses and spirited bearing. People of the time had a saying: "Liu Hui adjoins the house and opens a separate gate." Meaning he stood between the two houses.
29
After the Marquis of Yufu, Zixiang, was executed, the Prince of Yuzhang, Yan, wished to have him buried and summoned Hui to discuss it, ordering him to compose a memorial. Hui asked for paper and brush and finished it in a moment. Yan added only eight characters: "Raised and nurtured in your arms, I looked up and saw him grown." He then sighed: "How could Mi Heng surpass this?" Later when northern barbarian envoys came, Hui for his eloquence was ordered to receive the barbarian envoys. When the affair was concluded he was to compile the 《Discourse Records》. Hui told others: "Never mind that polishing is not easy—even capturing my wording is difficult."
30
In serving his elder brother Jun he was respectful and careful; in speaking with others he addressed him as "My Lord." During Longchang, Jun was charged with a crime and about to be executed; Hui prostrated himself at the palace gate and asked to die in his brother's place; the High Ancestor, assisting in government, rescued and released him. He was brought in as chief clerk of the suppression army and transferred to gentleman at the yellow gates. When the High Ancestor was rapid cavalry general, he made Hui general who assists the state and adviser, head of the recording office, and in charge of brush and documents. When the High Ancestor ascended the throne, Hui was transferred to vice director in the heir apparent's household and sent out as pacification general and chief clerk of the pacification army.
31
When the Prince of Anlu, Bao Ye, took up the governorship of Xiang province, he appointed Hui chief clerk of the army who establishes might and interior governor of Changsha, with charge of Xiangzhou affairs, retaining his general's title. Bao Ye's consort was Jun's daughter. Bao Ye loved a serving maid; Hui took her away and reported the matter fully to the throne; Bao Ye resented this and fell out with Hui.
32
When his mother died he left office. Deeply filial by nature, he observed mourning at the tomb for three years on coarse food. After mourning he became pacification general, chief clerk on the northern campaign of the Prince of Jin'an, and grand administrator of southern Donghai, with charge of South Xuzhou affairs. Though Hui was bold and chivalrous, he always disliked military affairs, was elegantly skilled at target archery for sport, and never once mounted a horse. At Jun's death the court deliberated posthumous award of general who pacifies the north and governor of Yong province; the edict had already been issued when Hui asked minister director Xu Xiaosi to change it.
33
When the Prince of Liang's righteous army rose, the court appointed Hui bearer of the staff, commander of all military affairs in Yong, Liang, North and South Qin, the Jingling district of Yingzhou, and the Sui commandery of Sizhou, general who assists the state, concurrent colonel pacifying the barbarians, and governor of Yong province. He firmly declined and would not accept. Everyone, seeing the court benighted and chaotic, feared for him, but Hui in the end refused; Emperor Donghun then appointed Zhang Xintai instead. Hui was transferred to chief clerk on the staff of the Prince of Jian'an as cavalry general, with charge of the princely establishment's affairs. When the righteous army besieged the city, Zhang Ji, governor of South Yanzhou, oversaw military affairs within the walls; he and Hui were unusually close and plotted deposition and enthronement, talking through the night on many occasions. After Donghun perished, those within the city sent Hui and National University erudite Fan Yun and others to deliver the head to the Prince of Liang at Stone Fortress; Hui was transferred to attendant of the grand marshal. He died in the second year of the Zhongxing reign. He was forty-five years old. Hui compiled 《Names of Those Skilled at Writing》 and claimed skill in feibai script; in conversation he rather loved to show off what he knew.
34
His younger brother Zhen, whose style name was Shiwen. He loved literature, drank lavishly, and was free-handed with his possessions. Mao Huiyuan of Xingyang excelled at painting horses; Zhen excelled at painting women—both were ranked first in their day. He rose to the post of attendant of the ministry of personnel. He died before Hui.
35
史臣曰：刑禮相望，勸戒之道，淺識言治，莫辯後先，故宰世之堤防，御民之羈絆。 端簡爲政，貴在畫一，輕重屢易，手足無從。 律令之本，文約旨曠，據典行罰，各用情求。 舒慘之意旣殊，寬猛之利亦異，辭有出沒，義生增損。 舊尹之事，政非一途，後主所是，卽爲成用。 張弛代積，稍至遷訛。 故刑開二門，法有兩路，刀筆之態深，舞弄之風起。 承喜怒之機隙，挾千金之奸利，剪韭復生，寧失有罪，抱木牢戶，未必非冤。 下吏上司，文簿從事，辯聲察色，莫用衿府，申枉理讞，急不在躬，案法隨科，幸無咎悔。 至於郡縣親民，百務萌始，以情矜過，曾不待獄，以律定罪，無細非諐。 蓋由網密憲煩，文理相背。 夫懲恥難窮，盜賊長有，欲求猛勝，事在或然，掃墓高門，爲利孰遠。 故永明定律，多用優寬，治物不患仁心，見累於弘厚，爲令貴在必行，而惡其舛雜也。
The historiographer says: Punishment and ritual face each other—the way of admonition and warning. Those of shallow understanding speak of governance yet cannot distinguish what comes first and after; hence the dikes of one who governs the age and the halters that restrain the people. Upright and simple in government, what is prized is uniformity; when severity and leniency change repeatedly, hands and feet have nowhere to go. The root of statutes and ordinances: text spare, purport broad; according to the canon punishments are applied, each case judged by its particular circumstances. The intent behind leniency and severity already differs; the benefit of clemency and harshness also varies—phrasing has its appearances and disappearances, and meaning gives rise to additions and subtractions. Matters of former magistrates follow no single path; what a later ruler approves immediately becomes established practice. Tightening and loosening accumulate generation by generation, gradually leading to drift and error. Hence punishment opens two gates and law has two paths; the manner of brush and knife runs deep, and the wind of manipulation rises. Seizing the opportune gaps of joy and anger, clutching thousand-gold bribes of wicked profit—cut leeks and they grow again; better to let the guilty go than to clasp wood at the prison gate when the accused may not be wronged. Lower clerks and higher superiors, documents and records in hand, judge by voice and scrutinize expression, none employing the breast of judgment; to plead injustice and reason out legal disputes is urgent yet not in one's own person—follow the statute by category and hope for no blame or regret. As for commanderies and counties close to the people, where the hundred affairs first sprout—showing mercy for faults by feeling, sometimes without even awaiting trial; fixing guilt by statute, no detail not an offense. This is because the net is dense, the statutes burdensome, and text and principle oppose each other. For shame in punishment is hard to exhaust and thieves and bandits ever exist; to seek triumph through harshness is a matter of mere chance—sweeping tombs and lofty gates, which profit is farther off. Therefore the statutes of Yongming largely used leniency and breadth; in governing things one need not fear a benevolent heart, though one may be encumbered by expansive generosity—what is prized in ordinances is that they must be carried out, while what is hated is their confusion and mixture.
36