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列傳第四十六
Biographies 46
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張弘策庾域鄭紹叔呂僧珍樂藹
Zhang Hongce, Yu Yu, Zheng Shaoshu, Lu Sengzhen, and Le Ai
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弘策幼以孝聞，母嘗有疾，五日不食，弘策亦不食。 母強為進粥，弘策乃食母所餘。 遭母憂，三年不食鹽菜，幾至滅性。 兄弟友愛，不忍暫離。 雖各有室，常同臥起，世比之姜肱兄弟。
From boyhood Hongce was famed for filial devotion. When his mother once fell ill, she went five days without food, and Hongce refused to eat as well. When she was pressed to take some gruel, Hongce would eat only what she had left in the bowl. After her death he observed the full mourning rites and for three years took no salted or seasoned food, coming close to wasting away. The brothers were deeply devoted to one another and could hardly bear to be apart even for a moment. Though each had married and set up his own household, they still slept and rose together; people compared them to the famed Jiang Gong brothers.
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弘策與梁武帝年相輩，幼見親狎，恒隨帝遊處。 每入室，常覺有雲氣，體輒肅然，弘策由此特加敬異。 建武末，與兄弘胄從武帝宿，酒酣，移席星下，語及時事。 帝曰：「天下方亂，舅知之乎？ 冬下魏軍方動，則亡漢北。 王敬則猜嫌已久，當乘間而作。」 弘策曰：「敬則張兩赤眼，容能立事？」 帝曰：「敬則庸才，為天下唱先爾。 主上運祚盡于來年，國權當歸江、劉。 而江甚隘，劉又闇弱，都下當大亂，死人如亂麻。 齊之歷數自茲亡矣。 梁、楚、漢當有英雄興。」 弘策曰：「瞻烏爰止，於誰之屋？」 帝笑曰：「光武所雲，'安知非僕'。」 弘策起曰：「今夜之言，是天意也，請定君臣之分。」 帝曰：「舅欲斅鄧晨乎？」
Hongce was nearly the same age as the future Liang Emperor Wu; they had been close since childhood, and Hongce was always at his side wherever he went. Whenever he entered a room Hongce sensed something like a clouded aura about him and felt himself grow solemn; from this Hongce came to regard him with especial awe. Late in the Jianwu period he and his brother Hongzhou stayed the night with the future Emperor; when the wine had taken hold they carried their mats out under the stars to discuss the times. The Emperor said, "The realm is in turmoil. Uncle, do you see it? When winter comes and the Wei armies move, the north of Han will fall. Wang Jingze has long nursed suspicion and resentment; he will strike when he sees his chance." Hongce said, "Jingze only glares with those bloodshot eyes—can he really pull anything off?" The Emperor said, "Jingze is a mediocrity; he will only be the first in the realm to sound the alarm. The throne's mandate will expire next year, and power will pass to the Jiang and Liu factions. Yet Jiang is narrow-minded, and Liu is both dull and weak; the capital will erupt in chaos, and the dead will pile up like tangled hemp. From that point the dynastic fortune of Qi will be spent. Heroes will rise in the regions of Liang, Chu, and Han." Hongce said, "The crow looks about—whose roof will it choose?" The Emperor laughed and said, "As Emperor Guangwu put it: 'How do you know it will not be me?'" Hongce rose and said, "What we have said tonight is Heaven's will. Let us settle the bond between ruler and minister." The Emperor said, "Uncle, do you mean to play Deng Chen to my Liu Xiu?"
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是冬，魏軍攻新野，齊明帝密詔武帝代曹武監雍州事。 弘策聞之心喜，謂帝曰：「夜中言當驗。」 帝笑曰：「且勿多言。」 弘策從帝西行，仍參帷幄，身親勞役，不憚辛苦。 齊明帝崩，遺詔以帝為雍州刺史，乃表弘策為錄事參軍，帶襄陽令。 帝觀海內方亂，有匡濟之心，密為儲備。 謀猷所及，唯弘策而已。
That winter, as the Wei army attacked Xinye, Emperor Ming of Qi secretly ordered the future Emperor to replace Cao Wu and take charge of Yong Province. Hongce was overjoyed and said to the Emperor, "What we said that night is already coming true." The Emperor laughed and said, "Enough talk for now." Hongce followed the Emperor west, still serving in the command tent; he shared personally in the labor and never flinched from hardship. When Emperor Ming of Qi died, his final edict made the future Emperor Governor of Yong Province; the Emperor then recommended Hongce as Recorder-General with concurrent duties as magistrate of Xiangyang. Seeing the realm sliding into chaos, the Emperor resolved to restore order and began making secret preparations. In all his planning he confided in no one but Hongce.
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時帝長兄懿罷益州還，為西中郎長史、行郢州事。 帝使弘策到郢，陳計於懿曰：「昔晉惠庸主，諸王爭權，遂內難九興，外寇三作。 方今喪亂有甚於此，六貴爭權，人握王憲，制主畫敕，各欲專成。 且嗣主在宮本無令譽，媟近左右，蜂目忍人。 一居萬機，恣其所欲，豈肯虛坐主諾，委政朝臣。 積相嫌貳，必大誅戮。 始安欲為趙倫，形跡已露，蹇人上天，信無此理。 且性甚猜狹，徒取禍機，所可當軸，江、劉而已。 祏怯而無斷，暄弱而不才，折鼎覆餗，跂踵可待。 蕭坦胸懷猜忌，動言相傷。 徐孝嗣才非柱石，聽人穿鼻。 若隙開釁起，必中外土崩。 今得外藩，幸圖身計。 及今猜防未生，宜召諸弟，以時聚集。 郢州控帶荊、湘，西注漢、沔。 雍州士馬，呼吸數萬。 時安則竭誠本朝，時亂則為國翦暴，如不早圖，悔無及也。」 懿聞之變色，心未之許。
At that time the Emperor's eldest brother Yi had returned from Yizhou and was serving as chief clerk to the General of the West with acting authority over Ying Province. The Emperor sent Hongce to Ying to lay out a plan to Yi: "In the past Emperor Hui of Jin was a mediocre ruler; the princes fought for power, internal strife broke out nine times, and foreign invasions came three times. Today's disorder is worse still: the six powerful ministers vie for power; each holds the royal writ, drafts edicts for the throne, and wants his own will to prevail. Moreover the heir apparent had never enjoyed a good reputation; he is intimate with his attendants, with bee-like eyes and a cruel disposition. Once he holds the reins of power he will indulge every whim—how could he sit as a figurehead while leaving affairs to the court? As suspicion mounts between them, a great bloodletting is sure to follow. Shi'an wants to play the part of Zhao Lun; his designs are already plain—a lame man climbing to Heaven is simply not in the cards. Moreover he is deeply suspicious and narrow-minded and will only court disaster. Those fit to hold real power are Jiang and Liu alone. Jiang Shi is timid and indecisive; Liu Xuan is weak and incompetent—the cauldron will break and the stew spill; disaster waits only a step away. Xiao Tan is full of suspicion and at every turn speaks words meant to wound. Xu Xiaosi lacks the stature of a pillar of state; he lets others lead him by the nose. If a breach opens and trouble flares, court and countryside alike will collapse. Now that you hold an outer command, you are fortunate enough to plan for your own safety. Before suspicion and watchfulness arise, you should summon your younger brothers and gather them while there is still time. Ying Province commands Jing and Xiang and opens westward onto the Han and Mian rivers. Yong Province can field tens of thousands of troops at a moment's notice. In peace you can serve the court with full loyalty; in chaos you can strike down the violent for the realm—if you do not act now, it will be too late for regret." Yi heard this and turned pale, but in his heart he would not agree.
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及懿遇禍，帝將起兵，夜召弘策、呂僧珍入定議，旦乃發兵。 以弘策為輔國將軍、軍主，領萬人督後部事。 及郢城平，蕭穎達、楊公則諸將皆欲頓軍夏口，帝以為宜乘勝長驅，直指建鄴，弘策與帝意合。 又訪甯朔將軍庾域，域又同。 即日上道，凡磯浦、村落，軍行宿次，立頓處所，弘策預為圖，皆在目中。 城平，帝遣弘策與呂僧珍先往清宮，封檢府庫。 于時城內珍寶委積，弘策申勒部曲，秋毫無犯。 遷衛尉卿，加給事中。 天監初，加散騎常侍，封洮陽縣侯。 弘策盡忠奉上，知無不為，交友故舊，隨才薦拔，縉紳皆趨焉。
When Yi met disaster, the Emperor prepared to raise troops; he summoned Hongce and Lu Sengzhen at night for a council in the inner quarters and marched at dawn. He made Hongce General Who Supports the State and army commander, putting ten thousand men under him to oversee the rear. After Ying fell, generals such as Xiao Yingda and Yang Gongze all wanted to halt at Xiakou; the Emperor favored pressing the victory in a long drive straight at Jiankang, and Hongce agreed with him. He also consulted General Who Pacifies the North Yu Yu, who agreed as well. That very day they marched. Every shoal, harbor, village, and halt along the route Hongce had mapped in advance; nothing escaped his eye. When the city fell, the Emperor sent Hongce and Lu Sengzhen ahead to secure the palace and seal the treasuries for inspection. Treasures lay heaped throughout the city; Hongce sternly charged his men, and not the slightest thing was touched. He was promoted to Minister of the Guards with the additional title Attendant Within the Yellow Gates. Early in the Tianjian reign he was made Regular Attendant of the Scattered Cavalry and enfeoffed as Marquis of Taoyang. Hongce served with full loyalty and held nothing back; among friends and old associates he promoted men according to talent, and the gentry all flocked to him.
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時東昏餘党孫文明等初逢赦令，多未自安。 文明又嘗夢乘馬至雲龍門，心惑其夢，遂作亂。 帥數百人，因運荻炬束仗，得入南、北掖門，至夜燒神獸門、總章觀，入衛尉府，弘策踰垣匿于龍廄，遇賊見害。 賊又進燒尚書省及閣道雲龍門，前軍司馬呂僧珍直殿省，帥羽林兵邀擊不能卻。 上戎服御前殿，謂僧珍曰：「賊夜來是眾少，曉則走矣。」 命打五鼓。 賊謂已曉，乃散，官軍捕文明斬於東市，張氏親屬臠食之。 帝哭之慟，曰：「痛哉衛尉！ 天下事當復與誰論？」 詔贈車騎將軍，諡曰閔侯。 弘策為人寬厚通率，篤舊故。 及居隆重，不以貴地自高，故人賓客接之如布衣，祿賜皆散之親友。 及遇害，莫不痛惜焉。 子緬嗣。
At that time Sun Wenming and other remnants of Dong Hun's faction had just been amnestied and for the most part still felt uneasy. Wenming had also dreamed of riding a horse to the Cloud Dragon Gate; troubled by the dream, he rose in rebellion. He led several hundred men and, under cover of hauling reed torches and bundled arms, entered through the south and north side gates; by night they burned the Divine Beast Gate and the Zongzhang Observatory and entered the Ministry of the Guards. Hongce climbed the wall and hid in the dragon stable, but the rebels found him and killed him. The rebels pressed on and burned the Secretariat and the covered way to the Cloud Dragon Gate. Lu Sengzhen, on duty in the palace offices, led the Feathered Forest guard to intercept them but could not drive them back. The Emperor, in military dress, took his seat in the front hall and said to Sengzhen, "The rebels who came by night are few; at dawn they will scatter." He ordered the fifth watch drum struck. The rebels thought dawn had come and scattered; government troops seized Wenming and executed him at the Eastern Market, and Zhang's kinsmen carved up his flesh and ate it. The Emperor wept bitterly and said, "How painful—my Minister of the Guards! With whom can I discuss the affairs of the realm now?" An edict posthumously made him General of Chariots and Cavalry with the posthumous title Marquis Min. Hongce was generous, open, and straightforward, and deeply loyal to old friends. Even in high office he did not lord his rank over others; he received old friends and guests as though they were commoners, and gave his salary and gifts to kinsmen and friends. When he was killed, all who knew him grieved. His son Mian succeeded him.
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緬字元長，年數歲，外祖中山劉仲德異之曰：「此兒非常器，非止為張氏寶，方為海內令名也。」 齊永元末兵起，弘策從武帝向都，留緬襄陽，年始十歲，每聞軍有勝負，憂喜形於顏色。 及弘策遇害，緬喪過於禮，武帝每遣喻之。 服闋，襲封洮陽縣侯。 起家秘書郎，出為淮南太守。 時年十八，武帝疑其年少，未閑吏事，遣主書封取郡曹文案，見其斷決允愜，甚稱賞之。 再遷雲麾外兵參軍。
Mian, styled Yuanchang, was only a few years old when his maternal grandfather Liu Zhongde of Zhongshan marveled at him and said, "This boy is no ordinary talent; he will be not only the Zhang family's treasure but a name famed throughout the realm." Late in the Qi Yongyuan era, when war broke out, Hongce followed the future Emperor toward the capital and left Mian in Xiangyang. He was only ten, and whenever he heard news of victory or defeat, worry and joy showed plainly on his face. When Hongce was killed, Mian mourned beyond what the rites required; the Emperor repeatedly sent messengers to console him. When mourning ended he inherited the marquisate of Taoyang. He began his career as a Secretary and was later appointed Governor of Huainan. He was only eighteen; the Emperor doubted whether one so young could yet handle administrative affairs and sent a clerk to seal and fetch the commandery records. Seeing how fair and apt his judgments were, he praised him highly. He was soon transferred to outside staff officer on the Cloud Banner staff.
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緬少勤學，自課讀書，手不輟卷。 有質疑者，隨問便對，略無遺失。 殿中郎缺，帝謂徐勉曰：「此曹舊用文學，且雁行之首，宜詳擇其人。」 勉舉緬充選。 頃之，為武陵太守，還拜太子洗馬、中舍人。 緬母劉氏以父沒家貧，葬禮有闕，遂終身不居正室，不隨子入官府。 緬在郡所得俸祿不敢用，至乃妻子不易衣裳，及還都，並供之母振遺親屬。 雖累載所蓄，一朝隨盡，緬私室常閼然如貧素者。
From youth Mian studied hard, setting himself a daily quota of reading; he never laid down his scroll. When anyone questioned him, he answered on the spot with scarcely a gap. When the post of Palace Attendant fell vacant, the Emperor said to Xu Mian, "This office has traditionally gone to men of letters, and it leads the flock—choose the man with care." Mian recommended Zhang Mian for the post. Before long he became Governor of Wuling; on his return he was made Groom of the Heir Apparent and Palace Attendant of the Center. Mian's mother, Lady Liu, because her husband had died poor and the funeral had been inadequate, never occupied the main chamber for the rest of her life and would not enter her son's official residence. In office Mian dared not touch his salary; his wife and children went without new clothes, and when he returned to the capital he gave everything to his mother to distribute among kinsmen. Though he had saved for years, it was all gone in a day; his private quarters were always as bare as a poor man's.
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累遷豫章內史。 緬為政任恩惠，不設鉤距，吏人化其德，亦不敢欺。 故老咸云：「數十年未有也」。
He rose to Interior Minister of Yuzhang. In office Mian ruled through kindness and set no traps; officials and commoners alike were moved by his virtue and did not dare deceive him. The elders all said, "There has been nothing like this in decades."
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後為御史中丞，坐收捕人與外國使鬥，左降黃門，兼領先職，俄復舊任。 緬居憲司，推繩無所顧望，號為勁直。 武帝乃遣圖其形於台省，以勵當官。 遷侍中，未拜卒，詔便舉哀。 昭明太子亦往臨哭。
Later he became Censor-in-Chief; because men he had arrested fought with foreign envoys, he was demoted to Attendant at the Yellow Gates while keeping his former duties, and soon regained his old post. As censor Mian applied the law without fear or favor and was known for his stern uprightness. The Emperor had his portrait painted in the terrace offices to encourage those in office. He was promoted to Palace Attendant but died before taking office; an edict ordered immediate mourning. Crown Prince Zhaoming also went in person to mourn.
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緬抄後漢、晉書眾家異同為後漢紀四十卷，晉抄三十卷，又抄江左集未及成，文集五卷。 緬弟纘。
Mian collated differing accounts of Later Han and Jin into forty juan of Annals of Later Han and thirty juan of Jin Notes; he also began a copy of the Collection of the Eastern Bank, which he did not finish, and left five juan of collected writings. Mian's younger brother was Zuan.
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纘字伯緒，出繼從伯弘籍。 武帝舅也，梁初贈廷尉卿。 纘年十一，尚武帝第四女富陽公主，拜駙馬都尉，封利亭侯。 召補國子生。 起家秘書郎，時年十七，身長七尺四寸，眉目疏朗，神采爽發。 武帝異之，嘗曰：「張壯武雲'後八世有逮吾者'，其此子乎。」 纘好學，兄緬有書萬餘卷，晝夜披讀，殆不輟手。 秘書郎四員，宋、齊以來，為甲族起家之選，待次入補，其居職例不數十日便遷任。 纘固求不徙，欲遍觀閣內書籍。 嘗執四部書目曰：「若讀此畢，可言優仕矣。」 如此三載，方遷太子舍人，轉洗馬，中舍人，並掌管記。
Zuan, styled Boxu, was adopted as heir to his father's cousin Hongji. He was the Emperor's maternal uncle; early in Liang he was posthumously made Minister of Justice. At eleven Zuan married the Emperor's fourth daughter, Princess Fuyang, was made Commandant of the Horse Guards, and enfeoffed as Marquis of Liting. He was summoned and enrolled as a student at the Imperial University. He entered official life as a Secretary Gentleman. At seventeen he stood seven feet four inches tall, with refined features and a bright, spirited bearing. Emperor Wu was struck by him and once remarked, "Zhang Zhuangwu said, 'Eight generations from now someone will catch up with me'—could it be this boy?" Zuan loved learning. His elder brother Mian owned more than ten thousand scrolls, and Zuan read them day and night, scarcely setting them aside. There were four Secretary Gentlemen. Since Song and Qi times the post had been the usual starting place for eminent clans: one waited in queue for a vacancy, and incumbents typically moved on within ten days. Zuan firmly asked not to be moved, wanting to read every book in the archive. Once, holding the catalogue of the four library divisions, he said, "When I have finished this, I may call myself fit for high office." After three years of this he was promoted to Attendant of the Heir Apparent, then Groom, then Central Attendant-in-Ordinary, all posts concerned with keeping the records.
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纘與琅邪王錫齊名。 普通初，魏使彭城人劉善明通和，求識纘與錫。 纘時年二十三，善明見而嗟服。 累遷尚書吏部郎，俄而長兼侍中，時人以為早達。 河東裴子野曰：「張吏部有喉唇之任，已恨其晚矣。」 子野性曠達，自雲年出三十不復詣人。 初未與纘遇，便虛相推重，因為忘年之交。 大通中，為吳興太守，居郡省煩苛，務清靜，人吏便之。
Zuan and Wang Xi of Langya were equally renowned. Early in the Puzhou reign, Wei sent Liu Shanming of Pengcheng to negotiate peace and asked to meet Zuan and Xi. Zuan was twenty-three at the time; Shanming met him and sighed in admiration. He rose in succession to Director of the Department of Personnel and soon held a long-term concurrent appointment as Attendant-in-Ordinary; contemporaries considered this precocious promotion. Pei Ziye of Hedong remarked, "Director Zhang holds the nation's voice in his hands—even now we regret the appointment came so late." Ziye was by nature free-spirited and broad-minded; he declared that after thirty he would pay calls on no one. Before he had even met Zuan he already held him in high regard, and they became friends despite the difference in age. During Datong he served as Prefect of Wu-xing, cutting red tape and favoring quiet governance; officials and commoners alike found his rule a relief.
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大同二年，徵為吏部尚書。 後門寒素一介者，皆見引拔，不為貴門屈意，人士翕然稱之。 負其才氣，無所與讓。 定襄侯祗無學術，頗有文性，與兄衡山侯恭俱為皇太子愛賞。 時纘從兄謐、聿並不學問，性又凡愚。 恭、祗嘗預東宮盛集，太子戲纘曰：「丈人謐、聿皆何在？」 纘從容曰：「纘有謐、聿，亦殿下之衡、定。」 太子色慚。 或云纘從兄聿及弼愚短，湘東王在坐，問纘曰：「丈人二從聿、弼藝業何如？」 纘曰：「下官從弟雖並無多，猶賢殿下之有衡、定。」 舉坐愕然，其忤物如此。
In the second year of Datong he was summoned to serve as Minister of the Secretariat. He promoted men from poor but upright backgrounds and would not defer to great families; the literati praised him in unison. Confident in his talent and spirit, he yielded to no one. The Marquis of Dingxiang, Zhi, had little learning but some literary flair; he and his elder brother the Marquis of Hengshan, Gong, were both favorites of the Crown Prince. At the time Zuan's cousins Mi and Lü were unlearned and by nature dull and foolish. Gong and Zhi once attended a grand gathering in the Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince teased Zuan: "Where are your uncles Mi and Lü?" Zuan replied calmly, "I have Mi and Lü—just as Your Highness has Heng and Ding." The Crown Prince flushed with embarrassment. According to another account, Zuan's cousins Lü and Bi were dull and slight of stature. The Prince of Xiangdong was present and asked Zuan, "How do your cousins Lü and Bi fare in learning and accomplishment?" Zuan said, "My cousins may not amount to much, but they are still better than Your Highness having Heng and Ding." The whole company was stunned—such was his manner of giving offense.
17
五年，武帝詔曰：「纘外氏英華，朝中領袖，司空已後，名冠范陽。 可尚書僕射。」 纘本寒門，以外戚顯重，高自擬倫，而詔有「司空范陽。」 之言，深用為狹。 以朱異草詔，與異不平。 初，纘與參掌何敬容意趣不協，敬容居權軸，賓客輻湊，有過詣纘，纘輒距不前，曰：「吾不能對何敬容殘客。」 及是遷，為讓表曰：「自出守股肱，入居衡尺，可以仰首伸眉，論列是非者矣。 而寸衿所滯，近蔽耳目，深淺清濁，豈有能預。 加以矯心飾貌，酷非所閑，不喜俗人，與之共事。」 此言以指敬容也。 在職議南郊禦乘素輦，適古今之衷。 又議印綬官若備朝服，宜並著綬。 時並施行。
In the fifth year Emperor Wu issued an edict: "Zuan, flower of the maternal clan and leader at court; since the Minister of Works, his name has stood first in Fanyang. Let him be appointed Vice Director of the Secretariat." Zuan came from a humble family and had risen through his ties to the imperial consort clan, holding himself in high esteem; yet the edict spoke of "the Minister of Works of Fanyang." He took this deeply as a slight. Learning that Zhu Yi had drafted the edict, he bore a grudge against Yi. Earlier Zuan had clashed with He Jingrong, his fellow administrator. Jingrong held the levers of power and his hall was always crowded. When disgraced clients of Jingrong came to call on Zuan, he would turn them away, saying, "I will not sit with He Jingrong's cast-off guests." On this promotion he submitted a letter declining the post: "From governing a province to holding the central scales, one might at last raise one's head and speak plainly about right and wrong— yet petty entanglements now blind me at close range; how can I judge what is shallow or deep, clear or foul? Moreover, dissembling and posturing are skills I utterly lack, and I have no taste for working alongside vulgar men." These words were aimed at Jingrong. In office he argued that at the southern suburban rites the emperor should ride an unadorned carriage, a compromise suited to ancient and modern practice. He also proposed that officials bearing seals and cords should wear the cord whenever they wore full court dress. Both proposals were adopted at the time.
18
改為湘州刺史，述職經塗，作南征賦。 初，吳興吳規頗有才學，邵陵王綸引為賓客，深相禮遇。 及綸作牧郢蕃，規隨從江夏。 遇纘出之湘鎮，路經郢服，綸餞之南浦。 纘見規在坐，意不能平，忽舉杯曰：「吳規，此酒慶汝得陪今宴。」 規尋起還，其子翁孺見父不悅，問而知之，翁孺因氣結，爾夜便卒。 規恨纘慟兒，憤哭兼至，信次之間又致殞。 規妻深痛夫、子，翌日又亡。 時人謂張纘一杯酒殺吳氏三人，其輕傲皆此類也。
He was reassigned as Inspector of Xiangzhou and, en route to his post, wrote the Rhapsody on the Southern Expedition. Earlier Wu Gui of Wu-xing was a man of considerable learning. Prince Shao-ling Lun took him as a client and treated him with great respect. When Lun was made prefect of Ye and Fan, Gui accompanied him to Jiangxia. When Zuan set out for the Xiang region his route passed through Ye, and Lun gave him a farewell feast at Nanpu. Seeing Gui among the guests, Zuan could not contain his resentment. He suddenly raised his cup and said, "Wu Gui—this drink celebrates your good fortune in joining today's banquet." Gui rose at once and withdrew. His son Wengru, seeing his father's distress, asked and learned the cause; that night Wengru died of choked rage. Gui blamed Zuan for his son's death and gave way to grief and fury; before the messenger could return, he too was dead. Gui's wife, stricken by the loss of husband and son, died the following day. People said Zhang Zuan had killed three members of the Wu family with a single cup of wine—such was the measure of his arrogance.
19
至州務公平，遣十郡慰勞，解放老疾吏役，及關市戍邏、先所防人，一皆省並，州界零陵、衡陽等郡有莫徭蠻者，依山險為居，曆政不賓服，因此向化。 益陽縣人作田二頃，皆異畝同穎。 在政四年，流人自歸，戶口增十餘萬，州境大寧。 晚頗好積聚，多寫圖書數萬卷，有油二百斛，米四千石，佗物稱是。
In the province he governed fairly, sent envoys to ten commanderies to offer comfort, released aged and infirm clerks from service, and cut frontier guards, market posts, and previously detained persons. In Lingling, Hengyang, and other commanderies Mo-yao tribes had long lived in the hills and refused submission; under his rule they came to accept imperial authority. In Yiyang district a farmer's two qing of fields bore different stalks but identical ears of grain. After four years in office displaced people returned on their own; the population grew by more than a hundred thousand households; and the province knew great tranquillity. In his later years he grew fond of hoarding wealth. He copied tens of thousands of scrolls of books and amassed two hundred hu of oil, four thousand shi of rice, and comparable stores of other goods.
20
太清二年，徙授領軍，俄改雍州刺史。 初聞邵陵王綸當代己為湘州，其後更用河東王譽。 纘素輕少王，州府候迎及資待甚薄。 譽深銜之。 及至州，譽遂托疾不見纘，仍檢括州府庶事，留纘不遣。 會聞侯景寇建鄴，譽當下援。 湘東王時鎮江陵，與纘有舊，纘將因之以斃譽兄弟。 時湘東王與譽及信州刺史桂陽王慥各率所領入援台，下硤至江津，譽次江口，湘東王屆郢州之武城。 屬侯景已請和，武帝詔罷援軍。 譽自江口將旋湘鎮，欲待湘東至，謁督府，方還州。 纘乃貽湘東書曰：「河東戴檣上水，欲襲江陵； 岳陽在雍，共謀不逞。」 江陵游軍主朱榮又遣使報云：「桂陽住此欲應譽、察。」 湘東信之，乃鑿船沈米，斬纜而歸。 至江陵收慥殺之。 荊、湘因構嫌隙。
In the second year of Taiqing he was transferred to Commander of the Guards, then soon reassigned as Inspector of Yongzhou. At first he heard that Prince Shao-ling Lun would succeed him in Xiangzhou, but in the end Prince of Hedong Yu was appointed. Zuan had always despised the young prince, and the prefectural offices offered him a thin welcome and scant provisions. Yu bore a deep grudge. When Yu reached the province he pleaded illness and refused to see Zuan, took control of prefectural affairs, and detained Zuan from leaving. Word came that Hou Jing was attacking Jianye, and Yu was to march to the capital's relief. The Prince of Xiangdong was then at Jiangling and had long been close to Zuan; Zuan planned to use him to destroy Yu and his brothers. The Prince of Xiangdong, Yu, and the Prince of Guiyang Chao, Inspector of Xinzhou, each led their troops to relieve the capital, descending the gorge to the river crossing. Yu encamped at the river mouth while the Prince of Xiangdong reached Wucheng in Yingzhou. By then Hou Jing had sued for peace, and Emperor Wu ordered the relief forces withdrawn. Yu was about to withdraw from the river mouth to Xiangzhou, intending to wait for the Prince of Xiangdong, pay his respects at headquarters, and then return home. Zuan then wrote to the Prince of Xiangdong: "The Prince of Hedong is sailing upstream under arms and intends to strike Jiangling; the Prince of Yueyang at Yong is in league with him in a treasonous plot." Zhu Rong, commander of the roaming forces at Jiangling, also sent word: "The Prince of Guiyang is lingering here, ready to join Yu and Cha." The Prince of Xiangdong believed him, scuttled his boats, dumped his grain, cut his moorings, and hurried back. On reaching Jiangling he seized Chao and put him to death. Thus mutual enmity arose between Jing and Xiang.
21
纘尋棄其部曲，攜其二女，單舸赴江陵。 湘東遣使責讓譽，索纘部下，仍遣纘向雍州。 前刺史岳陽王察推遷未去鎮，但以城西白馬寺處之。 會聞賊陷台城，察因不受代。 州助防杜岸紿纘曰：「觀岳陽不容使君，使君素得物情，若走入西山義舉，事無不濟。」 纘以為然。 因與岸兄弟盟，乃要雍州人席引等於西山聚眾。 乃服婦人衣，乘青布輿，與親信十餘人奔引等。 杜岸馳告察，察令中兵參軍尹正等追討。 纘以為赴期，大喜，及至並禽之。 纘懼不免，請為沙門，名法緒。 察襲江陵，常載纘隨後，逼使為檄，固辭以疾。 及軍退敗，行至湕水南，防守纘者慮追兵至，遂害之，棄屍而去。 元帝承制，贈開府儀同三司，諡簡憲公。
Zuan soon abandoned his troops, took his two daughters in a lone boat, and fled to Jiangling. The Prince of Xiangdong sent an envoy to rebuke Yu, demanded Zuan's troops, and dispatched Zuan on to Yongzhou. The former inspector, the Prince of Yueyang Cha, had been promoted but had not yet vacated his post; he lodged Zuan at White Horse Temple west of the city. When word came that the rebels had taken Taicheng, Cha refused to yield his post. Du An, assistant for defense, deceived Zuan: "The Prince of Yueyang will not tolerate you, yet you have always had the people's sympathy. If you flee into the western hills and raise a righteous force, you cannot fail." Zuan believed him. He allied with An and his brothers and summoned men of Yongzhou such as Xi Yin to gather a force in the western hills. He dressed as a woman, rode in a plain cloth carriage, and with a dozen trusted followers fled to join Yin and his band. Du An galloped to inform Cha, who ordered Yin Zheng of the Central Army staff and others to pursue and capture him. Zuan thought he had reached his allies and rejoiced—but on arrival he and his party were seized. Fearing execution, Zuan asked to become a monk and took the religious name Fazuo. When Cha marched on Jiangling he kept Zuan with his train and pressed him to write proclamations; Zuan steadfastly pleaded illness. When the army was routed and they reached the south bank of the Han, his guards, fearing pursuit, killed him and abandoned his body. Emperor Yuan, exercising imperial authority, posthumously made him Grand Master of Splendid State with ceremonial parity to the Three Excellencies and titled him Duke Jianxian.
22
元帝少時，纘便推誠委結，及帝即位，追思之，嘗為詩序云：「簡憲之為人也，不事王侯，負才任氣。 見余則申旦達夕，不能已已。 懷夫人之德，何日忘之。」 纘著鴻寶一百卷，文集二十卷。
In his youth Emperor Yuan had won Zuan's wholehearted loyalty; after his accession he looked back on this and once wrote in a preface to a poem: "Duke Jianxian was a man who would not serve kings and lords; he carried his talent and his pride. When he saw me he would talk from dawn till dusk and could not have enough of my company. I cherish such a man's goodness—how could I ever forget it?" Zuan wrote the Hongbao in one hundred scrolls and a collected works in twenty scrolls.
23
初，纘之往雍州，資產悉留江陵。 性既貪婪，南中貲賄填積。 及死，湘東王皆使收之，書二萬卷並摙還齋，珍寶財物悉付庫，以粽蜜之屬還其家。
When Zuan first went to Yongzhou he left all his property at Jiangling. Greedy by nature, he had amassed a fortune in southern goods and bribes. After his death the Prince of Xiangdong seized it all: twenty thousand scrolls of books were bundled back to the palace library, jewels and goods sent to the treasury, and only rice dumplings, honey, and the like were returned to his family.
24
次子希字子顏，早知名，尚簡文第九女海鹽公主。 承聖初，位侍中。 纘弟綰。
His second son Xi, styled Ziyan, won early renown and married the Ninth Daughter of Emperor Jianwen, Princess Haiyan. At the beginning of the Chengsheng era he rose to Attendant-in-Ordinary. Zuan's younger brother was Chao.
25
綰字孝卿，少與兄纘齊名。 湘東王繹嘗策之百事，綰對闕其六，號為百六公。 位員外散騎常侍、中軍宣城王長史。 遷御史中丞。 武帝遣其弟中書舍人絢宣旨曰：「為國之急，唯在執憲直繩，用人之本，不限升降。 晉、宋時，周閔、蔡廓兼以侍中為之，卿勿疑是左遷。」 時宣城王府望重，故有此旨焉。 大同四年元日，舊制僕射中丞坐位東西相當，時綰兄纘為僕射，及百司就列，兄弟並導騶分趨兩陛，前代未有，時人榮之。 出為豫章內史，在郡述制旨禮記正言義，四姓衣冠士子聽者常數百人。
Chao, styled Xiaqing, had been as famous as his elder brother Zuan since youth. The Prince of Xiangdong Xiao Yi once quizzed him on a hundred topics; Chao failed six and was nicknamed Duke of the Hundred-Six. He served as Supernumerary Regular Attendant and Chief Clerk to the Prince of Xuancheng under the Central Army. He was promoted to Imperial Censor. Emperor Wu sent Chao's younger brother Xuan, Attendant-in-Ordinary of the Secretariat, to announce the imperial will: "A state's urgent need is to enforce the law impartially; the foundation of appointing men is not whether they rise or fall in rank. In Jin and Song times Zhou Min and Cai Kuo both held the censorate while serving as Attendant-in-Ordinary—do not take this as a demotion." The Prince of Xuancheng's household was then so eminent that this special reassurance was given. On New Year's Day in the fourth year of Datong, custom placed the Vice Grand Minister and the Censor-in-Chief in seats of equal rank, east and west. Wan's elder brother Huan was then Vice Grand Minister; when the bureaucracy assembled for court, both brothers rode at the head of their escorts and marched up opposite stairways—a spectacle never seen before, and one their contemporaries counted a glory. Appointed Intendant of Yuzhang, he lectured in the prefecture on the court-sponsored Correct Meaning of the Record of Rites, drawing several hundred listeners from the leading families and the scholar-gentry.
26
八年，安成人劉敬宮挾祅道，遂聚黨攻郡，進寇豫章，刺史湘東王遣司馬王僧辯討賊，受綰節度。 旬月間，賊党悉平。
In the eighth year Liu Jinggong of Ancheng led a cult following in revolt against the commandery and pushed into Yuzhang. The Prince of Xiangdong, as regional inspector, sent Marshal Wang Senbian against the rebels under Wan's overall command. Within a month and a half the rebels were wholly suppressed.
27
十年，復為御史中丞。 綰再為憲司，彈糾無所回避，豪右憚之。 時城西開士林館聚學者，綰與右衛朱異、太府卿賀琛遞述制旨禮記中庸義。 太清三年，為吏部尚書，宮城陷，奔江陵，位尚書右僕射。 魏克江陵，朝士皆俘入關，綰以疾免，卒於江陵。
In the tenth year he was again appointed Censor-in-Chief. Serving a second term as chief censor, he censured wrongdoing without flinching, and the great houses learned to fear him. A Forest of Scholars academy opened west of the capital, and Wan, Zhu Yi of the Right Guard, and He Chen, Grand Steward of the Court Treasury, alternated in lecturing on the Mean from the imperial commentary on the Record of Rites. In the third year of Taiqing he was made Minister of the Civil Office; when the capital fell he fled to Jiangling and was appointed Vice Minister of the Right of the Masters of Writing. When the Wei captured Jiangling, the court elite were marched captive into the north; Wan, spared because of illness, died in Jiangling.
28
次子交，字少游，尚簡文第十一女定陽公主。 承聖二年，官至秘書丞，掌東宮管記。
His second son Jiao (Shaoyou) married Emperor Jianwen's eleventh daughter, Princess Dingyang. By the second year of Chengsheng he had risen to Secretary Director and oversaw the Eastern Palace secretarial records.
29
庾域字司大，新野人也。 少沈靜，有名鄉曲。 梁文帝為郢州，辟為主簿，歎美其才，曰：「荊南杞梓，其在斯乎。」 加以恩禮。 長沙宣武王為梁州，以為錄事參軍，帶華陽太守。 時魏軍攻圍南鄭，州有空倉數十所，域手自封題，指示將士曰：「此中粟皆滿，足支二年。 但努力堅守。」 眾心以安。 軍退，以功拜羽林監。 及長沙王為益州，域隨為懷甯太守。 罷任還家，妻子猶事井臼，而域所衣大布，餘奉專充供養。 母好鶴唳，域在位營求，孜孜不怠，一旦雙鶴來下，論者以為孝感所致。
Yuan Yu (Sida) was from Xinye. As a youth he was calm and reserved and already had a reputation in his home district. When the future Emperor Wen held Yingzhou, he recruited Yuan as chief clerk, marveled at his talent, and said, "The finest timber of southern Jing—might it be standing here? He treated him with especial favor and respect. When Prince Xuanwu of Changsha governed Liangzhou, he appointed Yuan recording secretary and acting administrator of Huayang. While Wei forces besieged Nanzheng, the province held dozens of empty granaries. Yu personally sealed each one and assured the troops, "These are stocked full—grain enough for two years. Hold the line with all your strength. The army's spirit steadied at once. After the enemy withdrew he was rewarded with appointment as Supervisor of the Imperial Guard. When the Prince of Changsha took Yizhou, Yuan followed him as administrator of Huaining. Back home after his term, his wife and children still ground grain at the mortar while he wore plain homespun; whatever remained of his stipend went entirely to his parents' support. His mother delighted in the cry of cranes. While in office Yuan labored to satisfy her wish; one day a pair of cranes descended, and many read it as heaven's answer to his filial devotion.
30
永元初，南康王板西中郎諮議參軍，母憂去職。 梁武帝舉兵，起為甯朔將軍，領行選。 武帝東下，師次楊口，和帝遣御史中丞宗夬勞軍。 域乃諷夬曰：「黃鉞未加，非所以總率侯伯。」 夬反，西台即授武帝黃鉞。 蕭穎胄既都督中外諸軍事，論者謂武帝應致箋，域爭不聽，乃止。 郢城平，域及張弘策議與武帝意同，即命眾軍便下，域謀多被納用。 霸府初開，為諮議參軍。
Early in the Yongyuan era the Prince of Nankang named him advisory staff officer of the Western Central Commander; he resigned upon his mother's death. When Emperor Wu took up arms, Yuan was recalled as General Pacifying the North with charge of provisional personnel selection. As Emperor Wu drove east his army encamped at Yangkou, and Emperor He sent Censor-in-Chief Zong Que to reward the troops. Yuan obliquely told Que, "Without the yellow battle-axe he cannot truly command the feudal lords. Que returned bearing word, and the Western headquarters at once invested Emperor Wu with the yellow battle-axe. With Xiao Yingzhou already supreme commander, some urged Emperor Wu to submit a formal allegiance; Yuan argued against it and prevailed, and the proposal was dropped. After the fall of Yingzhou, Yuan and Zhang Hongce counselled in accord with the emperor's aim; he ordered the armies to advance at once, and many of Yuan's proposals were adopted. When the hegemon's headquarters was first established, he became advisory staff officer.
31
天監初，封廣牧縣子、後軍司馬。 出為甯朔將軍、巴西梓潼二郡太守。 梁州長史夏侯道遷降魏，魏襲巴西，域固守。 城中糧盡，將士皆齕草供食，無有離心。 魏軍退，進爵為伯。 于時兵後人饑，域上表振貸，不待報輒開倉，為有司所糾。 上遷域西中郎司馬、輔國將軍、甯蜀太守。 卒於官。 子子輿。
Early in Tianjian he was enfeoffed Baron of Guangmu and appointed rear army marshal. He was sent out as General Pacifying the North and dual administrator of Baxi and Zitong. When Xiahou Daoyuan, chief of staff of Liangzhou, defected to Wei, the Wei struck Baxi; Yuan held the city in a stubborn defense. When food ran out the garrison chewed grass to eat, yet none wavered in loyalty. After the Wei withdrew he was advanced to marquis. In the famine after the war he memorialized for relief grain and, without waiting for approval, opened the granaries; the authorities censured him. The emperor reassigned him as marshal of the Western Central Commander, General Assisting the State, and administrator of Ningshu. He died in office. His son was Ziyu.
32
子輿字孝卿，幼而歧嶷。 五歲讀孝經，手不釋卷。 或曰：「此書文句不多，何用自苦？」 答曰：「孝，德之本，何謂不多。」 齊永明末，除州主簿。 時父在梁州遇疾，子輿奔侍醫藥，言淚恒並。 長沙宣武王省疾見之，顧曰：「庾錄事雖危殆，可憂更在子輿。」 尋丁母憂，哀至輒嘔血，父戒以滅性，乃禁其哭泣。 梁初為尚書郎。
Ziyu (Xiaoqing) showed unusual precocity as a child. At five he was reading the Classic of Filial Piety without setting the text down. Someone asked, "That book is short—why drive yourself so hard? He answered, "Filial piety is the root of virtue—how can you call that 'not much'?" Late in Qi's Yongming era he was made provincial chief clerk. When his father fell ill in Liangzhou, Ziyu hurried to his side with medicines, weeping as he spoke. Prince Xuanwu of Changsha, visiting the sickbed, remarked, "The recording secretary may be failing—but it is Ziyu who truly wrings the heart. Soon afterward his mother's death plunged him into such grief that he vomited blood; his father, fearing he would ruin himself, forbade him to weep. Early in the Liang he served as a gentleman of the Masters of Writing.
33
天監三年，父出守巴西，子輿以蜀路險難，啟求侍從，以孝養獲許。 父遷甯蜀，子輿亦相隨。 父于路感心疾，每痛至必叫，子輿亦悶絕。 及父卒，哀慟將絕者再。 奉喪還鄉，秋水猶壯。 巴東有淫預，石高出二十許丈，及秋至，則才如見焉，次有瞿塘大灘，行旅忌之，部伍至此，石猶不見。 子輿撫心長叫，其夜五更水忽退減，安流南下。 及度，水復舊，行人為之語曰：「淫預如襥本不通，瞿塘水退為庾公。」 初發蜀，有雙鳩巢舟中，及至又棲廬側，每聞哭泣之聲，必飛翔簷宇，悲鳴激切。
In Tianjian year three his father was posted to guard Baxi; Ziyu petitioned to accompany him down the perilous road into Shu and won leave on grounds of filial duty. When his father moved to Ningshu, Ziyu went with him. On the road his father was stricken with heart pains and cried out at every spasm; Ziyu fainted beside him each time. When his father died, twice his mourning nearly killed him. Bringing the coffin home, he found the autumn rivers still in full spate. In eastern Ba lies the Yinyu shoal, whose rock stands some seventy feet above the channel; only in autumn, when the water falls, does it show at all. Beyond it lies the dreaded Qutang rapid. When the funeral party arrived, the rock had not yet emerged and the shoal remained hidden. Ziyu clutched his chest and wailed. Before dawn the river dropped by itself, and the current bore them safely downstream. Once they were through, the waters rose again; travelers made a rhyme of it: "Yinyu like a bale—no passage here; Qutang's ebb—that was Lord Yuan. Two turtledoves had nested in the boat when they left Shu and roosted beside the mourning shed on arrival; at every sound of weeping they wheeled under the eaves, crying in piercing grief.
34
欲為父立佛寺，未有定處。 夢有僧謂曰：「將修勝業，嶺南原即可營造。」 明往履歷，果見標度處所，有若人功，因立精舍。 居墓所以終喪，服闋，手足枯攣，待人而起。 仍布衣蔬食，志守墳墓。 叔該謂曰：「汝若固志，吾亦抽簪。」 於是始仕。 雖以嫡長襲爵，國秩盡推諸弟。 累遷兼中郎司馬。
He wished to build a Buddhist temple for his father but could not decide where. In a dream a monk told him, "You are to build a great merit—establish it on the ridge's southern slope. At dawn he went to see and found the spot already marked out as if by human hands; there he built a Buddhist cloister. He lived by the grave until mourning was complete; when it ended his limbs were withered and stiff, and he could rise only with help. He still wore hemp and ate sparingly, resolved to guard the tomb. His uncle Gai said, "If you hold to this resolve, I too will leave office. Only then did he take office. Though as eldest legitimate heir he inherited the title, he gave every bit of the estate income to his younger brothers. He rose eventually to concurrent marshal of the Central Commander.
35
大通二年，除巴陵內史，便道之官，路中遇疾。 或勸上郡就醫，子輿曰：「吾疾患危重，全濟理難，豈可貪官，陳屍公廨。」 因勒門生不得輒入城市，即於渚次卒。 遺令單衣帢履以斂，酒脯施靈而已。
In Datong year two he was appointed intendant of Baling and set out by the direct route; illness overtook him on the way. Some urged him to reach the prefectural seat for treatment; Ziyu said, "I am past recovery—how could I cling to office and die in the government hall? He forbade his retainers to enter the city and died that same day on a sandbar by the shore. He left orders to be buried in simple clothes, kerchief, and sandals, with only wine and meat for the funeral offering.
36
鄭紹叔字仲明，滎陽開封人也。 累世居壽陽。 祖琨，宋高平太守。
Zheng Shaoshu (Zhongming) was from Kaifeng in Xingyang commandery. His family had lived in Shouyang for generations. His grandfather Kun had been administrator of Gaoping under the Song.
37
紹叔年二十餘，為安豐令，有能名。 後為本州中從事史。 時刺史蕭誕弟諶被誅，台遣收誕，兵使卒至，左右驚散，紹叔獨馳赴焉。 誕死，侍送喪柩，眾咸稱之。 到都，司空徐孝嗣見而異之，曰：「祖逖之流也」。
In his twenties Shaoshu served as magistrate of Anfeng and won a name for competence. He was later made provincial personnel officer for his home province. When the inspector Xiao Yan's brother Chen was executed, the court sent troops to arrest Yan; his attendants fled in panic, but Shaoshu alone galloped to his side. When Yan was killed, he helped convey the coffin home, and all praised his loyalty. In the capital Minister of Works Xu Xiaosi, meeting him, exclaimed, "A man in the mold of Zu Ti!"
38
梁武帝臨司州，命為中兵參軍，領長流。 因是厚自結附。 帝罷州還都，謝遣賓客，紹叔獨固請願留。 帝曰：「卿才幸自有用，我今未能相益，宜更思佗塗。」 固不許。 於是乃還壽陽。 刺史蕭遙昌苦要引，紹叔終不受命。 遙昌將囚之，鄉人救解得免。 及帝為雍州，紹叔間道西歸，補甯蠻長史、扶風太守。 東昏既害朝宰，頗疑於帝。 紹叔兄植為東昏直後，東昏遣至雍州，托候紹叔，潛使為刺客。 紹叔知之，密白帝。 及植至，帝于紹叔處置酒宴之，戲植曰：「朝廷遣卿見圖，今日閑宴，是見取良會也。」 賓主大笑。 令植登城隍，周觀府署，士卒器械，舟艫戎馬，莫不富實。 植退謂紹叔曰：「雍州實力，未易圖也。」 紹叔曰：「兄還具為天子言之，兄若取雍州，紹叔請以此眾一戰。」 送兄于南峴，相持慟哭而別。 續復遣主帥杜伯符亦欲為刺客，詐言作使，上亦密知，宴接如常。 伯符懼不敢發。 上後即位，作五百字詩具及之。
When the future Emperor Wu governed Sizhou, he made Shaoshu central troops staff officer with charge of the Changliu command. From that time he bound himself closely to him. When the prince left his post for the capital he dismissed his retainers; only Shaoshu begged to stay. The prince said, "Your gifts deserve employment, but I cannot advance you here—you ought to seek another patron. Shaoshu would not hear of leaving. At length he returned to Shouyang. Inspector Xiao Yaochang pressed him hard to serve, but Shaoshu refused every commission. Yaochang nearly had him imprisoned; townsfolk intervened and freed him. When the prince became governor of Yongzhou, Shaoshu stole west by back roads to join him and was made chief of staff for Pacifying the Barbarians and administrator of Fufeng. After Emperor Donghun murdered the chief ministers, he grew suspicious of the prince of Yongzhou. Shaoshu's elder brother Zhi served Emperor Donghun as palace attendant; Donghun sent him to Yongzhou on the pretext of visiting Shaoshu, secretly to assassinate the prince. Shaoshu learned of the plot and secretly informed the prince. When Zhi arrived the prince hosted a banquet at Shaoshu's quarters and teased him: "The court sent you to plot against me—what better moment for assassination than a leisurely feast? Host and guest roared with laughter. He had Zhi climb the walls and tour the compound—troops, arms, ships, and horses, all in splendid abundance. Zhi withdrew and told Shaoshu, "Yongzhou's strength makes it no easy mark. Shaoshu said, "Tell the emperor plainly when you return: if he means to take Yongzhou, I ask only to meet his army in the field." He saw his brother off at Southern Xian, and they clung to each other weeping as they parted. Donghun then sent Commander Du Bofu as another assassin under the guise of an envoy; the prince knew this too and entertained him as before. Du Bofu was afraid and never struck. After he took the throne, the emperor commemorated the episode in a five-hundred-character poem.
39
初起兵，紹叔為冠軍將軍，改驍騎將軍，從東下。 江州平，留紹叔監州事，曰：「昔蕭何鎮關中，漢祖得成山東之業； 寇恂守河內，光武建河北之基。 今之九江，昔之河內，我故留卿以為羽翼。 前途不捷，我當其咎，糧運不繼，卿任其責。」 紹叔流涕拜辭，於是督江、湘糧運無闕乏。
At the first mustering of forces, Zheng Shaoshu was appointed Champion General, then reassigned as Valiant Cavalry General and marched east with the army. After Jiang Province was secured, he left Shaoshu in charge of the province and told him: "Long ago Xiao He held Guanzhong, and the Han founder won his realm east of the mountains; Kou Xun held Henei, and Emperor Guangwu built his foundation in Hebei. Jiujiang today is what Henei was then; that is why I leave you here as my supporting wing. If the campaign ahead goes ill, the fault is mine; if the grain supply breaks, the fault is yours." Shaoshu wept as he bowed farewell, then oversaw grain shipments on the Yangzi and Xiang rivers until the army never wanted for supplies.
40
天監初，入為衛尉卿。 紹叔少孤貧，事母及祖母以孝聞，奉兄恭謹。 乃居顯要，糧賜所得及四方遺餉，悉歸之兄室。 忠於事上，所聞纖豪無隱。 每為帝言事，善則曰：「臣愚不及，此皆聖主之策。」 不善，則曰：「臣智慮淺短，以為其事當如是，殆以此誤朝廷也。 臣之罪深矣。」 帝甚親信之。 母憂去職。 紹叔有至性，帝常使人節其哭。 頃之，封營道縣侯，復為衛尉卿。 以營道縣戶凋弊，改封東興縣侯。
Early in the Tianjian reign he entered court as Chamberlain for Attendants. Shaoshu lost his father young and grew up in poverty, yet won renown for filial service to his mother and grandmother and for the reverent care he gave his elder brother. Once he rose to high office, every grain ration, stipend, and gift sent from across the realm went straight to his brother's house. Loyal in the emperor's service, he reported even the smallest thing he heard and hid nothing. Whenever he discussed policy with the emperor, if matters went well he would say, "I am too dull to deserve credit — these are all Your Majesty's own designs." If they went badly, he would say, "My judgment is shallow; I thought the matter should be handled this way, and I fear I have misled the court by it. My fault is grave indeed." The emperor trusted him deeply. He left office to observe mourning for his mother. Shaoshu's grief was so extreme that the emperor often sent attendants to urge him to restrain his weeping. Before long he was enfeoffed as Marquis of Yingdao and again appointed Chamberlain for Attendants. Because Yingdao's registered households were depleted and impoverished, his title was transferred to Marquis of Dongxing.
41
三年，魏圍合肥，紹叔以本號督眾軍鎮東關。 事平，復為衛尉。 既而義陽入魏，司州移鎮關南，以紹叔為司州刺史。 紹叔至，創立城隍，繕兵積穀，流人百姓安之。 性頗矜躁，以權勢自居，然能傾心接物，多所舉薦。 士亦以此歸之。
In the third year, when Wei besieged Hefei, Shaoshu retained his former rank and commanded the armies garrisoning Dong Pass. When the crisis passed, he again became Chamberlain for Attendants. Soon afterward Yiyang fell to Wei, the seat of Sizhou was moved south of the pass, and Shaoshu was appointed its inspector. On taking up his post, he built walls and moats, drilled troops, and stockpiled grain until refugees and local people alike were secure. He was somewhat proud and quick-tempered and carried himself as one in power, yet he received others with genuine openness and recommended many men of talent. Men of letters and office therefore rallied to him.
42
徵為左衛將軍，至家疾篤，詔於宅拜授，輿載還府。 中使醫藥，一日數至。 卒於府舍。 帝將臨其殯，紹叔宅巷陋，不容輿駕，乃止。 詔贈散騎常侍、護軍將軍，諡曰忠。 紹叔卒後，帝嘗潸然謂朝臣曰：「鄭紹叔立志忠烈，善必稱君，過則歸己，當今殆無其比。」 其見賞惜如此。 子貞嗣。
He was summoned as General of the Left Guard, but by the time he reached home his illness was severe; an edict appointed him there at his house, and he was carried by litter back to his official residence. Palace envoys brought medicine several times a day. He died in his official residence. The emperor was about to attend his lying-in-state, but Shaoshu's lane was too narrow and his house too humble for the imperial carriage, so the visit was abandoned. An edict posthumously granted him Regular Attendant-in-Ordinary and Protector-General of the Army, with the posthumous name Loyal. After Shaoshu's death, the emperor once said tearfully to the court, "Zheng Shaoshu devoted himself to fierce loyalty: credit for what went well he gave to his lord, blame for what went wrong he took on himself — there is scarcely anyone like him today." Such was the esteem in which he was held. His son Zhen inherited the title.
43
呂僧珍字元瑜，東平範人也。 世居廣陵，家甚寒微。 童兒時從師學，有相工曆觀諸生，指僧珍曰：「此兒有奇聲，封侯相也。」 事梁文帝為門下書佐。 身長七尺七寸，容貌甚偉，曹輩皆敬之。 文帝為豫州刺史，以為典簽，帶蒙令。 帝遷領軍將軍，補主簿。 祅賊唐宇之寇東陽，文帝率眾東討，使僧珍知行軍眾局事。 僧珍宅在建陽門東，自受命當行，每日由建陽門道，不過私室。 文帝益以此知之。 司空陳顯達出軍沔北，見而呼坐，謂曰：「卿有貴相，後當不見減，深自努力。」
Lu Sengzhen, courtesy name Yuanyu, was a native of Fan in Dongping commandery. His family had long lived at Guangling, in circumstances of great poverty. While still a boy in school, a physiognomist who examined the pupils pointed at Sengzhen and said, "This child has an extraordinary presence — the look of a man who will be enfeoffed." He entered the service of Emperor Wen of Liang as a clerical aide in the Gatehouse Secretariat. He stood seven feet seven inches tall, with a strikingly imposing bearing, and his colleagues in the office all held him in respect. When Emperor Wen served as inspector of Yuzhou, he made Sengzhen his chief clerk and concurrently magistrate of Meng. When the prince was promoted to General Who Leads the Army, Sengzhen was appointed his chief recorder. When the rebel Tang Yuzhi raided Dongyang, Emperor Wen led an eastern campaign and put Sengzhen in charge of army administration on the march. Sengzhen's home lay east of Jianyang Gate; from the day he received his orders until he marched, he passed daily along the Jianyang Gate road and never turned in at his own house. Emperor Wen came to know his character all the better for it. Minister of Works Chen Xianda, campaigning north of the Han, saw him, called him to sit, and said, "You have the bearing of a great man; your fortune will only rise — apply yourself with all your strength."
44
建武二年，魏軍南攻，五道並進。 武帝帥師援義陽，僧珍從在軍中。 時長沙宣武王為梁州刺史，魏軍圍守連月，義陽與雍州路斷。 武帝欲遣使至襄陽，求梁州問，眾莫敢行。 僧珍固請充使，即日單舸上道。 及至襄陽，督遣援軍，且獲宣武王書而反，武帝甚嘉之。
In the second year of the Jianwu era, Wei armies invaded from the south along five routes at once. Emperor Wu led troops to relieve Yiyang, and Sengzhen accompanied the army. At that time the Prince of Xuanwu of Changsha was inspector of Liang Province; Wei forces had besieged the city for months, and communications between Yiyang and Yong Province were severed. Emperor Wu wished to send an envoy to Xiangyang to obtain news from Liang Province, but no one dared make the journey. Sengzhen pressed to go as envoy and that same day set out alone in a single boat. At Xiangyang he organized and dispatched relief troops, secured a letter from the Prince of Xuanwu, and returned; Emperor Wu praised him highly.
45
東昏即位，司空徐孝嗣管朝政，欲要僧珍與共事。 僧珍知不久當敗，竟弗往。 武帝臨雍州，僧珍固求西歸，得補邔令。 及至，武帝命為中兵參軍，委以心膂。 僧珍陰養死士，歸之者甚眾。 武帝頗招武猛，士庶響從，會者萬餘人。 因命按行城西空地，將起數千間屋為止舍。 多伐材竹，沈于檀溪，積茅蓋若山阜，皆未之用。 僧珍獨悟其指，因私具櫓數百張。 及兵起，悉取檀溪材竹，裝為船艦，葺之以茅，並立辦。 眾軍將發，諸將須櫓甚多，僧珍乃出先所具，每船付二張，爭者乃息。
When Emperor Donghun came to the throne, Minister of Works Xu Xiaosi directed the government and tried to recruit Sengzhen to join him. Sengzhen knew their cause would soon collapse and never went. When Emperor Wu took charge of Yong Province, Sengzhen pressed to return west and was appointed magistrate of Bi. On his arrival the emperor appointed him military aide of the central corps and entrusted him as a man of his innermost counsel. Sengzhen secretly gathered men willing to die for the cause, and very many came to him. Emperor Wu also recruited bold fighters, and scholars and commoners alike rallied to him until more than ten thousand had assembled. He then ordered a survey of open ground west of the city, planning to build several thousand rooms as barracks. They cut great quantities of timber and bamboo, sank them in Tan Stream, and heaped up thatch roofing like hills — none of it yet put to use. Sengzhen alone grasped the plan and on his own secretly prepared several hundred oars. When the army rose, they took all the timber and bamboo from Tan Stream, fitted them into warships, and thatched them with straw — all finished at once. As the armies were about to march, the generals needed many oars; Sengzhen brought out those he had prepared, gave two to each boat, and the quarreling ceased.
46
武帝以僧珍為輔國將軍、步兵校尉，出入臥內，宣通意旨。 大軍次江甯，武帝使僧珍與王茂率精兵先登赤鼻邏。 其日，東昏將李居士來戰，僧珍等大破之，乃與茂進白板橋。 壘立，茂移頓越城，僧珍守白板。 李居士知城中眾少，直來薄城。 僧珍謂將士曰：「今力不敵，不可戰，亦勿遙射。 須至塹裏，當並力破之。」 俄而皆越塹，僧珍分人上城，自率馬步三百人出其後，內外齊擊，居士等應時奔散。 及武帝受禪，為冠軍將軍、前軍司馬，封平固縣侯。 再遷左衛將軍，加散騎常侍，入直秘書省，總知宿衛。
Emperor Wu appointed Sengzhen Supporter of the State General and Colonel of Footsoldiers; he moved in and out of the imperial bedchamber and conveyed the emperor's wishes. When the main army reached Jiangning, Emperor Wu sent Sengzhen and Wang Mao with elite troops to seize Chibi Watch first. That day Donghun's general Li Jushi gave battle; Sengzhen and the others routed him completely, then advanced with Wang Mao to Whiteboard Bridge. They threw up fortifications; Wang Mao moved his camp to Yuecheng while Sengzhen held Whiteboard. Li Jushi, knowing the garrison was thin, pressed straight against the walls. Sengzhen told his officers and men, "We are too weak to fight now, and you must not shoot from a distance either. Wait until they reach the moat inside the walls; then we shall strike together and break them." Before long they all crossed the moat. Sengzhen sent men up onto the walls while he himself led three hundred horse and foot around behind them; the defenders struck from within and without at once, and Li Jushi and his men broke and fled on the spot. When Emperor Wu accepted the abdication, Sengzhen was made Champion General and major of the forward army, and enfeoffed as Marquis of Pinggu. He was promoted again to General of the Left Guard, given the additional title Regular Attendant-in-Ordinary, assigned to duty in the Secretariat, and placed in overall charge of the palace guard.
47
天監四年，大舉北侵，自是僧珍晝直中書省，夜還秘書。 五年旋軍，以本官領太子中庶子。
In the fourth year of Tianjian a great northern campaign was launched; from then on Sengzhen stood day duty at the Central Secretariat and returned to the Secretariat at night. In the fifth year the army withdrew, and he retained his rank while also serving as head of the crown prince's palace staff.
48
僧珍去家久，表求拜墓，武帝欲榮以本州，乃拜南兗州刺史。 僧珍在任，見士大夫迎送過禮，平心率下，不私親戚。 兄弟皆在外堂，並不得坐。 指客位謂曰：「此兗州刺史坐，非呂僧珍床。」 及別室促膝如故。 從父兄子先以販蔥為業，僧珍至，乃棄業求州官。 僧珍曰：「吾荷國重恩，無以報效，汝等自有常分，豈可妄求叨越。 當速反蔥肆耳。」 僧珍舊宅在市北，前有督郵廨，鄉人咸勸徙廨以益其宅。 僧珍怒曰：「豈可徙官廨以益吾私宅乎。」 姊適於氏，住市西小屋臨路，與列肆雜。 僧珍常導從鹵簿到其宅，不以為恥。
Sengzhen had been away from home for years and memorialized to visit his family's tombs; the emperor wished to honor him with his native province and appointed him inspector of Southern Yanzhou. In office he saw that scholars and officials were lavishing excessive ceremony on his comings and goings; he governed with an even hand and showed no favoritism to relatives. His brothers were kept in the outer hall and were not permitted to sit in his official seat. Pointing to the guest seat he said, "This is where the inspector of Yanzhou sits — not Lu Sengzhen's couch." Yet in a private room they sat knee to knee as warmly as ever. A son of his father's elder cousin had made his living selling scallions; when Sengzhen arrived, the man gave up the trade and sought a post in the provincial administration. Sengzhen said, "I owe the state a heavy debt of grace and have no way to repay it; you each have your proper place in life — how can you seek to rise beyond it by improper means? Go back to your scallion shop at once." Sengzhen's old house stood north of the market, with the supervising clerk's office in front of it; townspeople urged him to move the office so his residence could be enlarged. Sengzhen said angrily, "How could I move a government office to enlarge my private house?" His elder sister had married into the Shi family and lived in a small house west of the market, fronting the road amid rows of shops. Sengzhen often led his full ceremonial escort to her door and felt no shame in it.
49
在州百日，徵為領軍將軍，直秘書省如先。 常以私車輦水灑御路。 僧珍既有大勳，任總心膂，性甚恭慎。 當直禁中，盛暑不敢解衣。 每侍御坐，屏氣鞠躬，對果食未嘗舉箸。 因醉後取一甘食，武帝笑謂曰：「卿今日便是大有所進。」 祿俸外，又月給錢十萬，其餘賜賚不絕于時。 初
After a hundred days in the province he was recalled as General Who Leads the Army and resumed his former duty in the Secretariat. He often used his private carriage to carry water and sprinkle the imperial roadway. Sengzhen had won great merit and held a position at the heart of power, yet his nature remained deeply respectful and cautious. On duty within the palace precincts, he would not loosen his garments even in the height of summer. Whenever he attended the emperor at table he held his breath and bowed low; even when fruit was set before him he never once raised his chopsticks. Once, after drinking, he took a sweet morsel; the emperor laughed and said, "You have made great progress today indeed." Beyond his salary he received a hundred thousand cash each month, and other gifts and grants never ceased. Earlier,
50
，武帝起兵，攻郢州久不下，咸欲走北。 僧珍獨不肯，累日乃見從。 一夜，僧珍忽頭痛壯熱，及明而顙骨益大，其骨法蓋有異焉。
when Emperor Wu raised his army and besieged Ying Province for a long time without success, everyone wanted to retreat north. Sengzhen alone refused; only after several days did the others yield to his view. One night Sengzhen was suddenly seized by fierce headache and fever; by dawn his forehead had swollen still further, as though the structure of his skull were somehow extraordinary.
51
十年，疾病，車駕臨幸，中使醫藥日有數四。 僧珍語親舊曰：「吾昔在蒙縣熱病髮黃，時必謂不濟。 主上見語，'卿有富貴相，必當不死'。 俄而果愈。 吾今已富貴，而復髮黃，所苦與昔政同，必不復起。」 竟如言卒于領軍官舍。 武帝即日臨殯，贈驃騎將軍、開府儀同三司，諡曰忠敬。 武帝痛惜之，言為流涕。 子淡嗣。
In the tenth year he fell ill; the emperor came in person to visit him, and palace envoys bearing medicine arrived four times a day or more. Sengzhen told his kin and old friends, "Long ago, when I was at Meng County, I had a fever and turned yellow, and everyone was sure I would not recover. The sovereign told me, 'You have the look of wealth and rank — you will surely not die.' Before long I did indeed recover. I am wealthy and honored now, yet I have turned yellow again; the sickness is exactly the same as before — I shall surely not rise again." In the end it happened just as he had foretold: he died at the headquarters residence of the General Who Leads the Army. Emperor Wu came that very day to attend his bier, posthumously enfeoffed him as General of Fast Cavalry with an office equal in ceremony to the Three Excellencies, and gave him the posthumous name Loyal and Respectful. The emperor grieved deeply for him and wept as he spoke. His son Dan succeeded to his line.
52
初，宋季雅罷南康郡，市宅居僧珍宅側。 僧珍問宅價，曰：「一千一百萬」。 怪其貴，季雅曰：「一百萬買宅，千萬買鄰。」 及僧珍生子，季雅往賀，署函曰：「錢一千」。 閽人少之，弗為通，強之乃進。 僧珍疑其故，親自發，乃金錢也。 遂言于帝，陳其才能，以為壯武將軍、衡州刺史。 將行，謂所親曰：「不可以負呂公。」 在州大有政績。
Earlier, when Song Jiya left office as administrator of Nankang commandery, he bought a house and settled next to Sengzhen's home. Sengzhen asked what he had paid for the house. Jiya said, "Eleven million." Sengzhen marveled at the price. Jiya said, "One million for the house, ten million for the neighbor." When Sengzhen had a son, Jiya came to offer congratulations and wrote on the gift envelope, "One thousand cash." The gatekeeper thought the sum too small and refused to announce him; only after Jiya insisted was he let in. Sengzhen suspected some hidden meaning and opened the packet himself: it was gold. He then spoke to the emperor, praised Jiya's ability, and had him appointed General Who Strengthens Martiality and inspector of Hengzhou. As he was about to leave, he told his intimates, "I must not disappoint Lord Lü." In the province he won a distinguished record of governance.
53
樂藹字蔚遠，南陽淯陽人，晉尚書令廣之六世孫也。 家居江陵。 方頤隆准，舉動醞藉。 其舅雍州刺史宗愨嘗陳器物，試諸甥侄。 藹時尚幼，而無所取，愨由此奇之。 又取史傳各一卷授藹等，使讀畢言所記。 藹略讀具舉，愨益善之。
Le Ai, courtesy name Weiyuan, was a native of Yuyang in Nanyang commandery and a sixth-generation descendant of Le Guang, who had served Jin as Minister of Works. His family lived at Jiangling. He had a square face and prominent nose, and carried himself with easy, polished grace. His maternal uncle Zong Que, inspector of Yongzhou, once laid out various objects to test his nephews. Ai was still a boy and took nothing; Que was struck by this and regarded him as exceptional. He also gave Ai and the others one volume each from the histories and had them read through and recite what they recalled. Ai skimmed the text and recited it all; Que thought still more highly of him.
54
齊豫章王嶷為荊州刺史，以藹為驃騎行參軍，領州主簿，參知州事。 嶷嘗問藹城隍風俗、山川險易，藹隨問立對，若案圖牒，嶷益重焉。 州人嫉之，或譖藹廨門如市，嶷遣覘之，方見藹閉合讀書。 後為大司馬記室。
When Prince Yuzhang of Qi, Xiao Yan, served as inspector of Jingzhou, he appointed Ai as a walking staff officer on the Fast Cavalry staff, chief recorder of the province, with a role in provincial administration. Yan once questioned him about fortifications, local customs, and the terrain's strengths and hazards; Ai answered each point at once, as if reading from maps and registers, and Yan came to esteem him all the more. Men in the province envied him; some slandered him, saying his office gate was as busy as a market. Yan sent someone to look and found Ai behind closed doors, reading. He later served as recorder to the Grand Marshal.
55
天監初，累遷御史中丞。 初，藹發江陵，無故於船得八車輻，如中丞健步避道者，至是果遷焉。 性公強，居憲台甚稱職。 時長沙宣武王將葬，而車府忽於庫失油絡，欲推主者。 藹曰：「昔晉武庫火，張華以為積油萬石必然，今庫若灰，非吏罪也。」 既而檢之，果有積灰，時稱其博物弘恕。
At the opening of the Tianjian era he rose by stages to Imperial Censor. When Ai first left Jiangling, he found for no apparent reason eight carriage-wheel hubs aboard his boat — an omen like a censor striding aside to let others pass — and now he was indeed promoted to that office. Upright and forceful by nature, he proved thoroughly suited to the Censorate. When Prince Xuanwu of Changsha was about to be buried, the Carriage Bureau suddenly found an oil-soaked funeral canopy missing from its storehouse and meant to fix blame on the keeper. Ai said, "When the Jin armory burned, Zhang Hua judged that ten thousand piculs of stored oil made fire inevitable. If this storehouse holds only ash, the clerks are not at fault." On inspection they indeed found accumulated ash, and men of the time praised his wide learning and generous judgment.
56
二年，出為平越中郎將、廣州刺史。 前刺史徐元瑜罷歸，遇始興人士反，逐內史崔睦舒，因掠元瑜財產。 元瑜走歸廣州，借兵於藹，托欲討賊，而實謀襲藹。 藹覺誅之。 尋卒於官。 藹姊適征士同郡劉虯，亦明識有禮訓。 藹為州，迎姊居官舍，三分祿秩以供焉，西土稱之。 子法才。
In the second year he was sent out as General of Pacifying Yue and inspector of Guangzhou. The outgoing inspector Xu Yuanyu was returning home when he ran into a revolt of local magnates in Shixing; they drove out the internal administrator Cui Mushu and looted Yuanyu's goods. Yuanyu fled to Guangzhou, borrowed troops from Ai on the pretext of suppressing the rebels, but in fact meant to strike at him by surprise. Ai saw through the plot and had him executed. Before long he died in office. Ai's elder sister had married the recluse Liu Qiu of the same commandery, a man likewise noted for discernment and moral cultivation. While he held the province he brought his sister to live in his official quarters and set aside a third of his salary for her support; the western regions praised him for it. His son was Facai.
57
法才字元備，幼與弟法藏俱有美名。 沈約見之曰：「法才實才子。」 為建康令，不受奉秩，比去將至百金，縣曹啟輸台庫。 武帝嘉其清節，曰：「居職若斯，可以為百城表矣」。 遷太舟卿，尋除南康內史。 恥以讓奉受名，辭不拜。 歷位少府卿，江夏太守，因被代，表求便道還鄉。 至家，割宅為寺，棲心物表。 尋卒。 法藏位征西錄事參軍，早亡。
Facai, courtesy name Yuanbei, won a fine reputation in youth, as did his younger brother Fazang. When Shen Yue met them he said, "Facai is a man of real talent." As magistrate of Jiankang he refused his salary; by the time he left office nearly a hundred in gold had accumulated, and the county office reported it for transfer to the imperial treasury. Emperor Wu praised his integrity and said, "To govern like this is to set an example for a hundred cities." He was promoted to Grand Mariner and soon appointed internal administrator of Nankang. He was ashamed to take the title while refusing the stipend that went with it and declined the appointment. He served in turn as vice director of the palace workshops and administrator of Jiangxia; when he was replaced he memorialized asking leave to return home by the most direct route. Once home he turned part of his house into a temple and gave his heart to life beyond the world. Before long he died. Fazang had held the post of recorder on the staff of the General Who Pacifies the West and died young.
58
子子雲，美容貌，善舉止。 位江陵令，元帝承制，除光祿卿。 魏克江陵，眾奔散，呼子云。 子雲曰：「終為虜矣，不如守以死節。」 遂僕地，卒於馬蹄之下。
His son Ziyun was handsome and graceful in manner. He served as magistrate of Jiangling; when Emperor Yuan assumed power under imperial commission, Ziyun was appointed Director of Imperial Entertainment. When Wei forces took Jiangling the people fled in panic, calling for Ziyun. Ziyun said, "We shall end as captives in any case; better to hold our ground and die with honor." He threw himself to the ground and was trampled to death under the horses' hooves.
59
論曰：張弘策惇厚慎密，首預帝圖，其位遇之隆，豈徒外戚云爾。 至如太清板蕩，親屬離貳，纘不能協和蕃嶽，克濟溫、陶之功； 而苟懷私怨，以成釁隙之首。 風格若此，而為梁之亂階，惜乎！ 庾域、鄭紹叔、呂僧珍等，或忠誠亮藎，或恪勤匪懈，締構王業，皆有力焉。 僧珍之肅恭禁省，紹叔之勤誠靡貳，蓋有人臣之節矣。 藹雖異帷幄之勳，亦贊雲雷之業，其當官任事，寵秩不亦宜乎。
The historians comment: Zhang Hongce was sincere, steadfast, careful, and discreet; he was among the first to share in the founding design, and his rank and favor were hardly owed to kinship alone. Yet when the Taiping years brought chaos and kin turned against kin, Zhang Zuan could neither rally the frontier princes nor bring to completion an achievement like that of Wen Jiao and Tao Kan; instead he nursed private resentments and became the first to open the breach of civil war. With a character such as this, to stand at the threshold of Liang's ruin — how regrettable! Yu Yu, Zheng Shaoshu, Lu Sengzhen, and the rest — some loyal and shining in devotion, others tireless in diligence — all lent real strength to the founding of the dynasty. Sengzhen's reverence within the palace precincts and Shaoshu's steadfast loyalty showed the true bearing of ministers. Le Ai, though he did not share their merit at the center of counsel, still aided the founding enterprise; that he held high office and received favor was surely no less than fitting.