Ming · Official

Shen Li 沈鯉

Attested AD 1601 - AD 1606

Passages: 3
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Shen Li was an official.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 1601 to AD 1606 Activity described in s0047
Dated from the passage context · History of Ming 219, passage 47

Events and relationships

Grand secretary who joined Zhu Geng and Shen Yiguan in memorials against mining taxes.
Biographical event · Participant
Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 47

References in the histories

History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 3 passages

二十九年秋，趙志臯卒，沈一貫獨當國，請增置閣臣．帝素慮大臣植黨，欲用林居及久廢者．詔賡以故官兼東閣大學士參預機務，遣行人召之．再辭，不允．明年四月詣闕，即捐一歲俸助殿工．其秋極陳礦稅之害，帝不能用．既而與一貫及沈鯉共獻守成、遣使、權宜三論，大指為礦稅發，賡手筆也．賡於己邸門獲妖書，而書辭誣賡動搖國本，大懼．立以疏聞，乞避位．帝慰諭有加．一貫倡羣小窮治不已．賡在告，再貽書一貫，請速具獄無株連，事乃得解． In the autumn of the twenty-ninth year Zhao Zhigao died; Shen Yiguan alone held the government and asked to add Grand Secretaries. The emperor had long feared faction among grand ministers and wished to use men in retirement and those long out of office. An edict appointed Geng to his former post as Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion; a courier was sent to summon him. He declined twice and was refused. The next April he came to court and immediately donated one year's salary to aid hall construction. That autumn he strongly set forth the harm of mining taxes; the emperor could not adopt it. Then together with Yiguan and Shen Li he submitted the three treatises On Maintaining the Achievement, On Dispatching Envoys, and On Expedient Measures—prompted chiefly by mining taxes and written in Geng's own hand. Geng found a sorcerous book at his own gate slandering him as shaking the foundation of the state and was greatly afraid; he immediately reported it and asked to step aside. The emperor comforted him warmly. Yiguan led his petty partisans in pressing the investigation without end. Geng, on leave, wrote Yiguan again asking that the case be quickly concluded without implicating others, and the affair was resolved.

三十三年大計京官．帝留被察者錢夢臯輩，及南京察疏上，亦欲有所留．賡力陳不可，曰：「北察之留，旨從中出，人猶咎臣等．今若出自票擬，則二百餘年大典，自臣壞之，死不敢奉詔．」言官劾溫純及鯉，中使傳帝意欲去純．賡言大臣去國必採公論，豈可於劾疏報允．帝下南察疏，而純竟去．其冬，工部請營三殿．時方濬河、繕城，賡力請俟之異日．帝皆納之，不果行． In the thirty-third year came the great review of capital officials. The emperor retained those reviewed, including Qian Menggao; when the Nanjing review memorial came up he also wished to retain some. Geng strongly objected: 'When the northern review retentions came by edict from the inner court, people still blamed us. If retention now comes from our draft edicts, a great institution of more than two hundred years will be broken by me—I dare not obey even on pain of death.' Censorate officials impeached Wen Chun and Shen Li; a eunuch conveyed the emperor's wish to remove Chun. Geng said grand ministers leaving office must follow public opinion; how could dismissal be granted on an impeachment memorial? The emperor issued the Nanjing review memorial, and Chun left in the end. That winter the Ministry of Works asked to rebuild the three halls; with river dredging and wall repair underway, Geng strongly asked that this wait. The emperor accepted and did not carry it out.

三十四年，一貫、鯉去位，賡獨當國，年七十有二矣．朝政日弛，中外解體．賡疏揭月數上，十不能一下．御史宋燾首諷切賡，給事中汪若霖繼之．賡緣二人言，力請帝更新庶政，於增閣臣、補大僚、充言路三事語尤切．帝優詔答之而不行．賡乃素服詣文華門懇請，終不得命．賡以老，屢引疾，閣中空無人．帝諭簡閣臣，而廷臣慮帝出中旨如往年趙志臯、張位故事．賡力疾請付廷推，乃用于慎行、李廷機、葉向高，而召王錫爵於家，以為首輔．給事中王元翰、胡忻以廷機之用，賡實主之，疏詆廷機並侵賡．賡疏辭，帝為切責言者．既而姜士昌及燾被謫，言路謂出賡意，益不平．禮部主事鄭振先遂劾賡十二大罪，且言賡與一貫、錫爵為過去、見在、未來三身．帝怒，貶振先三秩．俄以言官論救，再貶二秩． In the thirty-fourth year Yiguan and Shen Li left office; Geng alone held the government at seventy-two. Court governance slackened daily and the state fell apart inside and out. Geng submitted memorials month after month; nine out of ten received no response. Censor Song Tao was first to criticize him sharply; Supervising Secretary Wang Ruolin followed. On their words Geng strongly asked the emperor to renew governance, speaking with especial force on adding Grand Secretaries, filling high posts, and staffing the censorate. The emperor replied favorably but did not act. Geng then went in plain dress to the Gate of Literary Glory to plead and received no order. Old and repeatedly pleading illness, he left the Grand Secretariat empty. The emperor ordered selection of Grand Secretaries, but court officials feared edicts from the inner court as in the days of Zhao Zhigao and Zhang Wei. Geng, forcing himself despite illness, asked that selection be entrusted to court recommendation; Yu Shenxing, Li Tingji, and Ye Xianggao were appointed, and Wang Xijue was recalled from home as chief secretary. Supervising Secretaries Wang Yuanhan and Hu Xin, saying Tingji's appointment was Geng's doing, denounced Tingji and attacked Geng. Geng declined; the emperor sharply rebuked the censorate. Jiang Shichang and Song Tao were then demoted; the censorate believed this came from Geng and grew more resentful. Rites Director Zheng Zhenxian impeached Geng on twelve major counts and said Geng with Yiguan and Xijue formed the three bodies of past, present, and future. The emperor demoted Zhenxian three ranks; when censorate officials pleaded for him he was demoted two ranks more.