Overview
Wang Ruolin was an official.
Life and dates
Attested activity
References in the histories
No matching passages.
History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 2 passages
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.
先，考選科道，吏部擬上七十八人．候命踰年，不下，賡連疏趣之．三十六年秋，命始下．諸人列言路，方欲見風采，而給事中若霖先嘗忤賡，及是見黜，適當賡病起入直時．切謂賡修郤，攻訐四起，先後疏論至五十餘人．給事中喻安性者，賡里人，為賡上疏言：「今日政權不由內閣，盡移於司禮．」言者遂交章劾安性，復侵賡．是時賡已寢疾，乞休疏二十餘上．言者慮其復起，攻不已，而賡以十一月卒於官．遺疏陳時政，語極悲切．賡先加少保兼太子太保，進吏部尚書、文華殿大學士．及卒，贈太保，諡文懿．御史彭端吾復疏詆賡，給事中胡忻請停其贈諡，帝不聽．
Earlier, in the censorate selection examination the Ministry of Personnel proposed seventy-eight men. They waited more than a year for orders; Geng submitted successive memorials urging action. In the autumn of the thirty-sixth year the orders came down. The men took their places in the censorate and were just about to show their mettle when Supervising Secretary Ruolin, who had earlier offended Geng, was dismissed just as Geng was rising from illness to attend duty. They sharply accused Geng of settling old scores; attacks erupted on every side, and more than fifty memorials criticized him in succession. Supervising Secretary Yu Anxing, Geng's townsman, submitted a memorial for him saying: 'Today governmental power does not lie with the Grand Secretariat but has entirely shifted to the Directorate of Ceremonial.' Censorate officials then impeached Anxing in succession and again attacked Geng. By then Geng was bedridden; he had submitted more than twenty retirement memorials. Censorate officials feared he would rise again and attacked without cease, while Geng died in office in the eleventh month. His final memorial on current policy was utterly grief-stricken. He had earlier been made Junior Guardian and Grand Guardian of the Crown Prince and promoted to Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall. When he died he was posthumously made Grand Guardian with the posthumous name Wenyi. Censor Peng Duanwu again denounced him; Supervising Secretary Hu Xin asked that his posthumous honors be halted; the emperor refused.