Ming · Grand Secretary and Scholar-Official

Xu Guo 許國

Attested AD 1565 - AD 1591

Passages
10
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Xu Guo was a Grand Secretary and Scholar-Official.

PeriodMing
IdentityHistorical

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Weizhen 維楨
Posthumous name Wenmu 文穆

Life and dates

Death

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Career and standing

  • Held
    Progression Hanlin bachelor, Reviser, Right Subsidy to the Heir Apparent, Daily Lecturer, Vice Minister of Rites, Vice Minister of Personnel
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 22
  • Held
    Progression Minister of Rites, Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, Grand Guardian of the Crown Prince, Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 23
  • Posthumous Honors Grand Guardian; posthumous name Wenmu
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 28

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

  • Stubborn and lacking a grand minister’s breadth, though later praised as incorruptible.
    Mode historian-narration
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 24

References in the histories

10 passages

History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 10 passages
Open chapter
許國，字維楨，歙縣人．舉鄉試第一，登嘉靖四十四年進士．改庶吉士，授檢討．神宗為太子出閤，兼校書．及即位，進右贊善，充日講官．歷禮部左、右侍郎，改吏部，掌詹事府． Xu Guo, styled Weizhen, came from She County. He ranked first in the provincial examination and passed the jinshi in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, entered the Hanlin Academy, and was appointed reviser. When the future Shenzong emperor left seclusion as crown prince, Guo served as collator. After the emperor's accession he became Right Subsidy to the Heir Apparent and Daily Lecturer. He served as Left and Right Vice Minister of Rites, transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, and headed the Household of the Heir Apparent.
十一年四月以禮部尚書兼東閣大學士入參機務．國與首輔申時行善．以丁此呂事與言者相攻，語侵吳中行、趙用賢，由是物議沸然．已而御史陳性學復摭前事劾國，時行右國，請薄罰性學．國再疏求去，力攻言者．帝命鴻臚宣諭，始起視事．南京給事中伍可受復劾國，帝為謫可受官．國復三疏乞休，語憤激，帝不允．性學旋出為廣東僉事．先是，帝考卜壽宮，加國太子太保，改文淵閣，以雲南功進太子太傅．國以父母未葬，乞歸襄事．帝不允，命其子代．御史馬象乾以劾中官張鯨獲罪，國懇救．帝為霽威受之． In the fourth month of the eleventh year he entered the secretariat as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. Guo was on good terms with Chief Grand Secretary Shen Shixing. In the Ding Cilü affair he clashed with the censorate, and his language touched Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian; public opinion boiled over. Censor Chen Xingxue then dredged up old charges against Guo; Shixing sided with Guo and asked that Xingxue be lightly punished. Guo again asked to leave and fiercely attacked the censorate. The emperor sent the Director of Ceremonies to reassure him, and only then did Guo resume office. Nanjing Supervising Secretary Wu Keshou attacked Guo again; the emperor demoted Keshou. Guo submitted three more memorials asking to retire in agitated language; the emperor refused. Xingxue was soon sent to Guangdong as Assistant Surveillance Commissioner. Earlier, when the emperor divined his tomb site, Guo was made Grand Guardian of the Crown Prince and moved to the Wenyuange; for Yunnan service he rose to Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince. Guo asked to go home to bury his parents; the emperor refused and sent his son in his place. Censor Ma Xiangqian was punished for impeaching the eunuch Zhang Jing; Guo pleaded earnestly for him, and the emperor relented.
十七年，進士薛敷教劾吳時來，南京御史王麟趾、黃仁榮疏論臺規，辭皆侵國．國憤，連疏力詆，幷及主事饒伸．伸方攻大學士王錫爵，公議益不直國．國性木強，遇事輒發．數與言者為難，無大臣度，以故士論不附． In the seventeenth year the new jinshi Xue Fujiao impeached Wu Shilai, and Nanjing Censors Wang Linzhi and Huang Renrong submitted memorials on censorate regulations that all touched Guo. Enraged, Guo answered with successive attacks, also dragging in Director Rao Shen. Shen was then attacking Grand Secretary Wang Xijue, and public opinion turned further against Guo. Stubborn by nature, Guo burst out whenever provoked. He repeatedly clashed with the censorate and lacked a grand minister's breadth, and scholarly opinion did not support him.
明年秋，火落赤犯臨洮、鞏昌，西陲震動，帝召對輔臣暖閣．時行言款貢足恃，國謂渝盟犯順，桀驁已極，宜一大創之，不可復羈縻．帝心然國言，而時行為政不能奪．無何，給事中任讓論國庸鄙．國疏辨，帝奪讓俸．國、時行初無嫌．而時行適為國門生萬國欽所論，讓則時行門生也，故為其師報復云．福建守臣報日本結琉球入寇，國因言：「今四裔交犯，而中外小臣爭務攻擊，致大臣紛紛求去，誰復為國家任事者？ The next autumn Huoluochi invaded Lintao and Gongchang; the western frontier shook, and the emperor summoned the assisting ministers to the warm pavilion. Shixing said tribute and peace could be relied on; Guo argued they had broken the alliance and rebelled, were utterly arrogant, and ought to be struck hard—not indulged again. The emperor inwardly agreed with Guo, but Shixing held power and could not be overborne. Before long Supervising Secretary Ren Rang called Guo shallow and base; Guo defended himself, and the emperor stripped Rang of salary. At first Guo and Shixing had no quarrel, but Shixing had just been attacked by Guo's disciple Wan Guoqin, and Rang was Shixing's disciple—so it was said he avenged his teacher. A Fujian official reported that Japan had joined Ryukyu in raiding; Guo said: 'Now the four quarters are all in violation, yet petty officials inside and outside the court compete in attack and denunciation, driving grand ministers to resign one after another—who will still serve the state?
廷臣爭請冊立，得旨二十年春舉行．十九年秋，工部郎張有德以儀注請，帝怒奪俸．時行適在告，國與王家屏慮事中變，欲因而就之，引前旨力請．帝果不悅，責大臣不當與小臣比．國不自安，遂求去．疏五上，乃賜敕馳傳歸．踰一日，時行亦罷，[一]而冊立竟停．人謂時行以論劾去，國以爭執去，為二相優劣焉． Court officials repeatedly pleaded for investiture of the heir and received an edict fixing it for the spring of the twentieth year. In the autumn of the nineteenth year Bureau Director Zhang Youde of the Ministry of Works requested the ritual protocol; the emperor, enraged, stripped him of salary. Shixing happened to be on leave; Guo and Wang Jiaping feared a change of course and tried to seize the moment, citing the earlier edict to press hard. The emperor was displeased and rebuked the grand ministers for acting like petty officials. Guo felt uneasy and asked to leave; after five memorials he was sent home by fast courier with an edict. One day later Shixing was also dismissed, [1] and investiture was halted after all. People said Shixing left under impeachment while Guo left over dispute—a judgment on which of the two chancellors was the better man.