Ming · Grand Secretary and Statesman

Zhang Siwei 張四維

First attested AD 1553; died AD 1582 to AD 1585

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Zhang Siwei was a Grand Secretary and Statesman.

PeriodMing
IdentityHistorical

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TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Ziwei 子維
Posthumous name Wenyi 文毅

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History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 13 passages
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張四維，字子維，蒲州人．嘉靖三十二年進士．改庶吉士，授編修．隆慶初，進右中允，直經筵，尋遷左諭德．四維倜儻有才智，明習時事．楊博、王崇古久歷邊陲，善談兵．四維，博同里而崇古姊子也，以故亦習知邊務．高拱深器之． Zhang Siwei, styled Ziwei, came from Puzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-second year of the Jiajing reign, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. At the start of the Longqing reign he rose to Right Middle Submitter and served at the Classics Lectern, then soon became Left Mentor. Siwei was bold and able, with a keen grasp of affairs of the day. Yang Bo and Wang Chonggu had long experience on the frontier and were adept at military discussion; Siwei was Bo's townsman and Chonggu's nephew by marriage, and so he too grew familiar with border affairs. Gao Gong held him in high regard.
拱掌吏部，超擢翰林學士．甫兩月，拜吏部右侍郎．俺答封貢議起，朝右持不決．四維為交關於拱，款事遂成．拱益才四維，四維亦干進不已，朝士頗有疾之者．御史郜永春視鹽河東，言鹽法之壞由勢要橫行，大商專利，指四維、崇古為勢要，四維父、崇古弟為大商．四維奏辨，因乞去．拱力護之，溫詔慰留焉． When Gao Gong headed the Ministry of Personnel, he promoted Siwei straight to Hanlin Academician; within two months Siwei was made Right Vice Minister of Personnel. Debate over Altan's enfeoffment and tribute left the court divided, but Siwei acted as Gao's go-between and the peace settlement went through. Gao prized him all the more, while Siwei never stopped pressing for advancement, and many at court came to dislike him. Censor Gao Yongchun, inspecting the salt administration in Hedong, blamed the ruin of the salt laws on powerful men acting lawlessly and great merchants monopolizing profit; he named Siwei and Chonggu as the powerful men and Siwei's father and Chonggu's brother as the great merchants. Siwei memorialized in his defense and asked to leave office. Gao defended him vigorously, and a reassuring edict kept him in post.
初，趙貞吉去位，拱欲援四維入閣，而殷士儋夤緣得之，諸人遂相搆．及御史趙應龍劾士儋，士儋未去，言路復有劾四維者．四維已進左侍郎，不得已引去，無何士儋亦去．東宮出閤，召四維充侍班官．給事中曹大埜言四維賄拱得召，四維馳疏辨，求罷．帝不許，趣入朝．未至而穆宗崩，拱罷政，張居正當國，復移疾歸． When Zhao Zhenji left office, Gao Gong wanted to bring Siwei into the Grand Secretariat, but Yin Shidan won the post through patronage, and the two factions turned on each other. After Censor Zhao Yinglong impeached Shidan—who had not yet left office—the censorate also moved against Siwei. Siwei, already promoted to Left Vice Minister, had no choice but to withdraw; Shidan soon followed. When the crown prince left seclusion, Siwei was summoned as a court attendant. Supervising Secretary Cao Dayan charged that Siwei had bribed Gao for the appointment; Siwei sent an urgent memorial in reply and asked to be dismissed. The emperor refused and ordered him to come to court. Before he arrived, Emperor Muzong died, Gao Gong fell from power, Zhang Juzheng took over the government, and Siwei again pleaded illness and went home.
四維家素封，歲時餽問居正不絕．武清伯李偉，慈聖太后父也，故籍山西，四維結為援．萬曆二年復召掌詹事府．明年三月，居正請增置閣臣，引薦四維，馮保亦與善，遂以禮部尚書兼東閣大學士入贊機務．當是時，政事一決居正．居正無所推讓，視同列蔑如也．四維由居正進，謹事之，不敢相可否，隨其後，拜賜進官而已．居正卒，四維始當國．累加至少師、吏部尚書、中極殿大學士． The Siwei family had long been wealthy, and year round they kept up gifts and courtesies to Zhang Juzheng. Li Wei, the Military Noble of Wuqing and father of the Empress Dowager Cisheng, was originally registered in Shanxi; Siwei cultivated him as a backer. In the second year of Wanli he was recalled to head the Household of the Heir Apparent. The following March, Juzheng asked to add Grand Secretaries and recommended Siwei; Feng Bao also favored him, and Siwei entered the secretariat as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. At that time all policy flowed from Juzheng alone. He made no show of deference and treated his colleagues with open contempt. Siwei had risen through Juzheng and served him carefully, never daring to disagree; he simply followed along, accepting honors and promotions as they came. Only after Juzheng's death did Siwei take charge of the government, rising eventually to Junior Preceptor, Minister of Personnel, and Grand Secretary of the Central Peak Hall.
初，四維曲事居正，積不能堪，擬旨不盡如居正意，居正亦漸惡之．既得政，知中外積苦居正，欲大收人心．會皇子生，頒詔天下，疏言：「今法紀修明，海宇寧謐，足稱治平．而文武諸臣，不達朝廷勵精本意，務為促急煩碎，致徵斂無藝，政令乖舛，中外囂然，喪其樂生之心．誠宜及此大慶，蕩滌煩苛，弘敷惠澤，俾四海烝黎，咸戴帝德，此固人心培國脈之要術也．」帝嘉納之．自是，朝政稍變，言路亦發舒，詆居正時事． Siwei had long endured humbling himself before Juzheng; the drafts he prepared did not always suit Juzheng's mind, and Juzheng in turn grew to dislike him. Once in power, knowing how deeply the court and country had resented Juzheng, he sought to win people back on a broad scale. When a prince was born and an edict went out to the empire, he submitted a memorial: 'Law and discipline are now clear, the realm is at peace, and the age may be called well governed. Yet civil and military officials, missing the court's intent to govern with vigor, have turned urgent, harsh, and petty; levies know no bounds, orders go awry, and uproar inside and outside the court has killed the people's will to live in peace. On this great occasion we should sweep away vexing severity, spread broad grace, and let all under heaven cherish the emperor's virtue—this is how to nourish popular sentiment and strengthen the state's lifeline.' The emperor praised and accepted it. From then on court policy shifted somewhat, the censorate grew bolder, and denunciations of Juzheng's era multiplied.
於是居正黨大懼．王篆、曾省吾輩，厚結申時行以為助．而馮保欲因兩宮徽號封己為伯，惡四維持之．篆、省吾知之，厚賄保，數短四維； Juzheng's faction was now deeply alarmed. Wang Zhuan, Zeng Shengwu, and others cultivated Shen Shixing as an ally. Feng Bao, hoping to use the posthumous titles of the two palaces to secure an earldom for himself, resented Siwei's opposition. Zhuan and Shengwu learned of this, bribed Bao heavily, and repeatedly slandered Siwei;
而使所善御史曹一夔劾吏部尚書王國光媚四維，拔其中表弟王謙為吏部主事．時行遂擬旨罷國光，並謫謙．四維以帝慰留，復起視事．命甫下，御史張問達復劾四維．四維窘，求保心腹徐爵、張大受賄保，保意稍解．時行乃謫問達於外，以安四維．四維以時行與謀也，卒銜之．已而中官張誠譖保，保眷大衰，四維乃授意門生李植輩發保奸狀．保及篆、省吾皆逐，朝事一大變． They set up Censor Cao Yikui to impeach Minister of Personnel Wang Guoguang for fawning on Siwei and promoting Wang Qian, Guoguang's cousin by marriage, to a principal clerk in the Ministry. Shixing drafted an edict removing Guoguang and demoting Qian. The emperor had reassured Siwei and kept him in office, so he resumed his duties; but the order had barely gone out when Censor Zhang Wenda attacked Siwei again. Cornered, Siwei turned to Bao's confidants Xu Jue and Zhang Dashou and bribed Bao, who softened somewhat. Shixing then sent Wenda away to an outside post to calm Siwei. Siwei believed Shixing had been in on the scheme and never forgave him. Before long the eunuch Zhang Cheng slandered Bao; Bao's influence collapsed, and Siwei prompted his disciples Li Zhi and others to expose Bao's crimes. Bao, Zhuan, and Shengwu were all driven out, and court affairs shifted dramatically.
於是四維稍汲引海內正人為居正所沉抑者．雖未即盡登用，然力反前事，時望頗屬焉．雲南貢金後期，帝欲罪守土官，又詔取雲南舊貯礦銀二十萬，皆以四維言而止．尋以父喪歸．服將闋，卒．贈太師，諡文毅． Siwei then began to bring forward upright men throughout the realm whom Juzheng had suppressed. Not all were appointed at once, but he vigorously reversed earlier policies, and public hopes settled on him. When Yunnan's tribute gold arrived late, the emperor wanted to punish the local officials; when he also ordered two hundred thousand taels of stored mining silver taken from Yunnan, Siwei's remonstrance stopped both measures. He soon went home for his father's mourning. Before mourning ended, he died. He was posthumously made Grand Preceptor with the posthumous name Wenyi.
六年三月，居正將歸葬父．念閣臣在鄉里者，高拱與己有深隙，殷士儋多奧援，或乘間以出，惟徐階老易與，擬薦之自代．已遣使報階，既念階前輩，己還，當位其下，乃請增置閣臣．帝即令居正推擇，遂以人望薦自強及所厚申時行．詔加自強太子太保兼文淵閣大學士，與時行並參機務．自強初以救吳中行、趙用賢忤居正，自分不敢望，及制下，人更以是多居正．時呂調陽、張四維先在閣．調陽衰，數寢疾不出，小事四維代擬旨，大事則馳報居正於江陵，聽其裁決．自強雖持正，亦不能有為，守位而已． In the third month of the sixth year Zhang Juzheng was about to go home to bury his father. He thought of Grand Secretaries still in their home districts: Gao Gong bore him a deep grudge, Yin Shidan had many powerful backers and might seize an opening, and only the aged Xu Jie seemed manageable—he planned to recommend Jie as his stand-in. He had already sent a messenger to Jie, but then reflected that Jie was his senior and that on returning he would have to serve beneath him, so he asked instead to add Grand Secretaries. The emperor ordered Juzheng to choose men; he recommended Ziqiang and his own protégé Shen Shixing on grounds of public esteem. An edict made Ziqiang Grand Guardian of the Crown Prince and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuange, to join Shixing in state deliberations. Ziqiang had offended Juzheng by pleading for Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian and had not dared hope for appointment; when the order came, people praised Juzheng all the more for magnanimity. Lü Diaoyang and Zhang Siwei were already in the secretariat. Diaoyang was failing, often ill and absent; Siwei drafted minor edicts in his place, while major matters were rushed to Juzheng at Jiangling for decision. Though upright, Ziqiang could accomplish nothing and merely held his seat.