Ming · Chief Grand Secretary and Scholar-Official

Zhu Geng 朱賡

First attested AD 1568; died AD 1608

Passages
7
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Zhu Geng was a Chief Grand Secretary and Scholar-Official.

PeriodMing
IdentityHistorical

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Shaoqin 少欽
Posthumous name Wenyi 文懿

Life and dates

Death

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Career and standing

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

Works and attributed material

  • Works On Maintaining the Achievement, On Dispatching Envoys, On Expedient Measures · Relation Principal author
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 47

Events and relationships

  • Defended the integrity of the official review system and delayed costly palace construction.
    Biographical event · Participant
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 48
  • Opposed mining taxes, coauthored three policy treatises, and intervened to prevent indiscriminate prosecution in the sorcerous-book case.
    Biographical event · Participant
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 47
  • Passed the jinshi in 1568 and served as a lecturer, rites minister, grand secretary, and chief grand secretary until his death in office in 1608.
    Biographical event · Participant
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 1
  • Pressed the emperor to complete censorate appointments and died in office after sustained attacks.
    Biographical event · Participant
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 50
  • Type colleagues-and-townsmen · Person Shen Yiguan (沈一貫)
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 51

Assessments and attributes

  • Sober and cautious and guilty of no major fault, though criticized for his associations.
    Mode historian-narration
    Directly stated · History of Ming 219, passage 51

References in the histories

History of Ming, Chapter 219Volume 219 Biographies 107: Zhang Siwei, Ma Ziqiang, Xu Guo, Zhao Zhigao, Zhang Wei, Zhu Geng · 7 passages
Open chapter
朱賡，字少欽，浙江山陰人．父公節，泰州知州．兄應，刑部主事．賡登隆慶二年進士，改庶吉士，授編修．萬曆六年以侍讀為日講官．宮中方興土木，治苑囿．賡因講宋史，極言「花石綱」之害，帝為悚然．歷禮部左、右侍郎．帝營壽宮於大峪山，命賡往視．中官示帝意欲倣永陵制，賡言：「昭陵在望，制過之，非所安．」疏入，久不下．已，竟如其言．累官禮部尚書，遭繼母喪去． Zhu Geng, styled Shaoqin, came from Shanyin in Zhejiang. His father Gongjie was prefect of Taizhou; his elder brother Ying was a director in the Ministry of Justice. Geng passed the jinshi in the second year of Longqing, entered the Hanlin Academy, and was appointed compiler. In the sixth year of Wanli he served as Daily Lecturer. The palace was then undertaking construction and tending gardens; lecturing on Song history, Geng spoke at length of the harm of the Flower and Stone Convoys, and the emperor was startled. He served as Left and Right Vice Minister of Rites. When the emperor was building his tomb at Dayu Mountain, he ordered Geng to inspect the site. A eunuch conveyed the emperor's wish to follow the scale of the Yongling tomb; Geng said: 'The Zhaoling tomb is in view; to exceed it in scale would be unsettling.' The memorial was submitted but long went unanswered; in the end it was done as he said. He rose to Minister of Rites and left on account of his stepmother's death.
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.
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.