1
=彭而述=彭而述，字子籛，河南鄧州人。 明崇禎進士，官陽曲知縣，母憂歸。 順治初，英親王徇湖廣，薦為提學僉事，遷永州道參議。 孔有德定湖南，薦而述授貴州巡撫，予兵三千以行。 次靖州，降將陳友龍叛，圍州城，而述夜開西門出，營山下，選勁騎乘霧衝陣，賊潰且走，副將賀進才戰死。 城兵大噪，欲與友龍合，而述拔眾退守寶慶，告有德益師，與賊相持紫陽河上。 永州陷，劾免官。
Peng Ershu, courtesy name Ziliu, came from Dengzhou in Henan. He had passed the jinshi examination in the Chongzhen era of the Ming and served as magistrate of Yangqu; when his mother died, he left office to mourn. In the early Shunzhi period, when the Prince of Ying led troops through Huguang, Peng was recommended as educational intendant and soon promoted to assistant administrator of Yongzhou Circuit. After Kong Youde pacified Hunan, he had Ershu appointed governor of Guizhou and supplied him with three thousand soldiers for the expedition. Near Jingzhou the surrendered general Chen Youlong rose in revolt and besieged the city. Ershu slipped out through the west gate by night, made camp below the hills, and sent picked cavalry charging through the mist; the rebels broke and fled, though Vice-General He Jincai was killed in the fighting. The city garrison clamored to join Chen Youlong, but Ershu pulled his men back to hold Baqing, asked Youde for reinforcements, and fought the enemy to a standstill on the Ziyang River. After Yongzhou fell he was impeached and removed from office.
2
吳三桂徵水西土司安坤，而述謀曰：「烏蒙、烏撒、鎮雄、東川四府與水西為脣齒，土司隴安籓又與安氏婚媾。 今四府雖名內附，狼子野心，勢必顧惜其種類。 以水西之強，而安籓與四府附之，安坤未易制也。 莫如先定四府，馘安籓，然後西南可無患。」 三桂用其策，誅安坤。 遷廣西右布政使。 三桂薦為雲南左布政使，而述乞歸，三桂留之，會有詔召，遂行，出會城三十里，一夕無疾卒。
When Wu Sangui marched against An Kun, the Shuixi chieftain, Ershu counseled him: "Wumeng, Wusa, Zhenxiong, and Dongchuan stand with Shuixi like lip and teeth, and the chieftain Long Anfan is tied to the An family by marriage as well. Although those four prefectures now profess allegiance, their hearts are wolfish; they are bound to protect their own people. Shuixi is strong, and with Anfan and the four prefectures behind it, An Kun will not be easily brought to heel. Better to secure the four prefectures first and eliminate Anfan; only then can the southwest be kept free of trouble." Sangui took his advice and put An Kun to death. He was promoted to Right Administrative Commissioner of Guangxi. Sangui recommended him for Left Administrative Commissioner of Yunnan. Ershu asked to retire, but Sangui kept him until an imperial summons came; he then departed, and thirty li outside the capital he died suddenly in the night without any known illness.
3
=陸振芬=陸振芬，字令遠，江南華亭人。 順治六年進士。 時兩粵未平，廷議破格用人，即新進士中遴才除道府。 振芬授廣東惠潮道副使，從師南征。 是冬，克南雄。 七年春，度大庾嶺，次韶州。 韶州以南望風降，進規會城，既下，振芬與總兵郭虎率師赴惠州，剿撫歸善、海豐諸寨。 將至，諸寨窺兵寡，出拒。 振芬選精銳數百人繞出其旁擊之，獲一隊，諸寨皆懼。 於是諭以禍福，降者踵至。 至海豐，守者抗不下。 振芬與虎駐五坡驛，他將自羊氾嶺會師合攻之，遂克其城。 碣石衛亦降。
Lu Zhenfen, courtesy name Lingyuan, came from Huating in Jiangnan. He passed the jinshi examination in the sixth year of Shunzhi. The two Guang provinces were still unsettled, and the court decided to break with precedent by choosing talented new jinshi for circuit and prefectural appointments. Zhenfen was made vice commissioner of Huichao Circuit in Guangdong and marched south with the expeditionary force. That winter Nanxiong was taken. In the spring of the seventh year they crossed the Dayu Mountains and encamped at Shaozhou. Everything south of Shaozhou surrendered at the first approach; after the provincial capital fell, Zhenfen and Commander Guo Hu took forces to Huizhou to subdue and win over the stockades of Guishan, Haifeng, and the rest. As they drew near, the stockades, seeing how few troops they had, sallied out to fight. Zhenfen picked several hundred crack troops to swing around and hit them from the flank, took one whole company prisoner, and every stockade was shaken. He then explained the consequences they faced, and surrendering parties came in one after another. At Haifeng the defenders held out and the place would not fall. Zhenfen and Hu camped at Wupo Post while other commanders converged from Yangfan Ridge for a joint attack, and the city was finally taken. Jieshi Guard surrendered as well.
4
八年，抵潮州，上官，聯結諸鎮，檢制土官，招集流亡，簡省徭役，民始有更生之樂。 亂甫定，用法嚴，郡縣輒濫禁無辜。 振芬與屬吏約，期五十日清庶獄，囹圄為空。 九年，會師復平遠，總兵郝尚久故降將，陰持兩端，聞將改授水師副總兵，結山海諸寇僭立帥府。 振芬牒大吏策弭變，不應。 十年春，尚久自署新泰侯，舉兵圍道署。 振芬諭以大義，不從，使告變。 秋，固山兵至，振芬約為內應，引外兵入，誅尚久。 事平，引疾歸里。 家居四十年乃卒。
In the eighth year he reached Chaozhou and took up his post, coordinated the garrisons, kept native officials in check, brought back refugees, and cut back corvée burdens, until the people finally felt life returning. With the rebellion only just ended, the law was enforced harshly and prefectures and counties often jailed innocent people at will. Zhenfen pledged to his staff that they would clear the backlog of ordinary cases within fifty days, and the prisons were emptied. In the ninth year allied forces retook Pingyuan. Commander Hao Shangjiu, once a Ming defector, had long hedged his loyalty; when he learned he was to be transferred to a naval vice command, he joined coastal and mountain rebels in setting up a rival headquarters. Zhenfen sent the senior officials a memorial outlining how to head off the revolt, but they did not act on it. In the spring of the tenth year Shangjiu declared himself Marquis of Xintai and marched on the circuit yamen. Zhenfen appealed to him on grounds of loyalty, but Shangjiu refused to listen, and Zhenfen sent word of the uprising. That autumn the banner garrison troops arrived; Zhenfen had arranged an inside response, admitted the relief force, and Shangjiu was put to death. After order was restored he cited illness and retired to his home district. He lived in retirement for forty years before he died.
5
=姚延著=姚延著，字象懸，浙江烏程人。 順治六年進士，除廣西慶遠知府。 從師南征，調柳州，有守禦功，又調平樂。 遷廣東嶺南道副使，撫僮寨，擢江南按察使。
Yao Yanzhu, courtesy name Xiangxuan, came from Wucheng in Zhejiang. After passing the jinshi examination in the sixth year of Shunzhi, he was appointed prefect of Qingyuan in Guangxi. He marched south with the army, was posted to Liuzhou where he distinguished himself in defense, and was later moved to Pingle. He rose to vice commissioner of Lingnan Circuit in Guangdong, pacified Zhuang stockades, and was then promoted to provincial surveillance commissioner of Jiangnan.
6
十六年，鄭成功內犯，陷鎮江，入攻江寧。 延著佐總督郎廷佐繕守備，安輯危城，閭閻不擾。 民間時有羊尾黨，事發，株連數百人。 延著謂廷佐曰：「寇在門，不可興大獄、搖人心。」 獄乃解。 當事急，人多疑貳，民間有宿怨，輒誣以通敵。 延著嚴治反坐，多所全活。 城民有升高而望者，邏者執之，總管喀喀木以為敵諜，延著力爭，得不死。 喀喀木部兵擾城市，延著捕得械斃之。 吏卒私掠被難婦女，延著親駐江乾，召其家，遣還者一千七百人，以此忤喀喀木。 事定敘功，擢河南左布政使。 旋以憂歸，而金壇獄起。
In the sixteenth year Zheng Chenggong raided inland, captured Zhenjiang, and pressed the attack on Jiangning. Yanzhu assisted Governor Lang Tingzuo in organizing the defenses, steadied the besieged city, and kept the populace from panic. A faction known as the Yangwei Party had appeared among the people; when the case broke, several hundred were dragged in. Yanzhu told Tingzuo: "The enemy is at our gates—we cannot open a sweeping trial and unsettle the people." The prosecution was dropped. In the emergency many were suspected of disloyalty, and private feuds led to false charges of aiding the enemy. Yanzhu cracked down hard on malicious prosecution and spared many innocent lives. Patrols seized a townsman who had climbed up to look around; Commander Kekemu judged him a spy, but Yanzhu argued fiercely and the man was spared execution. Troops under Kekemu were harassing the city; Yanzhu arrested the offenders and had them strangled. Clerks and soldiers were seizing women caught up in the turmoil; Yanzhu went in person to the riverbank, called their families forward, and restored seventeen hundred women to their homes—an act that put him at odds with Kekemu. After peace was restored his service was recognized and he was promoted to Left Administrative Commissioner of Henan. He soon left office to mourn a parent, and then the Jintan case erupted.
7
鎮江之陷也，屬縣戒嚴。 金壇知縣任體坤集縣中士大夫王重、袁大受等謀遣諸生十輩詣鎮江乞緩兵。 丹徒亂民王再興兵起，復令書吏、耆民數十人送款，盡竊庫帑以遁。 喀喀木等擊敗成功，體坤乃復至縣，賂重、大受謁大吏，謂士民送款，冀掩棄城罪。 重、大受居鄉多不法，為諸生所撓。 至是欲以叛坐諸生，泄私怨，列姓名以上。 巡按馬勝聲疏聞，下廷佐令延著鞫其獄。 延著縶縣吏李鍾秀，訊得實，欲但坐體坤，餘皆減罪。 大受騰書京師為蜚語，欲並陷延著，御史馮班發其狀。 時侍郎尼滿奉詔勘提督馬逢知獄，命即訊，乃坐重、大受及諸士大夫集議者。 諸生及書吏、耆民送款者皆斬，體坤以被逼迫減為絞。 巡按何可化又疏劾延著讞從叛罪人史記青、管得勝傅輕比，又有王天福、韓王錫並縱不擬罪，與金壇獄並論，亦坐絞。 時喀喀木主軍事，新破敵，尤威重，素不慊於延著。 民間謂延著之死，喀喀木實主之。 就刑日，江寧為罷市，士民哭踴。 喪歸，數百里祭奠不絕，建祠雞鳴山下私祀焉。
When Zhenjiang fell, the surrounding counties were put on alert. Jintan's magistrate Ren Tikun gathered local scholars Wang Chong, Yuan Dashou, and others to send ten parties of students to Zhenjiang to beg for a ceasefire. When the Dantu rebel Wang Zai rose in arms, Tikun again sent dozens of clerks and elders to offer submission—and they looted the treasury and fled. After Kekemu and the others routed Chenggong, Tikun returned to his post and bribed Chong and Dashou to lobby the senior officials, claiming the local elite had submitted in order to hide his own crime of deserting the county. Chong and Dashou had long bullied their home districts, and the students had stood in their way. They now sought to have the students convicted of treason to settle old scores and submitted a list of names. Censor Ma Shengsheng reported the matter to the throne; the case was referred to Tingzuo with orders for Yanzhu to hear it. Yanzhu arrested county clerk Li Zhongxiu, questioned him until the facts came out, and sought to punish only Tikun while leniency for the others. Dashou sent inflammatory letters to the capital hoping to drag Yanzhu down too, but Censor Feng Ban exposed what he was doing. Vice Minister Niman had been sent by imperial order to investigate Governor-General Ma Fengzhi's case and was told to try this one immediately; he convicted Chong, Dashou, and the scholars who had joined the deliberations. The students and every clerk and elder who had offered submission were beheaded; Tikun, as one who had acted under duress, was sentenced to strangulation instead. Censor He Kehua memorialized again, accusing Yanzhu of treating the rebels Shi Jiqing and Guan Desheng Fu too lightly and of releasing Wang Tianfu and Han Wangxi without punishment; lumped together with the Jintan affair, Yanzhu was also sentenced to strangulation. Kekemu then held military authority, had just crushed the enemy, and wielded exceptional power; he had long borne a grudge against Yanzhu. Popular rumor held that Kekemu was really the one who brought about Yanzhu's death. On the day he was executed Jiangning shut its markets; scholars and townspeople wept and stamped their feet in mourning. As his coffin was borne home, mourners offered sacrifices all along the route for hundreds of li, and a shrine was built below Jiming Hill where people worshipped him privately.
8
子淳燾，康熙六年進士，授內閣中書舍人。 伏闕上書為延著訟冤。 累擢湖廣提學道僉事，坐事罷，未行，值叛卒夏逢龍之亂，誓死不為屈。 事聞，复官，授岳常澧道副使。 卒。
His son Chunxi passed the jinshi examination in the sixth year of Kangxi and was appointed secretary in the Grand Secretariat. He knelt at the palace gate and submitted a memorial pleading his father's innocence. He rose to educational intendant of Huguang Circuit, was dismissed for an offense before he could take up the post, and when the mutineer Xia Fenglong rebelled he swore he would die rather than yield. When his conduct was reported to the throne he was reinstated and appointed vice commissioner of Yuechangli Circuit. He died.
9
=畢振姬=畢振姬，字亮四，山西高平人。 順治三年進士，授平陽教授。 入為國子監助教，累遷刑部員外郎。 曹事暇，獨坐陋室，布被瓦盆，讀書不稍倦。
Bi Zhenji, courtesy name Liangsi, came from Gaoping in Shanxi. He passed the jinshi examination in the third year of Shunzhi and was appointed professor at Pingyang. He entered the Imperial Academy as assistant instructor and rose through the ranks to vice director in the Ministry of Punishments. In his spare time from office he would sit alone in a plain room with cotton bedding and earthenware bowls, reading without ever tiring.
10
十年，出為山東濟南道參議。 歲旱，流民踞山谷為盜，振姬晝夜馳三百里往諭之，悉就撫，全活者七千餘人。 泰山香稅，歲羨餘七千金，例充公使錢，振姬悉以佐餉。 調廣東驛傳道僉事。 時三籓使命往來絡繹，胥吏乘以私派折價，民苦之，振姬一繩以法，閱數月，減船數百，減費七萬有奇。 調浙江金衢嚴道參政，擢廣西按察使。 所至以廉能聞。 遷湖廣布政使，乞病歸。
In the tenth year he was posted as assistant administrator of Jinan Circuit in Shandong. During a drought year refugees had turned bandits in the mountain valleys; Zhenji rode three hundred li day and night to reason with them, and all came in to be pacified—more than seven thousand lives spared. The Mount Tai incense tax produced an annual surplus of seven thousand taels, normally reserved for official travel expenses; Zhenji applied all of it to army rations. He was transferred to intendant of the Post Relay Circuit in Guangdong. With the Three Feudatories' envoys constantly passing through, clerks imposed illegal surcharges and skimmed payments, to the people's misery. Zhenji enforced the law without favor; within months he cut several hundred boats from service and saved more than seventy thousand taels. He was moved to administrator of Jinquyan Circuit in Zhejiang and then promoted to provincial surveillance commissioner of Guangxi. Everywhere he served he won a reputation for integrity and ability. He was promoted to administrative commissioner of Huguang, then asked to retire on grounds of illness.
11
康熙中，詔舉博學鴻儒，左都御史魏裔介、副都御史劉楗疏薦之。 十八年，命廷臣舉清廉吏，裔介复疏言：「振姬清操絕世，才略過人。 請告十餘年，躬耕百畝，讀書不輟。」 楗亦言：「振姬居官不染一塵。 歸日一僕一馬，了無長物，真學行兼優之人。」 下部議，以振姬老，置勿用。 尋卒。
During the Kangxi reign an edict summoned recommendations of learned scholars; Left Censor-in-Chief Wei Yijie and Vice Censor-in-Chief Liu Jian both memorialized in his favor. In the eighteenth year the court ordered officials to nominate incorrupt administrators; Yijie memorialized again: "Zhenji's integrity is unrivaled in our time, and his talent and strategic ability surpass ordinary men. He has been retired for more than ten years, farming a hundred mu with his own hands, and has never stopped his studies." Jian also wrote: "In office Zhenji never soiled his hands with the slightest gain. When he went home he had only one servant and one horse and owned nothing else—a man who truly united learning and character." The ministries deliberated and, on the ground of Zhenji's age, set the recommendation aside without appointing him. He died not long after.
12
=方國棟=方國棟，字幹霄，順天宛平人。 順治三年舉人，授蠡縣教諭。 入為國子監助教，累擢至刑部郎中。
Fang Guodong, courtesy name Ganxiao, came from Wanping in Shuntian. He passed the provincial examination in the third year of Shunzhi and was appointed county instructor of Li. He entered the Imperial Academy as assistant instructor and rose through the ranks to director in the Ministry of Punishments.
13
十六年，出為廣東海北道僉事。 海寇鄧耀居島中，時出剽掠。 國棟以三千人分五道進剿，檄鄰道出兵扼要隘，擒耀，解散餘黨。 事平，雷、廉兩部諸富人為賊所誣，械系者眾，國棟察其冤，為辨雪。 諸富人裒千金為報，國棟曰：「吾憫若無辜，柰何污我？」 卻之。
In the sixteenth year he was posted as intendant of Haibei Circuit in Guangdong. The pirate Deng Yao lived on an offshore island and raided the coast from time to time. Guodong took three thousand men in five columns against them, called on neighboring circuits to block the key passes, captured Yao, and broke up the remaining band. After order was restored, many wealthy men in Lei and Lian prefectures had been framed by the pirates and thrown in chains; Guodong found them innocent and secured their release. The wealthy men pooled a thousand taels to thank him; Guodong said, "I pitied your innocence—why would you try to bribe me?" He refused the gift.
14
遷山西寧武道參議。 康熙六年裁缺，改江南蘇松常道參議。 太湖堤岸傾圮，率吏民修葺，修沿海墩台及吳淞、劉河兩徬，工費不擾民。 師下閩、粵，徵調旁午，國棟一意與民休息，每遇急徵，從容部署。 芻茭糧糗，預儲以待，軍興無乏，閭左晏然。 戒屬吏無朘民，郡縣稍稍知斂戢，不敢事剝削。
He was transferred to assistant administrator of Ningwu Circuit in Shanxi. When his post was abolished in the sixth year of Kangxi, he was reassigned as assistant administrator of Susongchang Circuit in Jiangnan. When the Lake Tai dikes gave way, he led officials and commoners in repairs, rebuilt coastal watch towers and the Wusong and Liuhe embankments, and kept the labor levies from burdening the people. As imperial forces marched into Fujian and Guangdong, requisitions poured in without pause; Guodong was determined to give the people respite, and whenever urgent demands arrived he met them with calm planning. He stockpiled fodder and grain ahead of time so that when troops mobilized nothing ran short, and the common people lived in peace. He warned his staff against squeezing the people, and prefectures and counties gradually learned to restrain themselves and ceased their extortions.
15
連歲用兵，度支不給，詔各省籌裕餉之策。 國棟言：「古今生財之說，開與節二者而已。 議開於今日，已無可加，當議節，自朝廷始。 舊制，江南歲市布五萬匹供宮府賚予，宜可罷，歲省帑金三萬。」 議上，報可，滿洲兵駐防蘇州，議築營舍於王府基，當城中。 國棟以兵民雜居難久安，持不可，乃改營南城隙地，民便之。 宜興善權山中寺僧與豪族爭地，聚眾焚寺殺僧，知縣告亂，大吏將發兵。 國棟單騎馳往，得首禍寘法，餘無所問。 吳俗健訟，喜投缿告密，國棟輒不問，即有所案，亦從寬。 馭吏嚴，而拊循士民具有恩意。 十六年，卒。 吳民思之，建祠虎丘山麓以祀。
Years of warfare had drained the treasury, and an edict ordered every province to propose ways to secure adequate military funds. Guodong wrote: "Throughout history, raising revenue has come down to only two things: finding new sources and cutting expenses. As for opening new sources today, there is little left to do; we should economize, and that must begin at court. Under the old rules Jiangnan supplies fifty thousand bolts of cloth yearly for palace gifts; that practice should end, saving thirty thousand taels a year." The memorial was approved. When Manchu troops were garrisoned at Suzhou, officials proposed building barracks on the old princely mansion site in the heart of the city. Guodong argued that soldiers and civilians could not live mixed together in stability and firmly opposed the plan; the barracks were moved to open ground in the southern city instead, to the people's relief. At Shanchansi in Shanquan, Yixing, monks were locked in a land dispute with powerful families; a mob burned the temple and killed monks. The magistrate reported an uprising and senior officials prepared to send troops. Guodong rode out alone, arrested the ringleaders and punished them under the law, and pressed no further inquiries. The people of Wu were litigious and fond of anonymous denunciations; Guodong generally ignored them, and even when he took up a case he dealt leniently. He was strict with his staff yet treated scholars and townspeople with genuine kindness. In the sixteenth year he died. The people of Wu missed him and built a shrine at the foot of Tiger Hill in his memory.
16
=於朋舉=於朋舉，字襄子，江南金壇人。 順治六年進士，改庶吉士，散館授檢討。 十二年，出為河南睢陳道副使，政不擾民。 郾城盜殺縣官而逸，士民洶洶，謂城將受屠。 朋舉馳至，撫諭毋恐。 營將以兵至，拒不使入城。 大吏召朋舉詰責，對曰：「郾城令，朋舉婦翁也。 豈不欲甘心是盜？ 獨柰何苦良民！」 大吏悟，止兵，亦得盜正其罪。
Yu Pengju, courtesy name Xiangzi, came from Jintan in Jiangnan. He passed the jinshi examination in the sixth year of Shunzhi, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and upon completing his training was appointed reviser. In the twelfth year he was posted as vice commissioner of Suichen Circuit in Henan, governing without harassing the people. Bandits at Yancheng killed the county magistrate and escaped; the townspeople panicked, fearing the city would be put to the sword. Pengju rode there at once, reassured the people, and told them not to be afraid. When a garrison commander marched up with troops, Pengju refused to let them enter the city. A senior official summoned Pengju to rebuke him; he answered: "The magistrate of Yancheng is my wife's father. Do you think I would not want those bandits punished? But why should innocent people suffer for it!" The senior official understood, held back the troops, and the bandits were still brought to justice.
17
遷福建福寧道參政。 興化瀕海，鎮將所部皆群盜受撫者。 有材官辱張氏僕，張氏以告。 鎮將撻材官，部卒大譁，毀張氏之室，欲劫鎮將為亂。 鎮將避去，則縊被撻者寘張氏，謂其僕殺之。 朋舉甫到官，廉得首惡，猝縛至，集文武吏會鞫，健兒帶刀環立瞋視。 朋舉從容曰：「若曹幹軍法，罪重。 念若曹約束無素，但用殺人律，罪有專屬。」 眾乃泥首，言殺人者為張氏僕。 朋舉曰：「若曹氣焰何等，彼能於千百健兒中奪一人縊之耶？」 召訊證者，俱吐實，誅三人而事定。 泉州提督剿海盜，盜逸入興化界，鎮將獲數百人。 朋舉視其嘗薙發者，曰：「此良民被陷，當宥。」 有年少者，曰：「童穉何知，又當宥。」 全活甚眾。
He was transferred to administrator of Funing Circuit in Fujian. Xinghua lay on the coast; the regional commander's troops were all former bandits who had accepted pacification. An officer humiliated a servant of the Zhang family, and the Zhangs lodged a complaint. The commander had the officer flogged; his men mutinied, wrecked the Zhang house, and tried to seize their commander and rise in revolt. The commander fled; the mutineers hanged the flogged man and left the body at the Zhangs' door, claiming their servant had murdered him. Pengju had just taken office; he traced the ringleaders, had them seized at once, and convened civil and military officials for a joint hearing while armed braves ringed the hall glaring. Pengju said calmly: "You have violated military law—a grave offense. Since you have never been properly disciplined, we will apply only the statute on homicide—the guilty party must be identified." The men then kowtowed and claimed the killer was the Zhangs' servant. Pengju said: "With your swagger, could a mere servant seize one of you among a thousand armed men and hang him?" He called witnesses; all confessed, three were executed, and the matter was closed. The provincial admiral of Quanzhou pursued sea pirates; the pirates fled into Xinghua and the regional commander seized several hundred. Seeing those who had once shaved their heads in the Ming style, Pengju said: "These are innocent people caught up in the affair—they should be spared." Among them were youths; he said: "Children know nothing of this—they too should be spared." A great many lives were spared.
18
鄭成功屯廈門，與漳州隔海相望。 固山額真駐會城，遣兵戍漳州，番代歲四易，民苦供役。 朋舉請駐防無屢更，不許； 固請展其期，歲再易，民稍蘇息。 擢四川按察使、山東右布政使。 父憂歸。
Zheng Chenggong held Xiamen, facing Zhangzhou across the strait. The garrison commander at the provincial capital sent troops to hold Zhangzhou; reliefs rotated four times a year, and the people groaned under the levies. Pengju asked that the garrison not be rotated so frequently; the request was denied. He pressed hard to lengthen the rotation interval to twice a year, and the people gained some respite. He was promoted to provincial surveillance commissioner of Sichuan and Right Administrative Commissioner of Shandong. He left office to mourn his father.
19
起授湖南布政使。 上官，見胥吏至數百，曰：「兵初罷，民方重困。 此曹鮮衣美食，縱橫市井間，何所取諸？」 汰其十九，擇謹願者，取足供文書而已。 數為大吏言地方利病，有司賢不肖積與之忤，被劾鐫級，未行，而大吏以貪敗。 士民惜之。 尋卒。
He was recalled to service as administrative commissioner of Hunan. On taking office he found hundreds of clerks and said: "The armies have only just stood down and the people are in deep distress. Yet these men dress well, eat well, and swagger through the markets—where does it all come from?" He dismissed nine out of ten, kept only the prudent and dutiful, and retained just enough staff to handle paperwork. He repeatedly reported local abuses to senior officials; worthy and unworthy magistrates alike resented him; he was impeached and demoted, and before he could depart the senior official himself was ruined for corruption. Scholars and commoners mourned his loss. He died not long after.
20
=王天鑑=王天鑑，字近微，直隸萬全人。 順治三年進士，授山東恩縣知縣。 縣接直隸界，自明季為盜藪，嘗一歲七被寇。 天鑑上官，諭父老曰：「往歲寇至，縣輒不守，由人無固志。 自今勿復逃，視知縣所向。」 俄而寇大至，天鑑坐城上，從容指揮，寇疑有伏，逡巡去。 於是葺樓櫓，治城隍，嚴候望，時巡徼，守具大備。 按行鄉鄙，舉團練，立砦十有九，枹鼓相聞，久之得步卒萬八千、騎士三百。 巡按御史疏聞，令天鑑自治兵。 廉得境內賊渠數輩，夜突至其鄉呼之出，賊錯愕不能遁，皆誅之。 寇據曹縣，巡撫檄天鑑與諸道兵會剿，率所部為前鋒，冒矢石深入，諸軍踵之，復其城。 嘗以輕騎逐賊，日暮被圍，短兵相接，手格殺數賊，潰圍出，不失一騎。 在恩四年，屢與寇戰，俘馘無算，降者安撫之。 寇遠遁，招徠屯種，流亡復歸，墾荒千八百頃。 建書院，弦誦不輟。 政聲為山東最，上考，內遷禮部主事。 十一年，始行耤田親耕禮，天鑑參酌古今，悉合禮宜。 累遷郎中。 主山東鄉試。 十二年，出為陝西河西道參議。 與屬吏約，毋獵民枉法。
Wang Tianjian, courtesy name Jinwei, came from Wanquan in Zhili. He passed the jinshi examination in the third year of Shunzhi and was appointed magistrate of En County in Shandong. The county bordered Zhili and had been a bandit haunt since the late Ming; one year it was raided seven times. On taking office Tianjian told the elders: "In past years when bandits came the county always fell because the people had no firm resolve. From now on do not flee—watch where your magistrate goes." Soon a large band arrived; Tianjian sat on the wall and directed the defense calmly; the bandits suspected a trap and withdrew. He then repaired towers and battlements, restored the moat, tightened watch posts, patrolled regularly, and made the defenses complete. He toured the countryside, organized militia, and established nineteen stockades whose drums could be heard from one to the next; in time he fielded eighteen thousand foot soldiers and three hundred cavalry. The touring censor reported to the throne, and Tianjian was authorized to command troops in his own right. He traced several bandit chiefs in the district, raided their villages by night, and called them out; caught off guard, they could not escape and were all put to death. When bandits seized Cao County, the governor ordered Tianjian and allied forces to join the campaign; he led his men as vanguard, pushed through arrow and stone fire, the main force followed, and the city was retaken. Once he pursued bandits with a light cavalry detachment; at dusk he was surrounded, fought hand to hand, killed several with his own blade, broke out, and did not lose a single horse. In four years at En he fought bandits repeatedly, took countless prisoners and heads, and settled those who surrendered. After the bandits fled he encouraged resettlement and farming; refugees returned and eighteen hundred qing of wasteland were reclaimed. He founded an academy where students studied without interruption. His reputation was the finest in Shandong; rated at the top of his evaluation he was transferred to the Ministry of Rites in the capital. In the eleventh year the emperor first performed the sacred-field plowing rite; Tianjian drew on ancient and modern precedents and arranged everything in proper ritual form. He rose through the ranks to director. He served as chief examiner for the Shandong provincial examination. In the twelfth year he was posted as assistant administrator of Hexi Circuit in Shaanxi. He pledged to his staff that they would not prey on the people or pervert the law.
21
天鑑固長治兵，按籍討軍實，誡將弁毋以軍糈肥私橐。 性剛介負氣，數忤上官。 歲餘，謝病歸。 絕跡公府，門下士或有餽遺，不受，曰：「飭簠簋，惜名節，足以報舉主矣！」 康熙初，大臣薦，不出。 尋卒。
Tianjian was a natural commander; he audited registers to verify troop strength and warned officers against lining their pockets with army grain. Proud and unyielding by nature, he often clashed with his superiors. After little more than a year he resigned on grounds of illness. He kept away from official circles; when disciples offered gifts he refused them, saying: "Keeping my conduct clean and my name intact is repayment enough to those who recommended me!" In the early Kangxi reign ministers recommended him, but he would not return to office. He died not long after.
22
=趙廷標=趙廷標，浙江錢塘人。 順治三年，以拔貢生授福建永定知縣。 廣東大埔逸寇江龍以萬餘人犯縣城，廷標城守。 寇穴地入，瀦池水以待，地砲不得發； 樹雲梯乘城，於城上懸柵墮之。 持三月，食垂盡。 值立春，廷標張鼓樂，開城門，迎春東郊。 寇疑有伏，引去。 密遣兵間道往伏兩山間，出不意夾擊，敗之。 進至龍磜寨，捕斬略盡。
Zhao Tingbiao came from Qiantang in Zhejiang. In the third year of Shunzhi he was appointed magistrate of Yongding in Fujian as a selected tribute student. The outlaw Jiang Long of Dapu, Guangdong, attacked the county seat with more than ten thousand men; Tingbiao held the walls. The bandits tunneled in; he dammed the moat to flood the approaches so land mines could not be detonated. They raised siege ladders; he hung barriers along the parapet to drop on them. The siege lasted three months until food was nearly gone. At the Beginning of Spring festival Tingbiao staged music, opened the gates, and led the spring rites in the eastern suburbs. The bandits suspected a trap and withdrew. He secretly sent troops by hidden paths to ambush them between two hills and struck from both sides by surprise, routing them. He pressed on to Longji Stockade and captured or killed nearly all who remained.
23
擢湖廣衡州同知，署府事。 蠲賦墾荒，流亡復業。 歲大饑，賑恤有實惠。 經略大學士洪承疇薦廷標，十七年，擢雲南迤東道副使。 安普諸番為土官所誘，競作不靖。 廷標設方略、行間，解散之，遂復維摩舊地。 移檄諭寧州彌勒、巴盤、八甸，罷捕逐之令，令諸持田器者皆為良民，持兵者乃為賊。 巡行安撫，諸路悉平。 治迤東十八年。 康熙中，調廣東廣肇南韶道副使。 安普民、蠻聞其去，塹道塞城留之。 慰諭再三，乃得行。
He was promoted to vice prefect of Hengzhou in Huguang and acted as prefect. He remitted taxes, encouraged reclamation, and brought refugees back to their farms. In a year of famine his relief reached those who needed it. Grand Secretary Hong Chengchou recommended Tingbiao; in the seventeenth year he was promoted to vice commissioner of Yidong Circuit in Yunnan. The tribes of Anpu, incited by native officials, rose in unrest one after another. Tingbiao devised strategy and used agents to break them up, and thereby recovered the old Weimo territory. He issued proclamations to Ningzhou, Mile, Bapan, and Badian, ending the orders to hunt people down, and ruled that anyone holding farm tools was a law-abiding subject while only those bearing arms were bandits. He toured the region to reassure the people, and every route was pacified. He governed Yidong for eighteen years. During the Kangxi reign he was transferred to vice commissioner of Guangzhaonanxiao Circuit in Guangdong. When the people and tribes of Anpu learned he was leaving, they dug trenches and blocked the gates to keep him from going. Only after repeated reassurances was he able to leave.
24
兩粵八排諸山寇聞廷標來，望風解散。 連州亂，至，立就撫。 逾年以憂去。 起湖南驛鹽道副使。 捕治劇寇，誅其渠，餘悉縱歸農。 湖南方用兵，芻茭械仗，儲峙供給，不誤晷刻，民不困役。 兼攝糧道。 會湘東民變，巡撫韓世琦令廷標往撫之。 單騎馳諭，皆悔泣聽命，散遣之。 事稍定，修岳麓書院，置田禀諸生。 嘗行部至衡州，父老羅拜車下，號以「慈母」。 俄遷陝西糧儲道參議。 已病，值武昌兵變，軍書至，猶強起視事。 病篤乞歸，至家卒。
When the mountain bandits of the Eight Ranks in the two Guang provinces heard Tingbiao was coming, they melted away at the news. Lianzhou was in revolt; when he arrived the rebels submitted at once. After more than a year he left office to mourn a parent. He was recalled as vice commissioner of the Post and Salt Circuit in Hunan. He captured major bandits, executed their leaders, and sent the rest back to their farms. Hunan was at war; he supplied fodder, arms, and stores without a moment's delay, and kept corvée burdens from crushing the people. He also served as acting grain intendant. When eastern Hunan erupted in unrest, Governor Han Shiqi sent Tingbiao to pacify the region. He rode out alone to reason with them; they wept, repented, and obeyed, and he sent them home. When order returned he restored Yuelu Academy and endowed fields to support its students. Once on circuit he reached Hengzhou; elders lined up to bow before his carriage and called him "the loving mother." Soon he was transferred to assistant administrator of the Grain Storage Circuit in Shaanxi. He was already ill; when troops mutinied at Wuchang and dispatches arrived, he still dragged himself to his desk. His illness worsened and he begged to go home; he died as soon as he arrived.
25
=【論】=論曰：自置督撫，而兩司權輕，況於各道； 然以賢者處之，奉職循理，視民之所急，弭亂解嬈，亦足以為治。 而述、振芬、振姬、天鑑皆有才略，根本尤在廉勤。 延著、國棟、廷標當治亂用重之日，濟之以寬仁，雖以是罷貶，甚或中危法，而一不自卹，是皆能舉其職者。 澤及於斯民，亦已多矣。
The commentary says: Once governors-general and governors were established, the authority of the two provincial commissioners grew lighter—and the circuit posts lighter still. Yet when worthy men hold these posts, perform their duties faithfully, heed what the people urgently need, and quell disorder and ease hardship, that too is government enough. Ershu, Zhenfen, Zhenji, and Tianjian all had talent and strategic ability; above all they were rooted in integrity and diligence. Yanzhu, Guodong, and Tingbiao served when governing turmoil demanded stern measures, yet they tempered authority with mercy. Some were dismissed or demoted for it, and some even faced capital charges, but none thought of themselves—these were men who truly did their duty. The good they did for the people was already very great indeed.