Volume 250 Biographies 37: Li Wei, Sun Tingquan, Du Lide, Feng Pu, Wang Xi, Wu Zhengzhi, Huang Ji, Song Deyi, Yi Sanga, A Lan Tai, Xu Yuanwen

李霨，字坦園，直隸高陽人，明大學士國𣚴子。少孤，劬學自厲。順治三年，成進士，選庶吉士，授檢討，進編修。十年，世祖親試習國書翰林，霨列上等，擢中允。累遷秘書院學士。時初設日講官，霨與學士麻勒吉、胡兆龍，侍讀學士折庫納，洗馬王熙，中允方懸成、曹本榮等併入直。尋充經筵講官。十五年，拜秘書院大學士。內三院改內閣，以霨為東閣大學士，兼工部尚書，加太子太保。以票擬疏誤，鐫四秩。未幾，复官，任事如故。偕大學士巴哈納等校定律例。

Li Wei, courtesy name Tanyuan, was a native of Gaoyang in Zhili and the son of Li Guochong, who had served as Grand Secretary under the Ming. Orphaned in youth, he applied himself to study with tireless discipline. In the third year of Shunzhi he passed the jinshi examination, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, was appointed reviser, and was later promoted to compiler. In the tenth year the Shunzhi Emperor personally examined Hanlin scholars in Manchu; Li Wei ranked in the top class and was promoted to junior vice president of the Hanlin Academy. He rose through successive promotions to Bachelor of the Secretariat. When the office of daily lecturers was first established, Li Wei joined Bachelors Maleqi and Hu Zhaolong, Associate Reader Zhekuna, Reader of the Court of Imperial Stud Wang Xi, and Junior Vice Presidents Fang Xuancheng and Cao Benrong, among others, in regular attendance at court. He soon became a lecturer at the imperial classics lecture. In the fifteenth year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Secretariat. When the Three Inner Courts were reorganized as the Grand Secretariat, he was made Grand Secretary of the Eastern Lodge, concurrently served as Minister of Works, and was granted the title Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Because of mistakes in drafting memorial responses, he was demoted four ranks in salary grade. Before long his post was restored, and he carried on his duties as before. Together with Grand Secretary Bahana and others, he collated and revised the legal code.

十八年，聖祖即位，复內三院，以霨為弘文院大學士。時四大臣輔政，決機務，或議事齟齬，霨輒默然，既乃出片言定是非，票擬或未當，不輕論執。每於談笑間婉言曲喻，徐使更正。其間調和匡救，保護善類，霨有力焉。

In the eighteenth year, when the Kangxi Emperor ascended the throne, the Three Inner Courts were restored and Li Wei was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hongwen Court. At that time four senior ministers governed as regents and decided state affairs; when their deliberations deadlocked, Li Wei would hold his tongue, then offer a few words that settled the matter; if a draft memorial response was off the mark, he did not lightly press his own view. Often in the course of conversation he would gently persuade by indirection and gradually bring others to correct their views. In reconciling differences, remedying wrongs, and protecting worthy men, Li Wei exerted considerable influence.

康熙八年夏，旱，奉詔清刑獄，釋系囚，多所平反。明年，复內閣，霨以保和殿大學士兼戶部尚書。與修世祖實錄，充總裁官。十一年，書成，賜銀幣、鞍馬，晉太子太傅。未幾，三籓叛，繼以察哈爾部作亂。上命將出征，凡機密詔旨，每口授霨起草，退直嘗至夜分，或留宿閣中。所治職務，出未嘗告人，忠謹慎密，始終匪懈。二十一年，重修太宗實錄成，進太子太師。

In the summer of the eighth year of Kangxi, during a drought, by imperial order he reviewed the penal prisons, released prisoners held in custody, and overturned many wrongful convictions. The following year the Grand Secretariat was restored, and Li Wei served as Grand Secretary of the Hall of Preserving Harmony while also holding the post of Minister of Revenue. He took part in compiling the Veritable Records of the Shunzhi Emperor and served as chief compiler. In the eleventh year, when the work was completed, he was granted silver coins and saddle horses and was promoted to Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. Before long the Three Feudatories rose in rebellion, followed by unrest among the Chahar tribes. When the emperor ordered the army to take the field, every confidential edict was dictated orally for Li Wei to draft; after leaving court he often worked until midnight, or stayed overnight in the Secretariat. Whatever business he handled, once done he never spoke of it to others; he was loyal, cautious, and discreet, and from first to last never slackened. In the twenty-first year, when the revised Veritable Records of Taizong were completed, he was promoted to Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent.

台灣初定，提督施琅請設官鎮守，廷議未決。有謂宜遷其人、棄其地者，上問閣臣，霨言：「台灣孤懸海外，屏蔽閩疆。棄其地，恐為外國所據；遷其人，慮有姦宄生事。應如瑯議。」上韙之。二十三年，卒，諡文勤。

When Taiwan had just been pacified, Admiral Shi Lang asked that officials be posted to garrison the island, but the court had not yet reached a decision. Some argued that the people should be relocated and the territory abandoned. The emperor asked the grand secretaries; Li Wei said: "Taiwan stands alone beyond the sea and shields the coast of Fujian. If we abandon the territory, I fear a foreign power will seize it; if we relocate the people, I fear malcontents will stir up trouble. We should follow Lang's proposal." The emperor approved. In the twenty-third year he died and was given the posthumous title Wenqin (Diligent in Culture).

霨弱冠登第，大拜時年裁三十有四，風度端重，內介外和。久居相位，尤嫺掌故，眷遇甚厚。四十九年，上追念前勞，超擢其孫工部主事敏啟為太常寺少卿。

Li Wei passed the civil service examination before he came of age; when he received the highest ministerial appointment he was only thirty-four, of dignified bearing, firm within yet gentle in manner. Having long held the chief ministership, he was especially well versed in precedent, and enjoyed very deep imperial favor. In the forty-ninth year the emperor, recalling his past service, exceptionally promoted his grandson Minqi, a principal clerk in the Ministry of Works, to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

孫廷銓，初名廷鉉，字枚先，山東益都人。明崇禎進士，任永平推官。順治元年，授天津推官。二年，以巡撫雷興薦，擢吏部主事，歷郎中。與曲沃衛周祚同官文選司，有聲於時。累遷左通政。十年，擢戶部侍郎。以大學士洪承疇薦，召對。尋坐事，罰俸，論告歸。還朝，改兵部，擢尚書。

Sun Tingquan, originally named Tingxuan, courtesy name Meixian, was a native of Yidu in Shandong. A jinshi of the Chongzhen reign under the Ming, he served as investigating magistrate in Yongping. In the first year of Shunzhi he was appointed investigating magistrate in Tianjin. In the second year, on the recommendation of Governor Lei Xing, he was promoted to principal clerk in the Ministry of Personnel and rose through the ranks to director. Serving in the Bureau of Appointments in the Ministry of Personnel together with Wei Zhouzuo of Quwo, he enjoyed a fine reputation at the time. He was successively promoted to Vice Commissioner of the Left. In the tenth year he was promoted to Vice Minister of Revenue. On the recommendation of Grand Secretary Hong Chengchou, he was summoned for an imperial audience. Before long he was fined a portion of his salary for an offense and, on petition, returned home. When he returned to court, he was transferred to the Ministry of War and promoted to Minister.

十三年，調戶部。廷銓以歲會無總錄，無以劑盈絀之宜，殫心綜覈，錢穀舊隸諸部者，各還所司，條貫釐然。歲會之成自此始。十四年，疏言：「山東、河南荒田，請招民墾闢。其已熟者，清釐賦額，無使隱漏。」上從其言。

In the thirteenth year he was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. Sun Tingquan found that the annual fiscal summary had no master ledger and no way to balance surplus and deficit; he devoted himself to a comprehensive review, returned funds and grain accounts that had been scattered among various ministries to their proper departments, and brought the system into clear order. The successful completion of the annual fiscal summary began from this. In the fourteenth year he memorialized: "For wasteland in Shandong and Henan, I ask that people be recruited to open it for cultivation. For land already under cultivation, tax quotas should be cleared and rectified so that nothing is concealed or omitted." The emperor followed his advice.

十五年，調吏部，加太子太保。十六年，諭獎其勤勞，加少保。廷銓疏請復學道升補舊制，下所司集議，如廷銓請。時吏部銓除，一事數例，吏胥因緣為奸。給事中楊雍建、胡爾愷。黏本盛、孫際昌、王啟祚，御史許劭昕，交章發其弊，且劾廷銓因循為所蔽，奪加銜，罰俸。十七年，疏言：「新闢邊疆員缺，督撫委用，即予實授，與部選之員，一體遷轉。蒞事未久，輒移內地，請定為試署二年，乃予實授。」又言：「司道不宜輕易，非大計處分及貪酷被糾者，遇降革，仍留任。」皆從之。又因旱，疏請寬考成，興屯政。上命兵部議屯政，而詢廷銓請寬考成議中有云「積資累薦，棄以一眚」語，何所指？廷銓言：「積疲州縣，久累人材，宜稍寬減觀後效，非為處分人員求免。」

In the fifteenth year he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and was granted the title Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. In the sixteenth year the emperor commended his diligence and granted him the title Junior Guardian. Sun Tingquan memorialized asking that the old system be restored whereby educational commissioners handled promotions and appointments; the matter was referred to the relevant offices for joint deliberation, and they adopted his proposal. At that time a single appointment matter in the Ministry of Personnel could be governed by several precedents, and clerks exploited the confusion to practice fraud. The supervising secretaries Yang Yongjian and Hu Erkai, Nian Bensheng, Sun Jichang, and Wang Qizuo, and Censor Xu Shaoxin, submitted successive memorials exposing these abuses and also impeached Sun Tingquan for indulgence and being misled by the clerks; his added title was stripped and he was fined a portion of his salary. In the seventeenth year he memorialized: "For newly opened frontier posts, when governors and governors-general appoint officials and immediately grant substantive appointment, they are transferred on the same footing as those selected by the ministry. Having served only briefly, they are soon moved to the interior; I ask that it be fixed that they serve on probation for two years before substantive appointment is granted." He also said: "Provincial and circuit officials should not be lightly replaced; except for those subject to major evaluation penalties or impeached for greed and cruelty, when demoted or dismissed in rank they should still be retained in office." All were approved. Because of drought he also memorialized asking that performance evaluation be relaxed and military colonies be promoted. The emperor ordered the Ministry of War to deliberate on military colonies, and asked Sun Tingquan what he meant by the phrase in his memorial on relaxing evaluation: "long service and repeated recommendations, discarded for a single fault." Sun Tingquan said: "Prefectures and counties long worn down have for years burdened talented men; evaluation should be slightly relaxed so we may observe later results; this is not to seek exemption for punished officials."

世祖崩，二十七日制滿。廷銓發議尊皇太后為太皇太后，上所生母為皇太后，率九卿上請舉大禮疏。及議大行皇帝諡號，廷銓曰：「大行皇帝龍興中土，混一六合，功業同於開創。宜謚為高皇帝。眾皆和之，而輔臣鼇拜持異議，遂定諡章皇帝。時太祖諡武皇帝，故廷銓議如是。時論頗歸之。

When the Shunzhi Emperor died, the twenty-seven-day mourning period was completed. Sun Tingquan initiated discussion to honor the Empress Dowager as Grand Empress Dowager and the emperor's birth mother as Empress Dowager, and led the Nine Ministers in submitting a memorial requesting the great mourning rites. When they deliberated on the posthumous title of the late emperor, Sun Tingquan said: "The late emperor rose in the Central Plain and unified the realm; his achievements are equal to founding a dynasty. He should be given the posthumous title Gaohuangdi (High Emperor). All agreed, but the regent Oboi held a different view, and the posthumous title Zhanghuangdi (Manifest Emperor) was finally fixed. At that time Taizu had been given the posthumous title Wuhuangdi (Martial Emperor), and therefore Sun Tingquan argued as he did. Contemporary opinion largely sided with him.

康熙二年，拜秘書院大學士。奉職勤慎，終歲未嘗休沐。逾年，以父母年老，解職歸養，閉戶卻掃，不與外事。十三年，卒，諡文定。

In the second year of Kangxi he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Secretariat. He served with diligence and care and went the whole year without taking leave for rest. The following year, because his parents were elderly, he resigned to return home and care for them, shut his doors to visitors, and took no part in outside affairs. In the thirteenth year he died and was given the posthumous title Wending (Settled in Culture).

杜立德，字純一，直隸寶坻人。明崇禎進士。順治元年，以順天巡撫宋權薦，授中書科中書。二年，考選戶科給事中。疏陳：「治平之道有三：一曰敬天。君為天之子，當修省以迓天休。今秦、晉、燕畿水旱風雹，天心示警。凡開誠佈公，懋德敦行，皆敬天事也。一曰法古。古者事之鑑，是非定於一時，法則昭於百代。故合經而後能權，遵法而後能創。凡建學明倫，立綱陳紀，皆法古事也。一曰愛人。自大臣以至百姓，宜一視同仁。且無論新舊，悉存棄短取長之心。凡親賢納諫，尚德緩刑，皆愛人事也。」上以其有裨治理，深嘉納之。又累疏言：「牧民之官，宜久任以驗成功。凡遇賑蠲，宜分別款項，豫行頒示，使小民咸喻，胥吏不能為奸。」「條編法簡易便民。軍興草豆無定額，宜敕部定價值，使民先事為備。」皆下部議行。累遷戶科都給事中。疏言：「漕運叢弊，今漕臣庫禮搜獲運官使費冊三十本送部。請敕窮究，以釐姦弊。」再遷吏科都給事中。八年，疏請舉行經筵，擇廷臣經明行修者為講官，以裨聖治；又請定朝期，肅禁地，杜加派。上甚韙之。

Du Lide, courtesy name Chunyi, was a native of Baodi in Zhili. A jinshi of the Chongzhen reign under the Ming. In the first year of Shunzhi, on the recommendation of Shuntian Governor Song Quan, he was appointed secretary in the Secretariat Section. In the second year he was selected by examination as supervising secretary in the Revenue Section. He memorialized: "The way to good government has three parts: first, reverence for Heaven. The ruler is Heaven's son and should cultivate himself and examine his conduct to welcome Heaven's favor. Now in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and the capital region there are floods, droughts, and hailstorms; Heaven is showing its warning. All such matters as opening one's heart and acting with fairness, and encouraging virtue and earnest conduct, are acts of reverence for Heaven. Second, following antiquity. Antiquity is the mirror of affairs; right and wrong may be fixed in a single age, but law shines forth for a hundred generations. Therefore only after conforming to the classics can one exercise discretion; only after following law can one innovate. All such matters as establishing schools and clarifying human relations, and setting forth principles and laying down regulations, are acts of following antiquity. Third, loving the people. From great ministers down to the common people, all should be treated with equal benevolence. Moreover, whether old or new subjects, one should always keep the mind of discarding weaknesses and taking strengths. All such matters as drawing near the worthy and accepting remonstrance, honoring virtue and moderating punishments, are acts of loving the people. The emperor, finding this beneficial to governance, deeply praised and accepted it. He also submitted successive memorials saying: "Officials who shepherd the people should serve long terms to verify their success. Whenever relief or tax remission is granted, the items should be distinguished and announced in advance, so that common people all understand and clerks cannot practice fraud." The single-whip method is simple and convenient for the people. When the army is raised, fodder and grain have no fixed quotas; the ministry should be ordered to fix prices so that the people may prepare in advance." All were referred to the ministries for deliberation and implementation. He was successively promoted to Chief Supervising Secretary of the Revenue Section. He memorialized: "The grain transport system is rife with abuses; now Transport Commissioner Ku Li has searched out and seized thirty account books of transport officials' expenses and sent them to the ministry. I request an imperial order for thorough investigation to rectify fraud and abuse." He was again promoted to Chief Supervising Secretary of the Personnel Section. In the eighth year he memorialized asking that the imperial classics lecture be held, and that court officials distinguished in the classics and upright in conduct be chosen as lecturers to benefit the emperor's governance; he also asked that court schedules be fixed, the forbidden precinct be enforced, and extra levies be stopped. The emperor greatly approved.

初，睿親王多爾袞攝政，給事中許作梅，御史吳達、李森先、桑芸等交章劾大學士馮銓姦貪狀，疏上旬日，未下廷議。立德請令滿、漢大臣集議，以伸公論，鼓直言之氣；並及馬士英、阮大鋮、宋企郊等，在前朝或納賄招權，或煽惡流毒，今並逋逃，宜急捕誅，以彰法紀。下刑部，以事在赦前，寢其議。世祖親政，銓既黜，立德因言作梅等前以劾銓為所切齒，又僉都御史趙開心素為銓所忌，相繼構陷去官，乞矜察。由是開心等俱起用。

Earlier, when the Prince Regent Dorgon held power, Supervising Secretary Xu Zuomei and Censors Wu Da, Li Senxian, Sang Yun, and others submitted successive memorials impeaching Grand Secretary Feng Quan for corruption and greed; the memorials had been before the throne for ten days without being referred to court deliberation. Lide asked that Manchu and Han grand ministers be ordered to deliberate jointly, to give full play to public opinion and encourage frank speech; and also concerning Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng, Song Qijiao, and others, who under the previous dynasty either accepted bribes and gathered power or stirred up evil and spread poison—all now fugitives—who should be urgently captured and executed to uphold the law. The matter was referred to the Ministry of Punishments; because the offenses occurred before an amnesty, the proposal was shelved. When the Shunzhi Emperor took power in person and Quan was dismissed, Lide said that Zuomei and others had earlier been bitterly resented by Quan for impeaching him, and that Vice Censor-in-Chief Zhao Kaixin had long been hated by Quan and was successively framed and driven from office; he begged compassionate review. Thereupon Kaixin and the others were all reappointed.

立德尋遷太常寺少卿，超擢工部侍郎，調兵部。畿輔水災，奉詔賑濟大名，全活甚眾。再調吏部，以父憂去。坐兵部任詿誤，鐫秩調用。服闋，除太僕寺卿，擢刑部侍郎。十六年，加太子少保銜。領侍衛內大臣額爾克岱青家奴縛侍衛誣訴，部議罪侍衛，下內大臣索尼等察實，立德奪加銜。十六年，擢尚書。

Lide was soon transferred to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, exceptionally promoted to Vice Minister of Works, and transferred to the Ministry of War. When the capital region suffered flooding, by imperial order he provided relief in Daming and saved a great many lives. He was again transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and left office to mourn his father. Because of an error in his duties at the Ministry of War, he was demoted in rank and transferred. When mourning was completed, he was appointed Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud and promoted to Vice Minister of Punishments. In the sixteenth year he was granted the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. A bondservant of Inner Minister Erke Daiqing, who headed the guards, bound a guard and lodged a false accusation; the ministry deliberated and punished the guard, but when Inner Ministers Sony and others investigated the facts, Lide was stripped of his added title. In the sixteenth year he was promoted to Minister.

立德治獄仁恕，上聞其用法平，深嘉之。嘗入對，既出，上顧左右曰：「此新授刑部尚書杜立德也！不貪一錢，亦不妄殺一人。」康熙元年，調戶部。考滿，復加太子少保。三年，調吏部。八年，拜國史院大學士。聖祖親政，乾清宮成，擇日臨御，欽天監奏吉神在隅，不宜從中門入。立德言：「紫微帝星所在，吉神拱向。皇上遷正新宮，臣庶觀瞻，應從中門入。監臣所奏非是。」上從其言。九年，改保和殿大學士，兼禮部尚書，進太子太傅。

Lide handled cases with benevolence and forbearance; the emperor heard that his application of the law was even-handed and deeply praised him. Once after he had entered for an audience and left, the emperor turned to those beside him and said: "This is the newly appointed Minister of Punishments Du Lide! He does not covet a single coin, nor does he kill a person without cause." In the first year of Kangxi he was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. When his evaluation period was completed, he was again granted the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In the third year he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. In the eighth year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Historiography Institute. When the Kangxi Emperor took power in person, the Palace of Heavenly Purity was completed, and a day was chosen for him to take up residence; the Directorate of Astronomy reported that the auspicious spirit was in a corner and that he should not enter by the central gate. Lide said: "The Purple Forbidden Star, the seat of the imperial star, is where the auspicious spirits gather and face. When Your Majesty moves to the new palace, officials and common people will look on; you should enter by the central gate. What the directorate officials reported is not correct." The emperor followed his advice. In the ninth year he was made Grand Secretary of the Hall of Preserving Harmony, concurrently served as Minister of Rites, and was promoted to Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent.

三籓事起，立德與李霨、馮溥參預機務。從容整暇，中外相安。廣東平，所司具正雜賦稅之數以聞。立德言：「廣東雜稅多尚之信所加，為民間大累，非朝廷正額。今變亂甫定，宜與民休息。其除之便。」上從之。十八年，自陳乞休。其秋地震，復請罷，詔輒慰留。雲南平，議頒恩赦，立德告病未與議，遣大臣持詔旨就其家諮詢，俟還奏乃下詔。一日，上顧閣臣，謂在廷諸臣誰堪大用者，立德面疏數人以對。比退，人訝其不稍引嫌，答曰：「自筮仕以來，惟此心可邀帝鑑。他非所計也。」

When the Three Feudatories rebellion arose, Lide, together with Li Wei and Feng Pu, took part in deciding affairs of state. Composed and unhurried, they kept the court and the realm at ease. When Guangdong was pacified, the responsible offices submitted the figures for regular and miscellaneous taxes for report. Lide said: "Most of Guangdong's miscellaneous taxes were added by Shang Zhixin and are a great burden on the people; they are not regular quotas of the court. Now that rebellion has just been settled, the people should be allowed to rest. It would be best to abolish them." The emperor followed his advice. In the eighteenth year he petitioned on his own account to retire. That autumn there was an earthquake; he again requested to resign, but each time an edict comforted him and kept him in office. When Yunnan was pacified, an amnesty was discussed; Lide reported illness and did not take part in the deliberation; the emperor sent a grand minister with the edict draft to consult him at his home, and only after the minister returned and reported was the edict issued. One day the emperor looked at the grand secretaries and asked which officials at court were fit for great employment; Lide privately listed several men in reply. When he withdrew, people were surprised that he did not hold back out of scruple; he replied: "Since I entered office, only this heart can invite the emperor's discernment. Other things are not what I calculate."

二十一年夏，复乞休，上許之，賜御製詩及「怡情洛社」篆章，馳驛遣行人護歸。太宗實錄成，進太子太師，賜銀幣、鞍馬。二十六年，太皇太后喪，立德詣京師哭臨，上念其老病不任拜起，命學士張英扶掖以行，慰勞甚至。三十一年，卒，年八十一，上聞，諭大學士曰：「杜立德秉性厚重，行事正大。直言敷奏，不肯苟隨同列。可謂賢臣！」賜祭葬如禮，諡文端。三十九年，帝南巡，其子恭俊迎駕三河，上問立德葬所，手書「永言惟舊」四字賜之，命揭諸阡。恭俊官廣信知府，好義，善濟人急。

In the summer of the twenty-first year he again petitioned to retire; the emperor granted it, bestowed an imperial poem and a seal inscribed "Finding Joy in the Lu Community," and dispatched an imperial messenger by post to escort him home. When the Veritable Records of Taizong were completed, he was promoted to Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent and granted silver coins and saddle horses. In the twenty-sixth year, at the Grand Empress Dowager's death, Lide came to the capital to mourn; the emperor, mindful that he was old and ill and unable to perform the bows and risings, ordered Bachelor Zhang Ying to support him as he walked and comforted him with exceptional kindness. In the thirty-first year he died at the age of eighty-one; when the emperor heard, he told the grand secretaries: "Du Lide was by nature solid and weighty, and upright in conduct. He spoke frankly in memorials and would not lightly follow his colleagues. He may be called a worthy minister!" Sacrificial and burial honors were granted according to ritual, and he was given the posthumous title Wenduan (Correct in Culture). In the thirty-ninth year, when the emperor toured the south, his son Gongjun met the imperial procession at Sanhe; the emperor asked where Lide was buried, personally wrote the four characters "Forever remembering the old," bestowed them, and ordered them displayed at the tomb path. Gongjun served as prefect of Guangxin, loved righteousness, and was good at relieving people in urgent need.

馮溥，字孔博，山東益都人。順治三年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。累遷秘書院侍讀學士，直講經筵。世祖幸內院，顧大學士曰：「朕視馮溥乃真翰林也！」十六年，擢吏部侍郎。會各省學道缺，部郎不足，以知府補之。已，會禮部議奏，時尚書孫廷銓、侍郎石申並乞假；給事中張維赤因劾溥徇私，溥疏辨。上曰：「朕知溥不為也！」置勿問。明年，京官三品以上自陳，忽嚴旨黜滿尚書科爾坤及兩侍郎，獨留漢官在部。溥與廷銓疏言：「部事滿、漢同治，今滿臣得罪，漢臣安得免，乞並黜。」詔供職如故。

Feng Pu, courtesy name Kongbo, was a native of Yidu in Shandong. A jinshi of the third year of Shunzhi, he was selected as a Hanlin bachelor and appointed compiler. He was successively promoted to Reader of the Secretariat and served regularly at the imperial classics lecture. When the Shunzhi Emperor visited the inner court, he turned to the grand secretaries and said: "In my view Feng Pu is a true Hanlin scholar!" In the sixteenth year he was promoted to Vice Minister of Personnel. When educational commissioner posts in the provinces were vacant and there were not enough directors in the ministry, prefects were appointed to fill them. Later, when the Ministry of Rites met to deliberate and report, at that time Minister Sun Tingquan and Vice Minister Shi Shen were both on leave; Supervising Secretary Zhang Weichi impeached Pu for favoritism, and Pu memorialized in defense. The emperor said: "I know Pu would not do such a thing!" The matter was set aside and not pursued. The next year, when capital officials of the third rank and above submitted self-evaluations, a sudden stern edict dismissed the Manchu Minister Ke'erkun and two vice ministers, leaving only Han officials in the ministry. Pu and Tingquan memorialized: "Ministry affairs are administered jointly by Manchu and Han; now that Manchu ministers have been punished, how can Han ministers be exempt? We beg to be dismissed together." An edict ordered them to continue in office as before.

康熙初，停各省巡按，議每省遣大臣二人廉察督撫。吏部尚書阿思哈、侍郎泰必圖議設公廨，頒冊印。溥謂：「國家設督撫，皆重臣。今謂不可信，復遣兩大臣監之。權既太重，勢復相軋，保無屬吏仰承左右啟隙端？」泰必圖性暴伉，聞溥言，恚，瞋目攘臂起。溥徐曰：「會議也，獨不容吾兩議耶？且可否自有上裁，豈敢專主？」疏入，上然溥言，事遂寢。御史李秀以考績黜，後夤緣得復官，劾溥為故相劉正宗黨，主銓時違例徇私，溥疏辨，嚴旨責秀誣訐。六年，遷左都御史。內閣有紅本，已發科鈔，輔臣鼇拜取回改批。溥抗言：「本章既批發，不便更改。」鼇拜欲罪之，上直溥，戒輔臣詳慎。盛京工部侍郎缺，已會推，奉旨以規避者多，不旬日三易其人。溥疏言：「王言不宜反汗，當慎重於未有旨之先，不當更移於已奉旨之後。」首輔班布爾善寢其奏，上聞，取溥疏覽之，稱善，飭部施行。

At the beginning of Kangxi, when provincial surveillance commissioners were abolished, it was proposed that each province send two grand ministers to inspect governors and governors-general. Minister of Personnel Asiha and Vice Minister Taibitu proposed establishing public offices and issuing registers and seals. Pu said: "The state appoints governors and governors-general, all of them weighty ministers. Now to say they cannot be trusted and to send two more grand ministers to supervise them. Authority would be too heavy and power would again clash; can we be sure that subordinate officials would not look to those on the left and right and open rifts?" Taibitu was by nature violent and overbearing; hearing Pu's words, he was enraged, glared, and rose with arms flung wide. Pu said calmly: "This is a conference; are we alone not allowed to offer two opinions? Moreover, approval or rejection rests with the emperor's decision; how would we dare to decide on our own?" When the memorial was submitted, the emperor agreed with Pu's view and the matter was shelved. Censor Li Xiu had been dismissed after evaluation but later gained reinstatement through connections; he impeached Pu as a partisan of the former chief minister Liu Zhengzong and for violating regulations and showing favoritism when he headed appointments; Pu memorialized in defense, and a stern edict rebuked Xiu for slander. In the sixth year he was transferred to Censor-in-Chief of the Left. In the Grand Secretariat there was a red draft that had already been sent to the ministries for copying; the regent Oboi took it back and altered the endorsement. Pu protested: "Since this memorial has already been endorsed and issued, it should not be changed." Oboi wished to punish him, but the emperor supported Pu and admonished the regents to be careful and thorough. When the vice ministership in the Ministry of Works at Mukden fell vacant, candidates had already been jointly recommended, but an edict said that too many were evading the post; within ten days the appointee was changed three times. Pu memorialized: "Imperial words should not be reversed; deliberation should be careful before an edict is issued, and should not be changed after an edict has already been received." Chief Minister Banbu'ershan shelved the memorial, but when the emperor heard of it he had Pu's memorial brought for review, praised it, and ordered the ministry to implement it.

八年夏，旱，應詔陳言，請省刑薄稅。略謂：「古者罪人不孥，今一事牽連佐證，或數人，或數十人。往往本犯尚未審明，而被累致死者已多。且或遲至七八年尚未結案，遂致力穡供稅之人，拋家失業。請敕部嚴禁。百姓之財，不過取之田畝。今正月已開徵，舊稅之逋甫償，新歲之田未種，錢糧從何辦納？請敕部酌議。自後徵賦，緩待夏秋。」下戶、刑二部議。刑部議，承審強盜、人命重案，限一年速結，不得牽累無辜，督撫及承審官隱漏遲延皆有罰。戶部議，春季兵餉不能待至夏秋，仍舊例便。得旨，俟國用充足，戶部奏請更定。戶部吏陳一魁冒領清苑等縣錢糧事發，溥言：「錢糧者百姓之脂膏也，其已輸在官，則朝廷之帑藏也。若任胥吏侵盜，職掌謂何？請嚴定所司處分，懲前毖後。」擢刑部尚書。十年，拜文華殿大學士。疏言：「直隸、山東、河南、山西、陝西米麥豐收，穀價每鬥值銀三四分。當此豐稔之時，宜廣積貯，以備凶年。」

In the summer of the eighth year, during drought, in response to an edict inviting opinion, he requested lighter punishments and reduced taxes. He said in summary: "In antiquity guilt did not extend to families; today a single case may implicate witnesses and associates, sometimes several people, sometimes several tens. Often before the principal offender has even been clearly tried, many of those implicated have already died. Moreover, cases may drag on seven or eight years without conclusion, so that people who labor in the fields and pay taxes abandon their homes and lose their livelihoods. I request that the ministries be ordered to forbid this strictly. The people's wealth comes only from the fields. Now collection has already begun in the first month; arrears of old taxes have just been paid, and the fields of the new year are not yet planted—how are grain taxes to be paid? I request that the ministries be ordered to deliberate. Henceforth tax collection should wait until summer and autumn." The matter was referred to the Ministries of Revenue and Punishments for deliberation. The Ministry of Punishments deliberated that robbery and homicide cases under trial should be concluded within one year, that the innocent must not be implicated, and that governors and trial officials who concealed, omitted, or delayed would all be punished. The Ministry of Revenue deliberated that spring military pay could not wait until summer and autumn, and that the old practice should stand. An edict was received: when state revenue is ample, the Ministry of Revenue should memorialize requesting revision. When Ministry of Revenue clerk Chen Yikui was found to have falsely claimed grain taxes from Qingyuan and other counties, Pu said: "Grain taxes are the fat and cream of the people; once paid into the government, they are the treasury of the court. If clerks are allowed to embezzle, what becomes of official responsibility? I request that the responsible offices fix penalties strictly, punishing the past to guard the future." 」and was promoted to Minister of Justice. In the tenth year, he received appointment as Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall. He submitted a memorial stating: "Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi have enjoyed bountiful harvests of rice and wheat, with grain selling for only three or four fen of silver per dou. In times of such plenty, the state ought to build up reserves against future famine."

先是，溥以衰病累疏乞休，上曰：「卿六十四歲，未衰也，俟七十乃休耳。」自吳三桂反，軍事旁午，乃不敢復言。十四年，建儲禮成，內閣議恩赦，滿大臣以八旗逃人應不赦，溥不可，遂兩議以進。詔下閣臣畫一奏聞，有謂當從滿大臣議者，溥持之力，仍以兩議進，上卒從之。十七年，福建平，溥以年屆七十，復申前請，上仍慰留。二十一年秋，詔許致仕，遣官護行馳驛如故事。比將歸，詣闕謝，賜遊西苑，內侍攜酒果，所至坐飲三爵。臨發，疏請清心省事，與民休息，言甚切，溫旨報聞。賜御製詩及「適志東山」篆章，命講官牛鈕、陳廷敬傳諭曰：「朕聞山東仕於朝者，彼此援引，造為議論，務有濟於私，又居鄉多擾害地方，朕審知其弊。馮溥久居禁密，可教訓子孫，務為安靜。」太宗實錄成，加太子太傅。三十年，卒，年八十三，諡文毅。

Earlier, Pu had repeatedly petitioned to retire on grounds of age and illness. The emperor replied: "You are only sixty-four—you are not yet old. You may retire when you reach seventy." After Wu Sangui rose in rebellion and military crises pressed in from every direction, he did not dare raise the matter again. In the fourteenth year, after the heir's investiture rites, the Grand Secretariat debated an amnesty. Manchu ministers argued that fugitive bannermen should be excluded; Pu objected, and both positions were forwarded to the throne. The emperor ordered the Grand Secretariat to reach a unified recommendation. Some advised following the Manchu ministers; Pu held firm and again submitted both proposals. In the end the emperor sided with Pu. In the seventeenth year, after Fujian was pacified, Pu petitioned once more, now that he had turned seventy; the emperor again declined to release him. In the autumn of his twenty-first year in office, he was granted permission to retire, with officials sent to escort him home by relay post as customary. Before leaving, he went to court to bid farewell. The emperor granted him a stroll through the Western Park, with eunuchs bearing wine and fruit; at each stop he was seated and served three rounds of drink. Just before setting out, he submitted a memorial pleading for leaner government and relief for the people—worded with great urgency—and received a gracious reply in edict form. The emperor bestowed an imperial poem and a seal bearing the characters "Contentment on the Eastern Hills," and dispatched lecturers Niu Niu and Chen Tingjing to convey his words: "I have heard that Shandong men in office at court band together, promote one another, and manufacture disputes to advance private interest, while those who return home often bring trouble to their districts. I know this well. Feng Pu has served long within the palace inner circle; let him teach his descendants to conduct themselves with restraint and decorum." Upon completion of the Veritable Records of Taizong, he was promoted to Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince. In the thirtieth year he died, aged eighty-three, and was given the posthumous name Wenyi.

溥居京師，闢万柳堂，與諸名士觴詠其中。性愛才，聞賢能，輒大書姓名於座隅，備薦擢。一時士論歸之。

During his residence in the capital, Pu established the Wanliu Hall, where he shared wine and poetry with leading men of letters. He had a passion for talent; upon hearing of anyone capable and worthy, he would jot their name in bold characters nearby, keeping them in mind for recommendation. For a time, public opinion among the educated class rallied to him.

王熙，字子雍，順天宛平人。父崇簡，明崇禎十六年進士。順治三年，以順天學政曹溶薦，補選庶吉士，授檢討。累遷禮部尚書，加太子少保。嘗疏請賜血卩明季殉難範景文、蔡懋德等二十八人，又議帝王廟罷宋臣潘美、張浚從祀，北岳移祀渾源，皆用其議。十八年，引疾解職。康熙十七年，卒，諡文貞。

Wang Xi, styled Ziyong, came from Wanping in Shuntian Prefecture. His father, Chongjian, earned his jinshi degree in the sixteenth year of Ming Chongzhen. In Shunzhi 3, recommended by Shuntian educational commissioner Cao Rong, he entered the Hanlin as a probationary bachelor and was made a reviser. He rose through successive appointments to Minister of Rites, with the additional rank of Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince. He once petitioned for posthumous ennoblement of twenty-eight martyrs of the late Ming, among them Fan Jingwen and Cai Maode. He also recommended removing the Song ministers Pan Mei and Zhang Jun from the Imperial Ancestral Temple and moving worship of the Northern Peak to Hunyuan—all proposals were accepted. In the eighteenth year he retired from office, pleading illness. He died in Kangxi 17 and received the posthumous name Wenzhen.

熙，順治四年進士，選庶吉士，授檢討。累遷右春坊諭德。召直南苑。譯大學衍義，充日講官，進講稱旨。累擢弘文院學士。時崇簡方任國史院學士，上曰：「父子同官，古今所罕。以爾誠恪，特加此恩。」十五年，擢禮部侍郎，兼翰林院掌院學士。考滿，加尚書銜。時崇簡為尚書，父子復同官。十八年正月，上大漸，召熙至養心殿撰遺詔，熙伏地飲泣，筆不能下，上諭勉抑哀痛，即禦榻前先草第一條以進。尋奏移乾清門撰擬，進呈者三，皆報可。是夕上崩，聖祖嗣位，熙改兼弘文院學士。

Wang Xi himself took his jinshi in Shunzhi 4, entered the Hanlin, and was appointed reviser. He rose through the ranks to Preceptor in the Right Secretariat of the Eastern Palace. He was called to attend the emperor at the Southern Imperial Park. He translated the Daxue Yanyi, served as a daily lecturer at court, and his expositions met with imperial approval. He rose to become an Academician of the Hall of Literary Glory. Chongjian was then serving as an Academician of the Historiography Institute. The emperor remarked: "For father and son to hold office simultaneously is scarcely seen in history. In recognition of your loyalty and integrity, I confer this exceptional honor." In the fifteenth year he was elevated to Vice Minister of Rites and concurrently appointed Chief Academician of the Hanlin. After his performance review, he received the honorary rank of minister. By then Chongjian had become a full minister, and father and son once again served side by side. In the first month of the eighteenth year, as the emperor lay gravely ill, Wang Xi was summoned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to compose the testament. Wang Xi fell prostrate, weeping so hard he could not write. The emperor bade him master his grief and, from his sickbed, personally drafted the first clause for him to submit. Work then shifted to the Gate of Heavenly Purity; three versions were submitted, each approved. The emperor passed away that night. When the Kangxi Emperor ascended the throne, Wang Xi was retained as Academician of the Hall of Literary Glory.

康熙五年，遷左都御史。時三籓擁兵踰制，吳三桂尤崛強，擅署官吏，浸驕蹇，萌異志。子應熊，以尚主居京師，多聚奸人，散金錢，交通四方。熙首疏請裁兵減餉，略言：「直省錢糧，半為雲、貴、湖廣兵餉所耗。就雲、貴言，籓下官兵歲需俸餉三百餘萬，本省賦稅不足供什一，勢難經久。臣以為滇、黔已平，綠旗額兵亟宜汰減，即籓下餘丁，亦宜散遣屯種，則勢分而餉亦裕。」复疏言：「閩、廣、江西、湖廣等省官吏，挾貲貿易，與民爭利。或指稱籓下，依勢橫行。宜飭嚴禁。」又言：「近例招民百家送至盛京，得授知縣。不肖奸人，借資為市，貽害地方，宜改給散秩。現任官吏捐輸銀米，博取議敘，名出私橐，實取諸民，宜一切報罷。」上俱從之。

In Kangxi 5 he was appointed Censor-in-Chief of the Left. The Three Feudatories had exceeded their military allotments; Wu Sangui in particular had grown defiant, appointing officials at will, waxing ever more insolent until disloyal ambitions took shape. Wu Sangui's son Yingxiong, who lived in the capital as consort to an imperial princess, assembled ruffians, spent freely, and maintained networks across the empire. Wang Xi took the lead in petitioning for force reductions and pay cuts, writing in part: "Fully half the grain revenue of the provinces goes to sustaining troops in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Huguang. In Yunnan and Guizhou alone, the feudatory's forces draw over three million taels yearly in pay and rations, while local tax revenue covers less than a tenth—a situation that cannot endure. I believe that with Dian and Qian pacified, the Green Banner quotas should be cut at once, and the feudatory's surplus manpower dispersed to farming colonies—splitting their power while stretching the pay budget further." In a follow-up memorial he wrote: "Officials in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Huguang, and elsewhere engage in trade on the side, competing with commoners for profit. Some invoke the feudatory's name and throw their weight around accordingly. Strict enforcement is called for." He added: "A recent rule allows appointment as county magistrate to anyone who brings a hundred households to Mukden. Unscrupulous men buy their way in, harming local communities; the reward should be reduced to an honorary title only. Serving officials who donate silver and grain to earn merit citations claim private expense but actually squeeze the people—all such schemes should be cancelled." The emperor accepted every proposal.

七年夏，旱，金星晝見，詔求直言。熙疏言：「世祖章皇帝精勤圖治，諸曹政務，皆經詳定。數年來有因言官條奏改易者，有因各部院題請更張者，有會議興革者，則例繁多，官吏奉行，任意輕重。請敕部院諸司詳察現行事例，有因變法而滋弊者，悉遵舊制更正。其有從新例便者，亦條晰不得不然之故，裁定畫一。」上命各部院條議，遵舊制，刪繁例，凡數十事。遷工部尚書。

In the summer of the seventh year, drought afflicted the land and Venus was visible in daylight; the throne issued a call for candid counsel. Wang Xi submitted a memorial: "The Shizu Emperor devoted himself tirelessly to governing; every branch of administration had been carefully regulated under his hand. In recent years changes have been driven by censorial memorials, by petitions from individual ministries, and by conference resolutions—with the result that regulations have proliferated and officials enforce them as they please, inconsistently. I urge that every ministry and bureau scrutinize existing regulations and restore the former system wherever reforms have introduced abuse. Where newer rules truly serve better, let the reasons be spelled out clearly case by case, and let a single standard be fixed for all." The emperor directed the ministries to deliberate item by item, restore older practices, and cut redundant regulations—addressing several dozen items in all. He was appointed Minister of Works.

十二年，調兵部。是年冬，三桂反，京師聞變，都城內外一夕火四起，皆應熊黨為之也。明年三月，用熙言誅應熊。尋命熙專管密本。漢臣與聞軍機自熙始。十七年，以父憂去。二十一年，即家拜保和殿大學士，兼禮部尚書。時三籓既平，熙以和平寬大，宣上德意，與民休息。造次奏對，直陳無隱，上每傾聽。太祖實錄成，加太子太傅。三十一年，以疾累疏乞休，溫旨慰留。四十年，詔許致仕，晉少傅。明年上元節，賜宴其家，遣官齎手敕存問。四十二年，卒，上命皇長子直郡王允禔、大學士馬齊臨喪，行拜奠禮，舉哀酹酒，恩禮有加，諡文靖。

In the twelfth year he moved to the Ministry of War. That winter, when Wu Sangui rebelled and news reached the capital, fires erupted across the city in a single night—all set by partisans of Yingxiong. The following March, acting on Wang Xi's counsel, Yingxiong was put to death. Wang Xi was soon put in exclusive charge of classified memorials. Han ministers first gained access to military deliberations through Wang Xi. In the seventeenth year he resigned to observe mourning for his father. In the twenty-first year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Preserving Harmony and Minister of Rites without leaving home. With the Three Feudatories recently subdued, Wang Xi communicated the emperor's clemency in measured, generous terms and pressed for policies that would let the people recover. Even in hasty audiences he spoke without reserve, and the emperor always gave him a hearing. Upon completion of the Veritable Records of Taizu, he was promoted to Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince. In the thirty-first year he repeatedly asked to retire on grounds of illness, but gracious edicts kept him in office. In the fortieth year he was granted permission to retire and promoted to Junior Tutor. On the Lantern Festival the following year, the emperor hosted a feast at his residence and sent officials with a personal letter of regard. He died in the forty-second year. The Kangxi Emperor sent his eldest son, Prince Yunzhi, and Grand Secretary Ma Qi to the funeral with orders to perform obeisance, offer libations, and mourn on the throne's behalf—honors rarely accorded—and conferred the posthumous name Wenjing.

熙持大體，有遠慮。平定三籓後，開方略館。一日，上諭閣臣：「當三桂反時，漢官有言不必發兵，七旬有苗格者。」又其時漢官多移妻子回家，顧學士韓菼曰：「汝為朕載之！」菼退而皇恐。熙乃昌言閣中曰：「『有苗格『乃會議時魏象樞語。告者截去首尾，遂失其本意。然如其言，豈非誤國？移家偶然耳，日久何從分別，其移者豈非背主？漢官負此兩大罪，何顏立朝？」翌日入見，執奏如閣中語，上許之。

Wang Xi kept sight of the larger picture and thought far ahead. After the pacification of the Three Feudatories, the Strategy Office was established. One day the emperor told the Grand Secretariat: "When Wu Sangui rebelled, some Han officials argued against sending troops, saying the Miao would surrender within seventy days." He noted that many Han officials had meanwhile sent their families home. Addressing Academician Han Tan, he said: "Record this for me!" Han Tan withdrew in terror. Wang Xi then spoke boldly within the Grand Secretariat: "The remark about 'the Miao submitting' came from Wei Xiangsu during the deliberations. Whoever reported it stripped away the context, distorting the original meaning. Even so, had we acted on those words alone, would that not have been national calamity? Sending one's family home might happen for any number of reasons—given time, who could tell them apart? And are those who did so not guilty of deserting their sovereign? With these two grave charges hanging over Han officials, how could any of them hold up their heads at court?" The next day he repeated these arguments to the emperor in audience, and his account was accepted.

熙子克善、克勤，皆世祖命名。克善能文，熙不令與試，遇鄉、會典試，熙輒注假，以聖祖方惡漢人師生之習，故尤慎之。二十七年，典會試，蓋特命也。雍正中。入祀賢良祠。

Wang Xi's sons Keshan and Keqin both received their names from the Shizu Emperor. Though Keshan was a gifted writer, Wang Xi forbade him from taking the exams; at every provincial or metropolitan session he would record sick leave on his son's behalf, for the Kangxi Emperor then looked unfavorably on patronage networks among Han literati, and Wang Xi was doubly careful. In the twenty-seventh year he was specially appointed chief examiner for the metropolitan exams. Under the Yongzheng Emperor. He was admitted to the Temple of Worthies.

弟燕，字子喜，以父廕，任戶部郎中。出為鎮江知府，擢江蘇按察使，治獄稱平。遷湖廣布政使，巡撫貴州，建學設官，減賦稅，教養兼施，善拊循苗人，頒條教，飭州縣無縱奸人詭索土司。撫黔三年，移疾歸，卒。

His younger brother Yan, styled Zixi, entered office through his father's yin privilege and served as a Director in the Ministry of Revenue. Posted as prefect of Zhenjiang, he rose to Jiangsu judicial commissioner, earning repute for even-handed justice. Promoted to Huguang financial commissioner and appointed governor of Guizhou, he founded schools, reduced taxes, and pursued both education and welfare. He won over the Miao with gentle governance, issued regulations, and forbade local officials from letting scoundrels fleece native chieftains through fraudulent demands. After three years in Guizhou he retired citing illness and died shortly after returning home.

吳正治，字當世，湖北江夏人。順治六年進士，選庶吉士，授國史院編修。丁母憂，服闋，起故官。遷右庶子。十五年，特簡翰林官十五人外用，正治與焉，得江西南昌道。遷陝西按察使。所至以清廉執法著稱。十七年，內擢工部侍郎，調刑部。平亭疑獄，釋江南逋賦無辜諸生二百餘人。疏論奉行赦款宜速，丈量田地宜停，禁狀外指扳，嚴婦女私嫁，皆著為令。

Wu Zhengzhi, styled Dangshi, came from Jiangxia in Hubei. He earned his jinshi in Shunzhi 6, entered the Hanlin, and was appointed compiler of the Historiography Institute. After mourning his mother, he returned to his previous post. He was promoted to Vice Director of the Eastern Palace. In the fifteenth year, fifteen Hanlin academicians were specially chosen for provincial service; Zhengzhi was selected and appointed to the Nanchang circuit in Jiangxi. He was promoted to judicial commissioner of Shaanxi. Wherever he served, he won renown for integrity and impartial enforcement of the law. In the seventeenth year he was elevated from within the court to Vice President of Works, then transferred to Punishments. He adjudicated doubtful cases with evenhanded justice and freed more than two hundred innocent Jiangnan scholars wrongly caught up in tax-arrears prosecutions. In memorials he urged swift implementation of amnesty clauses, a halt to land surveys, a ban on implicating people not named in the original complaint, and strict prohibition of unauthorized marriages among women; all were enacted as law.

康熙八年，以父憂去。起兵部督捕侍郎，充經筵講官。十二年，遷左都御史。疏言：「緝逃事例，首嚴窩隱。一有容留，雖親如父子，即坐以罪，使小民父子視若仇讎。伏讀律有親屬容隱之條，惟叛逆者不用此律。逃人乃旗下家人之事，與叛逆輕重相懸。請自今有父子窩逃，被人舉發者，逃犯治罪，免坐窩隱。若容留逾旬，父子首報者，逃犯依自首例減罪。則首報者多，逃人易獲。朝廷之法與天性之恩，兩不相悖矣。」又言：「今歲雨澤愆期，方事祈禱。近因直隸多盜，廷議於玉田、灤州、霸州、雄縣增設駐防旗兵，構建營房，勞民動眾，應暫停止。俟農隙時酌行。」疏入，下部議，俱如所請。先是睿親王多爾袞當國，嚴旗下逃人之禁，鰲拜繼之，禁益嚴。株連窮治，天下囂然，而圈地建營房，凡涉旗務，漢大臣莫敢置喙。自正治疏出，逃人禁稍寬，營房亦罷建，世多以是稱之。

In Kangxi 8 he resigned to observe mourning for his father. Upon returning to office he was appointed Vice President of War for fugitive apprehension and lectured at the imperial classics colloquium. In the twelfth year he was promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief. He submitted a memorial: "Under the fugitive-apprehension regulations, harboring is treated as the gravest offense. The moment anyone gives shelter—even to a kinsman as close as father and son—guilt follows at once, until common folk look upon their own fathers and sons as enemies. On reverent study of the code, one finds a statute permitting relatives to harbor one another—yet rebels alone are excluded from its protection. Runaway banner bondservants are a domestic household matter, far removed in gravity from treason. I ask that hereafter, when father and son are found to have sheltered a fugitive and are denounced by others, only the fugitive be punished and the harboring charge be set aside. If the fugitive has been hidden for more than ten days and the father and son come forward first, the runaway's sentence should be reduced as for voluntary surrender. More people would come forward to report, and fugitives would be easier to apprehend. The law of the court and the claims of natural affection would no longer stand at odds." He went on: "This year the rains are overdue, and the court is already at prayer for them. Recently, with banditry rife in Zhili, the court had debated posting additional garrison banner troops at Yutian, Luanzhou, Bazhou, and Xiong County and building barracks—a laborious undertaking that should be suspended for the present. It should be carried out later, when the farming season allows." The memorial was received, referred to the ministries, and approved in full. Earlier, when Prince Rui Dorgon governed the realm, he had imposed a harsh ban on runaway banner bondservants; Oboi carried the policy forward and tightened it still further. Relentless prosecutions that dragged in the innocent threw the empire into an uproar, yet on land seizures, barrack construction, and every matter touching the banners, Han ministers did not dare speak. After Zhengzhi's memorial, the fugitive laws were eased somewhat and barrack construction was abandoned; contemporaries widely praised him for it.

尋遷工部尚書，調禮部。十八年，自陳乞休，詔嘉其端勤誠慎，慰留之。二十年，拜武英殿大學士。時修太祖實錄、聖訓、會典、方略、一統志，俱充總裁官，加太子太傅。

He was soon promoted to Minister of Works and then transferred to Rites. In the eighteenth year he asked to retire; the throne commended his integrity, diligence, sincerity, and caution, and pressed him to stay on. In the twentieth year he was made Grand Secretary of the Hall of Martial Eminence. While the Veritable Records of Taizu, the Sacred Instructions, the Collected Statutes, the Military Annals, and the Unified Gazetteer were under compilation, he served as chief editor of them all and was given the rank of Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent.

正治守成法，識大體。一日，聖祖閱朝審冊，有以刃刺人股致死而抵法者，上曰：「刺股傷非致命，此可寬也。」正治對曰：「當念死者之無辜。」他日，又閱冊，有囚當死，上問此囚尚可活否，眾皆以情實對。正治曰：「皇上好生之德，臣等敢不奉行。」退而細勘，得可矜狀，遂從末減。二十六年，复疏乞休，詔許原官致仕。三十年，卒，諡文僖。

Zhengzhi adhered to established precedent and understood the larger stakes. One day the Emperor reviewed capital-case records and came upon a man condemned for stabbing another in the thigh with a blade and causing death. The Emperor said, "A thigh wound is not necessarily mortal; this sentence may be eased." Zhengzhi answered, "Your Majesty should also remember that the dead man was innocent of any wrong." On another occasion, while reviewing cases, he found a prisoner sentenced to death and asked whether the man might be spared. The others all answered according to the facts. Zhengzhi said, "Your Majesty's mercy toward life is well known—how could we ministers fail to honor it?" Afterward he reviewed the case in detail, found grounds for clemency, and had the sentence reduced to the lowest permissible degree. In the twenty-sixth year he again asked to retire, and the throne allowed him to leave office at his existing rank. In the thirtieth year he died and was posthumously titled Wenxi.

黃機，字次辰，浙江錢塘人。順治四年進士，選庶吉士，授弘文院編修。世祖幸內院，詢機裡籍官職，命與侍講法若真、修撰呂宮、編修程芳朝撰柳下惠不以三公易其介論，上覽畢，賜茶。授左中允，尋遷弘文院侍讀。

Huang Ji, styled Cichen, came from Qiantang in Zhejiang. He took his jinshi in Shunzhi 4, entered the Hanlin as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler of the Hongwen Academy. When the Shizu Emperor visited the Inner Academy, he asked after Ji's birthplace and office and ordered him, with Lecturer Fa Ruozhen, Compiler Lü Gong, and Compiler Cheng Fangchao, to write an essay on Liu Xiahui's refusal to trade his integrity for high office. The Emperor read it through and rewarded them with tea. He was made Left Sub-Reader and soon promoted to Reader of the Hongwen Academy.

十二年，機疏言：「自古仁聖之君，必祖述前謨，以昭一代文明之治。今纂修太祖、太宗實錄告成，乞敕諸臣校定所載嘉言嘉行，仿貞觀政要、洪武寶訓諸書，輯成治典，頒行天下。尤原萬幾之暇，朝夕省覽。法開創之維艱，知守成之不易，何以用人而收群策之效？何以納諫而宏虛受之風？何以理財而裕酌盈劑虛之方？何以詳刑而無失出失入之患？力行身體，則動有成模，紹美無極。」上俞之，詔輯太祖、太宗聖訓，以機充纂修官。累遷國史院侍讀學士，擢禮部侍郎。

In the twelfth year Ji submitted a memorial: "From antiquity, benevolent and sage rulers have looked back to the counsels of earlier ages to make their own civil rule shine forth. Now that the Veritable Records of Taizu and Taizong have been completed, I ask that ministers be charged to sift the worthy words and deeds they contain, and, following models such as the Zhenguan Essentials of Governance and the Hongwu Sacred Instructions, compile a book of governing principles for distribution throughout the empire. Above all, I hope Your Majesty will set aside time from the press of affairs to read it morning and evening. By learning how hard founding the dynasty had been and how difficult it is to preserve what has been won, how may one choose men wisely and draw benefit from counsel offered from every quarter? How may one welcome remonstrance and foster a spirit of generous listening? How may one manage the treasury and enlarge the means of balancing abundance against shortfall? How may one judge criminal cases with care and avoid the errors of excessive leniency or excessive severity? If Your Majesty puts these lessons into practice yourself, every act will become a model, and the continuation of virtue will know no end." The Emperor approved and ordered the compilation of the Sacred Instructions of Taizu and Taizong, with Ji as chief editor. He rose through the ranks to Reader of the Historiography Institute and was then appointed Vice President of Rites.

康熙六年，進尚書。疏言：「民窮之由有四：雜捐私派，棍徒哧詐，官貪而兵橫。請嚴察督撫，舉劾當否，以息貪風、甦民命。各省籓王、將軍、提、鎮有不法害民之事，許督撫糾劾。請飭破除情私，毋更因循，貽誤地方。」七年，調戶部，再調吏部。機以疏通銓法、議降補官對品除用，為御史季振宜所劾。既而給事中王曰溫劾故庶吉士王彥即機子黃彥博，欺妄，應罷黜。機以彥與彥博姓名不同，且彥博死已久，疏辨，得免議。尋以遷葬乞假歸，而論者猶不已。

In Kangxi 6 he was promoted to full minister. He submitted a memorial: "The people's distress has four sources: assorted levies and unauthorized surcharges, thugs who intimidate and defraud, corrupt officials, and violent soldiers. I ask that governors-general and governors be strictly overseen and that their recommendations and impeachments be judged on their merits, so that corruption may be checked and the people relieved. Wherever princes, garrison generals, provincial commanders, or regional commanders in the provinces commit unlawful acts that harm the people, governors should be allowed to impeach them. I urge that personal favoritism be swept away and that delay cease, lest local government continue to suffer." In the seventh year he was moved to Revenue and then to Personnel. Ji was impeached by Censor Ji Zhenyi for simplifying appointment rules and proposing that officials appointed at reduced rank be placed according to matched grade. Then Supervising Secretary Wang Yuewen accused the former Hanlin bachelor Wang Yan of being Ji's son Huang Yanbo, charged him with fraud, and demanded his dismissal. Ji replied in a memorial that Yan and Yanbo were not the same name and that Yanbo had died long ago, and thereby escaped further proceedings. He soon took leave to return home for a reburial, but his critics still would not let the matter drop.

十八年，特召還朝，以吏部尚書銜管刑部事。御史張志棟言機老成忠厚，然衰邁，恐誤部事，應令罷歸。上以志棟言過當，命機供職如故。明年，授吏部尚書。以年老請告，詔慰留。二十一年，拜文華殿大學士，兼吏部。逾年，复乞休，許以原官致仕，遣官護行馳驛如故事。二十五年，卒，諡文僖。

In the eighteenth year he was specially recalled to court and, holding the title of Minister of Personnel, was put in charge of Punishments. Censor Zhang Zhidong said that although Ji was experienced and loyal, he was now frail and might mishandle ministry business; he ought to be dismissed and sent home. The Emperor judged Zhang's remarks excessive and ordered Ji to remain at his post. The following year he was appointed Minister of Personnel. He asked to retire on account of age, but the throne comforted him and kept him in office. In the twenty-first year he was made Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Glory while retaining the Ministry of Personnel. A year later he again asked to retire; he was allowed to leave at his existing rank, and escorts were sent to convey him home by relay post, as custom required. In the twenty-fifth year he died and was posthumously titled Wenxi.

宋德宜，字右之，江南長洲人。父學朱，明御史，巡按山東，死於難。德宜年十七，伏闕請卹，與兄德宸、弟德宏並著文譽。順治十二年，成進士，選庶吉士，授編修。累遷國子監祭酒，嚴立條教，六館師生咸敬憚之。聖祖親政，釋奠太學，禦彝倫堂，命德宜東鄉坐，講周易乾卦辭，稱旨。遷翰林院侍讀學士，擢內閣學士。

Song Deyi, styled Youzhi, came from Changzhou in Jiangnan. His father Xuezhu had been a Ming censor and inspector of Shandong and died in the turmoil of the transition. At seventeen Deyi knelt at the palace gate to seek honors for his father; he and his elder brother Dechen and younger brother Demi were all known for their literary gifts. In Shunzhi 12 he passed the jinshi examination, entered the Hanlin, and was appointed compiler. He rose to Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, where he imposed strict regulations; teachers and students throughout the six halls both respected and feared him. When the Emperor took personal rule, he offered sacrifice at the Imperial University, entered the Hall of Universal Principles, had Deyi sit facing east, and heard him expound the Qian hexagram of the Book of Changes—a performance that greatly pleased him. He was promoted to Hanlin Reader and then elevated to Grand Secretariat Academician.

德宜風度端重，每奏事，輒當上意。康熙十一年，扈蹕塞外，上從容詢及江南逋賦之由，德宜極言蘇、松賦役獨重，民力凋敝，上為動容。詔明年蠲蘇、松四府錢糧之半。遷戶部侍郎，發龍江關大使李九官餽遺，上嘉其不私，褫九官職。尋調吏部。

Deyi was dignified in manner, and whenever he addressed the throne his words struck exactly the right note. In Kangxi 11, while accompanying the Emperor on tour beyond the Great Wall, he was asked in passing about the causes of Jiangnan's tax arrears. Deyi explained at length that Suzhou and Songjiang bore unusually heavy levies and that the people there were exhausted; the Emperor was visibly moved. The next year an edict remitted half the tax grain owed by the four prefectures of the Suzhou-Songjiang region. Promoted to Vice President of Revenue, he exposed gifts offered by Li Jiuguan, the Longjiang Pass envoy; the Emperor praised his integrity and dismissed Jiuguan from office. He was soon transferred to Personnel.

十五年，擢左都御史。時陝、甘、閩、粵漸已底定，惟吳三桂未平。德宜疏言：「三桂所恃，不過槍砲，槍砲專藉硝黃。硝黃產自河南、山西，必奸民圖利私販，請飭嚴禁。」上以督、撫、提、鎮稽察不嚴，下兵、刑二部嚴定處分。德宜又疏言：「頻年發帑行師，度支不繼。皇上允廷臣之請，開例捐輸。三年所入，二百萬有餘。捐納最多者，莫如知縣，至五百餘人。始因缺多易得，踴躍爭趨。今見非數年不得選授，徘徊觀望。請敕部限期停止，慎重名器。」又疏言：「沿海居民，以漁為生。佐賦稅，備災荒，而利用通商，又立市舶之制。本朝以海氛未靖，立禁甚嚴。近者日就蕩平，宜及此時招攜撫卹。沿海居民，以捕魚為業。商人通販海島，皆許其造船出海，官給印票，仿舊例輸稅。人口商貨，往來出入，咸稽核之。」事並下所司議行。

In the fifteenth year he was promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief. By then Shaanxi-Gansu and Fujian-Guangdong had been largely pacified; only Wu Sangui still held out. Deyi submitted a memorial: "Wu Sangui's strength rests on little more than muskets and cannon, and muskets and cannon depend wholly on saltpeter and sulfur. Saltpeter and sulfur come from Henan and Shanxi, and unscrupulous men must be smuggling them for profit; I ask that the traffic be strictly forbidden." Holding governors, provincial commanders, and regional commanders responsible for lax enforcement, the Emperor ordered the Ministries of War and Punishments to impose strict penalties. Deyi submitted another memorial: "Campaign after campaign has drained the treasury, and revenue has not kept pace. Your Majesty, acceding to the ministers' request, opened the sale of offices by donation. In three years the receipts exceeded two million taels. No office was purchased more often than that of county magistrate; the number reached more than five hundred. At first, with many vacancies and easy appointment, men competed eagerly to buy in. Now, seeing that appointment may take years, they hang back and wait. I ask that the ministry be instructed to end the practice within a set deadline and treat official rank with due respect." In another memorial he wrote: "The people of the coast live by fishing. Their catch supports taxation and serves as a reserve against famine, while trade with the sea brings further benefit; for this reason the maritime trade office system was established. Our dynasty, with the seas still unsettled, imposed very strict prohibitions. Now that calm is gradually returning, this is the moment to win the people over and extend relief. Coastal people make their living by fishing. Merchants trading with offshore islands should be allowed to build ships and put to sea; the government should issue official passes, and duties should be collected as in former times. All persons, cargo, and traffic in and out should be registered and checked." All these proposals were referred to the appropriate offices for deliberation and action.

十七年，疏言：「自三桂煽亂，各路統兵大將軍以下，亦有玩寇殃民，營私自便。或越省購買婦女，甚者掠奪民間財物，稍不如意，即指為叛逆。今當剋期滅賊，尤恐藉端需索。請嚴飭。」上下王大臣申禁。山東提督柯永蓁縱兵鼓譟，德宜劾奏，上命逮治。

In the seventeenth year he submitted a memorial: "Since Wu Sangui's rebellion, even commanders-in-chief and other field officers have in some cases coddled the enemy, harmed the people, and pursued their own convenience. Some travel across provinces to buy women; worse still, they seize civilians' property, and at the least provocation denounce their victims as rebels. Now that the deadline to crush the rebels is near, I fear above all that officers will seize the occasion to extort and demand bribes. I ask that strict orders be issued." Princes and ministers throughout the court proclaimed the prohibition. Ke Yongqin, provincial military commander of Shandong, allowed his troops to rampage noisily; Deyi impeached him in a memorial, and the Emperor ordered his arrest and trial.

孝昭皇后崩，德宜上疏請秉禮節哀，並言：「宵旰憂勤，天顏清減。昔唐太宗銳意勤學，劉洎諫以多記損心。宋儒程頤亦曰：『帝王之學，與儒生不同。』伏原紬繹篇章，略方名像數之繁，擇其有關政治、裨益身心者而討論之。稍節耳目之勞，用葆中和之德。」上嘉納焉。遷刑部尚書，調兵部。

When Empress Xiaozhao died, Deyi submitted a memorial urging proper observance of mourning and restraint in grief, and wrote: "Your Majesty toils from dawn till dusk in anxious diligence, and your countenance has grown thin. Formerly Emperor Taizong of Tang was eager to study without rest; Liu Ji remonstrated that too much memorization injures the mind. The Song scholar Cheng Yi also said: 'The learning of an emperor is not the same as that of a Confucian scholar.' I humbly ask that Your Majesty read and reflect on texts, passing over the tedium of star names and numerology, and discuss only what bears on governance and nourishes body and mind. Ease somewhat the strain on eyes and ears, and so preserve the virtue of balanced harmony." The Emperor praised and accepted the advice. He was transferred to Minister of Punishments, then to the Ministry of War.

四川初定，大軍糗糧皆運自陝西，出棧道，顛踣相望，陝西民大困。工部侍郎趙璟、金鼐疏上陳，德宜因言：「大軍下云、貴，需餉孔亟。秦、蜀互相推諉，皆由總督分設。川、陝設一總督，則痛癢相關，隨地調發，可以酌劑均平。」詔如議行。靖逆將軍張勇以甘肅防邊事重，請緩裁前此添設官兵，部臣議如所請，德宜獨謂：「當日河東有兵事，添設官兵，事平應即裁汰。將軍標下前以步兵二千名改為馬兵，今宜復原，定經制馬六步四。惟以防邊添設之兵，無可議裁。」上遣尚書折爾肯往會勇等閱核，留河州、寧夏添設兵，餘仍復原定經制，如德宜議。迨三籓平，軍中俘獲婦女，並籍旗下。德宜言宜聽收贖，所釋甚眾。

When Sichuan was first pacified, grain for the main army was hauled entirely from Shaanxi over the plank roads; overturned carts lined the route, and the people of Shaanxi were sorely afflicted. Vice Ministers of Works Zhao Jing and Jin Tai submitted memorials on the matter; Deyi therefore wrote: "The main army is advancing into Yunnan and Guizhou, and supplies are urgently needed. Shaanxi and Sichuan keep shifting blame onto each other, all because separate governors-general have been appointed. If one governor-general were appointed for Sichuan and Shaanxi, each province would feel the other's distress; supplies could be mobilized locally, and burdens could be weighed and equalized." An edict ordered that the proposal be carried out. Pacification General Zhang Yong, citing the weight of Gansu border defense, asked that recently added troops not yet be cut; the ministry agreed, but Deyi alone argued: "Troops had been added when there was fighting east of the Yellow River; once peace returned they should at once have been reduced. Under the general's command, two thousand infantry had been converted to cavalry; they should now be restored, with the established quota fixed at six parts horse and four parts foot. Only the troops added for border defense are not open to debate over reduction." The Emperor sent Minister Zheerken to join Zhang Yong and others in review; the added troops at Hezhou and Ningxia were kept, while the rest were restored to the original established quotas, as Deyi had urged. After the Three Feudatories were pacified, women taken captive in the army were all registered under the banners. Deyi argued that they should be allowed to ransom themselves; very many were freed.

調吏部。左都御史魏象樞、副都御史科爾昆等劾德宜會推江西按察使事失當，德宜疏辨，部議降五級。上以會推原令各出所見，免德宜處分。二十三年，拜文華殿大學士。重修太宗實錄成，加太子太傅。

He was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. Censor-in-Chief Wei Xiangshu, Vice Censor-in-Chief Ke'erkun, and others impeached Deyi for mishandling the joint recommendation of a Jiangxi surveillance commissioner; Deyi defended himself in a memorial, and the ministry recommended demoting him five ranks. The Emperor held that joint recommendations were meant to allow each man his own view, and exempted Deyi from punishment. In the twenty-third year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Glory. When the revised Veritable Records of Emperor Taizong were completed, he was given the additional title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent.

德宜嚴毅木訥，然議國家大事，侃侃獨攄所見。居官廉謹，未仕時有宅一區，薄田數頃；既貴，無所增益，門巷蕭然。二十六年，卒，諡文恪。

Deyi was stern and taciturn by nature, yet in debate over great affairs of state he spoke frankly and held to his own views. In office he was incorrupt and careful; before he entered service he owned one house and a few acres of poor land; Once he rose to high rank he added nothing to them; his gate and lane remained bare. In the twenty-sixth year he died and was given the posthumous title Wenkè (Respectful and Prudent in Culture).

子駿業，自副貢授翰林院待詔，直御書處，歷兵科給事中。康熙四十一年，疏劾湖廣總督郭琇、提督林本植、巡撫金璽、總兵雷如等辦理苗疆剿撫失宜，鞫實，琇等降革有差。終兵部侍郎。

His son Junye, starting from supplementary tribute graduate, was appointed Hanlin awaiting edicts, served in the Imperial Calligraphy Office, and rose to supervising secretary in the Bureau of Military Affairs. In the forty-first year of Kangxi he memorialized against Huguang Governor-General Guo Xiu, provincial military commander Lin Benzhi, governor Jin Xi, regional commander Lei Ru, and others for mishandling the suppression and pacification of the Miao frontier; investigation confirmed the charges, and Xiu and the others were demoted or dismissed in varying degrees. He ended his career as Vice Minister of War.

伊桑阿，伊爾根覺羅氏，滿洲正黃旗人。順治九年進士，授禮部主事。累擢內閣學士。康熙十四年，遷禮部侍郎，擢工部尚書，調戶部。時吳三桂踞湖南，廷議創舟師，自岳州入洞庭，斷賊餉道，命伊桑阿赴江南督治戰艦。明年，復命偕刑部侍郎禪塔海詣茶陵督治戰艦。

Yi Sang'a, of the Irgen Gioro clan, was a Manchu of the Plain Yellow Banner. A jinshi of the ninth year of Shunzhi, he was appointed a principal clerk in the Ministry of Rites. He was promoted repeatedly until he became a Grand Secretariat Academician. In the fourteenth year of Kangxi he was transferred to Vice Minister of Rites, promoted to Minister of Works, and then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. At that time Wu Sangui held Hunan; the court resolved to build a fleet to enter Dongting Lake from Yuezhou and cut the rebels' supply lines, and Yi Sang'a was ordered to Jiangnan to supervise construction of warships. The next year he was again ordered to go with Vice Minister of Punishments Chantaihai to Chaling to supervise warship construction.

二十一年，黃河決，命往江南勘視河工，以布政使崔維雅隨往，維雅條上治河法，與靳輔議不合。伊桑阿因請召輔面詢，上以維雅所奏無可行，寢之。尋疏陳黃河兩岸堤工修築不如式，奪輔職，戴罪督修。復命籌海運，疏言：「黃河運道，非獨輸輓天庾，即商賈百貨，賴以通行，國家在所必治。若海運，先需造船，所費不貲；且膠、萊諸河久淤，開濬匪易。」上是之。是年冬，俄羅斯犯邊，命往寧古塔造船備徵調。再調吏部。

In the twenty-first year the Yellow River burst its banks; he was ordered to Jiangnan to inspect river works, accompanied by provincial administration commissioner Cui Weiya, who submitted a detailed plan for river control that did not accord with Jin Fu's proposals. Yi Sang'a therefore asked that Jin Fu be summoned for questioning in person; the Emperor found Weiya's proposals impracticable and set the matter aside. Soon afterward he memorialized that dikes on both banks of the Yellow River had not been built to standard; Jin Fu was stripped of office and ordered to supervise repairs while bearing guilt. He was again ordered to plan sea transport and wrote: "The Yellow River transport route not only carries imperial grain but also allows merchants' goods of every kind to pass; the state must maintain it. Sea transport would first require building ships, at no small expense; moreover the rivers of Jiao and Lai have long been silted up, and dredging them would be no easy task." The Emperor approved this. That winter, when Russia violated the border, he was ordered to Ningguta to build ships in preparation for mobilization. He was again transferred to the Ministry of Personnel.

二十三年夏，旱，偕王熙等清刑獄。其秋，扈蹕南巡，命閱視海口。疏言車路、串場諸河及白駒、草堰、丁溪諸口，宜飭河臣疏濬，引流入海。歷兵、禮二部尚書。二十七年，拜文華殿大學士，兼吏部，充三朝國史總裁。三十六年，上親征噶爾丹，命往寧夏安設驛站，事平，與大學士阿蘭泰充平定朔漠方略總裁官。

In the twenty-third year, during a summer drought, he joined Wang Xi and others in reviewing criminal cases. That autumn, on the southern tour, he was ordered to inspect the river mouth. He memorialized that the Chelu and Huanchang rivers and the outlets at Baiju, Caoyan, Dingxi, and others should be dredged under orders to the river officials so that water could be channeled into the sea. He served successively as Minister of War and Minister of Rites. In the twenty-seventh year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Glory, concurrently headed the Ministry of Personnel, and served as chief compiler of the National History of Three Reigns. In the thirty-sixth year the Emperor personally campaigned against Galdan; Yi Sang'a was ordered to Ningxia to establish relay stations; when the campaign ended, he and Grand Secretary Arantai served as chief compilers of the Pacification of the Northern Deserts strategy record.

居政府十五年，尤留意刑獄，每侍直勾本，上有所問，輒能舉其詞，同列服其精詳。上嘗御批本房，伊桑阿與大學士王熙、吳琠及學士韓菼等以折本請旨，上曰：「人命至重，今當勾決，尤宜詳慎。爾等苟有所見，當盡言。」伊桑阿乃舉可矜疑者十餘人，皆得緩死，上徐曰：「此等所犯皆當死，猶曲求其可生之路，不忍輕斃一人。因念淮、揚百姓頻被水害，死者不知凡幾。河患不除，朕不能暫釋於懷也！」伊桑阿陳災民困苦狀，上曰：「百姓既被水害，必至流離轉徙。田多不耕，賦安從出？今當預免明年田賦，俾災黎於水退時思歸故鄉，粗安生業。」伊桑阿等皆頓首，遂下詔免淮、揚明年田賦。

During fifteen years in high office he was especially attentive to criminal justice; whenever on duty reviewing capital sentences, if the Emperor asked about a case he could recite its wording from memory, and his colleagues admired his precision and thoroughness. The Emperor once came in person to the execution-review office; Yi Sang'a, Grand Secretaries Wang Xi and Wu Yan, and Academician Han Tan presented folded memorials for instruction; the Emperor said: "Human life is of the utmost weight; today we are to confirm executions, and must be especially thorough and careful. If you have any views, speak without reserve." Yi Sang'a then cited more than ten cases raising doubts deserving mercy; all received reprieve from death; the Emperor said slowly: "These men all committed offenses warranting death, yet you still seek by every means a path by which they may live, unwilling lightly to put a single man to death. It brings to mind the people of Huai and Yang, who have repeatedly suffered floods, with dead beyond counting. Until the river calamity is removed, I cannot set it briefly from my heart!" Yi Sang'a described the distress of the disaster victims; the Emperor said: "Once the people have suffered flood disasters, they must wander and be displaced. Much land will go untilled; from what source can taxes come? We should now exempt next year's land tax in advance, so that when the waters recede the afflicted may think of returning home and roughly restore their livelihoods." Yi Sang'a and the others all kowtowed, and an edict was then issued exempting next year's land tax in Huai and Yang.

三十七年，以年老乞休。上諭阿蘭泰曰：「伊桑阿厚重老成，宣力年久。爾二人自任閣事，推誠佈公，不惟朕知之，天下無不知者。伊桑阿雖年老求罷，朕不忍令去也。」四十一年，復以病告，詔許原官致仕。逾年卒，諡文端。乾隆中，入祀賢良祠。

In the thirty-seventh year, citing old age, he requested retirement. The Emperor instructed Arantai: "Yi Sang'a is solid, weighty, and mature; he has served vigorously for many years. You two, since taking charge of Grand Secretariat affairs, have been sincere and fair in conduct; not only do I know this, but there is no one under heaven who does not. Though Yi Sang'a in his old age seeks to withdraw, I cannot bear to let him go." In the forty-first year he again reported illness; an edict permitted him to retire with his original rank. The following year he died and was given the posthumous title Wenduan (Correct in Culture). During the Qianlong reign he was entered for worship in the Shrine of Worthies.

子伊都立，自舉人任內務府員外郎，歷刑部侍郎，巡撫山西。坐事奪職。雍正七年，命赴大將軍傅爾丹軍治糧餉，授額外侍郎。十三年，以侵蝕軍糧事覺，褫職下獄，論大辟。乾隆七年，赦釋。

His son Yiduli, starting from juren, served as vice director in the Imperial Household Department, rose to Vice Minister of Punishments, and served as governor of Shanxi. For an offense he was stripped of office. In the seventh year of Yongzheng he was ordered to General Furdan's army to manage provisions and pay, and was given the post of extra vice minister. In the thirteenth year his embezzlement of military grain was discovered; he was stripped of office, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. In the seventh year of Qianlong he was pardoned and released.

阿蘭泰，富察氏，滿洲鑲藍旗人。性敏慎。初授兵部筆帖式。康熙初，累遷職方郎中。三籓事起，專司軍機文檄。議政王大臣以勤勞詳慎疏薦，得旨以三品卿用。二十年，擢光祿寺卿，遷內閣學士，充平定三逆方略副總裁，兼充明史總裁。二十二年，遷兵部侍郎，兼管佐領。擢左都御史。上閱方略，以敘事多舛錯，諭閣臣曰：「平逆始末，阿蘭泰知之甚詳，可與酌改，務期紀載得實。」遷工部尚書。累調吏部。二十八年，上以雨澤愆期，命偕尚書徐元文慮囚，奏減罪可矜疑者四十五人。是年拜武英殿大學士。陝西飢，命阿蘭泰與河督靳輔議運江、淮糧米自黃河溯西安，以備積儲。

Arantai, of the Fuca clan, was a Manchu of the Bordered Blue Banner. By nature he was quick and cautious. He was first appointed a clerk in the Ministry of War. In the early Kangxi reign he rose repeatedly until he became director in the Bureau of Appointments. When the Three Feudatories rebellion broke out, he was put exclusively in charge of military dispatches. The Prince Regent and ministers recommended him in a memorial for diligence and careful thoroughness; he received an edict appointing him at third-rank ministerial level. In the twentieth year he was promoted to Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, transferred to Grand Secretariat Academician, served as associate chief compiler of the Pacification of the Three Rebellions strategy record, and concurrently as chief compiler of the History of the Ming. In the twenty-second year he was transferred to Vice Minister of War, concurrently managing a company captaincy. He was promoted to Censor-in-Chief. The Emperor read the strategy record and, finding the narrative full of errors, instructed the Grand Secretariat ministers: "Arantai knows the course of the pacification rebellion in great detail; consult with him on revisions, and see that the record accords with fact." He was transferred to Minister of Works. He was transferred repeatedly to the Ministry of Personnel. In the twenty-eighth year, because rain was overdue, the Emperor ordered him and Minister Xu Yuanwen to review prisoners; they memorialized reducing sentences for forty-five whose guilt was doubtful and deserving mercy. That year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Martial Eminence. When Shaanxi suffered famine, Arantai was ordered with River Governor Jin Fu to discuss transporting Jiangnan and Huai grain up the Yellow River to Xi'an for reserve stores.

三十四年，上出古北口巡歷塞外，命留京綜閱章奏。明年，上親征噶爾丹，阿蘭泰仍留京，與尚書馬齊、佛倫宿衛禁城。其秋，隨駕出歸化城，駐蹕黃河西界，經畫軍務。以扈從勞，賜內廝馬。厄魯特台吉丹濟拉來降，上駐蹕翰特穆爾嶺，召入見，阿蘭泰及郎中阿爾法引之入禦幄，上屏左右，令阿蘭泰等出，獨與丹濟拉語良久。及退，召阿蘭泰諭曰：「爾偕降人入，以防不測，意甚善。朕令爾出，欲推誠示不疑耳。」

In the thirty-fourth year the Emperor went out through Gubeikou to tour beyond the passes; Arantai was ordered to remain in the capital and review memorials comprehensively. The next year the Emperor personally campaigned against Galdan; Arantai still remained in the capital, lodging with Ministers Ma Qi and Folen to guard the Forbidden City. That autumn he accompanied the imperial progress out of Guihuacheng, halting at the Yellow River's western border to plan military affairs. For the toil of accompanying the progress he was granted a horse from the imperial stables. When the Oirat taiji Danjila came to surrender, the Emperor halted at Hantemer Ridge and summoned him for audience; Arantai and Director Alpha escorted him into the imperial tent; the Emperor dismissed his attendants, ordered Arantai and the others out, and spoke alone with Danjila for a long time. When they withdrew, he summoned Arantai and said: "You entered with the surrendering man to guard against the unexpected; your intention was very good. I ordered you out because I wished to show sincerity and signal that I did not doubt him."

三十七年，與伊桑阿俱以年老善忘奏解閣務，上曰：「大學士重任，必平坦雍和、任事謹慎者方為稱職。至於記事，可令學士任之。」明年，卒。方病劇，上欲臨視，遣皇子先往，而阿蘭泰已卒。上為輟朝一日，遣皇子及內大臣奠醊，贈太子太保，加贈少保，諡文清。

In the thirty-seventh year he and Yi Sang'a memorialized to step down from Grand Secretariat duties, citing age and failing memory. The Emperor said: "The post of Grand Secretary is a weighty charge; only a man even-tempered and amiable, who handles affairs with scrupulous care, is truly fit for it. As for keeping the minutes, that work may be left to academicians." The following year he died. When his illness turned grave, the Emperor wished to visit him personally and sent a prince ahead—but Arantai was already dead. The Emperor suspended court for a day, sent a prince and an inner grand minister to perform the libation rites, posthumously appointed him Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent with an additional conferral of Junior Guardian, and gave him the posthumous title Wenqing (Pure in Culture).

阿蘭泰操行清謹，處政府遠權勢，人莫敢干以私，以是為上所重。後上與大學士論內閣舊臣，稱阿蘭泰能強記，且善治事云。

Arantai's conduct was upright and meticulous; in office he kept his distance from power and influence, and no one dared approach him with private requests—qualities for which the Emperor held him in particular esteem. Later, discussing former Inner Cabinet ministers with the Grand Secretariat, the Emperor praised Arantai's remarkable memory and his skill in handling affairs.

子富寧安，初襲其從祖尼哈納拜他喇布勒哈番世職。自侍衛歷官正黃旗漢軍都統，改授左都御史，遷吏部尚書。富寧安內行修篤，事親至孝，聖祖亟稱之，又嘗諭廷臣曰：「富寧安自武員擢用，人皆稱其操守，是以授為吏部尚書。今部院中欲求清官甚難，當於初為筆帖式時，即念日後擢用，可為國家大臣，自立品行也。」

His son Funing'an first inherited from a paternal cousin, Nihana, the hereditary tabunang rank. From the Guard he rose to Commandant of the Han Military Eight Division of the Plain Yellow Banner, was reassigned Censor-in-Chief of the Left, and then promoted Minister of Personnel. Funing'an's private life was disciplined and sincere, and in serving his parents he was exemplary in filial devotion; the Kangxi Emperor often praised him. He also once told the court: "Funing'an was promoted from the military ranks; everyone commends his integrity, which is why I made him Minister of Personnel. Honest officials are scarce in the ministries and boards today; even at the first appointment as a clerk, a man should reflect that he may one day be promoted to high office and shape his character accordingly."

五十四年，策妄阿喇布坦侵哈密，命富寧安赴西寧視師，許以便宜調遣。賊旋遁，詔緩進兵，回駐肅州，經理糧馬。五十六年，授靖逆將軍，駐軍巴里坤，與將軍傅爾丹等分路規賊。旋率兵襲擊厄魯特邊境，進屯烏魯木齊，屢敗賊。五十九年，進兵烏蘭烏蘇，遣侍衛哲爾德等分道襲擊，斬獲甚眾；別遣散秩大臣阿喇納等諭降闢展回人，進擊吐魯番，降其酋長，獲駝馬無算。時策妄阿喇布坦挾所屬吐魯番回人偕徙，中道多遁歸，命富寧安收撫其眾。未幾，賊復來犯，遣將援剿，自率兵進駐伊勒布爾和碩，調遣策應。會阿喇納連敗賊，竄走，乃還駐巴里坤。六十一年，疏言：「嘉峪關外、布隆吉爾之西，為古瓜、沙、燉煌地。昔吐魯番建城屯種，遺址猶存，若駐兵屯牧，設總兵官一人統之，可扼黨色爾騰之路。」又請專遣大臣領屯田糧儲及牧駝運糧事，上可其奏。

In the fifty-fourth year, when Tsewang Araptan invaded Hami, Funing'an was ordered to Xining to oversee the campaign, with full discretion over deployments. The rebels soon withdrew; he was ordered to slow the advance, returned to camp at Suzhou, and took charge of grain supplies and horses. In the fifty-sixth year he was appointed Pacification General, stationed at Barkul, and with General Furdan and others devised converging operations against the enemy. He soon led troops in raids along the Oirat frontier, advanced to encamp at Urumqi, and repeatedly routed the enemy. In the fifty-ninth year he advanced on Ulan Usu, sent Bodyguards Zhe'erde and others on separate raids, and killed or captured large numbers of the enemy; He separately dispatched Minister Without Portfolio Arana and others to accept the surrender of the Muslims of Pichang, pressed the attack on Turfan, received the submission of its chieftains, and seized camels and horses beyond numbering. At that time Tsewang Araptan had withdrawn, taking the Turfan Muslims under his rule with him; many fled back along the route, and Funing'an was ordered to gather and settle them. Before long the enemy returned; he sent generals to reinforce the pursuit while he himself advanced to Ilebu Khot to coordinate the operation. When Arana routed the enemy in successive engagements and drove them into flight, Funing'an returned to camp at Barkul. In the sixty-first year he memorialized: "West of Jiayuguan and Bulungir lies the ancient territory of Guazhou, Shazhou, and Dunhuang. Turfan once built cities and established garrison farms there, and the ruins remain. Stationing troops to farm and graze livestock, under a single brigade general, would secure the route through Dangse'erteng." He also asked that a minister be specially assigned to oversee garrison farming, grain stores, and the transport of provisions by camel herds; the Emperor approved.

世宗即位，授武英殿大學士，管軍務如故。雍正四年，還朝，賜御用冠服、雙眼花翎、黃轡鞍馬，並諭王大臣：「富寧安端方廉潔，年來領兵將軍聲名無出其右者。」授世襲侯爵。尋進一等侯，加太子太傅，署西安將軍。六年，坐事奪爵，仍留大學士任。是年卒於西安，諡文恭，與父阿蘭泰同祀賢良祠。

When the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Martial Eminence, with military affairs under his charge as before. In Yongzheng 4 he returned to court and was granted the Emperor's own robes and headgear, double-eyed peacock plumes, and a yellow-bridled saddle horse. The Emperor also told the princes and grand ministers: "Funing'an is upright and incorruptible; of the generals who have led troops in recent years, none stands higher in repute." He was granted a hereditary marquisate. He was soon raised to first-rank marquis, made Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent, and appointed acting General of Xi'an. In the sixth year he was stripped of his peerage for an offense but retained his post as Grand Secretary. He died at Xi'an that same year, received the posthumous title Wengong (Reverent in Culture), and was enshrined with his father Arantai in the Temple of Worthies.

徐元文，字公肅，江西崑山人。初冒姓陸，通籍後復姓。少沉潛好學，與兄乾學、弟秉義有聲於時，稱為「三徐」。

Xu Yuanwen, styled Gongsu, was a native of Kunshan in Jiangxi. He had initially borne the surname Lu; after entering the ranks of office he restored his own family name. From youth he was thoughtful and devoted to learning; with his elder brother Qianxue and younger brother Bingyi he won renown in his day, and the three were known as "the Three Xus."

元文舉順治十六年進士第一，世祖召見乾清門，還啟皇太后曰：「今歲得一佳狀元。」賜冠帶、蟒服，授翰林院修撰。從幸南苑，賜乘御馬。嘗奉命撰孚齋說，孚齋，世祖讀書所也，上覽之稱善，命刊行。康熙初，江南逋賦獄起，元文名麗籍中，坐謫鑾儀衛經歷，事白，復原官。丁父憂，居喪行古禮。起補國史院修撰，累遷國子監祭酒，充經筵講官。

Xu took first place in the jinshi examinations of Shunzhi 16; the Shizu Emperor received him in audience at the Gate of Heavenly Purity, and afterward told the Empress Dowager: "This year we have an outstanding zhuangyuan." He was granted court robes and python insignia and appointed Compiler of the Hanlin Academy. On accompanying the Emperor to the Southern Park, he was granted the use of an imperial horse. He was once ordered to compose the Discourse on the Fu Studio—the Shizu Emperor's study; the Emperor read it with approval and ordered it published. Early in the Kangxi reign a case of tax arrears erupted in Jiangnan; Xu's name appeared on the suspect list, and he was demoted to Director in the Imperial Procession Guard; when the affair was cleared, he was restored to his former rank. Upon his father's death he entered mourning and observed the ancient funeral rites in full. Recalled to office, he was appointed Compiler of the State History Academy, rose in stages to Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and served as lecturer on the classics mat.

元文閒雅方重，音吐宏暢，進講輒稱旨。元文疏請「敕直省學臣間歲一舉優生，鄉試仍復副榜額，俱送監肄業」。並著為令。復請永停納粟，章下所司。居國學四年，端士習，正文體，條教大飭。其後上語閣臣：「徐元文為祭酒，規條嚴肅。滿洲子弟不率教者，輒加撻責，咸敬憚之，後人不能及也。」十三年，遷內閣學士，改翰林院掌院學士，充日講起居注官，教習庶吉士。

Xu was refined and dignified, with a full and resonant voice; his lectures on the classics invariably pleased the Emperor. Xu memorialized requesting that provincial education commissioners be ordered to select distinguished students every other year, that the supplementary provincial examination quota be restored, and that the chosen scholars be sent to study at the Imperial Academy. These measures were enacted as permanent regulations. He further asked that the sale of degrees by grain donation be permanently halted; the memorial was referred to the relevant offices. In four years at the Imperial Academy he restored proper student conduct, corrected literary style, and tightened discipline throughout. Later the Emperor told the Grand Secretariat: "As Chancellor, Xu Yuanwen ran the Academy with strict and solemn regulations. Manchu students who misbehaved were promptly flogged; all feared and respected him—a rigor none of his successors matched." In the thirteenth year he was transferred to Academician of the Grand Secretariat, reassigned Chief Academician of the Hanlin Academy, served as diarist for the Daily Lecture, and tutored advanced scholars.

先是熊賜履在講筵，累稱說孔、孟、程、朱之道，上欲博覽前代得失之由，命詞臣以通鑑與四書參講。元文因取朱子綱目，擇其事之系主德、裨治道者，採取先儒之說，參以臆斷，演繹發揮，按期進講。尋以母憂歸。十八年，特召監修明史，疏請徵求遺書，薦李清、黃宗羲、曹溶、汪懋麟、黃虞稷、姜宸英、萬言等，徵入史館，不至者，錄所著書以上。尋補內閣學士。時有議遣大臣巡方者，元文言於閣中曰：「巡方向遣御史，以有台長約束，故僨事者鮮。若遣大臣，或妄作威福，誰能禁之？」因入告，事得寢。

Earlier Xiong Cifu had lectured at the classics mat, expounding again and again the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, the Cheng brothers, and Zhu Xi; wishing to survey broadly how past dynasties had risen and fallen, the Emperor ordered the literary officials to lecture on the Comprehensive Mirror in conjunction with the Four Books. Xu thereupon drew on Zhu Xi's Outline and Discourses, selecting events bearing on sovereign virtue and good governance, weaving in earlier sage-commentary and his own judgments, and delivered his lectures on schedule. He soon withdrew to observe mourning for his mother. In the eighteenth year he was specially summoned to supervise the History of the Ming; he memorialized requesting lost books be sought out and recommended Li Qing, Huang Zongxi, Cao Rong, Wang Maolin, Huang Yuqi, Jiang Chenying, Wan Yan, and others; those who did not enter the History Office had their writings copied and submitted instead. He was soon appointed Academician of the Grand Secretariat. When some proposed dispatching grand ministers on provincial inspection tours, Xu said within the Grand Secretariat: "Such tours are properly assigned to censors, who answer to their bureau chiefs—hence few have abused their authority. Send a grand minister instead, and he may presumptuously lord it over the provinces—who could stop him?" He reported this to the Emperor, and the proposal was dropped.

明年，擢左都御史。會師下雲南，吳三桂之徒多率眾歸附，耗餉不貲。元文疏言：「三桂遺孽，旦夕伏誅。凡脅從之眾，恩許自新。若仍留本土，既非永久之規；移調他方，亦多遷徙之費。統以別將，則猜疑未化，終涉危嫌；攝之歸旗，則放恣既久，猝難約束。請以武職及入伍者，與綠旗一體錄用。餘俱分遣為民，以裕餉需。至耿精忠、尚之信、孫延齡舊隸將弁，尤宜解散，勿仍籓旗名目。」又請「革三籓虐政，在粵者五：曰鹽埠，曰渡稅，曰總店，曰市舶，曰魚課；在閩者四：曰鹽稅，曰報船，曰冒擾驛夫，曰牙行渡稅；在滇者四：曰勳莊，曰圈田，曰礦廠，曰冗兵。」疏入，俱下所司議行。

The following year he was promoted Censor-in-Chief of the Left. As the army pressed into Yunnan, many of Wu Sangui's followers submitted with their forces, consuming supplies beyond reckoning. Xu memorialized: "Sangui's remaining followers will be executed any day now. All who followed under duress should be allowed to start anew under imperial grace. To leave them in their native places is no lasting solution; yet transferring them elsewhere entails heavy resettlement costs. Assigning them to separate commanders leaves suspicion undispelled and invites dangerous mistrust; absorbing them back into the banners means that, after years of license, they cannot be controlled overnight. I ask that men qualified for military office and those already enlisted be employed on the same terms as Green Standard troops. The rest should be released to civilian life to ease the strain on military supplies. As for officers and soldiers formerly under Geng Jingzhong, Shang Zhixin, and Sun Yanling, they should be disbanded altogether and no longer kept under feudatory banner designations." He also asked that the Three Feudatories' oppressive exactions be abolished—in Guangdong five: salt monopolies, ferry tolls, general stores, maritime trade levies, and fishing dues; in Fujian four: salt taxes, reporting-ship fees, unauthorized requisition of post station laborers, and broker ferry taxes; in Yunnan four: fief estates, enclosed fields, mining concessions, and redundant soldiers." On submission, every item was referred to the relevant offices for deliberation and implementation.

初，御史劉安國請察隱佔田畝，州縣利有升敘，多捏報累民。元文力言其弊，謂名為加稅，實耗糧戶。請飭督撫檢舉，复條列近時督撫四弊。時部例捐納官到任三年後稱職者，具題升轉；不稱職者，罷之。既，復令捐銀者免其具題，又生員得捐納歲貢。元文言捐納事例，系一時權宜，請於收復滇南之日，降詔停止，言甚剴切。

Earlier Censor Liu Anguo had proposed investigating concealed land holdings; because local officials stood to gain promotion for uncovering such cases, many fabricated reports and burdened the people. Xu spoke forcefully against the abuse, arguing that though labeled additional taxation, it in fact drained grain-paying households. He asked that governors-general and governors be ordered to investigate and report, and also itemized four recent abuses among provincial governors. At that time regulations provided that officials who had purchased their posts, if deemed competent after three years, should be submitted for promotion; the incompetent were to be dismissed. Later, however, donors of silver were exempted from review, and licentiates were allowed to purchase tribute-student status. Xu argued that the donation regulations were a temporary expedient and earnestly asked that an edict halt them on the day Yunnan was recovered.

雲南平，告廟肆赦，廷臣多稱頌功德。元文獨言：「聖人作易，於泰、豐、既濟諸卦，垂戒尤切。景運方新，原皇上倍切諮儆。兼諭大小臣工，洗心滌慮，毗贊大業。勿狃目前之淺圖，務培國家之元氣。振紀綱以崇大體，核名實以課吏材，崇清議以定國是，厲廉恥以正人心，端教化以圖治本，抑營競以儆官邪，敦節儉以厚風俗，正名分以絕姦萌，並當今急務。」上俞之。

When Yunnan was pacified, the Emperor reported to the ancestral temple and proclaimed a general amnesty; court ministers largely praised his achievements. Xu alone said: "When the sage compiled the Changes, the hexagrams Tai, Feng, and Jiji carry warnings of special urgency. Our good fortune is newly risen; I pray Your Majesty will be doubly vigilant against complacency. Exhort ministers great and small to cleanse their hearts and assist this great enterprise. Do not cling to shallow expedients of the moment; strive to nourish the nation's vital strength. Restoring discipline to honor the foundations of rule, matching names to realities to test officials' merit, honoring honest debate to settle the nation's course, promoting integrity and shame to rectify hearts, restoring education to secure lasting order, restraining selfish ambition to warn against official corruption, encouraging thrift to strengthen custom, and keeping names and ranks in proper order to cut off treachery at the root—all are urgent tasks of the day." The Emperor approved.

時方嚴窩逃之禁，杭州將軍馬哈達以民間多匿逃人，請自句攝，勿移有司。元文曰：「是重擾民也。無已，當令督撫會同將軍行之。」京師奸人，多掠平民賣旗下，官吏豫印空契給之，屢發覺，元文疏請禁止。又八旗家人投水、自經，報部者歲及千人，疏請嚴定處分。上俱從之。京察計典罷官者，謀入貲捐复，元文力持不可，遂罷議。先後疏劾福建總督姚啟聖縱恣譎詐，杭州副都統高國相縱兵虐民，兩淮巡鹽御史堪泰徇庇貪官，御史蕭鳴鳳居喪蔑禮，俱讞鞫得實，惟啟聖辨釋。二十二年，以會推湖北按察使，坐所舉不實，鐫三秩調用。尋命專領史局。二十七年，复代其兄乾學為左都御史，遷刑部尚書，調戶部。二十八年，拜文華殿大學士，兼掌翰林院事。

At that time enforcement of the ban on harboring fugitives was strict; Hangzhou General Mahata, noting many fugitives hidden among the populace, asked to conduct arrests himself without involving the civil authorities. Xu said: "That would greatly disturb the people. If it must be done, let the governor-general and governor act jointly with the general." In the capital, scoundrels often kidnapped commoners and sold them into banner households, with officials supplying pre-stamped blank contracts; after repeated exposures, Xu memorialized requesting a ban. He also noted that banner bondservants who drowned or hanged themselves—cases reported to the ministry—reached a thousand a year, and memorialized requesting strict fixed penalties. The Emperor approved all. Officials dismissed in the capital evaluation cycle sought to restore themselves through donations; Xu forcefully objected, and the proposal was dropped. He successively impeached Fujian Governor-General Yao Qisheng for arrogance and deceit, Hangzhou Vice Commander-in-Chief Gao Guoxiang for allowing troops to abuse the people, Lianghu Salt Censor Kantai for shielding corrupt officials, and Censor Xiao Mingfeng for violating mourning rites—all were investigated and found guilty, except Qisheng, who was cleared on appeal. In the twenty-second year he was charged with unreliable recommendations in the collective selection for Hubei Judicial Commissioner, demoted three ranks, and transferred. He was soon ordered to supervise the History Office exclusively. In the twenty-seventh year he again replaced his elder brother Qianxue as Censor-in-Chief of the Left, was appointed Minister of Justice, and then transferred to Minister of Revenue. In the twenty-eighth year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Glory and given concurrent charge of the Hanlin Academy.

上南巡，幸蘇州，以江南浮糧太重，有旨詢戶部。元文考宋、元以來舊額官田、民田始末及前明歷代詔書以聞。元文在內閣，上复諭及之，元文頓首曰：「聖明及此，三吳之福也。」因下九卿議，有力尼之者，事遂寢。

On the Emperor's southern tour to Suzhou, noting that Jiangnan's surplus grain levies were excessively heavy, he issued an edict inquiring of the Ministry of Revenue. Xu investigated the origins of official and private land quotas since Song and Yuan and the proclamations of successive Ming reigns, and reported his findings. When Xu was in the Grand Secretariat, the Emperor raised the matter again; Xu kowtowed and said: "That Your Majesty's wisdom extends even to this is a blessing for the Three Wu region. The matter was therefore referred to the Nine Ministers for deliberation, but powerful men obstructed it and the proposal was shelved.

元文兄乾學，豪放，頗招權利，坐論罷；而元文謹禮法，門庭肅然。二十九年，兩江總督傅拉塔劾乾學子侄交結巡撫洪之傑，招權競利，詞連元文，上置不問，予元文休致回籍。舟過臨清，關吏大索，僅圖書數千卷，光祿饌金三百而已。家居一年卒。乾學自有傳。

Yuanwen's elder brother Qianxue was bold and unrestrained, gathered power and profit rather freely, and was dismissed after impeachment; Yuanwen, by contrast, was strict in ritual and law, and his household was solemn and orderly. In the twenty-ninth year, Liangjiang Governor-General Fulata impeached Qianxue's sons and nephews for colluding with Governor Hong Zhijie to gather power and compete for profit; the accusation implicated Yuanwen, but the emperor set it aside and granted Yuanwen retirement to return home. When his boat passed Linqing, customs officers searched thoroughly and found only several thousand volumes of books and three hundred taels of provision money from the Court of Imperial Entertainments. After a year at home he died. Qianxue has his own biography.

弟秉義，字彥和，舉康熙十二年進士第三，授編修，遷右中允。乞假歸。乾學卒，召補原官。累遷吏部侍郎。命偕刑部侍郎綏色克如陝西，讞糧鹽道黃明受賄，擬罪失當，左遷詹事。擢內閱學士，乞歸。上南巡，賜御書「恭謹老成」榜額。五十年，卒。

His younger brother Bingyi, courtesy name Yanhe, placed third in the jinshi examination of the twelfth year of Kangxi, was appointed compiler, and was transferred to Right Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Stud. He petitioned for leave to return home. When Qianxue died, he was summoned to fill his former post. He was successively promoted to Vice Minister of Personnel. Ordered together with Vice Minister of Punishments Suiseke to go to Shaanxi to judge the case of Grain and Salt Commissioner Huang Ming accepting bribes, he proposed an inappropriate sentence and was demoted to Director of the Court of the Heir Apparent. He was promoted to Bachelor of the Grand Secretariat, then petitioned to return home. When the emperor toured the south, he bestowed an imperial inscription reading "Respectful, cautious, and seasoned in experience" as a plaque. In the fiftieth year he died.

論曰：康熙初葉，主少國疑，滿、漢未協，四輔臣之專恣，三籓之變亂，台灣海寇之趒盪，措置偶乖，皆足以動搖國本。霨、廷銓、立德、溥當多事之日，百計匡襄；熙預顧命，參軍謀；正治等入閣，值事定後，從容密勿，隨事納忠；伊桑阿、阿蘭泰推誠佈公，受知尤深。康熙之政，視成、宣、文、景駕而上之，諸臣與有功焉。

The appraisal says: In the early years of Kangxi, the ruler was young and the state uncertain; Manchu and Han were not yet in harmony; the four regents were arbitrary; the Three Feudatories rebelled; Taiwan pirates surged and fell back; measures sometimes missed the mark—all enough to shake the foundations of the state. Wei, Tingquan, Lide, and Pu, in days of many troubles, devised countless plans to support and remedy; Xi received the dying emperor's charge and took part in military planning; Zhengzhi and others entered the Grand Secretariat when affairs had settled, calmly attending to confidential duties and offering loyal counsel as occasions arose; Yi Sang'a and Arantai were open-hearted and fair, and won especially deep imperial trust. The government of Kangxi ranks above the reigns of Cheng, Xuan, Wen, and Jing of the Han; these ministers all had a share in the achievement.

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