1
王弘祚，字懋自，雲南永昌人。 明崇禎三年舉人。 自薊州知州遷戶部郎中，督餉大同。 順治元年，授岢嵐兵備道。 總督吳孳昌以弘祚籌畫軍餉，請仍留大同。 二年，以總督李鑑薦，仍授戶部郎中。 中原初定，圖籍散佚。 弘祚聰強習掌故，戶部疏請修賦役全書，以弘祚主其事。 弘祚謂：「民不苦正供而苦雜派，法不立則吏不畏，吏不畏則民不安。 閭閻菽帛之輸，朝廷悉知之，則可以艱難成節儉。 版籍賦稅之事，小民悉知之，則可以燭照絕侵漁。」 裁定賦役，一準萬曆間法例，晚末苛細巧取，盡芟除之，以為一代程式。 三年，加太僕寺少卿。 六年，遷太僕寺卿，仍領郎中。
Wang Hongzuo, whose style was Maozi, came from Yongchang in Yunnan. He passed the provincial examination in the third year of the Chongzhen reign. After serving as magistrate of Jizhou, he was promoted to Director in the Ministry of Revenue and put in charge of provisioning the army at Datong. In the first year of Shunzhi he was made military preparedness commissioner at Kelan. Governor-General Wu Zichang asked that Hongzuo stay on at Datong, since he had been so effective at organizing military supplies. The following year, on Li Jian's recommendation as governor-general, he was reappointed Director in the Ministry of Revenue. The Central Plains had only just been pacified, and land registers and archives lay scattered and lost. Hongzuo was exceptionally able and steeped in administrative precedent, so the Ministry of Revenue memorialized to compile the Complete Book of Land Tax and Corvée and put him in charge. Hongzuo argued: "The people are not crushed by regular taxes but by assorted surcharges; without fixed law the clerks feel no restraint, and when clerks feel no restraint the people cannot live in peace. If the court knows exactly what every household pays in grain and cloth, thrift can be practiced even in hard times. If ordinary people understand register and tax matters as well, official encroachment and extortion can be stopped cold by full transparency." He then fixed land tax and corvée on the Wanli statutes alone, cutting away every harsh and finicky levy of the dynasty's last years, and made this the standard code for the new reign. In the third year he received the additional post of Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud. In the sixth year he became Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud while still holding his post as Director.
2
十年，擢戶部侍郎。 時雲、貴尚為明守，孫可望據辰州。 弘祚請於江南、江西、湖廣豐稔之地，採米穀、儲糧餉為進取計。 又言：「黔國公沐天波世守雲南，得民心，其僚屬有散處江寧者，宜令往招天波為內應。 貴州九股黑苗，自都勻、黎平遠及慶遠、靖州，近為可望蹂躪，宜加意撫綏，俾令歸化。 冠服異制，勿驟更易。」 上以所言足助撫剿，下經略大學士洪承疇採行。
In the tenth year he was promoted to Vice Minister of Revenue. Yunnan and Guizhou were still in Ming loyalist hands, and Sun Kewang held Chenzhou. Hongzuo proposed gathering grain in the fertile districts of Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Huguang and stockpiling provisions for the coming offensive. He also urged that Duke Mu Tianbo of Guizhou, whose family had long held Yunnan and enjoyed popular support, still had followers scattered in Jiangning who should be sent to win Tianbo over as an inside ally. The Nine-Stock Black Miao of Guizhou, ranging from Duyun and Liping to distant Qingyuan and Jingzhou, had lately been ravaged by Kewang; they deserved careful pacification to bring them back under the throne. Their dress and customs differed from ours and should not be changed overnight. The emperor found these proposals sound aids to pacification and suppression and forwarded them to Grand Secretary Hong Chengchou, the campaign coordinator, for action.
3
十一年，給事中郭一鶚劾弘祚修賦役全書逾久未成，弘祚疏辨，一鶚复劾其巧飾。 下部議，以各省冊報稽遲，弘祚不舉劾，論罰俸。 十二年，疏請禁有司私派累民、將領冒名領餉，皆下部議行。 十三年，以河西務鈔關員外郎硃世德徵稅不如額，援赦請免議，坐降三級，命留任。 十五年，賦役全書成，敘勞，還所降級。 考滿，廕子。 尋擢尚書，加太子少保。 命同大學士巴哈納等校訂律例。 十六年，進太子太保。
In the eleventh year Supervising Secretary Guo Yihu accused Hongzuo of dragging out the Complete Book without finishing it; Hongzuo rebutted in a memorial, and Guo accused him again of clever evasions. The case went to the ministries for review; because provincial registers arrived late and Hongzuo had failed to impeach the delinquents, he was fined a year's salary. In the twelfth year he memorialized to ban private surcharges by local officials and false-name ration claims by generals; both measures were referred to the ministries and enacted. In the thirteenth year, when Zhu Shide, an outside-section vice director at the Hexiwu canal customs, fell short of his tax quota yet invoked an amnesty to escape censure, Hongzuo was demoted three ranks but allowed to keep his post. In the fifteenth year the Complete Book was finished; his service was rewarded and his demotion reversed. When his term assessment ended, a son received hereditary privilege. He was soon made a ministry director and given the additional title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He was ordered to join Grand Secretary Bahana and others in revising the penal code. In the sixteenth year he was promoted to Guardian of the Heir Apparent.
4
雲南平，迭疏上善後諸事，請開鄉試，慎署員，設重鎮，稽丁田，卹士紳，撫土司，寬新政。 既，又疏言司道宜久任，州縣宜部選，投誠宜解散，荒殘宜軫卹，爐座宜多設。 弘祚聞父母喪，疏乞解官奔赴，命在任守制。 踰月，命出視事。 十八年，聖祖即位，疏請歸葬，許之。 旋諭促還朝。
After Yunnan was pacified he sent a stream of memorials on reconstruction: restore the provincial examinations, appoint officials carefully, post strong garrisons, verify households and fields, relieve the gentry, pacify native chiefs, and temper new policies. He later added that circuit officials should serve longer terms, prefects and magistrates should be centrally appointed, surrendered troops disbanded, devastated regions relieved, and smelting posts expanded. When both parents died Hongzuo asked to leave office and go home to mourn; he was ordered to observe mourning without leaving his post. A month later he was told to return to duty. In the eighteenth year, after the Kangxi emperor's accession, he asked leave to go home and bury his parents; permission was granted. He was soon ordered to hurry back to court.
5
康熙三年，授刑部尚書，尋復還戶部。 四年，星變地震，求直言。 弘祚疏言：「異星見，天失其常； 地震，地失其常。 挽回天地之變，首在率循人事之常。」 漕糧自通州運京師，或謂水次支散，可省轉搬費。 弘祚持不可，謂：「水次支散，受者艱負戴。 必減直而售，則米狼戾在外。 京倉頒給雖有糶者，顆粒皆在都下。 根本至計，不宜以小利遽變。」 又有議盡裁州縣存留與變漕糧官運為商運者，固爭不得，具疏上之，卒如弘祚議。
In the third year of Kangxi he was made Minister of Justice, then soon returned to head the Ministry of Revenue. In the fourth year, after omens in the heavens and an earthquake, the court called for candid memorials. Hongzuo wrote: "When a strange star appears, Heaven has lost its proper order; when the earth quakes, Earth has lost its proper order. To turn back such changes in Heaven and Earth, we must first restore constancy in human affairs." Tribute grain was shipped from Tongzhou to the capital; some argued that paying it out at the landing could save transshipment costs. Hongzuo objected, arguing: "If grain were paid out at the wharf, recipients would struggle to carry it away. They would have to cut prices to sell it, and grain would flood the markets outside the capital. Even when capital granaries sold grain, every kernel remained within the city. This is a matter of fundamental security and must not be overturned for a minor saving." Others proposed abolishing prefectural and county retained funds and switching tribute transport from official to merchant carriage; he fought both proposals, memorialized at length, and the emperor ultimately sided with him.
6
六年，用輔政大臣鼇拜議，戶部增設滿尚書，以授瑪爾賽，與弘祚齟《齒吾》。 七年，戶部失察書吏假印盜帑，大學士班布爾善獨罪弘祚，坐奪官。 八年，鼇拜得罪，起弘祚兵部尚書。 九年，以老乞休，命馳驛歸里，食原俸。 弘祚中道疾作，僑居江寧。 念未終事父母，輯永思錄，自號曰思齋。 十一年，疏辭俸，諭曰：「卿在官著有勞績，引年乞休，賜祿頤養，毋固辭。」 十三年，卒，賜祭葬，諡端簡。
In the sixth year, on regent Oboi's advice, a Manchu minister was added to the Ministry of Revenue and Ma'er Sai was appointed; he and Hongzuo were constantly at odds. In the seventh year the ministry failed to catch clerks who forged seals and stole from the treasury; Grand Secretary Banbursan laid all blame on Hongzuo, who was dismissed from office. In the eighth year, after Oboi's fall, Hongzuo was recalled as Minister of War. In the ninth year he retired on grounds of age and was sent home by imperial courier, keeping his full salary. Hongzuo fell ill on the journey and settled temporarily in Jiangning. Brooding that he had never fully served his parents, he compiled the Eternal Recollection Record and took the sobriquet Sizhai, Studio of Remembrance. In the eleventh year he declined his stipend; the emperor replied: "Your service has been distinguished; now that you retire on account of age, keep your salary for your comfort—do not refuse." In the thirteenth year he died; state funeral honors were granted and he was posthumously titled Duānjian, Upright and Concise.
7
姚文然，字弱侯，江南桐城人。 明崇禎十六年進士，改庶吉士。 順治三年，以安慶巡撫李猶龍薦，授國史院庶吉士。 五年，改禮科給事中。 六年，疏請「敕撫、按、道恩詔清理刑獄，勿任有司稽玩。 條赦之外，有可矜疑原宥者，許專疏上陳」。 又請重定會試下第舉人選用例，以廣任使。 又言：「直隸與山東、河南接壤，盜賊竊發，東西竄匿，難於越境追捕。 請改保定巡撫為總督，轄直隸、山東及河南懷慶、衛輝、彰德三府。」 又請敕各省督撫勿濫委私人署州縣官。 諸疏皆下部議行。 尋轉工科。
Yao Wenran, whose style was Ruohou, came from Tongcheng in Jiangnan. He took his jinshi degree in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen and entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor. In the third year of Shunzhi, on Li Youlong's recommendation as grand coordinator of Anqing, he was appointed a Hanlin bachelor in the Historiography Academy. In the fifth year he became a supervising secretary in the Ministry of Rites. In the sixth year he asked that grand coordinators, surveillance commissioners, and circuit intendants be ordered, under the amnesty edict, to clear the prisons and stop local officials from stalling. Beyond the amnesty list, cases that merit pity, doubt, or pardon should be allowed separate memorials to the throne." He also asked that rules for appointing candidates who failed the metropolitan examination be redrawn to widen the pool of usable talent. He also noted that Zhili bordered Shandong and Henan, so bandits could strike and flee across provincial lines, making pursuit difficult. He proposed elevating the Baoding grand coordinator to governor-general over Zhili, Shandong, and Henan's Huaiqing, Weihui, and Zhangde prefectures." He also asked that provincial governors and grand coordinators be forbidden to let private associates act as prefects and magistrates. All these memorials were referred to the ministries and carried out. He was soon transferred to the Ministry of Works.
8
八年，世祖親政，疏請令都察院甄別各省巡按，下部院會議，以六等考核，黜陟有差。 是歲，江南、浙江被水，文然請災地漕米改折，視災重輕定折多寡。 既，又言：「折漕例新定，民未周知。 官吏或折外重徵耗銀，或先已徵米而又收折，或折重運輕，其弊不一。 請敕漕臣密察嚴劾。」 上並採納。 十年，疏言大臣得罪不當鎖禁，得旨允行。 遷兵科都給事中，乞歸養。
In the eighth year, when the Shunzhi emperor took personal rule, he asked the Censorate to grade provincial surveillance commissioners; the ministries met, ranked them in six classes, and promoted or dismissed accordingly. That year floods struck Jiangnan and Zhejiang; Wenran asked that tribute grain in stricken districts be commuted to cash, with rates set by the severity of the disaster. He later warned that the new grain-commutation rules were not yet widely understood. Officials might levy extra fees beyond the commutation, collect grain and then collect commutation cash as well, or set high commutation rates while delivering light grain—the abuses took many forms. He asked that grain transport officials investigate in secret and impeach offenders strictly." The emperor adopted all of these proposals. In the tenth year he argued that disgraced high ministers should not be put in chains; the court approved. He was promoted to chief supervising secretary in the Ministry of War and asked to go home and care for his parents.
9
康熙五年，起補戶科給事中。 六年，疏言：「四川、湖廣諸省官吏，借殿工採木，搜取民間屋材、墓樹，宜申飭禁止。」 又言：「採買官物，其由官發價者，如有駁減餘銀，例貯司庫。 若價出自民，餘銀宜還之民間。」 又言：「案牘煩冗滋弊，一部可迳結之事，即應一部迳結； 一疏可通結之事，即應一疏通結。 若各省錢糧考成已報完者，部臣宜於議覆時即予開復。」 均如所請。 九年，考滿內升，命以正四品頂帶食俸任事。 故事，給事中內升，還籍候補。 留任自文然始。 文然與魏象樞皆以給事中敢言負清望，號「姚魏」。 十年，兩江總督麻勒吉坐事逮詣京師，仍用鎖系例。 文然复上疏論之，上諭：「自後命官赴質，概免鎖系，著為令。」
In the fifth year of Kangxi he was recalled as supervising secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. In the sixth year he reported that officials in Sichuan, Huguang, and elsewhere, under pretext of timber for palace construction, were seizing house beams and trees from ancestral graves, and called for strict prohibition. He also said that when the government paid for official purchases, any surplus silver from rejected or reduced orders was supposed to go to the department treasury. But when the people paid, any surplus should be returned to them." He also urged that redundant paperwork bred corruption: matters one ministry could settle should be settled by that ministry alone; and matters one memorial could close should be closed in one memorial. Where a province had already reported its tax and grain accounts complete, the ministry should clear the record when replying to the memorial." All were approved as he had asked. In the ninth year, after his term assessment and internal promotion, he was ordered to wear fourth-rank insignia, draw salary, and remain in office. By precedent, a supervising secretary promoted internally returned home to await a new posting. Wenran was the first allowed to stay in post. Wenran and Wei Xiangshu were both outspoken supervising secretaries of spotless reputation, known together as "Yao and Wei." In the tenth year the Liangjiang governor-general Maleji was arrested and brought to the capital in chains, following the usual practice. Wenran memorialized again; the emperor ruled: "From now on officials summoned to answer charges shall not be shackled—make this a standing rule."
10
尋遷副都御史，再遷刑部侍郎。 十二年，調兵部督捕侍郎。 京口副都統張所養劾將軍柯永蓁徇私縱恣，令文然往按，永蓁坐罷。 遷左都御史。 十三年，疏言：「福建耿精忠、廣西孫延齡皆叛應吳三桂，中間阻隔，賴有廣東。 精忠將士舊駐其地，熟習山川形勢，倘與延齡合謀相犄角，則廣東勢危。 江西境與福建、廣東接，倘侵據贛州南安，驛道中斷，餉阻郵梗。 宜駐重兵通聲援。」 上嘉納之。 陝西提督王輔臣叛，河南巡撫佟鳳彩引疾，上已許之； 文然言河南近陝西，流言方甚，鳳彩得民心，宜令力疾視事，上為留鳳彩。
He was soon made vice censor-in-chief, then vice minister of justice. In the twelfth year he was transferred to vice minister of war in charge of bandit suppression. Zhang Suoyang, deputy commander at Jingkou, accused General Ke Yongzhen of favoritism and abuse; Wenran was sent to investigate and Yongzhen was removed. He was promoted to left censor-in-chief. In the thirteenth year he wrote that Geng Jingzhong in Fujian and Sun Yanling in Guangxi had both joined Wu Sangui's rebellion, and that Guangdong alone stood between them. Jingzhong's troops had long been stationed there and knew the terrain; if they joined Yanling in a pincer, Guangdong would be in grave danger. Jiangxi bordered both provinces; if rebels seized Ganzhou and Nan'an, courier routes would be cut and supplies and dispatches would be blocked. Heavy forces should be posted there to keep lines of communication and support open." The emperor praised and accepted the proposal. When Shaanxi commander Wang Fuchen rebelled, Henan grand coordinator Tong Fengcai pleaded illness to retire, and the emperor had already granted it; Wenran argued that Henan bordered Shaanxi at a moment when rumors were spreading fast, and that Fengcai still commanded the people's trust; he should be ordered to take up his post despite illness. The Emperor accordingly retained Fengcai in his position.
11
文然屢有論列，尤推本君身，請節慎起居。 孝誠皇后崩，權攢鞏華城，上數臨視，文然密疏諫，且引唐太宗作台望昭陵用魏徵諫毀台事相擬，上亦受之，不怫也。 十五年，授刑部尚書。 時方更定條例，文然曰：「刃殺人一時，例殺人萬世，可無慎乎？」 乃推明律意，鉤稽揅討，必劑於寬平，決獄有所平反，歸輒色喜。 嘗疑獄有枉，爭之不得，退，長跪自責。 又以明季用刑慘酷，奏除廷杖及鎮撫司諸非刑。 十七年，卒，賜祭葬，諡端恪。
Wenran memorialized again and again on matters of state, always tracing the root of trouble back to the sovereign himself, and urged the Emperor to watch his conduct and live with greater restraint. After Empress Xiaocheng's death, her coffin was temporarily kept at Gonghua City, and the Emperor visited it again and again. Wenran sent in a confidential memorial of remonstrance, comparing the situation to Tang Taizong's terrace built to view Zhaoling and Wei Zheng's counsel to tear it down. The Emperor took the advice without resentment. In the fifteenth year, he was appointed Minister of Justice. While new legal regulations were being drafted, Wenran said, "A knife may kill for an instant, but a precedent can condemn people for ten thousand generations—is that not reason enough for caution?" He then worked to clarify the meaning of the statutes, combing through cases with care and always steering toward leniency and equity. Whenever a wrongful conviction was overturned, he would go home beaming with satisfaction. On one occasion, convinced that a case had been wrongly decided, he argued his view in vain; when he withdrew, he knelt for a long time in bitter self-reproach. He also pointed to the brutal punishments of the late Ming and memorialized for the abolition of court flogging and the assorted illegal tortures practiced by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. In the seventeenth year he died. The court granted him funeral honors and the posthumous name Duankai, Upright and Reverent.
12
文然清介，里居幾不能自給，在官屏絕餽遺，晚益深研性命之學。 子士基，官湖廣羅田知縣； 士苾，官陝西朝邑知縣：皆有治行。
Wenran was austere and incorruptible. In private life he could barely make ends meet; in office he refused every gift. In his later years he immersed himself ever more deeply in the moral philosophy of human nature and cosmic principle. His son Shiji served as magistrate of Luotian in Huguang; Shibi served as magistrate of Chaoyi in Shaanxi—both sons were known for their able administration.
13
魏象樞，字環極，山西蔚州人。 順治三年進士，選庶吉士。 四年，授刑科給事中。 疏言：「明季大弊未禁革者，督、撫、按聽用官舍太雜，道、府、州、縣胥隸太濫，請嚴予清釐。」 報可。 五年，劾安徽巡撫王懩受賕庇貪吏，懩坐罷。 轉工科右給事中。 時以滿、漢雜處不便，令商民徙居南城。 象樞疏言：「南城地狹，商民賃買無房，拆蓋無地。 請下部察官地官房，俾民輸銀承業。」 复疏請更定會典。 並下部議行。 七年，轉刑科左給事中。
Wei Xiangshu, styled Huanji, was a native of Weizhou in Shanxi. In the third year of Shunzhi he passed the jinshi examination and was chosen as a Hanlin bachelor. In the fourth year he was appointed supervising secretary of the Bureau of Punishments. In a memorial he wrote, "The late Ming left major abuses still unreformed: governors-general, governors, and provincial censors keep far too mixed a household of staff, while clerks and runners at every level from circuit down to county are far too many. I ask that these be rigorously cleaned up." The memorial was approved. In the fifth year he impeached Wang Yan, governor of Anhui, for taking bribes and protecting corrupt officials. Wang was dismissed from office. He was transferred to Right Supervising Secretary of the Bureau of Works. At the time, mixed Manchu-Han residence was deemed inconvenient, and merchants and townspeople were ordered to relocate to the Southern City. Xiangshu memorialized, "The Southern City is too cramped. Merchants and townspeople can find no houses to rent or buy, and no space even to tear down old buildings and rebuild. I ask that the ministries survey government land and official buildings and allow the people to pay silver to take them over for their livelihood." He also submitted a memorial asking that the Collected Statutes be revised. Both proposals were sent to the ministries for deliberation and implementation. In the seventh year he was transferred to Left Supervising Secretary of the Bureau of Punishments.
14
八年，世祖親政，有司有以私徵侵帑坐罪者，象樞疏陳其弊，請飭州縣依易知單造格眼冊，註明人戶姓名、糧銀、款目及蠲賑清數，上大吏覈驗，印發開徵； 又請定布政使會計之法，以杜欺隱，立內外各官治事之限，以清稽滯：皆見施行。 复疏言：「聖政方新，機務孔多，中外相望治平，非同昔日。 上近巡京畿，輔臣當陪侍法從，盡啟沃之忠。 倘遠有臨幸，亦宜諫止鑾輿，副保傅之責。」 又因災變上言，謂天地之變，乃人事反常所致。 語侵權貴尤急。 九年，轉吏科都給事中。 十年，大計，疏請復糾拾舊制，言官糾拾未得當，不宜反坐，下所司，著為令。 因復疏言順治四年吏科左給事劉楗以糾拾被譴，宜予昭雪，上為復楗官。
In the eighth year, after the Shunzhi emperor took personal control of the government, some officials were punished for unauthorized levies that drained the public coffers. Xiangshu memorialized on these abuses and asked that prefectures and counties be required to compile ledger books in the simple notification format, listing household names, grain and silver quotas, item categories, and figures for exemptions and relief. These were to be checked by higher officials, stamped, and only then used to open collection. He also proposed fixed accounting rules for provincial treasurers to prevent fraud, and deadlines for officials at every level to clear stalled business. All of these measures were adopted. He memorialized again: "A new reign has begun, state business is heavy, and everyone inside and outside the court looks to the promise of peace and order. This is not the world we knew before. Your Majesty has lately toured the capital region. Your chief ministers should accompany the imperial procession and give you their fullest counsel. Should Your Majesty contemplate distant tours, they should also remonstrate to hold back the imperial carriage, in fulfillment of their duty as guardians and mentors of the throne." He also submitted a memorial in response to natural disasters, arguing that disturbances in Heaven and Earth arise from human conduct gone wrong. His words were especially sharp where they touched the powerful and the well-connected. In the ninth year he was transferred to Chief Supervising Secretary of the Bureau of Personnel. In the tenth year, at the grand assessment, he memorialized to restore the old impeachment rules: when a censor's accusation misses the mark, the accuser should not be punished in turn. The proposal was sent to the proper offices and made law. He also memorialized that Liu Jian, Left Supervising Secretary of the Bureau of Personnel in the fourth year of Shunzhi, had been punished for an impeachment and deserved to be cleared; the Emperor restored Liu to office.
15
總兵任珍失職怨望，並擅殺其家人，下九卿科道議罪，大學士陳名夏等二十八人，別為一議，象樞與焉。 上責其徇黨負恩，下部議，罪應流，寬之，命留任。 十一年，大學士寧完我劾名夏，辭連象樞，謂象樞與名夏姻家牛射鬥有連，象樞糾劾有誤，吏部議降級，名夏改票罰俸，命逮問。 象樞自陳素不識射鬥，得免議。 尋以名夏父子濟惡，言官不先事論劾，各科都給事中皆鐫秩，象樞降補詹事府主簿，稍遷光祿寺丞。 十六年，以母老乞終養。
The regional commander Ren Zhen, embittered by charges of dereliction, had also killed members of his own household on his own authority. The case was sent to the Nine Ministers and the censorial corps for judgment. Grand Secretary Chen Mingxia and twenty-seven others filed a separate opinion—and Xiangshu was one of them. The Emperor rebuked them for factional favoritism and ingratitude. The matter was referred to the ministry for judgment; the penalty should have been exile, but they were spared and ordered to remain in office. In the eleventh year Grand Secretary Ning Wanwo impeached Chen Mingxia and dragged Xiangshu into the case, claiming that Xiangshu was linked by marriage to Mingxia's kinsman Niu Shedou and that Xiangshu's impeachment had been wrong. The Board of Civil Appointments recommended demotion for Xiangshu; Mingxia, by imperial rescript, was reduced to a salary fine and ordered seized for interrogation. Xiangshu declared in his own defense that he had never even known Niu Shedou, and was spared the proposed penalty. Soon after, because the Mingxia father and son had abetted one another's wrongdoing and the censorial officials had failed to impeach them in time, every chief supervising secretary in the six bureaus had his rank cut. Xiangshu was demoted to chief clerk in the Household of the Heir Apparent, then gradually rose again to vice director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. In the sixteenth year, with his mother advanced in years, he asked to retire and care for her until the end of her life.
16
康熙十一年，母喪終，用大學士馮溥薦，授貴州道御史。 入對，退而喜曰：「聖主在上，太平之業方始。 不當以姑且補苴之言進。」 乃分疏，言：「王道首教化，滿、漢臣僚宜敦家教。」 「督撫任最重，有不容不盡之職分、不容不去之因循，宜責成互糾。」 「制祿所以養廉，今罰俸例太嚴密，宜以記過示罰，增秩示恩。」 「治河方亟，宜蓄人才備任使。」 「戒淫侈宜正人心，勵風俗宜修禮制。」 聖祖多予褒納。 复疏糾湖南布政使劉顯貴侵公帑不當內升，給事中餘司仁欺罔不法，皆坐黜。 十二年，以歲滿加四品卿銜，尋擢左僉都御史。
In the eleventh year of Kangxi, after his mourning period ended, he was appointed investigating censor for the Guizhou circuit on the recommendation of Grand Secretary Feng Pu. After an audience with the throne, he withdrew in high spirits and said, "A sage ruler sits above us, and the work of building a lasting peace has only just begun. This is no time to offer makeshift, patchwork counsel." He then submitted a series of separate memorials. One said, "The kingly way begins with moral transformation; Manchu and Han officials alike should take family instruction seriously." Another said, "The burden on governors-general and governors is greatest. There are duties that cannot be left undone and habits of delay that cannot be tolerated; they should be made to answer for one another through mutual oversight." Another said, "Salaries are meant to sustain integrity, yet the rules for salary fines are now too harsh. Demerits should mark punishment, and promotions should mark reward." Another said, "River works are urgent; the state should stockpile capable men against the day they are needed." Another said, "To curb extravagance, hearts must be set right; to strengthen public morals, ritual institutions must be restored." The Kangxi Emperor praised most of these proposals and accepted them. He followed with another memorial impeaching Liu Xiangui, provincial administration commissioner of Hunan, for embezzling public funds and receiving an improper internal promotion, and Yu Siren, a supervising secretary, for fraud and misconduct; all were removed from office. In the twelfth year, after his term assessment, he received the additional title of fourth-rank grand secretary and was soon promoted to left assistant censor-in-chief.
17
十三年，歲三遷，至戶部侍郎。 會西南用兵，措兵食，察帑藏，多所規畫。 疏論籌餉，請確估價直，嚴覈關稅，慎用各直省布政使。 十七年，授左都御史。 疏言：「國家根本在百姓，百姓安危在督撫。 原諸臣為百姓留膏血，為國家培元氣。 臣不敢不為朝廷正紀綱，為臣子勵名節。」 因上申明憲綱十事，上嘉其切中時弊。 各直省舉劾屬吏多失當，江蘇嘉定知縣陸隴其有清名而被劾罷，象樞疏薦之。 鎮江知府劉鼎溺職，題升糧道； 山西絳州知州曹廷俞劣跡顯著，糾察不及：象樞疏劾之。 磨勘順天鄉試卷，因陳科場諸弊，請設內簾監試御史； 考核各直省學道，舉勞之辨、邵嘉，劾盧元培、程汝璞，上如其議以為黜陟。
In the thirteenth year he was promoted three times in a single year, rising to vice minister of revenue. When war broke out in the southwest, he organized military supplies, inspected treasury stores, and drew up many plans. In a memorial on provisioning he called for accurate price estimates, strict verification of customs duties, and careful selection of provincial administration commissioners. In the seventeenth year he was appointed left censor-in-chief. He memorialized: "The state's foundation is the people, and the people's welfare depends on the governors and governors-general. I ask that officials preserve the people's substance and nurture the nation's vital strength. I dare not fail to uphold discipline for the court and integrity as a minister." He then submitted ten points clarifying the censorial code, and the emperor praised them for striking at the abuses of the day. Provincial recommendations and impeachments of subordinates were often mishandled; Lu Longqi, magistrate of Jiading in Jiangsu, had a spotless reputation yet was impeached and removed—Xiangshu memorialized in his favor. Liu Ding, prefect of Zhenjiang, had neglected his duties, yet was nominated for promotion as grain commissioner; Cao Tingyu, magistrate of Jiangzhou in Shanxi, had conspicuous misconduct that had gone unchecked—Xiangshu memorialized to impeach him. While reviewing the Shuntian provincial examination papers, he exposed examination abuses and asked that censors be posted inside the examination curtain to supervise the tests; In assessing provincial education commissioners, he recommended Lao Zhibian and Shao Jia and impeached Lu Yuanpei and Cheng Rupu; the emperor approved his recommendations for promotions and removals.
18
十八年，遷刑部尚書。 象樞疏言：「臣忝司風紀，職多未盡，敢援漢臣汲黯自請為郎故事，留御史台，為朝廷整肅綱紀。」 上可其奏，以刑部尚書留左都御史任。 分疏劾山西巡撫王克善、榷稅蕪湖主事劉源諸不法狀，皆坐黜。 七月，地震，象樞與副都御史施維翰疏言：「地道，臣也。 臣失職，地為之不寧，請罪臣以回天變。」 上召象樞入對，語移時，至泣下。 明日，上集廷臣於左翼門，詔極言大臣受賕徇私，會推不問操守； 將帥克敵，焚廬舍，俘子女，攘財物； 外吏不言民生疾苦； 獄訟不以時結正； 諸王、貝勒、大臣家人罔市利，預詞訟：上乾天和，嚴飭修省。 是時索額圖預政貪侈，詔多為索額圖發，論者謂象樞實啟之。
In the eighteenth year he was transferred to minister of justice. Xiangshu memorialized: "I am charged with upholding discipline yet have not fully done my duty; I venture to cite the Han precedent of Ji An, who asked to remain in a lesser post, and request to stay at the censorate to restore the court's discipline." The emperor approved; though appointed minister of justice, he was allowed to keep the post of left censor-in-chief. In separate memorials he impeached Shanxi governor Wang Keshan and Liu Yuan, chief officer at the Wuhu transit customs, for various unlawful acts; all were removed from office. In the seventh month an earthquake struck; Xiangshu and vice censor-in-chief Shi Weihan memorialized: "Earth corresponds to ministers. We have failed in our duties, and the earth is unsettled because of us; please punish us to appease heaven's warning." The emperor summoned Xiangshu for a private audience; they spoke at length, until the emperor was in tears. The next day the emperor assembled court officials at Left Wing Gate and issued an edict sharply condemning grand ministers who take bribes and show favoritism, and concurrent recommendations that ignore moral character; generals who, after defeating the enemy, burn dwellings, capture women and children, and seize property; local officials who say nothing of the people's hardships; lawsuits that are not promptly resolved; princes, beile, and grand ministers' households who monopolize market profits and meddle in lawsuits—the emperor said these had offended heaven's harmony and ordered strict rectification and self-examination. Songgotu was then wielding power with greed and extravagance; many edicts were directed at him, and commentators held that Xiangshu had actually sparked the campaign.
19
尋命舉廉吏，象樞舉原任侍郎雷虎、班迪、達哈塔、高珩，大理寺卿瑚密色，郎中宋文運，侍講蕭維豫，布政使畢振姬，知縣陸隴其、張沐凡十人。 上諭曰：「雷虎朕亦聞其清，以其怠惰罷黜，既經象樞特薦，授內閣學士。 班迪清慎，因使往江西按事，未能明晰，問以民間苦樂，又謝不知，以是鐫秩。 餘令吏部議奏錄用。」 十九年，仍授刑部尚書。 尋命與侍郎科爾坤巡察畿輔，按治豪猾，還奏稱旨。
An order soon went out to recommend honest officials; Xiangshu nominated ten men: former vice ministers Lei Hu, Badi, Dahaata, and Gao Heng; Chief Minister Humise of the Court of Judicial Review; Director Song Wenyun; Hanlin lecturer Xiao Weiyu; provincial administration commissioner Bi Zhenji; and magistrates Lu Longqi and Zhang Mu. The emperor said: "I too have heard Lei Hu is upright; he was dismissed for laziness, but since Xiangshu has specially recommended him, appoint him a grand secretariat academician. Badi is scrupulous and cautious, but when sent to Jiangxi on an inspection he could not give clear answers, and when asked about the people's hardships and joys he pleaded ignorance—for this his rank was reduced. Let the Ministry of Personnel discuss and recommend appointments for the rest." In the nineteenth year he was again appointed minister of justice. He was soon ordered, together with Vice Minister K'erkun, to inspect the capital region and suppress powerful wrongdoers; his report on return pleased the emperor.
20
象樞有疾，上賜以人參及參膏，命內侍問飲食如何。 二十三年，奏事乾清門，躓焉，即日疏乞休，再奏，乃許之，命之入對，賜御書寒松堂額，令馳驛歸。 二十五年，卒，年七十一，賜祭葬，諡敏果。
When Xiangshu fell ill, the emperor sent him ginseng and ginseng paste and ordered eunuchs to inquire after his meals. In the twenty-third year he stumbled while reporting business at Qianqing Gate; that same day he memorialized to retire, and after a second memorial was permitted; he was summoned for audience, given an imperial plaque for the Hall of Cold Pines, and sent home by post relay. In the twenty-fifth year he died at seventy-one; funeral honors were granted and he was posthumously titled Min'guo.
21
象樞以馮溥薦再起。 象樞見溥，問何以見知？ 溥曰：「昔餘為祭酒，故事，丁祭不得陪祀者，當於前一日瞻拜。 君每期必至，敬慎成禮。 一歲直大雨，君仍至，肅然瞻拜而去，此外無一人至者。 餘以是知君篤誠。」 子學誠，進士，授中書。 上推象樞恩，改編修，官至諭德。 嘉慶間，錄賢良祠諸臣後裔，賜象樞四世孫煜舉人。
Xiangshu returned to office on Feng Pu's recommendation. Xiangshu visited Pu and asked how he had come to be noticed. Pu said: "When I was grand examiner, the custom was that those who could not attend the spring and autumn sacrifices should pay reverence the day before. You came every time without fail, reverent and careful in observing the rite. One year it poured with rain, yet you still came, paid reverence solemnly, and left—no one else came at all. From that I knew your deep sincerity." His son Xuecheng passed the jinshi examination and was appointed a secretariat drafter. The emperor extended Xiangshu's favor to him, transferred him to compiler, and he rose to lecturer. During the Jiaqing reign, when descendants of shrine worthies were recorded, Xiangshu's fourth-generation descendant Yu was granted juren status.
22
硃之弼，字右君，順天大興人。 順治三年進士，授禮科給事中，轉工科都給事中。 八年，疏言：「國家宜重名器。 舊制，胥吏供役年久無過，予以議敘，選用佐貳。 今戶、兵等部書役別系職銜，非官非吏，有玷班行。 此曹起自貧乏，不數年家貲鉅萬，衣食奢侈。 非舞文作姦，何以致此？ 戶、兵堂司官歲有遷轉，此曹歷年久不去，官為客，吏為主，流弊何窮。 請嚴察褫奪。」 下部議行。 九年，以父喪去。 十一年，起補戶科都給事中。
Zhu Zhibi, whose style was Youjun, came from Daxing in Shuntian. A jinshi of the third year of Shunzhi, he was appointed supervising secretary in the Ministry of Rites and later became chief supervising secretary in the Ministry of Works. In the eighth year he memorialized: "The state should hold official titles and insignia in esteem. Under the old system, clerks who had served many years without fault were considered for promotion and appointed to assistant deputy posts. Today in the ministries of Revenue, War, and the like, clerical staff carry separate titular ranks—neither true officials nor proper clerks—and this debases the whole order of office. They began in poverty; within a few years their households amassed fortunes of tens of thousands, and they live in extravagant luxury. If they were not twisting the law and committing fraud, how else could they have come to this? Department heads in Revenue and War rotate every year, yet these men stay on for years without leaving—officials are guests, clerks are masters—and the abuses know no end. I ask that they be rigorously investigated and stripped of their posts." The memorial was sent down to the ministries for deliberation and implementation. In the ninth year he left office to observe mourning for his father. In the eleventh year he was recalled and appointed chief supervising secretary in the Revenue section.
23
十二年，疏言：「小民納糧一也，而其目有四：曰漕糧、白糧、軍糧、恤孤糧。 軍糧、恤孤糧程限遲緩，無增耗之費，有力之家，往往營求撥兌； 單弱之戶，派納漕、白，苦樂不均。 軍糧行折色，軍得銀則妄費，生掛欠之弊。 恤孤糧半飽豪強，鰥寡孤獨無由控訴。 請飭漕臣下各省糧道，親督州縣畫一編徵，盡數輸納，敢有撥兌者治罪。」 又言：「錢糧侵欠，兵食不充，為上所廑念。 侵欠之大者，曰漕欠、糧欠。 漕欠責漕督親督糧道，糧欠責督撫親督布政使，令本年附徵。 某年欠項逾限不完，以溺職論，有司侵虧怠緩，糾劾不貸。 如此，則年銷年欠，宿逋可清。」 上韙其言，並嚴飭行。 又疏言：「國家章制大備，部臣實心任事，利自知舉，弊自知革。 今乃盡若事外，遇事至，才者不肯決，無才者不能決，稍重大即請會議。 不然，行外察報，遷延歲月而已； 不然，聽督撫參奏，科道指糾而已； 不然，苟且塞責，無容再議而已：上下相諉，彼此相安。 國家事安得不廢，百姓安得不困？ 欲致太平，必無之事也。 臣愚謂今日求治，首在擇人。 上面召諸大臣親試才品，因能授任； 复考其歷事後興利幾何，除弊幾何，定功罪，信賞罰，則法行而事舉矣。」 上納之弼言，諭六部去怠忽舊習。 一歲中四遷，授戶部侍郎。 十三年，河西務鈔關員外郎硃世德徵稅不如額，戶部援赦請免議，上切責譴部臣，之弼降三級。
In the twelfth year he memorialized: "Ordinary people owe grain tax as a single obligation, yet it falls into four categories: canal transport grain, white grain, military grain, and orphan-relief grain. Military grain and orphan-relief grain carry slow deadlines and no surcharge for wastage, so wealthy households often maneuver to have their obligations reassigned elsewhere; while weak and solitary households are assigned transport grain and white grain, so that hardship and ease are not equally borne. When military grain is commuted to silver, soldiers who receive the cash spend it recklessly, giving rise to the abuse of paper arrears. Orphan-relief grain half fills the bellies of the powerful, while widows, orphans, and the utterly alone have no way to lodge a complaint. I ask that transport officials and provincial grain intendants be ordered to supervise prefectures and counties personally in uniform registration and collection, deliver the full amounts, and punish anyone who dares seek reassignment." He also wrote: "Embezzlement and arrears in taxes and grain, and the failure to fill military rations, are matters that weigh heavily on the emperor's mind. The greatest embezzlements and arrears are transport arrears and grain arrears. Transport arrears should be the responsibility of transport commissioners, who must personally oversee grain intendants; grain arrears should be the responsibility of governors-general and governors, who must personally oversee provincial treasurers—with orders to collect the shortfall additionally in the current year. If any year's arrears are not cleared within the deadline, treat it as dereliction of duty; officials who embezzle, squander, or drag their feet should be impeached without mercy. In this way each year's arrears would be cleared as it came due, and long-standing debts could at last be settled." The emperor approved his advice and sternly ordered that it be carried out. He memorialized again: "The state's statutes and regulations are complete; if ministry officials truly applied themselves to their duties, they would know which benefits to advance and which abuses to remove. Now they all behave as though affairs were none of their concern: when business arrives, the capable refuse to decide, the incapable cannot decide, and anything even slightly weighty is referred for joint consultation. Otherwise they dispatch external inspection reports and let matters drag on for months; otherwise they leave it to governors to memorialize impeachments and censorial officials to lodge accusations—and nothing more; otherwise they perfunctorily check a box and allow no further discussion: superiors and subordinates shift blame onto one another, and each settles comfortably into the status quo. How could state affairs fail to fall into ruin? How could the people fail to be driven to distress? To speak of bringing about peace and good order would be to chase an impossibility. Your servant humbly believes that in seeking good government today, the first task is to choose the right men. Let Your Majesty summon the senior ministers to test their talent and character in person, and assign posts according to ability; then review how much benefit they brought and how much abuse they removed in office—fix merit and guilt, make rewards and punishments trustworthy—and law will be enforced and affairs will be accomplished." The emperor accepted Zhibi's counsel and instructed the Six Ministries to abandon their old habits of negligence. Within a single year he was transferred four times and was appointed vice minister of Revenue. In the thirteenth year Zhu Shide, assistant department director at the He Xi Wu transit toll station, collected taxes below quota; the Ministry of Revenue cited the amnesty to ask that the case be exempted from deliberation; the emperor sharply rebuked and censured the ministry officials, and Zhibi was demoted three ranks.
24
十五年，授光祿寺少卿，再遷左副都御史。 疏言：「巡按未得其人，當責都察院考核，巡按之賢不肖，即都察院堂上官賢不肖。 臣與諸巡按約，操守當潔清，舉劾當得宜，撫按當互糾。 臣等定差不公，考核不當，巡按賢者不薦，不肖者不糾，諸御史亦得論劾。 至巡方應行諸事，當令掌河南道會諸御史各抒見聞，奏請明定畫一。」 從之。
In the fifteenth year he was appointed vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, then promoted again to left vice censor-in-chief. He memorialized: "When touring censors are not the right men, the Censorate itself should be held accountable in evaluation—for whether touring censors are worthy or unworthy reflects whether the Censorate's senior officials are worthy or unworthy. I have bound the touring censors to an agreement: conduct must be pure, impeachment and recommendation must be fitting, and governors and censors must impeach one another. If we assign posts unfairly or evaluate them improperly—if worthy touring censors go unrecommended and unworthy ones go unimpeached—the other censors may impeach us as well. As for all matters that should be carried out on provincial inspection tours, the head of the Henan circuit should convene the censors so that each may set forth what he has observed, and memorializing, request that clear uniform rules be established." His request was approved.
25
世祖惡貪吏，命官得贓十兩、役得贓一兩，皆流徙。 令既行，之弼疏論其不便，略謂：「自上諭宣傳後，撫按所糾，必無以大貪入告者。 何則？ 一經提問，有司無不圖保身命，雖盈千累百，而及其結讞，期不滿十兩而止。 是未糾以前，徒層累而輸於大吏。 被糾之後，又層累而輸於問官。 尺籍所科，百不一二。 蓋雖起龔、黃為今之有司，未有不犯十兩之令者。 而今普天之下，皆不取十兩之有司，豈真出古循吏上哉？ 良以令嚴則思遁，徒有名而無其實也。 上但擇撫按一大貪者懲之，一大廉者獎之，則眾貪懼、眾廉奮矣。」
The Shunzhi Emperor hated corrupt officials and decreed that any official found guilty of ten taels in bribes, or any clerk of one tael, would be exiled. Once the decree took effect, Zhibi memorialized against its drawbacks, saying in essence: "Since the imperial edict was proclaimed and circulated, what governors and censors impeach will never be reported as large-scale corruption. Why? Once formal interrogation begins, local officials invariably seek to save their own lives; though the sums may run to thousands piled up over hundreds of cases, when the verdict is finalized they aim to stop just short of ten taels. Thus before impeachment ever occurs, bribes are simply passed up layer by layer to senior officials. After impeachment, they are passed up layer by layer again to the interrogating officials. Of what is actually charged in the official records, scarcely one or two cases in a hundred reflect the truth. For even if Gong Yu and Huang Ba themselves were raised up to serve as today's local officials, not one would fail to run afoul of the ten-tael decree. Yet now under heaven every local official is said to take no more than ten taels—could they truly surpass the exemplary officials of antiquity? Rather, when the law is strict men think only of evasion—the name remains, but the reality is gone. If Your Majesty would simply choose one grossly corrupt governor or censor and punish him, and one greatly upright and reward him, then the corrupt would fear and the upright would take heart."
26
會歲旱求言，之弼疏言：「山東巡撫耿焞、河南巡撫賈漢復以墾荒蒙賞，兩省百姓即以賠熟受困，歲增數十萬賦稅，多得之於鞭笞敲剝、呼天搶地之孑遺。 怨苦之氣，積為沴厲。」 又疏劾戶部賑濟需遲，救荒無術。 京師既得雨，河南報彰德、衛輝以旱成災，戶部奏：「上步禱天壇，時雨方降。 彰德、衛輝地接畿南，何獨請蠲卹？ 請覆勘。」 之弼疏爭，略謂：「百里不同風，千里不同雨，安得以輦下例率土？ 且以撫臣疏報為不可信，而又倚以覆勘，使撫臣告災如前，部臣信之不可，不信必易人而勘，徒使地方增煩擾耳。 自夏徂冬，被災州縣未盡停徵，待勘明已至來春，雖蠲免，徒飽吏橐，饑民轉為溝中瘠久矣。」 與尚書王弘祚廷辨，卒從之弼議。 十八年，复授戶部侍郎。
During a drought year, when the court solicited memorials, Zhibi wrote: "The governors of Shandong, Geng Tun, and Henan, Jia Hanfu, were rewarded for land reclamation, but the people of both provinces were at once crushed by compensation levies on fields already in cultivation. Annual taxes increased by hundreds of thousands of taels, most of it extracted by whip and squeeze from the last desperate survivors wailing to heaven and beating the ground in grief. Resentment and suffering piled up until they turned into pestilence and disaster." He also submitted a memorial impeaching the Ministry of Revenue for sluggish famine relief and its failure to devise any real plan for saving people from starvation. Once rain had already fallen in the capital, Henan reported drought disasters in Zhangde and Weihui. The Ministry of Revenue memorialized: "When Your Majesty walked in prayer at the Temple of Heaven, the timely rain had only just begun to fall. Zhangde and Weihui lie close to the southern approaches of the capital—why should they alone seek tax remission and relief? We request a fresh investigation." Zhibi answered with a counter-memorial, arguing in essence: "Customs differ within a hundred li, and rain differs within a thousand. How can conditions at the capital be made the measure for the entire empire? Besides, the governors' reports are treated as unreliable, yet the ministry still insists on reinvestigation. If a governor reports disaster as before, the ministry can neither accept it nor reject it without sending someone else to verify the case—nothing is gained but fresh trouble for the locality. From summer to winter, stricken prefectures and counties still have not stopped collection in full. By the time the investigation is finished, spring will already be here. Even if remissions are granted then, they will only fill officials' pockets, while the starving will long since have become skeletons in the ditches." He argued the matter before the throne with Minister Wang Hongzuo, and in the end the court sided with Zhibi. In the eighteenth year, he was again appointed vice minister of revenue.
27
康熙四年，調吏部。 五年，遷左都御史，擢工部尚書。 六年，疏言：「福建官兵月米五十餘萬石，歲徵十萬餘石，餘皆糴諸市，石值銀二兩四錢。 朝廷買米養兵，絕不抑值以累民。 臣聞延、建、汀、邵諸府民以買米攤賠為累，有原繳田入官者。 漳、泉之間，按地派米，石必加六斗，又迫令折價三四兩不等，數倍於正供，民不勝其朘削。」 上特諭督撫嚴察。
In the fourth year of Kangxi, he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. In the fifth year, he was made left censor-in-chief and promoted to minister of works. In the sixth year, he memorialized: "Fujian's garrison requires more than five hundred thousand shi of grain each month. Only a little over one hundred thousand shi are raised by levy each year; the rest must be bought in the market at two taels and four mace per shi. When the court buys grain to feed the army, it must never force prices down and thereby burden the people. I have heard that in Yanping, Jianning, Tingzhou, and Shaowu the people are crushed by apportioned surcharges for grain purchases, and some have even had fields on which they had long paid taxes seized by the government. Between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, grain is assigned by acreage, with six extra dou added to every shi, and people are then forced to commute the payment at three or four taels or more—several times the regular quota. The people cannot endure such bleeding." The emperor issued a special edict ordering the governors-general and governors to investigate the matter rigorously.
28
七年，調刑部。 八年，疏言：「各省存留錢糧，順治間軍需正迫，有裁減之令。 昨年部臣又請酌減。 存留各款，原為留備地方公用，事不容已，費無所出，勢不得不派之民間，不肖有司因以為利。 宜復康熙七年以前存留舊例。」 又疏言：「八旗家丁，每歲以自盡報部者不下二千人。 人雖有貴賤，均屬赤子。 請敕諭八旗，凡蓄僕婢，當時其教誨，足其衣食，卹其勞苦，減其鞭笞，使各得其所。 歲終刑部列歲中自盡人數，系某旗某家，具冊呈覽，俾人知儆惕。」 又言：「世祖嚴治貪官蠹役，特立嚴法，如非官役，不用此例。 今不論有祿無祿，通用重典。 貪蠹事發，被證畏同罪，刑訊不承，使大貪漏網。 請嗣後因事納賄，仍擬同罪。 如逼抑出錢，倘非官役，許用舊律。」 詔並如所請。 九年，調兵部。 十四年，以母喪去官。 十七年，起授工部尚書。 二十二年，會推湖北按察使，之弼舉道員王垓，不當上意，以所舉非材，吏部議降三級調用。 尋卒。
In the seventh year, he was transferred to the Ministry of Punishments. In the eighth year, he memorialized: "The retained funds and grain of each province—during the Shunzhi reign, when military expenses pressed hard, orders were issued to cut them back. Last year the ministry again asked that they be reduced further. These retained items were originally set aside for local public needs. When business cannot be postponed and there is no other source of funds, officials have no choice but to levy the people—and corrupt ones turn that necessity into profit. The old retained-funds regulations in force before the seventh year of Kangxi should be restored." He also memorialized: "Among the household bondservants of the Eight Banners, no fewer than two thousand are reported each year to the ministry as having taken their own lives. High or low in station, they are all the emperor's own children. I ask that the Eight Banners be instructed by edict that all who keep servants and maids should instruct them properly, provide adequate food and clothing, show concern for their toil, lessen the lash, and let each person live as he ought. At year's end the Ministry of Punishments should compile the year's suicides, record the banner and household involved, and submit the register for the emperor's review, so that all may take warning." He also wrote: "Emperor Shizu dealt severely with corrupt officials and parasitic clerks and established harsh penalties, but those penalties were not meant to apply to persons who were neither officials nor clerks. Now, without distinguishing salaried officials from others, the heavy penalties are applied across the board. When a case of graft comes to light, witnesses fear sharing the same punishment, resist confession under torture, and the greatest offenders slip through the net. I ask that hereafter anyone who accepts a bribe in connection with an affair still be sentenced as an accomplice. But where money is extorted by coercion, if the extortionist is not an official or clerk, the old law should be allowed to apply." An edict approved every one of his requests. In the ninth year, he was transferred to the Ministry of War. In the fourteenth year, he left office to observe mourning for his mother. In the seventeenth year, he was recalled to service and appointed minister of works. In the twenty-second year, at a joint recommendation for the Hubei surveillance commissioner, Zhibi put forward circuit intendant Wang Gai. The choice displeased the emperor, and because the nominee was judged unfit, the Ministry of Personnel recommended demoting Zhibi three ranks and reassigning him. Before long he died.
29
之弼內行修篤，事親孝，與其弟之佐相友愛。 之佐，順治十四年進士，選庶吉士，歷官侍讀學士。 嚴事之弼，雖白首，執子弟禮甚謹。
Zhibi was deeply principled in private life, filial toward his parents, and warmly devoted to his younger brother Zhizuo. Zhizuo passed the jinshi examination in the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and rose to serve as reader-in-waiting. He treated Zhibi with the utmost respect; even in old age, he still observed toward his elder brother the careful deference of a junior kinsman.
30
趙申喬，字慎旃，江南武進人。 康熙九年進士。 二十年，授河南商丘知縣，有惠政。 二十五年，以賢能行取，命以主事用。 二十七年，授刑部主事。 三十年，遷員外郎，以病乞歸。 四十年，以直隸巡撫李光地薦，召見，上察申喬敬慎，超擢浙江布政使。 陛辭，上諭曰：「浙江財賦地，自張鵬翮後，錢糧多蒙混，當秉公察核，不虧帑，不累民。 布政使為一省表率，爾清廉，屬吏自皆守法。」 申喬頓首謝曰：「臣蒙皇上特擢，不黽勉為好官，請置重典。」 申喬上官，不挾幕客，治事皆躬親，例得火耗，悉屏不取。 四十一年，上諭獎申喬居官清，能踐其言，就遷巡撫。 布政使舊有貼解費，歲支不過十之五，申喬積二千餘金，封識以授代者，曰：「吾奏銷不名一錢，後將難繼，得此足辦一歲事，毋以擾民也。」 錢塘江潮齧塘，申喬令鎔鐵貫石，築子塘為護。
Zhao Shenqiao, whose style was Shenzhan, came from Wujin in Jiangnan. He received his jinshi degree in the ninth year of Kangxi. In the twentieth year, he was appointed magistrate of Shangqiu in Henan, where his rule brought real benefit to the people. In the twenty-fifth year, he was selected for capital office on account of merit and ability and appointed a principal secretary. In the twenty-seventh year, he was appointed a principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments. In the thirtieth year, he was promoted to vice director, then resigned on grounds of illness. In the fortieth year, on the recommendation of Li Guangdi, governor of Zhili, he was summoned to audience. Seeing Shenqiao's sober diligence, the emperor passed over the usual steps and appointed him administration commissioner of Zhejiang. At his farewell audience, the emperor told him: "Zhejiang is a province of revenue. Since Zhang Penghe's time, grain payments and tax accounts have been badly muddled. You must investigate fairly, neither letting the treasury suffer loss nor imposing hardship on the people. As administration commissioner you set the standard for the whole province. If you remain incorrupt, your subordinates will follow the law of their own accord." Shenqiao kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty raised me far above my station. If I fail to prove myself a worthy official, let me be punished with the full severity of the law." When Shenqiao took office he brought no private secretaries and handled every matter himself. The meltage fees to which he was entitled by regulation he refused entirely. In the forty-first year the emperor commended Shenqiao for his integrity in office and for keeping his word, and promoted him to provincial governor. Administration commissioners once kept forwarding fees, of which only about half was spent each year. Shenqiao had saved more than two thousand taels, sealed them, and handed them to his successor, saying, "I never claimed a single cash in my accounts. Successors will find that hard to match. This sum is enough for one year's work—do not burden the people for it." When the Qiantang tide gnawed at the embankment, Shenqiao had iron cast through stone blocks and built subsidiary dikes as a buffer.
31
湖南鎮筸紅苗殺掠為民害，民走京師叩閽陳狀，給事中宋駿業因劾總督郭琇、巡撫金璽、提督林本植諱匿不為民去害，上命侍郎傅繼祖、甘國樞及申喬往按，盡發紅苗殺掠害民狀，琇等皆坐罷。 調申喬偏沅巡撫。 四十二年，疏言與總督喻成龍檄衡永道張士可入苗洞宣撫，已聽命者二十餘寨，並與提督俞益謨發兵討諸不率命者。 上命尚書席爾達等率荊州駐防滿洲兵，並檄廣東、貴州、湖北三省提督，會成龍等進攻。 自龍椒洞至於天星寨，分道搜剿，斬悍苗千餘，三百餘寨咸聽命受約束，苗悉定。 申喬疏上善後諸事，移辰沅道駐其地。 上獎徵苗諸將，貴州提督李芳述功最，並褒申喬強毅。
Red Miao bands at Zhenbian in Hunan were raiding and plundering, and the people fled to the capital to petition at the palace gates. Censor Song Junye impeached Governor-General Guo Xiu, Governor Jin Xi, and Regional Commander Lin Benzhi for covering up the crisis and failing to protect the people. The emperor sent Vice Ministers Fu Jizu and Gan Guoshu, together with Shenqiao, to investigate. They laid bare the full record of Miao raids, and Xiu and his colleagues were all removed from office. Shenqiao was transferred to the governorship of Bianyuan. In the forty-second year he reported that he and Governor-General Yu Chenglong had ordered Zhang Shike of the Hengyong circuit into the Miao hills to win submission. More than twenty stockades had already yielded, and he and Regional Commander Yu Yimo had also sent troops against those who refused. The emperor ordered Minister Xi Erda and others to lead the Manchu garrison at Jingzhou, and instructed the regional commanders of Guangdong, Guizhou, and Hubei to join Chenglong in the campaign. From Longjiaodong to Tianxing Stockade they swept the country by separate columns, killing more than a thousand hardened fighters. Over three hundred stockades submitted and accepted imperial restraint, and the Miao were fully pacified. Shenqiao submitted a memorial on post-pacification measures and moved the Chenyuan circuit yamen to be stationed on the spot. The emperor rewarded the generals of the Miao campaign. Li Fangshu, regional commander of Guizhou, won the highest praise, and Shenqiao was commended for his firmness.
32
上南巡，申喬朝行在，上以潮南地偏遠，官吏私徵、加耗倍於他省，特詔申飭。 申喬還，建上諭碑亭於通衢，示屬吏，並疏劾巴陵知縣李可昌等違例苛斂，奪官逮治。 四十五年，申喬疏言：「清浪、平溪二衛地處山僻，請改米徵銀，俾省運費。」 四十六年，疏言：「漕運旗丁舊有耗贈、行月銀米，於起運前預發。 給事中戴嵩條奏俟至通州補發，意在防其虧缺。 湖南運道遠於江、浙，例本無耗贈，惟恃行月銀米為轉運之資。 今既扣存，窮丁不能涉遠，必致誤漕。 請仍舊例預發。」 上許之，著為令。
During the emperor's southern tour, Shenqiao presented himself at the traveling palace. Because Hunan was remote and officials there levied private exactions at surcharges twice the rate elsewhere, the emperor issued a special admonition. On his return he erected a pavilion at a main crossroads bearing the imperial admonition for all subordinates to see, and memorialized against Baling magistrate Li Kechang and others for illegal levies, stripping them of office and ordering their arrest. In the forty-fifth year Shenqiao wrote, "The Qinglang and Pingxi guards lie in remote hill country. I ask that their grain levies be commuted to silver payment to save transport costs." In the forty-sixth year he wrote, "Banner bondservants on the grain route once received meltage allowances and monthly silver and grain, paid out before transport began. Censor Dai Song proposed that these payments be held until Tongzhou and issued only as a supplement, intending to guard against shortfalls. Hunan's route is longer than those of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. By custom it received no meltage gifts at all and depended entirely on monthly silver and grain to move the grain. Now that these funds are withheld, the poorest bondservants cannot make the long haul, and the transport schedule will certainly slip. I ask that the old rule of advance payment be restored." The emperor approved the request and made it a standing order.
33
四十七年，命赴湖北按讞荊州同知王侃等侵蝕木稅，疏請裁港口渡私稅，荊州關稅部差如故。 申喬還，又請以靖州屬鸕鶿關稅併入辰州關。 別疏言：「營兵給餉，每於正月支領，時地丁尚未開徵，挪移則累官，預徵則累民，請以隔歲餘存米石撥給兵餉。」 並下部議行。 內閣學士宋大業祭告南嶽還京師，劾申喬輕褻御書，詔詰申喬。 申喬疏辨，並言：「大業初使湖南，餽金九千。 此次再使湖南，餽金五百，意不慊，札布政使董昭祚，言南嶽廟工餘銀毋報部。 臣仍報部充餉，以是誣劾。」 大業坐奪官，申喬鐫五級留任。
In the forty-seventh year he was sent to Hubei to try Jingzhou vice prefect Wang Kan and others for embezzling timber tax. He also asked that the private levy at Gangkou ferry be abolished, while Jingzhou customs taxes dispatched by the ministry would remain unchanged. On his return he also asked that the Luzici Pass tax under Jingzhou be folded into the Chenzhou customs office. In a separate memorial he wrote, "Camp soldiers draw pay each first month, before the land tax is collected. Shifting funds burdens officials; advance collection burdens the people. I ask that surplus grain from the previous year be used for soldiers' pay." The proposals were referred to the ministries for deliberation and implementation. Grand Secretary Song Daye, returning from sacrifices at Mount Heng, impeached Shenqiao for disrespect toward an imperial inscription. The emperor ordered Shenqiao to answer the charge. Shenqiao defended himself and added, "On Daye's first mission to Hunan he was offered nine thousand taels of gold. On this second mission he was offered five hundred taels. Dissatisfied, he wrote Administration Commissioner Dong Zhaozuo that surplus silver from the Mount Heng temple works should not be reported to the ministry. I still reported the sum to the ministry for military provisions. That is why he lodges this false charge." Daye was stripped of office. Shenqiao was demoted five ranks but kept in his post.
34
四十八年，疏劾提督俞益謨取兵糧三十五石，詔詰益謨。 益謨劾申喬苛刻，請並解官質訊。 四十九年，上命尚書蕭永藻往按，永藻察申喬疏實，上為罷益謨，而命申喬還職。 尋擢左都御史，諭曰：「申喬甚清廉，但有性氣，人皆畏其直。 朕察其無私，是以護惜之。」 五十年，疏請刻頒部行則例。 劾編修戴名世所著南山集、孑遺錄有大逆語，下刑部，鞫實坐斬。 五十一年，疏請禁營兵冒名食糧； 又言上普免各省地丁錢糧，惟潼關衛、大同府徵本色，不在蠲例，請如奉天、台灣例，一體蠲免：並允所請。
In the forty-eighth year he impeached Regional Commander Yu Yimo for taking thirty-five shi of soldiers' grain. The emperor ordered Yimo to answer the charge. Yimo counter-impeached Shenqiao for harshness and asked that both men be dismissed and tried. In the forty-ninth year the emperor sent Minister Xiao Yongzao to investigate. Yongzao found Shenqiao's charges substantiated. The emperor dismissed Yimo and ordered Shenqiao back to his post. He was soon promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief. The emperor said, "Shenqiao is thoroughly incorrupt, but he has a temper, and everyone fears his bluntness. I have seen that he has no private ends, and that is why I shield him." In the fiftieth year he asked that the ministry's regulations in force be carved and promulgated. He impeached Compiler Dai Mingshi, whose Collected Writings from the Southern Mountains and Records of Survivors contained treasonous language. The case went to the Ministry of Punishments; inquiry proved the charge, and Dai was executed. In the fifty-first year he asked that camp soldiers be barred from drawing rations under false names; and noted that in the recent general land-tax exemption, only Tongguan Guard and Datong Prefecture still collected grain in kind and fell outside the relief. He asked that they be fully exempted like Fengtian and Taiwan. Both requests were granted.
35
又疏言每歲農忙，京師當遵例停訟。 上諭曰：「農忙停訟，聽之似有理，實乃無益。 民非獨農也，商訟則廢生理，工訟則廢手藝。 地方官不濫準詞狀，準則速結，訟亦少矣。 若但四月至七月停訟，而平日濫準詞狀，又復何益？ 且此四月至七月間，或有奸民詐害良善，冤向誰訴？ 八月以後，正當收穫，亦非閒時。 福建、廣東四季皆農時，豈終歲停訟乎？ 讀書當明理，事有益於民，朕即允行，否則斷乎不可也。」 五十二年，廣東飢，命往督平糶。 尋授戶部尚書。
He also memorialized that each year during the farming season the capital should suspend lawsuits as precedent allowed. The emperor replied, "Halting lawsuits during the farming season sounds reasonable, but it does no real good. The people are not all farmers. When merchants are drawn into litigation, their livelihoods suffer; when craftsmen are drawn into litigation, their trades suffer. If local officials refuse frivolous petitions and, when they do accept a case, bring it to a swift conclusion, lawsuits will naturally dwindle. If lawsuits are halted only from the fourth to the seventh month, while frivolous petitions are accepted as freely as ever the rest of the year, what would be gained? And in those months from the fourth to the seventh, scoundrels may still defraud and harm honest people—where then would the wronged turn for redress? After the eighth month comes the harvest, which is hardly an idle season either. In Fujian and Guangdong, every season is a farming season. Are lawsuits to be suspended all year long? Scholarship should teach one to see what is sound. If a measure truly benefits the people, I will approve it; otherwise it is out of the question." In the fifty-second year, when Guangdong was stricken by famine, he was ordered to go and supervise government grain sales at fair prices. He was soon appointed Minister of Revenue.
36
五十三年，旗丁請指圈滄州民地，直隸巡撫趙弘燮議以旗退地另撥，部議不許。 申喬言滄州民地有旨停圈，宜如弘燮議，上從之。 時方鑄大錢，商人請納銀領易小錢送寶源局改鑄，命內務府會戶部議。 申喬言：「收小錢，有司責也，商人圖利，恐近藉端擾民，不可許。」 而疏已上，議準申喬奏，請罷斥。 上召問狀，申喬言：「司官但送侍郎畫題，為所藐視，無顏复居職。」 上曰：「君子懲忿窒慾，此語宜詳思。 司官藐視，但當奏劾。 爾性苛急，不能容人。 天地之大德曰生，非但不殺而已。 蓋於萬物皆養育而保全之。 爾在官誠廉，然豈可恃廉而矯激乎？」 命任事如故。 卒用申喬議，罷商人納銀領錢。
In the fifty-third year, banner bondservants petitioned to have civilian land in Cangzhou marked out and enclosed for their use. Zhili governor Zhao Hongxie proposed instead that land surrendered by the banners be allocated to them, but the ministry rejected the plan. Shenqiao argued that an imperial edict had already suspended the enclosure of civilian land in Cangzhou, and that Hongxie's proposal ought to be adopted. The emperor agreed. At the time the government was casting large-denomination coin, and merchants asked to pay in silver, receive small coin in exchange, and send it to the Baoyuan Bureau for recoining. The emperor ordered the Imperial Household Department to confer with the Ministry of Revenue. Shenqiao said, "Collecting small coin is the duty of the officials. Merchants are out for profit, and I fear they will use this as a pretext to harass the people. It must not be allowed." By then his memorial had already gone up. The deliberation approved Shenqiao's recommendation, and he asked to be dismissed from office. The emperor summoned him to explain himself. Shenqiao said, "The department officials simply pass memorials to the vice minister for his signature. They hold me in contempt, and I am too ashamed to remain in office." The emperor said, "A gentleman restrains anger and checks desire. You should weigh those words carefully. If the department officials show contempt, you need only memorialize to impeach them. Your temperament is harsh and impatient, and you cannot bear with others. The greatest virtue of Heaven and Earth is called life. It is not merely a matter of refraining from killing. It is to nurture all things and keep them whole. You are indeed incorruptible in office, but must you lean on that integrity to justify such harsh excess?" He was ordered to remain in office and carry on as before. In the end Shenqiao's proposal prevailed, and the merchants' plan to pay silver and receive coin in exchange was abolished.
37
申喬子鳳詔，官太原知府。 上幸龍泉關，鳳詔入謁，上以申喬子優遇之。 問巡撫噶禮賢否，鳳詔言噶禮清廉第一，上為擢噶禮江南總督。 及噶禮以貪敗，上舉鳳詔問尚書張鵬翮，鵬翮言其貪。 五十四年，山西巡撫蘇克濟劾鳳詔受賕至三十餘萬，命奪官按治。 申喬疏謝不能教子，請罷斥，上責其詞意忿激，非大臣體，命任事如故。 鳳詔坐贓罪至死。
Shenqiao's son Fengzhao held the post of prefect of Taiyuan. When the emperor visited Longquan Pass, Fengzhao came to audience. Because he was Shenqiao's son, the emperor received him with special favor. The emperor asked whether Governor Gali was a worthy man. Fengzhao replied that Gali was the most incorruptible of officials, and on that recommendation the emperor promoted Gali to governor-general of Jiangnan. When Gali later fell in a corruption scandal, the emperor brought up Fengzhao and asked Minister Zhang Penghe about him. Penghe said that he too was corrupt. In the fifty-fourth year, Shanxi governor Sukeji impeached Fengzhao for taking bribes totaling more than three hundred thousand taels. The emperor ordered him stripped of office and brought to trial. Shenqiao submitted a memorial apologizing for his failure as a father and asking to be dismissed. The emperor rebuked the bitterness of his language as unworthy of a senior minister and ordered him to remain in office as before. Fengzhao was convicted of corruption and executed.
38
五十九年，以病乞休。 上仍獎申喬清廉，令在官調治。 鳳詔贓未清，命免追，並諭大學士，謂「速傳此旨，使其早知，庶服藥可效也」。 尋卒，年七十有七，賜祭葬，諡恭毅。 雍正元年，加贈太子太保。 六年，湖廣總督邁柱疏劾屬吏虧帑，有申喬在偏沅時事，例當分償。 世宗特命免之。
In the fifty-ninth year, he asked to retire on grounds of illness. The emperor still commended Shenqiao for his integrity and ordered him to rest and recover while remaining in office. Fengzhao's unpaid restitution had not yet been cleared, and the emperor ordered that it not be pursued. He also instructed the grand secretaries, saying, "Send this edict at once so that he may know of it soon; perhaps then his medicine will do some good." He died soon afterward, at the age of seventy-seven. He was granted state funeral honors and the posthumous title Gongyi, "Respectful and Resolute." In the first year of Yongzheng, he was posthumously granted the title Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent. In the sixth year, Huguang governor-general Mai Zhu memorialized impeaching a subordinate for treasury shortfalls that dated to Shenqiao's tenure as governor of Bianyuan. By regulation Shenqiao was liable to share in the restitution. The Yongzheng Emperor granted him a special exemption.
39
論曰：弘祚定賦役，文然修律例，皆為一代則，其績效鉅矣。 象樞廉直謇謇，能規切用事大臣，尤言人所難言。 之弼意主於愛民，凡所獻替，皆切於民事。 申喬名輩差後，清介絕流輩，慷慨足以任國家之重。 貞元之際，自據亂入昇平，開濟匡襄，諸臣與有力焉。
The historians comment: Hongzuo fixed tax and corvée obligations, and Wenran revised statutes and precedents. Both set standards for their generation, and their achievements were immense. Xiangshu was upright, honest, and unyielding. He could remonstrate with the powerful ministers of the day, and above all he spoke what others dared not say. Zhibi's guiding purpose was love of the people. Every measure he proposed or withdrew was grounded in the people's welfare. Shenqiao belonged to a slightly later generation, yet in integrity he stood apart from his contemporaries. With his generous spirit he was fully equal to the burdens of state. In that age when the realm was passing from disorder into peace, from turmoil into prosperity, these ministers played no small part in opening the way, restoring order, and supporting the throne.