1
=裘曰修=裘曰修，字叔度，江西新建人。 乾隆四年進士，改庶吉士。 自編修五遷至侍郎，歷兵、吏、戶諸部。 胡中藻以賦詩訕上罪殊死，事未發，曰修漏言於鄉人。 上詰曰修，不敢承，逮所與言者質實，上謂「曰修面欺。」 二十年五月，下部議奪職，左授右中允。 十二月，擢吏部侍郎。 二十一年，令在軍機處行走。 師討準噶爾，命如巴里坤董軍儲。 二十二年，疏言：「西陲回民數十部落，厄魯特人介其中。 當策妄阿喇布坦時恣殺掠，回民久切齒。 請敕伯克額敏和卓，厄魯特竄入境當擒戮，予賞賚，勿被煽生疑懼。」 尋還京師。
Qiu Yuexiu, whose style was Shidu, was from Xinjian in Jiangxi. He received his jinshi degree in the fourth year of Qianlong and entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor. Rising from Hanlin compiler through five promotions to vice minister, he served in the ministries of War, Personnel, and Revenue. Hu Zhongzao was condemned to death for poetry deemed to mock the throne; before the case erupted, Yuexiu had let word of it slip to men from his home district. The emperor questioned Yuexiu, who would not admit it; once the men he had spoken with were arrested and their testimony confirmed, the emperor declared, "Yuexiu lies to my face." In the fifth month of the twentieth year the ministry recommended removal from office, and he was demoted to Right Assistant Director. By the twelfth month he had been raised again to Vice Minister of Personnel. In the twenty-first year he was assigned to serve in the Grand Council. During the campaign against the Dzungars he was sent to Barkol to supervise army provisions. In the twenty-second year he submitted a memorial: "Along the western frontier stand dozens of Muslim tribal communities, with Oirat peoples scattered among them. Under Tsewang Arabtan they had suffered unchecked slaughter and plunder, and the Muslims had long harbored bitter resentment. He asked that the court instruct the begs and Emin Khoja to capture and execute Oirats who crossed the border, reward those who did so, and take care that agitators did not sow mistrust and panic." He soon returned to the capital.
2
河屢決山東、河南、安徽境，積水久不去。 是歲上南巡蒞視，既返蹕，命曰修會山東、河南、安徽諸巡撫周行積水諸州縣，畫疏濬之策。 曰修至安徽，偕巡撫高晉疏言：「安徽宿、靈壁、虹三州縣頻年被水，上承河南虞城、夏邑、商丘、永城四縣積水，下注畢匯於宿州。 宿州有睢河，虹縣有潼河，泗洲與宿遷、桃源接壤處有安河，皆境內大水，與靈壁、虹縣諸支港當次第疏濬，俾入洪澤湖。 洪澤以清口為出路，上令去草壩使暢流，江南之民，仰頌聖明，宜令每歲應期開放。」
The Yellow River broke out repeatedly across Shandong, Henan, and Anhui, and floodwater lingered for years without receding. That year, after the emperor's southern inspection tour and return to court, Yuexiu was told to join the governors of Shandong, Henan, and Anhui in surveying flooded districts and drawing up dredging plans. Reaching Anhui, Yuexiu and Governor Gao Jin reported that Su, Lingbi, and Hong had flooded repeatedly, taking runoff from Yucheng, Xiayi, Shangqiu, and Yongcheng in Henan that ultimately pooled at Suzhou. The Sui River runs through Suzhou, the Tong through Hong County, and the An River marks the border with Suqian and Taoyuan—all major interior waterways whose branches in Lingbi and Hong should be cleared in turn to discharge into Hongze Lake. Hongze Lake drains through Qingkou; the emperor had already ordered reed dams removed to ease the flow, to the gratitude of Jiangnan's people, and they asked that the sluices be opened on schedule each year."
3
曰修至河南，偕巡撫胡寶瑔疏陳：「黃河南岸，自滎澤以下諸水，東入睢，東南入淮，皆淺阻不能宣洩。 東境幹河，在商丘為豐樂河，在夏邑為響河，在永城為巴河，實即一水，次則賈魯河，又次則惠濟河、渦河，皆當疏濬。 自永城至汝寧府支河當施工者凡十二，導積水自支河入於幹河。 其不能達者，或多作溝渠，或渟為藪澤，潢汙野潦，有所約束而不為民害。」
In Henan, Yuexiu and Governor Hu Baozhen reported that every stream south of the Yellow River from Xingyang eastward—those feeding the Sui and Huai—ran too shallow and choked to carry floodwater off. The principal eastern channel was one stream known as the Fengle at Shangqiu, the Xiang at Xiayi, and the Ba at Yongcheng; the Jialu, Huiji, and Wo rivers ranked next—all needed dredging. Twelve branch channels between Yongcheng and Runing Prefecture should be opened to feed standing water into the main artery. Where flow to the trunk river was impossible, they proposed extra ditches or detention marshes to hold field runoff so it would not harm settlements."
4
曰修至山東，偕巡撫鶴年疏請培館陶、臨清濱運河諸州縣民埝，官給夫米，令實力修補。 复偕巡撫蔣洲疏言：「山東當疏濬諸水，以兗州為要，曹州次之。 兗州宜治者九水，曹州西南境當濬順堤河，東北境當於八里廟建壩，俾沙河、趙王河水入運，賴以節宣。」 曰修諸議皆稱上意，命及時修築。
In Shandong he and Governor Henian asked the state to supply grain for laborers strengthening civilian dikes along the canal at Guantao, Linqing, and neighboring counties. With Governor Jiang Zhou he added that Shandong's dredging priorities were Yanzhou first and Caozhou second. Nine streams around Yanzhou needed work; in southwestern Caozhou the Shundi River should be cleared, and in the northeast a dam at Balimiao should admit the Sha and Zhaowang rivers into the canal for controlled release." The emperor approved Yuexiu's plans and ordered work to proceed at once.
5
曰修復至安徽，議濬潁州府境與河南連界者六水，在府境者四水，加疏宿州境睢河，並寬留清口壩口門。 上獎所議甚合機宜。 還河南，諸幹河工竟，議續濬商丘、遂平、上蔡、新蔡諸支流凡五水，並築諸堤堰。 調戶部侍郎。 二十三年，諸水畢治，御製詩褒之。 疏言：「諸行省偏災，米豆例免稅。 但以免稅故，稽查繁密。 欲通商而商反以為累，卻顧不前。 請如常收稅。」 下九卿議行。 京師平糶，曰修言糶價過減，適令商家乘機居積，請石減百錢，數日後市價稍平，以次漸減。 會天津民訟鹽商牛兆泰，兆泰與曰修有連，曰修嘗寄書，上命不必在軍機處行走。 二十五年，授倉場侍郎。
Returning to Anhui, he proposed dredging six border streams and four interior ones in Yingzhou Prefecture, deepening the Sui in Suzhou, and widening the Qingkou dam gates. The emperor commended the plan as timely and apt. Back in Henan, after the trunk channels were done, he urged dredging five tributaries around Shangqiu, Suiping, Shangcai, and Xincai and building supporting dikes and weirs. He was transferred to Vice Minister of Revenue. In the twenty-third year, when the waterways were fully restored, the emperor wrote an imperial poem in his praise. He memorialized that in provinces hit by localized disasters, grain and beans were normally tax-exempt. Yet the exemption triggered such tight inspection that merchants held back. That merchants meant to bring relief grain found the rules burdensome and held back. He asked that normal taxes be collected instead." The Nine Ministers deliberated and adopted the proposal. During capital grain sales he warned that prices were cut too steeply, inviting merchants to hoard; he proposed a modest reduction of one hundred cash per picul, then further cuts once the market stabilized. When Tianjin residents sued the salt merchant Niu Zhaotai—who was related to Yuexiu and had received a letter from him—the emperor removed Yuexiu from Grand Council duty. In the twenty-fifth year he was appointed Vice Minister of the Granary Department.
6
二十六年，河決楊橋，命如河南勘災賑，並議疏泄。 曰修請廣設粥廠，饑民便就食； 量增料價，料易集，工可速蕆：上皆可其奏。 上遣大學士劉統勳、兆惠督塞河。 曰修勘下游，疏言：「黃水悉入賈魯、惠濟二河，二河倘不能容，為患滋大。 宜察堤埝為河水所從入，悉堵禦，俾中流不至复決。」 曰修還楊橋，疏言河流逼北岸，當挽行中道； 又請培補沁水堤，並賑流民：得旨嘉允。 曰修子編修麟，卒於京師。 上念曰修所領事將竟，有子喪，母老，召還京師。 工竟，上製中州治河碑，褒曰修及寶瑔不惜工，不愛帑，不勞民，上源下流，以次就治。 旋居母喪，歸。
In the twenty-sixth year, after a breach at Yangqiao, he was sent to Henan to assess the flood, distribute relief, and plan drainage. Yuexiu urged widespread gruel kitchens so the hungry could eat nearby; and higher prices for materials so supplies would come in quickly and work finish sooner—the emperor approved every point. The emperor sent Grand Secretaries Liu Tongxun and Zhaohui to oversee closing the breach. Surveying downstream, Yuexiu warned that if the Jialu and Huiji could not hold the entire Yellow River flow, disaster would spread. He urged sealing every dike gap that admitted river water so the main channel would not burst again." Back at Yangqiao he argued the current hugged the north bank and should be pulled back to mid-channel; he also sought repairs on the Qin River dikes and relief for refugees, which the throne approved with praise. Yuexiu's son Lin, a Hanlin compiler, died in the capital. Mindful that Yuexiu's assignment was nearly done, that he had buried a son, and that his mother was elderly, the emperor recalled him to Beijing. When the project ended the emperor erected the "Central Plains River Works" stele, praising Yuexiu and Hu Baozhen for sparing neither labor nor treasury funds nor the people, while bringing upper and lower reaches into order step by step. He soon went into mourning for his mother and returned home.
7
二十八年，上以直隸連年被水，曰修服將除，召來京督直隸水利。 署吏部侍郎。 河渠工畢，曰修請迎生母就養。 上令會高晉籌濬睢河，曰修言當厚蓄清水以刷淤泥，秋冬水弱，南北築壩堵截，至四月水漲，啟壩分洩，上採其議。 二十九年，福建提督黃仕簡疏論總督、巡撫得廈門洋行歲餽，命曰修偕尚書舒赫德往按，並命曰修暫署福建巡撫。 讞定，還京師，署倉場侍郎。 三十年，授戶部侍郎。
In the twenty-eighth year, with Zhili flooded repeatedly and Yuexiu's mourning nearly over, he was recalled to Beijing to direct Zhili's hydraulic works. He acted as Vice Minister of Personnel. After the canal projects ended he asked permission to bring his mother to live with him. Ordered to work with Gao Jin on the Sui River, he proposed impounding clear water to scour silt—damming the channel in low winter flow and opening the gates when the April rise came—which the emperor accepted. In the twenty-ninth year, after Provincial Commander Huang Shijian accused the governor-general and governor of taking yearly gifts from Xiamen's foreign merchants, Yuexiu joined Minister Shuhede on an investigation and briefly acted as Fujian governor. After the case was closed he returned to the capital as acting Vice Minister of the Granary Department. In the thirtieth year he received appointment as Vice Minister of Revenue.
8
三十一年，上以江南淮、徐諸河堤前令曰修等經營修築，為時已久； 復命曰修及高恆往勘山東、河南毗連處，並令巡視。 曰修等疏言：「諸水自二十二年大治後，歲於農隙疏濬，堤岸亦以時培補，現無淤墊殘缺。」 報聞。 遷尚書，歷禮、工、刑三部。 三十三年，丁生母憂，歸。 三十四年，召授刑部尚書。 初，江南、山東蝗起，命曰修捕治。 是歲畿南蝗，復命捕治。 曰修至武清，令順天府尹竇光鼐行求蝗起處。 上責曰修不親勘，左授順天府府尹。 尋遷工部侍郎。
In the thirty-first year the emperor observed that the Huai and Xu dikes Yuexiu had built in Jiangnan were aging; and sent Yuexiu and Gao Heng to inspect the Shandong–Henan borderlands and tour the works. They reported that since the major works of the twenty-second year, annual off-season dredging and timely dike repairs had left the channels free of silt and breaches." The court took note. He was promoted to minister, serving successively in Rites, Works, and Punishments. In the thirty-third year he went into mourning for his mother and retired home. In the thirty-fourth year he was recalled and made Minister of Punishments. Earlier he had been sent to fight locust outbreaks in Jiangnan and Shandong. That year, with locusts south of the capital, he was ordered out again. Reaching Wuqing, he told Shuntian Prefect Dou Guangnai to search out the breeding grounds. The emperor rebuked him for not inspecting personally and demoted him to Shuntian prefect. He was soon transferred back to Vice Minister of Works.
9
三十六年，命如滄州勘運河，疏請改低壩基殺水勢，疏下流引河，移捷地閘，裁曲就直，疏減河使順流達海，上從之。 遷工部尚書，命南書房行走。 命督濬北運河。 三十七年，又命督濬永定、北運諸河，疏言：「治河不外疏築，而築不如疏。 直省近水居民與水爭地，水退即佔耕，昇科築埝。 有司見不及遠，以為糧地自當防護，逼水為堤埝埝，水乃橫決為災。 請敕所司，淀泊毋得報墾昇科，橫加堤埝，使水有所歸。」 上降旨嚴禁。
In the thirty-sixth year he surveyed the canal at Cangzhou and proposed lowering dams, dredging downstream diversions, relocating the Jiedi sluice, straightening bends, and clearing the Jianhe so water could run freely to the sea—all approved. He became Minister of Works and was assigned to the Southern Study. He was put in charge of dredging the Northern Canal. In the thirty-seventh year he oversaw the Yongding and Northern Canal and argued that dredging beat piling dikes. Farmers along provincial waterways reclaimed floodlands, had them taxed, and threw up embankments as soon as waters fell. Short-sighted officials treated taxed fields as assets to wall off from the river, forcing the current sideways until it burst out in floods. He asked the throne to forbid reclaiming lakes and marshes for tax rolls or piling new dikes so floodwater could find its course." The emperor issued a strict prohibition.
10
三十八年四月，曰修病噎乞歸，上以「錢陳群嘗病此，以老許其歸； 今曰修方六十，不當如陳群之引退。」 賜詩慰之，屢遣存問，御醫視疾。 旋加太子少傅。 卒，諡文達。 子行簡，自有傳。
In the fourth month of the thirty-eighth year Yuexiu fell ill with a choking malady and asked to retire; the emperor replied that Qian Chenqun had been granted leave for the same affliction because of his age, but Yuexiu was only sixty and should not withdraw on the same grounds." He sent a consoling poem, inquired after him repeatedly, and dispatched imperial physicians. He was soon named Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent. He died and was posthumously titled Wendá, "Cultured and Penetrating." His son Xingjian is treated in a separate biography.
11
=吳紹詩=吳紹詩，字二南，山東海豐人。 諸生。 雍正二年，世宗命京官主事以上、外官知縣以上，舉品行才猷備任使，即親戚子弟不必引避。 時紹詩世父象寬官湖北黃梅知縣，遂以紹詩應詔，引見，分刑部學習。 十二年，授七品小京官。 乾隆初，累遷至郎中。 外擢甘肅鞏昌知府，遷陝西督糧道。 總督永常劾紹詩採兵米侵帑，奪職，下巡撫鍾音鞫治。 紹詩以市米貴賤不齊，為中價具報，非侵帑。 狀聞，發軍台效力，以母病許贖。
Wu Shaoshi, whose style was Ernan, was from Haifeng in Shandong. He held licentiate status. In Yongzheng 2 the Yongzheng Emperor ordered capital officials from director upward and provincial officials from magistrate upward to recommend men of character and talent fit for office, even close kin. His uncle Xiang Kuan, magistrate of Huangmei in Hubei, nominated him under the edict; after an audience he was posted to the Ministry of Punishments for training. In the twelfth year he received a seventh-rank capital post. Early in Qianlong he rose step by step to director. He left the capital as prefect of Gongchang in Gansu and became Shaanxi grain intendant. Governor-General Yongchang accused him of embezzling funds while buying army grain; he was dismissed and handed to Governor Zhong Yin for trial. Shaoshi replied that uneven market prices had led him to report at a median figure, not to steal public funds. The finding sent him to a military post, but his mother's illness won him redemption.
12
二十二年，高宗南巡，紹詩迎蹕。 起貴州督糧道。 遷雲南按察使。 調甘肅按察使，就遷布政使。 疏言寧夏駐防將軍以下官祿應給粳米，請改徵諸民應納粟米石者，改交粳米七斗，上命寧夏駐防官祿如涼州、莊浪例，改折價。 又疏鎮番縣柳林湖招墾地，請如安西瓜州屯田例，昇科納賦，較前此徵租歲計有盈，且民戶世業，俾可盡心耕耨，下總督楊應琚等議行。 甘、涼諸縣旱，紹詩复疏言張掖、永昌、鎮番、碾伯、高台五縣舊無城，撫彝廳、隆德、涇州城已損壞，請以時修築，使饑民就工授食，下巡撫常鈞議行。 旋以憂歸，三十一年，服除，擢刑部侍郎。
In the twenty-second year he met the Qianlong Emperor's southern tour. He was restored as Guizhou grain intendant. He became Yunnan judicial commissioner. Transferred to Gansu as judicial commissioner, he was soon promoted to provincial treasurer. He proposed paying Ningxia garrison salaries in polished rice by collecting seven-tenths of each grain levy in that form; the emperor instead commuted pay to cash as in Liangzhou and Zhuanglang. He also urged taxing reclaimed land at Liulin Lake under the Anxi–Guazhou colony model, promising higher revenue and stable farming households; Governor-General Yang Yingju and colleagues adopted the plan. During drought in Gansu and Liangzhou he asked that wall-less counties be fortified and damaged cities repaired so famine victims could earn food by labor; Governor Chang Jun carried it out. He soon went home for mourning; when it ended in the thirty-first year he was made Vice Minister of Punishments.
13
出為江西巡撫。 以南昌、九江二衛屯田租過重，贛州、袁州、鉛山三衛所租重而田缺，疏請減租，下總督高晉詳勘量減。 上猶產鐵砂，民爭取滋事，疏請募民淘採，募商設廠收鎔，為之條例。 九江關監督舒善、建昌府知府黃肇隆皆以不職為上聞，責紹詩不先事論劾，部議奪職，命寬之。 三十四年，召為刑部尚書，未上，調禮部尚書。 是歲南昌等縣被水，十月，紹詩將受代，始奏請緩徵。 上諭曰：「災地收薄，小民豈能復事輸將？ 紹詩遷延不問，直至開徵將及一月，始以一奏塞責。 現雖傳諭停緩，急公者納糧不免拮据，疲窘者徒受催科之累。 此皆紹詩全不知以民事為重有以誤之也。 紹詩累經部議降革，並從寬留任。 此則玩視民瘼，難复曲貸。」 因命奪職。
He was appointed governor of Jiangxi. Finding garrison colony rents excessive at Nanchang and Jiujiang and burdensome but land-poor at Ganzhou, Yuanzhou, and Qianshan, he sought reductions; Governor-General Gao Jin surveyed and cut them. When fights over iron sand at Shangyou stirred unrest, he proposed licensed folk mining and merchant smelters under new rules. After malfeasance by Jiujiang customs chief Shu Shan and Jianchang Prefect Huang Zhaolong reached the throne, Shaoshi was faulted for not impeaching them sooner; although the ministry recommended dismissal, the emperor was lenient. In the thirty-fourth year he was summoned as Minister of Punishments but transferred to Minister of Rites before taking up the post. When Nanchang and neighboring counties flooded that year, he waited until the tenth month, on the eve of his replacement, to request tax deferral. The emperor rebuked him: "After a thin harvest in a disaster zone, how can commoners pay taxes? Shaoshi ignored the crisis until collection was a month away, then filed a perfunctory memorial. Even after orders to defer, conscientious taxpayers were already strained and the destitute had endured needless dunning. All this showed he had never treated people's welfare as paramount. The ministry had repeatedly recommended demoting him, yet each time the court had been lenient. This time his indifference to popular distress could no longer be excused." He was stripped of office.
14
三十五年，起刑部郎中，三十六年，擢侍郎。 皇太后八十萬壽，列香山九老，賜以宴賚。 三十七年，調吏部侍郎。 三十九年，乞致仕。 四十一年，上東巡，迎蹕，加尚書銜。 卒，年七十八，諡恭定。 子垣、壇。
In the thirty-fifth year he returned as a Punishments director; in the thirty-sixth he became vice minister. For the Empress Dowager's eightieth birthday he was named among the Nine Elders of Xiangshan and honored with a feast and gifts. In the thirty-seventh year he became Vice Minister of Personnel. In the thirty-ninth year he requested retirement. In the forty-first year he met the emperor's eastern tour and received ministerial rank. He died at seventy-eight and was posthumously titled Gongding, "Respectful and Settled." His sons were Yuan and Tan.
15
垣，自舉人入貲授兵部郎中，三十五年，特命調刑部。 三十六年，紹詩為侍郎，上以垣本特調，命毋迴避。 三十七年，弟壇為侍郎，乃調吏部。 遷監察御史，以憂歸。 服除，補原官。 遷給事中。 以弟壇為巡撫，例不為言官，署吏部郎中。 壇卒，復為給事中。 五遷為吏部侍郎。 四十九年，外授廣西巡撫。 五十年，入覲，與千叟宴。 調湖北巡撫。 江夏等州縣旱，疏請緩徵平糶，募商赴四川買米。 五十一年，卒，上賜卹，猶獎其實心治災賑也。
Yuan, a juren who had bought office as a War Ministry director, was specially moved to Punishments in the thirty-fifth year. In the thirty-sixth year, with Shaoshi a vice minister, the emperor exempted Yuan from the usual rule against serving under kin because his transfer had been special. In the thirty-seventh year, when his brother Tan became vice minister, he was moved to Personnel. Promoted to censor, he then went home for mourning. After mourning he resumed his former post. He became a supervising secretary. When Tan became governor, Yuan left the remonstrance posts by rule and acted as a Personnel director. After Tan's death he returned to the supervising secretariat. Five promotions later he was Vice Minister of Personnel. In the forty-ninth year he was posted as governor of Guangxi. In the fiftieth year he attended court and joined the banquet of a thousand elders. He was transferred to Hubei governor. During drought in Jiangxia and neighboring districts he sought tax deferrals, government grain sales, and merchants sent to Sichuan for rice. He died in the fifty-first year; the emperor granted mourning favors and praised his devoted disaster relief.
16
壇，二十六年進士，授刑部主事，再遷郎中。 三十一年，紹詩為侍郎，上以壇治事明敏，毋迴避。 三十二年，超授江蘇按察使，就遷布政使。 江寧、蘇州兩布政所屬，互支官俸兵米，壇疏請更定； 江蘇賦重甲諸行省，每遇奏銷，款目繁複，壇疏請分別總案、專案，以便察覈：皆議行。 三十七年，內擢刑部侍郎。 三十九年，太監高雲從以洩道府記載誅，京朝諸臣從問消息者皆奪職，壇亦與。 上謂：「不意壇竟至於此！ 念其練習刑名，廢棄可惜。 左授刑部主事。」 遷郎中。 四十四年，授江南河庫道，遷江蘇布政使。 四十五年，擢巡撫。 疏言：「吳縣舊有公田萬二千五百畝，銀漕外歲納租息佐轉漕，逋租甚鉅。 以非正賦，遇蠲免不得與。 請並予豁除，災歉隨賦蠲緩。」 又疏言：「江、河險處設救生船五十六，今裁存二十八。 請增募四十，分泊京口、瓜州、金山諸處。」 並從之。 旋卒。
Tan took his jinshi in the twenty-sixth year, entered Punishments as a clerk, and rose to director. In the thirty-first year, with Shaoshi a vice minister, the emperor exempted Tan from avoiding kin because he handled affairs with notable efficiency. In the thirty-second year he was abruptly made Jiangsu judicial commissioner and soon after provincial treasurer. He asked to regularize the tangled cross-payment of salaries and military grain under the Jiangning and Suzhou treasuries; and to split Jiangsu's heavy, complex tax accounts into general and special ledgers for easier audit—all adopted. In the thirty-seventh year he was raised to Vice Minister of Punishments in the capital. In the thirty-ninth year, after the eunuch Gao Yuncong was executed for leaking examination records, every capital official who had sought tips from him was dismissed, Tan included. The emperor said, "I never expected this of Tan! Given his mastery of penal law, it would be a waste to discard him. He was demoted to Punishments clerk." He was later restored to director. In the forty-fourth year he headed the Jiangnan river-granary circuit and became Jiangsu treasurer. In the forty-fifth year he was made governor. He reported that Wu County's twelve thousand five hundred mu of public fields owed huge rent arrears beyond the grain tribute. Because the rent was not regular tax, the fields missed disaster exemptions. He asked to write off the debt and grant the fields the same relief as regular taxes in bad years." He also noted that only twenty-eight of fifty-six lifeboats once stationed on dangerous reaches of the Yangtze and other rivers remained. He asked to recruit forty more for Jingkou, Guazhou, Jinshan, and other stations." Both requests were approved. He soon died.
17
紹詩父子明習法律，為高宗所器。 紹詩兩為侍郎，垣、壇在後在郎署，特命毋相避。 及紹詩移貳吏部，以壇繼其後。 父子相代，尤異數。 乾隆初，重脩大清律例，紹詩充纂修官，綱目二卷，實所釐定。 壇复著大清律例通考三十九卷。
Father and son were expert in law and highly regarded by the Qianlong Emperor. Shaoshi twice served as vice minister; Yuan and Tan later held secretariat posts with special exemption from mutual avoidance. When Shaoshi moved to Personnel, Tan succeeded him. A father and son succeeding each other in the same ministry was a rare honor. Early in Qianlong, during the revision of the Great Qing Code, Shaoshi served as compiler and drafted the two-fascicle outline. Tan also wrote the Comprehensive Study of the Great Qing Code in thirty-nine fascicles.
18
=閻循琦=閻循琦，字景韓，山東昌樂人。 乾隆七年進士，改庶吉士。 散館，授工部主事。 三遷廣東道御史，仍兼工部行走。 疏言：「江南諸行省水災治賑，應照戶口秤定銀封。 主其事者每假手胥吏，不能無扣減，甚或私用輕戥。 宜令督撫派專員監封，仍令道府以時抽驗。 貧民以銀易錢買米，當禁奸民剝削。 富家積錢，亦應令其散易，以平市價。」 上曰：「循琦所言，頗中情弊。 但若明降諭旨，不肖者未必畏憚； 本無此弊者，或轉因此啟其舞弊。 當抄循琦奏寄諸行省督撫，令加意體察。」 又疏言八旗義學教習多不實心督課，請歲派大臣會禮部堂官嚴察，上為罷八旗義學，令董理各官學大臣盡心教育。 遷轉吏科掌印給事中。
Yan Xunqi, whose style was Jinghan, was from Changle in Shandong. He received his jinshi in the seventh year of Qianlong and entered the Hanlin Academy. After leaving the Academy he was posted to the Ministry of Works as a clerk. Promoted three times, he became Guangdong circuit censor while still serving in Works. He argued that Jiangnan flood relief silver should be weighed out per household register. Clerks handling distribution inevitably skimped, sometimes with rigged scales. Governors should assign officers to seal packets and circuit officials should spot-check them. The poor who exchanged relief silver for cash to buy rice needed protection from gougers. Wealthy hoarders of cash should be pressed to release coin and steady prices." The emperor agreed that Xunqi had identified real abuses. Yet an open edict might not deter the corrupt; and places without the problem might learn new tricks from it. He ordered Xunqi's memorial copied to provincial governors for careful scrutiny instead." He also reported slack instruction in Banner charity schools and asked for annual inspections; the emperor abolished those schools and ordered the official-school superintendents to teach in earnest. He became seal-holding supervising secretary of the Personnel Section.
19
三十四年，特命兼吏部文選司郎中。 遷內閣侍讀學士，仍兼吏部行走。 京西門頭溝煤窯歲久淤塞，有議他處營採者，因緣為利，命循琦會勘。 謂舊窯產煤本旺，鑿溝隧，疏積水，淤去而煤暢； 他處有可採，當以時招商。 議上，大學士傅恆覆奏如循琦言。 三十六年，超擢工部侍郎。 會試知貢舉，事畢入對，上問：「諸臣知貢舉每有條奏，汝獨無，何也？」 循琦對：「科場條例已甚詳備，諸臣實力奉行自足，不敢毛舉一二端自謂曉事也。」 上曰：「汝言是。 凡事皆當如此，非獨知貢舉而已。」 三十八年，遷工部尚書。 四十年，卒，贈太子太保，諡恭定。
In the thirty-fourth year he was specially assigned to head the Personnel Ministry's Selection Bureau. He became a Grand Secretariat reader while continuing in Personnel. When long-silted Mentougou coal pits prompted self-serving proposals to mine elsewhere, Xunqi was ordered to investigate. He reported the old pits were still rich if ditches were cut and water cleared; other workable sites could invite merchants when appropriate. Grand Secretary Fu Heng endorsed his report to the throne. In the thirty-sixth year he was abruptly promoted to Vice Minister of Works. After supervising the metropolitan examinations he was summoned; the emperor asked why he alone had filed no policy memorial." Xunqi replied that the examination rules were complete enough if enforced and he would not nitpick to seem clever." The emperor said he was right. That should be true of all duties, not examinations alone." In the thirty-eighth year he became Minister of Works. He died in the fortieth year and was posthumously made Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent with the title Gongding.
20
=王際華=王際華，字秋瑞，浙江錢塘人。 乾隆十年一甲三名進士，授編修。 十三年，大考翰詹，擢侍讀學士、上書房行走。 廣東舊設兩學政，十五年，以侍讀程岩督廣韶學政，際華督肇高學政，旋用岩議裁併，以憂歸。 服除，起原官。 三遷至侍郎，歷工、刑、兵、戶、吏諸部。 在兵部，疏言：「武鄉會試舊例，外場挑雙好、單好、合式三類入內場，雙、單好列東號，合式列西號。 不肖者見列西號，知不能幸中，紛紛求出。 即有歸號，終日喧嘩。 請嗣後武鄉會試，但挑雙、單好，毋更挑合式。」 在吏部，疏請在京文武官吏議處，及各部會議外省文武官吏議處，當分別定限，皆如所議。 三十四年，遷禮部尚書。 三十八年，加太子少傅，調戶部尚書。 四十一年，卒，贈太子太保，諡文莊。 賜其子朝梧內閣中書，官至山東兗沂曹道。
Wang Jihua, whose style was Qiurui, was from Qiantang in Zhejiang. In Qianlong 10 he placed third in the top jinshi class and became a Hanlin compiler. In the thirteenth year he excelled in the Hanlin evaluation and became a reader in the Upper Study. Guangdong once had two education intendants; in the fifteenth year Cheng Yan oversaw Guang-Shao and Jihua Zhao-Gao until Cheng's merger plan was adopted and Jihua went home for mourning. After mourning he resumed his former post. Three promotions brought him to vice minister in Works, Punishments, War, Revenue, and Personnel in turn. At War he noted that the military metropolitan exam traditionally sent double-excellent, single-excellent, and merely passing candidates to the inner field, with the first two in the east hall and passers in the west. Unworthy candidates assigned to the west hall, knowing they could not pass, clamored to withdraw. Even after reassignment they kept up the uproar all day. He asked that future military metropolitan exams select only double- and single-excellent candidates and drop the passing-form category." At Personnel he asked that misconduct cases for capital officials and provincial ones be given separate deadlines, as proposed. In the thirty-fourth year he became Minister of Rites. In the thirty-eighth year he was made Junior Preceptor to the Heir Apparent and transferred to Minister of Revenue. He died in the forty-first year and was posthumously made Grand Preceptor to the Heir Apparent with the title Wenzhuang, "Cultured and Stately." His son Chaowu was granted a Grand Secretariat draftership and rose to intendant of the Yan-Yi-Cao circuit in Shandong.
21
程岩，字巨山，江西鉛山人。 以檢討督廣東肇高學政，移督廣韶學政。 建議裁併，即以命岩。 官至禮部侍郎。
Cheng Yan, whose style was Jushan, was from Qianshan in Jiangxi. As a reviser he oversaw the Zhao-Gao education intendantcy in Guangdong, then the Guang-Shao intendantcy. When his merger proposal was adopted, the combined post was given to Yan. He rose to vice minister of Rites.
22
=曹秀先=曹秀先，字恆所，江西新建人。 乾隆元年，舉博學鴻詞，未試，成進士，改庶吉士，授編修。 十年，遷浙江道御史。 十七年八月，舉恩科會試，秀先從子詠祖坐關節誅，秀先當奪職，上以秀先初不與知，但失察，命寬之。 十八年，近畿蝗，秀先請御製文以祭，舉蠟禮； 州縣募捕蝗，毋藉吏胥。 上曰：「蝗害稼，惟實力捕治，此人事所可盡。 若欲假文辭以期感格，如韓愈祭噩魚，噩魚遠徙與否，究亦無稽。 朕非有泰山北斗之文筆，好名無實，深所弗取。」 下部議，罷蠟禮，馀如所請。 七遷至侍郎，歷工、戶、吏諸部。 三十九年，遷禮部尚書、上書房行走，命為總師傅。 四十六年，禮部議四十七年祀祈穀壇日用次辛。 上曰：「朕御極以來，遇正月上辛在初三日前，當隔歲齋戒，改用次辛。 其有初四日上辛亦改次辛者，以為聖母皇太后祝釐，朕率王公大臣拜賀東朝，禮不可闕。 至明歲正月上辛，則非向年可比矣。 如謂不敢輕易朝正令典，亦當備稽往例，具奏請旨。 乃遽行題達，何昧昧至此！」 禮部堂官悉下部議，秀先當奪職，復命寬之。 四十七年，罷上書房總師傅。 四十九年，卒，贈太子太傅，諡文恪。
Cao Xiuxian, whose style was Hengsuo, was from Xinjian in Jiangxi. In Qianlong 1 he was nominated for the Erudite Letters exam but did not sit it; he passed the jinshi, became a Hanlin bachelor, and was appointed compiler. In the tenth year he became censor of the Zhejiang circuit. In the eighth month of the seventeenth year, at a special metropolitan exam, Xiuxian's nephew Yongzu was executed for cheating; Xiuxian should have lost his post, but the emperor held that he had not known and had only failed to oversee the matter, and ordered leniency. In the eighteenth year locusts ravaged the capital region; Xiuxian asked the emperor to compose a sacrificial text and perform the wax-insect rite; and that counties and prefectures should recruit people to catch locusts rather than rely on clerks and runners. The emperor said, "Locusts ruin the harvest; only earnest catching and control can help—that is the limit of what people can do. If one hopes fine words will move heaven, as when Han Yu sacrificed to the crocodile, whether the beast truly departed cannot be verified. I do not possess the literary stature of Mount Tai or the Pole Star, and empty fame without substance is what I deeply reject." The matter went to the ministries; the wax rite was abolished, and the rest was granted as requested. Seven promotions brought him to vice minister in Works, Revenue, and Personnel in turn. In the thirty-ninth year he became Minister of Rites, served in the Upper Study, and was appointed chief tutor. In the forty-sixth year Rites proposed that the forty-seventh year's Prayer for Grain sacrifice use the second xin day. The emperor said, "Since my accession, when the first xin of the first month falls before the third day and requires fasting from the previous year, I have used the second xin instead. When the first xin fell on the fourth day I also shifted to the second xin, because I was celebrating the Holy Mother Empress Dowager's birthday and leading princes and ministers to pay court in the eastern palace—a rite that could not be omitted. Next year's first xin of the first month, however, is not comparable to those earlier cases. If you feared lightly altering the New Year's audience rite, you should have searched the precedents thoroughly and memorialized for instruction. Yet you hastily issued the proposal—how could you be so obtuse!" All chief Rites officials were referred to the ministries; Xiuxian should have lost his post, but again the emperor ordered leniency. In the forty-seventh year he was removed as chief tutor of the Upper Study. He died in the forty-ninth year and was posthumously made Grand Preceptor to the Heir Apparent with the title Wenke, "Cultured and Respectful."
23
秀先少孤，事母胡孝，嘗為吮疽。 母卒，庶母龔為攜持，事如母。 學於兄茂先，事之如嚴師。 既貴，收宗族，弭鄉里水患。 蒞政勤慎廉儉，罣吏議數四，輒命減免。 秀先顏其堂曰「知恩」，紀上眷也。
Xiuxian was orphaned young; he served his mother Hu with filial devotion and once sucked pus from her abscess. After his mother died, his concubine-mother Gong raised him, and he treated her as his own mother. He studied under his elder brother Maoxian and treated him as a strict teacher. Once he had risen high, he gathered his clan and quelled local flooding. In office he was diligent, cautious, honest, and frugal; censured four times by Personnel, each time the emperor ordered mitigation. Xiuxian inscribed his hall "Knowing Grace" to record the emperor's favor.
24
子師曾，自兵部郎中屢遷至侍郎，歷禮、兵二部。 嘉慶二十五年，以兵部失行在印，左授太常寺少卿。 道光初，再遷太常寺卿。 請修墓，歸。 卒。
His son Shizeng rose from a War bureau directorship through repeated promotions to vice minister in Rites and War. In Jiaqing 25, for losing the War Ministry's mobile seal, he was demoted to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Early in the Daoguang reign he was again promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He asked leave to repair the family tombs and returned home. He died.
25
=週煌=週煌，字景垣，四川涪州人。 乾隆二年進士，改庶吉士，散館授編修。 二十年，命偕侍講全魁冊封琉球國王尚穆。 尋遷右中允，再遷侍講。 二十二年，使還，奏上琉球國志略，命以武英殿聚珍板印行。 以從兵在琉球失約束，下吏議，當奪官，上以煌遠使，且在姑米山遇風險，命寬之，仍留任。 二十三年，大考二等，開復。 尋遷左庶子，命上書房行走。 累遷兵部侍郎。 三十八年五月，命如四川按壁山民訟武生勒派； 十月，復命如四川按蓬溪諸生訟縣吏勒派：俱鞫虛，罪如律。 四十四年，擢工部尚書。 四十五年，調兵部尚書。 四十六年，上幸熱河，煌詣行在入對。 四川方多盜，號為侂嚕子。 總督文綬疏報，遣將吏捕治。 上以諮煌，煌對：「侂嚕子所在多有，縣輒百十人，其渠號'朋頭'。 白日劫掠，將吏置不問。 甚且州縣胥役亦為之，大竹縣役子為盜渠，號一隻虎。」 上為罷文綬，調福康安督四川，命防護煌所居村。 四十七年，命為上書房總師傅，未逾年，以煌不勝總師傅，罷之。 四十九年，調左都御史。 五十年，以病乞休，詔以兵部尚書加太子少傅致仕。 尋卒，進太子太傅，賜祭葬，諡文恭。
Zhou Huang, whose style was Jingyuan, was from Fuzhou in Sichuan. A jinshi of Qianlong 2, he became a Hanlin bachelor and, after leaving the academy, was appointed compiler. In the twentieth year he was ordered to accompany reader Quan Kui to invest King Shomu of Ryukyu. Soon he was promoted to right assistant reader, then to reader. In the twenty-second year, returning from the mission, he submitted Brief Records of Ryukyu, which the emperor ordered printed from the Wuying Hall Treasury Edition blocks. Because his escort lost discipline in Ryukyu, he was referred to the judiciary and should have lost his post; the emperor, noting Huang's distant mission and the danger he met at Kume Island, ordered leniency and kept him in office. In the twenty-third year he placed second class in the great examination and was restored. Soon he was promoted to left vice director of the Supervisorate of Education and assigned to the Upper Study. Through repeated promotions he reached vice minister of War. In the fifth month of the thirty-eighth year he was sent to Sichuan to investigate a Bishan lawsuit accusing a military licentiate of extortion; In the tenth month he was again sent to Sichuan to investigate Pengxi students' suit against county clerks for extortion; both cases proved false and the accusers were punished according to law. In the forty-fourth year he was promoted to Minister of Works. In the forty-fifth year he was transferred to Minister of War. In the forty-sixth year the emperor visited Rehe, and Huang went to the mobile court for audience. Sichuan was then overrun with bandits known as Tuoluzi. Governor-general Wenshou reported the situation and sent officers to capture them. The emperor questioned Huang, who replied, "Tuoluzi are found everywhere, often a hundred or more in a county; their leaders are called 'band heads. They plunder in broad daylight while officers look the other way. Even county clerks and runners join them; a runner's son in Dazhu became a band chief called One-Eyed Tiger." The emperor dismissed Wenshou, transferred Fuk'anggan to govern Sichuan, and ordered protection for Huang's home village. In the forty-seventh year he was appointed chief tutor of the Upper Study, but within a year, finding Huang unsuited to the post, the emperor removed him. In the forty-ninth year he was transferred to left censor-in-chief. In the fiftieth year he pleaded illness and asked to retire; an edict granted him retirement as Minister of War with the rank of Junior Preceptor to the Heir Apparent. He soon died and was posthumously promoted to Grand Preceptor to the Heir Apparent, granted sacrificial honors at burial, and given the title Wengong, "Cultured and Reverent."
26
子興岱，字冠三。 乾隆三十六年進士，改庶吉士，散館授編修。 累遷侍講學士。 超授內閣學士。 擢侍郎，歷禮、吏、戶諸部。 命在南書房行走。 嘉慶四年，祭告川、陝岳瀆。 川、楚教匪亂方急，上命興岱經被寇州縣宣諭慰卹，並傳詔招撫； 復以軍中諸將勇怯諮興岱。 興岱奏：「臣行次廣元，民言總兵硃射斗在高院場戰敗，總督魁倫未遣兵應援，又不嚴守潼關。 賊夜掠太和鎮，焚殺甚酷。 行次梓潼，賊正擾縣境，民紛紛徙避。 臣在縣督率嚴防，駐二日乃行，途中宣上指慰諭。 民言川軍逐賊，德楞泰最奮勇，且能於臨陣廣布德意，解散脅從。 但賊勢方張，一人不能兼顧。 請敕督兵諸大臣同心協力。」 上奪魁倫官，逮詣成都，命興岱會勒保按鞫。 事畢，還京師。 煌嘗兩使四川按事，興岱复繼之，時以為榮。 六年，充江西考官，坐受餽，並索取衣裘，命退出南書房，左授侍讀學士。 八年，大考，以老乞休，上從之。 旋复授編修，遷侍講。 擢內閣學士，复再遷左都御史。 十四年，卒。
His son Xingdai, whose style was Guansan. A jinshi of Qianlong 36, he became a Hanlin bachelor and, after leaving the academy, was appointed compiler. Through repeated promotions he reached expositor of the Hanlin Academy. He was extraordinarily appointed grand secretary assistant. He was promoted to vice minister in Rites, Personnel, and Revenue in turn. He was assigned to the Southern Study. In Jiaqing 4 he performed sacrificial announcements at the mountains and rivers of Sichuan and Shaanxi. With the Sichuan-Hubei White Lotus rebellion urgent, the emperor ordered Xingdai to tour stricken counties proclaiming comfort and relief and to convey edicts offering amnesty; The emperor also consulted Xingdai on the courage and cowardice of the generals in the field. Xingdai memorialized, "Passing through Guangyuan, the people said General Zhu Shedou had been defeated at Gaoyuanchang, that Governor-general Kuilun sent no reinforcements, and that he did not strictly hold Tong Pass. Bandits raided Taihe town by night with cruel burning and killing. At Zitong bandits were harassing the county, and the people fled in droves. I supervised defenses there for two days before moving on, proclaiming the emperor's instructions along the way. The people said that among Sichuan troops pursuing bandits, Delingtai was the most daring and could spread benevolent intent in battle, disbanding coerced followers. But bandit power was surging, and one man could not cover everything. I ask that the emperor instruct the supervising ministers and commanders to work in concert." The emperor stripped Kuilun of office, had him brought to Chengdu, and ordered Xingdai to join Lebao in investigating the case. When the matter was finished, he returned to the capital. Huang had twice been sent to Sichuan on investigations, and Xingdai followed in his footsteps—a source of pride at the time. In the sixth year, while serving as Jiangxi examiner, he was convicted of accepting gifts and demanding furs; he was ordered out of the Southern Study and demoted to reader of the Hanlin Academy. In the eighth year, at the great examination, he pleaded old age and asked to retire; the emperor assented. Soon he was again appointed compiler and promoted to reader. He was promoted to grand secretary assistant, then again to left censor-in-chief. In the fourteenth year he died.
27
=曹文埴=曹文埴，字竹虛，安徽歙縣人。 乾隆二十五年二甲一名進士，改庶吉士，授編修。 直懋勤殿，四遷翰林院侍讀學士，命在南書房行走。 再遷詹事府詹事。 居父喪，歸。 四十二年，詣京師，謁孝聖憲皇后梓宮。 喪終，仍在南書房行走。 授左副都御史。 遷侍郎，歷刑、兵、工、戶諸部，兼管順天府府尹。 軍機章京、員外郎海昇毆殺其妻，以自縊報，其妻弟貴寧爭非是。 命左都御史紀昀等驗屍，仍以自縊具獄。 貴寧复爭言：「海昇與大學士阿桂有連，驗不實。」 更命文埴與侍郎伊齡阿覆驗，得毆殺狀，以聞。 上獎文埴等不徇隱，公正得大臣體。 阿桂以嘗奏及語袒海昇，坐罰俸，昀下吏議，刑部侍郎景祿、杜玉林及郎中王士棻等皆遣戍。 擢文埴戶部尚書。 復命與伊齡阿如通州督漕政，漕船回空較早，命議敘。
Cao Wenzhi, whose style was Zhuxu, was from She county in Anhui. Top of the second jinshi class in Qianlong 25, he became a Hanlin bachelor and was appointed compiler. He served in the Hall of Reverence and Diligence, rose through four promotions to reader of the Hanlin Academy, and was assigned to the Southern Study. He was again promoted to grand tutor of the Heir Apparent's household. In mourning for his father, he returned home. In the forty-second year he came to the capital to attend the coffin of Empress Xiaoshengxian. After mourning ended he again served in the Southern Study. He was appointed vice censor-in-chief. He was promoted to vice minister in Punishments, War, Works, and Revenue in turn, and also oversaw the Shuntian metropolitan magistrate. The Grand Council clerk and vice director Hai Sheng murdered his wife but reported that she had hanged herself; her younger brother Guining insisted the account was false. The emperor ordered Left Censor-in-Chief Ji Yun and others to examine the body, but they still concluded the case as suicide by hanging. Guining protested again: "Hai Sheng is connected to Grand Secretary Agui, and the autopsy was not honest." The emperor then ordered Cao Wenzhi and Vice Minister Yiling'a to re-examine the corpse; they found signs of beating and reported the truth. The emperor commended Cao Wenzhi and his colleagues for refusing to conceal the facts, saying their impartiality befitted true ministers of state. Agui was fined a year's salary for having earlier memorialized and spoken on Hai Sheng's behalf; Ji Yun was handed over for official deliberation; Vice Minister Jing Lu of Punishments, Du Yulin, Director Wang Shifen, and others were all banished. Cao Wenzhi was promoted to Minister of Revenue. He was again sent with Yiling'a to Tongzhou to supervise the grain transport system; because the grain boats returned empty earlier than usual, the emperor ordered a review for merit awards.
28
五十一年，命如浙江察倉庫虧缺。 旋復命阿桂會文埴董理。 浙江濱海建石塘，外積柴為障，是為柴塘。 外又累土為坡以護，是為坦水。 巡撫福崧疏請籌歲修，命文埴並按。 文埴言：「柴塘日受潮汐，往來汕刷，勢不能無蹲蕣。 今既為坦水，若不以時補修，不足當潮勢而為石塘之保障。」 得旨，如所議。 文埴還京師。 上以阿桂及文埴鞫平陽知縣黃梅未得實，下部議，降二級，命寬之。
In the fifty-first year he was dispatched to Zhejiang to investigate shortages in the granaries and storehouses. Soon afterward Agui was ordered to join Cao Wenzhi in directing the investigation. Along the Zhejiang coast stone seawalls were built, with brushwood piled outside as a barrier—what was known as the chaitang, or brushwood dike. Beyond that, earth was heaped into protective slopes—what was called the tan water apron. Governor Fu Song memorialized asking that funds be set aside for annual repairs, and Cao Wenzhi was ordered to investigate the matter jointly. Cao Wenzhi wrote: "The brushwood dike is daily battered by the tides; with the constant scouring of the water, it cannot but sink and crumble in places. Now that it serves as the tan water apron, if it is not repaired on schedule it will not hold back the tide or shield the stone seawall." The emperor approved the memorial and adopted his proposal. Cao Wenzhi returned to the capital. Because Agui and Cao Wenzhi had tried Huang Mei, magistrate of Pingyang, without establishing the facts, the case went to the ministry for deliberation and they were to be demoted two ranks, though the emperor ordered leniency.
29
五十二年，文埴以母老乞歸養，俞其請，加太子太保，御書賜其母。 五十四年，上以明年八十萬壽，命文埴毋詣京師。 文埴疏言：「母健在，明年當詣京師祝嘏。 至時如未能遠離，當自審度。 上體聖意，下順親心，諸事皆從實。」 得旨：「卿能來，朕誠喜，但毋稍勉強。」 五十五年，文埴詣京師祝嘏，上賜文埴母大緞、貂皮。 五十六年，禦試翰詹，文埴子編修振鏞列三等。 上以才可造，又為文埴子，擢侍講。 寄賜文埴御製文勒石拓本。 六十年，以上御極週甲子，文埴詣京師賀，上复賜文埴母御書、文綺、貂皮。 嘉慶三年，卒。 高宗方有疾，卹典未行。 五年，仁宗命予卹，諡文敏，並賜文埴母大緞、人參。
In the fifty-second year Cao Wenzhi asked to return home to care for his elderly mother; the request was granted, he was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and the emperor's own calligraphy was bestowed on his mother. In the fifty-fourth year, with the emperor's eightieth birthday approaching the next year, Cao Wenzhi was told not to travel to the capital. Cao Wenzhi memorialized: "My mother is still alive, and next year I should come to the capital to offer birthday congratulations. When the time comes, if I cannot leave her, I shall decide for myself. I would honor Your Majesty's wishes above and my mother's heart below, and in all things speak honestly." The reply read: "If you can come, I shall truly be glad—but do not strain yourself in the least." In the fifty-fifth year Cao Wenzhi came to the capital to offer birthday congratulations, and the emperor bestowed heavy silk damask and sable fur on his mother. In the fifty-sixth year, at the palace examination for Hanlin scholars, Cao Wenzhi's son, compiler Zhenyong, ranked in the third class. The emperor judged his talent worth cultivating and, as Cao Wenzhi's son, promoted him to expositor. By courier the emperor sent Cao Wenzhi a rubbing of an imperial text engraved on stone. In the sixtieth year, on the sixtieth anniversary of the emperor's accession, Cao Wenzhi came to the capital to offer congratulations, and the emperor again bestowed imperial calligraphy, patterned silk, and sable fur on his mother. He died in the third year of Jiaqing. Emperor Gaozong was then ill, and the state mourning rites had not yet been granted. In the fifth year Emperor Renzong ordered mourning honors granted; he was given the posthumous title Wenmin, and heavy silk damask and ginseng were bestowed on Cao Wenzhi's mother.
30
乾隆之季，和珅專政，嫉阿桂功高位其上。 海昇妻之獄，辭連阿桂。 和申妄謂文埴能立異同，欲引以為重。 文埴特持正，故非阿和珅，母老決引退，恩禮弗替。 子振鏞，自有傳。
In the late Qianlong reign Heshen monopolized power and resented Agui for his achievements and for standing above him in rank. In the case of Hai Sheng's wife, the testimony implicated Agui. Heshen wrongly assumed Cao Wenzhi would break ranks and offer a dissenting view, and hoped to enlist him to lend weight to his side. Cao Wenzhi held firmly to what was right and would not defer to Heshen; when his mother grew old he resolutely retired, yet imperial favor never waned. His son Zhenyong has his own biography.
31
=杜玉林=杜玉林，字凝台，江蘇金匱人。 乾隆十九年進士，授刑部主事，再遷郎中。 外授江西南康知府，三遷四川布政使。 四十四年，內擢刑部侍郎。 四十五年，命如四川按會理州沙金鳳訴其兄土司金龍佔田獄。 讞定，金鳳复詣京師呈訴，覆讞如玉林議分田，惟獄情未盡，又知州徐士勳當劾，玉林以同鄉置不問。 吏議當左遷，上授玉林工部侍郎，仍領刑部事。 旋復還刑部，迭使湖南北、江南讞獄。 尚書福隆安僕笞殺役夫，賄他人自代，玉林不能察，降三品冠服。 旋命復本秩。 五十年，坐海昇妻獄，戍伊犁。 明年，召還。 授刑部郎中。 行至涇州，卒。
Du Yulin, whose style was Ningtai, was from Jingui in Jiangsu. He received his jinshi degree in Qianlong 19, entered the Ministry of Punishments as a chief clerk, and after two promotions became a director. He was posted as prefect of Nankang in Jiangxi, and after three promotions became fiscal commissioner of Sichuan. In the forty-fourth year he was raised from within the capital to vice minister of Punishments. In the forty-fifth year he was sent to Sichuan to investigate the case in Huili in which Sha Jinfeng sued his elder brother, native chieftain Jin Long, for seizing his land. After the verdict was settled, Jinfeng again petitioned in the capital; on review the land was divided as Yulin had proposed, but the facts were not fully pursued, and Prefect Xu Shixun should have been impeached—yet Yulin, as a fellow townsman, let it pass. Official deliberation called for demotion, but the emperor appointed Yulin vice minister of Works while he continued to handle Punishments affairs. He soon returned to Punishments and was repeatedly sent to Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangnan to adjudicate cases. Minister Fu Long'an's servant beat a laborer to death and bribed another man to take the blame; Yulin failed to uncover the substitution and was reduced to third-rank dress. Shortly afterward he was ordered restored to his original rank. In the fiftieth year, implicated in the case of Hai Sheng's wife, he was banished to Yili. The next year he was recalled. He was appointed director of the Ministry of Punishments. He died on the road at Jingzhou.
32
玉林善治獄，嘗曰：「刑一成而不變。 治律例猶善醫，貴不泥於方書，而察其受病之實。 不如是無以臨民。」
Yulin was skilled at judging cases and once said: "Punishment, once fixed, should not be altered. Handling statutes and precedents is like practicing medicine well: one must not cling blindly to formulary texts but discern the actual disease. Without that one cannot rightly judge for the people."
33
=王士棻=王士棻，字蘭圃，陝西華州人。 乾隆十九年進士，改庶吉士，授刑部主事。 再遷郎中。 和珅為步軍統領，寵其役，役佔通州車行。 州民訴刑部，士棻為定讞，戍其役黑龍江。 上詣碧雲寺禮佛，訝池涸，問其故。 僧言寺後開煤礦，引水別流。 上怒，逮主其事者下刑部，則和珅奴也。 諸曹憚和珅，不欲竟其獄，士棻復為定讞。 上責和珅而誅其奴。 五十年四月，海昇妻之獄，刑部侍郎杜玉林坐驗屍不以實，當譴。 上欲以士棻代，而士棻亦佐驗。 上諭曰：「王士棻在刑部年久，前因召對，觀其人尚有才，方欲量加擢用。 乃覆驗回護，逢迎阿桂，罪無可逭。」 遂與玉林戍伊犁。 明年，召還。 授刑部員外郎。 五十二年六月，特擢江蘇按察使。 五十五年，高郵州吏以偽印徵賦，事發，巡撫閔鶚元以下皆坐重譴。 上以按察使得奏事，士棻見巡撫以下互相徇隱，置若罔聞，士棻本起廢籍，尤負恩，命奪職； 總督書麟等請遣戍，上許納贖。 尋复授刑部員外郎。 五十七年，以病乞歸。 嘉慶元年，卒。
Wang Shifen, whose style was Lanpu, was from Huazhou in Shaanxi. He received his jinshi degree in Qianlong 19, became a Hanlin bachelor, and was appointed chief clerk in the Ministry of Punishments. After two promotions he became a director. Heshen was commander of the Metropolitan Infantry Brigade; he favored his bond servants, and one of them seized a carting business in Tongzhou. The townspeople sued before the Ministry of Punishments; Shifen rendered the verdict and banished the servant to Heilongjiang. The emperor went to Biyun Temple to worship the Buddha, was astonished to find the pond dry, and asked why. A monk said a coal mine had been opened behind the temple and its water diverted elsewhere. The emperor was enraged, had those responsible seized and sent to the Ministry of Punishments—and they proved to be Heshen's slaves. The bureaus feared Heshen and were unwilling to see the case through; Shifen again rendered the verdict. The emperor rebuked Heshen and had the slave executed. In the fourth month of the fiftieth year, in the case of Hai Sheng's wife, Vice Minister Du Yulin was found to have autopsied the body dishonestly and was due for punishment. The emperor meant to replace him with Shifen, but Shifen had also assisted in the autopsy. The emperor said: "Wang Shifen has served in the Ministry of Punishments for many years; when I summoned him earlier I saw he still had ability and was about to promote him. Yet on re-examination he shielded the guilty and ingratiated himself with Agui—his offense brooks no excuse." He and Yulin were then banished to Yili. The next year they were recalled. Shifen was appointed vice director of the Ministry of Punishments. In the sixth month of the fifty-second year he was specially promoted to provincial judicial commissioner of Jiangsu. In the fifty-fifth year a Gaoyou clerk collected taxes with a forged seal; when the scandal broke, Governor Min Eyuan and his subordinates all received severe punishment. Because a provincial judicial commissioner could memorialize directly to the throne, the emperor held that Shifen had watched the governor and his subordinates cover for one another yet acted as if he noticed nothing; Shifen had been raised from disgrace and owed special gratitude—he was stripped of office; Governor-General Shu Lin and others asked that he be banished, but the emperor allowed him to redeem the sentence instead. Soon afterward he was again appointed vice director of the Ministry of Punishments. In the fifty-seventh year he asked to retire home because of illness. He died in the first year of Jiaqing.
34
士棻治獄，虛公周密，每有所平反。 章丘民辛存義索逋於屠者，死於途，旁置屠刀。 縣吏坐屠殺人。 士棻奉命詣讞，躬訪於村女，別得罪人，屠乃雪。 旗丁有兄弟異母而同居者，兄鰥，弟有婦，夜為人戕，母訴長子姦殺。 士棻蒞視，長子伏地哭，無一語。 在側指畫者，母之侄也。 士棻審視良久，叱其侄曰：「殺人者汝也！」 侄股栗具伏。 泰安嫠顏氏富而子幼，夫弟強之嫁，走訴部。 或餽士棻白金五千，士棻拒之，卒論如律。 邳州民有舅訟甥者，謂其發母墓，罪殊死。 士棻疑之，為覆讞。 蓋甥為前母子，舅則後母兄。 後母憎長子，舅誑之曰：「汝母墓有蛇跡。」 甥與其妻往視，舅伺叢墓間，執詣縣。 士棻得其情，白長子枉。 士棻嘗曰：「刑官之弊，莫大於成見。 聽訟有成見，強人從我，不能盡其情，是客氣也。 斷罪有成見，或偏於嚴明，因求能折獄名； 或偏於寬厚，自以為陰德：皆私心也。」 高宗知其才，屢坐譴，終不使廢棄，仍俾為刑官。 世傳其再起復欲用為侍郎，和珅實尼之雲。
Shifen judged cases with open fairness and meticulous care, and often reversed wrongful verdicts. In Zhangqiu a man named Xin Cunyi went to collect a debt from a butcher and died on the road with a butcher's knife lying beside him. The county officials convicted the butcher of murder. Shifen was ordered to hear the case; he questioned a village woman in person, found the real culprit, and cleared the butcher. Among banner bondservants were half-brothers living together—the elder a widower, the younger with a wife; one night the younger's wife was killed, and the mother accused the elder son of adultery and murder. When Shifen arrived to inspect the case, the elder son lay face down weeping and would not speak. The man at his side gesturing and prompting him was the mother's nephew. Shifen studied the scene a long while, then shouted at the nephew: "You are the killer!" The nephew's legs gave way and he confessed everything. In Tai'an the widow Yan was wealthy and her son still young; her husband's younger brother tried to force her to remarry, and she fled to petition the ministry. Someone offered Shifen five thousand taels of silver; he refused it and in the end ruled according to law. In Pizhou an uncle sued his nephew, claiming he had opened his mother's grave—a capital crime. Shifen was suspicious and reopened the case. It turned out the nephew was the son of a former wife, while the uncle was the elder brother of the stepmother. The stepmother hated the elder son; the uncle deceived him, saying: "There are snake tracks at your mother's grave." The nephew and his wife went to look; the uncle lay in wait among the graves, seized them, and handed them over to the county. Shifen learned the truth and declared the elder son had been wronged. Shifen once said: "Among the failings of penal officials, none is greater than fixed preconceptions. If one hears cases with a fixed view, forcing others to one's own opinion and failing to exhaust the facts—that is borrowed arrogance. If one passes judgment with a fixed view, leaning toward severity and sharpness to win a name for breaking difficult cases; or leaning toward leniency and calling it hidden virtue—all of that is private interest." The Gaozong recognized his ability; though he was rebuked and punished again and again, he was never discarded, and was still kept in the office of criminal judge. Rumor had it that when he returned to office there was again talk of making him vice minister—but Heshen, it was said, blocked the appointment.
35
=金簡=金簡，賜姓金佳氏，滿洲正黃旗人，初隸內務府漢軍。 父三保，武備院卿。 金簡，乾隆中授內務府筆帖式，累遷奉宸院卿。 三十七年，授總管內務府大臣。 監武英殿刻書，充四庫全書副總裁，專司考覈督催。 三十九年，授戶部侍郎，管錢法堂，鑲黃旗漢軍副都統，賜孔雀翎。 四十年，奏：「京局鼓鑄，每年七十五卯，錢九十二萬七千三百五十千。 歲馀二萬馀千，加以節年馀存，遇閏侭可抵放。 請裁去閏月四卯。」 從之。 四十三年，命纂四庫薈要，署工部尚書。 命赴盛京察平允庫項虧短，關防拉薩禮等治罪如律。 奏定盛京銀庫章程，下部議行。 四十六年，命總理工部。 四十八年，擢工部尚書、鑲黃旗漢軍都統。 四十九年，請疏濬盧溝橋中泓五孔水道，並請定三、四年疏濬一次。 五十年，與千叟宴。 四庫全書成，議敘。 命修葺明陵，請加築思陵月台，並拓享殿、宮門。 五十六年，故安南國王黎維祁聽所屬黃益曉、黎光霽等禀請歸國，命金簡察治，益曉、光霽等並發遣。 五十七年，調吏部尚書。 五十九年，卒，令皇孫綿懃奠醊，賜祭葬，諡勤恪。 金簡女弟為高宗貴妃。 嘉慶初，仁宗命其族改入滿洲，賜姓。
Jin Jian, granted the surname Jinjia, belonged to the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner and was originally attached to the Han Army of the Imperial Household Department. His father Sanbao served as Director of the Armory Department. Under Qianlong, Jin Jian entered the Imperial Household Department as a clerk and rose in turn to Director of the Imperial Hunting Lodge. In the thirty-seventh year he was made Grand Minister Superintendent of the Imperial Household Department. He oversaw printing at the Hall of Military Glory, served as associate chief compiler of the Complete Library in Four Sections, and was charged specifically with review and expediting the work. In the thirty-ninth year he became Vice Minister of Revenue, overseeing the Bureau of Currency, was appointed Deputy Lieutenant-General of the Han Army Bordered Yellow Banner, and received a peacock feather. In the fortieth year he submitted a memorial: "The capital mints strike coin in seventy-five casting cycles annually, turning out nine hundred twenty-seven thousand three hundred fifty strings of cash. More than twenty thousand strings remain each year; with the surplus stored up over the years, even in an intercalary year disbursement can be fully covered. I ask that the four intercalary-month casting cycles be abolished." The emperor approved it. In the forty-third year he was charged with compiling the Essentials of the Four Treasuries and appointed acting Minister of Works. He was sent to Mukden to investigate missing funds in the treasury, and Guanfang, Lasali, and others were punished as the law required. He submitted regulations for the Mukden silver treasury; the ministry approved them and they were put into effect. In the forty-sixth year he was placed in charge of the Ministry of Works. In the forty-eighth year he rose to Minister of Works and Lieutenant-General of the Han Army Bordered Yellow Banner. In the forty-ninth year he asked that the five central channels beneath Lu Gou Bridge be dredged, and that dredging be scheduled once every three or four years. In the fiftieth year he took part in the banquet honoring a thousand elders. When the Complete Library in Four Sections was finished, rewards for service were reckoned. He was charged with restoring the Ming tombs and proposed raising the moon platform at Siling and enlarging the sacrificial hall and palace gate. In the fifty-sixth year Le Duy Ky, the former king of Annam, gave ear to Huang Yixiao, Le Guangji, and others under him who petitioned to return home; Jin Jian was ordered to investigate and settle the matter, and Yixiao, Guangji, and the rest were all sent away. In the fifty-seventh year he was moved to the Ministry of Personnel as minister. He died in the fifty-ninth year; the emperor had his grandson Mianqin offer libations, granted a state funeral, and gave him the posthumous name Qinke. Jin Jian's half-sister was an imperial consort of the Gaozong. Early in Jiaqing the Renzong had his family entered into the Manchu rolls and granted them the surname.
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缊布，金簡子。 初授拜唐阿，擢藍翎侍衛。 乾隆四十八年，授泰宁鎮總兵。 六十年，召授總管內務府大臣。 嘉慶三年，授鑲紅旗漢軍副都統。 四年，授工部侍郎，賜孔雀翎。 奏請增設內務府養育兵，上斥其例外乞恩，意在沽名。 俄以清字摺誤書孝聖憲皇后徽號，奪官，予四品頂帶，留佐領。 旋复授正紅旗蒙古副都統、總管內務府大臣。 五年，授兵部侍郎。 六年，擢工部尚書、鑲紅旗漢軍都統。 九年，署戶部尚書。 十四年，卒。
Yun Bu was the son of Jin Jian. He began as a baitangga and was raised to imperial guard with a blue plume. In Qianlong 48 he was made regional commander at Taiping Garrison. In the sixtieth year he was recalled and appointed Grand Minister Superintendent of the Imperial Household Department. In Jiaqing 3 he became Deputy Lieutenant-General of the Han Army Bordered Red Banner. In the fourth year he was made Vice Minister of Works and awarded a peacock feather. He asked to add sustenance soldiers to the Imperial Household Department; the emperor rebuked him for begging favor outside established practice—an attempt, he said, to buy a name for himself. Before long a Manchu memorial of his misspelled the honorific of Empress Xiaoshengxian; he was removed from office, given a fourth-rank cap button, and kept on as company commander. He was soon restored as Deputy Lieutenant-General of the Mongol Plain Red Banner and Grand Minister Superintendent of the Imperial Household Department. In the fifth year he was appointed Vice Minister of War. In the sixth year he rose to Minister of Works and Lieutenant-General of the Han Army Bordered Red Banner. In the ninth year he acted as Minister of Revenue. He died in the fourteenth year.
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=【論】=論曰：曰修奉使治水，利澤施於生民； 紹詩疏律義，尚平恕：皆有子克承厥緒。 循琦、際華、秀先迴翔台省，以篤謹被主知； 文埴眷尤厚，不阿時相，潔其身以去：皆彬彬平世令僕才也。 乾隆之季，民窮盜起，煌父子言鄉里民間疾苦，高宗不以為忤。 金簡起戚畹，所論鑄錢、葺明陵，及黎維祁乞歸國，並關國故，故比而次之。
Commentary: Qiu Yuexiu, sent on missions to manage waterworks, brought lasting benefit to the people; Wu Shaoshi clarified the principles of law and held to clemency: in each case a son proved able to continue the work; Yan Xunqi, Wang Jihua, and Cao Xiuxian shifted between the censorate and the ministries, winning their sovereign's trust through steady diligence; Cao Wenzhi received especially warm favor, refused to curry favor with the chief minister of the day, and withdrew with his integrity intact: each was a polished talent suited to peaceful times and worthy service. In the closing years of Qianlong, as the people grew poor and banditry spread, Zhou Huang and his son spoke plainly of local suffering, and the Gaozong did not resent it. Jin Jian came up through imperial marriage ties; his proposals on coinage, restoration of the Ming tombs, and Le Duy Ky's plea to return—all touched matters of national consequence—and so he is placed here in due order among them.