1
列傳一百三十九
Biographies 139
2
3
Jiang Cheng, whose courtesy name was Guangyu, came from Yuanhe in Jiangsu. He took his jinshi degree in 1766, entered the Ministry of Punishments as a principal secretary, and rose step by step to director. Promoted to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and then transferred to the Court of the Imperial Stud, he continued to hold concurrent duty in the Ministry of Punishments. In 1779 he was appointed provincial judicial commissioner of Jiangxi. The following year he was promoted ahead of schedule to vice minister of punishments and was often sent to the provinces to investigate affairs and review capital cases. In 1787 he was made governor of Hubei. While the main forces were campaigning in Taiwan, he shipped a hundred thousand shi of rice to cover army rations. The throne commended him and recommended him for a merit citation. In 1788 the Jingzhou river embankment collapsed. Grand Secretary Agui and others were sent to inspect the breach. Cheng was blamed for not clearing the silt that had built up upstream and also for subordinates who had extorted fees on Huai salt transport chests; he was stripped of his rank insignia. He was soon recalled and reappointed vice minister of punishments.
4
In 1791 he was again posted as governor of Hunan. When a military pay convoy was lost in Zhijiang and the case had long gone unsolved, he seized the ringleader and put him to death. Dong Shuyou and his gang on Dongting Lake had preyed on travelers for years. Cheng captured them quickly, exposed their heads along the shore, and piracy on the lake subsided. In 1795 the Qian Miao chieftain Shi Liudeng rebelled, and the Yongsui Miao chieftain Shi Sanbao joined him. Cheng marched with Governor-General Bi Yuan to suppress the uprising. When Governor-General Fukang'an of Yunnan-Guizhou arrived to take command, Cheng stayed at Chenzhou to handle logistics, posted troops at the critical passes, and sent the collaborator Yang Guo'an and his son to Beijing in chains. The court praised his steady conduct of the campaign and referred his case for a merit citation. In the third month he went to Zhenqian to inspect the frontier and relieve refugees. The emperor, judging Chenzhou the vital hinge of the campaign, ordered him back to his post there. After the chief rebel Wu Bansheng was taken, he received an exceptional merit citation.
5
嘉慶元年，湖北枝江、來鳳邪匪起，遣副將慶溥擊賊於龍山，走之，湖南境內獲安。 是年，福康安、和琳先後卒於軍，晟偕額勒登保、德楞泰等剿撫，加總督銜。 苗疆漸平，駐辰州治善後事宜。 二年，兼署總督。 三年，京察，予議敘。 布政使鄭源鸘附和珅，以貪著，需索屬吏，必多金始得赴任。 屬吏藉胥役為幹辦，縱今哧詐浮收，苦累百姓。 四年，和珅敗，為言官論劾。 詔「晟平日居官猶能自守，因畏和珅不敢參劾，尚非通同舞弊」，命逮訊源鸘，籍其貲財，澈底根究，具得源鸘加扣平餘、蓄養優伶、眷屬多至三百人諸罪狀，論大辟； 晟坐失察，當革職留任，上特寬之。 冬，鎮筸苗吳陳受倡亂，晟督師守隘，同知傅鼐以計擒斬之，加太子少保。 五年，實授總督，尋調直隸。 六年，畿輔久雨，永定河決。 坐奏報遲延，褫職逮問，發河工效力。 工竣，予主事銜，刑部行走。 七年，授刑部侍郎。
In 1796 sectarian rebels broke out in Zhijiang and Laifeng in Hubei. He sent Deputy Commander Qing Pu to defeat them at Longshan and drive them out, and Hunan was secured. That year Fukang'an and Helin died one after another in camp. Cheng worked with Eledengbao, Delengtai, and others to suppress and pacify the rebels, and was given governor-general rank. As the Miao country slowly settled, he stayed at Chenzhou to manage reconstruction. In 1797 he served additionally as acting governor-general. In 1798, at the metropolitan performance review, he was recommended for a merit citation. The provincial treasurer Zheng Yuanluan, a follower of Heshen, was notorious for corruption. He extorted his subordinates and would not let them take office until they paid him heavily in gold. His subordinates used clerks and runners as fixers, letting them bully the people with padded levies until the common folk were ground down. In 1799, after Heshen's downfall, censors brought charges against him. The throne ruled that "Cheng had generally kept his hands clean but, fearing Heshen, had failed to denounce him—yet this was not treated as outright collusion." Yuanluan was arrested, his goods confiscated, and a full inquiry pursued. He was found guilty of skimming surplus grain accounts, keeping a troupe of actors, and maintaining a household of nearly three hundred dependents, and was sentenced to death. Cheng was held negligent and liable to dismissal with retention in post, but the emperor specially spared him. That winter the Zhenqian Miao chieftain Wu Chenshou raised a revolt. Cheng held the passes while Subprefect Fu Nai trapped and killed him. Cheng was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In 1800 he received a regular appointment as governor-general and was soon transferred to Zhili. In 1801 prolonged rains in the metropolitan district caused the Yongding River to break. He was stripped of rank, arrested, and sent to labor on river works for reporting too slowly. When the project ended he was restored to principal-secretary rank with concurrent duty in the Ministry of Punishments. In 1802 he was again made vice minister of punishments.
6
From his days as a bureau secretary, his careful and lucid handling of criminal cases had won Qianlong's trust. He had served widely in the capital and in the provinces, and by now had entered the Ministry of Punishments as its second-in-command three times. Jiaqing placed special weight on criminal justice. Cheng reviewed cases with an eye to fairness, and many wrongful convictions were overturned. When Jiangxi Governor Zhang Chengji suppressed bandits in Yining, he falsely claimed to have led the troops in person, and a subordinate exposed him. Cheng was sent to investigate, confirmed the charge, had Zhang arrested, and briefly acted as governor himself. He soon returned to Beijing. In 1804 he served additionally as acting vice minister of revenue and was sent to inspect the Qingkou transport channel on the Southern Canal. He reported that silting had raised the bed, the Yellow River had risen, and clear water could no longer run freely. He proposed opening the Xiangfu and Wurui gates to bleed off Yellow River water and raising the cover dam at the transport mouth to hold clear water. The court approved his plan. He was promoted to minister of punishments. In 1806, pleading age and illness, he asked to retire, but a gracious edict urged him to stay on. Because the Ministry of Punishments was overburdened, he was transferred to the Ministry of Works. When he memorialized again, he was released from office to recover his health in Beijing. He was soon demoted to fourth-rank capital official for an earlier failure in Zhili to uncover false entries in a provincial treasury. He went home and died there.
7
Jin Guangti, whose courtesy name was Lanqi, came from Yingshan in Anhui. As a provincial graduate he was appointed a Grand Secretariat drafter. He took his jinshi degree in 1780 and was transferred to the Court of the Imperial Clan as principal secretary. He rose to vice director in the Ministry of Punishments and then to director. At a special metropolitan review he was eligible for a provincial post, but he remained in the ministry. In 1790 the ministry recommended him for a fourth-rank capital post, and the request was granted. When Jiangxi graduate Peng Liangfu bought an official license for his son by bribery, Guangti, who was related to him by marriage, was impeached by Censor Chu Pengling for showing favor. He was demoted but kept on in the ministry as vice director to handle the autumn capital-case review. Censor Zhang Pengzhan impeached him again. The throne ruled: "Guangti has been in the ministry for years and is more often criticized than praised. Suspend his concurrent duties in the ministry." He was soon given concurrent appointment as Hanlin Reader in the Grand Secretariat.
8
嘉慶七年，授山東按察使，晉布政使。 十年，召授刑部侍郎，數奉使赴山東、直隸、天津、熱河勘獄，並得實以報。 十一年，授江西巡撫。 疏言江西積案繁多，請設局清釐。 十四年，擢刑部尚書。
In 1802 he was made judicial commissioner of Shandong and then promoted to provincial treasurer. In 1805 he was recalled as vice minister of punishments and repeatedly sent to Shandong, Zhili, Tianjin, and Rehe to investigate cases, each time reporting what he found with accuracy. In 1806 he was appointed governor of Jiangxi. He memorialized that Jiangxi was burdened with a backlog of cases and asked to set up a bureau to clear them. In 1809 he was promoted to minister of punishments.
9
From his years in the bureau he had been trusted by his superiors, and as minister he drove himself harder still. At the time many treated leniency in capital cases as a virtue and routinely shaved down the charges. Even when a case was sent a thousand li for retrial, ministry officials would say that if the statute cited fit, no further debate was needed. Guangti, by contrast, insisted on the letter of the law and would not allow charges to be reduced by analogy. He had a reputation for severity, yet he could be lenient as well. Under the old rule, a custodian who stole official property could have his sentence reduced if he made restitution in time. In 1761 that leniency was abolished. Guangti memorialized to restore the earlier practice. Later a clerk at the Aksu mint stole more than five hundred taels of government money. The responsible official applied the common-theft statute and recommended strangulation after review. Guangti said: "Theft of government funds should be sentenced to beheading after imprisonment with reprieve, which is not immediately executed. Strangulation after review would be carried out at once. The common-theft statute must not be applied." He memorialized for a lighter sentence. Reading the memorial, Jiaqing asked: "So theft of public funds is punished more lightly than private theft?" He answered: "Better a thief in office than an extortioner. That is what the law intends." In the end the court adopted his view. Fluent in statutes and precedents, he held his ground in debate, and his colleagues could not budge him. Yet he was impeached again and again, and opinion at the time did not wholly consider him evenhanded. In 1812 he died in office, and the court granted posthumous honors appropriate to a minister.
10
Zu Zhiwang, whose courtesy name was Fangzhai, came from Pucheng in Fujian. He took his jinshi degree in 1778, entered the Hanlin Academy, and on leaving was appointed principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments, rising step by step to director. When his term ended he was eligible for a provincial post, but his mastery of ministry business kept him in Beijing. At the metropolitan review he received the top grade and was marked for a fourth- or fifth-rank capital post. He served as counselor in the Office of Transmission and vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices while retaining concurrent duty in the ministry. In 1793 he was posted as judicial commissioner of Shanxi. He compiled the statutes' common offenses into a handbook called Records of What the People Must Know, published it widely, and helped common people avoid unwitting violations of the law. In 1795 he was transferred to provincial treasurer of Yunnan. Because his parents were elderly, the emperor moved him to Hubei so he could care for them more easily.
11
In 1796 White Lotus rebels broke out in Jing and Xiang and spread through Yun, Yi, and the Shinan region. While the governor-general and governors marched out with the armies, Zhiwang alone stayed at Wuchang to run the province. Rumors flared, rebel agents were caught, and forged proclamations appeared on every street. He kept his composure, fortified the critical passes, and set up mutual surveillance through baojia in town and country until the people were reassured. When rebels struck Xiaogan, he moved troops and destroyed them, and the five downstream prefectures were secured. The court praised him for holding the rear secure though he had not fought in the field, keeping Wuhan safe, and awarded him the peacock feather. In 1797, when his father died, he was ordered to remain in office and govern in mourning dress. In 1799 the embezzlement of army pay by Circuit Intendant Hu Qilun of An-Xiang-Yun came to light. Zhiwang was ordered to investigate, but Qilun's diversions of supplies and transport funds proved too tangled to sort out quickly. The emperor rebuked him sharply and ordered him relieved and summoned to Beijing. When the case was decided, Zhiwang was demoted for having shielded him. Knowing he had taken nothing for himself, had a strong reputation, and was expert in criminal law, the emperor reappointed him at the lower rank of judicial commissioner. Within a month he was made vice minister of punishments and granted leave to bury his father and visit his mother.
12
In 1800 he was appointed governor of Hunan. When Black Miao from Zhenqian raided out of the hills and spread through three subprefectures, he sent troops and put the rising down. He personally surveyed more than a hundred illegal embankment enclosures around Changde, registered them, and settled the disputes for good. He was soon recalled again as vice minister of punishments. In Beijing he argued in audience that Yongsui Subprefecture, isolated in the Miao country, could not hold the frontier. He proposed moving the seat to Huayuan, shifting the garrison to Chadong, building blockhouses along the border, turning the old Yongsui town into a garrison post, and posting Miao officers there to control the stockades. The court referred his plan to the responsible offices for action. In 1801 he joined Vice Minister Nayinbao to inspect flood damage near the capital, and Vice Minister Gao Qi to supervise dredging at Changxindian.
13
In 1802 he was sent to Shandong to investigate a runner's grandson who had taken the exams fraudulently. Governor Hewang had misjudged the case, was dismissed, and Zhiwang was appointed governor in his place. He was soon transferred to Shaanxi. While the main forces suppressed rebel remnants in the southern hills, he provisioned the army, settled local militia, and relieved the afflicted. With Governor-General Huiling he submitted a thorough plan for reconstruction. Transferred to Guangdong, he asked for leave to visit his family. In 1804 he was again made vice minister of punishments. A year later, pleading his mother's age, he asked to retire and care for her at home. In 1809, for Jiaqing's fiftieth-birthday celebration, he came to Beijing to offer congratulations. His mother was eighty-three. The emperor asked after her with praise and gave her especially generous gifts. After his mother died and mourning ended, he was promoted to minister of punishments. In 1813 he resigned because of illness and soon died.
14
Han Feng, whose courtesy name was Guiling, came from Yuanhe in Jiangsu. His father Han Shisheng had lived in Beijing as a guest scholar, teaching the classics in princely households and earning a reputation for integrity. Bright and literary from youth, he entered the Ministry of Punishments as a junior secretary through the tribute-student selection and rose to director. In 1789 he was posted as prefect of Zhangde in Henan, then transferred to the Gaolian circuit in Guangdong. He was demoted to principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments for failing to uncover a Wuchuan magistrate's protection of illegal salt smuggling, then rose again to director.
15
In 1801 he was made intendant of the Yue-Chang-Li circuit in Hunan, promoted to judicial commissioner, transferred to Fujian, and acted as provincial treasurer. With Cai Qian's pirates troubling Taiwan and the coast in turmoil, he worked hard to ready defenses and cut off their supplies, and was made provincial treasurer of Hunan. In 1806 he was recalled as vice minister of punishments. In 1807 he was sent to Jingzhou to investigate collusion between General Jilakan and the prefect, and also to survey the Southern Canal. In 1808 the imperial clansman Min Xue abused his status and broke the law, yet the ministry proposed a lenient sentence. The throne rebuked the officials for bending the law to protect him, and punished them in varying degrees. Feng was away in Hejian reviewing cases and had not countersigned the proposal. The emperor believed he had already signaled leniency in audience and had long pre-approved ministry business himself—conduct that looked like overreach—and demoted him to judicial commissioner of Guangdong. He was soon promoted to governor.
16
時英吉利兵船佔澳門砲台，入黃埔，久之始退。 總督吳熊光不即遣兵驅逐，以罪罷，命崶兼署總督。 十四年，崶查閱澳門夷民安堵，因疏陳：「西洋人於其地舊設砲台六，請自伽思蘭砲台迤南，加築女牆二百餘丈，於前山寨駐專營，蓮花莖增關徬石垣，新湧山口築砲台，填蕉門海口，以資控制。」 如議行。 又密陳粵海形勢：「沿海村落，處處可通，外洋盜匪，易生窺伺。 必先固內而後可禦外。 凡屬扼要砲台，宜簡練精銳，嚴密防守。 並令沿海紳衿耆董，督率丁壯，互相捍護，自衛身家，較為得力。」 百齡繼為總督，會奏：「華、洋交易章程，外國兵船停泊外洋，澳內華、洋人分別稽覈。 各國商賈，止許暫留司事之人，經理債務，餘俱飭依期回國，不得在澳逗留。 洋船引水人，責令澳門同知給發牌照。 買辦等華人，責成地方有司慎選承充，隨時稽察。 洋船起貨時，不許洋商私自分撥。」 下軍機大臣採擇議行。
At that time British warships seized the Macao batteries, entered Whampoa, and withdrew only after a long standoff. Governor-General Wu Xiongguang had not sent troops at once to expel them and was dismissed. Feng was ordered to act additionally as governor-general. In 1809, finding Macao's foreign residents at peace, he memorialized: "The Westerners maintain six batteries there. From Jiasilan southward, add two hundred-odd zhang of parapet, post a dedicated garrison at Qianshan, strengthen the Lianhuajing passes with stone walls, build a battery at Xinyong Hill Pass, and fill the Jiaomen estuary to tighten control." The court approved his plan. He also submitted a confidential memorial on the Guangdong coast: "Every coastal village offers a passage inland, and overseas pirates can easily probe for openings. The interior must be secured before the coast can be defended. Every key battery should be manned by picked, well-trained troops under strict guard. Coastal gentry and elders should also be ordered to lead local men in mutual defense of their homes; that would be more effective." When Bailin became governor-general, they jointly proposed: "Regulations for Chinese and foreign trade: foreign warships were to anchor offshore, and Chinese and foreigners in Macao were to be inspected separately. Foreign merchants might leave only clerks to settle accounts; all others were to return home on schedule and not remain in Macao. Foreign-ship pilots were to be licensed by the Macao subprefect. Chinese compradors were to be carefully chosen by local officials and inspected at all times. When foreign ships unloaded cargo, merchants were forbidden to distribute goods on their own." The Grand Council was ordered to select provisions and put them into effect.
17
Within a year the pirate Zhang Bao'er submitted to pacification; Wushi Er, Dong Haiba, and others were killed or surrendered in turn, and Feng was awarded the peacock feather. In 1811 he again acted as governor-general. He memorialized to abolish the rice tax so trade could flow and the people's food supply would ease. He also proposed: "Chaozhou suffers many armed feuds, yet garrison officers are not required to help arrest offenders. Let civil and military officials seize them jointly. Because the region lies far from the provincial capital, he asked that sentences below military exile be reviewed locally by circuit intendants." He also urged: "For punishing violent offenders, following the Sichuan precedent: first offenders were to be shackled and given one year to reform; If they failed to reform after two such terms, they were to be punished under the statute on habitual troublemakers." All were approved. In 1813 he attended court audience and was appointed minister of punishments. His father Shisheng was eighty; he was granted three months' leave to go home and celebrate his birthday. In 1816, after his father's death and mourning, he served as acting vice minister of punishments with first-rank insignia and soon became regular minister.
18
道光四年，平反山西榆次縣民閻思虎獄，被議敘。 初，思虎強姦趙二姑，知縣呂錫齡受賕，逼認和姦，趙二姑忿而自盡，親屬京控。 命巡撫親提，仍以和姦擬結。 御史梁中靖疏劾，提解刑部，審得實情是強非和，並原審各官賄囑、徇縱、回護諸弊狀，思虎論斬，趙二姑旌表，巡撫邱樹棠、按察使盧元偉及府縣各官，降革遣戍有差。 詔嘉刑部堂司各官秉公申雪，並予議敘。 梁中靖參奏得實，亦加四品銜。 會有官犯侯際清擬流，呈請贖罪，部議因際清犯罪情重，仍以可否並請。 詔斥含混取巧，命大學士托津等查訊，侍郎恩銘、常英、司員恩德等皆有賄囑情事，崶亦解任就質，坐失察司員得賄，嗣子知情，親屬撞騙，議奪職遣戍，因年老，從寬，命效力萬年吉地工程處。 逾歲，召署刑部侍郎。 六年，以病乞歸。 十四年，卒。
In 1824 he reversed the wrongful conviction of Yan Sihu of Yuci County, Shanxi, and was recommended for a merit citation. Originally Sihu had raped Zhao Ergu. Magistrate Lü Xiling took a bribe and forced her to confess to consensual adultery. Enraged, she killed herself, and her family appealed to Beijing. The governor was ordered to retry the case in person, yet still concluded it was consensual adultery. Censor Liang Zhongjing impeached the officials. The case went to the Ministry of Punishments, which found rape rather than consensual adultery and exposed bribery, favoritism, and cover-up in the original trial. Sihu was sentenced to death; Zhao Ergu was posthumously honored; Governor Qiu Shutang, Judicial Commissioner Lu Yuanwei, and the lower officials were demoted, dismissed, or exiled in varying degrees. The court praised the ministry's senior officials for vindicating the victim fairly and recommended them for merit citations. Liang Zhongjing's impeachment was upheld, and he too received fourth-rank insignia. About the same time the official offender Hou Jiqing was sentenced to exile and petitioned to redeem his punishment. Because his offense was grave, the ministry still referred the question of approval to the throne. The throne denounced this as evasive trickery and ordered Grand Secretary Tuojin to investigate. Vice Ministers Enming and Chang Ying and Secretary En De were all implicated in bribery. Feng was removed to give testimony, punished for failing to detect a secretary's bribes, his son's knowledge of them, and relatives' fraud, and recommended for dismissal and exile. Because of his age he was spared and sent to serve at the imperial mausoleum construction office. Within a year he was recalled as acting vice minister of punishments. In 1826 he retired because of illness. In 1834 he died.
19
The historian remarks: Throughout the Qing, appointments to the Ministry of Punishments were made with exceptional care. Directors of the autumn capital-case review were always chosen from secretaries who were careful, prudent, and steeped in precedent. Some served years as provincial supervisors, passed briefly through frontier posts, then entered to head the penal code and often kept the post for life; most therefore performed their duties well. Jiaqing paid special attention to criminal justice and often decided cases himself; the ministry officials he used were chosen with that in mind. Jiang Cheng and Zu Zhiwang served widely in the capital and provinces and both left solid records of governance. Jin Guangti and Han Feng both managed ministry affairs the longest. Guangti was especially sharp and unyielding in office and was known as harsh and severe.