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列傳一百四十二
Biographies 142
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Kui Lun, Guang Xing, and Chu Pengling
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Kui Lun, of the Wanyan clan, was a Manchu of the Plain Yellow Banner and a grandson of the deputy general Zhabina. He inherited the hereditary assistant commandant post, held the concurrent title of Commandant of Light Chariots, served as deputy commander of the Zhangla Camp in Sichuan, and rose by stages to commander-in-chief of Jianchang Garrison. On one audience at court, the Gaozong Emperor asked about his lineage, and Kui Lun recounted his family’s battle honors at length. In the fifty-third year of the Qianlong reign he was appointed military governor of Fuzhou. He was fond of music and performers and careless in his conduct, and Governor-General Wula Na sought to impeach him. Wula Na was notoriously corrupt, squeezed his subordinates for bribes, and winked at foreign pirates, whose vessels clustered outside the Five Tiger Gate unchecked. Kui Lun then filed repeated memorials denouncing Fujian’s collapsed governance, accusing Wula Na and Governor Pu Lin of neglecting duty and Surveillance Commissioner Qian Shouchun and others of flattering their superiors and aiding abuse. The emperor flew into a rage, stripped Wula Na and his associates of rank and ordered them arrested; he appointed Chang Lin acting governor-general and had him investigate jointly with Kui Lun. Their corruption and the treasury shortfalls were proved, and all were put to death. Wula Na was related by marriage to Heshen. During the prosecution the emperor sharply rebuked Chang Lin for partiality and dismissed him. Because Kui Lun had brought the matter to light, he was treated with special leniency, made acting governor-general, waged a vigorous campaign against pirates, and repeatedly took their ringleaders.
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In the first year of the Jiaqing reign he received a regular appointment as governor-general. In the third year the notorious pirate Lin Fazhi gave himself up, and the coastal menace eased somewhat. He went home to observe mourning for his mother. He had personally directed the Fujian prosecutions. He was known throughout the age for blunt integrity, and the Renzong Emperor held him in special regard. In the fourth year he was recalled from mourning to serve as acting Minister of Personnel. Before the throne Kui Lun often boasted of his earlier success against the Gelo bandits in Sichuan, claiming the rebels would be easy to crush, and begged to take the field. The emperor was then urgently pressing his generals to end the rebellion; Commander-in-Chief Lebao had failed to please him. Kui Lun was sent to Sichuan, Lebao was arrested for punishment, and Kui Lun immediately became acting governor-general, basing himself at Dazhou to oversee army provisions. Lebao’s disgrace sprang from slander; after his arrest his troops protested his innocence and asked that their plea be forwarded. Kui Lun offered a measure of defense, yet the final verdict still charged him with bungling the campaign and recommended the heaviest penalty. Morale collapsed and the army would not follow Kui Lun. Eledengbao became commander-in-chief; he and Delin Tai went in succession to Gansu to hunt down roving bandits, while Kui Lun alone handled military affairs in Sichuan.
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In the spring of the fifth year Ran Tianyuan rallied remnant bands from several routes and hid in Dazhu. Kui Lun dallied and did not strike. The rebels raised a host of tens of thousands, crossed the Jialing at Dingyuan, and aimed to ravage western Sichuan. Kui Lun detoured through Linshui and gave chase from Shunqing, while ordering Commander-in-Chief No. 75 back to hold Chongqing. For years the rebels had troubled only northeastern Sichuan, while the west stayed intact and supplied the army’s grain. The emperor denounced Kui Lun’s negligent defense, removed his rank but kept him on duty. The rebels soon crossed again and looted Pengxi. Of all the generals only Zhu Shedou fought fiercely with too few troops. Kui Lun had promised support but once more failed to arrive, and Shedou fell in battle. Kui Lun fell back to Tongchuan, was demoted to third-rank insignia, and received an edict to guard the Tong River at all costs: “Your life and death hang on this!” Lebao was restored as Sichuan provincial military commissioner and marched with Delin Tai to suppress the west and north of the province. In the fourth month the rebels, finding western Sichuan well defended, stole across the Tong River, burned Taihe, and threatened Chengdu. The emperor raged that Kui Lun had again lost his chance and let them escape, stripped him and ordered his arrest, and appointed Lebao acting governor-general. Vice Minister Zhou Xingdai went to assist the investigation; Kui Lun was soon arrested and granted suicide, and his son Zhala Fen was exiled to Yili.
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Kui Lun had served with integrity. As Minister of Personnel he had already been granted remission of six thousand taels owed from the Fujian customs levy. Now he spent his entire estate and still fell short; the emperor pitied him further, restored one house, and gave his wife a roof over her head. Because his grandson was still a child, Zhala Fen was ordered to complete three years on the frontier before returning. The emperor proclaimed this to the court as a warning drawn from the law.
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廣興，字賡虞，滿洲鑲黃旗人，大學士高晉第十二子。 入貲為主事，補官禮部。 敏於任事，背誦案牘如瀉水，大學士王杰器其才。 累遷給事中。 嘉慶四年，首劾和珅罪狀，擢副都御史。 命赴四川治軍需，綜覈精嚴，月節糜費數十萬金，為時所忌，以騷擾驛傳被劾，上優容之。 复屢與總督魁倫互劾，召還，左遷通政副使。 九年，擢兵部侍郎，兼副都統、總管內務府大臣，署刑部侍郎。 同僚輕其於刑名非素習，廣興引證律例，屢正誤讞，眾乃服。 十一年，奏劾御前大臣定親王綿恩揀選官缺專擅違例，廷臣察詢，不直所言，降三品京堂，罷兼職。 尋補奉宸苑卿，擢刑部侍郎，复兼內務府大臣。 上方倚任，廣興亦慷慨直言，召對每逾晷刻。 上曰：「汝與初彭齡皆朕信任之人，何外廷怨恨乃爾？」 廣興頫首謝。 數奉使赴山東、河南按事，益作威福，中外側目。
Guang Xing, courtesy name Gengyu, was a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner and the twelfth son of Grand Secretary Gao Jin. He bought his way in as a director and received appointment in the Ministry of Rites. He was brisk in business and could recite case papers from memory as fluently as running water; Grand Secretary Wang Jie admired his ability. He rose by stages to supervising secretary. In the fourth year of Jiaqing he led the impeachment of Heshen’s crimes and was promoted to vice censor-in-chief. He was sent to Sichuan to manage army supplies, audited with ruthless precision, and saved hundreds of thousands of taels each month in waste. Envy bred impeachments for harassing the courier network, but the emperor showed him forbearance. He and Governor-General Kui Lun traded impeachments again and again; recalled to the capital, he was demoted to vice commissioner of the Court of Transmission. In the ninth year he became vice minister of war, concurrently vice commander-in-chief and superintendent of the Imperial Household, and acting vice minister of justice. Colleagues scoffed that he was no expert in criminal law; Guang Xing cited the code, corrected erroneous verdicts again and again, and won their respect. In the eleventh year he impeached Imperial Front Attendant Prince Ding, Mian En, for usurping authority in filling official vacancies against regulation. The court investigated and found his accusation unsupported; he was demoted to third-rank capital official and lost his concurrent posts. Soon he was appointed superintendent of the Imperial Parks, promoted to vice minister of justice, and again given charge of the Imperial Household. The emperor was leaning heavily on him; Guang Xing spoke with blunt candor, and their audiences often ran past the hour mark. The emperor said, “You and Chu Pengling are both men I trust—why does the outer court resent you so bitterly?” Guang Xing bowed his head in acknowledgment. On repeated missions to Shandong and Henan to investigate cases he grew ever more overbearing; the whole court watched him with unease.
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內監鄂羅哩者，自乾隆中充近侍，年七十馀，嘗至朝廊與廣興坐語，以長者自居。 廣興艴然曰：「汝輩閹人，當敬謹侍立，安得與大臣論世誼乎？」 鄂羅哩恨次骨，思以中之。 十三年冬，內庫給宮中段不如數，且窳敗，鄂羅哩言由廣興剋減，上即命傳諭，出而漫言之，廣興不知為上旨，坐而與辯。 鄂羅哩入奏其坐聽諭旨，上怒，一日，面詰廣興，廣興言總管太監孫進忠與庫官勾通，欲交外省織造，藉遂需索規費之計。 上以其不能指實庫官何人，挾詐面欺，下廷臣議罪，尋寬之。 罷職家居，於是與廣興不協者，蜂起媒孽其短。 上密諭山東、河南兩省巡撫察奏，遂交章劾其奉使時任意作威，苛求供頓，收納餽遺諸罪狀，下獄議絞。 上親廷訊，尚欲緩其獄，廣興未省上意，抗辯無引罪語，而贓私有實據，上益怒，遂置之法，籍其家，子蘊秀戍吉林，並罪兩省官吏及山東言官各有差。
The eunuch Eluoli had attended the throne since the Qianlong years, was over seventy, and once came to the court corridor to sit and chat with Guang Xing, comporting himself as an elder. Guang Xing flushed and snapped, “You castrated creatures should stand respectfully in attendance—how dare you bandy family ties with a great minister?” Eluoli hated him to the bone and plotted to ruin him. In the winter of the thirteenth year the inner treasury delivered palace silks short in count and poor in quality. Eluoli blamed Guang Xing for skimping. The emperor ordered a message delivered at once; Eluoli repeated it casually outside. Guang Xing did not know it was imperial instruction and sat arguing with him. Eluoli entered and reported that Guang Xing had remained seated while the edict was read. The emperor raged. One day he confronted Guang Xing directly; Guang Xing said Superintendent Eunuch Sun Jinzhong had colluded with treasury clerks, meant to shift weaving to outside contractors, and thus engineered extortion of customary fees. Because he could not name the treasury official involved and was judged to have lied to the emperor’s face, the matter went to the court for sentencing; he was soon spared. Stripped of office and living at home, those who bore him ill will now swarmed to invent charges against him. The emperor secretly ordered the governors of Shandong and Henan to investigate and report; memorials then flooded in accusing him of bullying on his missions, demanding excessive lodging, accepting bribes, and other crimes, and he was jailed with strangulation recommended. The emperor tried him in open court and still meant to soften the sentence. Guang Xing failed to read his mood and argued without a word of repentance; yet the proof of graft was solid. The emperor’s wrath deepened; Guang Xing was executed, his estate confiscated, his son Yunxiu exiled to Jilin, and officials of both provinces and Shandong censors punished in varying degrees.
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廣興伉爽無城府，疾惡嚴，喜詆人陰私。 既得志，驕奢日甚，縱情聲色，不能約束奴僕，終及於禍。
Guang Xing was blunt and without hidden designs, harsh toward wickedness, and fond of airing others’ private failings. Once he had his way, pride and luxury mounted daily; he gave himself to music and women, could not control his servants, and at last brought ruin on himself.
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Chu Pengling, courtesy name Yiyuan, was a native of Laiyang in Shandong. In the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong, during the imperial tour of Shandong, he was summoned for examination and made a provincial graduate. In the forty-fifth year he passed the metropolitan examination, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed editor. In the fifty-fourth year he was transferred to censor of the Jiangnan circuit. He impeached Associate Grand Secretary Peng Yuanrui for favoritism in advancing his son-in-law’s nephew; Yuanrui was dismissed. Jiangxi Governor Chen Huai was likewise notorious for greed; Chu impeached and removed him, and his reputation soared for a time. He rose by stages to vice minister of war.
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嘉慶四年，出為雲南巡撫。 時總督富綱請罷官鹽，改歸民運民銷，詔下彭齡議。 疏上，略曰：「滇鹽向例官督灶煎，分井定額，按月完納省倉。 行銷之法，按州縣戶口多寡定額，地方官備價運銷交課。 其始灶戶所領官給薪本敷裕，交足額鹽之外，尚有馀鹽； 官售額鹽，扣還腳價之外，尚有馀課。 行之日久，不肖州縣勾通井官，私買額外馀鹽，行銷肥己。 灶戶利於賣私，益滋偷漏。 前巡撫劉秉恬遂令州縣額銷十萬斤者加銷一二萬，以資辦公。 灶戶薪本不敷，無力加煎，攙和灰土，州縣滯銷，因有派累之事。 乾隆五十六年，鹽道蔣繼勳以官銀盡買安寧等井私煎之鹽，並發州縣銷售，欲以彌縫虧空。 額鹽積壓愈多，於是州縣又有計口授鹽、短秤加課之弊。 煙戶無論男女老幼，皆應交課，窮困已極。 迤西一帶，遂至聚眾抗官，斃差焚屋。 前年威遠倮夷滋擾，即有此等奸民。 祿豐一案，亦由鹽務起釁，江蘭並匿情不奏。 富綱到滇，實見有不得不改章以甦民困者。 竊思滇鹽官運官銷，積弊難返，應如督臣所奏，改為就井收課，聽民自便。」 於是損益原奏，令灶戶自煎自賣，商販領照，聽其所之，試行二三年，再定各井歲額，下部議行。 又籌置堡田，免徭役加派，滇民感之。 劾前撫江蘭匿抱母、恩耕二井水災不奏，蘭因黜罷。
In the fourth year of Jiaqing he was appointed governor of Yunnan. Governor-General Fu Gang then asked to abolish government salt and shift to private transport and sale; an edict ordered Pengling to deliberate. His memorial summarized: “Yunnan salt has customarily been boiled under government supervision, with quotas set per well and monthly delivery to the provincial granary. Distribution quotas followed each prefecture and county’s household count; local officials advanced funds to transport, sell, and remit the levy. At first the government fuel allowance for furnace households was ample; beyond meeting the quota they still had surplus salt. When the government sold the quota salt, transport costs deducted, surplus revenue remained. Over time corrupt prefects and counties colluded with well officials, privately bought surplus salt beyond the quota, and sold it for private gain. Furnace households profited from illicit sales, and smuggling only grew. Former Governor Liu Bingtian then ordered counties with a hundred-thousand-jin quota to sell an extra ten or twenty thousand jin to fund office expenses. Fuel stipends fell short and furnace households could not boil more; they adulterated with ash and earth. Counties could not move the salt and resorted to forced levies. In the fifty-sixth year of Qianlong Salt Controller Jiang Jixun used government silver to buy all privately boiled salt from Anning and other wells and pushed it on the counties for sale, hoping to paper over deficits. Quota salt piled up ever higher; counties then revived abuses such as allotting salt by head count and short weights with extra levies. Every smoking household, man or woman, old or young, had to pay the levy; poverty reached its limit. In the western districts people gathered to resist officials, killed couriers, and burned houses. The year before, when the Yi of Weiyuan stirred up trouble, such wicked men were among them. The Lufeng affair likewise sprang from the salt monopoly; Governor Jiang Lan also concealed the facts and never reported them. When Fu Gang reached Yunnan he truly saw that the rules had to change to relieve the people’s distress. He judged that government transport and government sale had entrenched abuses beyond repair and that, as the governor-general proposed, tax should be collected at the well and the people left free to trade.” He then revised the original plan: furnace households would boil and sell on their own, merchants would take licenses and go where they wished; after a trial of two or three years annual quotas per well would be set and sent to the ministry for approval. He also set aside garrison fields and exempted corvée and extra levies; the people of Yunnan were grateful. He impeached former Governor Jiang Lan for concealing floods at the Baomu and Engeng wells; Lan was dismissed.
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In the sixth year he pleaded that his parents were aged and asked for a capital post; the request was granted. Yisang’a, governor of Guizhou, replaced him. En route he impeached Yisang’a for arrogance, luxury, perversity, harsh exactions from subordinates, and inflating the campaign against the Shixian Miao into false merit. An imperial commissioner was sent to verify the facts, and Yisang’a was punished by law. Back in the capital he was appointed vice minister of justice. In the seventh year he went to Guizhou with Vice Commander-in-Chief Funishan to investigate, impeached Governor Chang Ming for abuses in the lead mines, stripped and punished him, and immediately acted as governor. Soon he was transferred to act as governor of Yunnan, impeached Administration Commissioner Chen Xiaosheng and Western Circuit Intendant Sa Rong’an for embezzling Weixi military funds, and punished them by law. In the eighth year, with Vice Minister Elebu, he audited Shaanxi military supplies; from Governor Qin Chengen down, dismissals and penalties varied. He was transferred to vice minister of works and then to vice minister of revenue.
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In the ninth year he wrongly believed Hubei Governor Gao Qi, impeached Huguang Governor-General Wu Xiongguang for bribery without proof, and was later found to have privately relayed to Qi a secret instruction from a private audience; exposed, the court deliberated punishment and recommended death. The Renzong Emperor knew Pengling had no other fault and did not wish to punish memorializing itself; he issued an edict that the court’s sentence was excessive and aimed to silence critics. Mindful too that Pengling’s parents were aged, he spared distant exile and dismissed him to live at home. After more than a year he was restored as right assistant reader of the heir apparent and soon vaulted to grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat.
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In the eleventh year, with Vice Minister Ying He, he went to Shaanxi to judge cases; passing Shanxi he was ordered to investigate Hedong salt affairs. Soon he was appointed governor of Anhui. At Shouzhou the military licentiate Zhang Dayou, jealous over an affair, poisoned his clansman Zhang Lun and a hired laborer. Governor-General Tie Bao followed Suzhou Prefect Zhou E in ruling death by self-inflicted snakebite. Pengling re-examined the case and proved murder; the emperor praised him, granted a special merit citation, and Tie Bao and others were demoted in varying degrees. He returned home to mourn his father.
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In the fourteenth year he was appointed governor of Guizhou with mourning suspended, but firmly declined to take up the post. After mourning he served as acting governor of Shanxi and was soon confirmed in the post. He impeached former Governor Cheng Ling for extorting supplies, also impeached Administration Commissioner Liu Qing, acting Surveillance Commissioner Zhang Cengxian, and numerous prefectural and county officials, and was soon transferred to Shaanxi. Hedong Circuit Intendant Liu Daguan filed charges accusing Chu Pengling of willfulness and perversity; he was ordered back to Shanxi to await investigation. For angrily denouncing former Governor Jin Yingqi and favoring Prefect Zhu Xigeng, the ministry recommended dismissal; the emperor was lenient and demoted him to superintendent of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He was appointed intendant of Shuntian Prefecture.
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In the sixteenth year he joined Minister Tuojin in auditing the southern canal works treasury and impeached forty-eight bureau officers; later he went with Minister Chonglu to Fujian to judge cases. He was transferred to vice minister of works and appointed acting governor of Zhejiang. Soon he was sent to the two Hu to investigate Hubei Surveillance Commissioner Zhou Jitang and Hunan Education Commissioner Xu Song. Jitang showed no greed but sheltered his subordinates; he was stripped of office but not punished. Song extorted customary fees and set examination topics that mangled the classics; he was stripped of office and exiled.
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In the seventeenth year he was transferred to vice minister of revenue. Liangjiang Governor-General Bai Ling then impeached Southern Canal Governor-General Chen Fengxiang for wrongly opening the Zhi and Li barrages. Fengxiang had already been censured, argued in his defense, and accused Bai Ling of trusting Salt Patrol Commissioner Zhu Ergeng’e to oversee reed marshes improperly; Pengling and Songyun were ordered to investigate. Bai Ling had in fact co-signed the order to open the barrages; Pengling therefore asked for leniency toward Bai Ling while Zhu Ergeng’e received heavy punishment, as set forth in the biographies of Bai Ling and others. He served as acting Southern Canal governor-general and was soon transferred to grain transport vice minister.
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十九年，命往廣西按訊巡撫成林，以恣意聲色，用度侈靡，褫成林職，籍其家。 擢兵部尚書，特命署江蘇巡撫，清查虧空，疏言：「虧空應立時懲辦，而各省督撫往往密奏，僅使分限完繳。 始則屬官玩法，任意侵欺； 繼則上司市恩，設法掩蓋。 是以清查為續虧出路，密奏為緩辦良圖，請飭禁。」 帝韙之。 劾江寧布政使陳桂生、江蘇布政使常格催徵不力，並褫職。 尋巡撫張師誠回任，仍命彭齡會同清查。 彭齡與百齡、師誠意不合，各擬章程，上詔斥其不能和衷。 既而疏劾百齡、師誠受關道鹽員饋銀，又劾陳桂生弊混，命大學士托津、尚書景安往按，至則百齡、師誠嗾屬員多方沮格，所劾並不得實。 上以彭齡性褊急，嫉惡過嚴，斥其輕躁，降內閣學士，召回京。 茅豫者，以部員隨赴廣西，因留江蘇佐理，改知府。 至是彭齡疏陳豫兩耳重聽，代為乞假。 詔斥越職專擅，再降，以翰林院侍讀、侍講候補。 百齡复劾彭齡沉湎於酒，事一委茅豫，文致陳桂生之罪，私拆批摺，挾怨誣參； 且豫實非耳聾，亦徇欺。 上怒，褫彭齡職，停其母九旬恩賚，令閉門思過。
In the nineteenth year he was sent to Guangxi to investigate Governor Cheng Lin; for indulging in pleasure and lavish spending, Cheng Lin was dismissed and his estate confiscated. He was promoted to minister of war and specially ordered to act as governor of Jiangsu to audit fiscal shortfalls. His memorial read: “Shortfalls should be punished immediately, yet provincial governors often file secret memorials and merely require installment repayment. At first subordinates treated the law lightly and embezzled at will. Then superiors traded favors and devised ways to cover the losses. Thus audits became a path to fresh deficits and secret memorials a scheme to stall punishment; he asked that both be forbidden.” The emperor approved. He impeached Jiangning Administration Commissioner Chen Guisheng and Jiangsu Administration Commissioner Chang Ge for slack tax collection and stripped both of office. Soon Governor Zhang Shicheng resumed his post, yet Pengling was still ordered to assist in the audit. Pengling clashed with Bai Ling and Shicheng; each drafted his own regulations, and the emperor rebuked them for failing to cooperate. He then memorialized that Bai Ling and Shicheng had accepted silver from customs and salt officials and again accused Chen Guisheng of mixed abuses. Grand Secretary Tuojin and Minister Jing An were sent to investigate; on arrival Bai Ling and Shicheng had their subordinates obstruct the inquiry at every turn, and none of the charges held. Judging Pengling narrow and harsh in his hatred of evil, the emperor rebuked his rashness, demoted him to grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat, and recalled him to the capital. Mao Yu had accompanied him to Guangxi as a ministry clerk, stayed in Jiangsu to assist, and was made prefect. Pengling now memorialized that Mao Yu was deaf in both ears and begged leave on his behalf. An edict rebuked him for overstepping authority; he was demoted again to candidate reader or expositor of the Hanlin Academy. Bai Ling impeached Pengling again for drowning himself in wine, leaving all business to Mao Yu, fabricating Chen Guisheng’s crimes, opening memorials privately, and lodging charges out of spite. Moreover Mao Yu was not in fact deaf; this too was favoritism and deceit. The emperor raged, stripped Pengling of office, withheld the ninetieth-birthday favor for his mother, and ordered him to remain at home in disgrace.
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In the twenty-first year he was restored as director in the Ministry of Works. He entered mourning for his mother before returning home, requested registration in Shuntian, and after mourning served as a vice director. In the first year of Daoguang he was appointed vice minister of rites and soon promoted to minister of war. In the third year, at the imperial birthday feast for the fifteen aged ministers, his portrait was painted at the Yulan Hall on Longevity Hill; the emperor composed a poem praising his integrity and bestowed rare gifts. In the fourth year he retired on account of age and received half salary. In the fifth year he died; the emperor ordered generous posthumous honors.
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The commentary says: How hard it is to be a truly upright official! With a loyal heart for the state, speaking bluntly even at the risk of the ruler’s wrath, and the sovereign forgiving him— if one harbors a mind to exclude rivals and trade on fame, using remonstrance as a ladder to glory, the arrows of the multitude gather. How much worse if one overreaches his station, or adds greed to the bargain? That is why Kui Lun and Guang Xing did not die natural deaths. Chu Pengling, though narrow and rash as well, truly governed cleanly and held his integrity; he fell, rose again, and kept a good name to the end—as was only fitting!