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卷359 列傳一百四十六 岳起 荆道乾 谢启昆 李殿图 张师诚 王绍兰 李奕畴 钱楷 和舜武

Volume 359 Biographies 146: Yue Qi, Jing Daoqian, Xie Qikun, Li Diantu, Zhang Shicheng, Wang Shaolan, Li Yichou, Qian Kai, He Shunwu

Chapter 359 of 清史稿 · Draft History of Qing
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1
Biography 146
2
殿
Yue Qi, Jing Daoqian, Xie Qikun, Li Diantu, Zhang Shicheng, and Wang Shaolan
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Li Yichou, Qian Kai, and He Shunwu
4
滿 西使
Yue Qi, of the Eji clan, was a Manchu bannerman of the Bordered White Banner. In the thirty-sixth year of the Qianlong reign he passed the provincial examinations; through seniority review he received appointment as a Secretariat copyist. He rose in succession to vice director in the Ministry of Revenue, reader-in-waiting in the Hanlin Academy, and junior vice-director of the Heir Apparent's Household. In the fifty-sixth year he was appointed prefect of Fengtian. The previous incumbent had been corrupt; when Yue Qi took office he had every room and piece of equipment scrubbed clean, saying, "Do not let their filth touch you!" He fell out with the garrison commander. A year later he was promoted to grand secretariat academician and shortly afterward posted as Jiangxi provincial administration commissioner. He gave his full attention to civil affairs; during a flood he went out to survey dikes and polders, fell into the water, and took ill. The throne commended his diligence and allowed him to resign and convalesce.
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使 沿
In the fourth year of Jiaqing he was specially summoned from retirement and appointed Shandong provincial administration commissioner. Before long he was promoted to governor of Jiangsu. He pledged himself to frugal integrity, kept only a handful of servants, went abroad without runners or escorts, banned pleasure boats and singing girls, and permitted no feasts or plays except on official business. The extravagant ways of the lower Yangtze were transformed by his example. In a memorial on abuses in the grain transport he wrote, in summary: "Capital grain transport has entrenched customs passed down for generations, and everyone pursues nothing but graft. Whether the quantity of grain is ample or short, whether the grain is pure or adulterated—they pay no attention at all. When banner transport soldiers take charge of the convoys, there is nowhere they do not use grain as leverage, and nowhere they do not use bribes to smooth the way. Tracing the matter to its root, the extortion along the route stems from the transport soldiers' demand for assistance fees; and the transport soldiers' demand for those fees stems from the illegal surcharges levied by prefectures and counties. To eliminate abuses one must cut off the source; strictly forbidding illegal surcharges is truly the first step in severing the root of corruption. He asked that all grain-transport provinces be instructed to itemize each abuse clearly and enforce strict prohibition, so that transport soldiers and granary officials would no longer entertain hopes of profiting from the old ways." The throne commended his sincere effort to root out corruption. Hu Guanlan, prefect of Changzhou, had cultivated ties with Zheng Rui, the salt controller, and his chief attendant Gao Bolin, and imposed levies to repair Guangfu Temple in Jiangyin. Yue Qi memorialized that although Guanlan and Bolin had been dismissed, this was still not enough to satisfy public opinion; he asked that the more than twenty thousand strings of cash be recovered from the two men in equal shares to repair Suzhou's official roads and bridges. Li Yandeng, magistrate of Dantu, had prompted local gentry to praise his record so he might be kept in office; finding him unfit for his post, Yue Qi impeached and dismissed him.
6
In the fifth year he served as acting governor-general of the Two Jiangs. He impeached Zhuang Gang, Liu Pu, and other Southern Canal engineering officials for embezzlement and fraud; Mo Yun had opened shops at his post to ship goods to the worksites and profiteer by hoarding—all were punished according to law. Surplus tax silver at the Yangzhou customs he kept none of for himself but remitted in full; he audited and cut the miscellaneous surplus funds of the two provincial treasuries and reported the actual silver on hand to the ministry—all were referred to the ministries for deliberation and implementation. In the sixth year he memorialized to dredge and build the river channels and dikes below Maochengpu, the upper Yongcheng Hong River, and the interior river dikes in Xia and Dang, borrowing treasury funds for the work and recovering the cost over five years by assessment per mu of land—the request was approved.
7
In the eighth year he came to court, remained in the capital because of illness, and served as acting vice minister of Rites. When Empress Xiaoshu was moved to the imperial tomb, he was punished because a joint memorial he signed used improper language; he was stripped of rank but kept at his post. Shortly afterward he was ordered to relinquish his acting appointment, and he died. The emperor deeply mourned his loss, posthumously granted him the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and bestowed condolence gifts according to precedent.
8
歿 歿 歿
He left no son; the throne ordered an inquiry into his estate and found only four rooms and seventy-six mu of land. By precedent, when a banner official died without heirs his property reverted to the state. Because Yue Qi's household had been upright and poor, the estate was left to support his wife; when she died the government took charge of the property to provide for sacrifices, tomb sweeping, and grave maintenance. Such favor was unprecedented. His wife was equally stern and upright; while Yue Qi was governor he went in person one day to inventory the household of Bi Yuan. He returned at dusk slightly tipsy from wine. His wife said sternly, "Master Bi was lost to wine and women and could not preserve his household; you are still busy guarding yourself against such ruin—will you now imitate him?" Yue Qi apologized to her. When he reached the capital he had no house of his own; he fell ill and died in a Buddhist temple, and his wife lived out her days by spinning. The people of Wu cherished his memory above all, calling him "Yue the Blue Heaven," setting his praise to song, and saying he could stand in the line of Tang Bin.
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西 調使
Jing Daoqian, whose style was Jianzhong, came from Linjin in Shanxi. In the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong he passed the provincial examinations, was selected in the great assignment as magistrate, served in Hunan, and held office in Mayang, Longshan, Dong'an, Yongshun, Cili, and Jingzhou in turn. Wherever he served he brought benevolent rule, abolished petty abuses, and righted wrongful convictions. At Jingzhou he relieved famine and saved countless lives; he repeatedly received top evaluations from the throne. In the forty-seventh year he was transferred to be subprefect of Ningxia in Gansu; when he came to court, Grand Secretary Liu Yong, who had once served as Hunan governor, said of him, "The foremost incorrupt official." His fame was established from that day. Soon he served as acting subprefect of Shifeng Fort; though war was underway he did not neglect his duties, restored irrigation works, and was again recommended as outstanding and placed on the promotion list. In the fifty-fourth year he was promoted to prefect of Chizhou in Anhui, repeatedly acted as intendant of Huai, Ningguo, Chizhou, and Taiping, managed the Wuhu customs house, kept none of the surplus for himself, and devoted it to famine relief. Transferred to Anqing, where Governor Zhu Gui especially trusted him and memorialized in his favor, he was promoted to intendant of Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Qingzhou in Shandong and acted as provincial administration commissioner. He made it his mission to purge corruption and elevate the upright, recommending honest officials such as Cui Yinghuai and Li Ruheng while impeaching the undisciplined.
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使 使 便 沿 宿 調
In the second year of Jiaqing he was appointed provincial judge. In the fourth year he was appointed Jiangsu provincial administration commissioner. Previously the salaries, runner provisions, and courier-station funds retained by prefectures and counties had been remitted to the provincial treasury and disbursed only after memorialized settlement; this was meant to prevent clerks from embezzling funds, but over time remittance came with illegal surcharges and disbursement with short weights. Some funds were seized to cover predecessors' deficits; assistant instructors and minor educational officials went unpaid; courier service fell under the provincial judge; others harshly rejected documents to extort gifts, and the postal system fell ever further into decay. When Jing Daoqian came to court he stated these abuses in person and asked that disbursement follow the established regulations at the time of collection by prefectures and counties, sparing the trouble of remittance and requisition. Emperor Renzong approved; he now memorialized and the reform was implemented, to the benefit of the entire realm. The court wished to reform grain transport; because Governor Yue Qi and Jing Daoqian both enjoyed reputations for integrity, it charged them to purge all abuses. Three months after taking office he was promoted to governor of Anhui; he memorialized to forbid illegal surcharges on grain transport, including the old wastage levy of one dou per unit, granting transport soldiers five sheng with an additional two sheng. What the transport soldiers received could be verified by clear records; the illegal surcharges they collected along the route he had learned through investigation and should be prohibited and abolished. An edict ordered his proposals permanently enforced in all grain-transport provinces. He also wrote: "Garrison fields exist to support transport, yet how much land is assigned to each soldier and what rent grain is due—the newly enrolled banner transport soldiers cannot make sense of it. He ordered the grain intendant to publish wooden placards so enrolled soldiers could identify their fields and collect rent. For funds paid to transport boats he had plain receipts printed so soldiers collected payment in person, to stop proxy collection and intimidation. Field registers were kept by the grain intendant, with duplicate copies sent to each garrison for inspection." All was approved for implementation. When Suzhou, Lingbi, and Sizhou suffered floods, Jing Daoqian went in person to supervise the relief stations. In the sixth year he asked to retire on grounds of illness; the throne permitted him to leave office to recuperate and, when recovered, to come to the capital awaiting appointment. In the third month of the following year an edict inquired after his health; he had already died at Anqing; the emperor mourned his loss, granted sacrificial rites, and conferred provincial graduate status on his grandson Wen.
11
歿
Jing Daoqian had risen from surveillance commissioner to governor in less than three years; he pursued reform ever more urgently, shrank from no enmity, and lived in austere self-discipline. Near death he summoned former colleagues to his bedside, pointed to gold beneath the bed, and said, "I have received great favor from the throne and saved several thousand taels of my integrity stipend—enough to bring my body home. You have always been fond of me—do not collect funeral contributions on my behalf." He also called his elder brother and said, "Brother, you are kind but weak—do not let anyone persuade you to accept contributions against my wish." His brother did as he asked.
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西 調 使 西使 調
Xie Qikun, whose style was Yunshan, came from Nankang in Jiangxi. A metropolitan graduate who ranked first in the palace examination, he was selected as a Hanlin bachelor and appointed compiler. He presided over the Henan provincial examination and served on the metropolitan examination board; both produced worthy graduates. In the thirty-seventh year he was posted as prefect of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu and then transferred to Yangzhou. He was skilled in administration, held firm and upright principles, and was not swayed when superiors disagreed. He was stripped of office and banished to a military garrison for proceeding too slowly in the Dongtai treason case involving Xu Shukui's poetry. He soon purchased restoration of his former rank and remained in Jiangnan. During mourning for his father he was recalled from mourning to serve as acting prefect of Ningguo in Anhui; he mourned his mother as well; when mourning ended he claimed illness and long declined to take office. In the fifty-fifth year he was specially promoted to Jiangnan river-treasury intendant and appointed Zhejiang provincial judge. In the sixtieth year he was appointed Shanxi provincial administration commissioner. Prefectural and county treasuries had accumulated deficits of more than eight hundred thousand taels; in less than a year he made them all good. Emperor Gaozong marveled at his talent; because Zhejiang's revenue deficits were especially large, he was specially transferred there. Over three years he likewise made good half the deficits.
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西 滿 仿 西
Guangxi had forty-six native chieftaincies whose livelihoods grew ever more strained; they borrowed from Han settlers and invariably pledged their fields in settlement. Xie Qikun requested a ban on usurious exploitation, with violators punished by law. Fields were returned to the chieftains; those unable to redeem immediately would regain their land once rent collected equaled principal plus interest, with five years as the limit; He did not bar Han settlers from entering Miao territory because he judged the natives simple and tractable, local products were scarce, and commerce was needed to circulate goods. Adopting the Zhejiang seacoast practice of stone packed in bamboo baskets, he built the Xing'an Steep River stone dike to end the flood hazard. Once the channel ran deep and clear, copper transport boats that had needed a month to pass Steep River now completed the passage in three days. In the seventh year he died in office. The throne praised his integrity and granted three thousand taels from the surplus he had saved at the Xun and Wu customs posts toward his funeral. The gentry and people of Guangxi asked that he be enshrined in the local temple of eminent officials.
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西西
Xie Qikun won early fame for his literary attainments, possessed broad learning and a formidable memory, and was especially accomplished as a poet. He wrote the Shujingtang Collection, the History of the Western Wei, and the Study of Elementary Learning, and late in life finished the Guangxi General Gazetteer, works widely admired in his day.
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殿 西
Li Diantu, whose style was Huanfu, came from Gaoyang in Zhili. In the thirty-first year of Qianlong he passed the metropolitan examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and was appointed compiler. He presided over the Hunan provincial examination and was promoted to censor. He served as Guangxi education intendant and was promoted to supervising secretary.
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殿 殿 殿
In the forty-ninth year, when the Gansu Muslim rebellion broke out, he followed Agui and Fuk'anggan to the front to manage grain funds and courier stations and was appointed intendant of Gong, Qin, and Jie. As the campaign wound down, Han and Muslim communities were at odds; arson, looting, and reprisals spread, and rumors constantly flared. Diantu responded with calm; where rebel factions were implicated by association, he released women and children as circumstances warranted; households that had suffered harm received relief as needed, and displaced people gradually settled down. The Zhuotu chieftain disputed the boundary of Gagagu Mountain with the Songpan and Zhangla tribes of Sichuan. Diantu rode out lightly to survey on foot, crossing the Little Tao River, Zhangba Ridge, and Parrot Pass—places scarcely touched by travelers—with tribal guides; he settled the dispute in a few words, erected a boundary stone atop Dayu Mountain, and returned. In his leisure Emperor Gaozong studied whether the Jing and Wei were clear or turbid at their sources and ordered Diantu to inspect them in person. From Qinzhou he traced the rivers upstream to Bird-and-Rat and Kongtong, submitted maps with explanatory notes, and the throne praised their thoroughness.
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使使 殿
In the sixtieth year he was appointed Fujian provincial judge, and in the third year of Jiaqing he was promoted in place to provincial administration commissioner. He submitted a memorial: 'Under Qianlong, farming households routinely kept three or four mules and horses for cultivation. Later officials borrowed them for corvée duty, and abuse gradually spread; this practice should be abolished outright. Cases must be heard and concluded promptly; only by releasing the innocent can ordinary people live in peace. Grain in the ever-normal granaries, stored too long, breeds corruption: the people gain nothing while the public stores already take the loss. In years without disaster, grain should not be lent out. Clerks and runners have fixed quotas, yet lately men seek posts under them to escape corvée and tax service. At customs posts and ferry tolls, magistrates' chief attendants gather cronies and turn the places into dens of fraud; these abuses should be banned as well.' The throne ordered every province to investigate and enforce the ban. In Fujian, land sales distinguish surface rights from root tenure, and disputes often remain unsettled. Corrupt clerks falsified records, tenants defied payment, and tax collections fell ever further short; officials papered over shortfalls with false clearances, deepening the deficit. Diantu memorialized for stern punishment. After little more than a year in office, treasury reserves rose sharply.
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調 殿調西 殿 殿
He was promoted to governor of Anhui, and in the seventh year was transferred to Fujian. The great clans Lin, Chen, Lan, and Hu rallied armed factions; he punished them according to law. He suppressed the pirate Sanjiaohu and Cai Qian's followers, and asked that naval officers killed at sea be enshrined together with constables who died in bandit suppression; the throne approved. In the eleventh year Cai Qian had still not been subdued. Because the Taiwan campaign was urgent, Emperor Renzong judged Diantu upright but unversed in military affairs and transferred him to Jiangxi. Soon an edict rebuked him for offering no counsel on military affairs and for failing to stop smuggling of grain, gunpowder, and supplies at the ports, and demoted him to a fourth- or fifth-rank post in the capital; and because his subordinates had long held prisoners without trial, he was further demoted to fill a post as Hanlin zhongyun or zanshan. He was soon made Hanlin lecturer, then cited illness and retired. In the seventeenth year he died. Early in the Guangxu reign, Fujian-Zhejiang governor-general Wen Yu memorialized that Diantu's record as Fujian administration commissioner had been outstanding, and he received the posthumous title Wensu.
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西使西使 西 調
Zhang Shicheng, whose style was Lanzhu, came from Gui'an in Zhejiang. During Qianlong's southern tour he was summoned for examination, granted provincial graduate status, appointed a Grand Secretariat drafter, and served on the Grand Council staff. He was promoted to principal clerk in the Ministry of Personnel, offended Heshen, and was demoted to drafter on a pretext. He took the metropolitan examination and in the fifty-fifth year passed it, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. In the first year of Jiaqing he was posted as prefect of Puzhou in Shanxi, then served as Yanping intendant, provincial judge of Henan and Jiangsu, and was appointed Shanxi provincial administration commissioner. Prefectural and county treasuries were often in deficit. Shicheng knew audits were mostly for show, so he was especially strict at handover: any shortfall had to be made up. After three years the stores were flush. In the eleventh year he was promoted to governor of Jiangxi. Because he also held the military governorship, he was granted the peacock feather, and thereafter the practice was fixed as precedent. He was soon transferred to Fujian, cleared the backlog of cases, and memorialized plans to root out long-standing abuses; the throne praised and encouraged him.
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退 調 祿
Pirates Cai Qian and Zhu Fen were then at their height. Governor Yu De was removed for negligence. Alinbao succeeded him but again clashed with Regional Commander Li Changgeng; When Shicheng arrived he tightened harbor defenses, cut off shore collaborators who supplied the pirates, and stockpiled ships and arms, enabling Changgeng to press the campaign with full force. That winter Changgeng pursued Cai Qian in Guangdong waters and died of his wounds. Cai Qian raided Kavalan on Taiwan's eastern coast, was driven off by aboriginal tribes, and asked that the territory be registered lest pirates occupy it. In the thirteenth year Zhu Fen broke with Cai Qian, fled alone into Fujian waters, and was killed in action by regional commander Xu Songnian. Zhu Fen's younger brother Wo, cornered and ready to surrender, happened to rescue Circuit Intendant Dehua when Dehua was crossing from Taiwan and was ambushed by Cai Qian's men. Wo used the encounter to open peace talks, but soon afterward he fought Guangdong forces again and never submitted. In the fourteenth year Alinbao was transferred to the Two Jiangs, and Zhang Shicheng temporarily served as acting governor-general. When he learned that Cai Qian had fled into Zhejiang waters, he took personal command at Xiamen. Admirals Wang Delu and Qiu Lianggong joined the campaign, destroyed the pirate fleet, and Cai Qian fell into the sea and drowned. Zhu Wo soon led more than three thousand followers in surrender. Their crimes were pardoned, the coast was pacified, and the people of Fujian carved a commemorative stone on Wushi Mountain. The pirates had long escaped destruction because Fujian and Zhejiang could not act in concert. Only after Zhang Shicheng governed Fujian and Ruan Yuan returned to office in Zhejiang was the campaign finally brought to success. Emperor Renzong praised his rigorous blockade of pirate supply lines as the essential foundation for destroying the raiders. At the triennial capital inspection he received a special commendation for merit.
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調 西使 調 西
In the nineteenth year he was transferred to Jiangsu. Bai Ling was governor-general, and the other provincial governors all deferred to his wishes; Zhang Shicheng alone discharged his office conscientiously. Peng Ling had been ordered to investigate treasury shortfalls jointly with them, but he was at odds with Bai Ling and Zhang Shicheng and impeached both for taking bribes. He could not substantiate the charges, and the throne pardoned them. Meanwhile Bai Ling was vigorously prosecuting the literary-inquisition cases for seditious writings, and the common people lived in fear. The five prefectures and departments under the governor's jurisdiction were spared the worst of the turmoil. In Chuansha some commoners belonged to an incense-burning sect that proselytized disciples. Officials had them secretly arrested and sent to Jiangning for trial. Zhang Shicheng dispatched military runners to intercept the prisoners on the road and turned them over to the provincial judge for lawful hearing, sparing several dozen innocent people from execution. Contemporaries praised him for it. In the twenty-first year his father fell gravely ill. Without waiting for his successor he returned home, was severely censured, and was stripped of office. He was soon appointed Hanlin compiler; after his mourning period ended he was promoted to vice director of the Supervisorate of Education. He served in succession as provincial administration commissioner of Jiangxi and Anhui. In the first year of Daoguang he was promoted to governor of Guangdong, then transferred to Anhui, and left office to observe mourning for his stepmother. Afterward he served in succession as governor of Shanxi and Jiangsu. In the sixth year he was summoned to court and appointed vice minister of the grain transport offices. He petitioned to retire on grounds of illness, returned home, and died there.
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Zhang Shicheng was quick-witted and thorough in administration. Among frontier officials of his day he enjoyed a reputation for ability, and his service in Fujian was especially celebrated. His successor was Wang Shaolan.
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調 使使 使
Wang Shaolan, styled Nan'ai, was a native of Xiaoshan in Zhejiang. In the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong he passed the metropolitan examination, was appointed magistrate of Nanping in Fujian, and was later transferred to Min county. Governor Wang Zhiyi recommended his record in office. Emperor Renzong said, "Wang Shaolan is an excellent official. I have long heard his name." He was summoned for an audience, appointed at prefectural rank, and promoted to prefect of Quanzhou. Zhangzhou and Quanzhou were notorious for armed clan feuds. Under Shaolan's governance of Quanzhou popular customs gradually grew more orderly, while Zhangzhou prefects and magistrates were punished for mishandling feud cases. An edict held Shaolan up as the model to follow. He was promoted to intendant of the Xingquan Yong circuit, captured Cai Qian's adopted son Cai San and his follower Cai Chang among others, and received a merit citation. He was transferred to provincial judge, left office on his mother's death, and after mourning resumed his former post and was promoted in place to provincial administration commissioner. In the nineteenth year of Jiaqing he was promoted to governor and never left Fujian for the rest of his career. Before long Wang Zhiyi arrived as governor-general. He clashed with Administration Commissioner Li Gengyun, denounced him for taking bribes, and had him impeached and prosecuted. Subordinate officials took the hint and fabricated charges against him, and Gengyun hanged himself in despair. Wang Zhiyi was punished. Shaolan was censured for failing to set matters right and was dismissed by implication.
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From youth he loved learning and pursued the great principles of the classics and histories. After leaving office he devoted himself entirely to scholarship, taking Xu Shen and Zheng Xuan as his models. He applied himself especially to the Ceremonies and the Shuowen, and his writings are all works of lasting value.
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西調 使
Li Yichou, styled Shunian, was a native of Xiayi in Henan. In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong he passed the metropolitan examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and appointed reviser. In the palace examination he was transferred to a secretary in the Ministry of Rites, served as chief examiner for the Guizhou provincial examinations, and rose in succession to bureau director. In the fifty-seventh year he was appointed prefect of Ningwu in Shanxi, later transferred to Pingyang, and earned a reputation for effective governance. He served in succession as Jiangsu grain intendant and Shandong provincial judge. In the eleventh year of Jiaqing he was censured because a governor's recommendation of a subordinate had violated regulations. Implicated in the affair, he was demoted to Jiangnan river-treasury intendant.
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使 使宿 使 使
In the thirteenth year he was transferred to Anhui provincial judge. He handled cases with clarity and care and reversed many wrongful convictions. A Huoqiu man named Fan Shouzhi had married into the Gu family as a son-in-law. He and his wife quarreled, and he left home for a long time without returning. The county magistrate believed false rumors that Fan's wife had been intimate with a neighbor named Yang San. The case was tortured into shape, and the Gu woman, Yang San, her mother, her brother, and a hired laborer were all convicted of plotting Fan's murder as accomplices. There was in fact no corroborating evidence, but the five could not endure the torture and all confessed falsely. Yichou read the depositions, grew suspicious, and suddenly demanded, "You say the bones were burned. Yet there would still be organs and entrails—where did you dispose of them?" The prisoners could not answer and only wept prostrate on the ground. Yichou said in indignation, "This is a case of injustice!" He sent capable officers to investigate. At a household surnamed Chen they learned that on the night of the fifteenth of the first month Fan Shouzhi had stayed there, while the verdict held that he had been killed on the thirteenth. He then eased the prisoners' confinement and ordered a strict search for Fan Shouzhi. After a long while Fan Shouzhi suddenly returned on his own. He had fled far away to escape gambling debts and had not dared let his family know where he was. Only now, hearing that a major case had arisen, did he come back to give himself up. The truth came to light and the case was cleared. Yichou had long been childless. Once the case was resolved, his wife bore a son named Mingwan. The story spread among the people in praise of him, and was even adapted into opera. He was promoted in place to provincial administration commissioner.
27
西
In the eighteenth year he was promoted to governor of Zhejiang. Sect rebels in the metropolitan periphery had not yet been pacified. Some reported that bandits in Yan and Qu prefectures were practicing the Tiangan Society. The throne ordered Yichou to investigate strictly. Yichou arrested and questioned Ye Ji, Yao Hanji, and others. In truth they were only simple folk gathered to chant sutras and pray for blessings, with no trace of sedition. He convicted only a few ringleaders and released everyone else caught up in the case. An ever-growing number of vagabonds from Anhui and Jiangxi were coming to Zhejiang to lease hillsides for reclamation and farming. Censors asked that they be barred. Yichou memorialized that sudden expulsion was impractical and asked that they be sent home in stages over several years. The Emperor understood the difficulty and said, "This is not a simple matter. These wanderers have no fixed livelihood. Drive them from one province and they will drift to another; they cannot possibly make their way home." He ordered a gradual policy of settlement and support so that uprooted people might become permanent residents. Only then could the region be at peace.
28
鹿
He was soon appointed director-general of the grain transport. In five years in office he kept transport affairs running without a hitch. Yichou was by nature mild and treated his subordinates leniently. Because he had delegated transport duties too freely, he was demoted four ranks and assigned as a director in the Ministries of Personnel and Rites. He was impeached again when transport officers allowed boat hands to extort fees, and was demoted to secretary. In the twenty-fifth year, when the Xuanzong Emperor acceded to the throne, Yichou was ordered to guard the Chang Mausoleum with ministerial rank. In the second year of the Daoguang reign he retired at his original rank. In the nineteenth year he was again honored at the Luming banquet and made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. The following year father and son both appeared on the metropolitan lists when his son Mingwan passed the examinations. They attended the imperial grace banquet together, which was hailed as a singular honor. In the twenty-fourth year he died, at the age of ninety-one.
29
西 調 祿 西 使 西調
Qian Kai, styled Peishan, was a native of Jiaxing in Zhejiang. In the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong he passed the metropolitan examination, was selected as a Hanlin bachelor, and after leaving the academy was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue and served as a Grand Council clerical secretary. In the third year of Jiaqing he directed the Sichuan provincial examinations, served as Guangxi education intendant, returned to the capital, and still worked at the Grand Council. He was promoted to director in the Ministry of Rites, transferred to the Ministry of Justice, and enjoyed exceptional imperial favor. At the Beijing evaluation he was slated for an outside appointment, but was granted a promotion in rank and kept at his post. In the eleventh year an edict praised Kai's long and diligent service at court and appointed him to a capital post of the fourth or fifth rank. He served as Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. In the twelfth year the capital suffered drought. He memorialized citing the Han History's theory of seeking rain by restraining yang and releasing yin, and asked that work on the stone road outside Zhengyang Gate be halted. The throne replied, "Self-examination lies in real governance; there is no need to force conformity with the Five Phases," and his memorial was dismissed. He was repeatedly sent to try cases in Henan and Shanxi, reported his findings in turn, and neither wrongfully convicted nor improperly released anyone. He was appointed Henan provincial administration commissioner. In the fourteenth year he acted as governor and temporarily served as director-general of the Eastern Henan waterways. He was promoted and appointed governor of Guangxi, and soon transferred to Hubei.
30
西 使 沿 滿 沿 沿
In the sixteenth year he memorialized: "Foreign opium is entering China, and crafty merchants smuggle it in by ingenious concealment. Bandit gangs in eastern and western Guangdong are largely organized through this trade, and banditry has grown fiercer as a result. He asked that the customs supervisors of Fujian and Guangdong and the coastal governors and governors-general strictly supervise customs officers in thorough inspection and punish offenders under the law with increased severity. Whenever inland sales were discovered, buyers were to be traced to their source without evasion or prevarication. Supervisors, commissioners, and local officials who failed to detect smuggling were all to be impeached together. Only by cutting off the supply entirely could the abuse be ended—this, he argued, was one way to strike at the roots of banditry." An edict was sent to coastal governors and governors-general to investigate and enforce the policy conscientiously. He was appointed Vice Minister of Revenue and concurrently directed the Currency Bureau. He memorialized on four points in Hubei affairs that required adjustment: grain from nearby Jingzhou should supply Manchu garrison rations, with the remainder transferred to the northern transport system; along the river, sandbar land purchased by contract should be allowed to be farmed and taxed; where no contract existed it should be treated as government land and leased to tenant farmers; the newly established provincial military commander should be stationed in Xiangyang prefectural city; northern Hubei all consumed Huai salt, and Xiangyang, Yichang, and other prefectures should consider lowering prices. The proposals were referred for joint deliberation. Only the sandbar land measure was adopted; the rest were set aside as impracticable.
31
調 調
He was again sent out to serve as acting governor of Henan. The outlaw Wang Kuazi incited hungry peasants in Nanyang to rise in disorder, and the affair grew into a major criminal case. When Kai took up his post, he memorialized: "In the Nanyang bandit case, my predecessor En Chang reported circumstances in his successive memorials that did not match the original reports, and he handled the matter with excessive severity. The prefectural, department, and county officials had not slackened in hunting down offenders, and their reputations had ordinarily been good. Yet the more than twenty men now proposed for strangulation pending the autumn review should all be confirmed for execution at next year's review—I cannot know this and remain silent. The Emperor replied: "Whether to order immediate execution is a matter the court will weigh when the time comes; subordinates are not entitled to decide it in advance. The local officials deserve the blame they bear—how can they be restored to favor? Kai was rebuked for impropriety in his memorial and for coming close to meddlesome zeal. He was transferred and appointed vice minister of the Ministry of Works. Soon afterward he was appointed governor of Anhui. When the She County student licentiate Zhang Liangbi was convicted of causing death in the crime of harvesting from living victims, Kai was ordered to conduct the inquiry in person. His proposed sentence failed to apply the statute for death by slicing and was unduly lenient; the Ministry deliberated demoting him one rank and transferring him, but this was revised to a two-rank demotion with retention in office. In the seventeenth year he died. An edict said: "Kai has long served diligently in the Grand Council and earned merit; since he was appointed to a provincial post, his rule has been calm and orderly. His mother Cheng was more than seventy years old, and his heir was still a child. Deeply moved, the court granted special condolence payments."
32
滿 使輿 西調 使 調 使
He Shunwu, of the Ilari clan, was a Manchu bannerman of the Bordered Blue Banner. He was an Imperial College student and, through examination, received appointment as a copyist in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He rose in succession to outside secretary in the Metropolitan Infantry Command. For his skill in adjudicating cases he received merit citation, was promoted to director in the Ministry of War, and concurrently held a garrison assistant commandant's post. In the fifteenth year of Jiaqing he was appointed Jiangsu intendant for salt administration. He was promoted in succession to provincial administration commissioner of Shandong, where he tightened official discipline and won widespread praise. In the twenty-second year he was promoted to governor of Shanxi and then transferred to Henan. When the provincial administration commissioner Wu Bangqing memorialized to build a sluice dam where the Zhang and Wei rivers join, He Shunwu argued: "When the Zhang swells, its current is swift and fierce—no single gate can contain it. Water will spill around the gate and silt will accumulate, choking the Wei River's outlet. He memorialized to abandon the project and maintain the established practice of annual dredging of the Dougong River to sustain salt transport; the proposal was approved. A year later he was transferred to Shandong. Emperor Renzong had heard of his reputation when he had served as provincial administration commissioner, and for that reason appointed him again. Shandong custom was litigious, and because the province lay close to the capital, people often rushed to file appeals in Beijing. When He Shunwu returned to office, lawsuits fell sharply, and the court issued a special edict of commendation. He memorialized to clear the backlog of capital appeals, directing the governor, treasurer, and provincial judge each to conduct interrogations, setting monthly quotas for which each was to report separately to the throne. He also asked to revise temporarily the statutes on theft and harborers of bandits with heavier sentences, to be restored when robbery abated—all was approved. By year's end more than a thousand backlog cases had been concluded, and he received preferential merit citation. At the metropolitan performance review he again received merit citation. In the twenty-fourth year he died. The Emperor grieved deeply, granted lavish condolence by edict, posthumously invested him with governor-general rank, and gave him the posthumous title Gongjin.
33
殿簿
The commentators say: At the beginning of Emperor Renzong's reign, incorrupt officials were especially prized. Yue Qi and Jing Daoqian, with their upright conduct and solid administration, stood foremost among them. Xie Qikun and Zhang Shicheng, with talent and accomplishment, rose above their contemporaries: all were commanding figures among provincial governors. Li Diantu, Li Yichou, and Qian Kai were likewise praised for prudent clarity and kindly rule; He Shunwu, through excellence in administrative work, won rare posthumous honors. Wang Shaolan was cast down for a single fault, yet in later years mastered the classical learning: was it not a life in which fortune and misfortune were strangely mingled?
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