Volume 363 Biographies 150: Cao Zhenyong, Wen Fu, Ying He, Wang Ding, Mu Zhanga, Pan Shien

列傳一百五十

Biographies 150

曹振鏞文孚英和王鼎穆彰阿潘世恩

Cao Zhenyong, Wen Fu, Ying He, Wang Ding, Mu Zhanga, and Pan Shien

曹振鏞，字儷笙，安徽歙縣人，尚書文埴子。乾隆四十六年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。大考三等，高宗以振鏞大臣子，才可用，特擢侍講。累遷侍讀學士。嘉慶三年，大考二等，遷少詹事。父憂歸，服闋，授通政使。歷內閣學士，工部、吏部侍郎。十一年，擢工部尚書。高宗實錄成，加太子少保。調戶部，兼翰林院掌院學士。十八年，調吏部尚書、協辦大學士。尋拜體仁閣大學士，管理工部，晉太子太保。二十五年，仁宗崩，樞臣撰遺詔，稱高宗誕生於避暑山莊，編修劉鳳誥知其誤，告振鏞，振鏞召對陳之，宣宗怒，譴罷樞臣。尋命振鏞為軍機大臣。宣宗治尚恭儉，振鏞小心謹慎，一守文法，最被倚任。

Cao Zhenyong, whose style was Lisheng, came from She County in Anhui and was the son of the minister Wen Zhi. He earned his jinshi degree in the forty-sixth year of the Qianlong reign, entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationer, and received appointment as a compiler. When he placed in the third class in the palace examination, the Qianlong Emperor judged that Zhenyong, as a senior minister's son with usable talent, deserved a special promotion to expositor. He rose step by step to reader-in-waiting of the Hanlin Academy. In the third year of the Jiaqing reign he placed second class in the palace examination and was made junior tutor of the heir apparent. After returning home to mourn his father and completing the mourning period, he was appointed commissioner of the Office of Transmission. He served in turn as a grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat and as vice minister of both the Ministries of Works and Personnel. In the eleventh year he was promoted to minister of works. After the Veritable Records of the Qianlong Emperor were completed, he received the additional title of junior guardian of the heir apparent. He was moved to the Ministry of Revenue and concurrently served as chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. In the eighteenth year he became minister of personnel and assistant grand secretary. Shortly afterward he was made grand secretary of the Tiren Hall, put in charge of the Ministry of Works, and promoted to grand guardian of the heir apparent. In the twenty-fifth year the Jiaqing Emperor died. The Grand Council drafted the testamentary edict to say that the Qianlong Emperor had been born at the Mountain Resort. The compiler Liu Fenggao knew this was wrong and informed Zhenyong, who raised it in audience. The Daoguang Emperor was furious and censured and removed the Grand Councilors. Soon afterward Zhenyong was appointed to the Grand Council. The Daoguang Emperor prized respectful frugality in government. Zhenyong was cautious and scrupulous in observing regulations, and no one was more trusted.

道光元年，晉太子太傅、武英殿大學士。三年，萬壽節，幸萬壽山玉瀾堂，賜宴十五老臣，振鏞年齒居末，特命與宴繪像。四年，充上書房總師傅。六年，入直南書房。七年，回疆平，晉太子太師。八年，張格爾就擒，晉太傅，賜紫韁，圖形紫光閣，列功臣中。振鏞具疏固辭，詔凡軍機大臣別繪一圖，以遂讓功之心，而彰輔弼之效。御製贊曰：「親政之始，先進正人。密勿之地，心腹之臣。問學淵博，獻替精醇。克勤克慎，首掌絲綸。」親書以賜之。十一年，以萬壽慶典賜雙眼花翎。

In the first year of the Daoguang reign he was promoted to grand tutor of the heir apparent and grand secretary of the Wuying Hall. In the third year, on the emperor's birthday, he visited the Yulan Hall on Longevity Hill and feasted fifteen elderly ministers. Though Zhenyong was the youngest among them, he was specially commanded to attend the banquet and sit for a portrait. In the fourth year he was made chief tutor of the Upper Study. In the sixth year he took up regular duty in the Southern Study. In the seventh year, after the pacification of the Western Regions, he was promoted to grand preceptor of the heir apparent. In the eighth year, after Jahangir Khoja was captured, he was made grand tutor, granted a purple bridle, and had his portrait placed in the Hall of Purple Splendor among the dynasty's meritorious officials. Zhenyong submitted a memorial firmly declining the honor. The emperor ordered that each Grand Councilor be given a separate portrait, thereby honoring his wish to yield credit while making clear the value of his service. The emperor composed an encomium that read: "At the start of his personal rule, he first advanced upright men. In the innermost councils, a trusted confidant. His learning was broad and deep, and his counsel to the throne was refined and exact. Diligent and careful, he was foremost in drafting imperial edicts." The emperor wrote it in his own hand and bestowed it upon him. In the eleventh year he received double-eyed peacock feathers in honor of the emperor's birthday celebration.

十五年，卒，年八十有一。自繕遺疏，附摺至十餘事。上震悼，詔曰：「大學士曹振鏞，人品端方。自授軍機大臣以來，靖恭正直，歷久不渝。凡所陳奏，務得大體。前大學士劉統勳、硃珪，於乾隆、嘉慶中蒙皇祖、皇考鑑其品節，賜諡文正。曹振鏞實心任事，外貌訥然，而獻替不避嫌怨，朕深倚賴而人不知。揆諸諡法，足以當'正'字而無媿。其予諡文正。」入祀賢良祠。擢次子恩★K9四品卿。

In the fifteenth year he died at the age of eighty-one. He drafted his own final memorial, attaching more than ten supplementary memorials on state affairs. The emperor was deeply grieved and issued an edict: "Grand Secretary Cao Zhenyong was upright in character. From the time he joined the Grand Council he had been respectful and upright, and remained so through the years. In everything he submitted to the throne, he kept sight of the larger principles of governance. Former grand secretaries Liu Tongxun and Zhu Gui had been recognized for their character by the Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors and granted the posthumous title Wenzheng. Cao Zhenyong served with complete sincerity. Though he seemed dull in manner, he never shrank from candid counsel even when it bred resentment. I relied on him deeply, yet the world scarcely knew it. By the standards of posthumous titles, he fully merits the character zheng without question. Let him be granted the posthumous title Wenzheng." He was enshrined in the Shrine of Worthy Officials. His second son Engang was promoted to a fourth-rank court official.

振鏞歷事三朝，凡為學政者三，典鄉會試者各四。衡文惟遵功令，不取淹博才華之士。殿廷禦試，必預校閱，嚴於疵累忌諱，遂成風氣。凡纂修會典、兩朝實錄、河工方略、明鑑、皇朝文穎、全唐文，皆為總裁。駕謁諸陵及秋狝木蘭，每命留京辦事。臨雍視學，命充直講。恩眷之隆，時無與比。數請停罷不急工程，撙節糜費。世以鹽筴起家，及改行淮北票法，舊商受損，振鏞曰：「焉有餓死之宰相家？」卒贊成，世特以稱之。

Zhenyong served three reigns, held the education commissionership three times, and presided over the provincial and metropolitan examinations four times each. In examining candidates he adhered strictly to the examination regulations and did not favor men of broad learning or literary brilliance. He always took part in reviewing palace examination papers, enforcing strict rules against flaws and tabooed expressions until this became the prevailing custom. He served as chief editor of the Collected Statutes, the Veritable Records of two reigns, the Records of River Works, the Mirror of the Ming, the Literary Collection of the Dynasty, and the Complete Tang Prose. Whenever the emperor visited the imperial tombs or went on the autumn hunt at Mulan, Zhenyong was left in the capital to manage affairs. When the emperor personally inspected study at the Imperial Academy, he was appointed lecturer on duty. The favor shown him had no equal in his day. He repeatedly urged the suspension of nonessential projects and the curbing of wasteful spending. His family was known to have risen through the salt trade. When the Huai-north ticket system was introduced and established merchants suffered losses, Zhenyong said, "Could a prime minister's household ever starve?" In the end he endorsed the reform, and posterity especially praised him for it.

文孚，字秋潭，博爾濟吉特氏，滿洲鑲黃旗人。由監生考授內閣中書，充軍機章京。嘉慶四年，從那彥成赴陝西治軍需。八年，隨扈秋狝，校射中四矢，賜花翎。十一年，以在直勤，擢四五品京堂，授內閣侍讀學士。歷鴻臚寺卿、通政司副使。命履勘綏遠城渾津、黑河鹼地改徵，及大青山牧廠餘地招墾事。十三年，予副都統銜，充西寧辦事大臣。疏言：「青海蒙、番，重利輕命。自來命盜諸案，一經罰服，怨仇消釋。若必按律懲辦，不第犯事之家仇隙相尋，被害者心反觖望，相習成風，不可化誨。溯蒙、番內附以來，雍正十一年大學士鄂爾泰等議纂番例頒行，聲明俟五年後始依內地律例辦理。乾隆年間疊經展限，茲复奉命詳議。臣以為番、民糾結滋擾，或情同叛逆，或關係邊陲大局，自應從嚴懲辦。若其自相殘殺及盜竊之案，向以罰服完結，相安巳久。必繩以內地法律，轉恐愚昧野番，群疑滋懼，非綏服邊氓之道。」疏入，下軍機大臣議行。

Wen Fu, whose style was Qiutan, was a Borjigit Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner. Through the student-of-the-academy examination he was appointed a secretarial clerk of the Grand Secretariat and served on the Grand Council staff. In the fourth year of the Jiaqing reign he accompanied Nayancheng to Shaanxi to manage military supplies. In the eighth year he accompanied the autumn hunt, scored four hits in the archery trial, and was granted peacock feathers. In the eleventh year, for his diligence on duty, he was promoted to a fourth- or fifth-rank capital post and made reader-in-waiting of the Grand Secretariat. He served in turn as director of the Court of State Ceremonial and as vice commissioner of the Office of Transmission. He was ordered to survey on site the reassessment of alkaline lands at Hunjin and Heihe near Suiyuan, and the recruitment of settlers for unused pasture lands on the Great Green Mountain. In the thirteenth year he received the rank of vice commander-in-chief and was appointed commissioner for Xining affairs. In a memorial he wrote: "The Mongols and Tibetans of Qinghai value profit over life. In homicide and robbery cases, once a fine was paid and accepted, grievances were ordinarily laid to rest. If every case were punished strictly under inland law, vendettas would multiply among the families involved, victims would grow resentful rather than satisfied, and the custom would become ingrained beyond reform by instruction. Since the Mongols and Tibetans submitted, in the eleventh year of the Yongzheng reign Grand Secretary Ortai and others had compiled frontier regulations for promulgation, declaring that inland statutes would apply only after five years. During the Qianlong reign the deadline had been extended again and again; now he was again ordered to deliberate the matter in detail. Your servant holds that when Tibetans and local people entangle in disturbances, cases resembling rebellion or bearing on frontier security should naturally be punished severely. Cases of mutual killing among themselves or ordinary theft have long been settled by fines, and this arrangement has kept the peace. To bind them strictly to inland law would only make ignorant frontier Tibetans grow suspicious and fearful, which is not the way to pacify border peoples." When the memorial reached the throne, it was referred to the Grand Council for deliberation and implementation.

十六年，召回京，授鑲白旗滿洲副都統。偕內閣學士阮元勘議山西鹽務，疏請停止吉蘭泰鹽官運，改並潞商引額，以潞引之有餘，補吉課之不足，吉鹽許民撈販，限制水運至皇甫川而止，下部議行。尋授內閣學士，遷刑部侍郎。十八年，緣事降調，予二等侍衛，命赴山東治軍需。复授內閣學士，歷山海關副都統、馬蘭鎮總兵、錦州副都統。二十年，召授刑部侍郎。二十四年。命在軍機大臣上學習行走。偕侍郎帥承瀛赴山東鞫獄，並勘蘭儀決口，督濬引河。次年春，竣工，予議敘。調戶部，又調工部，擢左都御史。宣宗即位，以樞臣撰擬遺詔不慎，先後罷直，文孚獨留。道光二年，命往陝西按鞫渭南縣民柳全璧毆斃人命獄，論知縣徐潤受人囑託、疏脫正兇、事後得贓，枷號兩月，遣戍伊犁；升任西安知府鄧廷楨偏執枉縱，訊無貪酷，革職免發遣；巡撫硃勳失察，議革職，降四五品京堂。四年，仁宗實錄成，加太子太保。

In the sixteenth year he was recalled to the capital and appointed vice commander-in-chief of the Manchu Bordered White Banner. Together with Grand Secretary Ruan Yuan he investigated Shanxi salt affairs and memorialized to end official transport of Jilantai salt, merging its quota into that of the Lu merchants so that Lu surpluses could cover Jilantai shortfalls, while allowing locals to scoop and sell Jilantai salt and limiting water transport to Huangfu River. The ministries approved and implemented the plan. Soon afterward he was made a grand secretary and transferred to vice minister of justice. In the eighteenth year he was demoted over an affair, given the post of second-rank bodyguard, and sent to Shandong to manage military supplies. He was again made a grand secretary and served in turn as vice commander-in-chief at Shanhaiguan, commander at Malan Garrison, and vice commander-in-chief at Jinzhou. In the twentieth year he was recalled and appointed vice minister of justice. In the twenty-fourth year, he was ordered to study and serve on the Grand Council staff. Together with Vice Minister Shuai Chengying he went to Shandong to try cases, surveyed the breach at Lanyi, and supervised dredging of the diversion channel. The following spring the work was completed, and he was recommended for commendation. He was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, then to the Ministry of Works, and promoted to left censor-in-chief. When the Daoguang Emperor ascended the throne, the Grand Councilors were removed one after another for carelessly drafting the testamentary edict, but Wen Fu alone remained on the council. In the second year of the Daoguang reign he was sent to Shaanxi to try the case of Liu Quanbi of Weinan County, beaten to death. Magistrate Xu Run was found to have accepted entreaties, let the principal culprit go, and taken bribes afterward. He was cangued for two months and banished to Yili; Xi'an Prefect Deng Tingzhen, who had been promoted in the meantime, was found partial and wrongly lenient, though inquiry uncovered no corruption or cruelty. He was dismissed but exempted from banishment; Governor Zhu Xun was found negligent in oversight, recommended for dismissal, and demoted to a fourth- or fifth-rank capital post. In the fourth year, after the Veritable Records of the Jiaqing Emperor were completed, he received the additional title of grand guardian of the heir apparent.

南河阻運，詔責減黃蓄清；至十一月洪湖水多，啟壩而高堰、山盱石工潰決，命文孚偕尚書汪廷珍馳往按治，奏劾河督張文浩於禦黃壩應閉不閉，五壩應開不開，湖水過多，致石工掣塌萬餘丈，請遣戍伊犁；兩江總督孫玉庭徇隱回護，交部嚴議。議於禦黃壩外添建三壩，鉗束黃流。壩內外及束清、運口各壩兩岸築纖道，多作土壩，挑濬長河，幫培堤身，以利漕行。速挑引河，引清入運；堵閉束清壩，杜黃入湖；又議覆侍郎硃士彥條陳五事，由河臣勘辦。疏上，並依議行。命文孚等回京，責嚴烺、魏元煜辦理，而引黃濟運仍不得要領，河、漕交困。

When transport on the Southern Canal was blocked, an edict rebuked officials for failing to reduce Yellow River inflow and store clear water; By the eleventh month Hong Lake was overfull, sluices were opened, and the stone works at Gaoyan and Shanyu collapsed. Wen Fu and Minister Wang Tingzhen were sent posthaste to investigate. They impeached Director-General Zhang Wenhao for leaving the Yellow River control sluice closed when it should have been shut and the five sluices unopened when they should have been opened, allowing so much lake water that more than ten thousand zhang of stonework collapsed. They recommended banishing him to Yili; Liangjiang Governor-General Sun Yuting was found to have concealed and shielded wrongdoing, and the case was referred to the ministries for severe deliberation. They proposed building three additional sluices beyond the Yellow River control sluice to restrain the Yellow River current. They proposed building towpaths on both banks at the sluices inside and outside the control works and at the clear-water and transport mouths, constructing many earthen dams, dredging the main channel, and reinforcing embankments to aid the grain transport. Dredge the diversion channel quickly to lead clear water into the transport canal; block the clear-water control sluice to keep Yellow River water out of the lake; they also approved Vice Minister Zhu Shiyan's five-point memorial for investigation and implementation by the river officials. When the memorial reached the throne, all proposals were approved and carried out. Wen Fu and his colleagues were recalled to the capital, and Yan Liang and Wei Yuanyu were charged with carrying out the work, but diverting Yellow River water to aid transport still failed to succeed, leaving both river control and the grain transport system in distress.

八年，回疆底定，首逆就擒，晉太子太傅，賜紫韁，繪像紫光閣，御製贊有「和而不同，公正以清」之褒。十一年，以吏部尚書協辦大學士。十四年，拜東閣大學士，管理吏部。十五年，轉文淵閣大學士。以疾請解職，優詔慰諭，許罷直軍機。十六年，致仕。二十一年，卒，贈太保，諡文敬。

In the eighth year, after the Western Regions were pacified and the chief rebel captured, he was promoted to grand tutor of the heir apparent, granted a purple bridle, and had his portrait placed in the Hall of Purple Splendor. The emperor's encomium praised him with the words, "harmonious yet not conforming, upright and thereby clear." In the eleventh year he served as minister of personnel and assistant grand secretary. In the fourteenth year he was made grand secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and put in charge of the Ministry of Personnel. In the fifteenth year he was transferred to grand secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. When illness led him to request retirement, a gracious edict comforted him and allowed him to leave regular duty on the Grand Council. In the sixteenth year he retired from office. In the twenty-first year he died. He was posthumously awarded the title of grand guardian and given the posthumous name Wenjing.

英和，字煦齋，索綽絡氏，滿洲正白旗人，尚書德保子。少有俊才，和珅欲妻以女，德保不可。乾隆五十八年，成進士，選庶吉士，授編修，累遷侍讀。嘉慶三年，大考二等，擢侍讀學士。洎仁宗親政。知其拒婚事，嘉焉，遂鄉用，累遷內閣學士。五年，授禮部侍郎，兼副都統。六年，充內務府大臣，調戶部。以不到旗署為儀親王所糾，罷副都統。七年，直南書房。扈蹕木蘭，射鹿以獻，賜黃馬褂。授翰林院掌院學士。九年，帝幸翰林院，賜一品服，加太子少保，命在軍機大臣上學習行走。時詔稽巡幸五台典禮，英和疏言教匪甫平，民未蘇息，請俟數年後再議，上嘉納之。尋自請獨對，論大學士劉權之徇情慾保薦軍機章京袁煦，上不悅，兩斥之。遂罷直書房、軍機，降太僕寺卿。歷內閣學士，理籓院、工部侍郎。

Ying He, whose style was Xuzhai, was a Suochalu Manchu of the Plain White Banner and the son of the minister Debao. As a youth he showed outstanding talent. Heshen wished to marry him to his daughter, but Debao refused. In the fifty-eighth year of the Qianlong reign he passed the metropolitan examination, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, was appointed compiler, and rose in succession to reader-in-waiting. In the third year of the Jiaqing reign he placed second class in the palace examination and was made junior tutor in the Hanlin Academy. When the Jiaqing Emperor assumed personal rule, learning that he had refused the marriage alliance, the emperor approved and thereupon favored employing him, repeatedly promoting him until he reached grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat. In the fifth year he was appointed vice minister of Rites and concurrently vice commander-in-chief. In the sixth year he served as minister of the Imperial Household and was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. Because he failed to report to the banner yamen, he was impeached by Prince Yi and stripped of the vice commandership. In the seventh year he served on regular duty in the Southern Library. While accompanying the imperial procession to Mulan, he shot a deer and presented it to the emperor and was granted a yellow riding jacket. He was appointed chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. In the ninth year the emperor visited the Hanlin Academy, bestowed first-rank robes on him, added the title of junior guardian of the heir apparent, and ordered him to learn by serving among the Grand Councilors. At that time an edict ordered a review of the rites for imperial tours to Mount Wutai. Ying He memorialized that the teaching rebels had only just been suppressed and the people had not yet recovered, and asked that the matter be reconsidered after several years. The emperor praised and accepted his proposal. Soon afterward he requested a private audience and charged that Grand Secretary Liu Quanzhi had shown partiality in seeking to protect and recommend Grand Council clerk Yuan Xu. The emperor was displeased and reproached them both. He was then removed from regular duty in the Southern Library and on the Grand Council and demoted to director of the Court of the Imperial Stud. He served as grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat and as vice minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs and of the Ministry of Works.

數奉使出按事，河東鹽課歸入地丁，而蒙古鹽侵越內地，命偕內閣學士初彭齡往會巡撫察議。疏言：「非禁水運不能限制蒙鹽，非設官商不能杜絕私販。請阿拉善鹽祗由陸路行銷，河東鹽仍改商運。吉蘭泰鹽池所產亦招商運辦。」事詳鹽法志。兼左翼總兵，復為內務府大臣。十二年，偕侍郎蔣予蒲查南河料物加價，議準增添，仍示限制，從之。复直南書房。十三年，命暫在軍機大臣上行走，調戶部、武英殿。進高宗聖訓廟號有誤，坐降調內閣學士。尋遷禮部侍郎。十八年，隨扈熱河，會林清逆黨為變，命先回京署步軍統領。擒林清於黃村西宋家莊，實授步軍統領、工部尚書。滑縣平，复太子少保。

Several times he was sent on imperial commission to investigate affairs. The salt levies of Hedong had been incorporated into the land tax, but Mongol salt was encroaching on the interior, so he was ordered together with Grand Secretary Chu Pengling to join the governor in investigating and deliberating. He memorialized: "Without prohibiting transport by water, Mongol salt cannot be restricted; without establishing official merchants, private trafficking cannot be eliminated. I request that Alashan salt be sold only by land routes and that Hedong salt again be converted to merchant transport. Salt produced at the Jilantai salt ponds should also be opened to merchant transport." The matter is detailed in the Treatise on Salt Laws. He concurrently served as commander of the Left Wing and again became minister of the Imperial Household. In the twelfth year, together with Vice Minister Jiang Yupu, he investigated price increases for materials on the Southern Rivers. Increases were approved but limits were still set, and the proposal was adopted. He again served on regular duty in the Southern Library. In the thirteenth year he was ordered temporarily to serve among the Grand Councilors and was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue and the Wuying Hall. In submitting the temple name for the Qianlong Emperor's sacred instructions he made an error and was demoted to grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat. Soon afterward he was transferred to vice minister of Rites. In the eighteenth year, while accompanying the imperial procession to Rehe, he was caught up in Lin Qing's rebellion and ordered to return first to the capital and act as commander of the metropolitan banner brigade. Lin Qing was captured at Songjiazhuang west of Huangcun, and Ying He was formally appointed commander of the metropolitan banner brigade and minister of Works. When Huaxian was pacified, he again received the title of junior guardian of the heir apparent.

十九年。將開捐例，廷議不一。偕大學士曹振鏞等覆議，獨上疏曰：「理財之道，不外開源節流。大捐為權宜之計，本朝屢經舉行。但觀前事，即知此次未必大效。竊以開捐不如節用，開捐暫時取給，節用歲有所餘。請嗣後謁陵，或三年五年一舉行，民力可紓。木蘭秋狝，為我朝家法，然蒙古迥迥昔比，亦請間歲一行，於外籓生計所全實大。各處工程奉旨停止，每歲可省數十萬至百餘萬不等。天下無名之費甚多，苟於國體無傷，不得任其糜費。即如裁撤武職名糧，未必能禁武官不役兵丁，而驟增養廉百餘萬，應請敕下部臣詳查正項經費外，歷年增出各款，可裁則裁，可減則減，積久行之，國計日裕。至開源之計，不得以事涉言利，概行斥駁。新疆歲支兵餉百數十萬，為內地之累，其地金銀礦久經封閉，開之而礦苗旺盛，足敷兵餉；各省礦廠，亦應詳查興辦。又戶部入官地畝，請嚴催昇科，於國用亦有裨益。」疏入，詔以名糧巳飭覈辦，開礦流弊滋多，仍依眾議，豫工事例遂開。是歲調吏部，復命暫在軍機大臣上行走。

In the nineteenth year, as a sale of offices by subscription was about to be opened, court discussion was divided. Together with Grand Secretary Cao Zhenyong and others he replied to the deliberation, but alone submitted a memorial saying: "The way to manage finances is nothing beyond expanding revenue and cutting expenditure. Large-scale subscription sales are an expedient measure that our dynasty has repeatedly undertaken. But observing past events suffices to show that this occasion may not be greatly effective. I consider that opening subscription sales is inferior to economizing: subscription sales supply needs temporarily, while economizing yields surplus year by year. I request that hereafter imperial tomb visitations be held once every three or five years, so that the people's strength may be eased. The autumn hunt at Mulan is a house law of our dynasty, but the Mongols are far poorer than in former times; I also request that it be held in alternate years—a measure that would greatly preserve the livelihood of the outer dependencies. Engineering projects everywhere that edicts had ordered stopped could save several hundred thousand to more than a million taels each year. Unnamed expenses throughout the empire are many; if they do not harm the dignity of the state, they must not be allowed to waste funds wantonly. For example, abolishing nominal rations for military posts may not necessarily prevent military officers from requisitioning soldiers, yet suddenly increasing integrity-nurturing allowances by more than a million—I request an imperial order to the ministry to examine in detail, beyond regular budget items, all the additional items accumulated over the years; what can be cut, cut; what can be reduced, reduce; practiced over time, the state finances will daily grow ample. As for plans to expand revenue, one must not reject them outright merely because the matter touches on speaking of profit. Xinjiang annually expends more than a million taels in military pay, a burden on the interior; the gold and silver mines there have long been sealed—if opened and the ore veins flourish, they would suffice to cover military pay; mines in each province should also be investigated in detail and developed. Also, with regard to land acres confiscated to the Ministry of Revenue, I request strict urging to bring them onto the tax rolls, which would also benefit state revenue." When the memorial was submitted, an edict stated that nominal rations had already been ordered investigated and that opening mines would multiply abuses; still following the majority opinion, the subscription regulations for Henan engineering were thereupon opened. That year he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and again ordered temporarily to serve among the Grand Councilors.

二十五年，宣宗即位，命為軍機大臣，調戶部。宣宗方銳意求治，英和竭誠獻替。面陳各省府、州、縣養廉不敷辦公，莫不取給陋規，請查明分別存革，示以限制。上採其言，下疆吏詳議，而中外臣工多言其不可，詔停其議，遂罷直軍機，專任部務。道光二年，以戶部尚書協辦大學士，兼翰林院掌院學士。四年，仁宗實錄成，加太子太保。五年，洪澤湖決，阻運道，河、漕交敝，詔籌海運，疆臣率拘牽成例，以為不可。英和奏陳海運、折漕二事為救時之計，越日復上疏，略謂：「河、漕不能兼顧，惟有暫停河運以治河，僱募海船以利運，而任事諸臣未敢議行者，一則慮商船到津，難以交卸；一則慮海運既行，漕運員弁、旗丁、水手難以安插。」因陳防弊處置之策甚悉。詔下各省妥議，仍多諉為未便，惟江蘇巡撫陶澍力行之，撥蘇、松、常、鎮、太五屬漕米，以河船分次海運。六年八月，悉數抵天津，上大悅，詔嘉英和創議，予議敘，特賜紫韁以旌異之。

In the twenty-fifth year, when the Daoguang Emperor ascended the throne, he was appointed Grand Councilor and transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. The Daoguang Emperor was then keen to seek good governance, and Ying He devoted himself wholeheartedly to offering counsel and replacements. In audience he stated that integrity-nurturing allowances for prefectures, departments, and counties in each province were insufficient for official business and all were supplied from irregular fees; he requested investigation to distinguish what should be kept or abolished and to set limits. The emperor adopted his words and sent them down to the frontier officials for detailed deliberation, but officials at court and in the provinces largely said it was impossible. An edict halted the deliberation, and he was removed from regular duty on the Grand Council and devoted himself solely to ministry affairs. In the second year of the Daoguang reign he served as coordinating grand secretary with the rank of minister of Revenue and concurrently as chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. In the fourth year, when the Veritable Records of the Jiaqing Emperor were completed, he received the additional title of grand guardian of the heir apparent. In the fifth year Hong Lake burst, blocking the transport route, and river control and the grain transport system were both in distress. An edict ordered planning for sea transport, but frontier governors mostly clung to precedent and deemed it impossible. Ying He memorialized that sea transport and conversion of tribute grain were measures to save the time, and the next day submitted another memorial, stating roughly: "River control and the grain transport system cannot both be cared for at once; there is no choice but temporarily to halt river transport to control the river and hire sea vessels to aid transport. Yet the officials charged with the work did not dare propose action—on one hand fearing that when merchant vessels reached Tianjin, unloading would be difficult; on the other fearing that once sea transport was instituted, grain transport officials, banner transport personnel, and boatmen would be hard to resettle." He thereupon set forth measures to guard against abuses in full detail. An edict was sent down to each province for proper deliberation; most still pleaded inconvenience, but Jiangsu Governor Tao Shu vigorously implemented it, allocating tribute grain from the five subordinate districts of Su, Song, Chang, Zhen, and Tai and using river boats in separate batches for sea transport. In the eighth month of the sixth year all arrived at Tianjin. The emperor was greatly pleased. An edict praised Ying He for initiating the proposal, granted him recognition in service evaluation, and specially bestowed a purple bridle to mark his distinction.

張格爾犯回疆，英和疏陳進兵方略，籌備軍需，並舉長齡、武隆阿可任事，多被採用。七年，奏商人請於易州開採銀礦，詔斥其冒昧。調理籓院，罷南書房、內務府大臣。未幾，坐家人增租擾累，出為熱河都統。八年，命勘南河工程。回疆平，复太子少保。授寧夏將軍，以病請解職，允之。

When Jahangir Khoja invaded the Western Regions, Ying He memorialized on military strategy, provisioned army supplies, and also recommended Changling and Wulong'a as capable of handling affairs; much of his advice was adopted. In the seventh year he memorialized that merchants requested opening silver mines in Yizhou; an edict reprimanded him for presumption. He was transferred to the Court of Colonial Affairs and removed from the Southern Library and the Imperial Household. Before long, because his household servants raised rents and caused trouble, he was sent out as governor-general of Rehe. In the eighth year he was ordered to inspect Southern River engineering projects. When the Western Regions were pacified, he again received the title of junior guardian of the heir apparent. He was appointed general of Ningxia; on account of illness he requested release from office, and permission was granted.

初，營萬年吉地於寶華峪，命英和監修，嘗從容言漢文帝薄葬事，上稱善，議於舊制有所裁省，工竣，孝穆皇后奉安，優予獎敘。至是地宮浸水，譴責在事諸臣。詔以英和始終其事，責尤重，奪職，籍其家。逮訊，得開工時見有石母滴水，僅以土攔，議設龍鬚溝出水，英和未允狀，讞擬大辟，會太后為上言不欲以家事誅大臣，乃解發黑龍江充當苦差，子孫並褫職。十一年，釋回，复予子孫官。二十年。卒，贈三品卿銜。

Initially, when the eternal auspicious site was being built at Baohua Valley, Ying He was ordered to supervise construction. He once calmly spoke of Emperor Wen of Han's frugal burial; the emperor praised it, and it was discussed that the old regulations should be reduced somewhat. When the work was completed and Empress Xiaomu was enshrined, he received preferential rewards and recognition. At this time the underground palace was inundated, and the officials involved were censured. An edict stated that since Ying He had overseen the matter from beginning to end, his responsibility was especially heavy: his office was stripped and his household was confiscated. Upon arrest and interrogation, it was learned that at the start of construction dripping water was seen from rock strata and only earth was used to block it; a drainage canal was proposed but Ying He did not consent to the report. The sentence proposed execution, but the empress dowager spoke to the emperor, saying she did not wish to execute a great minister over a domestic matter. He was sent under guard to Heilongjiang to serve hard labor, and his descendants' offices were all stripped. In the eleventh year he was released and returned, and his descendants' offices were restored. In the twentieth year, he died and was posthumously granted the rank of third-grade chamberlain.

英和通達政體，遇事有為，而數以罪黜。屢掌文衡，愛才好士。自其父及兩子一孫，皆以詞林起家，為八旗士族之冠。子奎照，嘉慶十九年進士，歷官至禮部尚書、軍機大臣，緣事奪職，復起為左都御史；奎耀，嘉慶十六年進士，官至通政使，後為南河同知。奎照子錫祉，道光十五年進士，歷翰林院侍講學士，後官長蘆鹽運使。

Ying He understood the principles of governance and acted resolutely when matters arose, yet was several times dismissed for offenses. He repeatedly presided over literary examinations, loved talent, and honored scholars. From his father through his two sons and one grandson, all rose from the Hanlin Academy—the foremost scholar-official clan among the Eight Banners. His son Kuizhao, a metropolitan graduate in the nineteenth year of the Jiaqing reign, rose through offices to minister of Rites and Grand Councilor; on account of an affair his office was stripped, then he was restored as censor-in-chief on the left; Kuiyao, a metropolitan graduate in the sixteenth year of the Jiaqing reign, reached the office of commissioner of the Office of Transmission and later served as subprefect of the Southern Rivers. Kuizhao's son Xizhi, a metropolitan graduate in the fifteenth year of the Daoguang reign, served as junior tutor in the Hanlin Academy and later as transport commissioner of Changlu salt.

王鼎，字定九，陝西蒲城人。少貧，力學，尚氣節。赴禮部試至京，大學士王杰與同族，欲致之，不就。傑曰：「觀子品概，他日名位必繼吾後。」嘉慶元年，成進士，選庶吉士。丁母憂，服除，授編修。兩以大考升擢，累遷內閣學士。十九年，授工部侍郎。仁宗諭曰：「朕向不知汝，亦無人保薦。因閱大考考差文字，知汝學問。屢次召見奏對，知汝品行。汝是朕特達之知。」調吏部，兼署戶部、刑部。二十三年，兼管順天府尹事，复諭曰：「朕初意授汝督撫，今管順天府尹，猶外任也。且留汝在京，以備差往各省查辦事件。」自是數奉使出按事鞫獄。二十四年，調刑部，又調戶部。

Wang Ding, whose style was Dingjiu, was a native of Pucheng in Shaanxi. When young he was poor; he studied diligently and valued integrity. When he went to the capital for the Ministry of Rites examination, Grand Secretary Wang Jie was of the same clan and wished to bring him under his patronage, but he would not accept. Jie said: "Judging from your character and bearing, your name and rank in days to come will surely follow after mine." In the first year of the Jiaqing reign he passed the metropolitan examination and was selected as a Hanlin bachelor. Upon mourning for his mother, when the mourning period ended he was appointed compiler. Twice through the grand examination he was promoted, and he rose in succession to grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat. In the nineteenth year he was appointed vice minister of Works. The Jiaqing Emperor instructed him: "I had not known you before, nor had anyone recommended you. Through reading the examination-assignment essays from the grand examination, I learned your scholarship. Repeated summonses to audience and replies in memorial showed me your conduct. You are one whom I have personally discerned and recognized." He was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and concurrently acted as minister of Revenue and of Justice. In the twenty-third year he was additionally placed in charge of the Shuntian governor's affairs. Again the emperor instructed him: "My original intention was to appoint you governor-general; now managing the Shuntian governor's affairs is still an external appointment. And I am keeping you in the capital to be ready for commissions to investigate and handle affairs in the various provinces." From then on he was repeatedly sent on imperial commission to investigate affairs and try cases. In the twenty-fourth year he was transferred to the Ministry of Justice and then again to the Ministry of Revenue.

道光二年，河南儀工奏銷不實，解巡撫姚祖同任，命鼎偕侍郎玉麟往按，暫署巡撫。疏陳：「儀工用款至辦奏銷，與部例成規不符。乃以歷辦物料、土方價值，合之豫省成規，互相增減，於稭料、引河等款增銷一百三十萬，夫工、麻斤各款減銷一百三十萬，雖有通融，銀數仍歸實用。惟八子錢一款，以銀易錢，多於舊價，每兩提八十文充入經費，而於各員應繳之銀，一併扣算，實違定制。」疏入，命覈實報銷，而薄譴祖同。是年，擢左都御史，父憂歸。五年，服闋，以一品銜署戶部侍郎，授軍機大臣。

In the second year of the Daoguang reign, when Henan reported irregularities in accounting for ceremonial engineering expenses, Henan Governor Yao Zutong was removed from office. Ding was ordered together with Vice Minister Yulin to investigate and temporarily act as governor. He memorialized: "From the funds used for ceremonial engineering to the completion of the accounting report, the matter does not accord with the standing regulations of the ministry. Accordingly, they took the prices for materials and earthworks handled over the years, combined them with Henan's standing regulations, and offset one item against another: straw materials, river-diversion works, and similar lines were increased by 1.3 million in the accounts, while labor, hemp, and other items were reduced by the same amount. Though the figures were adjusted flexibly, the total silver still matched actual expenditure. Only the entry for eight-zi cash truly violated established regulations: silver was exchanged for cash at a rate above the old price, eighty cash per tael was taken to cover expenses, and this was deducted from the silver each official was required to remit." When the memorial arrived, the emperor ordered the accounts verified and settled, and imposed mild censure on Zutong. That year he was promoted to left censor-in-chief, then returned home to mourn his father's death. In the fifth year, when his mourning period ended, he was appointed acting vice minister of Revenue with first-rank designation and was made a Grand Council member.

浙江德清徐倪氏因奸謀斃徐蔡氏獄三年不決，按察使王維詢因自盡，巡撫程含章與按察使祁鞫之，甫得情而犯婦在監自縊。宣宗特命鼎典鄉試，就治其獄，廉得徐故富家，以獄破其產，官吏多受賕，勾結朦庇，致獄情譸幻。悉發其覆，置之法，浙人稱頌焉。六年，授戶部尚書。八年，回疆平，以贊畫功，加太子太保，繪像紫光閣。

In Deqing, Zhejiang, a case in which a woman of the Xu and Ni families had plotted through an adulterous affair to kill Lady Xu of the Cai clan had remained unresolved in court for three years. Provincial surveillance commissioner Wang Weixun committed suicide over the affair. Governor Cheng Hanzhao and surveillance commissioner Qi tried the case, but just as the facts were established, the female defendant hanged herself in prison. The Daoguang Emperor specially ordered Ding to preside over the provincial examination and, while there, take charge of the case. His investigation revealed that the Xu family had once been wealthy; officials had used the lawsuit to ruin their estate, many had taken bribes, and collusion and concealment had made the facts of the case confused and fantastical. He exposed every hidden scheme, punished the guilty according to law, and the people of Zhejiang praised him. In the sixth year he was appointed minister of Revenue. In the eighth year, after the pacification of the Western Regions, he was given the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent for his contributions to planning, and his portrait was painted in the Hall of Purple Splendor.

蘆鹽積疲，商累日重，命鼎偕侍郎敬徵察辦。議以；「鹽務首重年清年款，先將節年帶徵釐剔，現年正款不難按數清完。道光二年以前未完銀九百餘萬為舊欠，三年以後未完銀為新欠，緩舊徵新。請以堰工加價二文，半解部充公，半抵完商欠。新欠抵完，續抵舊欠。蘆商生息帑本內，直隸水利、趙北口兩項非經費歲需，請停利三年。限滿加一倍利，本息同徵。舊有拔繳水利帑本一百十七萬兩，請停徵三年。自道光十一年起，歲徵十萬兩，五萬完舊本，五萬完新本，以卹商力。近年商力疲乏，不能預買生鹽，存坨新鹽多滷耗。請每包加鹽十三斤，俾資貼補，從此款目既清，庶經久可行。」又請免繳嘉慶十七年加價交官半文未完銀一百八十四萬餘兩。疏入，並允行。十年，蘆商呈請調劑，復命鼎及侍郎寶興往按。鼎以前次清查，傳集各商詳詢定議，皆稱可免虧累積壓，雖因銀價漸昂，尚不致遽形虧折，遂議駁。時淮鹽尤敝，兩江總督陶澍疏陳積弊情形，命鼎偕寶興會同籌議。中外論鹽事者，多主就場徵稅。疏言：「詳覈淮綱全局，若改課歸場灶，尚多窒兒。惟有就舊章大加釐剔，使射利者無可藉端，欠課者無可藉口，似較有往轍可循。擬定章程十五條，曰：裁浮費，減窩價，刪繁文，慎出納，裁商總，覈滯銷，緩積欠，卹灶丁，給船價，究淹銷，疏運道，添岸店，散輪規，飭紀綱，收灶鹽。」又請裁撤兩淮鹽政，改歸總督辦理，以一事權。並詔允行。陶澍得銳意興革，淮綱自此漸振，鼎之力也。十一年，署直隸總督。十二年，管理刑部事務。十五年，協辦大學士，仍管刑部，直上書房。十八年，拜東閣大學士。二十年。加太子太保。

Changlu salt had long been in decline, and the merchants' burdens grew heavier by the day. Ding was ordered together with Vice Minister Jing Zheng to investigate and handle the matter. After deliberation they proposed: " Salt administration should above all emphasize clearing each year's accounts on schedule. First eliminate the carried-over supplementary levies from past years, and the current year's principal receipts will not be difficult to settle in full. Uncollected silver before the second year of the Daoguang reign, totaling more than nine million, should be classified as old arrears; uncollected silver after the third year should be classified as new arrears, with collection of old arrears deferred while new arrears are pursued. They requested that an additional two cash be added to dike-work surcharges, half remitted to the ministry for public funds and half applied to clearing merchants' arrears. Once new arrears are cleared, continue paying down old arrears. Within the interest-bearing treasury principal of the Changlu salt merchants, the items for Zhili waterworks and Zhaobeikou are not annual operating expenses; they requested a three-year suspension of interest. When the term expires, interest at double the rate would be added and principal and interest collected together. Of the old waterworks treasury principal of 1.17 million taels that had been assigned for collection, they requested a three-year suspension of collection. Starting from the eleventh year of the Daoguang reign, 100,000 taels would be collected each year—50,000 to clear old principal and 50,000 to clear new principal—to relieve the merchants' burden. In recent years the merchants' resources had been exhausted; they could not pre-purchase raw salt in advance, and stockpiled new salt at the yards suffered much brine loss. They requested adding thirteen jin of salt to each bundle to provide compensation; once these accounts were cleared in this way, the system might endure." They also requested exemption from payment of more than 1.84 million taels in uncollected silver from the half-cash surcharge added in the seventeenth year of the Jiaqing reign. When the memorial arrived, all measures were approved. In the tenth year, Changlu salt merchants petitioned for adjustments, and Ding together with Vice Minister Bao Xing were again ordered to investigate on site. Based on the previous investigation, Ding summoned all the merchants for detailed inquiry and deliberation. All agreed they could avoid cumulative losses and stockpiling; although the price of silver was gradually rising, losses would not quickly become apparent. He therefore recommended rejecting the petition. At that time Huai salt was especially run-down. Governor-General Tao Shu of the Two Jiangs memorialized on the accumulated abuses, and Ding together with Bao Xing were ordered to join in deliberating reforms. Those inside and outside the court discussing salt affairs mostly favored collecting tax at the production sites. They memorialized: "Upon thorough review of the overall Huai salt system, if tax collection were shifted back to the salt fields and furnaces, many difficulties would remain. Only by greatly refining and pruning the old regulations, so that those seeking profit had no pretext and those owing taxes had no excuse, would there seem to be a workable path to follow. They drafted fifteen regulations, namely: cut superfluous expenses, reduce depot prices, delete redundant paperwork, be careful in receipts and disbursements, abolish merchant syndicate heads, verify stagnant sales, defer accumulated arrears, relieve salt-furnace laborers, pay boat freight, investigate smuggled salt, improve transport routes, add shore depots, break up rotation rules, enforce discipline, and collect salt from the furnaces." They also requested abolishing the Lianghuai salt commissioner and transferring administration to the governor-general to unify authority. The emperor approved all of this by decree. Tao Shu was thus able to push reforms vigorously; the Huai salt system gradually revived from that point—the result of Ding's efforts. In the eleventh year he acted as governor-general of Zhili. In the twelfth year he was placed in charge of the Ministry of Justice. In the fifteenth year he became associate grand secretary, still managing the Ministry of Justice, and entered the Upper Study. In the eighteenth year he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion. In the twentieth year. He was given the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

二十一年夏，河決祥符，命偕侍郎慧成往治之，尋署河督。議者以水勢方漲，不宜遽塞，請遷省城以避其衝，鼎持不可，疏言：「河灌歸德、陳州及安徽亳、潁，合淮東注洪澤湖，湖底日受淤。萬一宣洩不及，高堰危，淮、揚成巨浸，民其魚矣！無論舍舊址、築新堤數千里，工費不貲，且自古無任黃水橫流之理。請飭戶部速具帑，期以冬春之交集事。不效，原執其咎。」具陳民情安土重遷、省垣可守狀。初至汴城，四面皆水，旦夕且圮，躬率吏卒巡護，獲無恙。洎工興，親駐工次，倦則寢肩輿中。次年二月，工竣，用帑六百萬有奇。前此馬營工用一千二百餘萬，儀封工用四百七十五萬，原議以儀工為率。及蕆事，加增百餘萬，然事艱於前，微鼎用節工速，不能如是。敘功，晉太子太師。積勞成疾，命緩程回京。

In the summer of the twenty-first year, the Yellow River breached at Xiangfu; he was ordered together with Vice Minister Huicheng to repair it, and soon acted as Director-General of River Works. Advisors, noting that the water was still rising, argued that the breach should not be blocked hastily and proposed moving the provincial capital to avoid the flood's force. Ding firmly objected and memorialized: "The river inundates Guide, Chen Prefecture, and Bozhou and Ying in Anhui; it joins the Huai and flows east into Hongze Lake, and the lake bed daily receives silt. If discharge should prove insufficient, the High Dike would be endangered, Huaiyang would become a great floodplain, and the people would be fish in a net! Not to mention that abandoning the old site and building new dikes for thousands of li would cost beyond reckoning—and since ancient times there has never been reason to allow the muddy Yellow River to flow unchecked. He requested that the Ministry of Revenue quickly provide treasury funds, with work to be concentrated between winter and spring. If this fails, I accept responsibility for the blame." He also set forth in detail the people's attachment to their native soil and reluctance to move, and the defensibility of the provincial capital. When he first arrived at Bian Prefecture city, water surrounded it on all sides and collapse seemed imminent at any moment; he personally led officials and soldiers on patrol and guard, and the city remained unscathed. When work began, he personally stationed himself at the worksite; when weary, he slept in his sedan chair. In the second month of the following year the work was completed, using more than six million in treasury funds. Previously the Maying project had used more than 12 million, and the Yifeng project 4.75 million; the original plan had taken the Yifeng project as the standard. When the work was completed, costs increased by more than a million, yet the task was harder than before; without Ding's economy and rapid completion, it could not have been done as it was. In recognition of his merit he was promoted to Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. Exhaustion from prolonged labor brought on illness, and he was ordered to return to the capital at a relaxed pace.

自禁煙事起，英吉利兵犯沿海，鼎力主戰。至和議將成，林則徐以罪譴，鼎憤甚，還朝爭之力，宣宗慰勞之，命休沐養疴。越數日，自草遺疏，劾大學士穆彰阿誤國，閉戶自縊，冀以屍諫。軍機章京陳孚恩，穆彰阿黨也。滅其疏，別具以聞。上疑其卒暴，命取原不得，於是優詔憫惜，贈太保，諡文恪，祀賢良祠。後陝西巡撫請祀鄉賢，特詔允之。

From the time the opium prohibition began, when English troops attacked the coast, Ding strongly advocated war. When peace negotiations were nearing completion and Lin Zexu was punished and banished, Ding was deeply indignant and returned to court to argue his case with all his strength. The Daoguang Emperor consoled him and ordered him to take leave and rest to recover from illness. A few days later he drafted a final memorial himself, impeaching Grand Secretary Mu Zhanga for misleading the state, then shut his door and hanged himself, hoping to remonstrate with his corpse. Chen Fuen, a Grand Council secretary, was a member of Mu Zhanga's faction. He destroyed the memorial and reported separately with another document. The emperor suspected the suddenness of his death and ordered the original memorial retrieved but could not obtain it. Thereupon an exceptional edict expressed compassion, posthumously granted him the title of Grand Guardian, gave him the posthumous name Wenge, and enshrined him in the Temple of Worthies. Later the Shaanxi governor requested enshrinement in the local worthies' temple, and a special edict granted it.

鼎清操絕俗，生平不受請託，亦不請託於人。卒之日，家無餘貲。子沆，道光二十年進士，翰林院編修。

Ding's integrity was extraordinary; throughout his life he neither accepted solicitations nor solicited others. On the day he died, his household had no surplus wealth. His son Hang, a metropolitan graduate in the twentieth year of the Daoguang reign, served as compiler in the Hanlin Academy.

穆彰阿，字鶴舫，郭佳氏，滿洲鑲藍旗人。父廣泰，嘉慶中，官內閣學士，遷右翼總兵。坐自請兼兵部侍郎銜，奪職。

Mu Zhanga, whose style was Hefang, of the Guojia clan, was a Manchu of the Bordered Blue Banner. His father Guangtai, during the Jiaqing reign, held office as grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat and was later transferred to commander of the Right Wing. He was stripped of office for having voluntarily requested the concurrent designation of vice minister of War.

穆彰阿，嘉慶十年進士，選庶吉士，授檢討。大考，擢少詹事。累遷禮部侍郎。二十年，署刑部侍郎。因一日進立決本二十餘件，詔斥因循積壓，堂司各員並下嚴議，降光祿寺卿。歷兵部、刑部、工部、戶部侍郎。道光初，充內務府大臣，擢左都御史、理籓院尚書。以漕船滯運，兩次命署漕運總督。召授工部尚書，偕大學士蔣攸銛查勘南河。洎試行海運，命赴天津監收漕糧，予優敘。七年，命在軍機大臣上學習行走。逾年，張格爾就擒，加太子少保。授軍機大臣，罷內務府大臣，直南書房。尋兼翰林院掌院學士，歷兵部、戶部尚書。十四年，協辦大學士。承修龍泉峪萬年吉地，工竣，晉太子太保，賜紫韁。十六年，充上書房總師傅，拜武英殿大學士，管理工部。

Mu Zhanga, a metropolitan graduate in the tenth year of the Jiaqing reign, was selected as Hanlin bachelor and appointed reviser. In the grand examination he was promoted to vice grand tutor. He rose in succession to vice minister of Rites. In the twentieth year he acted as vice minister of Justice. Because in one day he forwarded more than twenty cases for immediate execution, an edict rebuked the delays and backlog; all chief and clerical officials were subjected to strict investigation, and he was demoted to minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He served successively as vice minister of War, Justice, Works, and Revenue. At the beginning of the Daoguang reign he served as minister of the Imperial Household Department and was promoted to left censor-in-chief and minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs. Because grain-transport ships were delayed, he was twice ordered to act as Director-General of Grain Transport. He was summoned and appointed minister of Works, and together with Grand Secretary Jiang Yinsuo he inspected the Southern Rivers. When sea transport was trial-tested, he was ordered to go to Tianjin to supervise collection of tribute grain and was granted preferential recognition. In the seventh year he was ordered to study and serve under the Grand Council members. The following year, when Zhangge'er was captured, he was given the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. He was appointed Grand Council member, relieved of his duties as Household minister, and entered the Southern Study. Soon he was additionally made chancellor of the Hanlin Academy and successively served as minister of War and of Revenue. In the fourteenth year he became associate grand secretary. Supervising construction of the Longquan Valley imperial tomb, upon completion he was promoted to Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and granted the purple reins. In the sixteenth year he became chief tutor of the Upper Study, was appointed Grand Secretary of the Hall of Martial Eminence, and managed the Ministry of Works.

十八年，晉文華殿大學士。時禁煙議起，宣宗意銳甚，特命林則徐為欽差大臣，赴廣東查辦。英吉利領事義律初不聽約束，繼因停止貿易，始繳煙，盡焚之，責永不販運入境，強令具結，不從，兵釁遂開。則徐防禦嚴，不得逞於廣東，改犯閩、浙，沿海騷然。英艦抵天津，投書總督琦善，言由則徐啟釁。穆彰阿窺帝意移，乃贊和議，罷則徐，以琦善代之。琦善一徇敵意，不設備，所要求者亦不盡得請，兵釁復起。先後命奕山、奕經督師，廣東、浙江皆挫敗。英兵且由海入江，林則徐及閩浙總督鄧廷楨、台灣總兵達洪阿、台灣道姚瑩以戰守為敵所忌，並被嚴譴，命伊里布、耆英、牛鑑議款。二十二年，和議成，償幣通商，各國相繼立約。國威既損，更喪國權，外患自此始。

In the eighteenth year he was promoted to Grand Secretary of the Hall of Literary Glory. At that time debate over prohibiting opium arose; the Daoguang Emperor's resolve was sharp, and he specially commissioned Lin Zexu as imperial commissioner and sent him to Guangdong to investigate and handle the matter. At first the English consul Charles Elliot would not submit to restrictions. Later, because trade was suspended, he began surrendering opium, which was all burned. He was required never again to smuggle opium into the country and was forced to give a written pledge; when he refused, hostilities broke out. Lin's defenses were strict, and they could not prevail in Guangdong, so they turned to attack Fujian and Zhejiang, and the coast was in turmoil. English warships reached Tianjin and delivered a letter to Governor Qishan, declaring that Lin had provoked the conflict. Mu Zhanga, seeing that the emperor's mind had shifted, then endorsed peace negotiations, removed Lin, and replaced him with Qishan. Qishan, yielding entirely to the enemy's wishes, made no preparations, and not all that was demanded was granted; hostilities broke out again. Successively Yishan and Yijing were appointed to command the armies, but Guangdong and Zhejiang both suffered defeats. English troops were moreover entering the Yangtze from the sea. Lin Zexu, Fujian-Zhejiang Governor-General Deng Tingzhen, Taiwan regional commander Da Hong'a, and Taiwan intendant Yao Ying—all disliked by the enemy for their defense of war—were all severely punished. Yilibu, Qiying, and Niu Jian were ordered to negotiate peace. In the twenty-second year peace was concluded: indemnities were paid and trade resumed, and various nations successively established treaties. National prestige was already diminished, and sovereign rights were further surrendered—foreign troubles began from this point.

穆彰阿當國，主和議，為海內所叢詬。上既厭兵，從其策，終道光朝，恩眷不衰。自嘉慶以來，典鄉試三，典會試五。凡覆試、殿試、朝考、教習庶吉士散館考差、大考翰詹，無歲不與衡文之役。國史、玉牒、實錄諸館，皆為總裁。門生故吏遍於中外，知名之士多被援引，一時號曰「穆黨」。文宗自在潛邸深惡之，既即位十閱月，特詔數其罪曰：「穆彰阿身任大學士，受累朝知遇之恩，保位貪榮，妨賢病國。小忠小信，陰柔以售其奸；偽學偽才，揣摩以逢主意。從前夷務之興，傾排異己，深堪痛恨！如達洪阿、姚瑩之盡忠盡力，有礙於己，必欲陷之；耆英之無恥喪良，同惡相濟，盡力全之。固寵竊權，不可枚舉。我皇考大公至正，惟以誠心待人，穆彰阿得肆行無忌。若使聖明早燭其姦，必置重典，斷不姑容。穆彰阿恃恩益縱，始終不悛。自朕親政之初，遇事模棱，緘口不言。迨數月後，漸施其伎倆。英船至天津，猶欲引耆英為腹心以遂其謀，欲使天下群黎复遭荼毒。其心陰險，實不可問！潘世恩等保林則徐，屢言其'柔弱病軀，不堪錄用'；及命林則徐赴粵西剿匪，又言'未知能去否'。偽言熒惑，使朕不知外事，罪實在此。若不立申國法，何以肅綱紀而正人心？又何以不負皇考付託之重？第念三朝舊臣，一旦置之重法，朕心實有不忍，從寬革職永不敘用。其罔上行私，天下共見，朕不為已甚，姑不深問。朕熟思審處，計之久矣，不得已之苦衷，諸臣其共諒之！」詔下，天下稱快。咸豐三年，捐軍餉，予五品頂戴。六年，卒。

While Mu Zhanga held power, he advocated peace negotiations and was universally reviled throughout the realm. The emperor, already weary of war, followed his policy, and through the entire Daoguang reign his imperial favor never declined. Since the Jiaqing reign he had thrice presided over provincial examinations and five times over metropolitan examinations. In every year he participated without fail in grading essays—re-examinations, palace examinations, palace audience examinations, Hanlin bachelors' graduation and assignment examinations, and grand examinations of the Hanlin and academicians. He served as chief compiler for the National History, Imperial Genealogy, Veritable Records, and other editorial offices. His protégés and old retainers filled posts at court and across the empire, and he placed many celebrated men in office—so that for a time they were known as the "Mu clique." The Xianfeng Emperor had hated him bitterly even as crown prince. Ten months after his accession he issued a special edict listing Mu Zhanga's crimes: "Mu Zhanga serves as grand secretary. He enjoyed the trust and favor of several reigns, yet clung to office and pursued rank, blocking able men and injuring the state. He offered small favors and small courtesies, masking treachery behind a gentle, yielding manner; His learning and talent were a pretense; he studied the emperor's mind and shaped his words to please it. When foreign troubles first arose, he overturned the court and drove out all who differed from him—conduct deeply to be abhorred! Men such as Da Hong'a and Yao Ying, who gave their utmost in loyal service, he sought to ruin whenever they stood in his way; Qiying, shameless and corrupt, he shielded to the utmost, the two of them aiding each other in wickedness. His hoarding of imperial favor and usurpation of authority are too many to count. My late father, the Daoguang Emperor, was utterly fair and just and dealt with men in good faith—so Mu Zhanga was able to act without fear or limit. Had my father seen through his villainy in time, he would surely have punished him severely and never let him off. Banking on past favor, Mu Zhanga grew ever bolder and never changed his ways. From the start of my personal rule he was evasive on every issue and kept his mouth shut. Only after a few months did he begin to work his schemes again. When British ships reached Tianjin, he still wanted to install Qiying as his right hand to carry out his designs—so that the people of the empire would once again suffer devastation. His heart is so dark and treacherous that words fail! Pan Shien and his allies shielded Lin Zexu, repeatedly claiming that Lin's 'feeble, ailing frame made him unfit for office'; When Lin was ordered to Guangxi to suppress bandits, they again said, 'it remains to be seen whether he can even make the journey.' With lying words they misled me and kept me in the dark about events beyond the capital—their guilt lies here above all. If I do not enforce the law at once, how can I restore order and set men's hearts straight? And how can I honor the heavy trust my late father placed in me? Yet he is an old servant of three reigns, and to punish him with the full weight of the law at a stroke is more than I can bring myself to do. I therefore show leniency: he is dismissed from office and shall never again be considered for appointment. His deceit of the throne for private gain is plain to all the realm, but I will not press the matter to extremes and for now will not pursue it further. I have weighed this decision long and carefully. This painful compromise is unavoidable—I ask my ministers to understand! When the edict was promulgated, the whole empire rejoiced. In the third year of the Xianfeng reign he donated funds for the army and was granted a fifth-rank cap button in recognition. In the sixth year he died.

子薩廉，光緒五年進士，由翰林官至禮部侍郎。

His son Sa Lian, who earned his jinshi degree in the fifth year of the Guangxu reign, rose through the Hanlin Academy to become vice minister of the Ministry of Rites.

潘世恩，字芝軒，江蘇吳縣人。乾隆五十八年一甲一名進士，授修撰。嘉慶二年，大考一等，擢侍讀。和珅以其青年上第有才望，欲招致之，世恩謝不與通。以次當遷，和珅抑題本六閱月不上。仁宗親政，乃擢侍講學士。一歲三遷至內閣學士，歷禮部、兵部、戶部、吏部侍郎，督雲南、浙江、江西學政。十七年，擢工部尚書，調戶部。母憂歸，服除，以父老乞養，會其子登鄉舉，具疏謝，坐未親詣京，降侍郎。帝鑑其孝思，仍允終養，居家十載。

Pan Shien, whose style was Zhixuan, came from Wu County in Jiangsu. In the fifty-eighth year of the Qianlong reign he took first place among the first-class jinshi graduates and was appointed reviser in the Hanlin Academy. In the second year of the Jiaqing reign he placed first class in the palace examination and was promoted to reader-in-waiting. Heshen, impressed that Shien had placed high on the examinations while still young and already showed talent and promise, tried to win him over; Shien politely refused and would have nothing to do with him. When his turn for promotion came due, Heshen held up the appointment memorial and kept it from the throne for six months. Once the Jiaqing Emperor took personal control of the government, Shien was promoted to expositor of the Hanlin Academy. Within a single year he was promoted three times, reaching grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat. He served in turn as vice minister of the Ministries of Rites, War, Revenue, and Personnel, and supervised provincial examinations in Yunnan, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. In the seventeenth year he was promoted to minister of the Ministry of Works and then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. He went home to mourn his mother, and when the mourning period ended he asked leave to care for his aged father. His son passed the provincial examination at the same time; Shien submitted a memorial of thanks but was demoted to vice minister because he had not gone to the capital in person. The emperor, seeing his filial intent, still granted him leave to care for his father at home, where he remained for ten years.

道光七年，父喪服闋，補吏部侍郎，遷左都御史。再授工部尚書，調吏部。十三年，超拜體仁閣大學士，管理戶部。尋命為軍機大臣，兼翰林院掌院學士。晉東閣大學士，調管工部。充上書房總師傅，加太子太保。十八年，晉武英殿大學士。二十八年，以八十壽晉太傅，賜紫韁。其明年，引疾，迭疏乞休，溫詔慰留，僅解機務。三十年，文宗即位，復三疏，始得予告，食全俸，留其子京邸。咸豐二年，鄉舉重逢，詔就近與順天鹿鳴宴。次年，復與恩榮宴。四年，卒，遣親王奠醊，入祀賢良祠，諡文恭。

In the seventh year of the Daoguang reign, after his father's mourning period ended, he was restored as vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel and then transferred to left censor-in-chief. He was again appointed minister of the Ministry of Works and then transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. In the thirteenth year he was elevated directly to grand secretary of the Tiren Hall and placed in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. Soon afterward he was appointed to the Grand Council and concurrently made chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. He was promoted to grand secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and transferred to oversee the Ministry of Works. He was made chief tutor of the Upper Study and given the additional title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In the eighteenth year he was promoted to grand secretary of the Wuying Hall. In the twenty-eighth year, on his eightieth birthday, he was promoted to Grand Tutor and granted the honor of a purple bridle. The following year, pleading illness, he submitted memorial after memorial asking to retire. A gracious edict urged him to stay, but released him from Grand Council duties alone. In the thirtieth year, after the Xianfeng Emperor's accession, he submitted three more memorials and was finally granted retirement on full salary, with his son remaining at the family residence in the capital. In the second year of the Xianfeng reign, when he celebrated a second provincial success, he was invited by edict to attend the Lu ming banquet for Shuntian graduates at a nearby venue. The next year he attended the Enrong banquet as well. In the fourth year he died. A prince was sent to offer libations at his funeral. He was enshrined in the Hall of Worthies and given the posthumous title Wengong.

世恩歷事四朝，迭掌文衡，備叨恩遇。筦部務，安靜持大體。黑龍江將軍請增都爾特六屯，議地當游牧，開墾非計，不可許。言官奏山東鹽課請歸地丁，議山東場灶半毗連淮境，一歸地丁，聽民自運自銷，必為兩淮引課之累，不可行。

Shien served four emperors, presided over literary examinations again and again, and enjoyed imperial favor in full measure. In managing ministry business he was steady and unobtrusive, keeping to the larger principles. When the Heilongjiang general proposed adding six Dörbet farming colonies, Shien argued that the land was meant for pastoral use and that opening it to cultivation was unwise—the request could not be granted. When censors proposed folding Shandong salt taxes into the land-and-capitation levy, he argued that Shandong's salt fields and furnaces bordered Huai salt territory; if the change allowed private transport and sale, Lianghuai's certificate revenues would suffer—and the plan could not be adopted.

在樞廷凡十七年，益慎密，有所論列，終不告人。海疆事起，林則徐所論奏，廷議多讚之；及穆彰阿主撫，世恩心以為非，不能顯與立異。迨咸豐初詔舉人才，世恩已在告，疏言林則徐歷任封疆，有體有用，請徵召來京備用，並薦前任台灣道姚瑩，文宗韙之，於罪穆彰阿時猶舉其言。次子曾瑩，道光二十一年進士，由編修官至吏部侍郎。孫祖廕，自有傳。

During seventeen years on the Grand Council he grew ever more guarded; whatever positions he took in deliberation, he never disclosed them to outsiders. When trouble erupted on the coast, court deliberations largely approved the memorials Lin Zexu submitted; When Mu Zhanga pushed for appeasement, Shien privately disagreed but could not openly break with him. When an edict at the start of the Xianfeng reign called for recommending talent, Shien was already retired. He memorialized that Lin Zexu, with long service in frontier provinces, combined sound judgment with practical ability, and asked that Lin be summoned to the capital for appointment; he also recommended the former Taiwan intendant Yao Ying. The Xianfeng Emperor approved, and when condemning Mu Zhanga he still quoted Shien's words. His second son Zengying, a jinshi graduate of the twenty-first year of the Daoguang reign, rose from compiler to vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel. His grandson Zuyin is the subject of a separate biography.

論曰：守成之世，治尚綜覈，而振敝舉衰，非拘守繩墨者所克任也。況運會平陂相乘，非常之變，往往當承平既久，萌蘗蠢兆於其間，馭之無術，措置張皇，而庸佞之輩，轉以彌縫迎合售其欺，其召亂可倖免哉？宣宗初政，一倚曹振鏞，兢兢文法；及穆彰阿柄用，和戰游移，遂成外患。一代安危，斯其關鍵已。英和才不竟用，王鼎忠貞致身，文孚、潘世恩皆恪恭保位者耳。

The historian comments: In ages devoted to preserving what has been achieved, government prizes thorough, comprehensive administration—but to revive what is worn out and lift what is failing is work that men chained to precedent cannot perform. Moreover, fortune turns between calm and decline in succession, and extraordinary crises often appear just when long peace has bred complacency—trouble sprouts in the cracks. When rulers lack the skill to master events and govern in panic, mediocre flatterers patch over problems and curry favor to sell their deceptions—is it any wonder that disorder follows? At the start of the Daoguang reign the emperor relied wholly on Cao Zhenyong and governed with scrupulous attention to formal precedent; When Mu Zhanga came to power and wavered between war and peace, foreign calamity took root. The rise or fall of an era turned on this hinge. Ying He's talent was never fully used; Wang Ding gave his life in loyal remonstrance; Wen Fu and Pan Shien were men who kept their posts through dutiful compliance—and nothing more.

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