1
列傳一百六十四
Biography 164
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鮑桂星顧吳孝銘陳鴻鄂木順額徐法績
Bao Guixing, Gu Chun, Wu Xiaoming, Chen Hong, E Mushune, and Xu Faji
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鮑桂星，字雙五，安徽歙縣人。 嘉慶四年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，遷中允。 九年，典試河南，留學政。 十三年，典試江西。 十五年，督湖北學政。 累遷至內閣學士。 十八年，任滿，既受代，聞林清之變，疏陳十事，急馳至京，仁宗嘉之，曰：「汝所奏已次第施行矣。」 擢工部侍郎，充武英殿總裁。 桂星性質直，勇於任事。 十九年，疏陳刊書及校勘事宜。 又劾提調劉榮黼等不職，命王大臣按之。 榮黼面訐桂星曾言滿總裁熙昌所校，不過偏旁點畫，修改徒延時日； 且言近日有旨，旗人不足恃，故督撫多用漢人。 上聞之，怒，命傳詢。 桂星對聞自侍郎周兆基，且言在部與滿員共事，多有徇私背公，而兆基不承； 又指同官熙昌及慶溥囑託部事，兩人亦不承。 以任性妄言，下部嚴議，詔斥桂星指訐慶溥、熙昌囑託無據，其咎小； 妄言朝廷輕滿洲重漢人，亂政之大者：革職，不准回籍，令在京閉門思過，責五城御史嚴察； 如私著詩文有怨望誹謗之詞，從重治罪。 越五年，上意解，复官編修。 宣宗即位，召對，諭曰：「汝昔所劾，今已罷斥。」 擢侍講，又擢通政司副使，意頗鄉用。 道光四年，擢詹事。 未幾，卒。
Bao Guixing, whose courtesy name was Shuangwu, came from She County in Anhui. He earned his jinshi degree in the fourth year of the Jiaqing reign, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, became a compiler, and rose to vice-director of the Secretariat. In the ninth year he presided over the Henan provincial examination and stayed on as educational commissioner. In the thirteenth year he presided over the Jiangxi provincial examination. In the fifteenth year he was appointed educational commissioner of Hubei. He rose through successive promotions to Grand Secretariat academician. In the eighteenth year, as soon as his term ended and he had handed over his post, he learned of Lin Qing's uprising. He submitted a memorial outlining ten measures and rushed to the capital. Emperor Renzong praised him, saying, "The items you raised are already being implemented, one after another." He was promoted to vice minister of Works and appointed chief director of the Wuying Hall. Guixing was blunt and upright by nature, and bold in shouldering responsibility. In the nineteenth year he submitted a memorial on book publishing and textual collation. He also impeached supervising officials including Liu Rongdian for neglect of duty, and the throne ordered a senior prince-minister to conduct an inquiry. Rongdian confronted Guixing in person, alleging that Guixing had once said the Manchu chief director Xi Chang's collation work amounted to nothing more than tweaking radicals and stroke dots, needlessly dragging out the schedule; and further claimed that a recent edict had declared Bannermen unreliable, so that governors-general and governors were increasingly appointing Han Chinese. The emperor heard of it, grew furious, and ordered the matter referred for investigation. Guixing answered that he had heard it from Vice Minister Zhou Zhaoji, adding that in the ministry he had often seen Manchu colleagues indulge private favor at public expense, which Zhaoji denied; he also accused colleagues Xi Chang and Qing Pu of soliciting favors in ministry business, and both denied it. For reckless and willful speech the case was sent to the ministry for severe deliberation. An edict rebuked Guixing: his charge that Qing Pu and Xi Chang had solicited favors lacked proof and was a lesser offense; but claiming the court slighted Manchus while favoring Han Chinese was a grave offense against good government. He was stripped of office, forbidden to return home, ordered to remain in Beijing under house arrest to reflect on his conduct, with the Five-City censors instructed to keep strict watch; and if any private poetry or prose he composed contained resentment or slander, he was to be punished severely. Five years later, when the emperor's anger had cooled, Guixing was restored to his former post as compiler. When Emperor Daoguang ascended the throne, Guixing was summoned for an audience. The emperor told him, "The men you impeached back then have now been removed from office." He was promoted to expositor-in-waiting and then to vice commissioner of the Office of Transmission, and the court appeared ready to make greater use of him. In the fourth year of Daoguang he was promoted to grand preceptor of the Heir Apparent. Not long afterward he died.
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桂星少從同縣吳定學，後師姚鼐，詩古文並有法，著有進奉文及詩集，又嘗用司空圖說輯唐詩品。
As a young man Guixing studied under his fellow townsman Wu Ding and later studied under Yao Nai. Both his poetry and his ancient-style prose were accomplished by rule. He wrote memorial essays for presentation at court and a poetry collection, and he once compiled grades of Tang poetry according to Sikong Tu's critical theory.
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顧蓴，字南雅，江蘇吳縣人。 嘉慶七年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 十七年，大考一等，擢侍讀。 督雲南學政，道經河南，見吏多貪墨，奸民充斥，密疏陳謂不早根治，恐釀巨患。 仁宗問樞臣，樞臣微其事，不以為意，明年遂有滑縣之亂。 在雲南，課士嚴而有恩，以正心術端行誼為首，次治經史、辨文體。 按試所至，聞賢士必禮遇之，士風丕振。 任滿，充日講官。 二十五年，遷侍講學士。 值宣宗初政，疏請停捐例。 再疏陳崇君德、正人心、飭官方三事。 上召對，嘉納其言。 故事，大臣子弟不得充軍機章京，時值考選，許一體與試。 蓴謂貴介不宜與聞樞要，請收回成命。 事尋止。
Gu Chun, whose courtesy name was Nanya, came from Wu County in Jiangsu. He earned his jinshi degree in the seventh year of Jiaqing, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. In the seventeenth year he ranked in the top class in the great triennial evaluation and was promoted to reader-in-waiting. On his way to serve as educational commissioner of Yunnan he passed through Henan and found officials widely corrupt and rascals thick on the ground. In a confidential memorial he warned that failure to eradicate the problem early could breed disaster on a vast scale. Emperor Renzong consulted the Grand Council, but the council downplayed the report and took no notice. The following year the Huaxian rebellion erupted. In Yunnan he taught the scholars with strict standards tempered by kindness, giving first place to moral discipline and upright conduct, and next to classical learning, historical study, and mastery of literary form. On his inspection tours he always honored worthy scholars when he heard of them, and local scholarly morale rose sharply. When his term ended he was appointed to the daily lecture service at court. In the twenty-fifth year he was promoted to expositor of the Hanlin Academy. At the outset of Daoguang's reign he memorialized asking that the sale of offices through monetary contributions be halted. In a second memorial he urged three reforms: strengthening the ruler's moral authority, rectifying public sentiment, and tightening official conduct. The emperor summoned him for an audience and warmly accepted his recommendations. By longstanding rule, sons and younger brothers of senior ministers were barred from the Grand Council clerkships; but when examinations for selection were held at that time, they were allowed to compete on equal footing. Chun argued that men of privileged birth should not be admitted to confidential state business and asked that the concession be revoked. The policy was soon abandoned.
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左都御史松筠出為熱河都統，蓴上疏，謂松筠正人，宜留置左右，失上意，降編修，九歲不調。 先是嘉慶中蓴在史館，撰和珅傳，及進禦，經他人竄改，和珅曾數因事被高宗詰責，並未載入傳。 仁宗怒其失實，嚴詔詰問。 大臣以蓴原稿進，仁宗深是之，而奪竄改者官。 宣宗一日閱實錄至此事，嘉蓴直筆，因言前保留松筠，必非阿私，特擢蓴右中允。 未一歲，复侍講學士原職。
When Left Censor-in-Chief Songyun was posted out as commander of Rehe, Chun memorialized that Songyun was a man of integrity who should be kept close to the throne. The memorial displeased the emperor; Chun was demoted to compiler and went nine years without a new appointment. Earlier, during the Jiaqing reign, Chun had been in the Historiography Office and drafted Heshen's biography. By the time it reached the throne others had altered it, omitting the many occasions on which Emperor Gaozong had censured Heshen for misconduct. Emperor Renzong, angered by the distortion, issued a stern edict demanding an account. Senior ministers submitted Chun's original draft. Emperor Renzong strongly endorsed it and dismissed the officials who had altered the text. One day Emperor Daoguang, reading the Veritable Records, came upon the episode and praised Chun's honest historiography. Saying that Chun's earlier defense of Songyun could not have been sycophancy, he specially promoted Chun to right vice-director of the Secretariat. Within a year he was restored to his former rank as expositor of the Hanlin Academy.
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時回疆張格爾亂甫定，蓴疏：「請於喀什噶爾沿邊增重兵，以控制安集延，杜回人窺伺； 又其地密邇英吉沙爾、葉爾羌、和闐，皆有水草可耕牧，宜募民屯田，為戰守備。 更請慎選大臣，無分滿、漢，務得讀書知大體有方略者任之，而以廉靜明信能拊循民、回者為之佐，庶可永永無事。」
At that time the Zhang Ge'er rebellion in the Western Regions had only just been suppressed. Chun memorialized: "Along the Kashgar frontier additional troops should be stationed to control Andijan and forestall Muslim probing; moreover the region borders Yengisar, Yarkand, and Khotan, where water and pasture support farming and grazing. Civilians should be recruited for frontier settlement to supply both defense and garrison needs. He further urged that frontier governors be chosen with care from both Manchu and Han ranks—men of learning who grasp the larger strategic picture—and that they be assisted by officials who were upright, steady, trustworthy, and able to win over both Han settlers and Muslim communities. Only then, he argued, could the border remain permanently quiet."
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道光十一年，遷通政司副使。 湖南北、江南、江西、浙江大水，蓴疏言：「饑民與鹽梟糾合易生事，鹽梟不盡去，終為巨患。 緩治之則養禍深，急治之則召禍速，欲禁其妄行，必先謀其生路。 現兩淮鹽場漂沒，三江、兩湖勢必仰給蘆、粵之鹽，宜聽民往販，隨時納課，收課後，不問所之，俟鹽產盛，丁力紓，即令課歸丁，不限疆域。」 事下所司，格未行。
In the eleventh year of Daoguang he was promoted to vice commissioner of the Office of Transmission. When severe floods hit Hunan, Hubei, the lower Yangzi, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, Chun memorialized: "Hungry refugees who ally with salt smugglers can quickly turn violent. Unless smuggling rings are broken up, they will become a lasting scourge. Delay invites a deeper disaster; haste provokes an immediate one. To stop lawless conduct you must first secure lawful livelihoods. With the Huai saltworks flooded, the Yangzi delta and the lake provinces would have to rely on salt from the reed-boil and Guangdong trades. He proposed allowing free private transport with duties paid en route, no questions asked after collection, and—once production recovered and transport costs eased—shifting tax burdens back onto producers without confining trade by region." The proposal was referred to the relevant agencies, but existing regulations blocked it and nothing was implemented.
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蓴性嚴正，尚氣節，晚益負時望，從遊者眾，類能砥勵自立，滇士尤歸之，其秀異者至京師多就問業焉。 十三年，卒。
Chun was stern and upright, devoted to moral principle. In later life his reputation only grew, and a large circle of disciples learned self-discipline under him. Yunnan scholars revered him above all; their most talented men, once in Beijing, often sought him out for guidance. In the thirteenth year he died.
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吳孝銘，字伯新，江蘇陽湖人。 嘉慶十四年進士，選庶吉士，散館授工部主事，充軍機章京。 十八年，林清之亂甫定，大軍會攻滑縣，孝銘從大臣行，參軍事。 累遷郎中。 道光中，回疆用兵，首逆張格爾潛逋未獲，議者欲以克復四城，分封回部酋長。 孝銘密言於樞臣曰：「是可行於乾隆時，不可行於今日，行之邊患且益甚。」 議中止。 張格爾旋就俘，賜花翎。
Wu Xiaoming, whose courtesy name was Boxin, came from Yanghu in Jiangsu. He earned his jinshi degree in the fourteenth year of Jiaqing, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and on leaving the academy was appointed principal clerk in the Ministry of Works and then clerk in the Grand Council. In the eighteenth year, just after Lin Qing's rebellion was suppressed, imperial forces converged on Huaxian. Xiaoming accompanied the commanding ministers and assisted in military planning. He rose in succession to the rank of director. During the Daoguang reign, as campaigns continued in the Western Regions, the rebel leader Zhang Ge'er was still at large. Some officials proposed enfeoffing Muslim chieftains by parceling out the four recovered cities among them. Xiaoming told the Grand Council privately, "That might have worked in the Qianlong era, but not today. Carry it out and the frontier crisis will only deepen." The plan was dropped. Zhang Ge'er was captured soon afterward, and Xiaoming was awarded the peacock feather insignia.
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瀕年大水，江、浙、兩湖被災尤數，承回疆兵事後，度支大絀。 戶部擬議，宗室日以蕃衍，衣食悉仰之官，耗財之大者，請自係出世祖以上子孫皆改為覺羅，為覺羅者以次遞革。 孝銘曰：「茲事當密陳，不宜顯言。 法當緩更，不宜驟易。 宗室久受恩養，一旦降爵減糧令下即大困，因而呼籥，朝廷不得已，將必復之，是良法美意終於不行也。」 部臣是其言，即使草奏上之。 歷鴻臚寺少卿、光祿寺少卿、通政司參議、順天府丞，仍留直軍機處。 十四年，擢太僕寺卿，再遷宗人府丞。
In his later years catastrophic floods struck repeatedly, above all in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the lake provinces. Coming on the heels of the Western Region campaigns, the treasury was severely depleted. The Ministry of Revenue drafted a plan noting that the imperial clan was expanding daily while its members depended entirely on state stipends—a major fiscal drain. It proposed reclassifying all descendants of the dynastic founder and earlier as jueluo, with each new jueluo generation subject to successive reductions in rank and allowance. Xiaoming said, "This should be raised in confidence, not proclaimed openly. Reform should proceed gradually, not all at once. The clan has grown accustomed to imperial favor. The moment you cut ranks and rations they will be plunged into hardship and flood the court with petitions. Beijing will have no choice but to roll the policy back—so even a sound measure will never take hold." The ministry officials accepted his advice and had him draft the memorial for submission. He rose through vice minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, councillor of the Office of Transmission, and vice prefect of Shuntian, all while retaining his Grand Council post. In the fourteenth year he was promoted to minister of the Imperial Stud and soon afterward to vice minister of the Imperial Clan Court.
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孝銘前後在樞廷二十馀年，練於掌故，持議悉合機宜； 屢膺文衡，有公明稱。 母憂，以毀致疾，服闋，至京。 尋乞病歸，卒於家。
Xiaoming spent more than twenty years in the Grand Council, mastered institutional precedent, and framed proposals that consistently matched the moment; he presided over literary examinations many times and was known for impartial judgment. While mourning his mother he fell ill from grief. When mourning ended he returned to the capital. He soon resigned on grounds of illness, returned home, and died there.
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陳鴻，字午橋，浙江錢塘人。 嘉慶十四年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 遷御史，剛直有聲。 典試山西還，力陳驛站煩擾，請申定例，肅郵政。 二十五年，疏陳浙江水利，略曰：「杭城地當省會，用上下兩塘之水，溉仁和、錢塘、海寧之田數万馀頃。 源出西湖，近廢不治。 水淤葑積，塘河津耗，夏旱少雨，上塘枯涸，菑害尤劇。 海寧長安鎮號產米之鄉，許村黃灣場為產鹽之地，杭、嘉、湖、寧、紹諸郡賴是挽運。 擬請仿江蘇浚吳淞例，歸民間按畝出貲，並飭疆臣躬履屬境，凡堤塘徬壩，悉復舊制，俾農田旱潦有備。」 又請：「北省多闢水田，兼收秔稻之利，庶使畿輔為沃野，無凶年。」 皆被採納。 道光初年，疏陳浙鹺不綱，請裁鹽政，歸巡撫兼理，令整頓緝私，嚴禁掣規重斤科派供應諸弊，如議行。 糾劾工部弊竇最多，不避權貴。 遷給事中。
Chen Hong, whose courtesy name was Wuqiao, came from Qiantang in Zhejiang. He earned his jinshi degree in the fourteenth year of Jiaqing, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. He was promoted to censor and gained renown for blunt integrity. On returning from his Shanxi examination assignment he forcefully memorialized on abuses at courier stations, asking that regulations be clarified and enforced to restore the postal system. In the twenty-fifth year he memorialized on Zhejiang waterworks, writing in part: "Hangzhou, seat of the provincial capital, relies on the upper and lower reservoir systems to irrigate tens of thousands of qing of farmland in Renhe, Qiantang, and Haining. The source is West Lake, which in recent years has been neglected and left unrepaired. Silt and duckweed choked the channels; pond rivers and sluice gates fell into ruin. In summer droughts the upper reservoirs ran dry and crop losses were especially severe. Chang'an in Haining was renowned for grain; the Huangwan salt works at Xucun supplied salt transport on which Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing all depended. He proposed following Jiangsu's Wusong dredging model, funding repairs through local contributions assessed by acreage, and requiring provincial officials to inspect their territories in person. Every dike, pond, and embankment should be restored to its former standard so that fields would be secure against both drought and flood." He also urged opening more paddy fields in the north to capture the benefits of both long- and short-grain rice, turning the capital region into rich farmland free of famine years." Both proposals were adopted. Early in Daoguang he memorialized that Zhejiang's salt monopoly was poorly coordinated, proposing abolition of the salt commissioner's office, placing oversight under the governor-general, and a crackdown on smuggling together with abuses such as rule-bending, overweight charges, and illicit levies for supplies. The reforms were enacted as he proposed. He impeached the Ministry of Works, where corruption was rife, without sparing the powerful. He was promoted to supervising secretary.
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二年，奉命稽察銀庫，其妻固賢明，曰：「今而後可送妾輩歸矣！」 驚問之，曰：「銀庫美差也，苟為所染，暱君者麕至。 禍且不測，妾不忍見君菜市也。」 鴻指天自誓，禁絕賂遺。 中庭已列花數盆，急揮去，墮地盆碎，中有藏鏹，益聳懼。 遂奏庫衡年久鐵陷，請敕工部選精鐵易之。 送庫日，責成管庫大臣率科道庫員較驗，然後啟用。 禁挪壓餉銀、空白出納及劈鞘諸弊。 庫吏百計餂之，不動。 復請戶部逐月移送收銀總簿，別立放銀簿，鈐用印信，以資考覈。 先是御史趙佩湘馭吏嚴，其死也，論者疑其中毒。 鴻蒞庫，勺水不敢飲。 出督雲南學政，奏革陋規，嚴束書吏，弊風頓革。 遷通政司參議，卒於官。
In the second year he was ordered to audit the silver vault. His wife, a woman of notable sense, said, "From this day forward you may send your concubines home!" Alarmed, he asked why. She replied, "The silver vault is a lucrative post. Once you are compromised, flatterers will swarm in. Disaster will follow—and I cannot bear to see you led to the execution ground." Hong swore an oath to Heaven and refused all gifts. Flower pots had already been placed in the courtyard. He ordered them removed at once; they fell and broke, revealing concealed silver inside. His fear only deepened. He then memorialized that the vault scales, worn over many years, had iron sunk into them, and asked the Ministry of Works to supply new iron of superior quality. On the day the new scales were delivered, he required the vault minister to lead censors and clerks in joint verification before they were placed in service. He banned diverting troop-pay silver, keeping blank ledgers for receipts and disbursements, and shaving silver from ingot sheaths. Vault clerks tried every trick to win him over, but he would not budge. He also asked the Ministry of Revenue to forward the master receipt ledger each month, keep a separate disbursement ledger, and require official seals on both to enable auditing. Earlier, Censor Zhao Peixiang had ruled the clerks with an iron hand. After his death, many suspected he had been poisoned. When Hong took charge of the vault, he would not drink even a spoonful of water offered there. Posted as Yunnan educational commissioner, he memorialized to abolish entrenched abuses, tightened control over clerks, and corrupt practices were quickly rooted out. He was promoted to vice commissioner of the Transmission Office and died in that post.
15
鄂木順額，字复亭，鈕祜祿氏，滿洲正藍旗人。 父明安泰，江蘇按察使。 鄂木順額，嘉慶二十五年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，累遷右庶子。 道光四年，大考一等，擢翰林院侍講學士，遷少詹事。 扈從東巡，命分視御道，內監前驅者多率意馳踐，鄂木順額執而鞭之，則愬於御前。 召問，鄂木順額對曰：「關外地與關內異，先驅蹂踐則路壞，慮驚乘輿。 且御道非大駕不得行，臣不敢不執法。」 上韙之。 命為湖南學政，以在母憂，引禮力辭。 服闋，督安徽學政，遷光祿寺卿。 十一年，大雨江溢，學政駐當塗，鄂木順額捐廉以賑，督守令勸捐，士民踴躍。 知縣趙汝和盡心民事，而戇直忤大吏，調為鄉試同考官。 鄂木順額堅留治賑，事得辦，後上聞。 宣宗以為賢，期滿留任，遷大理寺卿。 十二年，鄉試，往江寧考錄遺才，卒於試院。
E Mushune, whose courtesy name was Futing, belonged to the Niohuru clan and came from the Manchu Plain Blue Banner. His father Ming Antai had served as surveillance commissioner of Jiangsu. E Mushune earned his jinshi degree in the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, became a compiler, and rose in succession to right vice-director of the Supervisorate of Education. In the fourth year of Daoguang he ranked first class in the grand examination, was promoted to Hanlin expositor, and became junior commissioner of the Supervisorate of Education. On the eastern tour he was assigned to inspect sections of the imperial road. Many eunuch outriders rode recklessly and trampled it. E Mushune seized and whipped them, and they appealed to the emperor. Called in and questioned, E Mushune answered: "The terrain beyond the passes is not like that within them. If outriders trample the road it will be ruined, and I feared alarming the imperial carriage. Moreover, only the imperial procession may use the imperial road. I dared not fail to enforce the law." The emperor approved his conduct. He was appointed educational commissioner of Hunan, but as he was in mourning for his mother he cited ritual propriety and firmly declined. When mourning ended he served as educational commissioner of Anhui and was promoted to Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the eleventh year heavy rains flooded the river. The educational commissioner was stationed at Dangtu. E Mushune donated his official salary for relief, urged prefects and magistrates to solicit contributions, and gentry and commoners responded enthusiastically. Magistrate Zhao Ruhe devoted himself to local affairs, but his blunt integrity offended senior officials, and he was transferred to serve as associate examiner for the provincial examination. E Mushune insisted on keeping him for relief work. The effort succeeded, and the matter was later reported to the throne. Emperor Xuanzong judged him worthy. When his term ended he was kept in post and promoted to Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. In the twelfth year, while presiding over the provincial examination at Jiangning to select overlooked talent, he died in the examination compound.
16
鄂木順額以氣節自勵，在滿洲京僚中稱最。 大學士松筠尤重之，曰：「君光明挺直，行且大用，原自愛。」 為英和門下士，在翰林，非有故不通謁。 及英和謫戍，獨送至數十里外。 英和太息曰：「吾愧不知人，平日何曾好待君耶？」 嘗謁掌院學士玉麟，閽人弗為通，怒叱曰：「英相國獲罪，即若曹為之，奈何猶不知儆！」 翼日，玉麟自往謝。
E Mushune disciplined himself by moral integrity and was regarded as foremost among Manchu officials in the capital. Grand Secretary Songyun held him in special regard and said, "You are bright and upright. You will soon be greatly employed—please take care of yourself." He had been a disciple of Yinghe. In the Hanlin Academy he paid calls on no one without a proper reason. When Yinghe was banished to the frontier, he alone escorted him several tens of li on his way. Yinghe sighed deeply and said, "I am ashamed that I failed to know a man of worth. How often did I ever treat you well in ordinary times?" Once he called on Academician-in-Chief Yulin, but the gatekeeper refused to announce him. He shouted in anger, "Grand Councilor Ying was condemned—and your sort brought it about! Why have you still not learned to take warning!" The next day Yulin went in person to apologize.
17
徐法績，字熙庵，陝西涇陽人。 嘉慶二十二年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 以親老歸養，家居十年。 道光九年，遷御史，謂諫臣當識大體，不宜毛舉細故瀆上聽，致久浸生厭。 疏陳求人才、捐文法、重守令、繩貪墨四事。 會直隸、河南地震成災，劾罷監司不職者二人。 遷給事中，稽察銀庫，無所染。 十二年，分校會試，同官與吏乘隙為奸，匿雲南餉銀，法績出闈亟按之，謀始沮。 典試湖南，其副病歿，獨專校閱，遍搜遺卷，拔取多知名士，而得於遺卷者六人，大學士左宗棠其首也。 以薦赴東河，學習河工，週曆兩岸，詳詢利弊，著錄為東河要略一篇。 十四年，遷太常寺少卿。 尋以病乞歸，逾二年卒。
Xu Faji, whose courtesy name was Xi'an, came from Jingyang in Shaanxi. He earned his jinshi degree in the twenty-second year of Jiaqing, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. When his parents grew old he returned home to care for them and remained there ten years. In the ninth year of Daoguang he was promoted to censor. He argued that remonstrating officials should grasp the larger pattern, not weary the throne with petty complaints, lest constant triviality breed contempt. He memorialized on four measures: recruiting talent, easing formalistic regulations, strengthening prefects and magistrates, and punishing corruption. When earthquakes struck Zhili and Henan and brought disaster, he impeached and removed two incompetent provincial supervisors. He was promoted to supervising secretary, audited the silver vault, and remained uncorrupted. In the twelfth year, while serving as divisional examiner for the metropolitan examination, colleagues and clerks seized an opening for fraud and concealed Yunnan pay silver. Faji left the examination compound and investigated at once, and the plot was thwarted. He presided over the Hunan provincial examination. When his deputy died of illness he undertook the reading alone, searched every leftover paper, and selected many men who later became famous. Six were found among the rejected papers, foremost among them Grand Secretary Zuo Zongtang. On recommendation he went to the Eastern River conservancy, studied hydraulic engineering, toured both banks, investigated advantages and drawbacks in detail, and recorded his findings in a monograph entitled Essentials of the Eastern River. In the fourteenth year he was promoted to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He soon resigned on grounds of illness and returned home, dying a little more than two years later.
18
論曰：鮑桂星、顧蓴以鯁直獲譴，卒見諒於明主，蓴之建白，尤卓卓矣。 吳孝銘通達政體，鄂木順額樸誠持正，陳鴻、徐法績清操相繼，冀挽頹風，而庫藏大獄，卒發於十數年之間，甚矣實心除弊之罕覯其人也！
The commentators say: Bao Guixing and Gu Chun were punished for blunt integrity, yet in the end won understanding from an enlightened sovereign. Chun's proposals were especially outstanding. Wu Xiaoming mastered the workings of government; E Mushune was plainspoken, sincere, and upright; Chen Hong and Xu Faji upheld integrity in succession, hoping to reverse a declining age. Yet the great vault scandals finally erupted within a dozen years. How seldom does one meet a man who earnestly sets out to root out abuses!