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列傳一百六十五
Biography 165
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黃爵滋金應麟陳慶鏞蘇廷魁朱琦
Huang Juezi, Jin Yinglin, Chen Qingyong, Su Tingkui, and Zhu Qi
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黃爵滋，字樹齋，江西宜黃人。 道光三年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，遷御史、給事中。 以直諫負時望，遇事鋒發，無所迴避，言屢被採納。 十五年，特擢鴻臚寺卿。 詔以爵滋及科道中馮贊勳、金應麟、曾望顏諸人均敢言，故特加擢任，風勵言官，開忠諫之路，勉其勿因驟得升階，即圖保位，並以誥誡臣工焉。 尋疏陳察天道，廣言路，儲將才，制匪民，整飭京城營衛，申嚴外夷防禁六事，又陳漕、河積弊，均下議行。
Huang Juezi (style name Shuzhai) came from Yihuang in Jiangxi. He earned his jinshi degree in Daoguang 3 (1823), entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationary academician, served as a compiling editor, and was later promoted to censor and supervising secretary. He won renown for frank memorials, spoke out sharply on every issue without pulling punches, and saw many of his proposals accepted by the throne. In Daoguang 15 (1835) he received a special promotion to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. An edict explained that Juezi, along with supervising secretaries Feng Zanxun, Jin Yinglin, Zeng Wangyan, and others, had all spoken boldly, and were promoted expressly to encourage the censorate and widen the avenue of loyal remonstrance—while warning them not to grow cautious about preserving rank once elevated, a message meant for the bureaucracy at large. He soon submitted memorials on six topics—reading Heaven's signs, widening remonstrance, cultivating military talent, controlling lawless populations, reforming the capital garrisons, and tightening coastal defences against foreigners—along with long-standing abuses in the grain transport and river works; the court referred them all for policy action.
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時英吉利船艦屢至閩、浙、江南、山東洋面遊奕，測繪山川地圖。 爵滋疏言：「外國不可盡以恩撫，而沿海無備可危。」 十八年，上禁煙議疏曰：「竊見近年銀價遞增，每銀一兩，易制錢一千六百有零，非耗銀於內地，實漏銀於外洋也。 蓋自鴉片流入中國，道光三年以前，每歲漏銀數百萬兩，其初不過紈褲子弟習為浮靡。 嗣後上自官府搢紳，下至工商優隸，以及婦女僧道，隨在吸食。 粵省奸商勾通兵弁，用扒龍、快蟹等船，運銀出洋，運煙入口。 故自道光三年至十一年，歲漏銀一千七八百萬兩； 十一年至十四年，歲漏銀二千餘萬兩； 十四年至今，漸漏至三千萬之多； 福建、浙江、山東、天津各海口合之亦數千萬兩。 以中土有用之財，填海外無窮之壑，易此害人之物，漸成病國之憂，年復一年，不知伊於胡底。 各省州縣地丁錢糧，徵錢為多，及辦奏銷，以錢為銀，前此多有贏餘，今則無不賠貼。 各省鹽商賣鹽得錢，交課用銀，昔之爭為利藪者，今則視為畏途。 若再數年，銀價愈貴，奏銷如何能辦？ 積課如何能清？ 設有不測之用，又如何能支？ 今天下皆知漏卮在鴉片，而未知所以禁也。 夫耗銀之多，由於販煙之盛； 販煙之盛，由於食煙之眾。 無吸食自無興販，無興販則外洋之煙自不來矣。 宜先重治吸食，臣請皇上准給一年期限戒菸，雖至深之癮，未有不能斷絕者。 至一年仍然服食，是不奉法之亂民，加之重刑不足卹。 舊例吸煙罪止枷杖，其不指出興販者，罪止杖一百、徒三年，俱系活罪。 斷癮之苦，甚於枷杖與徒，故不肯斷絕。 若罪以死論，臨刑之慘急，苦於斷癮之苟延，臣知其原死於家而不原死於市。 況我皇上雷霆之威，赫然震怒，雖愚頑沉溺之久，自足以發聾振瞶。 皇上之旨嚴，則奉法之吏肅，犯法之人畏。 一年之內，尚未用刑，十已戒其八九。 已食者藉國法以保餘生，未食者因炯戒以全身命，止闢之大權，即好生之盛德也。 伏請飭諭各督撫嚴行清查保甲，初先曉諭，定於一年後取具五家互結，準令舉發，給予優獎。 倘有容隱，本犯照新例處死，互結之家照例治罪。 通都大邑，往來客商，責成店鋪，如有容留食煙之人，照窩藏匪類治罪。 文武大小各官，照常人加等，子孫不准考試。 官親幕友家丁，除本犯治罪外，本管官嚴加議處。 滿、漢官兵，照地方官保甲辦理； 管轄失察之人，照地方官辦理。 庶幾軍民一體，上下肅清，漏卮可塞，銀價不至再昂，然後講求理財之方，誠天下萬世臣民之福也。」 疏上，上深韙之，下疆臣各抒所見，速議章程。
English vessels were then appearing repeatedly off the coasts of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangnan, and Shandong, cruising the waters and charting the landscape. Juezi warned in a memorial: "Foreign powers cannot be handled solely through conciliation, and our undefended coast is gravely exposed." In Daoguang 18 (1838), in his celebrated memorial urging an opium ban, he wrote: "I observe that silver has grown steadily dearer in recent years—each tael now exchanges for over sixteen hundred cash. This is not domestic consumption of silver, but a drain of silver overseas. Since opium entered China, the annual outflow before Daoguang 3 had already run to several million taels; at first only wealthy young idlers took it up as a fashionable vice. Soon officials and gentry at the top, artisans and merchants below, actors and servants, even women, monks, and priests were smoking it everywhere. Guangdong smugglers colluded with soldiers and clerks, using swift craft such as the "dragon-stripping" and "fast crab" boats to ship silver abroad and opium ashore. From Daoguang 3 to 11, the annual drain ran to seventeen or eighteen million taels; from Daoguang 11 to 14, to more than twenty million taels a year; and since Daoguang 14 the figure has climbed toward thirty million; while the ports of Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Tianjin together account for tens of millions more. China's productive wealth is poured into a bottomless foreign pit in exchange for this poison, and the nation grows sicker year by year with no end in sight. Land tax across the provinces was collected chiefly in copper cash, then converted to silver for final accounts—formerly officials often showed a surplus, but now every settlement runs at a loss. Salt merchants who once fought for the lucrative salt trade now receive payment in cash but must remit duties in silver—a business once prized has become a path to ruin. If silver keeps rising for a few more years, how can fiscal settlements possibly be completed? How can accumulated tax arrears ever be cleared? And if an emergency arose, how could the treasury meet it? Everyone knows opium is the leak in the nation's finances, yet no one has found how to stop it. The drain of silver stems from the scale of the opium trade; and trafficking flourishes because smokers are so numerous. Without smokers there would be no trade; without trade, foreign opium would not enter China at all. We should strike first at consumption. I beg Your Majesty to allow a one-year grace period for smokers to quit—even the deepest addiction can be broken. Anyone still smoking after a year would be a lawless subject deserving no mercy under the severest penalty. Under existing law, smoking carried only the cangue and beating; failing to denounce traffickers brought a hundred blows and three years' penal servitude—all punishments short of death. Withdrawal hurts more than those penalties, so addicts refuse to quit. Make the penalty death, and the terror of execution would outweigh the misery of withdrawal—I know they would rather die at home than on the scaffold. Coupled with Your Majesty's thunderous wrath, even the most stubborn and long-addicted would be shaken awake. When the imperial will is stern, officials enforce the law rigorously and offenders take heed. Within that year, before a single execution, eight or nine in ten would quit on their own. Former smokers would be saved by the law; the untainted would be warned off in time—the power to suppress vice is itself the highest mercy. I beg Your Majesty to order every governor to enforce the baojia household registers: first instruct the people, then after one year require mutual guarantees from groups of five households, allow informers to come forward with generous rewards, and if anyone is concealed, execute the offender under the new statute and punish the guaranteeing households as well. In major cities and trading towns, hold inns responsible: any shop that harbors smokers should be punished as for sheltering criminals. Civil and military officials of every rank should face aggravated penalties, and their descendants should be barred from the examinations. For relatives, secretaries, and servants of officials, punish the offenders and also hold the supervising official strictly accountable. Manchu and Han troops should be registered and policed through the baojia system like civilians; and commanders who fail to detect offenders should face the same penalties as civil officials. Then army and people alike would be cleansed, the fiscal leak plugged, and silver might cease its rise—only then could we truly reform the finances. That would be a blessing for the empire and for generations to come." When the memorial reached the throne, the Emperor strongly endorsed it and ordered provincial officials to submit opinions and draft regulations without delay.
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先是，太常寺少卿許乃濟疏言，煙禁雖嚴，閉關不可，徒法不行，請仍用舊制納稅，以貨易貨，不得用銀購買，吸食罪名，專重官員、士子、兵丁，時皆謂非政體。 爵滋劾乃濟，罷其職，連擢爵滋大理寺少卿、通政使、禮部侍郎，調刑部。 十九年，廷臣議定販煙、吸煙罪名新例，略如爵滋所請。
Earlier, Xu Naiji of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices had argued that strict prohibition was unworkable while the coast remained closed to trade, and proposed legalizing opium under the old tax system with barter instead of silver payment and heavier penalties only for officials, scholars, and soldiers—a plan widely condemned as improper. Juezi impeached Xu Naiji, who was dismissed; Juezi was then promoted in rapid succession to vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review, transmission commissioner, vice minister of Rites, and finally transferred to the Ministry of Punishments. In Daoguang 19 (1839), the court enacted new statutes on trafficking and smoking opium, largely along the lines Juezi had proposed.
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林則徐至粵，盡焚躉船存煙，議外國人販煙罪。 英領事義律不就約束，兵釁遂開。 二十年，命爵滋偕左都御史祁俊藻赴福建查辦禁煙，與總督鄧廷楨籌備海防。 洎英兵來犯，廷楨屢挫敵於廈門，上疑之。 爵滋與俊藻方至浙江按事，復命赴福建察奏。 疏陳：「廷楨所奏不誣； 定海不可不速復； 水師有專門之技，宜破格用人。」 具言戰守方略。 又言浙江為閩、粵之心腹，與江蘇為脣齒，請飭伊里布不可偏聽琦善，信敵必退。 及回京，復極言英人勞師襲遠不足慮，宜竟與絕市，募兵節餉，為持久計，以海防圖進。 既而琦善在粵議撫不得要領，連歲命將出師，廣東、浙江皆不利。 二十二年，英兵由海入江，乃定和議於江寧，煙禁自此弛矣。 尋丁父憂去官。
Lin Zexu reached Guangdong, burned all the opium stored on the receiving ships, and pressed charges against foreign traffickers. The British consul Charles Elliot refused to comply, and war broke out. In Daoguang 20 (1840), Juezi was sent with Left Censor-in-Chief Qi Junzao to Fujian to oversee the opium ban and, with Governor-General Deng Tingzhen, to prepare coastal defences. When British forces attacked, Deng Tingzhen reported repeated victories at Xiamen, which the Emperor found hard to believe. Juezi and Qi Junzao were inspecting affairs in Zhejiang when they were ordered back to Fujian to investigate and report. They reported: "Deng Tingzhen's accounts were not false; Dinghai must be recovered without delay; and the navy's specialized skills require appointing men outside the usual seniority rules." They laid out detailed plans for offense and defense. They also warned that Zhejiang was the strategic heart linking Fujian and Guangdong to Jiangsu, and urged the court to tell Yilibu not to heed Qishan alone or assume the enemy would simply withdraw. Back in Beijing, Juezi argued forcefully that Britain's expeditionary forces were overextended, urged a complete trade embargo, recruitment and fiscal retrenchment for a war of attrition, and submitted a coastal defence map. Qishan's peace negotiations in Guangdong then failed, and repeated campaigns in Guangdong and Zhejiang went badly. In Daoguang 22 (1842), British forces advanced up the Yangzi from the sea, and peace was concluded at Nanjing—the opium prohibition was effectively abandoned. He soon resigned to observe mourning for his father.
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爵滋為御史時，稽察戶部銀庫，嘗疏言庫丁輕收虧帑之弊。 二十三年，銀庫虧空九百萬兩事發，追論管庫、查庫諸臣，罪皆褫職責賠，賠既足，次第予官。 爵滋以員外郎候補，病足家居，上猶時問其何在。 三十年，至京，會上崩，遂不出。 逾三年，卒。
As a censor, Juezi had inspected the Ministry of Revenue silver vault and memorialized on clerks who accepted short payments and caused treasury losses. In Daoguang 23 (1843), a nine-million-tael vault deficit came to light; vault managers and inspectors were stripped of rank and ordered to make restitution, and were gradually reappointed once they had paid in full. Juezi awaited appointment as a vice director but stayed home with a foot ailment; the Emperor still occasionally inquired after him. He came to Beijing in Daoguang 30 (1850), but the Emperor died soon after, and he never took office again. He died three years later.
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爵滋以詩名，喜交遊，每夜閉閣草奏，日騎出，遍視諸故人名士，飲酒賦詩，意氣豪甚。 及創議禁煙，始終主戰，一時以為清流眉目。 所著奏議、詩文集行於世。
Juezi was known as a poet and a convivial man: he drafted memorials by night, rode out by day to visit friends and literati, drinking and composing verse with exuberant spirit. When he launched the drive to ban opium he consistently favored war, and for a time was seen as the moral leader of the Qingliu reform party. His collected memorials, poetry, and prose circulated widely.
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金應麟，字亞伯，浙江錢塘人。 以舉人入貲為中書。 道光六年，成進士，授刑部主事，總辦秋審，先後從大臣讞獄四川、湖北、山西。 累擢郎中，改御史，遷給事中。 疏請修改刑例，於鬥毆、報盜、劫囚、誣告、私鑄、服舍違式、斷罪引律、奴婢毆主、故禁故勘平人、應捕人追捕罪人、犯罪存留養親、官司出入人罪、徒流遷徙地方、外省駐防逃人，逐條論列，多被採取改定； 又論銅船恣橫不法及驛站擾累諸弊，並下各省督撫禁革。 先後封事數十上，劾疆臣琦善、河臣吳邦慶尤為時稱。 宣宗嘉其敢言，擢太常寺少卿。 遭憂歸，服闋，授鴻臚寺卿。 疏論水師廢弛，漕政頹紊。 十九年，出為直隸按察使，鞫護理長蘆鹽運使楊成業等得贓獄，論遣戍，前運使陳崇禮等並罣議。 尋召為大理寺少卿。
Jin Yinglin (style name Yabo) came from Qiantang in Zhejiang. As a provincial graduate he purchased appointment as a secretariat drafter. He passed the jinshi examination in Daoguang 6 (1826), was made a principal clerk in the Ministry of Punishments, supervised the autumn judicial review, and accompanied senior officials on case reviews in Sichuan, Hubei, and Shanxi. He rose through the ranks to director, then censor, then supervising secretary. He memorialized for revisions to the penal code, addressing affray, reporting bandits, prison breaks, false accusation, private coining, mourning and residence violations, sentencing citations, slaves assaulting masters, wrongful imprisonment and torture, authorized pursuit of criminals, retention for filial support, official misconduct in criminal cases, places of exile, and fugitives from provincial garrisons—article by article; many of his proposals were adopted; he also exposed abuses by copper-transport boats and the burdens imposed by the courier stations, and the court ordered provincial governors to suppress them. He submitted dozens of confidential memorials in all; his impeachments of Governor-General Qishan and river conservancy official Wu Bangqing won particular acclaim. The Daoguang Emperor praised his outspokenness and promoted him to vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. After mourning for his parents he was appointed vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He memorialized on the decay of the navy and the disorder of the grain transport system. In Daoguang 19 he was posted as surveillance commissioner of Zhili, tried Acting Changlu Salt Transport Commissioner Yang Chengye and others for bribery, sentenced them to exile, and implicated former transport commissioners including Chen Chongli. He was soon recalled as vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
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二十二年，疏言：「海疆諸臣欺罔，其故由於爵祿之念重，而趨避之計工。 欲破其欺，是在乾斷。 資格不可拘，嫌疑不必避，舊過不妨宥，重賞不宜惜。 近頃長江海口鎮兵足守，而敵船深入，逃潰時聞。 竭億萬氓庶之脂膏。 保一二庸臣之軀命。 議者諉謂無人無兵無餉無械。 竊以無人當求，無兵當練，無餉械亦當計度固有，多則持重，少則用謀，作三軍之氣，定邊疆之危，在皇上假以事權，與任事者運用一心而已。」 复疏進預計度支圖、火器圖、籌海戰方略甚悉。 二十三年，以親老乞歸省，不復出。 著有廌華堂奏議及駢體文。
In Daoguang 22 he wrote: "Coastal officials deceive the throne because they prize rank and salary above all and are skilled at evasion. To break their deceit requires resolute imperial decision. Do not be bound by seniority, do not shrink from suspicion, pardon past faults, and do not stint on rewards. Recently at the Yangzi estuary the garrison was ample on paper, yet enemy ships penetrated deep inland and rout was reported again and again. The fat of the people is drained dry to preserve the lives of a few mediocre officials. Critics excuse failure by claiming there are no men, no troops, no funds, and no weapons. I hold that men must be found, troops must be trained, and funds and arms must be deployed as available—use strength when plentiful, stratagem when scarce, rouse the army's spirit, and secure the frontier. All this requires only that Your Majesty delegate authority and that those in charge act in concert." He also submitted detailed diagrams of projected revenue and expenditure, firearms, and coastal warfare strategy. In Daoguang 23 he asked leave to care for his aged parents and never returned to office. He left behind the Zhihua Hall Memorials and works in parallel prose.
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陳慶鏞，字頌南，福建晉江人。 道光十二年進士，選庶吉士，散館授戶部主事，遷員外郎，授御史。 二十三年，海疆僨事，獲罪諸臣浸復起用。
Chen Qingyong (style name Songnan) came from Jinjiang in Fujian. He earned his jinshi in Daoguang 12 (1832), entered the Hanlin Academy, was posted to the Ministry of Revenue as a principal clerk, rose to vice director, and was made a censor. In Daoguang 23, after the coastal disasters, officials who had been punished were gradually brought back into service.
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慶鏞上疏論刑賞失措，曰：「行政之要，莫大於刑賞。 刑賞之權，操之於君，喻之於民，所以示天下之大公也。 大學論平天下之道，在於絜矩。 矩者何，民之好惡是已。 海疆多事以來，自總督、將軍以至州縣丞倅，禽駭獸奔。 皇上赫然震怒，失律之罪，法有莫逭。 於是辱國之將軍奕山、奕經，參贊文蔚，總督牛鑑，提督餘步雲，先後就逮，步雲伏法。 血氣之倫，罔不拊手稱快，謂國法前雖未伸於琦善，今猶伸於餘步雲。 乃未幾起琦善為葉爾羌幫辦大臣。 邸報既傳，人情震駭，猶解之曰：'古聖王之待罪人，有投四裔以御魑魅者。 '皇上之於琦善，殆其類是，而今且以三品頂戴用為熱河都統矣，且用奕經為葉爾羌幫辦大臣，文蔚為古城領隊大臣矣。 琦善於戰事方始，首先示弱，以惰軍心，海內糜爛，至於此極。 既罷斥終身不齒，猶恐不足饜民心而作士氣。 奕經之罪，雖較琦善稍減，文蔚之罪，較奕經又減。 然皇上命將出師，若何慎重。 奕經頓兵半載，曾未身歷行間，騁其虛憍之氣，自詭一鼓而復三城； 卒之機事不密，貽笑敵人，覆軍殺將，一敗不支。 此不待別科騷擾供億、招權納賄之罪，而已不可勝誅。 臣亦知奕經為高宗純皇帝之裔，皇上親親睦族，不忍遽加顯戮。 然即幸邀寬典，亦當禁錮終身，無為天潢宗室羞，豈圖收禁未及三月，輒复棄瑕錄用？ 且此數人者，皇上特未知其見惡於民之深耳。 倘俯採輿論，孰不切齒琦善為罪魁，誰不疾首於奕山、奕經、牛鑑、文蔚，而以為投畀之不容緩？ 此非臣一人之私言也。 側聞琦善意侈體汰，跋扈如常，葉爾羌之行，本屬怏怏； 今果未及出關，即蒙召還。 熱河密邇神京，有識無識，莫不撫膺太息，以為皇上鄉用琦善之意，尚不止此。 萬一有事，則熒惑聖聰者，必仍系斯人。 履霜堅冰，深可懍懼。 頃者禦試翰詹，以'烹阿封即墨'命題，而今茲刑賞顧如此，臣未知皇上所謂阿者何人？ 即墨者何人？ 假如聖意高深，偶或差忒，而以即墨為阿，阿為即墨，將毋譽之毀之者有以淆亂是非耶？ 所望皇上立奮天威，收回成命，體大學絜矩之旨，鑑盈廷毀譽之真，國法稍伸，民心可慰。」 疏上，宣宗嘉之，諭曰：「朕無知人之明，以致琦善、奕經、文蔚諸人喪師失律，惟有反躬自責，不欲諉罪臣工。 今該御史請收回成命，朕非文過飾非之君，豈肯回護？」 复革琦善等職，令閉門思過。 於是直聲震海內。
Chen Qingyong memorialized that rewards and punishments had been mishandled: "Nothing matters more in government than how punishments and rewards are applied. That authority rests with the sovereign and must be made clear to the people, for it embodies the empire's fundamental fairness. The Great Learning teaches that bringing peace to the realm depends on holding the measuring square—applying the same standard to oneself that one applies to others. What is the measuring square? The people's likes and dislikes. Since the coastal troubles began, governors-general, generals, and officials down to county deputies have fled in panic like startled birds and beasts. The Emperor was furious, and the law allowed no escape for those who had broken discipline. The disgraced generals Yishan and Yijing, staff officer Wenwei, Governor-General Niu Jian, and Provincial Commander Yu Buyun were arrested in turn; Buyun was executed. Men of spirit applauded, saying that although the law had not reached Qishan before, it had at least been applied to Yu Buyun. Before long, however, Qishan was reappointed assistant commissioner at Yarkand. When the court gazette announced this, the public was appalled, though some explained it by saying that ancient sage kings had banished criminals to the four corners of the realm to ward off evil spirits. Perhaps the Emperor's treatment of Qishan was of that kind—yet now he was appointed Rehe lieutenant-general with third-rank insignia, Yijing was made Yarkand assistant commissioner, and Wenwei leading commissioner at Gucheng. Qishan had been the first to show weakness when war began, sapping army morale and bringing the empire to ruin. Dismissal and lifelong disgrace would scarcely satisfy public outrage or restore military morale. Yijing's guilt was somewhat less than Qishan's, and Wenwei's somewhat less than Yijing's. Yet how grave a matter it is when the Emperor sends generals to war. Yijing kept his army idle for half a year without ever seeing battle, boasted emptily that one assault would recover three cities, then let his plans leak, made himself a laughingstock to the enemy, lost his army and his generals, and collapsed in a single defeat. Without even counting his harassment of the people, waste of supplies, abuse of power, and acceptance of bribes, his crimes were already beyond measure. I know that Yijing is a descendant of the Qianlong Emperor, and that Your Majesty, cherishing imperial kin, is reluctant to execute him outright. Even if he were spared, he should be imprisoned for life rather than bring shame on the imperial house—who imagined he would be released and reappointed in less than three months? Moreover, Your Majesty may not yet realize how deeply the people hate these men. If Your Majesty heeded public opinion, who would not denounce Qishan as the chief culprit, or demand that Yishan, Yijing, Niu Jian, and Wenwei be cast out without delay? This is not my opinion alone. I hear that Qishan remains as extravagant and overbearing as ever and went to Yarkand reluctantly; and before he had even left the frontier pass, he was recalled. Rehe lies close to the capital; learned and common people alike sigh in dismay, fearing the Emperor intends to employ Qishan even closer to court. If trouble should arise again, this same man would surely be the one to mislead Your Majesty. As the proverb says, frost underfoot foretells solid ice—a prospect that should fill us with dread. At the recent Hanlin examination the topic was "boiling A and enfeoffing Jimo," yet rewards and punishments now run the opposite way—I do not know whom Your Majesty considers "A." And who is "Jimo"? If the imperial mind has erred and Jimo is treated as A and A as Jimo, will not flatterers and detractors alike confuse right and wrong? I beg Your Majesty to rouse imperial authority, withdraw these appointments, heed the Great Learning's teaching on the measuring square, discern true praise and blame in the court, give the law some force, and console the people's hearts." When the memorial reached the throne, the Daoguang Emperor praised it and said: "I lacked the wisdom to judge men, and so Qishan, Yijing, Wenwei, and others lost armies and broke discipline. I can only blame myself and will not shift guilt onto my officials. This censor asks me to withdraw my orders. I am not a ruler who covers his faults—how could I shield them?" He then stripped Qishan and the others of their posts and ordered them to remain at home in reflection. His reputation for integrity then resounded throughout the empire.
13
二十五年，遷給事中，巡視東城，以事詿吏議，左遷光祿寺署正。 二十六年，乞歸。 文宗即位，以大學士朱鳳標薦，复授御史，蹶而再起，氣不少撓，疊上疏多關大計。 自粵匪起，福建群盜蠢動，蔓延泉、漳、興、永諸郡。 咸豐三年，慶鏞疏陳利害，命回籍治團練。 惠安妖婦邱氏煽亂，偵獲置諸法，賜花翎。 俄以病請開缺。 七年，逆匪林俊糾莆陽、仙遊、永春、南安群賊犯泉州，慶鏞激厲士民固守，賊攻圍數日而退。 論功，以道員候選。 八年，卒於泉州，贈光祿寺卿，賜祭葬，廕一子知縣，祀鄉賢祠。
In Daoguang 25 he was made supervising secretary and inspector of the Eastern City, but was demoted to acting director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments after an official inquiry. In Daoguang 26 he asked leave to return home. When the Xianfeng Emperor ascended, Grand Secretary Zhu Fengbiao recommended him for censor again; though he had fallen, he rose once more undaunted and submitted repeated memorials on matters of state. After the Taiping rebellion began, bandit gangs stirred in Fujian and spread through Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xinghua, and Yongchun. In Xianfeng 3 he memorialized on the situation and was ordered home to organize local militia. He detected and executed the sorceress Qiu, who had incited rebellion in Huian, and was rewarded with the peacock feather. He soon asked leave of his post on grounds of illness. In Xianfeng 7 the rebel Lin Jun gathered bandits from Putian, Xianyou, Yongchun, and Nan'an to attack Quanzhou; Qingyong rallied the gentry and people to hold the city, and the rebels withdrew after several days. For this service he was made a candidate for circuit intendant. He died at Quanzhou in Xianfeng 8 and was posthumously made vice minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, granted state funeral honors, with one son ennobled as county magistrate and his spirit enshrined in the local worthies' temple.
14
慶鏞精研漢學，而製行則服膺宋儒，文辭樸茂，著有籀經堂文集、三家詩考、說文釋、古籀考等書。
Qingyong was a scholar of Han learning who followed Song Confucian conduct in life; his prose was plain and solid. He left the Zhoujing Hall Collected Works, Examination of the Three Schools' Poetry, Explanation of the Shuowen, Examination of Ancient Zhou Script, and other works.
15
蘇廷魁，字賡堂，廣東高要人。 道光十五年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 二十二年，遷御史。 海疆兵事方亟，迭上疏論列，請修築虎門砲台及燕塘墟、大沙河、龜岡諸要隘，以防敵回擾粵，既而和議成。 二十三年春，有白氣自天西南隅直掃參旗，因災異上疏數千言，極論時政乖迕，歸罪樞臣穆彰阿等，請立罷黜； 並下罪己詔，開直諫之路：語多指斥。 宣宗覽奏動容，嘉其切直，朝野傾望丰采。 遭憂去官，服闋，遷給事中。
Su Tingkui (style name Gengtang) came from Gaoyao in Guangdong. He earned his jinshi in Daoguang 15 (1835), entered the Hanlin Academy, and was made a compiling editor. In Daoguang 22 he was made a censor. As coastal war intensified, he repeatedly memorialized urging repair of the Humen batteries and the passes at Yantangxu, Dashaha, and Guigang to guard against a return attack on Guangdong—until peace was concluded. In the spring of Daoguang 23 a white comet swept from the southwest through the Shen constellation; he submitted a memorial of several thousand words on this omen, condemning current policy and blaming Grand Councilor Mujangga and others, demanding their immediate dismissal; and calling for an imperial self-reproach edict and open remonstrance—his language was blunt and accusatory. The Daoguang Emperor was moved by the memorial and praised its blunt honesty; court and public alike looked to him with admiration. After mourning for his parents he was made supervising secretary.
16
咸豐元年，上謹始疏，請求宏濟之道，執勞謙之義，防驕泰之萌，推誠任賢，慎始圖治，選擇翰詹為講官，嚴取孝廉方正備採用，文宗嘉納之。 賽尚阿出督師，援引內閣侍讀穆廕擢五品京堂，在軍機大臣上學習行走。 廷魁疏劾其壞舊制，用私親，超擢太驟，易啟幸進之門，請俟賽尚阿還，令回章京本任，詔斥擅預黜陟，猶以素行端方，不之罪。 上先隱其名，出疏示賽尚阿，賽尚阿退，飲台垣酒，問：「誰實彈我？」 廷魁出席曰：「公負國，某不敢負公。」 再以憂歸。 四年，廣東紅巾匪起，將犯省城。 或獻議借外兵，以鋪捐為餉糈，力爭，罷其議。
In Xianfeng 1 he submitted a memorial on careful beginnings, urging policies of great relief, humility in labor, guarding against pride, sincerity in employing talent, careful governance at the start, Hanlin lecturers, and strict selection of filial and upright candidates—the Xianfeng Emperor accepted it with praise. When Saišangga went out to command the army, he promoted Grand Secretariat reader Muyin to fifth-rank capital official and placed him to learn duties above the Grand Council. Tingkui impeached this as a breach of precedent, nepotism, and reckless promotion that opened the door to favoritism, and asked that Muyin return to his clerk post when Saišangga came back. An edict rebuked Tingkui for interfering in appointments, but spared him because of his upright record. The Emperor first concealed Tingkui's name and showed the memorial to Saišangga; when Saišangga withdrew and drank with the censorial officials, he asked, "Who impeached me?" Tingkui rose and said, "You have failed the state; I dare not fail you by concealing it." He again returned home to observe mourning. In Xianfeng 4 the Red Turban rebels rose in Guangdong and threatened the provincial capital. Some proposed borrowing foreign troops and funding them with shop levies; he fought the proposal and had it dropped.
17
八年，英法聯軍踞廣州，廷魁與侍郎羅惇衍等倡設團防局，嚴清野，絕漢奸，招募東莞及三元里、佛山練勇得數万人，聲言戒期攻城，敵師出，擊斬百餘級。 敵始有戒心，稍戢，連艘北犯，既而天津議和，廣東敵兵未退，民益憤，廷魁等請留練局以防土寇。 敵謂既媾和何復募勇，且以懸金購領事巴夏禮為責言。 議和大臣桂良慮撓成議，奏請撤局。 初，艇匪擾廣寧，圍四會、肇慶，兵疲糧罄，或勸之去，廷魁曰：「予團防大臣也，誓與城為存亡！」 會提督昆壽克梧州，以兵來援，城得完。 疆臣屢欲上其功，皆固辭。
In Xianfeng 8 the Anglo-French forces occupied Guangzhou; Tingkui and Vice Minister Luo Dunyan organized a militia defense bureau, cleared the countryside, cut off collaborators, and recruited tens of thousands of militia from Dongguan, Sanyuanli, and Foshan; when they announced an attack and the enemy came out, they killed more than a hundred. The enemy grew cautious and withdrew somewhat, then sailed north; after peace at Tianjin the foreign troops remained in Guangdong and popular anger grew; Tingkui asked to keep the militia bureau against local bandits. The foreigners protested that recruiting militia after peace was improper and blamed the Chinese for posting a bounty on Consul Harry Parkes. Peace negotiator Guiliang feared this would disrupt the treaty and memorialized to dissolve the bureau. Earlier, when boat bandits besieged Sihui and Zhaoqing in Guangning and troops were exhausted, some urged him to flee. Tingkui said, "I am the militia defense commissioner—I swear to live or die with this city!" Provincial Commander Kunshou then captured Wuzhou and came to the rescue, and the city was saved. Frontier officials repeatedly tried to memorialize his merits, but he firmly declined.
18
同治初，以中外大臣薦，授河南開歸陳許道，歷布政使，擢東河總督。 七年，河決滎澤，未奪溜，革職留任，閱三月工竣，復之。 逾年，內召，去官，稱疾歸。 光緒四年，卒。
Early in the Tongzhi reign, on ministers' recommendation, he was made intendant of the Kai-Gui-Chen-Xu circuit in Henan, served as provincial treasurer, and was promoted to Governor-General of the Eastern Rivers. In Tongzhi 7 the Yellow River breached at Xingze without shifting course; he was dismissed but kept in post, and after three months' work was restored. The following year he was summoned to the capital, resigned, and returned home on grounds of illness. He died in Guangxu 4 (1878).
19
朱琦，字伯韓，廣西臨桂人。 父鳳森，嘉慶六年進士，官河南濬縣知縣，有政聲。 滑縣教匪起，率團練御之，屢破賊，城守卒完。 遷河南府通判。 歿，祀名宦。
Zhu Qi (style name Bohan) came from Lingui in Guangxi. His father Zhu Fengsen earned his jinshi in Jiaqing 6 (1801), served as magistrate of Jun County in Henan, and won a reputation for good governance. When sectarian rebels rose in Hua County, he led the militia in repeated victories and preserved the city. He was promoted to vice prefect of Henan Prefecture. After his death he was enshrined among distinguished officials.
20
琦，舉鄉試第一。 道光十五年，成進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 慕同里陳宏謀之為人，以氣節自勵。 遷御史，值海疆事定，禍機四伏，而上下復習委靡，言路多容默，深以為憂。 著名實說，略曰：「天下有鄉曲之行，有大人之行。 鄉曲、大人，其名也，考之其行，而察其有用與否，其實也。 世之稱者，曰謹厚，曰廉靜，日退讓，三者名之至美也，而不知此鄉曲之行也，非所謂大人者也。 大人之職，在於經國家、安社稷，有剛毅之大節，為人主畏憚； 有深謀遠慮，為天下長計。 合則留，不合以義去。 身之便安，不暇計也； 世之指摘，不敢逃也。 今也不然。 曰：吾為天下長計，則天下之釁必集於我； 吾為人主畏憚，則不能久於其位； 不如謹厚、廉靜、退讓，此三者可以安坐而無患，而名又至美也。 夫無患而可久於其位，又有天下美名，士何憚而不爭趨於此？ 故近世所稱公卿之賢者，此三者為多矣。 當其瓘冠襜裾，從容正步，趨於廊廟之間，上之人不疑，而非議不加，其沉深不可測也。 一旦遇大利害，搶攘無措，鉗口撟舌而莫敢言，而所謂謹厚、廉靜、退讓，至此舉無可用，於是始思向之為人主畏憚而有深謀遠慮者，不可得矣。 且謹厚、廉靜、退讓三者，非果無用也。 古有負蓋世之功而思持其後，挾震主之威而唯恐不終，未嘗不斤斤於此，故又於鎮薄俗、保晚節。 後世無其才而冒其位，安其樂而避其患，假於名之至美，僴然自以為足。 是藏身之固，莫便此三者。 孔子之所謂鄙夫也，其究鄉愿也。 是張禹、胡廣、趙戒之類也，甚矣其恥也！」 於是數上疏切論時務，皆留中不報。 時咸推其抗直，稱為名御史。
Zhu Qi placed first in the provincial examinations. He earned his jinshi in Daoguang 15 (1835), entered the Hanlin Academy, and was made a compiling editor. He admired the character of his fellow townsman Chen Hongmou and strove to live by moral integrity. Made a censor after the coastal war ended, he saw danger lurking everywhere while court and country relapsed into listlessness and the censorate fell silent—he was deeply troubled. He wrote a treatise On Reputation and Reality, opening: "Under Heaven there is the conduct of petty localism and the conduct of great statesmen. Petty localism and great statesmanship are only names; examine conduct and whether it serves the state--that is reality. The age praises "prudent and solid," "pure and quiet," and "daily yielding"—names of the highest beauty—yet these are petty conduct, not the conduct of great statesmen. The duty of great statesmen is to govern the state and secure the realm: they possess firm integrity and are feared and respected by the sovereign; they plan deeply and far ahead for the empire's lasting good. If their counsel is heeded they stay; if not, they leave on principle. They do not calculate their personal comfort; nor do they flee the world's blame. Now it is otherwise. They say: if I plan for the empire's long-term good, the world's troubles will fall on me; if I am feared and respected by the sovereign, I cannot long keep my post; better to be prudent, pure, and yielding—one can sit secure without trouble and win the fairest name. What gentleman would not strive for a post without worry, long tenure, and a beautiful reputation? Hence most of the "worthy" ministers praised in recent times excel in these three qualities alone. In jade caps and court robes they walk with easy dignity through the palace corridors; their superiors trust them and no one criticizes them—they seem unfathomably deep. Yet when great crisis comes they are helpless, silent and tongue-tied—and their prudence, purity, and yielding prove wholly useless; only then do they realize that the statesmen once feared and respected by the sovereign, with deep vision, are nowhere to be found. Yet prudence, purity, and yielding are not in themselves useless. Ancient men who had achieved world-shaking merit and sought to preserve it, or who wielded power that awed the throne and feared an unhappy end, were scrupulous in these virtues to restrain shallow custom and preserve their integrity in old age. Later men without such talent hold such posts, enjoy their ease while avoiding trouble, borrow these fairest names, and complacently think themselves sufficient. Nothing offers a safer hiding place than these three virtues. They are what Confucius called vulgar men—in the end, village worthies in disguise. They are men of the sort of Zhang Yu, Hu Guang, and Zhao Jie—how shameful!" He then submitted repeated memorials on urgent affairs of state, but all were retained at court without response. His contemporaries admired his outspoken integrity and called him a censor of renown.
21
琦以言既不見用，二十六年，告歸。 越數年，廣西群賊蜂起，其言皆驗。 家居治團練，助守禦。 賊中梟傑張家祥者，悔罪投誠，當事猶疑之。 琦知其忠勇可用，以全家保之，乃受降，改名國樑，卒為名將。 琦以守城勞議敘，以道員候選。 咸豐六年，再至京師。 居兩歲，從欽差大臣桂良至江蘇，無所遇，王有齡獨重之，有齡撫浙，闢贊軍事。 十一年，粵匪犯杭州，總理團練局。 守清波門，城陷，死之。 贈太常寺卿，予騎都尉世職，祀昭忠祠。
When his counsel went unheeded, he asked leave to return home in Daoguang 26. Within a few years bandits swarmed in Guangxi, and his warnings proved true. At home he organized local militia and helped defend the region. The rebel chieftain Zhang Jiaxiang repented and offered to surrender, but the authorities still distrusted him. Qi judged him loyal and brave enough to use, pledged his own family's safety as guarantee, accepted the surrender, renamed him Guoliang, and he became a famous general. For his service in the city's defense he was made a candidate for circuit intendant. In Xianfeng 6 he returned to Beijing. After two years he followed Imperial Commissioner Guiliang to Jiangsu without success until Wang Youling alone valued him; when Wang became governor of Zhejiang, he recruited Qi to assist in military affairs. In Xianfeng 11 the Taiping rebels attacked Hangzhou, and he directed the militia bureau. He defended the Qingbo Gate; when the city fell, he died in its defense. He was posthumously made vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, granted a hereditary commandant of cavalry rank, and enshrined in the Shrine of Manifest Loyalty.
22
琦學宗程、朱，詩古文皆有法，著有怡志堂集、台垣奏議。
Qi followed the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism; his poetry and prose were disciplined in style. He left the Yizhi Hall Collected Works and Censorial Memorials.
23
論曰：禁煙之議，創自黃爵滋，行之操切，而邊釁遂開，繼之游移而國威愈墮，誠不可以此歸咎始議之人。 然謀國萬全，決胜千里，非恃意氣為也。 行固維艱，言亦豈易易哉？ 金應麟同被拔擢，亦始終主戰。 陳慶鏞、蘇廷魁、朱琦時稱「三直」； 合之應麟，又稱「四虎」。 所言有用有不用，凜凜然有生氣，要足以砭頑振懦矣。
The historian comments: Huang Juezi originated the proposal to ban opium. It was enforced with harsh urgency, border war followed, and vacillation afterward only further diminished national prestige—yet the blame cannot fairly be laid on those who first proposed the ban. Yet securing the state and deciding victory a thousand li away cannot rest on zeal alone. Action is hard enough—how much harder is it to speak rightly? Jin Yinglin was promoted at the same time and likewise consistently favored war. Chen Qingyong, Su Tingkui, and Zhu Qi were known as the "Three Upright Ones"; with Yinglin added, they were called the "Four Tigers." Their counsel was sometimes heeded and sometimes ignored, yet they spoke with stern moral force enough to pierce stubbornness and rouse the timid.