1
宗室肅順，字雨亭，鄭親王烏爾恭阿第六子也。 道光中，考封三等輔國將軍，授委散秩大臣、奉宸苑卿。 文宗即位，擢內閣學士，兼副都統、護軍統領、鑾儀使。 以其敢任事，漸鄉用。 咸豐四年，授御前侍衛，遷工部侍郎，歷禮部、戶部。
Sushun of the imperial clan, whose style was Yuting, was the sixth son of Prince Zheng Ulgungga. In the Daoguang era he qualified by examination for enfeoffment as a third-class bulguo general and received appointments as acting minister without portfolio and superintendent of the Imperial Parks. When Emperor Xianfeng took the throne, Sushun was promoted to grand secretary and concurrently appointed vice commander-in-chief, commandant of the guards, and master of ceremonies. Because he was bold in taking responsibility, he came to be employed more and more. In 1854 he was appointed an imperial bodyguard, promoted to vice minister of works, and later held posts in the ministries of rites and revenue.
2
七年，擢左都御史、理籓院尚書，兼都統。 時寇亂方熾，外患日深，文宗憂勤，要政多下廷議。 肅順恃恩眷，其兄鄭親王端華及怡親王載垣相為附和，擠排異己，廷臣咸側目。 八年，調禮部尚書，仍管理籓院事，又調戶部。 會英法聯軍犯天津，起前大學士耆英隨欽差大臣桂良、花沙納往議約。 耆英不候旨回京，下獄議罪，擬絞監候，肅順獨具疏請立予正法，上雖斥其言過當，即賜耆英自盡。 大學士柏葰典順天鄉試，以縱容家人靳祥舞弊，命肅順會同刑部鞫訊，讞大辟，上念柏葰舊臣，獄情可原，欲寬之； 肅順力爭，遂命斬。 戶部因軍興財匱，行鈔，置寶鈔處，行大錢，置官錢總局，分領其事。 又設官號，招商佐出納，號「乾」字者四，「宇」字者五。 鈔弊大錢無信用，以法令強行之，官民交累，徒滋弊竇。 肅順察寶鈔處所列「宇」字五號欠款與官錢總局存檔不符，奏請究治，得朦混狀，褫司員台斐音等職，與商人並論罪，籍沒者數十家。 又劾官票所官吏交通，褫關防員外郎景雯等職，籍沒官吏亦數十家。 大學士祁俊藻、翁心存皆因與意見不合，齮齕不安於位而去，心存且幾被重罪。
In 1857 he was promoted to left censor-in-chief and minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs, while also holding the post of commander-in-chief. Rebellion was then at its height and foreign pressure was mounting day by day; the emperor was deeply troubled, and important policies were often debated in court. Sushun relied on the emperor's favor; his elder brother Prince Zheng Duanhua and Prince Yi Zaiyuan backed one another, squeezed out opponents, and officials in court watched them with unease. In 1858 he was moved to minister of rites while continuing to oversee colonial affairs, and was then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. As the Anglo-French allied armies threatened Tianjin, the former grand secretary Qiying was sent with the imperial commissioners Guiliang and Huashana to negotiate terms. Qiying returned to Beijing without awaiting orders, was imprisoned and tried, and sentenced to strangulation after reprieve; Sushun alone memorialized that he should be put to death immediately. Though the emperor criticized this as going too far, Qiying was at once ordered to kill himself. Grand Secretary Baizhan oversaw the Shuntian provincial examination; for allowing his retainer Jin Xiang to cheat, Sushun was ordered to investigate jointly with the Ministry of Punishments. The verdict was death. The emperor, mindful that Baizhan was a veteran official and that the case might be excused, wished to spare him; Sushun pressed his case forcefully, and Baizhan was ordered beheaded. With war draining the treasury, the Ministry of Revenue issued paper notes and established the Treasure Note Office, issued large-denomination coins and set up the Official Coin General Bureau, with separate offices to manage each measure. Official merchant firms were also set up to enlist merchants to help with receipts and payments—four under the character qian and five under the character yu. Paper notes were rife with abuse and large coins commanded no trust; enforced by decree, they burdened both government and populace and only bred further corruption. Sushun found that arrears listed for the five yu firms at the Treasure Note Office did not match the Official Coin General Bureau archives. He memorialized for investigation, uncovered fraud, stripped clerks including Tai Feiyin of rank, tried them with the merchants, and confiscated property from dozens of households. He also impeached officials of the Official Note Office for collusion, stripped seal-keeper Jing Wen and others of office, and likewise confiscated property from dozens of officials. Grand Secretaries Qi Junzao and Weng Xincun both left their posts uneasy because they disagreed with him; Xincun nearly faced a severe punishment as well.
3
肅順日益驕橫，睥睨一切，而喜延攬名流，朝士如郭嵩燾、尹耕雲及舉人王闓運、高心夔輩，皆出入其門，採取言論，密以上陳。 於剿匪主用湘軍，曾國籓、胡林翼每有陳奏，多得報可，長江上游以次收復。 左宗棠為官文所劾，賴其調護免罪，且破格擢用。 文宗之信任久而益專。
Sushun grew ever more arrogant and disdainful of all around him, yet he delighted in recruiting men of reputation; officials such as Guo Songtao and Yin Gengyun and licentiates such as Wang Kaiyun and Gao Xinkui frequented his house, and he gathered their views and secretly reported them to the throne. For pacification he chiefly employed the Hunan Army; memorials from Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi were usually approved, and the upper Yangtze was retaken one stretch after another. When Zuo Zongtang was impeached by Guan Wen, Sushun shielded him from punishment and even secured his exceptional promotion. The emperor's trust in him deepened with time until it was virtually exclusive.
4
自八年桂良等在天津與各國議和，廷議於「遣使入京」一條堅不欲行，迄未換約。 九年，乃有大沽之戰，敵卻退。 十年，英法聯軍又來犯，僧格林沁拒戰屢失利，復遣桂良等議和。 敵軍近逼通州，乃改命怡親王載垣、尚書穆廕往議，誘擒英官巴夏禮置之獄，而我軍屢敗之餘不能戰，車駕倉猝幸熱河，廷臣爭之不可。 事多出肅順所贊畫，遂扈從。 洎敵軍入京師，恭親王留京主和議，議即定，敵軍漸退。 留京王大臣籲請回鑾，肅順謂獻情叵測，力阻而罷。 肅順先已授御前大臣、內務府大臣，至是以戶部尚書協辦大學士，署領侍衛內大臣，行在事一以委之。
Since Guiliang and others had negotiated with the foreign powers at Tianjin in 1858, the court had stubbornly refused the clause on envoys entering the capital, and no treaty exchange followed. In 1859 fighting broke out at Dagu, and the enemy fell back. In 1860 the allied armies returned; Sengge Rinchen fought them repeatedly but lost again and again, and Guiliang and others were once more dispatched to negotiate. When the enemy neared Tongzhou, Prince Yi Zaiyuan and Minister Mu Yin were sent instead; they tricked and seized the British envoy Parkes and put him in prison. But with our forces already beaten repeatedly we could not fight on; the court fled in haste to Rehe, and ministers' protests availed nothing. Most of this was Sushun's doing, and he accompanied the court into exile. When the enemy entered Beijing, Prince Gong stayed behind to lead the peace talks; once agreement was reached the allied forces gradually withdrew. Princes and ministers left in the capital begged for the emperor's return to Beijing; Sushun called their motives suspect and forcibly blocked it. Sushun had already been made imperial chamberlain and superintendent of the Imperial Household; now, as minister of revenue and assistant grand secretary and acting chief chamberlain, every matter at the traveling court was left entirely to him.
5
十一年七月，上疾大漸，召肅順及御前大臣載垣、端華、景壽，軍機大臣穆廕、匡源、杜翰、焦祐瀛入見，受顧命，上已不能禦硃筆，諸臣承寫焉。 穆宗即位，肅順等以贊襄政務多專擅，御史董元醇疏請皇太后垂簾聽政。 肅順等梗其議，擬旨駁斥，非兩宮意，抑不下，載垣、端華等負氣不視事。 相持逾日，卒如所擬，又屢阻回鑾。 恭親王至行在，乃密定計。 九月，車駕還京，至即宣示肅順、載垣、端華等不法狀，下王大臣議罪。 肅順方護文宗梓宮在途，命睿親王仁壽、醇郡王奕枻往逮，遇諸密雲，夜就行館捕之，咆哮不服，械系。 下宗人府獄，見載垣、端華已先在，叱曰：「早從吾言，何至今日？」 載垣咎肅順曰：「吾罪皆聽汝言成之也！」 讞上，罪皆凌遲。 詔謂：「擅政阻皇太后垂簾，三人同罪，而肅順擅坐御位，進內廷出入自由，擅用行宮御用器物，傳收應用物件，抗違不遵，並自請分見兩宮皇太后，詞氣抑揚，意在構釁，其悖逆狂謬，較載垣、端華罪尤重。」 賜載垣、端華自盡，斬肅順於市。
In the seventh month of 1861 the emperor's illness turned grave. Sushun, the imperial chamberlains Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Jingshou, and the grand councilors Mu Yin, Kuang Yuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying were called in to receive his deathbed charge. He could no longer hold the vermilion brush himself, and the ministers wrote at his dictation. When the Tongzhi Emperor succeeded, Sushun and his fellows, as regents, grew increasingly high-handed; Censor Dong Yuanchun memorialized that the empress dowager should rule from behind the curtain. Sushun and his party obstructed the proposal and drafted a rejecting edict that did not reflect the two palaces' intent, yet they still withheld it; Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and others in a fit of pique refused to conduct affairs. The standoff lasted over a day; in the end matters went as they had drafted, and they again and again blocked the return to Beijing. When Prince Gong arrived at Rehe, a secret plan was laid. In the ninth month the court returned to Beijing; on arrival the unlawful conduct of Sushun, Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and the rest was announced and referred to the princes and grand ministers for judgment. Sushun was then escorting the late emperor's coffin on the road. Prince Rui Renshou and Prince Chun Yixin were sent to seize him; they met at Miyun and captured him at night in the relay station. He roared defiance and was put in irons. Thrown into the Imperial Clan Court prison, he found Zaiyuan and Duanhua already there and shouted at them: "Had you listened to me sooner, how would you have come to this? Zaiyuan turned on Sushun: "Every crime of ours was made by heeding you! When the verdict went up, all were sentenced to lingering death. The edict declared: "In usurping power and blocking the empress dowager from ruling behind the curtain the three were alike guilty; yet Sushun had presumptuously sat on the imperial seat, come and gone freely in the inner court, used objects reserved for the traveling palace, collected supplies due the court yet defied orders, and even asked to see the two empress dowagers separately with a tone meant to provoke—his treason and frenzy outweighed even Zaiyuan and Duanhua's crimes. Zaiyuan and Duanhua were granted suicide; Sushun was beheaded in public.
6
肅順攬權立威，數興大獄，輿論久不平； 奏減八旗俸餉，尤府怨。 就刑時，道旁觀者爭擲瓦礫，都人稱快。 肅順既伏法，詔逮所與交結之內監杜雙奎、袁添喜等置重典； 其被威脅者，概免株連。 耆英子慶錫呈訴其父為肅順所陷，請昭雪，詔以耆英罪當死，肅順奏過當，文宗已斥之，特錮肅順子不得入仕以示戒。
Sushun had grasped power to inspire fear and repeatedly opened major prosecutions; public resentment had simmered for years; His proposal to cut the salaries and stipends of the Eight Banners provoked especial wrath among the banner nobility. At his execution onlookers along the road hurled tiles and stones; the capital rejoiced. After Sushun's death, an edict ordered the eunuchs Du Shuangkui, Yuan Tianxi, and others who had associated with him arrested and punished severely; those who had been threatened were wholly spared collective punishment. Qiying's son Qingxi petitioned that his father had been framed by Sushun and asked exoneration. The edict held that Qiying's crime merited death, that Sushun's memorial had indeed gone too far and Wenzong had already censured it, and that Sushun's son was barred from office as a special warning.
7
穆廕，字清軒，托和絡氏，滿洲正白旗人。 官學生，考授內閣中書，充軍機章京，遷侍讀。 咸豐元年，命以五品京堂候補，在軍機大臣上學習行走。 尋除國子監祭酒，故事，非科甲不與斯職，部臣執奏，特旨仍授之。 歷光祿寺卿、內閣學士，兼副都統。 三年，粵匪擾河南、直隸，京師戒嚴，命偕僧格林沁、花沙納、達洪阿辦理京旗各營巡防事宜。 遷禮部侍郎，署左翼總兵，尋調刑部。 八年，擢理籓院尚書，兼都統，調兵部。
Mu Yin, whose style was Qingxuan, was of the Tohoro clan and a bannerman of the Plain White Banner. He was a student of the Imperial School, passed examination for secretary of the Grand Secretariat, served as a grand council clerk, and was promoted to reader. In 1851 he was ordered to await appointment as a fifth-rank capital official and to study under the grand councilors. He was soon made director of the Imperial Academy; by precedent only a jinshi holder received that post, and the ministry objected, but a special edict confirmed the appointment. He served as director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and grand secretary, and concurrently as vice commander-in-chief. In 1853, when rebels from Guangdong ravaged Henan and Zhili and the capital was put on alert, he was ordered with Sengge Rinchen, Huashana, and Da Hong'a to organize patrol and defense for the metropolitan banner forces. He was made vice minister of rites, acted as commander of the left wing, and soon transferred to the Ministry of Punishments. In 1858 he was promoted to minister of colonial affairs and commander-in-chief, then moved to the Ministry of War.
8
十年，命偕怡親王載垣赴通州，與英法聯軍議和，解桂良等欽差大臣關防授之。 議不諧，命擒諸酋，獲巴夏禮送京。 敵軍益逼，詔斥穆廕等辦理不善，撤回，扈從熱河。 丁父憂，予假十四日，命俟回京補行持服。
In 1860 he was ordered with Prince Yi Zaiyuan to Tongzhou to negotiate with the allied armies; the seals of Guiliang and the other imperial commissioners were transferred to them. Talks broke down; they were ordered to seize the foreign leaders, and Parkes was captured and sent to Beijing. As the enemy drew nearer, an edict rebuked Mu Yin and the others for poor handling of affairs; they were recalled and accompanied the flight to Rehe. When his father died he was granted fourteen days' leave and told to complete the mourning rites after returning to Beijing.
9
十一年，文宗崩，偕肅順等同受顧命，贊襄政務。 十月，肅順、載垣、端華等伏法，穆廕與匡源、杜翰、焦祐瀛並罷直軍機，議罪。 及議上，詔曰：「穆廕等於載垣等竊奪政柄，不能力爭，均屬辜恩溺職。 穆廕在軍機大臣上行走最久，班次在前，情節尤重。 王大臣等擬請將穆廕革職發往新疆效力贖罪，咎有應得。 惟以載垣等凶焰方張，受其箝制，均有難與爭衡之勢，其不能振作，尚有可原，著即革職，加恩改發軍台效力贖罪。 匡源、杜翰、焦祐瀛皆革職，免其遣戍。」 穆廕詣戍，同治三年，論贖歸，歿於家。 杜翰，附其父受田傳。
In 1861, when Emperor Xianfeng died, he received the deathbed charge together with Sushun and the others and served as regent. In the tenth month, after Sushun, Zaiyuan, and Duanhua were executed, Mu Yin with Kuang Yuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying were all dismissed from the Grand Council and brought to trial. When judgment came in, the edict read: "Mu Yin and the others, when Zaiyuan and his party seized power, failed to resist; all were ungrateful and negligent of duty. Mu Yin had served longest on the council and ranked first in seniority; his case was especially serious. The princes and grand ministers proposed stripping Mu Yin of rank and sending him to Xinjiang to redeem his guilt by labor—punishment he deserved. Yet because Zaiyuan's party was then at the height of its power and had them in its grip, they had little chance to resist; their failure to act still admitted some excuse. Mu Yin was stripped of office but, by grace, sent to frontier military posts instead of Xinjiang to redeem his guilt. Kuang Yuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying were all dismissed and spared exile. Mu Yin went into exile; in 1864 he was ransomed and permitted to return, and died at home. Du Han is discussed in the biography of his father Du Shoutian.
10
匡源，字鶴泉，山東膠州人。 道光二十年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，累官吏部侍郎。 咸豐八年，入直軍機，謙退無所建白。 罷官後，清貧，主講濟南濼源書院以終。
Kuang Yuan, whose style was Hequan, was a native of Jiaozhou in Shandong. He passed the jinshi examination in 1840, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, was made a compiler, and rose in time to vice minister of personnel. In 1858 he joined the Grand Council; he was modest and offered no initiatives of his own. After leaving office he lived in poverty and spent his last years lecturing at the Luoyuan Academy in Jinan.
11
焦祐瀛，字桂樵，直隸天津人。 道光十九年舉人，考授內閣中書，充軍機章京。 累遷光祿寺少卿。 咸豐十年，命赴天津靜海諸縣治團練，召回從幸熱河，命在軍機大臣上學習行走，遷太僕寺卿。 祐瀛尤諂事肅順等，諸詔旨多出其手，為時所指目，故同敗。
Jiao Youying, whose style was Guizhao, was a native of Tianjin in Zhili. He became a provincial graduate in 1839, passed examination for secretary of the Grand Secretariat, and served as a grand council clerk. He rose in succession to vice director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. In 1860 he was sent to organize militia in Jinghai and neighboring counties near Tianjin; recalled to follow the court to Rehe, he was placed to study under the grand councilors and promoted to director of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Youying was especially obsequious toward Sushun and his party; many edicts issued from his pen; contemporaries marked him for it, and he fell with them.
12
陳孚恩，字子鶴，江西新城人。 道光五年拔貢，授吏部七品小京官，升主事，充軍機章京。 累遷郎中。 大學士穆彰阿領樞務，深倚之，歷太僕寺少卿、通政司副使、太僕寺卿，皆留直。 遷大理寺卿、左副都御史，兼署順天府尹、工部侍郎，擢倉場侍郎。 二十七年，調署兵部侍郎，在軍機大臣上行走。 偕侍郎柏葰赴山東按事，劾巡撫崇恩庫款虧缺、捕務廢弛，罷之。 暫署山東巡撫。 授刑部侍郎，回京面陳在署任不受公費，詔嘉之，特加頭品頂帶、紫禁城騎馬，賜匾額曰「清正良臣」，皆異數。 二十九年，偕侍郎福濟赴山西按巡撫王兆琛貪婪事，得實，褫兆琛職，逮京治罪。 調工部，署刑部尚書，尋實授。 三十年，宣宗崩，遺命罷配郊祔廟，下王大臣議。 文宗召對，孚恩與怡親王載垣等爭論於上前，載垣等以失儀自劾，詔原其小節，予薄譴，而斥孚恩乖謬，降三級留任。 孚恩尋以母老乞養回籍，允之。
Chen Fuen, whose style was Zihe, was a native of Xincheng in Jiangxi. Selected as a tribute student in 1825, he was made a seventh-rank junior secretary in the Ministry of Personnel, rose to director, and served as a grand council clerk. He was promoted in succession to bureau director. Grand Secretary Muzhang'a headed Grand Council affairs and relied heavily on him; he served in turn as vice director of the Court of the Imperial Stud, vice commissioner of transmission, and director of that court, all while remaining on the council. He became director of the Court of Judicial Review and left vice censor-in-chief, concurrently acting as Shuntian prefect and vice minister of works, then was promoted grain transport commissioner. In 1847 he was transferred to act as vice minister of war and entered the Grand Council. With Vice Minister Baizhan he investigated in Shandong, impeached Governor Chong'en for treasury shortfalls and slack policing, and had him removed. He briefly acted as governor of Shandong. Made vice minister of punishments, he told the emperor on returning to the capital that as acting governor he had taken no public funds. The court praised him, granted a first-class hat button and riding rights in the Forbidden City, and bestowed a plaque reading "Upright and Good Minister"—all exceptional honors. In 1849, with Vice Minister Fu Ji, he investigated Shanxi Governor Wang Zhaochen for corruption, proved the case, stripped Wang of office, and sent him to Beijing for trial. He moved to the Ministry of Works, acted as minister of punishments, and soon received full appointment. In 1850 Emperor Daoguang died; his deathbed command abolished his pairing in suburban and ancestral worship, and the princes and grand ministers were ordered to deliberate. Emperor Xianfeng called them for audience; Fuen disputed with Prince Yi Zaiyuan and others before the throne. Zaiyuan and the rest impeached themselves for impropriety; an edict pardoned their minor faults with light censure but condemned Fuen as wrongheaded and demoted him three ranks while keeping him in post. Fuen soon asked to retire and return home because his mother was elderly; the request was granted.
13
咸豐元年，命在籍幫辦團練。 三年，九江陷，巡撫張芾出督師，孚恩與司道守省城，既而賊由安徽回竄上游，命偕芾籌防。 賊犯南昌，孚恩偕芾固守，江忠源援師至，力戰，相持九十餘日，賊始引去。 以守城功，賜花翎。 七年，母喪畢，到京未有除授。 八年，御史錢桂森疏言：「孚恩才練識明，在外數年，多所閱歷，儻仍入直樞廷，或使治洋務，必能有濟。」 詔斥朋比，罷桂森言職，回原衙門。 久之，命孚恩以頭品頂戴署兵部侍郎，又署禮部尚書，授兵部尚書。 會鞫順天鄉試關節獄，牽涉其子景彥，自請嚴議，並迴避，得旨，褫景彥職，除涉景彥者仍責會訊，僅議失察降一級，準抵銷。 尋兼署刑部、戶部尚書，調授吏部尚書。
In 1851 he was ordered while at home to help organize local militia. In 1853 Jiujiang fell; Governor Zhang Fei went out to command troops while Fuen with the provincial officials held Nanchang. When rebels from Anhui raided upriver again, he was ordered with Fei to organize defense. When rebels attacked Nanchang, Fuen and Fei held the city. Jiang Zhongyuan's relief force arrived and fought hard; after more than ninety days the rebels finally withdrew. For defending the city he was awarded the peacock feather. In 1857, after his mother's mourning ended, he reached Beijing but received no new post. In 1858 Censor Qian Guisen memorialized: "Fuen is capable and discerning; after years in the provinces he has gained wide experience; if he were again admitted to the Grand Council or put in charge of foreign affairs, he would surely prove useful. An edict condemned cliquish favoritism, stripped Guisen of his censorial post, and sent him back to his former department. After some time he was ordered to act as vice minister of war with a first-class hat button, then to act as minister of rites, and was appointed full minister of war. During trial of the Shuntian examination bribery case his son Jingyan was implicated; Fuen asked for strict punishment of himself and recused himself from the case. By edict Jingyan was dismissed; others tied to Jingyan were still required to testify, while Fuen was judged only for lax oversight, demoted one rank with permission to offset the penalty. He soon acted concurrently as minister of punishments and revenue, then was transferred and appointed minister of personnel.
14
初，孚恩以議禮忤載垣、端華、肅順等，及再起，乃暱附諸人冀固位。 肅順等既敗，少詹事許彭壽疏請治黨援，論形跡最著莫如孚恩，最密莫如侍郎劉昆、黃宗漢，平日所薦舉者，則有侍郎成琦、太僕寺少卿德克津太、候補京堂富績等，於是諸臣盡黜。 詔謂：「孚恩當大行皇帝行幸熱河，命諸臣議可否，孚恩有'竊負而逃，遵海濱而處'之語，意在迎合載垣等。 大行皇帝上賓，留京諸大臣中獨召孚恩一人赴行在，足證為載垣等心腹。 革職，永不敘用。」 時廷臣議郊壇配位，孚恩言：「前議宣宗配位時，大行皇帝有定為三祖六宗之諭，出於大學士杜受田所擬，非大行皇帝意。」 王大臣等用其言，仍請文宗配祀。 許彭壽復引據文宗御製詩有「以後無須變更」之句，請下廷臣再議，議不配祀。 詔斥孚恩謬妄，又以籍肅順家得孚恩私書，有暗昧不明語，乃逮孚恩下獄，籍其家，追繳宣宗賜額，遣戍新疆。
Fuen had first clashed with Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Sushun over court ritual; when he returned to office he courted them in hopes of holding his place. After Sushun's fall, Junior Mentor Xu Pengshou memorialized to punish their clique. He named Fuen the most conspicuous associate, Liu Kun and Huang Zonghan the closest confidants, and among Fuen's usual recommendations Cheng Qi, Deke Jintai, and Fu Ji; all were dismissed. The edict declared: "When the late emperor fled to Rehe, ministers were asked whether the move was wise; Fuen quoted 'carrying one's burden and fleeing to dwell by the sea,' plainly to please Zaiyuan and his party. When the late emperor died, Fuen alone among ministers left in Beijing was summoned to Rehe—proof enough that he was Zaiyuan's trusted man. He was stripped of office and barred from ever holding post again. At the same time the court debated imperial worship at the suburban altar. Fuen argued that when Xuanzong's pairing was decided, the late emperor had fixed three ancestors and six founders by edict drafted by Du Shoutian, not by the emperor's own wish. The princes and grand ministers took his view and still asked that Emperor Xianfeng be paired in worship. Xu Pengshou cited Emperor Xianfeng's own verse, "no need to change hereafter," and asked the court to debate again; the outcome was to deny him paired worship. An edict condemned Fuen as reckless; private letters of his with suspicious wording turned up in the search of Sushun's house. Fuen was jailed, his property seized, Daoguang's gift plaque reclaimed, and he was exiled to Xinjiang.
15
居數年，伊犁被兵，將軍常清等奏孚恩籌餉治軍有勞，命免戍，留助理兵餉。 同治五年，伊犁陷，孚恩及妾黃、子景和、媳徐、孫小連同殉難。 事聞，但卹其家屬，孚恩不與焉。
After several years, when Yili came under attack, General Chang Qing and others reported Fuen's service in raising funds and organizing troops; he was spared further exile and kept to help with military supplies. In 1866 Yili fell; Fuen, his concubine Huang, his son Jinghe, his daughter-in-law Xu, and his grandson Xiaolian all perished together in the fighting. When word reached court, only his kin received posthumous honors; Fuen himself was excluded.
16
論曰：文宗厭廷臣習於因循，乏匡濟之略，而肅順以宗潢疏屬，特見倚用，治事嚴刻。 其尤負謗者，殺耆英、柏葰及戶部諸獄，以執法論，諸人罪固應得，第持之者不免有私嫌於其間耳。 其贊畫軍事，所見實出在廷諸臣上，削平寇亂，於此肇基，功不可沒也。 自庚申議和後，恭親王為中外所繫望，肅順等不圖和衷共濟，而數阻返蹕。 文宗既崩，冀怙權位於一時，以此罹罪。 赫赫爰書，其能逭乎？ 穆廕諸人或以願謹取容，或以附和希進，終皆不免於斥逐。 如陳孚恩者，鄙夫患失，反覆靡常，淪絕域而不返，宜哉。
The historian remarks: Emperor Xianfeng wearied of ministers mired in routine and short on remedies for the realm; Sushun, a junior branch kinsman of the throne, was singularly trusted and ran affairs with harsh rigor. He was most reviled for the deaths of Qiying and Baizhan and the revenue ministry prosecutions; strictly speaking those men deserved their fates, yet those who drove the cases could hardly escape private grudges. In military planning his judgment truly outshone his peers in court; the suppression of rebellion began under his counsel, and that achievement cannot be denied. After the 1860 peace Prince Gong was looked to at home and abroad; Sushun and his fellows sought no harmony but again and again blocked the emperor's return to Beijing. When Xianfeng died they hoped to cling to power for a season, and on that account met ruin. With their crimes set forth in black and white, how could they hope to escape? Mu Yin and the rest either won favor by timid compliance or rose by echoing the powerful, yet all alike ended in disgrace. Men like Chen Fuen—craven in their fear of losing office, shifting with every wind, lost in exile beyond the frontier—met a fate that suited them.