1
徐延旭，字曉山，山東臨清人。 咸豐十年進士，出知廣西容縣。 師克潯州，與有功，累晉知府。 同治九年，除知梧州。 光緒三年，遷安襄荊鄖道。 八年，晉廣西布政使，命督辦海防，得專奏事。 時法人謀佔全越，巡撫張之洞、侍讀張佩綸先後疏薦堪軍事。 會南定陷，朝命出鎮南關，與提督黃桂蘭、道員趙沃籌防，未行，越官劉永福戰勝懷德府紙橋，狀其績以上。
Xu Yanxu, whose courtesy name was Xiaoshan, came from Linqing in Shandong. He passed the jinshi examination in the tenth year of the Xianfeng reign and was appointed magistrate of Rong County in Guangxi. When government forces took Xunzhou, he distinguished himself in the campaign and rose step by step to the rank of prefect. In the ninth year of Tongzhi he was made prefect of Wuzhou. In the third year of Guangxu he was transferred to the An-Xiang-Jing-Qin circuit. In the eighth year he was promoted to treasurer of Guangxi, put in charge of coastal defense, and allowed to memorialize the throne directly. The French were then seeking to occupy all of Vietnam, and Governor Zhang Zhidong and Hanlin reader Zhang Peilun both memorialized the court in turn, commending him as capable in military matters. When Nam Dinh fell, the court ordered him to take command at Zhennan Pass and work out defenses with Brigadier Huang Guilan and Circuit Intendant Zhao Wo. Before he marched, the Vietnamese commander Liu Yongfu defeated the enemy at Paper Bridge in Hoa Duc prefecture and sent up a report of his victory.
2
九年，出關，至北寧而還，頓龍州，被命為巡撫，敕趣永福規河內。 延旭上部署防守狀，略云：「固廣西邊疆，必守北寧； 固雲南邊疆，必守山西。 左軍前鋒分駐北寧、湧球，去城止十二里。 一旦有事，援之則無辭於法，聽之則有慚於越。 不如徙軍入城，城固我儲糧屯戍所也。 並簡銳扼浪泊湖北岸，為山西聲援； 別募勇百人扼月德江，與陸軍相表裡。」 附請吏部主事唐景崧留軍。
In the ninth year he crossed the border, advanced as far as Bac Ninh, then withdrew and encamped at Longzhou. He was appointed governor and instructed to press Liu Yongfu to move against Hanoi. Yanxu memorialized the court with a plan for the defense, stating in brief: 'To hold the Guangxi border secure, Bac Ninh must be defended; to hold the Yunnan border secure, Son Tay must be defended. The left army's advance units were encamped at Bac Ninh and Yongqiu, a mere twelve li from the city. If fighting broke out, sending aid would give France grounds for complaint, yet standing by would shame us before Vietnam. Better to pull the troops into the city, which was in any case our storehouse and garrison base. At the same time he proposed posting picked troops on the north bank of Lang Bo Lake to support Son Tay; and raising a separate company of a hundred braves to hold the Nguyet Duc River, working in concert with the main army.' He also asked that Tang Jingsong of the Ministry of Personnel be retained with the forces.
3
初，法人犯順安，越未敗，遽乞和。 延旭奏言：「越人倉卒議和，或謂因故君未葬，冀緩須臾； 或謂因廢立嫌疑，朋興黨禍。 越臣黃佐炎等錄寄和約，越誠無以保社稷，中國又何以固籓籬？ 劉永福現駐山西，法人擬益師往攻，請毋撤兵，用警戎備。」 越王阮福升嗣位，遣使告哀，並懇允其詣闕乞封； 复具和約二十七條及黃佐炎禀，上之樞府。 左宗棠檄前布政使王德榜募勇扼桂邊，朝命受延旭節度。
Earlier, when the French attacked Thuan An, Vietnam had not yet been beaten yet still rushed to sue for peace. Yanxu reported: 'The Vietnamese rushed into peace talks. Some said they hoped only to buy time because the late king had not yet been buried; others said factions were exploiting doubts over the succession and whipping up partisan strife. Minister Huang Zuoyan and others forwarded a copy of the treaty. If Vietnam could not truly preserve its throne, how was China to hold its frontier barrier firm? Liu Yongfu was then at Son Tay, and the French were preparing reinforcements for an attack. He asked that our troops not be withdrawn, so that defenses might stay on alert.' The new king Nguyen Phuc Thang sent envoys to announce his accession and begged leave for a mission to the imperial court to seek investiture; he also forwarded the twenty-seven articles of the peace treaty together with Huang Zuoyan's report to the Grand Council. Zuo Zongtang ordered former Provincial Treasurer Wang Debang to raise troops and hold the Guangxi frontier, and the court placed him under Yanxu's command.
4
其冬，力疾再出關，駐諒山，趣軍進取，分襲海陽、嘉林綴敵勢； 並請撥船嚴扼海口，斷其出入：諭仍力守北寧。 於是令左軍黃桂蘭、右軍趙沃協防其地。 適山西陷，延旭猶慮兵力薄，復遣使入關募勇，通舊五十餘營，厚集於此。 隨令廣間諜，安地營，禁擾民，嚴冒餉； 然沃等皆寡識，桂蘭尤侈汰，與越官張登壇日事宴樂。 登壇故通法，嗣以有郤洩其事。 上命延旭罷登壇，或囚而殺之，延旭以力不能制而止。 日唯籌軍火濟師，以為兵力厚，可恃以無恐。 桂蘭復希風指，侈談部下能戰，延旭益信之，遂六上書請戰。 上不許，敕保守未失陷地，毋貪功。
That winter, ill as he was, he crossed the border again and took post at Lang Son. He pressed the army to advance and sent columns to strike Hai Duong and Gia Lam and tie down the enemy. He also asked for vessels to block the river mouth and cut the enemy's lines of supply. The court told him nonetheless to hold Bac Ninh at all costs. He then ordered Huang Guilan's left wing and Zhao Wo's right wing to defend the place together. Son Tay had just fallen, and Yanxu still feared his forces were too few. He sent men back through the pass to raise troops and gathered more than fifty former battalions in strength there. He spread spies widely, ordered camps properly sited, forbade harassment of civilians, and cracked down hard on padded payrolls. Yet Zhao Wo and his fellows were shallow men, and Huang Guilan was especially extravagant. He and the Vietnamese official Zhang Dengtan spent their days in feasting and pleasure. Dengtan had long been in touch with the French; later, after a falling-out, he betrayed the fact. The throne ordered Yanxu to remove Dengtan, or to imprison and execute him, but Yanxu desisted because he lacked the power to enforce it. He spent his days only arranging arms and supplies for the troops, convinced that with so large a force he had nothing to fear. Huang Guilan again tried to read his commander's mind and boasted of his men's fighting power. Yanxu believed him all the more and six times memorialized asking permission to give battle. The emperor refused and ordered him to hold whatever ground had not yet been lost and not court glory recklessly.
5
十年，法軍陷扶良，三路攻北寧，桂蘭潰奔太原。 李鴻章電奏失守，延旭猶上言：「西聯滇軍，東防江口，北寧斷無他虞。」 上責其飾詞。 會岑毓英抵保勝，部署邊外各軍，遂命延旭軍屬之。 初，延旭之任西撫也，未及兩月，亦知桂蘭等未可恃。 嗣以臨敵易將，操之急，易生變，以故誥誡備至； 而桂蘭等且縱兵剽奪，越民不堪命，忿滋甚。 是役也，群反噬，城乃陷。 延旭上其欺飾狀，並自糾請治罪。 上怒，詔革職留任。
In the tenth year the French took Phu Luong and attacked Bac Ninh on three fronts. Huang Guilan's force collapsed and fled toward Thai Nguyen. Li Hongzhang telegraphed that the position had been lost, yet Yanxu still reported: 'With the Yunnan army on our west and the river mouth guarded on the east, Bac Ninh is surely in no danger.' The emperor rebuked him for dressing up the truth. When Cen Yuying reached Baosheng and took charge of the frontier armies, Yanxu's forces were placed under his command. When Yanxu first took up the governorship of the western provinces, he had known within two months that Huang Guilan and his like were not to be trusted. Later, knowing that replacing commanders on the eve of battle or driving them too hard could easily spark mutiny, he issued repeated stern admonitions. Yet Huang Guilan and his men still let their troops loot and pillage until the Vietnamese could bear no more and their anger grew fierce. In that battle the populace turned on them, and the city fell. Yanxu reported their deceit and filed a confession of his own, asking to be punished. The emperor was furious and stripped him of rank while leaving him in his post.
6
法軍乘勝入芹驛關，復命力扞之，毋再失。 延旭以景崧護軍收殘兵，更約束，令駐屯梅。 時諒江、朗山、狼甲相繼屠潰，諒山教民且蠢焉思動。 延旭鑑覆轍，嚴禁防軍向越官索夫米，有伐一草一木者斬，越民仍不知感。 適德榜至，勸延旭勉自支振，圖再舉。 於是更嚴勒粵軍，仿楚勇制，力求後效。 而逮問之命下，吏議斬監候，改戍新疆。 追論舉主，之洞、佩綸，均被訶責。 延旭未出都，病卒。 子坊，自有傳。
The French pressed their victory into Qinyi Pass, and he was again ordered to hold the line and lose no more ground. Yanxu put Jingsong in charge of gathering the shattered troops, restoring discipline, and posting them at Tunmei. Lang Giang, Lang Son, and Lang Giap had been overrun in turn, and the Christian converts in Lang Son were already stirring. Learning from past disasters, Yanxu strictly forbade frontier troops to demand porters and grain from Vietnamese officials and ordered death for anyone who so much as cut grass or wood, yet the Vietnamese still showed no gratitude. Wang Debang then arrived and urged Yanxu to rally himself and plan a fresh campaign. He tightened discipline on the Guangdong troops further still, modeled them on the Hunan braves, and strove for better results. Then came the order for his arrest and trial. The officials first recommended execution after imprisonment, then commuted the sentence to exile in Xinjiang. Those who had recommended him, Zhidong and Peilun, were both sharply rebuked in turn. Yanxu died of illness before he could leave the capital. His son Fang is treated in a separate biography.
7
唐炯，字鄂生，貴州遵義人。 道光二十九年舉人，訓方子。 訓方督師金口，炯馳數千里省視。 越夕難作，倉皇奉遺疏謁曾國籓，得代奏。 武昌复，求遺骸歸葬。 桐梓亂民起，治鄉團御之。 服闋，入貲為知縣，銓四川。
Tang Jiong, whose courtesy name was Esheng, came from Zunyi in Guizhou. He passed the provincial examination in the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang and was the son of Instructor Tang. When his father commanded the army at Jinkou, Jiong rode thousands of li to see him. Disaster struck the very next night. He hurried off with his father's final memorial to Zeng Guofan, who had it presented to the throne in his stead. When Wuchang was recovered, he recovered his father's remains for burial at home. When rebels rose in Tongzi, he organized local militia to hold them off. After his mourning period he purchased appointment as magistrate and was assigned to Sichuan.
8
咸豐六年，署南溪。 值滇寇李永和蠢動，藍朝柱應之，陷敘州，吏士皆恐。 炯乃訓練兵壯，晨夜徼循，人心稍靖。 有為寇所獲者，縱之還，曰：「為我語唐青天，決不犯南溪一草一木！」 炯領兵偪吊黃樓，單騎入營，諭以利害，朝柱款附。 永和改犯犍為，炯馳救，壁不動，俟其懈乘之，寇狂奔，自相轔藉。 旋與楚軍解成都圍。 八年，檄署綿州事。 時郫、彭軍事棘，調還省防守。 炯诇得黑窩盜虛實，請限八日畢乃事，果如所言。 除知夔州，未上，踰月，永和圍綿城，炯掘壕登陴，民助貲糧。 炯居城三月，不下，誓死守； 援至，圍始解。 已而湘、黔軍閧州署，駱秉章劾罷之。 事白，仍治軍。
In the sixth year of Xianfeng he served as acting magistrate of Nanxi. The Yunnan rebel Li Yonghe was on the move, and Lan Chaozhu joined him. They took Xuzhou, and officials and gentry alike were terrified. Jiong drilled the militia, patrolled day and night, and gradually restored calm among the people. A man captured by the bandits was sent back with the message: 'Tell Blue-Sky Tang for us—we will not touch so much as a blade of grass in Nanxi!' Jiong led his troops against Diaohuang Tower, rode alone into the rebel camp, explained the stakes, and Chaozhu surrendered. Yonghe turned to attack Qianwei. Jiong rushed to the rescue, held his walls fast, and when the enemy slackened struck at once. The rebels broke and fled, trampling one another in their panic. Soon afterward he joined the Hunan army in lifting the siege of Chengdu. In the eighth year he was ordered to serve as acting prefect of Mianzhou. Fighting at Pi and Peng had grown desperate, and he was recalled to defend the provincial capital. Jiong scouted the Heiwowo bandits and learned their true strength. He asked for eight days to finish the job, and finished exactly when he said he would. He was appointed prefect of Kuizhou but had not yet taken up the post when, a month later, Yonghe besieged Mian City. Jiong dug trenches and manned the walls, and the people supplied money and grain. Jiong held the city for three months without yielding and swore to die before surrendering. Relief arrived at last and the siege was broken. Soon afterward Hunan and Guizhou troops rioted at the prefectural yamen, and Luo Bingzhang impeached him and had him removed. When the matter was cleared, he returned to military command.
9
同治改元，統安定營。 會石達開圍涪州，與劉岳昭期會師，擊走之。 其夏，石黨窺綦江。 炯聞警馳援，燔其壁，寇潰，大破之長寧。 以疾還成都。 秉章詢寇勢，時寇退滇邊，聲入黔，炯曰：「此誘我軍東下耳。 彼必走夷地，乘虛入川，寧越宜警備。」 俄而寇入紫地，复請遣唐友耕軍大渡河扼之。 達開返西岸，退為倮夷所窘，食盡乞降，梟誅之。 明年，權綏定府，區邑為八路，路若干場，場若干寨，置寨總，行記善惡法，月朔上其簿親判之； 又立書院二、社學八十餘：境內稱治，下其法他縣。 越二年，赴陝佐治營田。 捻首張總愚犯新豐，大敗之。
At the beginning of the Tongzhi reign he took command of the Anding battalion. When Shi Dakai besieged Fuzhou, he joined Liu Yuezhao in a coordinated attack and drove him off. That summer Shi's followers probed Qijiang for weakness. Hearing the alarm, Jiong rushed to reinforce, burned their stockade, routed them, and won a great victory at Changning. Illness forced him back to Chengdu. Bingzhang asked about the rebels. They had withdrawn toward the Yunnan border while spreading word into Guizhou. Jiong said: 'This is a feint to draw our army east. They will surely slip through the Yi lands and strike into Sichuan when we are exposed. Ningyuan and Yuexi should be on guard.' Soon the rebels entered Zidi, and he again asked that Tang Yougeng's army be sent to block them at the Dadu River. Dakai recrossed to the west bank, was harried by the Lolo tribes as he retreated, ran out of food, and begged to surrender. He was beheaded and his head displayed. The next year he served as acting prefect of Suiding. He divided the prefecture into eight routes, each route into districts and each district into stockades, appointed stockade chiefs, and instituted a register of good and bad conduct, personally reviewing the monthly ledgers on the first of each month. He also founded two academies and more than eighty village schools. The region was said to be well governed, and his methods were adopted in other counties. Two years later he went to Shaanxi to help administer military colonies. When the Nian leader Zhang Zongyu attacked Xinfeng, Jiong inflicted a crushing defeat on him.
10
六年，四川總督崇實命率師入黔。 黔患貧瘠，崇實先問以理財策，炯曰：「理財莫若節用，節用莫若裁勇，裁勇莫若援黔。」 崇實然其言，遂以軍事屬之。 連破偏刀、水上、大平、黃飄、白堡，擒斬王超凡、劉儀順，降潘人傑、唐天佑，皆積寇也； 又克平越、甕安、黃平、清平、麻哈：遷道員，賜號法克精阿巴圖魯。 嗣為吳棠所劾，還蜀。
In the sixth year Sichuan Governor Chongshi ordered him to lead troops into Guizhou. Guizhou was poor and exhausted. Chongshi first asked his advice on finances. Jiong said: 'The best way to manage finances is to cut spending; the best way to cut spending is to trim the braves; and the best way to trim the braves is to pacify Guizhou.' Chongshi approved and placed the military campaign in his hands. He took Piandao, Shuishang, Daping, Huangpiao, and Baibao in succession, captured and executed the veteran rebels Wang Chaofan and Liu Yishun, and accepted the surrender of Pan Renjie and Tang Tianyou. He also captured Pingyue, Weng'an, Huangping, Qingping, and Mahai. He was promoted to circuit intendant and granted the title Fakejing A Batulu. Later Wu Tang impeached him, and he returned to Sichuan.
11
光緒四年，丁寶楨督四川，令佐治鹽筴，旋補建昌道。 六年，署鹽茶道，條上善後六事，謂：「發引必先新後舊； 徵稅必先課後引； 收發鹽引，責成鹽道； 改代引張，責成州縣； 繳殘則嚴定限期； 辦公則優給公費。」 議行，凡百餘年引目渾殽、款項轇轕諸弊，至是盡革，語具鹽法志。 八年，張之洞、張佩綸先後奏薦堪軍事，於是擢雲南布政使。 炯率川軍千人駐關外，滇軍悉歸節度。 既蒞事，裁夫馬，治廠務，並釐卡，清田糧，民困少蘇。
In the fourth year of Guangxu, when Ding Baozhen became governor of Sichuan, he put Jiong in charge of the salt administration and soon afterward appointed him to the Jianchang circuit. In the sixth year he served as acting salt and tea intendant and submitted six measures for reform, stating: 'Transport permits must be issued for new salt before old; taxes must be assessed before permits are issued; issuing and receiving transport permits should be the salt intendant's responsibility; replacing substitute permit agents should be the responsibility of prefectures and counties; surrender of unused permits should be subject to strict deadlines; and officials should receive generous public funds for their work.' The measures were adopted. Abuses of more than a century—confused permit records, tangled accounts, and the like—were swept away at last, as recorded in the monograph on salt administration. In the eighth year Zhang Zhidong and Zhang Peilun both recommended him for military command, and he was promoted to treasurer of Yunnan. Jiong led a thousand Sichuan troops beyond the border pass, and all Yunnan forces were placed under his command. Once in office he cut porter and transport levies, reorganized the mining administration, consolidated transit stations, and cleared land-tax accounts, so that the people's burdens eased somewhat.
12
法人奪我越南，被命赴開化防守，即於軍前除巡撫。 誤聞將議和，亟還省履任。 上大怒，褫職逮問，刑部定讞斬監候。 久之，上意解，三歷秋審，赦歸。 左宗棠臚其治行上於朝，命戍雲南，交岑毓英差序。 十三年，賞巡撫銜，督辦雲南礦務，偕日本礦師躬履昭通、東川、威寧銅鉛各廠，疏陳變通章程，又歷請減免貴州鉛課，豁免雲南礦廠官欠民欠，並報可。 惟經營十五年，僅歲解京銅百萬斤，為時論所譏。 三十一年，謝病歸。 三十四年，以鄉舉重逢，晉太子少保。 逾歲卒，年八十，卹如製。
When the French seized Vietnam from China, he was ordered to Kaifeng on defense duty and was appointed governor on the spot before the army. Mistakenly hearing that peace talks were imminent, he hurried back to the provincial capital to take up his duties. The emperor was furious, stripped him of rank, and ordered his arrest. The Ministry of Justice sentenced him to decapitation after imprisonment. In time the emperor relented. After three autumn sentence reviews he was pardoned and sent home. Zuo Zongtang memorialized the court on his administrative record. He was ordered to serve in Yunnan and placed at Cen Yuying's disposal. In the thirteenth year he was given governor's rank and put in charge of Yunnan mining. With Japanese mining engineers he personally inspected the copper and lead works at Zhaotong, Dongchuan, and Weining, submitted revised regulations, and repeatedly asked for cuts in Guizhou lead taxes and cancellation of official and private debts at Yunnan mines—all approved. Yet after fifteen years of management he forwarded only a million jin of copper a year to the capital, and contemporary opinion mocked the result. In the thirty-first year he retired on grounds of illness. In the thirty-fourth year, on the fiftieth anniversary of his provincial examination, he was promoted to Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent. He died the following year at eighty, and state mourning was granted according to regulation.
13
何璟，字小宋，廣東香山人。 父曰愈，見循吏傳。 璟，道光二十七年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，轉御史。 咸豐七年，英人陷廣州，總督葉名琛獲譴罷，而巡撫柏貴等罪相埒，譴弗及，時論譁然，璟乃分別上其謬誤狀。 明年，英艦入津沽，疏陳戰守要略，先後抗論外務，疏凡八上。 遷給事中。 十年，出為安徽廬鳳道。 同治二年，遷按察使。 捻至，與總兵喻吉三隨方應禦，寇不得逞。 四年，晉湖北布政使。 逾歲，到官，值黃陂飢嗛，民就食江、漢，便宜發帑金濟之。 九年，擢福建巡撫，歷山西、江蘇。 遭父憂，服闋，起閩浙總督。
He Jing, whose courtesy name was Xiaosong, came from Xiangshan in Guangdong. His father Yu is treated in the biographies of model officials. Jing passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang, entered the Hanlin Academy, was appointed compiler, and later became a censor. In the seventh year of Xianfeng the British took Guangzhou. Governor Ye Mingchen was punished and dismissed, yet Governor Bai Gui and others were equally guilty yet went unpunished, and public opinion was outraged. Jing memorialized separately on each man's errors. The next year, when British ships entered Tientsin, he memorialized on the essentials of war and defense and argued repeatedly against foreign-policy concessions, submitting eight memorials in all. He was promoted to supervising secretary. In the tenth year he was appointed Lu-Feng circuit intendant in Anhui. In the second year of Tongzhi he was made provincial judge. When the Nian rebels appeared, he and Brigadier Yu Jisan met them wherever they struck, and the rebels could not break through. In the fourth year he was promoted to treasurer of Hubei. A year later he took up his post. Huangpi was in famine, and people were fleeing to the Yangzi and Han for food. He promptly disbursed treasury funds for relief. In the ninth year he was made governor of Fujian and later served in Shanxi and Jiangsu. After his father's death and the mourning period, he was recalled as governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang.
14
光緒三年，備日本議起，治海防，飭戎政。 其夏患水祲，日坐城上督拯難民，凡閱七晝夜，醵金卹之。 水退，濬洪塘江，導支流入海，後患稍殺。 五年，兼署巡撫。 時日本議廢琉球，數以兵艦浮閩、滬。 璟以台灣地當要衝，基隆尤扼全台形勝，乃調集輪舶，增募兵勇，建築砲台，備不虞。
In the third year of Guangxu, with negotiations with Japan impending, he strengthened coastal defense and tightened military administration. That summer floods struck. For seven days and nights he sat on the city wall directing relief for refugees and raised funds for their care. When the waters receded he dredged the Hongtang River and channeled branch streams to the sea, easing future flood risk. In the fifth year he also served as acting governor. Japan was then pressing to abolish the Ryukyu kingdom, and repeatedly sent warships to cruise off Fujian and Shanghai. Jing held that Taiwan was strategically vital and that Keelung commanded the island's key terrain. He assembled steam vessels, raised more troops, built batteries, and prepared against surprise attack.
15
九年，法越事起，海防戒嚴。 璟令總兵張得勝等分扼諸郡，提督孫開華等分扼台、澎，並檄楊在元署台灣鎮，助防守。 明年，又上福、廈、台益船募卒狀，上皆勗勵之。 已而會辦軍務，張佩綸至，事皆專決，視璟等若屬吏； 又嚴劾在元貪謬，璟坐疏忽，幹吏議。 以是益畏事之，不敢為異同。 佩綸調舟師砲船局，璟亦以砲布衙署自衛。 廷旨以閩事亟，諄諄諭固守。 逮戰書至，璟告佩綸曰：「明日法人將乘潮攻馬尾矣！」 佩綸弗聽。 舟師大挫，璟欲馳援，而臨浦無舟可濟，株守省城，卒致閩事日壞； 然猶左袒廣勇，雖逃不問，頗為時訾議。 乃飛章自劾，而廷旨已先召還京。 尋御史亦劾其闒冗，部議褫職。 十四年，卒。
In the ninth year the Franco-Vietnamese conflict broke out and coastal defenses were placed on alert. Jing ordered Brigadier Zhang Desheng and others to hold the prefectures and Brigadier Sun Kaihua and others to hold Taiwan and Penghu. He also put Yang Zaiyuan in acting command of the Taiwan garrison to assist in the defense. The next year he memorialized again on adding ships and recruiting troops for Fujian, Xiamen, and Taiwan, and the emperor commended him warmly. Soon he was assigned to joint management of military affairs. Zhang Peilun arrived, decided everything himself, and treated Jing and the others as mere subordinates. He also impeached Zaiyuan for corruption and incompetence. Jing was held negligent and referred to the personnel office for deliberation. Jing feared him all the more and dared not disagree. Peilun transferred the fleet to the gunboat bureau. Jing also posted cannon around his yamen for self-defense. Because Fujian affairs were urgent, the court repeatedly ordered him to hold firm. When war was declared, Jing told Peilun: 'Tomorrow the French will attack Mawei on the tide!' Peilun would not listen. The fleet was crushed. Jing wanted to rush to reinforce them, but there were no boats at Linpu to cross the river. He stayed fixed in the provincial capital, and Fujian affairs grew worse by the day. He still favored the Guangdong braves and did not punish deserters, which drew considerable public censure. He sent an urgent memorial impeaching himself, but the court had already ordered him back to the capital. Soon a censor impeached him for slackness and incompetence, and the ministry recommended stripping him of office. He died in the fourteenth year.
16
張兆棟，字友山，山東濰縣人。 道光二十五年進士，銓刑部主事，累遷郎中。 出知陝西鳳翔府，蒞事三月，而回寇竊發，乃募鄉兵捍之。 無何，城被圍，寇且掘長壕圖久困，兆棟晨夕登陴慰勞守者。 寇轟潰西南城，蟻附上，兆棟躬冒矢石，戰甚力，寇不得逞。 益固結紳民，誓堅守，閱十有六月，援師至，圍始解。 超授四川按察使。 咸豐四年，調廣東，遷布政使。 左宗棠治軍嘉應，餽運阻絕，兆棟殫心籌畫，給食不乏。 歷安徽、江蘇，皆稱職。
Zhang Zhaodong, whose courtesy name was Youshan, came from Weixian in Shandong. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang, entered the Ministry of Punishments as a principal clerk, and rose to director. He was appointed prefect of Fengxiang in Shaanxi. Three months after taking office Hui rebels rose, and he raised local militia to resist them. Before long the city was besieged. The rebels dug a long trench to starve it out. Zhaodong mounted the walls morning and evening to encourage the defenders. The rebels breached the southwest wall and swarmed up like ants. Zhaodong fought in the thick of the arrows and stones, and the rebels could not break through. He rallied the gentry and people, swore to hold out, and after sixteen months relief arrived and the siege was broken. He was exceptionally promoted to provincial judge of Sichuan. In the fourth year of Xianfeng he was transferred to Guangdong and made provincial treasurer. When Zuo Zongtang commanded the army at Jiaying, supply lines were cut. Zhaodong threw himself into planning, and the troops never went hungry. He served in Anhui and Jiangsu and was praised in both posts.
17
九年，擢漕運總督。 時運河久廢不緝，兆棟慮海警阻漕，為上治河濟運狀，稱旨。 十一年，再調廣東。 粵俗嗜博，闈姓害尤烈，疏請禁止，報可，而總督英翰曲徇商人請，弛其禁，兆棟劾之，落職，遂兼攝總督事，禁益嚴，終其任，粵吏無敢言闈姓者。 光緒四年，母憂歸。 服闋，起福建巡撫。
In the ninth year he was promoted to director-general of grain transport. The Grand Canal had long gone without dredging. Fearing that naval threats would block grain transport, Zhaodong submitted a memorial on river management to keep supplies moving, and the emperor approved it. In the eleventh year he was transferred to Guangdong again. Guangdong was addicted to gambling, and the examination-surname lottery was especially ruinous. He memorialized for a ban and won approval, but Governor Yinghan bent to the merchants and relaxed it. Zhaodong impeached him, Yinghan was dismissed, and Zhaodong took over as acting governor. The ban was enforced more strictly than ever, and for the rest of his term no Guangdong official dared mention the lottery again. In the fourth year of Guangxu he returned home to mourn his mother. After mourning he was recalled as governor of Fujian.
18
十年，法越事起，法艦窺台、閩。 張佩綸銜命會辦閩防軍務，兆棟畏其焰，曲意事之，日謁如衙參。 佩綸虛飾胜狀，詔發萬金犒兆棟軍。 兆棟且疏劾大員謀遁，意指何璟也，朝旨令據實以聞。 已而事亟，己亦微服匿民間，數日略定，復出任事。 璟罷，兆棟兼總督，朝廷論馬尾失守罪，褫職。 十三年，卒於閩。 宣統元年，复官。
In the tenth year the Franco-Vietnamese conflict broke out, and French warships probed Taiwan and Fujian. Zhang Peilun was commissioned to manage Fujian coastal defense. Zhaodong feared his power, deferred to him obsequiously, and called on him daily as if reporting to a superior. Peilun falsified reports of victory, and the court issued ten thousand taels to reward Zhaodong's troops. Zhaodong also memorialized that a senior official was plotting to flee—meaning He Jing—and the court ordered that the facts be reported truthfully. When crisis struck, he too went into disguise and hid among the people. After a few days the situation calmed somewhat and he resumed his duties. When Jing was dismissed, Zhaodong took over as acting governor. The court judged him guilty for the loss of Mawei and stripped him of office. He died in Fujian in the thirteenth year. In the first year of Xuantong his rank was posthumously restored.
19
論曰：法越初構釁，號識時務者爭上書忼慨言戰。 未及旬日，延旭敗退廣西，炯棄關外新安行營。 何璟、兆棟懾張佩綸之氣勢，怯懦而無所主，事急皆遁。 方其互相汲引，不恤舉疆事以輕試； 及其敗也，其黨益肆言熒聽，而此數人者，遂得保首領以沒。 朝廷固寬大，亦失刑甚矣。
The historians comment: When the Franco-Vietnamese conflict first broke out, men who styled themselves statesmen vied in memorializing with passionate calls for war. Within ten days Yanxu had been defeated and driven back to Guangxi, and Jiong had abandoned his headquarters beyond the border at Xin'an. He Jing and Zhaodong were cowed by Zhang Peilun's authority—timid, irresolute, and quick to flee when crisis struck. When they had recommended one another, they did not hesitate to gamble the empire's frontier on a reckless trial; yet when they failed, their faction spread words to confuse the court, while these men kept their heads and died in bed. The court was magnanimous indeed—but it failed grievously in justice.