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列傳二百五十五
Biography 255
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崇綺志鈞延茂色普徵額王懿榮熙元宗室寶豐宗室壽富宋承庠王鐵珊崇綺，字文山，阿魯特氏，蒙古正藍旗人，大學士賽尚阿子。 以穆後父貴，升隸滿洲鑲黃旗。 初為工部主事，坐其父出師無功，褫職。 咸豐四年，粵寇謀犯畿輔，充督練旗兵處文案，事寧，敘兵部七品筆帖式。 英吉利兵艦窺天津，錄守內城功，擢主事。 嗣遷員外郎。 同治三年，將軍都興阿以崇綺諳兵事，奏自隨，兵部疏留。 是歲成一甲一名進士，立國二百數十年，滿、蒙人試漢文獲授修撰者，止崇綺一人，士論榮之。 九年，遷侍講，出典河南鄉試，充日講起居注官。 十一年，詔冊其女為皇后，錫三等承恩公。 歷遷內閣學士，戶部、吏部侍郎。
The subjects of this chapter are Chong Qi (and his son Baochu and others), Zhi Jun, Yan Mao (and his younger brother Yan Zhi), Se Pu Zheng'e, Wang Yirong, Xi Yuan, the imperial clansman Bao Feng, the imperial clansman Shou Fu (and his younger brother Shou Fan and others), Song Chengxiang, and Wang Tieshan. Chong Qi, style name Wenshan, was of the Arut clan, a Mongol of the Plain Blue Banner, and the son of Grand Secretary Sai Shang'a. As the empress's father he was raised in status and transferred to the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. He had first served as a director in the Ministry of Works, but was dismissed when his father's campaign ended without success. In 1854, when the Taiping rebels threatened the capital region, he served as a clerk in the office supervising the training of banner troops; when the crisis passed he received recognition as a seventh-rank clerk in the Ministry of War. When British warships appeared off Tianjin, he was promoted to director for his service in defending the inner city. He was later promoted to vice director. In 1864, General Du Xing'a, finding Chong Qi knowledgeable in military affairs, asked that he accompany his campaign, but the Ministry of War intervened to keep him at court. That year he placed first in the highest tier of the civil service examinations. In the more than two centuries since the dynasty's founding, he was the only Manchu or Mongol to win first place in the Han-language examinations and be appointed Hanlin compiler—an achievement scholars widely celebrated. In 1870 he was promoted to reader-in-waiting, served as chief examiner for the Henan provincial examinations, and was appointed an official of the Daily Lecture and Imperial Diary. In 1872 an edict ennobled his daughter as empress and granted him the title of third-class Duke who inherits grace. He rose through appointments as Grand Secretariat academician and vice minister of the Revenue and Personnel ministries.
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光緒二年，充會試副考官，補鑲黃旗漢軍副都統。 會河南旱，大吏匿不報，為言官所劾。 上命偕侍郎邵亨豫按問，廉得實，巡撫李慶翔以下皆獲罪。 四年，吉林駐防侍衛倭興額被盜誣控，詔與侍郎馮譽驥往讞，尋命崇綺署將軍專治之。 倭興額控如故，事下侍郎志和覈覆，得誣告狀，崇綺自劾，被宥。 五年，出為熱河都統。 御史孔憲疏稱其忠直，宜留輔，不許。 七年，調盛京將軍。
In 1876 he served as associate examiner for the metropolitan examinations and was appointed deputy lieutenant-general of the Han Bordered Yellow Banner. When Henan suffered drought, provincial officials concealed the disaster and failed to report it, drawing impeachment from the censorate. The emperor ordered him to investigate jointly with Vice Minister Shao Hengyu; they uncovered the truth, and Governor Li Qingxiang and his subordinates were all punished. In 1878, Wo Xing'e, a bodyguard stationed in Jilin, was falsely accused of theft; Chong Qi was sent with Vice Minister Feng Yuji to try the case, and soon afterward was ordered to act as general and take exclusive charge of it. Wo Xing'e's accusation stood unchanged until Vice Minister Zhi He reviewed the case and confirmed it was a false charge; Chong Qi submitted a self-impeachment and was pardoned. In 1879 he was appointed commander-in-chief of Rehe. Censor Kong Xian memorialized praising his loyalty and urging that he be kept at court to assist the throne, but the request was denied. In 1881 he was transferred to general of Mukden.
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九年，謝病歸。 旋授戶部尚書，再調戶部，复乞休。 初，穆宗崩，孝哲皇后以身殉，崇綺不自安，故再引疾。 二十六年，立溥俊為「大阿哥」，嗣穆宗。 乃起崇綺於家，俾署翰林院掌院學士，傅溥俊。 於是崇綺再出，與徐桐比而言廢立，甚得太后寵，恩眷與桐埒。 義和團起，朝貴崇奉者十之七八，而崇綺亦信仰之。 事敗，隨榮祿走保定，居蓮池書院，自縊死。 榮祿以聞，賜奠醊，入祀昭忠祠，諡文節。
In 1883 he resigned on grounds of illness and returned home. He was soon appointed minister of Revenue, then transferred back to that same ministry, and again petitioned to retire. After Emperor Muzong died and Empress Xiaozhe followed him in death, Chong Qi felt ill at ease at court and therefore pleaded illness a second time. In 1900, Pu Jun was installed as the 'Great Heir Apparent' to succeed Emperor Muzong. Chong Qi was then recalled from retirement and appointed acting chancellor of the Hanlin Academy to tutor Pu Jun. Chong Qi thus returned to power; like Xu Tong he spoke openly of deposing and installing rulers, won the empress dowager's deep favor, and received imperial grace equal to Tong's. When the Boxer movement arose, seven or eight out of ten court grandees embraced it, and Chong Qi was among the believers. When the movement collapsed, he fled with Rong Lu to Baoding, took lodging at the Lotus Pond Academy, and hanged himself. Rong Lu reported his death; the court granted libation offerings, enshrined him in the Shrine of Manifest Loyalty, and gave him the posthumous title Wenjie.
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崇綺妻，瓜爾佳氏，先於京師陷時，預掘深坑，率子散秩大臣葆初及孫員外郎廉定，筆帖式廉容、廉密，監生廉宏，分別男女入坑生瘞，闔門死難，各獎卹有差。 二十七年，命以曾孫法亮嗣廉定，襲爵。
Chong Qi's wife, of the Guwalgiya clan, had dug a deep pit before the capital fell. She led her son Baochu, minister without portfolio, her grandsons Lian Ding (vice director), Lian Rong and Lian Mi (clerks), and Lian Hong (student); men and women were separated and buried alive in the pit. The entire household perished, and each received posthumous honors and condolence payments according to rank. In 1901 the court ordered his great-grandson Fa Liang to succeed Lian Ding and inherit the family title.
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志鈞，亦三等承恩公，滿洲鑲黃旗人。 充散秩大臣。 聞警，設醴祭先，率妻子皆衣冠對縊於中堂。 卹如例，諡貞愍。
Zhi Jun, likewise a third-class Duke who inherits grace, was a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner. He held the post of minister without portfolio. When the alarm came, he offered libations to his ancestors, then led his wife and children—all in formal dress—to hang themselves together in the central hall. Condolence payments followed precedent, and he received the posthumous title Zhenmin.
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延茂，杜氏，內務府漢軍正白旗人。 同治二年進士，銓禮部主事。 光緒八年，歷遷至鴻臚寺少卿。 上言八旗官學廢弛，宜變通章程。 再遷內閣侍讀學士。
Yan Mao, of the Du clan, was a Han bannerman of the Plain White Banner in the Imperial Household Department. He passed the examinations in 1863 and was appointed a director in the Ministry of Rites. By 1882 he had risen to vice minister of the Court of State Ceremonial. He memorialized that the Eight Banner official schools had fallen into neglect and that their regulations should be revised. He was later promoted to reader of the Grand Secretariat.
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中法構釁，疏言：「我國士夫多懵外勢，請自今慎選使才，令其考察彼國政治利弊，圖其山川夷險，隨時奏聞。」 又言：「名將必知地利而後可行師，廟堂必知地利而後可馭將。 今宜北起盛京，南踰嶺廣，合台、瓊為一氣。 復自滇、粵邊外訖越南全境，分繪兩圖，更令諸疆臣各繪所轄地圖，上測緯度，下準方斜，俾知相距里數，為軍事之用。」 上韙其議。
When the Sino-French conflict broke out, he memorialized: 'Our scholars are largely ignorant of foreign conditions. Henceforth, please carefully select capable envoys and charge them to investigate those countries' political strengths and weaknesses, map their terrain and strategic features, and report back regularly.' He also wrote: 'A great general must know the terrain before he can march; the court must know the terrain before it can command generals. Maps should run from Mukden in the north through Lingnan and Guangdong in the south, uniting Taiwan and Hainan into a single strategic picture. From beyond the Yunnan and Guangdong frontiers through all of Vietnam, two separate maps should be drawn; frontier officials should each map their jurisdictions with latitude above and bearings below, so distances in li may be known for military planning.' The emperor approved his proposal.
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十三年，除奉天府府丞。 越四年，入為大理寺少卿。 二十四年，由駐藏辦事大臣擢吉林將軍，以倉廩災，上章自劾。 明年，徵還，再授黑龍江將軍，未行而拳禍作。 聯軍入都，偕弟延芝守安定門，城陷，闔室自焚死。 贈太子少保，諡忠恪。 妻並諸娣姒女子子皆獲旌。
In 1887 he was appointed vice prefect of Fengtian Prefecture. Four years later he was recalled to the capital as vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review. In 1898 he was promoted from commissioner in Tibet to general of Jilin; when the granaries suffered disaster, he submitted a self-impeachment. The following year he was recalled and appointed general of Heilongjiang, but before he could take up the post the Boxer crisis erupted. When the allied armies entered the capital, he and his younger brother Yan Zhi defended the Anding Gate; when the city fell, the entire household burned themselves to death. He was posthumously granted Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and given the posthumous title Zhongke. His wife, sisters-in-law, daughters, and sons were all granted official commendation.
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色普徵額，舒穆魯氏，滿洲正白旗人。 咸豐十年，賊竄畿疆，以健銳營前鋒校，從大學士瑞麟往討，裹創力戰。 旋從僧格林沁剿捻，斬馘甚眾。 同治初，又從都統穆騰阿軍畿南。 光緒三年，遷參領。 八年，軍政課最，授鑲紅旗漢軍副都統，充神機營專操大臣。 二十四年，徙駐南苑。 二十六年，擢寧夏將軍，未行，拳亂起，命守正陽門，晝夜徼循不少休。 聯軍攻城，中砲死。 贈太子少保，諡壯恪，予騎都尉兼雲騎尉世職。
Se Pu Zheng'e, of the Shumulu clan, was a Manchu of the Plain White Banner. In 1860, when rebels raided the capital region, he served as a vanguard corporal of the Vanguard Camp and followed Grand Secretary Ruilin to suppress them, fighting on despite his wounds. He soon followed Sengge Rinchen in suppressing the Nian rebels and killed many in battle. Early in the Tongzhi reign he again campaigned south of the capital under Commander-in-chief Muteng'a. In 1877 he was promoted to company commander. In 1882 he topped the military administration evaluation and was appointed deputy lieutenant-general of the Han Bordered Red Banner and special drill minister of the Divine Engine Corps. In 1898 he was transferred to garrison at the Southern Park. In 1900 he was promoted to general of Ningxia, but before he could depart the Boxer uprising broke out and he was ordered to defend the Zhengyang Gate, patrolling day and night without rest. When the allied armies assaulted the city, he was killed by cannon fire. He was posthumously granted Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, given the posthumous title Zhuangke, and granted hereditary offices as Cavalry Commandant and Cloud Cavalry Commandant.
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王懿榮，字正孺，山東福山人。 祖兆琛，山西巡撫。 父祖源，四川成綿龍茂道。 懿榮少劬學，不屑治經生藝，以議敘銓戶部主事。 光緒六年成進士，選庶吉士，授編修，益詳練經世之務，數上書言事。 十二年，父憂，解職。 服闋，出典河南鄉試。 二十年，大考一等，遷侍讀。 明年，入直南書房，署國子監祭酒。 會中東戰事起，日軍據威海，分陷榮城，登州大震，懿榮請歸練鄉團。 和議成，還都，特旨補祭酒。 越二年，遭母憂，終喪，起故官。 蓋至是三為祭酒矣，前後凡七年，諸生翕服。
Wang Yirong, style name Zhengru, was a native of Fushan in Shandong. His grandfather Zhao Chen had served as governor of Shanxi. His father Zu Yuan had served as intendant of the Cheng-Mian-Long-Mao circuit in Sichuan. Yirong studied diligently from youth and disdained the narrow craft of examination scholars; through seniority he was appointed director in the Ministry of Revenue. He passed the examinations in 1880, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler; he grew ever more versed in statecraft and submitted numerous memorials on public affairs. In 1886, upon his father's death, he left office for mourning. When mourning ended, he served as chief examiner for the Henan provincial examinations. In 1894 he ranked first class in the grand evaluation and was promoted to reader. The following year he entered the Southern Study and served as acting chancellor of the Imperial Academy. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Japanese forces seized Weihai and Rongcheng, throwing Dengzhou into panic; Yirong requested leave to return home and train local militia. After peace was concluded he returned to the capital, where a special edict confirmed him as chancellor of the Imperial Academy. Two years later, upon his mother's death, he completed mourning and was recalled to his former post. By then he had served three times as chancellor over seven years in all, and the students held him in universal esteem.
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二十六年，聯軍入寇，與侍郎李端遇同拜命充團練大臣。 懿榮面陳：「拳民不可恃，當聯商民備守禦。」 然事已不可為。 七月，聯軍攻東便門，猶率勇拒之。 俄眾潰不復成軍，乃歸語家人曰：「吾義不可苟生！」 家人環跽泣勸，厲斥之。 仰藥未即死，題絕命詞壁上曰：「主憂臣辱，主辱臣死。 於止知其所止，此為近之。」 擲筆赴井死。 先是懿榮命浚井，或問之，笑曰：「此吾之止水也！」 至是果與妻謝氏、寡媳張氏同殉焉。 諸生王杜松等醵金瘞之。 事聞，贈侍郎，諡文敏。 懿榮泛涉書史，嗜金石，翁同龢、潘祖廕並稱其博學。
In 1900, when the allied armies invaded, he and Vice Minister Li Duanyu were jointly appointed militia-training grand ministers. Yirong stated to the throne: 'The Boxers cannot be relied upon; merchants and citizens must be enlisted to prepare the city's defense.' But by then nothing could be done. In the seventh month, when the allied armies attacked the Dongbian Gate, he still led militia to resist them. Soon his forces scattered beyond recovery; he returned home and told his family: 'By every principle of duty I cannot live on in disgrace!' His family knelt around him weeping and pleading with him; he rebuked them sternly. He took poison but did not die immediately; on the wall he wrote a final poem: 'When the ruler is troubled, the minister is shamed; when the ruler is shamed, the minister dies. Knowing where to stop—this he came near to achieving.' He cast down his brush and threw himself into a well. Earlier Yirong had ordered a well dug; when asked why, he laughed and said: 'This is my stopping-water!' And so he did die together with his wife, Lady Xie, and his widowed daughter-in-law, Lady Zhang. His students Wang Dusong and others pooled funds to bury them. When the court learned of his death, he was posthumously granted vice minister and given the posthumous title Wenmin. Yirong read widely in history and loved epigraphy; Weng Tonghe and Pan Zuyin both praised his learning.
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熙元，直隸總督裕祿子。 光緒十五年進士，由編修累遷至祭酒。 聯軍入，方家居守制，聞變，偕嫂富察氏、妻費莫氏仰藥以殉。 贈太常寺卿，諡文貞。 越三年，杜松等以兩祭酒大節昭著，籥請隆報饗，得旨，附祀監署唐韓愈祠。
Xi Yuan was the son of Zhili Governor Yu Lu. He passed the examinations in 1889 and rose from compiler to chancellor of the Imperial Academy. When the allied armies entered the capital, he was at home in mourning; on hearing the news, he took poison together with his sister-in-law, Lady Fuca, and his wife, Lady Feimo. He was posthumously granted minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and given the posthumous title Wenzhen. Three years later, Dusong and others petitioned that the two chancellors' exemplary integrity deserved elevated honors; the court approved, and they were granted ancillary worship at the Tang Han Yu shrine in the Academy precinct.
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宗室寶豐，字龢年，隸正藍旗。 好讀書，有清尚。 光緒十五年進士，選庶吉士，授編修，歷遷至侍講。 二十五年，立溥俊為「大阿哥」，命直弘德殿，並賞高賡恩四品京堂，同授大阿哥讀。 明年，兩宮西幸，寶豐以隨扈不果，憤甚，誓死職。 自題絕命詞曰：「忠孝節廉，本乎天性。 見利思義，見危授命。 嗚呼寶豐，不失其正。」 飲金死。 贈太常寺卿。
The imperial clansman Bao Feng, style name Henian, was registered in the Plain Blue Banner. He loved reading and held himself to pure and lofty standards. He passed the examinations in 1889, entered the Hanlin Academy, was appointed compiler, and rose to reader-in-waiting. In 1899, when Pu Jun was installed as the 'Great Heir Apparent,' Bao Feng was ordered to serve in the Hongde Hall; Gao Geng'en was also granted fourth-rank metropolitan official, and together they tutored the heir apparent. The following year, when the court fled west, Bao Feng was unable to accompany the retinue; deeply angered, he swore to die at his post. He wrote his own death poem: 'Loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and probity spring from inborn nature. When profit tempted him he thought of righteousness; when danger threatened he gave his life. Alas for Bao Feng—he did not lose his rectitude.' He drank gold and died. He was posthumously granted minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
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宗室壽富，字伯茀，隸正藍旗，侍讀寶廷子。 泛覽群籍，尤諳周官、禮、太史公書，旁逮外國史，通算術，工古文詩詞。 光緒十四年，成進士，選庶吉士。 嘗憤國勢不張，八旗人才日衰，箸勸八旗官士文，立知恥會，大旨警頑傲，勵以自強。 浙江巡撫廖壽豐疏薦壽富才學堪大用，命赴日本考政治。 既還，箸日本風土志四卷獻上，召見，痛陳中國積弊及所宜興宜革者，漏三下始退，上器之。 政變作，遂杜門。
The imperial clansman Shou Fu, style name Bofu, was registered in the Plain Blue Banner and was the son of Reader Bao Ting. He read widely, was especially versed in the Offices of Zhou, the Rites, and Sima Qian's Records, also studied foreign histories, mastered mathematics, and excelled in classical prose and poetry. In 1888 he passed the examinations and was selected as a Hanlin bachelor. Angered by the dynasty's weakness and the daily decline of Eight Banner talent, he wrote urging banner officials and gentry to study, founded a Society for Knowing Shame, and sought to warn against stubborn arrogance and encourage self-strengthening. Zhejiang Governor Liao Shoufeng memorialized recommending Shou Fu for high office; the court ordered him to Japan to study its political system. On his return he presented a four-volume Record of Japanese Customs, was summoned to audience, and spoke at length on China's accumulated abuses and what should be promoted or reformed; he did not withdraw until the third watch, and the emperor valued him highly. After the coup of 1898 he shut himself indoors and refused visitors.
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壽富性故矜貴，不通刺朝列。 及拳亂起，乃上書榮祿，言董福祥軍宜託故令離畿甸，然後解散拳民，謂「董為禍根，拳其枝葉耳」。 榮祿不省。 妻翁內閣學士聯元既以論拳匪誅，家屬匿其宅，眾以壽富重新學，亦指為袒外，恚甚，或勸之他往，曰：「吾宗親也，寧有去理耶？」 城陷，壽富自題絕命詞，並貽書同官曰：「國破家亡，萬無生理。 乞赴行在，力為表明。 侍已死於此地，雖講西學，未嘗降敵。」 遂與弟右翼宗室副管壽蕃及一妹一婢並投繯死。 贈侍講學士。
Shou Fu was by nature proud and aloof and did not cultivate ties with court colleagues. When the Boxer uprising broke out, he wrote to Rong Lu urging that Dong Fuxiang's army be sent away from the capital on some pretext before disbanding the Boxers, declaring: 'Dong is the root of the calamity; the Boxers are only its branches and leaves.' Rong Lu paid no heed. His father-in-law, Grand Secretariat academician Lian Yuan, had already been executed for criticizing the Boxers; Lian's family took refuge in Shou Fu's house. Because Shou Fu championed Western learning, the crowd accused him of siding with foreigners and grew furious. When some urged him to flee, he said: 'I am of the imperial clan—how could I leave?' When the city fell, Shou Fu wrote his death poem and sent a letter to a colleague: 'The state is broken and the family destroyed; there is no way to go on living. Please go to the traveling court and make this clear on my behalf. Your servant has already died here; though he studied Western learning, he never surrendered to the enemy.' He then hanged himself together with his younger brother Shou Fan, deputy banner captain of the Right Wing, one younger sister, and one maid. He was posthumously granted reader of the Grand Secretariat.
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壽富刻苦孤峭。 寶廷罷官早，家貧甚，性癖泉石。 壽富事父能委曲以適其意旨。 著有搏虎集。
Shou Fu was austere, solitary, and unyielding in character. Bao Ting had been dismissed from office early; the family was very poor, and he had a passion for landscape. In serving his father, Shou Fu accommodated himself tactfully to his wishes. He authored the Collected Writings on Wrestling Tigers.
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宋承庠，字養初，江蘇華亭人。 由拔貢考取小京官，銓工部。 光緒四年，舉於鄉，遷主事。 八年，充總理衙門章京，遷員外郎，轉御史。 二十六年，巡視京城，聯軍入，遙望城內火光燭天，自言：「主辱臣死，義無可逃。」 疾書一紙遺家人曰：「宗廟宮寢，已付一炬，敵人殘忍，不共戴天。 讀聖賢書，惟有捐軀報國而已。 我得死所，妻子勿以我為念。」 時已仰藥，口不能言，越一日卒。 贈四品卿銜。
Song Chengxiang, style name Yangchu, was a native of Huating in Jiangsu. Through the nominated tribute graduate examination he obtained a minor metropolitan post and was appointed to the Ministry of Works. In 1878 he passed the provincial examinations and was promoted to director. In 1882 he served as a clerk in the Zongli Yamen, was promoted to vice director, and then became a censor. In 1900, while inspecting the capital, he saw the allied armies enter and flames lighting the sky within the city walls. He said to himself: 'When the ruler is shamed, the minister dies; by every principle of duty there is no escape.' He quickly wrote a note to his family: 'The ancestral temples and palace quarters have been given to the flames; the enemy is cruel—we cannot live under the same sky. Having read the sages, I have only to give my life for the state. I have found where I shall die; wife and children, do not grieve for me.' He had already taken poison and could no longer speak; he died the next day. He was posthumously granted fourth-rank minister's rank.
19
王鐵珊，字伯唐，安徽英山人。 光緒十五年進士，銓兵部主事。 居久之，母年老，欲歸省。 會拳亂作，知都城必危，遂不去。 悉舉貲斧寄母，獨留百金，復分其半助邑館貧不能歸者。 其人謂：「盍不偕南？」 曰：「時勢至此，不能出力抗敵，已負朝廷； 若更引身遠避，何以為人？ 且在京為大清官，在籍踐大清土，國苟不保，家將焉屬？」 其人知其隱蓄死志，強之行，不可。 兩宮既西狩，遂伏案作書寄弟，略云：「身非武職，恨不能執干戈衛社稷； 官非臺諫，又不獲效忠言維國是。 如都城不保，義不偷生。 所恨居官以來，未能事母，長負此不孝之罪耳。」 書畢，肅衣冠拜，默坐室中。 聞內城陷，自縊死。 遺書友人治後事，謂：「某非死節，不忍見國事敗壞耳。」 事聞，贈員外郎，又追贈道員。 廕一子入監讀書，以知縣用。
Wang Tieshan, style name Botang, was a native of Yingshan in Anhui. He passed the examinations in 1889 and was appointed a director in the Ministry of War. After long service in the capital, his mother had grown old and he wished to return home to visit her. When the Boxer uprising broke out, he knew the capital would be in peril and stayed. He sent all his money and belongings to his mother, kept only a hundred taels for himself, and gave half of that to help poor fellow townsmen at the provincial lodge who could not afford to return home. Someone said to him: 'Why not flee south together?' He replied: 'The times have come to this. Unable to fight the enemy, I have already failed the court; if I now flee far away to save myself, what sort of man would I be? Moreover, in the capital I am an official of the Great Qing; at home I tread the soil of the Great Qing. If the state cannot be preserved, what will become of my family?' The man saw that he secretly meant to die and tried to force him to leave, but could not. After the court fled west, he wrote to his younger brother at his desk, saying in part: 'I hold no military post and regret that I cannot take up arms to defend the state; nor do I hold a censor's post, so I could not offer loyal counsel to uphold the national policy. If the capital cannot be preserved, I will not live on in disgrace. What I regret is that since taking office I have been unable to serve my mother and have long borne this stain of unfilial piety.' When he had finished writing, he dressed formally, bowed, and sat silently in his room. When he heard that the inner city had fallen, he hanged himself. He left a letter asking a friend to handle his affairs, writing: 'I am not dying merely to preserve my reputation; I cannot bear to watch the nation's ruin.' When the court learned of his death, he was posthumously granted vice director and later promoted posthumously to intendant. One son was granted yin privilege to study in the Imperial Academy and be appointed a magistrate.
20
論曰：國都既陷，主辱臣死，此大義也。 崇綺久著清節，終以一死自明。 延茂等見危授命，義不苟生。 色普徵額等執干戈衛社稷，死猶不瞑，至今皆凜凜有生氣焉。
The commentator says: When the national capital has fallen, the principle holds that when the ruler is shamed, the minister dies—this is the great moral law. Chong Qi had long been known for his integrity and in the end made his loyalty clear through death. Yan Mao and others, facing danger, gave their lives and would not live on in disgrace. Se Pu Zheng'e and others took up arms to defend the state; even in death their eyes would not close, and to this day they seem still to breathe with stern vitality.