Volume 478 Biographies 265: Exemplary Officials 3: Zhang Jian with: Li Yuchang, Gong Jinghan, Gai Fangmi, Shi Shaodeng, Li Gengyun, Yi Bingshou, Di Shangjiong, Zhang Dunren, Zheng Dunyun, Li Wengeng, Liu Tizhong son: Xu, Zhang Qi with: Shi Jiashao, Liu Heng with: Xu Dong Yao Jian Zhi, Wu Jun, Wang Zhaoqian, Cao Jin, Gui Chaowan, Zhang Zuonan, Yun Maoqi

張吉安龔景瀚蓋方泌史紹登李賡芸伊秉綬狄尚絅張敦仁鄭敦允李文耕劉體重張琦劉衡姚柬之吳均王肇謙曹瑾桂超萬張作楠雲茂琦}}=張吉安=張吉安，字迪民，江蘇吳縣人。乾隆四十二年舉人，六十年，大挑知縣，發浙江。時清治各縣虧空，責彌補。富陽令惲敬獨不奉上官意旨，檄吉安往摘印署事。至則士民群集，乞留敬。吉安見之，默然徒手返，白台司曰：「惲敬賢吏，乞保全之。且州縣賦入有常經，前官不謹致虧，責彌補於後來者，恐開掊克之漸。方今楚、豫奸民蜂起，皆以有司貪殘為口實。宜用讀書人加意拊循，乃無形之彌補耳。」聞者迂其言。委攝縣丞及杭州府通判，吉安自以不諧於時，乞改教職，上官留之。

Zhang Jian, Gong Jinghan, Gai Fangmi, Shi Shaodeng, Li Gengyun, Yi Bingshou, Di Shangjiong, Zhang Dunren, Zheng Dunyun, Li Wengeng, Liu Tizhong, Zhang Qi, Liu Heng, Yao Jianzhi, Wu Jun, Wang Zhaoqian, Cao Jin, Gui Chaowan, Zhang Zuonan, and Yun Maoqi. Zhang Jian, courtesy name Dimin, was from Wu County in Jiangsu. He became a provincial graduate in 1777; in 1795, through the great selection for magistracies, he was appointed a district magistrate and sent to Zhejiang. At that time the Qing government held every county with a treasury shortfall responsible for making it good. The magistrate of Fuyang, Yun Jing, alone refused to obey his superiors; Zhang Jian was ordered to go there, seize his seal, and take over the county. When he arrived, local gentry and commoners had gathered in a crowd to plead that Yun Jing be allowed to remain. Zhang Jian saw this, said nothing, and returned empty-handed; he reported to the provincial administration: "Yun Jing is a worthy official— I beg that he be kept in his post. Moreover, prefectural and district revenues have fixed quotas; when a predecessor's carelessness causes a shortfall and successors are forced to cover it, that opens the door to squeezing the people. Right now ruffians are rising everywhere in Hubei and Henan, and they all cite the greed and cruelty of local officials as their justification. Men of learning should be sent to comfort and guide the people with special care— that is how deficits are made good without anyone noticing." Those who heard him thought his words impractical. The matter was entrusted to the acting assistant magistrate and the Hangzhou prefectural intendant; Zhang Jian, feeling out of step with the times, asked to be transferred to a teaching post, but his superiors kept him in office.

嘉慶二年，署淳安，尋調象山。海盜由閩擾浙，沿海窮民業漁鹽者，多以米及淡水火藥濟盜，且為鄉導。吉安革船埠商漁之稅，嚴禁水、米出洋，盜漸窮蹙，值颶風覆盜艇，泅至岸，悉為舟師所獲。提督李長庚歎曰：「牧令盡如張像山，盜不足平也。」又建議縣境南田為海中大島，宜如明湯和策，封禁以斷盜翼。韭山當海盜之衝，石浦、昌國兵力皆薄，請增兵以資鎮懾。事雖見格，後卒如所議。

In 1797 he served as acting magistrate of Chun'an; soon afterward he was transferred to Xiangshan. Pirates from Fujian were raiding Zhejiang; along the coast, poor folk who lived by fishing and salt often supplied the bandits with grain, fresh water, and gunpowder, and even guided them inland. Zhang Jian abolished harbor taxes on merchants and fishermen, strictly forbade grain and fresh water from being sent out to sea, and the pirates were gradually cornered; when a typhoon capsized a pirate boat and the survivors swam ashore, the local boatmen captured them all. Provincial Commander Li Changgeng sighed and said: "If every local magistrate were like Magistrate Zhang of Xiangshan, the pirates would hardly be worth the trouble of suppressing." He also urged that Nantian, a large island in the county's waters, be sealed off after the Ming general Tang He's plan, to cut the pirates off from their refuge. Jiushan lay directly in the pirates' path, while Shibu and Changguo were both thinly garrisoned; he asked for more troops to strengthen deterrence. The proposal was rejected at the time, but in the end it was carried out just as he had urged.

四年，署新城，漕倉設省城，民輸折色，縣官浮收，運丁需索，習以為常。吉安平其折價，不及舊時十之六七，民感之。

In the fourth year he served as acting magistrate of Xincheng; the grain transport depot was in the provincial capital, the people paid in commuted silver, magistrates collected surcharges, and transport coolies made extortionate demands— all of this had become routine. Zhang Jian reduced the commutation price to less than six or seven tenths of what it had been, and the people were deeply grateful.

五年，署永康，蛟水猝發，田廬盪析，為棚廠以棲災民，阻水者俱舟餉之，溺者俱棺厝之，不待申詳報可，所以賑恤者甚至。上官或斥其有違成例，巡撫阮元素重之，悉如所請。六年，調署麗水，竭誠禱雨，旱不為災。縣多山，民處險遠者，艱於赴愬。吉安輒巡行就山寺讞獄，咸樂其便。

In the fifth year he served as acting magistrate of Yongkang; sudden torrents wrecked fields and dwellings; he set up sheds for disaster victims, sent boat rations to those cut off by flood, coffins and burial for the drowned, and carried relief to an extraordinary extent without waiting for memorials and approvals from above. Superiors sometimes rebuked him for breaking established rules, but Governor Ruan Yuansu valued him and approved everything he asked. In the sixth year he was transferred to act as magistrate of Lishui; he prayed earnestly for rain, and the drought never became a disaster. The county was mountainous, and people living in remote high country found it hard to come in and lodge complaints. Zhang Jian would go on circuit and hear cases at mountain temples, and everyone welcomed the convenience.

八年，署浦江，值水災，奸民糾眾掠富室，伐墓樹，鄰邑咸煽動。吉安曰：「非法無以止奸民，非米無以安良民，良民安則奸民氣散。」請運兵米所餘以賑之，民心漸定，乃擒首惡治如律。補餘杭，九年春，雨傷禾，糶倉穀以平米價，又運川米千石濟之。十年，復被水，分鄉設廠，煮粥以賑，規畫詳密，竟事無擁擠之擾。邑多名區，次第修復之。懲訟師，勤聽斷，修志、葺學，文教丕振。在餘杭七年，引疾歸，遂不出。歿後，永康士民請祀名宦，建立專祠。

In the eighth year he served as acting magistrate of Pujiang; when flood struck, ruffians stirred mobs to plunder wealthy households and chop down tomb trees, and neighboring counties were all stirred up. Zhang Jian said: "Without law the wicked cannot be stopped; without grain the good cannot be reassured; when the good are secure, the wicked lose heart." He asked that surplus military grain be used for relief; popular sentiment gradually settled, and then the ringleaders were seized and punished according to law. He was appointed to Yuhang; in the spring of the ninth year rain damaged the crops; he sold grain from the public granary at fair market price and also brought in a thousand piculs of Sichuan rice for relief. In the tenth year floods struck again; he set up relief kitchens by township and served congee; his planning was meticulous, and in the end there was no crowding or disorder. The district had many famous irrigation works, which he restored one after another. He punished litigation brokers, heard cases diligently, revised the gazetteer and repaired the school, and literary culture flourished. After seven years in Yuhang he retired on grounds of illness and never took office again. After his death, the gentry and people of Yongkang asked that he be enshrined among distinguished officials and a special temple built in his honor.

當時吏治積弊，有南漕北賑之說，南利在漕，相率諱災。督撫藉詞酌劑，置災民於不問。苟有切求民瘼者，轉不得安於位。吉安官浙前後幾二十年，所蒞多災區，皆能舉職。在新城減漕之三四，時論尤以為難。北賑之弊亦然。同時江蘇知縣李毓昌，以不扶同侵賑致禍，仁宗優恤之，重懲諸貪吏，蓋欲以力挽頹風雲。

At that time deep abuses had accumulated in official administration, giving rise to the saying "southern transport grain, northern famine relief": the south profited from transport grain, and officials vied to conceal disasters. Governors-general and governors used the pretext of balancing accounts and left disaster victims to their fate. Anyone who earnestly sought the people's welfare could not keep his post in peace. Zhang Jian served in Zhejiang for nearly twenty years in all; most of his posts were in disaster areas, yet he fulfilled his duties everywhere. At Xincheng he cut transport grain levies by three or four tenths— contemporaries considered that especially hard to achieve. The abuses of northern famine relief were the same. At the same time Li Yuchang, a Jiangsu district magistrate, met disaster for refusing to collude in embezzling relief funds; Emperor Renzong honored him generously after death and severely punished the corrupt officials— evidently hoping to turn the tide of decline by force.

毓昌，字皋言，山東即墨人。嘉慶十三年進士，以知縣發江蘇。十四年，總督鐵保使勘山陽縣賑事，親行鄉曲，鉤稽戶口，廉得山陽知縣王伸漢冒賑狀，具清冊，將上揭。伸漢患之，賂以重金，不為動，則謀竊其冊，使僕包祥與毓昌僕李祥、顧祥、馬連升謀，不可得，遂設計死之。毓昌飲於伸漢所，夜歸而渴，李祥以藥置湯中進。毓昌寢，苦腹痛而起，包祥從後持其頭，叱曰：「若何為？」李祥曰：「僕等不能事君矣。」馬連升解己所繫帶縊之。伸漢以毓昌自縊聞。淮安知府王轂遣驗視之，報曰：「屍口有血。」轂怒，杖驗者，遂以自縊狀上。

Li Yuchang, courtesy name Gaoyan, was from Jimo in Shandong. He passed the metropolitan examination in 1808 and was assigned as a district magistrate in Jiangsu. In the following year Governor-General Tie Bao sent him to inspect famine relief in Shanyang County; he went in person through the villages, checked household registers, and found clear evidence that Magistrate Wang Shenhan had falsely claimed relief; he drew up a detailed register and was about to submit a memorial. Shenhan was alarmed; he offered a heavy bribe but could not sway him, then plotted to steal the register, having his servant Bao Xiang conspire with Li's servants Li Xiang, Gu Xiang, and Ma Liansheng; when they could not get it, they contrived to kill him. Li Yuchang had been drinking at Shenhan's residence; returning at night he was thirsty, and Li Xiang put poison in the soup he brought him. Li Yuchang lay down to sleep, then rose in agony from his belly; Bao Xiang seized his head from behind and shouted, "What are you doing?" Li Xiang said, "We can no longer serve our master." Ma Liansheng untied his own belt and strangled him with it. Shenhan reported that Li Yuchang had hanged himself. Wang Gu, prefect of Huai'an, sent someone to examine the body; the report said, "There is blood at the mouth." Gu was furious, had the examiner beaten with the bamboo, and memorialized that it was suicide.

其族叔李太清與沈某至山陽迎喪，檢視其籍，有殘稿半紙，曰：「山陽知縣冒賑，以利啗毓昌，毓昌不敢受，恐負天子。」蓋上總督書稿，諸僕所未及毀去者。喪歸，毓昌妻有噩夢，啟棺視，面如生。以銀針刺之，針黑。李太清走京師訴都察院，命逮王轂、王伸漢及諸僕，至刑部會訊。山東按察使硃錫爵驗毓昌屍，惟胸前骨如故，餘盡黑。蓋受毒未至死，乃以縊死也。仁宗震怒，斬包祥，置顧祥、馬連升極刑，剖李祥心祭毓昌墓。轂、伸漢各論如律，總督以下貶謫有差。贈毓昌知府銜，封其墓。御製愍忠詩，命勒於墓上。毓昌無子，詔為立後，嗣子希佐賜舉人，太清亦賜武舉。

His clansman uncle Li Taiqing went with a man named Shen to Shanyang to receive the coffin; examining his papers they found a half-sheet of draft manuscript: "The magistrate of Shanyang falsely claimed relief and tried to bribe Yuchang with profit; Yuchang dared not accept, fearing to fail the Son of Heaven." It was a draft of his memorial to the governor-general that the servants had not been able to destroy. When the coffin returned home, Li Yuchang's wife had a nightmare; they opened the coffin— his face looked as if he were still alive. They pricked the body with a silver needle; the needle turned black. Li Taiqing went to the capital and appealed to the Censorate; an order was issued to arrest Wang Gu, Wang Shenhan, and all the servants, and they were tried jointly at the Ministry of Punishments. Zhu Xijue, provincial surveillance commissioner of Shandong, examined Li Yuchang's corpse; only the breastbone was unchanged, the rest all blackened. He had been poisoned but not yet dead when they strangled him. Emperor Renzong was shaken with rage; Bao Xiang was beheaded, Gu Xiang and Ma Liansheng were subjected to the extreme penalty, and Li Xiang's heart was cut out and offered at Li Yuchang's tomb. Gu and Shenhan were sentenced according to law; the governor-general and officials below him were demoted and transferred with varying severity. Li Yuchang was posthumously granted the rank of prefect and his tomb was enfeoffed. The emperor composed a poem lamenting his loyal devotion and ordered it carved on the tomb. Li Yuchang had no son; an edict ordered that an heir be established; his adopted son Xi Zuo was granted metropolitan graduate status, and Taiqing was also granted military graduate status.

=龔景瀚=龔景瀚，字海峰，福建閩縣人。先世累葉為名宦。曾祖其裕，康熙初，以諸生從軍，授江西瑞州府通判。滇、閩變起，率鄉勇為大軍鄉導，擢吉安知府。時府城為逆將所據，大軍駐螺子山，其裕供餉無乏。城复，撫瘡痍，多惠政。後官河南懷慶知府，濬順利渠，引濟水入城便民，終於兩淮鹽運使。歿祀瑞州、吉安、懷慶名宦祠。祖嶸，初仕浙江餘杭知縣，治縣民殺僕疑獄，為時所稱。擢直隸趙州直隸州知州，濬河興水利。再擢江蘇松江知府，渡海賑崇明災黎，全活甚眾。官至江西廣饒九南道，單騎定萬年縣匪亂，歿祀饒州名宦祠。父一發，乾隆十五年舉人，官河南知縣，歷宜陽，密縣、林縣，虞城四縣，治獄明敏，能以德化。在虞城值水災，勤於賑恤。朝使疏治積水，釃為惠民、永便諸渠，一發與災民共勞苦，治稱最。以病去，復起補直隸高陽。擢雲南鎮南知州，歿祀虞城名宦祠。

Gong Jinghan, courtesy name Haifeng, was from Min County in Fujian. For generations his forebears had been noted officials. His great-grandfather Qi Yu, in the early Kangxi reign, joined the army as a licentiate and was appointed intendant of Ruizhou Prefecture in Jiangxi. When rebellion broke out in Yunnan and Fujian, he led village militia as guides for the main army and was promoted to prefect of Ji'an. At the time the prefectural city was held by rebel generals; the main army was encamped at Luozi Mountain, and Qi Yu kept the supplies flowing without fail. When the city was recovered, he comforted the wounded land and enacted many benevolent policies. Later, as prefect of Huaqing in Henan, he dredged the Shunli Canal and brought Ji River water into the city for the people's convenience; he ended his career as salt transport commissioner of the Two Huai. After his death he was enshrined in the temples of distinguished officials at Ruizhou, Ji'an, and Huaqing. His grandfather Rong began as magistrate of Yuhang in Zhejiang, where he tried a doubtful case in which county people had killed a servant— an achievement widely praised at the time. He was promoted to magistrate of Zhao Prefecture in Zhili, where he dredged rivers and promoted water conservancy. Promoted again to prefect of Songjiang in Jiangsu, he crossed the sea to relieve famine victims in Chongming and saved a great many lives. He rose to Jiangxi Guangrao Jiunan Circuit Intendant; alone on horseback he quelled a bandit disturbance in Wannian County; after his death he was enshrined in the Raozhou temple of distinguished officials. His father Yifa, a provincial graduate in 1750, served as magistrate in Henan at Yiyang, Mixian, Linxian, and Yucheng— four counties in all— tried cases with sharp discernment, and could transform people through virtue. At Yucheng, when flood struck, he was diligent in relief. When the court ordered dredging of stagnant water, channels were opened named Huimin and Yongbian; Yifa shared hardships with disaster victims, and his administration was rated the foremost. He left office on grounds of illness, was recalled, and appointed to Gaoyang in Zhili. He was promoted to magistrate of Zhennan in Yunnan; after his death he was enshrined in Yucheng's temple of distinguished officials.

景瀚承家學，幼即知名。大學士硃珪督閩學，激賞之。乾隆三十六年成進士，歸班銓選。四十九年，授甘肅靖遠知縣，未到官。總督福康安知其能，檄署中衛縣，判牘如流，見者不知為初仕也。七星渠久淤，常苦旱，景瀚築石壩，遏水入渠，始通流。又濬常樂、鎮靜諸渠，重修紅柳溝環洞及減水各徬，溉田共三十萬畝，民享其利。五十二年，調平涼，地磽瘠，缺米粟，景瀚請鄰邑無遏糶。又當西域孔道，車馬取給商賈。鹽引敕派於民，官吏強買煤炭，皆為民病，一切罷之。由是商賈輻輳，食貨流通。修柳湖書院，與諸生講學，文風漸振。

Jinghan inherited the family tradition of learning and was famous from childhood. Grand Secretary Zhu Gui, as Fujian education commissioner, admired him greatly. He became a metropolitan graduate in 1771 and returned to await assignment. In 1784 he was appointed magistrate of Jingyuan in Gansu but had not yet taken up the post. Governor-General Fuk'anggan knew his ability and ordered him to act as magistrate of Zhongwei; he handled cases with effortless fluency, and observers could not tell he was newly in office. The Qixing Canal had long been silted up and drought was chronic; Jinghan built a stone dam to hold water in the canal, and for the first time water flowed through it again. He also dredged the Changle and Zhenjing canals, rebuilt the Hongliugou ring culvert and various spillways, irrigating three hundred thousand mu of fields in all, and the people enjoyed the benefit. In 1787 he was transferred to Pingliang; the land was barren and grain was scarce; Jinghan asked neighboring counties not to block grain sales. It also lay on the main road to the Western Regions, and carts and horses drew their supplies from merchants. Salt certificates were compulsorily assigned to the people, and officials forcibly bought coal— all of this harmed the people; he abolished every such abuse. Thereupon merchants gathered in numbers and goods circulated freely. He repaired Willow Lake Academy, lectured with students, and literary culture gradually revived.

五十五年，署固原州，漢、回雜處，時構釁。景瀚密偵諸堡，誅積匪，境內以安。五十九年，遷陝西邠州知州，嘉慶元年，總督宜綿巡邊，調景瀚入軍幕，遂從剿教匪，以功擢慶陽知府。宜綿總轄三省，從入蜀，幕府文書皆屬景瀚。尋調蘭州，仍在軍充翼長。

In 1790 he served as acting prefect of Guyuan, where Han and Hui lived intermingled and constantly provoked one another. Jinghan secretly investigated the fortified villages, executed long-standing bandits, and the territory was pacified. In 1794 he was moved to magistrate of Binzhou in Shaanxi; in 1796, when Governor-General Yimian inspected the frontier, he called Jinghan into his military staff; Jinghan followed the campaign against the White Lotus rebels and by merit was promoted to prefect of Qingyang. Yimian had overall command of three provinces; when he entered Sichuan, all staff documents were entrusted to Jinghan. Soon afterward he was transferred to Lanzhou, still serving in the army as wing commander.

景瀚從軍久，見勞師糜餉，流賊仍熾，因上議備陳調兵、增兵、募勇三害，勦賊四難，謂：「先安民然後能殺賊，民志固則賊勢衰，使之無所裹脅。多一民即少一賊，民居奠則賊食絕，使之無所擄掠。民有一日之糧，即賊少一日之食。用堅壁清野之法，令百姓自相保聚，賊未至則力農貿易，各安其生；賊既至則閉柵登陴，相與為守。民有恃無恐，自不至於逃亡。其要先慎簡良吏，次相度形勢，次選擇頭人，次清查保甲，次訓練壯丁，次積貯糧穀，次籌畫經費。如是行之有十利。」反復數千言，切中事理。嗣是被兵各省舉仿其法，民獲自保，賊無所逞，成效大著。論者謂三省教匪之平，以此為要領。

Jinghan had long followed the army; seeing troops exhausted and supplies wasted while the roving bandits still raged, he submitted a memorial thoroughly stating the three harms of transferring troops, increasing troops, and recruiting braves, and the four difficulties of suppressing bandits, saying: "First settle the people, then you can kill bandits; when the people's will is firm the bandits' strength weakens, leaving them nothing to coerce. Each additional settled person is one fewer bandit; when people's dwellings are secure the bandits' food is cut off, leaving them nothing to plunder. Every day the people retain grain is one day less food for the bandits. He employed the policy of fortifying strongpoints and clearing the countryside, having common people gather for mutual protection; before bandits arrived they worked the fields and traded, each secure in their livelihood; When bandits arrived they shut the palisades and mounted the battlements to defend together. With something to rely on and no cause for fear, the people did not flee. The essentials were first to choose good officials carefully, then survey the terrain, select headmen, inspect household registers and mutual-responsibility groups, train able-bodied men, store grain, and plan finances. Carried out in this way, the policy yielded ten benefits. In several thousand words repeated at length, he struck squarely at the heart of the matter. Thereafter war-afflicted provinces across the empire adopted his methods; the people could protect themselves, the bandits had no outlet for their violence, and the policy proved highly effective. Commentators held that pacifying the White Lotus rebels in the three provinces depended on this as the essential strategy.

五年，始到蘭州任，七年，送部引見，卒於京師。其後續編皇清文穎，仁宗特出其堅壁清野議付館臣載入。祀蘭州名宦祠。自其裕至景瀚，四世皆祀名宦，海內稱之。

In 1800 he first took up his post at Lanzhou; in 1802 he was sent to the capital for an imperial audience and died in Beijing. Later, when compilation of the Imperial Qing Literary Collection continued, the Jiaqing Emperor specially ordered that his memorial on fortifying strongpoints and clearing the countryside be given to the academicians for inclusion. He was enshrined in the Lanzhou shrine to eminent officials. From Yu to Jinghan, four generations of the family were all enshrined as eminent officials, a distinction celebrated throughout the realm.

景瀚子豐穀，官湖北天門知縣，亦有治績，不隳家聲焉。

Jinghan's son Fenggu served as magistrate of Tianmen in Hubei and also distinguished himself in governance, upholding the family's reputation.

=蓋方泌=蓋方泌，字季源，山東蒲台人。嘉慶初，以拔貢就職州判，發陝西，署漢陰廳通判、石泉知縣。三年，署商州州同。治州東百里曰龍駒寨，寨之東為河南，南出武關為湖北。路四通，多林莽山徑，易憑匿。時川、楚教匪屢由武關入陝西。方泌始至，民吏掃地赤立，賊酋張漢潮擁眾至，乃罝藥面中，誘賊劫食，多死，遂西走，大軍乘之，漢潮由是不振。方泌集眾謀曰：「賊雖去，必復來。若等逃亦死，守不得耕種亦死。我文官無兵，若能為吾兵，當全活爾。」眾曰：「惟命。」乃築堡聚糧，戶三丁抽一，得三千人，無丁者以財佐糧糗兵械，親教之戰，辰集午散，無廢農事。

Gai Fangmi, styled Jiyuan, was a native of Putai, Shandong. At the beginning of the Jiaqing reign, as a selected tribute graduate he entered service as a subprefect, was posted to Shaanxi, and served as acting subprefect of Hanyin District and magistrate of Shiquan. In 1798 he served as acting assistant prefect of Shangzhou. A hundred li east of the prefectural seat lay Longjuzhai Stockade; to its east was Henan, and south through Wuguan Pass lay Hubei. Roads ran in four directions, with many wooded mountain paths ideal for ambush and concealment. At the time White Lotus rebels from Sichuan and Hubei repeatedly entered Shaanxi through Wuguan Pass. When Fangmi first arrived, people and officials alike had been stripped to utter destitution; when bandit chief Zhang Hanchao arrived with his followers, Fangmi poisoned the flour and lured the bandits to seize food, killing many; they fled west, the imperial army pressed the advantage, and Hanchao never recovered. Fangmi gathered the people and said: "The bandits may have gone, but they will surely return. If you flee, you still die; if you hold out but cannot farm, you still die. I am a civil official without soldiers of my own; if you will be my soldiers, I will see you all safely through. The people replied: "Your word is our command. He then built forts and stockpiled grain, levying one man from every three in each household until he had three thousand; households without eligible men contributed money for grain, provisions, and weapons; he personally trained them in warfare, mustering at dawn and releasing them at noon so farm work went on unimpeded.

四年，賊屯山陽、鎮安，將東走河南，迎擊敗之；又擊賊於鐵峪鋪，賊據山上，而伏其半於溝，乃分兵翦伏，奪據東山上，數乘懈擊之，賊宵遁。後賊由雒南東逸，方泌馳至分水嶺，間道走鐵洞溝出賊前伏待之，賊錯愕迎戰，遂敗，斬首數百，鄉兵名由是大振。自武關至竹林關，鄉兵皆請隸龍駒寨。

In 1799 the bandits encamped at Shanyang and Zhen'an and were about to flee east into Henan; he intercepted and defeated them; He again attacked the bandits at Tieyu Post; they held the heights while hiding half their force in a ravine; he split his troops to eliminate the ambush, seized the eastern ridge, repeatedly struck when they let down their guard, and the bandits fled by night. Later, when bandits fled east through Luonan, Fangmi raced to Fenshui Ridge, took a hidden path through Tiedong Ravine to get ahead of them and lay in wait; startled, the bandits gave battle and were defeated; several hundred heads were taken, and the local militia's renown soared. From Wuguan Pass to Zhulin Pass, local militia units all asked to come under Longjuzhai's command.

五年，知州困於賊，方泌馳百九十里至北灣，賊驚曰：「龍駒寨兵至矣！」時賊屯州西及雒南、山陽各萬餘人，欲東出。方泌勒鄉兵二萬，列三大營以待。會官軍至，夾攻，賊大敗，幾盡殲。是役枕戈而寢者五十日。游擊某誣以事，解職，大吏直之，得留任。賊遂相戒無過商州。

In 1800 the prefect was besieged by bandits; Fangmi rode a hundred ninety li to Beiwan, and the bandits cried in alarm: "The Longjuzhai militia have arrived! At the time more than ten thousand bandits encamped west of the prefectural seat and at Luonan and Shanyang, intending to break out eastward. Fangmi mustered twenty thousand local militia and drew up three great camps to meet them. When government troops arrived, they attacked from both flanks; the bandits were routed and nearly wiped out. Throughout this campaign he slept with weapon in hand for fifty days. A brigade commander fabricated charges against him, and he was removed from office, but the provincial superior vindicated him and he retained his post. The bandits thereafter warned one another never to pass through Shangzhou again.

八年，授盩厔知縣，猶時時入山搜賊，又獲寧陝倡亂者四十餘人。境內甫定，捐俸賑饑，旌死節婦，河灘、馬廠、鹽法，皆區畫久遠。擢寧陝廳同知。仁宗召見，問商州事甚悉。擢四川順慶知府。渠縣民變，大吏屬以兵。方泌曰：「此賽會人眾，至各相驚疑，訛言橫興，非叛也。」捕十二人而變息。調成都，母憂歸。服闋，授福建延平。尋調台灣，兩署台灣道。屢讞大獄，皆聚眾洶洶，稍激則變。方泌一以理喻，蔽罪如法。道光十八年，卒。

In 1803 he was appointed magistrate of Zhouzhi; he still periodically entered the mountains to hunt bandits and captured more than forty instigators of rebellion in Ningqiang. Once the territory was barely pacified, he donated his salary to relieve famine, honored chaste martyrs, and laid down lasting arrangements for river floodplains, horse pastures, and salt administration. He was promoted to assistant prefect of Ningqiang District. The Jiaqing Emperor summoned him for an audience and questioned him exhaustively about affairs at Shangzhou. He was promoted to prefect of Shunqing in Sichuan. When the people of Quxian rose in disturbance, the provincial superiors placed troops under his command. Fangmi said: "This is a festival gathering; people have alarmed one another with suspicion and false rumors have spread—it is not rebellion. He arrested twelve ringleaders and the disturbance subsided. He was transferred to Chengdu, then returned home upon his mother's death. When his mourning period ended, he was appointed prefect of Yanping in Fujian. Soon afterward he was transferred to Taiwan, where he twice served as acting intendant of Taiwan Circuit. He repeatedly tried major cases attended by agitated crowds; the slightest provocation could spark riot. Fangmi uniformly reasoned with them by principle, and sentencing followed the law alone. He died in 1838.

=史紹登=史紹登，字倬雲，江蘇溧陽人，大學士貽直之孫。以謄錄敘布政司經歷，發雲南。乾隆六十年，署文水知縣。時滇鹽歸官辦，民苦抑配，紹登弛其禁，釋逋課者數百人。閱三載，配鹽之五十七州縣悉改商辦，以文山為法。

Shi Shaodeng, styled Zhuoyun, was a native of Liyang, Jiangsu, and grandson of Grand Secretary Yizhi. Through transcript service he received appointment as intendant's aide in the provincial administration commission and was posted to Yunnan. In 1795 he served as acting magistrate of Wenshui. At the time Yunnan salt was under government monopoly and the people suffered forced allocation; Shaodeng relaxed the restriction and released several hundred who were in arrears on salt levies. Within three years, salt allocation in fifty-seven prefectures and counties was entirely converted to merchant management, with Wenshan as the model.

貴州苗亂，距文山尚數郡，紹登策其必至，集胥役健者親教技擊以備之。嘉慶元年，苗竄鄰境之丘北，潛與文山儂、倮通。紹登謂不救丘北，文山儂、倮必不靖，親率三百人往，人授刀一、鐵鑣三十。既至，當者輒僕，丘北廓清。而總督勒保剿苗失利，被圍於貴州黃草坪，巡撫江蘭檄紹登往援。至則賊圍數重，內外不相聞，七戰皆捷，乃達黃草坪。會貴州援兵亦至。比紹登上謁，總督曰：「若文官，亦遠來問我耶？」紹登陳解圍狀，不信。紹登請視戰所賊屍，鑣傷者，文山民壯所擊；若刃傷，請伏冒功罪。總督初欲劾之，勘實乃已。巡撫聞紹登忤總督，大懼，令所用軍費不得入報銷，以是虧帑二萬。

When the Miao rebellion broke out in Guizhou, still several prefectures away from Wenshan, Shaodeng foresaw it would reach him and gathered strong clerks and runners, personally training them in combat to prepare. In 1796 the Miao slipped into Qiubei on the neighboring border and secretly liaised with the Nong and Luo peoples of Wenshan. Shaodeng said that if Qiubei were not relieved, the Nong and Luo of Wenshan would surely rise; he personally led three hundred men, each armed with a saber and thirty iron darts. Wherever they met resistance the enemy fell; Qiubei was thoroughly pacified. Meanwhile Governor-General Lebao had suffered defeat against the Miao and was besieged at Huangcaoping in Guizhou; Governor Jiang Lan ordered Shaodeng to his relief. When he arrived the encirclements were several layers deep and inner and outer forces could not communicate; after seven victorious battles he finally reached Huangcaoping. Guizhou relief troops arrived at the same time. When Shaodeng presented himself, the governor-general said: "You are a civil official—have you come all this way to ask after me? Shaodeng described how the siege had been broken, but the governor-general did not believe him. Shaodeng asked to examine bandit corpses on the battlefield: those with dart wounds had been struck by Wenshan militiamen; If they bore blade wounds, he would submit to the charge of falsely claiming merit. The governor-general at first wished to impeach him, but after investigation confirmed the facts he dropped the matter. When the governor learned Shaodeng had offended the governor-general, he was greatly alarmed and barred his military expenses from reimbursement, leaving a twenty-thousand-tael shortfall in the treasury.

尋兼署蒙自縣事，兩城相距三百里。交阯賊儂福結粵匪犯文山，紹登馳一晝夜入城，率民壯出剿，擒其渠，峒卡悉复。擢雲州知州，仍留文山任。

Soon he additionally served as acting magistrate of Mengzi, three hundred li from Wenshan. The Cochin bandit Nong Fu joined Cantonese bandits to attack Wenshan; Shaodeng rode through day and night to reach the city, led militiamen out to suppress them, captured their leader, and recovered every stockade pass. He was promoted to magistrate of Yunzhou but remained at his post in Wenshan.

四年，初彭齡來為巡撫，性好察，開化總兵因蒙自變時怯懦為民所輕，銜紹登，譖之，遂以虧空劾。士民刊章臚紹登政績，設匭醵金至三萬。彭齡聞之悔，以完虧奏留任，餘金無可返，建開陽書院焉。

In the fourth year Peng Ling became governor; prone to scrutiny by nature, he was swayed when the Kaihua brigade commander—who had shown cowardice during the Mengzi disturbance and was despised by the people—bearing a grudge against Shaodeng, slandered him; Shaodeng was impeached for treasury deficit. Scholars and common people published memorials cataloguing Shaodeng's achievements and set up collection boxes; donations reached thirty thousand taels. Peng Ling, hearing of this, regretted his action; reporting the deficit covered, he retained Shaodeng in office; unable to return the surplus funds to donors, he used them to build Kaiyang Academy.

七年，署維西廳通判。廳民恆乍繃為亂，巢險不可攻。紹登廉得巢後岩壁陡絕，阻大溪，乃以篾為絙，募善泅者係絙岩樹，對岸急引，如笮橋，攀援以登，壯士三百人從之。賊大驚亂，擒馘淨盡。九年，卒。

In 1802 he served as acting subprefect of Weixi District. A local man named Heng Zhabeng had raised a rebellion from an inaccessible stronghold that could not be taken by assault. Shaodeng learned secretly that behind the stronghold a cliff rose sheer above a great stream; he wove bamboo rope, recruited strong swimmers to tie it to trees on the cliff face, rapidly haul it taut from the opposite bank like a rope bridge, and climb up; three hundred stalwarts followed. The rebels were thrown into panic; every one was captured or killed. He died in 1804.

=李賡芸=李賡芸，字鄦齋，江蘇嘉定人。少受學於同縣錢大昕，通六書，蒼、雅，三禮。乾隆五十五年進士，授浙江孝豐知縣。調德清，再調平湖。下車謁陸隴其祠，以隴其曾宰嘉定，而己以嘉定人宰平湖，奉隴其為法，盡心撫字，訓士除奸，邑中稱神明。嘉慶三年，九卿中有密薦之者，詔詢巡撫阮元，元奏：「賡芸守潔才優，久協輿論，為浙中第一良吏。」引見，以同知升用。五年，金華、處州兩郡水災，金華苦無錢，處州苦無米。賡芸奉檄，於恩賑外領銀二萬，便宜為之。以銀之半易錢，運金華加賑，人百錢而錢價平。又以銀之半運米至處州，減價糶，轆轤轉運，而米亦賤。升處州府同知，調嘉興海防同知，署台州府。尋擢嘉興知府，正己率屬，無敢以苞苴進者。治漕，持官、民、軍三者之平，上官每用其言。十年，水災，減糶有實惠，賑民以粥，全活者眾。以繼母憂去官。

Li Gengyun, styled Zhenzhai, was a native of Jiading, Jiangsu. In youth he studied under Qian Daxin of the same county and mastered the Six Scripts, the Cangjie and Erya lexicons, and the Three Rites. In 1790 he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed magistrate of Xiaofeng in Zhejiang. He was transferred to Deqing, then again to Pinghu. Upon taking office he paid respects at the shrine of Lu Longqi; as Longqi had once governed Jiading while he, a Jiading native, now governed Pinghu, he took Longqi as his model, devoted himself to caring for the people, instructed scholars and rooted out criminals, and the district hailed him as a divine official. In 1798 someone among the Nine Ministers secretly recommended him; the emperor ordered Governor Ruan Yuan consulted, and Yuan memorialized: "Gengyun's integrity is pure and his talent outstanding; he has long enjoyed public acclaim as Zhejiang's foremost good official. Summoned for an audience, he was promoted to assistant prefect. In 1800 Jinhua and Chuzhou suffered flooding; Jinhua lacked cash while Chuzhou lacked grain. Gengyun received his orders; beyond the regular relief funds he took charge of twenty thousand taels of silver and acted as circumstances required. He used half the silver to buy cash and shipped it to Jinhua for supplemental relief; each person received a hundred cash and the price of cash stabilized. With the other half he shipped grain to Chuzhou and sold it at reduced prices, employing wheel and windlass transport until grain prices fell as well. He was promoted to assistant prefect of Chuzhou Prefecture, transferred to coastal-defense assistant prefect of Jiaxing, and served as acting prefect of Taizhou. Soon promoted to prefect of Jiaxing, he governed himself strictly and led his subordinates by example; none dared offer him bribes. In managing the grain transport system he held the balance among officials, commoners, and transport troops, and his superiors frequently adopted his counsel. In 1805 flooding struck again; his reduced-price grain sales brought real relief, and feeding the people congee saved countless lives. He left office upon his stepmother's death.

服闋，補福建汀州，調漳州。俗悍，多械鬥，號難治。賡芸召鄉約、裡正問之曰：「何不告官而私鬥為？」皆曰：「告官，或一二年獄不竟，竟亦是非不可知，先為身累。」賡芸曰：「今吾在，獄至立剖。有不當，更言之，無所徇護。為我告鄉民，後更有鬥者，必擒其渠，焚其居，毋恃賄脫。」眾皆唯唯退。已而有鬥者，賡芸立調兵捕治，悉如所言，民大懼。賡芸日坐堂皇，重門洞開，愬者直入，命役與俱。召所當治者，限時日。不至，則杖役。至則立平之釋去。即案前書獄詞，無一錢費。民皆歡呼曰：「李公活我！」漳屬九龍嶺多盜，下所屬嚴捕，擒其魁十數，商旅坦行。故事，獲盜當甄敘，悉以歸屬吏。尋擢汀漳龍道。二十年，擢福建按察使，署布政使，逾年實授。

When his mourning ended he was assigned prefect of Tingzhou in Fujian, then transferred to Zhangzhou. The people were fierce by custom, prone to armed feuds, and the prefecture was notoriously difficult to govern. Gengyun summoned community covenant holders and ward heads and asked: "Why do you settle disputes by private combat instead of reporting to the authorities? All replied: "When we report to officials, a case may drag on a year or two without conclusion; even when it ends, who is right and who is wrong remains unclear—and we bear the burden first ourselves. Gengyun said: "Now that I am here, cases will be decided immediately. If anything is wrong, speak up again—there will be no favoritism or cover-up. Tell the villagers for me: if anyone fights again, I will seize the ringleaders, burn their homes, and no one shall hope to buy his way free. The crowd withdrew, murmuring assent. Before long another brawl broke out; Gengyun immediately mobilized troops to arrest and punish the offenders, exactly as he had warned, and the people were deeply afraid. Gengyun sat daily in the main hall with the heavy gates thrown wide open; complainants entered directly, and he ordered runners to accompany them. He summoned those who should answer for the offense and set a deadline. If they failed to appear, the runners were beaten with the staff. When they arrived, he settled the matter on the spot and dismissed them. He wrote the case record right at his desk, without charging a single cash. The people all shouted in joy: "Lord Li has saved our lives! Jiulong Ridge in Zhangzhou's jurisdiction was infested with bandits; he ordered strict arrests throughout his subordinates' districts, captured more than ten ringleaders, and merchants and travelers passed in safety. By precedent, capturing bandits entitled one to merit promotion, but he credited every capture to his subordinate officials. He was soon promoted to intendant of the Tingzhou-Zhangzhou-Longyan circuit. In 1815 he was promoted to provincial judge of Fujian and served as acting provincial treasurer; the following year he received formal appointment.

賡芸守漳州時，龍溪縣有械鬥，令懦不治。署和平令硃履中內狡而外樸，庚芸誤信之，請以移龍溪。久之，事不辦，始稔其詐。洎署布政使，改履中教職。履中虧鹽課，恐獲罪。具揭於總督汪志伊、巡撫王紹蘭，謂虧帑由道府婪索。督撫密以聞，解賡芸職質訊。賡芸之去漳，監造戰船工未竣，留僕督率之，僕假履中洋銀三百圓，詭以墊用告。賡芸如數給之，僕匿不以償。福州知府塗以輈鞫之，阿總督意，增其數為一千六百，逼令自承，辭色俱厲，賡芸終不肯誣服。慮為獄吏所辱，遂自經。

While Gengyun was prefect of Zhangzhou, Longxi County suffered an armed brawl, but the magistrate was too timid to act. The acting magistrate of Heping, Zhu Lüzhong, was cunning at heart though plain in manner; Gengyun mistakenly trusted him and requested his transfer to Longxi. After a long time the matter remained unresolved, and only then did he realize the deception. When he became acting provincial treasurer, he reassigned Lüzhong to an educational post. Lüzhong had a shortfall in salt revenue and feared punishment. He submitted a memorial to Governor-General Wang Zhiyi and Governor Wang Shaolan, claiming the treasury shortfall was caused by greedy exactions from the circuit and prefecture. The governor-general and governor reported secretly to the throne; Gengyun was dismissed and detained for interrogation. When Gengyun left Zhangzhou, warship construction was still unfinished; he left a servant to supervise the work. The servant borrowed three hundred Mexican silver dollars from Lüzhong, falsely reporting the sum as an advance payment. Gengyun paid the full amount, but the servant kept the money and never repaid it. Fuzhou Prefect Tu Yiyou interrogated him, currying favor with the governor-general; he inflated the sum to sixteen hundred taels and forced a confession, his words and manner both harsh—but Gengyun refused to falsely admit guilt. Fearing humiliation at the hands of prison clerks, he hanged himself.

事聞，命侍郎熙昌、副都御史王引之往按其獄，得白。上以賡芸操守清廉，眾所共知。其死由汪志伊固執苛求，而成於塗以輈勒供凌逼，褫志伊職，永不敘用。以輈、履中俱譴戍黑龍江，紹蘭亦以附和革職。

When the matter was reported, Minister Xi Chang and Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Yin Zhi were sent to Fujian to investigate the case, and Gengyun was cleared. The emperor noted that Gengyun's integrity was well known to all. His death arose from Wang Zhiyi's obstinate harshness and was brought about by Tu Yiyou's coerced false confession and intimidation; Zhiyi was stripped of office and permanently barred from further appointment. Yiyou and Lüzhong were both condemned to frontier service in Heilongjiang; Shaolan was also dismissed for siding with them.

賡芸家不名一錢，歿無以殮。鹽法道孫爾準與之善，為經紀其喪。初，志伊亦重賡芸，曾薦舉之。及擢布政，乘新輿上謁，志伊諷以戒奢，賡芸曰：「不肖為大員，不欲效布被脫粟之欺罔。」志伊素矯廉，銜其語。又以遇事抗執，嫌益深。及獄起，履中忽自承妄訐，諉原揭為其僕竊印，志伊怒，必窮詰之。論者謂漳廠修船，例由龍溪縣墊款，籓司發款，至道乃償之，非贓私也。賡芸狷急，負清名，慮涉嫌不承，而志伊峻待紳士，不理於眾。與賡芸善者，或以飛語中之。

Gengyun's family did not possess a single cash; after his death there was no money even for burial. Salt Commissioner Sun Erzhun, who was on good terms with him, arranged his funeral. At first Zhiyi also held Gengyun in high regard and had recommended him. When he was promoted to provincial treasurer he came to pay respects in a new sedan-chair; Zhiyi admonished him to guard against extravagance. Gengyun replied: "Unworthy though I am to hold high office, I have no wish to imitate the pretense of cotton quilts and plain grain. Zhiyi was by nature ostentatiously frugal and resented the remark. Because Gengyun also resisted him in official matters, the resentment deepened. When the case arose, Lüzhong suddenly confessed on his own that he had falsely accused Gengyun, blaming the original memorial on his servant's theft of the seal; Zhiyi was furious and insisted on a full investigation. Commentators held that for Zhangzhou shipyard repairs, Longxi County advanced the funds by precedent, the provincial treasurer disbursed them, and repayment was made only at the circuit level—this was not private embezzlement. Gengyun was narrow and impatient, bore a reputation for integrity, and feared implication so he would not confess—while Zhiyi treated the gentry harshly and had little public support. Those who were friendly with Gengyun were sometimes brought down by slander.

方治獄使者至閩，士民上書為賡芸訟冤，感泣祭奠，踵接於門，為建遺愛祠。熙昌等據情奏請賜額表揚，仁宗以「大員緣事逮問，當靜俟國法，若此心皦然，橫遭冤枉，亦應據實控告，朝廷必為昭雪；乃效匹夫溝瀆之諒，殊為褊急，不應特予旌揚。士民追思惠政，捐貲立祠，斯則斯民直道之公，聽之」。

Just as the investigators reached Fujian, scholars and commoners submitted petitions pleading Gengyun's innocence, weeping as they offered sacrifice; mourners crowded his gate, and a shrine to his enduring benevolence was built. Xi Chang and others memorialized requesting an imperial inscription and public commendation; Emperor Renzong replied: "When a high official is arrested and questioned, he should quietly await the law; if his conscience is clear and he has been wronged, he should appeal according to the facts, and the court will surely vindicate him; but to imitate a commoner's stubbornness in the face of death is excessively rash—it is not fitting to grant special commendation. If scholars and commoners, recalling his benevolent governance, donate funds to establish a shrine, that reflects the people's upright public sentiment—let it be permitted."

=伊秉綬=伊秉綬，字墨卿，福建寧化人。乾隆五十四年進士，授刑部主事，遷員外郎。嘉慶三年，出為廣東惠州知府，問民疾苦，裁汰陋規，行法不避豪右，故練刑名，大吏屢以重獄委之，多所矜卹。陸豐巨猾肆劫勒贖，秉綬設方略，縛其渠七人戮之。六年，歸善陳亞本將為亂，提督孫全謀不發兵，秉綬乃遣役七十餘人夜搗其巢，擒亞本，餘黨竄入羊矢坑。未幾，博羅陳爛屐起事，請兵，提督复沮之。秉綬爭曰：「發兵愈遲，民之傷殘愈甚。」提督不得已，予三百人。秉綬復曰：「偵虛實，則三四人足矣。如用兵，以寡敵眾，徒僨事耳。」提督不聽，令游擊鄭文照率三百人往，孑身跳歸，亂遂成。秉綬適以他事罣議去官，士民籥留軍營。時提督既擁兵不前，其標兵卓亞五、硃得貴均通賊縱掠，為偽渠帥。秉綬憤懣，請兵益力，逢總督吉慶之怒，復以失察教匪論戍。會新總督倭什布至惠州，士民數千人訴秉綬冤，上聞，特免其罪，捐復原官，發南河，授揚州知府。

Yi Bingshou, styled Moqing, was a native of Ninghua, Fujian. In 1789 he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed a principal secretary in the Ministry of Justice, later promoted to vice director. In 1798 he was appointed prefect of Huizhou in Guangdong; he inquired into the people's hardships, eliminated corrupt customary fees, and enforced the law without shunning powerful families. Long versed in criminal law, senior officials repeatedly entrusted major cases to him, and many defendants received his merciful consideration. At Lufeng a notorious scoundrel wantonly plundered and extorted ransom; Bingshou devised a stratagem, bound seven ringleaders, and executed them. In 1801 Chen Yaben of Guishan was about to rebel; Brigade Commander Sun Quanmou refused to send troops, so Bingshou dispatched more than seventy runners by night to raid their stronghold, captured Yaben, and the remnant bandits fled into Yangshi Pit. Before long Chen Lanxie raised a rebellion in Boluo; when troops were requested, the brigade commander again obstructed. Bingshou argued: "The longer troops are delayed, the greater the harm to the people. The brigade commander had no choice and gave him three hundred men. Bingshou replied: "To reconnoiter the enemy's strength, three or four men are enough. But to fight with so few against so many would only ruin the campaign. The brigade commander would not listen and ordered Patrol Commander Zheng Wenzhao to lead three hundred men against them; Wenzhao fled back alone, and the rebellion then fully erupted. Bingshou happened to be dismissed on other charges, and scholars and commoners barred him inside the military camp to keep him from leaving. At the time the brigade commander held his troops back and would not advance; his personal guards Zhuo Yawu and Zhu Dequi both colluded with bandits and allowed looting, posing as rebel chiefs. Bingshou, indignant and resentful, pressed harder for troops; encountering Governor Ji Qing's wrath, he was again sentenced to frontier service for failing to detect secret-society bandits. Just then the new governor Ashibu reached Huizhou; several thousand scholars and commoners petitioned on Bingshou's behalf. When the matter reached the throne, he was specially pardoned, restored to his original rank through donation, sent to the southern Yellow River works, and appointed prefect of Yangzhou.

時秉綬方奉檄勘高郵、寶應水災，刺一小舟，棲戶枉渚，必親閱手記。及蒞任，劬躬率屬，賑貸之事，錙銖必覈，吏無所容其奸。倡富商巨室捐設粥廠，費以萬計。誅北湖劇盜鐵庫子輩，杖詭道誑愚之聶道和，它奸猾擾民者，悉嚴治之。民雖飢困，安堵無惶惑。歷署河庫道、鹽運使，胥稱職。尋以父憂去，家居八年，嘉慶二十年，入都，道經揚州，卒。

At the time Bingshou was under orders to survey flood damage in Gaoyou and Baoying; he took a small boat, lodged among reed banks and shallows, and personally inspected and recorded everything by hand. Upon assuming office he worked tirelessly and led his subordinates by example; in relief and loan matters every ounce was verified, leaving clerks no room for fraud. He urged wealthy merchants and great households to donate and establish congee kitchens, at a cost running to tens of thousands. He executed the notorious North Lake bandit Tie Kuzi and his gang; he beat Nie Dahe, who led the people astray with heterodox teachings; and all other cunning troublemakers were severely punished. Though the people were hungry and distressed, they settled in peace without fear or confusion. He successively served as acting intendant of river treasuries and salt transport commissioner, and in both posts was judged competent. He soon left office on his father's death; after eight years at home, in 1815 he set out for the capital and died passing through Yangzhou.

秉綬承其父朝棟學，以宋儒為宗。在惠州，建豐湖書院，以小學、近思錄課諸生；在揚州，宏獎文學。歿後士民懷思不衰，以之配食宋歐陽修、蘇軾及清王士禎，稱四賢祠。

Bingshou inherited his father Chaodong's learning and took the Song Neo-Confucians as his authority. At Huizhou he built Fenghu Academy and tested students on the Xiaoxue and Jinsilu; At Yangzhou he broadly encouraged literature. After his death scholars and commoners cherished his memory undiminished; he was enshrined alongside the Song masters Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi and the Qing writer Wang Shizhen in a shrine called the Four Worthies.

=狄尚絅=狄尚絅，字文伯，江蘇溧陽人，寄籍順天。乾隆四十六年進士。五十七年，授安徽黟縣知縣，父憂去。嘉慶四年，起復，發廣東，署化州知州。瀕海獷悍，尚絅解除煩苛，治以簡易。補花縣，以鄉兵助剿博羅亂匪有功，旋攝香山。十年，銓授江西南康知府。有武舉調族侄婦，羞忿自盡，以無告發，事寢有年矣。尚絅甫下車，武舉以他事涉訟，反覆詰問，忽露前情。窮究得實，置諸法，群驚為神。不期年，理滯獄百餘，盡得情實。饒州有兩姓爭田，世相仇殺，尚絅為判斷調和，爭端永息。南安會匪李詳誥傳徒聚眾，事發，大吏檄尚絅按之。戴奉飛實罪首，詳誥為從，當減死。承審同官以詳誥巨富，欲引嫌。尚絅曰：「無媿於中，何嫌可避？」大吏亦慮與原奏不符，尚絅曰：「不護前非，乃見至公。聖明在上，何慮焉？」卒從其議，株連者亦多省釋。嘗言：「獄不難於無枉縱，惟幹證之牽累，吏胥之需求，受害者不可窮詰。生平思此，時用疚心。」又曰：「人知命、盜巨案之當慎，不知婚姻、財產細務，尤不可忽。蓋必原情度勢，使可相安於異日，不釀成別故，斯為善耳。」

Di Shangjiong, styled Wenbo, was a native of Liyang, Jiangsu, with registered residence in Shuntian. In 1781 he passed the metropolitan examination. In 1792 he was appointed magistrate of Yi County in Anhui, then left office on his father's death. In 1799 he returned to service, was dispatched to Guangdong, and served as acting prefect of Huazhou. The prefecture bordered the sea and its people were fierce and unruly; Shangjiong removed vexing regulations and governed with simplicity. He was assigned to Huaxian County; for meritorious service assisting in the suppression of Boluo rebel bandits with local militia, he was soon appointed acting magistrate of Xiangshan. In 1805 he was appointed through regular selection as prefect of Nankang in Jiangxi. A military licentiate had seduced his cousin's daughter-in-law; she died of shame and anger, but with no one to report the crime the matter had lain dormant for years. Shangjiong had just assumed office when the military licentiate became involved in another lawsuit; through repeated questioning the earlier crime suddenly came to light. A thorough investigation established the truth; the offender was punished according to law, and all marveled at Shangjiong's uncanny judgment. Within less than a year he resolved more than a hundred backlogged cases, establishing the true circumstances in every one. In Raozhou two clans disputed fields and had feuded and killed one another for generations; Shangjiong judged and reconciled them, and the quarrel ceased for good. At Nan'an the secret-society bandit Li Xianghao recruited followers and gathered a crowd; when the affair broke out senior officials ordered Shangjiong to investigate. Dai Fengfei was in fact the chief culprit; Xianghao was an accomplice and deserved a commuted death sentence. A co-trying official, noting that Xianghao was extremely wealthy, wished to recuse himself. Shangjiong said: "With no shame in my heart, what conflict of interest is there to avoid? Senior officials also worried the verdict would not match the original memorial; Shangjiong said: "Not protecting one's earlier mistake shows the utmost fairness. With a sage ruler above, what is there to fear? In the end they followed his view, and many of those implicated were also released. He once said: "The difficulty in cases is not avoiding wrongful punishment or undue leniency—it is the entanglement of false witnesses and clerks' demands, which victims cannot exhaustively pursue. All my life I have thought on this, and at times it weighs on my conscience. He also said: "People know that capital and major robbery cases must be handled carefully, but do not realize that marriage and property disputes, however minor, must especially not be neglected. One must always trace the human circumstances and gauge the situation so that people can live in peace thereafter and not brew up further trouble—that is true excellence."

南康治濱湖，風濤險惡，宋郡守孫喬年築石堤百餘丈，內浚二澳，可泊千艘。硃子知南康，增築之，名紫陽堤。迤東水齧，浸及城址，明知府田琯增築石堤百餘丈以衛之，久俱圮。尚絅增修兩堤，一準舊制，堅固經久。蓼花池週五十里，受廬山九十九灣之水，北入湖，水門淺隘，尚絅疏濬之，積潦消洩，歲增收穀萬石。在任先後二十四年，所設施多規久遠。歷署饒州、吉安、廣信三府，攝糧道。敝衣蔬食，不問生產。引疾去官，不能歸，卒於南康。

Nankang lies on the lakeshore, where winds and waves are dangerous; Song prefect Sun Qiaonian built a stone dike more than a hundred zhang long, dredged two inner harbors, and created mooring for a thousand vessels. When Master Zhu governed Nankang he extended the construction; it was named the Ziyang Dike. Farther east the water eroded until it reached the city foundations; Ming prefect Tian Guan added another stone dike of more than a hundred zhang for protection, but both had long since collapsed. Shangjiong enlarged and repaired both dikes according to the old specifications, making them solid and durable. Liaohua Pool extends fifty li, receiving water from the ninety-nine bends of Mount Lu flowing north into the lake; the water gate was shallow and narrow, and Shangjiong dredged it; accumulated floodwater drained away, and the annual grain harvest increased by ten thousand shi. Over twenty-four years in office, most of what he undertook was planned for the long term. He successively served as acting prefect of Raozhou, Ji'an, and Guangxin, and also acted as grain intendant. He lived in patched clothes on a spare vegetarian diet and took no interest in personal profit. He resigned on grounds of illness but was unable to return home and died at Nankang.

=張敦仁=張敦仁，字古愚，山西陽城人。乾隆四十年進士，授江西高安知縣，調廬陵。精於吏事，有循聲。遷銅鼓營同知，署九江、撫州、南安、饒州諸府事。嘉慶初，改官江蘇，歷松江、蘇州、江寧知府。六年，調授江西吉安。沿贛江多盜，遴健吏專司巡緝，責盜族擒首惡，毋匿逋逃，萑苻以靖，民德之。再署南昌，尋實授。所屬武寧民婦與二人私，殺其夫，前守以夫死途中，非由婦姦報。敦仁覆鞫詞無異，而其幼子但哭不言，疑之。請留前守同讞，遂得謀殺移屍狀，獄乃定。龍泉天地會匪滋事，巡撫檄敦仁往按，未至，鎮道已發兵擒二百餘人，民惶懼。敦仁廉知匪黨與溫氏子有隙，非叛逆，法當末減，坐為首二人。又會匪素肆掠，富室為保家計，多佯附，實未身與。事發株連，囹圄為滿。訊察其冤，盡得釋。道光二年，擢雲南鹽法道，尋以病乞致仕。敦仁博學，精考訂，公暇即事著述，所刻書多稱善本。寄寓江寧，卒，年八十有二。著書遭亂多佚。

Zhang Dunren, styled Guyu, was a native of Yangcheng, Shanxi. A jinshi of 1775, he was appointed magistrate of Gao'an in Jiangxi and later transferred to Luling. He was expert in administrative affairs and earned a reputation as an upright official. He was promoted to sub-prefect of Tonggu Camp and served in turn as acting prefect of Jiujiang, Fuzhou, Nan'an, and Raozhou. Early in the Jiaqing era he was transferred to Jiangsu, where he served successively as prefect of Songjiang, Suzhou, and Jiangning. In the sixth year of Jiaqing he was transferred and appointed prefect of Ji'an in Jiangxi. Bandits were rife along the Gan River. He selected capable officials to patrol the river exclusively, required bandit clans to hand over ringleaders and stop sheltering fugitives, and banditry was brought under control; the people were deeply grateful. He again served as acting prefect of Nanchang and was soon given the post in his own right. In Wuning, a commoner woman had taken two lovers and murdered her husband, but the previous prefect had reported that the husband died on the road and that adultery was not involved. Dunren reheard the case and found the testimony unchanged, but the young son only wept and would not speak, which aroused his suspicion. He asked the previous prefect to stay for a joint review, uncovered a conspiracy to murder and move the body, and the case was finally settled. When Tiandihui bandits stirred up trouble at Longquan, the governor-general ordered Dunren to investigate. Before he arrived, the regional military commanders had already sent troops and arrested more than two hundred people, leaving the populace terrified. Dunren learned that the bandits had a private feud with a son of the Wen family and that the affair was not rebellion. Under the law the penalties should be greatly reduced, and only two men were convicted as ringleaders. The society bandits had long preyed on the region, and many wealthy families, seeking to protect their homes, had only pretended to join them and had never actually taken part. When the case broke, implicated associates filled the prisons to capacity. He investigated their claims of injustice and released them all. In 1822 he was promoted to salt commissioner of Yunnan, but soon afterward retired on grounds of illness. Dunren was broadly learned and expert in textual criticism. In his spare time he wrote and published books, many of which were regarded as exemplary editions. He took up residence in Jiangning, where he died at the age of eighty-two. Many of his writings were lost in the turmoil of the times.

=鄭敦允=鄭敦允，字芝泉，湖南長沙人。嘉慶十九年進士，選庶吉士，散館授刑部主事，遷員外郎。道光八年，出為湖北襄陽知府。襄陽俗樸，訟事多出教唆。敦允長於聽斷，積牘為空。訪所屬衙蠹莠民最為民患苦者十餘人，論如律。地號盜藪，請帑籌充緝捕費，多設方略，獲盜百餘。巨盜梅杈者，勇悍多徒黨，捕者人少莫能近，眾至則逸。偵知所在，夜往擒之，其徒追者數百人。令曰：「欲奪犯者，殺而以屍與之。」眾不敢逼。訴者麕集，曰：「久不敢言，言輒火其居。」敦允曰：「苦吾民矣！」遂置之法。棗陽地瘠民貧，客商以重利稱貸，田產折入客籍者多。敦允許貸戶自陳，子浮於母則除之，積困頓蘇。

Zheng Dunyun, styled Zhiquan, was a native of Changsha, Hunan. A jinshi of 1814, he was selected as a Hanlin bachelor and, after leaving the Academy, was appointed a clerk in the Ministry of Justice and later promoted to vice director. In 1828 he was appointed prefect of Xiangyang in Hubei. Xiangyang had plain, straightforward customs, but most lawsuits were stirred up by agitators. Dunyun excelled at hearing cases, and the backlog of pending files was cleared away. He tracked down more than a dozen yamen parasites and local ruffians who had most tormented the people and punished them according to law. The region was notorious as a bandit stronghold. He obtained treasury funds for pursuit and capture, devised many stratagems, and seized more than a hundred bandits. One major bandit, Mei Cha, was fierce and commanded a large gang. When pursuers were few they could not get near him, and when large forces arrived he would slip away. Once he learned where Mei Cha was hiding, Dunyun went by night to seize him, and several hundred of the bandit's followers gave chase. He ordered, "If anyone tries to seize the prisoner, kill him and hand over the corpse." The mob dared not press closer. Complainants gathered in a throng and said, "We have long been afraid to speak out, for anyone who did had his home burned down." Dunyun said, "My people have suffered terribly!" He then had Mei Cha executed according to law. Zaoyang had poor land and an impoverished population. Traveling merchants made usurious loans at heavy interest, and much farmland passed into merchant hands. Dunyun allowed debtors to state their cases themselves. Where interest exceeded principal, it was remitted, and long-standing hardship was suddenly relieved.

漢水齧樊城，壞民居，議甃石堤四百餘丈，二年而成。明年，漢水大漲，樊城賴以全。

The Han River eroded Fancheng and destroyed people's homes. He proposed a stone-faced dike more than four hundred zhang long, and it was completed in two years. The following year, when the Han River rose to a great flood, Fancheng was saved by the dike.

襄陽岸高水下，遇旱，艱於引溉。頒筒車式，使民仿製，民便之。調署武昌，會大水，樊城石工掣損，敦允固請回任守修。襄人走迎三百里，日夜牽挽而至，議增築子埝護堤根。災民就食者數万，為草舍居老疾稚弱，令壯者赴工自食。敦允昕夕巡視，工未竟，致疾，未幾卒，祀名宦。

At Xiangyang the riverbanks were high and the water level low, making irrigation difficult in times of drought. He issued specifications for bucket wheels and had the people build them after the model, to their great convenience. He was transferred to serve as acting prefect of Wuchang, but when a great flood tore away the stonework at Fancheng, Dunyun firmly asked to return to his old post to supervise repairs. The people of Xiangyang ran three hundred li to welcome him and hauled him back day and night. He then proposed building a subsidiary embankment to protect the base of the dike. Tens of thousands of disaster victims came for relief. He built grass shelters for the elderly, the sick, women, and children, and put able-bodied men to work in exchange for food. Dunyun inspected the works morning and evening, but before the project was finished he fell ill and soon died. He was later enshrined in the hall of eminent officials.

=李文耕=李文耕，字心田，雲南昆陽人。家貧，事親孝，服膺宋儒之學。嘉慶七年進士，以知縣發山東，假歸養母。母喪，服闋，補鄒平。到官四閱月，不得行其志，引疾去。以官累，不得歸。十九年，教匪起，壽張令以文耕嫺武事，招助城守，訓練、防禦皆有法，賊不敢窺境。大吏聞其幹略，起復補原官。

Li Wengeng, styled Xintian, was a native of Kunyang, Yunnan. Though his family was poor, he was filial toward his parents and devoted himself to Song Neo-Confucian learning. A jinshi of 1802, he was appointed a magistrate and sent to Shandong, but took leave to return home and care for his mother. After his mother's death and the mourning period, he was assigned to Zouping. Four months after taking office, unable to carry out his aims, he resigned on grounds of illness. Burdened by official obligations, he was unable to return home. In the nineteenth year of Jiaqing, when the White Lotus rebels rose, the magistrate of Shouzhang, finding Wengeng skilled in military affairs, recruited him to help defend the city. His training and defensive measures were all systematic, and the rebels dared not encroach on the district. Senior officials heard of his ability and had him reinstated in his original post.

在鄒平五年，治尚教化。民婦陳訴其子忤逆，文耕引咎自責，其子叩頭流血，母感動請釋，卒改行。聽訟無株累，久之，訟者日稀。善捕盜，養捕役，使足自贍，無豢賊，數親巡，窮詰窩頓。嘗曰：「治盜必真心衛民，身雖不能及者，精神及之，聲名及之。」終任，盜風屏息。課諸生，親為指授，勉以為己之學，民呼李教官，又呼為李青天。調冠縣，遷膠州，濬雲、墨二河。道光二年，擢濟寧直隸州，未之任。巡撫琦善特薦之，宣宗夙知其名，即擢泰安知府。

During his five years at Zouping, his governance emphasized moral education. When a commoner woman surnamed Chen complained that her son was unfilial, Wengeng blamed himself. The son kowtowed until his head bled, his mother was moved and asked that he be released, and in the end the young man reformed. He heard cases without implicating others by association, and in time lawsuits grew steadily fewer. He was skilled at catching bandits. He kept his arrest officers adequately paid so they would not collude with criminals, patrolled frequently in person, and thoroughly rooted out bandit dens. He once said, "To suppress banditry one must truly protect the people at heart. Even if one's person cannot be everywhere, one's spirit can reach everywhere, and one's reputation can reach everywhere." By the end of his term, banditry had all but disappeared. He instructed local scholars, personally teaching them and urging self-cultivation. The people called him Instructor Li and also Clear-Sky Li. He was transferred to Guan County, then promoted to Jiaozhou, where he dredged the Yun and Mo rivers. In 1822 he was promoted to prefect of Jining Direct Administration Prefecture but never took up the appointment. Governor Qi Shan specially recommended him, and the Daoguang Emperor, who had long known his reputation, immediately promoted him to prefect of Tai'an.

調沂州，立屬吏程課，謂：「官不勤則事廢，民受其害。教化本於身，能對百姓，後然可以教百姓。」屬吏皆化之。沂郡產檞樹，勸民興蠶，建義倉備荒，捕盜如為令時。尋擢兗沂曹道。司河事，修防必躬親。屬廳請濬淤沙，需銀五萬，往視之，曰：「無庸！春漲，即刷去矣。」果如其言。

Transferred to Yizhou, he established performance schedules for his subordinates and said, "When officials are not diligent, affairs fall into neglect and the people suffer. Moral education begins with oneself. Only when one can stand before the people with a clear conscience can one truly teach the people." All his subordinates were transformed by his example. Yizhou produced oak trees, and he encouraged sericulture. He built charity granaries against famine and pursued bandits with the same vigor as when he had been a magistrate. He was soon promoted to intendant of the Yan-Yi-Cao Circuit. In charge of river affairs, he always personally supervised repairs and flood control. When a subordinate office requested dredging of silt at a cost of fifty thousand taels, he went to inspect the site and said, "There is no need! The spring flood will wash it away." Events proved him right.

五年，遷浙江鹽運使，未幾，調山東。時鹺業疲累，充商者多無藉遊民。文耕知其弊，請分別徵緩，以紓商力。責富商領運，不得因引滯賤價私賣，課漸裕。七年，擢湖北按察使，復調山東。嚴治胥役，詐贓犯輒置重典。斷獄寬平，責屬吏清滯獄，數月，積牘一空。謂：「山東民氣粗而性直，易犯法，亦易為善，故教化不可不先。」

In the fifth year of Daoguang he was transferred to salt transport commissioner of Zhejiang, and soon afterward to Shandong. At the time the salt industry was in distress, and many of those filling merchant posts were rootless vagrants. Wengeng understood these abuses and requested differentiated collection schedules, urgent and deferred, to relieve the merchants' burden. He required wealthy merchants to lead transport and forbade private sales at cut rates when deliveries fell behind schedule, and revenue gradually recovered. In the seventh year of Daoguang he was promoted to judicial commissioner of Hubei, then transferred back to Shandong. He strictly disciplined yamen runners, and anyone guilty of fraud or bribery was immediately punished severely. He judged cases with leniency and fairness, ordered his subordinates to clear the backlog, and within a few months every pending file was gone. He said, "The people of Shandong are rough-spirited but straightforward. They break the law easily, but they also turn to good easily, so moral education must come first."

居三歲，調貴州。州縣瘠苦，希更調，不事事。適權布政使，請以殿最為調劑，俾久任專責成。鑿桐梓葫蘆口，以息水患。黔產，無綿布，設局教之紡織。貧民艱生計，重利而薄倫常，撰文勸導，曰家喻戶曉篇。十三年，休致歸。

After three years he was transferred to Guizhou. The prefectures and counties were impoverished and hard to govern, and local officials, hoping for transfer elsewhere, neglected their duties. While serving as acting provincial treasurer, he proposed using performance rankings to regulate transfers so that officials who served long terms could be held fully accountable. He cut open Hulukou at Tongzi to end the flooding. Guizhou had no cotton cloth of its own, so he established a bureau to teach spinning and weaving. The poor struggled to make a living and valued profit over moral duty. He wrote an essay of exhortation titled "Every Household Understands." In the thirteenth year of Daoguang he retired and returned home.

文耕平生以崇正學、挽澆風為己任，在山東久，民感之尤深，歿祀名宦。

Wengeng devoted his life to upholding orthodox learning and reversing decadent customs. He served long in Shandong, where the people were especially grateful to him, and after his death he was enshrined in the hall of eminent officials.

=劉體重=劉體重，山西趙城人。乾隆五十四年舉人。嘉慶初，以知縣發湖南，歷署石門、新化、衡陽、寧武、衡山、湘陰。晉秩同知，改江西。道光中，補袁州同知，擢廣信知府。調吉安，又調撫州，所至有聲。在撫州治績最著，巡歷屬縣，問民疾苦，集父老子弟勉以孝弟力田。屬吏不職，參劾無徇。胥吏攬訟，痛懲之。厚書院廩餼，課士以經，動繩以禮法。遇大水，盡心賑恤，災不為害。建義倉，積穀五萬石。十四年，擢河南彰衛懷道，筦河事，修防有法。終任，黃流安瀾。沁水堤由民築，多單薄，擇其要區加築子埝，籌歲修費垂永久。漳河無堤防，勤疏濬，水患並息。創建河朔書院，仿硃子白鹿洞規條，以課三郡之士。十九年，擢江西按察使，遷湖北布政使。二十二年，乞病歸，卒於家。

Liu Tizhong was a native of Zhaocheng, Shanxi. He became a provincial graduate in 1789. Early in the Jiaqing era he was appointed a magistrate and sent to Hunan, where he served in turn as acting magistrate of Shimen, Xinhua, Hengyang, Ningwu, Hengshan, and Xiangyin. He was promoted to sub-prefect and transferred to Jiangxi. During the Daoguang reign he was appointed sub-prefect of Yuanzhou and later promoted to prefect of Guangxin. He was transferred to Ji'an and then to Fuzhou, earning a strong reputation wherever he served. His achievements were most notable at Fuzhou, where he toured the subordinate counties, inquired into the people's hardships, and gathered elders and young men to exhort them to filial piety, brotherly duty, and diligent farming. When subordinates failed in their duties, he impeached them without favoritism. Runners who monopolized lawsuits for profit were severely punished. He increased stipends for the local academy, tested scholars in the classics, and held them constantly to the standards of rites and law. When severe floods struck, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to relief, so that the disaster caused no lasting harm. He established a charity granary and stockpiled fifty thousand piculs of grain. In 1834 he was promoted to commissioner of the Zhangwei-Huai Circuit in Henan, where he took charge of river affairs and managed dikes and flood defenses with well-ordered methods. By the time he left office, the Yellow River ran calm and untroubled. The Qin River dikes, built by local communities, were mostly too weak; he chose the most critical stretches and added subsidiary embankments, setting aside annual repair funds intended to endure. The Zhang River had no protective dikes, but through diligent dredging he brought all its flood troubles to an end. He founded the Heshuo Academy on the model of Zhu Xi's regulations for Bailudong, using it to instruct and examine scholars from the three prefectures. In 1839 he was promoted to judicial commissioner of Jiangxi and then transferred to provincial treasurer of Hubei. In 1842 he requested leave due to illness, returned home, and died there.

體重廉平不苛，尤長治獄。所居，吏畏民懷，訟獄日簡。河北士民尤感之，歿祀名宦祠。

Liu Tizhong was incorruptible and even-handed without being harsh, and he was especially skilled at adjudicating cases. Wherever he served, officials feared him and the people trusted him, and lawsuits and prison cases dwindled daily. The gentry and common people of Hebei were especially grateful to him, and after his death he was enshrined in the hall of eminent officials.

子煦，由拔貢授直隸知縣，歷權繁劇。咸豐初，遷開州知州。河決，賑災，全活數万。治團練有功，署大名知府。十一年春，直隸、山東匪迭起，守城四十日，乘間出奇擊賊，城獲安。既而東匪西竄，勢甚張，畿輔震動。煦督師破清豐賊壘，乘勝進攻濮州老巢。遇大雨，賊決河自衛，煦激勵兵團，堅持不懈，賊窮蹙乞降，遂復濮州。開、濮之間，積水多沮洳，土人謂之水套，匪輒憑匿。至冬，复豎旗起事。煦率鄉團八千人，追賊於冰天泥淖之中，三戰皆捷，水套底定。同治元年，擢大順廣道，命偕副都統摭克敦布辦理直、東交界防剿事宜，以勞卒於官。優詔賜卹，大名及原籍並建專祠。

His son Xu entered service as a magistrate in Zhili through selection as a tribute student and repeatedly held acting posts in the most demanding counties. Early in the Xianfeng reign he was transferred to serve as prefect of Kaizhou. When the river burst its banks, he organized disaster relief and saved tens of thousands of lives. For his success in organizing local militia, he was appointed acting prefect of Daming. In the spring of 1861 bandits rose one after another in Zhili and Shandong; he held the city for forty days, then seized an opening to launch a surprise attack on the rebels and restore the city's safety. Soon afterward the eastern rebels fled westward in greatly strengthened force, throwing the capital region into alarm. Xu commanded the troops in breaking the rebel stronghold at Qingfeng, then pressed the victory by advancing on the rebels' main base at Puzhou. When heavy rain fell, the rebels breached the river to protect themselves; Xu rallied the soldiers and militia and held firm without slackening until the rebels, cornered, begged to surrender and Puzhou was recovered. Between Kaizhou and Puzhou, stagnant water left much of the land boggy; locals called these marshy pockets shuitao, and bandits constantly took refuge in them. By winter they had raised their banners and rebelled again. Xu led eight thousand local militiamen in pursuit through ice and mire, won three battles in a row, and brought the water pockets fully under control. In 1862 he was promoted to commissioner of the Dashunguang Circuit and ordered, together with Vice Commander Zhike Dunbu, to manage defense and suppression along the Zhili-Shandong border; he died in office from overwork. An imperial edict granted him posthumous honors, and special shrines were erected for him both at Daming and in his native district.

=張琦=張琦，初名翊，字翰風，江蘇陽湖人。嘉慶十八年舉人，以謄錄議敘知縣。道光三年，發山東，署鄒平縣。抵任，歲且盡。閱四百七十村，麥無種者。即申牒報災，親謁上官陳狀。破成例請緩徵，因鄒平得緩者十六州縣。民失物，誤訟鄰邑長山，歸獄於琦。琦曰：「汝失物地，大樹北抑大樹南？」曰：「樹北。」琦曰：「若是，則我界也。」民愕然，曰：「誠鄒平耶？即不欲以數匹布煩父母官。」持牒去。後權章丘，鄒平民時赴訴，琦曰：「此於法不當受。」慰遣之。章丘民好訟，院、司、道、府五府吏皆籍章丘，走書請託，掎摭短長。琦任歲餘，無一私書至。結案二千有奇，無翻控者。

Zhang Qi, originally named Yi and courtesy-named Hanfeng, was a native of Yanghu in Jiangsu. He became a provincial graduate in 1813 and, through service in the transcription bureau, received appointment as a district magistrate. In 1823 he was sent to Shandong and appointed acting magistrate of Zouping. When he took up his post, the year was almost over. He inspected four hundred and seventy villages and found that not one had wheat planted. He immediately submitted a report declaring the disaster and went in person to lay the facts before his superiors. Breaking precedent, he requested deferred tax collection, and on Zouping's account sixteen prefectures and counties received relief from collection. When a man who had lost property mistakenly brought suit in the neighboring county of Changshan, the case was returned to Qi for trial. Qi asked: "Where did you lose the property— north of the big tree or south of it? The man replied: "North of the tree. Qi said: "If that is so, then the place falls within my jurisdiction. The man was startled and said: "Is it really Zouping? I did not want to trouble the magistrate over a few bolts of cloth. With that he took his petition and left. Later, while serving as acting magistrate of Zhangqiu, he was sometimes approached by people from Zouping with lawsuits; Qi said: "By law I cannot accept these cases. He reassured them and sent them away. The people of Zhangqiu were notoriously litigious, and clerks throughout the provincial administration, judicial intendant's office, circuit office, and prefectural office— five offices in all— were natives of Zhangqiu who sent letters soliciting favors and picked at one another's faults. During Qi's year and more in office, not a single private letter of solicitation reached him. He closed more than two thousand cases, and not one was appealed.

五年，補館陶，會久旱風霾，麥苗皆死，饑民聚掠。琦禱雨既應，嚴捕倡掠者。廉得富家閉糶居奇狀，按治之，民大悅。乃請普賑兩月。館陶地褊小，賑數多鄰邑數倍，大吏呵之。尋有詔責問歲饑狀甚切，乃按臨災區，民迎訴賑弊，惟館陶得實。始劾罷他邑令，厚慰琦。士有訟者，閱其辭不直，則曰：「課汝文不至，訟乃至耶？」先試以文，不中程，責後乃決事，士訟遂稀。館陶地斥鹵，不宜穀，又衛水數敗田。琦精求古溝防及區田法試行之，未竟，病卒。

In 1825 he was appointed magistrate of Guantao, where prolonged drought and dust storms had killed the wheat seedlings and hungry people were gathering to plunder. After Qi's prayers for rain were answered, he strictly arrested those who had led the looting. He uncovered wealthy families hoarding grain to drive up prices, punished them according to law, and won the people's deep approval. He then requested general relief distributions for two months. Guantao was a small county, yet its relief distributions were many times those of neighboring counties, and the higher officials rebuked him for it. Soon an edict sternly demanded an account of the year's famine; when an inspector toured the disaster area, people came forward to complain of relief abuses, and only Guantao's account proved true. Only then were magistrates of other counties impeached and removed, while Qi was warmly commended. When a scholar came to sue, Qi read his petition and found it unjust; he said: "Your essays do not meet the standard— and yet you come to court? He first tested the man in composition; when he failed to meet the standard, Qi punished him before deciding the case, and lawsuits among scholars soon grew rare. Guantao's land was saline and unsuited to grain, and the Wei River repeatedly ruined its fields. Qi painstakingly researched ancient ditch defenses and the check-field method and began putting them into practice, but before the work was finished he fell ill and died.

在館陶八年，民愛戴之，理訟不待兩造集，即決遣之。以其辭質後至者，莫敢狡飾。有疑獄，亦不過再訊。胥吏擾民，必嚴論如法。然籌其生計必週，故無怨者。

During eight years at Guantao the people loved and honored him; he decided lawsuits without waiting for both parties to assemble and dismissed the parties at once. Because his manner was plainspoken, those who came afterward did not dare to dissemble. Even in doubtful cases he questioned witnesses no more than twice. When clerks and runners harassed the people, he always punished them severely according to law. Yet he always made thorough provision for their livelihood, so none resented him.

琦少工文學，與兄編修惠言齊名，輿地、醫學、詩詞皆深造。五十後始為吏，治績尤著。時江西同知石家紹亦儒者，為治有古風，殆相亞雲。

From youth Qi was skilled in letters and was as renowned as his elder brother, the compiler Huayan; in geography, medicine, and poetry alike he attained deep mastery. He did not enter official service until after fifty, yet his administrative achievements were especially notable. At the time Shi Jiashao, sub-prefect of Jiangxi, was also a Confucian scholar whose governance had an antique air; the two were nearly matched.

家紹，字瑤辰，山西翼城人。以拔貢為壺關縣教諭。道光二年成進士，授江西龍門知縣。發姦摘伏，以神明稱。調上饒，再調南昌。首邑繁劇，而盡心民事，理訟嘗至夜不輟。連年水患，饑民聞省會散賑，麕聚郭外。家紹與新建令同主賑，始散米，令饑民自爨。來者益眾，賑所瀕河，幾莫能容。乃改散錢，令各返鄉里，候截留漕米濟之。時水災益棘，家紹請開倉平糶，復分廠煮粥以賑。主者循例備三千人食，而就食者五萬，洶洶不可止。家紹至，諭之曰：「食少人眾，咄嗟不能辦。汝等姑退，詰朝來，不使一饑民無粥敢也。」眾皆迎拜曰：「石爹爹不欺人，原聽處置。」爹爹者，江西民呼父也。歷署大庾、新城、新建三縣，擢銅鼓營同知，署饒州、贛州二府，所至皆得民心。

Shi Jiashao, courtesy-named Yaochen, was a native of Yicheng in Shanxi. Through selection as a tribute student he became county instructor at Huguan. In 1822 he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed magistrate of Longmen in Jiangxi. He exposed hidden wrongdoing and was praised as uncannily perceptive. He was transferred to Shangrao and then to Nanchang. Though the chief county was crowded and demanding, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the people's affairs and often heard cases late into the night without stopping. After floods year after year, hungry people heard that the provincial capital was distributing relief and flocked together outside the city walls. Jiashao and the magistrate of Xinjian jointly managed relief; at first they distributed rice and had the hungry cook for themselves. As arrivals grew ever more numerous, the relief station by the river could scarcely hold them. He then switched to distributing money and ordered each person to return home and await diverted tribute grain for relief. As the flood disaster grew more severe, Jiashao requested opening the granaries for sale at fair prices and setting up separate kitchens to cook congee for relief. Those in charge, following precedent, prepared food for three thousand people, but fifty thousand came to eat in a surging crowd that could not be stopped. When Jiashao arrived, he addressed the crowd: "There is too little food for so many people; it cannot be prepared at a moment's notice. Withdraw for now and come tomorrow morning— I promise that not one hungry person shall go without congee. The crowd bowed in welcome and said: "Uncle Stone does not deceive people; we will obey your arrangements. Diedie is what the people of Jiangxi call a father. He served in turn as acting magistrate of Dayu, Xincheng, and Xinjian, was promoted to sub-prefect of Tonggu Camp, and acted as prefect of Raozhou and Ganzhou; wherever he went he won the people's hearts.

家紹口吶吶若不得辭，自大吏、僚友、縉紳、士民、卒隸無不稱為循吏，顧自視欿然。嘗曰：「吏而良，民父母也；不良，則民賊也。父母，吾不能；民賊也，則吾不敢，吾其為民傭乎！」十九年，卒。五縣皆祀名宦，南昌民尤德之，建祠於百花洲。

Jiashao spoke slowly, as though words came hard to him, yet from great officials, colleagues, gentry, common people, and runners and clerks alike, none failed to call him a model upright official— yet he still saw himself as falling short. He once said: "When an official is good, he is the people's parent; when he is not good, he is the people's robber. To be a parent— I cannot; to be the people's robber— that I dare not be; let me be their hired servant instead! He died in 1839. All five counties enshrined him among eminent officials, and the people of Nanchang, especially grateful, built a shrine for him on Baihua Isle.

=劉衡=劉衡，字廉舫，江西南豐人。嘉慶五年副榜貢生，充官學教習。十八年，以知縣發廣東。奉檄巡河，日夜坐臥舟中，與兵役同勞苦，俾不得通盜，河盜斂戢。署四會縣，地瘠盜熾。衡團練壯丁，連村自保。诇捕會匪，焚其籍，以安反側。祗治渠魁，眾乃定。調署博羅，城中故設徵糧店數家，鄉又設十站，民以為累，衡至即除之。俗多自戕，裡豪蠹役雜持之，害滋甚。衡釋誣濫，嚴懲主使，錮習一清。補新興，父憂去。服闋，道光三年，授四川墊江，俗輕生亦如博羅，衡先事勸諭，民化之。獲啯匪初犯者，曰：「飢寒迫爾。」給貲使自謀生，再犯不宥，匪輒感泣改行。

Liu Heng, courtesy-named Lianfang, was a native of Nanfeng in Jiangxi. In 1800 he graduated as a tribute student on the second list and served as instructor at the imperial academy. In 1813 he was appointed a magistrate and sent to Guangdong. Ordered to patrol the river, he lived day and night aboard his boat, sharing hardship with soldiers and runners so they could not collude with bandits, and river pirates were brought under control. While serving as acting magistrate of Sihui, he found the land poor and banditry rampant. Heng organized local militia of able-bodied men so that neighboring villages could defend themselves together. He tracked down secret-society bandits, burned their membership registers, and restored calm among the restless population. He punished only the ringleaders, and the people then settled down. Transferred to act in Boluo, he found several grain-collection shops in the city and ten collection stations in the countryside, all regarded as a burden by the people; as soon as Heng arrived he abolished them. Self-inflicted injury was widespread as a custom; local bullies and corrupt runners exploited it, and the harm grew worse. Heng released those falsely accused, severely punished the instigators, and entirely cleared away the entrenched custom. He was appointed magistrate of Xinxing but left office to mourn his father's death. When his mourning period ended, he was appointed magistrate of Dianjiang in Sichuan in 1823. Self-inflicted injury was as common there as it had been in Boluo, but Heng counseled and exhorted the people beforehand, and they changed their ways. When he captured extortion bandits who were first-time offenders, he said, "Hunger and cold drove you to this." He gave them money to make their own living and showed no mercy if they offended again; the bandits would weep in gratitude and turn from crime.

調署梁山，處萬山中，去水道遠，歲苦旱。衡相地修塘堰，以時蓄洩，為永久之計。捐田建屋，養孤貧，歲得穀數百石，上官下其法通省仿行。尋調巴縣，為重慶府附郭，號難治。白役七千餘人，倚食衙前。衡至，役皆無所得食，散為民，存百餘人，備使令而已。歲歉，衡謂濟荒之法，聚不如散，命各歸各保，以便賑恤，是年雖飢不害。

Transferred to act as magistrate of Liangshan, he found the county buried in mountains, far from any waterway, and afflicted by drought year after year. Heng surveyed the terrain and repaired ponds and dikes, storing and releasing water at the proper seasons as a lasting solution. He donated land and built buildings to support orphans and the poor, yielding several hundred piculs of grain each year; his superiors ordered his method adopted throughout the province. He was soon transferred to Ba County, the seat attached to Chongqing Prefecture and notoriously difficult to govern. More than seven thousand white-clad runners lived off business at the yamen gate. When Heng arrived, the runners could no longer make a living and dispersed among the people; he kept only a little over a hundred on hand for errands. In a year of poor harvest, Heng said that for famine relief it was better to disperse people than to gather them; he ordered each to return to his own baojia unit so relief could reach them easily, and though the year was hungry, no serious harm resulted.

衡嘗謂律意忠厚，本之為治，求達愛民之心。然愛民必先去其病民者，故𢗝寓寬於嚴。官民之阻隔，皆緣丁胥表里為姦。所至設長幾於堂左右，分六曹為六鬲。吏呈案，則各就左幾鬲庋之，擊磬以聞。衡自取，立與核辦，置之右幾。吏以次承領，壅蔽悉除。有訴訟，坐堂皇受牘，親書牒令原告交裡正，轉攝所訟之人，到即訊結。非重獄，不遣隸勾攝；即遣，必注隸之姓名齒貌於簽。又令互相保結，設連坐法，蠹役無所施技。性素嚴，臨訟輒霽顏，俾得通其情，抶不過十，惟於豪猾則痛懲不稍貸。嘗訪延士紳，周知地方利害，次第舉革。待丞、尉、營弁必和衷，時周其乏，緩急可相倚。城鄉立義學，公餘親課之。為治大要，以卹貧保富、正人心、端士習為主。總督戴三錫巡川東，其旁邑民訴冤者皆乞付劉青天決之，語上聞。

Heng once said that the spirit of the law is generous and sincere, and that governance should be rooted in it to fulfill one's desire to serve the people. Yet to love the people one must first remove those who harm them, and so he embodied leniency within severity. The barrier between officials and commoners arose entirely from collusion between runners and clerks inside and outside the yamen. Wherever he served he set up long desks to the left and right of the hall and divided the six bureaus into six compartments. When clerks submitted cases, each placed them in a compartment on the left desk and struck a chime to announce it. Heng took them himself, examined and disposed of them on the spot, and placed them on the right desk. Clerks received them in order, and every channel of obstruction was cleared away. When there was litigation, he sat in the main hall to receive petitions, personally wrote orders for the plaintiff to deliver to the village head to summon the defendant, and once the defendant arrived the case was heard and settled. Unless the case was grave, he did not send runners to seize people; and if he did, he always recorded the runner's name, age, and appearance on the warrant. He also required mutual guarantees and established collective liability, leaving corrupt runners no room to ply their tricks. By nature he was strict, yet in court he would soften his expression so litigants could speak freely; floggings never exceeded ten strokes, but toward powerful ruffians he punished severely without the slightest leniency. He often invited local gentry, learned thoroughly what helped and harmed the district, and introduced reforms one by one. He always treated assistant magistrates, constables, and garrison officers harmoniously, regularly relieving their wants so they could rely on one another in times of need. He established charity schools in town and countryside and personally examined the pupils in his spare time. The great essentials of his governance were relieving the poor, protecting the wealthy, rectifying people's hearts, and correcting scholarly custom. When Governor-General Dai Sanxi toured eastern Sichuan, people from neighboring counties who came to plead injustice all begged that their cases be handed to Liu Qingtian to decide, and word reached the throne.

七年，擢綿州直隸州知州，宣宗召對，嘉其公勤。八年，擢保寧知府，九年，調成都。每語人曰：「牧令親民，隨事可盡吾心。太守漸遠民，安靜率屬而已，不如州縣之得一意民事也。」然所在屬吏化之，無厲民者。後擢河南開歸陳許道，未幾，病。巡撫為陳情及治蜀狀，請優待之，以風有位。特詔給假調理。久之，病不愈，遂乞歸。數年始卒。博羅、墊江、梁山、巴縣皆請祀名宦祠。

In 1827 he was promoted to magistrate of Mianzhou Directly Governed Prefecture; the Daoguang Emperor summoned him for audience and praised his public spirit and diligence. In 1828 he was promoted to prefect of Baoning, and in 1829 he was transferred to Chengdu. He often told people, "A district magistrate is close to the people; in every affair one can fully devote oneself. A prefect is farther from the people and need only keep order and lead subordinates; it is not like a county post where one can devote oneself entirely to the people's affairs." Yet wherever he served his subordinate officials were transformed by his example, and none oppressed the people. He was later promoted to intendant of the Kaigui-Chenxu Circuit in Henan, but before long he fell ill. The governor memorialized on his behalf, describing his record in governing Sichuan and requesting favorable treatment for him to set an example for officials in office. A special edict granted him leave to recuperate. After a long time his illness did not improve, and he requested to return home. Several years later he died. Boluo, Dianjiang, Liangshan, and Ba County all requested that he be enshrined in their halls of eminent officials.

同治初，四川學政楊秉璋疏陳衡循績，並上遺書。穆宗諭曰：「劉衡歷任廣東、四川守令，所至循聲卓著。去官四十餘年，至今民間稱道弗衰。所著庸吏庸言、蜀僚問答、讀律心得等書，尤為洞悉閭閻休戚，於興利除弊之道，籌畫詳備，洵無媿循良之吏。將歷任政績宣付史館，編入循吏傳，以資觀感。」衡所著書，皆閱歷有得之言，當世論治者，與汪輝祖學治臆說諸書同奉為圭臬。其後有徐棟著牧令諸書，亦並稱焉。

In the early Tongzhi reign, Sichuan education intendant Yang Bingzhang memorialized Heng's exemplary record and submitted his posthumous writings as well. The Tongzhi Emperor decreed, "Liu Heng served as prefect and magistrate in Guangdong and Sichuan, and wherever he went his reputation as an exemplary official was outstanding. More than forty years after he left office, popular praise of him has not faded to this day. His works such as Mediocre Officials' Mediocre Words, Questions and Answers among Sichuan Colleagues, and Reflections on Reading the Law show especially deep understanding of common people's joys and sorrows; in promoting benefit and removing abuse his planning is thorough and complete— truly he is worthy of the title of exemplary upright official. His record in successive posts is to be transmitted to the Historiographical Institute and compiled into the biographies of exemplary officials, to serve as an inspiration." Heng's writings are all words gained from experience; contemporary discussants of governance revere them as standards, together with Wang Huizu's Random Thoughts on Learning Governance and similar books. Later Xu Dong wrote books on magistrates, and these were praised as well.

棟，字致初，直隸安肅人。道光二年進士，授工部主事，累遷郎中。究心吏治，以為天下事莫不起於州縣，州縣理，則天下無不理。稱州縣之職，不外於更事久，讀書多。然更事在既事之後，讀書在未事之先，乃匯諸家之說為牧令書三十卷。又以保甲為庶政之綱，天下非一人所能理，於是有鄉、有保、有甲。自明王守仁立十家牌之法，後世踵行，為弭盜設，此未知其本也。亦集諸說，成保甲書四卷。二十一年，出為陝西興安知府，調漢中，又調西安，所至行保甲，皆有成效。興安臨漢江，棟補修惠春、石泉兩堤，加於舊五尺，民頗苦其役。十數年後，大水冒舊堤二尺，乃感念之，肖像以祀。舊禁運糧下游，棟以興安卑濕，積穀易霉變。既不能久儲，又不能出境，圖利者改種菸葉、藍靛，歉年每至乏食。乃弛運糧之禁，民便之。舉卓異，二十九年，以病歸。咸、同之間，在籍治團練，修省城，有詔錄用，以老病辭，尋卒。祀興安名宦祠。

Xu Dong, courtesy-named Zhichu, was a native of Ansu in Zhili. He passed the jinshi examination in 1822, was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Works, and rose through several ranks to director. He devoted himself to official governance and held that nothing under Heaven begins anywhere but at the prefecture and county level; if prefectures and counties are well ordered, then all is well ordered. He said the duties of prefectures and counties come down to long experience in affairs and much reading. Yet experience comes after one has served, while reading must come before one serves; he therefore collected various schools of thought into a thirty-juan Magistrate's Handbook. He also held that baojia was the backbone of general administration; the realm cannot be governed by one man alone, and therefore there are xiang, bao, and jia units. Since Wang Shouren of the Ming established the ten-household placard system, later ages followed it merely to suppress bandits— missing its fundamental purpose. He also collected various theories and completed a four-juan Baojia Handbook. In 1841 he went out as prefect of Xing'an in Shaanxi, was transferred to Hanzhong, and then to Xi'an; wherever he served he implemented baojia with good results. Xing'an bordered the Han River; Dong repaired the Huichun and Shiquan dikes, raising them five chi above the old level, and the people suffered considerably from corvée labor. More than ten years later, a great flood rose two chi above the old dikes, and the people then felt grateful and enshrined his portrait in worship. Transport of grain downstream had formerly been forbidden; Dong held that Xing'an was low-lying and damp and stored grain spoiled easily. Since grain could neither be stored long nor exported, those seeking profit switched to planting tobacco and indigo, and in years of poor harvest food shortages often resulted. He therefore relaxed the prohibition on transporting grain, to the people's benefit. Nominated as outstanding, he returned home due to illness in 1849. Between the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns, while at home he organized local militia and repaired the provincial capital; an edict ordered his reappointment, but he declined on account of age and illness, and soon died. He was enshrined in the hall of eminent officials at Xing'an.

=姚柬之=姚柬之，字伯山，安徽桐城人。七世祖文燮，見本傳。柬之少負異才，從族祖鼐學，成進士，授河南臨漳知縣，屢決疑獄。縣民張鳴武控賊殺妻，稱賊攀二窗櫺入室。柬之勘窗櫺窄，且夫未遠出。詰之，果夫因逐賊，誤斫殺妻。又常姚氏被殺，罪人不得。柬之察其時為縣試招覆之前夜，所取第一名楊某不赴試，疑之。召至，神色惶惑，詢其居，與常鄰。乃夜至城隍廟，命婦人以血污面，與楊語，遂得圖奸不從強殺狀。每巡行鄉曲，勸民息訟，有訴曲直者即平之。漳水溢，齎糧赴災區，且勘且賑，全活者眾。兼攝內黃，民服其治，鬧漕之風頓革。境與直隸大名毗連，多賊巢，掘地為窟，積匪聚賭，排槍手為拒捕計。柬之約大名會捕，賭窟除而盜風息。母憂去。

Yao Jianzhi, courtesy-named Boshan, was a native of Tongcheng in Anhui. His seventh-generation ancestor Wenxie is treated in the main biography. Jianzhi showed unusual talent from youth, studied under his clansman Yao Nai, passed the jinshi examination, was appointed magistrate of Linzhang in Henan, and repeatedly resolved doubtful cases. A county resident, Zhang Mingwu, reported that bandits had killed his wife, claiming the bandits had climbed in through two window lattices. Jianzhi inspected the window lattices and found them too narrow, and the husband had not gone far away. On questioning him, it turned out the husband, while pursuing bandits, had mistakenly hacked his wife to death. Also, a woman surnamed Chang or Yao was murdered and the culprit could not be found. Jianzhi observed that the murder occurred on the eve of the county examination's recall for re-examination; the top candidate, a certain Yang, did not come to the examination, and he grew suspicious. When summoned, Yang looked fearful and confused; asked where he lived, it turned out to be next to the victim's home. He then went at night to the City God temple, had a woman smear her face with blood, and spoke with Yang, thereby obtaining the full account of attempted rape refused and forcible murder. Whenever he toured the countryside he urged the people to cease litigation; if anyone appealed a dispute he settled it on the spot. When the Zhang River overflowed, he carried grain to the disaster area, surveying damage and giving relief at the same time; many lives were saved. While also acting as magistrate of Neihuang, the people submitted to his governance and disorders over tribute grain transport were suddenly ended. The border adjoined Daming in Zhili, where there were many bandit nests— caves dug in the earth where bandits gathered to gamble and gunmen arranged in ranks to resist arrest. Jianzhi arranged with Daming for joint arrests; the gambling dens were cleared and banditry subsided. He left office to mourn his mother's death.

十二年，服闋，補廣東揭陽。瀕海民悍，械鬥擄掠，抗賦戕官，習以為常。柬之訓練壯勇，集神耆於西郊，諭以保護善良，與民更化。最頑梗之區曰下灘，盜賊、土豪相勾結，柬之會營往捕，拒者或死或擒。一盜積犯十八案，召被害者環觀，僇之，境內稱快。有凶盜居錢坑，其地四面皆山，不可攻。潮州故事，凡捕匪不得，則爇其廬，空其積聚。柬之戒勿焚燒，召耆老，諭交犯，不敢出。乃乘輿張蓋入村，從僅數人，見耆老一一慰勞，皆感泣，原更始。民在四山高望者，咸呼「好官」，次日遂交犯。自下灘示威，錢坑示德，恩信大著。收穫時，巡鄉為之保護，樹催科旗；值械鬥，則樹止鬥旗。一日，塗遇持火槍者，結隊行，望見官至，悉沒水中，命以漁網取之。訊為助鬥者，按以法，自此械鬥浸止。興復書院，厚待諸生，回鄉以新政告鄉人，有變則密以聞，官民無隔閡。逋賦者相率輸將，強梗漸化，縣大治。

In 1832, when his mourning ended, he was appointed magistrate of Jieyang in Guangdong. The coastal people were fierce; armed fights, kidnapping, tax resistance, and killing officials were regarded as commonplace. Jianzhi trained able-bodied militia, gathered gentry elders in the western suburbs, and instructed them to protect the good and reform the people together. The most stubborn area was called Xiatang, where bandits and local bullies colluded; Jianzhi joined with the garrison to capture them, and those who resisted were either killed or seized. One bandit was a repeat offender in eighteen cases; Jianzhi summoned the victims to surround and watch and executed him, to general satisfaction throughout the district. A vicious bandit lived at Qiankeng, a place surrounded by mountains on all sides that could not be attacked. By Chaozhou custom, whenever bandits could not be captured, their dwellings were burned and their stores emptied. Jianzhi forbade burning, summoned the elders, and instructed them to hand over the culprit, but the bandit dared not come out. He then rode in a covered sedan into the village with only a few followers, greeted the elders one by one and comforted them; all wept in gratitude and wished to make a fresh start. People watching from the surrounding mountains all cried out, "Good official!" and the next day the culprit was handed over. At Xiatang he showed authority; at Qiankeng he showed virtue; his kindness and trustworthiness became greatly renowned. At harvest time he toured the countryside to protect the people and erected tax-collection flags; when armed fights broke out, he erected stop-fighting flags. One day on the road he encountered men carrying firelocks marching in formation; seeing the magistrate arrive, they all submerged the guns in water; he ordered them retrieved with fishing nets. On interrogation they proved to be helpers in the fight; he punished them according to law, and from then on armed fights gradually ceased. He restored the academy, treated students generously, and when touring the countryside explained new policies to the people; if anything changed they reported it in secret, and there was no barrier between officials and people. Tax delinquents came forward one after another to pay; the stubborn gradually reformed, and the county was greatly well governed.

遷連州綏瑤廳同知，民、瑤構訟，判決時必使相安，遂無事。普寧縣匪徒戕官肆劫，奉檄從鎮道往捕治。匪以塗祥為巢穴，磨盤山為聲援，地皆險。乃設方略，正軍攻塗祥，調揭陽壯勇自磨盤嶺突進破賊巢，獲六百餘人。事定，言官誤論劾。朝使查勘，其誣得白。

Transferred to subprefect of the Suiyao Subprefecture at Lianzhou, when Han Chinese and Yao people brought lawsuits he always saw to it in judgment that both sides were reconciled, and thus there was no trouble. When bandits in Puning County killed officials and plundered at will, he received orders to follow the provincial commander and circuit intendant to capture and punish them. The bandits used Tuxiang as their nest and Mount Mopan as support; the terrain was all perilous. He then devised a plan: the main force attacked Tuxiang while militia from Jieyang broke through from Mopan Ridge and smashed the bandit nest, capturing more than six hundred men. When the affair was settled, censor officials mistakenly submitted impeachment charges against him. A court envoy came to investigate, and the false charges against him were cleared.

十七年，署肇慶府，端溪大漲，城不沒數版，柬之日夜立城下守禦。預放兵糧，以平米價，民不知災。十九年，擢貴州大定知府，俗好訟，柬之速訊速結，不能售其欺，期年而訟稀。白蟒洞地僻產煤、鐵，有汪擺片者，據其地聚眾結會，為一方害，捕滅解散，地連川、滇，得弭鉅患焉。大定民、苗雜居，宜治以安靜。大吏下令，柬之必酌地方之宜，不使累民。見多不合，遂引疾歸。數年始卒。

In 1837 he served as acting prefect of Zhaoqing. When the Duankeng River rose in flood, the city walls stood only a few courses above the water, and Jianzhi day and night kept watch below the walls to hold the defenses. He distributed military grain in advance at normal rice prices, so that the people scarcely knew a disaster had struck. In 1839 he was promoted to prefect of Dading in Guizhou, where litigation was rife. Jianzhi heard cases quickly and closed them promptly, so deceit could not prevail, and within a year lawsuits grew scarce. At remote Bai Mang Cave, where coal and iron were mined, a man named Wang Baipian seized the place, gathered followers, and formed secret societies that plagued the whole region. Jianzhi captured and destroyed them and broke up the organization. The area bordered Sichuan and Yunnan, and a major threat was thus removed. In Dading Han Chinese and Miao lived intermixed, and quiet governance was what the place required. When high officials issued orders, Jianzhi always weighed what suited local conditions and refused to burden the people. Finding much that did not suit local conditions, he pleaded illness and returned home. Several years later he died.

=吳均=吳均，字云帆，浙江錢塘人。嘉慶二十四年舉人，道光十五年，大挑知縣，發廣東，授乳源，調潮陽。歷署揭陽、惠來、嘉應、海陽。在海陽捕雙刀會匪黃悟空，置之法。舉卓異，署鹽運司運同，擢佛岡廳同知，署潮州知府。，惠州土匪肆劫，均奉檄往，獲匪千餘，分輕重懲治，遂肅清。三年，實授。時東南各行省軍事亟，福建、湖南大吏聞均名，先後奏調往襄剿匪，廣東方倚為保障，堅留之。四年，江南大營散兵回粵，結匪為亂。賊首陳娘康擁眾圍潮陽，分黨陷惠來，攻普寧。援軍失利，均親督戰，敗賊。甫解潮陽圍，海陽彩陽鄉匪首吳中庶乘間糾黨陳阿拾煽眾，旬日至萬餘人。大掠海陽，偪攻郡城，澄海匪首王興順亦與合。均檄潮陽令汪政分兵援郡城，戰城下，殲賊數千，圍解。自移軍澄海，冒雨破賊巢，分路搜捕，清餘孽。旋克惠來，斬陳娘康等於陣。未幾，以積勞卒於官。

Wu Jun, courtesy-named Yunfan, was a native of Qiantang in Zhejiang. He passed the provincial examination in 1819. In 1835 he was selected in the great assignment for magistrates, sent to Guangdong, appointed magistrate of Ruyuan, and transferred to Chaoyang. He successively served as acting magistrate of Jieyang, Huilai, Jiaying, and Haiyang. In Haiyang he captured Huang Wukong of the Double Sword Society and punished him according to law. Recommended as outstanding, he served as acting assistant director of the Salt Transport Bureau, was promoted to subprefect of Fogang Subprefecture, and acted as prefect of Chaozhou. When bandits in Huizhou plundered at will, Wu received orders to go. He captured more than a thousand bandits, punished them according to the severity of their crimes, and the region was cleared. In 1843 he received formal appointment to the post. Military affairs in the southeastern provinces were urgent. High officials in Fujian and Hunan, hearing Wu's reputation, successively memorialized to transfer him to assist in bandit suppression, but Guangdong relied on him as its safeguard and firmly kept him. In 1844 demobilized soldiers from the Great Jiangnan Camp returned to Guangdong and joined bandits in rebellion. The bandit chief Chen Niangkang led his followers to besiege Chaoyang, sent factions to seize Huilai, and attacked Puning. When relief troops suffered defeat, Wu personally directed the battle and routed the bandits. Just as the siege of Chaoyang was lifted, the bandit chief Wu Zhongshu of Caiyang township in Haiyang seized the moment to rally Chen A'shi's faction and incite the crowd; within ten days their numbers swelled to more than ten thousand. They plundered Haiyang on a great scale and pressed toward the prefectural city; the bandit chief Wang Xingshun of Chenghai also joined them. Wu ordered the magistrate of Chaoyang, Wang Zheng, to divide his forces and relieve the prefectural city. They fought below the walls, destroyed several thousand bandits, and lifted the siege. He then moved his army to Chenghai, broke the bandit nest in the rain, sent forces along separate routes to hunt them down, and cleared out the remaining rebels. Soon he recovered Huilai and beheaded Chen Niangkang and others on the battlefield. Before long, worn out by accumulated toil, he died in office.

均性清介，治潮最久，誅盜尤嚴。每巡鄉，輒以二旗開導，大書曰；「但原百姓回心，免試一番辣手。」化莠為良，保全彌眾。從役有取民間絲粟者，立斬馬前，民益畏服。在潮陽以濱海地咸鹵，開渠以通溪水，築堤六千餘丈，淡水溉田，瘠土悉沃。在海陽濬三利溪，加築北堤，為郡城保障。及守潮州，修復州東廣濟大橋。附郭西湖山高出城上，登瞰全城如指掌，舊有高墉為犄角，久圮。均築展新城，跨壕而過，圍山於城內。至是匪亂圍攻，竟不能破，民咸頌之。歿後，追贈太僕寺卿。光緒間，潮州建專祠。

Wu was upright and incorruptible by nature. He governed Chaozhou longer than anyone and was especially strict in punishing bandits. Whenever he toured the countryside he had two banners lead the way, inscribed in large characters: "I only ask that the people turn back from crime, and be spared a taste of harsh measures." He transformed the wicked into the good, and ever more lives were spared. If any attendant took silk or grain from the people, Wu had him beheaded on the spot before his horse; the people feared and respected him all the more. In Chaoyang, where the coastal land was brackish and saline, he opened canals to channel fresh stream water, built dikes more than six thousand zhang long, irrigated the fields with fresh water, and turned barren soil entirely fertile. In Haiyang he dredged the Sanli Stream and strengthened the northern dike, providing a safeguard for the prefectural city. When he served as prefect of Chaozhou he restored the great Guangji Bridge east of the city. West Lake Hill beside the city rose above the walls; from its summit the whole city lay visible as in the palm of one's hand. An old high wall had served as a flank defense, but it had long fallen into ruin. Wu extended the new city wall, crossing the moat and enclosing the hill within the city. When bandit rebels later besieged the city, they could not break through, and the people all praised him. After his death he was posthumously granted the rank of Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. During the Guangxu reign a dedicated shrine was built for him in Chaozhou.

=王肇謙=王肇謙，字琴航，直隸深澤人。舉人，授福建海澄知縣。馬口鄉民構釁互掠，親諭利害，積嫌頓解。捕巨盜許蟳置諸法，群盜斂跡。富紳爭產累訟，男婦數十人環跪堂下，援引古義喻之，更反自責。眾赧然，謂今日始知禮義，訟以是止。邑民李順發負楊茄柱金，為楊所留，乃以劫財訴諸教堂。教主移牒請嚴究，眾洶洶。肇謙白上官：「茄柱無罪，不必治；教士驕心，不可長。」總督劉韻珂嘉其抗直。閩縣上筸村故盜藪，檄肇謙往捕。至則召其父老開陳大義，曰：「我來活若一鄉，若列銃拒官，大府欲屠之，尚不知耶？」眾大恐，肇謙曰：「某某皆大盜，速縛來！三日繕齊保甲冊，吾保若無事。」遂立以盜獻。廈門洋人因賃屋與民齟《齒吾》，奉檄往治，據理剖決，兩無所徇，洋人帖服。

Wang Zhaoqian, courtesy-named Qinhang, was a native of Shenze in Zhili. A provincial graduate, he was appointed magistrate of Haicheng in Fujian. Villagers of Makou township provoked one another and plundered each other. He personally explained the harm and benefit, and long-standing grievances were suddenly resolved. He captured the great bandit Xu Cong and punished him according to law, and the bandits as a group withdrew. Wealthy gentry disputed inheritances in repeated lawsuits. Several dozen men and women knelt in a ring below the hall. He cited ancient principles to instruct them and even turned to self-reproach. The crowd looked ashamed and said they had only today learned ritual and righteousness, and litigation ceased. A county resident named Li Shun owed Yang Jiezhu money. Yang detained him, and Li then brought a charge of robbery to the church. The church leader sent a dispatch requesting strict investigation, and public feeling ran high. Zhaoqian reported to his superior, "Jiezhu is not guilty and need not be punished; the missionary's arrogant disposition must not be indulged." Governor Liu Yunke praised his forthright resistance. Shanggan Village in Min County was an old bandit haunt, and an order was sent for Zhaoqian to go and capture them. On arrival he summoned the village elders and set forth the great principle, saying, "I have come to save your whole township. If you array muskets to resist officials, do you not know the governor-general will want to slaughter you?" The crowd was greatly afraid. Zhaoqian said, "So-and-so are all great bandits—bind them quickly and bring them! Within three days complete the household register, and I guarantee you will be unharmed." They immediately stood up and presented the bandits. Foreigners in Xiamen had a rental dispute with local people. Ordered to go and settle it, he judged according to reason, showed partiality to neither side, and the foreigners submitted.

咸豐二年，署上杭，時粵匪據江寧，福建賊林俊遙應之，陷漳州、永春、大田諸郡縣。肇謙建碉儲粟，制器械，簡丁壯，為堅壁清野計，賴以無虞。三年，淫雨為災，且賑且治軍，率團勇越境剿松源縣賊四千。擢永春直隸州知州，募鄉兵二萬，破林俊於城南山，擒土匪邱師、辜八等。

In 1852 he served as acting magistrate of Shanghang. Guangdong rebels then held Jiangning, and the Fujian bandit Lin Jun responded from afar, seizing Zhangzhou, Yongchun, Datian, and other prefectures and counties. Zhaoqian built blockhouses and stored grain, made weapons, selected able-bodied men, and adopted a strategy of fortified villages and cleared countryside; relying on this, the district remained secure. In 1853 excessive rain brought disaster. He gave relief even as he managed the army, led militia across the border, and suppressed four thousand bandits in Songyuan County. Promoted to magistrate of Yongchun Directly Governed Prefecture, he recruited twenty thousand local troops, defeated Lin Jun south of the city wall, and captured the local bandits Qiu Shi, Gu Ba, and others.

署漳州知府，漳浦古竹社蔡全等為亂，肇謙設方略，約內應，生擒全，詔嘉之，晉秩知府。漳俗獷悍難治，肇謙謂民不奉法，由吏不稱職。課所屬清案牘，勤催科，懲械鬥，嚴緝捕，表義行，振文教，以能否為殿最，漳人以為保障。署延建邵道，調署興泉永道，未行，粵匪竄入境，肇謙誓以死守，督軍隨按察使趙印川十三戰皆捷，以勞卒。詔贈光祿寺卿，祀上杭名宦祠。

Serving as acting prefect of Zhangzhou, when Cai Quan and others of Guzhu community in Zhangpu rebelled, Zhaoqian devised a plan, arranged for inside cooperation, captured Quan alive, received imperial commendation, and was promoted in rank to prefect. Zhangzhou custom was fierce and hard to govern. Zhaoqian said the people did not obey the law because the officials did not fulfill their duties. He required subordinates to clear case files, diligently collect taxes, punish armed fights, strictly pursue arrests, honor righteous conduct, and revive literary culture, ranking them by ability. The people of Zhangzhou regarded him as their safeguard. He was acting intendant of Yanjian-Shao Circuit and was transferred to act as intendant of Xingquan-Yong Circuit before he could depart. Guangdong rebels slipped across the border. Zhaoqian swore to defend to the death, directed the army with Provincial Judge Zhao Yinchuan in thirteen victorious battles, and died from exhaustion. An edict posthumously granted him the rank of Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and enshrined him in the hall of eminent officials at Shanghang.

=曹瑾=曹瑾，字懷樸，河南河內人。舉人。初官直隸知縣，歷署平山、饒陽、寧津，皆得民心。賑饑懲盜，多惠政。補威縣，調豐潤，以事落職。尋复官，發福建，署將樂。又以失察邪教被劾，引見，仍以原官用。

Cao Jin, courtesy-named Huaipu, was a native of Henei in Henan. He was a provincial graduate. His first office was as a magistrate in Zhili. He successively served as acting magistrate of Pingshan, Raoyang, and Ningjin, and in all won the people's hearts. He relieved famine and punished bandits, and his benevolent policies were many. Appointed to Wei County and transferred to Fengrun, he lost his office over an affair. Soon restored to office, he was sent to Fujian and served as acting magistrate of Jiangle. Again impeached for failure to detect heterodox sects, he was presented to the throne and still employed at his original rank.

道光十三年，署閩縣，旗兵與民械鬥，持平曉諭利害，皆帖服。值旱，迎胡神於鼓山禱雨，官吏奔走跪拜街衢間，瑾斥其不載祀典，獨屹立不拜。大吏奇之，以為可任艱鉅。時台灣歲歉多盜，遂補鳳山。問疾苦，詰盜賊，剔除弊蠹，順民之欲。淡水溪在縣東南，由九曲塘穿池以引溪水，築埤導圳。凡掘圳四萬餘丈，灌田三萬畝，定啟閉蓄洩之法，設圳長經理之。

In 1833 he served as acting magistrate of Min County. Banner troops and common people fought with weapons. He judged impartially and explained the harm and benefit, and all submitted. During a drought, officials welcomed the Hu deity at Drum Mountain to pray for rain. Officials ran about kneeling and bowing in the streets. Jin rebuked them for rites not recorded in the sacrificial canon and alone stood upright without bowing. High officials marveled at him and thought him fit for difficult and weighty tasks. Taiwan then suffered poor harvests and many bandits, and he was appointed magistrate of Fengshan. He inquired into hardships, interrogated bandits, eliminated corrupt abuses, and followed the people's wishes. The Danshui Stream lay southeast of the county. From Jiuqu Pond he dug pools to channel stream water and built embankments to guide irrigation ditches. In all he dug ditches more than forty thousand zhang long, irrigated thirty thousand mu of fields, fixed methods for opening, closing, storing, and releasing water, and appointed ditch managers to oversee them.

二十年，擢淡水廳同知，海盜剽劫商賈，漳、泉二郡人居其間，常相仇殺，又當海防告警，瑾至，行保甲，練鄉勇，清內匪而備外侮。英吉利兵艦犯雞籠口，瑾禁漁船勿出，絕其鄉導，懸賞購敵酋，民爭赴之。敵船觸石，擒百二十四人。屢至，屢卻之。明年，又犯淡水南口，設伏誘擊，俘漢奸五、敵兵四十九人。事聞，被優賚。未幾，和議成，英人有責言。總督怡良知瑾剛直，謂曰：「事將若何？」瑾曰：「但論國家事若何，某官無足重，罪所應任者，甘心當之。但百姓出死力殺賊，不宜有負。」怡良歎曰：「真丈夫也！」卒以是奪級。後以捕盜功晉秩，以海疆知府用。瑾遂乞病歸，數年始卒。

In 1840 he was promoted to subprefect of Danshui Subprefecture. Pirates plundered merchants; people from Zhang and Quan prefectures lived among them and often feuded and killed one another; moreover the coastal defenses were on alert. When Jin arrived he implemented the baojia system, trained local militia, cleared internal bandits, and prepared against external attack. English warships attacked Keelung Harbor. Jin forbade fishing boats to go out, cut off their local guides, offered rewards for enemy leaders, and the people competed to respond. An enemy ship struck a rock, and one hundred twenty-four men were captured. They came repeatedly and were repeatedly repelled. The next year they again attacked the southern mouth of Danshui. He set an ambush to lure and strike, capturing five Chinese collaborators and forty-nine enemy soldiers. When the matter was reported he received generous rewards. Before long peace was negotiated, and the English raised complaints. Governor-General Yilibu knew Jin was upright and stern, and said, "How will the affair turn out?" Jin said, "Only consider how the affairs of the state stand. This official counts for little. Whatever guilt should be borne, I willingly accept it. But the common people exerted their utmost strength to kill the enemy and should not be wronged." Yilibu sighed and said, "A true man!" In the end he was demoted in rank for this. Later, for merit in capturing bandits, he was promoted in rank and employed as a coastal prefect. Jin then pleaded illness and returned home; several years later he died.

=桂超萬=桂超萬，字丹盟，安徽貴池人。進士，以知縣發江蘇。署陽湖四十日，巡撫林則徐賢之，捕荊溪。未任，父憂去。十六年，服闋，授直隸欒城。捕盜不分畛域，每於鄰邑交界處破賊巢，盜風息。濬洨河、金水河及城河，通溝洫，平道路，水潦無患。限紳戶免役不得過三十畝，免累民。勸樹畜，修井糞田，種薯芋以備荒。復書院，設義塾，化導鄉民，習異教者多改行。調萬全，署豐潤。值英吉利犯天津，沿海戒嚴。超萬訓練鄉勇，募打鴨善槍法者以備戰。後粵匪犯畿輔，天津練勇效超萬法，頗收鴨槍狙擊之效。詔舉賢吏，總督訥爾經額薦超萬持躬廉謹，盡心民事，遷北運河務關同知。

Gui Chaowan, courtesy-named Danmeng, was a native of Guichi in Anhui. A jinshi, he was dispatched as magistrate to Jiangsu. After serving as acting magistrate of Yanghu for forty days, Governor Lin Zexu regarded him as worthy and transferred him to Jingxi. Before taking office he left to mourn his father's death. In 1836, when his mourning ended, he was appointed magistrate of Luancheng in Zhili. In capturing bandits he did not distinguish jurisdictional boundaries. He often broke bandit nests at the borders of neighboring counties, and banditry subsided. He dredged the Xiao River, the Jinshui River, and the city moat, opened drainage channels, leveled roads, and flooding caused no trouble. He capped corvée exemptions for gentry households at thirty mu, sparing the common people additional burdens. He encouraged tree planting and livestock raising, repaired wells and enriched the fields with night soil, and planted sweet potatoes and taro against famine. He restored the academy and founded charity schools, guiding the villagers toward reform; many who had followed heterodox cults changed their ways. He was transferred to Wanquan and served as acting magistrate of Fengrun. When Britain attacked Tianjin, the coastal regions were placed on high alert. Chaowan trained local militia and recruited expert marksmen with duck-hunting guns to ready them for battle. Later, when Guangdong rebels raided the capital region, Tianjin's militia adopted Chaowan's methods and found duck-gun sniping quite effective. When an edict called for recommending worthy officials, Governor-General Ne'er Jing'e commended Chaowan as upright, prudent, and wholly devoted to the people's affairs; he was transferred to serve as sub-prefect of the Beiyun River Administration Pass.

二十三年，擢授江蘇揚州知府。揚俗浮靡，超萬勵勤儉，嚴禁令，凡衙蠹、營兵、地棍、訟師諸害民者，悉繩以法。訟於府者，一訊即結。逾兩年，調蘇州。時漕弊積重，大戶短欠，且得規包納運丁，需索日增，官民交困。超萬為減幫費、均賦戶之議。乃訪懲豪猾，示均收章程，依限完納，即赦既往。請大吏奏定通行，積困稍甦。屯佃求減租，聚眾毆業主，糧艘水手因行海運失業，勾結滋事，勢皆洶洶。超萬處以鎮靜，先事戒備，得弭亂萌。署糧儲道。二十九年，擢福建汀龍漳道。乞病歸。咸豐中，粵匪擾安徽，超萬在籍治鄉團。同治初，福建巡撫徐宋幹薦之，署福建糧儲道，尋擢按察使。年八十，卒於官。

In 1843 he was promoted and appointed prefect of Yangzhou in Jiangsu. Yangzhou society was extravagant and dissolute. Chaowan urged industry and thrift, enforced strict prohibitions, and prosecuted yamen parasites, garrison bullies, local ruffians, litigation brokers, and every other scourge of the people according to law. Cases brought before the prefecture were settled after a single hearing. After more than two years he was transferred to Suzhou. Grain transport abuses had piled up: wealthy households paid less than their share and bribed brokers to collect for transport coolies, whose exactions grew daily until both officials and the people were at their wit's end. Chaowan proposed reducing transport surcharges and distributing assessments evenly among tax households. He investigated and punished powerful schemers, published regulations for equal collection, and promised that those who paid in full by the deadline would be pardoned for past arrears. He petitioned his superiors to have the scheme approved and applied throughout the province, and the accumulated hardship was somewhat eased. State-land tenants demanded lower rents and gathered in crowds to beat their landlords; grain-boat sailors, left unemployed by the shift to sea transport, colluded in disturbances— unrest was brewing everywhere. Chaowan responded with calm and made preparations in advance, quelling disturbances before they could spread. He served as acting grain storage intendant. In 1849 he was promoted to intendant of the Tingzhou-Longyan-Zhangzhou Circuit in Fujian. He pleaded illness and retired home. During the Xianfeng reign, when Guangdong rebels ravaged Anhui, Chaowan organized local militia from his home county. In the early Tongzhi era, Fujian Governor Xu Songgan recommended him; he served as acting Fujian grain intendant and was soon promoted to provincial judge. He was eighty when he died in office.

=張作楠=張作楠，字丹村，浙江金華人。進士，銓授處州府教授。擢江蘇桃源知縣，調陽湖。治事廉平，人稱儒吏。道光元年，擢太倉直隸州知州，三年，大水、作楠冒雨履勘災鄉，問民疾苦，停徵請賑，借帑平糶。疏濬境內河道，以工代賑。水得速洩，涸出田畝，不誤春耕，人刊婁東荒政編紀其事。尋奉檄赴松江讞獄，鄉民訛傳去官，慮仍收漕，紛紛奔訴。會瀕海奸徒乘間蠢動，作楠聞變，馳回，中途檄主簿蕭《會羽》赴茜涇捕首惡，脅從罔治，事遂定。作楠勤於治事，案無滯牘。暇則篝燈課讀，妻、女紡織，常至夜分。人笑其為校官久，未改故態。

Zhang Zuonan, courtesy-named Dancun, was from Jinhua in Zhejiang. A jinshi, he was appointed through selection as professor of the Chuzhou Prefectural School. He was promoted to magistrate of Taoyuan in Jiangsu and transferred to Yanghu. He governed with integrity and fairness, and people hailed him as a scholar-official. In 1821 he was promoted to magistrate of Taicang Directly Governed Prefecture. During the great flood of 1823, Zuonan waded through rain to inspect stricken villages, asked after the people's hardships, suspended tax collection and petitioned for relief, and borrowed treasury funds to sell grain at fair prices. He dredged rivers within his jurisdiction, providing relief through public works. The water drained quickly, fields reappeared as the flood receded, and spring planting was not delayed; the people compiled the *Lou Dong Famine Administration Records* to commemorate his work. He was soon ordered to Songjiang to hear a capital case. Villagers mistakenly heard he was leaving office and, fearing the grain transport levy would resume, came rushing to plead with him. Meanwhile, ruffians along the coast seized the moment to stir up trouble. Zuonan heard of the disturbance and galloped back; en route he dispatched Registrar Xiao Huiyu to Qianjing to capture the ringleaders. Accomplices were not prosecuted, and the affair was settled. Zuonan was diligent in governance, and no cases piled up on his desk. In his spare time he lit a lamp to hear his students read; his wife and daughters spun and wove, often working deep into the night. People laughed that after so many years as a school official he still kept his old scholarly habits unchanged.

五年，擢徐州知府，受代，以平糶虧帑二萬金，彌補未完。作楠自危，巡撫陶澍曰：「救災民如哺兒，失乳即死。吾方咎汝請糶時，顧慮折耗不兌稍稽。遺大投艱者，胡亦泥此？且紳民已代致萬金，不汝責也！」徐州亦被災，籌賑甚力，民賴以甦。

In the fifth year he was promoted to prefect of Xuzhou. When he handed over his post, fair-price grain sales had left a treasury shortfall of twenty thousand taels that he had not yet made good. Zuonan feared for himself. Governor Tao Shu said: "Relief for disaster victims is like nursing an infant— without milk it dies at once. I had just been reproaching you for worrying over shrinkage and short measure when you requested fair-price grain sales, and thus delaying slightly. A man entrusted with great and arduous tasks— why be bound by such petty concerns? Besides, the gentry and people have already paid ten thousand taels on your behalf— I will not hold you accountable! Xuzhou also suffered disaster. He organized relief with great vigor, and the people recovered thanks to his efforts.

在任兩載，乞養歸。鄉居二十餘年，足跡不入城市。三子皆令務農、工，或問：「何不仍業儒？」曰：「世俗讀書為科名，及入仕，則心術壞，吾不欲其墮落也。」作楠精算學，貫通中西。在官以工匠自隨，制儀器，刊算書。所著書，匯刻曰翠微山房叢書，行於世，學者奉為圭臬焉。卒，祀鄉賢祠。

After two years in office he requested leave to care for his parents and returned home. He lived in the countryside for more than twenty years without ever setting foot in the city. He had all three sons take up farming and crafts. When someone asked, "Why not have them continue in Confucian study? He replied, "Worldly people study to win degrees; once they enter office their hearts turn corrupt. I do not wish to see them fall. Zuonan was accomplished in mathematics and thoroughly versed in both Chinese and Western learning. While in office he kept craftsmen with him, made instruments, and published works on mathematics. His writings were collected and published as the *Cuiwei Shanfang Collectanea*, circulated widely, and scholars revered them as authoritative standards. After his death he was enshrined in the local worthies' temple.

=雲茂琦=雲茂琦，廣東文昌人。道光六年進士，授江蘇沛縣知縣。詢民疾苦，懇懇如家人。勸以務本分、忍忿爭，訟頓稀。縣地卑，多積潦，開濬溝洫，歲獲屢豐。籌緝捕經費，獲盜多，給重賞，盜賊屏跡。課諸生，先德行，後文藝，語以身心性命之學。鄰邑聞風而來，書院齋舍至不能容。總督蔣攸銛稱其有儒者氣象。調六合，連年大水，災民得賑，無流亡。邑多淫祀，毀其像，改書院。衛田多典質，為清理復業，運戶得所津貼，漕累以紓。考最，入覲，改官兵部郎中，又改吏部。未幾，告養歸。家居十數年，置田贍族，鄉邑興革，無不盡力。主講課士有法。

Yun Maoqi was from Wenchang in Guangdong. Having passed the palace examination in 1826, he was appointed magistrate of Pei County in Jiangsu. In asking after the people's hardships he was as earnest and familiar as a member of the family. He urged people to attend to their proper duties and bear anger without quarreling, and lawsuits quickly grew rare. The county was low-lying and often waterlogged. He opened and dredged ditches and drains, and harvests grew steadily richer. He raised funds for pursuit and capture, offered generous rewards, and bandits soon vanished from the county. In instructing students he put character before literary accomplishment and taught them the learning of mind, body, and moral nature. Students from neighboring counties came at the news of his teaching, until the academy dormitories could no longer hold them. Governor-General Jiang Youtie praised him as having the bearing of a true Confucian scholar. He was transferred to Liuhe. In consecutive years of flooding the disaster victims received relief, and no one fled the county. The county had many improper shrines; he destroyed their images and converted the buildings into an academy. Much guard land had been mortgaged; he cleared the titles and restored owners to their land. Transport households received proper subsidies, and the burdens of the grain transport system were eased. Rated at the top, he traveled to court for an audience, was transferred to a directorship in the Ministry of War, and then moved again to the Ministry of Personnel. Before long he requested leave to care for his parents and returned home. At home for more than ten years, he set up fields to support his clan and threw himself fully into every local reform. As a lecturer he taught scholars with real method and discipline.

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