1
陶穀，字秀實，邠州新平人。 本姓唐，避晉祖諱改焉。 歷北齊、隋、唐為名族。 祖彥謙，歷慈、絳、澧三州刺史，有詩名，自號鹿門先生。 父渙，領夷州刺史，唐季之亂，為邠帥楊崇本所害。 時穀尚幼，隨母柳氏育崇本家。
Tao Gu, styled Xiushi, came from Xinping in Bin Prefecture. The family had originally borne the surname Tang but changed it to evade the imperial taboo of the Jin founder. For generations under the Northern Qi, Sui, and Tang they had ranked among the great families. His grandfather Yanqian had served as prefect of Ci, Jiang, and Li, won renown as a poet, and took the sobriquet Master of Deer Gate. His father Huan had governed Yi Prefecture, but during the chaos at the close of the Tang he was slain by Yang Chongben, the military governor of Bin. Gu was still a child then and grew up in Chongben's house with his mother, Lady Liu.
2
十餘歲，能屬文，起家校書郎、單州軍事判官。 嘗以書干宰相李崧，崧甚重其文。 時和凝亦為相，同奏為著作佐郎、集賢校理。 改監察御史，分司西京，遷虞部員外郎、知制誥。 會晉祖廢翰林學士，兼掌內外制。 詞目繁委，穀言多委愜，為當時最。 少帝初，賜緋袍、靴、笏、黑銀帶。 天福九年，加倉部郎中。
Before he was twenty he could already write essays, and he entered service as a collator in the palace library and as adjutant on the Shanzhou military staff. He once submitted a literary work to Chief Minister Li Song, who thought very highly of his prose. He Ning was serving as chief minister at the same time, and the two of them jointly recommended him for posts as associate editor in the Secretariat and collator in the Hall of Assembled Worthies. He was then made an investigating censor assigned to the western capital, and later promoted to vice director in the Ministry of Works with responsibility for drafting imperial edicts. After the Jin founder abolished the Hanlin Academy, Gu assumed responsibility for drafting both palace and court proclamations. With the volume of edicts overwhelming, much of the work was entrusted to Gu and carried out to general satisfaction, and his drafts were regarded as the best of the age. Early in the reign of Emperor Shaodi he received the crimson robe, boots, court tablet, and black silver belt. In the ninth year of the Tianfu era he was made director in the Ministry of Revenues.
3
初，崧從契丹以北，高祖入京師，以崧第賜蘇逢吉，而崧別有田宅在西京，逢吉皆取之。 崧自北還，因以宅券獻逢吉，逢吉不悅，而崧子弟數出怨言。 其後逢吉乃誘告崧與弟嶼、嶬等下獄，崧懼，移病不出。 崧族子昉為秘書郎，嘗往候崧，崧語昉曰：「邇來朝廷於我有何議？」 昉曰：「無他聞，唯陶給事往往於稠人中厚誣叔父。」 崧歎曰：「穀自單州判官，吾取為集賢校理，不數年擢掌誥命，吾何負於陶氏子哉？」 及崧遇禍，昉嘗因公事詣穀，穀問昉：「識李侍中否？」 昉斂衽應曰：「遠從叔爾。」 穀曰：「李氏之禍，穀出力焉。」 昉聞之汗出。
Earlier, after Li Song had gone north with the Khitans, Gaozu entered the capital and gave Song's mansion to Su Fengji; Song still owned other estates in the western capital, and Fengji seized those as well. When Song came back from the north he offered the deed of the house to Fengji, but Fengji was not appeased, and Song's sons and nephews kept voicing grievances. Fengji then engineered charges that sent Song and his brothers Yu and Wei to prison; in fear Song pleaded illness and refused to leave his home. Song's kinsman Fang, who served as a secretary in the palace archives, once called on him, and Song asked Fang, "Has the court been saying anything about me lately?" Fang replied, "Nothing else that I know of—only that Drafting Attendant Tao keeps spreading harsh slanders against you in public gatherings." Song sighed and said, "When Gu was only a Shanzhou adjutant I brought him into the Hall of Assembled Worthies, and within a few years I had him drafting edicts—what debt does that Tao boy think I owe him?" After Song fell victim to the purge, Fang once called on Gu on official business, and Gu asked him, "Do you know Vice Minister Li?" Fang straightened his garments and answered, "He is my father's cousin." Gu said, "I had a hand in bringing down the Li family." Fang broke out in a cold sweat at the words.
4
穀性急率，嘗與兗帥安審信集會，杯酒相失，為審信所奏。 時方姑息武臣，穀坐責授太常少卿。
Gu was brusque by temperament; at a banquet with Yanzhou commander An Shenxin he quarreled over wine, and Shenxin reported him to the throne. The court was then indulging its military commanders, and Gu was demoted to vice minister of rites.
5
嘗上言：「頃蒞西臺，每見臺司詳斷刑獄，少有即時決者。 至於閭閻夫婦小有爭訟，淹滯積時，坊市死亡喪葬，必俟臺司判狀，奴婢病亡，亦須檢驗。 吏因緣為姦，而邀求不已，經旬不獲埋瘞。 望申條約以革其弊。」 從之。 俄拜中書舍人。 嘗請教習樂工、停二舞郎，及禁民伐桑棗為薪，並從其請。 開運三年，賜金紫。
He once memorialized, "During my recent service at the western capital I found that the capital judicial office rarely rendered immediate decisions in criminal cases. Even petty quarrels between neighbors were left to fester for months; burials in the wards could not proceed until the capital office issued its ruling, and when a servant died of illness an official inspection was still required. Clerks exploited the delays to extort bribes, and corpses sometimes lay unburied for ten days or more. I ask that clear regulations be issued to eliminate these abuses." The court approved his proposal. Soon afterward he was made a drafter in the Secretariat. He also asked that palace musicians receive proper training, that two dance attendants be abolished, and that commoners be forbidden to cut mulberry and jujube trees for fuel—all of which were approved. In the third year of the Kaiyun era he received the gold-and-purple insignia of high rank.
6
契丹主北歸，脅穀令從行。 穀逃匿僧舍中，衣布褐，陽為行者狀。 軍士意其詐，持刃陵脅者日數四。 穀頗工歷數，謂同輩曰：「西南五星連珠，漢地當有王者出。 契丹主必不得歸國。」 及耶律德光死，有孛光芒指北，穀曰：「自此契丹自相魚肉，永不亂華矣。」 遂歸漢，為給事中。 乾祐中，令常參官轉對。 穀上言曰：「五日上章，曾非舊制。 百官敘對，且異昌言。 徒浼天聰，無益時政，欲乞停轉對。 在朝群臣有所聞見，即許不時詣闕聞奏。」 從之。
When the Khitan emperor withdrew northward he tried to force Gu to accompany him. Gu hid in a monastery, dressed in plain hemp cloth, and passed himself off as a wandering monk. Soldiers suspected the disguise, and as many as four times a day armed men threatened him at knifepoint. Gu was well versed in astronomy and told his companions, "The five planets are aligned in the southwest—a king will rise in the Central Plains. The Khitan ruler will never make it home alive." When Yelü Deguang died and a comet's tail pointed north, Gu said, "From now on the Khitans will tear one another apart and never again trouble China." He then made his way back to the Later Han court and was appointed supervising secretary. During the Qianyou reign the court ordered officials in regular attendance to take turns addressing the throne. Gu memorialized, "The rule of submitting memorials every five days was never part of the old system. Having every official speak in rotation is hardly the same as offering sound counsel. It only burdens Your Majesty's attention without helping governance, and I ask that the rotation be discontinued. Whenever a court official learns something worth reporting, let him be allowed to come to the palace at any time to inform the throne." The emperor agreed.
7
世宗嚐謂宰相曰：「朕觀歷代君臣治平之道，誠為不易。 又念唐、晉失德之後，亂臣黠將，僭竊者多。 今中原甫定，吳、蜀、幽、并尚未平附，聲教未能遠被，宜令近臣各為論策，宣導經濟之略。」 乃命承旨徐台符以下二十餘人，各撰《為君難為臣不易論》、《平邊策》以進。 其策率以修文德、來遠人為意，惟穀與竇儀、楊昭儉、王樸以封疆密邇江、淮，當用師取之。 世宗自克高平，常訓兵講武，思混一天下。 及覽其策，忻然聽納，由是平南之意益堅矣。
Emperor Shizong once told his chief ministers, "Looking at how rulers and ministers of past ages achieved peace and good government, I see that it is no easy thing. I also recall that after the Tang and Jin courts lost their moral authority, treacherous ministers and cunning generals seized power again and again. The central plains have only just been secured, while Wu, Shu, You, and Bing still stand outside our rule and our civilizing influence has not yet spread far. I should have my close advisers each draft policy essays setting out plans for governing the realm." He then ordered Chief Academician Xu Taifu and more than twenty others to write treatises titled On the Difficulties of Rulership and Ministerial Service and Strategies for Pacifying the Frontiers and submit them to the throne. Most of the essays urged cultivating civil virtue and winning over distant peoples, but Gu, Dou Yi, Yang Zhaojian, and Wang Pu argued that because our borders lay hard against the Yangzi and Huai regions, military force should be used to seize them. Ever since his victory at Gaoping, Shizong had drilled his armies and studied strategy with an eye to reunifying the empire. When he read these essays he welcomed their counsel, and his determination to conquer the south grew all the stronger.
8
顯德三年，遷兵部侍郎，加承旨。 世宗留心稼穡，命工刻木為耕夫、織婦、蠶女之狀，置於禁中，思廣勸課之道，穀為讚辭以進。 顯德六年，加吏部侍郎。
In the third year of Xiande he was promoted to vice minister of war and made chief academician of the Hanlin. Shizong took a close interest in agriculture and had artisans carve wooden figures of a plowman, a weaver, and a silkworm keeper for display in the inner palace as a way to promote farming; Gu wrote laudatory inscriptions and presented them. In the sixth year of Xiande he was also made vice minister of personnel.
9
宋初，轉禮部尚書，依前翰林承旨。 穀在翰林，與竇儀不協，儀有公望，慮其軋己，嘗附宰相趙普與趙逄、高錫輩共排儀，儀終不至相位。
Early in the Song he was made minister of rites while retaining his post as chief Hanlin academician. While serving in the Hanlin, Gu clashed with Dou Yi, whose public standing he feared would eclipse his own; he joined Chief Minister Zhao Pu, Zhao Feng, Gao Xi, and others in a campaign to block Yi, and Yi never rose to chief minister.
10
乾德二年，判吏部銓兼知貢舉。 再為南郊禮儀使，法物制度，多穀所定。 時范質為大禮使，以鹵簿清遊隊有甲騎具裝，莫知其制度，以問於穀。 穀曰：「梁貞明丁丑歲，河南尹張全義獻人甲三百副、馬具裝二百副。 其人甲以布為裏，黃絁表之，青綠畫為甲文，紅錦綠青絁為下帬，絳韋為絡，金銅玦，長短至膝。 前膺為人面二目，背連膺纏以紅錦騰蛇。 馬具裝蓋尋常馬甲，但加珂拂於前膺及後鞦爾。 莊宗入洛，悉焚毀。」 質命有司如穀說，造以給用。 又乘輿大輦，久亡其制，穀創意造之，後承用焉。 明德門成，詔穀為之記。
In the second year of Qiande he oversaw personnel selection in the Ministry of Personnel and supervised the civil service examinations. He again directed the southern suburban sacrifices, and most of the ritual regalia and procedures were established by him. Fan Zhi was then serving as grand ritual commissioner and, finding that the imperial procession's escort included armored cavalry in full trappings whose specifications were unknown, asked Gu about them. Gu replied, "In the dingchou year of Liang's Zhenming reign, Zhang Quanyi, governor of Henan, presented three hundred sets of infantry armor and two hundred sets of horse trappings. The infantry armor was lined with cloth, faced with yellow ge, painted in blue-green to resemble lamellar plates, with skirts of red brocade and green-blue ge, laced with crimson leather and fitted with gold and bronze fittings, reaching to the knee. The breastplate bore a human face with two eyes, and the back piece was joined to it with red brocade worked in the pattern of a soaring serpent. The horse trappings were essentially ordinary horse armor, with ornamental plumes added only to the chest piece and the crupper. When Zhuangzong entered Luoyang, the whole stock was burned." Fan Zhi ordered the appropriate offices to follow Gu's specifications and manufacture replacements. The great imperial carriage had also long since lost its specifications; Gu designed a new one that remained in use thereafter. When the Gate of Illustrious Virtue was completed, the court commissioned Gu to write its commemorative inscription.
11
乾德中，命庫部員外郎王貽孫、《周易》博士奚嶼同考試品官子弟。 穀屬其子鄑於嶼，鄑書不通，以合格聞，補殿中省進馬。 俄為人所發，下御史府案問，嶼責授乾州司戶，貽孫責授左贊善大夫，奪穀奉兩月。 穀後累加刑部、戶部二尚書。 開寶三年，卒，年六十八。 贈右僕射。
During the Qiande era he appointed Vice Director Wang Yisun of the treasury bureau and Doctor of the Changes Xi Yu to examine the sons of ranked officials. Gu asked Xi Yu to look after his son Zou, whose examination papers were incompetent yet were reported as passing, and Zou was appointed presenter of horses in the palace domestic service. The affair was soon exposed; the censorate investigated; Xi Yu was demoted to revenue clerk in Qianzhou, Wang Yisun to left supporter of the heir apparent, and Gu's salary was suspended for two months. Gu was later promoted in succession to minister of punishments and minister of revenue. He died in the third year of Kaibao at the age of sixty-eight. He was posthumously enfeoffed as right vice director of the Department of State Affairs.
12
穀強記嗜學，博通經史，諸子佛老，咸所總覽； 多蓄法書名畫，善隸書。 為人雋辨宏博，然奔競務進，見後學有文采者，必極言以譽之； 聞達官有聞望者，則巧詆以排之，其多忌好名類此。 初，太祖將受禪，未有禪文，穀在旁，出諸懷中而進之曰：「已成矣。」 太祖甚薄之。 嘗自曰：「吾頭骨法相非常，當戴貂蟬冠爾。」 蓋有意大用也，人多笑之。 子邴，至起居舍人。 天禧四年，錄穀孫寔試秘書省校書郎。
Gu had an extraordinary memory and loved learning; he mastered the classics and histories and had read widely in the philosophical masters, Buddhist texts, and Daoist writings; he collected many fine calligraphies and famous paintings and wrote an excellent clerical hand. He was sharp-witted and learned, but ambitious and eager to advance; whenever he met a talented junior scholar he lavished praise on him; yet when he heard of a senior official with a strong reputation, he would contrive slanders to bring him down—his jealousy and hunger for fame showed in countless ways like this. When Taizu was preparing to accept the abdication, no abdication text had yet been drafted; Gu stood beside him, pulled a document from his robe, and presented it with the words, "It is already done." Taizu despised him for it. He once said of himself, "The bone structure of my skull is extraordinary—I am destined to wear the premier's cap with its cicada ornament." He clearly meant that he was destined for the highest office, and many people mocked him for it. His son Bing rose to the post of attendant of the imperial diary. In the fourth year of Tianxi, Gu's grandson Shi passed the examination for collator in the Secretariat.
13
扈蒙，字日用，幽州安次人。 曾祖洋，涿州別駕。 祖智周，盧龍軍節度推官。 父曾，內園使。 蒙少能文，晉天福中，舉進士，入漢為鄠縣主簿。 趙思綰叛，遣郭從義討之。 郡縣吏供給皆戎服趨事，蒙冠服褒博，舉止舒緩，從義頗訝之。 轉運使李穀謂曰：「蒙文學名流，不習吏事。」 遂不之問。 周廣順中，從歸德軍節度趙暉為掌書記，召為右拾遺、直史館、知制誥。 蒙從弟載時為翰林學士，兄弟並掌內外制，時號「二扈」。
Hu Meng, styled Riyong, came from Anci in You Prefecture. His great-grandfather Yang had served as vice prefect of Zhuo Prefecture. His grandfather Zhizhou had been a judicial aide on the staff of the Luolong military governor. His father Zeng had been commissioner of the imperial gardens. Meng showed literary talent early; during the Jin Tianfu era he passed the jinshi examination, and under the Later Han he served as registrar of E County. When Zhao Sizong rebelled, Guo Congyi was sent to suppress him. The county and prefectural officials all wore military dress as they hurried about their duties, but Meng appeared in full scholarly robes and moved with unhurried grace, which greatly surprised Congyi. Transport commissioner Li Gu explained, "Meng is a literary gentleman and is not accustomed to administrative work." Congyi left him alone after that. During the Zhou Guangshun era he served as secretary to Zhao Hui, military governor of Guide, and was then summoned to the posts of right reminder, duty historian in the History Office, and drafter of edicts. Meng's cousin Zai was then a Hanlin academician, and the two of them together handled palace and court edicts, earning the nickname "the two Hus."
14
宋初，由中書舍人遷翰林學士，坐請託於同年仇華，黜為太子左贊善大夫，稍遷左補闕，掌大名市征。 六年，復知制誥，充史館修撰。 開寶中，受詔與李穆等同修《五代史》，詳定《古今本草》。 五年，連知貢舉。
Early in the Song he rose from secretariat drafter to Hanlin academician but was demoted to left supporter of the heir apparent for having solicited favors for his examination-year fellow Qiu Hua; he was later made left remonstrator and put in charge of market taxes at Daming. In the sixth year of his reign he was restored to drafting edicts and appointed compiler in the History Office. During the Kaibao era he was ordered to join Li Mu and others in compiling the History of the Five Dynasties and in revising the Comprehensive Materia Medica of Past and Present. In the fifth year he again supervised the civil service examinations.
15
七年，蒙上書言：「昔唐文宗每召大臣論事，必命起居郎、起居舍人執筆立於殿側，以紀時政，故《文宗實錄》稍為詳備。 至後唐明宗，亦命端明殿學士及樞密直學士輪修日曆，送史官。 近來此事都廢，每季雖有內殿日曆，樞密院錄送史館，然所記者不過臣下對見辭謝而已。 帝王言動，莫得而書。 緣宰相以漏泄為虞，昧於宣播； 史官疏遠，何得與聞。 望自今凡有裁制之事，優恤之言，發自宸衷、可書簡策者，並委宰臣及參知政事每月輪知抄錄，以備史官撰集。」 從之，即以參知政事盧多遜典其事。
In the seventh year Meng memorialized, "In the Tang, whenever Emperor Wenzong summoned his ministers to discuss state affairs, he had the attendants of the imperial diary stand at the side of the hall with brush in hand to record what was said, which is why the Veritable Records of Emperor Wenzong are relatively full. Under Later Tang Emperor Mingzong as well, academicians of the Hall of Illustrious Brightness and direct academicians of the Bureau of Military Affairs were ordered to compile the court diary in rotation and submit it to the historiographers. Recently this practice has fallen into complete disuse; although each quarter an inner-palace diary and records from the Bureau of Military Affairs are still sent to the History Office, they note nothing beyond officials' audiences, leave-takings, and expressions of gratitude. The emperor's own words and deeds go unrecorded. Because chief ministers fear leaks, they are reluctant to circulate information; and the historiographers stand too far outside the inner circle to learn what happened. I ask that henceforth all decisions, expressions of favor, and other pronouncements from the imperial heart worthy of the historical record be entrusted to the chief ministers and vice directors of the Secretariat to copy in monthly rotation for the historiographers' use." The emperor agreed and placed Vice Director Lu Duoxun in charge of the project.
16
九年正月，受朝乾元殿，降王在列，聲明大備。 蒙上《聖功頌》，以述太祖受禪、平一天下之功，其詞誇麗，有詔褒之。 為盧多遜所惡，出知江陵府。
In the first month of the ninth year the court assembled in the Hall of Qianyuan with the surrendered kings in attendance and full ceremonial music. Meng submitted his "Ode to Sagely Achievement," praising Taizu's acceptance of the abdication and unification of the realm; though the language was florid, an edict commended it. Lu Duoxun took a dislike to him, and he was sent out to serve as prefect of Jiangling.
17
太宗即位，召拜中書舍人，旋復翰林學士。 與李昉同修《太祖實錄》。 太平興國四年，從征太原還，轉戶部侍郎，加承旨。 雍熙三年，被疾，以工部尚書致仕。 未幾，卒，年七十二。 贈右僕射。
When Taizong succeeded to the throne he was recalled as secretariat drafter and soon restored to the Hanlin Academy. He joined Li Fang in compiling the Veritable Records of Taizu. In the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo, after returning from the Taiyuan campaign, he was made vice minister of revenue and chief Hanlin academician. In the third year of Yongxi he fell ill and retired with the rank of minister of works. He died soon afterward at the age of seventy-two. He was posthumously enfeoffed as right vice director of the Department of State Affairs.
18
自張昭、竇儀卒，典章儀注，多蒙所刊定。 初，太祖受周禪，追尊四廟，親郊，以宣祖配天。 及太宗即位，禮官以為舜郊嚳，商郊冥，周郊后稷，王業所因興也。 若漢高之太公，光武之南頓君，雖有帝父之尊，而無預配天之祭。 故自太平興國三年、六年再郊，並以太祖配，於禮為允。 太宗將東封，蒙定議曰：「嚴父莫大於配天，請以宣祖配天。」 自雍熙元年罷封禪為郊祀，遂行其禮，識者非之。
After the deaths of Zhang Zhao and Dou Yi, most revisions to court regulations and ritual protocols were made by Meng. When Taizu first accepted the Zhou abdication, he enshrined four generations of ancestors and performed the suburban sacrifice in person, matching his great-grandfather the Proclamation Ancestor with Heaven. When Taizong came to the throne, the ritual officials argued that Shun sacrificed to Ku, the Shang to Ming, and the Zhou to Hou Ji at the suburban rites—these were the ancestral spirits on whom each dynasty's kingship had been founded. Han Gaozu's father the Grand Duke and Guangwu's father the Lord of Nandun, though honored as imperial fathers, were never matched with Heaven in the suburban sacrifice. Thus when suburban sacrifices were held again in the third and sixth years of Taiping Xingguo, matching Taizu with Heaven was ritually proper. When Taizong prepared to perform the Feng sacrifice on Mount Tai, Meng ruled that "nothing honors the father more than matching him with Heaven" and proposed matching the Proclamation Ancestor with Heaven." After the Feng and Chan were abandoned in favor of suburban sacrifice in the first year of Yongxi, this arrangement was implemented, though scholars of ritual disapproved.
19
蒙性沉厚，不言人是非，好釋典，不喜殺，縉紳稱善人。 有笑疾，雖上前不自禁。 多著述，有《鰲山集》二十卷行於世。 載字仲熙，有傳，見《五代史》
Meng was sober and steady, never gossiping about others, devoted to Buddhist texts and averse to bloodshed; the gentry praised him as a good man. He suffered from uncontrollable fits of laughter, which he could not suppress even in the emperor's presence. He was a prolific author; his twenty-juan Collected Works from Aoshan circulated widely. Zai, styled Zhongxi, has a separate biography in the History of the Five Dynasties.
20
王著，字成象，單州單父人。 性豁達，無城府。 幼能屬文，漢乾祐中，舉進士。 周祖鎮大名，世宗侍行，聞著名，召置門下，因得謁見周祖。 廣順中，世宗鎮澶州，辟觀察支使。 隨世宗入朝，遷殿中丞； 即位，拜度支員外郎。 顯德三年，充翰林學士。 六年，丁家艱，起復。 南唐李景使其弟從善來貢，會恭帝嗣位，命著伴送至睢陽，加金部郎中、知制誥，賜金紫。 世宗靈駕赴慶陵，符后從行，公務悉資於著。
Wang Zhe, styled Chenxiang, came from Shanfu in Shan Prefecture. He was open-hearted and guileless. He showed literary talent early and passed the jinshi examination during the Later Han Qianyou era. When the Zhou founder was posted at Daming, Shizong accompanied him and, hearing of Zhe's reputation, took him onto his staff, through which Zhe gained an audience with the Zhou founder. During Guangshun, when Shizong was posted at Cao Prefecture, he appointed Zhe surveillance commissioner aide. He followed Shizong to the capital and was promoted to palace director; and when Shizong succeeded to the throne he was made vice director of the revenue section. In the third year of Xiande he was made a Hanlin academician. In the sixth year he went into mourning for a family death but was recalled to office before the mourning period ended. When Southern Tang's Li Jing sent his brother Congshan to present tribute, Emperor Gong had just succeeded to the throne; Zhe was ordered to escort the envoy to Suiyang, promoted to director in the Ministry of Revenue with responsibility for drafting edicts, and granted the gold-and-purple insignia. When Shizong's funeral procession went to Qing Mausoleum with Empress Fu in attendance, Zhe handled all the official arrangements.
21
宋初，加中書舍人。 建隆二年，知貢舉。 時亳州獻紫芝，鄆州獲白兔，隴州貢黃鸚鵡，著獻頌，因以規諫。 太祖甚嘉其意，下詔褒之。 四年春，宿直禁中，被酒，髮倒垂被面，夜扣滋德殿門求見。 帝怒，發其醉宿倡家之過，黜為比部員外郎。 乾德初，改兵部員外郎。 二年，復知制誥。 數月，加史館修撰、判館事。 三年，就轉戶部郎中。 六年，復為翰林學士，加兵部郎中，再知貢舉。 開寶二年冬，暴卒，年四十二。
Early in the Song he was made secretariat drafter. In the second year of Jianlong he supervised the civil service examinations. When Bozhou presented purple fungus, Yanzhou reported a white hare, and Longzhou offered a yellow parrot, Zhe submitted a eulogy that doubled as admonition. Taizu greatly approved his intent and issued an edict commending him. In the spring of the fourth year, while on night duty in the inner palace, he became drunk; his hair fell over his face, and in the night he knocked on the Gate of Nurturing Virtue demanding an audience. The emperor was furious, exposed his offense of spending the night drunk in a brothel, and demoted him to vice director in the Ministry of Revenue. Early in Qiande he was transferred to vice director in the Ministry of War. In the second year he was restored to drafting edicts. A few months later he was made compiler in the History Office with charge of its affairs. In the third year he was promoted to director in the Ministry of Revenue. In the sixth year he was restored to the Hanlin Academy, made director in the Ministry of War, and again supervised the civil service examinations. He died suddenly in the winter of the second year of Kaibao at the age of forty-two.
22
著少有俊才，世宗以幕府舊僚，眷待尤厚，常召見與語，命皇子出拜，每呼學士而不名。 屢欲相之，以其嗜酒，故遲留久之。 及世宗疾大漸，太祖與范質入受顧命，謂質等曰：「王著藩邸舊人，我若不諱，當命為相。」 世宗崩乃止。 著善與人交，好延譽後進，當世士大夫稱之。 有傳，見《五代史》。
Zhe had shown exceptional talent from youth; Shizong, remembering him as an old member of his staff, treated him with special favor, often summoned him for conversation, had the princes bow to him, and always addressed him as "Academician" without using his personal name. Shizong repeatedly intended to make him chief minister but kept putting it off because of his drinking. When Shizong's illness grew critical, Taizu and Fan Zhi came to receive his final instructions; he told Zhi and the others, "Wang Zhe is an old companion from my princely days; barring some obstacle, I would have made him chief minister." After Shizong died, nothing came of it. Zhe was sociable and generous in promoting younger scholars; his contemporaries among the gentry spoke well of him. He has a separate biography in the History of the Five Dynasties.
23
王祜，字景叔，大名莘人。 祖言，仕唐黎陽令。 父徹，舉後唐進士，至左拾遺。
Wang Hu, styled Jingshu, came from Shen in Daming Prefecture. His grandfather Yan had served as magistrate of Liyang under the Tang. His father Che passed the jinshi examination under Later Tang and rose to left remonstrator.
24
祜少篤志詞學，性倜儻有俊氣。 晉天福中，以書見桑維翰，稱其藻麗，由是名聞京師。 鄴帥杜重威辟為觀察支使。 漢初，重威移鎮睢陽，反側不自安，祜嘗勸之，使無反漢，不聽。 祜坐是貶沁州司戶參軍，因作書貽鄉友以見志，辭氣俊邁，人多稱之。 仕周，歷魏縣、南樂二令。
From youth Hu devoted himself to letters and possessed a bold, spirited temperament. During the Jin Tianfu era he submitted a literary work to Sang Weihan, who praised its elegance, and his reputation spread through the capital. Du Chongwei, military governor of Ye, recruited him as surveillance commissioner aide. Early in the Later Han, when Chongwei was transferred to Suiyang and grew restless, Hu urged him not to rebel against the Han court, but Chongwei would not listen. Hu was demoted to revenue clerk in Qinzhou for his association with Chongwei; he wrote a letter to hometown friends expressing his principles in lofty, vigorous language that won wide praise. Under the Zhou he served successively as magistrate of Wei County and Nanle.
25
太祖受禪，拜監察御史，由魏縣移知光州，遷殿中侍御史。 乾德三年，知制誥。 六年，加集賢院修撰，轉戶部員外郎。
When Taizu accepted the abdication, Hu was made investigating censor, transferred from Wei County to govern Guang Prefecture, and then promoted to attending censor in the palace. In the third year of Qiande he was put in charge of drafting edicts. In the sixth year he was made compiler in the Hall of Assembled Worthies and promoted to vice director in the Ministry of Revenue.
26
太祖征太原，已濟河。 諸州饋集上黨城中，車乘塞路，上聞之，將以稽留罪轉運使。 趙普曰：「六師方至，而轉運使以獲罪聞，敵必謂儲峙不充，有以窺我矣，非威遠之道也。 俾能治劇者，往蒞其州足矣。」 即命祜知潞州。 及至，饋餉無乏，路亦無壅，班師，召還。
When Taizu campaigned against Taiyuan, the army had already crossed the Yellow River. Supplies from the prefectures piled up in Shangdang city until the roads were choked with wagons; when the emperor heard of it he was ready to punish the transport commissioner for the delay. Zhao Pu said, "Our armies have only just arrived; if we punish the transport commissioner now, the enemy will think our supplies are inadequate and seize the chance to probe our weakness—that is no way to overawe distant foes. Send someone capable of handling difficult assignments to take charge of that prefecture—that will suffice." The emperor immediately appointed Hu prefect of Lu. When he arrived, supplies flowed without interruption and the roads were cleared; after the army withdrew he was recalled to court.
27
會符彥卿鎮大名，頗不治，太祖以祜代之，俾察彥卿動靜，謂曰：「此卿故鄉，所謂晝錦者也。」 祜以百口明彥卿無罪，且曰：「五代之君，多因猜忌殺無辜，故享國不永，願陛下以為戒。」 彥卿由是獲免，故世謂祜有陰德。
When Fu Yanqing was posted at Daming and governed poorly, Taizu sent Hu to replace him and watch Yanqing's conduct, telling him, "This is your native place—the occasion for returning in glory." Hu swore on the lives of his entire household that Yanqing was innocent and added, "The rulers of the Five Dynasties often destroyed innocent men through suspicion, and their dynasties therefore did not endure; I beg Your Majesty to take warning from this." Yanqing was spared, and later generations said Hu had earned hidden merit.
28
繼以用兵嶺表，徙知襄州。 湖湘平，移知潭州。 召還，攝判吏部銓。 時左司員外郎侯陟自揚州還，復判銓，祜判門下省，陟所注擬，祜多駁正。 盧多遜與陟善，陟因訴之，多遜素惡祜不比己，遂出祜為鎮國軍行軍司馬。
When troops were sent to the Lingnan region, he was transferred to Xiang Prefecture. After Hunan was pacified he was made prefect of Tanzhou. He was recalled and put in charge of personnel selection in the Ministry of Personnel. At that time Hou Zhi of the left office had returned from Yangzhou and resumed adjudicating selections; Hu handled appointments for the Secretariat and frequently overturned Zhi's nominations. Lu Duoxun was friendly with Zhi, and Zhi complained to him; Duoxun had long resented Hu for refusing to align with him and had Hu sent out as administrative aide on the staff of the Zhenguo army.
29
太平興國初，移知河中府。 入為左司員外郎，拜中書舍人，充史館修撰。 未幾，知開封府，以病請告。 太宗謂祜文章、清節兼著，特拜兵部侍郎。 月餘卒，年六十四。
Early in Taiping Xingguo he was transferred to Hezhong Prefecture. He was recalled as vice director of the left office, made secretariat drafter, and appointed compiler in the History Office. Soon afterward he was put in charge of Kaifeng Prefecture but requested sick leave. Taizong, noting Hu's literary distinction and integrity, specially promoted him to vice minister of war. He died a little over a month later at the age of sixty-four.
30
初，祜掌誥，會盧多遜為學士，陰傾趙普，多遜累諷祜比己，祜不從。 一日，以宇文融排張說事勸釋之，多遜滋不悅。 及普再入，多遜果敗，與宇文融事頗類，識者服其先見。
When Hu was drafting edicts, Hanlin academician Lu Duoxun was secretly working to undermine Zhao Pu and repeatedly urged Hu to join him, but Hu refused. One day Hu cited Yuwen Rong's persecution of Zhang Yue as a warning, which only deepened Duoxun's resentment. When Pu returned to power, Duoxun indeed fell—a outcome much like the Yuwen Rong affair—and observers admired Hu's foresight.
31
祜子三人：曰懿，曰旦，曰旭。 旦自有傳。 初，祜知貢舉，多拔擢寒俊，畢士安、柴成務皆其所取也，後與其子旦同入兩制，居中書。 懿，字文德，勵志為學，舉進士，嘗知袁州，有政績，卒，年四十九。
Hu had three sons: Yi, Dan, and Xu. Dan has a separate biography. When Hu supervised the examinations he promoted many talented men from humble backgrounds, including Bi Shian and Chai Chengwu; later he and his son Dan both served in the drafting offices and reached the Secretariat. Yi, styled Wende, devoted himself to scholarship, passed the jinshi examination, served as prefect of Yuanzhou with distinction, and died at forty-nine.
32
子旭
His son Xu
33
旭字仲明。 嚴於治內，恕以接物，尤篤友誼。 以蔭補太祝，嘗知緱氏縣。 時官鄰邑者多貪猥，民有「永寧三钁，緱氏一鎌」之謠。 又知雍丘縣。
Xu, styled Zhongming. He was strict in managing his household but lenient toward others and especially loyal in friendship. He entered service by yin privilege as grand sacrificer and once served as magistrate of Gou Clan County. Officials in nearby counties were notoriously corrupt and grasping, and the people sang: "Yongning needs three hoes, Gou Clan County needs but one sickle." He later served as magistrate of Yongqiu County as well.
34
真宗尹京時，素聞其能，及踐阼，三遷至殿中丞。 自旦居宰府，旭以嫌不任職。 王矩嘗薦旭材堪治劇，真宗召旦謂曰：「前代弟兄同居要地者多矣，朝廷任才，豈以卿故屈之邪？」 命授京府推官，旦固辭，改判南曹。 由判國子監出知潁州，荒政修舉。
Zhenzong had already heard of Xu's talents while serving as heir apparent in the capital, and after his accession he promoted Xu three times until he reached the rank of palace bureau director. Once Dan became chief minister, Xu stopped taking office to avoid the appearance of nepotism. Wang Ju once recommended Xu as capable of handling demanding posts, and Zhenzong summoned Dan and said, "Brothers have often held high office together in past dynasties. The court appoints men for their ability—surely it would not hold your brother back on your account?" The emperor then ordered Xu appointed as an investigator for the capital prefecture, but Dan firmly declined the post, and Xu was instead assigned as vice director of the Southern Bureau. After serving as vice director of the Directorate of Education, he was sent out to govern Ying Prefecture, where he organized famine relief with notable success.
35
大中祥符間，旦既薨，敭歷中外，卓有政績，由兵部郎中出知應天府。 卒，年六十八。
In the Dazhong Xiangfu period, after Dan's death, Xu served in both central and local posts with distinguished achievements, and from his post as bureau director in the Ministry of War he was appointed prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. He died at the age of sixty-eight.
36
懿子睦，旭子質，皆能其官。
Yi's son Mu and Xu's son Zhi both proved themselves fully equal to their duties.
37
孫質
His son Zhi
38
質，字子野。 少謹厚淳約，力學問，師事楊億，億歎以為英妙。 伯父旦見其所為文，嗟賞之。 以蔭補太常寺奉禮郎。 後獻文召試，賜進士及第，被薦為館閣校勘，改集賢校理，累遷尚書祠部員外郎。 丁父憂，與諸弟飯脫粟茹蔬。 終喪，通判蘇州，州守黃宗旦少質，嘗因爭事，宗旦曰：「少年乃與丈人抗邪？」 質曰：「事有當爭，職也。」 卒不為屈。 宗旦得盜鑄錢者百餘人，下獄治，退告質曰：「吾以術鉤致得之。」 喜見於色。 質曰：「以術鉤人置之死而又喜，仁者之政，固如是乎？」 宗旦慚沮，為薄其罪。 還判尚書刑部、吏部南曹，知蔡州。 州人歲時祀吳元濟廟，質曰：「安有逆醜而廟食於民者。」 毀之，為更立狄仁傑、李愬像而祠之，蔡人至今號「雙廟」。 以本曹郎中召為開封府推官。 時兄雍為三司判官，質不欲兄弟並居省府，懇辭，得知壽州，徙廬州。 盜殺其徒，并貲而遁，捕得之。 質論盜死，大理以謂法不當死，質曰：「盜殺其徒，自首者原之，所以疑懷其黨，且許之自新，此法意也。 今殺人取貲而捕獲，貸之，豈法意乎？」 疏上，不報，降監舒州靈仙觀。 採古今煉形攝生之術，撰《寶元總錄》百卷。 逾年，韓琦知審刑院，請盜殺其徒，非自首者勿原，著為令。 於是鄭戩、葉清臣皆言質非罪，且稱其材，起知泰州，遷度支郎中，徙荊湖北路轉運使。
Zhi, styled Ziye. From boyhood he was careful, honest, and unpretentious, and he applied himself to scholarship under Yang Yi, who marveled at his exceptional talent. When his uncle Dan read his essays, he praised them with deep admiration. He entered service by yin privilege as a ceremonial officer in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He later submitted his writings for a palace examination, passed the jinshi with highest honors, was recommended as an archives collator, then served as a collator in the Hall of Assembled Worthies, and rose to assistant department director in the Ministry of Rites. While mourning his father, he and his younger brothers lived on husked millet and vegetables alone. After the mourning period he served as judicial intendant of Suzhou, where Prefect Huang Zongdan looked down on him for his youth; once during a dispute Zongdan said, "How dare a young man stand up to his senior?" Zhi replied, "When a matter ought to be contested, that is simply doing one's duty." He refused to back down. Zongdan arrested more than a hundred counterfeiters and had them imprisoned for trial; afterward he told Zhi with satisfaction, "I caught them by setting a trap." His delight was plain to see. Zhi said, "You trap men with schemes, send them to their deaths, and then rejoice—is that what benevolent government looks like?" Ashamed and abashed, Zongdan lightened their sentences. He was reassigned as vice director of the Ministry of Justice and the Southern Bureau of the Ministry of Personnel, and then appointed prefect of Cai Prefecture. Each year the people of the prefecture made offerings at the temple of Wu Yuanji, but Zhi said, "How can a rebel and traitor be worshipped by the people?" He tore the temple down and rebuilt it with images of Di Renjie and Li Su for worship, and the people of Cai still call it the "Twin Temples." From his post as bureau director he was recalled to serve as an investigator for the Kaifeng prefecture. His elder brother Yong was then a judicial officer of the Three Departments, and Zhi, unwilling to have both brothers serving together in the capital offices, declined the post and was instead appointed prefect of Shou Prefecture, then transferred to Lu Prefecture. A bandit killed his fellows, seized their goods, and fled, but was eventually caught. Zhi argued that the bandit deserved death, but the Court of Judicial Review held that the law did not require it; Zhi said, "The law pardons bandits who kill their companions only if they surrender voluntarily, so as to sow distrust among their fellows and give them a chance to reform—that is the law's purpose. But this man murdered his companions, seized their property, and was captured in flight—if he is pardoned now, how does that serve the law's intent?" His memorial went unanswered, and he was demoted to superintendent of the Lingxian Abbey in Shuzhou. He gathered methods of body cultivation and longevity from antiquity and his own day, and wrote the "Comprehensive Record of the Baoyuan Era" in one hundred juan. More than a year later, Han Qi, as director of the Court of Judicial Review, petitioned that bandits who kill their companions should not be pardoned unless they surrender voluntarily, and this was enacted as law. Zheng Xian and Ye Qingchen then declared that Zhi had committed no crime and praised his abilities; he was restored to office as prefect of Taizhou, promoted to bureau director of the treasury, and appointed transport commissioner for the Jinghu North circuit.
39
嘗攝江陵府事，或訴民約婚後期，民言貧無貲以辦，故違約。 質問其費幾何，出私錢予之。 吏捕盜人衣者，盜叩頭曰：「平生不為過，迫饑寒而至於此。」 質命取衣衣之，遣去。 加史館修撰、同判吏部流內銓。 擢天章閣待制，出知陝州，卒。
While temporarily handling affairs at Jiangling Prefecture, he heard a suit against a man who had missed the deadline for a betrothal; the man explained that poverty left him without the means to proceed, and so he had broken the engagement. Zhi asked what the expenses would come to and paid them out of his own purse. When an official arrested a man for stealing clothes, the thief kowtowed and said, "I have never done wrong before; hunger and cold drove me to this." Zhi had clothes brought to dress him and let him go. He was also made a historiographer of the History Office and co-director of the Ministry of Personnel's stream-within selection board. Promoted to gentleman awaiting appointment at the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations, he was sent out to govern Shan Prefecture, where he died.
40
質家世富貴，兄弟習為驕侈，而質克己好善，自奉簡素如寒士，不喜畜財，至不能自給。 初，旦為中書舍人，家貧，與昆弟貸人息錢，違期，以所乘馬償之。 質閱書得故券，召子弟示之曰：「此吾家素風，爾曹當毋忘也。」 范仲淹貶饒州，治朋黨方急，質獨載酒往餞。 或以誚質，質曰：「范公賢者，得為之黨，幸矣。」 世以此益賢之。
Though Zhi came from a wealthy and eminent family and his brothers lived in accustomed luxury, he disciplined himself, loved what was good, and kept to a plain life like a poor scholar; he refused to hoard wealth and sometimes could barely support himself. In the early days, when Dan was a Secretariat drafter, the family was so poor that he and his brothers borrowed money at interest; when they missed the repayment date, they settled the debt with the horse Dan rode. While reading one day, Zhi came upon the old contract; he gathered the younger members of the family and said, "This is the spirit of our house—never forget it." When Fan Zhongyan was exiled to Raozhou at the height of the campaign against factional cliques, Zhi alone went with wine to bid him farewell. When some ridiculed him for it, Zhi said, "Master Fan is a man of worth; to be counted among his associates would be an honor." People admired him all the more for it.
41
楊昭儉
Next is Yang Zhaojian.
42
楊昭儉，字仲寶，京兆長安人。 曾祖嗣復，唐門下侍郎、平章事、吏部尚書。 祖授，唐刑部尚書。 父景，梁左諫議大夫。
Yang Zhaojian, styled Zhongbao, came from Chang'an in Jingzhao. His great-grandfather Sifu had served the Tang as vice director of the Secretariat, grand councillor, and minister of personnel. His grandfather Shou had been Tang minister of justice. His father Jing had served the Liang as left remonstrance bureau grandee.
43
昭儉少敏俊，後唐長興中，登進士第。 解褐成德軍節度推官。 歷鎮、魏掌書記，拜左拾遺、直史館，與中書舍人張昭遠等同修《明宗實錄》。 書成，遷殿中侍御史。
Zhaojian was quick and brilliant as a youth, and during the Changxing era of Later Tang he passed the jinshi examination. He began his career as a military investigator on the staff of the Chengde circuit. He served as secretary at Zhen and Wei, was appointed left reminder and duty historian, and joined Secretariat drafter Zhang Zhaoyuan and others in compiling the "Veritable Records of Emperor Mingzong." When the work was finished, he was promoted to palace attendant censor.
44
天福初，改禮部員外郎。 晉祖命宰相馮道為契丹冊禮使，以昭儉為介，授職方員外郎，旋加虞部郎中，俄以本官知制誥。 不逾月三拜命，時人榮之。 又為荊南高從誨生辰國信使，賜金紫。 使回，拜中書舍人，又為翰林學士。
At the beginning of the Tianfu era he was appointed assistant director of the Ministry of Rites. The Jin founder appointed Chief Minister Feng Dao envoy for the Khitan investiture mission with Zhaojian as his deputy; Zhaojian was made assistant director of the Bureau of Appointments, then bureau director of the forestry bureau, and soon afterward was given the concurrent duty of drafting edicts. In less than a month he received three appointments in succession, to the envy of his contemporaries. He also served as birthday envoy to Gao Conghui of Jingnan and was awarded the gold-and-purple insignia of high rank. After returning from the mission he was appointed Secretariat drafter and also made a Hanlin academician.
45
時驕將張彥澤鎮涇原，暴殺從事張式，朝廷不加罪。 昭儉與刑部郎中李濤、諫議大夫鄭受益抗疏論列，請置之法。 疏奏不報。 會有詔令朝臣轉對，或有封事，亦許以不時條奏。 昭儉復上疏曰：「天子君臨四海，日有萬機，懋建諍臣，彌縫其闕。 今則諫臣雖設，言路不通，藥石之論不達於聖聰，而邪佞之徒取容於左右。 御史臺紀綱之府，彈糾之司，銜冤者固當昭雪，為蠹者難免放流。 陛下臨御以來，寬仁太甚，徒置兩司，殆如虛器。 遂令節使慢侮朝章，屠害幕吏，始訴冤於丹闕，反執送於本藩。 苟安跋扈之心，莫恤冤抑之苦。 願回睿斷，誅彥澤以謝軍吏。」 由是權臣忌之。 會請告洛陽，不赴晉祖喪，為有司所糾，停官。
At that time the overbearing general Zhang Yanze, stationed at Jingyuan, had brutally murdered his staff officer Zhang Shi, yet the court imposed no punishment. Zhaojian joined Bureau Director Li Tao of the Ministry of Justice and Remonstrance Bureau Grandee Zheng Shouyi in a forceful memorial detailing the crime and demanding that Zhang be punished according to law. Their memorial received no reply. An edict then ordered court officials to take turns addressing the throne, and also allowed sealed memorials to be submitted at any time. Zhaojian submitted another memorial: "The Son of Heaven rules the four seas and faces ten thousand affairs each day; remonstrating ministers should be established to repair the court's failings. Yet though remonstrators exist in name, the path of candid speech is blocked; honest counsel never reaches the emperor's ears, while sycophants win favor at his side. The Censorate exists to uphold discipline and investigate wrongdoing; the wronged ought to be vindicated, and corrupt officials ought to be punished with demotion and exile. Since Your Majesty took the throne, excessive leniency has rendered both offices little more than empty titles. The result is that military commissioners scorn the laws of the court and butcher their staff; victims who appeal for justice at the palace gates are sent back to the very provinces that wronged them. They rest secure in their arrogance and give no thought to the anguish of those whose grievances are suppressed. I beg Your Majesty to act with resolute judgment and execute Yanze to satisfy the officers and men." Powerful ministers therefore came to resent him. He happened to be on leave in Luoyang and failed to attend the Jin founder's funeral; the authorities impeached him and he was stripped of his post.
46
未幾，起為河南少尹，改秘書少監，尋復中書舍人。 時河決數郡，大發丁夫，以本部帥董其役，既而塞之。 晉少主喜，詔立碑記其事。 昭儉表諫曰：「陛下刻石紀功，不若降哀痛之詔； 摛翰頌美，不若頒罪己之文。」 言甚切至，少主嗟賞之，卒罷其事。 周世宗愛其才，復召入翰林為學士。 歲餘，改御史中丞，多振舉臺憲故事。 未幾，以鞫獄之失，與知雜御史趙礪、侍御史張糾並出為武勝軍節度行軍司馬。
Before long he was restored as vice governor of Henan, then made vice director of the Secretariat, and soon returned to his post as Secretariat drafter. When the Yellow River broke its banks in several prefectures, corvée labor was mobilized on a vast scale under the local commander, and the breach was eventually closed. The young Jin emperor was delighted and ordered a stele erected to commemorate the achievement. Zhaojian remonstrated in a memorial: "Your Majesty, rather than carving stone to celebrate success, it would be better to issue an edict expressing grief and concern; rather than wielding the brush in praise, it would be better to publish a proclamation of self-reproach." His words were forceful and sincere; the young emperor sighed in admiration and ultimately abandoned the plan. Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou admired his talent and recalled him to the Hanlin Academy as an academician. After little more than a year he was made censor-in-chief and restored many long-neglected censorate practices. Soon afterward, because of errors in adjudicating cases, he was demoted together with supervising censor Zhao Li and attendant censor Zhang Jiu to traveling vice marshal of the Wusheng Army.
47
開寶二年，入為太子詹事，以眼疾求退。 六年，以工部尚書致仕。 太宗即位，就加禮部尚書。 太平興國二年，卒，年七十六。
In the second year of Kaibao he was appointed tutor of the heir apparent, but he requested retirement because of failing eyesight. In the sixth year he retired with the rank of minister of works. When Emperor Taizong took the throne, Zhaojian was further honored with the title of minister of rites. He died in the second year of Taiping Xingguo at the age of seventy-six.
48
昭儉美風儀，善談名理，事晉有直聲。 然利口喜譏訾，執政大臣懼其構謗，多曲徇其意。
Zhaojian had an elegant bearing, spoke well on philosophical principles, and won a reputation for integrity under the Jin. Yet he had a sharp tongue and loved to mock and criticize; the chief ministers feared his attacks and often humored him.
49
魚崇諒
Next is Yu Chongliang.
50
魚崇諒，字仲益，其先楚州山陽人，後徙於陝。 崇諒初名崇遠，後避漢祖諱改之。 幼能屬文，弱冠，相州刺史辟為從事。 會魏帥楊師厚卒，建相州為昭德軍，分魏郡州縣之半以隸之。 魏人不便，裨校張彥及帳下，囚節度使賀德倫歸款莊宗，崇諒奔歸陝。
Yu Chongliang, styled Zhongyi, came from a family originally of Shanyang in Chuzhou that later relocated to Shan. Chongliang had originally been named Chongyuan but changed his name to avoid the imperial taboo of the Han founder. He could write essays from childhood, and upon reaching adulthood he was recruited as a staff officer by the prefect of Xiangzhou. When the Wei military governor Yang Shihou died, Xiangzhou was made the seat of the Zhaode Army, and half of the counties of Wei Prefecture were placed under its jurisdiction. The people of Wei were unhappy with the change; staff officer Zhang Yan and his followers imprisoned Military Commissioner He Delun and surrendered to Zhuangzong, while Chongliang fled back to Shan.
51
漢祖之入，盡索崇諒所受契丹詔敕，焚於朝堂，復令知製制誥。 俄拜翰林學士，就加中書舍人。 隱帝即位，崇諒以母老求就養，除保義軍節度副使，領台州刺史，食郡奉。 會舉師討三叛，節度使白文珂在軍前，崇諒知後事。 凡供軍儲備調發，皆促期而辦，近鎮賴之。 崇諒親屬盡在鳳翔城中，逾年城破，李穀為轉運使，庇護崇諒家數十口，皆無恙。 崇諒請告，自岐迎居於陝。 未幾，王仁裕罷內職，朝議請召崇諒為學士。
When the Han founder took power, he had all the Khitan edicts Chongliang had received seized and burned in the court hall, then restored him to the duty of drafting edicts. He was soon appointed Hanlin academician and concurrently made Secretariat drafter. When Emperor Yin acceded, Chongliang asked to be posted near home to care for his aging mother; he was appointed vice military commissioner of the Baoyi Army with the concurrent title of prefect of Taizhou and drew the prefectural salary. When an expedition was launched against the three rebellions, Military Commissioner Bai Wenke took the field while Chongliang managed affairs behind the lines. Whatever the army needed in stores or transfers, he met every deadline, and the surrounding commands depended on him. Chongliang's entire family was trapped in Fengxiang; when the city fell after more than a year, Transport Commissioner Li Gu sheltered several dozen of his kin, and none came to harm. Chongliang took leave to go from Qi and bring them to live with him in Shan. Soon afterward Wang Renyu left his inner-court post, and the court proposed recalling Chongliang as a Hanlin academician.
52
周祖踐祚，書詔繁委，皆崇諒為之。 廣順初，加工部侍郎，充職。 會兗州慕容彥超加封邑，彥超已懷反側，遣崇諒充使賜官告，仍慰撫之。 時多進策人，命崇諒就樞密院引試，考定升降。
After the Zhou founder took the throne, the flood of written edicts all passed through Chongliang's hand. Early in the Guangshun era he was additionally made Vice Director of the Ministry of Works and continued in his duties. When Murong Yanchao of Yanzhou was granted an enlarged fief, he was already nursing treasonous thoughts; Chongliang was dispatched to present the patent of appointment and offer reassuring words. With many men then submitting policy proposals, the court had Chongliang examine candidates at the Bureau of Military Affairs and rank them for promotion or demotion.
53
崇諒以母老思鄉里，求解官歸養。 詔給長告，賜其母衣服、繒帛、茶藥、緡錢，假滿百日，令本州月給錢三萬，米麪十五斛。 俄拜禮部侍郎，復為學士。 詔令侍母歸闕，崇諒再表以母老病乞終養，優詔不允。 世宗征高平，崇諒尚未至，陶穀乘間言曰：「魚崇諒逗留不來，有顧望意。」 世宗頗疑之。 崇諒又表陳母病，詔許歸陝州就養。 訖太祖朝不起。
With an aging mother who longed for home, Chongliang asked to leave office and return to care for her. The emperor granted him extended leave and sent his mother gifts of clothing, silk, tea, medicine, and cash; after the hundred-day leave, his home prefecture was to pay him thirty thousand cash and fifteen bushels of grain each month. He was soon made Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites and restored as a Hanlin academician. When ordered to bring his mother back to court, Chongliang memorialized again citing her age and illness and pleading to retire for good to support her; the emperor's gracious reply refused. During Emperor Shizong's Gaoping campaign, Chongliang had not yet reported for duty; Tao Gu seized the moment and said, "Yu Chongliang is dragging his feet and never showing up—he is clearly wavering." The emperor grew quite suspicious of him. Chongliang submitted another memorial citing his mother's illness, and the emperor allowed him to retire to Shanzhou and care for her there. He never returned to office for the rest of Emperor Taizu's reign.
54
太宗即位，詔授金紫光祿大夫、尚書兵部侍郎致仕。 歲餘卒。
When Emperor Taizong acceded, he was granted the titles Golden Purple-Glow Grandee of the Palace and Vice Director of the Ministry of War in honorific retirement. He died a little over a year later.
55
張澹，字成文，其先南陽人，徙家河南。 澹幼而好學，有才藻。 晉開運初，登進士第。 宰相桑維翰器之，妻以女。 解褐校書郎，直昭文館，再遷秘書郎，充鹽鐵推官，歷左拾遺、禮部員外郎，並充史館修撰。 出為洛陽令，秩滿，授吏部員外，復充史館修撰。 周恭帝初，拜右司員外郎、知制誥。
Zhang Dan, styled Chenwen, came from a family originally of Nanyang that later settled in Henan. Dan loved learning from childhood and showed real literary gift. In the early Kaiyun era of Later Jin he earned his jinshi degree. Chief Minister Sang Weihan took a liking to him and married him to his daughter. He entered service as a proofreader and staff member of the Zhaowen Hall, rose to secretary, served as an investigating officer on the Salt and Iron Commission, held the posts of Left Reminder and Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites, and throughout also worked as a historiographer in the History Institute. He served as magistrate of Luoyang, and when his term expired he was made Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel and again assigned to the History Institute. Early in the reign of Zhou's Gongdi he was made Right Division Vice Director and put in charge of drafting edicts.
56
建隆二年，加祠部郎中。 會秘書郎張去華上書自薦有文藝，願與澹及祠部員外郎知制誥盧多遜、殿中侍御史師頌並試，覈定優劣。 太祖令並試於講武殿，澹所對不應策問，責授左司員外郎。 未幾，通判泰州兼海陵鹽監副使。 蜀平，通判梓州，復拜祠部郎中。
In Jianlong 2 he was further promoted to Director of the Ministry of Sacrifices. Secretary Zhang Quhua then submitted a memorial claiming literary merit and asking to compete alongside Dan, Edict Drafter Lu Duosun of the Ministry of Sacrifices, and Palace Attendant Censor Shi Song so their relative talents could be judged. Taizu had them examined in the Hall of Martial Lectures; Dan's answers missed the point of the policy questions, and he was demoted to Left Division Vice Director. Soon afterward he was assigned as co-prefect of Taizhou and deputy commissioner of the Hailing salt works. After the conquest of Shu he served as co-prefect of Zizhou and was again made Director of the Ministry of Sacrifices.
57
開寶初，就轉倉部郎中。 四年冬，以本官復知制誥。 六年，會李昉責授，盧多遜使江南，內署闕學士，太祖令澹權直學士院。 七年長春節，攝殿中監，進酒，命賜金紫。 六月，權點檢三司事。 不逾旬，疽發背卒，年五十六。 太祖聞其無子，甚愍之，命中使護葬於洛陽。
Early in the Kaibao era he was transferred on the spot to Director of the Ministry of Granaries. In the winter of the fourth year he resumed drafting edicts at his existing rank. In the sixth year, with Li Fang demoted and Lu Duosun dispatched to Jiangnan, the inner secretariat had no academician on duty; Taizu had Dan serve temporarily as head of the Hanlin Academy. At the Changchun festival in the seventh year he acted as Director of the Palace Receptions and presented the wine; the emperor then granted him golden-purple insignia. In the sixth month he was temporarily put in charge of inspecting Three Departments affairs. In less than ten days a carbuncle on his back brought him down; he was fifty-six. Learning he had no son, Taizu was deeply moved and ordered a palace envoy to supervise his burial in Luoyang.
58
澹美風儀，善談論，歷官釐務，所至皆治。 初與詞臣校藝，黜居郎署，頗怏怏。 晚年附會盧多遜，方再獲進用。
Dan had an elegant bearing and a gift for conversation; in every post he took up he put affairs in order and left things well governed. After losing a literary contest to fellow drafters and being pushed back to routine bureau work, he was deeply discontented. Only in his later years, by currying favor with Lu Duosun, did he win promotion again.
59
淳化中，太宗論及文士，曰：「澹典書命而試以策，非其所長，此蓋陶穀、高錫黨張去華以沮澹爾。 若使穀輩出其不意而遽試之，豈有不失律者邪？」
During the Chunhua era, discussing men of letters, Emperor Taizong said, "Dan had been drafting imperial edicts, yet they tested him on policy questions—not his forte. Surely Tao Gu and Gao Xi rallied behind Zhang Quhua to block Dan's path. If Gu and his friends were tested out of the blue, would none of them miss the mark?"
60
高錫，字天福，河中虞鄉人。 家世業儒，幼潁悟，能屬文。 漢乾祐中，舉進士。 王晏鎮徐州，辟掌書記； 留守西洛，又辟河南府推官。 坐按獄失實奪官，遷置涇州，會赦得歸。 周顯德初，劉崇入寇，宰相請選將拒之，世宗銳意親征，破崇高平，誅敗將樊愛能等，由是政無大小悉親決之，不復責成有司。 錫徒步詣招諫匭上書，請擇賢任官，分治眾職，疏奏不報。 世宗嘗令翰林學士及兩省官分撰俳優詞，付教坊肄習，以奉遊宴。 錫復上疏諫。 後為蔡州防禦推官。
Gao Xi, styled Tianfu, came from Yuxiang in Hezhong. His family had long been devoted to learning; bright from childhood, he could already write essays. During the Qianyou era of Later Han he sat for the jinshi examination. When Wang Yan governed Xuzhou he recruited Xi as his chief secretary; and when Wang held the western capital he also appointed Xi investigating officer of Henan Prefecture. He lost his post when a criminal case he handled proved unfounded; after being reassigned to Jing Prefecture he was able to return home when an amnesty was proclaimed. Early in the Xiande era, when Liu Chong raided the border, the chief minister urged sending a general against him; Emperor Shizong insisted on taking the field himself, won at Gaoping, and executed the failed generals Fan Aineng and others. From then on he decided every matter himself, great or small, and no longer held the regular offices accountable. Xi walked to the public suggestion box and submitted a memorial urging the appointment of worthy men and a proper division of duties among offices; it went unanswered. Shizong once ordered Hanlin academicians and Secretariat officials to compose lyrics for variety players, have them rehearsed at the Court Entertainment Office, and perform them at his banquets and outings. Xi submitted another memorial in protest. He later served as investigating officer on the defense staff of Cai Prefecture.
61
宋初，棄官歸京師，詣匭上疏，請禁兵器，疏入不報。 建隆五年，又以書干宰相范質，質奏用為著作佐郎。 明年春，遷監察御史。 秋，拜左拾遺、知制誥，加屯田員外郎。
Early in the Song he quit his post and returned to the capital, placed another memorial in the suggestion box calling for a ban on private arms, and again received no answer. In Jianlong 5 he wrote to Chief Minister Fan Zhi, who recommended him for the post of Assistant Archivist. The following spring he was promoted to investigating censor. That autumn he was made Left Reminder and edict drafter, with the additional title of Vice Director of the Ministry of Agriculture.
62
乾德初，賜緋。 太宗尹京，石熙載在幕中，錫弟銑應進士舉，干熙載，望首薦。 銑辭藝淺薄，熙載不許，錫深銜之，數於帝前言熙載裨讚無狀。 帝具以語太宗，且曰：「當為汝擇人代之。」 太宗曰：「熙載勤於乃職，聞高錫嘗求薦其弟，熙載拒之，慮為錫所構。」 帝大悟，雖怒之，未有以發。 會使青州，私受節帥郭崇賂遺； 又嘗致書澧州刺史為僧求紫衣，為人所告。 事下御史府核實，責貶萊州司馬。 遇赦，改均州別駕，移陳州。 太平興國八年，卒。
Early in the Qiande era he was granted the privilege of crimson robes. When the future Emperor Taizong governed the capital, Shi Xizai served on his staff; Xi's younger brother Xian took the jinshi examination and importuned Xizai, hoping to be ranked first among recommendees. Xian's writing was plainly weak, and Xizai refused; Xi nursed a deep grudge and repeatedly told the emperor that Xizai's fawning praise was shameless. The emperor reported all of this to the Prince of Zhao and added, "I will find someone else to replace him for you." The prince replied, "Xizai has been diligent in his post. I hear Gao Xi once tried to get his brother recommended and Xizai turned him down—I worry he is being set up by Xi." The emperor saw the truth at once. Though he was furious with Xi, he had no immediate grounds to move against him. When sent on a mission to Qingzhou he secretly accepted gifts from Military Commissioner Guo Chong; he also once wrote the prefect of Lizhou on behalf of a monk seeking purple robes, and someone denounced him. The censorate investigated and confirmed the charges, and he was demoted to military adjutant of Laizhou. After a general amnesty he was reassigned as vice prefect of Junzhou and later transferred to Chenzhou. He died in the eighth year of the Taiping Xingguo era.
63
兄子冕。
His nephew Mián.
64
從子冕
His nephew Mián.
65
冕，字子莊，周顯德中，詣闕上書，稱旨，擢為諫議大夫。 宰相范質以為超擢太過，詔特授將仕郎，守右補闕，賜賚加等。 宋初，由膳部都官員外郎累至膳部郎中，出知益州。 雍熙二年，卒，年五十。 贈右諫議大夫，錄其子垂休為固始主簿。
Mián, styled Zizhuang, went to court during the Xiande era with a memorial that pleased the emperor, and was raised straight to Remonstrance and Advice Grandee. Chief Minister Fan Zhi thought the promotion too steep; the emperor instead made him an Entry-Level Gentleman acting as Right Supplementation Reminder, with extra gifts. Early in the Song he rose from vice director of the ministries of food and justice to director of the ministry of food, then was sent out to govern Yizhou. He died in Yongxi 2 at the age of fifty. He was posthumously given the title Right Remonstrance and Advice Grandee, and his son Chuixiu was enrolled as magistrate of Gushi.
66
論曰：自唐以來，翰林直學士與中書舍人對掌訓辭，頌宣功德，箴諫闕失，不專為文墨之職也。 宋興，亦采詞藻以備斯選，若穀之才雋，著之敏達，澹之治跡，錫之策慮，冕之敦質，咸有可觀。 然豫成禪代之詔，見薄時君，終身不獲大用。 及夫險詖忌前，酣醟少檢，附勢希榮，構讒謀己，皆無取焉。 蒙博洽長厚，繼竇儀裁定儀制，惜乎南郊之議，請去太祖以宣祖配天，為識者所非。 昭儉抗論跋扈，志除驕將，而多言歷詆，自取惡名，抑好訐為直者與？ 崇諒奉親篤至，反罹間毀，終身歸養，而不復起，後蒙旌賁之典，則為善者聳動矣。 祜以百口明符彥卿無他志，且言以猜忌殺無辜者享國不長，因以杜太宗之他疑，又卻盧多遜之傾趙普，以致被黜，仁者有後，宜乎子旦為宋元臣焉。
The historians comment: Since Tang times, Hanlin academicians on duty and Secretariat drafters had jointly handled imperial pronouncements—celebrating merit, proclaiming virtue, and rebuking failings. These were not posts confined to literary ornament alone. Under the Song as well, literary talent was still sought for these posts; Gu's sharp brilliance, Zhe's quick mind, Dan's administrative record, Xi's policy counsel, and Mián's steady character all had something to commend them. Yet those who had drafted the edicts facilitating the dynastic transition were viewed coldly by their emperors and never won high trust again. Treachery and jealousy of one's betters, dissipation without restraint, clinging to power for advancement, and weaving slander for personal gain—all of this deserves no respect. Hu Meng was learned, generous, and long-suffering; after Dou Yi he helped set the court's ritual code. Yet in the debate over the southern suburban sacrifice he urged replacing Emperor Taizu with Emperor Xuan as Heaven's consort—a proposal wise men rejected. Yang Zhaojian spoke boldly against arrogant power and meant to bring down overbearing generals, but his ceaseless invective earned him a foul reputation. Was he, perhaps, one of those who mistake hostility for honesty? Yu Chongliang was utterly devoted to his mother, yet was slandered for his trouble, retired for good to care for her, and never served again. When the court later honored him posthumously, it heartened every man who would do right. Wang You staked his family's lives on vouching that Fu Yanqing had no treasonous intent and warned that rulers who slaughter the innocent out of suspicion do not long keep the throne—thereby easing the future Emperor Taizong's doubts. He also blocked Lu Duosun's move against Zhao Pu and was demoted for it. The virtuous are rewarded in their heirs; little wonder that his son Dan became one of the great ministers of the Song.