1
孔道輔
Kong Daofu
2
孔道輔，字原魯，初名延魯，孔子四十五代孫也。
Kong Daofu, whose style was Yuanlu and whose original name was Yanlu, was a forty-fifth-generation descendant of Confucius.
3
父勖，進士及第，為太平州推官，以殿中丞通判廣州。 會真宗東封，躬詣孔子祠。 帝問宰相：「孔氏今孰為名者？」 或言勖有治行，即召對，以為太常博士、知曲阜縣。 初，勖在廣州，以清潔聞，及被召，蕃酋爭持寶貨以獻，皆慰遣之。 後為御史臺推直官，累遷秘書監、分司南京，管勾祖廟，以尚書工部侍郎致仕。 後道輔卒，年八十九。
His father Xun had passed the jinshi examination and served as a judicial reviewer in Taiping Prefecture before being promoted to Palace Attendant and appointed transit commissioner of Guangzhou. When Emperor Zhenzong undertook his eastern tour of enfeoffment, he went in person to the temple of Confucius. The emperor asked his chief ministers, "Who among the Kong clan holds renown today?" Someone replied that Xun had a reputation for capable administration, and he was at once summoned for an audience and appointed Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and magistrate of Qufu County. Earlier, during his tenure in Guangzhou, Xun had been known for his integrity; when he was summoned to court, tribal chiefs competed to offer him precious goods, but he politely declined each of them and sent them away. He later served as an investigating officer in the Censorate, rose through successive appointments to Director of the Imperial Library and commissioner at the Southern Capital, supervised the ancestral temple, and retired with the rank of Vice Minister of Works. Daofu died later, at the age of eighty-nine.
4
道輔幼端重，舉進士第，為寧州軍事推官，數與州將爭事。 有蛇出天慶觀真武殿中，一郡以為神，州將帥官屬往奠拜之，欲上其事。 道輔徑前以笏擊蛇，碎其首，觀者初驚，後莫不歎服。 遷大理寺丞、知仙源縣，主孔子祠事。 孔氏故多放縱者，道輔一繩以法。 上言廟制庳陋，請加修崇，詔可。 再遷太常博士。 章獻太后臨朝，召為左正言。 受命日，論奏樞密使曹利用，尚御藥羅崇勳竊弄威柄，宜早斥去，以清朝廷。 立對稱刻，太后可其言乃退。 未幾，為直史館、判三司理欠憑由司。
From youth Daofu was grave and steady in bearing. After passing the jinshi examination he served as military judicial reviewer in Ning Prefecture, where he frequently clashed with the prefectural commander over official matters. When a snake appeared in the Zhenwu Hall of the Tianqing Abbey, the entire prefecture took it for a divine sign; the prefectural commander led his subordinates to offer sacrifices and bow before it, and planned to memorialize the event to the throne. Daofu strode forward and struck the snake with his court tablet, crushing its head. The onlookers were startled at first, but afterward none failed to admire his resolve. He was promoted to assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and appointed magistrate of Xianyuan County, where he took charge of the temple of Confucius. Members of the Kong clan had long been prone to license, but Daofu held them all strictly to the law. He memorialized that the temple precincts were mean and dilapidated and asked that they be renovated and enlarged; the throne approved. He was again promoted to Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. When Empress Dowager Zhangxian assumed regency, he was summoned to serve as Left Rectifier. On the day he took office, he memorialized that Military Affairs Commissioner Cao Liyong and Director of Imperial Medicines Luo Chongxun were secretly manipulating power and ought to be removed at once so that the court might be set in order. He stood before the throne and spoke with cutting force; the empress dowager approved his counsel, and only then did he withdraw. Before long he was appointed compiler of the Historiography Institute and given concurrent charge of the Three Departments Office for Recovery of Arrears and Vouchers.
5
奉使契丹，道除右司諫、龍圖閣待制。 契丹宴使者，優人以文宣王為戲，道輔艴然徑出。 契丹使主客者邀道輔還坐，且令謝之，道輔正色曰：「中國與北朝通好，以禮文相接。 今俳優之徒，慢侮先聖而不之禁，北朝之過也。 道輔何謝！」 契丹君臣默然，又酌大卮謂曰：「方天寒，飲此，可以致和氣。」 道輔曰：「不和，固無害。」 既還，言者以為生事，且開爭端。 仁宗問其故，對曰：「契丹比為黑水所破，勢甚蹙。 平時漢使至契丹，輒為所侮，若不較，恐益慢中國。」 帝然之。 歷判吏部流內銓、糾察在京刑獄。 坐糾事不當，出知鄆州，徙青州。 還判流內銓，遷尚書兵部員外郎，復出知徐、許二州，徙應天府。
While on an embassy to the Khitan, he was appointed en route Right Remonstrator of the Secretariat and Gentleman in Waiting at the Dragon Diagram Hall. At a banquet for the envoys, Khitan actors staged a skit mocking the Cultured Propagator King; Daofu flushed with anger and walked out without ceremony. The Khitan master of ceremonies invited Daofu back to his seat and told him to apologize. Daofu said sternly, "China and the Northern Court are bound in amity and ought to meet each other with ritual propriety. Yet your actors have openly mocked the former sage without restraint. That is a fault of the Northern Court. Why should I apologize?" The Khitan ruler and his ministers fell silent. Then they filled a large goblet and said, "The weather is bitterly cold; drink this, and perhaps harmony may be restored. Daofu replied, "If there is no harmony, that in itself does no harm." After his return, critics accused him of stirring up trouble and provoking a dispute. When Emperor Renzong asked why he had acted as he did, Daofu replied, "The Khitan were recently shattered by the Heishui tribes and are in desperate straits. Whenever Han envoys visit them they are routinely slighted; if we do not stand our ground, they will only grow bolder in their contempt for China." The emperor agreed. He served in succession as judge of the Ministry of Personnel's Bureau of Internal Appointments and as inspector of capital criminal cases. Because his impeachments were judged improper, he was sent out to administer Yan Prefecture and later transferred to Qing Prefecture. He returned to judge the Bureau of Internal Appointments, was promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of War, was again sent out to administer Xu and Xu Prefectures, and was then transferred to Yingtian Prefecture.
6
明道二年，召為右諫議大夫、權御史中丞。 會郭皇后廢，道輔率諫官孫祖德、范仲淹、宋郊、劉渙，御史蔣堂、郭勸、楊偕、馬絳、段少連十人，詣垂拱殿伏奏：「皇后天下之母，不當輕議絀廢。 願賜對，盡所言。」 帝使內侍諭道輔等至中書，令宰相呂夷簡以皇后當廢狀告之。 道輔語夷簡曰：「大臣之於帝后，猶子事父母也； 父母不和，可以諫止，奈何順父出母乎？」 夷簡曰：「廢后有漢、唐故事。」 道輔復曰：「人臣當道君以堯、舜，豈得引漢、唐失德為法邪？」 夷簡不答，即奏言：「伏閣請對，非太平美事。」 於是出道輔知泰州。 明日晨，入至待漏，聞有詔，亟馳出城。 頃之，徙徐州，又徙兗州，進龍圖閣直學士，遷給事中。 在兗三年，復入為御史中丞。
In the second year of the Mingdao era he was recalled as Right Remonstrating Grandee and acting Censor-in-Chief. When Empress Guo was deposed, Daofu led ten remonstrators—Sun Zude, Fan Zhongyan, Song Jiao, and Liu Huan—and censors Jiang Tang, Guo Quan, Yang Xie, Ma Jiang, and Duan Shaolian to the Hall of Hanging Bow, where they prostrated themselves and declared, "The empress is mother of the realm; her deposition must not be debated lightly. We beg an audience so that we may speak our minds fully." The emperor sent a palace attendant to direct Daofu and his colleagues to the Secretariat and ordered Chief Minister Lü Yijian to explain the grounds for deposing the empress. Daofu said to Yijian, "A great minister stands toward the emperor and empress as a son toward his parents. When parents quarrel, a son may remonstrate to restore harmony. How can he comply with the father in driving out the mother?" Yijian replied, "Deposing an empress has Han and Tang precedents." Daofu answered, "A subject ought to guide his ruler toward the example of Yao and Shun. How can one cite the moral failures of Han and Tang as precedent?" Yijian made no reply and at once memorialized, "Remonstrators blocking the gate to demand audience is no sign of a well-governed age." Daofu was thereupon sent out to administer Taizhou. The next morning at dawn he arrived at the court waiting station; when he heard that an edict had been issued against him, he galloped out of the city at once. Before long he was transferred to Xu Prefecture and then to Yan Prefecture, advanced to Academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall, and promoted to Attendant-in-Chief of the Palace Secretariat. After three years in Yan Prefecture he was recalled to serve again as Censor-in-Chief.
7
道輔性鯁挺特達，遇事彈劾無所避，出入風采肅然，及再執憲，權貴益忌之。 初，道輔與其父里中僦郭贄舊宅居之，有言於帝者曰：「道輔家近太廟，出入傳呼，非所以尊神明。」 即詔道輔他徙。 集賢校理張宗古上言，漢內史府在太廟堧垣中，國朝以來，廟垣下皆有官私第舍，謂不須避。 帝出宗古通判萊州。 道輔歎曰：「憸人之言入矣！」
Daofu was by nature upright and unyielding, impeaching without fear in whatever matter arose; his bearing in public was always stern. When he again headed the censorate, the powerful resented him all the more. Earlier, Daofu and his father had rented the old residence of Guo Zan in their home district. Someone told the emperor, "Daofu's house lies too close to the Imperial Ancestral Temple; the calls of his attendants as he comes and goes fail to show proper reverence for the spirits." An edict at once ordered Daofu to move elsewhere. Zhang Zonggu, collator of the Hall of Assembled Talents, memorialized that in Han times the interior secretary's office had stood within the temple rampart, and that since the founding of the dynasty official and private residences had always lain below the temple wall, so that no avoidance was required. The emperor sent Zonggu out to serve as transit commissioner of Laizhou. Daofu sighed and said, "The slanderer's words have prevailed."
8
會受詔鞠馮士元獄，事連參知政事程琳。 宰相張士遜素惡琳，而疾道輔不附己，將逐之，察帝有不悅琳意，即謂道輔：「上顧程公厚，今為小人所誣，見上，為辨之。」 道輔入對，言琳罪薄不足深治。 帝果怒，以道輔朋黨大臣，出知鄆州。 已而道輔知為士遜所賣，頗憤惋。 時大寒上道，行至韋城，發病卒，天下莫不以直道許之。 皇祐三年，王素因對語及道輔，仁宗思其忠，特贈尚書工部侍郎。 子：宗翰。
He was then ordered to investigate the case of Feng Shiyuan, which implicated Vice Grand Councillor Cheng Lin. Chief Minister Zhang Shisun had long hated Lin and resented Daofu's refusal to align with him; intending to drive Daofu out, he perceived the emperor's displeasure with Lin and told Daofu, "His Majesty still holds Lord Cheng in high regard, yet petty men have slandered him. When you see the emperor, speak in his defense." Daofu appeared before the throne and argued that Lin's offenses were slight and did not warrant severe punishment. The emperor was indeed angered and, charging Daofu with factionalizing on behalf of a great minister, sent him out to administer Yan Prefecture. Before long Daofu realized that Shisun had betrayed him, and he was deeply aggrieved. He set out in bitter cold, fell ill at Weicheng, and died on the road. Throughout the realm men agreed that he had walked the path of integrity. In the third year of Huangyou, Wang Su mentioned Daofu during an audience; Emperor Renzong recalled his loyalty and posthumously granted him the rank of Vice Minister of Works. His son was Zonghan.
9
子宗翰
Zonghan
10
宗翰，字周翰。 登進士第，知仙源縣，而為治有條理，遇族人有恩，不以私故骫法。 王珪、司馬光皆上章論薦，由通判陵州為夔峽轉運判官，提點京東刑獄、知虔州。 城濱章、貢、兩江，歲為水齧。 宗翰伐石為址，冶鐵錮之，由是屹然，詔書褒美。 歷陝、揚、洪、兗州，皆以治聞。 哲宗初立求言，吏民上書以千數，詔司馬光采閱其可用者十五人，獨稱獎其二，乃宗翰與王鞏也。
Zonghan, whose style was Zhouhan, passed the jinshi examination and served as magistrate of Xianyuan County. His administration was methodical; he showed kindness to kinsmen but never bent the law for private reasons. Wang Gui and Sima Guang both memorialized in his favor. He rose from transit commissioner of Ling Prefecture to transport judge of the Kuizhou Gorge circuit, then served as intendant of criminal justice in the eastern capital circuit and as administrator of Qian Prefecture. The city stood on the Zhang and Gong rivers, whose waters eroded its walls year after year. Zonghan cut stone for new foundations and bound them with wrought iron, so that the walls stood firm; an edict commended his work. He served in succession at Shan, Yang, Hong, and Yan Prefectures, winning renown for good governance at each. When Emperor Zhezong first ascended the throne and called for counsel, officials and commoners submitted thousands of memorials. The throne ordered Sima Guang to select fifteen worthy submissions and singled out only two for special praise: Zonghan and Wang Gong.
11
元祐初，召為司農少卿，遷鴻臚卿。 言：「孔子之後，自漢以來有褒成、奉聖、宗聖之號，皆賜實封或縑帛，以奉先祀。 至於國朝，益加崇禮。 真宗東封臨幸，賜子孫世襲公爵，然兼領他官，不在故郡，於名為不正。 講自今襲封之人，使終身在鄉里。」 詔改衍聖公為奉聖公，不領他職，給廟學田萬畝，賜國子監書，立學官以誨其子弟。 進刑部侍郎，屬疾求去，以寶文閣待制知徐州，未拜而卒。
At the opening of the Yuanyou era he was summoned as Vice Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and later promoted to Director of the Court for Diplomatic Reception. He memorialized, "Since Han times, descendants of Confucius have borne the titles Baocheng, Fengsheng, and Zongsheng, each granted substantive enfeoffment or silk stipends to maintain the ancestral sacrifices. Our dynasty has honored them still more lavishly. When Emperor Zhenzong made his eastern tour and visited in person, he granted their descendants a hereditary ducal title, yet they also held other offices and did not reside in their ancestral home—a title empty of its proper meaning. I propose that hereafter the holder of the hereditary title should remain in his home district for life." An edict changed the title from Yanshenggong to Fengshenggong, barred the holder from other offices, granted ten thousand mu of temple-school land, bestowed books from the Directorate of Education, and established school officials to instruct the clan's youth. He was promoted to Vice Minister of Justice, fell ill and requested retirement, and was appointed Gentleman in Waiting at the Hall of Treasured Literature and administrator of Xu Prefecture, but died before he could take up the post.
12
鞠詠，字詠之，開封人。 父勵，尚書膳部員外郎、廣南轉運使。 詠十歲而孤，好學自立。 舉進士，試秘書省校書郎、知錢塘縣，改著作郎、知山陰縣。
Ju Yong, whose style was Yongzhi, was a native of Kaifeng. His father Li served as Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites' Bureau of Provisions and as transport commissioner of Guangnan. Yong was orphaned at the age of ten but devoted himself to learning and made his own way in the world. He passed the jinshi examination, served as collator of the Secretariat and magistrate of Qiantang County, and was later appointed drafting officer and magistrate of Shanyin County.
13
仁宗即位，以太常博士召為監察御史。 錢惟演自亳州來朝，圖入相。 詠言：「惟演憸險，嘗與丁謂為婚姻，緣此大用。 後揣知謂奸狀已萌，懼牽連得禍，因此力攻謂。 今若遂以為相，必大失天下望。」 太后遣內侍持奏示之，惟演猶顧望不行。 詠語諫官劉隨曰：「若相惟演，當取白麻廷毀之。」 惟演聞，乃亟去。
When Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, Yong was summoned from his post as Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple to serve as Investigating Censor. Qian Weiyan came from Bozhou to attend court, scheming to enter the chancellorship. Yong memorialized, "Weiyan is treacherous and dangerous. He once allied himself with Ding Wei by marriage and rose to power through that connection. Later, sensing that Wei's treachery was about to be exposed, he feared being dragged down with him and turned fiercely against Wei. If he is now made chief minister, the realm will surely lose all confidence in the court." The empress dowager sent a palace attendant to show Weiyan the memorial, yet he still lingered and would not depart. Yong told the remonstrator Liu Sui, "If Weiyan is appointed chief minister, we should seize the white hemp edict of appointment and tear it apart in open court." When Weiyan heard this, he departed at once.
14
大安殿柱生芝草，召群臣就觀。 詠言：「陛下新即位，河決未塞，霖雨害稼，宜思所以應災變。 臣願陛下以援進忠良、退斥邪佞為國寶，以訓勸兵農、豐積倉廩為天瑞。 草木之怪，何足尚哉！」
Lingzhi fungus sprouted on a pillar of the Hall of Great Peace, and the emperor summoned his ministers to come and view it. Yong said, "Your Majesty has only recently ascended the throne. The Yellow River breach remains unsealed and prolonged rains have ruined the harvest. You ought to consider how to respond to these portents of disaster. I beg Your Majesty to take the promotion of loyal men and the removal of the wicked as the state's true treasure, and the training of soldiers and farmers and the filling of the granaries as heaven's true auspice. What is there to esteem in the freakish growth of plants?"
15
時王欽若復相，詠嫉欽若阿倚，數睥睨其短，欽若心忌之。 會詠兼左巡使，率府率崇俊入朝失儀，詠言崇俊少在邊，今老矣，此不足罪。 欽若奏詠廢朝廷儀，出通判信州。 又坐鞫陳絳獄失實，徙邵州。 欽若卒，御史中丞王臻奏還詠殿中侍御史，為三司鹽鐵判官。 曹利用貶死，利用嘗所薦擢者多領兵守邊，朝廷欲罷去之，詠請一切毋治。
Wang Qinruo had again become chief minister. Yong despised his sycophancy and repeatedly exposed his faults; Qinruo came to resent him deeply. Yong also served as Left Patrol Commissioner. When the commandery commander Chong Jun breached court protocol on entering audience, Yong argued that Chong Jun had spent his youth on the frontier and was now old—that this lapse was not worth punishing. Qinruo memorialized that Yong had disregarded court ceremony and had him sent out as transit commissioner of Xin Prefecture. He was further punished when his investigation of the Chen Jiang case was found inaccurate and was transferred to Shao Prefecture. After Qinruo's death, Censor-in-Chief Wang Zhen memorialized for Yong's restoration as Palace Attendant Censor and appointment as Salt and Iron Commissioner of the Three Departments. When Cao Liyong was demoted and died, many officers he had promoted still held border commands, and the court wished to remove them. Yong pleaded that they all be left in place without investigation.
16
天聖六年夏，大星晝隕，有聲如雷，詠條五事上之。 因言：「太子少保致仕晁迥，雖老而有器識，宜蒙訪對，其必有補。」 又言：「三司使胡則，丁謂黨也，性貪巧，不可任利權。」 河北、京師旱饑，奏請出太倉米十萬石振饑民。 江、淮制置使鍾離瑾因奏計，多致東南物以賂權貴。 詠請御史臺劾狀，帝面諭瑾亟還所部。 以尚書禮部員外郎兼侍御史知雜事、權同判吏部流內銓，為三司鹽鐵副使。
In the summer of the sixth year of Tiansheng a great star fell in broad daylight with a sound like thunder; Yong submitted a memorial listing five matters for the throne's attention. He added, "The retired Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent Chao Jiong, though advanced in years, still possesses wisdom and judgment and ought to be summoned for counsel; he would surely prove of benefit." He also urged, "Three Departments Commissioner Hu Ze belongs to Ding Wei's faction. Greedy and cunning by nature, he must not be entrusted with control over state revenues." When drought and famine struck Hebei and the capital region, he memorialized to release one hundred thousand shi of grain from the Great Granary to feed the starving populace. Jiang-Huai Commissioner Zhongli Jin, while presenting his fiscal accounts, had brought vast quantities of goods from the southeast to bribe powerful officials. Yong requested that the Censorate impeach him; the emperor personally ordered Jin to return at once to his post. He was appointed Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites while concurrently serving as Attending Censor in charge of miscellaneous affairs, acting judge of the Bureau of Internal Appointments, and Vice Salt and Iron Commissioner of the Three Departments.
17
八年，特置天章閣待制，以詠及范諷為之。 判登聞檢院。 定國軍節度使張士遜入覲，冀得再用。 詠奏曰：「曹利用擅威福，士遜與之共事，相親厚，援薦以至相位。 陛下以東宮僚屬用之，臣願割舊恩，伸公義，趣使之藩。」 士遜乃赴鎮。 明年詠卒。 嘗著《道釋雜言》數十篇，別構淨室以居，自號「深寧子」。
In the eighth year the court specially established the post of Gentleman in Waiting at the Heavenly Writings Hall and appointed Yong and Fan Feng to fill it. He was assigned to judge the Petition Review Office. Zhang Shisun, military commissioner of the Dingguo Army, came to court hoping to be restored to office. Yong memorialized, "Cao Liyong monopolized power and favor. Shisun served alongside him, they grew intimate, and through mutual patronage rose together to the chancellorship. Your Majesty appointed him from among your Eastern Palace staff. I beg you to set aside old favor, uphold public justice, and send him back to his command at once." Shisun thereupon departed for his post. The following year Yong died. He had written several dozen essays entitled Miscellaneous Sayings on the Way and Buddhism, built a separate retreat in which to live, and styled himself Master Deep Tranquility.
18
劉隨，字仲豫，開封考城人。 以進士及第，為永康軍判官。 軍無城堞，每伐巨木為柵，壞，輒以他木易之，頗用民力。 隨因令環植楊柳數十萬株，使相連屬，以為限界，民遂得不擾。 屬縣令受賕鬻獄，轉運使李士衡託令於隨，不從。 士衡憤怒，乃奏隨苛刻，不堪從政，罷歸，不得調。 初，西南夷市馬入官，苦吏誅索，隨為繩按之。 既罷，夷人數百訴於轉運使曰：「吾父何在？」 事聞，乃得調。
Liu Sui, whose style was Zhongyu, was a native of Kaocheng in Kaifeng prefecture. After passing the jinshi examination he served as judicial aide of Yongkang Army. The garrison had no walls; whenever its timber palisades rotted, new logs had to be cut, imposing a heavy burden on the local populace. Sui therefore ordered several hundred thousand willows planted in a continuous ring to serve as a living palisade, sparing the people further hardship. When a subordinate magistrate took bribes and sold judgments, Transport Commissioner Li Shiheng asked Sui to hand the case over to him; Sui refused. Enraged, Shiheng memorialized that Sui was harsh and unfit for office. Sui was dismissed and barred from further appointment. Earlier, when southwestern tribes sold horses to the government, they had suffered extortion by officials; Sui investigated and punished the guilty. After his dismissal, several hundred tribesmen appealed to the transport commissioner, crying, "Where is our father?" When word reached the court, he was restored to office.
19
後改大理寺丞，為詳斷官。 李溥以贓敗，事連權貴，有司希旨不窮治，隨請再劾之，卒抵溥罪。 晁迥薦通判益州，呂夷簡安撫川峽，又言其材，以太常博士改右正言。 數月，坐嘗為開封府發解巡捕官，而不察舉人，私以策辭相授，降監濟州稅，稍徒通判晉州。
He was later promoted to assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and appointed detailed adjudication officer. When Li Pu was exposed for corruption in a case implicating powerful figures, the authorities curried favor and declined to pursue it fully. Sui demanded a second investigation and ultimately secured Pu's conviction. Chao Jiong recommended him as transit commissioner of Yi Prefecture, and Lü Yijian, pacification commissioner of the Sichuan Gorges, also praised his ability. He was promoted from Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple to Right Rectifier. Several months later he was punished for having served as Kaifeng's examination patrol officer without properly scrutinizing candidates who had exchanged examination answers in private. He was demoted to supervise Jizhou taxes and later transferred as transit commissioner of Jin Prefecture.
20
還朝，遷右司諫，為三司戶部判官。 隨在諫職數言事，嘗言：「今之所切，在於納諫，其餘守常安靖而已。」 又奏：「頻年水旱，咎在執事大臣忿爭不和。 請察王欽若等所爭，為辨曲直。」 又因星變言：「國家本支蕃衍，而定王之外，封策未行。 望擇賢者，用唐故事，增廣嗣王、郡王之封，以慰祖宗意。」 時下詔蜀中，選優人補教坊，隨以為賤工不足辱詔書。 又劾奏江、淮發運使鍾離瑾載奇花怪石數十艘，納禁中及賂權貴。 累疏論丁謂姦邪，不宜還之內地； 胡則，謂之黨，既以罪出陳州，不當復進職。 王欽若既死，詔塑其像茅山，列於仙官。 隨言：「欽若贓汙無忌憚，考其行，豈神仙耶？ 宜察其妄。」 又言：「李維以詞臣求換武職，非所以勵廉節。」 前後所論甚眾。
On returning to court he was promoted to Right Remonstrator of the Secretariat and appointed Household Commissioner of the Three Departments. In his remonstrating office Sui spoke out frequently. He once said, "What the times require above all is that remonstrance be heeded; everything else is mere routine and quietism." He also memorialized, "Years of flood and drought stem from the angry feuding of the chief ministers who will not work in harmony. I beg Your Majesty to investigate the disputes of Wang Qinruo and his rivals and judge who is in the right." Citing a stellar anomaly, he also said, "The imperial house flourishes in its root and branches, yet beyond the Prince of Ding no enfeoffment decrees have been issued. I beg that worthy men be chosen, following Tang precedent, to broaden the enfeoffment of heir princes and commandery princes and thereby satisfy the intent of our ancestors." When an edict went out to Shu to recruit actors for the Music Bureau, Sui protested that such base craftsmen were unworthy of an imperial decree. He again impeached Jiang-Huai Transport Commissioner Zhongli Jin for shipping dozens of boatloads of exotic flowers and strange stones into the palace and using them to bribe powerful officials. He repeatedly memorialized that Ding Wei was treacherous and wicked and ought not be recalled to the interior; and that Hu Ze, a member of Wei's faction, having been banished to Chen Prefecture for his crimes, ought not be restored to office. After Wang Qinruo's death, an edict ordered his image cast at Mount Mao and enrolled among the immortal officials. Sui protested, "Qinruo was corrupt beyond all restraint. Judging by his conduct, how could he be deemed an immortal? This presumption ought to be investigated." He also said, "Li Wei, a literary official, seeks to exchange his post for a military commission. This is no way to encourage integrity." His memorials on such matters were numerous.
21
帝既益習天下事，而太后猶未歸政，隨請軍國常務，專稟帝旨，又諫太后不宜數幸外家，太后不悅。 會隨請外，出知濟州，改起居郎。 久之，遷尚書刑部員外郎，入兼侍御史知雜事。 上言：「比年庶官僥幸請託，或對見之際，涕泗祈恩，或績效甚微，衒鬻要賞。 亦有藩翰之臣，位尊職重，表章不遜，請求靡厭。 按察之司，燕安顧望，以容奸為大體，以舉職為近名，以巧詐為賢，以恬退為拙。 以至貪殘者瀆於貨財，老疾者不知止足。 請行申儆之法。」 朝廷為下詔戒中外。
As the emperor grew more familiar with affairs of state, the empress dowager still had not returned the regency. Sui urged that routine military and civil business be reported solely to the emperor, and remonstrated that the empress dowager ought not visit her natal family so often. The empress dowager was displeased. When Sui requested an outside appointment, he was sent out to administer Ji Prefecture and reassigned as Diary Attendant. After some time he was promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice and recalled to serve concurrently as Attending Censor in charge of miscellaneous affairs. He memorialized, "In recent years lower officials have grown shameless in their patronage-seeking. Some weep and beg for favor at audience; others with trifling achievements parade their merits and demand rewards. Frontier ministers of high rank submit insubordinate memorials and make requests without end. The inspection offices rest at ease and look the other way, treating tolerance of wrongdoing as statesmanship, dutiful enforcement as self-promotion, cunning deceit as talent, and honest restraint as incompetence. The greedy grow insolent in their pursuit of wealth, and the old and infirm refuse to step aside. I beg that stern admonition and discipline be enforced." The court thereupon issued an edict of warning to officials throughout the realm.
22
未幾，權同判吏部流內銓，以長定格從事，吏不得為奸。 改三司鹽鐵副使。 使契丹，以病足痹，辭不能拜。 及還，為有司劾奏，奪一官，出知信州，徙宜州，再遷工部郎中、知應天府。 召為戶部副使，改天章閣待制，不旬日卒。
Before long he was appointed acting judge of the Bureau of Internal Appointments, where he enforced the longevity regulations so strictly that clerks could not commit fraud. He was transferred to Vice Salt and Iron Commissioner of the Three Departments. On an embassy to the Khitan, his feet were paralyzed by illness and he was unable to perform the required bows. On his return the authorities impeached him, stripped him of one rank, and sent him out to administer Xin Prefecture. He was later transferred to Yi Prefecture and eventually promoted to Director in the Ministry of Works and administrator of Yingtian Prefecture. He was summoned as Vice Household Commissioner and appointed Gentleman in Waiting at the Heavenly Writings Hall, but died within ten days.
23
隨與孔道輔、曹修古同時為言事官，皆以清直聞。 隨臨事明銳敢行，在蜀，人號為「水晶燈籠」。 初，使契丹還，會貶，而官收所得馬十五乘。 既卒，帝憐其家貧，賜錢六十萬。
Sui served alongside Kong Daofu and Cao Xiugu as remonstrating officials at the same time; all three were known for their integrity. Sui was sharp and fearless in action; in Shu he was nicknamed the Crystal Lantern. When he returned from his Khitan embassy he happened to be demoted, and the authorities confiscated the fifteen horses he had acquired. After his death the emperor, pitying his family's poverty, granted them six hundred thousand cash.
24
曹修古
Cao Xiugu
25
曹修古，字述之，建州建安人。 進士起家，累遷秘書丞、同判饒州。 宋綬薦其材，召還，以太常博士為監察御史。 上四事，曰行法令、審故事、惜材力、辨忠邪，辭甚切至。 又奏：「唐貞觀中，嘗下詔令致仕官班本品見任上，欲其知恥而勇退也。 比有年餘八十，尚任班行，心力既衰，官事何補。 請下有司，敕文武官年及七十，上書自言，特與遷官致仕，仍從貞觀舊制，即宿德勳賢，自如故事。」 因著為令。
Cao Xiugu, whose style was Shuzhi, was a native of Jian'an in Jian Prefecture. He entered service as a jinshi graduate and rose through successive appointments to Secretariat Assistant and concurrent judge of Rao Prefecture. Song Shou recommended his ability, and he was recalled to serve as Investigating Censor from his post as Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. He submitted four proposals: enforce the statutes, examine precedents, conserve resources and labor, and distinguish loyalty from wickedness. His language was urgent and uncompromising. He also memorialized, "In the Zhenguan era of Tang, an edict once required that retired officials take precedence in court ranking over incumbents of the same grade, the intent being to shame them into willing retirement. Yet today men over eighty still hold office in the ranks. Their minds and strength are spent—what service can they still render? I beg that civil and military officials who reach seventy be required to memorialize for retirement and be granted a final promotion in rank, following the Zhenguan precedent, while men of exceptional virtue and long service may be treated according to established custom." The proposal was enacted as law.
26
修古嘗偕三院御史十二人晨朝，將至朝堂，黃門二人行馬不避，嗬者止之，反為所詈。 修古奏：「前史稱，御史臺尊，則天子尊。 故事，三院同行與知雜事同，今黃門侮慢若此，請付所司劾治。」 帝聞，立命笞之。 晏殊以笏擊人折齒。 修古奏：「殊身任輔弼，百僚所法，而忿躁亡大臣體。 古者，三公不按吏，先朝陳恕於中書榜人，即時罷黜。 請正典刑，以允公議。」
Xiugu once accompanied twelve censors of the three bureaus to morning audience. As they neared the court hall, two Yellow Gate attendants rode past without yielding. When the attendants called out to stop them, they were reviled in return. Xiugu memorialized, "Former histories declare that when the Censorate is honored, the Son of Heaven is honored. By precedent, censors of the three bureaus traveling together rank equal to the Attending Censor in charge of miscellaneous affairs. Yet these Yellow Gate attendants have shown such contempt. I beg that they be handed over for impeachment and punishment." On hearing this, the emperor immediately ordered them flogged. Yan Shu struck one of them with his court tablet and broke his teeth. Xiugu memorialized, "Shu holds the post of chief minister and ought to be the model for all officials, yet in his anger he has forfeited the bearing of a great minister. In antiquity the Three Excellencies did not strike subordinates. In the previous reign, when Chen Shu posted a man's name at the Secretariat, he was dismissed at once. I beg that he receive the proper statutory punishment to satisfy public opinion."
27
司天監主簿苗舜臣等嘗言，土宿留參，太白晝見，詔日官同考定。 及奏，以謂土宿留參，順不相犯； 太白晝見，日未過午。 舜臣等坐妄言災變被罰。 修古奏言：「日官所定，希旨悅上，未足為信。 今罰舜臣等，其事甚小，然恐人人自此畏避，佞媚取容，以災為福，天變不告，所損至大。」 禁中以翡翠羽為服玩，詔市於南越。 修古以謂重傷物命，且真宗時嘗禁采狨毛，故事未遠。 命罷之。 時頗崇建塔廟，議營金閣，費不可勝計，修古極陳其不可。
Miao Shunchen, registrar of the Directorate of Astronomy, and others reported that the Earth Lodging lingered in the Three Enclosures and that the planet Venus appeared in daylight. The throne ordered the court astronomers to investigate jointly. Their report held that the Earth Lodging's lingering in the Three Enclosures was harmonious and not inauspicious; and that Venus's appearance in daylight had occurred before noon. Shunchen and his colleagues were punished for speaking falsely about celestial portents. Xiugu memorialized, "The astronomers' findings curry favor with the throne and cannot be trusted. Punishing Shunchen may seem a small matter, yet I fear that hereafter everyone will shrink from speaking truth, fawning on superiors and turning calamity into blessing by concealing heavenly warnings. The harm would be immense." Within the palace kingfisher feathers were used for dress and ornaments, and an edict ordered them purchased from southern Yue. Xiugu protested that this wantonly destroyed life, and noted that Emperor Zhenzong had once forbidden the gathering of macaque fur—a precedent not long past. The order was rescinded. At the time the court greatly favored building pagodas and temples, and a golden pavilion was proposed at incalculable expense. Xiugu argued strenuously against it.
28
久之，出知歙州，徙南劍州，復為開封府判官。 歷殿中侍御史，擢尚書刑部員外郎、知雜司事、權同判吏部流內銓。 未逾月，會太后兄子劉從德死，錄其姻戚至於廝役幾八十人，龍圖閣直學士馬季良、集賢校理錢曖，皆緣遺奏超授官秩，修古與楊偕、郭勸、段少連交章論列。 太后怒，下其章中書。 大臣請黜修古知衢州，餘以次貶。 太后以為責輕，命皆削一官，以修古為工部員外郎、同判杭州，未行，改知興化軍。 會赦復官，卒。
After some time he was sent out to administer She Prefecture, transferred to Nanjian Prefecture, and later reappointed judicial commissioner of Kaifeng. He served as Palace Attendant Censor and was promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice, Attending Censor in charge of miscellaneous affairs, and acting judge of the Bureau of Internal Appointments. Within a month the empress dowager's nephew Liu Congde died. Nearly eighty relatives and servants were enrolled for preferment; Dragon Diagram Hall Academician Ma Jiliang and Hall of Assembled Talents Collator Qian Ai were among those promoted through his final memorial. Xiugu, together with Yang Xie, Guo Quan, and Duan Shaolian, submitted successive memorials protesting the appointments. The empress dowager was enraged and referred their memorials to the Secretariat. The chief ministers recommended demoting Xiugu to administer Qu Prefecture and the others in descending order. The empress dowager deemed the punishment too light and ordered each man stripped of one rank. Xiugu was appointed Vice Director in the Ministry of Works and concurrent judge of Hangzhou, but before he could depart was reassigned to administer Xinghua Army. When an amnesty restored his rank, he died.
29
修古立朝，慷慨有風節。 當太后臨朝，權幸用事，人人顧望畏忌，而修古遇事輒言，無所回撓。 既沒，人多惜之。 家貧，不能歸葬，賓佐賻錢五十萬。 季女泣白其母曰：「奈何以是累吾先人也。」 卒拒不納。 太后崩，帝思修古忠，特贈右諫議大夫，賜其家錢二十萬，錄其婿劉勳為試將作監主簿。 修古無子，以兄子覲為後。
Xiugu served at court with passionate integrity. While the empress dowager held court and favorites wielded power, others looked on in fear, but Xiugu spoke out on every issue without yielding. After his death many mourned his loss. His family was too poor to return his body for burial; colleagues contributed five hundred thousand cash. His youngest daughter wept and told her mother, "How can we burden our departed father with this?" In the end she refused to accept the money. After the empress dowager's death the emperor recalled Xiugu's loyalty, posthumously granted him the rank of Right Remonstrating Grandee, bestowed two hundred thousand cash on his family, and enrolled his son-in-law Liu Xun as probationary Master of Works Registrar. Xiugu had no son and adopted his elder brother's son Jin as his heir.
30
覲知封州，儂智高亂，死之，見《忠義傳》。 弟修睦，性廉介自立，與修古同時舉進士，有聲鄉里，累官尚書都官員外郎、知邵武軍。 御史中丞杜衍薦以為侍御史。 歲餘，改司封員外郎，出知壽州，徙泉州。 坐失舉，奪一官罷去。 後以知吉州，不行，上書請老，不聽，分司南京，未幾致仕，年五十一。 章得象表其高，詔還所奪官，卒。
Jin served as administrator of Feng Prefecture and died when Nong Zhigao rebelled; his biography appears in the Loyalty and Righteousness section. His younger brother Xiumu was pure and self-reliant by nature. He passed the jinshi examination in the same year as Xiugu, won renown in their home district, and rose to Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice and administrator of Shaowu Army. Censor-in-Chief Du Yan recommended him for appointment as Attending Censor. After a year he was transferred to Vice Director in the Bureau of Seals, sent out to administer Shou Prefecture, and later transferred to Quan Prefecture. He was punished for a failed recommendation, stripped of one rank, and dismissed. He was later appointed to administer Ji Prefecture but declined to go, memorialized for retirement without success, served as commissioner at the Southern Capital, and retired at the age of fifty-one. Zhang Dexiang memorialized his virtue; the throne restored his stripped rank, and he died.
31
曹氏自修古以直諒聞，其女子亦能不累於利，至覲，又能死其官，而修睦亦恬於仕進，不待老而歸，世以是賢之。
From Xiugu onward the Cao clan was known for integrity. Its women refused to be tainted by profit; Jin died in office; and Xiumu, content to withdraw from advancement, retired before old age. The age held them all in esteem.
32
郭勸，字仲褒，鄆州須城人。 舉進士，授寧化軍判官，累遷太常博士、通判密州。 特遷尚書屯田員外郎、梓州路轉運判官。 以母老固辭，復為博士、通判萊州。 州民霍亮為仇人誣罪死，吏受賕傅致之，勸為辨理得免。 擢殿中侍御史。
Guo Quan, whose style was Zhongbao, was a native of Xucheng in Yan Prefecture. After passing the jinshi examination he served as judicial aide of Ninghua Army and rose through successive appointments to Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and transit commissioner of Mi Prefecture. He was specially promoted to Vice Director in the Bureau of State Farms and transport judge of the Zizhou circuit. Citing his mother's advanced age, he firmly declined and returned to serve as erudite and transit commissioner of Laizhou. When a commoner named Huo Liang was falsely accused by an enemy and sentenced to death through bribery of the clerks, Quan argued his case and secured his release. He was promoted to Palace Attendant Censor.
33
時宋綬出知應天府，杜衍在荊南，勸言綬有辭學，衍清直，不宜處外。 又言：武勝軍節度使錢惟演遷延不赴陳州，覬望相位； 弟惟濟任觀察使、定州總管，自請就遷留後； 胡則以罪罷三司使，乃遷工部侍郎、集賢院學士。 請趣惟演上道，罷惟濟兵權，追則除命。 又論劉從德遺奏恩濫，貶太常博士、監濰州稅。
At the time Song Shou had been sent out to administer Yingtian Prefecture and Du Yan was posted to Jingnan. Quan argued that Shou possessed literary learning and Yan was upright—they ought not be kept from court. He also protested that Qian Weiyan, military commissioner of the Wusheng Army, delayed proceeding to Chen Prefecture while coveting the chancellorship; that his brother Weiji, serving as observation commissioner and overall commander of Ding Prefecture, had requested transfer to remain in the rear; and that Hu Ze, removed as Three Departments Commissioner for his crimes, had nevertheless been promoted to Vice Minister of Works and Academician of the Hall of Assembled Talents. He urged that Weiyan be compelled to depart, Weiji's military authority be revoked, and Ze's appointment be rescinded. He again protested the excessive favor shown in Liu Congde's final memorial and was demoted to Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and supervisor of Weizhou taxes.
34
改祠部員外郎、知萊州。 月餘，復為侍御史、判三司鹽鐵勾院。 郭皇后廢，議選納陳氏，勸進諫曰：「正家以正天下，自后妃始。 郭氏非有大故，不當廢。 陳氏非世閥，不可以儷宸極。」 疏入，后已廢，而陳氏議遂寢。
He was transferred to Vice Director in the Bureau of Temples and appointed administrator of Laizhou. After a month he was restored as Attending Censor and assigned to judge the Three Departments Salt and Iron Audit Office. When Empress Guo was deposed and the court debated installing a woman of the Chen clan, Quan remonstrated, "To set the family in order is to set the realm in order, and that begins with the empress. The Guo empress has committed no grave offense and must not be deposed. The Chen clan is not of an eminent house and cannot be elevated to the throne." By the time his memorial arrived the empress had already been deposed, but the proposal to install the Chen clan was abandoned.
35
遷兵部員外郎兼起居舍人、同知諫院。 馬季良自貶所求致仕，朝廷從之。 勸言：「致仕所以待賢者，豈負罪貶黜之人可得，請追還敕誥。」 又言：「發運使劉承德獻輪扇浴器，大率以媚上也。 請付外毀，以戒邪佞。」
He was promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of War while concurrently serving as Diary Attendant and Associate Director of the Remonstrance Bureau. Ma Jiliang, from his place of demotion, requested retirement, and the court approved. Quan protested, "Retirement is reserved for the worthy. How can a man demoted for his crimes receive it? I beg that his edict of appointment be revoked." He also said, "Transport Commissioner Liu Chengde presented wheel-fans and bathing vessels—gifts meant chiefly to flatter the throne. I beg that they be destroyed publicly as a warning to sycophants."
36
趙元昊襲父位，以勸為官告使，所遺百萬，悉拒不受。 還，兼侍御史知雜事、權判流內銓，遷工部郎中、度支副使，拜天章閣待制、知延州。 元昊將山遇率其族來歸，且言元昊將反。 勸與兵馬鈐轄李渭議，自德明納貢四十年，有內附者未嘗留，乃奏卻之。 是冬，元昊果反，遣其使稱偽官來。 勸視其表函猶稱臣，因上奏曰：「元昊雖僭中國名號，然尚稱臣，可漸以禮屈之，願與大臣熟議。」 遂落職知齊州，改淄州，數月，移磁州。 元昊益侵邊，關陝擾攘，言者猶指勸不當絕山遇事，又降兵部員外郎。 丁母憂，起復，知鳳翔府，尋復待制。
When Zhao Yuanhao succeeded his father, Quan served as patent envoy and refused every gift of the million offered him. On his return he served as Attending Censor in charge of miscellaneous affairs and acting judge of the Bureau of Internal Appointments, was promoted to Director in the Ministry of Works and Vice Commissioner of the Treasury, and appointed Gentleman in Waiting at the Heavenly Writings Hall and administrator of Yan Prefecture. Yuanhao's general Shanyu led his clan to defect and reported that Yuanhao was about to rebel. Quan consulted Military Affairs Commissioner Li Wei and noted that in the forty years since Deming began paying tribute, defectors had never been retained. He memorialized to send Shanyu back. That winter Yuanhao did rebel and sent an envoy bearing titles of his new regime. Quan observed that the envoy's documents still addressed him as a subject and memorialized, "Although Yuanhao has usurped imperial titles, he still calls himself a subject. He may yet be brought to heel through ritual propriety. I beg to deliberate this thoroughly with the chief ministers." He was demoted to administer Qi Prefecture, transferred to Zi Prefecture, and after several months moved to Ci Prefecture. As Yuanhao intensified his border raids and the Guan-Shaan region fell into turmoil, critics still blamed Quan for rejecting Shanyu, and he was demoted again to Vice Director in the Ministry of War. After his mother's death he was recalled from mourning to administer Fengxiang Prefecture and soon restored to Gentleman in Waiting.
37
召權戶部副使，以龍圖閣直學士知滑州，再遷兵部郎中，徙滄州，又徙成德軍。 盜起甘陵，徙鄆州。 既而知成德軍韓琦言，勸所遣將張忠、劉遵，平賊功皆第一，特詔獎諭。 未幾，召為翰林侍讀學士，復判流內銓，改左諫議大夫、權御史中丞。 遷給事中，辭不受，而請贈其祖萊陽令寧，遂以為尚書祠部員外郎。
He was summoned as acting Vice Household Commissioner, appointed Dragon Diagram Hall Academician and administrator of Hua Prefecture, promoted again to Director in the Ministry of War, transferred to Cang Prefecture, and then to Chengde Army. When bandits rose in Ganling he was transferred to Yan Prefecture. Han Qi of Chengde Army soon reported that the generals Quan had dispatched, Zhang Zhong and Liu Zun, had ranked first in merit for suppressing the bandits. A special edict commended Quan. Before long he was summoned as Hanlin Attendant Reader Academician, again assigned to judge the Bureau of Internal Appointments, and promoted to Left Remonstrating Grandee and acting Censor-in-Chief. He was offered promotion to Attendant-in-Chief but declined, requesting instead a posthumous grant for his grandfather Ning, former magistrate of Laiyang, which was granted as Vice Director in the Bureau of Temples.
38
衛士有相惡者，陰置刃衣篋中，從勾當皇城司楊景宗入禁門，既而為閽者所得，景宗輒隱不以聞。 勸請先治景宗罪，章再上，不聽，又廷爭累日，卒貶景宗。 祀明堂，將加恩中外官，勸就齋次，帥群御史求對，不許，又極論之。 是年，復為侍讀學士、同知通進銀臺司。
Among the palace guards two men bore a grudge; one hid a blade in his clothing and entered the forbidden precinct with Yang Jingzong, commissioner of the Imperial City. Gatekeepers seized him, but Jingzong concealed the incident and did not report it. Quan demanded that Jingzong be punished first. His memorial was ignored; he argued in open court for days, and Jingzong was finally demoted. During the Bright Hall sacrifice, as the court prepared to extend favors to officials throughout the realm, Quan went to the fasting station and led the censors to demand audience. When refused, he argued strenuously in court. That year he was again appointed Reader Academician and Associate Director of the Memorial Gateway and Silver Terrace Office.
39
勸性廉儉，居無長物。 嘗謂諸子曰：「顏魯公云：『生得五品服章紱，任子為齋郎，足矣。』」 及再為侍讀，曰：「吾起諸生，志不過郡守，今年七十，列侍從，可以歸矣。」 遂用元日拜章，三上不得謝，賜銀使市田宅。 後二年卒。
Quan was pure and frugal by nature and kept nothing superfluous in his home. He once told his sons, "Yan the Duke of Lu said, 'To attain fifth-rank robes and insignia in life, and to secure one's son an appointment as Fast Officer—that is enough.' When he again became Attendant Reader he said, "I rose from the ranks of scholars with no ambition beyond a prefecture. At seventy I stand among the emperor's attendants. It is time to go home." On New Year's Day he submitted his resignation three times without success. The throne granted him silver to purchase fields and a residence. He died two years later.
40
子源明，治平中，為太常博士。 會御史知雜事呂誨等奏彈中書議追崇濮安懿王典禮非是，被黜，以源明補監察御史裏行。 源明乞免除命，請追誨等，遂聽免。 後以職方員外郎知單州，卒。
His son Yuanming served as Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple during the Zhiping era. When Lü Hui and other censors memorialized against the Secretariat's proposal to posthumously honor Prince Anyi of Pu, they were dismissed and Yuanming was appointed probationary Investigating Censor in their place. Yuanming begged to be relieved of the appointment and asked that Hui and the others be recalled. His request was granted. He later served as Vice Director in the Bureau of Appointments and administrator of Shan Prefecture, and died in office.
41
段少連
Duan Shaolian
42
段少連，字希逸，開封人。 其母嘗夢鳳集家庭，寤而生少連。 及長，美姿表，倜儻有識度。 舉服勤詞學，為試秘書省校書郎、知崇陽縣。 崇陽劇邑，自張詠為令有治狀，其後惟少連能繼其風跡。 權杭州觀察判官。 預校《道經》，改秘書省著作佐郎，歷知蒙城、名山、金華三縣，以本省丞為審刑院詳議官。 張士遜守江寧，辟通判府事，還為御史臺推直官，遷太常博士。 論劉從德遺奏恩濫，降秘書丞、監漣水軍酒稅。 復為博士、通判天雄軍。
Duan Shaolian, whose style was Xiyi, was a native of Kaifeng. His mother once dreamed that a phoenix alighted in the family courtyard; on waking she gave birth to Shaolian. When he grew to manhood he was handsome in bearing, free-spirited, and possessed of sound judgment. He passed the Diligent Literary Examination, served as collator of the Secretariat on probation, and was appointed magistrate of Chongyang County. Chongyang was a difficult county. Since Zhang Yong's tenure as magistrate, only Shaolian had matched his record of capable governance. He served as acting judge under the Hangzhou observation commissioner. He helped collate the Classic of the Way, was appointed Secretariat Drafting Assistant, served in succession as magistrate of Mengcheng, Mingshan, and Jinhua counties, and was then made detailed deliberation officer of the Court for Judicial Review. When Zhang Shisun was posted to Jiangning he recruited Shaolian as transit commissioner. On returning to the capital he served as investigating officer in the Censorate and was promoted to Erudite of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. For protesting the excessive favor shown in Liu Congde's final memorial he was demoted to Secretariat Assistant and supervisor of Lianshui Army wine taxes. He was restored as erudite and transit commissioner of Tianxiong Army.
43
太后崩，召為殿中侍御史，與孔道輔等伏閣言郭皇后不當廢，少連坐贖。 復上疏曰：「陛下親政以來，進用直臣，開辟言路，天下無不歡欣。 一旦以諫官、御史伏閣，遽行黜責，中外皆以為非陛下意。 蓋執政大臣，假天威以出道輔、仲淹，而斷來者之說也。 竊睹戒諭：『自今有章，宜如故事密上，毋得群詣殿門請對。』 且伏閣上疏，豈非故事，今遽絕之，則國家復有大事，誰敢旅進而言者。 昔唐陽城王仲舒伏閣雪陸贄，崔元亮叩殿陛理宋申錫，前史以為美事。 今陛下未忍廢黜皇后，而兩府列狀議降為妃，諫官、御史，安敢緘默。 陛下深惟道輔等所言為阿黨乎？ 為忠亮乎？」 疏入不報。
After the empress dowager's death he was summoned as Palace Attendant Censor. With Kong Daofu and others he blocked the gate to protest the deposition of Empress Guo and was fined. He memorialized again, "Since Your Majesty assumed personal rule, upright ministers have been promoted and the path of remonstrance opened. The realm rejoiced. Yet in a single day, because remonstrators and censors blocked the gate, they were hastily dismissed and punished. Court and country alike believed this was not Your Majesty's intent. Surely the chief ministers borrowed imperial authority to drive out Daofu and Fan Zhongyan and to silence those who would speak after them. I have seen the admonition: 'Hereafter memorials must be submitted in secret as of old; groups must not come to the hall gate to demand audience.' Yet blocking the gate to submit memorials is itself precedent. If this is now forbidden, who will dare speak out when the state faces grave matters? In Tang times Yang Cheng and Wang Zhongshu blocked the gate to vindicate Lu Zhi, and Cui Yuanliang knocked on the hall steps to defend Song Shenxi—acts the histories praise. Your Majesty has not yet resolved to depose the empress, yet the Two Departments have memorialized to reduce her to consort. How can remonstrators and censors remain silent? Does Your Majesty truly believe that Daofu and his colleagues spoke as a faction? Or as loyal and candid men?" The memorial received no response.
44
又上疏曰：
He submitted another memorial:
45
「高明粹清，凝德無累者，天之道也。 氛祲蔽翳，晦明偶差，乃陰陽之沴爾。 象天德者，君之體也。 治陰陽者，臣之職也。 陛下秉一德、臨萬方，有生之類，莫不浸涵德澤。 而氛祲蔽翳，偶差晦明，以累聖德者，由大臣懷祿而不諫，小臣畏罪而不言。 臣獨何人，敢貢狂瞽。 竊痛陛下履仁聖之具美，乏骨鯁之良輔，因成不忍之忿，又稽不遠之復。 臣是以瀝肝膽，披情愫，為陛下廓清氛祲蔽翳之累。
"Lofty, pure, and clear—virtue concentrated without blemish—is the Way of Heaven. When malign vapors obscure the light and yin and yang fall out of balance, these are merely disturbances in the cosmic order. To embody the virtue of Heaven is the substance of rulership. To regulate yin and yang is the minister's duty. Your Majesty holds to single-hearted virtue and rules the ten thousand regions; every living thing is steeped in your gracious favor. Yet when malign influences obscure the light and burden your sagely virtue, it is because great ministers cling to their salaries and will not remonstrate, and lesser ministers fear punishment and will not speak. Who am I to offer such reckless counsel? I grieve that Your Majesty embodies the fullness of benevolence and sagacity yet lacks forthright assistants, and that anger born of forbearance has led you to neglect timely correction. I therefore pour out my heart and lay bare my true feelings, that Your Majesty may clear away these obscuring influences.
46
《易》曰：『夫夫婦婦而家道正，正家而天下定。』 《詩》云：『刑于寡妻，以御于家邦。』 若然，則君天下修化本者，莫不自內而刑外也。 況聞入道降妃之議，出自臣下。 且后妃有罪，黜出告宗廟，廢則為庶人，安有不示之於天下，不告之於祖宗，而陰行臣下之議乎？ 且皇后以小過降為妃，則臣下之婦有小過者，亦當降為妾矣。 比抗章請對，不蒙賜召，豈非奸邪之臣，離間陛下耶？ 臣等赴中書，時執政之臣，謂后有妒忌之行，始議入道，終降為妃。 兼云有上封者，慮后不利於聖躬，故築高垣，置在別館。 臣等備言中外之議，以為未可。 願速降明詔，復中宮位號，以安民心。 翌日詔出，乃云『中宮有過，掖庭具知，特示涵容，未行遽黜，置之別館，俾自省修，供給之間，一切如故。』 臣未審黜置別館，為后為妃？ 詔書不言，安所取信。 況皇后事陛下一紀有餘，而輔臣倉卒以降黜之議，惑於宸聽，搢紳循默，無敢為陛下言者。 臣所謂氛祲蔽翳，以累聖德者，蓋臣職有曠爾。
The Changes says, 'When husband and wife each fulfill their roles, the family Way is set right; when the family is set right, the realm is settled.' The Odes says, 'Set an example for your primary wife, and thereby govern family and state.' Thus one who rules the realm and cultivates the root of moral transformation must begin within and extend outward. Moreover I hear that the proposal to have the empress take the tonsure and be reduced to consort originated among your ministers. When an empress is guilty she is dismissed with announcement to the ancestral temple; if deposed she becomes a commoner. How can such a matter be concealed from the realm and the ancestors while ministers' proposals are carried out in secret? If the empress is reduced to consort for a minor fault, then every official whose wife commits a minor fault must reduce her to concubine as well. When we submitted memorials requesting audience and were not summoned, was this not the work of wicked ministers seeking to drive a wedge between Your Majesty and us? When we went to the Secretariat, the ministers in power said the empress had shown jealousy; they first proposed the tonsure and finally reduction to consort. They also cited sealed memorials claiming that the empress might harm Your Majesty's person, and therefore had her walled within a separate lodge. We stated fully the views of court and country and held that the proposal was unacceptable. We beg that Your Majesty issue a clear edict at once restoring the empress's title and rank to reassure the people's hearts. The next day an edict appeared, stating that the empress had faults known to the inner palace, that forbearance was shown by not hastily deposing her, that she was placed in a separate lodge for reflection, and that her provisions remained unchanged. We cannot tell whether placement in a separate lodge means she remains empress or has become consort. The edict does not say, and there is nothing on which the realm may rely. The empress has served Your Majesty for more than twelve years, yet chief ministers hastily proposed her demotion and confused your judgment. Officials throughout the court fell silent, none daring to speak for you. The malign influences I spoke of that burden your sagely virtue stem from our own failure in ministerial duty.
47
臣竊恐奸邪之人，引漢武幽陳皇后故事，以諂惑陛下。 且漢武驕奢淫縱之主，固不足踵其行事。 而為人臣者，思致君如堯、舜，豈致君如漢武哉！ 今皇后置於別館，必恐懼修省，陛下仁恕之德，施於天下，而獨不加於中宮乎？ 願詔復中宮位號，杜絕非間，待之如初。 天地以正，陰陽以和，人神共歡，豈不美哉。 陛下苟為邪臣所蔽，不加省察，臣恐高宗王后之枉，必見於他日，宮闈不正之亂，未測於將來，惟聖神慮焉。」
I fear that wicked men cite Emperor Wu's seclusion of Empress Chen as precedent to flatter and mislead Your Majesty. Emperor Wu was arrogant, extravagant, and dissolute—a ruler whose conduct is certainly not worth emulating. A subject ought to guide his ruler toward Yao and Shun. How could he guide him toward Emperor Wu! The empress now sits in a separate lodge, surely in fear and reflection. Your benevolent and forgiving virtue extends throughout the realm—will it not extend to the empress? We beg an edict restoring her title and rank, cutting off all improper division, and treating her as before. Heaven and earth would be set right, yin and yang harmonized, and men and spirits would rejoice together. What could be more beautiful? If Your Majesty remains obscured by wicked ministers and does not reflect, I fear the injustice done to Empress Wang under Emperor Gaozong will be repeated, and disorder within the palace cannot be foreseen. Only Your Majesty's sage wisdom can prevent it."
48
未幾，除開封府判官，改尚書刑部員外郎、直集賢院，為三司度支判官，出為兩浙轉運副使。 舊使者所至郡縣，索簿書，不暇殫閱，往往委之吏胥，吏胥持以為貨。 少連命郡縣上簿書悉緘識，遇事間指取一二自閱，摘其非是者按之，餘不及閱者，全緘識以還。 由是吏不能為奸，而州縣簿書莫敢不治矣。 部吏有過，召詰曰：「聞子所為若此，有之乎？ 有當告我，我容汝自新； 苟以為無，吾不使善人被謗，即為汝辨明矣。」 吏不敢欺，皆以實對。 少連每得其情，諄諄戒飭使去，後有能自改過者，猶保任之。 秀州獄死無罪人，時少連在杭，吏畏恐聚謀，偽為死者服罪款，未及綴，屬少連已舟入城，訊獄吏，具服請罪，以為神明。 是時，鄭向守杭，無治才。 訟者不服，往往自州出，徑趨少連； 少連一言處決，莫不盡其理。
Before long he was appointed judicial commissioner of Kaifeng, promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice and academician of the Hall of Assembled Talents, made Treasury Commissioner of the Three Departments, and sent out as Vice Transport Commissioner of the Two Zhe circuits. Former envoys at each prefecture and county demanded account books but had no time to read them thoroughly, often entrusting them to clerks who treated them as merchandise. Shaolian ordered all account books sealed on submission. When matters arose he would select one or two to read himself, investigate any irregularities, and return the rest still fully sealed. Clerks could no longer commit fraud, and prefectural and county records were kept in proper order. When a subordinate erred he summoned him and asked, "I hear you have acted thus. Is it true? If so, tell me and I will allow you to reform; if you deny it, I will not let an honest man be slandered and will clear your name at once." The clerks did not dare deceive him and answered truthfully. When he learned the facts he admonished them earnestly and sent them away; those who later reformed themselves he still recommended for office. When an innocent man died in Xiuzhou prison, the clerks in fear plotted to forge a confession. Before they could finish, Shaolian arrived in Hangzhou by boat, questioned the prison staff, and received their full confession. They took him for a divine judge. At the time Zheng Xiang held Hangzhou and lacked governing ability. Dissatisfied litigants often bypassed the prefecture and went straight to Shaolian; and Shaolian settled each case with a single ruling that fully addressed its merits.
49
徙使淮南，兼發運司事，加兵部員外郎。 又徙陝西。 駙馬都尉柴宗慶知陝州，縱其下撓民，少連入境，劾奏之。 入兼侍御史知雜事，逾月，為三司度支副使。 河東地震，奉使安撫。 還，擢工部郎中、天章閣待制、知廣州。 時元昊反，范仲淹薦少連才堪將帥，遷龍圖閣直學士、知涇州，改渭州，命未至而卒。 少連通敏有才，遇事無大小，決遣如流，不為權勢所屈。 既卒，仁宗歎惜之。
He was transferred as envoy to Huainan with concurrent charge of transport affairs and promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of War. He was later transferred to Shaanxi. Commandant-escort Chai Zongqing administered Shan Prefecture and allowed his subordinates to harass the people. When Shaolian entered the circuit he impeached him. He returned to serve as Attending Censor in charge of miscellaneous affairs and a month later became Vice Treasury Commissioner of the Three Departments. When Hedong suffered an earthquake he was sent on a pacification mission. On his return he was promoted to Director in the Ministry of Works, Gentleman in Waiting at the Heavenly Writings Hall, and administrator of Guang Prefecture. When Yuanhao rebelled, Fan Zhongyan recommended Shaolian as capable of military command. He was appointed Dragon Diagram Hall Academician and administrator of Jing Prefecture, then transferred to Wei Prefecture, but died before he could take up the post. Shaolian was quick-witted and capable; in affairs great or small he decided and dispatched with ease and would not yield to power or influence. After his death Emperor Renzong sighed in regret.
50
論曰：古人有言：「山有猛獸，藜藿為之不采。」 當天聖、明道間，天子富於春秋，母后稱制，而內外肅然，紀綱具舉，朝政亡大闕失，奸人不得以自肆者，繇言路得人故也。 是時，孔道輔、鞠詠、劉隨、曹修古迭為諫官、御史，郭勸、段少連繼之，皆侃侃正色，遇事輒言，被斥逐，不更其守。 及帝既親政，道輔、勸、少連復任言責，郭后之廢，引議慷慨，犯人主，責大臣，其氣益壯，遺風餘烈，天下至今稱之。 《詩》所謂「邦之司直」，其庶幾歟！
The commentators say: The ancients observed, "When a mountain holds fierce beasts, no one picks the wild greens upon it." During the Tiansheng and Mingdao eras the emperor was young and the empress dowager held regency, yet within and without the court remained orderly, regulations were enforced, and no great lapse marred governance. Wicked men could not run riot because the path of remonstrance was staffed with worthy men. At that time Kong Daofu, Ju Yong, Liu Sui, and Cao Xiugu served in turn as remonstrators and censors, followed by Guo Quan and Duan Shaolian. All spoke with forthright bearing, remonstrating on every issue; though expelled and driven out, none altered his principles. When the emperor assumed personal rule, Daofu, Quan, and Shaolian again bore the duty of remonstrance. On the deposition of Empress Guo they argued with passionate courage, offending the throne and reproaching the chief ministers. Their spirit only grew stronger, and their legacy is praised throughout the realm to this day. They perhaps approached what the Odes calls "the rectifiers of the state"!