1
狄棐，字輔之，潭州長沙人。 少隨父官徐州，以文謁路振，振器愛之，妻以女。 舉進士甲科，以大理評事知分宜縣。 歷開封府司錄，知壁州。 道長安，為寇準所厚，準復入相，乃薦通判益州。 擢開封府判官，歷京西益州路轉運、江淮制置發運使，累遷太常少卿、知廣州，加直昭文館。 代還，不以南海物自隨，人稱其廉。 拜右諫議大夫、龍圖閣直學士、權判吏部流內銓，出知滑州，進給事中，徙天雄軍。 會給郊賞帛不善，士卒譁譟趣府門，棐不能治。 事聞，命侍御史劉夔按視，未及境，眾不自安。 棐馳白夔，請紿以行河事。 夔至，與轉運使李絳誅首惡數人。 棐坐罷懦，降知隨州，徙同州。 勾當三班院，進樞密直學士，歷知陝鄭州、河中河南府，復判流內銓。 出知揚州，未行，卒。
Di Fei, courtesy name Fuzhi, came from Changsha in Tanzhou. As a young man he accompanied his father to a post in Xuzhou, presented his writings to Lu Zhen, and won such favor that Zhen married him to his daughter. He took the jinshi in the highest class and was made a judicial reviewer with appointment as magistrate of Fenyi County. He served in turn as recorder of Kaifeng prefecture and as prefect of Bizhou. While traveling through Chang'an he impressed Kou Zhun, and when Kou returned to the chief ministership he recommended Fei as vice-prefect of Yizhou. He rose to vice-director of Kaifeng, held transport posts on the Jingxi and Yizhou circuits and the Jiang-Huai salt commission, and was promoted repeatedly to Vice Director of the Imperial Sacrifices and prefect of Guangzhou, with a concurrent post in the Zhaowen Hall. On returning from his tour of duty he took no goods from the southern seas with him, and people praised his probity. He was made Right Remonstrance Official and Academician in the Dragon Diagram Hall, acting head of the Ministry roster bureau, then sent out as prefect of Huazhou, promoted to Drafting Official, and transferred to the Tianxiong command. When the silk given as suburban sacrificial rewards proved shoddy, the soldiers clamored and surged to the government gate, and Fei could not bring them under control. Word reached the throne, and the emperor ordered Investigating Censor Liu Kui to look into it; before Liu crossed into the region the men had already grown restless on their own. Fei galloped ahead to tell Liu to deceive the troops by saying he had come on river-control business. When Liu arrived, he and Transport Commissioner Li Jiang put several ringleaders to death. Fei was found guilty of timidity, demoted to prefect of Suizhou, and later transferred to Tongzhou. He supervised the Third-Rank Bureau, was promoted to Academician in the Council of State, served in turn as prefect of Shaan and Zhengzhou and of Hezhong and Henan, and again headed the roster bureau. He was appointed prefect of Yangzhou but died before he could take up the post.
2
有狄國賓者，仁傑之後，分仁傑告身與棐，棐奏錄國賓一官，而自稱仁傑十四世孫。 棐在河中時，有中貴人過郡，言將援棐於上前。 棐答以他語，退謂所親曰：「吾湘潭一寒士，今官侍從，可以老而自汙耶？」 其為政愷悌，不為表襮，死之日，家無餘貲。
A certain Di Guobin, a descendant of Di Renjie, shared Renjie's commission document with Fei; Fei memorialized to grant Guobin an office and himself styled Renjie's fourteenth-generation descendant. While Fei was prefect of Hezhong, a senior eunuch passing through the prefecture said he would put in a word for him at court. Fei replied evasively, then withdrew and told his intimates, "I was only a poor scholar from Xiangtan; now I am a court attendant—should I stain my old age?" He governed with kindness and ease and never made a display of virtue; when he died his family had nothing left over.
3
子遵度
Son: Zundu
4
子遵度，字元規。 少穎悟，篤志於學。 每讀書，意有所得，即仰屋瞪視，人呼之，弗聞也。 少舉進士，一斥於有司，恥不復為。 以父任為襄縣主簿，居數月，棄去。 好為古文，著《春秋雜說》，多所發明。 嘗患時學靡敝，作《擬皇太子冊文》、《除侍御史制》、《裴晉公傳》，人多稱之。 尤嗜杜甫詩，賞讚其集。 一夕，夢見甫為誦世所未見詩，及覺，才記十餘字，遵度足成之，為《佳城篇》。 後數月卒。 有集十二卷。
His son Zundu, courtesy name Yuangui. From boyhood he was clever and wholly devoted to learning. Whenever he read and grasped an idea he would stare up at the rafters; people could call him and he would not hear. He passed the jinshi while young; after the authorities rejected him once he was too ashamed to try again. He entered office through his father's privilege as registrar of Xiang County, but after a few months he quit. He delighted in ancient-style prose and wrote Miscellaneous Discourses on the Spring and Autumn Annals, with many fresh points. Once, lamenting the decay of learning in his day, he wrote an imitation enthronement document for the crown prince, an edict appointing a palace censor, and a biography of Pei Jinggong, all widely praised. He was especially devoted to Du Fu's poetry and commended his collected poems. One night he dreamed Du Fu reciting a poem unknown in the world; on waking he recalled only a dozen or so characters, and Zundu finished it as "The Fine City." A few months later he died. His collected writings ran to twelve fascicles.
5
郎簡，字叔廉，杭州臨安人。 幼孤貧，借書錄之，多至成誦。 進士及第，補試秘書省校書郎、知寧國縣，徙福清令。 縣有石塘陂，歲久湮塞，募民浚築，溉廢田百餘頃，邑人為立生祠。 調隨州推官，及引對，真宗曰：「簡歷官無過，而無一人薦，是必恬於進者。」 特改秘書省著作佐郎、知分宜縣，徙知竇州。 縣吏死，子幼，贅婿偽為券冒有其貲。 及子長，屢訴不得直，乃訟於朝。 下簡劾治，簡示以舊牘曰：「此爾翁書耶？」 曰：「然。」 又取偽券示之，弗類也，始伏罪。
Lang Jian, courtesy name Shulian, was from Lin'an in Hangzhou. Orphaned and poor as a boy, he borrowed books and copied them, often learning them by heart entire. He passed the jinshi, was made a proofreader in the Secretariat after examination, and served as magistrate of Ningguo and then Fuqing. The county's Shitang reservoir had long silted over; he raised labor to dredge and rebuild it, bringing more than a hundred mu of fallow land under irrigation, and the people set up a living shrine to him. Transferred to judicial assistant in Suizhou, at his audience Zhenzong said, "Jian has never erred in office, yet no one has recommended him—he must be content to stay out of the scramble for promotion." He was specially made an assistant compiler in the Secretariat and magistrate of Fenyi, then transferred to prefect of Baozhou. A county clerk died leaving a young son; a son-in-law who had married into the family forged a deed and seized the estate. When the son came of age he sued again and again without redress and finally appealed to the capital. The case was referred to Jian; he showed the old papers and asked, "Is this your father's writing?" The man said, "Yes." Jian then produced the forged deed; it did not match, and the man confessed at last.
6
徙藤州，興學養士，一變其俗，藤自是始有舉進士者。 通判海州，提點利州路刑獄。 官罷，知泉州。 累遷尚書度支員外郎、廣南東路轉運使，擢秘書少監、知廣州，捕斬賊馮佐臣。 入判大理寺，出知越州，復歸判尚書刑部，出知江寧府，歷右諫議大夫、給事中、知揚州，徙明州。 以尚書工部侍郎致仕。 祀明堂，遷刑部。 卒，年八十有九，特贈吏部侍郎。
As prefect of Tengzhou he fostered schools and scholars and wholly changed local custom, so that Teng thereafter produced jinshi candidates. He was vice-prefect of Haizhou and judicial intendant on the Lizhou circuit. On leaving that post he was appointed prefect of Quanzhou. He rose to Outer Vice Director of Revenue and transport commissioner on the Guangnan East circuit, became Vice Director of the Secretariat and prefect of Guangzhou, and captured and executed the bandit Feng Zuochen. He sat on the Court of Judicial Review, served as prefect of Yuezhou, returned to the Ministry of Justice, went out as prefect of Jiangning, and held in turn the posts of Right Remonstrance Official, Drafting Official, and prefect of Yangzhou before transfer to Mingzhou. He retired with the rank of Vice Director of Works. At the Bright Hall sacrifice he was promoted within the Ministry of Justice. He died at eighty-nine and was specially granted the posthumous title of Vice Director of Personnel.
7
簡性和易，喜賓客。 即錢塘城北治園廬，自號「武林居士」。 道引服餌，晚歲顏如丹。 尤好醫術，人有疾，多自處方以療之，有集驗方數十，行於世。 一日，謂其子絜曰：「吾退居十五年，未嘗小不懌，今意倦，豈不逝歟？」 就寢而絕。 幼從學四明朱頔，長學文於沈天錫，既仕，均奉資之。 後二人亡，又訪其子孫，為主婚嫁。 平居宴語，惟以宣上德、救民患為意。 孫沔知杭州，榜其里門曰「德壽坊」。 然在廣州無廉稱，蓋為絜所累。 絜，終尚書都官員外郎。
Jian was mild and easygoing and loved to entertain guests. North of Qiantang he built a garden retreat and called himself the Retired Gentleman of Wulin. He followed Daoist breathing exercises and elixirs, and in his later years his face was as ruddy as cinnabar. He was especially skilled in medicine, often prescribing for the sick himself, and published several dozen tested formulas that circulated widely. One day he told his son Jie, "In the fifteen years since I retired I have never once been out of sorts; now I feel tired—surely it is time to go? He lay down to sleep and died. As a boy he studied under Zhu Wan of Siming; later he studied literature under Shen Tianxi, and once in office he supported both men with stipends. After they died he sought out their descendants and arranged marriages for them. In everyday talk his only themes were to spread the emperor's virtue and ease the people's hardships. When Sun Mian was prefect of Hangzhou he posted a placard on Jian's lane gate naming it the Hall of Virtuous Longevity. Yet he had no reputation for integrity in Guangzhou, probably because his son Jie tarnished him. Jie ended his career as Outer Vice Director in the Ministry of State Revenue.
8
孫祖德
Sun Zude
9
孫祖德，字延仲，濰州北海人。 父航，監察御史、淮南轉運。 祖德進士及第，調濠州推官、校勘館閣書籍。 時校勘官不為常職，滿歲而去。 改大理寺丞、知榆次縣，上書言刑法重輕。 以尚書屯田員外郎通判西京留守司。 方冬苦寒，詔罷內外工作，而錢惟演督修天津橋，格詔不下。 祖德曰：「詔書可稽留耶？」 卒白罷役。
Sun Zude, courtesy name Yanzhong, was from Beihai in Weizhou. His father Hang served as investigating censor and Huainan transport commissioner. Zude passed the jinshi and was made judicial assistant in Haozhou and a collator in the palace library. Collators were not standing appointments then and left after a year. He became an assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Yuci, and memorialized on the weight of punishments. He was made Outer Assistant Director of Agriculture and vice prefect of the Western Capital garrison. In the depth of winter an edict stopped all public works inside and out, yet Qian Weiyan pressed on with repairs to the Tianjin Bridge and held back the edict. Zude said, "Can an imperial edict be detained?" In the end he reported the matter and the work was halted.
10
入為殿中侍御史，遷侍御史。 章獻太后春秋高，疾加劇，祖德請還政。 已而疾少間，祖德大恐。 及太后崩，諸嘗言還政者多進用，遂擢尚書兵部員外郎兼起居舍人、知諫院。 言郭皇后不當廢，獲罪，以贖論。 久之，遷天章閣待制。
He entered the capital as palace censor and was promoted to investigating censor. When Empress Dowager Zhangxian was old and gravely ill, Zude asked her to return rule to the emperor. Soon her illness lightened somewhat, and Zude was greatly alarmed. After the empress dowager died, many who had urged the return of power were promoted, and Zude was raised to Outer Assistant Director of War with concurrent posts as recorder and head of the Remonstrance Bureau. He argued that Empress Guo should not have been deposed, was punished, and the sentence was commuted to a fine. Long afterward he was made a waiting gentleman of the Tianzhang Hall.
11
時三司判官許申因宦官閻文應獻計，以藥化鐵成銅，可鑄錢，裨國用。 祖德言：「偽銅，法所禁而官自為，是教民欺也。」 固爭之，出知兗徐蔡州、永興軍。 徙鳳翔府，請置鄉兵。 改龍圖閣直學士、知梓州，累遷右諫議大夫、知河中府。 歷陳許蔡潞鄆亳州、應天府，以疾得潁州，除吏部侍郎致仕，卒。 有《論事》七卷。
At that time Xu Shen, a judge of the Three Departments, through the eunuch Yan Wenying proposed using drugs to turn iron into copper for coinage to enrich the treasury. Zude said, "Spurious copper is banned by law, yet the state would make it itself—is that not teaching the people to deceive?" He protested firmly and was sent out to govern Yan, Xu, and Cai and the Yongxing command. Transferred to Fengxiang, he petitioned to establish local militia. He became an academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Zizhou, then rose to Right Remonstrance Official and prefect of Hezhong. He governed in turn Chen, Xu, Cai, Lu, Yun, Bozhou, and Yingtian; through illness he secured Yingzhou, retired as Vice Director of Personnel, and died. He left Discourses on Affairs in seven fascicles.
12
祖德少清約，及致仕，娶富人妻，以規有其財。 已而妻悍，反資以財而出之。 子珪，江東轉運使。
Zude had been frugal and upright in youth, but after retiring he married a rich man's wife to get her wealth. The wife proved fierce and in the end paid him to leave her. His son Gui became Jiangdong transport commissioner.
13
張若谷
Zhang Ruogu
14
張若谷，字德繇，南劍沙縣人。 進士及第，為巴州軍事推官。 會蜀寇掠鄰郡，若谷攝州事，率眾為守禦備，賊乃引去。 調全州軍事推官。 入見，真宗識其名，顧曰：「是嘗在巴州禦賊者耶？」 特改大理寺丞、知蒙陽縣。 三司言：「廣寧監歲鑄緡錢四十萬，其主監宜擇人。」 乃以命若谷。 歲餘，所鑄贏三十萬緡。 擢知處州，歷江湖淮南益州路轉運、江淮制置發運使。 入為三司度支、鹽鐵副使，累遷右諫議大夫、知并州。
Zhang Ruogu, courtesy name Deyou, was from Shaxian in Nanjian. He passed the jinshi and was made military judicial assistant in Bazhou. When Shu raiders looted neighboring prefectures, Ruogu acted as prefect, rallied the people in defense, and the raiders withdrew. He was transferred to military judicial assistant in Quanzhou. At court the emperor recognized his name and said, "Is this not the man who once held off bandits in Bazhou?" He was specially made an assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Mengyang. The Three Departments reported, "The Guangning mint casts four hundred thousand strings of cash a year; its superintendent should be chosen carefully." Ruogu was appointed. In a little more than a year the mint turned out thirty thousand strings above quota. He was promoted to prefect of Chuzhou and served in turn as transport commissioner on the Jianghu, Huainan, and Yizhou circuits and as Jiang-Huai salt commissioner. He entered the capital as deputy vice-director of Revenue and Salt Iron in the Three Departments and rose to Right Remonstrance Official and prefect of Bingzhou.
15
先是，麟、府歲以繒錦市蕃部馬，前守輒罷之。 若谷以謂：互市，所以利戎落而通邊情，且中國得戰馬； 亟罷之，則猜阻不安。 奏復市如故，而馬入歲增。 提舉諸司庫務，權判大理寺，進樞密直學士，歷知澶州、成德軍、揚州、江寧府，入知審官院，糾察在京刑獄，知通進銀臺司、應天府。 改龍圖閣學士，徙杭州。 會歲饑，斥餘廩為糜粥賑救之。 權判吏部流內銓、知洪州，累官至尚書左丞致仕。
Before this, Lin and Fu each year traded silk and brocade for tribal horses, but successive prefects kept shutting the markets down. Ruogu argued that border trade profits the frontier peoples, keeps border ties open, and brings war horses to the empire; to abolish it again and again would only breed suspicion and unrest. He memorialized to restore the markets as before, and horse imports rose each year. He oversaw treasury offices, acted as president of the Court of Judicial Review, rose to Academician in the Council of State, governed Danzhou, Chengde, Yangzhou, and Jiangning, headed the Bureau of Appointments, inspected capital criminal cases, and directed the memorials office and Yingtian. He became an academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and was transferred to Hangzhou. When famine struck he opened surplus granaries and distributed porridge for relief. He acted as head of the roster bureau and as prefect of Hongzhou, and eventually retired as Left Vice Director of the Secretariat.
16
若谷素為宰相張士遜引拔，然所至亦自有循良跡，不激訐取名云。
Ruogu had been promoted by Chief Minister Zhang Shisun, yet in each post he also left a record of honest administration without courting fame through harsh attacks.
17
石揚休
Shi Yangxiu
18
石揚休，字昌言，其先江都人。 唐兵部郎中仲覽之後，後徙京兆。 七代祖藏用，右羽林大將軍，明於曆數，嘗召家人謂曰：「天下將有變，而蜀為最安處。」 乃去依其親眉州刺史李滈，遂為眉州人。
Shi Yangxiu, courtesy name Changyan, traced his origins to Jiangdu. His line descended from Tang Vice Director of War Zhonglan and later moved to Jingzhao. His seventh-generation ancestor Zangyong, a general of the Right Feathered Forest, was skilled in calendrical science; he once told his family, "The realm will soon be in turmoil, and Shu will be the safest refuge." He went to join his kinsman Li Hao, military governor of Meizhou, and the family became Meizhou people.
19
揚休少孤力學，進士高第，為同州觀察推官，遷著作佐郎、知中牟縣。 縣當國西門，衣冠往來之衝也，地瘠民貧，賦役煩重，富人隸太常為樂工，僥幸免役者凡六十餘家。 揚休請悉罷之。 改秘書丞，為秘閣校理、開封府推官，累遷尚書祠部員外郎，歷三司度支、鹽鐵判官。 坐前在開封嘗失盜，出知宿州。
Orphaned young, Yangxiu studied hard, took the jinshi in the highest class, served as judicial assistant in Tongzhou, and was promoted to assistant compiler and magistrate of Zhongmou. The county stood at the empire's western gate on the road of officials and gentry; the land was poor, taxes heavy, and more than sixty wealthy households had registered as Imperial Sacrifice musicians to escape corvée. Yangxiu petitioned to abolish every such exemption. He became a secretary director, collator in the palace library, and Kaifeng judicial officer, then rose to Outer Vice Director of Rites and judge in Revenue and Salt Iron. Because a theft had occurred in Kaifeng while he served there, he was sent out as prefect of Suzhou.
20
頃之，召入為度支判官，修起居注。 初，記注官與講讀諸儒，皆得侍坐邇英閣。 揚休奏：「史官記言動，當立以侍。」 從其言。 判鹽鐵勾院，以刑部員外郎知制誥、同判太常寺。 初，內出香祠溫成廟，帝誤書名稱臣，揚休言：「此奉宗廟禮，有司承誤不以聞。」 帝嘉之。 兼勾當三班院，為宗正寺修玉牒官。 遷工部郎中，未及謝，卒。
Soon he was recalled as revenue judge and compiler of the Veritable Records. At first recorders and lecture-hall scholars all sat beside the emperor in the Yingying Hall. Yangxiu memorialized, "Historians who record words and deeds should stand to attend." The emperor agreed. He judged the Salt Iron Audit Office and served as Outer Vice Director of Punishments with concurrent posts as drafting official and associate director of the Imperial Sacrifices. When incense was issued for the Wen Cheng temple, the emperor mistakenly wrote "your minister"; Yangxiu said, "This is an ancestral rite—the responsible office should report the error rather than keep silent." The emperor commended him. He also oversaw the Third-Rank Bureau and compiled the imperial genealogy in the Court of the Imperial Clan. He was promoted to Director of Works but died before he could offer thanks.
21
揚休喜閑放，平居養猿鶴，玩圖書，吟詠自適，與家人言，未嘗及朝廷事。 及卒，發楮中所得上封事十餘章，其大略：請增諫官以廣言路，置五經博士使學者專其業，出御史按察諸道以防壅蔽，復齒胄之禮以強宗室，擇守令，重農桑，禁奢侈，皆有補於時者。 然揚休為人慎默，世未嘗以能言待之也。 至於誥命，尤非所長。
Yangxiu loved a leisurely life, kept apes and cranes, read and wrote poetry for pleasure, and never discussed court affairs with his family. After his death a dozen sealed memorials were found, broadly urging more remonstrance officials, Five Classics doctors, circuit censors, restored heir-school rites, careful choice of prefects and magistrates, emphasis on farming, and bans on luxury—all useful to the times. Yet he was cautious and reticent, and the world had never counted him among those who spoke boldly. Drafting edicts was especially not his strength.
22
平生好殖財。 因使契丹，道感寒毒，得風痹，謁告歸鄉，別墳墓。 揚休初在鄉時，衣食不足，徙步去家十八年。 後以從官還鄉里，疇昔同貧窶之人尚在，皆曰：「昌言來，必賙我矣。」 揚休卒不揮一金，反遍受里中富人金以去。
All his life he loved to amass wealth. On an embassy to the Khitan he caught a chill on the road, developed wind paralysis, asked leave to return home, and visited the family graves. In his youth at home he had lacked food and clothing and had been away on foot for eighteen years. When he later returned as a court official, his former poor neighbors all said, "Changyan has come—he is sure to give us something." In the end he gave not a single coin but took money from wealthy neighbors all around and left.
23
祖士衡
Zu Shiheng
24
祖士衡，字平叔，蔡州上蔡人。 少孤，博學有文，為李宗諤所知，妻以兄子。 楊億謂劉筠曰：「祖士衡辭學日新，後生可畏也。」 舉進士甲科，授大理評事、通判蘄州，再遷殿中丞、直集賢院，改右正言、戶部判官。 未幾，提舉在京諸司庫務，遷起居舍人、注釋御集檢閱官，遂知制誥，為史館修撰，糾察在京刑獄，同知通進銀臺司。 天聖初，以附丁謂，落職知吉州。 言者又以在郡不修飭，復降監江州稅。 士衡兒時過外家，有僧善相，見之，語人曰：「是兒神骨秀異，他日有名於時，若年過四十，當位極人臣。」 年三十九，卒於官。
Zu Shiheng, courtesy name Pingshu, was from Shangcai in Caizhou. Orphaned young, he was learned and literary; Li Zonge noticed him and married him to his brother's son's daughter. Yang Yi told Liu Yun, "Zu Shiheng's literary learning improves daily—the young man is formidable." He took the jinshi in the highest class, became a judicial reviewer and vice-prefect of Qizhou, then rose to palace director and collator in the Hall of Assembled Treasures, then Right Rectifier and revenue judge. Soon he supervised the capital treasuries, became recorder and collator of imperial writings, then drafting official, history compiler, capital criminal inspector, and associate director of the memorials office. At the start of Tiansheng, for having sided with Ding Wei, he was demoted to prefect of Jizhou. Critics also said he had been lax in office, and he was demoted again to supervisor of the Jiangzhou tax office. As a boy visiting his mother's family, a physiognomist said of him, "This child has extraordinary spirit; he will be famous; if he lives past forty he will reach the highest rank." He died in office at thirty-nine.
25
李垂，字舜工，聊城人。 咸平中，登進士第，上《兵製》、《將制書》。 自湖州錄事參軍召為崇文校勘，累遷著作郎、館閣校理。 上《導河形勝書》三卷，欲復九河故道，時論重之。 又累修起居注。 丁謂執政，垂未嘗往謁。 或問其故，垂曰：「謂為宰相，不以公道副天下望，而恃權怙勢。 觀其所為，必遊朱崖，吾不欲在其黨中。」 謂聞而惡之，罷知亳州，遷潁、晉、絳三州。 明道中，還朝，閤門祗候李康伯謂曰：「舜工文學議論稱於天下，諸公欲用為知制誥，但宰相以舜工未嘗相識，盍一往見之。」 垂曰：「我若昔謁丁崖州，則乾興初已為翰林學士矣。 今已老大，見大臣不公，常欲面折之，焉能趨炎附熱，看人眉睫，以冀推輓乎？ 道之不行，命也！」 執政知之，出知均州。 卒，年六十九。
Li Chui, courtesy name Shungong, was from Liaocheng. In the Xianping era he passed the jinshi and submitted treatises on military organization and command. From Huzhou recorder he was summoned as Chongwen collator and rose to compiler and palace collator. He submitted Guiding the River and Strategic Terrain in three fascicles, proposing to restore the Nine Rivers; contemporaries greatly valued it. He also repeatedly served as compiler of the Veritable Records. When Ding Wei held power, Chui never called on him. Asked why, he said, "Wei is chief minister yet does not meet the world's hopes with fairness, but relies on power and patronage. Watch what he does—he is sure to end in exile on Hainan; I will not join his faction." Wei heard and hated him, demoted him to Bozhou, then moved him through Ying, Jin, and Jiang. In Mingdao he returned to court; Li Kangbo said, "Your learning and discourse are famed; the gentlemen want you as drafting official, but the chief minister says he does not know you—why not visit him once?" Chui said, "Had I once called on Ding in exile, I would already have been Hanlin academician in Qianxing. Now I am old; when I see a minister act unfairly I want to rebuke him to his face—how could I chase power and watch another's brow for promotion? If the Way does not prevail, that is fate!" The council heard and sent him out as prefect of Junzhou. He died at sixty-nine.
26
五子，仲昌最知名，銳於進取，嘗獻計修六塔河無功，自殿中丞責英州文學參軍。
Of five sons Zhongchang was best known, eager to advance; his plan to repair the Six Pagoda River failed, and he was demoted from palace director to literary adjutant in Yingzhou.
27
張洞，字仲通，開封祥符人。 父惟簡，太常少卿。 洞為人長大，眉目如畫，自幼開悟，卓犖不群。 惟簡異之，抱以訪里之卜者。 曰：「郎君生甚奇，必在策名，後當以文學政事顯。」 既誦書，日數千言，為文甚敏。 未冠，曄然有聲，遇事慷慨，自許以有為。 時，趙元昊叛擾邊。 關、隴蕭然，困於飛輓，且屢喪師。 仁宗太息，思聞中外之謀。 洞以布衣求上方略，召試舍人院，擢試將作監主簿。
Zhang Dong, courtesy name Zhongtong, was from Xiangfu in Kaifeng. His father Weijian was Vice Director of the Imperial Sacrifices. Dong was tall, with brows and eyes like a painting; from boyhood he was quick-witted and stood apart. Weijian marveled at him and took him to a neighborhood diviner. The man said, "This boy's birth is extraordinary; he will win a degree and later shine in letters and administration." Once he read books he recited thousands of characters a day and wrote with great speed. Before coming of age he was already famed; in affairs he was bold and promised himself achievement. At that time Zhao Yuanhao rebelled and raided the frontier. Guan and Long lay waste; supply lines were strained and the army suffered repeated defeats. Emperor Renzong sighed and wished to hear counsel from every quarter. Dong as a commoner offered strategy to the throne, was tested in the Academy, and was made probationary director of works.
28
尋舉進士中第，調漣水軍判官，遭親喪去，再調潁州推官。 民劉甲者，強弟柳使鞭其婦，既而投杖，夫婦相持而泣。 甲怒，逼柳使再鞭之。 婦以無罪死。 吏當夫極法，知州歐陽修欲從之。 洞曰：「律以教令者為首，夫為從，且非其意，不當死。」 眾不聽，洞即稱疾不出，不得已讞於朝，果如洞言，修甚重之。
Soon he passed the jinshi, served as judicial officer in Lianshui, left on mourning, then was reassigned to Yingzhou. A man named Liu Jia forced his brother Liu Liu to whip Jia's wife; then he threw down the stick and the couple clung to each other weeping. Jia grew angry and forced Liu to whip her again. The wife died though she was innocent. The clerk would punish the husband with death; Prefect Ouyang Xiu wished to agree. Dong said, "The law makes the one who commands the beating the principal and the husband the accessory; it was not his intent—he should not die." The assembly would not listen; Dong claimed illness and stayed away; the case went to court and ended as Dong said, and Xiu greatly valued him.
29
晏殊知永興軍，奏管勾機宜文字。 殊儒臣，喜客，遊其門者皆名士，尤深敬洞。 改大理丞、知鞏縣。 會殊留守西京，復奏知司錄。 殊晚節驟用刑，幕府無敢言。 洞平居與殊賦詩飲酒，傾倒無不至，當事有官責，持議甚堅，殊為沮止，洞亦自以不負其知。
When Yan Shu governed Yongxing he memorialized Dong as staff officer for military affairs. Shu was a Confucian who loved guests; his visitors were all famous men, and he especially respected Dong. Dong became an assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Gong County. When Shu remained at the Western Capital he again memorialized him as recorder. In his late years Shu suddenly used punishments heavily and no one in his staff dared speak. In private Dong drank and wrote poetry with Shu without reserve; in official business he held firm, checked Shu, and felt he had not betrayed his trust.
30
初，皇后郭氏忤旨得罪廢沒，後仁宗悔之，詔追復其號，二十餘年矣。 至是，有司請祔於廟。 知制誥劉敞以謂：「《春秋》書『禘於太廟，用致夫人』。 致者，不宜致也。 且古者不二嫡，當許其號，不許其禮。」 洞奏：「后嘗母天下，無大過惡，中外所知。 陛下既察其偶失恭順，洗之於既沒，猶曰不許其禮，於義無當。 且廢后立后，何嫌於嫡？ 此當時大臣護已然之失，乖正名之典，而敞復引《春秋》『用致夫人』。 按《左氏》哀姜之惡所不忍道，而二《傳》有非嫡之辭，敞議非是。 若從變禮，尚當別立廟。」 不行。 轉太常博士，判登聞鼓院。 仁宗方向儒術，洞在館閣久，數有建明，仁宗以為知《經》，會覆考進士崇政殿，因賜飛白「善經」字寵之。 洞獻詩謝，復賜詔獎諭。
Empress Guo had once offended the emperor and was deposed and died; later Renzong regretted it and restored her title after more than twenty years. Now the responsible offices asked to enshrine her in the ancestral temple. Drafting Official Liu Chang cited the Spring and Autumn: "Sacrifice at the Bright Hall with the wife presented. To present means what ought not to be presented. In antiquity there was no second primary wife; grant the title but not the rite." Dong memorialized, "The empress once mothered the realm without great fault known to all. The emperor has already forgiven her lapse after death—yet to deny her rite is unjust. When one empress replaces another, what scruple remains about primary status? Ministers then protected an established error; Chang again cites the phrase "with the wife presented." The Zuo Commentary shows Ai Jiang's wickedness; the two commentaries speak of non-primary status—Chang is wrong. Even under altered rites a separate temple should be set up." The proposal was not adopted. He was transferred to Doctor of the Imperial Sacrifices and president of the Drum Court for Appeals. Renzong was turning toward Confucian learning, and Dong, who had long served in the palace academies and often offered sound proposals, was thought by the emperor to know the Classics well; during a jinshi re-examination at Chongzheng Hall, Renzong honored him with feibai calligraphy reading "Good at the Classics." Dong submitted a poem of thanks, and the emperor again issued an edict praising him.
31
出知棣州，轉尚書祠部員外郎。 河北地當六塔之衝者，歲決溢病民田。 水退，強者遂冒占，弱者耕居無所。 洞奏一切官為標給，蠲其租以綏新集。 河北東路民富蠶桑，契丹謂之「綾絹州」，朝廷以為內地不慮。 洞奏：「今滄、景，契丹可入之道，兵守多缺，契丹時以販鹽為名，舟往來境上，此不可不察。 願度形勢，置帥、增屯戍以控扼之。」
He was sent out as prefect of Dizhou and promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites' Sacrifices Bureau. In Hebei, land in the flood path of the Six Towers project overflowed yearly and ruined the people's fields. After the floods receded, the strong seized the land while the weak had nowhere to farm or dwell. Dong memorialized that the state should mark and register all such land, remit its rents, and thereby settle the newly displaced. Eastern Hebei was rich in mulberry and sericulture, and the Khitan called it the "Silk Gauze Circuit"; the court treated it as interior territory and saw little cause for worry. Dong memorialized, "Cangzhou and Jingzhou are now avenues of Khitan entry, garrisons are often understrength, and the Khitan sometimes move boats along the border under the guise of trading salt—this cannot be overlooked. I ask that we survey the terrain, appoint commanders, and add garrisons to hold the line."
32
時天下久安，薦紳崇尚虛名，以寬厚沉默為德，於事無所補，洞以謂非朝廷福。 又謂：「諫官持諫以震人主，不數年至顯仕，此何為者？ 當重其任而緩其遷，使端良之士不亟易，而浮躁者絕意。」 致書歐陽修極論之。 召權開封府推官。
The empire had long been at peace, and officials prized empty reputation, treating leniency and silence as virtue while contributing nothing to affairs; Dong held that this boded ill for the court. He also said, "Remonstrance officials brandish remonstrance to startle the throne, then within a few years rise to high office—what is that for? We should weight their responsibilities and slow their promotions, so upright men are not quickly replaced and the restless abandon the pursuit." He wrote to Ouyang Xiu and argued the point at length. He was recalled to serve as acting investigating officer of Kaifeng prefecture.
33
英宗即位，轉度支員外郎。 英宗哀疚，或經旬不御正殿，洞上言：「陛下春秋鼎盛，初嗣大統，豈宜久屈剛健，自比沖幼之主。 當躬萬機，攬群材，以稱先帝付畀之意，厭元元之望。」 大臣亦以為言，遂聽政。 命考試開封進士，既罷，進賦，題曰《孝慈則忠》，時方議濮安懿王稱皇事，英宗曰：「張洞意諷朕。」 宰相韓琦進曰：「言之者無罪，聞之者足以戒。」 英宗意解。
When Yingzong came to the throne, he was transferred to Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue's Finance Bureau. Yingzong was in mourning and sometimes went ten days without holding court in the main hall; Dong submitted, "Your Majesty is in the prime of life and has just inherited the throne—how can you long restrain your vigor and comport yourself like a child emperor? You should personally handle the myriad affairs of state and gather able men, to fulfill the late emperor's charge and meet the people's expectations." The chief ministers spoke likewise, and the emperor thereupon resumed court. Ordered to examine Kaifeng jinshi candidates, he submitted after the test a rhapsody titled "Filial Piety and Kindness Then Loyalty"; as the court was debating whether Prince An of Pu should be styled emperor, Yingzong said, "Zhang Dong means to satirize me. Chief Minister Han Qi stepped forward and said, "The speaker is not guilty; the listener may take warning." Yingzong's resentment eased.
34
詔訊祁國公宗說獄，宗說恃近屬，貴驕不道，獄具，英宗以為辱國，不欲暴其惡。 洞曰：「宗說罪在不宥。 雖然，陛下將懲惡而難暴之，獨以其坑不辜數人，置諸法可矣。」 英宗喜曰：「卿知大體。」 洞因言：「唐宗室多賢宰相名士，蓋其知學問使然。 國家本支蕃衍，無親疏一切厚廩之，不使知辛苦。 婢妾聲伎，無多寡之限，至滅禮義，極嗜欲。 貸之則亂公共之法，刑之則傷骨肉之愛。 宜因秩品立制度，更選老成教授之。」 宗室緣是怨洞，痛詆訾言，上亦起藩邸，賴察之，不罪也。
By edict the court investigated Duke of Qi Guo Zong Shuo; relying on his close kinship, he was arrogant and lawless; when the case was complete Yingzong felt it would shame the state and did not wish to expose his crimes. Dong said, "Zong Shuo's crime admits no pardon. Yet if Your Majesty wishes to punish wickedness without public exposure, you need only punish him for burying several innocent people alive under the law." Yingzong said with pleasure, "You understand the larger principle." Dong then said, "In Tang many imperial clansmen became worthy chief ministers and famous scholars because they were trained in learning. Our collateral branches have multiplied, and without regard to closeness or distance all are richly maintained and never know hardship. Concubines and entertainers are kept without limit, until ritual propriety is destroyed and desires are indulged to the utmost. To lend to them is to disorder public law; to punish them is to wound familial affection. Institutions should be set by rank and grade, and seasoned men should be chosen to instruct them." The imperial clansmen therefore hated Dong and bitterly slandered him; the emperor too had come from a princely household, but after inquiry he did not punish him.
35
轉司封員外郎、權三司度支判官。 對便殿稱旨，英宗遂欲進用，大臣忌之，出為江西轉運使。 江西薦饑，徵民積歲賦，洞為奏免之。 又民輸綢絹不中度者，舊責以滿匹，洞命計尺寸輸錢，民便之。 移淮南轉運使，轉工部郎中。 淮南地不宜麥，民艱於所輸，洞復命輸錢，官為糴麥，不逾時而足。 洞在棣時，夢人稱敕召者，既出，如拜官然，顧視旌旗吏卒羅於庭。 至是，夢之如初。 自以年不能永，教諸子部分家事。 未幾卒，年四十九。
He was transferred to Vice Director in the Ministry of Personnel's Enfeoffment Bureau and made acting Finance Commissioner of the Three Offices. When he answered at the informal hall he pleased the emperor, and Yingzong wished to advance him; the chief ministers envied him, and he was sent out as Jiangxi transport commissioner. Jiangxi suffered repeated famine, yet back taxes of many years were being collected; Dong memorialized to have them remitted. When silk delivered by the people fell short of standard width, the old rule charged them for a full bolt; Dong ordered payment by measured length in cash, which greatly eased the burden. He was moved to Huainan transport commissioner and promoted to Director in the Ministry of Works. Huainan was ill suited to wheat, and the people had difficulty meeting their deliveries; Dong again allowed payment in cash while the government purchased wheat, and supplies were soon complete. While at Dizhou, Dong dreamed that someone proclaimed an edict summoning him; when he went out it was as if he were being appointed to office, and behind him banners, flags, clerks, and soldiers filled the courtyard. At this time he dreamed the same thing again. Believing his life would not be long, he instructed his sons on how to divide the household affairs. Before long he died, at the age of forty-nine.
36
李仕衡
Li Shixing
37
李仕衡，字天均，秦州成紀人，後家京兆府。 進士及第，調鄠縣主簿。 田重進守京兆，命仕衡鞫死囚五人，活者四人。 重進即其家謂曰：「子有陰施，此門當高大之。」 徙知彭山縣，就加大理評事，遷光祿寺丞。 父益，以不法誅，仕衡亦坐除名。
Li Shixing, courtesy name Tianjun, was from Chengji in Qinzhou and later made his home in Jingzhao Prefecture. He passed the jinshi examination and was appointed chief clerk of E County. When Tian Chongjin was defending Jingzhao, he ordered Shixing to retry five condemned prisoners; four were spared. Chongjin went straight to his home and said, "You have done secret good; this gate is destined to rise high." He was transferred to magistrate of Pengshan County, concurrently made reviewing officer in the Court of Judicial Review, and promoted to Assistant Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. His father Yi was executed for unlawful conduct, and Shixing was also dismissed from office as punishment.
38
後會赦，寇準薦其材，盡復其官，領渭橋輦運，通判邠州，再遷秘書丞，徙知劍州。 王均反，仕衡度州兵不足守，即棄城焚芻粟，輦金帛東守劍門。 既而賊陷漢州，攻劍州，州空無所資，即趨劍門。 仕衡預招賊眾，得千餘人，待之不疑。 賊將至，與鈐轄裴臻迎擊之，斬首數千級。 乃乘驛入奏，擢尚書度支員外郎，賜服緋魚。 已而使者言仕衡嘗棄城，降監虔州稅。
Later, when an amnesty was proclaimed, Kou Zhun recommended his ability and all his offices were restored; he headed Weiqiao cart transport, served as vice-prefect of Binzhou, was promoted again to secretary of the Palace Secretariat, and was transferred to prefect of Jianzhou. When Wang Jun rebelled, Shixing judged the prefecture's troops too few to hold the city; he abandoned it at once, burned fodder and grain, and moved gold and silk east to defend Jianmen. Soon the rebels captured Hanzhou and attacked Jianzhou; with the prefecture empty and without supplies, he hurried to Jianmen. Shixing had beforehand recruited more than a thousand of the rebel troops and treated them without suspicion. When the rebels were about to arrive, he and Military Controller Pei Zhen went out to meet them in battle and beheaded several thousand. He then rode post horses to the capital to report; he was promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue's Finance Bureau and granted the purple robe and fish tally. Soon an envoy reported that Shixing had once abandoned the city, and he was demoted to supervisor of Ganzhou tax collection.
39
召還，判三司鹽鐵勾院。 度支使梁鼎言：「商人入粟於邊，率高其直，而售以解鹽。 商利益博，國用日耗。 請調丁夫轉粟，而輦鹽諸州，官自鬻之，歲可得緡錢三十萬。」 仕衡曰：「安邊無大於息民，今不得已而調歛之，又增以轉粟輓鹽之役，欲其不困，何可得哉！」 不聽，遂行鼎議，而關中大擾。 乃罷鼎度支使，以仕衡為荊湖北路轉運使，徙陝西。 初，歲出內帑緡錢三十萬，助陝西軍費。 仕衡言歲計可自辦，遂罷給。
Recalled, he was made president of the Salt and Iron Audit Bureau of the Three Offices. Finance Commissioner Liang Ding said, "Merchants deliver grain to the border at greatly inflated prices and receive monopoly salt vouchers in return. The merchants' profits are enormous, and state revenues dwindle by the day. I ask that corvée labor be mobilized to transport grain, that salt be carted to the prefectures and sold by the state, and that this yield three hundred thousand strings of cash each year." Shixing said, "Nothing secures the border more than easing the people; now we levy them because we must, yet we add grain transport and salt haulage on top—how can they not be distressed!" His advice was not taken; Ding's plan was implemented, and Guanzhong was thrown into great turmoil. Ding was then removed as Finance Commissioner, and Shixing was made transport commissioner of Northern Jing-Hu Circuit and transferred to Shaanxi. Previously the court had disbursed three hundred thousand strings from the inner treasury each year to support Shaanxi military expenses. Shixing said the yearly budget could be managed locally, and the subsidy was abolished.
40
真宗謁陵寢，因幸洛，仕衡獻粟五十萬斛，又以三十萬斛饋京西。 朝廷以為材，召為度支副使。 上言：「關右既弛鹽禁，而永興、同華耀四州猶率賣鹽，年額錢請減十之四。」 詔悉除之。 累遷司封郎中，為河北轉運使。 又奏罷內帑所助緡錢百萬。 建言：「河北歲給諸軍帛七十萬，而民艱於得錢，悉預假於里豪，出倍償之息，以是工機之利愈薄。 方春民不足，請戶給錢，至夏輸帛，則民獲利而官用足矣。 詔優其直，仍推其法於天下。
When Zhenzong visited the imperial tombs and then proceeded to Luoyang, Shixing presented five hundred thousand bushels of grain and sent another three hundred thousand bushels to Jingxi. The court regarded him as capable and summoned him to serve as Vice Finance Commissioner. He submitted, "Although salt restrictions in the Guan region west had been relaxed, Yongxing, Tong, Hua, and Yao prefectures still routinely sold salt; I ask that the yearly quota be reduced by four-tenths." An edict abolished the quotas entirely. He rose repeatedly to Director in the Ministry of Personnel's Enfeoffment Bureau and served as Hebei transport commissioner. He again memorialized to abolish the inner treasury subsidy of one million strings of cash. He proposed, "Hebei supplies seven hundred thousand bolts of cloth to the armies each year, yet the people have difficulty obtaining cash and must borrow in advance from local magnates at double interest—so the profit of the weaving workshops grows ever thinner. When the people are short in spring, pay them cash by household; let them deliver cloth in summer—then the people profit and official needs are met. An edict improved the price paid and extended the method throughout the empire.
41
封泰山，獻錢帛、芻糧各十萬，見於行宮，遷右諫議大夫。 祀汾陰，又助錢帛三十萬，乃命同林特提舉京西、陝西轉運事。 權知永興軍，進給事中。 逾月，以樞密直學士知益州。
At the Mount Tai feng encomium he presented one hundred thousand each in cash, silk, fodder, and grain; received at the traveling palace, he was promoted to Right Remonstrance Official. At the Fenyin sacrifice he again contributed three hundred thousand in cash and silk, and was then ordered with Lin Te to oversee Jingxi and Shaanxi transport affairs. He served as acting military commissioner of Yongxing Army and was promoted to Supervising Censorate Official. Within a month he was made prefect of Yizhou with the title Academician in the Privy Council.
42
頃之，河北闕軍儲，議者以謂仕衡前過助封祀費，真宗聞之，以為河北都轉運使。 駕如亳州，又貢絲錦、縑帛各二十萬。 後集粟塞下，至鉅萬斛。 或言粟腐不可食，朝廷遣使取視之，而粟不腐也。 棣州汙下，苦水患，仕衡奏徙州西北七十里，既而大水沒故城丈餘。 南郊，復進錢帛八十萬。 先是，每有大禮，仕衡必以所部供軍物為貢，言者以為不實。 仕衡乃條析進六十萬皆上供者，二十萬即其羨餘。 帝不之罪，謂王旦曰：「仕衡應猝有材，人欲以此中之。 然朝廷所須，隨大小即辦，亦其所長也。」 明年旱蝗，發積粟賑民，又移五萬斛濟京西。
Soon Hebei lacked military stores; critics blamed Shixing for having overspent on the feng sacrifice; when Zhenzong heard this, he made Shixing chief transport commissioner of Hebei. When the imperial carriage visited Bozhou, he again presented two hundred thousand each in silk brocade and bolted cloth. Later he stockpiled grain below the passes, amounting to tens of thousands of bushels. Some claimed the grain had spoiled and was inedible; the court sent an envoy to inspect it, but the grain had not spoiled. Dizhou was low-lying and plagued by floods; Shixing memorialized to move the prefecture seventy li northwest, and soon a great flood submerged the old city to a depth of more than one zhang. At the southern suburban sacrifice he again presented eight hundred thousand in cash and silk. Previously, at every major ritual Shixing had presented military supplies from his circuit as tribute, and critics claimed the figures were false. Shixing then itemized the matter: six hundred thousand were all for imperial supply, and two hundred thousand came from his surplus. The emperor did not punish him and said to Wang Dan, "Shixing has a gift for meeting sudden demands; people wish to use this against him. Yet whatever the court requires, great or small, he provides at once—that too is his strength." The next year, when drought and locusts struck, he released stored grain to relieve the people and also sent fifty thousand bushels to aid Jingxi.
43
遷尚書工部侍郎、權知天雄軍。 民有盜瓜傷主者，法當死，仕衡以歲饑，奏貸之。 盜起淄、青間，遷刑部侍郎、知青州。 前守捕群盜妻子置棘圍中，仕衡至，悉縱罷之使去。 未幾，其徒有梟賊首至者。 入為三司使，帝作《寬財利論》以賜之。 乃更陝西入粟法，使民得受錢與茶。 舊市羊及木，責吏送京師，而羊多道死，木至湍險處往往漂失，吏至破產不能償。 仕衡乃許吏私附羊，免其算，使得補死者； 聽民自采木輸官，用入粟法償其直。 遷吏部侍郎。
He was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and made acting military commissioner of Tianxiong Army. When a man stole melons and injured the owner, the law called for death; because of famine that year, Shixing memorialized to spare him. When bandits rose between Zi and Qing, he was transferred to Vice Minister of Justice and prefect of Qingzhou. The previous prefect had captured the bandits' wives and children and held them in thorn stockades; when Shixing arrived he released them all and sent them away. Before long some of the bandits' followers brought severed heads and presented them. He entered the capital as Commissioner of the Three Offices, and the emperor composed "On Easing Fiscal Profit" and bestowed it on him. He then revised the Shaanxi grain-delivery law so that the people could receive cash and tea. Under the old system, when the government purchased sheep and timber, clerks were required to deliver them to the capital; many sheep died on the road, and timber often drifted away at rapids, until clerks were ruined and unable to make compensation. Shixing then allowed clerks to attach private sheep, exempt from levy, so they could replace those that died; and he allowed the people to gather timber themselves and deliver it to the government, compensating them under the grain-delivery law. He was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
44
仕衡前後管計事二十年，雖才智過人，然素貪，家貲至累钜萬，建大第長安里中，嚴若官府。
Shixing managed fiscal affairs for some twenty years; though his talent and wit surpassed others, he was by nature greedy, amassed household wealth to vast sums, and built a great mansion in Chang'an Lane as imposing as a government office.
45
子丕緒，蔭補將作監主簿。 及仕衡歸老，丕緒時為尚書虞部員外郎，請解官就養。 朝廷以為郎，故事不許，請削一官，乃聽。 未幾，還之。 居十餘年，仕衡死，服除，久之不出。 大臣為言，起僉書永興軍節度判官事。 歷通判永興軍、同州，知解州、興元府、華州，累遷司農卿致仕，卒。 丕緒居官廉靜，不為矯激。 家多圖書，集歷代石刻，為數百卷藏之。
His son Pizu entered office by inherited privilege as Chief Clerk of the Directorate of Works. When Shixing retired, Pizu, then Vice Director in the Parks and Gardens Section of the Ministry of Revenue, asked to resign and return home to support his father. The court replied that precedent did not allow a bureau official to do so; only when he offered to forfeit one rank was he permitted. Before long his rank was restored. He stayed out of office more than ten years; after Shixing died and his mourning ended, he still did not come forth for a long time. Great ministers spoke for him, and he was recalled to serve as drafting secretary and administrative aide on the Yongxing Army staff. He served in turn as vice-prefect of Yongxing Army and Tongzhou and as prefect of Jiezhou, Xingyuan Prefecture, and Huazhou, rose repeatedly to Minister of Revenue, retired, and died. Pizu served with integrity and restraint, never given to ostentatious display. His household held many books, and he assembled stone inscriptions from successive dynasties into several hundred scrolls for his collection.
46
李溥，河南人。 初為三司小吏，陰狡多智數。 時天下新定，太宗厲精政事，嘗論及財賦，欲有所更革，引三司吏二十七人對便殿，問以職事。 溥詢其目，請退而條上。 命至中書，列七十一事以聞，四十四事即日行之，餘下三司議可否。 於是帝以溥等為能，語輔臣曰：「朕嘗諭陳恕等，如溥輩雖無學，至於金穀利害，必能究知本末，宜假以色辭，誘令開陳。 而恕等強愎自用，莫肯詢問。」 呂端對曰：「耕當問奴，織當問婢。」 寇準曰：「孔子入太廟，每事問。 蓋以貴下賤，先有司之義也。」 帝以為然，悉擢溥等以官，賜錢幣有差。
Li Pu was from Henan. He began as a petty clerk in the Three Offices—secretive, cunning, and full of schemes. When the realm had just been settled, Emperor Taizong applied himself diligently to government, once discussed revenue and wished to reform it, and summoned twenty-seven Three Offices clerks to the Privy Hall to question them about their duties. Pu asked what topics were wanted and requested leave to withdraw and submit a written list. Sent to the Secretariat, he listed seventy-one items for the throne; forty-four took effect that same day, and the rest were referred to the Three Offices for discussion. The emperor then judged Pu and the others capable and told the chief ministers, "I once told Chen Shu and the others that men like Pu, though without formal learning, can surely get to the bottom of fiscal profit and loss, and should be drawn out with courteous words. Yet Shu and the others were stubborn and self-willed and would not inquire." Lü Duan replied, "To plow, ask the farmhand; to weave, ask the maid." Kou Zhun said, "When Confucius entered the Grand Temple, he asked about everything. Surely that is the principle of the noble deferring to the lowly and letting those in charge go first." The emperor agreed, promoted Pu and the others to office, and bestowed cash and coin in varying amounts.
47
溥為左侍禁、提點三司孔目官，請著內外百官諸軍奉祿為定式。 加閤門祗候。 催運陝西糧草，赴清遠軍，還，提舉在京倉草場，勾當北作坊。 齊州大水，壞民廬舍，欲徙州城，未決，命溥往視，遂徙城而還。 又與李仕衡使陝西，增酒榷緡錢歲二十五萬。 三遷崇儀使。
Pu served as Left Attendant Guard and Supervisor of the Three Offices Registry Clerk and asked that the salaries of civil and military officials and all armies be fixed by regulation. He was also appointed Gate Liaison Officer. He pressed the transport of grain and fodder in Shaanxi to Qingyuan Army; on his return he supervised the capital granaries and fodder yards and managed the Northern Workshops. When a great flood in Qizhou destroyed people's houses, officials wished to move the prefectural seat but had not decided; Pu was sent to inspect the site, moved the city, and returned. He also went with Li Shixing on a mission to Shaanxi and raised the annual wine monopoly revenue by two hundred fifty thousand strings of cash. Promoted three times, he became Commissioner of Ceremonial Regalia.
48
景德中，茶法既弊，命與林特、劉承珪更定法，募人入金帛京師，入芻粟塞下，與東南茶皆倍其數，即以溥制置江淮等路茶鹽礬稅兼發運事，使推行之。 歲課緡錢，果增其舊，特等皆受賞。 溥時已為發運副使，遷為使，仍改西京作坊使。 然茶法行之數年，課復損於舊。 江、淮歲運米輸京師，舊止五百餘萬斛，至溥乃增至六百萬，而諸路猶有餘畜。 高郵軍新開湖水散漫多風濤，溥令漕舟東下者還過泗州，因載石輸湖中，積為長堤，自是舟行無患。 累遷北作坊使。
In the Jingde era, when the tea law had already broken down, he was ordered with Lin Te and Liu Chenggui to revise it: recruits brought gold and silk to the capital and fodder and grain to the frontier, receiving twice the amount in southeast tea; Pu was then made Commissioner to oversee Jiang-Huai and other circuits' tea, salt, alum, and tax affairs together with transport, and sent to enforce the new law. Annual revenue in strings of cash did increase over the old level, and Te and the others were all rewarded. Pu was then Vice Commissioner of Transport; he was promoted to Commissioner and also made Commissioner of the Western Capital Workshops. Yet after several years under the tea law, revenue again dropped below the old level. The Jiang and Huai annually shipped grain to the capital; formerly the total stopped at a little over five million hu, but under Pu it rose to six million, and the circuits still had surplus stores. At Gaoyou Army the newly opened lake spread wide and was troubled by wind and waves; Pu ordered eastbound grain barges returning upstream to pass by Sizhou, load stone, and deposit it in the lake until it formed a long dike, after which boats passed without trouble. He rose repeatedly to Commissioner of the Northern Workshops.
49
時營建玉清昭應宮，溥與丁謂相表裏，盡括東南巧匠遣詣京，且多致奇木怪石，以傅會帝意。 建安軍鑄玉皇聖祖，溥典其事，丁謂言溥蔬食者周歲，而溥亦數奏祥應，遂以為迎奉聖像都監、領順州刺史，遷獎州團練使。 溥自言江、淮歲入茶，視舊額增五百七十餘萬斤。 並言，漕舟舊以使臣若軍大將，人掌一綱，多侵盜，自溥並三綱為一，以三人共主之，使更相司察。 大中祥符九年，初運米一百二十五萬石，才失二百石。 會溥當代，詔留再任，特遷宮苑使。
While the "Palace of Jade Clarity and Responding Splendor" was being built, Pu and Ding Wei worked hand in glove, rounding up skilled craftsmen from the southeast for the capital and procuring many strange trees and odd stones to suit the emperor's intent. When the Jade Emperor Holy Ancestor was cast at Jian'an Army, Pu directed the work; Ding Wei reported that Pu had eaten only vegetables for a full year, and Pu also repeatedly memorialized auspicious signs; he was then made Director General for Welcoming the Holy Image and concurrently Prefect of Shunzhou, and promoted to Military Commissioner of Jiang Prefecture. Pu himself reported that annual tea receipts from the Jiang and Huai exceeded the old quota by more than five million seven hundred thousand jin. He also said that formerly envoys or army generals each controlled one convoy on the grain barges and often embezzled; Pu merged three convoys into one and put three men jointly in charge so they would watch one another. In the ninth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, the first shipment of 1.25 million shi of grain lost only two hundred shi. When Pu's term was due to end, an edict kept him for another appointment and he was specially promoted to Commissioner of the Palace Parks.
50
初，譙縣尉陳齊論榷茶法，溥薦齊任京官，御史中丞王嗣宗方判吏部銓，言齊豪民子，不可用。 真宗以問執政，馮拯對曰：「若用有材，豈限貧富。」 帝曰：「卿言是也。」 因稱溥畏慎小心，言事未嘗不中利害，以故任之益不疑。 然溥久專利權，內倚丁謂，所言輒聽。 帝嘗語執政曰：「群臣上書論事，法官輒沮之，云非有大益，無改舊章，然則何以廣言路。」 王旦對曰：「法制數更，則詔令牴牾，故重於變易。」 因言：「溥嘗請盜販茶鹽者贓仗皆沒官，已可之矣。」 帝曰：「此特畏溥之強，不敢退卻，自今雖小吏言，亦宜詳究行之。」
Earlier, Qiao County Assistant Chen Qi had discussed the tea monopoly law; Pu recommended Qi for a capital office, but Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Sizong, then presiding over the Ministry of Personnel roster, said Qi was the son of a powerful local family and was unfit for appointment. Zhenzong asked the chief ministers; Feng Zheng replied, "If one appoints for talent, why should wealth or poverty matter?" The emperor said, "What you say is right." He then praised Pu as cautious and careful, saying his memorials never missed the mark on profit and loss, and for that reason entrusted him ever more without doubt. Yet Pu had long monopolized fiscal power, relied inward on Ding Wei, and whatever he said was heeded. The emperor once told the chief ministers, "When ministers submit memorials on policy, legal officers always obstruct them, saying that unless there is great benefit old statutes should not be changed—then how is the path of remonstrance to be broadened?" Wang Dan replied, "If laws and institutions are changed repeatedly, edicts contradict one another, and therefore change is treated as weighty." He added, "Pu once requested that the illicit goods of smugglers of tea and salt all be confiscated by the state, and this had already been approved." The emperor said, "That was simply fear of Pu's force and not daring to draw back; from now on, even if a petty clerk speaks, it should be examined in detail and put into effect."
51
胡則，字子正，婺州永康人。 果敢有材氣。 以進士起家，補許田縣尉，再調憲州錄事參軍。 時靈、夏用兵，轉運使索湘命則部送芻糧，為一月計。 則曰：「為百日備，尚恐不支，奈何為一月邪？」 湘懼無以給，遣則遂入奏。 太宗因問以邊策，對稱旨，顧左右曰：「州縣豈乏人？」 命記姓名中書。 後李繼隆討賊，久不解，湘語則曰：「微子幾敗我事。」 一日，繼隆移文轉運司曰：「兵且深入，糧有繼乎？」 則告湘曰：「彼師老將歸，欲以糧乏為辭耳，姑以有餘報之。」 已而果為則所料。 湘為河北轉運使，奏改秘書省著作佐郎、僉書貝州觀察判官事。
Hu Ze, courtesy name Zizheng, was from Yongkang in Wuzhou. He was resolute and daring, with talent and force of character. He entered office as a jinshi, was appointed magistrate of Xutian County, and was later transferred to recorder-assistant in Xian Prefecture. When campaigns were underway at Lingzhou and Xia, Transport Commissioner Suo Xiang ordered Ze to convoy fodder and grain—enough, he reckoned, for one month. Ze said, "Even a hundred days' provision may not be enough—how can we budget for a single month?" Fearful that he could not meet the demand, Xiang sent Ze to the capital to report directly to the throne. Taizong questioned him on frontier strategy; his answers pleased the emperor, who turned to those at his side and said, "Are there really no capable men in the counties and prefectures?" He ordered Ze's name taken down at the Secretariat. Later, when Li Jilong's campaign against the rebels dragged on without resolution, Xiang told Ze, "But for you I would nearly have ruined everything." One day Jilong sent the transport office a dispatch asking, "The army is about to press deep inland—will provisions keep coming?" Ze told Xiang, "Their troops are weary and ready to withdraw—they only want a pretext of grain shortage. Tell them for now that supplies are ample." Events soon bore out Ze's judgment. When Xiang became Hebei transport commissioner, he memorialized to appoint Ze Assistant Compiler in the Secretariat and concurrent staff officer to the Beizhou observation commissioner.
52
後以太常博士提舉兩浙榷茶，就知睦州，徙溫州。 歲餘，提舉江南路銀銅場、鑄錢監，得吏所匿銅數萬斤，吏懼且死，則曰：「馬伏波哀重囚而縱之，吾豈重貨而輕數人之生乎？」 籍為羨餘，不之罪。 改江、淮制置發運使，累遷尚書戶部員外郎。 真宗幸亳還，擢三司度支副使。
Later, as Doctor of the Imperial Sacrifices, he oversaw the tea monopoly in the Two Zhes, was given concurrent appointment as prefect of Muzhou, and was then transferred to Wenzhou. After a little more than a year he oversaw the Jiangnan circuit's silver and copper yards and mints and uncovered tens of thousands of jin of copper hidden by clerks. They feared execution. Ze said, "Ma Yuan pitied serious offenders and let them go—would I prize copper and treat several men's lives as light?" The copper was entered as surplus revenue, and the clerks went unpunished. He was made Jiang-Huai Commissioner for Fiscal Affairs and Transport and rose in stages to Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue. When Emperor Zhenzong returned from his visit to Bozhou, Ze was promoted to Vice Commissioner of the Budget in the Finance Commission.
53
初，丁謂舉進士，客許田，則厚遇之，謂貴顯，故則驟進用。 至是，謂罷政事，出則為京西轉運使，遷禮部郎中。 部內民訛言相驚，至遣使安撫乃定。 坐是，徙廣西路轉運使。 有番舶遭風至瓊州，且告食乏，不能去。 則命貸錢三百萬，吏白夷人狡詐，又風波不可期。 則曰：「彼以急難投我，可拒而不與邪？」 已而償所貸如期。 又按宜州重辟十九人，為辨活者九人。 復為發運使，累遷太常少卿。
Early on, when Ding Wei passed the jinshi and stayed in Xutian as a guest, Ze treated him warmly; when Ding later rose to eminence, Ze's own rapid advancement followed. When Ding was dismissed from the council, Ze was sent out as Jingxi transport commissioner and promoted to Director in the Ministry of Rites. Rumors spread panic among the people under his jurisdiction, and only after envoys were sent to reassure them did order return. For this he was transferred to Guangxi transport commissioner. A foreign merchant vessel driven by storm reached Qiongzhou and reported that it was short of food and could not leave. Ze ordered three million in cash lent to them. His staff warned that the foreigners were cunning and that winds and seas were unreliable. Ze said, "They come to us in distress—can we turn them away and refuse?" In time they repaid the loan on schedule. He also reviewed capital cases in Yizhou involving nineteen people and secured a reprieve for nine. He again served as transport commissioner and rose to Vice Director of the Imperial Sacrifices.
54
乾興初，坐丁謂黨，降知信州，徙福州，以右諫議大夫知杭州。 入權吏部流內銓，坐失舉，復為太常少卿、知池州。 未行，復諫議大夫、知永興軍，徙河北都轉運使，以給事中權三司使，通京東西、陝西鹽法，人便之。 初，則在河北，殿中侍御史王沿嘗就則假官舟販鹽，又以其子為名祈買酒場。 至是，張宗誨擿發之，按驗得實，出則知陳州。 逾月，授工部侍郎、集賢院學士。 劉隨上疏言：「則奸邪貪濫聞天下，比命知池州，不肯行，今以罪去，驟加美職，何以風勸在位？」 後徙杭州，再遷兵部侍郎致仕，卒。
Early in the Qianxing era, implicated in Ding Wei's faction, he was demoted to prefect of Xinzhou, transferred to Fuzhou, and made Right Remonstrance Official with concurrent appointment as prefect of Hangzhou. He entered the capital as acting head of the Ministry roster bureau; found guilty of faulty recommendations, he was again made Vice Director of the Imperial Sacrifices and prefect of Chizhou. Before he could take up his post he was again made Remonstrance Official and prefect of the Yongxing command, then transferred to chief Hebei transport commissioner; as Drafting Official he served as acting Finance Commissioner and unified the salt laws of Eastern and Western Jing and Shaanxi, to the people's benefit. Earlier, while Ze was in Hebei, Palace Attendant Censor Wang Yan had borrowed an official boat from him to trade in salt and had used his son's name to petition for purchase of a wine franchise. Now Zhang Zonghui exposed the affair; investigation confirmed it, and Ze was sent out as prefect of Chenzhou. A little over a month later he was appointed Vice Director in the Ministry of Works and Academician in the Hall for Assembling Worthies. Liu Sui submitted a memorial saying, "Ze's wickedness and greed are notorious throughout the realm. Recently ordered to Chizhou, he refused to go; now, though dismissed for misconduct, he is suddenly given a fine post—what lesson does this teach those in office?" He was later transferred to Hangzhou, rose again to Vice Director in the Ministry of War, retired, and died.
55
則無廉名，喜交結，尚風義。 丁謂貶崖州，賓客隨散落，獨則間遣人至海上，饋問如平日。 在福州時，前守陳絳嘗延蜀人龍昌期為眾人講《易》，得錢十萬。 絳既坐罪，遂自成都械昌期至。 則破械，館以賓禮，出俸錢為償之。
Ze had no reputation for integrity, yet he loved to forge connections and prized personal loyalty. When Ding Wei was banished to Yazhou his retainers scattered—but Ze still sent men from time to time to the coast with gifts and greetings, as in ordinary times. While Ze was in Fuzhou, the former prefect Chen Jiang had once invited the Shu scholar Long Changqi to lecture on the Changes before a gathering and was paid a hundred thousand in cash. After Jiang was convicted, Changqi was shackled and brought from Chengdu. Ze had the shackles removed, received him as an honored guest, and paid the debt from his own salary.
56
昌期者，嘗注《易》、《詩》、《書》、《論語》、《孝經》、《陰符經》、《老子》，其說詭誕穿鑿，至詆斥周公。 初用薦者補國子四門助教，文彥博守成都，召置府學，奏改秘書省校書郎，後以殿中丞致仕。 著書百餘卷，嘉祐中，詔取其書。 昌期時年八十餘，野服自詣京師，賜緋魚，絹百匹。 歐陽修言其異端害道，不當推獎，奪所賜服罷歸，卒。
Changqi had written commentaries on the Changes, the Odes, the Documents, the Analects, the Classic of Filial Piety, the Yin Fu Classic, and the Laozi—interpretations far-fetched and forced, going so far as to denounce the Duke of Zhou. Through recommendation he was first appointed Assistant Instructor at the Four Gates of the Directorate of Education. When Wen Yanbo defended Chengdu he summoned him to the prefectural school and memorialized for his appointment as Collator in the Secretariat; later he retired as Palace Attendant. He wrote more than a hundred scrolls; in the Jiayou era an edict ordered his works collected. Changqi was then over eighty. Dressed plainly he traveled to the capital on his own and was granted the red fish insignia and a hundred bolts of silk. Ouyang Xiu argued that his heterodox teachings harmed the Way and that he ought not be honored; the gifts were revoked and he was sent home, and he died.
57
薛顏，字彥回，河中萬泉人。 舉《三禮》中第，為嘉州司戶參軍。 代還引見，太宗顧問之，對稱旨，改將作監丞、監華州酒稅。 以秘書省著作佐郎使夔、峽，疏決刑獄。 還，改太子左贊善大夫、知雲安軍，徙渝、閬二州，擢三司鹽鐵判官，河北計置糧草。
Xue Yan, courtesy name Yanhui, came from Wanquan in Hezhong. He placed first in the Three Rites examination and was appointed revenue officer of Jia Prefecture. When his term ended he was granted audience; Taizong questioned him in person and was pleased with his answers, and he was made Director in the Directorate of Works and supervisor of Huazhou's wine tax. As Assistant Compiler in the Secretariat he was sent to Kui and Xia to review criminal cases. On returning he was made Left Supervisor in the Eastern Palace and prefect of the Yun'an command, served in turn at Yu and Lang prefectures, and was promoted to Salt and Iron Commissioner in the Finance Commission to arrange forage and grain in Hebei.
58
初，丁謂招撫溪蠻，有威惠，部人愛之。 留五年，詔謂自舉代，謂薦顏為峽路轉運使，累遷尚書虞部員外郎。 始，孟氏據蜀，徙夔州於東山，據峽以拒王師，而民居不便也，顏為復其故城。 宜州陳進反，命勾當廣南東、西路轉運司事。 賊平，遷金部員外郎，改河東轉運使。
When Ding Wei first pacified the Xi Man he combined stern authority with gracious kindness, and the people under his command loved him. After five years in office, an edict directed Ding Wei to name his own successor; Wei recommended Yan as transport commissioner for the Gorge route, and Yan rose in time to Assistant Director in the Ministry of Works. When the Meng clan first held Shu, they had moved Kui Prefecture to East Mountain and held the gorges against the imperial armies, to the people's inconvenience; Yan restored the old city. When Chen Jin rebelled in Yi Prefecture, Yan was assigned to manage the Eastern and Western Guangnan transport commissions. After the rebels were crushed, he was made Assistant Director in the Ministry of Works and transport commissioner of Hedong.
59
祀汾陰，徙陝西。 河中浮橋歲為水所敗，顏即北岸釃上流為支渠，以殺水怒，因取渠水溉其旁田，民頗利之。 坊州募人煉礬，歲久課益重，至有破產被繫不能償者。 顏奏：「罷坊礬，則晉礬當大售。」 後如其策。 徙河北。 歷知河陽、杭徐州，累遷光祿少卿，以少府監知江寧府。 邏者晝劫人，反執平人以告。 顏視其色動，曰：「若真盜也。」 械之，果引伏。 轉右諫議大夫、知河南府。
During the Fenyin sacrifices he was transferred to Shaanxi. Each year the floating bridge at Hezhong was wrecked by flood; Yan dammed the upstream on the north bank to cut a branch channel that tamed the current, then used its water to irrigate nearby fields—a great benefit to the people. Fang Prefecture conscripted people to refine alum; year by year the levy grew heavier, until some families were ruined and their members imprisoned for debts they could not pay. Yan memorialized, "If we shut down the Fang alum works, Jin alum will sell in great quantities." Later events proved him right. His next assignment was Hebei. He served in turn as prefect of Heyang, Hangzhou, and Xuzhou, rose to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and governed Jiangning as Director of the Directorate of Palace Workshops. Patrol guards robbed people in broad daylight, then seized innocent bystanders and reported them as the thieves. Yan watched their faces change and said, "You are the real thieves." He had them shackled, and they confessed at once. He was made Right Remonstrating Grandee and prefect of Henan.
60
仁宗即位，遷給事中。 丁謂分司西京，以顏雅與善，徙知應天府，又徙耀州。 部有豪姓李甲，結客數十人，號「沒命社」，少不如意，則推一人以死鬥之，積數年，為鄉人患，莫敢發。 顏至，大索其黨，會赦當免，特杖甲流海上，餘悉籍於軍。 以光祿卿分司西京，卒於家。
When Renzong took the throne, he was promoted to Supervising Censor. Ding Wei held a post at the Western Capital; because Yan was cultivated and friendly with him, Yan was made prefect of Yingtian and then of Yaozhou. In his jurisdiction a powerful clansman named Li Jia gathered dozens of followers into a band called the Society of Those Who Stake Their Lives; at the slightest grievance they would thrust one man into a duel to the death. For years they plagued the countryside, and no one dared denounce them. When Yan arrived he hunted down the whole gang; an amnesty would have spared them, but he had Jia beaten and exiled to the coast by special order, and enrolled the rest in the army. Serving as Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments at the Western Capital, he died at home.
61
嘗屬杜衍為墓誌，衍卻之。 仁宗聞其事，他日，謂衍曰：「薛顏有醜行，卿不欲志其墓，誠清識也。」 孫：向，自有傳。
He once asked Du Yan to compose his tomb inscription; Du Yan refused. When Renzong heard of this, he said to Du Yan on another occasion, "Xue Yan had disgraceful conduct, and you refused to write his tomb inscription—that was truly sound judgment." Xiang, his grandson, has his own biography.
62
許元，字子春，宣州宣城人。 以父蔭為太廟齋郎，改大理寺丞，累遷國子博士，監在京榷貨務，三門發運判官。 元為吏強敏，尤能商財利。 慶曆中，江、淮歲漕不給，京師乏軍儲，參知政事范仲淹薦元可獨倚辦，擢江淮制製置發運判官。 至，則悉發瀕江州縣藏粟，所在留三月食，遠近以次相補，引千餘艘轉漕而西。 未幾，京師足食，朝廷以為任職，就遷副使。 遂以尚書主客員外郎為使，進金部，特賜進士出身，遷侍御史。
Xu Yuan, courtesy name Zichun, came from Xuancheng in Xuan Prefecture. Through his father's privilege he was appointed Temple Acolyte, then Assistant in the Court of Judicial Review; he rose to Erudite of the Directorate of Education, supervised the Capital Monopoly Commodity Office, and served as Assistant Transport Commissioner at Sanmen. As an official Yuan was forceful and sharp, and especially skilled at turning profit. During the Qingli era yearly transport from Jiang and Huai fell short and the capital ran low on military grain; Vice Grand Councillor Fan Zhongyan recommended Yuan as the one man who could solve the crisis, and he was made Vice Commissioner of the Jiang-Huai System Setup and Transport Commission. On taking office he drew out every hoard of grain in the counties along the river, leaving three months' rations locally while nearer and more distant districts replenished one another in sequence; more than a thousand ships carried grain west. Before long the capital had enough grain; the court judged him equal to the task and promoted him on the spot to Deputy Commissioner. He was then made External Staff Commissioner with the rank of Assistant Director in the Ministry of Rites, advanced to the Gold section, granted jinshi status by special favor, and promoted to Palace Censor.
63
嘗欲與施昌言分行二浙、江南調發軍食。 仁宗聞之，語輔臣曰：「東南歲比不登，民力匱乏，嘗詔損歲漕百萬石，而元與昌言乃更欲分道而出，是必誅求疲民以自為功，非朕志也。」 下詔戒飭。 既而元欲專六路財賦，收羨餘以媚三司，憚諸部不從，請以六路轉運司自隸，既可之矣，而轉運使多論其罪，事遂寢。 擢天章閣待制，再遷郎中，以疾請還。 歷知揚、越、泰州，卒。
He once proposed that he and Shi Changyan divide between them the requisition of military grain from the Two Zhe and Jiangnan circuits. When Renzong heard of this he told his chief ministers, "The southeast has suffered harvest after harvest of failure and the people are exhausted; I once ordered a million shi cut from yearly transport, yet Yuan and Changyan now want to split the routes—surely they would squeeze the weary people to win credit for themselves. That is not my intent." An edict of admonition was issued. Yuan then sought to monopolize the six circuits' finances, skim surpluses to please the Finance Commission, and—fearing the departments would not comply—asked that the six circuit transport commissions be placed directly under him. Though this was approved, most transport commissioners denounced his abuses, and the plan came to nothing. He was promoted to Awaiting Draft in the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and again to Director, then asked to retire on account of illness. He governed Yang, Yue, and Taizhou in succession, then died.
64
元在江、淮十三年，以聚斂刻剝為能，急於進取，多聚珍奇以賂遺京師權貴，尤為王堯臣所知。 發運使治所在真州，衣冠之求官舟者，日數十輩。 元視勢家貴族，立榷巨艦與之； 即小官惸獨，伺候歲月，有不能得。 人以是憤怨，而元自為以當然，無所愧憚。
Yuan spent thirteen years in Jiang and Huai, making a virtue of levying and squeezing; hungry for advancement, he hoarded curiosities to bribe capital magnates, and was especially patronized by Wang Yao Chen. The transport commissioner's seat was at Zhen Prefecture, and every day dozens of gentry came seeking official boats. When powerful families and nobles appeared, Yuan immediately reserved great ships for them; but minor officials without backing might wait month after month and still fail to get a boat. People resented him bitterly, yet Yuan thought it only proper and felt neither shame nor fear.
65
鍾離瑾
Zhong Lijin.
66
鍾離瑾，字公瑜，廬州合肥人。 舉進士，為簡州推官，以殿中丞通判益州。 建言：「州郡既上雨，後雖凶旱，多隱之以成前奏，請令監司劾其不實者。」 擢開封府推官，出提點兩浙刑獄。 衢、潤州饑，聚餓者食之，頗廢農作，請發米二萬斛賑給，家毋過一斛。 後徙淮南轉運副使，歷京西、河東、河北轉運使，改江淮制置發運使。 殿直王乙者，請自揚州召伯埭東至瓜州，浚河百二十里，以廢二埭。 詔瑾規度，以工大不可就，止置閘召伯埭旁，人以為利。 累遷尚書刑部郎中，為三司戶部副使，除龍圖閣待制、權知開封府。 未逾月，得疾，仁宗封藥賜之，使未及門而卒。
Zhong Lijin, courtesy name Gongyu, came from Hefei in Lu Prefecture. After taking his jinshi degree he served as judicial assistant of Jian Prefecture, then as Palace Attendant and supervisor of Yizhou. He proposed, "Once prefectures and counties have reported rain, they often conceal later severe drought to preserve their earlier accounts; let supervisory officials impeach those who file false reports." He was promoted to judicial official of Kaifeng Prefecture and sent out as Judicial Intendant for the Two Zhe circuits. Qu and Run prefectures were stricken with famine; feeding the starving in assembly badly disrupted farming; he requested twenty thousand hu of rice for relief, with no household given more than one hu. He was later made Deputy Transport Commissioner of Huainan, served as transport commissioner of Jingxi, Hedong, and Hebei, and was appointed Jiang-Huai System Setup Transport Commissioner. Palace Guardsman Wang Yi proposed dredging a channel one hundred and twenty li from east of Zhaobo Dam in Yangzhou to Guazhou, eliminating two dams in the process. The court ordered Jin to assess the plan; he judged the work too vast to finish and settled for sluice gates beside Zhaobo Dam, which the people found beneficial. He rose through repeated promotions to Director in the Ministry of Justice, became Vice Commissioner of the Three Departments' Revenue Section, and was made Gentleman Awaiting Orders in the Dragon Diagram Hall with acting charge of Kaifeng. Less than a month later he took ill. Emperor Renzong sent sealed medicine as a gift, but the courier had not yet reached his gate when he died.
67
孫冲，字升伯，趙州平棘人。 舉明經，歷古田青陽尉、鹽山麗水主簿。 嘗並喪父母去官，有司循五代故事，必六年乃聽調，冲援古制，以書干宰相，不納。 後舉進士，登甲科。 授將作監丞，歷通判晉、絳、保州，坐與保州守爭事，降監吉州酒，累遷太常博士。
Sun Chong, courtesy name Shengbo, came from Pingji in Zhaozhou. He took the Mingjing degree and served in turn as Qingyang district officer in Gutian and as recorder of Lishui in Yanshan. When both his parents died together he resigned; the authorities, invoking Five Dynasties custom, would not allow him to take a new post for six years. Chong appealed to ancient precedent in a letter to the chief minister, but the appeal was rejected. He later passed the jinshi in the highest class. He was made an assistant in the Directorate of Palace Buildings, served as vice-prefect of Jin, Jiang, and Bao, was reduced to overseer of Ji Prefecture's wine monopoly after a dispute with Bao's prefect, and eventually rose to Doctor of the Imperial Sacrifices.
68
河決棣州，知天雄軍寇準請徙州治河，命冲往按視。 還言：「徙州動民，亦未免治堤，不若塞河為便。」 遂以冲知棣州，自秋至春，凡四決，冲皆塞之，就除殿中侍御史。 準為樞密使，卒徙州陽信。 而冲坐守護河堤過嚴，民輸送往來堤上者輒榜之，為使者論奏，徙知襄州。 冲復上疏論徙州非便，著《河書》以獻。
After the Yellow River burst its banks at Di Prefecture, Kou Zhun of the Tianxiong command asked to relocate the prefectural seat to manage the river, and Chong was sent to inspect the site. On his return he reported: "Relocating the seat will uproot the people and still leave us maintaining dikes. Blocking the breach is the better course." Chong was then appointed prefect of Di. From autumn through spring the river broke four times, and he sealed every breach; he was immediately made Palace Censor. When Kou Zhun became Military Affairs Commissioner, the seat was ultimately moved to Yangxin after all. Chong, however, was blamed for guarding the dikes too harshly: anyone hauling supplies across them was flogged. An imperial envoy denounced him, and he was transferred to prefect of Xiang. Chong memorialized again that relocation was unwise and composed the Book on Rivers, which he presented to the throne.
69
會京西蝗，真宗遣中使督捕，至襄，怒冲不出迎，乃奏蝗唯襄為甚，而州將日置酒，無恤民意。 帝怒，命即州置獄。 冲得屬縣言歲稔狀，馳驛上之。 時使者猶未還，帝悟，為追使者笞之。 以侍御史為京西轉運。 塞滑州決河，權知滑州。 參知政事魯宗道總河事，用太常博士李渭策，欲盛夏興役。 冲言徒費薪楗，困人力，雖塞必決。 遂罷知河陽。 累遷刑部郎中，歷湖北、河東轉運使。
Locusts ravaged the Jingxi circuit, and Emperor Zhenzong dispatched a palace envoy to supervise the campaign. At Xiang the envoy, furious that Chong had not come out to receive him, reported that the plague was worst there while the prefect feasted daily and ignored the people's distress. The emperor's anger was aroused, and he ordered a prison set up on the spot in the prefecture. Chong secured from his subordinate counties reports of a good harvest and rushed them to court by express relay. The envoy had not yet returned when the emperor saw his mistake and had the man pursued and beaten. He became Jingxi transport commissioner while retaining his censor's rank. He sealed the breach at Hua Prefecture and served as acting prefect there. Vice Director Lu Zongdao took overall charge of river works and, following Doctor Li Wei's proposal, planned to mobilize labor in the height of summer. Chong argued that it would squander timber and iron, wear out the labor force, and break open again even if sealed. He was removed from the post and sent out as prefect of Heyang. He rose again to Director in the Ministry of Justice and served as transport commissioner on the Hubei and Hedong circuits.
70
會南郊賞賜軍士，而汾州廣勇軍所得帛不逮他軍，一軍大噪，捽守佐堂下劫之，約與善帛乃免。 城中戒備，遣兵圍廣勇營。 冲適至，命解圍弛備，置酒張樂，推首惡十六人斬之，遂定。 初，守佐以亂軍所約者上聞，詔給善帛。 使者至潞，冲促之還，曰：「以亂而得所欲，是愈誘之亂也。」 卒留不與。 入判登聞鼓院，以目疾改兵部郎中、直史館、知河中府，徙潞州，復為河東轉運使，遷太常少卿，擢右諫議大夫，復知潞州，遷翰林院學士。 及徙同州，權西京留司御史臺，遷給事中。 喪明，卒。
At the southern-suburb rewards for the troops, Fen Prefecture's Guangyong Army received poorer cloth than the rest. The entire unit erupted, dragged the prefect's deputies into the hall, and stripped them of goods, agreeing to release them only if better silk were granted. The city was placed under guard and soldiers were dispatched to encircle the Guangyong camp. Chong arrived just then. He ordered the encirclement withdrawn and the guard relaxed, laid out wine and music, had sixteen ringleaders dragged out and executed, and the uproar subsided. At first the prefect's deputies reported the mutineers' demands to court, and an edict was issued to provide the better cloth. When the envoy reached Lu, Chong pressed him to return, saying: "Rewarding mutiny with what was demanded only invites more mutiny." In the end he withheld the cloth and refused to deliver it. He entered to judge the Petition Drum Court, then, owing to eye trouble, was shifted to Director in the Ministry of War with a post in the Historiography Institute and appointment as prefect of Hezhong; he was moved to Lu, served again as Hedong transport commissioner, rose to Vice Director of the Imperial Sacrifices and Right Remonstrance Official, returned as prefect of Lu, and was promoted to Hanlin academician. Transferred to Tong Prefecture, he was given concurrent charge of the Western Capital branch of the Censorate and promoted to Drafting Official. He went blind and died.
71
冲為吏，所至以強幹稱，能任鉤距，多得事情，然無家法，晚節尤寡廉聲。 孫永，自有傳。
In office Chong was famed wherever he served for hard-driving efficiency; adept at probing cases, he often uncovered the truth. Yet he maintained no order at home, and in his later years his reputation for probity was especially thin. Sun Yong is treated in a separate biography.
72
崔嶧，字之才，京兆長安人。 進士及第，累官尚書職方員外郎、知遂州。 建議瞿塘峽置關如劍門，以察奸人。 事既施行，徙提點刑獄。 嘉陵江歲調民丁治堤堨，嶧更用州兵代其役。 文州蕃卒數剽攻邊戶，守臣慮生事，多以牛酒和遣。 嶧請守臣歲時得行邊，益募勇壯，伺其發，一切捕擊之，後無復內寇。 就除轉運使。 歷三司戶部判官、河東轉運使。 會更錢法，潞州民大擾，推其首惡誅之，人心遂定。
Cui Yi, courtesy name Zhicai, came from Chang'an in Jingzhao. A jinshi graduate, he rose through successive posts to Vice Director in the Staff Office of the Ministry of War and prefect of Suizhou. He recommended a customs post at Qutang Gorge on the model of Jianmen Pass to screen out evildoers. After the plan was carried out, he was moved to judicial intendant. Each year civilian laborers were conscripted to repair Jialing River dikes; Yi substituted state troops for the corvée. At Wen Prefecture, tribal troops repeatedly plundered frontier households, and local officials, afraid of provoking trouble, often bought them off with cattle and wine. Yi asked that prefectural officials be allowed to tour the frontier each year, that more stalwart men be recruited, and that whenever raids broke out the raiders be hunted down and crushed. After that there were no further raids inside the border. He was immediately made transport commissioner. He served as adjudicator of the Three Departments' Revenue Section and as Hedong transport commissioner. During a reform of the currency law the people of Lu Prefecture were thrown into turmoil; he seized the ringleaders and put them to death, and order returned.
73
後為戶部副使，以右諫議大夫為河東都轉運使，遷給事中，還，糾察在京刑獄。 諫官、御史言宰相陳執中縱嬖妾殺婢，命按治。 嶧以為執中自以婢不恪笞之死，非妾殺之，頗左右執中，即授龍圖閣待制、知慶州。 羌井坑族亂，潛兵討平。 歷知同州、鳳翔府，改工部侍郎、集賢院學士、知河中府。
He later became Vice Commissioner of the Revenue Section, then overall Hedong transport commissioner with the rank of Right Remonstrance Official, rose to Drafting Official, and on returning to the capital was charged with inspecting prisons in the capital district. Remonstrance officials and censors accused Chief Councillor Chen Zhizhong of letting a favored concubine kill a maid, and Yi was ordered to investigate. Yi held that Zhizhong had personally beaten the maid to death for insolence, not that the concubine had murdered her, and plainly sided with Zhizhong. He was at once made Gentleman Awaiting Orders in the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Qing. When the Qiang of Jingkeng rose in revolt, he dispatched troops in secret and suppressed them. He served successively as prefect of Tong and of Fengxiang, then became Vice Minister of Works, academician of the Jixian Hall, and prefect of Hezhong.
74
嶧所至貪奸，比老益甚。 在鳳翔，轉運使薛向按之急，不得已至河中。 請老，以刑部侍郎致仕，卒。
Wherever Yi served he was grasping and corrupt, and only grew more so in old age. While serving at Fengxiang, Transport Commissioner Xue Xiang pressed his investigation hard, and Yi had no choice but to go to Hezhong. He asked to retire, was granted release as Vice Minister of Justice, and died.
75
田瑜，字資忠，河南壽安人。 舉進士，歷袁、郢、合三州軍事推官，遷大理寺丞，知鹿邑、建陽縣，徙知蒙、江二州，累遷尚書司封員外郎、提點廣南西路刑獄。 慶曆中，區希範誘溪洞環州蠻叛，上以瑜習知南方事，就除荊湖北路轉運使。 瑜檄屬郡募民擊賊，又督轉粟以守要害，故兵所至皆不乏食，賊勢大挫。
Tian Yu, courtesy name Zizhong, came from Shou'an in Henan. After passing the jinshi he served as military judicial assistant in Yuan, Ying, and He, rose to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review, governed Luyi and Jianyang, was transferred to Meng and Jiang, and was repeatedly promoted to External Staff Commissioner in the Ministry of Rites and judicial commissioner for the Western Circuit of Guangnan. During Qingli, Qu Xifan stirred the cave tribes of Huan Prefecture to revolt; since Yu knew southern affairs well, the emperor at once made him transport commissioner for the Hubei Circuit of Jing. Yu ordered subordinate prefectures to raise militia against the rebels and superintended grain shipments to hold key points, so troops never lacked food wherever they went and the rebels' strength was greatly broken.
76
徙兩浙轉運按察使。 杭州龍山堤歲決，水冒民居，輒賦芻塞之。 瑜與民約，每芻十束，更輸石一尺。 率五歲，得石百萬，為石堤，堤固而歲不調民。 加直史館、益州路轉運使，改江淮制置發運使，擢天章閣待制、知廣州，累遷諫議大夫、權三司戶部副使。
He was transferred to transport commissioner and inspector for the Two Zhe circuits. At Hangzhou the Longshan dike breached every year and water flooded homes; each time the government levied fodder to plug it. Yu struck a bargain with the people: for every ten bundles of fodder they delivered, they could instead supply one chi of stone. In roughly five years he amassed a million [units of] stone, built a stone dike, the dike held firm, and the people were never levied again. He was given concurrent appointment in the Historiography Office and made transport commissioner for the Yizhou Circuit, then Commissioned Fiscal Transport Agent for Jianghuai, elevated to Gentleman Awaiting Orders in the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and prefect of Guangzhou, and repeatedly promoted to Remonstrance Grandee and acting Vice Commissioner of the Revenue Section of the State Finance Commission.
77
儂智高犯邕，瑜條上用兵禦賊十事。 智高平，召對便殿，具言南方山川險要，所以備守之策，乃以為廣南東路體量安撫使。 還，糾察刑獄，同判吏部流內銓，除龍圖閣直學士、知青州。 城中有殺人投屍井中者，吏以其無主名，不以聞。 瑜廉得之，大出金帛購賊，後數日，鄰州民執賊以告。 屬歲凶多盜，瑜立賞罰、設方略捕格之，境中肅然。 徙知澶州，背發疽卒。
When Nong Zhigao attacked Yong, Yu submitted ten points on using troops to repel the rebels. After Zhigao was suppressed he was summoned to the Privy Chamber, laid out in full the strategic terrain of the southern mountains and rivers and plans for defense, and was made Commissioner for Assessment and Pacification on the Eastern Circuit of Guangnan. On his return he inspected judicial matters, served concurrently as associate administrator of the Ministry of Personnel's Registry of Appointments, and was appointed Academician Direct in the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Qing. In the city someone killed a man and threw the body down a well; the clerks, finding no named victim, did not report it. Yu uncovered it through investigation, posted large rewards in gold and silk for the killer, and several days later men from a neighboring prefecture seized the murderer and reported him. In a famine year bandits were numerous; Yu set rewards and punishments and devised plans to hunt them down, and the district became orderly. Transferred to prefect of Danzhou, he died of a carbuncle on his back.
78
瑜謹厚少文，而於吏事頗盡心，然御下急，無廉稱。
Yu was cautious and solid, not given to literary display, yet he applied himself fully to administrative work; however he was harsh toward subordinates and had no reputation for integrity.
79
施昌言
Shi Changyan.
80
施昌言，字正臣，通州靜海人。 舉進士高第，授將作監丞、通判滁州。 後以太常博士召試館職，不中選，遷尚書屯田員外郎、知太平州。 上《政論》三十篇。 入為殿中侍御史、開封府判官。 安撫淮南，還，以禮部員外郎兼侍御史知雜事，遷三司度支副使，除天章閣待制、河北都轉運使。 言事者以為濱、棣等六州河可涉，宜有城守如邊，以待契丹。 詔昌言與宦官楊懷敏往視。 懷敏以為當城如邊，昌言曰：「六州地千里，又河數移徙，城之甚難而無利。 契丹未渝盟先自困，非便也。」 或請於麟、府立十二砦以拓境，又詔昌言與明鎬、張元度可否，昌言獨以為：「麟、府在河外，於國家無毫髮入，而至今饋守者，徒以畏蹙國之虛名。 今不當又事無利之砦，以重困財力。」 就除知慶州。 在州所為不法，語徹朝廷。 昌言疑通判陳湜言之，追發湜罪，湜坐廢，昌言亦降知華州。
Shi Changyan, courtesy name Zhengchen, came from Jinghai in Tong Prefecture. Passing the jinshi with high rank, he was appointed Vice Director of the Directorate of Palace Buildings and military second-in-command of Chu Prefecture. Later summoned as a Taichang Doctor to compete for a palace archive post, he was not selected and was transferred to External Staff Commissioner in the Ministry of Works' Fields Section and prefect of Taiping. He submitted thirty essays titled "On Government." He entered service as Palace Censor and judicial assistant in the Kaifeng prefectural office. After pacifying Huainan and returning, he was made External Staff Commissioner in the Ministry of Rites with concurrent duties as chief supervising censor, promoted to Vice Commissioner of the Expenditures Section of the State Finance Commission, and appointed Gentleman Awaiting Orders in the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and Chief Transport Commissioner for Hebei. Petitioners argued that in Bin, Di, and four other prefectures the Yellow River could be forded and that frontier-style fortifications should be built to await the Khitan. The emperor ordered Changyan and the eunuch Yang Huaimin to go inspect. Huaimin thought they should build walls as on the frontier; Changyan said, "The six prefectures stretch a thousand li, and the river shifts its course repeatedly—building walls would be extremely difficult and profitless. Before the Khitan have broken the alliance we would first exhaust ourselves—it is no advantage." Some proposed establishing twelve forts at Lin and Fu to expand the border; the emperor again ordered Changyan, Ming Hao, and Zhang Yuandu to assess the plan; Changyan alone held, "Lin and Fu lie beyond the river and bring the state not a hair's breadth of profit, yet to this day we supply garrisons there solely for the empty name of pressing the enemy state. We should not now take up unprofitable forts and further strain our finances." He was promptly appointed prefect of Qing. In the prefecture his conduct was unlawful, and word reached the court. Changyan suspected Vice Prefect Chen Shi had reported him; he pursued and exposed Shi's crimes; Shi was dismissed from office, and Changyan was demoted to prefect of Huazhou.
81
歷知滄州、河陽，移河北都轉運使。 議塞商胡埽決河，令復故道，與北京留守賈昌朝累論。 徙江淮發運使，加龍圖閣直學士、知應天府，又知延州。 召還，會塞六塔河，以為都大修河制置使，辭，弗許，加樞密直學士、知澶州，以便役事。 河決，奪一官知滑州，又知杭州，加龍圖閣學士，復知滑州。 以老求罷，乃以知越州。 至京師，卒。
He served in turn as prefect of Cang and Heyang, then became Chief Transport Commissioner for Hebei. When it was proposed to block the breach at Shanghu Sao and restore the old channel, he argued repeatedly with Jia Changchao, Bejing intendant. Transferred to transport commissioner for Jianghuai, he was given concurrent appointment as Academician Direct in the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Yingtian, then prefect of Yan. Summoned back during work to block the Six Pagoda River, he was made Chief Commissioner for Major River Works; he declined but was not permitted, and was given concurrent appointment as Academician Direct at the Bureau of Military Affairs and prefect of Danzhou to facilitate the labor. When the river breached he was stripped of one rank and made prefect of Hua; he also served as prefect of Hangzhou, was given concurrent appointment as Academician in the Dragon Diagram Hall, and again served as prefect of Hua. Citing old age he requested release from office and was made prefect of Yue. After reaching the capital, he died.
82
昌言為發運使時，召范仲淹後堂，出婢子為優，雜男子慢戲，無所不言。 仲淹怪問之，則皆昌言子也，仲淹大不懌而去。 其治家如此。
When Changyan was transport commissioner he summoned Fan Zhongyan to his rear hall, brought out maidservants to perform as entertainers, mixed in boys for vulgar skits, and nothing was left unsaid. Zhongyan wondered and asked; they were all Changyan's sons; Zhongyan was greatly displeased and left. Such was his household governance.
83
論曰：狄棐、郎簡、孫祖德、張若谷、石揚休、祖士衡並以文辭高第，累侍從，歷方州，始為名臣，終鮮大過，考其行事可見也。 李垂寧去華近，不肯見宰相； 張洞以直言正論為大臣所忌，則其抱負從可知矣。 若李仕衡而下十人，皆能任劇繁，然或寡廉稱，或有醜行，君子恥之。
Commentary: Di Fei, Lang Jian, Sun Zude, Zhang Ruogu, Shi Yangxiu, and Zu Shiheng all passed the examinations with high literary rank, served repeatedly at court, and governed the regions—they rose as celebrated ministers and in the end were rarely guilty of great faults; their conduct shows it. Li Chui would rather stand apart from glory than court favor, and would not call on the chief minister; Zhang Dong was resented by the chief ministers for his forthright speech and upright opinions—from this his convictions may be known. As for the ten men from Li Shiheng downward, all could handle heavy and complex duties, yet some lacked reputations for integrity and some had shameful conduct—gentlemen were ashamed of them.