Volume 300 Biographies 59: Yang Xie, Wang Yan, Du Qi, Yang Tian, Zhou Zhan, Xu De, Yao Zhongsun, Chen Taisu, Ma Xun, Du Ceng, Li Xuji, Zhang Fu, Yu Xianqing, Chen Congyi, Yang Daya

楊偕，字次公，坊州中部人。唐左僕射於陵六世孫。父守慶，仕廣南劉氏，歸朝，為坊州司馬，因家焉。偕少從种放學於終南山，舉進士，釋褐坊州軍事推官、知汧源縣，再調漢州軍事判官。道遇術士曰：「君知世有化瓦石為黃金者乎？」就偕試之，既驗，欲授以方。偕曰：「吾從吏祿，安事化金哉？」術士曰：「子志若此，非吾所及也。」出戶，失所之。

Yang Xie, styled Cigong, came from Zhongbu in Fang Prefecture. He was a sixth-generation descendant of Yu Ling, who had served as Left Vice Director of the Secretariat under the Tang. His father Shouqing had served the Liu regime in southern Guangnan before returning to the Song court as military administrator of Fang Prefecture, where the family then made its home. As a young man Xie studied under Chong Fang on Mount Zhongnan. After passing the jinshi examination he entered service as military push official in Fang Prefecture and magistrate of Qianyuan County, and was later reassigned as military judicial officer in Han Prefecture. On the road he met a practitioner of the occult arts who asked, "Do you know there are people who can turn tiles and stone into gold?" He demonstrated the art on Xie, and once it proved genuine, offered to teach him the formula. Xie replied, "I live on an official salary—why should I bother turning things to gold?" The technician said, "With such principles as yours, I am not your equal." He stepped outside and vanished without trace.

在官，數上書論時政，又上所著文論。召試學士院，不中，改永興軍節度推官。又上書論陝西邊事，復召試，不赴，即遷秘書省著作佐郎，為審刑院詳議官，再遷太常博士。宋綬薦為監察御史，改殿中侍御史。與曹修古連疏，言劉從德遺奏恩太濫，貶太常博士、監舒州稅。以尚書祠部員外郎知光州，改侍御史，為三司度支判官。

In office he repeatedly memorialized the court on current affairs and also submitted essays he had written. Summoned to the Hanlin examination he failed to qualify, and was reassigned as pacification commissioner push official in Yongxing Circuit. He memorialized again on the Shaanxi frontier. Though summoned once more for examination he declined to attend and was instead promoted to editorial assistant in the Secretariat, appointed detailed review officer at the Court of Judicial Review, and later promoted to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. On Song Shou's recommendation he became supervising censor, then palace attending censor. He and Cao Xiugu jointly submitted memorial after memorial arguing that the posthumous privileges requested for Liu Congde were excessive. Xie was demoted to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices with duty supervising tax collection in Shu Prefecture. As outer gentleman of the secretariat section of the Ministry of Rites he governed Guang Prefecture, was later made attending censor, and served as drafting officer in the fiscal commission of the Three Offices.

時郭皇后廢，偕與孔道輔、范仲淹力爭。道輔、仲淹既出，偕止罰金，乃言願得與道輔等皆貶，不報。富民陳氏女選入宮，將以為后，偕復上疏諫上。以尚書戶部員外郎兼侍御史知雜事。馬季良以罪斥置滁州，自言得致仕。偕以謂致仕用優賢者，不當以寵罪人，又數論陞降之弊，仁宗嘉納之。判吏部流內銓，徙三司度支副使，擢天章閣待制、河北轉運使。按知定州夏守恩贓數萬，守恩流嶺南。明年，丁母憂，願終制，不許，進龍圖閣直學士、知河中府。

When Empress Guo was deposed, Xie joined Kong Daofu and Fan Zhongyan in forceful opposition. Daofu and Zhongyan had already been banished from court while Xie received only a monetary fine. He then asked to share their demotion, but received no answer. When a wealthy Chen family's daughter was brought into the palace to be made empress, Xie memorialized the throne once again in protest. He was appointed outer gentleman of the revenue section of the Ministry of Revenue while concurrently serving as attending censor in charge of miscellaneous cases. Ma Jiliang, dismissed for misconduct and sent to Chuzhou, claimed entitlement to retirement benefits. Xie argued that retirement honors were meant for the worthy, not as favors for convicted offenders. He also repeatedly criticized abuses in promotions and demotions, and Emperor Renzong approved his counsel. He judged at the Ministry of Personnel's flow-within selection board, moved to vice commissioner of the fiscal commission, and was elevated to Hanlin academician-on-awaiting in the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and transport commissioner for Hebei. His investigation revealed that Xia Shouen, prefect of Dingzhou, had embezzled tens of thousands in cash. Shouen was exiled to Lingnan. The following year, when his mother died, he asked to observe the full mourning term but was refused. He was promoted to direct academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and appointed prefect of Hezhong.

元昊反，劉平、石元孫戰沒。偕聞，乃偽為書馳告延州曰：「朝廷遣救兵十萬至矣。」命旁郡縣大具芻糧、什器以俟。比書至，賊已解去。夏竦為陝西經略使，請增置土兵，易戍兵歸衛京師。偕言：「方關中財用乏，復增土兵，徒耗國用。今賊勢方盛，雖大增土兵，亦未能減戍兵東歸，第竦懼敗事，欲以兵少為解爾。」竦復奏偕不忠，沮邊計，偕爭愈力。時陝西議立五保，偕又以為擾民，疏請罷之。徙陝州，又徙河東都轉運使。詔大選三路之民，募為兵。偕復言：「方今兵不為少，苟多而不練，則其勢易以敗，又困國而難供。」時論者惟務多兵，而偕論常如此。

When Yuan Hao rebelled, Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun were killed in action. When Xie heard the news, he forged a dispatch and rushed it to Yanzhou: "A relief force of one hundred thousand men sent by the court has arrived." He ordered neighboring prefectures and counties to stockpile fodder, grain, and supplies in readiness. By the time the message arrived, the rebels had already withdrawn. As Shaanxi military commissioner, Xia Song petitioned to add local militia and rotate frontier garrison troops back to guard the capital. Xie objected: "Resources in Guanzhong are already strained. Adding more local troops would only waste state revenue. With the enemy still strong, even a large increase in local forces would not let us send garrison troops back east. Xia Song only fears being blamed for failure and wants to excuse himself by keeping troop numbers low." Xia Song counter-memorialized that Xie was disloyal and was obstructing frontier strategy, but Xie pressed his argument with even greater force. When Shaanxi debated instituting the Five Guarantees system, Xie argued that it would burden the people and petitioned for its repeal. He was transferred to Shaanzhou, then to transport commissioner of the Hedong metropolitan circuit. The court ordered a large-scale levy of men from the three frontier circuits for military service. Xie objected again: "We already have enough troops. Large numbers without training invite defeat and strain the treasury beyond what we can sustain." While others in court insisted on swelling the ranks, Xie held consistently to this view.

進樞密直學士、知并州。及元昊入寇，密詔偕選強壯萬人，策應麟、府。偕奏：「出師臨陣，無紀律則士不用命。今發農卒赴邊，慮在路逃逸及臨陣退縮、不稟號令，請以軍法從事。」詔如所請。并人大驚畏，都轉運使文彥博奏罷之。有中官預軍事素橫，前帥優遇之。偕至，一繩以法，命率所部兵從副總管赴河外，戒曰：「遇賊將戰，一稟副總管節度。」中人不服，捧檄訴。偕叱曰：「汝知違主帥命即斬首乎？」監軍怖汗，不覺墮笏，翌日告疾，未幾遂卒。於是軍政肅然。

He was promoted to direct academician of the Bureau of Military Affairs and appointed prefect of Bingzhou. When Yuan Hao invaded again, a secret order directed Xie to raise ten thousand able-bodied men to support Lin and Fu prefectures. Xie submitted: "Troops in the field will not obey unless discipline is enforced from the start. These peasant levies are being sent to the frontier. I fear desertion en route and panic in battle. I ask that military law be applied without leniency." The court approved his request. The people of Bing were terrified. Metropolitan transport commissioner Wen Yanbo petitioned to revoke the order. A eunuch attached to the army had long acted imperiously, and previous commanders had indulged him. On taking command Xie subjected him to the full force of military law. He ordered the eunuch to lead his troops under the vice commander to the west bank of the Yellow River with this warning: "When you engage the enemy, you will take all orders from the vice commander." The eunuch refused and appealed, clutching his commission document. Xie shouted: "Do you know that defying the commander's orders is punishable by decapitation?" The army supervisor broke into a cold sweat and dropped his court tablet. The next day he reported ill and died shortly afterward. After that military discipline was restored throughout the command.

元昊大掠河北，詔修寧遠砦。偕言寧遠砦在河外，介麟、豐二州之間，無水泉可守。請建新麟州於嵐州，有白塔地可建砦屯兵。謂：「遷有五利，不遷有三害。省國用，惜民力，利一也。內禦岢嵐、石府州沿河一帶賊所出路，利二也。我據其要，則河冰雖合，賊不敢逾河而東，利三也。商旅往來以通貨財，利四也。方河凍時，得所屯兵馬五七千人以張軍勢，利五也。今麟州轉輸束芻斗粟，費直千錢，若因循不遷，則河東之民，困於調發無已時，害一也。以孤壘餌敵，害二也。道路艱阻，援兵難繼，害三也。且州之四面，屬羌遭賊驅脅，蕩然一空，止存孤壘，猶四支盡廢，首面心腹獨存也。今契丹又與西賊共謀，待冰合來攻河東，若朝廷不思禦捍之計而修寧遠砦，是求虛名而忽大患也。況靈、夏二州皆漢、唐郡，一旦棄之，一麟州何足惜哉！」書奏，帝謂輔臣曰：「麟州，古郡也。咸平中，嘗經寇兵攻圍，非不可守，今遽欲棄之，是將退而以河為界也。宜諭偕速修復寧遠，以援麟州。」

Yuan Hao raided deeply into Hebei, and the court ordered repairs to Ningyuan Fort. Xie argued that Ningyuan Fort lay beyond the river between Lin and Feng prefectures and lacked water sources needed for defense. He proposed relocating Lin Prefecture to Lan Prefecture, where land at White Tower was suitable for a fortified garrison. He wrote: "Moving the prefecture offers five advantages; keeping it in place brings three serious harms. First, it would save state funds and spare the people excessive labor. Second, it would block the enemy's routes along the river through Kelan, Shi, and Fu prefectures. Third, holding the strategic position would keep the enemy from crossing the frozen river eastward even in winter. Fourth, it would restore trade routes and keep commerce flowing. Fifth, when the river froze, five to seven thousand garrison troops could be concentrated there to strengthen our military presence. First harm: supplying Lin Prefecture already costs a thousand cash per bundle of fodder or peck of grain. If we leave things as they are, the people of Hedong will never escape endless requisitions. Second harm: we would be offering the enemy an isolated fortress as bait. Third harm: the roads are treacherous and reinforcements would be hard to reach in time. Moreover, the Qiang dependents on every side had been driven off by the enemy until the region was emptied; only the isolated fortress remained—like a body whose limbs are gone while the head and trunk still stand. The Khitan are now plotting with the western rebels to attack Hedong when the river freezes. If the court repairs Ningyuan Fort instead of planning real defense, it will be chasing empty prestige while ignoring grave danger. Ling and Xia prefectures were Han and Tang territories, and we abandoned them. Why cling to Lin Prefecture alone?" When the memorial reached the throne, the emperor told his chief ministers, "Lin Prefecture is an ancient commandery. During the Xianping reign it withstood enemy siege and could be held. To abandon it now would be to retreat and make the Yellow River our frontier. Tell Xie to repair Ningyuan Fort at once to support Lin Prefecture."

明年，改左司郎中、本路經略安撫招討使，賜錢五十萬。偕列六事於朝：一、罷中人預軍事；二、徙麟州；三、以便宜從事；四、出冗師；五、募武士；六、專捕援。且曰：「能用臣言則受命，不然則已。」朝廷不從，偕累奏不已，乃罷知邢州，徙滄州。求面論兵事，召還，令間日入對。

The following year he was appointed left department director and military commissioner, pacification commissioner, and campaign commander for the circuit, with a grant of five hundred thousand cash. Xie presented six proposals to the court: first, remove eunuchs from military decision-making; second, relocate Lin Prefecture; third, grant discretionary authority on the frontier; fourth, reduce redundant forces; fifth, recruit skilled fighters; sixth, focus on cutting off enemy reinforcements. He added: "I will accept this appointment only if the court adopts my proposals; otherwise I decline." The court refused. Xie kept memorializing until he was removed as prefect of Xingzhou and transferred to Cangzhou. He asked to discuss military affairs in person and was recalled to court, where he was received in audience every other day.

偕在并州日，嘗論《八陣圖》及進神楯、劈陣刀，其法外環以車，內比以楯。至是，帝命以步卒五百，如其法布陣於庭，善之，乃下其法於諸路。其後王吉果用偕刀楯法敗元昊於兔毛川。久之，遷翰林侍讀學士、知審官院，復以為左司郎中。元昊乞和而不稱臣，偕以謂連年出師，國力日蹙，宜權許之，徐圖誅滅之計。諫官王素、歐陽修、蔡襄累章劾奏：「偕職為從官，不思為國討賊，而助元昊不臣之請，罪當誅。陛下未忍加戮，請出之，不宜留處京師。」帝以其章示偕，偕不自安，乃求知越州，道改杭州。時襄謁告過杭而輕遊里市，或謂偕合言於朝。對曰：「襄嘗緣公事抵我，我豈可以私報耶？」又上《太平可致十象圖》。

While serving at Bingzhou, Xie had expounded on the Eight Formations and presented divine shields and formation-breaking blades—a tactic that ringed chariots on the outside and massed shields within. The emperor then had five hundred infantry demonstrate the formation in the palace courtyard, approved it, and ordered the method distributed to all frontier circuits. Later Wang Ji indeed used Xie's blade-and-shield tactics to defeat Yuan Hao at Rabbit Fur River. After some time he was promoted to Hanlin attendant academician and reader and placed in charge of the Court of Review, then reappointed left department director. When Yuan Hao sued for peace without submitting as a vassal, Xie argued that years of campaigning had exhausted the state and that the court should accept peace provisionally while planning his eventual destruction. Remonstrance officials Wang Su, Ouyang Xiu, and Cai Xiang repeatedly impeached him: "As a court attendant, Xie ought to be fighting the enemy, not abetting Yuan Hao's refusal to submit. His offense deserves death. If Your Majesty will not execute him, at least send him out of the capital—he should not remain in the capital." The emperor showed Xie their memorials. Uneasy at court, he asked to be sent to Yuezhou but was reassigned to Hangzhou en route. When Cai Xiang passed through Hangzhou on leave and was seen strolling casually through the markets, some urged Xie to report him to the court. He replied, "Xiang once attacked me on official grounds. How could I settle a private score?" He also submitted his Ten Images Showing That Great Peace Can Be Attained.

還，判太常、司農寺，改右諫議大夫。請老，以尚書工部侍郎致仕。於其歸，特賜宴。嘗召問，賜不拜。卒，遺奏《兵論》一篇，帝憐之，特贈兵部侍郎。偕性剛而忠樸，敢為大言，數上書論天下事，議者以為迂闊難用。與人少合，尤喜古今兵法，有《兵書》十五卷，集十卷。子：忱、慥，皆有雋才，早卒。

On returning to court he judged at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Court of the National Granaries, and was made right remonstrance grandee. He requested retirement and was granted it as vice minister of the works section of the Ministry of Works. On his departure the emperor gave him a special farewell banquet. He was sometimes summoned for consultation and granted exemption from the usual obeisance. When he died he left behind a memorial titled On Warfare. The emperor mourned him and posthumously granted him vice minister of war. Xie was stern, loyal, and plain-spoken, unafraid of bold claims. He memorialized repeatedly on state affairs, but critics dismissed his ideas as impractical and grandiose. He got along with few colleagues and was especially devoted to military strategy ancient and modern. He left fifteen chapters of Military Writings and ten chapters of collected works. His sons Chen and Zao were both gifted but died young.

王沿，字聖源，大名館陶人。少治《春秋》。中進士第，試秘書省校書郎，歷知彭城、新昌二縣，改相州觀察推官，知宗城縣。張知白薦其才，擢著作佐郎，入為審刑院詳議官，再遷太常博士。上書論：

Wang Yan, styled Shengyuan, came from Guantao in Daming Prefecture. In his youth he studied the Spring and Autumn Annals. After passing the jinshi examination he served as proofreader in the Secretariat, then governed Pengcheng and Xinchang counties in succession. He was reassigned as observation commissioner push official in Xiang Prefecture and became magistrate of Zongcheng County. Zhang Zhibai recommended his ability. He was promoted to editorial assistant, appointed detailed review officer at the Court of Judicial Review, and later promoted to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He memorialized the throne, arguing:

「漢、唐之初，兵革才定，未暇治邊圉，則屈意以講和。承平之後，我力有餘，而外侮不已，則以兵治之，孝武之於匈奴，太宗之於突厥頡利是也。宋興七十年，而契丹數侵深、趙、貝、魏之間，先朝患征調之不已也，故屈己與之盟。然彼以戈矛為耒耜，以剽虜為商賈；而我壘不堅，兵不練，而規規於盟歃之間，豈久安之策哉？

"In the early Han and Tang, when the wars had barely ended and there was no time yet to secure the frontiers, the court humbled itself and sought peace. Once peace was established and strength remained to spare, if outside aggression continued, they answered with force—as Emperor Wu did with the Xiongnu, and Emperor Taizong with the Tujue chieftain Jieli. Seventy years into the Song, the Khitan have repeatedly struck the lands between Shen, Zhao, Bei, and Wei. The previous court, weary of endless levies and mobilizations, humbled itself and made peace with them. Yet they treat spears and halberds as farming tools and raiding captives as commerce; while our fortifications are weak, our soldiers untrained, and we cling only to sworn treaties—how can that secure lasting peace?

夫善禦敵者，必思所以務農實邊之計。河北為天下根本，其民儉嗇勤苦，地方數千里，古號豐實。今其地，十三為契丹所有，餘出征賦者，七分而已。魏史起鑿十二渠，引漳水溉斥鹵之田，而河內饒足。唐至德後，渠廢，而相、魏、磁、洺之地並漳水者，累遭決溢，今皆斥鹵不可耕。故沿邊郡縣，數蠲租稅，而又牧監芻地，占民田數百千頃，是河北之地，雖十有其七，而得賦之實者，四分而已。以四分之力，給十萬防秋之師，生民不得不困也。且牧監養馬數萬，徒耗芻豢，未嘗獲其用。請擇壯者配軍，衰者徙之河南，孳息者養之民間。罷諸坰牧，以其地為屯田，發役卒、刑徒田之，歲可用獲穀數十萬斛。夫漳水一石，其泥數斗，古人以為利，今人以為害，繫乎用與不用爾。願募民復十二渠，渠復則水分，水分則無奔決之患。以之灌溉，可使數郡瘠鹵之田，變為膏腴，如是，則民富十倍，而帑廩有餘矣。以此馭敵，何求而不可。」

Those who know how to defend the realm must first strengthen agriculture and secure the frontier. Hebei is the foundation of the empire. Its people are frugal and hardworking; its lands stretch thousands of li and were known since antiquity as abundant. Today thirteen parts of that territory belong to the Khitan; of what remains under our tax rolls, only seven parts do. In Wei, Shi Qi dug twelve canals and led the Zhang River to irrigate saline fields, until Henei grew rich and full. After the Tang Zhide reign the canals fell into ruin. The lands of Xiang, Wei, Ci, and Ming along the Zhang were repeatedly flooded; today they are all saline and cannot be farmed. Border counties have had taxes remitted again and again, while pasture offices hold fodderlands that occupy hundreds of thousands of mu of farmland. Though seven-tenths of Hebei still lies within our borders, only four-tenths in truth yield revenue. To support a hundred thousand autumn-defense troops from only four parts' worth of resources—the common people must be exhausted. Moreover the pasture offices keep tens of thousands of horses, consuming fodder and grain to no purpose, with little military benefit. I ask that the strong be assigned to the armies, the weak moved south to Henan, and breeding stock raised among the people. Abolish the pasture enclosures, turn the land into garrison farms, and set corvée troops and convicts to till it—each year yielding hundreds of thousands of hu of grain. A stone's measure of Zhang water carries several dou of silt. The ancients called that a benefit; today men call it a harm. It all depends on whether one puts it to use. I propose recruiting the people to restore the twelve canals. Once the canals are restored the water will be divided, and divided water will not burst its banks. With irrigation, the poor and saline fields of several prefectures could become fertile land. The people would grow ten times richer, and the treasury would overflow. Armed with this, what enemy could we not master?"

詔河北轉運使規度，而通判洺州王軫言：「漳河岸高水下，未易疏導；又其流濁，不可溉田。」沿方遷監察御史，即上書駁軫說，帝雖嘉之而不即行，語在《河渠志》。時樞密副使晏殊以笏擊從者折齒，知開封府陳堯谘、判官張宗誨日嗜酒惰事，沿皆彈奏之。天聖五年，安撫關陝，減諸縣秋稅十二三。還，為開封府推官。又體量河朔饑民，所至不俟詔，發官廩濟之。就除轉運副使。上言：

The emperor ordered the Hebei transport commissioner to investigate. Wang Zhen, vice commissioner of Ming Prefecture, argued: "The Zhang's banks are high and its water low, making dredging difficult; and its current is muddy, so it cannot irrigate fields." Yan had just been promoted to investigating censor and immediately memorialized to refute Wang Zhen. The emperor approved his argument but did not act on it at once; the account appears in the Records on Waterways. At the time Military Affairs Vice Commissioner Yan Shu struck an attendant with his tablet and broke his teeth; Kaifeng prefect Chen Yaozhi and judicial commissioner Zhang Zonghui drank daily and neglected their duties. Wang Yan impeached them all. In the fifth year of the Tiansheng reign he pacified Guan and Shaan circuits, reducing autumn taxes in the counties by twenty or thirty percent. On his return he was appointed push official of the Kaifeng prefectural government. He also surveyed famine victims in the north. Wherever he went, without waiting for imperial orders he opened government granaries to relieve them. He was thereupon appointed vice transport commissioner. He memorialized:

「本朝制兵刑，未幾於古。自契丹通好三十年，二邊常屯重兵，坐耗國用，而未知所以處之。請教河北強壯，以代就糧禁卒之闕；罷招廂軍，以其冗者隸作屯田。行之數年，禁卒當漸銷減，而強壯悉為精兵矣。

"Our dynasty's institutions of army and punishment fall far short of antiquity. For thirty years since peace with the Khitan, both frontiers have kept large garrisons that drain the treasury, yet no one knows what to do about it. I propose training the sturdy men of Hebei to fill vacancies among the grain-paid palace guards; disband the recruited encampment troops and assign their surplus to garrison farming. After several years the palace guards would gradually shrink, and the sturdy men would all become elite troops.

古者『刑國平，用中典』，而比者以敕處罪，多重於律。以絹估罪者，敕以緡直代之，律坐髡鈦而役者，敕黥竄以為卒。比諸州上言，謫卒太多，衣食不足，願勿復謫者七十餘州。以律言之，皆不至是，是以繁文罔之而置於理也。誠願削深文而用正律，以錢定罪者，悉從絹估；黥竄為卒者，止從髡釱。此所謂勝殘去殺，無待百年者也。」

The ancients said, 'When punishments in the state are settled, employ the moderate canon.' Yet lately edicts have imposed penalties heavier than the code. Where the code assesses guilt in silk, edicts substitute cash; where the code prescribes shaving, the cangue, and corvée labor, edicts tattoo and exile men as soldiers. Recently more than seventy prefectures reported that exiled soldiers were too numerous and provisions too scarce, and asked that no more men be sentenced to exile. By the code, none of these punishments is warranted. Excessive statutes entangle offenders and drive justice beyond reason. I earnestly ask that harsh statutes be cut back and the proper code restored: where money fixes guilt, let silk valuation prevail; where tattooing and exile to the army are imposed, let shaving and the cangue suffice. This is what is meant by overcoming cruelty and abolishing capital punishment—without waiting a hundred years."

被詔鞫曹汭獄於真定府，遷殿中侍御史。母喪服除，改尚書工部員外郎、知邢州，復起為河北轉運使。奏罷二牧監，以地賦民。導相、衛、邢、趙水下天平、景祐諸渠，溉田數萬頃。因詣闕奏事，上所著《春秋集傳》十六卷，復上書以《春秋》論時事。授直昭文館，為三司戶部副使，徙鹽鐵，遷兵部員外郎、天章閣待制、陝西都轉運使。時朝廷將減卒戍，就食內地，詔與知州、總管、鈐轄等議。沿即奏減卒數萬，知樞密院李諮以為不可，復下沿邊都監議。沿上疏曰：「兵機當在廊廟之上，豈可取責小人哉！」諮惡其言，奏罷之，降知滑州，徙成德軍。建學校，行鄉飲酒禮。

Ordered to try Cao Yan's case at Zhending Prefecture, he was promoted to palace attendant censor. When his mourning for his mother ended, he was appointed outer vice director of the works section of the Ministry of Works and prefect of Xingzhou, then recalled as Hebei transport commissioner. He memorialized to abolish two pasture offices and distribute their land to the people. He diverted the waters of Xiang, Wei, Xing, and Zhao into the Tianping, Jingyou, and other canals, irrigating tens of thousands of qing of farmland. On reporting to court he presented his sixteen-chapter 《Collected Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals》, and again memorialized, using the 《Spring and Autumn Annals》 to discuss current affairs. He was appointed director of the Hall for Spreading Literary Works, then vice commissioner of the household section of the State Finance Commission, transferred to salt and iron, and promoted to outer vice director of the Ministry of War, associate academician of the Tianzhang Pavilion, and metropolitan transport commissioner of Shaanxi. When the court planned to reduce frontier garrisons and feed the troops in the interior, he was ordered to consult with prefects, overall commanders, and branch commissioners. Wang Yan at once memorialized to cut tens of thousands of troops. Li Zi, commissioner of military affairs, objected, and the proposal was sent back to the frontier overall supervisors for further discussion. Wang Yan submitted a memorial: "Military strategy belongs in the council chamber above—how can one leave it to petty officials!" Li Zi resented his words, memorialized to remove him, and Wang Yan was demoted to prefect of Huazhou and transferred to Chengde. He established schools and performed the district drinking ceremony.

遷刑部郎中、河東都轉運使，加龍圖閣直學士、知并州。時元昊數寇河東，建議徙豐州，不報，已而州果陷。進樞密直學士、右司郎中，為涇原路經略、安撫、招討使兼知渭州。增屯兵，城中隘甚，乃築西關城五里。改涇州觀察使。元昊入寇，副都總管葛懷敏率兵出捍，沿教懷敏率兵據瓦亭待之。懷敏進兵鎮戎，沿以書戒勿入，第背城為砦，以羸師誘賊，賊至，發伏擊之可有功。懷敏不聽，進至定川，果為所敗。賊乘勝犯渭州，沿率州人乘城，多張旗幟為疑兵，賊遂引去。坐懷敏敗，復為龍圖閣直學士、刑部郎中、知虢州，尋降天章閣待制，而為權御史中丞賈昌朝所奏，落待制。未幾，徙知成德軍，復待制，又徙河中府，卒。

He was promoted to bureau director of the Ministry of Punishments and metropolitan transport commissioner of Hedong, with the additional titles of dragon diagram hall academician and prefect of Bingzhou. Yuan Hao was then raiding Hedong repeatedly. Wang Yan proposed relocating Feng Prefecture, but received no answer; soon afterward the prefecture fell. He was advanced to Hanlin associate academician of the Privy Council and right department director, and appointed military commissioner, pacification commissioner, and campaign commander of Jingyuan circuit, concurrently prefect of Weizhou. He increased the garrison. The city was overcrowded, so he built West Pass city, five li in extent. He was made observation commissioner of Jing Prefecture. When Yuan Hao invaded, Deputy Overall Commander Ge Huaimin led troops out to resist. Wang Yan ordered Huaimin to hold Wating and await the enemy there. Huaimin advanced on Zhenrong. Wang Yan wrote warning him not to go farther: camp with your backs to the city, lure the enemy with a weak force, and when they arrive spring the ambush—that way victory is possible. Huaimin refused to listen, pressed on to Dingchuan, and was defeated. The enemy pressed their victory against Weizhou. Wang Yan led the townspeople onto the walls and displayed many flags and banners as a decoy force, and the enemy withdrew. Blamed for Huaimin's defeat, he was reappointed dragon diagram hall academician, bureau director of punishments, and prefect of Guozhou; soon demoted from Tianzhang associate academician, and when Acting Censor-in-Chief Jia Changchao impeached him, stripped of that title as well. Before long he was transferred to Chengde, restored as associate academician, then transferred to Hezhong prefecture, where he died.

沿好建明當世事，而其論多齟齬。初興河北水利，導諸渠溉民田，論者以為無益。已而邢州民有爭渠水至殺人者，然後人知沿所建為利。嘗論以《春秋》法斷事，然真定之獄，人以為沿傅致之。有文集二十卷，《唐志》二十一卷。子：鼎。

Wang Yan liked to speak plainly on current affairs, but his proposals often met opposition. When he first promoted waterworks in Hebei and channeled the canals to irrigate farmland, critics called it useless. Later, when men of Xingzhou fought over canal water even to the point of killing, people at last recognized the value of what Wang Yan had built. He once argued that cases should be decided by the methods of the 《Spring and Autumn Annals》, yet in the Zhending case many believed he had framed the accused. He left twenty chapters of collected writings and twenty-one chapters of the 《Tang Records》. His son was Ding.

子鼎

Son: Ding

鼎，字鼎臣，以進士第，累遷太常博士。王堯臣領三司，舉勾當公事，數上書論時政得失。時天子患吏治多弛，監司不舉職，而范仲淹等方執政，擇諸路使者令按舉不法，以鼎提點江東刑獄。與轉運使楊紘、判官王綽競擿發吏，至微隱罪無所貸。於是所部官吏怨之，目為「三虎」。仁宗聞之，不說，後傅惟幾奉使江東，戒以毋效「三虎」為也。仲淹等罷，鼎與紘、綽皆為人所言，時鼎提點兩浙刑獄，降知深州。

Ding, styled Dingchen, passed the jinshi examination and rose through several posts to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When Wang Yaonchen headed the State Finance Commission he recommended Ding to handle public affairs. Ding repeatedly memorialized on the strengths and failings of current policy. The emperor was then troubled that official discipline had grown lax and surveillance commissioners neglected their duties. Fan Zhongyan and his allies were in power and chose circuit envoys to investigate wrongdoing; Ding was made investigating commissioner of judicial affairs for Jiangdong. Together with transport commissioner Yang Hong and judicial commissioner Wang Chuo he vied to expose officials, sparing no offense however slight or concealed. Officials in their jurisdiction resented them and called them the "Three Tigers." Emperor Renzong heard of this and was displeased. Later, when Fu Weiji was sent as envoy to Jiangdong, he was warned not to imitate the "Three Tigers." When Fan Zhongyan and his allies fell from power, Ding, Hong, and Chuo were all denounced. Ding was then investigating commissioner for Liangzhe judicial affairs and was demoted to prefect of Shen Prefecture.

王則以貝州反，深卒龐旦與其徒，謀以元日殺軍校、劫庫兵應之。前一日，有告者。鼎夜出檄，遣軍校攝事外邑，而陰為之備。翌日，會僚吏置酒如常，叛黨愕不敢動。鼎刺得實，徐捕首謀十八人送獄。獄具，俟轉運使至審決。未至，軍中恟恟謀劫囚。鼎因謂僚吏曰：「吾不以累諸君。」獨命取囚桀驁者數人，斬於市，眾皆失色，一郡帖然。轉運使至，囚未決者半，訊之，皆伏誅。

When Wang Ze rebelled at Bei Prefecture, a Shenzhou soldier named Pang Dan and his followers plotted to kill the garrison officers on New Year's Day and seize the armory troops to join the rebellion. The day before, someone reported the plot. That night Ding issued orders, sent military officers to take charge in outlying counties, and secretly made preparations. The next day he gathered his staff for wine as usual, and the conspirators, astonished, dared not act. Once Ding had verified the facts, he quietly arrested the eighteen ringleaders and sent them to prison. When the case was complete he waited for the transport commissioner to arrive and pass judgment. Before the commissioner arrived, the garrison grew restless and plotted to seize the prisoners. Ding then told his staff: "I will not involve you in this." He alone ordered several of the most defiant prisoners taken and beheaded in the market. All were shaken, and the whole prefecture grew calm. When the transport commissioner arrived, half the prisoners had not yet been sentenced. On interrogation all confessed and were executed.

明年，河北大饑，人相食，鼎經營賑救，頗盡力。徙建州，其俗生子多不舉，鼎為條教禁止。時盜販茶鹽者眾，一切杖遣之，監司數以為言，鼎弗為變。徙提點河北刑獄，治奸贓益急，所劾舉，不避貴勢。召為開封府判官，改鹽鐵判官，累遷司封員外郎、淮南兩浙荊湖制置發運副使。內侍楊永德奏請沿汴置鋪挽漕舟，歲可省卒六萬，鼎議以為不可。永德橫猾，執政重違其奏，乃令三司判官一員將永德就鼎議，發八難，永德不能復。鼎因疏言：「陛下幸察用臣，不宜過聽小人，妄有所改，以誤國計。」於是永德言不用。

The next year a great famine struck Hebei, and men ate one another. Ding organized relief and did all he could. Transferred to Jian Prefecture, where the custom was often to abandon newborn sons, Ding issued regulations forbidding the practice. Many were then stealing and selling tea and salt illegally. He had all such offenders beaten and expelled. Surveillance commissioners repeatedly protested, but Ding would not change his course. Transferred to investigating commissioner of Hebei judicial affairs, he prosecuted corruption ever more vigorously and in his impeachments did not spare the powerful. He was summoned as judicial commissioner of Kaifeng, transferred to salt and iron judicial commissioner, and promoted in succession to outer vice director of the department of state and vice commissioner for the Huainan, Liangzhe, and Jinghu circuit transport arrangement. Inner attendant Yang Yongde memorialized to set up tow-stations along the Bian Canal to haul transport barges, claiming this would save sixty thousand troops a year. Ding argued that it would not work. Yongde was domineering and cunning, and the chief ministers were reluctant to oppose him. They therefore ordered a State Finance judicial commissioner to bring Yongde to debate with Ding. Ding raised eight objections, and Yongde could not answer them. Ding then memorialized: "Your Majesty, I hope you will examine and employ me. You ought not heed petty men too readily and rashly alter policy to the harm of the state." Thereupon Yongde's proposal was not adopted.

居二年，遂以為使。前使者多漁市南物，因奏計京師，持遺權貴。鼎一無所市，獨悉意精吏事，事無大小，必出於己。凡調發綱吏，度漕路遠近，定先後為成法，於是勞逸均，吏不能為重輕。官舟禁私載，舟兵無以自給，則盡盜官米為奸。有能居販自贍者，市人持以法，不肯償所逋。鼎為移州縣督償之，舟人有以自給，不為奸，而所運米未嘗不足也。入為三司鹽鐵副使。數與包拯爭議，不少屈。拯素強，然無如之何。遷刑部郎中、天章閣待制、河北都轉運使，徙使河東，卒。

Two years later he was appointed full commissioner. Previous commissioners had often profited by buying southern goods on the route, then presented them as gifts to powerful officials when reporting to the capital. Ding bought nothing at all. He devoted himself entirely to mastering official business, handling every matter great or small himself. Whenever he dispatched convoy clerks he measured transport routes by distance and fixed the order of priority as standing regulation. Labor was thus distributed evenly, and clerks could no longer shift burdens onto others. Official transport boats were forbidden to carry private goods. With no other means of support, the boat soldiers stole official grain wholesale for illicit profit. Those who could support themselves by peddling goods found that market traders invoked the law and refused to pay their debts. Ding ordered the prefectures and counties to supervise repayment. The boatmen could then support themselves without resorting to crime, and the grain delivered was never deficient. He was recalled to the capital as Vice Commissioner of the Salt and Iron Bureau in the Commission for Fiscal Affairs. He often clashed with Bao Zheng in debate and would not yield in the slightest. Bao Zheng was by nature forceful, yet could do nothing about him. He was promoted to Director in the Ministry of Justice, Attendant-in-Waiting of the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations, and Commissioner-General of transport for Hebei, then transferred to serve in Hedong, where he died.

鼎性廉不欺，嘗任其子，族人欲增年以圖速仕，鼎不可。父死，分諸子以財，鼎悉推與其弟。嘗知臨邛縣，轉運使選攝新繁，新繁多職田，斗粟不以自入。奉使契丹，得千縑，散之族人，一日盡。所至不擾，唯市飲食日用物，增直以償。事繼母孝，教育孤侄甚至，自奉養儉約。當官明敏，強直不可撓。所薦士多知名，有終身不識者。然性猜忌，其行部，至於藥餌，皆手自扃鐍。至潞州八義館，疾作，不知人事，左右遑遽，發藥奩，悉無題識，莫敢進，以迄於卒。初，鼎與弟豫皆有才氣，好上書言事，仁宗稱之，以為豫孟浪，鼎所言多可用。豫為人不事羈檢，以大理寺丞知伊闕縣，有異政。棄官浮遊江湖間，殖貨自給以卒。

Ding was incorruptible and would not deceive others. He once appointed his son to office, but when clansmen wished to inflate the boy's age to hasten his advancement, Ding refused. When his father died, he divided the estate among his sons; Ding gave his entire share to his younger brother. He once served as magistrate of Linqiong County. The transport commissioner chose him to administer Xinfan temporarily. Xinfan had many official fields, yet not a single dou of grain ever entered his private purse. On an embassy to the Khitan he received a thousand bolts of silk and distributed them among his clansmen; in a single day they were all gone. Wherever he served he did not disturb the people. He bought only food and daily necessities in the markets, paying above the asking price to compensate the sellers. He was filial toward his stepmother and educated his orphaned nephews with great care, while keeping his own household frugal and spare. In office he was clear-minded and sharp, firm and upright, and could not be bent. Most of the scholars he recommended were well known, though some he never met in his entire life. Yet by nature he was suspicious. On his tours, he personally locked even his medicines and food. When he reached the Bayi Lodge in Luzhou he fell gravely ill and lost consciousness. His attendants panicked and opened his medicine chest, but every bottle lacked a label and none dared give him anything—so he died. Earlier, Ding and his younger brother Yu were both talented and spirited, fond of submitting memorials on affairs of state. Emperor Renzong praised them, judging Yu rash but finding Ding's proposals mostly sound. Yu cared little for restraint in conduct. As Assistant Director of the Court for Judicial Review he governed Yique County as magistrate and achieved unusual results. He abandoned office and drifted on lakes and rivers, trading to support himself until he died.

杜杞，字偉長。父鎬，蔭補將作監主簿，知建陽縣。強敏有才。閩俗，老而生子輒不舉。杞使五保相察，犯者得重罪。累遷尚書虞部員外郎、知橫州。時安化蠻寇邊，殺知宜州王世寧，出兵討之。杞言：「嶺南諸郡，無城郭甲兵之備，牧守非才。橫為邕、欽、廉三郡咽喉，地勢險阻，可屯兵為援。邕管內制廣源，外控交阯，願擇文臣識權變練達嶺外事者，以為牧守，使經制邊事。」改通判真州，徙知解州，權發遣度支判官。盜起京西，掠商、鄧、均、房，焚光化軍，授京西轉運、按察使。居數月，賊平。

Du Qi, styled Weichang. His father Gao, by yin privilege appointed Registrar of the Directorate of Palace Buildings, served as magistrate of Jianyang County. He was forceful, keen, and talented. In Min custom, when a man was old and his wife bore a child, they would not raise it. Qi had the five-household units supervise one another; offenders received heavy punishment. He was repeatedly promoted to Vice Director of the Bureau of Parks in the Ministry of Revenue and served as prefect of Heng Prefecture. At the time Anhua tribesmen raided the border and killed Wang Shining, prefect of Yi Prefecture, and the court sent troops to punish them. Qi said: "The southern prefectures lack fortifications, armor, and arms, and their prefects lack ability. Heng is the throat of Yong, Qin, and Lian—the three prefectures—its terrain perilous and obstructed, and troops may be stationed there as relief. Within Yong circuit it controls Guangyuan and outward controls Jiaozhi. I ask that a literatus who knows expedients and is skilled in southern frontier affairs be chosen as prefect to manage border affairs." He was transferred as Vice Prefect of Zhen Prefecture, moved to administer Jie Prefecture, and was temporarily dispatched as Revenue Division Judge. Bandits rose in the Western Capital circuit, plundering Shang, Deng, Jun, and Fang and burning Guanghua Army; he was appointed Western Capital Transport and Inspection Commissioner. Within several months the bandits were pacified.

會廣西區希範誘白崖山蠻蒙趕反，有眾數千，襲破環州、帶溪普義鎮寧砦，嶺外騷然。擢刑部員外郎、直集賢院、廣南西路轉運按察安撫使。行次真州，先遣急遞以書諭蠻，聽其自新。次宜州，蠻無至者。杞得州校，出獄囚，脫其械，使入洞說賊，不聽。乃勒兵攻破白崖、黃坭、九居山砦及五峒，焚毀積聚，斬首百餘級，復環州。賊散走，希範走荔波洞，杞遣使誘之，趕來降。杞謂將佐曰：「賊以窮蹙降我，威不足製則恩不能懷，所以數叛，不如盡殺之。」乃擊牛馬，為曼陀羅酒，大會環州，伏兵發，誅七十餘人。後三日，又得希範，醢之以遺諸蠻，因老病而釋者，才百餘人。御史梅摯劾杞殺降失信，詔戒諭之，為兩浙轉運使。明年，徙河北，拜天章閣待制、環慶路經略安撫使、知慶州。杞上言：「殺降者臣也，得罪不敢辭。將吏勞未錄，臣未敢受命。」因為行賞。蕃酋率眾千餘內附，夏人以兵索酋而劫邊戶，掠馬牛，有詔責杞。杞言：「彼違誓舉兵，酋不可與。」因移檄夏人，不償所掠，則酋不可得，既而兵亦罷去。

It happened that Qu Xifan of Guangxi incited the Baiyashan tribal leader Meng Gan to rebel. With several thousand followers he stormed Huan Prefecture and the Daixi Puyi Zhenning stockade, and the outer districts were thrown into uproar. He was elevated to Vice Director in the Ministry of Justice, Academy Fellow of the Hall Assembled Worthies, and Transport, Inspection, and Pacification Commissioner of the Guangnan West circuit. Halting at Zhen Prefecture, he first sent express mail with a letter instructing the tribes and permitting them to reform. When he reached Yi Prefecture, no tribesmen came forward. Qi obtained garrison soldiers, released prisoners, removed their shackles, and sent them into the caves to persuade the bandits, but they would not listen. He then compelled troops to storm the stockades of Baiya, Huangni, Jiujushan, and the five caves, burned accumulated stores, beheaded over a hundred, and recovered Huan Prefecture. The bandits scattered and fled. Xifan fled to Libo Cave. Qi sent envoys to entice him, and Gan came to surrender. Qi said to his officers: "The bandits surrendered only because they were cornered. If awe is insufficient to restrain them, kindness cannot win them over—that is why they rebel again and again. Better to kill them all." He then slaughtered cattle and horses, brewed mandala wine, and held a great assembly at Huan Prefecture. Concealed troops sprang up and executed over seventy persons. Three days later he captured Xifan again, minced him, and sent the flesh to the various tribes; only a little over a hundred were released on account of age and illness. Censor Mei Zhi impeached Qi for killing those who had surrendered, breaking faith with them. An edict admonished him, and he was made Transport Commissioner of the two Zhe circuits. The next year he was transferred to Hebei and appointed Attendant-in-Waiting of the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations, Frontier Commissioner and Pacification Commissioner of the Huanqing circuit, and prefect of Qing Prefecture. Qi memorialized: "Killing those who surrendered was my doing. I dare not decline the guilt. The officers' and clerks' labors have not yet been rewarded; I dare not accept the appointment." Rewards were then issued on their behalf. A tribal chief led over a thousand followers to submit to the court. The Xia sent troops to demand the chief and raided border households, seizing horses and cattle. An edict reproved Qi. Qi said: "They violated their oath and took up arms; the chief cannot be handed over to them." He then sent a proclamation to the Xia: unless they returned what they had plundered, the chief would not be surrendered; before long their troops also withdrew.

杞性強記，博覽書傳，通陰陽數術之學，自言吾年四十六死矣。一日據廁，見希範與趕在前訴冤，叱曰：「爾狂僭叛命，法當誅，尚敢訴邪！」未幾卒。有奏議十二卷。

Qi had a powerful memory, read broadly in books and records, and mastered yin-yang and numerical arts. He said himself that he would die at forty-six. One day on the privy he saw Xifan and Gan before him lodging grievances. He shouted: "You arrogantly rebelled against command—by law you should be executed—yet you still dare complain!" Before long he died. He left twelve juan of memorials.

兄植，以文雅知名，累任監司，終少府監。弟樞，亦強敏，為比部員外郎。有張彥方者，溫成皇后母越國夫人客也。坐奸利論死，語連越國夫人。開封不敢窮治，執政以后故，亦不復詰。獄上，中書遣樞慮問，樞揚言將駁正；亟改用諫官陳升之，權幸切齒於樞。前此，御史中丞王舉正留百官班論張堯佐除宣徽使，樞嘗出班問其故。至是，蓋累月矣，坐是罪樞，絀監衡州稅，卒。

His elder brother Zhi was known for refinement and letters, repeatedly held supervisory posts, and ended as Vice Director of the Palace Workshops. His younger brother Shu, also forceful and keen, served as Vice Director of the Revenue Bureau. There was one Zhang Yanfang, a client of the Empress Dowager of the State of Yue, mother of Empress Wen Cheng. Convicted of wicked profit and sentenced to death, his testimony implicated the Empress Dowager of the State of Yue. Kaifeng dared not investigate thoroughly, and the chief ministers, on account of the empress, also did not press further. When the case was submitted, the Secretariat dispatched Shu to review it; Shu openly declared he would reject and correct the finding; they hastily replaced him with remonstrance official Chen Shengzhi, and the powerful hated Shu to the bone. Earlier, Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Juzheng had detained the officials' ranks to discuss Zhang Yaozuo's appointment as Commissioner of the Palace Duties, and Shu had once stepped out of the ranks to ask the reason. Now, probably many months had passed; on this account Shu was punished, demoted to supervise the tax at Heng Prefecture, and died there.

楊畋，字樂道，保靜軍節度使重勳之曾孫。進士及第，授秘書省校書郎、并州錄事參軍，再遷大理寺丞、知岳州。慶曆三年，湖南徭人唐和等劫掠州縣，擢殿中丞、提點本路刑獄，專治盜賊事。乃募才勇，深入峒討擊。然南方久不識兵，士卒多畏懾。及戰孤漿峒，前軍衄，大兵悉潰，畋踣岩下，藉淺草得不死。卒厲眾平六峒，以功，遷太常博士。未幾，坐部將胡元戰死，降知太平州。歲餘，賊益肆。帝遣御史按視，還言：「畋嘗戰山下，人樂為用，今欲殄賊，非畋不可。」乃授東染院使、荊湖南路兵馬鈐轄。賊聞畋至，皆恐畏，逾嶺南遁。又詔往韶、連等州招安之。乃約賊使出峒，授田為民，而轉運使欲授以官與貲，納質使還。畋曰：「賊剽攻湖、廣七年，所殺不可勝計，今使飽貲糧、據峒穴，其勢不久必復亂。」明年春，賊果復出陽山。畋即領眾出嶺外，涉夏、秋，凡十五戰，賊潰，畋感瘴疾歸。蠻平，願還舊官，改尚書屯田員外郎、直史館、知隨州。

Yang Tian, styled Ledao, was the great-grandson of Chongxun, Military Governor of the Baojing Army. He passed the jinshi examination and was appointed Proofreader of the Secretariat and Recorder of the Bing Prefecture secretariat. After a second promotion he became Assistant Director of the Court for Judicial Review and prefect of Yue Prefecture. In the third year of Qingli, the Yao leader Tang He and others in Hunan raided prefectures and counties. Tian was promoted to Palace Attendant and Commissioner to oversee criminal law in that circuit, charged exclusively with suppressing bandits. He then recruited men of talent and courage and penetrated deep into the mountain caves to attack. Yet the south had long been unfamiliar with warfare, and most of the soldiers were fearful. When they fought at Gujiang Cave the vanguard was defeated and the main force routed entirely. Tian fell prostrate beneath a cliff and, cushioned by shallow grass, did not die. At last he stiffened the troops and pacified the six caves. For this merit he was promoted to Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Before long, because his subordinate general Hu Yuan died in battle, he was demoted to prefect of Taiping Prefecture. After more than a year the bandits grew more rampant. The emperor sent a censor to inspect. On his return he reported: "Tian once fought below the mountain and men delighted to serve under him. To exterminate the bandits now, none but Tian will do." He was then appointed Commissioner of the Eastern Dyestery and Military Controller of the Jinghu South circuit. When the bandits heard Tian had arrived, they were all afraid and fled south of the ranges. He was again ordered to proceed to Shao, Lian, and other prefectures to pacify them. He then arranged for the bandits to leave the caves and granted them fields to become commoners, but the transport commissioner wished to grant them office and wealth, taking hostages before sending them back. Tian said: "These bandits have raided Hunan and Guangdong for seven years, and those they have killed are beyond counting. If we now let them fill their stores and hold their cave strongholds, they will surely rebel again before long." The next spring the bandits indeed emerged again at Yangshan. Tian then led his forces beyond the ranges. Through summer and autumn he fought fifteen battles in all, routing the bandits, then contracted miasma fever and returned. When the tribes were pacified he asked to return to his former office and was instead made Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Granaries, Academician of the Historiography Institute, and prefect of Sui Prefecture.

召還，為三司戶部判官，奉使河東。丁父憂，會儂智高陷邕州，召至都門外，辭以喪服不敢見。仁宗賜以服飾御巾，入對便殿。即日，除起居舍人、知諫院、廣南東西路體量安撫、經制賊盜。畋至韶州，會張忠戰死，智高自廣州回軍沙頭，將濟。畋令蘇緘棄英州，蔣偕焚糧儲，及召開贇、岑宗閔、王從政退保韶州。賊勢愈熾，畋不能抗，遂殺蔣偕、王正倫，敗陳曙，復據邕州。畋坐是落知諫院、知鄂州，再降為屯田員外郎、知光化軍。明年，又降為太常博士，歲終，徙邠州。

Recalled to court, he served as Revenue Judge in the Commission for Fiscal Affairs and was sent on embassy to Hedong. While mourning his father, Nong Zhigao seized Yong Prefecture. Tian was summoned to the outer gate of the capital but declined on grounds of mourning garb and dared not appear. Emperor Renzong bestowed court dress and an imperial kerchief upon him, and he entered audience in the side hall. That same day he was appointed Reminder in the Bureau of Attendants, charged with the Remonstrance Bureau, and made Commissioner to survey and pacify the Eastern and Western Guangnan circuits and direct suppression of the bandits. When Tian reached Shao Prefecture, Zhang Zhong had died in battle. Zhigao was returning his army from Guang Prefecture to Shatou, about to cross the river. Tian ordered Su Chan to abandon Ying Prefecture and Jiang Xie to burn the grain stores, and summoned Kai Yun, Cen Zongmin, and Wang Congzheng to withdraw and hold Shao Prefecture. The bandits' power grew fiercer and Tian could not resist. They killed Jiang Xie and Wang Zhenglun, defeated Chen Shu, and again seized Yong Prefecture. For this Tian was removed from the Remonstrance Bureau and made prefect of E Prefecture, then demoted again to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Granaries and prefect of Guanghua Army. The next year he was demoted again to Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and at year's end was transferred to Bin Prefecture.

復起居舍人，為河東轉運使。入為三司戶部副使，遷吏部員外郎。奉使契丹，以曾伯祖業嘗陷虜，辭不行。河北舊以土絹給軍裝，三司使張方平易以他州絹。畋既同書奏聞，外議籍籍，又密陳其不可。久之，擢天章閣待制兼侍讀、判吏部流內銓。上言：「願擇宗室之賢者，使侍膳禁中，為宗廟計。」

Restored as Reminder in the Bureau of Attendants, he became Transport Commissioner of Hedong. He entered the capital as Vice Commissioner of the Household Bureau in the Commission for Fiscal Affairs and was promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Appointments. When sent on embassy to the Khitan, he declined to go on the ground that his great-great-uncle Ye had once been captured by the Khitan. Hebei had formerly used local silk to supply military dress, but Commissioner Zhang Fangping changed the supply to silk from other prefectures. Tian had jointly signed the memorial reporting this to the throne. Public opinion was vociferous, and he also privately submitted that the change was inadmissible. After a long while he was promoted to Attendant-in-Waiting of the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations, concurrently Imperial Reader, and presiding judge of flowing appointments in the Ministry of Appointments. He memorialized: "I ask that worthy members of the imperial clan be selected to attend meals within the Forbidden Precinct, for the sake of securing the ancestral temple."

嘉祐三年冬，河北地震。明年，日食正旦。復上疏曰：「漢成帝時，日食地震，哀、平之世，嫡嗣屢絕，此天所以示戒也。陛下宜早立皇嗣，以答天意。」改知制誥。李珣自防禦使遷觀察，劉永年自團練使遷防禦，畋當草制，封還詞頭。因言：「祖宗故事，郭進戍西山，董遵誨、姚內斌守環、慶，與強寇對壘，各十餘年，未嘗轉官移鎮，重名器也。今珣等無尺寸功，特以外戚故除之，恐非祖宗意。」不報，詔他舍人草制。而范鎮言：「朝廷如以畋言為是，當罷珣等所遷官；倘以為非，乞復令畋命詞。」不允。進龍圖閣直學士，復知諫院。

In winter of the third year of Jiayou, Hebei experienced an earthquake. The next year there was a solar eclipse on New Year's Day. He submitted another memorial: "Under Emperor Cheng of Han, eclipses and earthquakes occurred; in the reigns of Ai and Ping the line of legitimate succession was repeatedly broken. This was Heaven's warning. Your Majesty should establish an heir to the throne without delay, in answer to Heaven's will." He was reassigned as Director of Drafting for the Secretariat. Li Xun was promoted from Defender-in-Chief to Regional Inspector; Liu Yongnian from Training Commissioner to Defender-in-Chief. Tian was assigned to draft the appointment edicts but sealed and returned the draft headers. He argued: "By ancestral precedent, Guo Jin held the Western Hills, while Dong Zunyao and Yao Neibin defended Huan and Qing, locked for more than a decade in stalemate with powerful foes, yet neither was ever promoted or transferred--such was the regard for high office. Xun and his fellows have achieved nothing whatsoever, yet receive appointments solely as maternal kin. I fear this cannot be what our ancestors intended." The court did not respond and ordered another drafting academician to write the edicts. Fan Zhen then argued: "If the court accepts Tian's position, it should revoke the promotions granted to Xun and the others; if it disagrees, I ask that Tian again be charged with drafting the edicts." The request was denied. He was promoted to Hanlin Academician Ex Officio of the Hall of Dragon Diagrams and restored as director of the Remonstrance Bureau.

嘉祐六年，京師大水，畋上言：「《洪範五行傳》：『簡宗廟則水不潤下。』又曰：『聽之不聰，厥罰常水。』去年夏秋之交，久雨傷稼，澶州河決，東南數路，大水為沴。陛下臨御以來，容受直諫，非聽之不聰也。以孝事親，非簡於宗廟也。然而災異數見，臣愚殆以為萬機之聽，必有失於審者；七廟之享，必有失於順者，惟陛下積思而矯正之。」乃下其章禮官並兩制考議，咸言南郊三聖並侑，溫成皇后立廟，皆違經禮。於是詔：「自今南郊以太祖皇帝定配，改溫成廟為祠殿。」

In the sixth year of Jiayou, the capital was struck by severe flooding. Tian memorialized: "The Explanations of the Five Processes in the Hong Fan states: 'When the ancestral temples are neglected, water fails to soak the earth below. It also says: 'When the ruler does not listen keenly, the penalty is recurring floods.'" Last year, between summer and autumn, unending rain ruined the harvest; the Yellow River burst its banks at Chanzhou; and across several southeastern circuits, floodwaters brought widespread disaster. Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have welcomed frank remonstrance--this is not a case of failing to listen. You serve your parents with filial devotion; this is not neglect of the ancestral temples. Yet portents and anomalies have appeared again and again. This humble subject dares believe that in the governance of the myriad affairs of state, there must be lapses of judgment; and in the rites offered at the Seven Temples, there must be lapses in proper order. May Your Majesty ponder deeply and set them right." The memorial was referred to the Rites Office and the Hanlin drafting officials for joint review. All agreed that enshrining three sage-emperors together at the Southern Suburban sacrifice, and establishing a temple for Empress Wencheng, violated canonical ritual. An edict followed: "Henceforth at the Southern Suburban sacrifice, Emperor Taizu shall be the fixed associate; the Wencheng temple shall be changed to a shrine hall."

舊制，內侍十年一遷官。樞密院以為僥幸，乃更定歲數倍之。畋言：「文臣七遷，而內侍始得一磨勘，為不均。宜如文武官僚例，增其歲考。」遂詔南班以上仍舊制，無勞而嘗坐罪徒者，即倍其年。議者謂畋以士人比閹寺為失。卒，贈右諫議大夫。

Under the old regulations, palace eunuchs were promoted once every ten years. The Bureau of Military Affairs deemed this too generous and doubled the required interval. Tian said: "Civil officials advance through seven promotions before a palace attendant earns a single merit review. This is unjust. The interval for merit review should follow the precedent for civil and military officials and be lengthened accordingly." An edict followed: for attendants of the Southern Class and above, the old regulations remained in force; those without merit who had served penal exile would wait twice as long. Critics held that Tian had erred in comparing scholar-officials to eunuch attendants. He died and was posthumously appointed Right Remonstrance Censor.

畋出於將家，折節喜學問，為士大夫所稱。在山下討蠻，家問至，即焚之，與士卒同甘苦，破諸峒。及用之嶺南，以無功斥，名稱遂衰。性情介謹畏，每奏事，必發封數四而後上之。自奉甚約，為郡待客，雖監司，菜果數器而已。及卒，家無餘貲，特賜黃金二百兩。其後端平贈講讀官，御飛白書扇，遣使特賜置其柩。

Though born to a military family, Tian disciplined himself and cultivated learning, earning praise from the scholar-official class. On campaign against the hill tribes, he burned family letters the moment they arrived, shared hardship with his troops, and broke the mountain stockades one by one. When later posted to Lingnan, he was dismissed for lack of achievement, and his reputation faded. By nature he was upright, cautious, and timorous; each time he submitted a memorial he broke the seal and resealed it three or four times before finally sending it up. He lived in great frugality; when serving as prefect and entertaining guests, even supervising commissioners were offered only a few platters of vegetables and fruit. When he died his household had no surplus wealth, and the court specially granted two hundred taels of gold. Later, in the Duanping era, he was posthumously granted a lecture-readership; the Emperor wrote a fan in flying-white script and sent envoys to place the gift upon his coffin.

周湛，字文淵，鄧州穰人。進士甲科，為開州推官。中身言書判，改秘書省著作佐郎、通判戎州。俗不知醫，病者以祈禳巫祝為事，湛取古方書刻石教之，禁為巫者，自是人始用醫藥。累遷尚書都官員外郎、知虔州，提點廣南東路刑獄。

Zhou Zhan, styled Wenyuan, came from Xiang in Deng Prefecture. Having passed the jinshi in the top grade, he was appointed investigating magistrate of Kai Prefecture. He passed the Shenyan essay and document examination and was appointed Assistant Editor in the Secretariat and vice-prefect of Rong Prefecture. The local custom knew no medicine; the sick relied on prayer and shaman rites. Zhan had passages from ancient medical texts carved on stone to instruct the people and forbade shaman practice, and from that time the people began to use medicine. He rose through successive posts to Vice Director of the Punishments Bureau in the Ministry of Justice, prefect of Qian, and judicial intendant of Guangnan East Circuit.

初，江、湖民略良人，鬻嶺外為奴婢。湛至，設方略搜捕，又聽其自陳，得男女二千六百人，給飲食還其家。徙京西路，鄧州美陽堰歲役工數十萬，溉州縣職田，而利不及民，湛奏罷之。為鹽鐵判官，三司帳籍浩煩，吏胥離析為弊欺。湛為立勘同法，歲減天下計帳七千。為江南西路轉運使，州縣簿領案牘，淆混無紀次，且多亡失，民訴訟無所質，至久不能決。湛為立號，以月日比次之，詔下其法諸路。又以徭賦不均，百姓巧於避匿，因條其詭名挾佃之類十二事，且許民自言，凡括隱戶三十萬。

At first, people along the Yangzi and lakes seized innocents and sold them beyond the mountain passes as slaves. When Zhan arrived he devised measures to hunt the traffickers down, allowed victims to come forward on their own, recovered twenty-six hundred men and women, fed them, and sent them home. Transferred to Jingxi Circuit, he found that Meiyang Weir in Deng conscripted hundreds of thousands of laborers each year to irrigate official fields of prefectures and counties while the people gained nothing. Zhan memorialized to abolish the project. As Salt and Iron Assessor, he found the Commission's ledgers vast and tangled, with clerks splitting accounts to conceal fraud. Zhan established a cross-checking and reconciliation method that each year reduced the nationwide summary accounts by seven thousand volumes. As Transport Commissioner of Jiangnan West Circuit, he found prefectural and county ledgers and case files jumbled beyond order, many lost altogether, so that commoners' lawsuits had nothing to verify against and some dragged on unresolved for years. Zhan instituted a numbering system arranged by month and day; an edict promulgated his method to all circuits. Because corvee and tax burdens were uneven and the people skilled at evasion, he listed twelve kinds of fraudulent registration and tenant arrangements, allowed commoners to report themselves, and in all registered three hundred thousand hidden households.

還為戶部判官，又為夔州路轉運使。雲安鹽井歲賦民薪茅，至破產責不已，湛為蠲鹽課而省輸薪茅。判鹽鐵勾院，以太常少卿直昭文館，為江淮制置發運使。陛辭，仁宗誡以毋納包苴於京師。湛惶恐對曰：「臣蒙聖訓，不敢苟附權要，以謀進身。」湛治煩劇，能得其要，所至喜條上利害，前後至數十百事。天資強記，吏胥滿前，一見輒識其姓名。大江曆舒州長風沙，其地最險，謂之石牌灣，湛役三十萬工，鑿河十里以避之，人以為利。

He returned to the capital as Household Assessor and later served again as Transport Commissioner of Kuizhou Circuit. Yun'an salt wells annually levied firewood and thatch on the people until families were ruined by relentless exaction; Zhan remitted salt levies and reduced the deliveries of firewood and thatch. He served as Assessor of the Salt and Iron Verification Office, as Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices with concurrent appointment to the Hall for Veneration of Literature, and as Commissioner of the Huai-Hai Transport System. At his farewell audience, Emperor Renzong admonished him not to accept bundled bribes in the capital. Zhan answered in trepidation: "Your servant has received the imperial instruction and dares not curry favor with the powerful to advance my career." Zhan handled complex and pressing affairs yet always grasped their essentials. Wherever he served he submitted detailed memorials on public benefit and harm--in all, several dozen to more than a hundred matters. He possessed a formidable memory; when clerks crowded the hall before him, a single glance sufficed to fix each man's name in his mind. On the Yangtze, Changfeng Shoals in Shuzhou was the most dangerous stretch, known as Shipai Bay. Zhan mobilized three hundred thousand laborers, cut a canal ten li long to bypass it, and the people hailed the project as a lasting benefit.

除度支副使。舊制，發運司保任軍將至三司，不得考覆而皆遷之。至是，以名上者三十五人，湛盡覆其濫者。拜右諫議大夫。使契丹，辭不行。

He was appointed Vice Commissioner of the Revenue Bureau. Under the old regulations, military officers whom the Transport Office recommended to the Commission were all promoted without examination. On this occasion thirty-five names were submitted; Zhan reviewed every case and struck down those who did not merit promotion. He was appointed Right Remonstrance Censor. When sent on embassy to the Khitan, he declined and would not go.

知襄州，襄人不善陶瓦，率為竹屋，歲久侵據官道，簷廡相逼，火數為害。湛至，度其所侵，悉毀徹之，自是無火患。然豪姓不便，提點刑獄李穆奏湛擾人，徙知相州。右司諫吳及疏曰：「湛裁損居民第，為官也；百姓侵官而主司禁之，其職然也。況聞湛明著律令，約民以信，乃奉法行事，百姓自知罪不敢訴。郡從事高直溫，夏竦子婿也。竦邸店最廣，故加譖於穆，且謂湛伐木若干株。昔之民居侵越官道，木在道側，既正其侵地，則木在中衢，固宜翦去。又湛種楸桐千餘本，課戶貯水，以嚴火禁。又於民居得眾汲舊井四，廢而復興，人得其利。道傍之井，反在民居之下，其侵越豈不白乎？望詔執政大臣辨正湛、穆是非，明垂獎黜。若謂湛已行之命，憚於追改，是傷風敗俗，貽患於後，不若追改之愈也。湛守大郡，於湛不為重輕，但國家舉錯有所未安，奉職者將何以勸邪？」未幾卒。湛為人脫易，少威儀，然善射弩，雖隔屋亦中的云。

As prefect of Xiang, he found the people unskilled at tile and mostly dwelling in bamboo houses. Over the years they encroached on the official road until eaves and galleries pressed together, and fires repeatedly wrought havoc. When Zhan arrived he measured every encroachment and demolished them all; from then on the fire disasters ceased. But powerful families were discommoded. Judicial Intendant Li Mu memorialized that Zhan had disturbed the people, and Zhan was transferred to prefect of Xiang Prefecture. Right Reminder Wu Ji submitted a memorial: "Zhan reduced the dwellings of commoners for the sake of public order; when commoners encroach on official ground and the chief office forbids it, that is its proper duty. Moreover I hear that Zhan made the statutes clear, bound the people by good faith, and acted strictly according to law, so that the people knew themselves guilty and dared not complain. The prefectural aide Gao Zhiwen was the son-in-law of Xia Song. Xia Song's inn-shops were the most extensive in the region, so slander was heaped upon Mu, and it was alleged that Zhan had felled a certain number of trees. Formerly commoners' dwellings had encroached upon the official road, with trees standing at the roadside. Once the encroachments were corrected, those trees stood in the middle of the thoroughfare and ought naturally to be removed. Moreover Zhan planted more than a thousand catalpa and paulownia trees, assigned households to store water against fire, and strictly enforced fire prohibitions. He also found four old communal wells among the dwellings, restored those that had fallen into disuse, and the people profited from them. Wells that should have stood beside the road lay instead beneath private dwellings--was not the encroachment plain for all to see? I beg that the court order the chief ministers to judge right and wrong between Zhan and Mu and clearly bestow reward or censure. If because Zhan's order has already been carried out the court fears to reverse it, that will wound custom and corrupt public morals, bequeathing harm to posterity. Better far to reverse it now. Whether Zhan holds a great prefecture matters little to Zhan himself, but when the state's right and wrong remains unsettled, how are those who serve faithfully to be encouraged?" Not long afterward he died. Zhan was by nature easygoing and showed little official gravitas, yet he was skilled with the crossbow--it was said he could strike the target even through a wall.

徐的，字公準，建州建安人。擢進士第，補欽州軍事推官。欽土煩鬱，人多死瘴癘。的見轉運使鄭天監，請曰：「徙州瀕水可無患，請轉而上聞。」從之，天監因奏留的使辦役。的短衣持梃，與役夫同勞苦，築城郭，立樓櫓，以備戰守。畫地居軍民，為府舍、倉庫、溝渠、厘肆之類，民皆便之。

Xu De, styled Gongzhun, came from Jian'an in Jian Prefecture. Having passed the jinshi examination, he was appointed military investigating magistrate of Qin Prefecture. Qin's terrain was oppressive and miasmal, and many perished from pestilential vapors. De sought out Transport Commissioner Zheng Tianjian and said: "Relocating the prefectural seat beside the water would remove this affliction. I ask that you relay the proposal to the court." The proposal was approved, and Tianjian memorialized to retain De to oversee the relocation. De wore short clothes and carried a staff, sharing every hardship with the laborers. He built walls and watchtowers to prepare for war and defense. He laid out quarters for soldiers and civilians alike, building government offices, granaries, ditches, market stalls, and the like, and the people found the new arrangement convenient in every respect.

遷大理寺丞、知吳縣，移梁山軍，通判常州。屬歲饑，出米為糜粥以食餓者。累遷尚書屯田員外郎、知臨江軍，擢廣南西路提點刑獄。安化州蠻攻殺將吏，所部卒畏誅，謀欲叛。的馳至宜州，慰曉之曰：「爾曹亡懼，能出力討賊，猶可立功以自贖。若朝叛則夕死。非計也。」眾皆斂手聽命。奏復澄海、忠敢軍，後皆獲其用。改知舒州，徙荊湖北路轉運使。辰州蠻彭士義為寇，的開示恩信，蠻黨悔過自歸。

He was promoted to Assistant Director of the Court of Judicial Review and appointed prefect of Wu County, then transferred to Liangshan Army and made vice-prefect of Chang Prefecture. When famine struck he distributed rice as gruel to feed the starving. He rose to Vice Director of the Agricultural Bureaus in the Ministry of Works and prefect of Linjiang Army, then was elevated to judicial intendant of Guangnan West Circuit. When tribesmen of Anhua Prefecture attacked and killed officers, the troops under his command, fearing punishment, plotted rebellion. De galloped to Yizhou and reassured them: "Have no fear. If you exert yourselves against the bandits, you may still win merit and redeem yourselves. Rebel in the morning and you die by evening. That is no plan at all." The men all submitted and obeyed. He memorialized to restore the Chenghai and Zhonggan armies, and both later proved invaluable. He was reassigned as prefect of Shu and later transferred as Transport Commissioner of Jinghu North Circuit. When the Chen tribesmen under Peng Shiyi raided, De met them with grace and good faith, and the tribal leaders repented and submitted of their own accord.

攝江陵府事，城中多惡少年，欲為盜，輒夜縱火，火一夜十數發。的籍其惡少年姓名，使相保任，曰：「爾輩遞相察，不然，皆爾罪也。」火遂息。太子洗馬歐陽景猾橫不法，為里人害，的發其奸，竄之嶺外。以兵部員外郎為淮南、江、浙、荊湖制置發運副使。奏通泰州海安、如皋縣漕河，詔未下，的以便宜調兵夫浚治之，出滯鹽三百萬，計得錢八百萬緡。遂為制置發運使。

While acting prefect of Jiangling, he found many ruffians in the city bent on robbery who repeatedly set fires at night--sometimes a dozen blazes in a single night. De registered the ruffians by name and made them mutually guarantee one another, saying: "You shall keep watch on one another in turn, or all of you will bear the guilt." The fires then ceased. Ouyang Jing, Chamberlain for the Heir Apparent, was cunning, overbearing, and lawless, hated by his neighbors. De exposed his crimes and banished him beyond the mountain passes. As Vice Director in the Ministry of War he was appointed Vice Commissioner of the Huai-Hai-Jiang-Zhe-Jinghu Transport System. He memorialized on opening the grain-transport canal through Hai'an and Rugao counties in Taizhou. Before the edict was issued, De exercised discretionary authority to mobilize corvee labor and dredge it, released three million units of stagnant salt, and reckoned the proceeds at eight million strings of cash. He was then appointed Commissioner for Transport.

軍賊王倫起山東，轉掠淮南，的團兵待之。會青州改遣裨將傅永吉追殺入曆陽，的與賞，遷工部郎中。復治泰州西溪河，發積鹽，加直昭文館。區希範、蒙趕寇衡湘，命的招撫之。既至，再宿，會蠻酋相繼出降。三司以郊祠近，宜召還計事，既還，蠻復叛。除度支副使、荊湖南路安撫使，至桂陽，降者復眾。其欽景、石硋、華陰、水頭諸洞不降者，的皆討平之，斬其酋熊可清等千餘級。卒於桂陽。

The rebel soldier Wang Lun rose in Shandong, turned to plunder Huainan, and De assembled troops to meet him. It happened that Qing Prefecture had been ordered to send the subordinate general Fu Yongji in pursuit; he killed Wang Lun as he entered Liyang. De shared in the reward and was promoted to Director in the Ministry of Works. He again dredged the Xixi River in Taizhou, released accumulated salt, and was given concurrent appointment in the Hall for Exalted Literature. Qu Xifan and Meng Gan raided the Heng and Xiang region; the court ordered De to win them over by conciliation. When he arrived, after two nights' lodging, Man chieftains came out to surrender one after another. The Three Departments, because the suburban sacrifices were near, said he ought to be recalled to plan affairs. Once he returned, the tribes rebelled again. He was appointed Vice Commissioner of the Revenue Bureau and Pacification Commissioner of Jingnan South Circuit. When he reached Guiyang, those who surrendered were again numerous. Of the caves that would not submit--Qinjing, Shiai, Huayin, and Shuitou--De pacified them all by punitive campaign and beheaded more than a thousand of their chiefs, including Xiong Keqing. He died at Guiyang.

論曰：宋承平時，書生知兵者蓋寡，偕、沿數上書言邊事，策畫論議，有得有失，固皆一時之俊。畋由將家子力學第進士，再討徭賊，前勝後敗，兵家之常也。杞、的俱以征宜州蠻立功，杞則殺降失信，的則招徠以恩，其優劣概可見矣。湛強敏，所至有治績，史稱善射，抑亦文臣之習武事者歟。鼎性孝友，自奉甚約，而疏於財，居官清辨，土俗有生子不舉者輒禁之，獨發摘吏奸貽眾怒，或以「虎」目之，豈其然乎？

The commentary says: In the Song age of peace, few scholar-officials understood warfare. Xie and Yan repeatedly submitted memorials on frontier affairs; their plans and debates had their hits and misses, yet all were outstanding men of the age. Tian, a general's son who advanced by study to the jinshi degree, twice campaigned against Yao bandits, winning first and losing later--the common lot of soldiers. Qi and De both won merit campaigning against the Man of Yizhou. Qi killed those who surrendered and broke faith, while De won them by grace--their relative worth is plain to see. Zhan was forceful and keen; wherever he served he left achievements in governance. The history praises his skill in archery--was he not a civil official who practiced martial affairs. Ding was filial and brotherly, very sparing in his own living, yet careless with wealth; in office he was clear and discriminating. Where custom held that newborn sons were not reared, he forbade it at once. Only in exposing clerks' wrongdoing he provoked public wrath, and some called him a "tiger"--could that really be so?

姚仲孫

Yao Zhongsun

姚仲孫，字茂宗，本曹南著姓，曾祖仁嗣，陳州商水令，因家焉。父曄，舉進士第一，官至著作佐郎。仲孫早孤，事母孝。擢進士第，補許州司理參軍。民婦馬氏夫被殺，指里胥嘗有求而其夫不應，以為里胥殺之，官捕係辭服。仲孫疑其枉，知州王嗣宗怒曰：「若敢以身任之耶？」仲孫曰：「幸毋遽決，冀得徐辨。」後兩月，果得殺人者。

Yao Zhongsun, styled Maozong, was originally of a distinguished clan in Caonan. His great-grandfather Renshi served as magistrate of Shangshui in Chen Prefecture and settled the family there. His father Ye took first place in the jinshi examination and rose to Assistant in the Palace Library. Zhongsun was orphaned early and served his mother filially. He passed the jinshi examination and was appointed judicial aide in Xu Prefecture. A commoner woman of the Ma clan's husband was murdered. She pointed at a village clerk who had once made demands her husband refused, and took him to be the killer. The authorities arrested and bound him, and he confessed under interrogation. Zhongsun doubted that the man was innocent. Prefect Wang Sizong said angrily, "Do you dare answer for this with your own person?" Zhongsun said, "I pray you not decide hastily; I hope to distinguish the matter in time." Two months later they truly found the murderer.

調邢州推官，徙資州。轉運使檄仲孫詣富順監按疑獄，全活數十人。資州更二守，皆惽老，事多決於仲孫。改大理寺丞、知建昌縣。初，建昌運茶抵南康，或露積於道，間為霖潦所敗，主吏至破產不能償。仲孫為券，吏民輸山木，即高阜為倉，邑人利之。徙通判彭州。嘗以天下久無事，不可以弛兵備，因上前世禦戎料敵之策，名《防邊龜鑒》。通判睦州，徙滁州。歲旱饑，有詔發官粟以賑民，而主吏不時給。仲孫既至州，立劾主吏，夜索丁籍盡給之。累遷尚書屯田員外郎。

He was transferred to reviewing officer in Xing Prefecture, then to Zi Prefecture. The transport commissioner ordered Zhongsun to Fushun Prison to review doubtful cases, and he fully spared several dozen lives. Zi Prefecture had two successive prefects, both senile; most affairs were decided by Zhongsun. He was changed to Vice Director in the Court of Judicial Review and made magistrate of Jianchang County. At first, Jianchang transported tea to Nankang. Sometimes it was piled in the open along the road and occasionally ruined by heavy rain. The chief clerks were driven to bankruptcy and could not make restitution. Zhongsun issued certificates; officials and people contributed mountain timber, and on a high mound they built a granary--the county profited. He was moved to vice prefect of Peng Prefecture. He once said that the realm had long been at peace and must not relax military readiness. He therefore presented to the throne strategies of former ages for guarding the frontier and gauging the enemy, entitled "Frontier Defense Tortoise Mirror." As vice prefect of Mu Prefecture he was transferred to Chu Prefecture. That year drought brought famine. There was an edict to release government grain to relieve the people, but the chief clerk did not distribute it in time. When Zhongsun reached the prefecture he immediately impeached the chief clerk, and by night sought the corvee registers and distributed everything. He was repeatedly promoted to Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue, Colonies Section.

王鬷守益州，辟通判州事。召為右司諫。入內都知閻文應求為都知，仲孫數其罪，白上曰：「方帝齋宿太廟，而文應叱醫官，聲聞行在。郭皇后暴薨，中外莫不疑文應置毒者。」出文應為泰州兵馬鈐轄，又稱疾留，復論奏，乃亟去。

Wang Zong held Yizhou and recruited him as vice prefect. He was summoned as Right Reminder. Director of the Inner Palace Service Yan Wenying sought to be made Director. Zhongsun listed his crimes and told the emperor, "Just now Your Majesty is fasting in the Grand Temple, yet Wenying berates the medical officer so that his voice reaches the traveling palace. When Empress Guo died suddenly, none inside or outside the court failed to suspect Wenying of poisoning her." Wenying was sent out as Military Commissioner of Taizhou. Again claiming illness he stayed on. Zhongsun memorialized again, and Wenying was hurried away.

以起居舍人知諫院，管勾國子監，以尚書戶部員外郎兼侍御史知雜事。時諫議大夫十二員，仲孫曰：「諫議大夫蓋朝廷之選，不宜以歲月序進。今諸寺卿至前行郎中三十五員，貼近職者猶不在數，若以年勞授，則數年之外，諫議大夫員益多。請艱其選，以處材望之臣，餘悉次補卿監。」乃詔當選者奏聽旨。先是，諸路復提點刑獄，還朝多擢為省府官。仲孫請第其課為三等升黜之，即詔仲孫司考課之法。

As Attendant Gentleman of the Household he managed the Remonstrance Bureau, oversaw the Directorate of Education, and served concurrently as Vice Director in the Ministry of Revenue and as Supervising Censor with mixed duties. At the time there were twelve Remonstrance and Review officials. Zhongsun said, "Remonstrance and Review officials are selections of the court and ought not advance by seniority in months. Now from Directors of the various courts down to front-rank Directors there are thirty-five posts, and those close to the inner posts are not even counted. If appointments go by years of service, then in a few years the Remonstrance and Review posts will grow ever more numerous. I ask that the selection be made difficult, to place men of talent and standing, and that the rest fill Director and Supervisor posts in order." An edict then ordered that those to be selected should memorialize and await the imperial decision. Earlier, on each circuit Judicial Intendants had been restored; on return to court many were promoted to provincial and metropolitan posts. Zhongsun asked that their performance records be ranked in three grades for promotion and demotion. An edict at once put Zhongsun in charge of the evaluation law.

曆三司戶部、度支、鹽鐵副使，進天章閣待制、河北都轉運使。大修城壘兵備，仁宗賜詔褒之。權知澶州，河壞明公埽，絕浮橋，仲孫親總役堤上，埽一夕復完。權知大名府，夜領禁兵塞金堤決河。是歲，澶、魏雖大水，民不及患。進禮部郎中、龍圖閣學士，徙陝西都轉運使，未行，權三司使事。屬西北備邊，募兵益屯及賞賜、聘問之費，不可勝計。仲孫悉心經度，雖病，未嘗輒廢事。坐小吏詐為文符，出知蔡州。因母憂喪一目，卒。

He passed through the three Vice Commissariats of Revenue, Expenditure, and Salt and Iron, advanced to Hanlin Attendant Gentleman, and became Chief Transport Commissioner of Hebei. He greatly repaired ramparts and military stores; Emperor Renzong issued an edict praising him. He acted as prefect of Chan Prefecture. The Yellow River broke the Minggong levee and cut the pontoon bridge. Zhongsun personally directed the work on the dike, and the levee was restored in one night. He acted as prefect of Daming Prefecture and by night led the palace guard to block the breach in the Jindi levee. That year, though Chan and Wei suffered great floods, the people did not come to harm. He advanced to Director in the Ministry of Rites and Academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall, was transferred to Chief Transport Commissioner of Shaanxi, and before departing acted for the Three Departments. It happened that the northwest was on guard against the frontier. Costs for recruiting troops, increasing garrisons, rewards, and diplomatic gifts could not be reckoned. Zhongsun planned everything with care. Though ill, he never once lightly abandoned his duties. Because a petty clerk forged a document, he was sent out as prefect of Cai Prefecture. While in mourning for his mother he lost an eye and died.

陳太素

Chen Taisu

陳太素，字仲華，河南緱氏人。中進士第。嘗為大理詳斷官，入審刑為詳議官，權大理少卿，又判大理事。任刑法二十餘年，朝廷有大獄疑，必召與議。太素為推原人情，以傅法意，眾皆釋然，自以為不及。雖號明習法令，然所論建，亦或有不中。每臨案牘，至忘寢食，大寒暑不變。子弟或止之，答曰：「囹圄之苦，豈不甚於我也。」曆知江陰軍、兗州、明州，有治跡。在大理，耳疾，數求罷，執政以為任職，弗許。累官至尚書兵部郎中，卒。

Chen Taisu, styled Zhonghua, came from Gou in Henan. He passed the jinshi examination. He once served as detailed adjudication officer in the Court of Judicial Review, entered the Court of Review as detailed deliberation officer, acted as Vice Director of the Court of Judicial Review, and again judged Court affairs. For more than twenty years he held penal law. Whenever the court had a great case in doubt, he was sure to be summoned to deliberate. Taisu traced human feeling to extend the intent of the statutes. All were relieved, and they themselves felt they did not match him. Though styled clear in statutes, what he proposed in discussion sometimes also missed the mark. Whenever he faced case documents he forgot sleep and food. In great cold and heat he did not change. His sons and younger brothers sometimes stopped him. He answered, "The suffering of the prison--is it not greater than mine." He served as prefect of Jiangyin Army, Yan Prefecture, and Ming Prefecture, with achievements in governance. In the Court of Judicial Review he had ear trouble and repeatedly sought dismissal. The chief ministers thought him competent in office and would not allow it. He rose in office to Director in the Ministry of War and died.

太素家行修治，尤喜論刑名。常以為有司議法，當據文直斷，不可求曲當法；求典當法，所以亂也。

In his family Taisu cultivated conduct and especially loved to discuss penal law. He often held that when officials deliberate law they ought to judge straight according to the text and must not seek to bend the text to fit. To seek analogies in precedent is what brings disorder.

馬尋杜曾〈附〉

Ma Xun and Du Ceng 〈Appended〉

同時有馬尋者，須城人。舉《毛詩》學究，累判大理寺，以明習法律稱。曆提點兩浙陝西刑獄、廣東淮南兩浙轉運使，知湖、撫、汝、襄、洪、宣、鄧、滑八州。襄州饑，人或群入富家掠囷粟，獄吏鞫以強盜，尋曰：「此脫死爾，其情與強盜異。」奏得減死，論著為例。終司農卿。

At the same time there was Ma Xun, a native of Xucheng. He passed the Erudite examination in the "Mao Odes," repeatedly judged the Court of Judicial Review, and was styled clear in law. He passed through Judicial Intendant of the two Zhe and Shaanxi, Transport Commissioner of Guangdong, Huainan, and the two Zhe, and was prefect of eight prefectures: Hu, Fu, Ru, Xiang, Hong, Xuan, Deng, and Hua. In Xiang Prefecture there was famine. Some people in groups entered rich households' stores to seize grain from granaries. The prison clerks tried them as robbery. Xun said, "This escapes death only; the circumstances differ from robbery." He memorialized and obtained commuted death; the discussion was made a precedent. He ended as Minister of the Court of the Imperial Granaries.

又有杜曾者，濮州人。為吏號知法，嘗言：「國朝因唐大中制，故殺，人雖已傷未死、已死更生，皆論如已殺。夫殺人者死，傷人者刑，先王不易之典。律雖謀殺已傷則絞，蓋甚其處心積慮，陰致賊害爾。至於故殺，初無殺意，須其已死，乃有殺名；苟無殺名而用殺法，則與謀殺孰辨？自大中之制行，不知殺幾何人矣。請格勿用。」又言：「近世赦令，殺人已傷未死者，皆得原減，非律意。請傷者從律保辜法，死限內者論如已殺，勿赦。」皆著為令。

There was also Du Ceng, a native of Pu Prefecture. As an official he was styled knowledgeable in law and once said, "Our dynasty follows the Dazhong system of Tang. Therefore in cases of intentional killing, even if the person was wounded but not dead, or dead and revived, all are judged as already killed. He who kills dies; he who wounds is punished--the unchanging canon of former kings. Though the statutes say that in plotted killing, once there is wounding, the penalty is strangulation, that greatly punishes the heart that plots and schemes and secretly brings harm. As for intentional killing, at first there is no intent to kill. Only when the victim has died does the name 'killing' arise. If there is no name of killing yet the law of killing is applied, how is that distinguished from plotted killing? Since the Dazhong system has been in force, one does not know how many people have been killed. I ask that the regulation not be used." He also said, "In recent amnesty edicts, those who killed but wounded without death are all pardoned and reduced--not the intent of the statutes. I ask that the wounded follow the bail-for-guilty period of the statutes. Those within the death limit be judged as already killed and not pardoned." All were enacted as statutes.

李虛己

Li Xuji

李虛己，字公受，五世祖盈，自光州從王潮徙閩，遂家建安。父寅，有清節，仕江南李氏，至諸司使。江南國除，授殿前承旨，辭不拜。時偽官皆入留京師，而寅母獨在江南，乃遣其長子歸養。舉進士，起家為衢州司理參軍。母老，棄官以歸。虛己亦中進士第，曆沈丘縣尉，知城固縣，改大理評事，累遷殿中丞，提舉淮南茶場。召知榮州，未行，改遂州。

Li Xuji, styled Gongshou. His fifth-generation ancestor Ying moved from Guang Prefecture with Wang Chao to Min and settled the family at Jian'an. His father Yin had a clean reputation, served the Southern Tang house of Li, and rose to Commissioner of the Various Bureaus. When the Southern Tang state was extinguished he was appointed Attendant in the Palace Front Office and declined to accept. At the time false officials all entered and remained in the capital, but Yin's mother alone was still in Jiangnan. He therefore sent his eldest son home to support her. He passed the jinshi examination and began his career as judicial aide in Qu Prefecture. His mother was old; he abandoned office and returned home. Xu Ji also passed the jinshi examination. He served successively as sheriff of Shenqiu County and magistrate of Chenggu County, was reassigned as review clerk of the Court of Judicial Review, rose repeatedly to palace supervising secretary, and became superintendent of the Huainan tea monopoly. He was summoned to govern Rong Prefecture, but before he departed he was reassigned to Sui Prefecture.

時太宗勵精政事，嘗手書累二十餘紙，曰：「公勤潔己、奉法除奸、惠愛臨民者，乃可書為勞績，月給奉以實錢。」命有司擇群臣以治最聞者賜之，仍諭曰：「除奸之要，在乎奉法，不可因以生事。」時虛己被賜，因獻詩自陳父子遭遇，榮及祖母。帝悅，為批其紙尾曰：「虛己學古入官，榮親事生，奉書為郡，欲布親規，朕得良二千石矣。」遂賜五品服，又賜其祖母錢五十萬，命翰林學士張洎會兩製、三館儒臣遍閱所批詔。其後以南郊恩封群臣母妻，虛己又請罷其妻封以授祖母，詔悉封之，世以為榮。

At the time Taizong was driving himself hard in affairs of state. He once wrote more than twenty sheets in his own hand, saying: "Only those who are fair and diligent, scrupulous in self-discipline, uphold the law to purge wrongdoing, and govern the people with kindness and love may have this entered as a record of merit, and their monthly stipend paid in hard cash." He ordered the relevant offices to choose from among the ministers those most renowned for outstanding governance and reward them, and further instructed them: "The essence of purging wrongdoing is upholding the law; you must not use this as a pretext to stir up trouble." At that time Xu Ji was among those rewarded. He presented a poem describing how he and his father had been favored and how the honor had extended to his grandmother. The emperor was pleased and wrote at the end of the sheet: "Xu Ji studied the ancients in taking office, honors his parents while they live, and carries a written admonition to his prefecture, wishing to spread his parents' instruction; I have gained a worthy prefect." He then bestowed fifth-rank robes, gave his grandmother five hundred thousand cash, and ordered Academician-Compiler Zhang Bi to gather scholars of the dual academies and the Three Institutes to read through the endorsed rescript in full. Later, when the grace of the southern suburb sacrifice ennobled the mothers and wives of the ministers, Xu Ji again asked to forgo his wife's title and grant it to his grandmother. An edict ennobled them all alike, and the age took it as an honor.

會遣使察川峽吏能否，而州多不治，唯虛己與薛顏、邵曄、查道數人，以能任職稱。再遷尚書屯田員外郎。以便親，請通判洪州。是時寅已謝歸，春秋高，寅母尚無恙，虛己雙舉迎侍。寅至豫章，樂其山水，曰：「此可以終吾身也。」遂臨州之東湖，築第宇以居。虛己為侍御史，出提點荊湖南路刑獄，徙淮南轉運副使，累遷兵部郎中，為龍圖閣待制，曆判大理寺。久之，求補外，真宗稱其儒雅循謹，特遷右諫議大夫。數月，出知河中府。召權御史中丞。未幾，以疾辭，進給事中、知洪州。遷尚書工部侍郎，徙池州。求分司南京，卒。初，寅之請老，年未六十。虛己分司而歸，年六十九。其季虛舟仕至餘幹縣令，坐法免官，不復言仕。

When envoys were sent to inspect the competence of officials in Sichuan and the gorges, most prefectures were poorly governed. Only Xu Ji, together with Xue Yan, Shao Ye, Zha Dao, and a few others, were praised as able in office. He was promoted again to junior officier in the Ministry of Revenue's Fields Office. To be near his parents, he requested appointment as vice-prefect of Hong Prefecture. By then Yin had resigned and returned home. He was advanced in years, yet Yin's mother was still in good health, and Xu Ji, having passed the metropolitan examination, went to welcome them and serve them in person. When Yin reached Yuzhang, he delighted in its mountains and waters and said, "Here I may end my days." He therefore settled on the prefecture's East Lake and built a residence to live in. Xu Ji became remonstrating memorial attendant, then went out as judicial intendant of Jingnan South Circuit. He was transferred to vice transport commissioner of Huainan, rose repeatedly to director in the Ministry of War, became assistant academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall, and served in succession as acting president of the Court of Judicial Review. After a long interval he sought a post outside the capital. Zhenzong praised his cultivated learning and steady caution and specially promoted him to Right Remonstrator. Several months later he was sent out as prefect of Hezhong Prefecture. He was summoned to serve as acting censor-in-chief. Before long he resigned on grounds of illness and was advanced to supervising censorship commissioner and prefect of Hong Prefecture. He was promoted to Vice Minister of Works in the Ministry of Revenue and transferred to Chi Prefecture. He requested an honorary post at the Southern Capital and died there. Earlier, when Yin requested retirement, he was not yet sixty. Xu Ji took an honorary post and returned home at sixty-nine. His younger brother Xuzhou rose to magistrate of Yugan County, was dismissed for breaking the law, and never again spoke of taking office.

初，太宗既賜虛己錢，翌日，以語宰相曰：「虛己詩思可嘉，予錢五十緡矣。」宰相對以所予乃五十萬，帝知其誤，由是詔群臣以章獻者閣門勿受，皆由中書門下閱而上之。然論者謂虛己父子篤行，家甚貧，雖人主一時之誤，殆天賜也。寅事親孝，治家有法，閨門之內肅如也。虛己、虛舟又以孝友清慎世其家。虛舟之子寬，為尚書金部郎中；定，為司農少卿，為吏頗有能名。

Earlier, after Taizong had bestowed money on Xu Ji, the next day he told the chief counselors, "Xu Ji's poetic thought is commendable; I gave him fifty strings of cash." The chief counselors replied that what had been given was five hundred thousand. The emperor knew he had erred, and from this decreed that memorials presented by the ministers should not be received at the Palace Gate; all were to be reviewed and forwarded through the Secretariat-Chancellery. Yet commentators said the Xu father and son were deeply devoted in conduct and the household was very poor; though the sovereign had erred for a moment, it was perhaps a gift from heaven. Yin was filial toward his parents and governed the household by rule; within the inner gates all was solemn and orderly. Xu Ji and Xuzhou likewise carried on the family tradition of filial piety, brotherly devotion, purity, and caution. Xuzhou's son Kuan served as director in the Ministry of Revenue's Metals Office; Ding served as Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Granary and as an official earned a strong reputation for competence.

虛己喜為詩，數與同年進士曾致堯及其婿晏殊唱和。初，致堯謂曰：「子之詞詩雖工，而音韻猶啞。」虛己未悟。後得沈休文所謂「前有浮聲，則後須切響」，遂精於格律。有《雅正集》十卷。

Xu Ji delighted in writing poetry and often exchanged verses with his fellow metropolitan graduate of the same year, Zeng Zhiyao, and his son-in-law Yan Shu. Earlier Zeng Zhiyao said to him, "Your lyric poetry is skillful, but the tonal patterns are still harsh." Xu Ji did not understand what he meant. Later he came upon Shen Yue's saying, "When the previous line has a level-tone syllable, the next must have an oblique," and thereupon mastered prosodic rules. He left a work in ten juan entitled the Yazheng Collection.

張傅，字岩卿，唐初功臣公謹之裔。祖播，為亳州團練副使，子孫因為譙人。傅進士及第，稍遷秘書省著作佐郎、知奉符縣。時方修會真宮、天書觀及增治嶽祠，以辦事稱，賜錢二十萬。宰相向敏中冊東嶽帝號還，薦之，知楚州。會歲饑，貽書發運使求貸糧，不報。因歎曰：「民轉死溝壑矣，報可待邪？」乃發上供倉粟賑貸，所活以萬計，因拜章待罪，詔獎之。

Zhang Fu, styled Yanging, was a descendant of the early Tang founding merit subject Gong Jin. His grandfather Bo was deputy military training commissioner of Bo Prefecture, and the descendants thus became natives of Qiao. Fu passed the jinshi examination and was gradually promoted to assistant compiler in the Secretariat and magistrate of Fengfu County. At the time the court was building the Palace of Realized Truth, the Hall of the Celestial Writings, and enlarging the repair of mountain shrines. For competence in these tasks he was praised and given two hundred thousand cash. When Chief Counselor Xiang Minzhong returned from enshrining the Eastern Peak emperor's title, he recommended Fu, who was appointed prefect of Chu Prefecture. When famine struck that year, he wrote to the transport commissioner requesting grain on loan, but received no reply. He therefore sighed and said, "The people are dying in the ditches by the roadside; can we wait for a reply?" He thereupon released grain from the central tribute granary for relief loans. Those saved numbered in the tens of thousands. He submitted a memorial awaiting punishment, and an edict commended him.

提點江西刑獄，徙江東，就除轉運使，入權三司鹽鐵判官。會河決濟北，民多被害，命安撫京東。累遷工部郎中，出為兩浙轉運使，改荊湖北路，復為鹽鐵判官，再遷兵部，為陝西轉運使，徙江、淮發運使，未至，召還。屬西京奏兵食乏，因言馮翊、華陰積粟多，可運二十萬石，繇三門下濟之。遂留為侍御史知雜事，判吏部流內銓，進三司度支副使。以疾請外，遷太常少卿、知應天府。逾月，為右諫議大夫，徙青州，遷給事中、知鄆州，復知應天府，遂以工部侍郎致仕，卒。

He served as judicial intendant of Jiangxi Circuit, was transferred to Jiangdong, was forthwith appointed transport commissioner, and entered the capital to act as salt-and-iron commissioner of the three treasury offices. When the Yellow River burst its banks north of Ji and many people suffered harm, he was ordered to pacify and comfort the Eastern Circuit. He was promoted repeatedly to director in the Ministry of Works, went out as transport commissioner of the two Zhe circuits, was reassigned to Jingbei North Circuit, again became salt-and-iron commissioner, was promoted again to the Ministry of War, served as Shaanxi transport commissioner, was transferred to Jiang-Huai grain transport commissioner, and was recalled before he arrived. When the Western Capital reported a shortage of military provisions, he stated that Fengyi and Huayin had large stores of grain and that two hundred thousand piculs could be transported via the route below Sanmen Pass. He was therefore kept on as attendant censor managing miscellaneous matters, concurrent judge of the Ministry of Personnel's flowing-within selection office, and advanced to vice commissioner of expenditures of the three treasury offices. On grounds of illness he requested a post outside the capital and was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. After more than a month he became Right Remonstrator, was transferred to Qing Prefecture, was promoted to supervising censorship commissioner and prefect of Yan Prefecture, again governed Yingtian Prefecture, and finally retired as Vice Minister of Works and died.

傅強力治事，七為監司，所至審核簿書，勾擿奸隱，州縣憚之。傅曰：「奚為我憚哉。吾所以事事致察者，正所以愛州縣也。吏不敢慢，則州縣不復犯法矣。」人亦以為然。天禧中，有術士自言數百歲，少時嘗遊秦悼王家，曆見唐肅宗、代宗朝，由是出入禁中，見尊重，人無敢詰其偽。傅見之，訊以唐事，術士語屈。

Fu was forceful in conducting affairs and seven times served as overseer commissioner. Wherever he went he audited ledgers minutely and exposed hidden wrongdoing, and prefectures and counties feared him. Fu said, "Why fear me? The reason I examine every matter closely is precisely to show love for prefectures and counties. If clerks do not dare be remiss, then prefectures and counties will no longer break the law." People also thought this was sound. During the Tianxi era a Daoist adept claimed to be several hundred years old, saying that in his youth he had visited the household of King Dao of Qin and had lived through the reigns of Tang Suzong and Daizong. Thereby he came and went within the forbidden precinct and was treated with respect, and no one dared question his falsehood. When Fu met him he questioned him about Tang affairs, and the adept's words failed him.

俞獻卿

Yu Xianqing

俞獻卿，字諫臣，歙人。少與兄獻可以文學知名，皆中進士第。獻可有吏稱，曆吏部郎中、龍圖閣待制。獻卿起家補安豐縣尉。有僧貴寧，積財甚厚，其徒殺之，詣縣紿言師出遊矣。獻卿曰：「吾與寧善，不告而去，豈有異乎？」其徒色動，因執之，得其所瘞屍，一縣大驚。再調昭州軍事推官，會宜州陳進亂，象州守不任事，轉運使檄獻卿往佐之。及至，守謀棄城，獻卿曰：「臨難苟免，可乎？賊至，尚當力擊；不勝，有死而已，奈何棄去。」初，昭州積緡錢钜萬，獻卿盡用平糴，至積穀數萬，及是大兵至，賴以饋軍。改大理寺寺丞，為本寺詳斷官。歷知慎、仁和二縣，再遷太常博士、知南雄州，徙潮州。

Yu Xianqing, styled Jianchen, was a native of She. In youth he and his elder brother Xian Ke were known for literary learning, and both passed the jinshi examination. Xian Ke had a reputation as an administrator and served successively as director in the Ministry of Personnel and assistant academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall. Xianqing began his career as supplementing sheriff of Anfeng County. There was a monk Guining who had amassed very great wealth. His disciples killed him and came to the county deceitfully saying the master had gone out traveling. Xianqing said, "I am on good terms with Ning. He left without telling me - could there be something wrong?" The disciples changed color. He arrested them, found where the corpse was buried, and the whole county was greatly astonished. He was transferred again to military legal aide of Zhao Prefecture. When Chen Jin rebelled at Yi Prefecture, the Yi prefect was incompetent, and the transport commissioner ordered Xianqing to go assist. When he arrived, the prefect plotted to abandon the city. Xianqing said, "At peril to flee and save yourself - is that permissible? When the bandits come, one should still strike with force; if one cannot win, death is all there is - why abandon the city and flee?" Earlier Zhao Prefecture had stored cash in the tens of thousands. Xianqing used it all to buy grain at fair price until he had stored grain in the tens of thousands, and when the great army arrived it relied on this to feed the troops. He was changed to assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and served as reviewing judge of that court. He served successively as magistrate of Shen and Renhe counties, was promoted again to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and prefect of Nanxiong Prefecture, and was transferred to Chao Prefecture.

除殿中侍御史，為三司鹽鐵判官。上言：「天下穀帛日益耗，物價日益高，欲民力之不屈，不可得也。今天下穀帛之直，比祥符初增數倍矣。人皆謂稻苗未立而和糴，桑葉未吐而和買。自荊湖、江、淮間，民愁無聊，轉運使務刻剝以增其數，歲益一歲。又非時調率營造一切費用，皆出於民，是以物價積高，而民力積困也。陛下誠以景德中西、北二邊通好最盛之時一歲之用較之，天禧五年，凡官吏之要冗，財用之盈縮，力役之多寡，賊盜之增減，較然可知其利害也。況自天禧以來，日侈一日，又甚於前。夫卮不盈者漏在下，木不茂者蠹在內。陛下宜知其有損於彼，無益於此，與公卿大臣，朝夕圖議而救正之。」帝納其言，為罷諸宮觀兵衛，又命官除無名之費以鉅萬計。

He was appointed palace attendant censor and salt-and-iron commissioner of the three treasury offices. He submitted a memorial: "Throughout the realm grain and silk are daily depleted and commodity prices daily rise. If one wishes the people's strength not to be broken, it cannot be obtained. Today the value of grain and silk throughout the realm has increased several times over what it was at the beginning of the Xiangfu era. People all say that before rice seedlings are even established there is coordinated purchase of grain, and before mulberry leaves have budded there is coordinated purchase of silk. From Jinghu and the Jiang-Huai region, the people are worried and destitute, while transport commissioners are bent on harsh levies to inflate their figures, year after year. Moreover untimely requisitions and levies for every sort of construction expense are borne by the people. Thus commodity prices keep rising and the people's strength keeps failing. If Your Majesty will seriously compare one year's expenditure from the Jingde era, when the western and northern frontiers enjoyed their greatest peace, with the fifth year of Tianxi - in officials necessary versus redundant, revenue surplus versus shortfall, corvee labor more versus less, and banditry increasing versus decreasing - the benefit and harm will be clear at a glance. Moreover, since Tianxi extravagance has grown day by day, worse than before. When the cup is not full, the leak is below; when the tree does not flourish, the borer is within. Your Majesty should know that there is loss on that side and no benefit on this. Discuss with the chief counselors and great ministers morning and evening to rescue and correct it." The emperor accepted his words, abolished guard units at the various palaces and temples, and ordered offices to eliminate nameless expenditures amounting to tens of thousands.

淮、浙鹽利不登，命獻卿往經度之，更立新法，歲增鹽課緡錢甚眾。會其兄為鹽鐵副使，徙開封府判官。朝廷擇陝西轉運使，宰相連進數人，不稱旨。他日，獻卿在所擬中。帝曰：「此可以除陝西轉運使。」時邊吏多因事邀功，涇原路鈐轄擅於武延川鑿邊壕、置堡砦，獻卿度必招寇患，亟檄罷之。未幾，賊果至，殺將士，塞所鑿壕而去。徙京西。因入對，甚言趙振堪將帥，范仲淹、明鎬可大用，及條上邊策甚備。

Salt profits on the Huai and Zhe did not register fully. The emperor ordered Xianqing to go reorganize them, establish new laws, and greatly increase the yearly salt tax in cash. When his elder brother became vice salt-and-iron commissioner, he was transferred to judicial aide of Kaifeng Prefecture. The court was selecting a Shaanxi transport commissioner. The chief counselors recommended several men in succession, none to the emperor's liking. Another day Xianqing was among those proposed. The emperor said, "This one may be appointed Shaanxi transport commissioner." At the time border officials often sought merit through incidents. The Jingyuan circuit military controller on his own authority dug a frontier moat at Wuyanchuan and set up forts. Xianqing judged that it would certainly invite bandit trouble and urgently ordered it stopped. Before long the bandits indeed came, killed officers and soldiers, and filled in the moat they had dug as they withdrew. He was transferred to the Western Capital circuit. He entered for audience and spoke at length that Zhao Zhen was fit to command armies, that Fan Zhongyan and Ming Hao could be greatly employed, and submitted border strategies in full detail.

除福建轉運使，還判三司鹽鐵勾院，累遷尚書刑部郎中、直史館、知荊南，曆戶部、度支、鹽鐵副使，以右諫議大夫、集賢院學士知杭州。暴風，江潮溢決堤，獻卿大發卒鑿西山，作堤數十里，民以為便。還，勾當三班院，知通進銀臺司，最後知應天府，以刑部侍郎致仕，卒。

He was appointed Fujian transport commissioner, returned to serve as reviewing judge of the salt-and-iron review office of the three treasury offices, was promoted repeatedly to director in the Ministry of Justice, concurrent academician of the Historiography Office, and prefect of Jingnan. He served in succession as vice commissioners of the Households, Exchequer, and Salt-and-Iron offices, and as Right Remonstrator and academician of the Hall for the Collection of Worthy Writings governed Hang Prefecture. A sudden storm caused the tidal bore to breach the dikes. Xianqing greatly mobilized troops to cut through the western hills and build a dike several tens of li long, and the people found it convenient. On his return he managed the Bureau of the Three Classes and headed the Bureau for Reception of Memorials and the Silver Terrace. He finally governed Yingtian Prefecture, retired as Vice Minister of Justice, and died.

陳從易

Chen Congyi

陳從易，字簡夫，泉州晉江人。進士及第，為嵐州團練推官，再調彭州軍事推官。王均盜據成都，連陷綿、漢諸郡，彭人謀殺兵馬都監以應之。時從易攝州事，斬其首謀者，召餘黨曉以禍福，貰之，眾皆呼悅。乃率厲將吏，修嚴守械，戒其家僮積薪舍後，曰：「吾力不足以守，當死於此。」賊聞其有備，不敢入境。賊平，安撫使王欽若以狀聞，召為秘書省著作佐郎、大理寺詳斷官。遷太常博士，出知邵武軍。預修《冊府元龜》，改監察御史。真宗宴近臣崇和殿，召從易預，賦詩稱旨。遷侍御史，改刑部員外郎、直史館、知虔州。會歲大饑，有持杖盜取民穀者，請一切減死論，凡生者千餘人。

Chen Congyi, styled Jianfu, was a native of Jinjiang in Quan Prefecture. He passed the jinshi examination and served as military legal aide of the Lan Prefecture defensive command, then was transferred again to military legal aide of Peng Prefecture. Wang Jun seized Chengdu in rebellion and successively overran Mian, Han, and other prefectures. The people of Peng plotted to kill the horse-and-troops supervisory commissioner to join him. At that time Congyi was administering the prefecture in an acting capacity. He executed the ringleaders, summoned the remaining conspirators, explained the consequences they faced, and pardoned them. The crowd shouted with relief and delight. He then rallied the commanders and officials, strengthened the defenses and armaments, and told his household servants to stack firewood behind the residence. "My strength is not enough to hold the city," he said. "I shall die here." When the rebels learned he was ready, they did not dare cross the border. After the rebellion was suppressed, Pacification Commissioner Wang Qinruo reported what had happened. Congyi was summoned to serve as Associate Editor for Writings in the Secretariat and as Detailed Adjudication Official of the Court of Judicial Review. He was promoted to Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and appointed prefect of Shaowu Circuit. He helped compile the Cefu Yuangui and was appointed Investigating Censor. Emperor Zhenzong entertained his close ministers in Chonghe Hall, had Congyi attend, and was pleased by the poem he presented. He was promoted to Attending Censor, then appointed Vice Director of the Ministry of Justice, academician on duty at the Historiography Institute, and prefect of Gan Prefecture. That year brought severe famine. Some men armed with staves stole grain from the people. He petitioned to commute every death sentence in such cases, and more than a thousand people were spared.

天禧中，坐薦送別頭進士失實，降工部員外郎。以父老，求鄉郡。宰相寇準惡其疏己，除吉州，從易因對自言改福州。未行，遭父喪，服除，糾察在京刑獄，出為湖南轉運使，徙知荊南，擢太常少卿、直昭文館、知廣州。又坐嘗課校太清樓書字非偽誤而從易妄判竄之，降直史館。明年復職。在廣三年，以清德聞。入為左司郎中、知制誥。

During the Tianxi period he was demoted to Vice Director of the Ministry of Works for having recommended an alternate-route jinshi candidate on the basis of false information. His father being elderly, he asked for an appointment near his native district. Chief Minister Kou Zhun resented his bluntness toward him and assigned him to Ji Prefecture. At audience Congyi asked on his own account to be transferred to Fu Prefecture instead. Before he could take up the post his father died. After the mourning period he inspected criminal cases in the capital, then served as transport commissioner for Hunan, was transferred to govern Jingnan, and was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, academician on duty at the Zhaowen Institute, and prefect of Guangzhou. He was punished again because, while proofreading books in the Taqinglou, he had wrongly judged genuine characters to be spurious errors and altered them. He was demoted from his post at the Historiography Institute. The following year his former rank was restored. He spent three years in Guangzhou and earned a reputation for upright conduct. He was recalled to the capital as Left Bureau Director and drafter of imperial edicts.

初，景德後，文士以雕靡相尚，一時學者鄉之，而從易獨守不變。與楊大雅相厚善，皆好古篤行，時朝廷矯文章之弊，故並進二人，以風天下。兼史館修撰，遷左諫議大夫。命使契丹，以年老，辭不行。又辭職請補郡，進龍圖閣直學士、知杭州，卒。

After the Jingde period, literati came to prize ornate and extravagant prose, and scholars everywhere followed the fashion. Congyi alone held to his own plain style. He was close to Yang Daya. Both men loved classical learning and lived with steadfast integrity. Because the court wished to reform literary excess, the two were promoted together to set an example for the empire. He also served as compiler at the Historiography Institute and was promoted to Left Remonstrance Grandee. When ordered to go as envoy to the Khitan, he declined on account of his age and did not go. He later resigned and asked for a provincial post. He was promoted to academician-in-waiting of the Dragon Diagram Hall and appointed prefect of Hangzhou, where he died.

從易好學強記，為人激直少容，喜別白是非，多面折人，或尤其過，從易終不變。王欽若最善之，嘗謂人曰：「數日不見簡夫，輒忽忽不懌。」及廢居南京，時丁謂方用事，人畏謂，無敢往見欽若者。從易將使湖南，欲過之，遇汴水旱涸，遂告謂曰：「從易願使湖外者，非獨為貧也，亦以王公在宋，故就省之爾。今汴涸，義不可從他道進，幸公許少留。」謂即大喜曰：「王公之門，獨君為知我者。」留權糾察刑獄，從易不敢當，乃聽歸館，須汴通乃行。時寇準貶道州，謂又謂從易曰：「廬陵之事，可以釋憾矣。」從易對曰：「當以故相事之爾。」謂有愧色。其行誌多類此。所著《泉山集》二十卷，《中書製稿》五卷，《西清奏議》三卷。

Congyi loved study and possessed a formidable memory. By nature he was fierce, upright, and little inclined to indulgence. He delighted in sorting right from wrong and often rebuked others to their faces. Some criticized him for going too far, but he never changed. Wang Qinruo liked him best of all and once told others, "If I go several days without seeing Jianfu, I grow restless and out of sorts." After Qinruo was dismissed and lived in retirement at the Southern Capital, Ding Wei was at the height of his power. People feared Ding and none dared visit Qinruo. Congyi was soon to go to Hunan on assignment and wanted to visit him. The Bian River had run dry in drought, so he told Ding Wei, "My wish to take a post beyond the lakes is not only for poverty's sake. The Duke is at Songzhou, and I wished to call on him briefly. Now that the Bian has dried up, it would be wrong to travel by another route. I hope you will allow me to remain a short while." Ding was delighted and said, "At the Duke's door, you alone understand me." He kept Congyi to serve temporarily as inspector of criminal prisons. Congyi declined the post, was allowed to return to his quarters, and was told to set out only after the Bian was navigable again. Kou Zhun had just been demoted to Dao Prefecture. Ding Wei said to Congyi again, "The Luling affair should have laid your grievance to rest by now." Congyi answered, "I should still treat the former chief minister as I always have." Ding looked ashamed. His conduct was often of this sort. He wrote the Quanshan Collection in twenty juan, Drafts of Zhongshu Regulations in five juan, and Memorials from the Western Pure in three juan.

楊大雅

Yang Daya

楊大雅，字子正，唐靖恭諸楊虞卿之後。虞卿孫承休，唐天祐初，以尚書刑部員外郎為吳越國冊禮副使，楊行密據江、淮，道阻不克歸，遂家錢塘。大雅，承休四世孫也。錢俶歸朝，挈其族寓宋州。大雅素好學，日誦數萬言，雖飲食不釋卷。進士及第，曆新息、鄢陵縣主簿，改光祿寺丞、知新昌縣，徙知潯州，監在京商稅，再遷秘書丞。

Yang Daya, styled Zizheng, was descended from Yang Yuqing of the Tang Jinggong branch of the Yang clan. Yuqing's grandson Chenghui, in the early Tianyou reign of Tang, went to Wu-Yue as vice commissioner for investiture ceremonies while serving as Vice Director of the Ministry of Justice in the Secretariat. Yang Xingmi controlled the Yangtze and Huai regions, the route home was cut off, and Chenghui settled his family at Qiantang. Daya was Chenghui's fourth-generation descendant. When Qian Chu submitted to the Song court, he brought his clan to live at Song Prefecture. Daya had long loved study. He recited tens of thousands of characters a day and would not set his book aside even while eating or drinking. He passed the jinshi examination and served as registrar of Xinxin and Yanling counties in turn. He was appointed Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and prefect of Xinchang County, then transferred to govern Xun Prefecture, supervised commercial taxes in the capital, and was promoted again to Secretariat Director.

咸平中，交趾獻犀，因奏賦，召試，遷太常博士。久之，又上書自薦，獻所為文，復召試。直集賢院，出知筠、袁二州，提舉開封府界諸縣鎮事，為三司監鐵判官，知越州，提點淮南路刑獄。還，考試國子監生，坐失薦，迭降監陳州酒。徙知常州，判三司都磨勘司、戶部勾院。遷集賢殿修撰、知應天府。還，糾察在京刑獄，以兵部郎中知制誥。大雅初名侃，至是，避真宗藩邸諱，詔改之。居二歲，拜右諫議大夫、集賢院學士、知亳州，卒。

During the Xianping period, when Jiaozhi presented rhinoceros horn as tribute, he submitted a fu in response, was summoned for examination, and was appointed Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Some time later he memorialized the throne recommending himself, presented his writings, and was examined again. He served as academician on duty at the Hall of Assembled Worthies, then governed Yun and Yuan prefectures, oversaw counties and towns in the Kaifeng circuit, served as iron supervisory judge of the Three Departments, was prefect of Yuezhou, and was judicial intendant of Huainan East Circuit. On his return he examined students of the National University. Because of a flawed recommendation he was demoted step by step to supervisor of wine production in Chen Prefecture. He was transferred to govern Changzhou and served as judge of the Three Departments General Audit Office and the Ministry of Revenue Verification Court. He was promoted to compiler at the Hall of Assembled Worthies and appointed prefect of Yingtian Prefecture. On his return he inspected criminal cases in the capital and, as Director of the Ministry of War, served as drafter of imperial edicts. Daya had originally been named Kan. Now, to avoid the taboo name of Emperor Zhenzong's princely residence, an edict changed his name. Two years later he was appointed Right Remonstrance Grandee, academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies, and prefect of Bozhou, where he died.

大雅樸學自信，無所阿附，直集賢院二十五年不遷，有出其後者，往往致榮顯。或笑其違世自守，大雅歎曰：「吾不學乎世，而學乎聖人，由是以至此。吾之所有，不敢以薦於人，而嘗自獻乎天子矣。」天禧中，使淮南，循江按部，過金陵境上，遇風覆舟，得傍卒拯之，至岸，冠服盡喪。時丁謂鎮金陵，遣人遺衣一襲，大雅辭不受，謂以為歉。宰相王欽若亦不悅之。晚與陳從易並命知制誥。大雅嘗因轉對，上《原治》十七篇。所著《大隱集》三十卷，《西垣集》五卷，《職林》二十卷，《兩漢博聞》十二卷。

Daya was a plain scholar who trusted his own learning and curried favor with no one. He spent twenty-five years at the Hall of Assembled Worthies without promotion, while men who entered service after him often rose to high honor. Some mocked him for holding himself apart from the world. Daya sighed and said, "I do not study the fashions of the age; I study the sages. That is how I have come this far. What I have to offer I would not presume to commend to others, but I have already presented it to the Son of Heaven myself." During the Tianxi period he went to Huainan on assignment and traveled along the river on inspection. When he crossed the Jinling frontier a storm capsized his boat. A soldier nearby pulled him out, but by the time he reached shore his hat and robes were gone. Ding Wei was then stationed at Jinling and sent him a suit of clothes. Daya refused the gift, and Ding took it as a slight. Chief Minister Wang Qinruo was displeased with him as well. Late in life he and Chen Congyi were appointed together as drafters of imperial edicts. On one rotating audience Daya presented seventeen chapters of his Fundamental Governance. He wrote the Great Recluse Collection in thirty juan, the Western Rampart Collection in five juan, the Forest of Offices in twenty juan, and Extensive Hearing of the Two Han in twelve juan.

論曰：仲孫以才力自奮於時，論事著效，號為能吏。太素、尋、曾能知法意，理官之良也。虛己、獻卿立朝雖徽，卓犖大節，及為他官，所至有吏稱。若從易拒釋憾之言，大雅辭襲衣之遺，卒使權奸愧歉，抑又可尚哉。

Commentary: Zhongsun drove himself forward by talent and energy in his own day. His policy proposals produced results, and he was known as a capable administrator. Taisu, Xun, and Ceng understood the spirit of the law and were excellent judicial officers. Xuji and Xianqing held modest posts at court, yet their integrity stood out. In other offices wherever they served they won praise as administrators. When Congyi rejected talk of laying old grievances to rest and Daya refused the suit of clothes offered him, they finally shamed the powerful ministers who bore them ill will. That too is surely worthy of respect.

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