1
邊肅，字安國，應天府楚丘人。 進士及第，除大理評事、知於潛縣，累遷太常博士。 三司使魏羽薦為戶部判官，祀南郊，超薦尚書度支員外郎。 帝以三司鉤取無法，至道初，置行帳司，以會財用之數，命肅主之。 帳成，遷工部郎中。
Bian Su, styled Anguo, was a native of Chuqiu in Ying Prefecture. He passed the jinshi examination and was appointed reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Yuqian County, rising in due course to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When Wei Yu served as commissioner of the Three Departments, he recommended Su as an aide in the Ministry of Revenue; on the southern suburbs sacrifice, Su received an exceptional promotion to vice director in the Bureau of Revenue. Because the emperor believed the Three Departments' audits lacked proper method, in the early Zhidao era a traveling-accounts office was established to reconcile fiscal accounts, and Su was ordered to head it. When the account was completed, he was promoted to director in the Ministry of Works.
2
真宗幸大名府，命肅經度行在糧草。 改判開拆司，出知曹州，徙邢州。 會契丹大入，先是地屢震，城堞摧圮，無守備，帝在澶州，密詔肅：「若州不可守，聽便宜南保他城。」 肅匿詔不發，督丁壯乘城而辟諸門，悉所部兵陣以代之。 騎傅城下，肅與戰小勝，契丹莫測也，居三日，引去。 時鎮、魏、深、趙、磁、洺六州閉壁不出，老幼趨城者，肅悉開門納之。
When Emperor Zhenzong visited Daming Prefecture, Su was ordered to manage provisions for the traveling court. He was reassigned to judge the Disbursement Office, then sent out as prefect of Cao Prefecture and transferred to Xing Prefecture. When the Khitan invaded on a large scale, the ground in the region had repeatedly trembled beforehand, city walls and parapets had collapsed, and there was no defense—the emperor at Chanyuan secretly told Su: "If the prefecture cannot be held, you may at discretion withdraw south and preserve another city." Su kept the edict sealed and did not publish it; he pressed the able-bodied to man the walls and opened all the gates, posting his entire command in formation in place of the regular garrison. Cavalry pressed the walls; Su fought them and gained a small victory. The Khitan could not fathom his strength and, after three days, withdrew. At the time the six prefectures of Zhen, Wei, Shen, Zhao, Ci, and Luo shut their walls and would not come out; Su opened the gates and admitted all the old and young who fled toward the city.
3
擢樞密直學士，徙宣州。 車駕朝陵，徙河南府。 還，勾當三班院。 出知天雄軍，徙真定府，累遷給事中。 以王嗣宗代肅。 嗣宗與肅有舊隙，諷通判東方慶訟肅前在州，私以公錢貿易規利，遣吏強市民羊，買女口自入。 嗣宗上其事，帝以肅近臣，不欲屬吏，遣劉綜、任中正以章示之，肅引伏。 以守城功，止奪三官，貶岳州團練副使。 久之，徙武昌、安遠軍節度副使，起知光州，以泰寧軍節度副使徙泗州，又徙泰州，卒。
He was promoted to academician in the Palace Secretariat and transferred to Xuan Prefecture. When the imperial carriage went to pay respects at the tombs, he was moved to Henan Prefecture. On his return he supervised the Three-Rank Court. He was sent out as military commissioner of Tianxiong Army, then moved to Zhending Prefecture, and was promoted in succession to supervisory censor. Wang Sizong replaced Su. Sizong and Su had an old enmity; Sizong instigated the vice prefect Dong Fangqing to sue Su for his earlier tenure in the prefecture—privately using public funds for trading to seek profit, sending officers to coerce citizens' sheep, and buying women for his own household. Sizong memorialized these matters; because Su was a close minister the emperor did not want to hand him to judicial officials but sent Liu Zong and Ren Zhongzheng to show him the charges, and Su confessed. In consideration of his merit in defending the city, only three ranks were stripped from him and he was demoted to deputy military training commissioner of Yue Prefecture. After a long interval he was moved to deputy military commissioner of Wuchang and Anyuan armies, then recalled as prefect of Guang Prefecture; as deputy military commissioner of Taining Army he was moved to Si Prefecture, then again to Tai Prefecture, and died in office.
4
子：調，終尚書兵部員外郎、福建路轉運使。
His son Diao ended as vice director in the Bureau of Military Affairs of the Ministry of War and transport commissioner for Fujian Circuit.
5
梅詢，字昌言，宣州宣城人。 少好學，有辭辨。 進士及第，為利豐監判官。 後以秘書省著作佐郎、御史臺推勘官，預考進士於崇政殿，真宗過殿廬，奇其占對詳敏，召試中書，除集賢院。
Mei Xun, styled Changyan, was a native of Xuancheng in Xuan Prefecture. From youth he loved study and was gifted in rhetoric and debate. He passed the jinshi examination and served as aide at Lifeng Directorate. Later, as an associate compiler in the Secretariat and an investigating officer of the Censorate, he took part in examining jinshi candidates in the Chongzheng Hall; Emperor Zhenzong passed the hall quarters and was struck by his detailed and nimble responses, summoned him for a test at the Secretariat Chancellery, and appointed him to the Hall of Assembled Worthies.
6
李繼遷攻靈州急，吳淑上書請遣使諭秦、隴以西諸戎，使攻繼遷。 詢亦請以朔方授潘羅支，使自攻取。 帝問誰可使羅支者，詢請行，未至而靈州陷。 還，為三司戶部判官。 詢自以為遇主知，屢上書陳論西北事。 時契丹數侵河北，詢請遣大臣臨邊督戰，募遊手擊賊。 又論曹瑋、馬知節才可用，傅潛、楊瓊敗當誅，田紹斌、王榮等可責其效以贖過，凡數十事，其言甚壯。
When Li Jiqian pressed the attack on Ling Prefecture, Wu Shu memorialized asking that an envoy be sent to instruct the various Rong tribes west of Qin and Long to attack Jiqian. Xun also proposed granting the Shuofang region to Pan Luozhi so that he might attack and capture it himself. The emperor asked who could be sent to Luozhi; Xun volunteered to go, but before he arrived Ling Prefecture fell. On his return he served as an aide in the Revenue Section of the Three Departments. Xun considered himself singled out by his lord and repeatedly submitted memorials discussing northwestern affairs. At the time the Khitan repeatedly raided Hebei; Xun asked that a senior minister be sent to the border to supervise campaigning and that vagabonds be recruited to strike the enemy. He also argued that Cao Wei and Ma Zhijie had talent that could be used; that Fu Qian and Yang Qiong, having been defeated, deserved execution; and that Tian Shaobin, Wang Rong, and others could be charged to achieve results and redeem their faults—several dozen items in all, stated in very forceful terms.
7
帝欲命知制誥，李沆力言其險薄望輕，不可用。 後斷田訟失實，降通判杭州，知蘇州，就徙兩浙轉運副使，判三司開拆司。 坐議天書，出知濠州。 為湖北轉運使，擅假驛馬與邵曄子省親疾而馬死，奪官一級，降通判襄州。 知鄂州，徙蘇州，為陝西轉運使。 坐薦舉朱能，貶懷州團練副使。 又以善寇準，徙池州。 起知廣德軍，歷楚、壽、陝州。 復直集賢院，改直昭文館、知荊南，擢龍圖閣待制，糾察在京刑獄。 歷龍圖閣直學士、樞密直學士，知通進銀臺司，判流內銓，為翰林侍讀學士、群牧使。 累遷給事中、知審官院。
The emperor wished to appoint him drafter of edicts, but Li Hang forcefully urged that he was dangerous, shallow, and of little standing, and could not be used. Later, for a false ruling in a land dispute, he was demoted to vice prefect of Hang Prefecture; he became prefect of Suzhou, was thereupon transferred to deputy transport commissioner of the Two Zhe circuits, and judged the Disbursement Office of the Three Departments. For discussing the Heavenly Writ he was sent out as prefect of Hao Prefecture. As transport commissioner for Hubei he arbitrarily lent relay horses to Shao Ye's son to visit his sick father; the horses died, and one rank was stripped from him and he was demoted to vice prefect of Xiang Prefecture. He served as prefect of E Prefecture, was moved to Suzhou, and became transport commissioner for Shaanxi. For recommending Zhu Neng he was demoted to deputy military training commissioner of Huai Prefecture. Because he had been friendly with Kou Zhun he was moved to Chi Prefecture. He was recalled as prefect of Guangde Army and served in succession at Chu, Shou, and Shaan prefectures. He was restored to the Hall of Assembled Worthies, changed to the Hall of Illustrious Literature as prefect of Jingnan, was promoted to drafting academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall, and investigated capital criminal cases. He served in succession as academician of the Dragon Diagram Pavilion, academician of the Palace Secretariat, commissioner of the Bureau for Transmission of Imperial Orders and the Silver Terrace, judged the Bureau of Inner Circuits, and was Hanlin reader-in-waiting and herds commissioner. He was promoted in succession to supervisory censor and director of the Bureau for Review of Appointments.
8
仁宗御邇英閣，讀《正說養民篇》，覽歷代戶口登耗之數，顧謂侍臣曰：「今天下民籍幾何？」 詢對曰：「先帝所作，蓋述前代帝王恭儉有節，則戶口充羨； 賦斂無藝，則版圖衰減。 炳然在目，作鑒後王。 自五代之季，生齒凋耗，太祖受命，而太宗、真宗休養百姓，天下戶口之數，蓋倍於前矣。」 因詔三司及編修院檢閱以聞。 病足，出知許州，卒。 故事，侍讀學士無出外者。 天禧中，張知白罷參知政事，領此職，始出知大名府。 非歷二府而出者自詢始。
Emperor Renzong, in the Esteemed Classics Hall, read the chapter "Correct Discourse on Nourishing the People" and, scanning the figures for household registers rising and falling through the dynasties, turned to the attendant ministers and said, "How many are registered households in the realm today?" Xun replied: "What the late emperor composed essentially sets forth that when emperors of old were reverent, frugal, and restrained, household registers were full and abundant; when levies were indiscriminate, the register shrank and declined. It lies plainly before the eyes, a mirror for later kings. From the end of the Five Dynasties the population withered; once Taizu received the Mandate, Taizong and Zhenzong nourished the people, and household registers in the realm roughly doubled those of before." The emperor therefore ordered the Three Departments and the Compilation Institute to examine and report. Ill in the feet, he was sent out as prefect of Xu Prefecture and died. By precedent, Hanlin readers-in-waiting were not posted outside the capital. In the Tianxi era, Zhang Zhibai, having left his post as participant in governance, held this office and was the first sent out as prefect of Daming Prefecture. Xun was the first to be posted outside without having passed through both administrations.
9
詢性卞急好進，而侈於奉養，至老不衰。 然數為朝廷言兵。 在濠州，夢人告曰：「呂丞相至矣。」 既而呂夷簡通判州事，故待之甚厚。 其後，援詢於廢斥中，以至貴顯，夷簡力也。
Xun's nature was abrupt and impatient for advancement, yet extravagant in his upkeep, which did not diminish even in old age. Yet he spoke on military affairs for the court on many occasions. While at Hao Prefecture he dreamed that someone told him, "Vice Director Lü has arrived." Presently Lü Yijian came as vice prefect of the prefecture, and therefore treated him with great kindness. Later, drawing Xun up from disgrace and dismissal to the highest eminence was largely Yijian's doing.
10
馬元方
Ma Yuanfang
11
馬元方，字景山，濮州鄄城人。 父應圖，嘗知頓丘縣，太宗攻幽州，應圖部芻糧，沒虜中。 元方去髮為浮屠，間行求父屍，不得，訴於朝。 上哀之，為官其兄元吉。
Ma Yuanfang, styled Jingshan, was a native of Yuncheng in Pu Prefecture. His father Yingtu had once served as magistrate of Dunqiu County; when Taizong attacked You Prefecture, Yingtu led forage and was lost among the barbarians. Yuanfang shaved his head and became a monk, traveling secretly to seek his father's corpse; he could not find it and appealed at court. The emperor pitied him and granted office to his elder brother Yuanji.
12
元方，淳化三年進士及第，為韋城縣主簿，改大理寺評事、知萬年縣。 諸將討李繼遷，關輔轉餉逾瀚海，多失亡，獨元方所部全十九。 以勞，遷本寺丞，為御史臺推勘官，遷殿中丞。 戶部使陳恕奏為判官，元方言：「方春民貧，請預貸庫錢，至夏秋，令以絹輸官。」 行之，公私果便，因下其法諸路。
Yuanfang passed the jinshi in the third year of Chunhua and served as recorder of Weicheng County, then was changed to reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Wannian County. When the generals campaigned against Li Jiqian, transport across the passes beyond the Hanhai Sea suffered many losses, but only Yuanfang's jurisdiction preserved nineteen parts in twenty. For this merit he was promoted to vice director in the same court and became an investigating officer of the Censorate, then was promoted to palace director. When Ministry of Revenue commissioner Chen Shu submitted him as a judge, Yuanfang said: "It is early spring and the people are poor; I ask that treasury funds be advanced now, and in summer and autumn they be made to deliver silk to the government." This was carried out; public and private interests were indeed convenient, and on that basis his method was promulgated to all circuits.
13
知徐州，改太常博士、梓州路轉運使。 後知鄆州，量括牧地數千頃。 為京東轉運副使，遷轉運使。 按部至濮州，被酒毆知州蔣信，降知宿州，下詔切責之。 徙滑州，為京西轉運使，知應天府，累遷太常少卿。 擢右諫議大夫、權三司使公事，眾論不以為允。 真宗謂宰臣曰：「元方在三司，何多謗也？」 王旦曰：「元方盡心營職，然其性卞急，且不納僚屬議，而醜言詆之，所以賈怨。」 帝曰：「僚屬顧不有賢俊邪？」 歲餘，以煩苛罷。 進給事中、權知開封府。 以樞密直學士知幷州，留再任，賜白金五百兩，詔中書諭以委屬之意。 官至兵部侍郎，卒。
He became prefect of Xu Prefecture, then erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and transport commissioner for Zizhou Circuit. Later he became prefect of Yan Prefecture and surveyed and registered several thousand qing of pasture land. He served as deputy transport commissioner for the Jingdong Circuit and was promoted to transport commissioner. On an inspection tour reaching Pu Prefecture he, while drunk, beat Prefect Jiang Xin and was demoted to prefect of Su Prefecture; an edict sharply rebuked him. He was moved to Hua Prefecture, became transport commissioner for the Jingxi Circuit, and prefect of Ying Prefecture, rising in succession to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He was promoted to right remonstrance and drafting commissioner and acting commissioner of the Three Departments; public opinion did not regard this as fitting. Emperor Zhenzong said to the chief ministers: "Why is Yuanfang so much slandered in the Three Departments?" Wang Dan said: "Yuanfang devotes his heart to duty, yet his nature is abrupt and impatient, he does not accept the counsel of subordinates, and he speaks vilely to defame them—hence he buys resentment." The emperor said: "Do his subordinates not include able and eminent men?" After more than a year he was dismissed for being vexatious in detail. He was advanced to supervisory censor and acting prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture. As academician of the Palace Secretariat he became prefect of Bing Prefecture; he was retained for a second term and granted five hundred taels of white silver, with an edict from the Secretariat Chancellery conveying the intent of entrustment. He reached office as vice minister of war and died.
14
薛田，字希稷，河中河東人。 少師事种放，與魏野友善。 進士，起家丹州推官。 李允正知延州，辟為從事，向敏中至，亦薦其材。 改著作佐郎、知中江縣。 真宗祀汾陰，田時居父喪，經度制置使陳堯叟奏起通判陝州。 還，拜監察御史，以母憂去。 會祀太清宮，又用丁謂奏，起通判亳州。 遷殿中侍御史、權三司度支判官，改侍御史、益州路轉運使。 民間以鐵錢重，私為券以便交易，謂之「交子」，而富家專之，數致爭訟。 田請置交子務，以榷其出入，未報。 及寇瑊守益州，卒奏用其議，蜀人便之。
Xue Tian, styled Xiji, was a native of Hedong in Hezhong. In youth he studied under Zhong Fang and was friendly with Wei Ye. As a jinshi he began his career as an investigating officer in Dan Prefecture. When Li Yunzheng became prefect of Yan Prefecture he engaged Tian on his staff; when Xiang Minzhong arrived he too recommended Tian's talent. He was changed to associate compiler and magistrate of Zhongjiang County. When Emperor Zhenzong sacrificed at Fenyin, Tian was then in mourning for his father; the logistics and provisioning commissioner Chen Yaoshou memorialized to recall him as vice prefect of Shan Prefecture. On his return he was appointed investigating censor and left office on account of his mother's mourning. At the sacrifice to the Grand Purity Palace, on Ding Wei's memorial he was again recalled as vice prefect of Bo Prefecture. He was promoted to palace attendant censor and acting judge of the Revenue Section of the Three Departments, then attendant censor and transport commissioner for Yizhou Circuit. Because iron cash was heavy, the people privately made notes to ease exchange, called "jiaozi," which wealthy families monopolized, often leading to lawsuits. Tian requested establishment of a jiaozi office to tax its issues; there was no reply. When Kou Jian held Yiz Prefecture he finally memorialized adoption of the proposal, and the people of Shu found it convenient.
15
就除陝西轉運使，進直昭文館、知河南府，復入度支為副使。 使契丹還，擢龍圖閣待制、知天雄軍。 未幾，擢知開封府，以樞密直學士知益州，累遷左司郎中。 代還，知審刑院。 羌人內寇，特遷右諫議大夫、知延州。 久之，以疾徙同州，又徙永興軍，辭不行，卒。
He was thereupon appointed transport commissioner for Shaanxi, advanced to the Hall of Illustrious Literature as prefect of Henan, and re-entered the Revenue Section as deputy commissioner. On his return from an embassy to the Khitan he was promoted to drafting academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Tianxiong Army. Before long he was promoted to prefect of Kaifeng and, as academician of the Palace Secretariat, prefect of Yizhou, rising in succession to left director in the Department of State Affairs. On his replacement and return he directed the Court for Judicial Review. When the Qiang raided inward he was specially promoted to right remonstrance and prefect of Yan Prefecture. After a long interval, because of illness he was moved to Tong Prefecture, then again to Yongxing Army; he declined to go and died.
16
田性頗和厚，初以幹敏數為大臣所稱，後屢更任使，所治無赫赫名。
Tian's disposition was rather mild and generous; at first his diligence and keenness won praise from senior ministers several times, but after repeated appointments what he governed won no striking reputation.
17
寇瑊，字次公，汝州臨汝人。 初，母夢神人授珠，吞之而娠，生而眉目美秀。 擢進士，授蓬州軍事推官。 李順餘黨謝才盛等復起為盜，瑊設方略，擒送京師。
Kou Jian, styled Cigong, was a native of Linru in Ru Prefecture. Early on, his mother dreamed that a deity handed her a pearl; she swallowed it and conceived, and at birth his features were handsome and refined. He passed the jinshi examination and was appointed military legal officer of Peng Prefecture. When survivors of Li Shun's faction such as Xie Caisheng again took to banditry, Kou Jian devised a plan, captured them, and sent them to the capital.
18
徙開封推官。 會施州蠻叛，轉運使移瑊權領施州。 先是，戍兵仰他州饋糧，瑊至，請募人入米，償以鹽，軍食遂足，而民力紓。 復招諭高州刺史田彥伊子承寶入朝，得給印紙為高州官族。 未幾，溪南蠻復內寇，瑊率眾擒其酋領戮之，以白芀子弟數百人築柵，守其險要。
He was transferred to legal officer of the Kaifeng Prefecture office. When the Yi tribes of Shi Prefecture rebelled, the transport commissioner assigned Kou Jian to govern the prefecture on a provisional basis. Previously the garrison had depended on grain shipped in from other prefectures; upon his arrival Kou Jian had people bring in grain in exchange for salt, so the army's food supply was secured while easing the burden on the populace. He also persuaded Tian Chengbao, son of Gaozhou Prefect Tian Yanyi, to come to court, and secured imperial credentials establishing him as an official clan of Gaozhou. Soon the Yi south of the streams raided again; Kou Jian led his forces, captured their chieftain and put him to death, and employed several hundred Baizhu tribesmen to build stockades at key defiles.
19
就除大理寺丞、知開州，遷殿中丞、通判河南府。 坐解送諸料失實，降監晉州稅。 以太常博士通判幷州，改監察御史。 真宗祀汾陰，王嗣宗知永興，辟權通判，專領祠事。 遷殿中侍御史，為開封府判官。 嘗奏事，帝詢施州備禦之術，因諭之曰：「東川控蠻夷，爾功已試，其為朕鎮撫之。」 命為梓州路轉運使。
He was promptly made assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Kai Prefecture, then promoted to director of the Palace Bureau and vice prefect of Henan Prefecture. Because documents he submitted contained false particulars, he was demoted to supervisor of tax collection in Jin Prefecture. While serving as erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices he was vice prefect of Bing Prefecture, then transferred to investigating censor. During Emperor Zhenzong's sacrifice at Fenyin, Wang Sizong, prefect of Yongxing, brought Kou Jian in as acting vice prefect and put him in sole charge of sacrificial affairs. He rose to palace attendant censor and served as judge of the Kaifeng Prefecture office. When he once reported to the throne, the emperor inquired about defenses at Shi Prefecture and told him: "East Chuan holds the frontier against the Yi; you have already proved yourself there—pacify the region for me." He was appointed transport commissioner of the Zizhou Circuit.
20
晏州多剛縣酋鬥望劫瀘州，燒淯井監，殺官吏。 瑊趨富順監，命部兵多張旗幟，逾山西北趨戎州，盡取公私舟載糧甲，具音樂，合兩路兵至江安，誘納溪、藍、順史個鬆，南廣移、悅等州刺史及八姓烏蠻首領，使斷賊徑。 用夷法，植竹為誓門，橫竹繫貓、犬、雞各一於其上，老夷人執刀劍，謂之「打誓」，呼曰：「誓與漢家同心擊賊。」 即刺牲血和酒而飲。 瑊給鹽及酒食、針梳、衣服等，付以大榜，約大軍至，揭榜以別逆順，「不殺汝老少，不燒汝欄柵。」 夷人大喜。 帝遣內殿崇班王懷信議攻討招輯之宜，瑊奏：「夷人嘗於二年春燒淯井監，殺吏民。 既赦貸其罪，復來寇邊，聲言朝廷且招安，得酒食衣服矣。 若不討除，則戎、瀘、資、榮、富順監諸夷競起為邊害矣。」 詔發陝西兵，益以白芀子弟合六千三百人，緣淯井溪轉鬥，凡十一陣，破之。 夷人相率來附，納牛羊、銅鼓、器械甚眾，而鬥望猶旅拒不從。 瑊命懷信分兵拔其柵，與都巡檢使符承順進戰思晏江口，鬥望等始驚遽，勢稍卻，明日，復分三道來拒王師，懷信等格戰，瑊乘其後，大破之。 鬥望眾萬餘，囂不能軍，溺死者眾，遂降。 因籍軍之勇悍千人，分五都以隸禁軍，為寧遠指揮，使守淯井監，更建砦柵，浚三壕以環之。 就加侍御史，召為三司鹽鐵判官，逾月，出為河北轉運使。
In Yan Prefecture, Dou Wang, chieftain of Gang County, repeatedly raided Luzhou, burned the Yujing Supervisory Office, and murdered officials. Kou Jian rushed to Fushun Supervisory Office, had his men raise many banners, crossed the mountains northwest toward Rong Prefecture, commandeered every available boat to carry grain and arms, brought musicians along, mustered the troops of two circuits at Jiang'an, and won over the Naxi, Lan, Shunshi Gesong, and Nanguang Yi prefects of Yi and Yue plus eight Baishi chieftains to block the rebels' paths. Following Yi custom they erected a bamboo oath-gate with a cat, dog, and chicken bound across it; aged Yi warriors bearing swords and blades performed what they called "striking the oath," crying: "We swear to stand with the Han in crushing these rebels." Then they pierced the victims, mixed the blood with wine, and drank. Kou Jian supplied salt, wine, provisions, needles, combs, and clothing, and gave them a large proclamation promising that when the main force arrived they would display it to separate the loyal from the rebellious: "We will not slay your women, children, and elderly, nor burn your stockades." The Yi were overjoyed. The emperor dispatched Inner Hall Direct Attendant Wang Huaixin to advise on attack and pacification; Kou Jian wrote: "These Yi burned Yujing Supervisory Office and slaughtered officials and civilians in the spring of the second year. Though previously pardoned, they had returned to raid the frontier, boasting that the court would soon offer amnesty and more wine, food, and clothing. Unless they were crushed, the Yi of Rong, Lu, Zi, Rong, and Fushun Supervisory Office would take it as a signal to harry the borders one after another." By imperial order Shaanxi troops were reinforced with six thousand three hundred Baizhu tribesmen; fighting along the Yujing Stream through eleven engagements, they broke the enemy. Yi submitted in large numbers, bringing cattle, sheep, bronze drums, and arms in abundance, but Dou Wang continued to hold out with his band. Kou Jian had Huaixin split his forces to storm their fort; with Frontier Inspection Commissioner Fu Shunshun he fought at the mouth of the Siyan River, and Dou Wang's men, suddenly unnerved, gave ground; the next day they returned in three columns to oppose the imperial army, but as Huaixin engaged them Kou Jian hit their rear and routed them completely. Dou Wang's army of more than ten thousand, thrown into chaos and unable to hold formation, lost many men to drowning and at last surrendered. He then selected a thousand of the fiercest warriors, organized them into five companies under the forbidden army as the Ningyuan Command to guard Yujing Supervisory Office, rebuilt fortresses and palisades, and dug three encircling moats. He was promptly promoted to attendant censor, recalled as salt and iron judge of the Three Departments, and a month later dispatched as Hebei transport commissioner.
21
天禧中，河決澶淵。 瑊視役河上，堤墊數里，眾皆奔潰，而瑊獨留自若。 須臾，水為折去，眾頗異之。 遷工部郎中，上言：「契丹約和以來，河北減戍卒之半，而復刺土兵，其實益三分之一，而塞下軍儲不給。 請行入中、鑿頭、便糴三說之法。」 入為三司度支副使。 未幾，以右諫議大夫、集賢院學士知益州。
During the Tianxi reign the Yellow River broke through at Chanyuan. Kou Jian oversaw the river works; when several li of embankment gave way the workmen scattered, but he alone stayed calm. Moments later the current shifted away from them, and onlookers were astonished. As director in the Ministry of Works he argued: "Since peace with the Khitan, Hebei has cut garrison strength by half yet raised local militia, increasing numbers by a third in effect while frontier granaries still run short. He proposed adopting the enter-to-middle, shaved-head, and convenient-procurement grain schemes." He was recalled to the capital as vice commissioner of fiscal affairs in the Three Departments. Soon he was appointed right remonstrance grandee and academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies and sent out as prefect of Yi Prefecture.
22
仁宗即位，遷給事中。 瑊與丁謂厚善，帝謂輔臣曰：「瑊有吏幹，毋深譴也。」 徙鄧州，坐失舉，降少府監、知金州，復右諫議大夫。 會河決，徙知滑州，總領修河。 既而以歲饑罷役，瑊言：「病民者特楗芻耳，幸調率已集，若積之經年，則朽腐為棄物，後復興工斂之，是重困也。」 乃再詔塞河。 河平，擢樞密直學士。
At Renzong's accession he was promoted to chief of the memorials bureau. Kou Jian was close to Ding Wei; the emperor told his chief ministers: "Kou Jian is a capable administrator—do not punish him too harshly." He was moved to Deng Prefecture; after a faulty recommendation he was reduced to director of the Palace Maintenance Office and magistrate of Jin Prefecture, then restored to right remonstrance grandee. When the river breached again he was reassigned to Hua Prefecture and put in overall charge of dyke works. Work was suspended for famine, but Kou Jian warned: "The burden on the people is chiefly the requisitioned fodder; the levies are already in hand—if left a full year they will rot worthless, and collecting them again when work resumes would only deepen their hardship." The court then ordered the river sealed again. After the river was brought under control he was made académician-direct of the Bureau of Military Affairs.
23
明年，復給事中、知秦州，又坐失舉奪一官。 召權三司使，復其官如故。 時有議茶法者，帝訪以利害，瑊曰：「議者未知其要爾。 河北入中兵食，皆仰給於商旅。 若官盡其利，則商旅不行，而邊民困於饋運，茶法豈可以數更？」 帝然之。 權知開封府，戚里有毆妻至死，更赦事發者。 太后怒曰：「夫婦齊體，奈何毆致死邪？」 瑊對曰：「傷居限外，事在赦前，有司不敢亂天下法。」 卒免死。 天聖末，再使契丹，未行而卒。
The following year he returned as chief of memorials and prefect of Qin Prefecture, only to forfeit one rank again over a bad recommendation. Recalled to serve as acting commissioner of the Three Departments, he had his previous rank restored. When policy on the tea monopoly came under debate, the emperor asked his view; Kou Jian replied: "Those arguing the point do not grasp what matters. Hebei's enter-to-middle grain for the army relies entirely on merchant convoys. If the government takes every profit for itself, merchants will stop coming and frontier folk will buckle under transport duties—why keep rewriting the tea law?" The emperor agreed. While acting prefect of Kaifeng, a consort clansman was found to have beaten his wife to death after an amnesty had already covered the offense. The empress dowager fumed: "Husband and wife share one body—how could he beat her to death?" Kou Jian answered: "The wounds fell outside the statutory limit and the act preceded the amnesty; the court cannot overturn the law of the land." The man was spared execution in the end. Near the close of the Tiansheng era he was again dispatched as envoy to the Khitan but died before he could set out.
24
瑊少孤，鞠於祖母王氏，及登朝，以妻封邑回授之，朝臣得回封祖母自瑊始。 性頗疏財，通音律，知術數。 初附丁謂，故少達，及謂敗左遷，鬱鬱不自得，秘書丞彭齊賦《喪家狗》以刺之。
Kou Jian lost his father young and was raised by his grandmother Lady Wang; once in office he redirected his wife's fief back to her—the first courtier to win a grandmother's enfeoffment by such transfer was Kou Jian. He was generous with money by nature, understood music, and practiced divination. Early on he rode Ding Wei's coattails and rose quickly; when Ding Wei fell he was demoted and sank into brooding; Secretariat Director Peng Qi lampooned him in "The Bereaved Dog."
25
楊日嚴
Yang Riyan
26
楊日嚴，字垂訓，河南人。 進士及第，試秘書省校書郎、知安丘縣。 三司辟為檢法官，遷大理寺丞，又為本寺檢法官，監都進奏院，通判亳、陳二州，判吏部南曹兼登聞鼓院。 出知襄州，徙廬、鄲二州，入為開封府判官。
Yang Riyan, styled Chuixun, was a native of Henan. He passed the jinshi examination and served as collator in the Secretariat before becoming magistrate of Anqiu County. The Three Departments brought him in as legal examiner; he rose to assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review, served again as that court's examiner, supervised the Directorate of Memorials, was vice prefect of Bo and Chen Prefectures, and judged the Ministry of Personnel's Southern Bureau while also overseeing the Petition Drum Court. He served as prefect of Xiang Prefecture, then transferred to Lu and Yun Prefectures before returning to the capital as judge of the Kaifeng Prefecture office.
27
使契丹還，為兩浙轉運副使。 未行，會青、徐饑，改京東轉運使。 因請江、淮、陝西轉粟五十萬，以賑貧民； 又開清河八十里抵暖水河，並堤起倉廩，以便漕運。 加直史館，徙益州轉運使，又徙江淮制置發運使。 還，歷三司戶部、度支、鹽鐵副使。 累遷太常少卿，以右諫議大夫、集賢院學士知河中府，加樞密直學士、知益州。
After returning from an embassy to the Khitan, he was appointed vice transport commissioner of the Two Zhe Circuits. Before he could take up the post, famine struck Qing and Xu, and he was reassigned as transport commissioner of the Eastern Capital Circuit. He then requested that five hundred thousand bushels of grain be shipped from the Jiang, Huai, and Shaanxi regions to feed the destitute. He also dredged the Qing River for eighty li to link it with the Nuanshui River and built granaries along the embankment to ease grain transport. He was made compiler of the Historiography Institute, then moved to transport commissioner of Yi Prefecture and later to commissioner for provisioning and dispatch on the Jiang and Huai. Back at court he served in turn as vice commissioner of the revenue, fiscal affairs, and salt and iron bureaus in the Three Departments. He rose to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, served as right remonstrance grandee and academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies at Hezhong Prefecture, and was further appointed academician in the Palace Secretariat and sent out as prefect of Yi Prefecture.
28
時用兵伐元昊，三司急財用，有詔析戶版為十等，第賦役； 民以歲租占佃官田廬者，高其估，募輸錢就市為己業，人苦其擾。 又陝西奏收市益、梓、利路溪洞馬，而不知其實無馬也，日嚴皆奏罷之。 遷勾當三班院、知通進銀臺司。 聞後為守者，其政不便蜀人，因進對，猶從容言：「遠方所宜撫安之，無容變法以生事。」 遷給事中，以龍圖閣學士知澶州。 召權知開封府，吏械囚不謹，囚自殺，坐是罷府事。 判太常、司農寺，同知審官院，卒。
While the court was campaigning against Yuan Hao, the Three Departments faced a fiscal crunch; an edict split household registers into ten grades to tier taxes and corvée. Tenants on official fields and dwellings were hit with inflated valuations and pressed to buy the land outright at market rates, to the people's great distress. Shaanxi also proposed buying horses from the stream valleys of the Yi, Zi, and Li circuits without realizing there were scarcely any to buy; Riyan memorialized to have every such measure withdrawn. He was made administrator of the Three-Rank Court and director of the Directorate for Transmission and the Silver Terrace Office. Learning that his successors in office had policies that vexed the people of Shu, he still told the throne in measured tones: "Frontier regions need steady reassurance, not new laws that stir up trouble." He was promoted to chief of the memorials bureau and, as academician of the Hall of Dragon Diagrams, sent out as prefect of Chan Prefecture. Recalled to act as prefect of Kaifeng, he lost the post when a clerk shackled a prisoner so carelessly that the man killed himself. He served as judge of the Courts of Imperial Sacrifices and State Granaries and as vice director of the Bureau of Appointments, then died.
29
日嚴初為益州轉運使，無他治能，及知益州，頗為蜀人所信愛。 兄：日華，歷官至太常少卿、三司副使。
As transport commissioner of Yi Prefecture he had shown little administrative talent, yet once he governed the prefecture itself the people of Shu came to trust and esteem him. His elder brother Rihua rose through the ranks to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and vice commissioner of the Three Departments.
30
李行簡
Li Xingjian
31
李行簡，字易從，同州馮翊人。 家貧，刻志於學，讀《六經》每至夜分，寒暑不易。 又聚木葉學書，筆法遒勁。 與里中富人楊士元同學，既而同時中進士第，士元資遺行簡，謝不取。 起家隴州司理參軍，徙彭州軍事推官。
Li Xingjian, styled Yicong, was a native of Fengyi in Tong Prefecture. Born poor, he devoted himself utterly to learning, poring over the "Six Classics" each night until midnight through every season without fail. He even practiced calligraphy on gathered leaves, developing a bold and vigorous hand. He studied alongside the local magnate Yang Shiyuan, and when they passed the jinshi examination together Shiyuan offered him money, which he politely refused. He began as judicial administrator of Long Prefecture and was later transferred to military legal officer of Peng Prefecture.
32
陵州富民陳子美父死，繼母詐為父書逐出之，累訴不得直，轉運使檄行簡劾正其獄。 改秘書省著作郎，再遷太常博士、知坊州。 御史中丞王嗣宗薦為監察御史，王旦數稱其才，真宗雅亦知之，再遷侍御史。
In Ling Prefecture, after the wealthy Chen Zimei's father died his stepmother forged a document in the father's hand to expel him; though he appealed repeatedly he could get no redress until the transport commissioner ordered Xingjian to investigate and set the case right. He was made compiler in the Secretariat, then promoted to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and magistrate of Fang Prefecture. Censor-in-chief Wang Sizong recommended him as investigating censor; Wang Dan often praised his ability, and Emperor Zhenzong already held him in regard; he was soon promoted to attendant censor.
33
陝西旱蝗，命往安撫，發倉粟救乏絕，又蠲耀州積年逋租。 還，擢龍圖閣待制，歷尚書刑部郎中。 帝數幸龍圖閣，命講《周易》，間訪大臣能否，行簡所對無怨昵，各道其所長，人以為長者。 久之，拜右諫議大夫、集賢院學士。 乾興初，改給事中，以足疾請外，得知河中府，徙虢州，卒。
When drought and locusts struck Shaanxi he was sent to relieve the region, opened granaries to feed the destitute, and remitted years of overdue rent in Yao Prefecture. On his return he was made drafting official of the Hall of Dragon Diagrams and later served as director in the Ministry of Justice. The emperor often visited the Hall of Dragon Diagrams for lectures on the "Book of Changes" and would ask his ministers about one another's merits; Xingjian answered without rancor or favoritism, naming each man's strengths, and people regarded him as a man of mature judgment. In time he was appointed right remonstrance grandee and academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies. Early in the Qianxing era he became chief of the memorials bureau; citing a foot ailment he sought a provincial post, governed Hezhong Prefecture, was transferred to Guo Prefecture, and died.
34
章頻，字簡之，建州浦城人。 與弟頔皆以進士試禮部預選，會詔兄弟毋並舉，頻即推其弟，棄去。 後六年，乃擢第。 自試秘書省校書郎、知南昌縣，改大理寺丞、知九隴縣，遷殿中丞。
Zhang Pin, styled Jianzhi, was a native of Pucheng in Jian Prefecture. He and his younger brother Di both reached the Ministry of Rites jinshi preselection when an edict barred brothers from competing together; Pin at once stood aside for his brother and withdrew. Six years later he at last passed the examination. He began as collator in the Secretariat and magistrate of Nanchang County, then became assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Jiulong County before rising to director of the Palace Bureau.
35
眉州大姓孫延世偽為券奪族人田，久不能辨，轉運使使按治之。 頻視券墨浮朱上，曰：「是必先盜印然後書。」 既引伏，獄未上，而其家人復訴於轉運使，更命知華陽縣黃夢松覆按，無所異。 夢松用此入為監察御史，頻坐不時具獄，降監慶州酒，徙知長洲縣。
In Mei Prefecture, Sun Yanshi of a powerful clan forged a deed to seize a relative's land; the case had long gone unresolved until the transport commissioner dispatched him to investigate and adjudicate it. Examining the deed, Pin saw the ink floating above the vermilion seal and said, "The seal was surely stolen first and only then was the text written." He had already confessed, but before the dossier went up his kin appealed again to the transport commissioner; Huang Mengsong of Huayang was sent to review the case and reached the same conclusion. Mengsong won promotion to investigating censor on that basis, while Pin—faulted for not finishing the dossier on schedule—was demoted to supervise Qingzhou wine and later made magistrate of Changzhou County.
36
天禧初，增置諫官、御史十二人，頻以選得召對，稱旨，擢監察御史。 陳、亳間民訛言兵起，老幼皆奔，命安撫京西。 還，為三司度支判官。 青州麻士瑤殺從子溫裕，並其財，遣往按治，士瑤伏誅。 又詔鞫邛州牙校訟鹽井事。 皇城使劉美依倚后家受賕，使人市其獄，頻請捕繫，真宗以后故不問。 忤旨，出知宣州，改殿中侍御史，遷侍御史。
When Tianxi began and twelve new remonstrance posts and censorates were created, Pin was chosen, called to audience, pleased the throne, and was raised to investigating censor. Rumors of war ran between Chen and Bo, driving young and old into flight; he was ordered to pacify the Western Capital circuit. Back at court he judged cases in the Revenue Section of the Three Departments. At Qingzhou, Ma Shiyao murdered his nephew Wen Yu and took his estate; Pin was dispatched to investigate, and Shiyao was put to death. He was further ordered to hear the suit of Qiong Prefecture military clerks over salt-well rights. Imperial City commissioner Liu Mei, backed by the empress's family, took bribes and arranged to buy the case off; Pin repeatedly asked that he be seized, but the emperor, for the empress's sake, would not pursue it. Having offended the throne's intent, he was posted to Xuan Prefecture, then made palace attendant censor and promoted to attendant censor.
37
頻雅善丁謂，謂貶，左遷尚書比部員外郎、監饒州酒。 起知信州，進刑部員外郎、知福州。 王氏時，賦民官田，歲輸租稅而已。 至是，或謂鬻之可得緡錢二十餘萬，頻疏以為不可。 徙知潭州。 改廣西轉運使，擿宜州守貪暴不法，既罷去，反訟頻子許嘗被刑，而冒奏為秘書省校書郎，頻坐謫知饒州。 復入為度支判官，累遷刑部郎中。
Pin had long been close to Ding Wei; when Wei fell, Pin was demoted to yuanwailang in the Ministry of Justice and put in charge of Raozhou wine. He was recalled as prefect of Xin Prefecture and advanced to yuanwailang in the Ministry of Justice and prefect of Fu Prefecture. Under the Wang Shu regime the people paid annual rent on official fields and nothing more. Now some argued the fields could be sold for more than two hundred thousand strings of cash; Pin memorialized that this must not be done. He was transferred to prefect of Tan Prefecture. Made transport commissioner for Guangxi, he impeached the prefect of Yi for greed and lawlessness; after the prefect's removal he counter-sued, claiming Pin's son Xu had once been flogged yet was falsely entered as a Secretariat collator—Pin was demoted to prefect of Raozhou. He returned as Revenue Section judge and rose in succession to director in the Ministry of Justice.
38
使契丹，至紫濛館卒。 契丹遣內侍就館奠祭，命接伴副使吳克荷護其喪，以錦車駕橐駝載至中京，斂以銀飾棺，又具鼓吹羽葆，吏士持甲兵衛送至白溝。 詔遣其子訪乘傳扈其柩以歸。 訪，官三班奉職，即許也。
While on embassy to the Khitan he died at the Zimeng lodge. The Khitan sent a palace eunuch to mourn at the lodge, had deputy reception commissioner Wu Kehe escort the funeral, carried the coffin on a brocade cart with camels to the central capital, fitted a silver-trimmed coffin, supplied music and feather banners, and sent armored escorts to the Bai Gou border. The court ordered his son Fang to ride the express relay and escort the coffin home. Fang was a duty officer in the Three-Rank Court—that is, Xu.
39
陳琰，字伯玉，澶州臨河人。 進士及第，歷溧陽、欒城縣主簿，遷大理寺丞、監真定府稅，知金堂、夏津二縣。 再遷太常博士。 轉運使盧士倫，曹利用婿也，怙勢聽獄不以直，訟者不已，付琰評決，琰直之。 御史知雜韓億聞其事，奏為監察御史。 丁父喪，哀毀，墳木連理。 憂除，遷殿中侍御史。
Chen Yan, styled Boyu, was from Linhe in Chan Prefecture. A jinshi, he served as recorder of Liyang and Luancheng, became vice director in the Court of Judicial Review and supervisor of Zhending tax, and governed Jintang and Xiajin counties. He was again promoted to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Transport commissioner Lu Shilun, Cao Li'yong's son-in-law, used his backing to judge unfairly until litigants would not stop; Yan was assigned to decide and gave the plaintiff justice. Mixed-duty censor Han Yi heard of it and memorialized to make Yan investigating censor. During his father's mourning he was broken with grief; trees on the grave mound grew into one trunk. When mourning ended he was promoted to palace attendant censor.
40
天聖五年祀南郊，中外以為丁謂復還，琰上疏曰：「亂常肆逆，將而必誅，陰懷奸惡，有殺無赦。 丁謂因緣險佞，據竊公台。 賄賂包苴，盈於私室； 威權請謁，行彼公朝。 引巫師妖術，厭魅宮闈，易神寢龍岡，冀消王氣。 今禋柴展禮，渙汗推恩，必慮謂潛輸琛貨，私結要櫂，假息遐荒，冀移善地。 李德裕止因朋黨，不獲生還； 盧多遜曲事王藩，卒無牽復，請不原赦。」 帝然之。
In the fifth year of Tiansheng, as the southern suburbs sacrifice approached, court and country alike feared Ding Wei might return; Yan memorialized: "Whoever disorders the norms and acts wildly—when he is a general, execute him; whoever secretly harbors treachery—kill without pardon. Ding Wei, riding craft and treachery, usurped the public terrace. Bribes and bundles stuffed his private rooms; power and private petitions ran through the public court. He brought in shamans and witchcraft against the palace, and shifted the imperial tomb on Longgang hoping to drain the royal qi. Now, as the great suburban rite unfolds and grace is poured out in amnesty, we must fear Wei will secretly ship treasure, privately win over key men, and beg leave in the far wilds hoping for a softer posting. Li Deyu was halted only for faction and never came home alive; Lu Duoxun toadied to Prince of Fan and was never restored—do not include them in the pardon." The emperor agreed.
41
為三司度支判官，遷侍御史。 歷京西、河東、河北轉運副使，三司戶部、度支、鹽鐵副使。 汴倉納糧綱，槩量不實，操舟者坐亡失所載，或杖背徒重役。 琰始奏選官監視，謂之「定計斗面」。 積遷至尚書工部郎中，卒。
He judged the Revenue Section and was promoted to attendant censor. He served in turn as deputy transport commissioner on the Jingxi, Hedong, and Hebei circuits and as vice commissioner of the revenue, fiscal affairs, and salt and iron bureaus. At the Bian granary, grain convoys were measured falsely; boatmen were punished for short loads—some flogged or sent to heavy labor. Yan first memorialized appointing overseers for the measuring platform, calling the practice "fixed hoist-face reckoning." He rose to director in the Ministry of Works and died.
42
李宥，字仲嚴，唐之後裔，自吳徙青，遂為青人。
Li You, styled Zhongyan, was of Tang descent; his family moved from Wu to Qing and became Qing natives.
43
祖成，五代末，以詩酒遊公卿間，善摹寫山水，至得意處，疑非筆墨所成。 人欲求者，先為置酒，酒酣落筆，煙景萬狀，世傳以為寶。 父覺，見《儒林傳》。
His grandfather Cheng, in the late Five Dynasties, mingled with grandees through poetry and wine and excelled at landscape painting—at his best moments the work seemed beyond brush and ink. Whoever wanted a painting was first given wine; when he was drunk the brush fell, smoke and scenery multiplied, and the world treasured the results. His father Jue is treated in the "Confucian Scholars" biography.
44
宥幼孤，不好弄，長讀書屬文，不雜交遊。 舉進士，調火山軍判官。 入館校勘書籍，遷集賢校理，遂直院。 知蘄州，歲凶人散，委嬰孩而去者相屬於道。 宥令吏收取，計口給穀，俾營婦均養之，每旬閱視，所活甚眾。 或殺人，以米十石給傭者，使就獄，曰：「我重賄吏，爾必不死。」 宥得其情，論如法。
Orphaned young, You did not play as a boy; grown, he read and wrote and kept aloof from casual company. He passed the jinshi and became military legal officer of Huoshan Army. He collated books in the palace library, became collator of the Hall of Assembled Worthies, and served in the institute proper. As prefect of Qi, in a famine year people fled and left infants along the roads in unbroken lines. You had clerks gather them, ration grain by mouth, and set midwives to nurse them fairly; inspecting every ten days, he saved a great many lives. Some killers paid ten shi of rice to a hired man to enter the jail for them, saying, "I have bribed the clerks heavily—you will surely not die." You uncovered the truth and sentenced by law.
45
提點荊湖刑獄，權戶部判官，利州轉運使，判戶部勾院，知制誥，糾察在京刑獄，同判太常寺。 舊宗廟五饗，輔臣攝事，中廢且久，止差從官。 宥因對力言，遂復故事。 以諫議大夫知江寧府。 民有告人殺其子者，曰：「吾子去家時，巾若巾，今巾是矣。」 民自誣服。 宥疑，召問，卒伸其枉。 府舍火，宥畏兵亂，闔門不救，降秘書監致仕。 起分司南京，改太子賓客，判留司御史臺，卒。
He served as tariff commissioner for Jinghu criminal cases, acting Revenue judge, Lizhou transport commissioner, Revenue review judge, edict drafter, capital criminal investigator, and concurrent judge of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Once the five temple offerings were deputized by chief ministers; the practice had long lapsed, and only junior officials were sent. You argued the point forcefully in audience, and the old practice was restored. As remonstrance grandee he governed Jiangning Prefecture. A man accused another of killing his son, saying, "When my son left, his headcloth looked like this—and this is that cloth." The accused confessed on his own. You was doubtful, summoned him, questioned him, and at last cleared the wrong. When the prefectural offices burned, You—fearing disorder—shut his gate and did not fight the fire; he was demoted to supervising secretary and retired. He was recalled to the Southern Capital branch, made prince's guest, judged the capital Censorate, and died.
46
宥性清介，然與物無忤，好獎拔士人。 外族甚貧，宥有別業，以券畀之。 既死，家無餘財，官賜錢十萬。
You was upright yet easy with others, and loved to lift up scholars. His wife's kin were very poor; You gave them a separate estate by deed. He left no surplus wealth; the court granted one hundred thousand cash.
47
張秉，字孟節，歙州新安人。
Zhang Bing, styled Mojie, was from Xin'an in She Prefecture.
48
父諤，字昌言，南唐秘書丞、通判鄂州。 宋師南伐，與州將許昌裔叶議歸款，太祖召見，勞賜良厚，授右贊善大夫。 蜀平，選知閬州。 太平興國中，即除西川轉運副使。 先是，土人罕習舟楫，取峽江中競渡者給漕運役，覆溺常十四五。 諤建議置威棹軍分隸管勾，自是無覆舟之患。 累遷荊湖、江、浙等道制置茶鹽副使，卒。
His father E, styled Changyan, was a Southern Tang Secretariat director and vice prefect of E Prefecture. When Song armies marched south, he and the prefect's officer Xu Changyi agreed to surrender; Taizu received him, lavished rewards, and made him right supporter of the heir apparent. After Shu was pacified he was chosen prefect of Lang Prefecture. In the Taiping Xingguo era he was directly made deputy transport commissioner for Sichuan. Before this the people rarely used boats; gorge boat racers were pressed into transport duty, and fourteen or fifteen in ten were lost to drowning. E proposed the Weizhao Army under the transport office; after that the capsizing scourge ended. He rose to deputy tea-and-salt commissioner for the Jinghu, Jiang, and Zhe circuits and died.
49
秉舉進士，儀狀豐麗，屬詞敏速，善書翰，太宗喜之，擢置甲科。 解褐將作監丞、通判宣州。 遷監察御史，深為宰相趙普所器，以弟之子妻之。 會有薦其才，得知鄭州。 召還，直昭文館，遷右司諫。 會以趙昌言為制置茶鹽使，秉與薛映副之。 入為右計司河南西道判官，俄換鹽鐵判官、度支員外郎、知制誥、判吏部銓、知審官院。 唐朝故事，南省首曹罕兼掌誥，多退為行內諸曹郎。 至是，用此制，其後進改，多優遷首曹，遂隳舊制矣。 遷工部郎中，依前知制誥。
Bing passed the jinshi—handsome, quick with words, skilled at calligraphy; Taizong favored him and placed him in the top grade. On entering service he was works vice director and vice prefect of Xuan Prefecture. Promoted investigating censor, he won deep regard from Zhao Pu, who gave him his younger brother's daughter in marriage. Recommended for talent, he became prefect of Zheng Prefecture. Recalled, he served in the Hall of Illustrious Literature and was made remonstrance in the right bureau. When Zhao Changyan became tea and salt commissioner, Bing and Xue Ying served as his deputies. He entered as judge of the Henan and Western Roads accounts, soon became salt and iron judge, Revenue yuanwailang, edict drafter, appointments judge, and director of the Bureau for Review of Appointments. Tang custom held that the southern secretariat's chief posts rarely doubled as edict drafters; many stepped back to routine inner posts. This rule was applied—later promotions favored the chief posts, and the old system collapsed. He was promoted to director in the Ministry of Works while still drafting edicts.
50
真宗嗣位，進秩兵部郎中、判昭文館。 時草敘用官制，有「頃因微累，謫於遐荒」之語，上覽之曰：「若此，則是先朝失刑矣。」 遂除秉左諫議大夫，連知潁、襄二州。 徙鳳翔府，訴以母老貧窶，詔給裝錢，未行，改江陵。 丁母憂，起復，知河南府。 景德初，徙河陽，換澶州。 車駕將幸河上，又徙知滑州。 道出韋城，秉迎謁境上，俾預從官侍食； 遣與齊州馬應昌、濮州張晟往來河上，部丁夫鑿淩，以防契丹南渡。
When Zhenzong succeeded, he was advanced to langzhong in the Ministry of War and judged the Hall of Illustrious Literature. Drafting an appointment, he used the phrase "recently, for a minor fault, demoted to a distant post"; the emperor read it and said, "Then the previous reign punished unjustly." Bing was made left remonstrance grandee and governed Ying and Xiang prefectures in succession. Moved to Fengxiang, he pleaded that his mother was old and poor; the court granted travel funds, but before he left he was reassigned to Jiangling. Recalled from mourning for his mother, he became prefect of Henan Prefecture. Early in Jingde he was moved to Heyang, then exchanged to Chan Prefecture. When the imperial carriage was to travel to the Yellow River he was again made prefect of Hua Prefecture. Passing Weicheng, Bing met the emperor at the border, was ranked among attendant officials, and shared the meal; he was sent with Ma Yingchang of Qi and Zhang Sheng of Pu to work the Yellow River, dredging the Ling canal against a Khitan crossing south.
51
召歸闕，復判吏部銓，拜工部侍郎、同知審官院、通進銀臺司，糾察在京刑獄。 復與周起同試東封路服勤辭學、經明行修舉人。 出知永興軍府，會祀汾陰，為東京留守判官，轉禮部侍郎，加樞密直學士，復知幷州。 將行，懇求御詩為餞，上為作五言賜之。 徙相州。 九年，復糾察在京刑獄，暴疾卒。
Recalled, he again judged appointments, became vice minister of works, concurrent director of the Bureau for Review of Appointments, Silver Terrace commissioner, and capital criminal investigator. Again with Zhou Qi he examined candidates in route service, classical learning, and the "illustrious learning and clear conduct" category for the eastern march. Sent to Yongxing Army, at the Fenyin sacrifice he was Eastern Capital retention judge, made vice minister of rites, added academician of the Palace Secretariat, and again prefect of Bing Prefecture. Before leaving he begged a parting poem; the emperor wrote a pentasyllabic piece and granted it. He was moved to Xiang Prefecture. In the ninth year he again investigated capital criminal cases and died suddenly.
52
秉典藩府，無顯赫譽，及再至太原，臨事少斷，多與賓佐博弈。 雖久踐中外，然無儀檢，好諧戲，人不以宿素稱之。 好飭衣服，潔饌具，每公宴及朋友家集會，多自挈肴膳而往。 家甚貧，常質衣以給費焉。
Bing governed border prefectures without great renown; at Taiyuan a second time he decided slowly and often gambled with guests. Though long in inner and outer posts, he lacked decorum, loved banter, and men did not honor him as a seasoned statesman. He took care to dress well and keep his tableware spotless, and at official banquets or friends' gatherings he usually arrived bearing his own food. His household was destitute, and he regularly pawned garments to cover the cost.
53
張擇行
Zhang Zhaixing — Biography
54
張擇行，字行先，青州益都人。 進士起家，歷北海、臨沂主簿，自宣州觀察推官為大理寺丞。 初，石亭縣掾檄將陵塞決河，眾欲登舟以濟，擇行獨以為不可，皆笑其怯。 既而舟果覆，擇行坐堤上董役，埽卒不潰。
Zhang Zhaixing, styled Xingxian, was a native of Yidu in Qing Prefecture. He entered government through the jinshi examination, served as registrar of Beihai and Linyi in turn, and was promoted from investigating censor in Xu Prefecture to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review. When the Shiting county clerk was ordered to lead laborers to seal a breach on the Jiangling river, everyone wanted to cross by boat; Zhaixing alone objected, and the rest mocked his cowardice. The boats soon capsized as he had forewarned. Zhaixing remained on the embankment directing the work, and the dike-repair crews held firm.
55
除監察御史、殿中侍御史，改言事御史、右司諫。 與唐介、包拯共論張堯佐除節度、宣徽兩使不當，語甚切。 又論河北兵多、財不足，願分兵就食內地，不報。 遷侍御史知雜事，擢天章閣待制、知諫院，累遷吏部員外郎。 御史皆言宰相陳執中嬖妾笞小婢，死外舍。 擇行以為主命妾笞婢，於律不當坐，御史固迫之，因中風不能語。 除戶部郎中、集賢殿修撰，提舉兗州仙源縣景靈宮，逾年而卒。
He was made supervising censor and palace attendant censor, then remonstrance censor and right remonstrance officer in the Censorship Bureau. He joined Tang Jie and Bao Zheng in pressing the court over Zhang Yaozuo's improper double appointment as military commissioner and commissioner of the Palace Accounts, speaking with unusual sharpness. He further urged that Hebei's army was too large for its treasury, proposing that troops be redeployed inland for provisioning, but received no reply. He was promoted to supervising censor with concurrent miscellaneous duties, made Hanlin attendant at the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and director of the Remonstrance Bureau, and rose in due course to vice director in the Ministry of Personnel. The censorate charged that Chief Councilor Chen Zhizhong's favorite concubine had beaten a maid to death at an outlying residence. Zhaixing argued that when a master ordered a concubine to punish a maid, the master bore no legal guilt; the censors pressed him relentlessly, and he suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak. He was made director in the Ministry of Revenue and compiler at the Hall for Worthies, placed in charge of the Jingling Palace at Xianyuan in Yan Prefecture, and died a little over a year later.
56
鄭向，字公明，開封陳留人。 舉進士中甲科，為大理評事、通判蔡州，累遷尚書屯田員外郎、知濠州，徙蔡州。 召試集賢院，未幾，除三司戶部判官，修起居注。 遷度支員外郎，為鹽鐵判官。 出為兩浙轉運副使，疏潤州蒜山漕河抵於江，人以為便。 復為鹽鐵判官，擢知制誥、同勾當三班院。 使契丹，再遷兵部郎中、提點諸司庫務，以龍圖閣直學士知杭州，卒。
Zheng Xiang, styled Gongming, was a native of Chenliu in Kaifeng. He passed the jinshi examination in the top grade, became reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review and military prefect of Cai Prefecture, rose in turn to vice director in the Ministry of Public Works and prefect of Hao Prefecture, and was then transferred back to Cai Prefecture. He was summoned for examination at the Hall for Worthies and, shortly afterward, appointed third-rank accountant in the Ministry of Revenue and compiler of the Veritable Records. He was promoted to vice director in the Bureau of Budget and appointed aide to the salt and iron commissioner. As deputy transport commissioner of the Two Zhes, he dredged the Suanshan canal at Run Prefecture to link it with the river, to the great convenience of the people. He again served as salt and iron commissioner aide, then was promoted to draft edicts and concurrently manage the Three-Battalion Bureau. He served as envoy to the Khitan, was twice promoted to director in the Ministry of War and commissioner of the various government treasuries, governed Hang Prefecture as Hanlin academician at the Hall of Dragon Designs, and died in office.
57
五代亂亡，史冊多漏失，向著《開皇紀》三十卷，摭拾遺事，頗有補焉。
After the turmoil and fall of the Five Dynasties, many gaps had opened in the historical record; Xiang wrote the Records of the Kaihuang in thirty juan, recovering lost episodes and usefully filling those gaps.
58
郭稹，字仲微，開封祥符人。 世寓鄭州，舉進士中甲科，為河南縣主簿。 除國子監直講，議者以其資淺，罷還河南。 時孫奭、馮元判監事，因奏稹學問通博，他選莫能及，乃得留。 居二歲，陳堯諮知大名，辟簽書府判官事，改大理寺丞。 奭等復薦為直講。 奭出知兗州，又薦稹與賈昌朝赴中書試講說，而稹固辭。 召試學士院，為集賢校理。 馮元知河陽，辟為通判，徙通判河南府。 入為三司度支、戶部判官，累遷尚書刑部員外郎，同修起居注。
Guo Zhen, styled Zhongwei, was a native of Xiangfu in Kaifeng. His family had long lived in Zheng Prefecture; he passed the jinshi examination in the top grade and was appointed registrar of Henan County. He was appointed lecturer at the Directorate of Education, but critics judged his credentials too slight, and he was removed and sent back to Henan. Sun Shi and Feng Yuan were then overseeing the directorate; they memorialized that Zhen's erudition surpassed every other candidate, and he was permitted to stay. Two years later, when Chen Yaozi became prefect of Daming, he recruited Zhen as signing secretary and military judge; Zhen was then promoted to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review. Sun and his colleagues again recommended him for the lectureship. When Sun left to govern Yan Prefecture, he again recommended Zhen and Jia Changchao to the Secretariat for a trial lecture, but Zhen steadfastly refused. He was summoned for examination at the Academy and appointed collator at the Hall for Worthies. When Feng Yuan governed Heyang, he recruited Zhen as military prefect; Zhen was later transferred to the same post in Henan Prefecture. He entered the capital as third-rank aide in the Bureau of Budget and Ministry of Revenue, rose in turn to vice director in the Ministry of Justice, and concurrently helped compile the Veritable Records.
59
康定元年使契丹，告用兵西鄙。 契丹厚禮之，與同出觀獵，延稹射。 稹一發中走兔，眾皆愕視，契丹主遺以所乘馬及他物甚厚。 既還，轉兵部，知制誥，判吏部流內銓，擢龍圖閣直學士、權知開封府。 暴感風眩卒。
In the first year of the Kangding era he went as envoy to the Khitan and notified them that the court was waging war on the western frontier. The Khitan received him with great honor, took him out to watch a hunt, and invited Zhen to shoot. Zhen brought down a running hare with a single shot, to everyone's astonishment; the Khitan ruler gave him the horse he had been riding and many other lavish gifts. On his return he moved to the Ministry of War, took charge of drafting edicts and judging the Ministry of Personnel's roster examinations, and was promoted to Hanlin academician at the Hall of Dragon Designs with acting authority over Kaifeng Prefecture. He died suddenly of vertigo.
60
稹性和易，文思敏贍，尤刻意於賦，好用經語對，頗近於諧。 聚古書畫，不計其貲購求之。 婦張悍嫉，無子。 初，稹幼孤，母邊更嫁王氏，既而母亡，稹解官服喪。 知禮院宋祁言稹服喪為過禮，詔下有司博議，用馮元等奏，聽解官申心喪，語在《禮志》。
Zhen was affable by nature, quick and prolific in composition, and especially devoted to fu; he liked to pair lines with classical allusions in a style verging on the playful. He amassed antique books and paintings, sparing no expense to acquire them. His wife, née Zhang, was domineering and jealous, and they had no children. Zhen had lost his father in childhood; his mother, née Bian, later remarried into the Wang family. When she died, Zhen resigned his post to mourn her. Song Qi of the Ritual Academy argued that Zhen's mourning went beyond proper ritual; the emperor ordered the relevant offices to debate the matter broadly, and following the memorial of Feng Yuan and others, Zhen was permitted to resign and observe inner mourning—the full account appears in the Treatise on Ritual.
61
論曰：肅之守邢，以贏兵卻敵，開門納避難之民，功在王府。 元方為幷州，有勤留之命，其宜民可知。 宥在蘄，則活饑氓； 在江寧，則直冤獄。 吏之良者歟！ 然皆不能無小累也。 日嚴、行簡臨政，視秉、擇行、向、稹雖無瑕可指，亦皆無赫赫名。 詢以厚呂夷簡，復致貴顯； 瑊、頻坐善丁謂，並遭斥謫，固無足議者。 琰言謂奸邪，不當用南郊恩牽復，與唐袁高論執盧杞正相類，識者韙之。
The commentary observes: In holding Xing with a depleted force, Su drove back the enemy and opened the gates to refugees—service that redounded to the throne's credit. When Yuanfang governed Bing Prefecture, the court repeatedly urged him to remain in office—a sign of how well he served the people. At Qi, You kept starving commoners alive; at Jiangning, he set right wrongful convictions. Truly they were model officials! Yet none of them was entirely free of minor blemishes. Riyan and Xingjian held office alongside Bing, Zhaixing, Xiang, and Zhen; though none of these men had a fault that could be named, none won towering renown either. Xun stood in close friendship with Lü Yijian and again rose to wealth and rank; Jian and Pin, both closely tied to Ding Wei, were dismissed and banished together—men scarcely worth further comment. Yan declared that Wei was wicked and should not be restored through the southern-suburbs amnesty—a stand much like Tang Yuan Gao's refusal to reinstate Lu Qi, which discerning men applauded.
62
趙賀，字餘慶，開封封邱人。 少時，嘗喪明，久之，遇異醫輒愈。 喜飲酒，至終日不亂。 事繼母至孝。 舉《毛詩》及第，補臨朐縣主簿。 賀有幹力，知州寇準且知賀。 淳化中，調丁壯塞澶州決河，眾多逸去，獨賀全所部而歸。 臨朐父老張樂迎賀，準使由譙門過，曰：「旌賀之能也。」 改大理評事。 鹽池吏欺緡錢，選賀往解州鉤校出入，賀悉得其奸。
Zhao He, styled Yuqing, was a native of Fengqiu in Kaifeng. As a youth he once went blind; long afterward he met an extraordinary physician and was promptly cured. He loved wine and could drink all day without losing his composure. He showed the utmost filial devotion to his stepmother. He passed the examination in the Mao Shi and was appointed registrar of Linqu County. He was capable and forceful, and Prefect Kou Zhun knew and valued him. During the Chunhua era, when able-bodied men were conscripted to seal a breach on the Chany river, many deserted, but He alone brought his entire unit back intact. The elders of Linqu, Zhang and Yue, came out to welcome He; Zhun had him pass through the Qiao Gate, saying, "This is to honor He's ability." He was then promoted to reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review. When salt-pond clerks embezzled funds, He was sent to Jie Prefecture to audit receipts and disbursements and exposed every fraud.
63
契丹入寇，真宗決策澶淵，遣使八人省州縣，賀以太子中舍安撫京東。 改殿中丞，歷通判明州、宿州。 徙知漢州，蜀吏喜弄法，而賀精明，吏不敢欺，事更賀所，多被究詰，人目為「趙家關」，謂如關梁不可越也。
When the Khitan invaded and Emperor Zhenzong resolved on Chanyuan, he sent eight envoys to inspect prefectures and counties; He, as Grand Palace Steward, was charged with pacifying the eastern Capital Region. He was promoted to palace aide and served in turn as military prefect of Ming and Su prefectures. Transferred to Han Prefecture, he found Shu officials adept at twisting the law, but He was sharp-eyed and they dared not deceive him; cases that reached his desk were rigorously examined, and people nicknamed his office the "Zhao Family Pass," as impassable as a frontier barrier.
64
召權三司戶部判官，真補度支判官，出為京東轉運副使，徙京西。 又徙益州路轉運使，尋糾察在京刑獄，累遷尚書工部郎中、提舉諸司庫務，為江淮制置發運使。 發運司占隸三司軍將，分部漕船，舊皆由主吏白遣，受賕不平，或數得詣富饒郡，因以商販，貧者至不能堪其役。 賀乃籍諸州物產厚薄，分劇易為三等，視其功過自裁定，由是吏巧不得施，歲漕米溢常數一百七十萬。
He was summoned to serve as acting third-rank aide in the Ministry of Revenue, then formally appointed budget commissioner aide, sent out as deputy transport commissioner of the eastern Capital Region, and later transferred to the western Capital Region. He was next transferred to transport commissioner of Yizhou Circuit, then assigned to investigate capital criminal cases, rose in turn to director in the Ministry of Works and commissioner of the various government treasuries, and was made fiscal commissioner for the Huai and Yangzi region. The Fiscal Commission relied on army officers attached to the Three Departments to assign grain boats; formerly the chief clerks dispatched them on their own authority, taking bribes and showing favoritism—some men repeatedly won rich prefectures and turned to private trade, while the poor could barely endure the service. He registered each prefecture's resources as abundant or scarce, ranked routes into three grades of difficulty, and assigned duties according to merit and fault at his own discretion; clerks could no longer manipulate the system, and annual grain shipments exceeded the usual quota by 1.7 million.
65
蘇州太湖塘岸壞，及並海支渠多湮廢，水侵民田。 詔賀與兩浙轉運使徐奭兼領其事，伐石築堤，浚積潦，自吳江東赴海。 流民歸占者二萬六千戶，歲出苗租三十萬。 遷刑部郎中，歷三司戶部、度支、鹽鐵副使，知延、同、秦三州、江陵府，累遷光祿卿，入判大理寺，以右諫議大夫知永興軍，徙鄧州，歲餘，判宗正寺，出知越州。 坐失舉，降知濠州，改廬州。 遷給事中，復判宗正寺，知鄭、蔡、壽三州，卒。
The Lake Tai embankment at Suzhou collapsed, and many coastal branch canals silted up, letting floodwater overrun farmland. The emperor ordered He and Xu Yi, transport commissioner of the Two Zhes, jointly to take charge: quarry stone and build dikes, dredge the backlog of floodwater, and open a channel east from Wujiang to the sea. Twenty-six thousand refugee households returned to reclaim land, yielding 300,000 in annual seed and rent. He was promoted to director in the Ministry of Justice, served in turn as deputy commissioner in the Ministry of Revenue, Bureau of Budget, and Salt and Iron, governed Yan, Tong, and Qin prefectures and Jiangling Prefecture, rose to Chamberlain for Imperial Sacrifices, judged the Court of Judicial Review, governed Yongxing Army as Right Remonstrance Grandee, moved to Deng Prefecture, and after a year judged the Court of Imperial Clan before taking office as prefect of Yue Prefecture. Punished for a faulty recommendation, he was demoted to prefect of Hao Prefecture and then transferred to Lu Prefecture. He was promoted to supervising censor, again judged the Court of Imperial Clan, governed Zheng, Cai, and Shou prefectures in turn, and died.
66
在臨朐時，用轉運使李中庸薦改官。 中庸沒，無子，賀為主葬，圖其象，歲時祠於家。 子：宗道，終集賢校理。
While serving in Linqu he changed rank on the recommendation of transport commissioner Li Zhongyong. When Zhongyong died childless, He led the funeral, had his portrait painted, and offered sacrifices to him at home every year. His son Zongdao ended his career as collator at the Hall for Worthies.
67
高覿，字會之，宿州蘄人。 進士起家，為嘉興縣主簿。 後以孫奭薦，改秘書省著作佐郎，累遷尚書屯田員外郎、通判泗州。 詔定淮南場茶法，覿陳說利害，不報。 擢提點利州路刑獄，召為三司戶部判官，安撫河北。 還，為京西轉運使。 徙益州。 彭州廣磧、麗水二峽地出金，宦者挾富人請置場，募人夫采取之。 覿曰：「聚眾山谷間，與夷獠雜處，非遠方所宜，且得不償失。」 奏罷之。 王蒙正恃章獻太后親，多占田嘉州，詔勿收賦，覿又極論其不可。 坐失察嘉州守張約受賕，貶通判杭州，徙知福州。 入為三司鹽鐵判官，歷陝西、河北轉運使，累遷兵部郎中，復入戶部、鹽鐵為副使，遷右諫議大夫、河東都轉運使，加集賢院學士，判尚書刑部，進給事中、知單州，卒。
Gao Di, styled Huizhi, was a native of Qi in Su Prefecture. He entered government through the jinshi examination and was appointed registrar of Jiaxing County. Later, on Sun Shi's recommendation, he became assistant compiler in the Secretariat, rose in turn to vice director in the Ministry of Public Works, and served as military prefect of Si Prefecture. When ordered to establish the Huainan market tea law, Di laid out its advantages and drawbacks, but received no reply. He was promoted to oversee criminal cases in Lizhou Circuit, summoned as third-rank aide in the Ministry of Revenue, and charged with pacifying Hebei. On his return he was appointed transport commissioner of the western Capital Region. He was transferred to Yizhou. Gold was found in the Guangqi and Lishui gorges of Peng Prefecture; eunuchs backed by wealthy men petitioned to open a mining field and conscript laborers to extract the ore. Di said, "Massing people in mountain valleys among the Yi and Liao is unsuitable for a frontier province, and the gains would not repay the cost." He memorialized to have the project canceled. Wang Mengzheng, relying on kinship with Empress Zhangxian, seized large tracts in Jia Prefecture; when an edict exempted him from tax, Di again argued forcefully that this was impermissible. Punished for failing to detect that Jia Prefecture prefect Zhang Yue had taken bribes, he was demoted to military prefect of Hang Prefecture and later transferred to govern Fu Prefecture. He returned to the capital as third-rank salt and iron commissioner aide, served as transport commissioner in Shaanxi and Hebei, rose to director in the Ministry of War, again served as deputy commissioner in the Ministry of Revenue and Salt and Iron, became Right Remonstrance Grandee and transport commissioner of eastern Shanxi, was made academician of the Hall for Worthies and judge of the Ministry of Justice, advanced to supervising censor and prefect of Shan Prefecture, and died.
68
子：秉常，為梓州路轉運使。
His son Bingchang served as transport commissioner of Zizhou Circuit.
69
袁抗，字立之，洪州南昌人。 舉進士，得同學究出身，調陽朔縣主簿，薦補桂州司法參軍。 撫水蠻寇融州，轉運使俞獻可檄抗權融州推官，督兵糧與謀軍事。 蠻治舟且至，抗即楊梅、石門兩隘建水柵二，據其衝，賊不得入，後因置戍不廢。 事平，特遷衡州推官，改大理寺丞，累遷國子博士、知南安軍，擢提點廣南東路刑獄。 浙東叛卒鄂鄰鈔閩、越，轉南海，與廣州兵逆戰海中。 值大風，有告鄰溺死者，抗獨曰：「是日風勢趣占城，鄰未必死。」 後果得鄰於占城。
Yuan Kang, styled Lizhi, was a native of Nanchang in Hong Prefecture. He passed the jinshi examination with the rank of fellow classicist, was appointed registrar of Yangshuo County, and was recommended to serve as judicial aide in Guizhou. When Fushui tribesmen raided Rong Prefecture, transport commissioner Yu Xianké ordered Kang to serve as acting investigating officer in Rong Prefecture, supervising troops and grain and advising on military affairs. As the tribesmen were building boats and about to arrive, Kang promptly erected two water palisades at the Yangmei and Shimen passes, blocking the crossings; the raiders could not break through, and the garrison he established remained in place thereafter. When the crisis ended he received special promotion to investigating officer in Heng Prefecture, then vice director of the Court of Judicial Review, rose in turn to erudite of the Directorate of Education and prefect of Nan'an Army, and was made overseer of criminal cases in Guangnandong Circuit. Mutinous soldiers from eastern Zhe led by E Lin raided Fujian and Zhejiang, turned south along the coast, and met Guangzhou troops in battle at sea. A great storm arose, and someone reported that Lin had drowned; Kang alone said, "That day the wind was driving toward Champa—Lin may not be dead." Later Lin was indeed found at Champa.
70
還為度支三司判官，以尚書金部員外郎為梓州路轉運使，徙益州路。 時三司歲市上供綾錦、鹿胎萬二千匹，抗言：「蜀民困憊，願少紓其力，以備秦中他日之用。」 是年郊祀，蠲其數之半。 黎州歲售蠻馬，詔擇不任戰者卻之。 抗奏：「朝廷與蠻夷互市，非所以取利也。 今山前後五部落仰此為衣食，一旦失利侵侮，不知費直幾馬也。 臣念蜀久安，不敢奉詔。」 尋如舊制。 除江淮發運使，召為三司鹽鐵副使。 時抗老矣，為御史所劾，罷知宣州。 累遷光祿少卿，分司南京。 明堂覃恩，改少府監，卒。
He returned to serve as a revenue magistrate in the Three Departments; as Vice Director of the Bureau of Gold in the Ministry of Revenue he was made transport commissioner of Zizhou Circuit, then transferred to Yizhou Circuit. At that time the Three Departments each year purchased twelve thousand bolts of tribute silk and lu-tai for the court; Kang said, "The people of Shu are exhausted and wearied; I wish to ease their burden somewhat so as to reserve strength for Qinzhong's needs on a future day." That year at the suburban sacrifice, half the quota was remitted. Each year Lí Prefecture sold barbarian horses; an edict ordered that those unfit for battle be rejected and sent back. Kang memorialized, "The court trades with the barbarians not in order to profit from it. Now the five tribes before and behind the mountains depend on this trade for food and clothing; if they suddenly lose this benefit and turn to raiding, who knows how many horses' worth the cost will be? Your subject considers that Shu has long enjoyed peace and dares not obey the edict." Before long the previous regulations were restored. He was appointed Huaijiang transport commissioner, then summoned to serve as vice commissioner for the Salt and Iron Monopoly in the Three Departments. By then Kang was old; censorial officials impeached him, and he was dismissed from his post as prefect of Xuanzhou. He rose in successive posts to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and served in the Nanjing branch office. At the Hall of Brightness universal amnesty he was made Director of the Palace Ateliers, and died.
71
抗喜藏書，至萬卷，江西士大夫家鮮及也。 抗子陟，少刻厲好學，善為詩，終殿中丞。
Kang loved collecting books and amassed as many as ten thousand volumes—few scholar-official families in Jiangxi could match him. Kang's son Zhi was from youth austere and earnest in learning, skilled at poetry, and ended his career as Court Gentleman for Attendance.
72
徐起，字豫之，濮州鄄城人。 舉進士，試秘書省校書郎、知隰川縣，積官尚書都官員外、知楚州。 樞密直學士張宗象薦之，擢提點廣南西路刑獄。 入判三司開拆司，歷開封、三司度支判官。 館伴契丹使，還奏：「所過州縣，使者既去，官吏將校皆出郊旅賀，燕飲久之，城邑為之空。」 乃下約束禁止之。 出為荊湖北路轉運使，部有戍卒殺人繫獄，其徒欲劫之。 起聞，亟往按誅之，分其徒隸他州。
Xu Qi, styled Yuzhi, came from Juancheng in Puzhou. He passed the jinshi examination, served as proofreader in the Secretariat and magistrate of Xichuan County, and rose through posts to Vice Director of the Bureau of Punishments and prefect of Chuzhou. Privy Council academician Zhang Zongxiang recommended him, and he was promoted to oversee criminal cases on the Western Guangnan Circuit. He entered to serve as magistrate in the Three Departments' opening-and-inspection office, then served as magistrate in Kaifeng and in the Three Departments' revenue section. Serving as host to the Khitan envoys, on his return he memorialized, "In every prefecture and county they passed through, once the envoys had left, officials, clerks, and commanders all went out to the suburbs in procession to congratulate one another and feasted at length—the towns were left empty." Regulations were then issued forbidding this. Sent out as transport commissioner of Jinghu North Circuit, he found that a garrison soldier who had killed a man was imprisoned and his comrades planned to raid the jail to free him. On hearing this Qi went at once, investigated, and executed the man, then reassigned his comrades to other prefectures.
73
徙江西，知徐州，就為轉運使。 募富室得米十七萬斛，振餓殍，又移粟以贍河北、京西者，凡三百萬。 與安撫使劉夔不相能，徙京西。 又徙江東，起請開長淮舊浦，以便漕運。 知洪州，徙兗州。 有都巡檢虐所部，而部兵百餘人持兵至庭下。 州人大恐，起不為動，以禍福開諭之，眾感泣聽命。 因按致其首，奏罷都巡檢。 復為度支判官，累遷秘書監、知湖州，卒。
Transferred to Jiangxi, he was appointed prefect of Xuzhou and then made transport commissioner there. He enlisted wealthy households and obtained one hundred seventy thousand hu of grain to relieve the starving dead and dying, and also moved grain to support those in Hebei and Jingxi, totaling three million. He did not get along with the pacification commissioner Liu Kui and was transferred to Jingxi. Transferred again to Jiangdong, Qi requested reopening the old channels of the Long Huai to facilitate grain transport. Appointed prefect of Hongzhou, he was then transferred to Yanzhou. A district inspector mistreated those under his command, and more than a hundred soldiers in his unit came armed to the courtyard. The people of the prefecture were greatly alarmed; Qi did not stir, but spoke to them of fortune and calamity until they wept and submitted. He then investigated and brought the ringleader to justice and memorialized to dismiss the district inspector. Again appointed revenue magistrate, he rose to Director of the Secretariat and prefect of Huzhou, and died.
74
張旨，字仲微，懷州河內人。 父延嘉，頗讀書，不願仕，州上其行，賜號「嵩山處士」。 旨進保定軍司法參軍，上書轉運使鍾離瑾，願補一縣尉，捕劇賊以自效。 瑾壯其請，為奏徙安平尉，前後捕盜二百餘人。 嘗與賊鬥，流矢中臂，不顧，猶手殺數十人。 擢試秘書省校書郎、知遂城縣，遷著作佐郎。
Zhang Zhi, styled Zhongwei, came from Heyin in Huaizhou. His father Yanjia read extensively but refused office; the prefecture reported his conduct, and he was granted the title "Hermit of Mount Song." Zhi advanced to judicial aide in Baoding Army; he wrote the transport commissioner Zhongli Jin offering to fill a county captaincy and capture notorious bandits to prove his worth. Jin admired his petition and memorialized to transfer him to Anping as captain; before and after he captured more than two hundred robbers. Once in fighting bandits a stray arrow struck his arm; ignoring it, he still killed several dozen men by hand. Promoted by special examination to proofreader in the Secretariat and magistrate of Suicheng County, he was then moved to assistant compiler.
75
明道中，淮南饑，自詣宰相陳救禦之策。 命知安豐縣，大募富民輸粟，以給餓者。 既而浚渒河三十里，疏泄支流注芍陂，為斗門，溉田數萬頃，外築堤以備水患。 再遷太常博士、知尉氏縣，徙通判忻州。
In the Mingdao era, when Huainan suffered famine, he went on his own to the chief ministers to set forth plans for relief. Ordered to serve as magistrate of Anfeng County, he widely enlisted rich households to contribute grain to feed the starving. Thereafter he dredged the Bei River for thirty li, opened tributary channels to pour into Shao Marsh, built sluice gates, irrigated tens of thousands of qing of fields, and raised outer dikes against flooding. Promoted again to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and magistrate of Weishi County, he was then transferred as vice-prefect of Xinzhou.
76
元昊反，特遷尚書屯田員外郎、通判府州。 州依山無外城，旨將築之，州將曰：「吾州據險，敵必不來。」 旨不聽。 城垂就，寇大至，乃聯巨木補其罅，守以強弩。 中外不相聞者累日，人心震恐。 庫有雜彩數千段，旨矯詔賜守城卒，卒皆東望呼萬歲，賊疑以救至也。 州無井，民取河水以飲，賊斷其路。 旨夜開門，率兵擊賊小卻，以官軍壁兩旁，使民出汲。 復以渠泥覆積草，賊望見，以為水有餘。 督居民乘城力戰，賊死傷者眾，隨解去。 以功遷都官員外郎，徙知萊州。
When Yuan Hao rebelled, he received exceptional promotion to Vice Director of the Bureau of State Farms in the Ministry of Works and vice-prefect of Fuzhou. The prefecture leaned against the mountains and had no outer wall; Zhi intended to build one, but the military commander said, "Our prefecture holds the heights—the enemy will surely not come." Zhi paid him no heed. The wall was nearly complete when the enemy came in force; he lashed great timbers into the breaches and held them off with heavy crossbows. Inside and outside the city had no word of each other for many days, and hearts shook with terror. The storehouse held several thousand bolts of variegated silk; Zhi forged an edict granting them to the defenders, who all looked east shouting "Ten thousand years!"—the enemy suspected relief had arrived. The prefecture had no wells; the people drew river water to drink, but the enemy cut off the route. Zhi opened the gates by night, led troops to strike the enemy back a little, and posted government soldiers on both flanks so the people could go out to draw water. He also spread ditch mud over heaps of grass so that, seen from afar, the enemy took the supply of water to be ample. He urged the residents to fight from the walls with all their strength; many of the enemy were killed or wounded, and they soon withdrew. For his merit he was promoted to Vice Director of the Bureau of Punishments and transferred to serve as prefect of Laizhou.
77
葉清臣舉材堪將帥，召對，改知邢州，擢提點河東路刑獄。 范仲淹、歐陽修復言其鷙武有謀略，除閤門使，固辭。 進工部郎中、知鳳翔府，加直史館、知梓州，以直龍圖閣知荊南。 入判尚書刑部，累遷光祿卿，知潞、晉二州。 以老疾，權判西京御史臺，尋卒。
Ye Qingchen recommended his talent as fit for command; summoned for audience, he was changed to prefect of Xingzhou and promoted to oversee criminal cases on the Hedong Circuit. Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu again said he was fierce in war and possessed strategy; he was appointed Gate Commissioner but firmly declined. Advanced to director in the Ministry of Works and prefect of Fengxiang, added as compiler in the Historical Archives and prefect of Zizhou, then served as prefect of Jingnan with the rank of Direct Compiler in the Dragon Diagram Hall. He entered to serve as magistrate in the Ministry of Justice, rose to Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and governed Lu and Jin prefectures. Due to age and illness he was given provisional charge of the Western Capital Censorate and soon died.
78
齊廓，字公辟，越州會稽人。 舉進士第，自梧州推官累遷太常博士、知審刑詳議官，知通、泰州。 提點荊湖南路刑獄。 潭州鞫繫囚七人為強盜，當論死。 廓訊得其狀非強，付州使劾正，乃悉免死。 平陽縣自馬氏時稅民丁錢，歲輸銀二萬八千兩，民生子，至壯不敢束髮，廓奏蠲除之。 歷三司度支、開封府判官，出為江西、淮南轉運使。 時初兼按察，同時奉使者，競為苛刻邀聲名，獨廓奉法如平時，人以為長厚。 入判鹽鐵勾院，加史館、知荊南府，徙明、舒、湖三州，積官光祿卿、直秘閣，以疾分司南京，改秘書監，卒。
Qi Kuo, styled Gongbi, came from Kuaiji in Yuezhou. He passed the jinshi examination, rising from investigating officer in Wuzhou through posts to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and reviewing officer in the Court of Judicial Review, and served as prefect of Tong and Taizhou. He oversaw criminal cases on the Southern Hunan Circuit. At Tanzhou seven prisoners under interrogation had been charged as armed robbers and sentenced to death. Kuo examined them and found the facts did not support robbery; he handed them back to the prefecture for reinvestigation, and all were spared death. Pingyang County since the Ma clan era taxed households per male child, delivering twenty-eight thousand taels of silver each year; when common people had sons they did not dare bind their hair even when grown—Kuo memorialized to abolish the tax. He served as magistrate in the Three Departments revenue section and in the Kaifeng prefecture office, then went out as transport commissioner of Jiangxi and Huainan. When commissioners first combined transport with inspection, their colleagues vied in harshness to win a name—Kuo alone applied the law as before, and men judged him long-suffering and generous. He entered to serve as magistrate in the Salt and Iron Accounts Office, added to the Historical Archives and made prefect of Jingnan, transferred through Ming, Shu, and Hu prefectures, rose to Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Compiler in the Privy Archives; due to illness he served in the Nanjing branch, then was made Director of the Secretariat, and died.
79
廓寬柔恭謹，人犯之不校。 弟唐，為吉州司理參軍，博覽強記，嘗舉賢良方正，對策入等。 越州蔣堂奏廓及唐父母垂老，窮居鄉里，二子委而之官，唐復久不歸省，於是罷唐，令歸侍養。 廓方使湖南，雖置不問，然士論薄之。
Kuo was mild, courteous, and careful; when others wronged him he did not answer in kind. His younger brother Tang was judicial aide in Jizhou, widely read with a powerful memory; he once entered the erudite and upright examination and passed his policy response at the top grade. Jiang Tang of Yuezhou reported that Kuo and Tang's parents were aged and destitute in the village while both sons had abandoned them for office, and Tang had long failed to visit home—Tang was dismissed and ordered to return and care for them. Kuo was then on mission in Hunan; though he was not punished, men of letters held him in contempt.
80
鄭驤，字士龍，河南人。 登進士第，更慶、汝、鄭、秦州推官，改秘書省著作郎、知垣曲縣。 康繼英辟簽書衛州判官事，劉從德代繼英，又表驤有善狀，進一官。 尋監左藏庫，遷太常博士、知乾州，提點益州路刑獄，為三司度支判官。 建言：「蜀人引江水溉田，率有禁，歲旱利不均，宜弛其禁。」 又言：「京西旱，舊禁粟無出國門，可且勿禁。」
Zheng Xiang, styled Shilong, came from Henan. He passed the jinshi examination, served successively as investigating officer in Qing, Ru, Zheng, and Qin prefectures, then became compiler in the Secretariat and magistrate of Yuanqu County. Kang Jiying recruited him to sign documents as vice-prefect of Weizhou; when Liu Congde replaced Kang Jiying he again reported Xiang's excellent record and he received one rank promotion. Soon supervising the Left Storehouse, he was promoted to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and prefect of Ganzhou, oversaw criminal cases on Yizhou Circuit, and served as revenue magistrate in the Three Departments. He offered advice: "Shu people draw river water to irrigate fields but are generally forbidden to do so; in years of drought the benefit is uneven—it would be right to relax the prohibition." He also said, "Jingxi is in drought; the old prohibition on grain leaving the capital gates could be temporarily lifted."
81
慶曆中，與魚周詢刺陝西民兵十餘萬。 除陝西轉運、按察使兼三門發運使，加直史館、河北轉運使，入為度支副使。 河決德州，入王紀口，議欲徙州，詔驤往視之，還言州不當徙，已而州果無患。 又為河北轉運使。 王則反，討平之。 除天章閣待制、知鳳翔府。 先是，皇甫泌、夏安期皆為轉運使，泌先謫去，安期後至，不及賞，驤因辭不受，願命推功與二人。 復為河北都轉運使，累遷尚書工部郎中，以疾知華州，卒。
During the Qingli era he joined Yu Zhouxun in inspecting more than one hundred thousand militia in Shaanxi. Appointed transport and inspection commissioner of Shaanxi and concurrent transport commissioner at Sanmen, added as compiler in the Historical Archives and transport commissioner of Hebei, then entered as vice commissioner for revenue. When the Yellow River broke through at Dezhou and poured into Wangji Pass, officials debated relocating the prefectural seat; Xiang was sent to inspect the site and argued against moving it—and the prefecture indeed came to no harm. He again served as transport commissioner of Hebei. When Wang Ze rebelled, he suppressed the rebellion and pacified it. Appointed Attendant Gentleman in the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and prefect of Fengxiang. Huangfu Bi and Xia Anqi had both served as transport commissioners before him; Bi was demoted and departed first, and Anqi arrived too late for the reward—Xiang therefore refused the honors and asked that the merit be granted to both men. Again serving as chief transport commissioner of Hebei, he rose to director in the Ministry of Works; due to illness he was made prefect of Huazhou, and died.
82
論曰：歷觀數子，風跡雖不同，其為政愛民，謙己利物，有古道焉。 若旨浚渒河，覿罷采金，抗論互市，起賑窮戢暴，驤推功與人，皆無所愧矣。 趙賀不忘李中庸，而齊廓兄弟棄親以徇榮，用心何其不同哉！
Commentary: Surveying these several men, though their conduct and tracks differ, in governing they loved the people, humbled themselves, and benefited others—there is an ancient Way in this. Whether Zhi dredging the Bei River, Di ending gold mining, Kang arguing against border trade, Qi feeding the poor and quelling violence, or Xiang yielding credit to others—none need feel ashamed. Zhao He never forgot Li Zhongyong, yet the Qi brothers cast aside their parents to chase rank—what a gulf lay between their hearts!