1
韓億，字宗魏，其先真定靈壽人，徙開封之雍丘。 舉進士，為大理評事、知永城縣，有治聲。 他邑訟不決者，郡守皇甫選輒屬億治之。 通判陳州，會河決，治堤費萬計，億不賦民而營築之。 真宗嘗欲召試，而與王旦有親嫌，特召見，改一官知洋州。 州豪李甲，兄死迫嫂使嫁，因誣其子為他姓，以專其貲。 嫂訴於官，甲輒賂吏掠服之，積十餘年，訴不已。 億視舊牘未嘗引乳醫為證，召甲出乳醫示之，甲亡以為辭，冤遂辨。 累遷尚書屯田員外郎、知相州。 河北旱，轉運使不以實聞，億獨言歲饑，願貸民租。 有誣其子綱請求受金者，億請自置獄按之，事雖辨，猶降通判大名府。 尋為殿中侍御史，遷侍御史，安撫淮、浙，除開封府判官，出為河北轉運使。
Han Yi, whose courtesy name was Zongwei, came from a family originally of Lingshou in Zhending that had relocated to Yongqiu in Kaifeng. After earning his jinshi degree, he served as a judicial reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review and as magistrate of Yongcheng County, where his governance won wide praise. Whenever cases elsewhere in the prefecture proved intractable, Prefect Huangfu Xuan routinely referred them to Yi for resolution. While serving as vice-prefect of Chenzhou, he faced a river breach whose dike repairs would cost tens of thousands of cash; rather than tax the populace, he organized and funded the work himself. Emperor Zhenzong had intended to call him for a palace examination, but a marital tie to Wang Dan barred that route; instead the emperor granted him a special audience, raised his rank one step, and sent him to govern Yangzhou. A powerful local named Li Jia, after his elder brother's death, coerced his sister-in-law into remarriage and falsely declared her son belonged to another clan so he could seize the estate. She brought the case to the authorities, yet Jia repeatedly bribed court clerks to intimidate her into yielding; for more than a decade she kept filing appeals. Yi reviewed the old dossiers and noticed that no wet nurse had ever been called as witness; he summoned Jia and presented the nurse to him, leaving Jia with nothing left to say, and the wrong was finally righted. He rose through several posts to become an assistant director in the Ministry of Revenue's field-affairs bureau and was appointed prefect of Xiangzhou. When drought struck Hebei, the transport commissioner concealed the severity of the crisis; Yi alone reported famine conditions and petitioned to defer the people's grain-tax payments. When his son Gang was falsely accused of taking bribes, Yi requested permission to conduct the inquiry in a prison under his own supervision; although Gang was cleared, Yi was nevertheless demoted to vice-prefect of Daming. He soon became a palace censor, then an investigating censor, served as pacification commissioner for Huai and Zhe, was named a judge in the Kaifeng prefectural court, and finally was posted as Hebei transport commissioner.
2
仁宗初，進直史館、知青州，以司封員外郎兼侍御史知雜事，判大理寺丞。 吳植知臨江軍，使人納金於宰相王欽若，因牙吏至京師，審之，語頗泄，欽若知不可掩，執吏以聞。 詔付臺治，而植自言未嘗納金，反誣吏誤以問所親語達欽若。 億窮治之，蓋植以病懼廢，金未達而事已露也。 植乃除名，並按欽若，詔釋不問。 三司更茶法，歲課不登，億承詔劾之，由丞相而下皆坐失當之罰，其不撓如此。 自薛奎後，億獨掌臺務者逾年。
Early in Emperor Renzong's reign he joined the Historiography Institute, governed Qingzhou, and served as an assistant director in the Ministry of Rites while also supervising the censorate's routine business and hearing cases as a vice-director of the Court of Judicial Review. Wu Zhi, prefect of Linjiang Circuit, had an agent deliver gold to Chief Minister Wang Qinruo; when a clerk brought the case to the capital and inquiries began, word spread widely; realizing the affair could not be hidden, Qinruo detained the clerk and reported the matter. The emperor ordered the censorate to investigate, but Zhi insisted he had never sent gold and accused the clerk of misreporting a private inquiry he had made to a confidant of Qinruo's. Yi pursued the case to its conclusion and found that Zhi, anxious about dismissal on account of illness, had indeed sent the bribe, though the gold never reached its destination before the plot came to light. Zhi was struck from the official rolls, and proceedings were opened against Qinruo as well, but an imperial edict ordered that he be released without further inquiry. When the Three Departments revised the tea monopoly and annual revenues fell short, Yi was ordered to investigate; from the chief councillor down, officials were penalized for mismanagement—such was his steadfastness in office. After Xue Kui left office, Yi was the sole official directing censorate business for more than a year.
3
除龍圖閣待制，奉使契丹。 時副使者，章獻外姻也，妄傳皇太后旨於契丹，諭以南北歡好傳示子孫之意，億初不知也。 契丹主問億曰：「皇太后即有旨，大使何獨不言？」 億對曰：「本朝每遣使，皇太后必以此戒之，非欲達於北朝也。」 契丹主大喜，曰：「此兩朝生靈之福也。」 人謂副使既失辭，而億更以為恩意，甚推美之。
He was made an academician-expositor of the Dragon Diagram Hall and dispatched on an embassy to the Khitan court. The deputy envoy was a kinsman by marriage of Empress Dowager Zhang Xian; without authority he told the Khitan of the empress dowager's wish that the friendship of the two courts endure for generations—Yi knew nothing of this at first. The Khitan ruler asked Yi, "If the empress dowager has already given her instructions, why has the chief envoy said nothing of them?" Yi replied, "Whenever our court sends envoys abroad, the empress dowager always offers them this counsel as a private admonition; it is not meant to be relayed to the northern court." The Khitan ruler was delighted and said, "This is a blessing for the peoples of both realms." Observers said the deputy had already blundered in his remarks, yet Yi reframed the episode as a gesture of goodwill and won wide admiration for his tact.
4
知亳州，召知審刑院，再遷兵部郎中、同判吏部流內銓，以右諫議大夫、樞密直學士知益州。 故事，益州歲出官粟六萬石，振糶貧民。 是歲大旱，億倍數出粟，先期予民，民坐是不饑。 又疏九升江口，下溉民田數千頃。 維、茂州地接羌夷，蕃部歲至永康官場鬻馬，億慮其覘兩川，奏徙場黎州境上。 拜御史中丞，請如唐制，置御史裏行。
He governed Bozhou, was recalled to head the Court for Review of Punishments, rose to director in the Ministry of War while also helping judge appointments in the Ministry of Personnel, and was sent to Yizhou as prefect with the rank of Right Remonstrance Councillor and as a direct academician of the Bureau of Military Affairs. By established practice, Yizhou each year released sixty thousand bushels of government grain for relief sales to the poor. That year a severe drought struck; Yi released several times the usual allotment of grain and distributed it to the people ahead of schedule, so the region escaped famine. He also dredged the mouth of the Jiushui River, bringing irrigation to several thousand qing of farmland below. Wei and Mao prefectures lay adjacent to Qiang and Yi territory; each year tribal groups came to the Yongkang government horse fair, and Yi, fearing they were scouting the Two Rivers region, petitioned to relocate the market to Lizhou's frontier. Appointed vice censor-in-chief, he asked that the Tang practice of censor trainees be restored.
5
景祐二年，以尚書工部侍郎同知樞密院事。 時承平久，武備不戒，乃請二府各列上才任將帥者數十人，稍試用之。 又言武臣宜知兵，而書禁不傳，請纂其要授之。 於是帝親集《神武秘略》，以賜邊臣。
In the second year of the Jingyou era (1035), he served as vice minister of works while also jointly directing the Bureau of Military Affairs. Peace had lasted so long that military readiness had lapsed; he asked both executive councils to nominate dozens of men of proven talent for command and to give them trial appointments. He also argued that military officers ought to know the art of war, yet restricted texts were not circulated to them; he petitioned to compile their essentials and distribute them. The emperor thereupon personally compiled the Secret Essentials of Divine Military Affairs and presented it to frontier commanders.
6
唃廝囉與趙元昊相攻，來獻捷。 朝廷議加唃廝囉節制，億曰：「彼皆蕃臣也，今不能諭令解仇，乃因而加賞，非所以綏御四方也。」 議遂寢。 元昊歲遣人至京師，出入民間無他禁，億請下詔為除館舍禮之，官主貿易，外雖若煩擾，實羈防之。
Gusiluo and Zhao Yuanhao were at war with each other and sent word of their victories to the court. When the court debated elevating Gusiluo with a military commission, Yi said, "They are all tribal subjects under the throne; we cannot even persuade them to end their feud, yet we would reward one of them for fighting the other—that is no way to pacify the realm." The proposal was dropped. Yuanhao each year sent envoys to the capital who mingled freely among the populace; Yi petitioned for an edict establishing guest quarters and formal reception, with officials supervising their trade—though it seemed burdensome on the surface, it was in fact a means of control.
7
知開封府范仲淹獻《百官圖》，指宰相呂夷簡差除不平，而陰薦億可用。 仲淹既貶，帝以諭億，億曰：「仲淹舉臣以公，臣之愚陛下所知； 舉臣以私，則臣委質以來，未嘗交託於人。」 遂除戶部、參知政事。 會忻州地大震，諫官韓琦言宰相王隨、陳堯佐非輔弼才，又言億子綜為群牧判官，不當自請以兄綱代之。 遂與宰相皆罷，知應天府，尋加資政殿學士、知成德軍。 改澶州，復知亳州，官至尚書左丞，以太子少傅致仕。 卒，贈太子太保，諡「忠憲」。
Fan Zhongyan, prefect of Kaifeng, submitted the Chart of the Hundred Officials, accusing Chief Minister Lü Yijian of partisan appointments while quietly recommending Yi as a capable replacement. After Zhongyan's demotion, the emperor told Yi of the recommendation; Yi replied, "If Zhongyan recommended me on public grounds, Your Majesty already knows my limitations; but if he did so for private reasons, then since I entered your service I have never cultivated such patronage ties." He was thereupon appointed to the Ministry of Revenue and made a vice grand councillor. When a major earthquake struck Xinzhou, Remonstrance Official Han Qi declared that Chief Ministers Wang Sui and Chen Yaozuo were unfit for high office, and also objected that Yi's son Zong, a judge in the Directorate of Horse Pasturages, had improperly petitioned to replace his elder brother Gang. He and the chief ministers were all dismissed; he was sent to govern Yingtian Prefecture, and soon was made an academician of the Hall for Assisting Governance and military prefect of Chengde. He was transferred to Chunzhou, returned to govern Bozhou, rose to left vice director of the Department of State Affairs, and retired with the title of junior tutor to the heir apparent. When he died, the court posthumously honored him as grand tutor to the heir apparent and gave him the posthumous title Loyal and Law-abiding.
8
億性方重，治家嚴飭，雖燕居，未嘗有惰容。 見親舊之孤貧者，常給其昏葬。 每見天下諸路有奏攟拾官吏小過者，輒顏色不懌，曰：「天下太平，聖主之心，雖昆蟲草木，皆欲使之得所。 今仕者大則望為公卿，次亦望為侍從、職司一千石，其下亦望京朝、幕職，奈何錮之於盛世？」 八子：綱、綜、絳、繹、維、縝、緯、緬。
Yi was upright and grave by nature, ran his household with strict discipline, and even in private leisure never showed a negligent demeanor. Whenever he encountered impoverished relatives and old friends, he regularly helped pay for their weddings and funerals. Whenever he saw memorials from across the empire nitpicking minor faults of officials, his face would cloud over, and he would say, "The realm is at peace; the sage ruler's heart desires that even the smallest creatures each find their proper place. Officials at the top aspire to chief ministerships, those in the middle to court attendant posts or prefectural office, and those below even to capital staff appointments—why shackle them in an age of prosperity?" He had eight sons: Gang, Zong, Jiang, Yi, Wei, Zhen, Wei, and Mian.
9
綱，尚書水部員外郎。 慶歷中，知光化軍，性苛急，不能撫循士卒。 會盜張海剽劫至境上，綱帥禁兵乘城，給餅餌多不時，民具酒食犒軍，輒收其羊豕，市錢制兵器，士皆憤怒。 又嘗命軍校作陣圖，不成，將斬之，眾益駭。 一日，士方食，軍校邵興叱眾起勿食。 綱怒，執數人繫獄。 興懼，帥眾劫庫兵為亂，欲殺綱。 綱攜妻子縋城，由漢江而下。 興等遂縱火掠城中，引眾趨蜀道，為官兵所敗，遂斬之，余黨悉誅。 綱坐棄城除名，編管英州。
Gang held the post of assistant director in the Ministry of Works' Water Bureau. During the Qingli era he commanded Guanghua Army; harsh and impatient by nature, he failed to win the soldiers' loyalty. When the bandit Zhang Hai raided the borderlands, Gang led the palace troops onto the walls; he often delivered rations late, and when civilians brought wine and food to reward the troops, he seized their livestock, sold it for cash to buy weapons, and the soldiers grew furious. He once ordered an officer to draft a battle formation diagram; when the man failed, Gang was about to execute him, and the troops were further alarmed. One day, as the men were eating, the officer Shao Xing shouted for them to rise and stop eating. Gang flew into a rage, seized several men, and threw them in prison. Terrified, Xing led the men to seize weapons from the arsenal and mutiny, intending to kill Gang. Gang lowered his wife and children over the wall by rope and fled down the Han River. Xing and his followers set fires and looted the city, then marched toward Shu; government troops defeated them, executed Xing, and put all the remaining rebels to death. Gang was struck from the rolls for abandoning his post and was placed under registered supervision in Yingzhou.
10
子綜
Son: Zong
11
綜，字仲文。 蔭補將作監主簿，遷大理評事。 舉進士中第，通判鄧州、天雄軍。 會河溢金堤，民依丘冢者數百家。 綜令曰：「能濟一人，予千錢。」 民爭操舟筏以救，已而丘冢多潰。 呂夷簡自北京入相，薦為集賢校理、同知太常院。 歷開封府推官，數月，遷三司戶部判官、同修起居注。
Zong, whose courtesy name was Zhongwen. Through hereditary privilege he entered service as a registrar in the Directorate of Palace Buildings and was promoted to judicial reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review. He passed the jinshi examination and served as vice-prefect of Dengzhou and Tianxiong Army. When the river breached the Jin Embankment, several hundred families took refuge on burial mounds and hillocks. Zong proclaimed, "Whoever rescues one person shall receive a thousand cash." The people rushed to man boats and rafts to save them, and before long many of the mounds collapsed. When Lü Yijian came from Beijing to become chief minister, he recommended Zong as collator in the Hall of Assembled Talents and vice-director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He served as an investigating officer in Kaifeng Prefecture and within months was promoted to judge in the Three Departments' Revenue Bureau and compiler of the imperial diary.
12
使契丹，契丹主問其家世，綜言億在先朝嘗持禮來，契丹主喜曰：「與中國通好久，父子俱使我，宜酌我酒。」 綜率同使者五人起為壽，契丹主亦離席酬之，歡甚。 既還，陳執中以為生事，出知滑州，徙許州。
On an embassy to the Khitan, the ruler asked about his lineage; Zong replied that his father Yi had once come on embassy in the previous reign, and the Khitan ruler said delightedly, "We have dealt with China for so long—father and son both serving as my envoys—you ought to toast me." Zong led the five fellow envoys in rising to offer a toast; the Khitan ruler left his seat to return the courtesy, and the banquet was exceedingly merry. After his return, Chen Zhizhong deemed the affair provocative and sent him out to govern Huazhou, then transferred him to Xuzhou.
13
殿前指揮使許懷德從妹亡，有別產在陽翟，以無子，籍於官，懷德欲私有之，訟未決。 因楊儀為書屬綜，書至而轉運使已徙獄他州矣。 綜坐得書不以聞，奪集賢校理，知袁州。 未幾，復為江東轉運使。 還，再修起居注，累遷刑部員外郎、知制誥，卒。
Commander Xu Huaide's younger cousin-in-law died leaving separate property in Yangdi; with no heirs it was registered as state property, and Huaide sought to seize it for himself, but the suit remained unsettled. He had Yang Yi write to Zong on his behalf; by the time the letter arrived the transport commissioner had already transferred the case to another prefecture. Zong was punished for receiving the letter without reporting it, stripped of his collatorship, and sent to govern Yuanzhou. Before long he was restored as transport commissioner of Jiangdong. On his return he again compiled the imperial diary, rose to assistant director in the Ministry of Justice and drafter of edicts, and died in office.
14
綜嘗為契丹館伴使，使者欲為書稱北朝而去契丹號。 綜曰：「自古未有建國而無號者。」 使慚，遂不復言。 其後朝廷擇館伴契丹使者，帝曰：「孰有如韓綜者乎？」 子宗道，為戶部侍郎、寶文閣待制。
Zong once served as reception envoy for Khitan embassies; an envoy wished to draft a letter calling them the Northern Court while omitting the Khitan designation. Zong replied, "Since antiquity no state has ever been founded without a formal name." The envoy was shamed into silence. Later, when the court chose reception envoys for Khitan missions, the emperor said, "Who is there to match Han Zong?" His son Zongdao rose to vice minister of revenue and academician-expositor of the Hall of Treasured Literature.
15
綱子宗彥，字欽聖。 蔭補將作監主簿。 舉進士甲科，累遷太常博士。 以大臣薦，召試，為集賢校理。 歷提點京西、京東刑獄。 應天府失入平民死罪，獄成未決，通判孫世寧辨正之。 獄吏當坐法，而尹劉沆縱弗治； 宗彥往按舉，沆復沮止之。 宗彥疏沆於朝，抵吏罪。 仁宗春秋高，未有嗣。 宗彥上書曰：「漢章帝詔諸懷妊者賜胎養穀，人三斗，復其夫勿算一歲，著為令。 臣考尋世次，帝八子，長則和帝，而質、安以下諸帝皆其系胄，請修胎養之令。」 且曰：「人君務蕃毓其民，則天亦昌衍其子孫矣。」 以尚書兵部員外郎判三司鹽鐵勾院，卒。
Gang's son Zongyan, whose courtesy name was Qinsheng. Through hereditary privilege he entered service as a registrar in the Directorate of Palace Buildings. He passed the jinshi in the top class and rose to erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Recommended by a chief minister, he was summoned for a palace examination and appointed collator in the Hall of Assembled Talents. He served successively as judicial intendant for the Jingxi and Jingdong circuits. In Yingtian Prefecture a commoner had been wrongly sentenced to death; though the case was complete, Vice-Prefect Sun Shining overturned the verdict. The prison clerks should have been punished by law, but Prefect Liu Kang declined to prosecute them; Zongyan went to investigate and impeach, but Kang again blocked him. Zongyan memorialized against Kang at court and secured punishment for the clerks. Emperor Renzong was advanced in years and still had no heir. Zongyan submitted a memorial: "Emperor Zhang of Han decreed grain allowances for pregnant women—three dou each—and exempted their husbands from corvée for one year, establishing this as permanent law. I have traced the succession: the emperor had eight sons; the eldest became Emperor He, and the emperors from Zhi and An onward were all his descendants—I petition to restore the fetal-nourishment statute." He added, "When a ruler strives to nurture and increase his people, Heaven in turn blesses and multiplies his descendants." He served as assistant director in the Ministry of War while overseeing the Salt and Iron Audit Office of the Three Departments, and died in office.
16
綜子宗道，歷官至戶部侍郎、寶文閣待制。
Zong's son Zongdao rose through the ranks to vice minister of revenue and academician-expositor of the Hall of Treasured Literature.
17
韓絳，字子華。 舉進士甲科，通判陳州。 直集賢院，為開封府推官。 有男子冷青，妄稱其母頃在掖庭得幸，有娠而出生己，府以為狂，奏流汝州。 絳言，留之在外將惑眾。 追責窮治，蓋其母嘗執役宮禁，嫁民冷緒，生一女，乃生青，遂論棄市。
Han Jiang, whose courtesy name was Zihua. He passed the jinshi in the top class and served as vice-prefect of Chenzhou. He served as a compiler in the Hall of Assembled Talents and as an investigating officer in Kaifeng Prefecture. A man named Leng Qing falsely claimed his mother had recently been favored in the palace women's quarters, conceived him there, and given birth to him; the prefectural court deemed him mad and petitioned to exile him to Ruzhou. Jiang argued that leaving him at large would mislead the public. Pursued and thoroughly investigated, the truth emerged: his mother had once served in the palace, married a commoner named Leng Xu, bore a daughter, then Qing—Qing was sentenced to public execution.
18
歷戶部判官。 江南飢，為體量安撫使，行便民事數十條； 宣州守廖詢貪暴不法，下吏寘諸理，民大悅。 使還，同修起居注，擢右正言。 仁宗謂絳曰：「用卿出自朕，卿凡論事，不宜過激，當存朝廷大體，要令可行，毋使朕為不聽諫者。」
He served as judge in the Revenue Bureau. When famine struck Jiangnan, he was appointed assessment and pacification commissioner and enacted dozens of relief measures for the people; Xuanzhou Prefect Liao Xun was greedy, violent, and lawless; Jiang had him brought to justice, to the great delight of the people. After his mission he helped compile the imperial diary and was promoted to Right Rectifier. Emperor Renzong told Jiang, "I personally elevated you; in your remonstrances you must not be excessive—preserve the court's larger interests, propose what can actually be done, and do not make me seem deaf to counsel."
19
入內都都知王守忠兼判內侍省，絳言：「判名太重，且國朝以來，未有兼判兩省者。」 詔自今勿復除。 道士趙清貺出入宰相龐籍家，以賂敗，開封杖流之，道死。 絳言籍諷府殺之，籍與尹俱謫去。 未幾復進，絳力爭不得，遂解言職。 明年，知制誥，乞守河陽，召判流內銓。 河決商胡，用李仲昌議，開六塔河而患滋甚，命絳安撫河北。 時宰主仲昌，人莫敢異。 絳劾其蠹國害民，罪不可貸，仲昌遂竄嶺表。 遷龍圖閣直學士、知瀛州。 歐陽修率同列言：「絳宜在朝廷，瀛非所處也。」 留知諫院，糾察在京刑獄。 為翰林學士、御史中丞。
When Wang Shouzhong, Director of the Inner Palace Service, was also made concurrent administrator of the Directorate of Palace Attendants, Jiang objected: "The title is too weighty, and since our dynasty's founding no one has concurrently administered two directorates." An edict forbade such appointments in future. The Daoist Zhao Qingban frequented Chief Minister Pang Ji's home; exposed for bribery, Kaifeng had him beaten and exiled, and he died en route. Jiang charged that Ji had prompted the prefectural court to kill him; both Ji and the prefect were demoted and banished. Before long Ji was promoted again; Jiang fought the appointment in vain and resigned his remonstrance post. The following year he became drafter of edicts, requested a post guarding Heyang, and was recalled to judge appointments in the roster bureau. When the Yellow River breached at Shanghu, Li Zhongchang's plan to open the Liuta channel only worsened the disaster; Jiang was ordered to pacify Hebei. The chief minister backed Zhongchang, and no one dared object. Jiang impeached him for ruining the state and harming the people, declaring his crime unpardonable; Zhongchang was banished to the far south. He was promoted to Hanlin academician-direct of the Dragon Diagram Hall and made prefect of Yingzhou. Ouyang Xiu led his colleagues in petitioning, "Jiang belongs at court; Yingzhou is no place for him." He was kept at court to direct the Remonstrance Bureau and oversee capital criminal cases. He became a Hanlin academician and vice censor-in-chief.
20
帝禱茅山求嗣，絳草祝辭，因勸帝汰出宮人，及限內臣養子，以重絕人之世，皆從之。 掖庭劉氏通請謁為奸，絳以告帝，帝曰：「非卿言，朕無由知。」 不數日，出劉氏及他不謹者。 真定守呂溱犯法，從官通章請貰之，絳曰：「法行當自貴者始，更相請援，則公道廢矣。」 並劾諸請者，溱遂絀。 富弼用張茂實掌禁兵，絳言：「人謂茂實為先帝子，豈宜用典宿衛？」 不報，闔門待罪，自言不敢復稱御史中丞。 詔召之，及出，不秉笏穿朝堂，諫官論之，罷知蔡州。
When the emperor prayed at Mount Mao for an heir, Jiang drafted the prayer and urged him to release palace women and limit eunuchs' adoptions of sons, stressing the gravity of dynastic extinction—the emperor accepted all his advice. A woman of the palace quarters surnamed Liu had been conducting illicit affairs through petitioned audiences; Jiang reported this to the emperor, who said, "Without your report, I would never have known." Within days Liu and other offenders were expelled from the palace. Zhending Prefect Lü Zhen broke the law, and court attendants jointly petitioned for his pardon; Jiang said, "Law must be applied first to the highest ranks; if officials keep interceding for one another, public justice is finished." He also impeached all who had petitioned, and Zhen was demoted. When Fu Bi appointed Zhang Maoshi to command the palace guard, Jiang objected, "People say Maoshi is a son of the late emperor—how can he be placed in charge of the inner guard?" The emperor did not respond; Jiang shut his gates and awaited punishment, declaring he could no longer hold the title of vice censor-in-chief. The emperor summoned him back, but when he appeared he crossed the court hall without holding his ceremonial tablet; remonstrance officials censured him, and he was sent to govern Caizhou.
21
數月，以翰林侍讀學士知慶州。 熟羌據堡為亂，即日討平之。 加端明殿學士、知成都府。 張詠鎮蜀日，春糶米，秋糶鹽，官給券以惠貧弱，歷歲久，權歸豪右； 中人奉使至蜀，使酒吏主貿易，因附益以取悅，絳悉奏罷之。 召知開封府，為三司使。 請以川、陝職田穀輸常平倉，而隨其事任道里差次給直。 帝嘆曰：「眾方姑息，卿獨不能徇時邪！」 即行之。 內諸司吏數干恩澤，絳輒執不可。 為帝言：「身犯眾怒，懼有飛語。」 帝曰：「朕在藩邸日，頗聞有司以國事為人情。 卿所守固善，何憚於讒？」
Several months later he was made Hanlin attendant reader and sent to govern Qingzhou. Acculturated Qiang rebels seized frontier forts; he suppressed them the same day. He was made an academician of the Hall of Brilliant Governance and appointed prefect of Chengdu. When Zhang Yong governed Shu, the government sold grain cheaply in spring and salt cheaply in autumn, issuing vouchers to aid the poor; over the years control passed to powerful local families; Palace envoys to Shu had wine clerks manage trade and skim profits to curry favor; Jiang memorialized to abolish the practice entirely. He was recalled to govern Kaifeng and appointed commissioner of the Three Departments. He proposed delivering grain from official fields in Sichuan and Shaanxi to the Ever-Normal Granary, with payment scaled to duties and distance. The emperor sighed, "Everyone else is indulgent—must you alone refuse to bend with the times?" The proposal was immediately implemented. Clerks of the inner bureaus repeatedly sought favors, and Jiang invariably refused. He told the emperor, "I have incurred widespread anger and fear slander will follow." The emperor replied, "When I was still a prince I often heard officials treat state business as personal favor-trading. What you uphold is right—why fear slander?"
22
神宗立，韓琦薦絳有公輔器，拜樞密副使。 始請建審官西院，掌武臣升朝者，以息吏奸。 神宗嘗問天下遺利，絳請盡地力。 因言差役之弊，願更定其法，役議自此始矣。 代陳升之同制置三司條例，王安石每奏事，必曰：「臣見安石所陳非一，皆至當可用，陛下宜省察。」 安石恃以為助。
When Emperor Shenzong ascended, Han Qi recommended Jiang as chief-minister material, and he was appointed vice commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs. He first proposed establishing the Western Bureau for Review of Appointments to oversee military officers promoted to court attendance, in order to curb clerical abuses. When Shenzong asked about untapped revenues throughout the realm, Jiang urged fully exploiting the land's productive capacity. He spoke of the abuses of the corvée-assignment system and petitioned to revise its regulations—debate over corvée reform began here. Replacing Chen Shengzhi, he jointly directed the Three Departments regulations; whenever Wang Anshi memorialized, Jiang would say, "Everything Anshi proposes is sound and practicable—Your Majesty should give it careful attention." Anshi counted on him as an ally.
23
熙寧三年，參知政事。 夏人犯塞，絳請行邊，安石亦請往。 絳曰：「朝廷方賴安石，臣宜行。」 乃以為陝西宣撫使。 既又兼河東，幾事不可待報者，聽便宜施行，授以空名告敕，得自除吏。 十二月，即軍中拜同中書門下平章事、昭文館大學士，開幕府於延安。 絳素不習兵事，注措乖方，選蕃兵為七軍，用知青澗城种諤策，欲取橫山，令諸將聽命於諤，厚賞犒蕃兵，眾皆怨望； 又奪騎兵馬以與之，有抱馬首以泣者。 既城囉兀，又冒雪築撫寧堡，調發騷然。 已而二城陷，趣諸道兵出援，慶卒遂作亂。 議者罪絳，罷知鄧州。 明年，以觀文殿學士徙許州，進大學士，徙大名府。 七年，復代王安石相。 既顓處中書，事多稽留不決，且數與呂惠卿爭論，乃密請帝再用安石。 安石至，頗與絳異。 有劉佐者，坐法免，安石欲抆拭用佐，絳不可。 議帝前未決，即再拜求去。 帝驚曰：「此小事，何必爾？」 對曰：「小事尚不伸，況大事乎！」 帝為逐佐。 未幾，絳亦出知許州。
In the third year of the Xining era (1070) he became vice grand councillor. When the Tangut Xia raided the border, Jiang volunteered to go to the frontier, and Anshi did likewise. Jiang said, "The court depends on Anshi—I should go instead." He was accordingly appointed pacification commissioner of Shaanxi. He was also given charge of Hedong; urgent matters could be handled without awaiting court approval; he received blank commission documents and authority to appoint officials on his own. In the twelfth month he was appointed associate grand councillor and grand academician of the Zhaowen Hall right in camp, and established his headquarters at Yan'an. Jiang had no military experience; his arrangements were misguided; he organized tribal troops into seven armies, adopted Chong E of Qingjian Fort's plan to seize Hengshan, ordered all generals to obey E, and lavished rewards on tribal soldiers—to widespread resentment; He also seized cavalry horses to give them, and some soldiers clutched their horses' heads and wept. After fortifying Luowu, he built Funing Fort in the snow; conscription and transport threw the region into turmoil. Soon both forts fell; he urgently summoned troops from all circuits, and the Qingzhou garrison mutinied. Critics blamed Jiang; he was dismissed and sent to govern Dengzhou. The following year he was transferred to Xuzhou as an academician of the Hall for Viewing Literature, promoted to grand academician, and transferred to Daming Prefecture. In the seventh year he again replaced Wang Anshi as chief minister. Once at the head of the Secretariat, he delayed many decisions and repeatedly clashed with Lü Huiqing; he then secretly asked the emperor to recall Anshi. When Anshi returned, he and Jiang differed on many matters. A man named Liu Zuo had been dismissed for breaking the law; Anshi wished to rehabilitate and employ him; Jiang refused. When debate before the emperor remained unresolved, he bowed twice and asked to resign. The emperor was startled: "This is a trifle—why take it so far?" He replied, "If I cannot prevail on a small matter, how can I prevail on great ones?" The emperor dismissed Zuo to satisfy him. Before long Jiang was also sent out to govern Xuzhou.
24
元豐元年，拜建雄軍節度使、知定州。 入為西太一宮使。 六年，知河南府。 夏，大雨，伊、洛間民被溺者十五六。 絳發廩振恤，環城築堤，數月，水復至，民賴以免。 哲宗立，更鎮江軍節度使、開府儀同三司，封康國公，為北京留守。 河決小吳，都水議傍魏城鑿渠東趨金堤，役甚棘。 絳言：「功必不成，徒耗費國力，而使魏人流徙，非計也。」 三奏，訖罷之。 元祐二年，請老，以司空、檢校太尉致仕。 明年，卒，年七十七。 贈太傅，諡曰「獻肅」。
In the first year of the Yuanfeng era (1078) he was appointed military commissioner of Jianxiong Army and prefect of Dingzhou. He returned to the capital as commissioner of the Western Grand Unity Palace. In the sixth year he governed Henan Prefecture. That summer torrential rains drowned five or six tenths of the people between the Yi and Luo rivers. Jiang opened granaries for relief and built dikes around the city; when floods returned months later, the people were saved by his works. When Emperor Zhezong ascended, he was made military commissioner of Zhenjiang Army, granted ceremonial parity with the Three Excellencies, enfeoffed as Duke of Kang, and appointed defender of the Northern Capital. When the Yellow River breached at Xiaowu, the Directorate of Waterways proposed cutting a channel east of Weicheng toward the Jin Embankment—a laborious and difficult project. Jiang said, "The project cannot succeed; it will only waste state resources and displace the people of Wei—this is no sound plan." He memorialized three times, and the project was finally abandoned. In the second year of the Yuanyou era (1087) he requested retirement and retired with the titles of minister of works and acting grand commandant. The following year he died at the age of seventy-seven. He was posthumously honored as grand tutor and given the posthumous title Offering and Solemn.
25
絳臨事果敢，不為後慮。 好延接士大夫，數薦司馬光可用，終以黨王安石復得政，是以清議少之。
Jiang was bold and decisive in office and gave little thought to consequences. He enjoyed hosting scholar-officials and repeatedly recommended Sima Guang as capable; yet because he aligned with Wang Anshi's return to power, moral critics held him in lower esteem.
26
子宗師
Son: Zongshi
27
子宗師，字傳道，以父任歷州縣職。 既登第，王安石薦為度支判官、提舉河北常平。 累官至集賢殿修撰、知河中府，卒。 初，宗師在神宗朝，數賜對，常弗忍去親側，屢辭官不拜，世以孝與之。
His son Zongshi, whose courtesy name was Chuandao, entered service through his father's rank and held successive prefectural and county posts. After passing the civil service examination, Wang Anshi recommended him as judge of the Expenditure Bureau and intendant of Hebei's Ever-Normal Granaries. He rose to compiler in the Hall of Assembled Talents and prefect of Hezhong, where he died in office. During Shenzong's reign Zongshi was repeatedly granted imperial audiences; unable to leave his father's side, he repeatedly declined appointments, and contemporaries praised his filial devotion.
28
韓維，字持國。 以進士奏名禮部，方億輔政，不肯試大廷，受蔭入官。 父沒後，閉門不仕。 宰相薦其好古嗜學，安於靜退，召試學士院，辭不就。 富弼辟河東幕府，史館修撰歐陽修薦為檢討、知太常禮院。 禮官議祫享東向位，維請虛室以待太祖。 溫成后立廟用樂，維以為不如禮，請一切裁去。 議陳執中諡，以為張貴妃治喪皇儀殿、追冊位號，皆執中所建，宜曰「榮靈」，詔諡曰「恭」，維曰：「責難於君謂之恭，執中何以得此？」 議訖不行，乞罷禮院。 以秘閣校理通判涇州。
Han Wei, whose courtesy name was Chiguo. Having passed the jinshi and been listed at the Ministry of Rites, while his father Yi was in high office he declined the palace examination and entered service through hereditary privilege. After his father's death he shut his doors and declined office. A chief minister recommended him for his love of antiquity and learning and his contentment with quiet retirement; summoned for examination at the Hanlin Academy, he declined. Fu Bi recruited him to the Hedong staff; Ouyang Xiu of the Historiography Institute recommended him as collator and director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When ritual officials debated the eastern-facing seat in the joint zhao-xiang sacrifice, Wei petitioned to leave the chamber vacant for Taizu. When a temple with music was established for Empress Wencheng, Wei deemed it uncanonical and petitioned to abolish the practice entirely. Debating Chen Zhizhong's posthumous title, he argued that the mourning for Noble Consort Zhang in the Hall of Imperial Rites and her posthumous enfeoffment were Zhizhong's doing and the title should be "Glorious Spirit"; when the edict gave "Respectful," Wei objected, "'Respectful' means holding the ruler to account—how does Zhizhong deserve that?" When his views were rejected, he asked to resign from the ritual court. As collator of the Secret Archive he served as vice-prefect of Jingzhou.
29
神宗封淮陽郡王、潁王，維皆為記室參軍。 王每事咨訪，維悉心以對，至拜起進趨之容，皆陳其節。 嘗與論天下事，語及功名。 維曰：「聖人功名，因事始見，不可有功名心。」 王拱手稱善。 聞維引疾請郡，上章留之。 時禁中遣使泛至諸臣家，為王擇妃。 維上疏曰：「王孝友聰明，動履法度，方向經學，以觀成德。 今卜族授室，宜歷選勲望之家，謹擇淑媛，考古納采、問名之義，以禮成之，不宜苟取華色而已。」
When Shenzong was invested as Prince of Huaiyang and later as Prince of Ying, Han Wei served as recorder-general to each in turn. On every question the prince put to him, Wei answered with complete attentiveness—even the forms of bowing, rising, advancing, and withdrawing, he set out in full detail. On one occasion, as they discussed affairs under Heaven, their conversation turned to fame and merit. Wei said, "For the sage, renown and achievement emerge only through the work at hand; one must never set one's heart on renown itself." The prince bowed with clasped hands and commended the point. Learning that Wei had pleaded illness to seek a provincial appointment, the prince submitted a memorial urging that he be kept at court. At that time the inner palace dispatched envoys throughout the households of officials to select a bride for the prince. Wei submitted a memorial: "The prince is filial, amiable, and bright; his bearing accords with ritual, and he is devoted to the classics, that his virtue may reach its full maturity. In choosing a clan and bestowing a bride upon him, one should search among families of distinguished service, select a worthy lady with care, and follow the ancient meaning of the betrothal and name-inquiry rites, completing the union in proper form—not settle for dazzling looks alone."
30
左、右史闕，英宗訪除授例，執政曰：「用館閣久次及進士高第者。」 帝曰：「第擇人，不必專取高科。」 執政以維對，遂同修起居注、侍邇英講。 帝初免喪，簡默不言。 維上疏曰：「邇英閣者，陛下燕閒之所也。 侍於側者，皆獻納論思之臣。 陳於前者，非經則史。 可以博咨訪之義，窮仁義之道，究成敗之原。 今禮制終畢，臣下傾耳以聽玉音，陛下之言，此其時也。 臣請執筆以俟。」 進知制誥、知通進銀臺司。
When the posts of Left and Right Recorder fell vacant, Yingzong asked what precedent governed appointments; the chief ministers replied, "Choose those long in Hanlin service and jinshi graduates of the highest rank." The emperor said, "Choose the man himself; there is no need to insist on the highest examination rank alone." The chief ministers named Wei, and he was appointed co-compiler of the Veritable Records and attendant at lectures in the Ying Hall. When the emperor had first ended his mourning period, he spoke little and kept his words spare. Wei submitted a memorial: "The Ying Hall is where Your Majesty withdraws for quiet study. Those who stand at your side are all ministers charged with remonstrance and deliberation. What is laid before you is nothing if not the classics or the histories. There one may consult widely, pursue the full reach of benevolence and righteousness, and trace the roots of triumph and ruin. Now that the mourning observances are finished, your ministers strain to hear your voice; this is the moment for Your Majesty to speak. Your servant asks leave to take up his brush and await your words." He was promoted to Drafting Edict Commissioner and put in charge of the Silver Terrace Office of Memorial Review.
31
御史呂誨等以濮議得罪，維諫曰：「誨等審議守職，不過欲陛下盡如先王之法而止爾。 請追還前詔，令百官詳議，以盡人情； 復誨等職任，以全政體。」 既而責命不由門下，維又言：「罷黜御史，事關政體，而不使有司與聞，紀綱之失，無甚於此，乞解銀臺司。」 不從，遂闔門待罪。 有詔舉臺官二人，維言：「呂誨、范純仁有已試之效，願復其職。」 翰林學士范鎮作批答不合旨，出補郡。 維言：「鎮所失只在文字，當涵容之。 前黜錢公輔，中外以為太重，連退二近臣，而眾莫知其所謂，自此誰敢盡忠者？」
When the censor Lü Hui and others were punished over the Pu Yi controversy, Wei remonstrated: "Hui and his colleagues weighed the matter carefully and held to their office—they sought only that Your Majesty follow the precedents of former kings to the full, and nothing beyond that. I beg that the earlier edict be withdrawn and all officials be summoned to deliberate at length, so that every shade of public feeling may be heard; and that Hui and the others be restored to office, so that the dignity of government may remain intact." Before long, when punitive orders issued without passing through the Chancellery, Wei spoke again: "To dismiss censors touches the very fabric of government, yet the responsible offices were given no word of it—there is no graver lapse of institutional order. I beg to be relieved of the Silver Terrace Office." When this was refused, he closed his gates and awaited judgment. When an edict called for the nomination of two censorial officials, Wei said, "Lü Hui and Fan Chunren have already proved their worth; I ask that they be returned to their posts." Hanlin Academician Fan Zhen drafted a written reply that missed the imperial intent and was sent out to serve as prefect of a commandery. Wei said, "Zhen's error was only in the phrasing; he deserved forbearance. When Qian Gongfu was dismissed earlier, court and country alike judged the penalty too harsh; now two close ministers are removed one after another while no one knows why—from this day forward, who will dare speak with full loyalty?"
32
潁王為皇太子，兼右庶子。 神宗即位，維進言：「百執事各有職位，當責任，若代之行事，最為失體。 天下大事不可猝為，人君設施，自有先後。」 因釋滕文公問孟子居喪之禮，推後世禮文之變，以伸規諷，帝皆嘉納。 除龍圖閣直學士。
When the Prince of Ying was made crown prince, Wei was appointed concurrently as Right Vice Tutor. When Shenzong took the throne, Wei offered counsel: "Every officer of state has his own charge and ought to answer for it; when one man acts in another's stead, propriety suffers most grievously. Great undertakings for the realm cannot be rushed; a ruler's policies must unfold in their proper sequence." He went on to expound Duke Teng of Wen's questions to Mencius on mourning ritual and traced how later rites had changed, extending his indirect remonstrance; the emperor praised and accepted every point. He was made Direct Academician of the Hall of Dragon Diagrams.
33
御史中丞王陶彈宰相韓琦為跋扈，罷為翰林學士。 維言：「中丞之言是，宰相安得無罪？ 若其非是，安得止罷臺職？ 今為學士，是遷也。」 參知政事吳奎論陶事，出知青州。 維言進退大臣，不當如是。 詔遷奎官。 維又言：「執政罷免，則為降黜； 今復遷官，則為褒進。 二者理難並行，此與王陶罷中丞而加學士何以異？」 章上，奎還就職。 維援前言求去，知汝州。 數月，召兼侍講、判太常寺。
Supervising Censor Wang Tao impeached Chancellor Han Qi for overbearing conduct; Tao was removed from the censorate and appointed Hanlin Academician. Wei said, "If the supervising censor spoke truly, how can the chancellor escape blame? If he was wrong, how can only the censorial office be taken away? Yet now he is made Hanlin Academician—that is a promotion, not a demotion." When Assistant Administrator Wu Kui spoke on Tao's case, he was sent out to govern Qingzhou. Wei said that the promotion and dismissal of great ministers ought not to be handled in this fashion. An edict was issued raising Kui's rank. Wei spoke again: "When a chief minister is removed from office, that is demotion; yet to raise his rank again is to honor and advance him. The two cannot stand together in reason—how is this different from Wang Tao's removal as supervising censor paired with appointment as Hanlin Academician?" Once the memorial reached the throne, Kui was restored to office. Invoking his earlier remonstrance, Wei asked to withdraw and was sent to govern Ruzhou. Several months later he was recalled to serve concurrently as Lecturer-in-Attendance and superintendent of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
34
初，僖祖主已遷，及英宗祔廟，中書以為僖祖與稷、契等，不應毀其廟。 維言：「太祖戡定大亂，子孫遵業，為宋太祖，無可議者。 僖祖雖為高祖，然仰跡功業，非有所因，若以所事稷、契事之，懼有未安，宜如故便。」 王安石方主初議，持不行。 熙寧二年，遷翰林學士、知開封府。 明年，為御史中丞，以兄絳在樞府，力辭之。 安石亦惡其言保甲事，復使為開封，始分置八廂決輕刑，轂下清肅。 時吳充為三司使，帝曰：「維、充以文學進，及任煩劇，而皆稱職，可謂得人矣。」 兼侍讀學士，充群牧使。 考試制舉人，孔文仲對策入等，以切直罷歸。 維言：「陛下毋謂文仲為一賤士，黜之何損。 臣恐賢俊解體，忠良結舌，阿諛苟合者將窺隙而進，為禍不細。」 安石益惡之。
Earlier, after Emperor Xianzu's spirit tablet had been moved and Yingzong was to be enshrined in the ancestral temple, the Secretariat argued that Xianzu ranked with Hou Ji and Qi and that his temple should not be abolished. Wei said, "Taizu brought the great chaos to an end, and his descendants carried on his work as founders of Song—on that there is no dispute. Xianzu, though counted as high ancestor, founded nothing upon which later glory could rest; to honor him as Hou Ji and Qi are honored would, I fear, sit ill—better to leave the arrangement as it stands." Wang Anshi was then championing the original proposal and refused to let Wei's recommendation take effect. In the second year of the Xining era he was made Hanlin Academician and assigned to govern Kaifeng. The following year he was named Supervising Censor, but with his elder brother Jiang serving in the Privy Council, he declined the post emphatically. Anshi also resented his criticism of the baojia system and sent him back to Kaifeng, where he first divided the prefecture into eight wards to hear minor cases; the capital grew quiet and disciplined. At the time Wu Chong was commissioner of the Three Departments; the emperor said, "Wei and Chong both entered service through literary talent, and when given arduous posts each proved himself—this is what it means to appoint the right men." Wei was also made Lecturing Academician, and Chong was appointed commissioner of the Pasturage Office. While examining decree-examination candidates, he passed Kong Wenzhong on the strength of his policy response, yet Kong was dismissed and sent home for speaking too bluntly. Wei said, "Your Majesty must not suppose that because Wenzhong is a humble scholar, dismissing him costs nothing. I fear men of talent will lose heart, the loyal will hold their tongues, and sycophants who trim to every wind will press forward at the first opening—the damage will be far from small." Anshi's hostility toward him only deepened.
35
樞密使文彥博求去，帝曰：「密院事劇，當除韓維佐卿。」 明日，維奏事殿中，以言不用，請郡。 帝曰：「卿東宮舊人，當留以輔政。」 對曰：「使臣言得行，賢於富貴； 若緣攀附舊恩以進，非臣之願也。」 遂出知襄州，改許州。
When Privy Councilor Wen Yanbo asked to step down, the emperor said, "The Privy Council's business is arduous; Han Wei should be appointed to assist you." The next day, when Wei addressed the throne in audience, finding his counsel ignored he asked to be sent to a commandery. The emperor said, "You are a veteran of the Eastern Palace; you should stay to help govern." He answered, "If my counsel were heeded, that would outweigh any honor or emolument; to rise by trading on old ties of favor is not what I seek." He was sent out to govern Xiangzhou and later transferred to Xuzhou.
36
七年二月，召為學士承旨。 入對，帝曰：「天久不雨，朕日夜焦勞，奈何？」 維曰：「陛下憂閔旱災，損膳避殿，此乃舉行故事，恐不足以應天變。 當痛自責己，廣求直言。」 退，又上疏曰：「近畿內諸縣，督索青苗錢甚急，往往鞭撻取足，至伐桑為薪以易錢貨，旱災之際，重罹此苦。 若夫動甲兵，危士民，匱財用於荒夷之地，朝廷處之不疑，行之甚銳； 至於蠲除租稅，寬裕逋負，以救愁苦之民，則遲遲而不肯發。 望陛下奮自英斷行之，過於養人，猶愈過於殺人也。」 上感悟，即命維草詔求直言。 其略曰：「意者聽納不得於理與？ 獄訟非其情與？ 賦斂失其節與？ 忠言讜論郁於上聞，而阿諛壅蔽以成其私者眾與？」 詔出，人情大悅。 有旨體量市易、免行利病，權罷力田、保甲，是日乃雨。
In the second month of the seventh year he was recalled to serve as Hanlin Academician-in-Attendance. When he came before the throne in audience, the emperor said, "Rain has long been withheld; day and night I burn with anxiety—what can be done?" Wei said, "Your Majesty mourns the drought, reduces your table, and withdraws from the main hall—but these are only the customary responses, and I fear they will not answer Heaven's warning. You should examine your own conduct with severity and widely invite candid counsel." On retiring, he submitted another memorial: "In the counties around the capital, collection of green-sprout loans is pursued with brutal urgency; people are flogged to make quota, and some cut down mulberry trees for firewood to raise the cash—in the midst of drought they suffer this added torment. Yet when it is a matter of mobilizing armies, putting soldiers and civilians at risk, and pouring treasure into distant borderlands, the court acts without hesitation and pushes forward with fierce resolve; but when it comes to remitting rents and taxes, easing unpaid levies, and relieving a people in misery, the court delays and holds back. I beg Your Majesty to act with resolute judgment; to go too far in cherishing the people is still better than to go too far in destroying them." The emperor was deeply moved and at once ordered Wei to draft an edict calling for candid remonstrance. Its gist ran: "Have I failed to heed reason in what I hear and accept? Have lawsuits failed to reflect the truth? Have levies and collections lost their proper measure? Has loyal and forthright counsel been stifled before it reaches me, while flatterers who block the truth to serve themselves grow numerous?" When the edict appeared, the people received it with widespread joy. An order went out to weigh the benefits and harms of market trading and exemption certificates and to suspend temporarily the plowing-fostering and baojia systems; rain fell that same day.
37
王安石罷，會絳入相，加端明殿學士、知河陽，復知許州。 帝幸舊邸，進資政殿學士。 曾鞏當制，稱其純明亮直，帝令改命詞。 維知帝意，請提舉嵩山崇福宮。 帝崩，赴臨闕庭。 宣仁后手詔勞問，維對曰：「人情貧則思富，苦則思樂，困則思息，鬱則思通。 誠能常以利民為本，則民富； 常以憂民為心，則民樂； 賦役非人力所堪者去之，則勞困息； 法禁非人情所便者蠲之，則鬱塞通。 推此而廣之，盡誠而行之，則子孫觀陛下之德，不待教而成矣。」
When Wang Anshi left office and Wei's brother Jiang entered the chancellery, Wei was made Academician of the Hall of Clarity and Brightness and sent to Heyang, then again to Xuzhou. When the emperor visited his old princely residence, Wei was promoted to Academician of the Hall for Aid in Governance. When Zeng Gong drafted the appointment decree and praised him as pure, bright, and upright, the emperor ordered the wording revised. Reading the emperor's mind, Wei asked to be made superintendent of the Chongfu Palace on Mount Song. When the emperor died, he came at once to mourn at the palace gate. Empress Xuanren sent a handwritten edict of inquiry and comfort; Wei answered, "Human nature is such that the poor long for wealth, the wretched for ease, the weary for rest, and the stifled for relief. If you truly make benefiting the people your foundation, they will grow prosperous; if you keep the people's welfare always at heart, they will know contentment; if levies and corvée duties beyond what human strength can bear are lifted, exhaustion will give way to rest; if laws and prohibitions that run against human nature are set aside, oppression will yield to relief. Extend this principle and act on it with full sincerity, and your descendants, seeing Your Majesty's virtue, will grow upright without needing to be taught."
38
未幾，起知陳州，未行，召兼侍讀，加大學士。 嘗言：「先帝以夏國主秉常廢，故興問罪之師。 今既復位，有蕃臣禮，宜還其故地。」 因陳兵不可不息者三，地不可不棄者五。 又言：「仁宗選建儲嗣，一時忠勲皆被寵祿； 范鎮首開此議，賞獨不及，願褒顯其功。」 鎮於是復起用。
Before long he was recalled to govern Chenzhou, but before he could leave he was summoned to serve concurrently as Lecturer-in-Attendance and was raised to Grand Academician. He once said, "The late emperor marched to punish Western Xia because its ruler Bingchang had been deposed. Now that he has been restored and again observes the rites of a border vassal, we ought to return the lands taken from him." He went on to set forth three reasons war must end and five territories that must be returned. He also said, "When Renzong chose and established the heir apparent, every loyal servant of that hour was rewarded with honors and emoluments; Fan Zhen was the first to raise this proposal, yet he alone received no reward; I ask that his service be publicly honored." Fan was thereupon brought back into service.
39
元祐更役法，命維詳定。 時四方書疏多言其便，維謂司馬光曰：「小人議論，希意迎合，不可不察。」 成都轉運判官蔡曚附會定差，維惡而劾之。 執政欲廢王安石《新經義》，維以當與先儒之說並行，論者服其平。 拜門下侍郎。 御史張舜民以言事罷，王岩叟救之，折簡密詢上官均。 語泄，詔岩叟分析。 維曰：「臣下折簡聚談，更相督責，乃是相率為善，何害於理？ 若瑣瑣責善，懼於國事無益也。」
When the corvée law was revised under Yuanyou, Wei was charged with drafting the detailed regulations. At the time, memorials from across the empire largely praised the measure's convenience. Han Wei told Sima Guang, "When petty officials speak, they often tailor their words to what they think you want to hear. Such talk cannot go unexamined." Cai Meng, assistant magistrate of the Chengdu transport commission, had gone along with the fixed-rank assignment system. Han Wei despised this and impeached him. The chief ministers wanted to abolish Wang Anshi's New Classic Meanings. Han Wei argued they should be allowed to coexist with the commentaries of earlier scholars, and critics on all sides respected his fairness. He was appointed vice director of the Department of State Affairs. Censor Zhang Shunmin was dismissed after speaking out on a policy matter. Wang Yansou intervened on his behalf and wrote a confidential letter to Shang Guanjun to inquire into the case. When word leaked, the emperor ordered Wang Yansou to submit a written explanation. Han Wei said, "When officials write one another, meet to discuss policy, and hold one another accountable, they are encouraging one another to do better. What principle does that violate? If the court nitpicks every such exchange, I fear it will do the state no good at all."
40
維處東省逾年，有忌之者密為讒訴，詔分司南京。 尚書右司王存抗聲簾前曰：「韓維得罪，莫知其端，臣竊為朝廷惜。」 乃還大學士、知鄧州。 兄絳為之請，改汝州。 久之，以太子少傅致仕，轉少師。
After more than a year in the Eastern Secretariat, Han Wei was secretly denounced by a jealous rival. An edict sent him to serve in nominal office at Nanjing. Wang Cun, chief of the right section of the Ministry of Revenue, spoke up firmly from behind the curtain: "Han Wei has been punished, yet no one knows why. I cannot help feeling the court has lost something valuable." He was restored to grand academician and appointed prefect of Deng Prefecture. His elder brother Han Jiang petitioned on his behalf, and he was reassigned to Yuzhou instead. After some time he retired as junior tutor to the heir apparent and was promoted to junior preceptor.
41
紹聖中，坐元祐黨，降左朝議大夫，再謫崇信軍節度副使，均州安置。 諸子乞納官爵，聽父里居。 哲宗覽奏惻然，許之。 元符元年，以幸睿成宮，復左朝議大夫，是歲卒。 年八十二。 徽宗初，悉追復舊官。
During the Shaosheng reign, he was punished as a member of the Yuanyou faction, demoted to Left Policy Advisor, and later banished again as vice military commissioner of Chongxin Army and placed under restricted residence at Jun Prefecture. His sons petitioned to surrender their own offices and titles in exchange for permission for their father to live at home. Emperor Zhezong was moved when he read the petition and granted it. In the first year of Yuanfu, on the occasion of an imperial visit to Ruicheng Palace, he was restored to Left Policy Advisor. He died later that year. He was eighty-two years old. At the start of Huizong's reign, all his former offices were posthumously restored.
42
韓縝，字玉汝。 登進士第，簽書南京判官。 仁宗以水災求直言，縝上疏曰：「今國本未立，無以系天下心，此陰盛陽微之應。」 詞極剴切。 劉沆薦其才，命編修三班敕。 前此，武臣不執親喪。 縝建言：「三年之服，古今通制； 晉襄衰墨從戎，事出一時。」 遂著令，自崇班以上聽持服。 為殿中侍御史。 參知政事孫抃持祿充位； 權陝西轉運副使薛向赴闕，樞密院輒畫旨除為真； 劉永年以外戚除防禦使； 內侍史志聰私役皇城親從：縝皆極論之。 帝為罷抃，寢向與永年之命，而正志聰罪。 遷侍御史、度支判官，出為兩浙、淮南轉運使，移河北。
Han Zhen, courtesy name Yuru. He passed the jinshi examinations and was appointed signing secretary and magistrate at Nanjing. After floods prompted Emperor Renzong to call for frank counsel, Han Zhen submitted a memorial: "The heir to the throne has not yet been firmly established, and the empire has nothing to fix its hopes upon. This is a sign of yin overpowering yang." His language was painfully direct. Liu Kang recommended his ability, and he was assigned to compile and revise the edicts governing the Three-Ranks corps. Until then, military officers had not been required to observe mourning for their parents. Han Zhen submitted a proposal: "Three years of mourning for a parent is the established practice in every age; When Duke Xiang of Jin went to war in abbreviated mourning dress, that was an emergency exception, not a precedent to follow." A regulation was then issued allowing officers from the honored ranks upward to observe the full mourning period. He was appointed palace attending censor. Vice Grand Councillor Sun Bian was drawing salary while occupying a post in name only; Acting Shaanxi transport vice commissioner Xue Xiang came to court, and the Bureau of Military Affairs immediately drafted an edict making his appointment permanent; Liu Yongnian was appointed defense commissioner because he was an imperial in-law; The inner attendant Shi Zhicong had privately put Imperial City guards to personal service — Han Zhen spoke forcefully against each of these abuses. The emperor removed Sun Bian from office, set aside the appointments of Xue Xiang and Liu Yongnian, and punished Shi Zhicong by law. He was promoted to serving censor and revenue-section adjudicator, then sent out as transport commissioner successively in Liangzhe, Huainan, and Hebei.
43
夏諒祚死，子秉常嗣，遣使求封冊。 朝廷方責夏人不修職貢，欲擇人詰其使。 縝適陛辭，神宗命之往。 縝至驛問罪，使者引服，迨夜，奏上。 帝喜，改使陝西。 入知審官西院、直舍人院。 以兄絳執政，改集賢殿修撰、鹽鐵副使，以天章閣待制知秦州。 嘗宴客夜歸，指使傅勍被酒，誤隨入州宅，與侍妾遇，縝怒，令軍校以鐵裹杖箠殺之。 勍妻持血衣，撾登聞鼓以訴，坐落職，分司南京。 秦人語曰：「寧逢乳虎，莫逢玉汝。」 其暴酷如此。 久之，還待制、知瀛州。
When Liangzuo of Western Xia died, his son Bingchang succeeded him and sent envoys to request formal investiture. The court was already reproaching the Xia for neglecting tribute obligations and wanted someone to cross-examine their envoys. Han Zhen happened to be at court taking leave of the throne, and Shenzong ordered him to go. Han Zhen confronted the envoys at the post station, and they accepted blame. He memorialized the throne that same night. The emperor was pleased and reassigned him as envoy to Shaanxi. He returned to the capital as director of the Western Bureau for Reviewing Offices and keeper of the Drafting Academy. Because his elder brother Han Jiang was in power, he was moved to compiler at the Hall for Assembling Worthies and deputy commissioner of salt and iron, then appointed prefect of Qin Prefecture with the rank of Hanlin academician at the Tianzhang Pavilion. Once, returning home at night after entertaining guests, he found that Commander Fu Qin, drunk, had mistakenly followed him into the prefectural residence and encountered a concubine. Han Zhen was enraged and ordered a military officer to beat him to death with an iron-shod club. Fu Qin's wife brought his bloodstained clothes and beat the drum at the Court of Direct Petitions to lodge a complaint. Han Zhen was stripped of his office and assigned nominal duty at Nanjing. People in Qin had a saying: "Better to meet a tigress with cubs than to meet Yuru." That was how brutal he could be. After some time he was restored to Hanlin academician and appointed prefect of Ying Prefecture.
44
熙寧七年，遼使蕭禧來議代北地界。 召縝館客，遂報聘，令持圖牒致遼主，不克見而還。 知開封府，禧再至，復館之。 詔乘驛詣河東，與禧分畫，以分水嶺為界。 覆命，賜襲衣、金帶，為樞密都承旨，還龍圖閣直學士。 元豐五年，官制行，易太中大夫、同知樞密，進知院事。
In the seventh year of the Xining era, the Liao envoy Xiao Xi came to negotiate the border in northern Dai. Han Zhen was summoned to host the envoy, then sent on a return mission with maps and documents for the Liao ruler. He failed to obtain an audience and came back. As prefect of Kaifeng, he again served as host when Xiao Xi returned. An edict ordered him to travel by post to Hedong, where he and Xiao Xi demarcated the border along the watershed line. When he reported back, he was granted court dress and a gold belt, appointed chief courier of the Bureau of Military Affairs, and restored to direct academician of the Longtu Pavilion. When the new rank system took effect in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, he was redesignated Grandee of Court and deputy director of the Bureau of Military Affairs, then promoted to director of the bureau.
45
哲宗立，拜尚書右僕射兼中書侍郎。 首相蔡確與章惇謀誣東朝，及確為山陵使，縝暴其奸狀，由是東朝及外廷悉知之。 確使還，欲以其屬高遵惠、張璡、韓宗文為美官。 宣仁后以訪縝，縝曰：「遵惠為太后從父； 璡者，中書郎璪之弟； 宗文，臣侄也。 今擢用非次，則是君臣各私其親，何以示天下？」 乃止。
When Zhezong took the throne, Han Zhen was appointed right vice director of the Department of State Affairs and concurrently vice director of the Secretariat. Chief Councillor Cai Que had conspired with Zhang Dun to slander the empress dowager. When Cai Que served as commissioner for Renzong's tomb, Han Zhen publicly exposed his treachery, and thereafter both the palace and the outer court knew what he had done. When Cai Que returned from his mission, he wanted to reward his followers Gao Zunhui, Zhang Jin, and Han Zongwen with lucrative posts. Empress Dowager Xuanren asked Han Zhen's view. He replied, "Zunhui is the empress dowager's uncle by marriage; Jin is the younger brother of Secretariat attendant Zhang Sao; and Zongwen is my nephew. If they are promoted out of turn now, ruler and ministers will each be advancing their own relatives. What example does that set for the empire?" The appointments were dropped.
46
元祐元年，御史中丞劉摯、諫官孫覺、蘇轍、王覿，論縝才鄙望輕，在先朝為奉使，割地六百里以遺契丹，邊人怨之切骨，不可使居相位。 章數十上，罷為觀文殿大學士、知潁昌府。 移永興、河南，拜安武軍節度使、知太原府，易節奉寧軍。 請老，為西太一宮使，以太子太保致仕。 紹聖四年卒，年七十九。 贈司空，諡曰「莊敏」。
In the first year of Yuanyou, Chief Censor Liu Zhi and remonstrating officials Sun Jue, Su Zhe, and Wang Di argued that Han Zhen was mediocre in ability and slight in reputation, that as an envoy under the previous reign he had ceded six hundred li of territory to the Khitan, that frontier people hated him bitterly, and that he must not be allowed to hold the chief ministership. After dozens of memorials, he was removed from the chief ministership and made grand academician at the Hall for Observing Culture and prefect of Yingchang. He was transferred through Yongxing and Henan, appointed military commissioner of Anwu Army and prefect of Taiyuan, then had his commission changed to Fengning Army. He requested retirement, was made commissioner of the Western Grand Unity Palace, and retired with the rank of grand guardian of the heir apparent. He died in the fourth year of Shaosheng at seventy-nine. He was posthumously granted Minister of Works, with the posthumous epithet Zhuangmin ("Dignified and Keen").
47
縝外事莊重，所至以嚴稱。 雖出入將相而寂無功烈，厚自奉養，世以比晉何曾云。 子宗武。
In public affairs Han Zhen was grave and dignified, and wherever he served he was known for strictness. Though he rose to the highest ranks, he left no notable achievements behind, indulged himself lavishly, and contemporaries compared him to He Zeng of the Jin dynasty. His son was Zongwu.
48
子宗武
Son: Zongwu
49
宗武，第進士，韓宗彥鎮瀛州，辟為河間令。 值河溢，增堤護城，吏率兵五百伐材近郊，雖墓木亦不免，父老遮道泣，宗武入府白罷之。 徽宗即位，為秘書丞，因日食上疏言：「近世事有微漸而不可不察者五：大臣不畏公論，小臣趨利附下，一也。 人主怠於政事，威柄下移，怨讟歸上，二也。 左右無輔拂之士，守邊無禦侮之臣，三也。 開境土以速邊患，耗賦財以弊民力，四也。 歲穀不登，倉庾空竭，民人流亡，盜賊數起，五也。 根治朋黨，追復私怨。 正士黜廢，耆老殲亡，旋起大獄，害及善類。 文章號令，衰於前世。 大河決溢，饑饉薦臻。 執政大臣，人懷異意，排去舊怨，以立新黨，徒為紛紛，無憂國忘家之慮。 誠願躬攬權綱，收還威柄，敷言奏功，考察名實，不以侍御之好、鐘鼓之娛為樂。 仁祖惻怛至誠，以收天下之心； 神宗厲精不息，以舉天下之事； 皆所宜法。」 不報。
Zongwu passed the jinshi examinations. When Han Zongyan was military commissioner at Ying Prefecture, he recruited him as magistrate of Hejian. When the Yellow River flooded, officials raised dikes to protect the city and led five hundred soldiers into the suburbs to cut timber, not sparing even graveyard trees. Elders blocked the road weeping. Zongwu went to the prefectural office and reported the abuse, and the order was withdrawn. When Huizong took the throne, Zongwu was secretary director. On the occasion of a solar eclipse he submitted a memorial: "Five gradual trends in recent affairs deserve close attention. First, senior officials no longer fear public opinion, while junior officials chase profit and attach themselves to powerful patrons. Second, the ruler neglects governance, authority slips to others, and public resentment is blamed on the throne. Third, the ruler lacks advisors who will speak plainly, and the frontier lacks ministers capable of repelling aggression. Fourth, expanding territory only hastens frontier crises, while draining revenue exhausts the people's strength. Fifth, harvests fail year after year, granaries run empty, people flee their homes, and banditry grows. Root out factional cliques and settle old private grudges. Upright men are dismissed, venerable elders destroyed, and major prosecutions launched that harm even the innocent. Imperial writing and public orders have fallen below the standards of earlier reigns. The Yellow River breaks its banks repeatedly, and famine follows one upon another. Those in power each pursue private aims, purge old enemies to build new factions, and stir up endless turmoil without any thought of serving the state above personal interest. I earnestly hope Your Majesty will take the reins of power back into your own hands, heed good counsel, reward real merit, judge men by their deeds rather than their titles, and not take your pleasure in attendants and amusements. Emperor Renzong's tender sincerity won the hearts of the empire; Emperor Shenzong's tireless energy drove the work of the state forward; both are examples worth emulating." The court did not respond.
50
哲宗將祔廟，中旨索省中書畫甚急。 宗武言：「先帝祔廟，陛下哀慕方深，而丹青之玩，取索不已，播之於外，懼損聖德。 陛下踐祚，如日初升，當講劘典訓，開廣聖學，好玩易志，正古人所戒也。」 疏入，皇太后見之，怒曰：「是皆內侍數輩所為爾！」 欲盡加罰，帝委曲申救，乃已。 明日，太后對宰相獎嘆，令俟諫官員闕即用之。 尋除都官員外郎，改開封府推官。 丐外，為淮南轉運判官。 前使者貸上供錢，禁庭遣使來索。 宗武奏具狀，詞極鯁切，坐貶秩，罷歸。 久之，蔡京欲以知潁州。 帝語秘書事，京不敢復言，遂致仕。 官累太中大夫，年八十二卒。
When Zhezong was about to be enshrined in the ancestral temple, an urgent palace order demanded paintings from the Secretariat stores. Zongwu wrote, "While the late emperor is being enshrined and Your Majesty's grief is still fresh, an endless search for paintings for amusement — if word of this spreads beyond the palace, I fear it will tarnish your reputation. Your Majesty has just taken the throne, like the sun at first rising. You should study the classics, broaden your learning, and guard against distraction — indulgence at the start of a reign is precisely what the ancients warned against." When the memorial arrived, the empress dowager read it and said angrily, "This is the work of a handful of inner attendants!" She wanted to punish them all, but the emperor interceded on their behalf, and the matter ended there. The next day the empress dowager praised Zongwu before the chief ministers and ordered that he be appointed remonstrating official at the first vacancy. He was soon appointed outer department director of the Ministry of Justice and transferred to investigating magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture. He requested a provincial post and was appointed transport-assistant magistrate of Huainan. His predecessor had borrowed funds meant for imperial tribute, and the palace sent envoys to collect repayment. Zongwu submitted a full account in blunt language. He was demoted and sent home. After some time, Cai Jing wanted to appoint him prefect of Ying Prefecture. When the emperor mentioned the earlier Secretariat affair, Cai Jing said nothing more, and Zongwu retired from office. He rose cumulatively to grandee of palace service and died at the age of eighty-two.
51
論曰：王稱曰：「昔袁安未嘗以贓罪鞫人，史氏以其仁心，足以覃乎後昆。 韓億不悅捃人小過，而君子知其後必大，皆盛德事也。 億有子位公府，而行各有適。 絳適於同，維適於正，縝適於嚴。 嗚呼，維其賢哉！」
The commentary states: Wang Cheng wrote, "In antiquity Yuan An never prosecuted anyone on corruption charges; historians judged that his humane heart alone sufficed to bless his descendants. Han Yi disliked nitpicking minor faults, yet gentlemen knew his line would flourish—both are acts of great virtue. Yi had sons who rose to the highest offices, each with his own distinctive character. Jiang excelled in conciliation, Wei in uprightness, and Zhen in severity. Alas, how worthy was Wei!"