1
邵亢從父:必馮京錢惟演從弟:易易子:彥遠明逸諸孫諸孫:景諶勰即
Figures treated in this chapter include Shao Kang's father's cousin Bi, Feng Jing, and Qian Weiyan's younger cousin Yi, whose sons were Yanyuan and Mingyi and whose grandsons were Jingchen, Xie, and Ji.
2
邵亢，字興宗，丹陽人。 幼聰發過人，方十歲，日誦書五千言。 賦詩豪縱，鄉先生見者皆驚偉之。 再試開封，當第一，以賦失韻，弗取。 范仲淹舉亢茂才異等，時布衣被召者十四人，試崇政殿，獨亢策入等，除建康軍節度推官。 或言所對策字少，不應式，宰相張士遜與之姻家，故得預選，遂報罷。 而士遜子實娶它邵，與亢同姓耳。 士遜既不能與直，亢亦不自言。
Shao Kang, whose style name was Xingzong, came from Danyang. As a boy his brilliance outstripped his peers; by the age of ten he was reciting five thousand characters of text each day. His fu verse was bold and free, and every local teacher who met him was struck by his extraordinary promise. When he took the Kaifeng examination a second time he would have placed first, but a rhyme fault in his fu cost him the degree. Fan Zhongyan nominated him for the "outstanding talent, special distinction" category. Fourteen commoners were summoned to court; examined in the Chongzheng Hall, Kang alone qualified with his policy essay and was made pushan on the Jiankang circuit staff. Critics claimed his essay was too short to meet the rules and that he had only been shortlisted because Grand Councilor Zhang Shisun was a kinsman by marriage; the appointment was withdrawn. In truth Zhang's son had married a different Shao family; the connection was nothing more than a shared surname. Shisun could not set the record straight, and Kang likewise kept silent.
3
趙元吳叛，亢言：「用兵在於擇將，今天下久不知戰，而所任多儒臣，未必能應變。 武人得長一軍，又已老，詎能身先矢石哉？ 間起故家恩幸子弟，彼安識攻守之計？ 況將與卒素不相附，又亡堅甲利兵之御。 此不待兩軍相當，而勝敗之機，固已形矣。」 因獻《兵說》十篇。
When Li Yuanhao rose in rebellion, Kang argued: "Warfare depends on choosing the right commanders. The empire has not fought in ages, yet we keep appointing scholar-officials who may not adapt when circumstances shift. The soldiers who do win field commands are already elderly—how can they lead from the front under fire? Sometimes we elevate pampered sons of great houses—what do they know of siege and assault? Generals and rank-and-file seldom trust one another, and we lack the hard armor and keen weapons needed for defense. We need not even wait for the armies to clash—the outcome is already plain." He then submitted ten chapters of his Discourse on Warfare.
4
契丹遣使賀乾元節，未至，仁宗崩。 議者謂宜卻，或欲俟其及國門而諭使之還，亢請令奉書至柩前，使見嗣君。 從之。 選為潁王府翊善，加直史館。 召對群玉殿，英宗訪以世事，稱之曰：「學士真國器也。」 擢同修起居注。 建言：「陛下初政，欲治國者先齊家，潁王且授室，願採用古昏禮。 公主下降，不宜厭舅姑之尊。」 帝深納之。 他日，諭王曰：「以翊善端直樸厚，輟為諫官矣。」 王出道帝語，遂以知制誥知諫院。 東宮建，為右庶子。
Liao dispatched envoys for the Qianyuan birthday celebration, but before they arrived Emperor Renzong had died. Some argued the envoys should be refused outright, others that they should be met at the gate and sent home; Kang urged that they be allowed to present their credentials before the bier and meet the new emperor. The court agreed. He was made tutor to the Prince of Ying and given a concurrent post in the Historiography Institute. Summoned to the Hall of Gathered Jade, Emperor Yingzong questioned him on public affairs and declared, "Academician, you are a true pillar of the realm." He was promoted to co-compiler of the Veritable Records. He advised: "At the start of your reign you must put your own house in order before you can govern the realm. The Prince of Ying is about to marry; I urge that the ancient wedding ceremonies be followed. When an imperial princess marries a subject, her in-laws should not be made to humble themselves before her." The emperor took the advice to heart. On another occasion he told the prince, "Your tutor is so upright and steadfast that I have moved him to the remonstrance bureau." The prince repeated the emperor's remark outside court, and Kang was appointed drafter of edicts with charge of the Remonstrance Bureau. When the heir apparent's household was formally established, he was made its right vice director.
5
神宗立，遷龍圖閣直學士。 有譖之者曰：「先帝大漸時，亢嘗建垂簾之議。」 御史吳申即論之。 帝知其妄，置不問。 亢自訴曰：「方先帝不豫，群臣莫得進見，臣無由面陳，必有章奏。 乞索之禁中，若得之，臣當伏誅； 不然，則讒臣者，豈宜但已，願下獄考實。」 帝不許。 時待制以上為帥、守，每他徙必遷職秩，亢請未滿兩歲者勿推恩。 王陶劾韓琦，吳奎與之辨。 亢詆奎所言顛倒，失大臣體，蓋欲亻並撼琦。 琦與奎竟同日去。
When Shenzong came to the throne, Kang was promoted to academician ex officio of the Dragon Diagram Hall. A detractor claimed that during the late emperor's final illness Kang had urged a regency behind the curtain." Censor Wu Shen promptly impeached him on that charge. The emperor knew the charge was baseless and ignored it. Kang rebutted the charge himself: "When the late emperor fell ill, none of us could see him. I could only have spoken through a memorial—search the palace archives. I ask that the inner archives be searched; if such a document exists, I deserve death; and if not, the man who slandered me should not walk free—I ask to be jailed while the truth is established." The emperor refused. At the time every transfer of a circuit commander or prefect at associate-academician rank or above brought an automatic promotion; Kang urged that no such favor be granted unless two years had been served. Wang Tao impeached Han Qi, and Wu Kui defended him. Kang attacked Kui's defense as incoherent and unworthy of a chief minister, evidently hoping to combine with others and bring Qi down. In the end both Qi and Kui left office on the same day.
6
進樞密直學士、知開封府。 亢遇事敏密，吏操辭牘至前，皆反覆閱之。 人或以為勞，亢曰：「決是非於須臾，正當爾。 初雖煩，後乃省也。」 籍里閭惡少年與吏之廢停者，一有所犯，皆遷處之，畿下斗訟為之衰止。 拜樞密副使。
He was promoted to academician ex officio of the Bureau of Military Affairs and appointed prefect of Kaifeng. Kang handled business with quick, meticulous care, reading every document a clerk placed before him again and again. Some thought this excessive; Kang replied, "When right and wrong must be decided in a moment, this is exactly what is required. It is tedious at first, but in the end it saves work." He kept registers of neighborhood thugs and idle or dismissed clerks and banished anyone who offended again; quarrels and lawsuits around the capital dwindled away. He was appointed vice commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs.
7
夏人誘殺知保安軍楊定，朝廷謀西討。 亢曰：「天下財力殫屈，未宜用兵，唯當降意撫納，俟不順命，則師出有名矣。」 因條上其事。 詔報之曰：「中國民力，大事也。 兵興之後，不無倍率，人心一搖，安危所系。 今動自我始，先違信誓，契丹聞之，將不期而自合，茲朕所深憂者。 當悉如卿計。」 未幾，夏主諒祚死，國人執殺定者來請和。 或欲乘此更取塞門地，亢以為幸人之喪，非義也，乃止。
The Tangut lured and killed Yang Ding, commander of Bao'an Army, and the court began planning a punitive expedition westward. Kang argued: "The empire's resources are spent—we should not fight yet. Lower our tone, offer conciliation, and wait until they defy us; then we march with justice on our side." He followed with a detailed memorial laying out his plan. The throne replied: "The strength of our people is a matter of the highest importance. Once war begins, taxes inevitably multiply; a single shift in public morale touches the fate of the realm. If we strike first we break faith before anyone else does; the Khitan will hear of it and rally against us without prompting—that is my deepest worry. We shall follow your counsel in full." Soon afterward the Tangut ruler Liangzuo died, and his subjects handed over Ding's killer and sued for peace. Some urged seizing more frontier passes while the Tangut mourned; Kang called it unrighteous to profit from a neighbor's grief, and the proposal was dropped.
8
從父必
His father's cousin Bi
9
必字不疑。 舉進士，為上元主簿。 國子監立石經，必善篆隸，召充直講。 選為《唐書》編修官。 必以史出眾手，非古人撰述之體，辭不就。 進集賢校理、同知太常禮院。 天子且親祠，執事者習禮壇下。 必言：「《周官·大宗伯》：『凡王之禱祠，肄儀為位。』 鄭康成釋云：『若今肄司徒府。』 古禮如此。 今即祠所習之，為不敬。」 乃徙於尚書省。 張貴妃受冊，禮官議命婦入賀儀未決，或曰：「妃為修媛時，命婦已不敢亢禮，況今日乎？」 必曰：「宮省事秘不可知。 既下有司議，惟有外一品南省上事百官班見之儀，然禮無不答。」 眾議乃定。
Bi, whose style name was Buyi. He earned his jinshi degree and served as registrar of Shangyuan county. When the Directorate of Education carved the stone classics, Bi's mastery of seal and clerical script won him appointment as a lecturer. He was chosen as a compiler of the Book of Tang. Bi refused, arguing that a history written by committee was not how the ancients composed and he would not take part. He was promoted to collator in the Hall of Assembled Talents and made vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The emperor was to perform the sacrifices in person, and the ritual officers rehearsed the ceremonies at the altar. Bi objected: "The Zhou Offices, Grand Invocator chapter, says: 'For all the king's prayer sacrifices, rehearse the ceremony and mark the positions. Zheng Xuan glosses this as 'like rehearsing today in the Minister of Education's office.'" That was ancient practice. Rehearsing on the sacred ground itself is disrespectful." The rehearsal was moved to the Secretariat. When Consort Zhang was invested, ritualists could not agree how titled ladies should offer congratulations. Some argued that even when she had been only a Cultivated Lady, noblewomen had not dared claim equal precedence—how much less now?" Bi replied: "Inner-palace arrangements are unknowable from outside. The question is now before the ministries, and the only precedent is for first-rank ladies outside the palace to present congratulations with the full court in attendance—yet ritual always demands a response." On that basis the court settled the ceremony.
10
出知常州，召為開封府推官。 坐在常州日杖人至死，責監邵武稅，然杖者實不死。 久之，知高郵軍，提點淮南刑獄，為京西轉運使。 必居官震厲風采，始至郡，惟一赴宴集； 行部，但一受酒食之饋。 以為數會聚則人情狎，多受饋則不能行事，非使者體也。 入修起居注、知制誥。
He served as prefect of Changzhou, then was recalled as an investigating officer in the Kaifeng prefectural office. He was punished for having flogged a man to death while in Changzhou and was demoted to oversee the Shaowu tax office, though the man he flogged had not actually died. Later he was made military prefect of Gaoyou, intendant of Huainan judicial affairs, and transport commissioner on the Jingxi circuit. Bi governed with stern, commanding presence; on first reaching a prefecture he accepted only one banquet; on circuit inspection he took only one offering of food and drink. He believed that frequent socializing bred familiarity and that too many gifts made it impossible to govern—neither befitted a touring commissioner. He returned to court to compile the Veritable Records and serve as drafter of edicts.
11
雄州種木道上，契丹遣人夜伐去，又數漁界河中。 事聞，命必往使，必以理折契丹，屈之。 還，知諫院。 編《仁宗御集》成，遷寶文閣直學士、權三司使，加龍圖閣學士、知成都。 卒於道，年六十四。 遣中使護其喪歸。
Along the tree-lined road at Xiongzhou, Liao sent men to cut the trees down by night and repeatedly fished in the border river. When word reached court, Bi was sent as envoy; he overwhelmed the Khitan with argument until they yielded. On his return he headed the Remonstrance Bureau. After completing the Collected Writings of Emperor Renzong, he was made academician ex officio of the Hall of Treasured Culture and acting commissioner of the Three Fiscal Commissions, then given the additional posts of Dragon Diagram academician and prefect of Chengdu. He died on the journey at sixty-four. The court dispatched a palace envoy to escort his remains home.
12
馮京，字當世，鄂州江夏人。 少雋邁不群，舉進士，自鄉舉、禮部以至廷試，皆第一。 時猶未娶，張堯佐方負宮掖勢，欲妻以女。 擁至其家，束之以金帶，曰：「此上意也。」 頃之，宮中持酒殽來，直出奩具目示之。 京笑不視，力辭。 出守將作監丞、通判荊南軍府事。 還，直集賢院、判吏部南曹，同修起居注。 吳充以論溫成皇后追冊事，出知高郵，京疏充言是，不當黜。 劉沆請亻並斥京，仁宗曰：「京亦何罪？」 但解其記注，旋復之。
Feng Jing, whose style name was Dangshi, came from Jiangxia in Ezhou. As a youth he was brilliant and unconventional. He took the jinshi degree and placed first at every stage—from the provincial examination through the Ministry of Rites to the palace test. He was still unmarried when Zhang Yaozuo, then powerful in the inner palace, sought to marry his daughter to him. They dragged him to Zhang's house, buckled a gold belt on him, and declared, "This is the emperor's wish." Soon palace servants arrived with wine and food and produced the dowry inventory for him to see. Jing laughed and refused to look, steadfastly declining the match. He left the capital as vice director of the Directorate of Palace Buildings and administrative assistant on the Jingnan military staff. Recalled to court, he was attached to the Hall of Assembled Talents, judged cases in the Ministry of Personnel's southern bureau, and co-compiled the Veritable Records. Wu Chong was banished to Gaoyou for opposing the posthumous ennoblement of Empress Wen Cheng; Jing memorialized that Chong was right and should not have been punished. Liu Hong urged that Jing be expelled along with others; Emperor Renzong asked, "What has Jing done wrong?" He merely removed him from the Veritable Records post and soon restored him.
13
試知制誥。 避婦父富弼當國嫌，拜龍圖閣待制、知揚州。 改江寧府，以翰林侍讀學士召還，糾察在京刑獄。 為翰林學士、知開封府。 數月不詣丞相府，韓琦語弼，以京為傲。 弼使往見琦，京曰：「公為宰相，從官不妄造請，乃所以為公重，非傲也。」 出安撫陝西，請城古渭，通西羌唃氏，畀木征官，以斷夏人右臂。 除端明殿學士、知太原府。
He was appointed acting drafter of edicts. To avoid the appearance of favoritism while his father-in-law Fu Bi led the government, he was made awaiting draft in the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Yangzhou. He was transferred to Jiangning, then recalled as Hanlin academician reader to investigate criminal cases in the capital. He was made Hanlin academician and prefect of Kaifeng. For months he never called on the chief councilor; Han Qi told Fu Bi that Jing was being arrogant. Bi sent an envoy to see Qi; Jing explained, "As chief councilor, your attendants do not call without good reason—that is how they preserve your standing, not out of arrogance." After he was sent out as pacification commissioner of Shaanxi, he urged fortifying Guwei, reaching the Western Qiang Gusiluo, and conferring office on Mu Zheng in order to cut off the Tangut right flank. He was made academician of the Hall of Manifest Brightness and prefect of Taiyuan.
14
神宗立，復為翰林學士，改御史中丞。 王安石為政，京論其更張失當，累數千百言，安石指為邪說，請黜之。 帝以為可用，擢樞密副使。 河東麟、府、豐三州，城壘兵械不治，官吏皆受譴。 京以先帥本道，上章自劾曰：「使諸路帥臣，知其雖一時脫去，後能僥竊名位者，猶必行法，將不敢復偷惰曠職。」 優詔不聽。 進參知政事。 數與安石論辨，又薦劉分攵、蘇軾掌外製。 安石令保甲養馬，京謂必不可行。 會選人鄭俠上書言時政，薦京可相，呂惠卿因是譖京與俠通，罷知亳州。 未幾，以資政殿學士知渭州。 茂州夷叛，徙知成都府。 蕃部何丹方寇雞粽關，聞京兵至，請降。 議者遂欲盪其巢窟，京請於朝，為禁侵掠，給稼器，餉糧食，使之歸。 夷人喜，爭出犬豕割血受盟，願世世為漢藩。 惠卿告安石罪，發其私書，有曰「勿令齊年知」，齊年謂京也，與安石同年生。 帝以安石為欺，復召京知樞密院。 京以疾未至，帝中夕呼左右語曰：「適夢馮京入朝，甚慰人意。」 乃賜京詔，有「渴想儀刑，不忘夢寐」之語。 及入見，首以所夢告焉。 頃之，以觀文殿學士知河陽。
When Shenzong came to the throne, he was again appointed Hanlin academician and promoted to vice censor-in-chief. Under Wang Anshi's administration, Jing wrote thousands of words arguing that the new policies were mistaken; Anshi labeled the views heterodox and asked that he be removed. The emperor found him still useful and promoted him to vice commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs. In Hedong's Lin, Fu, and Feng prefectures, city walls and armaments had fallen into neglect, and the responsible officials were all censured. Jing, who had once commanded the circuit himself, memorialized to impeach himself, saying, "If frontier commanders see that even men who slip away for a time but later claw their way back into office will still be punished, they will not dare again to neglect their duties." The emperor issued a gracious edict refusing to accept his resignation. He was promoted to vice grand councilor. He argued repeatedly with Anshi and also recommended Liu Chang and Su Shi to draft external edicts. When Anshi ordered the baojia militia to raise horses, Jing declared the plan utterly unworkable. When the candidate Zheng Xia memorialized on current affairs and recommended Jing as chief minister, Lü Huiqing seized on this to accuse Jing of collusion with Xia, and Jing was demoted to prefect of Bozhou. Not long afterward he was appointed academician of the Hall for Assisting Governance and prefect of Weizhou. When the tribes of Maozhou rose in revolt, he was transferred to serve as prefect of Chengdu. The tribal leader He Dan was attacking Jiguan Pass, but when he heard that Jing's forces had arrived, he asked to submit. Some at court then wanted to destroy their settlements outright; Jing asked the throne to forbid pillaging, supply farm implements and grain, and allow the people to return home. The tribesmen rejoiced, vying to bring out dogs and pigs for blood-oath ceremonies and pledging to remain Han subjects for generations. Huiqing denounced Anshi and revealed his private letters, one of which read, "Do not let Tongnian know"—Tongnian being Jing, who shared Anshi's birth year. Believing Anshi had deceived him, the emperor recalled Jing to direct the Bureau of Military Affairs. Jing was ill and had not yet reached the capital; in the middle of the night the emperor summoned his attendants and said, "I have just dreamed of Feng Jing coming to court, and it greatly comforted me." He then sent Jing an edict containing the phrase, "I thirst for your example and do not forget you even in sleep." When Jing arrived for an audience, the emperor told him of the dream at once. Before long he was made academician of the Hall for Viewing Culture and prefect of Heyang.
15
哲宗即位，拜保寧軍節度使、知大名府，又改鎮彰德。 於是范祖禹言：「京再執政，初與王安石不合，後為呂惠卿所傾，其中立不倚之操，為先帝稱挹。 且昭陵學士，獨京一人存，若付以樞密，必允公論。」 時京已老，乃以為中太一宮使兼侍講，改宣徽南院使，拜太子少師，致仕。 紹聖元年，薨，年七十四。 帝臨奠於第，贈司徒，諡曰文簡。
When Zhezong came to the throne, he was appointed military commissioner of the Baoning Army and prefect of Daming, then transferred to command Zhangde. Fan Zuyu then said, "Jing has held office twice: he first opposed Wang Anshi, then was brought down by Lü Huiqing, yet his impartial, unyielding conduct won the late emperor's esteem. Moreover, of the scholars who served under Emperor Zhenzong, Jing alone still lives; if he were placed in charge of military affairs, public opinion would surely approve." By then Jing was already elderly; he was therefore made commissioner of the Central Grand Unity Palace with concurrent duties as lecturer, then commissioner of the Southern Court of the Palace Attendant Service, appointed Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent, and allowed to retire. In the first year of the Shaosheng era he died at the age of seventy-four. The emperor came in person to mourn at his home; Jing was posthumously made Grand Mentor and given the posthumous title Wenjian ("Cultured and Simple").
16
始，京鄉居，受恩通判南宮成，迨貴，以郊恩官其子。 嘗過外兄朱適，出侍妾，詢知為同年進士妻，亟請而嫁之。 其為郡守，諸縣公事至，即歷究之，苟與縣牘合而處斷麗於法者，呼法吏決罪，不以侍獄。 報下捷疾，一無壅滯，人服其敏雲。
In his early days at home, Jing had been obliged to Cheng, the supervisory official of Nangong; once he had risen high, he used an imperial amnesty to grant Cheng's son an official appointment. On a visit to his cousin Zhu Shi, Shi presented a concubine; learning that she was the wife of a jinshi who had passed the examinations in the same year, Jing immediately asked for her release and saw that she was properly married. As prefect, whenever county business reached him he examined it thoroughly; if the facts matched the county records and the ruling fit the law, he had the legal clerk pronounce sentence at once rather than holding people in jail. His decisions went out quickly, without a single backlog, and people admired his dispatch.
17
錢惟演
Qian Weiyan
18
錢惟演，字希聖，吳越王俶之子也，少補牙門將，從俶歸朝，為右屯衛將軍。 歷右神武軍將軍。 博學能文辭，召試學士院，以笏起草立就，真宗稱善。 改太僕少卿，獻《咸平聖政錄》。 命真秘閣，預修《《冊府元龜》，詔與楊億分為之序。 除尚書司封郎中、知制誥，再遷給事中、知審官院。 大中祥符八年，為翰林學士，坐私謁事罷之。 尋遷尚書工部侍郎，再為學土、會靈觀副使。 又坐貢舉失實，降給事中。 復工部侍郎，擢樞密副使、會靈觀使兼太子賓客，更領祥源觀。 累遷工部尚書。
Qian Weiyan, whose style name was Xisheng, was a son of Qian Chu, king of Wuyue; in youth he served as a gate guard general, and after Chu submitted to the Song he was made General of the Right Garrison Guard. He rose to General of the Right Divine Martial Army. Broadly learned and gifted in letters, he was called to examination at the Hanlin Academy; holding his tablet, he finished a draft on the spot, and Emperor Zhenzong commended him. He was made Vice Minister of the Stud and submitted the Records of Sacred Governance in the Xianping Era. Assigned to the True Secret Archive, he took part in compiling the Prime Tortoise of the Book Archive, and an edict directed him and Yang Yi each to compose a preface. He was made Director of the Ministry of Personnel Office in the Ministry of Revenue and drafter of edicts, then promoted again to Secretarial Recipient and director of the Bureau of Examining Officials. In the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu he became Hanlin academician, but was removed for making an unauthorized private visit. He was soon transferred to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and again made Hanlin academician and deputy commissioner of the Hall of Numinous Accord. He was again punished for misrepresenting the results of an examination and was demoted to Secretarial Recipient. Restored to Vice Minister of Works, he was promoted to vice commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs, made commissioner of the Hall of Numinous Accord and concurrent Host of the Heir Apparent, and given charge of the Hall of Auspicious Source as well. He was promoted step by step to Minister of the Ministry of Works.
19
仁宗即位，進兵部。 王曾為相，以惟演嘗位曾上，因拜樞密使。 故事，樞密使必加檢校官，惟演止以尚書充使，有司之失也。 初，惟演見丁謂權盛，附之，與為婚。 謂逐寇準，惟演與有力焉。 及序樞密題名，獨刊去準，名曰「逆準」，削而不書。 謂禍既萌，惟演慮並得罪，遂擠謂以自解。 宰相馮拯惡其為人，因言：「惟演以妹妻劉美，乃太后姻家，不可與機政，請出之。」 乃罷為鎮國軍節度觀察留後，即日改保大軍節度使、知河陽。 逾年，請入朝，加同中書門下平章事、判許州。 未即行，冀復用，侍御史鞠詠奏劾之，惟演乃亟去。 天聖七年，改武勝軍節度使。 明年來朝，上言先壠在洛陽，願守宮鑰。 即以判河南府，再改泰寧軍節度使。
When Renzong came to the throne, he was promoted to Minister of War. When Wang Zeng became chief councilor, Weiyan was made commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs because he had once outranked Zeng. By custom a military affairs commissioner was always given an honorary inspection title, but Weiyan served with only his ministerial rank—a lapse on the part of the responsible offices. At first, seeing Ding Wei's ascendancy, Weiyan attached himself to him and formed a marriage alliance. When Ding forced Kou Zhun from office, Weiyan helped bring it about. When the Bureau compiled its roster of names, he alone struck out Zhun, labeling him "Rebel Zhun" and omitting him from the record. When Ding's downfall began, Weiyan, fearing he would be implicated, turned on Ding to clear himself. Chief councilor Feng Zheng, disliking his conduct, said, "Weiyan married his sister to Liu Mei, a kinsman of the empress dowager; he must not hold military secrets—please remove him from court." He was removed to serve as military observation commissioner-at-large of the Zhenguo Army, and that same day was transferred to military commissioner of the Baoda Army and prefect of Heyang. A year later he asked to return to court and was given the title of Grand Councilor Concurrently Minister of Affairs with assignment to Xuzhou. He did not leave at once, hoping to be recalled; Remonstrating Censor Ju Yong impeached him, and Weiyan then departed in haste. In the seventh year of Tiansheng he was transferred to military commissioner of the Wusheng Army. The following year he came to court and said his ancestral graves lay at Luoyang; he asked to hold the keys to the palace there. He was at once appointed prefect of Henan and later transferred again to military commissioner of the Taining Army.
20
惟演雅意柄用，抑鬱不得志。 及帝耕籍田，求侍祠，因留為景靈宮使。 太后崩，詔還河南。 惟演不自安，請以庄獻明肅太后、庄懿太后並配真宗廟室，以希帝意。 惟演既與劉美親，又為其子曖娶郭后妹，至是，又欲與庄懿太后族為婚。 御史中丞范諷劾惟演擅議宗廟，且與後家通婚姻。 落平章事，為崇信軍節度使，歸本鎮。 未幾，卒，特贈侍中。 太常張瑰按，《諡法》敏而好學曰「文」，貪而敗官曰「墨」，請諡文墨。 其家訴於朝，詔章得象等覆議，以惟演無貪黷狀，而晚節率職自新，有惶懼可憐之意，取《諡法》追悔前過曰「思」，改諡曰思。 慶歷間，二太后始升祔真宗廟室，子曖復訴前議，乃改諡曰文僖。
Weiyan had long coveted real power and was now depressed and thwarted in his ambitions. When the emperor performed the plowing rite, Weiyan asked to assist in the ceremony and was kept on as commissioner of the Hall of Splendid Numen. After the empress dowager died, an edict sent him back to Henan. Uneasy in his position, Weiyan proposed that Empresses Dowager Zhuangxian Mingsu and Zhuangyi both be enshrined in Emperor Zhenzong's temple, hoping to win the emperor's favor. Weiyan was already related to Liu Mei and had his son Ai marry a sister of Empress Guo; now he sought yet another marriage tie with the clan of Empress Dowager Zhuangyi. Censor-in-Chief Fan Feng impeached Weiyan for meddling in ancestral temple matters and forming marriage ties with the empress's kin. Stripped of his grand councilor title, he was made military commissioner of the Chongxin Army and sent back to his former post. He died soon afterward and was specially granted the posthumous rank of Palace Attendant. Director of Ritual Zhang Gui, citing the Treatise on Posthumous Names—where "keen and fond of learning" yields Wen and "greedy and ruining office" yields Mo—proposed the posthumous name Wenmo. His family appealed to the throne; an edict ordered Zhang Dexiang and others to reconsider the case. Finding no proof of corruption and noting that in his later years Weiyan had served conscientiously and shown remorse, they applied the Treatise on Posthumous Names' criterion "regretting past faults" and changed the posthumous name to Si. During the Qingli era, when the two empresses dowagers were first enshrined in Zhenzong's temple, his son Ai renewed the family's appeal, and the posthumous name was changed to Wenxi.
21
惟演出於勛貴，文辭清麗，名與楊億、劉筠相上下。 於書無所不讀，家儲文籍侔秘府。 尤喜獎厲後進。 初，真宗諡號稱「文」，惟演曰「真宗幸澶淵御契丹，盟而服之，宜兼諡『武』。 下有司議，乃加諡「武定」。 所著《典懿集》三十卷，又著《金坡遺事》、《飛白書敘錄》《逢辰錄》、《奉藩書事》。 惟演嘗語人曰：「吾平生不足者，惟不得於黃紙上押字爾。」 蓋未嘗歷中書故也。 子曖、晦、暄，從弟易。
Born into a house of merit, Weiyan wrote in a refined style and stood in reputation alongside Yang Yi and Liu Yun. There was scarcely a book he had not read, and the library in his home rivaled the imperial archive. He was especially fond of encouraging younger scholars. When Emperor Zhenzong's posthumous title was first proposed as Wen, Weiyan argued, "The emperor went to Chanyuan to confront the Khitan, made peace, and brought them to submission; he should also bear the element Wu. The proposal was referred to the responsible offices, and the additional element Wuding ("Martial and Settled") was approved. He wrote thirty juan of the Collection of Canonical Elegance, as well as Remnants from the Golden Slope, Record of Flying-White Calligraphy, Record of Fortunate Days, and Affairs of Serving the Fief. Weiyan once said to others, "The one thing I have lacked in life is the chance to affix my signature to yellow paper." He meant that he had never held office in the Secretariat. His sons were Ai, Hui, and Xuan; his younger cousin was Yi.
22
晦字明叔，以大理評事娶獻穆大長公主女，累遷東上閣門使、貴州團練使。 王守忠領兩使留後，移閣門定朝立燕坐位，晦因言：「天子大朝會，令宦者齒士大夫坐殿上，必為外夷所笑。」 守忠更欲以禮服進酒，晦又以為不可。 勾當三班院、群牧都監，授忠州防禦使、知河中府。 帝因戒曰：「陝西方罷兵，民困久矣。 卿為朕愛撫，毋縱酒樂，使人呼為貴戚子弟也。」 晦頓首謝。 改潁州防禦使，為秦鳳路馬步軍總管。 復還三班院，同提舉集禧觀。 歷霸州防禦使，為群牧副使，卒。
Hui, styled Mingshu, married the daughter of the Grand Eldest Princess Xianmu while serving as an auditor of the Court of Judicial Review; he rose to Eastern Upper Gate envoy and regimental commander of Guizhou. Wang Shouzhong, holding two commissioner-at-large posts, had the Gate office rearrange seating for court sessions and banquet protocol; Hui objected, "At the emperor's great assembly, to seat eunuchs alongside scholar-officials in the hall will surely be laughed at by foreign envoys." Shouzhong also wanted eunuchs to present wine in full ceremonial dress, which Hui again rejected. He served as acting director of the Three-Class Academy and chief overseer of the Pasture Office, then was granted the rank of Defender of Zhongzhou and appointed prefect of Hezhong. The emperor then warned him, "Shaanxi has only just seen fighting end; the people there have long been exhausted. Care for them on my behalf; do not give yourself over to wine and music, or people will dismiss you as a spoiled imperial in-law." Hui kowtowed in acknowledgment. Transferred to Defender of Yingzhou, he was made overall commander of cavalry and infantry on the Qinfeng Circuit. He returned to the Three-Class Academy and concurrently supervised the Hall of Gathered Blessings. He served as Defender of Bazhou, then as deputy overseer of the Pasture Office, and died in office.
23
暄字載陽，以父蔭累官駕部郎中、知撫州，移台州。 台城惡地下，秋潦暴集，輒圮溺，人多即山為居。 暄為增治城堞，壘石為台，作大堤捍之。 進少府監、權鹽鐵副使。 暄鉤考諸路逋租，兩浙轉運使負課當坐，暄上言：「浙部仍歲飢，故租賦不登籍，今使者獲罪，必亟斂於民，民不堪矣。」 神宗即詔釋之。 官制行，為光祿卿，出知鄆州，拜寶文閣待制，卒。 子景臻，尚秦、魯國大長公主。 景臻子忱，在《外戚傳》。
Xuan, styled Zaiyang, entered office through his father's privilege and rose to Director of the Ministry of Ceremonials and prefect of Fuzhou before being transferred to Taizhou. Taizhou stood on low, unstable ground; autumn floods would rush in and repeatedly breach the walls, so many residents built homes on the hills. Xuan strengthened the battlements, piled stone into platforms, and built a great embankment to hold back the floods. He was promoted to Director of the Palace Manufactories and acting vice commissioner of the Salt and Iron Commission. While auditing delinquent rents on the circuits, Xuan found that the transport commissioner of the Two Zhe districts had failed to meet his quota and faced punishment; he memorialized, "The Zhe region has suffered famine year after year, so taxes could not be fully recorded; if this official is punished now, the shortfall will be wrung from the people at once, and they cannot endure it." Emperor Shenzong immediately issued an edict pardoning the commissioner. When the new bureaucratic system was implemented, he became Director of the Imperial Household Food, then went out as prefect of Yanzhou; he was granted awaiting draft in the Hall of Treasured Culture and died. His son Jingzhen married the Grand Eldest Princess of the States of Qin and Lu. Jingzhen's son Chen is treated in the Biographies of the Empresses' Kin.
24
從弟易
Younger cousin Yi
25
易字希白。 始，父倧嗣吳越王，為大將胡進思所廢，而立其弟俶。 俶歸朝，群從悉補官，易與兄昆不見錄，遂刻志讀書。 昆字裕之，舉進士，為治寬簡便民，能詩，善草隸書，累官右諫議大夫，以秘書監於家。
Yi, styled Xibai. In the beginning, his father Zong had inherited the throne of the King of Wuyue but was deposed by the great general Hu Jinsi, who enthroned his younger brother Chu instead. After Chu surrendered to the Song court, all the collateral branch of the family received official appointments, but Yi and his elder brother Kun were passed over; they therefore devoted themselves wholeheartedly to study. Kun, styled Yuzhi, passed the jinshi examination. His administration was lenient and unpretentious and brought convenience to the people. He could write poetry and excelled at cursive and clerical calligraphy. He rose through office to Right Remonstrance Censor and retired at home as Supervisor of the Palace Library.
26
易年十七，舉進士，試崇政殿，三篇，日未中而就。 言者惡其輕俊，特罷之。 然自此以才藻知名。 太宗嘗與蘇易簡論唐世文人，嘆時無李白。 易簡曰：「今進士錢易，為歌詩殆不下白。」 太宗驚喜曰：「誠然，吾當自布衣召置翰林。」 值盜起劍南，遂寢。 真宗在東宮，圖山水扇，會易作歌，賞愛之。
At seventeen, Yi passed the jinshi examination. Tested in the Chongzheng Hall on three compositions, he finished before noon. Critics at court resented his precocious flippancy and had him disqualified. Even so, from that point on he was known for his literary brilliance. Emperor Taizong once discussed Tang literary figures with Su Yijian and lamented that the age produced no one like Li Bai. Su Yijian replied, "The current jinshi Qian Yi writes lyrics that rival Li Bai's nearly as well." The emperor was startled and delighted. "That is true," he said. "I shall summon him straight from common life and place him in the Hanlin Academy." But banditry broke out in Jiannan just then, and the plan was shelved. While still heir apparent, Zhenzong painted a landscape fan; Yi happened to write a lyric for it, which the future emperor greatly admired.
27
易再舉進士，就開封府試第二。 自謂當第一，為有司所屈，乃上書言試《朽索之馭六馬賦》，意涉譏諷。 真宗惡其無行，降第二。 明年，第二人中第，補濠州團練推官。 召試中書，改光祿寺丞、通判蘄州。 奏疏曰：「堯放四罪而不言殺，彼四者之凶，尚惡言殺，非堯仁之至乎？ 古之肉刑者劓、椓、黥、刖皆非死，尚以為虐。 近代以來，斷人手足，鉤背烙筋，身見白骨而猶視息，四體分落乃方絕命。 以此示人，非平世事也。 今四方長吏競為殘暴，婺州先斷賊手足，然後斬之以聞。 壽州巡檢使磔賊於闤闠之中，其旁猶有盜物者。 使嚴刑可誡於眾，則秦之天下無叛民矣。 臣以謂非法之刑，非所以助治，惟陛下除之。」 帝嘉納其言。
Yi tried again for the jinshi degree and finished second on the Kaifeng prefectural examination. Convinced he deserved first place and had been unfairly held down by the examiners, he submitted a memorial about his fu titled "Driving Six Horses with a Rotten Rope," arguing that its meaning had been read as satirical. Zhenzong took offense at his improper behavior and had him reduced to second place. The next year he passed as second-ranked graduate and was appointed military pushan on the Hao prefectural staff. Called to a special examination at the Secretariat, he was made Assistant Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments and assigned as administrative prefect of Qiz Prefecture. In a memorial he wrote: "Yao banished the Four Criminals without a word about execution. Men so wicked as they still shrank from speaking of killing—is that not the supreme expression of Yao's humanity? The bodily punishments of antiquity—nose cutting, ear mutilation, tattooing, and amputation of the feet—none of them entailed death, yet even these were considered barbarous. In recent times offenders have had their limbs severed, their backs hooked and their sinews branded with hot irons, left alive until the bone shows white and breath still comes—death arriving only after the body has been torn limb from limb. To parade such punishments before the public is unworthy of an age of peace. Today local magistrates everywhere vie in cruelty. In Wu Prefecture thieves first have their limbs cut off and are then beheaded before the fact is reported to court. The Shou Prefecture circuit inspector had thieves publicly dismembered in the market square—while looters still plundered goods beside the scaffold. If harsh punishment alone could deter the masses, the Qin empire would never have known rebellion. I submit that extra-legal punishments do not assist good governance. Your Majesty alone can abolish them." The emperor praised the memorial and adopted his recommendations.
28
景德中，舉賢良方正科，策入等，除秘書丞、通判信州。 東封泰山，獻《殊祥錄》，改太常博士、直集賢院。 祀汾陰，幸亳州，命修《車駕所過圖經》，獻《宋雅》一篇，遷尚書祠部員外郎。 坐發國子監諸科非其人，降監潁州稅。 數月，召還。 久之，判三司磨勘司。 上言：「官物在籍，而三司移文釐正，或其數細微，輒歷年不得報，徒擾州縣。 自今官錢百、谷斗、帛二尺以下，非欺紿者除之。」 真宗雅眷詞臣，其典掌誥命，皆躬自柬拔。 擢知制誥、判登聞鼓院、糾察在京刑獄。 累遷左司郎中，為翰林學士，
During the Jingde reign he entered the "worthies and upright scholars" examination; his policy essay qualified and he was appointed Secretary of the Palace Library and administrative prefect of Xin Prefecture. When the court conducted the eastern feng sacrifice at Mount Tai, he submitted "Record of Exceptional Omens" and was made Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and a direct academician in the Hall of Assembled Worthies. During the Fenyin sacrifice and the imperial visit to Boz, he was charged with compiling the "Gazetteers of Places the Imperial Procession Traversed," submitted a piece for "Song Elegantiae," and was promoted to Assistant Director in the Sacrifices Office of the Ministry of Rites. He was demoted to Ying Prefecture grain-tax supervisor for having advanced unsuitable candidates in various categories at the Directorate of Education. Within a few months he was recalled to court. Eventually he was put in charge of the Three Departments review office. He memorialized: "When registered government goods are scrutinized, the Three Departments dispatch correction orders even for the smallest discrepancies—then years pass with no resolution, needlessly harassing local governments. Henceforth discrepancies under one hundred cash, one dou of grain, or two chi of silk should be waived unless deliberate fraud is involved." Emperor Zhenzong especially favored literary officials; every appointment to draft edicts and proclamations he made in person. He was promoted to Drafting Proclamations, assigned to the Petition Drum Court, and charged with inspecting capital criminal cases. After successive promotions he reached Left Department Director and was appointed Hanlin Academician,
29
儤直未滿，卒。 仁宗憐之，召其妻盛氏至禁中，賜以冠帔。
but died before completing his rotation of duty at court. Renzong took pity on him and summoned his wife, Lady Sheng, into the palace, granting her official cap and robes.
30
易才學瞻敏過人，數千百言，援筆立就。 又善尋尺大書行草，及喜觀佛書，嘗校《道藏經》，著《殺生戒》，有《金閨》、《瀛州》、《西垣制集》一百五十卷，《青雲總錄》、《青雲新錄》《南部新書》、《洞微志》一百三十卷。 子彥遠、明逸，相繼皆以賢良方正應詔。 宋興以來，父子兄弟制策登科者，錢氏一家而已。
Yi's talent and learning surpassed ordinary men: essays of hundreds or thousands of words flowed from his brush as soon as he picked up the pen. He also excelled at large-scale running and cursive calligraphy, delighted in reading Buddhist texts, once collated the Daoist Canon, and wrote "Admonition against Killing." His published works included "Golden Inner Chambers," "Prefecture of Ying," and "Collected Drafts from the Western Enclosure" in one hundred fifty volumes, and "General Record of Azure Clouds," "New Record of Azure Clouds," "New Book of the Southern Department," and "Record of Subtle Penetration" in one hundred thirty volumes. His sons Yanyuan and Mingyi both answered successive imperial summons in the "worthies and upright scholars" category. Since the founding of the Song, the Qian family alone could claim fathers, sons, and brothers who had all passed the policy-examination degree.
31
易子彥遠
Yi's son Yanyuan
32
彥遠字子高，以父蔭補太廟齋郎，累遷大理寺丞。 舉進士第，以殿中丞為御史台推直官。 通判明州，遷太常博士。 舉賢良方正能直言極諫科，擢尚書祠部員外郎、知潤州。 上疏曰：
Yanyuan, styled Zigao, entered service through his father's privilege as a Grand Temple Fast Officer and rose to Assistant Director in the Court of Judicial Review. After passing the jinshi examination he served the Censorate as investigative officer with the rank of Palace Aide. He served as administrative prefect of Ming Prefecture and was then made Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Entering the "worthies and upright scholars who speak frankly and remonstrate to the utmost" category, he was promoted to Assistant Director in the Sacrifices Office and appointed prefect of Run Prefecture. He submitted a memorial that read:
33
陛下即位以來，內無聲色之娛，外無畋漁之樂，而前歲地震，雄、霸、滄、登，旁及荊湖，幅員數千里，雖往昔定襄之異，未甚於此。 今復大旱，人心嗷嗷，天其或者以陛下備寇之術未至，牧民之吏未良，天下之民未安，故出譴告以示之。 苟能順天之戒，增修德業，宗社之福也。
Since Your Majesty's accession you have shunned sensual indulgence within the palace and hunting and fishing abroad, yet in the year before last earthquakes struck Xiong, Ba, Cang, and Deng and reached as far as Jing and Hu—thousands of li of territory—surpassing even the notorious Dingxiang omen of old. Now a great drought has come again and the people groan with distress. Perhaps Heaven means to warn that our defenses against enemies remain inadequate, that local magistrates are deficient, and that the realm is not yet at ease. If Your Majesty heeds Heaven's warning and deepens your moral cultivation, the dynasty will be blessed.
34
今契丹據山後諸鎮，元昊盜靈武、銀、夏，衣冠車服，子女玉帛，莫不有之。 往時，元昊內寇，出入五載，天下騷然。 及納款賜命，則被邊長吏，不復銓擇，高冠大裾，恥言軍旅，一日契丹負恩，乘利入塞，豈特元昊之比耶？ 湖、廣蠻獠劫掠生民，調發督斂，軍須百出，三年於今，未聞分寸之效。 惟陛下念此三方之急，講長久之計，以上答天戒。
The Khitan hold the frontier posts north of the mountains; Li Yuanhao has seized Lingwu, Yin, and Xia, enjoying robes and regalia, carriages and seals, retainers and tribute as if he were a true sovereign. When Yuanhao invaded earlier, war swept back and forth for five years and the empire was thrown into turmoil. After he submitted and received imperial investiture, frontier governors were no longer carefully chosen—men in high caps and flowing robes who disdained even to speak of warfare. If the Khitan should one day break faith and surge through the passes, would the danger be any less than Yuanhao's? In Hunan and Guangdong tribal peoples raid and plunder; requisitions and levies pour out in every direction—yet after three years there is no sign of success. I beg Your Majesty to address the crises on these three fronts and devise a lasting strategy to answer Heaven's warning.
35
時旱蝗，民乏食，彥遠發常平倉賑救之。 部使者詰其專且搉價，彥遠不為屈。 召為右司諫，請勿數赦，擇牧守，增奉入以養廉吏，息土木以省功費。 遷起居舍人、直集賢院、知諫院。 會諸路奏大水，彥遠言陰氣過盛，在《五行傳》「下有謀上之象」，請嚴宮省宿衛。 未幾，有挾刃犯謻門者。 特賜五品服。 又上疏曰：
During drought and locust plague, when the people faced famine, Yanyuan opened the Ever-Normal Granary for relief. The circuit commissioner challenged his unauthorized distribution and price-setting, but Yanyuan stood firm. Recalled as Right Secretariat Remonstrance Official, he urged less frequent amnesties, careful selection of prefects and governors, higher salaries to sustain honest officials, and a halt to construction projects to conserve the treasury. He was promoted to Diarist, made a direct academician in the Hall of Assembled Worthies, and appointed head of the Remonstrance Bureau. When every circuit reported catastrophic floods, Yanyuan argued that excessive yin force portended, as the "Treatise on the Five Phases" puts it, "subordinates conspiring against superiors," and urged tighter security in the palace and Secretariat. Soon afterward an armed intruder breached the Yi Gate. The emperor specially granted him fifth-rank robes in recognition. He submitted another memorial:
36
農為國家急務，所以順天養財，御水旱，制蠻夷之原本也。 唐開元戶八百九十余萬，而墾田一千四百三十余萬頃。 今國家戶七百三十余萬，而墾田二百一十五萬余頃，其間逃廢之田，不下三十余萬，是田疇不辟，而游手者多也。 勸課其可不興乎？
Agriculture is the nation's most urgent concern—the means by which we align with Heaven, sustain the treasury, guard against flood and drought, and keep barbarian peoples in check at the source. Under Tang Kaiyuan there were more than eight million nine hundred thousand households and more than fourteen million three hundred thousand qing under cultivation. Today the empire has more than seven million three hundred thousand households but only two million one hundred fifty thousand qing under cultivation—and at least three hundred thousand qing lie abandoned. Fields go untilled while idlers multiply. Should not agricultural promotion be restored without delay?
37
本朝轉運使、提點刑獄、知州、通判，皆帶勸農之職，而徒有虛文，無勸導之實。 宜置勸農司，以知州為長官，通判為佐，舉清強幕職、州縣官為判官。 先以墾田頃畝及戶口數、屋塘、山澤、溝洫、桑柘，著之於籍，然後設法勸課，除害興利。 歲終農隙，轉運司考校之，第其賞罰。
Transport commissioners, judicial commissioners, prefects, and vice-prefects all bear the title of agricultural promoter, yet the duty exists only on paper. He proposed creating an Agriculture Promotion Office headed by the prefect, assisted by the vice-prefect, with capable staff and local officials as case officers. First register every qing and mu under cultivation, household counts, dwellings and ponds, hills and marshes, irrigation works, and mulberry groves—then promote farming through concrete measures to remove evils and create benefit. At year's end, during the farming slack season, transport commissioners should audit results and assign rewards and punishments.
38
楊懷敏妄言契丹主宗真死，乃除入內副都知； 內侍黎用信以罪竄海島，赦歸，遽得環衛官致仕； 許懷德、慎鏞高年未謝事； 楊景宗、郭承祐闟冗小人，宜廢不用：歷舉劾之，多見聽納。 彥遠性豪邁，其任言職，數有建明。 卒於官。
Yang Huaimin had falsely announced the death of the Khitan emperor Zongzhen, yet was promoted to Deputy Director of the Inner Service; the inner attendant Li Yongxin, exiled to a distant island for a crime, was pardoned and immediately given an Imperial Guard appointment before retiring; Xu Huaide and Shen Yong were elderly yet still held office; Yang Jingzong and Guo Chenyou were useless petty men who ought to be dismissed—Yanyuan impeached them repeatedly, and the court often heeded his counsel. Bold by nature, Yanyuan made numerous constructive proposals during his tenure as remonstrance official. He died in office.
39
易子明逸
Yi's son Mingyi
40
明逸字子飛。 繇殿中丞策制科，轉太常博士。 為呂夷簡所知，擢右正言。 首劾范仲淹、富弼：「更張綱紀，紛擾國經。 凡所推薦，多挾朋黨。 乞早罷免，使奸詐不敢效尤，忠實得以自立。」 疏奏，二人皆罷； 其夕，杜衍亦免相。 明逸蓋希章得象、陳執中意也。
Mingyi, styled Zifei. Starting as a Palace Aide, he passed the policy examination and was made Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Noticed by Grand Councilor Lü Yijian, he was promoted to Right Rectifier of Deportment. He opened by impeaching Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi: "They have overturned established institutions and thrown the foundations of state into turmoil. Nearly everyone they have advanced belongs to their faction. I urge their immediate removal, so that the wicked dare not follow their example and honest men may hold their ground." The memorial was delivered and both men were dismissed; that very evening Chief Councilor Du Yan was dismissed as well. Mingyi was plainly courting the favor of Zhang Dexiang and Chen Zhongyong.
41
石元孫與夏人戰沒，以死事褒贈，既而生歸，朝廷釋不問。 明逸請正其僨軍之罪，乃竄之遠方而奪其恩。 進同修起居注、知制誥，擢知諫院，為翰林學士。 自登科至是，才五年。 加史館修撰、知開封府。 妄人冷青自稱皇子，捕至府，明逸方正坐，青七曰：「明逸安得不起？」 明逸為起，坐尹京無威望； 又獄吏榜婦人酇氏墮足死，罷為龍圖閣學士、知蔡州。 歷揚、青、鄆、曹州、應天府，還，判流內銓、知通進銀台司，復出知成德軍、渭州。 加端明殿學士、知秦州。
Shi Yuansun was reported killed fighting the Western Xia and honored posthumously for dying in service—then turned up alive, and the court let the matter drop. Mingyi demanded that the crime of desertion be formally judged; Shi was banished to a distant posting and stripped of his honors. He was promoted to Compiler of the Diary and Drafting Proclamations, made head of the Remonstrance Bureau, and appointed Hanlin Academician. Only five years had passed since he first passed the examinations. He was also made Historiography Compiler and prefect of Kaifeng. A madman named Leng Qing claimed to be the emperor's son. When he was brought to the prefectural yamen, Mingyi was sitting upright at his desk. Leng Qing shouted at him, "Mingyi! How dare you not stand?" Mingyi stood up for him—a failure of authority as chief magistrate of the capital; and when jailers beat a detainee, Lady Zuo, until she fell and broke her foot and died, he was demoted to Dragon Diagram Hall Academician and prefect of Cai Prefecture. He served successively at Yangzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Caozhou, and Yingtian Prefecture. Recalled to court, he presided over the Flowing Within Board and directed the Silver Terrace Office. He was then sent out again as military commissioner of Chengde and prefect of Weizhou. He was made Duane Hall Academician and prefect of Qinzhou.
42
先是，于闐入貢，道邈川，唃廝囉留不遣。 會其妻亡，前帥張方平請因而恤之，且誘其般次入貢，詔賻絹千匹。 明逸言：「朝廷撫唃氏至厚，頃以招馬為名，賂繒縕； 邀請六事，既徇其五，而猶觖望。 今壅遏荒服之貢，固有罪矣，豈可復加賜以辱國體？」 從之。 而于闐使與般次亦皆至。 廝囉有子質於秦，別子木征居河州。 殿侍程從簡私與之盟，令過洮河，許以官，且歸其質子。 事不驗，木征怒，留貢使。 明逸械從簡往詰，因斬之。 木征惶懼，悉遣所留者。
Earlier, when Khotan sent tribute, its envoys passed through Yaozhou and were detained by Gusiluo, who refused to let them proceed. When Gusiluo's wife died, the former frontier commander Zhang Fangping urged the court to offer condolences and coax his tribute missions back to court. An imperial edict granted one thousand bolts of condolence silk. Mingyi argued: "The court has treated the Gusiluo clan with extraordinary generosity—lately bribing them with silk under the pretext of recruiting horses; they demanded six concessions, and though the court had already yielded on five, they remained dissatisfied. Blocking tribute from the frontier is crime enough—how can we heap further gifts upon them and disgrace the realm?" The court accepted his counsel. Khotan's envoys and the detained tribute missions all arrived. Gusiluo had one son held hostage at Qinzhou; another son, Muzheng, resided at Hezhou. Palace Attendant Cheng Congjian secretly entered an alliance with Muzheng, urging him to cross the Tao River and promising him an official post and the return of his hostage son. When the promise failed to materialize, Muzheng flew into a rage and held the tribute envoys. Mingyi had Congjian shackled, went to confront him, and had him executed. Terrified, Muzheng released every envoy he had held.
43
治平初，復為翰林學士。 神宗立，御史論其傾險憸薄，頃附賈昌朝、夏竦以陷正人，文辭淺繆，豈應冒居翰院？ 乃罷學士。 久之，知永興軍。 熙寧四年，卒，年五十七。 贈禮部尚書，諡曰修懿。
Early in the Zhiping reign he was restored to Hanlin Academician. When Shenzong ascended the throne, censors accused him of being scheming, malicious, and petty; of having lately joined Jia Changchao and Xia Song to destroy upright officials; and of writing in a shallow, slipshod style—unfit, they asked, for the Hanlin Academy? He was stripped of his Hanlin appointment. Long afterward he was appointed military commissioner of Yongxing. He died in the fourth year of Xining, at the age of fifty-seven. He was posthumously made Minister of Rites and given the posthumous title Xiuyi.
44
藻字醇老，明逸之從子也。 幼孤，刻厲為學。 第進士，又中賢良方正科，為秘閣校理。
Zao, whose style name was Chunlao, was Mingyi's nephew. Left fatherless young, he drove himself hard in his studies. He placed in the jinshi examination, also passed the Exemplary and Upright recruitment, and was appointed Secretariat Proofreader.
45
慈聖後臨朝，藻三上書乞還政。 同修起居注、知制誥。 加樞密直學士、知開封府。 平居樂易無崖岸，而居官獨立守繩墨，為政簡靜有條理，不肯徇私取顯。 數求退，改翰林侍讀學士、知審官東院。 卒，年六十一。 神宗知其貧，賻錢五十萬，贈太中大夫。
While Empress Dowager Cisheng held the regency, Zao three times memorialized the throne, begging her to restore imperial rule. He served as Co-Compiler of the Diary and Drafting Proclamations. He was also made Privy Council Academician and prefect of Kaifeng. Affable and unpretentious in private life, in office he stood alone in upholding the law; his administration was spare, calm, and methodical, and he refused to trade favors for fame. He repeatedly sought to retire and was reassigned as Hanlin Attendant Reader Academician and head of the Eastern Bureau of Appointments Review. He died at the age of sixty-one. Knowing he had died poor, Shenzong granted five hundred thousand cash in condolence gifts and posthumously made him Grandee of the Court.
46
諸孫景諶
Grandsons: Jingchen.
47
景諶，景臻之從兄也。 繇殿直巡轄兩京馬遞，中進士第。 初赴開封解試，時王安石得其文，以為知道者。 既薦送之，又推譽於公卿間，自是執弟子禮。 安石提點府界，景諶為屬主簿，又以文薦之。 執喪居許，聞安石得政，喜，因事來京師謁之。 方盛夏，安石與僧智緣臥於地，一最親者袒坐其側。 顧景諶褫服脫帽，未及它語，卒然問曰：「青苗、助役如何？」 景諶曰：「利少害多，異日必為民患。」 又問：「孰為可用之人？」 曰：「居喪不交人事，而知人尤難事也。」 遂辭出。
Jingchen was the elder cousin of Jingzhen. He began as a Palace Attendant overseeing the horse-relay routes of both capitals, then passed the jinshi examination. At his first Kaifeng preliminary examination, Wang Anshi read his essay and judged him a man who understood the Way. After sponsoring him for advancement, Anshi praised him among ministers and grandees, and from then on Jingchen treated him as his master. When Anshi served as Intendant of the Capital Circuit, Jingchen was his chief clerk, and Anshi again recommended him for his literary talent. While observing mourning at home in Xu, he heard that Anshi had seized power, was delighted, and traveled to the capital on business to pay his respects. It was the height of summer. Anshi was sprawled on the floor with the monk Zhiyuan, a favorite companion sitting shirtless beside him. Noticing Jingchen shed his mourning garb and cap, Anshi asked abruptly, before any other word was spoken: "What do you think of the Green Sprouts and Labor Service policies?" Jingchen replied: "The benefit is slight and the harm great—they will surely become a scourge to the people." Anshi asked again: "Who, then, are the men worth employing?" Jingchen answered: "I am in mourning and keep out of public affairs—judging men is the hardest thing of all." With that he bowed out and left.
48
後調官復來，安石已作相，又往詣之。 安石令先與弟安國相見。 安國亦與之善，謂景諶曰：「相君欲以館閣相處而任以事。」 景諶曰：「百事皆可為，所不知者新書、役法耳。」 及見安石，安石欲令治峽路役書，且委以戎、滬蠻事。 景諶曰：「峽路民情，僕固不能知； 而戎、滬用兵，系朝廷舉動、一路生靈休戚，願擇知兵愛人者。」 安石大怒，坐上客數十人，皆為之懼。 退就謁舍，賞激之與詆以為矯者參半。 景諶笑曰：「自古以來，好利者眾，而顧義者寡，故天下萬事，皆由人而不在於己。 苟為利所動，而由於人，則盜亦可為也。 夫盜之所以為盜者，利勝於義，而不知所以為之者耳。 吾又何憾焉？」 遂與安石絕。 熙寧末，從張景憲辟知瀛州，終身為外官，僅至朝請郎而卒。
Later, after a new appointment brought him back to the capital, Anshi was already chief councilor, and Jingchen visited him again. Anshi had him meet first with his younger brother Anguo. Anguo, who was also fond of him, said: "The Chancellor means to place you in the palace archives and charge you with real responsibilities." Jingchen said: "I can undertake almost any task—what I cannot abide are the New Policies and the labor service law." When he finally saw Anshi, the Chancellor wanted him to compile the Gorges-route labor-service register and also entrusted him with Rong and Lu frontier affairs. Jingchen said: "The temper of the people along the Gorges route is beyond my knowledge; but war in Rong and Lu touches the court's every move and the fate of a whole circuit's people. Choose someone who understands war and cherishes the people." Anshi flew into a rage. Several dozen guests present feared for Jingchen's life. Back in the guest quarters, opinion split evenly between those who admired his courage and those who dismissed it as posturing. Jingchen smiled and said: "Since antiquity, profit-seekers have been legion and men of principle scarce—so the world's affairs turn on others, not on oneself. If profit moves you and others steer you, even theft becomes possible. Men steal because gain outweighs duty—they scarcely know why they act. Why should I regret it?" He broke with Anshi for good. Late in Xining he entered Zhang Jingxian's staff as prefect of Yingzhou. He spent his career in provincial posts and died having risen no higher than Gentleman for Palace Attendance.
49
諸孫勰
Grandsons: Xie.
50
勰字穆父，彥遠之子也。 生五歲，日誦千言。 十三歲，制舉之業成。 熙寧三年試應，既中秘閣選，廷對入等矣，會王安石惡孔文仲策，遷怒罷其科，遂不得第。 以蔭知尉氏縣，授流內銓主簿。 判銓陳襄嘗登進班簿，神宗稱之。 襄曰：「此非臣所能，主薄錢勰為之耳。」 明日召對，將任以清要官。 安石使弟安禮來見，許用為御史。 勰謝曰：「家貧母老，不能為萬里行。」 安石知不附己，命權鹽鐵判官，歷提點京西、河北、京東刑獄。 元豐定官制，勰方居喪。 帝於左司郎中格自書其姓名，須終制日授之。
Xie, whose style name was Mufu, was the son of Yanyuan. At five he could recite a thousand characters each day. By thirteen he had mastered the composition required for the Decree recruitment examination. In the third year of Xining he sat for the examinations, passed the Secretariat selection, and entered the ranked tier in the palace debate—then Wang Anshi, enraged by Kong Wenzhong's policy essay, abolished the category in a fit of spite, and Xie failed to place. Through hereditary privilege he became magistrate of Weishi County and was appointed chief clerk of the Flowing Within Board. When Board judge Chen Xiang once presented the promotion roster, Shenzong praised it. Xiang said: "That was not my work—Chief Clerk Qian Xie prepared it." The next day Xie was summoned to audience and was about to be given a prestigious appointment. Anshi sent his brother Anli to visit him and offered to make him a censor. Xie declined: "My family is poor and my mother is old—I cannot travel ten thousand li from home." Knowing Xie would not join him, Anshi assigned him acting Salt and Iron Commissioner and sent him successively as intendant of criminal justice for Jingxi, Hebei, and Jingdong. When the Yuanfeng reforms fixed the official system, Xie was observing mourning. The emperor personally wrote his name into the Left Department Director slot and ordered the appointment held until his mourning ended.
51
奉使吊高麗，外意頗謂欲結之以北伐。 勰入請使指，帝曰：「高麗好文，又重士大夫家世，所以選卿，無他也。」 乃求呂端故事以行，凡饋餼非故所有者皆弗納。 歸次紫燕島，王遣二吏追餉金銀器四千兩。 勰曰：「在館時既辭之矣，今何為者？」 吏泣曰：「王有命，徒歸則死，且左番已受。」 勰曰：「左右番各有職，吾唯例是視，汝可死，吾不可受。」 竟卻之。 還，拜中書舍人。
Dispatched to offer condolences to Goryeo, he was widely thought abroad to be forging an alliance for a northern campaign. Xie asked the emperor to clarify the mission. The emperor said: "Goryeo cherishes letters and respects a minister's pedigree—that is why I chose you, and for no other reason." He then took Lü Duan's embassy as his model; any gift or provision not authorized by precedent he refused. On the homeward voyage he stopped at Ziyan Island, where the king sent two clerks after him bearing gold and silver vessels worth four thousand taels. Xie said: "I already refused these gifts at court—what is the meaning of this?" The clerk wept: "The king commands it. If I return empty-handed, I die—and the left clerk has already accepted his share." Xie said: "Left clerk and right clerk each have his duty. I follow precedent alone—you may die, but I will not take the gift." He refused to the end. On returning he was appointed Secretariat Drafter.
52
元祐初，遷給事中，以龍圖閣待制知開封府。 老吏畏其敏，欲困以事，導人訴牒至七百。 勰隨即剖決，簡不中理者，緘而識之，戒無復來。 閱月聽訟，一人又至，呼詰之曰：「吾固戒汝矣，安得欺我？」 其人讕曰：「無有。」 勰曰：「汝前訴云云，吾識以某字。」 啟緘示之，信然，上下皆驚吒。 宗室、貴戚為之斂手，雖丞相府謁吏干請，亦械治之。 積為眾所憾，出知越州，徙瀛州。 召拜工部、戶部侍郎，進尚書，加龍圖閣直學士，復知開封，臨事益精。 蘇軾乘其據案時遺之詩，勰操筆立就以報。 軾曰：「電掃庭訟，響答詩筒，近所未見也。」
Early in Yuanyou he was promoted to Supervising Censor and, as Dragon Diagram Hall Gentleman Serving, appointed prefect of Kaifeng. The veteran clerks feared his quick mind and tried to bury him in work, funneling petitions until seven hundred cases piled up. Xie adjudicated them on the spot; cases he found meritless he sealed, marked, and warned never to bring again. A month into hearing cases, one petitioner returned. Xie summoned and challenged him: "I warned you plainly—how dare you try to deceive me?" The man lied: "Nothing of the kind happened." Xie said: "Your earlier petition said such and such—I marked it with a particular character." He broke the seal and produced the document. It was exactly as he said, and everyone in the hall was stunned. Imperial clansmen and noble kin learned to mind their manners; even lobbyists from the chief councilor's yamen were shackled and punished. He made many enemies and was sent out as prefect of Yuezhou, then transferred to Yingzhou. Recalled, he was made Vice Minister of Works and Vice Minister of Revenue, then promoted to Minister, given Dragon Diagram Hall Academician, and again appointed prefect of Kaifeng, where his handling of affairs grew ever sharper. Su Shi sent him a poem while he sat at his desk; Xie seized the brush and answered on the spot. Su remarked: "Lightning through the court docket, an instant answer in the poetry tube—I have seen nothing like it in years."
53
哲宗蒞政，翰林缺學士，章惇三薦林希，帝以命勰，仍兼侍讀。 以嘗行惇謫詞，懼而求去。 帝曰：「豈非『鞅鞅非少主之臣，硜硜無大臣之節』者乎？ 朕固知之，毋庸避也。」 嘗侍經幄，帝留與之語曰：「台臣論徐邸事，其辭及鄭、雍，小人離間骨肉如此。 若雍有請，當付卿以美詔慰安之。」 既而雍章至，勰答詔云：「弗容群枉，規欲動搖，朕察其厚誣，力加明辨，夫何異趣，乃爾乞身。」 帝見之，謂能道所欲言者。 惇因是極意排詆，諷全台攻之，言不已。 罷知池州，卒於官，年六十四。 訃未至，帝猶即其從弟景臻問安否。 元符末，追復龍圖閣學士。
When Zhezong assumed personal rule, the Hanlin Academy had a vacancy; Zhang Dun recommended Lin Xi three times, but the emperor appointed Xie instead and also made him Attendant Reader. Having once drafted Dun's demotion edict, he feared Dun and asked to be relieved. The emperor said: "Is this not the man described as 'sullen—not fit to serve a young ruler; obstinate—lacking a great minister's integrity'? I know that already. You need not avoid him." Once, while attending the scripture curtain, the emperor detained him and said: "The censorate is debating the affair of Prince Xu's residence, and their words implicate Zheng Yong—this is how petty men tear kin apart. If Yong submits a petition, I shall entrust you with a gracious edict to reassure him." Soon Yong's memorial arrived. Xie's reply edict ran: "I will not tolerate a wicked faction scheming to unsettle the throne. I have examined their gross slander and set the record straight—what other motive could you have in begging to leave office?" The emperor, reading it, said Xie could voice exactly what he himself wished to say. Dun then attacked him with all his venom, urging the entire censorate to assail him without letup. Stripped of office and sent out as prefect of Chizhou, he died in post at the age of sixty-four. Even before word of his death arrived, the emperor still asked his cousin Jingzhen after Xie's health. At the close of the Yuanfu period his Dragon Diagram Hall academician title was posthumously restored.
54
諸孫即
His grandson Ji
55
即字中道，吳越王諸孫也。 第進士，為睦州推官。 部使者有獄在衢，啖即以薦牘，使往治。 即曰：「吾寧老冗選中，豈忍以數十人易一薦乎？」 至，則平反之。 辟鄜延幕府。 崇寧中，為陝西轉運判官。 王師復銀州，轉餉最。 徽宗召對，問曰：「靈武可取乎？」 對曰：「夏人去來飄忽，不能持久，是其所短； 然其民皆兵，居不縻飲食，動不勤轉餉，願敕邊臣先為不可勝以待釁，庶可得志。」 帝曰：：「大砦泉可取否？」 對曰：「是所謂瀚海也。 臣聞其地皆舄鹵，無水泉，或以飲馬，口鼻皆裂，正得之無所用。」 帝然之。
Ji, whose style name was Zhongdao, was a descendant of the King of Wuyue. He passed the jinshi examination and served as investigating officer in Muzhou. A circuit intendant had a case at Quzhou and tried to bribe Ji with a recommendation to take it on. Ji replied, "I would rather spend my years in obscure appointments than trade dozens of innocent lives for a single recommendation." Once there, he overturned the unjust conviction. He was invited onto the Fuyan circuit military staff. Under Chongning he served as transport judge on the Shaanxi circuit. When the court retook Yinzhou, his supply convoys ranked first. Huizong called him to court and asked, "Can we seize Lingwu?" He answered, "The Tangut strike and withdraw—they cannot sustain a campaign. That is their weakness; but every man is a soldier, they travel light, and they do not depend on supply trains. I urge Your Majesty to order the border commanders to make themselves unassailable first and wait for an opening—only then can you succeed." The emperor asked, "Can we take Dazhai Spring?" He replied, "That is the region known as the Vast Salt Sea. I am told the ground is all alkaline salt flats without fresh water; water horses there and their mouths crack open. Even if we took it, it would be worthless." The emperor accepted his view.
56
除直龍圖閣、知慶州。 至鎮，築安邊城，歸德堡，包地萬頃，縱耕其中，歲得粟數十萬。 徙知延安府，加集賢殿修撰，又進徽猷閣待制、顯謨閣直學士。 在延五年，童貫宣撫陝西，得便宜行事。 時長安百物踴貴，錢幣益輕，貫欲力平之，計司承望風旨，取市價率減什四，違者重置於法，民至罷市。 徐處仁爭之，得罪。 又行均糴法，賤入民粟，而高金帛估以賞，下至蕃兵、射士之授田者，咸被抑配，關內騷然，幾於生變。 即亦屢抗章，極陳其害，貶永州團練副使，然糴害亦寢。
He was made attached academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Qingzhou. At his post he built Pacify-the-Border city and Guide-to-Virtue fort, ringed ten thousand qing of land, and opened it to farming, harvesting several hundred thousand bushels of grain each year. He was moved to Yan'an, made collator of the Hall of Assembled Talents, and promoted to awaiting draft in the Hall of Splendid Teachings and academician ex officio of the Hall of Manifest Purpose. He spent five years at Yan'an while Tong Guan pacified Shaanxi with full discretionary powers. Prices in Chang'an were soaring and coin was debased; Guan tried to force prices down. The fiscal offices followed his lead, slashing market prices by forty percent on average and punishing violators harshly until merchants shut their stalls. Xu Churen objected and was punished for it. They also imposed equitable purchase, buying grain cheap from the populace while valuing gold and silk rewards high. Even tribal soldiers and archers on allotted fields were forcibly assessed; the interior seethed and nearly erupted. Ji memorialized repeatedly against the policy, describing its damage in full, and was demoted to vice military training commissioner of Yongzhou, though the purchase scheme was also abandoned.
57
數月，還待制、知興仁府，從太原，以童貫宣撫本道辭，不許。 居二年，以疾提舉洞霄宮，復真學士。 睦寇作，起知宣州。 即自力上道，至則悉意應軍須。 貫上其功，進龍圖閣學士。 貫遂引為河北、河東參謀，以老固辭，乃轉正奉大夫致仕。 卒，贈金紫光祿大夫，諡曰忠定。
Months later he was restored as awaiting draft and made prefect of Xingren. He joined the Taiyuan campaign and asked to be excused because Tong Guan was pacifying the circuit; the court refused. Two years later, citing illness, he was made administrator of Dongxiao Palace and restored as full academician. When the Fang La rebels rose, he was recalled as prefect of Xuanzhou. Ji hurried to his post by his own effort and, once there, met every military need. Guan reported his achievements and he was promoted to Dragon Diagram Hall academician. Guan then tried to appoint him staff officer for Hebei and Hedong, but he firmly declined on grounds of age and retired as Senior Grandee of the Faith. He died and was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Golden Purple with the posthumous name Loyal and Settling.
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論曰：進士自鄉舉至廷試皆第一者才三人，王曾、宋庠為名宰相，馮京為名執政，風節相映，不愧其科名焉。 邵亢知太常，裁損張貴妃恤典，潁王授室、公主下嫁，請用古典，可謂不愧其官守矣。 邵必亦習禮者也，預修《唐書》而能力辭，以為史出眾手，非古人撰述之體，豈非名言乎？ 錢惟演敏思清才，著稱當時，然急於柄用，阿附希進，遂喪名節。 錢氏三世制科，易、明逸皆掌書命，時人榮之。 惜乎易以輕俊，明逸以傾。
The historians comment: Only three men since the Song founding placed first at every stage from the provincial exam through the palace test—Wang Zeng and Song Qi became renowned chief councilors, Feng Jing a renowned executive. Their integrity matched their fame, and they did honor to their degrees. Shao Kang mastered ritual affairs, scaled back Consort Zhang's mourning honors, and urged ancient ceremonies when the Prince of Ying married and when princesses wed commoners—he did not betray his office. Shao Bi likewise mastered ritual. Though invited to help compile the Book of Tang, he refused on the ground that history written by committee was not how the ancients composed—is that not a remark worth remembering? Qian Weiyan was brilliant and polished, celebrated in his time, yet so eager for power that he fawned and schemed for promotion—and forfeited his good name. Three generations of the Qian family passed the special decree examinations; Yi and Mingyi both drafted imperial edicts, to the envy of their contemporaries. It is a pity that Yi was too flippant and Mingyi too partisan.