1
种世衡
Zhong Shiheng
2
种世衡，字仲平，放之兄子也。 少尚氣節，昆弟有欲析其貲者，悉推與之，惟取圖書而已。 以放蔭補將作監主簿，累遷太子中舍。
Zhong Shiheng, whose courtesy name was Zhongping, was a nephew of Zhong Fang. From youth he valued honor and steadfast character. When his brothers wanted to split up the family estate, he gave them everything and kept only his books. He entered office through the hereditary privilege owed to Zhong Fang, first as chief clerk in the palace works directorate, and rose step by step to attendant in the crown prince's household.
3
嘗知涇陽縣，里胥王知謙以姦利事敗，法當徙，遁去。 比郊赦輒出，世衡曰：「送府則會赦」，杖其脊而請罪于府，知府李諮奏釋之。 後通判鳳州。 州將王蒙正，章獻后姻家也，所為不法。 嘗干世衡以私，不聽，蒙正怒，乃誘知謙訟冤而陰助之，世衡坐流竇州，徙汝州。 弟世材上一官以贖，為孟州司馬。 久之，龍圖閣直學士李紘為辨其誣，宋綬、狄棐繼言之，除衛尉寺丞，歷監隨州酒，簽書同州、鄜州判官事。
While magistrate of Jingyang County, he had a village clerk named Wang Zhiqian who was caught in a graft scandal and, facing banishment by law, fled. Wang would reappear whenever a suburban amnesty was due. Shiheng said that sending him to the prefectural court would only let him benefit from the pardon, so he had Wang flogged and then presented him to the prefecture to answer for the crime. Prefect Li Zi memorialized for his release. He later served as deputy prefect of Fengzhou. The military commissioner of the prefecture, Wang Mengzheng, was connected by marriage to Empress Zhangxian and routinely broke the law. Wang once tried to pressure Shiheng on a private matter and was refused. Enraged, he egged Wang Zhiqian on to sue for wrongful punishment while secretly backing the suit. Shiheng was banished to Douzhou and then transferred to Ruzhou. His younger brother Shicai gave up his own post to secure his release and took a post as defender of Mengzhou. Years later Li Hong of the Dragon Diagram Pavilion argued that the case had been a frame-up; Song Shou and Di Chai spoke up as well. Shiheng was restored as a vice director in the imperial guard office, later supervised the wine monopoly at Suizhou, and served as signing judicial assistant in Tongzhou and Fuzhou.
4
西邊用兵，守備不足。 世衡建言，延安東北二百里有故寬州，請因其廢壘而興之，以當寇衝，右可固延安之勢，左可致河東之粟，北可圖銀、夏之舊。 朝廷從之，命董其役。 夏人屢出爭，世衡且戰且城之。 然處險無泉，議不可守。 鑿地百五十尺，始至於石，石工辭不可穿，世衡命屑石一畚酬百錢，卒得泉。 城成，賜名青澗城。 遷內殿崇班、知城事。 開營田二千頃，募商賈，貸以本錢，使通貨贏其利，城遂富實。 間出行部族，慰勞酋長，或解與所服帶。 嘗會客飲，有得敵情來告者，即以飲器予之，繇是屬羌皆樂為用。 再遷洛苑副使、知環州。
War on the western frontier had left the border poorly defended. Shiheng proposed rebuilding abandoned Kuanzhou, two hundred li northeast of Yan'an, on its old walls to block the enemy's line of advance. It would shore up Yan'an on one flank, channel grain from Hedong on the other, and open a path toward recovering the former territories of Yin and Xia to the north. The court agreed and put him in charge of the project. The Tanguts attacked again and again, and Shiheng fought them off even as the walls went up. The site was rugged and had no water, and many argued that the fort could not be held. They dug down a hundred and fifty feet before hitting bedrock. When the masons said the stone could not be broken through, Shiheng offered a hundred cash for every basket of chips removed. They broke through at last and found water. When the fort was finished, the court named it Qingjian. He was promoted to an inner-hall command post and made administrator of the fort. He opened two thousand qing of garrison farms, recruited merchants, advanced them capital, and let trade turn a profit until the fort grew prosperous and self-sufficient. He would tour the tribal districts, console the chiefs, and sometimes take off his own belt and give it to them. Once at a feast a man brought word of enemy movements. Shiheng immediately gave him his own drinking cup as a reward, and from then on the Qiang under his authority were glad to work for him. He was promoted again to deputy commissioner of the Luoyuan stud farms and appointed prefect of Huanzhou.
5
蕃部有牛家族奴訛者，素屈強，未嘗出謁郡守，聞世衡至，遽郊迎。 世衡與約，明日當至其帳，往勞部落。 是夕大雪，深三尺。 左右曰：「地險不可往。」 世衡曰：「吾方結諸羌以信，不可失期。」 遂緣險而進。 奴訛方臥帳中，謂世衡必不能至，世衡蹴而起，奴訛大驚曰：「前此未嘗有官至吾部者，公乃不疑我耶！」 率其族羅拜聽命。
Among the tribes was Nue'er of the Niu clan of Bozu, a man so proud and fierce that he had never come out to greet a prefect. When he heard Shiheng was coming, he rushed to meet him outside the city. Shiheng promised to visit his camp the next day to pay his respects to the tribe. That night a blizzard piled snow three feet deep. His attendants said, "The terrain is too dangerous—you cannot go." Shiheng replied, "I am trying to win the Qiang tribes by keeping my word. I cannot break this appointment." So he pressed on along the treacherous path. Nue'er was still in his tent, sure Shiheng could never make it. Shiheng kicked the tent flap and strode in. Nue'er cried out in astonishment, "No official has ever come to our camp before—yet you trusted me enough to come!" He led his whole clan out to bow in submission.
6
羌酋慕恩部落最強，世衡嘗夜與飲，出侍姬以佐酒。 既而世衡起入內，潛於壁隙中窺之。 慕恩竊與侍姬戲，世衡遽出掩之，慕恩慙懼請罪。 世衡笑曰：「君欲之耶？」 即以遺之，由是得其死力。 諸部有貳者，使討之無不克。 有兀二族，世衡招之不至，即命慕恩出兵誅之。 其後百餘帳皆自歸，莫敢貳。 因令諸族置烽火，有急則舉燧，介馬以待。
Mu'en, the strongest of the Qiang chiefs, once drank with Shiheng late into the night while a concubine poured their wine. Shiheng then excused himself, went inside, and watched through a crack in the partition. Mu'en began to flirt with the woman. Shiheng burst back in and caught him. Mu'en, ashamed and terrified, begged forgiveness. Shiheng laughed and said, "You want her, don't you?" He gave her to Mu'en on the spot, and from that day Mu'en would have died for him. Whenever a tribe wavered in loyalty, he sent Mu'en against them and they were always subdued. When the Wu'er clan ignored his summons, he sent Mu'en to destroy them. After that more than a hundred camps submitted voluntarily, and none dared rebel. He then had every tribe maintain beacon fires: at the first alarm they were to light the signal and keep mounted troops ready to ride.
7
葛懷敏敗，率羌兵數千人以振涇原，無敢後者。 嘗課吏民射，有過失，射中則釋其罪； 有辭某事、請某事，輒因中否而與奪之。 人人自厲，皆精於射，繇是數年敵不敢近環境。
After Ge Huaimin's defeat he led several thousand Qiang warriors to reinforce Jingyuan, and not one hung back. He once held archery trials for officials and commoners alike: if someone had committed an offense, a bull's-eye would win a pardon; and if someone pleaded a case or asked a favor, he granted or denied it according to whether the shot hit the mark. Everyone drilled himself until the whole district shot superbly. For years afterward the enemy did not dare approach Huanzhou's borders.
8
遷東染院使、環慶路兵馬鈐轄。 范仲淹檄令與蔣偕築細腰城，世衡時臥病，即起，將所部甲士晝夜興築，城成而卒。
He was promoted to commissioner of the eastern dyeing institute and military controller of Huanqing circuit. Fan Zhongyan ordered him and Jiang Xie to build Xiyao Fort. Shiheng was ill in bed but got up at once, led his troops in round-the-clock construction, and died the day the fort was finished.
9
初，世衡在青澗城，元昊未臣，其貴人野利剛浪㖫、遇乞兄弟有材謀，皆號大王。 親信用事，邊臣欲以謀間之。 慶曆二年，鄜延經略使龐籍，兩為保安軍守劉拯書，賂蕃部破醜以達野利兄弟，而涇原路王沿、葛懷敏亦遣人持書及金寶以遣遇乞。 會剛浪㖫令浪埋、賞乞、媚娘等三人詣世衡請降，世衡知其詐，曰：「與其殺之，不若因以為間。」 留使監商稅，出入騎從甚寵。 有僧王光信者，趫勇善騎射，習知蕃部山川道路。 世衡出兵，常使為鄉導，數蕩族帳，奏以為三班借職，改名嵩。 世衡為蠟書，遣嵩遺剛浪㖫，言浪埋等已至，朝廷知王有向漢心，命為夏州節度使，奉錢月萬緡，旌節已至，趣其歸附，以棗綴畫龜，喻其早歸之意。 剛浪㖫得書大懼，自所治執嵩歸元昊。 元昊疑剛浪㖫貳己，不得還所治，且錮嵩穽中。 使其臣李文貴以剛浪㖫旨報世衡，且言不達所遺書意，或許通和，願賜一言。 世衡以白籍。 時朝廷已欲招拊，籍召文貴至，諭以國家寬大開納意，縱使還報。 元昊得報，出嵩，禮之甚厚，使與文貴偕來。 自是繼遣使者請降，遂稱臣如舊。 世衡聞野利兄弟已誅，為文越境祭之。 籍疏嵩勞，具言元昊未通時，世衡畫策遣嵩冒艱險間其君臣，遂成猜貳，因此與中國通，請優進嵩官。 遷三班奉職。 後嵩因對自陳，又進侍禁、閤門祗候。
Earlier, while Shiheng held Qingjian, Yuan Hao had not yet submitted to the Song. Yuan's chief advisers, the brothers Yeli Ganglangrang and Yuji, were men of talent and strategy, and each was called a Great King. They were Yuan's trusted inner circle, and the border officials hoped to drive a wedge between them. In Qingli year 2, Pang Ji, commissioner of the Fuyan frontier, twice had Liu Zheng, defender of Bao'an Army, write letters and bribe the tribesman Pochou to reach the Yeli brothers. Wang Yan and Ge Huaimin of Jingyuan circuit also sent envoys with letters and gold and jewels to Yuji. Just then Ganglangrang sent three men—Langmai, Shangqi, and Meiniang—to Shiheng offering surrender. Shiheng saw through the ruse and said, "Better to turn them into a wedge than to kill them." He kept them to supervise trade taxes and treated them with conspicuous honor whenever they went abroad. A monk named Wang Guangxin was swift, brave, and expert with bow and horse, and knew every trail in the tribal country. Shiheng often used him as guide on campaign and sent him repeatedly against tribal camps. He memorialized for him a third-class attendant post on probation and gave him the name Song. Shiheng wrote a secret letter in wax, sent Song to deliver it to Ganglangrang, and claimed that Langmai and the others had already arrived, that the court knew the king favored the Song, that he had been appointed military commissioner of Xia with ten thousand strings of cash each month, and that the imperial commission was already on its way. He urged quick submission and sketched a tortoise with jujube stems to suggest "return soon." Ganglangrang was terrified, seized Song in his own territory, and handed him over to Yuan Hao. Yuan Hao suspected Ganglangrang of treachery, refused to let him return to his domain, and threw Song into a dungeon. He sent his minister Li Wengui to Shiheng in Ganglangrang's name, saying he had not understood the letter and that peace might be possible if the Song would send a reply. Shiheng reported this to Pang Ji. The court was already seeking reconciliation. Pang Ji summoned Wengui, explained the empire's willingness to receive them generously, and sent him back with a reply. Yuan Hao received the answer, freed Song, treated him with great honor, and sent him back with Wengui. Envoys requesting peace followed in succession, and Yuan Hao submitted as a vassal as he had once done. When Shiheng learned that the Yeli brothers had been executed, he wrote a memorial text and crossed the border to offer sacrifice for them. Pang Ji memorialized to reward Song, explaining that before Yuan Hao submitted, Shiheng had plotted to send Song through great danger to sow distrust between ruler and ministers, which had opened the way to peace with the Song, and asked that Song be promoted. Song was promoted to third-class service attendant. Later, when Song appeared at court in person, he was advanced again to palace guard attendant and gatehouse attendant.
10
世衡死，籍為樞密使。 世衡子古上書訟父功，為籍所抑。 古復上書，遂贈世衡成州團練使，詔流內銓授古大縣簿尉，押還本貫。 籍既罷，古復辯理，下御史考驗，以籍前奏王嵩疏為定。 詔以其事付史官，聽古從官便郡。
After Shiheng died, Pang Ji became military affairs commissioner. Shiheng's son Gu petitioned to claim credit for his father's service, but Pang Ji blocked it. Gu petitioned again. The court posthumously enfeoffed Shiheng as regimental trainer of Chengzhou and ordered the mobile roster to give Gu a recorder post in a large county, then sent him home under escort. After Pang Ji left office, Gu pressed the case again. The censorate investigated and upheld Pang Ji's earlier memorial about Wang Song. An edict ordered the matter recorded by the historiographers and allowed Gu to take a post wherever he chose.
11
世衡在邊數年，積穀通貨，所至不煩縣官益兵增饋。 善撫養士卒，病者遣一子專視其食飲湯劑，以故得人死力。 及卒，羌酋朝夕臨者數日，青澗及環人皆畫象祠之。 子：古、諤、診，皆有將材，關中號曰「三种」。 誼，其幼子也。 孫：朴、師道、師中。
During his years on the frontier Shiheng stockpiled grain and kept trade moving, so that wherever he served the court never had to send extra troops or provisions. He cared for his soldiers well: when a man fell ill he assigned one of his own sons to look after his food and medicine, and so won their absolute loyalty. When he died, Qiang chiefs came morning and evening for days to mourn him, and people of Qingjian and Huanzhou painted his portrait and set up shrines. His sons Gu, E, and Zhen all showed generalship, and within the passes they were known as "the three Zhongs." Yi was his youngest son. His grandsons were Pu, Shidao, and Shizhong.
12
子古
Son: Gu
13
古，字大質，少慕從祖放為人，不事科舉。 當任官，辭以與弟，時稱「小隱君」。 世衡卒，錄古為天興尉，累轉西京左藏庫副使、涇原路都監、知原州。
Gu, whose courtesy name was Dazhi, admired his grand-uncle Fang from youth and never took the civil examinations. When office was offered him he yielded the post to a younger brother, and people called him "the lesser recluse lord." After Shiheng's death Gu was appointed defender of Tianxing and rose through posts as deputy commissioner of the western capital left treasury, frontier controller of Jingyuan circuit, and prefect of Yuanzhou.
14
羌人犯塞，古禦之，斬級數百。 築城鎮戎之北，以據要害。 神宗召對，遷通事舍人，官其三弟。 與弟診破環州折薑會，斬首二千級，遷西上閤門副使。 民有損直鬻田於熟羌以避役者，古按其狀，得良田三千頃，丁四千，悉刺為民兵。 歷環慶、永興軍路鈐轄。
When Qiang raiders struck the border, Gu drove them off and took several hundred heads. He built a fort north of Zhenrong to hold a critical pass. Emperor Shenzong received him in audience, promoted him to courier attendant, and granted offices to his three younger brothers. He and his brother Zhen defeated the Zhejiang confederation at Huanzhou and took two thousand heads. He was promoted to deputy vice director of the western upper gate. Some locals had sold land cheaply to settled Qiang to escape labor duty. Gu investigated, recovered three thousand qing of good farmland and four thousand adult males, and registered them all as militia. He served as military controller on Huanqing and Yongxingjun circuits in turn.
15
坐訟范純仁不當，奪一官，知寧州，徙鎮戎軍。 熙河師十萬道境上，須芻糧，僚佐以他路為言。 古曰：「均王師也。」 命給之。 又徙鄜、隰二州，卒，年七十。
He was punished for improperly suing Fan Chunren, lost one rank, became prefect of Ningzhou, and was transferred to Zhenrong Army. An army of a hundred thousand on the Xihe campaign crossed his territory and needed fodder. His staff urged him to supply another route. Gu said, "The imperial army is one body." He ordered the supplies delivered. He was later transferred to Fu and Xizhou and died at seventy.
16
古明達孝義。 弟諤坐擅興繫獄，乞納官贖其罪。 世衡遺張問田千畝，問返之，而世衡死，古終不復受。 然世衡受知於范仲淹，因立青澗功，而古以私憾訟純仁，士論少之。
Gu was known for filial piety and moral clarity. When his brother E was imprisoned for acting without authorization, Gu offered to give up his own post to pay E's penalty. Shiheng had left Zhang Wen a grant of a thousand mu. Wen returned it, and after Shiheng's death Gu refused to take it back. Yet while Shiheng had won Fan Zhongyan's trust and built Qingjian's fame, Gu sued Fan Chunren out of private spite, and educated opinion thought less of him for it.
17
子諤
Son: E
18
諤，字子正，以父任累官左藏庫副使，延帥陸詵薦知青澗城。
E, whose courtesy name was Zizheng, rose through hereditary appointment to deputy commissioner of the left treasury. Lu Shen, commander of Yan'an, recommended him as administrator of Qingjian.
19
夏酋令㖫內附，詵恐生事，欲弗納，諤請納之。 夏人來索，詵問所以報，諤曰：「必欲令㖫，當以景詢來易。」 乃止。 詢者，中國亡命至彼者也。
A Tangut chief named Lingrang offered to submit. Shen feared trouble and wanted to refuse him, but E urged acceptance. When the Tanguts demanded him back, Shen asked how to respond. E said, "If they insist on Lingrang, let them trade us Jing Xun for him." That ended the matter. Jing Xun was a Chinese fugitive who had fled to the Tangut realm.
20
夏將嵬名山部落在故綏州，其弟夷山先降，諤使人因夷山以誘之，賂以金盂，名山小吏李文喜受而許降，而名山未之知也。 諤即以聞，詔轉運使薛向及陸詵委諤招納。 諤不待報，悉起所部兵長驅而前，圍其帳。 名山驚，援槍欲鬪，夷山呼曰：「兄已約降，何為如是？」 文喜因出所受金盂示之，名山投槍哭，遂舉眾從諤而南。 得酋領三百、戶萬五千、兵萬人。 將築城，詵以無詔出師，召諤還。 軍次懷遠，晨起方櫛，敵四萬眾坌集，傅城而陳。 諤開門以待，使名山帥新附百餘人挑戰，諤兵繼之，鼓行而出。 至晉祠據險，使偏將燕達、劉甫為兩翼，身為中軍，乃閉壘，悉老弱乘城鼓噪以疑賊。 已而合戰，追擊二十里，俘馘甚眾，遂城綏州。 詵劾諤擅興，且不稟節制，欲捕治，未果而詵徙秦。 言者交攻之，遂下吏，貶秩四等，安置隨州。 會侯可以言水利入見，神宗問其事，對曰：「种諤奉密旨取綏而獲罪，後何以使人？」 帝亦悔，復其官。
The Tangut general Wei Mingshan held the old Suizhou territory. His younger brother Yishan had already submitted, and E used Yishan to lure Mingshan with a golden bowl. Mingshan's clerk Li Wenxi accepted the bribe and promised surrender before Mingshan himself knew. E reported the matter at once. The court ordered transport commissioner Xue Xiang and Lu Shen to put E in charge of the surrender negotiations. Without waiting for approval, E mobilized his entire command, marched straight in, and surrounded Mingshan's camp. Mingshan was startled and seized his spear to fight. Yishan shouted, "Brother, you have already agreed to surrender—why do this?" Wenxi produced the golden bowl he had received. Mingshan dropped his spear and wept, then led his whole tribe south with E. He brought in three hundred chieftains, fifteen thousand households, and ten thousand fighting men. As E prepared to build a fort, Shen recalled him on the grounds that he had marched without imperial authorization. The army halted at Huaiyuan. At dawn, while E was still combing his hair, forty thousand enemy troops surged up and formed battle lines against the walls. E opened the gates and sent Mingshan with more than a hundred newly submitted warriors to challenge the enemy, then followed with his own troops, advancing to the beat of drums. He took a strong position at Jinci, placed Yan Da and Liu Fu on the wings with himself in the center, then shut the fort and had the old and weak beat drums and shout from the walls to confuse the enemy. They joined battle, pursued the enemy twenty li, took a great number of captives and heads, and then built the walls of Suizhou. Shen impeached E for acting without authorization and ignoring command, and tried to have him arrested, but failed before Shen himself was transferred to Qin. Critics piled on, and E was handed over to the courts, demoted four ranks, and exiled to Suizhou. Hou Ke, an expert on waterworks, happened to appear at court. When Shenzong asked about the case, he said, "Zhong E carried out a secret order to recover Suizhou and was punished for it—who will dare serve the throne after this?" The emperor regretted the affair and restored E's rank.
21
韓絳宣撫陝西，用為鄜延鈐轄。 絳城囉兀，規橫山，令諤將兵二萬出無定川，命諸將皆受節度，起河東兵會銀州。 城成而慶卒叛，詔罷師，棄囉兀，責授汝州團練副使。 再貶賀州別駕，移單州，又移華州。 絳再相，訟其前功，復禮賓副使、知岷州。 董氈將鬼章聚兵於洮、岷，新羌多叛，諤討襲誅之。 從李憲出塞，收洮州，下逋宗、講珠、東宜諸城，掩擊至大河，斬首七千級。
When Han Jiang became pacification commissioner of Shaanxi, he appointed E military controller of Fuyan. Han walled Luo'er and planned an advance on Hengshan. He ordered E to lead twenty thousand men down the Wuding River, placed all generals under his command, and raised Hedong troops to rendezvous at Yinzhou. The fort was finished just as Qingzhou troops mutinied. The court ordered the campaign halted, abandoned Luo'er, and demoted E to deputy regimental trainer of Ruzhou. He was demoted again to vice prefect of Hezhou, then transferred to Shanzhou and later to Huazhou. When Han Jiang returned as chief minister, he pleaded E's earlier service. E was restored as deputy commissioner of ceremonial guests and made prefect of Minzhou. Dong Zhan and Guizhang raised troops on the Tao and Min rivers, and many newly submitted Qiang rebelled. E raided them and put the ringleaders to death. Following Li Xian beyond the border, he recovered Taozhou, captured Tongzong, Jiangzhu, Dongyi, and other towns, and struck in a surprise raid to the Great River, taking seven thousand heads.
22
遷東上閤門使、文州刺史、知涇州，徙鄜延副總管。 上言：「夏主秉常為其母所囚，可急因本路官搗其巢穴。」 遂入對，大言曰：「夏國無人，秉常孺子，臣往持其臂以來耳。」 帝壯之，決意西討，以為經略安撫副使，諸將悉聽節制。 諤即次境上，帝以諤先期輕出，使聽令于王中正。 敵屯兵夏州，諤率本路並畿內七將兵攻米脂，三日未下。 夏兵八萬來援，諤禦之無定川，伏兵發，斷其首尾，大破之，降守將令介訛遇。 捷書聞，帝大喜，群臣稱賀，遣中使諭獎，而罷中正。 諤留千人守米脂，進次銀、石、夏州，不見敵。 始，被詔當會靈武，諤迂枉不進，士卒饑憊，欲以糧運不繼歸罪轉運使李稷。 駐軍麻家平，大校劉歸仁以眾潰，詔令班師。 猶遷鳳州團練使、龍神衛四廂都指揮使。
He was promoted to eastern upper gate vice director and prefect of Wenzhou, made administrator of Jingzhou, and transferred to deputy commander of Fuyan. He memorialized: "The Tangut ruler Bingchang is held prisoner by his mother. We should strike their heartland at once through the officials of this circuit." At court he boasted: "The Tanguts have no real leaders—Bingchang is only a boy. I will go and lead him here by the arm." The emperor was stirred and resolved on a western campaign. He made E frontier pacification deputy commissioner, with all generals under his command. E encamped on the frontier, but because he had moved out too boldly the emperor placed him under Wang Zhongzheng's orders. The enemy held Xiazhou. E led the seven generals of his circuit and the capital district against Mizhi, but failed to take it in three days. Eighty thousand Tangut reinforcements arrived. E met them on the Wuding River, sprang an ambush that cut their column in two, routed them completely, and accepted the surrender of the defender Lingjierangyu. When victory was reported, the emperor rejoiced, the court congratulated him, and a palace envoy was sent with rewards while Wang Zhongzheng was removed from command. E left a thousand men at Mizhi and advanced through Yin, Shi, and Xiazhou without meeting resistance. He had been ordered to rendezvous at Lingwu but took a roundabout route and stalled. His troops grew hungry and exhausted, and he planned to blame transport commissioner Li Ji for the broken supply line. He halted at Majiaping, where senior commander Liu Guiren's troops broke and fled. The court ordered a full withdrawal. He was still promoted to regimental trainer of Fengzhou and commander of the four wings of the Dragon Divine Guard.
23
諤謀據橫山之志未已，遣子朴上其策。 帝召朴問狀，擢為閤門祗候。 將進城橫山，命徐禧、李舜舉使鄜延計議。 諤言：「橫山延袤千里，多馬宜稼，人物勁悍善戰，且有鹽鐵之利，夏人恃以為生； 其城壘皆控險，足以守禦。 今之興功，當自銀州始。 其次遷宥州，又其次修夏州，三郡鼎峙，則橫山之地已囊括其中。 又其次修鹽州，則橫山強兵戰馬、山澤之利，盡歸中國。 其勢居高，俯視興、靈，可以直覆巢穴。」 而禧與沈括定議移銀州，城永樂，與諤始謀異，乃奏留諤守延。 既而永樂受圍，諤觀望不救，帝冀其後效，置不問，且虞賊至，就命知延州。 疽發背卒，年五十七。
E still meant to seize Hengshan and sent his son Pu to present the plan at court. The emperor questioned Pu in person and promoted him to gatehouse attendant. As the court prepared to fortify Hengshan, it sent Xu Xi and Li Shunju to Fuyan to consult with E. E argued: "Hengshan stretches a thousand li. Its pastures and fields are rich, its people fierce and warlike, and it holds salt and iron—the Tanguts depend on it for their livelihood. Its forts all sit on commanding ground and are easy to defend. Our work should begin at Yinzhou. Next move Youzhou, then rebuild Xiazhou. Once those three posts stand like a tripod, Hengshan will be enclosed. Then fortify Yanzhou, and Hengshan's soldiers, horses, and mountain resources will all belong to the Song. From that height we would look down on Xing and Ling and strike straight at their heartland." But Xu Xi and Shen Kuo decided to relocate Yinzhou and build Yongle instead. Their plan differed from E's, and they memorialized to keep him on the Yan'an frontier. When Yongle was besieged, E held back and did not relieve it. The emperor still hoped for better service from him and said nothing, then appointed him prefect of Yanzhou for fear of an enemy attack. A carbuncle on his back killed him at fifty-seven.
24
諤善馭士卒，臨敵出奇，戰必勝，然詐誕殘忍，左右有犯立斬，或先刳肺肝，坐者掩面，諤飲食自若。 敵亦畏其敢戰，故數有功。 李稷之饋軍也，旦入諤營，軍吏鳴鼓聲喏。 諤呼問吏曰：「軍有幾帥？ 要當借汝頭以代運使。」 即叱斬之。 稷惶怖遽出。 嘗渡河，猝遇敵，紿門下客曰：「事急矣，可衣我衣，乘我馬，從旗鼓千騎，亟趨大軍。」 客信之，敵以為諤，追之，幾不免。 自熙寧首開綏州，後再舉西征，皆其兆謀，卒致永樂之禍。 議者謂諤不死，邊事不已。
E commanded soldiers superbly, fought with daring stratagems, and never lost a battle, yet he was cunning, boastful, and cruel. Anyone who offended him was beheaded on the spot, sometimes after his lungs and liver were cut out first. Guests covered their faces while E ate and drank as if nothing had happened. The enemy feared his willingness to fight, which is why he won so often. When Li Ji came at dawn to deliver supplies to E's camp, the camp clerks beat drums and shouted formal salutes. E called out, "How many commanders does this army have? I need your head to take the transport commissioner's place." He had the man beheaded on the spot. Li Ji fled the camp in terror. Once while crossing a river he suddenly met the enemy. He told a client, "This is urgent—put on my robe, take my horse, ride out with a thousand men under my banners, and hurry to the main force." The man believed him. The enemy took him for E and pursued him hard, while E himself barely escaped. From the first recovery of Suizhou in the Xining era through the later western campaigns, the plans were largely his, and they ended in the Yongle disaster. Critics said that if E had lived, the border wars would never have ended.
25
子誼
Son: Yi
26
誼，字壽翁。 熙甯中，古入對，神宗問其家世，命誼以官。 從高遵裕復洮、岷，又平山後羌，至熙河副將。
Yi, whose courtesy name was Shouweng. During the Xining era, when Gu appeared at court, Shenzong asked about the family and granted Yi an office. He followed Gao Zunyu in recovering Tao and Min, pacified the Qiang beyond the mountains, and rose to deputy general on the Xihe front.
27
使青唐，董氈遣鬼章迎候境上，取道故為回枉，以誇險遠。 誼固習其地里，誚之曰：「爾跳梁坎井間，謂我不知遠近邪？」 命趨便道。 鬼章怒，脅以兵，誼聲氣不動，卒改塗。 外為路都監。 自蘭州渡河討賊，斬首六百，累轉西京使。 元祐初，知岷州。 鬼章誘殺景思立，後益自矜，大有窺故土之心，使其子詣宗哥請益兵入寇，且結屬羌為內應。 誼刺得其情，上疏請除之。 詔遣游師雄就商利害，遂與姚兕合兵出討。 羌迎戰，擊走之，追奔至洮州。 誼亟進攻，晨霧蔽野，跬步不可辨。 誼曰：「吾軍遠來，彼固不知厚薄，乘此可一鼓而下也。」 遂親鼓之。 有頃，霧霽，先登者已得城，鬼章就執。 誼戲問之曰：「別後安否？」 不能對，徐謂人曰：「我生惡种使，今日果為所擒。 天不使我復有故土，命也。」 遂俘以歸。 拜西上閤門使、康州刺史，徙知鄜州。
On a mission to Qingtang, Dong Zhan sent Guizhang to meet him at the border. Guizhang deliberately took a roundabout route to impress Yi with the land's remoteness and danger. Yi knew the country well and mocked him: "You strut in your own little corner and think I cannot tell distance?" He ordered them onto the direct road. Guizhang grew angry and threatened him with troops, but Yi never flinched, and they finally changed course. He served as frontier controller of the circuit. Crossing the river from Lanzhou to attack rebels, he took six hundred heads and was promoted to western capital commissioner. Early in the Yuanyou era he became prefect of Minzhou. After Guizhang lured and killed Jing Sili, he grew arrogant and began plotting to recover his old lands. He sent his son to Zongge to ask for reinforcements and win dependent Qiang tribes as inside allies. Yi uncovered the plot and memorialized for permission to destroy him. The court sent You Shixiong to weigh the plan, and Yi joined Yao Ni in a punitive expedition. The Qiang met them in battle and were driven back all the way to Taozhou. Yi pressed the attack at once, but morning fog covered the field so thickly that one could not see a step ahead. Yi said, "We have come from far away, and they cannot yet judge our strength. We should take the city in a single assault." He beat the drums himself. Soon the fog lifted. The first men over the wall had already taken the city, and Guizhang was captured. Yi asked jokingly, "Have you been well since we last met?" He could not answer, then said slowly to those around him, "I have hated the Zhong envoy all my life, and today he has caught me. Heaven will not let me recover my old lands. It is fate." Yi took him back as a prisoner. He was made western upper gate vice director and prefect of Kangzhou, then transferred to Fuzhou.
28
夏人犯延安，趙禼使誼統諸將。 敵聞誼至，皆潰去。 延人謂：「得誼，勝精兵二十萬。」 進熙河鈐轄、知蘭州。 蘭與通遠皆絕塞，中間保障不相接，腴田多棄不耕，誼請城李諾平以扼衝要。 會遷東上閤門使、保州團練使，卒，年五十五。
When the Tanguts attacked Yan'an, Zhao Xu put Yi in command of all the generals. When the enemy heard Yi had arrived, they broke and fled. People in Yan'an said, "Getting Yi is worth two hundred thousand elite troops." He was promoted to military controller of Xihe and prefect of Lanzhou. Lanzhou and Tongyuan were isolated frontier posts with no connecting defenses between them, and rich farmland lay fallow. Yi asked to build a fort at Linuoping to hold a critical pass. He was transferred to eastern upper gate vice director and regimental trainer of Baozhou, but died at fifty-five before the fort could be built.
29
誼倜儻有氣節，喜讀書。 蒞軍整嚴，令一下，死不敢避； 遇敵，度不勝不出，故每戰未嘗負敗。 岷羌酋包順、包誠恃功驕恣，前守務姑息，誼至，厚待之。 適有小過，叱下吏，將置法，順、誠叩頭伏罪，願效命以贖，乃使輸金出之，群羌畏惕。 及洮州之役，二人功最多。
Yi was bold and high-minded, with a love of books. He ran his commands with iron discipline: once an order was given, men faced death without flinching; and he never offered battle unless he was sure of victory, so he was never defeated. The Minzhou Qiang chiefs Bao Shun and Bao Cheng had grown arrogant on their past service, and earlier prefects had indulged them. Yi treated them generously at first. When they committed a minor offense he hauled them before the clerks to be punished. They kowtowed and begged to redeem themselves with service. He fined them in gold and let them go, and the Qiang tribes were cowed. At the Taozhou campaign they did the greatest service.
30
孫朴
Grandson: Pu
31
朴以父任右班殿直，積勞，遷至皇城使、昌州刺史，徙熙河蘭會鈐轄兼知河州，安撫洮西沿邊公事。
Pu entered service through his father's privilege as a right company attendant, rose through merit to imperial city commissioner and prefect of Changzhou, then became military controller of Lan and Hui on the Xihe front while also governing Hezhou and overseeing border affairs west of the Tao River.
32
河南蕃部叛，屬羌阿章率他族拒官軍，熙帥胡宗回使朴出討。 時朴至州才二日，以賊鋒方銳，且盛寒，欲姑徐之，而宗回馳檄至六七，不得已，遂出兵。 羌知朴來，伏以待。 朴遇伏，首尾不相應，朴殊死戰，為賊所殺，以馬負其屍去。 羌乘勝追北。 師還遇隘，壅迮不得行。 偏將王舜臣者善射，以弓卦臂，獨立敗軍後。 羌來可萬騎，有七人介馬而先。 舜臣念此必羌酋之尤桀黠者，不先殪之，吾軍必盡。 乃宣言曰：「吾令最先行者眉間插花。」 引弓三發，隕三人，皆中面； 餘四人反走，矢貫其背。 萬騎𥈭眙莫敢前，舜臣因得整眾。 須臾，羌復來。 舜臣自申及酉，抽矢千餘發，無虛者。 指裂，血流至肘。 薄暮，乃得逾隘。 將士氣奪，無敢復言戰。 當是時，微舜臣則師殲矣。 事聞，贈朴雄州防禦使，官其後十人。
Tribes south of the river rebelled, and the dependent Qiang leader Azhan rallied other clans against the government army. The Xihe commander Hu Zonghui sent Pu to suppress them. Pu had been in the prefecture only two days. The rebels were at their peak and the weather was bitterly cold, so he wanted to wait, but Zonghui sent six or seven urgent dispatches. He had no choice but to march out. The Qiang knew he was coming and set an ambush. Pu walked into the trap. His van and rear could not coordinate. He fought to the death and was killed, and the enemy carried off his body on horseback. The Qiang pursued the retreating army in victory. On the retreat they hit a narrow pass and could not get through. Flank general Wang Shunchen was a superb archer. With his bow on his arm he stood alone at the rear of the broken column. Nearly ten thousand Qiang horsemen came up, with seven armored riders in the lead. Shunchen reckoned these must be the boldest Qiang chiefs. Unless he killed them first, his army would be wiped out. He called out, "I will put a flower between the brows of whoever rides in front." He loosed three arrows and dropped three men, each shot in the face; the other four wheeled about and fled with arrows through their backs. The ten thousand horsemen stared in shock and dared not advance, and Shunchen was able to rally his men. Before long the Qiang attacked again. From mid-afternoon until evening he shot more than a thousand arrows without a miss. His fingers split open and blood ran to his elbows. At dusk the army finally got through the pass. The troops' spirit was broken, and no one dared speak of fighting again. Without Shunchen the whole force would have been destroyed. When the report reached court, Pu was posthumously made defender of Xiongzhou, and ten of his descendants were granted offices.
33
孫師道
Grandson: Shidao
34
師道，字彝叔。 少從張載學，以蔭補三班奉職，試法，易文階，為熙州推官、權同谷縣。 縣吏有田訟，彌二年不決。 師道繙閱案牘，窮日力不竟，然所訟止母及兄而已。 引吏詰之曰：「母、兄，法可訟乎。 汝再期擾鄉里足未？」 吏叩頭服罪。
Shidao, whose courtesy name was Yishu. He studied under Zhang Zai in youth, entered office through hereditary privilege as a third-class service attendant, passed the law examination, shifted to civil rank, and served as judicial officer of Xizhou and acting magistrate of Tonggu. A county clerk had a land dispute that had dragged on unresolved for two years. Shidao pored over the case files all day without finishing, yet the suit involved only the clerk's mother and elder brother. He summoned the clerk and demanded, "Your mother and brother—does the law allow you to sue them? Haven't you troubled the district long enough?" The clerk kowtowed and confessed.
35
通判原州，提舉秦鳳常平。 議役法忤蔡京旨，換莊宅使、知德順軍。 又謂其詆毀先烈，罷入黨籍，屏廢十年。 以武功大夫、忠州刺史、涇原都鈐轄知懷德軍。 夏國畫境，其人焦彥堅必欲得故地，師道曰：「如言故地，當以漢、唐為正，則君家疆土益蹙矣。」 彥賢無以對。
He served as deputy prefect of Yuanzhou and as promoter of the Qinfeng ever-normal granary. His criticism of the labor-service law offended Cai Jing. He was transferred to estate commissioner and made commander of Deshun Army. He was also accused of slandering former worthies, struck from office, enrolled among the proscribed faction, and banished from public life for ten years. He returned as martial merit grandee, prefect of Zhongzhou, frontier controller of Jingyuan, and commander of Huaide Army. When the Tanguts demarcated the border, their envoy Jiao Yanjian insisted on recovering old lands. Shidao said, "If we take Han and Tang as the standard for 'old lands,' your realm would shrink even further." Yanxian had no answer.
36
童貫握兵柄而西，翕張威福，見者皆旅拜，師道長揖而已。 召詣闕，徽宗訪以邊事，對曰：「先為不可勝，來則應之。 妄動生事，非計也。」 貫議徙內郡弓箭手實邊，而指為新邊所募。 帝復訪之，對曰：「臣恐勤遠之功未立，而近擾先及矣。」 帝善其言，賜襲衣、金帶，以為提舉秦鳳弓箭手。 時五路並置官，帝謂曰：「卿，吾所親擢也。」 貫滋不悅，師道不敢拜，以請，得提舉崇福宮。 久之，知西安州。
When Tong Guan took military command in the west and threw his weight about, everyone bowed low before him. Shidao gave only a formal bow. Summoned to court, he told Huizong on border affairs, "Make yourself unbeatable first, then respond when the enemy comes. Rash action is no strategy." Guan planned to shift archer militia from inner prefectures to the frontier but presented them as newly recruited border troops. The emperor questioned him again. He said, "I fear the court will trouble the near provinces before any distant campaign succeeds." The emperor approved and gave him a court robe and gold belt, appointing him promoter of Qinfeng archer militia. Offices were being set up on all five circuits at once. The emperor told him, "You are a man I promoted myself." Guan was displeased. Shidao refused the appointment and asked instead to be made promoter of Chongfu Palace. Later he became prefect of Xi'anzhou.
37
夏人侵定邊，築佛口城，率師往夷之。 始至渴甚，師道指山之西麓曰：「是當有水。」 命工求之，果得水滿谷。 累遷龍神衛四廂都指揮使、洺州防禦使、知渭州。 督諸道兵城席葦，土賦工，敵至，堅壁葫蘆河。 師道陳於河滸，若將決戰者。 陰遣偏將曲克徑出橫嶺，揚言援兵至，敵方駭顧，楊可世潛軍軍其後，姚平仲以精甲衷擊之，敵大潰，斬首五十級，獲橐駝、馬牛萬計，其酋僅以身免。 卒城而還。
When the Tanguts invaded Dingbian and built Fokou Fort, he led troops to destroy it. On arrival his men were parched with thirst. Shidao pointed to the western slope of a mountain and said, "There should be water there." Laborers dug and found a spring that filled the valley. He rose to commander of the four wings of the Dragon Divine Guard, defender of Mingzhou, and prefect of Weizhou. He directed troops from every circuit to fortify Xiye, levied labor from the local population, and when the enemy came he held the walls at Hulu River. Shidao drew up his line on the riverbank as if ready for a decisive battle. He secretly sent Qu Ke over Hengling Ridge with word that reinforcements had arrived. While the enemy looked about in alarm, Yang Keshi took troops around their rear and Yao Pingzhong hit them in the flank with elite armor. The enemy broke completely. Fifty heads were taken and tens of thousands of camels, horses, and cattle captured. Their chief barely escaped alive. He completed the fort and withdrew.
38
又詔帥陝西、河東七路兵征臧底城，期以旬日必克。 既薄城下，敵守備甚固。 官軍小怠，列校有據胡床自休者，立斬之，屍於軍門。 令曰：「今日城不下，視此。」 眾股栗，噪而登城，城即潰，時兵至才八日。 帝得捷書喜，進侍衛親軍馬軍副都指揮使、應道軍承宣使。
He was ordered to lead the seven circuits of Shaanxi and Hedong against Zangdi Fort, with ten days allowed for capture. When his army reached the walls, the defense was stubborn. When the troops slackened, he instantly beheaded a company commander found resting on a camp stool and displayed the body at the gate. He announced, "If the city is not taken today, you will look like this." The men shook with fear, stormed the walls with a roar, and the city fell at once—on the eighth day after arrival. Delighted by the victory report, the emperor made him deputy commander of the palace guard horse army and commissioner of the Yingdao army.
39
從童貫為都統制，拜保靜軍節度使。 貫謀伐燕，使師道盡護諸將。 師道諫曰：「今日之舉，譬如盜入鄰家不能救，又乘之而分其室焉，無乃不可乎？」 貫不聽。 既次白溝，遼人噪而前，士卒多傷。 師道先令人持一巨梃自防，賴以不大敗。 遼使來請曰：「女真之叛本朝，亦南朝之所甚惡也。 今射一時之利，棄百年之好，結豺狼之鄰，基他日之禍，謂為得計可乎？ 救災恤鄰，古今通義，惟大國圖之。」 貫不能對，師道復諫宜許之，又不聽，密劾其助賊。 王黼怒，責為右衛將軍致仕，而用劉延慶代之。 延慶敗績于盧溝，帝思其言，起為憲州刺史、知環州，俄還保靜軍節度使，復致仕。
Serving under Tong Guan as overall commander, he was made military commissioner of the Baojing army. Guan planned a campaign against Yan and put Shidao in command of all the generals. Shidao warned him: "This campaign is like failing to stop a burglar in a neighbor's house, then rushing in to loot the rooms yourself. Can that be right?" Guan refused to listen. At Baigou the Liao charged with a roar and inflicted heavy casualties. Shidao had ordered his men to carry huge clubs for self-defense, which helped keep the defeat from becoming a rout. A Liao envoy came and said, "The Jurchens have rebelled against us, and the Song detests them as well. To seize a moment's advantage, throw away a century of friendship, ally with wolves, and sow tomorrow's disaster—can that be wise? Aid in disaster and pity for neighbors are eternal principles. Let the great state consider them." Guan had no reply. Shidao urged acceptance again and was ignored again. Guan secretly impeached him for aiding the enemy. Wang Fu was furious, forced him to retire as a right guard general, and replaced him with Liu Yanqing. When Yanqing was defeated at Lugou, the emperor remembered Shidao's warning, recalled him as prefect of Xianzhou and administrator of Huanzhou, soon restored him as military commissioner of Baojing, then retired him again.
40
金人南下，趣召之，加檢校少保、靜難軍節度使、京畿河北制置使，聽便宜檄兵食。 師道方居南山豹林谷，聞命即東。 過姚平仲，有步騎七千，與之俱北。 至洛陽，聞斡離不已屯京城下，或止勿行曰：「賊勢方銳，願少駐汜水，以謀萬全。」 師道曰：「吾兵少，若遲回不進，形見情露，祗取辱焉。 今鼓行而前，彼安能測我虛實？ 都人知吾來，士氣自振，何憂賊哉！」 揭榜沿道，言种少保領西兵百萬來。 遂抵城西，趨汴水南，徑逼敵營。 金人懼，徙砦稍北，斂遊騎，但守牟駝岡，增壘自衛。
When the Jurchens marched south he was urgently recalled, made acting junior guardian, military commissioner of Jingnan, and metropolitan Hebei commissioner with authority to levy troops and supplies as needed. Shidao was living in retirement at Baolin Valley in the southern hills and marched east as soon as the order came. He met Yao Pingzhong with seven thousand infantry and cavalry and marched north together. At Luoyang he learned that Wanyan Zonghan was already below the capital. Some urged him to halt at Sishui while the enemy was still at peak strength. Shidao said, "We are few. If we hesitate, we reveal our weakness and invite only shame. If we march boldly now, how can they tell our true strength? Once the capital knows we are coming, morale will rise by itself. What is there to fear?" He posted notices along the road that Junior Guardian Zhong was leading a million western troops. He reached the west of the city, crossed to the south bank of the Bian River, and pressed straight against the enemy camp. The Jurchens were alarmed, shifted their camp northward, pulled in their raiders, held only Mouluo Ridge, and threw up extra defenses.
41
時師道春秋高，天下稱為「老种」。 欽宗聞其至，喜甚，開安上門，命尚書右丞李綱迎勞。 時已議和，入見，帝問曰：「今日之事，卿意如何？」 對曰：「女真不知兵，豈有孤軍深入人境而能善其歸乎？」 帝曰：「業已講好矣。」 對曰：「臣以軍旅之事事陛下，餘非所敢知也。」 拜檢校少傅、同知樞密院、京畿兩河宣撫使，諸道兵悉隸焉。 以平仲為都統制。 師道時被病，命毋拜，許肩輿入朝。 金使王汭在廷頡頏，望見師道，拜跪稍如禮。 帝顧笑曰：「彼為卿故也。」 京城自受圍，諸門盡閉，市無薪菜。 師道請啟西、南壁，聽民出入如常。 金人有擅過偏將馬忠軍者，忠斬其六人。 金人來訴，師道付以界旗，使自為制，後無有敢越佚者。 又請緩給金幣，使彼惰歸，扼而殲諸河，執政不可。
Shidao was by then advanced in years, and the empire called him "Old Zhong." Qinzong was overjoyed at his arrival, opened the Anshang Gate, and sent Vice Director Li Gang to welcome him. Peace talks were already under way. At audience the emperor asked, "What do you think of the situation?" He answered, "The Jurchens know nothing of war. How can a lone army deep in enemy country withdraw safely?" The emperor said, "Peace is already agreed." He replied, "I serve Your Majesty in military matters only. The rest is not for me to say." He was made acting junior mentor, associate military affairs commissioner, and metropolitan pacification commissioner for the capital region and the two He provinces, with all circuit armies under his command. Yao Pingzhong was made overall commander. Shidao was ill and was excused from bowing and allowed to enter court in a litter. The Jin envoy Wang Huan had been insolent in court, but on seeing Shidao he bowed with something like proper ceremony. The emperor smiled and said, "He does that for your sake." Since the siege began every gate had been shut and the markets had no fuel or vegetables. Shidao asked that the western and southern gates be opened so people could come and go normally. When Jurchens trespassed on the camp of flank general Ma Zhong, Zhong beheaded six of them. When the Jurchens complained, Shidao gave them border flags and told them to police their own men. After that none dared cross the line. He also urged delaying payment of gold so the enemy would grow careless on the retreat and could be destroyed at the river, but the chief ministers refused.
42
种氏、姚氏皆為山西巨室，平仲父古方以熙河兵入援。 平仲慮功名獨歸种氏。 乃以士不得速戰為言達於上。 李綱主其議，令城下兵緩急聽平仲節度。 帝日遣使趣師道戰，師道欲俟其弟秦鳳經略使師中至，奏言過春分乃可擊。 時相距才八日，帝以為緩，竟用平仲斫營，以及於敗。 既敗，李邦彥議割三鎮，師道爭之不得。 李綱罷，太學諸生、都人伏闕願見种、李，詔趣使彈壓。 師道乘車而來，眾褰廉視之，曰：「果我公也。」 相率聲喏而散。
The Zhong and Yao clans were great Shanxi families. Pingzhong's father Gufang had led Xihe troops to the relief army. Pingzhong feared the Zhong clan alone would win the credit. He told the throne that the troops could not be rushed into battle. Li Gang backed him and put all troops below the walls under Pingzhong's command. The emperor sent messengers daily urging Shidao to fight. Shidao wanted to wait for his brother Shizhong, the Qinfeng frontier commissioner, and memorialized that attack should wait until after the spring equinox. Only eight days had passed since the armies faced each other. The emperor thought this too slow and finally let Pingzhong storm the enemy camp, which led to defeat. After the defeat Li Bangyan proposed ceding the three prefectures. Shidao objected in vain. When Li Gang was dismissed, academy students and capital residents knelt at the palace gate demanding to see Zhong and Li. An edict ordered them suppressed. Shidao came in his carriage. The crowd lifted the curtain, looked in, and cried, "It really is our lord." They shouted their salutes one after another and dispersed.
43
金師退，乃罷為中太一宮使。 御史中丞許翰見帝，以為不宜解師道兵柄。 上曰：「師道老矣，難用，當使卿見之。」 令相見於殿門外。 師道不語，翰曰：「國家有急，詔許訪所疑，公勿以書生之故不肯談。」 師道始言：「我眾彼寡，但分兵結營，控守要地，使彼糧道不通，坐以持久，可破也。」 翰歎味其言，復上奏謂師道智慮未衰，尚可用。 於是加檢校少師，進太尉，換節鎮洮軍，為河北、河東宣撫使，屯滑州，實無兵自隨。
After the Jin army withdrew, he was removed from command and made commissioner of the Central Supreme One Palace. Censor-in-chief Xu Han told the emperor that Shidao should not be stripped of military command. The emperor said, "Shidao is old and hard to use. I will have you meet him." He had them meet outside the palace gate. Shidao said nothing. Han said, "The state is in crisis and the edict allows us to consult you. Do not refuse to speak because you are a scholar." Shidao finally spoke: "We outnumber them. Divide the army into camps, hold the key passes, cut their supply lines, and wear them down—they can be defeated." Han marveled at his words and memorialized again that Shidao's mind was still sharp and he should be kept in service. He was made acting junior mentor and grand marshal, given command of the Tao army, appointed pacification commissioner of Hebei and Hedong, and posted at Huazhou—but in truth he had no troops with him.
44
師道請合關、河卒屯滄、衛、孟、滑，備金兵再至。 朝論以大敵甫退，不宜勞師以示弱，格不用。 既而師中戰死，姚古敗，朝廷震悚，召師道還。 太原陷，又使巡邊。 次河陽，遇王汭，揣敵必大舉，亟上疏請幸長安以避其鋒。 大臣以為怯，復召還。 既至，病不能見。 十月，卒，年七十六。 帝臨奠，哭之慟，贈開府儀同三司。
Shidao asked to concentrate Guan and He troops at Cang, Wei, Meng, and Hua in case the Jin returned. The court argued that with the great enemy just gone, massing troops would look weak, and rejected the plan. Then Shizhong was killed in battle and Yao Gu was defeated. The court was shaken and recalled Shidao. When Taiyuan fell he was sent to inspect the frontier again. At Heyang he met Wang Huan, judged that the enemy would strike in force, and urgently memorialized for the emperor to move to Chang'an to avoid their blow. The ministers called this cowardice and recalled him again. When he arrived he was too ill to appear at court. He died in the tenth month at seventy-six. The emperor came in person to mourn him, wept bitterly, and posthumously granted him grand preceptor with insignia equal to the three excellencies.
45
京師失守，帝搏膺曰：「不用种師道言，以至於此！」 金兵之始退也，師道申前議，勸帝乘半濟擊之，不從，曰：「異日必為國患。」 故追痛其語。 建炎中，加贈少保，諡曰「忠憲」。
When the capital fell the emperor beat his breast and cried, "Because we did not heed Zhong Shidao, we have come to this!" When the Jin first withdrew, Shidao renewed his old proposal to strike them mid-crossing. The court refused. He said, "They will be a national disaster yet." That is why he mourned those words afterward. In the Jianyan era he was further posthumously made junior guardian with the posthumous title Loyal and Lawful.
46
孫師中
Grandson: Shizhong
47
師中，字端孺。 歷知環、濱、邠州、慶陽府、秦州，侍衛步軍馬軍副都指揮使、房州觀察使，奉寧軍承宣使。
Shizhong, whose courtesy name was Duanru. He served as prefect of Huan, Bin, and Qin, administrator of Qingyang, deputy commander of the palace guard foot and horse armies, observation commissioner of Fangzhou, and commissioner of the Fengning army.
48
金人內侵，詔提秦鳳兵入援，未至而敵退，乃以二萬人守滑。 遣副姚古為河北制置使，古援太原，師中援中山、河間。 或謂師中自磁、相而北，金人若下太行，則勢不能自還，此段凝師於河上比也。 時大臣立議矛盾，樞密主破敵，而三省令護出之。 師中渡河，即上言：「粘罕已至澤州，臣欲由邢、相間捷出上黨，搗其不意，當可以逞。」 朝廷疑不用。 斡離不還，師中逐出境。 粘罕至太原，悉破諸縣，為鎖城法困之，內外不相通。 姚古雖復隆德、威勝，扼南北關，而不能解圍。 於是詔師中由井陘道出師，與古掎角，進次平定軍，乘勝復壽陽、榆次，留屯真定。 時粘罕避暑雲中，留兵分就畜牧，覘者以為將遁，告諸朝。 知樞密院許翰信之，數遣使督師中出戰，且責以逗撓。 師中歎曰：「逗撓，兵家大戮也。 吾結髮從軍，今老矣，忍受此為罪乎！」 即日辦嚴，約古及張灝俱進，輜重賞犒之物，皆不暇從行。 五月，抵壽陽之石坑，為金人所襲。 五戰三勝，回趨榆次，去太原百里，而古、灝失期不至，兵饑甚。 敵知之，悉眾攻，右軍潰而前軍亦奔。 師中獨以麾下死戰，自卯至巳，士卒發神臂弓射退金兵，而賞齎不及，皆憤怨散去，所留者才百人。 師中身被四創，力疾鬪死。
When the Jurchens invaded, he was ordered to lead Qinfeng troops to the relief army. Before he arrived the enemy withdrew, and he kept twenty thousand men at Huazhou. He sent Yao Gu as Hebei commissioner to relieve Taiyuan while he himself moved to relieve Zhongshan and Hejian. Some said that if Shizhong marched north from Ci and Xiang while the Jurchens came down the Taihang range, he could not get back—just as Duan Ning had once trapped his army on the river. Court opinion was divided: the Bureau of Military Affairs wanted to destroy the enemy, while the Three Departments ordered a cautious advance. Shizhong crossed the river and memorialized at once: "Wanyan Zonghan has reached Zezhou. I wish to strike out through Xing and Xiang into Shangdang and hit them unprepared." The court hesitated and did not approve. When Wanyan Zonghan withdrew, Shizhong pursued him beyond the border. Zonghan reached Taiyuan, overran the surrounding counties, and besieged the city with chained forts so that nothing could get in or out. Yao Gu recovered Longde and Weisheng and held the north and south passes, but could not break the siege. The court ordered Shizhong out by the Jingxing route to coordinate with Gu in a pincer. He advanced to Pingding, recovered Shouyang and Yuci on the momentum of victory, and encamped at Zhending. Zonghan was summering in Yunzhong and had dispersed his men to pasture their herds. Scouts thought he was about to flee and so reported to court. Military affairs commissioner Xu Han believed them and repeatedly ordered Shizhong into battle, accusing him of delay. Shizhong sighed and said, "Delay is the gravest military crime. I have been a soldier since youth. I am old now—how can I bear to die under that charge?" That same day he made ready to march, arranged with Gu and Zhang Hao to advance together, and had no time even to bring supplies and rewards. In the fifth month he reached the Stone Pit near Shouyang and was ambushed by the Jin. In five engagements he won three, then turned toward Yuci a hundred li from Taiyuan. Gu and Hao failed to rendezvous, and his men were starving. The enemy learned of their weakness and attacked in full force. The right wing broke and the van fled as well. Shizhong alone fought on with his personal guard from dawn until mid-morning. His men used divine-arm bows to drive the Jin back, but rewards never came and they dispersed in anger. Only a hundred remained. Shizhong took four wounds and fought on through his illness until he was killed.
49
師中老成持重，為時名將，諸軍自是氣奪。 劉韐言：「師中聞命即行，奮不顧身，雖古忠臣，不過也。」 請加優贈，以勸死國者。 詔贈少師，諡曰「莊湣」。
Shizhong had been a seasoned, respected general of his day, and after his death the armies lost heart. Liu Yan said, "Shizhong marched the moment he was ordered and gave his life without hesitation—even the loyal ministers of antiquity did no more." He asked for a generous posthumous reward to encourage others to die for the state. An edict posthumously made him junior guardian with the posthumous title Solemn and Sorrowful.
50
論曰：宋懲五季藩鎮之弊，稍用逢掖治邊陲、領介胄。 然兵勢國之大事，非素明習，而欲應變決策於急遽危難之際，豈不僕哉。 种氏自世衡立功青澗，撫循士卒，威動羌、夏，諸子俱有將材，至師道、師中已三世，號山西名將。 徽宗任宦豎起邊釁，師道之言不售，卒基南北之禍。 金以孤軍深入，師道請遲西師之至而擊之，長驅上黨； 師中欲出其背以掩之，可謂至計矣。 李綱、許翰顧以為怯緩逗撓，動失機會，遂至大衄，而國隨以敗，惜哉！
The historians comment: The Song, wary of the Five Dynasties' warlord abuses, increasingly put robed scholars in charge of the frontier and the command of armies. Yet military power is a matter of national survival. Men untrained in war cannot be expected to make sound decisions in sudden crisis without stumbling. From Shiheng's service at Qingjian the Zhong clan won the loyalty of their soldiers and awed the Qiang and Tanguts. His sons all showed generalship, and by the time of Shidao and Shizhong—three generations—they were called the great generals of Shanxi. Huizong trusted eunuch favorites who stirred border trouble. Shidao's counsel went unheeded, and the catastrophe between north and south was laid. When the Jin drove deep with a lone army, Shidao urged waiting for the western forces and striking them mid-crossing, or sweeping into Shangdang; Shizhong wanted to take them from the rear—a plan of the highest order. Yet Li Gang and Xu Han called such counsel cowardly delay, missed chance after chance, brought on great defeat, and the state fell with it. Alas!