1
神宗將大革積弊，覺言：「弊政固不可不革，革而當，其悔乃亡。」 神宗稱其知理。 嘗從容語及知人之難，覺曰：「堯以知人為難，終享其易。 蓋知人之要，在於知言。 人主用臣之道，任賢使能而已。 賢能之分既殊，任使之方亦異。 至於所知有限量，所能有彼此，是功用之士也，可以處外而不可以處內，可以責之事而不可責之言。 陛下欲興太平之治，而所擢數十人者，多有口才，而無實行。 臣恐日浸月長，彙征牆進，充滿朝廷之上，則賢人日遠，其為患禍，尚可以一二言之哉？ 願觀《詩》、《書》之所任使，無速於小利近功，則王道可成矣。」
When Emperor Shenzong was preparing to sweep away long-standing abuses, Sun Jue said, "Corrupt practices certainly must be reformed—but if the reforms are sound, regret will never come." The emperor praised him for grasping the point. On one occasion, speaking casually about how hard it is to know people, Jue said, "Yao found knowing men difficult, yet in the end he enjoyed the ease that came of it. The key to knowing men lies in knowing what they say. A sovereign's way of using ministers is simply to entrust the worthy and employ the capable. Worthiness and capability are not the same thing, and the way you assign roles must differ accordingly. Those whose knowledge is bounded and whose talents suit only certain tasks are men of practical utility: they may serve in outward affairs but not at the inner court, and you may hold them accountable for deeds but not for counsel. Your Majesty wishes to bring about an age of great peace, yet among the several dozen men you have advanced, many are glib speakers with no real achievement to their credit. I fear that as they multiply day by day and swarm up the walls of advancement until they fill the court, the truly worthy will grow ever more distant. The harm and disaster that would follow—can it even be summed up in a word or two? I beg Your Majesty to look to whom the Odes and Documents appoint and employ, and not rush after petty gains and quick results—then the kingly Way may be achieved."
2
邵亢在樞府，無所建明，神宗語覺，欲出之，用陳升之以代。 覺退，即奏疏如所言。 神宗以為希旨，奪官兩級。 執政曰：「諫官有出外，無降官之理。」 神宗曰：「但降官，自不能住。」 覺連章丐去，云：「去歲有罰金御史，今茲有貶秩諫官，未聞罰金貶秩，而猶可居位者。」 乃通判越州，復右正言，徙知通州。 熙寧二年，詔知諫院，同修起居注，知審官院。
Shao Kang held a post in the Bureau of Military Affairs but had accomplished nothing. The emperor told Jue he wanted to remove him and replace him with Chen Shengzhi. When Jue withdrew, he at once memorialized the court repeating what had been said. The emperor took this as pandering and reduced his rank by two grades. The chief ministers said, "Censorial remonstrators may be posted outside the capital, but there is no precedent for demoting their rank." The emperor replied, "Once his rank is lowered, he will not be able to stay in the post on his own." Jue submitted memorial after memorial asking to be dismissed, writing, "Last year a censor was fined; this year a remonstrator is demoted. I have never heard of anyone fined or demoted who could still keep his post." He was then made vice-prefect of Yuezhou, restored to the post of Right Rectifier, and transferred to serve as prefect of Tongzhou. In the second year of the Xining era, he was ordered to head the Remonstrance Bureau, serve as co-editor of the court diary, and direct the Bureau for Review of Appointments.
3
王安石早與覺善，驟引用之，將援以為助。 時呂惠卿用事，神宗詢於覺，對曰：「惠卿即辯而有才，過於人數等，特以為利之故，屈身於安石，安石不悟，臣竊以為憂。」 神宗曰：「朕亦疑之。」 其後王、呂果交惡。
Wang Anshi had long been friendly with Jue and suddenly promoted him, intending to win his help. At the time Lü Huiqing was in power. When the emperor asked Jue about him, he answered, "Huiqing is indeed eloquent and talented—head and shoulders above the common run—but he defers to Anshi solely for gain, and Anshi does not see it. I cannot help but worry." The emperor said, "I have my doubts about him as well." Afterward Wang and Lü did indeed turn against each other.
4
青苗法行，首議者謂：「《周官》泉府，民之貸者，至輸息二十而五，國事之財用取具焉。」 覺奏條其妄，曰：
When the Green Sprouts Law was put into effect, its chief advocates argued that under the Offices of Zhou the Treasury lent to the people at interest of twenty-five percent, and from this the state's revenue needs were fully met. Jue memorialized the throne, listing its fallacies point by point, and said:
5
「成周賒貸，特以備民之緩急，不可徒與也，故以國服為之息。 然國服之息，說者不明。 鄭康成釋經，乃引王莽計贏受息，無過歲什一為據，不應周公取息，重於莽時。 況載師所任地，漆林之征特重，所以抑末作也。 今以農民乏絕，將補耕助斂，顧比末作而征之，可乎？ 國事取具，蓋謂泉府所領，若市之不售，貨之滯於民用，有買有予，並賒貸之法而舉之。 儻專取具於泉府，則塚宰九賦，將安用邪？ 聖世宜講求先王之法，不當取疑文虛說以圖治。 今老臣疏外而不見聽，輔臣遷延而不就職，門下執正而不行，諫官請罪而求去。 臣誠恐奸邪之人，結黨連伍，乘眾情之洶洶，動搖朝廷，釣直干譽，非國家之福也。」
"The loans of the Cheng-Zhou period were meant only to meet the people's emergencies—they could not be handed out for nothing, which is why interest was set in terms of mourning garments prescribed by the state. Yet what that interest in mourning garments actually meant, the commentators have never made clear. When Zheng Xuan explained the classics, he cited Wang Mang's profit-and-interest scheme, taking nothing more than ten percent per year as his evidence—yet it cannot be that the Duke of Zhou charged interest heavier than Wang Mang did. Moreover, in the territory under the Market Master's charge, the tax on lacquer groves was especially heavy—precisely to restrain secondary industry. Now, because farmers are destitute, you would aid plowing and assist tax collection—yet would you tax them at rates meant to restrain secondary industry? How can that be right? That state revenue was fully supplied refers to what the Treasury Office managed: when goods would not sell in the market or stock piled up beyond people's needs, there were purchases and grants, and lending was carried out alongside these measures. If revenue were to be drawn solely from the Treasury Office, what would become of the Chief Minister's nine levies? In an enlightened age one should study the laws of the ancient kings, not seize on dubious passages and hollow theories to frame policy. Now elderly ministers are pushed aside and ignored, chief ministers stall and refuse to take office, the Gatekeepers' righteous views go unheeded, and remonstrators beg to be punished and ask to resign. I truly fear that wicked men will form factions, exploit the public uproar, shake the court, fish for reputation by posing as upright, and bring no blessing to the state."
6
安石覽之，怒，覺適以事詣中書，安石以語動之曰：「不意學士亦如此！」 始有逐覺意。 會曾公亮言畿縣散常平錢，有追呼抑配之擾，安石因請遣覺行視虛實。 覺既受命，復奏疏辭行，且言：「如陳留一縣，前後曉示，情願請錢，卒無一人至者，故陳留不散一錢。 以此見民實不願與官中相交。 所有體量，望賜寢罷。」 遂以覺為反覆，出知廣德軍，徙湖州。
Anshi read the memorial and was furious. Jue happened to visit the Secretariat on business, and Anshi tried to win him over, saying, "I never expected even you to go this far!" From that point he began to think of driving Jue out. Just then Zeng Gongliang reported that in the capital districts the distribution of Ever-Normal granary funds was causing forced collection and compulsory allocation. Anshi seized the chance to ask that Jue be sent to investigate on the spot. Once Jue had his orders, he memorialized again asking to be excused from the mission, and said, "In Chenliu County, for instance, proclamations were issued again and again inviting people to borrow—but in the end not one person came forward, so Chenliu did not distribute a single coin. This shows that the people truly do not wish to deal with the government. As for the investigation I have been assigned, I beg that it be canceled." He was then judged to be inconsistent and sent out as military prefect of Guangde, then transferred to Huzhou.
7
松江堤沒，水為民患。 覺易以石，高丈餘，長百里，堤下化為良田。 徙廬州，改右司諫。 以祖母喪求解官，下太常議，不可，詔知潤州，覺已持喪矣。 服除，知蘇州，徙福州。 閩俗厚於婚喪，其費無藝。 覺裁為中法，使資裝無得過百千。 令下，嫁娶以百數，葬埋之費亦率減什伍。 連徙亳、揚、徐州。 徐多盜，捕得殺人者五，其一僅勝衣，疑而訊之，曰：「我耕於野，與甲遇，強以梃與我，半夜挾我東，使候諸門，不知其他也。」 問吏：「法何如？」 曰：「死。」 覺止誅其首，後遂為例。
The Song River embankment had collapsed, and flooding plagued the people. Jue rebuilt it in stone, more than ten feet high and a hundred li long, and the land below the dike was turned into rich farmland. He was transferred to Luzhou and promoted to Right Remonstrator of the Secretariat. When his grandmother died he asked to resign. The Court of Imperial Sacrifices was consulted and ruled against it; he was ordered to serve as prefect of Runzhou, but Jue was already in mourning. When his mourning ended, he became prefect of Suzhou and was later transferred to Fuzhou. Fujian custom was extravagant in weddings and funerals, with costs beyond all bounds. Jue imposed a standard regulation capping dowries and funeral expenses at no more than a hundred thousand cash. Once the order took effect, wedding costs fell to the hundreds, and burial expenses were likewise cut by roughly half. He was transferred in succession to Bo, Yang, and Xuzhou. Xuzhou had many bandits. Five murderers were captured; one was scarcely taller than his clothes. Jue questioned him in suspicion, and the boy said, "I was plowing in the fields when I met a soldier who forced a club into my hands. At midnight he dragged me east and made me wait at the gates—I know nothing more." Jue asked the clerks, "What does the law prescribe?" They answered, "Death." Jue executed only the ringleader, and this afterward became precedent.
8
進吏部侍郎，領右選，在選萬五千員，闕才五之二，至有三年不得調者。 覺請自軍功、保甲進者補指使，宗室袒免從員外置，一日得闕數千。 改主左選，請磨勘歲以百人為限。 擢御史中丞，數月，以疾請罷，除龍圖閣學士兼侍講，提舉醴泉觀，求舒州靈仙觀以歸。 哲宗遣使存勞，賜白金五百兩。 卒，年六十三。
He was promoted to Vice Minister of Personnel and headed the Right Selection Board. Fifteen thousand candidates were waiting for posts, but vacancies amounted to only two-fifths of the posts available, and some waited three years without an assignment. Jue proposed that men advanced through military merit and the baojia system be appointed as envoys, and that imperial clansmen with partial mourning privileges be placed from outside the regular quota—in a single day several thousand vacancies were filled. He was transferred to head the Left Selection Board and asked that annual merit reviews be capped at a hundred men. He was promoted to Censor-in-Chief. After several months he asked to resign on account of illness and was made Academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall with concurrent duty as court lecturer, placed in charge of the Liquan Abbey, and sought the Lingxian Abbey in Shuzhou in order to retire home. Emperor Zhezong sent envoys to inquire after his health and bestowed five hundred taels of silver. He died at the age of sixty-three.
9
覺有德量，為王安石所逐。 安石退居鍾山，覺枉駕道舊，為從容累夕； 迨其死，又作文以誄，談者稱之。 紹聖中，以覺為元祐黨，奪職追兩官。 徽宗即位，復官職。 有文集、奏議六十卷，《春秋傳》十五卷。 弟覽。
Jue possessed moral stature and had been driven out by Wang Anshi. When Anshi retired to Mount Zhong, Jue made a special trip to renew their old friendship and spent several relaxed evenings with him; when Anshi died, Jue composed a funeral elegy as well, which commentators praised. During the Shaosheng era he was branded a Yuanyou partisan; his posts were stripped and two ranks were retroactively removed. When Emperor Huizong took the throne, his offices were restored. He left collected writings and memorials in sixty juan, and a Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals in fifteen juan. His younger brother was Lan.
10
弟覽
Younger brother: Lan
11
覽，字傅師。 擢第，知尉氏縣。 有屯將遇下虐，士卒謀因大閱殺之以叛。 覽聞之，馳往，士猶群語不顧，覽呼諭之曰：「將誠無狀，然天子何負汝輩，乃欲致族滅邪？」 皆感謝去就列。 屯將徐至，覽命吏趣具奏，眾意遂安。 神宗壯其材，以為司農主簿。 舒亶判寺且兼諫院，欲引覽自助，覽拒不答。 亶怒，用帳籍違事劾之。 出提舉利州、湖南常平，改京西轉運判官，入為右司員外郎。 荊湖開疆，命往相其便。 覽言：「沅州所招溪洞百三十，宜從本郡隨事要束，勿建官置戍以為民困。 自誠州至融江口，可通西廣鹽，以省北道餉餽。」 悉從之。
Lan, courtesy name Fushi. He passed the civil examinations and served as magistrate of Weishi County. A garrison commander was cruel to his men, and the soldiers plotted to kill him during the grand review and rise in rebellion. Lan heard of it and galloped to the scene. The men were still talking in groups and ignored him until he called out, "The commander may be vile, but what has the Son of Heaven done to you, that you would bring extermination on your families?" They all thanked him with emotion and returned to their ranks. When the commander arrived at last, Lan ordered his clerks to prepare a memorial at once, and the men's minds were set at ease. Emperor Shenzong admired his talent and appointed him Registrar of the Ministry of Revenue. Shu Dan served as judge of the ministry and concurrently held the Remonstrance Bureau; he wished to draw Lan in as an ally, but Lan refused to respond. Dan grew angry and impeached him for irregularities in the account books. He was sent out as intendant of Ever-Normal granaries for Lizhou and Hunan, then became transport-assessor of the Jingxi circuit, and entered the capital as Right Secretariat Vice Director. When Jinghu opened new territory, he was ordered to go and assess what would be advantageous. Lan said, "The hundred and thirty stream-cave groups recruited by Yuanzhou should be managed according to local conditions by their native prefectures—do not establish officials and garrisons to burden the people. From Chenzhou to the mouth of the Rong River, Western Guang salt could be brought through, saving supply transport along the northern route." The court adopted all of his recommendations.
12
使還，為河東、河北轉運副使，加直龍圖閣，歷知河中應天府、江淮發運使。 進寶文閣待制，由桂徙廣，又改渭州。 夏人入邊，檄大將苗履禦之，履稱疾移告，立按正其罪，竄諸房陵，轅門肅然。 召知開封府，至則拜戶部侍郎。 與蔡京論役法不合，以龍圖閣直學士知太原。 夏人據橫山，並河為寨，秦、晉之路皆塞。 覽謀復取葭蘆戍，阻險不得前。 夏人數萬屯境上，覽下令吾兵少，須滿五萬。 及西夏人聞而濟師，覽不為動，相持益久，忽令具糗糧，嚴兵械，曰：「敵至矣！」 居數日，果大入，覽奮擊敗之，遂城葭蘆而還。 策勳，加樞密直學士。
On his return he became Vice Transport Commissioner for Hedong and Hebei, was given the rank of Direct Dragon Diagram Courtier, and served in succession as prefect of Hezhong and Yingtianfu and as transport commissioner for the Jiang-Huai region. He was promoted to Attendant Gentleman of the Baowen Hall, transferred from Gui to Guang, and then reassigned to Weizhou. When the Tangut Xi Xia raided the border, he ordered the great general Miao Lü to repel them. Lü claimed illness and asked for leave. Lan immediately investigated, established his guilt, and banished him to Fangling; discipline at headquarters was restored at once. He was summoned to serve as prefect of Kaifeng; upon arrival he was appointed Vice Minister of Revenue. He clashed with Cai Jing over the corvée law and was made Direct Academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Taiyuan. The Xi Xia held Heng Mountain and built fortresses along the Yellow River; the routes linking Qin and Jin were all cut off. Lan planned to recover the Jialu garrison but was blocked by difficult terrain and could not advance. Several tens of thousands of Xi Xia troops camped on the border. Lan ordered, "Our forces are too few—we must have a full fifty thousand men." When the Xi Xia heard this and crossed the river with their army, Lan did not stir. The standoff dragged on until suddenly he ordered provisions prepared and weapons readied, crying, "The enemy is here!" After several days they did launch a major invasion. Lan struck back hard and routed them, then fortified Jialu and returned. For his merit he was given the rank of Direct Academician of the Bureau of Military Affairs.
13
覽雖立邊功，議論多觸執政，屢遭絀削，歷知河南、永興，徙成都。 辭不行，降為寶文閣待制。 卒，年五十九。
Although Lan had won distinction on the frontier, his opinions often offended those in power and he suffered repeated demotions, serving in succession as prefect of Henan and Yongxing before being transferred to Chengdu. He declined the post and was demoted to Attendant Gentleman of the Baowen Hall. He died at the age of fifty-nine.
14
李常，字公擇，南康建昌人。 少讀書廬山白石僧舍。 既擢第，留所抄書九千卷，名舍曰「李氏山房」。 調江州判官、宣州觀察推官。 發運使楊佐將薦改秩，常推其友劉琦，佐曰：「世無此風久矣。」 並薦之。
Li Chang, courtesy name Gongze, was a native of Jianchang in Nankang. As a youth he studied at the White Stone monk's lodge on Mount Lu. After passing the examinations he left behind nine thousand juan of copied books at the lodge, which he named the Li Family Mountain Studio. He was assigned as judge of Jiangzhou and investigating clerk of Xuancheng. When Transport Commissioner Yang Zuo was preparing to recommend Li Chang for promotion, Chang instead put forward his friend Liu Qi. Zuo said, "This sort of selfless conduct has been rare in the world for a long time." He then recommended both men.
15
熙寧初，為秘閣校理。 王安石與之善，以為三司條例檢詳官，改右正言、知諫院。 安石立新法，常預議，不欲青苗收息。 至是，疏言：「條例司始建，已致中外之議。 至於均輸、青苗，斂散取息，傅會經義，人且大駭，何異王莽猥析《周官》片言，以流毒天下！」 安石見之，遣所親密諭意，常不為止。 又言：「州縣散常平錢，實不出本，勒民出息。」 神宗詰安石，安石請令常具官吏主名，常以非諫官體，落校理，通判滑州。 歲餘復職，知鄂州，徙湖、齊二州。 齊多盜，論報無虛日。 常得黠盜，刺為兵，使在麾下，盡知囊括處，悉發屋破柱，拔其根株，半歲間，誅七百人，奸無所匿。 徙淮南西路提點刑獄。 元豐六年，召為太常少卿，遷禮部侍郎。
At the start of the Xining reign, he was appointed collator in the Secret Repository. Wang Anshi, who was friendly with him, made him examining officer for the Three Offices Regulations, promoted him to Right Remonstrance Counselor, and put him in charge of the Remonstrance Bureau. When Anshi launched the New Policies, Chang took part in the discussions but opposed collecting interest on the Green Sprouts loans. At this point he submitted a memorial stating, "From the moment the Regulations Commission was created, it has already stirred controversy throughout the court and the country. When it comes to Equal Transport and Green Sprouts—stockpiling and releasing grain to charge interest while twisting the classics to justify it—the people will be terrified. What difference is there between this and Wang Mang wrenching stray lines from the Rites of Zhou to poison the whole empire?" When Anshi read the memorial, he sent a trusted confidant to hint at his wishes in private, but Chang refused to back down. He added, "Prefectures and counties are lending out Ever-Normal Granary funds, but in practice the principal never reaches the people, while they are still forced to pay interest." Emperor Shenzong pressed Anshi for an explanation. Anshi asked that Chang supply the names of the officials responsible. Chang argued that this was not how a remonstrance official should proceed, and as a result he was removed as collator and sent out as vice prefect of Huazhou. After a little over a year he was reinstated, served as prefect of Ezhou, and was later transferred to Hu and Qi prefectures. Qi had many bandits, and hardly a day passed without trials and verdicts. Chang captured clever bandits, marked them as soldiers, and kept them in his service. They knew every stash of stolen goods, so he had houses torn apart and pillars broken until the whole network was uprooted. Within six months he had executed seven hundred men, and criminals had nowhere left to hide. He was transferred to serve as judicial intendant on Huainan West Circuit. In the sixth year of Yuanfeng he was recalled as Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and then promoted to Vice Minister of Rites.
16
哲宗立，改吏部，進戶部尚書。 或疑其少幹局，慮不勝任，質於司馬光。 光曰：「用常主邦計，則人知朝廷不急於征利，聚斂少息矣。」 常轉對，上七事，曰崇廉恥、存鄉舉、別守宰、廢貪贓、審疑獄、擇儒師、修役法。 時役法差、免二科未定，常謂：「法無新陳，便民者良； 論無彼己，可久者確。 今使民俱出貲則貧者難辦，俱出力則富者難堪，各從其願，則可久爾。」 乃折衷條上之。 赦恩，蠲市易逋負不滿二百緡者，常請息過其數亦勿取。
When Emperor Zhezong came to the throne, Chang was shifted to the Ministry of Personnel and then promoted to Minister of Revenue. Some questioned whether he had enough practical ability and feared he might not be equal to the post, so they put the matter to Sima Guang. Guang replied, "If Chang is placed in charge of the nation's finances, people will understand that the court is not desperate for revenue, and the pressure for harsh taxation will ease." In a rotating audience with the emperor, Chang presented seven proposals: promote integrity and shame, preserve local recommendation, distinguish good from bad prefects and magistrates, eliminate corruption, review doubtful legal cases, choose worthy Confucian teachers, and reform the corvée system. At the time the two forms of corvée law, assignment and exemption, had not yet been settled. Chang argued, "Laws are not about old versus new; what serves the people is best. Debate should not be about sides; what can endure is what matters. If everyone is required to pay in cash, the poor cannot afford it; if everyone must provide labor, the wealthy cannot endure it. Let each person choose according to his means, and the system can last." He then submitted a balanced compromise, item by item. During an amnesty, Market Exchange arrears under two hundred strings of cash were forgiven; Chang asked that interest above that amount also not be collected.
17
拜御史中丞，兼侍讀，加龍圖閣直學士。 論取士，請分詩賦、經義為兩科，以盡所長。 初，河決小吳，議者欲自孫村口導還故處，及是役興，常言：「京東、河北饑困，不宜導河。」 詔罷之。 諫官劉安世以吳處厚繳蔡確詩為謗訕，因力攻確。 常上疏論以詩罪確，非所以厚風俗。 安世並劾常，徙兵部尚書，辭不拜，出知鄧州。 徙成都，行次陝，暴卒，年六十四。 有文集、奏議六十卷，《詩傳》十卷，《元祐會計錄》三十卷。
He was appointed Censor-in-Chief and concurrent Reader-in-Attendance, with the added rank of Direct Academician of the Hall of Dragon Pictures. On selecting officials, he proposed splitting the poetry-and-prose and classical-meaning examinations into two separate tracks so that each candidate could show his full strengths. Earlier the Yellow River had broken through at Xiaowu, and officials proposed diverting it back to its old channel from Suncun Estuary. When that project was launched, Chang said, "Jingdong and Hebei are already suffering famine and hardship; this is no time to redirect the river." An imperial edict halted the project. Remonstrance official Liu Anshi treated Wu Chuhou's submission of Cai Que's poems as defamation and launched a fierce attack on Que. Chang submitted a memorial arguing that convicting Que on the basis of poetry was no way to strengthen public morals. Liu Anshi also impeached Chang, who was transferred to Minister of War. Chang declined the appointment and went out to serve as prefect of Dengzhou. He was transferred to Chengdu, but while en route and passing through Shan, he died suddenly at the age of sixty-four. His writings included sixty volumes of collected works and memorials, ten volumes of a Commentary on the Poetry, and thirty volumes of the Yuanyou Fiscal Records.
18
常長孫覺一歲，始與覺齊名，俱受知於呂公著。 其論議趣舍，大略多同，所終官職又同，其死，先後一夕云。
Chang was one year older than his eldest grandson Sun Jue. At first he and Jue were equally famous, and both enjoyed the patronage of Lü Gongzhu. Their views and political choices were largely the same, they ended in the same final offices, and it was said that they died only a day apart.
19
孔文仲
Kong Wenzhong
20
孔文仲，字經父，臨江新喻人。 性狷直，寡言笑，少刻苦問學，號博洽。 舉進士，南省考官呂夏卿，稱其詞賦贍麗，策論深博，文勢似荀卿、楊雄，白主司，擢第一。 調餘杭尉。 恬介自守，不事請謁。 轉運使在杭，召與議事，事已，馳歸不詣府。 人問之，曰：「吾於府無事也。」 再轉台州推官。
Kong Wenzhong, courtesy name Jingfu, was a native of Xinyu in Linjiang Prefecture. He was blunt and upright by nature, spoke little, and rarely laughed. From youth he studied with great diligence and was known for his wide learning. He passed the jinshi examination. Metropolitan examiner Lü Xiaqing praised his poetry and prose as rich and polished, his policy essays as deep and broad, and his literary power as reminiscent of Xunzi and Yang Xiong. Lü reported this to the chief examiner, and Wenzhong was ranked first. He was appointed assistant magistrate of Yuhang. Calm and principled, he kept to himself and never paid court to the powerful. When the transport commissioner was in Hangzhou, he summoned Wenzhong to discuss official business. Once the matter was finished, Wenzhong hurried home and never called at the commissioner's office. When people asked him about this, he said, "I have no further business with the commissioner's office." He was later transferred to serve as investigating officer in Taizhou.
21
熙寧初，翰林學士范鎮以制舉薦，對策九千餘言，力論王安石所建理財、訓兵之法為非是，宋敏求第為異等。 安石怒，啟神宗，御批罷歸故官。 齊恢、孫固封還御批，韓維、陳薦、孫永皆力言文仲不當黜，五上章，不聽。 范鎮又言：「文仲草茅疏遠，不識忌諱。 且以直言求之，而又罪之，恐為聖明之累。」 亦不聽。 蘇頌歎曰：「方朝廷求賢如饑渴，有如此人而不見錄，豈其論太高而難合邪？ 言太激而取怨邪？」
At the start of the Xining era, Hanlin Academician Fan Zhen recommended him for the decree examination. His response ran to more than nine thousand characters and forcefully argued that Wang Anshi's fiscal and military training policies were mistaken. Song Minqiu ranked him in the exceptional grade. Anshi was furious and reported the matter to Shenzong, who issued an imperial rescript dismissing Wenzhong and sending him back to his former post. Qi Hui and Sun Gu returned the rescript unopened. Han Wei, Chen Jian, and Sun Yong all strongly argued that Wenzhong should not be dismissed, submitting five memorials in all, but the emperor would not listen. Fan Zhen added, "Wenzhong is a commoner far from court and does not know what must not be said. Yet the court asked for frank speech and now punishes him for it. I fear this will reflect badly on Your Majesty's enlightened rule." This appeal too went unheeded. Su Song sighed and said, "Just when the court is seeking talent as if starving and thirsty, there is a man like this who goes unrecognized. Is his doctrine too lofty to be accepted? Or were his words too sharp and therefore drew resentment?"
22
吳充為相，欲置之館閣，又有忌之者，僅得國子直講。 學者方用王氏經義進取，文仲不習其書，換為三班主簿，出通判保德軍。 時征西夏，眾數十萬皆道境上，久不解，邊人厭苦。 文仲陳三不便，曰：「大兵未出，而丁夫預集； 河東雇夫，勞民而損費； 諸路出兵，首尾不相應。 虞、夏、商、周之盛，未嘗無外侮，然懷柔制禦之要，不在彼而在此也。」
When Wu Chong became chief councilor, he wanted to place Wenzhong in the Hanlin archives, but rivals blocked the move, and Wenzhong received only the post of lecturer in the Directorate of Education. Scholars at the time were advancing through Wang Anshi's commentaries, but Wenzhong had not studied those texts, so he was swapped out for a clerk in the Three Ranks and sent out as vice prefect of Baode Army. At the time the empire was campaigning against Western Xia. Several hundred thousand men clogged the border routes, the war dragged on without end, and the frontier population was exhausted and miserable. Wenzhong presented three objections, saying, "The main army has not yet marched out, yet corvée laborers are already being assembled; hiring laborers in Hedong exhausts the people and wastes money; and troops sent out from the various circuits fail to coordinate with one another. Even at the height of the Yu, Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, external threats were never absent, yet the key to soothing and controlling them lay not over there but here at home."
23
元祐初，哲宗召為秘書省校書郎，進禮部員外郎。 有言：「皇族唯楊、荊二王得稱皇叔，餘宜各系其祖，若唐人稱諸王孫之比。」 文仲曰：「上新即位，宜廣敦睦之義，不應疏間骨肉。」 議遂寢。 遷起居舍人，擢左諫議大夫。 日食七月朔，上疏條五事，曰：「邪說亂正道、小人乘君子、遠服侮中國、斜封奪公論、人臣輕國命，宜察此以消厭兆祥。」 論青苗、免役，首困天下，保甲、保馬、茶鹽之法，為遣螫留蠹。 改中書舍人。
At the start of the Yuanyou era, Emperor Zhezong summoned him as collator in the Secretariat and then promoted him to Outer Office Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites. Someone proposed that among the imperial clan only the Princes of Yang and Jing should be styled Imperial Uncles, while the rest should be linked to their ancestors, as in the Tang practice of calling them grandsons of the princes. Wenzhong replied, "The emperor has just ascended the throne and should broadly extend the bonds of kinship harmony, not create distance among members of the imperial family." The proposal was dropped. He was transferred to Diarist and promoted to Left Remonstrance and Discussion Grandee. On the first day of the seventh month there was a solar eclipse. He submitted a memorial listing five problems: corrupt doctrines undermining the orthodox Way, petty men prevailing over gentlemen, distant peoples scorning China, sealed back-channel petitions overriding public debate, and officials treating the state's mandate lightly. These, he said, should be examined in order to dispel the omen. He argued that the Green Sprouts and Exemption Corvée policies had first exhausted the empire, while the Baojia, Baoma, tea, and salt laws left behind stings and lingering corruption. He was appointed Secretariat Drafter.
24
三年，同知貢舉。 文仲先有寒疾，及是，晝夜不廢職。 同院以其形瘵，勸之先出，或居別寢。 謝曰：「居官則任其責，敢以疾自便乎！」 於是疾益甚，還家而卒，年五十一。 士大夫哭之皆失聲。 蘇軾拊其柩曰：「世方嘉軟熟而惡崢嶸，求勁直如吾經父者，今無有矣！」 詔厚恤其家，命弟平仲為江東轉運判官，視其葬。
In the third year of his service he served as associate chief examiner. Wenzhong had long suffered from a chronic cold ailment, but during the examinations he never neglected his duties, working day and night. Colleagues in the same office, seeing how wasted he looked, urged him to leave early or at least sleep in separate quarters. He declined, saying, "While I hold office I must bear its responsibilities. How dare I use illness as an excuse for comfort!" His illness then grew worse. He returned home and died at the age of fifty-one. Scholar-officials wept for him until they could no longer speak. Su Shi struck the coffin and said, "The age now praises the soft and pliable and hates the rugged and upright. To find someone as firm and straight as my Jingfu—there is no one left!" An edict ordered generous compensation for his family and appointed his younger brother Pingzhong as judicial intendant on the Jiangdong transport commission to oversee the funeral.
25
初，文仲與弟武仲、平仲皆以文聲起江西，時號「三孔」。 後追貶梅州別駕。 元符末，復其官。 有文集五十卷。
At first Wenzhong and his younger brothers Wuzhong and Pingzhong all rose to fame in Jiangxi through their literary reputations and were known as the "Three Kongs." He was later posthumously demoted to Vice Prefect of Meizhou. At the end of the Yuanfu era, his official rank was restored. He left collected works in fifty volumes.
26
弟武仲
Younger Brother: Wuzhong
27
武仲，字常父。 幼力學，舉進士，中甲科。 調穀城主簿，選教授齊州，為國子直講。 喪二親，毀瘠特甚，右肱為不舉。 元祐初，歷秘書省正字、校書，集賢校理，著作郎，國子司業。 嘗論科舉之弊，詆王氏學，請復詩賦取士。 又欲罷大義，而益以諸經策，御試仍用三題。 進起居郎兼侍講邇英殿，除起居舍人，數月，拜中書舍人，直學士院。
Wuzhong, courtesy name Changfu. From youth he studied diligently, passed the jinshi examination, and ranked in the top grade. He was appointed clerk of Gucheng, selected as professor in Qizhou, and later served as lecturer in the Directorate of Education. After both parents died, his grief left him severely emaciated, and he lost the use of his right arm. At the start of the Yuanyou era he served in succession as proofreader in the Secretariat, collator, collator in the Academy of Scholarly Worthies, Compiler, and Vice Director of Education in the Directorate. He once criticized the flaws of the examination system, condemned the Wang school, and called for restoring poetry-and-prose composition as a basis for selecting officials. He also wanted to abolish the Great Meaning examination and replace it with policy questions on the various classics, while keeping three topics for the palace examination. He was promoted to Attendant Diarist and concurrent lecturer in the Hall of Lit Classics, appointed Diarist, and within a few months was made Secretariat Drafter and academician on duty in the Hanlin Institute.
28
初，罷侍從轉對，專責以論思。 武仲言：「苟不持之以法，則言與不言，將各從其意。 願輪二人次對。」 時議祠北郊，久不決。 武仲建用純陰之月親祠，如神州地祇。 擢給事中，遷禮部侍郎，以寶文閣待制知洪州。 請從臣為州者，杖以下公坐止劾官屬，俟獄成，聽大理約法，庶幾刑不逮貴近，又全朝廷體貌之意。 遂著為令。
At first the rotating court addresses by attendants had been abolished, leaving deliberative counsel as their sole duty. Wuzhong said, "If this is not upheld by fixed rules, then whether one speaks or stays silent will depend entirely on personal whim. I ask that two men be rotated to address the throne in turn." At the time debate over sacrificing at the Northern Suburbs had dragged on without resolution. Wuzhong proposed that the emperor personally perform the sacrifice in a purely yin month, following the precedent of the Spirit Altar to the Earth Within the Realm. He was promoted to Supervising Censor, transferred to Vice Minister of Rites, and appointed Academic Expectant of Baowen Pavilion and prefect of Hongzhou. He requested that when court officials served as prefects, in public trials for offenses punishable by caning or less, only their subordinates be impeached initially; once the case was complete, the Court of Judicial Review would apply the law. In this way punishment would not reach the high and the near, while the dignity of the court would still be preserved. This was then written into law.
29
徙宣州，坐元祐黨奪職，居池州。 卒，年五十七。 元符末，追復之。 所著《詩書論語說》、《金華講義》、內外制、雜文共百餘卷。
He was transferred to Xuanzhou, stripped of office for affiliation with the Yuanyou faction, and lived in Chizhou. He died at the age of fifty-seven. At the end of the Yuanfu era, his rank was posthumously restored. His writings included Expositions on the Poetry, Documents, and Analects, the Jinhua Lectures, inner and outer edicts, and miscellaneous essays, totaling more than a hundred volumes.
30
弟平仲
His younger brother Pingzhong
31
平仲，字義甫。 登進士第，又應制科。 用呂公著薦，為秘書丞、集賢校理。 文仲卒，歸葬南康。 詔以平仲為江東轉運判官護葬事，提點江浙鑄錢、京西刑獄。 紹聖中，言者詆其元祐時附會當路，譏毀先烈，削校理，知衡州。 提舉董必劾其不推行常平法，陷失官米之直六十萬，置獄潭州。 平仲疏言：「米貯倉五年半，陳不堪食，若非乘民闕食，隨宜泄之，將成棄物矣。 儻以為非，臣不敢逃罪。」 乃徙韶州。 又坐前上書之故，責惠州別駕，安置英州。
Pingzhong, whose courtesy name was Yifu, He passed the jinshi examinations and also competed in the special imperial decree examination. On Lü Gongzhu's recommendation, he was appointed Secretary of the Palace Library and collating editor in the Hall of Assembled Worthies. When Wenzhong died, his body was taken back to Nankang for burial. An edict appointed Pingzhong as judicial intendant on the Jiangdong transport commission to supervise the funeral, while also assigning him oversight of coin minting in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the criminal-judgment intendant post for the Capital West circuit. During the Shaosheng era, critics accused him of having sided with those in power during Yuanyou and of insulting former worthies. He was stripped of his collating editorship and made prefect of Hengzhou. The commissioner Dong Bi charged him with failing to enforce the Ever-Normal Granary Law and with causing the loss of six hundred thousand in value of official grain; he was imprisoned at Tanzhou. Pingzhong submitted a memorial: "The grain had lain in storehouses for five and a half years until it was stale and unfit to eat. Unless it was released when the people were short of food, as circumstances required, it would have become nothing but waste. If Your Majesty considers this wrong, I dare not shirk punishment." He was then transferred to Shaozhou. He was again punished for his earlier memorial, demoted to Vice Prefect of Huizhou, and assigned to live at Yingzhou.
32
徽宗立，復朝散大夫，召為戶部、金部郎中，出提舉永興路刑獄，帥鄜延、環慶。 黨論再起，罷，主管袞州景靈官，卒。 平仲長史學，工文詞，著《續世說》、《繹解稗》、《詩戲》諸書傳於世。
When Emperor Huizong came to the throne, Pingzhong was restored to Gentleman for Spread of Learning and summoned to serve as bureau director in the Ministry of Revenue and then in the Bureau of the Currency. He was posted to supervise criminal cases in Yongxing circuit and given command over Yan-Yan and Huan-Qing. When factional strife broke out again, he was removed from office, put in charge of the Jingling Shrine at Yanzhou, and died there. Pingzhong was deeply learned in history and a skilled writer. His Continuation of Tales of the World, Interpretive Unravelings, Poetic Play, and other works circulated widely.
33
李周，字純之，馮翊人。 登進士第，調長安尉。 歲饑，官為粥以食餓者，民坌集不可禁，縣以屬周，周設梐枑，間老少男女，無一亂者。 都巡檢趙瑜詰盜南山，諸尉皆屬焉，瑜悍急，多行無禮，獨於周不敢肆。
Li Zhou, courtesy name Chunzhi, came from Fuyi. After passing the jinshi examinations, he was posted as sheriff of Chang'an. During a famine year the government served congee to feed the hungry, but the people crowded together in numbers that could not be controlled. The county magistrate put Zhou in charge. Zhou set up barricades and sorted people by age and sex; not one instance of disorder occurred. Chief circuit inspector Zhao Yu was hunting bandits on South Mountain, and all the local sheriffs were placed under his command. Yu was brutal and quick-tempered and often acted rudely, but he never dared behave that way toward Zhou.
34
轉洪洞令。 民有世絕而官錄其產者，其族晚得遺券，周取以還之。 郡吏咎周，周曰：「利民，所以利國也。」 縣之南有澗，支流湓入，歲賦菑楗，調徒遏之。 周始築新堤，民不告病。 改知雲安縣，蠲鹽井之征且百萬。 通判施州。 州介群獠，不習服牛之利，為辟田數千畝，選謫戍知田者，市牛使耕，軍食賴以足。
He was transferred to serve as magistrate of Hongdong. When a family line died out and the government seized its property, the relatives later recovered a deed of inheritance. Zhou took it from the county records and returned it to them. The prefectural clerks reproached Zhou. He replied, "What benefits the people benefits the state." South of the county lay a gully whose tributaries surged in. Every year the county assessed a levy for flood works and drafted laborers to block the water. Zhou built a new dike, and the people were no longer burdened. He was reassigned as prefect of Yun'an County, where he remitted nearly a million in salt-well taxes. He was appointed vice-prefect of Shizhou. The prefecture bordered many tribal peoples who were unused to working with oxen. Li Zhou opened several thousand mu of farmland, selected exiled troops who knew how to farm, bought oxen for them to plow with, and thereby made the army's food supply sufficient.
35
司馬光將薦為御史，欲使來見，周曰：「司馬公之賢，吾固願見，但聞薦而往，所謂『呈身御史』也。」 卒不往。 神宗詔近臣舉士，孫固以周聞。 神宗召對，謂曰：「知卿不遊權門，識今執政乎？」 對曰：「不識也。」 「識司馬光乎？」 曰：「不識也。」 訪禦邊之術，曰：「四邊，手足爾。 若疲中國以勤遠略，致百姓窮困，聚為盜賊，懼成腹心之憂。」 神宗頷之，翼日，語固曰：「李周，樸忠之士也。 朕且以為御史。」 執政意其異己，請試以事。 除提點京西刑獄。
Sima Guang was about to recommend him for the Censorate and wanted Zhou to pay him a visit first. Zhou said, "I would gladly meet Sima Gong, but to go see him once I have heard there is a recommendation would make me one of those 'censors who offer themselves up.'" In the end he never went. When Emperor Shenzong ordered his close advisers to recommend talented men, Sun Gu brought Li Zhou to the emperor's attention. The emperor summoned Zhou for an audience and asked, "I know you never cultivate the powerful. Do you know the men in charge of the government today?" He answered, "I do not." And do you know Sima Guang?" He said, "I do not." The emperor asked him about defending the frontiers. Zhou said, "The four borders are like arms and legs. If we wear down the heartland pursuing distant ambitions until the people are ruined and turn to banditry, we will face disaster at the very core of the empire." The emperor nodded. The next day he told Sun Gu, "Li Zhou is a plain, loyal man. I intend to make him a censor." The chief ministers suspected he would not align with them and asked that he first be tested in an office before being made censor. He was appointed criminal-judgment intendant for the Capital West circuit.
36
時方興水利，或請釃湍河為六渠，以益鉗廬陂水，度用工八十萬。 周曰：「湍河原高委下，捍以堤，猶患決溢，若又導之，必致為害。」 乃疏言：「渠成未可必，而費已不貲。 盍姑鑿其一而試之，儻可以足用，行之。」 渠卒無功。 明年，河溢，鄧城幾沒，始思其議。 竟以直道罷，判西京國子監。 慈聖后復土，庀職陵下，中貴人至者旁午，次舍帟幕，競為華靡。 周曰：「臣子執喪，不能寢苫枕塊，奈何又從而侈乎？」 訖役，山陵使第功載，人人自言，周獨否。
Waterworks were then being promoted throughout the empire. Some proposed diverting the Tuan River into six canals to boost the water held at Qianlu Lake, with an estimated cost of eight hundred thousand work units. Zhou objected: "The Tuan River runs from high ground down a steep course. Even with dikes we still fear breaches and floods. If we add channels on top of that, we will surely cause disaster." He then submitted a memorial: "There is no guarantee the canals will succeed, but the cost is already beyond reckoning. Why not dig just one canal first as a trial? If it proves adequate, then implement the rest." The canals ultimately came to nothing. The following year the river flooded and nearly swallowed Dengcheng; only then did people reconsider his advice. In the end his uncompromising integrity cost him his post, and he was made director of the Directorate of Education at the Western Capital. When Empress Dowager Cisheng's tomb was being completed, he was assigned duties at the burial site. Eunuchs arrived in endless succession, and their lodgings and canopies competed in lavish ornament. Zhou said, "As mourners we cannot even properly sleep on straw and clods on the ground. How can we join them in extravagance?" When the work ended, the imperial mausoleum commissioner ranked everyone's achievements for the record. Everyone claimed credit; Zhou alone declined.
37
哲宗立，召為職方郎中。 朝廷議和西夏，畀以侵地，至欲棄蘭州。 周曰：「隴右故為唃氏所有，常為吾藩籬。 今唃氏破滅，若棄之，必歸夏人。 彼以區區河南，百年為敵，苟益以河湟，是盡得吐蕃之地，非秦、蜀之利也。」 遂不果棄。 遷太常少卿、秘書少監，以直龍圖閣為陝西轉運使，復入為太常少卿，進權工部侍郎，旋以集賢院學士知邠州，恩禮如待制。 徙鳳翔府、河中府、陝州，提舉崇福宮，改集賢殿修撰。 卒年八十。 紹聖中，追貶賀州別駕，後復舊職。
When Emperor Zhezong came to the throne, Li Zhou was recalled as bureau director in the Bureau of Appointments. The court debated making peace with Western Xia by yielding seized territory, even to the point of abandoning Lanzhou. Zhou argued, "Longyou once belonged to the Gu clan and has long served as our outer defense. Now that the Gu clan has been destroyed, if we abandon the region it will surely fall to the Tangut. They hold only a strip south of the Yellow River and have been our enemies for a century. If we also hand them the He-Huang region, they will control all the Tibetan lands—and that will not benefit Qin and Shu." In the end Lanzhou was not abandoned. He was promoted to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Vice Director of the Secretariat, then served as Shaanxi transport commissioner with the rank of Hanlin associate at the Dragon Diagram Pavilion. Recalled to the capital as Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, he rose to Acting Vice Minister of Works and soon afterward was made prefect of Binzhou as Academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies, with honors like those of a drafting official. He was transferred in turn to Fengxiang, Hezhong, and Shaanzhou, served as commissioner of Chongfu Palace, and was made collator at the Hall of Assembled Worthies. He died at the age of eighty. During the Shaosheng era he was posthumously demoted to Vice Prefect of Hezhou, but his former rank was later restored.
38
周自為小官，沉晦自匿，未嘗私謁執政，有公事，公詣中書白之。 薛向使三司，欲辟為屬，及相見，卒不敢言，退而歎曰：「若人未易屈也。」 以是不偶於世。
From his earliest days as a low official, Zhou kept himself withdrawn and obscure. He never paid private calls on those in power; when he had official business, he went openly to the Secretariat to report it. When Xue Xiang directed the Three Fiscal Departments he wanted to recruit Zhou as an aide, but when they met he ultimately did not dare raise the subject. As he left he sighed, "A man like that is not easily bent." For this reason he never found his place in the world.
39
鮮于侁
The biography turns to Xian Yushen.
40
鮮于侁，字子駿，閬州人。 唐劍南節度使叔明裔孫也。 性莊重，力學。 舉進士，為江陵右司理參軍。 慶曆中，天下旱，詔求言。 侁推災變所由興，又條當世之失有四，其語剴切。 唐介與同鄉里，稱其名於上官，交章論薦。 侁盛言左參軍李景陽、枝江令高汝士之美，乞移與之，介益以為賢。 調黟令，攝治婺源。 奸民汪氏富而狠，橫里中，因事抵法，群吏羅拜曰：「汪族敗前令不少，今不舍，後當詒患。」 侁怒，立杖之，惡類屏跡。
Xian Yushen, courtesy name Zijun, came from Langzhou. He was a descendant of Shuming, the Tang military governor of Jiannan. Grave and dignified by nature, he applied himself diligently to learning. After passing the jinshi examinations, he served as judicial assistant in the right section at Jiangling. During the Qingli era a drought afflicted the empire, and the throne issued an edict calling for memorials. Yushen traced the causes of calamities and omens and set out four failings of the age in language that was sharp and forceful. Tang Jie, a fellow townsman, praised him to his superiors, and together they submitted memorials recommending him. Yushen spoke at length of the virtues of Left Section Assistant Li Jingyang and Zhijiang Magistrate Gao Rushi and asked to be transferred so they could take his place; Jie thought him even more admirable for it. He was transferred to serve as magistrate of Yi and also handled the administration of Wuyuan. A local bully of the Wang clan was wealthy and ruthless and lorded it over the neighborhood. When he was caught breaking the law, the clerks all bowed before Yushen and said, "The Wangs have ruined many magistrates before you. If you do not let him go now, you will bring trouble on yourself later." Yushen flew into a rage and had him caned on the spot; the local bullies disappeared from sight.
41
通判綿州。 綿處蜀左，吏狃貪成風，至課卒伍供薪炭、芻豆，鬻果蔬多取贏直。 侁一切弗取，郡守以下效之。 趙抃使蜀，薦於朝，未及用。 從何郯辟，簽書永興軍判官。 萬年令不任職，繫囚累百，府使往治，數日，空其獄。 神宗詔求直言，侁為蔡河撥發，應詔陳十六事，神宗愛其文。 詔近臣舉所知，范鎮以侁應選，除利州路轉運判官。
He was appointed vice-prefect of Mianzhou. Mian lay on the western edge of Shu, where officials had grown accustomed to greed. They even taxed the soldiers for fuel and fodder and sold vegetables and fruit at inflated prices. Yushen refused every such levy, and the prefect and all officials beneath him followed his lead. When Zhao Bian went on mission to Shu he recommended Yushen to the court, but the appointment had not yet been made. Recruited by He Yan, he served as signing secretary to the vice-commander of the Yongxing Army. The magistrate of Wannian was incompetent, and more than a hundred prisoners piled up in the jail. The prefect sent Yushen to take charge, and within days he had cleared the prison. When Emperor Shenzong called for blunt memorials, Yushen, then serving as a distribution clerk on the Cai River, responded with sixteen proposals. The emperor admired his writing. The throne ordered close ministers to recommend men they knew. Fan Zhen nominated Yushen, and he was appointed judicial intendant on the Lizhou transport commission.
42
初，王安石居金陵，有重名，士大夫期以為相。 侁惡其沽激要君，語人曰：「是人若用，必壞亂天下。」 至是，乃上書論時政，曰：「可為憂患者一，可為太息者二，其他逆治體而召民怨者，不可概舉。」 其意專指安石。 安石怒，毀短之。 神宗曰：「侁有文學，可用。」 安石曰：「陛下何以知之？」 神宗曰：「有章奏在。」 安石乃不敢言。 初，助役法行，詔諸路各定所役緡錢。 利州轉運使李瑜定四十萬，侁爭之曰：「利州民貧地瘠，半此可矣。」 瑜不從，各以其事聞。 時諸路役書皆未就，神宗是侁議，諭司農曾布使頒以為式。 因黜瑜，而升侁副使，仍兼提舉常平。 部民不請青苗錢，安石遣吏廉按，且詰侁不散之故。 侁曰：「青苗之法，願取則與，民自不願，豈能強之哉！」
Earlier, while Wang Anshi was living at Jinling, he enjoyed enormous renown, and scholar-officials expected him to become chief minister. Yushen despised Wang's theatrical posturing to win the emperor's favor and told others, "If that man is put in power, he will surely throw the realm into chaos." At this point he submitted a memorial on current affairs, saying, "There is one matter worth worrying over, two worth grieving over, and other policies that violate sound governance and stir popular resentment—too many to list in full." His target was unmistakably Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi was furious and spoke against him. Emperor Shenzong said, "Yushen is a man of learning and can be used." Wang Anshi asked, "Your Majesty, how do you know that?" The emperor replied, "I have his memorials on file." Wang Anshi said no more. When the labor-exemption law was first implemented, an edict ordered each circuit to set the cash levy for corvée substitution. The Lizhou transport commissioner Li Yu set the levy at four hundred thousand. Yushen objected: "The people of Lizhou are poor and the land is barren. Half that amount would be enough." Li Yu refused, and each man reported the dispute to the throne. Since the corvée registers for the various circuits were not yet complete, the emperor sided with Yushen and instructed Zeng Bu, the Minister of Revenue, to promulgate his plan as the model. Li Yu was removed from office, and Yushen was promoted to vice commissioner while retaining his post as commissioner of the Ever-Normal Granary. The people in his circuit did not apply for Green Sprouts loans. Wang Anshi sent officials to investigate and demanded to know why Yushen had not distributed the funds. Yushen replied, "Under the Green Sprouts law, loans are given to those who want them. If the people do not want them, how can we force them?"
43
左藏庫使周永懿守利州，貪虐不法，前使者畏其凶，莫敢問。 侁捕械於獄，流之衡湘，因請更以文臣為守，並易班行領縣事。 凡居部九年，治所去閬中近，姻戚旁午，待之無所私，各得其歡心。 蘇軾稱侁上不害法，中不廢親，下不傷民，以為「三難」。 二稅輸絹綿，侁奏聽民以畸零納直。 其後有李元輔者，輒變而多取之，父老流涕曰：「老運使之法，何可改？」 蓋侁之侄師中亦居是職，故稱「老」以別之。
Zhou Yongyi, Left Treasury Storekeeper, was stationed at Lizhou. Greedy, brutal, and lawless, he had intimidated previous commissioners, and none had dared to investigate him. Yushen had him arrested and thrown into prison in chains, then exiled him to the Heng and Xiang region. He also petitioned that civil officials replace military prefects and that county affairs no longer be entrusted to officers on the regular military roster. He served in the circuit for nine years in all. His administrative seat lay close to Langzhong, his hometown, and relatives by blood and marriage were everywhere—but he showed them no favoritism, and everyone was content. Su Shi praised Yushen for meeting what he called the "three difficulties": upholding the law without compromise, honoring kin without partiality, and governing the people without harm. When the two tax levies required payment in silk and cotton, Yushen petitioned to let people pay cash for odd fractional amounts instead. Later a man named Li Yuanfu changed the practice and extracted more from the people. The village elders wept and said, "The Old Transport Commissioner's policy—how can anyone change it? Yushen's nephew Shizhong had also held the same post, so the people called Yushen "Old" to tell the two men apart.
44
徙京東西路。 河決澶淵，議欲勿塞，侁言：「東州彙澤惟兩濼，夏秋雨淫，猶溢而害，若縱大河注其中，民為魚矣。」 作《議河書》上之，神宗嘉納。 後兩路合為一，以侁為轉運使。
He was reassigned to the Jingdong and Jingxi circuit. When the Yellow River burst its banks at Chanyuan, some officials argued against sealing the breach. Yushen said, "In the eastern provinces there are only two marshlands to receive floodwater. Even in ordinary summers and autumns, heavy rains make them overflow and cause damage. If we let the main river pour into them, the people will be drowned wholesale." He wrote a "Memorial on the River" and submitted it to the throne, and Emperor Shenzong praised and adopted his view. When the two circuits were later merged into one, Yushen was appointed transport commissioner.
45
時王安石、呂惠卿當路，正人多不容。 侁曰：「吾有薦舉之權，而所列非賢，恥也。」 故凡所薦如劉摯、李常、蘇軾、蘇轍、劉攽、范祖禹，皆守道背時之士。 元豐二年召對，命知揚州。 神宗曰：「廣陵重鎮，久不得人，今朕自選卿往，宜善治之。」 蘇軾自湖州赴獄，親朋皆絕交。 道揚，侁往見，臺吏不許通。 或曰：「公與軾相知久，其所往來書文，宜焚之勿留，不然，且獲罪。」 侁曰：「欺君負友，吾不忍為，以忠義分譴，則所願也。」 為舉吏所累，罷主管西京御史臺。
Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing were then in power, and upright officials were largely shut out. Yushen said, "I have the power to recommend men for office. If I name the unworthy, that would be a disgrace." Accordingly, everyone he recommended—Liu Zhi, Li Chang, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Liu Ban, Fan Zuyu, and others—were men who held to principle in defiance of the prevailing fashion. In the second year of Yuanfeng he was summoned to audience and appointed prefect of Yangzhou. Emperor Shenzong told him, "Guangling is a vital stronghold that has long lacked the right man to govern it. I have chosen you myself for the post. See that you govern it well." When Su Shi was being taken from Huzhou to prison, relatives and friends alike cut him off. When Su Shi passed through Yangzhou, Yushen went to visit him, but the censorate clerks refused to allow them to meet. Someone told him, "You and Su Shi have been friends for years. You should burn every letter and document you exchanged with him and leave nothing behind, or you will soon be implicated." Yushen replied, "I cannot bring myself to deceive my sovereign or betray a friend. If I must suffer punishment for loyalty and righteousness, that is what I want." Because of the clerks he had recommended, he was implicated and removed from his post supervising the Western Capital Censorate.
46
哲宗立，念東國困於役，吳居厚掊斂虐害，竄之，復以侁使京東。 司馬光言於朝曰：「以侁之賢，不宜使居外。 顧齊魯之區，凋敝已甚，須侁往救之，安得如侁百輩，布列天下乎？」 士民聞其重臨，如見慈父母。 召為太常少卿。 侍從議神宗廟配享，有欲用王安石、吳充者，侁曰：「先朝宰相之賢，誰出富弼右？」 乃用弼。 拜左諫議大夫。
When Emperor Zhezong came to the throne, mindful that the eastern provinces were being crushed by corvée burdens, he banished Wu Juho for extortion and abuse and again dispatched Yushen to Jingdong. Sima Guang told the court, "A man as worthy as Yushen should not be kept in provincial office. But the Qi and Lu region is already badly depleted and needs Yushen to go save it. Where could we find a hundred men like him and post them across the empire?" When scholars and commoners learned he was returning, they greeted him as though a loving parent had come home. He was summoned to the capital as Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When the attendant ministers debated who should share sacrifice in Emperor Shenzong's temple, some proposed Wang Anshi and Wu Chong. Yushen asked, "Among the previous reign's chief ministers, who was worthier than Fu Bi? Fu Bi was chosen instead. He received appointment as Left Remonstrance Grandee.
47
侁見哲宗幼冲，首言君子小人消長之理甚備。 又言：「制舉，誠取士之要，國朝尤為得人。 王安石用事，諱人詆訾新政，遂廢其科。 今方搜羅俊賢，廓通言路，宜復六科之舊。」 又乞罷大理獄，許兩省、諫官相往來，減特奏名舉人，嚴出官之法，京東鹽得通商，復三路義勇以寬保甲，罷戎、瀘保甲以寬民力，事多施行。 在職三月，以疾求去。 除集賢殿修撰、知陳州。 詔滿歲進待制。 居無何，卒，年六十九。
Seeing that Emperor Zhezong was still a child, Yushen began by setting out in full the principle of how gentlemen and petty men rise and fall in influence. He also said, "The decree examination is truly central to selecting talent, and our dynasty has been especially successful at finding good men through it. When Wang Anshi was in power, he forbade criticism of the new policies and abolished the examination. Now that the court is seeking out talented men and opening the channels of remonstrance, the old six examination categories should be restored." He also petitioned to abolish the Dali prison; allow remonstrance officials and the Two Departments to communicate freely; reduce the number of specially nominated examinees; tighten rules on leaving office; permit free trade in Jingdong salt; restore the three-circuit voluntary militia to ease the baojia burden; and abolish baojia registration in Rong and Lu to spare the people. Many of these proposals were adopted. After three months in office he asked to retire because of illness. He was made Compiler at the Hall of Assembled Worthies and sent to govern Chenzhou. An edict promised that after one year he would be promoted to Hanlin Academician. Not long afterward he died, at sixty-nine.
48
侁刻意經術，著《詩傳》、《易斷》，為范鎮、孫甫推許。 孫復與論《春秋》，謂今學者不能如之。 作詩平澹淵粹，尤長於《楚辭》，蘇軾讀《九誦》，謂近屈原、宋玉，自以為不可及也。
Yushen devoted himself to classical learning and wrote commentaries on the Odes and the Changes, winning the praise of Fan Zhen and Sun Fu. When Sun Fu discussed the Spring and Autumn Annals with him, he declared that no scholar of the day could equal him. His poetry was plain yet profound, and he was especially gifted in the Songs of Chu tradition. When Su Shi read his "Nine Chants," he said it rivaled Qu Yuan and Song Yu—and admitted he could not match it.
49
顧臨，字子敦，會稽人。 通經學，長於訓詁。 皇祐中，舉說書科，為國子監直講，遷館閣校勘、同知禮院。 熙寧初，神宗以臨喜論兵，詔編《武經要略》。 初命都副承旨提舉，神宗謂臨館職，改提舉曰館幹。 且召臨問兵，對曰：「兵以仁義為本，動靜之機，安危所繫，不可輕也。」 因條十事以獻。 出權湖南轉運判官，提舉常平。 議事戾執政意，罷歸。 改同判武學，進集賢校理、開封府推官，請知潁州。 入為吏部郎中、秘書少監，以直龍圖閣為河東轉運使。
Gu Lin, courtesy name Zidun, came from Kuaiji. He mastered the classics and was especially skilled in textual exegesis. During the Huangyou era he passed the Lecturing Examination and became Direct Lecturer in the Directorate of Education, then rose to collator in the Palace Library and Associate Director of the Court of Rites. Early in the Xining era, pleased that Gu Lin enjoyed discussing military affairs, Emperor Shenzong ordered the compilation of the Essentials of Military Classics. At first a deputy commissioner of the Palace Secretariat was appointed to direct the project, but since Gu Lin held a library post, the emperor changed the title from director to library steward. The emperor also summoned Gu Lin to question him about military affairs. He replied, "War must be grounded in benevolence and righteousness. The decision to act or hold back bears on the realm's safety and must never be taken lightly." He then submitted a list of ten recommendations. He was sent out to serve concurrently as judicial intendant on the Hunan transport commission and as intendant of the Ever-Normal Granaries. When his policy views clashed with those of the chief ministers, he was dismissed and sent home. He was reassigned as Associate Administrator of the Military Academy, promoted to collator in the Hall of Assembled Worthies and investigating officer in the Kaifeng prefectural office, and then requested appointment as prefect of Yingzhou. He returned to the capital as Director in the Ministry of Personnel and Vice Director of the Palace Secretariat, then served as transport commissioner of Hedong with the rank of Direct Access to the Dragon Diagram Hall.
50
元祐二年，擢給事中。 朝廷方事回河，拜臨天章閣待制、河北都轉運使。 於是，翰林學士蘇軾與李常、王古、鄧溫伯、孫覺、胡宗愈言：「臨資性方正，學有根本，慷慨中立，無所回撓。 自處東省，封駁論議，凜然有古人之風。 僥幸之流，側目畏憚。 忽去朝廷，眾所嗟惜，宜留置左右，以補闕遺，別選深知河事者往使河北。」 諫議大夫梁燾亦言：「都漕之職，在外豈無其人，在朝求如臨者，恐不易得。」 皆不報。 臨至部，請因河勢回使東流。 復以給事中召還。 歷刑、兵、吏三部侍郎兼侍讀，為翰林學士。
In the second year of Yuanyou he rose to Supervising Censor. While the court was working to return the Yellow River to its old course, Gu Lin was appointed Hanlin Academician of the Hall of Heavenly Manifestations and Chief Transport Commissioner of Hebei. Hanlin Academician Su Shi, together with Li Chang, Wang Gu, Deng Wenbo, Sun Jue, and Hu Zongyu, wrote, "Gu Lin is upright by nature, grounded in solid learning, magnanimous and impartial, and incapable of being swayed. Since serving in the Eastern Secretariat, his memorials of approval and rejection have carried the stern authority of the ancients. Opportunists watch him with sidelong glances and dread him. His sudden removal from court is widely lamented. He should be kept close to the throne to remedy omissions in policy, and someone else deeply versed in river management should be sent to Hebei instead." Remonstrance Grandee Liang Can also wrote, "There may be others who could fill the chief transport commissioner's post in the provinces, but at court a man like Gu Lin would be hard to replace." None of these petitions received a response. When Gu Lin took up his post, he petitioned to use the river's current to restore its eastward flow. He was soon recalled to the capital as Supervising Censor. He served in succession as Vice Minister of Punishments, War, and Personnel while also Lecturer-in-Waiting, and was appointed Hanlin Academician.
51
紹聖初，以龍圖閣學士知定州，徙應天、河南府。 中人梁惟簡坐嘗事宣仁太后得罪，過洛，轉運使郭茂恂狥時宰意，劾臨與之宴集，奪職知歙州，又以附會黨人，斥饒州居住。 卒，年七十二。 徽宗立，追復之。
Early in the Shaosheng era he served as Hanlin Academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Dingzhou, then was transferred to the Yingtian and Henan prefectures. The eunuch Liang Weijian, who had fallen from favor for having served Empress Xuanren, passed through Luoyang. Transport Commissioner Guo Maoxun, eager to please the chief ministers, impeached Gu Lin for dining with him, stripped him of rank and made him prefect of Shezhou, then banished him to Raozhou for associating with the faction. He died at seventy-two. When Emperor Huizong came to the throne, Gu Lin's offices were posthumously restored.
52
李之純
The biography turns to Li Zhichun.
53
李之純，字端伯，滄州無棣人。 登進士第。 熙寧中，為度支判官、江西轉運副使。 御史周尹劾廣西提點刑獄許彥先受邕吏金，命之純往究其端，乃起於出婢之口。 之純以為蕪俚之言，不治，彥先得免。
Li Zhichun, courtesy name Duanbo, came from Wudi in Cangzhou. He earned his jinshi degree. Under the Xining reforms he served as judicial intendant in the Revenue Section and as Vice Transport Commissioner of Jiangxi. Censor Zhou Yin accused Xu Yanxian, Guangxi judicial intendant, of taking a bribe from a Yong official and ordered Li Zhichun to investigate. The charge turned out to have originated in gossip from a dismissed maid. Li Zhichun judged the accusation crude and unfounded and declined to pursue it, and Xu Yanxian was cleared.
54
徙成都路轉運使。 成都歲發官米六千石，損直與民，言者謂惠民損上，詔下其議。 之純曰：「蜀郡人恃此為生百年，奈何一旦奪之。」 事遂已。 秩滿復留，凡數歲，始還朝。 神宗勞之曰：「遐方不欲數易大吏，使劍外安靖，年穀屢豐，以彰朝廷綏遠之意，汝知之乎？」 以為右司郎中，轉太僕卿。
He was reassigned as transport commissioner of the Chengdu circuit. Each year Chengdu sold six thousand shi of government grain to the people at a reduced price. Critics called this a benefit to the people at the state's expense, and the throne ordered the policy reviewed. Li Zhichun said, "The people of Shu have depended on this for their livelihood for a century. How can we take it away overnight? The proposal was dropped. When his term expired he was kept on for several more years before he finally returned to the capital. Emperor Shenzong praised him, saying, "In distant regions we prefer not to change senior officials too often. You kept the lands beyond the Sword Pass peaceful and the harvests abundant year after year, showing the court's intent to bring stability to the frontier. Do you understand why we kept you there? He was appointed Right Section Director and then promoted to Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud.
55
元祐初，加直龍圖閣、知滄州，召為戶部侍郎。 未至，改集賢殿修撰、河北都轉運使，進寶文閣待制、知瀛州。 俄以直學士知成都府，還為戶部，三遷御史中丞。 建言：「朝廷事下六部，但隨省吏視其前後批，以制緩急之序，是為胥吏顓處命令也。 若大臣不暇省，宜令列曹長貳隨其所承，當行即行，當止即止，必稟而後決，毋拘於文，則吏不得舞權，而下情達矣。」 又言：「眾賢和於朝，則萬物和於野。 燮理陰陽，輔相之職。 間者，國論稍虧雍睦，語言播傳，動係觀望，不可以不謹。」
Early in the Yuanyou era he was granted the rank of Direct Access to the Dragon Diagram Hall and appointed prefect of Cangzhou, then recalled as Vice Minister of Revenue. Before he reached the capital he was reassigned as Compiler at the Hall of Assembled Worthies and Chief Transport Commissioner of Hebei, promoted to Hanlin Academician of the Hall of Precious Culture, and appointed prefect of Yingzhou. Soon afterward he served as prefect of Chengdu as Hanlin Academician, then returned to the Ministry of Revenue and rose through three promotions to Censor-in-Chief. He memorialized the throne: "When court business reaches the Six Ministries, officials simply follow their clerks' reading of prior endorsements to decide what is urgent. That lets petty clerks control imperial orders. If senior ministers lack time to review every document, the chiefs and deputies of each bureau should act on what they receive—proceed when action is required, halt when it is not—without waiting for endless formal approvals. If they are not bound by paperwork, clerks cannot manipulate power and grievances from below will reach the top." He also wrote, "When worthy men are united at court, harmony prevails throughout the land. Harmonizing yin and yang is the chief counselor's duty. Lately court politics has grown less cordial. Rumors circulate and officials hesitate and watch one another. This demands careful attention."
56
董敦逸、黃慶基論蘇軾託詞命以毀先帝，蘇轍以名器私所親，皆以臨司罷，之純疏其誣罔，乃更黜之。 以疾，改工部尚書。 紹聖中，劉拯劾其阿附轍，出知單州。 卒，年七十五。 從弟之儀。
Dong Dunyi and Huang Qingji accused Su Shi of using imperial edicts to slander the late emperor and Su Zhe of bestowing honors on his favorites. Both accusers were dismissed by the censorate, but Li Zhichun petitioned that their charges were false, and the accusers were demoted instead. Because of illness he was reassigned as Minister of Works. During the Shaosheng era Liu Zheng impeached him for currying favor with Su Zhe, and he was sent out as prefect of Shanzhou. He died at seventy-five. His younger cousin was Li Zhiyi.
57
從弟之儀
Li Zhiyi, a younger cousin.
58
之儀，字端叔。 登第幾三十年，乃從蘇軾於定州幕府。 歷樞密院編修官，通判原州。 元符中，監內香藥庫。 御史石豫言其嘗從蘇軾辟，不可以任京官，詔勒停。 徽宗初，提舉河東常平。 坐為范純仁遺表，作行狀，編管太平，遂居姑熟，久之，徙唐州，終朝請大夫。
Li Zhiyi, courtesy name Duanshu. Nearly thirty years after passing the examinations, he finally joined Su Shi's staff at Dingzhou. He served as compiler in the Bureau of Military Affairs and as Vice Prefect of Yuanzhou. In the Yuanfu era he was put in charge of the Inner Spice and Medicine Storehouse. Censor Shi Yu argued that because Li Zhiyi had once served under Su Shi's summons, he was unfit for a capital post. An edict ordered his appointment suspended. Early in Emperor Huizong's reign he served as intendant of the Ever-Normal Granaries in Hedong. He was punished for drafting Fan Chunren's deathbed memorial and funeral biography, was placed under registered banishment at Taiping, and settled at Gushu. Long afterward he was transferred to Tangzhou and ended his career as Chaoxing Grandee.
59
之儀能為文，尤工尺牘，軾謂入刀筆三昧。
Li Zhiyi could write well and was especially masterful at formal correspondence; Su Shi said he had attained perfect mastery of the writer's art.
60
王覿，字明叟，泰州如皋人。 第進士。 熙寧中，為編修三司令式刪定官。 不樂久居職，求潤州推官。 二浙旱，郡遣吏視苗傷，承監司風旨，不敢多除稅。 覿受檄覆按，歎曰：「旱勢如是，民食已絕，倒廩贍之，猶懼不克濟，尚可責以賦邪？」 行數日，盡除之。 監司怒，捃摭百出。 會朝廷遣使振貸，覿請見，為言民間利病。 使者喜，歸薦之，除司農寺主簿，轉為丞。 司農時為要官，進用者多由此選。 覿拜命一日，即求外，韓絳高其節，留檢詳三司會計。 絳出潁昌，辟簽書判官。 坐在潤公闕免，屏居累年，起為太僕丞，徙太常。
Wang Di, courtesy name Mingsou, was a native of Rugao in Taizhou. He passed the jinshi examination. During the Xining era he served as an officer charged with compiling and revising the regulations of the three bureaus. Unwilling to linger long in a capital post, he asked to be made judicial commissioner in Runzhou. When drought struck the two Zhe circuits, prefectures sent officials to inspect crop damage, but taking their cue from the circuit intendant, they dared not grant substantial tax relief. Di received orders to reinvestigate the reports and sighed, "The drought is this severe and the people already have nothing to eat. Even if we emptied the granaries to feed them, we would still fear we could not save them—how can we still demand taxes?" After several days on the road, he exempted the taxes entirely. The circuit intendant was furious and dredged up fault after fault against him. When the court sent envoys with relief grain and loans, Di asked to see them and laid out the people's hardships and needs. The envoy was pleased and recommended him on his return. Di was appointed registrar of the Ministry of Revenue and later promoted to vice director. The Ministry of Revenue was then a post of great importance, and many men on the fast track to advancement passed through it. The day after accepting the appointment, Di asked to leave the capital for a provincial post. Han Jiang admired his integrity and kept him on to examine and review the accounts of the three bureaus. When Han Jiang was posted to Yingchang, he recruited Di as his secretary and judicial assistant. Because of a fault while serving at Runzhou, he was dismissed and lived in retirement for years. He was later recalled as vice director of the Imperial Stud and then transferred to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
61
哲宗立，呂公著、范純仁薦其可大任，擢右正言，進司諫。 上疏言：「國家安危治亂，係於大臣。 今執政八人，而奸邪居半，使一二元老，何以行其志哉？」 因極論蔡確、章惇、韓縝、張璪朋邪害正。 章數十上，相繼斥去。 又劾竄呂惠卿。 朝論以大奸既黜，慮人情不安，將下詔慰釋之，且戒止言者。 覿言：「誠出於此，恐海內有識之士，得以輕議朝廷。 舜罪四凶而天下服，孔子誅少正卯而魯國治。 當是之時，不聞人情不安，亦不聞命令以悅其黨也。 蓋人君之所以御下者，黜陟二柄而已。 陟一善而天下之為善者勸，黜一惡而天下之為惡者懼。 豈以為惡者懼而朝廷亦為之懼哉？ 誠為陛下惜之。」 覿言雖切，然不能止也。
When Emperor Zhezong came to the throne, Lü Gongzhu and Fan Chunren recommended him for high office. He was promoted to Right Rectifier and then to director of the Remonstrance Bureau. He submitted a memorial saying, "Whether the state stands secure or in peril, in order or in chaos, depends on its grand ministers. There are eight men in power today, yet half of them are treacherous and corrupt. With only one or two senior worthies among them, how can they carry out their aims?" He then laid out at length how Cai Que, Zhang Dun, Han Zong, and Zhang Cao had banded together in wicked factions and harmed upright men. He sent up dozens of memorials, and the men he named were driven from office one after another. He also impeached Lü Huiqing and had him banished. Court opinion held that with the great villains already removed, public feeling might be unsettled. The court planned to issue a soothing edict and also to warn memorialists to hold their tongues. Di said, "If this truly proceeds from that concern, I fear that thoughtful men throughout the realm will come to hold the court in contempt. When Shun punished the Four Villains, the realm submitted; when Confucius executed Shaozheng Mao, the state of Lu was well governed. In those cases one never heard that the people were unsettled, nor that edicts were issued to placate the wrongdoers' allies. A ruler controls his subordinates by two handles alone: dismissal and advancement. Advance one good man and all who would do good are encouraged; dismiss one wicked man and all who would do evil are afraid. Surely the court need not share the fear of those who have done evil? I truly regret this on Your Majesty's behalf. Di's words were forceful, but they could not stop the edict.
62
夏主新立，有輕中國心。 覿曰：「小羌窺我厭兵，故桀驁若是。 然所當憂者，不在今秋而在異日，所當謹者，不在邊備而在廟謨。 翕張取予之權，必持重而後可。」 洮東擒鬼章，檻至闕下，覿曰：「老羌雖就擒，其子統眾如故，疆土種落未減於前，安可遽戮以賈怨。 宜處之洮、岷、秦、雍間，以示含容好生之德，離其石交而壞其死黨。」 又言：「今民力凋瘵，邊費亡極，不可不深為之計。」 於是疏將帥非其人者請易之，茶鹽之害民者請革之，至逋債、振瞻、賦斂、科須，皆指陳其故。
The Xia ruler had newly come to power and showed signs of contempt for the Song. Di said, "These petty Qiang tribes see that we are weary of war, and that is why they act so arrogantly. What we should worry about is not this autumn but the days ahead; what we should guard is not the border alone but the strategy of the court. The power to tighten and loosen, to take and to give, must be exercised with restraint before it can succeed. When Guizhang was captured east of the Tao River and sent to the capital in a cage, Di said, "Though the old Qiang leader is taken, his son still commands the tribes as before, and our border lands and tribal settlements are no smaller than they were. How can we rush to execute him and invite fresh hatred? Better to place him among the Tao, Min, Qin, and Yong circuits, showing a tolerant and life-sparing policy, splitting his rock-solid alliances and breaking up his die-hard clique. He also said, "The people's strength is now exhausted and border costs know no limit. We must plan for this with the utmost care. In his memorial he asked that unfit commanders be replaced, that harmful tea and salt policies be reformed, and he set out the causes of trouble in arrears, relief, taxation, and corvée levies.
63
差役法復行，覿以為：「朝廷意在便民，而議者遂謂免役法無一事可用。 夫法無新舊，惟善之從。」 因采掇數十事於差法有助可以通行者上之。 遂論青苗之害，乞盡罷新令，而復常平舊法，曰：「聚斂之臣，惟知罔利自媒，不顧後害。 以國家之尊，而與民爭錐刀之利，何以示天下？」 又言：「刑罰世輕世重。 熙寧大臣，謂刑罰不重，則人無所憚。 今法令已行，可以適輕之時，願擇質厚通練之士，載加芟正。」 於是置局編彙，俾覿預焉。 大抵皆用中典，《元祐敕》是也。
When the corvée-service law was restored, Di argued, "The court means to benefit the people, yet critics now say the exemption-from-corvée law had not a single provision worth keeping. Laws are not a matter of old versus new; one should follow whatever is good. He gathered several dozen provisions from the corvée law that could usefully be retained and submitted them to the throne. He then argued the harm of the Green Sprouts policy and asked that all the new orders be abolished and the old Ever-Normal Granary law restored, saying, "Men who squeeze revenue know only how to chase profit and advance themselves, heedless of the harm that follows. When the state itself contends with the people over pennies, what lesson does that teach the realm? He also said, "Punishments are lighter or heavier according to the times. The Xining grand ministers held that unless punishments were severe, people would have nothing to fear. The statutes have now been in force long enough that this is the time to lighten them. I ask that men of solid character and practical experience be chosen to revise them further. A bureau was therefore established to compile the revisions, and Di was appointed to it. For the most part they adopted the median standard of punishment—the Yuanyou Statutes were the result.
64
神宗復唐制，諫官分列兩省。 至是，大臣議徙之外門，而以其直舍為制敕院，名防漏泄，實不欲使與給舍相通。 覿爭之曰：「制敕院，吏舍也。 奪諫省以廣吏舍，信胥吏而疑諍臣，何示不廣也。」 乃不果徙。
Emperor Shenzong restored the Tang system, with remonstrance officials assigned to the two provinces. Now the grand ministers proposed moving them outside the palace gate and turning their offices into the Edict Drafting Bureau—nominally to prevent leaks, but in truth to keep them from communicating with the drafting and edict officers. Di objected, saying, "The Edict Drafting Bureau is a clerks' office. To seize the Remonstrance Bureau and enlarge a clerks' office—to trust petty clerks while distrusting remonstrating ministers—what narrowness of spirit does that reveal? The move was not carried out.
65
覿在言路，欲深破朋黨之說。 朱光庭訐蘇軾試館職策問，呂陶辯其不然，遂起洛、蜀二黨之說。 覿言：「軾之辭，不過失輕重之體爾。 若悉考同異，深究嫌疑，則兩岐遂分，黨論滋熾。 夫學士命詞失指，其事尚小； 使士大夫有朋黨之名，大患也。」 帝深然之，置不問。
While serving on the remonstrance path, Di was determined to break the power of faction talk. Zhu Guangting attacked Su Shi over an examination question for Academy posts; Lü Tao defended him, and from this arose talk of the Luo and Shu factions. Di said, "Su Shi's wording was merely a lapse in calibrating severity—nothing more. If every difference is investigated and every suspicion pursued to the end, the two camps will split apart and faction talk will burn hotter. When an academician's drafted edict misses the mark, the matter is still small; but to give scholars and officials the brand of faction—that is the great disaster. The emperor strongly agreed and let the matter drop.
66
尋改右司員外郎，未幾，拜侍御史、右諫議大夫。 坐論尚書右丞胡宗愈，出知潤州，加直龍圖閣、知蘇州。 州有狡吏，善刺守將意以撓權，前守用是得譏議。 覿窮其奸狀，置於法，一郡肅然。 民歌詠其政，有「吏行水上，人在鏡心」之語。 徙江淮發運使，入拜刑、戶二部侍郎，與豐稷偕使遼，為遼人禮重。 紹聖初，以寶文閣直學士知成都府。 蜀地膏腴，畝千金，無閑田以葬，覿索侵耕官地，表為墓田。 江水貫城中為渠，歲久湮塞，積苦霖潦而多水災，覿疏治復故，民德之，號「王公渠」。 徙河陽，貶少府少監，分司南京，又貶鼎州團練副使。
He was soon made vice director in the Right Department, and not long afterward was appointed investigating censor and Right Remonstrance Grandee. Punished for criticizing Vice Director Hu Zongyu of the Ministry of Personnel, he was sent out as prefect of Runzhou, given the added title of Direct Academician of the Dragon Hall Pavilion, and appointed prefect of Suzhou. The prefecture had a cunning clerk who was adept at reading the prefect's mind and undermining his authority; earlier prefects had been criticized on his account. Di thoroughly exposed the man's crimes and punished him according to law, and the whole commandery fell into order. The people sang praises of his rule, saying, "Officials walk upon water; the people dwell in a mirror-clear heart." He was transferred to transport commissioner for the Huai and Yangzi region, then entered court as vice minister of Justice and of Revenue. He served jointly with Feng Ji as envoy to Liao and was treated with great respect by the Khitans. Early in the Shaosheng era he served as Direct Academician of the Baowen Pavilion and prefect of Chengdu. Shu was rich land, worth a thousand cash per mu, with no spare ground for burial. Di tracked down encroachments on official land and memorialized that they be set aside as grave fields. A channel cut from the river ran through the city, but after years of silt it was blocked, and the people suffered flood after flood. Di dredged it and restored it to its former course. The people were grateful and called it Lord Wang's Canal. He was transferred to Heyang, then demoted to vice director of the Palace Workshops with a nominal post in Nanjing, and demoted again to vice commissioner of military training in Dingzhou.
67
徽宗即位，還故職，知永興軍。 過闕，留為工部侍郎，遷御史中丞。 改元詔下，覿言：「『建中』之名，雖取『皇極』。 然重襲前代紀號，非是，宜以德宗為戒。」 時任事者多乖異不同，覿言：「堯、舜、禹相授一道，堯不去四凶而舜去之，堯不舉元凱而舜舉之，事未必盡同； 文王作邑於豐而武王治鎬，文王關市不征，澤梁無禁，周公征而禁之，不害其為善繼、善述。 神宗作法於前，子孫當守於後。 至於時異事殊，須損益者損益之，於理固未為有失也。」 當國者忿其言，遂改為翰林學士。
When Emperor Huizong came to the throne, Di was restored to his former rank and appointed military commissioner of Yongxing. When he passed through the capital on his way to his post, he was kept on as vice minister of Works and then promoted to censor-in-chief. When the edict changing the reign title was issued, Di said, "The name Jianzhong, though drawn from the phrase 'supreme norm, repeats a reign title from a former dynasty. That is a mistake, and Emperor Dezong's example should serve as a warning.' At the time those in power were sharply at odds with one another. Di said, "Yao, Shun, and Yu handed down a single Way, yet Yao did not remove the Four Villains while Shun did; Yao did not raise Yuan and Kai while Shun did. Affairs need not be identical in every detail; King Wen built his capital at Feng while King Wu ruled from Hao; Wen levied no market taxes and placed no restrictions on marshes and weirs, yet the Duke of Zhou taxed and restricted them. That did not keep them from being worthy successors who carried on a worthy legacy. Emperor Shenzong established the laws; his descendants ought to uphold them. When times change and circumstances differ, what must be trimmed or expanded should be trimmed or expanded. That is not, in principle, a failure of fidelity. Those in power resented his words and transferred him to the Hanlin Academy.
68
日食四月朔，帝下詔責躬，覿當制，有「惟德弗類，未足以當天心」之語，宰相去之，乃力請外。 以龍圖閣學士知潤州，徙海州，罷主管太平觀，遂安置臨江軍。
On the first day of the fourth month there was a solar eclipse, and the emperor issued a self-reproach edict. Di was assigned to draft it and wrote, "My virtue is not worthy, and I am not equal to Heaven's intent." The chief minister struck out the passage, and Di then pressed hard for a provincial appointment. He was made academician of the Dragon Hall Pavilion and prefect of Runzhou, then transferred to Haizhou, stripped of his charge over the Taiping Observatory, and finally placed under restricted residence at Linjiang.
69
覿清修簡澹，人莫見其喜慍。 持正論始終，再罹譴逐，不少變。 無疾而卒，年六十八。 紹興初，追復龍圖閣學士。 從子俊義。
Di lived plainly and with restraint; no one ever saw him show pleasure or anger. He held to upright views throughout, was punished and banished twice, and never wavered. He died without illness at the age of sixty-eight. Early in the Shaoxing era his title of academician of the Dragon Hall Pavilion was posthumously restored. His nephew's son was Junyi.
70
從子俊義
Nephew's son: Junyi
71
俊義，字堯明。 遊學京師，資用乏，或薦之童貫，欲厚聘之，拒不答。 林靈素設講席寶籙宮，詔兩學選士問道。 車駕將臨視推恩，司成以俊義及曹偉應詔，俊義辭焉。 人曰：「此顯仕捷逕也，不可失。」 俊義曰：「使辭不獲命，至彼亦不拜。 倘見困辱，則以死繼之。」 逮至講所，去御幄跬步，內侍呼姓名至再，俊義但望幄致敬，不肯出； 次呼曹偉，偉回首，俊義目之，亦不出。 既罷，皆為之懼，俊義處之恬然。
Junyi, courtesy name Yaoming. While studying in the capital he ran short of money. Someone recommended him to Tong Guan, who wanted to hire him at a generous salary, but he refused even to answer. Lin Lingsu established a lecture hall at the Baolu Palace, and an edict ordered scholars chosen from both imperial academies to attend and inquire about the Way. The emperor was about to visit in person and grant favors. The director of the Imperial College nominated Junyi and Cao Wei to answer the edict, but Junyi declined. People told him, "This is a fast track to high office—you must not let it slip by. Junyi replied, "Even if my refusal is overruled and I am forced to go, when I arrive I still will not bow. If I am put to shame there, I will follow with my life. When they reached the lecture hall, only a few paces from the imperial screen, an inner attendant called his name twice. Junyi bowed toward the screen but refused to step forward; Cao Wei was called next. Wei looked back, Junyi caught his eye, and he too stayed where he was. When it was over, everyone feared for him, but Junyi remained perfectly calm.
72
以太學上舍選，奏名列其下，徽宗親程其文，擢為第一。 及賜第，望見容貌甚偉，大說，顧侍臣曰：「此朕所親擢也，真所謂『俊義』矣。 自古未有人主自為主司者，宜即超用。」 蔡京邀使來見，曰：「一見我，左右史可立得。」 俊義不往，僅拜國子博士。 居二年，乃得改太學博士。
Chosen from the upper division of the Imperial Academy, his submitted essay was initially ranked below others, but Huizong personally graded his paper and placed him first. When the degree was conferred, the emperor saw how imposing he looked and was greatly pleased. He turned to his attendants and said, "This is the man I personally chose—truly worthy of the name Junyi, 'handsome and righteous. Never before has a ruler himself served as chief examiner. He should be promoted at once to high office." Cai Jing sent word inviting him to an audience and said, "Come see me once, and you can have the Left and Right Historian posts immediately." Junyi refused to go. He accepted appointment only as a lecturer at the Directorate of Education. After two years he was finally promoted to lecturer at the Grand Academy.
73
鄆王謁先聖，有司議諸生門迎。 俊義曰：「此豈可施於人臣哉？ 禮如見宰相足矣。」 乃序立敦化堂下，及王至，猶辭不敢當。 進吏部員外郎。 嘗入對，帝問：「卿知前所以親擢乎？ 蓋主司之意不一，是以天子自提文衡也。 衛膚敏、吳安國今安在？」 具以對，即召為館職，而遷俊義右司員外郎。 為王黼所惡，以直秘閣知岳州。 卒，年四十七。
When the Prince of Yan came to visit the temple of the Sage, the officials in charge proposed that the students greet him at the gate. Junyi said, "How can a ceremony like this be shown to a mere subject? The etiquette appropriate to receiving a chief minister is quite enough." So they formed ranks below Dunhua Hall, and when the prince arrived Junyi still demurred, saying he did not deserve such treatment. He was promoted to assistant secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. On one occasion, when he came before the emperor in audience, the emperor asked, "Do you know why I personally chose and promoted you? The chief examiners could not agree, so the Son of Heaven himself held the scales of literary judgment. Where are Wei Fumin and Wu Anguo now?" He answered in full. Wei Fumin and Wu Anguo were immediately summoned to posts in the archives, and Junyi was transferred to assistant secretary in the Right Division. Wang Fu took a dislike to him, and he was given the title of associate of the Secretariat and sent out to serve as prefect of Yuezhou. He died at the age of forty-seven.
74
俊義與李祁友善，首建正論於宣和間。 當是時，諸公卿稍知分別善惡邪正，兩人力也。 祁，字肅遠，亦知名士，官不顯。
Junyi was close to Li Qi, and together they were the first to raise an orthodox voice during the Xuanhe reign. At that time the high officials gradually learned again to distinguish good from evil and the orthodox from the heterodox, and the credit belonged to these two men. Li Qi, courtesy name Suyuan, was likewise a well-known scholar, though he never rose to prominent office.
75
馬默，字處厚，單州成武人。 家貧，徒步詣徂徠從石介學。 諸生時以百數，一旦出其上。 既而將歸，介語諸生曰：「馬君他日必為名臣，宜送之山下。」
Ma Mo, courtesy name Chuhou, was a native of Chengwu in Dan Prefecture. His family was poor, and he walked all the way to Mount Culai to study under Shi Jie. The students numbered in the hundreds, yet in no time he surpassed them all. When he was about to leave, Shi Jie told the students, "Master Ma will become a famous minister one day. You should see him off at the foot of the mountain."
76
登進士第，調臨濮尉，知須城縣。 縣為鄆治所，鄆吏犯法不可捕，默趨府，取而杖之客次，闔府皆驚。 曹佾守鄆，心不善也，默亦不為屈。 後守張方平素貴，掾屬來前，多閉目不與語。 見默白事，忽開目熟視久之，盡行其言，自是諉以事。 治平中，方平還翰林，薦為監察御史裏行，遇事輒言無顧。 方平間遣所親儆之曰：「言太直，得無累舉者乎？」 默謝曰：「辱知之深，不敢為身謀，所以報也。」
He passed the jinshi examination, was appointed magistrate of Linpu, and then served as prefect of Xucheng County. The county was the seat of Yan Prefecture, and Yan officials who broke the law could not ordinarily be arrested. Mo rushed to the prefectural seat, seized them, and had them beaten in the guest lodge. The whole prefecture was stunned. Cao Yi, the prefect of Yan, took a dislike to him, but Mo would not bend. Later, when Zhang Fangping became prefect, he was a man of high standing by nature. When his staff came before him, he often closed his eyes and refused to speak with them. When Mo came to report business, Zhang suddenly opened his eyes and studied him intently for a long while, then adopted everything Mo proposed. From then on he entrusted affairs to him. During the Zhiping era, when Zhang Fangping returned to the Hanlin Academy, he recommended Mo as a probationary supervisory censor. On every issue that arose, Mo spoke out without hesitation. Zhang Fangping occasionally sent a close associate to warn him, saying, "You speak too bluntly. Won't that bring trouble on the man who recommended you?" Mo replied with thanks, "You have honored me with your deep trust. I dare not look out for myself—that is how I repay you."
77
時議尊崇濮安懿王，臺諫呂誨等力爭以為不可，悉出補外。 默請還之，不報。 遂上言：「濮王生育聖躬，人誰不知。 若稱之為親，義無可據，名之不正，失莫大焉。 願發自宸心，明詔寢罷，以感召和氣，安七廟之神靈，是一舉而眾善隨之也。」 又言：「致治之要，求賢為本。 仁宗以官人之權，盡委輔相，數十年間，賢而公者無幾。 官之進也，不由實績，不自實聲，但趨權門，必得顯仕。 今待制以上，數倍祖宗之時，至謀一帥臣，則協於公議者十無三四。 庶僚之眾，不知幾人，一有難事，則曰無人可使。 豈非不才者在上，而賢不肖混淆乎？ 願陛下明目達聰，務既其實，歷試而超升之，以幸天下。」
At the time the court debated elevating Prince Pu the Respectful and Virtuous. The remonstrators and censors, led by Lü Hui, argued forcefully that this could not be done, and all were sent out to provincial posts. Mo petitioned that they be recalled to court, but received no answer. He then submitted a memorial saying, "Everyone knows that Prince Pu was the emperor's biological father. But if he is formally styled as imperial kin, there is no proper basis for it. When the name is wrong, the harm is incalculable. I pray that Your Majesty will act from your own heart and issue a clear edict to abandon the plan, thereby drawing down harmonious qi and securing the spirits in the ancestral temples. One such act would bring many blessings in its train." He also wrote, "The key to good government is to seek out worthy men. Emperor Renzong had entrusted the power of appointment entirely to his chief ministers. Over several decades, few men of both talent and integrity rose to office. Advancement did not depend on real achievement or genuine reputation. Those who flocked to the powerful invariably won prominent posts. Officials at the rank of dazhi and above now outnumber those of the founders' era several times over, yet when the court chooses a single field commander, only three or four candidates in ten command broad agreement. The ranks of officials are beyond counting, yet whenever a difficult task arises the court says there is no one fit to send. Is this not because the unworthy hold the upper ranks while the capable and the incompetent are indistinguishable? I pray that Your Majesty will see clearly and listen keenly, judge men by their real merit, test them in office and promote the proven, and so bring blessing to the realm."
78
刑部郎中張師顏提舉諸司庫務，繩治不法，眾吏懼搖，飛語讒去之。 默力陳其故，以為：「惡直醜正，實繁有徒。 今將去積年之弊，以興太平，必先官舉其職。 宜崇獎師顏，厲以忠勤，則尸素括囊之徒，知所勸矣。」
Zhang Shiyan of the Ministry of Justice was put in charge of supervising the treasury offices of the various departments. He cracked down on abuses, and the clerks, fearing for themselves, spread rumors to have him removed. Mo forcefully explained the situation, writing, "Those who hate the upright and revile the righteous are indeed many. If we are to remove abuses accumulated over many years and restore great peace, officials must first be made to do their jobs. Shiyan should be honored and encouraged with loyalty and diligence. Then the idle officials who draw salaries and do nothing will know what is expected of them."
79
西京會聖宮將創仁宗神御殿，默言：「事不師古，前典所戒。 漢以諸帝所幸郡國立廟，知禮者非之。 況先帝未嘗幸洛，而創建廟祀，實乖典則。 願以禮為之節，義為之制，亟止此役，以章清靜奉先之意。」 會地震河東、陝西郡，默以為陰盛，慮為邊患，宜備之。 後數月，西夏果來侵。
At Huisheng Palace in the Western Capital, a spirit hall for Emperor Renzong was about to be built. Mo wrote, "To depart from ancient precedent is exactly what the classics warn against. Under the Han, shrines were erected in the commanderies and kingdoms favored by successive emperors, and men who understood ritual condemned the practice. Moreover, the late emperor never visited Luoyang, yet a shrine is to be built there for his worship. This truly violates canonical practice. I pray that ritual may set its bounds and righteousness govern it, and that this project be stopped at once, so as to show the spirit of quiet reverence toward the ancestors." Around the same time, earthquakes struck the prefectures of Hedong and Shaanxi. Mo took this as a sign of excessive yin and, fearing trouble on the frontier, urged that defenses be readied. Several months later, Western Xia did invade.
80
除知登州。 沙門島囚眾，官給糧者才三百人，每益數，則投諸海。 砦主李慶以二年殺七百人，默責之曰：「人命至重，恩既貸其生，又從而殺之，不若即時死鄉里也。 汝胡不以乏糧告，而顓殺之如此？」 欲按其罪，慶懼，自縊死。 默為奏請，更定《配島法》凡二十條，溢數而年深無過者移登州，自是多全活者。 其後蘇軾知登州，父老迎於路曰：「公為政愛民，得如馬使君乎？」
He was appointed prefect of Dengzhou. On Shamen Island the prisoners were many, but the state ration fed only three hundred. Whenever the number rose above that, the surplus were cast into the sea. The fort commander Li Qing had killed seven hundred men over two years. Mo rebuked him, saying, "Human life is precious beyond measure. The state has already spared these men, yet you go on killing them. That is worse than letting them die at once in their home districts. Why did you not report the shortage of grain instead of slaughtering them on your own authority?" He was about to investigate and punish Li Qing for the crime. Qing, terrified, hanged himself. Mo memorialized the throne requesting a revision of the Regulations for Exile to the Islands, twenty articles in all. Prisoners above the quota who had been long on the island without offense were to be transferred to Dengzhou. From then on many more lives were spared. Later, when Su Shi became prefect of Dengzhou, the elders greeted him on the road and asked, "Will you govern with the same love for the people as Prefect Ma?"
81
徙知曹州，召為三司鹽鐵判官。 以默與富弼善，且論新法不便，出知濟、兗二州。 還，提舉三司帳司。 為神宗言用兵形勢，及指畫河北山川道里，應對如流。 神宗喜，將用之，大臣滋不悅，以提點京東刑獄。
He was transferred to serve as prefect of Caozhou, then recalled to the capital as salt and iron commissioner of the Three Departments. Because Mo was friendly with Fu Bi and had criticized the New Policies as impractical, he was sent out to serve as prefect of Ji and Yan Prefectures. When he returned to the capital, he was put in charge of the accounts office of the Three Departments. He briefed Emperor Shenzong on the military situation and mapped out the mountains, rivers, roads, and distances of Hebei. His answers came as fluently as if from a prepared text. The emperor was delighted and was about to give him greater office, but the chief ministers grew ever more displeased and had him appointed judicial commissioner for the Eastern Capital Circuit instead.
82
默性剛嚴疾惡，部吏有望風投檄去者。 金鄉令以賄著，其父方執政，詒書曰：「馬公素剛，汝有過，將不免。」 令懼，悉取不義之物焚撤之。 改廣西轉運使，會安化等蠻歲饑內寇，默上平蠻方略，以為「勝負不在兵而在將。 富良宵遁，郭逵怯懦； 邕城陷沒，蘇緘老謬； 歸仁鋪覆軍，陳曙先走； 昆侖關喪師，張守節不戰。 儂智高破亡，因狄青之智勇； 歐希範之誅滅，乃杜杞之方略，此足驗矣。」
Mo was stern by nature and hated corruption. Some subordinates, hearing of his reputation, resigned and fled. The magistrate of Jinxiang was notorious for taking bribes. His father was then in high office and sent him a letter saying, "Prefect Ma has always been stern. If you have done wrong, you will not escape." The magistrate, terrified, gathered up all his ill-gotten goods, burned them, and destroyed them. He was transferred to transport commissioner of Guangxi. At that time the Anhua and other tribes, suffering famine, raided the interior. Mo submitted a strategy for pacifying them, arguing that "victory and defeat depend not on troops but on generals. Fu Liang fled by night; Guo Kui was cowardly; Yong city fell; Su Jian was old and misguided; At Guiren Post the army was annihilated and Chen Shu fled first; At Kunlun Pass the army was lost because Zhang Shoujie refused to fight. Nong Zhigao was destroyed thanks to Di Qing's wisdom and courage; and Ou Xifan was exterminated through Du Qi's strategy. That is proof enough."
83
以疾求歸，知徐州。 屬城利國監苦吳居厚之虐，默皆革之。 召為司農少卿。 司馬光為相，欲盡修祖宗法，問默以復鄉差衙前法如何，默曰：「不可。 如常平，自漢為良法，豈宜盡廢？ 去其害民者可也。」 其後役人立為一州一縣法，常平提舉官省歸提刑司，頗自默發之。 除河東轉運使。 時議棄葭蘆、吳堡二砦，默奏控扼險阻，敵不可攻，棄之不便。 由是二砦得不棄。 移兗州，請褒錄石介後，詔官其孫。 東州薦饑，流民大集，所振活數萬計。 入拜衛尉卿，權工部侍郎，轉戶部。 告老，以寶文閣待制復知徐州，改河北都轉運使。
Citing illness, he asked to return home and was appointed prefect of Xuzhou. In a subordinate prefecture, the Liguo Superintendency had suffered under Wu Juhou's cruelty. Mo abolished every abusive practice. He was recalled to serve as vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue for Agriculture. When Sima Guang became chief minister, he wanted to restore the ancestral laws in full and asked Mo what he thought of reviving the district-assigned yaqian corvée system. Mo said, "That cannot be done. Take the Ever-Normal Granary system: it has been a sound institution since Han times. How can it be abolished entirely? Remove what harms the people, and that will suffice." Later, corvée labor was reorganized under a one-prefecture-one-county system, and Ever-Normal Granary supervisors were transferred from the provincial level back to the judicial commissioner's office—reforms largely initiated by Mo. He was appointed transport commissioner of Hedong. At the time the court debated abandoning the forts at Jialu and Wubao. Mo memorialized that they commanded strategic passes and rugged terrain and that the enemy could not easily attack them. Abandoning them would be a mistake. Thanks to this, the two forts were retained. He was transferred to Yanzhou and petitioned that Shi Jie's descendants be honored. An edict granted office to Shi Jie's grandson. The eastern prefectures suffered repeated famines, and refugees gathered in great numbers. The people he saved numbered in the tens of thousands. He entered court as commandant of the guards, served as acting vice minister of the Ministry of Works, and was then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. He retired on grounds of age, then returned as prefect of Xuzhou with the title of academician of the Baowen Pavilion, and was later appointed chief transport commissioner of Hebei.
84
初，元豐間，河決小吳，因不復塞，縱之北流。 元祐議臣以為東流便，水官遂與之合。 默與同時監司上議，以北流為便。 御史郭知章復請從東流，於是作東西馬頭，約水復故道，為長堤壅河之北流者，勞費甚大。 明年，復決而北，竟不能使之東。
Earlier, during the Yuanfeng era, the Yellow River broke through at Xiaowu. The breach was not repaired, and the river was allowed to flow north. During the Yuanyou era, the deliberating ministers argued that an eastward course would be preferable, and the water officials agreed. Mo and the supervisory commissioners of his day submitted a memorial arguing that the northward course was preferable. The censor Guo Zhizhang again petitioned for the eastward course. East-west horse-head dikes were then built to force the water back into its old channel, and a long embankment was raised to block the northward flow. The labor and expense were enormous. The next year the river broke through again and flowed north. In the end it could not be forced east.
85
久之，告老，提舉鴻慶宮。 紹聖時，坐附司馬光，落待制致仕。 元符三年，復之。 卒，年八十。 紹興中，以其子純請，贈開府儀同三司，加贈太保。
After some time he retired on grounds of age and was appointed supervisor of Hongqing Palace. During the Shaosheng era he was punished for siding with Sima Guang, stripped of his academician title, and forced to retire. In the third year of Yuanfu his title was restored. He died at the age of eighty. During the Shaoxing era, at the request of his son Chun, he was posthumously granted the rank of Kaifu Yitong Sansi, with an additional posthumous grant of Grand Guardian.
86
論曰：《詩》云：「時靡有爭，王心載寧。」 王安石之為相，可謂致天下之爭，而君心不寧矣。 孫覺、李常力諍新法，寧失故人之意，毅然去之而無悔，賢哉。 孔文仲之策制科，以微官慷慨論事，言雖不聽，而名徹上聰。 安石既斥其人，又廢其科，何遷怒之甚耶！ 鮮于侁早識安石敗事，與呂誨同見幾先。 馬默用張方平薦為御史，至於盡言而不諱，方平止之而不聽，斯為不負知己矣。 李周之耿介，顧臨之用兵，李之純、王覿再黜而不改其正，亦足以見一時之多賢焉。
The historians comment: The Odes say, "When none contend, the king's heart is at peace." When Wang Anshi served as chief minister, he may be said to have brought contention to the realm, and the ruler's heart knew no peace. Sun Jue and Li Chang remonstrated forcefully against the New Policies. They were willing to forfeit the goodwill of old friends, yet left the cause resolutely and without regret. How worthy they were. When Kong Wenzhong took the decree examination, this minor official spoke boldly on affairs of state. Though the throne did not heed him, his name reached the emperor's ears. Anshi had already driven the man out, yet he also abolished the examination itself—how excessive his displaced anger! Xian Yushen early saw that Anshi's policies would fail, and together with Lü Hui he perceived what was coming before others did. Ma Mo entered the censorate on Zhang Fangping's recommendation and spoke his mind fully without reserve. Fangping tried to restrain him, but he would not listen—thus he did not betray the man who had known his worth. Li Zhou's integrity, Gu Lin's expertise in military affairs, and Li Zhichun and Wang Di demoted again and again yet unbending in their principles—these too show how many worthy men that age could boast.