1
賈易，字明叔，無為人。 七歲而孤。 母彭，以紡績自給，日與易十錢，使從學。 易不忍使一錢，每浹旬，輒復歸之。 年逾冠，中進士甲科，調常州司法參軍。 自以儒者不閑法令，歲議獄，唯求合於人情，曰：「人情所在，法亦在焉。」 訖去，郡中稱平。
Jia Yi, courtesy name Mingshu, came from Wuwei. He lost his father when he was seven. His mother Peng earned their living by spinning and weaving, giving Yi ten copper cash a day for his schooling. Yi hated to spend even one coin; every ten days or so he would bring the money back to her. After he came of age, he placed in the top tier of the jinshi examination and was appointed judicial adjutant in Changzhou. He regarded himself as a scholar of the classics, not versed in penal law; when he heard cases each year he looked only for what matched common human feeling, saying, "Where human feeling is, the law is as well." By the time he left office, the prefecture praised his judgments as even-handed.
2
元祐初，為太常丞、兵部員外郎，遷左司諫。 論呂陶不爭張舜民事，與陶交攻，遂劾陶黨附蘇軾兄弟，並及文彥博、范純仁。 宣仁后怒其訐，欲謫之，呂公著救之力，出知懷州。 御史言其謝表文過，徙廣德軍。 明年，提點江東刑獄，召拜殿中侍御史。 遂疏彥博至和建儲之議為不然，宣仁后命付史館，彥博不自安，竟解平章重事而去。 蘇轍為中丞，易引前嫌求避，改度支員外郎，孫升以為左遷。 又改國子司業，不拜，提點淮東刑獄。 復入，為侍御史。 上書言：
At the beginning of the Yuanyou reign he held the posts of Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Vice Minister of War, then was promoted to censor in the Left Remonstrance Bureau. He attacked Lü Tao for failing to dispute the Zhang Shunmin affair, traded blows with Tao in memorials, and then impeached Tao as allied with Su Shi and his brother, extending the charge to Wen Yanbo and Fan Chunren. Empress Dowager Xuanren was furious at his slander and wanted him banished; Lü Gongzhu argued strenuously on his behalf, and he was instead appointed prefect of Huaizhou. A supervising censor complained that his letter of thanks was immoderate in tone, and he was reassigned to Guangde Army. The following year he was appointed judicial intendant for Jiangdong, then recalled and named Palace Attendant Censor. He then submitted a memorial disputing Yanbo's Zhihe plan for establishing an heir; Empress Dowager Xuanren ordered the document placed in the Historiography Office; Yanbo grew uneasy and in the end relinquished his grand councillor post. When Su Zhe became chief censor, Yi pleaded prior animosity and asked to step aside; he was reassigned as Vice Director of the Revenue Bureau, which Sun Sheng took to be a demotion. He was next named Vice Director of the Imperial University but declined the post, and was appointed judicial intendant for Huaidong. He was recalled to court and made Attending Censor. He memorialized the throne, saying:
3
「天下大勢可畏者五：一曰上下相蒙，而毀譽不得其真。 故人主聰明壅蔽，下情不得上達； 邪正無別，而君子之道日消，小人之黨日進。 二曰政事苟且，而官人不任其責。 故治道不成，萬事隳廢，惡吏市姦而自得，良民受弊而無告； 愁歎不平之氣，充溢宇宙，以干陰陽之和。 三曰經費不充，而生財不得其道。 故公私困弊，無及時預備之計，衣食之源日蹙； 無事之時尚猶有患，不幸倉卒多事，則狼狽窮迫而禍敗至矣。 四曰人材廢闕，而教養不以其方。 故士君子無可用之實，而愚不肖充牣於朝； 汙合苟容之俗滋長，背上欺君之風益扇，士氣浸弱，將誰與立太平之基。 五曰刑賞失中，而人心不知所向。 故以非為是，以黑為白，更相欺惑，以罔其上； 爵之以高祿而不加勸，僇之以顯罰而不加懼，徼利苟免之姦，冒貨犯義之俗，將何所不有。
"There are five trends in the empire that ought to alarm us. The first is that superiors and subordinates deceive one another, so that praise and blame no longer reflect reality. The sovereign's clear sight is blocked, and what happens below never reaches the throne; wrong and right are no longer distinguished, the way of the gentleman dwindles day by day, and the cliques of petty men advance. Second, public business is handled in a slipshod way, and officials do not shoulder their duties. As a result good government never takes shape, every undertaking decays, corrupt clerks peddle fraud for their own gain, and honest people suffer injury with nowhere to turn; grief, resentment, and injustice fill the world and disturb the harmony of yin and yang. Third, state funds are inadequate because wealth is not being created by proper means. Public and private resources alike are strained, there is no timely plan of reserve, and the sources of food and clothing shrink daily; even in quiet times trouble already looms; should sudden crises pile up, the state will be driven to desperation and ruin. Fourth, talent is neglected and training does not follow the right path. Men of worth have no real use to offer, while the foolish and incompetent crowd the court; the habit of filthy compromise spreads, the fashion of deceiving the ruler from behind grows stronger, and the morale of scholars weakens—who then will help lay the foundations of lasting peace? Fifth, rewards and punishments are misapplied, and the people no longer know what to aim for. Wrong is treated as right and black as white; men deceive one another to mislead their superiors; high office no longer encourages virtue, nor do severe punishments inspire fear—every sort of scheming for profit and evasion of duty, every custom of greed and breach of righteousness, will flourish unchecked.
4
今二聖焦勞念治，而天下之勢乃如此，任事者不可以不憂。 是猶寢於積薪之上，火未及然，而自以為安，可不畏乎？
The Two Sovereigns labor tirelessly for good government, yet the empire stands in this condition; those who hold office cannot afford to be indifferent. It is as though one slept on a heap of firewood: the flames have not yet caught, yet one imagines oneself safe—should that not terrify us?
5
然則欲知毀譽真偽之情，則莫若明目達聰，使下無壅蔽之患。 欲官人皆任其責，則莫若詢事考言，循名責實。 欲生財不逆其道，則莫若敦本業而抑末作，崇儉約而戒奢僭。 欲教養必以其方，則莫若廣詳延之路，厲廉恥之節，使公卿大臣各舉所知，召對延問，以觀其能否，善者用之，不善者罷之。 欲人心皆知所向，則莫若賞以勸善，刑以懲惡，不以親疏貴賤為之輕重。 則民志一定，而放僻邪侈不為矣。」
If we wish to know whether praise and blame are true, nothing is better than to open our eyes and ears so that nothing below is blocked from view. If we wish every official to shoulder his duty, we should examine deeds and test words, holding men to the titles they bear. If we wish wealth to be created in the right way, we should encourage the root occupations and restrain secondary trades, honor frugality, and warn against extravagance and presumption. If training is to follow the right method, we should widen avenues of recommendation, strengthen standards of integrity and shame, have ministers recommend men they know, summon them for audience and questioning to test their ability, employ the able, and dismiss the unfit. If the people's hearts are to know their direction, we should reward to encourage good and punish to restrain evil, without regard to kinship, distance, rank, or low birth. Then the people's purpose will be settled, and depravity and excess will cease."
6
其言雖頗切直，然皆老生常談，志於抵阨時事，無他奇畫。
His language was blunt enough, but it was all familiar platitudes; he meant only to obstruct the times, and offered nothing original.
7
蘇軾守杭，訴浙西災潦甚苦。 易率其僚楊畏、安鼎論軾姑息邀譽，眩惑朝聽，乞加考實。 詔下，給事中范祖禹封還之，以謂正宜闊略不問，以活百姓。 易遂言：「軾頃在揚州題詩，以奉先帝遺詔為『聞好語』； 草呂大防制云『民亦勞止』，引周厲王詩以比熙寧、元豐之政。 弟轍蚤應制科試，文繆不應格，幸而濫進，與軾昔皆誹怨先帝，無人臣禮。」 至指李林甫、楊國忠為喻，議者由是薄易，出知宣州。 除京西轉運副使，徙蘇州、徐州，加直秘閣。 元符中，累謫保靜軍行軍司馬，邵州安置。
While Su Shi was prefect of Hangzhou, he reported that western Zhejiang had suffered grievously from flood and drought. Yi joined his colleagues Yang Wei and An Ding in charging that Shi was coddling the people to win praise and misleading the court, and asked that the matter be investigated. When the edict went out, Supervising Secretary Fan Zuyu returned it sealed, arguing that the court ought rather to overlook the matter and let the people live. Yi then memorialized: "Shi lately wrote a poem in Yangzhou in which he treated the late emperor's testamentary edict as merely 'hearing fine words'; in drafting Lü Dafang's appointment edict he wrote 'the people too are weary and halt,' citing the ode on King Li of Zhou to liken the Xining and Yuanfeng policies to tyranny. His younger brother Zhe took the special examination early; his essay was flawed and should have failed, yet he was improperly advanced; both brothers have long slandered the late emperor and shown themselves unworthy of a subject's duty." He even compared them to Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong; critics despised him for it, and he was appointed prefect of Xuanzhou. He was made Vice Transport Commissioner for the Jingxi circuit, then served in Suzhou and Xuzhou, and was granted the honorary title Direct Access to the Secret Archive. During the Yuanfu reign he was repeatedly demoted to Acting Military Affairs Officer of Baojing Army and exiled to Shaozhou.
8
徽宗立，召為太常少卿，進右諫議大夫。 陳次升論其為曾布客，改權刑部侍郎，歷工部、吏部，未滿歲為真。 以寶文閣待制知鄧州，尋入黨籍。 卒，年七十三。
When Huizong came to the throne, Yi was recalled as Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and promoted to Right Remonstrance and Discussion Grandee. Chen Cisheng charged that he was a follower of Zeng Bu; he was reassigned as Acting Vice Minister of Justice, then served in the Ministries of Works and Personnel, and within a year received the substantive post. As Academician-Awaiting Orders of the Baowen Pavilion he governed Dengzhou; soon afterward he was listed among the proscribed faction. He died at the age of seventy-three.
9
董敦逸
Dong Dunyi
10
董敦逸，字夢授，吉州永豐人。 登進士第，調連州司理參軍、知穰縣。 時方興水利，提舉官調民鑿馬渡港，雲可灌田二百頃，敦逸言於朝，以為利不補害，核實如敦逸言。 免役夫十六萬，全舊田三千六百頃。 徙知弋陽縣，寶豐銅冶役卒多困於誘略，有致死者，敦逸推見本末，縱還鄉者數百人。 稍遷梓州路轉運判官。
Dong Dunyi, courtesy name Mengshou, came from Yongfeng in Jizhou. He passed the jinshi examination and was appointed judicial adjutant in Lianzhou and magistrate of Rang County. When waterworks were being pushed forward, a supervising official conscripted labor to dig Madu Harbor, claiming it would irrigate two hundred qing of fields; Dunyi reported to court that the gain would not repay the cost, and investigation proved him right. One hundred sixty thousand corvée laborers were spared, and three thousand six hundred qing of existing farmland were preserved. He was transferred to magistrate of Yiyang County; at the Baofeng copper works many conscript laborers had been trapped by coercion, and some died; Dunyi traced the affair to its source and sent several hundred men home. He was soon promoted to Transport Assessor of Zizhou Circuit.
11
元祐六年，召為監察御史，同御史黃慶基言：「蘇軾昔為中書舍人，制誥中指斥先帝事，其弟轍相為表裏，以紊朝政。」 宰相呂大防奏曰：「敦逸、慶基言軾所撰制詞，以為謗毀先帝。 臣竊觀先帝聖意，本欲富國強兵，鞭撻不庭，一時群臣將順太過，故事或失當。 及太皇太后與皇帝臨御，因民所欲，隨事救改，蓋事理當然爾。 昔漢武帝好用兵，重斂傷民，昭帝嗣位，博采眾議，多行寢罷，明帝尚察，屢興慘獄，章帝改之以寬厚，天下悅服，未有以為謗毀先帝者也。 至如本朝真宗即位，弛放逋欠以厚民財； 仁宗即位，罷修宮觀以息民力。 凡此皆因時施宜，以補助先朝闕政，亦未聞當時士大夫有以為謗毀先帝者也。 比惟元祐以來，言事官用此以中傷士人，兼欲動搖朝廷，意極不善。」 轍復奏曰：「臣昨日取兄軾所撰呂惠卿告觀之，其言及先帝者，有曰：『始以帝堯之仁，姑試伯鯀； 終然孔子之聖，不信宰予。』 兄軾亦豈是謗毀先帝者邪？ 臣聞先帝末年，亦自深悔已行之事，但未暇改爾。 元祐改更，蓋追述先帝美意而已。」 宣仁后曰：「先帝追悔往事，至於泣下。」 大防曰：「先帝一時過舉，非其本意。」 宣仁后曰：「皇帝宜深知。」 於是敦逸、慶基並罷。 敦逸出為湖北運判，改知臨江軍。
In the sixth year of Yuanyou he was summoned as Supervising Censor; together with Censor Huang Qingji he charged: "When Su Shi served as Secretariat Drafter, his edicts criticized the late emperor; his brother Zhe worked hand in glove with him to throw court affairs into confusion." Grand Councillor Lü Dafang replied: "Dunyi and Qingji claim that the edict Shi drafted slanders the late emperor. I believe the late emperor's true aim was to enrich the state and strengthen the army and to chastise those who would not submit; for a time the ministers flattered him too readily, and some measures went awry. When the Grand Empress Dowager and the emperor took power, they amended policies according to the people's wishes—this was only what reason required. Emperor Wu of Han loved war and heavy taxation that harmed the people; when Emperor Zhao succeeded, he gathered counsel widely and repealed many measures; Emperor Ming was severe and raised cruel prosecutions; Emperor Zhang replaced severity with lenience, and the realm rejoiced—no one called that slandering the former emperor. In our own dynasty, when Zhenzong came to the throne he remitted tax arrears to ease the people's burden; when Renzong came to the throne he halted palace and temple construction to spare the people's labor. All of this was timely adjustment to remedy the previous reign's shortcomings; no scholar-official of those days called it slander of the former emperor. Since Yuanyou, remonstrating officials have used this charge to wound worthy men and even to shake the court—an intent that is wholly malign." Su Zhe replied: "Yesterday I examined the dismissal notice my brother Shi drafted for Lü Huiqing; where it mentions the late emperor, it says, 'At first, with the benevolence of Emperor Yao, he tried Gun for a time; in the end, with the sagacity of Confucius, he would not trust Zai Yu.' How can my brother Shi be called a slanderer of the late emperor? I have heard that in his last years the late emperor deeply regretted what he had already done, but had not yet had time to change course. The Yuanyou reforms merely carried out the late emperor's own better intentions." Empress Dowager Xuanren said: "The late emperor repented what had been done, even to the point of tears." Dafang said: "The late emperor's excesses were momentary; they were not his true intent." Empress Dowager Xuanren said: "Your Majesty should understand this deeply." Thereupon Dunyi and Qingji were both dismissed from office. Dunyi was sent out as Transport Assessor for Hubei, then appointed prefect of Linjiang.
12
紹聖初，軾、轍失位，劉拯訟敦逸無罪。 哲宗記其人，曰：「非前日白鬚御史乎？」 復除監察御史。 論常安民為二蘇之黨，凡論議主元祐者，斥去之。 改工部員外郎，遷殿中待御史、左司諫、侍御史，入謝曰：「臣再汙言路，第恐擠逐，不能久奉彈糾之責。」 哲宗曰：「卿能言，無患朕之不能聽； 卿言而信，無患朕之不能行也。」
At the start of the Shaosheng reign, when the Su brothers fell from power, Liu Cheng argued that Dunyi had done no wrong. Zhezong remembered him and said, "Is this not the white-bearded censor from before?" He was again appointed Supervising Censor. He charged that Chang Anmin belonged to the Su faction; all who upheld Yuanyou policies in debate were removed. He was made Vice Director of the Ministry of Works, then promoted through Palace Attendant Censor, Left Remonstrance Bureau censor, and Attending Censor; on presenting thanks he said, "I have again been granted the path of remonstrance, but I fear being driven out and cannot long fulfill the duty of impeachment." Zhezong said, "If you can speak, do not fear that I will not listen; if what you say is true, do not fear that I will not act on it."
13
瑤華秘獄成，詔詣掖庭錄問。 敦逸察知冤狀，握筆弗忍書，郝隨從旁脅之，乃不敢異。 獄既上，於心終不安。 幾兩旬，竟上疏，其略云：「瑤華之廢，事有所因，情有可察。 詔下之日，天為之陰翳，是天不欲廢之也； 人為之流涕，是人不欲廢之也。 臣嘗閱錄其獄，恐得罪天下。」 哲宗讀之怒，蔡卞欲加重貶，章惇、曾布以為不可，曰：「陛下本以皇城獄出於近習，故使臺端錄問，冀以取信中外。 今謫敦逸，何以解天下後世之謗。」 哲宗意解而止。 明年，用他事出知興國軍，徙江州。
When the secret investigation of Princess Yaohua was concluded, an edict ordered him to go to the Inner Palace to record the interrogation. Dunyi saw that the case was unjust, but could not bring himself to write; Hao Sui stood beside him and threatened him, so he dared not dissent. After the record was submitted, his conscience would not rest. After nearly twenty days he finally memorialized the throne, writing in part: "The deposition of Princess Yaohua had its causes, and the circumstances deserve scrutiny. On the day the edict was issued, the sky darkened—Heaven did not wish her deposed; the people wept—mankind did not wish her deposed. When I recorded her case, I feared offending all under Heaven." Zhezong read it in anger; Cai Bian wanted a heavier punishment; Zhang Dun and Zeng Bu objected, saying, "Your Majesty originally had the censorate record the case because the Inner City investigation came from close attendants, hoping thereby to win trust at home and abroad. If Dunyi is now banished, how will Your Majesty answer the reproach of the world and of posterity?" Zhezong's anger eased and the matter was dropped. The following year, on another charge he was sent out as prefect of Xingguo and then transferred to Jiangzhou.
14
上官均
Shang Guanjun
15
上官均，字彥衡，邵武人。 神宗熙寧親策進士，擢第二，為北京留守推官、國子直講。 元豐中，蔡確薦為監察御史裏行。 時相州富人子殺人，讞獄為審刑、大理所疑，京師流言法官竇莘等受賕。 蔡確引猜險吏數十人，窮治莘等慘酷，無敢明其冤。 均上疏言之，乞以獄事詔臣參治，坐是，謫知光澤縣。 莘等卒無罪，天下服其持平。 有巫託神能禍福人，致貲甚富，均焚像杖巫，出諸境。 還，監都進奏院。
Shang Guanjun, courtesy name Yanheng, came from Shaowu. In the Xining palace examination of Emperor Shenzong, he placed second and was appointed judicial adjutant to the Beijing garrison commander and Lecturer in the Imperial University. During the Yuanfeng reign Cai Que recommended him for appointment as Acting Supervising Censor. At the time a wealthy man's son in Xiangzhou committed murder; the Court of Judicial Review and the Court of Imperial Appeals questioned the verdict, and rumor spread in the capital that the judges Dou Shen and others had taken bribes. Cai Que brought in dozens of suspicious and ruthless clerks and prosecuted Shen and others with extreme cruelty; no one dared speak up for their innocence. Jun memorialized on the affair and asked to be ordered to join the investigation; for this he was demoted to magistrate of Guangze County. Shen and the others were ultimately found innocent, and the realm admired Jun's fairness. A shaman claimed that spirits could bless or curse people and grew very rich; Jun burned his image, beat him with a staff, and drove him out of the district. On his return he was made supervisor of the Court Memorial Transmission Office.
16
哲宗即位，擢開封府推官。 元祐初，復為監察御史。 議者請兼用詩賦取士，宰相遂欲廢經義。 均言：「經術以理為主，而所根者本也，詩賦以文為工，而所逐者末也。 今不計本末，而欲襲詩賦之敝，未見其為得也。」 自熙寧以來，京師百司有謁禁。 均言：「以誠待人，則人思竭忠； 以疑遇物，則人思苟免。 願除開封、大理外，餘皆釋禁，以明洞達不疑之意。」 遂論青苗，以為有惠民之名而無惠民之實，有目前之利而為終歲之患，願罷之而復為常平糴糶之法。 又言官冗之弊，請罷粟補吏，減任子員，節特奏名之濫，增攝官之舉數，抑胥吏之幸進，以清入仕之源。 詔有司議，久之不能有所省。 復疏言：「今會議之臣，畏世俗之譏評，不計朝廷之利害，閔鄙耄之不進，不思才者之閑滯，非策之善也。」 因請對，力陳之，宣仁后曰：「當從我家始。」 乃自后屬而下至大夫，悉裁其數。
When Zhezong came to the throne, he was promoted to judicial adjutant of Kaifeng. At the beginning of Yuanyou he was again appointed Supervising Censor. Some proposed reviving poetry and fu in the civil service examinations, and the chief councillor then sought to abolish the classics-based examination. Jun argued: "Classical learning is grounded in principle and rests on fundamentals; poetry and fu prize literary craft and chase what is secondary. To ignore root and branch and revive the defects of the poetry-and-fu examination would be no gain." Since Xining, offices in the capital have been barred from receiving visitors. Jun said: "Treat men with sincerity, and they will strive to serve faithfully; meet them with suspicion, and they will think only of escaping blame. I ask that apart from Kaifeng and the Court of Imperial Appeals, all other prohibitions be lifted, to show that the court is open and trusting." He then attacked the Green Sprouts policy, arguing that it bore the name of benefiting the people without the fact, brought short-term gain but year-long harm, and asked that it be abolished in favor of the Ever-Normal Granary purchase-and-sale system. He also spoke against official redundancy, asking to end grain-supplemented clerks, reduce hereditary appointments, curb abuses of special presentation, increase recommendations of acting officials, and restrain petty clerks who advanced by luck, so as to purify the path into office. The throne ordered the relevant offices to deliberate, but after a long time nothing was reduced. He memorialized again: "The ministers now deliberating fear popular criticism, ignore the court's interests, pity the low-born and elderly who fail to advance, and give no thought to able men left idle—this is no sound policy." He requested an audience and pressed his case; Empress Dowager Xuanren said, "Let it begin with our own household." Thereupon appointments were cut from the empress dowager's kin down to grandees.
17
又言：「治天下道二，寬與猛而已。 寬過則緩而傷義，猛過則急而傷恩。 術雖不同，其蠹政害民一也。 間者，監司務為慘核，郡縣望風趣辦，不暇以便民為意。 陛下臨御，務從寬大，為吏者又復苟簡縱弛，猛寬二者胥失。 願明詔四方，使之寬不縱惡，猛不傷惠，以起中和之風。」 詔下其章。
He also said: "There are only two ways to govern the empire—lenience and severity. Excessive lenience grows lax and harms justice; excessive severity grows harsh and harms mercy. Though the methods differ, both spoil government and harm the people alike. Lately supervisory commissioners have pursued harsh scrutiny; prefectures and counties rush to comply and have no thought for the people's welfare. Your Majesty has sought lenience and magnanimity, yet officials have again grown perfunctory and lax—both severity and lenience have been lost. I ask that a clear edict go to the realm, so that lenience does not indulge evil and severity does not harm mercy, and the spirit of the mean may rise again." The throne ordered his memorial circulated.
18
蔡確弟碩盜貸官錢以萬計，獄既上，均論確為宰相，挾邪撓法，當顯正其罪，以厲百官。 張璪、李清臣執政，與正人異趣，相繼擊去之。 監察御史張舜民論邊事，因及宰相文彥博，舜民左遷。 均言：「風憲之任許風聞，所以廣耳目也。 舜民之言是，當行之； 其言非，當容之。 願復舜民職。」 不從。 臺諫約再論，均謂事小不當再論，王岩叟遂劾均反覆，岩叟移官。 均遷殿中侍御史，內不自安，引義丐去，改禮部員外郎。 居三年，復為殿中侍御史。
Cai Que's younger brother Shuo embezzled tens of thousands in official funds; when the case was submitted, Jun argued that Que, as chief councillor, had embraced wickedness and obstructed the law, and that his crime should be openly punished to warn all officials. Zhang Zan and Li Qingchen held power and differed from upright men in policy; he successively attacked and drove them from office. Supervising Censor Zhang Shunmin discussed border affairs and mentioned Chief Councillor Wen Yanbo; Shunmin was demoted. Jun said: "The censor's duty permits hearsay precisely to widen the court's eyes and ears. If Shunmin is right, his counsel should be followed; if he is wrong, he should still be tolerated. I ask that Shunmin be restored to office." The court did not agree. The censorate agreed to debate the matter again; Jun said the affair was too small to revisit; Wang Yansou then impeached Jun for inconsistency, and Yansou was transferred. Jun was promoted to Palace Attendant Censor but felt uneasy within; citing principle, he asked to resign and was made Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites. After three years he was again appointed Palace Attendant Censor.
19
西夏自永樂之戰，怙勝氣驕，欲復故地。 朝廷用趙禼計，棄四砦，至是，又請蘭州為砦地。 均上疏曰：「先王之御外國，知威之不可獨立，故假惠以濟威，知惠之不可獨行，故須威以行惠，然後外國且懷且畏，無怨望輕侮之心。 今西夏所爭蘭州砦地，皆控扼要路，若輕以予之，恐夏人搗虛，熙河數郡，孤立難守。 若繼請熙河故地，將何辭以拒之？ 是傅虎以翼，借寇以兵，不惟無益，祗足為患。 不如治兵積穀，畫地而守，使夏人曉然知朝廷意也。」
Since the battle of Yongle, Western Xia, emboldened by victory, had grown arrogant and sought to recover its former territory. The court had adopted Zhao Xu's plan and abandoned four fortresses; now the Xia again asked that Lanzhou be made fortress territory. Jun memorialized: "The former kings knew that awe alone could not govern foreign peoples, and so they joined grace to awe; they knew that grace alone could not prevail, and so they joined awe to grace. Only then did foreign states both cherish and fear the court, without resentment or contempt. The Lanzhou fortress lands now in dispute all command vital routes; if we lightly yield them, the Xia may strike at our weak points, and the Xihe prefectures will stand isolated and hard to defend. If they next demand the old Xihe territories, what grounds will we have to refuse? This would be giving a tiger wings and arming an enemy—not only useless, but positively dangerous. Better to train troops, store grain, mark boundaries, and hold our ground, so that the Xia clearly understand the court's intent."
20
時傅堯俞為中書侍郎，許將為左丞，韓忠彥為同知樞密院。 三人者，論事多同異，俱求罷。 均言：「大臣之任同國休戚，廟堂之上當務協諧，使中外之人，泯然不知有同異之跡。 若悻悻然辨論，不顧事體，何以觀視百僚。 堯俞等雖有辨論之失，然事皆緣公，無顯惡大過，望令就職。」 詔從之。 御史中丞蘇轍等尚以為言，均上疏曰：「進退大臣當，則天下服陛下之明，而大臣得以安其位。 進退不當，則累陛下之哲，而言者自此得以朋黨，合謀並力，以傾搖大臣。 天下之事，以是非為主。 所論若當，雖異，不害其為善； 所論若非，雖同，未免為不善。 今堯俞等但不能協和，實無大過。 蘇轍乃以許將當時已定議，既而背同列之議，獨上論奏。 臣以為善則順之，惡則正之，豈在每事唯命，遂非不改，然後為忠邪？ 將舍同列之議，上奉聖旨，是能將順其美，不當反以為過惡也。 若使不忠，雖與同列協和，是乃姦臣爾，非朝廷之利也。」 將罷，均又言：「呂大防堅強自任，每有差除，同列不敢異，唯許將時有異同。 轍素與大防善，盡力排將，期於必勝。 臣恐綱紀法令，自此敗壞矣。」 因論：「御史，耳目之任； 中丞，風憲之長。 轍當公是公非，別白善惡，而不當妄言也。」 遂乞罷，出知廣德軍，改提點河北東路刑獄。
At the time Fu Yaoyu was Vice Director of the Secretariat, Xu Jiang was Left Vice Grand Councillor, and Han Zhongyan was Vice Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs. The three often disagreed in council and all asked to resign. Jun said: "Grand ministers share the state's weal and woe; in council they should strive for harmony, so that men within and without no longer perceive factional traces. If they debate resentfully without regard for the public good, what example do they set for the bureaucracy? Though Yaoyu and the others quarreled, their motives were public and they committed no grave wrong; I ask that they be ordered back to office." The throne agreed. Chief Censor Su Zhe and others still objected; Jun memorialized: "When the promotion and dismissal of ministers is just, the realm will admire Your Majesty's discernment and ministers can rest secure in office. When it is unjust, Your Majesty's wisdom is impugned, and remonstrators will form factions and combine to overthrow ministers. Affairs under Heaven should be judged by right and wrong. If the argument is sound, difference does not make it wrong; if the argument is unsound, agreement does not make it right. Yaoyu and the others merely failed to harmonize; they committed no grave fault. Su Zhe charged that Xu Jiang had already agreed with his colleagues, then broke with them and memorialized alone. I hold that when a policy is good one should follow it, and when it is bad one should correct it—must loyalty mean obeying every order and never changing course? Jiang set aside his colleagues' view and presented the sovereign's command—this is following what is right, and should not be treated as a fault. If a man is disloyal, harmony with colleagues makes him only a traitor, not a benefit to the court." As Jiang was about to be dismissed, Jun added: "Lü Dafang is domineering; on every appointment his colleagues dare not dissent—only Xu Jiang sometimes disagreed. Zhe has long been close to Dafang and used all his strength to drive Jiang out, determined to prevail. I fear that law and discipline will from this be corrupted." He went on: "Censors are the court's eyes and ears; the chief censor heads censorial discipline. Zhe should judge right and wrong impartially and distinguish good from evil, not speak recklessly." He then asked to resign, was sent out as prefect of Guangde, and was made judicial intendant for Hebei East Circuit.
21
紹聖初，召拜左正言。 時大防、轍已罷政，均論大防、轍六罪，並再黜大防，史禍由此起。 又奏罷詩賦，專以經術取士。 宰相章惇欲更政事，專黜陟之柄，陰去異己，出吏部尚書彭汝礪知成都府，召朱服為中書舍人。 均言汝礪不可出，服不可用。 惇怒，遷均為工部員外郎。 尋提點京東、淮東刑獄，歷梓州淮南轉運副使、知越州。
At the start of the Shaosheng reign he was recalled and appointed Left Rectifier. By then Dafang and Zhe had already left office; Jun charged them with six crimes and secured Dafang's further dismissal—the historiographical persecution began from this. He also memorialized to abolish the poetry-and-fu examination and select scholars solely by classical learning. Chief Councillor Zhang Dun wished to reshape government, monopolize appointments and dismissals, and secretly remove opponents; he sent Minister of Personnel Peng Ruli out as prefect of Chengdu and summoned Zhu Fu as Secretariat Drafter. Jun said Ruli should not be sent out and Fu was unfit for office. Dun was angry and transferred Jun to Vice Director of the Ministry of Works. Soon he was judicial intendant for Jingdong and Huaidong, then served as Vice Transport Commissioner of Zizhou and Huainan and as prefect of Yuezhou.
22
徽宗立，入為秘書少監，遷起居郎，拜中書舍人、同修國史兼《哲宗實錄》修撰，遷給事中。 太學生張寅亮應詔論事，得罪屏斥，均言：「寅亮雖不識忌諱，然志非懷邪。 陛下既招其來，又罪其言，恐沮多士之氣。」 寅亮得免。 時宰相欲盡循熙、豐法度為紹述以風均，均曰：「法度惟是之從，無彼此之辨。」 由是不協，以龍圖閣待制知永興軍，徙襄州。 崇寧初，與元祐黨籍，奪職，主管崇禧觀。 政和中，復集賢院修撰、提舉洞霄宮。 久之，復龍圖閣待制，致仕。 卒，年七十八。
When Huizong came to the throne, Jun entered court as Vice Director of the Secretariat, was promoted to Recorder of the Emperor's Actions, appointed Secretariat Drafter, co-compiler of the National History and compiler of the Veritable Records of Zhezong, and then promoted to Supervising Secretary. Imperial University student Zhang Yinliang responded to an edict to discuss affairs, gave offense, and was expelled; Jun said, "Though Yinliang failed to observe taboos, his intent was not wicked. Your Majesty summoned such men forward and then punished their words—I fear this will discourage scholars everywhere." Yinliang was spared. The chief councillor then wished to revive Xining and Yuanfeng institutions wholesale as a program of "continuation" and sway Jun; Jun said, "Institutions should follow what is right, not partisan labels." Because of this disagreement he was made Dragon Diagram Hall Academician-Awaiting Orders and prefect of Yongxing, then transferred to Xiangzhou. At the beginning of Chongning he was listed among the Yuanyou faction, stripped of office, and made superintendent of the Chongxi Abbey. In the Zhenghe era he was again made Compiler in the Hall of Assembled Talents and Superintendent of the Dongxiao Palace. After a long interval he was again made Dragon Diagram Hall Academician-Awaiting Orders and retired. He died at the age of seventy-eight.
23
來之邵
Lai Zhi Shao
24
來之邵，字祖德，開封咸平人。 登進士第，由潞州司理參軍為刑部詳斷官。 元豐中，改大理評事，御史中丞黃履薦為監察御史。 未幾，買倡家女為妾，履劾其汙行，左遷將作丞。
Lai Zhi Shao, courtesy name Zude, came from Xianping in Kaifeng. He passed the jinshi examination and rose from judicial adjutant in Luzhou to detailed adjudication officer in the Ministry of Justice. During Yuanfeng he was made Evaluator in the Court of Imperial Appeals; Chief Censor Huang Lü recommended him as Supervising Censor. Before long he bought a courtesan's daughter as a concubine; Lü impeached him for misconduct and he was demoted to Director of the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories.
25
進刑部侍郎。 陽翟民蓋漸以訟至有司，之邵二子皆娶蓋氏，誣漸非蓋氏子，以規其貲。 諫官張商英論之，以直龍圖閣出知蔡州。 卒，年四十八。 蔡京為相，特贈太中大夫。
He was promoted to Vice Minister of Justice. A man of Yangdi named Gai Jian brought a lawsuit before the authorities; Zhi Shao's two sons had both married Gai women and falsely claimed that Jian was not a Gai clansman in order to seize his property. Remonstrance official Zhang Shangying attacked him; he was given Direct Access to the Dragon Diagram Hall and sent out as prefect of Caizhou. He died at the age of forty-eight. When Cai Jing was chief councillor, he was posthumously granted the title Grandee of the Palace.
26
葉濤，字致遠，處州龍泉人。 進士乙科，為國子直講。 虞蕃訟起，濤坐受諸生茶紙免官。 濤，王氏婿也，即往從安石於金陵，學為文詞。 哲宗立，上章自理，得太學正，遷博士。 紹聖初，為秘書省正字，編修《神宗史》，進校書郎。 曾布薦為起居舍人，擢中書舍人。 司馬光、呂公著、王岩叟追貶，呂大防、劉摯、蘇轍、梁燾、范純仁責官，皆濤為制詞，文極醜詆。 安燾降學士，濤封還命書，云：「燾在元祐時，嘗詆文彥博棄熙河，全先帝萬世之功，不宜加罪。」 蔡京劾為黨，罷知光州。 又以訴理有過，為范鏜所論，連三黜。 曾布引為給事中，居數月而病，以龍閣閣待制提舉崇禧觀，卒。
Ye Tao, courtesy name Zhiyuan, came from Longquan in Chuzhou. He passed the jinshi in the second class and was appointed Lecturer in the Imperial University. When the Yu Fan affair broke, Tao was dismissed from office for taking tea and stationery gifts from students. Tao was married into the Wang family; he went at once to study literary composition under Anshi at Jinling. When Zhezong came to the throne, he memorialized in his own defense, was restored as Director of the Imperial University, and was promoted to Erudite. Early in Shaosheng he became Corrector in the Secretariat, helped compile the History of Emperor Shenzong, and was promoted to Collator. Zeng Bu recommended him as Attendant Secretary for Daily Records, and he was promoted to Secretariat Drafter. Sima Guang, Lü Gongzhu, and Wang Yansou were posthumously demoted; Lü Dafang, Liu Zhi, Su Zhe, Liang Tao, and Fan Chunren were stripped of rank—for every one of these, Tao drafted the edict text, and his language was savagely abusive. When An Tao was demoted from Academician, Tao returned the appointment document sealed, writing: "During Yuanyou, An once condemned Wen Yanbo for abandoning Xihe and throwing away the late emperor's lasting achievements; he ought not to be punished." Cai Jing impeached him as a factionary; he was removed from office and appointed prefect of Guangzhou. He was also faulted for mistakes in an appeal for redress; Fan Tang attacked him, and he suffered three successive demotions. Zeng Bu had him appointed Supervising Secretary; after several months he fell ill, was made Dragon Diagram Hall Academician-Awaiting Orders and superintendent of the Chongxi Abbey, and died.
27
楊畏，字子安，其先遂寧人，父徙洛陽。 畏幼孤好學，事母孝，不事科舉。 黨友交勸之，乃擢進士第。 調成紀主簿，不之官，刻志經術，以所著書謁王安石、呂惠卿，為鄆州教授。 自是尊安石之學，以為得聖人之意。 除西京國子監教授，舒亶薦為監察御史裏行。 時有御史中丞出為郡守，監司薦之，畏言：「侍從賢否，上所素知，監司乃敢妄薦，蓋為異日地爾，乞戒其觀望。」 舒亶有盜學士院廚錢罪，為王安禮所白，畏抗章辨論，以為可謂之失，未可謂之故。 亶罷，畏坐左轉宗正丞，出提點夔州路刑獄。
Yang Wei, courtesy name Zian, came from Suining by ancestry; his father relocated to Luoyang. Orphaned young, Wei loved learning, served his mother devotedly, and refused to take the civil service examinations. Friends in his circle kept pressing him, and he finally passed the jinshi examination. Assigned chief clerk in Chengji, he never took up the post; he devoted himself to the classics, presented his writings to Wang Anshi and Lü Huiqing, and was appointed professor in Yazhou. From then on he upheld Anshi's learning, believing it captured the true intent of the sages. He was made professor at the Western Capital Directorate of Education; Shu Dan recommended him as probationary Supervising Censor. When a Vice Censor-in-Chief was leaving the capital to govern a prefecture, circuit officials recommended his successor; Wei protested: "The emperor already knows which attendants are worthy; for circuit officials to recommend people at will is clearly to lay groundwork for future favor. I ask that such hedging ambition be warned against." Shu Dan had stolen money from the Hanlin Academy kitchens; Wang Anli exposed the crime; Wei submitted a forceful memorial arguing that the act could be called a lapse but not a deliberate offense. When Dan was dismissed, Wei was demoted to Director of the Imperial Clan Court and sent out as judicial intendant for Kuizhou Circuit.
28
元祐初，請祠歸洛。 畏恐得罪於司馬光，嘗曰：「畏官夔峽，雖深山群獠，聞用司馬光，皆相賀，其盛德如此。」 至光卒，畏復曰：「司馬光若知道，便是皋、夔、稷、契； 以不知道，故於政事未盡也。」 呂大防、劉摯為相，俱與畏善，用畏為工部員外郎，除監察御史，擢殿中侍御史。 畏助大防攻摯十事，並言梁燾、王岩叟、劉安世、朱光庭皆其死黨，必與為地。 既而燾等果救摯，皆不納。 摯罷，蘇頌為相，畏復攻頌，以留賈易除書為頌罪。 頌罷，畏意欲蘇轍為相。 宣仁后外召范純仁為右僕射，畏又攻純仁，不報。 畏本附轍，知轍不相，復上疏詆轍不可用。 其傾危反覆如此，百僚莫不側目。
Early in Yuanyou he requested a temple appointment and returned to Luoyang. Fearful of offending Sima Guang, Wei once said: "When I held office in the Kui Gorge, even tribal peoples in deep mountains, on hearing that Sima Guang had been employed, congratulated one another—such was his towering virtue." After Guang died, Wei remarked: "If Sima Guang had truly known the Way, he would have ranked with Gao Yao, Kui, Ji, and Qi; because he did not know the Way, his handling of affairs fell short." When Lü Dafang and Liu Zhi served as chief councillors, both were on good terms with Wei; he was appointed Vice Director in the Ministry of Works, then Supervising Censor, then elevated to Palace Censor. Wei helped Dafang attack Zhi on ten counts, and further claimed that Liang Tao, Wang Yansou, Liu Anshi, and Zhu Guangting were Zhi's diehard allies—all of whom had to be removed. Before long Tao and the others did indeed move to save Zhi, but all were ignored. After Zhi's dismissal, Su Song became chief councillor; Wei attacked Song again, citing his withholding of Jia Yi's appointment document as a crime. Once Song was out, Wei wanted Su Zhe made chief councillor. Empress Dowager Xuanren summoned Fan Chunren from outside the court as Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs; Wei attacked Chunren again, but received no response. Wei had originally attached himself to Zhe; when he learned Zhe would not become chief councillor, he submitted another memorial denouncing Zhe as unfit for high office. Such were his treacherous reversals; the entire bureaucracy looked on in distaste.
29
遷侍御史，畏言事之未治有四：曰邊疆，曰河事，曰役法，曰內外官政。 時有旨令兩省官舉臺官，畏言：「御史與宰執，最為相關之地。 宰執既不自差，使其屬舉之，可乎？」 太常博士朱彥以議皇地示祭不同，自列乞罷。 畏言：「彥據經論理，若彥罷出，恐自是人務觀望，不敢以守官為義。」
Promoted to Attending Censor, Wei argued that four major areas remained unresolved: the frontier, river affairs, corvée law, and the administration of officials at court and in the provinces. An edict then ordered officials of the two secretariats to recommend censorial appointees; Wei objected: "Censors and chief councillors occupy the most closely intertwined posts. If the chief councillors will not make the appointments themselves but leave recommendations to their subordinates, how can that be acceptable?" Zhu Yan, a Director of Ritual Studies, disputed the imperial earth-deity sacrifice rite and petitioned on his own to resign. Wei said: "Yan argues from the classics and from reason; if Yan is dismissed for it, I fear officials everywhere will watch which way the wind blows and shrink from doing their duty."
30
宣仁后崩，呂大防欲用畏諫議大夫，范純仁以畏非端士，不可，大防乃遷畏禮部侍郎。 及大防為宣仁后山陵使，畏首背大防，稱述熙寧、元豐政事與王安石學術，哲宗信之，遂薦章惇、呂惠卿可大任。 廷試進士，李清臣發策有紹述意，考官第主元祐者居上，畏復考，悉下之，拔畢漸以為第一。
After Empress Dowager Xuanren died, Lü Dafang wanted to appoint Wei Remonstrance and Discussion Grandee; Fan Chunren insisted that Wei was no upright man and could not be used, and Dafang instead transferred him to Vice Minister of Rites. While Dafang directed the empress dowager's tomb works, Wei was the first to turn on him, praising Xining and Yuanfeng policy and Wang Anshi's learning; Zhezong believed him, and Wei recommended Zhang Dun and Lü Huiqing for major posts. At the palace examination, Li Qingchen's policy questions signaled a "continuation" agenda; the examiners had ranked Yuanyou sympathizers at the top; Wei regraded the papers, pushed them all down, and placed Bi Jian first.
31
惇入相，畏遣所親陰結之，曰：「畏前日度勢力之輕重，遂因呂大防、蘇轍以逐劉摯、梁燾。 方欲逐呂、蘇，二人覺，罷畏言職。 畏跡在元祐，心在熙寧，首為相公開路者也。」 惇至，徙畏吏部，引以自助。 中書侍郎李清臣、知樞密院安燾與惇不合，畏復陰附安、李，惇覺其情； 又曾布、蔡卞言畏平日所為於惇，遂以寶文閣待制出知真定府。 天下於是目為「楊三變」，謂其進於元豐，顯於元祐，遷於紹聖也。
When Dun became chief councillor, Wei sent a confidant to reach him in secret, saying: "Wei once gauged where power lay and, through Lü Dafang and Su Zhe, drove out Liu Zhi and Liang Tao. Just as he was moving against Lü and Su, the two caught on and had him stripped of his remonstrance post. Wei's footprints were in Yuanyou, but his heart was in Xining—he was the first to clear the chief councillor's path." When Dun took power, he moved Wei to the Ministry of Personnel and brought him in as an ally. Vice Director of the Secretariat Li Qingchen and Military Affairs Commissioner An Tao were at odds with Dun; Wei again covertly aligned with An and Li; Dun saw through him; and when Zeng Bu and Cai Bian recounted Wei's habitual double-dealing toward Dun, he was made Academician-Awaiting Orders of the Baowen Pavilion and sent out to govern Zhending. The empire then nicknamed him "Yang the Thrice-Changing," saying he had risen in Yuanfeng, shone in Yuanyou, and switched sides in Shaosheng.
32
尋落職知虢州，入元祐黨。 後知郢州，復集賢殿修撰、知襄州，移荊南，提舉洞霄宮，居於洛。 未幾，知鄧州，再丐祠，以言者論列落職，主管崇禧觀。
Before long he was demoted to prefect of Guo and listed on the Yuanyou faction register. He later governed Yingzhou, was again made Compiler at the Hall for Collecting Worthies and prefect of Xiangzhou, moved to Jingnan, and was appointed superintendent of the Dongxiao Abbey, living in Luoyang. Before long he was prefect of Dengzhou; he twice begged for a temple appointment; critics brought him down again, and he was made superintendent of the Chongxi Abbey.
33
蔡京為相，畏遣子侄見京，以元祐末論蘇轍不可大用等章自明，又因京黨河南尹薛昂致言於京，遂出黨籍。 尋復寶文閣待制。 政和二年，洛人詣闕，請封禪嵩山，畏上疏累千餘言，極其諛佞。 方治行，得疾卒，年六十九。
When Cai Jing was chief councillor, Wei sent his sons and nephews to Jing, citing his Yuanyou-era memorials that Su Zhe was unfit for high office to explain himself, and also reached Jing through his ally Xue Ang, chief magistrate of Henan; he was then removed from the faction register. Before long he was restored as Academician-Awaiting Orders of the Baowen Pavilion. In the second year of Zhenghe, Luoyang residents petitioned at court for a feng-shan rite on Mount Song; Wei submitted a memorial of more than a thousand words of the most abject flattery. Just as his fitness for office was under review, he fell ill and died at sixty-nine.
34
畏頗為縱橫學，有才辯而多捭闔，與邢恕締交，其好功名富貴亦同。 然恕疏而多失，畏謀必中，其究俱為搢紳禍雲。
Wei was steeped in coalition tactics, gifted and eloquent but endlessly scheming; he bonded with Xing Shu, and both hungered equally for fame, rank, and wealth. Shu was crude and often blundered; Wei's schemes always landed; in the end both brought disaster on the official class alike.
35
論曰：賈易初以剛直名，觀其再劾文彥博、范純仁，而斥蘇軾、蘇轍尤甚，何以剛直為哉？ 董敦逸於元祐末與黃慶基誣二蘇，以開紹聖之禍，及紹聖則肆詆元祐諸臣，甚至瑤華之冤不能持正，雖終悔而諫，亦何及焉。 及見蔡京、蔡卞稔惡，乃論其過惡以自文，杯水不足以救車薪之火也。 上官均諫切中時事，及不從紹述之議，其為人若可觀，然論呂大防、蘇轍，以之再黜，是亦助紹述者也。 楊畏傾危反覆，周流不窮，雖儀、秦縱橫，無以尚之，豈徒有三變而已。 至於倡紹述以取信哲宗，又謂王安石之學有聖人意，可謂小人無忌憚也哉。 來之邵盡擊時賢而進章惇、安燾、呂惠卿，又請加美諡於安石，其流惡不已，乃誣人非其子而欲掩其貲，亦何所不至焉。 葉濤在太學，已著汙跡，擢第之後，諂安石而從之學，後得曾布之薦，凡元祐名賢貶責制辭，肆筆醜詆，雖有善猶不能自滌，況無可述者乎！
Commentary: Jia Yi was first known for blunt integrity—yet when one sees him twice impeach Wen Yanbo and Fan Chunren, and attack Su Shi and Su Zhe with special venom, how can he be called upright? At the end of Yuanyou, Dong Dunyi and Huang Qingji falsely accused the two Su brothers, opening the calamity of Shaosheng; when Shaosheng arrived he wantonly reviled the Yuanyou ministers, and even in the injustice done to Princess Yaohua could not stand for what was right; though he finally repented and remonstrated, what good did that do? Only when he saw Cai Jing and Cai Bian's accumulated evil did he denounce their crimes to clear himself—a cup of water cannot quench a cartload of burning kindling. Shang Guanjun's remonstrances cut to the heart of current affairs, and in refusing the "continuation" agenda he seemed a man of substance; yet in securing a second demotion for Lü Dafang and Su Zhe, he too served the "continuation" cause. Yang Wei's treacherous reversals flowed on without end—even the coalition masters Yi and Qin could not surpass him; was it merely three changes? To promote "continuation" in order to win Zhezong's trust, and to declare that Wang Anshi's learning captured the sage's intent—such a man may truly be called utterly shameless. Lai Zhi Shao attacked every worthy man of the age while pushing Zhang Dun, An Tao, and Lü Huiqing forward, and even sought a posthumous honorific for Anshi; his stream of wickedness never ceased—he would falsely deny a man's paternity to seize his property; what would he stop at? Ye Tao had already stained his name at the Imperial University; after passing the examination he flattered Anshi and followed his learning; later, through Zeng Bu's patronage, he drafted every edict demoting a Yuanyou worthy in language of vile abuse—even had he possessed virtue he could not have cleansed himself, much less when there was nothing worth recounting!
36
崔台符
Cui Taifu
37
崔台符，字平叔，蒲陰人。 中明法科，為大理詳斷官，校試殿帷，仁宗賜以「盡美」二字。 熙寧中，文彥博薦為群牧判官，除河北監牧使，入判大理寺。 初，王安石定按問欲舉法，舉朝以為非，台符獨舉手加額曰：「數百年誤用刑名，今乃得正。」 安石喜其附己，故用之。 歷知審刑院，判少府監。 復置大理獄，拜右諫議大夫，為大理卿。 時中官石得一以皇城偵邏為獄，台符與少卿楊汲輒迎伺其意，所在以鍛煉笞掠成之，都人惴栗，至不敢偶語。 數年間，麗文法者且萬人。 官制行，遷刑部侍郎，官至光祿大夫。 元祐初，御史林旦、上官均發其惡，出知潞州，又貶秩徙相州。 後兼監牧使。 卒，年六十四。
Cui Taifu, courtesy name Pingshu, came from Puyin. He passed the Mingfa examination and became detailed adjudication officer in the Court of Imperial Appeals; examined before the palace curtain, Renzong bestowed on him the two characters "Perfect in Beauty." During Xining, Wen Yanbo recommended him as aide in the Office of Herds; he was made Commissioner of Herds for Hebei and entered service as vice-director of the Court of Imperial Appeals. When Wang Anshi first established the interrogation-to-expose law, the whole court thought it wrong; Taifu alone raised his hands to his forehead and exclaimed: "For centuries penal law was misapplied; now it is finally set right." Anshi was pleased that Taifu sided with him and accordingly gave him office. He served in turn as director of the Office of Review and vice-director of the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories. When the Court of Imperial Appeals prison was reinstated, he was made Remonstrance and Discussion Grandee and Director of the Court of Imperial Appeals. At the time the eunuch Shi Deyi turned imperial-city patrol duty into a criminal investigation; Taifu and Vice Director Yang Ji at once catered to his wishes, manufacturing convictions through torture and beating wherever they went; the people of the capital were terrified—even pairs dared not speak together. Within a few years nearly ten thousand people were caught up in charges under the letter of the law. When the new official system took effect, he was promoted to Vice Minister of Justice and rose to Grandee of Splendid Brightness. Early in Yuanyou, censors Lin Dan and Shang Guanjun exposed his crimes; he was sent out as prefect of Luzhou, then demoted again and transferred to Xiangzhou. He later also served concurrently as Commissioner of Herds. He died at the age of sixty-four.
38
舊制，武臣至內殿崇班，始蔭其族。 台符言：「文吏州判司猶許用蔭，武臣五歲一遷，自借職四十年乃得通朝籍，輕重不相準。 請自供奉官即用蔭。」 從之。 嘗使遼，至其朝，久立帳前，儐者不贊導。 問其故，曰：「太子未至。」 台符誚之曰：「安有君父臨軒而臣子偃蹇不至，久立使者禮乎？」 儐者懼，贊導如儀。
Under the old system, military officials could begin granting hereditary privilege to their kin only after reaching Inner Hall Standard Bearer rank. Taifu said: "Even a civil official at the level of a prefectural judicial assistant may use hereditary privilege; military officials advance once every five years—it takes forty years from a borrowed rank to enter the court register; the scales of reward do not match. I ask that from Attendant-in-Waiting rank they be allowed to use privilege at once." The request was granted. Once, on an embassy to Liao, he reached their court and stood for a long time before the tent; the masters of ceremony did not announce him in. When he asked why, they said: "The crown prince has not yet arrived." Taifu rebuked them: "How can the sovereign be on the throne while ministers and sons hang back and refuse to come, leaving an envoy standing for ages—is that proper ritual?" The masters of ceremony, afraid, announced and escorted him in according to proper ceremony.
39
楊汲，字潛古，泉州晉江人。 登進士第，調趙州司法參軍。 州民曹潯者，兄遇之不善，兄子亦加侮焉。 潯持刀逐兄子，兄挾之以走，潯曰：「兄勿避，自為侄爾。」 既就吏，兄子云：「叔欲紿吾父，止而殺之。」 吏當潯謀殺兄，汲曰：「潯呼兄使勿避，何謂謀？ 若以意為獄，民無所措手足矣。」 州用其言，讞上，潯得不死。
Yang Ji, courtesy name Qian'gu, came from Jinjiang in Quanzhou. He passed the jinshi examination and was assigned judicial adjutant in Zhao prefecture. A townsman named Cao Xun was mistreated by his elder brother, and his nephew insulted him as well. Xun took a knife and chased his nephew; his elder brother grabbed him and fled; Xun cried: "Brother, do not run—I was after the nephew alone." Before the magistrate, the nephew said: "My uncle meant to trick my father into stopping, then kill him." The clerks judged Xun guilty of plotting to kill his elder brother; Ji objected: "Xun shouted for his brother not to flee—how is that a plot? If courts try cases by inferred intent rather than evidence, the people will have nowhere to stand." The prefecture accepted his reasoning; the report went up, and Xun was spared execution.
40
主管開封府界常平，權都水丞，與侯叔獻行汴水淤田法，遂釃汴流漲潦以溉西部，瘠土皆為良田。 神宗嘉之，賜以所淤田千畝。 提點淮西刑獄，提舉西路常平，修古芍陂，引漢泉灌田萬頃。 召判都水監，為大理卿，遷刑部、戶部侍郎。 元祐初，以寶文閣待制知廬州。 崔台符被劾，汲亦落職知黃州。 歷徐、襄、越州。 紹聖中，復為戶部侍郎，卒。
He superintended the Kaifeng metropolitan Ever-Normal Granary, served as acting Director of the Bureau of Waterways, and with Hou Shuxian implemented the Bian River silt-farming method; they diverted floodwaters from the Bian to irrigate the western districts, turning poor soil into good farmland. Shenzong praised the work and granted him a thousand mu of the newly reclaimed land. He served as judicial intendant for Huai West Circuit, superintendent of the Western Route Ever-Normal Granary, restored the ancient Shao Marsh, and channeled Han spring water to irrigate ten thousand qing of fields. He was recalled to serve as vice-director of the Directorate of Waterways, became Director of the Court of Imperial Appeals, and was promoted to Vice Minister of Justice and Vice Minister of Revenue. Early in Yuanyou he was made Academician-Awaiting Orders of the Baowen Pavilion and prefect of Luz. When Cui Taifu was impeached, Ji was demoted as well and appointed prefect of Huangzhou. He served in turn as prefect of Xuzhou, Xiangzhou, and Yuezhou. During Shaosheng he was again made Vice Minister of Revenue, then died.
41
呂嘉問
Lü Jiawen
42
呂嘉問，字望之，以蔭入官。 熙寧初，條例司引以為屬，權戶部判官，管諸司庫務，行連灶法於酒坊，歲省薪錢十六萬緡。 王安石用魏繼宗議，即京城置市易務，命嘉問提舉。 上建置十三事，其一欲於律外禁兼並之家輒取利，神宗去之，安石執不可。 居二年，連以羨課受賞。 神宗聞其擾民。 語安石。 安石曰：「嘉問奉法不公，以是媒怨。」 神宗曰：「免行錢所收細瑣，市易鬻及果實，大傷國體。」 安石偽辨自解，至譏神宗為叢脞，不知帝王大略，且曰：「非嘉問，執敢不避左右近習？ 非臣，孰為嘉問辨？」 神宗曰：「即如是，士大夫何故以為不便？」 安石請言者姓名，令嘉問條析。
Lü Jiawen, styled Wangzhi, entered official service through inherited privilege. At the start of Xining the Regulations Bureau took him on as a subordinate. He served as acting chief of the Revenue Section, oversaw the treasuries of various departments, introduced the linked-kiln method at state wine monopolies, and saved one hundred sixty thousand strings in fuel costs each year. Wang Anshi adopted Wei Jizong's proposal, established the Market Exchange Office in the capital at once, and put Jiawen in charge. He proposed thirteen measures for the new system. One would have forbidden monopolistic families from reaping profits beyond what the law allowed. Shenzong struck it out, but Anshi refused to accept its removal. Within two years he was repeatedly rewarded for exceeding revenue targets. Shenzong heard that the system was oppressing the people. He spoke to Anshi about it. Anshi said, "Jiawen enforces the law unfairly, and that is what provokes resentment." Shenzong said, "The exemption fees are petty and intrusive, and the Market Exchange is even peddling fruit — this is a grave blow to the dignity of the court." Anshi argued disingenuously in his own defense, even ridiculing Shenzong as small-minded and ignorant of imperial strategy, and said, "Without Jiawen, who would dare stand up to the emperor's close favorites? Without me, who would speak for Jiawen?" Shenzong said, "If that is true, why do so many officials find the policy objectionable?" Anshi asked for the names of the critics and had Jiawen refute each charge in detail.
43
七年，旱，帝憂心惻怛，語韓維、孫永集市人問之，減坐賈錢千萬。 安石遂持嘉問條析奏曰：「此皆百姓所願，不如人言也。」 嘉問言：「朝廷所以許民輸錢免行者，蓋人情安於樂業，厭於追擾，若一切罷去，則無人祗承。 又吏胥祿廩薄，勢不得不求於民，非重法莫禁。 以薄廩申重法，則法有時而不行。 縣官為給事，則三司經費有限，今取民於鮮，而吏知自重，此臣等推行之本意也。 議者乃欲除去，是殆不然。 民未嘗不畏吏，方其以行役觸罪，雖欲出錢，亦不可得。 今吏祿可謂厚矣，然未及昔日取民所得之半，市易所收免行錢，亦未足以償倉法所增之祿，以此推窮，則利害立見矣。」
In the seventh year drought struck. The emperor was deeply troubled and sent Han Wei and Sun Yong to question market traders; the sitting-merchant fee was cut by ten million cash. Anshi then submitted Jiawen's detailed rebuttal, saying, "These measures are what the people themselves want — not what the critics claim." Jiawen said, "The court allows people to pay a fee in lieu of courier duty because ordinary folk want steady livelihoods and hate being hounded by officials. Abolish the system entirely and no one will take up the work. Moreover, clerks and runners are so poorly paid that they cannot help extorting the people; only stern law can restrain them. Strict laws backed by meager pay yield laws that are honored only when convenient. If county officials paid for the service, the Three Departments' budget could not bear it. By collecting modest fees from the people and giving officials decent support, we aim to make them conduct themselves properly — that was always our intent. Critics who want to abolish the fees have it wrong. The people have always feared officials. When they run afoul of corvée regulations, they cannot buy their way out even if they wish to. Officials' pay is generous by past standards, yet it is still less than half what clerks once extorted from the people. The exemption fees the Market Exchange collects do not even cover the salary increases under the granary reform. Push the calculation that far and the balance of costs and benefits becomes obvious."
44
初，市易隸三司，嘉問恃勢陵使薛向，出其上。 曾布代向，懷不能平。 會神宗出手劄詢布，布訪於魏繼宗，繼宗憤嘉問掠其功，列其與初議異者。 布得實，具上嘉問多收息干賞，挾官府而為兼并之事。 神宗將委布考之，安石言二人有私忿，於是詔布與呂惠卿同治。 惠卿故憾布，至三司，召繼宗及市賈問狀，其辭同，乃脅繼宗使誣布語言增加，繼宗不從。 布言惠卿不可共事，神宗欲聽之，安石不可。 神宗遂詔中書曰：「朝廷設市易，本為平準以便民，若《周官》泉府者。 今顧使中人之家失業，宜厘定其制。」 布見神宗曰：「臣每聞德音，欲以王道治天下，今所為駸駸乎間架、除陌矣。 嘉問又請販鹽鬻帛，豈不詒四方笑？」 神宗頷之。 事未決，安石去位，嘉問持之以泣，安石勞之曰：「吾已薦惠卿矣。」 惠卿既執政，前獄遂成，布得罪，嘉問亦出知常州。
At first the Market Exchange fell under the Three Departments. Jiawen used his backing to bully Commissioner Xue Xiang and set himself above him. When Zeng Bu replaced Xiang, he seethed at the insult. Shenzong sent Bu a personal note of inquiry. Bu consulted Wei Jizong, who, bitter that Jiawen had stolen his credit, listed every point on which Jiawen had diverged from the original plan. Bu verified the facts and reported that Jiawen had repeatedly inflated profits to win rewards and used government power to engage in monopolistic consolidation. Shenzong was about to put Bu in charge of the inquiry, but Anshi said the two men bore a private grudge. An edict then ordered Bu and Lü Huiqing to investigate together. Huiqing already hated Bu. At the Three Departments he summoned Jizong and market traders; their stories matched, so he tried to force Jizong to accuse Bu of embellishing his testimony. Jizong refused. Bu declared he could not work with Huiqing. Shenzong was inclined to agree, but Anshi objected. Shenzong then directed the Secretariat: "The Market Exchange was meant to stabilize prices and serve the people, on the model of the Quanfu bureau in the Rites of Zhou. Instead it is driving ordinary shopkeepers out of business. The regulations must be revised." Bu told Shenzong, "Your gracious pronouncements promise governance by the royal way, yet our policies are sliding toward the hated Jianjia and Chumo levies of old. Jiawen even wants the state to peddle salt and sell cloth. Will that not make us a laughingstock across the realm?" Shenzong nodded in agreement. Before the matter was settled, Anshi left office. Jiawen seized his hand in tears. Anshi comforted him: "I have already recommended Huiqing." Once Huiqing took power, the earlier case was decided. Bu was punished and Jiawen was posted out as prefect of Changzhou.
45
明年，安石復相，召檢正中書戶房。 安石罷，以知江寧府。 歲餘，轉運使何琬劾嘉問營繕越法，徙潤州，復坐免。 久之，入為吏部郎中、光祿卿。 言者交論市易之患，被於天下。 本錢無慮千二百萬緡，率二分其息，十有五年之間，子本當數倍，今乃僅足本錢。 蓋買物入官，未轉售而先計息取賞； 至於物貨苦惡，上下相蒙，虧折日多，空有虛名而已。 於是削嘉問三秩，黜知淮陽軍，悉罪前被賞者。
The next year Anshi returned to office and summoned Jiawen back as Reviewing Director in the Secretariat's Household Section. When Anshi fell from power, he was appointed prefect of Jiangning. A year later Transport Commissioner He Wan impeached Jiawen for illegal construction. He was transferred to Runzhou and again dismissed from office. After some time he returned to court as a director in the Ministry of Personnel and Director of Imperial Entertainments. Critics everywhere denounced the evils of the Market Exchange, which had spread across the empire. The principal amounted to some twelve million strings at two percent interest. Over fifteen years the returns should have multiplied several times over, yet the treasury barely recovered its capital. Officials recorded profits and claimed rewards before reselling goods the state had purchased; the merchandise was shoddy, superiors and subordinates colluded in fraud, losses mounted daily, and the enterprise existed in name alone. Jiawen was demoted three ranks and sent out as prefect of Huaiyang Command, and all who had earlier been rewarded were punished.
46
紹聖中，擢寶文閣待制、戶部侍郎，加直學士、知開封府。 專附章惇、蔡卞，多殺不辜，焚去案牘以滅口。 嘗薦鄒浩，浩南遷，坐罷知懷州。 徽宗時，屢暴其宿惡，至分司南京，光州居住，郢州安置。 然為蔡氏所右，其婿劉逵、蹇序辰、其死友鄧洵武羽翼之，故不久輒起。 以龍圖閣學士、太中大夫卒，年七十七，贈資政殿學士。
During Shaosheng he was elevated to Attendant Gentleman of the Hall for Treasuring Culture and Vice Minister of Revenue, given the rank of Direct Academician, and appointed prefect of Kaifeng. He attached himself to Zhang Dun and Cai Bian, executed many innocent people, and burned court records to destroy the evidence. He had once recommended Zou Hao. When Hao was banished to the south, Jiawen was dismissed and made prefect of Huaizhou in disgrace. Under Huizong his past crimes were exposed again and again. He was reduced to nominal duty in Nanjing, confined to Guangzhou, then resettled in Yingzhou. The Cai faction protected him, however, backed by his sons-in-law Liu Kui and Jian Xuchen and by his late friend Deng Xunwu, so he was soon restored to office. He died at seventy-seven while holding the ranks of Academician of the Hall of Dragon Designs and Grandee of Palace Affairs, and was posthumously granted Academician of the Hall of Exemplary Governance.
47
初，嘉問竊從祖公弼論新法奏稿，以示王安石，公弼以是斥於外，呂氏號為「家賊」，故不得與呂氏同傳。
Early on Jiawen had stolen a draft memorial on the New Policies written by his grand-uncle Gongbi and shown it to Wang Anshi. Gongbi was driven from office for it, and the Lü clan branded Jiawen a "traitor in the family." For that reason he is not grouped with the other Lüs in this record.
48
李南公
Li Nangong
49
李南公，字楚老，鄭州人。 進士及第，調浦江令。 郡猾吏恃守以陵縣，不輸負租，南公捕繫之。 守怒，通判為謝曰：「能按郡吏，健令也。」 卒置諸法。 知長沙縣，有嫠婦攜兒以嫁，七年，兒族取兒，婦謂非前子，訟於官。 南公問兒年，族曰九歲，婦曰七歲。 問其齒，曰：「去年毀矣。」 南公曰：「男八歲而齔，尚何爭？」 命歸兒族。 熙寧中，提舉京西常平、提點陝西河北刑獄、京西轉運副使，入為屯田員外郎。 南公有女皆適人，而同產女弟年三十不嫁，寄他妹家，為御史所論，罷主管崇福宮。
Li Nangong, styled Chulao, was a native of Zhengzhou. After passing the jinshi examination he was appointed magistrate of Pujiang. A cunning clerk in the prefecture, shielded by the prefect, bullied the county and refused to pay rent he owed. Nangong had him arrested. The prefect was furious. The vice-prefect apologized and said, "Any magistrate bold enough to prosecute a prefectural clerk is a forceful one." In the end Nangong had the law enforced against him. As magistrate of Changsha he heard a case in which a widow had remarried bringing her son with her. After seven years the boy's paternal clan reclaimed him. The woman claimed he was not her child by her first husband and sued. Nangong asked the boy's age. The clan said nine; the woman said seven. He asked about the boy's teeth. "They came out last year," came the answer. Nangong said, "A boy gets his permanent teeth at eight. What is there left to dispute?" He ordered the boy returned to his father's clan. During Xining he served as Commissar of Western Capital Granaries, Judicial Intendant for Shaanxi and Hebei, and Vice Transport Commissioner of the Western Capital Circuit, then entered court as Vice Director of the Directorate of Farming. All Nangong's daughters were married, but an unmarried younger sister of thirty was living with another sister. Censors impeached him over it and he was dismissed from his post supervising Chongfu Palace.
50
為河北轉運副使。 先是，知澶州王令圖請開迎陽埽舊河，於孫村置約回水東注，南公與范子奇以為可行，且欲於大吳北進鋸牙約河勢歸故道。 朝廷命使者行視，兩人復以前議為非，云：「迎陽下瞰京師，孫村水勢不便。」 又為御史所論，詔罰金。
He served as Vice Transport Commissioner of Hebei. Earlier Wang Lingtu, prefect of Dazhou, had proposed reopening the old channel at Yingyang Embankment and building a control works at Suncun to turn the current east again. Nangong and Fan Ziqi endorsed the plan and also proposed advancing saw-tooth weirs north of Dawu to drive the river back into its old bed. When the court sent inspectors, the two reversed themselves and declared their earlier plan unsound, saying, "Yingyang lies below the capital, and the currents at Suncun would be dangerous." Censors impeached them again, and an edict imposed fines.
51
加直秘閣、知延安府。 夏人犯涇原，南公出師搗其虛，夏人解去。 進直龍閣閣，擢寶文閣待制、知瀛州，拜戶部吏部侍郎、戶部尚書。 歷知永興軍、成都、真定、河南府、鄭州，擢龍圖閣直學士。
He was granted Direct access to the Secret Archive and appointed prefect of Yan'an. When the Tangut raided Jingyuan, Nangong led a force against their undefended rear and the enemy withdrew. He was granted Direct access to the Dragon Hall, elevated to Attendant Gentleman of the Hall for Treasuring Culture and prefect of Yingzhou, and appointed Vice Minister of Revenue, Vice Minister of Personnel, and Minister of Revenue. He served in turn as prefect of Yongxing Command, Chengdu, Zhengding, Henan Prefecture, and Zhengzhou, and was elevated to Direct Academician of the Hall of Dragon Designs.
52
初，哲宗主入廟，南公修奉，希執政指，請祔東夾室，禮官爭之不得。 及更建廟室，坐前議弗當，奪學士，未幾，復之，遂致仕。 卒，年八十三。
When Emperor Zhezong's tablet was first placed in the ancestral temple, Nangong oversaw the rites and, seeking favor with the chief ministers, proposed enshrining him in the eastern side chamber. Ritual officials objected in vain. When the temple was rebuilt he was punished for his earlier improper proposal and stripped of his academicianship. The rank was soon restored, after which he retired. He died at the age of eighty-three.
53
南公為吏六十年，幹局明銳，然反覆詭隨，無特操，識者非之。 子譓。
Nangong served in office for sixty years. He was an able and sharp administrator, but he was erratic, opportunistic, and without fixed principles, and knowledgeable observers censured him for it. His son was Hui.
54
子譓
Hui
55
譓，字智甫。 第進士。 紹聖間，知章丘縣。 陝西麥熟，朝廷議遣官諸州，令民平償逋負，譓與余景在選中。 將賜對，曾布言於哲宗曰：「豐凶未可知，譓、景皆刻薄，必因此暴斂，為民之憂。 陛下臨政以來，延見人士未多，如兩人者，懼不足以辱大對。」 乃喻使戒飭。 使還，為河東轉運判官，徙陝西。 進築京師，訖役，除秘閣校理。 以母憂去。
Hui, styled Zhifu. He passed the jinshi examination. During Shaosheng he served as magistrate of Zhangqiu County. When the wheat harvest came in Shaanxi, the court considered sending officials to each prefecture to collect overdue debts from the people. Hui and Yu Jing were among those chosen. Before their audience Zeng Bu told Zhezong, "We cannot yet know whether the harvest will be good or bad. Hui and Jing are both harsh men who will surely use this mission to extort the people. Your Majesty has granted audience to few men since taking the throne. Men like these are hardly fit for so solemn an occasion." They were instructed accordingly and warned to behave. After the mission he became Transport Assessor of Hedong and was then transferred to Shaanxi. He oversaw fortification work in the capital, and when the project was complete he was appointed Collator in the Secret Archive. He left office to observe mourning for his mother.
56
方建永泰陵，起使京西。 諫官任伯雨言：「祖宗之世，朝廷有大事，邊鄙有兵革，將相大臣召為侍從，乃不得已奪情。 今山陵事人皆可辦，何至以一譓隳事體哉？」 命遂格。 終制，以直龍圖閣知熙州。 蔡京使王厚復河湟，譓與之異，召為光祿卿。 厚奏功，罷譓守虢。 坐嘗言招納未便，停官。
While Yongtai Mausoleum was under construction, he was recalled to serve in the Western Capital Circuit. Remonstrance Official Ren Boyu said, "Under the founding emperors, only when the court faced grave crises or the frontier erupted in war were great ministers summoned back to court and mourning set aside — and only when there was no choice. The mausoleum work can be managed without him. Why should recalling one man like Hui compromise the dignity of the occasion?" The appointment was cancelled. After completing mourning he was appointed prefect of Xizhou with Direct access to the Hall of Dragon Designs. When Cai Jing sent Wang Hou to recover the Hehuang region, Hui opposed the plan and was recalled as Director of Imperial Entertainments. After Hou reported success, Hui was demoted to prefect of Guo. He was stripped of office for having once argued that the policy of recruiting and settling frontier peoples was ill-advised.
57
後數年，為陝西轉運使。 京兆麥價踴貴，譓與府縣議從民和市，民弗肯損價。 譓移府勒上戶閉糴，府帥徐處仁不聽，且責之。 譓怒，上章言處仁沮格詔令，陵毀使者。 詔黜處仁，而擢譓顯謨閣待制，代其任。 鄜延帥錢昂奏：「處仁本以官糴麥損價，與譓爭，乃為民久長之論，不當黜。」 詔以昂違道干譽，謫永州。 譓又代任鄜延，復徙永興。 偽為蟾芝以獻，徽宗疑曰：「蟾，動物也，安得生芝？」 命漬盆水，一夕而解。 坐罔上，貶散官安置，三年復之。 歷數郡，卒。
Several years later he was appointed Transport Commissioner of Shaanxi. Wheat prices in the Capital District soared. Hui met with prefectural and county officials to arrange purchases from the people at market rates, but the sellers refused to lower their prices. Hui wrote the prefecture demanding that wealthy households stop hoarding grain. The prefectural commander Xu Churen refused and reprimanded him. Enraged, Hui submitted a memorial accusing Churen of blocking imperial orders and humiliating the imperial envoy. An edict removed Churen from office and promoted Hui to Attendant Drafting Official in the Hall for Exalting Plans, appointing him in Churen's place. Fuyan Military Commissioner Qian Ang memorialized, "Churen had lowered the price of government wheat purchases, disputing with Hui on grounds of the people's lasting welfare. He should not have been removed." An edict condemned Ang for defying proper conduct to win praise and exiled him to Yongzhou. Hui again took up the Fuyan command, then was transferred to Yongxing. He forged an auspicious "toad fungus" and presented it as tribute. Huizong was skeptical: "A toad is a living animal — how could fungus sprout from it?" Huizong had it soaked in a basin of water, and overnight it dissolved completely. Convicted of deceiving the throne, he was stripped to unsalaried rank and placed under residence restriction. After three years his office was restored. He served in several prefectures and then died.
58
董必，字子強，宣州南陵人。 嘗謁王安石於金陵，諮質諸經疑義，為安石稱許。 登進士第。 紹聖中，提舉湖南常平。 時相章惇方置眾君子於罪。 孔平仲在衡州，以倉粟腐惡，乘饑歲，稍損價發之。 必即劾其戾常平法，置鞫長沙，以承惇意，無辜繫訊多死者。 平仲坐徙韶州。
Dong Bi, courtesy name Ziqiang, came from Nanling in Xuanzhou. He once called on Wang Anshi in Jinling to consult him on obscure passages in the classics and won Anshi's praise. He passed the jinshi examination. During the Shaosheng era he served as Intendant of the Ever-Normal Granaries in Hunan. At that time Chancellor Zhang Dun was finding fault with many upright officials. Kong Pingzhong was serving in Hengzhou. Finding the stored grain spoiled, he slightly reduced the price and released it during a famine year. Bi immediately impeached him for violating the Ever-Normal Granary law and set up an inquisition in Changsha to satisfy Dun. Many innocent people were imprisoned and interrogated, and many died. Pingzhong was punished with exile to Shaozhou.
59
惇與蔡卞將大誅流人，遣呂升卿往廣東，必往廣西察訪。 哲宗既止不治，然必所至，猶以慘刻按脅立威，為五書歸奏。 除工部員外郎，中書舍人郭知章封還其命； 詔以付趙挺之，權給事中陳次升復封駁不下。 必於是訟知章、次升為元祐黨人。 坐不當訟言者，出知江州，改湖南轉運判官、提點河北刑獄，召為左司員外郎。
Dun and Cai Bian planned a sweeping purge of exiled officials, dispatching Lü Shengqing to Guangdong and Bi to Guangxi to investigate. Although Zhezong had already called a halt to further prosecutions, wherever Bi went he still used brutal coercion to assert his authority, and on returning submitted five memorials. He was appointed Vice Director in the Ministry of Works, but Remonstrance Secretary Guo Zhizhang sealed and returned the appointment. An edict referred the appointment to Zhao Tingzhi, but Acting Chief Drafting Secretary Chen Cisheng again sealed and rejected it, refusing to promulgate it. Bi then brought charges against Zhizhang and Cisheng as members of the Yuanyou faction. Punished for improperly prosecuting remonstrance officials, he was sent out as prefect of Jiangzhou, then served as Transport Assessor of Hunan and Judicial Intendant of Hebei before being recalled as Vice Director in the Left Secretariat.
60
初，舒亶守荊南，起邊事，一切詐誕，云徭人款附，實亦不然，必蓋與之謀。 及是，亶暴卒，加必直龍圖閣往代。 乃城通道等六砦，置靖州折博市易，且移飛山營戍。 公私煩費，荊人病之。 進集賢殿修撰、顯謨閣待制。 卒，年五十六，贈龍圖閣待制。
Earlier, when Shu Dan held Jingnan, he provoked border troubles with wholly fabricated claims that the Yao had submitted — which they had not. Bi had likely been his accomplice. When Dan died suddenly, Bi was granted Direct access to the Hall of Dragon Designs and sent to replace him. He walled six stockades including Tongdao, established a Jingzhou barter exchange, and relocated the Feishan garrison. The costs burdened both public and private purses, and the people of Jingnan suffered. He was promoted to Compiler in the Hall of Assembled Worthies and Attendant Drafting Official in the Hall for Exalting Plans. He died at fifty-six and was posthumously granted the title Attendant Drafting Official in the Hall of Dragon Designs.
61
虞策，字經臣，杭州錢塘人。 登進士第，調台州推官、知烏程縣、通判蘄州。 蔣之奇以江淮發運上計，神宗訪東南人才，以策對。 王安禮、李常繼薦之，擢提舉利州路常平、湖南轉運判官。
Yu Ce, courtesy name Jingchen, came from Qiantang in Hangzhou. After passing the jinshi examination, he served as judicial adjutant in Taizhou, magistrate of Wucheng County, and vice-prefect of Qizhou. When Jiang Zhiqi came to court to present the Jiang-Huai transport accounts, Shenzong asked about talent in the southeast, and Jiang recommended Ce. Wang Anli and Li Chang then recommended him, and he was promoted to Intendant of the Ever-Normal Granaries in Lizhou Circuit and Transport Assessor of Hunan.
62
元祐五年，召為監察御史，進右正言。 數上書論事，謂人主納諫乃有福，治道以清靜為本。 西夏未順命，策言：「今邊備解弛，戎備不修。 古之人，善鎮靜者警備甚密，務持重者謀在其中，未有鹵莽闊疏，而曰吾鎮靜、吾持重者。」 又乞詔內而省曹、寺監，外而監司、守令，各得以其職陳朝政闕失、百姓疾苦。 星文有變，乞順天愛民，警戒萬事，思治心修身之道，勿以宴安為樂。 哲宗納后，上《正始要言》。 遷左司諫。
In the fifth year of Yuanyou he was summoned as Investigating Censor and promoted to Right Rectifier. He submitted many memorials on affairs of state, arguing that a ruler who heeds remonstrance will prosper, and that good governance rests on quiet restraint. When Western Xia had not yet submitted, Ce said, "Our frontier defenses are lax and our military readiness neglected. Men of old who mastered composure kept their guard extremely tight and buried their plans within a bearing of grave restraint. No one was ever reckless and slipshod yet claimed, 'I am calm' or 'I am restrained.' He also petitioned for edicts allowing ministry bureaus and directorates within the court, and circuit intendants and local officials without, each to report in their proper capacity on failures of governance and the people's hardships. When celestial signs changed, he urged the emperor to follow Heaven's will and cherish the people, to be vigilant in all things, to reflect on how to order the heart and cultivate the self, and not to take comfort and idleness for joy. When Zhezong took an empress, Ce submitted his "Essential Words on the Beginning of Right Rule." He was transferred to Remonstrance Official in the Left Secretariat.
63
曾肇以議北郊事，與朝論不合，免禮部侍郎，為徐州。 策時權給事中，還其命，以為肇禮官也，不當以議禮得罪。 不從。 帝親政，條所當先者五十六事，後多施行。 遷侍御史、起居郎、給事中，以龍圖閣待制知青州，改杭州。 過闕，留為戶部侍郎。 歷刑部、戶部尚書，拜樞密直學士，知永興軍、成都府。
Zeng Zhao, whose views on the Northern Suburban Sacrifice clashed with court opinion, was removed as Vice Minister of Rites and made prefect of Xuzhou. Ce, then Acting Chief Drafting Secretary, returned the appointment, arguing that as a ritual official Zhao should not be punished merely for debating ritual matters. The emperor did not agree. When the emperor began to rule in person, Ce listed fifty-six priorities; many were later adopted. He rose through Attending Censor, Diarist, and Chief Drafting Secretary, then served as prefect of Qingzhou as Attendant Drafting Official in the Hall of Dragon Designs before being transferred to Hangzhou. Passing through the capital on his way to a new post, he was kept on as Vice Minister of Revenue. He served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Revenue, was appointed Privy Council Academician, and governed Yongxing Army and Chengdu Prefecture.
64
入為吏部尚書，奏疏徽宗，請均節財用，曰：「臣比在戶部，見中都經費歲六百萬，與天下上供之數略相當。 嘗以祖宗故實考之，皇祐所入總三千九百萬，而費才三之一； 治平四千四百萬，而費五之一； 熙寧五千六十萬，而費盡之。 今諸道隨一月所須，旋為裒會，汲汲然不能終日。 願深裁浮冗，以寬用度。」 屬疾祈外，加龍圖閣學士、知潤州，卒於道，年六十六。 贈左正議大夫。
He entered court as Minister of Personnel and memorialized Huizong urging balanced fiscal restraint: "When I served in the Ministry of Revenue, I found the capital's annual expenditures at six million — roughly equal to all tribute collected empire-wide. Examining the precedents of our forefathers, under Huangyou total revenue reached thirty-nine million, yet spending consumed only a third; under Zhiping it was forty-four million, yet spending took only a fifth; under Xining it was fifty million six hundred thousand, and spending consumed every bit. Now each circuit tallies its monthly needs and scrambles to assemble funds — in such desperate haste that supplies cannot last a single day. I pray that Your Majesty deeply cut wasteful excess to relieve the strain on the treasury." Falling ill, he requested an outside appointment, was made Academician in the Hall of Dragon Designs and prefect of Runzhou, and died on the road at sixty-six. He was posthumously granted the title Grandee of Left Remonstrance.
65
策在元祐、紹聖時，皆居言職。 雖不依人取進，亦頗持兩端，故黨議之興，己獨得免。 弟奕。
Ce held remonstrance posts during both the Yuanyou and Shaosheng eras. Though he did not advance by currying favor, he also tended to sit on the fence, and so when factional strife erupted he alone escaped unscathed. His younger brother was Yi.
66
弟奕
Yi
67
奕，字純臣。 第進士。 崇寧，提舉河北西路常平，洺、相饑，徙之東路。 入對，徽宗問行期，對曰：「臣退即行，流民不以時還，則來歲耕桑皆廢矣。」 帝悅。 既而西部盜起，復徙提點刑獄。 時朝廷將遣兵逐捕，奕條上方略，請罷勿用，而自計討賊，不閱月可定。 轉運使張摶以為不可，宰相主摶策，數月不效，卒用奕議，悉降之。 擢監察御史。 親祭北郊，燕人趙良嗣為秘書丞侍祠，奕白其長曰：「今親衛不用三路人，而良嗣以外國降子，顧得預祠事，可乎？」 長用其言，具以請，不報。
Yi, courtesy name Puren. He passed the jinshi examination. In the Chongning era he served as Intendant of the Ever-Normal Granaries on the Western Route of Hebei. When Mozhou and Xiangzhou suffered famine, he was transferred to the Eastern Route. At audience Huizong asked when he would depart. Yi replied, "Your servant will leave the moment this audience ends. If displaced people are not returned in time, next year's planting and mulberry cultivation will all be lost." The emperor was pleased. Soon bandits rose in the western region, and he was again transferred as Judicial Intendant. The court was about to dispatch troops to hunt them down. Yi submitted a plan urging that course be abandoned, pledging to suppress the bandits himself within a month. Transport Commissioner Zhang Bo thought it impossible, and the chancellor backed Bo's approach. After months without result, they finally adopted Yi's plan and all the bandits surrendered. He was promoted to Investigating Censor. At the emperor's personal sacrifice at the Northern Suburbs, the Yan native Zhao Liangsi served as Secretary Attendant at the rites. Yi told his superior, "The imperial guard no longer employs men from the Three Routes, yet Liangsi — a surrendered subject from a foreign state — is allowed to take part in the sacrifice. Is that proper?" His superior accepted his argument and submitted a full request, but received no reply.
68
陽武民傭於富家，其室美，富子欲私之，弗得，怒殺之，而賂其夫使勿言。 事覺，府縣及大理鬻獄，奕受詔鞫訊，皆伏辜。 坐漏泄語言罷去。 再逾年，還故職，提點河北刑獄。 自何承矩創邊地為塘濼，有定界。 既中貴人典領，以屯田開拓為功，肆侵民田，民上訴，屢出使者按治，皆不敢與直。 奕曲折上之，疏其五不可，詔罷屯田。 加直秘閣、淮南轉運副使。
A man of Yangwu was hired out to a wealthy household. His wife was beautiful, and the rich man's son sought to seduce her but failed. In rage he killed her and bribed her husband to say nothing. When the crime came to light, the prefecture, county, and Grand Court of Justice had corrupted the case. Yi received orders to investigate, and all the guilty confessed. Punished for leaking confidential information, he was dismissed from office. After another year he was restored to his former post as Judicial Intendant of Hebei. Since He Chengjiao had created the frontier pond-marshes, fixed boundaries had been established. Once eunuchs took charge and treated frontier land reclamation as a path to merit, they wantonly seized civilian fields. The people appealed upward, and envoys were repeatedly dispatched to investigate, yet none dared give them justice. Yi memorialized through circuitous channels, setting forth five reasons the practice should stop. An edict abolished the reclamation office. He was granted Direct access to the Secret Archive and appointed Vice Transport Commissioner of Huainan.
69
入為開封少尹。 故時大理、開封治獄，得請實蔽罪，其後率任情棄法，法益不用。 奕言：「廷尉持天下平，京師諸夏本，法且不行，何以示萬國。 請自今非情法實不相當，毋得輒請。」 從之。 遷光祿卿、戶部侍郎。 睦州亂，以龍圖閣直學士知鎮江府。 寇平，論勞增兩秩。 還為戶部。 內侍總領內藏，予奪顓己，視戶部如僚屬。 度支郎方討理滯，奉中旨，令開封尹與總領者來。 奕白宰相曰：「計臣不才，當去之而易能者，不可使他人侵其官。」 即自劾不稱職。 詔為罷內侍，而徙奕工部。
He entered court as Vice Magistrate of Kaifeng. In former times the Grand Court and Kaifeng handled cases with sentence-reduction requests that concealed crimes. Later they routinely indulged personal whim and abandoned the law, and the law fell increasingly into disuse. Yi said, "The Chief Justice holds the scales of the empire. The capital is the root of all under Heaven. If the law is not enforced here, how can we show it to the myriad states? I request that from now on, where circumstances and the law do not truly align, no leniency request be permitted." The request was granted. He was transferred to Director of Imperial Entertainments and Vice Minister of Revenue. When Muzhou rose in rebellion, he was made Academician in the Hall of Dragon Designs and prefect of Zhenjiang. When the rebels were pacified, his merit was recognized with a two-step increase in rank. He returned to the Ministry of Revenue. A eunuch superintendent controlled the Inner Treasury, granting and withholding funds at his sole discretion and treating the Ministry of Revenue like his subordinates. While the Revenue Section Director was investigating stalled accounts, a secret imperial order summoned the Kaifeng Magistrate and the superintendent to attend. Yi told the chancellor, "As minister of revenue I am incompetent and should be replaced by someone capable — but others must not be allowed to encroach on my office." He immediately submitted a self-impeachment for incompetence. An edict dismissed the eunuch and transferred Yi to the Ministry of Works.
70
襲慶守張漴使郡人詣闕請登封，東平守王靚諫以京東歲凶多盜，不當請封。 為政者不悅，將罪靚，奕言：「靚憂民愛君，所當獎激，奈何用為罪乎？」 靚獲免。 未幾卒，年六十，贈龍圖閣學士。
Zhang Chong, prefect of Xiqing, sent county people to court to request a fengshan sacrifice. Wang Jing, prefect of Dongping, remonstrated that the eastern capital circuits had suffered famine years and rampant banditry, and that a feng request was inappropriate. Those in power were displeased and were about to punish Jing. Yi said, "Jing cares for the people and loves his lord — he should be rewarded and encouraged. How can he be punished?" Jing was spared punishment. Before long he died at sixty and was posthumously granted the title Academician in the Hall of Dragon Designs.
71
郭知章
Guo Zhizhang
72
郭知章，字明叔，吉州龍泉人。 第進士，從劉彝廣西幕府，知浮梁、分寧縣。 黃履薦為御史，以憂不克拜，知海州、濮州，提點梓州路刑獄。 復以鄭雍、顧臨薦，為監察御史。
Guo Zhizhang, courtesy name Mingshu, came from Longquan in Jizhou. Having passed the jinshi examination, he served on Liu Yi's staff in Guangxi and was magistrate of Fuliang and Fenning counties. Huang Lü recommended him for the censorate, but bereavement kept him from taking the appointment. He served as prefect of Haizhou and Puzhou and as Judicial Intendant of Zizhou Circuit. Recommended again by Zheng Yong and Gu Lin, he was appointed Investigating Censor.
73
哲宗親政，上書請用淳化、天禧詔增諫官員，曰：「館職無所用，朝廷設之不疑； 諫官最急，乃常不足。 是急於所無用，緩其所當急也。 又比歲選授監司，多繇寺監丞，不過知縣資序。 外官莫重於部使者，豈宜輕用若是？ 宜稍限以節。 如轉運判官擇實任通判者，提點刑獄擇實任郡守者，然後考其治理，簡拔用之。」 又言：「自大河東、北分流，生靈被害。 今水之趨東者已不可遏，順而導之，閉北而行東，其利百倍矣。」
When Emperor Zhezong personally assumed the reins of government, Zhizhang memorialized the throne, asking that the court follow the Chunhua and Tianxi precedents and increase the number of remonstrance officials. He wrote, "Court academy posts serve little purpose, yet the throne creates them without a second thought; remonstrance officials are the most urgent need, yet their ranks are perpetually too thin. This is to rush what is useless and to neglect what ought to be urgent. Moreover, in recent years circuit commissioners have often been drawn from directorate and agency vice-directors, men whose qualifications rise no higher than county magistrate. Among field officials none carries greater weight than the circuit envoy. How can such posts be filled so lightly? Some restraint ought to be imposed to restore proper limits. Transport deputy commissioners should be chosen from men who have genuinely served as military prefects, and judicial intendants from men who have genuinely governed prefectures. Only then should their record in office be examined and the able among them selected for promotion." He also wrote, "Since the Yellow River split to the east and north, the people have suffered grievously. The river's eastward course can no longer be checked. If we follow its tendency and guide it—closing the northern channel and sending the flow east—the benefit would be a hundredfold."
74
遷殿中侍御史。 言：「先帝辟地進壤，建策四砦，據臨下，扼西戎咽喉。 元祐用事者委而棄之，願討賾議奏，顯行黜罰。」 史院究《神宗實籙》誣罔事，知章請貶治呂大防等。 紹聖復制科，知章校試，言：「先朝既策進士，即廢此科，近年復置，誠無所補。」 遂復罷。 又請復元豐役法，大抵迎合時好。
He was promoted to Palace Censor. He memorialized, "The former emperor expanded the frontier and gained territory, established four strategic fortresses, and held commanding ground overlooking the passes below, seizing the throat of the Western Rong. The Yuanyou faction in power cast them aside and abandoned them. I ask that the matter be thoroughly investigated and memorialized, and that demotions and punishments be openly imposed." The History Academy investigated the falsehoods in the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong, and Zhizhang asked that Lü Dafang and others be demoted and punished. When Shaosheng restored the special examination, Zhizhang supervised the test and wrote, "Once the previous court had examined jinshi by policy essay, it abolished this examination. Restoring it in recent years truly adds nothing." The examination was abolished once more. He also asked that the Yuanfeng corvée law be restored. In general, his proposals catered to the prevailing mood of the court.
75
進左司員外郎，改左司諫。 嘗言：「爵祿慶賞，以勸天下之善，願無以假借大臣，使行私恩； 刑罰誅戮，以懲天下之惡，願無以假借大臣，使快私忿。 忠於陛下者，必見忌大臣； 黨於大臣者，必上負陛下。 惟明主財察。」 權工部侍郎，為中書舍人。
He was promoted to Left Secretariat Vice Director and then transferred to Left Remonstrance Official. He once wrote, "Ranks, stipends, honors, and rewards exist to encourage virtue throughout the realm. I ask that they not be lent to great ministers as instruments of private favor; punishments, penalties, and executions exist to chastise evil throughout the realm. I ask that they not be lent to great ministers as instruments of private vengeance. Those loyal to Your Majesty will inevitably be resented by great ministers; those who attach themselves to great ministers will inevitably fail Your Majesty in turn. Only an enlightened sovereign can see this clearly." He served as Acting Vice Minister of Works and was appointed Drafting Officer of the Secretariat.
76
遼使蕭德崇來為夏人請還河西地，命知章報聘。 德崇曰：「兩朝久通好，小國蕞爾疆土，還之可乎？」 知章曰：「夏人累犯邊，法當致討，以北朝勸和之故，務為優容。 彼若恭順如初，當自有恩旨，非使人所能預知也。」 歸未至，坐嘗主導河東流議，以集賢殿修撰知和州。
The Liao envoy Xiao Dechong came to ask, on behalf of the Xia, that Hexi territory be returned. Zhizhang was ordered to go on a return mission. Dechong said, "Our two courts have long been at peace. For our small state's tiny territory—might it be returned?" Zhizhang replied, "The Xia have repeatedly violated the frontier. By law they ought to be punished, but because the Northern Court urged peace, we have treated them with forbearance. If they are obedient as before, imperial grace will follow in due course. That is not something an envoy can presume to foretell." Before he reached home, he was punished for having once advocated channeling the Yellow River eastward. He was made Academician-Compiler in the Hall of Assembled Worthies and prefect of Hezhou.
77
徽宗立，曾布用為工部侍郎，加寶文閣直學士、知太原府。 召拜刑部尚書、知開封府，為翰林學士。 言者又論河事，罷知鄧州，旋入黨籍。 數年，復顯謨閣直學士。 政和初，卒。
When Huizong ascended the throne, Zeng Bu appointed him Vice Minister of Works, with the added titles of Direct Academician in the Hall of Precious Culture and prefect of Taiyuan. He was summoned to court as Minister of Justice and prefect of Kaifeng, and appointed Hanlin Academician. Critics again attacked him over the river policy. He was dismissed to serve as prefect of Dengzhou and soon was entered on the faction register. Several years later he was restored to Direct Academician in the Hall for Exalted Planning. At the beginning of the Zhenghe reign, he died.
78
論曰：神宗好大喜功之資，王安石、呂惠卿出而與之遇合，流毒不能止也。 哲、徽之世，一變而為蔡確、章惇、曾布，又變而為蔡京、蔡卞，日有甚之，而天下亡矣。 乘時起而附之者甚眾，若崔台符、楊汲以獄殺民； 呂嘉問以均輸困民； 董必肆酷，欲害流人以取悅； 李南公以反覆詭隨； 虞策以心持兩端； 郭知章迎合時好，且發實錄之誣。 觀諸人所學與其從政，已多可尚，何樂而為此惡哉？ 不過視一時君相之好尚，將以取富貴而已。 設使神宗如仁宗之治，哲、徽承之，必無紹述之禍，雖安石輩亦將有所薰陶，而未必肆其情以至是，況此諸人乎？ 世道汙隆，士習升降，係於人主一念慮之趣向，可不戒哉！ 可不懼哉！
Commentary: Emperor Shenzong had a temperament inclined toward grandeur and great deeds. When Wang Anshi and Lü Huiqing emerged and found favor with him, the poison spread and could not be checked. In the reigns of Zhezong and Huizong, power passed first to Cai Que, Zhang Dun, and Zeng Bu, then to Cai Jing and Cai Bian. Day by day the evil deepened, until the empire was lost. Many rose with the times and attached themselves to power—Cui Taifu and Yang Ji, who killed people through lawsuits; Lü Jiawen, who burdened the people with equalized transport; Dong Bi, who indulged in cruelty and sought to harm exiles in order to please his superiors; Li Nangong, with his shifting and opportunistic ways; Yu Ce, who kept a foot in both camps; Guo Zhizhang catered to the tastes of the time and moreover exposed the falsehoods in the Veritable Records. Judging by what these men had studied and how they had governed, much in them was already admirable. Why then did they take pleasure in such wickedness? They did nothing but read the preferences of the ruler and chief minister of the moment, seeking wealth and rank and nothing more. Had Shenzong ruled as Renzong had, and had Zhezong and Huizong inherited that example, there would have been no calamity of "continuation." Even men like Wang Anshi would have been shaped by such an example and might not have indulged their inclinations so far—much less these lesser figures. Whether the age's moral tide ebbs or flows, whether the habits of the scholar-official class rise or fall—all this hangs on the direction of a single thought in the sovereign's mind. Should this not give us pause! Should this not give us dread!