1
尤袤謝諤顏師魯袁樞李椿劉儀鳳張孝祥
You Mao, Xie E, Yan Shilu, Yuan Shu, Li Chun, Liu Yifeng, and Zhang Xiaoxiang
2
尤袤，字延之，常州無錫人。 少穎異，蔣偕、施坰呼為奇童。 入太學，以詞賦冠多士，尋冠南宮。 紹興十八年，擢進士第。 嘗為泰興令，問民疾苦，皆曰：「邵伯鎮置頓，為金使經行也，使率不受而空厲民。 漕司輸槁秸，致一束數十金。 二弊久莫之去。」 乃力請台閫奏免之。 縣舊有外城，屢殘於寇，頹毀甚，袤即修築。 已而金渝盟，陷揚州，獨泰興以有城得全。 後因事至舊治，吏民羅拜曰：「此吾父母也。」 為立生祠。
You Mao, whose courtesy name was Yanzhi, came from Wuxi in Changzhou. As a boy he showed unusual brilliance, and Jiang Xie and Shi Qiu hailed him as a wonder-child. After entering the Imperial University he led his peers in rhapsody and fu, and soon afterward ranked first in the palace examination. In 1148 he passed the jinshi examination. While magistrate of Taixing he inquired into local hardships; everyone told him that the relay post at Shaobo garrison existed for Jin envoys on the road, who routinely took nothing with them yet still drained the people dry. The transport commissioner supplied straw fodder at such cost that a single bundle ran to dozens of strings of cash. These two abuses had persisted for years with no one able to abolish them. He then pressed the regional authorities to memorialize the throne and have both practices abolished. The county still had an outer wall that bandits had battered again and again until it lay in ruins; Mao set about rebuilding it at once. Soon afterward the Jin broke the treaty and took Yangzhou, yet Taixing alone survived intact thanks to its fortifications. When he later returned on official business, clerks and commoners lined the road to bow and cried, "Here is our father and mother!" They erected a shrine to him in his lifetime.
3
注江陰學官，需次七年，為讀書計。 從臣以靖退薦，召除將作監簿。 大宗正闕丞，人爭求之，陳俊卿曰：「當予不求者。」 遂除袤。 虞允文以史事過三館，問誰可為秘書丞者，僉以袤對，亟授之。 張栻曰：「真秘書也。」 兼國史院編修官、實錄院檢討官，遷著作郎兼太子侍讀。
Posted as an educational officer at Jiangyin, he spent seven years awaiting appointment so that he could devote himself to reading. Court officials recommended him for his retiring manner, and he was summoned to serve as registrar in the Directorate of Palace Buildings. When the vice directorship of the Imperial Clan Court fell vacant, everyone scrambled for it; Chen Junqing said, "Give it to the man who is not scrambling." Mao received the appointment. When Yu Yunwen passed through the Three Institutes on historiographical business and asked who might serve as secretary director, everyone named Mao, and the appointment followed at once. Zhang Shi remarked, "Now there is a real secretary director." He also served as compiler in the National History Office and collator in the Veritable Records Office, and was promoted to Compiler while lecturing the crown prince.
4
先是，張栻說自閣門入西府，士論鼎沸，從臣因執奏而去者數十人，袤率三館上書諫，且不往見。 後說留身密奏，於是梁克家罷相，袤與秘書少監陳騤各與郡。 袤得台州，州五縣，有丁無產者輸二年丁稅，凡萬有三千家。 前守趙汝愚修郡城工才什三，屬袤成之。 袤按行前築，殊鹵莽，亟命更築，加高厚，數月而畢。 明年大水，更築之，墉正直水沖，城賴以不沒。
Earlier, when Zhang Shi entered the Western Secretariat through the Gate of Imperial Audience, opinion among scholars boiled over and dozens of attendant officials resigned in protest. Mao led the Three Institutes in a joint memorial of remonstrance and refused even to pay Zhang a visit. Later Zhang stayed behind for a secret audience; Liang Kejia was dismissed as chief councilor, and both Mao and Vice Director of the Palace Library Chen Gui were banished to prefectural posts. Mao was assigned to Taizhou, where in five counties more than thirteen thousand households with adult males but no land were paying two years' labor tax at once. His predecessor Zhao Ruyu had brought the prefectural wall only thirty percent toward completion, and Mao was told to finish the work. Inspecting what had been built, he found the work shockingly slipshod, ordered a full rebuild with added height and thickness, and finished within months. The next year a great flood struck; the rebuilt wall took the brunt of the current head-on, and the city was saved from drowning.
5
會有毀袤者，上疑之，使人密察，民誦其善政不絕口，乃錄其《東湖》四詩歸奏。 上讀而歎賞，遂以文字受知。 除淮東提舉常平，改江東。 江東旱，單車行部，核一路常平米，通融有無，以之振貸。
When slander reached the emperor, he grew suspicious and sent agents to investigate in secret; the people could not stop praising Mao's governance, so the agents copied his four "Eastern Lake" poems and brought them back to court. The emperor read them with admiration and thereafter came to value Mao for his literary gifts. He was made intendant of Ever-Normal Granaries in Huaidong, then transferred to Jiangdong. When drought struck Jiangdong he toured the circuit alone, audited Ever-Normal stores along the route, pooled surpluses and deficits, and used the grain for relief lending.
6
朱熹知南康，講荒政，下五等戶租五鬥以下悉蠲之，袤推行于諸郡，民無流殍。 進直秘閣，遷江西漕兼知隆興府。 屢請祠，進直敷文閣，改江東提刑。
When Zhu Xi governed Nanchang he preached famine relief and remitted all rent below five dou for the poorest households; Mao spread the practice through the prefectures so that no one was driven to wander and starve. He was promoted to attendant in the Privy Archives and made Jiangxi transport commissioner while also governing Longxing Prefecture. After repeatedly requesting a sinecure post he was advanced to attendant in the Hall for Spreading Literature and transferred to judicial commissioner in Jiangdong.
7
梁克家薦袤及鄭僑以言事去國，久於外，當召，上可之。 召對，言：「水旱之備惟常平、義倉，願預飭有司隨市價禁科抑，則人自樂輸，必易集事。」 除吏部郎官、太子侍講，累遷樞密檢正兼左諭德。 輸對，又申言民貧兵怨者甚切。
Liang Kejia recommended Mao and Zheng Qiao, who had left court after remonstrating and long served in the provinces; the emperor agreed they should be recalled. At audience he said, "Flood and drought preparedness depends on the Ever-Normal and Charity Granaries alone; instruct the responsible offices in advance to follow market prices and forbid forced levies and price suppression, and people will contribute willingly—the work will be easy to finish." He was made a bureau director in the Department of Personnel and lecturer to the crown prince, and rose step by step to rectifier in the Bureau of Military Affairs while also serving as left mentor to the heir apparent. In a submitted audience he again spoke with great urgency of the people's poverty and the soldiers' resentment.
8
夏旱，詔求闕失，袤上封事，大略言：「天地之氣，宣通則和，壅遏則乖； 人心舒暢則悅，抑鬱則憤。 催科峻急而農民怨； 關征苛察而商旅怨； 差注留滯，而士大夫有失職之怨； 廩給朘削，而士卒有不足之怨； 奏讞不時報，百久系囚者怨； 幽枉不獲伸，而負累者怨； 強暴殺人，多特貸命，使已死者怨； 有司買納，不即酬價，負販者怨。 人心抑鬱所以感傷天和者，豈特一事而已。 方今救荒之策，莫急於勸分，輸納既多，朝廷吝於推賞。 乞詔有司檢舉行之。」
During a summer drought the throne called for reports of oversights; Mao submitted a sealed memorial arguing in essence that Heaven and Earth's vital force flows harmoniously when unobstructed but turns discordant when blocked; that when hearts are at ease people are content, but when hearts are pent up they seethe with anger. Harsh tax collection breeds resentment among farmers; exacting tolls and levies breed resentment among merchants and travelers; stalled appointments breed resentment among scholar-officials who lose their posts; pared rations breed resentment among soldiers who go without enough; untimely rulings on cases breed resentment among prisoners long in chains; unredressed injustice breeds resentment among the falsely accused; commuted sentences for violent killers breed resentment even among the dead; delayed payment for goods the state requisitions breeds resentment among peddlers and small traders. The human heart's pent-up grief that disturbs Heaven's harmony is hardly confined to any one cause alone. Among famine policies today nothing is more urgent than encouraging mutual aid; though many have contributed, the court is reluctant to reward them. I beg that Your Majesty order the responsible offices to investigate and implement this."
9
高宗崩前一日，除太常少卿。 自南渡來，恤禮散失，事出倉卒，上下罔措，每有討論，悉付之袤，斟酌損益，便於今而不戾于古。
The day before Gaozong died, Mao was appointed vice minister of ceremonies. Since the court moved south, mourning rites had fallen into disarray; when Gaozong died everything happened in haste and no one knew what to do. Every question of ritual was left to Mao, who adjusted practice to suit the present without violating ancient precedent.
10
當定廟號，袤與禮官定號「高宗」，洪邁獨請號「世祖」。 袤率禮官顏師魯、鄭僑奏曰：「宗廟之制，祖有功，宗有德。 藝祖規創大業，為宋太祖，太宗混一區夏，為宋太宗，自真宗至欽宗，聖聖相傳，廟制一定，萬世不易。 在禮，子為父屈，示有尊也。 太上親為徽宗子，子為祖而父為宗，失昭穆之序。 議者不過以漢光武為比，光武以長沙王后，布衣崛起，不與哀、平相繼，其稱無嫌。 太上中興，雖同光武，然實繼徽宗正統，以子繼父，非光武比。 將來祔廟在徽宗下而稱祖，恐在天之靈有所不安。」 詔群臣集議，袤復上議如初，邁論遂屈。 詔從禮官議。 眾論紛然。 會禮部、太常寺亦同主「高宗」，謂本朝創業中興，皆在商丘，取「商高宗」，實為有證。 始詔從初議。 建議事堂，令皇太子參決庶務。 袤時兼侍讀，乃獻書，以為：「儲副之位，止於侍膳問安，不交外事； 撫軍監國，自漢至今，多出權宜。 乞便懇辭以彰殿下之令德。」
When the temple name was to be decided, Mao and the ritual officials favored "Gaozong," while Hong Mai alone argued for "Shizu." Mao led the ritual officials Yan Shilu and Zheng Qiao in a memorial: "In the ancestral temple system, zu honors merit and zong honors virtue. Taizu planned and founded the great enterprise as Song Taizu; Taizong unified the realm as Song Taizong; from Zhenzong through Qinzong sage succeeded sage—the temple system was fixed once for all and must never change. In ritual the son yields to the father, showing where honor is due. The Retired Emperor was Huizong's own son; to make the son zu and the father zong reverses the proper zhao-mu order. Advocates could only compare him to Han Guangwu, who rose from commoner status after the Prince of Changsha and did not succeed Emperors Ai and Ping directly—his title raised no objection. The Retired Emperor restored the dynasty; though the case resembles Guangwu's, he in fact continued Huizong's legitimate line as son succeeding father—not a parallel to Guangwu at all. If he is later enshrined below Huizong yet called zu, I fear his spirit in Heaven will not rest easy." The emperor ordered the ministers to debate the matter; Mao restated his original argument, and Mai's position was defeated. An edict followed the ritual officials' view. Opinion at court remained divided. Then the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices also backed "Gaozong," noting that both the dynasty's founding and its restoration were linked to Shangqiu and that the Shang ruler Gaozong offered genuine precedent. Only then did an edict adopt the original proposal. At the Council Chamber it was proposed that the crown prince take part in deciding routine affairs of state. Mao, then also lecturing the heir apparent, submitted a letter arguing that the crown prince's proper role was limited to attending meals and inquiring after his father's health and should not extend to outside affairs; that commanding armies and overseeing the realm, from Han times to the present, has almost always been an expedient born of crisis. He begged the crown prince to decline promptly so as to display his own fine virtue."
11
台臣乞定喪制，袤奏：「釋老之教，矯誣褻瀆，非所以嚴宮禁、崇几筵，宜一切禁止。」 靈駕將發引，忽定配享之議，洪邁請用呂頤浩、韓世忠、趙鼎、張俊。 袤言：「祖宗典故，既祔然後議配享，今忽定於靈駕發引一日前，不集眾論，懼無以厭伏勳臣子孫之心。 宜反覆熟議，以俟論定。」 奏入，詔未預議官詳議以聞，繼寢之，卒用四人者。 時楊萬里亦謂張浚當配食，爭之不從，補外。 進袤權禮部侍郎兼同修國史侍講，又兼直學士院。 力辭，上聽免直院。
When censors asked that mourning regulations be fixed, Mao memorialized that Buddhist and Daoist rites were deceptive and profane, unfit for tightening palace discipline and honoring the spirit tablets, and should be forbidden altogether. Just as the imperial coffin was about to leave the palace, the question of joint spirit-tablet worship was suddenly decided; Hong Mai proposed Lü Yihao, Han Shizhong, Zhao Ding, and Zhang Jun. Mao objected that ancestral precedent called for debating joint worship only after enshrinement, yet the court had fixed the list a day before the procession without broad consultation, which might not satisfy the descendants of meritorious ministers. He urged repeated deliberation until opinion settled. The memorial was received and an edict called for further deliberation by officials who had not yet spoken; the order was then shelved, and in the end the four were adopted. Yang Wanli also argued that Zhang Jun should receive joint worship; overruled, he was sent to a post outside the capital. Mao was promoted to acting vice minister of rites while also associate compiler of the national history and lecturer, and concurrently attendant of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies. He pressed to decline, and the emperor released him from the Academy post.
12
淳熙十四年，將有事於明堂，詔議升配，袤主紹興孫近、陳公輔之說，謂：「方在几筵，不可配帝，且曆舉郊歲在喪服中者凡四，惟元祐明堂用呂大防請，升配神考，時去大祥止百餘日，且祖宗悉用以日易月之制，故升侑無嫌。 今陛下行三年之喪，高宗雖已祔廟，百官猶未吉服，詎可近違紹興而遠法元祐升侑之禮？ 請俟喪畢議之。」 詔可。
In 1187, as preparations began for the Hall of Enlightened Rule ceremony, the throne called for debate on ascending joint worship; Mao followed Sun Jin and Chen Gongfu of the Shaoxing reign, arguing that while mourning tablets still stood one could not worship alongside the Thearch, that of four suburban years spent in mourning dress only the Yuanyou ceremony, on Lü Dagui's petition, had elevated Shenzong—and then only because a little more than a hundred days remained before great mourning ended and ancestors had all used the practice of substituting days for months. Now Your Majesty is observing three years' mourning; though Gaozong has been enshrined, officials have not yet donned auspicious dress—how can we set aside recent Shaoxing precedent to follow distant Yuanyou practice? He asked that the question be deferred until mourning ended. The edict approved his view.
13
孝宗嘗論人才，袤奏曰：「近召趙汝愚，中外皆喜，如王蘭亦望收召。」 上曰：「然。」 一日論事久，上曰：「如卿才識，近世罕有。」 次日語宰執曰：「尤袤甚好，前此無一人言之，何也？」 兼權中書舍人，復詔兼直學士院，力辭，且薦陸遊自代，上不許。 時內禪議已定，猶未論大臣也。 是日諭袤曰：「旦夕制冊甚多，非卿孰能為者，故處卿以文字之職。」 袤乃拜命，內禪一時制冊，人服其雅正。
When Xiaozong once discussed talent, Mao memorialized that the recent recall of Zhao Ruyu had delighted court and country alike, and that Wang Lan too deserved recall. The emperor said, "So be it." One day, after a long discussion of affairs, the emperor said, "Talent and insight like yours are rarely seen in recent times." The next day he told the chief councilors, "You Mao is excellent—why has no one spoken of him until now?" He was also made acting palace secretariat drafter; when again ordered to serve in the Academy he declined and recommended Lu You to replace him, but the emperor refused. By then the plan for the emperor's abdication was settled, though the chief ministers had not yet been chosen. That day he told Mao, "Many edicts and ordinances will be needed at once—who but you can draft them? That is why I keep you in a literary post." Mao accepted the charge, and the abdication documents he drafted at once won admiration for their elegant correctness.
14
紹熙元年，起知婺州，改太平州，除煥章閣待制，召除給事中。 既就職，即昌言曰：「老矣，無所補報。 凡貴近營求內除小礙法制者，雖特旨令書請，有去而已，必不奉詔。」 甫數日，中貴四人希賞，欲自正使轉橫行，袤繳奏者三，竟格不下。
In 1190 he was appointed prefect of Wuzhou, transferred to Taiping Prefecture, made awaiting draft in the Hall of Glorious Culture, and summoned as supervising secretary. On taking office he declared openly, "I am old and have little left to offer the throne. Whenever powerful favorites sought palace appointments that bent the rules, even under special edict ordering me to draft the request, I would resign rather than obey—and I mean it." Within days four palace favorites sought rewards, asking to advance from regular commissioner to transverse commissioner; Mao returned the draft three times, and it was blocked in the end.
15
兼侍講，入對，言：「願上謹天戒，下畏物情，內正一心，外正五事，澄神寡欲，保毓太和，虛己任賢，酬酢庶務。 不在於勞精神、耗思慮、屑屑事為之末也。」
Also lecturing the heir apparent, he said at audience, "May Your Majesty heed Heaven's warnings above and fear the people's feelings below; rectify your inner heart and outward conduct; clarify the spirit, lessen desires, and preserve the Great Harmony; empty yourself and employ the worthy; and respond to the myriad tasks of state. It does not lie in wearing out your spirit and thought on petty busywork."
16
陳源除在京宮觀，耶律適嘿除承宣使，陸安轉遙郡，王成特補官，謝淵、李孝友賞轉官，吳元充、夏永壽遷秩，皆論駁之，上並聽納。
He debated and rejected appointments for Chen Yuan to a capital sinecure, Yelü Shihe as commissioner-in-ordinary, Lu An's transfer to a distant prefecture, Wang Cheng's special supplemental post, reward promotions for Xie Yuan and Li Xiaoyou, and rank advances for Wu Yuancong and Xia Yongshou—and the emperor accepted his objections in every case.
17
韓侂胄以武功大夫、和州防禦使用應辦賞直轉橫行，袤繳奏，謂：「正使有止法，可回授不可直轉。 侂胄勳賢之後，不宜首壞國法，開攀援之門。」 奏入，手詔令書行，袤復奏：「侂胄四年間已轉二十七年合轉之官，今又欲超授四階，復轉二十年之官，是朝廷官爵專徇侂胄之求，非所以為摩厲之具也。」 命遂格。
Han Tuozhou, as Martial Achievement Grandee and defense commissioner of Hezhou, used his supply-duty reward quota to seek promotion to transverse commissioner; Mao returned the draft, saying that regular commissioners had a statutory ceiling—reassignment was permitted, direct promotion was not. As descendant of meritorious ministers, Tuozhou should not be the first to break state law and open the door to patronage. When the memorial arrived, a hand edict ordered it drafted and issued; Mao memorialized again that in four years Tuozhou had already received promotions worth twenty-seven years of regular advancement, and now sought four ranks beyond rule plus twenty more years' worth of offices—that court rank would serve Tuozhou alone, not the means to encourage merit. The order was blocked.
18
上以疾，一再不省重華宮，袤上封事曰：「壽皇事高宗曆二十八年如一日，陛下所親見，今不待倦勤以宗社付陛下，當思所以不負其托，望勿憚一日之勤，以解都人之惑。」 後數日，駕即過重華宮。
Citing illness, the emperor repeatedly failed to visit Chonghua Palace; Mao submitted a sealed memorial: "Shouhuang served Gaozong for twenty-eight years with unwavering devotion—Your Majesty saw this yourself. He has entrusted the realm to you before growing weary in office; think how not to betray that trust, and do not shrink from even one day's effort to quiet the capital's doubts." A few days later the emperor went to Chonghua Palace.
19
侍御史林大中以論事左遷，袤率左史樓鑰論奏，疏入，不報，皆封駁不書黃。 耶律適嘿復以手除詔承宣使，一再繳奏，輒奉內批，特與書行。 袤言：「天下者祖宗之天下，爵祿者祖宗之爵祿，壽皇以祖宗之天下傳陛下，安可私用祖宗爵祿而加於公議不允之人哉？」 疏入，上震怒，裂去後奏，付前二奏出。 袤以後奏不報，使吏收閣，命遂不行。
When Attending Censor Lin Dazhong was demoted for remonstrating, Mao led Left Historiographer Lou Yue in a joint memorial; it received no response, and they sealed and rejected subsequent drafts without signing the yellow edict. Yelü Shihe again received a hand appointment as commissioner-in-ordinary; Mao returned the draft repeatedly, but each time an inner endorsement ordered it drafted and issued anyway. Mao said, "The realm belongs to the ancestors, and rank and stipend belong to the ancestors. Shouhuang passed the ancestors' realm to Your Majesty—how can you privately bestow the ancestors' offices and stipends on someone public opinion rejects?" When the memorial arrived, the emperor flew into a rage, tore up the latest submission, and ordered the first two drafts issued. When the later memorial went unanswered, Mao had clerks collect and shelve it, and the order never took effect.
20
中宮謁家廟，官吏推賞者百七十有二人，袤力言其濫，乞痛裁節，上從之。 嘗因登對，專論廢法用例之弊，至是復申言之。 除禮部尚書。 駕當詣重華宮，復以疾不出，率同列奏言：「壽皇有免到宮之命，願力請而往，庶幾可以慰釋群疑，增光孝治。」 後三日，駕隨出，中外歡呼。
When the empress visited the clan temple, officials recommended rewards for 172 people; Mao protested that the list was excessive and begged sharp cuts, and the emperor agreed. He had once devoted an audience to the abuse of setting law aside in favor of precedent; now he raised the point again. He was appointed minister of rites. When the emperor was to visit Chonghua Palace he again pleaded illness and stayed away; Mao led his colleagues in a memorial: "Shouhuang has granted exemption from visiting the palace, but I beg you to press earnestly to go, so that you may ease widespread doubts and lend luster to filial rule." Three days later the emperor went out after all, and court and country erupted in cheers.
21
兼侍讀，上封事曰：「近年以來，給舍、台諫論事，往往不行，如黃裳、鄭汝諧事遷延一月，如陳源者奉祠，人情固已驚愕，至薑特立召，尤為駭聞。 向特立得志之時，昌言台諫皆其門人，竊弄威福，一旦斥去，莫不誦陛下英斷。 今遽召之，自古去小人甚難，譬除蔓草，猶且復生，況加封植乎？ 若以源、特立有勞，優以外任，或加錫齎，無所不可。 彼其閑廢已久，含憤蓄怨，待此而發，儻復呼之，必將潛引黨類，力排異己，朝廷無由安靜。」
Also lecturing the heir apparent, he submitted a sealed memorial: "In recent years remonstrances from supervising secretaries and censors have often been ignored—Huang Shang's and Zheng Ruhe's cases dragged on for a month; Chen Yuan was given a temple appointment, which already shocked opinion; but the recall of Jiang Teli is especially alarming. When Teli was in power he boasted that censors were all his disciples and secretly wielded authority; when you drove him out, everyone praised your decisive judgment. To recall him now is perilous: removing petty men has always been hard, like clearing weeds that grow back—how much worse if you cultivate them again? If Yuan and Teli have earned favor, reward them with outside posts or gifts—anything but recall to court. They have long brooded in disgrace, nursing grievances for this moment; if you call them back they will surely recruit factions and drive out rivals, and the court will never know peace."
22
時上已屬疾，國事多舛，袤積憂成疾，請告，不報。 疾篤乞致仕，又不服，遂卒，年七十。 遺奏大略勸上以孝事兩宮，以勤康庶政，察邪佞，護善類。 又口占遺書別政府。 明年，轉正奉大夫致仕。 贈金紫光祿大夫。
The emperor was already seriously ill and state affairs were in disarray; Mao's worries turned to illness; he requested leave but received no answer. When his illness grew grave he begged to retire, was again refused, and died at seventy. His final memorial urged the emperor to serve both palaces filially, work diligently at governance, discern the wicked, and protect good men. He also dictated a farewell letter to the Council. The next year he was posthumously granted retirement as Grandee of Court. He was posthumously ennobled as Grandee of the Gold Seal and Purple Ribbon.
23
袤少從喻樗、汪應辰遊。 樗學于楊時，時，程頤高弟也。 方乾道、淳熙間，程氏學稍振，忌之者目為道學，將攻之。 袤在掖垣，首言：「夫道學者，堯、舜所以帝，禹、湯、武所以王，周公、孔、孟所以設教。 近立此名，詆訾士君子，故臨財不苟得所謂廉介，安貧守分所謂恬退，擇言顧行所謂踐履，行己有恥所謂名節，皆目之為道學。 此名一立，賢人君子欲自見於世，一舉足且入其中，俱無得免，此豈盛世所宜有？ 願徇名必責其實，聽言必觀其行，人才庶不壞於疑似。」 孝宗曰：「道學豈不美之名，正恐假託為奸，使真偽相亂爾。 待付出戒敕之。」 袤死數年，侂胄擅國，於是禁錮道學，賢士大夫皆受其禍，識者以袤為知言。
In youth Mao studied under Yu Chu and Wang Yingchen. Chu had studied under Yang Shi, a leading disciple of Cheng Yi. During the Qiandao and Chunxi reigns Cheng learning revived somewhat; envious critics labeled it "Daoxue" and prepared to attack it. While in the palace secretariat Mao was the first to say: "Daoxue is what made Yao and Shun emperors, Yu, Tang, and Wu kings, and the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, and Mencius teachers of the realm. Recently this label has been used to slander gentlemen—integrity in refusing ill-gotten wealth, quiet withdrawal in accepting poverty, careful speech and conduct, shame in one's own behavior—all are called Daoxue. Once this label exists, any worthy man who steps forward falls under suspicion—can a flourishing age afford that? I beg that names be tested by deeds and words by conduct, so talent is not destroyed by mere suspicion." Xiaozong said, "Daoxue is a fine name—but I fear men will borrow it for treachery and blur truth and falsehood. He ordered a prohibitory edict drafted." Years after Mao's death Tuozhou seized power, proscribed Daoxue, and worthy officials suffered—those with insight judged Mao prescient.
24
嘗取孫綽《遂初賦》以自號，光宗書扁賜之。 有《遂初小稿》六十卷、《內外制》三十卷。 嘉定五年，諡文簡。 子棐、概。 孫焴，禮部尚書。
He styled himself after Sun Chuo's "Rhapsody on First Retirement," and Guangzong wrote a plaque and bestowed it on him. His works included Drafts of First Retirement in sixty juan and Inner and Outer Edicts in thirty juan. In 1212 he received the posthumous title Wénjiǎn (Cultivated and Simple). His sons were Fei and Gai. His grandson Yu became minister of rites.
25
謝諤，字昌國，臨江軍新喻人。 幼敏惠，日記千言，為文立成。 紹興二十七年，中進士第，調峽州夷陵縣主簿，未上，撫之樂安多盜，監司檄諤攝尉，條二十策，大要使其徒相糾而以信賞隨之，群盜果解散。 金渝盟，諸軍往來境上，選行縣事，有治辦聲。
Xie E, whose courtesy name was Changguo, came from Xinyu in Linjiang Circuit. As a boy he was quick and clever, memorized a thousand characters a day, and could compose essays at once. In 1157 he passed the jinshi examination and was assigned as chief clerk of Yiling in Xia Prefecture; before reporting he was ordered to act as sheriff in Le'an, Fu Circuit, where bandits were numerous. He drafted twenty measures, chiefly to set bandits informing on one another with reliable rewards and punishments, and the gangs dispersed. When the Jin broke the treaty and armies crossed the border, he was chosen to handle county affairs and earned a reputation for effective administration.
26
改吉州錄事參軍。 囚死者舊瘞以鞂，往往暴骨。 諤白郡，取船官棄材以棺斂之。 郡民陳氏僮竊其篋以逃，有匿之者。 陳于官，詞過其實，反為匿僮者所誣。 帥龔茂良怒，欲坐以罪，諤為書白茂良，陳氏獲免，茂良亦以是知之。
He was transferred to judicial administrator of Ji Prefecture. Dead prisoners had been buried in matting, and their bones were often left exposed. E reported to the prefecture, took discarded timber from the shipping office, and gave the dead proper coffin burial. A servant of the Chen family stole their strongbox and fled, and someone hid him. Chen reported to the authorities, but his account exaggerated the facts, and the man who hid the servant turned the charge back on him. Commander Gong Maoliang was furious and meant to punish Chen; E wrote to explain, Chen was spared, and Maoliang came to know E's worth.
27
歲大侵，饑民萬余求廩，官吏罔措。 諤植五色旗，分部給糶，頃刻而定。 知袁州分宜縣。 縣積負於郡數十萬，歲常賦外，又征緡錢二萬餘，諤乃疏其弊于諸監司，請免之。 以母憂去。 尋丁父憂，服闋，除幹辦行在諸司糧料院。 遷國子監簿，尋擢監察御史。 奏減袁州分宜、秀州華亭月樁錢。
In a year of severe famine more than ten thousand starving people sought grain while officials stood helpless. E raised five-colored flags, divided districts, and issued relief grain; order was restored in moments. He became magistrate of Fenyi in Yuan Prefecture. The county owed the prefecture hundreds of thousands in accumulated debt and paid more than twenty thousand cash beyond the annual levy; E reported the abuses to supervisory officials and sought exemption. He left office to mourn his mother. Soon after he mourned his father; when mourning ended he was appointed administrator in the Capital Commissariat for grain and forage. He became registrar of the Directorate of Education and soon investigating censor. He memorialized to reduce the monthly assessment levies on Fenyi in Yuan Prefecture and Huating in Xiu Prefecture.
28
諤裏居時，創義役法，編為一書，至是上之。 詔行其法于諸路，民以為便。
While living at home he devised a voluntary labor-service law and compiled it into a book, which he now submitted. An edict ordered it implemented in all circuits, to the people's satisfaction.
29
遷侍御史，再遷右諫議大夫兼侍講。 講《尚書》，言於上曰：「《書》，治道之本，故觀經者當以《書》為本。」 上曰：「朕最喜伊尹、傅說所學，得事君之道。」 諤曰：「伊、傅固然，非成湯、武丁信用之，亦安能致治！」 因論及邊事，上有乘機會之諭，諤曰：「機會雖不可失，舉事亦不可輕。」 上嘗問曰：「聞卿與郭雍遊，雍學問甚好，豈曾見程頤乎？」 諤奏：「雍父忠孝嘗事頤，雍蓋得其傳于父。」 上遂封雍為頤正先生。
He became attending censor, then right remonstrator while also lecturing the heir apparent. Lecturing on the Documents, he told the emperor, "The Documents are the root of governance; anyone studying the classics should begin there." The emperor said, "I delight most in what Yi Yin and Fu Yue taught—the way of serving one's ruler." E replied, "Yi and Fu are surely admirable—but without Cheng Tang and Wu Ding trusting and employing them, how could they have brought order?" They turned to border affairs; when the emperor spoke of seizing opportunity, E said, "Opportunity must not be missed, but action must not be rash either." The emperor once asked, "I hear you studied with Guo Yong, whose learning is excellent—did he ever meet Cheng Yi?" E answered, "Yong's father Zhongxiao once studied under Yi; Yong inherited the tradition from his father." The emperor then ennobled Yong as Master Yizheng.
30
光宗登極，獻十箴，又論二節三近：所當節者曰宴飲，曰妄費； 所當近者曰執政大臣，曰舊學名儒，曰經筵列職。 除御史中丞，權工部尚書。 請祠，以煥章閣直學士知泉州，又辭，提舉太平興國宮而歸。 紹熙五年，卒，年七十四，贈通議大夫。
When Guangzong ascended the throne he presented ten admonitions and discussed two restraints and three closenesses: restrain feasting and reckless spending; draw near chief ministers, renowned old scholars, and lecturers at the classics mat. He was appointed censor-in-chief and acting minister of works. He requested a sinecure, was made academician of the Hall of Glorious Culture and prefect of Quanzhou, declined again, and returned as intendant of the Taiping Xingguo Palace. He died in 1194 at seventy-four and was posthumously ennobled as Master of Court Discussion.
31
諤為文仿歐陽修、曾鞏。 初居縣南之竹坡，名其燕坐曰艮齋，人稱艮齋先生。 周必大薦士，及諤姓名，孝宗曰：「是謂艮齋者耶？ 朕見其《性學淵源》五卷而得之」云。
His prose imitated Ouyang Xiu and Zeng Gong. He first lived at Bamboo Slope south of the county, named his study the Gen Studio, and was known as Master Gen Studio. When Zhou Bida recommended scholars and E's name appeared, Xiaozong said, "Is this the man they call Master Gen Studio? I learned of him from his five-juan Origins of the Learning of Nature," he said."
32
顏師魯
Yan Shilu
33
顏師魯，字幾聖，漳州龍溪人。 紹興中，擢進士第，曆知莆田、福清縣。 嘗決水利滯訟，辟陂洫綿四十里。 歲大侵，發廩勸分有方而不遏糴價，船粟畢湊，市糴更平。 鄭伯熊為常平使，薦于朝，帥陳俊卿尤器重之。 召為官告院，遷國子丞，除江東提舉。 時天雨土，日青無光，都人相驚，師魯陛辭，言：「田裏未安，犴獄未清，政令未當，忠邪未辨，天不示變，人主何繇省悟！ 願詔中外，極陳得失，求所以答天戒，銷患未形。」 上韙其言。
Yan Shilu, whose courtesy name was Jisheng, came from Longxi in Zhang Prefecture. During the Shaoxing reign he passed the jinshi examination and served successively as magistrate of Putian and Fuqing. He once cleared backlog in water-rights lawsuits and opened irrigation works stretching forty li. In famine he opened granaries and encouraged sharing without suppressing grain prices; grain boats converged and market prices stabilized. Zheng Boxiong, as Ever-Normal intendant, recommended him to court, and Commander Chen Junqing especially valued him. He was summoned to the Office of Official Announcements, became vice director of the Directorate of Education, and was appointed Jiangdong intendant. When earth rained from the sky, the sun turned dim and greenish, and the capital panicked, Shilu took leave of audience and said, "The countryside is unsettled, prisons uncleared, policies awry, loyal and wicked undistinguished—if Heaven shows no sign, how can the ruler awaken? I beg that Your Majesty order court and provinces to state gains and losses fully, answer Heaven's warning, and dissolve disaster before it forms." The emperor approved his words.
34
尋改使浙西。 役法敝甚，細民至以雞豚罌榻折產力，遇役輒破家。 師魯下教屬邑，預正流水籍，稽其役之序，寬比限，免代輸，咸便安之。 鹽課歲百钜萬，本錢久不給，亭灶私鬻，禁不可止，刑辟日繁。 師魯撙帑緡，盡償宿負，戒官吏毋侵移，比旁路課獨最。 上謂執政曰：「儒生能辦事如此。」 予職直秘閣。 農民有墾曠土成田未及受租者，奸豪多為己利，師魯奏：「但當正其租賦，不應繩以盜種法，失劭農重本意。」 奏可，遂著為令。
He was soon transferred to commissioner for Zhexi. The labor-service law had decayed so badly that commoners sold chickens, pigs, and household goods to meet levies and were ruined whenever corvée fell due. Shilu ordered subordinate counties to rectify household registers, set the order of service, broaden deadlines, and exempt substitute payments, to everyone's relief. Salt revenue ran to millions yearly, but capital went unpaid for years; salterns sold privately despite prohibition, and penal cases multiplied daily. Shilu economized treasury funds, repaid all old debts, forbade officials from diverting revenue, and alone among neighboring circuits met his salt quota fully. The emperor told the chief ministers, "A Confucian scholar can administer like this." He was made attendant in the Privy Archives. When farmers reclaimed wasteland before rent was assessed, powerful families often seized the benefit; Shilu memorialized that rent should simply be assessed properly rather than punishing them under laws on illicit cultivation, which betrayed the policy of encouraging farming. The memorial was approved and written into law.
35
入為監察御史，遇事盡言，無所阿撓。 有自外府得內殿宣引，且將補御史闕員，師魯亟奏：「宋璟召自廣州，道中不與楊思勖交一談。 李鄘恥為吐突承璀所薦，堅辭相位不拜。 士大夫未論其才，立身之節，當以璟、鄘為法。 今其人朋邪為跡，人所切齒，縱朝廷乏才，寧少此輩乎？ 臣雖不肖，羞與為伍。」 命乃寢。 繼累章論除職帥藩者：「比年好進之徒，平時交結權幸，一紆郡紱，皆掊克以厚包苴，故昔以才稱，後以貪敗。」 上出其疏袖中，行之。
He entered court as investigating censor and spoke his mind on every issue without flinching. When a man from an outside prefecture received inner-hall audience and was about to fill a censor vacancy, Shilu urgently memorialized: "Song Jing was summoned from Guangzhou and would not speak a word with Yang Sixu on the road. Li Yong was ashamed to be recommended by Tuoba Chengkan and firmly refused the chief councilorship. Before judging talent, gentlemen should take Jing and Yong as models of personal integrity. This man's factional wickedness is notorious; even if the court lacks talent, can we afford men like him? Though I am unworthy, I would be ashamed to keep his company." The appointment was then withdrawn. He followed with repeated memorials urging the removal of officials who combined civil posts with command of military districts: "In recent years office-seekers cultivate ties with powerful favorites; once they take up a prefectural post, they squeeze the people to fill their purses with bribes. Men once praised for talent end in disgrace for greed. The emperor produced the memorial from his sleeve and put it into effect.
36
十年，繇太府少卿為國子祭酒。 初，上諭執政擇老成端重者表率太學，故有是命。 首奏：「宜講明理學，嚴禁穿鑿，俾廉恥興而風俗厚。」 師魯學行素孚規約，率以身先，與諸生言，孳孳以治己立誠為本，藝尤異者必加獎勸，由是人知飭勵。 上聞之喜曰：「顏師魯到學未久，規矩甚肅。」 除禮部侍郎，尋兼吏部。
In the tenth year of the reign he was transferred from vice minister of the Court of Imperial Treasury to director of the Directorate of Education. The emperor had told the chief ministers to choose a mature, dignified man to lead the Imperial University by example, and this appointment followed. In his first memorial he said, "The classics of principle should be taught clearly and forced, far-fetched interpretations forbidden, so that integrity flourishes and public morals are strengthened. Shilu had long lived up to the academy's standards and led by example. He urged students tirelessly to cultivate themselves and keep faith, rewarded exceptional talent, and soon the whole school knew discipline. When the emperor heard of this he said with pleasure, "Yan Shilu has not been at the academy long, yet discipline there is already very strict. He was appointed vice minister of rites and soon also served in the Ministry of Personnel.
37
有旨改官班，特免引見。 師魯獻規曰：「祖宗法度不可輕馳，願始終持久，自強不息。」 因言：「賜帶多濫，應奉微勞，皆得橫金預外朝廷會，如觀瞻何？ 且臣下非時之賜，過於優隆； 梵舍不急之役，亦加錫齎。 雖南帑封樁不與大農經費，然無功勞而概與之，是棄之也。 萬一有為國制變禦侮，建功立事者，將何以旌寵之？」 高宗喪制，一時典禮多師魯裁定，又與禮官尤袤、鄭僑上議廟號，語在《袤傳》。
An edict altered his rank sequence and specially exempted him from the customary audience presentation. Shilu offered counsel: "The laws and institutions of our ancestors must not be lightly abandoned. I pray Your Majesty will uphold them to the end and never cease to strengthen yourself. He went on: "Imperial sashes are handed out too freely. Men who perform minor service on imperial errands all wear gold insignia and join outer-court assemblies—what does this do to the court's dignity? Untimely gifts to officials are already far too generous; even non-urgent work at Buddhist monasteries receives imperial grants. Though the southern sealed treasury is separate from the Ministry of Revenue's budget, to hand out its funds without regard to merit is simply to waste them. If someday a man truly reforms the state, repels the enemy, and wins lasting achievement, how will Your Majesty reward him? During the mourning rites for Gaozong, Shilu decided most of the ceremonial arrangements. He also joined ritual officials You Mao and Zheng Qiao in memorializing on the temple name; that account appears in You Mao's biography.
38
詔充遺留禮信使。 初，顯仁遺留使至金，必令簪花聽樂。 師魯陛辭，言：「國勢今非昔比，金人或強臣非禮，誓以死守。」 沿途宴設，力請徹樂。 至燕山，復辭簪花執射。 時孝宗以孝聞，師魯據經陳誼，反復慷慨，故金終不能奪。
He was ordered to serve as emissary on the annual leftover-tribute mission. Previously, when emissaries of the leftover-tribute mission for Empress Xianren reached Jin territory, the Jurchens always required them to wear flowers in their hair and listen to music. Taking leave of the throne, Shilu said, "Our national strength is not what it once was. If the Jurchens or their powerful ministers treat me discourteously, I swear I will die rather than submit. At every banquet along the route he firmly asked that the music be stopped. At Yan Mountain he again refused to wear flowers or take part in the archery display. Xiaozong was then renowned for filial piety. Shilu appealed to the classics with repeated, passionate argument, and in the end the Jurchens could not force him.
39
遷吏部侍郎，尋除吏部尚書兼侍講，屢抗章請老，以龍圖閣直學士知泉州。 台諫、侍從相繼拜疏，引唐孔戣事以留行。 內引，奏言：「願親賢積學，以崇聖德，節情制欲，以養清躬。」 在泉因任，凡閱三年，專以恤民寬屬邑為政，始至即蠲舶貨，諸商賈胡尤服其清。 再起知泉州，以紹熙四年卒於家，年七十五。
He became vice minister of personnel, then minister of personnel and lecturer-in-waiting. After repeated requests to retire, he was made Dragon Hall attendant academician and prefect of Quanzhou. Censors, remonstrators, and attendants-in-waiting submitted memorial after memorial, citing the Tang official Kong Kui's case in asking him to stay at court. At a private audience he said, "I pray Your Majesty will keep company with the worthy, continue learning, and thereby exalt your sage virtue; restrain passion and desire, and thereby preserve your pure self. He served out a full three-year term at Quanzhou, governing with a single aim of easing the people's burdens and loosening control over subordinate districts. As soon as he arrived he remitted maritime trade levies, and merchants and foreign traders especially respected his integrity. Recalled again to govern Quanzhou, he died at home in the fourth year of Shaoxi at the age of seventy-five.
40
師魯自幼莊重若成人，孝友天至。 初為番禺簿，喪父以歸，扶柩航海，水程數千里，甫三日登於岸，而颶風大作，人以為孝感。 常曰：「窮達自有定分，枉道希世，徒喪所守。」 故其大節確如金石，雖動與俗情不合，而終翕然信服。 嘉泰二年，詔特賜諡曰定肅。
From childhood Shilu was as grave as a grown man, and filial devotion came to him by nature. When he first served as registrar of Panyu, his father died and he sailed home with the coffin over thousands of li of open water. He had been ashore only three days when a great hurricane struck, and people called it Heaven's response to filial piety. He often said, "Success and failure have their allotted measure. To bend principle and court the world only throws away what one stands for. His great integrity was as firm as metal and stone. Though his conduct often ran against popular sentiment, in the end everyone submitted to him in trust. In the second year of Jiatai an edict specially granted him the posthumous title Ding Su, "Settled and Stern."
41
袁樞，字機仲，建之建安人。 幼力學，嘗以《修身為弓賦》試國子監，周必大、劉珙皆期以遠器。 試禮部，詞賦第一人，調溫州判官，教授興化軍。
Yuan Shu, whose courtesy name was Jizhong, came from Jian'an in Jian Prefecture. As a boy he studied hard. When he submitted his rhapsody "Self-Cultivation as a Bow" at the Imperial University, Zhou Bida and Liu Hong both marked him as a man of far-reaching promise. In the Ministry of Rites examination he ranked first in rhapsody and fu, was assigned as judicial intendant of Wenzhou, and served as instructor at Xinghua Army.
42
乾道七年，為禮部試官，就除太學錄，輪對三疏，一論開言路以養忠孝之氣，二論規恢復當圖萬全，三論士大夫多虛誕、僥榮利。 張說自閣門以節鉞簽樞密，樞方與學省同僚共論之，上雖容納而色不怡。 樞退詣宰相，示以奏疏，且曰：「公不恥與噲等伍邪？」 虞允文愧甚。 樞即求外補，出為嚴州教授。
In the seventh year of Qiandao he served as examiner for the Ministry of Rites and was then appointed recorder of the Imperial University. In rotation audience he submitted three memorials: one urging open channels of remonstrance to nourish loyalty and filial duty; one arguing that plans for recovery must aim at complete security; and one lamenting that many gentlemen were empty and pretentious, grasping after rank and profit. When Zhang Yue was transferred from the Gate Control Office to sign the Military Affairs Commission with a commander's seal, Shu was discussing the appointment with colleagues in the academic offices. The emperor accepted their views but looked displeased. Shu went to the chief councilor, showed him the memorial, and said, "Are you not ashamed to keep company with men like Fan Kuai? Yu Yunwen was deeply shamed. Shu immediately sought a provincial post and was sent out as instructor at Yanzhou.
43
樞常喜誦司馬光《資治通鑒》，苦其浩博，乃區別其事而貫通之，號《通鑒紀事本末》。 參知政事龔茂良得其書，奏於上，孝宗讀而嘉歎，以賜東宮及分賜江上諸帥，且令熟讀，曰：「治道盡在是矣。」
Shu loved to read Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government but found it unwieldy in its scope. He rearranged it by event into a connected narrative and called the work Events in Their Entirety Based on the Comprehensive Mirror. Vice grand councilor Gong Maoliang obtained the book and presented it to the throne. Xiaozong read it with admiration, had copies sent to the crown prince and distributed to commanders along the Yangzi, and ordered them to study it closely, saying, "The way of governance is all here."
44
他日，上問袁樞今何官，茂良以實對，上曰：「可與寺監簿。」 於是以大宗正簿召登對，即因史書以言曰：「臣竊聞陛下嘗讀《通鑒》，屢有訓詞，見諸葛亮論兩漢所以興衰，有'小人不可不去'之戒，大哉王言，垂法萬世。」 遂曆陳往事，自漢武而下至唐文宗偏聽奸佞，致於禍亂。 且曰：「固有詐偽而似誠實，憸佞而似忠鯁者，苟陛下日與圖事於帷幄中，進退天下士，臣恐必為朝廷累。」 上顧謂曰：「朕不至與此曹圖事帷幄中。」 樞謝曰：「陛下之言及此，天下之福也。」
On another day the emperor asked what post Yuan Shu presently held. Maoliang answered truthfully, and the emperor said, "Give him a registrar post in one of the directorates or commissions. He was then summoned to audience as chief registrar of the Great Ancestral Affairs Office and spoke from history: "I have heard that when Your Majesty read the Comprehensive Mirror you often drew lessons from it. Zhuge Liang's account of why the two Han dynasties rose and fell warns that petty men must not be kept in office. What sage words—laws for ten thousand generations. He then reviewed past reigns from Han Wudi down to Tang Wenzong, showing how partial trust in treacherous flatterers had led to disaster. He added, "There are deceivers who seem honest and flatterers who seem bluntly loyal. If Your Majesty daily plotted policy with such men behind closed doors and decided the fate of officials across the realm, I fear they would become a grave burden on the court. The emperor turned and said, "I would never plot policy behind closed doors with men like that. Shu thanked him and said, "That Your Majesty speaks so is a blessing for the realm."
45
遷太府丞。 時士大夫頗有為党與者。 樞奏曰：「人主有偏黨之心，則臣下有朋黨之患。 比年或謂陛下寵任武士，有厭薄儒生之心，猜疑大臣，親信左右，內庭行廟堂之事，近侍參軍國之謀。 今雖總權綱，專聽覽，而或壅蔽聰明，潛移威福。 願可否惟聽於國人，毀譽不私於左右。」 上方銳意北伐，示天下以所向。 樞奏：「古之謀人國者，必示之以弱，苟陛下志復金仇，臣願蓄威養銳，勿示其形。」 復陳用宰執、台諫之術。
He was promoted to assistant director of the Court of Imperial Treasury. At the time many officials had formed factions. Shu memorialized, "When the ruler favors one faction, his officials form cliques. In recent years some say Your Majesty favors military men and looks down on scholars, distrusts great ministers, trusts only those close at hand, lets the inner palace handle affairs of state, and allows personal attendants to join in planning war and policy. Though you now hold all authority and review affairs yourself, your judgment may still be blocked and real power quietly shifted elsewhere. I pray that approval and rejection be judged by the people of the realm, and that praise and blame not be decided in private by those around you. The emperor was then set on northern expedition and made his intentions plain to the realm. Shu memorialized, "In antiquity those who plotted against a rival state always feigned weakness. If Your Majesty aims to avenge the Jin, I urge you to store up strength and keep your purpose hidden. He also explained how chief councilors and censorial remonstrators should be used.
46
時議者欲制宗室應舉鎖試之額，限添差嶽祠，減臣僚薦舉，定文武任子，嚴特奏之等，展郊禋之歲，緩科舉之期，樞謂：「此皆近來從窄之論，人君惟天是則，不可行也。」 遂抗疏勸上推廣大以存國體。
Some then proposed fixing quotas for imperial clansmen in locked examinations, limiting supplementary appointments to mountain shrines, reducing official recommendations, tightening rules on hereditary privileges for civil and military offices, restricting special promotions, extending the interval between suburban sacrifices, and delaying the examination schedule. Shu said, "These are all recent proposals to narrow the state. A ruler takes Heaven as his standard; such measures cannot be adopted. He then submitted a forthright memorial urging the emperor to govern with breadth and preserve the dignity of the state.
47
兼國史院編修官，分修國史傳。 章惇家以其同裏，宛轉請文飾其傳，樞曰：「子厚為相，負國欺君。 吾為史官，書法不隱，寧負鄉人，不可負天下後世公議。」 時相趙雄總史事，見之歎曰：「無愧古良史。」
He also served as compilation officer of the National History Office, assigned to write biographies for the national history. Because he came from the same district, Zhang Dun's family indirectly asked him to polish Zhang's biography. Shu said, "When Zihou was chief councilor he betrayed the state and deceived his ruler. I am a historian, and historians do not conceal the truth. I would rather wrong a neighbor than wrong the judgment of the world and of posterity. Zhao Xiong, the chief councilor then in charge of the history office, read this and sighed, "He is worthy of the great historians of antiquity."
48
權工部郎官，累遷兼吏部郎官。 兩淮旱，命廉視真、楊、廬、和四郡。 歸陳兩淮形勢，謂：「兩淮堅固則長江可守，今徒知備江，不知保淮，置重兵於江南，委空城於淮上，非所以戒不虞。 瓜洲新城，專為退保，金使過而指議，淮人聞而歎嗟。 誰為陛下建此策也？」
He served as acting bureau director in the Ministry of Works and was later promoted to concurrent bureau director in the Ministry of Personnel. When drought struck the Two Huai region, he was ordered to inspect relief in Zhen, Yang, Lu, and He prefectures. On his return he explained the strategic situation on the Two Huai and said, "If the Two Huai are secure, the Yangzi can be held. Now the court knows only how to defend the river and not how to hold the Huai, massing troops south of the Yangzi while leaving empty cities on the north bank. That is no way to guard against surprise. The new fort at Guazhou was built only as a fallback position. Jin envoys passed by and mocked it, and people on the Huai sighed when they heard. Who advised Your Majesty to adopt this policy?"
49
遷軍器少監，除提舉江東常平茶鹽，改知處州，赴闕奏事。 樞之使淮入對也，嘗言：「朋黨相附則大臣之權重，言路壅塞則人主之勢孤。」 時宰不悅。 至是又言：「威權在下則主勢弱，故大臣逐台諫以蔽人主之聰明； 威權在上則主勢強，故大臣結台諫以遏天下之公議。 今朋黨之舊尚在，台諫之官未正紀綱，言路將復荊榛矣。」
He was promoted to vice director of the Armory, appointed intendant of Jiangdong ever-normal granaries, tea, and salt, then transferred to prefect of Chuzhou and summoned to court to report on affairs. When Shu had gone to the Huai region and appeared at audience, he had said, "When factions band together, chief ministers grow too powerful; when remonstrance is blocked, the ruler stands alone. The chief councilor was displeased. Now he said again, "When power lies below, the ruler is weak, so great ministers drive out censors and remonstrators to blind the throne; when power rests above, the ruler is strong, so great ministers bind censors and remonstrators to choke off public opinion across the realm. The old factions still survive, censors and remonstrators no longer uphold proper discipline, and the path of remonstrance will soon be choked with weeds again."
50
除吏部員外郎，遷大理少卿。 通州民高氏以產業事下大理，殿中侍御史冷世光納厚賂曲庇之，樞直其事以聞，人為危之。 上怒，立罷世光，以朝臣劾御史，實自樞始。 手詔權工部侍郎，仍兼國子祭酒。 因論大理獄案請外，有予郡之命，既而貶兩秩，寢前旨。 光宗受禪，敘復元官，提舉太平興國宮、知常德府。
He was appointed outer assistant in the Ministry of Personnel and promoted to vice director of the Court of Judicial Review. When a property dispute involving a Tongzhou man surnamed Gao reached the Court of Judicial Review, Palace Attendant Censor Leng Shiguang took heavy bribes and shielded him. Shu reported the facts directly to the emperor, and many feared for his safety. The emperor was enraged and immediately dismissed Shiguang. The precedent of a court minister impeaching a censor began with Shu. By handwritten edict he was made acting vice minister of works while continuing as director of the Directorate of Education. Because of the Dali case he asked for a provincial post. An order granting him a prefecture was issued, but he was then demoted two ranks and the earlier appointment was withdrawn. When Guangzong ascended the throne, Shu was restored to his former rank and appointed intendant of the Taiping Xingguo Palace and prefect of Changde.
51
自是閒居十載，作《易傳解義》及《辯異》、《童子問》等書藏於家。
He then lived in retirement for ten years, writing Explanatory Meaning of the Changes Commentary, Distinguishing Divergences, Questions of the Young Student, and other works that he kept at home.
52
李椿，字壽翁，洺州永年人。 父升，進士起家。 靖康之難，升翼其父，以背受刃，與長子俱卒。 椿年尚幼，藁殯佛寺，深竁而詳識之； 奉繼母南走，艱苦備嘗，竭力以養。 以父澤，補迪功郎，曆官至甯國軍節度推官。 治豪民偽券，還陳氏田，吏才精強，人稱之。
Li Chun, whose courtesy name was Shouweng, came from Yongnian in Mo Prefecture. His father Li Sheng had entered office as a jinshi. During the disaster of Jingkang, Sheng shielded his father with his back and took the blade; he and his eldest son both died. Chun was still a boy. The bodies were coffined in straw at a Buddhist temple and buried deep with careful markers; he fled south with his stepmother, endured every hardship, and did all he could to support her. Through his father's privilege he received the rank of gentleman for meritorious achievement and rose to serve as military push officer of the Ningguo Army command. When he handled a powerful man's forged deed and restored land to the Chen family, people praised his sharp administrative ability.
53
張浚辟為制司準備差遣，常以自隨。 椿奔走淮甸，綏流民，布屯戍，察廬、壽軍情，相視山水砦險要，周密精審，所助為多。
Zhang Jun recruited him as a staff preparation officer on the pacification commission and kept him constantly at his side. Chun traveled tirelessly across the Huai region, resettling displaced people, organizing garrison colonies, inspecting troop conditions at Luzhou and Shouzhou, and surveying mountain passes and strategic strongpoints with meticulous care. His assistance was considerable.
54
隆興元年春，諸將有以北討之議上聞者，事下督府，椿方奉檄至巢，亟奏記浚曰：「復讎伐敵，天下大義，不出督府而出諸將，況藩籬不固，儲備不豐，將多而非才，兵弱而未練，議論不定，縱得其地，未易守也。」 既而師出無功。
In the spring of the first year of Longxing, when generals proposed a northern campaign and the matter reached the supervisory headquarters, Chun had just arrived at Chao on orders from Zhang Jun. He urgently wrote to Jun: "Recovering lost territory and striking the enemy is the great duty of the realm. Yet the plan comes not from headquarters but from the generals. The frontier is not secure, supplies are insufficient, the generals are numerous but untalented, the troops weak and untrained, and opinion divided. Even if ground is taken, it will be hard to hold. The army marched north and achieved nothing.
55
浚嘗歎實才之難，椿曰：「豈可厚誣天下無人，唯不惡逆耳而甘遜志，則庶其肯來耳。」 浚復除右相，椿知事不可為，勸之去。 明年春，浚出視師，椿曰：「小人之黨已勝，公無故去朝廷，蹤跡必危。」 復申前說甚苦。 浚心是之，而自以宗臣任天下之重，不忍決去，未幾果罷。
Zhang Jun once lamented how hard it was to find real talent. Chun said, "You cannot fairly claim there are no capable men in the realm. Only if you do not resent blunt counsel and are willing to humble yourself will they be willing to come. When Jun was again appointed right chief councilor, Chun saw that nothing could be done and urged him to withdraw. The next spring, when Jun went out to inspect the army, Chun said, "The faction of petty men has already won. If you leave the capital without urgent cause, your position will surely become dangerous. He pressed his earlier argument with great urgency. Jun agreed in his heart, but as a dynastic elder bearing the weight of the realm he could not bring himself to withdraw. Before long he was dismissed.
56
監登聞鼓院，有所不樂，請通判廉州以歸。 未上，召對，知鄂州。 請行墾田，復戶數千，曠士大辟。
While serving as overseer of the Petition Drum Court he grew unhappy with his situation and asked to be made vice prefect of Lianzhou so he could return south. Before the request was submitted, he was summoned to audience and appointed prefect of Ezhou. He petitioned to launch land reclamation, restored several thousand households, and greatly opened up abandoned fields.
57
移廣西提點刑獄，獄未竟者，一以平決之，釋所疑數十百人。 奏罷昭州金坑，禁仕者毋市南物。 移湖北漕，適歲大侵，官強民振糶，且下其價，米不至，益艱食。 椿損所強糶數而不遏其直，未幾米舟湊集，價減十三。 每行部，必前期戒吏具州縣所當問事列為籍，單車以行，所至取吏卒備使令。 凡以例致饋，一不受，言事者請下諸道為式。
He was transferred to Guangxi as intendant of judicial inspection. For all unfinished cases he rendered fair judgments and released several dozen to a hundred people whose guilt was uncertain. He memorialized to shut down the gold mines in Zhaozhou and banned officials from purchasing goods from the south. He was transferred to Hubei grain intendant. That year brought severe famine. The government forced merchants to sell grain at compulsory prices and cut those prices further, but grain still did not arrive and food grew even scarcer. Chun cut the amount of grain the government forced merchants to sell without capping prices. Before long boats loaded with rice gathered in port, and prices fell by thirty percent. Whenever he made a tour of inspection, he sent word in advance that clerks should draw up a register of matters to raise with each prefecture and county. He traveled alone in a single cart and, at each stop, took local clerks and soldiers to serve him. He refused every customary gift offered to him. Memorialists asked that his practice be issued to all circuits as a standard.
58
召為吏部郎官，論廣西鹽法，孝宗是其說，遂改法焉。 除樞密院檢詳。 小吏持南丹州莫酋表，求自宜州市馬者，因簽書張說以聞。 椿謂：「邕遠宜近，故遷之，豈無意？ 今莫氏方橫，奈何道之以中國地裏之近？ 小吏妄作，將啟邊釁，請論如法。」 說怒，椿因求去，上慰諭令安職。
He was summoned to serve in the Ministry of Personnel. He argued for reform of the Guangxi salt law. Xiaozong accepted his proposal and changed the law accordingly. He was appointed detailed examiner in the Bureau of Military Affairs. A minor clerk brought a memorial from the Mo chieftain of Nandan Prefecture asking permission to purchase horses at Yizhou. He passed it up through signing secretary Zhang Shuo. Chun said, "Yongzhou is far and Yizhou is near—that is why he was transferred. Can there be no deeper purpose? The Mo clan is growing bold. How can we tell them how close Chinese territory lies? This clerk acted recklessly and could provoke a border incident. I ask that he be punished according to law. Shuo was angry. Chun then asked to resign. The emperor consoled him and told him to remain at his post.
59
遷左司，復請外，除直龍圖閣、湖南運副。 兼請十三事，同日報可，大者減桂陽軍月樁錢萬二千緡，損民稅折銀之直，民刻石紀之。
He was promoted to left bureau director but again asked for an outside appointment. He was made direct associate of the Dragon Diagram Hall and vice transport commissioner of Hunan. He also submitted thirteen petitions, all approved the same day. The most important reduced Guiyang Army's monthly pole tax by twelve thousand strings of cash and cut the surcharge on converting tax payments to silver. The people carved his deed in stone.
60
除司農卿。 椿會大農歲用米百七十萬斛，而省倉見米僅支一二月，歎曰：「真所謂國非其國矣。」 力請歲儲二百萬斛為一年之蓄。
He was appointed director of the Court of the National Granary. Chun noted that the granary administration consumed 1.7 million hu of rice each year, yet the provincial stores held barely one or two months' supply. He sighed, "This is truly what people mean when they say the state is no longer a state. He urgently petitioned to store two million hu each year as a year's reserve.
61
擇臨安守，椿在議中，執政或謂其於人無委曲，上曰：「正欲得如此人。」 遂兼臨安府，視事三月，竟以幸不便解去。 椿在朝，遇事輒言，執政故不悅。 及是轉對，又言：「君以剛健為體而虛中為用，臣以柔順為體而剛中為用。 陛下得虛中之道，以行剛健之德矣。 在廷之臣，未見其能以剛中守柔順而事陛下者也。」 執政滋不悅，出知婺州。
When choosing a prefect for Lin'an, Chun was among the candidates. A chief councilor remarked that he was not accommodating toward others. The emperor said, "That is precisely the kind of man I want. He was appointed to govern Lin'an as well. After three months in office he was dismissed because his presence made an imperial tour inconvenient. While at court Chun spoke out on every issue that arose, and the chief councilors disliked him for it. At a rotating remonstrance audience he said again, "The ruler's substance is firm vigor and his practice is receptive openness. The minister's substance is yielding compliance and his practice is firm integrity within. Your Majesty has mastered receptive openness and thereby exercises firm, vigorous rule. I see no minister at court who upholds yielding deference with firm integrity in serving Your Majesty. The chief councilors grew still more displeased. He was sent out to serve as prefect of Wuzhou.
62
會詔市牛筋，凡五千斤。 椿奏：「一牛之筋才四兩，是欲屠二萬牛也。」 上悟，為收前詔。
An edict then ordered the purchase of five thousand jin of ox sinew. Chun memorialized, "One ox yields only four liang of sinew. This order would require slaughtering twenty thousand oxen. The emperor understood and rescinded the edict.
63
除吏部侍郎，又極言閽寺之盛，曰：「自古宦官之盛衰，系國家興亡。 其盛也，始則人畏之，甚則人惡之，極則群起而攻之。 漢、唐勿論，靖康、明受之禍未遠，必有以裁制之，不使至極，則國家免於前日之患，宦官亦保其富貴。 門禁宮戒之外，勿得預外事，嚴禁士大夫兵將官與之交通。」 上聞靖康、明受語，蹙頞久之，曰：「幼亦聞此。」 因納疏袖中以入。 最後極言：「當預邊備，如欲保淮，則楚州、盱眙、昭信、濠梁、渦口、花靨、正陽、光州皆不可以不守； 如欲保江，則高郵、六合、瓦梁、濡須、巢湖、北峽亦要地也。」
He was appointed vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel and again spoke forcefully against the power of eunuch offices. He said, "Since antiquity the rise and fall of eunuchs has been bound up with the fate of the state. When they grow powerful, people first fear them, then hate them, and in the end rise up together against them. Set aside Han and Tang—the catastrophes of Jingkang and Mingshou are still recent. Eunuch power must be checked before it reaches its extreme. Then the state will be spared such disasters, and the eunuchs themselves will keep their wealth and rank. Beyond palace gate duties and inner security, they must not meddle in outside affairs. Scholar-officials and military officers must be strictly forbidden to have dealings with them. When the emperor heard him mention Jingkang and Mingshou, he furrowed his brow for a long moment and said, "I heard the same in my youth. He then put the memorial in his sleeve and withdrew. Finally he spoke at length on border preparedness. "If the Huai is to be held, Chuzhou, Xuyi, Zhaoxin, Haoliang, Wokou, Huaye, Zhengyang, and Guangzhou must all be defended. If the Yangtze is to be held, Gaoyou, Liuhe, Waliang, Ruxu, Chaohu, and Beixia are vital as well."
64
以病請祠，不許，面請益力，乃除集英殿修撰、知甯國府，改太平州，賜尚方珍劑以遣。 既至，力圖上流之備，請選將練習，緩急列艦，上可以援東關、濡須，下可以應採石。
He asked for a sinecure post on grounds of illness but was refused. He pleaded in person still more forcefully and was appointed Hanlin Academy compiler and prefect of Ningguo, then transferred to Taiping Prefecture, with precious medicines from the imperial pharmacy sent to see him off. Once there he worked hard to strengthen the upper Yangtze defenses. He requested that generals be chosen and trained and warships arranged for emergencies—able to support Dongguan and Ruxu upstream and respond at Caishi downstream.
65
年六十九，上章請老，以敷文閣待制致仕。 越再歲，上念湖南兵役之餘，欲鎮安之，謂椿重厚可倚，命待制顯謨閣、知潭州、湖南安撫使。 累辭不獲，乃勉起，至則撫摩凋瘵，氣象一如盛時。 復酒稅法，人以為便。 歲旱，發廩勸分，蠲租十一萬，糶常平米二萬，活數萬人。
At sixty-nine he memorialized to retire and was granted retirement as a Hanlin academy editing compiler. Two years later the emperor, mindful that Hunan still bore the scars of military service, wished to pacify the region. Considering Chun solid and trustworthy, he appointed him Hanlin academy compiler of the Xianmo Hall, prefect of Tanzhou, and Hunan pacification commissioner. He declined repeatedly but could not refuse. He reluctantly took the post, and on arrival comforted the war-ravaged populace until the region's spirit matched its most prosperous days. He restored the wine tax law, which people found convenient. During a drought he opened granaries and urged mutual aid, remitted one hundred ten thousand in rent, sold twenty thousand hu from the ever-normal granaries, and saved tens of thousands of lives.
66
潭新置飛虎軍，或以為非便，椿曰：「長沙一都會，控扼湖、嶺，鎮撫蠻徭，二十年間，大盜三起，何可無一軍？ 且已費縣官緡錢四十二萬，何可廢耶？ 亦在馭之而已。」 未滿歲，復告歸，進敷文閣直學士致仕，朝拜命，夕登舟，歸老野塘上。
Tanzhou had recently established the Flying Tiger Army. Some said it was unnecessary. Chun said, "Changsha is a major city controlling Hunan and the mountain frontier and pacifying Man and Yao peoples. In twenty years major bandit uprisings have occurred three times. How can the region do without an army? Besides, four hundred twenty thousand strings of official funds have already been spent. How can it be abolished? The question is simply how to command them properly. Before a full year had passed he asked to retire again. He was promoted to Hanlin academy direct academician and granted retirement. He received the appointment in the morning, boarded a boat that evening, and returned to live out his old age on Wild Pond.
67
椿年十五歲避地南來，貧無以為養，不得專力於學。 年三十始學《易》，其言於朝廷，措諸行事，皆《易》之用。 嶷然有守，存心每主于厚，尤惡佛老邪說。
At fifteen Chun fled south as a refugee. Too poor to support himself, he could not devote himself fully to study. He did not begin studying the Book of Changes until thirty. His counsel at court and his conduct in office were all applications of that text. He stood firm in principle, always inclined toward generosity of spirit, and especially despised Buddhist and Daoist heterodox teachings.
68
淳熙十年，卒，年七十三。 朱熹嘗銘其墓，謂其「逆知得失，不假蓍龜」，「不阿主好，不詭時譽」云。
He died in the tenth year of Chunxi, at seventy-three. Zhu Xi once composed his tomb inscription, praising him for "foreseeing gain and loss without divining sticks or shells" and for "never flattering the ruler's preferences or currying favor with the times."
69
劉儀鳳
Liu Yifeng
70
劉儀鳳，字韶美，普州人。 少以文謁左丞馮澥，澥甚推許，遂知名。 紹興二年，登進士第。 抱負倜儻，不事生產，於仕進恬如也。 擢第十年，始赴調，尉遂寧府之蓬溪，監資州資陽縣酒稅，為果州、榮州掾。
Liu Yifeng, styled Shaomei, was from Puzhou. As a youth he presented his writings to Left Vice Grand Councilor Feng Xie, who praised him highly, and he soon became known. In the second year of Shaoxing he passed the jinshi examination. Bold and unconventional in spirit, he cared nothing for worldly gain and was indifferent to office and promotion. Ten years after passing the examination he first sought appointment, serving as assistant magistrate of Pengxi in Suining Prefecture, overseer of wine tax at Ziyang in Zizhou, and staff officer in Guo and Rong prefectures.
71
紹興二十七年，有旨令侍從薦士，起居郎趙逵舉儀鳳，稱其「富有詞華，恬於進取。」 宰執上其名，上曰：「蜀人道遠，文學行義有可用者，不由論薦，何緣知之？ 前此蜀仕宦者例多隔絕，不得一至朝廷，殊可惜也。」 自秦檜專權，深抑蜀士，故上語及之。 尋除諸王宮大小學教授。 召試館職，辭以久離場屋，改國子監丞。 宰相以其名士，遷秘書丞、禮部員外郎。 所草箋奏，以典雅稱。
In the twenty-seventh year of Shaoxing the emperor ordered attendant officials to recommend talented men. Attendant Gentleman Zhao Kui recommended Yifeng, praising his "literary elegance and indifference to advancement. The chief councilors submitted his name. The emperor said, "Shu is far away. How are men of literary talent and moral worth to be known if they cannot reach us except through recommendation? Until now officials from Shu had largely been cut off from court and rarely reached the capital. That is a great pity. Since Qin Gui had monopolized power and deeply suppressed scholars from Shu, the emperor's remark referred to that. He was soon appointed professor in the great and small schools of the princes' establishments. He was summoned to the library service examination but declined, saying he had been away from the examination halls too long. He was made assistant director of the Directorate of Education instead. Because he was a noted scholar, the chief councilor promoted him to secretary director and vice director of rites in the Ministry of Rites. The memorials he drafted were praised for their classical elegance.
72
孝宗受禪，議上「光堯壽聖」尊號冊寶，有欲俟欽宗服除者，太常博士林栗謂：「唐憲宗上順宗冊寶在德宗服中，不必避，備樂而不作可也。」 儀鳳獨上議曰：「謹按上尊號事屬嘉禮，累朝必俟郊祀慶成然後舉行。 太上皇帝為欽宗備禮終制，見於詔書。 議者引憲宗故事，考之唐史，自武德以來，皆用易月之制，與本朝事體大相遠也。 乞候欽宗終制，檢舉以行，則國家盛美，主上事親情實稱矣。」 議者雖是其言，然謂事親當權宜而從厚，竟用栗議，儀鳳復爭辨不已。 尋兼國史院編修官兼權秘書少監。 乾道元年，遷兵部侍郎兼侍講。
When Xiaozong took the throne, the court debated presenting the honorific title and regalia "Guangyao Shousheng." Some wished to wait until mourning for Emperor Qinzong had ended. Taichang doctor Lin Li argued, "When Tang Xianzong presented Emperor Shunzong's honorific seal during Dezong's mourning, no avoidance was required. Music could be prepared but not performed. Yifeng alone submitted a dissent, arguing, "Presenting an honorific title is an auspicious rite. Successive dynasties always waited until the suburban sacrifice had been completed. The Retired Emperor's edicts show that he observed full mourning rites for Emperor Qinzong. Those who cite Xianzong's precedent should examine Tang history. From the Wude era onward the court used shortened mourning. That practice differs greatly from our dynasty's customs. I ask that we wait until mourning for Qinzong is complete and then proceed accordingly. The state's glory will be preserved and Your Majesty's filial conduct will be rightly expressed. Though some agreed with him, they held that filial duty should be interpreted generously. Li's proposal was adopted in the end, and Yifeng continued to argue without stopping. He was soon made a compiler in the State History Academy and acting vice director of the Secretariat. In the first year of Qiandao he was promoted to vice minister of war and court lecturer.
73
儀鳳在朝十年，每歸即匿其車騎，扃其門戶，客至，無親疏皆不得見，政府累月始一上謁，人尤其傲，奉入，半以儲書，凡萬餘卷，國史錄無遺者。 御史張之綱論儀鳳錄四庫書本以傳私室，遂斥歸蜀。
Yifeng served at court for ten years. Whenever he returned home he hid his carriage and horses and bolted his doors. Guests, close or distant alike, could not see him. He visited the chief councilor's office only once in many months, and people chiefly blamed his arrogance. He spent half his salary on books, amassing more than ten thousand scrolls, including complete copies of the state history records. Censor Zhang Zhigang accused Yifeng of copying books from the Four Repositories for his private collection. He was dismissed and sent back to Shu.
74
三年十二月，輔臣進前侍從當復職者，上曰：「劉儀鳳無罪，可與復集英殿修撰。」 起知邛州，未上，改漢州、果州，罷歸。 淳熙二年十二月丙申，卒，年六十六。
In the twelfth month of the third year the chief ministers presented names of former attendants due for restoration. The emperor said, "Liu Yifeng is innocent. Restore him as Hanlin Academy compiler of the Hall for Cherishing Worthies. He was recalled to serve as prefect of Qiongzhou but did not take up the post. He was transferred to Hanzhou and Guozhou, then dismissed and sent home. He died on the bingshen day of the twelfth month of the second year of Chunxi, at sixty-six.
75
儀鳳苦學，至老不倦，尤工於詩。 然頗慕晉人簡傲之風，不樂與庸輩接，故平生多蹭蹬，一跌遂不振云。
Yifeng studied tirelessly to the end of his life and was especially accomplished in poetry. Yet he admired the aloof arrogance of Jin-era literati and disliked dealings with mediocre men. His career was therefore often obstructed, and after one fall he never recovered.
76
張孝祥
Zhang Xiaoxiang
77
張孝祥，字安國，曆陽烏江人。 讀書過一目不忘，下筆頃刻數千言，年十六，領鄉書，再舉冠裏選。 紹興二十四年，廷試第一。 時策問師友淵源，秦塤與曹冠皆力攻程氏專門之學，孝祥獨不攻。 考官已定塤冠多士，孝祥次之，曹冠又次之。 高宗讀塤策皆秦檜語，於是擢孝祥第一，而塤第三，授承事郎、簽書鎮東軍節度判官。 諭宰相曰：「張栻孝祥詞翰俱美。」
Zhang Xiaoxiang, styled Anguo, was from Wujiang in Liyang. He never forgot anything he read. He could write several thousand words in moments. At sixteen he received commendation in the provincial examination, and at his second attempt he topped the district selection. In the twenty-fourth year of Shaoxing he ranked first in the palace examination. The palace examination question that year concerned teachers and intellectual lineage. Qin Kun and Cao Guan both vigorously attacked the specialized learning of the Cheng school. Xiaoxiang alone did not. The examiners had ranked Kun first, Xiaoxiang second, and Cao Guan third. Gaozong read Kun's essay and found it echoed Qin Gui's rhetoric throughout. He then placed Xiaoxiang first and Kun third, appointing Xiaoxiang as Gentleman for Meritorious Service and signing secretary under the military governor of Zhendong Army. He told the chief councilor, "Zhang Shi and Xiaoxiang are both accomplished in prose and letters."
78
先是，上之抑塤而擢孝祥也，秦檜已怒，既知孝祥乃祁之子，祁與胡寅厚，檜素憾寅，且唱第後，曹泳揖孝祥於殿庭，以請婚為言，孝祥不答，泳憾之。 於是風言者誣祁有反謀，系詔獄。 會檜死，上郊祀之二日，魏良臣密奏散獄釋罪，遂以孝祥為秘書省正字。 故事，殿試第一人，次舉始召，孝祥第甫一年得召由此。
Earlier, when the emperor passed over Kun to elevate Xiaoxiang, Qin Gui was already angry. Learning that Xiaoxiang was Qi's son, and that Qi was close to Hu Yin, whom Gui had long resented, Gui's hostility deepened. After the ranking ceremony Cao Yong bowed to Xiaoxiang in the palace courtyard and proposed marriage. Xiaoxiang did not respond, and Yong took offense. Rumormongers then falsely accused Qi of treason, and he was imprisoned in the edict prison. When Qin Gui died, on the second day of the emperor's suburban sacrifice Wei Liangchen secretly memorialized to release the prisoners. Xiaoxiang was then appointed rectifier in the Secretariat. By precedent the palace examination top graduate was not summoned until the next round of examinations. Xiaoxiang was summoned after only one year because of these events.
79
初對，首言乞總攬權綱以盡更化之美。 又言：「官吏忤故相意，並緣文致，有司觀望鍛煉而成罪，乞令有司即改正。」 又言：「王安石作《日錄》，一時政事，美則歸己。 故相信任之專，非特安石。 臣懼其作《時政記》，亦如安石專用己意，乞取已修《日曆》詳審是正，黜私說以垂無窮。」 從之。
At his first audience he asked first that the emperor gather all authority to himself and complete the promise of reform. He also said, "Officials who had offended the former chief councilor were prosecuted on fabricated charges. The responsible offices looked on while evidence was forged to secure convictions. I ask that they be ordered to rectify these cases at once. He also said, "Wang Anshi kept a Daily Record in which he claimed credit for every good measure of his day. That is why the sovereign trusted him exclusively—not Wang Anshi alone. I fear that if a Record of Current Policy is compiled, it will likewise serve private opinion, as with Anshi. I ask that the Calendar already compiled be carefully reviewed and corrected, and private interpretations removed so that truth may endure. The emperor agreed.
80
遷校書郎。 芝生太廟，孝祥獻文曰《原芝》，以大本未立為言，且言：「芝在仁宗、英宗之室，天意可見，乞早定大計。」 遷尚書禮部員外郎，尋為起居舍人、權中書舍人。
He was promoted to collator in the Palace Library. When fungus appeared in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Xiaoxiang submitted "Inquiry into the Fungus," arguing that the succession was not yet secure and that fungus in the halls of Renzong and Yingzong showed Heaven's intent: he begged the throne to settle the great question of the heir at once. He was made a bureau director in the Ministry of Rites, then diarist and acting palace secretariat drafter.
81
初，孝祥登第，出湯思退之門，思退為相，擢孝祥甚峻。 而思退素不喜汪澈，孝祥與澈同為館職，澈老成重厚，而孝祥年少氣銳，往往陵拂之。 至是澈為御史中丞，首劾孝祥奸不在廬杞下，孝祥遂罷，提舉江州太平興國宮，於是湯思退之客稍稍被逐。
When Xiaoxiang first passed the examination he was a protégé of Tang Situi; once Situi became chief councilor he promoted Xiaoxiang with unusual speed. Situi had always disliked Wang Che. Both served in the Hanlin Academy; Che was mature and steady, while the younger Xiaoxiang was brash and often treated him with condescension. When Che became censor-in-chief he led the attack, charging that Xiaoxiang's treachery matched Lü Qi's; Xiaoxiang was dismissed to the Taiping Xingguo Palace in Jiangzhou, and Situi's followers were gradually purged.
82
尋除知撫州。 年未三十，蒞事精確，老於州縣者所不及。 孝宗即位，復集英殿修撰，知平江府。 事繁劇，孝祥剖決，庭無滯訟。 屬邑大姓並海囊橐為奸利，孝祥捕治，籍其家得谷粟數萬。 明年，吳中大饑，迄賴以濟。
He was soon appointed prefect of Fu Prefecture. Though not yet thirty, he administered with a precision veterans of county and prefectural office could not match. When Xiaozong came to the throne he was restored as compiler in the Hall of Assembled Excellence and made prefect of Pingjiang. Though affairs were heavy and complex, he decided them swiftly and left no backlog in court. Coastal magnates in his jurisdiction hoarded wealth for illicit profit; he arrested them, confiscated their estates, and seized tens of thousands of bushels of grain. The next year, when Wu suffered a great famine, the region was saved by that grain.
83
張浚自蜀還朝，薦孝祥，召赴行在。 孝祥既素為湯思退所知，及受浚薦，思退不悅。 孝祥入對，乃陳「二相當同心戮力，以副陛下恢復之志。 且靖康以來惟和戰兩言，遺無窮禍，要先立自治之策以應之。」 復言：「用才之路太狹，乞博采度外之士以備緩急之用。」 上嘉之。
When Zhang Jun returned from Sichuan he recommended Xiaoxiang, who was summoned to the mobile court. Xiaoxiang had long been Situi's protégé, and Situi was displeased when Zhang Jun's recommendation brought him back. At audience Xiaoxiang urged that the two chief councilors unite in purpose to fulfill the emperor's resolve for restoration. Since Jingkang the court has swung only between peace and war, bequeathing endless trouble; he urged first building a policy of internal self-strengthening. He also asked that the path to office be widened and exceptional men gathered for emergencies. The emperor praised his counsel.
84
除中書舍人，尋除直學士院兼都督府參贊軍事。 俄兼領建康留守，以言者改除敷文閣待制，留守如舊。 會金再犯邊，孝祥陳金之勢不過欲要盟。 宣諭使劾孝祥落職，罷。
He was made palace secretariat drafter, then attendant of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies while also staff officer on military affairs in the Grand Council. Soon he also held the Jian Kang garrison command; critics then had him made awaiting draft in the Hall for Spreading Literature while keeping the garrison post. When the Jin again raided the border, Xiaoxiang argued that their aim was only to force a treaty. The edict-delivery commissioner impeached him and he was dismissed.
85
復集英殿修撰、知靜江府、廣南西路經略安撫使，治有聲績，復以言者罷。 俄起知潭州，為政簡易，時以威濟之，湖南遂以無事。 復待制，徙知荊南、荊湖北路安撫使。 築寸金堤，自是荊州無水患，置萬盈倉以儲諸漕之運。
He was restored as compiler, made prefect of Jingjiang and pacification commissioner of Guangnan West Circuit, earned a strong administrative reputation, and was again dismissed after criticism. Soon he was appointed prefect of Tanzhou, governing with simplicity and ease, sometimes with stern authority, and Hunan remained tranquil. He was again made awaiting draft and transferred to Jingnan as pacification commissioner of the Jinghu North Circuit. He built the Inch-Gold Dike, after which Jingzhou suffered no floods, and established the Ten-Thousand-Full Granary to store grain for transport routes.
86
請祠，以疾卒，孝宗惜之，有用才不盡之歎。 進顯謨閣直學士致仕，年三十八。
He requested a sinecure but died of illness; Xiaozong mourned the waste of his talent. He was posthumously advanced to academician of the Hall of Manifest Strategy and had retired at thirty-eight.
87
孝祥俊逸，文章過人，尤工翰墨，嘗親書奏劄，高宗見之，曰：「必將名世。」 但渡江初，大議惟和戰，張浚主復仇，湯思退祖秦檜之說力主和，孝祥出入二人之門而兩持其說，議者惜之。
Xiaoxiang was brilliant and free-spirited, his prose exceptional and his calligraphy especially fine; when Gaozong saw a memorial he had written in his own hand, he said, "This man will surely leave his mark on the age." Yet in the early years after the move south the great debate was peace versus war: Zhang Jun urged revenge, Tang Situi followed Qin Gui in pressing for peace, and Xiaoxiang moved between both camps, holding to both sides—commentators regretted the inconsistency.
88
論曰：尤袤學本程頤，所謂老成典刑者，立朝抗論，與人主爭是非，不允不已，而能令終完節，難矣。 謝諤、顏師魯、袁樞臨民則以治辨聞，立朝則啟沃忠諫，各舉乃職，為世師表。 李椿、劉儀鳳言論節概，著於行事。 張孝祥早負才畯，蒞政揚聲，迨其兩持和戰，君子每歎息焉。
The historians comment: You Mao's learning derived from Cheng Yi; he was a mature exemplar of public morals who remonstrated at court, disputing right and wrong with his sovereign until overruled, yet finished his life with integrity intact—a rare achievement. Xie E, Yan Shilu, and Yuan Shu were famed for orderly local government and loyal remonstrance at court; each fulfilled his duty and stood as a model for their age. Li Chun and Liu Yifeng showed their principled integrity in word and deed. Zhang Xiaoxiang displayed exceptional talent early and won fame in office, yet gentlemen sighed when he straddled the camps of peace and war.