1
王信，字誠之，處州麗水人。 既冠，入太學，登紹興三十年進士第，試中教官，授建康府學教授。 丁父憂，服除，進所著《唐太宗論讚》及《負薪論》，孝宗覽之，嘉歎不已，特循兩資，授太學博士。
Wang Xin, whose courtesy name was Chengzhi, came from Lishui in Chuzhou. Once he had reached manhood, he entered the Imperial University, took his jinshi degree in the thirtieth year of the Shaoxing reign, passed the examination for instructors, and was made professor at the Jiankang prefectural school. After his father's death he completed the mourning period and submitted his "Commentary and Praise on Emperor Taizong of Tang" and his "On Carrying Firewood." Xiaozong read them and marveled; he specially advanced Xin two ranks and appointed him Erudite of the Imperial University.
2
時須次者例徙外，添差溫州教授。 郡饑疫，議遣官振救之，父老願得信任其事，守不欲以煩信，請益力，信聞之，欣然為行，遍至病者家，全活不可勝記。
Those waiting their turn for appointment were routinely sent to posts outside the capital; Xin received an additional assignment as professor at Wenzhou. When famine and plague struck the prefecture, the authorities debated dispatching an official to provide relief. The local elders asked that Wang Xin be entrusted with the task. The prefect was reluctant to burden him, but they pressed their request; when Xin heard of it he set out gladly, visited every afflicted household in turn, and saved more lives than could be recorded.
3
差敕令所刪定官，法令有不合人情，自相牴牾，吏得以傅會出入者，悉𨤲正之。 轉對，言：「敵情不可測，和議不可恃，今日要當先為自備之策，以待可乘之機。」 上以為是。 又論：「太學正、錄掌規矩之官而員多，博士掌訓導之官而員少，請以正、錄兩員升為博士。」 從之。 論除官脞冗之敝，乞精選監司而擇籍名，郡將代半歲乃注人。 上親以其章授宰臣行。
Assigned as a reviser at the Statutes and Ordinances Office, he corrected every regulation that failed to accord with human feeling, contradicted another rule, or gave clerks room to manipulate outcomes for their own gain. Presenting himself at court, he said, "The enemy's intentions cannot be predicted, and the peace agreement cannot be trusted. What matters now is to prepare for self-defense first and wait for a chance that may be seized." The emperor agreed. He also argued that the university had too many Rectors and Recorders—officers charged with enforcing rules—and too few Erudites to guide instruction, and proposed promoting two Rectors or Recorders to Erudite posts. His proposal was adopted. He criticized the bloated practice of making appointments and dismissals, urged that circuit supervisors be chosen with care from named rosters, and that new prefects not be registered until their predecessors had served half a year. The emperor personally handed his memorial to the chief ministers with orders to carry it out.
4
權考功郎官。 蜀人張公遷，初八年免銓，至是改秩，吏妄引言，復令柅之，信鉤考其故，吏怖服。 有三蜀士實礙式，吏受賕為地，工部尚書趙雄，蜀人也，以屬信，信持弗聽，已而轉吏部閱審成牘，撫掌愧歎，嗟激不已，以聞於上。
He was appointed acting Director of the Ministry of Personnel's Merit and Demerit Section. A Shu native named Zhang Gongqian had first been exempted from roster review for eight years and was now due for a rank change; a clerk falsely cited precedent to block him again. Xin traced the matter and the clerk confessed in terror. Three Shu scholars were genuinely blocked by formal requirements while a clerk took bribes to clear a path for others. Zhao Xiong of the Ministry of Works, himself from Shu, asked Xin to yield, but Xin refused. Later, reviewing completed dossiers in the Ministry of Personnel, he clapped his hands in dismay, sighed again and again, and reported the affair to the throne.
5
它日，上謂尚書蔡洸曰：「考功得王信，銓曹遂清。」 邏者私相語，指為神明。 武臣給告不書年齒，磨轉蔭薦，肆為姦欺，不可控搏，為擿最者數事告宰相，付之大理獄。 事連三衙，殿帥王友直銳爭之，上審知其非，沮之曰：「考功所言，公事也，汝將何為？」 獄具，皆伏辜。 因請置籍，以柅後患。
On another occasion, the Emperor said to Cai Guang, Minister of the Secretariat, "With Wang Xin in the Department of Evaluation, the Bureau of Appointments is finally clean." Word spread quietly among officials, who hailed him as practically a god. Military officers omitted their ages on leave requests and abused rotation and hereditary privilege to commit fraud so brazen it could not be checked. Wang Xin singled out the worst abuses, reported them to the Grand Councillor, and saw the offenders sent to the Court of Judicial Review. The case touched the Three Yamen, and Hall Commander Wang Youzhi fought it fiercely. The Emperor knew they were wrong and cut them off: "The Department of Evaluation is speaking of official business—what are you going to do about it?" When the trial concluded, all confessed their crimes. He then asked that registers be kept to guard against future abuses.
6
授軍器少監，仍兼考功郎官。 丁母憂，吏裒金殺牲禱神，願信服闋無再為考功。 既起，知永州。 入奏事，留為將作少監，復考功郎官，轉軍器少監兼右司郎官，升員外郎。 四方有以疑獄來上者，信反復披覽，常至夜分。
He was made Vice Director of the Armory while retaining his post in the Department of Evaluation. During mourning for his mother, clerks pooled money and sacrificed animals to the gods, praying that once his mourning ended he would never return to the Department of Evaluation. When mourning ended, he was appointed prefect of Yongzhou. Called in to report on affairs, he was kept at court as Vice Director of the Directorate of Palace Buildings and again as an official of the Department of Evaluation; he then moved to Vice Director of the Armory with a concurrent post in the Right Bureau, and was promoted to Vice Director. Whenever knotty cases arrived from across the realm, Wang Xin read through them again and again, often working past midnight.
7
升左司員外郎，轉對，論士大夫趨向之敝：「居官者逃一時之責，而後之禍患有所不恤； 獻言者求一時之合，而行之可否有所不計。 集事者以趣辦為能，而不為根本之慮； 謀利者以羨餘為事，而不究源流之實。 持論尚刻薄，而寖失祖宗忠厚之意； 革敝預煩碎，而不明國家寬大之體。 因循玩習，恬不為怪。 願酌古之道，當時之宜，示好惡於取舍之間，使天下靡然知鄉，而無復為目前苟且之徇。」 又論：「朝廷有恤民之政，而州縣不能行恤民之實。 近歲不登，陛下軫念元元，凡水旱州郡租賦，或蠲放，或倚閣住催。 然倚閣住催之名可以並緣為擾，願明與減放。」 又論豫備三說：收逃亡之卒，選忠順之官，嚴訓練之職。 又言屯田利害。 上皆納其說。
Promoted to Vice Director of the Left Bureau, he addressed the throne on the failings of the scholar-official class: "Officeholders dodge present accountability and give no thought to the disasters that follow; Advisers chase momentary approval and never weigh whether a policy can actually be carried out; Men who rush business treat speed as competence and never look to the root of things; Those who chase profit fix on whatever margin remains and never trace matters to their source. Debate grows ever harsher, and by degrees the generous spirit of the founding ancestors is lost; Reform piles up petty detail and never makes clear the broad, generous body of the state. Custom is followed and habit indulged until none think it strange. I ask that Your Majesty weigh the ways of antiquity against the needs of the age, make clear what you favor and what you reject, and lead the realm to move as one—so that no one again serves only the convenience of the moment." He went on: "The court has policies meant to relieve the people, but the prefectures and counties never deliver real relief. Harvests have failed in recent years, and Your Majesty, moved by the plight of the people, ordered that in every flood- or drought-stricken command, rents and taxes be either remitted outright or deferred with collection halted. Yet the label of deferred collection gives local officials room to harass the people on the side; I ask that reductions and remissions be stated plainly." He also set out three measures of preparedness: reclaim deserters, appoint loyal and dependable officials, and enforce military training. He also addressed the costs and benefits of frontier garrison farming. The Emperor accepted everything he proposed.
8
兼玉牒所檢討官、提領戶部酒庫。 久之，上諭信曰：「知朕意否？ 行用卿，慮書生不長於財賦，故以命卿，果能副朕所委。」
He also held concurrent posts as reviser of the Imperial Genealogy Office and superintendent of the Ministry of Revenue's wine monopoly stores. After a time, the Emperor said to Wang Xin, "Do you understand what I have in mind? I mean to put you to use. I worried that a man of letters would not excel at revenue and finance, so I gave you this charge—and you have truly lived up to what I asked."
9
為中書門下檢正諸房文字，遷太常少卿兼權中書舍人。 假禮部尚書使於金，肄射都亭，連中其的，金人駴曰：「尚書得非黑王相公子孫耶？」 謂王德用也。 信得米芾書法，金人寶之。 歸言金人必衰之兆有四，在我當備之策有二，上首肯之。
He served as rectifier of documents in the Secretariat-Chancellery, then was transferred to Vice Director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship with concurrent duty as Acting Secretariat Drafting Official. Sent to the Jin as Acting Minister of Rites, he practiced archery at the Capital Pavilion and hit the mark again and again. The Jurchens cried out in astonishment: "Surely this minister is kin to Prime Minister Black Wang!" They meant Wang Deyong. Wang Xin owned calligraphy by Mi Fu, which the Jurchens prized. On his return he reported four signs that the Jin must decline and two measures the Song should ready; the Emperor nodded his agreement.
10
太史奏仲秋日月五星會於軫，信言：「休咎之徵，史策不同，然五星聚者有之，未聞七政共集也。 分野在楚，願思所以順天而應之。」 因條上七事。 又言：「陛下即位之初，經營中原之志甚銳，然功之所以未立者，正以所用之人不一。 其人不一，故其論不一； 其論不一，故其心不一。 願豫求至當之論，使歸於一。 鎖闈封駁，而右府所不下關中書，或斜封捷出，左於公論。 統領官奴事內侍，坐謫遠州，幸蒙赦還而遽復故職。 潛藩恩舊之隸徒，榷酤官而齒朝士。 老禁校僥冀節鉞，詭計可得之，而奉稍恩典，與正不異。 閤門多溢額祗候。 妃嬪進封而冒指它姓為甥侄。 既一一塗歸，有雖書讀而徐核其不當者，續爭救之。」 上曰：「事有不可不問者，第言之，朕無有不為卿行者。」 於是益抗志不回。
The Grand Astrologer announced that at mid-autumn the sun, moon, and five planets would meet in the asterism Zhen. Wang Xin said: "Records disagree on whether such signs bring blessing or disaster; gatherings of five planets appear in the histories, but never all seven luminaries at once. The region affected is Chu. I ask Your Majesty to consider how to align with Heaven and answer this sign." He then submitted a memorial listing seven measures. He also said: "When Your Majesty first took the throne, your will to recover the Central Plains burned bright; yet the reason success has not come is simply that the men you rely on are not of one mind. When the men are not one, their counsel is not one; when their counsel is not one, their hearts are not one. I ask that Your Majesty settle on the right course beforehand and bring every voice to a single purpose. Examinations are sealed and rejections sealed in return—yet what the Right Secretariat withholds from the central office sometimes escapes through improper seals, against the judgment of the court. Field commanders who had become the creatures of palace eunuchs were banished to remote posts; pardoned and brought back, they were at once restored to their old ranks. Servants who had been favorites in the Emperor's days as heir now hold liquor monopoly posts and sit in rank beside court gentlemen. Old guards of the inner palace angle for military commissions by crooked means, yet their pay and perquisites differ scarcely at all from those of regular appointees. The Gatehouse is crowded with attendants beyond the authorized quota. When imperial consorts are promoted in rank, they falsely claim outsiders as nephews and nieces. He corrected each abuse in turn; and when a memorial had already been read, he still went back, examined what was wrong, and fought to block it." The Emperor said: "If something must be looked into, say so. There is nothing I will not do for you." From then on he grew only bolder and more unbending.
11
宦者甘昪既逐遠之矣，屬高宗崩，用治喪事，人莫敢言。 俄提舉德壽宮，信亟執奏，舉朝皆悚。 翰林學士洪邁適入，上語之曰：「王給事論甘昪事甚當。 朕特白太上皇后，聖訓以為：『今一宮之事異於向時，非我老人所能任，小黃門空多，類不習事，獨昪可任責，分吾憂。 渠今已歸，居室尚不能有，豈敢蹈故態。』 以是駁疏不欲行。 卿見王給事，可道此意。」 信聞之乃止。
The eunuch Gan Sheng had already been sent far away; when Gaozong died, he was put in charge of the funeral, and no one dared object. Before long Gan Sheng was appointed superintendent of De Shou Palace. Wang Xin immediately memorialized against it, and the whole court trembled. Hanlin Academician Hong Mai happened to arrive; the Emperor told him, "Supervising Secretary Wang's protest over Gan Sheng is entirely right. I spoke specially to the Retired Empress. Her instruction was: "Palace affairs today are not what they once were; an old woman like me cannot manage them. The junior eunuchs are numerous and mostly know nothing of business—only Sheng can take responsibility and share my burden." He has come back and still lacks a proper home—how would he dare fall into his old ways?" On that ground the Emperor rejected the memorial and refused to act on it. When you see Supervising Secretary Wang, tell him what I have said." When Wang Xin heard this, he desisted.
12
信遇事剛果，論奏不避權要，繇此人多嫉之，信亦力求去，提舉崇福宮。 詔求言，信條十事以獻，其目曰：法戒輕變，令貴必行，寬州郡以養民力，修軍政以待機會，郡當分其緩急，縣當別其劇易，嚴銅錢之禁，廣積聚之備，處歸附之人，收逃亡之卒。
Wang Xin was bold and resolute in action; in memorials he never shrank from the powerful, and many came to resent him for it. He pressed hard to leave office and was appointed superintendent of Chongfu Palace. When an edict called for counsel, Wang Xin submitted ten proposals: guard against hasty changes in law; see that orders, once issued, are enforced; ease the burden on prefectures and commanderies to restore the people's strength; restore military discipline to await the right moment; let commanderies set priorities by urgency; let counties sort tasks by difficulty; enforce the ban on private coinage; build up stores of grain; settle those who surrender; and reclaim deserters.
13
起知湖州，信未涉州縣，據桉剖析，敏如流泉。 擢集英殿修撰、知紹興府、浙東安撫使。 奏免逋官錢十四萬、絹七萬匹、綿十萬五千兩、米二千萬斛。 山陰境有𤠉�湖，四環皆田，歲苦潦，信創啟斗門，導停瀦注之海，築十一壩，化滙浸為上腴。 民繪象以祠，更其名曰「王公湖」。 築漁浦隄，禁民不舉子，買學田，立義塚，眾職修理。 加煥章閣待制，徙知鄂州，改池州。
Recalled to serve as prefect of Huzhou, Wang Xin had never held a local post; yet at his desk he dissected cases with the ease of running water. He was promoted to Compiler at the Hall for Cultivating Talent, appointed prefect of Shaoxing, and made Pacification Commissioner of Eastern Zhe. He memorialized for the remission of 140,000 strings of overdue official payments, 70,000 bolts of silk, 105,000 ounces of cotton, and 20 million hu of grain. In the Shanyin region there was a lake surrounded on all sides by farmland that flooded every year. Wang Xin opened sluice gates, drained the stagnant water to the sea, built eleven dams, and turned marsh into fertile fields. The people painted his portrait for veneration and renamed the lake Lord Wang Lake. He built the Yubu dike, forbade the abandonment of infants, bought land for schools, established charity graves, and carried out a host of such reforms. Made Attendant Gentleman of the Hall of Glorious Treasures, he was transferred to Ezhou and then to Chizhou.
14
初，信扶其父喪歸自金陵，草屨徒行，雖疾風甚雨，弗避也，由是得寒濕疾。 及聞孝宗遺詔，悲傷過甚，疾復作，至是寖劇，上章請老，以通議大夫致仕。 有星隕於其居，光如炬，不及地數尺而散。 數日，信卒，遺訓其子以忠孝公廉。 所著有《是齋集》行世。
Earlier, escorting his father's coffin home from Jinling, he wore straw sandals and went on foot through driving wind and rain without turning aside, and from that contracted a cold-damp disorder. When he heard Emperor Xiaozong's final edict, his grief was overwhelming; his old illness returned and now grew steadily worse. He memorialized to retire and was granted retirement with the rank of Grandee for Discussion. A meteor fell at his home, blazing like a torch and vanishing a few feet above the ground. Within days Wang Xin died, leaving his son a final charge to be loyal, filial, upright, and clean-handed. His collected writings, Master of This Studio, circulated widely.
15
汪大猷
Wang Dayou
16
汪大猷，字仲嘉，慶元府鄞縣人。 紹興七年，以父恩補官，授衢州江山縣尉，曉暢吏事。 登十五年進士第，授婺州金華縣丞，爭財者諭以長幼之禮，悅服而退。
Wang Dayou, courtesy name Zhongjia, was a native of Yin County in Qingyuan Prefecture. In the seventh year of Shaoxing he entered service through his father's privilege and was appointed magistrate of Jiangshan County in Quzhou, where he proved thoroughly capable in administrative matters. In the fifteenth year he passed the jinshi examination and was made assistant magistrate of Jinhua County in Wuzhou. When litigants quarreled over property, he explained the rites governing elder and younger kin, and they withdrew satisfied.
17
李椿年行經界法，約束嚴甚，檄大猷覆視龍遊縣，大猷請不實者得自陳，毋遽加罪。 改建德，遷知崑山縣。 丁父憂，免喪，差總領淮西、江東錢糧幹官，改幹辦行在諸司糧料院。
When Li Chunnian enforced the land-survey law with harsh rigor, he sent Wang Dayou to re-inspect Longyou County. Wang Dayou asked that anyone found in error be allowed to plead his case and that penalties not be imposed in haste. Transferred to Jiande, he was next appointed magistrate of Kunshan County. After mourning for his father, he was assigned as grain-and-funds administrator for Huai West and Jiang East, then moved to the grain ration office of the mobile capital.
18
參知政事錢端禮宣諭淮東，辟幹辦公事，充參議官，遷大宗丞兼吏部郎官，又兼戶部右曹。 入對，言：「總覈名實，責任臣下。 因才而任，毋違所長，量能授官，毋拘流品。」 孝宗顧謂左右曰：「疏通詳雅而善議論，有用之才也。」 除禮部員外郎。 丞相洪适薦兼吏部侍郎，仍遷主管左選。
When Vice Grand Councillor Qian Duanli went east on an imperial mission to Huai, Wang Dayou joined his staff as administrative secretary and advisory officer, then rose to Vice Director of the Great Ancestral Temple with a concurrent post in the Ministry of Personnel, and later also served in the Right Section of the Ministry of Revenue. Addressing the throne, he said: "Match names to realities and hold your ministers accountable. Appoint men for what they can do, not against their strengths; grant office by measure of ability, not by fixed pedigree." Emperor Xiaozong turned to his attendants and said, "Clear, polished, and eloquent—a man of real use." He was appointed Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites. Grand Councillor Hong Shi recommended him for concurrent service as Vice Minister of Personnel, and he was further placed in charge of the Left Selection.
19
莊文太子初建東宮，兼太子左諭德、侍講，兩日一講《孟子》，多寓規戒。 太子嘗出龍大淵禁中所進侍燕樂章，諭宮僚同賦，大猷曰：「鄭、衛之音，近習為倡，非講讀官所當預。」 白於太子而止。 遷秘書少監，修《五朝會要》。 金人來賀，假吏部尚書為接伴使。 尋兼權刑部侍郎，又兼崇政殿說書，又兼給事中。
When Crown Prince Zhuangwen first set up the Eastern Palace, Wang Dayou served concurrently as Left Mentor and Lecturer to the Crown Prince, expounding the Mencius every other day and weaving admonition into his teaching. The Crown Prince once circulated banquet lyrics that Long Dayuan had sent in from the inner palace and asked the palace staff to compose matching pieces. Wang Dayou said, "This is the licentious music of Zheng and Wei, with favorites at court setting the tone—it is no business of those who lecture and read to the heir." He reported this to the Crown Prince, and the practice was halted. He was transferred to Vice Director of the Secretariat and worked on the Collected Essentials of Five Reigns. When Jurchen envoys came to offer congratulations, he was temporarily appointed Minister of Personnel to serve as their reception commissioner. Before long he also held concurrent posts as Acting Vice Minister of Justice, Lecturer at the Chongzheng Hall, and Supervising Censor.
20
孝宗清燕，每訪政事，嘗曰：「朕每厭宦官女子之言，思與卿等款語，欲知朝政闕失，民情利病，苟有所聞，可極論之。」 大猷遂陳耆長雇直隸總經制司，並緣法意使里正兼催科之役，厲民為甚。 又論：「亭戶未嘗煮鹽，居近場監，貸錢射利，隱寄田產，害及編氓，宜取一等以上充役。」 又論：「賜田勳戚，豪奪相先，陵轢州縣，惟當賜金，使自求之。」 又論：「沒入貲產，止可行於強盜、贓吏，至於倉庫綱運之負陷者，惟當即其業收租以償，既足則給還，使復故業。」 轉對，言榷酒之害，及居官者不得鑄銅為器。 上嘉獎曰：「卿前後所言，皆今日可行之事。」
At Emperor Xiaozong's informal audiences he often discussed affairs of state and once said, "I am weary of hearing eunuchs and palace women, and I want to speak openly with you. I wish to know where court governance falls short and where the people's interests are helped or harmed. If you have heard anything, do not hold back—say all you know." Wang Dayou then raised the practice of village elders hiring salaried agents under the General Commandery, and the way the law was being read to make village heads perform tax collection as well—an onerous burden on the people indeed. He argued further: "Many registered salt households have never actually boiled salt. They live near the salt offices, lend money for profit, and hide their land elsewhere, while the harm falls on ordinary registered taxpayers. Only households of the first rank and above should be pressed into such service." He argued further: "When land is granted to meritorious kin, they vie to seize it by force and bully prefectures and counties. They should be given gold instead and left to obtain land for themselves." He argued further: "Confiscation of property should be limited to armed robbers and corrupt officials. As for those who fall into debt on warehouse transport convoys, the state should collect rent from their holdings to make repayment; once the debt is satisfied, the property should be returned and they should be allowed to resume their former livelihood." In a rotating palace audience he spoke of the evils of the liquor monopoly and of the prohibition on officials casting copper into vessels. The Emperor praised him, saying, "Everything you have said, earlier and now, can be put into practice today."
21
權刑部侍郎，升侍講，言：「有司率用新制，棄舊法，輕重舛牾，無所遵承，使舞文之吏時出，以售其姦，請明詔編纂。」 書成上進，上大悅。
Serving as Acting Vice Minister of Justice, he was promoted to Lecturer-in-Attendance and said, "Offices routinely follow new rules and discard old statutes, so that penalties contradict one another and no one knows what to obey—giving manipulators of the written law room to appear and sell their tricks. I ask that an explicit edict order a compilation." When the compilation was finished and submitted, the Emperor was greatly pleased.
22
尚書周執羔、韓元吉、樞密劉珙以強盜率不處死，無所懲艾，右司林栗謂：「太祖朝強盜贓滿三貫死，無首從，不問殺傷。 景祐增五貫，固從寬。 今設六項法，非手刃人，例奏裁黥配，何所懲艾？ 請從舊法，贓滿三貫者斬。」 大猷曰：「此吾職也。」 遂具奏曰：「強盜烏可恕，用舊法而痛懲之，固可也。 天聖以來，益用中典，寖失禁姦之意。 今所議六項法，犯者以法行之，非此而但取財，惟再犯者死，可謂寬嚴適中。 若皆置之死地，未必能禁其為盜，盜知必死，將甘心於事主矣，望稍開其生路。」 乃奏用六項法則死者十七人，用見行法則十四人，舊法百七十人俱死。 遂從大猷議。 借吏部尚書為賀金國正旦使，至盱眙，得印榜云：「強盜止用舊法，罷六項法。」 還朝自劾求去，上聞之，復行六項法。
Minister Zhou Zhigao, Minister Han Yuanji, and Secretariat-Chancellery Chief Liu Gong argued that robbers were rarely put to death and that there was no real deterrent. Right Secretariat Official Lin Li said, "Under Taizu, robbery with loot worth three strings of cash was a capital offense, with no distinction between ringleader and follower and no inquiry into whether anyone had been killed or wounded. Under Jingyou the threshold was raised to five strings—a deliberate easing. Now the six-item law is in place: unless a robber kills with his own hand, cases are routinely sent up for imperial review and punished with tattooing and exile—where is the deterrent in that? I ask that the old law be restored: anyone whose loot reaches three strings of cash should be beheaded." Wang Dayou said, "This falls within my duty." He then submitted a full memorial, saying, "Robbers are not to be indulged, and it would certainly be possible to apply the old law and punish them harshly. Since the Tiansheng era, however, the middle standard of punishment has been used more and more, until the purpose of restraining crime has slowly been lost. The six-item law now under discussion applies where the statute applies; where a robber merely takes property and does not fall under those categories, only a repeat offender is put to death. That can be called a balance of severity and lenience. If every robber were sent to death, that would not necessarily stop robbery. Once robbers know they must die, they will resign themselves to killing their victims as well. I hope Your Majesty will leave them some small path back to life." He reported that under the six-item law seventeen would die, under the law then in force fourteen, and under the old law all one hundred seventy would die. The court followed Wang Dayou's recommendation. Serving temporarily as Minister of Personnel, he went as envoy to congratulate the Jin court on New Year's Day. At Xuyi he came upon a printed placard that read, "For robbery only the old law is to be used; the six-item law is abolished." When he returned to court he submitted a self-accusation and asked to be relieved of office. When the Emperor learned of the matter, the six-item law was put back into effect.
23
改權吏部侍郎兼權尚書。 夜傳旨學士院，出唐沈既濟論選舉事，曰：「今日有此弊，可行與否，詰旦當面對。」 即奏：「事與今異，弊雖似之，言則難行。」 上曰：「卿言甚明。」 既郊，差充鹵簿使，以言去，授敷文閣待制、提舉太平興國宮。
He was reassigned to Acting Vice Minister of Personnel with concurrent duty as Acting Minister. That night an edict was sent to the Hanlin Academy, along with the Tang writer Shen Jiji's essay on the selection examinations, saying, "This same abuse exists today—can his proposal be put into practice or not? Tomorrow at dawn you will answer me in person." He immediately memorialized, "The circumstances are not the same as in his day. Though the abuse looks similar, what he proposes would be hard to carry out now." The Emperor said, "Your explanation is very clear." After the suburban sacrifice he was assigned as commissioner of the imperial guard of honor, but because of his outspoken remonstrance he left office and was given the nominal posts of Attendant of the Fawen Pavilion and Director of the Taiping Xingguo Palace.
24
起知泉州。 毗舍邪嘗掠海濱居民，歲遣戍防之，勞費不貲。 大猷作屋二百區，遣將留屯。 久之，戍兵以真臘大買為毗舍邪犯境，大猷曰：「毗舍邪面目黑如漆，語言不通，此豈毗舍邪耶？」 遂遣之。 故事蕃商與人爭鬥，非傷折罪，皆以牛贖，大猷曰：「安有中國用島夷俗者，苟在吾境，當用吾法。」 三佛齊請鑄銅瓦三萬，詔泉、廣二州守臣督造付之。 大猷奏：「法，銅不下海。 中國方禁銷銅，奈何為其所役？」 卒不與。 進敷文閣直學士，留知泉州。
He was recalled and appointed prefect of Quanzhou. Pisheye raiders had preyed on coastal inhabitants, and every year garrison troops were sent to guard against them, at enormous labor and cost. Wang Dayou built two hundred dwellings and sent officers to remain stationed there. After some time the garrison reported that Khmer merchants were Pisheye raiders violating the border. Wang Dayou said, "Pisheye have faces black as lacquer and speak a language we cannot understand—how could these men be Pisheye?" He had them released and sent on their way. By precedent, when foreign merchants quarreled and no bones were broken, all parties redeemed the offense with cattle. Wang Dayou said, "How can the Middle Kingdom adopt the customs of island barbarians? So long as they are within our territory, our law should govern them." Srivijaya requested thirty thousand cast copper tiles, and an edict ordered the prefects of Quan and Guang to supervise their manufacture and deliver them. Wang Dayou memorialized, "By law, copper is not to be sent overseas. The empire is now forbidding the melting down of copper—how can we be made to labor on their behalf?" In the end he refused to provide them. He was promoted to Direct Academician of the Fawen Pavilion and continued as prefect of Quanzhou.
25
逾年，提舉太平興國宮，改知隆興府、江西安撫使。 以大暑討永新禾山洞寇，不利，自劾，降龍圖閣待制，落職，南康軍居住，提舉太平興國宮。 復龍圖閣待制，提舉上清太平宮。 復敷文閣待制，升學士。 沒，贈二官。
After more than a year he was made Director of the Taiping Xingguo Palace and transferred to serve as prefect of Longxing and Jiangxi Pacification Commissioner. In the height of summer he led a campaign against bandits in the Hemiao Mountain caves of Yongxin, but the operation went badly. He submitted a self-accusation, was demoted to Attendant of the Longtu Pavilion, stripped of office, ordered to reside at Nankang, and given charge of the Taiping Xingguo Palace. He was restored to Attendant of the Longtu Pavilion and made Director of the Shangqing Taiping Palace. He was again made Attendant of the Fawen Pavilion and promoted to Academician. When he died, he was posthumously granted two ranks of office.
26
大猷與丞相史浩同里，又同年進士，未嘗附麗以干進，浩深歎美之。 好周施，敘宗族外族為《興仁錄》，率鄉人為義莊二十餘畝以爲倡，眾皆欣勸。 所著有《適齋存藁》、《備忘》、《訓鑒》等書。
Wang Dayou was a townsman of Grand Councillor Shi Hao and had passed the jinshi examination in the same year, yet he never clung to Hao to advance himself—a fact Hao admired deeply. He was fond of generous charity. He compiled a Record of Fostering Benevolence for his clan and related families, and led his fellow townsmen in founding a charity estate of more than twenty mu as an example; everyone gladly took up his call. His publications included Collected Drafts of the Appropriate Studio, Memoranda, Instruction and Mirror, and other works.
27
袁燮，字和叔，慶元府鄞縣人。 生而端粹專靜，乳媼置盤水其前，玩視終日，夜臥常醒然。 少長，讀東都《黨錮傳》，慨然以名節自期。 入太學，登進士第，調江陰尉。
Yuan Xie, courtesy name Heshu, came from Yin County in Qingyuan Prefecture. From infancy he was upright, pure, and inwardly still. When his nurse set a basin of water before him, he would stare at it all day long; at night he slept lightly, always wakeful rather than sunk in oblivion. When he was older, he read the Biographies of the Partisan Proscriptions from the Eastern Capital and resolved, with deep feeling, to measure his life by honor and principle. He entered the Imperial University, took his jinshi degree, and was posted as defense commandant of Jiangyin.
28
浙西大饑，常平使羅點屬任振恤。 燮命每保畫一圖，田疇、山水、道路悉載之，而以居民分布其間，凡名數、治業悉書之。 合保為都，合都為鄉，合鄉為縣，征發、爭訟、追胥，披圖可立決，以此為荒政首。 除沿海制屬。 連丁家艱，寧宗即位，以太學正召。 時朱熹諸儒相次去國，丞相趙汝愚罷，燮亦以論去，自是黨禁興矣。 久之，為浙東帥幕、福建常平屬、沿海參議。
When famine struck western Zhe, Luo Dian, the Ever-Normal Granary commissioner, put Xie in charge of relief. Xie ordered each bao to draw a map recording every field, waterway, hill, and road, with households marked among them and every name, headcount, and livelihood noted in full. Bao were grouped into du, du into townships, townships into counties; for levies, litigation, and tax collection, he could unroll a map and settle the matter on the spot. He ranked this first among famine-relief methods. He was made a staff officer on the coastal defense commission. After mourning both parents in succession, he was recalled as Director of the Imperial University when Ningzong ascended the throne. Zhu Xi and other scholars were leaving court one after another; Grand Councillor Zhao Ruyu had been dismissed; Xie, too, was driven out after memorializing the throne—and the factional proscription began. In time he served on the staff of the Eastern Zhe military commissioner, as an officer of the Fujian Ever-Normal Granary, and as a coastal defense adviser.
29
嘉定初，召主宗正簿、樞密院編修官，權考功郎官、太常丞、知江州，改提舉江西常平、權知隆興。 召為都官郎官，遷司封。 因對，言：「陛下即位之初，委任賢相，正士鱗集，而竊威權者從旁睨之。 彭龜年逆知其必亂天下，顯言其姦，龜年以罪去，而權臣遂根據，幾危社稷。 陛下追思龜年，蓋嘗臨朝太息曰：『斯人猶在，必大用之。』 固已深知龜年之忠矣。 今正人端士不乏，願陛下常存此心，急聞剴切，崇獎樸直，一龜年雖沒，眾龜年繼進，天下何憂不治。 臣昨勸陛下勤於好問，而聖訓有曰：『問則明』。 臣退與朝士言之，莫不稱善。 而側聽十旬，陛下之端拱淵默猶昔也，臣竊惑焉。 夫既知如是而明，則當知反是而暗。 明則輝光旁燭，無所不通； 暗則是非得失，懵然不辨矣。」
Early in the Jiading reign he was recalled as registrar of the Imperial Clan directorate and compiler at the Bureau of Military Affairs, then served concurrently as acting merit-and-demerit officer in the Ministry of Personnel, vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and prefect of Jiangzhou, before becoming intendant of the Jiangxi Ever-Normal Granary with acting authority over Longxing. Called back as an official in the Ministry of Justice's Department of Punishments, he was promoted to the Enfeoffment office in the Ministry of Personnel. Addressing the throne, he said, "When Your Majesty first took the throne, you entrusted a worthy chief minister and upright men thronged the court—while men who coveted power watched from the sidelines. Peng Guinian saw in advance that they would wreck the realm and denounced their treachery openly. Peng was dismissed on fabricated charges, the power-holder dug in, and the state came close to ruin. Your Majesty, looking back on Peng Guinian, once sighed at court and said, 'If that man were still alive, I would put him to great use.' You already knew full well how loyal Peng was. Worthy, upright men are not scarce even now. If Your Majesty keeps this disposition, listens eagerly to forthright counsel, and rewards plainspoken integrity, then though one Peng Guinian is gone, others like him will come forward—and what governable realm could not be brought to order? Yesterday I urged Your Majesty to question more readily, and Your Majesty answered, 'He who asks will understand.' When I left and told my colleagues at court, every one of them approved. Yet for a hundred days I have watched from the sidelines, and Your Majesty still sits in formal silence, deep and still as before. I confess I am troubled. If one knows that asking brings light, one should know that the opposite brings darkness. In light, brilliance spreads in every direction and nothing stays closed; in darkness, right and wrong, gain and loss blur together beyond telling."
30
遷國子司業、秘書少監，進祭酒、秘書監。 延見諸生，必迪以反躬切己，忠信篤實，是為道本。 聞者悚然有得，士氣益振。 兼崇政殿說書，除禮部侍郎兼侍讀。 時史彌遠主和，燮爭益力，臺論劾燮，罷之，以寶文閣待制提舉鴻慶宮。 起知溫州，進直學士，奉祠以卒。
He rose to vice director of the National University and vice director of the Palace Library, then to chancellor of the National University and director of the Palace Library. Whenever he met students, he always pressed them to look inward and hold themselves to account, taking loyalty, trustworthiness, and solid integrity as the foundation of learning. Listeners came away startled and enriched; the spirit of the student body revived. He also lectured at the Hall of Cultivating Governance and was appointed vice minister of rites with concurrent duties as lecturer-in-waiting. Shi Miyuan then led the peace party, and Xie opposed him ever more forcefully. The censorate impeached Xie and removed him, assigning him attendant gentleman at the Hall of Treasured Literature and superintendent of Hongqing Palace. Recalled as prefect of Wenzhou and promoted to Hanlin academician, he died in a temple sinecure post.
31
燮初入太學，陸九齡為學錄，同里沈煥、楊簡、舒璘亦皆在學，以道義相切磨。 後見九齡之弟九淵，發明本心之指，乃師事焉。 每言人心與天地一本，精思以得之，兢業以守之則與天地相似。 學者稱之曰「潔齋先生」。 後諡「正獻」。 子：甫，自有傳。
When Xie first entered the Imperial University, Lu Jiuling was recorder; his fellow townsmen Shen Huan, Yang Jian, and Shu Lin were there as well, and they sharpened one another in the discipline of moral principle. Later he met Jiuling's younger brother Jiuyuan, who unfolded the teaching of the original mind, and became his disciple. He would say that the human mind and Heaven-and-Earth are of one root: attain it through keen reflection, guard it through conscientious diligence, and one becomes akin to Heaven-and-Earth. Scholars honored him as Master Jiezhai. He was later given the posthumous title Correct Contribution. His son Fu has a separate biography.
32
吳柔勝
Wu Rousheng
33
吳柔勝，字勝之，宣州人。 幼聽其父講伊、洛書，已知有持敬之學，不妄言笑。 長遊郡泮，人皆憚其方嚴。 登淳熙八年進士第，調都昌簿。 丞相趙汝愚知其賢，差嘉興府學教授，將置之館閣，會汝愚去，御史湯碩劾柔勝嘗救荒浙右，擅放田租，為汝愚收人心，且主朱熹之學，不可為師儒官，自是閑居十餘年。
Wu Rousheng, courtesy name Shengzhi, came from Xuanzhou. As a boy, hearing his father explain the Cheng-Zhu texts, he already understood the discipline of reverent attentiveness and never jested or laughed lightly. When he came of age he entered the prefectural academy, where everyone stood in awe of his stern rectitude. He took his jinshi degree in the eighth year of the Chunxi reign and was posted as registrar of Duchang. Grand Councillor Zhao Ruyu recognized his talent, made him professor at the Jiaxing prefectural school, and planned to move him into the Hanlin archive. Then Zhao Ruyu fell. Supervising Censor Tang Shuo impeached Rousheng for having remitted field rent on his own authority while relieving famine in western Zhe—an effort, Tang charged, to win popular favor for Zhao Ruyu—and for teaching Zhu Xi's doctrines, unfit for a post as master of scholars. Rousheng then lived quietly at home for more than ten years.
34
嘉定初，主管刑、工部架閣文字，遷國子正。 柔勝始以朱熹《四書》與諸生誦習，講義策問，皆以是為先。 又於生徒中得潘時舉、呂喬年，白於長，擢為職事，使以文行表率，於是士知趨向，伊、洛之學，晦而復明。 遷太學博士，又遷司農寺丞。
Early in the Jiading reign he managed archival records for the ministries of justice and works, then rose to director of students at the National University. Rousheng had students begin with recitation of Zhu Xi's Four Books and made them the first priority in lectures, essays, and examinations. He identified Pan Shiju and Lu Qiaonian among his students, recommended them to the head of the school, and raised them to student officers to model learning and conduct. From then on students knew what to strive for, and the learning of Luoyang, once eclipsed, dawned again. He rose to erudite of the Imperial University, then to vice director in the Ministry of Revenue's agriculture section.
35
出知隨州。 時再議和好，尤戒開邊隙，旁塞之民事與北界相涉，不問法輕重皆殺之。 郡民梁臯有馬為北人所盜，追之急，北人以矢拒臯，臯與其徒亦發二矢。 北界以為言，郡下七人於獄，柔勝至，立破械縱之，具始末報北界而已。 收土豪孟宗政、扈再興隸帳下，後宗政、再興皆為名將。 築隨州及棗陽城，招四方亡命得千人，立軍曰「忠勇」，廩以總所闕額，營柵器械悉備。 除京西提刑，領州如故。 改湖北運判兼知鄂州。 甫至，值歲歉，即乞糴於湖南，大講荒政，十五州被災之民，全活者不可勝計。
He was sent out as prefect of Suizhou. Peace talks were underway again, and officials were especially anxious not to provoke border clashes. Whenever a frontier resident's case touched Jin territory, the accused were put to death without regard to the severity of the offense. A prefectural subject named Liang Gao had his horse stolen by Jin subjects. He gave chase hotly; the northerners drove him off with arrows, and Gao and his companions shot back twice. The Jin border lodged a complaint, and seven local men were thrown into jail. As soon as Rousheng took up his post, he had their fetters struck off and set them free, then sent the northern authorities a full account of what had happened—and nothing more. He brought the local strongmen Meng Zongzheng and Hu Zaixing into his service; both later rose to become celebrated commanders. He fortified Suizhou and Zaoyang, gathered a thousand desperate men from every direction, and raised a unit called the Loyal Valor Army, drawing its rations from the headquarters shortfall while equipping its camps, palisades, and weapons in full. He was made Judicial Intendant of Jingxi Circuit but continued to govern his prefecture as before. He was transferred to Transport Commissioner of Hubei and given concurrent appointment as prefect of Ezhou. He had scarcely arrived when famine struck. He at once petitioned to buy grain from Hunan and mounted a sweeping relief campaign; across fifteen stricken prefectures, the lives he preserved were beyond number.
36
改知太平州，除直秘閣，主管毫州明道宮。 改直華文閣，除工部郎中，力辭，除秘閣修撰，依舊宮觀以卒，諡「正肅」。 二子：淵、潛，俱登進士，各有傳。
He was reassigned as prefect of Taiping, appointed Direct Attendant of the Secretariat Pavilion, and put in charge of the Mingdao Abbey in Bozhou. Promoted to Direct Attendant of the Huawen Pavilion and offered the directorship of the Ministry of Works, he firmly refused; he was then made Compiler of the Secretariat Pavilion and died while still serving in his abbey sinecure, posthumously titled Upright and Solemn. His two sons, Yuan and Qian, both took the jinshi degree; each has a separate biography.
37
遊仲鴻
You Zhonghong
38
遊仲鴻，字子正，果之南充人。 淳熙二年進士第，初調犍為簿。 李昌圖總蜀賦，辟糴買官，奇其才，曰：「吾董餉積年，惟得一士。」 昌圖召入，首薦之，擢四川制置司幹辦公事。 制置使趙汝愚一見即知敬之。
You Zhonghong, courtesy name Zizheng, came from Nanchong in Guo Prefecture. He took his jinshi degree in the second year of Chunxi and was first posted as registrar of Qianwei. Li Changtu, who managed Sichuan revenue, brought him on as grain-purchase officer. Struck by his ability, Li said, "In all the years I have overseen supplies, I have found only one man of real worth." Li summoned him to the capital, put his name at the head of the recommendations, and raised him to staff officer on the Sichuan Commissioner-in-Chief's staff. Pacification Commissioner Zhao Ruyu recognized his worth at first sight and treated him with deference.
39
敘州董蠻犯犍為境，憲將合兵討之，仲鴻請行。 詰其釁端，以州負馬直也，乃使人諭蠻曰：「歸俘則還馬直，不然大兵至矣。」 蠻聽命，仲鴻受其降而歸。 改秩，知中江縣，總領楊輔檄置幕下。 時關外營田凡萬四千頃，畝僅輸七升。 仲鴻建議，請以兵之當汰者授之田，存赤籍，遲以數年，汰者眾，耕者多，則橫斂一切之賦可次第以減。 輔然之，大將吳挺沮而止。 趙汝愚移帥閩，舉仲鴻自代，制置使京鏜、轉運劉光祖亦交薦於朝。
When the Dong tribes of Xuzhou raided Qianwei, the circuit intendant prepared to muster troops for a punitive campaign; Zhonghong asked to go himself. Investigating how the trouble began, he found the prefecture owed them payment for horses. He sent an envoy to tell the tribes, "Return our prisoners and the horse money will be paid; refuse, and a large force will march on you." The tribes complied. Zhonghong accepted their submission and came home. Promoted in rank, he was made magistrate of Zhongjiang; Overall Commander Yang Fu then called him to his secretariat by written order. Garrison farms outside the passes then covered fourteen thousand qing in all, yet each mu paid barely seven sheng in grain. Zhonghong urged that soldiers marked for demobilization be given land while keeping the original military rolls on file; after a few years, as more men were mustered out and more fields were tilled, the crushing surcharges and assorted exactions could be cut back step by step. Yang Fu agreed, but the senior commander Wu Ting blocked the proposal and it came to nothing. When Zhao Ruyu transferred to command Fujian, he nominated Zhonghong to succeed him; Commissioner Jing Tang and Transport Commissioner Liu Guangzu likewise recommended him to the throne.
40
紹熙四年，赴召，趙汝愚在樞密，謂仲鴻直諒多聞，訪以蜀中利病。 汝愚欲親出經略西事，仲鴻曰：「宥密之地，斡旋者易，公獨不聞呂申公『經略西事當在朝廷』之語乎？」 汝愚悟而止。 差幹辦諸司糧料院。
In the fourth year of Shaoxi he came to court on summons. Zhao Ruyu, then at the Bureau of Military Affairs, judged him upright, candid, and well informed, and questioned him closely on Sichuan's strengths and weaknesses. Ruyu wanted to take the field himself to oversee the west. Zhonghong said, "In the Privy Council you can turn affairs with a word—surely you have not forgotten what Lord Lü said: 'Western strategy belongs at court'?" Ruyu took the point and gave up the idea. He was posted as staff officer of the Provisionery for All Bureaus.
41
汝愚既拜右丞相，以仲鴻久遊其門，辟嫌不用。 初，汝愚之定策也，知閤韓侂胄頗有勞，望節鉞，汝愚不與。 侂胄方居中用事，恚甚。 汝愚迹已危，方益自嚴重，選人求見者例不許。 仲鴻勸以降意容接，覬遏異論，而汝愚以淮東、西總賦積弊，奏遣仲鴻覈實，仲鴻曰：「丞相之勢已孤，不憂此而顧憂彼耶？」 改監登聞鼓院以行。
After Ruyu became Right Grand Councillor, he declined to use Zhonghong, lest their long association be read as cronyism. When Ruyu had first engineered the succession, Palace Gate Director Han Tuozhou had done much of the work and expected a field command; Ruyu refused him. Tuozhou was already the power behind the throne, and he burned with resentment. Ruyu's footing was already precarious. He grew only more guarded and austere, turning away petitioners as a rule. Zhonghong urged him to soften his bearing and meet callers openly, hoping to stifle hostile talk. Instead Ruyu cited entrenched abuses in overall tax collection on the Huai rivers and sent Zhonghong to investigate. Zhonghong said, "Your power is already standing alone—is this really the moment to worry about that rather than this?" He was reassigned to supervise the Petition Drum Court and sent away on the assignment.
42
會侍講朱熹以論事去國，仲鴻聞之，即上疏曰：「陛下宅憂之時，御批數出，不由中書。 前日宰相留正之去，去之不以禮； 諫官黃度之去，去之不以正； 近臣朱熹之去，復去之不以道。 自古未有舍宰相、諫官、講官而能自為聰明者也。 願亟還熹，毋使小人得志，以養成禍亂。」
When Lecturer-in-Waiting Zhu Xi was driven from court for his remonstrance, Zhonghong at once memorialized: "In this period of imperial mourning, rescripts pour forth without the Secretariat's review. First Chancellor Liu Zheng was removed—without the courtesy owed a chief minister; then Remonstrance Officer Huang Du was removed—without justice; and now the intimate adviser Zhu Xi has been removed again—without right principle. Never in history has any ruler been truly wise while casting aside his chancellor, his remonstrators, and his lecturers. I urge Your Majesty to recall Xi at once, lest small men triumph and disaster take root."
43
監察御史胡紘希侂胄意，誣汝愚久蓄邪心，嘗語人以乘龍授鼎之夢，又謂朝士中有推其宗派，以為裔出楚王元佐，正統所在者，指仲鴻也。 初，欲直書仲鴻名，同臺張孝伯見之曰：「書其名則竄矣。 凡阿附宰相，本冀官爵，此人沉埋六院且二年，心跡可察。」 卒不書其名。
Supervising Censor Hu Gong, eager to curry favor with Tuozhou, accused Ruyu of long-nurtured treason, claiming he had spoken to others of a dream in which he rode a dragon and was handed the royal cauldron. Hu further said that some at court were promoting a lineage traced to Prince Yuanzuo of Chu as the rightful succession—and that the man they meant was Zhonghong. At first Hu meant to name Zhonghong outright. Fellow censor Zhang Xiaobo saw the draft and said, "Put his name in and he will be exiled. Men who attach themselves to a chancellor usually want office and honors. This man has languished in the Six Courts for two years; his intentions are plain enough." In the end his name was left out.
44
慶元元年，汝愚罷相，仲鴻遷軍器監主簿，力丐外，除知洋州。 朱熹聞其出，曰：「信蜀士之多奇也。」 越三年，起知嘉定府。 擢利路轉運判官，數忤宣撫副使吳曦，曦言仲鴻老病，朝命易他部。 未幾，曦叛，宣撫司幕官薛紱訪仲鴻於果山，仲鴻對之泣，指案上一編書示紱曰：「開禧丁卯正月遊某死。」 謂家人曰：「曦逼吾死，即填其日。」
In the first year of Qingyuan, after Ruyu was dismissed as chancellor, Zhonghong was moved to chief clerk of the Directorate of Armaments; he pressed hard for a provincial post and was made prefect of Yang Prefecture. When Zhu Xi heard that he was being sent out, he said, "So it is true—Sichuan breeds extraordinary men." Three years on he was recalled to serve as prefect of Jiading. Promoted to Transport Commissioner of Liyu Circuit, he clashed repeatedly with Pacification Vice Commissioner Wu Xi. Xi reported that Zhonghong was aged and infirm, and the court reassigned him elsewhere. Before long Xi rose in rebellion. Xue Fu, a staff officer of the Pacification Commission, came to see Zhonghong on Mount Guo. Zhonghong wept as he faced him, then pointed to a bound volume on his desk and showed it to Fu: "First month, dingmao year of Kaixi—You So-and-so dies." He told his household, "Xi is driving me to my death—when it happens, enter that very date."
45
時宣撫大使程松已棄其師遁，仲鴻以書勸成都帥楊輔討賊，輔不能用。 至是松至果，仲鴻謂紱曰：「宣威肯留，則吾以積奉二萬緡犒兵，護宣威之成都。」 松不顧而去。 總賦劉崇之繼至，仲鴻遣其子似往見，以告松者告之，崇之復不聽。 未幾，曦誅，參政李壁奏除利路提點刑獄，尋乞休致，予祠而歸，遷中奉大夫。
By then Pacification Commissioner-in-Chief Cheng Song had already deserted his troops and fled. Zhonghong wrote urging Chengdu commander Yang Fu to crush the rebels, but Fu would not heed him. When Cheng Song reached Guo, You Zhonghong told Xue Fu, "If the pacification commissioner will stay, I will spend twenty thousand strings of my saved stipend to reward the troops and escort him back to Chengdu." Cheng Song ignored the offer and left. The chief tax commissioner Liu Chongzhi came next. You Zhonghong sent his son You Si to see him and repeated the plea he had made to Cheng Song, but Liu Chongzhi would not listen either. Not long afterward Wu Xi was put to death. Grand Councilor Li Bi memorialized to appoint You Zhonghong Judicial Intendant for Li Circuit; he soon asked to retire, was given a stipended temple post and sent home, and was promoted to Right Grandee of Palace Attendance.
46
嘉定八年卒，年七十八。 劉光祖表其隧道曰：「於乎！ 慶元黨人遊公之墓。」 紹定五年，諡曰「忠」。 子：似，淳祐五年為右丞相，自有傳。
He died in Jiading 8 (1215), at the age of seventy-eight. Liu Guangzu wrote the inscription for his tomb passage: "Alas! Members of the Qingyuan faction come to Lord You's grave. In Shaoding 5 (1232) he was given the posthumous title Loyal. His son You Si became right chancellor in Chunyou 5 (1245) and has a separate biography.
47
李祥，字元德，常州無錫人。 隆興元年進士，為錢塘縣主簿。 時姚憲尹臨安，俾攝錄參。 邏者以巧發為能，每事下有司，必監視鍛煉，囚服乃已。 嘗誣告一武臣子謗朝政，鞫於獄，祥不使邏者入門。 既而所告無實，具以白尹，尹驚曰：「上命無實乎？」 祥曰：「即坐譴，自甘。」 憲具論如祥意，上駭曰：「朕幾誤矣，卿吾爭臣也。」 遂賜憲出身為諫大夫，祥調濠州錄事參軍。 安豐守臣冒占民田，訟屢改而不決，監司委祥，卒歸之民。 未幾，其人易守濠，以嫌換司理廬州； 守出改官奏留之，不可。
Li Xiang, courtesy name Yuande, was a native of Wuxi in Changzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in Longxing 1 (1163) and served as chief clerk of Qiantang County. When Yao Xian was prefect of Lin'an, he had Li Xiang serve as acting Records Assistant. The runners took clever arrests for ability; whenever a case was referred to a subordinate office, they insisted on supervising interrogation under torture until the prisoner confessed. Once someone falsely accused a military officer's son of slandering the government; when the case was tried in jail, Li Xiang refused to let the runners inside. When the charge proved false, he reported everything to the prefect, who exclaimed, "So the imperial order had no basis? Li Xiang replied, "Even if I am punished for this, I accept it willingly." Yao Xian memorialized in full accord with Li Xiang's position. The emperor was shaken and said, "I nearly made a mistake; you are my remonstrating minister." Yao Xian was then granted direct appointment as Remonstrance Grandee, and Li Xiang was transferred to Records Assistant in Haozhou. The prefect of Anfeng had illegally occupied civilian fields; the lawsuit was repeatedly reassigned without a decision. The supervisory official put the case in Li Xiang's hands, and he finally returned the land to its owners. Before long that official became prefect of Haozhou; because of the conflict of interest, Li Xiang was transferred to serve as judicial officer in Luzhou. The prefect submitted a memorial to promote him and keep him in post, but the request was denied.
48
主管戶部架閣文字、太學博士、國子博士、司農寺丞、樞密院編脩官兼刑部郎官、大宗正丞、軍器少監。 言：「忝朝跡八年，在外賢才不勝眾，願更出迭入由臣始。」 出提舉淮東常平茶鹽、淮西運判。 兩淮鐵錢比不定，祥疏乞官賜錢米銷濫惡者，廢定城、興國、漢陽監，更鑄紹熙新錢，從之，淮人以安。
He held the posts of supervisor of Ministry of Revenue archival documents, erudite of the Imperial Academy, erudite of the National University, vice director of the Directorate of Agriculture, privy council compilation officer with concurrent appointment in the Ministry of Justice, vice director of the Imperial Clan Court, and vice director of the Armaments Directorate. He memorialized, "I have held a place at court for eight years, yet worthy men outside still far outnumber those within; let the practice of moving in and out of office begin with me." He was then appointed intendant of Huaidong ever-normal granaries, tea, and salt, and transport vice commissioner for Huaixi. Iron cash in the two Huai regions had long been unstable. Li Xiang memorialized asking the government to issue official cash and grain to buy up inferior and debased coin, abolish the mints at Dingcheng, Xingguo, and Hanyang, and recast new Shaoxi currency. The court agreed, and the Huai region was calmed.
49
遷國子司業、宗正少卿、國子祭酒。 丞相趙汝愚以言去國，祥上疏爭之，曰：「頃壽皇崩，兩宮隔絕，中外洶洶，留正棄印亡去，國命如𩬊。 汝愚不畏滅族，決策立陛下，風塵不搖，天下復安，社稷之臣也。 奈何無念功至意，忽體貌常典，使精忠巨節怫鬱黯闇，何以示後世？」
He was promoted to vice rector of the National University, vice director of the Imperial Clan Court, and chancellor of the National University. When Chancellor Zhao Ruyu was driven from office after a memorial attack, Li Xiang submitted a protest, saying, "When Emperor Xiaozong died not long ago, the two palaces were cut off from each other and the realm was in turmoil; Liu Zheng abandoned his seal and fled, and the nation's fate hung by a thread. Zhao Ruyu did not fear the destruction of his whole clan, decided to enthrone Your Majesty, kept the realm steady through the crisis, and brought the empire back to peace — he is a pillar of the state. Why forget his supreme service, abruptly withhold the honors normally owed a man of his stature, and leave towering loyalty and integrity buried in resentment and obscurity? What lesson is that for posterity?"
50
除直龍圖閣、湖南運副，言者劾罷之。 於是太學諸生楊宏中、周端朝等六人上書留之，俱得罪。 主沖佑觀，再請老，以直龍圖閣致仕。 嘉泰元年八月卒，諡「肅簡」。
He was appointed directly attached to the Dragon Diagram Hall and transport vice commissioner for Hunan, but critics impeached him and he was removed. Six Imperial University students, including Yang Hongzhong and Zhou Duanchao, then submitted a joint memorial asking that he be kept in office; all were punished. He was placed in charge of Chongyou Temple; after again requesting retirement, he retired with the rank of directly attached to the Dragon Diagram Hall. He died in the eighth month of Jiatai 1 (1201) and was given the posthumous title Solemn and Simple.
51
簽書昭慶軍節度判官廳公事，除為國子錄，上疏言：「壽皇親挈神器授之陛下，孝敬豈可久闕乎？」 又言：「婦事舅姑如事父母，不可虧宮中之禮。」 不報。 孝宗崩，介又力請上過宮執喪，累疏言辭激切，人歎其忠。
Wang Jie served as signing secretary in the Zhaoping military commissioner's office and was appointed registrar of the National University. He memorialized, "Emperor Xiaozong personally entrusted the imperial regalia to Your Majesty — how can filial duty be neglected for long? He also wrote, "A wife serves her parents-in-law as she serves her own parents; the ceremonial obligations of the inner palace must not be slighted." The court did not reply. When Emperor Xiaozong died, Wang Jie again pressed the emperor to go to the inner palace to observe mourning; his repeated memorials were sharp and impassioned, and people admired his loyalty.
52
寧宗即位，介上疏言：「陛下即位未三月，策免宰相，遷易臺諫，悉出內批，非治世事也。 崇寧、大觀間事出御批，遂成北狩之禍。 杜衍為相，常積內降十數封還，今宰相不敢封納，臺諫不敢彈奏，此豈可久之道。」 遷太學博士。
When Emperor Ningzong took the throne, Wang Jie memorialized, "Your Majesty has reigned less than three months, yet you have removed the chancellor by edict, reshuffled the censorate and remonstrance bureau, and all of it has issued from inner drafts — this is no way to run the state. In the Chongning and Daguan periods, government by imperial draft led to the catastrophe of the flight north. When Du Yan was chancellor, he would regularly accumulate a dozen inner edicts and send them back sealed; now the chancellor does not dare seal and return them, and the censorate and remonstrators do not dare impeach — can this go on? He was transferred to erudite of the Imperial Academy.
53
時韓侂胄居中潛弄威福之柄，猶未肆也，而文墨議論之士陰附之以希進，於是始無所憚矣。 侂胄始疑介前封事詆己，且其弟仰胄嘗以舊識求自通，介拒絕之，侂胄怨益深。
At the time Han Tuozhou dominated the court and secretly wielded power and patronage; he had not yet fully thrown off restraint, but men of letters and debate quietly attached themselves to him in hope of promotion, and only then did he begin to act without fear. Han Tuozhou came to suspect that Wang Jie's earlier sealed memorial had attacked him, and when his younger brother Han Yangzhou once tried to renew an old acquaintance, Wang Jie refused him; Han Tuozhou's resentment deepened.
54
添差通判紹興府，尋知邵武軍。 會學禁起，諫大夫姚愈劾介與袁燮皆偽學之黨，且附會前相汝愚，主管台州崇道觀。 久之，差知廣德軍。 侂胄之隸人蘇師旦忿介不通謁，目為偽黨，並及甲寅廷對之語，以告侂胄。 有勸其自明者，介曰：「吾髮已種種，豈為鼠輩所使邪！」 侂胄亦畏公議不敢發。 以外艱去。
He received an additional appointment as vice prefect of Shaoxing, and soon became prefect of Shaowu. When the Learning Proscription began, Remonstrance Grandee Yao Yu impeached Wang Jie and Yuan Xie as members of the pseud-learning faction and as allies of the former chancellor Zhao Ruyu; Wang Jie was placed in charge of Chongdao Temple in Taizhou. After some time he was assigned as prefect of Guangde. Han Tuozhou's retainer Su Shidan, angry that Wang Jie would not call on him, denounced him as a pseud-learning partisan and added charges drawn from Wang Jie's jiayin palace examination answers, then reported all of this to Han Tuozhou. Some urged him to defend himself. Wang Jie said, "My hair is already thin and white — am I to be pushed around by rats? Han Tuozhou also feared public opinion and did not dare move against him. He left office to observe mourning for a parent.
55
免喪，知饒州，未赴，召為秘書郎，遷度支郎官。 師旦已建節，介與同列謁政府，遇之於庭，客皆逾階而揖，介不顧。 於是殿中侍御史徐柟劾介資淺立異，奉祠，除都大坑冶。
When his mourning ended, he was appointed prefect of Raozhou. Before he took up the post, he was recalled as Secretary of the Secretariat and promoted to bureau officer in the Ministry of Revenue. Shidan had already been granted a command seal. When Jie and his colleagues paid a call at the chief councilors' office, they encountered him in the courtyard; the other guests all crossed the steps to bow, but Jie took no notice. Thereupon Palace Attendant Censor Xu Nan impeached Jie for shallow qualifications and deliberate contrariness. He was granted a ceremonial sinecure and appointed Commissioner for Mining and Minting Affairs.
56
侂胄誅，朝廷更化，介召還，除侍左郎官兼右司、太子舍人，改兵部郎官、國子司業、太子侍講兼國史院編修官、實錄院檢討官，除國子祭酒。 會以不雨，詔百官指陳闕失，時宰相史彌遠以母喪起復，介手疏歷論時政，推本《洪範》僭恒暘若之證，謂：「羅日愿為變，是下人謀上也。 修好增幣，而金人猶觖望，是夷人亂華也。 內批數出，是左右干政也。 諫官無故出省，是小人間君子也。 皆謂之僭。 一僭已足以致天變，而況兼有之哉。」 又言：「漢法天地降災，策免丞相，乞令彌遠終喪，擇公正無私者置左右，王、呂、蔡、秦之覆轍，可以為戒。」
After Han Tuozhou was executed and the court changed course, Jie was recalled. He was appointed Left Attendant in the Ministry of Personnel, concurrently serving in the Right Division and as Crown Prince Attendant; then transferred to bureau officer in the Ministry of War, Vice Director of the Directorate of Education, Crown Prince Lecturer concurrent compiler in the Historical Compilation Office and reviewer in the Veritable Records Office; and finally appointed Chancellor of the Directorate of Education. There happened to be a drought, and an edict called on all officials to point out faults and oversights. At the time Grand Counselor Shi Miyuan had returned to duty from mourning for his mother before the mourning period was complete. Jie submitted a handwritten memorial reviewing current policy in detail, tracing the evidence to the omen in the "Great Plan" that usurpation brings constant drought, and said: "When Luo Riyuan plotted rebellion, that was subordinates scheming against their superiors. We restored friendly relations and increased tribute payments, yet the Jurchen still harbor grievances—that is barbarians disturbing China. Palace directives issue one after another—that is attendants interfering in government. Remonstrance officials leave the capital for no reason—that is petty men sowing discord against gentlemen. All of these are usurpation. A single act of usurpation is enough to bring heaven's wrath—how much more when all are present at once! He also wrote: "By Han precedent, when heaven and earth send down disaster, the chief minister is removed by edict. I beg that Miyuan be allowed to complete his mourning, that upright and impartial men be placed at Your Majesty's side, and that the overturned chariots of Wang, Lü, Cai, and Qin serve as a warning."
57
接送伴金國賀生辰使還，奏：「故事兩國通廟諱、御名，而本朝止通御名，高宗至光宗皆傳名而不傳諱，紹熙初，黃裳嘗以為言，而未及釐正。 願正典禮，以尊宗廟。」
After escorting the Jin envoy who had come to congratulate the emperor's birthday back to the border, he memorialized: "By precedent the two states exchanged both temple taboo names and imperial personal names, but our dynasty exchanges only personal names. From Gaozong through Guangzong only personal names were transmitted, not taboo names. Early in the Shaoxi reign Huang Shang raised the point, but the rite was never corrected. I wish that the canonical rites be set right, to honor the imperial ancestral temple."
58
除秘書監，升太子右諭德。 其在春宮，篤意輔導，每遇講讀，因事規諫。 太子嘗欲索館中圖畫，卻而弗與，及張燈設樂，則諫止之； 且乞選配故家以正始，絕令旨以杜請謁，宮僚分日上直，以資見聞。
He was appointed Director of the Secretariat and promoted to Right Mentor of the Eastern Palace. While serving in the Eastern Palace, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to instruction; whenever lectures and readings were held, he admonished the crown prince on whatever occasion offered. The crown prince once wished to claim paintings from the library pavilion; Jie refused. When lamps were lit and music arranged, he remonstrated and stopped it; He further requested that matches be chosen from established families to set a proper beginning, that imperial orders be cut off to block solicitations, and that palace staff take turns on daily duty so as to broaden the crown prince's experience.
59
遷宗正少卿兼權中書舍人，繳駁不避權貴。 張允濟以閣職為州鈐，介謂此小事而用權臣例，破祖宗制，不可不封還詞頭。 丞相語介曰：「此中宮意。」 介曰：「宰相而逢宮禁意向，給舍而奉宰相風旨，朝廷紀綱掃地矣。」
He was transferred to Vice Director of the Imperial Clan Court, acting concurrently as Drafting Secretary, returning drafts with objections without fear of the powerful. Zhang Yunji was given a pavilion appointment as military controller of a prefecture. Jie said that though the matter was minor, to use a precedent set by powerful ministers would break ancestral institutions—the appointment draft had to be returned. The Grand Counselor told Jie, "This is the empress's wish." Jie replied, "If the Grand Counselor follows the wishes of the palace women, and the drafting secretaries follow the Grand Counselor's lead, the discipline of court and state is swept clean away."
60
居數日，除起居舍人。 介奏：「宰相以私請不行，而託威福於宮禁，權且下移，誰敢以忠告陛下者。」 乞歸老，不許。 言：「本朝循唐入閤之制，左右史不立前殿，若御後殿，則立朵殿下，何所聞見而修起居注乎？ 乞依歐陽修、王存、胡銓所請，分立殿上。」
Several days later he was appointed Recorder of the Emperor's Acts. Jie memorialized: "The Grand Counselor's private request was not granted, so he entrusted authority to the palace women and power shifted downward—who would dare speak frankly to advise Your Majesty? He begged to retire, but was not permitted. He said: "Our dynasty follows the Tang system of entering the inner hall; the Left and Right Historians are not stationed in the front hall. If the emperor holds court in the rear hall, they stand beneath the bracket ceiling—what can they hear and see by which to compile the record of the emperor's acts? I beg that, following the requests of Ouyang Xiu, Wang Cun, and Hu Quan, they be stationed separately within the hall."
61
吏部侍郎許奕以言事去國，介奏曰：「陛下更化三年，而言事官去者五人，倪思、傅伯成既去，其後蔡幼學、鄒應龍相繼而出，今許奕復蹈前轍。 此五臣者，四為給事，一為諫大夫，兩年之間，盡聽其去。 或謂此皆宰相意，自古未有大臣因給舍論事而去之者，是大臣誤陛下也，將恐成孤立之勢。」 疏奏，乞補外，以右文殿修撰知嘉興府。
Vice Minister of Personnel Xu Yi left office for having remonstrated. Jie memorialized: "Your Majesty has changed course for three years, yet five remonstrance officials have departed—Ni Si and Fu Bocheng left first; afterward Cai Youxue and Zou Yinglong left in succession; and now Xu Yi follows the same path. Of these five ministers, four were drafting officials and one was Grand Remonstrance Counselor; within two years Your Majesty allowed them all to go. Some say this is all at the Grand Counselor's wish. Never before has a chief minister departed because drafting officials remonstrated—the chief minister is misleading Your Majesty, and I fear an isolated situation will result. When the memorial was submitted he requested an outside appointment and was made Compiler at the Youwen Hall and prefect of Jiaxing.
62
歲餘，升集英殿修撰、知襄陽府、京西安撫使。 徙知慶元府兼沿海製置使，以疾奉祠。 嘉定六年八月卒，年五十六。 端平三年，郡守趙汝談請於朝，特贈中大夫、寶章閣待制，諡「忠簡」。 子：野，自有傳。
More than a year later he was promoted to Compiler at the Jiying Hall, prefect of Xiangyang, and Pacification Commissioner of Jingxi. He was transferred to prefect of Qingyuan and Coastal Defense Commissioner; due to illness he was granted a ceremonial sinecure. In the eighth month of the sixth year of Jiading he died, aged fifty-six. In the third year of Duanping the prefect Zhao Rutang petitioned the court, and Jie was posthumously granted the title of Middle Court Grandee and Awaiting Orders at the Baozhang Hall, with the posthumous name "Loyal and Simple." His son: Ye, who has his own biography.
63
宋德之
Song Dezhi
64
宋德之，字正仲，其先京兆人。 隋諫大夫遠謫彭山，子孫散居於蜀，遂為蜀州人。 德之以應舉擢慶元二年外省第一，為山南道掌書記。 召除國子正，遷武學博士。 與諸生論八陣之象本乎八卦，皆動物也，奇正之變，往來相生而不窮，知此然後可以致勝。
Song Dezhi, whose courtesy name was Zhenghong, came from Jingzhao by ancestry. In the Sui dynasty Remonstrance Counselor Yuan was exiled to Pengshan; his descendants scattered through Shu and became natives of Shuzhou. Dezhi placed first in the provincial examination in the second year of Qingyuan and was made secretary of Shannan circuit. He was summoned and appointed Erudite of the Directorate of Education, then transferred to Erudite of the Military Academy. With the students he discussed how the images of the Eight Formations derive from the Eight Trigrams—all are animate forms; the changes of odd and even deployments, coming and going, generate one another without end. Only with this knowledge can one achieve victory.
65
遷編修樞密院。 時兵釁有萌，會赤眚見太陰，犯權星，未浹日，內北門鴟尾災，延及三省、六部，詔求言，德之奏：「離為火，為日，為甲胄； 坎為水，為月，為盜，為隱伏。 故火失其性，赤氣見，憂在甲兵； 水失其性，太陰失度，憂在隱伏。」 因疏七事，皆當今至切之患，乃曰：「人火小變不足慮，天象之變，臣竊危之。」
He was transferred to compiler in the Bureau of Military Affairs. At the time signs of military trouble were emerging; a red omen appeared on the moon and invaded the Regulator star. Before a full day had passed, fire struck the Inner North Gate at the roof finials and spread to the Three Departments and Six Ministries. An edict solicited opinion. Dezhi memorialized: "Li signifies fire, the sun, and armor; Kan signifies water, the moon, brigands, and hidden plots. Thus when fire loses its nature, red vapors appear—the concern lies in armed conflict; when water loses its nature, the moon departs from its measure—the concern lies in hidden plots." He then memorialized on seven matters, all among the most pressing ills of the day, and said: "Human fire is a minor change and not worth worry; the change in the heavenly signs—I venture to say—fills me with dread."
66
他日，又對曰：「今敵未動，而輕變祖宗舊制，命武臣帥邊以自遺患。 晉叛將、唐藩鎮之禍基於此矣。」 時吳曦在西陲，皇甫斌在襄漢，郭倪、李爽在兩淮，德之預以為慮。
On another day he addressed the throne again: "The enemy has not yet moved, yet we lightly alter our ancestors' old institutions and appoint military men to command the borders, inviting disaster upon ourselves. The disaster of the Jin defector general and the Tang military governors took root in just this." At the time Wu Xi was on the western frontier, Huangfu Bin in the Xiang and Han region, and Guo Ni and Li Shuang on the Two Huai—Dezhi had already regarded them with foreboding.
67
除太常丞，出知閬州。 會曦變，託跌足以避偽，事平，始赴閬。 擢本路提點刑獄，制帥安丙奏：「德之傲視君命，不俟代者之來，徑用觀察使印領事。」 詔降一官，改潼川路轉運判官、湖南路提刑，改湖北。
He was appointed Vice Director of Court Ceremonies and sent out as prefect of Langzhou. When Xi's rebellion broke out, he feigned lameness to avoid serving the puppet regime; after the affair was settled, he finally went to Langzhou. Dezhi was promoted to judicial intendant of the circuit, whereupon the military commissioner An Bing submitted a memorial: "Dezhi has treated the imperial command with contempt; without waiting for his replacement to arrive, he took the surveillance commissioner's seal and assumed charge of affairs on his own authority." The court ordered him demoted one rank, reassigned him as transport vice-commissioner on the Tongchuan circuit and judicial intendant on the Hunan circuit, and then transferred him to Hubei.
68
召為兵部郎官。 朝論有疑安丙意，丞相史彌遠首以問德之，德之對曰：「蜀無安丙，朝廷無蜀矣，人有大功，實不敢以私嫌廢公議。」 忤時相意，遂罷。 安丙深感德之，嘗謂人曰：「丙不知正仲，正仲知丙； 丙負正仲，正仲不負丙。」 請昏於德之，不許。 論者益稱德之之賢。 起知眉州，監特奏名試，得疾而卒。
He was recalled to the capital and appointed a department official in the Ministry of War. Some at court suspected An Bing's motives, and Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan was the first to raise the matter with Dezhi. Dezhi answered: "Without An Bing there is no Shu, and without Shu the court has lost the west; when a man has done great service, I cannot allow private grievance to override the public good." His answer offended the chief councilor, and he was promptly removed from office. An Bing was deeply grateful to Dezhi and once told others: "Bing failed to know Zhengzhong, yet Zhengzhong knew Bing; Bing wronged Zhengzhong, but Zhengzhong never wronged Bing." He asked to form a marriage tie with Dezhi's family, but the request was denied. Commentators praised Dezhi's integrity all the more. He was reappointed prefect of Meizhou and put in charge of the special examination for specially nominated candidates; he took ill there and died.
69
德之大父耕，性剛介，一朝棄官去，莫知所終。 從父廉語德之曰：「吾昔至臨安府，有人言蜀有宋宣教者過浙江而去，吾適越求之，則入四明矣。」 德之渡浙江尋訪，至雪竇，有蜀僧言：「聞諸耆老云：山後有爛平山，有三居士焉，其一宋宣教也。」 德之躋攀至爛平，見丹竈，置祠其上而歸。
Dezhi's great-grandfather Geng was a man of stern integrity; one day he resigned his post and vanished, and none ever learned his fate. His father's cousin Lian told Dezhi: "When I was once in Lin'an, I heard that a man from Shu named Song Xuanjiao had crossed the Zhe River and traveled on. I went to Yue to look for him and learned he had gone on into Siming." Dezhi crossed the Zhe River in search of him. At Xuedou a Sichuan monk said: "The old men tell of Lanping Mountain behind the peak, where three lay devotees live—one of them is Song Xuanjiao." Dezhi climbed to Lanping, found a cinnabar furnace, erected a shrine on the spot, and returned home.
70
楊大全
Yang Daquan
71
楊大全，字渾甫，眉之青神人。 乾道八年進士，調溫江尉，攝邑有政聲。 紹熙三年，召除監登聞鼓院。 五年，光宗以疾久，不克省重華宮，廷臣多論諫者。 太學生汪安仁等二百餘人上書，而龔日章等百餘人以投匭上書為緩，必欲伏闕。 大全謂：「院以登聞名，實明目達聰之地也，今乃使人視為具文，吾何顏以尸此職。」 乃為書以諫，力請過宮，書上不報。 大全於是三上疏，其略曰：
Yang Daquan, courtesy name Hunfu, came from Qingshen in Meizhou. He took his jinshi degree in the eighth year of the Qiandao reign and was appointed magistrate of Wenjiang; while serving in an acting prefectural capacity he won a name for effective administration. In the third year of Shaoxi he was recalled and appointed superintendent of the Petition Drum Court. In the fifth year, Emperor Guangzong had been ill for a long time and could not visit Chonghua Palace; many officials at court spoke out in remonstrance. More than two hundred Imperial University students, led by Wang Anren, submitted memorials, while another hundred-odd, led by Gong Rizhang, thought depositing petitions in the suggestion box too slow and insisted on kneeling at the palace gate instead. Daquan said: "This office is called the court where petitions reach the throne—it is meant to open the sovereign's eyes and ears. Yet now people treat it as a mere formality. How can I keep occupying the post without doing its work?" He then wrote a memorial urging the emperor to visit the palace. The memorial was submitted, but no answer came. Daquan then submitted three more memorials. The substance was as follows:
72
「臣之志於憂君者，不畏義死，不榮幸生，不以言而獲罪為恥，而以言不聽從為恥。 自古諫之不效，其大者身膏斧鑕，其次亦流竄四裔，其小者猶罷免終身，未有若今日不勉於聽從，亦不加於黜逐，徒餌之以無所譴嗬之恩，使皆饕富貴，甘豢養，以消靡其風節。 平居皆貪祿懷姦之士，則臨難必無仗節死義之人。
"As one who grieves for his sovereign, I do not fear a righteous death, do not prize a life of favor, and am not ashamed to be punished for speaking out—I am ashamed only when my words go unheeded. Since antiquity, when remonstrance has failed, the gravest cases ended on the executioner's block, lesser ones meant exile to the frontier, and even minor ones brought dismissal for life. Never before has there been an age like this, when the throne neither presses for compliance nor adds dismissal and exile, but only feeds officials the indulgence of going unpunished—until all gorge on rank and riches, grow content with comfortable keeping, and let their moral fiber waste away. If in peaceful times the court is filled with men who draw salaries while nursing treachery, then in crisis there will be no one left to hold fast to principle and die for the cause.
73
陛下自夏秋以來，執政從官之死者皆不信，卒之果然乎？ 不然乎？ 建康趙濟死，武興吳挺死，今尚不以為然，則事有幾微於朕兆者，可諫陛下乎？ 萬一變起蕭牆，禍生肘腋，陛下必將以為不信，坐受其危亡矣。
Your Majesty, since summer and autumn, has refused to believe every report that a chief minister or attendant official has died—were those deaths true in the end? Or were they not? Zhao Ji of Jiankang died; Wu Ting of Wuxing died—if Your Majesty still will not believe it, then when trouble shows the slightest warning sign, who may speak to you? If rebellion breaks out within the palace and disaster strikes at your very side, Your Majesty will surely refuse to believe it until you sit helpless and watch the realm fall.
74
盜滿山東而高、斯弄權，二世不知也。 蠻寇成都而更奏捷，明皇不知也。 此猶左右聾瞽爾。 今在朝之士瀝忠以告，而陛下不聽，是陛下自壅蔽其聰明也。 今外間傳聞，以為壽皇將幸越，幸吳興，此愛陛下之深，欲泯其迹也。 陛下當亟圖所以解壽皇之憂。」
Bandits filled Shandong while Zhao Gao and Li Si manipulated power, and the Second Emperor knew nothing. Barbarian raiders threatened Chengdu while repeated reports of victory were sent in, and Emperor Xuanzong knew nothing. In those cases the fault lay only with attendants who were deaf and blind. Now officials at court speak with loyal candor, yet Your Majesty will not listen—you are shutting off your own understanding. Rumor now holds that Retired Emperor Shouhuang intends to visit Yue and Wuxing—an act born of deep concern for Your Majesty and a wish to remove the cause of scandal. Your Majesty should act at once to relieve Retired Emperor Shouhuang's anguish."
75
疏入，又不報。
The memorial was submitted, and again no answer came.
76
寧宗即位，遷宗正寺主簿。 慶元元年，易太常寺主簿，遷司農寺丞。 修《高宗實錄》，充檢討官。 先是，韓侂胄用事，私臺諫之選為己羽翼，且欲得知名士，借其望以壓群言，一時之好進者，恨不預此選也。 會御史虛位，有力薦大全者，屬大全一往見，且曰：「公朝見，除目夕下矣。」 大全笑謝，決不往，明日遂丐外。 時《實錄》將上矣，上必推恩，大全去不少待。 於是除知金州，至姑蘇，以病卒。
When Emperor Ningzong came to the throne, Daquan was transferred to chief clerk of the Court of the Imperial Clan. In the first year of Qingyuan he was transferred to chief clerk of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and promoted to vice director of the Court of Imperial Granaries. He worked on the Veritable Records of Emperor Gaozong as a revising compiler. Earlier, Han Tuozhou had been in power and had packed the censorial and remonstrance offices with his own partisans; he also wanted noted men whose standing might silence other opinion—careerists of the day bitterly wished they might be picked for those posts. When a censor's post fell vacant, a powerful patron recommended Daquan, urged him to pay one call, and said: "If you attend audience, the appointment will be issued that very evening." Daquan smiled and declined; he would not go, and the next day asked to be sent out of the capital. The Veritable Records were then about to be submitted, and the emperor would surely have rewarded those who compiled them—but Daquan left without waiting for that favor. He was then appointed prefect of Jinzhou; he reached Gusu and died of illness.
77
論曰：王信有文學，通政事。 汪大猷敦厚老成。 袁燮學有所本。 吳柔勝、遊仲鴻名在偽學。 觀李祥訟趙汝愚，公論藉是以立。 王介、楊大全直道而行。 宋德之其知兵者歟？
The commentators observe: Wang Xin had literary talent and understood affairs of government. Wang Dayou was honest, generous, and seasoned by experience. Yuan Xie's scholarship rested on firm foundations. Wu Rousheng and You Zhonghong were numbered among the proscribed Learning faction. In Li Xiang's defense of Zhao Ruyu, one sees how public opinion found its footing. Wang Jie and Yang Daquan held to the straight way without compromise. Was Song Dezhi, then, a man who truly understood warfare?