Volume 401 Biographies 160: Xin Qiji, He Yi, Liu Zai, Liu Yue, Chai Zhongxing, Li Mengchuan

辛棄疾何異劉宰劉爚柴中行李孟傳

Xin Qiji, He Yi, Liu Zai, Liu Yue, Chai Zhongxing, and Li Mengchuan

辛棄疾

Xin Qiji

辛棄疾，字幼安，齊之曆城人。少師蔡伯堅，與党懷英同學，號「辛黨」。始筮仕，決以蓍，懷英遇《坎》，因留事金，棄疾得《離》，遂決意南歸。

Xin Qiji, whose courtesy name was You'an, came from Licheng in Qi. As a youth he took Cai Bojian as his teacher and studied alongside Dang Huaiying; the two were known together as the "Xin–Dang" pair. When they first sought divination about entering government service, they cast yarrow stalks to decide: Huaiying drew the hexagram Kan and stayed on to serve the Jin; Qiji drew Li and at once made up his mind to go south to Song.

金主亮死，中原豪傑並起。耿京聚兵山東，稱天平節度使，節制山東、河北忠義軍馬，棄疾為掌書記，即勸京決策南向。僧義端者，喜談兵，棄疾間與之遊。及在京軍中，義端亦聚眾千餘，說下之，使隸京。義端一夕竊印以逃，京大怒，欲殺棄疾。棄疾曰：「丐我三日期，不獲，就死未晚。」揣僧必以虛實奔告金帥，急追獲之。義端曰：「我識君真相，乃青兕也，力能殺人，幸勿殺我。」棄疾斬其首歸報，京益壯之。

After the Jin emperor Hailing was killed, champions across the Central Plains rose up everywhere. Geng Jing mustered forces in Shandong, took the title Military Commissioner of Heavenly Peace, and commanded the loyalist armies of Shandong and Hebei; Xin Qiji served as his chief secretary and immediately urged Jing to commit to marching south. A monk named Yiduan loved to talk of military affairs, and Xin Qiji would now and then keep his company. Once Yiduan was in Geng Jing's camp, he too rallied more than a thousand men; Xin Qiji talked him into yielding and had him attached to Jing's command. One night Yiduan stole the command seal and fled; Geng Jing was furious and meant to execute Xin Qiji. Xin Qiji said, "Give me three days—if I fail to take him, it will not be too soon for me to die." He judged that the monk would surely run to the Jin commander with every detail of the army's condition, gave hot pursuit, and seized him. Yiduan cried, "I know your true nature—you are the Blue Buffalo, with strength enough to kill a man; spare me, I beg you." Xin Qiji struck off his head and brought it back in report; Geng Jing thought all the more highly of him.

紹興三十二年，京令棄疾奉表歸宋，高宗勞師建康，召見，嘉納之，授承務郎、天平節度掌書記，並以節使印告召京。會張安國、邵進已殺京降金，棄疾還至海州，與眾謀曰：「我緣主帥來歸朝，不期事變，何以復命？」乃約統制王世隆及忠義人馬全福等徑趨金營，安國方與金將酣飲，即眾中縛之以歸，金將追之不及。獻俘行在，斬安國於市。仍授前官，改差江陰僉判。棄疾時年二十三。

In the thirty-second year of Shaoxing (1162), Geng Jing sent Xin Qiji to present a memorial and return to the Song court; Emperor Gaozong received the troops at Jiankang, summoned him, praised his mission, and appointed him Gentleman for Palace Service and registrar to the Military Commissioner of Heavenly Peace, while also using the commissioner's seal to summon Geng Jing. But Zhang Anguo and Shao Jin had already murdered Geng Jing and gone over to the Jin; when Xin Qiji reached Haizhou he told the men, "I came to court for our commander's sake; I never expected things to turn out like this—how can I report back?" He then joined Controller Wang Shilong and loyalists such as Ma Quanfu in a dash straight into the Jin camp; Zhang Anguo was still drinking with a Jin officer when they seized him in the throng and hauled him away, and though Jin troops gave chase they could not catch them. He presented the prisoner at the traveling palace and had Anguo beheaded in public. He retained his former rank and was reassigned as assistant prefect of Jiangyin. Xin Qiji was twenty-three years old at the time.

乾道四年，通判建康府。六年，孝宗召對延和殿。時虞允文當國，帝銳意恢復，棄疾因論南北形勢及三國、晉、漢人才，持論勁直，不為迎合。作《九議》並《應問》三篇、《美芹十論》獻於朝，言逆順之理，消長之勢，技之長短，地之要害，甚備。以講和方定，議不行。遷司農寺主簿，出知滁州。州罹兵燼，井邑凋殘，棄疾寬征薄賦，招流散，教民兵，議屯田，乃創奠枕樓、繁雄館。辟江東安撫司參議官。留守葉衡雅重之，衡入相，力薦棄疾慷慨有大略。召見，遷倉部郎官、提點江西刑獄。平劇盜賴文政有功，加秘閣修撰。調京西轉運判官，差知江陵府兼湖北安撫。

In the fourth year of Qiandao (1168) he was made vice prefect of Jiankang Prefecture. In the sixth year Emperor Xiaozong received him in audience in the Yanhe Hall. Yu Yunwen was then directing the government and the emperor was eager to recover lost territory; Xin Qiji spoke on the strategic balance between north and south and on talent in the eras of the Three Kingdoms, the Jin, and the Han; his views were blunt and forceful, and he would not soften them to please. He wrote the Nine Discourses, three chapters of Responses to Questions, and the Ten Discourses of Beautiful Celery and submitted them to court, treating in full the logic of submission versus resistance, the ebb and flow of power, the strengths and limits of strategy, and the decisive points of terrain. Peace talks had only just been concluded, however, and his plans were not put into effect. He was moved to registrar in the Directorate of Agriculture and appointed prefect of Chuzhou. The prefecture had been scorched by war and its towns lay in ruins; Xin Qiji reduced levies and lightened taxes, summoned back refugees, drilled militia, promoted garrison farming, and built the Pillow-Rest Tower and the Flourishing-Heroes Hall. He was recruited as planning officer on the Jiangdong Pacification Commission. Garrison commander Ye Heng valued him highly; when Ye entered the chief council he urged that Xin Qiji was open-handed and possessed of grand design. Called to audience, he was promoted to director in the Ministry of Revenue and made judicial intendant of Jiangxi. For suppressing the major bandit Lai Wenzheng he received the additional title Academician of the Secret Archive. He was transferred to transport judge of Jingxi and appointed prefect of Jiangling while doubling as pacification commissioner of Hubei.

遷知隆興府兼江西安撫，以大理少卿召，出為湖北轉運副使，改湖南，尋知潭州兼湖南安撫。盜連起湖湘，棄疾悉討平之。遂奏疏曰：「今朝廷清明，比年李金、賴文政、陳子明、陳峒相繼竊發，皆能一呼嘯聚千百，殺掠吏民，死且不顧，至煩大兵翦滅。良由州以趣辦財賦為急，吏有殘民害物之狀，而州不敢問，縣以並緣科斂為急，吏有殘民害物之狀，而縣不敢問。田野之民，郡以聚斂害之，縣以科率害之，吏以乞取害之，豪民以兼併害之，盜賊以剽奪害之，民不為盜，去將安之？夫民為國本，而貪吏迫使為盜，今年剿除，明年劃蕩，譬之木焉，日刻月削，不損則折。欲望陛下深思致盜之由，講求弭盜之術，無徒恃平盜之兵。申飭州縣，以惠養元元為意，有違法貪冒者，使諸司各揚其職，無徒按舉小吏以應故事，自為文過之地。」詔獎諭之。

He was transferred to prefect of Longxing with concurrent duty as Jiangxi pacification commissioner; summoned as vice minister of justice, he went out as deputy transport commissioner of Hubei, then of Hunan, and soon held Tanzhou as prefect while also serving as Hunan pacification commissioner. Brigands broke out one after another across the lake country and the Xiang basin; Xin Qiji hunted them down and pacified them all. He then memorialized the throne: "The court is enlightened today, yet in recent years Li Jin, Lai Wenzheng, Chen Ziming, and Chen Dong have broken out in turn—each could rally hundreds or thousands at a cry, kill officials and commoners, and meet death unafraid, until imperial troops had to be sent to wipe them out. The root cause is that prefectures are driven to hurry revenue collection: clerks have records of preying on the people, yet the prefecture does not dare investigate; counties are driven to squeeze extra levies: clerks have records of preying on the people, yet the county does not dare investigate. In the countryside the commandery injures them through exaction, the county through assessments, clerks through squeezing, powerful families through swallowing up land, and bandits through robbery—if the people do not turn bandit, where else can they turn? The people are the foundation of the state, yet greedy officials force them into banditry; we exterminate them one year and scour them the next—as with a tree, whittled day by day, it must snap if the cutting never stops. I beg Your Majesty to think hard about what breeds bandits and to work out how to end banditry, instead of trusting only to armies sent to suppress them. Instruct prefectures and counties to make cherishing the people their aim; where officials break the law and grab illicit gain, let every agency do its proper work and not merely indict minor clerks to tick boxes, thereby giving themselves room to hide their own failures." The throne issued an edict praising and encouraging him.

又以湖南控帶二廣，與溪峒蠻獠接連，草竊間作，豈惟風俗頑悍，抑武備空虛所致。乃復奏疏曰：「軍政之敝，統率不一，差出占破，略無已時。軍人則利於優閑窠坐，奔走公門，苟圖衣食，以故教閱廢弛，逃亡者不追，冒名者不舉。平居則奸民無所忌憚，緩急則卒伍不堪征行。至調大軍，千里討捕，勝負未決，傷威損重，為害非細。乞依廣東摧鋒、荊南神勁、福建左翼例，別創一軍，以湖南飛虎為名，止撥屬三牙、密院，專聽帥臣節制調度，庶使夷獠知有軍威，望風懾服。」

He also noted that Hunan flanks the Two Guang and adjoins the tribal peoples of the gorges, where petty risings broke out from time to time—not only because the people were unruly, but because defenses had been left empty. He submitted another memorial: "Military administration is sick because there is no single chain of command and detachments are borrowed away piecemeal without cease. The troops prefer easy berths and cushioned billets, haunt government offices to scrape a living, and so training falls into neglect—deserters go unrecovered and men listed under false names go unchecked. In peacetime ruffians have nothing to fear; when crisis comes the ranks cannot march. When large forces must be sent a thousand li to hunt bandits, victory is uncertain, prestige suffers, and the cost is grave. I ask that, following Guangdong's Crushing Vanguard, Jingnan's Divine Striking Force, and Fujian's Left Wing, a new army be formed—the Hunan Flying Tiger—reporting only to the three bureaus and the Privy Council and taking orders solely from the pacification commissioner, so that the hill peoples know there is real force on the border and tremble at the name."

詔委以規畫，乃度馬殷營壘故基，起蓋砦柵，招步軍二千人，馬軍五百人，傔人在外，戰馬鐵甲皆備。先以緡錢五萬于廣西買馬五百匹，詔廣西安撫司歲帶買三十匹。時樞府有不樂之者，數沮撓之，棄疾行愈力，卒不能奪。經度費钜萬計，棄疾善斡旋，事皆立辦。議者以聚斂聞，降御前金字牌，俾日下住罷。棄疾受而藏之，出責監辦者，期一月飛虎營柵成，違坐軍制。如期落成，開陳本末，繪圖繳進，上遂釋然，時秋霖幾月，所司言造瓦不易，問：「須瓦幾何？」曰：「二十萬。」棄疾曰：「勿憂。」令廂官自官舍、神祠外，應居民家取溝敢瓦二，不二日皆具，僚屬歎伏。軍成，雄鎮一方，為江上諸軍之冠。

The court authorized him to plan it; he surveyed the old camp grounds of Ma Yin, threw up stockades, recruited two thousand foot and five hundred horse, with servants quartered outside and war horses and iron armor fully supplied. He first spent fifty thousand strings of cash in Guangxi to buy five hundred horses; an edict directed the Guangxi Pacification Commission to buy thirty horses for him each year. Some at the Military Affairs Commission disliked him and tried repeatedly to block the project; Xin Qiji pushed harder still and in the end they could not stop him. The undertaking cost a vast sum, but Xin Qiji was adept at cutting through red tape and had every item in place on schedule. Critics accused him of squeezing the region for funds; the court issued an imperial golden plaque ordering him to stop at once. He took the plaque, locked it away, went out and scolded the overseers, and gave them one month to finish the Flying Tiger stockade—any breach would be punished under military law. When the deadline was met he laid out the full story and sent in a plan; the emperor relented. Rain had fallen for months that autumn, and the offices said roofing tiles would be hard to obtain and asked how many were needed. He answered, "Two hundred thousand." Xin Qiji said, "Do not worry." He told the ward officers that, apart from government buildings and temples, every household should contribute two tiles from its ditches; within two days the quota was met and his subordinates were astonished. When the force stood up it dominated the region and ranked first among the Yangzi armies.

加右文殿修撰，差知隆興府兼江西安撫。時江右大饑，詔任責荒政。始至，榜通衢曰：「閉糴者配，強糴者斬。」次令盡出公家官錢、銀器，召官吏、儒生、商賈、市民各舉有幹實者，量借錢物，逮其責領運糴，不取子錢，期終月至城下發糶，於是連檣而至，其直自減，民賴以濟。時信守謝源明乞米救助，幕屬不從，棄疾曰：「均為赤子，皆王民也。」即以米舟十之三予信。帝嘉之，進一秩，以言者落職，久之，主管沖佑觀。

He received the additional title Academician of the Right Culture Hall and was appointed prefect of Longxing with concurrent duty as Jiangxi pacification commissioner. Jiangyou was then in severe famine; an edict put him in charge of famine relief. On his arrival he posted placards along the main roads: "Whoever hoards grain will be exiled; whoever forces a buy will be beheaded." He next ordered every coin and silver vessel in the government stores released, called on officials, scholars, merchants, and townspeople each to name capable men, lent them funds and goods in measured amounts, and charged them to bring in grain without interest so that within a month supplies would reach the city for sale; grain boats then lined the river, prices fell on their own, and the people were relieved. Xie Yuanming of Xinyang asked for grain aid; his staff objected, but Xin Qiji said, "They are all the emperor's children alike." He immediately allotted three tenths of the grain fleet to Xin. The emperor commended him and raised him one rank; critics then brought about his dismissal, and after a long interval he was put in charge of the Chongyou Abbey.

紹熙二年，起福建提點刑獄。召見，遷大理少卿，加集英殿修撰、知福州兼福建安撫使。棄疾為憲時，嘗攝帥，每歎曰：「福州前枕大海，為賊之淵，上四郡民頑獷易亂，帥臣空竭，急緩奈何！」至是務為鎮靜，未期歲，積鏹至五十萬緡，榜曰：「備安庫」。謂閩中土狹民稠，歲儉則糴於廣，今幸連稔，宗室及軍人入倉請米，出即糶之，候秋賈賤，以備安錢糴二萬石，則有備無患矣。又欲造萬鎧，招強壯補軍額，嚴訓練，則盜賊可以無虞。事未行，台臣王藺劾其用錢如泥沙，殺人如草芥，旦夕望端坐「閩王殿」。遂丐祠歸。

In the second year of Shaoxi (1191) he was recalled to serve as judicial intendant of Fujian. Called to audience, he was made vice minister of justice, given the additional title Academician of the Hall for Assembling Excellence, and appointed prefect of Fuzhou with concurrent duty as Fujian pacification commissioner. While serving as intendant he had also acted as commander and often said, "Fuzhou faces the sea and is a nest of pirates; the four upper prefectures breed stubborn, unruly people who riot easily—the commander drains himself dry and has nothing in reserve; what happens when trouble comes?" Now he set himself to steady administration; in less than a year he had amassed five hundred thousand strings of cash and labeled the fund the "Reserve-for-Peace Treasury." He argued that Fujian's land was tight and its population thick; in bad years they bought grain from Guangdong; now that harvests had run fair, when clansmen and soldiers drew rations from the granary he sold the grain back immediately, and when autumn prices fell he would use the reserve to buy twenty thousand shi so the province would not go hungry. He also planned to forge ten thousand suits of armor, recruit sturdy men to fill the rolls, and train them hard so that banditry would cease to be a worry. Before these plans could be enacted, remonstrance official Wang Lin accused him of spending money like sand and killing men like weeds, as though he meant any day to mount the throne in a "Hall of the King of Min." He thereupon asked for a sinecure and went home.

慶元元年落職，四年，復主管沖佑觀。久之，起知紹興府兼浙東安撫使，四年，甯宗召見，言鹽法，加寶謨閣待制、提舉佑神觀，奉朝請。尋差知鎮江府，賜金帶。坐繆舉，降朝散大夫、提舉沖佑觀，差知紹興府、兩浙東路安撫使，辭免。進寶文閣待制，又進龍圖閣、知江陵府。令赴行在奏事，試兵部侍郎，辭免。進樞密都承旨，未受命而卒。賜對衣、金帶，守龍圖閣待制致仕，特贈四官。

In the first year of Qingyuan (1195) he was stripped of office; in the fourth year he again took charge of the Chongyou Abbey. After a long interval he was recalled as prefect of Shaoxing with concurrent duty as Eastern Zhejiang pacification commissioner; in the fourth year Emperor Ningzong received him and he addressed the salt monopoly; he was made Gentleman of the Hall of Treasured Planning, placed in charge of the You-Shen Abbey, and given standing as a court attendant. He was soon appointed prefect of Zhenjiang and granted a gold belt. For a faulty recommendation he was demoted to Grandee of Palace Accord, put in charge of the Chongyou Abbey, and offered Shaoxing with the Eastern Zhejiang pacification commission, which he declined. He was promoted to Gentleman of the Hall of Treasured Literature and then to the Dragon Diagram Hall while holding Jiangling as prefect. Ordered to the capital to report, he was examined for vice minister of war and declined. He was promoted to chief secretary of the Privy Council but died before he could take up the post. The court granted him robes and a gold belt, allowed him to retire as Gentleman of the Dragon Diagram Hall, and specially promoted him four ranks posthumously.

棄疾豪爽尚氣節，識拔英俊，所交多海內知名士。嘗跋紹興間詔書曰：「使此詔出於紹興之前，可以無事仇之大恥；使此詔行於隆興之後，可以卒不世之大功。今此詔與仇敵俱存也，悲夫！」人服其警切。帥長沙時，士人或訴考試官濫取第十七名《春秋》卷，棄疾察之信然，索亞榜《春秋》卷兩易之，啟名則趙鼎也。棄疾怒曰：「佐國元勳，忠簡一人，胡為又一趙鼎！」擲之地。次閱《禮記》卷，棄疾曰：「觀其議論，必豪傑士也，此不可失。」啟之，乃趙方也。嘗謂：「人生在勤，當以力田為先。北方之人，養生之具不求於人，是以無甚富甚貧之家。南方多末作以病農，而兼併之患興，貧富斯不侔矣。」故以「稼」名軒。為大理卿時，同僚吳交如死，無棺斂，棄疾歎曰：「身為列卿而貧若此，是廉介之士也！」既厚賻之，復言於執政，詔賜銀絹。

Xin Qiji was bold and open-handed, valued integrity, spotted and advanced talented men, and most of his friends were celebrated figures across the empire. He once wrote a colophon on an edict from the Shaoxing era: "Had this edict come before Shaoxing, the great shame of our enemy need never have been borne; had it been enforced after Longxing, the unparalleled great achievement might have been finished. Now the edict survives side by side with the enemy—how bitter!" Men admired the force of his judgment. While commanding Changsha, a candidate complained that the examiner had wrongly advanced the seventeenth-ranked Spring and Autumn paper; Xin Qiji looked into it, found the charge true, took two papers from the secondary list and swapped them, and when the seal was broken the name was Zhao Ding. Xin Qiji flared up: "The state's founding pillar, the one loyal and steadfast minister—and now another Zhao Ding!" He hurled the paper to the floor. Reading the next Book of Rites paper he said, "From the argument this must be a heroic scholar—we cannot let this one slip." When the name was opened it was Zhao Fang. He once said, "Life depends on diligence; strenuous farming should come first. Northerners do not look to others for their livelihood, and so you find neither great wealth nor great poverty. The south piles up crafts that eat away at farming, encroachment flourishes, and rich and poor are no longer matched." That is why he named his studio Farming. As director of the Court of Justice, his colleague Wu Jiaoru died without coffin or shroud; Xin Qiji sighed, "A full minister yet so poor—this is a man of integrity!" He gave a generous funeral gift, spoke to the chief ministers, and an edict awarded silver and silk.

棄疾嘗同朱熹遊武夷山，賦《九曲棹歌》，熹書「克己復禮」、「夙興夜寐」，題其二齋室。熹歿，偽學禁方嚴，門生故舊至無送葬者。棄疾為文往哭之曰：「所不朽者，垂萬世名。孰謂公死，凜凜猶生！」棄疾雅善長短句，悲壯激烈，有《稼軒集》行世。紹定六年，贈光祿大夫。咸淳閑，史館校勘謝枋得過棄疾墓旁僧舍，有疾聲大呼於堂上，若嗚其不平，自昏暮至三鼓不絕聲。枋得秉燭作文，旦且祭之，文成而聲始息。德祐初，枋得請於朝，加贈少師，諡忠敏。

Xin Qiji once toured Mount Wuyi with Zhu Xi, wrote the Nine-Bend Oar Song, and Zhu Xi inscribed his two studios with "Restrain the self and return to propriety" and "Rise early and sleep late." When Zhu Xi died the ban on so-called false learning was at its height; not even students and old friends came to bury him. Xin Qiji wrote a lament: "What never perishes is a name that lasts ten thousand years. Who says he is gone? Stern and bright, he still lives!" Xin Qiji excelled at ci poetry—fierce and tragic in tone—and his Jiaxuan Collection circulated widely. In the sixth year of Shaoding (1233) he was posthumously made Grandee of Splendid Happiness. During the Xianchun era, palace revisionist Xie Fangde stayed at a monk's lodge by Xin Qiji's tomb; a hoarse voice shouted in the hall as though airing a grievance, from dusk until the third watch without stopping. Fangde lit a candle and wrote a memorial essay, sacrificed at dawn, and only when the piece was finished did the voice fall silent. In the first year of Deyou (1275) Fangde petitioned the court to add the posthumous rank Junior Preceptor and the temple name Loyal and Keen.

何異，字同叔，撫州崇仁人。紹興二十四年進士，調石城主簿，曆兩任，知蘋鄉縣。丞相周必大、參政留正以院轄擬異，孝宗問有無列薦，正等以萍鄉政績對，乃遷國子監主簿。遷丞，轉對，所言帝喜之，曰：「君臣一體，初不在事形跡，有所見聞，于銀台司繳奏。」擢監察御史。異奏與丞相留正舊同官，不敢供職，禦劄不許引嫌，遂拜命。

He Yi, whose courtesy name was Tongshu, came from Chongren in Fuzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the twenty-fourth year of Shaoxing (1154), served as registrar of Shicheng through two terms, and became magistrate of Pingxiang County. Chief councilor Zhou Bida and participant Liu Zheng meant to nominate him through the Hanlin Academy; Emperor Xiaozong asked whether anyone had jointly recommended him, and Zheng cited his record at Pingxiang, whereupon Yi was made registrar of the Directorate of Education. Promoted to assistant director, he spoke at court; the emperor was pleased and said, "Ruler and minister are one body—the bond is not mere ceremony; report whatever you observe through the Silver Terrace Office." He was then made investigating censor. Yi memorialized that he had once served alongside Chief Councilor Liu Zheng and could not in conscience take the post; an imperial note forbade pleading personal ties, and he accepted the seal.

遷右正言。時光宗愆於定省，異入疏諫，不報。約台官聯名，言奸人離間父子，當明正典刑，語極峻，又不報。丐外，授湖南轉運判官。偶攝帥事，辰蠻侵擾邵陽，異募山丁捕首亂者，蒲來矢以眾來降。尋為浙西提點刑獄。乙太常少卿召，改秘書監兼實錄院檢討官，權禮部侍郎、太常寺。

He was transferred to right remonstrator. Emperor Guangzong was then neglecting visits to his parents; Yi submitted a remonstrance and received no answer. He arranged for the censorate to memorialize jointly that villains were driving father and son apart and the law should be enforced in full; the wording was severe, and again there was no reply. He asked to leave the capital and was made transport judge of Hunan. While acting as commander, Chen tribesmen raided Shaoyang; Yi recruited hill tribesmen to seize the ringleaders, and Pulai Shi brought his men to surrender. He was soon made judicial intendant of Western Zhe. Advanced to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and summoned, he became director of the Secretariat with concurrent duty as revisionist of the Veritable Records and acting vice minister of rites and director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

太廟芝草生，韓侂胄率百官觀焉，異謂其色白，慮生兵妖，侂胄不悅。又以劉光祖於異交密，言者遂以異在言路不彈丞相留正及受趙汝愚薦，劾罷之，久乃予祠。起知夔州兼本路安撫。異以夔民土狹食少，同轉運司糴米樁積，立迴圈通濟倉。七月丙戌，西北有星白芒墜地，其聲如雷，異曰：「戌日酉時，火土交會，而妖星自東南沖西北，化為天狗，蜀其將有兵乎？」丐祠，以寶謨閣待制提舉太平興國宮。後四年，吳曦果叛。起知潭州，乞閑予祠者再。

Lingzhi fungus appeared in the Imperial Ancestral Temple; Han Tuozhou led the officials to view it; Yi said its white color might portend war; Tuozhou took offense. Because Liu Guangzu was close to Yi, critics charged that Yi had failed to impeach Liu Zheng while on the remonstrance track and had accepted Zhao Ruyu's patronage; he was impeached and removed, and only long afterward received a sinecure. He was recalled as prefect of Kuizhou with concurrent duty as pacification commissioner of the circuit. Yi said the people of Kuizhou had little land and scarce grain; working with the transport commission he bought rice for storage and established the Revolving Relief Granary. On the seventh month, day bingxu, a star with a white tail fell in the northwest with a thunderous roar; Yi said, "On a xu day at the you hour, fire and earth conjoin while an ominous star shoots from the southeast toward the northwest and turns into the Heavenly Dog—will Shu soon see war?" He asked for a sinecure and was made Gentleman of the Hall of Treasured Planning in charge of the Taiping Xingguo Palace. Four years later Wu Xi did rebel, just as he had foretold. He was recalled as prefect of Tanzhou and twice asked to retire and was granted sinecures.

嘉定元年，召為刑部侍郎。五月不雨，異上封事言：「近日號令或從中出，而執政不得與聞其事，台諫不得盡行其言。陛下閔念饑民，藥病殯死，遐荒僻嶠，安得實惠？多方稱提，不如縮造楮幣；阜通商米，不如稍寬關市之征。」明年，權工部尚書。告老，抗章言：「近臣求去，類成虛文，中外相觀，指為禮數，無以為風俗廉恥之勸。」以寶章閣直學士知泉州，從所乞予祠，進寶章閣學士，轉一官致仕。卒，年八十有一。異高自標緻，有詩名，所著《月湖詩集》行世。

In the first year of Jiading (1208) he was summoned as vice minister of justice. When the fifth month brought no rain, Yi submitted a sealed memorial: "Lately orders sometimes come from the inner palace while the chief ministers never hear of them, and remonstrators cannot fully speak their minds. Your Majesty pities the starving, tends the sick and buries the dead—how can distant borderlands receive real relief? Many schemes to prop up paper money are not as good as cutting back note issues; flooding the market with grain is not as good as easing tolls at the passes a little." The following year he served as acting minister of works. Reporting his age, he memorialized: "Lately when close officials ask to retire it is mostly empty form; inside and outside the court treat it as ritual only, and nothing remains to encourage integrity in public morals." He was made academician of the Hall of Treasured Insignia and prefect of Quanzhou; at his request he received a sinecure, was advanced to academician of that hall, and retired with one rank added. He died at eighty-one. Yi set a high standard for himself and was known as a poet; his Moon Lake Poetry Collection circulated widely.

授泰興令，有殺人獄具，謂：「禱于叢祠，以殺一人，刃忽三躍，乃殺三人，是神實教我也。」為請之州，毀其廟，斬首以徇。鄰邑有租牛縣境者，租戶于主有連姻，因喪會，竊券而逃。它日主之子征其租，則曰牛鬻久矣。子累年訟於官，無券可質，官又以異縣置不問。至是訴於宰，宰曰：「牛失十載，安得一旦復之。」乃召二丐者勞而語之故，托以它事系獄，鞫之，丐者自詭盜牛以賣，遣詣其所驗視。租戶曰：「吾牛因某氏所租。丐者辭益力，因出券示之，相持以來，盜券者憮然，為歸牛與租。富室亡金釵，惟二僕婦在，置之有司，鹹以為冤。命各持一蘆，曰：「非盜釵者，詰朝蘆當自若；果盜，則長於今二寸。」明旦視之，一自若，一去其蘆二寸矣，即訊之，果伏其罪。有姑訴婦不養者二，召二婦並姑置一室，或餉其婦而不及姑，徐伺之，一婦每以己饌饋姑，姑猶呵之，其一反之。如是累日，遂得其情。

As magistrate of Taixing he had a murder case ready for judgment; the killer said, "I prayed at a roadside shrine to kill one man; the blade leapt three times and I killed three—the god truly commanded me." He reported to the prefecture, tore down the shrine, and beheaded the killer as a public warning. In a neighboring county an ox was hired out within Taixing's border; the tenant was related by marriage to the owner and, at a funeral feast, stole the lease and fled. Years later the owner's son came to collect rent and was told the ox had been sold long ago. The son sued for years; without the contract he could not prove his case, and officials ignored it because the matter lay in another county. He appealed to Liu Zai, who said, "The ox has been gone ten years—how can we recover it overnight?" He called in two beggars, treated them well and explained the case, jailed them on another pretext, questioned them, and they confessed to stealing and selling the ox; he sent them to point out the spot. The tenant said, "My ox was hired out to such-and-such a household. The beggars protested harder until he produced the contract; they came back arguing; the man who had stolen the lease was stunned and returned ox and rent. A wealthy family lost a gold hairpin with only two maidservants at home; both were handed to the magistrate, and everyone thought them wronged. He had each hold a reed and said, "If you did not steal the pin, your reed will be unchanged tomorrow; "if you did steal it, it will be two inches longer than today." At dawn one reed was unchanged and the other was two inches shorter; he questioned the maid and she confessed. Two mothers-in-law sued their daughters-in-law for neglect; he put both pairs in one room; sometimes food reached the daughter-in-law but not the mother-in-law; watching quietly, he saw one daughter-in-law always shared her portion though the mother-in-law scolded her, while the other did the reverse. After several days he learned the truth.

父喪，免，至京，韓侂胄方謀用兵，宰啟鄧友龍、薛叔似極言輕挑兵端，為國深害，迄如其言。為浙東倉司幹官，職事修舉，亟引去，默觀時變，頓不樂仕。尋告歸，監南嶽廟。江、淮制置使黃度辟之入幕，宰辭曰：「君命召不往，今矧可出耶？」嘉定四年，堂審召命且再下，不至。時相亦屢諷執政、從官貽書挽宰，宰峻辭以絕。俄題考功曆，示決不復仕。

After his father's death he left office; in the capital Han Tuozhou was plotting war; Liu Zai told the chief minister that Deng Youlong and Xue Shusi were rashly provoking hostilities and would deeply harm the state—and events proved him right. As planning officer on the Eastern Zhe Granary Commission he did his work well but soon withdrew, watching the times in silence and losing all taste for office. He soon asked to return home and took charge of the Southern Sacred Mountain Temple. Jiang-Huai pacification commissioner Huang Du invited him into his staff; Liu Zai declined: "When the ruler summoned I did not go—how could I go now?" In the fourth year of Jiading (1211) the court review summons came twice more and he still did not come. The chief minister also repeatedly hinted to administrators and attendants to write and urge him; Liu Zai flatly refused. Soon he entered his merit review register, making clear he would never serve again.

理宗初即位，以為籍田令，屢辭，改添差通判建康府，又辭，乞致仕，乃以直秘閣主管仙都觀。拜改秩予祠之命，辭秘閣，不允。端平元年，升直寶謨閣，祠如故，且盡還磨勘歲月。未幾，遷太常丞，郡守以朝命趣行，不得已勉就道，至吳門，拜疏徑歸。一時譽望，收召略盡，所不能致者，宰與崔與之耳。帝側席以問侍御史王遂，且俾宣撫。遷將作少監，又以直敷文閣知甯國府，皆不拜。進直顯謨閣、主管玉局觀，帝猶冀宰一來也。召奏事，訖不為起。尋卒，鄉人罷市走送，袂相屬者五十里，人人如哭其私親。

When Emperor Lizong first ascended the throne Liu Zai was made director of the altar fields; he declined repeatedly, was offered additional vice prefect of Jiankang and declined again, asked to retire, and was made gentleman of the Secretariat in charge of the Xiandu Abbey. He received orders promoting his rank and granting a sinecure and declined the Secretariat post; the court would not allow it. In the first year of Duanping (1234) he was advanced to gentleman of the Direct Hall of Treasured Planning with the same sinecure, and all withheld merit-review years were restored. Before long he was made vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices; the prefect pressed him with court orders; he reluctantly set out, reached Wu Gate, memorialized, and went straight home. Men of reputation were then recalled almost without exception; those who could not be persuaded were Liu Zai and Cui Yuzhi alone. The emperor leaned forward to ask attending censor Wang Sui and also ordered him to announce the summons and comfort Liu Zai. He was made vice director of palace construction and again offered gentleman of the Direct Hall of Spreading Culture and prefect of Ningguo—all declined. He was advanced to gentleman of the Direct Hall of Manifest Planning in charge of the Jade Bureau Abbey; the emperor still hoped Liu Zai would come once. Summoned to report at court, he still would not take office. He soon died; townspeople closed their shops and ran to escort him, sleeves linked for fifty li, each mourning as for a kinsman.

宰剛大正直，明敏仁恕，施惠鄉邦，其烈實多。置義倉，創義役，三為粥以與餓者，自冬徂夏，日食凡萬餘人，薪粟、衣纊、藥餌、棺衾之類，靡謁不獲。某無田可耕，某無廬可居，某之子女長矣而未昏嫁，皆汲汲經理，如己實任其責。橋有病涉，路有險阻，雖巨役必捐貲先倡而程其事。宰生理素薄，見義必為，既竭其力，藉質貸以繼之無倦。若定折麥錢額，更縣鬥斛如制，毀淫祠八十四所，凡可以白於有司、利於鄉人者，無不為也。

Liu Zai was upright, forthright, bright, perceptive, benevolent, and forgiving; he showered benefits on his home district and his deeds were many. He founded a charity granary and voluntary labor service, three times gave gruel to the hungry—from winter through summer more than ten thousand people ate daily—and for fuel, grain, clothing, medicine, coffins, and shrouds, none who asked left empty-handed. If someone lacked land to farm, a roof to live under, or grown children still unmarried, he hurried to arrange it as though the duty were his own. Where bridges made crossing hard or roads were dangerous, even for great works he donated first and supervised the job. His means were always modest, yet whenever he saw a just cause he acted; when his strength was spent he borrowed on pledge and kept going without tiring. He set fair wheat-money quotas, restored county measures to standard, tore down eighty-four illicit shrines—whatever could be reported to officials for the people's good, he did.

宰隱居三十年，平生無嗜好，惟書靡所不讀。既竭日力，猶坐以待，雖博考訓注，而自得之為貴。有《漫塘文集》、《語錄》行世。

Liu Zai lived in retirement thirty years; he had no hobby in life except reading every book he could. Even after exhausting the daylight he sat on in study; though he read widely in commentaries, what he understood for himself was what he valued. His Random Pond Collected Writings and Recorded Sayings circulated widely.

劉爚，字晦伯，建陽人。與弟韜仲受學于朱熹、呂祖謙。乾道八年舉進士，調山陰主簿。爚正版籍，吏不容奸。調饒州錄事，通判黃奕將以事汙爚，而己自以贓抵罪去。都大坑冶耿某閔遺骸暴露，議用浮屠法葬之水火，爚貽書曰：「使死者有知，禍亦慘矣。」請擇高阜為叢塚以葬。

Liu Yue, whose courtesy name was Huibo, came from Jianyang. He and his younger brother Tao Zhong studied under Zhu Xi and Lü Zuqian. In the eighth year of Qiandao (1172) he passed the jinshi examination and was made registrar of Shanyin. Liu Yue straightened the household registers so clerks could not cheat. Transferred to recorder of Raozhou, Vice Prefect Huang Yi meant to frame Liu Yue with a charge but was himself convicted of bribery and left office. The director-general of mining, Master Geng, pitied exposed corpses and proposed Buddhist cremation; Liu Yue wrote, "If the dead had awareness, the harm would be cruel indeed." He asked that a high mound be chosen for a communal burial ground.

調蓮城令，罷添給錢及綱運例錢，免上供銀錢及綱本、二稅甲葉、鈔鹽、軍期米等錢，大修學校，乞行經界。改知閩縣，治以清簡，庭無滯訟，興利去害，知無不為。差通判潭州，未上，丁父憂。偽學禁興，爚從熹武夷山講道讀書，怡然自適。築雲莊山房，為終老隱居之計。調贛州坑冶司主管文字，差知德慶府，大修學校，奏便民五事，又奏罷兩縣無名租錢，糾集武勇民兵。入奏言：「前者北伐之役，執事者不度事勢，貽陛下憂。今雖從和議，願益恐懼修省，必開言路以廣忠益，必張公道以進人才，必飭邊備以防敵患。」

As magistrate of Liancheng he abolished supplemental pay and routine transport fees, exempted tribute silver, transport principal, second-tax registration fees, salt coupons, and garrison rice money, greatly repaired the schools, and petitioned to implement the field-boundary system. He was transferred to magistrate of Min County; his administration was pure and spare; no suit lingered in court; he advanced public good and removed harm wherever he could. He was appointed vice prefect of Tanzhou but had not taken up the post when his father died. When the ban on so-called false learning arose, Liu Yue followed Zhu Xi to study on Mount Wuyi, content and at ease. He built the Cloud Studio mountain retreat as his plan to end his days in seclusion. He was made clerk of the Ganzhou Mining Office, then prefect of Deqing; he greatly repaired schools, memorialized five measures for the people's benefit, petitioned to abolish unnamed levies in two counties, and mustered martial militia. Reporting at court he said, "In the last northern campaign those in charge misread the situation and brought Your Majesty grief. Though we now keep the peace treaty, I beg Your Majesty to fear all the more, reflect, and mend—to open channels of loyal counsel, to uphold public justice and advance talent, and to tighten border defenses against the enemy."

提舉廣東常平。令守臣歲以一半易新，春末支，及冬復償，存其半以備緩急。逋欠亭戶錢十萬，轉運司五萬，爚以公使，公用二庫贏錢補之。奏議倉之敝、客丁錢之敝、小官奉給之敝、舉留守令之敝、吏商之敝。召入奏事，首論：「公道明，則人心自一，朝廷自尊，雖危可安也；公道廢，則人心自貳，朝廷自輕，雖安易危也。」帝嘉獎。遷尚左郎官，請節內外冗費以收楮幣。轉對言：「願於經筵講讀、大臣奏對，反復問難，以求義理之當否，與政事之得失，則聖學進而治道隆矣。」乞收拾人才及修明軍政。遷浙西提點刑獄，巡按不避寒暑，多所平反。有殺人而匿權家者，吏弗敢捕，爚竟獲之。

He was made intendant of Guangdong Ever-Normal Granaries. He ordered local officials each year to replace half the stock with new grain, issue it in late spring, repay by winter, and keep half in reserve for emergencies. Arrears of ten thousand from saltern households and fifty thousand from the transport commission—Liu Yue covered them from public envoys' funds and surpluses in the two public treasuries. He memorialized on abuses in the deliberation granary, guest labor fees, petty officials' salaries, recommending acting prefects and magistrates, and clerk-merchants. Summoned to court, he began: "When public justice is clear, hearts unite of themselves, the court stands honored of itself, and even in danger the state can be safe; when public justice is abandoned, hearts divide of themselves, the court grows light of itself, and even in peace peril comes easily." The emperor praised and rewarded him. He was promoted to left director in the Ministry of Revenue and asked to trim redundant spending throughout the government to shore up paper currency. At court he said, "I wish that at the classics mat and in ministers' replies the emperor would press back and forth on right and wrong in principle and gain and loss in policy—then royal learning would deepen and governance would rise." He also asked to gather talent and restore military administration. Made judicial intendant of Western Zhe, he toured without shirking heat or cold and reversed many wrongful convictions. Some killers were hidden by powerful families and clerks dared not seize them; Liu Yue still took them in the end.

遷國子司業，言于丞相史彌遠，請以熹所著《論語》、《中庸》、《大學》、《孟子》之說以備勸講，正君定國，慰天下學士大夫之心。奏言：「宋興，《六經》微旨，孔、孟遺言，發明於千載之後，以事父則孝，以事君則忠，而世之所謂道學也。慶元以來，權佞當國，惡人議己，指道為偽，屏其人，禁其書，學者無所依鄉，義利不明，趨向汙下，人欲橫流，廉恥日喪。追惟前日禁絕道學之事，不得不任其咎。望其既仕之後，職業修，名節立，不可得也。乞罷偽學之詔，息邪說，正人心，宗社之福。」又請以熹《白鹿洞規》頒示太學，取熹《四書集注》刊行之。又言：「浙西根本之地，宜詔長吏、監司禁戢強暴，撫柔善良，務儲積以備凶荒，禁科斂以紓民力。」

Promoted to vice director of the Directorate of Education, he told Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan to use Zhu Xi's commentaries on the Four Books for imperial lectures—to steady ruler and state and hearten scholars everywhere. He memorialized: "Since the Song rose, the deep meaning of the Six Classics and the teachings of Confucius and Mencius have been renewed after a thousand years—filial in serving father, loyal in serving ruler—and this is what men call the Learning of the Way. Since Qingyuan, powerful sycophants have ruled, hated criticism, called the Way false learning, barred its followers and banned its books; scholars lost their footing, profit eclipsed principle, desire ran wild, and shame daily faded. Looking back on the ban on the Learning of the Way, one cannot escape blame. To expect that once in office they will cultivate duty and uphold integrity is impossible. I beg to revoke the edict on false learning, silence heterodox talk, and rectify hearts—for the blessing of dynasty and state." He also asked to promulgate Zhu Xi's White Deer Grotto Regulations at the Imperial University and print his Collected Commentaries on the Four Books. He also said Western Zhe was the empire's root and asked an edict for prefects and commissioners to curb violence, soothe the good, stock grain against famine, and forbid exactions to ease the people.

兼國史院編修官、寶錄院檢討官。接伴金使於盱眙軍。還，言：「兩淮之地，藩蔽江南，干戈盜賊之後，宜加經理，必于招集流散之中，就為足食足兵之計。臣觀淮東，其地平博膏腴，有陂澤水泉之利，而荒蕪實多。其民勁悍勇敢，習邊鄙戰鬥之事，而安集者少。誠能經畫郊野，招集散亡，約頃畝以授田，使毋廣占拋荒之患，列溝洫以儲水，且備戎馬馳突之虞。為之具田器，貸種糧，相其險易，聚為室廬，使相保護，聯以什伍，教以擊刺，使相糾率。或鄉為一圍，裏為一隊，建其長，立其副。平居則耕，有警則守，有餘力則戰。」帝嘉納之。

He served concurrently as compiler of the National History and revisionist of the Veritable Records. He received the Jin envoy at Xuyi. Returning, he said the Two Huai screened the south; after war and banditry they needed better governance, and amid resettling refugees plans for full granaries and full ranks were essential. Huai East, he said, was broad and fertile with marshes and springs, yet much land lay waste. Its people were sturdy and skilled in border war, yet few were settled. If the countryside were planned, refugees gathered, fields assigned by acre so none lay waste, ditches dug to hold water, and defenses made against enemy cavalry— if tools and seed were lent, settlements clustered for mutual guard, households grouped in tens and fives, and drill taught so they could lead one another— hamlets might form rings and villages squads, each with head and deputy. In peace they would farm; in alarm defend; with spare strength fight. The emperor praised and accepted the plan.

進國子祭酒兼侍立修注官。論貢舉五敝。兼權兵部侍郎，改兼權刑部侍郎，封建陽縣開國男，賜食邑。權刑部侍郎兼國子祭酒，兼太子左諭德，升同修國史、實錄院同修撰。時廷臣爭務容默，有論事稍切者，眾輒指以為異。爚奏：「願明詔大臣，崇獎忠讜以作士氣，深戒諛佞以肅具僚。乞擇州縣獄官。」冬雷，上恐懼，爚奏：「遴選監司以考察貪吏為先，訪求民瘼，有澤未下流、令未便民者，悉以實上，變而通之，則民心悅而天意解矣。」又請擇沿邊諸將。

He was made director of the Directorate of Education with concurrent duty as attending lecturer and revisionist. He discussed five abuses in the civil service examinations. He served as acting vice minister of war, then of justice, was enfeoffed Baron of Kaiyang in Jianyang County, and granted a sustenance fief. As acting vice minister of justice he also directed the Directorate of Education and tutored the heir apparent; he was advanced to joint compiler of the National History and joint revisionist of the Veritable Records. Court ministers then vied in silence; whoever spoke sharply was marked as odd. Liu Yue memorialized: "I wish an edict honoring loyal speech to lift morale and sternly warning against flattery to discipline officials. He asked to choose prison officials for prefectures and counties." When winter thunder frightened the court, Liu Yue memorialized: "Choose commissioners to investigate greedy officials, report every hardship the people still suffer, and reform what fails them—then hearts will ease and heaven's anger lift." He also asked to choose border generals.

兼工部侍郎。奏「乞使沿邊之民，各自什伍，教閱於鄉，有急則相救援，無事則耕稼自若，軍政隱然寓於田裏之間，此非止一時之利也。」請城沿邊州郡、罷遣賀正使。試刑部侍郎，兼職依舊，賜對衣、金帶，辭，不允。兩請致仕，不允。奏絕金人歲幣，建制置司于曆陽以援兩淮。夏旱，應詔上封事，曰：「言語方壅而導之使言，人心方鬱而疏之使通，上既開不諱之門，下必有盡言之士，指陳政事之闕失，明言朝廷之是非。或者以為好名要譽，而陛下聽之，則苦言之藥，至言之實，陛下棄之而不恤矣，甘言之疾，華言之腴，陛下受之而不覺矣。」氣罷瑞慶聖節，謝絕金使。

He served concurrently as vice minister of works. He memorialized: "Let border people group in tens and fives and drill in their hamlets; in crisis let them rescue one another, in peace farm as usual—military order hidden in the fields, a gain not for one season only." He asked to fortify border prefectures and stop New Year congratulation envoys. Examined for vice minister of justice with duties unchanged, he was granted court robes and a gold belt, declined, and was refused. Twice he asked to retire and was refused. He memorialized to end the Jin annual tribute and establish a command at Liyang to support the Two Huai. In summer drought he submitted a sealed memorial: "Speech is blocked yet you urge men to speak; hearts are pent yet you open them—having opened the gate of no taboo above, below men must speak fully on administrative faults and court right and wrong. Some may be called fame-seekers, yet if Your Majesty heeds them, bitter truth is medicine you may cast aside; sweet flattery is poison you may swallow unaware." Indignant, he stopped the Auspicious Celebration of the Sagely Birthday and declined the Jin envoy.

進封子爵。權工部尚書，賜衣帶、鞍馬。兼太子右庶子，仍兼左諭德。每講讀至經史所陳聲色嗜欲之戒，輒懇切再三敷陳之。進讀《詩》之說，詹事戴溪讀之為之吐舌。卒，贈光祿大夫，官其後，賜諡文簡。所著有《奏議》、《史稿》、《經筵故事》、《東宮詩解》、《禮記解》、《講堂故事》、《雲莊外稿》。

He was advanced to viscount. As acting minister of works he received robes, belt, saddle, and horse. He served concurrently as right vice tutor of the heir apparent while remaining left tutor. Whenever lectures touched classical warnings on pleasure and desire, he pressed them earnestly again and again. Lecturing on the Odes, he made Tutor Dai Xi stick out his tongue in astonishment. He died; was posthumously made Grandee of Splendid Happiness, offices granted his heirs, and given the posthumous title Literary and Simple. His works include Memorials, Historical Drafts, Classics Mat Precedents, Eastern Palace Poetry Exegesis, Rites Exegesis, Lecture Hall Precedents, and Cloud Studio Supplement.

柴中行

Chai Zhongxing

柴中行，字與之，餘幹人。紹熙元年進士，授撫州軍事推官。權臣韓侂胄禁道學，校文，轉運司移檄，令自言非偽學，中行奮筆曰：「自幼讀程頤書以收科第，如以為偽，不願考校。」

Chai Zhongxing, whose courtesy name was Yuzhi, came from Yugan. In the first year of Shaoxi (1190) he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed military judge of Fuzhou. When Han Tuozhou banned the Learning of the Way, the transport commission ordered candidates to declare they were not false scholars; Chai wrote boldly, "I have read Cheng Yi since youth to pass examinations; if that is false learning, I want no part in the exam."

調江州學教授，母喪，免，廣西轉運司辟為幹官，帥將薦之，使其客嘗中行，中行正色曰：「身為大帥，而稱人為恩王、恩相，心竊恥之。毋汙我！」攝昭州郡事，蠲丁錢，減苗斛，賑饑羸。轉運司委中行代行部，由桂林屬邑曆柳、象、賓入邕管，問民疾苦，先行而後聞，捐鹽息以惠遠民。嘉定初，差主管尚書吏部架閣文字，遷太學正，升博士。轉對，首論主威奪而國勢輕；次論士大夫寡廉隅、乏骨鯁，宜養天下剛毅果敢之氣；末論權臣用事，包苴成風，今舊習猶在，宜舉行先朝痛繩贓吏之法。謂太學風化首，童子科覆試胄子舍選，有挾勢者，中行力言于長，守法無秋豪私。遷太常主簿，轉軍器監丞。

Transferred to instructor at Jiangzhou school, he left office when his mother died; Guangxi transport recruited him as planner; the commander meant to recommend him and sent a guest to sound him out; Chai said sternly, "As commander you call men benefactor-lord and benefactor-minister—I am ashamed. Do not stain me!" Acting for Zhaozhou, he remitted labor money, cut grain quotas, and fed the hungry and weak. The transport commission sent him on tour from Guilin through its counties to Yong, asked after hardships, acted first and reported later, and gave salt profits to help distant peoples. In early Jiading he was clerk in the Ministry of Personnel archive, then director of the Imperial University, then erudite. At court he first argued that royal authority was slipping and national strength weakening; next that officials lacked integrity and spine and the court should nurture bold, upright spirit; last that powerful ministers and gift-giving still ruled and the court should enforce the old law against corrupt officials. He said the university sets the tone; when candidates relied on influence in the youth examination, Chai spoke firmly to the director and upheld the law without favor. He was made registrar of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and transferred to assistant director of the Armaments Directorate.

出知光州，嚴保伍，精閱習，增辟屯田，城壕營砦、器械糗糧，百爾具備，治行為淮右最。又條畫極邊、次邊緩急事宜上之朝廷，大概謂：「邊兵宜如蛇勢，首尾相應。草寇合兵大入，則鄰道援之；分兵輕襲，則鄰郡援之。援兵既多，雖危不敗。」又言：「淮、襄土豪丁壯，往者用兵，傾貲效力者，朝廷吝賞失信，宜亟加收拾，亦可激昂得其死力。」

As prefect of Guangzhou he tightened mutual-security groups, drilled troops thoroughly, expanded garrison farms, moats, camps, arms, and grain until all was ready—his record ranked first on the Huai right. He also submitted border plans to court, saying in essence, "Border troops should move like a serpent, head and tail answering each other. When bandits unite in force, neighboring circuits should aid; when they raid lightly, neighboring prefectures should aid. With ample relief, even in peril the line will hold." He also said stalwart men of Huai and Xiang who spent wealth in past wars had been rewarded stingily; they should be won back quickly to fight to the death.

遷西京轉運使兼提點刑獄。中行謂襄陽乃自古必爭之地，備禦尤宜周密。時任邊寄者政令煩苛，日夜與民爭利，中行諷之，不聽。天方旱，盡捐酒稅，斥征官，黥務吏，甘澍隨至。官取鹽鈔贏過重，課日增，入中日寡，鈔日壅。中行揭示通衢，一錢不增，商賈大集。改直秘閣、知襄陽兼京西帥，仍領漕事。江陵戎司移屯襄州，兵政久馳。中行白於朝，考核軍實，舊額二萬二千人，存者才半，亟招補虛籍。自是朝廷以節制之權歸帥司。重劾李珙不法以懲貪守，時扈再興有功以厲宿將，上關朝廷，下關制閫。

He was made transport commissioner of the Western Capital with concurrent duty as judicial intendant. Chai said Xiangyang had always been a place armies must fight for and should be defended with special care. Border commanders then issued tangled orders and wrung profit from the people day and night; Chai admonished them in vain. A drought had begun; he remitted liquor tax, dismissed tax officers, branded squeezing clerks, and timely rain followed. Officials took excessive profit on salt notes; levies rose while intake fell and notes piled up unsold. Chai posted notices on the main roads, adding not a single cash; merchants flocked in. He was made gentleman of the Secretariat, prefect of Xiangyang with command of Jingxi, still overseeing transport. The Jiangling military commission moved to Xiangzhou; military discipline had long slackened. Chai reported to court, audited the rolls—quota twenty-two thousand, barely half present—and urgently filled empty names. From then on the court returned command authority to the commander. He impeached Li Gong's crimes to punish greedy prefects; when Hu Zai's merit needed honoring old generals, he reported to both court and frontier command.

遷江東轉運司判官，旋改湖南提點刑獄。豪家習殺人，或收養亡命，橫行江湖，一繩以法。華亭令貪虐，法從交疏薦之，中行笑曰：「此欲斷吾按章也。」卒發其辜。入為吏部郎官。以立志啟迪君心，言好進、好同、好欺，士大夫風俗三敝。選曹法大壞，吏緣為奸，中行遇事持正，不為勢屈，由是銓綜平允。

He was made transport judge of Jiangdong and soon judicial intendant of Hunan. Powerful families were used to murder; some harbored fugitives and terrorized the rivers—he bound them all by law. The magistrate of Huating was greedy and cruel; a law relative recommended him through connections; Chai laughed, "They mean to stop my impeachment." In the end he exposed the man's crimes. He entered court as director in the Ministry of Personnel. He sought to awaken the ruler's resolve and spoke of three abuses among officials: craving advancement, craving conformity, and craving deceit. Selection law was badly broken and clerks preyed on it; Chai held firm and would not bend to power, and appointments became fair.

擢宗正少卿。上疏謂：「陛下初政則以剛德立治本，更化則以剛德除權奸，今者顧乃垂拱仰成，安于無為。夫剛德實人主之大權，不可以久出而不收，覆轍在前，良可鑒也。」又曰：「朝廷用人，外示涵洪而陰掩其跡，內用牢籠而微見其機，觀聽雖美，實無以大服天下之心。曩者更化，元氣復挽回矣。比年欲求安靜，頗厭人言，於是臣下納說，非觀望則希合，非回緩則畏避，而面折廷諍之風未之多見，此任事大臣之責也。」

He was elevated to vice director of the Court of the Imperial Clan. He memorialized: "At the start of your reign you rooted government in firm virtue; in renewal you used it to purge powerful traitors; now you lean back in repose and rest in non-action. Firm virtue is the ruler's great power; it cannot long be let go and not reclaimed—the overturned cart ahead should be your mirror." He also said the court seemed tolerant outwardly while hiding tracks inwardly—appearances were fine yet could not truly satisfy the realm. In the earlier renewal, vital energy had been recovered. Lately, seeking quiet, the court has tired of speech; ministers either wait, conform, or dodge, and blunt remonstrance in open court is rare—this is the duty of chief ministers."

兼國史編修、實錄檢討。孟春，大雨震電，雷雹交作，邊烽告急，至失地喪師，淮甸震洶。中行亟奏內外二失，朝廷十憂，大要言：「今日之事，人主盡委天下以任一相，一相盡以天下謀之三數腹心，而舉朝之士相視以目，噤不敢言。甚至邊庭申請，久不即報，脫有闕誤，咎當誰執？」

He served concurrently as compiler of the National History and revisionist of the Veritable Records. In early spring came heavy rain, thunder, and hail; border beacons reported emergencies, even lost territory and lost armies; the Huai country shook. Chai urgently memorialized on inner and outer failures and ten court worries, saying in essence, "Today the emperor entrusts all to one minister, that minister to a few confidants, and the whole court watches in silence. Even border requests go unanswered for long; if disaster comes, who bears blame?"

調秘書監、崇政殿說書。極論「往年以道學為偽學者，欲加遠竄，杜絕言語，使忠義士箝口結舌，天下之氣豈堪再沮壞如此耶？」又謂：「欲結人心，莫若去貪吏；欲去貪吏，莫若清朝廷。大臣法則小臣廉，在高位者以身率下，則州縣小吏何恃而敢為？」又論內治外患，辨君子小人，大略謂：「執政、侍從、台諫、給舍之選，與三衙、京尹之除，皆朝廷大綱所在，故其人必出人主之親擢，則權不下移。今或私謁，或請見，或數月之前先定，或舉朝之人不識。附會者進，爭為妾婦之道，則天下國家之利害安危，非惟己不敢言，亦且並絕人言矣。大臣為附會之說所誤，邊境之臣實遁者掩以為誣，真怯者譽以為勇，金帛滿前，是非交亂，以欺廟堂，以欺陛下。願明詔大臣，絕私意，布公道。」

He was made director of the Secretariat and lecturer at the Chongzheng Hall. He spoke forcefully: "Those who called the Learning of the Way false wanted to exile it, silence speech, and make loyal men seal their lips—can the realm's spirit be crushed again?" He also said, "To bind hearts, nothing beats removing greedy officials; to remove greedy officials, nothing beats clarifying the court. When great ministers uphold the law, lesser officials grow honest; when those above lead by example, what could petty clerks rely on to misbehave?" He also spoke on domestic rule and foreign threat and on gentlemen versus petty men: "Appointments to the council, palace, remonstrance, and drafting offices and to the Three Bureaus and capital magistracies are the court's main pillars; their holders should come from the emperor's own choice so power does not slip downward. Now some win posts by private audiences, some by begging an audience, some fixed months in advance, some unknown to the whole court. Flatterers advance and vie like subservient wives—then who dares speak of the realm's safety? They silence themselves and silence everyone else. Chief ministers are misled by flatterers; border officers who flee are called slandered, cowards praised as brave; gold and silk pile before them, right and wrong tangle—they deceive the ancestral temple and the throne. I beg an edict commanding great ministers to end private aims and uphold public justice."

進秘閣修撰、知贛州。漢盜有方，境內清肅。丐祠得請，以言罷。理宗即位，以右文殿修撰主管南京鴻慶宮，賜金帶。卒。所著有《易系集傳》、《書集傳》、《詩講義》、《論語童蒙說》。

He was advanced to Academician of the Secret Archive and appointed prefect of Ganzhou. Once banditry was mastered, the prefecture grew calm and orderly. He asked for a sinecure and received it, then lost office after criticism. When Emperor Lizong ascended the throne he was made Academician of the Right Culture Hall in charge of the Nanjing Hongqing Palace and granted a gold belt. He died. His works include Appended Commentary on the Changes, Appended Commentary on the Documents, Exposition of the Odes, and Explication of the Analects for Young Learners.

李孟傳

Li Mengchuan

李孟傳，字文授，資政殿學士光季子也。光謫嶺海，孟傳才六歲，奉母居鄉，刻志於學。賀允中、徐度皆奇之，而曾幾妻以其孫。龍大淵黜為浙東總管，知孟傳為名門子，解後必就語，孟傳正色辭之。幹辦江東提刑司，易浙東常平司。

Li Mengchuan, whose courtesy name was Wenshou, was the son of Academician of the Hall of Assisting Governance Li Guang. When Li Guang was banished to the southern sea, Mengchuan was only six; he stayed with his mother in the village and devoted himself to study. He Yi and Xu Du both marveled at him, and Zeng Ji's wife betrothed her grandson to him. Long Dayuan was demoted to Eastern Zhe chief steward; knowing Mengchuan was a famous minister's son, he always sought talk when they met; Mengchuan coldly refused. He served as planner on the Jiangdong Judicial Commission, then on the Eastern Zhe Ever-Normal Commission.

母喪，免，調江山縣丞，棄去，監南嶽廟、行在編估局，未上，改楚州司戶參軍，單車赴官。公退，閉戶讀《易》。郡守、部使者不敢待以屬吏。徐積墓在境內，蕪沒既久，加葺之。修復陳公塘，有灌溉之利。知象山縣，守薦為邑最，從官多合薦之，主管官告院，與同列上封事，請詣北宮，又移書宰相。

When his mother died he left office; offered assistant magistrate of Jiangshan, he declined; was put in charge of the Southern Sacred Mountain Temple and the capital valuation bureau but never reported; was reassigned military administrator of Chuzhou and went alone in a single cart. After office hours he shut his door and read the Book of Changes. The prefect and circuit commissioners dared not treat him as a junior clerk. Xu Ji's tomb in the district had long lain ruined; he restored it. He restored Chen Gong Pond, which brought irrigation benefits. As magistrate of Xiangshan the prefect rated him the best county; many at court recommended him; he supervised the Court of Honors and with colleagues submitted a sealed memorial to visit the Northern Palace and wrote the chief minister.

遷將作監主簿。丞相趙汝愚初當國，適大侵，遣孟傳按視江、池、鄂三大軍所屯積粟，道除太府丞。既復命，汝愚去國，黨論起，而孟傳奉使無失指，面對言：「比以使事往返四千里，所過民生困窮，衣食不贍。國之安危，以民為本，今根本既虛，形勢俱見，保邦之慮，宜勤聖念。」時韓侂胄連逐留正及汝愚，太府簿吳璹與侂胄有連姻，因言台諫將論朱熹，孟傳奮然曰：「如此則士大夫爭之，鼎鑊且不避。」

He was made registrar of the Directorate of Palace Construction. When Chief Councilor Zhao Ruyu was directing the state a great famine struck; he sent Mengchuan to inspect grain stores of the three great armies on the Yangzi, Chi, and E; en route he was made assistant director of the Imperial Treasury. After he reported, Zhao Ruyu left office and factional strife erupted; yet Mengchuan's mission drew no blame; at audience he said, "On this embassy I traveled four thousand li and everywhere saw people without food or clothing. The state's safety rests on the people; the root is hollow and the danger plain—preserving the realm should weigh on the emperor's mind." Han Tuozhou was then driving out Liu Zheng and Zhao Ruyu; treasury assistant Wu Shan, related to Tuozhou by marriage, said the censorate would attack Zhu Xi; Mengchuan flared up: "Then scholars will fight—even facing cauldron and axe they will not flinch."

兼考功郎。復因對言：「國家長育人才，猶天地之於植物，滋液滲漉，待其既成而後足以供大廈之用。今士大夫皆有苟進之心，治功未優，功能尚薄，而意已馳騖於台閣，不稍有以扶持正飭之，其敝將甚。」又言：「武舉及軍士比試，專取其力，臨敵難以必勝。唐世取人由步射、弓弩以至馬射，各以其中之多寡為等級，宜採取行之。」韓侂胄與孟傳故，嘗致侂胄意，孟傳謝曰：「行年六十，去意已決。」侂胄慚而退。請外，知江州，獄訟止息。侂胄不悅。丐歸，復知處州。

He served concurrently as director in the Ministry of Personnel. Again at audience he said, "The state nurtures talent as heaven and earth nurture plants—moisture must seep in until they are formed before they can bear the great hall. Officials now crave quick promotion; achievement is thin yet minds already race toward high office—without correction the harm will be grave." He also said military exams and troop trials test strength alone—hardly a sure win in battle. Tang recruitment graded men from foot archery and crossbow to mounted archery by hits—that method should be adopted. Han Tuozhou, an old acquaintance, once conveyed his wishes; Mengchuan declined: "I am sixty; my mind to leave is set." Tuozhou withdrew ashamed. He asked to leave the capital and became prefect of Jiangzhou; lawsuits died down. Tuozhou was displeased. He asked to return home and again held Chuzhou as prefect.

遷廣西提點刑獄，改江東提舉常平，移福建。詔入對，首論用人宜先氣節後才能，益招徠忠讜以扶正論。故人有在政府者，折簡問勞勤甚，孟傳逆知其意，即謝曰：「孤蹤久不造朝，獲一望清光而去，幸矣。」對畢即出關。至閩，大饑，發廩勸分，民無流莩。侂胄誅，就遷提點刑獄，移江東，又辭。丞相史彌遠，其親故也，人謂進用其時矣，卒歸使節，角巾還第。再奉祠，以倉部郎召，又辭。

He was made judicial intendant of Guangxi, then intendant of Jiangdong Ever-Normal Granaries, then transferred to Fujian. Summoned to report, he said men should be chosen for integrity before talent and loyal remonstrance should be recruited to straighten public debate. An old friend in government sent a warm note; Mengchuan guessed his intent and declined: "I have long stayed away from court; one glimpse of the throne before I go is fortune enough." When the audience ended he left the capital at once. Reaching Fujian in great famine, he opened granaries and urged sharing; no corpses lined the roads. After Tuozhou was executed he was moved on site to judicial intendant, then to Jiangdong, and declined again. Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan was a kinsman; men said his time had come; he returned the envoy's credentials, put on plain dress, and went home. Twice granted sinecures; summoned as director in the Ministry of Revenue and again declined.

遷浙東提點刑獄，未數月，申前請，章再上，加直秘閣，移江東，不赴，主管明道宮。進直寶謨閣，致仕，卒，年八十四。常誡其子孫曰：「安身莫若無競，修己莫若自保。守道則福至，求祿則辱來。」有《磐溪集》、《宏詞類稿》、《左氏說》、《讀史》、《雜志》、《記善》、《記異》等書行世。

Made judicial intendant of Eastern Zhe; within months he repeated his request; the memorial came again; given Direct Secretariat; offered Jiangdong—he did not go; put in charge of the Mingdao Abbey. Advanced to Gentleman of the Direct Hall of Treasured Planning, he retired and died at eighty-four. He often warned his sons and grandsons: "To settle your person, nothing beats refusing to compete; to cultivate yourself, nothing beats guarding your integrity. Uphold the Way and blessing follows; chase salary and disgrace follows." His Panxi Collection, Grand Rhetoric Drafts, Zuoshi Exposition, Reading History, Miscellanies, Recording Good, and Recording Strange circulated widely.

論曰：古之君子，出處不齊，同歸於是而已。辛棄疾知大義而歸宋。何異篤實君子，而切諫光宗朝重華宮。柴中行寧不校臨川之試，終不肯自言非程頤偽學。劉爚表章朱熹《四書》以備勸講，衛道之功莫大焉。李孟傳所立不愧其父。至於劉宰飄然遠引，屢征不起，所謂鴻飛冥冥者耶。

The appraisal says: Ancient gentlemen differed in whether they served or withdrew, yet alike aimed at what was right. Xin Qiji knew the greater duty and returned to Song. He Yi was a solid, true gentleman who earnestly remonstrated when Guangzong neglected Chonghua Palace. Chai Zhongxing would not fuss over the Linchuan examination yet never declared Cheng Yi's learning false. Liu Yue promoted Zhu Xi's Four Books for imperial lectures—his merit in guarding the Way was immense. What Li Mengchuan stood for did not shame his father. As for Liu Zai, drifting far off, summoned again and again yet never coming—is this not the wild goose flying in the deep dark?

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