Volume 405 Biographies 164: Li Zongmian, Yuan Fu, Liu Fu, Wang Juan

李宗勉袁甫劉黻王居安

Li Zongmian, Yuan Fu, Liu Fu, and Wang Juan

李宗勉

Li Zongmian

李宗勉，字強父，富陽人。開禧元年進士。曆黃州教授、浙西茶鹽司、江西轉運司幹官。嘉定十四年，主管吏部架閣，尋改太學正。明年爲博士，又明年遷國子博士。寶慶初，添差通判嘉興府。三年，召爲秘書郎。

Li Zongmian, courtesy name Qiangfu, came from Fuyang. He received his jinshi degree in the first year of the Kaixi reign (1205). He held posts in turn as professor at Huang Prefecture, in the Zhexi Tea and Salt Commission, and as a staff officer of the Jiangxi Transport Commission. In the fourteenth year of Jiading (1221) he supervised the Ministry of Personnel archives, and shortly thereafter became director of the Imperial Academy. The following year he was appointed erudite, and the year after that promoted to erudite of the Directorate of Education. Early in the Baoqing era (1225) he received an additional posting as vice-prefect of Jiaxing Prefecture. In the third year of Baoqing he was called to the capital as a secretary in the Palace Library.

紹定元年，遷著作郎。入對，言邊事宜夙夜震懼，以消咎殃。明年，兼權兵部郎官。時李全叛謀已露，人莫敢言，宗勉獨累疏及之。又言：「欲人謀之合，莫若通下情。人多好諂，揣所悅意則侈其言，度所惡聞則小其事。上既壅塞，下亦欺誣，則成敗得失之機、理亂安危之故，將孰從而上聞哉？不聞則不戒，待其事至乃駭而圖之，抑已晚矣。欲財計之豐，莫若節國用。善爲國者常使財勝事，不使事勝財。今山東之旅，坐糜我金穀，湖南、江右、閩中之寇，蹂踐我州縣，苟浮費泛用，又從而侵耗之，則漏卮難盈，蠹木易壞。設有緩急，必將窘于調度，而事機失矣。欲邦本之固，莫若寬民力。州縣之間，聚斂者多，椎剝之風，浸以成習。民生窮踧，怨憤莫伸，嘯聚山林，勢所必至。救焚拯溺，可不亟爲之謀哉？」尋改兼侍右郎官。明年入對，言天災甚切。

In the first year of Shaoding (1228) he was promoted to compiler in the Historiography Institute. At an imperial audience he urged that border affairs be met with constant vigilance day and night, so that disaster might be averted. The following year he was concurrently appointed acting director in the Ministry of War. By then Li Quan's treasonous designs were already known, yet no one dared speak out—only Zongmian submitted memorial after memorial on the subject. He also said: "If you wish counsel to converge, there is no better way than to let the truth from below reach you. Most men love to flatter: they inflate their words when they guess what will please you, and diminish the matter when they guess what you do not wish to hear. When the court is sealed off above and deception reigns below, how will the turning points of victory and defeat, or the roots of order and chaos, ever reach your ears? What you do not hear, you cannot guard against; to wait until disaster strikes and only then be alarmed into action is already far too late. If you wish the treasury to be full, there is no better way than to restrain state spending. A ruler who governs well always keeps resources ahead of demands, never letting demands outrun resources. Today our armies in Shandong consume gold and grain to no purpose, while rebels in Hunan, Jiangyou, and Fujian ravage our prefectures and counties; if wasteful spending further drains what remains, the treasury will be like a leaking vessel that cannot be filled, or worm-eaten timber that cannot stand. When crisis comes, you will find yourself unable to mobilize resources in time, and the moment for decisive action will be lost. If you wish the foundations of the state to be secure, there is no better way than to lighten the burden on the people. Throughout the prefectures and counties, tax collectors multiply, and the habit of squeezing the people has become entrenched. When the people are driven to destitution and their grievances have no outlet, they will inevitably band together in the mountains and forests. When the house is on fire and men are drowning, can you afford not to act at once?" Shortly thereafter he was reassigned to concurrently serve as a bureau director in the Right Secretariat. The following year, at an imperial audience, he spoke with great urgency about natural disasters and their meaning.

四年，差知台州。明年，直秘閣、知婺州。六年冬，召赴行在，未行。端平元年，進直寶章閣，依舊任。越月，以宗正丞兼權右司召，改尚左郎官，兼職仍舊。尋兼左司。五月，面對，言四事：「守公道以悅人心，行實政以興治功，謹命令以一觀聽，明賞罰以示勸懲。」次言楮幣：「願詔有司，始自乘輿宮掖，下至百司庶府，核其冗蠹者節之，歲省十萬，則十萬之楮可捐，歲省百萬，則百萬之楮可捐也。行之既久，捐之益多，錢楮相當，所至流轉，則操吾贏縮之柄不在楮矣。」

In the fourth year he was appointed prefect of Taizhou. The following year he was made a direct academician of the Secret Pavilion and appointed prefect of Wuzhou. In the winter of the sixth year he was summoned to the mobile court but had not yet set out. In the first year of Duanping (1234) he was promoted to direct academician of the Baozhang Pavilion while retaining his prefectural post. Within the month he was recalled as vice-director of the Directorate of the Imperial Clan with acting charge of the Right Secretariat, then transferred to bureau director in the Left Secretariat while keeping his other duties. Shortly thereafter he was given concurrent charge of the Left Secretariat. In the fifth month, at a face-to-face audience, he set forth four principles: "Uphold impartial justice to win the people's hearts; carry out genuine policies to advance good governance; enforce your commands strictly so that all may see and hear alike; and make rewards and punishments clear to encourage the worthy and restrain the wicked." He then turned to paper currency: "I urge Your Majesty to decree that responsible offices, from the imperial household and palace down to every bureau and office, identify and eliminate waste; save a hundred thousand taels in a year, and a hundred thousand in notes may be withdrawn; save a million, and a million in notes may be withdrawn. Pursued over time, withdrawals will grow; when coin and notes stand in proper balance and circulate freely, the power to expand or contract the money supply will no longer rest on paper alone."

拜監察御史。時方謀出師汴、洛，宗勉言：「今朝廷安恬，無異于常時。士卒未精銳，資糧未充衍，器械未犀利，城壁未繕修。于斯時也，守禦猶不可，而欲進取可乎？借曰今日得蔡，明日得海，又明日得宿、毫，然得之者未必可守。萬一含怒蓄忿，變生倉猝，將何以濟？臣之所陳，豈曰外患之終不可平、土宇終不可復哉？亦欲量力以有爲、相時而後動耳。願詔大臣，愛日力以修內治，合人謀以嚴邊防，節冗費以裕邦財，招強勇以壯國勢。仍飭沿邊將帥，毋好虛名而受實害，左控右扼，毋失機先。則以逸待勞，以主御客，庶可保其無虞。若使本根壯固，士馬精強，觀釁而動，用兵未晚。」已而洛師潰，又言：「昔之所慮者在當守而冒進，今之所慮者在欲守而不能。何地可控扼，何兵可調遣，何將可捍禦，何糧可給餉，皆當預作措畫。」又言內降之敝，大略謂：「王府後宅之宮僚，戚裏奄寺之恩賞，綸綍直下，不經都省，竿牘陳請，時出禁廷，此皆大臣所當執奏。夫先事而言，見幾而諫，不可謂之專。善則行之，否則止之，不可謂之專。命出君上，政歸中書，不可謂之專。苟以專權爲嫌，不以救過爲急，每事希旨迎合，迨其命令已下，闕失已彰，然後言事之人從而論列之，其累聖德亦多矣。況言之未必聽，聽之未必行乎？」

He was appointed investigating censor. At the time the court was planning a campaign toward Bian and Luoyang; Zongmian said: "The court today sits in complacent ease, no different from ordinary times. The troops are not yet trained and sharp; supplies are not yet ample; weapons are not yet ready; fortifications are not yet repaired. At such a moment, even defense is doubtful—how can we speak of going on the offensive? Suppose we take Cai today, Haizhou tomorrow, Suzhou and Bozhou the day after—even then, what we seize we may not be able to hold. If the enemy, nursing anger, strikes back in sudden fury, how will we answer? What I have said—is it that foreign enemies can never be subdued or our lost lands never recovered? I mean only that we should act within our strength and move only when the time is right. I urge Your Majesty to command the chief ministers to devote every day to internal reform, unite counsel to strengthen the borders, cut wasteful spending to enrich the treasury, and recruit the strong and brave to build national strength. Further instruct frontier commanders not to chase empty glory at the cost of real harm, to hold the line on every flank, and never to lose the initiative. Then, resting while the enemy toils, defending as the host against the invader, we may hope to remain secure. When our foundations are solid and our armies strong, we may watch for an opening and strike—it will not then be too late for war." Soon after the Luoyang army collapsed, he spoke again: "What we once feared was advancing when we should have held fast; what we now fear is wanting to hold and being unable to. Which positions can be held, which troops deployed, which generals assigned to defense, which grain used for supply—all must be planned in advance." He also addressed the abuse of imperial rescripts issued from within the palace, saying in essence: "Favors for palace staff, consort kin, and eunuchs—edicts that bypass the chief secretariat, petitions that issue from the inner court—these are matters on which chief ministers ought to remonstrate. To speak before disaster strikes, to remonstrate at the first sign—this cannot be called overstepping one's authority. To approve what is right and halt what is wrong—this cannot be called overstepping. When orders come from the throne and policy rests with the Secretariat—this cannot be called overstepping. If ministers fear being called overbearing more than they fear failing to correct error, and on every matter curry favor—then when the edict has already gone forth and the harm is already done, critics follow only to catalogue the damage; how much greater the stain on Your Majesty's virtue. And even then, what is said is not necessarily heard, and what is heard is not necessarily done?"

進左司諫。明年春，兼侍講。首言：「均、房、安、蘄、光、化等處兵禍甚烈，然江面可藉以無憂者，猶有襄州，今又告變矣。襄州失則江陵危，江陵危則長江之險不足恃。昔之所慮猶在秋，今之所慮者祗在旦夕。江陵或不守，則事迫勢蹙，必有存亡之憂，悔將何及？」拜殿中侍御史。時淮西制置使兼沿江制置副使史嵩之兼知鄂州，就鄂建牙。宗勉言：「荊、襄殘破，淮西正當南北之交，嵩之當置司淮西，則脈絡相連，可以應援，邈在鄂渚，豈無鞭不及腹之慮。若云防江爲急，欲藉嵩之于鄂渚經理，然齊安正與武昌對，如就彼措置防扼，則藩籬壯而江面安矣。所謂欲保江南先守江北也。當別擇鄂守，徑令嵩之移司齊安。」

He was promoted to remonstrance officer of the Left Secretariat. In the spring of the following year he was concurrently appointed lecturer-in-waiting. He spoke first: "Military disaster rages at Jun, Fang, An, Qi, Guang, and Hua; yet on the Yangzi what still gave us hope was Xiangzhou—and now Xiangzhou too reports rebellion. If Xiangzhou falls, Jiangling is in peril; if Jiangling falls, the Yangzi's defenses cannot be trusted. What we once feared was still months away; what we fear now may come at any hour. If Jiangling cannot be held, the crisis will close in and the dynasty itself will hang in the balance—what use will regret be then?" He was appointed palace attendant censor. At the time Shi Songzhi, Huai West commissioner and vice commissioner along the Yangzi, was concurrently prefect of Ezhou and had established his headquarters there. Zongmian said: "Jing and Xiang lie in ruins; Huai West sits at the junction of north and south. Songzhi ought to establish his headquarters in Huai West, where the lines of communication connect and he can respond in support. Posted far away at Ezhou, he risks being unable to reach where he is needed. If the urgent need is river defense and you wish Songzhi to manage affairs from Ezhou, consider that Qi'an lies directly opposite Wuchang; station him there to organize the defense, and the barrier will be strong and the river secure. This is the principle: to save the south, first hold the north bank. Choose another man as prefect of E, and order Songzhi to move his headquarters directly to Qi'an.

詔侍從、兩省、台諫條陳邊事，宗勉率合台奏：「蜀之四路，已失其二，成都隔絕，莫知存亡。諸司退保夔門，未必能守。襄漢昨失九郡，今郢破，荊門又破，江陵孤城，何以能立？兩淮之地，人民奔迸，井邑丘墟，嗚呼危哉！陛下誠能亟下哀痛之詔，以身率先，深自貶損，服御飲宴，一從簡儉，放後宮浮食之女，罷掖庭不急之費，止錫齎，絕工役，出內帑儲蓄以風動四方。然後勸諭戚畹、世臣，隨力輸財，以佐公家之調度。分上流淮西、淮東爲三帥，而以江淮大帥總之。或因今任，或擇長才，分地而守，聽令而行。以公私之財分給四處，俾之招潰卒，募流民之強壯者，以充遊兵，以補軍籍。仍選沿流諸郡將士爲捍禦之圖，猶可支吾。不然將水陸俱下，大合荊楚之衆，擾我上流，江以南震盪矣。或謂其勢強盛，宜於講和，欲出金繒以奉之，是抱薪救火，空國與敵矣。」

The throne ordered court officials, the two secretariats, and the censorate to submit plans on border affairs; Zongmian led the united censorate in memorializing: "Of Sichuan's four circuits, two are lost; Chengdu is cut off and none knows whether it still stands. The offices have fallen back to defend Kuimen, yet may not be able to hold even that. Xiang and Han have lost nine prefectures; Ying has fallen, Jingmen has fallen—how can Jiangling, a lone city, endure? Across the two Huai regions the people flee in terror; towns lie in ruins—alas, how desperate our plight! If Your Majesty will urgently issue a decree of mourning and repentance, take the lead in person, humble yourself deeply, simplify dress and banquets, release superfluous palace women, cut nonessential expenses of the inner quarters, halt lavish grants, stop wasteful projects, and draw on the inner treasury to set an example for the realm. Then urge consort kin and hereditary ministers to contribute according to their means to aid the state's finances. Divide the upper Yangzi, Huai West, and Huai East among three commanders, under a supreme commander for the Jiang-Huai region. Retain present commanders or choose men of talent, assign each his territory, and let them act on unified orders. Distribute public and private funds to the four sectors, so they may gather scattered troops and enlist strong men among refugees as mobile forces to fill the rolls. Further select commanders along the river to organize the defense—we may still hold the line. Otherwise the enemy will advance by land and water, mass the armies of Jing and Chu, strike our upper Yangzi, and the lands south of the river will be shaken to their foundations. Some say their power is too great and we should sue for peace, offering gold and silk to appease them—this is carrying firewood to fight a fire, hollowing out the state for the enemy."

進工部侍郎兼給事中，仍侍講。復上疏言：「陛下憂勤于路朝之頃，而入爲宴安所移，切劘於廣廈之間，而退爲便佞所惑。不聞減退宮女，而嬪嬙已溢于昔時；不聞褒錄功臣，而節鉞先加于外戚；不聞出內貯以犒戰士，而金帛多靡于浮費。陛下之舉動，人心所視以爲卷舒者也。陛下既不以爲憂，則誰復爲陛下憂。」擢諫議大夫兼侍讀。首言邊事當增兵防托上流。又言：「求諫非難而受諫爲難，受諫非難而從諫爲難。苟聞之不以爲戒，玩之不以爲信，卒使危言鯁論，無益於世用，無救于時危，其與拒諫者相去一間耳。」

He was promoted to vice minister of Works with concurrent appointment as supervising secretary, retaining his post as lecturer-in-waiting. He submitted another memorial: "Your Majesty was diligent in care on the road and at court, yet once within the palace you succumbed to ease; you were earnest in the great halls, yet in private you were swayed by flatterers. We hear no word of reducing palace women, yet consorts and attendants already exceed former times; we hear no word of rewarding meritorious ministers, yet military commands were first given to consort kin; we hear no word of drawing on the inner treasury to reward soldiers, yet gold and silk are squandered on frivolous spending. Your Majesty's every act is what the people watch to know whether times will tighten or ease. If Your Majesty does not worry, who will worry for you?" He was promoted to remonstrance and policy adviser with concurrent appointment as reader-in-waiting. He spoke first that border affairs required more troops to defend the upper Yangzi. He also said: "It is not hard to invite remonstrance, but hard to accept it; not hard to accept it, but hard to follow it. If what you hear does not alarm you, and what you toy with you do not trust, then even the sternest counsel will serve no purpose and save us from nothing—the distance between you and those who reject remonstrance is but a hair's breadth."

進端明殿學士、同簽書樞密院事。未幾，進簽書。時王楫復求歲幣銀絹各二十萬，宗勉言：「輕諾者多後患，當守元約可也。然比之開禧時，物價騰踴奚啻倍蓰矣。」史嵩之開督府，力主和議，宗勉言：「使者可疑者三。嵩之職在督戰，如收復襄、光，控扼施、澧，招集山砦，保固江流，皆今所當爲。若所主在和，則凡有機會可乘，不無退縮之意，必至虛捐歲月，坐失事功。」

He was promoted to academician of the Duanming Hall and associate signer of the Bureau of Military Affairs. Before long he was promoted to full signer. At the time Wang Qi again demanded annual tribute of two hundred thousand taels of silver and bolts of silk each; Zongmian said: "Light promises breed heavy troubles—we should hold to the original treaty. Yet compared with the Kaixi period, prices have more than doubled and redoubled." Shi Songzhi opened a supervisory headquarters and strongly advocated peace; Zongmian said: "The envoy gives three grounds for suspicion. Songzhi's duty is to supervise warfare—recovering Xiang and Guang, holding Shi and Li, gathering mountain stockades, securing the river line—all this is what he should be doing now. If his heart is set on peace, then whenever an opportunity arises he will shrink back, wasting months until every chance for achievement is lost."

進參知政事。及拜左丞相兼樞密使，守法度，抑僥倖，不私親黨，召用老成，尤樂聞讜言。趙汝騰嘗以宗勉爲公清之相。以光祿大夫、觀文殿大學士致仕，卒，贈少師，諡文清。

He was promoted to vice grand councilor. When he was appointed left grand councilor and commissioner of military affairs, he upheld the law, checked favoritism, showed no partiality to kin or faction, promoted seasoned men, and especially welcomed forthright counsel. Zhao Ruteng once called Zongmian a minister of public integrity. He retired as Grandee of Splendid Happiness and academician of the Hall for Viewing Literature, died, and was posthumously made Junior Mentor with the posthumous title Wénqīng.

袁甫，字廣微，寶文閣直學士燮之子。嘉定七年進士第一。簽書建康軍節度判官廳公事，授秘書省正字。入對，論「君天下不可一日無懼心。今之可懼者，大端有五：端良者斥，諂諛者用，杜忠臣敢諫之門，可懼也；兵戈既興，饋餉不繼，根本一虛，則有蕭牆之憂，可懼也；陛下深居高拱，群臣奉行簿書，獨運密謀之意勝，而虛心咨訪之意微，天下迫切之情無由上聞，可懼也；外患未弭，內患方深，而熙熙然無異平時，自謂雅量足以鎮浮，不知宴安實爲鴆毒，可懼也；陛下恭儉有餘，剛斷不足，庸夫憸人，苟求富貴，而未聞大明黜陟，軍帥交結，州郡賄賂，皆自貴近化之，可懼也。其他禍幾亂萌，不可悉數，將何以答天譴、召和氣哉？」次乞嚴守帥之選，並大軍之權，興屯田之利。

Yuan Fu, courtesy name Guangwei, was the son of Yuan Xie, direct academician of the Baowen Pavilion. In the seventh year of Jiading he placed first in the jinshi examination. He signed documents as secretary of the Jianning Military Commission judicial office and was appointed rectifier in the Palace Library. On audience he said that "a ruler must never go a single day without a heart of dread. What must be dreaded today has five great heads: the upright are dismissed and flatterers employed, the gate for loyal remonstrance is shut—this is to be dreaded; war has begun, supplies do not keep pace, the root is hollowed and trouble within the walls follows—this is to be dreaded; Your Majesty sits aloof while ministers shuffle papers, secret plotting prevails and open consultation fades, the people's urgent needs cannot reach you—this is to be dreaded; foreign threats are not yet ended, internal troubles deepen, yet the court is gay as in peacetime, trusting magnanimity to calm unrest, not knowing that ease is poison—this is to be dreaded; Your Majesty is respectful and frugal yet lacks firm resolve; mediocre and crafty men seek wealth and rank, yet we hear no clear promotions and demotions; generals form factions and prefectures give bribes—all learned from those close to the throne—this is to be dreaded. Other omens of disorder cannot all be counted—how will you answer heaven's reproof and summon harmony?" He next urged strict selection of commanders, consolidation of army authority, and the benefits of military colonies.

遷校書郎，轉對，言「邊事之病，不在外而在內。偷安之根不去，規摹終不立；壅蔽之根不去，血脈終不通；忌嫉之根不去，將帥終不可擇；欺誕之根不去，兵財終不可治。祖宗之御天下，政事雖委中書，然必擇風采著聞者爲台諫，敢於論駁者爲給、舍，所以戢官邪、肅朝綱也。今日誠體是意以行之，豈復有偷安壅蔽者哉？」出通判湖州，考常平敝原以增積貯，核隱產，增附嬰兒局。

He was transferred to collator, and on rotated audience said: "The sickness of border affairs lies not outside but within. If the root of complacency is not removed, no plan will ever stand; if the root of obstruction is not removed, the arteries of communication will never open; if the root of jealousy is not removed, worthy generals can never be chosen; if the root of deception is not removed, troops and finances can never be governed. When the ancestors ruled, though administration rested with the Secretariat, they always chose men of distinguished bearing for the censorate and remonstrance, and men who dared debate for the supervising secretaries—thus to restrain corruption and tighten court discipline. If today you truly embody this intent, how could complacency and obstruction survive?" He went out as vice-prefect of Huzhou, reformed Ever-Normal Granary abuses to increase reserves, verified hidden property, and expanded the Infant Relief Bureau.

遷秘書郎，尋遷著作佐郎、知徽州。治先教化，崇學校，訪便民事上之：請蠲減婺源綢絹萬七千餘匹，茶租折帛錢萬五千餘貫，月樁錢六千餘貫；請照咸平、紹興、乾道寬恤指揮，受納徽絹定每匹十兩；請下轉運、常平兩司，豫蓄常平義倉備荒，興修陂塘，創築百梁。丁父憂，服除，知衢州。立旬講，務以理義淑士心，歲撥助養士千緡。西安、龍遊、常山三邑積窘預借，爲代輸三萬五千緡，蠲放四萬七千緡。郡有義莊，買良田二百畝益之。

He was transferred to secretary, and soon to assistant compiler and prefect of Huizhou. He put education first, honored schools, and submitted measures for the people: requesting exemption of more than seventeen thousand bolts of Wuyuan silk tribute, more than fifteen thousand strings of tea rent in cloth money, and more than six thousand strings of monthly quota money; requesting that under the lenient relief directives of Xianping, Shaoxing, and Qiandao, Huizhou silk accepted in payment be fixed at ten taels per bolt; requesting that the transport and Ever-Normal commissions store grain against famine, repair dikes and ponds, and build the Hundred Bridges. He mourned his father; when mourning ended he was made prefect of Quzhou. He established decanal lectures, striving with principle and righteousness to refine scholars' hearts, and each year allocated a thousand strings to support students. The three districts of Xi'an, Longyou, and Changshan had long suffered advance requisitions; he paid thirty-five thousand strings on their behalf and remitted forty-seven thousand strings. The prefecture had a charity estate; he bought two hundred mu of fertile fields to augment it.

移提舉江東常平。適歲旱，亟發庫庾之積，凡州縣窠名隸倉司者，無新舊皆住催，爲錢六萬一千緡，米十有三萬七千、麥五千八百石，遣官分行振濟，饑者予粟，病者予藥，尺籍之單弱者，市民之失業者，皆曲軫之。又告於朝曰：「江東或水而旱，或旱而水，重以雨雪連月，道殣相望，至有舉家枕藉而死者。此去麥熟尚賒，事勢益急。」詔給度牒百道助費。時江、閩寇迫饒、信，慮民情易動，分榜諭安之。檄諸郡，關制司，聞於朝，爲保境捍患之圖，寇迄不犯。遂提點本路刑獄兼提舉，移司番陽。霜殺桑，春夏雨久湖溢，諸郡被水，連請於朝，給度牒二百道賑恤之。盜起常山，調他州兵千人屯廣信以爲備。

He was transferred to intendant of the Jiangdong Ever-Normal Granary. In a drought year he urgently released accumulated stores. For all items under the granary commission in prefectures and counties, whether old or new, he halted collection—sixty-one thousand strings in cash, one hundred thirty-seven thousand piculs of rice, and five thousand eight hundred shi of wheat—and sent officials to distribute relief: grain to the hungry, medicine to the sick, care to the weak on the registers, and to townspeople who had lost their livelihoods. He also reported to the court: "In Jiangdong there is sometimes flood then drought, or drought then flood; with months of rain and snow, corpses line the roads, and whole families lie dead together. The wheat harvest is still far off and the situation grows more urgent." An edict granted a hundred ordination certificates to help cover expenses. At the time bandits from Jiang and Min pressed on Rao and Xin; fearing unrest among the people, he posted proclamations to reassure them. He dispatched orders to all prefectures and the frontier command, reported to the court, and drew up plans to protect the territory—the bandits in the end did not invade. He was then made judicial intendant of the circuit with concurrent intendant duties, moving his headquarters to Poyang. Frost killed the mulberry trees; spring and summer rains lasted long and lakes overflowed; many prefectures suffered flood; he repeatedly petitioned the court and was granted two hundred ordination certificates for relief. Bandits rose in Changshan; he mobilized a thousand troops from another prefecture to garrison Guangxin as a precaution.

都城大火，上封事言：「上下不交，以言爲諱，天意人心，實同一機，災變之作，端由於此。願下哀痛之詔，以回天意。」詔求直言，復上疏言：「災起都邑，天意蓋欲陛下因其所可見，察其所不可見，行至公無私之心，全保護大臣之體，率屬群工，大明黜陟，與天下更始。」行部問民疾苦，薦循良，劾奸貪，決滯獄。所至詣學宮講說，創書院貴溪之南，祠先儒陸九淵。歲大旱，請於朝，得度牒、緡錢、綾紙以助賑恤。疫癘大作，創藥院療之。前後持節江東五年，所活殆不可數計。轉將作監，領事如故。繼力辭常平事。彗星見，詔求直言，上疏言：「皇天所以震怒者，由愁苦之民衆；人民所以愁苦者，由貪冒之風熾。願一變上下交征之習，爲大公至正之歸。」

A great fire broke out in the capital; he submitted a sealed memorial saying: "Above and below do not communicate, speech is tabooed, heaven's intent and the people's hearts are one—the arising of disasters stems from this. I wish Your Majesty would issue a decree of grief and pain to turn back heaven's intent." An edict sought forthright speech; he again submitted a memorial saying: "The disaster arose in the capital; heaven wishes Your Majesty, from what can be seen, to discern what cannot be seen, to act with impartiality, to protect the stature of great ministers, to lead officials in clear promotions and demotions, and to make a fresh start with the realm." On tour he inquired into the people's hardships, recommended the upright, impeached the greedy, and decided stagnant cases. Wherever he went he visited school halls to lecture, founded an academy south of Guixi, and enshrined the earlier Confucian Lu Jiuyuan. In a year of great drought he petitioned the court and obtained ordination certificates, strings of cash, and silk paper to aid relief. Epidemic illness broke out on a great scale; he founded a medicine hall to treat it. For five years in all he held credentials in Jiangdong; the lives he saved can hardly be counted. He was transferred to director of palace construction, retaining his former duties. He then strenuously declined Ever-Normal duties. A comet appeared; an edict sought forthright speech; he submitted a memorial saying: "The reason heaven is enraged is the multitude of the anguished and bitter; the reason the people are anguished and bitter is that the wind of greed and usurpation burns hot. I wish to change at once the custom of mutual exaction above and below, and return to great impartiality and utmost rectitude."

帝親政，以直微猷閣知建甯府，明年，兼福建轉運判官。閩鹽隸漕司，例運兩綱供費，後增至十有二，吏卒並緣爲奸，且抑州縣變賣，公私苦之，甫奏復舊例。丁米錢久爲泉、漳、興化民患，會知漳州趙以夫請以廢寺租爲民代輸，甫並捐三郡歲解本司錢二萬七千貫助之。郡屯左翼軍，本備峒寇，招捕司移之江西，甫檄使還營。俄寇作唐石，即調之以行，而賊悉平。遷秘書少監。入見，帝曰：「卿久勞於外，篤意愛民，每覽所陳，備見懇惻。」甫奏《無逸》之義，言知農夫稼穡艱難，自然逸欲之念不起。乞力守更化以來求賢如不及之初意。

When the Emperor personally took up government, he was made direct academician of the Weiyou Pavilion and prefect of Jianning; the next year he was given concurrent appointment as transport judge of Fujian. Min salt was under the transport commission; by precedent two shipments were sent for expenses, later increased to twelve; clerks and soldiers used this as a pretext for corruption and also suppressed prefectures in forced sale—public and private all suffered; Fu memorialized to restore the old precedent. The ding-rice money had long been a hardship for the people of Quan, Zhang, and Xinghua; when the prefect of Zhangzhou Zhao Yifu requested using rent from abandoned temples to pay on the people's behalf, Fu also donated twenty-seven thousand strings of the three prefectures' annual payment to the commission to assist. The prefecture garrisoned the Left Wing Army, originally to guard against cave bandits; the Pacification Office moved them to Jiangxi; Fu ordered them returned to camp. Soon bandits arose at Tangshi; he immediately mobilized them on campaign and the bandits were all pacified. He was transferred to vice director of the Palace Library. On audience the Emperor said: "You have long labored outside, with sincere love for the people; whenever I read your memorials, I see they are all earnest and sincere." Fu presented the meaning of the "No Dissipation" chapter, saying that knowing the farmer's hardship in sowing and reaping naturally keeps dissolute desire from arising. He begged to strive to uphold the initial intent since the reform of seeking the worthy as if one could not keep pace.

遷起居舍人兼崇政殿說書。於經筵奏：「剛之一字，最切于陛下。陛下徒有慕漢宜厲精爲治之名，而乃墮元帝、文宗柔弱不振之失。元帝、文宗果斷，不用於斥邪佞，反用於逐賢人，此二君不識剛德之真。所謂真剛者，當爲之事必行，不當爲者則斷在勿行。」又乞「專意經訓，養育精神，務令充實，上與天一，下合人心。」帝意欲全功臣之世，詔自今中外臣僚奏事，毋得捃摭，以奏：「是消天下讜言之氣，其謂陛下何？」兼中書舍人，繳奏不擿苛小，謂：「監司、郡守非其人，則一道一州之蠹也。」

He was transferred to attendant recorder with concurrent appointment as lecturer at the Chongzheng Hall. In the classics lecture he memorialized: "The single word 'firm' is most urgent for Your Majesty. Your Majesty merely has the name of admiring Emperor Xuan of Han's resolve to govern with vigor, yet falls into the failures of Emperor Yuan and Emperor Wenzong—weak and unable to rouse. Emperors Yuan and Wenzong were resolute, yet did not use it to expel evil flatterers but instead to drive out worthy men—these two rulers did not know the truth of firm virtue. What is called true firmness is that what ought to be done must be done, and what ought not must be decisively not done." He also begged: "Concentrate on the classics, nurture the spirit, strive to make it full, above unite with heaven, below unite with the hearts of men." The Emperor wished to protect the generations of meritorious families; an edict forbade officials, when memorializing, to gather and expose faults, to which he memorialized: "This extinguishes forthright speech throughout the realm—what will they say of Your Majesty?" With concurrent appointment as drafting secretary, he returned memorials and did not pick at petty harshness, saying: "If transport commissioners and prefects are not the right men, then a whole circuit or prefecture is their plague."

時相鄭清之以國用不足，履畝使輸券。甫奏：「避是虐賤，有力者頑未應令，而追呼迫促，破家蕩產，悲痛無聊者，大抵皆中下之戶。」嘗講罷，帝問近事，甫奏：「惟履畝事，人心最不悅。」又嘗讀《資治通鑒》，至漢高祖入關辭秦民牛酒，因奏：「今日無以予人，反橫科之，其心喜乎，怒乎？本朝立國以仁，陛下以爲此舉仁乎，否乎？」帝爲惻然。

At the time the chief councilor Zheng Qingzhi, because state revenue was insufficient, sent field-measuring envoys to collect certificates. Fu memorialized: "Avoiding this oppresses the lowly; the powerful defy the order yet pursuit and summons are urgent, families ruined and property exhausted, grief and despair without relief—mostly these are middle and lower households." Once after lecture the Emperor asked about recent affairs; Fu memorialized: "Only the field-measuring matter—men's hearts are least pleased." He also once read the Comprehensive Mirror to the passage where Emperor Gaozu of Han on entering the pass declined the cattle and wine of Qin people, and memorialized: "Today there is nothing to give the people, yet levies are imposed across the board—are their hearts pleased or angry? Our dynasty founded the state on benevolence—does Your Majesty think this act benevolent or not?" The Emperor was moved to compassion.

時朝廷以邊事爲憂，史嵩之帥江西，力主和議。甫奏曰：「臣與嵩之居同裏，未嘗相知，而嵩之父彌忠，則與臣有故。嵩之易於主和，彌忠每戒其輕易。今朝廷甘心用父子異心之人，臣謂不特嵩之之易於主和，抑朝廷亦未免易於用人也。」疏入，不報。遂乞歸，不允。授起居郎兼中書舍人。未幾，擢嵩之刑部尚書，復奏疏云：「臣於嵩之本無仇怨，但國事所系，誼難緘默。」嵩之誥命，終不與書行，乃出甫知江州。王遂抗疏力爭，帝曰：「本以授其兄袁肅，報行誤耳。」令遂勉甫無它志。翼日，乃與肅江州。而殿中侍御史徐清叟復論甫守富沙日贓六十萬，湯巾等又爭之，清叟亦悔。未幾，改知婺州，不拜。

At the time the court worried over border affairs; Shi Songzhi commanded Jiangxi and strongly advocated peace talks. Fu memorialized: "Your servant and Songzhi live in the same village and have never been acquainted, yet Songzhi's father Mizhong and your servant have old ties. Songzhi is quick to advocate peace; Mizhong always warned him against lightness. Now the court is content to employ a father and son of divided hearts—your servant says it is not only that Songzhi is quick to advocate peace, but that the court also cannot avoid being quick in employing men." The memorial entered and received no response. He then begged to retire and was not permitted. He was appointed attendant of the emperor's movements with concurrent drafting secretary. Before long Songzhi was promoted to Minister of Justice; he again submitted a memorial saying: "Your servant has no enmity with Songzhi, but state affairs are involved and righteousness makes silence difficult." Songzhi's commission of appointment—he in the end would not draft it for issuance, and Fu was sent out as prefect of Jiangzhou. Wang Sui submitted a strenuous memorial in contention; the Emperor said: "It was originally to be given to his elder brother Yuan Su; the report of issuance was mistaken." He ordered Sui to encourage Fu to have no other intent. The next day Su and Fu were both given Jiangzhou. But the palace attendant censor Xu Qingsou again impeached Fu for sixty myriad in embezzlement while prefect of Fusha; Tang Jin and others also contended; Qingsou also repented. Before long he was changed to prefect of Wuzhou and did not accept the appointment.

遷兵部侍郎，入見，奏：「江潮暴湧，旱魃爲虐，楮幣蝕其心腹，大敵剝其四支，危亡之禍，近在旦夕，乞秉一德，塞邪徑。」兼給事中。岳珂以知兵財召，甫奏珂總餉二十年，焚林竭澤，珂竟從外補。遷吏部侍郎兼國子祭酒，日召諸生叩其問學理義講習之益。時邊遽日至，甫條十事，至爲詳明。權兵部尚書，暫兼吏部尚書，卒，贈通奉大夫，諡正肅。有《孝說》、《孟子解》、《後省封駁》、《信安志》、《江東荒政錄》、《防拓錄》、《樂事錄》及文集行世。

He was transferred to vice minister of War; on audience he memorialized: "The river tides surge violently, the drought demon wreaks havoc, paper currency eats at the heart and belly, the great enemy strips the four limbs—the calamity of peril and extinction is close at hand; I beg to hold to one virtue and block the evil path." With concurrent appointment as supervising secretary. Yue Ke was summoned for knowledge of military finances; Fu memorialized that Ke had overseen supplies for twenty years, burning forests and draining marshes; Ke in the end was given an outer post. He was transferred to vice minister of Personnel with concurrent appointment as chancellor of the Directorate of Education, daily summoning students to inquire into the benefit of studying principles and righteousness. At the time border emergencies arrived daily; Fu set forth ten matters, extremely detailed and clear. He was given acting charge as minister of War, temporarily also minister of Personnel, died, and was posthumously made Grandee for Proper Service with the posthumous title Zhèngsù. He left the Filial Piety Exposition, Explication of Mencius, Memorials Returned from the Rear Secretariat, Gazetteer of Xin'an, Record of Famine Administration in Jiangdong, Record of Frontier Defense, Record of Joyful Affairs, and collected works that circulated in his time.

甫少服父馴，謂學者當師聖人，以自得爲貴。又從楊簡問學，自謂「吾觀草木之發生，聽禽鳥之和鳴，與我心契，其樂無涯」云。

Fu in youth submitted to his father's discipline, saying scholars should take the sages as teachers and prize self-attainment. He also studied with Yang Jian, saying himself: "When I observe the sprouting of plants and trees, hear the harmonious cries of birds, and it accords with my heart—the joy is boundless," he said.

劉黻，字聲伯，樂清人。早有令聞，讀書雁蕩山中僧寺。年三十四，以淳祐十年試入太學，儕輩已翕然稱之。時丁大全方爲臺屬，劾奏丞相董槐，迫逐去國，將奪其位。黻率同舍生伏闕上書，大概言朝廷進退大臣，須當以禮。書上，忤執政，送南安軍安置，歸別其母解氏。解氏曰：「爲臣死忠，以直被貶，分也。速行！」黻至南安，盡取濂、洛諸子之書，摘其精切之語，輯成書十卷，名曰《濂洛論語》。及大全貶，黻還太學。未幾，侍御史陳垓誣劾程公許，右正言蔡滎誣劾黃之純，二公罷出，六館相顧失色，黻又率諸生上書言：

Liu Fu, courtesy name Shengbo, came from Yueqing. He had an excellent reputation from youth and studied in a mountain monastery on Yandang. At thirty-four, in the tenth year of Chunyou he entered the Imperial Academy by examination; his peers already spoke of him with one voice. At the time Ding Daquan was a censorate staff officer; he impeached Chief Councilor Dong Huai, forced him from office, and was about to seize his post. Fu led fellow students to prostrate themselves at the palace gate and submit a memorial, saying in summary that in advancing and dismissing great ministers the court must act according to ritual. When the memorial was submitted it offended those in power; he was sent to Nan'an Circuit for resettlement and returned to bid farewell to his mother, Lady Xie. Lady Xie said: "As a minister, die loyal; to be demoted for uprightness is one's portion. Go quickly!" When Fu reached Nan'an he took all the books of the Lian and Luo masters, selected their most essential passages, and compiled them into ten juan titled Discourses of Lian and Luo. When Daquan was demoted, Fu returned to the Imperial Academy. Before long Attendant Censor Chen Gai falsely impeached Cheng Gongxu, and Right Rectifier Cai Ying falsely impeached Huang Zhichun; both were dismissed; the six halls looked at one another in dismay; Fu again led the students in submitting a memorial saying:

黻等蒙被教養，視國家休戚利害若己痛養。朝廷進一君子，台諫發一公論，則彈冠相慶，喜溢肺膺。至若君子郁而不獲用，公論沮而不克伸，則憂憤忡結，寢食俱廢。臣聞扶植宗社在君子，扶植君子在公論。陛下在位幾三十年，端平間公正萃朝，忠讜接武，天下翕然曰：「此小元祐也。」淳祐初，大奸屏跡，善類在位，天下又翕然曰：「此又一端平也。」奈何年來培養保護之初心，不能不爲之轉移。

Fu and others have received your teaching and nurture; we regard the state's weal and woe as our own pain and nourishment. When the court advances one gentleman and the censorate issues one public judgment, we adjust our caps and rejoice together, joy overflowing in our breasts. But when gentlemen are frustrated and not employed, and public judgment is blocked, then worry knots in the heart and sleep and food are both abandoned. Your servant hears that to support the altars of state lies in gentlemen, and to support gentlemen lies in public judgment. Your Majesty has been on the throne nearly thirty years; in the Duanping period the upright gathered at court and loyal remonstrance followed in succession; all under heaven said with one voice: "This is a minor Yuanyou." At the beginning of Chunyou great villains were removed and good men held office; all under heaven again said with one voice: "This is another Duanping." How can the original intent of nurturing and protecting fail to be shifted?

祖宗建置台諫，本以伸君子而折小人，昌公論而杜私說。乃今老饕自肆，奸種相仍，以諂諛承風旨，以傾險設機阱，以淟涊盜官爵。陛下非不識拔群賢，彼則忍于空君子之党；陛下非不容受直言，彼則勇於倒公議之戈。不知陛下何負此輩，而彼乃負陛下至此耶？

The ancestors established the censorate and remonstrance bureaus originally to extend gentlemen and break petty men, to make public judgment flourish and private opinions fail. Yet today old gluttons act as they please, wicked seeds follow one another, using flattery to carry out secret intent, using treachery to set snares, using baseness to steal office and rank. Your Majesty is not without recognizing and elevating the host of worthies—yet they bear to empty the party of gentlemen; Your Majesty is not without tolerating forthright speech—yet they boldly overturn the spear of public judgment. What has Your Majesty done for this crowd, that they have failed you to this degree?

當陛下詔起匯髦之秋，而公許起自家食，正君子覘之，以爲進退之機。乃今坐席未溫，彈章已上，一公許去，若未害也，臣恐草野諸賢，見幾深遁，而君子之脈自此絕矣。比年朋邪記焰，緘默成風，奏事者不過襲陳言、應故事而已。幸而之純兩疏，差強人意。乃今軟媚者全身，鯁直者去國，一之純去，若未害也，臣恐道路以目，欲言輒沮，而公論之脈自此絕矣。

When Your Majesty's edict summoned the gathered worthies, Gongxu rose from private life; upright gentlemen watched it as the turning point of advance and retreat. Yet now he has not warmed his seat before impeachment memorials arrive; one Gongxu departs—if it seems no harm, your servant fears that worthies in the wild, seeing the first sign, will flee deep, and the artery of gentlemen will from this be cut off. In recent years factional wickedness blazed; silence became the custom; those who memorialized did no more than repeat stale words and answer old stories. Fortunately Zhichun's two memorials were somewhat satisfying. Yet now the soft and fawning preserve themselves whole while the lodged and upright leave the state; one Zhichun departs—if it seems no harm, your servant fears that on the roads men cover their eyes and those who wish to speak are stopped, and the artery of public judgment will from this be cut off.

況今天下可言之事不爲少，可攻之惡不爲不多。術窮桑、孔，浸有逼上之嫌；勢挾金、張，濫處牧民之職。以乳臭騃子而躐登從橐，以光範私人而累典輔藩。錢神通靈於旁蹊，公器反類於互市。天下皆知之，豈陛下獨不知之。正惟爲陛下紀綱者知爲身謀，不爲陛下謀。陛下明燭事幾，詎可墮此輩蒙蔽術中，何忍以祖宗三百年風憲之司，而壞於一二小人之手耶？臣汝騰，陛下之劉向也，則以忠鯁斥；臣子才、臣棟、臣伯玉，陛下之汲黯也，則以切直罷。遂使淳祐諸君子日消月磨，至今幾爲之一空。彼誠何心哉？

Moreover, matters in the realm today that can be spoken of are not few; evils that can be attacked are not few. Their arts exhaust those of Sang and Kong and gradually have the suspicion of pressing upon the throne; their power embraces the Jin and Zhang clans and they indiscriminately hold posts of shepherding the people. By suckling infants and fools they leap to attendants' satchels; by private persons of the Guangfan Gate they repeatedly hold frontier prefectures. Money's spirit works through side paths; public vessels resemble a mutual market. All under heaven know it—does Your Majesty alone not know it? It is precisely because those who regulate Your Majesty's discipline know to scheme for themselves and not for Your Majesty. Your Majesty clearly illuminates affairs—how can you fall into these men's net of deception? How can you bear to let the wind and discipline office of three hundred years of the ancestors be ruined in the hands of one or two petty men? Your servant Zhao Ruteng is Your Majesty's Liu Xiang—yet for loyal lodged speech he was expelled; your servants Zicai, Dong, and Boyu are Your Majesty's Ji An—yet for cutting straightness they were dismissed. Thus the gentlemen of Chunyou daily wane month by month, until today they are nearly all emptied. What heart do they truly have?

高宗紹興二十年之詔，有謂「台諫風憲之地，年來用人非據，與大臣爲友党，濟其喜怒，甚非耳目之寄。」臣竊觀近事，不獨台諫爲大臣友党，內簡相傳，風旨相諭，且甘爲鷹犬而聽其指嗾焉。宰相所不樂者，外若示以優容，而陰實頤指台諫以去之；台諫所彈擊者，外若不相爲謀，而陰實奉承宰相以行之。方公許之召也，天下皆知獨斷於宸衷，及公許之來也，天下亦知嘗得罪于時宰，豈料陛下之恩終不足恃，宰相之嗔竟不可逃耶？

Emperor Gaozong's edict of the twentieth year of Shaoxing said: "The censorate and remonstrance bureaus are places of wind and discipline; in recent years appointments have been unfit, forming factions with great ministers to aid their likes and dislikes—this greatly fails the charge of being eyes and ears." Your servant has observed recent affairs: not only do the censorate and remonstrance bureaus become factions with great ministers—inner drafts are passed along, secret intent is conveyed, and they willingly become hawks and dogs heeding their beckoning. What the chief councilor dislikes, outwardly he seems to show generous tolerance, but inwardly he actually signals the censorate and remonstrance bureaus to remove them; whom the censorate and remonstrance bureaus attack, outwardly they seem not to conspire, but inwardly they actually carry out the chief councilor's will. When Gongxu was summoned, all under heaven knew the decision rested alone in Your Majesty's heart; when Gongxu came, all under heaven also knew he had once offended the chief councilor of the time—who expected that Your Majesty's favor in the end would not suffice to rely upon, and the chief councilor's anger in the end could not be escaped?

陛下萬機之暇，試以公許、之純與垓、滎等熟思而靜評之，其言論孰正孰邪，孰忠孰佞，雖中智以下之主，猶知判別是非，況以陛下明聖而顧不察此？近見公許奏疏，嘗告陛下揭至公以示天下；垓則以秘密之說惑上聽，公許嘗告陛下以寵賂日章，官邪無警，欲塞幸門，絕曲徑；垓則縱俠客以兜攬關節，持闊扁以脅取舉狀，開賂門以簸弄按章。至若之純之告陛下，力伸邪正之辯，明斥媚相之非，謇謇諤諤，流出肺肝；滎身居言責，聞其風聲，自當愧死，尚敢妄肆萋菲，略無人心乎？

In Your Majesty's leisure from the myriad tasks, try to think over Gongxu and Zhichun versus Gai and Ying with calm judgment—which speeches are upright and which crooked, which loyal and which fawning? Even a ruler of middling intelligence would know to distinguish right and wrong; how much more Your Majesty's brilliance, yet not to examine this? Recently seeing Gongxu's memorial, he once told Your Majesty to display utmost impartiality to show all under heaven; Gai then used secret talk to delude what the Emperor heard; Gongxu once told Your Majesty that favor and bribes daily multiply and official wickedness goes unheeded, wishing to block the path of favor and cut off crooked byways; Gai then let roaming knights round up frontier connections, held broad placards to extort nomination documents, and opened the gate of bribes to manipulate impeachment memorials. As for what Zhichun told Your Majesty, he vigorously extended the debate of evil and upright, clearly condemned the error of fawning at the councilor, lodged and forthright, pouring from lung and liver; Ying holds the charge of speech—hearing such a wind he ought to die of shame; how dare he still wildly spread calumny, slightly without human heart?

且陛下擢用台諫，若臣磊卿、臣咨夔、臣應起、臣漢弼、臣凱、臣燧，光明俊偉，卓爲天下稱首，然甫入而遽遷，或一鳴而輒斥，獨垓、滎輩貪饕頑忍，久汙要津，根據而不拔，劉向所謂「用賢轉石，去佞拔山」者，乃今見之，可不畏哉？矧今國嗣未正，事會方殷，民生膏血，朘削殆盡，所賴以祈天命，系人心，惟君子與公論一脈耳。小人以不恤之心，爲無忌憚之事，其意不過欲爵位日穹，權勢日盛，以富貴遣子孫耳，豈暇爲國家計哉。

Moreover when Your Majesty promoted and used the censorate and remonstrance bureaus, such men as Leiqing, Ziqing, Yingqi, Hanbi, Kai, and Sui were bright and handsome, outstanding as the first under heaven—yet on entering they were hastily transferred, or with one cry were expelled; only Gai, Ying, and their crowd are greedy, obstinate, and long foul the vital ford, rooted and not pulled up—what Liu Xiang called "using the worthy turns stone, removing the fawning pulls mountain"—is seen today; can one not fear it? Moreover today the imperial heir is not yet settled and affairs press; the people's fat and blood are nearly all pared away; what relies on to pray to heaven's mandate and bind men's hearts is only the one artery of gentlemen and public judgment. Petty men with hearts that do not pity do reckless things without dread; their intent is only that rank daily mount and power daily flourish, to send wealth and honor to sons and grandsons—how can they spare thought for the state?

自昔天下之患，莫大於舉朝無公論，空國無君子。我朝本無大失德於天下，而乃有宣、靖之禍，夫豈無其故哉？始則邪正交攻，更出迭入，中則朋邪翼偽，陰陷潛詆，終則倒置是非，變亂黑白，不至於黨禍不止。向使劉安世、陳瓘諸賢尚無恙，楊畏、張商英、周秩輩不久據台綱，其禍豈至此烈。古語云：「前車覆，後車戒。」今朝廷善類無幾，心懷奸險者，則以文藻飾佞舌；志在依違者，則以首鼠持圓機。宗社大計，孰肯明目張膽爲陛下伸一喙者，則其勢必終於空國無君子，舉朝無公論。無君子，無公論，脫有緩急，彼一二憸人者，陛下獨可倚仗之乎？

From of old the calamity of all under heaven has been greatest when the whole court has no public judgment and the state is empty of gentlemen. Our dynasty originally had no great loss of virtue toward all under heaven—yet there were the disasters of Xuanhe and Jingkang; was there not a reason? At first evil and upright attacked each other, going out and entering in turn; in the middle factional wickedness winged falsity, secretly trapping and slandering; in the end they inverted right and wrong and confused black and white, not stopping until the faction disaster ended. If gentlemen such as Liu Anshi and Chen Guan had still been unharmed and men like Yang Wei, Zhang Shangying, and Zhou Zhi had not long held censorate authority, would the calamity have reached this fierceness? The old saying says: "The front cart overturns; the rear cart takes warning." Today there are few good sorts at court; those whose hearts harbor treachery use literary ornament to decorate fawning tongues; those whose intent is to waver use the shrew-mouse to hold the round mechanism. On the great plan of the altars of state, who is willing to open eyes and mouth to speak one word for Your Majesty? Then the situation must end in an empty state without gentlemen and a court without public judgment. Without gentlemen, without public judgment—if urgency arises, can Your Majesty alone rely on those one or two crafty men?

若垓之罪，又浮於滎，雖兩觀之誅，四裔之投，猶爲輕典，陛下留之一日，則長一日之禍，異時雖借尚方劍以礪其首，尚何救于國事之萬一哉？

As for Gai's crime, it floats above Ying's; though execution at the two observances and banishment to the four wilds would still be a light code—Your Majesty keeps him one day and lengthens one day's calamity; in another time though you borrow the imperial sword to sharpen his head, how will it save the myriad one of state affairs?

又曰：「自昔大奸巨孽，投閒散地，惟覘朝廷意向，以圖進用之機。元祐間，章惇、呂惠卿皆在貶所。自呂大防用楊畏爲御史，初意不過信用私人，牢護局面，不知小人得志，搖唇鼓吻，一時正人旋被斥逐，繼而章惇復柄用，雖大防亦不能安其身於朝廷之上。今右轄久虛，奸臣垂涎有日矣。聞之道路，饋遺不止於鞭靴，脈絡潛通於禁近，正陛下明察事機之時。若公論不明，正人引去，則遲回輾轉，鈞衡重寄，必歸於章惇等乃止。今日之天下，乃祖宗艱難積累之天下，豈堪此輩再壞耶？」

It also said: "From of old great villains and great criminals, cast into leisure and scattered places, only watch the court's intent to plot the opening for advancement and employment. In the Yuanyou period, Zhang Dun and Lü Huiqing were both in places of demotion. From when Lü Dagfang employed Yang Wei as investigating censor, the original intent was only to employ private men and firmly protect the situation—not knowing that when petty men obtain their aim, they wag lips and beat drums and upright men of the time were soon expelled; afterward Zhang Dun again held the handle, and even Dagfang could not keep himself secure above the court. Today the right Secretariat has long been vacant; crafty ministers have drooled for days. Heard on the roads: gifts do not stop at whips and boots; arteries secretly connect to the forbidden proximity—this is the time for Your Majesty's clear examination of affairs. If public judgment is not clear and upright men withdraw, then hesitating and turning, the weighty commission of the balance will necessarily return to Zhang Dun and the like before it stops. Today's all under heaven is the all under heaven the ancestors accumulated through hardship—how can it bear to be ruined again by this crowd?"

又諫遊幸疏曰：

He also remonstrated with a memorial on imperial tours, saying:

天下有道，人主以憂勤而忘逸樂；天下無道，人主以逸樂而忘憂勤。自昔國家乂安，四夷賓服，享國日久，侈心漸生，若漢武帝之單于震懾，而有千門萬戶之觀，唐明皇之北邊無事，而有驪山溫泉之幸。至於隋之煬帝，陳之後主，危亡日迫，遊觀無度，不足效也。堯、舜、禹、湯、文、武之競業祗懼，終始憂勤，《無逸》言：「遊畋則不敢，日昃則不暇食。曷嘗借祈禳之說，以事遊觀之逸。比年以來，以幸爲利，以玩爲常，未免有輕視世故、眇忽天下之心。單于未嘗震懾，而有武帝多欲之費耗；北邊未嘗無事，而有明皇宴安之鴆毒。

When all under heaven has the Way, the ruler through worry and diligence forgets ease and pleasure; when all under heaven lacks the Way, the ruler through ease and pleasure forgets worry and diligence. From of old when states were at peace and the four barbarians submitted, enjoying the state long, extravagant hearts gradually arose—such as Emperor Wu of Han when the Xiongnu were awed and he had the view of a thousand gates and ten thousand households, or Emperor Mingzong of Tang when the northern border was without affair and there was the fortune of Mount Li's hot springs. As for Emperor Yang of Sui and the Last Emperor of Chen, peril and extinction pressed daily and tours and views were without measure—not worth imitating. Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu competed in industry and held dread; from beginning to end they were worried and diligent; the "No Dissipation" chapter says: "In hunting they did not dare; at sundown they had no leisure to eat. When did they ever borrow the talk of prayer and sacrifice to serve the ease of tours and views? In recent years, taking favor as profit and play as constant, one cannot avoid having a heart that lightly regards worldly affairs and overlooks all under heaven. The Xiongnu have not been awed, yet there is Emperor Wu's wasteful expenditure of many desires; the northern border has not been without affair, yet there is Emperor Mingzong's poison of banquet ease.

陛下春秋尚少，貽謀垂憲之機，悉在陛下，作而不法，後嗣何觀？自十數年間，創龍翔，創集慶，創西太一，而又示之以遊幸，導之以禱祠，蠱之以虛誕不經之說。孔子曰：「少成若天性，習慣如自然。」積久慣熟，牢不可破，誰得而正之？且西太一之役，佞者進曰：「太一所臨分野則爲福，近歲自吳移蜀。」信如祈禳之說，西北坤維按堵可也。今五六十州，安全者不能十數，敗降者相繼，福何在邪？武帝祠太一于長安，至晚年以虛耗受禍，而後悔方士之繆。雖其悔之弗早，猶愈於終不知悔者也。

Your Majesty's spring and autumn are still young; the opportunity to leave plans and model statutes lies all in Your Majesty—if you act and do not take law, what will posterity observe? Within the last dozen years Longxiang was founded, Jiqing founded, Western Great Unity founded—and moreover tours and views were shown as example, prayer and sacrifice led as guide, and they were bewitched by vain and uncanonical talk. Confucius said: "What is formed young is like nature; habit is like the natural." Accumulated long, habit becomes familiar, firmly cannot be broken—who can correct it? Moreover the work on Western Great Unity: fawning men advanced and said: "Where the Great Unity faces, that circuit is blessed; in recent years it moved from Wu to Shu." If one believes the talk of prayer and sacrifice, the northwest kun axis ought to be secure. Today of fifty or sixty prefectures, those secure cannot number ten; defeat and surrender follow in succession—where is the blessing? Emperor Wu sacrificed to the Great Unity at Chang'an; reaching his later years he received calamity from empty waste and regretted the error of the formula masters. Though his regret was not early, it is still better than never knowing regret.

大凡人主不能無過，脫有過言過行，宰執、侍從當言之，給舍、台諫當言之，縉紳士大夫當言之，皆所以納君於當道者也。今陛下未爲不知道，未爲不受人言，宰執以下希寵而不言，與夫言之而不力，皆非所以愛陛下也。其心豈以此爲當而不必言哉？直以陛下爲不足以望堯、舜、禹、湯、文、武之主，而以漢武、明皇待陛下也。

Generally a ruler cannot be without fault; if there are faulty words or faulty acts, the chief councilors and attendants-in-waiting ought to speak, the drafting secretaries and censorate ought to speak, girdled scholars and great officials ought to speak—all are means to lead the ruler into the right path. Today Your Majesty is not yet without knowing the Way, not yet without receiving men's words—yet from the chief councilors down they curry favor and do not speak, and those who speak do not exert force; none is what loves Your Majesty. Can their hearts truly think this fitting and therefore not need to speak? They straightway take Your Majesty as not sufficient to hope for rulers like Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu, and treat Your Majesty as Emperor Wu and Emperor Mingzong.

以材署昭慶軍節度掌書記，由學官試館職。鹹淳三年，拜監察御史，論內降恩澤曰：

By talent he was appointed secretary of the Zhaoging Military Commission, and through the academic officer route tested for archive posts. In the third year of Xianchun he was appointed investigating censor and discussed inner descent favor grants, saying:

治天下之要，莫先於謹命令，謹命令之要，莫先於窒內批。命令，帝王之樞機，必經中書參試，門下封駁，然後付尚書省施行，凡不由三省施行者，名曰「斜封墨敕」，不足效也。臣睹陛下自郊祀慶成以來，恩數綢繆，指揮煩數，今日內批，明日內批，邸報之間，以內批行者居其半，竊爲陛下惜之。

The key to governing all under heaven is first to be strict in commands; the key to being strict in commands is first to block inner drafts. Commands are the pivot of emperors and kings; they must pass through the Secretariat for consultation and trial and the Chancellery for seal and rejection, then be sent to the Ministry of Revenue for implementation; whatever is not implemented through the three departments is called "slanting seal and ink edict" and is not worth imitating. Your servant sees that since Your Majesty's suburban sacrifice and celebration of completion, favor has been dense and directives numerous—today an inner draft, tomorrow an inner draft; among court gazette reports, those carried out by inner draft make up half; your servant grieves for Your Majesty.

出納朕命載於《書》，出納王命詠於《詩》，不專言出而必言納者，蓋以命令系朝廷之大，不能皆中乎理，於是有出而復有納焉。祖宗時，禁中處分軍國事付外者謂之內批，如取太原、下江南，韓琦袖以進呈，英宗悚然避坐，此豈非謹內批之原哉？臣日夜念此，以爲官爵陛下之官爵，三省陛下之三省，所謂同奉聖旨，則是三省之出命，即出陛下之命也，豈必內批而後爲恩？緣情起事，以義制欲，某事當行，某事當息，具有條貫，何不自三省行之，其有未穆於公論者，許令執奏，顧不韙歟。

Issuing and receiving the ruler's commands is recorded in the Documents; issuing and receiving the king's commands is sung in the Odes—not speaking only of issuing but necessarily also of receiving—because commands concern what is great in the court and cannot all hit reason; therefore there is issuing and again receiving. In the ancestors' time, dispositions in the forbidden palace on military and state affairs sent outside were called inner drafts—such as taking Taiyuan and descending on Jiangnan; Han Qi drew them from his sleeve and presented them; Emperor Yingzong started in alarm and yielded his seat—is this not the origin of being strict with inner drafts? Your servant day and night thinks on this: office and rank are Your Majesty's office and rank, the three departments are Your Majesty's three departments; what is called jointly receiving the sacred edict is then the three departments' issuing command—that is issuing Your Majesty's command—must there be an inner draft before it becomes favor? Act from principle, restrain desire by righteousness—what ought to be done and what ought to cease have their regulations; why not examine yourself and carry them out? Where they do not accord with public judgment, allow memorials—is this not contrary to propriety?

元祐間，三省言李用和等改官移鎮恩例，今高氏、朱氏，皆舉故事，皇太后曰：「外家恩澤，方欲除損，又可增長乎？」治平初，欲加曹佾使相，皇太后再三不許；又有聖旨，令皇后本家分析親的骨肉聞奏，亦與推恩，司馬光力諫，以爲皇太后既損抑外親，則後族亦恐未宜褒進。乃今前之恩數未竟，後之恩數已乘。宰執懼有所專而不敢奏，給舍、台諫懼有所忤而不敢言，更如此者數年，將何以爲國？故政事由中書則治，不由中書則亂，天下事當與天下共之，非人主所可得私也。

In the Yuanyou period the three departments said that Li Yonghe and others, in changing office and transferring fiefs, followed precedent; now the Gao and Zhu clans both cite precedent; the Empress Dowager said: "Favor to the maternal kin—we were just about to reduce it—how can it grow again?" At the beginning of Zhiping they wished to add Cao Yi as envoy; the Empress Dowager repeatedly did not permit; there was also a sacred edict ordering the empress's family to analyze close and distant kin and report—also to extend favor; Sima Guang strenuously remonstrated, thinking that since the Empress Dowager had already restrained the maternal kin, the empress's clan also perhaps ought not be praised and advanced. Now the former favor grants are not yet finished and later favor grants already multiply. The chief councilors fear to memorialize on what concerns them alone; the drafting secretaries and censorate fear to speak from offense; if this continues for several years, how will one govern the state? Therefore when administration goes through the Secretariat there is order; when it does not there is disorder; affairs of all under heaven ought to be shared with all under heaven—not something the ruler can privately obtain.

四年，改正字，言：「正學不明則義理日微，異端不息則鼓惑轉熾。臣非不知犯顏逆耳，臣子所難，實以君德世道，重有關係，不容不懇惻開陳。疏上逾日，未蒙付外。孟軻有云：'有言責者，不得其言則去'。臣忝職諫省，義當盡言，今既不得其言，若更貪慕恩榮，不思引去，不惟有負朝廷設官之意，其于孟軻明訓，實亦有慊。」

In the fourth year he was made rectifier and spoke: "When orthodox learning is not bright, principle daily wanes; when heterodox schools do not cease, delusion grows ever fiercer. Your servant is not without knowing that to offend the countenance is difficult for ministers—yet ruler's virtue and the age's way heavily bear on this and must be earnestly set forth. More than a day after the memorial was submitted it had not yet been sent outside. Mencius said: "He who has the charge of speech, if he cannot obtain speech, departs." Your servant disgraces the office of the remonstrance bureau and by righteousness ought to speak fully; now that speech cannot be obtained, if I further covet favor and glory and do not withdraw, I not only fail the court's intent—in Mencius's clear instruction I also have shame."

會丁父憂去位，服除，授集英殿修撰，沿海制置、知慶元府事。建濟民莊，以濟士民之急，資貢士春官之費，備郡庠耆老緩急之需。又請建慈湖書院。八年，召還，拜刑部侍郎。九年，改朝奉郎，試吏部尚書，兼工部尚書，兼中書舍人，兼修玉牒，兼侍讀。上疏請給王十朋祠堂田土。十年，丁母憂。明年，江上潰師，丞相陳宜中起復黻爲端明殿學士，不起，及賈似道，韓震死，宜中謀擁二王由溫州入海，以兵逆黻共政，將遜相位，於是黻托宗祀于母弟成伯，遂起，及羅浮，以疾卒。

When his father's mourning came he left office; when mourning ended he was appointed compiler at the Hall for Assembling Excellence, coastal commissioner, and prefect of Qingyuan. He founded the Relief-the-People estate to relieve scholars and commoners in urgency, fund gentlemen's spring examination expenses, and supply the prefectural school and elders' urgent needs. He also requested to build the Cihu Academy. In the eighth year he was recalled and appointed vice minister of Justice. In the ninth year he was changed to court gentleman for attendance and tested as minister of Personnel, concurrently minister of Works, drafting secretary, compiler of the imperial genealogy, and lecturer-in-waiting. He submitted a memorial requesting grant of temple estate land for Wang Shipeng. In the tenth year he mourned his mother. The next year the army on the river collapsed; Chief Councilor Chen Yizhong recalled Fu as academician of the Duanming Hall; he did not rise; when Jia Sidao and Han Zhen died, Yizhong plotted to take the two princes from Wenzhou by sea and by force compelled Fu to share government, about to yield the councilor's post—then Fu entrusted the ancestral sacrifice to his younger brother Chengbai, rose, and at Luofu died of illness.

初，陳宜中夢人告之曰：「今年天災流行，人死且半，服大黃者生。」繼而疫癘大作，服者果得不死，及黻病，宜中令服之，終莫能救。其配林氏舉家蹈海。未幾，海上事亦瓦解矣。黻有《蒙川集》十卷行於世。

Earlier Chen Yizhong dreamed a man told him: "This year pestilence spreads; half the people will die—those who take rhubarb live." Then epidemic illness broke out on a great scale; those who took it indeed did not die; when Fu fell ill Yizhong ordered him to take it but in the end could not save him. His wife Lady Lin led the whole family into the sea. Before long affairs at sea also collapsed. Fu left the Mengchuan Collection in ten juan circulating in his time.

王居安

Wang Juan

王居安，字資道，黃岩人。始名居敬，字簡卿，避祧廟嫌易之。始能言，讀《孝經》，有從旁指曰：「曉此乎？」即答曰：「夫子教人孝耳。」劉孝韙七月八日過其家塾，見居安異凡兒，使賦八夕詩，援筆成之，有思致。孝韙驚拊其背曰：「子異日名位必過我。」入太學，淳熙十四年舉進士，授徽州推官，連遭內外艱，柄國者以居安十年不調，將徑授職事官，居安自請試民事，乃授江東提刑司幹官。使者王厚之厲鋒氣，人莫敢嬰，居安遇事有不可，平面力爭不少屈。

Wang Juan, courtesy name Zidao, came from Huangyan. His original name was Jujing, courtesy name Jianqing; he changed it to avoid the taboo of the ancestral temple. When he first could speak he read the Classic of Filial Piety; someone at his side pointed and said: "Do you understand this?" He immediately answered: "The Master teaches people filial piety." On the eighth day of the seventh month Liu Xiaokui passed his family school, saw Juan was an extraordinary child, had him compose a poem on the eight evenings; he took up the brush and completed it with thought. Xiaokui in alarm patted his back and said: "Your fame and rank another day will surpass mine." He entered the Imperial Academy; in the fourteenth year of Chunxi he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed judicial officer of Huizhou; he twice suffered inner and outer mourning; those holding power, because Juan went ten years without transfer, were about to directly grant a functional office—Juan himself requested to test civil affairs and was then appointed staff officer of the Jiangdong Judicial Commission. The commissioner Wang Houzhi had fierce spirit; no one dared touch him; Juan when affairs were not permissible faced him and strove without slight yielding.

入爲國子正、太學博士。入對，首言：「人主當以知人安民爲要，人未易知，必擇宰輔侍從之賢，使引其類；民未易安，必求愷悌循良之吏，以布其澤。」次言：「火政不修，罪在京尹，軍律不明，罪在殿、步兩司，罪鈞異罰固不可，安有薄罰一步帥而二人置弗問乎？」遷校書郎。居安乞召試，言：「祖宗時惟進士第一不試，蘇軾以高科負重名，英宗欲授館職，韓琦猶執不從。」執政謂居安曰：「朝廷于節度尚不較，況館職乎？」居安因言：「節鉞之重，文非位極，武非勳高，胡可妄得。丞相言不較，過矣。」時蘇師旦命且下，故居安言及之。改司農丞。御史迎意論劾，主管仙都觀。

He entered as director of the Directorate of Education and erudite of the Imperial Academy. On audience he first spoke: "The ruler ought to take knowing men and securing the people as essential; men are not easy to know—one must choose worthy chief councilors and attendants-in-waiting to lead their kind; the people are not easy to secure—one must seek kindly and upright officials to spread their grace." Next he spoke: "Fire administration is not repaired—the fault lies with the capital intendant; military discipline is not clear—the fault lies with the palace and step armies; crimes equal but punishments different is certainly not permissible—how can there be light punishment for one step commander while two men are left unquestioned?" He was transferred to collator. Juan begged to be summoned for examination and spoke: "In the ancestors' time only the jinshi first place did not test; Su Shi with high rank bore heavy name—Emperor Yingzong wished to grant archive posts and Han Qi still firmly did not comply." Those in power said to Juan: "The court does not haggle over military commissions—how much more archive posts?" Juan therefore spoke: "The weight of command seals—if civil rank is not extreme and martial merit not high, how can it be rashly obtained? The chief councilor's saying he does not haggle is excessive." At the time Su Shidan's appointment was about to descend—therefore Juan spoke of it. He was changed to vice director of the Directorate of Agriculture. The censor curried favor and impeached him; he was put in charge of the Xiandu Abbey.

逾年，起知興化軍。既至，條奏便民事，乞行經界。且言：「蕃舶多得香犀象翠，崇侈俗，泄銅鏹，有損無益，宜遏絕禁止。」皆要務也。通商賈以損米價，誅劇盜以去民害。召爲秘書丞。轉對，言：「置宣司，不聞進取之良規；遣小使，寂無確許之實報。但當嚴飭守備，益兵據險以待之，此廟算之上也。」李壁嘗語人曰：「比年論疆事無若王秘丞之明白者。」

Within the year he was raised to know Xinghua Circuit. When he arrived he set forth convenient measures for the people item by item and begged to carry out the field-boundary system. Moreover he spoke: "Foreign ships often obtain fragrant rhinoceros horn, ivory, and kingfisher feathers, promoting extravagant custom and leaking copper cash—more harm than benefit; it ought to be stopped and forbidden." All were important affairs. He opened trade with merchants to lower rice prices and executed fierce bandits to remove harm to the people. He was summoned as secretary in the Palace Library. On rotated audience he spoke: "The Pacification Commission was established—one does not hear good plans for advance; small envoys are sent—in silence there is no solid report of what is promised. One ought only strictly order defense preparations, increase troops and hold strategic places to await them—this is the highest of temple calculations." Li Bi once told others: "In recent years none who discuss frontier affairs is as clear as Vice Director Wang."

遷著作郎兼國史實錄院檢討編修官，兼權考功郎官。誅韓侂胄，居安實贊其決。翼日，擢右司諫。首論：

He was transferred to compiler with concurrent appointment as revising and compiling officer of the Veritable Records and acting director in the Ministry of Revenue. When Han Tuozhou was executed Juan in fact approved the decision. The next day he was elevated to remonstrance officer of the Right Secretariat. He first discussed:

侂胄以預聞內禪之功，竊取大權，童奴濫授以節鉞，嬖妾竄籍於官庭。創造亭館，震驚太廟之山；燕樂語笑，徹聞神御之所，忽慢宗廟，罪宜萬死。托以大臣之薦，盡取軍國之權。台諫、侍從，惟意是用，不恤公議；親黨姻婭，躐取美官，不問流品；名器僭濫，動違成法。竊弄威柄，妄開邊隙。自兵端一啟，南北生靈，壯者死鋒刃，弱者填溝壑。荊襄、兩淮之地，暴屍盈野，號哭震天。軍需百費，科擾州縣，海內騷然。跡其罪狀，人怨神怒，衆情洶洶，物議沸騰，而侂胄箝制中外，罔使陛下聞知，宦官宮妾，皆其私人，莫肯爲陛下言者。西蜀吳氏，世掌重兵，頃緣吳挺之死，朝廷取其兵柄，改畀它將，其策至善。侂胄與曦結爲死黨，假之節鉞，復授以全蜀兵權。曦之叛逆，罪將誰歸？使曦不死，侂胄未可知也。

Tuozhou, by foreknowledge of the merit of the inner abdication, stole great power; boy slaves were indiscriminately granted command seals, favorite concubines sneaked into official registers. He created pavilions and halls, shaking the mountains of the Imperial Ancestral Temple; banquet music and laughter penetrated where the spirit tablets dwelt—suddenly slighting the ancestral temple, the crime deserves ten thousand deaths. Under pretext of great ministers' recommendation he took all military and state power. The censorate, remonstrance bureaus, and attendants-in-waiting were used as he pleased, not caring for public judgment; kin by marriage and affinity leaped to obtain fine offices without asking pedigree; names and vessels were usurped and excessive, moving in violation of established law. He secretly wielded authority and rashly opened border troubles. Once the spearhead of war was raised, north and south living souls—the strong died on blades, the weak filled ditches and gullies. In Jingxiang and the two Huai regions exposed corpses filled the fields and cries of lament shook heaven. Military needs and a hundred expenses harassed prefectures and counties; within the seas there was turmoil. Tracing his crimes, men resented and spirits were angry; popular feeling was turbulent and public discussion seethed—yet Tuozhou clamped inside and outside and did not let Your Majesty know; eunuchs and palace women were all his private persons and none would speak for Your Majesty. The Wu clan of western Shu for generations held heavy troops. Recently because of Wu Ting's death the court took their military handle and changed to other generals—the plan was most good. Tuozhou formed a death bond with Xi and lent him command seals, again granting all Shu's military power. Xi's rebellion—to whom will the crime return? If Xi had not died, Tuozhou would still be unknowable.

侂胄數年之間，位極三公，列爵爲王，外則專制東西二府之權，內則窺伺宮禁之嚴，奸心逆節，具有顯狀。縱使侂胄身膏斧鉞，猶有餘罪，況兵釁未解，朝廷儻不明正典刑，何以昭國法，何以示敵人，何以謝天下？今誠取侂胄肆諸市朝，是戮一人而千萬人獲安其生也。侂胄既有非常之罪，當伏非常之誅，詎可以常典論哉？

Within several years Tuozhou's rank reached the three excellencies and he was enfeoffed as king; outwardly he monopolized the power of the eastern and western bureaus, inwardly he peeped at the strictness of the palace forbidden—treacherous heart and rebellious conduct had clear manifestations. Even if Tuozhou's body were greased on the axe, there would still be surplus crime—moreover military troubles are not yet resolved; if the court perhaps does not clarify canonical punishment, how will it display state law, show the enemy, and apologize to all under heaven? Now if we truly take Tuozhou and expose him in the marketplace, this is executing one man and ten thousand men obtain peace in their lives. Tuozhou already has extraordinary crime and ought to suffer extraordinary execution—how can one discuss him by the ordinary code?

右丞相陳自強素行污濁，老益貪鄙，徒以貧賤私交，自一縣丞超遷，徑至宰輔，奸憸附麗，黷亂國經。較其罪惡，與侂胄相去無幾。乞追責遠竄，以爲爲臣不忠、朋邪誤國者之戒。

The right chief councilor Chen Ziqiang's conduct was always filthy; old he grew more greedy and base; he rose from a single county assistant by poor and low private friendship straight to chief councilor, wicked and fawning attached, defiling and disordering state constants. Comparing his crimes and wickedness, the distance from Tuozhou is not great. I beg to pursue blame and banish far, as a warning to ministers who are not loyal and factional evil that harms the state.

又劾曦外姻郭倪、郭僎，竄嶺表，天下快之。

He also impeached Xi's affines by marriage Guo Ni and Guo Chen, banished to the outer ranges—all under heaven were pleased.

繼兼侍講。方侂胄用事，箝天下之口，使不得議己，太府寺丞呂祖儉以謫死，布衣呂祖泰上書直言，中以危法，流之遠郡。居安奏請明其冤，以伸忠鯁之氣。又疏言：「古今之治本亂階，更爲倚伏。以治易亂則反掌而可治，以亂治亂則亂去而復生。人主公聽則治，偏信則亂；政事歸外朝則治，歸內廷則亂；問百辟士大夫則治，問左右近習則亂；大臣公心無党則治，植黨行私則亂；大臣正、小臣廉則治，大臣汙、小臣貪則亂。如用人稍誤，是一侂胄死，一侂胄生也。」

He then held concurrent appointment as lecturer-in-waiting. When Tuozhou held power he clamped the mouths of all under heaven so they could not discuss him; the Court of the Imperial Treasury vice director Lü Zuyijian died from demotion; the commoner Lü Zutai submitted a memorial with straight speech and was hit with the dangerous law, exiled to a distant prefecture. Juan memorialized requesting to clarify their wrongs to extend the spirit of loyal lodged speech. He also submitted a memorial saying: "The roots of order and chaos in ancient and modern times more alternately lean and lie. To change disorder with order is to turn the palm and order is achieved; to govern disorder with disorder is that when disorder departs it is born again. When the ruler publicly listens there is order; when he partially believes there is disorder; when administration returns to the outer court there is order; when it returns to the inner court there is disorder; when one asks the hundred ministers and great officials there is order; when one asks those near and favorites there is disorder; when great ministers have public hearts without factions there is order; when they plant factions and act privately there is disorder; when great ministers are upright and petty ministers honest there is order; when great ministers are filthy and petty ministers greedy there is disorder. If in employing men there is slight error, it is one Tuozhou dead and one Tuozhou born."

趙彥逾與樓鑰、林大中、章燮並召，居安言：「鑰與大中用，宗廟社稷之靈，天下蒼生之福，彥逾不可與之同日而語。彥逾始以趙汝愚不與同列政地，遂啟侂胄專政之謀，汝愚之斥死，彥逾之力居多，而彥逾者，汝愚之罪人也。陛下乃使與二人者同升，不幾於薰蕕同器、邪正並用乎？非所以示趨向於天下也。」疏已具，有微聞者，除目夜下，遷起居郎兼崇政殿說書。於是爲諫官才十有八日。既供職，即直前奏日：「陛下特遷臣柱下史者，豈非欲使臣不得言耶？二史得直前奏事，祖宗法也。」遂極論之，又言：「臣爲陛下耳目官，諫紙未乾，乃以迕權要徙他職，不得其言則去，臣不復留矣。」帝爲改容。御史中丞雷孝友論其越職，奪一官，罷。太學諸生有舉幡乞留者。四明楊簡邂逅山陰道中，謂「此舉吾道增重」。江陵項安世致書曰：「左史，人中龍也。」

Zhao Yanyu was summoned together with Lou Yue, Lin Dazhong, and Zhang Xie; Juan spoke: "Yue and Dazhong employed are the spirits of the altars of state and the blessing of the black-haired people—Yanyu cannot be spoken of on the same day. Yanyu at first because Zhao Ruyu did not share the same rank in the administration opened Tuozhou's plot for monopolizing power; Ruyu's dismissal and death—Yanyu's force was mostly in it—and Yanyu is Ruyu's criminal. Your Majesty yet makes him rise together with the two men—is this not nearly putting stinkweed and orchid in the same vessel, evil and upright employed together? This is not what shows tendency to all under heaven." When the memorial was complete, there were those who heard slightly; appointment orders descended at night; he was transferred to attendant recorder with concurrent appointment as lecturer at the Chongzheng Hall. Thus he had been remonstrance officer only eighteen days. Having taken up duty, he immediately advanced and memorialized: "Your Majesty specially transferred your servant to attendant censor—is it not that you wish to make your servant unable to speak? The two historians may advance and memorialize—this is the ancestors' law." He then discussed it to the limit, and also said: "Your servant is Your Majesty's eyes-and-ears officer; the remonstrance paper is not yet dry yet because of offending powerful men you transfer me to another post—if speech cannot be obtained I depart; your servant will not remain." The Emperor changed countenance. The censor-in-chief Lei Xiaoyou discussed his overstepping duty, stripped one rank, and dismissed him. Students of the Imperial Academy raised banners begging him to stay. Yang Jian of Siming met him by chance on the Shanyin road and said: "This act adds weight to our Way." Xiang Anshi of Jiangling sent a letter saying: "The left historian is a dragon among men."

逾年，復官，知太平州。當邊遽甫定，歲儉，汰去軍群聚寇攘，居安威惠流行，晏然若無事時。將副劉佑爲怨家詣闕告密，置獄金陵，居安以書抵當路辯其冤，或謂「佑自誣服，得無嫌於黨逆乎？」居安曰：「郡有無辜死，奚以守爲？」事果白。以直龍圖閣提點浙西刑獄。葛懌者，用戚屬恩補官，豪於貲，嘗憾父之嬖，既去而誣以盜，株連瘐死者數人，懌乃未嘗一造庭。居安一閱得實，立捕系論罪，械送他州。入對，帝曰：「卿有用之才也。」權工部侍朗，以集英殿修撰知隆興府。

Within the year he was restored to office and made prefect of Taiping. When border emergencies had just settled, the year was lean, and dismissed soldiers gathered in bands to plunder, Juan's authority and kindness spread and it was peaceful as if there were no affair. Deputy general Liu You, because of enmity, went to court to inform secretly; he was imprisoned at Jinling; Juan sent a letter to those in power pleading his innocence; some said: "You confessed guilt himself—will there not be suspicion of party treason?" Juan said: "In the prefecture there is death of the innocent—of what use is the prefect?" The affair in the end was cleared. By direct appointment as academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall he was made judicial intendant of western Zhe. Ge Yi, who used consort kin favor to supplement office, was rich and overbearing; he once resented his father's favorite concubine; after leaving he falsely accused her of theft; several people implicated died in prison from torture; Yi never once came to court. Juan on one reading obtained the truth, immediately arrested and bound him for judgment, and sent him in cangue to another prefecture. On audience the Emperor said: "You are a useful talent." Acting vice minister of Works, as compiler at the Hall for Assembling Excellence he was made prefect of Longxing.

初，盜起郴黑風峒，羅世傳爲之倡，勢張甚。湖南所在發兵扼要沖，義丁表裏應援，賊乏食，少懈，主兵者稍堅持之，則就禽矣。會江西帥欲以買降爲功，遣人間道說賊，饋鹽與糧，賊喜，謀益逞。帥以病卒，繼者蹈其敝。賊陰治械，外送款，身受官峒中，不至公府。義丁皆恚曰：「作賊者得官，我輩捐軀壞產業，何所得！」於是五合六聚，各以峒名其鄉，李元勵、陳延佐之徒，並起爲賊矣。放兵四劫，掀永新，撇龍泉，江西列城皆震。朝廷調江、鄂之兵屯衡、贛，而他兵駐龍泉者命吉守節制焉。吉守率師往，幾爲賊困，池兵來援失利。朝廷憂之，遂以居安爲帥。

At first bandits rose at Heifeng Cave in Chen; Luo Shichuan was their leader and momentum was very strong. Throughout Hunan troops were sent to hold strategic passes; militia responded inside and outside; the bandits lacked food and slackened slightly; if the commanding officers held firm a little they could be captured. It happened that the Jiangxi commander wished to make buying surrender his achievement; he sent men by secret paths to persuade the bandits, presenting salt and grain; the bandits were pleased and their plotting grew bolder. The commander died of illness; the successor followed his abuses. The bandits secretly prepared weapons; outwardly they sent expressions of goodwill and personally received office in the cave districts, not coming to the public offices. The militia all resented and said: "Those who make banditry obtain office—we who cast away bodies and ruin property, what do we obtain!" Then five combinations and six gatherings each named their villages by cave; Li Yuanli, Chen Yanzuo, and others all rose as bandits. They loosed troops to plunder on four sides, swept Yongxin, brushed Longquan, and prefectures of Jiangxi all trembled. The court transferred Jiang and E troops to garrison Heng and Gan, and ordered the other troops stationed at Longquan to be under the command of the Ji prefect. The Ji prefect led troops and went; he was nearly trapped by bandits; Chi troops came to rescue and lost. The court worried; then Juan was made commander.

居安以書曉都統制許俊曰：「賊勝則民皆爲賊，官軍勝則賊皆爲民，勢之翕張，決於此舉。將軍素以勇名，挫於山賊可乎？」俊得書皇恐，不敢以他帥事居安，居安督戰于黃山，勝之，賊始懼，走韶州，爲摧鋒軍所敗，勢日蹙。吉守前以戰不利，用招降之策，遣吏持受降圖來，書賊銜「江湖兩路大都統。」居安笑曰：「賊玩侮如此，猶爲國有人乎？」白諸朝，吉守以祠去。遂命居安節制江、池大軍，駐廬陵督捕，領郡事。召土豪問便宜，皆言賊恃險陟降如猿猱，若鈔吾糧，吾事危矣。居安曰：「吾自有以破賊。」會元勵執練木橋賊首李才全至，居安厚待才全而賞元勵，衆皆感。羅世傳果疑元勵之貳已，遂交惡。元勵率衆攻世傳，居安語俊曰：「兩虎鬥於穴，吾可成卞莊子之功。」世傳嗾練木橋賊黨襲元勵，俘其孥，禽元勵以獻。時青草峒賊亦就禽，並磔于吉之南門。元勵既誅，世傳以功負恃益驕蹇，名效順而實自保。俊請班師，居安不許，俾因賊堡壁固守。居亡何，世傳果與兄世祿俱叛。居安奏乞朝廷毋憂，今落其角距，可一戰禽也。乃密爲方略，遣官民兵合圍之，世傳自經死，斬其首以徇，群盜次第平。居安之在軍中也，賞厚罰明，將吏盡力，始終用以賊擊賊之策，故兵民無傷者。江西人祠而祝之，刻石紀功。徙鎮襄陽，以言者罷，閒居十有一年。

Juan by letter instructed the overall commander Xu Jun: "If bandits win then the people all become bandits; if government troops win then bandits all become people—the swelling and shrinking of momentum is decided in this one move. The general is always famed for courage—can you be frustrated by mountain bandits?" Jun received the letter in alarm and did not dare treat Juan as another commander; Juan supervised battle at Huangshan and won; the bandits first feared and fled to Shaozhou, were defeated by the vanguard army, and momentum daily tightened. The Ji prefect earlier because battle was unfavorable used the policy of recruiting surrender; he sent clerks with a surrender-reception chart; the bandits' title read "Great Commander-in-Chief of the Two Routes of Rivers and Lakes." Juan laughed and said: "The bandits play and insult thus—are there still people for the state?" He reported to the court; the Ji prefect was given a sinecure and left. Then Juan was ordered to command the great armies of Jiang and Chi, garrison Luling to supervise pursuit, and hold prefectural affairs. He summoned local magnates to ask what was expedient; all said the bandits relied on terrain and climbed and descended like gibbons; if they raided our grain our affair would be perilous. Juan said: "I naturally have means to break the bandits." It happened that Yuanli captured the Lianmu Bridge bandit chief Li Caiquan; Juan treated Caiquan generously and rewarded Yuanli; all were moved. Luo Shichuan indeed suspected Yuanli's disloyalty to himself and thus became mutually hostile. Yuanli led his crowd to attack Shichuan; Juan told Jun: "Two tigers fight in the cave—we can accomplish Bian Zhuangzi's achievement." Shichuan incited Lianmu Bridge bandit factions to attack Yuanli, captured his women and children, and seized Yuanli to present. At the time the Qingcao Cave bandits were also captured; all were dismembered at Ji's south gate. Yuanli already executed, Shichuan relied on merit and became ever more arrogant and difficult; in name he submitted but in fact he protected himself. Jun requested to withdraw troops; Juan did not permit it and made them because of the bandits' fortresses hold fast. Before long Shichuan indeed rebelled together with his elder brother Shilu. Juan memorialized begging the court not to worry—now their horns and spurs have fallen and in one battle they can be captured. Then he secretly made plans, sent official and militia troops to combine and surround them; Shichuan hanged himself; his head was cut off to display; the host of bandits were pacified in order. While Juan was in the army rewards were thick and punishments clear; generals and clerks exerted their strength; from beginning to end he always used the policy of using bandits to strike bandits—therefore soldiers and people were without harm. The people of Jiangxi enshrined and prayed to him and carved stone to record merit. He was transferred to command Xiangyang; because of speakers he was dismissed and lived in retirement eleven years.

嘉定十五年與魏了翁同召，遷工部侍郎。時方受寶，中朝皆動色相賀。入對，首言：「人主畏無難而不畏多難，輿地寶玉之歸，盍思當時之所以失。」言極切至。甫兩月，以集英殿修撰提舉玉隆宮。未幾，以寶謨閣待制知溫州，郡政大舉。

In the fifteenth year of Jiading he was summoned together with Wei Liaoweng and transferred to vice minister of Works. At the time they were just receiving the treasure; within the court all changed countenance to congratulate. On audience he first spoke: "The ruler fears having no difficulty and does not fear many difficulties; the return of territory and jade treasure—why not think of how it was lost at the time? His speech was extremely cutting. Only two months later, as compiler at the Hall for Assembling Excellence he was made intendant of the Yulong Palace. Before long, as awaiting-command academician of the Baomo Pavilion he was made prefect of Wenzhou; prefectural government was greatly raised.

理宗即位，以敷文閣待制知福州，升龍圖閣直學士，轉大中大夫，提舉崇福宮。將行，鹽寇起甯化，居安以書諭汀守曰：「土瘠民貧，業於鹽可盡禁耶？且彼執三首惡以自贖，宜治此三人，他可勿治。」部使者遣左翼軍將鄧起提兵往，起貪夜冒險與寇角以死，軍潰，民相驚逃去。事聞，命居安專任招捕。居安既留，募軍校劉華、丘銳者授以計畫，至汀而賊已至郡矣，州人大懼。賊知帥有撫納意，即引退。華、銳出入賊中，指期約降。有以右班攝汀守者，倔強好大言，以知兵自任，欲出不意爲己功。賊知其謀，敗降約，而建、劍諸郡並江西嘯聚蜂起矣。居安議不合，歎曰：「吾可復求焦頭爛額之功耶？」即拜疏歸。

When Emperor Lizong took the throne, as awaiting-command academician of the Fuwen Pavilion he was made prefect of Fuzhou, advanced to direct academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall, transferred to grandee for proper service, and made intendant of the Chongfu Palace. About to depart, salt bandits rose at Ninghua; Juan by letter instructed the Ting prefect: "The soil is poor and the people poor—can the salt trade be entirely forbidden? Moreover they hold the three chief villains to ransom themselves—it is fitting to punish these three men; the others need not be punished. The circuit commissioner sent the Left Wing Army general Deng Qi to lead troops; Qi greedily took night risk and fought the bandits to the death; the army collapsed and the people mutually alarmed and fled. When the affair was reported, Juan was ordered solely to undertake recruitment and pursuit. Juan having stayed, recruited military school officers Liu Hua and Qiu Rui and gave them plans; arriving at Ting the bandits had already reached the prefecture; the prefectural people were greatly afraid. The bandits knew the commander had intent to soothe and accept and immediately withdrew. Hua and Rui went in and out among the bandits and fixed a date for surrender. There was one who by right guard substituted as Ting prefect—stubborn and fond of big words, taking knowledge of military affairs upon himself, wishing to achieve merit by unexpected means. The bandits knew his plot; the agreement to surrender was broken; and Jian, Jian, and all circuits of Jiangxi rose in swarms like bees. Juan's plan did not agree; he sighed and said: "Can I again seek the achievement of scorched head and rotting forehead?" He immediately submitted a memorial and returned.

居安以書生，于兵事不學而能，必誅峒寇而降汀寇，皆非苟然者。卒，累贈少保。居安宅心公明，待物不貳。有《方岩集》行世。

Juan was a literatus; in military affairs he did not study yet could do it; certainly executing cave bandits and subduing Ting bandits were none of them casual. He died and was cumulatively posthumously made Junior Guardian. Juan's heart was public and bright; in treating things he was not double. He left the Fangyan Collection circulating in his time.

論曰：李宗勉在庶僚，論事平直，及入相，負公清之稱。袁甫學有本原，善達其用，持節所過，其民至今思之。劉黻分別邪正，侃侃敢言，亦難能者。王居安掃除群邪，以匡王國，其志壯哉！

The appraisal says: Li Zongmian among subordinate officials discussed affairs in a plain and direct way; on entering the council he bore the reputation of public integrity. Yuan Fu's learning had root and source; he was good at extending its use; wherever he held credentials the people to this day think of him. Liu Fu distinguished evil and upright and spoke frankly and boldly—he also is hard to achieve. Wang Juan swept away the host of evil to rectify the royal state—his ambition was lofty!

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