Volume 418 Biographies 177: Wu Qian, Cheng Yuanfeng, Jiang Wanli, Wang Yue, Zhang Jian, Chen Yizhong, Wen Tianxiang

吳潛程元鳳江萬里王爚章鑒陳宜中文天祥

Wu Qian, Cheng Yuanfeng, Jiang Wanli, Wang Yue, Zhang Jian, Chen Yizhong, and Wen Tianxiang

吳潛，字毅夫，宣州寧國人。秘閣修撰柔勝之季子。嘉定十年進士第一，授承事郎、簽鎮東軍節度判官。改簽廣德軍判官。丁父憂，服除，授秘書省正字，遷校書郎，添差通判嘉興府，權發遣嘉興府事。轉朝散郎、尚書金部員外郎。

Wu Qian, whose courtesy name was Yifu, came from Ningguo in Xuanzhou. He was the youngest son of Rou Sheng, who held the post of Secretariat Pavilion compiler. He topped the jinshi examinations in the tenth year of the Jiading reign and was appointed Gentleman for Progressive Service and signing secretary to the Zhendong military commission. His appointment was changed to signing secretary for the Guangde command. After observing mourning for his father, he was appointed a corrector in the Secretariat, promoted to proofreader, given an additional post as vice-prefect of Jiaxing, and entrusted with the administration of that prefecture. He was promoted to Gentleman for Dispersing the Dawn and made vice director of the revenue section in the Ministry of Revenue.

紹定四年，遷尚右郎官。都城大火，潛上疏論致災之由：「願陛下齋戒修省，恐懼對越，菲衣惡食，必使國人信之，毋徒減膳而已。疏損聲色，必使天下孚之，毋徒徹樂而已。閹官之竊弄威福者勿親，女寵之根萌禍患者勿昵。以暗室屋漏為尊嚴之區，而必敬必戒，以恆舞酣歌為亂亡之宅，而不淫不泆。使皇天后土知陛下有畏之之心，使三軍百姓知陛下有憂之之心。然後，明詔二三大臣，和衷竭慮，力改弦轍，收召賢哲，選用忠良。貪殘者屏，回邪者斥，懷奸黨賊者誅，賈怨誤國者黜。毋併進君子、小人以為包荒，毋兼容邪說、正論以為皇極，以培國家一線之脈，以救生民一旦之命。庶幾天意可回，天災可息，弭災為祥，易亂為治。」

In the fourth year of the Shaoding reign he was promoted to director of the right section in the Ministry of Works. When a great fire broke out in the capital, Qian memorialized the throne on why disaster had come, pleading: "May Your Majesty fast, examine your conduct, and approach Heaven with awe; wear plain clothes and eat simple fare until the people truly believe you—and not merely cut back the imperial table. Cut back music and sensual indulgence until the empire is genuinely convinced—not merely dismiss the court musicians. Keep your distance from eunuchs who seize power for themselves, and from favored consorts in whom the seeds of disaster are already growing. Hold even the innermost room sacred and remain ever reverent and watchful; treat ceaseless revelry as the road to ruin, and keep yourself from excess and dissipation. Let Heaven and Earth see that you stand in awe of them, and let soldiers and commoners alike see that you truly grieve for the realm. Then issue a clear edict to your leading ministers to work in concert, change policy decisively, recall men of talent, and appoint the loyal and capable. Banish the greedy and cruel, drive out the corrupt, put to death those who plot treason, and dismiss those who stir resentment and mislead the state. Do not promote gentlemen and scoundrels side by side in the name of tolerance, nor treat heterodoxy and sound doctrine as equally valid in the name of balance—so that the dynasty's last slender lifeline may be preserved and the people rescued while there is still time. Only then may Heaven's wrath be turned aside, disaster abated, misfortune made into blessing, and chaos restored to order."

又言：「重地要區，當豫畜人才以備患。論大順之理，貫通天人，當以此為致治之本。」又貽書丞相史彌遠論事：一曰格君心，二曰節奉給，三曰振恤都民，四曰用老成廉潔之人，五曰用良將以御外患，六曰革吏弊以新治道。授直寶章閣、浙東提舉常平，辭不赴。改吏部員外郎兼國史編修、實錄檢討，遷太府少卿、淮西總領。

He also urged that in vital strategic regions the court should cultivate talent in advance to meet coming crises. On the principle of great harmony linking Heaven and humanity, he held that this should be the foundation of good government. He also wrote to Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan with six proposals: reform the emperor's mind; curb court spending; relieve the people of the capital; appoint seasoned and honest officials; appoint capable generals against foreign threats; and root out bureaucratic abuse to renew governance. He was appointed direct attendant at the Baozhang Pavilion and granary commissioner for eastern Zhejiang, but declined the appointment. He was reassigned as vice director in the Ministry of Personnel, with concurrent duties compiling the national history and examining the veritable records, then promoted to vice director of the palace storehouse and overall commander for Huai West.

又告執政，論用兵復河南不可輕易，以為：「金人既滅，與北為鄰，法當以和為形，以守為實，以戰為應。自荊襄首納空城，合兵攻蔡，兵事一開，調度浸廣，百姓狼狽，死者枕藉，使生靈肝腦塗地，得城不過荊榛之區，獲俘不過暖昧之骨，而吾之內地荼毒如此，邊臣誤國之罪，不待言矣。聞有進恢復之畫者，其算可謂俊傑，然取之若易，守之實難。征行之具，何所取資，民窮不堪，激而為變，內郡率為盜賊矣。今日之事，豈容輕議。」自後，興師入洛，潰敗失亡不貲，潛之言率驗。遷太府卿兼權沿江制置、知建康府、江東安撫留守。上疏論保蜀之方，護襄之策，防江之算，備海之宜，進取有甚難者三事。

He again warned the chief ministers against rashly sending armies to recover Henan, arguing that with the Jin gone and the northern foe on the border, the state should present a face of peace, rely on defense in substance, and resort to war only when necessary. Once Jing and Xiang had yielded empty cities and troops were massed against Cai, the opening of hostilities swelled levies and logistics beyond control; the people were driven to desperation and the dead lay in heaps, their lives wasted for gains no better than wasteland and doubtful spoils—while the heartland was poisoned thus. The frontier ministers' guilt in misleading the state scarcely needs stating. I hear men proposing plans of reconquest whose strategy seems brilliant, yet what looks easy to seize proves hard to hold. Where are the supplies for such campaigns to come from? The people, already at breaking point, will rise in revolt, and the interior prefectures will turn to banditry. The situation today brooks no rash counsel. Afterward the court raised armies into Luoyang; they were routed and losses were incalculable—and Qian's warnings proved largely true. He was promoted to director of the palace storehouse, with concurrent authority as Yangzi defense commissioner, prefect of Jiankang, and pacification commissioner and military governor of Jiang East. He memorialized on how to hold Shu, protect Xiangyang, defend the Yangzi line, and secure the coast, and on three points where offensive action would be especially perilous.

進右文殿修撰、集英殿修撰、樞密都承旨、督府參謀官兼知太平州，五辭不允。又言和戰成敗大計，宜急救襄陽等事。貽書執政，論京西既失，當招收京淮丁壯為精兵，以保江西。權工部侍郎、知江州，辭不赴。請養宗子以系國本，以鎮人心。改權兵部侍郎兼檢正。論士大夫私意之敝，以為：「襄、漢潰決，興、沔破亡，兩淮俶擾，三川陷沒。慾望陛下念大業將傾，士習已壞，以靜專察群情，以剛明消眾慝，警於有位，各勵至公。毋以術數相高，而以事功相勉；毋以陰謀相訐，而以識見相先。協謀並智，戮力一心，則危者尚可安，而衰證尚可起也。」又請分路取士，以收淮、襄之人物。

He was promoted to compiler at the Youwen and Jiying halls, chief attendant at the Bureau of Military Affairs, and staff officer at headquarters with concurrent prefecture of Taiping; he declined five times but the court would not accept his refusal. He again urged the grand strategy of peace and war and called for urgent relief of Xiangyang and related posts. He wrote the chief ministers that with western Jing lost, the court should recruit able men from the Jing and Huai regions as elite troops to hold Jiangxi. He was appointed acting vice minister of works and prefect of Jiangzhou, but declined to take up the post. He asked that a member of the imperial clan be designated heir to shore up the succession and calm the people's minds. He was reassigned as acting vice minister of war with concurrent duties as rectifier. He spoke on how private faction among the literati had ruined policy, saying: "Xiang and Han have collapsed, Xing and Mian are lost, the two Huai regions are in turmoil, and Sichuan has fallen. I beg Your Majesty to see that the great enterprise is tottering and official morals are rotten: observe the mood of the realm with calm attention, cut through popular evils with firm clarity, and warn every officeholder to strive for the public good alone. Do not compete in divination and occult arts, but spur one another to real achievement; do not undercut one another with secret intrigues, but lead with sound judgment. Pool counsel and act as one, and what is perilous may yet be stabilized and what is failing may yet be revived." He also asked that examinations be held by circuit to recruit men of talent from the Huai and Xiang regions.

試工部侍郎、知慶元府兼沿海制置使，改知平江府，條具財計凋敝本末，以寬郡民，與轉運使王野爭論利害。授寶謨閣待制，提舉太平興國宮，改玉隆萬壽宮。試戶部侍郎、淮東總領兼知鎮江府。言邊儲防禦等十有五事。改寶謨閣直學士，兼浙西都大提點坑冶，權兵部尚書、浙西制置使。申論防拓江海，團結措置等事。進工部尚書，改吏部尚書兼知臨安府，乃論艱屯蹇困之時，非反身修德，無以求亨通之理。乞遴選近族以系人望，而俟太子之生。帝嘉納。兼侍讀經筵，以台臣徐榮叟論列，授寶謨閣學士、知紹興府、浙東安撫使，辭，提舉南京鴻慶宮。遂請致仕，授華文閣學士知建寧府，辭。

He served as acting vice minister of works and prefect of Qingyuan with concurrent coastal defense duties, then was transferred to Pingjiang, where he laid out the full story of fiscal collapse to relieve the people and disputed policy with transport commissioner Wang Ye. He was made attendant gentleman at the Baomo Pavilion and superintendent of the Taiping Xingguo Palace, later transferred to the Yulong Wanshou Palace. He served as acting vice minister of revenue, overall commander for Huai East, and concurrent prefect of Zhenjiang. He submitted fifteen proposals on frontier supplies and defense. He was made academician of the Baomo Pavilion, with concurrent charge of mining in western Zhejiang, acting minister of war, and defense commissioner for western Zhejiang. He memorialized on coastal and river defense and on organizing local resistance. He was promoted to minister of works, then made minister of personnel and concurrent prefect of Lin'an, where he argued that in such desperate times only moral self-reform could restore the state's fortunes. He asked that a close imperial kinsman be chosen to satisfy public expectation until a crown prince should be born. The emperor approved his advice. While serving as lecturer at the classics colloquium, censor Xu Rongsou impeached him; he was appointed academician of the Baomo Pavilion and prefect and pacification commissioner of Shaoxing, declined, and was made superintendent of the Hongqing Palace at Nanjing. He then asked to retire; the court named him academician of the Huawen Pavilion and prefect of Jianning, but he declined.

丁母憂，服除，轉中大夫、試兵部尚書兼侍讀，轉翰林學士、知制誥兼侍讀，改端明殿學士、簽書樞密院事，進封金陵郡侯。以亢旱乞罷，免，改資政殿學士、提舉洞霄宮，改知福州兼本路安撫使。徙知紹興府、浙東安撫使。

After mourning his mother he was made grandee of the palace and acting minister of war with concurrent lectureship, then hanlin academician and edict drafter with concurrent lectureship, then academician of the Duanming Hall and junior signatory at the Bureau of Military Affairs, and enfeoffed as Marquis of Jinling. Citing severe drought he asked to leave office and was dismissed, then made academician of the Zizheng Hall and superintendent of the Dongxiao Palace, and later prefect of Fuzhou with concurrent pacification commissioner of that circuit. He was transferred to prefect of Shaoxing and pacification commissioner of eastern Zhejiang.

召同知樞密院兼參知政事。入對，言：「國家之不能無敝，猶人之不能無病。今日之病，不但倉、扁望之而驚，庸醫亦望而驚矣。願陛下篤任元老，以為醫師，博採眾益，以為醫工。使臣輩得以效牛溲馬勃之助，以不辱陛下知人之明。」

He was recalled as vice director of the Bureau of Military Affairs and vice grand councilor. In audience he said: "A state cannot be free of decline any more than a person can be free of illness. Today's malady would alarm not only the great physicians Cang Gong and Bian Que—even a common doctor would shrink from it. May Your Majesty deeply trust elder statesmen as your chief physicians and draw widely on many able men as their assistants. Let us your servants contribute whatever humble aid we can, so as not to betray Your Majesty's judgment in appointing us."

淳祐十一年，入為參知政事，拜右丞相兼樞密使。明年，以水災乞解機政。以觀文殿大學士、提舉洞霄宮。又四年，授沿海制置大使，判慶元府。至官，條具軍民久遠之計，告於政府，奏皆行之。又積錢百四十七萬三千八百有奇，代民輸帛，前後所蠲五百四十九萬一千七百有奇。以久任丐祠，且累章乞歸田裡，進封崇國公，判寧國府。還家，以醴泉觀使兼侍讀，召入對，論畏天命，結民心，進賢才，通下情。帝嘉納。拜特進、左丞相，進封慶國公。奏：「乞令在朝之臣各陳所見，以決處置之宜。」改封許國公。

In the eleventh year of Chunyou he became vice grand councilor and was appointed right grand councilor with concurrent command of military affairs. The following year he asked to resign from the councilorship, citing flood damage. He was made grand academician of the Guanwen Hall and superintendent of the Dongxiao Palace. Four years later he was appointed grand coastal defense commissioner with jurisdiction over Qingyuan prefecture. On taking office he laid out long-term plans for military and civilian affairs; the court adopted every proposal he submitted. He also amassed more than 1,473,800 strings of cash to pay the people's silk levies for them, and in all remitted more than 5,491,700 in taxes and dues. After long service he sought a temple appointment and repeatedly asked to retire home; he was enfeoffed as Duke of Chong and given charge of Ningguo prefecture. After returning home he was made commissioner of the Liquan Abbey with concurrent lectureship, then recalled to audience to speak on revering Heaven's mandate, winning the people's hearts, promoting talent, and heeding popular grievances. The emperor approved his advice. He was appointed special advancement and left grand councilor and enfeoffed as Duke of Qing. He memorialized, asking that every official at court state his views so the proper course of action could be decided. His title was changed to Duke of Xu.

大元兵渡江攻鄂州，別將由大理下交址，破廣西、湖南諸郡。潛奏：「今鄂渚被兵，湖南擾動，推原禍根，良由近年奸臣憸士設為虛議，迷國誤軍，其禍一二年而愈酷。附和逢迎，媕阿諂媚，積至於大不靖。臣年將七十，捐軀致命，所不敢辭。所深痛者，臣交任之日，上流之兵已逾黃、漢，廣右之兵已蹈賓、柳，謂臣壞天下之事，亦可哀已。」

Yuan forces crossed the Yangzi to attack Ezhou while another column came down from Dali through Jiaozhi and overran prefectures in Guangxi and Hunan. Qian memorialized: "Ezhou is under attack and Hunan is in turmoil. The root of this disaster lies in the treacherous ministers and sycophants of recent years whose empty talk has misled the state and the armies—year by year the harm has grown worse. Echoing power, fawning and flattering, they brought the realm to this pass of grave disorder. I am nearly seventy, yet I do not shrink from offering my life for the state. What grieves me most is that on the very day I took office, the enemy had already crossed the Huang and Han in the upper Yangzi and overrun Bin and Liu in the far south—to blame me for ruining the empire is pitiful indeed."

又論國家安危治亂之原：「蓋自近年公道晦蝕，私意橫流，仁賢空虛，名節喪敗，忠嘉絕響，諛佞成風，天怒而陛下不知，人怨而陛下不察，稔成兵戈之禍，積為宗社之憂。章鑒、高鑄嘗與丁大全同官，傾心附麗，躐躋要途。蕭泰來等群小噂沓，國事日非，浸淫至於今日。陛下稍垂日月之明，毋使小人翕聚，以貽善類之禍。沈炎實、趙與𥲅之腹心爪牙，而任臺臣，甘為之搏擊。奸黨盤據，血脈貫穿，以欺陛下。致危亂者，皆此等小人為之。」又乞令大全致仕，炎等與祠，高鑄羈管州軍。不報。

He again traced the roots of the state's peril: "In recent years public principle has been eclipsed and private interest has run wild; the worthy stand ignored, integrity is ruined, loyal counsel is silenced, and flattery prevails—Heaven is angry yet Your Majesty does not see it, the people resent yet Your Majesty does not hear it; thus war has ripened and the altars of the dynasty are in peril. Zhang Jian and Gao Zhu once served with Ding Daquan, attached themselves to him, and vaulted into high office. Petty men like Xiao Tailai spread slander while state affairs worsened day by day until we reached the present crisis. May Your Majesty shed a little of the sun's clarity and not let petty men flock together to bring disaster upon the upright. Shen Yanshi and Zhao Yuyu were their henchmen, yet served as censors and willingly did their dirty work. The faction entrenched itself in a web of kinship to deceive Your Majesty. It is such petty men who have brought the realm to crisis." He also asked that Daquan be forced to retire, that Yan and his circle be given temple sinecures, and that Gao Zhu be placed under restricted supervision. The court did not act on his request.

屬將立度宗為太子，潛密奏云：「臣無彌遠之材，忠王無陛下之福。」帝怒潛，卒以炎論劾落職。命下，中書舍人洪芹繳還詞頭，不報，謫建昌軍，尋徙潮州，責授化州團練使、循州安置。潛預知死日，語人曰：「吾將逝矣，夜必雷風大作。」已而果然，四鼓開霽，撰遺表，作詩頌，端坐而逝。時景定三年五月也。循人聞之，咨嗟悲慟。德祐元年，追復元官，仍還執政恩數。明年，以太府卿柳岳請贈諡，特贈少師。

When Duzong was about to be named crown prince, Qian secretly wrote: "I lack Shi Miyuan's ability, and Prince Zhong lacks Your Majesty's blessing." The emperor was enraged; on Shen Yan's impeachment Qian was stripped of office. When the edict was issued, drafter Hong Qin returned the draft without effect; Qian was exiled to Jianchang, then moved to Chaozhou, and finally demoted to militia commissioner of Huazhou and confined at Xunzhou. Qian foretold the day of his death, telling others: "I am about to die; tonight there will be thunder and a great storm." It happened as he said; at the fourth watch the sky cleared. He wrote his final memorial and a hymn of praise, then died sitting upright. This was in the fifth month of the third year of Jingding. The people of Xun, hearing of his death, mourned him with deep grief. In the first year of Deyou his former offices were posthumously restored along with the privileges of a chief minister. The following year, at the request of palace storehouse director Liu Yue, he was posthumously granted the title Junior Preceptor.

程元鳳

Cheng Yuanfeng

程元鳳，字申甫，徽州人。紹定元年進士，調江陵府教授。端平元年，差江西轉運司干辦公事。丁母憂。淳祐元年，遷禮、兵二部架閣，以父老不忍去側，遷太學正，以祖諱辭，改國子錄。父憂，服闋，遷太學博士，改宗學博士。以《詩》、《禮》講榮王府。旁諷曲諭，隨事規正，多所裨益，王亦傾心敬聽。輪對，極論世運剝復之機及人主所當法天者。理宗覽之曰：「有古遺直風。」

Cheng Yuanfeng, whose courtesy name was Shenfu, came from Huizhou. He passed the jinshi examination in the first year of Shaoding and was appointed professor at Jiangling prefecture. In the first year of Duanping he was assigned as clerk in the Jiangxi transport commission. He went into mourning for his mother. In the first year of Chunyou he became archivist in the ministries of rites and war, but when his elderly father could not bear to be separated from him he was made director of the imperial academy; he declined because of his grandfather's taboo name and was reassigned as recorder of the directorate of education. After his father's death and the end of mourning he became erudite of the imperial academy, then erudite of the imperial clan school. He taught the Book of Songs and the Book of Rites at the household of Prince Rong. Through gentle hints and tactful counsel he corrected the prince on many points, and the prince listened to him with full respect. In audience he spoke at length on the cycles of decline and renewal in history and on how the ruler should model himself on Heaven. Emperor Lizong read his memorial and said, "This has the spirit of the blunt remonstrators of antiquity."

六年，進秘書丞兼權刑部郎官。七年，兼權右司郎官，遷著作郎，仍權右司郎官。輪對，指陳時病尤激切，當國者以為厲己。丐外，知饒州。郡初罹水災，元鳳訪民疾苦，夙夜究心，修城堞，置義阡，寬誅求，察誣證。進江、淮、荊、浙、福建、廣南都大提點坑冶，仍兼知饒州冶司，歲有冬夏帳銀，悉舉以補郡積年諸稅斂之不足者。芝生治所，眾以治行之致，元鳳曰：「五穀熟則民蒙惠，此不足異也。」

In the sixth year he was promoted to assistant director of the secretariat with concurrent acting duties in the Ministry of Justice. In the seventh year he served concurrently as acting director of the right section, was promoted to compiler, and retained his acting post in the right section. In audience he denounced the ills of the age with unusual force, and those in power took it as a personal attack. He asked for a post outside the capital and was appointed prefect of Raozhou. The prefecture had just been struck by flood; Yuanfeng investigated the people's suffering, worked day and night, repaired the walls, established public cemeteries, eased levies, and reviewed false charges. He was promoted to grand mining commissioner for the Jiang, Huai, Jing, Zhe, Fujian, and Guangnan circuits, while still overseeing Raozhou's mining office; he devoted all seasonal mining revenues to cover the prefecture's chronic tax shortfalls. A lingzhi fungus appeared at his yamen; people took it as a sign of good rule, but Yuanfeng said, "When the harvest is good the people benefit—that is nothing unusual."

召奏事，辭，不允，遷右曹郎官。疏言實學、實政、國本、人才、吏治、生民、財計、兵威八事。尋兼右司郎官，拜監察御史兼崇政殿說書。丞相鄭清之久專國柄，老不任事，台官潘凱、吳燧合章論列，清之不悅，改遷之，二人不拜命去。元鳳上疏斥清之罪，其言明白正大，凱、燧得召還。有事於明堂，元鳳疏言「祈天以實不以文」。又言邊備，謂「當申儆軍實，以起積玩之勢。」及言濫刑之敝。十二年，拜右正言兼侍講，以祖諱辭。詔權以右補闕系銜。上疏論格心之學，謂「革士大夫之風俗，當革士大夫之心術。」至於文敝、邊儲、人才、民心、儲將帥、救災異，莫不盡言。

Summoned to report at court, he declined but was overruled and transferred to director of the right section. He memorialized on eight topics: practical learning, practical governance, the foundations of the state, talent, official conduct, the welfare of the people, finance, and military power. He soon served concurrently as director of the right section and was appointed investigating censor with concurrent lectureship at the Chongzheng Hall. Chief Councilor Zheng Qingzhi had long held power alone and, grown old, neglected his duties; censors Pan Kai and Wu Sui jointly impeached him; Qingzhi, displeased, had them transferred, and both refused their new posts and resigned. Yuanfeng memorialized denouncing Qingzhi's offenses in plain and forceful terms, and Kai and Sui were recalled to court. When rites were held at the Bright Hall, Yuanfeng wrote that Heaven should be addressed with sincerity, not empty ceremony. He also urged frontier defense, saying the army must be sharply warned and its strength restored to break years of complacency. He also spoke on the abuse of harsh punishments. In the twelfth year he was appointed right remonstrator with concurrent lectureship but declined because of his grandfather's taboo name. The emperor ordered that he hold the acting title of right supplementation censor. He memorialized on the discipline of rectifying the mind, arguing that to reform official custom one must first reform officials' inner motives. On literary decline, frontier supplies, talent, popular morale, building up generals, and responding to disasters, he left nothing unsaid.

余晦以從父天錫恃恩妄作，三學諸生伏闕上書白其罪狀，司業蔡抗又力言之，元鳳數其罪劾之。奏上，以晦為大理少卿，抗為宗正少卿。元鳳又上疏留抗而黜晦，以安士心。乃命抗仍兼司業，晦予郡。

Yu Hui abused the favor of his uncle Tianxi; students of the three academies knelt at the palace gate to accuse him, and vice director Cai Kang spoke out as well; Yuanfeng listed his crimes and impeached him. When the memorial was acted on, Hui was made vice director of the court of judicial review and Kang vice director of the imperial clan court. Yuanfeng memorialized again to keep Kang in place and remove Hui, so as to calm the students. Kang was ordered to remain vice director, and Hui was sent to a prefecture.

升殿中侍御史，仍兼侍講。京城災，疏言：「輟土木無益之役，以濟暴露之民；移緇流泛濫之恩，以給顛沛之眾。務行寬大之政，固結億兆之心。旁招俊乂，而私昵無濫及之恩；屏去奸私，而貪黷無覆出之患。謹便嬖之防，而不使之弄權；抑恩澤之請，而不至於無節。」言多剴切。

He was promoted to palace attending censor while retaining his lectureship. When disaster struck the capital he wrote: "Halt useless construction projects to aid the homeless; redirect indiscriminate favors to the clergy toward those driven from their homes. Practice a generous policy to win the hearts of the people. Recruit the worthy broadly, while favorites receive no undue favor; drive out the corrupt so that greed cannot return. Guard against favorites and keep them from wielding power; restrain petitions for favors so that grants do not run without limit." His words were sharp and forthright throughout.

蜀境與沅、靖交急，朝廷欲擇重臣出鎮上流，用徐敏子易蜀帥及用向士璧為鎮撫。元鳳請下荊南，調兵援蜀，移呂文德上沅、靖。進依前職，簽書樞密院事兼權參知政事，進參知政事，尋進拜右丞相兼樞密使，進封新安郡公。力辭，御筆勉諭，猶周回累日而後治事。疏奏正心、待臣、進賢、愛民、備邊、守法、謹微、審令八事。高、孝、光、寧四朝國史未就，奏轉任尤焴領其事，纂修成之。會丁大全謀奪相位，元鳳力辭，授觀文殿大學士判福州、福建安撫使。又力辭，依前職，提舉洞霄宮。

With Shu and the Yuan and Jing regions in crisis, the court sought a senior minister to command the upper Yangzi, replacing the Shu commander with Xu Minzi and appointing Xiang Shibi as pacification commissioner. Yuanfeng asked that troops from Jingnan be sent to aid Shu and that Lü Wende be moved to Yuan and Jing. He was promoted in his former rank to junior signatory at the Bureau of Military Affairs and acting vice grand councilor, then vice grand councilor, soon right grand councilor with command of military affairs, and enfeoffed as Duke of Xin'an. He strongly declined, but the emperor's own hand urged him on; he still hesitated for days before accepting office. He memorialized on eight themes: rectifying the mind, treating ministers properly, promoting talent, caring for the people, securing the frontier, upholding the law, attending to small matters, and scrutinizing edicts. The national histories of the Gaozong, Xiaozong, Guangzong, and Ningzong reigns were unfinished; he had You Yun placed in charge, and the compilation was completed. When Ding Daquan plotted to seize power, Yuanfeng resigned and was made grand academician of the Guanwen Hall with jurisdiction over Fuzhou and pacification commissioner of Fujian. He declined again, retained his former rank, and was made superintendent of the Dongxiao Palace.

開慶兵興，上手疏收人心、重賞罰、團結民兵數事。俄起判平江府兼淮、浙發運使。四上章乞免。三年，御筆趣行，奏免修明局米五萬石。拜特進，依前職。充醴泉觀兼侍讀。度宗即位，進少保。三年，拜少傅、右丞相兼樞密使，進封吉國公，以言罷，依舊少保、觀文殿大學士、醴泉觀使。乞致仕，不許。四年，罷觀使，以守少保、觀文殿大學士致仕。卒，遺表聞，帝震悼輟朝，特贈少師。

When war broke out in the Kaiqing era he memorialized the emperor on winning hearts, enforcing rewards and punishments, and organizing local militia. He was soon recalled to govern Pingjiang with concurrent duties as transport commissioner for Huai and Zhe. He memorialized four times asking to be relieved. In the third year the emperor ordered him to take office; he secured a remission of fifty thousand piculs of grain for the Xiuming Bureau. He was granted special advancement while retaining his former duties. He served as commissioner of the Liquan Abbey with concurrent lectureship. When Duzong ascended the throne, he was promoted to junior guardian. In the third year he became junior tutor, right grand councilor, and military commissioner, and was enfeoffed as Duke of Ji; impeached, he was dismissed but retained his posts as junior guardian, grand academician of the Guanwen Hall, and commissioner of the Liquan Abbey. He asked to retire, but the court refused. In the fourth year he was relieved of his abbey post and retired as junior guardian and grand academician of the Guanwen Hall. He died; when his final memorial reached the throne the emperor mourned and suspended court, posthumously granting him the title Junior Preceptor.

元鳳之在政府也，一契家子求貳令，元鳳謝之曰：「除授須由資。」其人累請不許，乃以先世為言。元鳳曰：「先公疇昔相薦者，以某粗知恬退故也。今子所求躐次，豈先大夫意哉？矧以國家官爵報私恩，某所不敢。」有嘗遭元鳳論列者，其後見其可用，更薦拔之，每曰：「前日之彈劾，成其才也；今日之擢用，盡其才也。」所著《訥齋文集》若干卷。

While Yuanfeng was in office, a relative by marriage sought a secondary magistracy; Yuanfeng refused, saying, "Appointments must follow proper qualifications." The man pressed him repeatedly, then appealed to their families' past ties. Yuanfeng said, "Your late father recommended me long ago because he saw that I valued modest withdrawal. What you ask now skips proper rank—would your father have wanted that? Still less would I use state office to repay a private debt—that I dare not do." A man he had once impeached, seeing him later prove capable, he recommended and promoted again, saying, "My earlier impeachment helped form his talent; today's appointment puts his talent fully to use." He left behind the Collected Works of the Reticent Studio in several fascicles.

江萬里

Jiang Wanli

江萬里，字子遠，都昌人。自其父燁始業儒。大父璘，鄉稱善人，其鄰史知縣者誇其能杖嘩健士，璘俯首不答，歸語燁曰：「史祖父故寒士，今居官以杖士人自憙，於我心有不釋然。審爾，史氏且不昌，汝其戒之。」是夕燁妻陳夢一貴人入其家，曰：「以汝家長有善言，故來。」已而有娠，生萬里。少神雋，有鋒穎，連舉於鄉。入太學，有文聲。理宗在潛邸，嘗書其姓名幾研間。以舍選出身，歷池州教授沿江制置司準備差遣，兩浙安撫司干辦公事。召試館職，累遷著作佐郎、權尚左郎官兼樞密院檢詳文字。知吉州，創白鷺洲書院，兼提舉江西常平茶鹽。召為屯田郎官，未行，遷直秘閣、江西轉運判官兼權知隆興府。創宗濂書院。遷考功郎官，命旋寢。久之，以駕部郎官召，遷尚右兼侍講。

Jiang Wanli, whose courtesy name was Ziyuan, came from Duchang. Confucian study began in his family with his father Ye. His grandfather Lin was known locally as a good man. A neighbor who was county magistrate named Shi boasted of beating rowdy men with his staff; Lin bowed in silence, then told Ye at home, "Magistrate Shi's family were once poor scholars; now he delights in beating gentlemen with the staff—I cannot approve. If that is so, the Shi line will not prosper—take heed." That night Ye's wife Chen dreamed that a noble visitor entered their home and said, "Because the head of your household spoke rightly, I have come." Soon after she conceived and gave birth to Wanli. As a youth he was brilliant and sharp-witted and passed the provincial examinations in succession. He entered the imperial academy and gained a literary reputation. When Lizong was still heir apparent, he once wrote Wanli's name on his desk. Entering service through hostel selection, he served as professor at Chizhou, prepared agent on the Yangzi defense commission, and clerk in the Two-Zhe pacification commission. Summoned to qualify for an academy post, he rose to assistant compiler and acting director of the left section with concurrent duties examining documents at the Bureau of Military Affairs. As prefect of Jizhou he founded the Bailuzhou Academy and concurrently oversaw ever-normal granaries, tea, and salt in Jiangxi. Summoned as director in the fields section of the Ministry of Public Works, he was transferred before taking up the post to direct attendant of the secretariat, Jiangxi transport vice commissioner, and acting prefect of Longxing. He founded the Zonglian Academy. He was appointed director in the merit section of the Ministry of Personnel, but the appointment was soon rescinded. Long afterward he was summoned as director in the chariots section and promoted to director of the right section with concurrent lectureship.

史嵩之罷相，拜監察御史，仍兼侍講。未幾，遷右正言、殿中侍御史，又遷侍御史，未及拜。萬里器望清峻，論議風采傾動一時，帝眷注尤厚。嘗丐祠、省母疾，不許。屬弟萬頃奉母歸南康，旋以母病聞，萬里不俟報馳歸，至祁門得訃。而議者謂萬里母死，秘不奔喪，反挾妾媵自隨，於是側目萬里者，相與騰謗。萬里無以自解，坐是閒廢者十有二年。後陸德輿嘗辨其非辜於帝前。

When Shi Songzhi left the chief ministership, Wanli was appointed investigating censor while retaining his lectureship. Soon he was promoted to right remonstrator and palace attending censor, then to attending censor, but had not yet taken up the latter appointment. Wanli's bearing was lofty and his reputation pure; his speeches stirred the court, and the emperor favored him above most. He once asked for a temple post to nurse his ill mother, but was refused. His brother Wanqing was escorting their mother to Nankang when news came that she was ill; Wanli rushed home without waiting for leave and learned of her death at Qimen. Critics claimed that when his mother died he concealed the news and failed to observe mourning, traveling instead with concubines; his enemies seized on this to spread slander. Unable to clear himself, he remained out of office for twelve years. Later Lu Deyu pleaded his innocence before the emperor.

賈似道宣撫兩浙，辟參謀官。及似道同知樞密院，為京湖宣撫大使，以萬里帶行寶章閣待制，為參謀官。大元兵圍鄂，似道以右丞兼樞密使移軍漢陽，萬里遷刑部侍郎。似道入相，萬里兼國子祭酒、侍讀。入對，遷權吏部尚書，又拜端明殿學士、同簽書樞密院事兼太子賓客。隨以言者去官。後以原職知建寧府兼權福建轉運使。已而，加資政殿學士，依舊職，知福州兼福建安撫使。

When Jia Sidao pacified the Two Zhe, he recruited Wanli as staff officer. When Sidao became vice director of the Bureau of Military Affairs and grand pacification commissioner of Jing and Hu, he appointed Wanli traveling attendant of the Baozhang Pavilion as his staff officer. When Yuan forces besieged Ezhou, Sidao as right vice councilor and military commissioner moved his army to Hanyang, and Wanli was made vice minister of justice. When Sidao became chief councilor, Wanli served concurrently as chancellor of the directorate of education and lecturer. In audience he was made acting minister of personnel, then academician of the Duanming Hall, co-signatory at the Bureau of Military Affairs, and tutor to the crown prince. He was soon dismissed after criticism from the censors. He was later appointed prefect of Jianning with concurrent acting transport commissioner of Fujian. He was soon made academician of the Zizheng Hall and appointed prefect of Fuzhou with concurrent pacification commissioner of Fujian.

度宗即位，召同知樞密院事，又兼權參知政事，遷參知政事。萬里始雖俯仰容默，為似道用，然性峭直，臨事不能無言。似道常惡其輕發，故每人不能久在位。似道以去要君，帝初即位，呼為師相，至涕泣拜留之。萬里以身掖帝云：「自古無此君臣禮，陛下不可拜，似道不可復言去。」似道不知所為，下殿舉笏謝萬里曰：「微公，似道幾為千古罪人。」然以此益忌之。

When Duzong ascended the throne, Wanli was recalled as vice director of the Bureau of Military Affairs, then acting vice grand councilor, and finally vice grand councilor. At first Wanli accommodated himself to Sidao, bowing and holding his tongue, yet his nature was upright and sharp, and he could not keep silent when matters arose. Sidao always resented his bluntness, so Wanli never long kept any post. Sidao threatened resignation to coerce the throne; when Duzong first ascended, he called Sidao his teacher-minister and wept and bowed to keep him from leaving. Wanli steadied the emperor and said, "No ruler and minister in history ever observed such a rite; Your Majesty must not bow, and Sidao must not speak of leaving again. Sidao, at a loss, left the hall, raised his tablet, and thanked Wanli: "But for you, I would have been condemned for all time. Yet Sidao hated him all the more for it.

帝在講筵，每問經史疑義及古人姓名，似道不能對，萬里常從旁代對。時王夫人頗知書，帝語夫人以為笑。似道聞之，積慚怒，謀逐之。萬里四丐祠，不候報出關。加資政殿大學士、知慶元府兼沿海制置使，不拜，予祠。後二年，知太平州兼提領江淮茶鹽兼江東轉運使，召拜參知政事，進封南康郡公，既至，拜左丞相兼樞密使。丐祠，加觀文殿大學士知福州，辭，依舊職，提舉洞霄宮。又授知潭州、湖南安撫大使，加特進，尋予祠。時咸淳九年，萬里年七十有六矣。

During lectures, whenever the emperor asked about obscure points in the classics or the names of ancients, Sidao could not answer and Wanli often supplied the reply from the side. Lady Wang was well read at the time, and the emperor told her the story as a jest. When Sidao heard of it, shame and anger piled up, and he plotted to drive Wanli from court. Wanli four times asked for a temple post and left the capital without waiting for approval. He was made academician of the Zizheng Hall and prefect of Qingyuan with concurrent coastal defense commissioner, but refused the post and was granted a temple sinecure instead. Two years later he was appointed prefect of Taiping with concurrent oversight of Jiang-Huai tea and salt and Jiangdong transport commissioner, then recalled as vice grand councilor and enfeoffed as Duke of Nankang; on arrival he was made left chief councilor and military commissioner. He asked for a temple post and was offered academician of the Guanwen Hall and prefect of Fuzhou, but declined and remained superintendent of the Tongxiao Palace. He was also appointed prefect of Tanzhou and grand pacification commissioner of Hunan, given special advanced rank, and soon granted a temple sinecure. It was the ninth year of Xianchun, and Wanli was seventy-six.

明年，大元兵渡江，萬里隱草野間，為游騎所執，大詬，欲自戕，既而脫歸。先是，萬里聞襄樊失守，鑿池芝山後圃，扁其亭曰「止水」，人莫諭其意，及聞警，執門人陳偉器手，曰：「大勢不可支，余雖不在位，當與國為存亡。」及饒州城破，軍士執萬頃，索金銀不得，支解之。萬里竟赴止水死。左右及子鎬相繼投沼中，積屍如疊。翼日，萬里屍獨浮出水上，從者草斂之。萬里無子，以蜀人王橚子為後，即鎬也。事聞，贈太傅、益國公，後加贈太師，諡文忠。萬頃歷守大郡，為提舉江西常平茶鹽，官至正郎。城破時，郴州守趙崇榞寓居城中，亦死之。

The next year Yuan forces crossed the Yangzi; Wanli hid in the countryside, was seized by roaming cavalry, cursed them fiercely and tried to kill himself, then escaped and made his way home. Earlier, after Xiangyang and Fancheng fell, Wanli dug a pool in the garden behind Zhishan and named the pavilion "Stopping Water," though no one understood why. When the alarm came, he took his disciple Chen Weiqi by the hand and said, "The realm cannot be saved; though I hold no office, I must live and die with the state. When Raozhou fell, soldiers seized his brother Wanqing, demanded gold and silver, found none, and dismembered him. Wanli finally drowned himself in the Stopping Water pool. His attendants and his son Hao followed him into the pool one after another until the bodies lay piled upon one another. The next day Wanli's body alone floated to the surface, and his followers buried it with whatever they could find. Wanli had no son of his own and adopted Wang Su's son from Shu as his heir—this was Hao. When news reached the court, he was posthumously made grand tutor and Duke of Yiguo, later raised to grand preceptor, with the posthumous title Wenzhong. Wanqing had governed major prefectures, served as Jiangxi commissioner for ever-normal granaries, tea, and salt, and reached the rank of regular gentleman. When the city fell, Zhao Chongyuan, prefect of Chenzhou, who was staying in the city, died as well.

寶祐元年，兼國史編修、實錄檢討兼權兵部侍郎，試司農卿兼中書門下省檢正諸房公事。疏奏：「願詔大臣相與憂亂而思治，懼危而圖安，哀恫警省，修德行政，摧抑群陰之氣焰，保護微陽之根本。批札畢杜於私蹊，官賞宏辟於正路。使內治明如天日，外治勁如風霆。則精神運動，陽匯昭蘇，世道昌明，物情熙洽。上以迓續天命於譴告之余，下以固結人心於解紐之際。其孰能御之。」以右文殿修撰提舉太平興國宮。五年，京湖宣撫大使趙葵辟為判官。

In the first year of Baoyou, Yue served concurrently as compiler of the national history and examiner of the veritable records with acting vice minister of war, was tested as minister of revenue for agriculture, and concurrently examined documents in the various bureaus of the secretariat-chancellery. In a memorial he wrote, "I pray Your Majesty will summon the chief ministers to share anxiety over disorder and seek good governance, fear peril and plan for safety, grieve and be alarmed into self-examination, cultivate virtue and govern well, suppress the arrogance of corrupt forces, and protect the root of what is upright. Let private favors be wholly shut off in written orders, and official rewards and appointments open broadly on the proper path. Make internal governance clear as daylight and external governance forceful as wind and thunder. Then the spirit will stir, yang will gather and revive, the age will flourish, and all hearts will be at ease. Above, to receive and continue Heaven's mandate amid reproach and warning; below, to bind the people's hearts at the moment the realm is coming undone. Who then could stand against it? He was appointed compiler of the Right Writing Hall and superintendent of the Taiping Xingguo Palace. In the fifth year, Zhao Kui, grand pacification commissioner of Jing and Hu, recruited him as administrative aide.

開慶元年，召赴行在，授集英殿修撰、樞密都承旨、權吏部侍郎。景定元年，兼同修國史、實錄院同修撰兼侍讀，為真侍郎兼太子左庶子。極言正論，太子聽而說之，帝聞之甚喜。二年，遷禮部尚書，權吏部尚書，加龍圖閣學士、知平江府、淮浙發運使。五年，召赴行在，進端明殿學士，提舉佑神觀兼侍讀。召赴行在。

In the first year of Kaiqing he was summoned to the mobile court and made compiler of the Jiying Hall, director-in-chief of the Bureau of Military Affairs, and acting vice minister of personnel. In the first year of Jingding he concurrently served as associate compiler of the national history, associate compiler at the Veritable Records Academy, and lecturer, was made full vice minister of personnel, and concurrently left sub-mentor to the crown prince. He spoke with force and principle; the crown prince listened with pleasure, and the emperor was greatly pleased to hear of it. In the second year he was transferred to minister of rites and acting minister of personnel, and was given dragon diagram hall academician, prefect of Pingjiang, and Huai-Zhe transport commissioner. In the fifth year he was summoned to the mobile court and promoted to academician of the Duanming Hall and superintendent of the Youshen View with concurrent lecturer. He was summoned to the mobile court.

奏言：「今天下所以大壞至此者，正以一私蟠塞，賞罰無章故也。救之之策，在反其所以壞之之由。大明賞罰，動合乎天，庶幾人心興起，天下事尚可為也。」因言賈似道誤國喪師之罪，於是始降詔切責似道不忠不孝。六月庚子朔，日食，爚奏：「日食不盡僅一分，白晝晦冥者數刻。陰盛陽微，災異未有大於此者。臣待罪首相，上佐天子理陰陽，下遂萬物，外鎮諸侯，皆其職也。氛祲充塞而未能消，生民塗炭而未能拯，反覆思之，咎實在臣，乞罷黜以答天譴。」答詔不許，第降授金紫光祿大夫而已。辭降官，乞罷斥，又不許。

In a memorial he wrote, "The realm has fallen so far precisely because private interest blocks everything and rewards and punishments have no rule. The remedy is to reverse the very cause of the ruin. Make rewards and punishments clear so that action accords with Heaven, and perhaps hearts will stir and the realm may yet be saved. He also denounced Jia Sidao's crime of misleading the state and losing the army, whereupon the court for the first time issued an edict sharply rebuking Sidao for disloyalty and unfilial conduct. On the first day of the sixth month, day gengzi, there was a solar eclipse; Yue memorialized, "The eclipse fell short of totality by only one fen, yet daylight was dim for several quarters. Yin is strong and yang is weak—no omen greater than this. I, your minister, stand guilty as chief councilor: above I should assist the Son of Heaven in harmonizing yin and yang, below extend benefit to all things, and externally pacify the feudal lords—all this is my charge. Ominous vapors fill the realm and I cannot dispel them; the people suffer charred hardship and I cannot save them; turning it over again and again, the fault is truly mine; I beg to be dismissed to answer Heaven's reproach. The emperor refused, demoting him only to grandee of the gold seal and purple ribbon. He declined the demotion and again begged to be removed; again the court refused.

尋進平章軍國重事，辭，不許。或請：「出宜中或夢炎出督吳門，否則臣雖老無能為，若效死封疆，亦不敢辭。」詔三省集議。乞罷平章事，不許。京學生上書詆宜中，宜中亦上疏乞骸骨。初，宜中在相位，政事多不關白爚，或謂京學之論，實爚嗾之。

He was soon promoted to Grand Coordinator of Military and State Affairs. He declined the appointment, but the emperor would not allow it. In a memorial he proposed that either Chen Yizhong or Liu Mengyan be dispatched to take command at Wu Gate; failing that, though he was old and felt himself unequal to the task, he was willing to die defending the frontier if required. The throne ordered the Three Departments to meet and deliberate on the matter. He asked to be relieved of his post as Grand Coordinator, but the request was denied. Students of the Imperial University submitted a memorial denouncing Chen Yizhong, and Chen Yizhong in turn memorialized the throne, asking to be allowed to retire. When Chen Yizhong had been chief minister, he had often handled state business without consulting Wang Yue. Some claimed that the university students' attack on him had really been instigated by Wang.

七月壬辰，詔：「給、舍之奏三入，爚與宜中必難共處，兼爚近奏乞免平章侍經筵，辭氣不平，誠有如人言者矣。」遂罷爚平章，依前少保、特授觀文殿大學士充醴泉觀使。爚為人清修剛勁，似道歸天台葬母，過新昌，爚獨不見之。後以元老入相位，值國勢危亡之際，天下所屬望也，而卒與宜中不協而去云。

On renchen day of the seventh month, an edict declared: "The memorials from the drafting and reviewing officers have now been submitted three times. Wang Yue and Chen Yizhong clearly cannot serve together. Wang Yue's recent request to be relieved of his grand coordinatorship and his duties at the imperial lecture hall was plainly resentful in tone; what people have been saying appears to be true." Wang Yue was accordingly stripped of his grand coordinatorship. He kept his former rank as Junior Guardian and was given the honorific appointment of Grand Academician of the Hall for Viewing Literature and commissioner of the Liquan Abbey. Wang Yue was a man of austere integrity and uncompromising strength. When Jia Sidao went back to Tiantai to bury his mother and passed through Xinchang, Wang Yue alone refused to receive him. Later he returned to high office as a senior statesman at the very moment the dynasty stood on the brink of ruin, bearing the hopes of the empire—but in the end he could not work with Chen Yizhong and left office, or so it is recorded.

章鑒，字公秉，分寧人。以別院省試及第，累官中書舍人、侍左郎官、崇政殿說書，進簽書樞密院事兼權參知政事，遷同知樞密院事。咸淳十年，王爚拜左丞相，鑒拜右丞相，併兼樞密使。明年，大元兵逼臨安，鑒託故徑去。遣使亟召還朝，既至，罷相予祠。殿帥韓震之死，鑒與曾淵子明震無他。至是，御史王應麟繳其錄黃，謂震有逆謀，鑒與淵子曲芘之。坐是削一官，放歸田裡。

Zhang Jian, styled Gongbing, was from Fenning. He passed the provincial examination through a separate branch and rose through posts as Secretariat Drafter, attendant in the Left Bureau, and lecturer at the Hall for Promoting Governance. He was then promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Bureau of Military Affairs with concurrent acting appointment as Vice Grand Counselor, and later became Vice Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs. In the tenth year of the Xianchun era, Wang Yue was named Left Grand Counselor and Zhang Jian Right Grand Counselor; each also served concurrently as Commissioner of Military Affairs. The following year, as the Yuan forces closed in on Lin'an, Zhang Jian made an excuse and slipped away without ceremony. The court urgently sent envoys to recall him. When he returned, he was dismissed from the chief ministership and given a nominal temple appointment instead. After the palace guard commander Han Zhen was killed, Zhang Jian and Zeng Yuanzi had attested that Han bore no treasonous motive. Now Censor Wang Yinglin attacked the draft they had approved, charging that Han Zhen had harbored a plot of rebellion and that Zhang Jian and Zeng Yuanzi had twisted the record to protect him. For this offense he was stripped of one rank and released to live in retirement in the countryside.

後有告鑒家匿寶璽者，霜晨，鑒方擁敗衾臥，兵士至，大索其室，惟敝篋貯一玉杯，余無一物，人頗嘆其清約。鑒在朝日，號寬厚，然與人多許可，士大夫目為「滿朝歡」云。

Later someone accused Zhang Jian's household of concealing an imperial seal. One frosty morning, as he lay beneath a threadbare quilt, soldiers arrived and turned his house upside down. All they found was a shabby box containing a single jade cup and nothing else; many marvelled at his plain, abstemious life. While at court Zhang Jian had a reputation for largeness of spirit, but he was quick to agree with everyone, and officials nicknamed him "Universal Approval"—not entirely as a compliment, it is said.

陳宜中

Chen Yizhong

陳宜中，字與權，永嘉人也。少甚貧，而性特俊拔。有賈人推其生時，以為當大貴，以女妻之。既入太學，有文譽。寶祐中，丁大全以戚里婢婿事權幸盧允升、董宋臣，困得寵於理宗，擢為殿中侍御史，在台橫甚。宜中與黃鏞、劉黻、林測祖、陳宗、曾唯六人上書攻之。大全怒，使監察御史吳衍劾宜中，削其籍，拘管他州。司業率十二齋生，冠帶送之橋門之外，大全益怒，立碑學中，戒諸生亡妄議國政，且令自後有上書者，前廊生看詳以牒報檢院。由是，士論翕然稱之，號為「六君子」。宜中謫建昌軍。

Chen Yizhong, styled Yuquan, was a native of Yongjia. He grew up in great poverty, but his nature was unusually keen and forceful. A merchant who cast his birth chart decided he was fated for high rank and gave him his daughter in marriage. After entering the Imperial University, he won a reputation for literary talent. During the Baoyou era, Ding Daquan—who had married into the imperial clan through a maid-servant—attached himself to the favorites Lu Yunshang and Dong Songchen and eventually won Emperor Lizong's trust. Raised to Palace Censor, he ruled the Censorate with brutal arrogance. Chen Yizhong joined Huang Yong, Liu Fu, Lin Cezu, Chen Zong, and Zeng Wei in a memorial denouncing him—the group later known as the Six. Daquan retaliated by having Investigating Censor Wu Yan impeach Chen Yizhong, removing him from the university rolls and confining him under guard in another prefecture. The Vice Director of Studies led students from all twelve halls, dressed in full regalia, to escort Chen Yizhong as far as the Bridge Gate. Daquan, furious, had a stele erected in the university forbidding students to meddle in state affairs and decreed that from then on any student memorials must first be reviewed by front-hall students and forwarded by memo to the Inspection Office. Scholar-official opinion rallied to their side, and the six were hailed as the "Six Gentlemen." Chen Yizhong was banished to Jianchang Circuit.

大全既竄，丞相吳潛奏還之。賈似道入相，復為之請，有詔六人皆免省試令赴。景定三年，廷試，而宜中中第二人。六人之中，宜中尤達時務。由紹興府推官、戶部架閣、秘書省正字、校書郎，數年遷監察御史。

After Ding Daquan was driven out, Grand Counselor Wu Qian petitioned for Chen Yizhong's restoration. When Jia Sidao became chief minister, he too petitioned on their behalf, and an edict exempted all six from the provincial examination and summoned them to proceed. At the palace examination in the third year of Jingding, Chen Yizhong finished second. Of the six, Chen Yizhong was particularly skilled in the affairs of the day. He served in succession as judicial officer in Shaoxing Prefecture, archivist in the Ministry of Revenue, corrector in the Secretariat, and proofreader, and within a few years was promoted to Investigating Censor.

程元鳳再相，似道恐其侵權，欲去之。宜中首劾元鳳縱丁大全肆惡，基宗社之禍。命格，除太府卿。宜中亦自請外，為江東提舉茶鹽常平公事。四年，改浙西提刑。五年，召為崇政殿說書，累遷禮部侍郎兼中書舍人。七年，閩闕帥，以敷文閣待制、知福州。在官得民心，歲余入為刑部尚書。十年，拜簽書樞密院事兼權參知政事。

When Cheng Yuanfeng returned as chief minister, Jia Sidao feared a challenge to his authority and sought to force him out. Chen Yizhong led the charge, impeaching Cheng Yuanfeng for allowing Ding Daquan free rein in evil—the root, he argued, of the dynasty's ruin. The dismissal was blocked, and Cheng Yuanfeng was reassigned as Director of the Imperial Storehouse instead. Chen Yizhong also volunteered for a provincial post, becoming Commissioner for Tea, Salt, and Ever-Normal Granaries in Jiangdong. In the fourth year of the era he was transferred to Judicial Commissioner for Western Zhejiang. In the fifth year he was recalled to serve as lecturer at the Hall for Promoting Governance and rose step by step to Vice Minister of Rites with concurrent appointment as Secretariat Drafter. In the seventh year, when Fujian lacked a military governor, he was appointed Attendant Gentleman of the Hall Spreading Culture and made prefect of Fuzhou. As prefect he won the people's trust, and a little over a year later he was recalled to the capital as Minister of Justice. In the tenth year he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Bureau of Military Affairs with concurrent acting status as Vice Grand Counselor.

德祐元年，陞同知樞密院事。二月，似道喪師蕪湖，乃以宜中知樞密院兼參知政事。已而翁應龍自軍中歸，宜中問似道所在，應龍以不知對。宜中以為似道已死，即上疏乞正似道誤國之罪。似道行時，以所親信韓震總禁兵，人有言震欲以兵劫遷者，宜中召震計事，伏壯士袖鐵椎擊殺之，以示不黨於似道。

In the first year of Deyou he was promoted to Vice Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs. In the second month, after Jia Sidao's army was destroyed at Wuhu, Chen Yizhong was appointed Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs and Vice Grand Counselor. Not long after, Weng Yinglong came back from the front. Chen Yizhong asked where Jia Sidao was, and Weng Yinglong replied that he did not know. Believing Jia Sidao was dead, Chen Yizhong at once memorialized the throne, demanding that Sidao be formally charged with having ruined the country. As Jia Sidao fled, he had left his trusted follower Han Zhen in command of the palace guard. Rumors spread that Han planned to use the troops to coerce the court into flight. Chen Yizhong summoned Han to a conference, concealed strongmen armed with iron maces in their sleeves, and had Han beaten to death—making a show of breaking with Sidao.

時右丞相章鑒宵遁，曾淵子等請命宜中攝丞相事。詔以王爚為左丞相，拜宜中特進、右丞相。四月，爚還朝論事，即與宜中不合。台臣孫嶸叟請竄籍潛說友、吳益、李珏，宜中以為「簿錄非盛世事，祖宗忠厚，未嘗輕用之。珏方召入朝，遽加重刑，恐後無以示信」。爚力爭，以為當如嶸叟議。會留夢炎自湖南入朝爚與宜中俱乞罷政，請以夢炎為相。太皇太后乃以宜中為左丞相，夢炎為右丞相，爚進平章軍國重事。爚拜命，即日僦民居，以丞相府讓宜中，宜中上疏，以為「一辭一受，何以解天下之譏」，亦去。遣使數輩遮留之，始至。

At that time the Right Grand Councillor Zhang Jian fled under cover of night, and Zeng Yuanzi and others asked that Chen Yizhong be authorized to serve as acting Grand Councillor. An edict named Wang Yue Left Grand Councillor and invested Chen Yizhong as Special Advancement and Right Grand Councillor. In the fourth month Wang Yue returned to court to discuss affairs and at once clashed with Chen Yizhong. Censor Sun Yaosou petitioned to banish and register the property of Qian Shuoyou, Wu Yi, and Li Jue. Chen Yizhong argued: "Confiscation and registry of assets is no practice of a flourishing age; our ancestors were magnanimous and never applied it lightly. Li Jue has only just been recalled to court; to heap severe punishment on him so abruptly would leave us no credible way to win trust afterward." Wang Yue pressed the point vigorously, insisting they should adopt Sun Yaosou's recommendation. Just then Liu Mengyan arrived at court from Hunan; both Wang Yue and Chen Yizhong asked to resign and proposed that Liu Mengyan be made Grand Councillor. The Grand Empress Dowager then appointed Chen Yizhong Left Grand Councillor, Liu Mengyan Right Grand Councillor, and promoted Wang Yue to Concurrent Overseer of State and Military Affairs. When Wang Yue accepted the appointment, he rented a private house that very day and turned the Grand Councillor's residence over to Chen Yizhong. Chen Yizhong memorialized: "One man steps down and another takes his place—how can that answer the scorn of the empire?" He resigned as well. Several messengers were sent to stop and hold him back; only then did he come.

時命張世傑等四道進師，二丞相都督軍馬而不出督。爚請以一丞相建閫吳門，以護諸將；不然，則已請行。宜中愧，始與夢炎上疏乞行邊。事下公卿議不決。七月，世傑等兵果敗於焦山。爚奏言：「事無重於兵，今二相並建都督，廟算指授，臣不得而知。比者，六月出師，諸將無統。臣豈不知吳門距京不遠，而必為此請者，蓋大敵在境，非陛下自將則大臣開督。今世傑以諸將心力不一而敗，不知國家尚堪幾敗邪？臣既不得其職，又不得其言，乞罷免。」不允。

At the time Zhang Shijie and others were ordered to advance on four fronts, while the two Grand Councillors held overall command of the armies without going out to lead them in person. Wang Yue asked that one Grand Councillor establish a command headquarters at Wumen to shield the generals; otherwise he himself asked to take the field. Ashamed, Chen Yizhong finally joined Liu Mengyan in memorializing to beg permission to go to the frontier. The matter was sent down to the chief ministers for deliberation, but no decision was reached. In the seventh month Zhang Shijie's army was indeed defeated at Jiaoshan. Wang Yue memorialized: "Nothing is more urgent than military affairs. Two Grand Councillors now jointly establish a command headquarters, yet the plans made in council and the orders issued—your subject cannot know them. When the army marched out in the sixth month, the generals had no single commander over them. Your subject knows full well that Wumen is not far from the capital; yet I must make this request because a great enemy stands on our borders—in such a crisis, unless Your Majesty leads the armies yourself, a chief minister must take command in the field. Now Zhang Shijie has been defeated because the generals' hearts and efforts were divided—does the state know how many more defeats it can survive? Your subject has neither been given his proper role nor had his words heeded; I beg to be dismissed. The request was denied.

爚子□乃嗾京學生伏闕上書，數宜中過失數十事，其略以為：「趙溍、趙與鑒皆棄城遁，宜中乃借使過之說，以報私恩。令狐概、潛說友皆以城降，乃受其包苴而為之羽翼。文天詳率兵勤王，信讒而沮撓之。似道喪師誤國，陽請致罰而陰佑之。大兵薄國門，勤王之師乃留之京城而不遣。宰相當出督，而畏縮猶豫，第令集議而不行。呂師夔狼子野心，而使之通好乞盟。張世傑步兵而用之於水，劉師勇水兵而用之於步，指授失宜，因以敗事。臣恐誤國將不止於一似道也。」

Wang Yue's son incited Capital students to kneel at the palace gate and submit a memorial enumerating dozens of Chen Yizhong's failings. In essence it charged: "Zhao Yin and Zhao Yuqian both abandoned their cities and fled, yet Chen Yizhong used the pretext of special missions to shield them, repaying private debts of gratitude. Linghu Kai and Qian Shuoyou both surrendered their cities, yet he took their bribes and became their protector. Wen Tianxiang raised troops to rescue the throne, yet Chen Yizhong believed slanders against him and blocked his efforts. Jia Sidao had lost armies and ruined the state; Chen Yizhong publicly demanded his punishment while secretly shielding him. When the enemy army pressed on the capital gates, the forces raised to rescue the throne were kept in the city and never sent out. Grand Councillors ought to go out and take command, yet he shrank back in hesitation, calling only for meetings that were never acted upon. Lü Shigao has the heart of a wolf cub, yet Chen Yizhong sent him to negotiate peace and plead for alliance. Zhang Shijie was an infantry commander yet was deployed on water; Liu Shiyong was a naval commander yet was deployed on land—commands were misassigned, and defeat followed. We fear that those who ruin the state will not be limited to Jia Sidao alone."

臨安府捕逮京學生。召之亦不至。太皇太后自為書遺其母楊，使勉諭之，宜中始乞以祠官入侍，乃拜醴泉觀使。十月壬寅，始造朝，尋為右丞相，然事已去矣。宜中倉皇發京城民為兵，民年十五以上者皆籍之，人皆以為笑。十一月，遣張全合尹玉、麻士龍兵援常州，玉與士龍皆戰死，全不發一矢，奔還。文天祥請誅全，宜中釋不問。已而，常州破，兵薄獨松關，鄰邑望風皆遁。

The Lin'an prefectural office arrested the Capital students. They were summoned but did not appear. The Grand Empress Dowager herself wrote to his mother, Lady Yang, asking her to counsel him; only then did Chen Yizhong beg to attend court as a temple commissioner and was appointed Commissioner of the Liquan Abbey. On the gengyin day of the tenth month he at last came to court; soon he was made Right Grand Councillor, but the cause was already lost. Chen Yizhong hastily conscripted the people of the capital, registering every male fifteen and older; all regarded it as absurd. In the eleventh month he sent Zhang Quan, together with Yin Yu and Ma Shilong, to reinforce Changzhou. Yu and Shilong both fell in battle; Quan did not loose a single arrow and fled back. Wen Tianxiang demanded that Zhang Quan be executed; Chen Yizhong released him without investigation. Before long Changzhou fell; the enemy pressed on Dusong Pass, and neighboring districts fled at the first rumor of their approach.

宜中遣使如軍中請和不得，即率群臣入宮請遷都，太皇太后不可。宜中痛哭請之，太皇太后乃命裝俟升車，給百官路費銀。及暮，宜中不入，太皇太后怒曰：「吾初不欲遷，而大臣數以為請，顧欺我邪？」脫簪珥擲之地，遂閉閣，群臣求內引，皆不納。蓋宜中實以明日遷，倉卒奏陳失審耳。

Chen Yizhong sent envoys to the enemy camp to sue for peace but failed; he then led the ministers into the palace to beg that the capital be moved, which the Grand Empress Dowager refused. Chen Yizhong wept and pleaded; the Grand Empress Dowager then ordered preparations for her to board the carriage and granted silver travel funds to the officials. At dusk Chen Yizhong did not appear. The Grand Empress Dowager angrily said: "At first I did not wish to move the capital, yet the high ministers pleaded again and again—were they merely deceiving me? She tore off her hairpins and earrings and threw them to the floor, then shut her chamber; the ministers sought an audience but were all turned away. Apparently Chen Yizhong had actually planned to move the court the next day; in his haste the memorial had been poorly judged.

宜中初與大元丞相伯顏期會軍中，既而悔之，不果往。伯顏將兵至皋亭山，宜中宵遁，陸秀夫奉二王入溫州，遣人召宜中。宜中至溫州，而其母死。張世傑舁其棺舟中，遂與俱入閩中。益王立，復以為左丞相。井澳之敗，宜中欲奉王走占城，乃先如占城諭意，度事不可為，遂不反。二王累使召之，終不至。至元十九年，大軍伐占城，宜中走暹，後沒於暹。

Chen Yizhong had at first agreed to meet Bayan, Grand Councillor of the Great Yuan, in the field; afterward he regretted it and did not go. Bayan led his army to Gaoting Mountain; Chen Yizhong fled by night. Lu Xiufu escorted the two princes into Wenzhou and sent men to summon Chen Yizhong. Chen Yizhong reached Wenzhou, but his mother died. Zhang Shijie had the coffin carried onto a boat, and together they entered Fujian. When Prince Yi was enthroned, Chen Yizhong was again made Left Grand Councillor. After the defeat at Jing'ao, Chen Yizhong wished to take the prince and flee to Champa; he went to Champa first to explain his plan, judged the venture impossible, and never returned. The two princes repeatedly summoned him, but he never came. In the nineteenth year of the Zhiyuan era, the Yuan army attacked Champa; Chen Yizhong fled to Siam and later died there.

宜中為人多術數，少為縣學生，其父為吏受贓當黥，宜中上書溫守魏克愚請貸之。克愚以為黠吏，卒置之法。其後宜中為浙西提刑，克愚郊迎，宜中報禮不書銜，亦云「部下民陳某」，克愚皇恐不敢受，袖而謝之。宜中陽禮之，而陰摭其過，無所得。其後，克愚發賈德生冒借官木事，忤似道，廢罷家居。宜中入，乃極言克愚居鄉不法事，似道令章鑒劾之，貶嚴州。克愚之死，宜中擠之為多。

Chen Yizhong was versed in many occult arts; in youth he was a county student. His father, a clerk, had taken bribes and was liable to be branded; Chen Yizhong wrote to the Wenzhou prefect Wei Keyu begging leniency. Wei Keyu regarded the father as a cunning clerk and in the end had him punished according to law. Later, when Chen Yizhong served as Intendant of Judicial Affairs in western Zhejiang, Wei Keyu went out to the suburbs to welcome him. Chen Yizhong's return letter omitted his official title and read only "Chen, a man under your jurisdiction." Keyu was terrified and dared not accept it; he tucked it in his sleeve and declined. Chen Yizhong treated him courteously in public while secretly hunting for faults against him, but found none. Later Wei Keyu exposed Jia Desheng's fraudulent use of government timber, offending Jia Sidao; he was dismissed and lived at home in retirement. When Chen Yizhong entered court, he repeatedly denounced Keyu's misconduct in the countryside; Jia Sidao had Zhang Jian impeach him, and he was demoted to Yanzhou. Chen Yizhong's persecution contributed greatly to Wei Keyu's death.

論曰：「孔子曰：「才難，不其然乎？」理宗在位長久，命相實多其人，若吳潛之忠亮剛直，財數人焉。潛論事雖近於訐，度宗之立，謀議及之，潛以正對，人臣懷顧望為子孫地者能為斯言哉？程元鳳謹飭而有餘而乏風節，尚為賈似道所諅。江萬里問學德望優於諸臣，不免為似道籠絡，晚年微露鋒，穎輒見擯斥。士大夫不幸與權奸同朝，自處難矣。似道督視江上之師，以國事付王爚、章鑒、陳宜中，蓋取其平時素與己者。爚、宜中於其既出，稍欲自異，及聞其敗，乘勢蹙之。既而，二人自為矛盾，宋事至此，危急存亡之秋也。當國者交歡戮力，猶懼不逮，所為若是，何望其能匡濟乎。似道誅，爚死，鑒遁，宜中走海島，宋亡。

The historian remarks: "Confucius said, 'Talent is hard to find—is it not so?' Emperor Lizong reigned for a long time and appointed many men as Grand Councillors, yet those of Wu Qian's loyal brightness and firm uprightness were only a few. Wu Qian's remonstrances, though bordering on impeachment, were principled; when the enthronement of Emperor Duzong was under discussion he answered with upright candor—what courtier scheming to secure his descendants' future could have spoken as he did? Cheng Yuanfeng was meticulous and self-restrained to a fault yet lacked moral backbone, and even he was belittled by Jia Sidao. Jiang Wanli's learning and moral stature surpassed the other ministers, yet he could not escape Jia Sidao's entanglements; when in his later years he showed even a slight edge, he was at once cast out. When scholar-officials are unlucky enough to serve in the same court as a powerful villain, it is hard indeed to conduct themselves with integrity. Jia Sidao oversaw the Yangtze armies and entrusted state affairs to Wang Yue, Zhang Jian, and Chen Yizhong—men he had always favored. After he left, Wang Yue and Chen Yizhong slightly tried to distance themselves from him; when they heard of his defeat, they seized the moment to press him. Before long the two turned on each other; the Song had reached the hour when ruin and survival hung in the balance. Those who hold power ought to join in goodwill and common effort, yet even then one fears it may not be enough; when their conduct is such as this, how can one hope they will save the state? Jia Sidao was executed, Wang Yue died, Zhang Jian fled, Chen Yizhong escaped to the islands—and the Song fell.

文天祥

Wen Tianxiang

文天祥，字宋瑞，又字履善，吉之吉水人也。體貌豐偉，美皙如玉，秀眉而長目，顧盼燁然。自為童子時，見學宮所祠鄉先生歐陽修、楊邦乂、胡銓像，皆諡「忠」，即欣然慕之。曰：「沒不俎豆其間，非夫也。」年二十舉進士，對策集英殿。時理宗在位久，政理浸怠，天祥以法天不息為對，其言萬餘，不為稿，一揮而成。帝親拔為第一。考官王應麟奏曰：「是卷古誼若龜鑒，忠肝如鐵石，臣敢為得人賀。」尋丁父憂，歸。

Wen Tianxiang, courtesy name Songrui and also Lüshan, was a native of Jishui in Ji Prefecture. He was tall and imposing, with a fair complexion like jade, fine brows and long eyes, and a gaze that shone with spirit. From boyhood, when he saw in the school the portraits of his county's honored elders Ouyang Xiu, Yang Bangyi, and Hu Quan—all posthumously titled "Loyal"—he rejoiced in them and aspired to join their company. He said: "If after death I am not honored among them with sacrificial vessels, I am no true man." At twenty he passed the jinshi examination and answered policy questions in the Hall for Assembling Excellence. Emperor Lizong had reigned for many years and governance had gradually slackened; Tianxiang answered on the theme of emulating Heaven's unceasing vigor. His essay ran to more than ten thousand characters; he wrote it at a stroke without drafting it first. The Emperor personally ranked him first. Examiner Wang Yinglin memorialized: "This examination paper's ancient rectitude is like a tortoise mirror; its loyal heart is like iron and stone. Your subject dares congratulate you on gaining such a man." Soon afterward he entered mourning for his father's death and returned home.

開慶初，大元兵伐宋，宦官董宋臣說上遷都，人莫敢議其非者。天祥時入為寧海軍節度判官，上書「乞斬宋臣，以一人心」。不報，即自免歸。後稍遷至刑部郎官。宋臣復入為都知，天祥又上書極言其罪，亦不報。出守瑞州，改江西提刑，遷尚書左司郎官，累為台臣論罷。除軍器監兼權直學士院。賈似道稱病，乞致仕，以要君，有詔不允。天祥當制，語皆諷似道。時內製相承皆呈稿，天祥不呈稿，似道不樂，使臺臣張志立劾罷之。天祥既數斥，援錢若水例致仕，時年三十七。

At the start of the Kaiqing era, the Yuan army attacked the Song; the eunuch Dong Songchen persuaded the Emperor to move the capital, and no one dared oppose him. Tianxiang had recently entered service as adjutant to the military commissioner of Ninghai; he memorialized begging that Songchen be executed to unify the people's hearts. There was no response; he resigned at once and returned home. Later he was gradually promoted to a secretary in the Ministry of Justice. Songchen again entered service as Director of Palace Affairs; Tianxiang again memorialized at length on his crimes, but again received no response. He was sent out as prefect of Ruizhou, transferred to Jiangxi Intendant of Judicial Affairs, promoted to Secretary in the Left Office of the Ministry of Revenue, and was repeatedly dismissed after censorate attacks. He was appointed Superintendent of the Directorate of Armaments with concurrent acting duty in the Hanlin Academy. Jia Sidao claimed illness and begged to retire as a way of coercing the sovereign; an edict refused his request. When Tianxiang drafted the edict, every phrase satirized Sidao. At the time successive drafters of imperial documents all submitted drafts for approval; Tianxiang did not. Sidao was displeased and had censor Zhang Zhili impeach and dismiss him. Having been dismissed several times, Tianxiang cited the precedent of Qian Ruoshui and requested retirement; he was then thirty-seven.

咸淳九年，起為湖南提刑，因見故相江萬里。萬里素奇天祥志節，語及國事，愀然曰：「吾老矣，觀天時人事當有變，吾閱人多矣，世道之責，其在君乎？君其勉之。」十年，改知贛州。

In the ninth year of Xianchun he was recalled as Hunan Intendant of Judicial Affairs and visited the former Grand Councillor Jiang Wanli. Jiang Wanli had long admired Tianxiang's resolve and integrity. When they spoke of state affairs, he said gravely: "I am old. Watching Heaven's signs and human affairs, change must come. I have seen many men; the burden of the age—does it rest upon you? Press on with all your strength." In the tenth year he was transferred to serve as prefect of Ganzhou.

德祐初，江上報急，詔天下勤王。天祥捧詔涕泣，使陳繼周發郡中豪傑，並結溪峒蠻，使方興召吉州兵，諸豪傑皆應，有眾萬人。事聞，以江西提刑安撫使召入衛。其友止之，曰：「今大兵三道鼓行，破郊畿，薄內地，君以烏合萬餘赴之，是何異驅群羊而搏猛虎。」天祥曰：「吾亦知其然也。第國家養育臣庶三百餘年，一旦有急，征天下兵，無一人一騎入關者，吾深恨於此，故不自量力，而以身徇之，庶天下忠臣義士將有聞風而起者。義勝者謀立，人眾者功濟，如此則社稷猶可保也。」

At the start of the Deyou era, urgent reports came from the Yangtze front; an edict summoned the whole realm to aid the throne. Tianxiang received the edict with tears, sent Chen Jizhou to rally the county's leading men, also allied with tribal chiefs of the mountain passes, and dispatched Fang Xing to summon troops from Ji Prefecture; all the leading men answered the call, and he raised a force of ten thousand. When word reached the court, he was summoned to guard the capital as Jiangxi Intendant and Pacification Commissioner. A friend tried to stop him, saying: "Now the great army advances in three columns with beating drums, has broken through the capital suburbs, and presses on the interior—you go with a hastily gathered force of ten thousand. How is that different from driving a flock of sheep against a tiger? Tianxiang said: "I know that as well. The state has nourished officials and people for more than three hundred years, yet when crisis came and troops were summoned from across the realm, not a single man or horse answered the call to enter the passes. I deeply resent this. So, without measuring my own strength, I offer myself in sacrifice, in the hope that loyal ministers and righteous men throughout the realm will hear of it and rise up. Where righteousness prevails, strategy can stand; where the people are many, the task can be done. In this way the altars of state may yet be preserved."

天祥性豪華，平生自奉甚厚，聲伎滿前。至是，痛自貶損，盡以家貲為軍費。每與賓佐語及時事，輒流涕，撫幾言曰：「樂人之樂者憂人之憂，食人之食者死人之事。」八月，天祥提兵至臨安，除知平江府。時以丞相宜中未還朝，不遣。十月，宜中至，始遣之。朝議方擢呂師孟為兵部尚書，封呂文德和義郡王，欲賴以求好。師孟益偃蹇自肆。

Tianxiang was by nature fond of luxury; throughout his life he lived in considerable style, with singers and performers always at hand. At this point he stripped his life to the bone, putting all his household wealth toward military expenses. Whenever he spoke with guests and aides about current affairs, he would weep, beat the armrest, and say: "Those who share in the people's joy must share in their sorrow; those who live on the state's grain must die in its service. In the eighth month Tianxiang led troops to Lin'an and was appointed prefect of Pingjiang. At the time, because Grand Councillor Chen Yizhong had not yet returned to court, he was not sent out. In the tenth month Chen Yizhong arrived, and only then was Tianxiang dispatched. The court was about to promote Lü Shimeng to Minister of War and enfeoff Lü Wende as Prince of the Command of Righteousness, hoping to win favor through them. Shimeng grew all the more arrogant and unrestrained.

天祥陛辭，上疏言：「朝廷姑息牽制之意多，奮發剛斷之義少，乞斬師孟釁鼓，以作將士之氣。」且言：「宋懲五季之亂，削藩鎮，建郡邑，一時雖足以矯尾大之弊，然國亦以浸弱。故敵至一州則破一州，至一縣則破一縣，中原陸沈，痛悔何及。今宜分天下為四鎮，建都督統御於其中。以廣西益湖南而建閫於長沙；以廣東益江西而建閫於隆興；以福建益江東而建閫於番陽；以淮西益淮東而建閫於揚州。責長沙取鄂，隆興取蘄、黃，番陽取江東，揚州取兩淮，使其地大力眾，足以抗敵。約日齊奮，有進無退，日夜以圖之，彼備多力分，疲於奔命，而吾民之豪傑者又伺間出於其中，如此則敵不難卻也。」時議以天祥論闊遠，書奏不報。

At his audience on departure Tianxiang submitted a memorial: "The court indulges in conciliation and restraint far too much, and resolves to act with bold decisiveness far too little. I beg that Shimeng be executed and his blood smeared on the war drums, to raise the spirit of the officers and soldiers. He also wrote: "Taking warning from the chaos of the Five Dynasties, the Song abolished regional military commissions and built up civil administration. For a time this did cure the evil of overmighty provinces, yet the state also grew steadily weaker. So when the enemy reached a prefecture, that prefecture fell; when they reached a county, that county fell. The heartland sank like land lost beneath the flood—what use was bitter regret then? Now the realm should be divided into four regional commands, each under a grand marshal with full authority. Guangxi should be added to Hunan, with a command headquarters at Changsha; Guangdong to Jiangxi, with a command headquarters at Longxing; Fujian to Jiangdong, with a command headquarters at Poyang; and Huai West to Huai East, with a command headquarters at Yangzhou. Charge Changsha to seize Ezhou, Longxing to take Qi and Huang, Poyang to recover Jiangdong, and Yangzhou to recover both banks of the Huai, so that each command would have breadth of territory and strength of numbers enough to resist the enemy. Fix a day for all to rise together—advance and never retreat—and press the plan day and night. The enemy, stretched thin across many defenses, would wear themselves out rushing to every alarm, while our own bold spirits would watch for openings to strike from within their lines. In this way the enemy would not be hard to drive back. Court opinion judged Tianxiang's proposals impractically broad; his memorial was submitted but never answered.

十月，天祥入平江，大元兵已發金陵入常州矣。天祥遣其將朱華、尹玉、麻士龍與張全援常，至虞橋，士龍戰死，朱華以廣軍戰五牧，敗績，玉軍亦敗，爭渡水，挽全軍舟，全軍斷其指，皆溺死，玉以殘兵五百人夜戰，比旦皆沒。全不發一矢，走歸。大元兵破常州，入獨松關。宜中、夢炎召天祥，棄平江，守余杭。

In the tenth month Tianxiang entered Pingjiang; Yuan troops had already marched from Jinling into Changzhou. Tianxiang sent his generals Zhu Hua, Yin Yu, and Ma Shilong with Zhang Quan to relieve Changzhou. At Yu Bridge, Shilong was killed in battle. Zhu Hua fought at Wumu with Guang troops and was routed. Yu's army was also defeated; men struggling to cross the water grabbed hold of Quan's boats, and Quan's troops cut off their fingers—every one of them drowned. Yu fought through the night with five hundred remnant soldiers; by dawn all were lost. Quan did not loose a single arrow and fled home. Yuan troops broke Changzhou and entered Dusong Pass. Chen Yizhong and Xie Mengyan summoned Tianxiang, abandoned Pingjiang, and fell back to defend Yuhang.

明年正月，除知臨安府。未幾，宋降，宜中、世傑皆去。仍除天祥樞密使。尋除右丞相兼樞密使，使如軍中請和，與大元丞相伯顏抗論皋亭山。丞相怒拘之，偕左丞相吳堅、右丞相賈餘慶、知樞密院事謝堂、簽書樞密院事家鉉翁、同簽書樞密院事劉岊，北至鎮江。天祥與其客杜滸十二人，夜亡入真州。苗再成出迎，喜且泣曰：「兩淮兵足以興復，特二閫小隙，不能合從耳。」天祥問：「計將安出？」再成曰：「今先約淮西兵趨建康，彼必悉力以捍吾西兵。指揮東諸將，以通、泰兵攻灣頭，以高郵、寶應、淮安兵攻楊子橋，以揚兵攻瓜步，吾以舟師直搗鎮江，同日大舉。灣頭、楊子橋皆沿江脆兵，且日夜望我師之至，攻之即下。合攻瓜步之三面，吾自江中一面薄之，雖有智者不能為之謀矣。瓜步既舉，以東兵入京口，西兵入金陵，要浙歸路，其大帥可坐致也。」天祥大稱善，即以書遺二制置，遣使四齣約結。

In the first month of the following year he was appointed prefect of Lin'an. Before long the Song surrendered; Chen Yizhong and Lu Shijie both departed. Tianxiang was nevertheless appointed Commissioner of Military Affairs. Soon he was made Right Grand Councillor with concurrent Commissioner of Military Affairs and sent to the army to sue for peace; at Gaoting Mountain he argued face to face with Bayan, Grand Councillor of the Yuan. Bayan, enraged, detained him and marched north as far as Zhenjiang together with Left Grand Councillor Wu Jian, Right Grand Councillor Jia Yuqing, Chief of the Bureau of Military Affairs Xie Tang, Secretariat Drafter Jia Xianweng, and Associate Secretariat Drafter Liu Yi. Tianxiang fled by night into Zhen Prefecture with his guest Du Yan and eleven companions. Miao Zaicheng came out to welcome him, overjoyed and weeping: "The troops of the two Huai regions are enough to restore the dynasty—only a petty quarrel between the two commanders keeps them from joining forces. Tianxiang asked: "What is your plan? Zaicheng said: "First have the Huai West troops march on Jiankang—the enemy will surely commit their full strength to block our western column. Then direct the eastern generals: Tong and Tai troops against Wantou, Gaoyou, Baoying, and Huai'an troops against Yangzi Bridge, Yangzhou troops against Guabu—I myself will lead the fleet straight at Zhenjiang. All on the same day, in full force. Wantou and Yangzi Bridge are both held by weak riverside garrisons that have been waiting day and night for our army; take them and they will fall at once. With combined attacks on three sides of Guabu and me pressing from the river on the fourth, even the wisest commander could devise no counter. Once Guabu falls, eastern troops enter Jingkou and western troops enter Jinling, cutting off the Zhejiang line of retreat—their commander-in-chief can be taken without moving from his seat. Tianxiang praised the plan highly, wrote at once to the two pacification commissioners, and sent envoys in four directions to seal the alliance.

天祥未至時，揚有脫歸兵言：「密遣一丞相入真州說降矣。」庭芝信之，以為天祥來說降也。使再成亟殺之。再成不忍，紿天祥出相城壘，以制司文示之，閉之門外。久之，復遣二路分覘天祥，果說降者即殺之。二路分與天祥語，見其忠義，亦不忍殺，以兵二十人道之揚，四鼓抵城下，聞候門者談，制置司下令備文丞相甚急，眾相顧吐舌，乃東入海道，遇兵，伏環堵中得免。然亦飢莫能起，從樵者乞得余糝羹。行入板橋，兵又至，眾走伏叢筱中，兵入索之，執杜滸、金應而去。虞候張慶矢中目，身被二創，天祥偶不見獲。滸、應解所懷金與卒，獲免，募二樵者以蕢荷天祥至高郵，泛海至溫州。

Before Tianxiang arrived, an escaped soldier at Yangzhou reported: "A grand councillor has been secretly sent into Zhen Prefecture to urge surrender. Li Tingzhi believed it and took Tianxiang for a surrender envoy. He ordered Zaicheng to kill him at once. Zaicheng could not bring himself to do it; he tricked Tianxiang outside the ramparts, showed him the pacification commissioner's order, and shut him out. After a long while he sent the two route officers to scout Tianxiang—with orders to kill him if he had truly come to urge surrender. The two route officers spoke with Tianxiang and, seeing his loyalty and righteousness, also could not kill him. Twenty soldiers escorted him toward Yangzhou; at the fourth watch they reached the foot of the wall. Overhearing the gate guards, they learned the pacification commissioner had urgently ordered Wen's arrest; the men exchanged frightened glances. They turned east along the coastal route, ran into enemy troops, and escaped by hiding inside a walled compound. They were too hungry even to stand; from woodcutters they begged leftover rice gruel. Near Banqiao they ran into troops again; the party fled and hid in bamboo thickets. Searching soldiers seized Du Yan and Jin Ying and marched them off. Adjutant Zhang Qing took an arrow in the eye and two wounds on his body; Tianxiang by chance escaped capture. Du Yan and Jin Ying bought their freedom with the gold they carried; they hired two woodcutters to carry Tianxiang in baskets to Gaoyou, then crossed the sea to Wenzhou.

聞益王未立，乃上表勸進，以觀文殿學士、侍讀召至福，拜右丞相。尋與宜中等議不合。七月，乃以同都督出江西，遂行，收兵入汀州。十月，遣參謀趙時賞、諮議趙孟溁將一軍取寧都，參贊吳浚將一軍取雩都，劉洙、蕭明哲、陳子敬皆自江西起兵來會。鄒洬以招諭副使聚兵寧都，大元兵攻之，洬兵敗，同起事者劉欽、鞠華叔、顏斯立、顏起岩皆死。武岡教授羅開禮，起兵復永豐縣，已而兵敗被執，死於獄。天祥聞開禮死，制服哭之哀。

Learning that the Prince of Yi had not yet been enthroned, he submitted a memorial urging accession; summoned to Fu as Academician of the Hall for Observing Culture and Reader-in-Waiting, he was appointed Right Grand Councillor. Soon he fell out with Chen Yizhong and others over policy. In the seventh month he was made Co-Director-General and sent into Jiangxi; he set out at once and gathered troops at Ting Prefecture. In the tenth month he sent staff officer Zhao Shishang and adviser Zhao Mengqin with one army to take Ningdu, staff officer Wu Jun with another to take Yudu; Liu Zhu, Xiao Mingzhe, and Chen Zijing all raised troops in Jiangxi and marched to join him. Zou Bing, as Vice Commissioner for Summoning and Reassurance, gathered troops at Ningdu; Yuan troops attacked, his army was routed, and fellow rebels Liu Qin, Ju Huashu, Yan Sili, and Yan Qiyan all died. Luo Kaili, an instructor at Wugang, raised troops and recovered Yongfeng County; soon he was defeated, captured, and died in prison. When Tianxiang heard of Kaili's death, he put on mourning and wept for him in deepest grief.

至元十四年正月，大元兵入汀州，天祥遂移漳州，乞入衛。時賞、孟溁亦提兵歸，獨浚兵不至。未幾，浚降，來說天祥。天祥縛浚，縊殺之。四月，入梅州，都統王福、錢漢英跋扈，斬以徇。五月，出江西，入會昌。六月，入興國縣。七月，遣參謀張汴、監軍趙時賞、趙孟溁等盛兵薄贛城，鄒洬以贛諸縣兵搗永豐，其副黎貴達以吉諸縣兵攻泰和。吉八縣復其半，惟贛不下。臨洪諸郡，皆送款。潭趙璠、張虎、張唐、熊桂、劉斗元、吳希奭、陳子全、王夢應起兵邵、永間，復數縣，撫州何時等皆起兵應天祥。分寧、武寧、建昌三縣豪傑，皆遣人如軍中受約束。

In the first month of the fourteenth year of Zhiyuan, Yuan troops entered Ting Prefecture; Tianxiang then shifted to Zhang Prefecture and begged permission to go to court. Zhao Shishang and Zhao Mengqin also led their troops back; only Wu Jun's army failed to arrive. Before long Wu Jun surrendered and came to urge Tianxiang to do the same. Tianxiang bound Wu Jun and hanged him. In the fourth month he entered Meizhou; commanders Wang Fu and Qian Hanying had grown overbearing and defiant, and he executed them as a public warning. In the fifth month he marched out of Jiangxi into Huichang. In the sixth month he entered Xingguo County. In the seventh month he sent staff officer Zhang Bian, military inspector Zhao Shishang, Zhao Mengqin, and others with a strong force against Ganzhou; Zou Bing raided Yongfeng with troops from the Gan prefectures, while his deputy Li Guida attacked Taihe with troops from the Ji prefectures. Half of Ji's eight counties were recovered; only Ganzhou would not fall. The prefectures around Lin and Hong all sent pledges of submission. In Hunan, Zhao Fan, Zhang Hu, Zhang Tang, Xiong Gui, Liu Douyuan, Wu Xiay, Chen Ziquan, and Wang Mengying raised troops between Shaoyang and Yongzhou and recovered several counties; He Shi of Fuzhou and others all rose in response to Tianxiang. Leading men from Fenning, Wuning, and Jianchang all sent representatives to his camp to submit to his command.

江西宣慰使李恆遣兵援贛州，而自將兵攻天祥於興國。天祥不意恆兵猝至，乃引兵走，即鄒洬於永豐。洬兵先潰，恆窮追天祥方石嶺。鞏信拒戰，箭被體，死之。至空坑，軍士皆潰，天祥妻妾子女皆見執。時賞坐肩輿，後兵問謂誰，時賞曰「我姓文」，眾以為天祥，禽之而歸，天祥以此得逸去。

Li Heng, Jiangxi Pacification Commissioner, sent troops to relieve Ganzhou while personally leading an attack on Tianxiang at Xingguo. Tianxiang did not expect Heng's army to strike so suddenly; he retreated and joined Zou Bing at Yongfeng. Zou Bing's troops broke first; Heng pursued Tianxiang relentlessly to Fangshi Ridge. Gong Xin stood and fought; arrows covered his body, and he was killed. At Kongkeng the army scattered; Tianxiang's wives, concubines, and children were all captured. Zhao Shishang was being carried in a litter; pursuing soldiers asked who he was. Shishang said, "My surname is Wen." They took him for Tianxiang, seized him, and marched him off—allowing Tianxiang to escape.

孫㮚、彭震龍、張汴死於兵，繆朝宗自縊死。吳文炳、林棟、劉洙皆被執歸隆興。時賞奮罵不屈，有繫累至者，輒麾去，云：「小小簽廳官耳，執此何為？」由是得脫者甚眾。臨刑，洙頗自辯，時賞叱曰：「死耳，何必然？」於是棟、文炳、蕭敬夫、蕭燾夫皆不免。

Sun Sui, Peng Zhenlong, and Zhang Bian died fighting; Miao Chaozong hanged himself. Wu Wenbing, Lin Dong, and Liu Zhu were all captured and taken back to Longxing. Shishang railed fiercely and would not yield; when other prisoners were brought before him, he would wave them away: "I'm only a petty secretariat clerk—what use am I to you? In this way many others were able to escape. At the moment of execution, Liu Zhu pleaded his case at length; Shishang shouted him down: "We die—that is all. Why insist on your innocence? Thereupon Lin Dong, Wu Wenbing, Xiao Jingfu, and Xiao Taofu all died as well.

天祥收殘兵奔循州，駐南嶺。黎貴達潛謀降，執而殺之。至元十五年三月，進屯麗江浦。六月，入船澳。益王殂，衛王繼立。天祥上表自劾，乞入朝，不許。八月，加天祥少保、信國公。軍中疫且起，兵士死者數百人。天祥惟一子，與其母皆死。十一月，進屯潮陽縣。潮州盜陳懿、劉興數叛附，為潮人害。天祥攻走懿，執興誅之。十二月，趨南嶺，鄒洬、劉子俊又自江西起兵來，再攻懿黨，懿乃潛道元帥張弘范兵濟潮陽。天祥方飯五坡嶺，張弘范兵突至，眾不及戰，皆頓首伏草莽。天祥倉皇出走，千戶王惟義前執之。天祥吞腦子，不死。鄒洬自頸，眾扶入南嶺死。官屬士卒得脫空坑者，至是劉子俊、陳龍復、蕭明哲、蕭資皆死，杜滸被執，以憂死。惟趙孟溁遁，張唐、熊桂、吳希奭、陳子全兵敗被獲，俱死焉。唐，廣漢張栻後也。

Tianxiang gathered his remnant troops and fled to Xun Prefecture, encamping at Nanling. Li Guida secretly plotted surrender; Tianxiang seized and executed him. In the third month of the fifteenth year of Zhiyuan he advanced and encamped at Lijiang Ford. In the sixth month he entered Chuan'ao. The Prince of Yi died; the Prince of Wei was enthroned in his place. Tianxiang submitted a memorial of self-reproach and begged to come to court; his request was denied. In the eighth month Tianxiang was made Junior Guardian and enfeoffed as Duke of the State of Faith. Plague broke out in the army, and several hundred soldiers died. Tianxiang's only son and the boy's mother both died. In the eleventh month he advanced and encamped at Chaoyang County. The Chaozhou bandits Chen Yi and Liu Xing repeatedly changed sides, plaguing the people of the region. Tianxiang attacked and drove off Chen Yi, seized Liu Xing, and executed him. In the twelfth month he hurried to Nanling; Zou Bing and Liu Zijun again raised troops in Jiangxi and joined him. Attacking Chen Yi's faction once more, Yi secretly guided Marshal Zhang Hongfan's troops into Chaoyang. Tianxiang was taking a meal at Wupo Ridge when Zhang Hongfan's troops burst upon him; his men had no time to fight and all prostrated themselves in the brush. Tianxiang fled in panic; Thousand-Household Wang Weiyi rushed forward and seized him. Tianxiang swallowed poison but did not die. Zou Bing cut his own throat; his companions helped him into Nanling, where he died. Of the officials, followers, and soldiers who had escaped at Kongkeng, Liu Zijun, Chen Longfu, Xiao Mingzhe, and Xiao Zi all died here; Du Yan was captured and died of grief. Only Zhao Mengqin escaped; Zhang Tang, Xiong Gui, Wu Xiay, and Chen Ziquan were defeated, captured, and all perished. Tang was a descendant of Zhang Shi of Guanghan.

天祥至潮陽，見弘范，左右命之拜，不拜，弘范遂以客禮見之，與俱入厓山，使為書招張世傑。天祥曰：「吾不能捍父母，乃教人叛父母，可乎？」索之固，乃書所過《零丁洋詩》與之。其末有云：「人生自古誰無死，留取丹心照汗青。」弘范笑而置之。厓山破，軍中置酒大會，弘范曰：「國亡，丞相忠孝盡矣，能改心以事宋者事皇上，將不失為宰相也。」天祥泫然出涕，曰：「國亡不能救，為人臣者死有餘罪，況敢逃其死而二其心乎。」弘范義之，遣使護送天祥至京師。

When Tianxiang reached Chaoyang he met Zhang Hongfan; attendants ordered him to bow, but he refused; Hongfan then received him as a guest, accompanied him to Yashan, and asked him to write summoning Zhang Shijie. Tianxiang said, "I could not defend my sovereign—how could I urge another to betray his?" Pressed repeatedly, he wrote out for him the poem he had composed at Lingding Sea. Its closing lines read: "Since antiquity, who escapes death? Let a loyal heart shine in the annals." Hongfan smiled and set it aside. When Yashan fell, the army held a great feast; Hongfan said, "The state is lost and you have done all loyalty and filial piety require; if you will turn your heart and serve the emperor as you served the Song, you may still be chief minister." Tianxiang wept and said, "The state is lost and I could not save it; as a minister I deserve death—how could I flee it and serve two masters?" Hongfan admired his integrity and sent him under escort to the capital.

天祥在道，不食八日，不死，即復食。至燕，館人供張甚盛，天祥不寢處，坐達旦。遂移兵馬司，設卒以守之。時世祖皇帝多求才南官，王積翁言：「南人無如天祥者。」遂遣積翁諭旨，天祥曰：「國亡，吾分一死矣。儻緣寬假，得以黃冠歸故鄉，他日以方外備顧問，可也。若遽官之，非直亡國之大夫不可與圖存，舉其平生而盡棄之，將焉用我？」積翁欲合宋官謝昌元等十人請釋天祥為道士，留夢炎不可，曰「天祥出，復號召江南，置吾十人於何地！」事遂已。天祥在燕凡三年，上知天祥終不屈也，與宰相議釋之，有以天祥起兵江西事為言者，不果釋。

On the journey Tianxiang fasted eight days without dying, then ate again. At Yan the lodging was lavishly furnished; Tianxiang would not sleep but sat until dawn. He was moved to the military stables compound and placed under guard. Emperor Shizu was recruiting southern talent; Wang Jinweng said, "Among southerners there is no one like Tianxiang." Jinweng was sent with the emperor's message; Tianxiang replied, "The state is lost—I owe it but one death. If I am pardoned to return home as a Daoist priest and later serve as an outside adviser, that I could accept. If I am made an official at once, not only may a minister of a fallen state not plot restoration—my whole life would be thrown away; what use would you have for me?" Jinweng wanted Xie Changyuan and nine other Song officials to join in asking that Tianxiang be released as a priest; Liu Mengyan objected, "If Tianxiang goes free he will rally the south again—what becomes of us ten?" The matter was dropped. Tianxiang spent three years in Yan; the emperor knew he would never submit and discussed releasing him with his ministers, but someone cited his uprising in Jiangxi, and release was denied.

至元十九年，有閩僧言土星犯帝坐，疑有變。未幾，中山有狂人自稱「宋主」，有兵千人，欲取文丞相。京城亦有匿名書，言某日燒蓑城葦，率兩翼兵為亂，丞相可無憂者。時盜新殺左丞相阿合馬，命撤城葦，遷瀛國公及宋宗室開平，疑丞相者天祥也。召入諭之曰：「汝何願？」天祥對曰：「天祥受宋恩，為宰相，安事二姓？願賜之一死足矣。」然猶不忍，遽麾之退。言者力贊從天祥之請，從之。俄有詔使止之，天祥死矣。天祥臨刑殊從容，謂吏卒曰：「吾事畢矣。」南鄉拜而死。數日，其妻歐陽氏收其屍，面如生，年四十七。其衣帶中有贊曰：「孔曰成仁，孟曰取義，惟其義盡，所以仁至。讀聖賢書，所學何事，而今而後，庶幾無愧。」

In the nineteenth year of Zhiyuan a Fujian monk reported Saturn trespassing on the imperial seat and foretold unrest. Soon in Zhongshan a madman proclaimed himself "Lord of Song" with a thousand men, intending to seize Chancellor Wen. An anonymous letter in the capital warned that on a set day the city reeds would be burned and troops would rebel—the Chancellor was not to be spared. An assassin had just killed Left Chief Councilor Ahmad; the court ordered the wall reeds removed, the Duke of Ying and the Song imperial clan moved to Kaiping, and suspected the Chancellor meant Tianxiang. He was summoned and asked, "What is your wish?" Tianxiang answered, "I received the Song's grace and served as chief minister—how could I serve two dynasties? Grant me death—that is all I ask." The emperor still could not bear it and waved him away. Advisers urged granting his request, and the court agreed. An edict arrived to stay the execution—but Tianxiang was already dead. At the block Tianxiang was wholly composed and told the guards, "My work is done." He bowed toward the south and died. Days later his wife Lady Ouyang claimed his body; his face looked as in life; he was forty-seven. In his belt was an inscription: "Confucius taught humanity fulfilled in death; Mencius taught taking righteousness; only when righteousness is complete is humanity fulfilled. What did I study in the sages' books? From this day on, I may stand without shame."

論曰：自古志士，欲信大義於天下者，不以成敗利鈍動其心，君子命之曰「仁」，以其合天理之正，即人心之安爾。商之衰，周有代德，盟津之師不期而會者八百國。伯夷、叔齊以兩男子欲扣馬而止之，三尺童子知其不可。他日，孔子賢之，則曰：「求仁而得仁。」宋至德祐亡矣，文天祥往來兵間，初欲以口舌存之，事既無成，奉兩孱王崎嶇嶺海，以圖興復，兵敗身執。我世祖皇帝以天地有容之量，既壯其節，又惜其才，留之數年，如虎兕在柙，百計馴之，終不可得。觀其從容伏質，就死如歸，是其所欲有甚於生者，可不謂之「仁」哉。宋三百餘年，取士之科，莫盛於進士，進士莫盛於倫魁。自天祥死，世之好為高論者，謂科目不足以得偉人，豈其然乎！

The historian writes: Men of resolve who would uphold great principle in the world have never let success or failure sway them; the gentleman calls this humanity, for it accords with Heaven's right and the peace of the human heart. When Shang declined, Zhou possessed the virtue to succeed it; at the Meng Ford eight hundred states gathered unbidden. Bo Yi and Shu Qi, two men alone, tried to seize the horses and halt the army—even a child knew it was futile. Later Confucius praised them, saying, "They sought humanity and found it." When Song fell at Deyou, Wen Tianxiang moved among the armies; first he hoped to save it by persuasion alone; when that failed he escorted two feeble emperors through mountains and seas to plan restoration; defeated, he was captured. Emperor Shizu, with Heaven and Earth's magnanimity, admired his integrity and prized his talent, kept him for years as a tiger in a cage, tried every means to tame him, and could not. Seeing how calmly he faced the block, going to death as if going home—what he desired was greater than life; can this not be called humanity? In Song's three centuries, no path to office was greater than the jinshi, and among jinshi none greater than the top-ranked graduate. Since Tianxiang's death, those fond of lofty talk have said examinations cannot produce great men—is that really so?

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