1
儒林四
Confucian Scholars 4
2
○劉子翬呂祖謙蔡元定 〈(子沉)〉 陸九齡 〈(兄九韶)〉 陸九淵薛季宣陳傅良葉適戴溪蔡幼學楊泰之
○ Liu Zihui, Lü Zuqian, Cai Yuanding (son Chen) Lu Jiuling (elder brother Jiushao) Lu Jiuyuan, Xue Jixuan, Chen Fuliang, Ye Shi, Dai Xi, Cai Youxue, Yang Taizhi
3
劉子翬
Liu Zihui
4
劉子翬,字彥衝,贈太師韐之仲子。 以父任授承務郎,辟真定府幕屬。 韐死靖康之難,子翬痛憤,幾無以為生,墓三年。 服除,通判興化軍。 寇楊犯閩境,子翬與郡將張當世畫計備禦,如素服戎事者,賊不敢犯。 事聞,詔因任。
Liu Zihui, styled Yanchong, was the second son of Han, who had been posthumously enfeoffed as Grand Preceptor. Through his father's yin privilege he received appointment as Court Gentleman for Miscellaneous Service and was recruited as a staff member of Zhending Prefecture. When Han perished in the Jingkang disaster, Zihui was overcome with grief and anger, scarcely able to go on living, and kept mourning at the tomb for three years. After his mourning period ended, he was appointed vice prefect of Xinghua Military Prefecture. When Yang bandits raided the Fujian border, Zihui and the prefectural commander Zhang Dangshi drew up defensive plans with the ease of veterans; the rebels did not dare attack. When word of this reached the court, an edict ordered that he be kept in his post.
5
子翬始執喪致羸疾,至是以不堪吏責,辭歸武夷山,不出者凡十七年。 間走其父墓下,瞻望徘徊,涕泗嗚咽,或累日而返。 妻死不再娶,事繼母呂氏及兄子羽盡孝友。 子羽之子珙,幼英敏嗜學,子翬教之不懈,珙卒有立。
Zihui had first been brought low by illness while observing mourning; now, unable to bear the burdens of office, he resigned and retired to Mount Wuyi, where he did not emerge for seventeen years in all. From time to time he would go to his father's tomb, gaze upon it and pace about in tears, sometimes not returning home for days on end. After his wife died he did not remarry, and he showed the utmost filial and fraternal devotion to his stepmother Lady Lü and to his elder brother's son Yu. Yu's son Gong was clever and eager to learn from childhood; Zihui taught him without cease, and Gong ultimately made his mark.
6
與籍溪胡憲、白水劉勉之交相得,每見,講學外無雜言。 它所與遊,皆海內知名士,而期以任重致遠者,惟新安朱熹而已。 初,熹父鬆且死,以熹托子翬。 及熹請益,子翬告以《易》之“不遠復”三言,俾佩之終身,熹後卒為儒宗。 子翬少喜佛氏說,歸而讀《易》,即渙然有得。 其說以為學《易》當先《復》,故以是告熹焉。
He formed a close bond with Hu Xian of Jixi and Liu Mianzhi of Baishui; whenever they met, they spoke only of learning and nothing else. Those with whom he associated were all celebrated scholars of the realm, but of those in whom he placed hope for bearing great responsibility and reaching far, there was only Zhu Xi of Xin'an. Earlier, when Xi's father Song was near death, he entrusted Xi to Zihui's care. When Xi came to seek his instruction, Zihui told him the three words of the Changes—"returning is not far"—and bade him keep them for life; Xi later became the leading figure of the Confucian school. In youth Zihui had delighted in Buddhist teachings; after returning home he read the Changes and at once gained clear insight. His teaching held that in studying the Changes one should begin with the hexagram Fu (Return); that is why he gave Xi this counsel.
7
一日,感微疾,即謁家廟,泣別母,與親朋訣,付珙家事,指葬處,處親戚孤弱之無業者,訓學者修身求道數百言。 後二日卒,年四十七。 學者稱屏山先生。 珙,別有傳。
One day, sensing a slight illness, he at once visited the family shrine, wept his farewell to his mother, and took leave of relatives and friends; he entrusted household affairs to Gong, indicated where he wished to be buried, provided for orphaned and helpless kinsmen without means of support, and addressed his students in several hundred words on self-cultivation and the pursuit of the Way. Two days later he died, at the age of forty-seven. Scholars honored him as Master Pingshan. Gong has a separate biography.
8
呂祖謙
Lü Zuqian
9
呂祖謙,字伯恭,尚書右丞好問之孫也。 自其祖始居婺州。 祖謙之學本之家庭,有中原文獻之傳。 長從林之奇、汪應辰、胡憲遊,既又友張栻、朱熹,講索益精。
Lü Zuqian, styled Bogong, was the grandson of Hao Wen, Right Vice Director of the Secretariat. From his grandfather's generation onward the family made its home in Wuzhou. Zuqian's learning took root in his own household, which preserved the literary heritage of the Central Plains. In maturity he studied under Lin Zhiqi, Wang Yingchen, and Hu Xian; later he also became friends with Zhang Shi and Zhu Xi, and his inquiry grew ever more refined.
10
初,蔭補入官,後舉進士,復中博學宏詞科,調南外宗教。 丁內艱,居明招山,四方之士爭趨之。 除太學博士,時中都官待次者例補外,添差教授嚴州,尋復召為博士兼國史院編修官、實錄院檢討官。 輪對,勉孝宗留意聖學。 且言:“恢復大事也,規模當定,方略當審。 陛下方廣攬豪傑,共集事功,臣願精加考察,使之確指經畫之實,孰為先後,使嚐試僥幸之說不敢陳於前,然後與一二大臣定成算而次第行之,則大義可伸,大業可復矣。”
At first he entered office through yin privilege; later he passed the jinshi examination and also the erudite and literary exposition examination, and was assigned to the Southern Outer Court Directorate of Sacrifices. While observing mourning for his mother, he lived on Mount Mingzhao, and scholars from all quarters flocked to him. He was appointed Erudite of the Imperial Academy; at that time capital officials awaiting assignment were routinely given supplemental posts outside the capital, and he was made supernumerary professor at Yanzhou. Soon he was recalled as erudite, concurrently serving as compiler in the National History Institute and examiner in the Veritable Records Institute. In rotation audience he urged Emperor Xiaozong to devote attention to sagely learning. He also said: "Recovery is a great undertaking; the overall design must be settled and the strategy carefully weighed. Your Majesty is now broadly gathering heroes and worthies to accomplish great deeds together. Your servant wishes to examine them carefully, so that they may clearly set forth what planning truly requires and what must come first and what after, and so that rash, opportunistic proposals may not be ventured before you. Then, with one or two great ministers, settle the completed plan and carry it out step by step—the great cause may be upheld and the great enterprise restored."
11
召試館職。 先是,召試者率前期從學士院求問目,獨祖謙不然,而其文特典美。 嚐讀陸九淵文,喜之,而未識其人。 考試禮部,得一卷,曰:“此必江西小陸之文也。 ”揭示,果九淵,人服其精鑒。 父憂,免喪,主管台州崇道觀。
He was summoned to the examination for an academy post. Previously, those summoned to such examinations usually sought the topics in advance from the Hanlin Academy; Zuqian alone did not, yet his essay was especially elegant and refined. He once read Lu Jiuyuan's writings and delighted in them, though he had not yet met the man. While examining candidates at the Ministry of Rites, he obtained one scroll and said, "This must be the writing of the younger Lu of Jiangxi. " When the name was revealed, it was indeed Jiuyuan, and people marveled at his keen discernment. After mourning for his father and the end of the mourning period, he served as superintendent of the Chongdao Abbey in Taizhou.
12
越三年,除秘書郎、國史院編修官、實錄院檢討官。 以修撰李燾薦,重修《徽宗實錄》。 書成,進秩。 麵對,言曰:“夫治道體統,上下內外不相侵奪而後安。 鄉者,陛下以大臣不勝任而兼行其事,大臣亦皆親細務而行有司之事,外至監司、守令職任,率為其上所侵而不能令其下。 故豪猾玩官府,郡縣忽省部,掾屬淩長吏,賤人輕柄臣。 平居未見其患,一旦有急,誰與指麾而伸縮之邪? 如曰臣下權任太重,懼其不能無私,則有給、舍以出納焉,有台諫以救正焉,有侍從以詢訪焉。 儻得端方不倚之人分處之,自無專恣之慮,何必屈至尊以代其勞哉? 人之關鬲脈絡少有壅滯,久則生疾。 陛下於左右雖不勞操製,苟玩而弗慮,則聲勢浸長,趨附浸多,過咎浸積,內則懼為陛下所遣而益思壅蔽,外則懼為公議所疾而益肆詆排。 願陛下虛心以求天下之士,執要以總萬事之機。 勿以圖任或誤而謂人多可疑,勿以聰明獨高而謂智足遍察,勿詳於小而忘遠大之計,勿忽於近而忘壅蔽之萌。”
Three years later he was appointed Secretary, compiler in the National History Institute, and examiner in the Veritable Records Institute. On the recommendation of Compiler Li Tao, he undertook a revision of the Veritable Records of Emperor Huizong. When the work was completed, he was promoted in rank. In audience he said: "In the body and structure of governance, security comes only when those above and below and within and without do not encroach upon one another. Formerly Your Majesty, finding great ministers unequal to their tasks, personally took on their duties; the great ministers in turn attended to minute affairs and performed the work of subordinate offices; and extending outward to supervisory commissioners, prefects, and magistrates—all were encroached upon by their superiors and could not command those below them. Thus the powerful and crafty made sport of government offices, prefectures and counties slighted the central ministries, clerks overawed their superiors, and base men held power-holders in contempt. In ordinary times the harm was not apparent; but once an emergency arose, who was there to command and deploy, to expand and contract as needed? If one says that subordinates' authority is too great and fears they cannot remain impartial, there are drafting and reviewing officers to receive and transmit matters, censorial and remonstrance officials to correct errors, and attendants to inquire and consult. If upright and unbiased men are appointed to these posts, there will be no fear of arbitrary power—why must the supreme dignity be bent to take their labor upon itself? In the human body, slight obstruction in the joints and channels soon gives rise to illness. Your Majesty, though not personally managing those at your side, if you treat them lightly and give them no thought, their influence will gradually grow, flatterers will multiply, and faults will accumulate; inwardly they will fear dismissal and think ever more of blocking access; outwardly they will fear public censure and ever more indulge in slander and exclusion. Your servant wishes that Your Majesty, with an open mind, seek out the scholars of the realm and hold fast to essentials to govern the pivot of all affairs. Do not, because appointments may err, deem many men suspect; do not, because your intelligence stands supreme, deem your wisdom sufficient to see all; do not be absorbed in small matters and forget far-reaching plans; do not neglect what is near and forget the sprouting of obstruction."
13
又言:“國朝治體,有遠過前代者,有視前代為未備者。 夫以寬大忠厚建立規模,以禮遜節義成就風俗,此所謂遠過前代者也。 故於俶擾艱危之後,駐蹕東南逾五十年,無纖毫之虞,則根本之深可知矣。 然文治可觀而武績未振,名勝相望而幹略未優,故雖昌熾盛大之時,此病已見。 是以元昊之難,範、韓皆極一時之選,而莫能平殄,則事功之不競從可知矣。 臣謂今日治體視前代未備者,固當激厲而振起。 遠過前代者,尤當愛護而扶持。”
He also said: "In the governing structure of our dynasty, there are aspects that far surpass former ages and aspects that, compared with former ages, are not yet complete. To establish the framework with magnanimity, generosity, and loyalty, and to shape customs with courtesy, deference, and integrity—this is what is meant by far surpassing former ages. Thus after the chaos and peril of upheaval, the court remained in the southeast for more than fifty years without the slightest worry—how deep its foundations are may be readily seen. Yet civil governance is admirable while military achievement has not been revived; famous commanders succeed one another while strategic capacity remains wanting—thus even in a time of flourishing splendor, this malady was already visible. Thus in the crisis with Yuan Hao, Fan and Han were both the finest men of their age, yet could not pacify and destroy him—from this one may see how the dynasty failed to compete in achievement. Your servant holds that where today's governing structure falls short of former ages, it should indeed be roused and strengthened. What far surpasses former ages should all the more be cherished and upheld."
14
遷著作郎,以末疾,請祠歸。 先是,書肆有書曰《聖宋文海》,孝宗命臨安府校正刊行。 學士周必大言:《文海》去取差謬,恐難傳後,盍委館職銓擇,以成一代之書? 孝宗以命祖謙。 遂斷自中興以前,崇雅黜浮,類為百五十卷,上之,賜名《皇朝文鑒》。
He was transferred to Compiler; because of a chronic illness, he requested a sacrificial appointment and returned home. Earlier, bookshops carried a work called Literary Ocean of the Holy Song; Emperor Xiaozong ordered the Lin'an prefecture to correct and publish it. Academician Zhou Bida said: The Literary Ocean's selections are flawed and may be hard to pass down to posterity—why not commission academy officials to select and compile a book worthy of the age? Emperor Xiaozong entrusted the task to Zuqian. He then selected works from before the Restoration, exalting the elegant and rejecting the frivolous, and arranged them in one hundred fifty juan; when he presented the work, it was granted the name Mirror of Literature of the Imperial Court.
15
詔除直秘閣。 時方重職名,非有功不除,中書舍人陳爓駁之。 孝宗批旨云:“館閣之職,文史為先。 祖謙所進,采取精詳,有益治道,故以寵之,可即命詞。 ”爓不得已草制。 尋主管衝祐觀。 明年,除著作郎兼國史院編修官。 卒,年四十五。 諡曰成。
An edict appointed him Direct Attendant of the Secretariat Library. At that time office titles were highly valued and were not granted without merit; Drafting Officer Chen Yan lodged an objection. Emperor Xiaozong wrote in marginal comment: "In academy posts, literature and history come first. What Zuqian has presented was selected with precision and benefits the way of governance; therefore he is to be honored—draft the appointment edict at once. " Yan had no choice but to draft the edict. Soon afterward he served as superintendent of the Chongyou Abbey. The following year he was appointed Compiler, concurrently serving as compiler in the National History Institute. He died at the age of forty-five. His posthumous title was Cheng.
16
祖謙學以關、洛為宗,而旁稽載籍,不見涯涘。 心平氣和,不立崖異,一時英偉卓犖之士皆歸心焉。 少卞急,一日,誦孔子言:“躬自厚而薄責於人”,忽覺平時忿懥渙然冰釋。 朱熹嚐言:“學如伯恭,方是能變化氣質。 ”其所講畫,將以開物成務,既臥病,而任重道遠之意不衰。 居家之政,皆可為後世法。 修《讀詩記》、《大事記》,皆未成書。 考定《古周易》、《書說》、《閫範》、《官箴》、《辨誌錄》、《歐陽公本末》,皆行於世。 晚年會友之地曰麗澤書院,在金華城中,既歿。 郡人即而祠之。 子延年。
Zuqian's learning took the Guan and Luo schools as its foundation, while he also consulted records broadly without limit. Even-tempered and mild, he did not set himself apart; all the outstanding men of the age gave him their hearts. In youth he was impetuous; one day, reciting Confucius's words—"Be strict with yourself and make light demands on others"—he suddenly felt his usual anger melt away like ice. Zhu Xi once said: "Only learning like Bogong's truly transforms one's temperament. " What he taught and planned was meant to open things up and accomplish great tasks; though he took to his sickbed, his resolve to bear heavy responsibility and reach far did not fade. His household governance could all serve as models for later generations. He compiled Records of Reading the Odes and Records of Great Affairs, but neither was completed. He collated the Ancient Book of Changes, Expositions on the Documents, Inner Standards, Admonitions for Officials, Records of Distinguishing Ambitions, and Origins and End of Master Ouyang—all circulated in his day. In his later years the place where he met friends was the Lizhe Academy in Jinhua city; after his death, the people of the prefecture at once established a shrine to him. His son was Yanian.
17
蔡元定
Cai Yuanding
18
蔡元定,字季通,建州建陽人。 生而穎悟,八歲能詩,日記數千言。 父發,博覽群書,號牧堂老人,以程氏《語錄》、邵氏《經世》、張氏《正蒙》授元定,曰:“此孔、孟正脈也。 ”元定深涵其義。 既長,辨析益精。 登西山絕頂,忍饑啖薺讀書。
Cai Yuanding, styled Jitong, was a native of Jianyang in Jianzhou. From birth he was clever; at eight he could compose poetry and each day wrote several thousand words from memory. His father Fa read widely in all books and styled himself the Old Man of Mutang; he taught Yuanding the Cheng family's Analects, the Shao family's Treatise on Ordering the World, and the Zhang family's Correcting Obscurity, saying, "This is the true lineage of Confucius and Mencius. " Yuanding deeply absorbed their meaning. When he grew up, his analysis grew ever more refined. He climbed to the summit of West Mountain, enduring hunger and eating shepherd's purse while he studied.
19
聞朱熹名,往師之。 熹扣其學,大驚曰:“此吾老友也,不當在弟子列。 ”遂與對榻講論諸經奧義,每至夜分。 四方來學者,熹必俾先從元定質正焉。 太常少卿尤袤、秘書少監楊萬里聯疏薦於朝,召之,堅以疾辭。 築室西山,將為終焉之計。
Hearing of Zhu Xi's fame, he went to study under him. Xi questioned his learning and was greatly astonished, saying, "This is my old friend; he should not be ranked among disciples. " Thereupon they shared a couch and discussed the profound meanings of the classics, often until midnight. Scholars who came from all directions—Xi always had them seek Yuanding's correction and verification first. Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices You Mao and Vice Director of the Secretariat Yang Wanli jointly submitted memorials recommending him to the court. He was summoned, but firmly declined on the grounds of illness. He built a house on West Mountain, planning to live out his days there.
20
時韓侂胄擅政,設偽學之禁,以空善類。 台諫承風,專肆排擊,然猶未敢誦言攻朱熹。 至沈繼祖、劉三傑為言官,始連疏詆熹,並及元定。 元定簡學者劉礪曰:“化性起偽,烏得無罪! ”未幾,果謫道州。 州縣捕元定甚急,元定聞命,不辭家即就道。 熹與從遊者數百人餞別蕭寺中,坐客興歎,有泣下者。 熹微視元定,不異平時,因喟然曰:“友朋相愛之情,季通不挫之誌,可謂兩得矣。 ”元定賦詩曰:“執手笑相別,無為兒女悲。 ”眾謂宜緩行,元定曰:“獲罪於天,天可逃乎? ”杖屨同其子沉行三千里,腳為流血,無幾微見言麵。
At the time Han Tuozhou monopolized power, established a proscription against so-called "False Learning," and thereby purged worthy men from office. Censorial and remonstrance officials followed the prevailing wind and devoted themselves to attacks, yet still did not dare openly denounce Zhu Xi by name. Only when Shen Jizu and Liu Sanjie became remonstrance officials did they begin submitting successive memorials slandering Xi and implicating Yuanding as well. Yuanding wrote to his student Liu Li, saying, "If you transform nature, you produce falsity—how can that be guiltless!" Before long, he was indeed banished to Daozhou. The prefecture and county authorities pursued Yuanding with great urgency. Upon receiving the order, he set out at once without even bidding farewell to his family. Xi and several hundred followers saw him off at a Buddhist temple. The guests were moved to sigh, and some wept. Xi glanced at Yuanding and found him unchanged from ordinary times. He thereupon sighed and said, "The affection of friends who love one another, and Jitong's undaunted resolve—both may be said to have been fully attained." Yuanding composed a poem, saying, "We clasp hands and part with smiles—do not give way to womanish grief. The crowd said he ought to travel slowly, but Yuanding said, "Having offended Heaven, can one flee from Heaven? Leaning on his staff and wearing sandals, he traveled three thousand li with his son Chen. His feet bled, yet not the slightest sign of distress showed on his face.
21
至舂陵,遠近來學者日眾,州士子莫不趨席下以聽講說。 有名士挾才簡傲、非笑前修者,亦心服謁拜,執弟子禮甚恭。 人為之語曰:“初不敬,今納命。 ”愛元定者謂宜謝生徒,元定曰:“彼以學來,何忍拒之? 若有禍患,亦非閉門塞竇所能避也。 ”貽書訓諸子曰:“獨行不愧影,獨寢不愧衾,勿以吾得罪故遂懈。 ”一日,謂沉曰:“可謝客,吾欲安靜,以還造化舊物。 ”閱三日卒。 侂胄既誅,贈迪功郎,賜諡文節。
When he reached Chunling, scholars came from near and far in ever-growing numbers, and every gentleman of the prefecture hurried to sit beneath his mat and hear his lectures. Even noted scholars who relied on their talent to be curt and arrogant and who mocked their predecessors came to submit in heartfelt respect, paying the disciple's salutation with great reverence. People said of this, "At first they did not revere him; now they submit their lives." Those who cared for Yuanding said he ought to turn away his students, but Yuanding said, "They come for learning—how can I bear to refuse them? If disaster should come, it is not something that closing the door and blocking the entrance could avoid. He sent a letter instructing his sons, saying, "Walk alone without shame before your shadow; sleep alone without shame beneath your coverlet—do not slacken because I have been punished. One day he said to Chen, "You may decline visitors; I wish for quiet, to return to nature what was originally hers. Three days later he died. After Tuozhou was executed, Yuanding was posthumously granted the rank of Diligence-in-Office Gentleman and given the posthumous title Cultured Integrity.
22
元定於書無所不讀,於事無所不究。 義理洞見大原,下至圖書、禮樂、制度,無不精妙。 古書奇辭奧義,人所不能曉者,一過目輒解。 熹嚐曰:“人讀易書難,季通讀難書易。 ”熹疏釋《四書》及為《易》、《詩》傳、《通鑒綱目》,皆與元定往復參訂。 《啟蒙》一書,則屬元定起稿。 嚐曰:“造化微妙,惟深於理者能識之,吾與季通言而不厭也。 ”及葬,以文誄之曰:“精詣之識,卓絕之才,不可屈之誌,不可窮之辯,不復可得而見矣。 ”學者尊之曰西山先生。
Yuanding read everything in books and investigated everything in practical affairs. In principle and meaning he penetrated to the great root, and down to documents and records, rites and music, and institutions, there was nothing in which he was not exquisite. Strange words and abstruse meanings in ancient books that others could not understand, he grasped at a single reading. Xi once said, "For others easy books are hard to read; for Jitong hard books are easy." Xi's annotated explications of the Four Books, and his commentaries on the Changes and the Odes and the Outline and Details of the Comprehensive Mirror, were all repeatedly revised through exchange with Yuanding. The book Elementary Learning, moreover, was entrusted to Yuanding to draft. He once said, "The subtlety of creation is recognized only by those deeply versed in principle; I never tire of speaking with Jitong." When Yuanding was buried, Xi composed a funeral elegy for him, saying, "Penetrating insight, transcendent talent, a will that could not be bent, and disputation that could not be exhausted—none of these can be seen again. Scholars honored him as Master of West Mountain.
23
其平生問學,多寓於熹書集中。 所著書有《大衍詳說》、《律呂新書》、《燕樂》、《原辯》、《皇極經世》、《太玄潛虛指要》、《洪範解》、《八陣圖說》,熹為之序。
His lifelong pursuit of learning is largely preserved in Xi's collected writings. Books he authored include Detailed Explanation of the Great Evolution, New Book on Pitch Pipes, Banquet Music, Original Discrimination, Treatise on the Supreme Ultimate and the Ordering of the World, Essential Points of the Hidden Void of the Supreme Mystery, Explication of the Great Plan, and Explanation of the Eight Formations; Xi wrote prefaces for them all.
24
子淵、沉,皆躬耕不仕。 淵有《周易訓解》。
His sons Yuan and Chen both farmed with their own hands and did not take office. Yuan authored an Exegesis and Explanation of the Zhou Changes.
25
子沉
Son: Chen
26
沉字仲默,少從朱熹遊。 熹晚欲著《書傳》,未及為,遂以屬沉。 《洪範》之數,學者久失其傳,元定獨心得之,然未及論著,曰:“成吾書者沉也。 ”沉受父師之托,沈潛反復者數十年,然後成書,發明先儒之所未及。 其於《洪範》數,謂:“體天地之撰者《易》之象,紀天地之撰者《範》之數。 數始於一奇,象成於二偶。 奇者數之所以立,偶者數之所以行。 故二四而八,八卦之象也; 三三而九,九疇之數也。 由是八八而又八八之為四千九十六,而象備矣; 九九而又九九之為六千五百六十一,而數周矣。 《易》更四聖而象已著,《範》錫神禹而數不傳。 後之作者,昧象數之原,窒變通之妙,或即象而為數,或反數而擬象,牽合傅會,自然之數益晦焉。”
Chen, styled Zhongmo, studied under Zhu Xi from youth. In his later years Xi wished to compose a Commentary on the Documents but did not complete it, and so entrusted the task to Chen. The numbers of the Great Plan had long been lost to scholars; Yuanding alone grasped them in his heart, yet had not yet set them down in writing, saying, "The one who will complete my book is Chen." Chen received the trust of father and teacher and pondered repeatedly for several decades before completing the book, elucidating what earlier Confucians had not yet reached. Regarding the numbers of the Great Plan, he said, "What embodies the operations of Heaven and Earth are the images of the Changes; what records the operations of Heaven and Earth are the numbers of the Great Plan." Numbers begin with one odd; images are formed from two evens. The odd is that by which number is established; the even is that by which number operates. Thus two fours make eight—the images of the Eight Trigrams; three threes make nine—the numbers of the Nine Categories. From this, eight times eight and again eight times eight make four thousand ninety-six, and the images are complete; nine times nine and again nine times nine make six thousand five hundred sixty-one, and the numbers are fully cyclical. The Changes passed through four sages and the images were fixed; the Great Plan was bestowed upon Divine Yu, yet its numbers were not transmitted. Later authors, ignorant of the origin of images and numbers and obstructing the subtlety of change and transformation, either derived numbers from images or reversed numbers to simulate images, forcing connections and reading meanings into things, so that the numbers of nature grew ever more obscure.
27
始,從元定謫道州,跋涉數千里,道楚、粵窮僻處,父子相對,常以理義自怡悅。 元定歿,徒步護喪以還。 有遺之金而義不可受者,輒謝卻,之曰:“吾不忍累先人也。 ”年僅三十,屏去舉子業,一以聖賢為師。 隱居九峰,當世名卿物色將薦用之,沉不屑就。 次子抗,別有傳。
At the beginning, when he followed Yuanding into exile at Daozhou, he trudged several thousand li through remote parts of Chu and Yue. Father and son faced one another and often found joy in principle and righteousness. When Yuanding died, Chen escorted the coffin home on foot. When gifts of gold were offered that righteousness would not allow him to accept, he always declined them, saying, "I cannot bear to burden my forebears." At barely thirty he put aside the pursuit of examination degrees and took the sages alone as his teachers. He lived in seclusion on Nine Peaks; eminent ministers of the age sought him out intending to recommend him for office, but Chen disdained to accept. His second son Kang has a separate biography.
28
陸九齡
Lu Jiuling
29
陸九齡,字子壽。 八世祖希聲,相唐昭宗。 孫德遷,五代末,避亂居撫州之金溪。 父賀,以學行為裏人所宗,嚐采司馬氏冠昏喪祭儀行於家,生六子,九齡其第五子也。 幼穎悟端重,十歲喪母,哀毀如成人。 稍長,補郡學弟子員。
Lu Jiuling, styled Zishou. His eighth-generation ancestor Xisheng served as chief minister to Emperor Zhaozong of Tang. His descendant Deqian, at the end of the Five Dynasties, fled turmoil and settled at Jinxi in Fuzhou. His father He was honored by neighbors for learning and conduct. He once adopted Sima Guang's rites for capping, marriage, funeral, and sacrifice and practiced them in the household. He had six sons; Jiuling was the fifth. In youth he was clever, perceptive, and dignified. At ten he lost his mother and mourned with the grief and emaciation of an adult. When he grew somewhat older, he was enrolled as a student of the prefectural school.
30
時秦檜當國,無道程氏學者,九齡獨尊其說。 久之,聞新博士學黃、老,不事禮法,慨然歎曰:“此非吾所願學也。 ”遂歸家,從父兄講學益力。 是時,吏部員外郎許忻有名中朝,退居臨川,少所賓接,一見九齡,與語大說,盡以當代文獻告之。 自是九齡益大肆力於學,翻閱百家,晝夜不倦,悉通陰陽、星曆、五行、卜筮之說。
At the time Qin Gui held power and no one spoke of the learning of the Cheng school; Jiuling alone honored its teachings. After some time he heard that the new Erudite studied the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi and did not observe rites and law. He sighed in indignation and said, "This is not what I wish to study." Thereupon he returned home and applied himself still more vigorously to study with his father and elder brothers. At that time Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel Xu Xin was famed at court. Retired to Linchuan, he rarely received guests, but upon one meeting with Jiuling he was greatly delighted in conversation and told him everything he knew of contemporary documents and institutions. From then on Jiuling applied himself to learning with redoubled vigor, reading through the hundred schools day and night without tiring, and thoroughly mastering the theories of yin and yang, astronomy and calendrics, the Five Phases, and divination.
31
性周謹,不肯苟簡涉獵。 入太學,司業汪應辰舉為學錄。 登乾道五年進士第。 調桂陽軍教授,以親老道遠改興國軍,未上,會湖南茶寇剽廬陵,聲搖旁郡,人心震攝。 舊有義社以備寇,郡從眾請,以九齡主之,門人多不悅。 九齡曰:“文事武備,一也。 古者有征討,公卿即為將帥,比閭之長,則五兩之率也。 士而恥此,則豪俠武斷者專之矣。 ”遂領其事,調度屯禦皆有法。 寇雖不至,而郡縣倚以為重。 暇則與鄉之子弟習射,曰:“是固男子之事也。 ”歲惡,有剽劫者過其門,必相戒曰:“是家射多命中,無自取死。”
By nature he was thorough and careful and would not casually skim or dabble. He entered the Imperial College, and Vice Director Wang Yingchen recommended him as Recorder of Learning. He passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of the Qiandao reign. He was appointed instructor at Guiyang Prefecture, but because his parents were old and the road was far, he was transferred to Xingguo Prefecture. Before he took up the post, Hunan tea bandits raided Luling, and the alarm shook neighboring prefectures and struck fear into people's hearts. There had long been a volunteer defense society to guard against bandits. The prefecture, following the people's request, put Jiuling in charge of it, and many of his disciples were displeased. Jiuling said, "Civil affairs and military preparedness are one." In antiquity when there were campaigns, high ministers themselves became generals; the heads of neighborhoods were leaders of groups of five households. If gentlemen are ashamed of this, then bold ruffians who take the law into their own hands will monopolize it. Thereupon he took charge of the matter; in deployment, garrisoning, and defense he had methods for everything. Although the bandits did not come, the prefecture and counties relied on him as a mainstay. In his spare time he practiced archery with the young men of the district, saying, "This is indeed a man's business." In a bad year, when plunderers passed his gate, they always warned one another, saying, "That household shoots with great accuracy—do not bring death on yourselves.
32
及至興國,地濱大江,俗儉嗇而鮮知學。 九齡不以職閑自佚,益嚴規矩,肅衣冠,如臨大眾,勸綏引翼,士類興起。 不滿歲,以繼母憂去。 服除,調全州教授。 未上,得疾。 一日晨興,坐床上與客語,猶以天下學術人才為念。 至夕,整襟正臥而卒。 年四十九。 寶慶二年,特贈朝奉郎、直秘閣,賜諡文達。
When he reached Xingguo, the place bordered the great river; the customs were frugal and stingy, and few knew learning. Jiuling did not relax because his office was idle. He tightened rules all the more, kept his cap and robes in order as if facing a great assembly, and by encouragement, reassurance, guidance, and support raised up the community of scholars. Before a full year had passed, he left office to observe mourning for his stepmother. When mourning ended, he was appointed instructor at Quanzhou. Before he took up the post, he fell ill. One morning he rose, sat on his bed conversing with a guest, and still spoke with concern for the learning and talent of the realm. By evening he straightened his robe, lay properly, and died. He was forty-nine. In the second year of the Baoqing reign he was specially granted the rank of Court Gentleman for Appeasing the Dynasty and Direct Attendant at the Secretariat, and given the posthumous title Cultured Penetration.
33
九齡嚐繼其父誌,益修禮學,治家有法。 闔門百口,男女以班各供其職,閨門之內嚴若朝廷。 而忠敬樂易,鄉人化之,皆遜弟焉。 與弟九淵相為師友,和而不同,學者號“二陸”。 有來問學者,九齡從容啟告,人人自得。 或未可與語,則不發。 嚐曰:“人之惑有難以口舌爭者,言之激,適固其意; 少需,未必不自悟也。”
Jiuling once continued his father's aims and further cultivated ritual learning; in governing the household he had methods. The whole household numbered a hundred mouths; men and women each in their rank performed their duties, and within the inner quarters discipline was as strict as at court. Yet he was loyal, reverent, cheerful, and easygoing, and the villagers were transformed by him, all becoming deferential among brothers. With his younger brother Jiuyuan he were teacher and friend to each other, harmonious yet different; scholars called them "the Two Lus." When someone came to inquire about learning, Jiuling would unhurriedly instruct him, and each person gained his own understanding. If someone was not yet fit to converse with, he would not speak. He once said, "Some of people's confusions cannot be settled by tongue and lips; speak too sharply and you only fix their error more firmly; wait a little, and they may well come to understand on their own."
34
廣漢張栻與九齡不相識,晚歲以書講學,期以世道之重。 呂祖謙常稱之曰:“所誌者大,所據者實。 有肯綮之阻,雖積九仞之功不敢遂; 有毫厘之偏,雖立萬夫之表不敢安。 公聽並觀,卻立四顧,弗造於至平至粹之地,弗措也。 ”兄九韶。
Zhang Shi of Guanghan did not know Jiuling, but in his later years exchanged letters to discuss learning, looking to the weighty affairs of the age. Lü Zuqian often praised him, saying, "What he aspired to was great; what he relied on was solid." Where there was obstruction at the vital joint, though he had piled up nine fathoms of effort he did not dare press on; where there was bias of a hair's breadth, though he stood as a model for ten thousand men he did not dare rest secure. He hears with an open ear and sees with an even eye, standing apart to survey all quarters—yet because he never reaches that ground of perfect balance and clarity, he never knows where to put his hand. "Brother Jiu Shao."
35
兄九韶
Jiu Shao, elder brother of the subject above
36
九韶,字子美。 其學淵粹。 隱居山中,晝之言行,夜必書之。 其家累世義居,一人最長者為家長,一家之事聽命焉。 歲遷子弟分任家事,凡田疇、租稅、出內、庖爨、賓客之事,各有主者。 九韶以訓戒之辭為韻語,晨興,家長率眾子弟謁先祠畢,擊鼓誦其辭,使列聽之。 子弟有過,家長會眾子弟責而訓之,不改,則撻之,終不改,度不可容,則言之官府,屏之遠方焉。 九韶所著有《梭山文集》、《家製》、《州郡圖》。
Jiu Shao, whose courtesy name was Zimei. His scholarship ran deep and ran clear. He lived in seclusion among the mountains, and each night set down in writing whatever he had done or said by day. For generations his clan had lived as one household under shared duty: the eldest served as patriarch, and the whole family took its orders from him. Every year the younger members rotated through the household duties—fields and rents, receipts and disbursements, the kitchen, and the receiving of guests—each task with its own steward. Jiu Shao cast his admonitions into rhymed verse. Each morning, once the patriarch had led the younger men in obeisance at the ancestral shrine and struck the drum, they would recite his words in ranks for all to hear. When a younger member fell into fault, the patriarch would gather the whole company to rebuke and instruct him. If he would not mend his ways, he was flogged; if he still would not mend them and was judged beyond forbearance, the matter was brought before the magistrates and he was sent away to a distant place. Among Jiu Shao's writings were the Collected Works of Suoshan, Household Regulations, and Maps of Prefectures and Commanderies.
37
陸九淵
Lu Jiuyuan
38
陸九淵,字子靜。 生三四歲,問其父天地何所窮際,父笑而不答。 遂深思,至忘寢食。 及總角,舉止異凡兒,見者敬之。 謂人曰:“聞人誦伊川語,自覺若傷我者。 ”又曰:“伊川之言,奚為與孔子、孟子之言不類? 近見其間多有不是處。 ”初讀《論語》,即疑有子之言支離。 他日讀古書,至“宇宙”二字,解者曰“四方上下曰宇,往古來今曰宙”,忽大省曰:“宇宙內事乃己分內事,己分內事乃宇宙內事。 ”又嘗曰:“東海有聖人出焉,此心同也,此理同也。 至西海、南海、北海有聖人出,亦莫不然。 千百世之上有聖人出焉,此心同也,此理同也。 至於千百世之下有聖人出,此心此理,亦無不同也。”
Lu Jiuyuan, whose courtesy name was Zijing. When he was three or four years old, he asked his father where heaven and earth came to an end. His father only laughed and did not answer. He brooded on the question until he forgot both food and sleep. By the time he had bound his hair in youth, his manner was unlike that of other boys, and all who saw him treated him with deference. He once said to others, "When I hear people recite the words of Cheng Yi, I feel as if they are cutting into me. "He also said, "Why do Yichuan's words not resemble those of Confucius and Mencius? On closer reading I find many places where he is simply wrong." The first time he read the Analects, he already suspected that Youzi's sayings were piecemeal and off the mark. On another day, reading an ancient text, he came upon the word "cosmos." The gloss read: "The four quarters and what lies above and below constitute space; what was and what will be constitute time." Suddenly he saw it whole and cried, "Affairs of the cosmos are affairs of the self; affairs of the self are affairs of the cosmos." He also said, "Should a sage arise east of the sea, this mind would be the same, and this principle would be the same. Should sages arise on the western, southern, or northern seas, it would be no different. A thousand or ten thousand generations ago, when sages arose, this mind was the same and this principle was the same. And should sages arise a thousand or ten thousand generations hence, this mind and this principle would still be no different."
39
後登乾道八年進士第。 至行在,士爭從之遊。 言論感發,聞而興起者甚眾。 教人不用學規,有小過,言中其情,或至流汗。 有懷於中而不能自曉者,為之條析其故,悉如其心。 亦有相去千里,聞其大概而得其為人。 嘗曰:“念慮之不正者,頃刻而知之,即可以正。 念慮之正者,頃刻而失之,即為不正。 有可以形跡觀者,有不可。 以形跡觀人,則不足以知人。 必以形跡繩人,則不足以救之。 ”初調隆興靖安縣主簿。 丁母憂,服闋,改建寧崇安縣。 以少師史浩薦,召審察,不赴。 侍從復薦,除國子正,教諸生無異在家時。 除敕令所刪定官。
Later he passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of the Qiandao era. When he reached the capital, men of learning vied to follow him. His speech awakened and stirred the heart; many who heard him rose up transformed. In instruction he kept no formal rules of study. For a small fault, a single word that struck the truth could bring sweat to the brow. For those who carried feelings in the breast they could not themselves discern, he would lay out the causes one by one until they matched the heart exactly. There were even men a thousand li away who, hearing only the broad outline of his teaching, could know the man he was. He once said, "When a thought goes wrong, know it in the turning of a moment and you may set it right at once. When a thought is right, lose it in the turning of a moment and it becomes wrong. Some things may be read in outward conduct; some may not. Judge a man only by what can be seen, and you will never truly know him. Measure a man only by what can be seen, and you will never truly save him." At first he was appointed chief clerk of Jing'an County under Longxing. After mourning his mother and completing the period of grief, he was reassigned to Chong'an County in Jianning. On the recommendation of Junior Mentor Shi Hao, he was summoned for imperial review but did not go. The palace attendants recommended him again, and he was made Rectifier of the Directorate of Education, instructing the students no differently than he had at home. He was then appointed reviser at the Office for the Compilation of Edicts and Ordinances.
40
九淵少聞靖康間事,慨然有感於復仇之義。 至是,訪知勇士,與議恢復大略。 因輪對,遂陳五論:一論仇恥未復,願博求天下之俊傑,相與舉論道經邦之職; 二論願致尊德樂道之誠; 三論知人之難; 四論事當馴致而不可驟; 五論人主不當親細事。 帝稱善。 未幾,除將作監丞,為給事中王信所駁,詔主管台州崇道觀。 還鄉,學者輻湊,每開講席,戶外屨滿,耆老扶杖觀聽。 自號象山翁,學者稱象山先生。 嘗謂學者曰:“汝耳自聰,目自明,事父自能孝,事兄自能弟,本無欠闕,不必它求,在乎自立而已。 ”又曰:“此道與溺於利欲之人言猶易,與溺於意見之人言卻難。 ”或勸九淵著書,曰:“《六經》注我,我注《六經》。 ”又曰:“學苟知道,《六經》皆我注腳。”
In youth Jiuyuan had heard tell of the Jingkang disaster and was seized by the call to avenge the nation's humiliation. By then he had sought out bold fighting men and debated with them the broad strategy of recovery. At a rotating audience before the throne he submitted five memorials. The first addressed the nation's shame still unavenged and urged the broad search for outstanding men of the realm to share in the work of expounding the Way and ordering the state. The second urged the emperor to show the utmost sincerity in honoring virtue and delighting in the Way. The third spoke of how hard it is to know men. The fourth held that great affairs must be brought to fruition by degrees and cannot be rushed. The fifth argued that the ruler ought not personally to trifle with small matters. The emperor commended them. Before long he was made Deputy Director of the Directorate of Palace Buildings, but Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang Xin impeached him, and he was ordered to take charge of the Chongdao Abbey in Taizhou. When he returned home, scholars pressed in upon him. Whenever he opened his lecture hall, shoes overflowed the threshold, and old men leaned on their staves to listen. He took for himself the style Old Man of Elephant Mountain, and scholars addressed him as Master Xiangshan. He once told his students, "Your ears are already sharp, your eyes already clear. Serve your father and you are already filial; serve your elder brother and you are already dutiful. Nothing is missing in you, and you need seek nothing outside yourselves—only stand firm on your own." He also said, "This Way is easier to speak of to a man drowning in profit and desire than to a man drowning in opinions." When others urged Jiuyuan to write books, he said, "The Six Classics annotate me—I do not annotate the Six Classics. "He also said, "Once a man truly knows the Way in his learning, the Six Classics become no more than footnotes to him."
41
光宗即位,差知荊門軍。 民有訴者,無早暮,皆得造於庭,復令其自持狀以追,為立期,皆如約而至,即為酌情決之,而多所勸釋。 其有涉人倫者,使自毀其狀,以厚風俗。 唯不可訓者,始置之法。 其境內官吏之貪廉,民俗之習尚善惡,皆素知之。 有訴人殺其子者,九淵曰:“不至是。 ”及追究,其子果無恙。 有訴竊取而不知其人,九淵出二人姓名,使捕至,訊之伏辜,盡得所竊物還訴者,且宥其罪使自新。 因語吏以某所某人為暴,翌日有訴遇奪掠者,即其人也,乃加追治。 吏大驚,郡人以為神。 申嚴保伍之法,盜賊或發,擒之不逸一人,群盜屏息。
When Emperor Guangzong took the throne, Jiuyuan was appointed military prefect of Jingmen. When the people came with grievances, early or late they were all admitted to his hall. He would have them carry their own petitions to pursue the matter, set a date—and all arrived as promised. He then decided each case according to its merits, often persuading the parties and sending them home reconciled. In cases touching family and human ties, he made the parties tear up their own petitions, so as to strengthen public morals. Only those who could not be reasoned with were handed over to the law. He already knew which officials in his jurisdiction were corrupt and which were upright, and which local customs were sound and which were vicious. One man sued another for killing his son. Jiuyuan said, "It has not gone that far." When the matter was pursued, the son was indeed alive and well. Another man complained that goods had been stolen but could not name the thief. Jiuyuan gave two men's names, had them seized, and under interrogation they confessed. All that had been stolen was returned to the complainant, and Jiuyuan pardoned their crimes so they might begin anew. He then told his clerks that a certain man in a certain place was given to violence. The next day a man came to report a robbery on the road—the culprit was exactly that man, and severer punishment was added. The clerks were thunderstruck, and the people of the prefecture took him for one touched by the divine. He enforced the mutual-responsibility system with rigor. Whenever thieves struck, not one escaped; bands of robbers fell silent.
42
荊門為次邊而無城。 九淵以為:“郡居江、漢之間,為四集之地,南捍江陵,北援襄陽,東護隨、郢之肋,西當光化、夷陵之衝,荊門固則四鄰有所恃,否則有背肋腹心之虞,由唐之湖陽以趨山,則其涉漢之處已在荊門之脅; 由鄧之鄧城以涉漢,則其趨山之處已在荊門之腹。 自此之外,間道之可馳,漢津之可涉,坡陀不能以限馬,灘瀨不能以濡軌者,所在尚多。 自我出奇製勝,徼敵兵之腹肋者,亦正在此。 雖四山環合,易於備禦,而城池闕然,將誰與守? ”乃請於朝而城之,自是民無邊憂。 罷關市吏譏察而減民稅,商賈畢集,稅入日增。 舊用銅錢,以其近邊,以鐵錢易之,而銅有禁,復令貼納。 九淵曰:“既禁之矣,又使之輸邪? ”盡蠲之。 故事,平時教軍伍射,郡民得與,中者均賞,薦其屬不限流品。 嘗曰:“古者無流品之分,而賢不肖之辨嚴; 後世有流品之分,而賢不肖之辨略。 ”每旱,禱即雨,郡人異之。 逾年,政行令修,民俗為變,諸司交薦。 丞相周必大嘗稱荊門之政,以為躬行之效。
Jingmen stood on the secondary frontier yet had no walled city. Jiuyuan argued that the prefecture lay between the Yangtze and the Han, a crossroads where four routes met—shielding Jiangling to the south, bolstering Xiangyang to the north, guarding the ribs of Sui and Ying to the east, and meeting the thrust of Guanghua and Yiling to the west. If Jingmen stood firm, the four neighboring regions would have something to lean on; if not, back, flank, and heart would all be exposed. From Tangzhou's Huyang toward the mountains, the crossing of the Han already lay under Jingmen's armpit. From Dengzhou's Dengcheng, to cross the Han and strike toward the mountains was already to enter Jingmen's belly. Beyond these, bypaths fit for a gallop, Han fords easy to wade, slopes that could not check a horse, and shallows that could not bog a wheel—such openings were still many. For us too, to win by unexpected strokes against the enemy's flank and vitals—the opportunity lay precisely here. Though mountains closed in on four sides and defense was easy, with neither wall nor moat in place—who was to hold it?" He therefore petitioned the court to build the walls, and from that time the people no longer lived in fear of the border. He abolished the market gate inspectors and lightened the people's taxes. Merchants flocked in, and revenue rose day by day. Copper cash had formerly been in use, but because the region lay near the frontier it was switched to iron cash. Copper was forbidden—yet the people were still required to pay an additional levy. Jiuyuan said, "You forbid it—and then make them pay for it again?" He remitted the levy in full. By established practice, in peacetime the garrison trained in archery and the people of the prefecture might join; those who hit the mark shared the reward equally, and recommendations of subordinates were not confined by rank and pedigree. He once said, "In antiquity there was no division by pedigree, yet the line between the worthy and the unworthy was drawn sharp. In later ages there were divisions by pedigree, yet the line between the worthy and the unworthy grew faint." Whenever drought fell, rain followed his prayer, and the people of the prefecture marveled. After little more than a year, his policies were in force, orders were obeyed, and local customs changed. Office after office sent up recommendations on his behalf. Chancellor Zhou Bida once praised the government of Jingmen as proof of what a man achieves when he truly lives what he teaches.
43
一日,語所親曰:“先教授兄有誌天下,竟不得施以沒。 ”又謂家人曰:“吾將死矣。 ”又告僚屬曰:“某將告終。 ”會禱雪,明日,雪。 乃沐浴更衣端坐,後二日日中而卒。 會葬者以千數,諡文安。
One day he said to those close to him, "My elder brother, the former instructor, had the realm in his heart, yet died before he could put his will into action." He also told his household, "I am about to die." He also told his staff, "My time has come." At the time he was praying for snow, and the next day snow fell. He bathed, changed his garments, and sat upright. Two days later, at noon, he died. Those who came to his funeral numbered in the thousands. He was given the posthumous title Wen'an.
44
初,九淵嘗與朱熹會鵝湖,論辨所學多不合。 及熹守南康,九淵訪之,熹與至白鹿洞,九淵為講君子小人喻義利一章,聽者至有泣下。 熹以為切中學者隱微深痼之病。 至於無極而太極之辨,則貽書往來,論難不置焉。 門人楊簡、袁燮、舒璘、沈煥能傳其學云。
Earlier Jiuyuan had once met Zhu Xi at Goose Lake, and their debate over their respective teachings largely ended in disagreement. When Zhu Xi was prefect of Nankang, Jiuyuan came to visit him. Xi accompanied him to White Deer Grotto Academy, where Jiuyuan lectured on the passage about the gentleman understanding righteousness and the petty man understanding profit—some in the audience wept. Zhu Xi felt that the lecture had cut to the hidden, deep-seated sickness of scholarly life. As for their dispute over the Ultimate of Non-Being and the Supreme Ultimate, they exchanged letters back and forth, arguing without end. Among his disciples, Yang Jian, Yuan Xie, Shu Lin, and Shen Huan were able to carry on his teaching.
45
薛季宣
Xue Jixuan
46
薛季宣,字士龍,永嘉人。 起居舍人徽言之子也。 徽言卒時,季宣始六歲,伯父敷文閣待制弼收鞠之。 從弼宦遊,及見渡江諸老,聞中興經理大略。 喜從老校、退卒語,得嶽、韓諸將兵間事甚悉。 年十七,起從荊南帥辟書寫機宜文字,獲事袁溉。 溉嚐從程頤學,盡以其學授之。 季宣既得溉學,於古封建、井田、鄉遂、司馬法之製,靡不研究講畫,皆可行於時。
Xue Jixuan, whose courtesy name was Shilong, was a native of Yongjia. He was the son of the Court Chronicler Xue Huiyin. When Huiyin died, Jixuan was only six years old. His uncle Bi, a Dafu of the Hall of Written Elegance, took him in and raised him. Traveling in his uncle's official retinue, he came to know the elder statesmen who had crossed south over the river and heard at first hand the broad design of the Zhongxing restoration. He loved to talk with old NCOs and retired soldiers and learned the campaigns of Yue Fei's and Han Shizhong's generals in intimate detail. At seventeen he entered service when the Jingnan commander summoned him to write tactical dispatches, and he came to serve under Yuan Gai. Gai had studied with Cheng Yi and taught him everything he knew. After Jixuan had absorbed Gai's teaching, he researched and mapped every detail of the ancient enfeoffment system, well-field allotments, district-and-path administration, and Military Rites regulations, convinced that each could be put into practice in his own day.
47
金兵之未至也,武昌令劉錡鎮鄂渚。 季宣白錡,以武昌形勢直淮、蔡,而兵寡勢弱,宜早為備,錡不聽。 及兵交,稍稍資季宣計畫。 未幾,汪澈宣諭荊襄,而金兵趨江上,詔成閔還師入援。 季宣又說澈以閔既得蔡,有破竹之勢,宜守便宜勿遣,而令其乘勝下潁昌,道陳、汝,趨汴都,金內顧且驚潰,可不戰而屈其兵矣。 澈不聽。
Before the Jin forces arrived, Liu Qi, magistrate of Wuchang, was stationed at Ezhu. Jixuan warned Qi that Wuchang's position opened directly toward Huai and Cai while its garrison was thin and vulnerable, and that defenses should be prepared at once; Qi refused to listen. Once battle was joined, Qi slowly began to rely on Jixuan's plans. Soon afterward Wang Che arrived as imperial commissioner for Jing and Xiang; the Jin armies drove toward the Yangtze, and an edict ordered Cheng Min to pull his army back and march in to reinforce. Jixuan again urged Che that with Min already holding Cai and riding an unstoppable momentum, he should seize the moment and not recall him, but let him strike south to Yingchang, pass through Chen and Ru, and press on Bian—so that the Jin would turn inward in panic and collapse, and their armies might be broken without a fight. Che would not listen.
48
時江、淮仕者聞金兵且至,皆預遣其奴而係馬於庭以待。 季宣獨留家,與民期曰:“吾家即汝家,即有急,吾與汝偕死。 ”民亦自奮。 縣多盜,季宣患之,會有伍民之令,乃行保伍法,五家為保,二保為甲,六甲為隊,因地形便合為總,不以鄉為限,總首、副總首領之。 官族、士族、富族皆附保,蠲其身,俾輸財供總之小用。 諸總必有圃以習射,禁蒱博雜戲,而許以武事角勝負,五日更至庭閱之,而賞其尤者; 不幸死者予棺,復其家三年。 鄉置樓,盜發,伐鼓舉烽,瞬息遍百里。 縣治、白鹿磯、安樂口皆置戍。 復請於宣諭司,得戰艦十,甲三百,羅落之。 守計定,訖兵退,人心不搖。
Officials along the Yangtze and Huai, hearing that the Jin were coming, all sent their servants on ahead and hitched their horses in the courtyard, ready to run. Jixuan alone kept his family in the county and told the people: "My house is your house; if trouble comes, I will die with you. " The people took heart on their own. Bandits were numerous in the county and Jixuan worried over them; when an order arrived on grouping the populace, he put the baowu system into practice—five households to a bao, two bao to a jia, six jia to a dui—then merged units into zong along natural lines without regard to township boundaries, each zong headed by a chief and deputy. Official, scholarly, and wealthy families were all enrolled in the baowu rolls; their personal corvée was waived in return for cash contributions toward each zong's running costs. Each zong maintained a drill ground for archery; dice games and other diversions were banned, but martial contests were allowed, and every five days the winners were reviewed at the magistrate's office and given prizes. Families that suffered a death in service received coffins, and their household taxes were remitted for three years. Each township got a watchtower; at the first sign of bandits, drums sounded and beacons flared, and alarm ran a hundred li in minutes. Garrisons were posted at the county seat, Bailu Rock, and Anle Ford. He also secured from the commissionerate ten warships and three hundred suits of armor and strung them along the line. With defenses in place, when the enemy finally withdrew the populace never lost their nerve.
49
樞密使王炎薦於朝,召為大理寺主簿,未至,為書謝炎曰:“主上天資英特,群臣無將順緝熙之具,幸得遭時,不能格心正始,以建中興之業,徒僥幸功利,誇言以眩俗,雖復中夏,猶無益也。 為今之計,莫若以仁義紀綱為本。 至於用兵,請俟十年之後可也。”
Wang Yan of the Privy Council recommended him to court; he was called up as chief clerk of the Court of Judicial Review, but before he arrived he wrote Yan a letter of refusal: "The Son of Heaven is gifted beyond the ordinary, yet his ministers have no way to guide and steady him; given the moment, they cannot set his heart straight at the start and build a true restoration—they chase quick results and bedazzle the world with empty boasts; even retaking the north would change little. The right course now is to take benevolence, righteousness, and the fundamental norms as the foundation. As for going to war, that should wait ten years.
50
時江、湖大旱,流民北渡江,邊吏復奏淮北民多款塞者,宰相虞允文白遣季宣行淮西,收以實邊。 季宣為表廢田,相原隰,復合肥三十六圩,立二十二莊於黃州故治東北,以戶授屋,以丁授田,頒牛及田器穀種各有差,廩其家,至秋乃止。 凡為戶六百八十有五,分處合肥、黃州間,並邊歸正者振業之。 季宣謂人曰:“吾非為今日利也。 合肥之圩,邊有警,因以斷柵江,保巢湖。 黃州地直蔡衝,諸莊輯則西道有屏蔽矣。 ”光州守宋端友招集北歸者止五戶,而雜舊戶為一百七十,奏以幸賞,季宣按得其實而劾之。 時端友為環列附托難撼,季宣奏上,孝宗怒,屬大理治,端友以憂死。
A severe drought then gripped the Jiang-Huai region; refugees poured north across the Yangtze, and frontier officials reported that many north of the Huai wished to come over; Chancellor Yu Yunwen proposed dispatching Jixuan to western Huai to settle them and thicken the border. Jixuan catalogued fallow land, matched plots to the terrain, rebuilt thirty-six polders at Hefei, and founded twenty-two farming colonies northeast of old Huangzhou, assigning dwellings by household and fields by able-bodied men, issuing oxen, tools, and seed in set amounts and feeding the families until harvest. Six hundred eighty-five households in all were settled between Hefei and Huangzhou, and loyalists coming in from the frontier were likewise given farms to stand on. Jixuan told others: "I am not doing this for a quick return. The Hefei polders, once the frontier is threatened, can bar the river with palisades and shield Chaohu. Huangzhou lies directly on the road to Cai; with the colonies linked, the western approaches gain a shield. " Guangzhou prefect Song Duanyou had registered only five returning northern households but padded the rolls with old residents to reach one hundred seventy and submitted for an imperial favor; Jixuan audited the books, exposed the fraud, and impeached him. Duanyou was wired into patronage networks and seemed untouchable, but when Jixuan's memorial arrived Xiaozong flew into a rage and referred the matter to the Court of Judicial Review; Duanyou died under the strain.
51
季宣還,言於孝宗曰:“左右之人進言者,其情不可不察也。 托正以行邪,偽直以售佞,薦退人物,曾非誦言,遊揚中傷,乃自不意。 一旦號令雖自中出,而其權已歸私門矣。 故齊威之霸,不在阿、即墨之誅賞,而在毀譽者之刑。 臣觀近政,非無阿、即墨之誅賞,奈何毀譽之人自若乎? ”帝曰:“朕方圖之。”
Back at court Jixuan told Xiaozong: "You must read the motives of everyone who whispers in your ear. They wrap deviance in righteousness, peddle sycophancy as blunt honesty, advance and ruin officials without ever speaking straight, and ruin reputations before you know it. Soon commands appear to come from the throne while real power has slipped to private factions. Qi Huan's hegemony did not rest on rewarding Ning Qi and punishing Tian Ji—it rested on executing men who traded in gossip. I see punishments and rewards aplenty today—yet the whisperers carry on untouched. The emperor said: "I am already working on that."
52
季宣又進言曰:“日城淮郡,以臣所見,合肥板幹方立,中使督視,卒卒成之。 臣行過郡,一夕風雨,墮樓五堵。 曆陽南壁闕,而居巢庳陋如故,乃聞有靡錢钜萬而成城四十餘丈者。 陛下安取此! 然外事無足道,咎根未除,臣所深憂。 左右近侍,陰擠正士而陽稱道之,陛下倘因貌言而聽之,臣恐石顯、王鳳、鄭注之智中也。 ”又言:“近或以好名棄士大夫,夫好特為臣子學問之累。 人主為社稷計,唯恐士不好名,誠人人好名畏義,何鄉不立? ”帝稱善,恨得季宣晚,遂進兩官,除大理正。
Jixuan went on: "We wall the Huai commanderies one after another; when I passed Hefei the timber frames had just gone up, eunuch supervisors arrived, and the walls were finished overnight. I traveled through the prefecture; one stormy night five lengths of parapet collapsed. Liyang's south wall gaped open while Juchao stayed as mean as ever, yet I hear of forty-zhang walls thrown up by burning fortunes. Your Majesty, why accept this? Border business is the lesser worry; what keeps me awake is the rot at the root. Men at your elbow quietly push out the upright while praising them in public; if you trust their looks and their lines, I fear you will be played as Xiaozheng was by Shi Xian, Wang Feng, and Zheng Zhu. " He added: "Lately some dismiss officials for 'seeking a name'; yet for a minister, caring about one's name is part of the scholar's discipline. A ruler who thinks of the realm should only fear that his men do not care about their names; if every officer prized reputation and feared wrongdoing, what district would not hold? The emperor approved, lamented that he had found Jixuan so late, promoted him two ranks, and made him rectifier of the Court of Judicial Review.
53
自是,凡奏請論薦皆報可。 以虞允文諱闕失,不樂之。 居七日,出知湖州,會戶部以曆付場務,錙銖皆分隸經總製,諸郡束手無策,季宣言於朝曰:“自經總製立額,州縣鑿空以取贏,雖有奉法吏思寬弛而不得騁。 若復額外征其強半,郡調度顧安所出? 殆復巧取之民,民何以勝! ”戶部譙責愈急,季宣爭之愈強,台諫交疏助之,乃收前令。
After that, every memorial, policy paper, or recommendation he filed was granted. Yu Yunwen, stung by having his lapses aired, took a dislike to him. Seven days later he was posted prefect of Huzhou; the Ministry of Revenue was folding every market tax into the circuit intendant's lump-sum quota, coin by coin, and prefectures had no room to maneuver. Jixuan told the court: "Once the intendant's quota was fixed, counties scraped empty to show a surplus; even honest clerks who wanted relief could not act. If you skim more than half on top of that, where does a prefecture find operating money? You are back to wringing the people by tricks—how can they survive? The ministry berated him harder; he fought back harder; censors piled on in his support, and the order was rescinded.
54
改知常州,未上,卒,年四十。 季宣於《詩》、《書》、《春秋》、《中庸》、《大學》、《論語》皆有訓義,藏於家。 其雜著曰《浪語集》。
He was reassigned prefect of Changzhou; before he reported he died, at forty. Jixuan produced commentaries on the Songs, Documents, Spring and Autumn, Doctrine of the Mean, Great Learning, and Analects, all kept in the family. His collected essays appear as Collected Idle Words.
55
陳傅良
Chen Fuliang
56
陳傅良,字君舉,溫州瑞安人。 初患科舉程文之弊,思出其說為文章,自成一家,人爭傳誦,從者雲合,由是其文擅當世。 當是時,永嘉鄭伯熊、薛季宣皆以學行聞,而伯熊於古人經製治法,討論尤精,傅良皆師事之,而得季宣之學為多。 及入太學,與廣漢張栻、東萊呂祖謙友善。 祖謙為言本朝文獻相承條序,而主敬集義之功得於栻為多。 自是四方受業者愈眾。
Chen Fuliang, courtesy name Junju, was a native of Ruian in Wenzhou. He began by loathing the formulas of civil-service essays, tried to break out with a doctrine of his own in writing, and built a school so distinctive that people copied and recited his pieces until followers packed around him—his prose ruled the day. Zheng Boxiong of Yongjia and Xue Jixuan were then famed for scholarship and character; Boxiong above all dug into classical institutions and statecraft. Fuliang studied under both, but Jixuan's teaching shaped him most. At the Imperial Academy he became close to Zhang Shi of Guanghan and Lü Zuqian of Donglai. Zuqian traced how literary and institutional learning had passed down in the Song, and said his grasp of reverent attentiveness and the cultivation of righteousness owed most to Shi. Students from every quarter multiplied after that.
57
登進士甲科,教授泰州。 參知政事龔茂良才之,薦於朝,改太學錄。 出通判福州。 丞相梁克家領帥事,委成於傅良,傅良平一府曲直,壹以義。 強禦者不得售其私,陰結言官論罷之。
He took jinshi honors in the top tier and served as professor at Taizhou. Vice Grand Councilor Gong Maoliang spotted his talent, recommended him, and he was moved to recorder of the Imperial Academy. He left the capital as vice prefect of Fuzhou. Chief Councilor Liang Kejia commanded the circuit and handed day-to-day business to Fuliang, who straightened every dispute in the prefecture on the single measure of righteousness. Bullies could not get their way; they quietly lined up with the censors and had him removed.
58
後五年,起知桂陽軍。 光宗立,稍遷提舉常平茶鹽、轉運判官。 湖湘民無後,以異姓以嗣者,官利其貲,輒沒入之。 傅良曰:“絕人嗣,非政也。 ”復之幾二千家。 轉浙西提點刑獄。 除吏部員外郎,去朝十四年,至是而歸,須鬢無黑者,都人聚觀嗟歎,號“老陳郎中”。
Five years on he was recalled as prefect of Guiyang Army. After Guangzong took the throne he rose step by step to intendant of Ever-Normal Granaries and tea and salt, and transport vice commissioner. In Hunan and Hubei, childless commoners who adopted heirs from other surnames saw officials seize the property for revenue. Fuliang said: "Snuffing out a man's line is not how you govern." He restored close to two thousand households. He was moved to judicial intendant of western Zhejiang. He was appointed an outer-office director in the Ministry of Personnel; fourteen years away from court had turned every hair gray, and crowds in the capital gathered to gape and sigh, nicknaming him "Old Director Chen."
59
傅良為學,自三代、秦、漢以下靡不研究,一事一物,必稽於極而後已。 而於太祖開創本原,尤為潛心。 及是,因輪對,言曰:“太祖皇帝垂裕後人,以愛惜民力為本。 熙寧以來,用事者始取太祖約束,一切紛更之。 諸路上供歲額,增於祥符一倍。 崇寧重修上供格,頒之天下,率增至十數倍。 其它雜斂,則熙寧以常平寬剩、禁軍闕額之類別項封樁,而無額上供起於元豐,經製起於宣和,總製、月樁起於紹興,皆迄今為額,折帛、和賈之類又不與焉。 茶引盡歸於都茶場,鹽鈔盡歸於榷貨務,秋苗鬥斛十八九歸於綱運,皆不在州縣。 州縣無以供,則豪奪於民,於是取之斛麵、折變、科敷、抑配、贓罰,而民困極矣。 方今之患,何但四夷? 蓋天命之永不永,在民力之寬不寬耳,豈不甚可畏哉? 陛下宜以救民窮為己任,推行太祖未泯之澤,以為萬世無疆之休。”
Fuliang's scholarship ran from the Three Dynasties through Qin and Han with nothing skipped; on every topic he pushed inquiry to the furthest point before he would stop. Taizu's founding design he pursued with special depth. At a rotating audience he said: "Taizu left posterity a single principle—spare the people's strength. From Xining on, men in power took Taizu's restraints and overturned them wholesale. Circuit quotas for upper tribute doubled the Xiangfu baseline. Chongning rewrote the tribute schedules and sent them everywhere; totals routinely jumped tenfold. Other surcharges piled on: Xining sealed Ever-Normal surpluses and vacant military pay; Yuanfeng added quota-free tribute; Xuanhe brought circuit intendant totals; Shaoxing added aggregate and monthly extractions—all still on the books—while silk conversion and mandated purchases sit outside even that. Tea tickets flowed entirely to the capital depot, salt certificates to the monopoly bureau, and eighteen or nineteen parts in ten of autumn grain to the transport gangs—counties kept almost nothing. Starved of revenue, prefectures robbed the people—grain levies, conversion fees, apportionments, forced purchases, penalty exactions—until the people had nothing left. Today's peril is not only the barbarians on four sides. Whether Heaven's mandate lasts depends on whether the people's strength holds; is that not the greater fear? Your Majesty should make ending the people's exhaustion your task, extend Taizu's bounty while it still lingers, and secure blessing for ages to come.
60
且言:“今天下之力竭於養兵,而莫甚於江上之軍。 都統司謂之御前軍馬,雖朝廷不得知; 總領所謂之大軍錢糧,雖版曹不得與。 於是中外之勢分,而事權不一,施行不專,雖欲寬民,其道無由。 誠使都統司之兵與向者在製置司時無異,總領所之財與向者在轉運司時無異,則內外為一體。 內外一體,則寬民力可得而議矣。 ”帝從容嘉納,且勞之曰:“卿昔安在? 朕不見久矣。 其以所著書示朕。 ”退,以《周禮說》十三篇上之,遷秘書少監兼實錄院檢討官、嘉王府讚讀。
He added: "The empire's strength is swallowed feeding troops, and nothing drains it like the Yangtze armies. The regional commanders' troops are called 'Imperial Front' forces—even the court cannot see inside. The aggregate pay offices hold 'grand army' funds—even the Ministry of Revenue cannot touch them. Inside and outside pulled apart, authority splintered, and policy could not run straight; even wanting to lighten the people's load, there was no path. If commanders' troops were again what they were under the pacification commissioner, and aggregate funds what they were under transport, inside and outside would be one body again. With one body, you can finally talk about easing the people's burden. " The emperor listened with evident approval and asked kindly: "Where have you been all this time? I have missed you. Let me see what you have written. " He withdrew and submitted thirteen chapters of Explanations of the Rites of Zhou, and was promoted secretary minor director, with concurrent posts collating the Veritable Records and serving as reader-admonisher to the Jia Prince.
61
紹熙三年,除起居舍人。 明年,兼權中書舍人。 初,光宗之妃黃氏有寵,李皇后妒而殺之。 光宗既聞之,而復因郊祀大風雨,遂震懼得心疾,自是視章疏不時。 於是傅良奏曰:“一國之勢猶身也,壅底則致疾。 今日遷延某事,明日阻節某人,即有奸險乘時為利,則內外之情不接,威福之柄下移,其極至於天變不告,邊警不聞,禍且不測矣! ”帝悟,會疾亦稍平,過重華宮。 而明年重明節,復以疾不往,丞相以下至於太學諸生皆力諫,不聽,而方召內侍陳源為內侍省押班,傅良不草詞,且上疏曰:“陛下之不過宮者,特誤有所疑而積憂成疾,以至此爾。 臣嚐即陛下之心反覆論之,竊自謂深切,陛下亦既許之矣。 未幾中變,以誤為實,而開無端之釁; 以疑為真,而成不療之疾。 是陛下自貽禍也。 ”書奏,帝將從之。 百官班立,以俟帝出。 至禦屏,皇后挽帝回,傅良遂趨上引裾,後叱之。 傅良哭於庭,後益怒,傅良下殿徑行。 詔改秘閣修撰仍兼讚讀,不受。
In Shaoxi year three he was made attendant of the Secretariat. The following year he also served acting drafter in the Secretariat. Earlier, Empress Li had resented Consort Huang, the favorite of Guangzong, and had her killed. Guangzong had already heard the reports, but a violent storm during the suburban sacrifice terrified him into what was taken as a heart disorder; thereafter he reviewed memorials only irregularly. Chen Fuliang then submitted a memorial: "The strength of a nation is like a person's health: when channels are clogged, sickness follows. If you put off one affair today and block another person tomorrow, the cunning will profit from the opening; court and country will stop speaking to each other, power will slip to others, and in the end heavenly portents will not be reported and frontier alarms will not be heard—who knows what calamity may follow!" The emperor took the point; his symptoms also eased somewhat, and he went to Chonghua Palace. The following Chongming festival he again stayed away, pleading illness; from the chief minister down to National University students all urged him in vain, while he was appointing the eunuch Chen Yuan to a senior post in the Inner Attendants Service. Fuliang refused to draft the appointment and wrote: "Your Majesty's absence from the palace comes only from mistaken doubts that festered into illness—that is all. I have argued your Majesty's state of mind back and forth at length and believed I had reached you; your Majesty even agreed. Soon you reversed yourself, treating a mistake as truth and opening a needless breach; treating suspicion as certainty and making an illness that cannot be cured. Your Majesty has brought this trouble on yourself." When the memorial arrived, the emperor was ready to act on it. The officials formed ranks, waiting for the emperor to appear. At the imperial screen the empress pulled the emperor back; Fuliang rushed forward and caught his sleeve, and the empress rebuked him. Fuliang wept in the courtyard; the empress grew furious, and Fuliang left the hall and walked off. He was ordered to remain Compiler at the Secret Repository and Reader, but he declined.
62
寧宗即位,召為中書舍人兼侍讀、直學士院、同實錄院修撰。 會詔朱熹與在外宮觀,傅良言:“熹難進易退,內批之下,舉朝驚愕,臣不敢書行。 ”熹於是進寶文閣待制,與郡。 御史中丞謝深甫論傅良言不顧行,出提舉興國宮。 明年察官交疏,削秩罷。 嘉泰二年復官,起知泉州,辭。 授集英殿修撰,進寶謨閣待制,終於家,年六十七。 諡文節。
When Ningzong succeeded, Fuliang was called back as Secretariat drafter, concurrent lecturer, Hanlin academician, and compiler of the Veritable Records. When an inner order sent Zhu Xi to an outside palace post, Fuliang said: "Xi is slow to advance and quick to withdraw; when the inner draft came down the whole court was stunned—I dare not promulgate it. Zhu Xi was then made Gentleman-in-Waiting of the Baowen Pavilion and sent to a prefecture. Censor-in-chief Xie Shenfu charged that Fuliang's refusal showed contempt for the throne and had him posted as commissioner of the Xingguo Palace. The next year censorial investigators piled on; his rank was stripped and he was dismissed. In Jiatai year 2 he was restored to office, offered Quanzhou, and declined. He received the title Compiler at the Jiying Hall, rose to Gentleman-in-Waiting of the Baomo Pavilion, and died at home at sixty-seven. He was posthumously honored as Wenjie.
63
傅良著述有《詩解詁》、《周禮說》、《春秋後傳》、《左氏章指》行於世。
His works—the Gloss on the Odes, Discourse on the Rites of Zhou, Later Commentary on the Spring and Autumn, and Exegesis of the Zuo Tradition—circulated widely.
64
葉適,字正則,溫州永嘉人。 為文藻思英發。 擢淳熙五年進士第二人,授平江節度推官。 丁母憂。 改武昌軍節度判官。 少保史浩薦於朝,召之不至,改浙西提刑司幹辦公事,士多從之遊。 參知政事龔茂良復薦之,召為太學正。
Ye Shi, courtesy name Zhengze, was from Yongjia in Wenzhou. His prose was luminous and forceful. In Chunxi 5 he finished second on the jinshi examination and was made adjutant under the Pingjiang command. He withdrew for his mother's mourning. He was reassigned as judge under the Wuchang command. Junior Guardian Shi Hao recommended him; he did not answer the summons and became a clerk in the Zhexi judicial intendant's office, where many scholars gathered around him. Vice councilor Gong Maoliang recommended him again, and he was called to be Director of the National University.
65
遷博士,因輪對,奏曰:“人臣之義,當為陛下建明者,一大事而已。 二陵之仇未報,故疆之半未復,而言者以為當乘其機,當待其時。 然機自我發,何彼之乘? 時自我為,何彼之待? 非真難真不可也,正以我自為難,自為不可耳。 於是力屈氣索,甘為退伏者,於此二十六年。 積今之所謂難者陰沮之,所謂不可者默製之也。 蓋其難有四,其不可有五。 置不共戴天之仇而廣兼愛之義,自為虛弱,此國是之難一也。 國之所是既然,士大夫之論亦然。 為奇謀秘畫者止於乘機待時,忠義決策者止於親征遷都,深沉慮遠者止於固本自治,此議論之難二也。 環視諸臣,迭進迭退,其知此事本而可以反覆論議者誰乎? 抱此誌意而可以策勵期望者誰乎? 此人才之難三也。 論者徒鑒五代之致亂,而不思靖康之得禍。 今循守舊模,而欲驅一世之人以報君仇,則形勢乖阻,誠無展足之地。 若順時增損,則其所更張動搖,關係至重,此法度之難四也。 又有甚不可者,兵以多而至於弱,財以多而至於乏,不信官而信吏,不任人而任法,不用賢能而用資格:此五者,舉天下以為不可動,豈非今之實患歟! 沿習牽製,非一時矣。 講利害,明虛實,斷是非,決廢置,在陛下所為耳。 ”讀未竟,帝蹙額曰:“朕比苦目疾,此誌已泯,誰克任此,惟與卿言之耳。 ”及再讀,帝慘然久之。
Promoted to erudite, he spoke in audience: "A subject's duty to your Majesty is to clarify one great matter—nothing else. The shame of the two tombs is unavenged and half our old territory is still lost, yet speakers say we must seize the moment or wait for the hour. But if the opening comes from us, what is there for the enemy to seize? If the timing is ours to make, what are we waiting on them for? It is not genuinely impossible; we have only decided that we are the obstacle and that we cannot act. For twenty-six years those who might have acted have exhausted their will and chosen silence. What is called 'too hard' is quietly discouraged; what is called 'impossible' is quietly engineered. There are four kinds of difficulty and five kinds of 'cannot.' We set aside an mortal enemy to preach universal love and make ourselves weak by choice—that is the first national-policy difficulty. Once the state's direction is fixed, gentry opinion follows. Schemers talk only of timing; the loyal talk only of personal campaigns or moving the capital; the cautious talk only of consolidation— that is the second difficulty, the paralysis of debate. Look around the court: who advances, who retreats—who knows the heart of the matter and can debate it thoroughly? Who still holds this aim and can be urged and relied upon? That is the third difficulty: people. Critics cite the Five Dynasties as chaos but forget how Jingkang brought ruin. Clinging to old forms while trying to drive an entire generation to avenge the throne leaves no room to move. If institutions are changed to fit the times, every adjustment shakes something vital—that is the fourth difficulty, law and custom. And five 'impossibilities': armies so large they are weak, revenue so vast it is empty, trust in clerks not officers, trust in rules not people, trust in seniority not ability—these five freeze the realm. Are they not our real disease?" Habit and constraint have built up for years. Weighing gain and loss, sorting reality from pretense, judging right from wrong, deciding what to keep or discard—all rests on what your Majesty does." Before Ye finished, the emperor frowned: "My eyes have troubled me; that ambition has faded. Who could bear this burden? I can speak of it only with you." When Ye read on, the emperor looked stricken for a long time.
66
除太常博士兼實錄院檢討官。 嚐薦陳傅良等三十四人於丞相,後皆召用,時稱得人。 會朱熹除兵部郎官,未就職,為侍郎林栗所劾。 適上疏爭曰:“栗劾熹罪無一實者,特發其私意而遂忘其欺矣! 至於其中‘謂之道學’一語,利害所係不獨熹。 蓋自昔小人殘害忠良,率有指名,或以為好名,或以為立異,或以為植黨。 近創為‘道學’之目,鄭丙倡之,陳賈和之,居要津者密相付授,見士大夫有稍慕潔修者,輒以道學之名歸之,以為善為玷闕,以好學為己愆,相與指目,使不得進。 於是賢士惴栗,中材解體,銷聲滅影,穢德垢行,以避此名。 栗為侍從,無以達陛下之德意誌慮,而更襲用鄭丙、陳賈密相付授之說,以道學為大罪,文致語言,逐去一熹,自此善良受禍,何所不有! 伏望摧折暴橫,以扶善類。 ”疏入,不報。
He was made erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and collator for the Veritable Records. He once recommended Chen Fuliang and thirty-three others to the chief minister; all were later appointed—the age praised his eye for talent. When Zhu Xi was made vice minister of war but had not yet taken up the post, Vice Minister Lin Li impeached him. Ye Shi memorialized in protest: "Lin Li's charges against Xi are not one of them substantiated—he vented private spite and forgot his own deceit!" As for the phrase 'calling it Daoxue,' the stakes are not Zhu Xi alone. Petty men who ruin the loyal have always needed a label—'seeking fame,' 'being eccentric,' 'forming factions.' Lately they invented 'Daoxue': Zheng Bing began it, Chen Jia joined; men at the levers secretly coordinated. Any official who cared for integrity was tagged 'Daoxue'—virtue became a stain, learning a fault—and was blocked from advancement. Worthy men trembled, the middling sort fell apart; many fell silent or hid, even taking on foul habits to escape the label. Lin Li, a palace attendant, could not convey your Majesty's intent, yet repeated Zheng Bing and Chen Jia's secret line, treating Daoxue as a capital crime and driving out Zhu Xi—after that, what harm will not befall the good?" I beg your Majesty to crush the violent and uphold the good." The memorial was ignored.
67
光宗嗣位,由秘書郎出知蘄州。 入為尚書左選郎官。 是時,帝以疾不朝重華宮者七月,事無钜細,皆廢不行。 適見上力言:“父子親愛出於自然。 浮疑私畏,似是而非,豈有事實? 若因是而定省廢於上,號令愆於下,人情離阻,其能久乎! ”既而帝兩詣重華宮,都人歡悅。 適復奏:“自今宜於過宮之日,令宰執、侍從先詣起居。 異時兩宮聖意有難言者,自可因此傳致,則責任有歸。 不可復近習小人增損語言,以生疑惑。 ”不報。 而事復浸異,中外洶洶。
When Guangzong succeeded, Ye left the Secretariat to govern Qizhou. He returned as left selection officer in the Ministry of Personnel. The emperor had not visited Chonghua Palace for seven months, pleading illness; business great and small had stalled. Ye Shi urged the emperor: "Love between father and son is natural. Idle suspicion and private fear—things that seem so but are not—where is the fact in that? If visits to your father cease and orders below go wrong, hearts will split—can that last?" Soon the emperor visited Chonghua Palace twice and the capital rejoiced. Ye memorialized again: "On days when your Majesty visits the palace, let the chief ministers and attendants go first to pay respects. When either palace has something hard to say, messages can pass through them—then responsibility is clear. Do not let favorite petty servants twist words and breed doubt again." Again there was no response. Matters drifted again; court and country were in turmoil.
68
及孝宗不豫,群臣至號泣攀裾以請,帝竟不往。 適責宰相留正曰:“上有疾明甚。 父子相見,當俟疾瘳。 公不播告,使臣下輕議君父,可乎? ”未幾,孝宗崩,光宗不能執喪。 軍士籍籍有語,變且不測。 適又告正曰:“上疾而不執喪,將何辭以謝天下? 今嘉王長,若預建參決,則疑謗釋矣。 ”宰執用其言,同入奏立嘉王為皇太子,帝許之。 俄得禦批,有“曆事歲久,念欲退閑”之語,正懼而去,人心愈搖。 知樞密院趙汝愚憂危不知所出,適告知閣門事蔡必勝曰:“國事至此,子為近臣,庸坐視乎? ”蔡許諾,與宣讚舍人傅昌朝、知內侍省關禮、知閣門事韓侂胄三人定計。 侂胄,太皇太后甥也。 會慈福宮提點張宗尹過侂胄,侂胄覘其意以告必勝。 適得之,即亟白汝愚。 汝愚請必勝議事,遂遣侂胄因張宗尹、關禮以內禪議奏太皇太后,且請垂簾,許之,計遂定。 翌日禫祭,太皇太后臨朝,嘉王即皇帝位,親行祭禮,百官班賀,中外晏然。 凡表奏皆汝愚與適裁定,臨期,取以授儀曹郎,人始知其預議焉。 遷國子司業。
When Xiaozong grew gravely ill, ministers wept and clutched his robes begging him to go; he still would not. Ye rebuked chief minister Liu Zheng: "The emperor's illness is obvious. Father and son should meet when the illness has eased. You did not make that clear and let officials gossip about their lord and father—is that acceptable?" Soon Xiaozong died, and Guangzong could not perform mourning. Soldiers muttered; unrest seemed possible. Ye told Liu Zheng again: "The emperor is ill and will not mourn—what will you say to the empire?" Prince Jia is grown; if he is named to share decisions early, suspicion will lift." The councilors took his advice, jointly memorialized to make Prince Jia crown prince, and the emperor agreed. Soon an inner draft spoke of long service and wishing to retire; Liu Zheng feared and withdrew, and morale shook further. Zhao Ruyu, director of military affairs, desperate, had Ye tell Cai Bisheng, director of gate affairs: "The state is here—you are a close attendant; will you only watch?" Cai agreed; with announcement reader Fu Changchao, director of inner attendants Guan Li, and director of gate affairs Han Tuozhou he laid a plan. Han Tuozhou was the grand empress dowager's nephew. When Cifu Palace intendant Zhang Zongyin visited Tuozhou, Tuozhou read his intent and told Bisheng. Ye heard and at once told Zhao Ruyu. Zhao Ruyu consulted Bisheng and sent Tuozhou, via Zhang Zongyin and Guan Li, to propose inner abdication to the grand empress dowager and ask her to rule from behind the curtain; she agreed and the plan was set. The next day at the end-of-mourning rites the grand empress dowager presided; Prince Jia ascended, performed the sacrifice in person, officials congratulated him, and the realm was calm. Every memorial was drafted by Zhao Ruyu and Ye Shi; at the last moment they handed them to the ritual officer—only then did others learn they had planned it. Ye was promoted to vice director of the Directorate of Education.
69
汝愚既相,賞功將及適,適曰:“國危效忠,職也。 適何功之有? ”而侂胄恃功,以遷秩不滿望怨汝愚。 適以告汝愚曰:“侂胄所望不過節鉞,宜與之。 ”汝愚不從。 適歎曰:“禍自此始矣! ”遂力求補外。 除太府卿、總領淮東軍馬錢糧。 及汝愚貶衡陽,而適亦為御史胡紘所劾,降兩官罷,主管衝佑觀,差知衢州,辭。
When Zhao Ruyu became chief minister and rewards were due, Ye was to be included; Ye said: "In national crisis, loyalty is duty. What merit have I?" Han Tuozhou claimed credit; when promotion did not match his expectations he resented Zhao Ruyu. Ye warned Zhao Ruyu: "Tuozhou wants nothing more than a regional command—you should give it to him." Zhao Ruyu refused. Ye Shi sighed: "Disaster starts here!" He then pressed hard for a post outside the capital. He was made director of the Palace Treasury and overall controller of Huaidong army funds and grain. When Zhao Ruyu was exiled to Hengyang, Ye Shi was impeached by Censor Hu Hong, stripped two ranks, put in charge of Chongyou Abbey, and offered Quzhou; he declined.
70
起為湖南轉運判官,遷知泉州。 召入對,言於寧宗曰:“陛下初嗣大寶,臣嚐申繹《卷阿》之義為獻。 天啟聖明,銷磨黨偏,人才庶幾復合。 然治國以和為體,處事以平為極。 臣欲人臣忘己體國,息心既往,圖報方來可也。 ”帝嘉納之。 初,韓侂胄用事,患人不附,一時小人在言路者,創為“偽學”之名,舉海內知名士貶竄殆盡。 其後侂胄亦悔,故適奏及之,且薦樓鑰、丘崈、黃度三人,悉與郡。 自是禁網漸解矣。
He was recalled as Hunan transport judge, then appointed to govern Quanzhou. Summoned to audience, he told Ningzong: "When your Majesty first took the throne, I once explained the meaning of 'Juan E' for you. Heaven has granted you clarity; partisan rancor has faded and talent might gather again. Yet to govern a state the root is harmony; to handle affairs the standard is even-handedness. I ask only that ministers forget themselves for the realm, lay the past to rest, and serve what lies ahead." The emperor praised and accepted his words. At first Han Tuozhou, fearing lack of support, let petty men on the censorial track invent 'False Learning' and banish nearly every notable scholar in the empire. Tuozhou later regretted it; Ye's memorial spoke to that and recommended Lou Yue, Qiu Ke, and Huang Du, all sent to prefectures. After that the proscription gradually eased.
71
除權兵部侍郎,以父憂去。 服除,召至。 時有勸侂胄立蓋世功以固位者,侂胄然之,將啟兵端。 適因奏曰:“甘弱而幸安者衰,改弱而就強者興。 陛下申命大臣,先慮預算,思報積恥,規恢祖業,蓋欲改弱以就強矣。 竊謂必先審知強弱之勢而定其論,論定然後修實政,行實德,弱可變而為強,非有難也。 今欲改弱以就強,為問罪驟興之舉,此至大至重事也。 故必備成而後動,守定而後戰。 今或謂金已衰弱,姑開先釁,不懼後艱,求宣和之所不能,為紹興之所不敢,此至險至危事也。 且所謂實政者,當經營瀕淮沿漢諸郡,各為處所,牢實自守。 敵兵至則阻於堅城,彼此策應,而後進取之計可言。 至於四處御前大軍,練之使足以製敵,小大之臣,試之使足以立事,皆實政也。 所謂實德者,當今賦稅雖重而國愈貧,如和買、折帛之類,民間至有用田租一半以上輸納者。 況欲規恢,宜有恩澤。 乞詔有司審度何名之賦害民最甚,何等橫費裁節宜先。 減所入之額,定所出之費。 既修實政於上,又行實德於下。 此其所以能屢戰而不屈,必勝而無敗也。”
He was made acting vice minister of war, then left for his father's mourning. When mourning ended he was recalled. Some urged Tuozhou to win a towering feat to fix his power; he agreed and prepared for war. Ye memorialized: "Those who accept weakness and ease decline; those who turn weakness into strength rise. Your Majesty has told the ministers to plan budgets, avenge old shame, and recover ancestral lands—you mean to turn weakness into strength. First know where strength and weakness truly lie and fix policy accordingly; then enact real governance and real virtue—weakness can become strength without great difficulty. But to turn weakness into strength by launching a sudden punitive war is the weightiest step of all. Prepare fully before you move; secure your base before you fight. Some say Jin is fading and we may strike first without fearing the aftermath, attempting what Xuanhe failed and Shaoxing dared not— that is the utmost peril. Real governance means fortifying every prefecture along the Huai and Han so each can hold on its own. When enemies come they meet walled cities; garrisons support one another—only then can offensive plans be discussed. Train the imperial guard armies on all fronts until they can master the foe; test officials great and small until they can deliver— that is real governance. Real virtue: taxes are heavy yet the state grows poorer; under harmonized purchase and folded-silk levies some farmers pay more than half their rent. If we plan recovery, the people need relief. I ask that offices review which levies hurt the people most and which waste should be cut first. Cut revenue demands and cap expenditures. Real governance above and real virtue below— that is how an army can fight again and again without breaking and win without fail."
72
除權工部侍郎。 侂胄欲藉其草詔以動中外,改權吏部侍郎兼直學士院,以疾力辭兼職。 會詔諸將四路出師,適又告侂胄宜先防江,不聽。 未幾,諸軍皆敗,侂胄懼,以丘崈為江、淮宣撫使,除適寶謨閣待制、知建康府兼沿江製置使。 適謂三國孫氏嚐以江北守江,自南唐以來始失之,建炎、紹興未暇尋繹。 乃請於朝,乞節製江北諸州。
He was made acting vice minister of works. Tuozhou wanted him to draft edicts to move court and country; he was shifted to acting vice minister of personnel and Hanlin academician, but pleaded illness and refused the concurrent post. When orders sent generals out on four routes, Ye again warned Tuozhou to defend the Yangzi first; Tuozhou would not listen. Soon every army was beaten; Tuozhou, alarmed, made Qiu Ke Huai-Jiang pacification commissioner and Ye Shi gentleman-in-waiting of the Baomo Pavilion and pacification commissioner at Jiankang on the Yangzi. Ye said that in the Three Kingdoms Sun Quan's state had held the north bank to guard the river; since Southern Tang that line was lost, and Jianyan and Shaoxing had no time to restore it. He asked the court for authority over the north-bank prefectures.
73
及金兵大入,一日,有二騎舉旗若將渡者,淮民倉皇爭斫舟纜,覆溺者眾,建康震動。 適謂人心一搖,不可復製,惟劫砦南人所長,乃募市井悍少並帳下願行者,得二百人,使采石將徐緯統以往。 夜過半,遇金人,蔽茅葦中射之,應弦而倒。 矢盡,揮刀以前,金人皆錯愕不進。 黎明,知我軍寡來追,則已在舟中矣。 復命石跋、定山之人劫敵營,得其俘馘以歸。 金解和州圍,退屯瓜步,城中始安。 又遣石斌賢渡宣化,夏侯成等分道而往,所向皆捷。 金自滁州遁去。 時羽檄旁午,而適治事如平時,軍須皆從官給,民以不擾。 淮民渡江有舟,次止有寺,給錢餉米,其來如歸。 兵退,進寶文閣待制、兼江、淮製置使,措置屯田,遂上堡塢之議。
When Jin forces poured in, two riders one day raised banners as if to cross; refugees panicked and cut mooring lines—many drowned—and Jiankang shook. Ye said once morale breaks it cannot be restored; southerners excel at night raids—he recruited two hundred market toughs and volunteers under Xu Wei of Caishi. After midnight they met Jin troops, fired from the reeds, and men dropped at every shot. When arrows ran out they charged with swords; the Jin froze and did not advance. At dawn the Jin learned how small the force was and gave chase—but the men were already aboard ship. He sent men from Shibo and Dingshan to raid enemy camps and returned with prisoners and heads. Jin raised the siege of Hezhou and fell back to Guabu; the city calmed. He sent Shi Binxian to Xuanhua and Xia Houcheng by separate routes; each met success. Jin forces withdrew from Chuzhou. Dispatches flew in from every quarter, yet Ye worked as in peacetime; the army was supplied from official stores and the people were left alone. Refugees crossing the Yangzi found boats, shelter in temples, money and rice—coming as if home. After the armies withdrew he was promoted to gentleman-in-waiting of the Baowen Pavilion and Huai-Jiang pacification commissioner, organized garrison farms, and submitted his walled-settlement plan.
74
初,淮民被兵驚散,日不自保。 適遂於墟落數十里內,依山水險要為堡塢,使復業以守,春夏散耕,秋冬入堡,凡四十七處。 又度沿江地創三大堡:石跋則屏蔽采石,定山則屏蔽靖安,瓜步則屏蔽東陽、下蜀。 西護曆陽,或連儀真,緩急應援,首尾聯絡,東西三百里,南北三四十里。 每堡以二千家為率,教之習射。 無事則戍,以五百人一將。 有警則增募新兵及抽摘諸州禁軍二千人,並堡塢內居民,通為四千五百人,共相守戍。 而製司於每歲防秋,別募死士千人,以為劫砦焚糧之用。 因言堡塢之成有四利,大要謂:“敵在北岸,共長江之險,而我有堡塢以為聲援,則敵不敢窺江,而士氣自倍,戰艦亦可以策勳。 和、滁、真、六合等城或有退遁,我以堡塢全力助其襲逐,或邀其前,或尾其後,製勝必矣。 此所謂用力寡而收功博也。 ”三堡就,流民漸歸。 而侂胄適誅,中丞雷孝友劾適附侂胄用兵,遂奪職。 自後奉祠者凡十三年,至寶文閣學士、通議大夫。 嘉定十六年,卒,年七十四。 贈光祿大夫,諡文定。
At first Huai refugees, shattered by war, could not live securely day to day. Ye built forty-seven fortified hamlets in ruined countryside on defensible ground, had people farm in warm months and shelter in cold, and return to their trades under guard. He added three major forts along the river: Shibo shielding Caishi, Dingshan shielding Jing'an, Guabu shielding Dongyang and Xiasbu. To the west they guarded Liyang and linked toward Yizhen; in crisis they could support one another—three hundred li east-west, thirty to forty li north-south. Each fort was sized for two thousand households and trained them in archery. In peacetime five hundred men under one commander garrisoned each. In alarm they added new recruits and two thousand drawn from prefectural garrisons, plus fort residents—4,500 men in all. Each autumn the pacification office also recruited a thousand daredevils for raiding and burning enemy grain. He said the forts brought four gains: "With the enemy on the north bank and our forts backing the river, they dare not cross; our morale doubles and our fleets can act. If He, Chu, Zhen, or Liuhe falter, our forts can strike in support, cut them off or follow— victory is assured. That is gaining much from little effort." When the three forts stood, refugees gradually returned. Just as Tuozhou was killed, censor-in-chief Lei Xiaoyou charged Ye with backing Tuozhou's war and stripped his post. He then held honorary temple posts for thirteen years, rising to Baowen academician and grandee of palace accord. In Jiading 16 he died at seventy-four. Posthumously honored as grandee of splendid happiness with the posthumous name Wending.
75
適誌意慷慨,雅以經濟自負。 方侂胄之欲開兵端也,以適每有大仇未復之言重之。 而適自召還,每奏疏必言當審而後發,且力辭草詔。 第出師之時,適能極力諫止,曉以利害禍福,則侂胄必不妄為,可免南北生靈之禍。 議者不能不為之歎息焉。
Ye's ambition was bold; he prided himself on practical statecraft. When Tuozhou planned war he valued Ye for Ye's insistence that the great shame was still unavenged. Yet after Ye was recalled, every memorial urged caution before acting, and he refused to draft war edicts. Had Ye been heeded when the armies marched, Tuozhou might not have acted rashly and the north-south slaughter might have been spared. Commentators could only sigh.
76
戴溪,字肖望,永嘉人也。 少有文名。 淳熙五年,為別頭省試第一。 監潭州南嶽廟。 紹熙初,主管吏部架閣文字,除太學錄兼實錄院檢討官。 正錄兼史職自溪始。 升博士,奏兩淮當立農官,若漢稻田使者,括閑田,諭民主出財,客出力,主客均利,以為救農之策。 除慶元府通判,未行,改宗正簿。 累官兵部郎官。
Dai Xi, courtesy name Xiaowang, was from Yongjia. He was known early for his writing. In Chunxi 5 he ranked first in the supplemental provincial exam. He was superintendent of the Southern Peak Temple in Tanzhou. At the start of Shaoxi he managed Ministry of Personnel archives and became National University recorder and Veritable Records collator. The combined recorder-historian role began with Dai Xi. As erudite he urged agricultural commissioners for the two Huai, like the Han paddy-field envoys, to survey idle land and split costs and profits between owners and tenants to revive farming. He was named vice prefect of Qingyuan but was reassigned as registrar of the Imperial Clan Court before taking up the post. He rose step by step to vice director in the Ministry of War.
77
開禧時,師潰於符離,溪因奏沿邊忠義人、湖南北鹽商皆當區畫,以銷後患。 會和議成,知樞密院事張岩督師京口,除授參議軍事。 數月,召為資善堂說書。
When the army was crushed at Fuli in the Kaixi era, Dai memorialized that border loyalists and Hunan-Hubei salt merchants should be organized to prevent later trouble. When peace was made, Zhang Yan, director of military affairs at Jingkou, made him a staff adviser. Months later he was summoned as lecturer at the Hall of Worthy Virtue.
78
由禮部郎中凡六轉為太子詹事兼秘書監。 景獻太子命溪講《中庸》、《大學》,溪辭以講讀非詹事職,懼侵官。 太子曰:“講退便服說書,非公禮,毋嫌也。 ”復命類《易》、《詩》、《書》、《春秋》、《論語》、《孟子》、《資治通鑒》,各為說以進。 權工部尚書,除華文閣學士。 嘉定八年,以宣奉大夫、龍圖閣學士致仕。 卒,贈特進、端明殿學士。 理宗紹定間,賜諡文端。
From ritual director he advanced through six steps to tutor of the heir apparent and director of the Secretariat. Prince Jingxian asked Dai to lecture on the Doctrine of the Mean and Great Learning; Dai declined, saying lecturing was not the tutor's proper duty. The prince said: "After lecture you may wear the lecturer's robe—it is informal; do not worry." He was ordered to compile commentaries on the Changes, Odes, Documents, Spring and Autumn, Analects, Mencius, and Comprehensive Mirror for presentation. As acting minister of works he was made Huawen academician. In Jiading 8 he retired with the titles palace attendant and Dragon Diagram academician. He died and was posthumously honored as special advancement and Duanming academician. Under Lizong in the Shaoding era he received the posthumous name Wenduan.
79
溪久於宮僚,以微婉受知春官,然立朝建明,多務秘密,或議其殊乏骨鯁雲。
Dai long served in the palace establishment; his subtle manner won favor with the heir, yet in court his proposals were often secret—some said he lacked spine.
80
蔡幼學
Cai Youxue
81
蔡幼學,字行之,溫州瑞安人。 年十八,試禮部第一。 是時,陳傅良有文名於太學,幼學從之遊。 月書上祭酒芮燁及呂祖謙,連選拔,輒出傅良右,皆謂幼學之文過其師。 孝宗聞之,因策士將置首列。 而是時外戚張說用事,宰相虞允文、梁克家皆陰附之。 幼學對策,其略曰:“陛下資雖聰明而所存未大,誌雖高遠而所趨未正,治雖精勤而大原不立。 即位之始,冀太平旦暮至。 奈何今十年,風俗日壞,將難扶持; 紀綱日亂,將難整齊; 人心益搖,將難收拾; 吏慢兵驕,財匱民困,將難正救。 ”又曰:“陛下恥名相之不正,更製近古,二相並進,以為美談。 然或以虛譽惑聽,自許立功; 或以緘默容身,不能持正。 ”蓋指虞允文、梁克家也。 又曰:“漢武帝用兵以來,大司馬、大將軍之權重而丞相輕。 公孫弘為相,衛青用事,弘苟合取容,相業無有。 宣、元用許、史,成帝用王氏,哀帝用丁、傅,率為元始之禍。 今陛下使姨子預兵柄,其人無一才可取。 宰相忍與同列,曾不羞恥。 按其罪名,宜在公孫弘上。 ”蓋指張說也。 帝覽之不懌,虞允文尤惡之。 遂得下第,教授廣德軍。
Cai Youxue, courtesy name Xingzhi, was from Ruian in Wenzhou. At eighteen he ranked first in the Ministry of Rites exam. Chen Fuliang was famed at the National University; Youxue studied under him. In monthly essays to Chancellor Rui Ye and Lü Zuqian he was repeatedly promoted above Fuliang—everyone said the pupil surpassed the master. Xiaozong heard of him and meant to place him first among candidates. But consort kin Zhang Shuo was in power, and chief ministers Yu Yunwen and Liang Kejia secretly backed him. Youxue's exam answer said in essence: "Your Majesty is clever but your vision is not yet broad, your aims lofty but your direction not yet true, your diligence great but the root unsettled. At the start of your reign you expected peace at any moment. Yet after ten years morals decay daily and are hard to sustain; Statutes and discipline fray daily and will be hard to restore; hearts grow more unsettled and will be hard to win back; officials slacken, soldiers grow arrogant, the treasury empties, and the people suffer—little can be set right." He also said: "Your Majesty reformed the chief-minister system on ancient models so two ministers serve together—a thing praised as reform. Yet some dazzle with empty fame and promise themselves glory; some stay silent to save themselves and cannot hold the line." This was aimed at Yu Yunwen and Liang Kejia. He also said: "Since Emperor Wu of Han made war, grand marshals grew mighty and chief ministers faint. Gongsun Hong was chief minister while Wei Qing held power; Hong flattered and achieved nothing as minister. Xuan and Yuan relied on Xu and Shi; Chengdi on the Wangs; Aidi on Ding and Fu—each path led to Yuanshi-era ruin. Now your Majesty lets a maternal nephew hold military power—a man with no talent at all. The chief minister sits beside him without shame. By his crimes he should rank above Gongsun Hong." This was aimed at Zhang Shuo. The emperor read it with displeasure; Yu Yunwen hated it most. He was placed in the lower tier and sent to teach in Guangde Army.
82
丁父憂,再調潭州。 執政薦於朝,帝許之,且問:“年幾何矣? 何以名幼學? ”參政施師點舉《孟子》“幼學壯行”之語以對。 上佇思,慨然曰:“今壯矣,可行也。 ”遂除敕令所刪定官。 首言:“大恥未雪,境土未復,陛下睿知神武,可以有為。 而苟且之議,委靡之習,顧得以緩陛下欲為之心。 ”孝宗喜曰:“解卿意,欲令朕立規模爾。 ”尋以母憂去。
After his father's mourning he was transferred again to Tanzhou. The council recommended him; the emperor agreed and asked: "How old is he? Why is he called Youxue?" Vice councilor Shi Shidian answered with Mencius: 'study in youth, act in maturity.' The emperor paused and said: "He is mature now—let him serve." He was appointed compiler at the Edict Drafting Office. He opened: "Great shame is unavenged and land unrestored—your Majesty's wisdom and vigor can act. Yet temporizing talk and lax habit can only slow your will to act." Xiaozong said gladly: "I understand—you want me to set a standard." Soon he left for his mother's mourning.
83
光宗立,以太學錄召,改武學博士。 逾年,遷太學,擢秘書省正字兼實錄院檢討官,遷校書郎。 時光宗以疾不朝重華宮,幼學上封事曰:“陛下自春以來,北宮之朝不講。 比者壽皇愆豫,侍從、台諫叩陛請對,陛下拂衣而起,相臣引裾,群臣隨以號泣。 陛下退朝,宮門盡閉,大臣累日不獲一對清光。 望日之朝,都人延頸,遷延至午,禁衛飲恨。 市廛軍伍,謗誹籍籍,旁郡列屯,傳聞疑怪,變起倉卒,陛下實受其禍。 誠思身體髮膚壽皇所與,宗社人民壽皇所命,則疇昔慈愛有感乎心,可不獨出聖斷,復父子之歡,弭宗社之禍! ”疏入,不報。
When Guangzong succeeded he was recalled as National University recorder and made erudite at the Military Academy. A year later he moved to the National University, became secretariat corrector and Veritable Records collator, then proofreader. Guangzong still would not visit Chonghua Palace; Youxue submitted a sealed memorial: "Since spring your Majesty has not attended the northern palace. When Shouhuang fell ill, attendants and censors begged an audience—you rose and left, the chief minister caught your robe, ministers wept. You withdrew and the palace gates closed; for days ministers saw no sign of you. On audience day the capital waited; court dragged until noon and the guards nursed anger. Markets and barracks buzzed with rumor; garrisons in neighboring prefectures heard strange talk—sudden crisis would fall on your Majesty. Remember body and life come from Shouhuang, the realm from his trust—let old affection move you; act alone, restore father and son, and avert disaster to the state!" The memorial went unanswered.
84
寧宗即位,詔求直言。 幼學又奏:“陛下欲盡為君之道,其要有三:事親、任賢、寬民,而其本莫先於講學。 比年小人謀傾君子,為安靖和平之說以排之。 故大臣當興治而以生事自疑,近臣當效忠而以忤旨擯棄,其極至於九重深拱而群臣盡廢,多士盈庭而一籌不吐。 自非聖學日新,求賢如不及,何以作天下之才! 自熙寧、元豐而始有免役錢,有常平積剩錢,有無額上供錢; 自大觀、宣和而始有大禮進奉銀絹,有贍學糴本錢,有經製錢; 自紹興而始有和買折帛錢,有總製錢,有月樁大軍錢; 至於茶鹽酒榷、稅契、頭子之屬,積累增多,較之祖宗無慮數十倍,民困極矣。”
When Ningzong succeeded, an edict called for frank counsel. Youxue memorialized again: "To be a full ruler there are three essentials—honor kin, employ talent, ease the people—and the root is study. Lately petty men overturned gentlemen with talk of quiet and peace. Great ministers fear to 'make trouble'; close ministers are cast out for dissent—until the throne sits silent and no plan is spoken. Unless learning is renewed daily and talent is sought urgently, how will the realm be staffed?" From Xining and Yuanfeng came exemption-service cash, Ever-Normal surplus, and extra tribute; from Daguan and Xuanhe came grand-ritual tribute, school grain funds, and circuit-control levies; from Shaoxing came harmonized purchase, overall control, and monthly army muster funds; tea, salt, wine monopolies, deed taxes, surcharges— piled tenfold on the ancestors' levies until the people are exhausted."
85
幼學既論列時政,其極歸之聖學。 帝稱善,將進用之。 時韓侂胄方用事,指正人為“偽學”,異論者立黜。 幼學遂力求外補,特除提舉福建常平。 陛辭,言:“今除授命令徑從中出,而大臣之責始輕; 諫省、經筵無故罷黜,而多士之心始惑。 或者有以誤陛下至此耶! ”侂胄聞之不悅。 既至官,日講荒政。 時朱熹居建陽,幼學每事谘訪,遂為御史劉德秀劾罷,奉祠者凡八年。
Having surveyed policy, Youxue returned every issue to sagely learning. The emperor praised him and meant to promote him. Han Tuozhou was in power, labeling upright men 'False Learning' and purging dissent. Youxue pressed for an outside post and was made commissioner of Fujian Ever-Normal Granaries. On leave he said: "Orders now issue from the inner court and ministers' responsibility shrinks; the remonstrance office and classics lecture are purged without cause and scholars grow confused. Has someone misled your Majesty to this?" Tuozhou heard and was displeased. At his post he daily taught famine relief. Zhu Xi lived in Jianyang; Youxue consulted him on everything—Censor Liu Dexiu impeached him and he held temple posts for eight years.
86
起知黃州,改提點福建路刑獄,未行。 有勸侂胄以收召海內名士者,乃召幼學為吏部員外郎。 入見,言:“高宗建炎間減婺州和買絹折羅事,因諭輔臣曰:‘一日行得如此一事,一年不過三百六十事而已。 ’陛下除兩浙丁錢,視高宗無間,然而兵事既開,諸路罹鋒鏑轉餉之艱,江、湖以南有調募科需之擾,惟陛下以愛惜邦本為念。 ”遷國子司業、宗正少卿,皆兼權中書舍人。
He was recalled to govern Huangzhou, then named Fujian judicial intendant, but did not go. Some urged Tuozhou to recall famous scholars; he summoned Youxue as vice director of personnel. On audience he cited Gaozong in Jianyan reducing Wuzhou harmonized silk: 'One such deed a day is only three hundred sixty a year.' Your Majesty abolished the two-Zhe household levy like Gaozong—yet war brought blades and transport costs south of the Yangzi; I beg your Majesty to cherish the root of the state." He rose to vice director of education and vice director of the imperial clan court, both as acting secretariat drafter.
87
侂胄既誅,餘黨尚塞正路,幼學次第彈繳,竄黜尤眾,號稱職。 遷中書舍人兼侍講。 故事,閣門、宣讚而下,供職十年,始得路都監若鈐轄。 侂胄壞成法,率五六年七八年即越等除授,有已授外職猶通籍禁闥者,幼學一切厘正。
After Tuozhou's death his faction still blocked the upright; Youxue impeached them in turn and many were banished—the age called it duty fulfilled. He was promoted to secretariat drafter and lecturer. By precedent, gate and announcement staff served ten years before a route command. Tuozhou broke precedent, promoting men in five to eight years and keeping some on the palace registry after outside posts—Youxue corrected it all.
88
嘉定初,同樓鑰知貢舉。 時正學久錮,士專於聲律度數,其學支離。 幼學始取義理之文,士習漸復於正。 兼直學士院,內外製皆溫醇雅厚得體,人多稱之。 除刑部侍郎,改吏部,仍兼職。 趙師夔除知臨安府,夔辭。 故事,當有不允詔。 幼學言:“師夔以媚權臣進官,三尹京兆,狼籍無善狀,詔必出褒語,臣何辭以草? ”命遂寢。 改兼侍讀,師夔命乃下。
At the start of Jiading he and Lou Yue supervised the metropolitan exam. Orthodox learning had long been banned; candidates focused on prosody and numerology. Youxue first selected essays on principle; study gradually returned to the right path. As Hanlin academician his edicts were warm, elegant, and measured—widely praised. He was made vice minister of justice, then personnel, keeping his concurrent posts. Zhao Shixie was appointed to Lin'an and declined. Precedent required a refusal edict. Youxue said: "Shixie rose by fawning on power; thrice he governed the capital with a poor record—how can I draft praise?" The appointment lapsed. He was shifted to reader; Shixie's appointment then issued.
89
除龍圖閣待制、知泉州,徙建康府、福州,進福建路安撫使。 政主寬大,惟恐傷民。 福建下州,例抑民買鹽,以戶產高下均賣者曰產鹽,以交易契紙錢科敷者曰浮鹽,皆出常賦外,久之遂為定賦。 幼學力請蠲之,不報。 提舉司令民以田高下藏新會子,不如令者籍其貲。 幼學曰:“罔民而可,吾忍之乎! 惟有去而已。 ”因言錢幣未均,秤提無術,力求罷去。 遂升寶謨閣直學士、提舉萬壽宮。 召權兵部尚書兼修玉牒官,尋兼太子詹事。
He was made gentleman-in-waiting of the Dragon Diagram Pavilion, governed Quanzhou, then Jiankang and Fuzhou, and became Fujian pacification commissioner. He governed leniently and feared only to hurt the people. Lower Fujian prefectures forced extra salt purchases—by property ('property salt') or by contract tax ('floating salt')—until they became fixed levies. Youxue sought to abolish them; no answer came. The intendant ordered households to hoard new huizi by field grade or forfeit property. Youxue said: "If cheating the people is allowed, how can I stay? I can only leave." He said currency was unbalanced and scales unreliable, and pressed to resign. He was promoted to direct academician of the Baomo Pavilion and commissioner of Wanshou Palace. He was summoned as acting minister of war and jade-register compiler, soon tutor of the heir apparent.
90
先是,朝廷既遣歲幣入金境,適值其有難,不果納,則遽以兵叩邊索之。 中外洶洶,皆言當亟與。 幼學請對,言:“玉帛之使未還,而侵軼之師奄至,且肆其侮慢,形之文辭。 天怒人憤,可不伸大義以破其謀乎! ”於是朝論奮然,始詔與金絕。 幼學因請“固本根以弭外虞,示意向以定眾誌,公汲引以合材謀,審懷附以一南北。 ”帝稱善。 一夕感異夢,星隕於屋西南隅,遂卒,年六十四。
The court had sent annual tribute into Jin lands; Jin could not receive it and sent troops to the border to demand payment. Court and country were in uproar; most said pay at once. Youxue sought audience: "Tribute envoys have not returned while invaders arrive—and insult us in writing. Heaven and the people are enraged—should we not uphold righteousness and break their plot?" Court opinion hardened and an edict finally broke with Jin. Youxue urged consolidating the root, showing intent, recruiting talent openly, and winning hearts to unify north and south. The emperor praised his counsel. One night he dreamed a star fell in the southwest corner of his house; he died at sixty-four.
91
幼學早以文鳴於時,而中年述作,益窮根本,非關教化之大、由情性之正者不道也。 器質凝重,莫窺其際,終日危坐,一語不妄發。 及辨論義理,縱橫闔辟,沛然如決江河,雖辯士不及也。 嚐續司馬光《公卿百官表》,《年曆》、《大事記》、《備忘》、《辨疑》、《編年政要》、《列傳舉要》,凡百餘篇,傳於世。
Youxue was famed early for writing; in midlife he dug to the root and wrote only of education and rectified nature. He was grave and unreadable, sat upright all day, and never spoke rashly. In debate on principle he surged like a broken dam—even skilled debaters could not match him. He continued Sima Guang's official tables and wrote chronologies, memoranda, and biographical essentials—over a hundred works in all.
92
楊泰之
Yang Taizhi
93
楊泰之,字叔正,眉州青神人。 少刻誌於學,臥不設榻幾十歲。 慶元元年類試,調滬川尉,易什邡,再調綿州學教授、羅江丞,製置司檄置幕府。 吳獵諭蜀,泰之貽書曰:“使吳曦為亂,而士大夫不從,必有不敢為; 既亂,而士大夫能抗,曦猶有所憚。 夫亂,曦之為也; 亂所以成,士大夫之為也。”
Yang Taizhi, courtesy name Shuzheng, was from Qingshen in Meizhou. As a youth he studied relentlessly and for decades slept without a bed. In Qingyuan 1 he passed the classified exam, served as Huichuan district captain, moved to Shifang, then Mianzhou professor and Luojiang assistant, and joined a pacification staff. When Wu Tan pacified Shu, Taizhi wrote: "If Wu Xi rebels and scholars refuse, some will dare not follow; Once rebellion starts, if scholars resist, Wu Xi will still have reason to fear. Rebellion is Wu Xi's doing; that it can succeed is the doing of the literati."
94
改知嚴道縣,攝通判嘉定。 白厓砦將王塤引蠻寇利店,刑獄使者置塤於法,又罥絓餘人當坐死。 泰之訪知夷都實邇利店,夷都蠻稱亂,不需引導,固請釋之,不聽。 乃去官。 宣撫使安丙薦之曰:“蜀中名儒楊虞仲之子,當逆臣之變,勉有位者毋動。 言不用,拂衣而去。 使得尺寸之柄,必能見危致命。 ”召泰之赴都堂審察,以親老辭。 差知廣安軍,未上,丁父憂。 免喪,知富順監。 去官,以祿稟數千緡予鄰裏,以千緡為義莊。 知普州,以安居、安嶽二縣受禍尤慘,泰之力白丙盡蠲其賦。 丙復薦於朝,召赴行在,固辭。 知果州。 踦零錢病民,泰之以一年經費儲其贏為諸邑對減,上尚書省,按為定式。 民歌之曰:“前張後楊,惠我無疆。 ”張謂張義,實自發其端,而泰之踵行之。
He was reassigned to govern Yandao County and served as acting vice prefect of Jiading. Baiya Fort commander Wang Kun led barbarian raiders against Lidian; the judicial envoy executed Kun and implicated others for death. Taizhi found the Yidu tribe lay next to Lidian and had been called rebels without needing a guide—he pleaded for their release in vain. He resigned. Pacification Commissioner An Bing recommended him: "Taizhi, son of the famed Shu scholar Yang Yuzhong, urged officials to hold firm when the rebel crisis came. When ignored he shook out his robes and left. Given even a little authority he would meet danger and give his life." Taizhi was summoned to the Secretariat for review but declined, citing aged parents. He was assigned Guang'an Army but entered mourning for his father before taking up the post. After mourning he governed the Fushun salt monopoly. On leaving office he gave thousands of strings of salary to neighbors and a thousand to a charity estate. As prefect of Puzhou he persuaded An Bing to remit levies entirely for Anju and Anyue, which had suffered worst. An Bing recommended him again; summoned to court he firmly declined. He was appointed to govern Guozhou. The qiling coin levy hurt the people; Taizhi saved a year's surplus to cut levies across prefectures, reported upward, and it became fixed practice. The people sang: "First Zhang, then Yang—bless us without end." Zhang was Zhang Yi, who began the practice; Taizhi followed.
95
理宗即位,趣入對,言:“法天行健,奮發英斷,總攬威權,無牽於私意,無奪於邪說,以救蠱敝,以新治功。 本朝德澤,邇來斫喪無餘,民無恒心,何以為國? 陛下以直言求人,而以直言罪之,使天下以言為戒。 臣恐言路既梗,士氣益消,循循默默,浸成衰世之風,為國者何便於此? ”上奇其對,以為工部郎中。 其後言事者相繼,無所避忌,自泰之發之。 遷軍器少監、大理少卿。
When Lizong succeeded, urged to audience he said: "Take Heaven's vigor as your model, act with bold decisiveness, gather all authority, refuse private whim and heterodox talk, rescue deep decay, and renew governance. Our dynasty's grace has been cut away until the people have no steady heart—how can there be a state? Your Majesty asks for frank speech yet punishes it, teaching the realm to fear words. If the path of speech is blocked, morale will fade into the silence of a declining age—what good is that for the state?" The emperor was struck by his answer and made him director in the Ministry of Works. After that memorialists spoke without fear—beginning with Taizhi. He was promoted to vice director of the armory and vice director of the Court of Judicial Review.
96
紹定元年入對,謂:“風雨為暴,水潦潰溢,此陰盛陽微之證。 而台臣諉曰霅川水患之慘,桀之餘烈也。 ”後又言:“巴陵追降之命,重於違群臣,輕於絕友愛。 陛下居天位之至逸,則當思天倫之大痛。 秦邸歿於房陵,既行封諡,又錄用其子。 今乃曰‘不當為之後,以貽它日憂’,何示人之不廣乎? ”又曰:“今日不言,後必有言之者。 與其追恤於後,固不若舉行於今也。 ”是日,詔直寶謨閣、知重慶府。 為書以別丞相曰:“宰相職事,無大於用人有道,去自私之心,恢容人之度,審取舍之理而已。 ”至官,俗用大變。 主管千秋鴻禧觀,卒。
In Shaoding 1 he said in audience: "Violent storms and bursting floods are signs of yin prevailing over yang. Yet censors evaded blame, calling the Zhe River flood Jie's lingering wrath." He later said: "The order posthumously demoting the Prince of Baling weighed the ministers more heavily than brotherly love. Your Majesty sits in the highest ease—you should remember the deepest pain of kinship. The prince of Qin died at Fangling; after enfeoffment and posthumous honors his son was employed. Now you say he should not be heir 'lest trouble come later'—how narrow a message to the world!" He also said: "If we do not speak today, someone will speak later. Better to act now than mourn later." That day he was ordered direct gentleman of the Baomo Pavilion and prefect of Chongqing. Leaving the chief minister he wrote: "A minister's greatest duty is to employ men rightly—drop selfishness, widen tolerance, judge fairly—that is all." When he took office local custom changed greatly. He was put in charge of the Qianqiu Hongxi Abbey and died.
97
所著《克齋文集》、《論語解》、《老子解》、《春秋列國事目》、《公羊》、《穀梁類》、《詩類》、《詩名物編》、《論》、《孟類》、《東漢三國誌南北史唐五代史類》、《曆代通鑒本朝長編類》、《東漢名物編》、《詩事類》、《大易要言》、雜著,凡二百九十七卷。
His works included the Collected Works of Kezhai, commentaries on the Analects and Laozi, Spring and Autumn state lists, Gongyang and Guliang categories, ode categories and name lists, Analects and Mencius categories, historical categories, mirror and long-compilation categories, and Essentials of the Great Changes—297 juan in all.