Volume 100 Biographies 25: Chen Shuda, Yang Gongren's younger brother: Shidao, Feng Lun, Pei Ju, Yuwen Shiji, Zheng Shangguo, Quan Wanji and grandson: Huai En, Yan Lide dependent: Yan Liben, grandson: Zhi Wei, Jian Yan, Wei Hongji and grandson: Yue Zi, Jiang Shidu, Zhang Zhijian

陳叔達陳叔達，字子聰，陳宣帝子也。少封義陽王，歷丹楊尹、都官尚書。入隋，久不試。大業中，授內史舍人，出為絳郡通守。高祖西師，以郡聽命，授丞相府主簿，封漢東郡公。與溫大雅同管機秘，方禪代時，書冊誥詔，皆其筆也。武德初，授黃門侍郎，判納言，封江國公。

Chen Shuda, whose courtesy name was Zicong, was a son of Emperor Xuan of Chen. While still young he was made Prince of Yiyang and later held the posts of intendant of Danyang and minister of justice. When the Chen fell to the Sui he went for a long time without receiving an appointment. During the Daye reign he was made a secretariat gentleman and then dispatched as prefect of Jiang Commandery. When Gaozu advanced west, the commandery submitted to him; Chen was named chief clerk in the chancellor's office and created Duke of Handong. He and Wen Daya jointly managed confidential records, and as the dynastic transition drew near he drafted the books, registers, and proclamations. Early in Wude he became vice minister of the palace secretariat, served concurrently as head censor, and was created Duke of Jiang.

叔達明辯，善為容，每占奏，縉紳屬目。江左士客長安，或汨滯，多薦諸朝。嘗賜食，得蒲萄，不舉，帝問之，對曰：「臣母病渴，求不能致，願歸奉之。」帝流涕曰：「卿有母遺乎？」因賜之，又賚物百段。貞觀初，與蕭瑀爭殿中，坐忿誶不恭，免官。未幾，居母喪，又有疾，太宗憂之，遣使禁卻吊者。喪除，為遂州都督，病不拜。頃之，擢禮部尚書。始，太子建成等鬩間太宗，帝惑之，叔達極意救辯，至是謂曰：「武德內難，卿有讜言，故以此報。」叔達謝曰：「豈獨為陛下，乃社稷計耳。」後閨薄汗漫，為有司露劾，帝以名臣為護掩，授散秩歸第。卒，諡曰繆。久之，贈戶部尚書，更諡曰忠。楊恭仁楊恭仁，隋觀王雄子也。仁壽中，累遷甘州刺史，臨事不苛細，徼人安之。文帝謂雄曰：「匪特朕得人，乃卿善教子矣。」大業初，轉吏部侍郎。楊玄感叛，詔率兵經略，與玄感戰破陵，敗之。遂與屈突通追獲賊。煬帝召見曰：「比聞與賊戰尤力，向但知卿奉法，而乃勇決如此，朕用自愧。」蘇威曰：「仁者必有勇，殆謂此邪。」時威及宇文述、裴蘊、裴矩參掌選事，皆受賕不法，恭仁素廉正，故惡之，出為河南道大使，使捕寇賊。至譙郡，為硃粲所敗，奔江都。宇文化及弑逆，署吏部尚書，為化及守魏縣。元寶藏執送京師，高祖素知之，授黃門侍郎，封觀國公。尋為涼州總管。

Shuda was articulate and polished in manner; each time he spoke in council the officials focused on him. Southerners resident in Chang'an who had fallen into neglect were often brought forward by him at court. Once when he was given food at court he received grapes but did not touch them. When the emperor asked why, he said, "My mother is ill with thirst. I could not find grapes for her and would like to bring these home. The emperor wept and said, "Is your mother still alive?" He then gave him the grapes and also presented him with a hundred lengths of goods. Early in Zhenguan he quarreled with Xiao Yu in court and, for angry and disrespectful words, was removed from office. Soon afterward he was mourning his mother and fell ill as well; Taizong was concerned and sent orders to turn away visitors offering condolences. After the mourning period he was appointed military governor of Suizhou but, owing to illness, did not assume the post. Before long he was promoted to minister of rites. Earlier, when Crown Prince Jiancheng and others had turned the emperor against Taizong, Shuda had spoken out strongly in Taizong's defense; now the emperor told him, "In the Wude succession crisis you gave me honest counsel, and this appointment is my reward. Shuda thanked him and said, "I did not act for Your Majesty alone but for the realm itself." Later his private conduct grew dissolute; the authorities impeached him, but the emperor protected this eminent minister, granted him an honorary rank, and let him retire to his estate. He died and was given the posthumous name Wayward. Some time later he was posthumously made minister of revenue and his posthumous name was changed to Loyal. Yang Gongren was a son of Prince Guan of Sui, Yang Xiong. During Renshou he rose to governor of Ganzhou; he was not severe in small matters, and the frontier people lived peacefully under him. Emperor Wen told Xiong, "I have gained a good man, but it is also you who have raised your son well. Early in Daye he was made vice minister of personnel. When Yang Xuangan rebelled, he was ordered to take troops against him and defeated Xuangan at Poling. He then joined Qu Tu Tong in pursuit and captured the rebels. Emperor Yang received him and said, "I have heard you fought the rebels with exceptional vigor. I knew you as a man who upheld the law, but I did not know you could be so bold—I am ashamed I underestimated you. Su Wei said, "The benevolent are always brave—this must be what the saying means." At that time Su Wei, Yuwen Shu, Pei Yun, and Pei Ju controlled appointments and all took bribes. Gongren had long been upright, so they disliked him and sent him out as commissioner of the Henan circuit to hunt bandits. At Qiao Commandery he was defeated by Zhu Can and fled to Jiangdu. After Yuwen Huaji murdered the emperor, Gongren was made minister of personnel and left to hold Wei County for him. Yuan Baocang seized him and sent him to the capital. Gaozu already knew him, made him vice minister of the palace secretariat, and created him Duke of Guan. Soon afterward he was made military governor of Liangzhou.

恭仁久乘邊，習種落情偽，悉心綏慰，由蔥嶺以東，皆奉貢贄。就加納言。突厥頡利率眾數萬獵其境，恭仁應機設拒，張疑屯虛幟示之，頡利懼而走。瓜州刺史賀拔行威叛，朝廷未即討。恭仁募趫蕩，倍道進，賊不虞其來，遂克二城。縱所俘還之，眾感悅，遂相與縛行威降。召拜吏部尚書，兼中書令，檢校涼州諸軍事。遷左衛大將軍。武德末，拜雍州牧、揚州大都督府長史。遷洛州都督。太宗勞謂曰：「洛陽要重，朕子弟不為少，恐非所任，故以委公。」

Having long served on the frontier, Gongren understood the tribes well; he devoted himself to winning them over, and from the Pamirs eastward all sent tribute. He was also made head censor. The Türk qaghan Jieli led tens of thousands on a hunt into his territory. Gongren met him with a ruse, setting up empty camps with banners to deceive him, and Jieli fled in fear. He Ba Xingwei, governor of Guazhou, rebelled, and the court did not move against him at once. Gongren raised swift troops and marched at double speed; the rebels did not expect him and he took two cities. He released his prisoners, winning the people's goodwill; they then bound Xingwei and surrendered. He was recalled as minister of personnel and grand counselor, with oversight of military affairs in Liangzhou. He was made general-in-chief of the Left Guard. Late in Wude he became governor of Yongzhou and chief administrator of the Yangzhou grand protectorate. He was transferred to military governor of Luozhou. Taizong encouraged him and said, "Luoyang is critically important. I have many sons and brothers, but I fear none is fit for the post, so I entrust it to you. (Thus ended the emperor's words.)

恭仁性沖厚，以禮自閑衛，未嘗與物忤，時人方漢石慶。既貴，不以勢尚人，故譽望益重。病，乞骸骨，詔以特進歸第。卒，贈潭州都督，陪葬昭陵，諡曰孝。子思訓子思訓襲爵。顯慶中，歷右屯衛將軍。從高宗幸并州。右衛大將軍慕容寶節夜邀思訓與謀亂，思訓不敢對。寶節懼，毒酒以進，思訓死。妻訴之，流寶節嶺表，至龍門，追斬之。乃詔以寘毒人者重其法。

Gongren was mild and steady, disciplined himself with propriety in the guard, and never gave offense; contemporaries likened him to Shi Qing of Han. Once elevated he did not throw his weight around, and his reputation only grew. When he fell ill he asked to retire; the emperor granted him honorary rank and let him return home. He died and was posthumously made military governor of Tanzhou, buried at Zhaoling, and given the posthumous name Filial. His son Sixun inherited the title. During Xianqing he served as a general of the Right Encampment Guard. He accompanied Emperor Gaozong on a visit to Bingzhou. Murong Baojie, general-in-chief of the Right Guard, invited Sixun one night to plot a revolt; Sixun did not dare answer. Baojie, fearing exposure, gave him poisoned wine, and Sixun died. His wife reported the crime; Baojie was exiled to the south, pursued to Longmen, and beheaded. An edict was then issued imposing heavier penalties for poisoning.

思訓孫睿交，尚長寧公主，豫誅張易之，賜實封五百戶。神龍中為秘書監，貶絳州別駕。弟師道師道字景猷，恭仁弟。清警有才思。客洛陽，為王世充所拘，間歸高祖，授上儀同，為備身左右。尚桂陽公主，除吏部侍郎。改太常卿，封安德郡公。貞觀十年，拜侍中，參豫朝政，親遇隆渥。性周謹，未嘗語禁省事。嘗曰：「吾讀《孔光傳》，想其餘風，或庶幾云。」太宗數訪群臣才行，師道雖有所推進，而乏甄品。久之，遷中書令。太子承乾得罪，詔與長孫無忌等雜治其獄。師道妻異姓子趙節與承乾通謀，乃微諷帝，欲活之。帝怒，罷為吏部尚書。師道起貴胄，四海人物，非所練悉，至銓署，專抑勢貴親黨以遠嫌，用人多違其才，不為時所稱。帝亦曰：「師道資性純淑，自應無過，而實怯懦，罕更事，緩急不得其力。」從征高麗，攝中書令。軍還，頗不職，改工部尚書，復為太常卿。

Sixun's grandson Ruijiao married Princess Changning, took part in killing Zhang Yizhi, and was granted a substantive fief of five hundred households. During Shenlong he was director of the secretariat and was later demoted to vice-prefect of Jiangzhou. His younger brother Shidao, whose courtesy name was Jingyou, was Gongren's brother. He was refined, quick-witted, and talented. While in Luoyang he was held by Wang Shichong but escaped to Gaozu, who made him a senior companion of the first rank and an attendant in the personal guard. He married Princess Guiyang and was appointed vice minister of personnel. He was made minister of ceremonies and created Duke of Ande. In the tenth year of Zhenguan he became palace attendant, joined in governing, and enjoyed the emperor's warmest favor. He was thorough and cautious and never discussed confidential palace business. He once said, "Reading the 'Biography of Kong Guang,' I hope I may live up even in small measure to his example. Taizong often asked his ministers about talent and conduct. Shidao did recommend men, but he lacked the judgment to distinguish their merits. After a time he was made grand counselor. When Crown Prince Chengqian was implicated in crime, he was ordered to join Zhangsun Wuji and others in investigating the case. Shidao's stepson Zhao Jie had conspired with Chengqian, and Shidao subtly urged the emperor to spare the prince. The emperor was angry and demoted him to minister of personnel. Raised in the nobility, Shidao was not well acquainted with men throughout the realm. In appointments he deliberately held back the powerful and their kin to avoid suspicion, often placing men in posts unsuited to their talents, and won little praise. The emperor also said, "Shidao's character is upright and should be blameless, yet he is timid, inexperienced, and useless in a crisis. He joined the campaign against Goguryeo as acting grand counselor. After the army returned he performed poorly and was made minister of works, then minister of ceremonies again.

師道善草隸，工詩，每與有名士燕集，歌詠自適。帝見其詩，為擿諷嗟賞。後賜宴，帝曰：「聞公每酣賞，捉筆賦詩，如宿構者，試為朕為之。」師道再拜，少選輒成，無所竄定，一坐嗟伏。卒，贈吏部尚書、并州都督，諡曰懿，陪葬昭陵，詔為立碑。

Shidao excelled at cursive and clerical script and at poetry; he often feasted with eminent scholars and composed verses for his own delight. The emperor read his poems, singled out lines of wit and allusion, and praised them warmly. At a later banquet the emperor said, "I hear that when you are merry you take up the brush and write verse as if it were already drafted. Compose one for me now. Shidao bowed, and in a moment finished a poem without revising a word; the whole company marveled. He died and was posthumously made minister of personnel and military governor of Bingzhou, given the posthumous name Exemplary, buried at Zhaoling, and granted a memorial stele.

子豫之，尚巢王元吉女壽春縣主。居母喪，與永嘉公主亂，為主婿竇奉節所殺。從孫執柔執柔，恭仁從孫，歷地官尚書。武后母，即恭仁叔父達之女。及臨朝，武承嗣、攸寧相繼用事。后曰：「要欲我家及外氏常一人為宰相。」乃以執柔同中書門下三品。未幾，卒。

His son Yuzhi married the Lady of Shouchun, daughter of Prince Yuanji of Chao. While mourning his mother he had an affair with Princess Yongjia and was killed by her husband, Dou Fengjie. His collateral grandson Zhirou, a collateral descendant of Gongren, served as minister of the Department of State Affairs. Empress Wu's mother was a daughter of Gongren's uncle Da. When she took the throne, Wu Chengsi and Youning held power in turn. The empress said, "I want our house and my mother's clan always to have one man as chancellor. She then made Zhirou associate chancellor of the third rank. He died soon afterward.

弟執一，亦以誅張易之功封河東郡公，累官右金吾衛大將軍。

His younger brother Zhiyi, for his part in killing Zhang Yizhi, was created Duke of Hedong and rose to general-in-chief of the Right Golden Crow Guard.

始，雄在隋，以同姓貴；自武德後，恭仁兄弟名位益盛；又以武后外家尊寵，凡尚主者三人，女為王妃五人，贈皇后一人，三品以上者二十餘人。封倫封倫，字德彝，以字顯，觀州蓚人。祖隆，北齊太子太保。倫年方少，舅盧思道曰：「是兒識略過人，當自致卿相。」隋開皇末，江南亂，內史令楊素討之，署倫行軍記室。泊海上，素召計事，倫墜水，免，易衣以見，訖不言。久乃素知，問故，謝曰：「私事也，所不敢白。」素異其為，以從妹妻之。素營仁壽宮，表為土工監，規構鴻侈。宮成，文帝怒曰：「素殫百姓力，為吾掊怨天下。」素大懼。倫曰：「毋恐，皇后至，自當免。」明日，帝果勞素曰：「公知吾夫婦老，無以自娛樂，而盛飾此宮邪？」因大悅。素退問：「何料而知？」倫曰：「上節儉，故始見必怒。然雅聽后言。后，婦人，惟侈麗是好。后悅，則帝安矣。」素曰：「吾不及也。」素負才勢，多所淩藉，惟於倫降禮賞接，或與論天下事，袞袞不倦，每撫其床曰：「封郎終當據此。」薦之帝，擢內史舍人。

At first, in the Sui, Xiong was honored as a member of the imperial clan; from Wude onward the Gongren brothers grew ever more eminent; and with the empress's maternal kin honored, three men married princesses, five daughters became princesses consort, one woman was posthumously made empress, and more than twenty held rank of third grade or higher. Feng Lun, known by his courtesy name Deyi, was a native of Zhuo in Guanzhou. His grandfather Long was grand tutor to the crown prince of Northern Qi. While Lun was still young, his uncle Lu Sidao said, "This boy's mind exceeds ordinary men's; he will rise to the highest offices on his own. Late in Kaihuang the south rebelled; Yang Su campaigned there and appointed Lun recorder of his headquarters. At anchor at sea, Su called him to counsel; Lun fell overboard, got out, changed clothes, and came to see him without mentioning it. Only later did Su learn of it and ask why. Lun apologized and said, "It was a private matter and not something I dared report. Su admired his discretion and gave him his cousin in marriage. When Yang Su built Renshou Palace, he petitioned to oversee earthworks and drew up plans on a scale of breathtaking opulence. Once the palace stood finished, Emperor Wen flew into a rage. "Su has drained the common people dry," he said, "and piled up the world's hatred upon me. Yang Su was seized with terror. Feng Lun said, "Have no fear. When the empress comes, you will be spared. The following day the emperor did exactly as Feng Lun had foreseen, praising Su: "You knew that my wife and I are old and have little to delight us—so you adorned this palace for us, did you not?" And with that he was well satisfied. When Su withdrew, he asked, "How did you know? Feng Lun replied, "His Majesty is frugal by nature, so his first reaction was bound to be anger. But he always listens readily to what the empress has to say. The empress, like any woman of her station, delights in nothing so much as magnificence and finery. Once the empress is pleased, the emperor will be content." Su said, "I am no match for you." Yang Su, secure in his talent and influence, bullied and belittled many men; toward Feng Lun alone he showed courtesy and warm regard. They would sometimes debate affairs of empire until talk ran on without tiring, and Su would stroke Feng Lun's couch and say, "Master Feng, this seat will one day be yours." He recommended Feng Lun to the throne, and the emperor raised him to Inner Secretary Attendant.

虞世基得幸煬帝，然不悉吏事，處可失宜。倫陰為裁畫，內以諂承主意，百官章奏若忤旨，則寢不聞；外以峻文繩天下，有功當賞，輒抑不行。由是世基之寵日隆，而隋政日壞矣。宇文化及亂，持帝出宮，使倫數帝罪，帝曰：「卿，士人，何至是！」倫羞縮去。化及署為內史令，從至聊城，知化及敗，及結士及，得出護餉道。化及死，遂與士及來降。高祖知其諧附逆党，方切讓，使就舍。倫以秘策幹帝，帝悅，更拜內史舍人。遷侍郎兼內史令。

Yu Shiji won Emperor Yang's favor, but he did not understand the business of government and often decided matters badly. Feng Lun quietly made decisions in his stead. Within the palace he flattered the emperor's wishes into policy; any memorial from the officials that ran counter to the throne was left unheard. Outwardly he bound the empire in harsh law, and whenever merit deserved reward he blocked it from being granted. Thus Yu Shiji's favor rose day by day, and the governance of the Sui decayed with it. When Yuwen Huaji rebelled, he led the emperor from the palace and ordered Feng Lun to recite the emperor's crimes. The emperor said, "You are a man of letters—how could you sink to this! Feng Lun slunk away, burning with shame. Yuwen Huaji made him Inner Secretary Director. Feng Lun followed him to Liaocheng, and seeing that Huaji was doomed, he joined Yuwen Shiji and managed to break out to protect the supply lines. After Yuwen Huaji's death, he surrendered together with Yuwen Shiji. Emperor Gaozu knew he had curried favor with the rebels and was in the midst of sharply rebuking him when he ordered him to his lodging. Feng Lun offered the emperor secret plans; pleased, the emperor restored him as Inner Secretary Attendant. He was promoted to Vice Director and given concurrent appointment as Inner Secretary Director.

秦王討王世充，命倫參謀軍事。時兵久不決，帝欲班師，王遣倫西見帝曰：「賊地雖多，羈縻不相使，所用命者洛陽爾，計窮力屈，死在旦暮。今解而西，則賊勢磐結，後難以圖。」帝納之。賊平，帝謂侍臣曰：「始議東討，時多沮解者，唯秦王謂必克，倫贊其行，雖張華葉策晉武，亦何以加於是！」封平原縣公，判天策府司馬。初，竇建德援洛，王將趣虎牢，倫與蕭瑀諫不可，至是入賀。王笑曰：「不用公言，今日幸而捷，豈智者千慮或有失乎？」倫謝素不及。頃之，突厥寇太原，且遣使和親。帝問計，群臣咸請許之可紓戰。倫曰：「不然。彼有輕中國心，謂我不能戰，若乘其怠擊之，勢必勝，勝而後和，威德兩全。今雖不戰，後必復來。臣以為擊之便。」詔可。尋檢校吏部尚書，進封趙國公，徙密國。

When the Prince of Qin marched against Wang Shichong, he put Feng Lun on his staff as military adviser. The campaign had dragged on without decision, and the emperor wished to withdraw. The prince sent Feng Lun west to tell him, "The rebels hold much land, but their ties are loose and they cannot truly command one another; only Luoyang takes orders. Their schemes are spent and their strength broken—they are living from hour to hour. If we pull back now, the enemy will knit their power together, and we shall never overcome them later. The emperor accepted his counsel. After the rebels were crushed, the emperor told his ministers, "When we first debated the eastern campaign, most men tried to dissuade me; only the Prince of Qin insisted we would prevail, and Feng Lun backed him. Not even Zhang Hua's counsel to Emperor Wu of Jin could outshine that! Feng Lun was enfeoffed Duke of Pingyuan County and appointed acting chief administrator of the Heavenly Stratagem Office. Earlier, when Dou Jiande marched to relieve Luoyang, the prince had meant to rush to Hulao; Feng Lun and Xiao Yu had urged against it. Now they came to offer their congratulations. The prince smiled and said, "Had I listened to you, I might never have won today. Even the wisest man, planning a thousand times, can still miss once, can he not? Feng Lun apologized that he could not measure up to Yang Su. Soon afterward the Turks raided Taiyuan and at the same time sent envoys to propose a marriage alliance. The emperor asked his ministers for counsel, and all urged him to accept the offer and ease the fighting. Feng Lun said, "That would be a mistake. They look down on the Middle Kingdom and think we dare not fight. Strike while they are careless and we are sure to win; make peace only after victory, and both authority and virtue will be intact. Even if we do not fight now, they will come again. Your servant believes it is better to attack them. An edict approved his proposal. Before long he was made acting Minister of Personnel, raised to Duke of Zhao, and his fief was moved to the state of Mi.

太宗立，拜尚書右僕射，實封六百戶。始，倫之歸，蕭瑀數薦之。及是，瑀為左僕射，每議事，倫初堅定，至帝前輒變易，由是有隙。貞觀元年，遘疾，臥尚書省，帝親臨視，命尚輦送還第。卒，年六十，贈司空，諡曰明。

When Emperor Taizong took the throne, he appointed Feng Lun Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs with a substantive fief of six hundred households. When Feng Lun first came over, Xiao Yu had recommended him again and again. By then Xiao Yu was Left Vice Director. Whenever they deliberated, Feng Lun would hold firm in private, then shift his position before the emperor, and from this a breach opened between them. In the first year of Zhenguan he fell ill and kept to his bed in the Department of State Affairs. The emperor came in person to see him and ordered the palace carriage service to take him home. He died at sixty, was posthumously made Grand Tutor, and received the posthumous name Bright.

倫資險佞內狹，數刺人主意，陰導而陽合之。外謹順，居處衣服陋素，而交宮府，賄贈狼藉。然善矯飾，居之自如，人莫能探其膺肺。隱、刺之亂，數進忠策，太宗以為誠，橫賜累萬。又密言于高祖曰：「秦王恃功，頡頏太子下，若不早立，則亟圖之。」情白太子曰：「為四海不顧其親，乞羹者謂何？」及高祖議廢立，倫固諫止。當時語秘無知者，卒後，事浸聞。十七年，治書侍御史唐臨追劾奸狀，帝下其議百官。民部尚書唐儉等議：「倫寵極生前，而罪暴身後，所歷官不可盡奪，請還贈改諡，以懲憸壬。」有詔奪司空，削食封，改諡為繆。

By nature Feng Lun was cunning and fawning, petty within; he constantly tested what others meant, steering them in secret while agreeing with them in the open. Outwardly he was meek and respectful, his home and dress plain and poor, yet in his dealings with palace and government offices bribes and gifts piled up in profusion. Yet he wore his mask so easily that no one could pierce to what lay beneath. During the troubles of the Hidden Prince and the Xuanwu Gate coup, he repeatedly offered loyal counsel; Emperor Taizong took him for sincere and showered him with rewards numbering in the tens of thousands. He also secretly told Emperor Gaozu, "The Prince of Qin, trusting in his merit, stands shoulder to shoulder with the crown prince. If you do not establish him soon, move against him at once. He secretly told the crown prince, "For all under heaven he forgets his own kin—what then shall a man who begs for broth say?" When Emperor Gaozu debated removing and installing an heir, Feng Lun strongly remonstrated against it. At the time these words were hidden and no one knew; only after his death did the truth slowly emerge. In the seventeenth year, Supervising Censor Tang Lin pressed charges of treachery against him, and the emperor referred the case to the whole bureaucracy for deliberation. Minister of Revenue Tang Jian and others argued, "Feng Lun was favored to the utmost while alive, yet his crimes were laid bare after death. Not every office he held can be revoked; we ask that his posthumous honors be withdrawn and his posthumous name changed, as punishment for a devious flatterer. An edict stripped him of Grand Tutor, cut his fief income, and changed his posthumous name to Erroneous.

子言道，尚淮南長公主，官至宋州刺史。裴矩裴矩，字弘大，絳州聞喜人。父訥之，為齊太子舍人。矩在乳而孤，及長好學，有文藻智數。再補高平王文學。齊亡，不得調。隋高祖為定州總管，召補記室，以母憂去職。高祖已受禪，遷給事郎，奏舍人事。帝伐陳，為元帥記室。江左平，詔矩巡撫嶺南，未行，而高智慧等亂，道不通，帝難其遣，矩請速進，許之。次南康，得兵數千人。是時，俚帥王仲宣逼廣州，遣別將圍東衡州，矩與將軍鹿願赴之。賊立九壁，屯大庾嶺，矩進擊，破之。賊懼，釋東衡州之圍，據願長嶺，又擊破之，斬其帥。自南海趣廣州，仲宣懼，潰去。綏集二十餘州，承制署渠帥為刺史、縣令。還報，帝大悅，詔升殿勞苦之。拜開府，爵聞喜縣公，賜賚異等。遷累內史侍郎。時突厥強盛，都藍與突利構難，屢犯塞，詔太平公史萬歲為行軍總管，出定襄道，以矩為長史。破達頭可汗而萬歲誅，矩功不見錄。還為尚書左丞，遷吏部侍郎，名稱職。

His son Yan Dao married the Princess of Huainan and rose to prefect of Songzhou. Pei Ju, styled Hongda, came from Wenxi in Jiangzhou. His father Nezhi had been an attendant to the crown prince of Qi. Pei Ju lost his father while still at the breast; as he grew he loved study and showed both literary gift and shrewd intelligence. Twice he served as literary companion to the Prince of Gaoping. When Qi perished, he could obtain no post. When Sui Gaozu was general-in-chief at Dingzhou, he summoned Pei Ju as recorder, but Ju left office to mourn his mother. After Gaozu had taken the throne, he was made supervising censor and handled business for the Inner Secretariat. When the emperor marched against Chen, he served as recorder on the commander's staff. After the south of the Yangtze was pacified, an edict sent Pei Ju to pacify Lingnan. Before he set out, Gao Zhihui and others rebelled and the roads were cut; the emperor hesitated to dispatch him, but Ju asked to press on at once and was allowed. At Nankang he gathered several thousand soldiers. At that time the Li chieftain Wang Zhongxuan pressed Guangzhou and sent a subordinate general to besiege Dongheng Prefecture; Pei Ju marched with General Lu Yuan to relieve it. The rebels raised nine walled camps on Dayu Ridge; Pei Ju attacked and broke them. The rebels, alarmed, abandoned the siege of Dongheng and held Yuanzhang Ridge; Pei Ju struck again, routed them, and beheaded their leader. From Nanhai he pressed toward Guangzhou; Wang Zhongxuan, terrified, broke and fled. He pacified more than twenty prefectures and, by imperial commission, installed local chieftains as prefects and magistrates. When he returned to report, the emperor was delighted and summoned him into the hall to praise his exertions. He was granted the privilege of opening his own office, ennobled Duke of Wenxi County, and given gifts of the highest order. He rose by stages to Vice Director of the Inner Secretariat. The Turks were then at their height; Dulan and Tuli were at odds and repeatedly raided the border. An edict made Duke of Taiping Shi Wansui campaign commander marching by the Dingxiang route, with Pei Ju as chief administrator. They defeated Khagan Dadou, yet Shi Wansui was put to death and Pei Ju's merit went unrecorded. He returned as Left Assistant Director of the Department of State Affairs, was moved to Vice Director of the Ministry of Personnel, and his name stood equal to his rank.

煬帝時，西域諸國悉至張掖交市，帝令矩護視。矩知帝勤遠略，乃訪諸商胡國俗、山川險易，撰《西域圖記》三篇，合四十四國，凡裂三道：北道起伊吾，徑蒲類、鐵勒、突厥可汗廷，亂北流河至拂菻；中道起高昌、焉耆、龜茲、疏勒，逾蔥嶺，鈸汗、蘇對沙那、康、曹、何、大小安、穆諸國，至波斯；南道起鄯善、於闐、硃俱波、喝般陀，亦度蔥嶺，涉護密、吐火羅、挹怛、忛延、漕國，至北婆羅門。皆竟西海。諸國亦自有空道交通。既還，奏之。帝引內矩，問西方事，矩盛言：「胡多瑰怪名寶，俗土著，易併吞。」帝由是甘心四夷，委矩經略。再遷黃門侍郎，參豫朝政。

Under Emperor Yang, the western states all came to Zhangye to trade, and the emperor put Pei Ju in charge of the market. Knowing the emperor hungered for distant empire, Pei Ju questioned the merchant envoys about each country's customs and the lay of mountains and rivers, and wrote three fascicles of 'Records of the Western Regions' covering forty-four states in three routes: the northern route ran from Yiwu through Pulei and Tiele to the Turk khagan's court, crossed the North-flowing River, and reached Fulin. The middle route started from Gaochang, Yanqi, Kucha, and Shule, crossed the Onion Mountains, passed Bohan, Suduishana, Kang, Cao, He, Greater and Lesser An, Mu, and the rest, and reached Persia. The southern route began at Shanshan, Khotan, Zhujubo, and Hepantuo, also crossed the Onion Mountains, passed Humi, Tuhuoluo, Yandan, Fanyan, and Caoguo, and reached North Paropamisada. All three routes ended at the Western Sea. The states also kept routes of their own through empty country by which they communicated. When he returned, he presented his report to the throne. The emperor drew Pei Ju inside and questioned him about the west. Ju spoke at length: "The barbarians hold many strange and precious things; their people are sedentary by custom and can easily be swallowed up. From this the emperor's heart turned to the four quarters, and he entrusted Pei Ju with frontier strategy. He was promoted again to Vice Director of the Yellow Gate and took part in deliberations on state affairs.

大業三年，帝有事恒山，西方來助祭者十餘國。矩遣人說高昌、伊吾等，啗以厚利，使入朝。帝西巡燕支山，高昌等二十七國謁道左，皆使佩金玉，服錦罽，奏樂歌舞，令士女盛飾縱觀，亙數十里，示中國強富。後遂破吐谷渾，拓地數千里，遣兵出戍，歲委輸巨億萬計。帝謂矩有綏懷略，擢銀青光祿大夫。帝在東都，矩以蠻夷朝貢踵至，諷帝悉召天下奇倡怪伎，大陳端門前，曳錦縠、珥金琲者十餘萬，百官都人列繒樓幔閣夾道，被服光麗。廛邸皆供帳，池酒林皪。譯長縱蠻夷與民貿易，所在令邀飲食，相娛樂。蠻夷嗟咨，謂中國為「仙晨帝所」。天子以為誠，謂宇文述、牛弘曰：「矩所建白，皆朕之志，要未發，矩輒先聞，非悉心奉國，疇能是邪？」又助城伊吾，脅處羅入朝。帝益喜，賜貂裘、西胡珍器。從帝巡塞北，幸啟民帳。時高麗遣使先在突厥，啟民引見帝。矩因奏言：「高麗本孤竹國，周以封箕子，漢分三郡，今乃不臣，先帝疾之，欲討久矣。方陛下時，安得不事？今其使朝突厥，及見啟民，舉國臣服，脅令入朝，可致也。請面詔其使，令歸語王，有如旅拒，方率突厥誅之。」帝納焉。高麗不聽命，征遼自此始。王師再臨遼，皆從，以勞加右光祿大夫。時綱紀汩振，宇文述、虞世基用事，官以賄遷，唯矩挺節無穢聲，世頗稱之。

In the third year of Daye the emperor performed rites at Mount Heng, and more than ten western states came to join the sacrifice. Pei Ju sent envoys to Gaochang, Yiwu, and the rest, baiting them with rich profit to come to court. When the emperor toured west to Mount Yanzhi, envoys from Gaochang and twenty-seven other states lined the road to pay homage. They were decked in jade and gold, clad in brocade, and made to sing and dance while richly dressed men and women looked on for miles, a display of the Middle Kingdom's power and wealth. Later they broke Tuyuhun, pushed the frontier out by thousands of li, sent troops to garrison distant lands, and each year poured out tribute and supplies numbering in the tens of millions. The emperor judged that Pei Ju had a gift for winning men and soothing the frontier, and raised him to Silver-Gleaming Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. While the emperor was at the Eastern Capital, barbarian embassies kept arriving one after another; Pei Ju urged him to summon every strange performer and wondrous act in the realm and parade them before the Duan Gate. More than a hundred thousand people dragged brocade and hung gold at their ears; officials and townsfolk lined the road with silk pavilions and curtained towers, all in dazzling dress. Every inn and market stall put up tents; wine lay pooled and meat piled like forests. Head interpreters let the barbarians trade freely with the people, and local magistrates everywhere feasted them for mutual delight. The barbarians marveled and sighed, calling the Middle Kingdom "the court of the immortal dawn." The Son of Heaven took this for truth and said to Yuwen Shu and Niu Hong, "Everything Pei Ju has proposed has been my own wish. Before I had even spoken, he was already ahead of me. Who but a man utterly devoted to the state could do that? He also helped strengthen Yiwu and forced Chuluo to submit and enter the Tang court. The Emperor was increasingly delighted and rewarded him with a sable cloak and rare treasures from the western regions. He accompanied the Emperor on a northern frontier tour and was received in Qimin Khan's camp. Goguryeo's envoys were already lodged with the Turks, and Qimin brought them before the Emperor. Ju then addressed the throne: 'Goguryeo began as the kingdom of Gushu. Zhou invested Jizi there; Han carved it into three commanderies. Yet it now withholds allegiance—a grievance the late Emperor nursed for years, always intending to punish it. While you were still crown prince, how could they have dared withhold obedience? Their ambassadors already kneel to the Turks. Once they behold Qimin and see the whole realm bow, we can pressure their king to come to court ourselves. Summon their envoys, speak the decree to their faces, and send them home with this warning: if their king balks, I will march with the Turks and destroy him. The Emperor approved the plan. When Goguryeo defied the order, the wars against Liaodong began. He accompanied both eastern expeditions against Liaodong and, for his service, was raised to Right Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. Law and order had collapsed. Yuwen Shu and Yu Shiqi ran the government, and posts changed hands through bribes. Ju alone kept his name clean, and people praised him for it.

矩以始畢可汗眾漸盛，建請以宗女嫁叱吉設，建為南面可汗，分其勢。叱吉不敢受。始畢聞之，稍怨望。矩又言：「突厥淳陋，易離間，但內多群胡教導之。臣聞史蜀胡悉尤有謀，幸于始畢，請殺之。」帝曰：「善。」矩因詭計召胡悉受賜，斬馬邑下，報始畢曰：「史蜀胡悉背可汗，我所共惡，今既誅之。」始畢知狀，由是不朝。後帝北巡，始畢率騎十萬圍帝雁門，詔矩與虞世基宿朝堂待顧問。圍解，從幸江都宮。時盜賊蜂結，郡縣上奏不可計，矩言於帝。帝怒，遣詣京師，以疾解。俄而高祖入關，帝令虞世基問方略，矩曰：「唯願陛下亟西，天下定矣。」

As Shibi Khan's strength swelled, Ju urged marrying a princess of the imperial clan to Chijishe and making him Southern Khan to split Turkic power. Chijishe refused to take the offer. Shibi learned of the scheme and grew resentful. Ju added, 'The Turks are blunt and unsophisticated, easy to turn against one another—except that many Hu factions among them whisper counsel. I hear Shi Shu Husiyou is the cleverest of them and enjoys Shibi's trust. Execute him. The Emperor said, 'Do it.' Ju lured Husiyou to Mayi with the promise of an imperial gift, then cut off his head and told Shibi, 'Husiyou betrayed you. We both hated him, so I killed him for us.' Once Shibi understood the trick, he never came to court again. During a later northern tour, Shibi besieged the Emperor at Yanmen with a hundred thousand riders. Ju and Yu Shiqi were told to sleep in the hall and stand ready for counsel. After the siege broke, he followed the court south to the Jiangdu Palace. Rebels were rising everywhere, and reports from the provinces piled up beyond counting. Ju laid the crisis before the Emperor. The Emperor flew into a rage, recalled him to the capital, and dismissed him on the pretext of illness. Soon Gaozu marched through the Pass. The Emperor asked Yu Shiqi for counsel, and Ju answered, 'Move west at once, and the empire will be yours. (Thus ended his counsel.)

矩性勤謹，未嘗忤物，見天下方亂，其待遇士尤厚，雖廝役皆得其歡。是時，衛兵數逃去，帝憂之，以問矩。矩曰：「今乘輿淹狩已二年，諸驍果皆無家，人無匹合，則不久安，臣請皆聽納室。」帝笑曰：「公定多智。」因詔矩盡召江都女子、孀家，恣將士所欲，即配之，人情翕然相悅，曰：「裴公惠也！」宇文化及亂，眾劫矩。賊皆曰：「裴黃門無豫也。」既而眾以秦王子浩為帝，詔矩為侍內，隨而北。化及僭位，署矩尚書右僕射，為河北道安撫大使。又為竇建德所獲，建德以矩隋舊臣，遇之厚。建德起群盜，非有君臣制度，矩為略制朝儀，不閱月，憲章擬王者，建德尊禮之。建德敗，來朝，擢殿中侍御史，爵安邑縣公。累遷太子詹事、檢校侍中。時突厥數盜邊，高祖遣使約西突厥連和，突厥因請婚。帝曰：「彼勢與我絕，緩急不為用，奈何？」矩曰：「然北虜方熾，歲苦邊，若權順許，以示外援，須我完實更議之。」帝然其計。隱太子敗，餘黨保宮城不解。秦王遣矩諭之，乃聽命。遷民部尚書。

Diligent and tactful by nature, Ju never crossed others. As chaos spread, he treated men of talent with exceptional kindness, winning even the affection of servants. Palace guards were deserting in numbers, and the troubled Emperor turned to Ju. Ju said, 'Your Majesty has hunted away from home for two years. These crack troops have no families. Men without wives cannot stay loyal long. Let them marry. The Emperor laughed. 'You always know what men need.' He then had Ju gather Jiangdu's unmarried women and widows, let the soldiers choose freely, and paired them on the spot. Morale soared, and the men cried, 'Lord Pei has blessed us!' When Yuwen Huaji rose in revolt, the mutineers seized Ju. The rebels shouted, 'Vice Director Pei is innocent! The rebels then set up Prince Hao of Qin as emperor, made Ju a palace attendant, and marched north with him. After Huaji declared himself emperor, he named Ju Right Vice Minister of State and Commissioner for Pacifying Hebei. Dou Jiande captured him next but, honoring him as a veteran Sui statesman, treated him well. Dou had risen from banditry and knew nothing of court order. Ju drafted rites for him; within a month his camp looked almost royal, and Dou treated him with deference. After Dou's defeat Ju submitted to Tang, was made Attendant Censor, and received the title Duke of Anyi County. He rose through the posts of Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent and Acting Palace Attendant. Turkic raids battered the border. Gaozu sent envoys to court the Western Turks, and they asked for a marriage alliance. The Emperor said, 'They are too distant and too weak to help us in an emergency. What then? Ju replied, 'The northern enemy is strong and the border bleeds every year. Pretend to agree for now to show we have allies abroad, then decide again once we are secure.' The Emperor accepted the advice. After the Hidden Crown Prince's fall, his partisans barricaded themselves in the palace and refused to yield. The Prince of Qin dispatched Ju to negotiate, and they finally submitted. He was appointed Minister of Population.

太宗即位，疾貪吏，欲痛懲乂之，乃間遣人遺諸曹，一史受饋縑，帝怒，詔殺之。矩曰：「吏受賕，死固宜。然陛下以計紿之，因即行法，所謂罔人以罪，非道之以德之誼。」帝悅，為群臣言之，曰：「矩遂能廷爭，不面從，物物若此，天下有不治哉？」年八十，精明不忘，多識故事，見重于時。貞觀元年卒，贈絳州刺史，諡曰敬。宇文士及宇文士及，字仁人，京兆長安人。父述，為隋右衛大將軍。開皇末，以述勳封新城縣公。文帝引入臥內，與語，奇之。詔尚煬帝女南陽公主，為尚輦奉禦，從幸江都，以父喪免，起為鴻臚少卿。其兄化及謀弑逆，以主婿忌之，弗告。已弑帝，乃封蜀王。

Taizong despised graft and meant to crush it. He secretly sent silk to several offices as bait; one clerk took it. Enraged, the Emperor ordered him executed. Ju said, 'A corrupt clerk deserves death. But you lured him into sin and then punished him. That is entrapment, not the way of teaching men through virtue. Taizong was pleased and told the court, 'Ju dares to argue with me in open session instead of nodding along. If every minister were like that, how could the realm fail to prosper?' At eighty his mind remained sharp, his memory of precedent vast, and his reputation unmatched. He died in the first year of Zhenguan and was posthumously made Governor of Jiang Prefecture with the posthumous name Jing. Yuwen Shiji, courtesy name Renren, came from Chang'an in Jingzhao. His father Shu was Sui's Grand General of the Right Guard. Near the end of Kaihuang, he inherited his father's honors and was made Duke of Xincheng County. Emperor Wen received him in the inner chamber, spoke with him at length, and was impressed. He was matched with Emperor Yang's daughter, the Princess of Nanyang, served as Director of Imperial Transport Attendants, followed the court to Jiangdu, left office to mourn his father, and later returned as Vice Minister of Reception. His elder brother Huaji plotted regicide but, mistrusting the emperor's son-in-law, kept him in the dark. Only after the assassination did Huaji enfeoff him as Prince of Shu.

初，士及為奉禦，而高祖任殿中少監，雅自款結。及從化及至黎陽，帝手書召之。士及亦遣家童間道走長安，通諄勤，且獻金鐶。帝悅曰：「我嘗與士及共事，今以此獻，是將來矣。」化及兵日蹙，士及勸歸命，不從，乃與封倫詭求督餉。俄而化及敗，於是濟北豪傑謀起齊兵擊竇建德以收河北，觀形勢，士及不納，與倫等自歸。帝讓之曰：「汝兄弟率思歸之人為入關計，爾得時，我父子，尚肯相假乎？今欲何地自處？」士及謝曰：「臣罪當死，但臣往在涿郡，嘗與陛下夜論世事，頃又奉所獻，冀以此贖罪。」帝笑謂裴寂曰：「彼與我論天下事，逮今六七年，公等皆在其後。」時士及女弟為昭儀，有寵，由是見親禮，授上儀同。從秦王平宋金剛，錄功，復隋舊封，以宗室女妻之，遷王府驃騎將軍。從討王世充等，進爵郢國公。武德八年，權檢校侍中，兼太子詹事。王即位，拜中書令，真食益州七百戶，以本官檢校涼州都督。時突厥數入寇，士及欲立威以鎮耀邊鄙，每出入，盛陳兵衛，又痛折節下士。或告其反，訊無狀，召為殿中監，以疾改蒲州刺史。政尚寬簡，人皆宜之。擢右衛大將軍。太宗延入閤語，或至夜分出，遇休沐，往往馳召。士及益自謹，其妻嘗問遽召何所事，士及卒不對。帝嘗玩禁中樹曰：「此嘉木也！」士及從旁美歎。帝正色曰：「魏征常勸我遠佞人，不識佞人為誰，乃今信然。」謝曰：「南衙群臣面折廷爭，陛下不得舉手。今臣幸在左右，不少有將順，雖貴為天子，亦何聊？」帝意解。又嘗割肉，以餅拭手，帝屢目，陽若不省，徐啗之。其機悟率類此。後以雅舊，別封一子新城縣公。久之，復為殿中監。卒，贈左衛大將軍、涼州都督，陪葬昭陵。士及撫幼弟、孤兄子，以友睦稱。好周恤親戚故人，然過自奉養，服玩食飲必極豐侈。有司諡曰恭，黃門侍郎劉洎曰：「士及居家侈肆，不可謂恭。」乃改曰縱。

Early on, while Shiji served as a palace attendant and Gaozu was Vice Director of the Palace Administration, the two had become close friends. When Shiji followed Huaji to Liyang, Gaozu wrote him a personal summons. Shiji sent a servant by back roads to Chang'an with pledges of loyalty and a gold bracelet. Gaozu was delighted. 'Shiji and I once served together. This gift means he is coming over. As Huaji's army collapsed, Shiji urged surrender in vain, then joined Feng Lun in asking to oversee supplies as a pretext to escape. Huaji fell soon after. Jibei's strongmen then proposed raising Qi forces to crush Dou Jiande and retake Hebei, but Shiji read the odds, refused, and surrendered with Feng Lun and the rest. Gaozu rebuked him: 'Your brothers marched homebound men toward the Pass to seize power. Had you timed it right, do you think my son and I would have spared you? Where do you imagine you belong now? Shiji bowed low. 'I deserve death. Yet in Zhuo Commandery I once talked with you through the night about the fate of the realm, and I have just sent my gift in hope of atoning.' Gaozu laughed and told Pei Ji, 'He and I debated the empire six or seven years ago—you all came later.' His younger sister was then a favored palace lady, and through her favor he won close treatment and the rank of Senior General of the Upper Class. He followed the Prince of Qin against Song Jingang, recovered his old Sui title, married a princess of the imperial clan, and became the prince's General of Swift Cavalry. He campaigned against Wang Shichong and was ennobled Duke of Ying. In the eighth year of Wude he served as Acting Palace Attendant and Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent. When the Prince of Qin became emperor, he made Shiji Grand Counselor, granted him seven hundred households in Yizhou, and kept him as Acting Regional Commander of Liangzhou. Turkic raids were constant. Shiji wanted to awe the frontier, so he traveled with ostentatious guards yet humbled himself sharply before his staff. Accused of treason, he was cleared on investigation, recalled as Director of the Palace Administration, then moved to Prefect of Puzhou because of illness. His rule was easy and plain, and the people approved. He was promoted to Grand General of the Right Guard. Taizong would pull him into the inner chambers for talk that sometimes ran past midnight, summoning him even on days of rest. Shiji grew still more guarded. When his wife asked why the sudden summons, he would not say. Once, admiring a tree in the palace grounds, the Emperor exclaimed, 'What splendid timber! Shiji murmured praise at his elbow. Taizong's expression darkened. 'Wei Zheng keeps telling me to banish flatterers. I never knew who he meant—until now. Shiji apologized. 'Ministers in the outer court argue with you openly, and you cannot simply brush them aside. But I stand at your side. If I never agreed with you, even an emperor would find his days unbearably lonely.' Taizong's anger cooled. Another time he wiped greasy hands on a cake while the Emperor stared; Shiji pretended not to see and ate the cake anyway. His cleverness usually took that form. Later, honoring their old bond, Taizong separately enfeoffed one of Shiji's sons as Duke of Xincheng County. Years afterward he returned as Director of the Palace Administration. He died and was posthumously made Grand General of the Left Guard and Regional Commander of Liangzhou, with burial near Zhaoling. He cared for younger brothers and his brother's orphaned sons and was praised for family devotion. He was generous to kin and old friends, yet spent extravagantly on his own comforts, food, and finery. The court first proposed the posthumous name Gong, but Vice Director Liu Ji objected: 'A man so lavish in private life cannot be called respectful. They changed it to Zong instead.

贊曰：封倫、裴矩，其奸足以亡隋，其知反以佐唐，何哉？惟奸人多才能，與時而成敗也。妖禽孽狐，當晝則伏自如，得夜乃為之祥。若倫偽行匿情，死乃暴聞，免兩觀之誅，幸矣。太宗知士及之佞，為游言自解，亦不能斥。彼中材之主，求不惑於佞，難哉！鄭善果鄭善果，鄭州滎澤人。祖在魏為顯家。父誠，周大將軍、開封縣公，討尉遲迥，戰死。善果方九歲，以死事子襲爵，家人為其幼，弗告也；及受詔，號哭不自勝。隋開皇初，進封武德郡公。年十四，為沂州刺史。累轉魯郡太守。

The historian comments: Feng Lun and Pei Ju were wicked enough to ruin Sui, yet clever enough to serve Tang—how can that be? Villains often possess great ability; fortune simply shifts with the age. Evil birds and cursed foxes lie quiet by daylight; only in darkness do they pass for omens. Lun wore virtue like a mask and hid his true heart until death exposed him. That he escaped execution at the Two Gates was luck enough. Taizong knew Shiji was a sycophant, yet even when Shiji talked his way out of trouble, the emperor could not bring himself to cast him off. Even a capable sovereign would struggle to keep flatterers from clouding his judgment—how much harder for one of merely average gifts! Zheng Shangguo was a native of Yingze in Zheng Prefecture. His grandfather's house had been eminent in Wei. His father Cheng, a Zhou grand general and duke of Kaifeng County, fell in battle while suppressing Yuwen Jiong. Shangguo was only nine when, as the son of a man who had died on campaign, he inherited the title; his family, thinking him too young, kept the news from him; When the decree finally reached him, he broke down in uncontrollable grief. Early in the Sui Kaihuang reign he was promoted to duke of Wude Commandery. At fourteen he was appointed prefect of Yizhou. He later served in succession as administrator of Lu Commandery.

善果母崔，賢明曉政治，嘗坐閤內聽善果處決，或當理則悅，有不可，則引至床下，責愧之。故善果所至有績，號清吏。嘗與武威太守樊子蓋考為天下第一，煬帝賜物千段、黃金百兩。再遷大理卿。突厥圍帝雁門，以守禦功拜右光祿大夫。從幸江都。宇文化及弑逆，署民部尚書，從至聊城。淮安王神通攻之，善果督戰，中流矢。神通解。俄為竇建德所獲，王琮讓之曰：「公，隋大臣，自尊夫人亡，名稱衰。今以忠臣子為逆賊徇命至傷夷，謂何？」善果慚，欲自殺，或止之，得不死。建德不之禮，乃歸神通。送京師，擢太子左庶子，更封滎陽郡公。數為太子陳得失。未幾，檢校大理卿，兼民部尚書。奉法持正，風績顯公卿間。詔與裴寂等十人每奏事若侍得升殿，而從父兄元璹亦與，時以為榮。坐事免。會山東平，持節為招撫大使。以選舉失實除名。後歷刑部尚書。貞觀初，出為岐州刺史，以累去。復拜江州刺史，卒。

Shangguo's mother, Lady Cui, was intelligent and versed in affairs of state. She would sit in the inner hall and listen as he decided cases: if his ruling was sound she was pleased; if not, she would draw him to her bedside and rebuke him until he felt ashamed. Wherever Shangguo served he left a record of accomplishment, and men called him an incorruptible magistrate. On one occasion he and Fan Zigai, prefect of Wuwei, were ranked the top administrators in the realm; Emperor Yang rewarded them with a thousand bolts of silk and a hundred taels of gold. He was later appointed minister of justice. When the Turks besieged the emperor at Yanmen, he was made right grand master for splendid happiness for his part in the defense. He accompanied the emperor to Jiangdu. After Yuwen Huaji murdered the emperor, Huaji made him minister of revenue and took him to Liaocheng. When Prince Huai'an, Wang Shentong, laid siege to the city, Shangguo commanded the defense and was hit by a stray arrow. Shentong then withdrew. Before long he was taken by Dou Jiande. Wang Cong reproached him: "You were a minister of Sui. Ever since your wife died, your standing has fallen. And now the son of a loyal father fights for traitors hard enough to take an arrow—what name do you give that?" Shangguo was mortified and tried to take his own life; others restrained him, and he survived. Jiande showed him no honor, and he went back to Shentong. Once escorted to the capital, he was made left assistant to the heir apparent and created duke of Xingyang Commandery. He often advised the heir apparent on what the court was doing well and where it went wrong. Soon afterward he was made acting minister of justice while also serving as minister of revenue. He enforced the law without favor and kept an upright course, and his standing among the high ministers was widely noted. An edict named him one of ten men, including Pei Ji, who whenever they memorialized the throne might enter the hall if they were in attendance; his older cousin Yuan Su was among them as well, and contemporaries regarded the privilege as a mark of distinction. He was removed from office because of a misconduct charge. When the east had been pacified, he received imperial credentials and was appointed pacification commissioner. He lost his name from the registers after his recommendations proved false. He later held the post of minister of punishments. At the opening of the Zhenguan reign he was sent out as prefect of Qi Prefecture but was dismissed after repeated faults. He was later reappointed prefect of Jiang Prefecture and died in that post.

元璹，字德芳，隋沛國公譯之子。性察慧，愛尚文藝。以父功拜儀同，襲爵。累遷右衛將軍，更封莘國公。大業末，出為文城郡守。高祖兵興，遣將張綸西略地，攻拔其城，系致軍門，釋之，授太常卿。與襄武王琛使突厥，還為參旗將軍。元璹習軍旅事，帝令教諸屯軍法。劉武周將宋金剛與突厥處羅可汗犄角寇汾、晉，元璹諭罷可汗兵，不聽，乃進為武周援。會暴疾，其下意元璹置毒，囚之。處羅死，頡利立，留帳中數年。帝既許可汗婚，元璹始得還。帝勞曰：「卿不辱於虜，可輩蘇武、張騫矣。」拜鴻臚卿，母喪免。

Yuan Su, whose courtesy name was Defang, was the son of Duke of Pei State Yi under the Sui. Quick of mind by nature, he delighted in letters and the arts. Thanks to his father's service he was made a corps commandant and succeeded to the title. He rose in turn to general of the right guard and was re-created duke of Shen State. Near the end of the Daye reign he was posted as administrator of Wencheng Commandery. When Gaozu first took up arms, he dispatched General Zhang Lun to expand westward. Lun stormed the city, bound Yuan Su, and brought him before the army, then freed him and made him minister of imperial sacrifices. He went with Prince Xiangwu, Wang Chen, on an embassy to the Turks, and after returning was appointed general of the Canqi banner. Yuan Su knew camp discipline well, and the emperor had him instruct the garrison forces in military law. When Liu Wuzhou's commander Song Jingang and the Turkic khan Chuluo struck Fen and Jin in concert, Yuan Su persuaded the khan to pull back his men. The khan refused, so Yuan Su marched on to reinforce Wuzhou. He then fell suddenly and gravely ill; his followers suspected Yuan Su of poisoning him and had him bound. When Chuluo died and Jieli took the throne, Yuan Su was detained in the khan's camp for years. Only after the emperor pledged a marriage alliance with the khan was Yuan Su allowed to come home. The emperor welcomed him with praise: "You bore captivity without shame. You stand in the company of Su Wu and Zhang Qian." He was made minister of state hospitality, then left office to mourn his mother.

會突厥提精騎數十萬，身自將攻太原，詔即苫次起元璹持節往勞。既至，虜以不信咎中國，元璹隨語折讓，無所屈，徐乃數其背約，突厥愧服。因好謂頡利曰：「突厥得唐地無所用，唐得突厥不可臣而使，兩不為用而相攻伐，何哉？今掠財資，劫人口，皆入所部，可汗一不得，豈若僕旗接好，則金玉重幣一歸可汗。且唐有天下，約可汗為兄弟，使驛銜箠於道，今坐受其利不肯，乃蔑德貽怨，自取勞苦，若何？」頡利當其言，引還。太宗賜書曰：「知公口伐，可汗如約，遂使邊火息燧，朕何惜金石賜於公哉！」貞觀三年，復使突厥，還言：「夷狄以馬羊准盛衰，今突厥六畜不蕃，人色若菜，牙內飯粟化為血，不三年必亡。」無幾，突厥果敗。後轉左武侯大將軍，坐事免。起為宜州刺史，以老致仕。卒，贈幽州刺史，諡曰簡。

When the Turks mustered several hundred thousand picked horsemen and the khan himself marched on Taiyuan, an edict summoned Yuan Su from his mourning shelter and sent him with credentials to offer condolences. On arrival the Turks accused the court of bad faith. Yuan Su answered point by point without giving ground, then calmly listed their broken promises until they were shamed into submission. Then he spoke gently to Jieli: "What use is Tang land to the Turks? And Tang cannot turn Turks into obedient subjects. If neither side gains, why keep raiding each other? Every raid fills your officers' pockets, not yours. Would it not be better to stand as friends beneath my banner, so that gold, jade, and rich tribute flow straight to the khan? Tang rules the realm and treats your khan as a brother, with post stations lining the roads. You refuse profit already offered, slight our good faith, and invite ill will—only to wear yourselves out. How does that serve you?" Jieli took his counsel to heart and led his men back. Taizong wrote in reply: "Your tongue did what armies could not—the khan kept peace, and the frontier beacons went dark. Why should I stint gold and jade in rewarding you?" In the third year of Zhenguan he went again to the Turks. On returning he reported: "The nomads reckon strength by horses and sheep. Their herds no longer breed, their faces look like wilted greens, and grain in the camps turns to blood in the pot—they cannot last three years." Before long the Turks collapsed, just as he had said. He was later made grand general of the left militant guard but was removed after an offense. He was recalled to serve as prefect of Yizhou and later retired because of old age. When he died he was posthumously made prefect of You Prefecture, with the posthumous name Jian.

元璹幹敏，所至常有譽。五聘絕域，危不脫，終不自為解。然譯事後母不謹，隋文帝嘗賜《孝經》愧勖之；至元璹亦不以孝聞，士醜其行。從孫杲，知名武后世，終天官侍郎。權萬紀權萬紀，其先出天水，後徙京兆，為萬年人。父琢玠，隋匡州刺史，以愨願聞。萬紀悻直廉約，自潮州刺史擢治書侍御史。尚書右僕射房玄齡、侍中王珪掌內外官考，萬紀劾其不平，太宗按狀，珪不伏。魏征奏言：「房玄齡等皆大臣，所考有私，萬紀在考堂無訂正，今而彈發，非誠心為國者。」帝乃置之，然以為不阿貴近，繇是獎禮。萬紀又建言：「宇文智及受隋恩，賊殺其君，萬世共棄，今其子乃任千牛，請斥屏以懲不軌。」帝從之。萬紀與侍御史李仁發既以言得進，頗掉罄自肆，眾情懍懍。征奏：「萬紀等暗大體，詆訐彈射皆不實，陛下收其一切，遂敢附下罔上，釣強直名，迷奪聖明，以小謀大，群下離心。如玄齡等且不得申，況疏賤之臣哉？」帝寤，徙萬紀散騎常侍，而免仁發。數年，復召萬紀為持書御史，即奏言：「宣、饒部中可鑿山冶銀，歲取數百萬。」帝讓曰：「天子所乏，嘉謀善政有益於下者。公不推賢進善，乃以利規我，欲方我漢桓、靈邪？」斥使還第。

Yuan Su was forceful and sharp; nearly everywhere he served he earned a good name. Sent five times to far barbarian courts, he never fled when peril closed in and never tried to explain away his duty. Yet his father Yi had failed in duty toward his stepmother, and Emperor Wen of Sui once sent him the Classic of Filial Piety to rebuke and exhort him; and Yuan Su too won no reputation for filial conduct, so men of breeding looked on the family with distaste. A collateral descendant, Gao, became well known in the Wu Zong reign and ended his career as vice minister of the celestial bureau. Quan Wanji came from a line originally of Tianshui that later settled in Jingzhao and became natives of Wannian. His father Zhuojie had been prefect of Kuangzhou under the Sui and was known for steadfast honesty. Wanji was blunt, upright, and austere; he rose from prefect of Chaozhou to imperial censor. When the right vice director Fang Xuanling and the attendant Wang Gui oversaw evaluations of inner and outer officials, Wanji charged them with bias. Taizong reviewed the case, but Wang Gui refused to concede. Wei Zheng argued: "Men like Fang Xuanling are chief ministers. If their grading was unfair, Wanji should have corrected it in the review hall. To impeach them only afterward is not honest service to the throne. The emperor let the charge drop, yet admired Wanji for not truckling to the powerful and therefore singled him out for reward. Wanji also urged: "Yuwen Zhiji owed the Sui dynasty everything, then killed his sovereign—a crime all the world condemns—yet his son now serves as a thousand-ox attendant. Expel him as a warning to the lawless. The emperor accepted the proposal. Wanji and the censor Li Renfa, elevated because of their outspokenness, grew arrogant and overbearing, and the court grew uneasy. Wei Zheng wrote: "Wanji and his like ignore the larger good. Their accusations are hollow, yet Your Majesty indulges every charge, so they court the lower ranks and mislead their betters, angling for a name as blunt truth-tellers while clouding your judgment. They use petty tricks against great ministers, and the whole court loses faith. If even Fang Xuanling cannot answer them, what chance has any obscure clerk? The emperor took the point, moved Wanji to palace attendant, and removed Li Renfa from office. Years later Wanji was recalled as credential-bearing censor and at once proposed: "In the Xuan and Rao regions mountains can be opened to refine silver, bringing in several million a year. The emperor snapped back: "What an emperor needs is wise counsel and policies that help the people. You do not bring forward the worthy; you try to measure me by profit. Do you mean to rank me with the Huan and Ling emperors of Han? The emperor sent him home in disgrace.

久之，由御史中丞進尚書左丞，出為西韓州刺史。徙吳王長史。王畏其直，善遇之。齊王祐不奉法，帝素奇萬紀能左右吳王者，乃徙為祐長史。祐暱比群小，萬紀驟諫不入，即條過失以聞。帝遣劉德威按問，因召祐入朝。祐恐，與所嬖燕弘亮謀殺之，而萬紀先引道。祐遣弘亮馳彀騎追擊，斬首，殊支體，投圊中。又殺典軍韋文振。文振本以校尉從帝征伐，以質謹自將，帝使事祐，典廄馬，切諫不納，輒見萬紀道之，故祐內嘗忿疾。萬紀死，文振懼，馳去，追騎獲之。祐平，贈萬紀齊州都督、武都郡公，食二千戶，諡曰敢，文振左武衛將軍、襄陽縣公，食千戶。

Long afterward he rose from vice censor-in-chief to left vice director of the department of state affairs, then went out as prefect of Xihan. He was reassigned as senior tutor to the prince of Wu. The prince, wary of his bluntness, treated him with special respect. The prince of Qi, You, scorned the law. The emperor had long thought Wanji could steady the prince of Wu, so he moved him to serve as You's senior tutor. You kept company with worthless men. Wanji remonstrated again and again without effect, then catalogued his faults and reported them to the throne. The emperor dispatched Liu Dewei to inquire into the matter and ordered You to the capital. You, in fear, conspired with his favorite Yan Hongliang to murder Wanji, but Wanji had already taken to the road. You sent Hongliang with fast cavalry in pursuit. They cut off Wanji's head, hacked apart his body, and threw the pieces into a cesspit. They also killed the army supervisor Wei Wenzhen. Wenzhen had campaigned with the emperor as a company commander, distinguished for strict and careful conduct. The emperor assigned him to You to manage the stables. He counseled bluntly and was ignored, and often confided in Wanji, so You had long nursed a private hatred of him. After Wanji was killed, Wenzhen fled in terror; mounted pursuers overtook and seized him. Once You's rebellion was crushed, Wanji was posthumously made military governor of Qi Prefecture and duke of Wudu Commandery with an estate of two thousand households, posthumous name Gan; Wenzhen was posthumously made general of the left martial guard and duke of Xiangyang County with an estate of one thousand households.

萬紀子玄初，高宗時兵部侍郎。族孫懷恩懷恩，萬紀族孫。祖弘壽，為隋臨汾司倉書佐，高祖平京師，擢太僕卿、盧國公，卒，諡曰恭。故懷恩以廕累遷尚乘奉禦，襲爵。馭人安畢羅為高宗所寵，見帝，戲慢不恭，懷恩奏事，適見之，退杖四十。帝嗟賞曰：「良吏也！」擢萬年令。賞罰明，見惡輒取。時語曰：「寧飲三鬥塵，無逢權懷恩。」其姿狀沈毅，每盛服，妻子不敢仰視。更慶、萊、衛、邢、宋五州刺史，洛州長史。所居威名赫然，吏重足立。嘗過汴州，時刺史楊德幹亦以嚴稱，與懷恩名相埒。汴橋新成，立木中途，止過車者。懷恩適過之，示德幹曰：「民不可止邪，焉用此？」德幹慚服。遷益州大都督府長史，卒。

Wanji's son Xuanchu served as vice minister of war early in the Gaozong reign. Huai'en was a collateral descendant of Wanji. His grandfather Hongshou had been a granary clerk at Linfen under the Sui. When Gaozu took the capital, Hongshou was raised to minister of the imperial stud and created duke of Lu State; at his death he received the posthumous name Gong. By inherited privilege Huai'en rose in turn to master of the imperial mount and succeeded to the title. His groom An Biluo enjoyed Gaozong's favor and once behaved insolently before the emperor. Huai'en, arriving to present a memorial, witnessed it; when he withdrew he had Biluo beaten forty strokes with the staff. The emperor exclaimed with approval: "There is a magistrate after my own heart!" Huai'en was promoted to magistrate of Wannian. He ruled with clear reward and punishment, striking at wrong the moment he saw it. A saying of the day ran: "I'd rather swallow three pecks of dust than run into Quan Huai'en. He was imposing and grave of mien; dressed in full regalia, even his wife and children did not dare meet his gaze." He held office in turn as prefect of Gengqing, Lai, Wei, Xing, and Song, and as chief secretary of Luo Prefecture. Wherever he held office his stern fame was unmistakable, and subordinates stood as if afraid to move. Once when passing through Bian Prefecture he found the prefect Yang Degan, himself notorious for harsh rule, a rival in reputation. A newly finished bridge at Bian had a post erected in the middle to stop traffic from crossing. Huai'en was just passing and, pointing it out to Degan, said: "If you cannot govern the people without such devices, what good are you? Why resort to this? Degan, abashed, conceded the point." He was made chief secretary of the Yizhou metropolitan protectorate and died in that post.

從子楚璧，為左領軍衛兵曹參軍。玄宗在東都，楚璧乃與李迥秀子齊損、陳倉尉盧玢、左屯營長上折沖周履濟等謀反，以兄子梁山詐為襄王子，號光帝，擁營兵百餘夜入官城，欲劫留守王志愔，不克。遲明，兵斬楚璧等，傳首東都，籍其家。閻立德閻讓，字立德，以字行，京兆萬年人。父毘，為隋殿內少監，本以工藝進，故立德與弟立本皆機巧有思。武德初，為秦王府士曹參軍，從平東都。遷尚衣奉禦，制袞冕六服、腰輿、傘扇，咸有典法。貞觀初，歷將作少匠、大安縣男。護治獻陵，拜大匠。文德皇后崩，攝司空，營昭陵，坐弛職免。起為博州刺史。太宗幸洛陽，詔立德按爽塏建離宮清暑，乃度地汝州西山，控汝水，睨廣成澤，號襄城宮，役凡百餘萬。宮成，煩燠不可居，帝廢之，以賜百姓，坐免官。

His nephew Chu Bi held the post of army adjutant in the Left Leading Army Guard. While Xuanzong was at Luoyang, Chu Bi joined Qi Sun, son of Li Hui Xiu, Chencang commandant Lu Bin, Left Tunwei camp officer Zhou Lüji, and others in a plot. They put forward his nephew Liangshan as a false heir of the Prince of Xiang, styled him Emperor Guang, and led more than a hundred garrison soldiers into the palace at night to seize the custodian Wang Zhihui, but the attempt failed. By dawn the troops had beheaded Chu Bi and his accomplices, sent their heads to Luoyang, and seized their families' estates. Yan Lide, whose original name was Yan Rang and courtesy name Lide, was known by his courtesy name and came from Wannian in Jingzhao. His father Pi had been a palace attendant within under the Sui and had risen through the crafts; Lide and his younger brother Liben inherited both skill and inventive minds. At the start of the Wude reign he was a staff officer in the Prince of Qin's household and took part in the pacification of Luoyang. Promoted to director of imperial tailoring, he devised the six ceremonial robes, sedan chairs, umbrellas, and fans, each to proper canonical standard. At the opening of the Zhenguan reign he rose in turn to assistant master of palace construction and was created baron of Da'an County. Put in charge of work on Xian Mausoleum, he was appointed grand master of construction. After Empress Wende's death he acted as minister of works and oversaw Zhaoling, but was removed for neglect of duty. He was later restored and sent out as prefect of Bo Prefecture. When Taizong went to Luoyang, Lide was ordered to find high, dry ground for a summer palace. He chose the western hills of Ru Prefecture, above the Ru River and overlooking Guangcheng Marsh, and built Xiangcheng Palace at a cost of more than a million laborers. Once finished the palace proved hot and uninhabitable. The emperor abandoned it and gave it to the people, and Lide lost his post.

未幾，復為大匠，即洪州造浮海大航五百艘，遂從征遼，攝殿中監，規築土山，破安市城。師還，至遼澤，亙二百里，淖不可通，立德築道為橋樑，無留行。帝悅，賜予良厚。又營翠微、玉華二宮，擢工部尚書。帝崩，復攝司空，典陵事，以勞進爵大安縣公。永征五年，高宗幸萬年宮，留守京師，領徒四萬治京城。卒，贈吏部尚書、并州都督，陪葬昭陵，諡曰康。附閻立本立本，顯慶中以將作大匠代立德為工部尚書。總章元年，以司平太常伯拜右相、博陵縣男。初，太宗與侍臣泛舟春苑池，見異鳥容與波上，悅之，詔坐者賦詩，而召立本侔狀。閤外傳呼畫師閻立本，是時已為主爵郎中，俯伏池左，研吮丹粉，望坐者羞悵流汗。歸戒其子曰：「吾少讀書，文辭不減儕輩，今獨以畫見名，與廝役等，若曹慎毋習！」然性所好，雖被訾屈，亦不能罷也。既輔政，但以應務俗材，無宰相器。時姜恪以戰功擢左相，故時人有「左相宣威沙漠，右相馳譽丹青」之嘲。咸亨元年，官復舊名，改中書令。卒，諡曰文貞。立德孫知微，曾孫用之。孫知微知微，聖曆初為豹韜衛將軍。武后時，突厥默啜請和親，后遣知微攝春官尚書，持金帛護送武延秀聘其女。默啜怒非天子子，囚延秀，挾知微入寇趙、定，尊之如可汗，以示華人，自河以北蕭然。朝廷以知微賣國，夷其族。知微不知，逃還。武后業已然，乃曰：「惡臣疾子，賜百官甘心焉。」於是骨斷臠分，非要職者不能得。子則先，以武三思婿免死。玄宗在籓時，以善割蒙寵。開元中，有司奏擬供奉，姚元崇以為則先刑戮家，又逆人姻屬，不可留京師。詔曰：「朕在外日，嘗驅使，宜令供奉。」曾孫用之用之，初為彭州參軍，嘗攝錄事，一日糾愆謬不法數十事，太守以為材。後舉通事舍人，累遷右衛郎將，知引駕仗。金吾將軍李質升殿不解刀，呵卻之，請按以法，左右震悚。始，有司以三衛執扇登殿，用之奏三衛皆趫悍，不宜升陛邇禦坐，請以宦者代，遂為故事。天寶中，女為義王玼妃。終左金吾將軍。蔣儼蔣儼，常州義興人。擢明經第，為左屯衛兵曹參軍。太宗將伐高麗，募為使者，人皆憚行，儼奮曰：「以天子雄武，四夷畏威，蕞爾國敢圖王人？有如不幸，固吾死所也。」遂請行。為莫離支所囚，以兵脅之，不屈，內窟室中。高麗平，乃得歸。帝奇其節，授朝散大夫。為幽州司馬，劉祥道以巡察使到部，表最狀，擢會州刺史。再遷殿中少監，數陳時政病利，高宗輒優納。進蒲州刺史，戶產充夥，訴犴積年不平，前刺史踵以罪去，儼至，發隱禁奸，號良二千石。永隆二年，以老致仕。未幾，復召為太僕卿，以父諱辭官，徙太子右衛副率。

Soon he was again grand master of construction. At Hongzhou he built five hundred large seagoing vessels, then joined the Liaodong campaign as acting palace attendant within, directing the earthen siege mounds that broke Anshi. On the march home the army struck Liaose Marsh, two hundred li of mire. Lide built a road and bridges across it so the column never stalled. The emperor was delighted and heaped rewards upon him. He later constructed the Cuiwei and Yuhua palaces and was raised to minister of works. After Taizong's death he again acted as minister of works and oversaw the imperial tomb, and for that service was created duke of Da'an County. In the fifth year of Yonghui, while Gaozong was at Wannian Palace, Lide stayed behind in the capital and put forty thousand workers to repairing the city. At his death he was posthumously made minister of personnel and military governor of Bing Prefecture, buried at Zhaoling, with the posthumous name Kang. Yan Liben: in the Xianqing era he succeeded Lide as minister of works while serving as master of palace construction. In the first year of Zongzhang, already minister of ritual with the concurrent title of ping, he was made right chancellor and created baron of Boling County. Once Taizong went boating on the Spring Garden pool with his ministers. Delighted by a strange bird drifting on the water, he ordered poems from the company and called Liben to sketch the bird. From outside the gate came the shout for the painter Yan Liben. Already a director of principal titles, he crawled to the pool's edge, ground vermilion, and as he looked up at the courtiers he flushed with shame and sweat. Back home he warned his sons: "I studied from boyhood and write as well as my peers, yet I am known only for painting and treated like a servant. See that you never take it up! Yet painting was his nature's delight, and though the work humiliated him, he could not give it up." Once in high office he proved useful only for routine business and lacked the stature of a true chief minister. Because Jiang Ke had risen to left chancellor on military merit, wits mocked: "The left chancellor wins glory in the desert; the right chancellor wins glory with his brush." In the first year of Xianheng the old titles were restored and he became chancellor of the secretariat. He died and received the posthumous name Wenzhen. Lide's grandson was Zhiwei and his great-grandson Yongzhi. Zhiwei, Lide's grandson, became general of the leopard battle guard at the start of the Shenli era. Under Empress Wu the Turkic khan Moqi sought a marriage alliance. She sent Zhiwei, acting minister of the spring office, with gold and silk to escort Wu Yanxiu as betrothal envoy for Moqi's daughter. Moqi, furious that the court had not sent an imperial prince, seized Yanxiu, dragged Zhiwei on raids through Zhao and Ding, and paraded him before Chinese captives as though he were a khan, until the country north of the Yellow River lay waste. The court condemned Zhiwei as a traitor and wiped out his entire clan. Zhiwei, unaware of the sentence, escaped and returned home. With the verdict already fixed, Empress Wu declared: "This villain and his vile son—let every official feast his heart on them. His body was hacked to pieces, and only men of rank could claim a portion." His son Ze Xian survived because he was married into Wu Sansi's house. While still a prince, Xuanzong favored him for his skill at carving. In the Kaiyuan era the ministries nominated him for palace service, but Yao Yuanchong argued that a man whose family had been executed and who was related to a traitor had no place in the capital. The emperor replied: "When I was still a prince I often had him attend me. Let him serve at court." Yongzhi, Lide's great-grandson, began as military adjutant of Peng Prefecture. Acting as recording clerk for a day, he caught dozens of legal irregularities, and the prefect marked him as able. He was later made a court liaison officer, rose to right guard commandant, and took charge of the imperial carriage escort. When Metal-Fetter General Li Zhi entered the hall without sheathing his sword, Yongzhi barked him back and demanded legal punishment; the courtiers trembled. At first the Three Guards had carried the imperial fans up the hall. Yongzhi argued that these men were too rough to stand close to the throne and asked that eunuchs take their place—a practice that then became fixed. During the Tianbao reign his daughter married Prince Ci of Righteousness. He finished his career as left metal-fetter general. Jiang Yan was a native of Yixing in Chang Prefecture. Passing the Mingjing examination, he became army adjutant of the Left Tunwei Guard. When Taizong prepared to strike Goguryeo and sought envoys, everyone shrank from the mission. Yan cried out: "With the Son of Heaven's might the four quarters tremble—would this petty kingdom dare lay hands on the emperor's messenger? If I meet misfortune, that is simply where I am meant to die. With that he volunteered for the mission." Mo Liche seized and imprisoned him, threatened him with arms, and when he would not yield shut him in an underground cell. Only after Goguryeo fell was he able to come home. The emperor admired his steadfastness and made him a gentleman for dispersing affairs. As vice prefect of You Prefecture he won the top evaluation when Liu Xiangdao came as inspector and was promoted to prefect of Hui. Raised to vice director of palace affairs, he often memorialized on the empire's faults and strengths, and Gaozong always heard him with favor. Made prefect of Pu, a rich and populous commandery where lawsuits had piled up for years and one magistrate after another had fled in disgrace, he rooted out concealed abuses and suppressed wrongdoing until men hailed him a model prefect. In the second year of Yonglong he retired on account of age. Soon he was recalled as minister of the imperial stud, but declined because the title violated his father's name and accepted instead the post of deputy commander of the heir apparent's right guard.

中宗在東宮，儼數爭過失，不見用。自以總調護，不應諫。於是田遊岩興處士為洗馬，太子所尊禮，儼詒書責之曰：「太子年鼎盛，聖道有所未盡，足下受調護之寄，居責言之地，唯唯悠悠，不出一談。向使不餐王粟，僕何敢議？今祿及親矣，尚何酬塞？」遊岩愧不能答。儼尋徙右衛大將軍，封義興縣子，以太子詹事致仕。卒，年七十八。中宗立，以舊恩贈禮部尚書。韋弘機韋弘機，京兆萬年人。祖元禮，隋浙州刺史。弘機仕貞觀時為左千牛胄曹參軍，使西突厥，冊拜同俄設為可汗。會石國叛，道梗，三年不得歸。裂裾錄所過諸國風俗、物產，為《西征記》。比還，太宗問外國事，即上其書。帝大悅，擢朝散大夫。累遷殿中監。顯慶中，為檀州刺史，以邊人陋僻，不知文儒貴，乃脩學官，畫孔子、七十二子、漢晉名儒象，自為贊，敦勸生徒，繇是大化。契苾何力討高麗。次灤水，會暴漲，師留三日。弘機輸給資糧，軍無饑，高宗善之，擢司農少卿，主東都營田苑。宦者犯法，杖乃奏，帝嗟賞，賜絹五十匹，曰：「後有犯，治之，毋奏。」遷司農卿。

While Zhongzong was crown prince, Yan repeatedly challenged his failings and was ignored. Believing he bore the chief duty of guiding the heir, he felt bound to speak plainly. Then the recluse Tian Youyan was made wash-horse and treated with honor by the crown prince. Yan wrote to rebuke him: "The heir is young and the Way not yet complete. You were entrusted with his guidance and hold an office meant for plain speech, yet you drift along in silence. Had you never taken the court's stipend, I would not dare reproach you. Now your salary feeds your family—what debt to the throne remains unpaid? Youyan was shamed into silence." Yan was soon made right guard grand general, created viscount of Yixing, and retired from the post of supervisor of the heir apparent's household. He died at seventy-eight. After Zhongzong took the throne, Yan was posthumously made minister of rites in remembrance of long service. Wei Hongji was a native of Wannian in Jingzhao. His grandfather Yuanli had been prefect of Zhe under the Sui. In the Zhenguan era Hongji served as adjutant of the Left Thousand-Ox Armor Army and, sent to the Western Turks, invested Tong'e She as khan. A revolt in the Shi Kingdom cut the routes home, and he was stranded abroad for three years. He tore strips from his robe to note the customs and products of every land he crossed and compiled the Record of the Western Expedition. On his return Taizong questioned him about foreign lands, and he at once presented the work. The emperor was delighted and made him a gentleman for dispersing affairs. He later rose to vice director of palace affairs. As prefect of Tan in the Xianqing era he found frontier folk ignorant of learning. He rebuilt the school, painted Confucius, the seventy-two disciples, and eminent Han and Jin scholars, wrote the inscriptions himself, and pressed the students until the region was transformed. Qibi Heli marched against Goguryeo. At the Luanshui the army was stopped three days by a sudden flood. Hongji kept the supplies flowing so the troops did not go hungry. Gaozong praised him, made him vice minister of agriculture, and set him over the Eastern Capital farms and parks. After he had a lawbreaking eunuch beaten and then reported the case, the emperor sighed his approval, gave him fifty bolts of silk, and said: "Next time simply punish offenders—no need to memorialize me. He was then promoted to minister of agriculture."

太子弘薨，詔蒲州刺史李沖寂治陵，成而玄堂阨，不容終具，將更為之。役者過期不遣，眾怨，夜燒營去。帝詔弘機嗣作，弘機令開隧左右為四便房，撙制禮物，裁工程，不多改作，如期而辦。帝嘗言：「兩都，我東西宅，然因隋宮室日仆不完，朕將更作，奈財用何？」弘機即言：「臣任司農十年，省惜常費，積三十萬緡，以治宮室，可不勞而成。」帝大悅，詔兼將作、少府二官，督營繕。初作宿羽、高山等宮，徙洛中橋于長夏門，廢利涉橋，人便之。天子乃登洛北絕岸，延眺良久，歎其美，詔即其地營宮，所謂上陽者。尚書左僕射劉仁軌謂侍御史狄仁傑曰：「古天子陂池臺榭皆深宮復禁，不欲百姓見之，恐傷其心。而今列岸謻廊亙王城外，豈愛君哉？」弘機猥曰：「天下有道，百官奉職，任輔弼者，則思獻替事。我乃府藏臣，守官而已。」仁傑非之。俄坐家人犯盜，劾免官。

After Crown Prince Hong died, Pu prefect Li Chongji was ordered to build the tomb. When the work was done the burial chamber proved too small for the full funeral gear, and a rebuild was planned. The workers, kept past their term, mutinied and burned the camp one night before fleeing. Gaozong put Hongji in charge. He widened the tunnel with four side chambers, scaled back the ritual furnishings and the construction, changed little else, and finished on time. The emperor once remarked: "Chang'an and Luoyang are my two homes, but the old Sui palaces crumble daily. I want to rebuild—where will the money come from? Hongji answered at once: "In ten years as minister of agriculture I have pared routine costs and saved three hundred thousand strings of cash. With that the work can be done without strain." Delighted, the emperor made him concurrently master of construction and palace treasures and put him in charge of the rebuilding." He first built Suyu, Gaoshan, and other palaces, moved the Luoyang bridge to Changxia Gate, and removed Lishi Bridge—all to the people's benefit. The emperor climbed the towering north bank of the Luo River, lingered long in contemplation, and sighing at the view commanded a palace there—the palace known as Shangyang. Left vice director Liu Ren'gui told investigating censor Di Renjie: "Ancient sovereigns kept their lakes, pools, terraces, and pavilions locked within the inner palace, hidden from common sight lest the spectacle break the people's hearts. Now galleries line the banks and long covered walks run beyond the royal city walls—is that what love of the ruler looks like?" Hongji answered bluntly: "When the realm is well governed every official keeps his post, and those who serve as counselors owe frank counsel. I am only a steward of storehouses and treasuries. I do my job and nothing more." Renjie rejected the reply. Before long a theft by a member of his household was charged against him and he was removed from office.

初，東都方士朱欽遂為武后所寵，奸贓狼藉。弘機白：「欽遂假中宮驅策，依倚形勢，虧紊皇明，為禍亂之漸。」帝遣中使慰諭，敕毋漏言，逐欽遂于邊，后恨之。永淳中，帝幸東都，至芳桂宮，召弘機使白衣檢校園苑，將復任之，為后犄而止。終檢校司農少卿事。孫岳子孫岳子、景駿。景駿別傳。

At first the Eastern Capital adept Zhu Qinsui enjoyed Empress Wu's favor, and his bribery and theft were notorious. Hongji memorialized: "Qinsui wields the empress's power as a lash, leans on her favor, corrupts the court, and opens the way to disaster." The emperor sent a palace envoy to soothe Hongji, forbade him to speak of the affair, and banished Qinsui to the borderlands; the empress never forgave it. During Yongchun the emperor came to Luoyang and reached Fanggui Palace. He recalled Hongji in plain dress to oversee the parks and was ready to restore him, but the empress blocked the appointment. He ended his career as acting vice minister of agriculture. His grandsons were Yuezi and Jingjun. Jingjun is treated in a separate biography.

岳子，武后時為汝州司馬，以辨治稱。召授尚舍奉禦，入見，后賞其能，曰：「卿家事，朕悉知之。」因問舊故，至家人皆不忘。出為太原令，以不習武固辭，忤旨，下遷宋州長史。歷廬、海等州刺史，皆著風跡，恩嚴兩施。睿宗立，召為殿中少監，恩遇尤異。竇懷貞等誅，而嶽子舊與經過，為薑晈所劾，貶渠州別駕。起授陝州刺史，卒。孫皋，別有傳。姜師度姜師度，魏州魏人。擢明經，調丹陵尉、龍崗令，有清白稱。神龍初，試為易州刺史、河北道巡察，兼支度營田使。好興作，始廝溝於薊門，以限奚、契丹，循魏武帝故跡，並海鑿平虜渠，以通餉路，罷海運，省功多。遷司農卿。出為陝州刺史。太原倉水陸運所湊，轉屬諸河，師度使依高為廥，而注米於舟，以故人不勞。拜太子詹事。

Under Empress Wu, Yuezi was vice commandant of Ru Prefecture and won fame for clear, capable administration. Called to court and made palace provision attendant, he was praised by the empress, who said: "I know your family's affairs down to the last detail." She questioned him about old ties, even naming relatives, and forgot nothing. Sent out as magistrate of Taiyuan, he refused on the ground that he knew nothing of military affairs, drew imperial displeasure, and was demoted to chief secretary of Song Prefecture. He served in turn as prefect of Lu, Hai, and other prefectures, leaving a record of firm but fair rule wherever he went. When Ruizong came to the throne Yuezi was recalled as vice director of the palace administration and treated with unusual favor. After Dou Huaizhen and his faction were put to death, Yuezi's old ties with them were exposed by Jiang Jiao's impeachment, and he was demoted to vice prefect of Qu Prefecture. Later restored, he was made prefect of Shan Prefecture and died in office. Sun Gao is treated in a separate biography. Jiang Shidu was a native of Wei in Weizhou. Passed through the Mingjing examination and served as captain of Danling and magistrate of Longgang, earning a name for spotless conduct. At the start of the Shenlong era he was provisionally made prefect of Yi, inspector of the Hebei circuit, and commissioner for provisioning and military farms. He loved grand projects. At Ji's Gate he opened a defensive trench against the Xi and Khitan, retraced Emperor Wu of Wei's old route, and cut the Pinglu Canal along the coast to feed the armies by land, ending sea transport and saving enormous labor. He was promoted to minister of agriculture. He was sent out as prefect of Shan Prefecture. The Taiyuan depot gathered both river and road traffic bound for many waterways. Shidu built elevated granaries and poured grain straight into boats, sparing the people heavy labor. He was made grand preceptor of the heir apparent.

玄宗徙營州治柳城，拜營田支度脩築使。進為河中尹。安邑鹽池涸廢，師度大發卒，洫引其流，置鹽屯，公私收利不貲。徙同州刺史。又派洛灌朝邑、河西二縣，閼河以灌通靈陂，收棄地二千頃為上田，置十餘屯。帝幸長春宮，嘉其功，下詔褒美，加金紫光祿大夫，賜帛三百匹。進將作大匠。左拾遺劉彤建榷天下鹽鐵利內之官，免貧民賦，詔戶部侍郎強循與師度並假御史中丞，會諸道按察使議所以榷之之法，俄為議者沮，閣不行。卒，年七十餘。

When Xuanzong shifted the seat of Ying Prefecture to Liucheng, Shidu was appointed commissioner for military farms, provisioning, and construction. He rose to governor of Hezhong. The Anyi salt flats had dried up and gone to waste. Shidu mobilized a vast labor force, reopened the channels, and established salt colonies until public and private profit alike became incalculable. He was transferred to prefect of Tong Prefecture. He also diverted the Luo to water Chaoyi and Hexi, dammed the stream to fill Tongling reservoir, turned two thousand qing of waste land into prime fields, and set up more than ten military colonies. When the emperor visited Changchun Palace he praised the work, issued a commendatory edict, raised Shidu to grand master with gold seal and purple ribbon, and gave him three hundred bolts of silk. He was promoted to master of palace construction. Remonstrance official Liu Tong urged that salt and iron profits nationwide be brought under state control and the poor relieved of tax. The court ordered vice minister of revenue Qiang Xun and Shidu, both acting as vice imperial censors, to meet the circuit inspectors and draft a monopoly scheme, but critics soon blocked it and the plan died. He died in his seventies.

師度喜渠漕，所至繇役紛紜，不能皆便，然所就必為後世利。是時太史令傅孝忠以知星顯，時為語曰：「孝忠知仰天，師度知相地。」嘲所嗜也。附強循強循字季先，鳳州人。仕累雍州司士參軍。華原無泉，人畜多暍死。循教人渠水以浸田，一方利之，號強公渠。詔書褒予甚厚。歷大理少卿、太子右庶子。為政辦給，不為威嚴，遇人盡信不疑，然當時恨其少文云。張知謇張知謇，子匪躬，幽州方城人，徙家岐。兄弟五人，知玄、知晦、知泰、知默，皆明經高第，曉吏治，清介有守，公卿爭為引重。調露時，知謇監察御史裏行，知默左臺侍御史。知謇歷十一州刺史，所蒞有威嚴，武后降璽書存問。萬歲通天中，自德州刺史入計，后奇其貌，詔工圖之，稱其兄弟容而才，謂之兩絕。又門皆列戟，白雀巢其廷，后數寵賜。知泰歷益州長史、中臺左丞、兵部侍郎，封陳留縣公。

Shidu loved canals and grain transport. His projects always meant heavy corvée and not every community gained at once, yet what he finished proved a lasting benefit. Grand astrologer Fu Xiaozhong was then famous for reading the heavens, and people said: "Xiaozhong reads the sky; Shidu reads the land." The jingle mocked their respective passions. Qiang Xun, whose courtesy name was Jixian, came from Feng Prefecture. In service he rose to army aide in the Yongzhou bureau of administration. Huayuan had no springs, and men and beasts often died of heat and thirst. Xun showed the people how to bring canal water to the fields. The whole district prospered, and the channel was named Lord Qiang's Canal. An imperial edict praised him and rewarded him handsomely. He served in turn as vice minister of justice and right vice grand master of the heir apparent. As an administrator he was brisk and practical rather than stern, trusting everyone without question; contemporaries regretted only that he lacked polish. Zhang Zhijian, courtesy name Feigong, came from Fangcheng in You Prefecture; his family later settled in Qi. Five brothers—Zhixuan, Zhihui, Zhita, and Zhim—all passed the Mingjing with high honors, knew administration, and were upright men of principle whom the great ministers vied to advance. During Tiaolu, Zhijian was a provisional investigating censor and Zhim a regular attendant censor of the left bureau. Zhijian governed eleven prefectures in succession with commanding authority, and Empress Wu sent him sealed letters of inquiry. During Wansui Tongtian he came from De Prefecture to present the annual accounts. The empress was struck by his looks, had him painted, praised the brothers' appearance and ability together, and called them unmatched in both. Halberds stood at every gate, white magpies nested in their courtyards, and the empress showered them with favor. Zhita rose through chief secretary of Yi, left vice director of the central secretariat, and vice minister of war, and was created duke of Chenliu County.

中宗在房州，禁察苛嚴。知謇與董玄質、崔敬嗣繼為刺史，供儗保戴不少弛。帝復位，拜知謇左衛將軍，加雲麾將軍，封范陽郡公；知泰御史臺大夫，加銀青光祿大夫，封漁陽郡公。伯仲華首同貴，時以為榮。知泰忤武三思，故出為并州刺史、天兵軍使。終魏州刺史，諡曰定。知謇歷東都副留守、左右羽林大將軍、同華州刺史，大理卿致仕。年八十，開元時卒。

While Zhongzong was confined at Fang Prefecture, surveillance was merciless. Zhijian, Dong Xuanzhi, and Cui Jingsi served there in turn as prefects, and none of them eased in supplying or protecting him. After the emperor regained the throne, Zhijian was made general of the left guards, given the additional title of cloud-banner general, and created duke of Fanyang Commandery; Zhita was made chief imperial censor, given the rank of grand master with silver seal and purple ribbon, and created duke of Yuyang Commandery. Two brothers stood at the summit of honor together, and their contemporaries took it as a family glory. Zhita crossed Wu Sansi and was sent out as prefect of Bing and commissioner of the Tianbing army. He ended as prefect of Wei Prefecture and received the posthumous name Ding. Zhijian served as Luoyang vice custodian, grand general of the left and right feathered forest armies, and prefect of Tong and Hua, then retired as chief justice of the court of judicial review. He died at eighty during the Kaiyuan era.

知謇敏且亮，惡請謁求進，士或不才冒位，視之若仇。每敕子孫「經不明不得舉」，家法可稱云。

Quick and sharp of mind, Zhijian despised favor-seeking and treated unworthy men who clawed their way into office as enemies. He often warned his descendants, "No one who has not mastered the classics may be recommended,"—a household rule worth remembering.

武后革命，知泰奏置東都諸關十七所，譏斂出入。百姓驚駭，樵米踴貴，卒罷不用，議者羞薄之。

After Empress Wu's takeover Zhita proposed seventeen checkpoints around Luoyang to tax goods going in and out. The people panicked, firewood and grain prices shot up, and the scheme was finally abandoned; critics treated it as a disgrace.

知默與監察御史王守慎、來俊臣、周興掌詔獄，數陷大臣。守慎雖其甥，惡鞫引之暴，不得去，請度為浮屠，后許之。而知默卒陷酷吏，子孫禁錮，為張氏羞。

Zhim joined investigating censor Wang Shouzhen, Lai Junchen, and Zhou Xing in running the empress's prison network and repeatedly framed high ministers. Shouzhen was his nephew, yet he loathed the violence of forced confessions; unable to escape, he asked to become a monk, and the empress allowed it. Zhim himself sank into the company of the cruel officials; his descendants were barred from office, a stain on the Zhang name.

知玄子景升，知泰子景佚，開元中皆顯官。

Zhixuan's son Jingsheng and Zhita's son Jingyi both rose to high office in the Kaiyuan era.

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