1
于王二杜範
Yu, Wang, the two members of the Du clan, and Fan
2
于頔，字允元，後周太師謹七世孫。 蔭補千牛，調華陰尉，累勞遷侍御史。 為吐蕃計會使，有專對材。 擢長安令、駕部郎中。
Yu Di, style name Yunyuan, was a seventh-generation descendant of Yu Jin, grand tutor of Northern Zhou. He entered service by hereditary privilege as a Thousand-Ox guardsman, served as magistrate of Huayin, and rose by successive merit to attendant censor. As envoy for Tibetan fiscal matters, he proved adept at handling diplomatic exchanges on his own. He was promoted to magistrate of Chang'an and then director in the Bureau of the Imperial Carriage.
3
出為湖州刺史。 部有湖陂，異時溉田三千頃，久廞廢，頔行縣，命脩復堤閼，歲獲粳稻蒲魚無慮萬計。 州地庳薄，葬者不掩柩，頔為坎，瘞枯骨千餘，人賴以安。
He was appointed prefect of Huzhou. His district held a lake dam that had once watered three thousand qing of farmland but had long fallen idle. On circuit through the counties, Di ordered the dikes and floodgates repaired; each year the yield in rice, reeds, and fish ran to tens of thousands of units. The prefecture was low-lying and impoverished, and people often buried the dead without covering the coffins. Di had pits dug and interred more than a thousand exposed bones, to the people's great relief.
4
未幾，改蘇州。 罷淫祠，浚溝澮，端路衢，為政有績。 然暴橫少恩，杖前部尉以逞憾，觀察使王緯以聞，德宗不省。 俄遷大理卿，為陜虢觀察使，慢言謝緯曰：「始足下劾我，三進官矣！」 益自肆。 峻罰苛懲，官吏惴恐，皆重足一跡。 參軍事姚峴不勝虐，自沈於河。
Soon afterward he was reassigned to Suzhou. He shut down unauthorized shrines, dredged canals, and put the roads in order, and his governance won a solid record. Yet he was brutal and unforgiving: he had a former subordinate commandant flogged to settle a personal score. Observation commissioner Wang Wei reported it, but Emperor Dezong paid no heed. Before long he became chief minister of the Court of Judicial Review and observation commissioner of Shan-Guo. He taunted Wei: "When you first impeached me, I had only just begun—and look, I've been promoted three times since!" He grew even more brazen. He imposed harsh fines and cruel punishments until officials lived in dread and scarcely dared move. Staff adviser Yao Xian, unable to bear the abuse, threw himself into the river.
5
貞元十四年，拜山南東道節度使。 是時，吳少誠叛，頔率兵自唐州戰吳房朗山，取之，禽其將李璨，又勝之濯神溝。 於是請升襄州為大都督府，廣募戰士，儲良械，撊然有專漢南意，所牾者類治以軍法。 帝晚務姑息，頔所奏建，無不開允。 公斂私輸，持下益急，而慢於奉上。 誣劾鄧州刺史元洪，朝廷重違，為流端州，命中人護送至棗陽。 頔遣兵劫洪還，拘之，表責洪太重，改吉州長史，遣使厚諭乃已。 嘗怒判官薛正倫，奏貶陜州長史，比詔下，頔中悔，奏復署舊職。 正倫死，以兵圍其居，強使孽子與婚。 昵吏高洪，縱使剝下，別將陳儀不勝忿，刺殺洪，一府驚潰。 累遷檢校尚書左僕射、同中書門下平章事，封燕國公。 俄擅以兵取鄧州，天子未始誰何。 初，襄有髹器，天下以為法。 至頔驕蹇，故方帥不法者號「襄樣節度」。
In Zhenyuan year 14 he was made military governor of Shannan East Circuit. When Wu Shaocheng rebelled, Di led troops from Tangzhou, fought at Langshan in Wufang, captured the place, took his general Li Can prisoner, and won again at Zhoushen Ravine. He then asked that Xiangzhou be raised to a metropolitan prefecture, recruited soldiers widely, and stockpiled arms; he plainly aimed to dominate the region south of the Han, and he routinely punished dissent with military law. In his later years the emperor favored appeasement, and every proposal Di submitted won approval. He levied taxes in public and kept the proceeds for himself, tightened his grip on subordinates, and treated the throne with contempt. He framed Dengzhou prefect Yuan Hong; reluctant to defy him, the court exiled Hong to Duanzhou and sent a eunuch to escort him to Zaoyang. Di sent soldiers to intercept Hong and bring him back, held him captive, and memorialized that Hong's sentence was excessive; Hong was reassigned as chief administrator of Jizhou, and Di sent envoys with rich gifts before he would let the matter drop. Once, angry at his aide Xue Zhenglun, he had him demoted to chief administrator of Shanzhou; but before the edict arrived Di changed his mind and had him restored to his old post. After Zhenglun died, Di surrounded his house with soldiers and compelled his bastard son into a marriage alliance. He favored clerk Gao Hong and let him extort his subordinates; deputy general Chen Yi, enraged beyond endurance, stabbed Hong dead, throwing the whole prefectural staff into panic. He rose through successive posts to acting left vice director of the Department of State Affairs and Grand Councilor, and was enfeoffed as Duke of Yan. Before long he seized Dengzhou by force on his own authority, and the emperor never called him to account. In earlier times Xiangzhou's lacquerware set the standard for the empire. When Di grew arrogant and defiant, lawless regional commanders were nicknamed "governors in the Xiang mold."
6
憲宗立，權綱自出，頔稍懼，願以子尚主，帝許之。 遂入朝，拜司空、同中書門下平章事。 請準杜佑，月三奉朝，詔可。
When Xianzong came to the throne and power flowed from the center again, Di grew uneasy and offered his son in marriage to a princess; the emperor agreed. He then came to court and was appointed Minister of Works and Grand Councilor. He asked to follow Du You's precedent of attending court three times a month, and the request was granted.
7
時宦者梁守謙幸於帝，頗用事。 有梁正言者，與頔子敏善，敏因正言厚賂守謙，求頔出鎮。 久不報，敏怒其紿，責所饋，誘正言家奴支解之，棄混中。 家童上變，詔捕頔吏沈壁及它奴送御史獄，命中丞薛存誠、刑部侍郎王播、大理卿武少儀雜問之。 頔與諸子素服待罪建福門，門史不內，屏營負墻立，更遣人上章，有司拒不聞。 翌日復往，宰相諭使還第。 貶為恩王傅，子敏竄雷州，至商山，賜死。 次子季友奪二官，正及方免官。 流壁封州，正言誅死。
The eunuch Liang Shouqian enjoyed the emperor's favor and wielded real power at court. Liang Zhengyan was close to Di's son Min, and Min used him to bribe Shouqian heavily, hoping to get his father posted back to a military command. When nothing came of it for a long time, Min decided he had been cheated, demanded his gifts back, and had Zhengyan's slave dismember him and dump the body in a privy. A household servant reported the crime; the court ordered Di's clerk Shen Bi and the other slaves arrested and sent to the censorate prison, with Vice Censor-in-Chief Xue Cuncheng, Vice Minister of Justice Wang Bo, and Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review Wu Shaoyi assigned to conduct a joint inquiry. Di and his sons waited in plain dress to accept punishment at the Jianfu Gate, but the gatekeeper would not let them in. They stood trembling against the wall, sent another memorial, and the authorities refused to receive it. They returned the next day, but the chief ministers told them to go home. Di was demoted to tutor of the Prince of En; his son Min was exiled to Leizhou and, at Shangshan, ordered to take his own life. His second son Jiyou lost two ranks; Zheng and Fang were removed from office. Bi was exiled to Fengzhou; Zhengyan was put to death.
8
久之，拜戶部尚書。 帝討蔡，頔獻家財以助國，帝卻之。 又坐季友居喪荒宴，削金紫光祿大夫。 帝初欲頔告老，宰相李逢吉謂得謝乃優禮，非所以示責。 明年，乃致仕。 宰司將以太子少保官之，帝改署賓客。 郁郁不得意卒，贈太保，太常謚曰厲。
After some time he was appointed Minister of Revenue. When the emperor campaigned against Cai, Di offered his family fortune to support the war effort, but the emperor refused. He was also stripped of his Golden Purple Radiance Grand Master rank because Jiyou held riotous feasts while in mourning. The emperor first wanted Di to retire, but Chief Minister Li Fengji argued that granting retirement would look like an honor, not a punishment. The next year he retired from office. The chief ministers planned to make him Junior Mentor to the Heir Apparent, but the emperor reassigned him as Retainer instead. He died disheartened and embittered; posthumously he was made Grand Mentor, and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices gave him the posthumous name Ferocious.
9
頔嘗制《順聖樂舞》獻諸朝。 又教女伎為八佾，聲態雄侈，號《孫吳順聖樂》雲。
Di once composed the Shunsheng Music and Dance and presented it at court. He also trained female performers in the eight-row dance; its sound and spectacle were lavish, and it was called the Sun-Wu Shunsheng Music.
10
季友尚憲宗永昌公主，拜駙馬都尉。 從穆宗獵苑中，求改頔謚，會徐泗節度使李亦為請，更賜謚曰思。 尚書右丞張正甫封還詔書，右補闕高釴、博士王彥威持不可，謂：「頔文吏，倔強犯命，擅軍襄、鄧，欲脅制朝廷； 殺不辜，留制囚，遮使者，僭正樂。 勢迫而朝，非其宿心，得全腰領而歿，猶以為幸，不宜更謚。」 帝不從。
Jiyou married Xianzong's Princess Yongchang and was appointed Commandant of the Imperial Sons-in-Law. While hunting with Muzong in the imperial park, he asked that Di's posthumous name be changed; Xu-Si military governor Li petitioned as well, and the posthumous name was changed to Reflective. Right Vice Director Zhang Zhengfu sealed the edict and sent it back; Right Remonstrance Official Gao Yu and Erudite Wang Yanwei objected, saying, "Di was a civil official who defied the throne, garrisoned Xiang and Deng on his own authority, and tried to intimidate the court; he killed the innocent, held prisoners against imperial orders, blocked court envoys, and arrogated court ritual music. He came to court only because he was cornered, not from loyalty; that he died with his head still on his shoulders was already more than he deserved. His posthumous name should not be changed." The emperor would not listen.
11
方，長慶時以勛家子通豪俠，欲事河朔，以策幹宰相元稹。 而李逢吉黨謀傾執政，乃告稹結客刺裴度，事下有司，驗無狀，方坐誅。
During Changqing, Fang, scion of a meritorious house and friend to men of daring, sought a career in Hebei and brought his plans to Chief Minister Yuan Zhen. Li Fengji's faction, plotting to oust the chief minister, accused Zhen of hiring assassins to kill Pei Du; though the inquiry found no proof, Fang was executed anyway.
12
王智興，字匡諫，懷州溫人。 少驍銳，為徐州牙兵，事刺史李洧。 洧棄李納，挈州自歸。 納怒，急攻洧。 智興能駛步，奉表，不數日至京師告急，德宗出朔方軍五千擊納，解去，自是為徐特將。
Wang Zhixing, style name Kuangjian, was from Wen in Huazhou. In youth he was bold and keen; he served as a yabing in Xuzhou under Prefect Li Wei. Wei broke with Li Na and brought the prefecture back to Tang allegiance. Enraged, Na pressed the attack on Wei. Zhixing could run at great speed; he carried a memorial and reached the capital within days to report the crisis. Dezong dispatched five thousand Shuofang troops against Na and lifted the siege; from then on Zhixing was a special general of Xuzhou.
13
討吳元濟也。 李師道謀撓王師，數侵徐救蔡。 節度使李願遣智興率步騎拒賊。 其將王朝晏方攻沛，智興逆擊，敗之，朝晏脫身保沂州。 進破姚海兵五萬於豐北，獲美妾三人，智興曰：「軍中有女子，安得不敗？」 即斬以徇。 朝晏自沂以輕兵襲沛，夜戰狄丘，復破之。 累遷侍御史。
He also fought in the campaign against Wu Yuanji. Li Shidao tried to disrupt the imperial campaign and repeatedly raided Xuzhou to relieve Cai. Military governor Li Yuan sent Zhixing with infantry and cavalry to hold the rebels off. His general Wang Chaoyan was besieging Pei when Zhixing counterattacked and routed him; Chaoyan escaped and held Yizhou. He advanced and defeated Yao Hai's fifty thousand men north of Feng, capturing three beautiful concubines. Zhixing said, "With women in the camp, how can an army fail to lose?" He had them beheaded at once as an example. Chaoyan led light troops from Yi to raid Pei; Zhixing fought him by night at Diqiu and routed him again. He rose through successive posts to attendant censor.
14
元和十三年，伐師道，智興以步騎八千次胡陵，與忠武軍會，以騎畀其子晏平、晏宰為先鋒，自率軍繼之。 壞河橋，收黃隊，攻金鄉，拔魚臺，俘斬萬計。 賊平，進御史中丞。 明年，召還，為沂州刺史。
In Yuanhe year 13, campaigning against Shidao, Zhixing encamped eight thousand infantry and cavalry at Huling, joined the Zhongwu army, put his sons Yanping and Yanzai at the head of the cavalry vanguard, and followed with the main force. He destroyed the river bridge, took Huangdui, attacked Jinxiang, captured Yutai, and killed or captured tens of thousands. After the rebels were subdued, he was promoted to censor-in-chief. The next year he was recalled and appointed prefect of Yizhou.
15
長慶初，河朔用兵，加檢校左散騎常侍，充武寧軍副使、河北行營諸軍都知兵馬使，帥兵三千度河。 屬朝廷用崔群為武寧節度使，群畏智興難制，密請追還京師，未報。 會赦王廷湊，諸節度班師。 智興還，群遣寮屬迎之，令士季甲而入。 智興心不悅，因勒兵斬關入，殺異己者十餘輩，然後謁群謝曰：「此軍情也！」 群乃治裝去，智興以兵衛送還朝； 至埇橋，掠鹽鐵院及貢物，劫商旅，逐濠州刺史侯弘度。 朝廷甫罷兵，不能討，即詔檢校工部尚書，充本軍節度使。 智興由是揫索財賂，交權幸以賈虛名，用度不足，始稅泗口以佐軍須。
Early in Changqing, when war broke out in Hebei, he was made acting Left Regular Attendant, deputy commissioner of the Wuning army, and overall commander of the Hebei field forces, and led three thousand men across the Yellow River. The court had just appointed Cui Qun military governor of Wuning; fearing Zhixing would be hard to control, Qun secretly asked that he be recalled to the capital, but no answer had yet come. Wang Tingcou was pardoned, and the regional armies withdrew. When Zhixing returned, Qun sent staff to welcome him and ordered the troops to enter in full armor. Zhixing took offense, rallied his troops, forced the gate, and killed more than ten rivals before calling on Qun to apologize: "That was the army's doing!" Qun packed to leave; Zhixing escorted him back to the capital under armed guard; at Yongqiao he looted the Salt and Iron Commission depot and tribute goods, robbed merchants, and expelled Hao prefect Hou Hongdu. The court had just stood down its armies and could not move against him; it promptly appointed him acting Minister of Works and military governor of his own command. Zhixing then extorted wealth, curried favor with powerful courtiers to buy prestige, and when funds ran short began levying taxes at Sikou to pay for his army.
16
李攻宋州，智興悉銳師出宋西鄙，破之漳口。 平，加檢校尚書左僕射。 李同捷以滄德叛，智興請悉師三萬賫五月糧討賊，詔拜檢校司徒、同中書門下平章事、滄德行營招撫使。 既戰，降其將十輩、銳士三千，遂拔棣州。 諸將聞，戰愈力，遂有功。 入朝，燕麟德殿，賜予備厚。 冊拜太傅，封雁門郡王，進兼侍中。 改忠武、河中、宣武三節度。 卒，年七十九，贈太尉。
When Li attacked Songzhou, Zhixing marched all his best troops to Song's western frontier and defeated him at Zhangkou. After the rebellion was crushed, he was made acting Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. When Li Tongjie rebelled in Cang-De, Zhixing asked to lead his full force of thirty thousand with five months' rations; the court appointed him acting Minister of Education, Grand Councilor, and pacification commissioner for the Cang-De campaign. In battle he won over ten enemy generals and three thousand elite troops, then took Dizhou. Hearing of this, the other generals fought harder and won their share of glory. He came to court, was feasted in the Linde Hall, and received lavish gifts. He was enfeoffed as Grand Tutor, created Prince of Yanmen, and promoted to concurrent Palace Attendant. He served in turn as military governor of Zhongwu, Hezhong, and Xuanwu. He died at seventy-nine and was posthumously made Grand Preceptor.
17
子九人，晏平、宰知名。
He had nine sons; Yanping and Yanzai were the most notable.
18
晏平幼從父軍，以討同捷功，檢校右散騎常侍、朔方靈鹽節度使。 父喪，擅取馬四百、兵械七千自衛歸洛陽。 御史劾之，有詔流康州，不即行，陰求援於河北三鎮。 三鎮表其困，改撫州司馬。 給事中韋溫、薛廷老、盧弘宣等還詔不敢下，改永州司戶參軍。 溫固執，文宗諭而止。
Yanping had followed his father on campaign from boyhood; for his service against Tongjie he was made acting Right Regular Attendant and military governor of Shuofang-Ling-Yan. On his father's death he took four hundred horses and seven thousand weapons without authorization and marched back to Luoyang under escort. The censors impeached him; he was exiled to Kangzhou but did not go, and secretly appealed to the three Hebei commands for help. The three commands petitioned on his behalf, and he was reassigned as military adjutant of Fuzhou. Drafting officials Wei Wen, Xue Tinglao, and Lu Hongxuan returned the edict unissued; he was reassigned as revenue clerk of Yongzhou. Wei held firm until Wenzong instructed him to stop.
19
晏宰，後去「晏」，獨名宰。 少拳果，長隸神策軍。 甘露之變，以功兼御史大夫，為光州刺史。 有美政，觀察使段文昌薦之朝，除鹽州刺史。 持法嚴，人不甚便。 累擢邠寧慶節度使。 回鶻平，徙忠武軍。
He was called Yan Zai at first, but later dropped the surname Yan and went by Zai alone. As a young man he was bold and pugilistic; as an adult he enlisted in the Shence Army. During the Sweet Dew Incident he distinguished himself and was made Vice Censor-in-Chief while serving as prefect of Guangzhou. He governed well, and observation commissioner Duan Wenchang recommended him to the throne; he was then made prefect of Yanzhou. He enforced the law with severity, and the populace did not much relish it. He rose step by step to military governor of Binning-Qing Circuit. After the Uyghur campaign was settled, he was reassigned to the Zhongwu command.
20
討劉稹也，詔宰以兵出魏博，趨磁州。 當是時，何弘敬陰首鼠，聞宰至，大懼，即引軍濟漳水。 宰相李德裕建言：「河陽兵寡，以忠武為援，既以捍洛，則並制魏博。」 遂詔宰以兵五千椎鋒，兼統河陽行營。 進取天井關，賊黨離沮。 德裕以宰乘破竹勢不遂取澤州，以其子晏實守磁，為顧望計，帝有詔切責。 宰懼，急攻陵川，破賊石會關，進攻澤州。 其將郭誼殺稹降。 宰傳稹首京師，遂節度太原。
During the campaign against Liu Zhen, the emperor ordered Zai to march from Weibo toward Cizhou at the head of his troops. He Hongjing was then hedging his bets in secret; when he learned Zai was coming he panicked and at once crossed the Zhang River with his army. The chief minister Li Deyu argued: "Heyang's garrison is thin; Zhongwu should reinforce it—protect Luoyang and Weibo falls into our grip as well. The emperor accordingly put Zai at the head of five thousand shock troops and gave him overall command of the Heyang field camp. He seized Tianjing Pass, and the rebel host broke apart in discouragement. Zai had the momentum of a bamboo split wide open yet stalled before Zezhou while his son Yan Shi guarded Cizhou—a feint of hesitation—and the emperor sent down a stern rebuke. Frightened, Zai rushed to assault Lingchuan, stormed the rebel strongpoint at Shihui Pass, and pressed the attack on Zezhou. His subordinate Guo Yi killed Liu Zhen and capitulated. Zai forwarded Liu Zhen's head to the capital and was appointed military governor of Taiyuan.
21
宣宗初，入朝，厚結權幸求宰相，周墀劾之，乃還軍。 吐蕃引党項、回鶻寇河西，詔統代北諸軍進擊。 以疾不任事，徙河陽。 罷為太子少保，分司東都。 進少傅，卒。
Early in Xuanzong's reign he came to court, currying favor with the mighty to win a seat in the chancellery; Zhou Chi denounced him, and he went back to his command. When Tibet incited Tangut and Uyghur incursions into Hexi, he was ordered to take charge of the northern armies and drive them back. Sickness left him unable to serve, and he was reassigned to Heyang. He was removed from active command and made Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent, serving remotely at Luoyang. He rose to Junior Tutor before his death.
22
晏實幼機警，智興自養之，故名與諸父齒。 稹平，擢淄州刺史，終天雄節度使。
Yan Shi was quick-witted from boyhood; Zhixing personally reared him, so his name was placed among those of his uncles. After Liu Zhen's defeat he was elevated to prefect of Zizhou and eventually finished his career as military governor of Tianxiong.
23
杜兼，字處弘，中書令正倫五世孫。 初，正倫無子，故以兄子誌靜為後。 父廙，為鄭州錄事參事軍事。 安祿山亂，逃去，賊索之急，宋州刺史李岑以兵迎之，為追騎所害。 兼尚幼，逃入終南山。 伯父存介為賊執，臨刑，兼號呼願為奴以贖，遂皆免。
Du Jian, styled Chuhong, descended in the fifth generation from the Chief Minister Du Zhenlun. Zhenlun originally had no sons and therefore adopted his brother's son Zhijing as his heir. His father Yi held the post of registrar and military adjutant at Zhengzhou. When the An Lushan rebellion broke out he fled; the rebels hunted him fiercely; Li Cen, prefect of Songzhou, marched out to receive him, but pursuing riders cut him down. Jian was still a child and escaped into the Zhongnan Mountains. When the rebels captured his uncle Cunjie and prepared to execute him, the boy Jian shouted that he would be their slave in exchange—and both lives were spared.
24
建中初，進士高第，徐泗節度使張建封表置其府。 積勞為濠州刺史。 性浮險，尚豪侈。 德宗既厭兵，大抵刺史重代易，至歷年不徙。 兼探帝意，謀自固，即脩武備，募占勁兵三千。 帝以為才，遂橫恣。 僚官韋賞、陸楚皆聞家子，有美譽，論事忤兼，誣劾以罪。 帝遣中人至，兼廷勞畢，出詔執賞等殺之，二人無罪死，眾莫不冤。 又妄系令狐運而陷李藩，欲殺之，不克。
Early in the Jianzhong reign he ranked high on the metropolitan examination; Zhang Jianfeng, military governor of Xu-Si, had him posted to his headquarters. After years of service he was made prefect of Haozhou. He was frivolous and scheming by temperament, and fond of ostentatious luxury. After the emperor wearied of campaigning, prefects were usually turned over often—though some lingered in office for years on end. Reading the throne's mood, Jian schemed to entrench himself: he fortified his defenses and raised three thousand handpicked soldiers. The court took this as proof of his ability, and he grew ever more arbitrary and overbearing. His colleagues Wei Shang and Lu Chu—scions of distinguished houses with spotless names—crossed him in council, and he framed them on trumped-up charges. A palace envoy arrived; Jian received him with full ceremony of praise, then produced an edict ordering Wei Shang and the rest seized and put to death. Innocent men were killed, and all who heard it cried injustice. He likewise seized Linghu Yun on false pretenses to incriminate Li Fan and tried to have him executed, but failed.
25
元和初，入為刑部郎中，改蘇州刺史。 比行，上書言李锜必反，留為吏部郎中。 尋擢河南尹。 杜佑素善兼，終始倚為助力。 所至大殺戮，裒蓺財貲，極耆欲。 適幸其時，未嘗敗。 卒，年七十。 家聚書至萬卷，署其末，以墜鬻為不孝，戒子孫雲。
Early in Yuanhe he was called to the capital as a director in the Ministry of Justice, then made prefect of Suzhou. Just before leaving for his post he memorialized that Li Qi would rebel; the throne kept him in the capital as a director in the Ministry of Personnel. Soon afterward he was elevated to metropolitan governor of Henan. Du You had always favored Jian and counted on him as a steady ally throughout. Every post he held saw bloody purges, hoarded riches, and the fullest gratification of his appetites. Fortune smiled on his timing, and he never came to grief. He died at the age of seventy. His family library ran to ten thousand scrolls; he wrote at the end that discarding or selling them would be an act of unfilial impiety—a warning left to posterity.
26
從弟羔，貞元初及進士第，有至性。 父死河北，母更兵亂，不知所之，羔憂號終日。 及兼為澤潞判官，鞫獄，有媼辨對不凡，乃羔母，因得奉養。 而不知父墓區處，晝夜哀慟； 它日舍佛祠，觀柱間有文字，乃其父臨死記墓所在。 羔奔往，亦有耆老識其壟，因是得葬。 元和中，為萬年令，時許季同為長安令，京兆尹元義方責租賦不時，系二縣吏，將罪之。 羔等辯列尤苦，尹不為縱。 羔乃謁宰相，請移散官。 憲宗遣中使問狀，具對府政苛細，力不堪奉。 詔皆免官，奪尹三月俸。 議者以羔為直。 未幾，授戶部郎中，後歷振武節度使，以工部尚書致仕。 卒，贈尚書右僕射，謚曰敬。
His cousin Gao took the metropolitan degree early in the Zhenyuan reign and was distinguished by uncommon filial devotion. His father died in Hebei; amid renewed warfare his mother vanished without trace, and Gao mourned and cried out the whole day long. While Jian held a judgeship on the Ze-Lu circuit and was hearing a case, an old woman's sharp replies revealed her as Gao's long-lost mother, and he was able to take her home and care for her. But he still did not know where his father's grave lay, and he wept in grief through day and night; One day he took shelter in a temple and noticed characters inscribed on a pillar—his father's last account of the burial site. Gao hurried to the spot; village elders still knew the mound, and at last he could lay his father properly to rest. During Yuanhe he served as magistrate of Wannian while Xu Jitong held Chang'an; the metropolitan governor Yuan Yifang faulted both counties for late tax deliveries, jailed their clerks, and prepared to punish them. Gao and his colleagues pleaded their case with bitter earnestness, yet the governor refused to relent. Gao went to the chief ministers and asked to be moved to an inactive honorary rank. Xianzong dispatched an imperial messenger to investigate; Gao explained in full that the prefect's rule was petty and exacting beyond what he could endure. An edict removed both magistrates from office and docked the governor three months' pay. Opinion held that Gao had acted with integrity. Soon he was made a director in the Ministry of Revenue, later military governor of Zhenwu, and finally retired as Minister of Works. At his death he was posthumously honored as Right Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat, with the posthumous name Reverent.
27
子中立，字無為，以門蔭歷太子通事舍人。 開成初，文宗欲以真源、臨真二公主降士族，謂宰相曰：「民間脩婚姻，不計官品而上閥閱。 我家二百年天子，顧不及崔、盧耶？」 詔宗正卿取世家子以聞。 中立及校書郎衛洙得召見禁中，拜著作郎。 月中，遷光祿少卿、駙馬都尉，尚真源長公主。
His son Zhongli, styled Wuwei, entered service through family privilege as courier attendant to the crown prince. Early in Kaicheng, Wenzong meant to marry the Princesses Zhenyuan and Linzhen into great clans and told his chief ministers: "Common folk arranging marriages care nothing for office and everything for pedigree. Two centuries our house has ruled—are we truly beneath the Cuis and the Lus? He ordered the Director of the Imperial Clan to nominate eligible sons of great families. Zhongli and the collation secretary Wei Zhu were called into the inner palace and made compilers in the Archive Bureau. Within the month he rose to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Grand Military Attendant, taking the Princess of Zhenyuan in marriage.
28
中立數求自試，憒憒不樂，因言：「朝廷法令備具，吾若不任事，何賴貴戚撓天下法耶？」 帝聞異之，轉太仆、衛尉二少卿，歷左右金吾大將軍。 京師惡少優戲道中，具騶唱呵衛，自謂「盧言京兆」，驅放自如。 中立部從吏捕系，立箠死。 遷司農卿。 繩吏急，反為中傷，左徙慶王傅。
Zhongli pressed again and again for real responsibility, chafing at idleness; he declared: "The statutes of the realm stand complete—if I hold no actual post, what excuse has a kinsman of the throne to warp the law? The emperor, struck by his words, moved him through the vice directorships of the Stud and Guard courts and then the Left and Right commands of the Golden Guard. Street thugs in the capital staged mock processions with outriders and shouting heralds, styling one of their own "Lu, voice of the capital," and pushed pedestrians aside at will. Zhongli's officers arrested them on the spot and clubbed them to death. He was promoted to Director of the Court of the National Granaries. His harsh discipline of the staff provoked counterattacks, and he was demoted to tutor of the Prince of Qing.
29
久之，復拜司農卿，入謝，帝曰：「卿用法深，信乎？」 答曰：「轂下百司養名不肯事，如司農尤叢劇。 陛下無遽信流言，假臣數月，事可濟。」 帝許之。 初，度支度六宮飧錢移司農，司農季一出付吏，大吏盡舉所給於人，權其子錢以給之，既不以時，黃門來督責慢罵。 中立取錢納帑舍，率五日一出，吏不得為奸，後遂以為法。 加檢校右散騎常侍。
Long afterward he was reappointed Director of the National Granaries; at his audience of thanks the emperor asked, "They say you enforce the law harshly—is it true? He replied: "At the capital, countless offices hoard empty titles and shirk their work—the Granary Court is among the worst entanglements. Your Majesty must not heed rumor too quickly—give me a few months and the work will be done." The emperor agreed. Originally the Revenue Department calculated the inner palace meal allowance and handed it to the Granary Court, which paid out once a quarter through its clerks—senior clerks skimmed the whole allotment and used the interest to make payments late, until eunuch overseers arrived to berate them. Zhongli had the cash deposited in the treasury vault and issued it every five days on a fixed schedule, cutting off clerical theft—and the system afterward became law. He was further appointed Acting Right Regular Attendant.
30
京兆尹缺，宣宗將用之，宰相以年少，欲歷試其能，更出為義武節度使。 舊傜車三千乘，歲免鹽海瀕，民苦之。 中立置「飛雪將」數百人，具舟以載，自是民不勞，軍食足矣。 大中十二年，大水泛徐、兗、青、鄆，而滄地積卑，中立自按行，引禦水入之毛河，東註海，州無水災。 卒，年四十八，贈工部尚書。
When the capital governorship fell open, Xuanzong meant to give it to him; the chief ministers thought him still young and preferred to test his mettle, so he was posted instead as military governor of Yiwu. Custom had bound the region to three thousand transport carts a year hauling salt from the coast, and the people groaned under the burden. He organized several hundred "Flying Snow" carriers and shifted the cargo to boats—after that the people were spared, and the army's provisions were secure. In Dazhong 12 floods inundated Xu, Yan, Qing, and Yun; Cangzhou's lowlands were especially threatened—Zhongli toured the dikes himself, channeling the control waters into the Mao River and eastward to the sea, and the prefecture escaped disaster. He died at forty-eight and was posthumously honored as Minister of Works.
31
中立居官精明，吏下寒栗畏伏。 中雖坐累免，及復用，亦不為寬假，其天資所長雲。
Zhongli administered with razor-sharp precision; the staff beneath him trembled and obeyed. Even after demotion and reinstatement he never softened—strictness was simply his native bent.
32
杜亞，字次公，自雲本京兆人。 肅宗在靈武，上書論當世事，擢校書郎。 杜鴻漸節度河西，奏署幕府。 入朝，歷吏部員外郎。 鴻漸為山南、劍南副元帥，亞與楊炎並為判官。 再遷諫議大夫。
Du Ya, styled Cigong, traced his family to Jingzhao. While Suzong held court at Lingwu, he memorialized on affairs of the day and was raised to collation secretary. Du Hongjian, as military governor of Hexi, had him posted to his headquarters staff. Called to the capital, he rose through posts as vice director in the Ministry of Personnel. When Hongjian became deputy supreme commander for Shannan and Jiannan, Ya and Yang Yan served jointly as his adjutants. After two further promotions he held the post of Grand Censor of Remonstrance.
33
亞自以當衡柄，悒悒不悅。 李棲筠風望高，時謂當宰相，故亞厚結納。 元載得罪，亞與劉晏等劾治。 載死，遷給事中。 常袞惡之，出為江西觀察使。 德宗立，召還。 亞意必任臺宰，倍道進。 與人語，皆天下大政。 或以事祈謁，輒相然可。 帝知，不悅也。 既又建奏疏闊，不稱旨，罷為陜虢觀察兼轉運使。 徙河中。 劉晏抵罪，貶睦州刺史。
Ya believed himself destined for the chancellorship and brooded in dissatisfaction. Li Qiyun commanded high esteem and was widely tipped for the chancellery—Ya drew him into a warm alliance. When Yuan Zai was brought down, Ya stood with Liu Yan and others to impeach and try him. After Zai's death he was promoted to Supervising Censor. Chang Gun, who despised him, had him posted as observation commissioner of Jiangxi. Dezong's accession brought his recall to court. Convinced he would be named chief minister, Ya hastened toward the capital at breakneck pace. Every conversation he held turned on the grand policies of the empire. Whoever came to him with a request invariably won his ready assent. When the emperor learned of it, he was displeased. His memorials grew diffuse and missed the mark; he was removed and made observation commissioner of Shan-Guo with concurrent charge of transport. He was transferred to Hezhong. When Liu Yan fell, Ya was demoted to prefect of Muzhou.
34
興元初，入遷刑部侍郎，又拜淮西節度使。 至則治漕渠，引湖陂，築防庸，入之渠中，以通大舟，夾堤高卬，田因得溉灌。 疏啟道衢，徹壅通堙，人皆悅賴。 然承陳少遊後，裒率煩重，用度無藝，人冀有所矯革，而亞雅意丞弼，厭外官，往往不親事，日夜召賓客言噱流連。 方春，南民為競度戲，亞欲輕駛，乃髹船底，使篙人衣油彩衣，沒水不濡，觀沼華邃，費皆千萬。 隴西李衡在坐，曰：「使桀、紂為之，不是過也！」 既泛九曲池，曳繡為帆，詫曰：「要當稱是林沼。」 衡曰：「未有錦纜，雲何？」 亞大慚。 自是府財耗竭。
Early in the Xingyuan era he returned to court as vice minister of justice, then was appointed military governor of Huaixi. On taking office he dredged the transport canals, tapped lake reservoirs, built floodworks, and fed them into the channels so large ships could pass; raised dikes on both banks brought irrigation to the fields. He cleared the roads, removed obstructions, and opened blocked passages, to the people's great relief. Yet he inherited Chen Shaoyou's heavy levies and reckless spending; people hoped for reform, but Ya secretly coveted the chancellorship, disdained provincial office, neglected his duties, and spent day and night entertaining guests with banter and feasting. In spring, when southerners held dragon-boat races, Ya wanted a swift spectacle: he lacquered the hulls and dressed the boatmen in oil-painted clothes that stayed dry underwater; the pageantry on the ponds was lavish, costing millions. Li Heng of Longxi, who was present, remarked, "Jie and Zhou could hardly have outdone this!" They then sailed the Nine-Bend Pool with brocade rigged as sails, and he boasted, "Now this grove and pond are truly worthy of the name." Heng asked, "Without brocade hawsers, how can you say that?" Ya was deeply embarrassed. From then on the prefectural treasury was drained dry.
35
貞元中，罷歸。 宰相竇參憚其宿望，以檢校吏部尚書留守東都。 病風痹且廢，猶欲固寵，奏墾苑中為營田，可減度支歲稟。 詔許之。 先是，苑地可耕者，皆留司中人及屯士占假。 亞計窘，更舉軍帑錢與甸人，至秋取菽粟償息輸軍中，貧不能償者發囷窖略盡，流亡過半。 又賂中人求兼河南尹。 帝審其妄，使禮部尚書董晉代之，賜亞還。 病不能謁。 卒，年七十四，贈太子少傅，謚曰肅。
During the Zhenyuan era he was dismissed and returned home. Chief Minister Dou Can, wary of his standing, appointed him acting Minister of the Civil Service with charge as regent of the Eastern Capital. Though crippled by paralysis, he still sought favor and memorialized to turn imperial parkland into garrison farms, claiming this would cut the annual grain subsidy from the Department of Revenue. The court approved. Previously, all cultivable parkland had been leased out to palace staff and garrison troops. Ya's scheme backfired: he lent military funds to local farmers at interest payable in grain each autumn; those who could not repay had their stores seized, and more than half the population fled. He also bribed eunuchs to win concurrent appointment as metropolitan governor of Henan. The emperor saw through his pretensions, sent Minister of Rites Dong Jin to replace him, and ordered Ya home. Too ill to attend court, he could not take leave. He died at seventy-four and was posthumously made Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent with the posthumous name Solemn.
36
範傳正，字西老，鄧州順陽人。 父惀，為戶部員外郎，與趙郡李華善，有當世名。 傳正舉進士、宏辭，皆高第，授集賢殿校書郎。 歷歙、湖、蘇三州刺史，有殊政，進拜宣歙觀察使。 代還，坐治第過制，憲宗薄不用，改光祿卿。 以風痹卒，贈左散騎常侍。
Fan Chuanzheng, style name Xilao, was from Shunyang in Dengzhou. His father Lun served as vice director in the Department of Revenue, was close to Li Hua of Zhao, and enjoyed renown in his day. Chuanzheng passed the jinshi and hongci examinations with top honors and was appointed collator in the Hall of Assembled Worthies. He served as prefect of She, Hu, and Suzhou in turn, distinguished himself in office, and was promoted to observation commissioner of Xuan-She. On recall he was charged with building a residence that exceeded regulations; Xianzong looked on him coldly and reassigned him as Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. He died of paralysis and was posthumously made Left Regular Attendant.
37
傳正好古，性精悍，初自整飭。 宦益達，用度益奢侈，傾貲貨市權貴歡，私公府如家帑，亦幸素有名，得不敗雲。
Chuanzheng loved antiquity, was sharp and forceful by nature, and at first kept himself in strict order. As he rose in office his spending grew lavish; he spent fortunes currying favor with the powerful and treated the public treasury as his own purse, yet his long-standing reputation spared him ruin—or so it is said.