1
蘇逢吉
Su Fengji
2
蘇逢吉，京兆長安人也。 漢高祖鎮河東，父悅為高祖從事，逢吉常代悅作奏記，悅乃言之高祖。 高祖召見逢吉，精神爽秀，憐之，乃以為節度判官。 高祖性素剛嚴，賓佐稀得請見，逢吉獨入，終日侍立高祖書閣中。 兩使文簿盈積，莫敢通，逢吉輒取內之懷中，伺高祖色可犯時以進之，高祖多以為可，以故甚愛之。 然逢吉為人貪詐無行，喜為殺戮。 高祖嘗以生日遣逢吉疏理獄囚以祈福，謂之「靜獄。」 逢吉入獄中閱囚，無輕重曲直悉殺之，以報曰：「獄靜矣。」
Su Fengji came from Chang’an in Jingzhao. While the Han High Ancestor held Hedong, Fengji’s father Yue served on his staff. Fengji often wrote memorials for Yue, and Yue commended him to the High Ancestor. The High Ancestor received Fengji and found him keen-eyed and fine in bearing. He took a liking to him and made him the military governor’s aide. The High Ancestor was stern by nature; his staff rarely saw him. Fengji alone went in and stood all day in the High Ancestor’s study. Memorials from the two commissioners stacked up; no one dared forward them. Fengji tucked them in his robe and, when the High Ancestor’s face looked passable, slipped them in. The High Ancestor usually assented—and came to love him for it. Yet Fengji was greedy, treacherous, and without principle—and he loved blood. On his birthday the High Ancestor sent Fengji to sort the prisons and clear the inmates for a blessing—calling it “Quieting the Prisons.” Fengji went through the cells and killed every prisoner, light or heavy, guilty or not, then reported: “The prisons are quiet.”
3
高祖建號，拜逢吉中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事。 是時，制度草創，朝廷大事皆出逢吉，逢吉以為己任。 然素不學問，隨事裁決，出其意見，是故漢世尤無法度，而不施德政，民莫有所稱焉。 高祖既定京師，逢吉與蘇禹珪同在中書，除吏多違舊制。 逢吉尤納貨賂，市權鬻官，謗者喧嘩。 然高祖方倚信二人，故莫敢有告者。 鳳翔李永吉初朝京師，逢吉以永吉故秦王從嚴子，家世王侯，當有奇貨，使人告永吉，許以一州，而求其先王玉帶，永吉以無為解，逢吉乃使人市一玉帶，直數千緡，責永吉償之； 前客省使王筠自晉末使楚，至是還，逢吉意筠得楚王重賂，遣人求之，許以一州，筠怏怏，以其橐裝之半獻之。 而皆不得州。
When the High Ancestor took the throne, Fengji became Vice Minister of the Secretariat and Co-signer of the Secretariat-Chancellery. Institutions were still being invented; every great matter ran through Fengji, and he treated the realm as his charge. He had never studied and ruled by whim—so Han had less law than ever, less mercy, and the people had nothing good to say of him. Once the capital was settled, Fengji and Su Yugui shared the Secretariat—and appointments broke old rules at every turn. Fengji above all took bribes, sold offices, and traded in power—complaint became a din. The High Ancestor still leaned on the two men, and no one dared accuse them. When Li Yongji of Fengxiang first came to court, Fengji reckoned that as a son of the former Prince of Qin Congyan, from a line of kings and marquises, he must hold rare treasure. He sent word promising a prefecture for the ancestral jade belt. Yongji said he had none. Fengji bought a belt for several thousand strings of cash and billed Yongji for it; Wang Jun, once envoy to Chu in Jin’s last days, had now returned. Fengji suspected heavy bribes from the King of Chu and demanded them, again promising a prefecture. Jun, sullen, gave up half his baggage. Neither man got his prefecture.
4
晉相李崧從契丹以北，高祖入京師，以崧第賜逢吉，而崧別有田宅在西京，逢吉遂皆取之。 崧自北還，因以宅券獻逢吉，逢吉不悅，而崧子弟數出怨言。 其後，逢吉乃誘人告崧與弟嶼、義等，下獄，崧款自誣伏：「與家僮二十人，謀因高祖山陵為亂。」 獄上中書，逢吉改「二十人」為「五十人」，遂族崧家。
Jin chancellor Li Song had gone north with the Khitan. When the High Ancestor entered the capital he gave Song’s mansion to Fengji—and took Song’s fields and houses in the Western Capital as well. Song returned from the north and handed over the deed. Fengji was displeased; Song’s sons and brothers muttered their grievances. Fengji then had Song and his brothers Yu and Yi denounced and thrown into prison. Song confessed under torture: “With twenty household slaves I meant to stir trouble at the High Ancestor’s tomb.” The file reached the Secretariat; Fengji changed “twenty men” to “fifty men” and wiped out Song’s entire clan.
5
是時，天下多盜，逢吉自草詔書下州縣，凡盜所居本家及鄰保皆族誅。 或謂逢吉曰：「為盜族誅，已非王法，況鄰保乎！」 逢吉甗以為是，不得已，但去族誅而已。 於是鄆州捕賊使者張令柔盡殺平陰縣十七村民數百人。 衛州刺史葉仁魯聞部有盜，自帥兵捕之。 時村民十數共逐盜，入於山中，盜皆散走。 仁魯從後至，見民捕盜者，以為賊，悉擒之，斷其腳筋，暴之山麓，宛轉號呼，累日而死。 聞者不勝其冤，而逢吉以仁魯為能，由是天下因盜殺人滋濫。
Bandits roamed the realm. Fengji drafted edicts to every prefecture and county: wherever a thief lived, his household and his neighbors in mutual-responsibility groups were to be exterminated to the last. Someone told Fengji: “Clan slaughter for theft is already beyond the law—how much less for neighbors!” Fengji saw the point and, grudgingly, dropped only the clan extermination. Zhang Lingrou, Yanzhou’s bandit-hunter, then slaughtered several hundred people across seventeen villages in Pingyin County. Weizhou prefect Ye Renlu heard of bandits in his circuit and led troops himself to catch them. A dozen villagers had chased the bandits into the hills; the bandits had already scattered. Renlu came up from behind, saw the villagers who had chased the thieves, took them for the gang, seized them all, cut their heel tendons, and left them on the hillside to writhe and scream for days until they died. The story sickened listeners—but Fengji praised Renlu’s “efficiency,” and killings in the name of banditry spread without check.
6
逢吉已貴，益為豪侈，謂中書堂食為不可食，乃命家廚進羞，日極珍善。 繼母死，不服喪。 妻武氏卒，諷百官及州鎮皆輸綾絹為喪服。 武氏未期，除其諸子為官。 有庶兄自外來，未白逢吉而見其諸子，逢吉怒，托以佗事告於高祖，杖殺之。
Raised high, Fengji turned ever more lavish. He called the Secretariat’s hall food unfit to eat and had his own kitchen send delicacies—each day a banquet of the rarest fare. When his stepmother died, he wore no mourning garb. When Lady Wu died, he pressed every official and every prefecture and command to send silk for mourning robes. Before Lady Wu’s mourning year was out, he had his sons appointed to office. A half-brother arrived from abroad and, without telling Fengji, visited his sons. Fengji, enraged, denounced him to the High Ancestor on some other charge and had him clubbed to death.
7
逢吉嘗從高祖征鄴，數使酒辱周太祖於軍中，太祖恨之。 其後隱帝立，逢吉素善李濤，諷濤請罷太祖與楊邠樞密。 李太后怒濤離間大臣，罷濤相，以楊邠兼平章事，事悉關決。 逢吉、禹珪由是備位而已。 乾祐二年，加拜司空。
On campaign against Ye with the High Ancestor, Fengji repeatedly humiliated Zhou Taizu while drunk—and Taizu never forgot it. When the Deposed Emperor came to the throne, Fengji, who was close to Li Tao, urged Tao to petition for Taizu’s and Yang Bin’s removal from the Privy Council. Dowager Li, furious that Tao had set ministers against one another, stripped Tao of the chancellorship and made Yang Bin co-signer as well—every matter now ran through Bin. Fengji and Yugui were left with titles and nothing else. Qianyou year two brought him the Grand Marshal’s seal.
8
周太祖鎮鄴，不落樞密使，逢吉以謂樞密之任，方鎮帶之非便，與史弘肇爭，於是卒如弘肇議。 弘肇怨逢吉異己，已而會飲王章第，使酒坐中，弘肇怒甚。 逢吉謀求出鎮以避之，既而中輟，人問其故，逢吉曰：「茍舍此而去，史公一處分，吾齏粉矣！」
Zhou Taizu held Ye and kept the Privy Council. Fengji argued a frontier governor should not carry that post and fought Shi Hongzhao over it—in the end Hongzhao won. Hongzhao resented Fengji’s opposition. At a drinking party at Wang Zhang’s house he drank hard and burned with anger. Fengji planned to take a provincial post and escape him—then changed his mind. Asked why, he said: “If I leave this seat, one word from Lord Shi and I am dust!”
9
是時，隱帝少年，小人在側。 弘肇等威制人主，帝與左右李業、郭允明等皆患之。 逢吉每見業等，以言激之，業等卒殺弘肇，即以逢吉權知樞密院。 方命草麻，聞周太祖起兵，乃止。 逢吉夜宿金祥殿東閣，謂司天夏官正王處訥曰：「昨夕未暝，已見李崧在側，生人接死者，無吉事也。」 周太祖至北郊，官軍敗於劉子陂。 逢吉宿七里，夜與同舍酣飲，索刀將自殺，為左右所止。 明日與隱帝走趙村，自殺於民舍。 周太祖定京師，梟其首，適當李崧被刑之所。 廣順初，賜其子西京莊並宅一區。
The Deposed Emperor was still a youth; petty men crowded his side. Hongzhao and his faction overawed the throne; the emperor and his intimates—Li Ye, Guo Yunming, and the rest—all hated it. Fengji goaded Ye and his circle whenever he saw them; they at last killed Hongzhao and made Fengji acting head of the Privy Council on the spot. He was just drafting the appointment edict when word came that Zhou Taizu had risen in arms—and everything halted. Fengji spent the night in the eastern wing of the Jinxian Hall and told Wang Chune, the Summer Office director of astronomy: “Last night, before dusk, I saw Li Song beside me—the living keeping company with the dead. Nothing good can come of that.” Zhou Taizu reached the northern suburbs; the imperial army broke at Liuzi Slope. Fengji stopped at Qili. That night he drank deep with his companions, drew a knife to kill himself, and was restrained. The next day he fled with the Deposed Emperor to Zhao Village and took his life in a private house. When Zhou Taizu took the capital, Fengji’s head was hung on a pole—exactly where Li Song had died. Early in Guangshun his son received a Western Capital estate and a mansion.
10
史弘肇
Shi Hongzhao
11
史弘肇，字化元，鄭州滎澤人也。 為人驍勇，走及奔馬。 梁末，調民七戶出一兵，弘肇為兵，隸開道指揮，選為禁兵。 漢高祖典禁兵，弘肇為軍校。 其後，漢高祖鎮太原，使將武節左右指揮，領雷州刺史。 高祖建號於太原，代州王暉拒命，弘肇攻破之，以功拜忠武軍節度使、侍衛步軍都指揮使。
Shi Hongzhao, styled Huayuan, came from Xingze in Zhengzhou. He was fierce and bold—on foot he could keep up with a galloping horse. In Liang’s last days seven households furnished one soldier. Hongzhao served under the Kaifeng circuit commander and was chosen for the palace guard. When the Han High Ancestor took command of the guard, Hongzhao was a company officer. Later the High Ancestor held Taiyuan and put Hongzhao over the Left and Right Commands of Military Discipline, with Leizhou as his prefecture. When the High Ancestor declared his title at Taiyuan, Wang Hui of Daizhou defied him. Hongzhao broke the city and was made Military Governor of Zhongwu and commander of the palace guard foot corps.
12
是時契丹北歸，留耿崇美攻王守恩於潞州。 高祖遣弘肇前行擊之，崇美敗走，守恩以城歸漢。 而河陽武行德、澤州翟令奇等，皆迎弘肇自歸。 弘肇入河陽，高祖從後至，遂入京師。
The Khitan were marching north and left Geng Chongmei to besiege Wang Shou’en at Luzhou. The High Ancestor sent Hongzhao forward; Chongmei broke and fled, and Shou’en surrendered Luzhou to Han. Wu Xingde of Heyang, Zhai Lingqi of Zezhou, and others all came over to Hongzhao of their own accord. Hongzhao entered Heyang; the High Ancestor came up behind and then entered the capital.
13
弘肇為將，嚴毅寡言，麾下嘗少忤意，立楇殺之，軍中為股慄，以故高祖起義之初，弘肇行兵所至，秋亳無犯，兩京帖然。 遷侍衛親軍馬步軍都指揮使，領歸德軍節度使、同中書門下平章事。 高祖疾大漸，與楊邠、蘇逢吉等同授顧命。
Hongzhao commanded with iron silence. The least offense and he killed on the spot with a club—the troops shook in their boots. At the start of the High Ancestor’s rising, wherever Hongzhao marched not a blade of grass was touched, and both capitals lay quiet. He rose to commander of the palace guard horse and foot, Military Governor of Guide, and Co-signer of the Secretariat-Chancellery. As the High Ancestor lay dying, Hongzhao, Yang Bin, and Su Fengji were named together in his final charge.
14
隱帝時，河中李守貞、鳳翔王景崇、永興趙思綰等皆反，關西用兵，人情恐懼，京師之民，流言以相驚恐。 弘肇出兵警察，務行殺戮，罪無大小皆死。 是時太白晝見，民有仰觀者，輒腰斬於市。 市有醉者忤一軍卒，誣其訛言，坐棄市。 凡民抵罪，吏以白弘肇，但以三指示之，吏即腰斬之。 又為斷舌、決口、斮筋、折足之刑。 李崧坐奴告變族誅，弘肇取其幼女以為婢。 於是前資故將失職之家，姑息僮奴，而廝養之輩，往往脅制其主。 侍衛孔目官解暉狡酷，因緣為奸，民抵罪者，莫敢告訴。 燕人何福進有玉枕，直錢十四萬，遣僮賣之淮南以鬻茶。 僮隱其錢，福進笞責之，僮乃誣告福進得趙延壽玉枕，以遺吳人。 弘肇捕治，福進棄市，帳下分取其妻子，而籍其家財。 弘肇不喜賓客，嘗言：「文人難耐，呼我為卒。」
Under the Deposed Emperor, Li Shouzhen of Hezhong, Wang Jingchong of Fengxiang, Zhao Sixian of Yongxing, and others rebelled. War opened in the western passes; fear ran through the realm. In the capital rumor fed rumor. Hongzhao patrolled with troops and killed without distinction—petty crime or great, all went to the block. Venus showed by day. Any commoner who looked up to watch it was cut in half in the market. A drunk in the market crossed a soldier; the soldier accused him of spreading sedition—and he was executed on the spot. When a commoner was charged, the clerk told Hongzhao; three fingers from Hongzhao and the clerk cut the man in half. He added punishments of severed tongues, split mouths, cut sinews, and broken feet. Li Song’s clan was wiped out after a slave denounced him; Hongzhao took his young daughter for a maid. Former officials and dismissed generals indulged their pages and slaves—and the servants often ruled the house. Xie Hui, a palace guard clerk, was sly and savage; anyone he charged dared not complain. He Fujin of Yan owned a jade pillow worth 140,000 cash and sent a page to sell it in Huainan for tea. The page kept the money; Fujin beat him. The page then lied that Fujin had Zhao Yanshou’s jade pillow and meant to send it to Wu. Hongzhao seized him; Fujin was executed in the market. Hongzhao’s men divided his wife and children among themselves and seized his property. Hongzhao disliked company. He once said: “Scholars are insufferable—they call me a common soldier.”
15
弘肇領歸德，其副使等月率私錢千緡為獻。 潁州麹場官麹溫與軍將何拯爭官務，訟之三司，三司直溫。 拯訴之弘肇，弘肇以謂潁己屬州，而溫不先白己，乃追溫殺之，連坐者數十人。
As governor of Guide, his deputies each month sent him a thousand strings of private cash. Qu Wen of the Yongzhou yeast office and the officer He Zheng quarreled over duty and sued before the Three Departments, which ruled for Wen. Zheng appealed to Hongzhao. Hongzhao said Ying was his circuit and Wen had not cleared matters with him first—he had Wen hunted down and killed, and dozens were punished with him.
16
周太祖平李守貞，推功群臣，弘肇拜中書令。 隱帝自關西罷兵，漸近小人，與後贊、李業等嬉遊無度，而太后親族頗行幹托，弘肇與楊邠稍裁抑之。 太后有故人子求補軍職，弘肇輒斬之。 帝始聽樂，賜教坊使等玉帶、錦袍，往謝弘肇，弘肇怒曰：「健兒為國征行者未有偏賜，爾曹何功，敢當此乎！」 悉取所賜還官。
When Zhou Taizu crushed Li Shouzhen he shared credit among the ministers; Hongzhao was made Grand Secretary. When the western war ended the Deposed Emperor drifted toward petty favorites—Hou Zan, Li Ye, and the rest—and played without restraint. The dowager’s kin peddled influence; Hongzhao and Yang Bin checked them where they could. The dowager’s old friend’s son sought a military post—Hongzhao had him beheaded on the spot. The emperor first heard music and gave the Music Bureau directors jade belts and brocade robes. They came to thank Hongzhao. He raged: “Hard soldiers on campaign get no such gifts—what have you done to deserve this!” He stripped them of every gift and sent it all back to the treasury.
17
周太祖出鎮魏州，弘肇議帶樞密行，蘇逢吉、楊邠以為不可，弘肇恨之。 明日，會飲竇貞固第，弘肇厲聲舉爵屬太祖曰：「昨日廷論，何為異同？ 今日與公飲此。」 逢吉與邠亦舉大爵曰：「此國家事也，何必介意乎！」 遂俱飲釂。 弘肇曰：「安朝廷，定禍亂，直須長槍大劍，若『毛錐子』安足用哉？」 三司使王章曰：「無『毛錐子』，軍賦何從集乎？」 「毛錐子」，蓋言筆也。 弘肇默然。 他日，會飲章第，酒酣，為手勢令，弘肇不能為，客省使閻晉卿坐次弘肇，屢教之。 蘇逢吉戲曰：「坐有姓閻人，何憂罰爵！」 弘肇妻閻氏，酒家倡，以為譏己，大怒，以醜語詬逢吉，逢吉不校。 弘肇欲毆之，逢吉先出。 弘肇起索劍欲追之，楊邠泣曰：「蘇公，漢宰相，公若殺之，致天子何地乎？」 弘肇馳馬去，邠送至第而還。 由是將相如水火。 隱帝遣王峻置酒公子亭和解之。
Zhou Taizu went out to govern Weizhou. Hongzhao wanted to keep the Privy Council and go; Su Fengji and Yang Bin refused—and Hongzhao hated them for it. Next day they drank at Dou Zhengu’s house. Hongzhao lifted his cup toward Taizu and said in a hard voice: “Yesterday in court we split—why? Today I drink with you, sir.” Fengji and Bin raised their cups too: “This is the realm’s business—why hold a grudge!” They drained their cups together. Hongzhao said: “To settle the court and stop calamity you need long spears and great swords—what good are ‘hair awls’? Wang Zhang, commissioner of the Three Departments, said: “Without ‘hair awls,’ where do military taxes come from?” “Hair awls” meant writing brushes. Hongzhao said nothing. Another day they drank at Zhang’s house. Wine deep, they played hand-gesture forfeits; Hongzhao could not manage. Yan Jinqing of the Guest Liaison Office sat below him and kept showing him how. Su Fengji joked: “With a Yan at the table, who fears a penalty cup!” Hongzhao’s wife was Lady Yan, once a wine-shop singer; she took it as a jibe at her. She flew into a rage and cursed Fengji with foul words. Fengji did not reply. Hongzhao meant to strike him; Fengji slipped out first. Hongzhao rose for his sword to run him down. Yang Bin wept: “Su is Han’s chancellor. Kill him—and where does that leave the emperor?” Hongzhao galloped away. Bin saw Fengji home and came back. After that the ministers were fire and water. The Hidden Emperor sent Wang Jun to pour wine at the Prince’s Pavilion and force a truce.
18
是時，李業、郭允明、後贊、聶文進等用事，不喜執政。 而隱帝春秋漸長，為大臣所制，數有忿言，業等乘間譖之，以謂弘肇威震人主，不除必為亂。 隱帝頗欲除之。 夜聞作坊鍛甲聲，以為兵至，達旦不寐。 由是與業等密謀禁中。 乾祐三年冬十月十三日，弘肇與楊邠、王章等入朝，坐廣政殿東廡，甲士數十人自內出，擒弘肇、邠、章斬之，並族其三家。
Li Ye, Guo Yunming, Hou Zan, Nie Wenjin, and others held the court and hated the chief ministers. The emperor was coming of age and chafed under his ministers; he muttered his anger. Ye and his circle whispered that Hongzhao overawed the throne and would bring rebellion if left alive. The emperor wanted them gone. One night he heard armor being hammered in the workshops and thought the army was upon him. He lay awake until dawn. He began to plot with Ye and the rest behind palace walls. On the thirteenth of the tenth month, Qianyou year three, Hongzhao came to court with Yang Bin and Wang Zhang and sat in the eastern gallery of Guangzheng Hall. Dozens of armored men burst from within, seized the three, and beheaded them—and wiped out every clan.
19
楊邠，魏州冠氏人也。 少為州掌籍吏，租庸使孔謙領度支，補邠勾押官，歷孟、華、鄆三州糧料院使。 事漢高祖為右都押衙，高祖即位，拜樞密使。 邠出於小吏，不喜文士，與蘇逢吉等內相排忌。 逢吉諷李濤上疏罷邠與周太祖樞密使，邠泣訴李太后前，太后怒，罷濤相，加邠中書侍郎兼吏部尚書、同平章事。 是時，逢吉、禹珪頗以私賄除吏，多繆。 邠為相，事無大小，必先示邠，邠以為可，乃入白，而深革逢吉所為，凡門蔭出身，諸司補吏者，一切罷之。 邠雖長於吏事，而不知大體，以謂為國家者，帑廩實、甲兵完而已，禮樂文物皆虛器也。 以故秉大政而務苛細，凡前資官不得居外，而天下行旅，皆給過所然後得行。 旬日之間，人情大擾，邠度不可行而止。
Yang Bin came from Guanshi in Weizhou. As a youth he kept the prefectural registers. Kong Qian of the Tax and Corvée Bureau made him auditing officer; he rose through grain commissions in Meng, Hua, and Yun. Under Han’s High Ancestor he was right chief adjutant; at enthronement he became Privy Councilor. A clerk by origin, he despised scholars; he and Su Fengji and their factions feuded in court. Fengji urged Li Tao to petition for Bin’s and Guo Wei’s removal from the Privy Council. Bin wept before Dowager Li; she raged, ousted Tao, and made Bin Vice Director, Minister of Personnel, and Associate Grand Councilor. Fengji and Yu Gui sold offices for bribes; appointments went wildly astray. As chancellor, nothing passed until Bin approved—and he tore up Fengji’s work. Hereditary appointments and bureau supplements were all cancelled. Bin knew ledgers, not statecraft. A full treasury and sharp swords—that, he said, was government; rites, music, and culture were empty show. In power he ruled by petty strictness. Former officials could not leave the capital; every traveler needed a pass. Within ten days the realm seethed; Bin saw it would not hold and backed off.
20
邠常與王章論事帝前，帝曰：「事行之後，勿使有言也！」 邠遽曰：「陛下但禁聲，有臣在。」 聞者為之戰慄。 李太后弟業求為宣徽使，帝與太后私以問邠，邠止以為不可。 帝欲立所愛耿夫人為後，邠又以為不可； 夫人死，將以後禮葬之，邠又以為不可。 由是隱帝大怒，而左右乘間構之，與史弘肇等同日見殺。
Bin often debated policy with Wang Zhang before the throne. The emperor said: “Once a thing is done, let no one speak of it!” Bin snapped: “Your Majesty need only silence tongues. I am here.” Men who heard it shook. The dowager’s brother Ye wanted the Palace Secretariat commission. Emperor and dowager asked Bin in private; he said no. The emperor meant to make his beloved Lady Geng empress; Bin again refused. When she died and he meant to bury her as empress, Bin refused once more. The emperor boiled with rage; courtiers drove the wedge deeper. He died the same day as Shi Hongzhao.
21
邠為人頗儉靜，四方之賂雖不卻，然往往以獻於帝。 居家謝絕賓客，晚節稍通縉紳，延客門下。 知史傳有用，乃課吏傳寫。 未幾，及於禍。 周太祖即位，追封弘農王。
Bin lived frugally and quietly. He took bribes from every quarter—but often turned them over to the throne. At home he turned guests away; late in life he opened his gate a little to the gentry. He thought history worth keeping and set clerks to copying it. Soon after, disaster found him. Zhou Taizu posthumously made him Prince of Hongnong.
22
王章，魏州南樂人也。 為州孔目官，張令昭逐節度使劉延皓，章事令昭。 令昭敗，章婦翁白文珂與副招討李周善，乃以章托周。 周匿章褚中，以橐駝負之洛陽，藏周第。 唐滅，章乃出，為河陽糧料使。 漢高祖典禁兵，補章孔目官，從之太原。 高祖即位，拜三司使、檢校太尉。 高祖崩，隱帝即位，加太尉、同中書門下平章事。 是時，漢方新造，承契丹之後，京師空乏，而關西三叛作，周太祖用兵西方，章供饋軍旅，未嘗乏絕。 然征利剝下，民甚苦之。 往時民租一石輸二升為「雀鼠耗」，章乃增一石輸二斗為「省耗」； 緡錢出入，皆以八十為陌，章減其出者陌三； 州縣民訴田者，必全州縣覆之，以括其隱田。 天下由此重困。 然尤不喜文士，嘗語人曰：「此輩與一把算子，未知顛倒，何益於國邪！」 百官俸廩，皆取供軍之余不堪者，命有司高估其價，估定又增，謂之「擡估」，章猶意不能滿，往往復增之。 民有犯鹽、礬、酒曲者，無多少皆抵死，吏緣為奸，民莫堪命。 已而與史弘肇等同日見殺。
Wang Zhang came from Nanle in Weizhou. He was a prefectural clerk. When Zhang Lingzhao ousted Liu Yanhao, Zhang served him. Lingzhao fell; Zhang’s father-in-law Bai Wenke knew Deputy Pacification Commissioner Li Zhou and put Zhang in Zhou’s hands. Zhou hid him in a leather sack, had a camel carry him to Luoyang, and kept him in his house. When Tang fell he emerged and became Heyang grain commissioner. When Han’s High Ancestor took the palace guard, Zhang became his clerk and followed him to Taiyuan. At enthronement Zhang became Three Departments commissioner and Acting Grand General. The High Ancestor died; the Hidden Emperor made Zhang Grand General and Associate Grand Councilor. Han was newborn, the capital drained after the Khitan, and the west in revolt. Guo Wei marched west; Zhang fed the armies without fail. Yet he squeezed the people, and they suffered. Once two sheng per shi of rent was lost to “sparrow-and-rat wastage”; Zhang raised it to two dou and called it “provincial wastage.” Cash was counted eighty to the string; Zhang shaved three off every string paid out. One field dispute and the whole county was resurveyed to flush out hidden acres. The realm groaned under the double weight. He hated scholars above all. He said: “Hand these people an abacus and they cannot tell up from down—what use are they to the state?” Officials were paid from army leftovers unfit for soldiers. Offices inflated the price, then inflated it again—“inflated appraisal.” Zhang still was not satisfied and raised it yet again. Salt, alum, or yeast—any breach, any amount, meant death. Clerks turned the law to theft; life became unbearable. Soon he died the same day as Shi Hongzhao.
23
劉銖，陜州人也。 少為梁邵王牙將，與漢高祖有舊，高祖鎮太原，以為左都押衙。 銖為人慘酷好殺戮，高祖以為勇斷類己，特信用之。 高祖即位，拜永興軍節度使，徙鎮平盧，加檢校太師、同平章事，又加侍中。
Liu Zhu came from Shaanzhou. Youth found him a guard to Liang’s Prince of Shao; he knew Han’s High Ancestor from old days. At Taiyuan the High Ancestor made him left chief adjutant. Zhu was cruel and loved blood. The High Ancestor saw his own ruthlessness in him and trusted him deeply. At enthronement Zhu governed Yongxing, then Pinglu; he rose to Acting Grand Preceptor, Associate Grand Councilor, and Palace Attendant.
24
是時，江淮不通，吳越錢镠使者常泛海以至中國。 而濱海諸州皆置博易務，與民貿易。 民負失期者，務吏擅自攝治，置刑獄，不關州縣。 而前為吏者，納其厚賂，縱之不問。 民頗為苦，銖乃一切禁之。 然銖用法，亦自為刻深。 民有過者，問其年幾何，對曰若干，即隨其數杖之，謂之「隨年杖」。 每杖一人，必兩杖俱下，謂之「合歡杖」。 又請增民租，畝出錢三十以為公用，民不堪之。 隱帝患銖剛暴，召之，懼不至。 是時，沂州郭淮攻南唐還，以兵駐青州，隱帝乃遣符彥卿往代銖。 銖顧禁兵在，莫敢有異意，乃受代還京師。
The Jiang-Huai route was severed; Qian Liu’s envoys crossed the sea to reach the court. Every coastal prefecture opened trade offices and bartered with the people. Debtors who missed a deadline were seized by trade-office clerks, jailed on their own authority, without prefectural oversight. Former clerks took fat bribes and looked the other way. The people bled for it; Zhu banned the whole trade. Zhu’s own justice was no less brutal. He asked an offender his age—and gave him that many strokes. They called it “strokes-by-age.” Each beating required both sticks to fall at once—“paired strokes.” He also demanded thirty cash per mu in rent for public use; the people buckled. The emperor hated Zhu’s violence and summoned him, fearing he would not obey. Guo Huai of Yizhou was back from raiding Southern Tang with troops at Qingzhou; the emperor sent Fu Yanqing to replace Zhu. Zhu saw the palace guard and dared not resist; he yielded his command and returned to court.
25
銖嘗切齒於史弘肇、楊邠等，已而弘肇等死，銖謂李業等曰：「諸君可謂僂儸兒矣。」 權知開封府，周太祖兵犯京師，銖悉誅太祖與王峻等家屬。 太祖入京師，銖妻裸露以席自蔽，與銖俱見執。 銖謂其妻曰：「我則死矣，汝應與人為婢。」 太祖使人責銖曰：「與公共事先帝，獨無故人之情乎？ 吾家屠滅，雖有君命，加之酷毒，一何忍也。 今公亦有妻子，獨念之乎？」 銖曰：「為漢誅叛臣爾，豈知其佗。」 是時，太祖方欲歸人心，乃與群臣議曰：「劉侍中墜馬傷甚，而軍士逼辱，迨有微生，吾欲奏太后，貸其家屬，何如？」 群臣皆以為善。 乃止殺銖，與李業等梟首於市，赦其妻子。 太祖即位，賜陜州莊宅各一區。
Zhu had long ground his teeth at Shi Hongzhao and Yang Bin. When they fell, he told Li Ye’s circle: “You lot are spineless wretches.” As acting governor of Kaifeng, when Guo Wei’s army closed on the capital Zhu slaughtered Guo Wei’s and Wang Jun’s households. Guo Wei entered the capital. Zhu’s wife stripped and hid behind a mat; both were taken. Zhu told his wife: “I die. You will be someone’s servant.” Guo Wei sent word: “We served the late emperor together—where is old friendship? My house was wiped out. An imperial order is one thing—your cruelty was another. How could you? You have wife and children too—do you think of them?” Zhu said: “I killed Han’s rebels. Nothing more.” Guo Wei meant to win hearts and asked his ministers: “Vice Director Liu fell hard from his horse; soldiers humiliated him, yet he lives. I would ask the dowager to spare his family—what say you?” The ministers approved. He stayed Zhu’s death. Li Ye and the rest were exposed in the market; their wives and children were spared. At enthronement Guo Wei granted each a Shaanzhou estate.
26
李業，高祖皇后之弟也。 後昆弟七人，業最幼，故尤憐之。 高祖時，以為武德使。 隱帝即位，業以皇太后故，益用事，無顧憚。 時天下旱、蝗，黃河決溢，京師大風拔木，壞城門，宮中數見怪物投瓦石、撼門扉。 隱帝召司天趙延乂問禳除之法，延乂對曰：「臣職天象日時，察其變動，以考順逆吉兇而已，禳除之事，非臣所知也。 然臣所聞，殆山魈也。」 皇太后乃召尼誦佛書以禳之，一尼如廁，既還，悲泣不知人者數日，及醒訊之，莫知其然。 而帝方與業及聶文進、後贊、郭允明等狎昵，多為廋語相誚戲，放紙鳶於宮中。 太后數以災異戒帝，不聽。 時宣徽使闕，業欲得之，太后亦遣人諷大臣。 大臣楊邠、史弘肇等皆以為不可。 業由此怨望，謀殺邠等。 邠等已死。 又遣供奉官孟業以詔書殺郭威於魏州。 威舉兵反，隱帝遣左神武統軍袁泬、侍衛馬軍都指揮使閻晉卿等率兵拒威於澶淵。 兵未出，威已至滑州，帝大懼，謂大臣曰：「昨太草草耳。」 業請出府庫以賚軍，宰相蘇禹珪以為未可，業拜禹珪於帝前曰：「相公且為官家勿惜府庫。」 乃詔賜京師兵及魏兵從威南者錢人十千，督其子弟作書，以告北兵之來者。 及漢兵敗於北郊，業取內庫金寶，懷之以奔其兄保義軍節度使洪信，洪信拒而不納。 業走至絳州，為人所殺。
Li Ye was brother to the High Ancestor’s empress. Seven brothers she had; Ye was youngest and most favored. Under the High Ancestor he held the Martial Virtue commission. The Hidden Emperor’s reign let Ye rule through the dowager, without restraint. Drought and locusts scourged the land; the Yellow River broke; wind uprooted trees and smashed gates; in the palace things threw stones and rattled doors. The emperor called Zhao Yanyi of the Astronomy Bureau and asked how to expiate the omens. Yanyi said: “I read heaven’s changes and judge fortune and ruin—that is my charge. Expiation is not mine to know. What I have heard sounds like a mountain demon.” The dowager sent nuns to chant sutras. One went to the privy; she returned weeping, lost to herself for days, and when she woke could explain nothing. The emperor meanwhile caroused with Ye, Nie Wenjin, Hou Zan, and Guo Yunming—veiled jests, mockery, paper kites in the palace. The dowager warned him with every omen; he would not hear. The Palace Secretariat commission stood empty; Ye wanted it, and the dowager hinted the ministers. Yang Bin, Shi Hongzhao, and the rest all refused. Ye nursed the grudge and plotted their deaths. Bin and the rest were dead. He sent Palace Attendant Meng Ye with an edict to kill Guo Wei at Weizhou. Guo Wei rebelled. The emperor sent Yuan Gui and Yan Jinqing against him at Chanyuan. Before the army moved, Guo Wei was already at Huazhou. The emperor was terrified and told his ministers: “Yesterday we moved too rashly.” Ye asked to open the vaults and pay the troops. Su Yu Gui hesitated; Ye bowed to him before the throne: “Chancellor, for the emperor’s sake—do not hoard the treasury.” An edict paid ten thousand cash per man to capital troops and every soldier who had followed Guo Wei south, and pressed their kin to write north and summon more men. Han fell at the northern suburb. Ye stuffed the inner treasury’s gold into his robes and fled to his brother Hongxin at Baoyi; Hongxin turned him away. He ran to Jiangzhou and men there killed him.
27
聶文進
Nie Wenjin
28
周兵至京師，隱帝敗於北郊，太后懼，使謂文進善衛帝，對曰：「臣在此，百郭威何害！」 慕容彥超敗走，帝宿於七里，文進夜與其徒飲酒，歌呼自若。 明旦，隱帝遇弒，文進亦自殺。
Zhou troops reached the capital; the Hidden Emperor fell at the Northern Suburb. The empress dowager was terrified and asked Wenjin to guard the emperor. He replied: “While I stand here, what harm are a hundred Guo Weis?” Murong Yanchao broke and fled. The emperor slept at Qili. Wenjin spent the night drinking with his men, singing and shouting as if the world were still whole. At dawn the Hidden Emperor was murdered. Wenjin took his own life.
29
後贊，兗州瑕丘人。 其母，倡也。 贊幼善謳，事張延朗。 延朗死，贊更事漢高祖，高祖愛之，以為牙將。 高祖即位，拜飛龍使，隱帝尤愛幸之。 楊邠等執政，贊久不得遷，乃共謀殺邠等。 邠等死，隱帝悔之，贊與允明等番休侍帝，不欲左右言已短。 隱帝兵敗北郊，贊奔兗州，慕容彥超執送京師，梟首於市。
Hou Zan came from Xiqiu in Yan Prefecture. His mother was a singing girl. Zan sang well from childhood and served Zhang Yanlang. Yanlang died; Zan entered the Han High Ancestor’s service. The High Ancestor favored him and made him a guard officer. At enthronement Zan became Dragon Flight Commissioner; the Hidden Emperor doted on him above all others. Yang Bin and his faction ruled; Zan languished without promotion. He joined the plot to kill them. Bin and the rest were dead; the Hidden Emperor repented. Zan and Yunming rotated attendance at his side so no courtier could whisper against them. The Hidden Emperor lost at the Northern Suburb. Zan fled to Yan; Murong Yanchao captured him, sent him to the capital, and had his head hung in the market.
30
郭允明
Guo Yunming
31
郭允明，少為漢高祖廝養，高祖愛之，以為翰林茶酒使。 隱帝尤狎愛之，允明益驕橫無顧避，大臣不能禁。 允明使荊南高保融，車服導從如節度使，保融待之甚厚。 允明乃陰使人步測其城池高下，若為攻取之計者以動之。 荊人皆恐，保融厚賂以遺之。 遷飛龍使。 已而李業與允明謀殺楊邠等，是日無雲而昏，霧雨如泣，日中，載邠等十餘屍暴之市中。 允明手殺邠等諸子於朝堂西廡，王章婿張貽肅血流逆註。 隱帝敗於北郊，還至封丘門，不得入，帝走趙村，允明從後追之，弒帝於民舍，乃自殺。
Guo Yunming was raised a steward in the Han High Ancestor’s household. The High Ancestor favored him and made him Hanlin Commissioner of Tea and Wine. The Hidden Emperor doted on him. Yunming grew brazen and unchecked; the great ministers could not stop him. Yunming went as envoy to Gao Baorong of Jingnan with the carriage, robes, and escort of a military governor. Baorong treated him lavishly. Yunming secretly had men pace the walls and measure their height—as though planning conquest—to frighten him. All Jingnan trembled. Baorong paid him off handsomely to see him gone. He was made Dragon Flight Commissioner. Li Ye and Yunming plotted to kill Yang Bin and the rest. That day the sky blackened though there were no clouds; misty rain fell like tears. At noon a dozen corpses were hauled into the market and left on display. Yunming himself killed Bin’s sons and the others in the western corridor of the hall. Wang Zhang’s son-in-law Zhang Yisi bled upward in streams. Defeated at the Northern Suburb, the Hidden Emperor reached Fengqiu Gate but could not pass. He fled toward Zhao Village. Yunming ran him down, murdered him in a peasant house, and then took his own life.