1
初，廢帝入，問三司使王玫：「帑廩之數幾何？」 玫言：「其數百萬。」 及責以賞軍而無十一，廢帝大怒，罷玫，命昫兼判三司。 昫性察，而嫉三司蠹敝尤甚，乃昫計文簿，核其虛實，殘租積負悉蠲除之。 往時吏幸積年之負蓋而不發，因以把持州縣求賄賂，及昫一切蠲除，民間歡然以為德，而三司吏皆沮怨。 先是，馮道與昫為姻家而同為相，道罷，李愚代之。 愚素惡道為人，凡事有稽失者，必指以誚昫曰：「此公親家翁所為也！」 昫性少容恕，而愚特剛介，遂相詆詬。 相府史吏惡此兩人剛直，因共揚言，其事聞，廢帝並罷之，以昫為右僕射。 是時，三司諸吏提印聚立月華門外，聞宣麻罷昫相，皆歡呼相賀曰：「自此我曹快活矣！」
When Emperor Fei first took the throne, he asked Wang Mei, commissioner of the Three Departments, how large the treasury and granary holdings were. Wang replied that they amounted to several million. When funds were needed to reward the troops and scarcely a tenth of the sum was available, Emperor Fei flew into a rage, removed Wang from office, and ordered Liu Xu to serve concurrently as acting commissioner of the Three Departments. Liu Xu was sharp by nature and detested the rot in the Three Departments above all else. He personally went through the ledgers, checked fact against fiction, and remitted every outstanding rent and accumulated debt. For years officials had welcomed buried arrears because they could use them to squeeze prefectures and counties for bribes. When Liu Xu wiped the slate clean in one stroke, the common people hailed it as a blessing, but every clerk in the Three Departments seethed with resentment. Earlier Feng Dao and Liu Xu had been in-laws and served together as chancellors. When Feng left office, Li Yu took his place. Yu had long despised Feng's character. Whenever something went wrong he would taunt Liu Xu: "That was your father-in-law's doing! Liu Xu was not much given to forbearance, and Yu was uncommonly stiff and upright, so the two men fell to trading insults. The chancellery clerks loathed both men's inflexibility and spread word of their quarrel. When Emperor Fei heard of it, he dismissed them both and made Liu Xu right vice director of the Imperial Secretariat. The Three Departments clerks had clustered outside the Moon Flower Gate with their seals in hand. When they heard the edict removing Liu Xu from the chancellorship, they burst into cheers: "Now we can live easy at last!"
2
昫在相位，不習典故。 初，明宗崩，太常卿崔居儉以故事當為禮儀使，居儉辭以祖諱蠡。 馮道改居儉秘書監，居儉怏怏失職。 中書舍人李詳為居儉誥詞，有「聞名心懼」之語，昫輒易曰「有恥且格」。 居儉訴曰：「名諱有令式，予何罪也？」 當時聞者皆傳以為笑。 及為僕射，入朝遇雨，移班廊下，御史臺吏引僕射立中丞御史下，昫詰吏以故事，自宰相至臺省皆不能知。 是時，馮道罷相為司空。 自隋、唐以來，三公無職事，不特置，及道為司空，問有司班次，亦皆不能知，由是不入朝堂，俟臺官、兩省入而後入，宰相出則隨而出。 至句為僕射，自以由宰相罷，與道同，乃隨道出入，有司不能彈正，而議者多竊笑之。
As chancellor, Liu Xu was unfamiliar with court precedent. When Emperor Mingzong died, Cui Jujian, director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, should by precedent have become commissioner of rites, but he declined because his grandfather's taboo name was Li. Feng Dao reassigned Jujian to director of the Palace Library, and Jujian took the demotion bitterly. Li Xiang, a secretariat drafter, wrote Jujian's appointment edict with the phrase "hearing the name, one's heart quails." Liu Xu at once changed it to "having shame, and moreover reforming oneself." Jujian protested: "Taboo names are governed by statute. What offense have I committed? Everyone who heard the story passed it around as a joke. After he became vice director, rain fell during court and the officials moved under the corridor. A censorate clerk placed the vice director below the censors and assistant censors. Liu Xu asked what precedent supported this, but neither the chancellors nor anyone in the censorate or secretariat could say. By then Feng Dao had left the chancellorship and been made minister of works. Since Sui and Tang times the three dukes had held no active duties and were seldom appointed outright. When Feng became minister of works and asked the proper offices about precedence, no one knew. He therefore stayed out of the main hall, entering only after the censors and secretariat officials had gone in, and leaving whenever the chancellor left. When Liu Xu became vice director, he too had just left the chancellorship and thought himself in the same position as Feng, so he followed Feng in and out of court. The proper offices could not correct the practice, and many observers quietly ridiculed them.
3
晉高祖時，張從賓反，殺皇子重乂於洛陽，乃以昫為東都留守，判鹽鐵。 開運中，拜司空、同中書門下平章事，復判三司。 契丹犯京師，昫以目疾罷為太保，是歲卒，年六十。
Under Gaozu of Later Jin, Zhang Congbin rebelled and killed the prince Chongyi at Luoyang. Liu Xu was appointed regent of the eastern capital with concurrent charge of the salt and iron monopoly. During the Kaiyun period he was made minister of works and grand councilor, and again assumed charge of the Three Departments. When the Khitans attacked the capital, Liu Xu was relieved on account of eye trouble and made grand guardian. He died that same year at the age of sixty.
4
盧文紀
Lu Wenji
5
盧文紀，字子持，其祖簡求，為唐太原節度使，父嗣業，官至右補闕。 文紀舉進士，事梁為刑部侍郎、集賢殿學士。 唐明宗時，為御史中丞。 初上事，百官臺參，吏白諸道進奏官賀，文紀問：「當如何？」 吏對曰：「朝廷在長安時，進奏官見大夫、中丞如胥史。 自唐衰，天子微弱，諸侯強盛，貢奉不至，朝廷姑息方鎮，假借邸吏，大夫、中丞上事，進奏官至客次通名，勞以茶酒而不相見，相傳以為故事。」 文紀曰：「吾雖德薄，敢隳舊制？」 因遣吏諭之。 進奏官奮臂喧然欲去，不得已入見，文紀據床端笏，臺吏通名贊拜，既出，恚怒不自勝，訴於樞密使安重誨。 重誨曰：「吾不知故事，可上訴於朝。」 即相率詣閣門求見以壯訴。 明宗問宰相趙鳳：「進奏吏比外何官？」 鳳曰：「州縣發遞知後之流也。」 明宗怒曰：「乃吏卒爾，安得慢吾法官！」 皆杖而遣之。 文紀又請悉復中外官校考法，將相天子自書之，詔雖施行，而官卒不考。 歲餘，遷工部尚書。
Lu Wenji, courtesy name Zichi, came from a line whose grandfather Jianqiu had been Tang military commissioner of Taiyuan and whose father Siye had risen to right remonstrator. Wenji passed the jinshi examination and served Later Liang as vice minister of justice and academician of the Hall for Assembling the Worthy. Under Tang Emperor Mingzong he served as censor-in-chief. On his first day in office the officials attended the censorate audience. A clerk announced that the memorial-presenting officers from the circuits had come to offer congratulations. Wenji asked how this should be handled. The clerk answered that when the court had been at Chang'an, memorial-presenting officers had treated grand masters and censors like ordinary clerks. After Tang's decline the throne had grown weak and the regional lords strong. Tribute stopped coming in, and the court indulged the military governors while deferring to their hostel clerks. When a grand master or censor took office, the memorial-presenting officers would announce themselves in the antechamber, accept tea and wine, and never be received in person—a practice everyone treated as immemorial custom. Wenji said, "However slight my standing, how dare I tear down the old order?" He sent a clerk to instruct them accordingly. The memorial-presenting officers erupted in protest and tried to leave, but had no choice except to come in. Wenji sat formal on the couch with his tablet raised while censorate clerks announced names and directed the bows. Once outside they were beside themselves with fury and appealed to the commissioner of military affairs, An Chonghui. Chonghui told them, "I do not know the precedent here. Take your complaint to the throne. They went in a body to the Gate of Memorials to demand an audience and press their case. Mingzong asked Chancellor Zhao Feng what rank memorial-presenting clerks held compared with regular outside officials. Feng replied that they were on the level of county dispatch runners and post-station supervisors. Mingzong flared up: "They are nothing but clerks and runners. How dare they slight my judicial officers!" He had them all flogged and sent away. Wenji also asked that the annual evaluation system for all officials be fully restored, with the emperor personally writing the reviews of generals and ministers. An edict was issued, but in the end the evaluations were never carried out. A little over a year later he was promoted to minister of works.
6
文紀素與宰相崔協有隙，協除工部郎中於鄴，文紀以鄴與其父名同音，大怒，鄴赴省參上，文紀不見之，因請連假。 已而鄴奉使未行，文紀即出視事，鄴因醉忿自經死，文紀坐貶石州司馬。 久之，為秘書監、太常卿。 奉使於蜀，過鳳翔。 時廢帝為鳳翔節度使，文紀為人形貌魁偉、語音瑯然，廢帝奇之。 後廢帝入立，欲擇宰相，問於左右，左右皆言：「文紀及姚顗有人望。」 廢帝因悉書清望官姓名內琉璃瓶中，夜焚香祝天，以箸挾之，首得文紀，欣然相之，乃拜中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事。
Wenji had long been at odds with Chancellor Cui Xie. When Xie appointed a director in the Ministry of Works at Ye, Wenji flew into a rage because Ye was homophonous with his father's name. The appointee came to the ministry for his induction audience, but Wenji refused to receive him and took an extended leave. Before Ye could depart on a mission he was assigned, Wenji returned to his desk. Ye, drunk and enraged, hanged himself. Wenji was demoted to military adjutant of Shizhou. After a long interval he was made director of the Palace Library and director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. On a mission to Shu he passed through Fengxiang. Emperor Fei was then military commissioner of Fengxiang. Wenji was tall and imposing, with a ringing voice, and the future emperor was struck by him. After Emperor Fei took the throne he wanted to choose a chancellor and asked his attendants. They all said that Wenji and Yao Yi commanded public respect. The emperor wrote the names of every eminent official into a glass jar, burned incense that night and prayed to Heaven, then drew a name with chopsticks. Wenji's came out first. Delighted, he appointed him vice director of the Secretariat and grand councilor.
7
是時，天下多事，廢帝數以責文紀。 文紀因請罷五日起居，復唐故事，開延英，冀得從容奏議天下事。 廢帝以謂五日起居，明宗所以見群臣也，不可罷，而便殿論事，可以從容，何必延英。 因詔宰相有事，不以時詣閣門請對。 晉高祖起太原，廢帝北征，過拜徽陵，休仗舍，顧文紀曰：「吾自鳳翔識卿，不以常人為待，自卿為相，詢於輿議，皆云可致太平，今日使吾至此，卿宜如何？」 文紀皇恐謝罪。 廢帝至河陽，文紀勸帝扼橋自守，不聽。 晉高祖入立，罷為吏部尚書，累遷太子太師，致仕。 周太祖入立，即拜司空於家。 卒，年七十六，贈司徒。
The realm was in turmoil, and Emperor Fei blamed Wenji again and again. Wenji asked to abolish the five-day audience, restore Tang practice, and open the Yanying Hall so he could discuss state affairs at length. Emperor Fei replied that the five-day audience was how Mingzong had met his ministers and could not be dropped, and that the side hall was already leisurely enough—there was no need for the Yanying Hall. He ordered that chancellors with business should not seek audiences at the Gate of Memorials at improper hours. When Gaozu of Jin rose in Taiyuan, Emperor Fei marched north. Stopping to pay respects at the Huiling tomb, he rested in the guard quarters and turned to Wenji: "I knew you at Fengxiang and never treated you as an ordinary man. When you became chancellor, everyone said you would bring peace. You have brought me to this pass—what do you propose to do? Wenji fell to his knees in terror and begged forgiveness. At Heyang, Wenji urged the emperor to hold the bridge and stand his ground, but the emperor would not listen. When Gaozu of Jin took the throne, Wenji was removed to minister of personnel, later promoted to grand preceptor of the heir apparent, and finally retired. When Taizu of Later Zhou took the throne, he appointed Wenji minister of works at his home. He died at seventy-six and was posthumously made minister of education.
8
馬胤孫
Ma Yinxun
9
馬胤孫，字慶先，棣州商河人也。 為人懦暗，少好學，學韓愈為文章。 舉進士，為唐潞王從珂河中觀察支使。 從珂為楊彥溫所逐，罷居於京師裏第，胤孫從而不去。 從珂為京兆尹，徙鎮鳳翔，胤孫常從之，以為觀察判官。 潞王將舉兵反，與將吏韓昭胤等謀議已定，召胤孫告之曰：「受命移鎮，路出京師，何向為便？」 胤孫曰：「君命召，不俟駕。 今大王為國宗屬，而先帝新棄天下，臨喪赴鎮，臣子之忠也。」 左右皆笑其愚，然從珂心獨重之。 廢帝入立，以為戶部郎中、翰林學士。 久之，拜中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事。
Ma Yinxun, courtesy name Qingxian, was a native of Shanghe in Dizhou. He was timid and slow-witted, but studious from youth and wrote in imitation of Han Yu. He passed the jinshi examination and became staff officer to Li Congke, the Prince of Lu, in his Hezhong observation mission. When Congke was driven out by Yang Yanwen and sent to live in his mansion in the capital, Yinxun stayed with him and would not leave. When Congke became metropolitan governor of Jingzhao and was transferred to Fengxiang, Yinxun went with him and was made administrative aide of the observation mission. When the Prince of Lu was about to rebel, he had already settled plans with Han Zhaoyin and the other officers. He summoned Yinxun and asked which route through the capital would be best on his way to his new post. Yinxun quoted the classic: "When the ruler summons, one does not wait even to harness the carriage. Your Highness is a member of the imperial clan, and the late emperor has only just died. To proceed to your post while observing mourning is the duty of a loyal subject." Those around the prince laughed at his naivety, but Congke alone came to value him. When Emperor Fei took the throne, Yinxun was made bureau director in the Ministry of Revenue and Hanlin academician. In time he was appointed vice director of the Secretariat and grand councilor.
10
胤孫不通世務，故事多壅塞。 是時，馮道罷匡國軍節度使，拜司空。 司空自唐已來無特拜者，有司不知故事，朝廷議者紛然，或曰司空三公，宰相職也，當參與大政，而宰相盧文紀獨以謂司空之職，祭祀掃除而已。 胤孫皆不能決。 時劉句亦罷相為僕射，右散騎常侍孔昭序建言：「常侍班當在僕射前。」 胤孫責御史臺檢例，臺言：「故事無所見，據今南北班位，常侍在前。」 胤孫即判臺狀施行，劉句大怒。 崔居儉揚言於朝曰：「孔昭序解語，是朝廷無解語人也！ 且僕射師長百寮，中丞、大夫就班修敬，而常侍在南宮六卿之下，況僕射乎？ 昭序癡兒，豈識事體？」 朝士聞居儉言，流議稍息。 胤孫臨事多不能決，當時號為「三不開」，謂其不開口以論議，不開印以行事，不開門以延士大夫也。 晉兵起太原，廢帝至河陽，是時勢已危迫，胤孫自洛來朝行在，人皆冀其有所建言，胤孫獻綾三百匹而已。 晉高祖入立，罷歸田里。
Yinxun understood nothing of practical affairs, and court precedent piled up unresolved. At that time Feng Dao left the Kuangguo army command and was appointed minister of works. Since Tang times no one had been specially appointed minister of works, and the proper offices knew no precedent. Court opinion split: some said the minister of works, as one of the three dukes, shared the chancellor's role and should take part in government; Chancellor Lu Wenji alone insisted the office meant nothing more than sweeping the altars. Yinxun could decide none of it. Liu Xu had also left the chancellorship and become vice director. Kong Zhaoxu, right regular attendant, proposed that regular attendants should rank ahead of vice directors. Yinxun ordered the censorate to search the records. The censorate reported that no precedent existed and that, under the current north-south court arrangement, regular attendants stood ahead. Yinxun approved the censorate report at once. Liu Xu was furious. Cui Jujian declared in open court, "So Kong Zhaoxu understands language—does that mean the court has no one who does? Besides, the vice director is senior to the whole bureaucracy. Censors-in-chief and grand masters take their places before him in respect. Regular attendants rank below the six ministers of the southern palace—how much more should they rank below a vice director? Zhaoxu is a fool. What does he know of propriety? When courtiers heard Jujian's outburst, the controversy gradually died down. Yinxun could rarely decide anything. People called him "the Three Not Opens": he would not open his mouth to debate policy, open his seal to transact business, or open his door to receive gentlemen of the court. When Jin forces rose in Taiyuan and Emperor Fei reached Heyang, the situation was desperate. Yinxun came from Luoyang to the traveling court. Everyone hoped for counsel; he brought only three hundred bolts of silk. When Gaozu of Jin took the throne, Yinxun was dismissed and sent home.
11
胤孫既學韓愈為文，故多斥浮屠氏之說，及罷歸，乃反學佛，撰《法喜集》、《佛國記》行於世。 時人誚之曰：「佞清泰不徹，乃來佞佛。」 清泰，廢帝年號也。 人有戲胤孫曰：「公素慕韓愈為人，而常誦傅奕之論，今反佞佛，是佛佞公邪，公佞佛邪？」 胤孫答曰：「豈知非佛佞我也？」 時人傳以為笑。 後以太子賓客分司居於洛陽，周廣順中卒。 胤孫卒後，其家婢有為胤孫語者。 初，崔協為明宗相，在位無所發明，既死，而有降語其家，胤孫又然。 時人嘲之曰：「生不能言，死而後語」云。
Having written in Han Yu's manner, Yinxun had often attacked Buddhism. After his dismissal he took up Buddhism instead and wrote the Collections of Dharma Joy and Record of the Buddha Land, which circulated widely. People mocked him: "He could not finish fawning on Qingtai, so he has come to fawn on the Buddha. Qingtai was Emperor Fei's reign title. Someone teased him: "You always admired Han Yu and quoted Fu Yi's anti-Buddhist essays. Now you fawn on the Buddha—is the Buddha fawning on you, or are you fawning on the Buddha? Yinxun replied, "Who is to say the Buddha is not fawning on me?" The story made the rounds as a joke. He later lived in Luoyang as guest of the heir apparent with a separate commission and died in the Guangshun era of Zhou. After Yinxun's death, a maid in his household began to speak in his voice. Earlier, when Cui Xie had served Mingzong as chancellor, he had accomplished nothing in office. After his death his household received spirit messages, and the same happened with Yinxun. People mocked them with the saying: "Alive they could not speak; dead they speak at last."
12
姚顗，字百真，京兆長安人也。 少蠢，不修容止，時人莫之知，中條山處士司空圖一見以為奇，以其女妻之。 舉進士，事梁為翰林學士、中書舍人。 唐莊宗滅梁，貶復州司馬，已而以為左散騎常侍兼吏部侍郎、尚書左丞。 廢帝欲擇宰相，選當時清望官知名於世者，得盧文紀及顗，乃拜顗中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事。 顗為人仁恕，不知錢陌銖兩之數，禦家無法，在相位齪齪無所為。 唐制吏部分為三銓，尚書一人曰尚書銓，侍郎二人曰中銓、東銓。 每歲集以孟冬三旬，而選盡季春之月。 天成中，馮道為相，建言：「天下未一，選人歲才數百，而吏部三銓分註，雖曰故事，其實徒繁而無益。」 始詔三銓合為一，而尚書、侍郎共行選事。 至顗與盧文紀為相，復奏分銓為三。 而循資、長定舊格，歲久多舛，因增損之。 選人多不便之，往往邀遮宰相，喧訴不遜，顗等無如之何，廢帝為下詔書禁止。 晉高祖立，罷顗為戶部尚書。 卒，年七十五，卒之日，家無餘貲，屍不能斂，官為赗贈乃能斂，聞者哀憐之。
Yao Yi, courtesy name Baizhen, was a native of Chang'an in Jingzhao. As a youth he seemed dull and paid no attention to his bearing, and no one took notice of him. Sikong Tu, a recluse of Mount Zhongtiao, saw him once, thought him remarkable, and gave him his daughter in marriage. He passed the jinshi examination and served Later Liang as Hanlin academician and secretariat drafter. When Zhuangzong of Tang destroyed Later Liang, Yi was demoted to military adjutant of Fuzhou, but was soon restored as left regular attendant with concurrent posts as vice minister of personnel and left assistant director in the Ministry of State Affairs. When Emperor Fei wished to choose a chancellor, he looked among the most eminent officials of the day and settled on Lu Wenji and Yi. Yi was appointed vice director of the Secretariat and grand councilor. Yi was kindly and forgiving but knew nothing of money down to the last cash or ounce. He kept no order in his household. As chancellor he fussed over trifles and achieved nothing. Under Tang regulations the Ministry of Personnel was divided into three selection boards: the minister's board, the central board, and the eastern board. Each year the registry opened in the three ten-day periods of early winter, and selections were finished by late spring. During the Tiancheng era, Chancellor Feng Dao proposed that with the realm still divided and only a few hundred candidates each year, the Ministry's three separate boards were merely cumbersome precedent with no real benefit. An edict merged the three boards into one, with the minister and vice ministers conducting selections together. When Yi and Lu Wenji became chancellors, they memorialized to divide the boards into three once again. The old rules for seniority and fixed promotion standards had grown corrupt with age, so they revised them. Candidates were displeased and often waylaid the chancellors with loud, insolent protests. Yi and his colleagues could do nothing, until Emperor Fei issued an edict forbidding such behavior. When Gaozu of Later Jin took the throne, Yi was removed to minister of revenue. He died at seventy-five. On the day of his death his household had nothing left; his body could not be buried until the government provided funeral gifts. All who heard of it pitied him.
13
劉嶽，字昭輔，洛陽人也。 唐民部尚書政會之八代孫，崇龜、崇望其諸父也。 嶽名家子，好學，敏於文辭，善談論。 舉進士，事梁為左拾遺、侍御史。 末帝時，為翰林學士，累官至兵部侍郎。 梁亡，貶均州司馬，復用為太子詹事。 唐明宗時，為吏部侍郎。 故事，吏部文武官告身，皆輸朱膠紙軸錢然後給，其品高者則賜之，貧者不能輸錢，往往但得敕牒而無告身。 五代之亂，因以為常，官卑者無復給告身，中書但錄其制辭，編為敕甲。 嶽建言，以謂「制辭或任其材能，或褒其功行，或申以訓誡，而受官者既不給告身，皆不知受命之所以然，非王言所以告詔也。 請一切賜之。」 由是百官皆賜告身，自嶽始也。
Liu Yue, courtesy name Zhaofu, was a native of Luoyang. He was the eighth-generation descendant of Zhenghui, Tang minister of the people's affairs; Chonggui and Chongwang were his uncles. Yue came from a distinguished family, loved learning, wrote with quick facility, and was a gifted conversationalist. He passed the jinshi examination and served Later Liang as left reminder and attending censor. Under the last Liang emperor he became Hanlin academician and rose to vice minister of war. When Later Liang fell he was demoted to military adjutant of Junzhou, then restored as grand steward of the heir apparent. Under Tang Emperor Mingzong he served as vice minister of personnel. By custom, civil and military appointment credentials required payment for paste, paper, and scroll rods before issue. High-ranking officials received them as gifts, but the poor often could pay only for the edict copy and never received the formal credential. The chaos of the Five Dynasties made this the norm. Low officials no longer received credentials at all; the Secretariat merely recorded appointment texts in edict registers. Yue proposed that appointment edicts might assign duties by talent, praise achievement, or deliver admonition, yet recipients who received no credential never learned why they had been appointed. That was not how imperial words should instruct the realm. He asked that credentials be granted to everyone. From then on all officials received credentials—a reform that began with Yue.
14
宰相馮道世本田家，狀貌質野，朝士多笑其陋。 道旦入朝，兵部侍郎任贊與嶽在其後，道行數反顧，贊問嶽：「道反顧何為？」 嶽曰：「遺下《兔園冊》爾。」 《兔園冊》者，鄉校俚儒教田夫牧子之所誦也，故嶽舉以誚道。 道聞之大怒，徙嶽秘書監。 其後李愚為相，遷嶽太常卿。
Chancellor Feng Dao came from a farming family and looked plain and rustic; many courtiers mocked his uncouth appearance. One morning Dao entered court with Vice Minister Ren Zan and Yue behind him. Dao kept glancing back as he walked. Zan asked Yue why. Yue said, "He left his Rabbit Garden Manual behind." The Rabbit Garden Manual was the primer village schoolmasters used for farmers' sons—Yue cited it to ridicule Dao. Dao heard of it and, furious, transferred Yue to director of the Palace Library. Later, when Li Yu became chancellor, Yue was promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
15
初，鄭餘慶嘗采唐士庶吉兇書疏之式，雜以當時家人之禮，為《書儀》兩卷。 明宗見其起復、冥昏之制，嘆曰：「儒者所以隆孝悌而敦風俗，且無金革之事，起復可乎？ 婚，吉禮也，用於死者可乎？」 乃詔嶽選文學通知古今之士，共刪定之。 嶽與太常博士段颙、田敏等增損其書，而其事出鄙俚，皆當時家人女子傳習所見，往往轉失其本，然猶時有《禮》之遺制。 其後亡失，愈不可究其本末，其婚禮親迎，有女坐婿鞍合髻之說，尤為不經。 公卿之家，頗遵用之。 至其久也，又益訛謬可笑，其類甚多。 嶽卒於官，年五十六，贈吏部尚書。 子溫叟。
Earlier, Zheng Yuqing had compiled Tang models for letters of congratulation and condolence, mixed with contemporary household ritual, into two fascicles called Ceremonial Forms. Mingzong read its rules on resuming office during mourning and on weddings during mourning and sighed: "Confucians exist to exalt filial piety and good custom. With no war under way, how can resuming office during mourning be right? Marriage is an auspicious rite. How can it be used for the dead? He ordered Yue to select learned men versed in past and present to revise the work jointly. Yue worked with court academicians Duan Yong, Tian Min, and others to revise the book. Much of it came from vulgar household custom, passed on by women of the time and often far from the original, though traces of the canonical Rites still survived. Later portions were lost, and the work grew ever harder to trace. Its wedding rite included the bride sitting on the groom's saddle and joining their hair-knots—especially absurd. Great families largely followed it nonetheless. Over time it grew ever more corrupt and ridiculous in countless ways. Yue died in office at fifty-six and was posthumously made minister of personnel. His son was Wensou.
16
嗚呼，甚矣，人之好為禮也！ 在上者不以禮示之，使人不見其本，而傳其習俗之失者，尚拳拳而行之。 五代干戈之亂，不暇於禮久矣！ 明宗武君，出於夷狄，而不通文字，乃能有意使民知禮。 而嶽等皆當時儒者，卒無所發明，但因其書增損而已。 然其後世士庶吉兇，皆取嶽書以為法，而十又轉失其三四也，可勝嘆哉！
Alas, how passionately people cling to ritual performance! Those in authority fail to teach ritual properly, so people never see its roots, yet they still earnestly follow corrupted custom. The Five Dynasties had long been too torn by war to attend to ritual! Mingzong was a martial ruler of barbarian origin who could not read, yet he still wished to teach the people ritual. Yet Yue and his colleagues, though leading Confucians of the day, clarified nothing in the end and merely revised that book. Later generations of gentlemen and commoners alike took Yue's book as their standard for congratulation and condolence, yet three or four parts in ten were lost again in transmission. How lamentable!
17
馬縞，不知其世家，少舉明經，又舉宏詞。 事梁為太常少卿，以知禮見稱於世。 唐莊宗時，累遷中書舍人、刑部侍郎、權判太常卿。 明宗入立，繼唐太祖、莊宗而不立親廟。 縞言：「漢諸侯王入繼統者，必別立親廟，光武皇帝立四廟於南陽，請如漢故事，立廟以申孝享。」 明宗下其議，禮部尚書蕭頃等請如縞議。 宰相鄭玨等議引漢桓、靈為比，以謂靈帝尊其祖解瀆亭侯淑為孝元皇，父萇為孝仁皇，請下有司定謚四代祖考為皇，置園陵如漢故事。 事下太常，博士王丕議漢桓帝尊祖為孝穆皇帝，父為孝崇皇帝。 縞以謂孝穆、孝崇有皇而無帝，惟吳孫皓尊其父和為文皇帝，不可以為法。 右僕射李琪等議與縞同。 明宗詔曰：「五帝不相襲禮，三王不相沿樂，惟皇與帝，異世殊稱。 爰自嬴秦，已兼厥號，朕居九五之位，為億兆之尊，奈何總二名於眇躬，惜一字於先世。」 乃命宰臣集百官於中書，各陳所見。 李琪等請尊祖禰為皇帝，曾高為皇。 宰相鄭玨合群議奏曰：「禮非天降而本人情，可止可行，有損有益。 今議者引古，以漢為據，漢之所制，夫復何依？ 開元時，尊臯陶為德明皇帝，涼武昭王為興聖皇帝，皆立廟京師，此唐家故事也。 臣請四代祖考皆加帝如詔旨，而立廟京師。」 詔可其加帝，而立廟應州。
Ma Gao's lineage is unknown. In youth he passed the Mingjing examination and also the Hongci examination. He served Later Liang as vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and was renowned for his knowledge of ritual. Under Zhuangzong of Tang he rose to secretariat drafter, vice minister of justice, and acting director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When Mingzong took the throne after Tang Taizu and Zhuangzong, he did not establish a temple to his own ancestors. Gao said that Han princes who succeeded to the throne always established separate ancestral temples, as Emperor Guangwu had done with four temples at Nanyang. He asked to follow Han precedent and establish temples to fulfill filial sacrifice. Mingzong referred the proposal for discussion. Minister of Rites Xiao Qing and others supported Gao's plan. Chancellor Zheng Jue and others cited Emperors Huan and Ling of Han, noting that Ling had honored his grandfather as Emperor Xiaoyuan and his father as Emperor Xiaoren. They asked the proper offices to posthumously title four generations of ancestors as emperor and establish gardens and tombs as in Han practice. The matter went to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Academician Wang Pi noted that Emperor Huan of Han had honored his grandfather as Emperor Xiaomu and his father as Emperor Xiaochong. Gao argued that Xiaomu and Xiaochong bore the title emperor in name but not in full form, and that only Sun Hao of Wu had honored his father as Emperor Wen—a precedent that could not be followed. Right vice director Li Qi and others agreed with Gao. Mingzong's edict read: "The Five Emperors did not inherit one another's ritual; the Three Kings did not continue one another's music. Huang and Di are titles of different ages with distinct names. Since the Qin dynasty the titles had been combined. I occupy the throne and stand as lord of the myriad people. How can I gather both titles for myself yet begrudge a single character for my ancestors? He ordered the chief ministers to assemble all officials at the Secretariat so each could state his view. Li Qi and others proposed honoring grandfather and father as emperors and more remote ancestors as emperor in abbreviated form. Chancellor Zheng Jue summarized the group's views: "Ritual does not descend from Heaven but arises from human feeling. It may be practiced or set aside, to harm or to benefit. The debaters cite antiquity and take Han as their authority—but upon what further authority does Han itself rest? In the Kaiyuan era, Gao Yao was honored as Emperor Deming and the Martial Illustrious King of Liang as Emperor Xingsheng, with temples established in the capital. That was Tang precedent. I ask that four generations of ancestors all receive the full imperial title as the edict intends, with temples established in the capital. An edict approved the full imperial titles and established temples at Yingzhou.
18
劉嶽修《書儀》，其所增損，皆決於縞。 縞又言：「缞麻喪紀，所以別親疏，辨嫌疑。 《禮》，叔嫂無服，推而遠之也。 唐太宗時，有司議為兄之妻服小功五月，今有司給假為大功九月，非是。」 廢帝下其議，太常博士段颙議「嫂服給假以大功者，令文也，令與禮異者非一，而喪服之不同者五。 《禮》，姨舅皆服小功，令皆大功。 妻父母婿外甥皆服緦，令皆小功。 禮、令之不可同如此。」 右贊善大夫趙咸又議曰：「喪，與其易也，寧戚。 《儀禮》五服，或以名加，或因尊制，推恩引義，各有所當。 據《禮》為兄之子妻服大功，今為兄之子母服小功，是輕重失其倫也。 以名則兄子之妻疏，因尊則嫂非卑，嫂服大功，其來已久。 令，國之典，不可滅也。」 司封郎中曹琛，請下其議，並以《禮》、令之違者定議。 詔尚書省集百官議。 左僕射劉句等議曰：「令於喪服無正文，而嫂服給大功假，乃假寧附令，而敕無年月，請凡喪服皆以《開元禮》為定，下太常具五服制度，附於令。」 令有五服，自縞始也。
When Liu Yue revised the Ceremonial Forms, Gao decided every addition and deletion. Gao also said that hemp mourning grades exist to distinguish degrees of kinship and resolve doubtful cases. The Rites prescribe no mourning between brother's wife and husband's younger brother, pushing such relations away by design. Under Tang Taizong the proper offices had debated five months of xiaogong mourning for an elder brother's wife. Now they grant nine months of dagong leave, which is incorrect. Emperor Fei referred the proposal for discussion. Academician Duan Yong of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices argued that dagong leave for a sister-in-law came from statute, that statute and ritual diverged in many places, and that mourning garments differed in five cases. The Rites prescribe xiaogong for maternal aunt and uncle; the statutes prescribe dagong. The Rites prescribe si for wife's parents, son-in-law, and sister's son; the statutes prescribe xiaogong. Ritual and statute could not be reconciled in such cases. Right mentor of goodness Zhao Xian argued further, quoting the classic: "In mourning, better than ease is grief. The Ceremonial Rites' five mourning grades sometimes follow name, sometimes follow rank; extending grace and drawing on principle, each has its proper measure. The Rites prescribe dagong for an elder brother's son's wife but xiaogong for his mother—a reversal of proper gradation. By name an elder brother's son's wife is more distant kin; by rank a sister-in-law is not lowly. Dagong mourning for a sister-in-law is long established. Statute is the law of the state and cannot be abolished." Bureau director of enfeoffment Cao Chen asked that the discussion be referred downward and a decision fixed for every conflict between ritual and statute. An edict ordered the Department of State Affairs to assemble all officials for discussion. Left vice director Liu Xu and others argued that the statute lacked main text on mourning garments, that dagong leave for a sister-in-law was merely statutory leave without specified duration, and that all mourning should be fixed according to the Kaiyuan Rites, with the Court of Imperial Sacrifices ordered to prepare the five-grade system and attach it to the statute. The statute's five mourning grades began with Gao.
19
縞明宗時嘗坐覆獄不當，貶綏州司馬。 復為太子賓客，遷戶部、兵部侍郎。 盧文紀作相，以其迂儒鄙之，改國子祭酒。 卒，年八十，贈兵部尚書。 ○崔居儉
Under Mingzong, Gao once mishandled a case review and was demoted to military adjutant of Suizhou. He was restored as guest of the heir apparent and promoted to vice minister of revenue and vice minister of war. When Lu Wenji became chancellor, he despised Gao as a pedantic scholar and reassigned him to rector of the Imperial University. He died at eighty and was posthumously made minister of war. Cui Jujian
20
崔居儉，清河人也。 祖蠡、父蕘皆為唐名臣。 居儉美文辭，風骨清秀，少舉進士。 梁貞明中，為中書舍人、翰林學士、御史中丞。 唐莊宗時，為刑部侍郎、太常卿。 崔氏自後魏、隋、唐與盧、鄭皆為甲族，吉兇之事，各著家禮。 至其後世子孫，專以門望自高，為世所嫉。 明宗崩，居儉以故事為禮儀使，居儉以祖諱蠡，辭不受，宰相馮道即徙居儉為秘書監。 居儉歷兵、吏部侍郎、尚書左丞、戶部尚書。 晉天福四年卒，年七十，贈右僕射。 居儉拙於為生，居顯官，衣常乏，死之日貧不能葬，聞者哀之。
Cui Jujian was from Qinghe. His grandfather Li and father Rao were both renowned Tang ministers. Jujian wrote elegant prose with a refined bearing and passed the jinshi examination in his youth. During the Zhenming era of Later Liang he served as secretariat drafter, Hanlin academician, and censor-in-chief. Under Zhuangzong of Tang he was vice minister of justice and director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The Cui clan, like the Lu and Zheng clans, had been a leading family since Northern Wei, Sui, and Tang, with household rituals recorded for every auspicious and inauspicious occasion. Later descendants relied solely on family prestige and were widely resented. When Mingzong died, Jujian should by precedent have become commissioner of rites, but he declined because his grandfather's taboo name was Li. Chancellor Feng Dao immediately reassigned him to director of the Palace Library. Jujian served as vice minister of war, vice minister of personnel, left assistant director in the Ministry of State Affairs, and minister of revenue. He died in the fourth year of Tianfu of Later Jin at seventy and was posthumously made right vice director of the Imperial Secretariat. Jujian was inept at providing for himself. Though he held high office, he often lacked proper clothing. At his death he was too poor to be buried, and all who heard pitied him.
21
崔棁，字子文，深州安平人也。 父涿，唐末為刑部郎中。 棁少好學，頗涉經史，工於文辭。 遭世亂，寓居於滑臺，不遊裏巷者十餘年，人罕識其面。 梁貞明三年，舉進士甲科，開封尹王瓚辟掌奏記。 棁性至孝，其父涿病，不肯服藥，曰：「死生有命，何用藥為？」 棁屢進醫藥，不納。 每賓客問疾者，棁輒迎拜門外，泣涕而告之，涿終不服藥而卒。 棁居喪哀毀，服除，唐明宗以為監察御史，不拜，逾年再命，乃拜。 累遷都官郎中、翰林學士。
Cui Zhuo, courtesy name Ziwen, was a native of Anping in Shenzhou. His father Zhuo was a bureau director in the Ministry of Justice at the end of Tang. Zhuo loved learning from youth, read widely in the classics and histories, and wrote with skill. During the turmoil of the age he lodged at Huatai and did not venture into the streets for more than ten years, so few people knew his face. In the third year of Zhenming of Later Liang he passed the jinshi examination in the first class, and Wang Zan, metropolitan governor of Kaifeng, recruited him as master of memorials. Zhuo was profoundly filial. When his father Zhuo fell ill, the old man refused medicine, saying that life and death were fated and medicine was useless. Zhuo repeatedly brought physicians and medicine, but his father would not accept them. Whenever guests came to inquire after his father's health, Zhuo would meet them at the gate with bows and tears. The father never took medicine and died. Zhuo mourned so deeply that he was nearly wasted away. When mourning ended, Mingzong appointed him attending censor, but he declined. More than a year later a second appointment came, and he accepted. He rose to bureau director in the Ministry of Justice and Hanlin academician.
22
晉高祖時，以戶部侍郎為學士承旨，權知天福二年貢舉。 初，棁為學士，嘗草制，為宰相桑維翰所改。 棁以唐故事學士草制有所改者當罷職，乃引經據爭之，維翰頗不樂。 而棁少專於文學，不能蒞事，維翰乃命棁知貢舉，棁果不能舉職。 時有進士孔英者，素有醜行，為當時所惡。 棁既受命，往見維翰，維翰素貴，嚴尊而語簡，謂棁曰：「孔英來矣。」 棁不諭其意，以謂維翰以孔英為言，乃考英及第，物議大以為非，即罷學幹，拜尚書左丞，遷太常卿。
Under Gaozu of Later Jin he served as vice minister of revenue and chief academician, with provisional charge of the second-year Tianfu civil service examination. Early in his career as academician, Zhuo drafted an edict that Chancellor Sang Weihan altered. Zhuo cited Tang precedent that an academician whose draft was altered should leave office, and argued the point from the classics. Weihan was deeply displeased. Zhuo had specialized in literature since youth and could not manage affairs. Weihan therefore assigned him charge of the examination, and Zhuo proved unable to perform the duty. There was a jinshi named Kong Ying who had long been notorious for disgraceful conduct and was widely detested. After receiving his commission Zhuo went to see Weihan, who was always stern and brief in speech. He told Zhuo, "Kong Ying has come. Zhuo misunderstood and thought Weihan meant to warn him against Kong Ying. He passed Ying in the examination instead, to widespread outrage. Zhuo was removed from the Hanlin Academy, made left assistant director in the Ministry of State Affairs, and transferred to director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
23
五年，高祖詔太常復文武二舞，詳定正、冬朝會禮及樂章。 自唐末之亂，禮樂制度亡失已久，棁與御史中丞竇貞固、刑部侍郎呂琦、禮部侍郎張允等草定之。 其年冬至，高祖會朝崇元殿，廷設宮縣，二舞在北，登歌在上。 文舞郎八佾，六十有四人，冠進賢，黃紗袍，白中單，白練衤蓋襠，白布大口袴，革帶履。 左執籥，右秉翟。 執籥引者二人。 武舞郎八佾，六十有四人，服平巾幘，緋絲布大袖、繡襠甲金飾，白練衤蓋，錦騰蛇起梁帶，豹文大口袴，烏靴。 左執幹，右執戚。 執旌引者二人。 加鼓吹十二按，負以熊釣，以象百獸率舞。 按設羽葆鼓一，大鼓一，金錞一。 歌、簫、笳各二人。 王公上壽，天子舉爵，奏《玄同》； 三舉，登歌奏《文同》； 舉食，文舞舞《昭德》，武舞舞《成功》之曲。 禮畢，高祖大悅，賜棁金帛，群臣左右睹者皆嗟嘆之。 然禮樂廢久，而制作簡繆，又繼以龜茲部《霓裳法曲》，參亂雅音，其樂工舞郎，多教坊伶人、百工商賈、州縣避役之人，又無老師良工教習。 明年正旦，復奏於廷，而登歌發聲悲離煩慝，如《薤露》、《虞殯》之音，舞者行列進退，皆不應節，聞者皆悲憤。 其年高祖崩。 棁以風痹改太子賓客分司西京以卒。
In the fifth year Gaozu ordered the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to restore the civil and military dances and to fix the rites of the regular and winter court assemblies and their musical pieces. Ritual and music had been lost since the chaos at the end of Tang. Zhuo worked with Censor-in-Chief Dou Zhengu, Vice Minister Lü Qi, Vice Minister Zhang Yun, and others to draft the regulations. That winter solstice Gaozu held court in the Chongyuan Hall. Palace musical sets were arranged in the courtyard, with the two dances to the north and the ascending song above. The civil dancers numbered eight rows, sixty-four in all, wearing advancing-worth caps, yellow gauze robes, white undergarments, white silk cover-bibs, white broad trousers, leather belts, and shoes. They held flutes in the left hand and pheasant-feather staffs in the right. Two leaders held flutes to lead them. The military dancers numbered eight rows, sixty-four in all, wearing plain headcloths, crimson broad sleeves, gold-trimmed embroidered breastplates, white silk cover-bibs, brocade belts with serpent patterns, leopard-pattern trousers, and black boots. They held shields in the left hand and axes in the right. Two leaders held banners to lead them. Twelve sets of wind and percussion were added, with bear-hooks on the performers' backs to represent the hundred beasts leading the dance. Each set included one feather-canopied drum, one large drum, and one metal chime. There were two singers, two vertical flutists, and two horn players. When nobles offered longevity wishes, the emperor raised his cup and they performed Dark Unity. At the third raising, the ascending song performed Literary Unity. When food was served, the civil dancers performed Manifest Virtue and the military dancers performed Accomplished Success. When the rites ended, Gaozu was delighted and rewarded Zhuo with gold and silk. Every official who witnessed it sighed in admiration. Yet ritual and music had long lain in ruins, and the production was crude and flawed. The Kucha Rainbow Skirt tune was mixed in, corrupting refined music. Most musicians and dancers were Instruction Quarter entertainers, artisans, merchants, and men dodging corvée from the provinces, with no veteran masters to train them. The next New Year's Day they performed again at court, but the ascending song sounded mournful and discordant, like funeral dirges. The dancers' ranks advanced and retreated out of time, and all who heard were grieved and indignant. That year Gaozu died. Zhuo was reassigned on account of rheumatism to guest of the heir apparent with a separate commission in the western capital, where he died.
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開運二年，太常少卿陶穀奏廢二舞。 明年，契丹滅晉，耶律德光入京師，太常請備法駕奉迎，樂工教習鹵簿鼓吹，都人聞者為之流涕焉。 ○李懌
In the second year of Kaiyun, Vice Director Tao Gu of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices memorialized to abolish the two dances. The next year the Khitans destroyed Later Jin and Yelü Deguang entered the capital. The Court of Imperial Sacrifices prepared the imperial carriage to welcome him, and musicians rehearsed the guard-of-honor music. People of the capital wept when they heard it. Li Yi
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李懌，京兆人也。 少好學，頗工文辭。 唐末舉進士，為秘書省校書郎、集賢校理。 唐亡，事梁為監察御史，累遷中書舍人、翰林學士。 梁亡，責授懷州司馬，遇赦量移，稍遷衛尉少卿。 天成中，復為中書舍人、翰林學士，累遷尚書右丞承旨。 時右散騎常侍張文寶知貢舉，所放進士，中書有覆落者，乃請下學士院作詩賦為貢舉格，學士竇夢徵、張礪等所作不工，乃命懌為之，懌笑曰：「年少舉進士登科，蓋偶然爾。 後生可畏，來者未可量，假令予復就禮部試，未必不落第，安能與英俊為準格？」 聞者多其知體。 後遷刑部尚書分司洛陽，卒，年七十餘。
Li Yi was from Jingzhao. He loved learning from youth and wrote with considerable skill. At the end of Tang he passed the jinshi examination and became proofreader in the Palace Library and collator in the Hall for Assembling the Worthy. When Tang fell he served Later Liang as attending censor and rose to secretariat drafter and Hanlin academician. When Later Liang fell he was demoted to military adjutant of Huaizhou. After an amnesty he was gradually restored and promoted to vice director of the Court of the Imperial Stud. During the Tiancheng era he was restored as secretariat drafter and Hanlin academician and rose to right assistant director in the Ministry of State Affairs and chief academician. Right regular attendant Zhang Wenbao was then in charge of the examination. Some of his passed candidates were struck down on Secretariat review, so he asked the Hanlin Academy to compose model poetry and rhapsodies for the examination. The efforts of Dou Mengzheng, Zhang Li, and others were inadequate, and Yi was ordered to write them. Yi laughed and said that passing the jinshi in youth had been mere accident. The young are formidable and the future cannot be measured. If I took the Ministry of Rites examination again, I might well fail. How could I set the standard for talented men? Those who heard praised his sense of propriety. He was later made minister of justice with a separate commission in Luoyang and died in his seventies.