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卷一百四十三 列傳第三十: 馬祖常 巙巙 自當 阿榮 小雲石海涯 泰不華 余闕

Volume 143 Biographies 30: Mazuchang, Kuikui, Zidang, Arong, Xiaoyunshihaiya, Taibuhua, Yuque

Chapter 143 of 元史 · History of Yuan
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1
Mazuchang
2
怀 退 使 西 访 使 西 使
Mazuchang, whose style name was Boyong, came from the Yonggu tribe and lived at Tianshan in Jing Prefecture. His great-grandfather Sirigisi, who served in the late Jin as military affairs judge at Fengxiang, died defending his integrity and was posthumously made prefect of Heng Prefecture; later generations took the surname Ma from that office. His great-grandfather Yuehenai accompanied Kublai on the conquest of Song, stayed at Bian to manage supplies, and eventually became Minister of Rites. His father Run served as deputy administrator of the Zhangzhou circuit and made his home in Guang Prefecture. Zuchang took to learning at seven and spent every coin he could get on books. When he was ten he saw a tilted candle set the house ablaze, stripped off his clothes, soaked them in water, and put out the fire—everyone marveled at his presence of mind. As he grew older his devotion to study only deepened. He went to Yizhen to study under the Shu scholar Zhang Peng, posed dozens of difficult questions, and won Peng's high regard. When civil examinations were restored early in the Yanyou era, he ranked first in the provincial and metropolitan rounds and second in the palace examination. He was appointed an attendant-in-waiting for Hanlin documents. He was made an investigating censor. By then Emperor Renzong had reigned for years but still lived in the Eastern Palace and often drank too much. Zuchang memorialized the throne, urging that the heir "hold court in the main hall and establish proper ceremony, with censors bearing their tablets and the grand astrologer keeping the record, so that even men plotting for private gain or begging offices and rewards would not dare speak out. The heir bears the weight of Heaven, Earth, and the imperial ancestors and must govern himself with utmost care; when attendants offer wine, he should remember the ritual meaning of a single cup and a hundred bows." When Yingzong was crown prince, Zuchang submitted another memorial urging careful choice of tutors." Meanwhile the corrupt minister Temuder became chief councillor and wielded power without restraint. Learning that Temuder had stolen and read the national histories, Zuchang led his colleagues in impeaching him on ten counts; Renzong was furious and removed him from office. When a mountain shifted in Qin Prefecture, Zuchang said, "Mountains are not meant to move. If one moves, it is because worthy men in retirement are not being used and flatterers in office will not speak the truth—that is what brings such omens." When the memorial reached the court, senior ministers all stayed home awaiting punishment. Zuchang recommended worthy men, lifted the overlooked, and spoke out whenever he knew something needed saying. Soon he was made administrator of the Xuanzheng Commission, resigned after little more than a month, and was then appointed director of the Altar of Soil and Grain. Before long the corrupt minister returned to power; Zuchang was demoted to magistrate of Kaiping, and when enemies tried to ruin him he retired to Guang Prefecture. After the corrupt minister died, he was appointed Hanlin academician-in-waiting. When Emperor Taiding named an heir, he was promoted to vice-director of palace treasures and left assistant to the crown prince. He soon also served as Hanlin expositor and was appointed Minister of Rites. After mourning his grandmother he was recalled as right assistant to the crown prince and again made Minister of Rites, but soon resigned and went home. In the first year of Tianli he was summoned as inner commandant to the Prince of Yan, returned to the Ministry of Rites, twice supervised the civil examinations, once served as chief reader of papers, and was praised for selecting good men. He rose to participant in Secretariat affairs, helped draft the rituals for the emperor's suburban sacrifice, read the prayer tablets, became associate censor of the Secretariat, served as vice-commissioner of the Huizheng Commission, and was transferred to censor-in-chief of the Jiangnan regional secretariat. In the first year of Yuantong he was called to discuss new policies and rewarded with two hundred taels of silver and ten thousand strings of paper money. He then served as associate administrator of the Huizheng Commission and was appointed vice censor-in-chief. Because he was ill, the emperor excused him from court attendance and ordered the Imperial Household Commission to supply him fine wine every day. As censor Zuchang upheld the law while keeping sight of larger principles. When a western secretariat censor impeached a colleague for looking drunk during a wine ban, Zuchang dismissed the accuser for excessive severity. When the Shandong surveillance commission reported a lawsuit involving the Kong clan, he declined to act because the case touched fundamental ritual teaching, and the investigating official withdrew as well. He was made vice commissioner of the Privy Council, but soon resigned and returned to Guang Prefecture. He was again named censor-in-chief of Jiangnan and then of Shaanxi, but declined both appointments because of illness. He died in the fourth year of Zhizheng at the age of sixty. He was posthumously enfeoffed as meritorious minister, right councillor of the Henan regional secretariat, senior guardian general, and Duke of Wei, with the posthumous title Wenzhen. Having served at court for many years, Zuchang proposed numerous reforms. He once argued that since the imperial clan and the various tribes now studied the classics, they should honor all mothers properly to strengthen family ethics. He also urged that while sons of military families grew spoiled and weak, commoners skilled with the bow died forgotten in the fields; military schools and examinations should be created to train reserves for emergencies. The court did not adopt these proposals at the time, but thoughtful men approved them. Zuchang excelled at prose—expansive yet exacting, determined to shed stale phrasing, taking pre-Qin and Han writers as his models while developing a style distinctly his own. He devoted special effort to poetry, writing in a rounded, polished, and lucid style; long poems and short lyrics alike were fit to endure. His collected works circulated widely. He helped compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong, translated and polished the Great Instruction of the Imperial Design and the Brief Account of the Flourishing Palace, and compiled the Golden Mirror of Empresses and the Brief Record of a Thousand Autumns for presentation to the throne, receiving generous rewards. When Emperor Wenzong halted at Longhu Terrace, Zuchang composed an imperial-command poem that won especial praise; courtiers said that among the great scholars of the Central Plains only Zuchang deserved the name.
3
宿 访使 使 西访使 使 使 仿 宿 使 使 访使西访使 访使 访使 使
Kuikui, whose style name was Zishan, was of the Kangli clan. His father Bayan has a separate biography. His grandfather Yanzhen served Kublai and distinguished himself on campaign. Kuikui studied at the National University as a youth, mastered the classics broadly, and learned the essentials of moral self-cultivation from Xu Heng and from his father and elder brothers. As an adult he inherited palace guard duty. His bearing was distant and refined, his conduct strict and pure; anyone could see at once that he was a nobleman's son. In debate he was quick and forceful, stroking his beard as he argued; legalist debaters and persuaders could not match him. He was first appointed gentleman for upholding integrity and Jixian academician-in-waiting, then director in the Ministry of War, and then vice-director of the Palace Library. Sent to audit Quanzhou shipping, he treated pearls and rhinoceros horn as worthless and never gave them a second glance. He became associate administrator of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, was made investigating censor, and was promoted to vice commissioner of the Hedong surveillance commission. Before he could take up the surveillance post he was made vice-director of the Palace Library and then commissioner of ceremonial attendance. He was soon promoted to director of the Secretariat's right section, then Hanlin expositor of the Jixian Hall, and then associate censor on the Jiangnan regional secretariat. He was appointed Minister of Rites and supervised the Inner Office of the Jade Cluster. Kuikui led his subordinates with stern dignity. By court regulation all music troupes of the Great Music Bureau fell under his ministry; at state banquets every performer was put on display. Kuikui watched them with complete detachment, and his staff grew solemn in his presence. He was transferred to head the Hall of Joint Assembly as minister while continuing to supervise the Inner Office of the Jade Cluster. He soon also served on the classics lecture staff and was again appointed associate censor on the Jiangnan regional secretariat. Before he could leave he was kept at court as drafting academician of the Kui Zhang Pavilion Academy while retaining his classics lecture post. He was promoted to attendant-writing academician and associate director of classics lecture affairs, then to grand academician of the Kui Zhang Pavilion Academy and director of those affairs. He was appointed surveillance commissioner of Western Zhe but was again kept at court as grand academician and director of classics lecture affairs. He was soon appointed Hanlin academician recipient of edicts, drafter of imperial proclamations, reviser of the national history, and director of classics lecture affairs, with overall charge of the Xuanwen Pavilion and Chongwen Directorate. Earlier, when Emperor Wenzong strove to govern well, Kuikui had often expounded the sages' maxims at his side to great effect. After Emperor Shundi came to the throne he eliminated powerful traitors and sought to renew good government. Serving on the classics lecture staff, Kuikui daily urged the emperor to study; the emperor came to him for instruction and wished to honor him with a teacher's rites, but Kuikui firmly refused. Whatever principles of governance appeared in the Four Books and Six Classics, he expounded for the emperor until his words reached the throne, moved the emperor's heart, and carried his meaning fully home. He especially liked to recite and explain such texts as Liu Zongyuan's Biography of the Master Carpenter and Zhang Shangying's Treatise on the Seven Ministers. Once at the lecture he forcefully described Zhang Shangying's seven types of ministers; those around the throne were startled and jealous, but knowing his worth they did not vent their anger. When the emperor wished to view famous paintings on a day of leisure, Kuikui presented Guo Zhongshu's Picture of Bigan and explained that King Zhou of Shang ignored loyal remonstrance and lost his realm. One day the emperor praised a painting by Emperor Huizong of Song; Kuikui said, "Huizong had many talents, but one thing he could not do." The emperor asked what that one thing was. He answered, "He alone could not be a ruler. His personal ruin and the fall of the state all stemmed from his failure as a ruler. What matters for a ruler is to rule well; other accomplishments are not what should be prized." Whenever heaven sent omens or the people suffered disaster, worry showed on his face, and he would seize the chance to tell the emperor, "Heaven is benevolent and loves its ruler; that is why it sends warnings through anomalies. It is like a loving father toward his son: because he loves the child, he teaches and warns him. If the son becomes respectful and filial, the father's anger will surely pass. If the ruler reforms himself and cultivates virtue, Heaven's intent will surely turn favorable again." The emperor saw his sincerity and listened with an open mind. The emperor specially granted him nine sets of zhisun banquet robes, a jade belt, and paper money to honor his counsel. Kuikui once said, "Affairs of state are for the chief councillor to speak about; if he will not, the censorate should; if the censorate will not, the classics lecture should. Holding a place on the classics lecture staff and being able to say before the Son of Heaven what others dare not say is ambition enough for me." Therefore whenever current policy needed correction he never kept silent. Senior ministers proposed abolishing the Kui Zhang Pavilion Academy and the subordinate offices of the Directorate of Literary Arts established under the previous reign. Kuikui objected, "A family with a thousand pieces of gold still keeps a private school and hires tutors. How can a great dynasty that owns the four seas lack room for one school?" The emperor heard him and strongly agreed. That same day the Kui Zhang Pavilion was renamed the Xuanwen Pavilion and the Directorate of Literary Arts the Chongwen Directorate; the institutions were kept as before and Kuikui was put in charge. He also asked that sixteen posts such as reviser be created to support the lecture program. The emperor approved all of these requests. Civil examinations had been suspended; Kuikui calmly told the emperor, "From antiquity onward talent for public service has always been recruited through examinations. How can they be abandoned?" The emperor accepted his view and soon restored the old examination system. One day, lecturing on Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror, he said the dynasty ought now to compile the histories of Liao, Jin, and Song before long delay caused records to be lost. The later project to compile those histories in fact began with Kuikui's suggestion. He also asked that the village drinking ceremony be held at the National University to teach the people modesty and deference, and that posthumous honors be granted to Liu Zan of Tang and Shao Yong of Song to commend moral integrity. The emperor accepted his requests and issued edicts accordingly. Kuikui held high office with great prestige and loved scholars with an eagerness surpassing hunger and thirst, so men of letters from every quarter flocked to him as their patron. A powerful official said to him, "What is so fine about Confucians that you adore them so?" Kuikui replied, "Kublai believed Confucian learning could bring good government and had Prince Yu study under the tutor Wang Xun. The Secretariat still keeps Prince Yu's copybook practice sheets, on which the emperor personally signed his name beneath the prince's with the note "Diligently presented for writing practice"—such was the reverence shown. Kublai once summoned my grandfather at dusk to sit by his couch and expound the Four Books and the rise and fall of states in history, talking until the third watch without sleeping. Kublai said with pleasure, "I had you study with Xu Heng so you could bring good counsel to me. Be still more earnest in fulfilling my wish." Now you say you dislike Confucians—have you forgotten how deeply our sacred ancestors loved them? Moreover, follow the Confucian Way and the ruler becomes benevolent, ministers loyal, fathers kind, and sons filial; human relations are secured and the state is well governed. Violate it and human relations collapse and family and state fall into disorder. If you wish to ruin your own household I cannot stop you, but take care not to ruin our state with such talk. Some Confucians look frail and speak softly, yet their minds hold more than others. How can they be lightly dismissed?" The official blushed with shame. He then left the capital and was appointed pacification commissioner of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang regional secretariat. The following year he was recalled as Hanlin academician recipient of edicts. When a post as Secretariat pacification commissioner fell vacant, courtiers wished to recommend someone and sounded out the emperor's preference. The emperor said, "The pacification commissioner has already been chosen—he is halfway back now." The courtiers understood that the emperor meant Kuikui and made no further recommendations. Seven days after reaching the capital he died of heat illness on the xinmao day of the fifth month of the fifth year of Zhizheng, at the age of fifty-one. His family was so poor they could scarcely afford his funeral. The emperor was deeply grieved and granted five ingots of silver for funeral expenses. Censors memorialized that fines collected in cloth should repay the operating funds he still owed the government. Kuikui excelled at regular, running, and cursive script; connoisseurs said he captured the spirit of Jin calligraphy, and people treasured even a single slip of his writing as dearly as gold or jade. He was given the posthumous title Wenzhong. His elder brother Huihui, whose style name was Ziyuan. He was steady and reticent, deeply learned, and skilled at writing. Under Emperor Chengzong he served in the palace guard and was promoted to vice director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When the office was reorganized as a commission he became its director. When Emperor Wuzong came to the throne, Huihui, an old follower from his princely household, served on embassy and pleased the emperor. During the Zhida era he served as director of the Grand Commission for Agriculture, surveillance commissioner of Shannan, associate censor on the Jiangnan regional secretariat, and surveillance commissioner of Huaixi, earning a reputation for good administration at each post. He was again appointed surveillance commissioner of Henan. The Henan regional chief councillor often acted unlawfully; Nalin, serving as a bureau director, repeatedly blocked his orders, and the councillor angrily tried to have him removed. Huihui recognized Nalin's talent and memorialized to appoint him to surveillance work; Nalin later served in all three censorates and became a famous minister. When the household slaves of an imperial son-in-law who was chief councillor forcibly bought goods in the market, he investigated them without mercy. When Emperor Yingzong came to the throne, Chief Councillor Bayan first recommended him as Minister of Revenue; he was soon made attendant censor of the Southern Secretariat and then participant in Secretariat affairs. The emperor praised and adopted his memorial on revising the penal code in accordance with law. Early in the Taiding reign, when the court debated grain transport, he memorialized to reduce quotas and ease the burden on the people of the southeast. He was appointed vice-director of the heir apparent's household, then surveillance commissioner of Shandong; before taking up that post he was promoted to Hanlin lecturing academician and made right councillor of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang regional secretariat. When Emperor Wenzong came to the throne, he was appointed director of the Xuanzheng Commission. He memorialized to reduce the number of monks and Daoists and to tax their landholdings like ordinary fields. He was promoted to right councillor of the Central Secretariat but firmly declined and returned home. When he heard that Emperor Mingzong had died, he wept and could not eat; he shut his doors and did not go out for years, and eventually died of illness. He and his younger brother Kuikui were both celebrated ministers of their day, and contemporaries called them a pair of jade disks. Kuikui's son Weishan was refined and vigorous in character, served at court, rose from vice-director of the Chongwen Directorate to supervising censor, then associate administrator of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and finally vice-director of the Chongwen Directorate.
4
使 殿 殿 殿 使 使 使 使 使 便 西 西 使 西访使
Zidang was a Mongol. Under Emperor Yingzong he was promoted from night guard to investigating censor. While reviewing prisoners in Daxing County he found a man wrongly imprisoned: the man had once seen a Bactrian camel dead by the road, carried it home to pickle, and stored the meat in several jars. When government camels were stolen and the search was urgent, officials seized and interrogated him, and he falsely confessed. Zidang examined the case, suspected a miscarriage of justice, and reported it to the Censorate. Censorate officials thought the evidence of theft was complete and that Zidang merely feared executing a man; they refused to listen, assigned another censor to judge the case, and the man was executed. Days later the Liaoyang regional secretariat reported the real thieves captured, and the man's innocence was proved; people admired Zidang's discernment. In the second year of Taiding, while escorting the emperor to Shangdu, he impeached Associate Administrator Yang Tingyu for corruption; when no response came, he surrendered his seal and returned to the capital. The emperor sent envoys after him and ordered him to resume office. He immediately impeached Tingyu again, and events proved him right. He had impeached Pacification Commissioner Tumanadier on the very day Tumanadier entered the imperial guard, and Emperor Yingzong was assassinated soon after—Zidang must have foreseen the plot. Yet no inquiry followed; instead Tumanadier was rewarded with a gold waist belt, and Zidang resigned. He was made vice director of the Ministry of Works. When the Secretariat ordered the Hun River opened, Zidang inspected the project, judged the watercourse unstable and the people exhausted, told the court success was unlikely, and the river works were halted. When the third consort queen died, the Ministry of Works was ordered to discard the traveling palace carts and tents and make new ones. Zidang had not yet begun the work. The minister said, "This follows a special edict. If you err, the whole office will be blamed." Zidang said, "If there is blame, I alone will bear it." Before long the emperor indeed asked whether the work was finished. Secretariat officials summoned Zidang to rebuke him. Zidang asked to answer the emperor in person. When he saw the emperor he said, "The queen's traveling carts and tents are still new. Remaking them would waste the people's labor and the state's wealth. Moreover the late queen died of no contagious illness—what objection is there to using them? If old things must always be replaced, should the Great Bright Hall, which Kublai himself used, be rebuilt every time an emperor succeeded to the throne?" The emperor was greatly pleased and told the Secretariat officials, "In appointing officials the state should choose men like Zidang, so that great affairs are not mishandled." He was specially rewarded with fine wine and gold and promoted to vice director of the Ministry of Personnel. The emperor wished to give the empress dowager the title Grand Empress Dowager and ordered the court to deliberate. Zidang alone objected, "The title Grand Empress Dowager does not accord with ritual propriety for this empress dowager." Everyone asked, "Why did Emperor Yingzong give his empress dowager the title Grand Empress Dowager?" Zidang answered, "Emperor Yingzong was a grandson of the empress dowager; the present emperor is her son. A grandson may use the title Grand Empress Dowager, but a son may not." The debate was settled on that basis. He was transferred to envoy of the Secretariat guest office and soon made associate administrator of the Xuanzheng Commission. When Emperor Wenzong came to the throne, he was appointed director of the Secretariat's left section. An envoy returning from Jiangsu-Zhejiang with an edict reported that the regional officials seemed discontented. The emperor was furious and ordered envoys sent to investigate their disrespect, intending to execute them all. Zidang told Chief Councillor El Temür, "The emperor has only just ascended the throne, and Yunnan and Sichuan are still unsettled. To execute regional ministers on one envoy's word would hardly be an act of great virtue. Moreover Jiangsu-Zhejiang is a wealthy region; if an envoy's demands are not met, he may invent charges to ruin officials." El Temür relayed this to the emperor, and the matter was dropped. He was soon promoted to participant in Secretariat affairs. El Temür proposed ennobling Grand Guardian Bayan as a prince, and most officials agreed. Zidang alone remained silent. When El Temür asked why, Zidang said, "The Grand Guardian already ranks among the Three Dukes. If you add a princely title now, what reward remains if he renders still greater service later? Moreover when the chief councillor received a princely title it came from the emperor's own wish. If you wish to ennoble the Grand Guardian now, you should ask the emperor directly. Princely titles are not within the Secretariat's power to grant." The proposal was dropped. He was appointed associate censor of the Secretariat. Earlier, when Wenzong was prince at Jiqing, he wished to build the Tianling Temple and ordered officials to levy laborers. Jiangnan investigating censor Yeqilutai said, "The prince likes grand projects and should pay to hire workers. If he conscripts the people, the court will hear of it with displeasure." Now Wenzong summoned all the Jiangnan investigating censors to the capital as investigating censors but wished to dismiss Yeqilutai. Zidang remonstrated, "When Your Majesty was still a prince, this censor spoke frankly for you. That is the conduct of a loyal minister. To dismiss him without cause is not how to show the realm what the throne values." Yeqilutai was instead appointed surveillance vice-commissioner of Hunan. When Wenzong wished to tour West Lake, Zidang remonstrated, "Your Majesty holds the dignity of the Son of Heaven. If you drift on the lake for amusement, what will the realm think?" The emperor would not listen. Zidang claimed illness and refused to accompany him. On the boat Wenzong turned to the censors and said, "Does Zidang still disapprove of this outing of mine?" When censors submitted appointment lists, Wenzong crossed out one name with his brush and added that of Lü Lü, an official of the Directorate of Palace Construction. Zidang said, "Lü Lü is witty and amusing and fit only for the Music Office. Put him in charge of discipline and the censorate's standards will be ruined." Wenzong dropped the appointment. He was then appointed attendant censor of the Shaanxi regional secretariat. Early in Emperor Shundi's reign he was appointed director-general of salt transport for Fujian. Earlier, when Zidang was director of the left section, Emperor Taiding wished to grant Sadi, a Secretariat participant, sixty thousand salt certificates from Hejian, Jiangsu-Zhejiang, and Fujian. Zidang objected and only twenty thousand Fujian certificates were granted. Now he again memorialized that salt certificates should go entirely to state revenue to ease the burden on the people. Sadi was then grand censor but bore no grudge and often sent people to visit Zidang's mother in the capital. After mourning his mother he remained in retirement for a long time, then was recalled as surveillance commissioner of Western Zhe. A chief councillor of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang regional secretariat was an imperial son-in-law whose eunuch attendants, relying on the princess's power, sat in the Hangzhou darughachi's seat and ordered officials to seize goods from the people by force, beating those who refused. When officials reported this to Zidang, he immediately arrested the men and put them in stocks as a warning; after that the chief councillor's household dared not harm the people. He was soon summoned as associate commissioner of the Privy Council. He was soon again made associate censor of the Secretariat and associate director of classics lecture affairs. A Ningxia man accused Maimai and others of plotting against Grand Preceptor Bayan. Bayan sent Zidang with Secretariat and Privy Council officials to investigate; finding no truth in the charge, they punished the accuser for false accusation. Bayan was angry. Zidang stepped forward and said, "The Grand Preceptor sent the three of us to investigate because the law required it. If you must punish someone, I directed the inquiry and should bear the blame alone." Bayan demoted Zidang to associate administrator of the Huizheng Commission. Zidang served four reigns, rising from junior gentleman to grand master for court audience. He remained pure in office, upright and unyielding, consistent from first to last, with the spirit of the ancient remonstrators. Yet he finally offended the powerful and was never again given high office, to the regret of all worthy men.
5
宿使 使 饿 广西 广 使使 使殿 寿
Arong, whose style name was Cunchu, was of the Qielie clan. His father Antan was right councillor of the Central Secretariat. Arong served Emperor Wuzong in youth as a palace guard, rose through the ranks, and became vice commissioner of the Hunan circuit pacification commission. When Undihan was sent to pacify Hunan, he entrusted all affairs, large and small, to Arong. When famine struck the region, Arong used his salary to make gruel for the hungry and distributed grain for relief, saving many lives. When bandits rose in Guangxi, everyone was alarmed. Arong calmed the people, organized troops to guard the border, and the bandits did not dare enter. He was transferred to director in the Huguang regional secretariat, summoned to administer the Hall of Joint Blessing, and soon appointed Minister of Personnel. Early in the Taiding reign he became pacification commissioner of Hunan, then of Eastern Zhe as commander-in-chief, but resigned because of illness. Early in the Tianli reign he was again made Minister of Personnel and soon participant in Secretariat affairs. In the second year he was appointed associate administrator of the Central Secretariat and director of classics lecture affairs. He was promoted to grand academician of the Kui Zhang Pavilion, grand master for glorious blessing, director of the Court of Imperial Blessings, and overall supervisor of the Spirit Imperial Hall. Emperor Wenzong favored him greatly, and Arong devoted himself to state affairs, speaking out whenever he knew something needed saying. After a time he grew depressed, asked leave, and returned south to Wuchang. He died in the first year of Zhiyuan. In retirement Arong amused himself with literature and studied the rise and fall of past dynasties. When something moved him he would clench his fist and say, "Loyal ministers and filial sons are the state's treasure. Should not every true man aspire to be like them?" He spent his days with scholars in plain dress, playing the zither and composing poetry at scenic places until evening, forgetting to return home. He was especially skilled in numerology and could predict the outcome of affairs and people's fortune, lifespan, and rank with uncanny accuracy. In the spring of the third year of Tianli the court held the civil examination. Arong met Yu Ji in the palace lodge and sighed, "After one more examination the civil service exams will be suspended. They will halt for two rounds and then resume, and when they resume talented men will emerge in great numbers." He sighed again, "I shall not live to see it, but you may." Ji replied, "If many scholars are obtained, it will be as you say, Cunchu. Literary government is now flourishing; there may be no reason for a suspension. You are a hereditary minister, skilled in letters, in your prime at court beside the throne; the literary tradition looks to you. I am old and declining—what use would my seeing it be?" Arong sighed again, "It is fate—that is all." Ji asked how he knew, but he did not answer. Three years later he died. In the third year of Yuantong the examinations were indeed suspended, and in the first year of Zhizheng they were restored, just as he had predicted.
6
Xiaoyunshihaiya
7
使 使 宿 怀
Xiaoyunshihaiya's family background is given in the biography of his grandfather Alihaiya. His father was the Loyal and Beneficent Duke of Chu, named Guanzhige; Xiaoyunshihaiya took Guan as his surname and styled himself the Sour Studio. His mother, of the Lian clan, dreamed that a god gave her a great star to swallow, and soon after she conceived. At birth his bearing was remarkably fine. At twelve or thirteen his strength was extraordinary. He had strong men drive three fierce horses at full gallop, stood waiting with a spear, and when they arrived leaped onto them, crossing two horses and straddling three, whirling his spear so fast the wind whistled and onlookers shrank back. He could draw the heavy bow, hunt wild beasts, and race up and down steep slopes; all the generals admired his agility. As he grew older he turned to study and could read five lines at a glance. His writing followed no conventional pattern and always surprised readers with its meaning. At first he inherited his father's post as darughachi of the Two Huai myriad households commission. Stationed at Yong Prefecture, he commanded the army with great severity and kept the ranks in strict order. In his spare moments he played pitch-pot and sang refined songs as he pleased, unconstrained by formal propriety. One day he called his younger brother Huduhaiya and said, "I have never cared much for office, but I dared not refuse my grandfather's rank. I have held it for years now and wish to yield it to you—please do not refuse." Having spoken, he unfastened his golden tiger tally and gave it to his brother. He went north to study with Yao Sui, who marveled at his stern classical prose and his passionate songs and yuefu ballads. When Renzong, still heir apparent, heard that he had yielded his rank to his brother, he said to palace officials, "Can there be such worthy men among the sons of generals and ministers?" He was soon chosen as lecturer at Yingzong's princely residence and served on night guard in the palace. When Renzong came to the throne he memorialized six proposals: release border garrisons to cultivate civil virtue; instruct the crown prince to secure the dynastic foundation; establish remonstrating officials to assist the emperor's virtue; honor meritorious clans by displaying their surnames; fix dress colors to reform customs; and raise worthy talent to restore the highest Way. The memorial ran to more than ten thousand words and received no reply. He was appointed Hanlin reader academician, grand master for court audience, drafter of imperial proclamations, and reviser of the national history. In deliberations on the civil examinations he made many proposals, then sighed and said, "To decline honor and dwell in humility is what the ancient sages prized. The Hanlin is a pure and honored post. Compared with the military command I gave up, which is higher? People will judge me by this hereafter." He claimed illness, resigned, and returned to the south, selling medicine in the Qiantang market under a false name and changed dress so that no one recognized him. Passing Liangshan Marsh he saw a fisherman weaving a reed-flower quilt and wished to trade silk for it. The fisherman suspected his identity and said, "If you want my quilt, you must compose a poem." He took up the brush and finished a poem on the spot, then carried the quilt away. Word of his Reed-Flower Quilt poem spread among the people. His reclusion and playful detachment from the world were mostly of this kind. In his later years his prose grew ever deeper and his poetry more serene. In cursive and clerical script he adapted the strengths of the ancients into a style of his own. Scholars flocked to him wherever he went, and a scrap of his writing was treasured like a jade disk. He treated life and death as day and night, never troubling his mind, distant as if he wished to leave the world and stand alone. He died on the eighth day of the fifth month of the first year of Taiding at the age of thirty-nine. He was posthumously made Jixian academician, grand master for court audience, and guardian general, enfeoffed as Duke of Jingzhao, with the posthumous title Wenjing. His collected works in several scrolls and his Straight Explanation of the Classic of Filial Piety circulated in the world. He had two sons: Asilanhaiya, darughachi of Cili Prefecture; and second, Basanhaiya. He had one granddaughter, learned and skilled in poetry, who married Duan Qianyun, pacification commissioner of the Huaqing circuit.
8
Taibuhua
9
宿 访西 西 仿 访使 使 沿 使使 退 怀 使
Taibuhua, whose style name was Jianshan, was of the Bayawutai clan. His original name was Tapuhua; Emperor Wenzong gave him his present name; his family had long lived at Baiye Mountain. His father Tabutai served in the palace guard, held office as records clerk and judge at Taizhou, and settled there. Though his family was poor, he loved reading and had a remarkable memory. Zhou Renrong, Jixian academician-in-waiting, raised and taught him. At seventeen he ranked first in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang provincial examination. The following year he took the palace examination, received the jinshi degree with highest honors, was appointed Jixian compiler, then authoring gentleman of the Palace Library, and investigating censor of the Jiangnan regional secretariat. When Grand Censor Tuohuan abused his power with greed and violence, Taibuhua impeached him and had him removed. When Wenzong established the Kui Zhang Pavilion Academy, he was promoted to proofreader and appointed investigating censor of the central secretariat. When Emperor Shundi came to the throne, Wenzong's consort was given the title Grand Empress Dowager, and ministers El Temür and Bayan were enfeoffed as princes with territorial grants. Taibuhua led his colleagues in memorializing, "The aunt-by-marriage should not receive an elevated title, and chief ministers should not receive princely lands." The empress dowager was furious and wished to execute the memorialists. Taibuhua told the others, "This began with me. I am willing to die and will never implicate you." Before long the empress dowager's anger passed and she said, "With such censors, how could the ancestral laws fail to be preserved?" She rewarded him with gold to honor his integrity. He was sent to administer the Henan surveillance commission and soon transferred to Huaixi. He was next appointed administrator of the Jiangnan regional censorate but declined, and was made director in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang regional secretariat. When a great flood ruined the crops of Western Zhe, Taibuhua memorialized the Secretariat on entering court and secured remission of their rent. He was promoted to superintendent of the Palace Library and then vice minister of Rites. In the first year of Zhizheng he was appointed pacification commissioner of the Shaoxing circuit. He reformed clerical abuses, abolished rent on confiscated official cattle, and required people to declare their land honestly so taxes and corvée could be assessed fairly. He instituted the village drinking ceremony, taught the people courtesy and deference, and greatly reformed local customs. He was summoned to the History Office to help compile the histories of Liao, Song, and Jin, and when the work was finished was appointed director of the Palace Library. He was promoted to Minister of Rites and concurrently administered the Hall of Joint Assembly. When the Yellow River burst its banks, he was ordered to sacrifice to the River God with jade and a white horse. When the rites were completed he memorialized, "East of Huai'an, where the river enters the sea, the Song practice of dredging crews using iron river-drags to stir sand and mud out to sea with the tide should be restored." The court accepted his proposal, but when labor was diverted to garrison farming the project was abandoned. In the eighth year Fang Guozhen of Huangyan in Taizhou, driven by feud with Cai Luantou and Wang Fuzhi, took to the sea in rebellion, plundered grain transport, and seized maritime route chiliarch Deliu Zishi. When word reached the court, Duozhiban, associate administrator of Jiangsu-Zhejiang, was ordered to command a fleet against him. Pursued to Wuhumen at Fuzhou, Fang Guozhen burned his boats to flee; the government fleet panicked and collapsed, and Duozhiban was captured. Fang Guozhen forced him to submit a surrender memorial; the court accepted it and enfeoffed the Fang brothers, but Fang Guozhen refused to attend court and grew more violent. In the ninth year Taibuhua was ordered to investigate and report; learning the truth, he proposed a plan to capture Fang Guozhen, but the court would not listen. He was soon made surveillance commissioner of Jiangdong, then Hanlin reader academician, drafter of imperial proclamations, and reviser of the national history. He then left the capital as commissioner of waterworks and garrison farming. In the twelfth month of the tenth year Fang Guozhen again took to the sea and raided coastal prefectures. In the second month of the eleventh year Boluotiemu'er was appointed left councillor of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang regional secretariat and led troops to Qingyuan. Because Taibuhua understood the rebels, he was made pacification commissioner and commander-in-chief of Eastern Zhe, with troops at Wenzhou to attack from both sides. Soon Fang Guozhen raided Wenzhou; Taibuhua sent fire rafts against him and the rebels fled overnight. Boluotiemu'er then secretly agreed with Taibuhua to join forces on the yiwei day of the sixth month for a joint campaign. Boluotiemu'er arrived early at Dalüyang on the renchen day; Fang Guozhen led crack troops by night to set fires and raise a din, and the government army collapsed without fighting—more than half drowned. Boluotiemu'er was captured and instead sent Fang Guozhen's embellished report to the court. Taibuhua was grief-stricken and angry and stopped eating for days. The court, unaware of the truth, again sent Grand Commission for Agriculture Dashitiemuer to Huangyan to negotiate surrender. The Fang brothers came ashore and bowed in ceremony, then withdrew to a small house among the people. That Mid-Autumn night, under a bright moon, Taibuhua wished to send brave men to kill them. Dashitiemuer happened to pass by and, told of the plan, said, "I was ordered to accept surrender. Do you wish to act on your own authority?" The plan was abandoned. Taibuhua was ordered to the coast to disperse Fang's followers and seize his ships and weapons; the Fang brothers were again granted offices. Taibuhua was soon transferred to darughachi of the Taizhou circuit. In the twelfth year, when the court campaigned against Xuzhou and ordered Jiangsu-Zhejiang to recruit a fleet for the Yangzi, Fang Guozhen grew suspicious and rebelled at sea again. Taibuhua resolved to die for his country, deployed troops to hold Chengjing River at Huangyan, and sent the loyalist Wang Dayong to Fang Guozhen with pledges of good faith to induce his surrender. Fang Guozhen grew more suspicious, detained Wang Dayong, and with two hundred small boats burst through Haimen into the harbor and attacked the Ma'an hills. Taibuhua told his men, "I rose from scholarship to high office and fear I may fail what I have learned. Now guarding this coast, the rebels were just offered surrender and rebel again. Help me strike them. If we win, the credit is yours; if we lose, I will die repaying my country." All eagerly volunteered. Fang's kinsman Chen Zhongda came and went negotiating and reported that surrender was possible. Taibuhua led his troops forward under a surrender banner, riding the tide. The boats grounded on sand; as he was about to meet Fang Guozhen he called Chen Zhongda to renew the talks. Seeing Zhongda's shifting eyes and strained manner, Taibuhua sensed treachery and killed him with his own hand. He charged the rebel boats, shot five men dead, cut down two more who leaped aboard, and broke every spear thrust at him. When rebels swarmed to drag him to Fang's boat, he glared and shouted them off, broke free, seized a rebel sword, and killed two more. The rebels stabbed him with massed spears; struck in the neck he died yet remained standing until they cast his body into the sea. He was forty-nine years old. It was the gengzi day of the third month of the twelfth year. His servant Baoqin, Linhai commandant Li Fude, chiliarch Chizan, and the loyalist Zhang Junbi all died with him. After his death he was posthumously appointed associate administrator of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang regional secretariat and acting darughachi of Taizhou, but never heard the order. Three years later he was posthumously made grand master for glorious blessing, pacification commissioner of Jiangsu-Zhejiang, and pillar of the state, enfeoffed as Duke of Wei with the posthumous title Zhongjie; a temple was built at Taizhou with the plaque Honoring Integrity. Taibuhua prized integrity and would not drift with the times. When Taiping was impeached and removed from the chief ministership, Taibuhua alone saw him off outside the capital gate. Taiping said, "Stop, sir—do not let me bring trouble on you." Taibuhua said, "A gentleman dies for one who knows him. Why should I fear disaster?" Though later chief ministers ostracized him, everyone approved his conduct. He excelled at seal and clerical script, writing in a mild yet forceful hand. He re-edited the ten-scroll Compilation for Restoring Antiquity, correcting erroneous characters with solid grounding in the classics and histories.
10
西 宿 广 访 西使 广西沿使 退怀 西 西 西 西 怀 使 西
Yu Que, whose style names were Tingxin and Tianxin, was of the Tangwu clan, a family long established at Wuwei in Hexi. His father Shalazangbu served at Luzhou, and the family became Luzhou natives. Orphaned young, he taught pupils to support his mother, studied with Zhang Heng, a disciple of Wu Cheng, and steadily improved in letters. In the first year of Yuantong he received the jinshi degree with highest honors and was appointed associate administrator of Sizhou; his stern administration made veteran clerks fear him. He was soon summoned as Hanlin attendant-in-waiting and transferred to chief clerk in the Secretariat's punishments section. Refusing to flatter the powerful, he resigned and went home. He was soon recalled to help compile the histories of Liao, Jin, and Song, re-entered the Hanlin, and became a compiler. He was made investigating censor, then vice director in the Secretariat's rites section, and then director in the Huguang regional secretariat. When the Moyao tribes rebelled, Right Councillor Shaban was to command the army but refused to go, and no one dared reprove him. Que said, "The right councillor must go. Appointed by the Son of Heaven as a regional minister, he should take up arms against rebels instead of seeking ease. The right councillor must go." Shaban said, "You are right, director—but what if fodder and provisions are insufficient?" Que said, "Go, and that will not be hard to obtain." Que ordered supplies rushed; within three days all was gathered and Shaban marched. He was again summoned as Jixian administrator. He was transferred to Hanlin academician-in-waiting. He was sent to administer the Eastern Zhe surveillance commission. After mourning his mother he returned to Luzhou. Bandits rose in Henan and seized prefectures and districts. In the twelfth year of Zhizheng a mobile Secretariat was set up in Huaidong, the pacification commission was made a commandery-in-chief's office governing Huaixi, and Que was recalled as vice commissioner to divide troops and defend Anqing. North and south were cut off from communication; troops and food were scarce. Ten days after he took office bandits arrived and he repelled them. He gathered officials and generals to plan garrison farming and defense, built fortresses around the perimeter, posted crack troops on the outside, and farmed within. The eight communities of Qianshan in the subordinate district had rich soil and were all turned into garrison farms. The next spring and summer brought terrible famine and cannibalism; he donated his salary for gruel and saved many lives. He resettled tens of thousands who had lost their livelihoods. He obtained thirty thousand strings of paper money from the Secretariat for relief. He was promoted to associate administrator and vice commander-in-chief. The next autumn brought severe drought; he prayed to the god of Qianshan, rain fell after three days, and the year passed without famine. He sent troops to pacify bandits occupying Shidang Lake and levied a fish tax on the lake's catch. In the summer of the fifteenth year heavy rains swelled the river, half the garrison crops were flooded, water surged below the walls with a thunderous roar; Que sacrificed with a young ox and pig, and the water receded. The autumn harvest yielded thirty thousand hu of grain. Judging the army had spare strength, he deepened the moat, raised the walls, built triple ditches and a great outer dike, channeled river water into them, planted palisades, and erected flying towers on all sides until the defenses were complete. He was soon promoted to commander-in-chief. When fifty thousand Guangxi Miao troops under Marshal Asilan reached Luzhou by river, Que protested that barbarian troops should not be allowed to enter China; the court ordered Asilan to withdraw. He immediately executed any Miao troops who committed violence in his territory, and none dared offend him. With bandits surrounding him on all sides, Que held the center and stood firm as the sole bulwark of the Huai region. For his merit he was made associate administrator of the Jianghuai regional secretariat while still defending Anqing; he opened communications to Jiangyou and merchants flocked in. Zhao Pusheng of Chizhou besieged the city for three days and was defeated. He returned soon after and was held off for twenty days; Bojianu, darughachi of Huaining, was killed in battle. In the seventeenth year Zhao Pusheng and the Green Army attacked on two fronts; after more than a month of fighting they were defeated and fled. In autumn he was appointed left councillor of the Huainan regional secretariat. Anqing relied on Little Gushan as a screen; he ordered righteous-army marshal Hu Boyan to garrison the water force there. In the tenth month Chen Youliang of Mianyang attacked Little Gushan from upstream; Boyan fought four days and nights without victory and hurried to Anqing. The rebels pursued to Shankou Town, and on the guihai day the next day pressed up to the city walls. Que sent troops to hold Guanyin Bridge. Soon Zhu Kou of Raozhou attacked the west gate; Que defeated and drove them off. On yisi the rebels stormed the east gate and raised red banners on the wall; Que chose elite warriors and drove them back again. On wushen the rebels combined forces against the east and west gates and were repelled again. Furious, the rebels built palisades and raised siege towers. On gengxu they attacked again, the din of drums and gongs shaking the ground. Que assigned each general troops to hold off the rebels; day and night they had no rest. On guimao the rebels sent more troops against the east gate. On bingwu Pusheng attacked the east gate, Youliang the west, Zhu Kou the south; rebels swarmed on every side and not a single ally came to their aid. The west gate was hardest pressed; Que faced it in person, on foot with halberd in hand leading his men. His soldiers wept and tried to hold him back, but he fought all the harder, assigning generals to the other gates while he alone led a desperate battle, killing countless enemies and taking more than ten wounds himself. At midday the city fell and fires broke out within. Knowing all was lost, Que drew his sword and cut his throat, falling into Qingshui Pond. Que's wife Lady Yebu, his son Desheng, and his daughter Futong all threw themselves into wells and died. Among those who died at the same time was the defending official Han Jian's entire household. Jian lay ill in bed, cursed the rebels and refused to submit; they seized him and carried him away, and his fate is unknown. The townspeople climbed the city towers, pulled up the ladders, and declared, "We would rather all die here than submit to the rebels." Those who died by fire numbered in the thousands. Among the well-known dead were myriad household officers Li Zongke, Ji Shouren, Chen Bin, and Jin Chengzong; commandery-in-chief office director Temubuqa; myriad households administrator Duan Guifang; chiliarchs Huoshibuhua, Xin Li, Lu Tingyu, Ge Yanling, Qiu Ji, and Xu Yuanyan; memorial envoy Wuduman; centurion Huang Yinsun; Anqing investigating official Huang Tulundai; administrator Yang Heng; clerk Yu Zhong; and Huaining magistrate Chen Juji—eighteen men in all. The city fell on the bingwu day of the first month of the eighteenth year of Zhizheng. Que's commands were strict and trusted; he shared hardship with his men, yet the slightest disobedience was punished by immediate execution. Once when Que was ill and could not attend to affairs, his officers prayed Heaven to accept their lives in his stead; hearing this, he forced himself to dress and go out. Going into battle, arrows and stones fell like rain; his men tried to shield him with their shields, but he pushed them away and said, "You have lives too—why shield me?" His men therefore fought all the harder. In spare moments he annotated the Book of Changes, led students to lectures at the prefectural school, and posted soldiers outside to listen, teaching them to honor ruler and superiors—the spirit of the great generals of old. Some wished to bring him into the Hanlin, but Que declined because the dynasty was in peril; his loyalty to the state had long been settled. He died at the age of fifty-six. When word reached the court, Que was posthumously made meritorious minister, grand master for glorious blessing, pacification commissioner of the Huainan and Jiangbei mobile secretariat, and pillar of the state, enfeoffed as Duke of Bin with the posthumous title Zhongxuan. Commentators held that since the wars began, Que and Chu Buhua ranked first among those who died for their integrity. Que devoted himself to classical learning and wrote commentaries on all Five Classics. His prose had force and clarity and always conveyed his meaning. When the fashion favored Jiangzuo poets, he held Bao Zhao and Xie Lingyun in highest regard and dismissed Xu Ling, Yu Xin, and those who came after. His seal and clerical script were also ancient and elegant, worthy of transmission. After Que's death the rebels honored his integrity, recovered his body from the pond, coffined it, and buried him outside the west gate. When Anqing submitted to the Ming, the emperor praised Que's loyalty, ordered a temple built at the Loyal Integrity Archway, and commanded seasonal sacrifices by the local authorities.
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