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马祖常
Mazuchang
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马祖常,字伯庸,世为雍古部,居净州天山。 有锡里吉思者,于祖常为高祖,金季为凤翔兵马判官,以节死赠恆州刺史,子孙因其官,以马为氏。 曾祖月合乃,从世祖征宋,留汴,掌馈饷,累官礼部尚书。 父润,同知漳州路总管府事,家于光州。 祖常七岁知学,得钱即以市书。 十岁时,见烛欹烧屋,解衣沃水以灭火,咸嗟异之。 既长,益笃于学。 蜀儒张摐道仪真,往受业其门,质以疑义数十,摐甚器之。 延祐初,科举法行,乡贡、会试皆中第一,廷试为第二人。 授应奉翰林文字。 拜监察御史。 是时仁宗在御已久,犹居东宫,饮酒常过度。 祖常上书请「御正衙,立朝仪,御史执简,太史执笔,则虽有怀奸利己乞官求赏者,不敢出诸口。 天子承天地祖宗之重,当极调摄,至于酒醴,近侍进御,当思一献百拜之义。」 英宗为皇太子,又上书请慎简师傅。 于是奸臣铁木迭兒为丞相,威权自恣。 祖常知其盗观国史,率同列劾奏其十罪,仁宗震怒,黜罢之。 秦州山移,祖常言:「山不动之物,今而动焉,由在野有当用不用之贤,在官有当言不言之佞,故致然尔。」 疏闻,大臣皆家居待罪。 祖常荐贤拔滞,知无不言。 俄改宣政院经历,月餘辞归,起为社稷署令。 亡何,奸臣复相,左迁开平县尹,因欲中伤之,遂退居光州。 久之,奸臣既死,乃除翰林待制。 泰定建储,擢典宝少监、太子左赞善。 寻兼翰林直学士,除礼部尚书。 丁祖母忧,起为右赞善,复除礼部尚书,寻辞归。 天历元年,召为燕王内尉,仍入礼部,两知贡举,一为读卷官,时称得人。 升参议中书省事,参定亲郊礼仪,充读册祝官,拜治书侍御史,历徽政副使,迁江南行台中丞。 元统元年,召议新政,赐白金二百两、钞万贯。 又历同知徽政院事,遂拜御史中丞。 帝以其有疾,诏特免朝礼,光禄日给上尊。 祖常持宪务存大体。 西台御史劾其僚禁酤时面有酒容,以苛细黜之。 山东廉访司言孔氏讼事,以事关名教不行,按者亦引去。 除枢密副使,顷之,辞职归光州。 复除江南行台中丞,又迁陕西行台中丞,皆以疾不赴。 至元四年卒,年六十,赠摅忠宣宪协正功臣、河南行省右丞、上护军、魏郡公,谥文贞。 祖常立朝既久,多所建明。 尝议:今国族及诸部既诵圣贤之书,当知尊诸母以厚彝伦。 又议:将家子弟骄脆,有孤任使,而庶民有挽强蹶张老死草野者,当建武学、武举,储材以备非常。 时虽弗用,识者韪之。 祖常工于文章,宏赡而精核,务去陈言,专以先秦两汉为法,而自成一家之言。 尤致力于诗,圆密清丽,大篇短章无不可传者。 有文集行于世。 尝预修《英宗实录》,又译润《皇图大训》、《承华事略》,又编集《列后金鉴》、《千秋记略》以进,受赐优渥。 文宗尝驻跸龙虎台,祖常应制赋诗,尤被叹赏,谓中原硕儒唯祖常云。
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.
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巙巙字子山,康里氏。 父不忽木,自有传。 祖燕真,事世祖,从征有功。 巙巙幼肄业国学,博通群书,其正心修身之要得诸许衡及父兄家传。 长袭宿卫,风神凝远,制行峻洁,望而知其为贵介公子。 其遇事英发,掀髯论辨,法家拂士不能过之。 始授承直郎、集贤待制,迁兵部郎中,转秘书监丞。 奉命往核泉舶,芥视珠犀,不少留目。 改同佥太常礼仪院事,拜监察御史,升河东廉访副使。 未上,迁秘书太监,升侍仪使。 寻擢中书右司郎中,迁集贤直学士,转江南行台治书侍御史。 拜礼部尚书,监群玉内司。 巙巙正色率下。 国制,大乐诸坊咸隶本部,遇公燕,众伎毕陈。 巙巙视之泊如,僚佐以下皆肃然。 迁领会同馆事尚书,监群玉内司如故。 寻兼经筵官,复除江南行台治书侍御史。 未行,留为奎章阁学士院承制学士,仍兼经筵官。 升侍书学士、同知经筵事,复升奎章阁学士院大学士、知经筵事。 除浙西廉访使,复留为大学士、知经筵事。 寻拜翰林学士承旨、知制诰兼修国史、知经筵事,提调宣文阁崇文监。 先是,文宗励精图治,巙巙尝以圣贤格言讲诵帝侧,裨益良多。 顺帝即位之后,剪除权奸,思更治化。 巙巙侍经筵,日劝帝务学,帝辄就之习授,欲宠以师礼,巙巙力辞不可。 凡《四书》、《六经》所载治道,为帝绎而言,必使辞达感动帝衷敷暢旨意而后已。 若柳宗元《梓人传》、张商英《七臣论》,尤喜诵说。 尝于经筵力陈商英所言七臣之状,左右错愕,有嫉之之色,然素知其贤,不复肆愠。 帝暇日欲观古名画,巙巙即取郭忠恕《比干图》以进,因言商王受不听忠臣之谏,遂亡其国。 帝一日览宋徽宗画称善,巙巙进言,徽宗多能,惟一事不能。 帝问何谓一事。 对曰:「独不能为君尔。 身辱国破,皆由不能为君所致。 人君贵能为君,它非所尚也。」 或遇天变民灾,必忧见于色,乘间则进言于帝曰:「天心仁,爱人君,故以变示儆。 譬如慈父于子,爱则教之戒之。 子能起敬起孝,则父怒必释。 人君侧身修行,则天意必回。」 帝察其真诚,虚己以听。 特赐只孙燕服九袭及玉带楮币,以旌其言。 巙巙尝谓人曰:「天下事在宰相当言,宰相不得言则台谏言之,台谏不敢言则经筵言之。 备位经筵,得言人所不敢言于天子之前,志愿足矣。」 故于时政得失有当匡救者,未尝缄默。 大臣议罢先朝所置奎章阁学士院及艺文监诸属官。 巙巙进曰:「民有千金之产,犹设家塾,延馆客,岂有堂堂天朝,富有四海,一学房乃不能容耶?」 帝闻而深然之。 即日改奎章阁为宣文阁,艺文监为崇文监,存设如初,就命巙巙董治。 又请置检讨等职十六员以备进讲。 帝皆俞允。 时科举既辍,巙巙从容为帝言:「古昔取人材以济世用,必由科举,何可废也。」 帝采其论,寻复旧制。 一日,进读司马光《资治通鉴》,因言国家当及斯时修辽、金、宋三史,岁久恐致阙逸。 后置纂修,实由巙巙发其端。 又请行乡饮酒于国学,使民知逊悌,及请褒赠唐刘蕡、宋邵雍以旌道德正直。 帝从其请,为之下诏。 巙巙以重望居高位,而雅爱儒士,甚于饥渴,以故四方士大夫翕然宗之,萃于其门。 达官有怙势者,言曰:「儒有何好,君酷爱之。」 巙巙曰:「世祖以儒足以致治,命裕宗学于赞善王恂。 今秘书所藏裕宗仿书,当时御笔于学生之下亲署御名习书谨呈,其敬慎若此。 世祖尝暮召我先人坐寝榻下,陈说《四书》及古史治乱,至丙夜不寐。 世祖喜曰:『朕所以令卿从许仲平学,正欲卿以嘉言入告朕耳,卿益加懋敬以副朕志。』 今汝言不爱儒,宁不念圣祖神宗笃好之意乎? 且儒者之道,从之则君仁、臣忠、父慈、子孝,人伦咸得,国家咸治; 违之则人伦咸失,家国咸乱。 汝欲乱而家,吾弗能御,汝慎勿以斯言乱我国也。 儒者或身若不胜衣,言若不出口,然腹中贮储有过人者,何可易视也。」 达官色惭。 既而出拜江浙行省平章政事。 明年,复以翰林学士承旨召还。 时中书平章阙员,近臣欲有所荐用,以言觇帝意。 帝曰:「平章已有其人,今行半途矣。」 近臣知帝意在巙巙,不复荐人。 至京七日,感热疾卒,实至正五年五月辛卯也,年五十一。 家贫,几无以为敛。 帝闻,为震悼,赐赙银五锭。 其所负官中营运钱,台臣奏以罚布为之代偿。 巙巙善真行草书,识者谓得晋人笔意,单牍片纸,人争宝之,不翅金玉。 谥文忠。 兄回回,字子渊。 敦默寡言,耆学能文。 在成宗朝宿卫,擢太常寺少卿。 寺改为院,为太常院使。 武宗正位,以籓邸旧臣出使称旨。 至大间,调大司农卿,除山南廉访使,改江南行台治书侍御史,迁淮西廉访使,皆有政声。 再改河南廉访使。 行省丞相行事多不法,太尉纳璘为郎中,每格不下,丞相怒欲出之。 回回察其贤,抗章举任风宪,后历三台,为名臣。 驸马平章家奴强市人物,按之无所贷。 英宗即位,丞相拜住首荐为户部尚书,寻拜南台侍御史,改参议中书。 以议定刑书如法,帝嘉纳其奏。 泰定初,廷议漕运事,奏减粮数以纾东南民力。 授太子詹事丞,改山东廉访使,未上,升翰林侍讲学士,迁江浙行省右丞。 文宗立,除宣政院使。 上言乞沙汰僧道,其所有田宜同民间征输。 擢中书右丞,力辞还第。 闻明宗崩,流涕不能食,自是杜门不出者数年,以疾卒。 与弟巙巙皆为时之名臣,世号为双璧云。 巙巙子维山,材质清劭,侍禁廷,起崇文监丞,擢给事中,迁同佥太常礼仪院事,调崇文太监。
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
自当,蒙古人也。 英宗时,由速古兒赤擢监察御史。 录囚大兴县,有以冤事系狱者,其人尝见有橐驼死道傍,因舁至其家醢之,置数甕中。 会官橐驼被盗,捕索甚亟,乃执而勘之,其人自诬服。 自当审其狱辞,疑为冤,即以上御史臺。 台臣以为赃既具,是特御史畏杀人耳,不听,改委他御史谳之,竟处死。 后数日,辽阳行省以获盗闻,冤始白,人以是服其明。 泰定二年,扈从至上都,纠言参知政事杨庭玉赃罪,不报,即纳印还京师。 帝遣使追之,俾复任。 即再上章劾庭玉,竟如其言。 以劾奏平章政事秃满迭兒入怯薛之日,英宗被弑,必预闻其谋,不省,乃赐秃满迭兒黄金系腰,自当遂辞职。 改工部员外郎,中书省委开混河,自当往视之,以为水性不常,民力亦瘁,难以成功,言于朝,河役乃罢。 会次三皇后殂,命工部撤行殿车帐,皆新作之。 自当未即兴工。 尚书曰:「此奉特旨,员外有误,则罪归于众矣。」 自当曰:「即有罪,我独任之。」 未几,帝果问成否。 省臣乃召自当责问之。 自当请自入对。 既见帝,奏曰:「皇后行殿车帐尚新,若改作之,恐劳民费财。 且先皇后无恶疾,居之何嫌。 必欲舍旧更新,则大明殿乃自世祖所御,列圣嗣位岂皆改作乎?」 帝大悦,语省臣曰; 「国家用人,当择如自当者,庶不误大事。」 特赐上尊、金币,迁吏部员外郎。 帝欲加号太后曰太皇太后,命朝堂议之。 自当独曰:「太后称太皇太后,于典礼不合。」 众皆曰:「英宗何以加皇太后号曰太皇太后?」 自当曰:「英宗孙也,今上子也,太皇太后之号孙可以称之,子不可以称之也。」 议遂定。 迁中书客省使,俄改同佥宣政院事。 文宗即位,除中书左司郎中。 有使持诏自江浙还,言行省臣意若有不服者。 帝怒,命遣使问不敬状,将悉诛之。 自当言于丞相燕帖木兒曰:「皇帝新即位,雲南、四川且犹未定,乃以使臣一言杀行省大臣,恐非盛德事。 况江浙豪奢之地,使臣或不得厌其所需,则造言以陷之耳。」 燕帖木兒以言于帝,事乃止。 既而升参议中书省事。 燕帖木兒议封太保伯颜王爵,众论附之。 自当独不言。 燕帖木兒问故,自当曰:「太保位列三公,而复加王封,后再有大功,将何以处之? 且丞相封王,出自上意,今欲加太保王封,丞相宜请于上。 王爵非中书选法也。」 遂罢其议。 拜治书侍御史。 初,文宗在集庆潜邸,欲创天灵寺,令有司起民夫。 江南行台监察御史亦乞剌台言曰:「太子为好事,宜出钱募夫,若欲役民,则朝廷闻之非便也。」 至是文宗悉召江南行台监察御史,俾皆入为监察御史,而欲黜亦乞剌台。 自当谏曰:「当陛下在潜邸时,御史尽心为陛下言,乃忠臣也。 今无罪而黜之,非所以示天下。」 乃除亦乞剌台佥宪湖南。 文宗尝欲游西湖,自当谏曰:「陛下以万乘之尊而泛舟自乐,如天下何?」 不听。 自当遂称疾不从行。 文宗在舟中,顾谓台臣曰:「自当终不满朕此游耶?」 台臣尝奏除目,文宗以笔涂一人姓名,而缀将作院官闾闾之名。 自当言:「闾闾为人诙谐,惟可任教坊司,若以居风纪,则台纲扫地矣。」 文宗乃止。 已而出为陕西行台侍御史。 顺帝初,除福建都转运盐使。 先是,自当为左司郎中时,泰定帝尝欲以河间、江浙、福建盐引六万赐中书参议撒迪,自当执不可,仅以福建盐引二万赐之。 至是,自当复建言盐引宜尽资国用以纾民力。 时撒迪方为御史大夫,不以为怨,数遣人省自当母于京师所居。 既而丁母忧,居间久之,复起为浙西肃政廉访使。 时有以驸马为江浙行省丞相者,其宦竖恃公主势,坐杭州达鲁花赤位,令有司强买民间物,不从辄殴之。 有司来白自当,自当即逮之械以令众,自是丞相府无敢为民害者。 寻召为同佥枢密院事。 寻复为治书侍御史、同知经筵事。 宁夏人有告买买等谋害太师伯颜者,伯颜委自当与中书、枢密等官往宁夏鞫问,无其情,乃以诬罔坐告者罪。 伯颜怒,自当前曰:「太师所以令吾三人勘之者,以国法所在也。 必以罪吾三人,则自当实主其事,宜独当之。」 伯颜乃左迁自当同知徽政院事。 自当历事四朝,官自从仕郎累转至通奉大夫,常衎洁在位,刚介弗回,终始一节,有古遗直之风。 然卒以是忤权贵而不复柄用,君子皆惜焉。
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
阿荣,字存初,怯烈氏。 父按摊,中书右丞。 阿荣幼事武宗,备宿卫,累迁官,为湖南道宣慰副使。 温迪罕奉使宣抚湖南,事无大小,悉以委之。 会列郡岁饥,阿荣分其廪禄为粥,以食饿者,仍发粟赈之,所活甚众。 广西寇起,众皆汹惧。 阿荣镇之以静,督有司治兵守其境,寇不敢入。 迁湖广行省左右司郎中,召佥会福院事,寻除吏部尚书。 泰定初,出为湖南宣慰使,改浙东道宣慰使都元帅,以疾辞。 天历初,复起为吏部尚书,寻参议中书省事。 二年,拜中书参知政事、知经筵事。 进奎章阁大学士、荣禄大夫、太禧宗禋院使,都典制神御殿事。 文宗眷遇之甚,而阿荣亦尽心国政,知无不言。 久之,心忽郁郁不乐,谒告南归武昌。 至元元年卒。 初,阿荣闲居,以文翰自娱,博究前代治乱得失,见其会心者,则扼腕曰:「忠臣孝子国家之宝,为奇男子烈丈夫者固不当如是耶!」 日与韦布之士游,所至山水佳处,鸣琴赋诗,日夕忘返。 尤深于数学,逆推事成败利不利及人祸福寿夭贵贱,多奇中。 天历三年春,策士于廷。 阿荣与虞集会于直庐,慨然兴叹,语集曰:「更一科后科举当辍,辍两科而复,复则人材彬彬大出矣。」 又叹曰:「荣不复见之矣,君犹及见之。」 集应曰:「得士之多,幸如存初言。 今文治方兴,未必有中辍之理。 存初国家世臣,妙于文学,以盛年登朝,在上左右,斯文属望。 集老且衰,见亦何补耶!」 阿荣又叹曰:「数当然耳。」 集问何以知之,弗答。 后三年卒。 元统三年,科举果罢,至正元年始复,如其言。
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
小云石海涯
Xiaoyunshihaiya
7
小云石海涯,家世见其祖《阿里海涯传》。 其父楚国忠惠公,名贯只哥,小云石海涯遂以贯为氏,复以酸斋自号。 母廉氏,夜梦神人授以大星使吞之,已而有妊。 及生,神彩秀异。 年十二三,膂力绝人,使健兒驱三恶马疾驰,持槊立而待,马至,腾上之,越二而跨三,运槊生风,观者辟易。 或挽强射生,逐猛兽,上下峻阪如飞,诸将咸服其趫捷。 稍长,折节读书,目五行下。 吐辞为文,不蹈袭故常,其旨皆出人意表。 初,袭父官为两淮万户府达鲁花赤。 镇永州,御军极严猛,行伍肃然。 稍暇,辄投壶雅歌,意所暢适,不为形迹所拘。 一日,呼弟忽都海涯语之曰:「吾生宦情素薄,顾祖父之爵不敢不袭,今已数年矣,愿以让弟,弟幸勿辞。」 语已,即解所绾黄金虎符佩之。 北从姚燧学,燧见其古文峭厉有法及歌行古乐府慷慨激烈,大奇之。 仁宗在东宫,闻其以爵位让弟,谓宫臣曰,「将相家子弟其有如是贤者邪!」 俄选为英宗潜邸说书秀才,宿卫禁中。 仁宗践祚,上疏条六事:一曰释边戍以修文德,二曰教太子以正国本,三曰设谏官以辅圣德,四曰表姓氏以旌勋胄,五曰定服色以变风俗,六曰举贤才以恢至道。 书凡万餘言,未报。 拜翰林侍读学士、中奉大夫、知制诰同修国史。 会议科举事,多所建明,忽喟然叹曰:「辞尊居卑,昔贤所尚也。 今禁林清选,与所让军资孰高,人将议吾后矣。」 乃称疾辞还江南,卖药于钱唐市中,诡姓名,易服色,人无有识之者。 偶过梁山泺,见渔父织芦花为被,欲易之以。 渔父疑其为人,阳曰:「君欲吾被,当更赋诗。」 遂援笔立成,竟持被去。 人间喧传芦花被诗。 其依隐玩世多类此。 晚年为文日邃,诗亦冲淡。 草隶等书,稍取古人之所长,变化自成一家,所至士大夫从之若云,得其片言尺牍,如获拱璧。 其视死生若昼夜,绝不入念虑,攸攸若欲遗世而独立云。 泰定元年五月八日卒,年三十九。 赠集贤学士、中奉大夫、护军,追封京兆郡公,谥文靖。 有文集若干卷、《直解孝经》一卷行于世。 子男二人:阿思兰海牙,慈利州达鲁花赤; 次八三海涯。 孙女一人,有学识,能词章,归怀庆路总管段谦云。
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
泰不华
Taibuhua
9
泰不华,字兼善,伯牙吾台氏。 初名达普化,文宗赐以今名,世居白野山。 父塔不台,入直宿卫,历仕台州录事判官,遂居于台。 家贫,好读书,能记问。 集贤待制周仁荣养而教之。 年十七,江浙乡试第一。 明年,对策大廷,赐进士及第,授集贤修撰,转秘书监著作郎,拜江南行台监察御史。 时御史大夫脱欢怙势贪暴,泰不华劾罢之。 文宗建奎章阁学士院,擢为典签,拜中台监察御史。 顺帝即位,加文宗后太皇太后之号,大臣燕铁木兒、伯颜皆列地封王。 泰不华率同列上章言:「婶母不宜加徽称,相臣不当受王土。」 太后怒,欲杀言者。 泰不华语众曰:「此事自我发之,甘受诛戮,决不敢累诸公也。」 已而太后怒解曰:「风宪有臣如此,岂不能守祖宗之法乎?」 赐金币二,以旌其直。 出佥河南廉访司事,俄移淮西。 继迁江南行御史臺经历,辞不赴,转江浙行省左右司郎中。 浙西大水害稼,会泰不华入朝,力言于中书,免其租。 擢秘书监,改礼部侍郎。 至正元年,除绍兴路总管。 革吏弊,除没官牛租,令民自实田以均赋役。 行乡饮酒礼,教民兴让,越俗大化。 召入史馆,与修辽、宋、金三史,书成,授秘书卿。 升礼部尚书,兼会同馆事。 黄河决,奉诏以珪玉白马致祭河神。 竣事上言:「淮安以东,河入海处,宜仿宋置撩清夫,用辊江龙铁扫,撼荡沙泥,随潮入海。」 朝廷从其言,会用夫屯田,其事中废。 八年,台州黄岩民方国珍为蔡乱头、王伏之仇逼,遂入海为乱,劫掠漕运粮,执海道千户德流于实。 事闻,诏江浙参政朵兒只班总舟师捕之。 追至福州五虎门,国珍知事危,焚舟将遁,官军自相惊溃,朵兒只班遂被执。 国珍迫其上招降之状,朝廷从之,国珍兄弟皆授之以官,国珍不肯赴,势益暴横。 九年,诏泰不华察实以闻,既得其状,遂上招捕之策,不听。 寻除江东廉访使,改翰林侍读学士、知制诰同修国史。 已而出为都水庸田使。 十年十二月,国珍复入海,烧掠沿海州郡。 十一年二月,诏孛罗帖木兒为江浙行省左丞,总兵至庆元。 以泰不华谂知贼情状,迁浙东道宣慰使都元帅,分兵于温州,使夹攻之。 未几,国珍寇温,泰不华纵火筏焚之,一夕遁去。 既而孛罗帖木兒密与泰不华约以六月乙未合兵进讨。 孛罗帖木兒乃以壬辰先期至大闾洋,国珍夜率劲卒纵火鼓噪,官军不战皆溃,赴水死者过半。 孛罗帖木兒被执,反为国珍饰辞上闻。 泰不华闻之痛愤,辍食数日。 朝廷弗之知,复遣大司农达识帖木迩等至黄岩招之。 国珍兄弟皆登岸罗拜,退止民间小楼。 是夕,中秋月明,泰不华欲命壮士袭杀之,达识帖木迩适夜过泰不华,密以事白之,达识帖木迩曰:「我受诏招降耳,公欲擅命耶?」 事乃止。 檄泰不华亲至海滨,散其徒众,拘其海舟兵器,国珍兄弟复授官有差。 既而迁泰不华台州路达鲁花赤。 十二年,朝廷征徐州,命江浙省臣募舟师守大江,国珍怀疑,复入海以叛。 泰不华自分以死报国,发兵扼黄岩之澄江,而遣义士王大用抵国珍,示约信,使之来归。 国珍益疑,拘大用不遣,以小舸二百突海门,入州港,犯马鞍诸山。 泰不华语众曰:「吾以书生登显要,诚虑负所学。 今守海隅,贼甫招徠,又复为变,君辈助我击之,其克则汝众功也,不克则我尽死以报国耳。」 众皆踊跃愿行。 时国珍戚党陈仲达往来计议,陈其可降状。 泰不华率部众,张受降旗乘潮而前。 船触沙不能行,垂与国珍遇,呼仲达申前议,促达目动气索,泰不华觉其心异,手斩之。 即前搏贼船,射死五人,贼跃入船,复斫死二人,贼举槊来刺,辄斫折之。 贼群至,欲抱持过国珍船,泰不华嗔目叱之,脱起,夺贼刀,又杀二人。 贼攒槊刺之,中颈死,犹植立不仆,投其尸海中。 年四十九。 时十二年三月庚子也。 僮名抱琴,及临海尉李辅德、千户赤盏、义士张君璧皆死之。 泰不华既没,除江浙行省参知政事,行台州路达鲁花赤事,不及闻命已。 后三年,追赠荣禄大夫、江浙行省平章政事、柱国,封魏国公,谥忠介,立庙台州,赐额崇节。 泰不华尚气节,不随俗浮沉。 太平为台臣劾去相位,泰不华独饯送都门外。 太平曰:「公且止,勿以我累公。」 泰不华曰:「士为知己死,宁畏祸耶!」 后虽为时相摈斥,人莫不韪之。 善篆隶,温润遒劲。 尝重类《复古编》十卷,考正讹字,于经史多有据云。
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
餘阙,字廷心,一字天心,唐兀氏,世家河西武威。 父沙剌臧卜,官庐州,遂为庐州人。 少丧父,授徒以养母,与吴澄弟子张恆游,文学日进。 元统元年,赐进士及第,授同知泗州事,为政严明,宿吏皆惮之。 俄召入,应奉翰林文字,转中书刑部主事。 以不阿权贵,弃官归。 寻以修辽、金、宋三史召,复入翰林,为修撰。 拜监察御史,改中书礼部员外郎,出为湖广行省左右司郎中。 会莫徭蛮反,右丞沙班当帅师,坚不往,无敢让之者。 阙曰:「右丞当往,受天子命为方岳重臣,不思执弓矢讨贼,乃欲自逸邪! 右丞当往。」 沙班曰:「郎中语固是,如刍饷不足何?」 阙曰:「右丞第往,此不难致也。」 阙下令趣之,三日皆集,沙班行。 复以集贤经历召入。 迁翰林待制。 出佥浙东道廉访司事。 丁母忧,归庐州。 盗起河南,陷郡县。 至正十二年,行中书于淮东,改宣慰司为都元帅府,治淮西,起阙副使、佥都元帅府事,分兵守安庆。 于时南北音问隔绝,兵食俱乏,抵官十日而寇至,拒却之。 乃集有司与诸将议屯田战守计,环境筑堡寨,选精甲外捍,而耕稼于中。 属县灊山八社,土壤沃饶,悉以为屯。 明年,春夏大饥,人相食,乃捐俸为粥以食之,得活者甚众。 民失业者数万,咸安集之。 请于中书,得钞三万锭以赈民。 升同知、副元帅。 又明年秋,大旱,为文祈灊山神,三日雨,岁以不饥。 盗方据石荡湖,出兵平之,令民取湖鱼而输鱼租。 十五年夏,大雨,江涨,屯田禾半没,城下水涌,有物吼声如雷,阙祠以少牢,水辄缩。 秋稼登,得粮三万斛。 阙度军有餘力,乃浚隍增陴,隍外环以大防,深堑三重,南引江水注之,环植木为栅,城上四面起飞楼,表里完固。 俄升都元帅。 广西猫军五万从元帅阿思兰沿江下抵庐州,阙移文谓苗蛮不当使之窥中国,诏阿思兰还军。 猫军有暴于境者,即收杀之,凛凛莫敢犯。 时群盗环布四外,阙居其中,左提右挈,屹为淮一保障。 论功,拜江淮行省参知政事,仍守安庆,通道于江右,商旅四集。 池州赵普胜帅众攻城,连战三日败去。 未几又至,相拒二旬始退,怀宁县达鲁花赤伯家奴战死。 十七年,赵普胜同青军两道攻我,拒战一月餘,竟败而走。 秋,拜淮南行省左丞。 安庆倚小孤山为籓蔽,命义兵元帅胡伯颜统水军戍焉。 十月,沔阳陈友谅自上游直捣小孤山,伯颜与战四日夜不胜,急趣安庆。 贼追至山口镇,明日癸亥,遂薄城下。 阙遣兵扼于观音桥。 俄饶州祝寇攻西门,阙斩却之。 乙巳,贼乘东门,红旗登城,阙简死士力击,贼复败去。 戊申,贼并军攻东西二门,又却之。 贼恚甚,乃树栅起飞楼。 庚戌,复来攻我,金鼓声震地。 阙分诸将各以兵捍贼,昼夜不得息。 癸卯,贼益生兵攻东门。 丙午,普胜军东门,友谅军西门,祝寇军南门,群盗四面蚁集,外无一甲之援。 西门势尤急,阙身当之,徒步提戈为士卒先。 士卒号哭止之,挥戈愈力,仍分麾下将督三门之兵,自以孤军血战,斩首无算,而阙亦被十餘创。 日中城陷,城中火起,阙知不可为,引刀自刭,堕清水塘中。 阙妻耶卜氏及子德生、女福童皆赴井死。 同时死者,守臣韩建一家被害,建方卧疾,骂贼不屈,贼执之以去,不知所终。 城中民相率登城楼,自捐其梯曰:「宁俱死此,誓不从贼。」 焚死者以千计。 其知名者,万户李宗可、纪守仁、陈彬、金承宗,元帅府都事帖木补化,万户府经历段桂芳,千户火失不花、新李、卢廷玉、葛延龄、丘卺、许元琰,奏差兀都蛮,百户黄寅孙,安庆推官黄秃伦歹,经历杨恆,知事餘中,怀宁尹陈巨济,凡十八人。 其城陷之日,则至正十八年正月丙午也。 阙号令严信,与下同甘苦,然稍有违令,即斩以徇。 阙尝病不视事,将士皆吁天求以身代,阙闻,强衣冠而出。 当出战,矢石乱下如雨,士以盾蔽阙,阙却之曰:「汝辈亦有命,何蔽我为!」 故人争用命。 稍暇,即注《周易》,帅诸生谒郡学会讲,立军士门外以听,使知尊君亲上之义,有古良将风烈。 或欲挽阙入翰林,阙以国步危蹙,辞不往,其忠国之心,盖素定也。 卒时年五十六。 事闻,赠阙摅诚守正清忠谅节功臣、荣禄大夫、淮南江北等处行中书省平章政事、柱国,追封豳国公,谥忠宣。 议者谓自兵兴以来,死节之臣,阙与褚不华为第一云。 阙留意经术,《五经》皆有传注。 为文有气魄,能达其所欲言。 时体尚江左,高视鲍、谢,徐、庾以下不论也。 篆隶亦古雅可传。 初,阙既死,贼义之,求尸塘中,具棺敛葬于西门外。 及安庆内附,大明皇帝嘉阙之忠,诏立庙于忠节坊,命有司岁时致祭云。
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.