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耶律楚材子鑄附
An appendix concerning Yelü Chucai's son Zhu.
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耶律楚材，字晉卿，遼東丹王突欲八世孫。 父履，以學行事金世宗，特見親任，終尚書右丞。 楚材生三歲而孤，母楊氏教之學。 及長，博極群書，旁通天文、地理、律曆、術數及釋老、醫卜之說，下筆為文，若宿構者。 金制，宰相子例試補省掾。 楚材欲試進士科，章宗詔如舊制。 問以疑獄數事，時同試者十七人，楚材所對獨優，遂辟為掾。 後仕為開州同知。 貞祐二年，宣宗遷汴，完顏福興行尚書事，留守燕，辟為左右司員外郎。 太祖定燕，聞其名，召見之。 楚材身長八尺，美髯宏聲。 帝偉之，曰：「遼、金世仇，朕為汝雪之。」 對曰：「臣父祖嘗委質事之，既為之臣，敢仇君耶！」 帝重其言，處之左右，遂呼楚材曰吾圖撒合里而不名，吾圖撒合裡，蓋國語長髯人也。
Yelü Chucai, whose courtesy name was Jinqing, was a great-great-grandson in the eighth generation of Yelü Tuyu, the Liao Prince of Dongdan. His father Lü won the special trust of Jin Emperor Shizong through learning and integrity, rose to Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, and served him to the end. Chucai lost his father when he was three, and his mother, Lady Yang, saw to his education. As an adult he read widely across the classics and also mastered astronomy, geography, calendrics, divination, Buddhist and Daoist thought, medicine, and prognostication; his compositions read as though he had drafted them long in advance. Under Jin law, the sons of chief ministers were routinely examined and appointed as provincial clerks. Chucai wanted to compete in the jinshi civil examination, and Emperor Zhangzong ordered that the former rules be applied. He was tested with several knotty criminal cases; of the seventeen candidates sitting the exam that day, only Chucai's answers stood out, and he was appointed a clerk. He later served as vice prefect of Kaizhou. In the second year of Zhenyou, when Emperor Xuanzong relocated to Bian, Wanyan Fuxing stayed behind in Yan as acting director of the Department of State Affairs and recruited Chucai as outer vice director of the left and right bureaus. After Taizu secured Yan, he heard of Chucai and summoned him to court. Chucai stood eight feet tall, with a splendid beard and a booming voice. The emperor was struck by his presence and said, "Liao and Jin have been enemies for generations; I will settle that score for you." Chucai answered, "My father and grandfather once pledged themselves to Jin; once one has served as a subject, how can one turn against one's sovereign?" The emperor respected this reply, kept him close, and thereafter called him Uqtu Saqal instead of by his personal name—"long-bearded man" in Mongolian.
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己卯夏六月，帝西討回回國。 祃旗之日，雨雪三尺，帝疑之，楚材曰：「玄冥之氣，見於盛夏，克敵之徵也。」 庚辰冬，大雷，復問之，對曰：「回回國主當死於野。」 後皆驗。 夏人常八斤，以善造弓見知於帝，因每自矜曰：「國家方用武，耶律儒者何用。」 楚材曰：「治弓尚須用弓匠，為天下者豈可不用治天下匠耶？」 帝聞之甚喜，日見親用。 西域歷人奏五月望夜月當蝕，楚材曰：「否。」 卒不蝕。 明年十月，楚材言月當蝕，西域人曰不蝕，至期果蝕八分。 壬午八月，長星見西方，楚材曰：「女直將易主矣。」 明年，金宣宗果死。 帝每征討，必命楚材卜，帝亦自灼羊胛，以相符應。 指楚材謂太宗曰：「此人天賜我家。 爾後軍國庶政，當悉委之。」 甲申，帝至東印度，駐鐵門關，有一角獸，形如鹿而馬尾，其色綠，作人言，謂侍衛者曰：「汝主宜早還。」 帝以問楚材，對曰：「此瑞獸也，其名角端，能言四方語，好生惡殺，此天降符以告陛下。 陛下天之元子，天下之人，皆陛下之子，願承天心，以全民命。」 帝即日班師。
In the sixth month of summer in the jimao year, the emperor marched west to attack the Muslim realms. On the day the war banners were consecrated, snow piled three feet deep; when the emperor was troubled by the omen, Chucai said, "Yin force manifesting in midsummer is a sign that the enemy will be overcome." That winter in the gengchen year there was a great thunderstorm; asked again, he replied, "The ruler of the Muslim lands will die in the field." In time both predictions proved true. Chang Bajin, a man from Xia famed for his bow-making, would boast, "The realm is at war—what use is a Yelü scholar?" Chucai replied, "Even bow-making needs a bowyer—how can ruling the realm do without men who know how to govern it?" The emperor was greatly pleased and relied on him more closely each day. A calendrical expert from the Western Regions reported that the moon would be eclipsed on the night of the fifth-month full moon; Chucai said it would not. No eclipse occurred. The next year, in the tenth month, Chucai predicted an eclipse while the Western experts denied it; on the appointed night the moon was eclipsed eight-tenths of its disk. In the eighth month of the renwu year a long comet appeared in the west; Chucai said, "The Jurchen throne is about to change hands." The following year Jin Emperor Xuanzong did in fact die. On every campaign the emperor had Chucai cast auguries, while he himself scorched sheep shoulder-blades to see whether the signs agreed. Pointing to Chucai, he told Taizong, "Heaven has given this man to our house. From now on you should entrust all military and civil business to him." In the jiashen year the emperor reached eastern India and camped at Iron Gate Pass, where a horned beast like a deer with a horse's tail, green in color, spoke to the guards in human language: "Your lord should turn back soon." The emperor asked Chucai, who answered, "This is an auspicious beast called Jiaoduan; it speaks every tongue, loves life and abhors slaughter—it is Heaven's sign to Your Majesty. You are Heaven's firstborn; all under Heaven are your children. I pray you heed Heaven's will and spare the lives of the people." The emperor withdrew his army that very day.
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丙戌冬，從下靈武，諸將爭取子女金帛，楚材獨收遺書及大黃藥材。 既而士卒病疫，得大黃輒愈。 帝自經營西土，未暇定制，州郡長吏，生殺任情，至孥人妻女，取貨財，兼土田。 燕薊留後長官石抹咸得卜尤貪暴，殺人盈市。 楚材聞之泣下，即入奏，請禁州郡，非奉璽書，不得擅徵發，囚當大辟者必待報，違者罪死，於是貪暴之風稍戢。 燕多劇賊，未夕，輒曳牛車指富家，取其財物，不與則殺之。 時睿宗以皇子監國，事聞，遣中使偕楚材往窮治之。 楚材詢察得其姓名，皆留後親屬及勢家子，盡捕下獄。 其家賂中使，將緩之，楚材示以禍福，中使懼，從其言，獄具，戮十六人於市，燕民始安。
In the winter of the bingxu year, when Lingwu fell, the generals scrambled for women, children, gold, and silk, while Chucai alone gathered abandoned books and stores of rhubarb. Soon afterward an epidemic swept the army, and those who received rhubarb recovered at once. While the emperor was occupied in the west, no fixed laws yet governed the realm; local magistrates killed at whim, seized men's wives and daughters, plundered property, and seized fields. Shimo Xiandebo, the acting prefect of Yan and Ji, was especially rapacious and violent, and the markets ran with blood. Chucai wept when he heard of it and immediately memorialized the throne: no prefecture might levy troops or funds without an imperial edict; capital cases must await imperial approval on pain of death for the official. The worst abuses eased somewhat. Yan was overrun with violent robbers who, before nightfall, would drive ox-carts to wealthy homes, seize their goods, and kill anyone who resisted. Prince Ruizong was then regent as imperial son; when word reached him, he sent a palace envoy with Chucai to investigate to the end. Chucai traced the culprits: all were kin of the acting prefect or sons of powerful families; he had every one of them arrested. Their families bribed the envoy to soften the case, but Chucai showed him what gain and ruin would follow; frightened, the envoy agreed. Sixteen were executed in the market, and the people of Yan were finally at ease.
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中原甫定，民多誤觸禁網，而國法無赦令。 楚材議請肆宥，眾以為迂，楚材獨從容為帝言。 詔自庚寅正月朔日前事勿治。 且條便宜一十八事頒天下，其略言：「郡宜置長吏牧民，設萬戶總軍，使勢均力敵，以遏驕橫。 中原之地，財用所出，宜存卹其民，州縣非奉上命，敢擅行科差者罪之。 貿易借貸官物者罪之。 蒙古、回鶻、河西諸人，種地不納稅者死。 監主自盜官物者死。 應犯死罪者，具由申奏待報，然後行刑。 貢獻禮物，為害非輕，深宜禁斷。」 帝悉從之，唯貢獻一事不允，曰：「彼自願饋獻者，宜聽之。」 楚材曰：「蠹害之端，必由於此。」 帝曰：「凡卿所奏，無不從者，卿不能從朕一事耶？」
The Central Plains had only just been pacified; many people had unwittingly broken the law, yet the state code provided no amnesty. Chucai urged a general pardon; most thought the idea impractical, but he alone spoke calmly to the emperor. An edict declared that offenses committed before the New Year of the gengyin year would not be prosecuted. He also drafted eighteen administrative measures for promulgation nationwide, in brief: "Each commandery should have a civil magistrate to govern the people and a ten-thousand-household chief to command troops, their powers balanced so that arrogance may be checked. The Central Plains are the treasury of the realm; their people must be protected. Any prefecture or district that levies taxes or corvée without imperial authority is to be punished. Trading in or lending out government property is to be punished. Mongols, Uighurs, and people of Hexi who farm land but refuse to pay taxes are to be put to death. Supervisors who embezzle government goods are to be put to death. Capital cases must be reported in full to the throne and await approval before execution. The presenting of tribute gifts does grave harm and ought to be strictly forbidden." The emperor accepted all of this except the ban on tribute gifts, saying, "If people wish to offer gifts of their own accord, they should be allowed." Chucai said, "Corruption always begins here." The emperor said, "I have never refused a single proposal of yours—can you not yield to me on this one point?"
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太祖之世，歲有事西域，未暇經理中原，官吏多聚斂自私，貲至巨萬，而官無儲彳侍。 近臣別迭等言：「漢人無補於國，可悉空其人以為牧地。」 楚材曰：「陛下將南伐，軍需宜有所資，誠均定中原地稅、商稅、鹽、酒、鐵冶、山澤之利，歲可得銀五十萬兩、帛八萬匹、粟四十餘萬石，足以供給，何謂無補哉？」 帝曰：「卿試為朕行之。」 乃奏立燕京等十路徵收課稅使，凡長貳悉用士人，如陳時可、趙昉等，皆寬厚長者，極天下之選，參佐皆用省部舊人。 辛卯秋，帝至雲中，十路咸進廩籍及金帛陳於廷中，帝笑謂楚材曰：「汝不去朕左右，而能使國用充足，南國之臣，復有如卿者乎？ 「對曰：「在彼者皆賢於臣，臣不才，故留燕，為陛下用。」 帝嘉其謙，賜之酒。 即日拜中書令，事無鉅細，皆先白之。
Throughout Taizu's reign campaigns in the west left no time to govern the Central Plains; officials enriched themselves by the tens of thousands while the treasury stood empty. The intimate adviser Biedie and others said, "The Han are useless to the state; drive them all out and turn the land into pasture." Chucai replied, "Your Majesty is about to march south; the army must be fed. If we levy land tax, commercial tax, and revenues from salt, wine, iron, and natural resources across the Central Plains, we can raise five hundred thousand taels of silver, eighty thousand bolts of silk, and more than four hundred thousand piculs of grain a year—enough for any campaign. How can the Han be called useless?" The emperor said, "Then put your plan into practice for me." He then memorialized to establish tax commissioners for the ten circuits including Yanjing, appointing cultivated men such as Chen Shike and Zhao Fang—men of the finest character in the realm—with assistants drawn from former central-government staff. That autumn in the xinmao year the emperor reached Yunzhong; all ten circuits presented their granary registers and tribute of gold and silk in court. Smiling, the emperor said to Chucai, "You never leave my side, yet you fill the treasury—is there another minister in the southern lands like you? He answered, "The men there are all more capable than I; I lack talent, which is why I stayed in Yan to serve Your Majesty." The emperor admired his modesty and rewarded him with wine. That same day he was appointed director of the Secretariat; thereafter every matter, great or small, was referred to him first.
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楚材奏：「凡州郡宜令長吏專理民事，萬戶總軍政，凡所掌課稅，權貴不得侵之。」 又舉鎮海、粘合，均與之同事，權貴不能平。 咸得卜以舊怨，尤疾之，譖於宗王曰：「耶律中書令率用親舊，必有二心，宜奏殺之。」 宗王遣使以聞，帝察其誣，責使者，罷遣之。 屬有訟咸得卜不法者，帝命楚材鞫之，奏曰：「此人倨傲，故易招謗。 今將有事南方，他日治之未晚也。」 帝私謂侍臣曰：「楚材不較私仇，真寬厚長者，汝曹當效之。」 中貴可思不花奏採金銀役夫及種田西域與栽蒲萄戶，帝令於西京宣德徙萬餘戶充之。 楚材曰：「先帝遺詔，山後民質樸，無異國人，緩急可用，不宜輕動。 今將徵河南，請無殘民以給此役。」 帝可其奏。
Chucai memorialized: "In every prefecture the civil magistrate should handle civil affairs alone and the ten-thousand-household chief military affairs alone, and no powerful figure may seize the taxes under their charge." He also recommended Zhenhai and Nianhe to serve alongside him, which the powerful resented. Xiandebo, nursing an old grudge, hated him all the more and slandered him to a imperial prince: "The Yelü director of the Secretariat fills his office with kin and cronies; he must be disloyal—memorialize for his execution." The prince sent an envoy to report this; the emperor saw through the slander, rebuked the envoy, and sent him away. When a lawsuit was brought against Xiandebo for misconduct, the emperor ordered Chucai to try him; Chucai reported, "This man is arrogant and therefore invites slander. We are about to campaign in the south; there will be time enough to deal with him afterward." The emperor told his attendants privately, "Chucai will not settle private scores—a truly generous man; you should take him as your model." The palace favorite Kesibuhua proposed drafting laborers to mine gold and silver and households to farm in the Western Regions and plant vineyards; the emperor ordered more than ten thousand households moved from Xijing and Xuande to fill the quotas. Chucai said, "The late emperor's testament declared that the people north of the mountains are plain and loyal, no different from our own folk, and useful in crisis—they should not be uprooted lightly. We are about to campaign in Henan; I beg that the people not be ravaged to supply this labor." The emperor approved his memorial.
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壬辰春，帝南征，將涉河，詔逃難之民，來降者免死。 或曰：「此輩急則降，緩則走，徒以資敵，不可宥。」 楚材請制旗數百，以給降民，使歸田裡，全活甚眾。 舊制，凡攻城邑，敵以矢石相加者，即為拒命，既克，必殺之。 汴梁將下，大將速不台遣使來言：「金人抗拒持久，師多死傷，城下之日，宜屠之。」 楚材馳入奏曰：「將士暴露數十年，所欲者土地人民耳。 得地無民，將焉用之！」 帝猶豫未決，楚材曰：「奇巧之工，厚藏之家，皆萃於此，若盡殺之，將無所獲。」 帝然之，詔罪止完顏氏，餘皆勿問。 時避兵居汴者得百四十七萬人。 楚材又請遣人入城，求孔子後，得五十一代孫元措，奏襲封衍聖公，付以林廟地。 命收太常禮樂生，及召名儒梁陟、王萬慶、趙著等，使直釋九經，進講東宮。 又率大臣子孫，執經解義，俾知聖人之道。 置編修所於燕京、經籍所於平陽，由是文治興焉。
In the spring of the renchen year the emperor marched south; as he was about to cross the river, he decreed that refugees who surrendered would be spared. Some argued, "They surrender when pressed and flee when the pressure eases—they only strengthen the enemy and must not be spared." Chucai asked that several hundred banners be made for the surrendered people so they could return to their fields; a great multitude were thus saved. By old custom, any city that resisted with arrows and stones was deemed defiant and, once taken, its people were put to the sword. As Bianliang was about to fall, the general Subutai sent word: "The Jin resisted for so long that our army suffered heavy losses; when the city falls, it should be slaughtered." Chucai rode in at once and said, "Our soldiers have campaigned in the open for decades; what they want is land and people. What use is land without people?" The emperor still hesitated; Chucai said, "The finest craftsmen and the wealthiest households are all in this city; if we kill them all, we shall gain nothing." The emperor agreed and decreed that only the Wanyan clan would be held guilty; all others were to go unpunished. Those who had taken refuge from the fighting in Bian numbered one million four hundred and seventy thousand. Chucai also asked that men be sent into the city to find a descendant of Confucius; they found Yuan Cuo, fifty-first in line, and memorialized that he inherit the title Duke Yansheng with charge of the temple estates. He ordered the recruitment of ritual musicians from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and summoned eminent scholars Liang Zhi, Wang Wanqing, Zhao Zhu, and others to annotate the Nine Classics and lecture in the Eastern Palace. He also gathered the sons and grandsons of high ministers to study the classics and their commentaries, so that they might learn the Way of the sages. He established a compilation office at Yanjing and a classics office at Pingyang, and from this literary government began to flourish.
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時河南初破，俘獲甚眾，軍還，逃者十七八。 有旨：居停逃民及資給者，滅其家，鄉社亦連坐。 由是逃者莫敢舍，多殍死道路。 楚材從容進曰：「河南既平，民皆陛下赤子，走復何之！ 奈何因一俘囚，連死數十百人乎？」 帝悟，命除其禁。 金之亡也，唯秦、鞏二十餘州久未下，楚材奏曰：「往年吾民逃罪，或萃於此，故以死拒戰，若許以不殺，將不攻自下矣。」 詔下，諸城皆降。 甲午，議籍中原民，大臣忽都虎等議，以丁為戶。 楚材曰：「不可。 丁逃，則賦無所出，當以戶定之。」 爭之再三，卒以戶定。 時將相大臣有所驅獲，往往寄留諸郡，楚材因括戶口，並令為民，匿佔者死。 乙未，朝議將四征不廷，若遣回回人徵江南，漢人征西域，深得制御之術，楚材曰：「不可。 中原、西域，相去遼遠，未至敵境，人馬疲乏，兼水土異宜，疾疫將生，宜各從其便。」 從之。
Henan had just been conquered and captives were many, but when the army withdrew seven or eight in ten had escaped. An order went out that anyone who harbored or aided fugitives would have his household destroyed and his community punished as well. Fugitives dared seek shelter nowhere, and many starved to death along the roads. Chucai said calmly, "Henan is already pacified; these people are all your children—where can they flee? Why should dozens or hundreds die because of a single fugitive?" The emperor saw the point and ordered the prohibition lifted. As Jin was collapsing, more than twenty prefectures including Qin and Gong still held out; Chucai memorialized, "In past years fugitives from our rule gathered there and now fight to the death; promise them their lives and they will surrender without a siege." When the edict was promulgated, every city surrendered. In the jiawu year they debated registering the people of the Central Plains; the minister Huduqu and others proposed counting adult males as households. Chucai said, "That will not do. If adult males flee, revenue has nowhere to come from; registration should be by household." He argued the point again and again until household registration was finally adopted. Generals and ministers often left captives registered in distant commanderies; Chucai conducted a census, declared them common subjects, and made concealment or seizure a capital crime. In the yiwei year the court debated campaigns against absent princes; some argued that sending Muslims to conquer Jiangnan and Han Chinese to the Western Regions would be masterful control; Chucai said, "That will not work. The Central Plains and the Western Regions are far apart; troops would be exhausted before they reached the enemy, and unfamiliar climates would breed epidemics. Each region should fight with its own people." The emperor agreed.
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丙申春，諸王大集，帝親執觴賜楚材曰：「朕之所以推誠任卿者，先帝之命也。 非卿，則中原無今日。 朕所以得安枕者，卿之力也。」 西域諸國及宋、高麗使者來朝，語多不實，帝指楚材示之曰：「汝國有如此人乎？」 皆謝曰：「無有。 殆神人也。」 帝曰：「汝等唯此言不妄，朕亦度必無此人。」 有於元者，奏行交鈔，楚材曰：「金章宗時初行交鈔，與錢通行，有司以出鈔為利，收鈔為諱，謂之老鈔，至以萬貫唯易一餅。 民力困竭，國用匱乏，當為鑑戒。 今印造交鈔，宜不過萬錠。」 從之。
That spring in the bingshen year, when the princes assembled, the emperor personally raised a cup to Chucai and said, "I place my full trust in you because the late emperor commanded it. Without you the Central Plains would not be what they are today. It is through your efforts that I can sleep in peace." When envoys from the Western Regions, Song, and Goryeo came to court with their usual exaggerations, the emperor pointed to Chucai and asked, "Does your country have anyone like him?" They all answered, "No, there is not. He is scarcely human." The emperor said, "That alone you do not lie about; I too am sure no such man exists anywhere." Someone at court proposed issuing paper currency; Chucai said, "When Jin Emperor Zhangzong first issued paper notes, they circulated alongside coin, but officials profited by printing and shunned redeeming—'old notes' until ten thousand strings bought a single cake. The people were exhausted and the treasury empty—that should be our warning. If we print notes now, the issue should not exceed ten thousand ingots." The emperor agreed.
11
秋七月，忽都虎以民籍至，帝議裂州縣賜親王功臣。 楚材曰：「裂土分民，易生嫌隙，不如多以金帛與之。」 帝曰：「已許奈何？」 楚材曰：「若朝廷置吏，收其貢賦，歲終頒之，使毋擅科徵，可也。」 帝然其計，遂定天下賦稅，每二戶出絲一斤，以給國用； 五戶出絲一斤，以給諸王功臣湯沐之資。 地稅，中田每畝二升又半，上田三升，下田二升，水田每畝五升； 商稅，三十分而一； 鹽價，銀一兩四十斤。 既定常賦，朝議以為太輕，楚材曰：「作法於涼，其弊猶貪，後將有以利進者，則今已重矣。」 時工匠製造，糜費官物，十私八九，楚材請皆考核之，以為定制。 時侍臣脫歡奏簡天下室女，詔下，楚材尼之不行，帝怒。 楚材進曰：「向擇美女二十有八人，足備使令。 今復選拔，臣恐擾民，欲覆奏耳。」 帝良久曰：「可罷之。」 又欲收民牝馬，楚材曰：「田蠶之地，非馬所產，今若行之，後必為人害。」 又從之。 丁酉，楚材奏曰：「制器者必用良工，守成者必用儒臣。 儒臣之事業，非積數十年，殆未易成也。」 帝曰：「果爾，可官其人。」 楚材曰：「請校試之。」 乃命宣德州宣課使劉中隨郡考試，以經義、詞賦、論分為三科，儒人被俘為奴者，亦令就試，其主匿弗遣者死。 得士凡四千三十人，免為奴者四之一。 先是，州郡長吏，多藉賈人銀以償官，息累數倍，曰羊羔兒利，至奴其妻子猶不足償。 楚材奏令本利相侔而止，永為定制，民間所負者，官為代價之。 至一衡量，給符印，立鈔法，定均輸，布遞傳，明驛券，庶政略備，民稍蘇息焉。
In the seventh month Huduqu delivered the household registers, and the emperor considered dividing prefectures among princes and meritorious ministers. Chucai said, "Dividing land and people breeds suspicion; better to reward them generously with gold and silk." The emperor said, "I have already promised—what can be done?" Chucai said, "Let the court appoint officials to collect tribute and distribute it at year's end, forbidding private levies—that will suffice." The emperor approved and fixed the realm's taxes: every two households owed one jin of silk for state revenue; and every five households one jin for the princes' and ministers' maintenance allotments. Land tax was set at two and a half sheng per mu for middling fields, three for upper fields, two for lower fields, and five for paddy; commercial tax at one-thirtieth; and salt at forty jin per tael of silver. When the regular levies were fixed, the court thought them too light; Chucai said, "Even lenient laws breed greed; once men advance by squeezing profit from the people, today's light burden will seem heavy enough." Artisans were wasting government materials, keeping eight or nine parts in ten for themselves; Chucai ordered audits and fixed standards. The attendant Toqan proposed selecting maidens empire-wide; when the edict was issued Chucai blocked its execution, and the emperor grew angry. Chucai said, "Twenty-eight women have already been chosen—enough for the palace. Another selection would distress the people; I only wished to report back to you." After a long silence the emperor said, "Let it be canceled." The emperor also wanted to seize the people's brood mares; Chucai said, "These are farming and silk country, not horse country; do this now and it will harm the people for years to come." Again the emperor agreed. In the dingyou year Chucai memorialized, "Making vessels requires skilled craftsmen; preserving a realm requires Confucian ministers. Their craft is not mastered in a few decades—it is hard won." The emperor said, "If that is so, then give them office." Chucai said, "Let them be examined first." He ordered Liu Zhong, tax commissioner of Xuanede, to hold examinations in every commandery in three fields—classics, rhapsodies, and policy essays. Captured scholars enslaved were also to sit the exam; masters who hid them were put to death. Four thousand and thirty scholars passed; one in four were freed from slavery. Previously local magistrates often borrowed silver from merchants to meet government quotas at usurious "lamb-kid" rates, until even selling their wives and children could not repay the debt. Chucai memorialized that interest should not exceed principal and that the state would redeem private debts—a permanent rule. He standardized weights and measures, issued seals and tallies, established paper currency, fixed transport quotas, organized courier routes, and clarified post warrants; civil administration was largely in place, and the people began to recover.
12
有二道士爭長，互立黨與，其一誣其仇之黨二人為逃軍，結中貴及通事楊惟忠，執而虐殺之。 楚材按收惟忠。 中貴复訴楚材違制，帝怒，系楚材； 既而自悔，命釋之。 楚材不肯解縛，進曰：「臣備位公輔，國政所屬。 陛下初令系臣，以有罪也，當明示百官，罪在不赦。 今釋臣，是無罪也，豈宜輕易反覆，如戲小兒？ 國有大事，何以行焉！」 眾皆失色。 帝曰：「朕雖為帝，寧無過舉耶？」 乃溫言以慰之。 楚材因陳時務十策，曰：「信賞罰，正名分，給俸祿，官功臣，考殿最，均科差，選工匠，務農桑，定土貢，制漕運。 皆切於時務，悉施行之。
Two Daoist priests vied for precedence and formed factions; one framed two men from the rival faction as deserters, enlisted a palace favorite and the interpreter Yang Weizhong, seized them, and tortured them to death. Chucai investigated and arrested Weizhong. The palace favorite accused Chucai of overstepping his authority; the emperor was furious and had Chucai bound; then repented and ordered him released. Chucai refused to be unbound and said, "I hold the highest office; the governance of the realm is my charge. When Your Majesty first had me bound, it was because I was guilty and should have been shown to the officials as deserving death. To release me now is to declare me innocent—how can the throne turn about as if playing with a child? How can great affairs of state be conducted in this way!" Everyone in the hall turned pale. The emperor said, "Even an emperor can err, can he not?" He spoke to him gently and consoled him. Chucai then presented ten policies for the times: enforce rewards and punishments, rectify ranks and titles, pay salaries, appoint meritorious men, grade official performance, equalize levies, select artisans, promote farming and sericulture, fix local tribute, and regulate grain transport. All were urgently relevant, and all were put into practice.
13
太原路轉運使呂振、副使劉子振，以贓抵罪。 帝責楚材曰：「卿言孔子之教可行，儒者為好人，何故乃有此輩？」 對曰：「君父教臣子，亦不欲令陷不義。 三綱五常，聖人之名教，有國家者莫不由之，如天之有日月也。 豈得緣一夫之失，使萬世常行之道獨見廢於我朝乎！」 帝意乃解。
Lü Zhen, transport commissioner of Taiyuan Circuit, and his deputy Liu Zizhen were convicted of corruption. The emperor reproached Chucai: "You said Confucian teaching could govern the realm and that scholars were good men—why then do we have men like these?" He answered, "Even a father teaching his sons does not wish them to fall into wickedness. The Three Bonds and Five Constants are the sages' teaching; every state lives by them as Heaven has sun and moon. Can one man's failure justify abandoning in our dynasty the Way that has governed all ages!" The emperor's anger subsided.
14
富人劉忽篤馬、涉獵發丁、劉廷玉等以銀一百四十萬兩撲買天下課稅，楚材曰：「此貪利之徒，罔上虐下，為害甚大。」 奏罷之。 常曰：「興一利不如除一害，生一事不如省一事。 任尚以班超之言為平平耳，千古之下，自有定論。 後之負譴者，方知吾言之不妄也。」 帝素嗜酒，日與大臣酣飲，楚材屢諫，不聽，乃持酒槽鐵口進曰：「曲蘗能腐物，鐵尚如此，況五臟乎！」 帝悟，語近臣曰：「汝曹愛君憂國之心，豈有如吾圖撒合裡者耶？」 賞以金帛，敕近臣日進酒三鐘而止。 自庚寅定課稅格，至甲午平河南，歲有增羨，至戊戌，課銀增至一百一十萬兩。 譯史安天合者，諂事鎮海，首引奧都剌合蠻撲買課稅，又增至二百二十萬兩。 楚材極力辨諫，至聲色俱厲，言與涕俱。 帝曰：「爾欲搏鬥耶？」 又曰：「爾欲為百姓哭耶？ 姑令試行之。」 楚材力不能止，乃嘆息曰：「民之困窮，將自此始矣！」
The wealthy Liu Huduma, Shelie Fading, Liu Tingyu, and others offered 1,400,000 taels to monopolize the empire's tax revenues; Chucai said, "These profiteers deceive the throne and oppress the people—the harm is immense." He memorialized and had the scheme abolished. He often said, "Better to remove one harm than to create one benefit; better to cut one burden than to add one task. Ren Shang thought Ban Chao's words commonplace, but posterity will judge otherwise. Those who come after and bear blame will know I spoke no falsehood." The emperor loved wine and drank daily with his ministers; Chucai remonstrated repeatedly in vain, then brought a wine trough with an iron spout and said, "Ferment can rot iron—what will it do to the five organs!" The emperor understood and told his intimates, "Who among you loves the ruler and cares for the state as Uqtu Saqal does?" He rewarded him with gold and silk and ordered his intimates to limit the emperor to three cups a day. From the gengyin year when the tax scale was fixed until Henan was pacified in the jiawu year, revenues rose yearly; by the wuxu year tax silver reached 1,100,000 taels. The interpreter An Tianhe, who curried favor with Zhenhai, introduced Oqturqalmish's bid to monopolize tax collection, raising the quota to 2,200,000 taels. Chucai argued with all his strength until his voice shook and tears streamed down his face. The emperor said, "Do you want to fight me?" He added, "Do you want to weep for the people? Let it be tried for now." Powerless to stop it, Chucai sighed, "The people's suffering begins here!"
15
楚材嘗與諸王宴，醉臥車中，帝臨平野見之，直幸其營，登車，手撼之。 楚材熟睡未醒，方怒其擾己，忽開目視，始知帝至，驚起謝，帝曰：「有酒獨醉，不與朕同樂耶？」 笑而去。 楚材不及冠帶，馳詣行宮，帝為置酒，極歡而罷。
Once at a feast with the princes Chucai fell drunk asleep in his carriage; the emperor saw him on the plain, went straight to his camp, climbed into the carriage, and shook him awake. Still asleep, he was about to rebuke whoever disturbed him when he opened his eyes and saw the emperor; he started up in alarm to apologize. The emperor said, "Drinking alone—will you not share the pleasure with me?" Laughing, he left. Chucai rode to the traveling palace without even fixing his cap and belt; the emperor set out wine, and they drank together in great delight.
16
楚材當國日久，得祿分其親族，未嘗私以官。 行省劉敏從容言之，楚材曰：「睦親之義，但當資以金帛。 若使從政而違法，吾不能徇私恩也。」
Chucai had governed for many years, sharing his salary with his kin but never appointing them to office for private reasons. Liu Min of the Branch Secretariat raised the matter gently; Chucai said, "Kin should be supported with gold and silk. If they enter government and break the law, I cannot show private favor."
17
歲辛丑二月三日，帝疾篤，醫言脈已絕。 皇后不知所為，召楚材問之，對曰：「今任使非人，賣官鬻獄，囚系非辜者多。 古人一言而善，熒惑退舍，請赦天下囚徒。」 後即欲行之，楚材曰：「非君命不可。」 俄頃，帝少蘇，因入奏，請肆赦，帝已不能言，首肯之。 是夜，醫者候脈復生，適宣讀赦書時也，翌日而瘳。 冬十一月四日，帝將出獵，楚材以太乙數推之，亟言其不可，左右皆曰：「不騎射，無以為樂。」 獵五日，帝崩於行在所。 皇后乃馬真氏稱制，崇信姦回，庶政多紊。 奧魯剌合蠻以貨得政柄，廷中悉畏附之。 楚材面折廷爭，言人所難言，人皆危之。
On the third day of the second month of the xinchou year the emperor fell gravely ill; the physicians said his pulse had failed. The empress did not know what to do and summoned Chucai; he said, "Unworthy men hold office, offices and judgments are sold, and many innocents languish in prison. In antiquity a single good act made Mars withdraw; I beg that all prisoners under Heaven be pardoned." The empress wished to act at once; Chucai said, "It cannot be done without the emperor's command." Soon the emperor rallied slightly; Chucai entered and asked for a general amnesty; the emperor could not speak but nodded assent. That night the physicians found his pulse return—just as the amnesty was proclaimed; the next day he recovered. On the fourth day of the eleventh month the emperor was about to go hunting; Chucai calculated by the Taiyi method and urgently warned against it; his attendants said, "Without riding and shooting, what pleasure is there?" After five days of hunting the emperor died at the traveling palace. Empress Töregene assumed regency, favored wicked men, and civil government fell into disorder. Oqturqalmish bought political power with wealth, and the whole court feared and fawned on him. Chucai confronted them openly in court, saying what others dared not say, and all feared for his life.
18
癸卯五月，熒惑犯房，楚材奏曰：「當有驚擾，然訖無事。」 居無何，朝廷用兵，事起倉卒，後遂令授甲選腹心，至欲西遷以避之。 楚材進曰：「朝廷天下根本，根本一搖，天下將亂。 臣觀天道，必無患也。」 後數日乃定。 後以御寶空紙付奧都剌合蠻，使自書填行之。 楚材曰：「天下者先帝之天下。 朝廷自有憲章，今欲紊之，臣不敢奉詔。」 事遂止。 又有旨：「凡奧都剌合蠻所建白，令史不為書者，斷其手。」 楚材曰：「國之典故，先帝悉委老臣，令史何與焉？ 事若合理，自當奉行，如不可行，死且不避，況截手乎！」 後不悅。 楚材辨論不已，因大聲曰：「老臣事太祖、太宗三十餘年，無負于國，皇后亦豈能無罪殺臣也！」 後雖憾之，亦以先朝舊勳，深敬憚焉。 甲辰夏五月，薨於位，年五十五。 皇后哀悼，賻贈甚厚。 後有譖楚材者，言其在相位日久，天下貢賦，半入其家。 後命近臣麻里扎覆視之，唯琴阮十餘，及古今書畫、金石、遺文數千卷。 至順元年，贈經國議制寅亮佐運功臣、太師、上柱國，追封廣寧王，諡文正。 子鉉、鑄。
In the fifth month of the guimao year Mars invaded the House constellation; Chucai memorialized, "There will be alarm, but in the end no harm." Before long the court mobilized for war in sudden alarm; armor was issued, trusted men chosen, and some even proposed moving the capital west to escape. Chucai said, "The court is the root of the realm; shake the root and the realm will fall into chaos. I read Heaven's signs—there will be no real danger." Within a few days the crisis passed. Later blank sheets bearing the imperial seal were handed to Oqturqalmish so he could write and execute edicts at will. Chucai said, "The realm belongs to the late emperor. The court has its own laws; to throw them into confusion—I dare not obey." The matter was dropped. Another order followed: any clerk who refused to record Oqturqalmish's proposals was to have his hand cut off. Chucai said, "State precedent was entrusted entirely to me by the late emperor—what business is it of the clerks? If a proposal is sound I will carry it out; if not, I would not shrink from death—still less from losing a hand!" The empress was displeased. Chucai would not stop arguing and cried out, "I served Taizu and Taizong for more than thirty years without failing the state—the empress cannot kill me without cause!" Though she resented him, she deeply respected and feared him as a veteran of the former reigns. In the fifth month of summer in the jiachen year he died in office at the age of fifty-five. The empress mourned him and gave lavish funeral gifts. Later someone slandered him, claiming that during his long tenure half the empire's revenues had gone into his household. The empress ordered the intimate Malizha to inspect his estate and found only a dozen musical instruments and several thousand scrolls of books, paintings, and inscriptions. In the first year of Zhishun he was posthumously honored as Grand Preceptor and Upper Pillar of the State, enfeoffed as Prince of Guangning, with the posthumous name Wenzheng. His sons were Xian and Zhu.
19
鑄字成仲，幼聰敏，善屬文，尤工騎射。 楚材薨，嗣領中書省事，時年二十三。 鑄上言宜疏禁網，遂採歷代德政合於時宜者八十一章以進。 戊午，憲宗徵蜀，詔鑄領侍衛驍果以從，屢出奇計，攻下城邑，賜以尚方金鎖甲及內厩驄馬。 乙未，憲宗崩，阿里不哥叛，鑄棄妻子，挺身自朔方來歸，世祖嘉其忠，即日召見，賞賜優厚。 中統二年，拜中書左丞相。 是年冬，詔將兵備禦北邊，後徵兵扈從，敗阿里不哥於上都之北。 至元元年，加光祿大夫。 奏定法令三十七章，吏民便之。 二年，行省山東。 未幾徵還。 初，清廟雅樂，止有登歌，詔鑄制宮懸八佾之舞。 四年春三月，樂舞成，表上之，仍請賜名《大成》，制曰「可」。 六月，改榮祿大夫、平章政事。 五年，復拜光祿大夫、中書左丞相。 十年，遷平章軍國重事。 十三年，詔監修國史。 朝廷有大事，必諮訪焉。 十九年，復拜中書左丞相。 二十年冬十月，坐不納職印、妄奏東平人聚謀為逆、間諜幕僚、及黨罪囚阿里沙，遂罷免，仍沒其家貲之半，徙居山後。 二十二年卒，年六十五。 子十一人：希徵，希勃，希亮，希寬，希素，希固，希周，希光，希逸淮東宣慰使，餘失其名。 至順元年，贈推忠保德宣力佐治功臣、太師、開府儀同三司、上柱國、懿寧王，諡文忠。
Zhu, courtesy name Chengzhong, was clever as a child, skilled at writing, and especially adept at riding and archery. When Chucai died, Zhu succeeded him as head of the Secretariat at the age of twenty-three. Zhu memorialized that the laws should be eased and presented eighty-one examples of benevolent governance from past dynasties suited to the present. In the wuwu year, when Emperor Xianzong campaigned in Shu, Zhu led the palace guard; his repeated stratagems took cities, and he was rewarded with imperial armor and piebald horses from the royal stables. In the yiwei year, when Emperor Xianzong died and Ariq Böke rebelled, Zhu abandoned his family and came alone from the north to submit; Kublai praised his loyalty, received him that day, and rewarded him generously. In the second year of Zhongtong he was appointed left chief director of the Secretariat. That winter he was ordered to guard the northern frontier; later he joined the imperial campaign and defeated Ariq Böke north of Shangdu. In the first year of Zhiyuan he was promoted to Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. He memorialized and codified thirty-seven chapters of law, to the benefit of officials and people alike. In the second year he served as branch secretariat of Shandong. Before long he was recalled to court. Previously the imperial temple music had only the ascending hymns; Zhu was ordered to compose the full court orchestra and the eight-row dance. In the third month of the fourth year the music and dance were completed; he presented them and asked that they be named "Great Completion"; the emperor approved. In the sixth month he was made Grand Master for Glorious Blessings and associate administrator of affairs. In the fifth year he was again appointed Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and left chief director of the Secretariat. In the tenth year he was made associate administrator of important military and civil affairs. In the thirteenth year he was ordered to supervise compilation of the national history. On great matters of state the court always consulted him. In the nineteenth year he was again appointed left chief director of the Secretariat. In the tenth month of the twentieth year he was dismissed for refusing his seal of office, falsely reporting a Dongping conspiracy, employing spies among his staff, and shielding the prisoner Alisha; half his property was confiscated and he was exiled north of the mountains. He died in the twenty-second year at the age of sixty-five. He had eleven sons: Xizheng, Xibo, Xiliang, Xikuan, Xisu, Xigu, Xizhou, Xiguang, and Xiyi, who became pacification commissioner of Huaidong; the names of the rest are lost. In the first year of Zhishun he was posthumously honored as Grand Preceptor, Grand Master with Honor Equal to the Three Excellencies, Upper Pillar of the State, and Prince of Yining, with the posthumous name Wenzhong.
20
○粘合重山子南合
Nianhe Zhongshan, with an account of his son Nanhe.
21
粘合重山，金源貴族也。 國初為質子，知金將亡，遂委質焉。 太祖賜畜馬四百匹，使為宿衛官必阇赤。 從平諸國有功。 圍涼州，執大旗指麾六軍，手中流矢，不動。 已而為侍從官，數得侍宴內廷。 因諫曰：「臣聞天子以天下為憂，憂之未有不治，忘憂未有能治者也。 置酒為樂，此忘憂之術也。」 帝深嘉納之。 立中書省，以重山有積勳，授左丞相。 時耶律楚材為右丞相，凡建官立法，任賢使能，與夫分郡邑，定課賦，通漕運，足國用，多出楚材，而重山佐成之。 太宗七年，從伐宋，詔軍前行中書省事，許以便宜。 師入宋境，江淮州邑望風款附，重山降其民三十餘萬，取定城、天長二邑，不誅一人。 復入中書視事，賜中厩馬十匹、貫珠袍一。 卒，贈太尉，封魏國公，諡忠武。
Nianhe Zhongshan was a noble of the Jin imperial clan. In the founding years he served as a hostage; seeing that Jin was doomed, he pledged himself to the Mongols. Taizu granted him four hundred horses and appointed him a palace guard, a beküchi. He took part in pacifying the realms and won distinction. At the siege of Liangzhou he held the great banner and directed the armies; when an arrow struck his hand he did not flinch. He later became an attendant and often joined banquets in the inner court. He remonstrated, "I have heard that a ruler who worries for the realm never fails to govern it, and one who forgets that worry never succeeds. Feasting for pleasure is the way to forget such worry." The emperor greatly approved and accepted his counsel. When the Secretariat was established, Zhongshan was appointed left chief director in recognition of his long service. Yelü Chucai was right chief director at the time; most of the work of establishing offices, appointing talent, dividing commanderies, fixing taxes, opening grain transport, and filling the treasury came from Chucai, with Zhongshan assisting him. In Taizong's seventh year he joined the campaign against Song and was ordered to handle Secretariat affairs with the army, with discretionary authority. As the army entered Song territory, cities along the Yangzi and Huai submitted; Zhongshan received the surrender of more than three hundred thousand people, took Dingcheng and Tianchang, and killed no one. He returned to the Secretariat and was rewarded with ten horses from the imperial stables and a pearl-strung robe. He died and was posthumously honored as Grand Commandant, enfeoffed as Duke of Wei, with the posthumous name Zhongwu.
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○楊惟中
Yang Weizhong.
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楊惟中，字彥誠，弘州人。 金末，以孤童子事太宗，知讀書，有膽略，太宗器之。 年二十，奉命使西域三十餘國，宣暢國威，敷布政條，俾皆籍戶口屬吏，乃歸，帝於是有大用意。 皇子闊出伐宋，命惟中於軍前行中書省事。 克宋棗陽、光化等軍，光、隨、郢、復等州，及襄陽、德安府，凡得名士數十人，收伊、洛諸書送燕都，立宋大儒周惇頤祠，建太極書院，延儒士趙復、王粹等講授其間，遂通聖賢學，慨然欲以道濟天下。 拜中書令，太宗崩，太后稱制，惟中以一相負任天下。
Yang Weizhong, courtesy name Yancheng, was a native of Hongzhou. At the end of Jin he served Taizong as a young orphan; he could read, showed courage and resource, and Taizong valued him. At twenty he was sent on embassy to more than thirty states of the Western Regions, proclaiming imperial might and imposing registration of households; on his return the emperor formed great plans for the realm. When Prince Kuochu campaigned against Song, Weizhong was ordered to handle Secretariat affairs with the army. He captured Zaoyang, Guanghua, and other garrisons and the prefectures of Guang, Sui, Ying, Fu, Xiangyang, and De'an; he gathered dozens of eminent scholars, sent books from the Yi and Luo regions to Yan, built a shrine to Zhou Dunyi and the Taiji Academy, and invited Zhao Fu, Wang Cui, and others to lecture there, opening the way to sage learning and resolving to save the world through the Way. He was appointed director of the Secretariat; when Taizong died and the empress dowager assumed regency, Weizhong bore the weight of the realm as sole chief minister.
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定宗即位，平陽道斷事官斜徹橫恣不法，詔惟中宣慰，惟中按誅之。 金亡，其將武仙潰於鄧州，餘黨散入太原、真定間，據大明川，用金開興年號，眾至數万，剽掠數千里，詔會諸道兵討之，不克。 惟中仗節開諭，降其渠帥，餘黨悉平。 憲宗即位，世祖以太弟鎮金蓮川，得開府，專封拜。 乃立河南道經略司於汴梁，奏惟中等為使，俾屯田唐、鄧、申、裕、嵩、汝、蔡、息、亳、潁諸州。 初，滅金時，以監河橋萬戶劉福為河南道總管，福貪鄙殘酷，虐害遺民二十餘年。 惟中至，召福聽約束，福稱疾不至，惟中設大梃於坐，復召之，使謂福曰：「汝不奉命，吾以軍法從事。」 福不得已，以數千人擁衛見惟中，惟中即握大梃擊僕之。 數日福死，河南大治。 遷陝右四川宣撫使。 時諸軍帥橫侈病民，郭千戶者尤甚，殺人之夫而奪其妻，惟中戮之以徇，關中肅然。 語人曰：「吾非好殺，國家綱紀不立，致此輩賊害良民，無所控告，雖慾不去，可乎！」 歲己未，世祖總統東師，奏惟中為江淮京湖南北路宣撫使，俾建行台，以先啟行，宣布恩信，蒙古、漢軍諸帥並聽節制。 師還，卒於蔡州，年五十五。 中統二年，追諡曰忠肅公。
When Emperor Dingzong ascended, Cheqie, judicial officer of Pingyang Circuit, ruled lawlessly; Weizhong was sent to pacify the region and had him executed after investigation. After Jin fell, the general Wu Xian was routed at Dengzhou; remnants scattered between Taiyuan and Zhending, seized Damingchuan, used the Jin Kaixing reign title, and numbered tens of thousands, plundering for thousands of li; troops from all circuits failed to suppress them. Weizhong went with imperial authority to persuade them; their leaders surrendered and the remnant was fully pacified. When Emperor Xianzong ascended, Kublai as senior imperial brother garrisoned Jinlianchuan with authority to open his own office and make appointments independently. He established the Henan Circuit Pacification Commission at Bianliang, appointed Weizhong commissioner, and ordered garrison farming in Tang, Deng, Shen, Yu, Song, Ru, Cai, Xi, Bo, and Ying. When Jin was destroyed, Liu Fu, overseer of the river bridge, was made commander of Henan Circuit; greedy and cruel, he abused the surviving people for more than twenty years. When Weizhong arrived he summoned Fu to receive orders; Fu claimed illness and refused to come; Weizhong placed a heavy staff beside his seat and sent word: "If you disobey, I will deal with you by military law." Fu had no choice but to come with several thousand guards; Weizhong seized the staff and struck him down on the spot. Fu died within days, and Henan was brought to order. He was transferred to pacification commissioner of Shaanxi and Sichuan. Army commanders were oppressing the people; the thousand-household chief Guo was worst of all, killing a man and seizing his wife; Weizhong executed him as a warning, and the region was brought to order. He said, "I do not love killing, but when discipline fails and such men prey on the innocent with no recourse, how can I leave them unpunished?" In the jiwei year Kublai commanded the eastern army and appointed Weizhong pacification commissioner of the Jianghuai and Jinghu circuits, with authority to establish a traveling office, advance ahead to proclaim imperial grace, and command all Mongol and Han generals. When the army returned he died at Caizhou at the age of fifty-five. In the second year of Zhongtong he was posthumously honored as Duke Zhongsu.