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卷一百六十四 列傳第五十一: 楊恭懿 王恂 郭守敬 楊桓 楊果 王構 魏初 焦養直 孟攀麟 尚野 李之紹

Volume 164 Biographies 51: Yang Gongyi, Wang Xun, Guo Shoujing, Yang Huan, Yang Guo, Wang Gou, Wei Chu, Jiao Yangzhi, Meng Panlin, Shang Ye, Li Zhishao

Chapter 164 of 元史 · History of Yuan
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1
Yang Gongyi
2
西 漿
Yang Gongyi, courtesy name Yuanfu, came from Fengyuan. He applied himself to learning and had an exceptional memory, memorizing several thousand characters a day; even while fleeing chaos with his family, he never neglected his studies. At the age of seventeen he returned to the west. The family was poor, and he took on physical labor to provide for them. Whenever he had leisure he studied. There was no book he did not read, and he was especially versed in the Book of Changes, the Book of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. Later he obtained Zhu Xi's collected commentaries on the Four Books and exclaimed: "The norms of human conduct in everyday life and the mysteries of the Way of Heaven and human nature are all concentrated in this work." After his father's death he took neither water nor gruel for five days, and throughout the mourning period he observed the rites in full. The Pacification Commission and the Branch Secretariat both offered him the post of chief secretary, but he declined.
3
使 殿使 使
In the seventh year of the Zhiyuan era (1270), he and Xu Heng were both summoned to court, but Gongyi did not go. Heng was appointed Left Vice Director of the Secretariat and each day before the Right Chancellor Antong spoke of Gongyi's excellence; the chancellor reported this to the emperor. In the tenth year (1273) an edict dispatched envoys to summon him; citing illness, he did not go. In the eleventh year the Crown Prince instructed the Secretariat to invite Gongyi as Emperor Hui of Han had invited the Four Hoary Ones of Mount Shang; the chancellor sent Gentleman-of-the-Interior Zhang Yuanzhi with a letter bearing the imperial command, and only then did he arrive at the capital. Once he had been received in audience, Kublai sent Prince Hetong to welcome him for his long journey. The emperor then personally questioned him about his native district, clan, teachers, and descendants, omitting nothing. On the second day of the first month of the twelfth year, the emperor took his seat in the Incense Hall. Because the main force on the southern campaign had long failed to return, he ordered divination; the pronouncement was kept secret. Hanlin Academician Tutuha Gonglu requested that a civil examination be established; an edict ordered that this be discussed with Gongyi. Gongyi said: "A clear edict declares that when scholars do not pursue the classics and the Way of Confucius and Mencius, they spend their days writing fu and hollow literary compositions. This statement is indeed the foundation of enduring peace and good government. If scholars are now to be selected, the responsible offices should be instructed to recommend men of proven character who are versed in the classics and histories, so that none may submit petitions to peddle themselves, and they should be examined on classical interpretation and policy essays. Once scholars devote themselves to substantive learning, the tone of the literati will return to purity, the people's ways will grow more substantial, and the state will gain able men. He submitted this memorial, and the emperor approved it. When the northern campaign began, Gongyi returned to his home district.
4
西 使
In the sixteenth year an edict instructed the Anxi King's chancellor Dun to escort him to the capital. After he was received in audience, an edict assigned him to the Directorate of Astronomy to reform the calendar. In the second month of the seventeenth year he presented a memorial stating: "We have surveyed more than forty calendrical treatises from Han times onward and deliberated on their calculations. The old instruments are difficult to apply, and newer methods remain incomplete; accordingly, the sun's varying pace, the moon's alternating speed, and the five planets' circuits have none been scrutinized with sufficient precision. For now we have provisionally employed the new wooden gnomon and compared its readings with those of the old instrument, determining this year's winter-solstice shadow, the sun's position, discrepancies in lodge divisions, the altitude of the pole star at Dadu, and the lengths of day and night in quarter-hours. Drawing on ancient models, we have devised a new method and completed calculations for the Xinsi Calendar. Although it may not yet be fully precise, compared with earlier calendar reformers who forced the epoch to conform, devised new day-fraction rules, and merely followed old conventions, we have nothing to be ashamed of. Yet the calendar must be tested and revised annually; only after thirty years of accumulation might its method be fully perfected. Then officers like the calendrical specialists of the Three Dynasties could hold the post hereditarily, observe over long periods, and there would be no further need to reform the calendar." He also submitted a "Memorial on Conjunction and New Moon," which stated:
5
使 使
When the sun completes one circuit through the four seasons, that is called a year; when the moon completes a circuit and again joins the sun, that is called a month; This means that at the start of a month the sun and moon conjoin, which is why it is termed conjunction and new moon. After Qin abolished calendrical chronology, the Han Taichu calendar relied solely on mean conjunctions, alternating long and short months and sometimes producing two long months in succession; solar eclipses therefore often fell on the last day of the month or the second day, and observed times rarely matched predictions. He Chengtian of Song observed for more than forty years and submitted the Yuanjia Calendar, first employing the moon's varying speed to adjust the fractional remainder and correct new and full moons so that eclipses would invariably fall on the new moon—a method called true conjunction, producing three long and two short months in sequence; contemporaries rejected it as departing from established practice. Yu Guang of Liang devised the Datong Calendar, and Liu Chuo of Sui the Huangji Calendar; both employed true conjunction but were obstructed by their contemporaries. Fu Renjun of Tang created the Wuyin Calendar, and true conjunction was first put into practice. In the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan reign, several consecutive long fourth months astonished everyone, and the calendar was ultimately reverted to mean conjunction. Li Chunfeng devised the Linde Calendar; although he did not employ mean conjunction, whenever four long months occurred he appeased public opinion by interposing mean conjunctions. He also sought to accommodate contemporary expectations with an advancing-new-moon method designed to prevent eclipses on New Year's Day. When the monk Yixing devised the Dayan Calendar, he declared: "Heaven's operations are truly precise; what injury is there in four long and three short months?" This was indeed sound doctrine, yet calendrists continued to follow convention without reform. We have now devised a new calendar, adhering entirely to the settled conclusions of earlier masters; all calculations have been revised to conform to actual observation. In the calendar for the nineteenth year, from the eighth month onward four consecutive long months appear—this reflects the actual count of solar-lunar conjunction.
6
For further particulars see the biography of Guo Shoujing. That day, as they knelt in formation before the memorial could be read, the emperor directed Xu Heng and Gongyi to rise, saying: "You two venerable gentlemen, spare yourselves the strain." He was appointed Academician of the Hall for Gathering Worthies and concurrently placed in charge of the Directorate of Astronomy.
7
In the eighteenth year he resigned and returned home. In the twentieth year he was summoned as Mentor to the Heir Apparent; in the twenty-second year he was summoned as Academician of the Zhaowen Hall to head the Directorate of Astronomy; in the twenty-ninth year he was summoned to deliberate on Secretariat affairs. He declined every summons. In the thirty-first year he died at the age of seventy.
8
○ Wang Xun
9
詿
Wang Xun, courtesy name Jingfu, came from Tang County in Zhongshan. His father Liang served as a clerk in Zhongshan Prefecture at the end of the Jin dynasty. After the chaos, many people were imprisoned on trumped-up charges; Liang saved several hundred lives in all. He later abandoned official life and devoted himself to the Neo-Confucian learning of the Cheng brothers, as well as astronomy, harmonics, and calendrics, mastering all of these fields. He died at ninety-two. Xun was exceptionally bright. At the age of three, when his family showed him books, he immediately recognized the characters for "wind" and "fourth." His mother, Lady Liu, taught him the Thousand-Character Classic; after reading it twice he could recite it from memory. At six he entered formal schooling; at thirteen he studied the nine branches of mathematics and immediately attained mastery. In the jiyou year Grand Guardian Liu Bingzhong traveled north and passed through Zhongshan; struck by the boy's talent, he took him south on his return to study at Purple Gold Mountain in Ci Prefecture.
10
調 使
In the guichou year Bingzhong recommended him to Kublai. He was received in audience at Liupan Mountain and appointed to guide Prince Yuzong as companion reader to the heir apparent. In the second year of the Zhongtong era he was promoted to Supporter of Goodness to the Heir Apparent at the age of twenty-eight. In the third year Prince Yuzong was enfeoffed as Prince of Yan, served as Director of the Secretariat, and concurrently oversaw the Military Affairs Commission. An edict instructed ministers of both offices that Wang Xun must be informed of every consultation and report. Earlier, Left Vice Director Xu Heng had compiled a book of exemplary sayings and sound policies from the age of Yao and Shun onward and presented it to the throne. Kublai once directed Xun to expound the work and ordered the heir apparent to study under him. He further instructed Xun to supervise the heir's daily routine, diet, and conduct with care, and not to allow unsuitable persons to wait upon him. Xun said: "The heir apparent is the foundation of the realm; the trust placed in him is weighty in the extreme. Men of eminent virtue should be invited to keep his company. Moreover, since he concurrently oversees Secretariat and Military Affairs affairs, he should read through all edicts and regulations and frequently review routine business. Officials dismissed for misconduct must not be reappointed. When military officers harm the people and are replaced, particular care must be taken not to appoint unworthy successors. The people are profoundly simple yet responsive; after the upheavals of disorder, if we do not distrust them, they will in time be transformed into honest and steadfast subjects. The emperor strongly approved these words.
11
使
Xun had early won renown for mathematics, and Prince Yuzong once questioned him on the subject. Xun replied: "Mathematics is one of the Six Arts. To establish the state and secure the people is a matter of the greatest importance." Whenever he attended the prince, he expounded the Three Bonds and Five Constants, the principles of learning, and the causes behind the rise and fall of successive dynasties. He also drew on recent events of the Liao and Jin dynasties still fresh in memory, distinguished their virtues and faults, analyzed their successes and failures, and submitted his findings. When Prince Yuzong asked what the heart should hold fast to, Xun said: "Xu Heng once remarked that the human heart is like a printing block: only if the block itself is true will every impression, even ten thousand sheets, be without flaw; but if the block is flawed, every impression on paper will be flawed without exception." Prince Yuzong strongly agreed. An edict selected sons of meritorious families to study under Xun, whose authority as teacher stood eminent. When Xun accompanied Prince Yuzong in pacifying the army at Chenghai, the students were placed under Xu Heng's charge. After Heng retired, Xun was again appointed libationer of the Directorate of Education. The institution of the National University in fact dates from this period.
12
Because the dynasty had inherited the Jin Great Enlightenment Calendar, which had grown increasingly inaccurate over the years, the emperor wished to reform it. Knowing Xun's mastery of mathematics, he entrusted him with the task. Xun recommended Xu Heng as one who understood calendrical principles. An edict summoned him by relay to court and placed him in charge of calendar reform; all staff were to be appointed at Xun's discretion. Xun, together with Heng, Yang Gongyi, Guo Shoujing, and others, surveyed more than forty calendrical treatises and observed day and night. They devised a new method, drew on ancient models, and achieved calculations of exceptional precision; particulars appear in the biography of Guo Shoujing. In the sixteenth year he was appointed Grand Master of Court Discussion and Director of Astronomy. In the seventeenth year the calendar was completed and named the Season-Granting Calendar; that winter it was promulgated throughout the empire.
13
祿
In the eighteenth year, while mourning his father, he was consumed by grief and took only a spoonful of water each day. The emperor sent a palace attendant to console him. Before long he died at the age of forty-seven. When Xun fell ill, Prince Yuzong repeatedly sent physicians to treat him. At his burial the prince granted two thousand strings of paper money as funeral compensation. Later, recalling his service in establishing the calendar, the emperor granted his family five thousand strings of paper money. In the second year of the Yanyou era he was posthumously honored as Meritorious Subject Who Pushes Loyalty and Upholds Rectitude, Grand Master of the Imperial Household, Minister of Education, Pillar of the State of the First Rank, and Duke Who Settles the State, with the posthumous name Wensu.
14
His sons Kuan and Bin both studied under Xu Heng and inherited the family's expertise in astronomy and calendrics. Prince Yuzong once summoned them and said: "Your father rose from scholarly poverty without savings. I now grant you five thousand strings of paper money; when it is spent, you may request more." Such was the depth of the favor shown them. Kuan rose from Director of the Astrological Bureau through Libationer of the Calendar to Gentleman-of-the-Interior in the Ministry of War and served as prefect of Li Prefecture. Bin rose from Vice Director of the Astrological Bureau through successive promotions to Director of the Palace Library.
15
○ Guo Shoujing
16
西使
Guo Shoujing, courtesy name Ruosi, came from Xingtai in Shunde. From childhood he showed an unusual temperament and never engaged in frivolous pastimes. His grandfather Rong mastered the Five Classics and was expert in mathematics and hydraulic engineering. At that time Liu Bingzhong, Zhang Wenqian, Zhang Yi, and Wang Xun studied together at Purple Gold Mountain west of the prefecture; Rong sent Shoujing to study under Bingzhong.
17
西 使
In the third year of the Zhongtong era Wenqian recommended Shoujing for his mastery of hydraulic engineering and ingenuity surpassing all others. The Founding Emperor received him in audience, and Shoujing laid out six hydraulic proposals in person. First: the old grain canal at the Central Capital, running east to Tongzhou—divert the Jade Spring to float shipping, and the realm could save sixty thousand strings of cartage every year. South of Tongzhou, cut a straight intake at the Lanyu estuary, run it from Mengcun and Tiaoliangwu back to the main stream at Yangcun, and so escape the shoals of Floating Chicken Ford, the wind and waves, and the wear of long tacking. Second: lead the Dada Spring of Shunde into the city, split it into three canals, and water the ground east of the walls. Third: east of Shunde the Feng River toward ancient Rencheng had wandered off its old bed and drowned more than thirteen hundred qing of farmland. Reopen that water as a river and the drowned fields become arable again; from Little Wang Village route it past the Hutuo into the Imperial Canal, fit for boats and rafts. Fourth: at the confluence of the Fu and Zhang northeast of Cizhou, divert water through Fuyang, Handan, Mingzhou, and Yongnian, down past Jize into the Feng—enough to irrigate three thousand qing and more. Fifth: the Qin River in Huai and Meng, for all its irrigation, still spilled weir-water eastward to meet the Dan's leftover flow. Channel that eastward to north of Wuzhi, pour it into the Imperial Canal, and water another two thousand qing. Sixth: west of Mengzhou split the Yellow River—a lesser canal between New and Old Mengzhou, hugging the ancient levee to Wen County and back into the main stream, watering two thousand qing along the way. After each proposal the Founding Emperor sighed and said, "Servants of the state like this—no one need eat for nothing." He was made Director-in-Chief of River Works for All Routes. In the fourth year he received the silver tally and the post of Vice Commissioner of River Works.
18
西 沿 西穿西 使西 西西
In the first year of Zhiyuan he accompanied Zhang Wenqian on provincial inspection in Xixia. Before then the old canals at Zhongxing included Tanglai, four hundred li long, and Hanyan, two hundred fifty li; ten main canals in other prefectures, each two hundred li, with sixty-eight branch canals large and small, watering more than ninety thousand qing. War had left them broken, choked, and shallow. Shoujing rebuilt the gates and weirs until every channel stood as before. In the second year he was named Vice Director of the Imperial Waterworks. Shoujing reported, "A boat from Zhongxing can reach Dongsheng in four days and nights along the river—grain transport is feasible—and at Zhabo and Ulun Hai I found many old canals worth restoring." He added, "Under the Jin, west of Yanjing at Mayu Village they split the Lugou east through the Western Hills—the Jinkou. From the Jinkou east and north of Yanjing it watered untold qing; the gain was beyond counting. When war came the keepers, fearing loss, sealed it with great stones. Survey the old course, let the water run again, and upstream the Western Hills prosper while downstream the capital's grain routes widen." He urged also, "West of the Jinkou open a spillway beforehand, sweeping southwest back to the main river, deep and wide, lest floodwater crash through." The Emperor assented. In the twelfth year, as Chancellor Bayan campaigned south, the court debated water courier stations and sent Shoujing to survey Hebei and Shandong for navigable routes, map them, and report.
19
Earlier Bingzhong had argued that the Great Enlightenment Calendar, used by Liao and Jin for two centuries, had drifted from the sky; he meant to revise it but died with the work unfinished. In the thirteenth year, with the south pacified, the Emperor took up Bingzhong's plan: Shoujing and Wang Xun led northern and southern astronomers in field measurement and computation below, while Wenqian and Privy Councilor Zhang Yi presided and reported above, and Left Chancellor Xu Heng joined the deliberations. Shoujing began, "A calendar lives by measurement, and measurement lives by instruments. The Directorate's armillary sphere was built at Bianjing in Song's Huangyou reign—it no longer fits our sky. Measured against the north and south poles, it errs by some four degrees; the gnomon stone, ancient now, had tilted as well." Shoujing traced every error and repositioned the lot. He chose high open ground, built a heavy timber pavilion, and invented the simplified instrument and the high gnomon to cross-check one another. He reasoned that the celestial pivot hugs the pole yet shifts; ancients had sighted it through extended tubes without hitting true—so he made the polar-waiting instrument. Fix the pole stars and the heavens stand true—he built the armillary planetarium. The planetarium mimicked the sky but served no practical end, so he devised the intricate instrument. A gnomon is square and heaven truly round—best to seek the circle with circles—hence the upward-looking instrument. Antiquity fixed longitude and latitude rings motionless; Shoujing replaced them with the standing revolution instrument. The sun rides a middle path, the moon nine; Shoujing unified them in the principle-verifying instrument. Raise the table and the shadow thins to illusion—he made the shadow-marker. The moon shines, yet its shadow is hard to read—he made the sighting-lever. A calendar proves itself at conjunction—he built the solar and lunar eclipse instrument. Heaven has an equator—a wheel to match it; the poles rise and fall—markers to point them—hence the star-gnomon time-setting instrument. He also devised the rectifying azimuth plate, pellet table, suspended rectifier, and seated rectifier for observers in every quarter. He drew the Upward Rule and Inverted Square, Different Regions Armillary Cover, and Sun's Rising, Setting, and Length charts to cross-reference the instruments.
20
西
In the sixteenth year the bureau became the Grand Astrologer's Court: Xun as Grand Astrologer, Shoujing as associate administrator—seals issued, offices founded. When the instrument models were presented, Shoujing explained their principles before the throne until dusk, and the Emperor never tired. Shoujing then memorialized, "In Kaiyuan the Tang calendrist Yixing sent Nangong Shuo to measure shadows empire-wide—thirteen sites appear in the books. Our realm exceeds Tang's; without distant measurements, eclipse magnitudes and times, day and night lengths, and the heights of sun, moon, and stars will all diverge. With too few observers at hand, set gnomons north and south first and measure shadows directly." The Emperor approved. Fourteen supervising observers were sent out by separate routes—east to Goryeo, west to Dian Pool, south past Zhuya, north to Tiele's edge—twenty-seven stations measuring under all four seas.
21
In the seventeenth year the new calendar was finished; Shoujing and the ministers jointly memorialized:
22
西 宿
We humbly hear that among the labors of emperors and kings, none weighs more than the calendar. The Yellow Emperor welcomed the sun and cast the rods; Yao fixed the four seasons with intercalary months; Shun aligned the seven regulators with the jade armillary and leveling tube. Through the Three Dynasties calendars lacked fixed law; between Zhou and Qin intercalary remainders lost their order. Western Han produced the Triple Concordance Calendar; a hundred thirty years passed before right and wrong were settled. Eastern Han produced the Quarter-Remainder Calendar; seventy years more before instruments and rites were complete. Another hundred twenty-one years: Liu Hong's Supernal Manifestation Calendar first grasped that the moon speeds and slows. Another hundred eighty: Jiang Ji's Triple Era Jiazi Calendar first used lunar eclipse opposition to fix the sun's lodge and degree. Another fifty-seven: He Chengtian's Origin of Blessing Calendar first fixed greater and lesser remainders for new, full, and both quarters alike. Another sixty-five: Zu Chongzhi's Great Enlightenment Calendar first measured the sun's precession and found the pole star more than a degree from the fixed point. Another fifty-two: Zhang Zixin first saw that the sun-moon path has inner and outer faces and the five stars hurry, linger, halt, and retreat. Another thirty-three: Liu Zhuo's Imperial Ultimate Calendar first caught the sun's daily motion in expansion and contraction. Another thirty-five: Fu Renjun's Wuyin Origin Calendar drew on old rites and first employed fixed new moons. Another forty-six: Li Chunfeng's Virtue of Lin Calendar, finding ancient rule, obscuration, origin, and head degrees inconsistent, devised a general method and advanced the new moon to keep the moon from showing on the month's last dawn. Another sixty-three: Yixing's Great Expansion Calendar first reckoned four long and three short months among the new moons and fixed eclipse variation across the nine domains. Another ninety-four: Xu Ang's Manifest Brightness Calendar first distinguished solar eclipses by vapor, mark, and time. Another two hundred thirty-six: Yao Shunfu's Era Origin Calendar first mastered the surplus-difference at greatest eclipse. In all: one thousand one hundred eighty-two years, seventy calendar reforms, thirteen founders of new methods.
23
Another hundred seventy-four years on, the sage court charged us to forge a new calendar. With the simplified instrument and high gnomon we measured true numbers and corrected seven matters:
24
宿 宿 宿
First: the winter solstice. From winter's onset in the bingzi year we measured the gnomon shadow daily and paired successive days; where the day-difference matched before and after solstice, that marked the instant. Thus dingzi's winter solstice fell on wuxu, eight and a half marks past midnight; dingzi's summer solstice on gengzi, seventy marks past midnight; wuyin's winter solstice on guimao, thirty-three marks past midnight; jimao's on wushen, fifty-seven and a half marks past midnight; gengchen's on guichou, eighty-one and a half marks past midnight. Each was eighteen marks earlier than the Great Enlightenment Calendar—near and far aligned, past and future matched. Second: the tropical year surplus. Since the Great Enlightenment Calendar, six true winter solstices from shadow and qi tests, spaced apart, each yielded its proper year surplus. Four years of verification agree to a hair; from Song Daming's renyin year to today is eight hundred ten years—each year three hundred sixty-five days, twenty-four marks, twenty-five parts, and those twenty-five parts are the surplus our calendar adopts. Third: the sun's lodge-transit. From the total lunar eclipse on dingzi's fourth-month guiyou in Zhiyuan we derived the sun's position: at winter solstice ten degrees equatorial Winnowing Basket, nine and a fraction ecliptic. Daily solar positions, or stars on the moon, moon on the sun, stars on the sun directly—we built methods for each. From dingzi's first month through jimao's twelfth—three years, one hundred thirty-four cases—all in Winnowing Basket, matching the eclipse. Fourth: the moon's departure. From dingzi onward, hourly lunar motion measured daily, converted along the ecliptic to find entry into rotation, extremes of slow and fast, and mean motion—thirteen cycles, fifty-one cases in all. Thirty reliable cases proved the Great Enlightenment Calendar's rotation entry lags heaven. Eclipse tests added thirty marks to the Great Enlightenment Calendar—now it matches heaven's way. Fifth: entry into crossing. From dingzi's fifth month, daily lunar polar distance against the ecliptic's yielded eight crossings of the moon's path with the ecliptic. Solar-eclipse methods gave magnitude and crossing instant for each—little different from the Great Enlightenment Calendar. Sixth: the twenty-eight lodges' interval-degrees. Since Han's Grand Inception, lodge intervals have shifted, each calendar adding or subtracting. The Great Enlightenment Calendar padded fractional parts with "great half, little less"—private fudge, never measured. Our new instruments mark the full circuit fine: thirty-six parts per degree, interval-lines instead of tube-sighting, lodge fractions from measurement—not private forcing. Seventh: sunrise, sunset, day, and night marks. The Great Enlightenment Calendar reckoned day and night from Bianjing; Dadu's numbers differ. We recalculated from this site's polar height and the ecliptic's inner and outer limits: at summer solstice, longest day, sun rises at yin proper's second mark, sets at xu initial's second, sixty-two marks of day, thirty-eight of night. At winter solstice, shortest day, sun rises at chen initial's second mark, sets at shen proper's second, thirty-eight marks of day, sixty-two of night. Let these stand as the fixed pattern forever.
25
退 宿
The new methods number five in all: first, solar expansion and contraction. The four rectified qi set the bounds of solar rise and fall; finite-difference interpolation yields each day's motion, its extremes, and cumulative degrees—finer than any ancient calendar. Second: the moon's variable speed. Older calendars used twenty-eight limits; the new one sets one limit at 820 parts in 10,000 of a day, subdivided into 336 limits. Piled finite-difference interpolation yields the moon's shifting motion; its slow-fast degrees change hour by hour—unprecedented. Third: the ecliptic-equatorial correction. The old method merely subtracted and multiplied by 101 degrees; the new reckoning uses gnomon-triangle, arc-chord, and circle-square geometry to derive degree-rates and cumulative difference—rates that match heaven's course. Fourth: inner and outer ecliptic-equatorial limits. Years of observation fixed the polar limits at 23°90'; circle-square and arrow-chord methods now yield each day's polar distance in agreement with the measures. Fifth: the lunar path's nodal cycle. Older methods derived the lunar path from the ecliptic by oblique reckoning; the new method uses the armillary sphere and finds the moon crossing the equator 14°66' from the spring and autumn equinoxes—taken as the norm. Month by month it computes each nodal crossing through the twenty-eight lodges to the last degree—nothing left unresolved.
26
稿 稿 宿
In the nineteenth year Wang Xun died. The calendar was already in force, yet its computational formulas and table constants still lacked a finished draft. Shoujing then sorted the materials by topic, harmonized every fraction, and produced Ephemeris Calculation (7 juan), Tabular Constants (2 juan), Draft Calendar Discourse (3 juan), Turning Spirit Selection (2 juan), and Commentarial Forms for the Three Calendars (12 juan). In the twenty-third year he became Director of the Astronomy Bureau and memorialized the throne with the completed works. He also wrote Seasonal Notes (2 juan) and Sources of Revision (1 juan). His observational treatises included Design of Astronomical Instruments (2 juan), Solstice and Equinox Shadow Studies (20 juan), Fine Motions of the Five Planets (50 juan), Eclipses Past and Present (1 juan), New Lodge and Star Positions (1 juan), New Unnamed Stars (1 juan), and Lunar Separation (1 juan)—all kept in the imperial archives.
27
西西 調 西
In the twenty-eighth year some proposed hauling boats up the Luan River from Yongping over the mountains to Kaiping; others that the Lugou canal from Mayu could reach Xunmalin. The court sent Shoujing to survey both routes. The Luan was impracticable and Lugou traffic impossible; he then memorialized eleven hydraulic projects. First: for Dadu's grain canal, abandon the old Yimu Spring line and divert Baifu Spring from the northern hills west and south through Wengshan Lake into the West Water Gate, around Jishuitan, then out the South Water Gate to rejoin the old transport channel. A lock every ten li—seven in all to Tongzhou—with flash locks a li upstream of each, alternating to lift boats and dam the flow. The Emperor read the memorial and said gladly, "Carry this out at once." The Directorate of Waterways was restored and Shoujing placed at its head. The Emperor ordered the chief counselor and all below to wield spade and hoe at the worksite themselves, and none might move until Shoujing directed them. Before, tens of thousands of piculs yearly went by land from Tongzhou to Dadu; in autumn rains donkeys and oxen died beyond count. That burden was now lifted. In the thirtieth year, returning from Shangdu, he passed Jishuitan, saw boats packed on the water, and rejoiced. He named the canal Tonghui, gave Shoujing 12,500 strings of cash, and left him in office to oversee its transport. Shoujing also proposed diverting water east of Chengqing Lock into the North Ba River and building a lock west of Lizheng Gate so craft could circle the capital. The plan was never finished and was dropped. In the thirty-first year he was made Academician of the Hall for the Veneration of Literature and head of the Astronomy Bureau.
28
竿 殿
In Dade 2 Shoujing was called to Shangdu to open the Iron Banner Pole Canal. He memorialized, "Floods have thundered down these mountains year after year; unless we build channels and dikes fifty or seventy paces wide, we cannot hold them." The ministers grudged the expense, called him extravagant, and cut the width by a third. Next year came torrential rains; the channel overflowed, drowning people, herds, and camps almost to the imperial lodge. Chengzong told his ministers, "Grand Astrologer Guo is a prophet; pity we did not heed him." In the seventh year the court let officials at seventy retire—except Shoujing, whose petition was refused. Thereafter Hanlin and astronomical offices were barred from retirement by permanent regulation. He died in Yanyou 3, aged eighty-six.
29
Yang Huan, courtesy name Wuzi, was from Yanzhou. Clever as a boy, he read the Analects to Zai Yu's midday sleep, resolved on the spot, and thereafter never napped except in sickness. In his early twenties he became a district student, and leading men praised him everywhere. In Zhongtong 4 he became professor at Jizhou; later, as Jining professor, he entered the Astronomy Bureau to draft Inscriptions for Astronomical Instruments and Preface to the Calendar Day—elegant work—and refused 1,500 min of paper money. He rose to assistant director of the Palace Library. In Zhiyuan 31 he became investigating censor. When a jade seal turned up in the home of Muqali's great-grandson Shuo De, Huan read its text—"Received Heaven's command; long life and eternal stability"—kowtowed, and said, "This is the dynastic seal of state, lost for ages. The late emperor's bier is still warm, the heir-apparent has taken flight—and the seal returns. Does Heaven not show its favor upon this day?" He then wrote an account of the seal from first to last and presented it to Empress Zhiren Yusheng.
30
祿
When Chengzong ascended, Huan memorialized twenty-one reforms: first, suburban sacrifice to Heaven and Earth; second, attend the Ancestral Temple in person for all four seasons; third, appoint a chief minister first; fourth, hold court, receive ministers, and ask what policy gains or loses; fifth, summon Confucian scholars to lecture the throne on schedule; sixth, found the Imperial Academy and local schools to train students; seventh, issue edicts of reward for virtue and service; eighth, distinguish dress by rank; ninth, correct ritual to dignify the court; tenth, reform offices to cut redundancy; eleventh, study revenue to fill the treasury; twelfth, seek masters of pitch to tune the court music; thirteenth, the Directorate of Education must not answer to the Academy of Scholarly Worthies—restore its proper status; fourteenth, examine candidates for clerks in ministries, directorates, and local offices; fifteenth, raise official salaries; sixteenth, forbid kin and servants from informing on one another; seventeenth, set standards for marriage gifts; eighteenth, end investing official funds for ten-percent gain; nineteenth, restore beating with the rod to mark degrees of guilt; twentieth, favor clerks who served before Zhongtong; twenty-first, let each region be governed according to its own customs. The Emperor read the memorial and approved it with praise.
31
滿
Soon he became vice director of the Secretariat and helped compile the Comprehensive Gazetteer. When his term ended he went home to Yanzhou and gave his entire estate to his brother Kai; neighbors praised his generosity. In Dade 3 he was summoned as vice commissioner of the Directorate of Education but died before taking office, aged sixty-six.
32
Huan was generous and dutiful, a devoted son who read widely and excelled in seal script. His Comprehensive Six Scripts, Origins of the Six Scripts, and Correct Rhymes of Calligraphy deepened Xu Shen's philology and circulated widely.
33
Yang Guo, courtesy name Zhengqing, came from Puyin in Qizhou. Orphaned young, he fled Song for Bo, then Xuchang, teaching classical texts for a living through more than ten years of wandering hardship. In Jin's Zhengda jiazi year he passed the jinshi examination. When Vice Administrator Li Xi inspected agriculture at Xu, Guo sent him a parting poem that Xi praised to the court; Guo was made magistrate of Yanshi. In office he won praise for integrity and drive; transfers to Pucheng and then Shan—both demanding counties—followed. Resourceful in crisis, he mastered the hardest posts; among the counties his record stood first.
34
使使
After Jin's fall, in jichou Yang Huan took charge of Henan taxes and Guo became his secretary. Soon Shi Tianze took charge of Henan and made Guo his aide. In the wake of war, with laws still being shaped, Guo advised as need arose and the people found stability through him. In Shizu's Zhongtong 1 ten circuit pacification commissioners were created; Guo became Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Capital. The next year he became vice administrator of the Secretariat. Though rotated out by rule, he was still ordered with Left Assistant Yao Shu and others to attend Secretariat deliberations daily. In Zhiyuan 6 he became chief administrator of Huai-Meng Route and rebuilt its school temple on a grand scale. Having once been a Secretariat executive, he notified the ministry and deliberately omitted his signature from documents. He retired for age and died at home, seventy-five, posthumous name Wenxian.
35
姿 西
Clever and handsome, skilled in prose and especially yuefu, he seemed quiet outwardly yet was sharp within, a wit whose jests left hearers helpless with laughter. Fleeing chaos in Henan he married a woman he met on the road; after the jinshi and high office he kept her to the end—men praised his constancy. His Western Hermitage Collection circulated widely.
36
Wang Gou, courtesy name Kentang, was from Dongping. His father Gongyuan, in Jin's final chaos, saw three elder brothers flee south with their households while he alone swore to guard the tombs, hiding in the grass though they called; they wept and departed. He saved the clan; the three brothers vanished without trace.
37
使便殿 宿 西
Gou was bright as a youth, his manner grave and steady. Learned and elegant in prose, he won selection by rhapsody in his youth and became recorder of the Eastern Branch Secretariat. Vice Administrator Jia Juzhen esteemed him at first sight and sent his son to study with him. In Zhiyuan 11 he became compiler in the Hanlin National History Academy. When Bayan was sent against Song, the court first issued a denunciation; Gou drafted it to the Emperor's great satisfaction. After Song's fall Gou and Li Pan were ordered to Hangzhou to bring back the Three Institutes' books, the ritual vessels of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Heavenly Manifestation, and the regalia to the capital. Every man he recommended was a leading figure of the day. In the thirteenth year's autumn he returned, had audience, became Hanlin Academician in Attendance, and was promoted reviser. After Heli Huosun rose from Hanlin expositor to Grand Preceptor, he took Gou on as his registrar. Ahmad had just been killed by assassins; Kublai, seeing his corruption at last, restored Heli Huosun and set state business on a new course—much of it shaped by Gou's advice. He held directorships in the Ministries of Personnel and Rites, reviewed cases in Henan, and overturned many unjust sentences. Promoted to Vice Minister of Imperial Sacrifices, he codified the rites for the emperor's own sacrifices in the Ancestral Temple. Raised to vice commissioner on the Huaidong surveillance circuit, he was called to the Privy Chamber, handed his commission by the emperor's own hand, and dismissed with fine wine. Soon afterward he was summoned back as an attending censor. Under Chancellor Sangtu he was paired with Grand Councillor Buhumu to audit Yan South revenues and grain and to chase down unpaid levies. He left on the last day of the eleventh month and was due to report back before the year was out. He came back the following spring and stopped at Lugou station. Seeing he was overdue and punishment uncertain, he told Buhumu, "If anyone must answer for this, let it be me—not you." Sangtu died about that time, and the matter was dropped. He was sent to Jiangxi on a provincial appointment commission. He joined the Hanlin Academy as lecturer-in-waiting. At Kublai's death Gou wrote the posthumous epithet scroll.
38
Gou served three emperors and knew Secretariat precedent by heart. He drafted every ancestral posthumous title and enshrinement text, and the court consulted him on every weighty question. He loved lifting up obscure scholars. The men he helped into the Secretariat, the Censorate, and the Hanlin numbered in the dozens; each later rose to a notable post.
39
西
His son Shixi reached associate administrator of the Secretariat and died in office as vice censor-in-chief on the Southern Censorate. Shidian served as assistant commissioner on the Huai West surveillance circuit. The family kept its literary reputation through them all.
40
○ Wei Chu
41
使 使 便
Wei Chu, styled Dachu, came from Shunsheng in Hong Prefecture. His kinsman Fan, a generation back, took jinshi in Jin Zhenyou 3 and became a Secretariat clerk. When Emperor Xuānzong of Jin asked for blunt counsel, Fan was first to say the high command was unfit and that the Virtue Tomb should not be built. The memorial went in; nothing came back. He wrote again: "The realm is in grave danger, yet no loyal army marches from any quarter. Longyou is defensible and well provisioned; its commander Wanyan Huxiehu is a man you can rely on. Send an envoy and lay the great plan before him." The ministers took offense, and the proposal died. Months passed without Huxiehu's army. By then nothing could be done, and the Jin emperor repented too late. The Jin general Wu Xian camped at Wuduo Mountain and refused to move. The court needed someone to summon Wu Xian; Fan was recommended, made Grand Master of the Court and Hanlin compiler, and given four horsemen for the journey. He arrived to find Wu Xian gone and the army in pieces. Fan rallied several thousand men, picked the bravest as squad chiefs, issued tally-seals on his own authority, and reported himself for discipline. The Jin emperor approved his handling. When he heard Wu Xian still held the remnant of his force at Baoliu Mountain, Fan went straight to his camp to deliver the imperial command. A whisper reached Wu Xian that Fan meant to steal his command. Enraged, Xian had blades drawn as if to kill Fan and set a petty clerk to dispute with him. Fan never flinched. "I may be humble," he said, "but I rank above every lord. Even if you owe me no courtesy, will you heed slander and pit a clerk against the emperor's envoy? Your men cling to you in the hills because you serve the Son of Heaven. Dishonor the throne, and who can say your own officers will not turn on you as you have turned on me? Otherwise I choose death before a failed mission." Wu Xian could not break him. Fan urged him again to march; he still refused. When Fan got back, the Jin court had already fled to Guide, then to Caizhou. Jin fell; with nowhere left to serve, Fan went home to the north. In the gengxu year Kublai, still heir apparent, heard of Fan and called him to Karakorum to ask his view of the times. Fan laid out more than thirty practical reforms and named over sixty scholars of note. Kublai welcomed the counsel and later put much of it into practice. He died at Karakorum, aged seventy, and was given the posthumous name Jingsu.
42
使 使 西西使 西使
At the Shangdu palace the emperor gave a feast at which any minister who could not empty a great cup was stripped of cap and robe. Wei Chu memorialized first: "I have heard that the ruler is as Heaven and the minister as earth; the rites that separate high from low must be kept. Within the court the Director of Sacrifices, the historiographers, and the recorder of the ruler's conduct deliberate ritual and set down every word and act; while from without envoys of Koryŏ and Annam come bearing tribute to witness how the Middle Kingdom conducts itself. Yet yesterday's feast for the great ministers showed no care for dignity or order. That is no way to honor the throne or teach respect between ruler and subject." The emperor read the memorial with pleasure and told his attendants never to hold such a feast again. Xiangyang and Fancheng still held out; the court meant to press the people into service, and some proposed starting with Daxing. Chu objected: "The capital is the root of the empire; it must stay strong. In the founding of a dynasty, why disturb it first?" Daxing was spared the levy. He also urged restoring an old rule: every regularly attending official and every prefect, within three days of appointment, should name a successor. Disciplinary posts matter even more. Let every supervising censor and surveillance commissioner, after one year, nominate his own replacement, with penalties for a poor choice. That would sharpen integrity and fill the state with able men." He then nominated Liu Xuan, vice commissioner for encouraging agriculture, as his own successor. He served on the Shaanxi–Sichuan surveillance circuit, then as deputy on the Shaanxi–Hedong circuit, and returned to court as attending censor. As attending censor he ran Censorate business at Yangzhou, was promoted to Jiangxi surveillance commissioner, and was soon recalled as attending censor again. When the branch secretariat moved to Jiankang he became vice censor-in-chief and died there at sixty-one.
43
His son Bifu became lecturer-in-waiting in the Hall of Assembled Worthies.
44
○ Jiao Yangzhi
45
Jiao Yangzhi, styled Wujiu, came from Tangyi in Dongchang. He had been known since youth for ability and judgment. In Zhiyuan 18 Kublai renamed the seal-and-tally office the Directorate of Auspicious Commissions and wanted a Confucian scholar to head it. A court intimate named Yangzhi; Kublai summoned him at once. He answered so well that he skipped from Zhending professor of Confucian learning straight to vice director of the directorate. In year 24 he marched on the Nayan campaign. In year 28 he received a house in the capital. He attended the emperor in private and lectured on the politics of ancient kings; Kublai listened until he forgot fatigue. Once the talk turned to Gaozu of Han rising from nothing. Yangzhi answered with easy, pointed reasoning, and the emperor took it to heart—after which he stopped looking down on Gaozu. In Dade 1, when Chengzong visited Willow Grove, he had Yangzhi lecture from the Comprehensive Mirror and offer remonstrance. The emperor rewarded him with wine and 17,500 strings of paper money. In year 2 he received a gold belt and ivory tablet. In year 3 he became lecturer-in-waiting in the Hall of Assembled Worthies and was given a rhinoceros-horn belt. In year 7 he was ordered to tutor the crown prince in the palace. He instructed with such sincerity that Chengzong heard of it and was delighted. In year 8 he carried out the sacrifice to the Southern Sea on the emperor's behalf. In year 9 he rose to academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies. In year 11 he became preceptor of the crown prince. In Zhida 1 he became grand academician and was consulted on every major policy question. He asked to retire, went home, and died. Posthumously he was made Grand Master of Cherishing Virtue and right vice administrator of the Henan branch secretariat, with the posthumous name Wenjing.
46
His son Defang entered service by yin privilege as assistant administrator of Xingguo prefecture.
47
○ Meng Panlin
48
西 使 西 西西
Meng Panlin, styled Jiazhi, came from Yunnei. His great-grandfather Yanfu, an expert in law, served as commissioner of the Northwest Route pacification office. In one doubtful case more than a hundred men faced execution. Yanfu refused to sign off; three days later the truth emerged and every man was freed. His grandfather He and his father Zemin had both passed the Jin jinshi. As a boy Panlin could recite ten thousand characters a day and write polished prose; people called him a wonder-child. He took jinshi in Jin Zhengda 7 and rose to Grand Master for Court Discussion and pacification commissioner. When Bianjing fell in the renchen year he went north and settled at Pingyang. In the bingwu year he became detailed review officer on the Shaanxi military staff and made Chang'an his home. In Kublai's Zhongtong 3 he was made Hanlin attendant drafter and associate compiler of the national history. Early in Zhiyuan he was summoned and submitted seventy proposals: perform suburban sacrifices, worship in the Ancestral Temple, institute ritual and music, open schools, hold examinations, appoint caring magistrates, stock grain for the armies, cut nameless levies, end wasteful corvée, bring every agency under the Six Ministries, and let the Secretariat set all law and custom—a program meant to last. Kublai welcomed every item and questioned him at length. Later, asked to compare Wang Baiyi and Xu Zhongping, he said, "Baiyi is a man of literary brilliance—fit for the Hanlin; Zhongping masters the classics and carries the Way—he should be a model for later students." The emperor agreed wholeheartedly. He was summoned again on temple and suburban rites and answered entirely from the classics. As the emperor prepared to sacrifice in person, Panlin was ordered to settle the rites with the Director of Sacrifices. He drew overnight diagrams of the suburban altar and the temple rites and presented them; the emperor studied each one himself. Ill again, he asked to go west. The emperor let him retire but ordered him to advise on the Shaanxi–Sichuan branch secretariat from home. He died in year 4, aged sixty-four. In Yanyou 3 he was posthumously made Hanlin expositor, Grand Master of Cherishing Virtue, senior guardian of the army, and Duke of Pingyuan, with the posthumous name Wending.
49
○ Shang Ye
50
滿 使 使使 宿 西 滿 使
Shang Ye, styled Wenwei, came from a Baoding family that had moved to Mancheng. Ye was precocious as a boy; his grandmother Liu gave generously so he could study. In Zhiyuan 18, summoned as a recluse scholar, he became compiler at the National History Institute. In year 20 he also served as vice director of the Office for Promoting Literature, then went out as assistant administrator of Ruzhou. He governed with integrity and energy, and the surveillance circuit recommended him again and again. In the twenty-eighth year he was appointed magistrate of Nanyang county. When he first took office the dockets were overflowing, yet Ye decided cases without delay; within ten days the courts were clear. He was made Vice Commissioner of Huai-Meng River Works. Envoys had been sent to inquire into popular hardship, and Ye advised: "Water control already has fixed regulations; it should fall under the regular bureaus, not warrant a separate corps of river officials again." The report reached court, and the river-works posts were abolished. In Dade 6 he became Assistant Instructor at the Imperial Academy. Students enrolled in the palace guard accompanied the court to Shangdu each year. Grand Chancellor Hala Hasun first charged Ye with opening a branch academy there to instruct them and had a seal cast for the school. The Shangdu branch academy began with Ye. He was soon promoted Doctor of the Academy. He taught others to master the classics before literary polish, and often told his students: "Learning not yet secured, yet fussing over ornament, is like buying water with cash—you only get so much. Dig your own well to the spring and draw from it, and you will never run dry." The academy buildings were still unfinished. Ye quietly petitioned the Censorate to release accumulated treasury funds and build new halls on a grand scale to broaden instruction. While Renzong was heir apparent, Ye served as his literary tutor and aided him greatly. He often attended audience with the guest-official Yao Sui and the preceptor Xiao Mian, and the Emperor treated him with special respect. In Zhida 1 he was made Vice Director of the Imperial Academy. A court favorite proposed splitting the academy's western wing off as the Metropolitan Prefecture school. The Emperor had already assented, but Ye argued that housing the national and prefectural academies together violated ritual order, and the plan was shelved. In the fourth year he was appointed Direct Academician of the Hanlin, Controller of Edicts, and associate compiler of the national history. An edict sent Ye to the Ministry of Personnel to test candidates for hereditary privilege appointments, and he showed considerable leniency in many cases. Some faulted him for being too indulgent. Ye replied: "The rule has only just been introduced. The aim is that future appointees will study the classics and learn ritual and righteousness—not that we must demand immediate results." His colleagues were persuaded. In Huangqing 1 he was promoted Hanlin Academician Lecturer-in-Attendance. In Yanyou 1 he became Lecturer-in-Attendance of the Jixian Hall and concurrently Chancellor of the Imperial Academy. In the summer of the second year he pleaded illness and went home to Mancheng, where students from all directions gathered in ever greater numbers. He died at home in the sixth year, at the age of seventy-six. He was posthumously honored as Grand Master for Thorough Service of Attendance, Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Rites, and Defender of the Army; enfeoffed as Duke of Shangdang and given the posthumous name Wenyi (Cultivated and Virtuous).
51
By nature Ye was quick and open-minded, his aims broad and upright. He was famed for filial devotion to his stepmother, and his prose was elegant, grounded throughout in principle.
52
His son Shiyi served as judicial administrator of the Qizhou circuit headquarters. Shijian held the rank of Grand Master for Sagely Administration and served as Academician in Attendance on Calligraphy in the Kuizhang Pavilion and Associate Director of the Classics Colloquium.
53
Li Zhishao
54
稿
Li Zhishao, courtesy name Bozong, came from Pingyin in Dongping. From childhood he was bright and quick-witted, and studied under Li Qian of Dongping. The family was poor, so he taught in his home district, and students flocked to him. In Zhiyuan 31, while the Veritable Records of Kublai were being compiled, eminent scholars were summoned for historiographic duty. On the recommendation of Ma Shao and Li Qian he was appointed Assistant Gentleman for Merit and compiler in the Hanlin National History Academy. Direct Academician Yao Sui wished to test his ability and handed him more than ten pieces of routine Hanlin correspondence that had piled up. Zhishao took up his brush and finished them on the spot, submitting every draft. Sui exclaimed in delight: "A famous teacher indeed leaves no unworthy pupil." In Dade 2, on hearing that his grandmother was ill, he resigned and returned home. He was reappointed compiler and raised to Gentleman for Merit. In the sixth year he was promoted to Hanlin Academician in Attendance. In the seventh year he became Doctor of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In the ninth year he entered mourning for his mother. Though repeatedly recalled to office, nothing could shake his resolve. In Zhida 3 he was again made Doctor of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and promoted to Gentleman for Supporting Affairs. In the fourth year he rose to Gentleman for Direct Support and Hanlin Academician in Attendance. In Huangqing 1 he became Vice Director of the Imperial Academy. In Yanyou 3 he was promoted to Grand Master for Administrative Governance and Chancellor of the Imperial Academy. Day and night he toiled, with no thought but the cultivation of talent. That December of the fourth year he was made Grand Master of the Court Assembly and Associate Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Rites. In the sixth year he was made Direct Academician of the Hanlin but again went home on account of illness. In the seventh year he was recalled as Direct Academician of the Hanlin. In Zhizhi 2 he was promoted Hanlin Academician Lecturer-in-Attendance, Controller of Edicts, and associate compiler of the national history. In the third year he petitioned to retire on grounds of age and returned home. He died in the eighth month of Taiding 3, aged seventy-three.
55
His son Xu inherited his father's rank and served as Associate Administrator of Zhuji Prefecture.
56
Zhishao felt that by nature he was too easygoing and indecisive in affairs, and so took the style Guoqi to spur himself on. His collected writings were preserved in the family.
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