1
程鉅夫
Cheng Jufu
2
程鉅夫，名文海，避武宗廟諱，以字行。 其先自徽州徙郢州京山，後家建昌。 叔父飛卿，仕宋，通判建昌，世祖時，以城降。 鉅夫入為質子，授宣武將軍、管軍千戶。 他日，召見，問賈似道何如人，鉅夫條對甚悉，帝悅，給筆札書之，乃書二十餘幅以進。 帝大奇之，因問今居何官，以千戶對，帝謂近臣曰：「朕觀此人相貌，已應貴顯； 聽其言論，誠聰明有識者也。 可置之翰林。」 丞相火禮霍孫傳旨至翰林，以其年少，奏為應奉翰林文字，帝曰：「自今國家政事得失，及朝臣邪正，宜皆為朕言之。」 鉅夫頓首謝曰：「臣本疏遠之臣，蒙陛下知遇，敢不竭力以報陛下！」 尋進翰林修撰，屢遷集賢直學士，兼秘書少監。
Cheng Jufu, whose personal name was Wenhai, went by his style name to avoid the taboo of Emperor Wuzong's temple name. His forebears had moved from Huizhou to Jingshan in Ezhou, and the family later made its home in Jianchang. His uncle Feiqing had served the Song as vice prefect of Jianchang and, in the reign of Kublai, surrendered the city. Jufu was sent to court as a hostage and appointed Xuanwu General with command of a thousand-household unit. On another occasion he was summoned and asked what manner of man Jia Sidao was. Jufu replied in careful detail, and the emperor, pleased, supplied brush and paper; he wrote out more than twenty sheets and submitted them. The emperor was deeply impressed and asked what post he currently held; he replied, thousand-household commander. The emperor told his close attendants, "Judging by this man's looks, he is already destined for high rank; and to hear him speak, he is truly bright and discerning. He should be placed in the Hanlin Academy." Chancellor Huo Zali relayed the order to the Hanlin, and because Jufu was young, recommended him as Attendant Literary Official of the Hanlin. The emperor said, "From now on you are to tell me the rights and wrongs of state policy and which ministers are upright or corrupt." Jufu kowtowed and said, "I was only a humble outsider until Your Majesty singled me out; how could I fail to serve you with all my strength!" He was soon promoted to Hanlin Compiler, then repeatedly advanced to Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies while also serving as Vice Director of the Secretariat.
3
至元十九年，奏陳五事：一曰取會江南仕籍，二曰通南北之選，三曰立考功歷，四曰置貪贓籍，五曰給江南官吏俸。 朝廷多采行之。 賜地京師安貞門，以築居室。 二十年，加翰林集賢直學士，同領會同館事。 二十三年，見帝，首陳：「興建國學，乞遣使江南搜訪遺逸； 御史臺、按察司，並宜參用南北之人。」 帝嘉納之。 二十四年，立尚書省，詔以為參知政事，鉅夫固辭。 又命為御史中丞，台臣言：「鉅夫南人，且年少。」 帝大怒曰：「汝未用南人，何以知南人不可用！ 自今省部台院，必參用南人。」 遂以鉅夫仍為集賢直學士，拜侍御史，行御史臺事，奉詔求賢於江南。 初，書詔令皆用蒙古字，及是，帝特命以漢字書之。 帝素聞趙孟藡、葉李名，鉅夫臨當行，帝密諭必致此二人； 鉅夫又薦趙孟頫、余恁、萬一鶚、張伯淳、胡夢魁、曾晞顏、孔洙、曾衝子、凌時中、包鑄等二十餘人，帝皆擢置台憲及文學之職。 還朝，陳民間利病五事，拜集賢學士，仍還行臺。
In Zhiyuan 19 he submitted five proposals: reconcile southern official registers; open appointments across north and south; establish merit-evaluation records; keep a register of corrupt officials; and pay salaries to southern officials. The court adopted most of these measures. He was granted land at Anzhen Gate in the capital on which to build a home. In year 20 he was further made Hanlin Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies and jointly oversaw the Hall of United Submission. In year 23, when he saw the emperor, he urged first of all: "Found a National University and send envoys to the south to seek out hidden scholars; and both the Censorate and the surveillance commissions should employ men from north and south alike." The emperor welcomed and accepted these proposals. In year 24, when the Ministry of Works was established, he was ordered to serve as vice director of the Secretariat, but Jufu firmly declined. He was then appointed censor-in-chief, but censorial officials objected: "Jufu is a southerner and still young." The emperor flew into a rage: "You have never employed southerners—how can you know they are unfit! From now on every ministry, department, censorate, and academy must include southerners." Jufu was then kept on as Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies, appointed attending censor with charge of censorial affairs, and sent south by imperial order to recruit talent. Previously all edicts had been written in Mongol script, but this time the emperor expressly ordered them written in Chinese. The emperor had long known the reputations of Zhao Mengfu and Ye Li, and as Jufu was about to leave, privately told him he must bring those two men back. Jufu also recommended Zhao Mengfu, Yu Ren, Wan Yie, Zhang Bochun, Hu Mengkui, Zeng Xiyan, Kong Zhu, Zeng Chongzi, Ling Shizhong, Bao Zhu, and more than twenty others, all of whom the emperor placed in censorial or literary offices. On his return he laid out five points of popular grievance and benefit, was made Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies, and again took up duty at the regional censorate.
4
二十六年，時相桑哥專政，法令苛急，四方騷動。 鉅夫入朝，上疏曰：「臣聞天子之職，莫大於擇相，宰相之職，莫大於進賢。 苟不以進賢為急，而惟以殖貨為心，非為上為德、為下為民之意也。 昔文帝以決獄及錢穀問丞相周勃，勃不能對，陳平進曰：'陛下問決獄，責廷尉； 問錢穀，責治粟內史。 宰相上理陰陽，下遂萬物之宜，外鎮撫四夷，內親附百姓。 '觀其所言，可以知宰相之職矣。 今權奸用事，立尚書鉤考錢穀，以剝割生民為務，所委任者，率皆貪饕邀利之人，江南盜賊竊發，良以此也。 臣竊以為宜清尚書之政，損行省之權，罷言利之官，行恤民之事，於國為便。」 桑哥大怒，羈留京師不遣，奏請殺之，凡六奏，帝皆不許。 鉅夫既還行臺，二十九年，又召鉅夫與胡祗遹、姚燧、王憚、雷膺、陳天祥、楊恭懿、高凝、陳儼、趙居信等十人，赴闕賜對。 三十年，出為閩海道肅政廉訪使，興學明教，吏民畏愛之。 大德四年，遷江南湖北道肅政廉訪使。 至官，首治行省平章家奴之為民害者，上下肅然。 八年，召拜翰林學士，商議中書省事。 十年，以亢旱、暴風、星變，鉅夫應詔陳弭災之策，其目有五：曰敬天，曰尊祖，曰清心，曰持體，曰更化。 帝皆然之。 雲南省臣言：「世祖親平雲南，民願刻石點蒼山，以紀功德。」 詔鉅夫撰其文。 十一年，拜山南江北道肅政廉訪使，复留為翰林學士。 至大元年，修《成宗實錄》。 二年，召至上都。 三年，復拜山南江北道肅政廉訪使。 四年，與李謙、尚文等十六人同赴闕，賜對便殿。 拜浙東海右道肅政廉訪使，留為翰林學士承旨。 皇慶元年，修《武宗實錄》。 二年，旱，鉅夫應詔陳桑林六事，忤時宰意。 明日，帝遣近侍賜上尊，勞之曰：「中書集議，惟卿所言甚當，後臨事，其極言之。」 於是詔鉅夫偕平章政事李孟、參知政事許師敬議行貢舉法，鉅夫建言：「經學當主程頤、硃熹傳注，文章宜革唐、宋宿弊。」 命鉅夫草詔行之。
In year 26 the chief minister Sangge dominated the government; his laws were harsh and unrest spread everywhere. Jufu came to court and memorialized: "I have heard that a ruler's greatest duty is to choose his chancellor, and a chancellor's greatest duty is to advance worthy men. If one does not treat advancing talent as urgent but sets his heart only on amassing wealth, that is not the meaning of ruling with virtue above and caring for the people below. Once Emperor Wen of Han asked Chancellor Zhou Bo about trials and about grain revenues; Zhou Bo could not answer. Chen Ping stepped forward and said, 'If Your Majesty asks about trials, that is the Commandant of Justice's affair; if Your Majesty asks about grain revenues, that is the Grand Herald's affair. A chancellor harmonizes heaven and earth above, helps all things find their proper place below, pacifies the border peoples abroad, and keeps the common people close at home. From what he said one can see what a chancellor's duty truly is. Today a powerful favorite holds sway: the Ministry of Revenue was set up to audit revenues and treats fleecing the people as its business. Those he appoints are almost all greedy profiteers, and it is precisely for this reason that banditry has broken out across the south. I believe the state would benefit if the Ministry of Revenue were reformed, provincial powers reduced, profit-seeking offices abolished, and measures to relieve the people carried out." Sangge was furious, kept him in the capital, and six times memorialized for his execution, but each time the emperor refused. After Jufu returned to the regional censorate, in year 29 he was summoned again with Hu Zhiyuan, Yao Sui, Wang Yun, Lei Ying, Chen Tianxiang, Yang Gongyi, Gao Ning, Chen Yan, Zhao Juxin, and nine others—ten men in all—for an imperial audience at court. In year 30 he was posted as surveillance commissioner for the Minhai circuit, where he promoted schools and enlightened teaching; officials and commoners alike respected and cherished him. In Dade 4 he was transferred to surveillance commissioner for the Jiangnan-Hubei circuit. On taking office he first dealt with the chief minister's household slaves who were preying on the people, and order was restored throughout the administration. In year 8 he was recalled, made Hanlin Academician, and consulted on Secretariat affairs. In year 10, amid severe drought, violent storms, and celestial omens, Jufu answered an edict with five remedies: reverence for Heaven, honor for the ancestors, purity of mind, discipline of conduct, and renewal of policy. The emperor approved them all. Yunnan officials reported that the people wished to carve a stone on Diancang Mountain to commemorate Kublai's personal pacification of Yunnan. The emperor ordered Jufu to compose the inscription. In year 11 he was appointed surveillance commissioner for the Shannan-Jiangbei circuit but was kept on again as Hanlin Academician. In Zhida 1 he compiled the Veritable Records of Emperor Chengzong. In year 2 he was summoned to Shangdu. In year 3 he was again appointed surveillance commissioner for the Shannan-Jiangbei circuit. In year 4 he went to court with Li Qian, Shang Wen, and fourteen others—sixteen in all—and was granted audience in the side hall. He was appointed surveillance commissioner for the Zhedong-Haiyou circuit but was kept on as chief Hanlin academician. In Huangqing 1 he compiled the Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong. In year 2, during a drought, Jufu answered an edict with six proposals on drought relief, which displeased the chief minister. The next day the emperor sent a close attendant with fine wine and told him, "In the Secretariat discussion only your views were right; speak your mind fully whenever you are involved in affairs." He then ordered Jufu, together with Chief Minister Li Meng and Vice Director Xu Shijing, to draft the civil-service examination system. Jufu proposed that classical studies follow the commentarial tradition of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi and that literary composition break with Tang and Song abuses. Jufu was ordered to draft the edict implementing these reforms.
5
三年，以病乞骸骨歸田裡，不允，命尚醫給藥物，官其子大本郊祀署令，以便侍養。 時令近臣撫視，且勞之曰：「卿世祖舊臣，惟忠惟貞，其勉加粥，少留京師，以副朕心。」 鉅夫請益堅，特授光祿大夫，賜上尊，命廷臣以下飲餞於齊化門外，給驛南還。 敕行省及有司常加存問。 居三年而卒，年七十。 泰定二年，贈大司徒、柱國，追封楚國公，諡文憲。
In year 3 he asked to retire home on grounds of illness, but was refused; imperial physicians were ordered to supply medicine, and his son Daben was made director of the suburban sacrifice office so he could remain nearby to care for him. The emperor regularly sent close attendants to inquire after him and said, "You are an old servant of Kublai, loyal and steadfast; take good care of yourself, stay a little longer in the capital, and ease my mind." Jufu pressed his request all the more firmly, so he was specially made Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, given fine wine, and the court was ordered to give him a farewell banquet outside Qihua Gate before he was sent south by post relay. The regional secretariat and local offices were ordered to inquire regularly after his welfare. Three years later he died, at the age of seventy. In Taiding 2 he was posthumously made Grand Mentor and Pillar of the State, enfeoffed as Duke of Chu, with the posthumous title Wenxian.
6
趙孟頫
Zhao Mengfu
7
趙孟頫，字子昂，宋太祖子秦王德芳之後也。 五世祖秀安僖王子偁，四世祖崇憲靖王伯圭。 高宗無子，立子偁之子，是為孝宗，伯圭，其兄也，賜第於湖州，故孟頫湖州人。 曾祖師垂，祖希永，父與，仕宋，皆至大官； 入國朝，以孟頫貴，累贈師垂集賢侍讀學士，希永太常禮儀院使，並封吳興郡公，與集賢大學士，封魏國公。
Zhao Mengfu, styled Zi'ang, was descended from Prince Qin Defang, a son of Song Taizu. His fifth-generation ancestor was Prince Xiuan, Zicheng; his fourth-generation ancestor was Prince Chongxian, Bogui. When Gaozong had no heir, he enthroned Zicheng's son as Emperor Xiaozong; Bogui was Xiaozong's elder brother, and because the family was granted a mansion at Huzhou, Mengfu was considered a native of Huzhou. His great-grandfather Shichui, grandfather Xiyong, and father Yuyin all served the Song and rose to high office; after the dynasty changed, Mengfu's standing brought them repeated posthumous honors: Shichui as reader-in-waiting of the Hall of Gathered Worthies and Duke of Wuxing; Xiyong as commissioner of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and Duke of Wuxing; and Yuyin as grand academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies and Duke of Wei.
8
孟頫幼聰敏，讀書過目輒成誦，為文操筆立就。 年十四，用父廕補官，試中吏部銓法，調真州司戶參軍。 宋亡，家居，益自力於學。 至元二十三年，行臺侍御史程鉅夫奉詔搜訪遺逸於江南，得孟頫，以之入見。 孟頫才氣英邁，神采煥發，如神仙中人，世祖顧之喜，使坐右丞葉李上。 或言孟頫宋宗室子，不宜使近左右，帝不聽。 時方立尚書省，命孟頫草詔頒天下，帝覽之，喜曰：「得朕心之所欲言者矣。」 詔集百官於刑部議法，眾欲計至元鈔二百貫贓滿者死，孟頫曰：「始造鈔時，以銀為本，虛實相權，今二十餘年間，輕重相去至數十倍，故改中統為至元，又二十年後，至元必復如中統，使民計鈔抵法，疑於太重。 古者以米、絹民生所須，謂之二實，銀、錢與二物相權，謂之二虛。 四者為直，雖升降有時，終不大相遠也，以絹計贓，最為適中。 況鈔乃宋時所創，施於邊郡，金人襲而用之，皆出於不得已。 乃欲以此斷人死命，似不足深取也。」 或以孟頫年少，初自南方來，譏國法不便，意頗不平，責孟頫曰：「今朝廷行至元鈔，故犯法者以是計贓論罪。 汝以為非，豈欲沮格至元鈔耶？」 孟頫曰：「法者人命所繫，議有重輕，則人不得其死矣。 孟頫奉詔與議，不敢不言。 今中統鈔虛，故改至元鈔，謂至元鈔終無虛時，豈有是理！ 公不揆於理，欲以勢相陵，可乎！」 其人有愧色。 帝初欲大用孟頫，議者難之。 二十四年六月，授兵部郎中。 兵部總天下諸驛，時使客飲食之費，幾十倍於前，吏無以供給，強取於民，不勝其擾，遂請於中書，增鈔給之。 至元鈔法滯澀不能行，詔遣尚書劉宣與孟頫馳驛至江南，問行省丞相慢令之罪，凡左右司官及諸路官，則徑笞之。 孟頫受命而行，比還，不笞一人，丞相桑哥大以為譴。
Mengfu was exceptionally bright as a boy: he could recite a text after a single reading and compose essays as soon as he took up the brush. At fourteen he entered office through his father's privilege, passed the Ministry of Personnel examination, and was appointed registrar in the revenue section at Zhen Prefecture. After the fall of the Song he lived in retirement and devoted himself even more intensely to study. In Zhiyuan 23, Cheng Jufu of the regional censorate, sent south to seek hidden scholars, found Mengfu and brought him to court. Mengfu's brilliance and bearing were radiant, almost otherworldly; Kublai was delighted and seated him above Right Vice Director Ye Li. Some said that as a Song imperial clansman he should not be kept close to the throne, but the emperor paid no heed. Just then the Ministry of Revenue was being established, and Mengfu was ordered to draft the edict promulgated empire-wide. The emperor read it and said with delight, "This says exactly what I wished to say." Officials were summoned to the Ministry of Justice to revise the penal code; most favored death for bribery reaching two hundred strings of Zhiyuan notes. Mengfu objected: "Paper money was originally backed by silver, with nominal and real value kept in balance, but in twenty-odd years their relative weight has shifted tenfold, which is why Zhongtong notes were replaced by Zhiyuan notes. In another twenty years Zhiyuan notes will depreciate just as Zhongtong notes did, so tying capital crimes to note values seems far too harsh. In antiquity rice and silk, the staples of daily life, were called the two real values, while silver and coin, exchangeable against them, were called the two nominal values. These four served as standards; though their relative values shifted, they never diverged wildly, so calculating bribery in silk would be the most balanced measure. Moreover, paper money was a Song invention, used on the frontiers and adopted by the Jurchens—all measures born of necessity. To make it the basis for capital punishment seems hardly a sound foundation." Someone, taking offense that a young newcomer from the south should criticize state policy, rebuked him: "The court now uses Zhiyuan notes, so offenders are judged by note values—that is the law. Do you mean to obstruct the Zhiyuan currency?" Mengfu replied, "Law concerns human life; if penalties are debated as light or heavy, people will not receive justice in death. I was ordered to take part in this deliberation and could not remain silent. Zhongtong notes depreciated, so they were replaced by Zhiyuan notes—to claim Zhiyuan notes will never depreciate is absurd! If you will not reason with me but only try to overwhelm me by rank, is that acceptable!" The man flushed with embarrassment. The emperor at first wished to give Mengfu high office, but critics objected. In the sixth month of year 24 he was appointed director in the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War oversaw the empire's post stations; envoy hospitality costs had risen nearly tenfold, and clerks, unable to meet them, extorted the people until the burden became unbearable, so they asked the Secretariat for increased note allotments. When Zhiyuan currency policy stalled, Liu Xuan of the Ministry and Mengfu were sent post-haste to the south to investigate the regional chief minister for delaying orders, with authority to flog secretariat and circuit officials on the spot. Mengfu carried out the mission but flogged no one on his return, to Sangge's great displeasure.
9
時有王虎臣者，言平江路總管趙全不法，即命虎臣往按之。 葉李執奏不宜遣虎臣，帝不聽，孟頫進曰：「趙全固當問，然虎臣前守此郡，多強買人田，縱賓客為奸利，全數與爭，虎臣怨之。 虎臣往，必將陷全，事縱得實，人亦不能無疑。」 帝悟，乃遣他使。 桑哥鐘初鳴時即坐省中，六曹官後至者，則笞之，孟頫偶後至，斷事官遽引孟頫受笞，孟俯入訴於都堂右丞葉李曰：「古者刑不上大夫，所以養其廉恥，教之節義，且辱士大夫，是辱朝廷也。」 桑哥亟慰孟頫使出，自是所笞，唯曹史以下。 他日，行東御牆外，道險，孟頫馬跌墮於河。 桑哥聞之，言於帝，移築禦牆稍西二丈許。 帝聞孟頫素貧，賜鈔五十錠。
At that time Wang Huchen reported that Zhao Quan, chief administrator of Pingjiang circuit, was corrupt, and the court immediately ordered Wang to investigate. Ye Li memorialized that Wang should not be sent, but the emperor refused to listen. Mengfu said, "Zhao Quan should indeed be investigated, but Wang once governed this circuit, forcibly bought land, and let his clients profit illicitly; he and Zhao Quan clashed repeatedly, and Wang bears a grudge. If Wang is sent he is sure to frame Zhao Quan; even if the charges prove true, people will still doubt the outcome." The emperor understood and sent another investigator instead. Sangge was already at his desk when the first bell rang, and latecomers among the six bureaus were flogged. Mengfu happened to arrive late and was hurried off to be beaten. He appealed to Ye Li: "In antiquity punishment did not reach high officials, so as to preserve their honor and teach them integrity; to humiliate scholar-officials is to humiliate the court itself." Sangge quickly soothed him and sent him out; thereafter only clerks and lower staff were flogged. On another occasion, while traveling along the road outside the eastern palace wall, Mengfu's horse stumbled on the dangerous path and plunged into a river. When Sangge heard of it, he reported to the emperor and had the palace wall moved roughly two zhang to the west. Learning that Mengfu had long lived in poverty, the emperor granted him fifty ingots of paper money.
10
二十七年，遷集賢直學士。 是歲地震，北京尤甚，地陷，黑沙水湧出，人死傷數十萬，帝深憂之。 時駐蹕龍虎台，遣阿剌渾撒里馳還，召集賢、翰林兩院官，詢致災之由。 議者畏忌桑哥，但泛引《經》、傳及五行災異之言，以修人事、應天變為對，莫敢語及時政。 先是，桑哥遣忻都及王濟等理算天下錢糧，已徵入數百萬，未徵者尚數千萬，害民特甚，民不聊生，自殺者相屬，逃山林者，則發兵捕之，皆莫敢沮其事。 孟頫與阿剌渾撒里甚善，勸令奏帝赦天下，盡與蠲除，庶幾天變可弭。 阿剌渾撒里入奏，如孟頫所言，帝從之。 詔草已具，桑哥怒謂必非帝意。 孟頫曰：「凡錢糧未徵者，其人死亡已盡，何所從取？ 非及是時除免之，他日言事者，倘以失陷錢糧數千萬歸咎尚書省，豈不為丞相深累耶！」 桑哥悟，民始獲蘇。
In the twenty-seventh year he was appointed Direct Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies. That year an earthquake struck, Beijing hardest; the ground sank, black sand and water burst forth, and hundreds of thousands were killed or wounded. The emperor was deeply alarmed. The emperor was then encamped at Longhu Platform and sent Araghun Saris riding back in haste to summon Academicians from the Hanlin and Gathered Worthies academies and ask what had caused the disaster. Those who deliberated feared Sangge and would cite only vague passages from the Classics and commentaries about the Five Elements and heavenly omens, advising moral reform to answer heaven's warning—and none dared mention current affairs. Earlier Sangge had dispatched Xindu, Wang Ji, and others to audit land tax and grain levies empire-wide. Hundreds of millions had already been collected, yet tens of millions remained unpaid; the burden on the people was terrible—they could barely survive, suicides came one after another, and those fleeing to the hills were hunted by troops. No one dared stand in the way. Mengfu was close to Araghun Saris and urged him to ask the emperor for a general pardon and full remission of outstanding levies, so that heaven's wrath might perhaps be stilled. Araghun Saris did as Mengfu advised and presented the memorial; the emperor agreed. Once the draft edict was ready, Sangge angrily insisted it could not reflect the emperor's true wishes. Mengfu said, "For all unpaid levies, the debtors are already dead to the last man—where are you going to collect from? If you don't cancel it now, later critics will blame the Ministry of Revenue for losing tens of millions in uncollected revenue—and won't that fall heavily on you as chief counselor?" Sangge saw the point, and the people at last found relief.
11
帝嘗問葉李、留夢炎優劣，孟頫對曰：「夢炎，臣之父執，其人重厚，篤於自信，好謀而能斷，有大臣器； 葉李所讀之書，臣皆讀之，其所知所能，臣皆知之能之。」 帝曰：「汝以夢炎賢於李耶？ 夢炎在宋為狀元，位至丞相，當賈似道誤國罔上，夢炎依阿取容； 李布衣，乃伏闕上書，是賢於夢炎也。 汝以夢炎父友，不敢斥言其非，可賦詩譏之。」 孟頫所賦詩，有「往事已非那可說，且將忠直報皇元」之語，帝歎賞焉。 孟頫退謂奉御徹里曰：「帝論賈似道誤國，責留夢炎不言，桑哥罪甚於似道，而我等不言，他日何以辭其責！ 然我疏遠之臣，言必不聽，侍臣中讀書知義理，慷慨有大節，又為上所親信，無逾公者。 夫損一旦之命，為萬姓除殘賊，仁者之事也。 公必勉之！」 既而徹里至帝前，數桑哥罪惡，帝怒，命衛士批其頰，血涌口鼻，委頓地上。 少間，复呼而問之，對如初。 時大臣亦有繼言者，帝遂按誅桑哥，罷尚書省，大臣多以罪去。
The emperor once asked Mengfu to compare Ye Li and Liu Mengyan. He replied, "Mengyan, a friend of my father Zhao Yuyin, is steady and self-assured, thoughtful yet decisive—he has the makings of a great minister; as for the books Ye Li has read, I have read them all; whatever he knows and can do, I know and can do as well." The emperor said, "Do you think Mengyan is the better man? Mengyan was Song's top examination graduate and rose to chief counselor, yet when Jia Sidao misled the realm and deceived the throne, he fawned and played for favor; Ye Li was only a common scholar, yet he knelt at the palace gate with a memorial—that makes him the worthier man. Because Mengyan was your father's friend you won't speak plainly against him—then write a poem to satirize him instead." Mengfu's poem included the lines, "The past cannot be undone—why speak of it? Let loyalty and integrity repay the Yuan." The emperor sighed in admiration. Afterward Mengfu told the palace attendant Cheli, "The emperor spoke of Jia Sidao's ruin of the state and faulted Liu Mengyan for his silence—but Sangge's crimes exceed Sidao's, and we say nothing. How will we answer for that one day? But I am far from the emperor's inner circle—if I speak, he won't listen. Among the attendants, none reads the classics, knows what's right, has the courage to act on principle, and enjoys the emperor's trust as you do. To risk one's life to rid the people of a tyrant—that is what a man of benevolence should do. You must take this on!" Soon after, Cheli went before the emperor and listed Sangge's crimes. The emperor flew into a rage and had the guards strike his face until blood poured from his nose and mouth and he crumpled to the floor. A little later the emperor summoned him again and questioned him; Cheli answered just as before. Other high officials joined in, and the emperor had Sangge investigated and executed, abolished the Ministry of Revenue, and dismissed many ministers on charges of corruption.
12
帝欲使孟頫與聞中書政事，孟頫固辭，有旨令出入宮門無禁。 每見，必從容語及治道，多所裨益。 帝問：「汝趙太祖孫耶？ 太宗孫耶？」 對曰：「臣太祖十一世孫。」 帝曰：「太祖行事，汝知之乎？」 孟頫謝不知，帝曰：「太祖行事，多可取者，朕皆知之。」 孟頫自念久在上側，必為人所忌，力請補外。 二十九年，出同知濟南路總管府事。 時總管闕，孟頫獨署府事，官事清簡。 有元掀兒者，役於鹽場，不勝艱苦，因逃去。 其父求得他人屍，遂誣告同役者殺掀兒，既誣服。 孟頫疑其冤，留弗決。 踰月，掀兒自歸，郡中稱為神明。 僉廉訪司事韋哈剌哈孫，素苛虐，以孟頫不能承順其意，以事中之。 會修《世祖實錄》，召孟頫還京師，乃解。 久之，遷知汾州，未上，有旨書金字《藏經》，既成，除集賢直學士、江浙等處儒學提舉，遷泰州尹，未上。
The emperor wanted Mengfu involved in central secretariat business, but Mengfu firmly declined. An edict nonetheless granted him unrestricted access through the palace gates. Whenever they met, the emperor would speak at ease about governance, and Mengfu's counsel proved of great benefit. The emperor asked, "Are you descended from Emperor Taizu of Zhao? Or from Emperor Taizong?" He replied, "I am Taizu's eleventh-generation descendant." The emperor asked, "Do you know how Taizu governed?" Mengfu demurred that he did not. The emperor said, "Much of what Taizu did is worth emulating—I know it well." Mengfu worried that staying so long at the emperor's side would invite jealousy, and he pressed hard for a provincial appointment. In the twenty-ninth year he was appointed vice administrator of Jinan circuit. The chief administrator's post was vacant, so Mengfu alone handled the prefecture's affairs, which were few and straightforward. A laborer named Yuan Xian'er, pressed into service at a salt works, could bear the hardship no longer and fled. The father obtained someone else's corpse and falsely accused Xian'er's fellow laborers of murder; they had already been forced to confess. Mengfu suspected a miscarriage of justice and held the case open. A month later Xian'er returned on his own, and the district hailed Mengfu as divinely perceptive. Wei Qalghasun, commissioner of the surveillance commission, was notoriously cruel; resenting Mengfu's refusal to defer to him, he tried to incriminate him on a petty charge. When work began on Emperor Shizu's Veritable Records, Mengfu was recalled to the capital and the charge was dropped. Later he was appointed prefect of Fenzhou but had not yet reported when he was ordered to copy the Buddhist canon in gold ink. When that was finished he was made Direct Academician of Gathered Worthies and Educational Intendant for Jiangzhe, then Prefect of Taizhou—but again he did not take up the appointment.
13
至大三年，召至京師，以翰林侍讀學士，與他學士撰定祀南郊祝文，及擬進殿名，議不合，謁告去。 仁宗在東宮，素知其名，及即位，召除集賢侍講學士、中奉大夫。 延祐元年，改翰林侍講學士，遷集賢侍講學士、資德大夫。 三年，拜翰林學士承旨、榮祿大夫。 帝眷之甚厚，以字呼之而不名。 帝嘗與侍臣論文學之士，以孟頫比唐李白、宋蘇子瞻。 又嘗稱孟頫操履純正，博學多聞，書畫絕倫，旁通佛、老之旨，皆人所不及。 有不悅者間之，帝初若不聞者。 又有上書言國史所載，不宜使孟頫與聞者，帝乃曰：「趙子昂，世祖皇帝所簡拔，朕特優以禮貌，置於館閣，典司述作，傳之後世，此屬呶呶何也！」 俄賜鈔五百錠，謂侍臣曰：「中書每稱國用不足，必持而不與，其以普慶寺別貯鈔給之。」 孟頫嘗累月不至宮中，帝以問左右，皆謂其年老畏寒，敕禦府賜貂鼠裘。
In Zhida 3 he was summoned to the capital as Hanlin Attendant Reader and, with other scholars, drafted the southern suburban sacrifice prayers and proposed names for palace halls; when opinions clashed he asked leave and left. Renzong had known Mengfu's reputation since his days as crown prince; on acceding he appointed him Gathered Worthies Attendant Lecturer and Zhongfeng Grandee. In Yanyou 1 he became Hanlin Attendant Lecturer, then Gathered Worthies Attendant Lecturer with the rank of Zide Grandee. In the third year he was made Hanlin Academician Expositor-in-Chief with the rank of Ronglu Grandee. The emperor favored him deeply and addressed him by his style name rather than his personal name. The emperor once discussed literary giants with his attendants and compared Mengfu to Li Bai of Tang and Su Shi of Song. He also praised Mengfu's moral integrity, vast learning, peerless calligraphy and painting, and grasp of Buddhist and Daoist teaching—surpassing all others. Envious officials tried to turn the emperor against him, but at first he seemed not to notice. When someone memorialized that Mengfu should not be involved in compiling the national history, the emperor said, "Zhao Ziang was personally selected by Kublai; I honor him with special courtesy and place him in the academies to oversee historical writing for posterity—what is all this petty carping!" He soon granted five hundred ingots of paper money, telling his attendants, "The Secretariat always pleads empty coffers and refuses payment—take it from the special store at Puqing Temple." When Mengfu stayed away from court for months, the emperor asked his attendants why; they said the old man feared the cold, and the emperor ordered the imperial wardrobe to send him a sable coat.
14
初，孟頫以程鉅夫薦，起家為郎，及鉅夫為翰林學士承旨，求致仕去，孟頫代之，先往拜其門，而後入院，時人以為衣冠盛事。 六年，得請南歸。 帝遣使賜衣幣，趣之還朝，以疾，不果行。 至治元年，英宗遣使即其家俾書《孝經》。 二年，賜上尊及衣二襲。 是歲六月卒，年六十九。 追封魏國公，諡文敏。
Mengfu had entered service through Cheng Jufu's recommendation; when Jufu retired as Hanlin Expositor-in-Chief, Mengfu succeeded him, first paying a formal visit to Jufu's home before taking his seat—an occasion people hailed as a crowning ritual of scholar-official decorum. In the sixth year he was granted leave to return south. The emperor sent envoys with robes and gifts urging his return, but illness prevented him from going. In Zhizhi 1, Emperor Yingzong sent envoys to his home to have him copy out the Classic of Filial Piety. The following year he received imperial wine and two sets of robes. He died that sixth month at sixty-nine. He was posthumously enfeoffed as Duke of Wei with the posthumous name Wenmin.
15
孟頫所著，有《尚書注》，有《琴原》、《樂原》，得律呂不傳之妙。 詩文清邃奇逸，讀之使人有飄飄出塵之想。 篆、籀、分、隸、真、行、草書，無不冠絕古今，遂以書名天下。 天竺有僧，數万裡來求其書歸，國中寶之。 其畫山水、木石、花竹、人馬，尤精緻。 前史官楊載稱孟頫之才頗為書畫所掩，知其書畫者，不知其文章，知其文章者，不知其經濟之學。 人以為知言云。
Mengfu's writings included a commentary on the Book of Documents, Origins of the Zither and Origins of Music, works that captured the lost subtleties of musical pitch and mode. His poetry and prose were lucid, profound, and wonderfully free; reading them lifts the mind above worldly cares. In seal, great-seal, clerical, official, regular, running, and cursive scripts he stood unmatched in any age, and his name became synonymous with calligraphy throughout the realm. A monk from India traveled tens of thousands of li to obtain his calligraphy and carry it home, where his country treasured it as a treasure. His landscapes, trees and rocks, flowers and bamboo, and figures with horses were especially exquisite. The former historiographer Yang Zai observed that Mengfu's brilliance was largely eclipsed by his calligraphy and painting: admirers of his brushwork overlooked his prose, and readers of his prose overlooked his mastery of statecraft. People judged that a keen observation.
16
子雍、奕，並以書畫知名。
His sons Yong and Yi both became known for calligraphy and painting.
17
鄧文原
Deng Wenyuan
18
鄧文原，字善之，一字匪石，綿州人。 父漳，徙錢塘。 文原年十五，通《春秋》。 在宋時，以流寓試浙西轉運司，魁四川士。 至元二十七年，行中書省辟為杭州路儒學正。 大德二年，調崇德州教授。 五年，擢應奉翰林文字。 九年，升修撰，謁告還江南。 至大元年，復為修撰，預修《成宗實錄》。 三年，授江浙儒學提舉。 皇慶元年，召為國子司業。 至官，首建白更學校之政，當路因循，重於改作，論不合，移病去。 科舉制行，文原校文江浙，慮士守舊習，大書硃熹《貢舉私議》，揭於門。 延祐四年，升翰林待制。 五年，出僉江南浙西道肅政廉訪司事，平江僧有憾其府判官理熙者，賄其徒，告熙贓，熙誣服。 文原行部，按問得實，杖僧而釋熙。 吳興民夜歸，巡邏者執之，系亭下。 其人遁去，有追及之者，刺其脅，僕地。 明旦，家人得之以歸，比死，其兄問殺汝者何如人，曰：「白帽、青衣、長身者也。」 其兄訴於官，有司問直初更者曰張福兒，執之，使服焉。 械系三年，文原錄之曰：「福兒身不滿六尺，未見其長也； 刃傷右脅，而福兒素用左手，傷宜在左，何右傷也！」 鞫之，果得真殺人者，而釋福兒。 桐廬人戴汝惟家被盜，有司得盜，獄成送郡。 夜有焚戴氏廬者，而不知汝惟所之。 文原曰：「此必有故也。」 乃得其妻葉氏與其弟謀殺汝惟狀，而於水涯樹下得屍，與漬血斧俱在焉，人以為神。 六年，移江東道。 徽、寧國、廣德三郡，歲入茶課鈔三千錠，後增至十八萬錠，竭山谷所產，不能充其半，餘皆鑿空取之民間，歲以為常。 時轉運司官聽用鄉里嘩狡，動以犯法誣民，而轉運司得專制有司，凡五品官以下皆杖決，州縣莫敢如何。 文原請罷其專司，俾郡縣領之，不報。 徽民謝蘭家僮汪姓者死，蘭侄回賂汪族人誣蘭殺之，蘭誣服。 文原錄之，得其情，釋蘭而坐回。 時久旱不雨，決獄乃雨。 至治二年，召為集賢直學士，地震，詔議弭災之道。 文原請決滯囚，置倉廩河北，儲羨粟以賑饑； 復申前議，請罷榷茶轉運司，又不報。 明年，兼國子祭酒。 江浙省臣趙簡請開經筵，泰定元年，文原兼經筵官，以疾乞致仕歸。 二年，召拜翰林侍講學士，以疾辭。 四年，拜嶺北湖南道肅政廉訪使，以疾不赴。 天曆元年卒，年七十一。
Deng Wenyuan, styled Shanzi and also known as Feishi, was a native of Mianzhou. His father Zhang moved the family to Qiantang. By fifteen Wenyuan had mastered the Spring and Autumn Annals. Under the Song, though living as a sojourner, he took the examination of the Zhexi Transport Commission and ranked first among candidates from Sichuan. In Zhiyuan 27 the Branch Secretariat appointed him Confucian Administrator of Hangzhou circuit. In Dade 2 he was transferred to serve as instructor in Chongde prefecture. In the fifth year he was promoted to Hanlin Document Attendant. In the ninth year he was promoted to Compiler, then asked leave and returned to Jiangnan. In Zhida 1 he again served as Compiler and helped compile Emperor Chengzong's Veritable Records. In the third year he was appointed Educational Intendant for Jiangzhe. In Huangqing 1 he was summoned to serve as Vice Director of the Directorate of Education. On taking office he immediately proposed reforms to school administration, but local authorities were set in their ways and resisted change; when they could not agree he resigned on grounds of illness. When the civil service examinations were instituted, Wenyuan graded papers in Jiang-Zhe; fearing candidates would cling to old habits, he posted Zhu Xi's Private Opinions on the Examinations in large characters at the gate. In Yanyou 4 he was promoted to Hanlin Drafting Attendant. In the fifth year he was appointed concurrent commissioner of the Jiangnan and Zhexi Surveillance Commission. A Pingjiang monk who resented the prefectural judge Li Xi bribed his followers to accuse Xi of corruption, and Xi was forced to confess. Wenyuan investigated on his tour of duty, established the facts, had the monk flogged, and released Li Xi. A man from Wuxing was returning home at night when patrol guards seized him and tied him beneath a pavilion. The man broke free, but a pursuer caught up and stabbed him in the side, and he collapsed. At dawn his family found him and brought him home. As he lay dying, his elder brother asked what the killer looked like; he said, "A tall man in a white cap and blue robes." His brother reported the crime. Officials questioned the first-watch patrolman, who named Zhang Fu'er; they arrested him and forced a confession. Zhang had been shackled in prison for three years when Wenyuan reviewed the record and wrote, "Fu'er stands less than six chi tall—hardly a tall man; the blade struck the right flank, yet Fu'er is left-handed—the wound should be on the left. Why is it on the right?" On re-examination he found the real killer and released Fu'er. The home of Dai Ruwei of Tonglu was robbed; officials caught a thief, closed the case, and sent it to the prefectural court. That night someone set fire to the Dai family's outbuildings, and no one knew where Ruwei had gone. Wenyuan said, "There must be more to this." He uncovered a plot by Ruwei's wife, née Ye, and her brother to murder him; at the water's edge beneath a tree he found the body and a blood-stained axe. People hailed his judgment as uncanny. In the sixth year he was transferred to the Jiangdong circuit. The three prefectures of Huizhou, Ningguo, and Guangde had once yielded three thousand ingots a year in tea tax revenue; the quota was later raised to one hundred eighty thousand. Even the full output of every mountain valley could not meet half the demand—the rest was conjured from thin air and wrung from the people, year after year. Transport Office officials were permitted to hire local bullies and sharpers, who routinely framed commoners for crimes. The office also wielded unchecked power over the regular bureaucracy: any official of fifth rank or below could be beaten and judged at its command, and no prefecture or county dared resist. Wenyuan petitioned to abolish the monopoly office and restore authority to the prefectures and counties; the court did not reply. In Huizhou, a servant surnamed Wang in Xie Lan's household died. Lan's nephew Hui bribed Wang clansmen to accuse Lan of murder, and Lan confessed under torture. Wenyuan reviewed the case, uncovered the truth, released Lan, and punished Hui. The region had suffered a long drought; rain fell only after he cleared the miscarriage of justice. In the second year of Zhizhi he was summoned to serve as Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies. An earthquake struck, and the throne ordered officials to discuss how calamities might be averted. Wenyuan urged the release of long-detained prisoners, the establishment of granaries north of the Yellow River, and the stockpiling of surplus grain for famine relief; he also renewed his earlier proposal to abolish the tea monopoly and its transport office—and again received no answer. The following year he was additionally appointed Chancellor of the National University. Zhao Jian, a Jiang-Zhe provincial official, petitioned to open the Classic Lecture Hall. In the first year of Taiding, Wenyuan served concurrently as a lecture official; citing illness, he requested retirement and returned home. In the second year he was summoned and appointed Hanlin Lecturing Academician, but declined on grounds of illness. In the fourth year he was appointed Surveillance Commissioner of the Lingbei Hunan Circuit but did not take up the post because of illness. He died in the first year of Tianli, at the age of seventy-one.
19
文原內嚴而外恕，家貧而行廉。 初客京師，有一書生病篤，取橐中金，囑文原以歸其親； 既死，而同舍生竊金去，文原買金償死者家，終身不以語人。 有文集若干卷，內製集若干卷，藏於家。 子衍，廕授江浙等處儒學副提舉，未任，卒。 至順五年，制贈文原江浙行省參知政事，諡文肅。
Wenyuan was strict with himself yet lenient toward others, poor in estate but incorruptible in conduct. When he first lodged in the capital, a fellow scholar fell gravely ill; he took gold from his purse and entrusted it to Wenyuan to deliver to his parents; After the man died, a roommate stole the gold and fled. Wenyuan bought gold with his own money to repay the dead man's family, and never spoke of it for the rest of his life. He left collected writings of several juan and a collection of imperial compositions of several juan, kept in his household. His son Yan received a hereditary appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Confucian Studies for Jiang-Zhe and other regions, but died before taking office. In the fifth year of Zhishun, by imperial decree Wenyuan was posthumously made Vice Administrator of the Jiang-Zhe Branch Secretariat, with the posthumous name Wensu.
20
袁桷，字伯長，慶元人，宋同知樞密院事韶之曾孫。 為童子時，已著聲。 部使者舉茂才異等，起為麗澤書院山長。 大德初，閻复、程文海、王構薦為翰林國史院檢閱官。 時初建南郊，桷進十議曰：「天無二日，天既不得有二，五帝不得謂之天，作《昊天五帝議》。 祭天歲或為九，或為二，作《祭天名數議》。 圜丘不見於《五經》，郊不見於《周官》，作《圜丘非郊議》。 后土，社也，作《后土即社議》。 三歲一郊，非古也，作《祭天無間歲議》。 燔柴見於古經，《周官》以禋祀為天，其義各有旨，作《燔柴泰壇議》。 祭天之牛角繭栗，有牲於郊，牛二，合配而言之，增群祀而合祠，非周公之制矣，作《郊不當立從祀議》。 郊，質而尊之義也，明堂，文而親之義也，作《郊明堂禮儀異制議》。 郊用辛，魯禮也，卜不得常為辛，作《郊非辛日議》。 北郊不見於《三禮》，尊地而遵北郊，鄭玄之說也，作《北郊議》。」 禮官推其博，多采用之。 升應奉翰林文字、同知制誥，兼國史院編修官，請購求遼、金、宋三史遺書。 歷兩考，遷待制。 又再任，拜集賢直學士。 久之，移疾去官。 复仍以直學士召入集賢，未幾，改翰林直學士、知制誥同修國史。 至治元年，遷侍講學士。 泰定初，辭歸。
Yuan Jue, styled Bochang, was a native of Qingyuan and the great-grandson of Shao, who had served the Song as Vice Director of the Privy Council. Even as a boy he was already widely known. A regional commissioner recommended him as an outstanding talent of exceptional grade, and he was appointed headmaster of Lizhe Academy. Early in the Dade reign, Yan Fu, Cheng Wenhai, and Wang Gou recommended him for appointment as Reviewer of the Hanlin National History Academy. When the southern suburban altar was first under construction, Jue submitted ten memorials, writing: "Heaven has no second sun; if Heaven cannot be duplicated, the Five Emperors cannot be called Heaven" — in his "Memorial on August Heaven and the Five Emperors. Some years Heaven is sacrificed to nine times, others only twice" — in his "Memorial on the Names and Numbers of Heaven Sacrifices. The Round Mound appears nowhere in the Five Classics, nor the Suburban sacrifice in the Offices of Zhou" — in his "Memorial that the Round Mound Is Not the Suburban Sacrifice. Empress Earth is the soil altar" — in his "Memorial that Empress Earth Is the Soil Altar. A suburban sacrifice only once every three years is not the ancient way" — in his "Memorial Against Gaps in Annual Heaven Sacrifice. Burning firewood appears in the ancient classics, while the Offices of Zhou treats smoke sacrifice as Heaven — each rite has its own intent" — in his "Memorial on Burning Firewood at the Grand Altar. For Heaven sacrifice the ox's horn should be small as a silkworm cocoon; a single victim at the suburban rite, two oxen only when speaking of joint matching sacrifice — to add group sacrifices and combine temples is not the Duke of Zhou's system" — in his "Memorial That Suburban Sacrifice Should Not Establish Accompanying Sacrifices. The suburban rite embodies substance and reverence; the Bright Hall embodies culture and intimacy" — in his "Memorial on the Separate Institutions of Suburban and Bright Hall Rituals. Using a xin day for the suburban sacrifice is the rite of Lu; divination cannot always yield xin" — in his "Memorial That Suburban Sacrifice Should Not Be Confined to Xin Days. The northern suburb appears nowhere in the Three Rites; honoring earth through a northern suburban rite is Zheng Xuan's doctrine" — in his "Memorial on the Northern Suburb." The ritual officials admired his learning and largely adopted his proposals. He was promoted to Attendant Literary Official of the Hanlin and Deputy Director of Edicts, while also serving as Compiler of the National History Academy; he petitioned to purchase surviving books for the histories of Liao, Jin, and Song. After two performance reviews he was transferred to Drafting Academician. After two further terms he was appointed Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies. After some time he resigned from office, citing illness. He was again summoned as Academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies; before long he was transferred to Hanlin Academician, Director of Edicts, and joint compiler of the National History. In the first year of Zhizhi he was transferred to Lecturing Academician. Early in the Taiding reign he resigned and returned home.
21
桷在詞林，朝廷制冊、勳臣碑銘，多出其手。 所著有《易說》、《春秋說》、《清容居士集》。 泰定四年卒，年六十一。 贈中奉大夫、江浙等處行中書省參知政事、護軍，追封陳留郡公，諡文清。
While Jue served in the Hanlin, most court decrees and commemorative stele inscriptions for meritorious ministers came from his brush. His writings included Exposition on the Changes, Exposition on the Spring and Autumn Annals, and the Qingrong Jushi Collection. He died in the fourth year of Taiding, at the age of sixty-one. He was posthumously granted the title Grand Master for Court Audience, made Vice Administrator of the Jiang-Zhe Branch Secretariat and Defender of the Army, enfeoffed as Duke of Chenliu, and given the posthumous name Wenqing.
22
曹元用
Cao Yuanyong
23
曹元用，字子貞，世居阿城，後徙汶上。 祖義，不仕。 父宗輔，德清縣主簿。 元用資禀俊爽，幼嗜書，一經目，輒成誦。 每夜讀書，常達曙不寐。 父憂其致疾，止之，輒以衣蔽窗默觀之。 始以鎮江路儒學正考滿遊京師。 翰林承旨閻复，於四方士少所許可，及見元用，出所為文示之，元用輒指其疵，復大奇之，因薦為翰林國史院編修官。 即論史院僚屬非材，請較試，取其優者用之。 御史臺辟為掾史。 元用初不習吏事，而見事明決，吏反師之。 轉中書省右司掾，與清河元明善、濟南張養浩同時號為三俊。 除應奉翰林文字，遷禮部主事。 時累朝皇后既崩者，猶以名稱，而未有諡號。 元用言：「後為天下母，豈可直稱其名。 宜加徽號，以彰懿德。」 改尚書省右司都事，轉員外郎。 及尚書省罷，退居任城，久之，齊、魯間從學者甚眾。
Cao Yuanyong, styled Zizhen, came from a family that had long lived in Acheng and later moved to Wenshang. His grandfather Yi never entered official service. His father Zongfu served as Recorder of Deqing County. Yuanyong was gifted with a sharp and open nature; from childhood he loved books, and after a single reading he could recite a text from memory. He read every night, often until dawn without sleeping. His father, fearing illness, forbade him; he would cover the window with clothing and read in secret. He first traveled to the capital after completing his term as Director of Confucian Studies for Zhenjiang Circuit. Hanlin Chancellor Yan Fu rarely praised scholars from anywhere in the realm; when he met Yuanyong and showed him his own writings, Yuanyong at once pointed out their flaws. Fu was deeply impressed and recommended him as Compiler of the Hanlin National History Academy. He then argued that many staff of the History Academy were unqualified, and petitioned for competitive examinations so that only the best might serve. The Censorate recruited him as a clerk. Yuanyong had no prior training in clerical work, yet saw affairs clearly and decided them firmly; the clerks in turn took him as their teacher. He was transferred to clerk of the Right Branch of the Central Secretariat and, together with Yuan Mingshan of Qinghe and Zhang Yanghao of Jinan, was known at the time as one of the Three Outstanding Men. He was appointed Attendant Literary Official of the Hanlin and then transferred to Director of the Ministry of Rites. At the time, deceased empresses of successive reigns were still referred to by their personal names, without posthumous honorific titles. Yuanyong said: "An empress is mother of the realm — how can one address her by personal name alone? Honorific titles should be added to display their virtuous merit. He was transferred to Director of the Right Branch of the Ministry of Revenue and then promoted to Vice Director. When the Ministry of Revenue was abolished, he retired to Rencheng; in time he drew a great many students from Qi and Lu.
24
延祐六年，授太常禮儀院經歷。 屬英宗躬修祀事，銳意禮樂，其親祀儀注、鹵簿輿服之制，率所裁定。 初，太廟九室，合饗於一殿，仁宗崩，無室可祔，乃於武宗室前，結彩為次。 英宗在上京，召禮官集議，元用言：「古者宗廟有寢有室，宜以今室為寢，當更營大殿於前，為十五室。」 帝嘉其議，授翰林待制，升直學士。
In the sixth year of Yanyou he was appointed Manager of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Emperor Yingzong personally oversaw sacrificial affairs and was devoted to ritual and music; Yuanyong largely determined the protocols for the emperor's personal sacrifices and the regulations for guard of honor, carriages, and ceremonial dress. Originally the Grand Ancestral Temple had nine chambers with combined offerings in one hall. When Renzong died there was no chamber in which to enshrine him, so a colored canopy was erected before Wuzong's chamber as a temporary place. Yingzong was at Shangdu and summoned ritual officials to confer. Yuanyong said: "In antiquity the ancestral temple had both sleeping quarters and offering chambers. The present chambers should serve as sleeping quarters, and a new grand hall should be built in front with fifteen chambers. The emperor approved his proposal, appointed him Hanlin Drafting Academician, and promoted him to Academician.
25
至治三年八月，鐵失之變，賊黨赤斤鐵木兒遽至京師，收百司印，趣召兩院學士北上。 元用獨不行，曰：「此非常之變，吾寧死，不可曲從也。」 未幾，賊果敗，人皆稱其有先見之明。
In the eighth month of the third year of Zhizhi, during the Tiezhi uprising, the rebel Chijin Temur suddenly reached the capital, seized the seals of every office, and urgently summoned the academicians of both Hanlin academies northward. Yuanyong alone refused to go, saying: "This is no ordinary crisis; I would rather die than submit to it. Before long the rebels were indeed defeated, and all praised his foresight.
26
泰定二年，授太子贊善，轉禮部尚書，兼經筵官，及大朝會，為糾儀官，申卷班之令。 俾以序退，無爭門而出之擾。 又謂太醫、儀鳳、教坊等官，不當序正班，當自為一列，後皆行之。 時宰執有欲罷科舉法者，元用以為「國家文治，正在於此，胡可罷也」。 又有欲損太廟四時之享、止存冬祭者，元用謂：「禴祠嘗烝，四時之享，不可闕一，乃經禮之大者，其可惜費而廢禮乎！」 三年夏，帝以日食、地震、星變，詔議所以弭災者，元用謂：「應天以實不以文，修德明政，應天之實也。 宜撙浮費，節財用，選守令，卹貧民，嚴禋祀，汰佛事，止造作以紓民力，慎賞罰以示勸懲。」 皆切中時弊。 又論科舉取士之法，當革冒濫，嚴考核，俾得真才之用。 議上，朝廷咸是之。 拜中奉大夫、翰林侍講學士，兼經筵官，預修仁宗、英宗兩朝實錄。 又奉旨纂集甲令為《通制》，譯唐《貞觀政要》為國語。 書成，皆行於時。 凡大制誥，率元用所草。 文宗時，草寬卹之詔，帝覽而善之，賜金織文錦。
In the second year of Taiding he was appointed Tutor to the Crown Prince, then transferred to Minister of Rites and also served as a Classic Lecture official. At great court assemblies he served as ritual correction officer, enforcing the order to withdraw in ranks. Officials withdrew in proper order, without the disorder of crowding the gates. He also argued that officials of the Imperial Medical Service, Ceremonial Music Office, and Training Bureau should not stand in the regular court ranks but in a separate column; this was later adopted. Some chief ministers at the time wished to abolish the civil service examinations; Yuanyong declared that "the state's civil governance rests precisely on this — how can it be abolished?" Others proposed reducing the Grand Temple's four seasonal offerings to winter sacrifice alone. Yuanyong said: "The spring, summer, autumn, and winter offerings — not one of the four seasonal sacrifices may be omitted; they are among the greatest rites of the classics. Can expense justify abandoning ritual? In the summer of the third year, after a solar eclipse, earthquakes, and celestial anomalies, the emperor ordered discussion of how to avert calamity. Yuanyong said: "Heaven is answered with substance, not show; cultivating virtue and governing well is the substance of answering Heaven. Extravagant spending should be cut, finances conserved, prefects and magistrates carefully chosen, the poor relieved, sacrificial rites strictly observed, Buddhist ceremonies reduced, construction halted to ease the people's burden, and rewards and punishments applied with care to encourage virtue and warn against wrong. Every proposal struck directly at the abuses of the age. He also argued that the examination system for selecting officials should be reformed to eliminate abuse, tighten evaluation, and ensure that true talent was employed. When his memorials were submitted, the court approved them all. He was appointed Grand Master for Court Audience and Hanlin Lecturing Academician, also serving as a Classic Lecture official, and participated in compiling the Veritable Records of the Renzong and Yingzong reigns. He also received orders to compile statutes into the Comprehensive Regulations and to translate the Tang Zhenguan Political Essentials into the national language. When the works were completed, all were put into effect. Major imperial edicts were mostly drafted by Yuanyong. During the reign of Wenzong he drafted an edict granting relief and clemency; the emperor read it with approval and bestowed gold-woven brocade.
27
天曆二年，代祀曲阜孔子廟。 還，以司寇像及代祀記獻，帝甚喜。 值太禧宗禋院副使缺，中書奏以元用為之，帝不允曰：「此人翰林中所不可無者，將大用之矣。」 會卒，帝嗟悼久之，謂侍臣曰：「曹子貞盡忠宣力，今亡矣，可賜賻鈔五千緡。」 贈政奉大夫、江浙等處行中書省參知政事、護軍，追封東平郡公，諡文獻。 詩文四十卷，號《超然集》。 二子：偉，儀。
In the second year of Tianli he was deputized to perform sacrifice at the Confucius Temple in Qufu. On his return he presented a portrait of Confucius as Minister of Crime and a record of the deputized sacrifice; the emperor was greatly pleased. When the post of Vice Commissioner of the Court of Imperial Ancestor Sacrifices fell vacant, the Central Secretariat memorialized to appoint Yuanyong; the emperor refused, saying: "This man is indispensable to the Hanlin; greater appointments await him. Soon afterward Yuanyong died. The emperor mourned him at length and told his attendants: "Cao Zizhen served loyally with all his strength; now he is gone. Grant five thousand strings of burial money. He was posthumously granted the title Grand Master for Advancing Governance, made Vice Administrator of the Jiang-Zhe Branch Secretariat and Defender of the Army, enfeoffed as Duke of Dongping, and given the posthumous name Wenxian. His poetry and prose, forty juan in all, were collected under the title Chaoran Collection. He had two sons: Wei and Yi.
28
齊履謙
Qi Luqian
29
齊履謙，字伯恆，父義，善算術。 履謙生六歲，從父至京師； 七歲讀書，一過即能記憶； 年十一，教以推步星曆，盡曉其法； 十三，從師，聞聖賢之學。 自是以窮理為務，非洙、泗、伊、洛之書不讀。 至元十六年，初立太史局，改治新歷，履謙補星曆生。 同輩皆司天台官子，太史王恂問以算數，莫能對，履謙獨隨問隨答，恂大奇之。 新歷既成，复預修《曆經》、《曆議》。 二十九年，授星曆教授。 都城刻漏，舊以木為之，其形如碑，故名碑漏，內設曲筒，鑄銅為丸，自碑首轉行而下，鳴鐃以為節，其漏經久廢壞，晨昏失度。 大德元年，中書俾履謙視之，因見刻漏旁有宋舊銅壺四，於是按圖考定蓮花、寶山等漏制，命工改作，又請重建鼓樓，增置更鼓並守漏卒，當時遵用之。 二年，遷保章正，始專歷官之政。 三年八月朔，時加巳，依歷，日蝕二分有奇，至其時，不蝕，眾皆懼，履謙曰：「當蝕不蝕，在古有之，矧時近午，陽盛陰微，宜當蝕不蝕。」 遂考唐開元以來當蝕不蝕者凡十事以聞。 六年六月朔，時加戌，依歷，日蝕五十七秒。 眾以涉交既淺，且復近濁，欲匿不報。 履謙曰：「吾所掌者，常數也，其食與否，則係於天。」 獨以狀聞。 及其時，果食。 眾嘗爭沒日不能決，履謙曰：「氣本十五日，而間有十六日者，餘分之積也。 故曆法以所積之日，命為沒日，不出本氣者為是。」 眾服其議。
Qi Luqian, styled Boheng, was the son of Yi, who was skilled in mathematics. Luqian was six when he accompanied his father to the capital; at seven he began to read, and after a single pass he could memorize what he had read; at eleven he was taught astronomical calendrical calculation and mastered the methods entirely; At thirteen he became a pupil and began to study the learning of the sages. From then on he devoted himself to investigating principle, and would read nothing except the works of the Confucian and Neo-Confucian masters associated with Zhou, Si, Yi, and Luo. In the sixteenth year of Zhiyuan, when the Grand Astrologer Bureau was first established to compile a new calendar, Luqian was appointed a student of star-calendars. His peers were all sons of Bureau of Astronomy officials. When Grand Astrologer Wang Xun questioned them on mathematics, none could answer, but Luqian replied to each question as it came, and Xun was deeply impressed. After the new calendar was completed, he also took part in compiling the Calendar Classic and Calendar Discourse. In the twenty-ninth year he was appointed Instructor in Star-Calendars. The capital clepsydra had formerly been made of wood. Shaped like a stele, it was called the stele clepsydra. Inside were curved tubes and copper balls cast to roll down from the top of the stele, while cymbals sounded the beats. The device had long fallen into disrepair, and the hours of dawn and dusk were no longer kept correctly. In the first year of Dade the Secretariat sent Luqian to inspect it. He noticed four old Song copper clepsydra vessels beside the stele clepsydra, consulted the drawings to verify the Lotus, Baoshan, and other designs, and ordered craftsmen to remake them. He also requested rebuilding the drum tower and adding watch drums and clepsydra guards, all of which was then put into use. In the second year he was transferred to Director of the Bureau of Astronomy and began to devote himself entirely to calendrical administration. On the first day of the eighth month of the third year, at the si hour, the calendar predicted a solar eclipse of slightly more than two-tenths. When the moment came there was no eclipse, and all were alarmed. Luqian said, "An expected eclipse that fails to occur has happened in antiquity. Moreover the time was near noon, when yang flourishes and yin is faint — it was fitting that the eclipse should not occur. He then researched ten instances since the Tang Kaiyuan era in which an expected eclipse had failed to occur and reported them to the throne. On the first day of the sixth month of the sixth year, at the xu hour, the calendar predicted a solar eclipse of fifty-seven seconds. The others, thinking the lunar crossing too shallow and the sun too near the horizon haze, wished to suppress the prediction and not report it. Luqian said, "What I am responsible for is the regular calculation; whether an eclipse occurs depends on Heaven. He alone reported it by memorial. When the time came, the eclipse occurred as predicted. The group once disputed the reckoning of hidden days and could not settle the matter. Luqian said, "A qi normally has fifteen days, yet sometimes there are sixteen — this is the accumulation of fractional days. Calendrical method therefore names the accumulated days as the hidden day; so long as one does not exceed the original qi, the reckoning is correct. The group accepted his reasoning.
30
七年八月戊申夜，地大震，詔問致災之由及弭災之道，履謙按《春秋》言：「地為陰而主靜，妻道、臣道、子道也，三者失其道，則地為之弗寧。 弭之之道，大臣當反躬責己，去專制之威，以答天變，不可徒為禳禱也。」 時成宗寢疾，宰臣有專威福者，故履謙言及之。 九年冬，始立南郊，禮昊天上帝，履謙攝司天台官。 舊制，享祀，司天雖掌時刻，無鐘鼓更漏，往往至旦始行事。 履謙白宰執，請用鐘鼓更漏，俾早晏有節，從之。 至大二年，太常請修社稷壇，及浚太廟庭中井。 或以歲君所直，欲止其役，履謙曰：「國家以四海為家，歲君豈專在是！」 三年，升授時郎秋官正，兼領冬官正事。 四年，仁宗即位，嘉尚儒術。 台臣言履謙有學行，可教國學子弟，擢國子監丞，改授奉直大夫、國子司業，與吳澄並命，時號得人。 每五鼓入學，風雨寒暑，未嘗少怠，其教養有法，諸生皆畏服。 未幾，復以履謙僉太史院事。 皇慶二年春，彗星出東井。 履謙奏宜增修善政以答天意，因陳時務八事。 仁宗為之動容，顧宰臣命速行之。 自履謙去國學，吳澄亦移病歸，學制稍為之廢。 延祐元年，詔擇善教者，於是復以履謙為國子司業。 履謙律己益嚴，教道益張，每齋置伴讀一人為長，雖助教闕員，而諸生講授不絕。 時初命國子生歲貢六人，以入學先後為次第，履謙曰：「不考其業，何以興善而得人！」 乃酌舊制，立昇齋、積分等法：每季考其學行，以次遞升，既升上齋，又必逾再歲，始與私試； 孟月仲月試經疑經義，季月試古賦詔誥章表策，蒙古、色目試明經策問； 辭理俱優者一分，辭平理優者為半分，歲終積至八分者充高等，以四十人為額； 然後集賢、禮部定其藝業及格者六人，以充歲貢； 三年不通一經，及在學不滿一歲者，並黜之。 帝從其議，自是人人勵志，多文學之士。 五年，出為濱州知州，丁母憂，不果行。
On the night of wushen in the eighth month of the seventh year a great earthquake struck. An edict asked the cause of the calamity and the means of quelling it. Luqian cited the Spring and Autumn Annals, saying, "Earth is yin and presides over stillness — the way of wife, minister, and child. When these three lose their proper course, the earth is disturbed. The way to quell it is for great ministers to turn inward and blame themselves, set aside autocratic severity, and answer Heaven's warning — not merely to perform exorcistic prayers. At the time Chengzong lay gravely ill, and among the chief ministers was one who monopolized power and favor — hence Luqian's remark. In the winter of the ninth year the Southern Suburban Altar was first established to sacrifice to August Heaven, and Luqian served as acting Bureau of Astronomy officer. Under the old system, although the Bureau of Astronomy managed the hours at sacrifices, there were no bell-drums or watch clepsydra, and ceremonies often did not begin until dawn. Luqian informed the chief executives and requested bell-drums and a watch clepsydra so that early and late would be properly measured; they agreed. In the second year of Zhide the Court of Imperial Sacrifices requested repairs to the altar of soil and grain and dredging of the well in the Grand Ancestral Temple courtyard. Some, citing the year's astral patron, wished to halt the work. Luqian said, "The state takes all within the Four Seas as its home — how could the year's patron be confined to this place alone! In the third year he was promoted to Autumn Bureau Director of the Directorate of Astronomy, concurrently managing Winter Bureau affairs. In the fourth year Renzong acceded to the throne and prized Confucian learning. Censorate officials reported that Luqian possessed learning and conduct fit to instruct Imperial Academy students. He was promoted to Deputy Director of the National University, then appointed Granting Directness Grand Master and Vice Chancellor of the National University together with Wu Cheng — at the time regarded as an excellent choice of men. Every day at the fifth watch he entered the academy. Through wind, rain, cold, and heat he never slackened. His teaching and nurture were methodical, and the students all feared and respected him. Before long Luqian was again appointed Concurrent Administrator of the Astronomical Academy. In the spring of the second year of Huangqing a comet appeared in the Well constellation. Luqian memorialized that good governance should be strengthened to answer Heaven's intent, and set forth eight matters of current affairs. Renzong was visibly moved and, turning to the chief ministers, ordered the proposals carried out at once. After Luqian left the Imperial Academy, Wu Cheng also took leave on grounds of illness and returned home, and the academy system was somewhat neglected. In the first year of Yanyou an edict called for selecting good teachers, and Luqian was again appointed Vice Chancellor of the National University. Luqian disciplined himself ever more strictly and spread his teaching ever more broadly. In each dormitory he placed one reading companion as head, and though assistant instructor posts stood vacant, the students' lectures never ceased. At the time six National University students were first appointed for annual tribute, ranked simply by order of enrollment. Luqian said, "If their achievement is not examined, how can good be cultivated and worthy men obtained! He then drew on old regulations and established methods of rising dormitories and accumulating points: each season students' learning and conduct were examined for successive promotion; once promoted to the upper dormitory they had to pass two more years before taking private examinations; In the first and second months of each season they were tested on difficult passages and the meaning of the classics; in the third month on ancient-style prose, edicts, memorials, formal documents, and policy essays; Mongols and Semuren on classics-and-meaning policy questions; Those excellent in both diction and reasoning received one point; those average in diction but excellent in reasoning received half a point; at year's end those who accumulated eight points ranked high, with a quota of forty; Then the Hanlin Academy and Ministry of Rites determined those whose arts qualified, and six were chosen to fill the annual tribute; Those who after three years had not mastered one classic, and those who had been in the academy less than one year, were all dismissed. The emperor accepted his proposal, and from then on everyone exerted themselves, producing many men of letters. In the fifth year he was appointed Prefect of Binzhou, but his mother died and he entered mourning, so he never took up the post.
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至治元年，拜太史院使。 泰定二年九月，以本官奉使宣撫江西、福建，黜罷官吏之貪污者四百餘人，蠲免括地虛加糧數万石，州縣以先賢子孫充房夫諸役者悉罷遣之。 福建憲司職田，每畝歲輸米三石，民不勝苦。 履謙命準令輸之，由是召怨，及還京，憲司果誣以他事。 未幾，誣履謙者皆坐事免，履謙始得直，復為太史院使。 天曆二年九月卒。
In the first year of Zhizhi he was appointed Director of the Astronomical Academy. In the ninth month of the second year of Taiding, in his existing capacity he was sent as Pacification Commissioner to Jiangxi and Fujian. He dismissed more than four hundred corrupt officials, remitted tens of thousands of shi of falsely levied land-assessment grain, and in prefectures and counties released all those forced to serve as corvée laborers because they were descendants of former sages. The Fujian Censorate's official fields required three shi of rice per mu each year, a burden the people could not bear. Luqian ordered payment according to statute, thereby incurring resentment. When he returned to the capital, the Censorate falsely accused him on other grounds. Before long those who had falsely accused Luqian were all dismissed for offenses; Luqian was finally cleared and restored as Director of the Astronomical Academy. He died in the ninth month of the second year of Tianli.
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履謙篤學勤苦，家貧無書。 及為星曆生，在太史局，會秘書監輦亡宋故書，留置本院，因晝夜諷誦，深究自得，故其學博洽精通，自六經、諸史、天文、地理、禮樂、律曆，下至陰陽五行、醫藥、卜筮，無不淹貫，尤精經籍。 著《大學四傳小注》一卷，《中庸章句續解》一卷，《論語言仁通旨》二卷，《書傳詳說》一卷，《易繫辭旨略》二卷，《易本說》四卷，《春秋諸國統紀》六卷。 以皇極之名見於《洪範》，皇極之數始於邵氏《經世書》，數非極也，特寓其數極耳，著《經世書入式》一卷； 《經世書》有內、外篇，內篇則因極而明數，外篇則由數而會極，著《外篇微旨》一卷。 《授時曆》行五十年，未嘗推考，履謙日測晷景，並晨昏五星宿度，自至治三年冬至至泰定二年夏至，天道加時真數，各減見行曆書二刻，著《二至晷景考》二卷。 《授時曆》雖有經、串，而經以著定法，串以紀成數，然求其法之所以然、數之所從出，則略而不載，作《經串演撰八法》一卷。 元立國百有餘年，而郊廟之樂，沿襲宋、金，未有能正之者。 履謙謂樂本於律，律本於氣，而氣候之法，具載前史，可擇僻地為密室，取金門之竹及河內葭莩候之，上可以正雅樂、薦郊廟、和神人，下可以同度量、平物貨、厚風俗。 列其事上之。 又得黑石古律管一，長尺有八寸，外方，內為圓空，中有隔，隔中有小竅，蓋以通氣； 隔上九寸，其空均直，約徑三分，以應黃鐘之數； 隔下九寸，其空自小竅迤殺至管底，約徑二寸餘，蓋以聚其氣而上之。 其制與律家所說不同，蓋古所謂玉律者是也。 適遷他官，事遂寢，有志者深惜之。 至順三年五月，贈翰林學士、資善大夫、上護軍，追封汝南郡公，諡文懿。
Luqian was deeply devoted to learning and endured hardship in his studies; his family was poor and owned no books. When he became a star-calendar student at the Grand Astrologer Bureau, the Secretariat happened to transport old Song books and left them at the bureau. He recited them day and night, investigating deeply until he mastered them for himself. His learning became broad, thorough, and penetrating — from the Six Classics and various histories through astronomy, geography, ritual, music, pitch pipes, and calendrics, down to yin-yang, the five phases, medicine, and divination, nothing escaped his grasp — and he was especially refined in the classics. He authored the Small Commentary on the Four Commentaries of the Great Learning, one juan; Continued Explication of the Doctrine of the Mean, one juan; Comprehensive Purpose of Ren in the Analects, two juan; Detailed Explanation of the Book of Documents, one juan; Essential Outline of the Appended Remarks on the Changes, two juan; Original Explanation of the Changes, four juan; and Comprehensive Chronicle of the States in the Spring and Autumn, six juan. The name Supreme Ultimate appears in the Hong Fan; the numbers of the Supreme Ultimate begin in Shao Yong's Classic of the Ages. Numbers are not the Ultimate itself — they merely embody the Ultimate in number — and he authored Introduction to the Classic of the Ages, one juan; The Classic of the Ages has inner and outer sections: the inner section proceeds from the Ultimate to clarify numbers, and the outer section proceeds from numbers to converge on the Ultimate. He authored Subtle Purpose of the Outer Section, one juan. The Season-Granting Calendar had been in use for fifty years without recalculation. Luqian measured gnomon shadows daily, together with the positions of the five planets and lodge degrees at dawn and dusk. From the winter solstice of the third year of Zhizhi to the summer solstice of the second year of Taiding, he determined the true numbers of celestial motion added to the hours, each reducing the current calendar by two quarters, and authored Examination of Gnomon Shadows at the Two Solstices, two juan. Although the Season-Granting Calendar has a main text and auxiliary strings — the main text setting fixed methods and the auxiliary strings recording completed numbers — it omits the reasons the methods are as they are and the sources from which the numbers arise. He composed Eight Methods of Elaborating the Main Text and Auxiliary Strings, one juan. The Yuan had been established for more than a hundred years, yet the music of the suburban and temple sacrifices still followed Song and Jin and no one had been able to correct it. Luqian held that music is rooted in pitch pipes and pitch pipes in qi, and that the methods for observing seasonal qi are fully recorded in earlier histories. One could select a secluded place for a sealed chamber, take bamboo from Jin Gate and reed-foetus from Hedong, and observe them — thereby correcting elegant music above, presenting it at suburban and temple sacrifices, and harmonizing spirits and men, and below unifying measures, leveling goods and currency, and enriching customs. He set forth the proposal and submitted it to the throne. He also obtained an ancient black-stone pitch pipe one chi and eight cun long, square on the outside and hollow and round within, with a partition inside and a small aperture in the partition, presumably to vent the qi; Above the partition was nine cun; its hollow was uniform and straight, approximately three fen in diameter, corresponding to the number of the yellow bell; Below the partition was nine cun; its hollow tapered gradually from the small aperture to the bottom of the tube, approximately a little more than two cun in diameter, presumably to gather the qi and send it upward. Its design differed from what pitch specialists describe and was presumably the so-called jade pitch pipe of antiquity. Just then he was transferred to another office, and the matter was shelved — to the deep regret of men of purpose. In the fifth month of the third year of Zhishun he was posthumously granted Hanlin Academician, Charitable Grand Master, and Senior Guardian General; posthumously enfeoffed Duke of Runan Commandery; posthumous title Wanyi.