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呂思誠
Lu Sicheng
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呂思誠，字仲實，平定州人。 六世祖宗禮，金進士，遼州司戶。 宗禮生仲堪，亦舉進士。 仲堪生時敏，時敏生釗，為千夫長，死國事。 釗生德成，德成生允，卒平定知州致仕，思誠父也。 母馮氏，夢一丈夫，烏巾、白襴衫、紅鞓束帶，趨而揖曰：「我文昌星也。」 及寤，思誠生，目有神光，見者異之。 及長，從蕭學治經。 已而入國子學為陪堂生，試國子伴讀，中其選。 擢泰定元年進士第，授同知遼州事，未赴。 丁內艱。 改景州蓚縣尹。 差民戶為三等，均其徭役； 刻孔子像，令社學祀事； 每歲春行田，樹畜勤敏者，賞以農器，人爭趨事，地無遺力。 民石安兒等，流離積年，至是，聞風復業。 印識文簿，畀社長藏之，季月報縣，不孝弟、不事生業者，悉書之，罰其輸作。 胥吏至社者，何人用飲食若干，多者責償其直。 豪猾者竄名職田戶，思誠盡祛其弊。 天歷兵興，豫貸鈔於富民，令下造軍器，事皆先集，民用不擾。 於後得官價，亟以還民。 翟彝自其大父因河南亂，被掠為人奴，歲納丁粟以免作。 思誠知彝力學，如其主與之約，終彝身粟三十石，仍代之輸，彝得為良民。 他日買羊，劉智社民李，持酒來見，訴其弟匿羊，思誠叱之退。 王青兄弟四人，友愛彌篤，思誠至其家，取酒勸酬，歡同骨肉。 李之兄弟相謂曰：「我等終不敢見尹矣。」 各具酒食相切責，悔前過，析居三十年，復還同爨。 鎮民張復，叔母孀居，且瞽，丐食以活，恐思誠聞之，即日迎養。 思誠憐其貧，令為媒互人以養之。 天旱，道士持青蛇，曰盧師谷小青，謂龍也，禱之即雨。 思誠以其惑人，殺蛇，逐道士，雨亦隨至，遂有年。 縣多淫祠，動以百餘計，刑牲以祭者無虛日，思誠悉命毀之，唯存江都相董仲舒祠。
Lu Sicheng, whose style was Zhongshi, came from Pingding Prefecture. Six generations back, his ancestor Zongli had passed the Jin civil examination and served as household registrar of Liaozhou. Zongli's son Zhongkan also became a jinshi. Zhongkan's son Shimin had a son Zhao, a chiliarch who died in the state's service. Zhao's son Decheng had a son Yun, who ended his days as retired prefect of Pingding; he was Sicheng's father. His mother Lady Feng dreamed of a man in a black headcloth, white ramie shirt, and red sash who came forward, bowed, and said, "I am the Wenchang star." When she woke, Sicheng was born. His eyes held an uncanny gleam, and everyone who saw him thought it remarkable. As he grew up, he studied the classics under Xiao Ce. He then entered the Directorate of Education as an attendant student, sat for the companion-reader examination, and passed. In the first year of the Taiding reign he took the jinshi degree and was appointed associate administrator of Liaozhou, but never went to take up the post. He went into mourning for his mother. He was reassigned as magistrate of Diu County in Jing Prefecture. He divided households into three grades and equalized their labor and tax burdens; he had a statue of Confucius carved and ordered the village schools to maintain sacrifices; each spring he toured the fields and rewarded those diligent in planting and stock-raising with farm tools; people rushed to do the work, and no land was left idle. Shi An'er and others among the people had been uprooted for years; now, hearing of his reforms, they came home and took up their trades again. He printed sealed registers for village heads to keep; each quarter they reported to the magistrate, and anyone unfilial, unbrotherly, or neglecting his livelihood was recorded and fined with corvée labor. When yamen clerks visited a village, every meal they took was logged; if the tally was too high, the clerk had to pay it back. Powerful schemers had slipped their names onto the rolls of official-field households; Sicheng swept those abuses away. When war broke out in the Tiansli era, he advanced paper notes to wealthy households and ordered them to forge weapons; everything was ready ahead of time, and ordinary people were left undisturbed. When official reimbursement finally arrived, he paid the people back at once. Zhai Yi's grandfather, caught up in the chaos in Henan, had been seized and enslaved; each year Yi paid grain as a quit-rent to avoid corvée. Knowing how hard Zhai Yi studied, Sicheng struck a deal with his master: thirty shi of grain for the rest of Yi's life, which Sicheng himself paid; Yi was restored to free status. On another day he bought a sheep. A man named Li from Liuzhi village came with wine, accused his brother of hiding the animal, and Sicheng drove him off with a rebuke. Wang Qing and his four brothers were devoted to one another. Sicheng visited their home, shared wine with them, and urged them on until they were as close as kin. The Li brothers said to each other, "We will never dare face the magistrate again." They each brought food and wine, scolded one another, and repented of their old quarrel; after thirty years of separate households, they moved back under one roof. Zhang Fu of the garrison had a widowed, blind aunt who lived by begging; afraid Sicheng would learn of it, he took her in to support her the same day. Pitying his poverty, Sicheng appointed him a marriage broker so he could support her. During a drought a Daoist paraded a green snake, claiming that Little Green of Lushi Valley was a dragon and that praying to it would bring rain. Sicheng judged that he was misleading the people, killed the snake, and drove the Daoist away; rain came immediately, and the year ended in plenty. The county abounded in illicit shrines—often more than a hundred—with sacrifices and slaughter almost every day. Sicheng had them all torn down, sparing only the shrine to Dong Zhongshu, chancellor of Jiangdu.
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擢翰林國史院檢閱官，俄升編修。 文宗在奎章閣，有旨取國史閱之，左右舁匱以往，院長貳無敢言。 思誠在末僚，獨跪閣下爭曰：「國史紀當代人君善惡，自古天子無觀閱之者。」 事遂寢。 尋擢國子監丞，升司業，拜監察御史。 與斡玉倫徒等劾中書平章政事徹里帖木兒變亂朝政，章上，留中不下，思誠納印綬殿前，遂出僉廣西廉訪司事。 巡行郡縣，土官有於元帥者，恃勢魚肉人，恐事覺，陰遣其子迓思誠於道。 思誠縛之，悉發其陰私，痛懲其罪，一道震肅。 移浙西。 達識帖睦邇時為南台御史大夫，與江浙省臣有隙，嗾思誠劾之，思誠曰：「吾為天子耳目，不為台臣鷹犬也。」 不聽。 已而聞行省平章左吉貪墨，浙民多怨之，思誠奏疏其罪，流之海南。
He was promoted to reviewing officer in the Hanlin Academy and National History Office, and soon advanced to compiler. While Emperor Wenzong was at the Kui Zhang Pavilion, an order went out to bring the national history for him to read. Attendants carried the chests over, and neither the director nor his deputy dared object. Sicheng, though only a junior officer, knelt alone beneath the pavilion and protested: "The national history records the virtues and faults of the reigning sovereign. Since antiquity no emperor has been permitted to read it." The matter was dropped. He was soon made vice director of the Directorate of Education, then vice chancellor, and finally investigating censor. With Wo Yuluntu and others he impeached Grand Councillor Cherig Temur of the Central Secretariat for wrecking the government. The memorial reached the throne but was held back. Sicheng laid his seal and ribbon before the emperor and left office, taking up a post with the Guangxi surveillance commission. On his tour of the prefectures and counties he found a native official who had become a marshal preying on the people. Fearful of exposure, the man secretly sent his son to greet Sicheng on the road. Sicheng had him bound, laid bare every hidden crime, and punished him severely; the whole circuit was shaken into discipline. He was transferred to western Zhejiang. Dashi Temur was then southern regional censor-in-chief and at odds with the Zhejiang provincial ministers. He urged Sicheng to impeach them. Sicheng replied, "I serve as the emperor's eyes and ears, not as a censor's hunting dog." He refused. Later he learned that Zuo Ji, grand councillor of the branch secretariat, was corrupt and widely hated in Zhejiang. Sicheng memorialized his crimes, and Zuo was exiled to Hainan.
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復召為國子司業，遷中書左司員外郎。 盜殺河南省臣，以偽檄呼廉訪使段輔入行省事，及事敗，詿誤者三十餘人，將置於法，思誠言於朝，皆釋之。 升左司郎中。 思誠素剛直，人多嫉之，遂以言罷。 起為右司郎中，拜刑部尚書。 科舉復行，與僉書樞密院事韓鏞為御試讀卷官。 改禮部尚書，御史臺奏為治書侍御史，總裁遼、金、宋三史，升侍御史，樞密院奏為副使，御史臺留為侍御史。 會平章政事鞏卜班不法，監察御史劾之，御史大夫也先帖木兒曰：「姑徐之。」 思誠趣入奏，鞏卜班罷。 大夫銜思誠，將謀擠之，思誠即謁告。 朝廷知思誠無他，遷河東廉訪使。 未幾，召為集賢侍講學士，兼國子祭酒，出為湖廣行省參知政事，諸生抗疏留之，不可。 道中授湖北廉訪使，入拜中書參知政事，升左丞，轉御史中丞。 劾奏清道官不盡職，罷之。 再任左丞、知經筵事，提調國子監，兼翰林學士承旨、知制誥兼修國史，加榮祿大夫，總裁后妃、功臣傳，會粹《六條政類》，帝賜玉帶，眷顧彌篤。 又為樞密副使，仍知經筵事，復為中書左丞。 御史大夫納麟，誣參政孔思立受賕事，或欲連中思誠，納麟曰：「呂左丞素有廉聲，難以及之。」 遂止。
He was recalled as vice chancellor of the Directorate of Education and promoted to associate director of the left secretariat. Bandits murdered a Henan provincial minister and used a forged order to summon surveillance commissioner Duan Fu to take charge of secretariat business. When the plot collapsed, more than thirty people caught up in the mistake were to be punished. Sicheng pleaded at court, and all were released. He was promoted to director of the left secretariat. Sicheng had always been blunt and upright; many resented him, and he was removed on their complaints. He was reappointed director of the right secretariat and made minister of punishments. When the civil examinations were revived, he and Han Yong, associate minister of the privy council, served as imperial examiners. He became minister of rites, then was named associate censor by the Censorate, supervised compilation of the Liao, Jin, and Song histories, and was promoted to censor. The Privy Council wanted him as vice minister, but the Censorate kept him as censor. When grand councillor Gongbu Ban broke the law, investigating censors impeached him. Grand censor Yesun Temur said, "Let it wait a while." Sicheng rushed in to memorialize, and Gongbu Ban was removed. The grand censor bore a grudge and was plotting to squeeze him out; Sicheng at once asked for leave. The court knew Sicheng had no ulterior motive and transferred him to Hedong surveillance commissioner. Soon he was summoned as lecturer in the Hall of Gathered Worthies and concurrent chancellor of the Directorate of Education, then sent out as vice administrator of the Huguang branch secretariat. Students petitioned to keep him, but the court refused. En route he was named Hubei surveillance commissioner, then recalled as vice administrator of the central secretariat, promoted to left chancellor, and made vice censor-in-chief. He impeached purification officers who had neglected their duties, and they were removed. He again served as left chancellor and director of classics lectures, oversaw the Directorate of Education, and concurrently held the Hanlin academicianship, drafting of edicts, and national history compilation. He was given the honorary rank grand master for glorious merit, supervised biographies of empresses and meritorious subjects, compiled the Six Categories of Government, received an imperial jade belt, and won ever deeper favor. He again became privy council vice minister while continuing to direct classics lectures, and again served as left chancellor. Grand censor Nalin falsely accused vice administrator Kong Sili of bribery; some wanted to drag Sicheng into the case. Nalin said, "Left Chancellor Lu has long been known for integrity; he would be hard to touch." The affair was dropped.
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拜集賢學士，仍兼國子祭酒。 吏部尚書契哲篤、左司都事武祺等，建言更鈔法，以楮幣一貫文省權銅錢一千文為母，銅錢為子，命廷臣集議。 思誠曰：「中統、至元自有母子，上料為母，下料為子，譬之蒙古人以漢人子為後，皆人類也，尚終為漢人之子，豈有故紙為父而立銅為子者乎？」 一座咸笑。 思誠又曰：「錢鈔用法，見為一致，以虛換實也。 今歷代錢、至正錢、中統鈔、至元鈔、交鈔分為五項，慮下民知之，藏其實而棄其虛，恐不利於國家也。」 契哲篤曰：「至元鈔多偽，故更之爾。」 思誠曰：「至元鈔非偽，人為偽爾。 交鈔若出，亦為偽者矣。 且至元鈔猶故戚也，家之童奴且識之； 交鈔猶新戚也，雖不敢不親，人未識也，其偽反滋多爾。 況祖宗之成憲，其可輕改哉！」 契哲篤曰：「祖宗法弊，亦可改矣。」 思誠曰：「汝輩更法，又欲上誣世皇，是汝與世皇爭高下也。 且自世皇以來，諸帝皆諡曰孝，改其成憲，可謂孝乎？」 契哲篤曰：「錢鈔兼行何如？」 思誠曰：「錢鈔兼行，輕重不倫，何者為母，何者為子？ 汝不通古今，道聽而途說，何足行哉！」 契哲篤忿曰：「我等策既不可行，公有何策？」 思誠曰：「我有三字策曰：行不得！ 行不得！」 丞相脫脫見思誠言直，頗狐疑未決。 御史大夫也先帖木兒獨曰：「呂祭酒之言亦有是者，但不當在廟堂上大聲歷色爾。」 已而監察御史承望風旨，劾思誠狂妄，奪其誥命並所賜玉帶，复左遷湖廣行省左丞，遣太醫院宣使秦初即其家迫遣之。 初窘辱之，不遺餘力，思誠不為動。 貽書參議龔伯遂曰：「去年許可用為河南左丞，今年呂思誠為湖廣左丞，世事至此，足下得無動心乎？」
He was appointed academician of the Hall of Gathered Worthies while remaining chancellor of the Directorate of Education. Minister of personnel Qie Zhedu, left secretariat director Wu Qi, and others proposed revising the paper-money system so that one string of reduced-denomination notes would be the "mother" and a thousand cash the "child." The emperor ordered a full court discussion. Sicheng said, "Under Zhongtong and Zhiyuan the mother-child relation already exists—higher notes are mother, lower notes child. It is like a Mongol adopting a Han son: both are human, yet the child remains a Han son. Can old paper be made father and copper made son?" The whole assembly laughed. Sicheng went on, "Cash and notes are meant to work as one system, trading the insubstantial for the real. If we split successive coinages, Zhiping cash, Zhongtong notes, Zhiyuan notes, and Jiaochao into five kinds, the people will learn to hoard what is real and throw away what is empty. That may not help the state." Qie Zhedu said, "Zhiyuan notes are mostly forged—that is why we are changing them." Sicheng replied, "The Zhiyuan notes are not false; people make them false. If Jiaochao is issued, it will be forged too. Besides, Zhiyuan notes are like an old in-law—even a servant boy knows them; Jiaochao is like a new in-law: you cannot snub him, yet no one knows him, and forgeries will only multiply. And can the settled statutes of our ancestors be lightly changed?" Qie Zhedu said, "When ancestral law is flawed, it may be changed." Sicheng said, "You change the law and then want to blame Emperor Shizu from above—that is you competing with Emperor Shizu for stature. Since Emperor Shizu every emperor has been given the posthumous title Filial. To alter his settled statutes—is that filial?" Qie Zhedu asked, "What if cash and notes circulated together?" Sicheng said, "If cash and notes circulate together, their weight and value will not match—which is mother, which child? You know neither past nor present; you pick up gossip on the road—how can that be enacted?" Qie Zhedu snapped, "If our plan will not work, what is yours, sir?" Sicheng said, "I have a three-word plan: It cannot be done! It cannot be done!" Grand councillor Toghto, hearing how blunt Sicheng was, wavered and could not decide. Grand censor Yesun Temur alone said, "Academician Lu is not entirely wrong, but he should not have shouted and flushed in the imperial hall." Soon investigating censors, reading the wind, impeached him for arrogance. His patent and jade belt were stripped, and he was again demoted to left chancellor of the Huguang branch secretariat. The Imperial Medical Academy sent commissioner Qin Chu to his house to hurry him away. At first Qin humiliated him with all his might; Sicheng did not stir. He wrote to secretariat councillor Gong Bosui: "Last year Xu Keyong was made left chancellor of Henan; this year Lu Sicheng is made left chancellor of Huguang. When things have come to this, can you, sir, stay unmoved?"
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抵武昌城下，語諸將曰：「賊據城與諸君相持經久，必不知吾為此來，出其不意，可以入城。」 遂行。 諸將不獲已，隨其後，竟不煩轉鬥而入。 詢其故，賊倉卒無備。 盡驚走。 思誠乃大會軍民官吏告之曰：「賊去，示吾弱也，規將復來。」 於是申號令，戒職事，修器械，葺城郭，明部伍，先謀自守，徐議出征。 苗軍暴橫，侵辱省憲，思誠正色叱之曰：「若等能殺呂左丞乎？」 自是無敢復至。 曾未數日，召還，復為中書左丞。 思誠去二日，城复陷。 移光祿大夫、大司農。 俄得疾，以至正十七年三月十七日卒，年六十有五。
Reaching Wuchang, he told the generals, "The rebels have held the city against you for a long time. They cannot know I have come. Take them by surprise and you can enter." He set out at once. The generals had no choice but to follow. They entered the city without a pitched battle. Asked why, they learned the rebels had been caught utterly unprepared. They fled in panic. Sicheng then gathered soldiers, civilians, and officials and said, "The rebels have left—that shows our weakness. They mean to come back." He reissued commands, tightened discipline, repaired arms, rebuilt the walls, sorted the ranks, secured the defenses first, and only then talked of marching out. Miao troops were brutal and insulted the provincial and surveillance officers. Sicheng rebuked them coldly: "Can you kill Left Chancellor Lu?" After that none dared approach again. Within days he was recalled and again made left chancellor of the central secretariat. Two days after Sicheng left, the city fell again. He was reassigned as grand master of splendid happiness and minister of revenue. Soon after he took ill and died on the seventeenth day of the third month of Zhizheng 17, at the age of sixty-five.
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思誠氣宇凝定，素以勁拔聞，不為勢利所屈。 三為祭酒，一法許衡之舊，諸生從化，後多為名士。 嘗病古注疏太繁，魏了翁刪之太簡，將約其中以成書，不果。 有文集若干卷、《兩漢通紀》若干卷。 諡忠肅。
Sicheng bore himself with composed steadiness, was renowned for resolute integrity, and would not yield to power or gain. Thrice he served as libationer, adhering consistently to Xu Heng's earlier methods; his students were swayed by his example, and many later rose to distinction. He once lamented that ancient commentaries were too dense and that Wei Liaoweng's abridgment was too spare; he planned to reconcile the two in a single work but never finished it. His literary remains comprise several fascicles of collected works and several fascicles of A General Chronicle of the Two Han. He was posthumously titled Loyal and Stern.
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○汪澤民
Wang Zemin
9
汪澤民，字叔志，徽之婺源州人，宋端明殿學士藻之七世孫也。 少警悟，家貧力學，既長，遂通諸經。 延祐初，以《春秋》中鄉貢，上禮部，下第，授寧國路儒學正。 五年，遂登進士第，授承事郎、同知岳州路平江州事。 以母年八十，上書願奪所授官一等或二等，得近地以便養，不允。 南歸奉母之官。 州民李氏，以貲雄，其弟死，妻誓不他適，兄利其財，嗾族人誣婦以姦事。 獄成而澤民至，察知其枉，為直之。 會朝廷徵江南包銀，府檄澤民分辨，民不擾而事集。 尋遷南安路總管府推官。 鎮守萬戶朵兒赤，持官府短長，郡吏王甲，毆傷屬縣長官，訴郡，同僚畏朵兒赤，托故不視事，澤民獨捕甲，系之獄。 朵兒赤賂巡按御史，受甲家人訴，欲出之，澤民正色與辨，御史沮怍，夜竟去，乃卒罪王甲。 潮州府判官錢珍，以姦淫事殺推官梁楫，事連廣東廉訪副使劉珍，坐系者二百餘人，省府官凡六委官鞫問，皆顧忌淹延弗能白，复檄澤民讞之，獄立具，人服其明。 遷信州路總管府推官。 丁母憂，服除，授平江路總管府推官。 有僧淨廣，與他僧有憾，久絕往來，一日，邀廣飲，廣弟子急欲得師財，且苦其棰楚，潛往它僧所殺之。 明日訴官，它僧不勝考掠，乃誣服，三經審錄，詞無異，結案等報。 澤民取行凶刀視之，刀上有鐵工姓名，召工問之，乃其弟子刀也，一訊吐實，即械之而出他僧，人驚以為神。 調濟寧路兗州知州，孔子後衍聖公襲封職三品，澤民建議，以謂宜升其品秩，以示褒崇宣聖之意，廷議從之。
Wang Zemin (Shuzhi), a native of Wuyuan in Huizhou, was the seventh-generation descendant of the Song academician Wang Zao of the Duanming Hall. Clever and keen from boyhood, he studied hard despite poverty; in adulthood he had mastered the full canon of classics. Early in Yanyou he qualified in the provincial examinations on the Annals, then failed at the Ministry of Rites; he was appointed Confucian instructor in Ningguo Circuit. Five years later he passed the jinshi examinations and was made gentleman for affairs and vice prefect of Pingjiang under Yuezhou Circuit. His mother being eighty, he petitioned to be demoted one or two ranks in exchange for a nearby post to care for her; the court refused. He returned south and brought his mother to his office. A wealthy townsman surnamed Li had a brother who died; the widow swore she would not remarry, but the elder brother coveted her estate and goaded kinsmen to accuse her of adultery. By the time the case was closed and Zemin arrived, he saw the injustice and reversed the verdict. When the court imposed the bao-yin levy on Jiangnan, the prefecture put Zemin in charge of apportioning it; the people were not troubled and the collection was completed. He was soon promoted to reviewing official in the Nan'an chief administrator's office. The garrison commander Dorbet knew every weakness in the local administration. When a prefectural clerk named Wang Jia assaulted a county magistrate, colleagues feared Dorbet and declined the case; Zemin alone arrested Wang Jia and jailed him. Dorbet bribed the touring censor, who took the family's petition and tried to free Jia. Zemin argued him down face to face; the censor withdrew in shame that night, and Wang Jia was convicted at last. Chaozhou's prefectural judge Qian Zhen murdered reviewing official Liang Ji in a scandal of adultery that implicated Guangdong's deputy surveillance commissioner Liu Zhen. More than two hundred people were held; six rounds of officials sent to investigate shrank back from the powerful interests involved. When Zemin was ordered to try the case, he concluded it at once, and all marveled at his discernment. He was transferred to reviewing official in the Xinzhou chief administrator's office. After mourning his mother, he was appointed reviewing official in the Pingjiang chief administrator's office. A monk named Jingguang had a feud with another monk and had long ceased visiting him. One day he invited Guang to drink. Guang's disciple, eager for his master's property and weary of his beatings, stole to the rival monk's quarters and killed him. The next day the crime was reported. The other monk broke under torture and confessed falsely. After three examinations his story never changed, and the case was closed pending execution. Zemin inspected the murder weapon and found an ironsmith's mark on the blade. The smith identified it as the disciple's knife. One interrogation brought out the truth; Zemin shackled the disciple and freed the other monk, and people called it uncanny. Transferred to prefect of Yanzhou in Jining Circuit, he proposed raising the hereditary third-rank title of Confucius's descendant the Yanshenggong to show the court's reverence for the Sage; the proposal was adopted.
10
至正三年，朝廷修遼、金、宋史，召澤民赴闕，除國子司業，與修史。 書成，遷集賢直學士，階太中大夫。 未兩月，即移書告老。 大學士和尚曰：「集賢、翰林，實養老尊賢之地，先生何為遽去？ 願少留，以副上意。」 澤民曰：「以布衣叨榮三品，志願足矣。」 遂以嘉議大夫、禮部尚書致仕。 既歸田裡，與門生故人相往返嬉遊，超然若忘世者。
In Zhizheng 3, when the court set about compiling the histories of Liao, Jin, and Song, Zemin was summoned to court, made vice director of the directorate of education, and joined the editorial staff. When the histories were finished he was promoted to academician-in-attendance of the Hall of Gathered Worthies, with the rank of grand master of palace counsel. Less than two months later he submitted his resignation. Grand academician Heshang said, "The Hall of Gathered Worthies and the Hanlin Academy are meant to honor the aged and esteem the worthy—why leave so soon? Stay a little longer to satisfy the throne's wish." Zemin replied, "A plain scholar raised to the third rank—my wish is fulfilled." He then retired with the rank of grand master for exalted counsel and as minister of rites. Back in his home district he visited and roamed with students and old friends, aloof as if the world no longer concerned him.
11
十五年，蘄黃賊陷徽州，時澤民居宣州。 已而賊來犯宣州，江東廉訪使道童雅重澤民，日就之詢守禦計，城得無虞。 明年，長槍軍瑣南班等叛，來寇城，或勸澤民去，澤民曰：「我雖無官守，故受國厚恩，臨危愛死，非臣子節。」 留不去，凡戰鬥籌畫，多澤民參決之，累敗賊兵。 既而寇益眾，城陷，澤民為所執。 使之降，大罵不屈，遂遇害，年七十。 事聞，贈資善大夫、江浙行中書省左丞，追封譙國郡公，諡文節。
In the fifteenth year the Qihuang rebels took Huizhou; Zemin was then living in Xuanzhou. Soon the rebels attacked Xuanzhou. Surveillance commissioner Daotong of Jiangdong, who held Zemin in high regard, consulted him daily on defense, and the city was preserved. The next year Suonanban and others of the Changqiang Army rebelled and besieged the city. Some urged Zemin to flee. He said, "I hold no office, yet the state has shown me great favor. To flee in danger is not the way of a loyal subject." He stayed. In battle and strategy he took part in many decisions and repeatedly defeated the rebels. The enemy grew in strength, the city fell, and Zemin was captured. They demanded his surrender; he cursed them and refused to yield, and was killed at the age of seventy. On report the court posthumously made him grand master for assisting goodness and left chancellor of the Jiang-Zhe branch secretariat, enfeoffed him as Duke of Qiao, and gave him the posthumous title Cultivated Integrity.
12
○幹文傳
Gan Wenchuan
13
幹文傳，字壽道，平江人。 祖宗顯，宋承信郎。 父雷龍，鄉貢進士。 宗顯之先世以武弁入官，而力教其子以文易武，故雷龍兩舉進士，宋亡，不及仕。 及生文傳，乃名今名以期之。 文傳少嗜學，十歲能屬文，未冠，已有聲譽，用舉者為吳及金壇兩縣學教諭、饒州慈湖書院山長。 仁守詔舉進士，文傳首登延祐二年乙科，授同知昌國州事，累遷長洲、烏程兩縣尹，升婺源知州，又知吳江州。
Gan Wenchuan (Shoudao) was a native of Pingjiang. His ancestor Xian had been a Song gentleman for trust. His father Leilong had passed the provincial and jinshi examinations. Xian's family had entered service as military officers, but he pressed his son to trade the sword for the brush. Leilong twice passed the jinshi examinations, yet the Song fell before he could serve. When Wenchuan was born they chose a given name that expressed this hope. From boyhood Wenchuan loved learning. At ten he could write prose, and before his capping he was already known. By recommendation he taught in the schools of Wu and Jintan and headed the Cihu Academy in Raozhou. When Renzong ordered the jinshi examination, Wenchuan topped the second class in Yanyou 2, became vice commissioner at Changguo, rose to magistrate of Changzhou and Wucheng, then prefect of Wuyuan and Wujiang.
14
文傳長於治劇，所至俱有善政。 自其始至昌國，即能柔之以恩信，於是海島之民，雖頑獷不易治，至有剽掠海中若化外然者，亦為之變俗。 初，長官強愎自恣，文傳推誠以待之，久乃自屈服。 鹽場官方倚轉運司勢，虐使州民，家業破盪，文傳語同列曰：「吾屬受天子命，以牧此民，可坐視而弗之救乎！」 乃亟為陳理，上官莫能奪，民賴以免。 長洲為文傳鄉邑，文傳徙榻公署，無事未嘗輒出，而親舊莫敢通私謁。 會創行助役法，凡民田百畝，令以三畝入官，為受役者之助。 文傳既專任其縣事，而行省又以無錫州及華亭、上海兩縣之事諉焉。 文傳諭豪家大姓，以腴田來歸，而中人之家，自是不病於役。 其在烏程，有富民張甲之妻王，無子，張納一妾於外，生子，未晬，王誘妾以兒來，尋逐妾，殺兒焚之。 文傳聞而發其事，得死兒餘骨，王厚賄妾之父母，買鄰家兒為妾所生，兒初不死。 文傳令妾抱兒乳之，兒啼不就乳，妾之父母吐實，乃呼鄰婦至，兒見之，躍入其懷，乳之即飲，王遂伏辜。 丹徒縣民有二弟共殺其姊者，獄久不決，浙西廉訪司俾文傳鞫之，既得其情，其母乞貸二子命，為終養計，文傳謂二人所承有輕重，以首從論，則為首者當死，司官從之。 婺源之俗，男女婚聘後，富則渝其約，有育其女至老死不嫁者； 親喪，貧則不舉，有停其柩累數世不葬者。 文傳下車，即召其耆老，使以禮訓告之，閱三月而婚喪俱畢。 宋大儒硃熹，上世居婺源，故業為豪民所佔，子孫訴於有司，莫能直，文傳諭其民以理，不煩窮治而悉歸之。 复募好義者，即其故宅基建祠，俾硃氏世守焉。 有富民江丙，出遊京師，娶娼女張為婦，江既客死，張走數千里，返其柩以葬，前妻之子因苦之，既而殺之，瘞其屍山谷間。 官司知之，利其賄不問，文傳乃發其事，而論如法。 文傳蒞官，其所設施多此類，故其治行往往為諸州縣最。 韓鏞時僉浙西廉訪司事，作《烏程謠》以紀其績，論者謂其有古循吏之風。
Wenchuan excelled at urgent administration; everywhere he served he left sound government. From his first posting at Changguo he won the people with kindness and trust. Even the islanders—stubborn, unruly, and given to raiding the seas as if beyond the empire—changed their ways. At first the chief official was arrogant and self-willed. Wenchuan met him with sincere openness until in time he submitted of his own accord. Salt-yard officials, backed by the transport commission, abused the prefectural people until households were ruined. Wenchuan told his colleagues, "We hold the Son of Heaven's commission to shepherd these people—can we sit by and not save them?" He pressed the case at once. His superiors could not overrule him, and the people were spared. Changzhou was Wenchuan's home district. He kept his couch in the yamen and rarely left on ordinary business; kin and friends did not dare pay private calls. The corvée-assistance law was then introduced: for every hundred mu of civilian land, three mu were turned over to the state to support those bearing corvée duty. Wenchuan had sole charge of his county, and the branch secretariat also entrusted him with Wuxi prefecture and the counties of Huating and Shanghai. He persuaded great clans to surrender fertile fields, and middle households were no longer ruined by corvée. In Wucheng, a rich man Zhang Jia's wife Wang was childless. Zhang took an outside concubine who bore a son. Before the infant was weaned, Wang lured the concubine to bring the boy in, then drove her off, killed the child, and burned the body. Wenchuan uncovered the crime and recovered the child's bones. Wang bribed the concubine's parents to buy a neighbor's child and claim the infant had not died. He had the concubine nurse the child; the infant cried and refused her breast. Her parents confessed. He summoned the neighbor's wife—the child leaped into her arms and nursed at once—and Wang was punished. In Dantu two younger brothers had killed their elder sister; the case dragged on. Jiangxi surveillance sent Wenchuan to try it. When he had the facts, their mother begged to spare both for her old age. Wenchuan held that guilt differed—by principal and accessory law the leader must die—and the officer agreed. In Wuyuan, after betrothal a man who grew rich might break the match; some reared daughters until old age unmarried; when kin died the poor might not bury them, and some kept coffins unburied for generations. On taking office he summoned the elders to instruct the people in ritual; within three months weddings and funerals were settled. Zhu Xi's ancestors had lived in Wuyuan; powerful families had seized their estate, and descendants' suits failed. Wenchuan persuaded the people by reason, and without harsh prosecution all was restored. He recruited men of goodwill to build a shrine on the old homestead for the Zhu clan to guard in perpetuity. A rich man Jiang Bing went to the capital and married the courtesan Zhang. He died abroad; Zhang traveled thousands of li to bring his coffin home. His son by the first wife harassed her, then killed her and buried her in a mountain valley. Officials knew but took bribes and did nothing; Wenchuan uncovered the crime and punished by law. His administrations were full of such cases; his record was often the best in the circuit. When Han Yong served on the Jiangxi surveillance commission he wrote the "Ballad of Wucheng" to record his deeds; critics said he had the air of the ancient compassionate magistrates.
15
至正三年，召赴闕，承詔預修《宋史》，書成，賞賚優渥，仍有旨四品以下各進一官。 擢文傳集賢待制。 亡何，以嘉議大夫、禮部尚書致仕。 卒，年七十八。
In Zhizheng 3 he was summoned to court to help compile the History of Song. When it was finished the rewards were generous, and all officials below the fourth rank were advanced one step. Wenchuan was promoted to academician-in-waiting of the Hall of Gathered Worthies. Soon he retired as grand master for exalted counsel and minister of rites. He died at the age of seventy-eight.
16
文傳氣貌充偉，識度凝遠，喜接引後進，考試江浙、江西鄉闈，所取士後多知名。 為文務雅正，不事浮藻，其於政事為尤長云。
Wenchuan was imposing in presence, composed and far-sighted in judgment, and delighted in guiding younger scholars. In the Jiangsu-Zhejiang and Jiangxi provincial examinations many he chose later rose to fame. His writing aimed at elegance and correctness, not ornament; in government he was especially accomplished.
17
○韓鏞
Han Yong
18
韓鏞，字伯高，濟南人。 延祐五年中進士第，授將仕郎、翰林國史院編修官，尋遷集賢都事。 泰定四年，轉國子博士，俄拜監察御史。 當時由進士入官者僅百之一，由吏致位顯要者常十之九。 帝乃欲以中書參議傅巖起為吏部尚書，鏞上言：「吏部掌天下銓衡，岩起從吏入官，烏足盡知天下賢才。 況尚書秩三品，岩起累官四品耳，於法亦不得升。」 制可其奏。
Han Yong (Bogao) was a native of Jinan. In Yanyou 5 he passed the jinshi examinations, became gentleman for service and compiler in the Hanlin National History Institute, and soon rose to director of the Hall of Gathered Worthies. In Taiding 4 he became erudite of the directorate of education, then investigating censor. At the time only about one in a hundred officials had entered by the jinshi route, while nine in ten who reached high office had risen from clerical posts. The emperor wished to make central secretariat counselor Fu Yanqi minister of personnel. Yong memorialized, "Personnel holds the empire's scales of appointment. Yanqi came up through clerical service—how can he know all the empire's worthy men? Moreover the minister is third rank while Yanqi has only reached fourth—in law he cannot be promoted." The throne approved his memorial.
19
天曆元年，除僉浙西廉訪司事，擊姦暴，黜貪墨，而特舉烏程縣尹幹文傳治行為諸縣最，所至郡縣，為之肅然。 二年，轉江浙財賦副總管。 至順元年，除國子司業，尋遷南行台治書侍御史。 順帝初，歷僉宣徽及樞密院事。 至正二年，除翰林侍講學士，既而拜侍御史，以剛介為時所忌，言事者誣劾其贓私，乃罷去。 五年，台臣辨其誣，遂復起參議中書省事。
In Tiansli 1 he became commissioner of the Jiangxi surveillance commission, struck down the violent and dismissed the corrupt, and especially commended Wucheng magistrate Gan Wenchuan as the best in the circuit; wherever he went, prefectures and counties were brought to order. In the second year he became deputy chief controller of Jiangsu-Zhejiang finance. In Zhishun 1 he became vice director of the directorate of education, then investigating attendant censor of the southern censorate. At Shundi's accession he served in turn as commissioner of the bureau of imperial manufactories and of military affairs. In Zhizheng 2 he became Hanlin attendant academic lecturer, then attendant censor. His stern integrity made him envied; court speakers falsely impeached him for graft and he was dismissed. In Zhizheng 5 the censorate cleared the slander and he was restored as counselor of the central secretariat.
20
七年，朝廷慎選守令，參知政事魏中立言於帝：「當今必欲得賢守令，無加鏞者。」 帝乃特署鏞姓名，授饒州路總管。 饒之為俗尚鬼，有覺山廟者，自昔為妖以禍福人，為盜賊者事之尤至，將為盜，必卜之。 鏞至，即撤其祠宇，沉土偶人於江。 凡境內淫祠有不合祀典者，皆毀之。 人初大駭，已而皆嘆服。 鏞知民可教，俾俊秀入學宮，求宿儒學行俱尊者，列為《五經》師，旦望必幅巾深衣以謁先聖，月必考訂課試，以示勸勵。 每治政之暇，必延見其師生，與之講討經義，由是人人自力於學，而饒之以科第進者，視他郡為多。 鏞居官廨，自奉淡泊，僚屬亦皆化之。 先是，朝使至外郡者，官府奉之甚侈，一不厭其所欲，即銜之，往往騰謗於朝，其出使於饒者，鏞延見郡舍中，供以糲飯，退皆無有後言。 其後有旨以織幣脆薄，遣使笞行省臣及諸郡長吏。 獨鏞無預。 鏞治政，雖細事，其詳密多類此。
In the seventh year, as the court carefully chose prefects and magistrates, counselor Wei Zhongli told the emperor, "If we want worthy prefects and magistrates today, none surpass Yong." The emperor personally wrote Yong's name and appointed him chief administrator of Raozhou Circuit. Raozhou favored spirits. The Jueshan Temple had long been demonic, dispensing fortune and woe; robbers honored it above all and divined there before every raid. On arrival Yong demolished the shrine and sank its clay images in the river. Every illicit shrine in the circuit not authorized by the statutes of sacrifice was destroyed as well. At first the people were alarmed; soon all admired him. Knowing the people could be taught, he sent promising youths to the school, found venerable Confucians of learning and conduct, and made them teachers of the Five Classics. At dawn and dusk he wore plain cap and deep robes to salute the Sage; each month he held examinations to encourage study. In leisure from government he summoned teachers and students to discuss the classics; everyone strove in learning, and more men of Raozhou passed the examinations than in other prefectures. Yong lived at the yamen on plain fare, and his subordinates all followed his example. Previously, court envoys to the provinces were entertained lavishly; if their wishes were not met they nursed grievances and often slandered officials at court. Envoys to Raozhou were received by Yong at the prefectural hostel and given coarse fare—and left without a word of complaint. Later an edict blamed inferior woven currency and sent envoys to flog provincial secretaries and circuit chiefs. Yong alone was not implicated. Even in small matters, Yong governed with the same meticulous care.
21
十年，拜中書參知政事。 十一年，丞相脫脫在位，而龔伯璲輩方用事，朝廷悉議更張，鏞有言，不見聽。 人或以鏞優於治郡，而執政非其所長，遂出為甘肅行省參知政事。 及脫脫罷，用事者悉誅，而鏞又獨免禍。 乃遷西行台中丞，歿於官。
In the tenth year he became associate administrator of the central secretariat. In the eleventh year, with Toktoghan as chancellor and men like Gong Bolin in power, the court debated sweeping reforms. Yong objected, but no one listened. Some said Yong was better at governing a circuit than at central politics; he was posted as associate administrator of the Gansu branch secretariat. When Toktoghan fell, his faction was wiped out—yet Yong alone escaped harm again. He was promoted to vice censor-in-chief of the western branch secretariat and died in office.
22
○李稷
Li Ji
23
李稷，字孟豳，滕州人。 稷幼穎敏，八歲能記誦經史。 從其父官袁州，師夏鎮，又從官鉛山，師方回孫。 鎮、回孫皆名進士，長於《春秋》，稷兼得其傳。 泰定四年，中進士第，授淇州判官。 淇當要衝，稷至，能理其劇。 歲大饑，告於朝堂以賑之，民獲以蘇。 遊民尚安兒，飲博亡賴，稷疑其為非，督弓兵擒之，果盜鄰村王甲家財，與其黨五人俱伏辜。 調海陵縣丞，亦有能聲。 入為翰林國史院編修官，擢御史臺照磨。
Li Ji (Mengbin) came from Tengzhou. As a boy Ji was exceptionally bright; at eight he could recite the classics and histories from memory. When his father served at Yuanzhou, Ji studied under Xia Zhen; when he moved to Qianshan, Ji studied under Fang Huisun. Both Xia Zhen and Fang Huisun were distinguished jinshi and masters of the Spring and Autumn; Ji learned from each. In Taiding 4 he passed the jinshi examination and became assistant prefect of Qizhou. Qizhou lay on a major route; Ji took office and managed its heavy workload with ease. During a severe famine he petitioned the court for relief, and the people survived. A drifter named Shang An'er lived by drink, dice, and petty crime. Ji suspected him, had archers seize him, and proved he had robbed a neighbor named Wang Jia; he and five accomplices were executed. Transferred to assistant magistrate of Hailing County, he won the same reputation for ability. He entered the Hanlin Academy as a national-history compiler and rose to registry clerk of the censorate.
24
至正初，出為江南行台監察御史，遷都事，又入為監察御史。 劾奏閹宦高龍卜恃賴恩私，侵撓朝政，擅作威福，交通時相，請謁公行，為國基禍，乞加竄逐，以正邦刑。 章上，流高龍卜於征東。 又言：「御史封事，須至御前開拆，以防壅蔽之患。 言事官須優加擢用，以開諫諍之路。 殿中侍御史、給事中、起居注，須任端人直士，書百司奏請，及帝所可否，月達省台，付史館，以備纂修之實。」 承天護聖寺火，有旨更作，乃上言：「水旱相仍，公私俱乏，不宜妄興大役。」 議遂寢。 會朝廷方注意守令，因言：「下縣尹多從吏部銓注，或非其才，宜並歸省選。 茶鹽鐵課，責備長吏，動受刑譴，何以臨民，宜分委佐貳。 投下達魯花赤，蠹政害民，宜為佐貳。」 帝悉可其奏。 遷中書左司都事，又四遷為戶部尚書。 十一年，廷議以中原租稅不實，將履畝起稅，稷詣都堂言曰：「方今妖寇竊發，民庶流亡，此政一行，是驅民為盜也。」 相臣是之。 尋參議中書省事，俄遷治書侍御史。
Early in Zhizheng he served as supervising censor on the Jiangnan branch censorate, became chief clerk, then returned as supervising censor. He impeached the eunuch Gao Longbu for abusing imperial favor, meddling in government, throwing his weight around, colluding with the chancellor, and taking bribes openly—acts that threatened the dynasty—and urged his banishment to restore the rule of law. The memorial was accepted and Gao Longbu was exiled to the eastern front. He also argued that censors' sealed memorials must be opened only before the emperor, lest reports be suppressed. Petitioners who spoke truth to power should be promoted to keep the road of remonstrance open. Palace attendant censors, remonstrance officials, and diurnal recorders should be upright men who logged every ministry memorial and every imperial decision, sent monthly to the secretariat, censorate, and history office for the historical record. After fire destroyed the Chengtian Huguosheng Temple, the court ordered rebuilding. Ji protested: "Flood and drought alternate; the treasury and the people are alike exhausted—this is no time for grand construction." The project was abandoned. With the court focused on local officials, he urged that district magistrates, too often misfits from the Ministry of Personnel, be chosen by the provinces instead. Tea, salt, and iron taxes fell on chief officials, who were flogged for shortfalls—how could they govern? He urged shifting that burden to deputies. Darugachi on imperial estates corrupted government and oppressed the people; they too should be reduced to deputy rank. The emperor accepted every proposal. He rose to chief clerk of the left secretariat department, then after four more steps became minister of revenue. In the eleventh year the court planned to tax the Central Plains by measured acreage because rents were underreported. Ji told the chancellors: "Rebels roam the land and people flee; enact this and you will make bandits of them all." The chancellors agreed. He soon became a secretariat counselor, then investigating attendant censor.
25
十二年，從丞相脫脫出師徵徐州，徐既平，謁告歸滕州，遷曾祖父以下十七喪，序昭穆以葬，敕賜碑樹焉。 既而召為詹事丞，除侍御史，俄遷中書參知政事。 皇太子受冊，攝大禮使，遂除樞密副使。 帝躬祀郊廟，攝太常少卿，尋復為侍御史，又為中書參知政事，俄升資善大夫、御史中丞，尋特加榮祿大夫。 至正十九年，丁母憂，兩起復，為陝西行省左丞、樞密副使，乞終制，不起。 服闋，命為大都路總管，兼大興府尹，除副詹事。 二十四年，出為陝西行台中丞，未行，改山東廉訪使。 得疾，上章致仕，還京師。 卒，年六十一。 贈推忠贊理正憲功臣、集賢大學士、榮祿大夫、柱國，追封齊國公，諡文穆。
In the twelfth year he marched with Toktoghan to take Xuzhou. After the city fell he took leave, returned to Tengzhou, reburied seventeen ancestors from his great-grandfather down in proper order, and received an imperial stele and planted trees. He was recalled as vice director of the heir apparent's household, made attendant censor, then associate administrator of the secretariat. At the heir apparent's investiture he acted as grand master of ceremonies, then became vice minister of the privy council. When the emperor sacrificed at the suburban altars, Ji acted as vice director of imperial sacrifices, then returned as attendant censor and associate administrator, rose to senior grand master of governance and censor-in-chief, and was soon granted the title grand master of glory and blessings. In Zhizheng 19 he mourned his mother. Twice recalled as left counselor of the Shaanxi branch and vice minister of the privy council, he refused until mourning was complete. After mourning he became chief administrator of Dadu Circuit and magistrate of Daxing, and left the deputy directorship of the heir's household. In the twenty-fourth year he was named vice censor-in-chief of Shaanxi but, before he left, was reassigned as Shandong surveillance commissioner. Illness forced him to retire; he returned to the capital. He died at sixty-one. Posthumously he was made meritorious minister of loyal rectitude, academician of the hall of gathered worthies, grand master of glory and blessings, and pillar of the state; enfeoffed as Duke of Qi with the posthumous name Wenmu ("Cultured and Solemn").
26
稷為人孝友恭儉，廉慎忠勤，處家嚴而有則，與人交，一以誠恪，尤篤於鄉黨朋友之誼。 中丞任擇善、陳思謙既沒，皆撫其遺孤，人以是多之。 出入台省者二十年，始卒無疵，為時名卿雲。
Ji was filial, cordial, frugal, loyal, and diligent—strict yet principled at home, wholly sincere with others, and especially devoted to kin and friends. After Ren Zeshan and Chen Siqian died, he cared for their orphaned children—another reason contemporaries admired him. Twenty years in the censorate and secretariat left him without a stain; he was counted among the age's great ministers.
27
○蓋苗
Gai Miao
28
蓋苗，字耘夫，大名元城人。 幼聰敏好學，善記誦，及弱冠，遊學四方，藝業大進。 延祐五年，登進士第，授濟寧路單州判官。 州多系囚，苗請疏決之。 知州以為囚數已上，部使者未報，不可決。 苗曰：「設使者有問，請身任其責。」 知州乃勉從之，使者果閱牘而去。 歲饑，白郡府，未有以應。 會他邑亦以告，郡府遣苗至戶部以請，戶部難之，苗伏中書堂下，出糠餅以示曰：「濟寧民率食此，況不得此食者尤多，豈可坐視不救乎！」 因泣下，時宰大悟，凡被災者，咸獲賑焉。 有官粟五百石陳腐，以藉諸民，期秋熟還官。 及秋，郡責償甚急，部使者將責知州，苗曰：「官粟實苗所貰，今民飢不能償，苗請代還。」 使者乃已其責。 單州稅糧，歲輸館陶倉，距單五百餘里，載馱擔負，民甚苦之，春猶未足。 是秋，館陶大熟，苗先期令民糴粟倉下，十月初，倉券已至，省民力什之五。
Gai Miao (Yunfu) came from Yuancheng in Daming Prefecture. Clever and bookish as a boy, he traveled widely in early manhood and mastered his studies. In Yanyou 5 he passed the jinshi and became assistant prefect of Shan County in Jining Circuit. The prefecture held many long-term prisoners; Miao petitioned for a mass review. The prefect refused: the caseload was already reported and the circuit envoy had not approved a review. Miao said, "If the envoy objects, let me answer for it." The prefect relented; the envoy reviewed the dockets and left satisfied. During famine he appealed to the circuit government and received no answer. When a neighboring county reported famine too, the circuit sent Miao to the Ministry of Revenue. The ministry balked; Miao knelt in the secretariat courtyard, held up bran cakes, and said, "This is what Jining's people eat—and many have not even this. Can we do nothing?" He wept; the chancellors were moved, and every stricken region received relief. Five hundred shi of moldy government grain he lent to the people, to be repaid after the autumn harvest. Come autumn the circuit demanded repayment and would punish the prefect. Miao said, "I borrowed that grain; the people are starving and cannot repay—let me make good the debt." The envoy dropped the case. Each year Shan County's tax grain went to the Guantao granary five hundred li away—by cart, mule, and back—and spring would come before the quota was filled. That autumn Guantao had a bumper crop; Miao had the people buy grain there in advance. By the tenth month the receipts were in hand, sparing the people half their usual toil.
29
辟御史臺掾，除山東廉訪司經歷，歷禮部主事，擢江南行台監察御史。 建言嚴武備以備不虞，簡兵卒以壯國勢，全功臣以隆大體，惜官爵以清銓選，考實行以抑奔競，明賞罰以杜姦欺，計利害以孚民情，去民賊以崇禮節。 皆切於時務，公論韙之。 天歷初，文宗詔以建康潛邸為佛寺，務窮壯麗，毀民居七十餘家，仍以御史大夫督其役。 苗上封事曰：「臣聞使民以時，使臣以禮，自古未有不由斯道而致隆平者。 陛下龍潛建業之時，居民困於供給，幸而獲睹今日之運，百姓跂足舉首，以望非常之恩。 今奪農時以創佛寺，又廢民居，使之家破產盪，豈聖人禦天下之道乎？ 昔漢高帝興於豐、沛，為復兩縣，光武中興南陽，免稅三年，既不務此，而隆重佛氏，何以滿斯民之望哉！ 且佛以慈悲為心，方便為教，今尊佛氏而害生民，無乃違其方便之教乎？ 台臣職專糾察，表正百司，今乃委以修繕之役，豈其禮哉？」 書奏，御史大夫果免督役。 入為監察御史。 文宗幸護國仁王寺，泛舟玉泉，苗進曰：「今頻年不登，邊隅不靖，政當恐懼修省，何暇逸遊，以臨不測之淵乎？」 帝嘉納之，賜以對衣上尊，即日還宮。 台臣擬苗僉淮東廉訪司事，以聞，帝曰：「仍留蓋御史，朕欲聞其讜言也。」 以丁外艱去，免喪，除太禧宗禋院都事。 中書檄苗行視河道，還言：「河口淤塞，今苟不治，後日必為中原大患。」 都水難之，事遂寢。
Recruited to the censorate, he became Shandong surveillance intendant, a director in the Ministry of Rites, then supervising censor on the Jiangnan branch. He urged stricter defense, leaner armies, honor for meritorious ministers, restraint in appointments, merit over ambition, clear rewards and punishments, policies weighed for the people's sake, and the removal of local tyrants—all timely counsel, widely praised. Public opinion endorsed every point. Early in Tiansli, Emperor Wenzong turned his former Jianye residence into a Buddhist temple of extravagant scale, razing more than seventy homes and putting the censor-in-chief in charge of construction. Miao submitted a sealed memorial: "I have heard that rulers who use the people in season and treat ministers with ritual have always found peace—none who ignored this road did. When Your Majesty lived in Jianye as prince, the people strained to supply you. Now they stand on tiptoe for extraordinary grace. Yet you seize the farming season to build a temple and tear down homes, ruining families—is this how a sage rules the realm? Gaozu exempted Feng and Pei; Guangwu freed Nanyang from tax for three years. If you ignore that precedent and lavish honor on Buddhism, how will you meet the people's hopes? Buddhism teaches compassion and expedience—yet you honor the faith by harming the people. Does that not betray its own teaching? Censors exist to correct officials, not to supervise construction—is this proper work for them?" The memorial was accepted and the censor-in-chief was relieved of the project. He returned to the capital as supervising censor. When Wenzong visited the Huguo Renwang Temple and rowed on the Jade Spring, Miao said, "Harvests fail and the borders are uneasy—you should be in fear and self-cultivation, not at play beside an abyss." The emperor praised him, gave him court robes and wine, and returned to the palace the same day. The censors nominated him for Huaidong surveillance commissioner; the emperor said, "Keep Censor Gai—I want his blunt counsel." He left to mourn his father; after mourning he became chief clerk of the grand temple for imperial ancestors. The secretariat sent him to inspect the waterways. He reported, "The river mouth is choked with silt; neglect it now and the Central Plains will suffer." The waterways office objected, and the plan died.
30
至正初，用薦者知亳州，修學宮，完州廨。 有豪強佔民田為己業，民五十餘人訴於苗，苗訊治之，豪民咸自引服。 苗曰：「爾等罪甚重，然吾觀皆有改過意。」 遂從輕議。 至元四年，起為左司都事，在左司僅十八日，凡決數百事。 丁內憂，宰相惜其去，重賻之。 至正二年，起為戶部郎中，俄擢御史臺都事，御史大夫欲以故人居言路，苗曰：「非其才也。」 大夫不悅而起，其晚，邀至私第以謝，人兩賢之。 出為山東廉訪副使。 益都、淄、萊地舊稱產金，朝廷建一府六所綜其事，民歲買金以輸官，至是六十年矣。 民有忤其官長意，輒謂所居地有金礦，掘地及泉而後止。 猾吏為奸利，莫敢誰何。 苗建言罷之。 三年，入為戶部侍郎。 四年，由都水監遷刑部尚書。 初，盜殺河南省憲官，延坐五百餘家，已有詔除首罪外，餘從原宥。 至是，宰臣追复欲盡誅戮，苗堅持不可。 御史趣具獄，苗曰：「肆赦复殺，在法所無，御史獨宜劾苗，其敢累朝廷之寬仁乎！」 卒用苗議，罷之。 出為山東廉訪使，民飢為盜，所在群聚，乃上救荒弭盜十二事，劾宣慰使骫骳不法者。 有司援例欲徵苗所得職田，苗曰：「年荒民困，吾無以救，尚忍徵斂以肥己耶！」 輒命已之。 同僚皆無敢取。 召參議中書省事。
Early in Zhizheng, recommended for office, he became prefect of Bozhou, restored the school, and rebuilt the yamen. Local magnates had seized peasants' land; more than fifty plaintiffs came to Miao, who investigated until every offender confessed. Miao said, "Your crimes are grave, but I see you mean to amend." He sentenced them lightly. In Zhiyuan 4 he became chief clerk of the left department and, in eighteen days there, disposed of hundreds of cases. When his mother died the chancellor regretted losing him and sent a generous farewell gift. In Zhizheng 2 he became a revenue director, then chief censorate clerk. When the censor-in-chief wanted a friend on the remonstrance staff, Miao said, "He is not fit." The censor-in-chief stalked off angry; that evening he invited Miao home to apologize—contemporaries admired them both. He was posted as deputy Shandong surveillance commissioner. Yidu, Zi, and Lai were famed for gold; the court ran one office and six bureaus, and for sixty years the people had bought gold to pay the state. Offend a local official and he would declare your home sat atop a gold mine, dig until he hit water, then stop. Corrupt clerks profited; no one dared challenge them. Miao petitioned to abolish the system. In the third year he became vice minister of revenue. In the fourth year he rose from director of waterways to minister of justice. Earlier, after robbers killed a Henan surveillance official, guilt by association had swept in more than five hundred families; an edict had already spared all but the ringleaders. By then the chief ministers wanted to reopen the case and put every implicated household to death; Miao stood firm against it. The censor pressed to finalize the prosecution. Miao said, "To grant a general amnesty and then execute again has no place in law. The censor should impeach me alone—how dare anyone burden the court's mercy!" The court took Miao's advice and dropped the matter. Posted as Shandong surveillance commissioner, he found hungry people turning bandit in mass gatherings; he memorialized twelve famine-and-banditry remedies and impeached lawless pacification commissioners. When officials cited precedent to collect his supervisor's allotment fields, Miao said, "The land is in famine and the people suffer; I cannot save them—how could I tax them to fatten myself?" He ordered the levy halted at once. His colleagues dared not collect either. He was recalled to deliberate secretariat business.
31
五年，出為陝西行台侍御史，遷陝西行省參知政事。 六年，復入為治書侍御史，升侍御史，尋拜中書參知政事、同知經筵事。 大臣以兩京馳道狹隘，奏毀民田廬廣之，已遣使督有司治之矣，苗執曰：「馳道創自至元初，何今日獨為隘乎！」 力辯，乃罷。 又欲宿衛士悉出為郡長官，俾以養貧，苗議曰：「郡長所以牧民，豈養貧之地哉？ 果有不能自存，賜之錢可也。 若任郡寄，必擇賢才而後可。」 議遂寢。 又欲以鈔萬貫與角牴者，苗曰：「諸處告飢，不蒙賑恤，力戲何功，獲此重賞乎？」 又，僉四川廉訪司事家人違例收職田，奉使宣撫，直坐其主，宰臣命奉使即行遣，苗請付法司詳議，勿使憲司以為口實。 於是時相顧謂僚佐曰：「所以引蓋君至樞機者，欲其相助也，乃每事相抗，何耶？ 今後有公務，毋白參政。」 苗歎曰：「猥以非才，待罪執政，中書之事，皆當與聞，今宰相言若此，不退何俟？」 將引去，而適有旨拜江南行台御史中丞。 然宰臣怒苗終不解，比至，即除甘肅行省左丞，時苗已致仕歸田裡矣。 時宰復奏旨趣赴任，苗舁疾就道。 至鎮，即上言：「西土諸王，為國籓屏，賜賚雖有常制，而有司牽於文法，遂使恩澤不以時及，有匱乏之憂，大非隆親厚本之意。」 又言：「甘肅每歲中糧，姦弊百端，請以糧鈔兼給，則軍民咸利矣。」 朝廷從之。 遷陝西行御史臺中丞。 到官數日，即上疏乞骸骨，還鄉里。 明年卒，年五十八。 贈攄誠贊治功臣、中書左丞、上護軍，追封魏國公，諡文獻。
In year 5 he became Shaanxi branch censor, then Shaanxi associate administrator. In year 6 he returned as supervising secretary-censor, rose to attending censor, then became secretariat associate administrator and classics lecturer. Ministers said the twin-capital expressways were too narrow and petitioned to raze homes and fields to widen them; envoys were already overseeing the work. Miao objected, "Those roads date to early Zhiyuan—why are they suddenly too narrow?" He argued fiercely until the project was dropped. Another plan would make every guardsman a prefect to relieve poverty. Miao said, "Prefects govern the people—they are not welfare posts. If men truly cannot live, give them money. County office must go only to the worthy." The plan died there. They also meant to grant ten thousand strings of notes to wrestlers. Miao said, "Regions starve without relief—what merit does wrestling show to earn such a prize?" In another case a Sichuan surveillance commissioner's household illegally took allotment fields; the pacification envoy punished the commissioner himself. When ministers ordered immediate dismissal, Miao asked that the law offices decide the case so the surveillance corps would not gain a grievance. The chief minister then told his staff, "We brought Gai into the inner councils to help—not to oppose us on everything. Why does he? Report no official business to the associate administrator from now on." Miao sighed, "Unworthy as I am, I still share the administration; secretariat affairs are mine to hear. If the chancellor says this, why should I stay?" He was leaving when an edict named him Jiangnan vice censor-in-chief. The chancellor's grudge never cooled; as soon as Miao arrived they named him Gansu left associate administrator—even though he had already retired home. The chancellor pressed another edict for him to report; Miao went, borne on a litter. At his post he memorialized that western princes were the realm's bulwark, yet bureaucrats bound by regulations delayed their stipends until they faced poverty—against the policy of honoring kin. He also urged that Gansu's annual grain deliveries were riddled with abuse and asked that grain and notes be paid together, to army and people's profit. The court agreed. He became Shaanxi surveillance vice censor-in-chief. Days after taking office he begged retirement and went home. He died the following year at fifty-eight. Posthumous honors named him Exerting Sincerity, Praising Governance merit subject, left secretariat associate, senior protector of the army, Duke of Wei, with the temple name Wenxian (Literary Offering).
32
苗學術淳正，性孝友，喜施與，置義田以贍宗族。 平居恂恂謙謹，及至遇事，張目敢言，雖經挫折，無少回撓，有古遺直之風焉。
Miao's scholarship was upright, his nature dutiful and generous; he set up a charity estate for his kin. In daily life he was humble and cautious; in office he spoke boldly; setbacks never bent him—a throwback to the stubborn integrity of old.