“Zhao Nanxing” by John W. Dardess is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. See also John W. Dardess, Blood and History in China: the Donglin Faction and its Repression, 1620-1627 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002)
21/243/6297-6301 Zhao Nanxing, courtesy name Mengbai, was from Gaoyi county. He achieved his jinshi degree in 1574 and was appointed Prefectural Judge in Runing. Honest and fair-minded, he was soon made a Secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. When Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng was on his deathbed, and court officials gathered together to offer prayers, Zhao joined Gu Xiancheng and Qiang Shichang in staying away from those. After Zhang died, Zhao was assigned to the Bureau of Evaluations in the Ministry of Personnel. Then he retired home on grounds of illness.
He was recalled, and in due course was appointed Vice Director of the Bureau of Appointments in the Ministry of Personnel. There he sent up as memorial listing four harmful matters facing the realm. The first was this: When Yang Wei asked for permission to retire, the Left Censor-in-chief Wu Shilai maneuvered to be his successor, and because he was afraid of the prestige of the Minister of Revenue Song Xun, he sent up a series of memorials attacking him; and the Vice Censor-in-chief, Zhan Yangpi, was extremely eager to be made Vice Minister in the Ministry of Personnel or War. When high officials act thus, how can we keep smaller officials in line? This is the harm caused by personal ambitions. The second matter was this: When the Minister of Rites Shen Li, Vice Minister Zhang Wei, Advisor to the Heir Apparent Wu Zhongxing, and the Nanjing Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud Shen Sixiao all resigned in succession, only the Nanjing Vice Minister of Rites Zhao Yongxian remained in office. But the Hanlin official Huang Hongxian and others kept using every underhanded means to put him in a bad light. The speaking officials (Censors and Supervising Secretaries) Tang Yaoqin, Sun Yuxian, and Cai Xizhou openly slandered and denounced him. When upright men are no longer tolerated and schemers get their way, it sets the scene for a disastrous turnover in personnel. The third matter is this: Selections and appointments of the leading officials in the subprefectures and counties are not taken seriously enough. The central authorities make the appointments too quickly. The prefectural officials don’t check into the appointees’ talent and behavior, while the provincial officials base their evaluations on bribes and say “they’re not too bad”, or “they haven’t been in position for very long” and refuse to demote or transfer them; they think they are nurturing talents, but what they are really doing is nurturing men who lack talent.
/6298 Thus personnel administration becomes ever more corrupt, and the people’s livelihoods become ever more exhausted. This is the harm visible at the level of the subprefectures and counties. The fourth matter is this: The powers of the permanent local authorities exceed those of the appointed officials. They act dictatorially, and no one dares object. There is the case of Zhang Dong, magistrate of Weinan county, whose performance was outstanding, but when he tried to curtail the powers of the permanent local authorities, he was denounced and had to back off. This is the harm caused by the permanent local authorities. Unless we do away with all these harms, we cannot achieve good order in the realm.
When this memorial was made public, official opinion favored it, but those who were attacked by name were all protected by the highest officials; and in this connection the Supervising Secretary Li Chunkai refuted it, and when his memorial was first made public, Zhao Nanxing nearly incurred punishment, but the Supervising Secretaries Wang Jiguang, Shi Menglin, and Wan Ziyue as well as the ministry officials Qiang Shichang and Wu Zhengzhi all helped Zhao rebut Li Chunkai, and they also corroborated the slanders that had been perpetrated by Wu Shilai, Zhan Yangpi, and Huang Hongxian. Li Chunkai was outgunned. But Zhao Nanxing anyhow decided to resign on grounds of illness.
He was recalled, and eventually he was appointed Director of the Bureau of Evaluations. In 1593 there was conducted a general evaluation of all the officials posted in Beijing. Zhao and the Minister of Personnel Sun Long conducted a thorough and impartial purge. Among the first to be purged were Zhao’s kinsman, Chief Supervising Secretary Wang Sanyu, and Sun Long’s nephew, Lü Yinchang, Vice Director of the Bureau of Appointments. Other hangers-on, including the younger brother of Grand Secretary Zhao Zhigao, were purged as well. Officialdom was extremely disturbed, and in this connection the Supervising Secretary Liu Daolong impeached the officials of the Ministry of Personnel for making decisions on illegal grounds. The imperil rescript to this accused Zhao Nanxing and Sun Long of usurping authority and creating a faction and demoted them three ranks. Then in response to the memorials of Li Shida et al. in their defense, Zhao was removed from the official register altogether and made a commoner. Soon after, everyone who had tried to defend him was punished, and Sun Long too was removed from his position. The good species were all but made extinct. See Sun Long’s biography for further details.
Even while he lived at home, Zhao Nanxing’s reputation soared. The world linked him with Zou Yuanbiao and Gu Xiancheng as the “Three Gentlemen.” More than a hundred memorials were sent up demanding his recall. But the Wanli emperor never recalled him.
When Guanzong (the Taichang emperor) came to the throne (in 1620), Zhao was recalled. He was first appointed a Vice Minister in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Then he was made a Commissioner in the Office of Transmission. Then he was promoted to Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. However, when he arrived in Beijing, he was made a Vice Minister in the Ministry of Works, a position he held only for a few months. He was then made Left Censor-in-chief; and as such, he was determined to make it his personal responsibility to set the realm aright.
In 1623, there was another general evaluation of capital officials, in conjunction with which it was proposed to purge the former Supervising Secretaries Qi Shijiao, Zhao Xingbang, Guan Yingzhen, and Wu Liangsi on the grounds that in the former Wanli reign they had created a faction and disordered the government. But Wei Yingjia, Chief Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel, objected vehemently. Zhao Nanxing wrote “A Treatise on the Four Evil Ones”, and together with Cheng Zhengsi, Director of the Bureau of Evaluations, he succeeded in getting the four evaluated as “heedless.” All the others were purged along the same lines as in 1593.
The Zhejiang Regional Inspector Zhang Suyang sent up recommendations for men in his jurisdiction—among them Yao Zongwen,
/6299 Shao Fuzhong, and Liu Tingyuan. Zhao Nanxing rejected these recommendations as absurd. Zhang Suyang was indicted and his salary was suspended. Earlier on, Regional Inspectors had the green light to make personnel recommendations, and Zhao had memorialized asking that a stop be put to this practice. Still, Regional Inspectors Gao Hongtu of Shaanxi, Xu Yangxian of Shanxi, Li Siqi of Xuanda, and Liu Dashou of Hedong continued to make such recommendations. Zhao Nanxing impeached them all; and thanks to this, the other Regional Inspectors became more respectful of regulations.
Then Zhao succeeded Zhang Wenda as Minister of Personnel. This was at a time when there was fierce competition for office, rampant bribery, and a near breakdown in the flow of recommendations. Whenever the Director of Appointments stepped out into the street, people would buttonhole him demanding an office for this or that person, and if their pleas failed, they would smear him or even try to force his dismissal. This Director was impartial and upright, and he didn’t know what to do. The Minister (Zhang Wenda) just sighed and did nothing. Zhao Nanxing had long been aware of this abuse and was determined to rectify it. All by himself he did so. No more could officialdom and the corps of palace eunuchs get their entreaties satisfied. People feared his hard sternness and didn’t dare offend him.
There was a certain Supervising Secretary who sought an office in the Salt Distribution Commission for someone who had paid money to buy such a position. Zhao gave the man a position in one of the Princely Establishments, and the Supervising Secretary off to a post away from Beijing. A county magistrate by the name of Shi Sanwei was very greedy, and he tried pulling strings to get the appointment, but Zhao consigned him to a Princely Establishment as well. At the time, no one with a jinshi degree had ever been assigned to a Princely Establishment before, but Zhao didn’t care about that.
(The notorious eunuch) Wei Zhongxian esteemed Zhao, and often praised his performance to the emperor (Tianqi). One day Wei sent his nephew Fu Yingxing with a gift to see him, so as to introduce a Secretariat Drafter to him. But Zhao ordered them to leave. And then one day he sat next to (Wei Zhongxian) at the Hongzheng Gate, for the purpose of appointing an Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Transmission. With a righteous expression on his face, Zhao said to Wei: “The emperor is just a boy, and we who serve him inside the palace and outside must all of us strive to our utmost to do good.” Wei made no reply, but his anger could be seen on his face.
Grand Secertary Wei Guangwei was the son of Zhao’s friend, Wei Yuanzhen. Zhao had always treated him as a son of his own. But when Wei Guangwei entered the Grand Secretariat, he three times visited Zhao’s house, and Zhao refused to see him. Once Zhao sighed and said: “Jianquan has no son.” “Jianquan” was Yuanzhen’s studio name. Wei Guangwei deeply resented that treatment, as much as did Wei Zhongxian, and they acted to destroy Zhao Nanxing.
At the time, the Donglin faction was in the ascendancy, and upright men filled the court. Zhao assiduously promoted men who earlier had been overlooked, and appointed them to positions. Gao Panlong, Yang Lian, and Zuo Guangdou got important posts in the Censorate; Li Tengfang and and Chen Yuting got supporting positions as Supervising Secretaries; and Zheng Sanjun, Li Banghua, Sun Juxiang, Rao Shen, and Wang Zhicai all got important positions in the Ministries.
/6300 And in the Four Bureaus (of the Ministry of Personnel) there were Zou Weilian, Xia Jiayu, Zhang Guangqian, Cheng Guoxiang, and Liu Tingjian—all of whom had excellent reputations among the common people. Everywhere, people looked upon all these men with great respect.
But the evil-minded small men cast their eyes askance and itched to get rid of Zhao Nanxing. The Supervising Secretary Fu Kui, passed over in favor of Zou Weilian for an appointment to the Ministry of Personnel, took advantage of the turmoil connected with (the appointments broker) Wang Wenyan, and impeached Zhao Nanxing for violating the standard procedures and favoring his personal adherents. Zou Weilian resigned, and Zhao memorialized asking that he be retained, whereupon the small men hated him all the more.
When Yang Lian sent up his memorial impeaching the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, the palace was thrown into crisis. Zhao stayed at home and begged to be allowed to retire, but his request was denied. When Gao Panlong impeached Cui Chengxiu, Zhao advised exiling Cui to a garrison. Finding himself in deep trouble, Cui went by night to Wei Zhongxian’s residence and begged him for mercy, claiming that unless Zhao, Gao Panlong, and Yang Lian were ousted, both he and Wei were as good as dead. Wei Zhongxian strongly agreed, and together they made plans.
Then the position of Shanxi Pacification Commissioner fell vacant. Guo Shangyou, who was Henan Provincial Administration Commissioner, wanted it. But Zhao Nanxing submitted a request for that position in behalf of Xie Yingxiang, who was Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and had a reputation for honesty. An imperial rescript approved the request. But Censor Chen Jiuchou, acting under Wei Guangwei’s direction, charged that Xie had once been magistrate of Jiashan county, and that (Jiashan native) Wei Dazhong was a protégé of his, and that Wei Dazhong, acting in behalf of his teacher, plotted with Xia Jiayu, Director of the Bureau of Appointments, to get him hired. Favoritism of this sort, he argued, must be rejected. Wei Dazhong and Xia Jiayu rebutted these charges in memorials. In so doing, they attacked Chen Jiuchou, who protested vehemently in an answering memorial. All these memorials were sent down to the full court for discussion. Zhao Nanxing and Gao Panlong insisted that Xie Yingxiang had been recommended purely on the basis of his good reputation; that Wei Dazhong and Xia Jiayu were showing no partiality toward him; and that Chen Jiuchou had spoken recklessly and should not be listened to. Greatly angered, Wei Zhongxian forged an edict dismissing Wei Dazhong, Xia Jiayu, and Chen Jiuchou as well, and reprimanding Zhao Nanxing and Gao Panlong for their partisan behavior. Zhao at once admitted blame and begged to be allowed to resign. So Wei Zhongxian forged another edict, reprimanding Zhao and sending him back home.The next day, Gao Panlong also asked to resign. The Supervising Secretary Shen Weibing memorialized in their behalf, but he too was sent away.
Soon after, a court conference on promotions went against eunuch Wei Zhongxian’s preferences, and so in retaliation Chen Yuting, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, and Yuan Huazhong were dismissed, while men whom Zhao Nanxing had earlier rejected—Xu Zhaokui, Qiao Yingjia, and Wang Shaohui—were placed in important positions. The small men swarmed in, and the great levers of the realm all fell into the hands of Wei Zongxian.
Wei Zhongxian and his faction very much hated Zhao Nanxing, and in edicts they forged, they constantly pointed to Zhao as one of the leading malefactors. Finally the Censor Zhang Na impeached Zhao for ten great crimes He also impeached Zou Weilian, Cheng Guoxiang, Xia Jiayu, and Wang Yuncheng. An imperial rescript removed them all from the official register and relegated them to commoner status. Ordered to name more of Zhao’s personal clique, Zhang named fourteen, inclusing Li Banghua and Sun Dingxiang.
/6301 All were cashiered. So everyone whom Zhao had rejected were without exception welcomed back and reappointed to high positions, while all those whom he had favored met disaster. All those eager for rapid advancement needed only to attack Zhao Nanxing to get whatever they wanted. Even Shi Sanwei was brought back as Censor, and he attacked fifteen men including Zhao, Li Sancai, Gu Xiancheng, Sun Piyang, and Wang Tu, who, if dead, were posthumously deprived of official status and their families were confiscated. The disaster for the degree-holding literati reached such an extreme.
Eventually, (the appointments broker) Wang Wenyan’s prison testimony implicated Zhao Nanxing, and he was arrested and interrogated by the provincial authorities. As it happened, Guo Shangyou was Baoding Grand Coordinator, and the Regional Inspector Ma Zhigao also held a grudge against Zhao, and so both officials abused him at their courts. They flogged his son Qingheng and his grandson Wang Zhongpang and imprisoned them. Zhao was charged with having taken 15,000 (ounces silver) in bribes. Zhao’s family was poor, but friends and relatives pitched in to help him repay. Finally Zhao was exiled to a garrison in Daizhou, his son to a garrison in Zhuanglang, and his grandson to one in Yongchang. Both his formal mother nee Feng and his birth mother nee Li died weeping. A son of seven years (sui) died of fear. When Zhao reached his place of exile, nonetheless, he took it in stride. When the Chongzhen emperor came to the throne (late in 1628), he issued Zhao an order of amnesty, but the Grand Coordinator Mou Zhikui was a member of eunuch Wei Zhongxian’s faction, and he delayed its delivery, so Zhao in the end died in his garrison exile. Early in the Chongzhen reign period, he was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, with the posthumous name Zhongyi. Fui Kui, Cui Chengxiu, Wei Guangwei, Chen Jiuchou, Xu Zhaokui, and Mou Zhikui are all officially listed as members of the “Treason Faction”, and are among the world’s great villains on account of this.