This section contains twenty-three pieces: nine are ji 記 (records); two are hou 後 (postscripts, postfaces); two are zhuang 狀 (descriptions); three are ming 銘 (inscriptions); four are about visiting the imperial tombs; and three are miscellaneous, of which one is about his shrine to Zhu Xi.
Alas! Since the progressive decline in the dao [Way] of government, the state has been without a strong clan system. Being without a strong clan system means the state is not properly established, and if the state is not properly established, this means the people are dispersed within and there is rebellion without, until finally the state comes to be destroyed. Is preservation of the clan system not, then, how people are made correct in their conduct and the power of the state strengthened?
I came to Pei village in Wenxi district and visited the ancestral hall of Jin Gong [Pei Du],1 where I asked about his ancestry. There were still one or two hundred people, and there were farm implements and accompanying visitors. I came out of the village and reached the side of the official residence, where I read the inscription from Tang times recording the genealogy in the family register. Then I climbed the bank and looked into the distance. Within ten li there were burial mounds running continuously together. There were more than a hundred men whose surnames, styles, and official ranks could be examined. Now, the prominence of the recent past did not go back beyond the Tang, and yet in the region of the Yellow River, there were recent areas of imperial domains. The land was topographically important and the clans were many, like the Liu of Jiezhou and the Pei of Wenxi; both served in succession over several hundred years in an official capacity. The Xue clan of Fengyin relied on the Yellow River to protect themselves from Shi Hu,2 creating the boundaries of Fujian to set up an independent regime, and yet they never had a single person at the court who was an official. The Fan clan of Yishi county and the Wang clan raised a volunteer force to ward off the attack by the hordes of Gao Huan.3 These were not the methods of the Three Dynasties still being preserved, and yet those among them who were worthy led them in the dao 道 [Way] of protecting the family and guarding the clan—how otherwise would they have been able to escape destruction for so long?
Since the fall of the Tang, the records detailing clan succession have all been completely destroyed. Nevertheless, Pei Shu took a party of six or seven men who still had misgivings about Zhu Quanzhong4 and waited at the White Horse postal relay station to kill him and seize the Tang throne. The relationship the clans had to the state was like this. When it came to the time of the Five Dynasties, the position of the emperor was much like it is in chess, and the rich families sunk to become like messengers. With the Jingkang change [1126] there was not one family in the succession that was able to lead a force to protect themselves. Sima Shi from Xia county led his whole family in the southern crossing, and they didn’t return to their native village for a hundred years. Ah, alas! This is how the dao 道 [Way] of government each day plummets downward. Then suddenly there is a change, and the ruler cannot depend on the great officials, the people of the state cannot depend on the great families, and they lead one another to flee and hide away, seeking to avoid the issue of right and wrong. Is this a situation that must inevitably come about? If this is why the emperors of the Tang honored the noble families and followed the practice of increasing officials, I presume we know that the fengjian system [feudalism] cannot return, and yet we can lodge the concept in the great officers, and by means of this, in one sudden moment of compulsion, can defend ourselves. This is also undoubtedly something that later rulers are unable to understand.
Previously, I visited in succession Shandong and Hebei. Since the fighting arose, the subprefectures and districts that were able to avoid destruction and ruin in many cases relied on the strength of the great and powerful families and were not completely dependent on the administration [magistrate]. When I came to the district east of the Yellow River [Shanxi], I asked why Li Zicheng5 was able to make a push down to the Three Jin and was not prevented from causing harm. Someone answered and said that during the late part of the Chongzhen reign period [1628–1644], there was a man from Quwo county, Li Jiantai,6 with the title “bulwark of government.” When the rebel entered Xi’an, the emperor gave him an audience and sighed. Jiantai replied, saying, “Our prefecture is about to become an important path for the rebel. I ask to be allowed to lead forth our whole clan and men from the district, and I will contribute resources amounting to a million taels to defend the Yellow River for our kingdom.” The emperor was very pleased and ordered that Jiantai be made a supervisor of armies. Then he personally accompanied his departing visitor to the main gate of the city. He raised a drinking vessel that had been handed down over successive dynasties and poured wine into it, which he gave him. Jianbai had not yet sent troops into battle when Pingyang and Taiyuan prefectures fell in quick succession. He didn’t know what to do. The troops stopped at Zhending, and the rebel had already entered through Juyong Pass. This shows that Jiantai was a man of limited ability—certainly inferior to Wang Duo and Zhang Jun.7 And yet there was no authority to give to a superior man and no method of linking up with such a person. This was a problem that didn’t spring up overnight. Now, to expect these great officers to have the empty reputation of the paltry term “bulwark official” [zaifu] and to involve them in the task of peace and danger to the altars of soil and grain is surely a plan that cannot be realized.
In the Rites of Zhou [Zhou Li], under the heading “Tai Zai,” there is, “Take nine to be paired with the people of the country;…The fifth is called zong and by means of clans gains the people.”8 If you look at the Pei clan’s connection with the preservation or loss of the Tang, the broad outline can be discerned here. Now, it is not possible to return to the fengjian system of government, and yet if you wish to rely on the power of officials to establish government, this lies in the important clans! Yes, this lies in the important clans!