Shang Lu · 全球本体聚合平台

Shang Lu (1414–1486) was a Ming-dynasty statesman. His courtesy name was Hongzai (弘載), also written Hongzai (宏載); his hao was Su'an (素庵), also written Su'an (素菴), and he also used the sobriquet Yanling Xiansheng (嚴陵先生). His posthumous name was Wenyi (文毅). He was from Chun'an, Zhejiang, and his ancestral origin was in Kaifeng, Henan.

Life

Family and education

His family was poor; his father and grandfather did not enter office, his grandfather worked as a hunter and woodcutter, and his father served as a minor clerk in the office of the prefect of Yanzhou. The family line included the great-grandfather Shang Longfu, grandfather Shang Jingzhong, father Shang Zhongxuan, and mother née Xie; his father is also given as Shang Lin, while Shang Yuan is listed among his direct ancestors. His brothers were Shang Hong, Shang Bin, and Shang Min; his wife was née Lu; his sons were Shang Liangchen and Shang Liangnian; his grandsons were Shang Rujin, Shang Rutai, Shang Rushun, Shang Ruyi, Shang Ruqian, and Shang Ruze; and his great-grandson was Shang Chengqing.

From an early age, he was esteemed by the instructor Wang Rui. He placed first in the provincial examination in 1435; after repeated failures, he devoted ten years to study at the Imperial College and won the esteem of Li Shijian, its director of the National Academy. In 1445, he placed first in the metropolitan examination and then first in the palace examination, achieving the Three Firsts; another account specifies first place in the provincial, metropolitan, and palace examinations. Only Huang Guan and Shang Lu are identified as Ming men to have achieved this distinction; Huang Guan had also been struck from the rolls by the Yongle emperor. After passing, Shang Lu was appointed Compiler in the Hanlin Academy and entered the Eastern Pavilion for advanced study with Liu Yan and nine others.

Career and political affairs

After the Tumu Crisis, when the Prince of Cheng served as regent, recommendations from Chen Xun and Gao Gu brought Shang Lu into the Grand Secretariat to assist with state affairs. He opposed moving the capital south and advocated resistance to the Oirat Mongols. Early in the Jingtai era he entered the Grand Secretariat and became a Reader-in-Waiting; in Jingtai 1 (1450) he was sent to Juyong Pass to receive the retired emperor and was promoted to Academician; after the Jingtai emperor changed the heir in Jingtai 5 (1454), he was promoted to Left Vice Minister of War and Grand Academician of the Left Spring Palace. During a famine in Henan, he proposed reclaiming wasteland to provide grain; he secured the release of Zhong Tong and Zhang Lun from prison, and after the completion of the Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Empire he was additionally made a Concurrent Grand Master of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

In Jingtai 3 (1452), the Chief Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Lu Zhong, accused the eunuch Ruan Lang and the palace attendant Wang Yao of intending to restore the retired emperor. Lu Zhong feigned madness out of fear; Shang Lu judged him untrustworthy, whereupon Lu Zhong was imprisoned and reduced to a minor service post on another charge, while Wang Yao was killed and Ruan Lang imprisoned.

In Jingtai 7 (1456), as the emperor lay gravely ill, the court requested the establishment of an heir but was refused; Shang Lu memorialized that a descendant of the Xuande emperor should be established, but the day ended before his memorial could be submitted, and that night Shi Heng and others restored the Yingzong emperor. After the restoration, Shang Lu and Gao Gu were summoned to draft the restoration edict; when Shi Heng privately asked him to add clauses, Shang Lu refused, and the remonstrance officials impeached him and had him imprisoned. Shang Lu maintained that his Memorial on Restoring the Heir was held by the Ministry of Rites and could be verified, but received no answer; the court eunuch Xing'an tried to explain the matter, which initially intensified the Yingzong emperor's anger, then argued that those men had earlier proposed moving the capital, and the emperor's anger eased enough for Shang Lu to be released as a commoner. The emperor later said that Shang Lu was a scholar whom he himself had selected and that Shang Lu had once attended the Eastern Palace with Yao Kui, but, because many resented him, he did not dare to employ him again.

Chenghua and final years

Early in the Chenghua era, Shang Lu re-entered the Grand Secretariat with his former rank and memorialized eight measures concerning diligent study, accepting remonstrance, selecting reserve commanders, and frontier defense; the emperor approved them. He later served as Minister of War, Minister of Revenue, and Minister of Personnel, concurrently as Grand Academician of the Wenyuan Pavilion, and was advanced to Grand Academician of the Jinshen Hall; he also received the titles Junior Guardian and Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. His career additionally included service as Hanlin Academician, lecturer for the Classics Mat, compiler, palace-examination reader, deputy commissioner, and Grand Master of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He was described as broad-minded and tolerant, yet firm and decisive when major matters arose, so that no one could sway him. He died in 1486, was posthumously made Grand Tutor, and received the posthumous name Wenyi.

Works

Works associated with Shang Lu include The Zheshan Notes, the ten-volume Collected Works of Lord Shang Wenyi, the one-volume Abstract of Lord Shang Wenyi's Memorial Drafts, the one-volume Memorials of Shang Lu, the thirty-two-volume Collected Prose of Shang Lu, the twenty-seven-volume Continuation of the Outline of the Comprehensive Mirror for the Successive Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the thirty-volume Complete Works of Lord Shang Wenyi. Other listings give the Su'an Collection and the ten-volume Wenyi Collection, so the titles and stated numbers of volumes vary.