Peng Ze

Life

His great-grandfather was Peng Bin, his grandfather Peng Xuan, and his father Peng Ding; his mother was Tang, his stepmother Zhao, and his wife Wu. His younger brothers were Peng Chong and Peng Rui.

His educational and examination career included the status of shengyuan and a provincial recommendation; in 1490, the third year of the Hongzhi reign, he passed the gengxu examination as a Presented Scholar, ranking forty-sixth in the second category.

He was appointed Gongbu zhushi in the Ministry of Works and later held the corresponding posts of Xingbu zhushi, yuanwailang, and langzhong in the Ministry of Justice. While serving in the Ministry of Justice, he sentenced a powerful notable who had committed murder to death and refused a eunuch's plea for clemency.

From 1500 to 1502 (Hongzhi 13–15), he served as magistrate of Huizhou Prefecture in Zhili. There he recognized and treated the shengyuan Tang Gao with courtesy; Tang Gao later became the zhuangyuan, the top candidate in the examination.

From 1506 to 1508 (Zhengde 1–3), he became magistrate of Zhending Prefecture and governed sternly.

In the early Zhengde reign, he successively served as Zhejiang surveillance vice commissioner and Henan surveillance commissioner, gaining a reputation for severity; the terms are given as 1508–1510 (Zhengde 3–5) and 1510–1511 (Zhengde 5–6), respectively.

He then became Right Assistant Censor and governor of Liaodong, and was transferred as Right Deputy Censor and governor of Baoding.

In 1510 (Zhengde 5) he also served as left assistant administration commissioner in Zhejiang, and in 1511 (Zhengde 6) as Left Assistant Censor of the Censorate; in 1514 (Zhengde 9) he was appointed jinglue, and in 1523 (Jiajing 2) he served as reader of examination papers and was granted the rank of Shaobao.

During the Zhengde reign, uprisings in Henan were associated with Liu Liu, Liu Qi, and Zhao Sui; another account names Liu Hui and Zhao Sui. The court ordered Peng Ze and the Marquis of Xianning, Qiu Yue, to suppress them. On arrival he proclaimed military discipline and declared hesitant commanders liable to death; after dozens of engagements, all were victorious, and he was promoted to Right Metropolitan Censor and Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, while his son received a hereditary Hundred-household post in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He then replaced Hong Zhong as governor-general of the Sichuan–Shaanxi armies and campaigned against Liao Mazi and Yu Sibeng. After these forces were pacified, disturbances broke out again in Neijiang and Rongchang; he shifted his forces and suppressed them, rising to Left Metropolitan Censor and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. From 1514 to 1517 (Zhengde 9–12), he held the office of Left Metropolitan Censor, and from Zhengde 12 he served as Governor-General of the Three Border Regions.

After becoming Left Metropolitan Censor and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, Peng Ze repeatedly requested leave to return home. His request was approved, but before he departed Turfan occupied Hami, carried off the Loyal-Shun King Sutan Baiyelang, and demanded gold. Deng Zhang, Zhao Jian, the Gansu governor, and others reported the matter and asked that a grandee be sent to direct the campaign, while Yang Tinghe and other grand secretaries recommended Peng Ze. Tired of his long military career, Peng pleaded illness and recommended Deng Zhang or the Marquis of Xianning, Qiu Yue, as his successor. Only after Emperor Wuzong issued an edict commending and urging him did Peng proceed to the Shaanxi–Gansu frontier; by the time he arrived, the matter had been settled, and he returned to administer the Censorate.

When the office of Minister of War fell vacant, court officials recommended Peng Ze, but Wang Qiong obtained the appointment and privately disparaged him. Many censors impeached Wang, and the two became estranged. Peng often insulted Qian Ning; Wang reported this, but Qian did not believe him, so Wang arranged a drinking party, concealed Qian behind a screen, and maneuvered Peng into drunken insults that Qian heard.

When the Mongols invaded Xuanfu, the court proposed that Xu Tai lead the troops and that Peng Ze direct military affairs on both sides; the edict was then changed, Xu Tai was dismissed, and Peng was not given the command. Instead, a commander was sent with two mobile units totaling six thousand men, apparently to place Peng in difficulty. Peng memorialized asking that the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Fu, be sent; the Mongols withdrew, and Peng returned to administer the Censorate.

Earlier, Xie Yixian had secretly colluded with the Turfan chieftain Sutan Mansu'er; Peng, unaware of this, had initially dispatched him. Mansu'er surrendered with the city seal, leaving Sutan Baiyelang and others behind. Xie Yixian went again and secretly communicated with Mansu'er while planning to seize Suzhou; by then Peng and Zhao Jian had departed, and Li Kun, now governor of Gansu, fearing trouble, held hostages in Ganzhou and expelled Xie Yixian beyond the frontier.

Mansu'er was enraged, reoccupied Hami, divided his forces to attack Shazhou, and personally led more than ten thousand horsemen against Jiayu Pass. The guerrilla commander Rui Ning and the brigade commander Jiang Cunli resisted; Rui Ning met the enemy at Shaziba with seven hundred troops, was defeated and killed, and Mansu'er then sacked and massacred the city.

Emperor Wuzong again ordered Peng Ze to supervise the military affairs of the Three Border Regions. Chen Jiuchou, a vice commissioner, argued that the arrest of envoys had cut off the internal supporters and again sought peace; the expedition was consequently cancelled, and Peng asked to return home. Wang Qiong later reopened the case of the defeat at Jiayu Pass, with Qian Ning involved; Grand Secretary Liang Chu and others strongly opposed the move, and the matter was temporarily halted. Wang persisted, and Li Kun and Chen Jiuchou were arrested for investigation; Peng was reduced to commoner status, Li was removed from office, and Chen was stripped of his official status.

After the accession of Emperor Shizong, Qian Ning fell and Wang Qiong also incurred disgrace. At the request of Censor Yang Bingzhong, Peng Ze was recalled and appointed Guanglu dafu, Zhuguo, Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and Minister of War; he attended the Classics Banquet and, under imperial commission, supervised the military affairs of the metropolitan training camps, while Li Kun and Chen Jiuchou were also restored. In the first year of the Jiajing reign (1522), Peng reorganized military appointments and eliminated posts in the Embroidered Uniform Guard and related offices, thereby provoking widespread resentment; censors jointly impeached him, but he was still granted Shaobao and sent home under an imperial travel warrant.

Wang Bangqi, a Hundred-household officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, further accused Peng Ze, claiming that the Hami affair had resulted from Peng's bribing Turfan to obtain peace and implicating Yang Tinghe and Chen Jiuchou. Zhang Cong and Gui E consequently had Chen Jiuchou arrested and sent to frontier service; Peng too was stripped of office and reduced to commoner status, and died depressed at home. His dismissal is also given as being for illness; at the beginning of the Longqing reign he was restored to office and posthumously titled Xiangyi.

Works and associations

A twelve-juan work titled Xing'an xinggao (幸菴行稿) is associated with him.

Wang Jiusi wrote a preface for one of his books, He Mengchun wrote a postscript and title inscription, Fang Liangyong wrote his epitaph, and Liu Geng wrote his biography; Huo Tao and Huang Xun wrote memorial offerings.

At departures, Lü Nan and Qiao Yu wrote farewell pieces; He Mengchun and Lü Nan sent congratulatory messages, and Lü praised Peng's administrative achievements.

Lin Jun, Wang Shouren, Kang Hai, and Yang Lian each sent letters to Peng Ze; Kang Hai also presented poems and prose and wrote a preface.