釋鑑稽古略續集 1.19

1.19

In the spring, the first month, on the new moon, there was a solar eclipse. In the fifth month, Liu Bingzhong supervised the affairs of the Central Secretariat. After entering upon his post, he took the world as his personal responsibility, acting on whatever he knew needed doing. Shizu consulted him on the great principles for governing the realm and the sound methods for nurturing the people. Bingzhong submitted an itemized memorial based on the past statutes of the ancestors, combined with ancient systems suitable for the present day. Shizu approved of them. On the day the order was issued, the main principles were raised and the details fell into place; talents of the time were all employed, and cultural institutions were brilliantly renewed (History of the Yuan). Xu Heng was summoned, and the Central Secretariat was ordered to deliberate on affairs. Chancellor Antong, who was twenty-one years old at the time and had long heard of Heng's fame and admired him in his heart, visited him at his lodgings; upon returning, he sighed in admiration and consulted him daily on state affairs (History of the Yuan). Shizu, having heard of Zhang Dehui's fame, summoned him for an audience and appointed him Policy Consultant in the Central Secretariat. Dehui thoroughly set forth before the Emperor the profound virtues and morality of the sages, the methods of personal cultivation and state governance, and the causes of order and chaos throughout past and present, enabling the education of heirs of the nobility and school officials, so that internal and external governance were completely renewed.