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Shang Lu
Ming grand secretary who, by the Ming History's count, alone in the dynasty came first in all three examinations, and who resigned after attacking the eunuch Wang Zhi
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Zi Hongzai · Hao Suan
Shang Lu, courtesy name Hongzai, came from Chun'an in Yanzhou, Zhejiang. He topped the provincial examination in 1435, and in 1445 he came first in both the metropolitan and palace examinations, entering the Hanlin Academy. After the Tumu disaster of 1449, when the Prince of Cheng took charge of the government, Shang and Peng Shi joined the Grand Secretariat, and under the Jingtai emperor he became vice minister of war. When Emperor Yingzong regained the throne in 1457 Shi Heng and others had him struck from the registers. Recalled to the cabinet in 1467, he rose to minister of personnel and grand secretary. In 1477 he and the nine chief ministers denounced the eunuch Wang Zhi, and the Western Depot, Wang's secret police, was briefly closed; when it reopened Shang insisted on retiring, and he died at home ten years later aged seventy-two, with the posthumous name Wenyi. The Ming History notes that in the whole dynasty he alone came first in all three examinations.
Life and times
Dates 1414 CE–1486 CE