Hemp-Paper Patent Making Yi Yeonsu Acting Defender-in-Chief, Vice Director of the Chancellery, Joint Administrator of Affairs of the Secretariat-Chancellery, and Director of the Ministry of Personnel; Kim Uiwon Vice Director of the Secretariat, Administrator of Chancellery Affairs, and Director of the Ministry of War; Choe U Grand Master of Golden Purple and Glorious Emolument, Assistant Administrator of Government Affairs, Minister of Personnel and of War, and Director of the Censorate; and Sa Honggi Grand Master of Golden Purple and Glorious Emolument, Director of the Chancellery, Minister of Personnel, and Director of the Ministry of Works李延壽爲守大尉門下侍郞同中書門下平章事判吏部事。金義元爲中書侍郞平章事判兵部事。崔瑀爲金紫光祿大夫參知政事吏兵部尙書判御史臺事。史洪紀爲金紫光祿大夫知門下省事吏部尙書判工部事敎書麻制各一道。 麻制
門下。樂得賢立邦基。大平無憂不致。有奮庸煕帝載。好爵吾與爾縻。況宰衡論道之司。是朝野注意之地。宜登偉器。誕告明廷。
To the Chancellery.
Rejoicing to get worthy men and set up the foundation of the state, I have no need to fear that a great peace will not be brought about. There being those who exert themselves, shake out their merit, and make the sovereign's work shine, with good offices I bind you to me. How much more, since the chief minister's is a seat where the Way is discussed and a seat upon which court and countryside pour their hearts and gaze; it is right therefore to raise up and set in place great vessels and to make it widely known to the bright court.
某官李某。幹局沈深。風神峻邁。直諒之性。居暗室而無欺。淸廉之心。酌貪泉而不易。立朝嚴毅則凜凜然難犯。臨事剖決則恢恢乎有餘。累提攬轡之權。貪吏落膽而莫敢喘。出播褰帷之化。疲民抃手而無不歌。至若地肅憲臺。資華選部。凡曰重人之高選。悉皆莅職而允當。朕自昔年。素聞英譽。及委納言之寄。益詳行己之全。尋擢置於鴻樞。便登庸於鳳閣。帝賚予弼。夙彰爰立之徵。民具爾瞻。果合是維之望。宜示眷恩之命。用酬光輔之功。是用升鱣服之上司。轉鸞臺之峻級。仍委品題之職。佇推奇偉之人。可特授云云。某官金某。軀膽酋酋。襟靈浩浩。挺燕頷虎頭之表。從鶡冠魚服之行。方在偏裨。倜儻有奇志。歷勤宿衛。純謹無他腸。及登上將之班資。常作寡人之扞禦。時方討虜。諸將迭出而戰征。卿獨侍君。累稔不離於左右。略不形於懈色。眞可謂之賢勞。觀其有經遠之才。規欲始秉鈞之漸。故先試樞機之要。而旋除輔相之聯。叔向在朝。古之遺直。子產爲政。人不忍欺。合加甄奬之恩。用答忠勤之效。肆轉中書之秩。仍兼司馬之官。可特授云云。
So-and-so Yi (李) of such an office is deep and weighty in ability and capacity, and lofty and outstanding in bearing and spirit. Being upright and trustworthy of nature, he does nothing deceitful even in a dark room; being clear and clean of heart, he does not change though he scoop and drink the water of the Spring of Greed (貪泉). Standing in court he is severe and firm, so stately that he is hard to transgress against; coming to affairs and dividing and judging them, he is generous and has room to spare. Several times he held the authority that takes the horse's reins, and greedy clerks had their liver and gall fall within them and dared not even breathe; and going out, he rolled up the carriage curtain and spread the teaching that welcomes the people, and there was none among the weary people who did not clap and sing. Even to the solemn seat of the Censorate and the shining seat of the Ministry of Personnel — wherever it was a high seat that chooses out weighty men, he was fit to take charge of all of them.
From last year I had heard of that outstanding praise of him; and when I had committed to him the charge of Receiver of Words, I knew the more exactly how whole his bearing was. Thereafter I chose him into the Privy Council and soon raised him for use in the Chancellery. It is said that Heaven has given me one to aid me — and the sign that bade me set up this man had appeared early; the people all look up to you — and indeed it answered the hope that you would hold up this country. It is right to show him a command of regard and cherishing and so repay his brilliantly aiding merit. Therefore I raise him to the seat above the Three Dukes (三公) and move him to a high grade in the Secretariat-Chancellery, and, leaving in his charge as before the duty of choosing and reckoning men, await his pushing forward of outstanding persons. It may be especially bestowed. And so forth.
So-and-so Kim (金) of such an office is stout in body and gall and broad and great within his breast. Born with a swallow's jaw and a tiger's head, he followed the way of the military man with the hat of the fighting pheasant (鶡冠) and the quiver of fish skin (魚服). From the days when he was a lesser general his purpose was great and uncommon; and taking charge of the guard all round he exerted himself, yet was pure and careful and had no other heart. Since rising to the ranks of Senior General he has always warded and guarded me. Just at that time, in the campaign against the barbarians, several generals went out to fight by turns; yet you, my lord, alone attended upon the sovereign and for several years did not leave his left and right, nor did you show the least slack countenance. You may truly be said to have toiled alone.
Seeing that he has a talent for looking far ahead, I wished from the first to furnish him the thread that leads to holding the beam of the balance. Therefore I first tried him in an essential seat of the Central Pivot and then joined him on to the seat of chief minister. That Shuxiang (叔向) was in the court is an uprightness left us by the men of old; and when Zichan (子産) carried on government, men could not bear to deceive him. It is right to add the favour that chooses out and praises and so answer the fruit of his loyalty and diligence. Therefore I move him to a grade in the Chancellery and let him hold the office of the Ministry of War besides. It may be especially bestowed. And so forth.
某官崔某。蓋代功名。軒天量宇。橫一柱而撑柱王室。繄朕倚以爲安。闢大爐而陶冶生民。擧國無不受賜。比來世習之奢靡。莫有禁條之防閑。編戶齊民。或飾牙條而緣履。富商大賈。有將文繡以被墻。及卿弼亮之初。㦖世因循之弊。斟酌折衷而以禮爲界。沿革有度而以法爲隄。雖至飮酺之間。一從簡約之制。不待參辰之改次。易俗移風。復分涇渭之混流。揚淸激濁。家藏金宂者擯抑而不用。節礪氷壺者拔擢而特褒。開東閣而迎賢。杜西園之成市。公道所啓。人才易求。邊民之板蕩也。侮嫚百狀而爾實沮懲。隣使之往來也。徵詰萬端而乃能扼制。國有所急。卿輒敢當。抑又失火生於宮闕之傍。嚴城蕩爲煨燼之末。國之防也縱難暫曠。役莫巨也猶重改營。卿乃竭私帑而充其費焉。驅門客而任其勞也。咄嗟而就。宏壯則加。顧功烈非言可宣。雖以重賞而難報。然爵位唯朕所有。豈因自因歉而不頒。肆霈優恩。俾參大政。天官是九流所關也。使之摠柄。夏部是七兵所出也。亦以委權。更加風憲之威。申以階資之峻。兹循物議。非出予私。可特授云云。
So-and-so Choe (崔) of such an office has, with merit and a name that cover an age, a capacity as high as heaven. Setting a single pillar across, he holds up the royal house, so that I lean upon him and am at ease; and opening a great furnace, he melts and moulds the people, so that there is none in the whole country who has not received his virtue.
Of late the manners of the age were extravagant, and there was no prohibition to check them: common people on the household registers sometimes bound ivory ornament upon their shoes, and great merchants went so far as to hang embroidered silk about their walls. From the time you, my lord, began to aid the sovereign, you were pained at the abuse the age had drifted into, and, weighing and striking a balance, drew the line with the rites and mended what was to be mended, making the law your dike. Even in the matter of banquets you had men follow one simple institution throughout, so that, without waiting for the constellations to change their stations, the customs were changed; and the Jing and the Wei, which had been flowing mixed together, you divided again, sending the clear abroad and washing the muddy away. Those who had heaped gold in their houses you put aside and did not employ, and those who had polished their constancy like a jade jar with ice in it you chose out and especially praised. You opened the Eastern Pavilion (東閣) to welcome worthy men, and barred the Western Garden (西園) from becoming a market. The common road being opened, it became easy to seek men of talent.
When the people of the frontier were shaken and the barbarians slighted us and bore themselves haughtily in every manner of way, it was you, my lord, who in truth checked and chastised them; and when envoys of the neighbouring state came and went and pressed their questions in ten thousand ways, it was you who were able to hold them down and control them. Whenever the state had an urgent matter, you, my lord, at once bore it.
Again, fire broke out beside the palace, and the stern walls fell to a heap of ashes. Being the state's barrier, it could hardly be left empty even for a moment; yet as a work of building there is none greater than this, and to raise it again was a heavy thing. Yet you, my lord, tipped out your private storehouses entirely to meet the cost of it and drove your retainers to take the toil of it, so that it was finished in a little while and was greater and grander than before. Looking back upon it, your merit and achievement cannot be set forth fully in words, and even a weighty reward can hardly repay it. Yet office and place are the only things I have; how then should I, calling them too little of myself, not bestow them?
Therefore I bestow an ample favour greatly and let him take part in the great government. The Ministry of Personnel is where persons of the nine classes are bound, and so I let him hold its handle; the Ministry of War is whence the seven kinds of military business come forth, and so I commit its authority to him as well. Again I add the awe of the Censorate and redouble the height of his grade. This is a following of the many arguments and did not come of any private will of mine. It may be especially bestowed. And so forth.
某官史某。生自相門。夙陪禁仗。除拜不拘於常調。翺翔驟躡於通衢。恂恂似不言。常袖濟時之手段。綽綽然有裕。廓揮料物之心機。領千夫而往討東都也。俘獲甚多。參七人而入直西掖也。論議有據。雖被富貴之迫逐於己。常以恭謹而抑損其心。命或中屯。未免流離之患。道不終否。遄承徵召之私。仍舊榮班。統予禁衛。蹇蹇有大臣。體溫溫眞君子。人必須處以論思。然後副爾器度。旋陟本兵之重地。將階當軸之劇。權或問樹而不言。果能愼密。汝作舟之是命。堪託輔毗。是升東寺以預謀。亦判九工而掌繕。兼以銓衡之柄。更崇金紫之階。可特授云云。
So-and-so Sa (史) of such an office was born in a house of chief ministers and early attended upon the guarding of the palace. His receiving of office was not bound by the ordinary turn, and as though flying high he trod up the great road at a single stride. Trustworthy and careful, he seems to be without words, yet he has always kept hidden in his sleeve a hand that could save the age; and being generous and with room to spare, he yet unfolded greatly a mind that weighs affairs.
Leading a thousand men against the Eastern Capital (東都), the captives he took were very many; and when, one of seven, he entered the Chancellery and kept the night watch, his arguments had ground under them. Though wealth and honour came crowding after his person, he was always reverent and careful and held that heart down and lessened it. His fortune was now and then blocked, and he did not escape the sorrow of wandering; yet the Way was not blocked in the end, and he soon received the favour of being summoned. Returning to his former glorious rank, he led my palace guard.
Upright and upright — such is the bearing of a great official; warm and warm — such is a true gentleman. Such a man must needs be set in the seat at the sovereign's side where men deliberate and consider, if it is to match his vessel and capacity. Thereafter I raise him to the weighty seat of the Ministry of War and have him go forward to a grade that shall hold the Central Pivot. He was asked what tree it was and did not say — and indeed he is careful and without a chink; and the command is that I shall make you my boat — and he may be entrusted with aiding the sovereign. Therefore I raise him into the Chancellery and let him take part in counsel, and also put him in charge of the Ministry of Works to govern the business of repair. Along with this I have him hold the handle that weighs men, and again raise him to the golden purple grade. It may be especially bestowed. And so forth.
嗚戲。君臣如魚水之歡。貴同一德。宰相是龜鑑所係。摠訓百寮。未有君臣都兪而民不和。豈聞宰相約敕而人不化。勉膺朕命。恪守爾司。云云。
Ah, that sovereign and subject rejoice together as water and fish is to hold it precious that they become of one heart; and the chief minister's is a seat where a mirror is hung, one who leads and teaches the whole body of officials. It has never been that, while sovereign and subject passed arguments back and forth about what was right and what was wrong, the people were not in concord; and when has it been heard that, while the chief minister kept them in hand, men were not taught and changed? Exert yourselves to bear up my commands and carefully keep what is committed to you. And so forth.