A second memorial asking for the progress謝巡幸第二表
1To Yangdu before the road through Jingzhou is cut
臣某言。聞聖人能以天下爲一家。以中國爲一人者。必闡於其義。達於其患。然後能爲之。臣遂自前年。繼陳短識。請移車駕。巡行江淮。計資於避險就安。事叶於暫勞永樂。未廻聖鑑。再獻瞽言。臣某誠慙誠懼。頓首頓首。臣尙阻擒奸。敢言伐善。然但願愚夫之一得。難追賢者之三思。臣頃鎭成都。偶諧遠慮。克符天意。亟就土功。別營雉堞之雄規。永壯龜城之峻境。爰憑釋子。善誘蒙王。果悛倔強之愆。便付懷柔之信。皆資帝力。能肅物心。伏遇陛下遠耀珠旗。高臨玉壘。樂降絲綸之旨。深加毫髮之勞。謂臣有先見之機。念臣以至誠所感。仰銜睿獎。倍激忠誠。然則當年已往之功。粗成籌畫。今日未來之事。竊有管窺。苟或緘辭。則爲負德。不辭鼎鑊。輒貢蒭蕘。臣近者俯察時情。仰瞻乾象。荊州道路。群寇將侵。蜀國封疆。微災似起。儻或未收鳳闕。尙駐鑾輿。忽有妖氛潛興。近境必恐。烏合蠶食之徒。占據江陵。把斷峽路。則列鎭貢賦。無計流通。行在詔書。亦難傳降。若見東西阻絶。固當遐邇動搖。伏惟陛下斷自宸衷。斥其橫議。念江淮之進獻。遠涉多虞。察蠻蜑之奸兇。乘虛可懼。早移仙蹕。直幸楊都。滅星辰交錯之災。叶日月運行之理。則乃九州斧鉞。討戎而齊願風驅。四海梯航。奉贄而必能雲集。盛矣美矣。念玆在玆。且逆賊黃巢。久黷皇居。多成穢跡。直到剋收之後。須勞繕葺之功。更俟二三年之間。可興千萬世之業。慮不先定。事難速成。伏乞陛下覽竭節之言。闡隨時之義。俯從衷懇。暫事宸遊。天下幸甚。天下幸甚。臣粗識古今。略詳利害。自非徼以爲智。豈敢知而不言。謹奉表陳請以聞。臣某誠惶誠懼。頓首頓首謹言。
Your servant So-and-so speaks. He has heard that the sage can make all under heaven one household and the Middle Kingdom one man only after he has made its right clear and has understood its troubles through and through; only then can he do it. Since last year your servant has set out his short understanding again and again, asking that the imperial carriage be moved to make a progress through Jianghuai. The plan rests on avoiding danger and drawing near to safety, and the matter agrees with laboring a while and being at ease forever. Since he has not turned your sage judgment, he offers his blind words a second time. Your servant So-and-so is truly ashamed and truly afraid, bowing his head to the ground, bowing his head to the ground. Your servant is still kept from seizing the traitors; how should he speak and boast of his own good? He hopes only for the one thing a foolish man may hit upon, since he cannot match the three thoughts of a worthy. Not long ago your servant guarded Chengdu. His far thoughts happened to fall out well and matched the will of heaven, and he pressed on quickly with the earthworks. He laid out a bold plan of battlements apart from the old, and made the steep bounds of the Tortoise City strong forever. Then, leaning on a Buddhist monk, he led the king of Meng with good words, and that king indeed mended the fault of his stubbornness and at once gave his pledge to be won over. All of this rested on the strength of the Emperor and could bring the hearts of men to order. Then Your Majesty made the pearl banners shine from afar and came high up to Yulei. You gladly sent down a command of the silken cord and set deep weight on labor no thicker than a hair, saying that your servant had the insight that sees ahead and holding that his utmost sincerity had moved things. Bearing your sage praise in his mouth, his loyalty is stirred twice over. That being so, the merit of those past years was in the main the making of a plan, and of what is still to come today he has a glimpse through a tube. If he were to seal his lips, he would be betraying your virtue. So, not shrinking from the cauldron, he offers the words of a grass cutter. Lately your servant has looked down at the state of the times and up at the signs of the sky. On the roads of Jingzhou the bandit crowds are about to strike, and within the borders of the land of Shu a small disaster seems to be rising. If the phoenix palace is not yet recovered while the imperial carriage still stays here, and baleful vapors suddenly rise in secret, the nearby borders will surely be in fear. Should that crowd, flocked together like crows and eating away like silkworms, seize Jiangling and cut off the road through the gorges, the tribute and taxes of the several commands would have no way to pass, and the edicts of the traveling court would be hard to send down. If east and west are seen to be cut off from each other, then far and near will surely be shaken. Your servant humbly asks that Your Majesty decide from your own heart and put aside the talk that blocks the way; that you think how the offerings of Jianghuai must travel far with much to fear; and that you consider how wicked and fierce the Man and the Dan are, and how they are to be dreaded when they take an opening. Move your progress early and go straight to Yangdu, to put out the disaster of the stars crossing one another and to accord with the law by which the sun and moon move. Then the axes of the nine provinces, marching against the Rong, will all wish to be driven forward like the wind, and the ladders and boats of the four seas, bringing their gifts, will surely gather like clouds. How great it would be, how fine. His thought is on this, and rests on this. Besides, the rebel Huang Chao has long defiled the imperial dwelling and left much filth behind. Even after it is won back, the work of repair must be labored at, and two or three years more must be waited out before the task of a thousand and ten thousand ages can be raised. If the planning is not settled beforehand, the thing is hard to finish quickly. Your servant humbly begs Your Majesty to look on the words of one who spends his whole loyalty, to make clear the right of following the times, to bend to his heartfelt urging, and to take up the imperial journey for a while. It would be great good fortune for all under heaven. It would be great good fortune for all under heaven. Your servant knows something of past and present and has looked with some care into gain and loss. He does not take mere luck for wisdom; how then should he dare to know a thing and not say it? He respectfully presents this memorial of request for Your Majesty's hearing. Your servant So-and-so is truly awed and truly afraid, bowing his head to the ground, bowing his head to the ground. Respectfully spoken.