A statement of thanks for an edict謝詔狀
1On receiving the edict to strike Huang Chao
右臣伏奉四月十日詔旨。黃巢兇逆。穢黷宮城。罪惡貫盈。人神共怒。尋東兵合勢。翦滅元兇。想副朕懷。已遵道路。佇聞克復。永耀功名者。十行天語。萬里星飛。捧窺而壯膽初驚。跪讀而愁眉頓豁。竊以黃巢禍心斯極。狠力旣衰。肉已太醎。果將自落。暫起烟塵之患。則歸原野之誅。臣每當永夜枕戈。早願中流叩檝。自啓行十乘。已屯駐五旬。伏緣江路多虞。風波未便。暫淹行色。用候良時。非致役於遷延。但興懷於矍鑠。今則仰覩鳳銜之詔。況乘隼擊之秋。俯勵軍謀。仰遵睿算。卽冀朝離江北。暮到漢南。長驅背水之師。永破滔天之孼。率奮義感恩之衆。氣已凌雲。殄藏奸匿暴之徒。勢如沃雪。伏惟陛下歲巡備禮。時邁傳歌。將示罪於三危。乃宣威於七德。臣遠承獎諭。誓盡勤勞。身暫寄於戈船。心每馳於劍閣。唯願西都獻捷。早申收復之微功。東嶽告成。得覩登封之盛事。臣無任感激兢懼之至。謹奉狀陳謝以聞。謹奏。
The above. Your servant respectfully received the edict of the tenth day of the fourth month, which said, "Huang Chao is cruel and rebellious. He has fouled the palace city, his crimes and evils are full to the brim, and men and spirits are angry alike. Join your strength at once with the troops of the east and cut down the chief evildoer. I think this will meet my heart. You have already taken the road, and I wait to hear of the recovery and to see your merit and your name shine forever." Ten lines of the words of heaven flew ten thousand li like a star. Your servant held them up and looked, and his bold heart was startled at the first; he knelt and read, and the brows of his sorrow opened all at once. Your servant considers in private that in Huang Chao the heart of calamity has come to its height and his fierce strength is already worn down. His flesh is salted through, and he will surely drop of himself. He raised for a while the trouble of smoke and dust, and he will go back to the punishment of the open fields. Your servant has always pillowed his head on his spear through the long nights and has wished early to strike the oar in midstream. Since he set out with ten chariots he has lain encamped for fifty days. The way along the river has many dangers and the wind and the waves have not been favorable, and so he has held back his march a while and waited for a good time. It was not to make delay, but only to rouse in himself the spirit of a hale old man. Now he looks up to the edict the phoenix carried in its beak, and he rides besides upon the autumn when the falcon strikes. He bends down to press the plans of his army and looks up to follow the sage reckoning, and he hopes to leave the north of the Jiang in the morning and reach the south of the Han by evening, to drive far the host that keeps the water at its back and to break forever that brood of calamity whose crimes reach to heaven. He leads a multitude that rouses its sense of right and is moved by kindness, and their spirit already rides above the clouds. He kills off the band that hides its craft and conceals its violence, and the force of it is like pouring water upon snow. Your servant bows low and considers that Your Majesty makes the yearly progress with all its rites and goes forth with the season while the songs are handed on, and that you will show the guilt of the three perils and spread the awe of the seven virtues. Your servant takes your encouragement and instruction from afar and swears to spend all his diligence. His body is lodged for a time in a war boat, but his heart runs always to Jiange. He wishes only to offer up the victory in the western capital and set forth early his small merit in the recovery, and to announce the work done at the Eastern Peak and see the great rite of the feng sacrifice. Your servant cannot bear the utmost of his gratitude and his trembling fear. He respectfully sends up this statement to set forth his thanks and make it heard. Respectfully submitted.