A statement of thanks for the edict stopping the use of ink rescripts謝詔止行墨敕狀
1Because Zhou Bao had already given out offices by ink rescript
右臣伏奉詔旨。去春權降詔命。許諸道承制除官。已兩道降勑止絶。自今後凡有要甄獎者。並於急遞奏聞。不得更議用制者。臣伏以漢朝鄧禹。始啓倖門。魏室曹瞞。敢專重柄。欲敦於自家刑國。所惜者唯器與名。伏遇陛下遠事宸遊。慮防爵賞。遂降無私之澤。遍資諸道之權。不料人人而競弄筆端。處處而皆誇墨勑。長蛇封豕。猶匿暴於神州。狗尾羊頭。已成群於列鎭。臣年前雖奉詔旨。未欲施行。却緣親率軍兵。遠期征討。此時久屯南浦。將泛西江。忽被鎭海節度使周寶欲感軍情。潛施巧計。便以無功將吏。悉皆超授官榮。臣所領士卒旣多。將校不少。彼安坐者猶爲甄獎。此遠行者豈免怨嗟。遞口聲傳。從頭憤激。臣若不依周寶。必恐事生。遂准詔書。得行軍賞。已曾一一具事由申奏訖。自奉前年十一月一日勑旨。仰遵成命。靜守常規。至於近日所招賊徒。只與往時先賜官告。曾無僭越。豈可隱藏。今者外將忠誠永當無二。大君善敎已至再三。泣告而天何未聆。憂懷而地謂可入。臣限拘藩鎭。不獲稱謝行在。無任戰越屛營之至。謹奉狀陳謝以聞。謹奏。
The above. Your servant respectfully received the edict, which said that last spring a provisional command was sent down allowing all the circuits to appoint officers on their own authority, but that rescripts have twice gone down to stop it, and that from now on, whenever there is a man to be singled out and rewarded, it is all to be reported by the express post, and there is to be no further talk of using a writ of appointment. Your servant bows low and considers that Deng Yu of the Han court first opened the gate of undeserved favor, and that Cao Cao of the house of Wei dared to take the heavy handle of power to himself, and that when a man would enrich his own house and govern the state, what is grudged him is only the vessels and the names. Your Majesty was far off upon your progress and feared for the giving of rank and reward, and so you sent down a favor free of all partiality and made it the ground of the authority of every circuit. You did not reckon that man after man would vie in playing with the tip of the brush and that everywhere they would boast of ink rescripts, so that the long snake and the great boar still hide their violence in the sacred land, and the dogs' tails and sheep's heads have already made a crowd in the several commands. Your servant, though he received the edict last year, did not wish to carry it out, and instead he led his troops in person and set a term for a distant campaign. At that time he lay long encamped at Nanpu and was about to set sail on the West River, when suddenly Zhou Bao, military commissioner of Zhenhai, wishing to move the feeling of his army, secretly worked a clever plan and gave officers and clerks who had no merit the honor of office, all of them by leaps. Your servant's soldiers were many and his officers not few, and if those who sat at ease were still singled out for reward, how should these who were going far off escape their complaining? The sound of it was carried from mouth to mouth and they were angry from the first, and your servant feared that if he did not follow Zhou Bao something would surely happen. So he took the edict for his rule and was able to carry out the army's rewards, and he has already reported the grounds of it one by one. Since he received the rescript of the first day of the eleventh month of last year, he has looked up to follow the settled command and has quietly kept the ordinary rule, and as for the bandit bands he has lately drawn in, he has given them only the writs of office granted before. There has been no overstepping in it, so how could he hide anything? Now the loyalty of a general outside is forever undivided, and the good teaching of the great lord has come twice and three times over. He tells it weeping, and how is it that heaven has not yet heard? He carries it in his care, and he says the earth is fit to sink into. Your servant is bound to his command of the marches and cannot give his thanks at the traveling court. He cannot bear the utmost of his trembling and his awe. He respectfully sends up this statement to set forth his thanks and make it heard. Respectfully submitted.