A statement of thanks for the added office of director of the chancellery and the grant of a real fief謝就加侍中兼實封狀
1May it not be an office received in vain
右臣得進奏院狀報。伏奉某月日恩制。加授臣侍中。餘並如故。仍加食實封一百戶者。九重降命。萬里傳聲。側聆而踴躍忘疲。內揣而怔忪失措。伏以納言進秩。頒邑賞功。固須德望鎭時。仍有勳勞濟物。然後方可謂君無虛授。臣無虛受。如臣者。謬提旄鉞。免墜弓裘。空有志於四方。竟無能於一割。況自群兇蝟結。戰陣蛇奔。狂鱗久戲於鼎中。聖駕遠巡於劍外。臣也動不能剗烟塵之忠。靜不能贍山海之資。遂蒙改易兵權。分張榷課。雖値盤根錯節。其如有斧無柯。安邦之計策何成。富國之機謀莫就。唯甘黜爵。以警慢官。豈期陛下恩洽無偏。義深宥過。特超衆例。許陟高資。印標石鵲之祥。早慙不次。冠聳金貂之飾。愈覺非宜。況叨眞食之榮。實愧素餐之咎。但屬狼星未滅。鯨浪猶翻。方期抗旆以專征。不敢懸車而請老。謹當訓兵是務。殄寇爲期。粗申武弁之威。仰報耏門之賞。臣限守藩鎭。不獲稱謝行在。無任感恩戀聖戰汗屛營之至。謹奉狀陳謝以聞。謹奏。
The above. Your servant had a report from the Bureau of Memorials that the gracious writ of such a month and such a day had been respectfully received, adding to your servant the office of director of the chancellery, leaving all the rest as before, and granting besides the revenue of a real fief of one hundred households. The command came down from the ninefold palace and the sound of it was carried ten thousand li, and hearing it at his side he leapt up and forgot his weariness, and weighing it within he was frightened and at a loss. Your servant bows low and considers that to raise a man's rank as the one who brings in the word, and to parcel out a town in reward for merit, truly requires that his virtue and repute hold down the age and that his labor and service save the people, and only then can it be said that the lord does not give in vain and the servant does not receive in vain. A man like your servant wrongly took up the banner and the axe and only kept from dropping the bow and the fur his fathers left him. He has an empty will toward the four quarters and in the end has not the power of a single stroke. How much more since the crowd of evildoers balled up like hedgehogs and the ranks of battle ran like snakes, since the mad scales have played long in the cauldron and the sage carriage went far on its progress beyond Jiange. Your servant, in moving, could not show the loyalty that clears away smoke and dust, and in staying still he could not make the wealth of the mountains and the sea abundant, and so his military power was changed about and the monopoly taxes were parceled out to others. Though he met with coiled roots and tangled knots, what could he do with an axe and no handle? What has the plan for settling the state brought about? The scheme for enriching the state has come to nothing, and he takes it gladly that his rank should be cast down, as a warning to officials who are slack. How should he have looked for Your Majesty's kindness to reach him with no partiality, and your sense of right to run deep in pardoning a fault, so that beyond all common precedent you allow him to climb to a high place? The seal bears the good omen of the stone magpie, and he has long been ashamed to be raised out of turn; the cap stands up with its gold and sable trimming, and he feels the more that it is not fitting. How much more, taking to himself the honor of a true fief, is he truly ashamed of the fault of eating without earning it. Only, the wolf star has not yet gone out and the whale's waves still turn over, and so he looks to raise his banners and take the campaign in hand, and he does not dare to hang up his carriage and ask leave for his age. He will respectfully make it his business to train his troops and set himself the term of wiping out the bandits, and so show a little of the awe of a helmeted soldier and look up to repay the reward of Ermen. Your servant is bound to the guard of his command and cannot give his thanks at the traveling court. He cannot bear the utmost of his gratitude for such kindness, of his yearning for the sage ruler, and of his trembling and sweating awe. He respectfully sends up this statement to set forth his thanks and make it heard. Respectfully submitted.