A statement of thanks for release from the post of Salt and Iron Commissioner of the Circuits, and for the added office of Palace Attendant and a real fief謝落諸道鹽鐵使加侍中兼實封狀
1Laying down salt and iron, and rising in office
右某伏奉去年十一月十一日恩制。加授侍中。並餘如故。仍加食實封一百戶落諸道鹽鐵使者。伏以君親委任。固能捨短從長。臣子忠勤。唯願從微至著。某一司榷課。六換暄涼。正逢多事之秋。莫展牢籠之用。況自頻更統帥。別致租庸。旣當狐讓千皮。實見羊分九牧。贍軍富國。固絶籌謀。熬海鎔山。幾隳條貫。今者聖上恕其不逮。察以無私。將漢法之重權。委儒流之妙術。豈料更留宸慮。猶念戎勳。許登負璽之班資。不替擁旄之寵寄。尙假極品。重增實封。當主憂臣辱之時。若斯榮盛。審福過災生之理。何以遑安。此皆相公曲庇庸虛。全忘僭忝。俾息躬於負重。當銳志於專征。寧無淬礪之功。仰答陶勻之賜。此外以榮爲懼。至末如初。下情無任感戴兢惕之至。謹奉狀陳謝云云。
For the above: your servant respectfully received the gracious decree of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of last year, which added to me the office of Palace Attendant, left all else as before, granted besides a real fief of one hundred households, and released me from the post of Salt and Iron Commissioner of the Circuits. I humbly consider that when a ruler and a father entrust a charge, they can indeed drop what is short in a man and follow what is long; and that when a subject and a son are loyal and diligent, they wish only to rise from the obscure to the manifest. Your servant had charge of the levies of one office through six turns of heat and cold. I met with a season of many troubles, and I could not set forth the use of the net that gathers all in. Still more so since, with commanders changing again and again, a separate office of tax and labor was set up. I had already to yield as a fox yields a thousand pelts, and I saw in truth a sheep divided among nine shepherds. To fatten the army and enrich the state, all planning was cut off. In boiling the sea and melting the mountains, the very rules were near to breaking down. Now the sagely one has forgiven what I could not reach and looked upon me without any partiality, and he has entrusted the heavy powers of the law of Han to the fine art of a scholar. How should I have reckoned that he would keep his thought upon me still, remember my service in arms, allow me to climb to the rank of those who bear the seal, leave unchanged the charge of favor that lets me hold the standard, and still lend me the highest grade and add once more to my real fief? At a time when the ruler is troubled and the subject is shamed, glory as full as this makes me look to the principle that when fortune goes too far, disaster is born. How then can I be at ease? All this is because the Chief Minister covers over my dullness and emptiness with care, forgets my presumption altogether, lets my body rest from carrying a heavy load, and turns my will keenly to the campaign alone. How should I not temper myself with work, and answer from below the gift of one who shapes and molds me? Beyond this I will take glory for fear, and be at the end as I was at the beginning. Your servant's heart cannot bear the fullness of his gratitude and dread. With respect I present this statement of thanks, and so on.