Yetgeul › Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) › Book 6 — Tang Reports

A statement asking promotion for a staff officer — Gu Yun請轉官從事狀 某官顧雲

Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) 桂苑筆耕集 · Choe Chiwon · 886 (Tang, 6th year of the Zhonghe era · Silla, 12th year of King Heongang) · 1 passages · 195 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min

Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) Book 6 — Tang Reports A collection Choe Chiwon made by choosing out of the writings of his four years in the headquarters of Gao Pian, military commissioner of Huainan under the Tang, binding them into twenty volumes and presenting them to King Heongang of Silla in 886. It holds 366 pieces — memorials and reports sent up to the emperor, the proclamation denouncing Huang Chao, letters to the several military commissioners, orders and dispatches issued to those under him, Daoist and Buddhist texts for services, funeral offerings, records written for the outer wall of Chengdu and for a painting of Annam, and the reports and poems he sent up to Gao Pian. Here is the first report, which begins "I am a man of Silla," and the proclamation against Huang Chao with its line, "Not only do all the men of the world think to kill you openly; the ghosts under the earth have already discussed cutting you down in secret." The last volume holds the poems he made on the voyage home to the country he had left at twelve. It is the oldest collection by a Korean that survives, and when Hong Seokju and Seo Yugu printed it with movable type in 1834 they called it "the root and the beginning of the writing of our Eastern Country." Their two prefaces are translated with it.

1To be Aide to the Surveillance Commissioner, and a request for the three men together

前件官。東筠孕美。南桂抽芳。曳謝脁之長裾。從衛靑之軍幕。五羖皮之爲重。豈謂虛譚。百鷙鳥之不如。方知實事。良資妙畫。共展壯圖。伏請轉官仍賜章服。充觀察支使。以前件狀如前。伏以某遠率舟師。誓除國賊。征帆則雲掛行色。戰鼓則雷含殺聲。留務旣繁。良籌是托。或倚幕中之婉婉。或求馬上之翩翩。輒具薦論。仰希甄獎。不拘月限。別覬天恩。伏惟相公庇護戎藩。激揚賓度。稍超常例。特受淸資。略假潤於丹靑。許分榮於朱紫。所冀元戎十乘。速成討罰之功。越府三才。各得施張之處。已具狀申奏訖云云。

The officer named above. The bamboo of the east holds beauty within, and the cassia of the south puts forth its fragrance. He has trailed the long robe of Xie Tiao and followed the camp of Wei Qing. That five ram skins were counted precious is no empty tale, and that a hundred fierce birds are not his equal is now known for a true thing. With fine gifts and subtle planning he sets out a bold design along with us. I humbly ask that he be raised in office, that a robe and badge be granted him accordingly, and that he serve as Aide to the Surveillance Commissioner. The statement above stands as it did before. I humbly consider that your servant leads a fleet far off and has sworn to rid the state of its bandits. On the sails of the campaign the clouds hang about our course, and in the war drums the thunder holds the sound of killing. The business left behind me is heavy already, and I entrust it to good counsel. Sometimes I lean upon the smooth skill within the tent, sometimes I seek the swift hand upon horseback. So I have set out these recommendations and look up in hope of your approval. Not bound by the limit of months, I look besides for the grace of heaven. I humbly consider that the Chief Minister shelters the frontier commands and stirs up the bearing of his guests. Go a little beyond the usual rule, grant them posts of honor above all, lend them something of the sheen of cinnabar and azure, and allow them a share in the glory of vermilion and purple. What is hoped is that the ten chariots of the commander may soon finish the work of chastisement, and that the three men of talent in the Yue office may each find a place to spread themselves. I have already set out a statement and reported it, and so on.

‹ To his lordship Wang, Commander in Chief at HuazhouContentsA statement asking promotion for a staff officer — Zheng Chu ›Listen to this piece