A proclamation sent to Huang Chao檄黃巢書

On the eighth day of the seventh month in the second year of Guangming, so-and-so, Commander-in-chief of all the circuits and Acting Grand Commandant, proclaims to Huang Chao. To keep what is right and cultivate what is constant is called the Way (道). To face danger and master change is called expediency (權). The wise succeed by following the time, and the foolish fail by going against reason. So then, though a hundred years hang upon a life and death cannot be foreseen, in all affairs the heart is master, and right and wrong can be told apart. Now with the king's army I chastise but do not make war, and in military rule I give kindness first and punishment after. I look to retake the upper capital, but first I set out this great good faith. Receive this fair admonition with respect, and put away your treacherous schemes. You were from the first a peasant of the far country, and all at once you became a strong enemy. You happened to ride the moment, and you dared to throw the constant order into confusion. Then you wrapped a ruinous heart within you, stole and toyed with the sacred vessels, trampled the city gates, and defiled the palace chambers. Your guilt already floods to heaven, and you will surely be broken and smeared upon the ground. Ah, since Tang and Yu the Miao and the Hu have not submitted. Bands with no goodness and no scruple, crowds without righteousness and without loyalty — what you and yours do, what age has not had it? Long ago there were Liu Yao and Wang Dun, who eyed the house of Jin. Lately there were An Lushan and Zhu Ci, who barked and yelped at the imperial house. They all either held strong armies in their hands or stood in heavy office. When they shouted, thunder ran and lightning raced. When they roared, fog blocked the way and smoke lay across it. Yet they worked their treacherous designs only for a while, and in the end the ugly crew was wiped out. The sun's wheel rolls broad. How should it let a foul vapor go? Heaven's net hangs high. It will surely sweep away a violent clan. Still more, you came out of the bottom of the lanes and rose from between the field ridges. You took burning and plunder for good counsel and killing and wounding for urgent business. You have great faults that could be counted by plucking out your hairs, and not one small good deed to redeem yourself. 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. Even if you live on with borrowed breath and a wandering soul, your spirit should long since have perished and your ghost been taken away. In all human affairs nothing is better than knowing oneself. I do not speak recklessly. You must listen closely. Of late our state has been deep in the virtue that swallows filth and heavy in the kindness that throws away flaws. It gave you the tasseled staff and entrusted you with a regional command. Still you nursed the poison of the zhen bird in you and did not draw in your owl's cry. When you stirred you bit men, and when you moved you only barked at your master. So it came to this, that your body turned its back on the dark teaching and your troops wound about the Purple Tenuity, that dukes and marquises fled and hid along dangerous roads, and the imperial outriders traveled in far lands. You could not return early to virtue and right, but only fed your stubborn violence. So the sage emperor had toward you the kindness that pardons a crime, and you have toward the state the crime that betrays kindness. Your death cannot be many days off. Why do you not fear heaven? Still more, the cauldrons of Zhou are no matter to open a question about, and how should the palace of Han be a place to steal ease in? I do not know what in the end you mean to do. Have you not heard? The Dao de jing says, "A whirlwind does not last the morning, and a sudden rain does not last the day. Even heaven and earth cannot keep it up for long. How much less a man?" And have you not heard? The Chunqiu zhuan says, "When heaven lends help to one who is not good, it is not blessing him. It is thickening his violence and evil so as to send down punishment upon him." Now you hide treachery and conceal cruelty. Evil has piled up and ruin is full. You are in danger and call yourself safe. You are lost and do not turn back. This is what is meant by a swallow nesting on a curtain and flying about as it pleases, or a fish playing in a cauldron and about to be seen scorched and burst. I have made bright my bold strategy and gathered the armies. Fierce generals fly like clouds, and brave men collect like rain. High standards and great banners are closing in with the wind of the Chu frontier, and warships and tower ships block and cut the waves of the Wu river. The Grand Commandant Tao is keen to break the enemy, and the Minister of Works Yang is so stern that he may be called a god. They look out to the eight cords and sweep across ten thousand li. It is said to be like spreading a raging fire wide to burn a swan's feather. How does it differ from lifting Mount Tai high and crushing a bird's egg? This very day the metal god drives the season and the water lord welcomes the army. The autumn wind helps the power that kills and stills, and the morning dew washes away the dull and troubled air. The waves have stilled and the roads are open. When the cables are loosed at Shitou, Sun Quan brings up the rear. When the sails come down at Xianshou, Du Yu drives in front. The recovery of the capital is set for ten days or a month. But loving life and hating killing is the deep benevolence of the Lord on high, and bending the law to extend kindness is the good statute of the great court. He who punishes a rebel against the state harbors no private anger, and he who admonishes a man on a lost road speaks plainly. I send flying the words of my short letter, to loose the urgency of your hanging upside down. Do not be like the man who glues the bridge of a zither. Learn early to see the moment. Plan well for yourself, and mend your faults. If you wish to be given a share of the thatch and a fief of land, to open a state and carry on a house, to escape having head and body cut apart, and to have merit and name stand out high, then do not seek trust from friends who are friends to your face alone, and you may pass glory on to your distant descendants. This is not what women and children know. It is truly the business of a great man. Answer me soon, and do not be suspicious. My life bears up august heaven, and my faith rests on the white water. When a word goes out it must be answered like an echo, and kindness given in plenty must not be met with deep resentment. But if you are dragged along by your mad running, and sleep drunk without waking, and would still block the chariot ruts and cling to the stump, then an army that strikes bears and pulls down leopards will stamp you out with one wave of the flag, and your crowd, gathered like crows and spread like owls, will scatter to the four winds. Your body will be grease for the battle axe and your bones powder under the war chariots. Your wife and children will be killed and your clan put to death. When the time comes to burn your belly for a lamp, you will surely fear that biting your navel comes too late. You must weigh advance and retreat and tell bad from good. Rather than rebel and be destroyed, would it not be better to submit and be honored? What you hope for can surely be brought about. Strive to seek the measure of a brave man, and set a time to change as the leopard changes. Do not hold to the thoughts of a foolish man and sit still in a fox's doubt. So-and-so proclaims.