A reply to Minister of Works Zhou of Zhexi答浙西周司空書

So-and-so states. I suddenly read the letter you sent, and both my surprise and my anger are deep. How has your seeing of the matter gone so wrong, and how have your words gone so far beyond? Now this Zhao Gongyue turned his back on the army and ran, and in his flight he feared being pursued and seized, so he suddenly threw himself into your noble frontier and at last stole his life in a den of runaways. Now heterodox talk is woven out of this and given the name of a spy. If you could keep the heart of a superior man, how could you believe the mouth of an inferior one? How can talk be so easy, and a matter be left unweighed? Your letter says, "Your place is highest among the dukes and your power honored as Commander-in-chief, yet you raise a separate and strange view and suddenly start another scheme. Out of what regret do you mean to burn and plunder?" This differs a little from a seemly reproach and comes close to foul words. "The rat still has its hide" was said to mock a man without manners, and "four horses cannot catch the tongue" is likewise a warning to be careful in speech. Is this the jesting that does no hurt? Truly it is not a thing that may be said. Even if in your late years, Minister, you do not take learning for your occupation, a brilliant talent ought still to help you with wisdom and device. You have come to eat your rice to no purpose, and it is hard to hope that you will season the broth. Since you do not understand the right and wrong of it, I must set out the matter from beginning to end and mark out five things to be trusted, so that you store up not one doubt. Now on my side we have won merit for three generations, and none of it was anything but repaying the state. It has gone out to hold garrisons in the four quarters and has never settled its household at ease. My body holds the power of a general and a minister, and my hand grasps the handle of grace and awe. How should I soothe the customs of the Huai frontier alone? In the end I look to bring peace to the people within the seas. I am intent on gathering and settling them. How should I speak of invasion? This is the first thing that may be trusted and cannot be doubted. Still more, the Yellow Turbans are still ablaze and the kingfisher carriage has not returned. I am driving an army fierce as panther and tiger and mean to break the den of jackals and wolves. I leave my poor garrison far behind and entrust it deeply to a good neighbor. Facing danger, I still hope to lean upon you. Keeping quiet, I would remove harm all the more. This is the second thing that may be trusted and cannot be doubted. You, Minister, were early joined to me within the court and without, and you have kept the whole course from first to last. Your words have been fragrant as iris and orchid, and your conduct more upright than pine and cassia. There has never been a rift between us, and letters have always passed. The feeling of Lu and Wei has been deep between us, and the affair of Zhang and Chen was cut off long ago. This is the third thing that may be trusted and cannot be doubted. In Zhexi you have only lately taken over your post and have not held it long. Who would move the official willows of Lord Tao? The crab apple left behind by the Earl of Shao is not yielded up. Even at a bandit rampart one still calls for surrender by good faith. How much more an old frontier of mine. How should I press upon it with arms? This is the fourth thing that may be trusted and cannot be doubted. Since my army crossed the river landing, its orders have been stern as snow and frost. At the camp gates the watchman's clapper keeps the night strict, and on the roads the men hold sticks in their mouths and the day is quiet. How could it be that Ren Conghai would board a boat and Zhao Gongyue be kept behind a blind? Even to pass word in is hard, so how is a command over them easily had? Even for a fine guest from upstream there is no leisure to receive him. What sort of low-grade soldier is this, that he dares come near? This is the fifth thing that may be trusted and cannot be doubted. I have set out the large outline roughly, and you may look into my inmost heart. Why then do you trust the slander of a deserter and lose the form proper to a worthy man, and with this lay a report before the sage sovereign and with this pass word to the other lords? It is not that I am without something to say. Who is it that has the fault? I have searched your meaning closely and still cannot sound your honored breast. Is it that old age encroaches and your last years bring many changes? Or is it that a mad delusion has risen by chance and your loyal integrity has suddenly gone awry? An ear that cannot tell the five notes apart is called deaf, and an eye that cannot part the five colors is called dim. You, Minister, have long borne a weighty charge and have been called a first minister. Why then do you let loose weed-like words so rashly? It seems as if you keep a mugwort nature in yourself. You do not know that Peng Chong in this hour had cause to lay a hand on his sword, and I fear instead that Lian Po will have no place to carry the thorn another day. Alas. The commanders take an empty glory in their parceled lands, and the sovereign is still far off, covered in dust. There is no longer any sincerity for setting things right and restoring them. There is only suspicion and ill will. A single thread of water divides us, and at once ten thousand kinds of rumor rise. By my reckoning the heart must have been empty, and so it made talk into a pretext. As a rule, giving and returning are done by courtesy, and coming and going by letter. When reason loses its center, what comes of it is no small thing. You must look into this closely and not give rein to high-handed strength. Here it is hard to set out all my private sincerity. The rest I have entered fully in the official dispatch. Leave no regret for later, and do not throw away the merit you have won. So-and-so states.