Dispatch putting Gao Ba in temporary charge of the military and civil affairs of Jiangzhou授高霸權知江州軍州事
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 · 182 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 min
Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) Book 13 — Notices 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.
1Do not climb Yu Liang's tower only to watch the moon
This dispatch follows the edict. It says, "If any prefect of a province has military merit, you shall weigh it and add rank and reward. If he commits a crime, you shall set down his punishment. Send another man to take charge of the province, and report it in full." The authority of a grand marshal rests on a command already given, and the charge of a lord of old must be filled by choosing good timber. The officer named above is a dragon leaping in the pool, a tiger crouching on the bank. He uses his troops with right on his side, and he keeps his principle with nothing but loyalty. He has never shrunk from the peril of the bare blade, and he has broken the Yellow Turban host again and again. Now he fights hand to hand with short weapons, now he brings off some wonder with a circle formation. When he moves, something is accomplished. Wherever he goes, nothing fails. Now Jiujiang has no governor, and a whole commandery longs for spring. To bring worn-out people back to life one must rely on a capable officer. Hold back the strong and comfort the weak. Cut away abuses and clear off harsh demands. Do not climb Yu Liang's tower and know nothing but idle moon-watching. Take up Yuan Hong's fan and learn first to change the customs of the place. Once your good name in government spreads a little, you may wait for grace to fall on you. This matter must follow the edict. An ink rescript is issued sending him to take charge of the military and civil affairs of Jiangzhou, and the reasons are to be set out and reported, and this dispatch is given as notice.