Dispatch enfeoffing Lady Liu, wife of Xu Qing, as Lady of Pengcheng Commandery許勍妻劉氏封彭城郡君
1A wife who put on armor herself and struck at the walls
牒奉處分。古者官至大夫。室稱命婦。遂有從夫之貴。乃爲處世之榮。而況靜則能愼內言。動則克從外役。躬擐甲冑。志凌雪霜。功名旣異於常流。封拜豈拘於成命。以滁州刺史許勍妻劉氏英才天授。貞節日彰。平欺後魏將軍。洛陽失行。仰慕聖朝公主。司竹興兵。一昨專命良夫。討除叛卒。遽陳丹赤。固願同征。手驅組練之群。遠攻城壘。身脫綺羅之色。久犯氛埃。四德有餘。六韜可試。豈獨家之肥也。實謂邦之媛兮。夫旣冠其銀鐺。婦宜榮於石窌。豈可使松標峻影。早致凌雲。蘿抱柔姿。猶嗟委地。先行茂賞。用報前功。軍中之命爵策勳。與人從欲。天上之錦牋鈿軸。待鳳銜來。事須准詔。行墨勑封彭城郡君。仍表次錄奏。竝牒知者。
This dispatch carries out the decision handed down. In ancient times, when a man's office reached grand master, his wife was called a titled lady. She had honor that came from following her husband, and this was her glory in the world. How much more when, at rest, she can guard her words within, and in action she can follow the labors without; when she puts on helmet and armor herself, and her will makes light of snow and frost. Her merit and name are already unlike the common run, so how should her enfeoffment be bound by a command already given? Lady Liu, wife of Xu Qing, prefect of Chuzhou, was granted her gifts by Heaven, and her chastity grows clearer by the day. She thinks it a plain thing to scorn the wife of the Later Wei general, who lost her virtue at Luoyang, and she looks up with longing to the princess of the sage court, who raised troops at Sizhu. Not long ago, when her husband alone was ordered to put down the mutinous soldiers, she at once declared her red loyalty and asked to go on the campaign with him. With her own hand she drove on the mailed ranks and struck at walls far away. She stripped the color of silk from her body and long braved the dust and the foul air. Her four virtues are more than full, and the six teachings of war may be tried on her. How is this only the fattening of a house? She may truly be called the fair one of the state. Her husband already wears the silver clasp on his cap, so his wife should have the honor of a fief of her own. How could the pine be allowed to raise its lofty shadow and rise early above the clouds, while the vine that holds its soft form is left to sigh on the ground? A rich reward is given first, to repay the merit already done. Naming rank and recording merit in the army is granted to others as they wish. The brocade paper and the inlaid scroll from above wait for the phoenix to bring them. This matter must follow the edict. An ink rescript is issued enfeoffing her as Lady of Pengcheng Commandery, and it is to be entered in order in a memorial and reported, and this dispatch is given as notice.