A separate letter congratulating him on his appointment as Vice Minister of Personnel賀除吏部侍郎別紙
1Like Grand Tutor Xie, who rose suddenly from the Eastern Mountain
某啓。伏承榮膺寵命。伏惟感慰。張司空之一匡西晉。則藻鑑無倫。謝太傅之忽起東山。則烝黎是念。苟欲幽棲悅志。獨處忘懷。緘輝而恥耀秦臺。蘊味而懶調殷鼎。則乃智者仁者止傳樂山水之名。賢才俊才盡失脫塵泥之望。群情久鬱。美命遂行。今者侍郎靜揖巖扉。高提銓管。萬族仰淸通之譽。一時進寒素之徒。致使關中之寇孼災消。海內之英雄道泰。近又竊聆風議。仰測天心。必謂文司再歸重德。然則任賢得地。旣叶五百年之期。好學趨門。必盈七十子之數。繼集仙遊於蓬島。盛傳儒禮於杏壇。旣搜虹玉驪珠。皆成國寶。佇見臺鸞閣鳳。永作家禽。某伏思萬里無依。久勞漂蕩。十年有遇。幸遂奮飛。異鄕榮垂白之親。達路忝披朱之飾。昔名士爲李公御者喜抃猶多。今遠人稱尼父生徒光輝無比。陳至懇而喙輸三尺。望深仁而腸結九回。下情無任抃賀踊感激之至。伏惟俯賜念察。謹狀。
I submit this. I have heard that you have gloriously received the imperial command, and I bow in my gladness. When Minister of Works Zhang set the Western Jin right at a stroke, his eye for men had no equal. When Grand Tutor Xie rose suddenly from the Eastern Mountain, it was the common people he had in mind. Suppose a man wished to dwell in seclusion and please his own will, to live alone and forget the world, to seal up his brightness and be ashamed to shine on the terrace of Qin, to store away his savor and be slow to season the cauldron of Yin. Then the wise and the benevolent would hand down only a name for delighting in hills and streams, and men of worth and talent would lose every hope of rising out of the dust and mud. The feeling of the many was long pent up, and so the fine command has gone forth. Now you, Vice Minister, have quietly taken leave of your rocky gate and taken the scales of office in a high hand. The ten thousand clans look up to your repute for clear discernment, and in a moment men of poor and plain standing are advanced. You have made the calamity of the bandit brood in Guanzhong melt away, and the heroes within the seas walk an easy road. Lately I have also caught the drift of the talk and looked up to read the mind of Heaven, and men surely say that the bureau of letters returns again to weighty virtue. If so, then in entrusting worth you have found your ground, and it answers already to the term of five hundred years. Those who love learning and hurry to your gate will surely fill the number of the seventy disciples. You will gather the company of immortals again on the isle of Penglai, and hand down the rites of the scholars in full at the Apricot Altar. Rainbow jade and black dragon pearls are sought out already, and all of them become treasures of the state. I wait to see the simurghs of the terrace and the phoenixes of the pavilion become forever the birds of your house. I bow and consider that I had nothing to lean on ten thousand li from home and labored long adrift, and then in ten years I met with you and was fortunate enough to spread my wings. In a foreign land I have brought honor to my white-haired parent, and on an open road I undeservedly wear the red robe. In old days many clapped for joy that a famous scholar had become Lord Li's driver. Now a man from far off is called a student of Confucius, and the glory of it has no equal. I set out my deepest earnestness, but my beak yields only three feet of it. I look toward your deep benevolence, and my bowels knot in nine turns. My humble heart cannot bear the fullness of its clapping and congratulation, its leaping and its gratitude. I bow and ask that you look down and consider this. Respectfully submitted.