Accepting Remonstrance納諫第五
貞觀初，太宗與黃門侍郎王珪宴語，時有美人侍側，本廬江王瑗之姬也，瑗敗，籍沒入宮。太宗指示珪曰：「廬江不道，賊殺其夫而納其室。暴虐之甚，何有不亡者乎！」珪避席曰：「陛下以廬江取之為是邪，為非邪？」太宗曰：「安有殺人而取其妻，卿乃問朕是非，何也？」珪對曰：「臣聞於《管子》曰：『齊桓公之郭國，問其父老曰：「郭何故亡？」父老曰：「以其善善而惡惡也。」桓公曰：「若子之言，乃賢君也，何至於亡？」父老曰：「不然，郭君善善而不能用，惡惡而不能去，所以亡也。」』今此婦人尚在左右，臣竊以為聖心是之，陛下若以為非，所謂知惡而不去也。」太宗大悅，稱為至善，遽令以美人還其親族。
In the early years of Zhenguan, Taizong was feasting and talking with Wang Gui, the vice director of the chancellery, when a beautiful woman was in attendance at his side. She had been a concubine of the Prince of Lujiang; when the prince fell, she was seized with his household and brought into the palace. Taizong pointed her out to Wang Gui and said:
"The Prince of Lujiang was without the way. He killed this woman's husband and took her into his house. His cruelty was extreme. How could such a man not fall?"
Wang Gui left his seat and said:
"Does Your Majesty hold that the Prince of Lujiang was right to take her, or wrong?"
Taizong said:
"How could it be right to kill a man and take his wife? Why do you turn and ask me what is right and wrong?"
Wang Gui answered:
"I have heard in the Guanzi that Duke Huan of Qi went to the state of Guo and asked its elders, 'Why did Guo fall?' The elders said, 'Because its ruler called the good good and the evil evil.' Duke Huan said, 'By your words he was a worthy ruler. How did it come to ruin?' The elders said, 'It is not so. The ruler of Guo called the good good but could not employ them, and called the evil evil but could not put them away. That is why it fell.'
"Now this woman is still at your side, and I privately supposed that your sage mind held it to be right. If Your Majesty holds it to be wrong, this is what is called knowing evil and not putting it away."
Taizong was greatly pleased and called it excellent, and at once had the woman sent back to her own kin.
貞觀四年，詔發卒修洛陽之乾元殿以備巡狩。給事中張玄素上書諫曰：
In the fourth year of Zhenguan, a decree sent out soldiers to repair the Qianyuan Hall at Luoyang in readiness for the imperial progress. Zhang Xuansu, the supervising secretary, sent up a memorial of remonstrance:
陛下智周萬物，囊括四海。令之所行，何往不應？誌之所欲，何事不從？微臣竊思秦始皇之為君也，藉周室之餘，因六國之盛，將貽之萬葉，及其子而亡，諒由逞嗜奔欲，逆天害人者也。是知天下不可以力勝，神祇不可以親恃。惟當弘儉約，薄賦斂，慎終始，可以永固。
Your Majesty's wisdom reaches through the ten thousand things, and you hold the four seas as in a bag. When your command goes out, where is it not answered? When your will desires a thing, what matter does not follow?
Your humble servant reflects quietly that when the First Emperor of Qin was ruler, he borrowed what the house of Zhou had left and took up the abundance of the six states, meaning to hand it down for ten thousand generations; yet it fell in the time of his son. Truly this was because he ran after his appetites and desires, went against heaven and harmed the people. From this we know that all under heaven cannot be won by force, and that the spirits cannot be relied on as intimates. Only by making thrift wide, taxes light, and the beginning and the end careful can it be made firm forever.
方今承百王之末，屬雕弊之餘，必欲節以禮制，陛下宜以身為先。東都未有幸期，即令補葺；諸王今並出藩，又須營構。興發數多，豈疲人之所望？其不可一也。陛下初平東都之始，層樓廣殿，皆令撤毀，天下翕然，同心傾仰。豈有初則惡其侈靡，今乃襲其雕麗？其不可二也，每承音旨，未即巡幸，此乃事不急之務，成虛費之勞。國無兼年之積，何用兩都之好？勞役過度，怨讟將起。其不可三也。百姓承亂離之後，財力雕盡，天恩含育，粗見存立，饑寒猶切，生計未安，三五年間，未能復舊。奈何營未幸之都，而奪疲人之力？其不可四也。昔漢高祖將都洛陽，婁敬一言，即日西駕。豈不知地惟土中，貢賦所均，但以形勝不如關內也。伏惟陛下化雕飏之人，革澆漓之俗，為日尚淺，未甚淳和，斟酌事宜，詎可東幸？其不可五也。
Now you have inherited the end of a hundred reigns and stand in the wake of ruin and exhaustion. If you mean to hold to the measure of the rites, Your Majesty should be the first to do so in your own person.
There is as yet no set time for a progress to the eastern capital, and already the repairs are ordered; and now the princes are all going out to their domains, and building must be done for them too. The works raised are many. How can this be what a worn-out people hopes for? This is the first reason it should not be done.
When Your Majesty first took the eastern capital, you had the tiered towers and the wide halls all torn down, and all under heaven with one accord looked up to you. How can you hate their extravagance at first and now take over their carved splendor? This is the second reason it should not be done.
Each time we receive your word, you say you will not make the progress soon. Then this is work that is not urgent, and the labor of it comes to empty waste. The state has not two years' store laid by. What use is the fineness of two capitals? When forced labor goes beyond measure, resentment and complaint will rise. This is the third reason it should not be done.
The people come after years of war and disorder, and their goods and strength are all withered away. Held and nourished by your heavenly kindness, they have barely come through alive. Hunger and cold still press on them, their livelihood is not yet secure, and in three or five years they cannot return to what they were. How can we build a capital you will not visit, and take away the strength of a worn-out people? This is the fourth reason it should not be done.
Long ago, when Gaozu of Han was about to make Luoyang his capital, one word from Lou Jing turned his carriage west that very day. Did he not know that the place lies at the center of the land, where tribute and taxes come in evenly? It was only that the lay of the land was not as good as Guanzhong. I humbly consider that Your Majesty has been transforming a withered and scattered people and mending shallow customs for a short time only, and they are not yet deeply settled and harmonious. Weighing what is fitting, how can you make a progress to the east? This is the fifth reason it should not be done.
臣嘗見隋室初造此殿，楹棟宏壯，大木非近道所有，多自豫章采來，二千人拽一柱，其下施轂，皆以生鐵為之，中間若用木輪，動即火出。略計一柱，已用數十萬，則餘費又過倍於此。臣聞阿房成，秦人散；章華就，楚眾離；乾元畢工，隋人解體。且以陛下今時功力，何如隋日？承雕殘之後，役瘡痍之人，費億萬之功，襲百王之弊，以此言之，恐甚於煬帝遠矣。深願陛下思之，無為由余所笑，則天下幸甚矣。
I once saw the house of Sui when it first built this hall. The pillars and roof beams were huge and grand, and such great timber was not to be had anywhere near. Much of it was cut in Yuzhang, and two thousand men dragged a single pillar. Under it they set rollers, all made of cast iron, because with wooden wheels in between the wood caught fire as soon as it moved. Reckoning roughly, one pillar alone cost several hundred thousand, and the rest of the cost was more than double again.
I have heard that when the Epang Palace was finished the people of Qin scattered, when the Zhanghua Terrace was completed the host of Chu fell away, and when the Qianyuan Hall was done the people of Sui came apart. And how does Your Majesty's labor force now compare with that of the Sui? To come after ruin and injury, to set wounded people to work, to spend the labor of a hundred million, and to take over the ills of a hundred reigns: speaking from this, I fear it would be far worse than what Emperor Yang did. I deeply wish Your Majesty to think on it, and not become a thing for You Yu to laugh at. Then all under heaven would be most fortunate.
太宗謂玄素曰：「卿以我不如煬帝，何如桀、紂？」對曰：「若此殿卒興，所謂同歸於亂。」太宗嘆曰：「我不思量，遂至於此。」顧謂房玄齡曰：「今玄素上表，洛陽實亦未宜修造，後必事理須行，露坐亦復何苦？所有作役，宜即停之。然以卑干尊，古來不易，非其忠直，安能如此？且眾人之唯唯，不如一士之諤諤。可賜絹二百匹。」魏徵嘆曰：「張公遂有回天之力，可謂仁人之言，其利溥哉！」
Taizong said to Xuansu:
"You say I am worse than Emperor Yang. How do I compare with Jie and King Zhou of Shang?"
He answered:
"If this hall is built in the end, that is what is called coming to the same disorder."
Taizong sighed and said:
"I did not weigh the matter, and so it came to this."
He turned and said to Fang Xuanling:
"Now that Xuansu has sent up his memorial, Luoyang truly should not yet be built. If in time the reason of things requires it, what hardship is there even in sitting out in the open? Let all the works that have been begun be stopped at once. Yet for a low man to go against a high one has never been easy since ancient times; without his loyalty and straightness, how could he do this? And the 'yes, yes' of a crowd is worth less than the blunt words of one scholar. Let him be given two hundred bolts of silk."
Wei Zheng sighed and said:
"Lord Zhang has the power to turn heaven around. Truly it may be said that the words of a benevolent man bring wide benefit."
太宗有一駿馬，特愛之，恒於宮中養飼，無病而暴死。太宗怒養馬宮人，將殺之。皇後諫曰：「昔齊景公以馬死殺人，晏子請數其罪云：『爾養馬而死，爾罪一也。使公以馬殺人，百姓聞之，必怨吾君，爾罪二也。諸侯聞之，必輕吾國，爾罪三也。』公乃釋罪。陛下嘗讀書見此事，豈忘之邪？」太宗意乃解。又謂房玄齡曰，皇後庶事相啟沃，極有利益爾。
Taizong had a fine horse that he loved above the rest and always kept and fed within the palace, and it died suddenly without illness. Taizong was angry with the palace servant who tended the horse and was going to have him killed. The empress remonstrated:
"Long ago Duke Jing of Qi was going to kill a man because a horse had died, and Yanzi asked leave to count over the man's crimes, saying, 'You tended the horse and it died: that is your first crime. You made the duke kill a man over a horse, and when the people hear of it they will surely resent our ruler: that is your second crime. When the other lords hear of it they will surely think our state a light thing: that is your third crime.' At this the duke let the man go. Your Majesty read of this matter long ago in a book. How can you have forgotten it?"
At this Taizong's mind was eased. He also said to Fang Xuanling that the empress opened his mind to him in matter after matter, and that the benefit of it was very great.
貞觀七年，太宗將幸九成宮，散騎常侍姚思廉進諫曰：「陛下高居紫極，寧濟蒼生，應須以欲從人，不可以人從欲。然則離宮遊幸，此秦皇、漢武之事，故非堯、舜、禹、湯之所為也。」言甚切至。太宗諭之曰：「朕有氣疾，熱便頓劇，故非情好遊幸，甚嘉卿意。」因賜帛五十段。
In the seventh year of Zhenguan, Taizong was about to make a progress to the Jiucheng Palace, and Yao Silian, the cavalier attendant in ordinary, came forward to remonstrate:
"Your Majesty sits high in the Purple Palace and brings peace and rescue to the common people. You should make your desires follow the people, and not make the people follow your desires. So travel and pleasure at a detached palace were the business of the First Emperor of Qin and Emperor Wu of Han. They were not what Yao, Shun, Yu and Tang did."
His words were most earnest and searching. Taizong explained himself to him:
"I have a disorder of the breath, and heat makes it worse at once. It is not that my heart is set on travel and pleasure. Your intention pleases me greatly."
He then bestowed on him fifty lengths of silk.
貞觀三年，李大亮為涼州都督，嘗有臺使至州境，見有名鷹，諷大亮獻之。大亮密表曰：「陛下久絕畋獵，而使者求鷹。若是陛下之意，深乖昔旨；如其自擅，便是使非其人。」太宗下書曰：「以卿兼資文武，誌懷貞確，故委藩牧，當茲重寄。比在州鎮，聲績遠彰，念此忠勤，豈忘寤寐？使遣獻鷹，遂不曲順，論今引古，遠獻直言。披露腹心，非常懇到，覽用嘉嘆，不能已已。有臣若此，朕復何憂！宜守此誠，終始若一。《詩》云：『靖恭爾位，好是正直。神之聽之，介爾景福。』古人稱一言之重，侔於千金，卿之所言，深足貴矣。今賜卿金壺瓶、金碗各一枚，雖無千鎰之重，是朕自用之物，卿立誌方直，竭節至公，處職當官，每副所委，方大任使，以申重寄。公事之閒，宜觀典籍。兼賜卿荀悅《漢紀》一部，此書敘致簡要，論議深博，極為政之體，盡君臣之義，今以賜卿，宜加尋閱。」
In the third year of Zhenguan, Li Daliang was governor general of Liangzhou. An envoy from the court once came to the borders of the prefecture, saw that there was a famous hawk there, and hinted to Daliang that he should present it. Daliang sent up a memorial in secret:
"Your Majesty gave up hunting long ago, and yet your envoy seeks a hawk. If this is Your Majesty's wish, it goes far against your word of former days; and if he did it on his own authority, then the wrong man has been sent."
Taizong sent down a letter:
"Because you have the gifts of both letters and arms, and your will is steadfast and sure, I entrusted the frontier to you and laid this heavy charge upon you. Of late, while you have been in the prefectures and garrisons, your name and your achievements have shone far off, and when I think of this loyalty and diligence, how could I forget it waking or sleeping? An envoy was sent and had a hawk presented to him, and you would not bend and comply, but discussed the present and drew on the past, and sent up straight words from far away. You laid bare the heart within you with rare earnestness, and having read it I cannot stop praising and sighing over it. With a minister like this, what have I left to worry about?
"You should keep this sincerity and be one and the same from beginning to end. The Book of Songs says, 'Be still and reverent in your place, and love what is upright and straight. When the spirits hear of it, they will grant you great blessing.' The ancients said that the weight of a single word is equal to a thousand pieces of gold, and your words are truly to be prized.
"I now give you a golden flask and a golden bowl, one of each. They have not the weight of a thousand measures of gold, but they are things I have used myself. Your will is set upright and straight, you give your integrity to the full in perfect fairness, and in every office you have held you have answered to what was entrusted to you. So I mean to entrust you with great charges and lay heavy responsibility on you again. In the intervals of public business you should look into the classics. I also give you a copy of Xun Yue's Han ji. That book is plain and to the point in its telling, and deep and broad in its judgments. It sets out to the full the substance of government and the duty between ruler and minister. I give it to you now, and you should study it closely."
貞觀八年，陜縣丞皇甫德參上書忤旨，太宗以為訕謗。侍中魏徵進言曰：「昔賈誼當漢文帝上書云云『可為痛哭者一，可為長嘆息者六。』自古上書，率多激切。若不激切，則不能起人主之心。激切即似訕謗，惟陛下詳其可否。」太宗曰：「非公無能道此者。」令賜德參帛二十段。
In the eighth year of Zhenguan, Huangfu Decan, the assistant magistrate of Shan county, sent up a memorial that went against Taizong's wishes, and Taizong took it for slander. Wei Zheng, the director of the chancellery, came forward and said:
"Long ago Jia Yi sent up a memorial in the time of Emperor Wen of Han, saying, 'There is one thing to weep aloud for, and six things to sigh long over.' From of old, memorials sent up have mostly been sharp and urgent. If they were not sharp and urgent, they could not stir the ruler's heart. What is sharp and urgent looks like slander. I ask only that Your Majesty look closely into whether it is right or wrong."
Taizong said:
"Without you there is no one who could say this."
He had twenty lengths of silk given to Decan.
貞觀十五年，遣使詣西域立葉護可汗，未還，又令人多賫金帛，歷諸國市馬。魏徵諫曰：「今發使以立可汗為名，可汗未定立，即詣諸國市馬，彼必以為意在市馬，不為專立可汗。可汗得立，則不甚懷恩，不得立，則生深怨。諸蕃聞之，且不重中國。但使彼國安寧，則諸國之馬，不求自至。昔漢文帝有獻千里馬者，曰：『吾吉行日三十，兇行日五十，鸞輿在前，屬車在後，吾獨乘千里馬，將安之乎？』乃償其道里所費而返之。又光武有獻千里馬及寶劍者，馬以駕鼓車，劍以賜騎士。今陛下凡所施為，皆邈過三王之上，奈何至此欲為孝文、光武之下乎？又魏文帝求市西域大珠，蘇則曰：『若陛下惠及四海，則不求自至，求而得之，不足貴也。』陛下縱不能慕漢文之高行，可不畏蘇則之正言耶？」太宗遽令止之。
In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, an envoy was sent to the Western Regions to install the Yehu Khagan. Before he returned, men were also sent with much gold and silk to go through the several states and buy horses. Wei Zheng remonstrated:
"The envoy was sent out in the name of installing the khagan. If, before the khagan is settled and installed, they go to the several states and buy horses, those people will surely think the intention was to buy horses and not to install a khagan at all. If the khagan is installed, he will not feel much gratitude; if he is not installed, deep resentment will grow. When the tribes hear of it, they too will make light of the Middle Kingdom. Only make that country peaceful, and the horses of the several states will come of themselves without being sought.
"Long ago someone presented a horse of a thousand li to Emperor Wen of Han, and he said, 'On a good errand I travel thirty li a day, on an ill errand fifty li a day. The imperial carriage goes before and the attendant carriages behind. If I alone rode a horse of a thousand li, where would I be going?' So he repaid the cost of the road and sent it back. Again, someone presented Emperor Guangwu with a horse of a thousand li and a precious sword; he harnessed the horse to the drum cart and gave the sword to a horseman. Now everything Your Majesty does rises far above the three kings. How can you come to this and wish to stand below Emperor Wen and Emperor Guangwu?
"Again, when Emperor Wen of Wei sought to buy the great pearls of the Western Regions, Su Ze said, 'If Your Majesty's kindness reaches the four seas, they will come of themselves without being sought; and what is got by seeking is not worth prizing.' Even if Your Majesty cannot long for the high conduct of Emperor Wen of Han, can you not fear the upright words of Su Ze?"
Taizong at once had it stopped.
貞觀十七年，太子右庶子高季輔上疏陳得失。特賜鍾乳一劑，謂曰：「卿進藥石之言，故以藥石相報。」
In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Gao Jifu, right mentor of the crown prince, sent up a memorial setting out what was right and wrong. He was given a special gift of one dose of stalactite medicine, and Taizong said to him:
"You have sent up words that are medicine and healing stone, so I repay you with medicine and healing stone."
貞觀十八年，太宗謂長孫無忌等曰：「夫人臣之對帝王，多順從而不逆，甘言以取容。朕今發問，不得有隱，宜以次言朕過失。」長孫無忌、唐儉等皆曰：「陛下聖化道致太平，以臣觀之，不見其失。」黃門侍郎劉洎對曰：「陛下撥亂創業，實功高萬古，誠如無忌等言。然頃有人上書，辭理不稱者，或對面窮詰，無不慚退。恐非獎進言者。」太宗曰：「此言是也，當為卿改之。」
In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to Zhangsun Wuji and the others:
"When ministers face an emperor they mostly follow and do not cross him, and use sweet words to win his favor. I am asking now, and there must be no hiding. Speak of my faults in turn."
Zhangsun Wuji, Tang Jian and the others all said:
"Your Majesty's sage teaching has brought us to great peace. As your servants see it, we do not see your faults."
Liu Ji, the vice director of the chancellery, answered:
"That Your Majesty put down disorder and founded the dynasty is truly an achievement high above all ages, and it is as Wuji and the others say. But of late, when someone has sent up a memorial whose words and reasoning were not equal to the matter, you have sometimes pressed him to the end face to face, and there is none who has not withdrawn in shame. I fear this is not the way to encourage those who speak."
Taizong said:
"These words are right. I shall change it for you."
太宗嘗怒苑西監穆裕，命於朝堂斬之，時高宗為皇太子，遽犯顏進諫，太宗意乃解。司徒長孫無忌曰：「自古太子之諫，或乘間從容而言。今陛下發天威之怒，太子申犯顏之諫，誠古今未有。」太宗曰：「夫人久相與處，自然染習。自朕御天下，虛心正直，即有魏徵朝夕進諫，自徵云亡，劉洎、岑文本、馬周、褚遂良等繼之。皇太子幼在朕膝前，每見朕心說諫者，因染以成性，故有今日之諫。」
Taizong was once angry with Mu Yu, the overseer of the western park, and ordered him beheaded in the court hall. Gaozong, then crown prince, at once went against his father's face and came forward to remonstrate, and Taizong's mind was eased. Zhangsun Wuji, the minister of education, said:
"From of old, a crown prince's remonstrance has been made by taking a quiet moment and speaking at ease. Now Your Majesty let out the anger of heaven's own majesty, and the crown prince set forth a remonstrance against your face. Truly there has been nothing like it in ancient times or in our own."
Taizong said:
"When people live together for a long time, they take on each other's ways of themselves. Since I have ruled all under heaven I have emptied my mind and kept myself upright and straight, and so Wei Zheng came forward morning and evening to remonstrate; and after Wei Zheng died, Liu Ji, Cen Wenben, Ma Zhou, Chu Suiliang and others carried it on. The crown prince was small and at my knee, and whenever he saw that my heart was glad at those who remonstrated, he took it on and it grew into his nature. That is why we have his remonstrance today."