On Loyalty and Righteousness論忠義第十四
馮立，武德中為東宮率，甚被隱太子親遇。太子之死也，左右多逃散，立嘆曰：「豈有生受其恩，而死逃其難！」於是率兵犯玄武門，苦戰，殺屯營將軍敬君弘。謂其徒曰：「微以報太子矣。」遂解兵遁於野。俄而來請罪，太宗數之曰：「汝昨者出兵來戰，大殺傷吾兵，將何以逃死？」立飲泣而對曰：「立出身事主，期之效命，當戰之日，無所顧憚。」因歔欷悲不自勝，太宗慰勉之，授左屯衛中郎將。立謂所親曰：「逢莫大之恩幸而獲免，終當以此奉答。」未幾，突厥至便橋，率數百騎與虜戰於咸陽，殺獲甚眾，所向皆披靡，太宗聞而嘉嘆之。時有齊王元吉府左車騎謝叔方率府兵與立合軍拒戰，及殺敬君弘、中郎將呂衡，王師不振，秦府護軍尉尉遲敬德乃持元吉首以示之，叔方下馬號泣，拜辭而遁。明日出首，太宗曰：「義士也。」命釋之，授右翊衛郎將。
Feng Li was commander of the guard of the Eastern Palace during the Wude era, and he was very closely favored by the Crown Prince Yin. When the crown prince died, most of those about him fled and scattered, but Feng Li sighed and said:
"How can a man receive his favor while he lives and flee his troubles when he dies!"
Then he led troops against the Xuanwu Gate and fought bitterly, and he killed Jing Junhong, the general of the encampment. He said to his followers:
"I have repaid the crown prince a little."
At last he disbanded his troops and fled into the countryside. Before long he came and asked to be punished. Taizong reproached him:
"Yesterday you sent out troops and came to battle, and you killed and wounded many of my soldiers. By what means will you escape death?"
Feng Li swallowed his tears and answered:
"I gave my body to serve my lord and looked only to spend my life for him. On the day of the battle there was nothing I looked back upon and nothing I shrank from."
Then he sobbed, and his grief was more than he could master. Taizong comforted him and encouraged him, and gave him the post of general of the palace gentlemen of the Left Garrison Guard. Feng Li said to those close to him:
"I have met with a favor beyond all measure, and by good fortune I have escaped death. In the end I must repay it with this life."
Not long after, when the Tujue came to the Bian Bridge, he led several hundred horsemen and fought the enemy at Xianyang, and those he killed and took were very many, and wherever he turned they all fell before him. Taizong heard of it and admired him and sighed in praise.
At that time Xie Shufang, the left chariot commander in the establishment of Li Yuanji, the prince of Qi, led the troops of that establishment and joined his forces with Feng Li's to stand and fight. When they had killed Jing Junhong and Lü Heng, the general of the palace gentlemen, the king's army was faltering, and Yuchi Jingde, the protector of the army of the Prince of Qin's establishment, held up Yuanji's head and showed it to them. Shufang got down from his horse and wept aloud, bowed in farewell and fled. The next day he came out and gave himself up, and Taizong said:
"He is a man of righteousness."
He ordered him released, and gave him the post of general of the gentlemen of the Right Militant Guard.
貞觀元年，太宗嘗從容言及隋亡之事，慨然嘆曰：「姚思廉不懼兵刃，以明大節，求諸古人，亦何以加也！」思廉時在洛陽，因寄物三百段，並遺其書曰：「想卿忠節之風，故有斯贈。」初，大業末，思廉為隋代王侑侍讀，及義旗克京城時，代王府僚多駭散，惟思廉侍王，不離其側。兵士將升殿，思廉厲聲謂曰：「唐公舉義兵，本匡王室，卿等不宜無禮於王！」眾服其言，於是稍卻，布列階下。須臾，高祖至，聞而義之，許其扶代王侑至順陽閤下，思廉泣拜而去。見者咸嘆曰：「忠烈之士，仁者有勇，此之謂乎！」
In the first year of Zhenguan, Taizong was speaking quietly of how the Sui had fallen, and he sighed with deep feeling:
"Yao Silian did not fear the blade, and he made a great constancy shine out. Seek among the men of old, and what could be added to it!"
Yao Silian was at Luoyang at the time, so Taizong sent him three hundred lengths of goods, and with them a letter:
"I thought of the bearing of your loyal constancy, and so there is this gift."
Earlier, at the end of the Daye era, Yao Silian was reader-in-waiting to Yang You, the prince of Dai, of Sui. When the righteous banner took the capital, most of the officers of the prince's establishment were startled and scattered, and Silian alone attended the prince and did not leave his side. As the soldiers were about to climb into the hall, Silian raised his voice and said to them:
"The Duke of Tang raised a righteous army to set the royal house right. You must not be rude to the prince."
The crowd yielded to his words and drew back a little and stood ranged below the steps. In a moment Gaozu arrived, and when he heard of it he thought it righteous, and allowed Silian to support the prince of Dai as far as the Shunyang Pavilion. Silian wept and bowed and went away. All who saw it sighed and said:
"A loyal and ardent scholar, and a benevolent man has courage. Is this not what that means!"
貞觀二年，將葬故息隱王建成、海陵王元吉，尚書右丞魏徵與黃門侍郎王珪，請預陪送。上表曰：「臣等昔受命太上，委質東宮，出入龍樓，垂將一紀。前宮結釁宗社，得罪人神，臣等不能死亡，甘從夷戮，負其罪戾，寘錄周行，徒竭生涯，將何上報？陛下德光四海，道冠前王，陟岡有感，追懷棠棣，明社稷之大義，申骨肉之深恩，卜葬二王，遠期有日。臣等永惟疇昔，忝曰舊臣，喪君有君，雖展事居之禮；宿草將列，未申送往之哀。瞻望九原，義深凡百，望於葬日，送至墓所。」太宗義而許之，於是宮府舊僚吏，盡令送葬。
In the second year of Zhenguan, when the late Li Jiancheng, the prince Xiyin, and Li Yuanji, the prince of Hailing, were about to be buried, Wei Zheng, the right assistant director of the Department of State Affairs, and Wang Gui, the vice director of the Chancellery, asked to take part in attending the funeral. They sent up a memorial that said:
"Long ago your servants received the command of the Retired Emperor and gave ourselves to the Eastern Palace, and we passed in and out of the Dragon Tower for nearly twelve years. When the former palace made a breach with the ancestral temple and the altars of the land and took on guilt before men and spirits, your servants could neither die nor gladly go to the slaughter. We bear that guilt, and yet we are set down in the ranks of office. Though we spent all the years of our lives, with what could we repay what is above?
"Your Majesty's virtue shines over the four seas and your way crowns the kings before you. You climbed the ridge and were moved, and you thought back with longing on the ode Tangdi. You have made clear the great righteousness of the altars of the land and set forth the deep love of flesh and blood, and you have divined the burial of the two princes, and a distant day is fixed.
"Your servants think long upon the days that are gone, and we are called, unworthily, old ministers. We lost our lord, yet we have a lord, and so we have performed the rites of serving the living. But the grass of last year will soon stand over them, and we have not yet set forth our sorrow in sending off the departed. We gaze toward the Nine Plains, and our duty there is deeper than all else. We beg that on the day of the burial we may escort them to the grave."
Taizong thought it righteous and allowed it, and thereupon he had all the old officers of the Eastern Palace and the princely establishment sent to the funeral.
貞觀五年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「忠臣烈士，何代無之。公等知隋朝誰為忠貞？」王珪曰：「臣聞太常丞元善達在京留守，見群賊縱橫，遂轉騎遠詣江都，諫煬帝，令還京師。既不受其言，後更涕泣極諫，煬帝怒，乃遠使追兵，身死瘴癘之地。有虎賁郎中獨孤盛在江都宿衛，宇文化及起逆，盛惟一身，抗拒而死。」太宗曰：「屈突通為隋將，共國家戰於潼關，聞京城陷，乃引兵東走。義兵追及於桃林，朕遣其家人往招慰，遽殺其奴。又遣其子往，乃云：『我蒙隋家驅使，已事兩帝，今者吾死節之秋，汝舊於我家為父子，今則於我家為仇讎。』因射之，其子避走，所領士卒多潰散。通惟一身，向東南慟哭盡哀。曰：『臣荷國恩，任當將帥，智力俱盡，致此敗亡，非臣不竭誠於國。』言盡，追兵擒之。太上皇授其官，每讬疾固辭。此之忠節，足可嘉尚。」因敕所司，采訪大業中直諫被誅者子孫，聞奏。
In the fifth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"In what age have there been no loyal ministers and ardent scholars? Do you know who in the Sui court was loyal and upright?"
Wang Gui said:
"I have heard that Yuan Shanda, the assistant director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, was left to guard the capital, and when he saw the swarms of rebels running loose he at last rode far off to Jiangdu and remonstrated with Emperor Yang, wishing to make him return to the capital. His words were not taken, and afterward he remonstrated again to the utmost, shedding tears. Emperor Yang was angry, and sent him far away on a mission to pursue the rebels, and his body died in a land of miasma. And Dugu Sheng, the gentleman of the interior of the Tiger Guard, was on night duty at Jiangdu, and when Yuwen Huaji rose in revolt, Sheng stood against him alone with his one body and died."
Taizong said:
"Qutu Tong was a general of Sui, and he fought this house at Tong Pass. When he heard that the capital had fallen he led his troops and fled east. The righteous army overtook him at Taolin, and I sent a member of his household to call him in and comfort him, but at once he killed the servant. I sent his son next, and then he said, 'I have taken the service of the house of Sui and have served two emperors. Now is my season to die for my constancy. In the old days you were my son in my house; now you are my enemy in my house.' With that he shot at him. His son got away, and most of the soldiers he led broke and scattered. Qutu Tong, with his one body, turned to the southeast and wailed out all his grief, and said, 'Your servant bore the favor of the state, and his charge was that of a commander. My wits and my strength are spent, and it has come to this defeat and ruin. It is not that your servant did not give the state his whole heart.' When his words were done, the pursuing soldiers took him. The Retired Emperor gave him office, but every time he pleaded illness and firmly refused. Such loyal constancy is worth admiring and honoring."
Thereupon he charged the office concerned to seek out and report the sons and grandsons of those who had been put to death for remonstrating straightly during the Daye era.
貞觀六年，授左光祿大夫陳叔達禮部尚書，因謂曰：「武德中，公曾進直言於太上皇，明朕有克定大功，不可黜退云。朕本性剛烈，若有抑挫，恐不勝憂憤，以致疾斃之危。今賞公忠謇，有此遷授。」叔達對曰：「臣以隋氏父子自相誅戮，以至滅亡，豈容目睹覆車，不改前轍？臣所以竭誠進諫。」太宗曰：「朕知公非獨為朕一人，實為社稷之計。」
In the sixth year of Zhenguan, Chen Shuda, the left grand master of the palace, was made minister of rites, and Taizong said to him:
"In the Wude era you once offered a straight word to the Retired Emperor, making it clear that I had the great merit of conquest and settlement and could not be cast out. My nature is hard and fierce, and I fear that if I had been pressed down and broken I could not have borne the grief and anger, and it would have brought me to the danger of sickness and death. Now I reward your loyalty and straightness, and so there is this promotion."
Shuda answered:
"Your servant saw how the father and son of the house of Sui cut each other down until they came to ruin. How could I allow myself to see the cart overturned before my eyes and not change the ruts ahead of me? That is why your servant gave his whole heart and remonstrated."
Taizong said:
"I know that you did it not for me alone, but truly as a plan for the altars of the land."
貞觀八年，先是桂州都督李弘節以清慎聞，及身歿後，其家賣珠。太宗聞之，乃宣於朝曰：「此人生平，宰相皆言其清，今日既然，所舉者豈得無罪？必當深理之，不可舍也。」侍中魏徵承間言曰：「陛下生平言此人濁，未見受財之所，今聞其賣珠，將罪舉者，臣不知所謂。自聖朝以來，為國盡忠，清貞慎守，終始不渝，屈突通、張道源而已。通子三人來選，有一匹羸馬，道源兒子不能存立，未見一言及之。今弘節為國立功，前後大蒙賞賚，居官歿後，不言貪殘，妻子賣珠，未為有罪。審其清者，無所存問，疑其濁者，旁責舉人，雖云疾惡不疑，是亦好善不篤。臣竊思度，未見其可，恐有識聞之，必生枉議。」太宗撫掌曰：「造次不思，遂聞此語，方知談不容易。並勿問之。其屈突通、張道源兒子，宜各與一官。」
In the eighth year of Zhenguan — before this, Li Hongjie, the governor-general of Guizhou, was known for being clean and careful, and after he died his household sold pearls. Taizong heard of it and proclaimed at court:
"While this man was alive the chief ministers all said he was clean, and now it is like this. How can those who recommended him be without guilt? This must surely be looked into deeply, and it cannot be let go."
Wei Zheng, the director of the Chancellery, took his chance and said:
"Your Majesty said while he lived that this man was turbid, yet you never saw the place where he took goods. Now you hear that he has sold pearls and would punish those who recommended him, and your servant does not know what to make of it.
"Since the sage court arose, the only men who gave the state all their loyalty and kept themselves clean and upright and careful and never changed from first to last are Qutu Tong and Zhang Daoyuan. Three sons of Qutu Tong came up for selection, and they had one lean horse between them. The son of Zhang Daoyuan cannot keep himself alive, and I have not seen one word reach as far as them.
"Now Hongjie built up merit for the state and received great rewards and gifts, before and after. He held office and died, and there is no word of his being greedy or cruel, and it is no crime that his wife and children sold pearls. Those whose cleanness you have looked into, you do not ask after; those whose turbidness you suspect, you blame the men who recommended them on the side. This may be called hating evil without hesitation, but it is also loving good without depth. Though your servant weighs it quietly, he does not see that it is right, and I fear that if men of understanding hear of it, crooked talk is sure to arise."
Taizong clapped his hands and said:
"I spoke in haste and did not think, and so these words were heard, and only now do I know that talking is not easy. Let no more be asked about it. And let a post be given to each of the sons of Qutu Tong and Zhang Daoyuan."
貞觀八年，太宗將發諸道黜陟使，畿內道未有其人，太宗親定，問於房玄齡等曰：「此道事最重，誰可充使？」右仆射李靖曰：「畿內事大，非魏徵莫可。」太宗作色曰：「朕今欲向九成宮，亦非小，寧可遣魏徵出使？朕每行不欲與其相離者，適為其見朕是非得失。公等能正朕不？可因輒有所言，大非道理。」乃即令李靖充使。
In the eighth year of Zhenguan, Taizong was about to send out commissioners of promotion and demotion to the several circuits, and there was as yet no man for the Metropolitan Circuit. Taizong would settle it himself, and asked Fang Xuanling and the others:
"The business of this circuit is the heaviest. Who can fill the post of commissioner?"
Li Jing, the right vice director of the Department of State Affairs, said:
"The business of the metropolitan region is great, and there is no one but Wei Zheng."
Taizong changed color and said:
"I am about to go to the Jiucheng Palace now, and that is no small matter either. How could I send Wei Zheng out on a mission? Every time I travel I do not wish to be parted from him, just because he sees what is right and wrong in me, and what I gain and lose. Can you set me right? You speak as the word comes to you, and that is greatly against reason."
Thereupon he had Li Jing fill the post at once.
貞觀九年，蕭瑀為尚書左仆射。嘗因宴集，太宗謂房玄齡曰：「武德六年已後，太上皇有廢立之心，我當此日，不為兄弟所容，實有功高不賞之懼。蕭瑀不可以厚利誘之，不可以刑戮懼之，真社稷臣也。」乃賜詩曰：「疾風知勁草，板蕩識誠臣。」瑀拜謝曰：「臣特蒙誡訓，許臣以忠諒，雖死之日，猶生之年。」
In the ninth year of Zhenguan, Xiao Yu was made left vice director of the Department of State Affairs. Once at a feast Taizong said to Fang Xuanling:
"After the sixth year of Wude the Retired Emperor had a mind to depose and set up. In those days I was not tolerated by my brothers, and truly I had the fear of one whose merit is high and goes unrewarded. Xiao Yu could not be lured by heavy profit and could not be frightened by punishment and death. He is truly a minister of the altars of the land."
Then he bestowed a poem on him:
"In a fierce wind you know the strong grass; in an age overturned you know the faithful minister."
Xiao Yu bowed and gave thanks:
"Your servant has received a teaching of admonition above others, and has been granted the name of loyal and true. Though it be the day of my death, it is as a year of my life."
貞觀十一年，太宗行至漢太尉楊震墓，傷其以忠非命，親為文以祭之。房玄齡進曰：「楊震雖當年夭枉，數百年後方遇聖明，停輿駐蹕，親降神作，可謂雖死猶生，沒而不朽。不覺助伯起幸賴欣躍於九泉之下矣。伏讀天文，且感且慰，凡百君子，焉敢不勖勵名節，知為善之有效！」
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Taizong came on his travels to the grave of Yang Zhen, the grand commandant of Han, and grieved that his loyalty had brought him to die before his time, and he made a text himself and offered it in sacrifice. Fang Xuanling came forward and said:
"Though Yang Zhen died young and wronged in his own year, several hundred years after he has met a sage and enlightened ruler. You halted your carriage and stayed your steps and came down yourself to make a holy text. It may be said that though he died he yet lives, and that he has perished and not decayed. Without knowing it, I have helped Boqi to rejoice and leap beneath the Nine Springs for the good fortune he has met with. Bowing low, I read the heavenly writing, and I am both moved and comforted. How should all the gentlemen of the world dare not strive after name and constancy, and know that doing good has its fruit!"
貞觀十一年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「狄人殺衛懿公，盡食其肉，獨留其肝。懿公之臣弘演呼天大哭，自出其肝，而內懿公之肝於其腹中。今覓此人，恐不可得。」特進魏徵對曰：「昔豫讓為智伯報讎，欲刺趙襄子，襄子執而獲之，謂之曰：『子昔事範、中行氏乎？智伯盡滅之，子乃委質智伯，不為報讎；今即為智伯報讎，何也？』讓答曰：『臣昔事範、中行，範、中行以眾人遇我，我以眾人報之。智伯以國士遇我，我以國士報之。』在君禮之而已，亦何謂無人焉？」
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"The Di people killed Duke Yi of Wey and ate all his flesh and left only his liver. Hong Yan, the duke's minister, called on heaven and wept aloud, and took out his own liver himself, and put the duke's liver inside his belly. If such a man were sought for now, I fear he could not be found."
Wei Zheng, the specially advanced, answered:
"Long ago Yu Rang would avenge Zhi Bo and sought to stab Zhao Xiangzi. Xiangzi seized him and took him, and said to him, 'Did you not once serve the Fan and the Zhonghang? Zhi Bo destroyed them utterly, and yet you gave yourself to Zhi Bo and did not avenge them. Now you would avenge Zhi Bo. How is that?' Yu Rang answered, 'When your servant served the Fan and the Zhonghang long ago, the Fan and the Zhonghang met me as one of the crowd, and so I repaid them as one of the crowd. Zhi Bo met me as a scholar of the state, and so I repay him as a scholar of the state.' It lies only in the ruler treating men with courtesy. How can it be said that there are no such men?"
貞觀十二年，太宗幸蒲州，因詔曰：「隋故鷹擊郎將堯君素，往在大業，受任河東，固守忠義，克終臣節。雖桀犬吠堯，有乖倒戈之志，疾風勁草，實表歲寒之心。爰踐茲境，追懷往事，宜錫寵命，以申勸獎。可追贈蒲州刺史，仍訪其子孫以聞。」
In the twelfth year of Zhenguan, Taizong made a progress to Puzhou, and there he sent down an edict:
"Yao Junsu, the former gentleman-general of the Soaring Hawk under Sui, took his charge at Hedong in the Daye era of old, held firmly to loyalty and righteousness, and brought a subject's constancy to a good end. Though it was Jie's dog barking at Yao, and against the purpose of turning the spear about, it was strong grass in a fierce wind, and it truly showed a heart for the cold season. Having set foot in this land, I think back on the things that are past, and it is fitting to grant a command of favor and set forth encouragement and praise. Let him be given posthumously the office of prefect of Puzhou, and let his descendants be sought out and reported."
貞觀十二年，太宗謂中書侍郎岑文本曰：「梁、陳名臣，有誰可稱？復有子弟堪招引否？」文本奏言：「隋師入陳，百司奔散，莫有留者，惟尚書仆射袁憲獨在其主之傍。王世充將受隋禪，群僚表請勸進，憲子國子司業承家，讬疾獨不署名。此之父子，足稱忠烈。承家弟承序，今為建昌令。清貞雅操，實繼先風。」由是召拜晉王友，兼令侍讀，尋授弘文館學士。
In the twelfth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to Cen Wenben, the vice director of the Secretariat:
"Among the famous ministers of Liang and Chen, who is worth naming? And are there sons and younger brothers who may be called in?"
Wenben replied:
"When the Sui army entered Chen, all the offices fled and scattered and none stayed, and only Yuan Xian, the vice director of the Department of State Affairs, remained at his lord's side. When Wang Shichong was about to receive the abdication of Sui, the whole body of officials sent up a memorial urging him to take the throne, but Yuan Xian's son Yuan Chengjia, the director of studies in the Directorate of Education, pleaded illness and alone did not sign his name. This father and son are enough to be called loyal and ardent. Chengjia's younger brother Chengxu is now magistrate of Jianchang. His clean and upright and elegant conduct truly carries on the bearing of those before him."
Because of this he was summoned and appointed companion to the prince of Jin, and was also made his reader-in-waiting, and soon he was given the post of academician of the Hongwen Academy.
貞觀十五年，詔曰：「朕聽朝之暇，觀前史，每覽前賢佐時，忠臣徇國，何嘗不想見其人，廢書欽嘆！至於近代以來，年歲非遠，然其胤緒，或當見存，縱未能顯加旌表，無容棄之遐裔。其周、隋二代名臣及忠節子孫，有貞觀已來犯罪配流者，宜令所司具錄奏聞。」於是多從矜宥。
In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan an edict was sent down:
"In the leisure of hearing court, I look at the histories of former times, and whenever I see how the worthies of old helped their age and how loyal ministers gave their lives for the state, I have never failed to long to see the man before me, and to set the book aside and sigh in reverence. As for recent generations, the years are not far off, and their descendants may in some cases still be living. Even if they cannot be openly singled out and honored, it cannot be allowed that they be left cast away in the far borderlands. Among the famous ministers of the two ages of Zhou and Sui, and among the descendants of those who kept a loyal constancy, if there are any who have committed a crime and been sent into exile since the Zhenguan era began, let the office concerned set it all down and report it."
Thereupon many were pardoned out of pity.
貞觀十九年，太宗攻遼東安市城，高麗人眾皆死戰，詔令耨薩延壽、惠真等降，眾止其城下以招之，城中堅守不動。每見帝幡旗，必乘城鼓譟。帝怒甚，詔江夏王道宗築土山，以攻其城，竟不能克。太宗將旋師，嘉安市城主堅守臣節，賜絹三百匹，以勸勵事君者。
In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong attacked the fortress of Ansi in Liaodong, and the people of Goguryeo all fought to the death. By edict he had the yoksal Yeonsu and Hyejin and the others, who had surrendered, set below the fortress with their followers to call it over, but within the fortress they held firm and did not stir. Whenever they saw the emperor's banners they would climb the wall and beat the drums and shout. The emperor was very angry, and by edict he had Li Daozong, the prince of Jiangxia, raise an earthen hill to attack the fortress, but in the end it could not be taken. As Taizong was about to turn his army back, he admired the lord of the fortress of Ansi for holding firmly to a subject's constancy, and gave him three hundred bolts of silk, to encourage and urge on those who serve their lord.