The Tang泣血蒼生方背剌
1The people who wept blood turn their backs
泣血蒼生方背剌.
The people who had wept tears of blood now turned their backs,
2The curly-bearded youth of eighteen urges him on
皇天便啓李唐心, 年少虯髥 催擧義.
August Heaven then opened the heart of the Li house of Tang, and the young man with the curling beard (虯髥) pressed for the righteous rising.
Interlinear notes 1
謂太宗皇帝. 時年十八, 勸文唐公擧義. 名世民.
This refers to Emperor Taizong. He was eighteen at the time, and he urged his father, the Duke of Tang, to raise the righteous army. His name was Shimin.
3Emperor Gong yields the throne
遂入長安立恭帝, 恭帝禪向唐公委.
At last they entered Chang'an and set Emperor Gong upon the throne, and Emperor Gong yielded it and entrusted it to the Duke of Tang.
4The Duke of Tang receives the charts and registers
○唐公 膺圖民知歸, 釋甲投戈操耒耜.
When the Duke of Tang received the charts and registers (圖籙), the people knew where to turn, and they put off their armor, threw down their spears, and took up plow and plowshare.
Interlinear notes 1
名淵, 字叔德, 廣之十六世孫. 受禪卽皇帝位, 土德. 以隋末年戊寅爲元, 都長安. 至末哀帝, 凡二十帝幷女主一, 合二百八十九年. 傳之朱梁. 史臣曰, “廣之盡忠於漢, 而百戰不侯者, 非義勇之積不能動天也. 蓋天將大啓其後, 而寢其小恩者乎? 凡忠義之家, 無以無效無念.”
His name was Yuan (淵) and his courtesy name Shude, and he was the sixteenth-generation descendant of Li Guang (李廣). He received the abdication and took the imperial throne, and his power was earth. He made the wuyin year, the last year of Sui, his first year, and set his capital at Chang'an. Down to the last ruler, Emperor Ai, there were twenty emperors in all, together with one female sovereign (女主), and the whole came to two hundred and eighty-nine years. The throne passed to the Liang of the Zhu house. The historian says, "That Li Guang gave his full loyalty to Han and yet fought a hundred battles without being made a marquis was not because his store of righteous courage could not move Heaven. Was it not rather that Heaven, meaning to open a great way for his descendants, let the small favor lie asleep? Let no family of loyalty and righteousness ever forget its deeds for want of reward."
5They come wagging their tails
乘時吠主許多輩, 不敢保聚來搖尾.
The many bands who had seized their moment and barked at their own master, not daring to hold their followers together, came and wagged their tails.
Interlinear notes 1
謂李密·竇立德·李軌·劉武周·沙門高曇成·蕭銑·高開道·王世充·梁思道·劉黑闥等也.
This refers to Li Mi, Dou Jiande, Li Gui, Liu Wuzhou, the monk Gao Tancheng, Xiao Xian, Gao Kaidao, Wang Shichong, Liang Sidao, Liu Heita, and others.
6Seeking worthy men morning and night
大宗雖己致昇平, 宵衣晘食常求士.
Though Taizong had already brought peace and order, he dressed before daybreak and ate after dark, and always sought out worthy men.
7Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Wei Zheng
房杜日月魏徵鑑, 佐明四海光天視.
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were his sun and moon, and Wei Zheng his mirror, and they aided his brightness, so that the four seas shone under Heaven's gaze.
8Thinking of danger while at ease
居安思危朝夕憂, 九有晏然無一事.
At ease he thought of danger and was troubled morning and evening, and all the nine regions were calm, without a single trouble.
9Punishments laid aside, the people at peace
刑措民安上古同, 至今有口皆稱美.
Punishments were laid aside and the people at peace, as in highest antiquity, and to this day everyone with a mouth calls it fine.
10Empress Wu Zetian
高宗皇后中宗母, 之謂卽天 剛且毅.
Empress of Gaozong and mother of Zhongzong, she is called Zetian (則天), and she was hard and fierce.
Interlinear notes 1
姓武, 名曌. 元年甲申, 在位二十一年.
Her surname was Wu (武) and her given name Zhao (曌). Her first year was the jiashen year, and she held the throne for twenty-one years.
11She changes the dynastic name to Zhou
廢子而立改號周, 聖唐基業幾乎墜.
She deposed her son and ascended the throne, and changed the dynastic name to Zhou (周), and the foundation of the sacred Tang all but fell.
12She returns the throne to her son
多哉末年改往修, 復立其子還天位.
How fine that in her last years she mended what was past, and set her son on the throne again and gave back Heaven's seat.
13The brilliant Xuanzong
從玆仙李遠條且, 玄宗稟性尤英偉.
From then the divine plum tree (仙李) spread its branches far, and Xuanzong was by nature all the more brilliant and great.
14Cooking smoke for thirty thousand li
石上桑文豈偶然, 煙火農桑三萬里.
How could the mulberry writing on the stone have been mere chance? Cooking smoke, farmland, and mulberry groves ran thirty thousand li.
15Spring north of the Chenxiang Pavilion
沈香亭北興慶南, 桃杏半開春意侈.
North of the Chenxiang Pavilion, south of the Xingqing Palace, peach and apricot half in bloom, the mood of spring ran wild.
16An Lushan dances to the jie drum
羯鼓鞭馳百面雷, 祿山亂舞楊妃醉.
The sticks of the jie drum (羯鼓) raced like a hundred thunders, and An Lushan danced wildly while Yang Guifei was drunk.
17Stolen glances pass between them
絃催歌緊歡譁間, 偸注眼波相嫵媚.
The strings pressed on and the singing quickened, and amid the noisy joy they let their eyes slip toward each other and played the coquette.
18He knew the look of a traitor and employed him still
胡奴反相帝曾知, 任使成奸意何自.
The emperor had long known the rebel look of the barbarian slave, yet where did the mind come from that let him serve until his treachery was done?
19The war drums of Yuyang
漁陽鼙鼓響潼關, 六軍不發屯如蟻.
The war drums of Yuyang sounded at Tong Pass, but the six armies did not march and camped like ants.
20He entrusts the state to the crown prince
蒼皇機務付春闈, 命爲天下都元帥.
In haste he handed the affairs of state to the Eastern Palace, and named him commander in chief of all under Heaven.
21The road to Mount Emei
翠華搖搖幸峨嵋, 一代君臣空掩淚.
The kingfisher-plumed carriage swayed on its way to Mount Emei, and the ruler and ministers of an age hid their tears in vain.
22Suzong sets the disorder right
肅宗撥亂頒墨制, 房琯自西傳玉璽.
Suzong set the disorder right and issued the ink edict (墨制), and Fang Guan brought the jade seal from the west.
23He recovers the capital
因尊帝爲太上皇, 克復神京當斧扆.
So he honored his father as Grand Emperor Emeritus, and recovered the sacred capital and sat before the axe screen (斧扆).
Interlinear notes 1
神京 — this means Chang'an. ― translator
24He holds the reins and brings his father home
遂自親迎奉轡廻, 純孝功名流不匱.
At last he went in person to meet him, held up the reins, and brought him back, and the fame of that pure filial devotion flows on without end.
25Keeping what had been built
承承繼繼能守成, 一德熙淳綏萬暈.
Succeeding one after another, they were able to keep what had been built, and their single virtue, bright and pure, brought peace to the myriad lands.
26Wuzong tears down the monasteries
虎宗誤聽趙歸眞, 命壞寰中諸佛寺.
Wuzong listened wrongly to Zhao Guizhen, and ordered every Buddhist monastery in the realm torn down.
Interlinear notes 1
虎宗 — the base text writes 虎 for 武 to avoid the taboo name, so it means Wuzong. ― translator
27The gods are angered together
驅逼僧尼還作民, 神明共怒將誰庇.
Monks and nuns were driven out and made commoners again, and with the gods angered together, who then would give shelter?
28Huang Chao pulls the characters apart
黃巢批判廣明文, 含元殿上聊希冀.
Huang Chao pulled apart the characters of the Guangming (廣明) reign name, and set his hopes, such as they were, on the Hanyuan Hall.
Interlinear notes 1
僖宗年號也. 黃巢批判其文曰, ‘唐去丑口着黃, 則其下乃黃之日月也.’ 舍含元殿, 國號齊, 李克用攻敗之.
Guangming was the reign name of Xizong. Huang Chao pulled its characters apart and said, "Take 丑 and 口 away from 唐 and set 黃 in their place, and what stands below is the sun and moon of Huang (黃)." He settled in the Hanyuan Hall and named his state Qi (齊), but Li Keyong attacked and destroyed him.
29The eunuchs take over once more
閹官又復擅中宸, 帝憲王章惟日毁.
The eunuchs again had their way within the palace, and the emperor's laws and the king's rules fell to ruin day by day.
30He entrusts the work to Zhu Wen
因委朱溫得掃除, 封拜梁公加大尉.
So he charged Zhu Wen with sweeping them away, and made him Duke of Liang and added the office of grand commandant.
31The name Quanzhong turns to disloyalty
賜名全忠反不忠, 弑却二君抽百楑, 朝臣面上無片血, 口孰能非腹難議.
He was given the name Quanzhong (全忠), and he was disloyal instead, killing two sovereigns and picking off ministers by the hundred, so that not a trace of blood was left in the faces of the court, and none could call it wrong with his mouth, and in his belly too it was hard to weigh.
Interlinear notes 1
天祐元年, 弑昭宗, 二年弑皇太后, 殺公卿在殆盡.
In the first year of Tianyou he killed Emperor Zhaozong, in the second year he killed the empress dowager, and he put nearly all the high ministers to death.
32What could Emperor Ai do?
哀帝雖賢安能爲.
Emperor Ai, however worthy, what could he do?