Volume 33 Treatises 13: Calendar 2

志第十七五行昔得《河圖》、《洛書》六十五字，治水有功，因而寶之。殷太師箕子入周，武王訪其事，乃陳《洪範》九疇之法，其一曰五行。漢興，董仲舒、劉向治《春秋》，論災異，乃引九疇之說，附於二百四十二年行事，一推咎徵天人之變。班固敘漢史，采其說《五行志》。綿代史官，因而纘之。今略舉大端，以明變怪之本。

Treatise 17, on the Five Phases. In antiquity, when Yu received the sixty-five characters of the River Chart and Luo Writ, he had merit in controlling the floods and therefore treasured them. Jizi, Grand Master of Yin, came to Zhou; King Wu questioned him about these matters, and he presented the method of the Nine Categories of the Hong Fan, the first of which concerns the Five Phases. When the Han dynasty rose, Dong Zhongshu and Liu Xiang studied the Spring and Autumn Annals and discussed portents and anomalies. They drew on the doctrine of the Nine Categories and applied it to the events of the 242 years, tracing in each case the signs of culpability and the transformations between Heaven and humankind. In narrating Han history, Ban Gu adopted their theories in the Treatise on the Five Phases. Successive generations of court historians have continued and compiled it in turn. Here I briefly set forth the main points to clarify the foundation of portents and anomalies.

《經》曰：「水曰潤下，火曰炎上，木曰曲直，金曰從革，土爰稼穡。」又曰：「建用皇極。」《傳》曰：「畋獵不時，飲食不享，出入不節，奪民農時，及有奸謀，則木不曲直。棄法律，逐功臣，殺太子，以妾為妻，則火不炎上。好治宮室，飾臺榭，內淫亂，犯親戚，侮父兄，則稼穡不成。好戰功，輕百姓，飾城郭，侵邊境，則金不從革。簡宗廟，不禱祠，廢祭祀，逆天時，則水不潤下。」《經》曰「敬用五事」，謂「貌曰恭，言曰從，視曰明，聽曰聰，思曰睿。恭作肅，從作乂，明作哲，聰作謀，睿作聖。」又曰「建用皇極」，「皇建其有極」。《傳》曰「貌之不恭，是謂不肅，厥咎狂，厥罰恆雨，厥極凶。時則有服妖，時則有龜孽，時則有雞禍，時則有下體生上之屙，時則有青眚青祥。凡草木之類謂之妖，蟲豸之類謂之孽，六畜謂之禍，及人謂之屙，甚則異物生謂之眚，身外而來謂之祥也。言之不從，是謂不乂，厥咎僭，厥罰恆暘，厥極憂。時則有詩妖，時則有介蟲之孽，時則有犬禍，時則有口舌之屙，時則有白眚白祥。視之不明，是謂不哲，厥咎豫，厥罰恆燠，厥極疾。時則有草妖，時則有臝蟲之孽，時則有羊禍，時則有目屙，時則有赤眚赤祥。聽之不聰，是謂不謀，厥咎急，厥罰恆寒，厥極貧。時則有鼓妖，時則有魚孽，時則有豕禍，時則有耳屙，時則有黑眚黑祥。思之不睿，是謂不聖，厥咎蒙，厥罰恆風，厥極凶短折。時則有脂夜之妖，時則有華孽，時則有牛禍，時則有心腹之屙，時則有黃眚黃祥。皇之不極，是謂不建，厥咎眊，厥罰恆陰，厥極弱。時則有射妖，時則有龍蛇之孽，時則有馬禍，時則有下體代上之屙，時則有日月亂行、星辰逆行。」九疇名數十五，其要五行、皇極之說，前賢所以窮治亂之變，談天人之際，蓋本於斯。故先錄其言，以傳於事。京房《易傳》曰：「臣事雖正，專必地震。其震，于水則波，於木則搖，於屋則瓦落，大經在辟而易臣，茲謂陰動。」又曰：「小人剝廬，厥妖山崩，茲謂陰乘陽，弱勝強。」劉向曰：「金木水沴土，地所以震。」《春秋》災異，先書地震、日蝕，惡陰盈也。

The Classic says: "Water moistens downward, fire blazes upward, wood bends and straightens, metal yields to reforming, and earth is for sowing and reaping." It also says: "Establish and employ the sovereign standard." The Tradition says: "When hunting is untimely, food and drink are not ritually offered, comings and goings lack restraint, the people's farming seasons are seized, and there are treacherous plots, then wood does not bend and straighten. When laws are abandoned, meritorious ministers are driven away, the heir apparent is killed, and a concubine is made wife, then fire does not blaze upward. When a ruler delights in building palaces and adorning terraces and pavilions, indulges in licentious conduct within the palace, violates kin, and insults fathers and elder brothers, then sowing and reaping do not succeed. When a ruler delights in military achievement, treats the common people lightly, adorns walls and ramparts, and encroaches on the borderlands, then metal does not yield to reforming. When ancestral temples are neglected, prayers and sacrifices are omitted, rites are abolished, and the seasons of Heaven are violated, then water does not moisten downward." The Classic says, "Reverently employ the five matters," meaning "bearing is called respectful, speech is called compliant, sight is called discerning, hearing is called acute, and thought is called perceptive. Respectfulness becomes solemnity, compliance becomes good governance, discernment becomes wisdom, acuteness becomes counsel, and perceptiveness becomes sagacity." It also says, "Establish and employ the sovereign standard," and "The sovereign establishes that standard." The Tradition says: "When bearing is not respectful, this is called lack of solemnity; the blame is frenzy, the punishment is constant rain, and the utmost consequence is misfortune. At such times there are garment omens, turtle prodigies, chicken calamities, prodigies in which the lower body generates upon the upper, and green calamities and green auspices. Anomalies among plants and trees are called ya; among insects and vermin, nie; among the six domestic animals, huo; those involving humans, prodigies; when strange things are born in extreme form, this is called sheng; what comes from outside is called an auspice. When speech is not compliant, this is called lack of good governance; the blame is overstepping, the punishment is constant drought, and the utmost consequence is sorrow. At such times there are poetic omens, shell-bearing insect prodigies, canine calamities, oral prodigies, and white calamities and white auspices. When sight is not discerning, this is called lack of wisdom; the blame is complacency, the punishment is constant heat, and the utmost consequence is illness. At such times there are grass omens, naked insect prodigies, sheep calamities, eye prodigies, and red calamities and red auspices. When hearing is not acute, this is called lack of counsel; the blame is haste, the punishment is constant cold, and the utmost consequence is poverty. At such times there are drum omens, fish prodigies, swine calamities, ear prodigies, and black calamities and black auspices. When thought is not perceptive, this is called lack of sagacity; the blame is obscurity, the punishment is constant wind, and the utmost consequence is misfortune, brevity, and untimely death. At such times there are grease-and-night omens, flower prodigies, bovine calamities, heart-and-belly prodigies, and yellow calamities and yellow auspices. When the sovereign lacks the utmost standard, this is called failure to establish it; the blame is dim-sightedness, the punishment is constant overcast skies, and the utmost consequence is weakness. At such times there are archery omens, dragon-and-serpent prodigies, equine calamities, prodigies in which the lower replaces the upper, and the sun and moon run in disorder while the stars move retrograde." The Nine Categories comprise fifteen names in all; their essentials are the doctrines of the Five Phases and the sovereign standard. Former sages traced the transformations of order and disorder and discussed the relationship between Heaven and humankind on this foundation. Therefore their words are recorded first, to be transmitted together with the events they explain. Jing Fang's Commentary on the Changes says: "Although a minister's conduct may be correct, if he acts autocratically there will surely be an earthquake. When it quakes, water forms waves, wood sways, and roof tiles fall from houses. The great norm rests with the sovereign while the Changes speak of ministers—this is called the stirring of yin." It also says: "When petty men strip the hut, the omen is mountains collapsing—this means yin riding upon yang, the weak overcoming the strong." Liu Xiang said: "When metal, wood, and water harm earth, the ground quakes." In the Spring and Autumn Annals, among portents and anomalies earthquakes and solar eclipses are recorded first, because the fullness of yin is regarded with detestation.

正月二十二日，松、叢二州地震，壞人廬舍。二十年九月十五日，靈州地震，有聲如雷。二十三年八月一日，晉州地震，壞人廬舍，壓死者五十餘人。三日，又震。十一月五日，又震。四月一日，又震。六月十二日，又震。高宗顧謂侍臣曰：「朕政教不明，使晉州之地，屢有震動。」侍中張行成曰：「天，陽也；地，陰也。陽，君象；陰，臣象。君宜轉動，臣宜安靜。今晉州地震，彌旬不休，臣將恐女謁用事，大臣陰謀。且晉州，陛下本封，今地屢震，尤彰其應。伏願深思遠慮，以杜其萌。」帝深然之。二月十八日，秦州地震。先是，秦州百姓聞州西北地下殷殷有聲，俄而地震，壞廨宇及居人廬舍數千間，地拆而復合，震經時不定，壓死百餘人。玄宗令右丞相蕭嵩致祭山川，又遣倉部員外郎韋伯陽往宣慰，存恤所損之家。

On the twenty-second day of the first month, Song and Cong prefectures were struck by an earthquake that destroyed people's homes. On the fifteenth day of the ninth month in the twentieth year, Ling Prefecture was struck by an earthquake with a sound like thunder. On the first day of the eighth month in the twenty-third year, Jin Prefecture was struck by an earthquake that destroyed people's homes, and more than fifty were crushed to death. On the third day there was another quake. On the fifth day of the eleventh month there was another quake. On the first day of the fourth month there was another quake. On the twelfth day of the sixth month there was another quake. Emperor Gaozong turned to his attendant ministers and said, "My governance and instruction are unclear, and this has caused the region of Jin Prefecture to quake again and again." Chief Minister Zhang Xingcheng said, "Heaven is yang; earth is yin. Yang is the image of the ruler; yin is the image of the minister. The ruler ought to be active and responsive; ministers ought to remain still and steady. Now Jin Prefecture has quaked for more than ten days without cease. Your servant fears that women favorites will wield power and great ministers are plotting in secret. Moreover, Jin Prefecture was Your Majesty's original fief, and that the land now quakes repeatedly makes the omen especially clear. I humbly hope Your Majesty will ponder deeply and take far-reaching counsel to cut off these troubles at the root." The emperor strongly agreed. On the eighteenth day of the second month, Qin Prefecture was struck by an earthquake. Earlier, the people of Qin Prefecture had heard a deep rumbling underground to the northwest of the prefectural seat. Soon an earthquake struck, destroying several thousand government offices and private homes. The ground split open and closed again, and the shaking continued for a long time without abating. More than a hundred people were crushed to death. Emperor Xuanzong ordered Right Chancellor Xiao Song to offer sacrifices to the mountains and rivers, and also sent Wei Boyang of the Ministry of Revenue to proclaim consolation and provide relief to the households that had suffered damage.

十一月辛亥朔，河西地震有聲，地裂陷，壞廬舍，張掖、酒泉尤甚。至二載六月始止。十一月壬申，京師地震，有聲自東北來，如雷者三。四年二月丙辰夜，京師地震，有聲如雷者三。十一月己卯夜，京師地震，是夕者三，巢鳥皆驚，人多去室。東都、蒲、陝亦然。四年正月朔日，德宗御含元殿受朝賀。是日質明，殿階及欄檻三十餘間，無故自壞，甲士死者十餘人。其夜，京師地震。二日又震，三日又震，十八日又震，十九日又震，二十日又震。帝謂宰臣曰：「蓋朕寡德，屢致後土震驚，但當修政，以答天譴耳。」二十三日又震，二十四日又震，二十五日又震，時金、房州尤甚，江溢山裂，屋宇多壞，人皆露處。至二月三日壬午，又震，甲申又震，乙酉又震，丙申又震。三月甲寅，已震，己未又震，庚午又震，辛未又震。京師地生毛，或白或黃，有長尺餘者。五月丁卯，又震。八月甲辰，又震，其聲如雷。九年四月辛酉，京師又震，有聲如雷。河中尤甚，壞城壘廬舍，地裂水湧。十年四月戊申，又震。十三年十月乙未日午時，震從東來，須臾而止。

On the first day of the eleventh month, on a xinhai day, Hexi was struck by an earthquake with a rumbling sound. The ground split and sank, dwellings were destroyed, and Zhangye and Jiuquan suffered especially severe damage. The quakes did not cease until the sixth month of the second year. On a renshen day in the eleventh month, the capital was struck by an earthquake. A sound came from the northeast like thunder three times. On the night of a bingchen day in the second month of the fourth year, the capital was struck by an earthquake with a sound like thunder three times. On the night of a jimao day in the eleventh month, the capital was struck by an earthquake three times that night. Nesting birds were all startled, and many people fled their rooms. The Eastern Capital, Pu, and Shan were affected as well. On New Year's Day in the fourth year, Emperor Dezong took the Hall of Encompassing Primacy to receive the court's New Year congratulations. That day at dawn, more than thirty sections of the hall steps and balustrades collapsed for no apparent reason, and more than ten armored guards were killed. That night the capital was struck by an earthquake. It quaked again on the second day, again on the third, again on the eighteenth, again on the nineteenth, and again on the twentieth. The emperor said to his chief ministers, "Surely I lack virtue and have repeatedly caused the earth to tremble in alarm. I need only reform government to answer Heaven's reproof." It quaked again on the twenty-third, again on the twenty-fourth, and again on the twenty-fifth. At that time Jin and Fang prefectures were especially hard hit: rivers overflowed, mountains split open, many buildings were destroyed, and people were forced to sleep in the open. By the third day of the second month, on a renwu day, it quaked again; then again on a jiashen day, again on a yiyou day, and again on a bingshen day. On a jiayin day in the third month it had already quaked; it quaked again on a jiwei day, again on a gengwu day, and again on a xinwei day. In the capital the ground sprouted hair, white or yellow, some more than a foot in length. On a dingmao day in the fifth month there was another quake. On a jiachen day in the eighth month there was another quake, with a sound like thunder. On a xinyou day in the fourth month of the ninth year, the capital was struck by another earthquake with a sound like thunder. Hezhong was especially hard hit: city walls, ramparts, and dwellings were destroyed, the ground split open, and water gushed forth. On a wushen day in the fourth month of the tenth year there was another quake. At noon on a yiwei day in the tenth month of the thirteenth year, the quake came from the east and ceased after a moment.

八月，京師地震。憲宗謂侍臣曰：「昨地震，草樹皆搖，何祥異也？」宰臣李絳曰：「昔周時地震，三川竭，太史伯陽甫謂周君曰：『天地之氣，不過其序。若過其序，人亂也。人政乖錯，則上感陰陽之氣，陽伏而不能出，陰迫而不能升，於是有地震。』又孔子修《春秋》，所紀災異，先地震、日蝕，蓋地載萬物，日君象，政有感傷，天地見眚，書之示戒，用儆後王。伏願陛下體勵虔恭之誠，動以利萬物、綏萬方為念，則變異自消，休征可致。」九年三月丙辰，巂州地震，晝夜八十震方止，壓死者百餘人。三月乙卯，京師地震。二月乙亥夜四更，京師地震，屋瓦皆墜，戶牖之間有聲。二年十一月乙丑夜，地南北微震。十月，京師地震，振武、天德、靈武、鹽、夏等州皆震，壞軍鎮廬舍。

In the eighth month the capital was struck by an earthquake. Emperor Xianzong said to his attendant ministers, "Yesterday there was an earthquake and grass and trees all swayed. What kind of omen is this?" Chief Minister Li Jiang said, "In antiquity, during the Zhou, there was an earthquake and the three rivers dried up. Grand Astrologer Boyang Fu said to the Zhou ruler, 'The qi of Heaven and Earth do not exceed their proper order. If they exceed their order, humanity is in disorder. When human government is perverse and mistaken, it stirs the qi of yin and yang above. Yang lies hidden and cannot emerge, yin presses down and cannot rise—and then there is an earthquake. Moreover, when Confucius compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals, among the portents and anomalies he recorded, earthquakes and solar eclipses came first—for earth bears all things and the sun is the image of the ruler. When government suffers injury, Heaven and Earth display calamities. Recording them serves as a warning to admonish later kings. I humbly hope Your Majesty will embody sincere reverence and keep in mind, in every action, benefiting all things and bringing peace to the realm—then anomalies will vanish of themselves and auspicious signs may be attained." On a bingchen day in the third month of the ninth year, Xi Prefecture was struck by an earthquake. For a full day and night there were eighty quakes before it ceased, and more than a hundred people were crushed to death. On a yimao day in the third month the capital was struck by an earthquake. On the night of a yihai day in the second month, during the fourth watch, the capital was struck by an earthquake. Roof tiles all fell, and there was a rumbling sound between doors and windows. On the night of a yichou day in the eleventh month of the second year, the ground quaked slightly from south to north. In the tenth month the capital was struck by an earthquake. Zhenwu, Tiande, Lingwu, Yan, Xia, and other prefectures all quaked, destroying military posts and dwellings.

七月二十日，巂州山崩，川水咽流。七月七日，隴右山崩，大蛇屢見。太宗問秘書監虞世南曰：「是何災異？」對曰：「春秋時梁山崩，晉侯召伯宗而問焉。對曰：『國主山川，故山崩川竭，君為之不舉，降服出次，祝幣以禮焉。』晉侯從之，卒亦無害。漢文帝九年，齊、楚地二十九山同日崩。文帝出令，郡國無來獻，施惠於天下，遠近歡洽，亦不為災。後漢靈帝時，青蛇見御座。晉惠帝時，大蛇長三百步，經市入廟。今蛇見山澤，蓋深山大澤，實生龍蛇，亦不足怪也。唯修德可以消變。」上然之。十七年八月四日，涼州昌松縣鴻池谷有石五，青質白文，成字曰「高皇海出多子李元王八十年太平天子李世民千年太子李治書燕山人士樂太國主尚汪譚獎文仁邁千古大王五王六王七王十鳳毛才子七佛八菩薩及上果佛田天子文武貞觀昌大聖延四方上下治示孝仙戈入為善。」涼州奏。其年十一月三日，遣使祭之，曰：「嗣天子某，祚繼鴻業，君臨宇縣，夙興旰食，無忘於政，導德齊禮，愧于前修。天有成命，表瑞貞石，文字昭然，歷數唯永。既旌高廟之業，又錫眇身之祚。迨于皇太子治，亦降貞符，具紀姓氏，列于石言。仰瞻睿漢，空銘大造，甫惟寡薄，彌增寅懼。敢因大禮，重薦玉帛，上謝明靈之貺，以申祗慄之誠。」

On the twentieth day of the seventh month, mountains in Xi Prefecture collapsed and river waters were choked in their course. On the seventh day of the seventh month, mountains in Longyou collapsed and great serpents were repeatedly sighted. Emperor Taizong asked Director of the Palace Library Yu Shinan, "What kind of portent is this?" He replied, "In Spring and Autumn times Mount Liang collapsed, and the Marquis of Jin summoned Bo Zong to question him about it. He answered, 'The state is master of the mountains and rivers. Therefore when mountains collapse and rivers dry up, the ruler should suspend music, don mourning garments and move to a temporary lodging, and offer prayer silks according to ritual. The Marquis of Jin followed this advice, and in the end suffered no harm. In the ninth year of Emperor Wen of Han, twenty-nine mountains in the Qi and Chu regions collapsed on the same day. Emperor Wen issued an edict that the commanderies and kingdoms should not come bearing tribute, and extended favor throughout the realm. Near and far were harmonious, and no disaster followed. During the reign of Emperor Ling of Later Han, a green serpent appeared at the imperial throne. During the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin, a great serpent three hundred paces long passed through the market and entered a temple. As for serpents now being seen in mountains and marshes, deep mountains and great marshes truly do produce dragons and serpents—this is hardly strange enough to count as a portent. Only by cultivating virtue can such portents be dispelled." The emperor agreed. On the fourth day of the eighth month in the seventeenth year, at Hongchi Valley in Changsong County, Liang Prefecture, five stones of green substance bearing white inscriptions appeared, forming characters that read: "Supreme Emperor, the sea brings forth many sons; King Li Yuan; eighty years; Son of Heaven of great peace Li Shimin; a thousand years; Crown Prince Li Zhi," and continuing through a long prophetic inscription naming rulers, heirs, sage-kings, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, the Zhenguan reign, universal governance, filial piety, and the blessing of goodness." Liang Prefecture reported the discovery. On the third day of the eleventh month that year, envoys were sent to offer sacrifice with this declaration: "The succeeding Son of Heaven, bearing the great enterprise forward and ruling the realm, rises early and retires late, never neglecting government, guiding virtue and harmonizing ritual—yet remains ashamed before the achievements of former sages. Heaven has fulfilled its mandate; the steadfast stone displays this auspice, its characters clear and bright, and the dynastic succession destined to endure. It honors the achievement of the imperial ancestors and also bestows fortune upon my humble person. As for Crown Prince Zhi, he too has received the true talisman; our surnames are fully recorded and inscribed in the stone's words. Gazing up at Heaven's wisdom, I can only inscribe my gratitude for the great creation; I am but slight and unworthy, which only deepens my reverent awe. I venture, through these great rites, again to offer jade and silk, to thank the bright spirits for their blessing and to express my reverent devotion."

八月二十日，隕石十八于同州馮翊縣，光曜，有聲如雷。上問于志寧曰：「此何祥也？當由朕政之有闕。」對曰：「按《春秋》，隕石于宋五，內史過曰：『是陰陽之事，非吉凶所生。』自古災變，杳不可測，但恐物之自爾，未必關於人事。陛下發書誡懼，責躬自省，未必不為福矣。」永昌中，華州敷水店西南坡，白晝飛四五里，直抵赤水，其坡上樹木禾黍，宛然無損。則天時，新豐縣東南露臺鄉，因大風雨雹震，有山踴出，高二百尺，有池週三頃，池中有龍鳳之形、禾麥之異。則天以為休征，名為慶山。荊州人俞文俊詣闕上書曰：「臣聞天氣不和而寒暑隔，人氣不和而疣贅生，地氣不和而堆阜出。今陛下以女主居陽位，反易剛柔，故地氣隔塞，山變為災。陛下以為慶山，臣以為非慶也。誠宜側身修德，以答天譴。不然，恐災禍至。」則天怒，流於嶺南。四月五日，大風震電，藍田山開百餘步。六月，虢州閺鄉縣界黃河內女媧墓，天寶十三載因大雨晦冥，失其所在，至今年六月一日夜，河濱人家忽聞風雨聲，曉見其墓踴出，上有雙柳樹，下有巨石二，柳各長丈餘。郡守圖畫以聞，今號風陵堆。，郴州黃芩山崩震，壓殺數百人。建中初，魏州魏縣西四十里，忽然土長四五尺數畝，里人駭異之。明年，魏博田悅反，德宗命河東馬燧、潞州李抱真討之，營於陘山。幽州朱滔、恆州王武俊帥兵救田悅，王師退保魏縣西。朱滔、武俊、田悅引軍與王師對壘。三年十一月，朱滔僭稱冀王，武俊稱趙王，田悅稱魏王。悅時壘正當土長之所，及僭署告天，乃因其長土為壇以祭。魏州功曹韋稔為《益土頌》以媚悅。馬燧聞之，笑曰：「田悅異常賊也。」

On the twentieth day of the eighth month, eighteen meteorites fell in Fuyi County, Tong Prefecture, shining brightly with a sound like thunder. The emperor asked Yu Zhining, "What kind of omen is this? It must be due to faults in my governance." He replied, "According to the Spring and Autumn Annals, five meteorites fell in Song. Inner Scribe Guo said, 'This is a matter of yin and yang, not something from which fortune and misfortune arise. Since antiquity calamities and transformations have been obscure and beyond prediction. I only fear that things follow their own course and are not necessarily connected to human affairs. Your Majesty issues edicts of warning, blames yourself, and examines your conduct—this may well turn misfortune into blessing." During the Yongchang era, the southwest slope of Fushui post station in Hua Prefecture flew four or five li in broad daylight, reaching straight to the Chishui River. The trees and grain on that slope remained entirely undamaged. During the reign of Empress Wu, at Loutai township southeast of Xinfeng County, a great windstorm with rain, hail, and quaking caused a mountain to surge forth two hundred feet high, with a pool three qing in circumference. In the pool appeared forms of dragons and phoenixes and strange grain and wheat. Empress Wu regarded it as an auspicious sign and named it Mount of Celebration. Yu Wenjun of Jing Prefecture came to the palace and submitted a memorial saying, "Your servant has heard that when heavenly qi is not harmonious, cold and heat fall out of balance; when human qi is not harmonious, warts and excrescences grow; when earthly qi is not harmonious, mounds and knolls emerge. Now Your Majesty, a woman ruler occupying the yang position, has reversed hard and soft. Therefore earthly qi is blocked and mountains become calamities. Your Majesty regards it as the Mount of Celebration, but your servant believes it is no cause for celebration. You truly ought to restrain yourself and cultivate virtue to answer Heaven's reproof. Otherwise, I fear calamity will follow." Empress Wu was enraged and exiled him to Lingnan. On the fifth day of the fourth month, a great windstorm with quaking and lightning split open Lantian Mountain for more than a hundred paces. In the sixth month, at the tomb of Nüwa within the Yellow River on the border of Min township, Guo Prefecture—in the thirteenth year of Tianbao, great rain and darkness had caused its location to be lost—until the night of the first day of the sixth month this year, when households along the river suddenly heard wind and rain. At dawn they saw the tomb surge forth, topped by a pair of willow trees and supported below by two great stones, each willow more than a zhang in height. The prefectural governor drew a record and reported it; the site is now called Fengling Mound. In Chen Prefecture, Huangqin Mountain collapsed in a quake, crushing several hundred people to death. At the beginning of the Jianzhong era, forty li west of Wei County in Wei Prefecture, the earth suddenly rose four or five feet over several mu of ground, and the local people were alarmed and astonished. The following year Tian Yue of Weibo rebelled. Emperor Dezong ordered Ma Sui of Hedong and Li Baozhen of Lu Prefecture to campaign against him, and they encamped at Xing Mountain. Zhu Tao of You Prefecture and Wang Wujun of Heng Prefecture led troops to rescue Tian Yue, and the imperial army withdrew to defend west of Wei County. Zhu Tao, Wang Wujun, and Tian Yue led their armies to face the imperial forces in opposing camps. In the eleventh month of the third year, Zhu Tao presumptuously styled himself King of Ji, Wang Wujun King of Zhao, and Tian Yue King of Wei. Yue's camp at the time lay exactly where the earth had risen. When he presumptuously assumed royal title and announced it to Heaven, he used the risen earth as an altar for sacrifice. Wei Mi, records officer of Wei Prefecture, composed an "Ode on the Increased Earth" to flatter Yue. When Ma Sui heard of this, he laughed and said, "Tian Yue is an extraordinary rebel."

七月一日，黃氣竟天，大雨，谷水溢，入洛陽宮，深四尺，壞左掖門，毀宮寺一十九；洛水暴漲，漂六百餘家。帝引咎，令群臣直言政之得失。中書侍郎岑文本曰：「伏唯陛下覽古今之事，察安危之機，上以社稷為重，下以億兆為念。明選舉，慎賞罰，進賢才，退不肖。聞過即改，從諫如流。為善在於不疑，出令期於必信。頤神養性，省畋遊之娛；去奢從儉，減工役之費。務靜方內，不求辟土；載橐弓矢，而無忘武備。凡此數者，願陛下行之不怠，必當轉禍為福，化咎為祥。況水之為患，陰陽常理，豈可謂之天譴而系聖心哉！」十三日，詔曰：「暴雨為災，大水泛溢，靜思厥咎，朕甚懼焉。文武百僚，各上封事，極言朕過，無有所諱。諸司供進，悉令減省。凡所力役，量事停廢。遭水之家，賜帛有差。」二十日，詔廢明德宮及飛山宮之玄圃院，分給河南、洛陽遭水戶。九月，黃河氾濫，壞陝州河北縣及太原倉，毀河陽中潬，太宗幸白馬阪以觀之。

On the first day of the seventh month, yellow qi filled the sky. Great rain fell, the Gu River overflowed and entered the Luoyang palace to a depth of four feet, destroying the Left Flank Gate and ruining nineteen palace temples; the Luo River rose violently and swept away more than six hundred households. The emperor blamed himself and ordered his ministers to speak frankly about the strengths and failings of government. Zhongshu Vice Minister Cen Wenben said, "I humbly hope Your Majesty will survey affairs ancient and modern and discern what brings security and danger, taking the state as your highest concern and keeping the welfare of the people in mind. Make appointments wisely, be careful in rewards and punishments, advance the worthy and talented, and dismiss the unworthy. When you hear of faults, reform at once; follow remonstrance as readily as flowing water. Doing good requires steadfast resolve; issuing orders requires that they be surely believed. Nourish your spirit and cultivate your nature, reducing the pleasures of the hunt; discard extravagance and follow frugality, reducing the costs of labor and corvée. Devote effort to tranquillity within the realm, not seeking to open new territory; sheath bow and arrows, yet do not forget military preparedness. In all these matters, I hope Your Majesty will practice them without slackening; you will surely turn misfortune into blessing and transform blame into auspice. Moreover, floods are a regular manifestation of yin and yang—how can they be called Heaven's reproof and weigh upon Your Majesty's heart!" On the thirteenth day an edict proclaimed: "Violent rain has become a calamity and great waters have overflowed. Pondering where the blame lies, We are deeply afraid. Let civil and military officials of every rank submit sealed memorials, speaking frankly of Our faults without concealment. All departments' tribute offerings are to be reduced. All corvée labor is to be halted or abolished as circumstances require. Households that suffered flooding are to receive grants of silk in varying amounts." On the twentieth day an edict abolished Mingde Palace and the Mystic Garden court of Feishan Palace, distributing the land to flood-stricken households in Henan and Luoyang. In the ninth month the Yellow River overflowed, destroying Hebei County in Shan Prefecture and the Taiyuan granary and ruining the central ford of Heyang. Emperor Taizong visited Baima Slope to observe the flood.

六月，恆州大雨，自二日至七日。滹沱河水泛溢，損五千三百家。七月，冀州奏：六月十三日夜降雨，至二十日，水深五尺，其夜暴水深一丈已上，壞屋一萬四千三百九十區，害田四千四百九十六頃。九月十八日，括州暴風雨，海水翻上，壞永嘉、安固二縣城百姓廬舍六千八百四十三區，殺人九千七十、牛五百頭，損田苗四千一百五十頃。五月十四日，連日澍雨，山水溢，溺死五千餘人。六月十二日，連日大雨，至二十三日，洛水大漲，漂損河南立德弘敬、洛陽景行等坊二百餘家，壞天津橋及中橋，斷人行累日。先是，頓降大雨，沃若懸流，至是而泛溢衝突焉。西京平地水深四尺已上，麥一束止得一二升，米一斗二百二十文，布一端止得一百文。國中大饑，蒲、同等州沒徙家口並逐糧，饑餒相仍，加以疾疫，自陝至洛，死者不可勝數。西京米鬥三百已下。二年三月，洛州黃河水溺河陽縣城，水面高於城內五六尺。自鹽坎已下至縣十里石灰，並平流，津橋南北道無不碎破。七月，溫州大水，漂流四千餘家。，寧州大霖雨，山水暴漲，漂流二千餘家，溺死者千餘人，流屍東下。十七日，京師大雨雹，人有凍死者。四年，自九月至十月，晝夜陰晦，大雨雪。都中人畜，有餓凍死者。令開倉賑恤。

In the sixth month Heng Prefecture had heavy rain from the second to the seventh day. The Hutuo River overflowed, damaging five thousand three hundred households. In the seventh month Ji Prefecture reported that from the night of the thirteenth day of the sixth month rain fell until the twentieth. The water reached five feet in depth, and that night a sudden flood exceeded a zhang in depth, destroying fourteen thousand three hundred ninety dwellings and damaging four thousand four hundred ninety-six qing of fields. On the eighteenth day of the ninth month, Kuozhou suffered a violent windstorm and rain. Seawater surged inland, destroying six thousand eight hundred forty-three dwellings in the cities of Yongjia and Angu counties, killing nine thousand seventy people and five hundred cattle, and damaging four thousand one hundred fifty qing of seedling fields. On the fourteenth day of the fifth month, soaking rain fell for successive days. Mountains and rivers overflowed, and more than five thousand people drowned. On the twelfth day of the sixth month, heavy rain fell for successive days until the twenty-third. The Luo River rose sharply, sweeping away more than two hundred households in the Lide, Hongjing, and Jingxing wards of Henan and Luoyang, destroying the Tianjin Bridge and Central Bridge and cutting off travel for many days. Earlier, heavy rain had fallen in bursts like a hanging torrent; by this time the waters overflowed and surged in conflict. In the Western Capital the level ground stood more than four feet deep in water. A bundle of wheat yielded only one or two sheng, rice sold for two hundred twenty cash per dou, and a bolt of cloth for only one hundred cash. Throughout the realm there was great famine. In Pu, Tong, and other prefectures displaced households all pursued grain wherever they could find it. Hunger followed upon hunger, and pestilence was added besides. From Shan to Luo the dead were beyond counting. In the Western Capital the price of rice fell below three hundred cash per dou. In the third month of the second year, the Yellow River in Luozhou inundated Heyang county city, and the water surface stood five or six feet higher than the ground within the city. From Yankan down to the county for ten li, lime and stone were all swept level. Ferry bridges and roads north and south were all shattered. In the seventh month Wen Prefecture suffered great flooding that swept away more than four thousand households. In Ning Prefecture prolonged heavy rain caused mountains and rivers to rise violently, sweeping away more than two thousand households. More than a thousand people drowned, and corpses floated eastward downstream. On the seventeenth day the capital suffered heavy rain and hail, and some people froze to death. In the fourth year, from the ninth to the tenth month, day and night were dim and overcast with heavy rain and snow. Among people and livestock in the capital, some died of hunger and cold. An order was issued to open the granaries for relief.

七月二十七日，洛水漲，壞百姓廬舍二千餘家。詔九品已上直言極諫，右衛騎曹宋務光上疏曰：

On the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month the Luo River rose and destroyed more than two thousand common people's dwellings. An edict ordered officials of the ninth rank and above to speak frankly with utmost remonstrance. Song Wuguang, cavalry adjutant of the Right Guard, submitted a memorial saying:

疏奏不省。

The memorial was submitted but not heeded.

右僕射唐休璟以霖雨為害，咎在主司，上表曰：「臣聞天運其工，人代之而為理；神行其化，為政資之以和。得其理則陰陽以調，失其和則災沴斯作。故舉才而授，帝唯其難，論道於邦，官不必備。頃自中夏，及乎首秋，郡國水災，屢為人害。夫水，陰氣也，臣實主之。臣忝職右樞，致此陰沴，不能調理其氣，而乃曠居其官。雖運屬堯年，則無治水之用；位侔殷相，且闕濟川之功。猶負明刑，坐逃皇譴。皇恩不棄，其若天何？昔漢家故事，丞相以天災免職。臣竊遇聖時，豈敢塤顏居位。乞解所任，待罪私門，冀移陰咎之征，復免夜行之眚。

Right Vice Director Tang Xiujing, holding that the harm of prolonged rain lay with the chief minister's office, submitted a memorial saying, "Your servant has heard that Heaven operates its craft and humanity takes its place in governing; the spirits carry out transformation, and good government relies on this for harmony. When its principle is attained, yin and yang are regulated; when its harmony is lost, calamities and harms arise. Therefore in raising talent and conferring office, the emperor finds it difficult; in discussing the Way for the state, not every office need be filled. Recently, from midsummer until early autumn, commanderies and kingdoms have suffered flood disasters that have repeatedly harmed the people. Water is yin qi, and ministers truly preside over it. Your servant disgraces the office of the right pivot by having brought about this yin harm, unable to regulate its qi, yet idly occupying the post. Although the age is one that belongs to the era of Yao, I have no ability to control the waters; my rank equals that of a Yin minister, yet I lack the achievement of crossing the river. I still deserve clear punishment for sitting here in escape from the imperial reproof. Imperial grace has not abandoned me—what am I to do before Heaven? By former Han precedent, the chief minister was removed from office because of heavenly calamity. Your servant has encountered a sage age—how dare I shamelessly hold office? I beg to be released from my post and await punishment at home, hoping to shift the signs of yin blame and again escape calamity.

三月壬子，洛陽東十里有水影，月餘乃滅。四月，洛水氾濫，壞天津橋，漂流居人廬舍，溺死者數千人。三年夏，山東、河北二十餘州大旱，饑饉死者二千餘人。正月，滄州雨雹，大如雞卵。六月十四日，鞏縣暴雨連日，山水泛漲，壞郭邑廬舍七百餘家，人死者七十二；汜水同日漂壞近河百姓二百餘戶。八年夏，契丹寇營州，發關中卒援之。軍次澠池縣之闕門，野營谷水上。夜半，山水暴至，二萬餘人皆溺死，唯行網役夫樗蒲，覺水至，獲免逆旅之家，溺死死人漂入苑中如積。其年六月二十一日夜，暴雨，東都穀、洛溢，入西上陽宮，宮人死者十七八。畿內諸縣，田稼廬舍蕩盡。掌關兵士，凡溺死者一千一百四十八人。京城興道坊一夜陷為池，一坊五百餘家俱失。其年，鄧州三鴉口大水塞穀，初見二小兒以水相潑，須臾，有大蛇十圍已上，張口向天，人或斫射之，俄而暴雷雨，漂溺數百家。十年二月四日，伊水泛漲，毀都城南龍門天竺、奉先寺，壞羅郭東南角，平地水深六尺已上，入漕河，水次屋舍，樹木蕩盡。河南汝、許、仙、豫、唐、鄧等州，各言大水害秋稼，漂沒居人廬舍。十四年六月戊午，大風拔木髮屋，端門鴟吻盡落，都城內及寺觀落者約半。七月十四日，瀍水暴漲，流入洛漕，漂沒諸州租船數百艘，溺死者甚眾，漂失楊、壽、光、和、廬、杭、瀛、棣租米一十七萬二千八百九十六石，並錢絹雜物等。因開斗門決堰，引水南入洛，漕水燥竭，以搜漉官物，十收四五焉。七月甲子，懷、衛、鄭、滑、汴、濮、許等州澍雨，河及支川皆溢，人皆巢舟以居，死者千計，資產苗稼無孑遺。滄州大風，海運船沒者十一二，失平盧軍糧五千餘石，舟人皆死。潤州大風從東北，海濤奔上，沒瓜步洲，損居人。是秋，天下八十五州言旱及霜，五十州水，河南、河北尤甚。十五年七月甲寅，雷震興教門樓兩鴟吻，燒樓柱，良久乃滅。二十日，鄜州雨，洛水溢入州城，平地丈餘，損居人廬舍，溺死者不知其數。二十一日，同州損郭邑及市，毀馮翊縣。八月八日，澠池縣夜有暴雨，澗水、谷水漲合，毀郭邑百餘家及普門佛寺。是歲，天下六十三州大水損禾稼、居人廬舍，河北尤甚。十八年六月乙丑，東都瀍水暴漲，漂損揚、楚、淄、德等州租船。壬午，東都洛水泛漲，壞天津、永濟二橋及漕渠斗門，漂損提象門外助鋪及仗舍，又損居人廬舍千餘家。二十七年八月，東京改作明堂，訛言官取小兒埋於明堂下，以為厭勝。村邑童兒藏於山谷，都城騷然，或言兵至。玄宗惡之，遣主客郎中王佶往東都及諸州宣慰百姓，久之乃定。二十九年，暴水，伊、洛及支川皆溢，損居人廬舍，秋稼無遺，壞東都天津橋及東西漕；河南北諸州，皆多漂溺。

On a renzi day in the third month, ten li east of Luoyang a watery reflection appeared; after more than a month it vanished. In the fourth month the Luo River overflowed, destroying the Tianjin Bridge, sweeping away residents' dwellings, and drowning several thousand people. In the summer of the third year, more than twenty prefectures in Shandong and Hebei suffered great drought, and more than two thousand people died of famine. In the first month Cang Prefecture had rain and hail as large as chicken eggs. On the fourteenth day of the sixth month, Gong County suffered violent rain for successive days. Mountains and rivers rose and overflowed, destroying more than seven hundred dwellings in the walled city and killing seventy-two people; on the same day Sishui swept away and destroyed more than two hundred households of common people near the river. In the summer of the eighth year, the Khitan raided Ying Prefecture, and Guanzhong troops were sent to reinforce the garrison. The army halted at Que Gate in Mianchi County and encamped in the open country beside the Gushui River. At midnight a mountain flood suddenly struck, and more than twenty thousand men drowned. Only a conscript hauling nets, gambling at chupu, noticed the water and fled to an inn in time to survive. The dead drifted into the imperial park in heaps. That year, on the night of the twenty-first day of the sixth month, a violent storm made the Yi and Luo rivers overflow at the Eastern Capital and pour into the Western Shangyang Palace. Seven or eight out of every ten palace women perished. Throughout the counties of the capital region, crops and dwellings were completely washed away. Among the frontier-garrison troops, a total of 1,148 men drowned. In the capital, Xingdao Ward sank into a pool overnight, and more than five hundred households in the entire ward were lost. That year at Sanyakou in Deng Prefecture, a great flood dammed the valley. At first two small boys were seen splashing water at each other; then a serpent more than ten arm-spans thick appeared with its mouth open to the sky. People hacked and shot at it, and shortly a violent thunderstorm swept away and drowned hundreds of households. On the fourth day of the second month of the tenth year, the Yi River overflowed, destroying the Tianzhu and Fengxian temples at Longmen south of the capital and breaching the southeast corner of the outer wall. Water on level ground stood more than six feet deep, poured into the canal, and swept away every house and tree along the banks. In Henan, Ru, Xu, Xian, Yu, Tang, Deng, and other prefectures each reported great floods that ruined the autumn harvest and swept away people's homes. On a wuwu day in the sixth month of the fourteenth year, a great wind uprooted trees and stripped roofs. Every ridge ornament on the Duan Gate fell, and roughly half of those in the capital and at temples and monasteries were knocked down. On the fourteenth day of the seventh month the Chan River surged and poured into the Luo canal, sinking several hundred tax-grain boats from many prefectures and drowning a great many people. Lost were 172,896 shi of tax rice from Yang, Shou, Guang, He, Lu, Hang, Ying, and Di prefectures, along with cash, silk, and other goods. Sluice gates were then opened and dikes cut to divert water south into the Luo. Once the canal ran dry, officials searched the bed and recovered only four or five tenths of the lost government goods. On a jiazi day in the seventh month, Huai, Wei, Zheng, Hua, Bian, Pu, Xu, and other prefectures were deluged with soaking rain. The Yellow River and its tributaries all overflowed, and people took to living in boats. Thousands died, and property, seedlings, and crops were wiped out entirely. At Cang Prefecture a great wind struck, sinking eleven or twelve of the sea-transport ships and with them more than five thousand shi of Pinglu Army grain. Every sailor perished. At Run Prefecture a great wind blew from the northeast, driving the sea surge inland and submerging Guabu islet, with harm to the local population. That autumn, eighty-five prefectures across the empire reported drought and frost, and fifty reported floods. Henan and Hebei suffered especially badly. On a jiayin day in the seventh month of the fifteenth year, thunder struck both ridge ornaments on the Xingjiao Gate tower and set its pillars ablaze. The fire burned for a long time before it went out. On the twentieth day, rain fell at Fu Prefecture and the Luo River overflowed into the city, standing more than ten feet deep on level ground. People's dwellings were damaged and the drowned were beyond counting. On the twenty-first day, Tong Prefecture's walled city and markets were damaged and Fengyi County was destroyed. On the eighth day of the eighth month, Mianchi County was hit by a violent night storm. Stream and valley waters rose together and destroyed more than one hundred households in the walled city and the Pumen Buddhist temple. That year, sixty-three prefectures across the empire suffered great floods that ruined crops and people's homes. Hebei was hit hardest. On a yichou day in the sixth month of the eighteenth year, the Chan River at the Eastern Capital surged and damaged tax-grain boats from Yang, Chu, Zi, and De prefectures. On a renwu day the Luo River at the Eastern Capital overflowed, destroying the Tianjin and Yongji bridges and the canal sluice gates. It also damaged supply depots and armory quarters outside the Tixiang Gate and more than a thousand private dwellings. In the eighth month of the twenty-seventh year, the Eastern Capital was rebuilding the Bright Hall. A rumor spread that officials were burying small children beneath it as apotropaic magic. Village children hid in the hills, the capital fell into uproar, and some said troops were coming. Emperor Xuanzong deplored the panic and sent Supervising Secretary of the Hosts Bureau Wang Ji to the Eastern Capital and other prefectures to reassure the people. Only after a long while did order return. In the twenty-ninth year violent floods made the Yi, Luo, and their tributaries overflow, destroying people's homes and wiping out the autumn harvest. The Tianjin Bridge and the east-west canals at the Eastern Capital were ruined; and north and south of Henan many people were swept away and drowned.

，廣陵郡大風架海潮，淪江口大小船數千艘。十三載秋，京城連月澍雨，損秋稼。

At Guangling Prefecture a great wind raised a sea tide and sank several thousand large and small ships at the river mouth. In the autumn of the thirteenth year, the capital was drenched by soaking rain for months on end, ruining the autumn harvest.

九月，遣閉坊市北門，蓋井，禁婦人入街市，祭玄冥大社，禜門。京城坊市牆宇，崩壞向盡。東方瀍、洛水溢堤穴，沖壞一十九坊。，京師自七月霖雨，八月盡方止。京城宮寺廬舍多壞，街市溝渠中漉得小魚。，先旱後水。九月，大雨，平地水數尺，溝河漲溢。時吐蕃寇京畿，以水，自潰而去。二年夏，洛陽大雨，水壞二十餘坊及寺觀廨舍。河南數十州大水。秋，大雨。是歲，自四月霖澍，至九月。京師米鬥八百文，官出太倉米賤糶以救饑人。京城閉坊市北門，門置土臺，臺上置壇及黃幡以祈晴。秋末方止。五年夏，復大雨，京城饑，出太倉米減價以救人。十二年秋，大雨。是歲，春夏旱，至秋八月雨，河南尤甚，平地深五尺，河決，漂溺田稼。

In the ninth month, orders went out to close the northern gates of wards and markets, cover wells, forbid women from entering the streets, sacrifice to the Great Earth of the Dark Thearch, and perform gate exorcism rituals. The walls and buildings of the capital's wards and markets were nearly all collapsed. East of the city the Chan and Luo rivers broke their dikes and breached the embankments, destroying nineteen wards. In the capital, soaking rain began in the seventh month and did not stop until the end of the eighth. Many palace temples and dwellings in the capital were ruined, and people scooped small fish from the streets and ditches. First came drought, then flood. In the ninth month heavy rain left several feet of water on level ground and made ditches and rivers overflow. At that time the Tibetans were raiding the capital region, but the floods broke up their forces and they withdrew on their own. In the summer of the second year, heavy rain in Luoyang destroyed more than twenty wards along with temples, monasteries, and government offices. Dozens of prefectures in Henan suffered great floods. In autumn there was heavy rain. That year soaking rain continued from the fourth month through the ninth. Rice in the capital reached eight hundred cash per dou, and the government released grain from the imperial granary to sell cheaply and relieve the starving. The capital closed the northern gates of its wards and markets, erected earthen platforms at each gate, and set up altars and yellow banners on them to pray for clear skies. The rain did not stop until late autumn. In the summer of the fifth year heavy rain returned, famine struck the capital, and the government released imperial granary rice at reduced prices to save the people. In the autumn of the twelfth year there was heavy rain. That year spring and summer brought drought, then rain in the eighth month of autumn. Henan was worst hit: water on level ground stood five feet deep, the river broke its banks, and crops were swept away.

夏，京師通衢水深數尺。吏部侍郎崔縱，自崇義里西門為水漂浮行數十步，街鋪卒救之獲免；其日，溺死者甚眾。東都、河南、荊南、淮南江河泛溢，壞人廬舍。四年八月，連雨，灞水暴溢，溺殺渡者百餘人。八年秋，大雨，河南、河北、山南、江淮凡四十餘州大水，漂溺死者二萬餘人。時幽州七月大雨，平地水深二丈；鄚、涿、薊、檀、平五州，平地水深一丈五尺。又徐州奏：自五月二十五日雨，至七月八日方止，平地水深一丈二尺，郭邑廬里屋宇田稼皆盡，百姓皆登丘塚山原以避之。

In summer the main thoroughfares of the capital stood several feet deep in water. Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Cui Zong was carried by the flood from the western gate of Chongyi Ward for several tens of steps before market patrol soldiers pulled him out and saved him; That day a great many people drowned. At the Eastern Capital and in Henan, Jingnan, and Huainan, rivers and streams overflowed and destroyed people's homes. In the eighth month of the fourth year continuous rain made the Ba River surge and drown more than a hundred people crossing by ferry. In the autumn of the eighth year heavy rain brought great floods to more than forty prefectures in Henan, Hebei, Shannan, and Jianghuai, and more than twenty thousand people were swept away and drowned. At that time You Prefecture had heavy rain in the seventh month, and water on level ground stood two zhang deep; at Mo, Zhuo, Ji, Tan, and Ping prefectures water on level ground stood one zhang and five chi deep. Xuz Prefecture also reported that rain from the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month until the eighth day of the seventh month left level ground one zhang and two chi deep, wiped out cities, lanes, homes, and crops, and drove the people to flee to hills and high ground.

正月，振武界黃河溢，毀東受降城。五月，饒、撫、虔、吉、信五州山水暴漲，壞廬舍，虔州尤甚，水深處四丈餘。八年五月，許州奏：大雨摧大隗山，水流出，溺死者千餘人。六月庚寅，京師大風雨，毀屋揚瓦，人多壓死。水積城南，深處丈餘，入明德門，猶漸車輻。辛卯，渭水暴漲，毀三渭橋，南北絕濟者一月。時所在霖雨，百源皆發，川瀆不由故道。丙申，富平大風，折樹一千二百株。辛丑，出宮人二百車，人得娶納，以水害誡陰盈也。九年秋，淮南、宣州大水。十一年五月，京畿大雨，害田四萬頃，昭應尤甚，漂溺居人。衢州山水湧，深三丈，壞州城，民多溺死。浮梁、樂平溺死者一百七十人，為水漂流不知所在者四千七百戶。潤、常、湖、陳、許等州各損田萬頃。十二年秋，大雨，河南北水，害稼。其年六月，京師大雨，街市水深三尺，壞廬舍二千家，含元殿一柱陷。十五年九月十一日至十四日，大雨兼雪，街衢禁苑樹無風而摧折、連根而拔者不知其數。仍令閉坊市北門以禳之。滄州大水。

In the first month the Yellow River overflowed on the Zhenwu frontier and destroyed the Eastern Accepting-Surrender City. In the fifth month mountain and river waters surged in Rao, Fu, Qian, Ji, and Xin prefectures and destroyed dwellings. Qian Prefecture was worst hit, with depths of more than four zhang in places. In the fifth month of the eighth year Xu Prefecture reported that heavy rain had demolished Mount Dawei, unleashing a flood that drowned more than a thousand people. On a gengyin day in the sixth month a great storm struck the capital, tearing off roofs and hurling tiles. Many people were crushed to death. Water pooled south of the city to depths of more than a zhang, flooded in through the Mingde Gate, and still reached to the wheel hubs. On a xinmao day the Wei River surged and destroyed all three Wei bridges, cutting off north-south travel for a month. Everywhere there was continuous rain, a hundred streams burst forth at once, and rivers and canals abandoned their old channels. On a bingshen day a great wind at Fuping snapped 1,200 trees. On a xinchou day two hundred cartloads of palace women were released for commoners to marry, as a warning against yin excess in the wake of the flood disaster. In the autumn of the ninth year Huainan and Xuan Prefecture suffered great floods. In the fifth month of the eleventh year heavy rain in the capital region ruined forty thousand qing of fields. Zhao Prefecture was worst hit, and many residents were swept away and drowned. At Qu Prefecture mountain and river waters surged three zhang deep, destroyed the prefecture city, and drowned many of the people. At Fuliang and Leping 170 people drowned, and 4,700 households were swept away by the water with no trace of where they went. Run, Chang, Hu, Chen, Xu, and other prefectures each lost ten thousand qing of fields. In the autumn of the twelfth year heavy rain brought floods north and south of Henan and ruined the harvest. That year in the sixth month heavy rain in the capital left streets three chi deep in water, destroyed two thousand dwellings, and sank one pillar of the Hanyuan Hall. From the eleventh to the fourteenth day of the ninth month of the fifteenth year, rain mixed with snow snapped and uprooted countless trees in the streets and the forbidden park, though there was no wind. Orders were also issued to close the northern gates of wards and markets and perform rituals to avert the calamity. Cang Prefecture suffered a great flood.

十月，好畤山水泛漲，漂損居人三百餘家，河南陳、許二州尤甚。詔賑貸粟五萬石，量人戶家口多少，等第分給。四月，同官暴水，漂沒三百餘家。六年，徐州自六月九日大雨至十一日，壞民舍九百家。四年夏，鄆、曹、濮雨，壞城郭田廬向盡。蘇、湖二州水，壞六堤，水入郡郭，溺廬井。許州自五月大雨，水深八尺，壞郡郭居民大半。七月，襄州漢水暴溢，壞州郭。均州亦然。則天時，宗秦客以佞幸為內史，受命之日，無雲而雷聲震烈，未周歲而誅。六月，河南偃師縣之李材村，有霹靂閃入人家，地震裂，闊丈餘，長十五里，測之無底。所裂之處，井廁相通，所沖之塚，棺柩出植平地無損，竟不知其故。一月十四日，雨水冰。七月四日，雷震興教門兩鴟吻，欄檻及柱災。二十九年十一月二十二日，雨木冰，凝寒凍冽，數日不解。甯王見而歎曰：「諺云『樹稼達官怕』，必有大臣當之。」其月王薨。閏四月，大霧，大雨月餘。是月，史思明再陷東都，京師米鬥八百文，人相食，殍骸蔽地。二月甲子夜，雷電震烈。三月，降霜為木冰。辛亥，大風拔木。

In the tenth month floods at Haozhi swept away more than three hundred households. Chen and Xu prefectures in Henan were hit especially hard. An edict granted fifty thousand shi of relief grain, to be distributed by rank according to each household's size. In the fourth month a sudden flood at Tongguan swept away more than three hundred households. In the sixth year heavy rain at Xuz Prefecture from the ninth to the eleventh day of the sixth month destroyed nine hundred private dwellings. In the summer of the fourth year rain in Yan, Cao, and Pu prefectures nearly wiped out every walled city, field, and dwelling. Floods in Su and Hu prefectures destroyed six dikes, poured into the commandery cities, and submerged lanes and wells. At Xu Prefecture heavy rain from the fifth month left water eight chi deep and destroyed more than half the dwellings in the commandery city. In the seventh month the Han River at Xiang Prefecture surged and destroyed the prefecture walls. The same happened at Jun Prefecture. During Empress Wu's reign, Zong Qinke rose through flattery to chief minister. On the day he took office thunder crashed though there were no clouds, and before a year had passed he was executed. In the sixth month at Licun in Yanshi County, Henan, lightning struck a house and the earth split open a chasm more than a zhang wide and fifteen li long. When they sounded it, there was no bottom. Where the earth split, wells and privies opened into one another. Among the tombs it struck, coffins were thrust out onto level ground unharmed. In the end no one knew why. On the fourteenth day of the first month rain froze into ice. On the fourth day of the seventh month thunder struck both ridge ornaments on the Xingjiao Gate and set its balustrades and pillars ablaze. On the twenty-second day of the eleventh month of the twenty-ninth year rain coated the trees in ice. Bitter cold set in and lasted several days without lifting. Prince Ning saw it and sighed: "The proverb says, 'When frost coats the trees, high officials tremble'—surely some great minister will bear this omen." That same month the Prince died. In the intercalary fourth month there was heavy fog and more than a month of torrential rain. That month Shi Siming again captured the Eastern Capital. Rice in the capital reached eight hundred cash per dou, people turned to cannibalism, and corpses covered the ground. On the night of a jiazi day in the second month thunder and lightning crashed violently. In the third month descending frost coated the trees in ice. On a xinhai day a great wind uprooted trees.

三月辛亥夜，京師大風發屋。十一月，紛霧如雪，草木冰。十年四月甲申夜，大雨雹，暴風拔樹，飄屋瓦，宮寺鴟吻飄失者十五六，人震死者十二，損京畿田稼七縣。七月己未夜，杭州大風，海水翻潮，飄蕩州郭五千餘家，船千餘只，全家陷溺者百餘戶，死者四百餘人；蘇、湖、越等州亦然。正月，大雨雪，平地深尺餘。雪上有黃色，狀如浮埃。四年正月，陳留十里許雨木，皆大如指，長寸餘，木有孔通中，所下立者如植。其年，宣州暴雨震電，有物墜地，豬首，手腳各有兩指，執一赤斑蛇食之。逡巡，黑雲合，不見。八年二月，京師雨土。五月己未，暴風破屋拔樹，太廟屋及諸門寺署壞者不可勝計。十年六月辛丑晦，有水鳥集于左藏庫。其夜暴雨，大風拔樹十七年二月五日，大雨雹。七日，大霜。十六夜，大雨，震雷且電。十九日，大雨雪而電。四月壬申，大風毀含元殿西闕欄檻二十七間。八年三月丙子，大風拔崇陵上宮衙殿西鴟尾，並上宮西神門六戟竿折，行牆四十間醿壞。

On the night of a xinhai day in the third month a great wind in the capital tore roofs from houses. In the eleventh month swirling mist fell like snow, coating grass and trees in ice. On the night of a jiashen day in the fourth month of the tenth year hail crashed down and a violent wind uprooted trees and hurled roof tiles through the air. Fifteen or sixteen ridge ornaments on palace and temple halls were torn away, twelve people were killed by the storm, and crops in seven capital-region counties were ruined. On the night of a jiwei day in the seventh month a great wind struck Hang Prefecture. The sea surged and the tide rolled back, sweeping away more than five thousand households in the prefecture city and more than a thousand boats. More than a hundred entire families were drowned, and more than four hundred people died; The same happened in Su, Hu, Yue, and other prefectures. In the first month heavy rain and snow left more than a chi of accumulation on level ground. The snow bore a yellow tinge, like dust suspended in the air. In the first month of the fourth year wood rained down over some ten li around Chenliu. Each piece was finger-thick and more than a cun long, pierced through the center, and where it struck the ground it stood upright as though planted. That year at Xuan Prefecture a torrential storm broke with thunder and lightning, and a creature fell to earth with a pig's head and two-fingered hands and feet. It seized a red-spotted snake and devoured it. Before long black clouds closed in and the creature vanished from sight. In the second month of the eighth year dust rained down on the capital. On a jiwei day in the fifth month a violent wind tore houses apart and uprooted trees. Damage to the Grand Ancestral Temple and to gates, temples, and government offices was beyond reckoning. On the last xinchou day of the sixth month of the tenth year water birds gathered at the Left Treasury. That night torrential rain fell and a great wind uprooted trees. In the seventeenth year, on the fifth day of the second month, heavy hail fell again. On the seventh day there was heavy frost. On the night of the sixteenth heavy rain fell with thunder and lightning. On the nineteenth day heavy rain and snow fell with lightning. On a renshen day in the fourth month a great wind destroyed twenty-seven bays of balustrades at the western gate-tower of the Hanyuan Hall. On a bingzi day in the third month of the eighth year a great wind tore the western ridge ornament from the upper palace office hall at Chongling, snapped the six halberd poles at the upper palace's western spirit gate, and destroyed the eaves of forty bays of corridor wall.

九月壬寅，京師震電，大風雨。四年五月庚辰，大風吹壞延喜、景風二門。

On a renyin day in the ninth month thunder and lightning crashed over the capital amid a great wind and rain. On a gengchen day in the fifth month of the fourth year a great wind blew down the Yanxi and Jingfeng gates.

六月癸未，暴風雷雨壞長安縣廨及經行寺塔。同、華大旱。七月辛酉，定陵臺大風雨，震，東廓之下地裂一百三十尺，其深五尺。詔宗正卿李仍叔啟告修之。九年四月二十六日夜，大風，含元殿四鴟吻皆落，拔殿前樹三，壞金吾仗舍，廢樓觀內外城門數處，光化門西城牆壞七十七步。是日，廢長生院，起內道場，取李訓言沙汰僧尼故也。夏六月，鳳翔、麟遊縣暴風雨，飄害九成宮正殿及滋善寺佛舍，壞百姓屋三百間，死者百餘人，牛馬不知其數。九月後，霖雨並雪，凡陰一百五十餘日，至正月五日，誅二張，孝和反正，方晴霽。四月，陰，至六月一百餘日，至七月三日，誅竇懷貞等一十七家，方晴。景龍中，東都霖雨百餘日，閉坊市北門，駕車者苦甚汙，街中言曰：「宰相不能調陰陽，致茲恆雨，令我汙行。」會中書令楊再思過，謂之曰：「於理則然，亦卿牛劣耳。」，順宗風疾，叔文用事，連月霖雨不霽。乃以憲宗為皇太子，制出日即晴。《傳》所謂「皇之不極，厥罰恆陰」，皆此數也。

On a guiwei day in the sixth month a violent wind and thunderstorm destroyed the Chang'an County yamen and the pagoda of Jingxing Temple. Tong and Hua prefectures suffered severe drought. On a xinyou day in the seventh month a great wind and rain struck Dingling Terrace and the earth quaked. Below the eastern corridor the ground split open one hundred thirty chi long and five chi deep. An edict ordered Director of the Imperial Clan Li Rengshu to perform announcement rites and oversee repairs. On the night of the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month of the ninth year a great wind struck. All four ridge ornaments of the Hanyuan Hall fell, three trees before the hall were uprooted, the Jinwu guard barracks were wrecked, gate towers and pavilions at several inner and outer city gates were torn away, and the western city wall at Guanghua Gate was broken for seventy-seven paces. That same day Changsheng Academy was abolished and an inner dharma altar erected, following Li Xun's proposal to purge monks and nuns. In the sixth month of summer violent wind and rain struck Fengxiang and Linyou counties, damaging the main hall of Jiucheng Palace and the Buddha halls of Zishan Temple, destroying three hundred private dwellings, killing more than a hundred people, and killing cattle and horses beyond count. After the ninth month rain and snow fell in unbroken succession for more than one hundred fifty overcast days. Not until the fifth day of the first month, when the Two Zhangs were executed and Emperor Xiaohé restored rightful rule, did the skies finally clear. From the fourth month the skies stayed overcast for more than one hundred days through the sixth month. Not until the third day of the seventh month, when Dou Huaizhen and seventeen other families were executed, did the weather clear. During the Jinglong era the Eastern Capital endured more than one hundred days of rain. The northern gate of the ward market was closed, and carriage drivers were mired in filth. People in the streets said, "The chief ministers cannot harmonize yin and yang. They bring this endless rain and leave us to travel through the muck." Chief Minister of the Secretariat Yang Zaosi happened to pass by and said to them, "In principle you are right—but your ox is inferior too." Emperor Shunzong was afflicted with wind disease, Wang Shuwen wielded power, and the skies stayed grey with rain for months on end. Emperor Xianzong was then made heir apparent, and the day the edict was issued the skies cleared at once. These are all instances of what the Commentary calls, "When the sovereign lacks the supreme standard, the penalty is constant overcast."

六月，京畿旱，蝗食稼。太宗在苑中掇蝗，咒之曰：「人以穀為命，而汝害之，是害吾民也。百姓有過，在予一人，汝若通靈，但當食我，無害吾民。」將吞之，侍臣恐上致疾，遽諫止之。上曰：「所冀移災朕躬，何疾之避？」遂吞之。是歲蝗不為患。五月，山東螟蝗害稼，分遣御史捕而埋之。汴州刺史倪若水拒御史，執奏曰：「蝗是天災，自宜修德。劉聰時，除既不得，為害滋深。」宰相姚崇牒報之曰：「劉聰偽主，德不勝妖；今日聖朝，妖不勝德。古之良守，蝗蟲避境，若言修德可免，彼豈無德致然。今坐看食苗，忍而不救，因此饑饉，將何以安？」卒行埋瘞之法，獲蝗一十四萬，乃投之汴河，流者不可勝數。朝議喧然，上復以問崇，崇對曰：「凡事有違經而合道，反道而適權者，彼庸儒不足以知之。縱除之不盡，猶勝養之以成災。」帝曰：「殺蟲太多，有傷和氣，公其思之。」崇曰：「若救人殺蟲致禍，臣所甘心。」八月四日，敕河南、河北檢校捕蝗使狄光嗣、康瓘、敬昭道、高昌、賈彥璿等，宜令待蟲盡而刈禾將畢，即入京奏事。諫議大夫韓思復上言曰：「伏聞河北蝗蟲，頃日益熾，經歷之處，苗稼都盡。臣望陛下省咎責躬，發使宣慰，損不急之務，去至冗之人。上下同心，君臣一德，持此至誠，以答休咎。前後捕蝗使望並停之。」上出符疏付中書姚崇，乃令思復往山東檢視蟲災之所，及還，具以聞。二十五年，貝州蝗食苗，有白鳥數萬，群飛食蝗，一夕而盡。明年，榆林關有虸蚄食苗，群雀來食，數日而盡。

In the sixth month drought struck the capital region and locusts devoured the crops. In the imperial park Emperor Taizong picked up locusts and addressed them: "Grain is the life of the people, yet you destroy it. You are destroying my people. If the people have sinned, the fault is mine alone. If you possess any power, eat me instead—do not harm my people." As he was about to swallow them, his attendants feared he would fall ill and urgently begged him to stop. The emperor said, "I mean to take the calamity upon myself. Why should I fear illness?" He swallowed them. That year the locusts did no harm. In the fifth month borer-moths and locusts ravaged the crops in Shandong, and censors were dispatched to capture and bury them. Bian Prefecture governor Ni Ruoshui blocked the censor and submitted a memorial: "Locusts are a heaven-sent calamity. The proper response is to cultivate virtue. In Liu Cong's time extermination failed and the damage only grew worse." Chief Minister Yao Chong replied by official dispatch: "Liu Cong was a usurping ruler whose virtue could not overcome the portent; in today's sage dynasty the portent cannot overcome virtue. Locusts avoided the borders of good governors in antiquity. If virtue alone could avert them, were those men without virtue when disaster struck? To sit idle while they devour the seedlings and refuse to act—when famine follows, how will the realm be kept at peace?" In the end they carried out the burial method, collected one hundred forty thousand locusts, and cast them into the Bian River until the current was thick with them beyond count. Court opinion was in an uproar, and the emperor questioned Chong again. Chong replied, "There are times when one must depart from the classics yet follow the Way, or set aside the Way to meet necessity—mediocre scholars cannot grasp that. Even if we cannot destroy them all, that is still better than letting them breed into catastrophe." The emperor said, "Killing so many insects may harm the harmonious qi of the realm. Consider this carefully." Chong said, "If saving the people by killing insects brings calamity upon me, I accept it willingly." On the fourth day of the eighth month an edict instructed the locust-inspection commissioners of Henan and Hebei—Di Guangsi, Kang Guan, Jing Zhaodao, Gao Chang, Jia Yanxuan, and others—to wait until the insects were gone and the harvest nearly finished, then come to the capital to report. Remonstrance Counselor Han Sifu submitted a memorial: "I hear that locusts in Hebei grow fiercer by the day, and wherever they pass the crops are stripped bare. I urge Your Majesty to examine your own conduct, send envoys to comfort the people, cut non-urgent business, and dismiss the most redundant officials. If ruler and ministers unite in one purpose and one virtue, and meet heaven's judgment with utmost sincerity, blessing and calamity may yet be answered. All the locust-capture commissioners should be recalled." The emperor handed the memorial to Chief Minister Yao Chong and ordered Sifu to inspect the insect disaster in Shandong. When Sifu returned he reported in full. In the twenty-fifth year locusts devoured the seedlings at Bei Prefecture. Tens of thousands of white birds descended in flocks to eat the locusts, and in a single night they were gone. The next year caterpillars devoured the seedlings at Yulin Pass. Flocks of sparrows came to feed on them, and within days they were gone.

，貴州紫蟲食苗，時有赤鳥群飛，自東北來食之。秋，虸蚄食苗，關西尤甚，米鬥千錢。秋，關輔大蝗，田稼食盡，百姓饑，捕蝗為食，蒸曝，去颺足翅而食之。明年夏，蝗尤甚，自東海西盡河、隴，群飛蔽天，旬日不息。經行之處，草木牛畜毛，靡有孑遺。關輔已東，穀大貴，餓饉枕道。京師大亂之後，李懷光據河中，諸軍進討，國用罄竭。衣冠之家，多有殍殕者。旱甚，灞水將竭，井皆無水。有司奏國用裁可支七旬。德宗減膳，不御正殿。百司不急之費，皆減之。夏，鎮、冀蝗，害稼。秋，洪州旱，螟蝗害稼八萬頃。秋，旱，罷選舉。，河南、河北旱，蝗害稼；京師旱尤甚，徙市，閉坊南門。四年六月，天下旱，蝗食田，禱祈無效，上憂形於色。宰臣曰：「星官奏天時當爾，乞不過勞聖慮。」文宗懍然改容曰：「朕為天下主，無德及人，致此災旱。今又彗星謫見於上，若三日內不雨，當退歸南內，卿等自選賢明之君以安天下。」宰臣嗚咽流涕不能已。是歲，河南府界黑蟲食苗。河南、河北蝗，害稼都盡。鎮、定等州，田稼既盡，至於野草樹葉細枝亦盡。，山南鄧、唐等州蝗，害稼。

At Gui Prefecture purple insects devoured the seedlings, and flocks of red birds flew in from the northeast to eat them. In autumn caterpillars ravaged the seedlings, worst of all west of the Pass, where rice reached one thousand cash per dou. In autumn locusts swarmed the Guanfu region until the fields were bare. The people went hungry and turned to eating locusts—steaming and drying them, stripping off wings and legs, and making a meal of what remained. The next summer the locusts were worse still. From the Eastern Sea west to the He and Long regions they flew in clouds that blotted out the sky for ten days without pause. Where they passed, not a blade of grass, leaf, or hair on cattle and livestock was left untouched. East of the Guanfu region grain prices soared and the starved lay dead along the roads. After the great upheaval in the capital Li Huaiguang held Hezhong while imperial armies marched against him, and the treasury was drained dry. Even among gentry families many starved to death. The drought was severe. The Ba River nearly ran dry and the wells were empty. The responsible offices reported that state funds would barely last seventy days. Emperor Dezong cut his meals and ceased holding court in the main hall. Every non-urgent expense across the bureaucracy was cut. In summer locusts ravaged the crops in Zhen and Ji prefectures. In autumn drought struck Hong Prefecture, and borer-moths and locusts destroyed eighty thousand qing of crops. In autumn drought led to the suspension of civil examinations. In Henan and Hebei there was drought and locusts ravaged the crops; the capital suffered worst of all—markets were relocated and the southern ward gate was closed. In the sixth month of the fourth year drought gripped the realm and locusts devoured the fields. Prayers availed nothing, and the emperor's distress showed plainly on his face. The chief ministers said, "The astral officers report that the season is as heaven ordains. We beg Your Majesty not to burden yourself with undue worry." Emperor Wenzong's face darkened as he said, "I am sovereign of the realm, yet my virtue has not reached the people, and so this drought has come. Now a banished comet appears in the heavens. If it does not rain within three days, I shall withdraw to the Southern Palace, and you must choose a wise ruler to secure the realm." The chief ministers sobbed until they could speak no further. That year black insects devoured the seedlings within Henan Prefecture. In Henan and Hebei locusts stripped the fields bare. In Zhen, Ding, and other prefectures the harvest was gone, and even wild grass, tree leaves, and twigs were eaten clean. In Shannan, Deng, Tang, and other prefectures locusts ravaged the crops.

四月二十九日，雲陽石燃方丈，晝如炭，夜則光見，投草木於其上則焚，歷年方止。證聖元年正月十六日夜，明堂火，延及天堂，京城光照如晝，至曙並為灰燼。則天欲避殿徹樂，宰相姚璹以為火因麻主，人護不謹，非天災也，不宜貶損。乃勸則天御端門觀酺，引建章故事，令薛懷義重造明堂以厭勝之。則天時，建昌王武攸寧置內庫，長五百步，二百餘間，別貯財物以求媚。一夕為天災所燔，玩好並盡。景龍中，東都淩空觀災，火自東北來，其金銅諸像，銷鑠並盡。，洪、潭二州災，火延燒郡舍。郡人先見火精赤暾暾飛來，旋即火發。十五年，衡州災，火延燒三四百家。郡人見物大如甕，赤如燭籠，此物所至，即火發。十八年二月十八日，大雨雪，俄又雷震，飛龍廄災。六月七日，東都應天門觀災，延燒左右延福門，經日不減。九載三月，華嶽廟災。十載正月，大風，陝州運船失火，燒二百一十五隻，損米一百萬石，舟人死者六百人，又燒商人船一百隻。其年八月六日，武庫災，燒二十八間十九架，兵器四十七萬件。十一月，回紇焚東都宜春院，延及明堂，甲子日而盡。十二月二十五夜，鄂州失火，燒船三千艘，延及岸上居人二千餘家，死者四五千人。二月，莊嚴寺佛圖災。初有疾風，震雷薄擊，俄而火從佛圖中出，寺僧數百人急救之，乃止，棟宇無損。

On the twenty-ninth day of the fourth month a stone one square zhang in size burned at Yunyang. By day it looked like charcoal; by night it glowed. Grass and wood thrown upon it burst into flame, and the fire did not cease for years. On the night of the sixteenth day of the first month of the first Zhengsheng year the Bright Hall caught fire and the blaze spread to the Hall of Paradise. The capital blazed bright as day, and by dawn both halls were ash. Empress Wu wished to withdraw from court and suspend music, but Chief Minister Yao Shuo argued that careless guarding had caused the fire—it was no heaven-sent calamity, and she should not demean the throne. He urged Empress Wu instead to watch the public feast from the Duan Gate, cited the precedent of Jianzhang Palace, and had Xue Huaiyi rebuild the Bright Hall as apotropaic counter-magic. During Empress Wu's reign Prince of Jianchang Wu Youning built an inner treasury five hundred paces long with more than two hundred rooms, hoarding valuables apart to curry favor. In a single night heaven's fire consumed it, and every treasure within was lost. During the Jinglong era fire struck Lingkong Abbey in the Eastern Capital. The blaze came from the northeast and melted every gold and bronze image to nothing. At Hong and Tan prefectures fire spread through the commandery offices. The people first saw a glowing red fire-spirit fly in, and fire broke out at once. In the fifteenth year fire at Heng Prefecture spread through three or four hundred households. The people saw a thing as large as a jar, red as a lantern—wherever it passed, fire followed. On the eighteenth day of the second month of the eighteenth year heavy rain and snow fell, thunder cracked, and the Flying Dragon Stable caught fire. On the seventh day of the sixth month fire struck Yingtian Gate Abbey in the Eastern Capital and spread to the Yanfu gates on either side. The blaze burned undiminished for a full day. In the third month of the ninth Tianbao year fire struck the Mount Hua shrine. In the first month of the tenth Tianbao year a gale struck. Transport boats at Shaan Prefecture caught fire: two hundred fifteen vessels burned, a million shi of rice were lost, six hundred boatmen perished, and a hundred merchant ships went up in flames. On the sixth day of the eighth month that year the armory burned: twenty-eight rooms and nineteen racks were destroyed, and four hundred seventy thousand weapons were lost. In the eleventh month the Uyghurs burned Yichun Court in the Eastern Capital. The fire spread to the Bright Hall and burned itself out on the jiazi day. On the night of the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month fire broke out at E Prefecture. Three thousand boats burned, the blaze spread to more than two thousand homes along the shore, and four or five thousand people died. In the second month fire struck the pagoda of Zhengyan Temple. At first a fierce wind rose and thunder struck close by. Fire then burst from the pagoda itself. Several hundred monks fought it at once and brought it under control before the halls and buildings were harmed.

，蘇州火。十九年四月，家令寺火。二十年四月，開業寺火。，御史臺舍火。七年，鎮州甲仗庫一十三間災，節度使王承宗殺主守，坐死者百餘人。承宗方拒天軍，而兵仗為災所焚，天意嫉惡也。十年四月，河陰轉運院火。十一月，獻陵寢宮永巷火。十一年十二月，未央宮及飛龍草場火，皆王承宗、李師道謀撓用兵，陰遣盜縱火也。時李師道於鄆州起宮殿，欲謀僭亂。既成，是歲為災並盡，俄而族滅。十月甲辰，昭德宮火，延燒至宣政東垣及門下省，至晡方息。八年十二月，昭成宮火。九年六月乙亥朔，西市火。六月，萬年縣東市火，燒屋宇貨財不知其數。又西內神龍宮火。七月，汴州相國寺佛閣災。是日晚，微雨，震電，寺僧見赤塊在三門樓藤網中，周繞一匝而火作。良久，赤塊北飛，越前殿飛入佛閣網中，如三門周繞轉而火作。如是三日不息，訖為灰燼。

Fire broke out at Suzhou. In the fourth month of the nineteenth year Jialing Temple caught fire. In the fourth month of the twentieth year Kaiye Temple caught fire. The Censorate offices caught fire. In the seventh year fire destroyed thirteen rooms of the armor storehouse at Zhen Prefecture. Military Governor Wang Chengzong executed the chief custodian, and more than a hundred others were put to death in connection with the disaster. Chengzong was then resisting the imperial army, yet his arms and weapons were consumed by fire—a sign that Heaven abhorred his rebellion. In the fourth month of the tenth year the Heyin Transport Office caught fire. In the eleventh month fire broke out in the Eternal Lane of the sleeping palace at Xian Mausoleum. In the twelfth month of the eleventh year Weiyang Palace and the Flying Dragon fodder grounds burned. Both fires were set by thieves secretly dispatched by Wang Chengzong and Li Shidao to sabotage the imperial campaign. At the time Li Shidao was building palaces at Yan Prefecture, plotting rebellion and usurpation. Once they were finished, fire destroyed them that same year, and soon afterward his entire clan was wiped out. On the jiachen day of the tenth month Zhaode Palace caught fire. The blaze spread to the eastern wall of Xuanzheng Hall and the Secretariat and did not die down until dusk. In the twelfth month of the eighth year Zhaocheng Palace caught fire. On the first day of the sixth month of the ninth year, the yihai day, the Western Market caught fire. In the sixth month fire struck the Eastern Market of Wannian County, destroying buildings and goods beyond count. The Shenlong Palace in the Western Inner Palace also caught fire. In the seventh month fire destroyed the Buddha pavilion of Xiangguo Temple at Bian Prefecture. That evening came light rain and thunder. The monks saw a red mass in the vine netting of the triple gate tower. It circled once and burst into flame. After a long while the red mass flew north, passed over the front hall, and entered the netting of the Buddha pavilion. It circled as before and fire broke out again. The fire burned without ceasing for three days until the pavilion was ash.

貞觀初，白鵲巢於殿庭之槐樹，其巢合歡如腰鼓，左右稱賀。太宗曰：「吾常笑隋文帝好言祥端。瑞在得賢，白鵲子何益於事？」命掇之，送於野。高宗文明後，天下頻奏雌雉化為雄，或半化未化，兼以獻之，則天臨朝之兆。，突厥溫傅等未叛時，有鳴鵽群飛入塞，相繼蔽野，邊人相驚曰：「突厥雀南飛，突厥犯塞之兆也。」至二年正月，還復北飛，至靈夏已北，悉墜地而死，視之，皆無頭。裴行儉問右史苗神客曰：「鳥獸之祥，乃應人事，何也？」對曰：「人雖最靈，而稟性含氣，同于萬類，故吉凶兆於彼，而禍福應於此。聖王受命，龍鳳為嘉瑞者，和氣同也。故漢祖斬蛇而驗秦之必亡，仲尼感麟而知己之將死。夷羊在牧，殷紂已滅。鵒來巢，魯昭出奔。鼠舞端門，燕剌誅死。大鳥飛集，昌邑以敗。是故君子虔恭寅畏，動必思義，雖在幽獨，如承大事，知神明之照臨，懼患難之及己。雉升鼎耳，殷宗側身以修德，鵩止坐隅，賈生作賦以敘命。卒以無患者，德勝妖也。」

Early in the Zhenguan era a white magpie nested in the pagoda tree of the palace courtyard. Its nest was woven tight as a waist drum, and courtiers on either side offered congratulations. Emperor Taizong said, "I have often mocked Emperor Wen of Sui for his fondness for auspicious portents. True auspiciousness lies in finding worthy men. What good is a white magpie chick to the realm?" He ordered the nest removed and sent the birds back to the wild. After Emperor Gaozong's Wenming era the realm repeatedly reported hen pheasants turning into cocks, some only half changed, and such birds were sent up as tribute—omens of Empress Wu's rise to power. Before Wen Fu of the Turks and his allies rebelled, flocks of calling quail flew south through the passes in endless waves, darkening the fields. Border folk cried in alarm, "When Turkic quail fly south, the Turks will raid the frontier." By the first month of the second year they flew north again. Beyond Ling and Xia they all dropped dead to the ground—and every one was headless. Pei Xingjian asked Right Scribe Miao Shenke, "Bird and beast omens answer to human affairs—why is that?" He replied, "Human beings are the most spiritual of creatures, yet we share in nature and qi with all living things. Omens of fortune and disaster appear in them, and blessing or ruin answers in us. When a sage king receives the Mandate, dragon and phoenix appear as blessed omens because heaven's harmonious qi flows through all things alike. Thus when the Han Founder slew the serpent, it confirmed Qin's doom; when Confucius was moved by the qilin, he knew his own death was near. Barbarian sheep appeared in the pastures just as Zhou, last king of Yin, was overthrown. Magpies came to nest in Lu—and Duke Zhao fled into exile. Rats danced before the Duan Gate—and the Prince of Yan was put to death. Great birds gathered in flight—and the Prince of Changyi was cast down. Therefore the noble person keeps reverent awe in every act and weighs each move by right conduct. Even alone in secret he behaves as though facing a great rite, knowing the spirits watch over him and dreading that disaster may find him. When a pheasant perched on the tripod ear, the Yin sovereign corrected himself and cultivated virtue; when an owl stopped in his corner, Jia Yi wrote a rhapsody on fate. Those who escaped harm did so because virtue triumphs over omens."

四月戊申，乾陵上仙觀天尊殿，有雙鵲銜泥及柴，補殿之隙壞，凡十五處。其年九月，大鳥見於武功縣，群鳥隨而噪之。神策將軍張日芬射得之，肉翅狐首，四足，足有爪，其廣四尺三寸，其毛色赤，形類蝙蝠。十一年，渭州獲赤烏。十三年五月，左羽林軍鵒乳雀。三月，中書省梧桐樹有鵲以泥為巢。四年夏，汴、鄭二州群鳥皆飛入田緒、李納境內，銜木為城，高二三尺，方十里。緒、納惡之，命焚之，信宿而復，鳥口皆流血。十年四月，有大鳥飛集宮中，食雜骨數日，獲之，不食而死。六月辛未晦，水鳥集左藏庫。十四年秋，有鳥色青，類鳩鵲，息于宋郊，所止之處，群鳥翼衛，朝夕嗛稻粱以哺之。睢陽之人適野聚觀者旬日，人不知其名，郡人李翱見之曰：「此鸞也，鳳之次。」六月，濮州雷澤縣人張憲家榆樹鳥巢，因風墮二雛，別樹鵲引二鳥雛於巢哺之。六月，真興門外野鵲巢于古塚。

On the wushen day of the fourth month at the Hall of the Celestial Worthy in Upper Transcendence Abbey at Qian Mausoleum, a pair of magpies carried mud and twigs and mended fifteen damaged spots in the hall. That September a great bird appeared in Wugong County, and flocks of smaller birds followed it, shrieking. Shence General Zhang Rifen shot it down. It had fleshy wings and a fox's head, four clawed feet, a wingspan of four chi three cun, red fur, and the shape of a bat. In the eleventh year a red crow was captured at Wei Prefecture. In the fifth month of the thirteenth year a magpie was found nursing a sparrow in the Left Forest Army. In the third month a magpie built a mud nest in a parasol tree at the Secretariat. That summer flocks of birds from Bian and Zheng prefectures flew into the domains of Tian Xu and Li Na, carrying twigs to build fortifications two or three chi high and ten li across. Xu and Na loathed the omen and ordered the structures burned, but within a night the birds rebuilt them—and every bird's beak ran with blood. In the fourth month of the tenth year a great bird alighted in the palace and fed on scraps of bone for days. Once captured it refused food and died. On the last xinwei day of the sixth month water birds gathered at the Left Treasury. That autumn a blue bird resembling a turtledove and magpie rested in the outskirts of Song. Wherever it alighted, other birds guarded it on the wing and fed it rice and millet morning and evening. For ten days the people of Suiyang thronged the fields to watch, for none knew the bird's name. Li Ao of the commandery declared, "This is a luan—the phoenix's nearest kin." In the sixth month two nestlings fell from a bird's nest in an elm at the home of Zhang Xian of Leize County, Puzhou, when the wind blew. A magpie from another tree took the fledglings to its own nest and fed them. In the sixth month a wild magpie nested on an ancient tomb outside Zhenxing Gate.

永徽中，黑齒常之戍河源軍，有狼三頭，白晝入軍門，射之斃。常之懼，求代。將軍李謹代常之軍，月餘卒。先天初，洛陽市人牽一羊，左肋下有人手，長尺許，以之乞丐。，韶州鼠害稼，千萬為群。三年，有熊白晝入廣陵城，月餘，都督李處鑒卒。十一月，乾陵赤兔見。

During the Yonghui era, while Heichi Changzhi was garrisoned at Heyuan Army, three wolves entered the camp gate in broad daylight and were shot dead. Changzhi was alarmed and asked to be relieved. General Li Jin took over the garrison from Changzhi and died a little over a month later. Early in the Xiantian era a Luoyang market man led about a sheep with a human hand, about a chi long, growing from beneath its left ribs—and used the deformity to beg for alms. At Shaozhou rats ravaged the crops in swarms of tens of millions. In the third year a bear entered Guangling city in broad daylight. A little over a month later Military Governor Li Chujian died. In the eleventh month a red hare was seen at Qian Mausoleum.

三月，河中獻玄狐。四年九月己卯，虎入京城長壽坊元載私廟，將軍周皓格殺之。六年八月丁丑，太極殿內廓下獲白兔。八年七月，白鼠出內侍。十二年六月，苑內獲白鼠。十三年六月戊戌，隴右汧源縣軍士趙貴家，貓鼠同乳，不相害，節度使朱泚籠之以獻。宰相常袞率百僚拜表賀，中書舍人崔祐甫曰：「此物之失性也。天生萬物，剛柔有性，聖人因之，垂訓作則。禮，迎貓，為食田鼠也。然貓之食鼠，載在祀典，以其能除害利人，雖微必錄。今此貓對鼠，何異法吏不勤觸邪，疆吏不勤捍敵？據禮部式錄三瑞，無貓不食鼠之目。以此稱慶，理所未詳。以劉向《五行傳》言之，恐須申命憲司，察聽貪吏，誡諸邊境，無失儆巡，則貓能致功，鼠不為害。」帝深然之。

In the third month Hezhong presented a black fox. On the jimao day of the ninth month of the fourth year a tiger entered Yuan Zai's private ancestral shrine in Changshou Ward of the capital. General Zhou Hao killed it. On the dingchou day of the eighth month of the sixth year a white hare was caught beneath the inner corridor of Taiji Hall. In the seventh month of the eighth year a white rat appeared in the inner palace attendants' quarters. In the sixth month of the twelfth year a white rat was caught in the imperial park. On the wuxu day of the sixth month of the thirteenth year at the home of soldier Zhao Gui of Qianyuan County in Longyou, a cat and a rat nursed together without harming each other. Military Governor Zhu Ci caged them and sent them up as tribute. Chief Minister Chang Gun led the hundred officials in a congratulatory memorial, but Secretariat Drafter Cui Youfu said, "This is a perversion of nature. Heaven creates all things, each with its own hard or soft nature, and the sage takes this as a model for instruction and law. In ritual the cat is welcomed because it devours field mice. The cat's hunting of mice is recorded even in the sacrificial canon, for it removes pests and serves the people—so small a merit is still worth noting. Now a cat that will not touch a mouse—what is that but legal officers who fail to expose corruption, or frontier officers who fail to repel the enemy? The Ministry of Rites registers three kinds of auspicious signs—and nowhere lists a cat that refuses to eat mice. To treat this as grounds for celebration makes no sense at all. By the logic of Liu Xiang's Treatise on the Five Phases, we ought rather to charge the censorate to investigate corrupt officials and warn the frontiers not to neglect patrol—then cats will do their work and rats will do no harm." The emperor strongly agreed.

五月，滑洲馬生角。二月，太僕寺郊牛生犢，六足，太僕卿周皓白宰相李泌，請上聞，泌笑而不答。又京師人家豕生子，兩首四足，有司以白御史中丞竇參，請上聞，參寢而不奏。三月癸丑，鹿入京師西市門，眾殺之。十一月，龍州武安川佘田中嘉禾生，有麟食之，復生。麟之來，一鹿引之，群鹿隨之，光華不可正視。使畫工圖麟及嘉禾來獻。八年四月，長安西市門家豕生子，三耳八足，自尾分為二。八月，易定監軍小將家馬，因飲水吐出寶珠一，獻之。

In the fifth month a horse at Hua Prefecture sprouted horns. In the second month the suburban ox of the Court of the Imperial Stud bore a calf with six legs. Director Zhou Hao reported it to Chief Minister Li Bi and asked that the emperor be informed. Bi only smiled and said nothing. In the capital, too, a household sow farrowed a piglet with two heads and four feet. The responsible office reported it to Censor-in-Chief Dou Can and asked that the emperor be told. Can shelved the report and never submitted it. On the guichou day of the third month a deer entered the Western Market Gate of the capital, and the crowd killed it. In the eleventh month auspicious grain sprang up in the She fields along Wu'an River in Long Prefecture. A qilin ate it, and the grain grew again. When the qilin came, a deer led the way and a herd followed. Its radiance was too dazzling to meet with the eye. He had painters depict the qilin and the auspicious grain and sent the pictures up as tribute. In the fourth month of the eighth year a Chang'an sow near the Western Market Gate farrowed a piglet with three ears and eight legs, its body split in two from the tail. In the eighth month a horse belonging to a junior officer under the Yiding army supervisor drank water and spat out a precious pearl, which was sent up as tribute.

貞觀中，汾州言青龍見，吐物在空中，有光明如火。墜地，地陷，掘之得玄金，廣尺，長七寸。，虔州別駕得六眼龜，一夕而失。神龍中，渭河有蛤蟆，大如一石鼎，里人聚觀，數日而失。是歲，大水漂溺京城數百家，商州水入城門，襄陽水至樹杪。六月，西京朝堂磚階，無故自壞。磚下有大蛇長丈餘，蛤蟆大如盤，面目赤如火，相向鬥。俄而蛇入大樹，蛤蟆入於草。其年七月三日，玄宗誅竇懷貞、岑羲等十七家。六月，郴州馬嶺山下，有白蛇長六七尺，黑蛇長丈餘。兩蛇鬥，白蛇吞黑蛇，至粗處，口眼流血，黑蛇頭穿白蛇腹出，俄而俱死。旬日內桂陽大雨，山水暴溢，漂五百家，殺三百餘人。

During the Zhenguan era Fen Prefecture reported that a blue dragon appeared and spat something into the air that blazed like fire. It fell to earth and the ground collapsed. When they dug they found a block of dark metal a foot wide and seven cun long. The assistant prefect of Qian Prefecture obtained a six-eyed tortoise, which vanished overnight. During the Shenlong era a toad as large as a stone cauldron appeared in the Wei River. Villagers gathered to stare, and after several days it was gone. That year floods drowned several hundred households in the capital. At Shang Prefecture water poured through the city gates; at Xiangyang it rose to the treetops. In the sixth month the brick steps of the audience hall in the Western Capital collapsed without cause. Beneath the bricks lay a serpent more than a zhang long and a toad as large as a tray, both with faces red as fire, fighting face to face. Soon the serpent slipped into a great tree and the toad vanished into the grass. On the third day of the seventh month that year Emperor Xuanzong executed seventeen clans, including those of Dou Huaizhen and Cen Xi. In the sixth month, below Maling Mountain in Chen Prefecture, a white serpent six or seven chi long and a black serpent more than a zhang long appeared. The two serpents fought. The white serpent swallowed the black one, but at its thickest point blood streamed from mouth and eyes as the black serpent's head burst through the white serpent's belly—and in a moment both were dead. Within ten days Guiyang was deluged; mountain streams burst their banks and swept away five hundred households, killing more than three hundred people.

天寶中，洛陽有巨蛇，高丈餘，長百尺，出於芒山下。胡僧無畏見之，歎曰：「此欲決水注洛城。」即以天竺法咒之，數日蛇死。祿山陷洛之兆也。李揆作相前一月，有大蛤蟆如床，見室之中，俄失所在。占者以為蟆天使也，有福慶之事。九月，通州三岡縣放生池中，日氣下照，水騰波湧上，有黃龍躍出，高丈餘，又于龍旁數處，浮出明珠。，京師金天門外水渠獲毛龜。，李納獻毛龜。四月，舒州桐城縣有黃、青、白三龍各一，翼風雷自梅天陂起，約高二百尺，凡六里，降於浮塘坡。九年四月，道州二青龍見於江中。六月七日，密州卑產山北面有龍見。初，赤龍從西來，續有青龍、黃龍從南來，後有白龍、黑龍從山北來，並形狀分明。自申至戌，方散去。

During the Tianbao era a serpent appeared below Mang Mountain near Luoyang—more than a zhang in height and a hundred chi in length. The foreign monk Wuwei saw it and sighed: "It means to burst the waters and flood Luoyang. He cast spells in the Indian manner, and within days the serpent was dead. This foretold An Lushan's seizure of Luoyang. A month before Li Kui became chief minister, a toad as large as a bed appeared in a room—and then was gone. Diviners declared it the toad angel and a portent of blessing and joy. In the ninth month, at the Release-Life Pond in Sangang County, Tong Prefecture, sunlight struck the water and waves rose up. A yellow dragon leaped forth, more than a zhang tall, and bright pearls surfaced in several places beside it. At the capital a hairy tortoise was taken from a canal outside the Golden Heaven Gate. Li Na sent up a hairy tortoise as tribute. In the fourth month at Tongcheng County in Shu Prefecture, one yellow, one green, and one white dragon appeared. Riding wind and thunder they rose from Meitian Marsh to a height of some two hundred chi, traveled six li, and descended at Futang Slope. In the fourth month of the ninth year two green dragons were seen in the river at Dao Prefecture. On the seventh day of the sixth month a dragon appeared on the north slope of Beichan Mountain in Mi Prefecture. First a red dragon came from the west; then green and yellow dragons from the south; last white and black dragons from the north of the mountain—all plainly visible. From the shen hour until the xu hour they lingered, then at last dispersed.

天寶初，臨川郡人李嘉胤所居柱上生芝草，狀如天尊像，太守張景夫拔柱以獻。七月甲辰，延英殿御座生白芝，一莖三花。肅宗制《玉靈芝詩》三篇，群臣皆賀。占曰：「白芝主喪。」明年，上皇、肅宗俱崩。二年九月，含輝院生金芝。二月，京城槐樹有蟲食葉，其形類蠶。其年六月，太廟第二室芝草生。三月，潤州上元縣芝草生，一莖四葉，高七寸。八年，廬州廬江縣紫芝生，高一丈五尺。九年九月，晉州神山縣慶唐觀檜樹已枯重榮。十二年五月甲子，成都府人郭遠，因樵獲瑞木一莖，有文曰「天下太平」四字，其年十一月，蔡州汝陽縣芝草生，紫莖黃蓋。八月，亳州真源縣大空寺僧院李樹，種來十四年，才長一丈八尺，今春枝忽上聳，高六尺，周圍似蓋，九尺餘。又先天太后墓槐樹上有靈泉漏出，今年六月，其上有雲氣五色，又黃龍再見於泉上。十二月雷，桃李俱花。十二月，水不冰，草萌芽，如正二月之候。

Early in the Tianbao era lingzhi sprouted on a pillar at the home of Li Jiayin of Linchuan Commandery, shaped like the Celestial Worthy. Prefect Zhang Jingfu uprooted the pillar and sent it up as tribute. On the jiachen day of the seventh month white lingzhi appeared on the imperial throne in the Yanying Hall: one stem bearing three flowers. Emperor Suzong wrote three "Jade Lingzhi" poems, and the whole court offered congratulations. The diviners said: "White lingzhi foretells mourning." The next year both the Retired Emperor and Emperor Suzong died. In the ninth month of the second year golden lingzhi appeared in Hanhui Academy. In the second month worms shaped like silkworms devoured the leaves of the capital's locust trees. That same year, in the sixth month, lingzhi sprouted in the second chamber of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. In the third month lingzhi appeared in Shangyuan County, Run Prefecture: one stem with four leaves, seven cun tall. In the eighth year purple lingzhi sprouted in Lujiang County, Lu Prefecture, standing a zhang and five chi tall. In the ninth month of the ninth year a withered cypress at Qingtang Abbey in Shenshan County, Jin Prefecture, put forth fresh growth. On the jiazi day of the fifth month of the twelfth year Guo Yuan of Chengdu Prefecture, out gathering firewood, found a stalk of auspicious wood inscribed with the four characters "All Under Heaven at Peace." That same year, in the eleventh month, lingzhi with purple stems and yellow caps appeared in Ruyang County, Cai Prefecture. In the eighth month, at Dakong Temple in Zhenyuan County, Bo Prefecture, a plum tree planted fourteen years before had reached only a zhang and eight chi. That spring its branches suddenly shot up six chi and spread outward like a canopy more than nine chi wide. At the tomb of the Primordial Heavenly Empress a numinous spring had begun to seep from a locust tree. That sixth month five-colored clouds gathered above it, and a yellow dragon appeared once more over the spring. In the twelfth month thunder rolled and peach and plum trees burst into bloom. In the twelfth month the waters did not freeze and grass put forth shoots, as though it were the first or second month of spring.

三月，洛陽東七里有水影，側近樹木車馬之影，歷歷見水影中，月餘方滅。七月，嵐州合河關黃河水，四十里間，清如井水，經四日而後復。九月甲午，華州至陝州二百餘里，黃河清，澄澈見底。，醴泉出櫟陽，愈疾。七月，自陝州至河陰，河水色如墨，流入汴河，止於汴州城下，一宿而復。，亳州言出聖水愈病。江淮已南，遠來奔湊求水。浙西觀察使李德裕奏論其妖。宰相裴度判汴州所申狀曰：「妖由人興，水不自作。」牒汴州觀察使填塞訖申。

In the third month, seven li east of Luoyang, a pool of water reflected with perfect clarity the shadows of nearby trees, horses, and carriages. More than a month passed before it disappeared. In the seventh month the Yellow River at Hehe Pass in Lan Prefecture ran clear as well water for forty li; after four days it turned muddy again. On the jiawu day of the ninth month the Yellow River ran clear for more than two hundred li from Hua Prefecture to Shan Prefecture, so transparent one could see the bottom. Sweet springs appeared at Liyang and cured the sick. In the seventh month the river from Shan Prefecture to Heyin turned black as ink, poured into the Bian River, and pooled below Bian Prefecture city; one night later it cleared. Bo Prefecture reported sacred water that healed the sick. From south of the Yangtze and Huai people traveled great distances to crowd in and fetch the water. Li Deyu, observation commissioner of Zhedong Circuit, memorialized that the phenomenon was an evil portent. Chief Minister Pei Du ruled on Bian Prefecture's report: "Portents are raised by men; water does not move of its own accord." He ordered the observation commissioner of Bianzhou to fill the site in and report when the work was done.

玄宗初即位，東都白馬寺鐵像頭無故自落於殿門外。後姚崇秉政，以僧惠范附太平亂政，謀汰僧尼，令拜父母，午後不出院，其法頗峻。二月，太僕寺廨有佛堂，堂內小脫空金剛左臂上忽有黑汗滴下，以紙承色，色即血也。明年五月，代宗崩。

When Emperor Xuanzong first ascended the throne, the iron Buddha's head at White Horse Temple in the Eastern Capital fell for no apparent reason outside the hall gate. Later, under Yao Chong's administration, the monk Huifan had attached himself to Princess Taiping and meddled in government. Chong sought to purge monks and nuns, requiring them to bow to their parents and forbidding them to leave their monasteries after noon—harsh measures indeed. In the second month, in a Buddhist hall within the Court of the Imperial Stud offices, black sweat suddenly dripped from the left arm of a small hollow gilt guardian statue. Paper caught the drops—they were blood. The following fifth month Emperor Daizong died.

，楚州刺史崔侁獻定國寶十三：一曰玄黃天符，形如笏，長八寸，有孔，辟人間兵疫；二曰玉雞毛，白玉也，以孝理天下則見；三曰谷璧，白玉也，粟粒，無雕鐫之跡，王者得之，五穀豐熟；四曰西王母白環二，所在處外國歸伏；五曰碧色寶，圓而有光；六曰如意寶珠，大如雞卵；七曰紅色靺鞨，大如巨栗；八曰琅玕珠二；九曰玉玦，形如玉環，四分缺一；十曰玉印，大如半手，理如鹿形，陷入印中；十一曰皇后采桑鉤，如箸，屈其末；十二曰雷公石斧，無孔；十三缺。凡十三寶。置之日中，白氣連天。初，楚州有尼曰真如，忽有人接之升天，天帝謂之曰：「下方有災，令第二寶鎮之。」即以十三寶付真如。時肅宗方不豫，以為瑞，乃改元寶應，仍傳位皇太子，此近白祥也。五月，神策軍修苑內古漢宮，掘得白玉床，其長六尺，以獻。

Cui Qian, prefect of Chuzhou, presented thirteen state treasures. First: the Black-and-Yellow Heavenly Talisman, tablet-shaped, eight cun long, pierced with a hole, said to ward off war and pestilence among men; second, the Jade Cock Feather of white jade, which appears when the realm is ruled by filial piety; third, the Grain Disc of white jade, patterned like millet grains with no sign of carving—when a king possesses it the five grains flourish; fourth, two white rings of the Queen Mother of the West—wherever they rest foreign peoples submit; fifth, a green gem, round and radiant; sixth, a wish-fulfilling pearl the size of a hen's egg; seventh, a red mokling stone as large as a great chestnut; eighth, two langgan pearls; ninth, a jade tablet shaped like a ring missing a quarter; tenth, a jade seal half the size of a palm, veined like a deer sunk into the stone; eleventh, the empress's silkworm-gathering hook, chopstick-thin with a bent tip; twelfth, Lord Thunder's stone axe, without a hole; the thirteenth is lost. Thirteen treasures in all. Set in the sunlight, they sent white vapor up to the sky. Earlier, in Chuzhou, there was a nun named Zhenru. Suddenly someone lifted her to heaven, and the Heavenly Emperor told her: "Disaster threatens below; let the second treasure hold it in check." He then entrusted all thirteen treasures to Zhenru. Emperor Suzong was then already ill. Taking this as a blessing, he changed the era name to Baoying and abdicated in favor of the crown prince—a recent white portent indeed. In the fifth month, while repairing the ancient Han palace in the imperial park, the Shence Army unearthed a white jade couch six chi long and sent it up as tribute.

二月，京兆神策昭應婦人張氏，產一男二女。二月，許州人李狗兒持杖上含元殿，擊欄檻，又擊殺所擒卒，誅之。十年四月，巨人跡見常州。，開紅崖冶役夫將化為虎，眾以水沃之，化而不果。四月十七日，染坊作人張韶與卜者蘇玄明，于柴草車內藏兵仗，入宮作亂，二人對食於清思殿。是日，禁軍誅張韶等三十七人。十二月，延州人賀文妻產三男。，京師訛言鄭注為主上合金丹，須小兒心肝，密旨捕小兒。或相告云，某處失幾兒。人家扃鎖小兒甚密。上恐，遣中使喻之，乃止。十二月二十八日，狂人劉德廣入含元殿，詔付京兆府杖殺之。

In the second month Zhang, a woman of Zhaoying in Jingzhao Shence, gave birth to one son and two daughters. In the second month Li Gou'er of Xu Prefecture climbed the Hanyuan Hall with a staff, beat the railings, and killed a soldier he had seized. He was put to death. In the fourth month of the tenth year giant footprints were seen at Chang Prefecture. At Kaihong Cliff a corvee laborer at the ironworks was turning into a tiger; the crowd poured water over him and the transformation failed. On the seventeenth day of the fourth month the dyeworker Zhang Shao and the diviner Su Xuanming concealed weapons in a cart of firewood, entered the palace to rebel, and sat down to eat together in the Qingsi Hall. That day the palace guard executed Zhang Shao and thirty-six others. In the twelfth month the wife of He Wen of Yan Prefecture bore three sons. In the capital a rumor spread that Zheng Zhu was refining elixir pills for the emperor and required the hearts and livers of small children, and that a secret order had gone out to seize them. People whispered to one another that children had vanished here and there. Families bolted their doors and kept their children under close guard. Alarmed, the emperor sent palace envoys to reassure the people, and the panic subsided. On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month the madman Liu Deguang entered the Hanyuan Hall. An edict handed him over to Jingzhao Prefecture to be beaten to death.

隋末有謠云：「桃李子，洪水繞楊山。」煬帝疑李氏有受命之符，故誅李金才。後李密據洛口倉以應其讖。隋文時，自長安故城東南移于唐興村置新都，今西內承天門正當唐興村門。今有大槐樹，柯枝森鬱，即村門樹也。有司以行列不正，將去之，文帝曰：「高祖嘗坐此樹下，不可去也。」調露中，高宗欲封嵩山，累草儀注，有事不行。有謠曰：「不畏登不得，但恐不得登。三度徵兵馬，旁道打騰騰。」高宗至山下遘疾，還宮而崩。永徽末，里歌有《桑條韋也》、《女時韋也》樂。及神龍中，韋後用事，鄭愔作《桑條歌》十篇上之。龍朔中，俗中飲酒令，曰：「子母去離，連臺龍抝倒。」俗謂杯盤為子母，又名盤為臺，即中宗廢于房州之應也。時里歌有《突厥鹽》，及則天遣尚書閻知微送武延秀，立知微為可汗，挾之入寇。如意初，里歌云：「黃麞黃麞草裏藏，彎弓射爾傷。」後契丹李萬榮叛，陷營州，則天令總管曹仁師、王孝傑等將兵百萬討之，大敗于黃麞穀，契丹乘勝至趙郡。垂拱已後，東都有《契苾兒歌》，皆淫豔之詞。後張易之兄弟有內嬖，易之小字契苾。元和小兒謠云：「打麥打麥三三三」，乃轉身曰：「舞了也。」及武元衡為盜所害，是六月三日。

At the end of the Sui a rhyme ran: "Peach-and-plum child, floodwaters circle Yang Mountain." Emperor Yang suspected the Li clan possessed the token of Heaven's mandate and therefore executed Li Jincai. Later Li Mi seized Luokou Granary, fulfilling the prophecy. Under Emperor Wen the capital was moved southeast from old Chang'an to Tangxing Village to build the new city. Today the Chengtian Gate of the inner western palace stands directly opposite Tangxing Village's gate. A great locust tree still stands there, its branches thick and dark—the tree that once marked the village gate. Because the tree stood out of line, the authorities meant to cut it down. Emperor Wen said: "Our Grandfather once sat beneath this tree. It must not be removed." During the Diaolu era Emperor Gaozong wished to perform the feng and shan rites on Mount Song. He drafted ritual protocols again and again, but the ceremony never took place. A rhyme said: "Not afraid you cannot climb—only afraid you cannot finish the climb. Three times conscripting troops and horses, and beating tengteng drums on the side road." Gaozong reached the foot of the mountain, fell ill, returned to the palace, and died. At the end of the Yonghui era village songs included the tunes "Mulberry Branch and Wei" and "When the Girl Wei." During the Shenlong era, when Empress Wei held power, Zheng Yin composed ten "Mulberry Branch Songs" and presented them to the court. In the Longshuo era a popular drinking game ran: "Mother and child part ways; overturn the linked platform dragon." People called cup and plate "mother and child," and also called the plate a "platform"—a prophecy fulfilled when Zhongzong was deposed to Fang Prefecture. Village songs then included "Turkic Salt." Later Empress Wu sent Minister Yan Zhiwei to escort Wu Yanxiu, installed Zhiwei as khan, and led them in raiding the borders. Early in the Ruyi era a village song ran: "Yellow stag, yellow stag hiding in the grass—bend the bow and shoot you down wounded." Later the Khitan Li Wanrong rebelled and seized Ying Prefecture. Empress Wu ordered Generals Cao Renshi, Wang Xiaojie, and others to march a million men against him. They were routed at Yellow Stag Valley, and the Khitan pressed their victory as far as Zhao Commandery. After the Chuigong era the Eastern Capital had the "Qibi Song," full of licentious verses. Later Zhang Yizhi and his brothers became imperial favorites; Yizhi's childhood name was Qibi. In the Yuanhe era children chanted: "Thresh wheat, thresh wheat, three-three-three"—then, turning around: "The dance is done." Wu Yuanheng was murdered by bandits on the third day of the sixth month.

《五行傳》所謂詩妖，皆此類也。

These are all examples of what the Treatise on the Five Phases calls "poetry portents."

上元中為服令，九品已上佩刀礪等袋，紛帨為魚形，結帛作之，為魚像鯉，強之意也。則天時此制遂絕，景雲後又佩之。

In the Shangyuan era a dress regulation required officials of the ninth rank and above to wear bags for knife and whetstone. The sash ends were knotted from silk in the shape of fish resembling carp, symbolizing strength. During Empress Wu's reign this regulation lapsed; after the Jingyun era it was worn again.

張易之為母阿臧為七寶帳，有魚龍鸞鳳之形，仍為象床、犀簟。則天令鳳閣侍郎李迥秀妻之，迥秀不獲已，然心惡其老，薄之。阿臧怒，出迥秀為定州刺史。

Zhang Yizhi had made for his mother Azang a canopy of the seven treasures adorned with fish, dragons, luan birds, and phoenixes, along with an ivory bed and a rhinoceros-horn mat. Empress Wu ordered Fengge Vice Minister Li Jiongxiu to marry her. Jiongxiu could not refuse, yet he resented her age in his heart and treated her coldly. Azang was enraged and had Jiongxiu posted out as prefect of Ding Prefecture.

中宗女安樂公主，有尚方織成毛裙，合百鳥毛，正看為一色，旁看為一色，日中為一色，影中為一色，百鳥之狀，並見裙中。凡造兩腰，一獻韋氏，計價百萬。又令尚方取百獸毛為韉面，視之各見本獸形。韋後又集鳥毛為韉面。安樂初出降武延秀，蜀川獻單絲碧羅籠裙，縷金為花鳥，細如絲髮，鳥子大如黍米，眼鼻嘴甲俱成，明目者方見之。自安樂公主作毛裙，百官之家多效之。江嶺奇禽異獸毛羽，采之殆盡。開元初，姚、宋執政，屢以奢靡為諫，玄宗悉命宮中出奇服，焚之於殿廷，不許士庶服錦繡珠翠之服。自是採捕漸息，風教日淳。

Emperor Zhongzong's daughter, Princess Anle, owned a feather skirt woven by the Palace Workshops from the plumage of a hundred birds. Viewed straight on it showed one color, from the side another, in sunlight one hue, in shadow another—the forms of all the birds could be seen together in the skirt. Two were made in all; one was presented to the Wei clan, at a cost of a million cash. She also ordered the Palace Workshops to make saddle flaps from the fur of a hundred beasts; viewed closely, each showed the form of its original animal. Empress Wei in turn had saddle flaps made from gathered bird feathers. When Anle was first married to Wu Yanxiu, Shu presented a cage-skirt of single-thread green gauze with gold filigree flowers and birds fine as silk hair. The birds were the size of millet grains, with eyes, nose, beak, and claws all complete—only those with sharp sight could make them out. After Princess Anle made feather skirts, many officials' households followed her example. The feathers and pelts of rare birds and beasts in the Jiang ranges and Ling mountains were gathered nearly to exhaustion. At the beginning of Kaiyuan, Yao Chong and Song Jing held power and repeatedly remonstrated against extravagance. Emperor Xuanzong ordered all extraordinary garments brought out from the palace and burned in the court hall, forbidding gentry and commoners to wear brocade, embroidery, pearls, and jade adornment. From this time gathering and hunting gradually ceased, and customs grew purer day by day.

韋庶人妹七姨，嫁將軍馮太和，權傾人主，嘗為豹頭枕以辟邪，白澤枕以辟魅，伏熊枕以宜男。太和死。再嫁嗣虢王。及玄宗誅韋後，虢王斬七姨首以獻。

The seventh aunt of Empress Wei, who married General Feng Taihe, wielded power rivaling the sovereign. She once used a leopard-head pillow to ward off evil, a white-unicorn pillow to ward off demons, and a crouching-bear pillow to favor the birth of sons. Taihe died. She remarried the heir to the Prince of Guo. When Emperor Xuanzong executed Empress Wei, the Prince of Guo beheaded the seventh aunt and presented her head.

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