Volume 116 Biographies 66: Suzong and Daizong's Sons

郭子儀，華州鄭縣人。父敬之，歷綏、渭、桂、壽、泗五州刺史，以子儀貴，贈太保，追封祁國公。子儀長六尺餘，體貌秀傑，始以武舉高等補左衛長史，累歷諸軍使。天寶八載，於木剌山置橫塞軍及安北都護府，命子儀領其使，拜左衛大將軍。十三載，移橫塞軍及安北都護府於永清柵北築城，仍改橫塞為天德軍，子儀為之使，兼九原太守、朔方節度右兵馬使。

Guo Ziyi was a native of Zheng County in Hua Prefecture. His father Guo Jingzhi had served in turn as prefect of five prefectures—Sui, Wei, Gui, Shou, and Si—and when Ziyi rose to greatness, Jingzhi was posthumously made Grand Mentor and enfeoffed as Duke of Qi. Ziyi stood more than six feet tall, with a striking and imposing bearing. He first entered service after placing high in the military examination, was appointed senior recorder of the Left Guard, and went on to hold a series of army commissioner posts. In Tianbao 8 (749), the Hengsai Army and the Anbei Protectorate were established at Mount Mula; Ziyi was placed in command as commissioner and appointed general of the Left Guard. In Tianbao 13 (754), the Hengsai Army and the Anbei Protectorate were relocated north of Yongqing Stockade and a fort was built; Hengsai was renamed the Tiande Army, with Ziyi as commissioner, while also serving as prefect of Jiuyuan and right army-and-horse commissioner under the Shuofang military governor.

十四載，安祿山反。十一月，以子儀為衛尉卿，兼靈武郡太守，充朔方節度使，詔子儀以本軍東討。遂舉兵出單於府，收靜邊軍，斬賊將周萬頃，傳首闕下。祿山遣大同軍使高秀巖寇河曲，子儀擊敗之，進收雲中馬邑，開東陘，以功加御史大夫。十五載正月，賊將蔡希德陷常山郡，執顏杲卿，河北郡縣皆為賊守。二月，子儀與河東節度使李光弼率師下井陘，拔常山郡，破賊於九門，南攻趙郡，生擒賊四千，皆舍之，斬偽太守郭獻璆，獲兵仗數萬。師還常山，賊將史思明以數萬人踵其後，我行亦行，我止亦止。子儀選驍騎五百更挑之，三日至行唐，賊疲乃退，我軍乘之，又敗於沙河。祿山聞思明敗，乃以精兵益之。我軍至恆陽，賊亦隨至。子儀堅壁自固，賊來則守，賊去則追，晝揚其兵，夕襲其幕，賊人不及息。數日，光弼議曰：「賊怠矣，可以戰。」六月，子儀、光弼率僕固懷恩、渾釋之、陳回光等陣於嘉山，賊將史思明、蔡希德、尹子奇等亦結陣而至，一戰敗之，斬馘四萬級，生擒五千人，獲馬五千匹，思明露髪跣足奔於博陵。於是河北十餘郡皆斬賊守者以迎王師。子儀將北圖范陽，軍聲大振。

In Tianbao 14 (755), An Lushan rose in rebellion. In the eleventh month, Ziyi was appointed Minister of the Guard and concurrent administrator of Lingwu Commandery, made military governor of Shuofang, and ordered to march east with his army against the rebels. He then marched out from the Chanyu Protectorate, recovered the Jingbian Army, beheaded the rebel general Zhou Wanqing, and sent his head to the court. Lushan sent the Datong Army commissioner Gao Xiuyan to raid the Hequ region; Ziyi routed him, advanced to recover Yunzhong and Mayi, opened the Eastern Pass, and was promoted to Censor-in-Chief for his achievements. In the first month of Tianbao 15 (756), the rebel general Cai Xide took Changshan Commandery and captured Yan Gaoqing; throughout Hebei, commanderies and counties fell under rebel control. In the second month, Ziyi and Hedong military governor Li Guangbi led their forces through Jingxing Pass, retook Changshan Commandery, routed the rebels at Jiumen, and pushed south into Zhao Commandery. They took four thousand rebels alive and then released them, executed the puppet prefect Guo Xianqiu, and captured tens of thousands of weapons. As the army withdrew to Changshan, the rebel general Shi Siming followed with tens of thousands of men, matching their every move—marching when they marched and halting when they halted. Ziyi picked five hundred elite horsemen to harass them in relays. After three days they reached Xingtang; when the rebels were worn down and pulled back, the imperial forces pressed the pursuit and routed them again at Shahe. When Lushan learned of Siming's defeat, he sent elite troops to reinforce him. When the imperial army reached Hengyang, the rebels came up right behind them. Ziyi fortified his position behind stout walls: when the rebels advanced he stood on the defense, when they withdrew he gave chase; by day he paraded his forces, by night he struck their camps, giving the enemy no respite. After several days, Guangbi argued, "The rebels are worn down—we can fight them now." In the sixth month, Ziyi and Guangbi, with Pugu Huai'en, Hun Jinzhi, Chen Huiguang, and others, formed battle lines at Jiashan. The rebel generals Shi Siming, Cai Xide, Yin Ziqi, and others did the same and advanced to meet them. One engagement broke the enemy: forty thousand were slain, five thousand taken alive, five thousand horses captured, and Siming fled to Boling with hair unbound and barefoot. Thereupon more than ten Hebei commanderies executed their rebel garrison commanders to welcome the imperial forces. Ziyi prepared to march north against Fanyang, and the army's prestige soared.

是月，哥舒翰為賊所敗，潼關不守，玄宗幸蜀，肅宗幸靈武，子儀副使杜鴻漸為朔方留後，奏迎車駕。七月，肅宗即位，以賊據兩京，方謀收復，詔子儀班師。八月，子儀與李光弼率步騎五萬至自河北。時朝廷初立，兵眾寡弱，雖得牧馬，軍容缺然。及子儀、光弼全師赴行在，軍聲遂振，興復之勢，民有望焉。詔以子儀為兵部尚書、同中書門下平章事，依前靈州大都督府長史、朔方軍節度使。肅宗大閱六軍，南趨關輔，至彭原郡，宰相房琯請兵萬人，自為統帥以討賊，帝素重琯，許之。兵及陳濤，為賊所敗，喪師殆盡。方事討除，而軍半殪，唯倚朔方軍為根本。十一月，賊將阿史那從禮以同羅、僕骨五千騎出塞，誘河曲九府、六胡州部落數萬，欲迫行在。子儀與回紇首領葛邏支往擊敗之，斬獲數萬，河曲平定。

That same month, Geshu Han was defeated by the rebels and Tong Pass fell. Emperor Xuanzong fled to Shu while Emperor Suzong went to Lingwu. Ziyi's deputy Du Hongjian, serving as acting Shuofang commander, memorialized to welcome the imperial procession. In the seventh month Suzong took the throne. With the rebels holding both capitals, the court turned to planning their recovery and ordered Ziyi to withdraw his army. In the eighth month, Ziyi and Li Guangbi arrived from Hebei at the head of fifty thousand foot and horse. The court had only just been established; its forces were few and weak, and though horses could be raised, the army still lacked proper equipment and bearing. When Ziyi and Guangbi brought their full armies to the temporary capital, military morale revived at once, the tide of restoration gathered strength, and the people dared to hope again. An edict made Ziyi Minister of War and a co-director of the Secretariat with the Chancellery, while he retained his posts as chief administrator of the Lingzhou metropolitan command and military governor of the Shuofang Army. Suzong held a grand review of the Six Armies and marched south toward Guanzhong, reaching Pengyuan Commandery. Chief minister Fang Guan asked for ten thousand men and offered to lead them personally against the rebels; the emperor had long held Fang in high regard and agreed. When the army reached Chen Tao, the rebels routed it and nearly annihilated the force. Just as the campaign to crush the rebellion was getting under way, half the army had been lost; only the Shuofang Army remained as the bedrock of imperial power. In the eleventh month the rebel general Ashina Congli led five thousand Tongluo and Pugu horsemen beyond the frontier, drew tens of thousands from the nine Hequ prefectures and the six Hu prefectures to his banner, and aimed to threaten the temporary capital. Ziyi marched with the Uyghur chief Eluozhi, defeated them, killed and captured tens of thousands, and pacified the Hequ region.

賊將崔乾祐守潼關。二年三月，子儀大破賊於潼關，崔乾祐退保蒲津。時永樂尉趙復、河東司戶韓旻、司士徐炅、宗子李藏鋒等，陷賊在蒲州，四人密謀俟王師至，則為內應。及子儀攻蒲州，趙復等斬賊守陴者，開門納子儀。乾祐與麾下數千人北走安邑，安邑百姓偽降，乾祐兵入將半，下懸門擊之，乾祐未入，遂得脫身東走。子儀遂收陜郡永豐倉。自是潼、陜之間無復寇鈔。

The rebel general Cui Qianyou held Tong Pass. In the third month of the second year, Ziyi routed the rebels at Tong Pass, and Cui Qianyou fell back to hold Pujin. At that time Yongle district magistrate Zhao Fu, Hedong registrar Han Min, clerk Xu Jiong, and imperial clansman Li Cangfeng were trapped in rebel-held Pu Prefecture. The four secretly agreed to serve as inside collaborators once the imperial army arrived. When Ziyi attacked Pu Prefecture, Zhao Fu and his companions killed the rebel guards on the walls, opened the gates, and welcomed Ziyi in. Qianyou fled north to Anyi with several thousand followers. The townspeople feigned surrender, and when his troops were halfway through the gate they dropped the portcullis and attacked. Qianyou never entered the city and escaped eastward. Ziyi then seized the Yongfeng granary in Shaan Commandery. From then on rebel raiders no longer troubled the region between Tong and Shaan.

是月，安祿山死，朝廷欲圖大舉，詔子儀還鳳翔。四月，進位司空，充關內、河東副元帥。五月，詔子儀帥師趨京城。師於潏水之西，與賊將安太清、安守忠戰，王師不利，其眾大潰，盡委兵仗於清渠之上。子儀收合餘眾，保武功，詣闕請罪，乞降官資，乃降為左僕射，餘如故。九月，從元帥廣平王率蕃漢之師十五萬進收長安。回紇遣葉護太子領四千騎助國討賊，子儀與葉護宴狎修好，相與誓平國難，相得甚好。子儀奉元帥為中軍，與賊將安守忠、李歸仁戰於京西香積寺之北，王師結陣橫亙三十里，賊眾十萬陳於北。歸仁先薄我軍，我軍亂，李嗣業奮命馳突，擒賊十餘騎乃定。回紇以奇兵出賊陣之後夾攻之，賊軍大潰，自午至酉，斬首六萬級。賊將張通儒守長安，聞歸仁等敗，是夜奔陜郡。翌日，廣平王入京師，老幼百萬，夾道歡叫，涕泣而言曰：「不圖今日復見官軍。」廣平王休士三日，率師東趨。肅宗在鳳翔聞捷，群臣稱賀，帝以宗廟被焚，悲咽不自勝，臣僚無不感泣。

That month An Lushan died. The court planned a major offensive and ordered Ziyi back to Fengxiang. In the fourth month he was promoted to Minister of Works and made deputy supreme commander for Guannei and Hedong. In the fifth month an edict ordered Ziyi to march on the capital. West of the Wei River his army met the rebel generals An Taiqing and An Shouzhong. The imperial forces were beaten, broke in disorder, and abandoned weapons and armor all along the Qing Canal. Ziyi rallied the survivors, held Wugong, went to court to accept blame, and asked to be demoted. He was reduced to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs while retaining his other offices. In the ninth month he followed supreme commander the Prince of Guangping, leading a combined force of one hundred fifty thousand Tang and allied troops to retake Chang'an. The Uyghurs sent Crown Prince Yehu with four thousand horsemen to help the dynasty fight the rebels. Ziyi feasted with Yehu and won his friendship; they swore together to end the national crisis and became exceedingly close. Ziyi placed the supreme commander at the center and fought the rebel generals An Shouzhong and Li Guiren north of Xiangji Temple west of the capital. The imperial army drew up a battle line thirty li wide, facing one hundred thousand rebels deployed to the north. Guiren struck first and threw the imperial line into disorder. Li Siye charged recklessly, seized more than ten rebel horsemen, and only then steadied the army. The Uyghurs sent a flanking force around the rear of the rebel line and attacked from both sides. The rebel army collapsed, and from noon to dusk sixty thousand heads were taken. The rebel general Zhang Tongru held Chang'an. When he heard that Guiren and the others had been defeated, he fled that night to Shaan Commandery. The next day the Prince of Guangping entered the capital. A million people young and old lined the streets, cheering and weeping as they cried, "We never dreamed we would see the imperial army again." The prince rested the troops for three days, then marched east. At Fengxiang, Suzong heard the news of victory. The ministers congratulated him, but the emperor, thinking of the burned ancestral temples, was overcome with grief, and the officials wept with him.

十月，安慶緒遣嚴莊悉其眾十萬來赴陜州，與張通儒同抗官軍。賊聞官軍至，悉其眾屯於陜西，負山為陣。子儀以大軍擊其前，回紇登山乘其背，遇賊潛師於山中，與鬥過期，大軍稍卻。賊分兵三千人，絕我歸路，眾心大搖，子儀麾回紇令進，盡殺之。師馳至其後，於黃埃中發十餘箭，賊驚顧曰：「回紇來！」即時大敗，僵屍遍山澤。嚴莊、張通儒走歸洛陽，遂與安慶緒渡河保相州。子儀奉廣平王入東都，陳兵於天津橋南，士庶歡呼於路。偽侍中陳希烈、偽中書令張垍等三百餘人素服請罪，王慰撫遣之。是時，河東、河西、河南賊所盜郡邑皆平，以功加司徒，封代國公，食邑千戶。尋入朝，天子遣兵仗戎容迎於灞上，肅宗勞之曰：「雖吾之家國，實由卿再造。」子儀頓首感謝。十二月，還東都，命子儀經營北討。乾元元年七月，破賊河上，擒偽將安守忠以獻，遂朝京師，敕百僚班迎於長樂驛，帝御望春樓待之，進位中書令。九月，奉詔大舉，子儀與河東節度使李光弼、關內節度使王思禮、北庭行營節度李嗣業、襄鄧節度使魯炅、荊南節度季廣琛、河南節度使崔光遠、滑濮節度許叔冀、平盧兵馬使董秦等九節度之師討安慶緒。帝以子儀、光弼俱是元勛，難相統屬，故不立元帥。唯以中官魚朝恩為觀軍容宣慰使。十月，子儀自杏園渡河，圍衛州。安慶緒與其驍將安雄俊、崔乾祐、薛嵩、田承嗣悉其眾來援，分為三軍。子儀陣以待之，預選射者三千人伏於壁內，誡之曰：「俟吾小卻，賊必爭進，則登城鼓噪，弓弩齊發以迫之。」既戰，子儀偽遁，賊果乘之，及壘門，遽聞鼓噪，俄而弓弩齊發，矢註如雨，賊徒震駭，子儀整眾追之，賊眾大敗。是役也，獲偽鄭王安慶和以獻，遂收衛州。進軍趨鄴，與賊再戰於愁思岡，賊軍又敗，乃連營圍之。慶緒遣薛嵩以所乘馬十匹求救於史思明，且言禪代。十二月，思明遣將李歸仁率眾赴之，營於滏陽。

In the tenth month An Qingxu sent Yan Zhuang with his full force of one hundred thousand to relieve Shaan Prefecture and, with Zhang Tongru, oppose the imperial army. When the rebels heard the imperial army was coming, they gathered their full strength west of Shaan and formed battle lines with the mountain at their backs. Ziyi struck their front with the main army while the Uyghurs climbed the mountain and hit them from behind. They ran into a rebel ambush in the hills, fought past the agreed time, and the main army gave ground slightly. The rebels sent three thousand men to cut off the retreat. Morale wavered sharply, but Ziyi ordered the Uyghurs forward and they slaughtered them to the last man. The army galloped around to their rear. More than ten arrows flew through the yellow dust, and the rebels looked back in alarm, shouting, "The Uyghurs are coming!" At once they were routed, and corpses covered the hills and marshes. Yan Zhuang and Zhang Tongru fled to Luoyang, then crossed the river with An Qingxu to hold Xiang Prefecture. Ziyi escorted the Prince of Guangping into the Eastern Capital, drew up troops south of Tianjin Bridge, and people cheered all along the road. The puppet chief minister Chen Xilie, puppet director of the Secretariat Zhang Ji, and more than three hundred others came in plain dress to plead guilty. The prince comforted them and let them go. By then the rebel-held commanderies and districts of Hedong, Hexi, and Henan had all been recovered. For his achievements he was made Minister of Education, enfeoffed as Duke of Dai, with a fief of one thousand households. He soon came to court. The emperor sent troops in full martial array to welcome him at Bashang, and Suzong praised him: "Though this is my house and realm, in truth you restored it." Ziyi kowtowed in gratitude. In the twelfth month he returned to the Eastern Capital and ordered Ziyi to organize the northern offensive. In the seventh month of Qianyuan 1 (758), he defeated the rebels on the river, captured the puppet general An Shouzhong and presented him, then came to the capital. The hundred officials were ordered to line up and welcome him at Changle Post Station; the emperor waited atop Wangchun Tower and promoted him to Director of the Secretariat. In the ninth month a major campaign was ordered. Ziyi, with the armies of nine military governors—Li Guangbi of Hedong, Wang Sili of Guannei, Li Siye of the Beiting field command, Lu Jiong of Xiang-Deng, Ji Guangchen of Jingnan, Cui Guangyuan of Henan, Xu Shuji of Hua-Pu, and Dong Qin of Pinglu—marched against An Qingxu. Because both Ziyi and Guangbi were founding heroes and neither could readily command the other, no supreme commander was appointed. Only the eunuch Yu Chao'en was made army-oversight commissioner and pacification envoy. In the tenth month Ziyi crossed the river from Xingyuan and besieged Weizhou. An Qingxu marched to relieve the city with his crack generals An Xiongjun, Cui Qianyou, Xue Song, and Tian Chengsi at the head of their full forces, divided into three armies. Ziyi drew up battle lines to meet them and beforehand picked three thousand archers to hide within the walls. He told them, "When I feign a slight retreat, the rebels will rush forward. Mount the walls, beat the drums, raise a clamor, and let bows and crossbows fire together to drive them back." When battle was joined, Ziyi feigned retreat. The rebels pursued as expected, and at the rampart gate drums and shouts erupted as bows and crossbows fired together, arrows falling like rain. The rebels were terrified. Ziyi re-formed his troops and pursued, routing the rebel army completely. In this battle the puppet Prince of Zheng, An Qinghe, was captured and presented, and Weizhou was taken. The army advanced on Ye, fought the rebels again at Chousi Ridge, routed them once more, and then laid siege with a chain of camps. Qingxu sent Xue Song with ten of his own horses to beg Shi Siming for help and to offer to abdicate in his favor. In the twelfth month Siming sent Li Guiren with his troops to relieve them and encamped at Fuyang.

二年正月，史思明自率范陽精卒復陷魏州，乃偽稱燕王。王師雖眾，軍無統帥，進退無所承稟，自冬徂春，竟未破賊，但引漳水以灌其城，城中食盡，易子而食。二月，思明率眾自魏州來。李光弼、王思禮、許叔冀、魯炅前軍遇賊於鄴南，與之接戰，夷傷相半，魯炅中流矢。子儀為後陣，未及合戰，大風遽起，吹沙拔木，天地晦暝，跬步不辯物色。我師潰而南，賊軍潰而北，委棄兵仗輜重，累積於路。諸軍各還本鎮。子儀以朔方軍保河陽，斷浮橋，有詔令留守東都。三月，以子儀為東都畿、山南東道、河南諸道行營元帥。

In the first month of the second year Shi Siming personally led elite Fanyang troops, retook Weizhou, and declared himself King of Yan. Though the imperial army was large, it had no commander-in-chief, and no one had authority over advance or retreat. From winter to spring they still failed to break the rebels, but only diverted the Zhang River to flood the city. Inside, food ran out and people resorted to exchanging children to eat. In the second month Siming marched from Weizhou with his army. The vanguard of Li Guangbi, Wang Sili, Xu Shuji, and Lu Jiong met the rebels south of Ye and fought them to a bloody standstill. Lu Jiong was hit by a stray arrow. Ziyi held the rear and had not yet joined battle when a violent wind sprang up, whipping sand and uprooting trees until heaven and earth went dark and one could not see a few steps ahead. The imperial army broke southward and the rebel army broke northward, leaving weapons and baggage heaped along the road. Each army withdrew to its home command. Ziyi held Heyang with the Shuofang Army, cut the pontoon bridge, and was ordered by edict to remain and guard the Eastern Capital. In the third month Ziyi was appointed supreme commander of the field headquarters for the Eastern Capital region, Shannan East Circuit, and the Henan circuits.

中官魚朝恩素害子儀之功，因其不振，媒孽之，尋召還京師。天子以趙王系為天下兵馬元帥，李光弼副之，委以陜東軍事，代子儀之任。子儀雖失兵柄，乃思王室，以禍難未平，不遑寢息。俄而史思明再陷河洛，朝廷旰食，復慮蕃寇逼迫京畿，三年正月，授子儀邠寧、鄜坊兩鎮節度使，仍留京師。言事者以子儀有社稷大功，今殘孽未除，不宜置之散地，肅宗深然之。上元元年九月，以子儀為諸道兵馬都統，管崇嗣副之，令率英武、威遠等禁軍及河西、河東諸鎮之師，取邠寧、朔方、大同、橫野，徑抵范陽。詔下旬日，復為朝恩所間，事竟不行。

The eunuch Yu Chao'en had long resented Ziyi's achievements. Seizing on his setback, Yu slandered him, and Ziyi was soon recalled to the capital. The emperor appointed Prince of Zhao Xi supreme commander of all armies, with Li Guangbi as deputy, and entrusted him with military affairs east of Shaan in Ziyi's place. Though Ziyi had lost command of the army, his thoughts remained with the throne. With the realm still in turmoil, he scarcely slept. Before long Shi Siming seized the He-Luo region again. The court labored late into the evening in anxiety and again feared barbarian raids on the capital. In the first month of the third year Ziyi was made military governor of Binning and Fufang, yet he remained at court. Memorialists argued that Ziyi had rendered great service to the dynasty and that, with rebel remnants still abroad, he should not be left idle. Suzong strongly agreed. In the ninth month of Shangyuan 1 (760) Ziyi was made overall commander of all circuit armies, with Guan Chongsi as deputy, and ordered to lead the Yingwu and Weiyuan palace guards and the Hexi and Hedong commands to recover Binning, Shuofang, Datong, and Hengye and march straight on Fanyang. An edict ordered departure within ten days, but Yu Chao'en interfered again and the campaign never took place.

上元二年二月，李光弼兵敗於邙山，河陽失守，魚朝恩退保陜州。三年二月，河中軍亂，殺其帥李國貞。時太原節度鄧景山亦為部下所殺，恐其合從連賊，朝廷憂之。後輩帥臣未能彈壓，勢不獲已，遂用子儀為朔方、河中、北庭、潞、儀、澤、沁等州節度行營兼興平、定國副元帥，充本管觀察處置使，進封汾陽郡王，出鎮絳州。三月，子儀辭赴鎮，肅宗不豫，群臣莫有見者。子儀請曰：「老臣受命，將死於外，不見陛下，目不瞑矣。」帝乃引至臥內，謂子儀曰：「河東之事，一以委卿。」子儀嗚咽流涕。賜禦馬、銀器、雜彩，別賜絹四萬疋、布五萬端以賞軍。子儀至絳，擒其殺國貞賊首王元振數十人誅之。太原辛雲京聞子儀誅元振，亦誅害景山者，由是河東諸鎮率皆奉法。四月，代宗即位，內官程元振用事，自矜定策之功，忌嫉宿將，以子儀功高難制，巧行離間，請罷副元帥，加實封七百戶，充肅宗山陵使。子儀既謝恩，上表進肅宗所賜前後詔敕，因自陳訴曰：臣德薄蟬翼，命輕鴻毛，累蒙國恩，猥廁朝列。會天地震蕩，中原血戰，臣北自靈武，冊先皇帝，乃舉兵而南，大搜於岐陽。先帝憂勤宗社，托臣以家國，俾副陛下掃兩京之妖昆。陛下雄圖丕斷，再造區宇，自後不以臣寡劣，委文武之二柄，外敷邦教，內調鼎飪，是以常許國家之死，實荷日月之明。臣本愚淺，言多詆直，慮此招謗，上瀆冕旒。陛下居高聽卑，察臣不貳，皇天後土，察臣無私。伏以器忌滿盈，日增兢惕，焉敢偷全，久妨賢路？自受恩塞下，制敵行間，東西十年，前後百戰。天寒劍折，濺血沾衣；野宿魂驚，飲冰傷骨。跋涉難阻，出沒死生，所仗唯天，以至今日。陛下曲申惠獎，念及勤勞，貽臣詔書一千餘首，聖旨微婉，慰諭綢繆，彰微臣一時之功，成子孫萬代之寶。自靈武、河北、河南、彭原、鄜坊、河東、鳳翔、兩京、絳州，臣所經行，賜手詔敕書凡二十卷，昧死上進，庶煩聽覽。

In the second year of Shangyuan, in the second month Li Guangbi was defeated at Mount Mang, Heyang fell, and Yu Chao'en withdrew to hold Shaan Prefecture. In the second month of the third year the Hezhong army mutinied and killed its commander Li Guozhen. At the same time Taiyuan military governor Deng Jingshan was killed by his own men. The court feared the mutinies might join forces and ally with the rebels. Later commanders could not suppress the unrest, and the court had no choice. Ziyi was made commander of the field headquarters for Shuofang, Hezhong, Beiting, Lu, Yi, Ze, and Qin, concurrently deputy supreme commander for Xingping and Dingguo, and commissioner for observation and disposition of his jurisdiction. He was ennobled as Prince of Fenyang and sent out to take command from Jiang Prefecture. In the third month Ziyi took leave to go to his post. Suzong was ill, and none of the ministers had been granted an audience. Ziyi petitioned, "This old servant has received his commission and will die in the field. If I do not see Your Majesty, my eyes will not close in death." The emperor then led him into the inner chamber and said, "Matters in Hedong I entrust entirely to you." Ziyi sobbed convulsively, tears streaming down. The emperor granted him imperial horses, silver vessels, and various colored silks, and separately awarded forty thousand bolts of silk and fifty thousand bolts of cloth to reward the troops. When Ziyi reached Jiang Prefecture, he captured and executed several dozen rebel ringleaders, including Wang Yuanzhen, who had killed Li Guozhen. Xin Yunjing of Taiyuan, learning that Ziyi had executed Yuanzhen, also put to death those who had killed Deng Jingshan. Thereafter the garrisons of Hedong for the most part all submitted to authority. In the fourth month Daizong took the throne. The eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen held power, boasting of his role in securing the succession and resenting veteran commanders. Because Ziyi's stature made him hard to control, Cheng craftily drove wedges between him and the throne, asking that his deputy marshal's post be removed, that seven hundred taxable households be added to his fief, and that he be made supervisor of Suzong's mausoleum. After Ziyi had thanked the emperor, he submitted a memorial presenting the edicts and commands that Suzong had granted him before and after, and then stated his own grievance, saying: Your subject's virtue is thinner than a cicada's wing, and his life lighter than a swan goose's feather. I have repeatedly received the state's grace and have been unworthily placed among the ranks of court. When heaven and earth shook and the Central Plain fought in blood, your subject went north from Lingwu, enthroned the late emperor, and then raised troops and went south, making a great muster at Qiyang. The late emperor, anxious and diligent for the ancestral altars, entrusted household and state to your subject and had me serve as deputy to Your Majesty in sweeping away the monstrous rebels in the two capitals. Your Majesty, with heroic plan and great decisiveness, recreated the realm, and after that did not reject your subject for his few and inferior qualities, but entrusted to him the two handles of civil and military authority, spreading the state's teaching outwardly and regulating the cauldron within. Therefore I have always pledged my death to the state and have truly borne the brightness of sun and moon. Your subject is by nature foolish and shallow, and his words are often blunt and direct. I fear this has invited slander and has offended the imperial crown above. Your Majesty dwells high and listens to the lowly, and knows your subject is not double-hearted; august Heaven and sovereign Earth know your subject has no private intent. I humbly submit that vessels are warned against fullness and overflowing, and my fear and caution increase daily. How would I dare steal wholeness for myself and long obstruct the road of the worthy? Since receiving grace below the frontier, controlling the enemy amid the ranks, east and west for ten years, through a hundred battles before and after: in Heaven's cold my sword broke, and spattered blood stained my clothes; sleeping in the wild, my soul was startled, and drinking ice injured my bones. Through difficult crossings and obstacles, appearing and disappearing between death and life, I relied only on Heaven to reach today. Your Majesty has bent down to extend generous praise, remembering my diligence and labor, and has bestowed on your subject more than a thousand imperial letters. The sacred intent was subtle and gentle, its consolation careful and repeated, displaying your lowly subject's merit of one time and making a treasure for my descendants for ten thousand generations. From Lingwu, Hebei, Henan, Pengyuan, Fufang, Hedong, Fengxiang, the two capitals, and Jiangzhou, wherever your subject passed, the handwritten edicts and letters granted to me amount to twenty scrolls. Risking death, I present them upward, hoping to trouble Your Majesty's attention.

詔答曰：「朕不德不明，俾大臣憂疑，朕之過也。朕甚自愧，公勿以為慮。」代宗以子儀頃同患難，收復兩京，禮之逾厚。時史朝義尚據洛陽，元帥雍王率師進討，代宗欲以子儀副之，而魚朝恩、程元振亂政，殺裴茂、來瑱，子儀既為所間，其事遂寢，乃留京師。

The edict replied, "Because I am without virtue and without clarity, I have caused a great minister to be anxious and suspicious. This is my fault. I am deeply ashamed; you, Duke, must not take it as a concern." Because Daizong had recently shared hardship with Ziyi and because Ziyi had recovered the two capitals, the emperor treated him with ever greater honor. At the time Shi Chaoyi still held Luoyang, and the Prince of Yong, as supreme commander, marched to attack him. Daizong wished to appoint Ziyi as his deputy, but Yu Chao'en and Cheng Yuanzhen were corrupting the government and had Pei Mao and Lai Tian killed. Ziyi had been turned against, the plan came to nothing, and he remained at court.

俄而梁崇義據襄陽叛，僕固懷恩阻兵於汾州，引回紇、吐蕃之眾入寇河西。明年十月，吐蕃陷涇州，虜刺史高暉，暉遂與蕃軍為鄉導，引賊深入京畿，掠奉天、武功，濟渭而南，緣山而東。渭北行營兵馬使呂日將逆戰於盩厔，自辰至酉，殺蕃軍數千，然其徒多殞。賊將逼京師，君上計無所出，遽詔子儀為關內副元帥，出鎮咸陽。子儀自相州不利，李光弼代掌兵柄，及征還朝廷，部曲散去。及是承詔，部下唯二十騎，強取民家畜產以助軍。至咸陽，蕃軍已過渭水。其日，天子避狄幸陜州。子儀聞上避狄，雪涕還京，至則車駕已發。射生將王獻忠從駕，沿路遂以四百騎叛，仍逼豐王已下十王欲投於賊。子儀入開遠門，遇之，詰豐王等所向，遂護送行在。子儀以三千騎傍南山，至商州，得武關防兵及六軍散卒四千人，招輯亡逸，其軍漸振。蕃犯京城，得故邠王守禮子廣武王承宏，立帝號，假署百官。子儀遣六軍兵馬使張知節、烏崇福、羽林軍使長孫全緒等將兵萬人為前鋒，營於韓公堆，盛張旗幟，鼓鞞震山谷。全緒遣禁軍舊將王甫入長安，陰結少年豪俠以為內應，一日，齊擊鼓於朱雀街，蕃軍惶駭而去。大將李忠義先屯兵苑中，渭北節度使王仲升守朝堂。子儀以大軍續進，至浐西。射生將王撫自署為京兆尹，聚兵二千人，擾亂京城，子儀召撫殺之。詔子儀權京城留守。

Soon afterward Liang Chongyi seized Xiangyang and rebelled, while Pugu Huaien defied the court with troops at Fen Prefecture and brought Uyghur and Tibetan forces to raid Hexi. In the tenth month of the following year the Tibetans took Jing Prefecture and captured its prefect, Gao Hui. Hui then guided the Tibetan army inland, leading the enemy deep into the capital region. They plundered Fengtian and Wugong, crossed the Wei southward, and marched east along the foothills. Lu Rijiang, cavalry commander of the Weibei field headquarters, met the invaders at Zhouzhi. From morning until evening he killed several thousand Tibetans, but many of his own men fell as well. With enemy generals closing on the capital and the emperor at a loss, an urgent edict made Ziyi deputy supreme commander of Guannei and sent him out to hold Xianyang. Ever since his setback at Xiang Prefecture, when Li Guangbi had taken over command, Ziyi's retainers had scattered once he was recalled to court. When he answered this summons, only twenty horsemen remained under his command. He forcibly requisitioned livestock from local households to support the army. By the time he reached Xianyang, the Tibetan army had already crossed the Wei. That same day the emperor fled the barbarian advance to Shan Prefecture. Hearing that the emperor had fled, Ziyi wiped away his tears and hurried back to the capital, but by the time he arrived the imperial procession was already gone. The imperial hunt guard Wang Xianzhong rode with the procession, but along the way he rebelled with four hundred horsemen and forced ten princes, beginning with the Prince of Feng, toward defection to the enemy. Ziyi entered Kaiyuan Gate, intercepted them, demanded to know where the Prince of Feng and the others were headed, and then escorted the imperial presence on its way. Ziyi led three thousand horsemen along the southern slopes to Shang Prefecture, where he gathered the Wuguan garrison and four thousand scattered soldiers from the Six Armies, rallied the fugitives, and gradually restored his force. When the Tibetans entered the capital, they found Cheng Hong, Prince of Guangwu, son of the former Prince of Bin, Li Shouli. They set up an imperial regime and provisionally appointed a full bureaucracy. Ziyi sent the Six Armies cavalry commissioners Zhang Zhijie and Wu Chongfu, the Imperial Guard commander Zhangsun Quanxu, and others at the head of ten thousand men. They encamped at Han Gongdui, raised a great show of banners, and beat drums that shook the valleys. Quanxu sent the former Imperial Guard officer Wang Fu into Chang'an to secretly enlist young bravos as inside allies. One day they sounded drums together in Zhuque Street, and the Tibetan army fled in panic. Grand general Li Zhongyi first encamped in the imperial park, while Weibei military governor Wang Zhongsheng held the audience hall. Ziyi pressed forward with the main army as far as the west bank of the Chan River. The imperial hunt guard Wang Fu declared himself Jingzhao intendant, raised two thousand men, and threw the capital into disorder. Ziyi summoned him and had him executed. An edict appointed Ziyi provisional protector of the capital.

自西蕃入寇，車駕東幸，天下皆咎程元振，諫官屢論之。元振懼，又以子儀復立功，不欲天子還京，勸帝且都洛陽以避蕃冠，代宗然之，下詔有日。子儀聞之，因兵部侍郎張重光宣慰回，附章論奏曰：臣聞雍州之地，古稱天府，右探隴、蜀，左扼崤、函，前有終南、太華之險，後有清渭、濁河之固，神明之奧，王者所都。地方數千里，帶甲十餘萬，兵強士勇，雄視八方，有利則出攻，無利則入守。此用武之國，非諸夏所同，秦、漢因之，卒成帝業。其後或處之而泰，去之而亡，前史所書，不唯一姓。及隋氏季末，煬帝南遷，河、洛丘墟，兵戈亂起。高祖唱義，亦先入關，惟能翦滅奸雄，底定區宇。以至於太宗、高宗之盛，中宗、玄宗之明，多在秦川，鮮居東洛。間者羯胡構亂，九服分崩，河北、河南，盡從逆命。然而先帝仗朔方之眾，慶緒奔亡；陛下藉西土之師，朝義就戮。豈唯天道助順，抑亦地形使然，此陛下所知，非臣飾說。近因吐蕃淩逼，鑾駕東巡。蓋以六軍之兵，素非精練，皆市肆屠沽之人，務掛虛名，茍避征賦，及驅以就戰，百無一堪。亦有潛輸貨財，因以求免。又中官掩蔽，庶政多荒。遂令陛下振蕩不安，退居陜服。斯蓋關於委任失所，豈可謂秦地非良者哉！今道路云云，不知信否，咸謂陛下已有成命，將幸洛都。臣熟思其端，未見其利。夫以東周之地，久陷賊中，宮室焚燒，十不存一。百曹荒廢，曾無尺椽，中間畿內，不滿千戶。井邑榛荊，豺狼站嗥，既乏軍儲，又鮮人力，東至鄭、汴，達於徐方，北自覃懷，經於相土，人煙斷絕，千里蕭條。將何以奉萬乘之牲餼，供百官之次舍？矧其土地狹厄，才數百里間，東有成臯，南有二室，險不足恃，適為戰場。陛下奈何棄久安之勢，從至危之策，忽社稷之計，生天下之心。臣雖至愚，竊為陛下不取。且聖旨所慮，豈不以京畿新遭剽掠，田野空虛，恐糧食不充，國用有闕，以臣所見，深謂不然。昔衛文小國之君，諸侯之主耳，遭懿公為狄所滅，始廬於曹，衣大布之衣，冠大帛之冠，元年革車三十乘，季年三百乘，卒能恢復舊業，享無疆之休。況明明天子，躬儉節用，茍能黜素餐之吏，去冗食之官，抑豎刁、易牙之權，任蘧瑗、史䲡之直，薄征馳力，恤隱迨鰥，委諸相以簡賢任能，付老臣以練兵禦侮，則黎元自理，寇盜自平，中興之功，旬月可冀，卜年之期，永永無極矣。願時邁順動，回鑾上都，再造邦家，唯新庶政，奉宗廟以修薦享，謁陵寢以崇孝思，臣雖隕越，死無所恨。

After the western barbarians invaded and the emperor fled east, the whole empire blamed Cheng Yuanzhen, and censors repeatedly denounced him. Yuanzhen was afraid, and because Ziyi had distinguished himself again he did not want the emperor to return to Chang'an. He urged Daizong to move the court temporarily to Luoyang to escape the Tibetans. Daizong agreed, and an edict was set to be issued. When Ziyi heard of this, he attached a memorial to Zhang Chongguang, Vice Minister of War, as Zhang returned from his consolation mission, and submitted it, saying: Your subject has heard that the land of Yongzhou was called Heaven's storehouse in antiquity. To the right it reaches toward Long and Shu; to the left it controls Xiao and Han. Before it are the defenses of Zhongnan and Taihua; behind it are the fastnesses of the clear Wei and muddy Yellow River. It is a mysterious inner place of divine clarity and the capital of kings. The region extends several thousand li and has more than a hundred thousand armored troops; its soldiers are strong and its men brave, looking proudly over the eight directions. When there is advantage, it goes out to attack; when there is no advantage, it goes in to defend. This is a state for the use of arms and is not the same as the various lands of Xia. Qin and Han relied on it and in the end completed imperial enterprises. Afterward, some who occupied it were secure, and some who left it perished; what earlier histories record is not limited to one surname. By the end of the Sui house, Emperor Yang moved south, the Yellow River and Luo region became mounds and ruins, and wars arose. Gaozu raised the righteous standard and also first entered the Pass, and only then was able to cut down the treacherous heroes and settle the realm. Down to the flourishing of Taizong and Gaozong and the brightness of Zhongzong and Xuanzong, most dwelt in Qinchuan and few lived in Eastern Luo. Recently the Jie barbarian created disorder and the nine services split apart; Hebei and Henan all followed the rebel command. Yet the late emperor relied on the troops of Shuofang, and Qingxu fled in defeat; Your Majesty relied on the armies of the western lands, and Chaoyi was executed. This was not only the Way of Heaven assisting the obedient; it was also the terrain making it so. Your Majesty knows this, and it is not an embellished argument by your subject. Recently, because Tibet pressed and threatened us, the imperial carriage made an eastern tour. This was because the soldiers of the Six Armies had never been well trained; they were all men of the markets, butchers, and sellers of wine, intent on hanging up empty names and merely avoiding conscription and taxes. When driven into battle, not one in a hundred was fit. There were also those who secretly paid money and goods to seek exemption. In addition, eunuchs concealed matters and the many policies were much neglected. This caused Your Majesty to be shaken and unsettled and to withdraw to the region of Shaan. This all relates to appointments being misplaced. How can it be said that the Qin lands are not good? Now there is talk on the roads, and I do not know whether it is trustworthy, but all say Your Majesty already has a settled command and will visit the capital of Luo. Your subject has considered the matter carefully and has not seen its benefit. As for the land of Eastern Zhou, it has long been trapped among the rebels. Palaces and halls have been burned, and not one in ten survives. The hundred offices are desolate and abandoned, without even a foot of beam; in the imperial district between them, there are not a thousand households. Wells and settlements are choked with brush, jackals and wolves howl there, and there is neither military supply nor human strength. Eastward to Zheng and Bian, reaching to Xufang, and northward from Tanhuai, passing through the lands of Xiang, human smoke is cut off and a thousand li are bleak. How will it provide sacrificial animals and provisions for the imperial carriage, or supply lodgings for the hundred officials? Moreover, its territory is narrow, only a few hundred li across. To the east is Chenggao; to the south are the Two Peaks. Its terrain offers no reliable defense and merely makes a battlefield. How can Your Majesty abandon the position of long security, follow a policy of utmost danger, neglect the plan for the altars of state, and produce doubt in the hearts of the realm? Though your subject is extremely foolish, I privately do not choose this for Your Majesty. Moreover, what the sacred intent worries over is surely that the capital region has newly suffered plunder, the fields are empty, grain may not suffice, and state use may have shortages. From what your subject sees, I deeply think this is not so. Formerly Duke Wen of Wei was the ruler of a small state, only a lord among the feudal lords. After Duke Yi was destroyed by the Di, he first lodged at Cao, wore clothes of coarse cloth and a cap of plain silk; in his first year he had thirty war chariots, and by his last year three hundred, and in the end he was able to recover his old enterprise and enjoy boundless blessing. How much more a brilliant Son of Heaven: if you personally practice frugality and economize use, dismiss officials who eat without service, remove redundant food-consuming officers, suppress the power of Shudiao and Yiya, employ the uprightness of Qu Yuan and Shi Qiu, lighten levies and use strength carefully, show compassion to the distressed and reach even widowers, entrust the chief ministers with selecting the worthy and employing the able, and entrust the old minister with training troops and resisting insult, then the black-haired people will order themselves, bandits and robbers will be pacified by themselves, the achievement of restoration can be hoped for within ten days or a month, and the allotted span of the dynasty will be endless forever. I hope you will move according to the proper time and act in accord with what is right, turn the imperial carriage back to the upper capital, recreate the state, renew the many policies, serve the ancestral temple by repairing offerings and sacrifices, and visit the imperial tombs to exalt filial thought. Though your subject should fall and die, in death I would have no regret.

代宗省表，垂泣謂左右曰：「子儀用心，真社稷臣也。可亟還京師。」十一月，車駕自陜還宮，子儀伏地請罪，帝駐車勞之曰：「朕用卿不早，故及於此。」乃賜鐵券，圖形淩煙閣。

Daizong read the memorial and, weeping, told those around him, "In his loyalty Ziyi is a true pillar of the realm. We should return to the capital at once." In the eleventh month the emperor returned from Shan Prefecture to the palace. Ziyi prostrated himself and asked to be punished. The emperor halted his carriage and comforted him, saying, "I did not use you soon enough, and that is why this happened." He then granted Ziyi an iron certificate of immunity and had his portrait placed in Lingyan Pavilion.

是時，河北副元帥僕固懷恩方頓軍汾州，掠并、汾諸縣以為己邑。乃以子儀兼關內河東副元帥、河中節度觀察使，出鎮河中。蕃戎既退，僕固懷恩部下離散。是月，懷恩子瑒主兵榆次，為帳下將張惟嶽所殺，傳首京師。惟嶽以瑒之眾歸於子儀，懷恩懼，棄其母而走靈州。明年九月，以子儀守太尉，充北道邠寧、涇原、河西已東通和蕃及朔方招撫觀察使，其關內河東副元帥、中書令如故。子儀以懷恩未誅，不宜讓使，堅辭太尉，曰：「太尉職雄任重，竊憂非據，輒敢上聞。伏奉詔書，未允誠懇。臣疇昔之分，早知止足，今茲累請，竊懼滿盈。義實由衷，事非矯飾，志之所至，敢不盡言。自兵亂已來，紀綱浸壞，時多躁競，俗少廉隅。德薄而位尊，功微而賞厚，實繁有眾，不可殫論。臣每見之，深以為念。昔范宣子讓，其下皆讓，欒騕為汰，不敢違也。臣誠薄劣，竊慕古人，務欲以身率先，大變浮俗，是用勤勤懇懇，願罷此官，庶禮讓興行，由臣而致也。臣位為上相，爵為真王，參啟沃之謀，受腹心之寄，恩榮已極，功業已成，尋合乞骸，保全餘齒。但以冠仇在近，家國未安，臣子之心，不敢寧處。茍西戎即敘，懷恩就擒，疇昔官爵，誓無所受，必當追蹤范蠡，繼跡留侯。臣之鄙懷，切在於此。」優詔不許。子儀見上，感泣懇讓，乃止。

At this time Pugu Huaien, deputy supreme commander of Hebei, was encamped at Fen Prefecture, plundering the counties of Bing and Fen and treating them as his private domain. The court then made Ziyi concurrently deputy supreme commander of Guannei and Hedong and military governor and observation commissioner of Hezhong, and sent him out to command from there. Once the western barbarians had withdrawn, Pugu Huaien's followers scattered. That month Huaien's son Yang held troops at Yuci and was killed by his officer Zhang Weiyue; his head was sent to the capital. Weiyue brought Yang's troops over to Ziyi. Huaien, terrified, abandoned his mother and fled to Ling Prefecture. In the ninth month of the following year Ziyi was made Grand Preceptor and appointed northern-circuit pacification and observation commissioner over Binning, Jingyuan, Hexi eastward, and Shuofang, charged with managing relations with the Tibetans. His posts as deputy supreme commander of Guannei and Hedong and as grand councilor remained unchanged. Because Huaien had not yet been brought to justice, Ziyi held that he ought not accept the appointment. He firmly declined the Grand Preceptor's post, saying, "The Grand Preceptor's office is exalted and its burden heavy. I fear I am unworthy of it and venture to lay this before Your Majesty. I have received Your Majesty's edict, yet my sincere request has not been granted. Your subject has long known the limits of his proper share and when to stop. These repeated petitions come only from my fear of excess. This is sincere conviction, not pretense. Where my heart leads, how can I fail to speak plainly? Since the wars began, discipline has steadily decayed. The age is full of reckless ambition, and integrity has grown rare. Men of slight virtue hold lofty rank; men of slight merit receive lavish reward. Such cases are countless and cannot all be discussed. Whenever I see this, it weighs heavily on my mind. In antiquity, when Fan Xuanzi yielded office, all beneath him yielded as well. Even Luan Yan, for all his excess, did not dare break that example. I am a man of little worth, yet I admire the ancients and wish to lead by example and change these shallow ways. That is why I earnestly beg to be relieved of this office, so that courtesy and restraint may be restored through my act. I stand as chief minister and hold the rank of a full prince. I share in the deepest counsel of state and bear the emperor's innermost trust. Honor has already reached its height, and my work is done. It is time to ask leave to retire and preserve what years remain to me. It is only that our mortal foe still presses close, the realm and house are not yet at peace, and the heart of a loyal subject cannot rest easy. Should the western tribes be brought to order and Huai'en taken prisoner, I swear I will accept none of the honors I once held. I mean to retire as Fan Li did, and walk the path of the Marquis of Liu. This, and nothing else, is the humble wish I hold in my heart." The emperor issued a gracious edict refusing his request. Ziyi went before the throne, wept as he pleaded to be released from the honor, and at last desisted.

十月，僕固懷恩引吐蕃、回紇、党項數十萬南下，京師大恐，子儀出鎮奉天。帝召子儀問禦戎之計，子儀曰：「以臣所見，懷恩無能為也。」帝問其故，對曰：「懷恩雖稱驍勇，素失士心，今所以能為亂者，引思歸之人耳。懷恩本臣偏將，其下皆臣之部曲，臣恩信嘗及之，今臣為大將，必不忍以鋒刃相向，以此知其無能為也。」虜寇邠州，子儀在涇陽，子儀令長男朔方兵馬使曜率師援之，與邠寧節度使白孝德閉城拒守。懷恩前鋒至奉天，近城挑戰，諸將請擊之，子儀止之曰：「夫客兵深入，利在速戰，不可爭鋒。彼皆吾之部曲，緩之自當攜貳；若迫之，是速其戰，戰則勝負未可知。敢言戰者斬！」堅壁待之，果不戰而退。子儀自涇陽入朝，帝御安福門待之，命子儀樓上行朝見之禮，宴賜隆厚。

In the tenth month Pugu Huai'en marched south at the head of several hundred thousand Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Tangut warriors. Terror seized the capital, and Ziyi rode out to take command at Fengtian. The emperor called Ziyi in to ask how the invaders might be repelled. Ziyi answered, "As I see it, Huai'en can do nothing." When the emperor asked why, he replied, "Huai'en may have a name for valor, but he lost his men's loyalty long ago. All that lets him raise rebellion is that he is dragging along troops who only want to go home. Huai'en was once my subordinate, and his men were my own troops. They knew my kindness and trust. Now that I command the army, they will not willingly cross swords with me. That is how I know he can do nothing." The enemy struck Bin Prefecture while Ziyi was at Jingyang. He sent his eldest son Guo Yao, military commissioner of Shuofang, to relieve the city. With Bai Xiaode, military governor of Binning, they shut the gates and stood firm. Huai'en's advance guard reached Fengtian and challenged the walls. The officers wanted to strike, but Ziyi forbade it. "An enemy army deep in hostile country wants a quick fight," he said. "We must not meet them blade to blade. Those men were once mine. Give them time, and they will split among themselves. Drive them hard and you force the battle—and then who can say who will win? Let any man who dares speak of giving battle lose his head!" They held behind strong walls and waited. In the end the enemy withdrew without a fight. Ziyi came to court from Jingyang. The emperor received him at Anfu Gate, had him perform the audience ceremony from the gate tower, and honored him with a feast and rich rewards.

十一月，以子儀為尚書令，上表懇辭曰：「臣以薄劣，素乏行能，逢時擾攘，猥蒙驅策，內參朝政，外總兵權。上不能翼戴三光，下不能糾逖群慝，功微賞厚，任重恩深，覆餗之憂，實盈寤寐。臣昨所以固辭太尉，乞保餘年，殊私曲臨，遂見矜許。竊謂陛下已知其願，深察其心，豈意未歷旬時，復延寵命。以臣褊淺，又寡智謀，安可謬職南宮，當茲大任？況太宗昔居籓邸，嘗踐此官，累聖相承，曠而不置。皇太子為雍王之日，陛下以其總兵薄伐，平定關東，飲至策勛，再有斯授。豈臣末職，敢亂大倫？德薄位尊，難逃天子之責；負乘致冠，復速神明之誅。伏乞天慈，俯停新命。」答詔不允。翌日，敕所司令子儀於尚書省視事。詔宰相百僚送上，遣射生五百騎執戟翼從，自朝堂至省，賜教坊樂。子儀不受，復上表曰：臣伏以尚書令，武德之際，太宗為之，昨瀝懇上陳，請罷斯職；而陛下未垂亮察，務欲褒崇，區區微誠，益用惶懼。何則？太宗立極之主，聖德在人，自後因廢此官，永代作則。陛下守文繼體，固當奉而行之，豈可猥私老臣，隳厥成式，上掩陛下之德，下貽萬方之非。臣雖至愚，安敢輕受？況久經兵亂，僭賞者多，一人之身，兼官數四，朱紫同色，清濁不分，「爛羊」之謠，復聞聖代。臣頃觀其弊，思革其源，以逆寇猶存，未敢輕議。今元兇沮敗，計日成擒，中外無虞，妖氛漸息。此陛下作法之際，審官之時，固合始於老臣，化及班列。豈可輕為此舉，以亂國章？國章亂於上，則庶政隳於下，海內之政皆亂，則國家又安得永代而無患哉！陛下茍能從臣之言，俯察誠請，彼貪榮冒進者，亦將各讓其所兼之官，自然天下文明，百工式敘，太平之業，可得而復也。臣誠蒙鄙，識昧古今，志之所切，實在於此。

In the eleventh month Ziyi was appointed Director of the Imperial Secretariat. He memorialized the throne in earnest refusal: "I am a man of little talent and poor merit. In these turbulent times I have undeservedly been pressed into service, sharing in court policy within and commanding armies without. I cannot worthily serve heaven, earth, and the sovereign above, nor put down wickedness far and near below. My deeds are small while your gifts are great; my burden is heavy while your kindness runs deep. Night and day I live in dread of failing you. Only yesterday I firmly refused the Grand Commandant's seal and begged to keep what years remain to me. Your Majesty's gracious indulgence bent to my wish, and you were pleased to allow it. I had thought Your Majesty understood my wish and saw my heart clearly. I never imagined that in less than ten days you would honor me with a new appointment. I am narrow-minded, shallow, and lacking in counsel. How can such a man rightly fill the office of the Secretariat and shoulder so great a charge? Besides, when Emperor Taizong still lived in the princely residence he once held this office. Since then successive sage emperors have kept it vacant. When the Crown Prince was still Prince of Yong, Your Majesty gave him this post after he took command of a punitive campaign, pacified the eastern passes, and was honored at the victory feast for his deeds. How could a man of my humble station dare disturb so august a precedent? Virtue too slight for so high a rank cannot escape the judgment of heaven's son. To take on more than my strength can bear would only invite heaven's wrath upon me. I humbly beg Your Majesty, in your heavenly kindness, to withdraw this new command." The emperor's written reply refused to grant his request. The following day an edict commanded the relevant offices to install Ziyi at the Secretariat to begin his duties. The court ordered the chief ministers and all officials to escort him in procession. Five hundred mounted archers with halberds rode in attendance from the hall of audience to the Secretariat, and musicians from the imperial Music Bureau were sent to honor the occasion. Ziyi would not accept and again submitted a memorial, saying: Your subject humbly submits that as for Director of the Department of State Affairs, in the Wude era Taizong held this office. Yesterday I poured out my earnestness and stated upward my request that this office be withdrawn, yet Your Majesty has not extended discerning understanding and is determined to praise and exalt me. My small sincerity is all the more fearful. Why? Taizong was the ruler who established the throne, and his sacred virtue remains among the people. After him this office was therefore abolished, making a model for all ages. Your Majesty preserves the pattern and succeeds to the body of rule, and naturally should uphold and practice it. How could you improperly favor an old minister, destroy that completed rule, above conceal Your Majesty's virtue, and below leave criticism to the myriad regions? Though your subject is extremely foolish, how would I dare accept it lightly? Moreover, after long years of war and disorder, many have been given excessive rewards. One person's body may hold three or four concurrent offices; vermilion and purple become the same color, purity and impurity are not distinguished, and the song of "rotten sheep" is heard again in a sacred age. Your subject recently observed this abuse and thought to reform its source, but because the rebel enemy still remained, I did not dare discuss it lightly. Now the chief villain has been defeated and will be captured within days, inside and outside there is no danger, and the monstrous miasma is gradually ending. This is the moment for Your Majesty to establish law and the time to examine offices. It surely should begin with the old minister, and the transformation should reach the ranks of officials. How can this act be made lightly and thereby disorder the state's regulations? If the state's regulations are disordered above, then the many policies collapse below. If governance within the seas is all disordered, then how can the state remain for all generations without trouble? If Your Majesty can follow your subject's words and look down to examine my sincere request, those who covet glory and recklessly advance will each yield the offices they concurrently hold. Naturally the realm will be bright and ordered, the hundred crafts will be properly arranged, and the enterprise of great peace can be restored. Your subject is truly ignorant and coarse, and his understanding is dark regarding ancient and present matters, but what my will urgently seeks lies truly in this.

手詔答曰：「優崇之命，所以報功；總領之司，期於賦政。卿入居臺鉉，出統戎旃，爰自先朝，累匡多難，靖群氛於海表，凝庶績於天階。敏事而寡言，居敬而行簡，人難其易，爾易其難。所以命掌六聯，首茲百辟，顧循時議，僉謂允諧。而屢拜封章，懇懷讓揖，守淳素之道，語政理之源，無待禮成，曲從德讓。宜宣示於外，編之史冊。」遣內侍魚朝恩傳詔，賜美人盧氏等六人、從者八人，並車服、帷帳、床蓐、珍玩之具。

The handwritten imperial edict replied, "The command of generous exaltation is to repay merit; the office of overall leadership is expected to assign and govern policy. You, sir, enter to occupy the ministerial seat and go out to command the war banners. From the former reign onward, you have repeatedly corrected many difficulties, pacified the various miasmas beyond the seas, and brought the many achievements together on the steps of Heaven. Quick in affairs and sparing of speech, dwelling in reverence and acting with simplicity, what others find easy is hard for them, and what is hard you make easy. For this reason I commanded you to take charge of the six offices and stand at the head of the hundred officials. Looking through current deliberation, all say it is fitting and harmonious. Yet you have repeatedly bowed with sealed memorials, sincerely cherishing yielding and deference, keeping to the Way of purity and plainness, and speaking of the source of political order. Without waiting for the ceremony to be completed, I bend to follow your virtuous yielding. This should be proclaimed outside and entered in the historical records." He sent the eunuch Yu Chao'en to convey the edict, and granted six beauties including Lady Lu, eight attendants, and also carriages and robes, curtains and tents, bedding, and precious playthings.

時蕃虜屢寇京畿，倚蒲、陜為內地，常以重兵鎮之。永泰元年五月，以子儀都統河南道節度行營，出鎮河中。八月，僕固懷恩誘吐蕃、回紇、党項、羌、渾、奴剌，山賊任敷、鄭庭、郝德、劉開元等三十餘萬南下，先發數萬人掠同州，期自華陰趨藍田，以扼南路，懷恩率重兵繼其後。回紇、吐蕃自涇、邠、鳳翔數道寇京畿，掠奉天、醴泉。京師震恐，天子下詔親征，命李忠臣屯東渭橋，李光進屯雲陽，馬璘、郝廷玉屯便橋，駱奉先、李日越屯盩啡，李抱玉屯鳳翔。周智光屯同州，杜冕屯坊州，天子以禁軍屯苑內。京城壯丁，並令團結。城二門塞其一。魚朝恩括士庶私馬，重兵捉城門，市民由竇穴而遁去，人情危迫。

In those days the frontier tribes raided the capital region again and again. The court treated Pu and Shaan as inner lands and kept large garrisons there. In the fifth month of the first year of Yongtai, Ziyi was appointed supreme commander of the Henan defense headquarters and took up his post at Hezhong. In the eighth month Pugu Huai'en stirred up Tibetans, Uyghurs, Tanguts, Qiang, Hun, and Nula, along with mountain rebels Ren Fu, Zheng Ting, Hao De, Liu Kaiyuan, and others—more than three hundred thousand men in all—to march south. He sent tens of thousands ahead to ravage Tong Prefecture, planning to push from Huayin toward Lantian and cut the southern road, while he followed with the main army. Uyghur and Tibetan forces came down from Jing, Bin, and Fengxiang by several routes into the capital region, looting Fengtian and Liquan. Terror seized the capital. The emperor proclaimed that he would take the field in person and ordered Li Zhongchen to hold East Wei Bridge, Li Guangjin Yunyang, Ma Lin and Hao Tingyu Bian Bridge, Luo Fengxian and Li Riyue Zhouzhi, and Li Baoyu Fengxiang. Zhou Zhiguang took position at Tong Prefecture and Du Mian at Fang Prefecture, while the emperor kept the palace guard within the imperial park. Every able-bodied man in the capital was ordered to muster for defense. One of the city's two gates was sealed off. Yu Chao'en seized private horses from nobles and commoners alike. Heavy detachments controlled the gates, and people slipped out through holes and crawl spaces. Fear and desperation spread through the city.

是時，急召子儀自河中至，屯於涇陽，而虜騎已合。子儀一軍萬餘人，而雜虜圍之數重。子儀使李國臣、高升拒其東，魏楚玉當其南，陳回光當其西，朱元琮當其北。子儀率甲騎二千出沒於左右前後，虜見而問：「此誰也？」報曰：「郭令公也。」回紇曰：「令公存乎？僕固懷恩言天可汗已棄四海，令公亦謝世，中國無主，故從其來。今令公存，天可汗存乎？」報之曰：「皇帝萬歲無疆。」回紇皆曰：「懷恩欺我。」子儀又使諭之曰：「公等頃年遠涉萬里，翦除兇逆，恢復二京。是時子儀與公等周旋艱難，何日忘之。今忽棄舊好，助一叛臣，何其愚也！且懷恩背主棄親，於公等何有？」回紇曰：「謂令公亡矣，不然，何以至此。令公誠存，安得而見之？」子儀將出，諸將諫曰：「戎狄之心，不可信也，請無往。」子儀曰：「虜有數十倍之眾，今力固不敵，且至誠感神，況虜輩乎！」諸將曰：「請選鐵騎五百衛從。」子儀曰：「適足以為害也。」乃傳呼曰：「令公來！」虜初疑，持滿註矢以待之。子儀以數十騎徐出，免胄而勞之曰：「安乎？久同忠義，何至於是？」回紇皆舍兵下馬齊拜曰：「果吾父也。」子儀召其首領，各飲之酒，與之羅錦，歡言如初。子儀說回紇曰：「吐蕃本吾舅甥之國，無負而至，是無親也。若倒戈乘之，如拾地芥耳。其羊馬滿野，長數百里，是謂天賜，不可失也。今能逐戎以利舉，與我繼好而凱旋，不亦善乎！」會懷恩暴死於鳴沙，群虜無所統攝，遂許諾，乃遣首領石野那等入朝。子儀遣朔方兵馬使白元光與回紇會軍。吐蕃知其謀，是夜奔退。回紇與元光追之，子儀大軍繼其後，大破吐蕃十餘萬於靈武臺西原，斬首五萬，生擒萬人，收其所掠士女四千人，獲牛羊駝馬，三百里內不絕。子儀自涇陽入朝，加實封二百戶，還鎮河中。

Ziyi was urgently recalled from Hezhong and took position at Jingyang, but the enemy horsemen had already joined forces. Ziyi had barely ten thousand men, while the mixed barbarian host closed around him in layer upon layer. Ziyi posted Li Guochen and Gao Sheng to the east, Wei Chuyu to the south, Chen Huiguang to the west, and Zhu Yuancong to the north. Ziyi himself led two thousand armored horsemen, riding out and wheeling back on every side. The enemy saw them and asked, "Who is that?" They were answered, "It is Minister Guo." The Uyghurs cried, "Is Minister Guo still alive? Pugu Huai'en told us the Heavenly Kaghan had forsaken the empire, that Minister Guo was dead, and that China had no master. That is why we came with him. If Minister Guo lives, does the Heavenly Kaghan live as well?" They were told, "The emperor endures—ten thousand years without end." The Uyghurs all cried out: "Huai'en has lied to us." Ziyi sent envoys again to reason with them: "Not long ago you crossed ten thousand li to crush the rebels and restore Chang'an and Luoyang. In those days Ziyi stood with you through every hardship—how could any of us forget? Now you cast aside an old alliance to serve a traitor—what folly is this! And Huai'en turned on his sovereign and forsook his own people—what is he to you?" The Uyghurs answered: "We believed the Lord Commanding General was dead—otherwise how could matters have reached this pass? If he truly lives, how are we to see him?" When Ziyi prepared to go forth, his generals pleaded with him: "Barbarian hearts are not to be trusted—do not go." Ziyi said: "They outnumber us tenfold; we cannot match them by force. Yet sincerity that moves heaven will surely move these men as well." The generals said: "Let us choose five hundred armored horsemen to escort you." Ziyi said: "That would only invite disaster." Then he had his men call out: "The Lord Commanding General is here!" At first the enemy doubted; they strung their bows and held arrows ready, waiting for him. Ziyi rode out slowly with a few dozen men, took off his helmet, and greeted them warmly: "Are you well? We have long stood together in loyalty and righteousness—how did it come to this?" The Uyghurs all cast aside their weapons, dismounted, and bowed as one, crying: "It is truly our father!" Ziyi called their chieftains forward, shared wine with each, gave them brocades, and spoke with them as merrily as in old days. Ziyi urged the Uyghurs: "Tibet was once our kin by marriage; they have come against us without cause—that is to cast kinship aside. If you turn your blades on them, victory will be like stooping to gather fallen seeds from the earth. Their sheep and horses cover the plain for hundreds of li—a gift from heaven that must not be lost. Drive off the barbarians for gain, renew our friendship, and return in triumph—is that not the better course?" Just then Huai'en died suddenly at Mingsha; the tribes had no leader, and so they consented, sending chieftains such as Shiyena to pay court. Ziyi sent the Shuofang military commissioner Bai Yuanguang to join the Uyghur army. The Tibetans learned of the plot and fled that same night. The Uyghurs and Yuanguang gave chase; Ziyi's main force followed. On the western plain below Lingwu Terrace they shattered more than a hundred thousand Tibetans, took fifty thousand heads, captured ten thousand alive, recovered four thousand men and women the enemy had seized, and seized sheep, cattle, camels, and horses stretching unbroken for three hundred li. Ziyi came to court from Jingyang, received two hundred additional households of actual enfeoffment, and returned to his post at Hezhong.

十二月，華州節度使周智光殺監軍張志斌謀叛，帝以同、華路阻，召子儀女婿工部侍郎趙縱受口詔往河中，令子儀起軍討之。縱請為蠟書，令家僮間道賜子儀。奉詔大閱軍戎，將發，同華將吏聞軍起，乃斬智光父子，傳首京師。二年二月，子儀入朝，宰相元載、王縉、僕射裴冕、京兆尹黎幹、內侍魚朝恩共出錢三十萬，置宴於子儀第，恩出羅錦二百匹，為子儀纏頭之費，極歡而罷。九月，吐蕃寇涇州，詔子儀以步騎三萬自河中移屯涇陽。十月，蕃軍退至靈州，邀擊敗之，斬馘二萬。十二月，盜發子儀父墓，捕盜未獲。人以魚朝恩素惡子儀，疑其使之。子儀心知其故，及自涇陽將入，議者慮其構變，公卿憂之。及子儀入見，帝言之，子儀號泣奏曰：「臣久主兵，不能禁暴，軍士殘人之墓，固亦多矣。此臣不忠不孝，上獲天譴，非人患也。」朝廷乃安。三年三月，還河中。八月，吐蕃寇靈武。九月，詔子儀率師五萬自河中移鎮奉天。是月，白元光大破吐蕃靈武。十月，子儀入朝，還鎮河中。時議以西蕃侵寇，京師不安，馬璘雖在邠州，力不能拒，乃以子儀兼邠寧慶節度，自河中移鎮邠州，徙馬璘為涇原節度使。八年十月，吐蕃寇涇州，子儀遣先鋒兵馬使渾瑊逆戰於宜祿，不利。會馬璘設伏於潘源，與瑊合擊，大破蕃軍，俘斬數萬計。回紇赤心賣馬一萬匹，有司以國計不充，請市千匹。子儀以回紇前後立功，不宜阻意，請自納一年奉物，充回紇馬價，雖詔旨不允，內外稱之。九年，入朝，代宗召對延英。語及西蕃棄斥，苦戰不暇，言發涕零。既退，復上封論備吐蕃利害，曰：朔方，國之北門，西禦犬戎，北虞獫狁，五城相去三千餘里。開元、天寶中，戰士十萬，戰馬三萬，才敵一隅。自先皇帝龍飛靈武，戰士從陛下收復兩京，東西南北，曾無寧歲。中年以僕固之役，又經耗散，人亡三分之二，比於天寶中有十分之一。今吐蕃充斥，勢強十倍，兼河、隴之地，雜羌、渾之眾，每歲來窺近郊。以朔方減十倍之軍，當吐蕃加十倍之騎，欲求制勝，豈易為力！入近內地，稱四節度，每將盈萬，每賊兼乘數四。臣所統將士，不當賊四分之一，所有征馬，不當賊百分之二，誠合固守，不宜與戰。又得馬璘牒，賊擬涉渭而南。臣若堅壁，恐犯畿甸；若過畿內，則國人大恐，諸道易搖。外有吐蕃之強，中有易搖之眾，外畏內懼，將何以安？臣伏以陛下橫制勝之術，力非不足，但慮簡練未精，進退未一，時淹師老，地闊勢分。願陛下更詢讜議，慎擇名將，俾之統軍，於諸道各抽精卒，成四五萬，則制勝之道必矣，未可失時。臣又料河南、河北、山南、江淮小鎮數千，大鎮數萬，空耗月餼，曾不習戰。臣請抽赴關中，教之戰陣，則軍聲益振，攻守必全，亦長久之計也。臣猥蒙任遇，垂二十年，今齒發已衰，願避賢路，止足不誡，神明所鑒。

In the twelfth month, the Huazhou military commissioner Zhou Zhiguang killed the army supervisor Zhang Zhibin and plotted rebellion. Because the road through Tong and Hua was cut off, the Emperor summoned Ziyi's son-in-law, Vice Minister of Works Zhao Zong, to receive an oral edict and go to Hezhong, commanding Ziyi to raise an army against him. Zong asked for a sealed letter in wax and sent a household servant by hidden route to deliver it to Ziyi. Obeying the edict, he mustered his forces and prepared to march; when the officers of Tong and Hua heard the army was rising, they executed Zhiguang and his son and sent their heads to the capital. In the second year, second month, Ziyi came to court. The chancellors Yuan Zai and Wang Jin, the Pushe Pei Mian, the Jingzhao prefect Li Gan, and the eunuch Yu Chao'en together contributed three hundred thousand cash and held a feast at Ziyi's mansion. Chao'en gave two hundred bolts of brocade as a gift for Ziyi's birthday celebration. They parted in the highest spirits. In the ninth month, Tibetans raided Jing Prefecture. An edict ordered Ziyi to move thirty thousand foot and horse soldiers from Hezhong to camp at Jingyang. In the tenth month, the Tibetan army withdrew toward Ling Prefecture; Ziyi's forces intercepted and defeated them, taking twenty thousand heads. In the twelfth month, robbers desecrated the tomb of Ziyi's father; the culprits were never caught. Because Yu Chao'en had long borne ill will toward Ziyi, many suspected he had arranged it. Ziyi knew the truth in his heart. As he prepared to return from Jingyang, court gossips feared he might raise a rebellion, and the high ministers were deeply uneasy. When Ziyi came before the Emperor, the Emperor spoke of the matter. Ziyi wept aloud and memorialized: "Your servant has long held command and failed to restrain his men's violence. Soldiers have desecrated graves before—this is hardly the first. This is my own disloyalty and unfilial conduct. Heaven has punished me—it is no man's doing." The court was reassured. In the third year, third month, he returned to Hezhong. In the eighth month, Tibetans raided Lingwu. In the ninth month, an edict ordered Ziyi to lead fifty thousand men from Hezhong to take up command at Fengtian. That same month, Bai Yuanguang won a great victory over the Tibetans at Lingwu. In the tenth month, Ziyi came to court and returned to garrison Hezhong. At the time, with western Tibetans pressing the frontier and the capital unsettled, Ma Lin at Bin Prefecture lacked the strength to hold them off. Ziyi was therefore made concurrent military commissioner of Bin, Ning, and Qing, moved from Hezhong to command at Bin Prefecture, and Ma Lin was transferred to Jingyuan. In the eighth year, tenth month, Tibetans attacked Jing Prefecture. Ziyi sent his advance cavalry commander Hun Jian to meet them at Yilu; the battle went against him. Then Ma Lin laid an ambush at Panyuan and joined Hun Jian in a combined strike, crushing the Tibetan army and capturing or killing tens of thousands. The Uyghur chieftain Chixin offered ten thousand horses for sale; the relevant offices, finding the treasury insufficient, proposed buying only one thousand. Ziyi, holding that the Uyghurs had repeatedly served the dynasty well and should not be refused, asked to pay from his own year's stipend to cover the full price of the horses. Though the throne did not grant his request, court and country alike praised him. In the ninth year he came to court; Emperor Daizong received him in audience at the Yanying Hall. When talk turned to the western Tibetans harrying the borders and the endless bitter fighting, tears fell as he spoke. After he withdrew, he again submitted a sealed memorial discussing the advantages and dangers of preparing against Tibet, saying: Shuofang is the state's northern gate; to the west it defends against the Quanrong, and to the north it guards against the Xianyun. The five cities are more than three thousand li apart. During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras, one hundred thousand fighting men and thirty thousand warhorses were barely enough to confront one corner. Since the late emperor rose like a dragon at Lingwu, the soldiers followed Your Majesty in recovering the two capitals, and east, west, south, and north, there has never been a peaceful year. In mid-course, with the Pugu campaign, they were again consumed and scattered; two thirds of the men are gone, and compared with the Tianbao era there remains one tenth. Now Tibet fills the region, its power ten times stronger, and it also possesses the lands of He and Long and mixes in the forces of the Qiang and Hun. Every year it comes to peer toward the near suburbs. To use the army of Shuofang, reduced tenfold, to face Tibetan cavalry increased tenfold, and hope to control victory: how could that be easy to do? Entering the nearby inner lands, they are called four military governorships; each command has more than ten thousand men, and each enemy fighter has several mounts. The officers and men commanded by your subject do not equal one fourth of the enemy, and the campaign horses we possess do not equal two percent of the enemy's. Truly, we should hold firm in defense and should not fight them. I have also received Ma Lin's dispatch saying that the enemy plans to cross the Wei and move south. If your subject holds fast behind walls, I fear they will violate the capital region; if they pass through the capital district, then the people of the state will be greatly frightened and the circuits will easily waver. Outside there is the strength of Tibet, and inside there are masses easily shaken. With fear outside and dread inside, how will stability be achieved? Your subject humbly thinks that Your Majesty's art for controlling victory is certainly not insufficient in strength; I only worry that selection and training are not yet refined, advance and retreat are not unified, time will delay the army and make it old, and the land is broad while the strategic position is divided. May Your Majesty further consult forthright advice, carefully select famous generals, have them command armies, and draw elite soldiers from each circuit to make forty or fifty thousand men. Then the way to control victory will be certain, and the moment must not be lost. Your subject also estimates that the small garrisons in Henan, Hebei, Shannan, and Jiang-Huai number in the thousands, and the large garrisons in the tens of thousands; they waste monthly rations and have never practiced battle. Your subject asks that they be drawn to Guanzhong and taught battle formations. Then the army's reputation will be further strengthened, attack and defense will both be complete, and this too will be a long-term plan. Your subject has unworthily received appointment and favor for nearly twenty years. Now my teeth and hair have already declined, and I wish to withdraw from the road of the worthy. Whether I know when to stop and be content is something the spirits will judge.

詔曰：「卿憂深虛遠，殊沃朕心，始終倚賴，未可執辭也。」

The edict said, "Your concern is deep, broad, and far-reaching, and it especially enriches my heart. I have relied on you from beginning to end, and you may not insist on resigning."

德宗即位，詔還朝，攝冢宰，充山陵使，賜號「尚父」，進位太尉、中書令，增實封通計二千戶，給一千五百人糧，二百匹馬草料，所領諸使副元帥並罷。諸子弟女婿拜官者十餘人。建中二年夏，子儀病甚，德宗令舒王誼傳詔省問。及門，郭氏子弟迎拜於外，王不答拜；子儀臥不能興，以手叩頭謝恩而已。六月十四日薨，時年八十五，德宗聞之震悼，廢朝五日，詔曰：天地以四時成物，元首以股肱作輔，公臺之任，鼎足相承，上以調三光，下以蒙五嶽。允釐庶績，鎮撫四夷，體元和之氣，根貞一之德，功至大而不伐，身處高而更安。尚父比呂望之名，為師增周公之位，盛業可久，歿而彌光。故太尉、兼中書令、上柱國、汾陽郡王、尚父子儀，天降人傑，生知王佐，訓師如子，料敵若神。昔天寶多難，羯胡作禍，咸秦失險，河洛為戎。公能扶翼肅宗，載造區夏。於國有患，勞其戡定；於邊有寇，藉其驅除。安社稷必在於絳侯，定羌戎無逾於充國。絳臺綏四散之眾，涇陽降十萬之虜。勛高今古，名璟夷狄，而勞乎征鎮，二紀於茲。

When Emperor Dezong took the throne, an edict recalled Ziyi to court. He served as acting chief minister and tomb commissioner, was granted the title "Sublime Father", promoted to Grand Commander and Chief Minister of the Secretariat, with total actual enfeoffment raised to two thousand households, rations for fifteen hundred men, and fodder for two hundred horses. All his deputy commander posts were abolished. More than ten of his sons, younger brothers, and sons-in-law received official appointments. In the second year of Jianzhong, in summer Ziyi fell gravely ill. Dezong sent Prince Shu Yi to convey an imperial edict inquiring after his health. At the gate, the Guo sons and younger brothers came out to welcome him and bow; the prince did not bow in return. Ziyi lay abed and could not rise; he could only knock his head with his hand in gratitude. On the fourteenth day of the sixth month he died, aged eighty-five. When Dezong heard of it, he was shaken and grieved and suspended court for five days. The edict said: Heaven and earth complete things through the four seasons, and the sovereign makes assistants through his arms and legs. The offices of the dukes and ministers support one another like the legs of a tripod; above, they regulate the three lights, and below, they cover the Five Marchmounts. Truly ordering the many achievements, pacifying the four barbarians, embodying the qi of primal harmony, and rooting oneself in the virtue of pure unity: his achievement was supremely great, yet he did not boast; his person occupied high place, yet was all the more secure. As Sublime Father, he matched the name of Lü Wang; as teacher, he increased the rank of the Duke of Zhou. His flourishing enterprise can endure long, and after death it shines still more. The late Grand Commandant, concurrently Director of the Secretariat, Pillar of State, Prince of Fenyang Commandery, and Sublime Father Ziyi was a human hero sent down by Heaven, born knowing how to assist a king. He trained troops as if they were his sons and judged the enemy as if by spirit. Formerly, when Tianbao had many troubles and the Jie barbarian created disaster, Xianyang and Qin lost their defenses and the Yellow River and Luo region became enemy ground. The Duke was able to support and assist Suzong and recreate the realm. When the state had distress, it labored him to settle it; when the frontier had invaders, it relied on him to drive them off. To secure the altars of state, one must look to Jiang Hou; to pacify the Qiang and Rong, none surpassed Chongguo. At Jiang Terrace he reassured scattered multitudes; at Jingyang he received the surrender of a hundred thousand captives. His merit is high in present and past, his name bright among the barbarians, yet he labored in campaigns and garrisons for twenty-four years.

頃以春秋既高，疆埸多事，罷彼旌鉞，寵在臺衡。以公柱石四朝，籓翰萬里，忠貞懸於日月，寵遇冠於人臣，尊其元老，加以崇號，期壽考之永，養勛賢之德。膏肓生疾，藥石靡攻，人之云亡，梁木斯壞。雖賻禮加等，輟朝增日，悼之流涕，曷可弭忘！更議追崇，名位斯極，而尊為尚父，官協太師，雖爵秩則同，而體望尤重。斂以袞冕，旌我元臣。聖祖園陵，所宜陪葬，式墓表文終之德，象山追去病之勛。千載如存，九原可作，冊命之禮，有司備焉。可贈太師，陪葬建陵。仍令所司備禮冊命，賻絹三千匹、布三千端、米麥三千石。

Of late, as his years had grown great and the frontier was troubled, we took the command from his hands and honored him in the halls of state. You were the pillar of four reigns, a bulwark on the frontier for ten thousand li; your loyalty shone like sun and moon, your honors surpassed all ministers. We honored our elder statesman with a lofty title, hoping for long life, that the virtue of a great servant might be preserved. Sickness took hold in the marrow of his bones; no medicine could save him. The man is gone—the ridgepole of the house is broken. Though we raise the funeral gifts and extend the days of mourning, our grief flows in tears that cannot be stilled. We deliberate further on posthumous honors, for his name and rank have reached their height. To honor him as Sublime Father and accord him the office of Grand Preceptor—though the noble rank is the same, the weight of esteem is greater still. Let him be laid in the robes of highest rank, that we may honor our greatest minister. He should be buried beside the imperial tombs, that his grave may mark the virtue of his life's end, as Mount Xiang marked the merit of Huo Qubing. For a thousand years he will seem still alive; in the dark realm he may yet be summoned forth. Let the relevant offices prepare the rites of enfeoffment. He is posthumously granted Grand Preceptor and granted burial beside the Jian Mausoleum. Let the relevant offices further prepare the rites of enfeoffment. Funeral gifts: three thousand bolts of silk, three thousand lengths of cloth, and three thousand shi of grain.

舊令一品墳高丈八，而詔特加十尺。群臣以次赴宅吊哭。兇喪所須，並令官給。及葬，上御安福門臨哭送之，百僚陪位隕泣，賜謚曰忠武，配饗代宗廟庭。

By old regulation a first-rank tomb stood one zhang and eight chi high; the edict specially added ten chi more. The ministers went in turn to his house to mourn and weep. All expenses of the funeral were to be supplied by the state. At the burial, the Emperor went to Anfu Gate to mourn and see him off in person; the hundred officials stood in attendance, weeping as they fell. He was granted the posthumous name Loyal and Martial and given a place in sacrifice at Emperor Daizong's temple.

子曜、旰、晞、昢、晤、曖、曙、映等八人，婿七人，皆朝廷重官。諸孫數十人，每群孫問安，不盡辨，頷之而已。參佐官吏六十餘人，後位至將相，升朝秩貴位，勒其姓名於石，今在河中府。人士榮之。

His eight sons—Yao, Gan, Xi, Pan, Wu, Ai, Shu, and Ying—and seven sons-in-law all held high office at court. He had several dozen grandsons; when they came in groups to greet him, he could not tell them apart and merely nodded. More than sixty staff officers later rose to the rank of general or chancellor; their names were carved in stone, and the stele stands today in Hezhong Prefecture. Men of standing counted it an honor.

史臣裴垍曰：汾陽事上誠藎，臨下寬厚，每降城下邑，所至之處，必得士心。前後遭罹幸臣程元振、魚朝恩譖毀百端，時方握強兵，或方臨戎敵，詔命徵之，未嘗不即日應召，故讒謗不能行。代宗幸陜時，令以數十騎覘賊，及在涇陽，又陷於胡虜重圍之中，皆以身許國，未嘗以危亡易慮，亦遇天幸，竟免患難。田承嗣方跋扈魏州，傲狠無禮，子儀嘗遣使至，承嗣西望拜之，指其膝謂使者曰：「茲膝不屈於人若干歲矣，今為公拜。」李靈曜據汴州，公私財賦一皆遏絕，獨子儀封幣經其境，莫敢留之，必持兵衛送。其為豺虎所服如此。麾下老將若李懷光輩數十人，皆王侯重貴，子儀頤指進退，如僕隸焉。幕府之盛，近代無比。始與李光弼齊名，雖威略不逮，而寬厚得人過之。歲入官俸二十四萬貫，私利不在焉。其宅在親仁里，居其里四分之一，中通永巷，家人三千，相出入者不知其居。前後賜良田美器，名園甲館，聲色珍玩，堆積羨溢，不可勝紀。代宗不名，呼為大臣。天下以其身為安危者殆二十年。校中書令考二十有四。權傾天下而朝不忌，功蓋一代而主不疑，侈窮人欲而君子不之罪。富貴壽考，繁衍安泰，哀榮終始，人道之盛，此無缺焉。唯以讒怒，誣奏判官戶部郎中張譚杖殺之，物議為薄。子曜曜，子儀長子。性孝友廉謹。子儀薨，出征於外，留曜治家，少長千人，皆得其所。諸弟爭飾池館，盛其車服，曜以儉樸自處。累遷至太子賓客。建中初，子儀罷兵柄，乃遍加諸子官，以曜為太子少保。子儀曜遵遺命，四朝所賜名馬珍玩，悉皆上獻，德宗復賜之，曜乃散諸昆弟。子儀薨後，楊炎、盧杞相次秉政，奸諂用事，尤忌勛族。子儀之婿太僕卿趙縱、少府少監李洞清、光祿卿王宰，皆以有人告訐細過，相次貶黜。曜家大恐，賴宰相張鎰力為庇護。奸人幸其危懼，多論奪田宅奴婢，曜不敢訴。德宗微知之，詔曰：「尚父子儀，有大勛力，保乂皇家，嘗誓以山河，琢之金石，十世之宥，其可忘也！其家前時與人為市，以子儀身歿，名被誣構，欲論奪之，有司無得為理。」詔下方已。曜居喪得禮，若儒家子，服未闋寢疾，或勸其茹蔥薤，曜竟不屬口。建中四年三月卒，贈太子太傅。晞，子儀第三子。少善騎射，常從父征伐。初以戰功授左贊善大夫，從廣平王收復兩京，晞力戰於香積寺、陜西，皆出奇兵克捷，以功加銀青光祿大夫、鴻臚卿。後河中軍亂，殺節度使李國貞、荔非元禮於絳，詔以子儀為河東關內副元帥，鎮絳州，時四方擾叛，多逐戎帥，子儀至絳，誅其元惡，其黨頗不自安，欲謀翻變。晞知其謀，選親兵四千，伏甲以防之，常持弓警夜，不寐者凡七十日，叛將竟不敢發，以功拜殿中監。廣德二年，僕固懷恩誘吐蕃、回紇入寇。加晞御史中丞，領朔方軍以援邠州，與馬璘合勢，大破蕃軍。其年冬，懷恩誘虜再寇邠州，陣於涇北，子儀令晞率步卒五千、騎軍五百，出西南掩擊之。晞以兵寡不敵，持而不戰，及至晡晚，乘其半濟而擊之，大破獯虜，斬首五千級。是時連戰皆捷，詔加御史大夫，子儀固讓不受，永泰二年，檢校左散騎常侍。大歷七年，加開府儀同三司。十二年，丁母憂；服除，加檢校工部尚書，判秘書省事，建中二年，丁父喪，持服京城。朱泚構逆，遣人就第問訊，欲令掌兵，晞佯瘖，噤口不言，泚以兵脅之，晞終不語，賊知其不可用，乃止。晞潛奔奉天，僅而獲免。

The historiographer Pei Ji wrote: The Duke of Fenyang served his sovereign with whole-hearted loyalty and treated those below with generous kindness. Wherever he took a city or town, he won the hearts of the gentry. Again and again the favored ministers Cheng Yuanzhen and Yu Chao'en slandered him by every means. Yet whether he then held a great army or stood face to face with the enemy, he never failed to answer an imperial summons that same day—so calumny could not prevail. When Emperor Daizong fled to Shan, Ziyi rode out with a few dozen men to scout the enemy; at Jingyang he fell again into heavy encirclement by the barbarians. Each time he offered his life to the state and never wavered for fear of death or ruin—and each time heaven favored him, and he escaped disaster. Tian Chengsi then ruled Weizhou with brutal arrogance and would bow to no one. Once when Ziyi sent an envoy, Chengsi turned west and bowed, then pointed to his knees and said to the messenger: "These knees have not bent to any man in many years—today they bend for your lord." Li Lingyao held Bian Prefecture and seized all public and private wealth and tribute that passed through—except Ziyi's sealed gifts. No one dared hold those back; armed escorts saw them safely through. Such was the awe he commanded from wolves and tigers alike. Veteran commanders under his banner, such as Li Huai'guang and dozens besides—all princes and great nobles—obeyed Ziyi's nod and gesture to advance or retreat as though they were household servants. No staff in recent memory matched his in grandeur. From the first he stood equal in fame with Li Guangbi; though he did not match Guangbi in martial prestige and strategy, he surpassed him in generous kindness and in winning men's hearts. His official salary came to two hundred forty thousand strings of cash a year; private gain was not counted among it. His mansion stood in Qinren Ward and filled a quarter of the ward; a long lane ran through its center. Three thousand household members came and went, and visitors could scarcely tell where the master lived. Over the years he was granted fertile lands, fine vessels, famous gardens and splendid halls, music, courtesans, and rare treasures—heaped up beyond measure or count. Emperor Daizong never spoke his name; he called him only Great Minister. For nearly twenty years the realm's safety or ruin rested on his person alone. Twenty-four times he received the highest assessment as Chief Minister of the Secretariat. His power bent the realm yet the court did not envy him; his merit outshone a generation yet the throne did not doubt him; his luxury exceeded all ordinary desire yet upright men did not condemn him. Wealth, rank, long life, many sons, peace and safety, honor in life and glory in death—the full measure of human fortune, in him nothing was wanting. Only once, moved by slander and anger, did he falsely accuse and have his aide, Household Bureau Director Zhang Tan, beaten to death—an act for which public opinion judged him harshly. Son: Yao. Yao was Ziyi's eldest son. By nature he was filial, brotherly, honest, and restrained. When Ziyi died, Yao was away on campaign and had been left to manage the household. Young and old, more than a thousand in all, each found his proper place under his care. His younger brothers competed to ornament their pools and halls and to parade fine carriages and robes; Yao kept to plain and simple ways. He rose in office to become Guest of the Crown Prince. At the start of the Jianzhong era, after Ziyi was relieved of military command, he had all his sons promoted in rank and appointed Yao Junior Mentor to the Crown Prince. Following Ziyi's dying wish, Yao surrendered to the throne every famous horse and precious object the four reigns had bestowed on the family. Dezong gave them back, and Yao divided them among his brothers. After Ziyi's death, Yang Yan and Lu Qi held the reins of government in turn. Sycophants and schemers ran the court and bore special enmity toward families of martial merit. Ziyi's sons-in-law—Grand Master of Studs Zhao Zong, Assistant Supervisor of the Palace Workshop Li Dongqing, and Director of the Imperial Household Wang Zai—were demoted one after another when informers denounced them for trifling faults. The Yao household was terrified, and owed its safety to Chancellor Zhang Mi's vigorous protection. Predators, scenting their fear, stripped them of fields, houses, and servants; Yao did not dare protest. Dezong learned something of the matter and issued an edict: "Shangfu Ziyi had great merit and strength, preserving and protecting the imperial house. We once swore by mountains and rivers and carved it in metal and stone that his house would be pardoned for ten generations; can this be forgotten? Previously his household made a sale with another, and because Ziyi has died, his name has been falsely accused and they wish to litigate and seize it. The responsible offices may not hear the case." Only after the edict was issued did the harassment stop. Yao mourned with the punctilio of a scholar; before the mourning term was complete he fell bedridden. Some urged him to eat scallions and leeks, but he would not touch them. He died in the third month of Jianzhong year four and was posthumously made Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent. Xi was Ziyi's third son. From boyhood he excelled at horsemanship and archery and often rode with his father to war. He first earned the post of Left Advisor-in-Attendance for battlefield merit. When he followed the Prince of Guangping in retaking the two capitals, Xi fought fiercely at Xiangji Temple and west of Shaan, winning both times with unexpected maneuvers. For these deeds he was made Silver Gleam Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and Grand Master of Ceremonial Affairs. Later the Hezhong army mutinied, killing Military Governors Li Guozhen and Lifei Yuanli at Jiang. Ziyi was ordered to serve as vice commander-in-chief of Hedong and Guannei and take station at Jiang. Rebellion roiled on every side and commanders were being driven out everywhere; when Ziyi arrived at Jiang he executed the ringleaders, and their followers grew restless and plotted a revolt. Xi learned of the plot. He picked four thousand trusted men, concealed armor to meet any outbreak, and kept bow in hand on the night watch—sleeping not at all for seventy days. The rebel generals never dared move. For this service he was made Director of the Palace Administration. In Guangde 2 (763), Pugu Huai'en incited Tibet and the Uyghurs to raid the borders. Xi was promoted to Assistant Censor-in-Chief and led the Shuofang army to relieve Bin Prefecture. Combined with Ma Lin's forces, he routed the Tibetans. That winter Huai'en again lured the barbarians against Bin. They drew up north of Jing, and Ziyi ordered Xi to take five thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry and sweep in from the southwest. Outnumbered, Xi held his ground and refused battle. At dusk, as the enemy were half across the river, he struck and shattered them, taking five thousand heads. Victories followed one after another. The throne offered Xi the post of Censor-in-Chief, but Ziyi steadfastly refused on his behalf, In Yongtai year two, he was appointed Acting Left Regular Attendant. In Dali year seven, he was granted the honorific Opening an Office Equal to the Three Excellencies. In the twelfth year he went into mourning for his mother; when the mourning term ended he was made Acting Minister of Works with charge over the Palace Secretariat, In the second year of Jianzhong, then entered mourning for his father and kept the full term of grief in the capital. Zhu Ci rose in rebellion and sent men to Xi's house to sound him out, hoping to put him at the head of troops. Xi played the mute and would not open his mouth. Ci threatened him with soldiers, yet Xi never spoke. The rebels saw he was useless and left him alone. Xi stole away to Fengtian and barely escaped alive.

初，晞兄曜襲父代國公，實封二千戶，及曜卒，詔曰：「故尚父、太尉中書令、汾陽王，功格上玄，道光下土，積其善慶，垂裕無窮。雖嫡長雲殂，支宗斯盛，汾陽舊邑，盍有丕承。其男前左散騎常侍、駙馬都尉、食實封五百戶曖，夙稟義方，居忠履孝，儷崇銀榜，攄美金章，繼撫先封，允宜聽復。曖兄檢校工部尚書、守太子賓客、趙國公晞，並弟右金吾將軍、祁國公、食實封二百五十戶曙，太子左諭德映等，並休有令名，保其先業，宜允推恩之典，以明延嗣之誠。其實封二千戶，宜準式減半，餘可分襲。曖可襲代國公，仍通前襲三百戶；晞可二百五十戶；曙可五十戶，通前三百七十戶；映可二百三十五戶。」尋又詔尚父子儀男晞、曖、映、曙四人所襲實封，各減五十戶，以賜郭曜男鉾、郭晤男鐇，各襲一百戶。

At first, Xi's elder brother Yao inherited their father's title Duke of Dai with a fief of two thousand taxable households. When Yao died, an edict said, "The late Sublime Father, Grand Commandant, Director of the Secretariat, and Prince of Fenyang had merit that reached high Heaven and a Way that shone upon the lower earth; he accumulated goodness and blessings and left endless abundance. Although the legitimate eldest line has now died, the collateral branches flourish. How could the old fief of Fenyang not have a great successor? His son Ai, former Left Regular Attendant, Commandant-Consort, and holder of a fief of five hundred taxable households, long received righteous instruction, dwelt in loyalty, and walked in filial piety; he matched the exalted silver tablet and displayed beauty in gold insignia. It is truly fitting to permit him to resume and continue the former fief. Ai's elder brother Xi, Acting Minister of Works, acting Guest of the Heir Apparent, and Duke of Zhao, together with his younger brothers Shu, General of the Right Golden Guard, Duke of Qi, and holder of a fief of two hundred fifty taxable households, and Ying, Left Adviser to the Heir Apparent, all have fine reputations and preserve their ancestor's enterprise. It is fitting to permit the canon of extending grace, to make clear the sincerity of continuing the line. The two thousand taxable households should be halved according to regulation, and the remainder may be divided for inheritance. Ai may inherit the Dukedom of Dai, with three hundred households in all together with the former inheritance; Xi may receive two hundred fifty households; Shu may receive fifty households, making three hundred seventy households together with the former grant; Ying may receive two hundred thirty-five households." Soon another edict reduced by fifty households each the fiefs inherited by the Sublime Father Ziyi's sons Xi, Ai, Ying, and Shu, and gave them to Yao's son Mou and Guo Wu's son Fan, each inheriting one hundred households.

晞至行在，復檢校工部尚書、太子詹事；從駕還京，改太子賓客。晞子鋼為朔方節度使杜希全賓佐，希全以鋼攝豐州刺史。晞以鋼幼弱，恐不任邊職，貞元七年，晞上章請罷鋼官。德宗遣中使召之，鋼疑以他事見攝，乃單騎走入吐蕃。蕃將見鋼獨叛，不納，置之筏上，流入黃河令歸，杜希全得之，送赴京師，賜鋼自盡，晞亦坐子免官。明年，復授太子賓客。貞元十年卒，贈兵部尚書。晞次子鈞。鈞子承嘏別有傳。子曖曖，子儀第六子。年十餘歲，尚代宗第四女升平公主，時升平年亦與暖相類。大歷中，恩寵冠於戚里，歲時錫賚珍玩，不可勝紀，大歷十三年，有詔毀除白渠水支流碾硙，以妨民溉田。升平有脂粉硙兩輪，郭子儀私硙兩輪，所司未敢毀徹。公主見代宗訴之，帝謂公主曰：「吾行此詔，蓋為蒼生，爾豈不識我意耶？可為眾率先。」公主即日命毀。由是勢門碾硙八十餘所，皆毀之。曖檢校左散騎常侍。建中末，公主坐事，留之禁中，曖亦不令出入。既而朱泚之亂，不知車駕幸奉天，為賊所逼，欲授偽官，曖辭以居喪被疾。既而與兄晞、弟曙及升平公主皆奔奉天，德宗喜，並釋前咎，待之如初，復銀青光祿大夫、檢校左散騎常侍。從駕至山南，改太常卿同正員。

When Xi reached the imperial camp he was again made Acting Minister of Works and Tutor of the Heir Apparent; after escorting the emperor back to the capital, he was reassigned as Companion of the Heir Apparent. Xi's son Gang was on the staff of Shuofang Military Governor Du Xiquan, who put him in charge as acting Prefect of Feng. Gang was still young and frail, and Xi feared he was unfit for frontier command. In Zhenyuan 7 (791) Xi memorialized to have him dismissed. Dezong sent a palace envoy to summon him. Gang feared he was being called up for some other reason and fled alone on horseback into Tibetan territory. A Tibetan officer, seeing that Gang had come over alone, refused to take him in. They put him on a raft and set him adrift on the Yellow River to send him home. Du Xiquan captured him and forwarded him to the capital, where Gang was ordered to kill himself. Xi lost his post as punishment for his son. The following year he was again made Companion of the Heir Apparent. In the tenth year of Zhenyuan, he died and was posthumously made Minister of War. Xi's second son was Jun. Jun's son Chenggu is treated in a separate biography. His son Nuan. Nuan was Ziyi's sixth son. While still in his early teens he married Daizong's fourth daughter, Princess Shengping, who was about the same age. During the Dali reign his favor outshone every other connection of the imperial consort clans; the court's yearly gifts of rare treasures could not be numbered, In the thirteenth year of Dali, an edict went out to tear down the White Canal's branch-line water mills, which were blocking farmers' irrigation. The princess kept two mills for grinding face powder; Guo Ziyi privately owned two as well—and the officials did not dare touch them. The princess went to Daizong to protest. The emperor told her, "I issue this edict for the people's sake. Do you not grasp my meaning? You ought to set the example for everyone else." That same day the princess ordered her mills torn down. After that, more than eighty mills owned by the great clans were demolished. Nuan was appointed Acting Left Regular Attendant. Near the end of Jianzhong the princess was caught up in a scandal and kept within the palace precincts; Nuan was likewise forbidden to leave. When Zhu Ci rebelled they did not yet know the emperor had fled to Fengtian. The rebels closed in and tried to confer bogus posts on them; Nuan pleaded mourning and sickness. Soon he escaped with his brother Xi, his brother Shu, and Princess Shengping to join the emperor at Fengtian. Dezong was overjoyed, pardoned their earlier troubles, and received them as of old. Nuan was restored to Silver Gleam Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and Acting Left Regular Attendant. When the court withdrew south of the Qinling ranges he was made Vice Minister of Ceremonies with full salary.

貞元中，帝為皇孫廣陵郡王納曖女為妃。曖，貞元十六年七月卒，贈尚書左僕射。升平公主，元和五年十月薨，贈虢國大長公主，謚曰懿。廣陵王即位，為憲宗皇帝，妃生穆宗皇帝，元和十五年，穆宗即位，尊郭妃為皇太后，詔曰：「追遠飾終，先王令典。況積仁累義，事已顯於身前；祥會慶傳，福遂流於天下。式光盛德，爰舉徽章，尊尊親親，於是乎在。皇太后父贈尚書左僕射曖，克荷崇構，有勞王家，孝友本於生知，英華發於事任，實修一德，歷仕三朝。建中末年，屬有大難，畢力扈駕，忘軀即戎，忠貞之節，國史明備。才高望洽，是膺沁水之祥；德厚流光，乃啟塗山之祚。肆予小子，獲纘大業，未展定申之命，敢緣褒紀之恩，俾繼維師，用不縟禮。可贈太傅。」曖子釗、鏦、銛。

During Zhenyuan the emperor matched Nuan's daughter to his grandson, the Prince of Guangling. Ai died in the seventh month of Zhenyuan year sixteen and was posthumously made Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. Princess Shengping died in the tenth month of Yuanhe year five and was posthumously ennobled Grand Princess of Guo, with the posthumous name Yi. The Prince of Guangling later ascended as Emperor Xianzong; his consort became the mother of Emperor Muzong, In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, Muzong came to the throne and honored Consort Guo as Empress Dowager. An edict said, "Pursuing the distant and adorning the end is a fine canon of the former kings. How much more when accumulated humaneness and amassed righteousness had already been manifest in his lifetime, and auspicious convergence and transmitted blessing have then flowed through the realm. To shine forth flourishing virtue, we now raise a splendid title; honoring the honored and loving the kin lie in this. Ai, the Empress Dowager's father, posthumously appointed Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, was able to shoulder the lofty structure and had labor for the royal house. Filial piety and fraternal kindness were rooted in what he knew from birth; heroic brilliance emerged in the offices he held. He truly cultivated unified virtue and served through three reigns. At the end of Jianzhong, when there was great disaster, he spent all his strength escorting the imperial carriage, forgot his own body and went to war; his loyal and steadfast integrity is clearly recorded in the national history. With high talent and a reputation that satisfied all, he deserved the auspiciousness of Qinshui; with deep virtue and flowing radiance, he opened the blessing of Tushan. Therefore I, the young one, having inherited the great enterprise, before setting forth a settled and repeated command, dare to follow the grace of praise and record, have him continue as sustaining teacher, and use no excessive ritual. He may be posthumously appointed Grand Mentor." Ai's sons were Zhao, Cong, and Xian.

曙，代宗朝累歷司農卿，居父憂。建中三年冬，舒王誼為淮西、山南諸大元帥，以曙檢校左庶子，為元帥府都押牙。京城亂，從幸山南，轉太府卿。隨駕還京，拜左金吾衛大將軍。貞元末卒。曖子釗釗，偉姿儀，身長七尺，方口豐下，沈默寡言。母升平長公主。代宗朝，釗為外孫，恩寵逾等，起家為太常寺奉禮郎。德宗朝，累官至太子右庶子。元和初，為左金吾衛大將軍，充左街使。九年十一月，檢校工部尚書，兼邠州刺史，充邠寧節度使。數歲，檢校戶部尚書，入為司農卿。釗，大勛之後，姻聯戚里，而謙和接物，恭慎自持，居家臨民，無驕怠之色，無奢侈之失，士君子重之。十五年正月，憲宗寢疾彌旬，諸中貴人秉權者欲議廢立，紛紛未定。穆宗在東宮，心甚憂之，遣人問計於釗，釗曰：「殿下身為皇太子，但旦夕視膳，謹守以俟，又何慮乎！」迄今稱釗得元舅之體。

Shu had served repeatedly as Minister of Revenue under Daizong and was observing mourning for his father. In the winter of Jianzhong 3 (782), Prince Shu Yi was made grand commander of Huai-Xi and Shannan; Shu became Acting Left Guardian of the Heir Apparent and chief adjutant of the command. When the capital erupted in chaos he followed the emperor south of the mountains and was transferred to Minister of the Treasury. After the return to the capital he was made General of the Left Golden Guard. He died near the close of the Zhenyuan era. Nuan's son Zhao was a striking figure: seven feet tall, square-jawed and full-faced, quiet and sparing with speech. His mother was Princess Shengping. Under Daizong, as the emperor's grandson-in-law, he enjoyed favor beyond his station and entered service as Ceremonial Aide in the Ministry of Ceremonies. Under Dezong he rose step by step to Right Guardian of the Heir Apparent. At the opening of Yuanhe he was General of the Left Golden Guard and Commissioner of the Left Street. In the eleventh month of Yuanhe 9 (814) he was made Acting Minister of Works, Prefect of Bin, and Military Governor of Bin-Ning. A few years later he was made Acting Minister of Revenue and recalled to the capital as Minister of Revenue. Zhao was heir to towering merit and bound by marriage to the imperial kin, yet he met others with humility and held himself with sober care. In private life and in office he showed neither pride nor excess, and men of worth respected him. In the first month of Yuanhe 15 (820) Xianzong lay gravely ill for more than ten days. The eunuchs in power began to murmur about deposing one emperor and raising another, and the court could not settle the question. Muzong, still crown prince, was deeply anxious and sent to ask Zhao's advice. Zhao said, "You are the heir—attend the emperor morning and evening at table, keep your post, and wait. What cause for worry is there?" Even now Zhao is remembered as the very model of how an imperial uncle-by-marriage ought to comport himself.

穆宗即位，冊皇太后南內，推崇外氏，以釗兼司農卿。未幾，檢校戶部尚書，充河陽三城懷節度使。歲中，換河中尹、河中晉絳慈隰節度使。釗歷踐籓鎮，以汾陽胄胤，材能選用，不獨憑椒房之勢，所蒞簡約不撓，其俗自理。敬宗即位，尊郭太后為太皇太后，征釗為兵部尚書，兼檢校尚書左僕射。明年，出為梓州刺史、劍南東川節度使。文宗即位，加司空。大和三年冬，南蠻陷巂州，遂寇西川，杜元穎失於控禦，蠻軍陷成都府外城。朝廷未暇除帥，乃以釗兼領西川節度。蠻軍已寇樟州，諸道援軍未至，川軍寡弱，不可令戰。釗致書於蠻首領泬巔，責以侵寇之意，泬巔曰：「杜元穎不守疆埸，屢侵吾圉，以是修報也。」與釗修好而退。朝廷嘉之，授成都尹、劍南西川節度使。與南詔立約，疆陲不擾。以疾求代。四年，入為太常卿、檢校司徒。十二月，在道卒，詔贈司徒。子仲文、仲辭。曖子鏦鏦，母升平長公主，大歷、貞元之間，恩禮冠諸主。順宗在東宮，以女德陽郡主尚鏦，時鏦與公主年未及冠，郡主尤為德宗之所鐘愛，故鏦之貴寵，焜燿一時。順宗即位，改封德陽為漢陽公主。鏦累官至衛尉卿、駙馬都尉，改殿中監。穆宗即位，鏦為叔舅，改右金吾衛大將軍、兼御史大夫，充左街使。城南有汾陽王別墅，林泉之致，莫之與比，穆宗常遊幸之，置酒極歡而罷，賜鏦甚厚。俄加檢校工部尚書，兼太子詹事，充閑廄宮苑使。從容貴位三十餘年，而椒房之寵，國舅之恩，近代已來，無有其比。而鏦恭遜虔恪，不以富貴驕人，士無賢不肖，接之以禮，由是中外稱之。長慶二年十月卒，贈尚書左僕射，仍以其弟銛代鏦為太子詹事，充閑廄宮苑使。仲文，大和末為殿中少監。開成初，詔仲文襲父太原郡公，制上，給事中封敕奏曰：「伏準制書，贈司徒郭釗嫡男仲文襲封太原郡公者，臣近訪知郭釗妻沈氏，公主之女，代宗皇帝外孫，有男仲辭，已選尚主。仲文不合假冒，自稱嫡子。若仲文承嫡，即沈氏須黜居別室，仲辭不合配尚貴主。伏以郭仲文，尚父子儀之孫，太皇太后之侄，戚里勛門，無與儔比，婚姻嫡庶，朝野具知，奪宗之配，實玷風教。且仲文、仲辭既非同出，襲封尚主，不可並行。伏請付臺勘當。」詔曰：「以萬年縣尉仲辭襲封。」仲文落下，以太皇太后侄，不之罪。尋以仲辭為銀青光祿大夫、檢校中少監、駙馬都尉，襲封太原郡公，尚饒陽公主。又仲辭兄詹事府丞仲恭，為銀青光祿大夫，尚金堂公主。母弟幼明幼明，尚父子儀之母弟也。性謹願無過，不工武藝，喜賓客飲宴，居家禦眾，皆得其歡心。以子儀勛業，累歷大卿監，大歷八年卒，贈太子太傅。

When Muzong took the throne he installed the Empress Dowager in the Southern Inner Palace and raised up the maternal clan; Zhao was given concurrent appointment as Minister of Revenue. Soon after he was made Acting Minister of Revenue and Military Governor of He-Yang Three Cities and Huai. Within the year he was shifted to Intendant of Hezhong and Military Governor of Hezhong, Jin, Jiang, Ci, and Sui. Zhao held one frontier post after another. As a scion of Fenyang he was appointed for talent, not merely for palace ties. His rule was spare and firm, and wherever he went order took hold of its own accord. When Jingzong took the throne he raised Empress Dowager Guo to Grand Empress Dowager and recalled Zhao as Minister of War with concurrent Acting Left Vice Minister. The following year he was sent out as Prefect of Zizhou and Military Governor of Eastern Sichuan. When Wenzong took the throne Zhao was given the honorific Grand Minister of Works. In the third year of Dahe, that winter the southern tribes seized Qiong Prefecture and swept into western Sichuan. Du Yuanying lost control, and the barbarians broke through the outer wall of Chengdu. The court had no time to find a new commander and put Zhao in charge of western Sichuan as well. The enemy had already struck Zhang Prefecture. Reinforcements from the circuits had not come, and the Sichuan forces were too few and weak to fight. Zhao wrote to the barbarian leader Juedian, demanding why he had invaded. Juedian replied, "Du Yuanying neglects the frontier and keeps trespassing on our lands—that is why we have come to settle the score." He then made peace with Zhao and withdrew. The court commended him and appointed him Intendant of Chengdu and Military Governor of Western Sichuan. He concluded a pact with Nanzhao, and the frontier knew peace. Illness drove him to ask for a successor. In the fourth year he returned to the capital as Minister of Ceremonies and Acting Minister of Education. In the twelfth month he died on the journey home; the throne posthumously made him Minister of Education. His sons were Zhongwen and Zhongci. Nuan's son Cong, born of Princess Shengping, enjoyed honors and deference unmatched among imperial sons-in-law between the Dali and Zhenyuan reigns. While Shunzong was heir apparent he married his daughter, Princess Deyang, to Cong. Both were still under age, and because the princess was a particular favorite of Dezong, Cong's glory at court burned brighter than anyone's for a season. When Shunzong took the throne, Deyang was re-enfeoffed as Princess of Hanyang. Cong rose to Minister of the Palace Studs and Commandant-Consort, then was reassigned as Director of the Palace Administration. When Muzong took the throne, Cong—as the emperor's uncle by marriage—was made General of the Right Golden Guard, concurrent Censor-in-Chief, and Commissioner of the Left Street. South of the city stood the Prince of Fenyang's country estate, whose woods and waters had no rival. Muzong often went there to revel; wine was poured until mirth ran highest, and Cong was rewarded with extraordinary generosity. Soon he was further made Acting Minister of Works, Tutor of the Heir Apparent, and Commissioner of the Imperial Stud and Palace Parks. For more than thirty years he moved at ease among the highest ranks, and in palace favor and privilege as imperial uncle, none in living memory had stood so high. Yet Cong remained reverent, modest, and sincere, never haughty in his riches. Scholar or scoundrel, he met all with courtesy, and won praise throughout the court and beyond. He died in the tenth month of Changqing year two and was posthumously made Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. His younger brother Xian was appointed to succeed Cong as Supervisor of the Heir Apparent and Commissioner of the Imperial Stud and Palace Parks. Zhongwen served at the end of the Taihe era as Assistant Director of the Palace Administration. At the start of Kaicheng an edict named Zhongwen heir to his father's title, Duke of Taiyuan. When the decree was promulgated, Supervising Secretary Feng Jiao submitted: "The decree appoints Zhongwen, legitimate son of the late Minister of Education Guo Zhao, to inherit the Dukedom of Taiyuan. I have lately learned that Zhao's wife Lady Shen—daughter of a princess and granddaughter-in-law of Daizong—has a son Zhongci already selected to marry a princess. Zhongwen has no right to pose as the legitimate heir. If Zhongwen takes the succession as legitimate son, Lady Shen must be relegated to a separate household, and Zhongci cannot remain fit to marry an imperial princess. Guo Zhongwen is Ziyi's grandson and the Grand Empress Dowager's nephew—a union of merit and palace kin without parallel. Who in court or countryside does not know the facts of his birth? To overturn Zhongci's imperial match would be a scandal to the realm. Besides, Zhongwen and Zhongci are not full brothers; one cannot both inherit the title and keep the princess marriage intact. I beg that the case be sent to the Censorate for inquiry." The edict said: "Let Zhongci, county commandant of Wannian, inherit the fief." Zhongwen was removed from consideration, but as the Grand Empress Dowager's nephew he was not punished. Before long Zhongci was made Silver Gleam Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, Acting Assistant Director of the Palace Administration, and Commandant-Consort; he inherited the Dukedom of Taiyuan and married Princess Raoyang. Zhongci's elder brother Zhonggong, a clerk in the Heir Apparent's household, was likewise made Silver Gleam Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and married Princess Jintang. Younger maternal brother Youming. Youming was the younger brother of Ziyi's mother. He was cautious and plain, without reproach; no warrior, but fond of guests and feasts. At home and among neighbors he won every heart. On the strength of Ziyi's achievements he rose through high ministerial offices. He died in Dali year eight and was posthumously made Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent.

子昕，肅宗末為四鎮留後。自關、隴陷蕃，為虜所隔，其四鎮、北庭使額，李嗣業、荔非元禮皆遙領之。昕阻隔十五年，建中二年，與伊西北庭節度使李元忠俱遣使於朝，德宗嘉之。詔曰：「四鎮、二庭，統任西夏五十七蕃十姓部落，國朝以來，相次率職。自關、隴失守，東西阻絕，忠義之徒，泣血相守，慎固封略，奉尊朝法，皆候伯守將交修共理之所致也。伊西北庭節度使李元忠，可北庭大都護；四鎮節度留後郭昕，可安西大都護、四鎮節度使。其將吏已下敘官，可超七資。」

His son Xin, in the closing years of Suzong, served as acting commander of the Four Garrisons. After Guan and Long were lost to Tibet he was sealed off behind enemy lines. The Four Garrisons and Beiting commissions were held only in name from afar—first by Li Siye, then by Lifei Yuanli. Xin was cut off for fifteen years. In the second year of Jianzhong, he and Li Yuanzhong, Military Governor of Yi-Xi and Beiting, both sent envoys to court, and Dezong praised them. The edict said, "The Four Garrisons and the Two Courts command and administer the fifty-seven barbarian groups and the ten-surname tribes of Western Xia. Since the beginning of the dynasty, they have successively fulfilled their duties. Since Guan and Long were lost and east and west were cut off from one another, loyal and righteous men have held guard with tears of blood, carefully securing the frontiers and reverently upholding the court's laws. This has all been brought about by regional lords, garrison commanders, and generals cultivating and governing together. Li Yuanzhong, Military Governor of Yi-Xi and Beiting, may be Protector-General of Beiting; Guo Xin, Acting Military Governor of the Four Garrisons, may be Protector-General of Anxi and Military Governor of the Four Garrisons. In assigning offices to their generals, officials, and those below them, they may be advanced seven grades beyond the norm."

李元忠，本姓曹，名令忠，以功賜姓名。時昕使自回紇歷諸蕃部，方達於朝。又有袁光庭者，為伊州刺史，隴右諸郡皆陷，光庭堅守伊州，吐蕃攻之累年，兵盡食竭，光庭先刃其妻子，自焚而死。因昕使知之，贈工部尚書。

Li Yuanzhong had originally been surnamed Cao and named Lingzhong; for his service the throne bestowed the surname Li and the name Yuanzhong. Xin's envoy had traveled through Uyghur territory and the western tribes and had only just arrived at court. There was also Yuan Guangting, Prefect of Yizhou. Every Longyou commandery fell, yet Guangting held Yizhou. The Tibetans besieged him for years until his soldiers were spent and his stores gone. He first cut down his wife and children, then set himself ablaze. Word reached the court through Xin's envoy, and Guangting was posthumously made Minister of Works.

史臣曰：天寶之季，盜起幽陵，萬乘播遷，兩都覆沒。天祚土德，實生汾陽。自河朔班師，關西殄寇，身扞豺虎，手披荊榛。七八年間，其勤至矣，再造王室，勛高一代。及國威復振，群小肆讒，位重懇辭，失寵無怨。不幸危而邀君父，不挾憾以報仇讎，晏然效忠，有死無二，誠大雅君子，社稷純臣。自秦、漢已還，勛力之盛，無與倫比。而晞、曖於缞粗之中，拔身虎口，赴難奉天，可謂忠孝之門有嗣矣。

The court historian writes: In the closing years of Tianbao rebellion broke out on the northern frontier; the emperor was driven into exile; both capitals fell. Heaven's favor rests on the virtue of earth—and from that virtue Fenyang was born. From the withdrawal from Hebei to the crushing of rebels in the west, he himself stood between the throne and the wolves, clearing the thorn path with his own hands. Seven or eight years of labor brought the dynasty back from the brink; his achievement stood above his age. When the empire regained its strength, small men whispered poison; though honors piled upon him he repeatedly begged off, and though the throne turned cool he nursed no grudge. In peril he never seized upon the emperor as leverage; wronged, he never repaid his foes in kind. He served in tranquil fidelity, ready to die without a second thought—a great-hearted gentleman and a true pillar of the realm. Since Qin and Han, no servant of the throne has matched the scale of his service. And Xi and Nuan, still clad in mourning hemp, tore themselves from the tiger's jaws to reach Fengtian in the emperor's hour of need—the loyal and filial line had not gone barren.

贊曰：猗歟汾陽，功扶昊蒼。秉仁蹈義，鐵心石腸。四朝靜亂，五福其昌。為臣之節，敢告忠良。

In praise: O Fenyang, grand in merit, upholding the wide sky! He held to benevolence and walked in righteousness—a heart of iron, a gut of stone. Four reigns he quieted in turmoil; the five blessings bloomed in his house. Such is the standard of the minister—I lay it before the loyal and true.

Cite this Chapter