1
韋臯，字城武，京兆人。 大歷初，以建陵挽郎調補華州參軍，累授使府監察御史。 宰相張鎰出為鳳翊隴右節度使，奏臯為營田判官，得殿中侍御史，權知隴州行營留後事。
Wei Gao, whose courtesy name was Chengwu, came from the capital district of Jingzhao. In the early Dali reign he left a Jianling pallbearer appointment for a staff post in Huazhou, and over time rose to serve as supervisory censor under successive military governors. After Chief Minister Zhang Yin took up the Fengyi–Longyou command, he had Gao named agricultural colony judge, secured him a palace censor's title, and entrusted him with acting authority over Longzhou's campaign rear headquarters.
2
建中四年，涇師犯闕，德宗幸奉天，鳳翔兵馬使李楚琳殺張鎰，以府城叛歸於硃泚，隴州刺史郝通奔於楚琳。 先是，硃泚自范陽入朝，以甲士自隨； 後泚為鳳翔節度使，既罷，留范陽五百人戍隴州，而泚舊將牛雲光督之。 時泚既以逆徒圍奉天，雲光因稱疾，請臯為帥，將謀亂，擒臯以赴泚。 臯將翟曄伺知之，白臯為備； 雲光知事泄，遂率其兵以奔泚。 行及汧陽，遇泚家僮蘇玉將使於臯所，蘇玉謂雲光曰：「太尉已登寶位，使我持詔以韋臯為御史中丞，君可以兵歸隴州。 臯若承命，即為吾人； 如不受詔，彼書生，可以圖之，事無不濟矣。」 乃反昪疾趨隴州。 臯迎勞之，先納蘇玉，受其偽命，乃問雲光曰：「始不告而去，今又來，何也？」 雲光曰：「前未知公心，故潛去； 知公有新命，今乃復還。 願與公戮力定功，同其生死。」 臯曰：「善。」 又謂雲光曰：「大使茍不懷詐，請納器甲，使城中無所危疑，乃可入。」 雲光以書生待臯，且以為信然，乃盡付弓矢戈甲。 臯既受之，乃內其兵。 明日，臯犒宴蘇玉、雲光之卒於郡舍，伏甲於兩廊。 酒既行，伏發，盡誅之，斬雲光、蘇玉首以徇。 泚又使家僮劉海廣以臯為鳳翔節度使，臯斬海廣及從者三人，生一人，使報泚。 於是詔以臯為御史大夫、隴州刺史，置奉義軍節度以旌之。 臯遣從兄平及弇繼入奉天城，城中聞臯有備，士氣增倍。
In Jianzhong 4 the Jingzhou mutineers attacked the capital, forcing Emperor Dezong to take refuge at Fengtian; Fengxiang's military envoy Li Chulin murdered Zhang Yin, handed the city to Zhu Ci, and Longzhou prefect Hao Tong threw in his lot with Chulin. Earlier, when Zhu Ci had come to court from Fanyang, he had brought his own armored escort; After he served as Fengxiang military governor and left office, he left five hundred Fanyang troops to garrison Longzhou under his former officer Niu Yunguang. With Ci's rebels already besieging Fengtian, Yunguang pretended to be ill, asked Gao to assume command, and plotted to seize him and hand him over to Ci. Gao's officer Zhai Ye discovered the plot and warned him to prepare; Once Yunguang learned the plot had been exposed, he marched his troops off to join Ci. On the road at Qianyang they met Ci's household slave Su Yu, bound for Gao's headquarters. Su Yu told Yunguang, "The Grand Preceptor has already taken the throne and sent me with an edict naming Wei Gao vice censor-in-chief; you can bring your troops back to Longzhou. If Gao accepts the edict, he will be on our side; if he refuses the edict, he is only a scholar—you can take him, and the matter is as good as done." They turned back at once and, still feigning illness, pressed on to Longzhou. Gao went out to receive them cordially, took Su Yu in first, accepted the bogus appointment, and then asked Yunguang, "You slipped away without a word before—what brings you back now?" Yunguang replied, "I left in secret because I did not yet know where you stood; now that I know you have received a new commission, I have come back. I wish to join forces with you, share the glory, and stand or fall together." Gao said, "Excellent." He added, "If you mean no treachery, surrender your arms and armor first so the city will have no cause for fear—only then may your men enter." Taking Gao for a mere scholar and believing Su Yu's story, Yunguang turned over every bow, arrow, spear, and suit of armor. Once Gao had the weapons, he let the troops into the city. The next day he entertained Su Yu's and Yunguang's men at the prefectural hall, with armed men concealed in both side corridors. As the banquet began, the hidden troops rushed out and slaughtered them all; Gao had Yunguang's and Su Yu's heads cut off and displayed as a warning. Ci sent another household slave, Liu Haiguang, to name Gao Fengxiang military governor; Gao executed Haiguang and three of his escorts, spared one man, and sent him back to Ci with the news. The court then appointed Gao censor-in-chief and Longzhou prefect and created the Fengyi Army command to honor his loyalty. Gao sent his cousin Ping and Yan Ji into beleaguered Fengtian, and when the garrison learned he had secured Longzhou, their spirits soared.
3
貞元元年，拜檢校戶部尚書，兼成都尹、御史大夫、劍南西川節度使，代張延賞。 臯以雲南蠻眾數十萬，與吐蕃和好，蕃人入寇，必以蠻為前鋒。 四年，臯遣判官崔佐時入南詔蠻，說令向化，以離吐蕃之助。 佐時至蠻國羊咀咩城，其王異牟尋忻然接遇，請絕吐蕃，遣使朝貢。 其年，遣東蠻鬼主驃傍、苴夢沖、苴烏等相率入朝。 南蠻自巂州陷沒，臣屬吐蕃，絕朝貢者二十余年，至是復通。
In Zhenyuan 1 he was made acting minister of revenue, concurrently magistrate of Chengdu, censor-in-chief, and military governor of Jiannan West, succeeding Zhang Yanshang. Gao saw that the Yunnan tribes numbered in the hundreds of thousands, were allied with Tibet, and invariably served as the vanguard whenever Tibetan armies raided the frontier. In the fourth year he sent his judge Cui Zuoshi into Nanzhao to win them over and break their alliance with Tibet. At the Nanzhao capital of Yangjumie, King Yimouxun welcomed Cui Zuoshi warmly, agreed to break with Tibet, and sent envoys to court with tribute. That same year the Eastern Barbarian chieftains Piao Pang, Ju Mengchong, Ju Wu, and others came to court in a body. The southern tribes had not sent tribute for more than twenty years, not since Xi Prefecture fell and they became Tibetan subjects; now the connection was renewed.
4
五年，臯遣大將王有道簡習精卒以入蕃界，與東蠻於故巂州臺登北谷大破吐蕃青海、臘城二節度，斬首二千級，生擒籠官四十五人，其投崖谷而死者不可勝計。 蕃將乞臧遮遮者，蕃之驍將也，久為邊患。 自擒遮遮，城柵無不降，數年之內，終復巂州，以功加吏部尚書。 九年，朝廷築鹽州城，慮為吐蕃掩襲，詔臯出兵牽維之。 乃命大將董勔、張芬出西山及南道，破峨和城、通鶴軍。 吐蕃南道元帥論莽熱率眾來援，又破之，殺傷數千人，焚定廉城。 凡平堡柵五十余所，以功進位檢校右僕射。 臯又招撫西山羌女、訶陵、白狗、逋租、弱水、南王等八國酋長，入貢闕廷。 十一年九月，加統押近界諸蠻、西山八國兼雲南安撫等使。 十二年二月，就加同中書門下平章事。 十三年，收復巂州城。 十六年，臯命將出軍，累破吐蕃於黎、巂二州。 吐蕃怒，遂大搜閱，築壘造舟，欲謀入寇，臯悉挫之。 於是吐蕃酋帥兼監統曩貢、臘城等九節度嬰、籠官馬定德與其大將八十七人舉部落來降。 定德有計略，習知兵法及山川地形，吐蕃每用兵，定德常乘驛計事，蕃中諸將稟其成算。 至是，自以扞邊失律，懼得罪而歸心焉。
In the fifth year Gao sent General Wang Youdao with picked troops into Tibetan territory; allied with the Eastern Barbarians he smashed the Qinghai and Lachang commands at Taideng north of old Xi Prefecture, taking two thousand heads, forty-five officers alive, and countless more who died fleeing over cliffs. The Tibetan commander Qizang Zhezhe was among their fiercest fighters and had long terrorized the border. After Zhezhe's capture, one Tibetan strongpoint after another surrendered, and within a few years Gao recovered Xi Prefecture and was promoted to minister of civil appointments for his service. In the ninth year, as the court fortified Salt Prefecture and feared a Tibetan strike, Gao was ordered to launch a diversionary campaign. He sent Generals Dong Kan and Zhang Fen along the western mountains and the southern route, taking Ehe City and the Tonghe garrison. The Tibetan southern commander Lun Mangre marched to relieve them but was beaten again; thousands were killed or wounded and Dinglian City was burned. In all they reduced more than fifty forts and stockades, and Gao was promoted to acting right vice director of the Imperial Secretariat. Gao also brought in the chieftains of eight western mountain peoples—among them Qiangnu, Heling, Baitou, Bozu, Ruoshui, and Nanwang—to present tribute at court. In the ninth month of the eleventh year he was also named commissioner to oversee the nearby tribes, the eight western mountain states, and Yunnan pacification. In the second month of the twelfth year he was made associate director of the Imperial Secretariat on the spot. In the thirteenth year he recovered the city of Xi Prefecture. In the sixteenth year he sent his generals out and won repeated victories over Tibet in Li and Xi prefectures. Enraged, Tibet mobilized on a large scale, built fortifications and boats, and prepared a major invasion, but Gao frustrated every move. Then the Tibetan overseer of nine commands, junior officer Ma Dingde, and eighty-seven senior commanders brought their tribes over to the Tang side. Dingde was a strategist who knew warfare and the mountain terrain intimately; whenever Tibet campaigned he galloped along the courier routes to lay plans, and Tibetan generals fought by his designs. Now, fearing punishment for his failures on the frontier, he chose to defect.
5
十七年，吐蕃昆明城管些蠻千余戶又降。 贊普以其眾外潰，遂北寇靈、朔，陷麟州。 德宗遣使至成都府，令臯出兵深入蕃界。 臯乃令鎮靜軍使陳洎等統兵萬人出三奇路，威戎軍使崔堯臣兵千人出龍溪石門路南，維保二州兵馬使仇冕、保霸二州刺史董振等兵二千趨吐蕃維州城中，北路兵馬使邢玼等四千趨吐蕃棲雞、老翁城，都將高倜、王英俊兵二千趨故松州，隴東兵馬使元膺兵八千人出南道雅、邛、黎、巂路。 又令鎮南軍使韋良金兵一千三百續進，雅州經略使路惟明等兵三千趨吐蕃租、松等城，黎州經略使王有道兵二千人過大渡河，深入蕃界，巂州經略使陳孝陽、兵馬使何大海、韋義等及磨些蠻、東蠻二部落主苴那時等兵四千進攻昆明城、諾濟城。 自八月出軍齊入，至十月破蕃兵十六萬，拔城七、軍鎮五、戶三千，擒生六千，斬首萬余級，遂進攻維州。 救軍再至，轉戰千里，蕃軍連敗。 於是寇靈、朔之眾引而南下，贊普遣論莽熱以內大相兼東境五道節度兵馬都群牧大使，率雜虜十萬而來解維州之圍。 蜀師萬人據險設伏以待之，先出千人挑戰。 莽熱見我師之少，悉眾追之。 發伏掩擊，鼓噪雷駭，蕃兵自潰，生擒論莽熱，虜眾十萬，殲夷者半。 是歲十月，遣使獻論莽熱於朝； 德宗數而釋之，賜第於崇仁裏。 臯以功加檢校司徒，兼中書令，封南康郡王。
In the seventeenth year more than a thousand households of the Guanxie people under Tibetan Kunming also submitted. With his southwestern forces in disarray, the Tibetan emperor turned north, raided Ling and Shuo, and took Lin Prefecture. Emperor Dezong sent envoys to Chengdu ordering Gao to drive deep into Tibetan territory. Gao sent Zhenjing commissioner Chen Ji with ten thousand men along the Sanqi route; Weirong commissioner Cui Yaochan with a thousand along the Longxi Shimen road; Qiu Mian and the prefects of Wei and Ba with two thousand against Weizhou; Xing Qi with four thousand against Qiji and Laoweng; Gao Tong and Wang Yingjun with two thousand toward old Songzhou; and Yuan Ying with eight thousand along the southern Ya–Qiong–Li–Xi corridor. He sent Zhennan commissioner Wei Liangjin with thirteen hundred as follow-up; Lu Weiming with three thousand against Zu and Song; Wang Youdao with two thousand across the Dadu into Tibetan lands; and Chen Xiaoyang, He Dahai, Wei Yi, and the Mosuo and Eastern Barbarian chief Ju Nashi with four thousand against Kunming and Nuoji. The columns marched out together in the eighth month; by the tenth they had shattered a reported 160,000 Tibetan troops, taken seven cities and five garrisons, three thousand households, six thousand prisoners, and more than ten thousand heads, and pressed on to besiege Weizhou. Relief columns arrived again and again, battles ranged a thousand li, and the Tibetans lost every engagement. The army that had raided Ling and Shuo now swung south; the tsenpo sent Lun Mangre, inner chief minister and eastern frontier commander, with a hundred thousand mixed auxiliaries to lift the siege of Weizhou. Ten thousand Shu troops took up a strong position in ambush and first sent out a thousand men to bait the enemy. Seeing how small the Tang detachment was, Mangre committed his whole army to the pursuit. The hidden troops struck; drums and war cries rolled like thunder; the Tibetan line collapsed; Lun Mangre was taken alive; of his hundred thousand men, half were killed or scattered. That October Gao sent Lun Mangre to the capital as a captive; Emperor Dezong lectured him, then set him free and gave him a house in Chongren Lane. For these victories Gao was made acting grand mentor and director of the Imperial Secretariat and enfeoffed as Prince of Nankang.
6
順宗即位，加檢校太尉。 順宗久疾，不能臨朝聽政，宦者李忠言、侍棋待詔王叔文、侍書待詔王伾等三人頗幹國政，高下在心。 臯乃遣支度副使劉辟使於京師，辟私謁王叔文曰：「太尉使致誠於足下，若能致某都領劍南三川，必有以相酬； 如不留意，亦有以奉報。」 叔文大怒，將斬辟以徇； 韋執誼固止之，辟乃私去。 臯知王叔文人情不附，又知與韋執誼有隙，自以大臣可議社稷大計，乃上表請皇太子監國，曰：「臣聞上承宗廟，下鎮黎元，永固無疆，莫先儲兩。 伏聞聖明以山陵未祔，哀毀逾制，心勞萬幾，伏計旬月之間，未甚痊復。 皇太子睿質已長，淑問日彰，四海之心，實所倚賴。 伏望權令皇太子監撫庶政，以俟聖躬痊平，一日萬幾，免令壅滯。」 又上皇太子箋曰：
When Emperor Shunzong came to the throne, Gao was further appointed acting grand preceptor. Shunzong had been ill for years and could not preside over court; the eunuch Li Zhongyan, chess attendant Wang Shuwen, and calligraphy attendant Wang Pi largely ran the government, raising and lowering officials as they pleased. Gao sent his revenue vice commissioner Liu Pi to the capital; Pi sought a private audience with Wang Shuwen and said, "The Grand Preceptor sends his regards: if you can secure command of the three Jiannan circuits for him, he will repay you handsomely; if you refuse, he has other ways to settle the account." Shuwen flew into a rage and was about to execute Pi as a public warning; Wei Zhiyi held him back, and Pi slipped away. Knowing that Shuwen lacked support and was at odds with Wei Zhiyi, Gao judged that as a frontier statesman he could weigh in on the fate of the dynasty and memorialized asking the crown prince to supervise the realm: "I have heard that to uphold the ancestral shrines above and steady the people below, nothing secures the realm like a firm succession. I understand that Your Majesty, with the late emperor's tomb not yet enshrined, mourns beyond the prescribed limits while bearing the weight of ten thousand affairs, and I fear full recovery may still be weeks away. The crown prince is grown in wisdom and reputation; the empire's hopes already rest on him. I beg that the crown prince be empowered to oversee daily government until Your Majesty is well again, so the business of the realm does not stall." He also sent the crown prince a private letter:
7
殿下體重離之德，當儲貳之重，所以克昌九廟，式固萬方，天下安危，系於殿下。 臯位居將相，誌切匡扶，先朝獎知，早承恩顧。 人臣之分，知無不為，願上答眷私，罄輸肝鬲。 伏以聖上嗣膺鴻業，睿哲英明，攀感先朝，誌存孝理。 諒闇之際，方委大臣，但付托偶失於善人，而參決多虧於公政。 今群小得誌，隳紊紀綱，官以勢遷，政由情改，朋黨交構，熒惑宸聰。 樹置腹心，遍於貴位； 潛結左右，難在蕭墻。 國賦散於權門，王稅不入天府，褻慢無忌，高下在心。 貨賄流聞，遷轉失敘，先聖屏黜贓犯之類，鹹擢居省寺之間。 至令忠臣隕涕，正人結舌，遐邇痛心，人知不可。 伏恐奸雄乘便，因此謀動干戈，危殿下之家邦，傾太宗之王業。 伏惟太宗櫛沐風雨，經營廟朝，將垂二百年，欲及千萬祀； 而一朝使叔文奸佞之徒，侮弄朝政，恣其胸臆，坐致傾危。 臣每思之，痛心疾首！ 伏望殿下斥逐群小，委任賢良，忄妻々血誠，輸寫於此！
Your Highness embodies the heir's virtue and bears the weight of succession; on you depend the prosperity of the ancestral shrines, the stability of the realm, and the safety of the empire. I stand among your generals and ministers, resolved to serve you faithfully; the late emperor honored me, and I have long enjoyed imperial favor. A subject's duty is to act on whatever he knows; I wish to repay your trust and lay bare my utmost loyalty. Your father succeeded to the great enterprise with wisdom and brilliance, cherishing the late emperor and devoted to filial rule. In his mourning he entrusted affairs to senior ministers, yet power has fallen by mischance into the wrong hands, and public government has suffered. Now petty men have had their way, tearing down law and order, trading offices for favor, bending policy to private whim, forming factions, and misleading the throne. They plant their intimates in every high post; they secretly bind the emperor's attendants—the danger is within the palace itself. State revenue is diverted to powerful houses, royal taxes never reach the treasury, insolence goes unchecked, and they raise or ruin men at will. Bribery is an open secret, appointments ignore seniority, and men the late emperor banished for corruption now sit in the central ministries. Loyal ministers weep, upright officials dare not speak, and all who near and far see it know the situation cannot stand. I fear that schemers will seize the moment, raise arms, endanger your house and throne, and overturn the empire Taizong built. Taizong endured wind and rain to build this dynasty for ages to come, intending it to last centuries and ten thousand generations; yet in a single reign men like Shuwen mock the government, indulge their whims, and risk bringing it all down. Whenever I think of it, grief pierces me to the core! I beg Your Highness to drive out these petty men, entrust the worthy, and accept the heartfelt loyalty I pour out here!
8
太子優令答之。 而裴均、嚴綬箋表繼至，由是政歸太子，盡逐伾文之黨。 是歲，暴疾卒，時年六十一，贈太師，廢朝五日。
The crown prince graciously sent a reply. Memorials from Pei Jun and Yan Shou followed, and power passed to the crown prince, who expelled the entire Wang Pi–Wang Shuwen faction. That year he died suddenly of illness at sixty-one; the court posthumously named him grand preceptor and suspended audiences for five days.
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臯在蜀二十一年，重賦斂以事月進，卒致蜀土虛竭，時論非之。 其從事累官稍崇者，則奏為屬郡刺史，或又署在府幕，多不令還朝，蓋不欲泄所為於闕下故也。 故劉辟因臯故態，圖不軌以求三川，歷階之作，蓋有由然。
Gao governed Shu for twenty-one years, imposing heavy taxes to fund his monthly gifts to the throne until the province was exhausted, and contemporaries condemned him for it. Staff members who rose in rank he posted as prefects in outlying districts or kept in his own headquarters, rarely allowing them back to the capital, lest his dealings there become known. It was in this tradition that Liu Pi, following Gao's example, plotted rebellion to seize the three circuits—his ambition had deep roots.
10
臯兄聿，時為國子司業，劉辟與盧文若據西川叛，臯侄行式，先娶文若妹，而聿不奏。 既收行式，以其妻沒官，詔御史臺按聿，聿下獄。 有司以行式妻在遠，不與兄同情，不當連坐，詔歸行式妻而釋聿。
Gao's elder brother Yu was vice director of the Directorate of Education; when Liu Pi and Lu Wenruo rebelled in West Sichuan, Gao's nephew Xingshi had married Wenruo's sister, yet Yu never reported the connection. After Xingshi was arrested, his wife was confiscated; the Censorate was ordered to investigate Yu, and he was thrown into prison. The authorities ruled that Xingshi's wife, living far away, could not have shared her brother's guilt and should not be punished with him; the court returned her to Xingshi and released Yu.
11
劉辟者，貞元中進士擢第，宏詞登科，韋臯辟為從事，累遷至御史中丞、支度副使。 永貞元年八月，韋臯卒，辟自為西川節度留後，率成都將校上表請降節鉞。 朝廷不許，除給事中，便令赴闕。 辟不奉詔。 時憲宗初即位，以無事息人為務，遂授辟檢校工部尚書，充劍南西川節度使。 辟益兇悖，出不臣之言，而求都統三川，與同幕盧文若相善，欲以文若為東川節度使，遂舉兵圍梓州。 憲宗難於用兵，宰相杜黃裳奏：「劉辟一狂蹶書生耳，王師鼓行而俘之，兵不血刃。 臣知神策軍使高崇文，驍果可任，舉必成功。」 帝數日方從之。 於是令高崇文、李元奕將神策京西行營兵相續進發，令與嚴礪、李康掎角相應以討之，仍許其自新。
Liu Pi passed the civil service and macro-elocution examinations in the Zhenyuan era; Wei Gao took him on as staff and promoted him to vice censor-in-chief and revenue vice commissioner. In the eighth month of Yongzhen 1, when Wei Gao died, Liu Pi named himself acting military governor of West Sichuan and led Chengdu's officers in a memorial requesting formal appointment. The court refused his request but named him supervising censor and ordered him to report to the capital. Liu Pi defied the order. Emperor Xianzong had just taken the throne and wished to avoid war, so he appointed Liu Pi acting minister of works and military governor of Jiannan West. Pi grew bolder, spoke treasonously, demanded command of all three circuits, and—close to his colleague Lu Wenruo, whom he wanted as East Sichuan governor—raised an army and besieged Zizhou. Xianzong hesitated to send troops, but Chief Minister Du Huangchang argued, "Liu Pi is nothing but a reckless scholar; the imperial army can march on him and take him without a fight. I know the Shence commander Gao Chongwen—fierce and reliable—and if you send him, he will succeed. The emperor took several days to agree. He then ordered Gao Chongwen and Li Yuanyi to march the Shence western capital troops forward in stages, coordinating with Yan Li and Li Kang in a pincer attack, while still offering Pi a chance to submit.
12
元和元年正月，崇文出師。 三月，收復東川。 乃下詔曰：
In the first month of Yuanhe 1, Gao Chongwen took the field. By the third month East Sichuan had been recovered. The emperor then issued an edict:
13
朕聞皇祖玄元之誡曰：「兵者，兇器也，不得已而用之。」 恭惟聖謨，常所祗服。 故惟文誥有所不至，誠信有所未孚，始務安人，必能忍恥，朕之此誌，亦可明征。 近者德宗皇帝舉柔服之規，授宰衡之傑，弘我廟勝，遂康巴、庸，故得南詔入貢，西戎寢患。 成績始究，元臣喪亡，劉辟乘此變故，坐邀符節。 朕以成狂命者雖乖於理體，從權便者所冀於輯寧，竟乖卿士之謀，遂允幸求之誌。 朕之於辟，恩亦弘矣。 曾不知恩，負牛羊之力，飽則逾兇； 畜梟獍之心，馴之益悖。 誑惑士伍，圍逼梓州； 誘陷戎臣，塞絕劍路。 師徒所至，燒劫無遺，幹紀之辜，擢發難數。 朕為人司牧，字彼黎元，如辟之罪，非朕敢舍，可削奪在身官爵。
Our imperial ancestor the Mysterious Primeval taught: "Weapons are instruments of violence, to be used only when there is no other choice. We hold that sacred teaching in reverence and live by it. When persuasion and trust had not yet won the day, we first sought to pacify the people and bore humiliation rather than strike—our intent in this is plain. Under Emperor Dezong the court pursued conciliation, entrusted great ministers, and secured Ba and Yong, bringing Nanzhao to tribute and quieting the western frontier. Just as those achievements were won and Wei Gao died, Liu Pi seized the moment to demand the command baton for himself. Though indulging his presumption violated principle, we hoped expedience would buy peace, and against our ministers' advice we granted his request. Our favor toward Liu Pi was already generous. He showed no gratitude, fed like a beast on our bounty, and once full grew only more savage; he nursed an owl's heart in his breast, and the more we indulged him the more defiant he grew. He misled the troops and besieged Zizhou; he lured frontier officials into treason and cut the roads into Shu. Wherever his armies marched they burned and looted without mercy, and his violations of law are beyond counting. As shepherd of the people we cannot forgive crimes such as his; let his offices and titles be stripped away.
14
六月，崇文破鹿頭關，進收漢州。 九月，崇文收成都府。 劉辟以數十騎遁走，投水不死； 騎將酈定進入水，擒辟於成都府西洋灌田。 盧文若先自刃其妻子，然後縋石投江，失其屍。 辟檻送京師，在路飲食自若，以為不當死。 及至京西臨臯驛，左右神策兵士迎之，以帛系首及手足，曳而入，乃驚曰：「何至於是？」 或紿之曰：「國法當爾，無憂也。」 是日，詔曰：「劉辟生於士族，敢蓄梟心，驅劫蜀人，拒扞王命。 肆其狂逆，詿誤一州，俾我黎元，肝腦塗地。 賊將崔綱等同惡相扇，至死不回，咸宜伏辜，以正刑典。 劉辟男超郎等九人，並處斬。」 辟入京城，上御興安樓受俘馘，令中使於樓下詰辟反狀。 辟曰：「臣不敢反，五院子弟為惡，臣不能制。」 又遣詰之曰：「朕遣中使送旌節官告，何故不受？」 辟乃伏罪。 令獻太廟、郊社，徇於市，即日戮於子城西南隅。
In the sixth month Gao Chongwen stormed Lutou Pass and took Han Prefecture. In the ninth month he captured Chengdu. Liu Pi fled with a few dozen horsemen, threw himself into the river but survived; cavalry officer Li Dingjin went in after him and seized Liu Pi in the irrigation fields west of Chengdu. Lu Wenruo first killed his wife and children, then weighted himself with a stone and drowned in the river; his body was never found. Liu Pi was sent to the capital in a cage cart, eating and drinking calmly along the way because he believed he would not be executed. At the Lin'gao post west of the capital, Shence guards bound his head and limbs with silk and dragged him inside; only then did he cry out in alarm, "How could it come to this? Someone lied to him, "That is what the law requires—do not worry." That day an edict declared, "Born to the gentry, Liu Pi yet harbored treason, drove the people of Shu into rebellion, and defied the throne. He ran riot, misled a whole province, and brought ruin on the people. Rebel officers such as Cui Gang incited one another and would not relent; all must pay with their lives under the law. Liu Pi's son Chaolang and eight others were all executed." When Liu Pi entered the capital, the emperor mounted Xing'an Tower to receive the captive and ordered a palace envoy below to question him about his rebellion. Liu Pi said, "I never rebelled; the men of the Fifth Courtyard ran wild, and I could not control them. The envoy pressed him again: "The throne sent you the command baton and appointment—why did you refuse them?" Only then did Liu Pi confess. He was presented at the ancestral temple and suburban altars, paraded through the market, and executed that same day at the southwest corner of the inner city.
15
初，辟嘗病，見諸問疾者來，皆以手據地，倒行入辟口，辟因礫裂食之； 惟盧文若至，則如平常。 故尤與文若厚，竟以同惡俱赤族，不其怪歟！
Earlier, when Liu Pi fell ill, he dreamed that every visitor crawled backward on hands and feet into his mouth, where he crushed and devoured them; only when Lu Wenruo came did the dream proceed normally. So he was especially close to Wenruo—and in the end both men and their clans were destroyed. Was that not an omen fulfilled?
16
張建封，字本立，兗州人。 祖仁範，洪州南昌縣令，貞元初贈鄭州刺史。 父玠，少豪俠，輕財重士。 安祿山反，令偽將李庭偉率蕃兵脅下城邑，至魯郡； 太守韓擇木具禮郊迎，置於郵館。 玠率鄉豪張貴、孫邑、段絳等集兵將殺之。 擇木怯懦，大懼； 唯員外司兵張孚然其計，遂殺庭偉並其黨數十人，擇木方遣使奏聞。 擇木、張孚俱受官賞，玠因遊蕩江南，不言其功。 以建封貴，贈秘書監。
Zhang Jianfeng, whose courtesy name was Benli, came from Yanzhou. His grandfather Renfan had been magistrate of Nanchang in Hong Prefecture and was posthumously named prefect of Zheng in the early Zhenyuan reign. His father Jie had been a bold, generous youth who scorned wealth and honored men of talent. When An Lushan rebelled, his puppet general Li Tingwei led barbarian troops to coerce cities along the route as far as Lu commandery; prefect Han Zhemu went out with full ceremony to receive him and lodged him in the courier station. Jie rallied local leaders Zhang Gui, Sun Yi, Duan Jiang, and others to raise troops and kill him. Zhemu was timid and terrified; only the army officer Zhang Fu backed the plan; they killed Tingwei and dozens of his men, and only then did Zhemu send word to the court. Zhemu and Zhang Fu were both rewarded with offices, while Jie, wandering in the lower Yangzi, never claimed credit. When Jianfeng rose to eminence, his father was posthumously named director of the Secretariat.
17
建封少頗屬文，好談論，慷慨負氣，以功名為己任。 寶應中，李光弼鎮河南，時蘇、常等州草賊，寇掠郡邑，代宗遣中使馬日新與光弼將兵馬同征討之。 建封乃見日新，自請說喻賊徒。 日新從之，遂入虎窟、蒸裏等賊營，以利害禍福喻之。 一夕，賊黨數千人並詣日新請降，遂悉放歸田裏。
In youth Jianfeng wrote well, loved debate, was bold and high-spirited, and made achievement his life's aim. During the Baoying era, while Li Guangbi held Henan, bandits in Su and Chang prefectures were raiding the countryside; Emperor Daizong sent the palace envoy Ma Rixin with Guangbi to suppress them. Jianfeng sought out Ma Rixin and volunteered to talk the bandits into surrender. Ma Rixin agreed, and Jianfeng entered the camps at Huku and Zhengli to argue profit and loss, ruin and reward. In a single night several thousand bandits came to Ma Rixin to surrender, and all were sent home to their farms.
18
大歷初，道州刺史裴虬薦建封於觀察使韋之晉，辟為參謀，奏授左清道兵曹，不樂吏役而去。 滑亳節度使令狐彰聞其名，辟之； 彰既未曾朝覲，建封心不悅之，遂投刺於轉運使劉晏，自述其誌，不願仕於彰也。 晏奏試大理評事，勾當軍務。 歲餘，復罷歸。
In the early Dali reign, Daozhou prefect Pei Qiu recommended him to observation commissioner Wei Zhijin, who took him on as staff and had him named army registrar; Jianfeng soon quit, disliking routine office work. Huabo military governor Linghu Zhang heard of him and recruited him; but Zhang had never come to court, which Jianfeng disliked; he therefore called on transport commissioner Liu Yan, explained his views, and said he would not serve under Zhang. Liu Yan had him tried out as a Dali review official handling military affairs. After a year he left office again.
19
建封素與馬燧友善，大歷十年，燧為河陽三城鎮遏使，辟為判官，奏授監察御史，賜緋魚袋。 李靈曜反於梁、宋間，與田悅掎角，同為叛逆，燧與李忠臣同討平之，軍務多咨於建封。 及燧為河東節度使，復奏建封為判官，特拜侍御史。 建中初，燧薦之於朝，楊炎將用為度支郎中，盧杞惡之，出為岳州刺史。
Jianfeng had long been close to Ma Sui; in Dali 10, when Sui became commissioner for the Heyang Three Cities, he made Jianfeng his judge, secured him a supervisory censor's title, and gave him the crimson fish bag. When Li Lingyao rebelled in the Liang–Song region in concert with Tian Yue, Ma Sui and Li Zhongchen crushed them together, consulting Jianfeng on most military decisions. When Sui became Hedong military governor, he again named Jianfeng judge and specially appointed him attendant censor. Early in the Jianzhong reign Sui recommended him to court; Yang Yan meant to make him revenue bureau director, but Lu Qi disliked him and sent him out as prefect of Yuezhou.
20
時淮西節度使李希烈乘破滅梁崇義之勢，漸縱恣跋扈，壽州刺史崔昭數書疏往來。 淮南節度使陳少遊奏之，上遽召宰相令選壽州刺史。 盧杞本惡建封，是日蒼黃，遂薦建封以代崔昭牧壽陽。 李希烈稱兵，寇陷汝州，擒李元平，擊走胡德信、唐漢臣等，又摧破哥舒曜於襄城，連陷鄭、汴等州，李勉棄城而遁。 涇師內逆，駕幸奉天，賊鋒益盛。 淮南陳少遊潛通希烈，尋稱偽號，改元，遣將楊豐賫偽赦書二道，令送少遊及建封。 至壽州，建封縛楊豐徇於軍中。 適會中使自行在及使江南回者同至，建封集眾對中使斬豐於通衢，封偽赦書送行在，遠近震駭。 陳少遊聞之，既怒且懼。 建封乃具奏少遊與希烈往來事狀。 希烈又偽署其黨杜少誠為淮南節度使，令先平壽州，趣江都。 建封令其將賀蘭元均、邵怡等守霍丘秋柵。 少誠竟不能侵軼，乃南掠蘄、黃等州，又為伊慎所挫衄。 尋加建封兼御史中丞、本州團練使。 車駕還京，陳少遊憂憤而卒。
Huai West governor Li Xilie, emboldened by his defeat of Liang Chongyi, grew increasingly arrogant, and Shouzhou prefect Cui Zhao exchanged many letters with him. Huainan governor Chen Shaoyou reported this, and the emperor at once summoned the chief ministers to choose a new Shouzhou prefect. Lu Qi had always disliked Jianfeng, but in the emergency of that day he recommended him to replace Cui Zhao at Shouyang. Li Xilie took the field, captured Ruzhou, seized Li Yuanping, routed Hu Dexin and Tang Hanchen, crushed Geshu Yao at Xiangcheng, and swept through Zheng and Bian; Li Mian abandoned his post and fled. The Jingzhou mutiny broke out, the emperor fled to Fengtian, and rebel power surged. Chen Shaoyou of Huainan secretly colluded with Xilie, soon declared himself emperor under a new reign title, and sent Yang Feng with two forged amnesties for Shaoyou and Jianfeng. At Shou Prefecture, Jianfeng bound Yang Feng and paraded him before the troops. Palace envoys from the emperor's camp and from missions to the south happened to arrive together; Jianfeng assembled the troops, executed Yang Feng in public before them, sealed the forged amnesties, and sent them to the emperor—news that stunned the region. Chen Shaoyou was furious and terrified when he heard. Jianfeng then memorialized in full on Chen Shaoyou's dealings with Xilie. Xilie also named his follower Du Shaocheng puppet governor of Huainan and ordered him to take Shou Prefecture first, then march on Jiangdu. Jianfeng sent his generals Helan Yuanjun and Shao Yi to hold the autumn stockade at Huoqiu. Du Shaocheng could not break through, turned south to raid Qi and Huang, and was beaten back by Yi Shen. Jianfeng was soon also named vice censor-in-chief and regimental commissioner of his prefecture. When the emperor returned to the capital, Chen Shaoyou died of grief and rage.
21
興元元年十二月，乃加兼御史大夫，充濠壽廬三州都團練觀察使。 於是大修緝城池，悉心綏撫，遠近悅附，自是威望益重。 李希烈選兇黨精悍者率勁卒以攻建封，曠日持久，無所克獲而去。 及希烈平，進階封，賜一子正員官。
In the twelfth month of Xingyuan 1 he was also made censor-in-chief and overall regimental and observation commissioner of Hao, Shou, and Lu. He rebuilt the walls and devoted himself to governing well; people near and far rallied to him, and his prestige grew. Li Xilie sent picked troops under his fiercest officers against Jianfeng, but after a long stalemate they withdrew without success. After Xilie's defeat, Jianfeng's noble rank was raised and one of his sons was given a regular court post.
22
初，建中年，李涓以徐州歸附。 涓尋卒，其後高承宗父子、獨孤華相繼為刺史。 為賊侵削，貧困不能自存； 又咽喉要地，據江淮運路，朝廷思擇重臣以鎮者久之。 貞元四年，以建封為徐州刺史，兼御史大夫、徐泗濠節度、支度營田觀察使。 既創置軍伍，建封觸事躬親； 性寬厚，容納人過誤，而按據綱紀，不妄曲法貸人。 每言事，忠義感激，人皆畏悅。 七年，進位檢校禮部尚書。 十二年，加檢校右僕射。 十三年冬，入覲京師，德宗禮遇加等，特以雙日開延英召對，又令朝參入大夫班，以示殊寵。 建封賦《朝天行》一章上獻，賜名馬珍玩頗厚。
In the Jianzhong era, Li Juan had brought Xuzhou back to the Tang side. Juan soon died, and Gao Chengzong and his son, then Dugu Hua, succeeded one another as prefect. Rebel wars had stripped the region bare until it could barely sustain itself; yet it was a strategic choke point on the Yangzi–Huai transport route, and the court had long sought a strong minister to hold it. In Zhenyuan 4 he was made prefect of Xuzhou, concurrently censor-in-chief, military governor of Xu–Si–Hao, and revenue, agricultural colony, and observation commissioner. After organizing the army, he attended to every matter in person; he was generous and tolerant of faults, yet upheld discipline and never bent the law to favor anyone. When he spoke, his loyalty and passion moved everyone to respect and admiration. In the seventh year he was promoted to acting minister of rites. In the twelfth year he was made acting right vice director of the Imperial Secretariat. In the winter of the thirteenth year he came to court; Emperor Dezong received him with exceptional honor, summoned him to Yanying Hall on special days, and had him take his place in the great ministers' rank at audience. He presented a poem, "Journey to Court," and received fine horses and rich gifts in return.
23
時宦者主宮中市買，謂之宮市，抑買人物，稍不如本估。 末年不復行文書，置白望數十百人於兩市及要鬧坊曲，閱人所賣物； 但稱宮市，則斂手付與，真偽不復可辨，無敢問所從來及論價之高下者。 率用直百錢物買人直數千物，仍索進奉門戶及腳價銀。 人將物詣市，至有空手而歸者，名為宮市，其實奪之。 嘗有農夫以驢馱柴，宦者市之，與絹數尺，又就索門戶，仍邀驢送柴至內。 農夫啼泣，以所得絹與之，不肯受，曰：「須得爾驢。」 農夫曰：「我有父母妻子，待此而後食； 今與汝柴，而不取直而歸，汝尚不肯，我有死而已。」 遂毆宦者。 街使擒之以聞，乃黜宦者，賜農夫絹十匹。 然宮市不為之改，諫宮御史表疏論列，皆不聽。 吳湊以戚裏為京兆尹，深言其弊。 建封入覲，具奏之，德宗頗深嘉納； 而戶部侍郎、判度支蘇弁希宦者之旨，因入奏事，上問之，弁對曰：「京師遊手墮業者數千萬家，無土著生業，仰宮市取給。」 上信之，凡言宮市者皆不聽用。 詔書矜免百姓諸色逋賦，上問建封，對曰：「凡逋賦殘欠，皆是累積年月，無可征收，雖蒙陛下憂恤，百姓亦無所裨益。」 時河東節度使李說、華州刺史盧微，皆中風疾，口不能言，足不能行，但信任左右胥吏決遣之。 建封皆悉聞奏，上深嘉納。 又金吾大將軍李翰好伺察城中細事，加諸聞奏，冀求恩寵，人畏而惡之。 建封亦奏之，乃下詔曰：「比來朝官或諸處過從，金吾皆有上聞。 其間如素是親故，或曾同僚友，伏臘歲序，時有還往，亦是常禮，人情所通。 自今以後，金吾不須聞。」
At the time eunuchs controlled palace purchases—the so-called palace market—forcing merchants to sell below fair price. In his later years the eunuchs stopped using written orders and instead posted hundreds of agents in the markets and busy streets to inspect goods for sale; at the word "palace market" merchants handed over their goods without question; none dared ask provenance or haggle over price. They routinely paid a pittance for goods worth far more, and still demanded gate fees and porterage silver on top. Merchants sometimes went to market and returned empty-handed; it was called the palace market, but it was outright seizure. Once a farmer brought firewood on a donkey; a eunuch "bought" it for a few feet of silk, demanded gate fees, and insisted the donkey carry the wood into the palace. The farmer wept and tried to return the silk, but the eunuch refused and said, "I want your donkey. The farmer said, "My parents, wife, and children depend on this donkey to live; I have given you the wood and taken no payment, yet you still refuse me—then I have nothing left but to die. He then struck the eunuch. Street guards seized him and reported the affair; the eunuch was punished and the farmer was given ten bolts of silk. The palace market continued unchanged; remonstrance officials and censors memorialized against it, but the throne would not listen. Wu Cou, an imperial in-law serving as Jingzhao magistrate, spoke out forcefully against the abuse. When Jianfeng came to court he memorialized on the practice in full, and Emperor Dezong was much impressed; but Revenue vice minister Su Bian, who favored the eunuchs, told the emperor when asked that tens of thousands of idle households in the capital had no livelihood and depended on the palace market. The emperor believed him, and every proposal to reform the palace market was rejected. When an edict compassionately remitted overdue taxes, the emperor asked Jianfeng, who replied, "These arrears have piled up over years and cannot be collected; though Your Majesty means well, the people will gain nothing from it. At the time Hedong governor Li Shuo and Huazhou prefect Lu Wei were both paralyzed by stroke and could only let their clerks run their commands. Jianfeng reported all of this as well, and the emperor again approved his counsel. Golden Guard general Li Han also loved to spy on petty affairs in the capital and report them upward for favor; people feared and despised him. Jianfeng memorialized on this too, and an edict followed: "Lately the Golden Guard has reported every social visit among court officials. Yet visits among old friends and former colleagues at seasonal festivals are ordinary courtesy and natural human feeling. Henceforth the Golden Guard need not report such matters."
24
十四年春上巳，賜宰臣百僚宴於曲江亭，特令建封與宰相同座而食。 貞元已後，籓帥入朝及還鎮，如馬燧、渾瑊、劉玄佐、李抱真、曲環之崇秩鴻勛，未有獲禦制詩以送者，建封將還鎮，特賜詩曰：「牧守寄所重，才賢生為時。 宣風自淮甸，授鉞膺籓維。 入覲展遐戀，臨軒慰來思。 忠誠在方寸，感激陳清詞。 報國爾所尚，恤人予是資。 歡宴不盡懷，車馬當還期。 谷雨將應候，行春猶未遲。 勿以千里遙，而雲無已知。」 又令高品中使賫常所執鞭以賜之，曰：「以卿忠貞節義，歲寒不移，此鞭朕久執用，故以賜卿，表卿忠節也。」 建封又獻詩一篇，以自警勵。
In the spring of the fourteenth year, on the Shangsi festival, the emperor gave the chief ministers and officials a banquet at Qujiang Pavilion and specially seated Jianfeng at the chief ministers' table. After Zhenyuan, eminent frontier commanders such as Ma Sui, Hun Jian, Liu Xuanzuo, Li Baozhen, and Qu Huan had never been sent back to their posts with an imperial farewell poem; as Jianfeng prepared to return, the emperor specially granted one that began, "The realm entrusts its prefects with weighty charge; talent is born for its age. You spread good governance from the Huai region and took the command baton to guard the frontier. At court you showed your distant loyalty; from the throne we comforted your homesick heart. Loyalty filled your breast, and in gratitude you spoke with clarity. Serving the state is your aim; caring for the people is how you aid me. Our feast cannot hold back parting; your horses must keep to their homeward date. Grain Rain is near; it is not yet too late to set out for spring. Do not say, because you are a thousand li away, that you are unknown to us. He also sent a senior palace envoy with the whip he habitually carried, saying, "Your loyalty and integrity never waver in hard times; I have long used this whip, and I give it to you as a mark of your constancy." Jianfeng presented a poem in return as his own pledge of resolve.
25
建封在彭城十年，軍州稱理。 復又禮賢下士，無賢不肖，遊其門者，皆禮遇之，天下名士向風延頸，其往如歸。 貞元時，文人如許孟容、韓愈諸公，皆為之從事。
Jianfeng governed at Pengcheng for ten years, and both army and prefecture were said to be well ordered. He honored scholars and welcomed all who came to his gate, worthy or not; men of letters across the empire turned toward him and came as if to a home of their own. In the Zhenyuan era, writers such as Xu Mengrong and Han Yu served on his staff.
26
十六年，遇疾，連上表請速除代，方用韋夏卿為徐泗行軍司馬。 未至而建封卒，時年六十六，冊贈司徒。 子愔。
In the sixteenth year he fell ill and repeatedly asked for a successor; Wei Xiaqing was then named Xu–Si campaign staff officer. Before Xiaqing arrived, Jianfeng died at sixty-six; the court posthumously enfeoffed him as grand mentor. His son was Yin.
27
愔以廕授虢州參軍。 初，建封卒，判官鄭通誠權知留後事。 通誠懼軍士謀亂，適遇浙西兵遷鎮，通誠欲引入州城為援。 事泄，三軍怒，五六千人斫甲仗庫取戈甲，執帶環繞衙城，請愔為留後。 乃殺通誠、楊德宗、大將段伯熊、吉遂、曲澄、張秀等。 軍眾請於朝廷，乞授愔旄節。 初不之許，乃割濠、泗二州隸淮南，加杜佑同平章事以討徐州。 既而泗州刺史張伾以兵攻埇橋，與徐軍接戰，伾大敗而還。 朝廷不獲已，乃授愔起復右驍衛將軍同正，兼徐州刺史、御史中丞，充本州團練使，知徐州留後。 仍以泗州刺史張伾為泗州留後，濠州刺史杜兼為濠州留後。 正授武寧軍節度、檢校工部尚書。 元和元年，被疾，上表請代，征為兵部尚書，以東都留守王紹為武寧軍節度代愔，復隸濠、泗二州於徐。 徐軍喜復得二州，不敢為亂，而愔遂赴京師，未出界卒。 愔在徐州七年，百姓稱理，詔贈右僕射。
Yin entered office by privilege as staff officer in Guo Prefecture. When Jianfeng died, his judge Zheng Tongcheng acted as temporary rear administrator. Tongcheng feared mutiny and, when Zhexi troops happened to be passing through on transfer, tried to bring them into the city as support. When the plot leaked, five or six thousand troops stormed the armory, armed themselves, surrounded headquarters, and demanded Yin as acting commander. They killed Tongcheng, Yang Dezong, and the senior officers Duan Boxiong, Ji Sui, Qu Cheng, Zhang Xiu, and others. The troops petitioned the court to grant Yin the command baton. At first the court refused, detached Hao and Si to Huainan control, and named Du You associate director of the Imperial Secretariat to campaign against Xuzhou. Si prefect Zhang Pi then attacked Yongqiao, was beaten by the Xu troops, and retreated in defeat. With no other choice, the court recalled Yin from mourning as right Brave Guards general, concurrently Xuzhou prefect, vice censor-in-chief, regimental commissioner, and acting rear administrator. Zhang Pi remained acting Si prefect, and Du Jian acting Hao prefect. He was formally appointed military governor of the Wuning Army and acting minister of works. In Yuanhe 1 he fell ill and asked to be replaced; the court summoned him as minister of war, sent Wang Shao as Wuning military governor in his place, and restored Hao and Si to Xu jurisdiction. The Xu troops, glad to regain the two prefectures, did not rebel; Yin set out for the capital but died before crossing the border. Yin governed Xuzhou for seven years to general approval; the court posthumously named him right vice director of the Imperial Secretariat.
28
貞元六年，入拜侍御史。 有人誣告故尚父子儀嬖人張氏宅中有寶玉者，張氏兄弟又與尚父家子孫相告訴，詔促按其獄。 群奏曰：「張氏以子儀在時分財，子弟不合爭奪。 然張氏宅與子儀親仁宅，皆子儀家事。 子儀有大勛，伏望陛下特赦而勿問，俾私自引退。」 德宗從其言，時人嘉其識大體。 累轉左司、職方、兵部三員外郎中。
In Zhenyuan 6 he entered court as attendant censor. Someone falsely accused the household of Guo Ziyi's late favorite Zhang of hoarding jade; Zhang's brothers also sued the Guo family heirs, and the court ordered a hurried investigation. Qun memorialized, "The Zhang family divided the estate while Ziyi was alive; his descendants ought not to fight over it now. Moreover, Zhang's house and Ziyi's Qinren mansion are both family matters of the Guo house. Ziyi rendered great service to the state; I beg Your Majesty to pardon the matter and let the family settle it privately. Dezong accepted his advice, and contemporaries praised his sense of larger principle. He rose through extra bureau director posts in the left secretariat, appointments bureau, and ministry of war.
29
淮西節度使吳少誠擅開決司、洧等水漕輓溉田，遣中使止之，少誠不奉詔。 令群使蔡州詰之，少誠曰：「開大渠，大利於人。」 群曰：「為臣之道，不合自專，雖便於人，須俟君命。 且人臣須以恭恪為事，若事君不盡恭恪，即責下吏恭恪，固亦難矣。」 凡數百千言，諭以君臣之分，忠順之義，少誠乃從命，即停工役。
Huai West governor Wu Shaocheng opened the Juesi and Wei waterways on his own authority to irrigate fields; when a palace envoy ordered him to stop, he refused. Qun was sent to Cai Prefecture to question him; Shaocheng replied, "Opening the great canal greatly benefits the people. Qun replied, "A subject must not act on his own authority; even if the work benefits the people, he must await the throne's command. And if a minister is not reverent toward his ruler, how can he demand reverence from his subordinates?" In several thousand words he expounded the duties of ruler and subject and the meaning of loyalty; Shaocheng obeyed and halted the project at once.
30
群博涉，有口辨，好談論，與少誠言古今成敗之事，無不聳聽。 又與唱和賦詩，自言以反側，常蒙隔在恩外，群於筵中醉而歌曰：「祥瑞不在鳳凰、麒麟，太平須得邊將、忠臣。 衛、霍真誠奉主，貔虎十萬一身。 江、河潛註息浪，蠻貊款塞無塵。 但得百僚師長肝膽，不用三軍羅綺金銀。」 少誠大感悅。 群以奉使稱旨，俄遷檢校秘書監，兼御史中丞、義成軍節度行軍司馬。
Qun was learned and eloquent and loved debate; when he discussed past rises and falls with Shaocheng, every listener was riveted. They also exchanged poems; Shaocheng said that as a former rebel he had long stood outside imperial favor; Qun, drunk at the banquet, sang, "Peace does not depend on phoenixes or qilin; it depends on frontier generals and loyal ministers. Like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing they serve the throne in truth; a hundred thousand warriors are one man. The rivers run calm, the frontier tribes keep the passes, and no dust of war rises. Give us ministers with open hearts, and we need not the army's silks and gold. Shaocheng was deeply moved. Because the mission pleased the throne, Qun was soon made acting director of the Secretariat, concurrently vice censor-in-chief and Yicheng Army campaign staff officer.
31
貞元十六年四月，節度姚南仲歸朝，拜群義成軍節度、鄭滑觀察等使。 先寓居鄭州，典質良田數頃； 及為節度使至鎮，各與本地契書，分付所管令長，令召還本主，時論稱美。 尋遇疾，其年十月卒，時年五十九，廢朝一日，贈工部尚書，赗賻布帛、米粟有差。
In the fourth month of Zhenyuan 16, when Yao Nanzhong returned to court, Qun was appointed military governor of Yicheng and observation commissioner of Zheng–Hua. Earlier, while living in Zheng Prefecture, he had pawned several qing of good farmland; when he took command as military governor, he matched each parcel to its local contract, ordered the magistrates to return the land to the original owners, and won wide praise. He soon fell ill and died that tenth month at fifty-nine; the court suspended audiences for a day, posthumously named him minister of works, and granted graded funeral gifts of cloth and grain.
32
史臣曰：韋南康、張徐州，慷慨下位之中，橫身喪亂之際，力扶衰運，氣激壯圖，義風凜凜，聳動群醜，舂盜之喉，折賊之角，可謂忠矣！ 而韋公季年，惑賊辟之奸說，欲兼巴、益，則誌未可量。 徐州請覲，頗有規諫之言，所謂以道匡君，能以功名始終者。 盧載初喻少誠，還地券，君子哉！ 三子之賢，不可多得。
The historian writes: Wei of Nankang and Zhang of Xuzhou rose from humble stations in an age of chaos, upheld a failing dynasty, and with stern righteousness stunned the villains, crushed the rebels' power, and broke their horns—men truly loyal! Yet in his later years Wei was swayed by Liu Pi's treacherous counsel and aimed at Ba and Yi as well—ambition beyond reckoning. Zhang's visit to court brought forceful remonstrance—using the Way to correct the ruler and seeing merit through to the end. When Lu Zai first persuaded Shaocheng and returned land contracts—a gentleman indeed! Such worth in these three men is not easily found again.
33
贊曰：南康英壯，力匡交喪。 張侯義烈，誌平亂象。 見危能振，蹈利無謗。 韋德不周，張心可亮。
Encomium: Nankang, heroic and strong, righted the age of ruin. Marquis Zhang, righteous and fierce, resolved to end the omens of chaos. He rallied in peril and took profit without reproach. Wei's virtue fell short; Zhang's heart shines clear.