1
=杜黃裳=杜黃裳，字遵素，京兆杜陵人也。 登進士第、宏辭科，杜鴻漸深器重之。 為郭子儀朔方從事，子儀入朝，令黃裳主留務於朔方。 邠將李懷光與監軍陰謀代子儀，乃為偽詔書，欲誅大將溫儒雅等。 黃裳立辨其偽，以告懷光，懷光流汗伏罪。 諸將有難制者，黃裳矯子儀命盡出之，數月而亂不作。 後入為臺省官，為裴延齡所惡，十年不遷。 貞元末，為太常卿。 王叔文之竊權，黃裳終不造其門。 嘗語其子婿韋執誼，令率百官請皇太子監國，執誼遽曰：「丈人才得一官，可復開口議禁中事耶！」 黃裳勃然曰：「黃裳受恩三朝，豈可以一官見買！」 即拂衣而出。 尋拜平章事。
Du Huangchang, styled Zunsu, came from Duling in the capital district of Jingzhao. He earned degrees in the jinshi and hongci examinations, and Du Hongjian held him in high esteem. He became an aide on Guo Ziyi's Shuofang staff; when Guo Ziyi proceeded to the capital, he left Huangchang in charge of affairs at Shuofang. The Binzhou commander Li Huai'guang conspired with the army supervisor to supplant Guo Ziyi and forged an edict calling for the execution of senior generals such as Wen Ruya. Huangchang at once recognized the forgery and confronted Huai'guang, who broke into a sweat and confessed his guilt. For unruly officers he issued transfers in Guo Ziyi's name and removed them from post; for months no mutiny followed. He later served in the central censorial and secretariat offices but was detested by Pei Yanling and went ten years without advancement. Late in the Zhenyuan reign he was appointed Director of Ritual. During Wang Shuwen's seizure of power, Huangchang never set foot at his house. He once urged his son-in-law Wei Zhiyi to lead the officials in asking the Crown Prince to take charge of government; Wei Zhiyi snapped back, "You have only just won an appointment — must you speak again of palace affairs?" Du Huangchang erupted: "I have served three emperors — you cannot buy my silence with one post!" He turned on his heel and left. He was soon made Grand Councillor.
2
邠州節度使韓全義曾居討伐之任，無功，黃裳奏罷之。 劉辟作亂，議者以劍南險固，不宜生事； 唯黃裳堅請討除，憲宗從之。 又奏請不以中官為監軍，只委高崇文為使。 黃裳自經營伐蜀，以至成功，指授崇文，無不懸合。 崇文素憚劉澭，黃裳使人謂崇文曰：「若不奮命，當以劉澭代之。」 由是得崇文之死力。 既平辟，宰臣入賀，帝目黃裳曰：「此卿之功也。」 後與憲宗語及方鎮除授，黃裳奏曰：「德宗自艱難之後，事多姑息。 貞元中，每帥守物故，必先命中使偵伺其軍動息，其副貳大將中有物望者，必厚賂近臣以求見用，帝必隨其稱美而命之，以是因循，方鎮罕有特命帥守者。 陛下宜熟思貞元故事，稍以法度整肅諸侯，則天下何憂不治！」 憲宗然其言。 由是用兵誅蜀、夏之後，不容籓臣蹇傲，克復兩河，威令復振，蓋黃裳啟其衷也。 黃裳有經畫之才，達於權變，然檢身律物，寡廉潔之譽，以是居鼎職不久。 二年正月，檢校司空，同平章事，兼河中尹、河中晉絳等州節度使。 八月，封邠國公。 三年九月，卒於河中，年七十一，贈司徒，謚曰宣。
Han Quanyi of Binzhou had led a punitive campaign to no effect; Huangchang had him removed from command. When Liu Pi rose in rebellion, court opinion held that the rugged Sichuan basin made war inadvisable; only Huangchang pressed for a punitive campaign, and Emperor Xianzong agreed. He further urged that no eunuch supervise the army and that Gao Chongwen alone command the expedition. From the planning of the Sichuan campaign through its success, every directive Huangchang gave Gao Chongwen proved exactly right. Gao Chongwen had long feared rival Liu Yong; Huangchang sent word: "Unless you throw yourself into the fight, Liu Yong will take your place." That secured Gao Chongwen's full commitment. When Liu Pi was subdued, the chief ministers came to congratulate the throne; the emperor turned to Huangchang and said, "This victory is yours." Later, discussing frontier appointments with Xianzong, Huangchang said, "After the crises of Dezong's reign, policy grew indulgent toward the regions. Under Zhenyuan, whenever a commissioner died, eunuch agents were sent first to gauge the army's mood; deputies with standing bribed court favorites for the post, and the emperor appointed whoever they praised — so that special imperial choices for frontier commands became rare. Your Majesty should study the Zhenyuan precedent and begin disciplining the regional lords by law — then the empire will need no further fear of disorder." The emperor accepted his counsel. After the campaigns against Sichuan and Xia, the court would brook no arrogant governors; the Two He were recovered and imperial prestige restored — largely because Huangchang had set the policy in motion. Huangchang was a gifted strategist skilled at expedients, but he lacked a reputation for personal integrity and therefore did not long remain at the summit of power. In the first month of year two he was named acting Minister of Works and Grand Councillor, and concurrently took charge of Hezhong as governor and regional commissioner. In the eighth month he was created Duke of Bin. He died at Hezhong in the ninth month of year three, at seventy-one; the court posthumously honored him as Minister of Education with the temple name Xuan.
3
黃裳性雅淡寬恕，心雖從長，口不忤物。 始為卿士，女嫁韋執誼，深不為執誼所稱； 及執誼譴逐，黃裳終保全之，洎死嶺表，請歸其喪，以辦葬事。 及是被疾，醫人誤進其藥，疾甚而不怒。 然為宰相，除授不分流品，或官以賂遷，時論惜之。
Huangchang was refined and forbearing by nature; he inclined toward the right in private but rarely spoke against anyone in public. When he first rose among the nobility, his daughter married Wei Zhiyi, who thought little of him; when Wei Zhiyi was banished, Huangchang still protected him; after he died in the far south, Huangchang had his remains brought home for burial. When he fell ill, a doctor gave him the wrong medicine; though his condition worsened, he showed no anger. As chancellor, however, he made appointments without regard to rank and sometimes sold offices for bribes, to the regret of his contemporaries.
4
黃裳歿後，賄賂事發。 八年四月，御史臺奏：「前永樂令吳憑為僧鑒虛受托，與故司空杜黃裳，於故州邠寧節度使高崇文處納賂四萬五千貫，並付黃裳男載，按問引伏。」 敕曰：「吳憑曾佐使府，忝履宦途，自宜畏法惜身，豈得為人通貸！ 事關非道，理合懲愆，宜配流昭州。 其付杜載錢物，宰輔之任，寵寄實深，致茲貨財，不能拒絕，已令按問，悉合征收，貴全終始之恩，俾弘寬大之典。 其所取錢物，並宜矜免，杜載等並釋放。」
After Huangchang's death, his bribery scandal surfaced. In the fourth month of year eight the Censorate reported that former Yongle magistrate Wu Ping, acting for the monk Jianxu, had channeled forty-five thousand strings in bribes from the late Gao Chongwen to Du Huangchang's son Du Zai, and that all parties confessed under interrogation." The edict read: "Wu Ping once served on a military staff and ought to have respected the law; how dare he broker illicit payments! The offense warrants punishment; he is banished to Zhaozhou. The funds paid to Du Zai: as chief minister Du Huangchang had enjoyed exceptional trust; unable to refuse such gifts, he accepted them — all are now to be recovered, yet in honor of his lifelong service the court will show magnanimity. The sums he took shall be remitted, and Du Zai and the others freed."
5
載為太子仆，長慶中，遷太仆少卿、兼御史中丞，充入吐蕃使。
Du Zai served as Master of the Crown Prince's Stables; under Changqing he became Vice Minister of the Imperial Stud and Censor-in-Chief and led an embassy to Tibet.
6
載弟勝，登進士第，大中朝位給事中。 勝子廷堅，亦進士擢第。
His younger brother Sheng took the jinshi degree and under Dazhong served as Supervising Secretary. Sheng's son Tingjian likewise earned the jinshi degree.
7
=高郢=
Gao Ye
8
高郢，字公楚，其先渤海蓚人。 九歲通《春秋》，能屬文。 天寶末，盜據京邑，父伯祥先為好畤尉，抵賊禁，將加極刑。 郢時年十五，被髮解衣，請代其父，賊黨義之，乃俱釋。 後舉進士擢第，應制舉，登茂才異行科，授華陰尉。 嘗以魯不合用天子禮樂，乃引《公羊傳》，著《魯議》，見稱於時，由是授咸陽尉。
Gao Ye, styled Gongchu, came from a Bohai family originally of Tiao. At nine he had mastered the Spring and Autumn Annals and could write essays. When rebels seized the capital at the end of Tianbao, his father Bo Xiang, formerly magistrate of Haozhi, violated rebel law and faced execution. Ye was fifteen; he tore his hair and stripped his upper garment, begging to die in his father's place — moved, the rebels freed them both. He later took the jinshi degree, entered the palace examination, passed the category for outstanding talent and conduct, and was made magistrate of Huayin. Arguing that Lu had wrongly assumed royal ritual and music, he cited the Gongyang Commentary in his Discourse on Lu and won contemporary praise, which led to his appointment at Xianyang.
9
郭子儀節制朔方，辟為掌書記。 子儀嘗怒從事張曇，奏殺之； 郢極言爭救，忤子儀旨，奏貶猗氏丞。 李懷光節制邠寧，奏為從事，累轉副元帥判官、檢校禮部郎中。 懷光背叛，將歸河中，郢言：「西迎大駕，豈非忠乎！」 懷光忿而不聽。 及歸鎮，又欲悉眾而西。 時渾瑊軍孤，群帥未集，郢與李鄘誓死駐之。 屬懷光長子琟候郢，郢乃諭以逆順曰：「人臣所宜效順。 且自天寶以來阻兵者，今復誰在？ 況國家自有天命，非獨人力。 今若恃眾西向，自絕於天，十室之邑，必有忠信，安知三軍不有奔潰者乎？」 李琟震懼，流淚氣索。 明年春，郢與都知兵馬使呂鳴嶽、都虞候張延英同謀間道上表； 及受密詔，事泄，二將立死。 懷光乃大集將卒，白刃盈庭，引郢詰之。 郢挺然抗辭，無所慚隱，憤氣感發，觀者淚下，懷光慚沮而止。 德宗還京，命諫議大夫孔巢父、中人啖守盈赴河中宣慰懷光，授以太保； 而懷光怒，激其親兵詬詈，殺守盈及巢父。 巢父之被刃也，委於地，郢就而撫之。 乃懷光被誅，馬燧辟郢為掌書記。
Guo Ziyi, commanding Shuofang, took him on as chief secretary. Guo Ziyi once sought to execute his aide Zhang Tan in anger; Gao Ye pleaded fiercely for Zhang Tan's life, defying Guo Ziyi and earning demotion to assistant magistrate of Yishi. Li Huai'guang of Binning took him as aide; he rose to deputy commander staff judge and acting Director in the Ministry of Rites. When Huai'guang rebelled and prepared to withdraw to Hezhong, Ye said, "To march west and welcome the emperor — is that not loyalty?" Huai'guang refused in anger. Back in his command, he again planned to march west with his full army. Hun Jian's force stood alone while other commanders had not yet gathered; Gao Ye and Li Yong swore to hold the line even unto death. When Huai'guang's eldest son Wei called on him, Gao Ye lectured him on loyalty and rebellion: "A subject's duty is obedience. Since Tianbao, which warlord who defied the throne still lives? The dynasty holds the Mandate of Heaven by right, not by force alone. If you trust in numbers and march west, you cut yourself off from Heaven; even a village of ten houses holds loyal men — how can you be sure your whole army will not break and run?" Li Wei trembled, wept, and could barely breathe. The following spring Gao Ye, together with Lü Mingyue and Zhang Yan'ying, smuggled a memorial to the throne; when a secret edict arrived the plot was exposed and both generals were executed at once. Huai'guang mustered his officers with blades drawn across the courtyard and summoned Gao Ye for interrogation. Gao Ye answered uprightly without evasion; his righteous anger moved onlookers to tears, and Huai'guang, abashed, desisted. When Dezong returned to Chang'an, he sent Kong Chaofu and the eunuch Tan Shouying to Hezhong to reassure Huai'guang and named him Grand Mentor; but Huai'guang roused his guards to abuse them and had both men killed. When Kong Chaofu fell, Gao Ye went to his body and tended him. After Huai'guang was put to death, Ma Sui took Gao Ye as chief secretary.
10
未幾，征拜主客員外，遷刑部郎中，改中書舍人。 凡九歲，拜禮部侍郎。 時應進士舉者，多務朋遊，馳逐聲名； 每歲冬，州府薦送後，唯追奉宴集，罕肄其業。 郢性剛正，尤嫉其風，既領職，拒絕請托，雖同列通熟，無敢言者。 誌在經藝，專考程試。 凡掌貢部三歲，進幽獨，抑浮華，朋濫之風，翕然一變。 拜太常卿。 貞元十九年冬，進位銀青光祿大夫，守中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事。 順宗即位，轉刑部尚書，為韋執誼等所憚。 尋罷知政事，以本官判吏部尚書事。 明年，出鎮華州。
Soon he was called to court as Vice Director of Foreign Guests, then Director in the Ministry of Justice, and finally Secretariat Drafter. After nine years he was made Vice Minister of Rites. Candidates for the jinshi degree then spent their time in cliques and chasing fame; each winter, after provincial nomination, they attended feasts rather than studying. Gao Ye was stern and upright and detested the custom; once in office he refused all solicitations, and even close colleagues dared not intercede. He focused on the classics and examined candidates strictly by the rules. Over three years heading the examinations he promoted serious scholars, curbed display, and the clique culture changed overnight. He was appointed Director of Ritual. In the winter of Zhenyuan nineteen he was promoted to Silver-Gleaming Grand Master and made acting Vice Director of the Secretariat and Grand Councillor. When Emperor Shunzong took the throne, he became Minister of Justice, whom Wei Zhiyi and his faction feared. He was soon removed from the council and assigned to oversee the Ministry of Personnel. The following year he was sent to govern Huazhou.
11
元和元年冬，復拜太常卿，尋除御史大夫。 數月，轉兵部尚書。 逾月，再表乞骸，不許。 又上言曰：「臣聞勞生佚老，天理自然，蠕動翾飛，日入皆息。 自非貢禹之守經據古，趙喜之正身匪懈，韓暨之誌節高潔，山濤之道德模表，縱過常期，詎為貪冒。 其有當仁不讓，急病忘身，豈止君命，猶宜身舉。 臣郢不才，久辱高位，無任由衷瀝懇之至。」 乃授尚書右僕射致仕。 六年七月卒，年七十二。 贈太子太保，謚曰貞。
In the winter of Yuanhe one he returned as Director of Ritual and soon became Censor-in-Chief. A few months later he became Minister of War. Within a month he memorialized again to retire; the request was denied. He submitted again: "I have heard that to toil in youth and rest in age is nature's law; crawling things and flying birds all cease at sunset. Unless one were Gong Yu clinging to the classics, Zhao Xi upright without slackness, Han Ji of lofty integrity, or Shan Tao a moral exemplar, to linger past one's term would be mere greed. When duty calls one should not refuse; in urgent need one forgets self — that is not only the sovereign's command but what one should volunteer for oneself. Your servant Ye is without talent and has long occupied high office undeservedly; I have no excuse not to speak my heart plainly." He was granted retirement as Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. He died in the seventh month of year six, at seventy-two. The court posthumously honored him as Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent with the temple name Zhen.
12
郢性恭慎廉潔，罕與人交遊，守官奉法勤恪，掌誥累年，家無制草。 或謂之曰：「前輩皆留制集，公焚之何也？」 曰：「王言不可存私家。」 時人重其慎密。 與鄭珣瑜並命拜相； 未幾，德宗升遐。 時同在相位，杜佑以宿舊居上，而韋執誼由朋黨專柄。 順宗風恙方甚，樞機不宣，而王叔文以翰林學士兼戶部侍郎，充度支副使。 是時政事，王叔文謀議，王伾通導，李忠言宣下，韋執誼奉行。 珣瑜自受命，憂形顏色，至是以勢不可奪，因稱疾不起。 郢則因循，竟無所發，以至於罷。 物論定此為優劣焉。 子定嗣。
Gao Ye was respectful, cautious, and incorruptible, rarely socializing; diligent in office, he drafted edicts for years yet kept no copies at home. Someone asked him, "Earlier drafters all kept collections of edicts — why do you burn yours?" He replied, "Imperial words must not be kept in private homes." Contemporaries admired his discretion. He was appointed to the council on the same edict as Zheng Xunyu; Before long, Emperor Dezong died. They served together on the council; Du You, as the senior figure, took precedence, while Wei Zhiyi monopolized power through his faction. Emperor Shunzong was gravely ill and did not handle affairs, while Wang Shuwen, as Hanlin scholar and Vice Minister of Revenue, served as deputy fiscal commissioner. Government then ran through Wang Shuwen's planning, Wang Pi's coordination, Li Zhongyan's pronouncements, and Wei Zhiyi's execution. Zheng Xunyu had looked troubled from the day he took office; now, seeing power beyond recovery, he pleaded illness and stayed away. Gao Ye drifted along, achieved nothing, and was eventually dismissed. Public opinion judged which conduct was superior. His son Ding carried on the line.
13
定，幼聰警絕倫，年七歲時，讀《尚書•湯誓》，問郢曰：「奈何以臣伐君？」 郢曰：「應天順人，不為非道。」 又問曰：「用命賞於祖，不用命戮於社，是順人乎？」 父不能對。 仕至京兆參軍。 小字董二，人以幼慧，多以字稱之。 尤精《王氏易》，嘗為《易圖》，合入出以畫八卦，上圓下方，合則重，轉則演，七轉而六十四卦六甲八節備焉。 著《易外傳》二十二卷。
Ding was extraordinarily precocious; at seven, reading the Tang Oath in the Documents, he asked his father, "How can a subject attack his ruler?" Gao Ye answered, "To follow Heaven and win the people is not wrongdoing." He pressed on: "The oath rewards obedience at the ancestral shrine and punishes defiance at the land altar—how does that win the people?" His father had no answer. He served as staff officer under the metropolitan magistrate of the capital. Known from childhood as Dong Er, he was so famed for precocity that people commonly called him by that nickname. He mastered Wang Bi's "Book of Changes" and devised an "Diagram of the Changes" that mapped the Eight Trigrams from cosmic ingress and egress—round heaven above, square earth below, layers that multiplied when stacked and permutations that unfolded when rotated—so that seven revolutions yielded all sixty-four hexagrams together with the cycles of the six jia and the eight seasonal divisions. He wrote the "Supplementary Transmission of the Changes" in twenty-two volumes.
14
=杜佑=
Du You
15
杜佑，字君卿，京兆萬年人。 曾祖行敏，荊、益二州都督府長史、南陽郡公。 祖愨，右司員外郎、詳正學士。 父希望，歷鴻臚卿、恆州刺史、西河太守，贈右僕射。 佑以廕入仕，補濟南郡參軍、剡縣丞。 時潤州刺史韋元甫嘗受恩於希望，佑謁見，元甫未之知，以故人子待之。 他日，元甫視事，有疑獄不能決。 佑時在旁，元甫試訊於佑； 佑口對響應，皆得其要。 元甫奇之，乃奏為司法參軍。 元甫為浙西觀察、淮南節度，皆辟為從事，深所委信。 累官至檢校主客員外郎，入為工部郎中，充江西青苗使，轉撫州刺史。 改御史中丞，充容管經略使。 楊炎入相，征入朝，歷工部、金部二郎中，並充水陸轉運使，改度支郎中，兼和糴等使。 時方軍興，饋運之務，悉委於佑； 遷戶部侍郎、判度支。 為盧杞所惡，出為蘇州刺史。 佑母在，杞以蘇州憂闕授之。 佑不行，俄換饒州刺史。 未幾，兼御史大夫，充嶺南節度使。 時德宗在興元。 朝廷故事，執政往往遺脫； 舊嶺南節度，常兼五管經略使，佑獨不兼。 故五管不屬嶺南，自佑始也。
Du You (Junqing) came from Wannian County in the capital region. His great-grandfather Du Xingmin was chief administrator under the Jing and Yi military governors and held the title Duke of Nanyang. His grandfather Du Que was a vice director in the Ministry of Justice and an examiner in the Office of Detailed Review. His father Du Xiwang had been director of the Court of Diplomatic Reception, governor of Hengzhou, and prefect of Xihe, and was posthumously honored as Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. Du You entered government by hereditary privilege, first as staff officer for Ji'nan commandery and then as assistant magistrate of Shan county. Runzhou prefect Wei Yuanfu had once been indebted to Du Xiwang; when Du You paid his respects, Yuanfu did not recognize him and treated him merely as an old friend's son. On another day, while Yuanfu was holding court, he could not resolve a doubtful criminal case. Du You happened to be nearby, and Yuanfu tried questioning him; Du You answered fluently and hit every essential point. Yuanfu was impressed and recommended him for appointment as judicial aide. Whenever Yuanfu served as Zhexi surveillance commissioner or Huainan military commissioner, he recruited Du You as a staff officer and trusted him completely. He rose step by step to acting vice director of the Bureau of Receptions, entered the capital as bureau director in the Ministry of Works, served as green-grain commissioner for Jiangxi, and was transferred to prefect of Fuzhou. He was promoted to censor-in-chief and appointed military commissioner of Rongguan. After Yang Yan became chief minister, Du You was recalled to the capital, served successively as bureau director in the Ministries of Works and Revenue, headed water and land transport, then became director of the revenue bureau while also overseeing equitable purchase and related fiscal offices. With war just underway, all supply and transport duties were placed in his hands; He was promoted to vice minister of revenue and put in charge of the revenue bureau. Lu Qi turned against him and had him posted out as prefect of Suzhou. Du You's mother was still alive; Qi gave him Suzhou precisely because the post would soon fall vacant for mourning. Du You refused to take up the post and was soon reassigned as prefect of Raozhou instead. Shortly afterward he was made chief censor and military commissioner of Lingnan. The emperor was then at Xingyuan. Court routine often let those in charge skip formalities; Traditionally the Lingnan commissioner also oversaw the five frontier circuits, but Du You alone was not given that concurrent post. From his appointment onward the five circuits were no longer subordinate to Lingnan.
16
貞元三年，徵為尚書左丞，又出為陜州觀察使，遷檢校禮部尚書、揚州大都督府長史，充淮南節度使。 丁母憂，特詔起復，累轉刑部尚書、檢校右僕射。 十六年，徐州節度使張建封卒，其子愔為三軍所立，詔佑以淮南節制檢校左僕射、同平章事，兼徐泗節度使，委以討伐。 佑乃大具舟艦，遣將孟準先當之。 準渡淮而敗，佑杖之，固境不敢進。 及詔以徐州授愔，而加佑兼濠、泗等州觀察使。 在揚州開設營壘三十餘所，士馬修葺。 然於賓僚間依阿無制，判官南宮僔、李亞、鄭元均爭權，頗紊軍政，德宗知之，並竄於嶺外。
In 787 he was recalled as left vice director of the Department of State Affairs, then posted as Shaanzhou surveillance commissioner, and soon promoted to acting minister of rites and chief administrator of Yangzhou while serving as Huainan military commissioner. After his mother's death he was recalled from mourning by special edict and rose to minister of justice and acting right vice director. In 800 Zhang Jianfeng, commissioner of Xuzhou, died and the army installed his son Zhang Yin; Du You was ordered, under Huainan authority, to become acting left vice director and councilor while also commanding Xu-Si and leading the punitive campaign. Du You massed a large fleet and sent General Meng Zhun ahead as vanguard. Meng Zhun crossed the Huai and was defeated; Du You had him flogged, and the force held its positions without pressing forward. When an edict recognized Zhang Yin's control of Xuzhou and added Hao, Si, and neighboring prefectures to Du You's surveillance portfolio, he built more than thirty fortified camps around Yangzhou and kept troops and horses in good repair. Yet he was indecisive with his staff, and judicial aides Nangong Pu, Li Ya, and Zheng Yuanjun fought for power and badly disrupted military affairs; when Dezong learned of it he exiled all three beyond the Lingnan frontier.
17
十九年入朝，拜檢校司空、同平章事，充太清宮使。 德宗崩，佑攝冢宰，尋進位檢校司徒，充度支鹽鐵等使，依前平章事。 旋又加弘文館大學士。 時王叔文為副使，佑雖總統，而權歸叔文。 叔文敗，又奏李巽為副使，頗有所立。 順宗崩，佑復攝冢宰，尋讓金谷之務，引李巽自代。 先是，度支以制用惜費，漸權百司之職，廣署吏員，繁而難理； 佑始奏營繕歸之將作，木炭歸之司農，染練歸之少府，綱條頗整，公議多之，朝廷允其議。
In 803 he came to court and was made acting minister of works, councilor, and commissioner of the Grand Pure Palace. When Dezong died, Du You served as chief funeral director; he was soon promoted to acting minister of works, put in charge of revenue, salt iron, and related fiscal offices, and continued as councilor. He was soon also made grand academician of the Hongwen Hall. Wang Shuwen was then deputy commissioner; though Du You nominally headed the office, real power lay with Wang Shuwen. After Wang Shuwen's fall he recommended Li Xun as deputy and carried out several useful reforms. When Shunzong died he again directed the funeral rites, then soon handed fiscal affairs to Li Xun and stepped aside. Earlier the revenue bureau, trying to cut costs, had gradually absorbed duties from other agencies, swelling its staff until the bureaucracy became unwieldy; Du You first proposed returning construction to the Directorate of Imperial Works, charcoal to the Directorate of Imperial Granaries, and dyeing to the Court of the Imperial Treasury; the lines of authority became much clearer, public opinion strongly favored the change, and the court approved it.
18
元和元年，冊拜司徒、同平章事，封岐國公。 時河西党項潛導吐蕃入寇，邊將邀功，亟請擊之。 佑上疏論之曰：
In 806 he was formally invested as minister of works and councilor and enfeoffed as Duke of Qi. Tangut tribes in the Hexi corridor were secretly guiding Tibetan raids, and frontier generals eager for glory kept urging attacks. Du You submitted a memorial arguing against this, writing:
19
臣伏見党項與西戎潛通，屢有降人指陳事跡，而公卿廷議，以為誠當謹兵戎，備侵軼，益發甲卒，邀其寇暴。 此蓋未達事機，匹夫之常論也。
I have seen that the Tangut are in secret contact with western tribes, and deserters have repeatedly reported the facts, yet the ministers in court argue that we must tighten defenses, guard against raids, and send more armored troops to intercept them. That view fails to grasp the real situation—it is the reflex of ordinary men.
20
夫蠻夷猾夏，唐虞已然。 周宣中興，獫狁為害，但命南仲往城朔方，追之太原，及境而止，誠不欲弊中國而怒遠夷也。 秦平六國，恃其兵力，北築長城，以拒匈奴； 西逐諸羌，出於塞外。 勞力擾人，結怨階亂，中國未靜，白徒競起，海內雲擾，實生謫戍。 漢武因文、景之富，命將興師，遂至戶口減半，竟下哀痛之詔罷田輪臺。 前史書之，尚嘉其先迷而後復。 蓋聖王之理天下也，唯務綏靜蒸人，西至流沙，東漸於海，在南與北，亦存聲教。 不以遠物為珍，匪求遐方之貢，豈疲內而事外，終得少而失多。 故前代納忠之臣，並有匡君之議。 淮南王請息師於閩越，賈捐之願棄地於珠崖，安危利害，高懸前史。
Barbarian trouble for China dates back even to Yao and Shun. At King Xuan's restoration the Xianyun were a menace, yet he only sent Nan Zhong to fortify Shuofang, pursued them to Taiyuan, and stopped at the border—he did not wish to exhaust the realm and provoke distant tribes. After Qin unified the six states it relied on force, built the Long Wall to the north against the Xiongnu, and drove the Qiang west beyond the frontier. The labor burdened the people, bred resentment, and led to chaos; the interior was not yet settled when unarmed mobs rose everywhere and the realm fell into turmoil—the very source of the conscript frontier garrisons. Emperor Wu, drawing on the prosperity of Wen and Jing, launched campaigns until the population was halved, and finally issued his repentant edict abandoning the fields at Lun Terrace. The histories still praise him for erring first and correcting himself afterward. The sage ruler governs the realm by calming the people—west to the shifting sands, east to the sea, north and south alike—through civilizing influence rather than force. He does not prize exotic goods or demand distant tribute; why exhaust the interior for the frontier and end with more loss than gain? That is why loyal ministers of past dynasties all offered counsel to steer their rulers right. The Prince of Huainan urged halting war against Minyue; Jia Juanzhi argued for abandoning Zhuya—the lessons of safety and danger stand clear in the histories.
21
昔馮奉世矯漢帝之詔，擊莎車，傳其王首於京師，威震西域。 宣帝大悅，議加爵土之賞。 蕭望之獨以為矯制違命，雖有功效，不可為法； 恐後之奉使者爭逐發兵，為國家生事，述理明白，其言遂行。 國家自天後已來，突厥默啜兵強氣勇，屢寇邊城，為害頗甚。 開元初，邊將郝靈佺親捕斬之，傳首闕下，自以為功，代莫與二，坐望榮寵。 宋璟為相，慮武臣邀功，為國生事，止授以郎將。 由是訖開元之盛，無人復議開邊，中國遂寧，外夷亦靜。 此皆成敗可徵，鑒戒非遠。
Long ago Feng Fengshi forged an imperial order, attacked Shache, and sent the king's head to the capital, his fame shaking the Western Regions. Emperor Xuan was delighted and considered granting him rank and fief. Xiao Wangzhi alone argued that forging orders and defying command, however successful, must not become precedent; lest future envoys compete to raise troops and create trouble for the state; his reasoning was clear and his view prevailed. Since Empress Wu's reign the Turk qaghan Mo-chuo had been strong and bold, raiding the frontier repeatedly with great damage. Early in Kaiyuan the frontier general Hao Lingqian captured and killed him and sent the head to the capital; he thought his achievement unmatched and waited for lavish reward. Chancellor Song Jing, fearing that rewarding martial ambition would stir trouble, gave him only a commandant's rank. From then through Kaiyuan's golden age no one again urged frontier campaigns; the interior grew peaceful and the outer tribes calm. These are lessons of success and failure close at hand, not distant warnings.
22
且党項小蕃，雜處中國，本懷我德，當示撫綏。 間者邊將非廉，亟有侵刻，或利其善馬，或取其子女，便賄方物，徵發役徒。 勞苦既多，叛亡遂起，或與北狄通使，或與西戎寇邊，有為使然，固當懲革。 《傳》曰：「遠人不服，則修文德以來之。」 《管子》曰：「國家無使勇猛者為邊境。」 此誠聖哲識微知著之遠略也。 今戎醜方強，邊備未實，誠宜慎擇良將，誡之完葺，使保誠信，絕其求取，用示懷柔。 來則懲禦，去則謹備，自然懷柔，革其奸謀，何必遽圖興師，坐致勞費！
The Tangut are a small people living among us; they once embraced our virtue and should be shown gentle rule. Lately frontier officers have been corrupt, repeatedly extorting them—seizing fine horses, taking sons and daughters, demanding local goods, and conscripting labor. As hardship mounted, flight and rebellion followed; some deal with northern tribes, others guide western raiders—where causes exist, reform is surely needed. The "Commentary" says: "When distant peoples do not submit, cultivate civil virtue to win them." The "Guanzi" says: "Do not station fierce men on the frontier." That is the far-sighted policy of sages who see the small sign and grasp what follows. The Rong are strong and frontier defenses weak; we should choose good commanders, order them to repair defenses, keep faith, stop extortion, and show forbearance. Punish them when they come, guard when they leave, and they will submit of themselves and abandon intrigue—why rush to war and waste treasure idle?
23
陛下上聖君人，覆育群類，動必師古，謀無不臧。 伏望堅保永圖，置兵衽席，天下幸甚！ 臣識昧經綸，學慚博究，竊鼎鉉之寵任，為朝廷之老臣，恩深莫倫，誌懇思報，臧否備閱，芻蕘上陳，有瀆旒扆，伏深惶悚。
Your Majesty is a sage sovereign who nurtures all beings, takes antiquity as your guide in every act, and whose plans are always sound. I beg you to hold fast to this long-term design and keep arms folded on the mat—the realm would be greatly blessed! My grasp of statecraft is shallow and my learning meager, yet I hold the highest trust and am an old minister of the court; your grace is beyond measure and my will is bent on repayment. Having weighed right and wrong I offer this humble counsel; if I have offended the throne I prostrate myself in deepest fear.
24
上深嘉納。
The emperor warmly approved the memorial.
25
歲餘，請致仕，詔不許，但令三五日一入中書，平章政事。 每入奏事，憲宗優禮之； 不名，常呼司徒。 佑城南樊川有佳林亭，卉木幽邃，佑每與公卿宴集其間，廣陳妓樂。 諸子咸居朝列，當時貴盛，莫之與比。 元和七年，被疾，六月，復乞骸骨。 表四上，情理切至，憲宗不獲已，許之。 詔曰：
After more than a year he asked to retire; the throne refused but allowed him to attend the Secretariat every few days to deliberate on policy. Whenever he came to report, Xianzong treated him with special courtesy; he was never called by name but always addressed as Minister of Works. South of the city at Fanchuan Du You had a fine grove pavilion amid deep-shaded trees; he often entertained grandees there with music and dancers. All his sons held court office; at the time no family matched their eminence. In 812 he fell ill and in the sixth month again petitioned to retire. He submitted four petitions of such force and pathos that Xianzong could refuse no longer and granted his request. The edict read:
26
宣力濟時，為臣之懿躅； 辭榮告老，行己之高風。 況乎任重公臺，義深翼贊，秉沖讓之誌，堅金石之誠。 敦諭既勤，所執彌固，則當遂其衷懇，進以崇名； 尚齒優賢，斯王化之本也。
To exert one's strength for the age is the finest duty of a minister; To decline honor and announce one's retirement is the noblest conduct. Moreover, you have borne the weight of the highest offices, your righteousness has deeply aided the throne, you hold to modesty, and your sincerity is firm as metal and stone. Since repeated entreaties have failed and your resolve grows firmer, we shall grant your heartfelt request and advance you with exalted honors. To honor the aged and esteem the worthy is the foundation of sage rule.
27
金紫光祿大夫、守司徒、同中書門下平章事、兼充弘文館大學士、太清宮使、上柱國、岐國公、食邑三千戶杜佑，巖廊上才，邦國茂器； 蘊經通之識，履溫厚之姿，寬裕本乎性情，謀猷彰乎事業。 博聞強學，知歷代沿革之宜； 為政惠人，審群黎利病之要。 由是再司邦用，累歷籓方，出總戎麾，入和鼎實，聿膺重寄，歷事先朝，左右朕躬，夙夜不懈。 命以詔冊，登之上公，肅恭在廷，華發承弁。 茲可謂國之元老，人之具瞻者也。
Du You—Grand Minister of the Gold Seal and Purple Ribbon, Acting Minister of Works, Chancellor, Grand Academician of the Hongwen Hall, Commissioner of the Grand Pure Palace, Supreme Pillar of State, Duke of Qi with a fief of three thousand households—a towering talent of the court and a treasure of the state; His learning penetrates the classics; his bearing is warm and generous; magnanimity is native to him and his counsel has marked every office he held. Widely learned, he understands what each age required in institutional change; In government he has served the people, discerning what harms or helps the masses. Twice he directed national finance and served repeatedly in the provinces; whether commanding armies or harmonizing the central government he bore the throne's weightiest trust, served the previous emperor, and attended the present sovereign night and day without slackening. By imperial decree he was raised to Grand Excellency; white-haired, he stands in court with reverent dignity. He is truly the state's elder statesman and a man all look up to.
28
朕纘承丕業，思弘景化，選勞求舊，期致時邕，方伸引翼之儀，遽抗懸車之請。 而又固辭年疾，乞就休閑，已而復來，星琯屢變，有不可抑，良用耿然。 永惟古先哲王，君臣之際，臣有耆艾以求其退，君有優賜以徇其情； 乃輟鄧禹敷教之功，仍增王祥輔導之秩，俾養浩然之氣，安於敬止之鄉，庶乎怡神葆和，永綏福履。 仍加階級，以厚寵章，可光祿大夫、守太保致仕，宜朝朔望。
Having inherited the great enterprise I seek to broaden our glorious age, honoring worn veterans in hope of universal peace—yet just as I meant to lean upon you further, you urgently plead to hang up your carriage and retire. You again insist on illness and beg for leisure; time and again you have returned only to withdraw as the seasons turn, and what cannot be denied finally moves us to sorrow. Reflecting on the ancient sages in the relation of ruler and subject, the minister in his age seeks release and the ruler in kindness grants his wish; we pause the active duties you once bore like Deng Yu, yet grant you the honored rank of a Wang Xiang, that you may nourish your spirit in dignified repose, find ease in body and mind, and enjoy lasting fortune. We further raise your rank to seal this honor: you are appointed Grand Minister of the Gold Seal, Acting Grand Mentor with retirement status, and shall attend court on the first and fifteenth of each month.
29
是日，上遣中使就佑第賜絹五百匹、錢五百千。 其年十一月薨，壽七十八，廢朝三日，冊贈太傅，謚曰安簡。
That same day the emperor sent an imperial envoy to Du You's house with five hundred bolts of silk and five hundred thousand cash. He died that November at seventy-eight; court mourning lasted three days; he was posthumously enfeoffed Grand Tutor with the title Anjian.
30
佑性敦厚強力，尤精吏職，雖外示寬和，而持身有術。 為政弘易，不尚皦察，掌計治民，物便而濟，馭戎應變，即非所長。 性嗜學，該涉古今，以富國安人之術為己任。 初開元末，劉秩采經史百家之言，取《周禮》六官所職，撰分門書三十五卷，號曰《政典》，大為時賢稱賞； 房琯以為才過劉更生。 佑得其書，尋味厥旨，以為條目未盡，因而廣之，加以開元禮、樂，書成二百卷，號曰《通典》。 貞元十七年，自淮南使人詣闕獻之，曰：
Du You was sincere, forceful, and especially skilled at bureaucratic administration; though he appeared mild, he governed himself with shrewd discipline. His government was broad and easy rather than finicky; in finance and civil administration he made things work efficiently, but command of troops and crisis response were not his strengths. He loved learning, ranged widely through history, and made enriching the state and comforting the people his life's work. Near the end of the Kaiyuan era Liu Zhi assembled classical and historical learning, drew on the six ministries of the "Rites of Zhou," and compiled thirty-five classified volumes called the "Administrative Canon," which the learned greatly admired; Fang Guan judged him superior to Liu Xin. Du You studied the work, found its categories incomplete, expanded it with Kaiyuan ritual and music codes, and produced two hundred volumes titled the "Comprehensive Institutions." In 801, from his post in Huainan he sent an envoy to the capital to present it, saying:
31
臣聞太上立德，不可庶幾； 其次立功，遂行當代； 其次立言，見誌後學。 由是往哲遞相祖述，將施有政，用乂邦家。 臣本以門資，幼登官序，仕非遊藝，才不逮人，徒懷自強，頗玩墳籍。 雖履歷叨幸，或職劇務殷，竊惜光陰，未嘗輕廢。 夫《孝經》、《尚書》、《毛詩》、《周易》、《三傳》，皆父子君臣之要道； 十倫五教之宏綱，如日月之下臨，天地之大德，百王是式，終古攸遵。 然多記言，罕存法制； 愚管窺測，莫達高深，輒肆荒虛，誠為億度。 每念懵學，莫探政經，略觀歷代眾賢著論，多陳紊失之弊，或闕匡拯之方。 臣既庸淺，寧詳損益，未原其始，莫暢其終。 尚賴周氏典禮，秦皇蕩滅不盡，縱有繁雜，且用準繩。 至於往昔是非，可為來今龜鏡，布在方冊，亦粗研尋。 自頃纘修，年逾三紀，識寡思拙，心昧辭蕪。 圖籍實多，事目非少，將事功畢，罔愧乖疏，固不足發揮大猷，但竭愚盡慮而已。 書凡九門，計貳百卷，不敢不具上獻，庶明鄙誌所之，塵瀆聖聰，兢惶無措。
I have heard that the highest attainments establish virtue beyond reach; next, establishing deeds that shape the age; next, establishing words to guide posterity. Thus sages through the ages transmitted their learning so that policy might order state and clan. I entered office by family privilege, not by literary fame; my talent was no match for others', yet I strove to improve myself and pored over the classics. Though fortune raised me to heavy offices, I never lightly squandered an hour of study. The "Classic of Filial Piety," "Documents," "Mao Odes," "Changes," and the Three Commentaries all teach the duties of ruler and subject, father and son; they are the great fabric of human relations, bright as sun and moon, vast as heaven and earth; every ruler has taken them as model through all time. Yet they chiefly record teachings and seldom set forth institutional law. My narrow vision cannot plumb their depths; what I dare present is presumptuous guesswork beyond count. Conscious of my ignorance of statecraft, I read the treatises of past worthies, most of which expose disorders without offering remedies. I am too shallow to weigh every gain and loss from origin to end. Still we have the Zhou rituals, not wholly destroyed by the First Emperor of Qin; cumbersome though they are, they serve as a standard. Past successes and failures can mirror the future; spread through the archives, I have studied them as well as I could. In compiling this work more than thirty years have passed; my mind is dull and my prose rough. The sources are vast and the topics countless; when the task is done I cannot escape flaws, for I have no grand design, only the exhaustion of a fool's effort. The book has nine sections and two hundred volumes; I dare not withhold it and hope it shows my humble purpose, though I tremble at troubling your sacred ear.
32
優詔嘉之，命藏書府。 其書大傳於時，禮樂刑政之源，千載如指諸掌，大為士君子所稱。
The throne praised it and ordered it deposited in the imperial library. The work spread widely; for a millennium the roots of ritual, music, punishment, and government lay in the hand like the lines of a palm, and scholars everywhere praised it.
33
佑性勤而無倦，雖位極將相，手不釋卷。 質明視事，接對賓客，夜則燈下讀書，孜孜不怠。 與賓佐談論，人憚其辯而伏其博，設有疑誤，亦能質正。 始終言行，無所玷缺，唯在淮南時，妻梁氏亡後，升嬖妾李氏為正室，封密國夫人，親族子弟言之不從，時論非之。
Du You was tireless in study; though he reached the summit of power he never put down a book. At dawn he handled affairs and received guests; by lamp at night he read on without slackening. In debate with staff he intimidated by argument yet won them by learning; when they erred he corrected them plainly. His conduct was otherwise without blemish, save that in Huainan, after Lady Liang died, he made his concubine Lady Li principal wife and enfeoffed her Dame of Mi—a step his kin urged against and public opinion condemned.
34
三子，師損嗣，位終司農少卿。 子式方式方，字考元。 以廕授揚府參軍，轉常州晉陵尉。 浙西觀察使王緯辟為從事，入為太子通事舍人，改太常寺主簿。 明練鐘律，有所考定，深為高郢所賞。 時父作鎮揚州，家財鉅萬，甲第在安仁裏，杜城有別墅，亭館林池，為城南之最。 昆仲皆在朝廷，與時賢遊從，樂而有節。 既而佑入中書，出為昭應令。 丁父憂，服闋，遷司農少卿，賜金紫，加正議大夫、太仆卿。 時少子悰選尚公主，式方以右戚移病不視事。 久之，穆宗即位，轉兼御史中丞，充桂管觀察都防禦使。 長慶二年三月，卒於位，贈禮部尚書。
He had three sons; Shisun succeeded him and rose no higher than Vice Minister of Revenue. His son Du Shifang, styled Kaoyuan. By hereditary privilege he became an aide in Yangzhou and later Jinling subprefect in Changzhou. Wang Wei, commissioner of Huai-Si, took him as aide; he then entered as Crown Prince Communications Attendant and became a director in the Grand Harmony Office. Skilled in pitch and measure, he made revisions in music that Gao Ying greatly admired. While his father governed Yangzhou the family wealth ran to millions; their mansion in Anren Lane and country villa beyond the walls were the grandest estates south of Chang'an. His brothers all held court office and moved among leading scholars with pleasure but without excess. Soon after Du You entered the Secretariat, Shifang was posted magistrate of Zhaoying. After mourning his father he was promoted to Vice Minister of Revenue, given the gold seal and purple, and named Regular Grandee and Grand Coachman. When his youngest brother Cong was chosen to marry a princess, Shifang pleaded illness and withdrew from office rather than serve amid such nepotism. Long afterward, when Muzong ascended, he was made Censor-in-chief and commissioner of Guizhou with full defensive powers. He died in office in March 822 and was posthumously made Minister of Rites.
35
式方性孝友，弟兄尤睦。 季弟從郁，少多疾病，式方每躬自煎調，藥膳水飲，非經式方之手，不入於口。 及從郁夭喪，終年號泣，殆不勝情，士友多之。
Shifang was filial and deeply devoted to his brothers. His youngest brother Congyu was often ill; Shifang personally prepared every medicine, meal, and drink, and nothing passed Congyu's lips unless Shifang had touched it. After Congyu's early death he mourned aloud for a year, grief nearly beyond bearing, and friends greatly admired him.
36
子惲、憓、悰、恂。 惲嗣，富平尉； 憓，興平尉。 式方子悰悰，以廕三遷太子司議郎。 元和九年，選尚公主，召見於麟德殿。 尋尚岐陽公主，加銀青光祿大夫、殿中少監、駙馬都尉。 岐陽，憲宗長女，郭妃之所生。
His sons were Yun, Hui, Cong, and Xun. Yun succeeded him as subprefect of Fuping; Hui served as subprefect of Xingping. Du Shifang's son Du Cong entered office by privilege and after three steps became Crown Prince Ceremonial Reviewer. In 814 he was chosen to marry a princess and summoned before the throne in Qilin Hall. He soon wed Princess Qiyang, becoming Grand Minister of the Silver Seal, Palace Vice Director, and Chief Commandant for Imperial Sons-in-law. Qiyang was Xianzong's eldest daughter by Consort Guo.
37
自頃選尚，多於貴戚，或武臣節將之家。 於時翰林學士獨孤郁，權德輿之女婿，時德輿作相，郁避嫌辭內職。 上頗重學士，不獲已許之，且嘆德輿有佳婿，遂令宰臣於卿士家選尚文雅之士可居清列者。 初於文學後進中選擇，皆辭疾不應，唯悰願焉。 累遷至司農卿。 太和六年，轉京兆尹。 七年，檢校刑部尚書，出為鳳翔尹、鳳翔隴右節度。 丁內艱，八年，起復授忠武軍節度使、陳許蔡觀察等使，就加兵部尚書。 開成初，入為工部尚書、判度支。 屬岐陽公主薨，久而未謝。 文宗怪之，問左右。 戶部侍郎李玨對曰：「近日駙馬為公主服斬衰三年，所以士族之家不願為國戚者，半為此也。 杜悰未謝，拘此服紀也。」 上愕然曰：「予初不知。」 乃詔曰：「制服輕重，必由典禮。 如聞往者駙馬為公主服三年，緣情之義，殊非故實，違經之制，今乃聞知。 宜令行杖周，永為通制。」 三年，改戶部尚書，兼判戶部度支事。 會昌中，拜中書侍郎、同中書門下平章事，尋加左僕射。
For some time princesses had been married chiefly into noble houses or families of generals. The Hanlin scholar Dugu Yu was son-in-law to Quan Deyu; when Deyu became chancellor Yu resigned his inner post to avoid suspicion. The emperor valued his scholars and reluctantly assented, praising Deyu's son-in-law and directing his ministers to choose among cultivated gentlemen of good families for the marriage. They first offered it to promising scholars of letters, all of whom pleaded illness, until only Cong accepted. He rose step by step to Minister of Revenue. In 832 he became magistrate of Jingzhao. In 833 he was made Acting Minister of Punishments and posted as magistrate and military commissioner of Fengxiang in Longyou. After mourning within the clan he was recalled in 838 as commissioner of Zhongwu and Chen-Xu-Cai, with concurrent appointment as Minister of War. At the start of Kaicheng he entered as Minister of Works with charge of revenue. When Princess Qiyang died he long delayed reporting back for duty. Wenzong wondered at this and asked his attendants. Vice Minister of Revenue Li Jue answered: "Of late sons-in-law have worn the deepest mourning for a princess for three years—that is why eminent families shun marriage to the throne, and this is half the reason. Du Cong has not reported back because he is held by this mourning rule. The emperor exclaimed in surprise: "I never knew. He then issued an edict: "The weight of mourning must follow canonical rites. I learn that sons-in-law have lately mourned princesses three years—a kindness beyond precedent and a breach of the classics, which I knew nothing of until now. Let them observe only a week's mourning hereafter, and let this be the permanent rule. In the third year he was made Minister of Revenue with concurrent charge of the ministry's revenue accounts. During Huichang he became Vice Director and Associate Director of the Secretariat, soon added Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs.
38
大中初，出鎮西川，降先沒吐蕃維州。 州即古西戎地也，其地南界江陽，岷山連嶺而西，不知其極； 北望隴山，積雪如玉：東望成都，若在井底。 地接石紐山，夏禹生於石紐山是也。 其州在岷山之孤峰，三面臨江。 天寶後，河、隴繼陷，惟此州在焉。 吐蕃利其險要，二十年間，設計得之，遂據其城，因號曰「無憂城」，吐蕃由是不虞邛、蜀之兵。 先是，李德裕鎮西川，維州吐蕃首領悉怛謀以城來降，德裕奏之； 執政者與德裕不協，遽勒還其城。 至是復收之，亦不因兵刃，乃人情所歸也。 俄復入相，加司空，繼加司徒，歷鎮重籓。 至是加太傅、邠國公。 悰無他才，常延接寒素，甘食竊位而已。 式方季弟從郁從郁，以廕貞元末再遷太子司議郎。 元和初，轉左補闕。 諫官崔群、韋貫之、獨孤郁等以從郁宰相子，不合為諫官，乃降授左拾遺。 群等復執曰：「拾遺之與補闕，雖資品有殊，皆名諫列。 父為宰相，子為諫官，若政有得失，不可使子論父。」 乃改為秘書丞，終駕部員外郎。 從郁子顗子牧、顗，俱登進士第。 顗後病目而卒。 從郁子牧牧，字牧之，既以進士擢第，又制舉登乙第，解褐弘文館校書郎，試左武衛兵曹參軍。 沈傳師廉察江西宣州，辟牧為從事、試大理評事。 又為淮南節度推官、監察御史裏行，轉掌書記。 俄真拜監察御史，分司東都，以弟顗病目棄官。 授宣州團練判官、殿中侍御史、內供奉。 遷左補闕、史館修撰，轉膳部、比部員外郎，並兼史職。 出牧黃、池、睦三郡，復遷司勛員外郎、史館修撰，轉吏部員外郎。 又以弟病免歸。 授湖州刺史，入拜考功郎中、知制誥，歲中遷中書舍人。 牧好讀書，工詩為文，嘗自負經緯才略。 武宗朝誅昆夷、鮮卑，牧上宰相書論兵事，言「胡戎入寇，在秋冬之間，盛夏無備，宜五六月中擊胡為便」。 李德裕稱之。 註曹公所定《孫武十三篇》行於代。
Early in Dazhong he was sent to govern Sichuan and accepted the surrender of Weizhou, long held by Tibet. The prefecture was ancient western borderland; south it bordered Jiangyang and westward the Min ranges stretched beyond sight; northward Long Mountains rose white with snow; eastward Chengdu seemed to lie at the bottom of a well. It adjoins Stone Knob Mountain, said to be where Yu of Xia was born. The city stood on a solitary Min peak with river on three sides. After Tianbao the Hexi and Longyou regions fell one by one, yet this prefecture alone held. Tibet prized its terrain; within twenty years they schemed and took it, named it "Carefree City," and no longer feared armies from Qiong and Shu. Earlier, while Li Deyu governed Sichuan, the Tibetan leader of Weizhou, Xin Dangnu, offered the city in surrender and Deyu reported it to court; The men in power were at odds with Li Deyu and quickly ordered Weizhou handed back. Now it was taken again, yet without a blow struck; the people themselves had turned toward the court. Before long he was back in the council, made Minister of Works and then Minister of Education, and served in turn at major frontier posts. At this point he was made Grand Tutor and Duke of Bin. Cong had no other gifts; he merely welcomed poor scholars, ate well, and held a post he did not deserve—that was all. Shifang's youngest brother Cong Yu entered office by privilege and, late in Zhenyuan, was again promoted to Crown Prince Ceremonial Reviewer. Early in Yuanhe he became Left Remonstrance Councillor. The remonstrance officials Cui Qun, Wei Guanzhi, and Dugu Yu argued that as a chancellor's son Cong Yu should not sit in the remonstrance ranks, and he was demoted to Left Collector of Lost Writings. Qun and his colleagues pressed again: "Collector and Remonstrance Councillor differ in rank, yet both belong to the remonstrance roster. When the father is chancellor and the son a remonstrance officer, the son cannot be allowed to judge his father's policies. He was then made Secretariat Assistant and ended his career as Vice Director of the Imperial Transport Office. Cong Yu's sons Yan and Mu both passed the jinshi examination. Yan later went blind and died. Cong Yu's son Du Mu, styled Muzhi, won the jinshi and also placed second in the special examination; he left private life as collator at the Hongwen Institute and served provisionally as military staff officer of the Left Martial Guard. When Shen Chuanshi inspected Jiangxi and Xuanzhou he took Mu on as aide and acting Grand Court Evaluator. He later served on the Huainan staff as acting investigating censor and then chief secretary. Soon he was formally made investigating censor with a detached post at the eastern capital, but quit when his brother Yan went blind. He was appointed judge on the Xuanzhou training commission, palace attending censor, and inner attendant. He rose to Left Remonstrance Councillor and historiography compiler, then vice director of provisions and of accounts, keeping his historiographical duties throughout. He governed Huang, Chi, and Mu in turn, then returned as vice director of merits and historiography compiler and finally vice director of personnel. Again he resigned and went home when his brother fell ill. He was made prefect of Huzhou, then summoned as director of evaluations with charge of edicts, and within the year promoted to secretariat drafter. Mu loved books, excelled at poetry and prose, and prided himself on statecraft and strategy. During Wuzong's campaign against the Kunyi and Xianbei, Mu wrote the chancellor on military affairs, arguing that barbarian raids came in autumn and winter, that they were unready in midsummer, and that the fifth or sixth month was the best time to strike. Li Deyu praised him for it. His commentary on Cao Cao's recension of Sunzi's Thirteen Chapters circulated widely.
39
牧從兄悰隆盛於時，牧居下位，心常不樂。 將及知命，得病，自為墓誌、祭文。 又嘗夢人告曰：「爾改名畢。」 逾月，奴自家來，告曰：「炊將熟而甑裂。」 牧曰：「皆不祥也。」 俄又夢書行紙曰：「皎皎白駒，在彼空谷。」 寤寢而嘆曰：「此過隙也。 吾生於角，徵還於角，為第八宮，吾之甚厄也。 予自湖守遷舍人，木還角，足矣。」 其年，以疾終於安仁裏，年五十。 有集二十卷，曰《杜氏樊川集》，行於代。 子德祥，官至丞郎。
His cousin Du Cong was at the height of power while Mu languished in lesser posts, and the contrast rankled him. Approaching fifty he fell ill and wrote his own epitaph and funeral ode. He once dreamed a man telling him, "Your renaming is complete. A month later a servant from home reported, "The rice was nearly done when the steamer split. Mu said, "All of these are ill omens. Soon he dreamed words written on drifting paper: "Bright, bright the white colt, there in the empty valley. Waking, he sighed, "This is life's brief gap. I was born under the Horn; Fire returns to the Horn in the eighth palace—my gravest misfortune. From Huzhou prefect to secretariat drafter, Wood returns to the Horn—that is enough for me. That year he died of illness at Anren Lane, aged fifty. He left a twenty-scroll collection called the Du Clan Fanchuan Collection, which circulated widely. His son Dexiang rose to a vice-ministerial post.
40
=史臣曰=
The Historian's Comment
41
史臣曰：黃裳以道致君，持誠奉主； 辨懷光之詐，罷全義之征。 討賊辟之兇，舉無遺算； 葬執誼之柩，豈曰不仁。 郢天縱之性，總丱之年，代父命於臨刑，孝也； 懷光之亂，王人被傷，撫巢父於賊庭，義也； 抑浮濫之流，考藝文之士，盡搜幽滯，大變時風，正也； 保止足之名，辭榮辱之路，高避世利，遐躅昔賢，智也。 忠孝全矣，仁智備矣！ 此二子者，皆臨大節而不可奪也。 佑承廕入仕，讞獄受知，博古該今，輸忠效用； 位居極品，榮逮子孫，操修之報，不亦宜哉！ 及其賓僚紊法，嬖妾受封，事重因循，難乎語於正矣！ 牧之文章，悰之長厚，能否既異，才位不倫，命矣夫！
The historian writes: Huangchang guided his ruler by the Way and served him with whole-hearted loyalty; he exposed Li Huai'guang's treachery and stopped the campaign against Quanyi; he crushed the rebel Zebi without a plan left unused; and he buried Liu Zhuyi's remains—who would call that inhumane? Ying was gifted by nature; as a child he took his father's place at the execution block—filial piety; in Huai'guang's revolt, when the throne's servants were struck down, he comforted Chao Fu in the rebel camp—righteousness; he curbed the tide of mediocrity, tested men of letters, sought out the overlooked, and changed the temper of the age—uprightness; he kept the name of knowing when enough was enough, turned from honor and shame, stood above worldly gain, and walked in the steps of sages of old—wisdom. Loyalty and filial piety were whole, benevolence and wisdom complete! Both men, when tested at the great hinge of fate, could not be turned aside. You entered office by privilege, won notice in judging cases, mastered antiquity and the present age alike, and served with loyal effect; he rose to the highest rank and his glory reached his sons—was that not a fitting reward for a life well lived? Yet when his staff bent the law, his concubines received fiefs, and affairs dragged on by habit, how could one still call him upright? Mu had literature, Cong had steady kindness; their gifts differed, their talents and posts did not match—such is fate!
42
贊曰：貞公壯節，臨難奮發。 言行無玷，斯為明哲。 戡亂阜俗，時泰位隆。 國之名臣，鄭公、岐公。
Appraisal: Duke Zhen's firm integrity blazed forth in hardship. Words and deeds without stain—that is true wisdom. They quelled disorder and enriched the realm; in peaceful times they rose to eminence. Among the state's great ministers stand the Duke of Zheng and the Duke of Qi.