1
=王重榮=
Wang Chongrong
2
王重榮，河中人。 父縱，鹽州刺史，咸通中有邊功。 重榮以父廕補軍校，與兄重盈俱號驍雄，名璟軍中。 廣明初，重榮為河中馬步軍都虞候。 巢賊據長安，蒲帥李都不能拒，稱臣於賊，賊偽授重榮節度副使。 河中密邇京師，賊征求無已，軍府疲於供億，賊使百輩，填委傳舍。 重榮謂都曰：「吾以外援未至，詭謀附賊以紓難。 今軍府積實，苦被征求，復來收兵，是賊危我也。 倘不改圖，危亡必矣！ 請絕橋道，嬰城自固。」 都曰：「吾兵微力寡，絕之立見其患。 唯公圖之，願以節鉞假公。」 翌日，都歸行在，重榮知留後事，乃斬賊使，求援鄰籓。 既而賊將硃溫舟師自同州至，黃鄴之兵自華陰至，數萬攻之。 重榮戒勵士眾，大敗之。 獲其兵仗，軍聲益振。 朝廷遂授節鉞，檢校司空。 時中和元年夏也。
Wang Chongrong was from Hezhong. His father Wang Zong had been military commissioner of Yan Prefecture and won distinction on the frontier during the Xiantong reign. Chongrong joined the army as a junior officer through his father's privilege; he and his elder brother Chongying were famed in camp as peerless fighters. Early in the Guangming era he became chief adjutant of Hezhong's combined forces. When Huang Chao held Chang'an, Hezhong's commander Li Du could not hold out and submitted to the rebels, who gave Chongrong a bogus post as deputy commissioner. Hezhong was near the capital, so the rebels never stopped demanding supplies; the command exhausted itself meeting their levies while scores of rebel envoys packed the government inns. Chongrong told Du, "We only pretended to join the rebels because relief had not come yet. Now the command has stores again, yet they keep squeezing us; if they return to seize our troops, the rebels mean to destroy us. Unless we change course, we are finished! Let us sever the bridges and defend the walls." Du replied, "We are too weak; cutting them off would bring disaster immediately. You must decide. I will lend you my authority as commissioner. The next day Du left for the imperial camp and Chongrong took over as acting commissioner; he executed the rebel envoys and appealed to neighboring circuits for help. Soon Zhu Wen brought a fleet from Tong Prefecture and Huang Ye marched from Huayin with tens of thousands to attack. Chongrong rallied his men and routed them. They seized the enemy arms, and the army's prestige soared. The court then invested him as military commissioner and acting Minister of Works. This was in the summer of the first year of Zhonghe.
3
俄而忠武監軍楊復光率陳、蔡之師萬人，與重榮合。 賊將李祥守華州，重榮合勢攻之，擒祥以徇。 俄而硃溫以同州降。 賊既失同、華，狂躁益熾。 黃巢自率精兵數萬，至梁田坡。 時重榮軍華陰南，楊復光在渭北，掎角破賊； 出其不意，大敗賊軍，獲其將趙璋。 巢中流矢而退。 而重榮之師，亡耗殆半。 懼賊復來，深憂之。 謂復光曰：「軍雖小捷，銳旅亡失。 萬一賊黨復來，其將何軍以應？ 吾之成敗，未可知也。」 復光曰：「雁門李僕射，與仆家世事舊，其尊人與仆父兄同患難。 僕射奮不顧身，死義知己。 倘得李雁門為援，吾事濟矣。」 因遣使傳詔征兵。 明年，李克用領兵至，大敗巢賊，收復京城。 其倡義啟導之功，實重榮居首。 京師平，以功檢校太尉、同平章事、瑯邪郡王。
Soon Yang Fuguang, supervisor of the Zhongwu army, brought ten thousand men from Chen and Cai to join Chongrong. The rebel Li Xiang held Hua Prefecture; Chongrong attacked in concert, took Xiang prisoner, and paraded him as an example. Soon Zhu Wen surrendered Tong Prefecture. After losing Tong and Hua, the rebels grew more desperate and violent. Huang Chao personally led tens of thousands of elite troops to Liangtian Slope. Chongrong camped south of Huayin while Fuguang held the north bank of the Wei; attacking in concert they shattered the rebels; caught them by surprise, routed the rebel host, and captured the general Zhao Zhang. Chao took an arrow wound and retreated. Yet Chongrong's force had lost nearly half its men. He feared the rebels would come again and was deeply worried. He told Fuguang, "We won a minor victory, but our best troops are gone. If the rebels return, what army will we meet them with? Our fate is still uncertain." Fuguang replied, "Li Keyong of Yanmen and my house go back generations; his father and mine faced hardship together. Keyong would risk his life for duty and for a friend. If we can win Li Keyong's help, we will prevail. He then sent envoys with an imperial summons to raise troops. The following year Li Keyong arrived with his army, crushed Huang Chao's forces, and retook the capital. Of those who first raised the banner of restoration, Chongrong deserved the foremost credit. After the capital was secured he was made acting Grand Marshal, chief minister, and Prince of Langye.
4
光啟元年，僖宗還京。 喪亂之後，六軍初復，國藏虛竭。 觀軍容使田令孜奏以安邑、解縣兩池榷課，直屬省司，以充贍給。 舊事，河中節度兼榷使，每年額輸省課。 重榮累表論列，既循往例，兼恃大功。 令孜不許，奏請移重榮為定州節度。 制下，不奉詔，令孜率禁軍攻之，屯於沙苑，為重榮擊敗之。 十二月，令孜挾天子出幸寶雞，太原聞之，乃與重榮入援京師，遣使迎駕還宮。 令孜尤懼，卻劫幸山南。 及硃玫立襄王稱制，重榮不受命，會太原之師於河西，以圖興復。 明年，王行瑜殺硃玫，僖宗反正，重榮之忠力居多。
In the first year of Guangqi, Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an. After the upheaval the Six Armies were only being rebuilt and the treasury was bare. Army supervisor Tian Lingzi proposed that salt monopoly revenue from the Anyi and Jie ponds go straight to the central government for supplies. By custom the Hezhong commissioner also controlled the salt monopoly and paid an annual quota to the court. Chongrong memorialized repeatedly, citing precedent and his outstanding service. Lingzi refused and asked that Chongrong be transferred to Dingzhou. When the order came down Chongrong defied it; Lingzi led the palace troops against him at Shayuan and was defeated. In the twelfth month Lingzi seized the emperor and fled to Baoji; Li Keyong of Taiyuan joined Chongrong to march on the capital and sent envoys to bring the court home. Terrified, Lingzi turned back and dragged the emperor south into the mountains. When Zhu Mei installed the Prince of Xiang as regent, Chongrong refused to obey; he joined Keyong's forces west of the river to restore the throne. The next year Wang Xingyu killed Zhu Mei and Xizong was restored; much of the credit belonged to Chongrong's loyalty.
5
重榮用法稍嚴，季年尤甚。 部下常行儒者，嘗有所譴罰，深銜之。 光啟三年六月，行儒以兵攻府第，重榮夜出於城外別墅。 詰旦，為行儒所害，行儒乃推重盈為帥。 重盈既立，誅行儒與其黨，安集軍民。
Chongrong enforced the law harshly, especially in his last years. His officer Chang Xingru had once been punished and nursed a deep grievance. In the sixth month of Guangqi year three, Xingru attacked the headquarters; Chongrong slipped out at night to a country villa. At dawn Xingru killed him and installed Chongying as commander. Once in power Chongying executed Xingru and his followers and restored order among troops and civilians.
6
乾寧初，重盈卒，軍府推行軍司馬王珂為留後。 重盈子珙，時為陜帥，瑤為絳州刺史。 珂即重榮兄重簡子，出繼重榮。 由是爭為蒲帥。 瑤、珙上章論列，又與硃溫書云：「珂非吾兄弟，家之蒼頭也。 小字蟲兒，安得繼嗣？」 珂上章云：「亡父有興復之功。」 遣使求援於太原，太原保薦於朝。 珙厚結王行瑜、李茂貞、韓建為援，三鎮互相表薦。 昭宗詔諭之曰：「吾以太原與重榮有再造之功，已俞其奏矣。」 故明年五月，茂貞等三人率兵入覲，賊害時政，請以河中授珙。 珙、瑤連兵攻河中。 李克用怒，出師討三鎮。 瑤、珙兵退，克用拔絳州，斬瑤，乃師於渭北。 天子以珂為河中節度，授以旄鉞，仍充供軍糧料使。 既誅王行瑜，克用以女妻之。 珂親至太原、太原令李嗣昭將兵助珂攻珙，珙每戰頻敗。 珙性慘刻，人有逾犯，必斬首置於座前，言笑自若，部下鹹苦之。 因其削弱，皆懷離叛。 光化二年六月，部將李璠殺珙，自稱留後。
Early in Qianning, Chongying died; the command installed army marshal Wang Ke as acting commissioner. Chongying's son Gong was military commissioner of Shan, and Yao was prefect of Jiang. Ke was the son of Chongrong's brother Chongjian and had been adopted by Chongrong. A struggle ensued over who would command Hezhong. Yao and Gong memorialized the court and wrote Zhu Wen: "Ke is no brother of ours but a household slave. His pet name was 'Little Worm'—how can he inherit the command?" Ke replied in a memorial: "My late father restored the dynasty." He sent to Taiyuan for support, and Keyong recommended him at court. Gong cultivated Wang Xingyu, Li Maozhen, and Han Jian as allies; the three circuits backed one another in memorials. Emperor Zhaozong told them: "Taiyuan and Chongrong remade the dynasty; I have already approved Keyong's request." The next fifth month Maozhen and the others marched on the capital, bullied the court, and demanded Hezhong for Gong. Gong and Yao attacked Hezhong together. Li Keyong marched out in anger to punish the three circuits. Yao and Gong retreated; Keyong seized Jiang Prefecture, executed Yao, and camped north of the Wei. The emperor confirmed Ke as Hezhong commissioner, invested him with full authority, and made him army provisioner. After Xingyu was killed, Keyong gave Ke his daughter in marriage. Ke went to Taiyuan in person; Keyong sent Li Sizhao to help him attack Gong, who lost battle after battle. Gong was brutal: any offender was beheaded and the head set before him while he chatted on; his men suffered terribly. As his power waned, his followers turned against him. In the sixth month of Guanghua year two, Li Fan killed Gong and proclaimed himself acting commissioner.
7
光化末，朱溫初伏鎮、定，將圖關輔，屬劉季述廢立之際，京師俶擾。 崔胤潛乞師於汴，以圖反正。 溫謂其將張存敬、侯言曰：「王珂恃太原之勢，侮慢籓鄰，骨肉相殘，自大其事，爾為我持一繩以縛之。」 存敬等率兵數萬渡河，由含山出其不意，天復元年正月，兵攻晉、絳。 珂將絳州刺史陶建釗、晉州刺史張漢瑜既無備，即開門降。 溫令別將何絪守晉州，扼其援路。 二月，存敬大軍逼河中，珂遣告急於太原。 晉、絳既當兵沖，援師不能進。 珂妻書告太原曰：「賊勢攻逼，朝夕為俘囚，乞食大梁，大人安忍不救？」 克用曰：「賊阻前途，眾寡不敵，救則與爾兩亡。 可與王郎歸朝廷。」 珂計無從出，即謀歸京師。 又使人告李茂貞曰：「聖上初返正，詔籓鎮無相侵伐，同匡王室。 硃公不顧國家約束，卒遣賊臣，急攻敝邑，則硃公之心可見矣！ 敝邑若亡，則同、華、邠、岐非諸君所能保也。 天子神器，拱手而授人矣！ 此自然之勢也。 公可與華州令公早出精銳固潼關，以應敝邑。 仆自量不武，請於公之西偏求為鎮守，此地請公有之。 關西安危，國祚延促，系公此舉也。」 茂貞不答。
Late in Guanghua, Zhu Wen had just taken Zhen and Ding and aimed at the capital region; during Liu Jishu's coup the court was thrown into chaos. Cui Yin secretly asked Bian for troops to restore the throne. Wen told Zhang Cunjing and Hou Yan, "Wang Ke leans on Taiyuan, insults his neighbors, lets kin kill kin, and swells with pride—go take a rope and bind him for me." Cunjing crossed the river with tens of thousands, struck from Hanshan by surprise, and in the first month of Tianfu year one attacked Jin and Jiang. Ke's prefects Tao Jianzhao of Jiang and Zhang Hanyu of Jin were caught unprepared and surrendered at once. Wen left He Yin to hold Jin Prefecture and block relief from Taiyuan. In the second month Cunjing's main force closed on Hezhong; Ke sent desperate appeals to Taiyuan. With Jin and Jiang in enemy hands, relief could not get through. Ke's wife wrote Keyong: "The enemy is closing in; we will be prisoners any day, begging bread in Liang—how can you refuse to save us?" Keyong replied, "The enemy blocks the road; we are too few; if I march to save you, we both die. Take your husband and submit to the court. With no other option, Ke planned to flee to the capital. He also wrote Li Maozhen: "When the emperor was restored, he ordered the circuits not to attack one another but to uphold the throne together. Zhu Wen ignored the court's order and sent his generals to crush us—his ambition is plain! If we fall, you cannot hold Tong, Hua, Bin, and Qi either. The throne itself will be surrendered without a fight! That is how matters must unfold. March with the commander of Hua and seize Tong Pass with elite troops to relieve us. I am no fighter; let me hold a post on your western flank while you take Hezhong. The fate of the northwest and the dynasty rests on what you do now." Maozhen did not answer.
8
珂勢蹙，將渡河歸京師，人情離合。 時河橋毀圮，淩澌鯁塞，舟楫難濟。 珂族艤舟有日。 珂夜自慰諭守陴者，默然無應。 牙將劉訓夜半至珂寢門，珂叱之曰：「兵欲反耶？」 訓解衣袒臂曰：「公茍懷疑，訓請斷臂。」 珂曰：「事勢如何，計將安出？」 訓曰：「若夜出整棹待濟，人必爭舟。 茍一夫鴟張，其禍莫測。 不如俟明旦，以情諭三軍，願從者必半，然後登舟赴闕，可以前濟。 不然，則召諸將校，且為款狀，以緩賊軍，徐圖向背，策之上也。」 珂然之，即登城謂存敬曰：「吾於汴王有家世事分，公宜退舍。 俟汴王至，吾自聽命。」 存敬即日退舍。
Ke was cornered and prepared to cross the river to the capital; morale wavered between loyalty and desertion. The river bridge was wrecked and floes blocked the crossing; boats could hardly get through. Ke's family had waited days with boats ready. Ke went among the wall guards at night to rally them; they answered only with silence. At midnight adjutant Liu Xun appeared at Ke's chamber door; Ke snapped, "Are the men mutinying?" Xun bared his arms and said, "If you still doubt me, cut off my arm." Ke asked, "What's our position, and what do you advise?" Xun said, "If we ready the boats tonight and wait to embark, the men will fight for seats. Let one hothead take charge and no one can say what disaster follows. Better wait until morning, explain ourselves to the whole army—half will surely come with us—then board for the capital and cross in an orderly way. Or call the officers, feign submission to stall the enemy, and slowly sound out who stands where—that's the soundest course." Ke agreed, climbed the wall, and told Cunjing, "The Prince of Bian and I are old family allies—you should pull back. When the prince comes, I will obey whatever he commands." Cunjing withdrew the same day.
9
三月，朱溫自洛陽至，先哭於重榮之墓，悲不自勝，陳辭致祭，蒲人聞之感悅。 珂欲面縛牽羊以見。 溫報曰：「太師阿舅之恩，何時可忘耶？ 郎君若以亡國之禮相見，黃泉其謂我何？」 及珂出，迎之於路，握手歔欷，聯轡而入。
In the third month Zhu Wen arrived from Luoyang, wept first at Chongrong's grave until he could scarcely stand, and offered a full funeral address; the people of Hezhong were deeply touched. Ke meant to submit with the ritual of bound hands and a leading sheep. Wen answered, "How could I ever forget my father-in-law the Grand Preceptor's kindness? If you greet me as though you were a conquered prince, what will my dead kin think of me?" When Ke emerged, Wen met him on the road; they clasped hands weeping and rode in side by side.
10
居半月，以存敬守河中，珂舉家徙於汴。 後溫令珂入覲，遣人殺之於華州傳舍。 自重榮初帥河中，傳至珂二十年。
After a fortnight Wen left Cunjing in charge of Hezhong and relocated Ke's entire family to Bian. Later Wen summoned Ke to court and had him killed at a relay inn in Huazhou. From Chongrong's first command of Hezhong to Ke's end was twenty years.
11
=王處存=
Wang Chucun
12
王處存，京兆萬年縣勝業裏人。 世隸神策軍，為京師富族，財產數百萬。 父宗，自軍校累至檢校司空、金吾大將軍、左街使，遙領興元節度。 宗善興利，乘時貿易，由是富擬王者，仕宦因貲而貴，侯服玉食，僮奴萬指。 處存起家右軍鎮使，累至驍衛將軍、左軍巡使。 乾符六年十月，檢校刑部尚書、義武軍節度使。
Wang Chucun was from Shengye Lane in Wannian, capital district of Jingzhao. His clan had long served in the Shence Army and ranked among the capital's richest houses, with wealth in the millions. His father Wang Zong had risen from a junior officer to acting minister of justice, commander of the Golden Crow Guards, commissioner of the Left Street, and nominal military governor of Xingyuan. Zong knew how to turn a profit and traded on every opening until his riches rivaled a king's; offices bought prestige, and he lived like royalty with tens of thousands of servants at his beck. Chucun began in the Right Army, rose to general of the Martial Guards, and became patrol commissioner of the Left Army. In the tenth month of Qianfu year six he received acting rank as minister of justice and command of the Yiwu army.
13
明年，黃巢犯闕，僖宗出幸。 處存號哭累日，不俟詔命，即率本軍入援。 遣二千人間道往山南，衛從車駕。 時李都守河中降賊，會王重榮斬偽使，通使於處存，乃同盟誓師，營於渭北。 時巢賊僭號，天下籓鎮，多受其偽命，唯鄭畋守鳳翔，鄭從讜守太原。 處存、王重榮首倡義舉，以招太原。 俄而鄭畋破賊前鋒，王鐸自行在至，故諸鎮翻然改圖，以出勤王之師。
The following year Huang Chao stormed the capital and Emperor Xizong fled. Chucun mourned aloud for days and, without waiting for orders, marched his army to the emperor's aid. He sent two thousand men by back roads into Shannan to escort the imperial train. Li Du still held Hezhong for the rebels until Chongrong killed a rebel envoy and opened talks with Chucun; the two allied, took their oaths, and camped north of the Wei. Huang Chao had proclaimed himself emperor and most governors accepted his commissions; only Zheng Tian at Fengxiang and Zheng Congdang at Taiyuan stood firm. Chucun and Chongrong were first to raise the loyal standard and win Taiyuan over. Soon Zheng Tian broke the rebel van, Wang Duo arrived from the imperial camp, and commands across the land turned at once to march armies for the throne.
14
中和元年四月，涇原行軍唐弘夫敗賊將林言、尚讓軍，乘勝進逼京師。 處存自渭北親選驍卒五千，皆以白繻為號，夜入京城。 賊已遁去。 京師故人見處存，遮道慟哭，歡呼塞路。 軍人皆釋兵，爭據第宅，坊市少年多帶白號雜軍。 翌日，賊偵知，自灞上復襲京師，市人以為王師，歡呼迎之。 處存為賊所迫，收軍還營。 賊怒，召集兩市丁壯七八萬，並殺之，血流成渠。
In the fourth month of Zhonghe year one, Tang Hongfu of Jingyuan routed Lin Yan and Shang Rang and drove toward Chang'an. Chucun picked five thousand picked men north of the Wei, all wearing white badges, and entered the city at night. The rebels were already gone. Old friends in the capital barred his path in tears while cheers choked every street. Soldiers threw down their arms to seize great houses, and ward youths in white badges mixed freely among the troops. Next day rebel scouts found out; rebels swept down from Bashang again, and townsfolk mistook them for imperial troops and cheered them in. Pressed by the rebels, Chucun pulled his men back to camp. In fury they rounded up seventy or eighty thousand market laborers and slaughtered them until blood ran in ditches.
15
處存家在京師，世受國恩，以賊寇未平，鑾輿出狩，每言及時事，未嘗不喑嗚流涕，諸軍義之。 前後遣使十輩迎李克用，既奕世姻好，特相款昵。 洎收京師，王鐸第其功； 勤王舉義，處存為之最； 收城破賊，克用為之最。 以功檢校司空。 後又遣大將張公慶率勁兵三千，合諸軍滅賊巢於泰山，以功檢校司徒。
Chucun's family lived in the capital on generations of imperial favor; with rebels still abroad and the emperor in exile, he wept whenever affairs of state were mentioned, and the troops revered him for it. He sent envoys again and again—ten missions in all—to bring Li Keyong south; bound by generations of marriage ties, the two treated each other with deep affection. After the capital was retaken, Wang Duo graded their achievements: for rallying loyal armies, Chucun ranked first; for retaking the city and crushing the rebels, Keyong ranked first. For his service he was made acting grand guardian of state. He later sent Zhang Gongqing with three thousand elite troops to join other forces and wipe out Chao's remnant on Mount Tai, earning promotion to acting minister mentor.
16
田令孜討王重榮，詔處存為河中節度。 處存上章申理，言：「重榮無罪，有大功於國，不宜輕有除改，以搖籓鎮之心。」 初，幽、鎮兩籓，兵甲強盛，易定於其間，疲於侵寇。 及匡威得誌驕盈，恆欲兼並之。 賴與太原姻好，每為之援。 處存亦睦鄰以禮，優撫軍民，折節下士，人多歸之，以至抗衡列鎮。 累加侍中、檢校太尉。 乾寧二年九月卒，年六十五，贈太子太師，謚曰忠肅。
When Tian Lingzi moved against Chongrong, the court named Chucun military governor of Hezhong. Chucun memorialized in Chongrong's defense: "He is innocent and has rendered great service; to replace him lightly would unsettle every frontier command." Yiding lay squeezed between mighty Youzhou and Zhenzhou and had long suffered their raids. Once Kuangwei got his way he grew arrogant and constantly sought to swallow the territory. They relied on marriage ties with Taiyuan, which backed them each time. Chucun courted his neighbors politely, cared for soldiers and civilians alike, and humbled himself before men of talent until people flocked to him and his command could stand equal to the great circuits. He was promoted to palace attendant and then acting grand commandant. He died in the ninth month of Qianning year two, aged sixty-five, and was posthumously honored as heir-apparent grand preceptor with the temple name Loyal and Solemn.
17
三軍以河朔舊事，推其子副大使郜為留後。 朝廷從而命之。 授以旄鉞，尋加檢校司空、同平章事，累至太保。 光化三年七月，汴將張存敬進寇幽州，旋入祁溝。 郜遣馬步都將王處直將兵拒之，為存敬所敗，退營沙河。 汴人進擊，營於懷德驛。 處直之眾奔撓，城中大恐。 十月，郜委城攜族奔於太原，太原累表授檢校太尉。 天復初，卒於晉陽。 郜弟鄴其弟鄴，克用以女妻之，歷嵐、石、沔三州刺史、大同軍防禦使。 天祐中卒。 處存母弟處直處直，字允明，處存母弟也。 初為定州後院軍都知兵馬使。 汴人入寇，處直拒戰不利而退； 三軍大噪，推處直為帥。 及郜出奔，乃權留後事。 汴將張存敬攻城，梯沖雲合，處直登城呼曰：「敝邑於朝廷未嘗不忠，於籓鄰未嘗失禮，不虞君之涉吾地，何也？」 朱溫遣人報之曰：「何以附太原而弱鄰道？」 處直報曰：「吾兄與太原同時立勛王室，地又親鄰，修好往來，常道也。 請從此改圖。」 溫許之。 仍歸罪於孔目吏梁問，出絹十萬匹，牛酒以犒汴軍。 存敬修盟而退。 溫因表授旄鉞，檢校左僕射。 天祐元年，加太保，封太原王。 後仕偽梁，授北平王，檢校太尉。 不數歲，復於莊宗。 後十餘年，為其子都廢歸私第，尋卒，年六十一。
Following Hebei custom, the army installed his son Gao, the vice commissioner, as acting governor. The court confirmed the appointment. Gao received the commissioner insignia, soon became acting grand guardian and chancellor, and rose to grand guardian of state. In the seventh month of Guanghua year three, Zhang Cunjing of Bian marched on Youzhou and soon pushed into Qigou. Gao sent Wang Chuzhi with the combined forces to resist; Cunjing defeated him and drove him back to camp at Shahe. The Bian army pressed on and pitched camp at Huaide Station. Chuzhi's men broke and fled; panic gripped the city. In the tenth month Gao abandoned the city and fled with his clan to Taiyuan, which memorialized repeatedly to make him acting grand commandant. Early in the Tianfu era he died at Jinyang. Gao's younger brother Ye married a daughter of Keyong and served in turn as prefect of Lan, Shi, and Mian and as defensive commissioner of Datong. He died during the Tianyou period. Chucun's uterine brother Wang Chuzhi, styled Yunming, was born of the same mother. He began as commander of the Dingzhou rear-garrison forces. When Bian troops invaded, Chuzhi fought and withdrew after a defeat; the army clamored and made Chuzhi their leader. When Gao fled, he took acting command of the circuit. Zhang Cunjing besieged the city with ladders and rams massed thick; Chuzhi mounted the wall and shouted, "We have never wronged the court or our neighbors—why have you entered our land uninvited?" Zhu Wen sent word: "Why do you cling to Taiyuan and undermine your neighbors?" Chuzhi answered, "My brother and Taiyuan earned their honors together for the throne; our regions are close kin and allies—friendly ties are only proper. From now on we will change course." Wen agreed. He blamed his clerk Liang Wen, sent a hundred thousand bolts of silk, and furnished oxen and wine to feast the Bian troops. Cunjing sealed a new pact and withdrew. Wen memorialized to invest him with commissioner rank and acting left vice director of the Masters of Writing. In Tianyou year one he was made grand guardian and enfeoffed as King of Taiyuan. He later submitted to Zhu Wen's Liang and received the title Prince of Northern Ping with acting grand commandant rank. Within a few years he returned to Li Cunxu's cause. A decade later his son Du removed him to private quarters; he died soon after, aged sixty-one.
18
=諸葛爽=
Zhuge Shuang
19
諸葛爽，青州博昌人。 役屬縣為伍伯，為令所笞，乃棄役，以裏謳自給。 會龐勛之亂，乃委身為徐卒，累軍功至小校。 官軍討徐，龐勛勢蹙，率百余人與泗州守將陽群歸國。 累授汝州防禦使。 李琢為招討使，討沙阤於雲州，表爽為副。 廣明元年，賊陷京師，詔爽率代北行營兵馬，赴難關中。 爽軍屯櫟陽。 潼關不守，車駕出幸，爽乃降賊。 巢以爽為河陽節度使。 巢賊敗，復表歸國，進位檢校司徒。
Zhuge Shuang was from Bochang in Qingzhou. He served as a local ward officer until the magistrate had him beaten; he quit the post and lived on folk songs in the lanes. During Pang Xun's revolt he enlisted as a soldier in Xuzhou and rose by merit to junior officer. As imperial forces closed on Xuzhou and Pang Xun's cause collapsed, he led a hundred men with Sizhou's Yang Qun back to the dynasty. He rose to defensive commissioner of Ru Prefecture. When Li Zhuo was expedition commissioner against the Shatuo in Yunzhou, he named Shuang his deputy. In Guangming year one, after rebels took Chang'an, Shuang was ordered to lead northern frontier troops to rescue the Guanzhong region. Shuang's army camped at Liyang. When Tong Pass fell and the emperor fled, Shuang surrendered to the rebels. Huang Chao made him military governor of Heyang. After the rebels fell, he petitioned to rejoin the Tang and was promoted to acting minister mentor.
20
時魏博韓簡軍勢方盛。 中和元年四月，魏人攻河陽，大敗爽軍於修武，爽棄城遁走。 簡令大將守河陽。 乃出師討曹全晸於鄆州。 十月，孟州人復誘爽，爽自金商率兵千人，復入河陽。 乃犒勞魏人，令趙文㺹率之而去。 十一月，爽攻新鄉。 簡自鄆來逆戰，軍於獲嘉西北。 時簡將引魏人入趨關輔，誅除巢孽，自有圖王之誌，三軍屢諫不從。 偏將樂彥禎因眾心搖，說激之，牙軍奔歸魏州。 爽軍乘之。 簡鄉兵八萬大敗，奔騰亂死，清水為之不流。 明年正月，簡為牙軍所殺，爽軍由是大振。
Han Jian of Weibo then commanded a powerful army. In the fourth month of Zhonghe year one, Weibo forces attacked Heyang, routed Shuang at Xiuwu, and drove him from the city. Jian left a senior general to hold Heyang. He then marched against Cao Quanzhen in Yanzhou. In the tenth month men of Mengzhou lured Shuang back; he led a thousand troops from the Jin-Shang route and reoccupied Heyang. He feasted the Weibo troops, then sent Zhao Wenwan to lead them home. In the eleventh month Zhuge Shuang attacked Xinxing. Han Jian marched from Yanzhou to oppose him and camped northwest of Huojia. Jian meant to march the Weibo army west toward the capital to destroy Huang Chao's remnants and had begun to dream of kingship; his officers pleaded with him repeatedly, but he would not listen. The deputy commander Le Yanfzhen played on the troops' wavering loyalty until the elite guard deserted for Weizhou. Zhuge Shuang's forces pressed the attack. Han Jian's eighty thousand levies were shattered; the rout was so deadly that the Qing River ran clogged with corpses. The following first month the guard murdered Han Jian, and Zhuge Shuang's command rose sharply in fortune.
21
及巢賊將敗，爽復歸國。 爽雖起群盜，既貴之後，善於為理； 所至法令澄清，人無怨嘆，人士以此多之。 光啟二年，爽卒，帳中將劉經、張言以爽子仲方為孟帥。 俄而蔡賊孫儒率眾攻之，城陷於賊，仲方歸於汴，儒遂據孟州。
As Huang Chao's rebellion collapsed, Shuang submitted to the Tang once more. Though Zhuge Shuang had risen from the outlaw ranks, once he held power he governed well; Wherever he served the law was clear and complaints were rare, which won him praise from the gentry. In Guangqi year two he died; his staff officers Liu Jing and Zhang Yan installed his son Zhongfang as commander of Mengzhou. Soon the rebel Sun Ru besieged the city, took it, and drove Zhongfang back to Bianzhou while Ru seized Mengzhou for himself.
22
=高駢=
Gao Pian
23
高駢，字千里，幽州人。 祖崇文，元和初功臣，封南平王，自有傳。 父承明，神策虞候。 駢，家世仕禁軍，幼而朗拔，好為文，多與儒者遊； 喜言理道。 兩軍中貴，翕然稱重，乃縻之勇爵，累歷神策都虞候。 會黨項羌叛，令率禁兵萬人戍長武城。 時諸將禦羌無功，唯駢伺隙用兵，出無不捷。 懿宗深嘉之。 西蕃寇邊，移鎮秦州，尋授秦州刺史、本州經略使。
Gao Pian, courtesy name Qianli, was a native of Youzhou. His grandfather Gao Chongwen, a founding hero of the Yuanhe reign, was enfeoffed as Prince of Nanping and has a separate biography. His father Gao Chengming had been a chief adjutant of the Shence armies. Pian came from a family of imperial guardsmen; even as a youth he was brilliant, loved letters, and kept company with scholars; and liked to discourse on moral principle. The palace eunuchs admired him and fastened him to a military rank, until he rose through the posts of Shence chief adjutant. When the Tangut and Qiang tribes revolted, he was ordered to lead ten thousand guardsmen to garrison Changwu. Other generals could not check the Qiang, but Pian seized every opening and never marched without victory. Emperor Yizong was deeply impressed. When Tibetans raided the frontier he was transferred to Qinzhou and soon made its prefect and military commissioner.
24
先是，李琢為安南都護，貪於貨賄，虐賦夷獠，人多怨叛； 遂結蠻軍合勢攻安南，陷之。 自是累年亟命將帥，未能收復。 五年，移駢為安南都護。 至則匡合五管之兵，期年之內，招懷溪洞，誅其首惡，一戰而蠻卒遁去，收復交州郡邑。 又以廣州饋運艱澀，駢視其水路，自交至廣，多有巨石梗途，乃購募工徒，作法去之。 由是舟楫無滯，安南儲備不乏，至今賴之。 天子嘉其才，遷檢校工部尚書、鄆州刺史、天平軍節度觀察等使。 治鄆之政，民吏歌之。
Earlier Li Zhuo, as protector-general of Annan, had taken bribes and cruelly taxed the tribal peoples until many rose in revolt; They then united with tribal forces, overran Annan, and took the protectorate. For years the court sent generals after generals but could not recover the territory. In the fifth year Gao Pian was appointed protector-general of Annan. On arrival he assembled forces from all five southern circuits; within a year he won over the hill tribes, executed their ringleaders, routed the rebels in a single battle, and restored Jiaozhou and its dependencies. Because supply convoys from Guangzhou were chronically blocked, he surveyed the water route from Jiaozhi to Guangzhou, hired workers to blast the boulders that choked the channel, and cleared it. Shipping moved freely thereafter, Annan's granaries stayed full, and the route still served the region. The emperor rewarded his ability with acting minister of works, the governorship of Yanzhou, and command of the Tianping circuit. His rule at Yanzhou won praise from officials and commoners alike.
25
南詔蠻寇巂州，渡滬肆掠。 乃以駢為成都尹、劍南西川節度觀察等使。 蜀土散惡，成都比無垣墉，駢乃計每歲完葺之費，甃之以磚甓。 雉堞由是完堅。 傳檄雲南，以兵壓境，講信修好，不敢入寇。 進位檢校尚書右僕射、江陵尹、荊南節度觀察等使。 乾符四年，進位檢校司空、潤州刺史、鎮海軍節度、浙江西道觀察等使，進封燕國公。
When Nanzhao attacked Xizhou and crossed the Lu River to raid unchecked, Pian was made metropolitan governor of Chengdu and military governor of western Sichuan. Sichuan was unstable and Chengdu had barely any walls; he budgeted annual repairs and faced them in brick. The fortifications became solid and complete. He sent dispatches to Yunnan backed by troops on the frontier, negotiated peace, and kept the kingdom from invading again. He was promoted to acting right vice director of the Department of State Affairs, governor of Jiangling, and commissioner of Jingnan. In Qianfu year four he rose to acting grand tutor, took Runzhou and command of the Zhenhai army and Zhexi circuit, and was enfeoffed as Duke of Yan.
26
時草賊王仙芝陷荊襄，宋威率諸道師討逐，其眾離散過江表。 天子以駢前鎮鄆，軍民畏服，仙芝徒黨，鄆人也，故授駢京口節鉞，以招懷之。 尋授諸道兵馬都統、江淮鹽鐵轉運等使。 駢令其將張璘、梁纘分兵討賊，前後累捷，降其首領數十人。 賊南趨嶺表，天子嘉之。 六年冬，進位檢校司徒、楊州大都督府長史、淮南節度副大使知節度事，兵馬都統、鹽鐵轉運使如故。 駢至淮南，繕完城壘，招募軍旅，土客之軍七萬。 乃傳檄征天下兵，威望大振。 朝廷深倚賴之，進位檢校太尉、同平章事。
When the rebel Wang Xianzhi seized Jingxiang, Song Wei drove him south until his followers scattered across the lower Yangtze region. The court knew Pian had ruled Yanzhou to general satisfaction and that many of Xianzhi's followers were Yan natives, so it gave him the seal of command at Jingkou to win them over. He was soon named overall military commander of all circuits and commissioner for Jiang-Huai salt and transport. Pian sent Zhang Lin and Liang Zuan against the rebels; their repeated victories brought several dozen rebel chiefs to surrender. As the rebels fled into Lingnan the emperor praised his service. That winter he was made acting minister mentor, chief administrator of Yangzhou, acting military governor of Huainan, while retaining his command of all forces and salt transport. At Huainan he rebuilt the walls, recruited troops, and raised seventy thousand men. He issued calls for troops from across the empire and his prestige soared. The court leaned heavily upon him and promoted him to acting grand preceptor and chancellor.
27
既而黃巢賊合仙芝殘黨，復陷湖南、浙西州郡，眾號百萬。 巢據廣州，求天平節鉞。 朝廷議欲以南海節鉞授之。 宰相盧攜與駢素善，以駢前在浙西已立討賊之效，今方集諸道之師於淮甸，不宜舍賊，以弱士心。 鄭畋議且宜假賊方鎮以紓難。 二人爭論於朝，以言詞不遜，由是兩罷之。 駢方持兵柄，聞朝議異同，心頗不平之。
Soon Huang Chao united Wang Xianzhi's remnants, retook Hunan and Zhexi, and his forces were said to number a million. Chao held Guangzhou and demanded the Tianping command. The court debated granting him the Nanhai governorship. Chancellor Lu Xie, Pian's ally, argued that Pian had already proven himself against rebels in Zhexi and was now assembling armies on the Huai—abandoning the campaign would crush morale. Zheng Tian urged temporarily granting Chao a frontier post to buy relief. Their quarrel in court grew so heated that both were dismissed. Pian, still holding military authority, took bitter exception to the divided court.
28
廣明元年夏，黃巢之黨自嶺表北趨江淮，由采石渡江。 張璘勒兵天長，欲擊之。 駢怨朝議有不附己者，欲賊縱橫河洛，令朝廷聳振，則從而誅之。 大將畢師鐸曰：「妖賊百萬，所經鎮戍若蹈無人之境。 今朝廷所恃者都統，破賊要害之地，唯江淮為首。 彼眾我寡，若不據津要以擊之，俾北渡長淮，何以扼束？ 中原陷覆必矣！」 駢駭然曰：「君言是也。」 即令出軍。 有愛將呂用之者，以左道媚駢，駢頗用其言。 用之懼師鐸等立功，即奪己權，從容謂駢曰：「相公勛業高矣，妖賊未殄，朝廷已有間言。 賊若蕩平，則威望震主，功居不賞，公安稅駕耶？ 為公良畫，莫若觀釁，自求多福。」 駢深然之，乃止諸將，但握兵保境而已。
In the summer of Guangming year one Huang Chao's followers marched north from Lingnan toward the Huai and crossed at Caishi. Zhang Lin massed his troops at Tianchang to intercept them. Angry that the court had sidelined him, he hoped to let the rebels ravage the north until the throne panicked and summoned him to deliver the killing blow. Bi Shiduo said, "A million rebels are sweeping through garrisons as though no one defended them. The throne's hope is you, Commander-in-Chief—and the Huai region is the decisive ground. They outnumber us; if we do not hold the crossings and strike now, once they cross the Huai how can we stop them? The heartland will fall for certain! Pian started and said, "You are right. He then ordered the army forward. His favorite Lu Yongzhi had won his ear with occult arts, and Pian often heeded him. Yongzhi, fearing Bi Shiduo's glory would eclipse him, told Pian gently, "Your achievements are already towering, the rebels are not yet destroyed, and the court already whispers against you. If you annihilate them, your fame will outshine the throne and unwelcome rewards will follow—will you retire in safety? The wise course is to watch how the crisis unfolds and secure your own advantage. Pian agreed wholeheartedly, halted his generals, and merely held his troops within his borders.
29
其年冬，賊陷河洛。 中使促駢討賊，冠蓋相望。 駢終逗撓不行。 既而兩京覆沒，盧攜死。 駢大閱軍師，欲兼並兩浙，為孫策三分之計。 天子在蜀，亟命出師。 中和二年五月，雉雊於揚州廨舍，占者云：「野鳥入室，軍府將空。」 駢心惡之。 其月，盡出兵於東塘，結壘而處，每日教閱，如赴難之勢。 仍與浙西周寶書，請同入援京師。 寶大喜，即點閱，將赴之，遣人偵之，知其非實。 駢在東塘凡百日，復還廣陵，蓋禳雊雉之異也。
That winter the rebels took the Luoyang region. Imperial envoys pressed him to march; they arrived in an unbroken stream. Pian stalled and never moved. When both capitals fell Lu Xie died as well. He held a grand review and plotted to annex the two Zhe circuits in a scheme modeled on Sun Ce's partition of the realm. The emperor, exiled in Shu, repeatedly ordered him to march. In the fifth month of Zhonghe year two a pheasant crowed in the Yangzhou offices; diviners said, "Wild birds indoors mean the command will be emptied. Pian was deeply unsettled. That same month he moved his entire force to Dongtang, built camps, and drilled daily as though racing to the capital's relief. He wrote to Zhou Bao of western Zhejiang proposing a joint march to save the capital. Zhou Bao rejoiced, mustered his troops to join him, then sent scouts and learned the offer was a sham. After a hundred days at Dongtang he returned to Guangling, performing rites to dispel the omen of the crowing pheasant.
30
僖宗知駢無赴難意，乃以宰臣王鐸為京城四面諸道行營兵馬都統，崔安潛副之，韋昭度領江淮鹽鐵轉運使。 增駢階爵，使務並停。 駢既失兵柄，又落利權，攘袂大詬，累上章論列，語詞不遜。 其末章曰：
Seeing Pian would not rescue the throne, Emperor Xizong named Wang Duo supreme commander around the capital, Cui Anqian as his deputy, and Wei Zhaodu over Jiang-Huai salt and transport. He promoted Pian's titles but stripped him of every commission at once. Stripped of military and fiscal power, Pian raged and sent memorial after memorial in insubordinate language. His final petition read:
31
詔報駢曰：
The throne replied:
32
駢始以兵權，欲臨籓鎮，吞並江南； 一朝失之，威望頓滅，陰謀自阻。 故累表堅論，欲其復故。 明年四月，王鐸與諸道之師敗賊關中，收復京城。 駢聞之，悔恨萬狀。 而部下多叛，計無所出，乃托求神仙，屏絕戎政，軍中可否，取決於呂用之。
Pian had first used his army to dominate neighboring circuits and swallow the south; once that authority vanished his prestige collapsed and his schemes failed. Hence his stubborn memorials demanding restoration of his former powers. The following fourth month Wang Duo and the allied armies defeated the rebels in Guanzhong and retook the capital. Pian was stricken with remorse. With many of his officers in revolt and no plan left, he turned to seeking immortality, abandoned military affairs, and let Lu Yongzhi decide everything in camp.
33
光啟初，僖宗再幸山南。 李襜僭號，偽授駢中書令、諸道兵馬都統、江淮鹽鐵轉運等使。 駢方怨望，而甘於偽署，稱籓納賄，不絕於途； 晏安自得，日以神仙為事。 呂用之又存暨工諸葛殷、張守一有長年之術，駢並署為牙將。 於府第別建道院，院有迎仙樓、延和閣，高八十尺，飾以珠璣金鈿。 侍女數百，皆羽衣霓服，和聲度曲，擬之鈞天。 日與用之、殷、守一三人授道家法箓，談論於其間，賓佐罕見其面。
Early in the Guangqi era Emperor Xizong again fled to Shannan. The usurper Li Zhan gave Pian the bogus titles of Director of the Secretariat, overall military commander, and Huai salt-and-transport commissioner. Still bitter at the Tang court, he gladly accepted the rebel appointments and sent tribute along the road without cease; content in ease, and devoted each day to the pursuit of immortality. Yongzhi also introduced the artisans Zhuge Yin and Zhang Shouyi, reputed masters of longevity arts, and Pian made them all staff generals. He built a Daoist compound in his mansion with an eighty-foot Welcome Immortals tower and Extended Harmony pavilion adorned in pearls and gold. Hundreds of maids in feathered rainbow robes sang harmonized airs meant to rival the music of heaven. Each day he conferred Daoist registers on Yongzhi, Yin, and Shouyi and talked with them behind closed doors; his staff scarcely saw his face.
34
府第有隋煬帝所造門屋數間，俗號中書門，最為宏壯，光啟元年，無故自壞。 明年，淮南饑，蝗自西來，行而不飛，浮水緣城而入府第。 道院竹木，一夕如翦，經像幢節，皆嚙去其首。 撲之不能止。 旬日之內，蝗自食啖而盡。
His mansion held several gatehouses built by Emperor Yang of Sui, popularly known as the Secretariat Gate—the grandest on the estate—which inexplicably collapsed in the first year of Guangqi. The next year famine struck Huainan; locusts marched in from the west without flying, drifted along the moat, and swarmed into his mansion. Overnight the compound's bamboo seemed shorn with shears, and the heads of every sutra image and ritual banner were gnawed off. Beating them down did no good. Within ten days the locusts had devoured one another to the last.
35
其年九月，雨魚。 是月十日夜，大星隕於延和閣前，其聲如雷，火光爍地。 自二年十一月雨雪陰晦，至三年二月不解。 比歲不稔，食物踴貴，道殣相望，饑骸蔽地。 是月，浙西周寶為三軍所逐。 駢喜，以為妖異當之。
That September fish fell from the sky. On the night of the tenth a great star fell before the Extended Harmony pavilion with a thunderous roar and a blaze that lit the ground. From the eleventh month of Guangqi year two through the second month of year three unbroken snow and gloom. Harvests failed year after year, prices soared, corpses lined the roads, and the hungry dead covered the fields. That same month Zhou Bao of western Zhe was ousted by his own army. Pian was pleased, believing these portents had claimed another victim.
36
三月，蔡賊過淮口，駢令畢師鐸出軍禦之。 師鐸與高郵鎮將張神劍、鄭漢璋等，率行營兵反攻揚州。 四月，城陷，師鐸囚駢於道院，召宣州觀察使秦彥為廣陵帥。 既而蔡賊楊行密自壽州率兵三萬，乘虛攻城。 城中米鬥五十千，餓死大半。 駢家屬並在道院，秦彥供給甚薄，薪蒸亦闕。 奴仆徹延和閣闌檻煮革帶食之，互相篡啖。 駢召從事盧涚謂之曰：「予三朝為國，粗立功名。 比擺脫塵埃，自求清凈，非與人世爭利。 一旦至此，神道其何望耶？」 掩涕不能已。
In the third month the Cai rebel Yang Xingmi crossed the Huai ford; Pian sent Bi Shiduo to meet him. Instead Shiduo joined the Gaoyou commander Zhang Shenjian and Zheng Hanzhang and turned his campaign army against Yangzhou. In the fourth month the city fell; Shiduo held Pian in the Daoist compound and installed Qin Yan of Xuanchou as military governor of Guangling. Then Yang Xingmi marched thirty thousand men from Shouzhou and seized the chance to assault the city. Rice in the city sold for fifty thousand cash a picul, and more than half the population starved. Pian's family remained in the compound while Qin Yan grudged them food and fuel alike. Servants stripped the pavilion balustrades to boil leather belts, and some turned cannibal. Pian summoned his aide Lu Cui and said, "I served three reigns and won some distinction. I had only lately sought to shed the world and find peace, not to wrest profit from men. To come to this in a morning—what hope does Heaven leave me?" He wept without end.
37
初，師鐸之入城也，愛將申及謂駢曰：「逆黨人數不多，即日弛於防禁，願奉令公潛出廣陵，依投支郡，以圖雪恥，賊不足平也。 若持疑不決，及旦夕不得在公左右。」 駢怯懼，不能行其謀。 九月，師鐸出城戰敗，慮駢為賊內應，又有尼奉仙，自言通神，謂師鐸曰：「揚府災，當有大人死應之，自此善也。」 秦彥曰：「大人非高令公耶？」 即令師鐸以兵攻道院。 侍者白駢曰：「有賊攻門。」 曰：「此秦彥來。」 整衣候之。 俄而，亂卒升階，曳駢數之曰：「公上負天子恩，下陷揚州民，淮南塗炭，公之罪也。」 駢未暇言，首已墮地矣。
When Shiduo first took the city, his trusted officer Shen Ji urged Pian, "The rebels are few and already lax in their guard—I beg you slip out of Guangling to a neighboring prefecture and plan your revenge; they are no match for you. If you hesitate I may not remain at your side much longer." Pian was too fearful to act. In the ninth month Shiduo was beaten outside the walls and feared Pian might conspire with the enemy; a nun named Fengxian who claimed communion with spirits told him, "Yangzhou's disaster demands a great man's death; after that all will be well." Qin Yan said, "Surely that means Lord Gao?" He immediately ordered Shiduo to storm the compound. An attendant told Pian, "Rebels are at the gate." He said, "That must be Qin Yan." He dressed to receive him. Soon mutineers climbed the steps, seized Pian, and denounced him: "Above you betrayed the Son of Heaven; below you ruined Yangzhou—the Huai region burns because of you." Before he could answer, his head was on the floor.
38
駢既死，左右奴客逾垣而遁，入行密軍。 行密聞之，舉軍縞素，繞城大哭者竟日； 仍焚紙奠酒，信宿不已。 駢與兒侄死於道院，都一坎瘞之，裹之以氈。 行密入城，以駢孫俞為判官，令主喪事。 葬送未行而俞卒，後故吏鄺師虔收葬之。
When Pian was dead his servants scaled the walls and fled to Yang Xingmi's camp. Xingmi draped his army in mourning and wept around the walls all day; burning offerings through two nights without pause. Pian and his kin died in the compound and were heaped in a single pit wrapped in felt. Xingmi took the city, appointed Pian's grandson Yu as secretary, and charged him with the funeral. Yu died before the burial could take place, and a former officer named Kuang Shiqian later laid them to rest.
39
初，師鐸入城，呂用之、張守一出奔楊行密，詐言所居有金。 行密入城，掘其家地下，得銅人，長三尺余，身被桎梏，釘其心，刻「高駢」二字於胸，蓋以魅道厭勝蠱惑其心，以至族滅。
When Shiduo entered the city Yongzhi and Zhang Shouyi fled to Yang Xingmi, claiming their house held gold. Xingmi dug beneath their home and found a three-foot bronze figure in fetters with a nail through the heart and "Gao Pian" carved on its chest—the witchcraft by which Yongzhi had bewitched him to ruin.
40
畢師鐸者，曹州冤朐人。 乾符初，與裏人王仙芝嘯聚為盜，相與陷曹、鄆、荊、襄。 師鐸善騎射，其徒自為「鷂子」。 仙芝死，來降高駢。 初敗黃巢於浙西，皆師鐸、梁纘之效也，頗寵待之。
Bi Shiduo was a native of Yuanqu in Caozhou. Early in the Qianfu era he joined his neighbor Wang Xianzhi in outlawry and together they ravaged Cao, Yun, Jing, and Xiang. Shiduo excelled at horsemanship and archery, and his men called themselves the Sparrowhawks. After Xianzhi's death he surrendered to Gao Pian. Pian's early victories over Huang Chao in Zhexi owed chiefly to Shiduo and Liang Guan, and he favored them generously.
41
駢末年惑於呂用之，舊將俞公楚、姚歸禮皆為用之讒構見殺。 師鐸意不自安，有愛妾復為用之所奪。
In his later years Pian fell under Yongzhi's sway, and veteran officers Yu Gongchu and Yao Guili were slandered to their deaths. Shiduo grew uneasy, and Yongzhi had already taken his favorite concubine.
42
光啟三年三月，蔡賊楊行密逼淮口，駢令師鐸率三百騎戍高郵。 戍將張神劍亦怒用之，兩人謀自安之計。 用之伺知，亟請召還。 師鐸母在廣陵，遣信令師鐸遁去。 或謂師鐸曰：「請殺神劍，並高郵之兵趨府，令公必殺用之為解。」 又曰：「不如投徐州，則身存而家保。」 師鐸曰：「非計也。 呂用之誑惑主帥，塗炭生民，七八年來，鬼怨人怒。 今日之事，安知天不假予誅妖亂而康淮甸耶？」 又曰：「鄭漢璋是我歸順時副使，常切齒於用之，今率精兵在淮口。 聞吾此舉，即樂從也。」 乃趨淮口，與漢璋合，得兵千人。 又相與至高郵，問計於張神劍。 神劍曰：「公見事晚耶？ 用之一妖物耳，前受襄王偽命，作鎮廣州，遲留不行，誌圖淮海節鎮。 令公已奪其魄，彼一旦成事，焉能北面事妖物耶！」 即割臂血為盟，推師鐸為盟主，稱大丞相。 移檄郡縣，以誅用之、守一、殷為名，乃署其卒長唐宏、王朗、駱玄真、倪詳、逯本、趙簡等，分董其卒三千人。
In the third month of Guangqi year three Yang Xingmi threatened the Huai ford, and Pian sent Shiduo with three hundred horsemen to hold Gaoyou. The garrison commander Zhang Shenjian likewise hated Yongzhi, and the two plotted how to save themselves. Yongzhi learned of it and pressed Pian to recall them at once. Shiduo's mother, still in Guangling, sent word urging him to flee. One adviser said, "Kill Shenjian, take the Gaoyou troops to the capital, and the Commander will surely kill Yongzhi to settle this." Another said, "Better flee to Xuzhou and save yourself and your kin." Shiduo replied, "Neither plan will do. Yongzhi has bewitched the Commander and ruined the people for seven or eight years—ghosts and men alike demand his blood. Who knows whether Heaven has not lent me this day to slay the demon and restore peace to the Huai?" He added, "Zheng Hanzhang was my lieutenant when I surrendered and has long hated Yongzhi; he now commands crack troops at the Huai ford. He will join me gladly when he hears what I intend." He marched to the Huai ford, joined Hanzhang, and raised a thousand men. They went together to Gaoyou to consult Zhang Shenjian. Shenjian said, "Are you only seeing this now, my lord? Yongzhi is a mere sorcerer who once took a bogus post from the Prince of Xiang, stalled at Guangzhou, and aimed at ruling the Huai circuit. You have already broken his spell—once you succeed, how could you bow to such a creature!" They drew blood from their arms and swore allegiance, naming Shiduo covenant leader and Grand Chancellor. They issued proclamations across the prefectures in the name of executing Yongzhi, Shouyi, and Yin, and appointed squad leaders Tang Hong, Wang Lang, Luo Xuanzhen, Ni Xiang, Lu Ben, Zhao Jian, and others to command their three thousand men.
43
四月，趨廣陵，營於大明寺，揚州大駭。 呂用之分兵城守，高駢登延和閣，聞鼓噪聲怪之。 用之曰：「師鐸兵士回戈，止遏不得，適已隨宜處置，公幸勿憂。 茍不聽，徒勞玄女一符耳。」 師鐸陳兵數日，用之屢出戰，師鐸憂其不克，求救於宣州秦彥曰：「茍得廣陵，則迎公為帥。」 彥令牙將秦稠，率兵三千助之。 師鐸門客畢慕顏自城中出，曰：「人心已離，破之必矣！」 秦稠軍至，兵威漸振。 駢聞甚憂，謂用之曰：「吾以心腹仗爾，不能駕馭此輩，誤我何多？ 百姓遭罹饑饉，不可虐用。 吾自枉手劄喻師鐸，可令大將一人自行。」 用之即以其黨許戡送駢書。 師鐸怒曰：「梁纘、韓問何在？ 令爾來耶！」 即斬之。 用之選勁兵自衛。 一日至道院，駢叱去之。 乃令猶子傑握牙兵，令師鐸母作書，遣大將古鍔與師鐸子出城喻之。 師鐸令子還，白曰：「不敢負令公恩德，正為淮南除弊。 但斬用之、守一，即日退還高郵。」 秦稠攻西南隅，城中應之，即日城陷。 呂用之由參佐門遁走。 駢聞師鐸至，改服俟之，與師鐸交拜，如賓主之儀。 即日署為節度副使，漢璋、神劍皆署職事。
In the fourth month they marched on Guangling and camped at Daming Temple, throwing Yangzhou into panic. Yongzhi deployed the garrison while Pian climbed the Extended Harmony pavilion and wondered at the uproar below. Yongzhi said, "Shiduo's men have turned their weapons and I could not stop them—I have already handled it as best I could; do not trouble yourself, my lord. If you refuse to listen, even the Dark Maiden's talisman will be wasted." Shiduo besieged the city for days while Yongzhi sallied repeatedly; fearing failure, Shiduo begged Qin Yan of Xuanchou, "If I take Guangling I will install you as governor." Yan sent his officer Qin Chou with three thousand men to help. Shiduo's client Bi Muyan slipped out of the city and said, "The people's hearts are gone—you will break it for certain!" When Chou's troops arrived the army's morale rose. Pian was deeply worried and told Yongzhi, "I trusted you as my own heart—yet you cannot control these men; how you have misled me! The people are starving—you must not abuse them. I will write to Shiduo myself; send a senior officer to deliver it." Yongzhi sent his henchman Xu Kan with the letter. Shiduo raged, "Where are Liang Guan and Han Wen? Did he send you?" He had Kan beheaded on the spot. Yongzhi kept his strongest troops for his own guard. One day he entered the compound and Pian drove him out. He put his nephew Jie in command of the guard, had Shiduo's mother write a letter, and sent the general Gu E with Shiduo's son to reason with him outside the walls. Shiduo sent his son back with the message, "I do not forget the Commander's kindness—I act only to purge Huainan's evils. Kill Yongzhi and Shouyi and I will withdraw to Gaoyou the same day." Chou struck the southwest wall, insiders opened the gates, and the city fell that day. Yongzhi fled through the aides' gate. Hearing Shiduo had come, Pian dressed to receive him and they bowed to each other as host and guest. That day he named Shiduo deputy military governor and gave Hanzhang and Shenjian offices.
44
秦稠點閱府庫，監守之，仍密召彥於宣州。 或謂師鐸曰：「公昨舉兵誅二妖物，故人情樂從。 今軍府已安，以事理論之，公宜還政高公，自典兵馬，戎權在手，取舍自由，籓鄰聞之，不失大義。 議者皆言秦稠破城之日，已召秦彥。 彥若為帥，兵權非足下有也。 公感其援，但以金玉報之，阻其渡江，最為上策。 若秦彥作帥，則楊行密朝聞夕至。 如高令復帥，外寇必自卷懷。」 師鐸猶豫未決，而秦彥軍至。
Chou inventoried the treasury under guard and secretly summoned Yan from Xuanchou. Someone told Shiduo, "You raised the army to kill the sorcerers and the people followed gladly. Now the government is secure; by rights you should restore power to Lord Gao and keep command of the troops yourself—neighboring circuits would call that honorable. Many said Chou had already summoned Yan on the day the city fell. If Yan becomes governor you will hold no military power. Repay his aid with gold and jade and keep him from crossing the river—that is the best course. If Yan takes command Yang Xingmi will be upon you by nightfall. If Lord Gao rules again the outside enemy will withdraw on his own." Shiduo still wavered when Yan's army arrived.
45
五月，彥為節度使，署師鐸為行軍司馬，移居牙外，心頗不悅。 是月，楊行密引軍攻揚州，彥兵拒戰繼敗。 八月，師鐸與鄭漢璋出軍萬人擊行密，皆大敗而還，自是不復出。 九月，師鐸殺高駢。 十月，秦彥、師鐸突圍而遁。 十一月，秦彥、師鐸引蔡賊孫儒之兵三萬圍揚州。 行密求救於汴，硃全忠遣大將李璠率師淮口，以為聲援。 孫儒以廣陵未下，而汴卒來，又慮秦彥、師鐸異志。 四年正月，孫儒斬秦彥、師鐸於高郵之南，鄭漢璋亦死焉。 附秦彥秦彥者，徐州人，本名立。 為卒，隸徐軍。 乾符中，坐盜繫獄，將死，夢人謂之曰：「爾可隨我。」 及寤，械破，乃得逸去，因改名彥。 乃聚徒百人，殺下邳令，取其資裝入黃巢軍。 巢兵敗於淮南，乃與許勍俱降高駢，累奏授和州刺史。 中和二年，宣歙觀察使竇潏病，彥以兵襲取之。 遂代潏為觀察使，朝廷因而命之。
In the fifth month Qin Yan took the post of military commissioner. He named Bi Shiduo campaigning marshal but quartered him outside the yamen—a slight Shiduo deeply resented. That same month Yang Xingmi marched on Yangzhou. Qin Yan's forces fought him off repeatedly and lost every engagement. In the eighth month Bi Shiduo and Zheng Hanzhang led ten thousand men against Yang Xingmi and were routed. After that they never sallied from the city again. In the ninth month Bi Shiduo killed Gao Pian. In the tenth month Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo burst through the siege lines and escaped. In the eleventh month they summoned Sun Ru—thirty thousand men from the Cai rebels—to join them in besieging Yangzhou. Yang Xingmi appealed to Bianliang. Zhu Quanzhong dispatched his general Li Fan with an army to the Huai Estuary as a show of force. Sun Ru still could not take Guangling, saw Bian troops arriving, and began to fear that Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo might turn against him. In the first month of the fourth year Sun Ru executed Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo south of Gaoyou. Zheng Hanzhang perished in the same purge. [Supplement:] Qin Yan was a native of Xuzhou; his birth name was Li. He enlisted as a common soldier in the Xu garrison. During the Qianfu reign he was jailed for theft and condemned to die. In a dream a voice told him, Come with me. When he woke, his shackles had split apart. He fled, and from then on called himself Yan. He rallied a hundred followers, slew the magistrate of Xiapi, seized his supplies, and joined Huang Chao's horde. After the rebel defeat in Huainan he surrendered to Gao Pian with Xu Zhou and was eventually memorialized into office as prefect of He Prefecture. In the second year of Zhonghe, when Dou Yu, observation commissioner of Xuanshe, fell ill, Yan seized the command by force. He supplanted Dou Yu as observation commissioner, and the court ratified his seizure.
46
光啟三年，揚州牙將畢師鐸囚其帥高駢，懼外寇來侵，乃迎彥為帥。 彥召池州刺史趙锽知宣州事，自率眾入揚州。 師鐸推彥為帥。
In the third year of Guangqi, Bi Shiduo, a Yangzhou garrison officer, imprisoned his commander Gao Pian. Fearing outside attack, he invited Qin Yan to take command. Yan appointed Zhao Hui, prefect of Chizhou, to govern Xuanzhou and marched his main force into Yangzhou. Bi Shiduo had Yan proclaimed commander.
47
五月，壽州刺史楊行密率兵攻彥，遣其將張神劍令統兵屯灣頭山光寺。 行密屯大雲寺，北跨長崗，前臨大道，自楊子江北至槐家橋，柵壘相聯。 秦彥登城望之，懼形於色。 令秦稠、師鐸率勁卒八千出鬥，為行密所掩，盡沒。 稠死之。 彥急求援於蘇州刺史張雄。 雄率兵赴之，屯於東塘。 重圍半年，城中芻糧並盡，草根木實、市肆藥物、皮囊革帶，食之亦盡。 外軍掠人而賣，人五十千。 死者十六七，縱存者鬼形鳥面，氣息奄然。 張雄多軍糧，相約交市。 城中以寶貝市米，金一斤，通犀帶一，得米五升。 雄軍得貨，不戰而去。 九月，畢師鐸出戰，又敗。 自是日與秦彥相對嗟惋。 問神尼奉仙何以獲濟，尼曰：「走為上計也。」 十月，彥與師鐸突圍投孫儒，並為所殺。
In the fifth month Yang Xingmi, prefect of Shouzhou, attacked Qin Yan. He posted his general Zhang Shenjian at the Guang Temple on Mount Wanto. Yang Xingmi made his camp at the Dayun Temple, anchoring his line along the long ridge north of the city and facing the main road. From the north bank of the Yangzi to Huaijia Bridge his fortifications ran unbroken. Qin Yan climbed the wall to look out and could not hide his terror. He sent Qin Chou and Bi Shiduo out with eight thousand elite troops; Yang Xingmi ambushed them and wiped out the sortie. Qin Chou fell in the fight. Qin Yan desperately appealed to Zhang Xiong, prefect of Suzhou. Zhang Xiong marched to his relief and encamped at Dongtang. After six months under siege the city had no fodder or grain left. People ate grass roots, tree fruit, apothecary stock, even leather pouches and belts until nothing remained. The besiegers kidnapped civilians and sold them—fifty thousand cash for a life. Six or seven in ten were dead. Survivors were wasted to ghostly frames and hawk faces, barely breathing. Zhang Xiong held ample military grain, and the two sides arranged to trade. Inside the walls treasure bought rice: one pound of gold or a rhinoceros-horn belt fetched five pints. Zhang Xiong's men took their payment and marched away without a battle. In the ninth month Bi Shiduo sallied forth and lost again. From then on he and Qin Yan spent their days together in mutual lament. They asked the nun Fengxian how they might be saved. She said, Running away is your best chance. In the tenth month Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo broke out and fled to Sun Ru—and he killed them both.
48
江淮之間，廣陵大鎮，富甲天下。 自師鐸、秦彥之後，孫儒、行密繼踵相攻，四五年間，連兵不息，廬舍焚蕩，民戶喪亡，廣陵之雄富掃地矣！
Between the Yangtze and the Huai, Guangling was a great metropolis, wealthiest in the empire. After Bi Shiduo and Qin Yan came Sun Ru and Yang Xingmi, each in turn laying siege to the city. For four or five years war never stopped. Houses burned, families vanished, and Guangling's grandeur was utterly erased.
49
=時溥=
Shi Pu
50
時溥，彭城人，徐之牙將。 黃巢據長安，詔征天下兵進討。 中和二年，武寧軍節度使支詳遣溥與副將陳璠率師五千赴難。 行至河陰，軍亂，剽河陰縣回。 溥招合撫諭，其眾復集，懼罪，屯於境上。 詳遣人迎犒，悉恕之，溥乃移軍向徐州。 既入，軍人大呼，推溥為留後，送詳於大彭館。 溥大出資裝，遣陳璠援詳歸京。 詳宿七里亭，其夜為璠所殺，舉家屠害。 溥以璠為宿州刺史，竟以違命殺詳。 溥誅璠，又令別將帥軍三千赴難京師。 天子還宮，授之節鉞。
Shi Pu was a native of Pengcheng and a garrison officer of the Xu command. When Huang Chao held Chang'an, the throne ordered armies from across the empire to march against him. In the second year of Zhonghe, Zhi Xiang, military commissioner of Wuning, sent Shi Pu and his deputy Chen Fan with five thousand men to answer the imperial call. At Heyin the column mutinied, looted the county, and turned back. Shi Pu rallied and reassured them until the force re-formed. Still fearing court punishment, they halted on the border of Xu territory. Zhi Xiang sent envoys with gifts and pardon. Shi Pu then marched on Xuzhou. Once inside the city the troops acclaimed him acting commander and lodged Zhi Xiang at the Dapeng guesthouse. Shi Pu lavished gifts upon him and sent Chen Fan to escort Zhi Xiang back to the capital. Zhi Xiang stopped at Qili Pavilion. That night Chen Fan murdered him and slaughtered his entire family. Shi Pu named Chen Fan prefect of Su Prefecture—even though Fan had murdered Zhi Xiang in open defiance of his commander. Shi Pu then executed Chen Fan and sent another officer with three thousand men to aid the capital. When the emperor returned to the palace, the court invested him with the command seal and staff.
51
及黃巢攻陳州，秦宗權據蔡州，與賊連結。 徐、蔡相近，溥出師討之。 軍鋒益盛，每戰屢捷。 黃巢之敗也，其將尚讓以數千人降溥，後林言又斬黃巢首歸徐州，時溥功居第一，詔授檢校太尉、中書令、鉅鹿郡王。 宗權未平，仍授溥徐州行營兵馬都統。
When Huang Chao besieged Chenzhou, Qin Zongquan held Caizhou and allied with the rebels. Xu and Cai lay side by side, so Shi Pu marched out against him. His army grew ever stronger and won battle after battle. After Huang Chao's fall his general Shang Rang surrendered to Shi Pu with several thousand men. Later Lin Yan sent Huang Chao's head to Xuzhou. The court ranked Shi Pu's merit first and made him acting Grand Preceptor, Grand Councilor, and Prince of Julu. With Zongquan still undefeated, the court also named him overall commander of the Xu field armies.
52
蔡賊平，朱全忠與之爭功，遂相嫌怨。 淮南亂，朝廷以全忠遙領淮南節度，以平孫儒、行密之亂。 汴人應援，路出徐方，溥阻之。 全忠怒，出師攻徐。 自光啟至大順六七年間，汴軍四集，徐、泗三郡，民無耕稼，頻歲水災，人喪十六七。 溥窘蹙，求和於汴。 全忠曰：「移鎮則可。」 然之。 朝廷以尚書劉崇望代溥，以溥為太子太師。 溥懼出城見害，不受代。 汴將龐師古陳兵於野，溥求援於兗州。 朱瑾出兵救之，值大雪，糧盡而還。 城中守陴者饑甚，加之病疫。 汴將王重師、牛存節夜乘梯而入，溥與妻子登樓自焚而卒，景福二年四月也。 地入於汴。
Once the Cai rebels were crushed, Zhu Quanzhong quarreled with him over credit, and the two came to hate each other. When Huainan fell into chaos the court gave Zhu Quanzhong the Huainan commission in absentia to suppress Sun Ru and Yang Xingmi. Bian troops marched to help, but their route crossed Xu lands—and Shi Pu barred the way. Zhu Quanzhong flew into a rage and marched on Xu. For six or seven years from Guangqi through Dazhun the Bian armies invaded again and again. Across Xu and the two Si prefectures farming ceased, floods came year after year, and six or seven in ten of the people perished. Hard pressed, Shi Pu sued for peace with Bian. Zhu Quanzhong said, You may have peace if you surrender your command. Shi Pu agreed. The court sent Minister Liu Chongwang to replace him and named Shi Pu Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. Fearing murder if he left the city, Shi Pu refused to step down. The Bian general Pang Shigu drew up his army in the field while Shi Pu appealed to Yanzhou for help. Zhu Jin marched to his relief, but blizzards exhausted their supplies and forced them back. The defenders on the walls were starving, and plague swept the city. By night the Bian generals Wang Chongshi and Niu Cunjie scaled the walls on ladders. Shi Pu climbed a tower with his wife and children and burned himself to death in the fourth month of the second year of Jingfu. Xu passed into Bian hands.
53
=朱瑄=
Zhu Xuan
54
朱瑄，宋州人。 父慶，盜鹽抵法。 瑄逃於青州，為王敬武牙卒。 中和初，黃巢據長安，詔征天下兵。 敬武遣牙將曹全晸率兵三千赴難關西，以瑄為軍候。 會青州警急，敬武召全晸還，路由鄆州。 時鄆帥薛崇為草賊王仙芝所殺，鄆將崔君裕權知州事。 全晸知其兵寡，襲殺君裕，據有鄆州，自稱留後。 以瑄有功，署為濮州刺史，留將牙軍。
Zhu Xuan was a native of Songzhou. His father Qing was convicted for salt smuggling. Xuan fled to Qingzhou and enlisted as a garrison soldier under Wang Jingwu. Early in the Zhonghe reign Huang Chao held Chang'an and the throne called up armies from across the empire. Jingwu sent his officer Cao Quanzhen west with three thousand men and made Xuan his army adjutant. When Qingzhou itself came under threat Jingwu recalled Quanzhen, and the column marched back through Yan Prefecture. The Yan commander Xue Chong had been killed by the rebel Wang Xianzhi, and the Yan officer Cui Junyu was acting prefect. Seeing how few defenders Yan had, Quanzhen ambushed and killed Cui Junyu, seized Yanzhou, and proclaimed himself acting commander. For his service Quanzhen made Xuan prefect of Pu and left him in command of the garrison.
55
光啟初，魏博韓簡欲兼並曹鄆，以兵濟河收鄆。 全晸出兵逆戰，為魏軍所敗，全晸死之。 瑄收合殘卒，保州城。 韓簡攻圍半年，不能拔。 會魏軍亂，退去。 朝廷嘉之，授以節鉞。
Early in Guangqi Han Jian of Weibo tried to swallow Cao and Yan and crossed the Yellow River to seize Yan. Quanzhen marched out to meet him, was routed by the Wei army, and fell in battle. Xuan rallied the survivors and held the walled city. Han Jian besieged it for half a year without success. When the Wei troops mutinied they withdrew. The court commended his defense and invested him with the command seal and staff.
56
時瑄有眾三萬。 其弟瑾，勇冠三軍，有爭天下之心。 秦宗權之盛也，屢侵鄭、汴。 朱全忠為賊所攻，甚窘，求救於瑄。 瑄令硃瑾出師援之。 擊敗秦宗權，全忠乃與瑄情極隆厚。
By then Xuan commanded thirty thousand men. His younger brother Zhu Jin was the bravest man in the army and dreamed of seizing the realm. At the height of Qin Zongquan's power he raided Zheng and Bian again and again. Zhu Quanzhong, hard pressed by the rebels, begged Xuan for help. Xuan sent Zhu Jin to his relief. Jin routed Qin Zongquan, and Zhu Quanzhong grew closer to Xuan than ever.
57
全忠狡譎翻覆，虎視籓鄰。 會宗權誅，乃急攻徐州。 時溥求援於瑄，瑄與全忠書，請釋溥修好，偽許之。 瑄以恩及全忠，遣使讓之，又令硃瑾出軍援溥。 及徐、泗平，全忠乃移兵攻鄆。 三四年間，每春秋入其境剽掠，人不得耕織，民為俘者十五六，瑄禦備殫竭。 景福末，與弟瑾合兩鎮之兵，與汴人大戰於魚山下，瑄、瑾俱敗，兵士陷沒。 汴將朱友裕以長塹圍之。 乾寧四年正月，城中食竭，瑄與妻榮氏出奔，至中都，為野人所害，傳首汴州。 榮氏至汴州為尼。 瑄母弟瑾朱瑾，瑄之母弟，驍果善戰。 初，乾符末，朝廷以將軍齊克讓為兗州節度。 瑾將襲取之，乃求婚於克讓。 及親迎，瑾選勇士衛從，禮會之夜竊發，逐克讓，遂據城稱留後。 朝廷不獲已，以節鉞授之。 及朱瑄平，汴人移兵攻兗，經年食盡，瑾出城求食。 比還，為別將所拒，不得入。 乃渡淮依楊行密。 行密寵待之，用為壽州刺史，大敗汴軍於清口，自此全忠不敢以兵渡淮。 瑾，楊溥時謀亂，為徐知訓所殺。
But Quanzhong was treacherous and fickle, eyeing neighboring circuits like prey. Once Zongquan was dead he turned at once to besiege Xuzhou. Shi Pu appealed to Xuan, who wrote Zhu Quanzhong urging him to spare Pu and make peace. Quanzhong pretended to agree. Reminding Quanzhong of past favors, Xuan sent envoys to rebuke him and again dispatched Zhu Jin to aid Shi Pu. After Xu and Si fell he turned his armies on Yan. For three or four years his men raided Yan every spring and autumn. Farming and weaving ceased, six or seven in ten of the people were carried off as captives, and Xuan's defenses were worn to nothing. Late in Jingfu he and his brother Jin united two circuits' forces and met the Bian army at Mount Yu; both brothers were crushed and their troops destroyed. Zhu Youyu of Bian penned them in behind a long trench. In the first month of Qianning year four, with the city starving, Xuan fled with Lady Rong; at Zhongdu villagers killed him and sent his head to Bian. Lady Rong reached Bian and took the veil. Zhu Jin, Xuan's younger brother by the same mother, was a daring and formidable fighter. Late in Qianfu the court appointed General Qi Kerang military commissioner of Yanzhou. Jin planned a surprise takeover and asked for Kerang's daughter in marriage. At the wedding he brought picked warriors; that night he rose in secret, expelled Kerang, seized the city, and proclaimed himself acting commissioner. The court could do nothing but confirm his commission. After Xuan fell, Bian turned on Yanzhou; a year later supplies ran out and Jin left the city to forage. When he returned, another officer refused him entry. He crossed the Huai and joined Yang Xingmi. Xingmi favored him, made him prefect of Shou, and at Qingkou crushed the Bian army so thoroughly that Quanzhong never again dared cross the Huai in force. Under Yang Pu, Jin plotted rebellion and was killed by Xu Zhixun.
58
=史臣曰=
The Historiographer's Comment
59
史臣曰：疾風知勁草，世亂見忠臣，誠哉是言也！ 土運中微，賊巢僭越，籓伯勤王，赴難者，率有聲而無實。 唯重榮斬賊使於近關，處存舉義師於安喜，橫身泣赴，不顧禍患，遂得義徒雲合，逆黨勢窮。 宜乎服冕乘軒，傳家胙土。 而重榮傷於峻法，嚴而少恩，禍發輿臺，誠悲枉橫。 高駢起家禁旅，頗立功名，玩寇崇妖，致茲狼籍。 後來勛德，可誡前軍。 瑄、溥不以善取，固宜兇終。 瑾持此狼心，安逃虎口？ 王綱之紊，群盜及茲，復何言哉！
The historiographer writes: Only a storm shows which grass stands firm; only turmoil shows who is truly loyal—how true that old saying is! The dynasty's mandate was failing; Huang Chao seized power; lords claimed to rescue the throne, yet most who marched to the crisis were all talk and no deed. Only Chongrong executed rebel envoys at the frontier and Chucun raised loyal troops at Anxi, weeping as they threw themselves into danger; righteous men flocked to them and the rebels were driven to ruin. They deserved their honors and the fiefs their sons inherited. Yet Chongrong's harsh justice—strict and unforgiving—brought disaster from his own ranks; his wrongful death is pitiable indeed. Gao Pian rose from the palace armies with real achievements, yet he dallied with rebels and courted sorcerers until everything lay in ruins. Later examples of merit and failure alike should warn those who follow. Xuan and Pu seized power by violence; violent ends were only to be expected. With a heart like a wolf's, how could Jin hope to escape the tiger's jaws? When the bonds of kingship unravel and robbers swarm the realm, what more can be said!
60
=贊=
Eulogy
61
贊曰：王者撫運，居安慮危。 不以德處，即為盜窺。 乾坤蕩覆，生聚流離。 讀駢章疏，可為涕洟！
The eulogy reads: A ruler who holds the mandate must, even in peace, reckon with danger. Without virtue in office, bandits already watch and wait. Heaven and earth were overturned; families were torn apart and driven into exile. To read Pian's memorials is to weep until the tears run dry!