1
文學上○蕭韓家奴李澣
Literature 1 ○ Xiao Hanjianu · Li Han
2
遼起松漠，太祖以兵經略方內，禮文之事固所未遑。 及太宗入汴，取晉圖書、禮器而北，然後制度漸以修舉。 至景、聖間，則科目聿興，士有由下僚擢升侍從，骎驍崇儒之美。 但其風氣剛勁，三面鄰敵，歲時以蒐浯為務，而典章文物，視古猶闕。 然二百年之業，非數君子為之綜理，則後世惡所考述哉？ 作《文學傳》。
The Liao state rose from the Songmo region. Emperor Taizu conquered the empire by force of arms, and court ritual and letters were naturally left for later. After Emperor Taizong entered Bianjing and carried the Jin libraries and ritual vessels north, institutions were gradually restored. Under Emperors Jingzong and Shengzong the civil-service examinations revived, and men rose from low office into the imperial entourage—a swift flowering of Confucian cultivation at court. Yet the realm's spirit remained martial and hard-edged. Enemies pressed on three fronts, and the seasons were given over to hunts and maneuvers; canonical law and cultural patrimony still lagged far behind the ancient model. Still, two centuries of statecraft would have left later ages nothing to study had not a handful of scholars gathered and ordered the record. Hence this "Biographies of Literature."
3
蕭韓家奴，字休堅，涅剌部人，中書令安摶之孫。 少好學，弱冠入南山讀書，博覽經史，通遼、漢文字。 統和十四年始仕。 家有一牛，不任驅策，其奴得善價鬻之。 韓家奴曰：「利己誤人，非吾所欲。」 乃歸直取牛。 二十八年，為右通進，典南京栗園。 重熙初，同知三司使事。 四年，遷天成軍節度使，徙彰湣宮使。 帝與語，才之，命為詩友。 嘗從容問曰：「卿居外有異聞乎？」 韓家奴對曰：「臣惟知炒栗：小者熟，則大者必生； 大者熟，則小者必焦。 使大小均熟，始為盡美。 不知其他。」 蓋嘗掌栗園，故托栗以諷諫。 帝大笑。 詔作《四時逸樂賦》，帝稱善。
Xiao Hanjianu, styled Xiujian, came from the Niela tribe and was a grandson of Chief Councillor An Tuo. He loved learning from boyhood. At twenty he went into the Southern Mountains to read, mastered the classics and histories, and was fluent in both Khitan and Chinese writing. He first took office in the fourteenth year of the Tonghe era. The family owned an ox that could not be driven. A servant found a good buyer and sold it. Hanjianu said, "Profiting myself while wronging someone else is not what I want." He returned the money and reclaimed the ox. In year twenty-eight of Tonghe he was made Right Vice Commissioner for Forwarding Memorials and put in charge of the Southern Capital's chestnut orchards. Early in the Chongxi era he became Associate Commissioner of the Three Departments. In year four of Chongxi he was promoted to Military Commissioner of Tiancheng Army, then transferred to Commissioner of Zhangmin Palace. The emperor spoke with him, recognized his talent, and named him a poetry companion. On one relaxed occasion the emperor asked, "In your posts away from court, have you heard anything noteworthy?" Hanjianu answered, "Your servant knows only how to roast chestnuts: if the small ones are done, the large ones must still be raw; if the large ones are done, the small ones will be burnt. Only when large and small are roasted alike is the result truly perfect. I know nothing beyond that." He had once managed the chestnut orchards, and so he used chestnuts as a veiled remonstrance. The emperor laughed aloud. The emperor ordered him to write the "Rhapsody on Leisure through the Four Seasons" and praised the result.
4
時詔天下言治道之要，制問：「徭役不加於舊，征伐亦不常有，年谷既登，帑廩既實，而民重困，豈為吏者慢、為民者惰歟？ 今之徭役何者最重？ 何者尤苦？ 何所蠲省則為便益？ 補役之法何可以復？ 盜賊之害何可以止？」 韓家奴對曰：
An edict then called on the empire to address the essentials of good government. The throne asked: "Corvée has not risen above former levels, campaigns are not constant, harvests are in, and the treasuries are full—yet the people remain deeply afflicted. Are officials negligent and the common folk lazy? Which corvée burden weighs most heavily today? Which is most cruel? What reductions would bring real relief? How can the corvée-replacement system be restored? How can banditry be stopped?" Hanjianu answered:
5
臣伏見比年以來，高麗未賓，阻卜猶強，戰守之備，誠不容已。 乃者選富民防邊，自備糧糗。 道路修阻，動淹歲月； 比至屯所，費已過半； 只牛單轂，鮮有還者。 其無丁之家，倍直傭僦，人憚其勞，半途亡竄，故戍卒之食多不能給。 求假於人，則十倍其息，至有鬻子割田不能償者。 或逋役不歸，在軍物故，則復補以少壯。 其鴨淥江之東，戍役大率如此。 況渤海、女直、高麗合從連衡，不時征討。 富者從軍，貧者偵候。 加之水旱，菽粟不登，民以日困。 蓋勢使之然也。
Your servant has observed that in recent years Goryeo has not submitted, the Zubu remain formidable, and preparations for war and defense cannot in truth be set aside. Lately wealthy households have been drafted to guard the frontier at their own expense. The roads are long and hard, and journeys often take months; by the time they reach the garrison, more than half their supplies are gone; with a lone ox and a single-wheeled cart, few ever come home again. Households without able-bodied men pay double the going rate to hire substitutes. Men dread the labor and desert halfway, so frontier garrisons often go without food. When they borrow, interest runs tenfold; some sell their children or mortgage their fields and still cannot pay the debt. Some flee service and never return. When a soldier dies on campaign, the young and strong are conscripted again to fill the gap. East of the Yalu River, frontier service is largely the same. Moreover Bohai, the Jurchen, and Goryeo form shifting alliances, and expeditions are mounted without cease. The rich go to war; the poor serve as scouts. Floods and droughts follow, grain fails, and the people grow poorer by the day. Circumstance alone drives this outcome.
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方今最重之役，無過西戍。 如無西戍，雖遇凶年，困弊不至於此。 若能徙西戍稍近，則往來不勞，民無深患。 議者謂徙之非便：一則損威名，二則召侵侮，三則棄耕牧之地。 臣謂不然。 阻卜諸部，自來有之。 曩時北至臚朐河，南至邊境，人多散居，無所統壹，惟往來抄掠。 及太祖西征，至於流沙，阻卜望風悉降，西域諸國皆願入貢。 因遷種落，內置三部，以益吾國，不營城邑，不置戍兵，阻卜累世不敢為寇。 統和間，王太妃出師西域，拓土既遠，降附亦眾。 自後一部或叛，鄰部討之，使同力相制，正得馭遠人之道。 及城可敦，開境數千里，西北之民，徭役日增，生業日殫。 警急既不能救，叛服亦復不恒。 空有廣地之名，而無得地之實。 若貪土不已，漸至虛耗，其患有不勝言者。 況邊情不可深信，亦不可頓絕。 得不為益，舍不為損。 國家大敵，惟在南方。 今雖連和，難保他日。 若南方有變，屯戍遼邈，卒難赴援。 我進則敵退，我還則敵來，不可不慮也。 方今太平已久，正可恩結諸部，釋罪而歸地，內徙戍兵以增堡障，外明約束以正疆界。 每部各置酋長，歲修職貢。 叛則討之，服則撫之。 諸部既安，必不生釁。 如是，則臣雖不能保其久而無變，知其必不深入侵掠也。 或云棄地則損威，殊不知殫費竭財，以貪無用之地，使彼小部抗衡大國，萬一有敗，損威豈淺？ 或又云，沃壤不可遽棄。 臣以為土雖沃，民不能久居，一旦敵來，則不免內徙，豈可指為吾土而惜之？
Today no corvée weighs more heavily than service on the western frontier. Without the western garrisons, even in famine years distress would not run so deep. If the western garrisons were shifted somewhat nearer, travel would be less punishing and the people's affliction would ease. Critics say relocation would be unwise: it would diminish prestige, invite attack, and abandon cultivated and pastured lands. Your servant disagrees. The Zubu tribes have always been there. In earlier times they ranged north to the Luchu River and south to the frontier. Their people lived scattered, without unified rule, and raided one another in turn. When Emperor Taizu marched west as far as the shifting sands, the Zubu submitted at the first rumor of his approach, and the states of the Western Regions all offered tribute. Tribes were resettled inward, three divisions were established within our borders to strengthen the state, and no walled towns or garrison troops were needed. For generations the Zubu did not dare raid. During the Tonghe era Queen Dowager Wang campaigned in the Western Regions, extending territory far abroad and winning many submissions. Afterward, when one division rebelled, neighboring divisions were sent to punish it, letting them restrain one another by force—the proper way to govern distant peoples. Once Kedun was fortified and the frontier stretched for thousands of li, northwestern subjects faced rising corvée and shrinking livelihoods day by day. Emergencies could not be met in time, and loyalty and rebellion alike grew unstable. The realm held only the name of vast territory, not the reality of controlling it. If the appetite for land never ends, the state will be drained little by little, and the harm is beyond telling. Frontier loyalties cannot be trusted completely, yet they cannot be cut off all at once. What is kept may not be gain; what is given up may not be loss. The state's gravest foe lies in the south alone. We are at peace now, but tomorrow cannot be guaranteed. If the south erupts in crisis, distant garrisons cannot send relief in time. When we advance, the enemy retreats; when we withdraw, the enemy returns. This cannot be ignored. Peace has lasted long. Now is the time to win the tribes by grace, pardon offenses and return land, shift garrison troops inward to strengthen defenses, and set clear treaties to fix the borders. Each division should have its own chief, with annual tribute. Punish rebellion; comfort submission. Once the tribes are settled, they will not stir trouble. Your servant cannot promise they will never change in the long run, but they will not launch deep raids. Some say abandoning land damages prestige. They do not see that draining the treasury to seize useless ground and letting small tribes defy a great power—should defeat come once, would the loss of prestige be slight? Others say fertile soil cannot be abandoned in haste. Your servant holds that however fertile the soil, people cannot live there long. When enemies come, inhabitants must move inward. How can such land be called ours and cherished?
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夫帑廩雖隨部而有，此特周急部民，一偏之惠，不能均濟天下。 如欲均濟天下，則當知民困之由，而窒其隙。 節盤遊，簡驛傳，薄賦斂，戒奢侈。 期以數年，則困者可蘇，貧者可富矣。 蓋民者國之本，兵者國之衛。 兵不調則曠軍役，調之則損國本。 且諸部皆有補役之法。 昔補役始行，居者行者，類皆富實，故累世從戍，易為更代。 近歲邊虞數起，民多匱乏，既不任役事，隨補隨缺。 茍無上戶，則中戶當之。 曠日彌年，其窮益甚，所以取代為艱也。 非惟補役如此，在邊戍兵亦然。 譬如一抔之土，豈能填尋丈之壑！ 欲為長久之便，莫若使遠戍疲兵還於故鄉，薄其徭役，使人人給足，則補役之道可以復故也。
Treasury granaries exist division by division, but they only relieve emergencies within each division—a partial favor that cannot aid the whole realm. To aid the whole realm, one must know why the people suffer and close the gaps through which distress enters. Moderate royal hunts, simplify courier service, lighten taxes, and restrain luxury. Within a few years the distressed may recover and the poor may grow prosperous. The people are the root of the state; soldiers are its shield. If troops are not levied, armies go unfilled; if they are levied, the state's root is harmed. Every division moreover has its corvée-replacement law. When corvée replacement began, households at home and on campaign were mostly well-off, so families could serve for generations and rotation was easy. In recent years border alarms have multiplied. The people are impoverished, unable to bear service, and replacements fall vacant as soon as they are made. If no wealthy household remains, the middle household must answer the call. Days stretch into years and poverty deepens. That is why rotation has become so hard. Corvée replacement is not alone in this; frontier garrisons are the same. It is like trying to fill a ravine many feet deep with a single handful of earth. For lasting relief, send weary soldiers from distant garrisons home, lighten their corvée, and let every household become self-sufficient. Then corvée replacement can be restored.
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臣又聞，自昔有國家者，不能無盜。 比年以來，群黎雕弊，利於剽竊，良民往往化為凶暴。 甚者殺人無忌，至有亡命山澤，基亂首禍。 所謂民以困窮，皆為盜賊者，誠如聖慮。 今欲芟夷本根，願陛下輕徭省役，使民務農。 衣食既足，安習教化，而重犯法，則民趨禮義，刑罰罕用矣。 臣聞唐太宗問群臣治盜之方，皆曰：「嚴刑峻法。」 太宗笑曰：「寇盜所以滋者，由賦斂無度，民不聊生。 今朕內省嗜欲，外罷遊幸，使海內安靜，則寇盜自止。」 由此觀之，寇盜多寡，皆由衣食豐儉，徭役重輕耳。
Your servant has also heard that no state, from antiquity onward, has ever been without bandits. In recent years the people have been worn down. Plunder pays, and good citizens often turn violent. Some kill without restraint; some flee to mountains and marshes and become the seeds of rebellion. The saying that poverty turns the people into bandits is exactly as Your Majesty has judged. To cut the evil at its root, Your Majesty should lighten corvée and labor and let the people devote themselves to farming. When food and clothing are sufficient, they will accept instruction in peace. If lawbreaking is punished firmly, the people will turn to ritual and righteousness, and punishments will rarely be needed. Your servant has heard that Emperor Taizong of Tang asked his ministers how to stop banditry. All answered, "Severe punishments and stern laws." Taizong smiled and said, "Bandits multiply because taxes know no limit and the people cannot live. If I restrain my desires within and cease excursions without, and let the realm be tranquil, bandits will stop of themselves." From this we see that banditry rises or falls with the plenty or want of food and clothing and the weight or lightness of corvée.
9
今宜徙可敦城於近地，與西南副都部署烏古敵烈、隗烏古等部聲援相接。 罷黑嶺二軍，並開、保州，皆隸東京。 益東北戍軍及南京總管兵。 增修壁壘，候尉相望，繕完樓櫓，浚治城隍，以為邊防。 此方今之急務也，願陛下裁之。
Kedun should now be moved nearer, linking its support with the Southwest Deputy Capital Military Commissioner and the Wugu, Dilie, Kui Wugu, and allied divisions. Disband the two Heiling armies and place Kai and Bao prefectures under the Eastern Capital. Increase the northeastern garrison and the Southern Capital commander's forces. Expand the ramparts, set watch posts within sight of one another, repair towers and parapets, and dredge the moats to form a frontier defense. These are the urgent tasks of the day. I beg Your Majesty to decide.
10
擢翰林都林牙，兼修國史。 仍詔諭之曰：「文章之職，國之光華，非才不用。 以卿文學，為時大儒，是用授卿以翰林之職。 朕之起居，悉以實錄。」 自是日見親信，每入侍，賜坐。 遇勝日，帝與飲酒賦詩，以相酬酢，君臣相得無比。 韓家奴知無不言，雖諧謔不忘規諷。
He was promoted to Chief Academician of the Hanlin Academy and put in charge of compiling the national history. An edict also told him, "The office of letters is the splendor of the state, and talent alone qualifies a man for it. Because of your literary learning you are among the great scholars of the age, and for that reason you are given the Hanlin post. All my daily conduct is to be entered in the Veritable Records." From then on he grew daily in favor. Whenever he attended the emperor he was granted a seat. On pleasant days the emperor drank and wrote poetry with him, exchanging verses in perfect harmony between ruler and minister. Hanjianu spoke his mind on every matter he knew, and even in jest he never forgot to remonstrate.
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韓家奴每見帝獵，未嘗不諫。 會有司奏獵秋山，熊虎傷死數十人，韓家奴書於冊。 帝見，命去之。 韓家奴既出，復書。 他日，帝見之曰：「史筆當如是。」 帝問韓家奴：「我國家創業以來，孰為賢主？」 韓家奴以穆宗對。 帝怪之曰：「穆宗嗜酒，喜怒不常，視人猶草芥，卿何謂賢？」 韓家奴對曰：「穆宗雖暴虐，省徭輕賦，人樂其生。 終穆之世，無罪被戮，未有過今日秋山傷死者。 臣故以穆宗為賢。」 帝默然。
Whenever Hanjianu saw the emperor go hunting, he remonstrated without fail. Once the relevant offices reported a hunt on Autumn Mountain in which bears and tigers killed or wounded several dozen men. Hanjianu entered it in the register. The emperor saw the entry and ordered it struck out. After Hanjianu left the hall, he wrote it in again. Another day the emperor saw it and said, "A historian's brush ought to work like this." The emperor asked Hanjianu, "Since our state was founded, which ruler has been the worthiest?" Hanjianu named Muzong. The emperor was astonished and said, "Muzong was addicted to wine, his moods were erratic, and he treated men like weeds. Why do you call him worthy?" Hanjianu answered, "Muzong was cruel, yet he reduced corvée and lightened taxes, and the people were glad to live. Throughout Muzong's reign no innocent person was executed, and nothing matched today's dead and wounded on Autumn Mountain. For that reason your servant holds Muzong worthy." The emperor said nothing.
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詔與耶律庶成錄遙輦可汗至重熙以來事跡，集為二十卷，進之。 十五年，復詔曰：「古之治天下者，明禮義，正法度。 我朝之興，世有明德，雖中外向化，然禮書未作，無以示後世。 卿可與庶成酌古準今，制為禮典。 事或有疑，與北、南院同議。」 韓家奴既被詔，博考經籍，自天子達於庶人，情文制度可行於世，不繆於古者，撰成三卷，進之。 又詔譯諸書，韓家奴欲帝知古今成敗，譯《通曆》、《貞觀政要》、《五代史》。 時帝以其老，不任朝謁，拜歸德軍節度使。 以善治聞。 帝遣使問勞，韓家奴表謝。 召修國史，卒，年七十二。 有《六義集》十二卷行於世。
He was ordered with Yelu Shucheng to compile events from the Yaolian khans through the Chongxi era into twenty scrolls and present them to the throne. In the fifteenth year another edict said, "Ancient rulers of the realm clarified ritual and righteousness and set law and measure in order. Since our dynasty rose, each generation has shown bright virtue. Though within and without all have submitted, no book of ritual has been written, and we have nothing to show posterity. You and Shucheng should weigh antiquity against the present and draft a ritual canon. Where matters are doubtful, consult the Northern and Southern Courts." Once Hanjianu received the edict, he examined the classics broadly. Whatever in sentiment, text, and institutions from the Son of Heaven down to the common people could be practiced in the world without straying from antiquity he compiled into three scrolls and presented them. He was again ordered to translate books. Wishing the emperor to know success and failure through past and present, Hanjianu translated the Tongli, the Essentials of Government from the Zhenguan Reign, and the History of the Five Dynasties. The emperor, considering him too old for regular court attendance, appointed him Military Commissioner of Guide Army. He became known for governing well. The emperor sent envoys to inquire after him, and Hanjianu submitted a memorial of thanks. He was summoned back to compile the national history and died at seventy-two. His Collected Writings on the Six Principles in twelve scrolls circulated in his day.
13
李澣，初仕晉為中書舍人。 晉亡歸遼，當太宗崩、世宗立，恟渙不定，澣與高勛等十餘人羈留南京。 久之，從歸上京，授翰林學士。 穆宗即位，累遷工部侍郎。 時澣兄濤在汴為翰林學士，密遣人召澣。 澣得書，托求醫南京，易服夜出，欲遁歸汴。 至涿，為僥巡者所得，送之南京，下吏。 澣伺獄吏熟寢，以衣帶自經； 不死，防之愈嚴。 械赴上京，自投潢河中流，為鐵索牽掣，又不死。 及抵上京，帝欲殺之。 時高勛已為樞密使，救止之。 屢言於上曰：「澣本非負恩，以母年八十，急於省覲致罪。 且澣富於文學，方今少有倫比，若留掌詞命，可以增光國體。」 帝怒稍解，仍令禁錮於奉國寺，凡六年，艱苦萬狀。 會上欲建《太宗功德碑》，高勛奏曰：「非李澣無可秉筆者。」 詔從之。 文成以進，上悅，釋囚。 尋加禮部尚書，宣政殿學士，卒。
Li Han first served the Later Jin as Secretariat Drafter. When the Jin fell he entered Liao service. As Emperor Taizong died and Emperor Shizong was enthroned, the realm was unsettled, and Han with Gao Xun and more than ten others were detained at the Southern Capital. After a long while he followed the court back to the Supreme Capital and was made Hanlin Academician. When Muzong took the throne, he rose step by step to Vice Minister of Works. At that time Han's elder brother Tao was Hanlin Academician at Bianjing and secretly sent someone to summon him. Han received the letter, pleaded illness to seek treatment at the Southern Capital, changed clothes, slipped out at night, and tried to flee back to Bianjing. At Zhuo he was seized by patrol scouts, sent to the Southern Capital, and handed over to the magistrates. Han waited until the jailers were fast asleep, then hanged himself with his belt; he did not die, and his guard was tightened further. In fetters he was sent to the Supreme Capital. He threw himself into midstream of the Huang River, was pulled back on iron chains, and still did not die. When he reached the Supreme Capital the emperor wished to kill him. By then Gao Xun was Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs and stopped the execution. He told the throne repeatedly, "Han did not betray your favor. His mother is eighty, and in his urgency to visit her he committed this offense. Moreover Han is rich in literary learning and has few equals today. If he is kept to manage edicts and commands, he can add luster to the state." The emperor's anger eased somewhat, but Han was still confined at Fengguo Temple for six years in every kind of hardship. When the emperor wished to erect the Stele of Emperor Taizong's Merits and Virtues, Gao Xun memorialized, "Apart from Li Han there is no one fit to wield the brush." The edict approved it. When the text was completed and presented, the emperor was pleased and released him. Soon he was made Minister of Rites and Academician of the Xuanzheng Hall, then died.
14
論曰：統和、重熙之間，務修文治，而韓家奴對策，落落累數百言，概可施諸行事，亦遼之晁、賈哉。 李澣雖以詞章見稱，而其進退不足論矣。
The commentary says: Between the Tonghe and Chongxi eras the court devoted itself to civil governance. Hanjianu's policy response, flowing freely for several hundred words, could in general be put into practice. Was he not Liao's Chao Cuo and Jia Yi? Though Li Han was famed for literary composition, his career of advance and retreat is hardly worth discussing.