1
索頭虜姓託跋氏，其先漢將李陵後也。 陵降匈奴，有數百千種，各立名號，索頭亦其一也。
The Suo-head barbarians were of the Tuoba clan and claimed descent from the Han general Li Ling. After Li Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu, the steppe was divided among hundreds of tribes, each with its own name; the Suo-head were one such group.
2
晉初，索頭種有部落數萬家在雲中。 惠帝末，并州刺史東嬴公司馬騰於晉陽為匈奴所圍，[1]索頭單于猗駞遣軍助騰。 懷帝永嘉三年，駞弟盧率部落自雲中入雁門，就并州刺史劉琨求樓煩等五縣，琨不能制，且欲倚盧為援，乃上言：「盧兄駞有救騰之功，舊勳宜錄，請移五縣民於新興，以其地處之。」 琨又表封盧為代郡公。 愍帝初，又進盧為代王，增食常山郡。 其後盧國內大亂，盧死，子又幼弱，部落分散。 盧孫什翼鞬勇壯，眾復附之，號上洛公，北有沙漠，南據陰山，眾數十萬。 其後為苻堅所破，執還長安，後聽北歸。 鞬死，子開字涉珪代立。 [2]
In the early Jin period, the Suo-head had a tribal confederation of tens of thousands of households in Yunzhong. Late in the reign of Emperor Hui, Sima Teng, Duke of Dongying and inspector of Bingzhou, was besieged at Jinyang by the Xiongnu; [1] the Suo-head chanyu Yilu sent an army to relieve him. In the third year of Yongjia (309), Yilu's younger brother Lu led his people from Yunzhong into Yanmen and asked Bingzhou inspector Liu Kun for Loufan and four other counties. Kun could not restrain him but hoped to use him as an ally, so he memorialized the throne: "Lu's brother Yilu once saved Sima Teng; that old service deserves reward. I ask that the inhabitants of these five counties be relocated to Xinxing and that their former lands be granted to Lu's tribe." Liu Kun also petitioned to enfeoff Lu as Duke of Dai. Early in the reign of Emperor Min, Lu was promoted to Prince of Dai, with Changshan Commandery added to his domain. Later civil war broke out in Lu's domain. Lu died, his heir was still a child, and the tribes fell apart. Lu's grandson Shiyijian was a formidable warrior, and the tribes rallied to him again. He took the title Duke of Shangluo, holding the desert in the north and the Yin Mountains in the south, with followers numbering in the hundreds of thousands. He was later defeated by Fu Jian, taken captive to Chang'an, and eventually allowed to return north. After Shiyijian's death, his son Kai, courtesy name Shegui, succeeded to leadership. [2] (End of note.)
3
先是，鮮卑慕容垂僭號中山，晉孝武太元二十一年，垂死，開率十萬騎圍中山。 明年四月，剋之，遂王有中州，自稱曰魏，號年天賜。 元年，治代郡桑乾縣之平城。 立學官，置尚書曹。 開頗有學問，曉天文。 其俗以四月祠天，六月末率大眾至陰山，謂之却霜。 陰山去平城六百里，深遠饒樹木，霜雪未嘗釋，蓋欲以暖氣却寒也。 死則潛埋，無墳壟處所，至於葬送，皆虛設棺柩，立冢槨，生時車馬器用皆燒之以送亡者。 開暴虐好殺，民不堪命。 先是，有神巫誡開當有暴禍，唯誅清河殺萬民，乃可以免。 開乃滅清河一郡，常手自殺人，欲令其數滿萬。 或乘小輦，手自執劍擊檐輦人腦，一人死，一人代，每一行，死者數十。 夜恒變易寢處，人莫得知，唯愛妾名萬人知其處。 萬人與開子清河王私通，慮事覺，欲殺開，令萬人為內應。 夜伺開獨處，殺之。 開臨死，曰：「清河、萬人之言，乃汝等也。」 是歲，安帝義熙五年。 開次子齊王嗣字木末，執清河王，對之號哭，曰：「人生所重者父，云何反逆。」 逼令自殺。 嗣代立，諡開道武皇帝。
Earlier the Xianbei leader Murong Chui had proclaimed himself ruler at Zhongshan. In the twenty-first year of Taixuan (386), Chui died, and Kai led a hundred thousand cavalry to besiege the city. The following year, in the fourth month, he took the city, declared himself king of the Central Plains, called his state Wei, and adopted the era name Tianci (Heaven's Gift). In the first year of his reign he established his capital at Pingcheng in Sanggan County, Dai Commandery. He founded schools and established a secretariat in the Chinese style. Kai was himself well educated and versed in astronomy. By custom they worshipped Heaven in the fourth month, and at the end of the sixth month the whole people went to the Yin Mountains for a rite they called "warding off frost." The Yin Mountains lay six hundred li from Pingcheng, deep in the wilderness and thick with timber, where frost and snow never lifted—apparently they went there to warm themselves against the cold. The dead were buried in secret with no marked grave; funerals were ceremonial only, with empty coffins and memorial mounds erected while horses, chariots, and personal goods were burned to accompany the deceased. Kai was brutal and bloodthirsty, and the people could no longer endure his rule. A shaman had once warned Kai that a violent fate awaited him, and that only by killing the Prince of Qinghe and slaughtering ten thousand commoners could he be spared. Kai then wiped out Qinghe commandery and often killed with his own hands, trying to bring the toll to ten thousand. Sometimes he rode in a small palanquin and personally struck down the bearers with his sword; as each man fell, another took his place, and dozens were killed on a single outing. He changed his sleeping quarters every night so that no one knew where he was—only a favorite concubine named Wanren knew. Wanren was having an affair with Kai's son, the Prince of Qinghe. Fearing exposure, they plotted to kill Kai, with Wanren as their accomplice inside the palace. One night, when Kai was alone, they killed him. With his last breath Kai said, "So it was you—'Qinghe' and 'ten thousand people' meant you all along." It was the fifth year of Yixi (409) under Emperor An. Kai's second son, Prince of Qi Si (courtesy name Mumu), seized the Prince of Qinghe and wept before him: "A man's first duty is to his father—how could you turn traitor?" He forced him to commit suicide. Si succeeded him and posthumously honored Kai as Emperor Daowu.
4
十三年，高祖西伐長安，嗣先娶姚興女，乃遣十萬騎屯結河北以救之，大為高祖所破，事在朱超石等傳。 於是遣使求和，自是使命歲通。 高祖遣殿中將軍沈範、索季孫報使，反命已至河，未濟，嗣聞高祖崩問，追執範等，絕和親。 太祖即位，方遣範等歸。
In the thirteenth year the High Ancestor marched west against Chang'an. Si, who had married a daughter of Yao Xing, sent a hundred thousand cavalry to camp north of the Ji River to relieve him, but was crushingly defeated by the High Ancestor, as told in the biographies of Zhu Chaoshi and others. He then sent envoys to sue for peace, and thereafter diplomatic missions were exchanged annually. The High Ancestor had sent Palace Gentlemen-General Shen Fan and Suo Jisun on a return mission. They had reached the river but not yet crossed when Si heard of the High Ancestor's death, seized them, and broke off the alliance. Only when the Founding Emperor ascended the throne were Fan and his party released.
5
永初三年十月，嗣自率眾至方城，遣鄭兵將軍揚州刺史山陽公達奚斤、吳兵將軍廣州刺史蒼梧公公孫表、尚書滑稽，[3]領步騎二萬餘人，於滑臺西南東燕縣界石濟南渡，輜重弱累自隨。 滑臺戍主、寧遠將軍、東郡太守王景度馳告冠軍將軍、司州刺史毛德祖，戍虎牢，遣司馬翟廣率參軍龐諮、上黨太守劉談之等步騎三千拒之。 軍次卷縣土樓，虜徙營滑臺城東二里，造攻具，日往脅城。 德祖以滑臺戍人少，使翟廣募軍中壯士，遣寧遠將軍劉芳之率領，助景度守。 芳之將八十餘人，突得入城。 德祖又遣討虜將軍、弘農太守竇應明領五百人，建武將軍竇霸領二百五十人，並以水軍相繼發，咸受翟廣節度。
In the tenth month of the third year of Yongchu (422), Si led his army to Fangcheng and sent General of Zheng Troops Daxi Jin, Duke of Shanyang and inspector of Yangzhou; General of Wu Troops Gongsun Biao, Duke of Cangwu and inspector of Guangzhou; and Master of Writing Huaji [3] with more than twenty thousand foot and horse south across the Shiji ford southwest of Huatai in Dongyan County, baggage trains and families in tow. Wang Jingdu, garrison commander of Huatai and administrator of Dong, urgently notified Mao Dezu, General Who Conquers Champions and inspector of Sizhou, at Hulao. Dezu sent Major Zhai Guang with Army Aide Pang Zi, Shangdang administrator Liu Tanzhi, and three thousand troops to oppose them. The Song army halted at the earthen tower in Juan County while the barbarians encamped two li east of Huatai, built siege equipment, and pressed the city daily. Finding the Huatai garrison too thin, Dezu had Zhai Guang recruit strong men from the army and sent General Who Pacifies the Distance Liu Fangzhi to reinforce Jingdu. Fangzhi led a party of eighty-odd men and fought their way into the city. Dezu also sent General Who Punishes the Barbarians Dou Yingming, administrator of Hongnong, with five hundred men, and General Who Establishes Martial Might Dou Ba with two hundred fifty, dispatched in succession by river, all under Zhai Guang's command.
6
初，亡命司馬楚之等常藏竄陳留郡界，虜既南渡，馳相要結，驅扇疆埸，大為民患。 德祖遣長社令王法政率五百人據邵陵，將軍劉憐領二百騎至雍丘以防之。 [4]楚之於白馬縣襲憐，為憐所破。 會臺送軍資至，憐往迎之，而酸棗民王玉知憐南，馳以告虜，虜將滑稽領千乘襲倉垣，兵吏悉踰城散走，陳留太守嚴㥄為虜所獲，[5]虜即用王玉為陳留太守，給兵守倉垣。
The fugitive Sima Chuzhi and his band had long hidden along the Chenliu border. When the barbarians crossed the river, they joined forces and raided the frontier, becoming a serious menace to the populace. Dezu sent Changshe magistrate Wang Fazheng with five hundred men to hold Shaoling and General Liu Lian with two hundred cavalry to Yongqiu to block them. [4] Chuzhi ambushed Lian at Baima County but was beaten off. When court supplies arrived, Lian went to meet the convoy. Wang Yu, a local leader from Suanzao, learned that Lian had moved south and raced to warn the barbarians. General Huaji led a thousand chariots against Cangyuan; the garrison fled over the walls. Chenliu administrator Yan Ling was captured. [5] The barbarians installed Wang Yu as administrator of Chenliu and garrisoned Cangyuan.
7
十一月，虜悉力攻滑臺城，城東北崩壞，王景度出奔，景度司馬陽瓚堅守不動，眾潰，抗節不降，為虜所殺。 竇應明擊虜輜重於石濟，破之，殺賊五百餘人，斬其戍主□連內頭、張索兒等。 應明自石濟赴滑臺，聞城已沒，遂進屯尹卯，竇霸馳就翟廣。 虜既剋滑臺，并力向廣等，力不敵，[6]引退，轉鬭而前，二日一夜，裁行十許里。 虜步軍續至，廣等矢盡力竭，大敗，廣、霸、談之等各單身迸還。
In the eleventh month the barbarians assaulted Huatai in full force. The northeast wall gave way and Wang Jingdu fled, but his major Yang Zan held the breach. When the garrison broke, he refused to surrender and was killed. Dou Yingming struck the barbarian baggage train at Shiji, routing it, killing more than five hundred, and beheading garrison commanders □ Lianneitou, Zhang Suo'er, and others. Yingming marched from Shiji toward Huatai, but learning the city had fallen, he encamped at Yimao while Dou Ba rode to join Zhai Guang. After taking Huatai, the barbarians turned their full strength on Guang's force. Outmatched, [6] they fell back fighting; in two days and a night they covered barely ten li. Barbarian infantry kept coming up. Guang's men ran out of arrows and strength and were routed; Guang, Ba, Tanzhi, and the rest escaped alone.
8
虜乘勝遂至虎牢，德祖出步騎欲擊之，虜退屯土樓，又退還滑臺。 長安、魏昌、藍田三縣民居在虎牢下，德祖皆使入城。 虜別遣黑矟公率三千人至河陽，欲南渡取金墉。 德祖遣振威將軍、河陰令竇晃五百人戍小壘，緱氏令王瑜四百人據監倉，鞏令臣琛五百人固小平，參軍督護張季五百人屯牛蘭，又遣將領馬隊，與洛陽令楊毅合二百騎，緣河上下，隨機赴接。 十二月，虜置守於洛川小壘，德祖遣翟廣馳往擊之，虜退走。 廣安立守防，修治城塢，復還虎牢。 豫州刺史劉粹遣治中高道瑾領步騎五百據項，又遣司馬徐瓊繼之，臺遣將輔伯遣、姚珍、杜坦、梁靈宰等水步諸軍續進。 徐州刺史王仲德率軍次湖陸。 黑矟公遣長史將千人逼竇晃、楊毅，晃等逆擊，禽之，生獲二百人。 其後鄭兵將軍五千騎掩襲晃等，黑矟渡與并力，四面攻壘，晃等力少眾散，晃、毅皆被重創。 虜將安平公鵝青二軍七千人南渡，[7]於碻磝東下，至泗瀆口，去尹卯百許里。 兗州刺史徐琰委軍鎮走，於是泰山諸郡並失守。
The barbarians pursued to Hulao. Dezu sallied with foot and horse to attack, but they pulled back to the earthen tower and then to Huatai. Dezu brought into the city all civilians from Chang'an, Weichang, and Lantian who lived in the shadow of Hulao. A separate barbarian force under the Black Spear Duke, three thousand strong, marched to Heyang intending to cross the river and seize Jinyong. Dezu posted General Who Displays Martial Might Dou Huang, magistrate of Heyin, with five hundred men at the small fort; Gou magistrate Wang Yu with four hundred at the granary; Gong magistrate Chen Chen with five hundred at Xiaoping; Army Aide Zhang Ji with five hundred at Niulan; and two hundred cavalry under Luoyang magistrate Yang Yi to patrol the river and respond as needed. In the twelfth month the barbarians garrisoned the Luochuan fort. Dezu sent Zhai Guang in a rapid strike and drove them off. Guang set up defenses, repaired the walls, and returned to Hulao. Yuzhou inspector Liu Cui sent chief clerk Gao Daojin with five hundred troops to hold Xiang and Major Xu Qiong to reinforce him. The court sent generals Fu Bodao, Yao Zhen, Du Tan, Liang Lingzai, and others with combined river and land forces in support. Xuzhou inspector Wang Zhongde marched his army to Hulu. The Black Spear Duke sent his chief clerk with a thousand men against Dou Huang and Yang Yi. They counterattacked, captured the enemy, and took two hundred prisoners. Later the General of Zheng Troops struck with five thousand cavalry. The Black Spear Duke crossed the river to join him, and they assaulted the fort from all sides. Outnumbered, Huang's force broke; Huang and Yi were both badly wounded. Barbarian generals the Duke of Ping'an and E Qing led seven thousand men across the river [7], marched down the east of Que'ao to the mouth of the Si, and came within a hundred li of Yimao. Yanzhou inspector Xu Yan abandoned his post and fled, and all the Taishan commanderies fell.
9
自虜分軍向洛，德祖每戰輒破之。 嗣自率大眾至鄴。 鄭兵既剋金墉，復還虎牢，德祖於城內穴地，[9]入七丈，二道，出城外，又分作六道，出虜陣後。 募敢死之士四百人，參軍范道基率二百人為前驅，參軍郭王符、劉規等以二百人為後係，出賊圍外，掩襲其後，虜陣擾亂，斬首數百級，焚燒攻具。 虜雖退散，隨復更合。
Whenever the barbarians sent detachments toward Luoyang, Dezu defeated them. Si himself led the main army to Ye. After the Zheng troops took Jinyong they returned to besiege Hulao. Dezu dug tunnels inside the walls [9], seven zhang deep, with two exits beyond the ramparts and six more opening behind the barbarian camp. He recruited four hundred volunteers. Army Aide Fan Daoji led two hundred as the van, Guo Wangfu and Liu Gui two hundred as the rear guard. They broke out behind the enemy, threw the barbarian line into confusion, killed several hundred, and burned their siege equipment. The barbarians fell back but soon regrouped.
10
虜又遣楚兵將軍、徐州刺史、安平公涉歸幡能健、越兵將軍、青州刺史、臨菑侯薛道千、陳兵將軍、淮州刺史、壽張子張模東擊青州，[10]所向城邑皆奔走。 冠軍將軍、青州刺史竺夔鎮東陽城，聞虜將至，斂眾固守。 龍驤將軍、濟南太守垣苗率二府郡文武奔就夔。 夔與將士盟誓，居民不入城者，使移就山阻，燒除禾稼，令虜至無所資。 虜眾向青州，前後濟河凡六萬騎。 三月，三萬騎前追脅。 城內文武一千五百人，而半是羌蠻流雜，人情駭懼。 竺夔夜遣司馬車宗領五百人出城掩擊，虜眾披退。 間二日，虜步騎悉至，繞城四圍，列陣十餘里，至晡退還安水結營，去城二十里，大治攻具，日日分步騎常來逼城。 夔夜使殿中將軍竺宗之、參軍賈元龍等領百人，於楊水口兩岸設伏。 虜將阿伏斤領三百人晨渡水，兩岸伏發，虜騎四迸，殺傷數十人，梟阿伏斤首。 虜又進營水南，去城西北四里。
They also sent General of Chu Troops Shegui Fannengjian, Duke of Ping'an and inspector of Xuzhou; General of Yue Troops Xue Daoqian, Marquis of Linzi and inspector of Qingzhou; and General of Chen Troops Zhang Mo, Viscount of Shouzhang and inspector of Huai, east against Qingzhou. [10] City after city broke and ran. Zhu Kui, General Who Conquers Champions and inspector of Qingzhou, held Dongyang. When he heard the barbarians were coming, he gathered his troops for a stand. General of the Flying Dragon Yuan Miao, administrator of Jinan, brought the officials of both prefectures to Kui's aid. Kui swore his officers to the defense. Civilians who could not enter the city were sent into the hills, and the crops were burned so the barbarians would find nothing when they came. The barbarian host moved on Qingzhou; in all some sixty thousand cavalry crossed the river. In the third month thirty thousand cavalry pressed forward in pursuit. The garrison numbered fifteen hundred, half of them Qiang, barbarians, and displaced peoples of mixed origin, and spirits were low. Kui sent Major Che Zong with five hundred men on a night sortie that drove the barbarians back. Two days later the full barbarian army arrived, encircled the city, and drew up a battle line more than ten li long. At dusk they withdrew to camp on the An River, twenty li away, built siege equipment, and sent daily detachments to harass the walls. That night Kui posted Palace Gentlemen-General Zhu Zongzhi, Army Aide Jia Yuanlong, and a hundred men in ambush on both banks of the Yangshui ford. Barbarian general Afujin crossed at dawn with three hundred men. The ambush struck from both banks; the cavalry scattered, dozens were killed or wounded, and Afujin's head was taken. The barbarians moved their camp south of the river, four li northwest of the city.
11
嗣自鄴遣兵益虎牢，增圍急攻，鄭兵於虎牢率步騎三千，攻潁川太守李元德於許昌，車騎參軍王玄謨領千人，[11]助元德守，與元德俱散敗。 虜即用潁川人庾龍為潁川太守，領騎五百，幷發民丁以戍城。 德祖出軍擊公孫表，大戰，從朝至晡，殺虜數百。 會鄭兵軍從許昌還，合圍，德祖大敗，失甲士千餘人，退還固城。 嗣又於鄴遣萬餘人從白沙口過河，於濮陽城南寒泉築壘。 朝議以：「項城去虜不遠，非輕軍所抗，使劉粹召高道瑾還壽陽。 若沈叔狸已進，[12]亦宜且追。」 粹以虜攻虎牢，未復南向，若便攝軍捨項城，則淮西諸郡，無所憑依。 沈叔狸已頓肥口，又不宜便退。 時李元德率散卒二百人至項，劉粹使助高道瑾戍守，[13]請宥其奔敗之罪，朝議並許之。
From Ye, Si reinforced the siege of Hulao. Zheng troops from Hulao struck Yingchuan administrator Li Yuande at Xuchang with three thousand men. Cavalry Army Aide Wang Xuamo brought a thousand [11] to help defend, but both forces were routed. The barbarians installed a local man, Yu Long, as administrator of Yingchuan, gave him five hundred cavalry, and drafted militia to hold the city. Dezu sallied against Gongsun Biao and fought from dawn to dusk, killing several hundred. But the Zheng army returned from Xuchang and closed the ring. Dezu was badly beaten, lost more than a thousand armored men, and fell back to Gucheng. Si sent another ten thousand men from Ye across at Baisha Ford to build a fort at Hanquan, south of Puyang. Court opinion held: "Xiangcheng is too close to the enemy for a light garrison. Liu Cui should recall Gao Daojin to Shouyang. If Shen Shuli has already marched out, [12] he should be pulled back as well." But Cui argued that with the barbarians still besieging Hulao and not yet moving south, withdrawing from Xiangcheng would leave the Huai west without support. Shen Shuli was already at Feikou and should not be recalled prematurely either. Li Yuande arrived at Xiang with two hundred survivors. Liu Cui attached them to Gao Daojin's garrison [13] and asked that Yuande's defeat be pardoned; the court agreed.
12
檀道濟至彭城，以青、司二州並急，而所領不多，不足分赴，青州道近，竺夔兵弱，先救青州。 竺夔遣人出城作東西南塹，虜於城北三百餘步鑿長圍，夔遣參軍閭茂等領善射五十人，依牆射虜，虜騎數百馳來圍牆，牆內納射，固牆死戰。 虜下馬步進，短兵接，城上弓弩俱發，虜乃披散。 虜遂填外塹，引高樓四所，蝦蟆車二十乘，置長圍內。 夔先鑿城北作三地道，令通外塹，復鑿裏塹，內去城二丈作子塹，遣三百餘人出地道，欲燒虜攻具。 時回風轉爓，火不得燃，虜兵矢橫下，士卒多傷，斂眾還入。 虜填三塹盡平，唯餘子塹，蝦蟆車所不及。 虜以橦攻城，夔募人力，於城上係大磨石堆之，又出於子塹中，用大麻絙張骨骨，攻車近城，從地道中多人力挽令折。 虜復於城南掘長圍，進攻逾急。 夔能持重，垣苗有膽幹，故能堅守移時。 然被攻日久，城轉毀壞，戰士多死傷，餘眾困乏，旦暮且陷，檀道濟、王仲德兼行赴之。
Tan Daoji reached Pengcheng. Qing and Si were both in crisis, but his force was too small to split. Qingzhou was closer and Zhu Kui's garrison weaker, so he marched for Qing first. Kui had trenches dug outside the east, south, and west walls. The barbarians dug a circumvallation three hundred paces north of the city. Kui sent Army Aide Lü Mao with fifty archers to shoot from the wall. Hundreds of barbarian horsemen charged the breastwork; defenders poured arrows through loopholes and fought to the death. The barbarians dismounted and closed in hand to hand. A volley from the walls broke them and they scattered. They filled the outer trench, brought up four siege towers and twenty battering rams, and set them within the circumvallation. Kui had dug three tunnels north of the wall to the outer trench, then an inner trench and a fighting ditch two zhang inside the wall. He sent three hundred men through the tunnels to burn the siege engines. A headwind blew the flames back and the fire would not catch. Barbarian arrows raked the sortie; many were wounded, and the party withdrew. The barbarians filled all three trenches level, leaving only the inner fighting ditch beyond reach of the battering rams. The barbarians brought up battering rams. Kui hung great millstones on ropes along the wall and, from the fighting ditch, rigged heavy hemp cables to snap the rams when they came within reach, men in the tunnels hauling from below. They dug a new circumvallation on the south and pressed the assault harder still. Kui's steadiness and Yuan Miao's courage and resourcefulness kept the city standing through a long siege. The siege dragged on, the walls crumbled, casualties mounted, and the survivors were worn to the brink of collapse when Tan Daoji and Wang Zhongde marched together to their relief.
13
劉粹遣李元德襲許昌，庾龍奔迸，將宋晃追躡，斬龍首。 元德因留綏撫，[14]并上租糧。 虜悅勃大肥率三千餘騎，[15]破高平郡所統高平、方與、任城、金鄉、亢父等五縣，殺略二千餘家，殺其男子，驅虜女弱。 兗州刺史鄭順之戍湖陸，以兵卒不敢出。 冠軍將軍申宣戍彭城，去高平二百餘里，懼虜至，移郭外居民，并諸營署，悉入小城。
Liu Cui dispatched Li Yuande against Xuchang; Yu Long broke and ran, and General Song Huang ran him down and took his head. Yuande stayed behind to pacify the region, [14] and sent up the collected rents and grain. The barbarian commander Yuebo Dafei led over three thousand cavalry, [15] raided the five Gaoping counties—Gaoping, Fangyu, Rencheng, Jinxiang, and Kangfu—sacked more than two thousand households, killed the men, and drove off the women and children. Yanzhou inspector Zheng Shunzhi held Hulu but would not venture out with his troops. Champion General Shen Xuan was at Pengcheng, over two hundred li from Gaoping; fearing a barbarian advance, he moved everyone outside the wall and all camp offices into the inner citadel.
14
嗣又遣并州刺史伊樓拔助鄭兵攻虎牢，填塞兩塹，德祖隨方抗拒，頗殺虜，而將士稍零落。
Si sent Bingzhou inspector Yilou Ba to reinforce Zheng's troops at Hulao; they filled both trenches, and Dezu beat back each assault and killed many barbarians, but his garrison steadily shrank.
15
四月壬申，虜聞道濟將至，焚燒器械，棄青州走。 竺夔上言東陽城被攻毀壞，不可守，移鎮長廣之不其城。 [16]夔以固守功，[17]進號前將軍，封建陵縣男，食邑四百戶。 夔字祖季，東莞人也。 官至金紫光祿大夫。
On renshen day in the fourth month the barbarians learned Tan Daoji was on the march, burned their siege gear, abandoned Qingzhou, and withdrew. Zhu Kui reported that Dongyang had been wrecked in the siege and could not be defended, and shifted his command to Buqi in Changguang. [16] For his stubborn defense, [17] Kui was promoted to General of the Vanguard and enfeoffed as Marquis of Jialing with a fief of four hundred households. Kui, courtesy name Zuji, came from Dongguan. He rose to Grand Master with Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon.
16
嗣率大眾至虎牢，停三日，自督攻城，不能下，回軍向洛陽，留三千人益鄭兵。 停洛數日，渡河北歸。 虜安平公等諸軍從青州退還，逕趨滑臺，檀道濟、王仲德步軍乏糧，追虜不及。 道濟於泰山分遣仲德向尹卯，道濟停軍湖陸。 仲德未至尹卯，聞虜已遠，還就道濟，共裝治水軍。 虜安平公諸軍就滑臺，西就鄭兵，共攻虎牢。 虎牢被圍二百日，[18]無日不戰，德祖勁兵戰死殆盡，而虜增兵轉多。 虜撞外城，德祖於內更築三重，仍舊為四，賊撞三城已毀，德祖唯保一城，[19]晝夜相拒，將士眼皆生創，死者太半。 德祖恩德素結，眾無離心。 德祖昔在北，與虜將公孫表有舊，表有權略，德祖患之，乃與交通音問，密遣人說鄭兵，云表與之連謀，每答表書，[20]輒多所治定。 表以書示鄭兵，鄭兵倍疑之，言於嗣，誅表。 虜眾盛，檀道濟諸救軍並不敢進。 劉粹據項城，沈叔狸屯高橋。
Si brought the main host to Hulao, spent three days directing the assault in person, failed to take the city, marched toward Luoyang, and left three thousand men to reinforce Zheng's troops. After a few days at Luoyang he crossed the Yellow River northward and went home. The barbarian forces under the Peaceful Duke and others pulled back from Qingzhou and made straight for Huatai; Tan Daoji and Wang Zhongde's foot soldiers, short of grain, could not catch them. At Mount Tai, Daoji sent Zhongde toward Yimao while he held the main body at Hulu. Before Zhongde reached Yimao he learned the barbarians were already far away; he rejoined Daoji, and the two began fitting out a river fleet. The Peaceful Duke's barbarian columns reached Huatai, swung west to Zheng's camp, and renewed the assault on Hulao together. Hulao stood under siege for two hundred days, [18] with fighting every single day; Dezu's best troops were nearly wiped out while barbarian numbers kept swelling. The barbarians battered the outer wall; Dezu threw up three more lines of defense inside, making four in all. Three rings of wall were gone and only one enceinte remained, [19] yet he fought them off day and night until the men's eyes were raw with wounds and more than half the garrison was dead. Dezu had long won his men's loyalty by kindness; none thought of abandoning him. Dezu had once served in the north and knew the barbarian general Gongsun Biao, a clever and dangerous man. Uneasy about him, Dezu opened a secret correspondence and sent agents to Zheng's camp claiming Biao was plotting with him; each reply he sent to Biao, [20] he carefully doctored. Biao showed the letters to Zheng's officers, who grew doubly suspicious and told Si, who had Biao put to death. The barbarian force was overwhelming, and Tan Daoji's relief columns and the others dared not move forward. Liu Cui held Xiangcheng while Shen Shuli camped at Gaoqiao.
17
二十一日，虜作地道偷城內井，井深四十丈，山勢峻峭，不可得防。 至其月二十三日，人馬渴乏飢疫，體皆乾燥，被創者不復出血。 虜因急攻，遂剋虎牢，自德祖及翟廣、竇霸，凡諸將佐及郡守在城內者，皆見囚執，唯上黨太守劉談之、參軍范道基將二百人突圍南還。 城將潰，將士欲扶德祖出奔，德祖曰：「我與此城并命，義不使此城亡而身在也。」 嗣重其固守之節，勒眾軍生致之，故得不死。 司空徐羨之、尚書傅亮、領軍將軍謝晦表曰：「去年逆虜縱肆，陵暴河南，司州刺史臣德祖竭誠盡力，抗對強寇，孤城獨守，將涉朞年，救師淹緩，舉城淪沒，聖懷垂悼，遠近嗟傷。 陛下殷憂諒闇，委政自下，臣等謀猷淺蔽，託付無成，遂令致節之臣，抱忠傾覆，將士殲辱，王略虧挫，上墜先規，下貽國恥。 稽之朝典，無所辭責。 雖有司撓筆，未加准繩，豈宜尸祿，昧安殊寵，乞蒙屏固，以申國法。」 不許。
On the twenty-first the barbarians tunneled into a well inside the walls—a shaft forty zhang deep on sheer ground that could not be defended. By the twenty-third of that month men and horses were parched, starving, and stricken with sickness; bodies were desiccated and the wounded could no longer bleed. The barbarians then stormed the city and took Hulao. Dezu, Zhai Guang, Dou Ba, and every commander, staff officer, and prefect in the city were captured; only Shangdang administrator Liu Tanzhi and staff officer Fan Daoji broke out south with two hundred men. When the walls were about to give way, his officers tried to carry him out. Dezu said, "My life is bound to this city; I will not see it fall while I escape alive." Si respected his steadfastness and ordered the army to take him alive, so he survived. Minister of Works Xu Xianzhi, Director of the Masters of Writing Fu Liang, and Palace Secretariat director Xie Hui memorialized: "Last year the rebel barbarians swept Henan. Our colleague Dezu, inspector of Si, gave everything to hold them at bay in a single city for nearly a year while relief came too late. The city fell, the throne grieves, and all who hear it are stricken. Your Majesty grieves in mourning while we govern in your name; our counsel was feeble and our charge failed, so a loyal defender was destroyed, his soldiers slaughtered, and the realm's strategy thrown into reverse—betraying your father's design and bringing shame on the state. By the standards of the court code, we deserve no excuse. Though the judicial offices have not yet drawn up charges, how can we keep our posts and stipends in comfort? We ask to be dismissed and imprisoned so the law may be upheld." The throne did not consent.
18
德祖，滎陽陽武人也。 [21]晉末自鄉里南歸。 初為冠軍參軍、輔國將軍，道規為荊州，德祖為之將佐。 復為高祖太尉參軍。 高祖北伐，以為王鎮惡龍驤司馬，加建武將軍。 為鎮惡前鋒，斬賊寧朔將軍趙玄石於栢谷，破弘農太守尹雅於梨城，又破賊大帥姚難於涇水，斬其鎮北將軍姚強。 鎮惡剋立大功，蓋德祖之力也。 長安平定，以為龍驤將軍、扶風太守，仍遷秦州刺史，將軍如故。 時佛佛虜為寇，復以德祖為王鎮惡征虜司馬，尋復為桂陽公義真安西參軍、南安太守，將軍如故。 復徙馮翊太守。 高祖東還，以德祖督司州之河東、平陽二郡諸軍、輔國將軍、河東太守，代并州刺史劉遵考戍蒲坂。 長安不守，合部曲還彭城，除世子中兵參軍，將軍如故。 又除督司州之河東、平陽、河北、雍州之京兆、豫州之潁川、兗州之陳留九郡軍事、滎陽太守，[22]將軍如故，又加京兆太守。 高祖踐阼，進號冠軍。 論前後功，封觀陽縣男，食邑四百戶。 又除督司、雍、并三州、豫州之潁川、兗州之陳留諸軍事、司州刺史，將軍如故。 太祖元嘉六年，死於虜中，時年六十五。 世祖大明元年，以德祖弟子熙祚第二息詡之紹德祖封。
Dezu was from Yangwu in Yingyang. [21] At the end of the Jin he came south from his native place. He began as adjutant to the Champion and as General Who Assists the State; when Liu Daogui held Jingzhou, Dezu served on his staff. He later became adjutant to the Grand Marshal. During the founding emperor's northern campaign he was made dragon-flight major under Wang Zhen'e and promoted to General Who Establishes Martial Might. Leading Zhen'e's van, he killed the rebel general Zhao Xuanshi at Baigu, routed Hongnong administrator Yin Ya at Licheng, and on the Jing River defeated the rebel commander Yao Nan and killed Yao's general Yao Qiang. Zhen'e's great victories owed much to Dezu. After Chang'an fell he was made General of Dragon Flight and administrator of Fufeng, then moved to inspector of Qinzhou with his rank unchanged. When the barbarian Bobo raided, Dezu again served as Wang Zhen'e's campaign major, then as adjutant to Prince Yizhen of Guiyang and administrator of Nan'an, still a general. He was later transferred to Fengyi. When the emperor marched east, Dezu was put in charge of Hedong and Pingyang in Si, made General Who Assists the State and administrator of Hedong, and replaced Liu Zunkao at Puban on the Yellow River. After Chang'an was lost he rallied his household troops back to Pengcheng, became adjutant in the heir's guard, and kept his rank. He was again given command over nine districts—Hedong, Pingyang, and Hebei in Si, Jingzhao in Yong, Yingchuan in Yu, and Chenliu in Yan—and made administrator of Xingyang, [22] still a general, with Jingzhao added to his charge. At the founding emperor's accession his rank was raised to Champion General. For his cumulative service he was enfeoffed as Marquis of Guanyang with four hundred households. He was again made commander over Si, Yong, and Bing, Yingchuan, and Chenliu, and inspector of Si, retaining his general's rank. In the sixth year of Yuanjia (429) he died in captivity among the barbarians, aged sixty-five. In the first year of Daming (457) Dezu's grandnephew Xuzhi, second son of Xizuo, was appointed to inherit his title.
19
虜既剋虎牢，留兵居守，餘眾悉北歸。 少帝曰：[23]「故寧遠司馬、濮陽太守陽瓚，滑臺之逼，厲誠固守，投命均節，在危無撓，古之忠烈，無以加之。 可追贈給事中，并存卹遺孤，以慰存亡。」 尚書令傅亮議瓚家在彭城，宜即以入臺絹一百匹，粟三百斛賜給。 文士顏延之為誄焉。 龍驤將軍兗州刺史徐琰、東郡太守王景度並坐失守，[24]鉗髠居作，琰五歲，景度四歲。
Once Hulao fell the barbarians garrisoned it and marched the main body north. The deposed emperor proclaimed: [23] "The late Yang Zan, general who pacified the distant and administrator of Puyang, besieged at Huatai, held on with fierce loyalty, met death with unbroken honor, and never bent under danger—no martyr of old outshines him. Let him be posthumously made Gentleman Attendant, and let his orphans be cared for, to comfort the living and the dead alike." Director Fu Liang recommended that, since Zan's family was in Pengcheng, they be given at once a hundred bolts of palace silk and three hundred hu of grain. The writer Yan Yanzhi composed his funeral elegy. Dragon-Flight general and Yanzhou inspector Xu Yan and Dongjun administrator Wang Jingdu were both punished for the loss of their commands, [24] shackled, shorn, and sent to penal labor—five years for Yan, four for Wang.
20
時宣威將軍、潁川太守李元德戍許昌，仍除滎陽太守，督二郡軍事。 其年十一月，虜遣軍并招集亡命，攻逼許昌城，以土人劉遠為滎陽太守。 李元德欲出戰，兵仗少，至夜，悉排女牆散潰，元德復奔還項城。 虜又圍汝陽，太守王公度將十餘騎突圍奔項城。 虜又破邵陵縣，殘害二千餘家，盡殺其男丁，驅略婦女一萬二千口。 劉粹遣將姚聳夫率軍助守項城，又遣司馬徐瓊五百人繼之。 虜掘破許昌城，又毀壞鍾離城，[25]以立疆界而還。
General Who Manifests Might and Yingchuan administrator Li Yuande held Xuchang; he was then made administrator of Xingyang with command over both districts. That November the barbarians marched out, rallied deserters, besieged Xuchang, and set up a local collaborator, Liu Yuan, as administrator of Xingyang. Li Yuande tried to sortie but had too few weapons; by night his men tore down the battlements and broke, and Yuande fled again to Xiangcheng. The barbarians next besieged Ruyang; administrator Wang Gongdu broke out with a dozen horsemen and escaped to Xiangcheng. They also sacked Shaoling, ravaging over two thousand households, slaughtering every man, and carrying off twelve thousand women. Liu Cui sent General Yao Songfu to reinforce Xiangcheng and followed with five hundred men under his staff officer Xu Qiong. The barbarians undermined Xuchang and demolished Zhongli as well, [25] then pulled back after marking a new frontier.
21
嗣死，諡曰明元皇帝，子燾字佛貍代立。 母杜氏，冀州人，入其宮內，生燾。 燾年十五六，不為嗣所知，遇之如僕隸。 嗣初立慕容氏女為后，又娶姚興女，並無子，故燾得立。 壯健有筋力，勇於戰鬭，忍虐好殺，夷、宋畏之。 攻城臨敵，皆親貫甲冑。 元嘉五年，使大將吐伐斤西伐長安，[26]生禽赫連昌於安定，[27]封昌為公，以妹妻之。 昌弟赫連定在隴上，吐伐斤乘勝以騎三萬討定，定設伏於隴山彈箏谷破之，斬吐伐斤，盡坑其眾。 定率眾東還，後剋長安，燾又自攻不剋，乃分軍戍大城而還。 燾常使昌侍左右，常共單馬逐鹿，深入山澗。 昌素有勇名，諸將咸謂昌不可親，燾曰：「天命有在，亦何所懼。」 親遇如初。 復攻長安，剋之，定西走，為吐谷渾慕璝所禽。
Si died and was given the temple name Emperor Mingyuan; his son Tuo, known as Foli, succeeded. His mother was a Du woman from Jizhou who entered the palace and bore Tuo. As a youth of fifteen or sixteen Tuo was unknown to Si and treated no better than a lackey. Si had first made a Murong princess empress and married a daughter of Yao Xing, but neither bore a son, so Tuo came to the throne. He was powerfully built, fierce in battle, and pitiless in killing; barbarians and Chinese alike feared him. In siege and in battle he always buckled on armor himself. In the fifth year of Yuanjia (428) he sent the great general Tufa Jin against Chang'an, [26] took Helian Chang alive at Anding, [27] enfeoffed him as a duke, and married him to his sister. Chang's brother Helian Ding held Longyou; Tufa Jin pursued with thirty thousand horse, and Ding ambushed him at Tansheng Gorge in the Long Mountains, killed him, and slaughtered the whole army. Ding marched east and eventually seized Chang'an. Tuo attacked again in person, failed, garrisoned the outer city, and withdrew. Tuo kept Chang at his side and often rode out alone after deer deep into the hills. Chang was famed for valor, and his officers warned that he was too dangerous to trust; Tuo said, "Fate has chosen me—what is there to fear?" He treated Chang as warmly as ever. He attacked Chang'an again and took it; Ding fled west and was seized by Murong Hui of Tuyuhun.
22
赫連氏有名衞臣者，[28]種落在朔方塞外，部落千餘戶。 朔方以西，西至上郡，東西千餘里，漢世徙讁民居之，土地良沃。 苻堅時，衞臣入塞寄田，春來秋去。 堅雲中護軍賈雍掠其田者，獲生口馬牛羊，堅悉以還之，衞臣感恩，遂稱臣入居塞內，其後漸強盛。 衞臣死，子佛佛驍猛有謀算，遠近雜種皆附之。 姚興與相抗，興覆軍喪眾，前後非一，關中為之傷殘。 高祖入長安，佛佛震懾不敢動。 高祖東還，即入寇北地。 安西將軍義真之歸也，佛佛遣子昌破之青泥，俘囚諸將帥，遂有關中，自稱尊號，號年曰真興元年。 京兆人韋玄隱居養志，有高名，姚興備禮徵，不起，高祖辟為相國掾，宋臺通直郎，又並不就。 佛佛召為太子庶子，玄應命。 佛佛大怒，曰：「姚興及劉公相徵召，並不起，我有命即至，當以我殊類，不可理其故耶。」 殺之。 元嘉二年，佛佛死，昌立，至是為燾所兼。 燾西定隴右，東滅黃龍，海東諸國，並遣朝貢。
The Helian clan included a man named Weichen, [28] whose people lived beyond the Shuofang passes in a tribe of more than a thousand households. From Shuofang west to Shang Commandery in the east stretched a thousand li of rich soil where the Han had settled exiled peoples. Under Fu Jian, Weichen crossed the border to farm on lease, entering in spring and leaving in autumn. Fu Jian's Yunzhong protector Jia Yong seized people working Weichen's fields and took captives, horses, and livestock; Fu Jian returned them all. Grateful, Weichen submitted and settled inside the frontier, and his power slowly grew. After Weichen's death his son Bobo proved a fierce and cunning leader, and tribes near and far rallied to him. Yao Xing fought him and suffered defeat after defeat until Guanzhong was laid waste. When Liu Yu took Chang'an, Bobo was too terrified to move. As soon as the emperor marched east, Bobo raided Beidi. On Prince Yizhen's withdrawal from the west, Bobo sent his son Chang to destroy him at Qingni, took the Song generals prisoner, and seized Guanzhong, proclaiming himself king with the era name Zhenxing (True Prosperity). Wei Xuan of Jingzhao lived in seclusion with a great name; Yao Xing courted him in full state and failed, and Liu Yu made him aide to the chancellor and palace attendant—he refused both. Bobo called him tutor to the crown prince, and Xuan obeyed. Bobo raged: "Yao Xing and Duke Liu both summoned him and he stayed home; my word brought him at once—does he think me too barbaric to deserve an explanation?" He had him executed. In the second year of Yuanjia (425) Bobo died and Chang reigned until Tuo swallowed his state. Tuo secured Longyou in the west, destroyed Huanglong in the east, and received tribute from the lands beyond the sea.
23
太祖踐阼，便有志北略。 七年三月，詔曰：「河南，中國多故，湮沒非所，遺黎荼炭，每用矜懷。 今民和年豐，方隅無事，宜時經理，以固疆埸。 可簡甲卒五萬，給右將軍到彥之，統安北將軍王仲德、兗州刺史竺靈秀舟師入河，驍騎將軍段宏精騎八千，直指虎牢，豫州刺史劉德武勁勇一萬，以相掎角，後將軍長沙王義欣可權假節，率見力三萬，監征討諸軍事。 便速備辦，月內悉發。」 先遣殿中將軍田奇銜命告燾：「河南舊是宋土，中為彼所侵，今當修復舊境，不關河北。」 燾大怒，謂奇曰：「我生頭髮未燥，便聞河南是我家地，此豈可得河南。 必進軍，今權當斂戍相避，須冬行地凈，河冰合，自更取之。」
As soon as Emperor Wen took the throne he planned a northern campaign. In the third month of the seventh year (430) an edict declared: "Henan, the heartland of China, has been ravaged by endless troubles; its people live in misery, and we cannot forget them. The realm is at peace and the harvest good; the frontiers are quiet. It is time to restore order and strengthen our borders. Choose fifty thousand armored men for General of the Right Dao Yanzhi, who will lead General Who Pacifies the North Wang Zhongde and Yanzhou inspector Zhu Lingxiu's fleet up the Yellow River, Valiant Cavalry general Duan Hong with eight thousand elite horse straight to Hulao, Yu inspector Liu Dewu with ten thousand veterans in support, and Rear General Prince Yixing of Changsha with provisional authority and thirty thousand household troops to oversee the campaign. Prepare at once and march within the month." They first sent palace attendant Tian Qi to tell Tuo: "Henan was once Song soil; you seized the heartland, and we mean only to recover our old frontier—not to threaten Hebei." Tuo flew into a rage and told Qi: "Since I was a child I have been told Henan is our family's ground—how can they expect to have Henan? They will march whether we like it or not. For now Song should pull back its posts and give way; when winter hardens the roads and the Yellow River freezes, we will take it back ourselves."
24
後將軍長沙王義欣出鎮彭城，總統羣帥，告司、兗二州曰：
Rear General Prince Yixing of Changsha took Pengcheng as his headquarters, assumed overall command, and issued this proclamation to Si and Yan provinces:
25
夫王者之兵，以義德相濟，非徒疆理土地，恢廣經略，將以大庇蒼生，保全黎庶。 是以蒙踐霜雪，踰歷險難，匡國寧民，肅清四表。
The armies of a true king are sustained by righteousness and virtue. Their aim is not merely to redraw borders and extend strategy, but to shelter all living people and keep the common folk safe. That is why they brave frost and snow, cross every danger, restore the realm and calm the people, and bring peace to the four quarters.
26
昔我高祖武皇帝，誕膺明命，爰造區夏，內夷篡逆，外寧寇亂，靈武紛紜，雷動風舉，響軼龍堆，聲浮雲、朔，陵天振地，拔山蕩海。 於是華域肅清，謳歌允集，王綱帝典，煥哉惟文，太和烟熅，流澤洋溢。 中葉諒闇，委政冢宰，黠虜乘釁，侵侮上國。 遂令司、兗良民，復蹈非所，周、鄭遺黎，重隔王化。
Our High Ancestor Emperor Wu accepted Heaven's mandate and built the central realm, crushing rebels at home and quieting invaders abroad. His martial glory rolled like thunder and wind; his fame raced beyond Longdui and echoed over Yunzhong and Shuofang, shaking heaven and earth as if he could uproot mountains and churn the sea. The civilized lands were cleared, songs of praise rose on every side, royal law and imperial ritual blazed with culture, and the Great Harmony spread its warm, overflowing grace. Midway through the dynasty mourning shadowed the throne, power passed to the chief minister, and crafty barbarians seized their chance to raid the heartland. The good people of Si and Yan were driven from their homes again, and the survivors of Zhou and Zheng were cut off once more from the emperor's civilizing rule.
27
聖皇踐阼，重光開朗，明哲柔遠，以隆中興，遐夷慕義，雲騰波涌。 方將蹈德履信，被藝襲文，增修業統，作規于後，勤施洽於三方，惠和雍於北狄。 夫養魚者除其猵獺，育禽者去其豺狼，故智士研其慮，勇夫厲其節，嘉謀動蒼天，精氣貫辰緯。
Our sage emperor took the throne, and a renewed brilliance dawned. Wise and far-sighted, gentle to distant peoples, he raised the mid-dynasty restoration, and tribes beyond the frontier flocked to his virtue like clouds rising and waves rolling in. He was about to walk in virtue and good faith, clothe the realm in culture, strengthen the dynastic foundation, and set an example for ages to come, extending his care to every quarter and winning the northern tribes by kindness. Fish farmers clear out otters; bird keepers drive off wolves. Wise men sharpen their plans, brave men steel their resolve, good counsel moves Heaven itself, and their spirit pierces the stars.
28
莫府忝任，稟承廟算，翦爪明衣，誓不顧命，提吳、楚之勁卒，總八州之銳士，紅旗絳天，素甲奪日，虎步中原，龍超河渚。 興雲散雨，慰大旱之思，弔民伐罪，積後己之情。 師以順動，何征而不克，況乎遵養耆昧，綏復境土而已哉。
This headquarters, unworthy of its charge, has received the court's strategy, trimmed our nails and washed our robes, and sworn to give our lives without hesitation. We lead the crack troops of Wu and Chu and the elite of eight provinces—red banners filling the sky, white armor dazzling the sun, marching like tigers across the central plain and leaping like dragons over the river fords. We bring rain to lands parched by drought, comfort the afflicted and punish the guilty, and put the people's welfare before our own. An army that moves with justice conquers wherever it goes—how much more when our aim is only to cherish the lost and restore our own soil!
29
昔淮、泗初開，狡徒縱逸，王旅入關，羣豎飆扇，襄邑之戰，素旗授首，半城之役，伏尸蔽野，支解體分，羽翼摧挫。 加以搆難西虜，結怨黃龍，控弦熸滅，首尾逼畏，蜂屯蟻聚，假息旦夕，豈復能超蹈長河，以當堂堂之陳哉。 夫順從貴速，歸德惡晚，賞襃先附，威加後服。 是以秦、趙羇旅，披榛委誠，施紱乘軒，剖符州郡。 慕容、姚泓，恃強作禍，提挈萬里，卒嬰鈇鉞。 皆目前之誠驗，往世之所知也。 聖上明發愛恤，以道懷二州士民，[29]若能審決安危，翻然革面，率其支黨，歸投軍門者，當表言天臺，隨才敍用。 如其迷心不悛，竄首巢穴，長圍既周，臨衝四至，雖欲壺漿厥篚，其可得乎。 幸加三思，詳擇利害。
When we first advanced on the Huai and Si, the enemy ran wild; when the imperial host crossed the frontier, their rabble rose like a storm. At Xiangyi their white banners fell and heads were taken; at Bancheng the dead covered the fields, bodies were torn apart, and their strength was broken. They also picked fights in the west and made enemies of Huanglong; their archers were wiped out, head and tail alike in fear, huddled like bees and ants and living from day to day. How could they cross the great river again to face our ranks in open battle? Those who submit should do so quickly; those who return to virtue should not delay. Reward comes to those who yield first; force falls on those who yield last. Wanderers from Qin and Zhao came through the brambles in good faith and were enfeoffed with cords of office, carriages, and provincial commissions. Murong and Yao Hong trusted in their strength, raised rebellion across a thousand miles, and in the end met the executioner's axe. These are lessons you can see with your own eyes and that every age has known. The emperor in his mercy holds out the Way to the people of these two provinces. [29] If you weigh your peril, turn in good faith, bring your families, and submit to our camps, we shall report to court and employ each man according to his ability. But if you cling to folly and hide in your dens, when the long siege closes in and assault engines come from every side, will you still be able to welcome us with wine and grain? Think carefully, and choose wisely between gain and ruin.
30
彥之進軍，虜悉斂河南一戍歸河北。 [30]太祖以前征虜司馬、南廣平太守尹沖為督司、雍、并三州、豫州之潁川、兗州之陳留二郡諸軍事、奮威將軍、司州刺史，戍虎牢。 十一月，虜大眾南渡河，彥之敗退，洛陽、滑臺、虎牢諸城並為虜所沒，尹沖及司馬滎陽太守崔模抗節不降，投塹死。 [31]沖字子順，天水冀人也。 先為姚興吏部郎，與興子廣平公弼結黨，欲傾興太子泓，泓立，沖與弟弘俱逃叛南歸。 至是追贈前將軍。 太祖與江夏王義恭書曰：「尹沖誠節志概，繼蹤古烈，以為傷惋，不能已已。」
As Yanzhi marched north, the enemy pulled every Henan garrison back across the Yellow River. [30] Emperor Wen named former Forward Campaign aide and southern Guangping administrator Yin Chong to command armies in Si, Yong, and Bing, plus Yingchuan in Yu and Chenliu in Yan, as General Who Displays Might and inspector of Si, and posted him at Hulao. In the eleventh month the enemy crossed the Yellow River in force. Yanzhi was beaten and retreated; Luoyang, Huatai, Hulao, and the other cities all fell. Yin Chong and his aide, Xingyang administrator Cui Mo, refused to surrender and leapt into the moat to their deaths. [31] Chong, styled Zishun, was a native of Ji in Tianshui. He had served Yao Xing as director of the Ministry of Personnel and joined Prince Bi of Guangping in a plot to topple the heir Hong. When Hong took the throne, Chong and his younger brother Hong fled south to Song. He was now posthumously made General of the Front. Emperor Wen wrote to Prince Yigong of Jiangxia: "Yin Chong's loyalty and noble spirit match the ancients. Our grief for him will not cease."
31
上以滑臺戰守彌時，遂至陷沒，乃作詩曰：
Because Huatai had held out so long only to fall at last, the emperor composed this poem:
32
逆虜亂疆埸，邊將嬰寇仇。 堅城効貞節，攻戰無暫休。 覆瀋不可拾，離機難復收。 勢謝歸塗單，於焉見幽囚。 烈烈制邑守，舍命蹈前修。 忠臣表年暮，貞柯見嚴秋。 楚莊投袂起，終然報強讎。 去病辭高館，卒獲舒國憂。 戎事諒未殄，民患焉得瘳。 撫劍懷感激，志氣若雲浮。 願想淩扶搖，弭斾拂中州。 爪牙申威靈，帷幄騁良籌。 華裔混殊風，率土浹王猷。 惆悵懼遷逝，北顧涕交流。
Rebel barbarians ravage the frontier; our border generals meet the foe in battle. The stout city proves its loyalty; attack and defense never pause. The spilled cup cannot be set upright; the lost chance cannot be regained. Strength fails and the road home lies empty; there I see them bound in chains. Fierce was Huatai's defender, giving his life to follow the ancients' example. Loyal ministers stand firm in old age; steadfast timber shows its grain in autumn's cold. King Zhuang of Chu flung his sleeves and rose—and in the end avenged a mighty enemy. Huo Qubing quit his high hall and at last lifted the worry from Shu. The war is surely not yet over; how can the people's suffering be eased? I grasp my sword with rising passion; my spirit soars like a cloud. I long to ride the whirlwind, lower my banners, and sweep the central plain. Let my warriors show their might; let my counselors unfold their plans in the tent. Chinese and barbarian shall share one custom; all the realm shall know the king's rule. Yet sorrow and fear of delay seize me; I look north and my tears flow unchecked.
33
其後燾又遣使通好，并求婚姻，太祖每依違之。 十七年，燾號太平真君元年。 十九年，虜鎮東將軍武昌王宜勒庫莫提移書益、梁二州，[32]往伐仇池，侵其附屬，而移書越詣徐州曰：
Later Tuo again sent envoys seeking friendship and a marriage alliance, but Emperor Wen always hedged. In the seventeenth year (436) Tuo proclaimed the era Taiping Zhenjun (True Lord of Great Peace). In the nineteenth year (438) the enemy's General Who Guards the East, Prince Yile of Wuchang Kumoti, wrote to Yi and Liang [32] as he marched against Chouchi and raided its dependencies, and also sent a dispatch that reached Xuzhou, saying:
34
我大魏之興，德配二儀，與造化並立。 夏、殷以前，功業尚矣，周、秦以來，赫赫堂堂，垂耀先代。 逮我烈祖，重之聖明，應運龍飛，廓清燕、趙。 [33]聖朝承王業之資，奮神武之略，遠定三秦，西及葱嶺，東平遼碣，海隅服從，北暨鍾山，萬國納貢，威風所扇，想彼朝野，備聞威德。 往者劉、石、苻、姚，遞據三郡，司馬琅邪，保守揚、越，綿綿連連，綿歷年紀。 數窮運改，宋氏受終，仍晉之舊，遠通聘享。 故我朝庭解甲，息心東南之略，是為不欲違先故之大信也。 而彼方君臣，苞藏禍心，屢為邊寇。 去庚午年，密結赫連，侵我牢、洛，致師徒喪敗，舉軍囚俘。 我朝庭仁弘，不窮人之非，不遂人之過，與彼交和，前好無改。 昔南秦王楊玄識達天運，於大化未及之前，度越赫連，遠歸忠款。 玄既即世，弟難當忠節愈固，上請納女，連婚宸極，任土貢珍，自比內郡，漢南白雉，豋俎御羞，朝庭嘉之，授以專征之任。 不圖彼朝計疆埸之小疵，不相關移，竊興師旅，亡我賓屬。 難當將其妻子，及其同義，告敗關下。 聖朝憮然，顧謂羣臣曰：「彼之違信背和，與牢、洛為三，一之為甚，其可再乎。 是若可忍，孰不可忍。」 是以分命吾等磬聲之臣，助難當報復。
The rise of Great Wei matches heaven and earth in virtue and stands with creation itself. Before Xia and Yin our deeds were already great; since Zhou and Qin we have shone brilliantly, a glory handed down through the ages. Our illustrious founder, doubly sage, rose with the times like a dragon and cleared Yan and Zhao. [33] Our sage court inherited the royal foundation and unleashed its divine martial power, securing the three Qins, reaching west to the Pamirs, pacifying the east to Liaodong and Jieshi, winning the seacoasts, and extending north to Zhongshan, with ten thousand states paying tribute. Wherever our prestige reaches, your court and people must surely know our might and virtue. Liu, Shi, Fu, and Yao once held the heartland in turn; the Sima of Langye clung to Yang and Yue—one feeble regime after another, year after year. When their fate ran out the mandate passed to Song, which continued Jin's line, and from afar we exchanged envoys and gifts. Therefore our court laid down its arms and set aside plans against the southeast, unwilling to break the great trust of earlier days. Yet your ruler and ministers harbored treachery and raided our borders again and again. In the last gengwu year (430) you secretly allied with Helian, attacked our Hulao and Luoyang, destroyed our armies, and took our soldiers captive. Our court is magnanimous: we do not hound men for old faults or press every error, and we made peace with you as before. Formerly the Southern Qin king Yang Xuan read Heaven's signs; before the great change was complete he turned from Helian and submitted to us in loyal faith. After Xuan's death his brother Dang proved still more loyal, asked to send a daughter in marriage to the throne, sent local tribute as if he were an inner province, and even sent a white pheasant from south of the Han for the imperial table. Our court honored him with independent command. We never imagined your court would seize on a petty border dispute, fail to inform us, and secretly send troops that destroyed our vassal. Dang brought his wife, children, and loyal followers to our frontier to report his defeat. Our sage court was stirred and told his ministers: "Their breach of faith—with Hulao and Luoyang that makes three betrayals. Once is already too much; can we endure it again? If we can bear this, what can we not bear?" Therefore he ordered us, his ministers ready to die for him, to help Dang take his revenge.
35
使持節、侍中、都督雍、秦二州諸軍事、安西將軍、建興公吐奚愛弼，[34]率南秦王楊難當自祁山南出，直衝建安，令南秦自遣信臣，招集舊戶。 使持節、侍中、都督雍、梁、益四州諸軍事、安西將軍、開府儀同三司、淮陰公皮豹子、[35]員外散騎常侍、平南將軍、南益州刺史、建德公庫拔阿浴河引出斜谷，阨白馬之險。 散騎常侍、安南將軍、雍州刺史、南平公娥後延出自駱谷，[36]直截漢水。 冠軍將軍、南蠻校尉、荊州刺史、建平公宗[罒炎]、使持節、員外散騎常侍、冠軍將軍、梁州刺史、順陽公劉買德、平遠將軍永安侯若干內亦千出自子午，東襲梁、漢。 使持節、侍中、都督荊、梁、南雍三州諸軍事、領護南蠻校尉、征南大將軍、開府儀同三司、荊州刺史、故晉譙王司馬文思、寧遠將軍、荊州刺史、襄陽公魯軌南趨荊州。 使持節、都督洛、豫州及河內諸軍事、鎮南大將軍、開府儀同三司、淮南王直勤它大翰為其後繼。 [37]使持節、侍中、都督梁、益、寧三州諸軍事、領護西戎校尉、鎮西大將軍、開府儀同三司、揚州刺史、晉琅邪王司馬楚之南趣壽春。 使持節、侍中、都督揚、豫、兗、徐四州諸軍事、征南將軍、徐、兗二州刺史、東安公刁雍東趣廣陵，南至京口。 使持節、侍中、都督青、兗、徐三州諸軍事、征東將軍、青、徐二州刺史、東海公、故晉元顯子司馬天助直趣濟南。 十道並進，連營五千，步騎百萬，隱隱桓桓。 以此屠城，何城不潰，以此奮擊，何堅不摧。 邵陵、踐土，區區齊、晉，尚能克勝強楚，以致一匡，況大魏以沙漠之突騎，兼咸、夏之勁卒哉。
[34] Bearer of the Staff, palace attendant, commander of Yong and Qin, General Who Pacifies the West Duke Aibi of Jianxing shall lead Southern Qin king Yang Dang south from Mount Qi against Jian'an, while Southern Qin sends trusted men to rally its old subjects. [35] Bearer of the Staff Pi Baozi, Duke of Huaiyin, with Kubo Ayuhe, Duke of Jiande, inspector of southern Yi, shall march out of Xiegu and seize the White Horse Pass. [36] Attendant E Houyan, Duke of Nanping, inspector of Yong, shall emerge from Luogu and strike straight for the Han River. General Zong [Yan], Duke of Jianping, inspector of Jing, Liu Maide, Duke of Shunyang, inspector of Liang, and Marquis Neiyiqian of the Ruogan shall march from Ziwu and strike Liang and Han from the east. Bearer of the Staff Sima Wensi, former Jin Prince of Qiao, and Lu Gui, Duke of Xiangyang, shall drive south on Jingzhou. Bearer of the Staff Prince Tadahan of Huainan shall follow as their reserve. [37] Bearer of the Staff Sima Chuzhi, former Jin Prince of Langye, inspector of Yang, shall march south on Shouchun. Bearer of the Staff Diao Yong, Duke of Dong'an, inspector of Xu and Yan, shall advance east on Guangling and south to Jingkou. Bearer of the Staff Sima Tianzhu, Duke of Donghai, son of the former Jin minister Yuan Xian, inspector of Qing and Xu, shall strike straight for Jinan. Ten columns advance together, five thousand linked camps, a million foot and horse—an army vast and terrible. With such force to storm a city, what city would stand? With such a blow, what wall would hold? At Shaoling and Jiantu the petty states of Qi and Jin still defeated mighty Chu and brought the lords to order—how much more Great Wei, with desert horsemen and the elite of Xianbei and Xia combined!
36
若眾軍就臨，將令南海北汎，江湖南溢，高岸墊為浦澤，深谷積為丘陵，晉餘黎民，將雲集霧聚，仇池之師，㩻䧢山谷之中，何能自固。 彼之所謂肆忿於目前之小得，以至於敗亡之大失也。 昔信陵君濟窮鳩之危，義士歸之，故我朝廷欲救難當投命之誠，為此舉動。 既而愛惜前好，猶復沈吟，多殺生生，在之一亡十，[38]仁者之所不為。 吾等別愛後自馳檄相譬書。 [39]若攝兵還反，復南秦之國，則諸軍同罷，好穆如初。 若距我義言，很愎遂往，敗國亡身，必成噬齊之悔。 望所列上彼朝，惠以報告。
When our hosts arrive, the southern sea will flood northward and the rivers overflow south; high banks will become marshes and deep valleys hills. Jin's surviving people will swarm like clouds, and Chouchi's troops, trapped in narrow valleys, cannot possibly hold out. That is what they call trading a petty present gain for final ruin. Lord Xinling once saved a dove in peril and righteous men flocked to him; our court means to answer Dang's appeal for help, and that is why we act. Still, cherishing our old friendship, we hesitated. To slaughter so many lives—when one falls, ten perish [38]—is not what the humane would do. Out of regard for what remains between us, we have hastened to send you this written appeal. [39] If you withdraw your troops and restore Southern Qin, all our armies will stand down and peace will return as before. If you reject our appeal and press on in obstinacy, your state will fall and you will perish, and you will regret it too late. We ask that you present this to your court and send us your reply.
37
徐州答移曰：
Xuzhou answered in a reply dispatch:
38
知以楊難當投命告敗，比之窮鳩，欲動眾以相存拯。 救危恤難，有國者之所用心。 雖然，移書之言，亦已過矣。 何者？ 楊氏先世以來，受晉爵號，修職守藩，為我西服。 十載之中，再造逆亂，號年建義，猖狂妄作，為臣不忠，宜加誅討。 又知難當稱臣彼國，宜是顧畏首尾，兩屬求全。 果是純臣，服事於魏，何宜與人和親，而聽臣下縱逸。 昔景平之末，國祚中微，彼乘我內難，侵我司、兗，是以七年治兵，義在經略，三帥涉河，秋豪不犯，但崇此信誓，不負約言耳。 彼伺我軍，仍相掩襲，俘我甲士，翦我邊民，是彼有兩曲，我有二直也。 司馬楚、文思亡命竄伏，魯軌、刁雍實為蠆尾，而擁其逋逃，開其疆埸。 元顯無子，焉得天助，謬稱假託，何足以云。 又譏竊興師旅，不相關移，若如來言，又非所受。 黃龍國主受我正朔，且渠茂虔父子歸款，彼皆殘滅俘馘，豈有先言。 況仇池奉晉十世，事宋三葉，九伐所加，何傷於彼。
We understand that Yang Dang came to you in defeat, that you compare him to a dove in peril, and that you mean to move your armies to save him. To rescue the endangered and relieve the suffering is what any state should do. Even so, your letter has already gone too far. Why? For generations the Yang clan held Jin titles, guarded the frontier, and served as our western vassal. Within ten years they rebelled twice, proclaimed their own era names, and ran riot as faithless vassals. They deserved punishment. We also know Dang submitted to your state—clearly he was hedging between two masters to save himself. If he were truly your loyal subject, how could you make peace with us while letting your vassal run wild? At the end of the Jingping era our dynasty was weakened; you seized our troubles and invaded Si and Yan. That is why in the seventh year (430) we armed for a righteous campaign: three commanders crossed the river and harmed not a hair, keeping faith with our treaty and our word. You watched our armies and then struck by surprise, took our soldiers captive, and slaughtered our border people. You were twice in the wrong and we twice in the right. Sima Chuzhi and Wensi are fugitives in hiding; Lu Gui and Diao Yong are a scorpion's sting—yet you shelter these rebels and open your borders to them. Yuan Xian had no son—how can there be a Tianzhu? This borrowed title is not worth mentioning. You also accuse us of raising troops in secret without informing you—but if that were so, it would still not excuse your conduct. The lord of Huanglong accepted our calendar and regalia, and Juqu Mujian and his son came over in good faith—yet you slaughtered and captured them all. Did you give any warning beforehand? As for Qiuchi, it has served Jin for ten generations and Song for three reigns. Your repeated campaigns can hardly injure you more than they injure us.
39
僕聞師曲為老，義作亂雄，言貴稱情，不在夸大。 移書本詣梁、益，而謬來鄙府，大人不遠，幸無過談。
I have heard that a crooked army grows weary with age and that righteousness, not swagger, makes a true champion. Speech should fit the facts, not boast. Your letter was addressed to Liang and Yi, yet it was wrongly sent to our humble prefecture. Our lord is close at hand—please keep your words within bounds.
40
二十年，燾以國授其太子，下書曰：「朕承祖宗重光之緒，思闡洪基，恢隆萬世。 自經營天下，平暴除逆，掃清不順，武功既昭，而文教未闡，非所以崇太平之治也。 今者域內安逸，百姓富昌，軍國異容，宜定制度，為萬世之法。 夫陰陽有往復，四時有代序，授子任賢，安全相附，所以休息疲勞，式固長久，成其祿福，古今不易之典也。 諸朕功臣，懃勞日久，皆當致仕歸第，雍容高爵，頤神養壽，朝請隨時，饗宴朕前，論道陳謀而已，不須復親有司苦劇之職。 其令皇太子嗣理萬機，總統百揆，更舉賢良，以被列職，皆取後進明能，廣啟選才之路，擇人授任而黜陟之。 故孔子曰：『後生可畏，焉知來者之不如今。』 主者明為科制，宣勑施行。」 於是王公以下上書太子皆稱臣，首尾與表同，唯用白紙為異。 是歲，燾伐芮芮虜，大敗而還，死者十六七。 不聽死家發哀，犯者誅之。
In the twentieth year (443), Tuo Ba Tao handed the realm to his crown prince and issued an edict: "I have inherited my ancestors' restored glory and mean to broaden the great foundation and raise it for ages to come. Since I set out to order the realm, I have quelled violence, removed rebels, and swept away disobedience. Martial glory is already plain, yet civil culture is not fully spread—this is no way to honor an age of great peace. Now the realm is at ease and the people prosperous; civil and military affairs require distinct forms. It is time to fix institutions and set laws for ages to come. Yin and yang turn and return; the four seasons succeed one another. To entrust the son and employ the worthy, each supporting the other's security, is to rest the weary and secure what endures—to complete rank and blessing. This is the unchanging canon of every age. All my meritorious ministers, who have toiled long in service, shall retire to their estates with lofty honors, tending their spirits and their years. They shall attend court when required, feast before me, and discuss policy and offer counsel—but need no longer bear the grinding burdens of office in person. Let the crown prince take charge of the myriad affairs of state and preside over all ministries. Raise the worthy to fill office, choosing younger men of talent and ability, open wide the paths of selection, and appoint, promote, or dismiss as each man deserves. As Confucius said: "The young are to be feared—who knows whether those who come after will not equal the present?" Let the responsible offices draw up clear regulations and proclaim this edict for implementation." Thereupon princes, dukes, and all below submitted memorials to the crown prince addressing him as their lord. The form matched an ordinary memorial in every respect save that plain white paper was used. That year Tuo Ba Tao campaigned against the Rouran and returned in crushing defeat; six or seven men in ten were lost. He forbade the bereaved to mourn their dead, and executed anyone who disobeyed.
41
二十三年，虜安南平南府又移書兗州，以南國僑置州，不依城土，多濫北境名號，又欲遊獵具區。 兗州答移曰：
In the twenty-third year (446), the Northern Wei Pacify-the-South and Pacify-the-North offices again wrote to Yanzhou, protesting that the southern court had set up refugee prefectures without regard to actual territory, misusing northern place-names, and also claiming the right to hunt at Lake Tai. Yanzhou replied:
42
夫皇極肇建，實膺神明之符，生民初載，實稟沖和之氣。 故司牧之功，宣於上代，仁義之道，興自諸華。 在昔有晉，混一區宇，九譯承風，遐戎嚮附。 永嘉失御，天綱圮裂，劉、石、苻、姚，遞乘非據，或棲息趙、魏，或保聚邠、岐。 我皇宋屬當歸曆，受終晉氏，北臨河、濟，西盡咸、汧，弔民伐罪，流澤五都。 魏爾時祗德悔禍，思用和輯，交通使命，以祈天衷，來移所謂分疆畫境，其志久定者也。 俄而不恒其信，虞我國憂，侵牢及洛，至于清濟。 往歲入河，且欲綏理舊城，是以頓兵南澨，秋豪無犯。 軍師不能奉遵廟算，保有成功，回斾之日，重失司、兗。
When the supreme pole is first raised, it truly bears the mandate of heaven; when the people are first nurtured, they truly receive the pure harmonious breath of the cosmos. Thus the work of ruling and nurturing the people was manifest from the earliest ages, and the Way of benevolence and righteousness arose among the civilized peoples of China. In former times Jin unified the realm; envoys from the nine directions came bearing tribute, and distant tribes turned to attach themselves. When Yongjia lost the throne, heaven's net tore apart. Liu, Shi, Fu, and Yao seized power in turn—some lodged in Zhao and Wei, others held fast in Bin and Qi. Our august Song was destined to receive the mandate, succeeding Jin. We reach north to the Yellow River and the Ji, west to Xianyang and the Qian—succoring the people, punishing crime, and spreading grace through the five capitals. Wei then revered virtue, repented its wrongs, and sought reconciliation, exchanging envoys to win heaven's favor. Your present talk of dividing borders and fixing boundaries was settled long ago. Soon you broke faith, seized on our troubles, invaded Hulao and Luoyang, and pressed as far as the clear Ji. Last year we crossed the river intending to pacify the old cities. We halted our armies on the southern bank and harmed not even a blade of grass. Your commanders failed to follow the court's strategy and hold their gains. The day your banners turned homeward, Si and Yan were lost again.
43
來移云「不因土立州，招引亡命」。 夫古有分土，而無分民，德之休明，四方繈負。 昔周道方隆，靈臺初構，民之附化，八十萬家。 彼不思弘善政，而恐人之棄己，縱威肆虐，老弱無遺。 詳觀今古，略聽輿誦，未有窮凶以延期，安忍而懷眾者也。 若必宜因土立州，則彼立徐、揚，豈有其地？
Your dispatch accuses us of "establishing prefectures without territorial basis and enticing fugitives." In antiquity there was division of territory but not of people. Where virtue shines, the four quarters come bearing their children on their backs. When the Zhou Way was rising and the Spirit Terrace was first built, eight hundred thousand households came to its transforming rule. You do not seek to spread good government but fear that men will abandon you. You unleash power and ravage the land, sparing neither old nor young. Survey ancient and modern times and listen to what the people say: never yet has a ruler of boundless cruelty prolonged his reign while cruelly claiming to cherish his people. If prefectures must be founded only on actual territory, then when you establish Xu and Yang—do you possess those lands?
44
往年貴主獻書云：「強者為雄。」 斯則棄德任力，逆行倒施，有一於此，何以能振。 復加欲「游獵具區，觀化南國」。 今治道方融，遠人必至，開館飾邸，則有司存。 來歲元辰，天人協慶，鸞旗省方，東巡稽嶺。 若欲邀恩，宜赴茲會，懷德貴蚤，無或後期。 又稱：「馳獵積年，野無飛伏。」 此邦解網舍前，矜蜫育鷇，七澤八藪，禽獸豐碩，虞候蒐算，義非所吝。 三代肆覲，其典雖𡙇，呼韓入漢，厥儀猶全，饋餼之秩，[40]每存豐厚。
In former years your lord wrote: "The strong shall be hegemon." That is to abandon virtue for brute force, to reverse the Way and turn order upside down. With even one such trait, how can a state flourish? You further claim the wish to "hunt at Lake Tai and observe the customs of the southern realm." Our rule is now in full harmony and distant peoples will surely come. Lodges and guesthouses are the business of the proper offices. In the new year, when heaven and earth share their blessing, the imperial procession will tour the realm and travel east to Mount Kuaiji. If you wish to seek our grace, come to this gathering. Virtue loves promptness—do not arrive late. You also boast: "For years we have hunted on horseback until nothing flies or hides in the wild." In our realm we loosen the nets, spare the young, and rear fledglings. Our seven marshes and eight wetlands abound with game. For foresters to reckon the hunt is only right—we do not begrudge it. The great audiences of the three dynasties left their canon intact; when Huhanye entered Han, that rite was preserved whole. The ranks of tribute gifts have ever been kept generous.
45
先是，虜中謠言：「滅虜者吳也。」 燾甚惡之。 二十三年，北地瀘水人蓋吳，年二十九，於杏城天臺舉兵反虜，諸戎夷普並響應，有眾十餘萬。 燾聞吳反，惡其名，累遣軍擊之，輒敗。 吳上表歸順，曰：
Earlier a saying had circulated among the Wei: "He who will destroy the barbarians is named Wu." Tuo Ba Tao hated this bitterly. In the twenty-third year, Gai Wu of Beidi—a man of Lu River, twenty-nine years old—raised arms at Heavenly Terrace in Xingcheng against the Wei. Rong and Yi tribes answered from every side, and his forces numbered more than a hundred thousand. When Tuo Ba Tao learned that Wu had rebelled, he loathed the name and sent army after army against him—only to be defeated each time. Gai Wu submitted a memorial offering his allegiance:
46
自靈祚南遷，禍纏神土，二京失統，豹狼縱毒，蒼元蹈犬噬之悲，舊都哀荼蓼之痛。 臣以庸鄙，杖義因機，乘寇虜天亡之期，藉二州思奮之憤，故創迹天臺，爰暨咸、雍，義風一鼓，率土響同，威聲既張，士卒効勇，師不崇朝，羣狡震裂，殄逆鱗於函關，掃凶迹於秦土，非仰協宋靈，俯允羣願，焉能若斯者哉。
Since the imperial fortune moved south, calamity has bound the sacred land. The two capitals lost their order and wolves and leopards ran riot. Heaven's people suffer the grief of being torn by dogs; the old capital mourns the bitterness of tudu and liaodi. I, humble and obscure, took up righteousness and seized the moment, riding the hour when the invaders were doomed and drawing on the two provinces' rage to strike. I raised my banner at Heavenly Terrace and reached Xian and Yong. One blast of righteous fervor, and the realm answered as one. When our renown spread, soldiers fought with all their hearts. Our army needed scarcely a morning: the villains trembled and broke. We destroyed the rebels at Hangu Pass and swept the enemy from the Qin lands. Without aligning with Song's mandate and fulfilling the people's will, how could this have been done?
47
今平城遺虐，連兵大壇，[41]東西狼顧，威形莫接，長安孤危，河、洛不戍，平陽二㜸，世連土宇，擁率部落，控弦五萬，東屯潼塞，任質軍門。 私署安西將軍常山白廣平練甲高平，進師汧、隴。 北漠護軍結駟連騎，提戈載驅。 胡蘭洛生等部曲數千，擬擊偽鎮，闔境顒顒，仰望皇澤。 伏願陛下給一旅之眾，北臨河、陝，賜臣威儀，兼給戎械，進可以厭捍凶寇，覆其巢窟，退可以宣國威武，鎮御舊京。 使中都有鳴鸞之響，荒餘懷來蘇之德。 謹遣使人趙綰馳表丹誠。
Pingcheng's cruelty still lingers; Rouran armies press hard. The enemy glances east and west like wolves, and our forces cannot unite. Chang'an stands alone in peril; the Yellow River and Luo are undefended. The two Yi leaders of Pingyang, long tied to these lands, lead their tribes—fifty thousand archers camp east at Tong Pass and pledge themselves at our gates. Bai Guangping of Changshan, self-styled General Who Pacifies the West, drills troops at Gaoping and advances toward Qian and Long. The Protector of the Northern Desert links chariots and cavalry in long columns, spears raised as they drive forward. Hu Lanluosheng and others command several thousand retainers and plan to strike the Wei garrisons. The whole region looks up in hope toward the imperial grace. I humbly beg Your Majesty to grant a single brigade to advance north to the river and Shaan, bestow on me the insignia of command, and supply arms and armor—so that advancing we may crush the enemy and destroy their strongholds, and retreating we may proclaim the state's might and guard the old capital. Let the central capital ring once more with imperial bells, and let the ravaged remnant peoples feel the grace of renewal. I respectfully send my envoy Zhao Wan to deliver this memorial with all my loyal heart.
48
燾遣軍屢敗，乃自率大眾攻之。 吳又上表曰：
After his armies were repeatedly defeated, Tuo Ba Tao led a great host against Gai Wu in person. Gai Wu submitted another memorial:
49
臣聞天無貳日，地無貳主。 昔中都失統，九域分崩，羣凶丘列於天邑，飛鴞鴟目於四海。 先皇慈懷內發，愍及戎荒，翦偽羌於長安，雪黎民之荼炭，政教既被，民始寧蘇。 天未忘難，禍亂仍起，獫狁侏張，侵暴中國，使長安為豺狼之墟，鄴、洛為蜂蛇之藪，縱毒生民，虐流兆庶，士女能言，莫不歎憤。 傾首東望，仰希拯接，咸同旱苗之待天澤，赤子之望慈親。
I have heard that heaven admits no second sun and earth no second lord. Once the central capital lost its order and the nine regions fell apart, villains crowded the imperial city like mounds of earth, and owls and kite-hawks glared over the four seas. The late emperor's compassion welled from within; he pitied even the frontier wastes, destroyed the false Qiang at Chang'an, and lifted the people from their torment. Once his rule spread, the people knew peace again. Heaven had not forgotten our trials; calamity rose again. The Xianyun rampaged and overran China, turning Chang'an into a lair of wolves and Ye and Luo into nests of wasps and serpents. They poisoned the living and scourged the people. Every man and woman who could speak groaned with rage. They bent their heads eastward, longing for deliverance—all like drought-stricken shoots awaiting heaven's rain, like infants yearning for a loving parent.
50
臣仰恩天時，以義伐暴，輒東西結連，南北樹黨，五州同盟，迭相要契。 仰馮威靈，千里雲集，冀廓除榛莽，以待王師，義夫始臻，莫不瓦解。 虜主二月四日傾資倒庫，與臣連營，接刃交鋒，無日不戰，獲賊過半，伏屍蔽野。 伏願特遣偏師，賜垂拯接。 若天威既震，足使姦虜潰亡，遺民小大，咸蒙生造。
Relying on heaven's favor, I took up righteousness against tyranny, linking east with west and north with south. Five provinces joined in alliance, each binding itself to the others. Relying on your majesty's power, men gathered from a thousand li like clouds. I hoped to clear the wilderness and await the imperial armies. As soon as righteous men rallied, the enemy crumbled. On the fourth day of the second month the barbarian lord emptied his treasury and joined camps with me. We crossed blades day after day without pause. More than half his force was taken; the slain covered the fields. I humbly beg you to send a detached column to grant us rescue. Once your heavenly majesty strikes, the traitorous invaders will surely collapse, and the remnant people, great and small, will all receive the gift of new life.
51
太祖詔曰：「北地蓋吳，起眾秦川，華戎響附，奮其義勇，頻煩克捷，屢遣表疏，遠效忠款，志梟逆虜，以立勳績。 宜加爵號，襃奬乃誠，可以為使持節、都督關隴諸軍事、安西將軍、雍州刺史、北地郡公。 使雍、梁遣軍界上，以相援接。」
The Taizu emperor decreed: "Gai Wu of Beidi raised forces in the Qin River region. Chinese and barbarians alike rallied to him. He fought with righteous courage, won repeated victories, and sent memorial after memorial offering his loyal service, resolved to destroy the rebel invaders and win merit. He should receive noble rank and reward for his loyalty. Let him be Bearer of the Staff, Commander of all forces in Guan and Long, General Who Pacifies the West, Inspector of Yongzhou, and Duke of Beidi. Let Yong and Liang send troops to the frontier to support him."
52
燾攻吳大小數十戰，不能剋。 太祖遣使送雍、秦二州所統郡及金紫以下諸將印合一百二十一紐與吳，使隨宜假授。 屠各反叛，吳自攻之，為流矢所中，死。 吳弟吾生率餘眾入木面山，皆尋破散。
Tuo Ba Tao fought Gai Wu in dozens of battles large and small but could not defeat him. The Taizu emperor sent envoys bearing the seals of the commanderies and districts under Yong and Qin—one hundred twenty-one seals in all, from golden-ornament rank downward—for Gai Wu to grant offices as he saw fit. When the Tuge rebelled, Gai Wu led the attack himself, was struck by a stray arrow, and died. Gai Wu's younger brother Wusheng led the survivors into Mumian Mountain, but they were soon routed and scattered.
53
其年，太原民顏白鹿私行入荒，為虜所錄，相州刺史欲殺之，白鹿詐云「青州刺史杜驥使其歸誠」。 相州刺史送白鹿至桑乾，燾喜曰：「我外家也。」 使其司徒崔浩作書與驥，使司徒祭酒王琦齎書隨白鹿南歸。 遣從弟高梁王以重軍延驥，入太原界，攻冀州刺史申恬於歷城，恬擊破之。 杜驥遣其寧朔府司馬夏侯祖歡、中兵參軍吉淵馳往赴援，虜破略太原，得四千餘口，牛六千餘頭。 尋又寇兗、青、冀三州，遂及清東，殺略甚眾。
That year Yan Bailu of Taiyuan ventured alone into the wilderness and was captured by the Wei. The Inspector of Xiangzhou meant to execute him, but Bailu claimed: "The Inspector of Qingzhou, Du Ji, sent me to offer my allegiance." The Inspector of Xiangzhou sent Bailu to Sanggan. Tuo Ba Tao was delighted and said: "Kin on my wife's side." He had his Minister of Education Cui Hao write to Du Ji and sent the Libationer Wang Qi south with the letter, escorting Bailu home. He sent his cousin the Prince of Gaoliang with a large army to welcome Du Ji, crossed into Taiyuan, and attacked the Inspector of Jizhou Shen Tian at Licheng. Shen Tian defeated them. Du Ji sent his army marshal Xiahou Zuhuan and adjutant Ji Yuan to the rescue, but the Wei raided Taiyuan and took more than four thousand captives and six thousand head of cattle. Soon they raided Yan, Qing, and Ji and pushed as far as Qingdong, killing and capturing a great multitude.
54
太祖思弘經略，詔羣臣曰：
The Taizu emperor, intent on broadening his strategic aims, addressed his ministers:
55
吾少覽篇籍，頗愛文義，遊玄翫采，未能息卷。 自纓紼世務，情兼家國，徒存日昃，終有慚德。 而區宇未一，師饉代有，永言斯瘼，彌干其慮。 加疲疾稍增，志隨時往，屬思之功，與事而廢。 殘虐遊魂，齊民塗炭，乃眷北顧，無忘弘拯。 思總羣謀，掃清逋逆，感慨之來，遂成短韻。 卿等體國情深，亦當義篤其懷也。 詩曰：
In my youth I read the classics and loved their literary grace; I wandered among the profound and refined and could scarcely set my books aside. Since I took up the burdens of rule, my heart has been divided between family and realm. I toil from dawn to dusk, yet still feel shame at my shortcomings. Yet the realm is not united; war and famine come in every generation. This affliction weighs on me ever more heavily. Moreover weariness and illness grow on me, and ambition fades with the years. The work of reflection is set aside along with the tasks of state. The cruel invaders still roam, and the people lie in ashes. I turn my gaze north and cannot forget the need for great deliverance. I mean to gather all counsel and sweep away the rebels. Moved by this, I have composed these brief verses. You who serve the state with such deep devotion should likewise hold righteousness firm in your hearts. The poem reads:
56
季父鑒禍先，辛生識機始。 崇替非無徵，興廢要有以。 自昔淪中畿，儵焉盈百祀。 不覩南雲陰，但見胡風起。 亂極治必形，塗泰由積否。 方欲滌遺氛，矧乃穢邊鄙。 眷言悼斯民，納隍良在己。 逝將振宏羅，一麾同文軌。 時乎豈再來？ 河清難久俟。 駘駟安局步，騏驥志千里。 梁傅畜義心，伊相抱深恥。 賞契將誰寄，要之二三子。 無令齊晉朝，取愧鄒魯士。
My uncle foresaw disaster before it came; born in hardship, I recognized the hour when the moment turned. Rise and fall are never without omens; flourishing and ruin always have their cause. Since the central realm was lost, a hundred sacrificial cycles have swiftly passed. We see no sheltering clouds from the south—only the barbarian wind rising. When chaos reaches its height, order must appear; when the road grows smooth, it is because adversity has piled deep. We are about to cleanse the lingering miasma—how much more the filth of the frontier marches. I mourn these people from my heart; to let them fall into the moat would be my own fault. I shall go forth to cast the great net wide and, with one command, unite all under one script and one law. Will such an hour come again? An age of peace will not wait forever. Plodders are satisfied with small strides; steeds of blood aim for a thousand leagues. Let Liang's tutor keep righteousness in his breast, as Yi Yin once bore the deepest shame. To whom shall we entrust our sworn bond? All that matters are two or three true men. Do not let the courts of Qi and Jin bring shame upon the scholars of Zou and Lu.
57
時疆埸之民，多相侵盜。 二十五年，虜寧南將軍、豫州刺史、北井侯若庫辰樹蘭移書豫州曰：
At that time the border peoples frequently raided and robbed one another. In the twenty-fifth year (448), the Wei general Who Pacifies the South, inspector of Yu, and Marquis of Beijing Rukuchen Shulan addressed Yu province:
58
僕以不德，荷國榮寵，受任邊州，經理民物，宣播政化，鷹揚萬里，雖盡節奉命，未能令上化下布，而下情上達也。 比者以來，邊民擾動，互有反逆，無復為害，自取誅夷。 死亡之餘，雉菟逃竄，南入宋界，聚合逆黨，頻為寇掠，殺害良民，略取資財，大為民患。 此之界局，與彼通連，兩民之居，烟火相接，來往不絕，情偽繁興。 是以南姦北入，北姦南叛，以類推之，日月彌甚。 姦宄之人，數得侵盜之利，雖加重法，不可禁止。 僕常申令境局，料其姦源，而彼國牧守，縱不禁御，是以遂至滋蔓，寇擾疆埸。 譬猶蚤虱疥癬，雖為小痾，令人終歲不安。
I lack virtue, yet bear my state's honored favor. Posted to a border province, I govern the people and spread our laws far and wide; though I serve with all my loyalty, I have not been able to make the court's will reach the common folk, nor their grievances reach the throne. Lately the border people have been unsettled. Rebels on both sides could do no further harm and only brought death upon themselves. The survivors scattered like game fleeing south into Song territory, banded together, and repeatedly raided—killing peaceful subjects, seizing goods, and becoming a grave scourge to the people. Our border zone adjoins theirs. The two peoples live where their hearth-smoke meets; traffic never ceases, and deceit flourishes on every side. Southern malcontents slip north while northern ones flee south; by the same logic the trouble grows worse with every passing day. Criminals repeatedly profit from cross-border theft; even harsher laws cannot stop them. I have repeatedly ordered our border officials to cut off these evils at the source, yet your governors and prefects refuse to restrain them. The plague has spread, and raiders harass the frontier. It is like fleas, lice, and running sores: a small affliction, yet one that leaves a man ill at ease all year long.
59
當今上國和通，南北好合，唯邊境民庶，要約不明。 自古列國，封疆有畔，各自禁斷，無復相侵，如是可以保之長久，垂之永世。 故上表臺閣，馳書明曉，自今以後，魏、宋二境，宜使人迹不過。 自非聘使行人，無得南北。 邊境之民，烟火相望，雞狗之聲相聞，至老死不相往來，不亦善乎。 又能此亡彼歸，彼亡此致，則自我國家所望於仁者之邦也。
Our two courts are at peace and north and south are on friendly terms, yet for the border peoples no clear agreement exists. Since antiquity, when states had fixed borders each forbade crossing and stopped mutual raids. Only thus could peace last and endure for generations. I have therefore memorialized the throne and sent this letter to make plain that from now on no one should cross the border between Wei and Song. Apart from envoys on official missions, no one may cross north or south. Border folk might see one another's hearth-smoke and hear one another's fowl and dogs, yet grow old without ever crossing the line—would that not be best? If fugitives who flee here are sent back there and yours delivered here, that is precisely what our state expects of a benevolent neighbor.
60
右將軍、豫州刺史南平王鑠答移曰：
General of the Right, inspector of Yu, Prince Shuo of Nanping, replied:
61
知以邊氓擾動，多有叛逆，欲杜絕姦宄，兩息民患； 又欲迭送奔亡，禁其來往。 申告嘉貺，實獲厥心。 但彼和好以來，矢言每缺，侵軼之弊，屢違義舉，任情背畔，專肆暴略，豈唯竊犯王黎，乃害及行使。 頃誅討蠻髦，事止畿服，或有狐奔鼠竄，逃首北境，而輒便苞納，待之若舊，資其糧仗，縱為寇賊。 往歲擅興戎旅，禍加孩耄，罔顧善隣之約，不惟疆域之限。 來示所云，彼並行之，雖豐辭盈觀，即事違實，興嫌長亂，實彼之由，反以為言，將違躬厚之義。
I understand that border unrest and widespread rebellion move you to cut off criminals and ease the people's suffering on both sides; and that you also wish to exchange fugitives and forbid cross-border traffic. Your gracious proposal truly wins my approval. Yet since our peace was made your pledged word has often failed. Raids have repeatedly broken faith; you indulge treachery and naked aggression—not only violating the imperial domain but even harming diplomatic envoys. When we lately punished the southern tribes the campaign stayed within our heartland, yet some fugitives fled north—and you promptly sheltered them, treated them as before, armed and fed them, and let them raid as bandits. Last year you rashly launched armies, bringing disaster even upon children and the aged, heedless of neighborly treaties and territorial limits. What you propose you fail to practice. Your words are lavish, but the facts deny them. Suspicion and disorder are of your making, yet you blame us—this betrays the sincerity you claim.
62
疆埸之民，有自來矣，且相期有素，本不介懷。 若於本欲消姦弭暴，永存匪石，宜先謹封守，斥遣諸亡，驚蹄逸鏃，不妄入境，則邊城之下，外戶不閉。 王制嚴明，豈當獨負來信。 若亡命奔越，侵盜彼民，斯固刑之所取，無勞遠及。 自荷閫外，思闡皇猷，每申勑守宰，務敦義讓。 往誠未布，能不愧怍，當重約示，以副至懷。
Border peoples have always existed, and we have long had our understandings; I took no special umbrage at that. If you truly mean to end crime and violence and keep faith unshaken, first seal your borders strictly, expel all fugitives, and let no stray hoof or arrow cross without cause—then our frontier towns may leave their gates unbarred. Our laws are strict and clear. Why should we alone bear the burden of your trust? If fugitives flee across and rob your people, our laws will punish them—there is no need for you to intervene from afar. Since I took command beyond the passes I have sought to advance the emperor's policy and repeatedly charged local officials to practice righteousness and restraint. If my past sincerity has not been clear enough, I am ashamed; I shall renew our agreement to meet your earnest wish.
63
二十七年，燾自率步騎十萬寇汝南。 初，燾欲為邊寇，聲云獵於梁川。 太祖慮其侵犯淮、泗，迺敕邊戍：「小寇至，則堅守拒之； 大眾來，則拔民戶歸壽陽。」 諸戍偵候不明，虜奄來入境，宣威將軍、陳、南頓二郡太守鄭琨、綏遠將軍、汝陽、潁川二郡太守郭道隱並棄城奔走。 [42]虜掠抄淮西六郡，殺戮甚多。 攻圍懸瓠城，城內戰士不滿千人。 先是，汝南、新蔡二郡太守徐遵之去郡，南平王鑠時鎮壽陽，遣右軍行參軍陳憲行郡事。 [43]憲嬰城固守，燾盡銳以攻之，憲自登郭城督戰。 起樓臨城，飛矢雨集，衝車攻破南城，憲於內更築扞城，立柵以補之。 虜肉薄攻城，死者甚眾，憲將士死傷亦過半。 燾唯恐壽陽有救兵，不以彭城為慮。
In the twenty-seventh year (450) Tuo personally led a hundred thousand foot and horse to invade Runan. At first, planning a border raid, Tuo announced that he was hunting in Liangchuan. Emperor Wen feared an attack on the Huai and Si regions and ordered the border garrisons: "If a small raiding party comes, hold firm and repel it; if a great host comes, evacuate the people to Shouyang." The scouts failed; the enemy burst across the border. Zheng Kun, General Who Displays Might and administrator of Chen and Nandun, and Guo Daoyin, General Who Pacifies the Distance and administrator of Ruyang and Yingchuan, both abandoned their cities and fled. [42] The enemy raided the six commanderies west of the Huai and slaughtered a great many people. They besieged Xuanzhi, where fewer than a thousand defenders remained. Earlier Xu Zunzhi, administrator of Runan and Xincai, had left his post. Prince Shuo of Nanping, then garrisoning Shouyang, sent Right Army acting aide Chen Xian to govern the two commanderies. [43] Chen Xian sealed the city and held firm. Tuo threw his best troops against it, and Xian himself mounted the outer wall to direct the defense. They raised siege towers; arrows fell like rain; rams smashed the southern wall. Xian built an inner rampart and threw up palisades to seal the breach. The enemy pressed the assault at close quarters; casualties were heavy on both sides, and more than half of Xian's force was killed or wounded. Tuo feared relief from Shouyang alone and gave no thought to Pengcheng.
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燾遣從弟永昌王庫仁真步騎萬餘，[44]將所略六郡口，北屯汝陽。 時世祖鎮彭城，太祖遣隊主吳香鑪乘驛敕世祖，遣千騎，齎三日糧襲之。 世祖發百里內馬，得千五百匹。 眾議舉別駕劉延孫為元帥，延孫辭不肯行，舉參軍劉泰之自代。 [45]世祖以問司馬王玄謨、長史張暢，暢等並贊成之。 乃分為五軍，以泰之為元帥，與安北騎兵行參軍垣謙之、田曹行參軍臧肇之、集曹行參軍尹定、武陵國左常侍杜幼文五人，各領其一。 謙之領泰之軍副殿中將軍程天祚督戰，[46]至譙城，更簡閱人馬，得精騎千一百匹，直向汝陽。 虜不意奇兵從北來，大營在汝陽北，去城三里許。 泰之等至，虜都不覺，馳入襲之，殺三千餘人，燒其輜重。 營內有數區氈屋，屋中皆有帳，器仗甚精，食具皆是金銀，帳內諸大主帥，悉殺之。 諸亡口悉得東走，大呼云：「官軍痛與手。」 虜眾一時奔散，因追之，行已經日，人馬疲倦，引還汝南。 城內有虜一幢，馬步可五百，登城望知泰之無後繼，又有別帥鉅鹿公餘嵩自虎牢至，因引出擊泰之，泰之軍未食，旦戰已疲勞，結陣未及定，垣謙之先退，因是驚亂，棄仗奔走，行迷道趨溵水，水深岸高，人馬悉走水爭渡，泰之獨不去，曰：「喪敗如此，何面復還。」 下馬坐地，為虜所殺。 肇之溺水死，天祚為虜所執，謙之、定、幼文及將士免者九百餘人，馬至者四百匹。 世祖降安北之號為鎮軍將軍，玄謨、延孫免官，暢免所領沛郡，謙之伏誅，定、幼文付尚方。
Tuo sent his cousin the Prince of Yongchang, Kuren Zhen, with more than ten thousand foot and horse [44] to herd the captives from the six ravaged commanderies and camp north at Ruyang. The crown prince was garrisoning Pengcheng. Emperor Wen sent squad leader Wu Xianglu by relay to order him to dispatch a thousand horsemen with three days' rations to strike the enemy. The crown prince gathered horses within a hundred li and mustered fifteen hundred. The assembly proposed chief clerk Liu Yansun as commander. Yansun declined and nominated aide Liu Taizhi instead. [45] The crown prince consulted marshal Wang Xuanmo and chief clerk Zhang Chang; Chang and the others all approved. They divided into five columns under Taizhi, with Yuan Qianzhi, Zang Zhaozhi, Yin Ding, and Du Youwen of Wuling each leading one. Qianzhi led Taizhi's column with palace gentleman Cheng Tianzuo supervising the fight. [46] At Qiaocheng they reviewed the troops again and mustered eleven hundred elite horsemen, then marched straight for Ruyang. The enemy did not expect a strike from the north. Their main camp lay north of Ruyang, some three li from the city. Taizhi's force arrived undetected, charged the camp, killed more than three thousand, and burned their baggage train. The camp held several clusters of felt tents stocked with fine arms and gold and silver tableware; they killed every senior commander they found inside. The captives broke eastward, shouting, "Imperial troops—strike hard! The enemy scattered at once. They pursued for a full day until men and horses were exhausted, then withdrew toward Runan. Five hundred enemy horse and foot remained in the city. From the walls they saw Taizhi had no reserves; then the Duke of Julu Yu Song arrived from Hulao and led a sortie. Taizhi's men had not eaten and were exhausted from dawn fighting. Before the line could form Yuan Qianzhi broke first; panic spread, weapons were cast aside, and the fugitives blundered toward the Yin River—deep water, steep banks—where men and horses piled into the stream. Taizhi alone stayed behind and said, "After a rout like this, what face have I to go home?" He dismounted, sat on the ground, and was killed by the enemy. Zhaozhi drowned. Tianzuo was captured. Qianzhi, Ding, Youwen, and more than nine hundred soldiers escaped; only four hundred horses returned. The crown prince demoted the Pacification of the North command to General Who Stabilizes the Army. Xuanmo and Yansun were dismissed; Chang lost his Pei prefecture; Qianzhi was executed; Ding and Youwen were sent to the imperial workshops.
65
燾初聞汝陽敗，又傳彭城有係軍，大懼，謂其眾曰：「但聞淮南遣軍，乃復有奇兵出。 今年將墮人計中。」 即燒攻具，欲走。 會泰之死問續至，乃停壽陽。 遣劉康祖救懸瓠，燾亦遣任城公拒康祖，與戰破之，斬任城。 燾攻城四十二日不拔，死者甚多，任城又死，康祖救軍漸進，乃委罪大將，多所斬戮，倍道奔走。 太祖嘉憲固守，詔曰：「右軍行參軍、行汝南新蔡二郡軍事陳憲，盡力捍禦，全城摧寇，忠敢之効，宜加顯擢，可龍驤將軍、汝南、新蔡二郡太守。」 又以布萬匹委憲分賜汝南城內文武吏民戰守勤勞者。
When Tuo first heard of the defeat at Ruyang and then that Pengcheng had sent relief, he was terrified and told his men, "We heard only that Huainan was dispatching troops—yet now a surprise column has appeared. This year we have fallen into their trap." He burned his siege engines at once and prepared to flee. When word of Taizhi's death followed, he halted at Shouyang. Liu Kangzu was sent to relieve Xuanzhi. Tuo sent the Prince of Rencheng against him, defeated him in battle, and beheaded the prince. Tuo besieged the city forty-two days without success; casualties were heavy, and the Prince of Rencheng fell. As Kangzu's relief drew nearer, Tuo blamed his senior commanders, executed many, and fled at forced march. Emperor Wen praised Xian's defense and decreed: "Right Army acting aide Chen Xian, administering Runan and Xincai, defended with all his strength and broke the enemy before the walls. For his loyal courage he shall be promoted to General of the Flying Dragon and made administrator of Runan and Xincai." He also gave Xian ten thousand bolts of cloth to distribute among officials, soldiers, and civilians of Ruyang who had fought and held the walls.
66
燾雖不剋懸瓠，而虜掠甚多，南師屢無功，為燾所輕侮。 與太祖書曰：
Though Tuo failed to take Xuanzhi, his troops had plundered heavily. Southern armies repeatedly accomplished nothing, and Tuo held them in contempt. He wrote to Emperor Wen:
67
彼前使間諜，詃略姦人，竊聞朱脩之、申謨，近復得胡崇之，敗軍之將，國有常刑，乃皆用為方州，虞我之隙，以自慰慶。 得我普鍾蔡一豎子，何所損益，無異得我舉國之民，厚加奉養。 禽我卑將衞拔，非其身，各便鏁腰苦役以辱之。 觀此所行，足知彼之大趣，辨校以來，非一朝一夕也。
You send spies to seduce traitors. I hear of Zhu Xiuzhi and Shen Mo; lately you have taken Hu Chongzhi—defeated generals whom any state would punish—yet you make them regional inspectors, watching for my weakness to comfort yourselves. If you gain one nobody like my Pu Zhongcai, what does it matter? You might as well have taken my whole population—you feed them generously. You captured my lowly general Wei Ba and chained him at the waist to hard labor to humiliate him. Such conduct shows your true character. It has been thus since our correspondence began—not merely yesterday.
68
頃關中蓋吳反逆，扇動隴右氐、羌，彼復使人就而誘勸之，丈夫遺以弓矢，婦人遺以環釧，是曹正欲譎誑取賂，豈有遠相順從。 為大丈夫之法，何不自來取之，而以貨詃引誘我邊民，募往者復除七年，是賞姦人也。 我今來至此土，所得多少，孰與彼前後得我民戶邪。 彼今若欲保全社稷，存劉氏血食者，當割江以北輸之，攝守南度，如此釋江南使彼居之。 不然，可善敕方鎮、刺史、守宰，嚴供張之具，來秋當往取揚州，大勢已至，終不相縱。 頃者往索真珠璫，略不相與，今所馘截髑髏，可當幾許珠璫也。
When Gai Wu rebelled in Guanzhong and stirred the Di and Qiang west of Long, you sent agents to woo them with bows for the men and bracelets for the women. Those tribes only want to cheat you for gifts—they would never truly submit from afar. If you were a true man you would come take them yourself. Instead you bribe my border folk with goods and seven years' tax exemption—rewarding criminals. I have come to this region now—how much have I taken compared with all the households you have seized from me over the years? If you wish to preserve your state and the Liu sacrifices, cede everything north of the Yangzi, withdraw south of the river, and leave the south to us. Otherwise, tell your regional commanders, inspectors, and prefects to prepare supplies in earnest. Next autumn I shall take Yangzhou. My main force is coming, and I will not spare you. When I asked for pearl earrings you refused me. How many pairs of earrings are these severed heads worth?
69
彼往日北通芮芮，西結赫連、蒙遜、吐谷渾，東連馮弘、高麗。 凡此數國，我皆滅之。 以此而觀，彼豈能獨立。 芮芮吳提已死，其子菟害真襲其凶迹，以今年二月復死。 我今北征，先除有足之寇。 彼若不從命，來秋當復往取。 以彼無足，故不先致討。 諸方已定，不復相釋。
You once allied north with Ruru, west with Helian, Mengsun, and Tuyuhun, east with Feng Hong and Koguryŏ. I have destroyed every one of those states. Judging by that, how can you stand alone? Ruru's Wuti is dead; his son Tuhai Zhen followed his brutal ways and died again this second month. I campaign north now and will first eliminate the foe that can run. If you do not submit, next autumn I shall come for you again. Because you cannot run, I have not attacked you first. The other fronts are settled; I will show you no further mercy.
70
我往之日，彼作何方計，為塹城自守，為築垣以自鄣也。 彼土小雨，水便迫掖，彼能水中射我也。 我顯然往取揚州，不若彼翳行竊步也。 [47]彼來偵諜，我已禽之放還，其人目所盡見，委曲善問之。 彼前使裴方明取仇池，既得，疾其勇功，不能容。 有臣如此，尚殺之，烏得與我校邪。 彼非敵也。 彼常願欲共我一過交戰，我亦不癡，復不是苻堅。 何時與彼交戰，晝則遣騎圍繞，夜則離彼百里宿去，彼人民好，降我者驅來，不好者盡刺殺之。 近有穀米，我都噉盡，彼軍復欲食噉何物，能過十日邪？ 彼吳人正有斫營伎，我亦知彼情，離彼百里止宿，雖彼軍三里安邏，使首尾相次，彼募人以來，[48]裁五十里，天自明去，此募人頭何得不輸我也。 彼謂我攻城日，當掘塹圍守，欲出來斫營，我亦不近城圍彼，止築隄引水，灌城取之。 彼揚州城南北門有兩江水，此二水引用，自可如人意也。
When I come, what will you do—dig moats and hold your cities, or build walls to hide behind? Your land has light rains and shallow floods—you think you can shoot me from the water. I will march openly on Yangzhou, not slink and steal as you do. [47] Your scouts came; I captured them and sent them back after questioning them thoroughly on everything they had seen. You sent Pei Fangming to take Chouchi; once he succeeded you envied his valor and could not abide him. You kill men like that—how could you stand against me? You are no match for me. You always want one great pitched battle with me. I am not foolish, and I am no Fu Jian. When I fight you I ring you with horse by day and camp a hundred li away by night. Your people are tractable—those who surrender I drive before me; those who refuse I kill to the last. I have eaten all the grain here. What will your army eat—can it last ten days? You southerners pride yourselves on night raids. I know your ways: I camp a hundred li away. Even if you post sentries every three li in a chain, your recruits march only fifty li before dawn—how could their heads not be mine? They expect me to dig trenches and invest the walls when I besiege, so they can sally out and strike our camps. I will not crowd the walls at all—I will build dikes, divert the rivers, and flood the city into submission. Yangzhou has two rivers at its north and south gates. Divert those two streams and the city will be exactly as I please.
71
知彼公時舊臣，都已殺盡，彼臣若在，年幾雖老，猶有智策，今已殺盡，豈不天資我也。 取彼亦不須我兵刃，[49]此有能祝婆羅門，使鬼縛彼送來也。
I know you have slaughtered every minister who served under the former emperor. Had any survived, old though they might be, they would still have counsel. You have killed them all—has Heaven not handed me the advantage? I need not even draw a blade to take you. [49] I have a spell-casting Brahmin here who can send spirits to bind you and deliver you to me.
72
此後復求通和，聞太祖有北伐意，又與書曰：「彼此和好，居民連接，為日已久，而彼無厭，[50]誘我邊民，其有往者，復之七年。 去春南巡，因省我民，即使驅還。 自天地啟闢已來，爭天下者，非唯我二人而已。 今聞彼自來，設能至中山及桑乾川，隨意而行，來亦不迎，去亦不送。 若厭其區宇者，可來平城居，我往揚州住，且可博其土地。 〈傖人謂換易為博。〉 [51]彼年已五十，未嘗出戶，雖自力而來，如三歲嬰兒，復何知我鮮卑常馬背中領上生活。 更無餘物可以相與，今送獵白鹿馬十二匹并氈藥等物。 彼來馬力不足，可乘之。 道里來遠，或不服水土，藥自可療。」
He again sought peace. When he heard the Founding Emperor planned a northern campaign, he wrote once more: "We have lived in amity and our peoples have mingled for many years, yet you are never satisfied. [50] You lure away my border subjects—any who go to you I shall reclaim after seven years. Last spring, on my southern tour, I inspected my own people and had yours driven straight back. Since Heaven and Earth began, men who fought for the realm have never been only the two of us. I hear you mean to come yourself. If you can reach Zhongshan and the Sanggan, go where you like—I shall neither welcome you coming nor see you off when you leave. If you weary of your realm, come live at Pingcheng and I will move to Yangzhou—we can trade territories. 〈Among the northerners, to exchange is called bo.〉 [51] You are fifty and have scarcely left your palace. Even if you drag yourself north, you will be like a child of three—what do you know of us Xianbei, who live our lives in the saddle? I have little else to offer. I send twelve white stag-hunting horses, with felt, medicines, and such goods. Your own mounts are weak—you may use these instead. The journey is long and you may not tolerate our climate—the medicines should help."
73
其年，大舉北討，下詔曰：
That year the court launched a great northern campaign and issued an edict:
74
虜近雖摧挫，獸心靡革，驅逼遺氓，復規竊暴。 比得河朔秦雍華戎表疏，歸訴困棘，跂望綏拯，潛相糾結，以候王師。 并陳芮芮此春因其來掠，掩襲巢窟，種落畜牧，所亡太半，連歲相持，于今未解。 又猜虐互發，親黨誅殘，根本危敝，自相殘殄。 芮芮間使適至，所說並符，遠輸誠款，誓為犄角。 遐邇注情，既宜赴奬，且水雨豐澍，舟檝流通，經略之會，實在茲日。
Though the barbarians have lately been humbled, their savage hearts are unchanged. They drive the surviving populace and again scheme for plunder. Memorials have lately come from the peoples of Heshuo, Qin, Yong, and Hua, telling of hardship and straining toward deliverance. They are secretly rallying to await the imperial host. They also report that this spring, when the Rouran came raiding, our allies struck their nests and dens and destroyed more than half their herds. The two sides have fought year on year without end. Suspicion and cruelty flare within their ranks; kin and allies are butchered. Their foundations are failing and they consume one another. A Rouran envoy had just arrived, and his report matched ours in every point. From afar they offer true allegiance and swear to fight at our side. All the realm looks to this hour, and it is right to answer with reward. The rains are heavy, the rivers are open, and the season for conquest is now.
75
可遣寧朔將軍王玄謨率太子步兵校尉沈慶之、鎮軍諮議參軍申坦等，戈船一萬，前驅入河。 使持節、督青、冀、幽三州、徐州之東安、東莞二郡諸軍事、輔國將軍、青、冀二州刺史、霄城侯蕭斌，推三齊之鋒，為之統帥。 持節、都督徐、兗、青、冀、幽五州、豫州之梁郡諸軍事、鎮軍將軍、徐、兗二州刺史、武陵王駿，總四州之眾，水陸並驅。 太子左衞率、始興縣五等侯臧質勒東宮禁兵，統驍騎將軍、安復縣開國侯王方回、建武將軍、安蠻司馬、新康縣開國男劉康祖、右軍參軍事梁坦步騎十萬，逕造許、洛。 使持節、督豫、司、雍、秦、并五州諸軍事、右將軍、豫州刺史、領安蠻校尉、南平王鑠悉荊、河之師，方軌繼進。 東西齊舉，宜有董一，使持節、侍中、都督揚、南徐二州諸軍事、太尉、領司徒、錄尚書、太子太傅、國子祭酒江夏王義恭，德望兼崇，風略遐被，即可三府文武，并被以中儀精卒，出次徐方，為眾軍節度。 別府司空府使所督諸鎮，各遣虎旅，數道爭先。 督梁、南北秦三州諸軍事、綏遠將軍、西戎校尉、梁、南北秦三州刺史秀之，統輔國將軍楊文德、宣威將軍巴西、梓潼二郡太守劉弘宗，[52]連旗深入，震盪汧、隴。 護軍將軍、封陽縣開國侯蕭思話，部龍驤將軍杜坦、寧遠將軍、竟陵太守、南城縣開國侯劉德願，[53]籍荊雍之勁，攬羣師之銳，宜由武關，稜威震[氵彥]。 [54]指授之宜，委司空義宣議量。
Let Pacifier of the North Wang Xuanmo lead Crown Prince's Infantry Commandant Shen Qingzhi, Army Adviser to the Suppressing General Shen Tan, and others, with ten thousand war-boats as the river vanguard. Bearer of the Staff Xiao Bin, Commander of Qing, Ji, and You and of Dong'an and Dongguan in Xu, Supporter of the State and Governor of Qing and Ji, Marquis of Xiaocheng, shall drive the Three Qis' spearhead as supreme commander. Bearer of the Staff Prince of Wuling Jun, Commander of Xu, Yan, Qing, Ji, and You and of Liang in Yu, Suppressing General and Governor of Xu and Yan, shall gather four provinces' hosts and march by land and river together. Crown Prince's Left Guard Leader Zang Zhi, Fifth-Rank Marquis of Shixing, shall lead the Eastern Palace guard with Valiant Cavalry General Wang Fanghui, Marquis of Anfu, Establishing Might General Liu Kangzu, Baron of Xinkang, and Right Army Adjutant Liang Tan—one hundred thousand foot and horse—to march straight on Xu and Luo. Bearer of the Staff Prince of Nanping Shuo, Commander of Yu, Si, Yong, Qin, and Bing, Right General, Governor of Yu, and Pacifier of the Barbarians, shall lead the hosts of Jing and the He region forward in parallel columns. East and west move as one; a single director is needed. Bearer of the Staff Prince of Jiangxia Yigong, Palace Attendant, Commander of Yang and Southern Xu, Grand Marshal, Minister over the Masses, Recorder of the Affairs of State, Grand Tutor and Chancellor of the Imperial University, whose virtue and fame are supreme, shall take the Three Offices' civil and military with picked central guards, encamp at Xufang, and command all armies. The separate offices and the garrisons under the Minister of Works shall each dispatch elite brigades along several routes, striving to be first. Commander Xiu Zhi of Liang and Northern and Southern Qin, General Who Pacifies the Distance, Commandant of the Western Barbarians, and Governor of those provinces, with Supporter of the State Yang Wende and Proclaiming Might General Liu Hongzong, Governors of Brazil and Zitong, [52] shall drive deep with massed banners and shake Qian and Long. Protector of the Army Xiao Sihua, Marquis of Fengyang, with Dragon-Prancing General Du Tan and Pacifying the Distance General Liu Deyuan, Governor of Jingling and Marquis of Nancheng, [53] using Jing and Yong's strength and the armies' keen edge, should march through Wuguan and let terror shake Yan. [54] The Minister of Works Yixuan is entrusted to judge how commands should be assigned.
76
是歲軍旅大起，王公妃主及朝士牧守，各獻金帛等物，以助國用，下及富室小民，亦有獻私財至數十萬者。 又以兵力不足，尚書左僕射何尚之參議發南兗州三五民丁，父祖伯叔兄弟仕州居職從事、及仕北徐、兗為皇弟皇子從事、庶姓主簿、諸皇弟皇子府參軍督護國三令以上相府舍者，不在發例，其餘悉倩暫行征。 符到十日裝束，緣江五郡集廣陵，緣淮三郡集盱眙。 又募天下弩手，不問所從，若有馬步眾藝武力之士應科者，皆加厚賞。 有司又奏軍用不充，揚、南徐、兗、江四州富有之民，家資滿五十萬，僧尼滿二十萬者，並四分換一，[55]過此率計，[56]事息即還。
That year war mobilized the realm. Princes, consorts, courtiers, and governors each offered gold and silk for the treasury; even wealthy commoners gave private fortunes of hundreds of thousands. Because manpower was short, Vice Minister He Shangzhi proposed levying third- and fifth-son households in Southern Yanzhou. Families with kin already serving as provincial clerks, as clerks to princes in Northern Xu or Yan, as chief clerks, as princely adjutants, or as chancellor's clerics of third rank and above were exempt; all others were drafted for temporary service. Within ten days of the order they were to be ready. The five Yangzi commanderies would assemble at Guangling; the three Huai commanderies at Xuyi. Crossbowmen were recruited empire-wide without regard to origin. Any horseman or foot soldier with proven skill and strength received lavish reward. The authorities also reported short military funds. In Yang, Southern Xu, Yan, and Jiang, households worth five hundred thousand and monasteries worth twenty thousand were each to surrender one quarter, [55] with further levies by scale, [56] to be repaid when the campaign ended.
77
歷城建武府司馬申元吉率馬步□餘人向碻磝，取泗瀆口。 虜碻磝戍主、濟州刺史王買德憑城拒戰，元吉破之，買德棄城走，獲奴婢一百四十口，馬二百餘匹，驢騾二百，生羊各千餘頭，氈七百領，麁細車三百五十乘，地倉四十二所，粟五十餘萬斛，城內居民私儲又二十萬斛，虜田五穀三百頃，鐵三萬斤，大小鐵器九千餘口，餘器仗雜物稱此。
Shen Yuanji, Army Marshal of Liyang's Establishing Might Office, led several thousand foot and horse toward Que'ao to seize the mouth of the Si. The barbarian commander Wang Maide, Governor of Ji, held Que'ao's walls; Yuanji broke him and Maide fled. The booty included one hundred forty captives, two hundred horses, two hundred mules and donkeys, thousands of sheep, seven hundred felts, three hundred fifty carts, forty-two field granaries with five hundred thousand hu of grain and another two hundred thousand hu in private stores, three hundred qing of enemy grain land, thirty thousand jin of iron, nine thousand iron tools, and weapons and goods in proportion.
78
玄謨攻滑臺不剋，燾自率大眾渡河，玄謨敗走。 燾從弟永昌王庫仁真發關西兵趨汝、潁，從弟高梁王阿斗埿自青州道，[57]燾自碻磝，並南出。 諸鎮悉斂民保城。 其十一月至鄒山，鄒山戍主、宣威將軍、魯陽平二郡太守崔耶利敗沒。 燾登鄒山，見秦始皇刻石，使人排倒之。 遣楚王樹洛真、南康侯杜道儁進軍清西，[58]至蕭城，步尼公進軍清東，至留城。 世祖遣參軍馬文恭至蕭城，江夏王義恭遣軍主嵇玄敬至留城，並為覘候。 蕭城虜偃旗旌，文恭斥候不明，卒與相遇，乃捨汴趣南山，東至山而虜圍合，文恭戰敗，僅以身免。 玄敬亦與留城虜相值，幢主華欽繼其後，虜望玄敬後有軍，引去，趨苞橋。 至，欲渡清西，[59]沛縣民燒苞橋，夜於林中擊鼓。 虜謂官軍大至，爭渡苞水，水深，溺死殆半。
Xuanmo besieged Huatai without success. Tao crossed the river at the head of a great host and Xuanmo was routed. Tao's cousin Prince of Yongchang Kurzhen marched from Guanxi on Ru and Ying; his cousin Prince of Gaoliang Adougui came down the Qingzhou road; [57] Tao himself advanced from Que'ao—all moved south together. Every garrison drew the people inside the walls. In the eleventh month they reached Zou Mountain. Garrison commander Cui Yeli, General Who Proclaims Might and Governor of Luyang and Ping, was defeated and taken. Tao climbed Zou Mountain, saw the First Emperor's inscription, and had it thrown down. He sent Prince of Chu Shuluozhen and Marquis of Nankang Du Daojun west along the Qing [58] to Xiaocheng; the Bulni Duke marched east along the Qing to Liucheng. The Heir Apparent sent Adjutant Ma Wengong to Xiaocheng; Prince of Jiangxia Yigong sent Commander Ji Xuanjing to Liucheng—both to reconnoiter. At Xiaocheng the barbarians hid their banners. Wengong's scouts failed him and he blundered into them. He abandoned the Bian for the southern hills, but the enemy closed the ring there. He was beaten and barely escaped alive. Xuanjing met the enemy at Liucheng. Squadron Leader Hua Qin followed behind, and the barbarians, seeing troops in his rear, withdrew toward Bao Bridge. They tried to cross west of the Qing, [59] but the people of Pei burned Bao Bridge and beat drums in the forest by night. The barbarians thought a great imperial host had arrived. They rushed the Bao River in panic; the water was deep and nearly half drowned.
79
先是，燾遣員外散騎侍郎王老壽乘驛就太祖乞黃甘，太祖餉甘十簿、甘蔗千挺。 并就求馬，曰：「自頃歲成民阜，朝野無虞，春末當東巡吳、會，以盡游豫。 臨滄海，探禹穴，陟姑蘇之臺，搜長洲之苑，舟檝雖盛，寡於良駟，想能惠以逸足，令及此行。」 老壽反命，未出境，虜兵深入，乃錄還。
Earlier Tao had sent Supernumerary Gentleman Wang Laoshou post-haste to beg yellow citrus from the Founding Emperor, who sent ten bundles of fruit and a thousand stalks of sugarcane. He also asked for horses, writing: "Lately harvests have been rich and the realm at peace. At spring's end I shall tour east to Wu and Kuai for my pleasure. I shall face the sea, seek Yu's cave, climb Gusu's terrace, and roam Changzhou's parks. My fleet is ample but my horses are few. Grant me swift mounts for this journey." Laoshou was returning with the reply when, before he had crossed the border, the barbarian army had already thrust deep inland, and he was ordered back.
80
虜又破尉武戍，執戍主左軍長兼行參軍王羅漢。 先是，南平王鑠以三百人配羅漢出戍，而尉武東北有小壘，因據之。 或曰：「賊盛不足自固，南依卑林，寇至易以免。」 羅漢以受命來此，不可輒去。 是日虜攻之，矢盡力屈，遂沒。 虜法，獲生將，付其三郎大帥，連鎖鎖頸後。 羅漢夜斷三郎頭，抱鎖亡走，得入盱眙城。
The barbarians also overran Weiwu garrison and seized its commander, Left Army Chief and Acting Adjutant Wang Luohan. Prince of Nanping Shuo had earlier given Luohan three hundred men for the garrison. Northeast of Weiwu stood a small fort, and he held it. Someone urged him: "The enemy is too strong to hold here. Move south into the low woods—when they come you can slip away." Luohan replied that he had been ordered here and could not simply abandon his post. That day the barbarians attacked. Arrows ran out, strength failed, and the post fell. By their custom a captured commander was handed to a third-rank officer, who chained him at the neck from behind. By night Luohan severed his guard's head, clutched the chain, and fled into Xuyi.
81
永昌王破劉康祖於尉武，引眾向壽陽，自青岡屯孫叔敖冢，脅壽陽城，又焚掠馬頭、鍾離。 南平王鑠保城固守。
Yongchang Wang broke Liu Kangzu at Weiwu, marched on Shouyang, camped at Sun Shu'ao's tomb, and raided Matou and Zhongli. Nanping Wang Shuo held Shouyang and refused to yield.
82
燾自彭城南出，十二月，於盱眙渡淮，破胡崇之等軍。 留尚書韓元興數千人守盱眙，自率大眾南向，中書郎魯秀出廣陵，高梁王阿斗埿出山陽，永昌王於壽陽出橫江。 凡所經過，莫不殘害。 燾至瓜步，壞民屋宇，及伐蒹葦，於滁口造箄筏，聲欲渡江。 太祖大具水軍，為防禦之備。 初，領軍將軍劉遵考率軍向彭城，至小澗，虜已斷道，召還，與左軍將軍尹弘守橫江，少府劉興祖守白下，建威將軍、黃門侍郎蕭元邕守裨洲，羽林左監孟宗嗣守新洲上，建武將軍泰容守新洲下，征北中兵參軍事向柳守貴洲，司馬到元度守蒜山，諮議參軍沈曇慶守北固，尚書褚湛之先行京陵，仍守西津，徐州從事史蕭尚之守練壁，征北參軍管法祖守譙山，徐州從事武仲河守博落，尚書左丞劉伯龍守採石，尋遷建武將軍、淮南太守，仍總守事。 遊邏上接于湖，下至蔡洲，陳艦列營，周亘江畔，自採石至于暨陽，六七百里，船艦蓋江，旗甲星燭。 皇太子出戍石頭城，前將軍徐湛之守石頭倉城，都水使者樂詢、尚書水部郎劉淵之並以裝治失旨，付建康。 乘輿數幸石頭及莫府山，觀望形勢。 購能斬佛狸伐頭者，封八千戶開國縣公，賞布絹各萬匹，金銀各百斤； 斬其子及弟、偽相、大軍主，封四百戶開國縣侯，布絹各五千疋； 自此以下各有差。 又募人賷冶葛酒置空村中，[60]欲以毒虜，竟不能傷。
Tuo Ba Tao marched south from Pengcheng, crossed the Huai at Xuyi in the twelfth month, and routed Hu Chongzhi. He left Han Yuanxing at Xuyi and swept south; Lu Xiu issued from Guangling, Adougui from Shanyang, Yongchang Wang from Shouyang over Hengjiang. Every district they touched was laid waste. At Guabu Tuo Ba Tao tore down houses, cut reeds, built rafts at Chukou, and talked of crossing the Yangzi. The founding emperor mustered a vast fleet to block him. Liu Zunkao, recalled from Pengcheng, joined Yin Hong at Hengjiang; a chain of officers held every crossing from Baixia to Caishi, with Liu Bolong in overall charge at Caishi. Patrol craft linked the river for six hundred li from Caishi to Jiyang—masts like a forest, armor glittering like stars. The crown prince took Stone City; Xu Tanzhi held the granary; Yue Xun and Liu Yuanzhi were punished for botching the fleet. The emperor repeatedly rode to Stone City and Mofu Hill to watch the front. A bounty was set: slay Foliwa and receive an eight-thousand-household duchy, ten thousand bolts of silk, and a hundred jin of gold and silver; kill his sons, brothers, chief minister, or army commander and receive a four-hundred-household marquisate and five thousand bolts of silk; lesser prizes were graded below that. Men were paid to leave poisoned wine in deserted hamlets [60] to kill the northerners, but it did no harm.
83
燾鑿瓜步山為盤道，於其頂設氈屋。 燾不飲河南水，以駱駝負河北水自隨，一駱駝負三十斗。 遣使餉太祖駱駝名馬，求和請婚。 上遣奉朝請田奇餉以珍羞異味。 燾得黃甘，即噉之，并大進酃酒，左右有耳語者，疑食中有毒，燾不答，以手指天，而以孫兒示奇曰：「至此非唯欲為功名，實是貪結姻援，若能酬酢，自今不復相犯秋毫。」 又求嫁女與世祖。 二十八年正月朔，燾會於山上，并及土人。 會竟，掠民戶，燒邑屋而去。 虜初緣江舉烽火，尹弘曰：「六夷如此必走。」 正月二日，果退。
Tuo Ba Tao carved a switchback road up Guabu Hill and pitched a felt pavilion on the summit. He would not drink south-of-Yellow-River water and had camels carry northern water—thirty dou per beast. He sent camels and fine horses, suing for peace and a marriage alliance. The court sent Tian Qi with delicacies in reply. Tuo Ba Tao ate the oranges and drank deep, ignoring whispers of poison; he pointed to heaven and showed Qi his grandson: "I came not for glory but for kinship—meet me halfway and I will not touch a hair of yours." He asked to give his daughter to the crown prince. On New Year's Day of year twenty-eight he held a feast on the hill with locals. When it ended he looted families, burned villages, and marched away. As they lit beacons along the river, Yin Hong said: "They are about to run." On the second day of the first month they did withdraw.
84
初，太祖聞虜寇逆，焚燒廣陵城府船乘，使廣陵、南沛二郡太守劉懷之率人民一時渡江。 虜以海陵多陂澤，不敢往。 山陽太守蕭僧珍亦斂居民及流奔百姓，悉入城。 臺送糧仗給盱眙，賊逼，分留山陽。 又有數萬人攻具，當往滑臺，亦留付郡。 城內垂萬家，戰士五千餘人。 有白米陂，去郡數里，僧珍逆下諸處水，注令滿，須賊至，決以灌之。 虜既至，不敢停，引去。 自廣陵還。 因攻盱眙，盡銳攻城，三十日不能剋，乃燒攻具退走。 燾凡破南兗、徐、兗、豫、青、冀六州，殺略不可稱計，而其士馬死傷過半，國人並尤之。
When the raid began the founding emperor burned Guangling's ships and ferried its people across the Yangzi under Liu Huaizhi. The enemy dared not enter marshy Hailing. At Shanyang Xiao Sengzhen pulled townsfolk and refugees behind the walls. Relief for Xuyi was diverted in part to Shanyang when the enemy pressed. Tens of thousands of siege machines meant for Huatai were also left in the prefecture. Nearly ten thousand families and five thousand fighters manned the city. Sengzhen filled Baimi Pond upstream, ready to burst the dam on the enemy. When the raiders came they would not tarry and withdrew. They turned back from Guangling. They besieged Xuyi for thirty days, failed, burned their engines, and retreated. Tuo Ba Tao wasted six provinces beyond counting, yet lost more than half his army and earned his people's hatred.
85
是歲，燾病死，諡為太武皇帝。 初，燾有六子，長子晃字天真，為太子。 次曰晉王。 燾所住屠蘇為疾雷擊，屠蘇倒，見壓殆死，左右皆號泣，晉王不悲，燾怒賜死。 [61]次曰秦王烏弈肝，[62]與晃對掌國事，晃疾之，愬其貪暴，燾鞭之二百，遣鎮枹罕。 次曰燕王。 [63]次曰吳王，名可博真。 次曰楚王，名樹洛真。 [64]燾至汝南瓜步，晃私遣取諸營，鹵獲甚眾。 燾歸聞知，大加搜檢。 晃懼，謀殺燾，燾乃詐死，使其近習召晃迎喪，於道執之，及國，罩以鐵籠，尋殺之。 以烏弈肝有武用，以為太子。 會燾死，使嬖人宗愛立博真為後，宗愛、博真恐為弈肝所危，矯殺之而自立，號年承平。 博真懦弱，不為國人所附，晃子濬字烏雷直懃，素為燾所愛，燕王謂國人曰：「博真非正，不宜立，直懃嫡孫，應立耳。」 乃殺博真及宗愛，而立濬為主，號年為正平。
That year Tuo Ba Tao died; he was temple-named Emperor Taiwu. He had six sons; the eldest Huang, styled Tianzhen, was crown prince. The second was Prince of Jin. Lightning shattered Tusu, the hall where Tuo Ba Tao lived, and nearly killed him; courtiers wept, but Prince of Jin did not; Tuo Ba Tao had him executed in rage. Next came Prince of Qin Wu Yigan, who shared government with Huang. Huang denounced his greed and cruelty; Tuo Ba Tao had him flogged two hundred times and posted him to Fuhan. The third was Prince of Yan. Next was Prince of Wu, named Kebozhen. Next was Prince of Chu, named Shuluozhen. When Tuo Ba Tao reached Guanbu in Runan, Huang secretly looted the camps and carried off enormous spoils. Tuo Ba Tao learned of it on his return and ordered a thorough search. Huang, in fear, plotted regicide. Tuo Ba Tao feigned death, summoned Huang to the funeral on the road, seized him, and at the capital caged him in iron and executed him. Wu Yigan's valor won him the crown prince's title. At Tuo Ba Tao's death his favorite Zong Ai set Bozhen on the throne; fearing Yigan, the two forged his death and ruled themselves under the era name Chengping. Bozhen was timid and unloved. Huang's son Jun, styled Wulei Zhigan, had been Tuo Ba Tao's favorite. Prince of Yan told the tribes: "Bozhen is illegitimate; Zhigan, the rightful grandson, should reign. They killed Bozhen and Zong Ai and raised Jun, era name Zhengping.
86
先是，虜寧南將軍魯爽兄弟率眾歸順。 二十九年，太祖更遣張永、王玄謨及爽等北伐，青州刺史劉興祖建議伐河北，曰：「河南阻飢，野無所掠，脫意外固守，非旬月可拔，稽留大眾，轉輸方勞。 伐罪弔民，事存急速，今偽帥始死，兼逼暑時，國內猜擾，不暇遠赴，關內之眾，裁足自守。 愚謂宜長驅中山，據其關要。 冀州已北，民人尚豐，兼麥已向熟，資因為易。 [65]向義之徒，必應響赴，若中州震動，黃河以南，自當消潰。 臣城守之外，可有二千人，今更發三千兵，假別駕崔勳之振威將軍，領所發隊，并二州望族，從蓋柳津直衝中山。 申坦率歷城之眾，可有二千，駱驛俱進。 較略二軍，可七千許人，既入其心腹，調租發車，以充軍用。 若前驅乘勝，張永及河南眾軍，便宜一時濟河，使聲實兼舉。 愚計謬允，宜並建司牧，撫柔初附。 定州刺史取大嶺，冀州刺史向井陘，并州刺史屯雁門，幽州刺史塞軍都，相州刺史備大行，因事指麾，隨宜加授。 畏威欣寵，人百其懷，濟河之日，請大統版假。 常忿將率憚於深遠，勳之等慷慨之誠，誓必死效。 若能成功，清一可待； 若不克捷，不為大傷。 並催促裝束，伏聽敕旨。」 上意止存河南，不納。 玄謨攻碻磝，不克退還。
Earlier Lu Shuang, the Northern Wei's Pacifying-South general, and his brothers had defected with their troops. In year twenty-nine Taizu sent Zhang Yong, Wang Xuanmo, and Shuang north again. Qingzhou inspector Liu Xingzu urged striking Hebei: "Henan is starving and barren; if they dig in, no city falls in weeks, and a long stay will break our supply lines. War against the guilty must be swift. Their ruler is newly dead, summer is fierce, and the north is in turmoil—they cannot march far. Pass garrisons can barely hold their walls. I would drive straight on Zhongshan and seize its passes. North of Jizhou the land is still rich and the wheat nearly ripe—logistics would be easy. [65] Righteous men will flock to us; shock the heartland and the south bank of the Yellow River will crumble. Beyond my walls I have two thousand; add three thousand, give Vice-Prefect Cui Xunzhi acting rank as General Who Displays Martial Might, and march notables of both provinces from Gaiwillow Ford on Zhongshan. Shenshuai's Licheng column can add two thousand; both wings should march at relay speed. Together the columns would muster some seven thousand; deep in their heartland we could levy grain and wagons for the host. If the van wins, Zhang Yong and the Henan armies should ford the river at once so deed and rumor match. If you approve this plan, appoint regional governors to pacify the newly won. Dingzhou's inspector should seize Dalin; Jizhou's aim at Jingxing; Bingzhou camp at Yanmen; Youzhou block Jundu; Xiangzhou guard the Great Pass—each to command as occasion requires with acting commissions as needed. Fear our might and they will rejoice in grace—every heart will turn to us; on the day we cross, grant broad acting commissions. Generals too often fear distant campaigns; Xunzhi and his fellows swear to die in your service. Success would bring reunification near; failure would not wound us deeply. Let all hurry their gear and await your order. The throne would keep to Henan only and refused. Wang Xuanmo besieged Que'ao, failed, and retreated.
87
世祖即位，索虜求互市，江夏王義恭、竟陵王誕、建平王宏、何尚之、何偃以為宜許； 柳元景、王玄謨、顏竣、謝莊、檀和之、褚湛之以為不宜許。 [66]時遂通之。 大明二年，虜寇青州，為刺史顏師伯所破，退走。
At Shizu's accession the Tuoba asked for border markets. Princes Yigong, Dan, and Hong, with He Shangzhi and He Yan, urged consent; Liu Yuanjing, Wang Xuanmo, Yan Jun, Xie Zhuang, Tan Hezhi, and Chu Zhanzhi opposed it. [66] Markets were opened anyway. In Daming year two raiders struck Qingzhou; inspector Yan Shibo routed them and they fled.
88
前廢帝永光元年，濬死，諡文成皇帝。 子弘之字第豆胤代立。
In Yongguang 1 of the deposed emperor, Jun died and was temple-named Emperor Wencheng. His son Hong, courtesy name Douyin, succeeded.
89
景和中，北討徐州刺史義陽王昶，昶單騎奔虜。 太宗泰始初，江州刺史晉安王子勛為逆，四方反，徐州刺史薛安都、青州刺史沈文秀、冀州刺史歷城鎮主崔道固等，亦各舉兵。 虜謀欲納昶，下書曰：
In Jinghe they marched on Xuzhou inspector Prince Chang of Yiyang, who rode alone into Tuoba lines. At Taizong's Taishi opening, Jin'an prince Zixun of Jiangzhou rebelled; the realm rose, and Xuzhou's Xue Andu, Qingzhou's Shen Wenxiu, Jizhou's Licheng commander Cui Daogu, and others took arms. The Tuoba meant to install Chang and issued an edict:
90
易稱「利用行師」，書云「龔行天罰」，必觀時而後施，因機而後舉。 故夏伐有扈，四海以平，晉定吳會，萬方以壹。 今宋室衰微，凶難洊起，國有殺君之逆，邦罹崩離之難，起自蕭牆，釁流合境。 偽使持節、散騎常侍、都督徐南北兗青冀幽七州豫州之梁郡諸軍事、征北將軍、儀同三司、徐州刺史義陽王昶，踵微子之蹤，蹈項伯之迹，知機體運，歸款闕庭，朕錫以顯爵，班同親舊。 昶弟湘東王進不能扶危定傾，退不能降身高謝，阻兵安忍，篡位自立，既無闔閭靜亂之功，而有無知悖禮之變，怠棄三正，慢易天常，覆敗之徵既兆，危亡之應已著。 偽江州刺史晉安王復稱大號，自立一隅，荊郢二州刺史安陸臨海王劉子綏子頊大擅威令，不相祗伏。 徐州刺史彭城鎮主薛安都、青州刺史沈文秀、冀州刺史歷城鎮主崔道固等，皆彼之要藩，懼及禍難，擁眾獨據，各無定主。 仰觀天象，俯察人謀，六軍燮伐之期，率土同軌之日。
The Changes counsels "advantage in marching armies"; the Documents, "I execute Heaven's punishment"—one must read the hour before striking and seize the moment before moving. When Xia smote Youhu the realm was pacified; when Jin settled Wu and Kuaiji, all lands were one. Song is failing; disasters pile up. Regicide stains the court and the realm splits. The trouble began at the palace and strife floods every border. The false staff-bearer Chang, Prince of Yiyang, regent of seven provinces and inspector of Xu, read the times like Weizi and Xiang Bo and came over to us; we have ennobled him and ranked him with kin. Chang's brother, Prince of Xiangdong, could neither save the throne nor yield; he held troops, usurped rule, lacked Helü's gift for order, and showed a usurper's impiety—neglecting the calendar, mocking Heaven, with ruin already written on the wall. The false Jin'an prince of Jiangzhou again took imperial title in his corner; Jing and Ying inspectors Zishou and Zixiang of Anlu and Linhai each held power and refused obedience. Xue Andu of Xuzhou, Shen Wenxiu of Qingzhou, Cui Daogu of Licheng in Jizhou—their key marches—feared ruin and held their forces with no clear sovereign. Heaven's signs and men's designs alike show the day of the six hosts' march and the day when all lands march as one.
91
朕承休烈，屬當泰運，思播靈武，廓寧九服，豈可得臨萬乘之機，遘時來之遇，而不討其讎逆，振其艱患哉。 今可分命諸軍，以行九伐。 使持節征東大將軍安定王直懃伐伏玄、[67]侍中尚書左僕射安西大將軍平北公直懃美晨、[68]散騎常侍殿中尚書平北將軍山陽公呂羅漢，領隴右之眾五萬，沿漢而東，直指襄陽。 使持節征南大將軍勃海王直懃天賜、[69]侍中尚書令安東大將軍始平王直懃渴言侯、散騎常侍殿中尚書令安西將軍西陽王直懃蓋戶千，領幽、冀之眾七萬，濱海而南，直指東陽。 使持節征南將軍京兆王直懃子推、[70]侍中司徒安南大將軍新建王獨孤侯尼須、散騎常侍西平公韓道人，領江、雍之眾八萬，出洛陽，直至壽陽。 使持節征南大將軍宜陽王直懃新成、[71]侍中太尉征東大將軍直懃駕頭拔、羽直征東將軍北平公拔敦及義陽王劉昶，[72]領定、相之眾十萬，出濟、兗，直造彭城，與諸軍剋期同到，會于秣陵。 納昶反國，定其社稷，使荊、揚沾德義之風，[73]江、漢被來蘇之惠。 邊疆將吏，不得因宋衰亂，有所侵損，以傷我國家存救之義。 主者明宣所部，咸使聞知，稱朕意焉。
We inherit a glorious mandate in a propitious age, bent on spreading martial grace and pacifying the nine domains—how can we, with fortune at hand, fail to punish traitors and lift this calamity? Now divide the hosts and execute the nine punishments. Staff-bearer Prince Zhigan of Anding, Grand General Conquering the East, strikes Fu Xuan; [67] Palace Attendant Meichen, Duke of Pingbei; [68] Regular Attendant Lü Luohan, Duke of Shanyang—with fifty thousand from Longyou down the Han on Xiangyang. Staff-bearer Prince Tianci of Bohai, Grand General Conquering the South; [69] Palace Attendant Prince Keyanhou of Shiping; Prince Gaihuqian of Xiyang—with seventy thousand from You and Ji along the coast on Dongyang. Staff-bearer Prince Zitui of Jingzhao; [70] Palace Attendant Prince Honis of Xinjian; Duke Han Daoren of Xiping—with eighty thousand from Jiang and Yong through Luoyang on Shouyang. Staff-bearer Prince Xincheng of Yiyang; [71] Palace Attendant Jiatouba; Duke Badun of Beiping; and Prince Chang of Yiyang; [72] with one hundred thousand from Ding and Xiang through Ji and Yan on Pengcheng, all to rendezvous at Moling. Restore Chang and settle Song's altars, so Jing and Yang taste virtue's wind [73] and the Jiang and Han know deliverance. Frontier commanders must not, in Song's chaos, plunder and wound our duty to save and restore. Let the responsible offices proclaim this to every command so all may know our will.
92
既而晉安王子勛事平，太宗遣張永、沈攸之北討，薛安都大懼，遣使引虜。 虜遣萬騎救之，永、攸之敗退，虜攻青、冀二州，並剋，執沈文秀、崔道固。 又下書：
When Zixun's revolt was crushed, Taizong sent Zhang Yong and Shen Youzhi north; Xue Andu, terrified, called in the Tuoba. Ten thousand Tuoba horse rescued them; Yong and Youzhi broke and fled. The raiders took Qing and Ji and captured Shen Wenxiu and Cui Daogu. They issued another edict:
93
朕承天序，臨御兆民，思闡皇風，以隆治道。 而荊吳僭傲，跨跱一方，天降其殃，以罰有罪，篡戮發於蕭牆，毒害嬰於羣庶。 徐州刺史薛安都、司州刺史常珍奇，深體逆順，歸誠獻款。 遭難已久，飢饉荐臻，或以糊口之功，私力竊盜，或不識王命，藏竄山藪，或為囚徒，先被執繫，元元之命，甚可哀愍。 其曲赦淮北三州之民，自天安二年正月三十日壬寅昧爽以前，諸犯死罪以下，繫囚見徒，一切原遣。 唯子殺父母，孫殺祖父母，弟殺兄，妻殺夫，奴殺主，不從赦例。 若亡命山澤，百日不首，復其初罪。
We take Heaven's order and rule the myriad folk, bent on spreading imperial grace and raising good government. Yet Jing and Wu are proud on their corner; Heaven sends punishment on the guilty. Usurpation began at the palace; poison fell on the people. Xuzhou's Xue Andu and Sizhou's Chang Zhenqi read the times and submitted in loyalty. Years of hardship brought famine on famine; some stole to live, some hid in hills ignorant of the throne, some sat in chains—the common lot is pitiable indeed. We therefore pardon the three northern provinces: all crimes short of death before dawn, first month day 30, Tian'an year 2—all prisoners and convicts are freed. Only parricide, grandfather-murder, fratricide, husband-murder, or master-murder are excluded. Fugitives in hills and marshes who fail to surrender within a hundred days face their original charges again.
94
今陽春之初，東作方興，三州之民，各安其業，以就農桑。 有饑窮不自存，通其市糶之路，鎮統之主，懃加慰納，遵用輕典，以莅新化。 若綏導失中，令民逃亡，加罪無縱。 其普宣下，咸使聞知朕意焉。
Spring tillage begins; let the people of the three provinces return to field and loom. Where hunger leaves men destitute, open grain markets; garrison commanders should comfort them and rule the newly won with a light hand. Fail in governance and drive the people to flight, and punishment will not be spared. Let this be proclaimed below so all may know our will.
95
此後虜復和親，信餉歲至，朝庭亦厚相報答。 泰豫元年，虜狹石鎮主白虎公、安陽鎮主莫索公、貞陽鎮主鵝落生、襄陽王桓天生等，引山蠻馬步二萬餘人，攻圍義陽縣義陽戍。 司州刺史王贍遣從弟司空行參軍思遠、撫軍行參軍王叔瑜擊大破之，虜退走。
Afterward the Tuoba sought peace again; tribute came yearly and the court answered in kind. In Taiyu 1 the Tuoba lords Baihu of Xiashi, Mosuo of Anyang, and Eluosheng of Zhenyang, with Prince Huan Tiansheng of Xiangyang, led twenty thousand mountain Man horse and foot against Yiyang town and garrison. Sizhou inspector Wang Zhan sent his cousin Siyuan, staff officer to the Director of Works, and Wang Shuyu, aide to the Pacifying-North general, to crush them; the raiders fled.
96
自索虜破慕容，據有中國，[74]而芮芮虜有其故地，蓋漢世匈奴之北庭也。 芮芮一號大檀，又號檀檀，亦匈奴別種。 自西路通京師，三萬餘里。 僭稱大號，部眾殷強，歲時遣使詣京師，與中國亢禮，西域諸國焉耆、鄯善、龜茲、姑墨東道諸國，並役屬之。 無城郭，逐水草畜牧，以氈帳為居，隨所遷徙。 其土地深山則當夏積雪，平地則極望數千里，野無青草。 地氣寒凉，馬牛齕枯噉雪，自然肥健。 國政疎簡，不識文書，刻木以記事，其後漸知書契，至今頗有學者。 去北海千餘里，與丁零相接。 常南擊索虜，世為仇讎，故朝庭每羈縻之。
After the Tuoba broke Murong and held China, [74] the Ruru held their old ground—the Han dynasty's Northern Court of the Xiongnu. Ruru is also called Datan or Tantan—another Xiongnu stock. The western road to the capital exceeds thirty thousand li. They take imperial title; their tribes are mighty; yearly envoys reach the capital on equal footing with China. Yanqi, Shanshan, Kucha, Jimo, and the eastern-route states all serve them. They have no cities; they follow grass and water, living in felt tents and moving as they migrate. Deep mountains hold snow through summer; on the plains the eye runs thousands of li without a blade of grass. The climate is harsh; horses and cattle chew dry fodder and snow and grow fat and strong by nature. Government is spare; once they knew no writing and carved wood to record; later they learned script, and even now some study books. A thousand li and more from the Northern Sea they touch the Dingling. They often raid the Tuoba southward; age-old enemies, so the court always keeps them on a loose rein.
97
其東有槃槃國、趙昌國，渡流沙萬里，又有粟特國，太祖世，並奉表貢獻。 粟特大明中遣使獻生師子、火浣布、汗血馬，道中遇寇，失之。
East lie Panpan and Zhaochang; beyond ten thousand li of drifting sands lies Sute—all sent tribute in Taizu's day. In Daming Sute offered live lions, fire-washed cloth, and sweat-blood horses; bandits on the road took them.
98
史臣曰：久矣，匈奴之與中國並也。 自漢氏以前，綿跨年世，紛梗外區，驚震中宇。 周無上算，漢收下策。 魏代分離，種落遷散，數十年間，外郡無風塵之警，邊城早開晚閉，胡馬不敢南臨。 至于晉始，姦黠漸著，密邇畿封，窺候疆埸，俘民略畜者，無歲月而闕焉。 元康以後，風雅雕喪，五胡遞襲，翦覆諸華。 及涉珪以鐵馬長驅，席卷趙、魏，負其眾力，遂與上國爭衡矣。 高祖宏圖盛略，欲以苞括宇宙為念，逮于懸旗清洛，飲馬長涇，北狄衂銳挫鋒，閉重嶮而自固。 于時戎車外動，王命相屬，裳冕委蛇，軺軒繼路，舊老懷思古之情，行人或為之殞涕，自是關、河響動，表裏寧壹。 宮車甫晏，戎心外駭，覆我牢、滑，翦我伊、瀍，是以太祖忿之，開定司、兗，而兵無勝略，棄師隕眾，委甲橫原，捐州亘水，[75]荊、吳銳卒，逸氣未攄，偏城孤將，銜寃就虜，遂蹙境延寇，僅保清東。 自是兵摧勢弱，邊隙稍廣，壯騎陵突，鳴鏑日至，芻牧年傷，禾麥歲犯，小則囚虜吏民，大則俘執長守，羽書繼塗，奔命相屬，青、徐、兗、冀之間蕭然矣。 而自木末以來，並有賢才狡算，妙識兵權，深通戰術，屬鞬凌厲，氣冠百夫，故能威服華甸，志雄羣虜。 至於狸伐纂偽，彌煽凶威，英圖武略，事駕前古，雖冒頓之鷙勇，檀石之驍強，不能及也。 遂西吞河右，東舉龍碣，總括戎荒，地兼萬里。 雖裂土分區，不及魏、晉，而華氓戎落，眾力兼倍。 至乃連騎百萬，南向而斥神華，胡旆映江，穹帳遵渚，京邑荷檐，士女喧惶。 天子內鎮羣心，外御羣寇，役竭民徭，費殫府實，舉天下以攘之，而力猶未足也。 既而虜縱歸師，殲累邦邑，剪我淮州，俘我江縣，喋喋黔首，跼高天，蹐厚地，而無所控告。 強者為轉屍，弱者為繫虜，自江、淮至于清、濟，戶口數十萬，自免湖澤者，百不一焉。 村井空荒，無復鳴雞吠犬。 時歲惟暮春，桑麥始茂，故老遺氓，還號舊落，桓山之響，未足稱哀。 六州蕩然，無復餘蔓殘搆，至於乳鷰赴時，銜泥靡託，一枝之間，連窠十數，春雨裁至，增巢已傾。 雖事舛吳宮，而殲亡匪異，甚矣哉，覆敗之至於此也。 太祖懲禍未深，復興外略，頓兵堅城，棄甲河上，是我有再敗，敵有三勝也。 自此以後，通互市，納和親，而侵疆軼戍，于歲連屬。 逮泰始搆紛，邊將外叛，致夷引寇，亡我四州。 高祖劬勞日昃，思一區宇，旍旗卷舒，僅而後克。 後主守文，刑德不樹，一舉而棄司、兗，再舉而喪徐方，華服蕭條，鞠為茂草，豈直天時，抑由人事。 夫地勢有便習，用兵有短長，胡負駿足，而平原悉車騎之地，南習水鬭，江湖固舟檝之鄉，代馬胡駒，出自冀北，楩柟豫章，植乎中土，蓋天地所以分區域也。 若謂氈裘之民，可以決勝於荊、越，必不可矣； 而曰樓船之夫，可以爭鋒於燕、冀，豈或可乎。 虞詡所謂「走不逐飛」，蓋以我徒而彼騎也。 因此而推勝負，殆可以一言蔽之。
The historian writes: Long have Xiongnu and China shared the world. Before Han, age after age they harried the frontier and shook the heartland. Zhou lacked a winning strategy; Han settled for the lesser plan. When Wei split, the tribes scattered; for decades the outer commanderies saw no dust, border towns opened late and closed early, and Hu horses dared not cross south. From Jin's rise, cunning grew; they hugged the capital's marches and probed the borders—never a year without seizing folk and driving off herds. After Yuankang, culture collapsed; the Five Hu fell on China in waves and overthrew the Hua. When Shegui swept Zhao and Wei at the head of iron horses, counting on his numbers, he dared measure strength against the empire. Gaozu's grand design aimed to embrace all under Heaven; his banners reached clear Luoyang and his horses the long Jing—the northern Di were checked and shut their passes. War chariots rolled abroad and royal orders streamed forth; court robes trailed in procession and light carts filled the roads; elders wept for old glory and travelers for the age—then the passes and rivers stirred and within and without were one. The throne had barely settled when the barbarians struck; they took our Lao and Hua, cut our Yi and Chan—Taizu in wrath opened Si and Yan, yet our armies lacked strategy, hosts died on the plain, armor littered the fields, provinces fell beyond the rivers; [75] Jing and Wu veterans' fire was unspent, lone garrisons went captive in bitterness, borders shrank and raiders spread—only east of Qing was saved. Then strength failed and the frontier widened; bold cavalry raided daily, arrows whistled, herds and fields yearly ruined; small raids took clerks and folk, great ones took prefects and commanders; urgent dispatches choked the roads—Qing, Xu, Yan, and Ji lay waste. Yet from Mumu on they bred able men and cunning stratagems, masters of war and tactics, fierce with bow on the back and spirit above a hundred—so they awed the central plains and aimed at every foe. Liwa's usurpation fanned brutal might; in design and arms he surpassed the ancients—Maodun's fury and Tanshi's fierceness cannot equal him. He swallowed the west of the river, raised banners at Longjie in the east, gathered the barbarian wilds, and held ten thousand li. Though his partition of land fell short of Wei and Jin, Chinese and barbarian together doubled their power. They mustered a million horsemen in succession, marched south to denounce the divine Hua, barbarian banners darkened the river, domed tents lined the islets, the capital bent under its load, and men and women cried out in terror. The emperor steadied hearts at home and held invaders at bay abroad; corvée drained the people and treasuries ran dry—the whole realm was thrown against the foe, yet power still proved insufficient. Then the barbarians withdrew their host yet ravaged town after town, cut our Huai provinces, and seized our Yangzi counties; common folk wailed in misery, cramped under heaven and pressed to earth, with nowhere to seek redress. The strong fell as corpses in the fields, the weak as bound captives; from the Jiang and Huai to the Qing and Ji, hundreds of thousands of households—fewer than one in a hundred reached the lakes and marshes alive. Villages and wells stood empty; no cock crowed, no dog barked. It was only late spring; mulberry and wheat had just turned lush. Old survivors returned to wail over ruined hamlets—even the lament of Mount Huan could scarcely match such sorrow. Six provinces lay utterly waste, not a vine or broken beam remaining; even fledgling swallows arriving in season found no mud to cling to—a dozen nests crowded one branch, and before spring rain had fairly come, the added nests already collapsed. Though the story differs from the fall of Wu, the annihilation was the same—how far ruin had gone! Taizu, disaster's lesson not yet taken to heart, revived campaigns abroad—armies stalled at walled cities, armor abandoned on the river: we suffered two defeats to the enemy's three victories. From then on came border markets and marriage alliances, yet frontier raids and attacks on garrisons followed year after year. When Taishi brought strife, frontier generals rebelled and led barbarians in—we lost four provinces. Gaozu labored past sunset, bent on uniting the realm; banners furled and unfurled before he barely prevailed. The Later Lord kept to the letter of law but built no penal virtue; one campaign lost Si and Yan, another cost Xuzhou—splendid dress withered to weeds: not fate alone, but human failure. Terrain favors different habits and arms have different strengths: the Hu trust swift horses, and the plains suit chariots and cavalry; the south masters water fighting, rivers and lakes the home of boats; Dai horses and Hu colts come from Ji north, nanmu and zhang timber from the central lands—such is how Heaven and Earth divide the realm. To say felt-clad northerners could decide victory in Jing and Yue is plainly impossible; and that tower-ship men could fight for mastery in Yan and Ji—how could that be? As Yu Xu put it, "the walker cannot catch the flyer"—we march on foot while they ride. From this one may infer the outcome of battle—perhaps a single phrase says it all.
99
校勘記
Textual collation notes
100
并州刺史東嬴公司馬騰於晉陽為匈奴所圍各本並脫「東」字，據晉書帝紀訂補。
Inspector of Bingzhou, Duke of Dongying Sima Teng, was besieged at Jinyang by the Xiongnu: all editions drop 「dong」, restored per the Jin Shu annals.
101
其後為苻堅所破執還長安後聽北歸鞬死子開字涉珪代立按據魏書序紀，什翼鞬為苻堅將苻洛所破後，旋為其庶長子寔君所殺，未嘗執送長安。 拓跋涉珪為什翼鞬之孫，亦非什翼鞬子。 又魏書太祖紀，太祖道武皇帝諱珪，此云名開字涉珪，開珪音相近，蓋為異譯。
Later text says he was defeated by Fu Jian, taken to Chang'an, then allowed to return north—Jian died and his son Kai, styled Shegui, succeeded: per the Wei Shu preface annals, Yiyujian was defeated by Fu Luo, then killed by his eldest son by a concubine, Shijun; he was never sent to Chang'an. Tuoba Shegui was Yiyujian's grandson, not his son. The Wei Shu Taizu annals give Emperor Daowu the taboo name Gui; here the name is Kai with style Shegui—Kai and Gui sound alike, likely variant transliterations.
102
遣鄭兵將軍揚州刺史山陽公達奚斤吳兵將軍廣州刺史蒼梧公公孫表尚書滑稽「鄭兵」魏書作「晉兵」。 「蒼梧公」魏書作「蒼梧子」。
He sent General of Zheng Troops and Inspector of Yangzhou Duke of Shanyang Daxi Jin, General of Wu Troops and Inspector of Guangzhou Duke of Cangwu Gongsun Biao, and Master of Geese and Cranes: the Wei Shu reads 「Jin Troops」 for 「Zheng Troops.」 For 「Duke of Cangwu,」 the Wei Shu reads 「Son of Cangwu.」
103
將軍劉憐領二百騎至雍丘以防之各本並脫「軍」字，據通鑑宋武帝永初三年補。
General Liu Ling led two hundred horsemen to Yongqiu on guard: all editions drop 「jun」, restored per the Zizhi Tongjian, Song Wu-di year 3 of Yongchu.
104
陳留太守嚴㥄為虜所獲「嚴㥄」各本並作「嚴慢」，據魏書改。 通鑑作「嚴稜」。
Chenliu Prefect Yan Ling was captured by the barbarians: all editions read 「Yan Man」 for 「Yan Ling,」 corrected per the Wei Shu. The Zizhi Tongjian reads 「Yan Ling.」
105
并力向廣等力不敵張森楷校勘記云：「當疊廣等二字。」
They combined forces against Guang and the rest but were overmatched: Zhang Senkai's collation notes: 「The words Guang deng should be duplicated.」
106
虜將安平公鵝青二軍七千人南渡「鵝青」魏書作「娥青」。
The barbarian general Duke of Anping E Qing led two armies of seven thousand south: the Wei Shu writes the name with the female 「e」 radical.
107
鄭兵與公孫表及宋兵將軍交州刺史交阯侯普幾萬五千騎「普幾」即魏書之「周幾」。 魏書官氏志：「獻帝以次兄為普氏，後改為周氏。」
Zheng Troops with Gongsun Biao and General of Song Troops, Inspector of Jiaozhou Marquis of Jiaozhi Pu Ji with fifteen thousand horse: 「Pu Ji」 is the Wei Shu's 「Zhou Ji.」 Wei Shu Gazetteer of Clans: 「Emperor Xian named the next younger brother's line Pu, later changed to Zhou.」
108
虜又遣楚兵將軍徐州刺史安平公涉歸幡能健 〈至〉 東擊青州通鑑考異云：「索虜傳，涉歸幡能健。 按後魏書無涉歸等姓名，蓋皆胡中舊名，即叔孫建等也。」 孫虨宋書考論云：「涉歸幡能健，即叔孫建也。 檀道濟傳作乙㫋眷，皆語音轉譯，無定字。」 按魏書官氏志：「獻帝又命叔父之胤曰乙㫋氏，後改為叔孫氏。」 涉歸幡蓋乙㫋之異譯。
The barbarians also sent General of Chu Troops, Inspector of Xuzhou, Duke of Anping Shegui Fan Nengjian 〈to〉 to strike Qingzhou in the east. Zizhi Tongjian variants: 「In the Suo Lu biography, Shegui Fan Nengjian. The Later Wei Shu has no names like Shegui; they are likely old barbarian names—i.e., Shusun Jian and the like. 」 Sun Ao's Song Shu studies: 「Shegui Fan Nengjian is Shusun Jian. Tan Daoji's biography has Yigan Juan—all phonetic renderings with no fixed characters. 」 Wei Shu Gazetteer of Clans: 「Emperor Xian named the paternal uncle's line Yigan, later changed to Shusun. 」 Shegui Fan is likely a variant of Yigan.
109
車騎參軍王玄謨領千人「參軍」各本並作「將軍」。 孫虨宋書考論云：「玄謨時不得為車騎將軍。 蓋參軍之誤。」 按孫說是，今改正。
Chariots-and-Cavalry Adjutant Wang Xuamo led a thousand men: all editions read 「General」 for 「Adjutant.」 Sun Ao's Song Shu studies: 「At that time Xuamo could not have held the title General of Chariots and Cavalry. This is likely an error for Adjutant. 」 Sun is right; emended accordingly.
110
若沈叔狸已進「進」各本並作「追」，據通鑑改。
If Shen Shuli had already advanced: all editions read 「pursued」 for 「advanced,」 corrected per the Zizhi Tongjian.
111
劉粹使助高道瑾戍守「使」各本並作「便」，據通鑑改。 又各本並脫「守」字，據通鑑補。
Liu Cui sent reinforcements to help Gao Daojin hold the garrison: all editions read 「then」 for 「sent,」 corrected per the Zizhi Tongjian. All editions also omit 「defend,」 restored per the Zizhi Tongjian.
112
元德因留綏撫「留」各本並作「苗」。 孫虨宋書考論云：「苗當作留。」 按孫說是，今改正。
Yuande stayed on to pacify the region: all editions read 「Miao」 for 「remained.」 Sun Ao's Song Shu studies: 「Miao should be Remained. 」 Sun is right; emended accordingly.
113
虜悅勃大肥率三千餘騎悅勃大肥即閭大肥，魏書有傳。
The barbarian Yuebo Dafei led over three thousand horse: Yuebo Dafei is Lü Dafei, who has a biography in the Wei Shu.
114
移鎮長廣之不其城「不其」各本並作「不期」，殿本考證云：「當作不其。」 今改正。
He shifted his garrison to Buqi in Changguang: all editions misread the place name as 「not as expected」; the Palace Edition notes: 「Should be Buqi. 」 Emended accordingly.
115
夔以固守功三朝本、北監本、殿本作「下以固守以功」，毛本、局本作「夔固守以功」。 殿本考證云：「當作『夔以固守功』五字。」 今據殿本考證訂正。
Kui was rewarded for steadfast defense: Three-Dynasties, Northern Directorate, and Palace editions have a garbled reading; Mao and Bureau editions read 「Kui held fast and was rewarded.」 Palace Edition notes: 「The correct reading is the five words 『Kui was rewarded for holding fast.』 」 Corrected per the Palace Edition notes.
116
虎牢被圍二百日各本並脫「虎牢」二字，據元龜三九九、通鑑補。
Hulao was besieged two hundred days: all editions drop 「Hulao,」 restored per Yuangui 399 and the Zizhi Tongjian.
117
德祖唯保一城三朝本作「一保一城」，北監本、毛本、殿本、局本作「共保一城」，元龜三九九、通鑑作「德祖唯保一城」。 今據元龜、通鑑訂正。
Dezu held only one city: Three-Dynasties reads 「one held one city」; Northern Directorate, Mao, Palace, and Bureau read 「together held one city」; Yuangui 399 and the Zizhi Tongjian read 「Dezu alone held one city.」 Corrected per Yuangui and the Zizhi Tongjian.
118
每答表書「答」各本並作「益」，據通鑑改。
Whenever he answered memorials: all editions read 「benefited」 for 「replied,」 corrected per the Zizhi Tongjian.
119
德祖滎陽陽武人也「陽武」各本並作「南武陽」，據晉書毛寶傳改。 洪頤煊諸史考異云：「南武陽當是陽武之譌。」
Dezu was from Yangwu in Xingyang: all editions read 「Nanyangwu」 for 「Yangwu,」 corrected per the Mao Bao biography in the Jin Shu. Hong Yixuan's Variae lectiones: 「Nanyangwu is likely a corruption of Yangwu.」
120
又除督司州之河東平陽河北雍州之京兆豫州之潁川兗州之陳留九郡軍事滎陽太守按九郡數之祇六郡，疑「九」為「六」字之譌。
He was also made supervisor of military affairs for nine commanderies (Hedong and Pingyang in Sizhou, Jingzhao in Yongzhou, Yingchuan in Yuzhou, Chenliu in Yanzhou, and the like) and prefect of Xingyang: only six commanderies are named—「nine」 is likely a corruption of 「six.」
121
少帝曰「少帝」下蓋脫「詔」字。
The Young Emperor said: 「edict」 is likely omitted after 「Young Emperor.」
122
龍驤將軍兗州刺史徐琰東郡太守王景度並坐失守「東郡」各本並作「東陽」。 按上文有滑臺戍主、寧遠將軍、東郡太守王景度，則作東陽太守者誤，今改正。
Dragon-Prancing General and Inspector of Yanzhou Xu Yan and Prefect of Dongjun Wang Jingdu were both punished for losing their posts: all editions read 「Dongyang」 for 「Dongjun.」 The text above names Wang Jingdu garrison commander of Huatai, General Who Pacifies the Distance, and Prefect of Dongjun—so 「Prefect of Dongyang」 is wrong; emended accordingly.
123
使大將吐伐斤西伐長安此吐伐斤即達奚斤之異譯。
He sent the great general Tufajin west against Chang'an—Tufajin is a variant of Daxi Jin.
124
生禽赫連昌于安定各本並作「生禽赫連昌中山王安定」十字。 孫虨宋書考論云：「按斤時軍安定，中山王三字疑誤文。 又按王當作于，中山二字衍。」 按孫說是，今訂正。
He captured Helian Chang alive at Anding: all editions have the spurious ten-character reading with 「Prince of Zhongshan.」 Sun Ao's Song Shu studies: 「Jin's army was at Anding; the three words 「Prince of Zhongshan」 are likely spurious. Moreover, 「at」 should read 「yu」, and 「Zhongshan」 is intrusive. 」 Sun is right; emended accordingly.
125
赫連氏有名衞臣者孫虨宋書考論云：「赫連氏上當有『初』字。」 按衞臣魏書作衞辰，蓋音譯無定字。
The Helian clan had a Weichen: Sun Ao's Song Shu studies note that chu (at first) is missing before Helian clan. 」 The Wei Shu writes Weichen as Weichen—phonetic rendering with no fixed characters.
126
以道懷二州士民孫虨宋書考論云：「懷下蓋脫遠字。」
To show compassion for the gentry and commoners of the two provinces: Sun Ao notes 「yuan」 is likely omitted after 「huai.」
127
虜悉斂河南一戍歸河北孫虨宋書考論云：「一當作諸。」
The barbarians withdrew all Henan garrisons to Hebei: Sun Ao notes 「one」 should be 「all.」
128
尹沖及司馬滎陽太守崔模抗節不降投塹死通鑑考異云：「宋書云模抗節不降，投塹死。 按後魏書，模仕魏，為武城男，宋書誤也。」
Yin Chong and Sima, Prefect of Xingyang Cui Mo refused surrender and leaped into the moat to die: Zizhi Tongjian variants: 「The Song Shu says Mo died defiant in the moat. The Later Wei Shu says Mo served Wei and became Baron of Wucheng—the Song Shu is wrong.」
129
虜鎮東將軍武昌王宜勒庫莫提移書益梁二州「宜勒」當是「直勤」之譌。 據魏書，時武昌王提為平原鎮都大將。
The barbarian General Who Guards the East, Prince of Wuchang Yile Kumoti, wrote Yi and Liang provinces: 「Yile」 is likely a corruption of 「Zhiqin.」 Per the Wei Shu, Prince of Wuchang Ti was then Grand General of the Pingyuan Garrison.
130
逮我烈祖重之聖明應運龍飛廓清燕趙按此烈祖謂道武帝拓跋珪。 魏書禮志：「高祖太和十五年四月，經始明堂，改營太廟。 詔曰：『祖有功，宗有德，自非功德厚者，不得擅祖宗之名。 ……烈祖 〈拓跋珪〉 有創基之功，世祖 〈拓跋燾〉 有開拓之德，宜為祖宗，百世不遷。 而遠祖平文 〈拓跋鬱律〉 ，功未多於昭成 〈拓跋什翼犍〉 ，然廟號為太祖。 道武建業之勳，高於平文，廟號為烈祖。 比功校德，以為未允。 朕今奉尊道武為太祖』」云云。 據是則北魏道武帝廟號初為烈祖，孝文帝太和十五年後，始改稱太祖，正位七室之首。 魏收魏書於禮志載其事，而於本紀略之。 或謂「烈祖」當作「太祖」，非是。
「Our Liezu, doubly honored, sage and bright, received the mandate and rose like a dragon, sweeping Yan and Zhao clear」—here Liezu means Emperor Daowu Tuoba Gui. Wei Shu Rites Treatise: 「In the fourth month of Taihe year 15, Gaozu began the Bright Hall and rebuilt the Grand Temple. The edict read: 「「Zu」 honors merit, 「zong」 honors virtue; only the greatly meritorious may bear the titles of zu and zong. ……Liezu 〈Tuoba Gui〉 had founded the dynasty; Shizu 〈Tuoba Tao〉 had opened new lands—they should be zu and zong, unmoved for a hundred generations. Yet the remote ancestor Pingwen 〈Tuoba Yulü〉 , his achievements no greater than Zhaocheng's 〈Tuoba Shiyijian〉 , yet bore the temple name Taizu. Daowu's founding merit exceeded Pingwen's, yet his temple name was Liezu. Weighing merit against virtue, this seemed unjust. I now honor Daowu as Taizu,」 and so forth. Thus Northern Wei Emperor Daowu was first temple-named Liezu; after Xiaowen's Taihe 15 he was renamed Taizu, head of the seven ancestral shrines. Wei Shou records this in the Rites Treatise but omits it in the annals. Some hold 「Liezu」 should be 「Taizu」—that is mistaken.
131
使持節侍中都督雍秦二州諸軍事安西將軍建興公吐奚愛弼吐奚愛弼即古弼。 通鑑考異云：「古弼，宋索虜傳作吐奚愛弼，氐胡傳作吐奚弼，蓋其舊姓。 今從後魏書。」 按魏書官氏志：「吐奚氏後改為古氏。」
Bearer of the Staff, Palace Attendant, supervisor of Yong and Qin, General Who Pacifies the West, Duke of Jianxing Tuxi Aibi—Tuxi Aibi is Gu Bi. Zizhi Tongjian variants: 「Gu Bi—in the Song Suo Lu biography Tuxi Aibi, in the Di Hu biography Tuxi Bi—likely his original clan name. The text now follows the Later Wei Shu." Per the Wei Shu's Record of Offices and Clans: "The Tuxi clan was later renamed the Gu clan."
132
使持節侍中都督雍梁益四州諸軍事安西將軍開府儀同三司淮陰公皮豹子四州數之祇三州。 孫虨宋書考論云：「雍上當有秦字。」 「開府」上各本並衍「啟」字，今刪。
Pi Baozi, Duke of Huaiyin, held the full grand title over four provinces—but only three are actually named (Yong, Liang, Yi). Sun Ao notes in his Song Shu Critical Discussion: "The character Qin should appear before Yong." All editions wrongly insert "Qi" before "Grand Marshal"; it is removed here.
133
散騎常侍安南將軍雍州刺史南平公娥後延出自駱谷娥後延，即娥青子娥延。
E Houyan, Duke of Nanping and inspector of Yong, emerged through Luogu Pass—he is E Yan, son of E Qing.
134
使持節都督洛豫州及河內諸軍事鎮南大將軍開府儀同三司淮南王直勤它大翰為其後繼「直勤」各本並作「直勒」，今改正。 下文亦作「直懃」，皆魏主子弟之稱。 參見本書卷六五杜驥傳校勘記第十條、卷七二文九王傳校勘記第三條。
Prince of Huainan Zhijin, with Tada Han in the rear—all editions wrongly read Zhijin as "Zhile"; corrected here. The text below also has "Zhiqin"—titles for the Wei emperor's sons and brothers. See collation note 10 in juan 65 (Du Ji) and note 3 in juan 72 (Nine Princes of Wen).
135
在之一亡十句疑有誤。
"In it one perished ten"—the line is probably corrupt.
136
吾等別愛後自馳檄相譬書句疑有誤。
"We and others separately loved, afterward ourselves galloping with proclamations to compare letters"—the line is probably corrupt.
137
饋餼之秩「秩」各本並作「秋」，據通鑑宋文帝元嘉二十二年改。
The stipend of provisions and gifts—"rank" in all editions is written "autumn"; changed according to the Zizhi Tongjian, twenty-second year of Yuanjia under Emperor Wen of Song.
138
連兵大壇「大壇」，下文又云「芮芮一號大檀」。 蓋譯音無定字。
Lianbing, "Great Tan"—the text below also calls the Ruru "Great Tan." Transliterated names have no fixed characters.
139
綏遠將軍汝陽潁川二郡太守郭道隱並棄城奔走「汝陽」各本並作「汝南」，據本書文帝紀改。
Guo Daoyin, administrator of Ruyang and Yingchuan, fled both posts—all editions read Ruyang as Runan; corrected per the Annals of Emperor Wen.
140
遣右軍行參軍陳憲行郡事「右軍」各本並作「左軍」，按下文文帝詔稱「右軍行參軍陳憲」，今據改。 時南平王鑠為右將軍、豫州刺史，陳憲蓋為其參佐。
Chen Xian was sent as Right Army acting aide—all editions say Left Army; corrected per Emperor Wen's edict below. Prince of Nanping Shuo was then General of the Right and Yuzhou inspector; Chen Xian was likely on his staff.
141
燾遣從弟永昌王庫仁真步騎萬餘孫虨宋書考論云：「據魏書，永昌王仁，燾從子，非弟也。」
Tuo sent Prince of Yongchang Kurenzhen with ten thousand troops—Sun Ao notes the Wei Shu calls him Ren, Tuo's nephew, not his brother.
142
舉參軍劉泰之自代通鑑考異云：「劉泰之，後魏紀作劉坦之，今從宋書。」
He recommended Liu Taizhi as his replacement—the Tongjian reads Liu Tanzhi in the Wei annals; the Song Shu reading is kept.
143
謙之領泰之軍副殿中將軍程天祚督戰「軍副」各本並作「軍嗣」。 孫虨宋書考論云：「按文義，嗣字疑副字之誤，連上為句，泰之則軍主也。 列傳軍副屢見。」 按孫說是，今改正。
Qianzhi led Taizhi; the army deputy, Palace Gentlemen-General Cheng Tianzuo, supervised the battle—"army deputy" in all editions is written "army heir." Sun Ao in his Song Shu Critical Discussion says: "According to the sense of the text, the character 'heir' is suspected to be an error for 'deputy'; join with the preceding as one clause—Taizhi was then the army commander. Army deputy" appears often in the biographies." Sun is right; corrected here.
144
不若彼翳行竊步也「不若」二字各本並作「否」一字，據通鑑訂正。
"Not like those who walk in shadow and steal with furtive steps"—the two characters "not like" in all editions are written as the single character "no"; corrected according to the Zizhi Tongjian.
145
彼募人以來各本並脫「彼」、「以來」三字，據通鑑補。
"Since they recruited men"—all editions omit the three characters "they" and "since then"; supplemented according to the Zizhi Tongjian.
146
取彼亦不須我兵刃各本並脫「不」字，據通鑑補。
"Taking them also does not require our weapons"—all editions omit the character "not"; supplemented according to the Zizhi Tongjian.
147
而彼無厭「彼」字下通鑑有「志」字。
"Yet they are insatiable"—below the character "they" the Zizhi Tongjian has the character "ambition."
148
傖人謂換易為博此七字，各本並作正文。 孫虨宋書考論云：「『傖人謂換易為博』句，非魏主書中語，蓋史臣注文。 沈書往往有小注，而傳寫誤為大字。」 按孫說是，今改為注文。
"Barbarians call barter 'bo'"—all editions print these seven characters as main text. Sun Ao: "'Barbarians call barter bo' is not from the Wei emperor's letter but a historian's gloss. Shen Yue's text often has small notes miscopied as main text." Sun is right; it is now marked as a note.
149
統輔國將軍楊文德宣威將軍巴西梓潼二郡太守劉弘宗「宣威將軍」各本並作「宣武將軍」，據魏書島夷劉裕傳改。 按百官志，有宣威將軍，無宣武將軍。
Yang Wende and Liu Hongzong—all editions read General Who Displays Might as General Who Establishes Might; corrected per the Wei Shu biography of Liu Yu. The offices list has General Who Displays Might, not General Who Establishes Might.
150
部龍驤將軍杜坦寧遠將軍竟陵太守南城縣開國侯劉德願「杜」各本並譌「枝」，據通鑑改。
Du Tan and Liu Deyuan—all editions corrupt Du as Zhi; corrected per the Tongjian.
151
稜威震[氵彥]殿本考證云：「[氵彥]字不見字書，疑是殄字之誤。」
"Majestic might shakes [the cited text]"-the Palace Edition suspects the rare character is a mistake for "exterminate."
152
揚南徐兗江四州富有之民家資滿五十萬僧尼滿二十萬者並四分換一「五十萬」各本作「五千萬」，「二十萬」各本作「二千萬」，並據通典食貨典、通鑑訂正。 「換」通典、通鑑作「借」，義同。
Wealth tax on the four provinces—all editions inflate thresholds to fifty million and twenty million; corrected per the Tongdian and Tongjian to five hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. The Tongdian and Tongjian read "exchange" as "borrow"—same meaning.
153
過此率計「計」各本並作「討」，據通典食貨典改。
Beyond this, calculate by rate—"calculate" in all editions is written "punish"; changed according to the Tongdian, Treatise on Food and Goods.
154
從弟高梁王阿斗埿自青州道高梁王阿斗埿魏書作高涼王那。
Prince of Gaoliang Adougui from Qingzhou—the Wei Shu calls him Prince of Gaoliang Na.
155
遣楚王樹洛真南康侯杜道儁進軍清西楚王樹洛真魏書作楚王建。
Prince of Chu Shuluozhen and Marquis of Nankang Du Daojun marched on Qingxi—the Wei Shu reads Shuluozhen as Jian.
156
趨苞橋至欲渡清西「苞橋」水經泗水注作「泡橋」。 泗水下納泡水，有清水之稱，即所謂清泗。 故泗水入淮之口稱清口。 「清西」弘治本、北監本、毛本、殿本、局本作「清河」，百衲本作「清西」，今從百衲本。
They rushed to Bao Bridge to cross Qingxi—the Shuijing reads Bao as Pao Bridge. The Si receives the Pao, also called Clear Water—the "Clear Si." Hence the Si's mouth at the Huai is called Qingkou (Clear Mouth). "Qingxi"—most editions read Qinghe; the Baibona edition has Qingxi; followed here.
157
又募人賷冶葛酒置空村中「冶葛酒」通鑑作「野葛酒」。 胡三省注云：「野葛有毒，食之殺人。」
Poisoned wine was left in empty villages—the Tongjian reads yege as wild ge wine. Hu Sanxing notes: "Wild ge is poisonous and lethal."
158
燾怒賜死按北史魏太武五王傳，晉王伏羅，太平真君八年病死，非為燾所殺。
Tuo had him put to death—but the Northern History says Prince of Jin Fuluoluo died of illness in Taiping Zhenjun 8, not by Tuo's order.
159
資因為易通鑑宋文帝元嘉二十九年作「因資為易」。 胡三省注云：「謂因敵取資，於事為易。」
"Resources make it easy"—the Tongjian, the twenty-ninth year of Yuanjia, reads "taking the enemy's supplies makes it easy." Hu Sanxing: "It means living off the enemy—an easy course."
160
柳元景王玄謨顏竣謝莊檀和之褚湛之以為不宜許「顏竣」各本並作「顧竣」，今改正。
Liu Yuanjing, Wang Xuamo, Yan Jun, Xie Zhuang, Tan Hezhi, and Chu Zhiyi opposed the grant—all editions read Yan Jun as Gu Jun; corrected.
161
使持節征東大將軍安定王直懃伐伏玄伐伏玄即魏書之安定王休。
Prince of Anding Zhijin Fafuxuan is the Wei Shu's Prince of Anding Xiu.
162
侍中尚書左僕射安西大將軍平北公直懃美晨美晨即魏書之宜都王目辰。 初封南平公，此作平北公，封名不同。
Duke of Pingbei Zhijin Meichen is the Wei Shu's Prince of Yidu Muchen. First enfeoffed Duke of Nanping; here Duke of Pingbei—different titles.
163
使持節征南大將軍勃海王直懃天賜即魏書之汝陰王天賜，封名不同。
Prince of Bohai Zhijin Tianci is the Wei Shu's Prince of Ruyin Tianci—different fief names.
164
使持節征南將軍京兆王直懃子推各本並脫「推」字，據魏書補。
Bearer of the Staff, General Who Conquers the South, Prince of Jingzhao, Zhijin Zitui—all editions omit the character "Tui"; supplemented according to the Wei Shu.
165
使持節征南大將軍宜陽王直懃新成即魏書之陽平王新成，封名不同。
Prince of Yiyang Zhijin Xincheng is the Wei Shu's Prince of Yangping Xincheng—different fief names.
166
羽直征東將軍北平公拔敦及義陽王劉昶拔敦即魏書之長孫敦。
Duke of Pingbei Badun and Prince of Yiyang Liu Chang—Badun is the Wei Shu's Zhangsun Dun.
167
使荊揚沾德義之風「揚」各本並作「陽」。 張元濟校勘記云：「陽當作揚。」 按張校是，今改正。
Cause Jing and Yang to be touched by the wind of virtue and righteousness—"Yang" in all editions is written "Yang" (sun). Zhang Yuanji's collation note says: "Yang (sun) should be Yang (the province)." Zhang is right; corrected here.
168
自索虜破慕容據有中國「慕容」下各本並衍「蠻馬二萬餘人攻圍義陽」十字，係上文重出，今刪去。
After the Suo barbarians defeated Murong and held China—all editions repeat ten characters about a siege of Yiyang from earlier text; removed.
169
捐州亘水張森楷校勘記云：「州當作舟。」
"Abandon province spanning water"—Zhang Senkai's collation note says: "Province should be boat."