1
藩鎮宣武彰義澤潞
The buffer regions of Xuanwu, Zhangyi, and Zelu
2
劉玄佐,滑州匡城人。 少倜蕩,不自業,為縣捕盜,犯法,吏笞辱幾死,乃亡命從永平軍,稍為牙將。 大歷中,李靈耀據汴州反,玄佐乘其無備,襲取宋州,有詔以州遂隸其軍,節度使李勉即表署刺史。
Liu Xuanzuo was from Kuangcheng in Hua Prefecture. As a young man he was wild and idle. He worked as a county constable hunting bandits, broke the law, and was beaten nearly to death by the magistrate's men. He fled and enlisted in the Yongping Army, eventually becoming a junior guard officer. In the Dali period Li Lingyao rebelled and held Bianzhou. Xuanzuo caught him unprepared and took Songzhou; an edict attached the prefecture to his command, and Governor Li Mian submitted a memorial appointing him prefect.
3
德宗建中初,進兼御史中丞,充宋、亳、潁節度使。 時李納叛,李洧以徐州歸,納急攻之,詔玄佐援洧,大破納兵,斬首萬餘級,東南餉漕乃通。 進圍濮州,徇濮陽,皆下,再降其守將,遂通濮陽津。 遷檢校兵部尚書、兼曹濮觀察、淄青兗鄆招討使、汴滑都統副使。
At the start of Dezong's Jianzhong era he rose to Acting Censor-in-Chief and Military Commissioner of Song, Bo, and Ying. When Li Na rebelled and Li Xu brought Xuzhou back to the court, Na pressed the siege. Xuanzuo was ordered to relieve Xu, routed Na's forces with more than ten thousand heads taken, and southeastern supply convoys could move again. He besieged Puzhou and swept Puyang; both fell. He twice forced the garrison commanders to yield and reopened the ford at Puyang. He was made Acting Minister of War, Concurrent Observation Commissioner for Cao-Pu, Pacification Commissioner for Zi-Qing-Yan-Yan, and Deputy Supreme Commander of Bian-Hua.
4
李希烈之反,玄佐與李勉、陳少遊、哥舒曜聯兵屯淮、汝,數困賊。 帝在奉天,垂意關東,乃詔檢校尚書左僕射、同中書門下平章事。 希烈攻陳州,玄佐救之,希烈走,遂進取汴州。 詔加汴宋節度使、陳州諸軍行營都統。 玄佐本名洽,至是賜名以尊寵之。 入朝,復兼涇原、四鎮、北庭兵馬副元帥,檢校司徒。
When Li Xilie rose, Xuanzuo allied with Li Mian, Chen Shaoyou, and Geshu Yao, massing troops on the Huai and Ru and repeatedly pinning the rebels. With the emperor at Fengtian and his mind on the east, Xuanzuo was appointed Acting Left Vice Director and Grand Councilor. Xilie besieged Chenzhou; Xuanzuo drove him off and pressed on to take Bianzhou. He was given Bian-Song governorship and overall command of the Chenzhou field armies. His birth name was Qia; the court now bestowed the name Xuanzuo as a mark of favor. At court he was additionally named Deputy Grand Marshal for Jingyuan, the Four Garrisons, and Beiting forces, and Acting Minister of Works.
5
性豪縱,輕財好厚賞,故下益困。 汴自李忠臣以來,士卒驕,不能自還,至玄佐彌甚。 其後殺帥長,大鈔劫,狃於利而然也。 玄佐貴,母尚在,賢婦人也。 常月織絁一端,示不忘本。 數教敕玄佐盡臣節。 見縣令走廷中白事,退,戒曰:「長吏恐懼卑甚。 吾思而父吏於縣,亦當爾。 而據案當之,可安乎?」 玄佐感悟,故待下益加禮。 汴有相國寺,或傳佛軀汗流,玄佐自往大施金帛,於是將吏、商賈奔走輸金錢,惟恐後。 十日,玄佐敕止,籍所入得巨萬,因以贍軍。 其權譎類若此。 初,李納遣使至汴,玄佐盛飾女子進之,厚饋遺,皆得其陰謀,故納最憚之。 所寵吏張士南及假子樂士朝貲皆鉅萬; 而士朝私玄佐嬖妾,懼事覺,冘玄佐,死,年五十八,贈太傅,謚曰壯武。
Extravagant by nature and quick to spend on rich rewards, he left his men all the harder pressed. From Li Zhongchen onward the Bian soldiery had grown insubordinate; under Xuanzuo the disorder deepened. They went on to kill their commanders and mount great plunder—accustomed to gain and reckless of restraint. Though now a great lord, he still had his mother—a woman of real virtue. Each month she wove a bolt of coarse cloth, a reminder never to forget where they came from. She repeatedly urged him to observe full loyalty toward the throne. Once she saw a county magistrate hurry in to report; when he left she warned her son, "That magistrate was terribly cowed. I remember your father in county office; no doubt he was humbled the same way. And you sit above him as if that were natural—is that seemly?" Xuanzuo took the lesson to heart and afterward showed his subordinates more respect. At the Xiangguo Monastery word went around that the Buddha's body was sweating. Xuanzuo went himself and gave lavish gold and silk; officers, traders, and merchants vied to donate for fear of coming late. On the tenth day he called the gifts in, tallied an immense haul, and turned it to army pay. Such was the kind of stratagem he favored. When Li Na sent envoys to Bian, Xuanzuo entertained them with lavishly adorned women and rich presents and learned their whole plot—so Na feared him above all. His favorite clerk Zhang Shinan and adopted son Yue Shichao each piled up wealth in the millions; Shichao had secretly taken one of Xuanzuo's concubines; afraid he would be found out he poisoned him. Xuanzuo died at fifty-eight and was posthumously enfeoffed Grand Tutor with the posthumous name Zhuangwu.
6
軍中匿喪俟代,帝亦為隱。 逾三日乃發喪。 使至,帝問所欲立,曰:「陜虢觀察使吳湊可乎?」 監軍孟介、行軍盧瑗以為便,乃拜湊為節度使。 至汜水,玄佐柩將遷,士請具禮,瑗不許,眾皆怒。 陵晨,甲而噪,起玄佐子士寧於喪,使坐重榻,墨其衣,尊為留後,殺大將曹金岸、浚儀令李邁,醢之,唯瑗、介獲免。 士寧乃出貯財分勞吏士。 介以聞,帝召宰相計議,竇參曰:「汴人挾李納以邀命,若不許,勢且合,不可解。」 遂以士寧為左金吾衛將軍,嗣節度。
The army hid his death while waiting for a replacement; the court winked at it. Three days passed before the obsequies were made public. When an envoy came the emperor asked whom they wanted. They answered, "Would Wu Cou of Shaanxi-Guo do?" The army overseer Meng Jie and Chief of Staff Lu Yuan agreed, and Cou was commissioned governor. At Sishui, when the coffin was to be moved, the soldiers demanded full honors; Yuan refused and the men flared up. At dawn the men armed and shouted, set Shining on the coffin on a high seat, smeared his clothes with ink, hailed him leave-behind commander, killed Generals Cao Jin'an and Magistrate Li Mai of Lingyi, salted their corpses, and spared Yuan and Jie alone. Shining opened the treasury and rewarded the officers and ranks. Jie reported in; the emperor convened the council. Dou Can said, "The Bian troops are using Li Na to hold the court hostage—refuse them and they will surely join him and the affair will be beyond remedy." Shining was made Left Golden-Crown Guard General and confirmed as governor.
7
始,玄佐養子士幹與士朝皆來京師,士幹知玄佐死無狀,遣奴持刀紿為吊,入殺士朝於次。 帝惡其專,亦賜士幹死。
Xuanzuo's adopted sons Shigan and Shichao had been in the capital. Shigan, suspecting foul play in his father's death, sent a servant with a blade under pretense of mourning and killed Shichao in his quarters. The emperor abhorred his private justice and had Shigan executed too.
8
士寧未授詔時,私遣人結王武俊、劉濟、田緒等,諸鎮不直之,皆執其使。 而士寧忍暴,嘗手殺人杯案間; 又強烝父諸妾,逼吏民妻女亂之,或裸而觀; 每畋獵,數日乃還。 其下厭苦不服。
Before the edict reached him Shining secretly contacted Wang Wujun, Liu Ji, Tian Xu, and others; the other fiefs would not support him and detained every envoy. He was brutal—sometimes killing guests at table with his own hand; he violated his father's concubines and took officials' and commoners' women by force, sometimes making them perform naked; when he hunted he stayed out for days on end. His men wearied of him and would not stand behind him.
9
大將李萬榮者,故與玄佐同裏相善,寬厚得士心。 士寧忌之,奪其兵,使攝州事。 嘗引眾二萬畋城南,未還,萬榮晨入府,召所留親兵告曰:「天子有詔召大夫,俾我代節度。 人賜錢三萬。」 士皆拜。 於是分兵閉諸門,使告士寧曰:「詔書召大夫,宜速去,不然,事急且傳首以獻。」 士寧知眾不與,將五百騎出奔,次中牟,亡者已半,至東都,惟僮妾數十人從之。 既至京師,詔就第,禁出入。 萬榮斬其支附數十人,以二十萬緡勞軍,詔籍士寧家貲給之。 拜萬榮兵馬留後。 於是藉驕兵數百人,悉遣西防秋,當戍者怨之。 大校韓惟清、張彥琳等請往,不許,使其子乃將,未行,彥琳等因其怨,誘使反攻萬榮,不勝,劫運財、民貲,殺掠數千人而潰。 惟清奔鄭州,彥琳走東都自歸,有詔宥死竄惡地。 殘士奔宋州,劉逸淮撫之,萬榮悉誅其妻子,以故眾不安,或呼於市曰:「大軍至,城且破。」 萬榮捕按之,或言為士寧所教,萬榮斬之,以狀聞,故士寧斥置郴州。
Li Wanrong, once Xuanzuo's neighbor and friend, was generous and held the soldiers' regard. Shining feared him, took away his troops, and left him administering the prefecture. With Shining hunting south of the city with twenty thousand men, Wanrong entered headquarters at dawn, called the loyal troops in garrison and announced, "The Son of Heaven has recalled the commissioner—I am your new governor. Every soldier will receive thirty thousand cash." The men bowed assent. Troops sealed the gates and a messenger told Shining, "The edict calls you—go quickly, or in haste we may present your head." Seeing he had no support Shining fled with five hundred horse; by Zhongmu half his following was gone; at Luoyang only a handful of concubines remained. In the capital he was confined to his house and forbidden to leave. Wanrong executed dozens of Shining's adherents and paid the army two hundred thousand strings from the treasury; the court ordered Shining's estate seized to cover the cost. Wanrong was appointed acting commander of forces. He listed hundreds of unruly troops for western autumn garrison; men slated for duty grumbled. Commanders Han Weiqing and Zhang Yanlin asked to lead the detachment but were refused—Wanrong's son Nai was put in command. Before marching, Yanlin exploited the men's anger and turned them on Wanrong; beaten, they seized convoy money and civilian wealth, slew and robbed thousands, and broke up. Weiqing fled to Zhengzhou; Yanlin surrendered at Luoyang; both were spared death but banished to the frontier wastes. The survivors fled to Songzhou and Liu Yihuai took them in; Wanrong killed every family they had left behind, and the troops grew restless; someone shouted in the market that a host was coming to break the city." Wanrong arrested and interrogated them; some said Shining had stirred them up; he executed the prisoners and reported up, and Shining was exiled to Chenzhou.
10
俄進萬榮節度使。 會病甚,以兵屬鄧惟恭。 惟恭者,與萬榮同裏闬。 而署子乃為司馬,出大將李湛、張伾、伊婁涚等於外,欲殺之,不果。 萬榮死,是夜惟恭與監軍俱文珍執乃送京師,杖死京兆府,以董晉代之。
Before long Wanrong received the full governorship. Falling seriously ill he transferred the forces to Deng Weigong. Weigong came from Wanrong's own ward. His son Nai, named regent, was Chief of Staff; Wanrong had posted Generals Li Zhan, Zhang Pi, and Yilou Sui outside hoping to kill them, but could not. The night Wanrong died Weigong and Army Overseer Ju Wenzhen seized Nai, sent him to court, and had him flogged to death in Jingzhao; Dong Jin took the command.
11
吳少誠,幽州潞人,以世蔭為諸王府戶曹參軍事。 客荊南,節度使庾準器之,留為牙門將。 從入朝,道襄陽,度梁崇義必叛,密畫計,將獻天子,而李希烈以其事聞,有詔嘉美,擢封通義郡王。 崇義反,希烈以少誠為前鋒。 事平,賜實封戶五十。 希烈叛,少誠為盡力,及死,推陳仙奇主後務,既又殺之,眾乃共推少誠,德宗因授申、蔡、光等州節度觀察留後。
Wu Shaoqing came from Lu in Youzhou and entered office by inherited privilege as Registrar in the Princes' Households. Passing through Jingnan, Governor Yu Zhun took him in and made him a guard officer. On the return to court he passed Xiangyang, decided Liang Chongyi would rebel, and drafted a secret plan for the throne; Li Xilie exposed it—but an edict praised him and raised him to Prince of Tongyi. When Chongyi rose, Xilie made Shaoqing his van. After peace he received a fifty-household substantive enfeoffment. When Xilie rebelled he fought hard; after Xilie's death he backed Chen Xianqi, then killed him; the men chose Shaoqing and Dezong made him Acting Governor of Shen, Cai, and Guang.
12
少誠為治,能儉損,完軍實。 自希烈以來,申、蔡人劫於苛法而忘所歸,及耆長既物故,則壯者習見暴掠,恬於搏鬥。 地少馬,乘騾以戰,號「騾子軍」,尤悍銳。 甲皆畫雷公星文以厭勝,詛詈王師。 其屬鄭常、楊冀欲劫少誠,逐之以聽命,不克,常、冀被害。 少誠盡宥諸將,以結眾心。 貞元五年,進拜節度使。
In governing, Shaoqing was sparing and rebuilt the army's stores. Under Xilie Shen and Cai had been ground down by harsh rule; when the old leading families passed away the young knew only raiding and took combat lightly. Horses were scarce—they fought mounted on mules in what was called the "Mule Army," notoriously fierce. They painted Thunder Lord and star signs on their armor as charms and cursed the court's troops. Subordinates Zheng Chang and Yang Ji tried to capture Shaoqing and expel him in submission to the court; the plot failed and both died. Shaoqing forgave every general involved to keep the corps united. In Zhenyuan 5 he received the full governorship.
13
久之,曲環卒,少誠間陳許無帥,以兵攻臨潁,戍將韋清與賊通,留後上官涚遣兵三千救之,悉為賊俘,遂圍許州。 德宗怒,削少誠官爵,合十六道兵進討。 於頔以襄陽兵戰吳房、朗山,禽其三將。 王宗以壽州兵破賊於秋柵。 於時師雖眾,無統帥,而宦人監軍顓進退,互為異見。 既戰小溵河,諸道師未交而潰,棄輜杖不貲。 帝乃詔夏州節度使韓全義為淮蔡招討處置使,上官涚副之,諸將皆受節度。 與賊吳少陽等戰廣利城,師復敗,退營五樓,為賊所乘,遂大潰。 全義及監軍賈英秀等夜遯保溵水。 汴宋、徐泗、淄青兵走陳州。 少誠薄溵水而營,全義懼,退保陳,而潞、滑、河陽、河中兵逃歸,唯陳許將孟元陽、神策將蘇光榮壁溵水。 全義乃斬潞將夏侯仲宣、滑將時昂、河陽將權文度、河中將郭湘,欲以振師,不能也。 少誠引兵去。
Long afterward Qu Huan died; Shaoqing thought Chen Xu had no chief, attacked Linying, found the commander Wei Qing in league with the enemy, and though Acting Governor Shangguan Sui sent three thousand all were taken; then they besieged Xuzhou. Enraged, Dezong removed Shaoqing's offices and ordered sixteen commands to advance against him. Yu Di's Xiangyang force fought at Wufang and Langshan and captured three rebel generals. Wang Zong's Shouzhou troops routed them at Qiu Fence stockade. The allied armies were huge yet leaderless; eunuch overseers held the reins and quarreled. At the Xiaobin engagement the columns broke before joining battle and cast away supplies in heaps. Dezong named Han Quanyi of Xiaye Pacification Commissioner for Huai-Cai with Shangguan Sui as deputy; every commander fell under his command. Against Wu Shaoyang and others at Guanglichuan they lost again, fell back to Wulou, were overrun, and collapsed completely. Quanyi and Overseer Jia Yingxiu fled by night to Linshui. Troops of Bian-Song, Xu-Si, and Ziqing fell back to Chenzhou. Shaoqing pitched camp near Linshui; Quanyi in fear pulled back to Chen; armies of Lu, Hua, Heyang, and Hezhong scattered home; only Meng Yuanyang of Chen-Xu and Su Guangrong of the Shence Corps held at Linshui. He executed commanders Xia Houzhongxuan of Lu, Shi Ang of Hua, Quan Wendu of Heyang, and Guo Xiang of Hezhong to steady morale—and failed. Shaoqing then led his force away.
14
全義之敗,少誠得帳中諸公書數百番,持以紿眾曰:「朝廷公卿托全義破蔡日掠將士妻女為婢媵。」 以激怒其眾,絕向順意。 少誠弱王師,移書於英秀求昭雪。 帝召大臣議,宰相賈耽曰:「五樓軍退,而少誠卷甲不追,有自新路。」 帝意稍挺,少誠復固巢穴矣。 然猶以宦者監諸道軍。 劍南韋臯上言,以為不如擇重臣為統帥,因薦渾瑊、賈耽,「陛下若重煩元老,更求其次,則臣請以銳士萬人順流趨荊、楚,可以攘翦元憝。 不然,因其請罪,特加原洗,罷兩河諸軍,亦其次也。 使少誠禍盈惡周,變生帳下,必其賊黨,又當以官爵與之,則一少誠死,一少誠生,亦何足賴?」 帝遂赦少誠,盡還其官爵。
In defeat Shaoqing seized hundreds of letters from grandees in Quanyi's tent and told the men, "The court's ministers told Quanyi that when Cai fell he might seize your wives and daughters as concubines." With that he inflamed them and killed any wish to submit. Contemptuous of the imperial forces, he wrote Yingxiu begging clearance. The emperor convened ministers; Jia Dan said, "After Wulou he did not pursue—that shows he wants another road." The emperor relented a little and Shaoqing dug in once more. Still eunuchs supervised the allied hosts. Wei Gao of Jiannan urged appointing a senior commander instead, naming Hun Jian and Jia Dan: "If Your Majesty will not trouble the elders again, let me take ten thousand picked men down the Yangtze toward Jing-Chu and strike the ringleader. Or, when he sues for pardon, wash his offenses specially and stand down the He armies—that would be second best. Let Shaocheng's evil brim over until rebellion breaks out in his own camp—it will be the same rebel clique, rewarded again with offices and titles; one Shaocheng dies, another rises in his place—what could we trust in that? The Emperor took it and pardoned Shaocheng, restoring every office and title.
15
順宗即位,進同中書門下平章事,檢校司空,徙封濮陽郡王。 元和四年死,贈司徒,而吳少陽代之。
When Shunzong succeeded, he rose to co-grand councilor, Acting Minister of Works, and was reassigned as Duke of Puyang. He died in Yuanhe 4 (809); the court posthumously named him Minister over the Masses, and Wu Shaoyang took his place.
16
少陽者,滄州清池人。 與少誠同在魏博軍,相友善。 少誠得淮西,多出金帛邀之,養以為弟,署右職,親近無間。 少陽度少誠猜忍,且畏禍,請為外捍,少誠乃表為申州刺史。 為治尚寬易,舉軍附賴。 少誠病亟,家奴單於熊兒矯召少陽至,攝副使,總軍事,於是殺少誠子元慶,自稱留後。 憲宗以王承宗方叛,故詔遂王為節度使,以少陽領留後。 居三年,進拜節度使。
Shaoyang was from Qingchi in Cang Prefecture. He and Shaocheng had served together in the Weibo Army and were close friends. Once Shaocheng held Huai West, he lavished gold and silk to draw him in, treated him as a sworn younger brother, gave him a senior command, and kept him at his side without reserve. Shaoyang judged that Shaocheng was suspicious and ruthless, and feared what might befall him; he asked to serve on the outer line of defense, and Shaocheng memorialized to appoint him prefect of Shen. His rule was easy and lenient, and the whole army came to depend on him. When Shaocheng fell gravely ill, his household slave Shan Yu Xiong'er forged a summons for Shaoyang, assumed the vice commissionership and command of the army, killed Shaocheng's son Yuanqing, and declared himself acting military commissioner. Since Wang Chengzong was in open revolt, Xianzong promptly confirmed Wang as military commissioner and let Shaoyang serve as acting commissioner. Three years later he was formally appointed military commissioner.
17
少陽不立繇役籍,隨日賦斂於人。 地多原澤,益畜馬。 時時掠壽州茶山,劫商賈,招四方亡命,以實其軍。 不肯朝,然屢獻牧馬以自解,帝亦因善之。
Shaoyang kept no corvée rolls and simply taxed the people as each day demanded. The region was rich in open country and marshland, and he bred horses in ever greater numbers. He repeatedly raided the tea hills of Shou, preyed on merchants, and gathered outlaws from every direction to strengthen his forces. He refused to attend court, but sent tribute horses again and again by way of apology, and the Emperor came to look on him with favor.
18
九年死,子元濟匿不發喪,以病聞,偽表請元濟主兵。 帝遣太醫往視,即陽言少愈,不得見。
In the ninth year of his rule he died; his son Yuanji hid the death, reported only that he was ill, and forged a memorial asking that Yuanji be allowed to take command. The Emperor sent the court physician to examine him; Yuanji promptly claimed Shaoyang was improving and refused a visit.
19
元濟者,其長子也,山首燕頷,垂頤,鼻長六寸。 始仕,試協律郎,攝蔡州刺史。 有董重質者,少誠婿也,勇悍,久將,善為兵,元濟倚之,因說元濟,請以精兵三千由壽之間道取揚州,東約李師道以舟師襲潤州,據之; 遣奇兵掩商、鄧,取嚴綬,進守襄陽,以搖東南,則荊、衡、黔、巫傳一矢可定,五嶺非朝廷所有。 又請輕兵五百,自領三日襲東都,則天下騷動,可以橫行。 元濟猶豫不能用。
Yuanji was his eldest son—a towering brow, a swallow's jaw, a heavy jowl, and a nose six inches long. He began his career as a probationary Director of Harmonization and acting prefect of Cai. Dong Chongzhi, Shaocheng's son-in-law, was fierce in battle, a veteran commander, and skilled in war; Yuanji leaned on him, and Chongzhi urged him to take three thousand picked men by a secret route from Shou to seize Yangzhou, while in the east Li Shidao's fleet would strike Run and hold it; send raiders to strike Shang and Deng, capture Yan Shou, and push on to hold Xiangyang, unsettling the southeast; then Jing, Heng, Qian, and Wu would topple at a rumor, and the Five Ridges would slip from the court's grasp. He also asked for five hundred light troops to lead himself in a three-day strike on the Eastern Capital; the empire would convulse, and they could sweep all before them. Yuanji wavered and would not act on it.
20
先是,其屬蘇兆、楊元卿、侯惟清嘗勸少陽入朝,或言其有異志,元濟縊兆,歸其屍,而囚惟清。 帝以二人者皆死,故贈惟清兵部尚書,兆尚書右僕射。 時元卿奏事在長安,見宰相李吉甫,具言淮西事,且請蔡使在道者,隨在所系之。 少陽死四十日,帝不為輟朝,易將增戍以須變。
Earlier his officers Su Zhao, Yang Yuanqing, and Hou Weiqing had urged Shaoyang to come to court; when some accused them of disloyalty, Yuanji had Zhao strangled and his body sent back, and Weiqing thrown into prison. When both were dead, the Emperor posthumously honored Weiqing as Minister of War and Zhao as Right Vice Director. Yuanqing was then in Chang'an on court business; he saw Chief Minister Li Jifu, laid out the whole Huai West situation, and asked that any Cai envoy on the road be arrested on the spot. Forty days after Shaoyang's death the Emperor still did not suspend court; he rotated commanders and reinforced the garrisons to await whatever came.
21
會傳言重質殺元濟,族其家,吉甫因請為少陽輟朝,遣使吊賻,贈尚書右僕射。 而元濟不得命,乃悉兵四出,焚舞陽及葉,掠襄城、陽翟。 時許、汝居人皆竄伏榛莽間,剽系千餘里,關東大恐。 吊使至,弗克入而還。 乃詔烏重胤兼汝州刺史,引軍壓其境,寧州刺史曹華為之副,以戍襄城; 李光顏為忠武節度使,總兵臨屯; 析山南東道,詔節度使嚴綬為申、光、蔡等州招撫使,以中人崔潭峻監其軍。 下詔奪元濟官爵,趣諸道進討。 時大旱,詔既下,雨雪凡三日。 田弘正、韓弘各遣子率兵隸綬、光顏軍。 綬屯蔡西鄙,師小勝,不設備,為賊襲,敗於礠丘,退保唐州。 壽州刺史令狐通戰數北,賊乃拔霍丘,屠馬塘,通嬰城不敢出。 詔左金吾衛大將軍李文通宣慰,度其至,使代通。
Then rumor ran that Chongzhi had killed Yuanji and wiped out his family; Jifu seized on it to ask for court mourning for Shaoyang, condolence envoys with burial gifts, and a posthumous grant of Right Vice Director. Yuanji received no appointment from the throne; he threw his whole army outward, burning Wuyang and Ye and ravaging Xiangcheng and Yangdi. People in Xu and Ru hid in brush and thicket; raiding and capture ran for more than a thousand li, and the eastern heartland was gripped by fear. The condolence mission reached the border but could not get in and turned back. The court then ordered Wu Chongyin to serve also as prefect of Ru and march his army to the frontier; Cao Hua of Ning served as his deputy and held Xiangcheng; Li Guangyan was made military commissioner of Zhongwu and massed his army in camp; Shannan East was split off; Yan Shou was named pacification commissioner for Shen, Guang, Cai, and the rest, with the eunuch Cui Tanjun to supervise his army. An edict stripped Yuanji of rank and title and ordered every circuit to march against him. There was a severe drought; when the edict went out, rain and snow fell for three days. Tian Hongzheng and Han Hong each sent a son with troops to join Yan Shou's and Li Guangyan's commands. Shou camped on Cai's western frontier; after a minor victory he left his guard down, was hit by a rebel raid, routed at Qiuqiu, and fell back to Tang. Linghu Tong of Shou fought and lost again and again; the rebels took Huoqiu, massacred Matang, and Tong shut himself in the city and would not stir. Li Wentong, Grand General of the Left Golden Guard, was sent as consolation commissioner; the court timed his arrival so he could replace Tong.
22
會裴度輔政,賊始懼,而元濟不能有所指授,諸將趙昌、淩朝江、董重質、李祐、李憲、王覽、趙曄、王仁清等以便宜人自為戰,抗王師,有少誠、少陽舊風。 而李師道饋鹽,出入寧陵、雍丘間,韓弘知而不肯禁。 文通引兵與賊將王覽、董重質戰史蔟岡,馘覽首。 光顏又大破賊於時曲,復與重胤合擊賊小溵河,敗之,夷其屯塹。 天子責綬失律,更以韓弘兼都統,擢高霞寓唐、鄧、隨節度使。
When Pei Du joined the government the rebels began to fear; but Yuanji could not command them, and Zhao Chang, Ling Chaojiang, Dong Chongzhi, Li You, Li Xian, Wang Lan, Zhao Ye, Wang Renqing, and the rest fought on their own initiative, holding off the imperial armies in the old Shaocheng-Shaoyang style. Li Shidao meanwhile moved salt through Ningling and Yongqiu; Han Hong knew and would not stop it. Wentong met the rebel generals Wang Lan and Dong Chongzhi at Shicuo Ridge and took Wang Lan's head. Guangyan routed them again at Shiqu, then with Chongyin crushed them on the Little Yin River and tore down their camps and trenches. The Emperor blamed Shou for indiscipline, put Han Hong in overall command in his place, and promoted Gao Xiayu to military commissioner of Tang, Deng, and Sui.
23
十一年,諸軍大合。 光顏壁掌河; 文通敗賊於固始,拔𨫼山; 霞寓戰郎山,斬首千餘級,焚其壁,次鐵城。 賊偽奔,霞寓窮追,伏發,死傷略盡,退保新興,賊圍之,監軍李議誠馳入唐州。 以救兵至,圍解,還守唐州。
In the eleventh year the allied armies gathered in force. Guangyan fortified at Zhanghe; Wentong beat the rebels at Gushi and took Qie Mountain; Xiayu fought at Lang Mountain, took more than a thousand heads, burned the rebel walls, and pushed on to Iron Fort. The rebels feigned retreat; Xiayu chased them to the end and walked into an ambush; his force was nearly wiped out; he fell back to Xinxing and was besieged, and the army supervisor Li Yicheng raced into Tang. Relief arrived, the siege lifted, and he withdrew again to hold Tang.
24
元濟以霞寓敗,不足虞,並兵以備陳。 其秋,文通以兵銜枚夜出九女原,屠保壁三十所,分兵西北並安陽山,破屯邏數百人,降者萬餘,執兩將。 光顏敗郾城兵二萬,俘六將,復與重胤合攻淩雲柵,拔之。 帝怒諸軍無大功,詔內常侍梁守謙宣慰,因督戰,付詔書五百以待有功,斥金帛募死士。 進拜光顏檢校尚書左僕射,重胤右僕射,布御史中丞,公武御史大夫。 詔旨約束,厲賞罰,諸將恐懼。 貶霞寓,以袁滋代之。 滋懦不能軍,更以李愬為唐、鄧、隨節度使。
Yuanji, thinking Xiayu no longer mattered after his defeat, massed his troops to face Chen. That autumn Wentong marched his men gagged by night from Jiunü Plain, overran thirty garrison forts, sent columns northwest along Anyang Mountain, smashed one camp after another by the hundreds, accepted more than ten thousand surrenders, and took two generals. Guangyan routed twenty thousand men at Yancheng, took six generals, then with Chongyin stormed the Lingyun stockade and carried it. Angry that no army had won a decisive victory, the Emperor sent the palace attendant Liang Shouqian to supervise the campaign, with five hundred edicts ready to reward merit and gold and silk to recruit men willing to die. Guangyan was promoted to Acting Left Vice Director; Chongyin to Right Vice Director; Bu to Censor-in-Chief; and Gongwu to Chief Censor. Imperial orders tightened discipline and sharpened rewards and punishments, and the generals were afraid. Xiayu was demoted and Yuan Zi took his place. Zi was too timid to lead an army, so Li Su was made military commissioner of Tang, Deng, and Sui instead.
25
元濟食盡,士卒食菱芡魚鱉皆竭,至斫草根以給者。 民苦饑,相與四潰,元濟亦嗇其食,不復禁,諸將爭納之。 帝始僑置郾城、吳房於行營,以綏新附。 愬引兵攻其西,破屯柵十餘所,執丁士良、吳秀琳,皆賊票健者。 賊帥張伯良以兵三萬與光顏戰郾城,大敗。 獲馬千匹、甲三萬首,伯良奔還蔡。 曹華取青陵城,斷郾歸路。 賊將鄧懷金懼,即送款,光顏受之。 愬又襲破朗山,執戍將梁希果,平汶港等三壁。 元濟知眾數潰,而外失秀琳等,因奉表請束身北闕下,帝遣使者許以不死。 元濟取行營馬三百,董重質不與,故不果降。 訴略興橋,得守將李祐,不殺,引至帳下計議,始謀襲蔡,賊勢益沮。
Yuanji ran out of food; his men exhausted every water chestnut, lotus seed, fish, and turtle, until they were cutting roots and grass to eat. The people starved and fled in every direction; Yuanji rationed his own stores, stopped trying to hold them back, and his generals competed to enlist the deserters. The Emperor began lodging Yancheng and Wufang populations at the field headquarters to reassure the newly surrendered. Su struck their western line, overran more than a dozen stockades, and captured Ding Shiliang and Wu Xiulin, two of the rebels' fiercest fighters. The rebel commander Zhang Boliang brought thirty thousand men against Guangyan at Yancheng and was routed. They took a thousand horses and thirty thousand suits of armor; Boliang fled back to Cai. Cao Hua seized Qingling and severed the road back to Yan. The rebel general Deng Huaijin, in fear, offered surrender at once, and Guangyan accepted. Su raided Lang Mountain again, captured the garrison commander Liang Xiguo, and leveled Wengang and two other forts. Yuanji saw his forces melting away and his best captains lost abroad; he memorialized asking to surrender himself at the northern palace gate, and the Emperor sent word that his life would be spared. Yuanji tried to seize three hundred horses from the field camp; Chongzhi refused, and the surrender fell through. In a raid on the Xing Bridge garrison he captured its commander Li You, spared him, and brought him into his tent to plan; the scheme to strike Cai was born, and rebel morale sank further.
26
自少誠盜有蔡四十年,王師未嘗傅城下,又嘗敗韓全義、于頔,以是兵驕無所憚,內恃陂浸重阻,故合天下兵攻之,三年才克一二縣。 帝既責罷霞寓、滋等,諸將乃用命。 詔起沙陀梟騎濟師,命裴度為彰義節度兼申、光、蔡四面行營招撫使。 梁守謙與諸將計,先度未至立功,諸將亟戰,不勝。 度至,大勞將士,皆感激請戰。 間遣士入蔡,約元濟降,為左右所劫,不得降。 光顏每戰冠軍,故元濟悉眾亢時曲。 祐為愬謀曰:「蔡之守者,市人疲卒耳,勁兵皆在外,若直搗縣瓠,賊成禽矣。」 愬然之,以精騎夜襲蔡,坎垣入之,戍者不知也。 賊恃董重質兵在洄曲,不虞師之至,及愬攻內城,防卒尚千餘接戰,元濟始驚,被甲乘城以待重質。 會重贊降訴,而李進誠取賊庫兵,即攻之。 明日,燒其門,民相率抱薪增火,王師縱射,城上鏃可拾也。 居二日,門壞,執元濟,舉族傳之長安。 申、光戍兵尚三萬,皆降。
Shaocheng had held Cai by force for forty years; imperial armies had never pressed the walls, and Han Quanyi and Yu Di had been beaten here; the garrison grew proud and fearless, trusting in moats, floods, and layered defenses—so even with all the empire's armies against them, three years brought only a county or two. After the Emperor demoted Xiayu, Zi, and the rest, the generals at last took their orders. The court called up Shatuo shock cavalry as reinforcements and made Pei Du military commissioner of Zhangyi and pacification commissioner for the Shen-Guang-Cai field headquarters on all four sides. Liang Shouqian and the generals agreed to win glory before Du arrived; they fought again and again and could not break through. When Du arrived he feasted and rewarded the troops; moved to gratitude, they all asked to fight. He sent men secretly into Cai to negotiate Yuanji's surrender, but Yuanji's inner circle blocked him and the surrender failed. Guangyan won the first honors in every fight, so Yuanji massed his whole army to hold him at Shiqu. You advised Su, saying, "The men holding Cai are shopkeepers and spent soldiers; the crack troops are all abroad. Strike straight at Xuanhu and the rebels are yours. Su agreed; he took elite cavalry, raided Cai by night, crossed ditches and walls, and the garrison never knew. The rebels trusted Chongzhi's army at Huaiqu and never expected an attack; when Su hit the inner city more than a thousand defenders still fought; Yuanji woke in alarm, armored himself, and climbed the wall waiting for Chongzhi. Chongzhi chose that moment to surrender, while Li Jincheng seized the rebel armory and pressed the assault at once. The next day they fired the gates; civilians rushed in with bundles of fuel; the imperial archers poured arrows until bolts littered the wall walk. Two days later the gate gave way; Yuanji was taken, and his whole clan was sent to Chang'an in bonds. Thirty thousand garrison troops still held Shen and Guang; all surrendered.
27
帝禦興安門受俘,群臣稱賀,以元濟獻廟社,徇於市斬之,年二十五。 夜失其首。 妻沈沒入掖庭,二弟、三男子流江陵,皆殺之。 斬其屬官劉協庶、趙曄、王仁清等十餘人。 度還,以馬揔為留後,俄拜節度使,析溵州隸陳許。
The Emperor received the captive at Xing'an Gate amid the ministers' congratulations; Yuanji was offered to the state altars, paraded through the market, and beheaded. He was twenty-five. That night his head disappeared. His wife Shen was taken into the palace women's quarters; two younger brothers and three sons were exiled to Jiangling—and all were put to death. More than ten of his officers, including Liu Xiexu, Zhao Ye, and Wang Renqing, were beheaded. When Du returned he left Ma Cong as acting commissioner; soon Ma was appointed military commissioner, and Yin Prefecture was carved out and placed under Chen-Xu.
28
始度之出,太子右庶子韓愈為行軍司馬,帝美度功,即命愈為《平淮西碑》,其文曰:
When Du first marched out, Han Yu, Right Mentor of the Heir Apparent, served as campaign marshal; the Emperor, admiring Du's achievement, ordered Yu to write the Stele on the Pacification of Huai West. Its text reads:
29
天以唐克肖其德,聖子神孫,繼繼承承,於千萬年,敬戒不怠,全付所覆,四海九州,罔有內外,悉主悉臣。 高祖、太宗,既除既治。 高宗、中、睿,休養生息。 至於玄宗,受報收功,極熾而豐,物眾地大,孽牙其間。 肅宗、代宗,德祖、順考,以勤以容。 大慝適去,莨莠不{艹耨},相臣將臣,文恬武嬉,習熟見聞,以為當然。 睿聖文武皇帝既受群臣朝,乃考圖數貢,曰:「嗚呼! 天既全付予有家,今傳次在予,予不能事事,其何以見於郊廟!」 群臣震懾走職。 明年,平蜀。 又明年,平江東。 又明年,平澤潞,遂定易定,致魏、博、貝、衛、澶、相,無不從誌。 皇帝曰:「不可究武,予其少息。」
Heaven matched Tang to its own virtue: holy sons and divine grandsons, line upon line, for ten thousand years—reverent, vigilant, never slack—entrusting the whole realm beneath its canopy; within the four seas and nine provinces, without distinction of inner and outer, every land a lord, every people a subject. Gaozu and Taizong cleared away disorder and brought the realm to order. Gaozong, Zhongzong, and Ruizong let the people rest and recover. Under Xuanzong the dynasty reaped its reward and gathered its harvest—glory at its height, wealth overflowing, a vast land and teeming goods—and evil took root in the midst of it all. Suzong and Daizong, and the ancestral virtue of Dezong and Shunzong, met the age with diligence and forbearance. The great evil had only just departed, yet the tares were left unweeded; chancellors and commanders alike—scholars grown complacent, soldiers grown idle—came to accept what they saw and heard as the way things must be. The Sage Civil and Military Emperor, after receiving the court's homage, reviewed the maps and tallied the tribute, and said, "Alas! Heaven has entrusted the whole realm to my house, and now the succession is mine—if I cannot govern every matter well, how can I stand before the altars of Heaven and Earth and the ancestral temple! The ministers, awestruck, withdrew to their duties. The following year Shu was pacified. The year after that, Jiangdong was pacified. Another year brought the pacification of Ze and Lu; Yi and Ding were secured, and Wei, Bo, Bei, Wei, Chan, and Xiang all submitted without exception. The Emperor said, "We must not press war to the limit; I shall give it a brief rest."
30
九年,蔡將死,蔡人立其子元濟以請,不許,遂燒舞陽,犯葉、襄城,以動東都,放兵四劫。 皇帝歷問於朝,一二臣外,皆曰:「蔡帥之不廷授,於今五十年,傳三姓四將,其樹本堅,兵利卒頑,不與它等。 因撫而有,順且無事。」 大官臆決唱聲,萬口和附,並為一談,牢不可破。 皇帝曰:「惟天惟祖宗所以付任予者,庶其在此,予何敢不力! 況一二臣同,不為無助。」 曰:「光顏,汝為陳許帥,維是河東、魏博、郃陽三軍之在行者,汝皆將之。」 曰:「重胤,汝故有河陽、懷,今益以汝,維是朔方、義成、陜、益、鳳翔、鄜延、寧慶七軍之在行者,汝皆將之。」 曰:「弘,汝以卒萬二千屬而子公武往討之。」 曰:「文通,汝守壽,維是宣武、淮南、宣歙、浙西、徐泗五軍之行於壽者,汝皆將之。」 曰:「道古,汝其觀察鄂嶽。」 曰:「愬,汝帥唐、鄧、隨,各以其兵進戰。」 曰:「度,汝長御史,其往視師。」 曰:「度,惟汝予同,汝遂相予,以賞罰用命不用命。」 曰:「弘,汝其以節都統諸軍。」 曰:「守謙,汝出入左右,汝惟近臣,其往撫師。」 曰:「度,汝其往,衣服飲食予士,無寒無饑,以既厥事,遂生蔡人。 賜汝節斧、通天禦帶、衛卒三百。 凡茲廷臣,汝擇自從,惟其賢能,無憚大吏。 庚申,予其臨門送汝。」 曰:「御史,予閔士大夫戰甚苦,自今以往,非郊廟祀,無用樂。」
In the ninth year the Cai commander died; the people of Cai set up his son Yuanji and petitioned for court recognition. When the court refused, they burned Wuyang, struck Ye and Xiangcheng to threaten the Eastern Capital, and sent their soldiers raiding on every side. The Emperor questioned the whole court; save for one or two ministers, all said, "The Cai commanders have gone fifty years without court appointment, passing through three clans and four generals. Their roots run deep, their arms are keen, their soldiers are hardened—unlike any other such power. If we soothe them and keep them, they will stay compliant and give no trouble. High officials made presumptuous pronouncements in chorus; ten thousand voices chimed in until one opinion prevailed, fixed and unbreakable. The Emperor said, "What Heaven and the ancestors entrusted to me may well depend on this—how dare I fail to give my utmost! Besides, one or two ministers stand with me—I am not without support. He said, "Guangyan, you command Chen-Xu; all three field armies of Hedong, Weibo, and Heyang shall be under your command." He said, "Chongyin, you already hold Heyang and Huai; this charge is now added to you. All seven field armies of Shuofang, Yicheng, Shan, Yi, Fengxiang, Fuyan, and Ningqing shall be under your command." He said, "Hong, detach twelve thousand troops and send your son Gongwu to chastise them." He said, "Wentong, you hold Shou; all five armies of Xuanwu, Huainan, Xuan-Xi, Zhexi, and Xu-Si operating there shall be under your command." He said, "Daogu, you shall serve as inspector of E-Yue." He said, "Su, you command Tang, Deng, and Sui; each shall advance to battle with its own forces." He said, "Du, as head of the Censorate, go and oversee the army." He said, "Du, you and I are as one—you shall serve as my chancellor, rewarding obedience and punishing disobedience." He said, "Hong, you shall bear the insignia of command and serve as supreme commander of all armies." He said, "Shouqian, you attend me in court; as my close minister, go and hearten the army." He said, "Du, go. Clothe and feed the troops—let none suffer cold or hunger—finish the task, and spare the people of Cai. I grant you the insignia-axe, the heaven-piercing imperial belt, and three hundred guard soldiers. Of all the ministers at court, choose whom you will to accompany you—only the worthy and capable—and do not fear high officials. On the day gengshen I shall come to the gate to see you off." He said, "Censor, I grieve that our officers and soldiers suffer so in battle. From this day forward, save for suburban and temple rites, no music shall be played."
31
顏、胤、武合攻其北,大戰十六,得柵城縣二十三,降人卒四萬。 道古攻其東南,八戰,降萬三千,再入申,破其外城。 文通戰其東,十餘遇,降萬三千。 愬入其西,得賊將,輒釋不殺,用其策,戰比有功。 十二年八月,丞相度至師,都統弘責戰益急,顏、胤、武戰益用命。 元濟盡並其眾洄曲以備。 十月壬申,愬用所得賊將,自文城因天大雪疾馳百二十里,用夜半到蔡,破其門,取元濟以獻,盡得其屬人卒。 辛巳,丞相度入蔡,以皇帝命赦其人。 淮西平,大饗賫功。 師還之日,因以其食賜蔡人。 凡蔡卒三萬五千,其不樂為兵願歸為農者十九,悉縱之。 斬元濟京師。
Guangyan, Chongyin, and Gongwu jointly attacked from the north, fought sixteen major battles, took twenty-three fortified counties, and accepted the surrender of forty thousand men. Daogu attacked the southeast in eight battles, accepted thirteen thousand surrenders, twice entered Shen, and breached the outer wall. Wentong fought in the east in more than ten engagements and accepted thirteen thousand surrenders. Su pressed in from the west; whenever he captured rebel generals he spared them, took their counsel, and battle after battle won success. In the eighth month of the twelfth year Chancellor Du reached the army; supreme commander Hong pressed the fighting harder, and Guangyan, Chongyin, and Gongwu fought with redoubled zeal. Yuanji massed all his forces at Huaiqu to make ready. On renshen in the tenth month Su used a captured rebel general as guide; from Wencheng he raced a hundred and twenty li through heaven's heavy snow, reached Cai at midnight, broke the gate, seized Yuanji and presented him captive, and took all his followers and troops. On xinsi Chancellor Du entered Cai and, by imperial command, pardoned the people. Huai West was pacified, and a great feast rewarded the victors. On the day the army marched home, its provisions were given to the people of Cai. Of thirty-five thousand Cai soldiers in all, nine in ten who wished to lay down arms and return to farming were released. Yuanji was beheaded in the capital.
32
冊功:弘加侍中; 愬為左僕射,帥山南東道; 顏、胤皆加司空; 公武以散騎常侍帥鄜、坊、丹、延; 道古進大夫; 文通加散騎常侍; 丞相度朝京師,進封晉國公,進階金紫光祿大夫,以舊官相; 而以其副揔為工部尚書,領蔡任。
Merit was recorded: Hong was made Privy Counselor; Su was made Left Vice Director and commander of Shannan East Circuit; Guangyan and Chongyin were both made Minister of Works; Gongwu, as Regular Attendant, was made commander of Fu, Fang, Dan, and Yan; Daogu was promoted to Grand Master; Wentong was made Regular Attendant; Chancellor Du came to court, was enfeoffed Duke of Jin, raised to Golden Signet and Purple Ray Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, and continued as Chancellor; His deputy Ma Cong was made Minister of Works and given charge of Cai.
33
既還奏,群臣請紀聖功,被之金石。 皇帝以命臣愈,愈再拜稽首而獻文曰:
After he returned and reported, the ministers asked that the sacred achievement be recorded and cut into metal and stone. The Emperor charged his subject Yu; Yu bowed twice to the ground and presented the text, saying:
34
唐承天命,遂臣萬方。 孰居近土,襲盜以狂? 往在玄宗,崇極而圮。 河北悍驕,河南附起。 四聖不宥,屢興師征。 有不能克,益戍以兵。 夫耕不食,婦織不裳。 輸之以車,為卒賜糧。 外多失朝,曠不嶽狩。 百隸怠官,事亡其舊。 帝時繼位,顧瞻咨嗟:「惟汝文武,孰恤予家?」 既斬吳、蜀,旋取山東。 魏將首義,六州降從。 淮蔡不順,自以為強。 提兵叫讙,欲事故常。 始命討之,遂連奸鄰。 陰遣刺客,來賊相臣。 方戰未利,內驚京師。 群公上言:「莫若惠來。」 帝為不聞,與神為謀。 及相同德,以訖天誅。 乃敕顏、胤,愬、武、古、通:「鹹統於弘,各奏汝功。」 三方分攻,五萬其師。 大兵北乘,厥數倍之。 嘗兵時曲,軍士蠢蠢。 既翦淩雲,蔡卒大窘。 勝之邵陵,郾城來降。 自夏及秋,復屯相望。 兵頓不勵,告功不時。 帝哀征夫,命相往厘。 士飽而歌,馬騰於槽。 試之新城,賊遇敗逃。 盡抽其有,聚以防我。 西師躍入,道無留者。 頟頟蔡城,其疆千里。 既入而有,莫不順俟。 帝有恩言,相度來宣:誅止其魁,釋於下人。 蔡之卒夫,投甲呼舞。 蔡之婦女,迎門笑語。 蔡人告饑,船粟往哺。 蔡人告寒,賜以繒布。 始時蔡人,禁不往來。 今相從戲,裏門夜開。 始時蔡人,進戰退戮。 今眠而起,左餐右粥。 為之擇人,以收餘憊。 選吏賜牛,教而不稅。 蔡人有言:「始迷不知,今乃大覺,羞前之為。」 蔡人有言:「天子明聖,不順族誅,順保性命。 汝不吾信,視此蔡方。 孰為不順,往斧其吭。 凡叛有數,聲勢相倚。 吾強不支,汝弱奚恃? 其告而長,而父而兄; 奔走來階,同我太平。」 淮蔡為亂,天子伐子。 既伐而饑,天子活之。 始議伐蔡,卿士莫隨。 既伐四年,小大並疑。 不赦不疑,由天子明。 凡此蔡功,惟斷乃成。 既定淮蔡,四夷畢來。 遂開明堂,坐以治之。
Tang received Heaven's mandate and brought the myriad lands to submission. Who, dwelling on the near marches, took up brigandage in reckless pride? Under Xuanzong of old the realm rose to its zenith—and then fell. Hebei grew fierce and proud; Henan rose in its wake. Four sage emperors showed no indulgence and repeatedly raised armies to chastise them. Where they could not be subdued, garrisons were thickened with troops. Husbands plowed yet had no grain to eat; wives wove yet had no cloth to wear. Cartloads were sent forth to feed the soldiers. Many in the provinces missed court; long ages passed without an imperial hunt at the sacred peaks. Officials everywhere grew slack; government lost its old order. The Emperor then took the throne, looked about, and sighed, "You civil and military servants—who will tend my house? Having cut down Wu and Shu, he turned and took Shandong. A Weibo general led the way in loyalty; six prefectures submitted and followed. Huai and Cai would not submit, deeming themselves strong. They raised troops, shouting in defiance, demanding the old ways restored. At first the court ordered them punished; then they allied with treacherous neighbors. In secret they sent assassins to strike at the chancellor. While the campaign still hung in the balance, alarm shook the capital. The high ministers submitted, saying, "Better to show mercy and accept their submission. The Emperor acted as though he had not heard and took counsel with Heaven. When chancellor and throne stood as one in purpose, Heaven's judgment was fulfilled. Then he decreed to Guangyan, Chongyin, Su, Gongwu, Daogu, and Wentong, "All shall be unified under Hong; each report your achievements. Three armies attacked from separate quarters; their force numbered fifty thousand. The main force pressed northward, several times that number strong. At Shiqu they once gave battle, and the troops grew restless and confused. Once Lingyun was taken, the Cai troops were driven to desperation. Victory at Shaoling; Yancheng surrendered. From summer into autumn the camps faced one another across the lines. The army stalled without drive; reports of victory came late. The Emperor grieved for the men at war and sent the chancellor to set matters right. Soldiers ate their fill and sang; horses stamped and frolicked at the troughs. Tried at Xincheng, the rebels were broken and fled. They stripped every resource and massed it to hold us off. The western army surged in; on every road none dared stand in their way. Lofty stood the city of Cai, its domain a thousand li wide. Once it was entered and taken, all submitted and awaited their fate. The Emperor spoke in mercy; Chancellor Du came to proclaim: punish only the leaders, spare the common people. Cai's fighting men cast off their armor and shouted for joy. Cai's women came to their gates laughing and calling greetings. When the people of Cai reported hunger, grain was shipped to feed them. When the people of Cai reported cold, silk and cloth were given them. At first the people of Cai were forbidden to travel back and forth. Now they stroll and play together, inner gates open through the night. At first the people of Cai advanced to battle and retreated to execution. Now they sleep and wake to meals spread left and right, grain and porridge in plenty. Men were chosen for them to gather up the weary and restore the land. Officials were appointed, oxen were given, and they were taught farming without levy. The people of Cai said, "We were blind and did not know; now we are fully awakened and ashamed of what we did before. The people of Cai said, "The Son of Heaven is wise and holy: resist, and your clan is destroyed; submit, and your lives are spared. If you do not believe us, look at Cai itself. Whoever will not submit—go cut down his throat. Rebels everywhere are counted by the score; each leans on another's strength and renown. We are mighty yet cannot endure; you are feeble—what do you trust? Let them go tell their elders, their fathers, and their elder brothers; Let them hurry to our threshold and share in our age of peace." When Huai and Cai rose in rebellion, the Son of Heaven marched against his rebellious subjects. Though the campaign had ended, famine followed; the Son of Heaven sustained the people. When the court first debated attacking Cai, not one minister or official would follow. Four years into the war, high and low alike were filled with doubt. He neither pardoned the guilty nor doubted the loyal—such was the Son of Heaven's clarity. All that was won at Cai was won only because he would not waver. Once Huai and Cai were pacified, the peoples of the four quarters all came in submission. Then the Bright Hall was opened, and there he took his seat to govern the realm.
35
愈以元濟之平,繇度能固天子意,得不赦,故諸將不敢首鼠,卒禽之,多歸度功,而愬特以入蔡功居第一。 愬妻,唐安公主女也,出入禁中,訴愈文不實。 帝亦重牾武臣心,詔斫其文,更命翰林學士段文昌為之。
Han Yu held that Wu Yuanji's defeat owed to Du Du's ability to fix the emperor's resolve and secure a policy of no pardon, so the generals dared not hang back, and Yuanji was taken at last. Many credited Du with the victory, but Li Su alone was ranked first for the exploit of entering Cai. Li Su's wife was the daughter of Princess Tang'an. Moving freely in and out of the inner palace, she complained that Han Yu's inscription did not tell the truth. The emperor also weighed the need not to alienate his military commanders. He ordered Han Yu's text cut from the stone and commanded the Hanlin Academician Duan Wenchang to compose another in its place.
36
李祐以功遷神武將軍,賜田宅米粟。 帝跡董重質教元濟亂,欲誅之,而李愬先許不死,故貶春州司戶參軍; 淩朝江潘州司戶參軍。 是歲,申、蔡州始輸貢物,戶部以其久不至,請元日陳於廷。
Li You was promoted to General of the Divine Martial Guard for his service and was granted farmland, a residence, rice, and grain. The emperor traced Dong Chongzhi's role in teaching Wu Yuanji rebellion and wished to put him to death, but Li Su had already promised he would not die, so Dong was demoted to registrar of Spring Prefecture; Ling Chaojiang was demoted to registrar of Pan Prefecture. That year Shen and Cai prefectures submitted tribute goods for the first time. Because they had long been absent from court, the Ministry of Revenue asked that they be displayed in the hall on New Year's Day.
37
祐字慶之,後擢夏、綏、銀、宥節度使,徙涇原。 討李同捷也,改滄德景節度,累檢校尚書左僕射。 重質之貶,未幾,轉太子少詹事,隸武寧軍,遷左神武將軍,賫金幣與功臣等。 擢累左右神策劍南西川行營節度使,歷帥夏、綏、銀、宥,訓兵有法,羌、戎畏服。 終右龍武統軍,贈尚書右僕射。
Li You, styled Qingzhi, was later made military commissioner of Xia, Sui, Yin, and You and then transferred to Jingyuan. During the campaign against Li Tongjie he was made commissioner of Cangde and Jing and eventually rose to acting Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat. Not long after his demotion, Dong Chongzhi was made Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, attached to the Wuning army, then promoted to Left General of the Divine Martial Guard and granted gold and coin equal to the other meritorious officers. He rose through posts as commander of the Left and Right Shence armies and campaign commissioner of Jiannan West, and successively governed Xia, Sui, Yin, and You. He drilled his troops with discipline, and the Qiang and Rong both feared and obeyed him. He ended his career as commander of the Right Dragon Martial Guard and was posthumously granted the title of Right Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat.
38
劉悟,其祖正臣,平盧軍節度使,襲范陽不克,死。 叔父全諒,節度宣武,器其敢毅,署牙將,以罪奔潞州。 王虔休復署為將,被病去,還東都,全諒積緡錢數百萬在焉,悟破滕鐍用之。 從惡少年殺人屠狗,豪橫犯法,系河南獄,留守韋夏卿貸免。 李師古厚幣迎之,始未甚知,後從擊球,軒然馳突,撞師古馬仆,師古恚,將斬之,悟盛氣以語觸師古,不慴,師古奇其才,令將後軍,妻以從胃,歷牙門右職。 師道以軍用屈,率賈人錢為助,命悟督之。 悟獨寬假,人皆歸賴。 師道被討,使將兵屯曹,法一而信,士卒樂為用,軍中刁鬥不鳴。
Liu Wu's grandfather Liu Zhengchen had been military commissioner of Pinglu. He attacked Fanyang without success and died in the attempt. His uncle Liu Quanliang, military commissioner of Xuanwu, admired his boldness and appointed him a yamen general. Later, after committing a crime, Wu fled to Lu Prefecture. Wang Qianxiu again appointed him as a general, but Wu fell ill and resigned. When he returned to the eastern capital, he found that Quanliang had left several million strings of cash there. Wu broke the lock and spent it. He ran with violent young men, killing people and butchering dogs, swaggering and breaking the law until he was jailed in Henan. The garrison commander Wei Xiaqing secured his release. Li Shigu welcomed him with rich gifts. At first Shigu did not think much of him, but once, during a cuju match, Wu charged forward on horseback and knocked Shigu from his mount. Shigu flew into a rage and was about to have him executed, but Wu answered back with fierce defiance and showed no fear. Shigu came to admire his talent, put him in command of the rear guard, married him to a woman of the Congwei clan, and gradually raised him to senior posts in the yamen. When military funds ran short, Li Shidao levied money from the merchants for the war effort and put Wu in charge of collecting it. Wu alone showed leniency, and the people came to depend on him. When Li Shidao came under imperial attack, Wu was sent to garrison Cao. His discipline was strict and fair, his word was trusted, and the soldiers served him willingly; not once did the camp alarms sound.
39
田弘正兵屯陽谷,悟徙營潭趙,魏師逾河取盧縣,壁阿井,城中飛語以謂馮利涉與悟當為帥。 師道內疑,數召悟計事,悟曰:「今與魏如角力者,勢已交,先退者負。 悟還,魏踵薄城下矣。」 左右諫曰:「兵成敗未可知,殺大將,孰肯為用?」 師道然之。 或言悟且亂,不如速去,師道遣使兩輩來責戰,密語其副張暹使斬悟。 使者與暹屏語移時,悟疑之,暹以情告,悟乃斬使者,召諸將議曰:「魏博兵強,出則敗,不出則死。 且天子所誅,司空而已。 吾屬為驅迫就死地,孰若還兵取鄆立大功,轉危亡為富貴乎?」 眾皆唯唯,而別將趙垂棘沮其行,悟因殺之,並殺所惡三十人,屍帳前,眾畏伏。 下令曰:「入鄆,人賞錢十萬,聽復私怨,財畜恣取之,唯完軍帑,違者斬。」 因遣報弘正,使進兵潭趙。 悟夜半薄西門,黎明啟而入,殺師道並大將魏銑等數十人。 即拜悟義成節度使,封彭城郡王,實封戶五百。
Tian Hongzheng's army encamped at Yanggu while Wu shifted his camp to Tan and Zhao. Wei troops crossed the Yellow River, took Lu County, and fortified at Aijing. Rumors swept the city that Feng Lishe and Liu Wu should be made commanders. Shidao grew inwardly suspicious and repeatedly summoned Wu for counsel. Wu said, "We and Wei are like wrestlers locked together: the contest is already joined, and whoever pulls back first loses. If I withdraw, Wei will press straight to the walls." His attendants remonstrated, "The outcome of battle is still uncertain. Kill a great general, and who will fight for you?" Shidao agreed with them. Some said Wu was about to mutiny and that Shidao had best leave at once. Shidao sent two sets of envoys to demand that Wu attack, while secretly instructing his deputy Zhang Xian to kill him. The envoys spoke with Zhang Xian in private for a long while. Wu grew suspicious, and Xian told him the whole plot. Wu then killed the envoys, summoned the generals, and said, "Weibo's troops are strong. If we go out, we are defeated; if we stay in, we die. Besides, the Son of Heaven seeks only to punish the Minister himself. We are being driven to our deaths. Would it not be better to turn the army, seize Yan, win a great victory, and turn peril into wealth and honor?" All murmured agreement, but the subordinate general Zhao Chuiji tried to stop them. Wu killed him, then killed thirty others he hated and laid their corpses before the tent. The army was cowed into submission. He issued an order: "When we enter Yan, each man shall receive one hundred thousand cash. Private scores may be settled, and goods and livestock may be taken freely—only the army stores must remain intact. Violators will be executed." He then sent word to Tian Hongzheng asking him to advance on Tan and Zhao. At midnight Wu pressed the west gate. At dawn the gates were opened to him, and he entered and killed Li Shidao together with the great generals Wei Xian and several dozen others. Wu was immediately appointed military commissioner of Yicheng, enfeoffed as Prince of Pengcheng Commandery with five hundred taxable households.
40
元和十五年來朝,進檢校兵部尚書。 穆宗立,徙昭義軍。 朱克融亂,議者假威名以厭其亂,移守盧龍。 至邢州,會王廷湊之變,不得入,還屯。 進兼幽、鎮招討使,治邢州。 圍臨城,觀望久不拔,與監軍劉承偕不葉,眾辱悟,縱其下亂法,悟不堪其忍。 承偕與都將張問謀縛悟送京師,以問代節度事。 悟知之,以兵圍監軍,殺小使。 其屬賈直言質責悟曰:「李司空死有知,使公所為至此,軍中將復有如公者矣!」 悟遽謝曰:「吾不欲聞李司空字,少選當定。」 即撝兵退,匿承偕囚之。 帝重違其心,貶承偕,然悟自是頗專肆,上書言多不恭。 天下負罪亡命者多歸之,強列其冤。 累進檢校司徒、同中書門下平章事。
In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe he came to court and was promoted to acting Minister of War. When Emperor Muzong took the throne, Wu was transferred to command the Zhaoyi army. When Zhu Kerong rebelled, court advisers hoped Wu's reputation alone would suppress the disorder and transferred him to guard Lulong. When he reached Xing Prefecture, Wang Tingcou's mutiny broke out. Unable to enter, he withdrew and encamped where he was. He was promoted to concurrent pacification commissioner of You and Zhen and governed from Xing Prefecture. He besieged Lincheng but lingered without taking it. He clashed with the army supervisor Liu Chengxie, and his troops humiliated Wu while letting their subordinates break discipline until Wu could bear it no longer. Chengxie and the chief general Zhang Wen plotted to bind Wu and send him to the capital, with Zhang Wen to take over the command. When Wu learned of the plot, he surrounded the supervisor with troops and killed several of his attendants. His subordinate Jia Zhiyan rebuked him, saying, "If the late Minister Li could see from the grave what you have done, the army will produce more men just like you!" Wu hastily apologized, "I do not want to hear the name of Minister Li mentioned again. In a little while all will be settled." He immediately withdrew his troops, hid Chengxie, and kept him imprisoned. The emperor, unwilling to defy him, demoted Chengxie instead. From then on Wu grew increasingly high-handed, and his memorials to the throne were often insolent. Criminals and fugitives from across the empire flocked to him, pressing their grievances upon him by force of numbers. He was eventually promoted to acting Grand Preceptor and Grand Chancellor.
41
寶歷初,巫者妄言師道以兵屯鎦璃陂,悟惶恐,命禱祭,具千人膳,自往求哀。 將易衣,嘔血數鬥,卒,贈太尉。 表其子從諫嗣。
Early in the Baoli reign, shamans falsely claimed that Li Shidao's ghost was encamped with an army at the Liuli embankment. Terrified, Wu ordered prayers and sacrifices, prepared a feast for a thousand men, and went in person to plead for mercy. Just as he was about to change clothes, he vomited several dou of blood and died. He was posthumously granted the title of Grand Guardian. He memorialized the throne asking that his son Li Congjian succeed him.
42
從諫,母微賤,少狡獪。 師道時,使悟出屯,署從諫門下別奏。 從諫與師道諸奴日戲博交通,具知其陰密事,悉疏於悟,故悟得立功。 悟卒,從諫知留後,持金幣賂當權者。 朝議謂上黨內鎮,與河朔異,不可許。 左僕射李絳奏言:「悟匿死,眾不必同亂,從諫威惠未著,若詔比鎮大將領節度,馳入軍,笮其未備,使軍情有屬,謀自屈矣。 有如拒命,三州勢難獨存,數月可覆。」 時李逢吉、王守澄納其賂,數為請,敬宗乃以晉王為節度大使,詔從諫主留事,起將作監主簿,檢校左散騎常侍。 晉王帝所愛,從諫饋獻相望,未幾,拜節度使。 大和初,李聽敗館陶,走淺口,從諫引鐵騎黃頭郎救之,聽免。 進檢校尚書左僕射,拜司空,封沛國公。
Li Congjian's mother came from a humble background, and in youth he was shrewd and slippery. While Li Shidao still ruled, Liu Wu was sent out to garrison the frontier and appointed Congjian as a memorial secretary in his staff. Congjian spent his days gambling and consorting with Li Shidao's household servants, learning all their secret dealings and reporting everything to Wu. It was thus that Wu was able to win his great victory. When Liu Wu died, Congjian took charge as acting commissioner and lavished gold and gifts on those in power at court. Court opinion held that Shangdang was an inner circuit, unlike the Hebei provinces, and that succession could not be granted. Left Vice Director Li Jiang memorialized, "Wu concealed his death, but the troops need not all rise together. Congjian's authority and reputation are not yet established. If the throne issues a decree appointing a great general from another circuit as commissioner and sends him swiftly into the army while they are unprepared, the soldiers will have someone to follow and the plot will collapse of itself. If they refuse the order, the three prefectures cannot long stand alone, and within a few months they can be overthrown." But Li Fengji and Wang Shoucheng had accepted Congjian's bribes and repeatedly interceded for him. Emperor Jingzong therefore made the Prince of Jin nominal commissioner, decreed that Congjian should manage affairs as acting commissioner, and raised him from registrar of the Directorate of Palace Buildings to acting Left Cavalry Captain. The Prince of Jin was the emperor's favorite, and Congjian sent him gift after gift. Before long Congjian was formally appointed military commissioner. Early in the Dahe reign, Li Ting was defeated at Guantao and fled to Qiankou. Congjian led his iron cavalry and yellow-cap guards to his rescue, but Li Ting was dismissed from command all the same. He was promoted to acting Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat, appointed Minister of Works, and enfeoffed as Duke of Pei.
43
昭義自悟時治邢州,而人思上黨,從諫還治潞。 悟苛擾,從諫寬厚,故下益附。 方年壯,思立功。 六年,請入朝,文宗待遇加等。 明年,還藩,進同中書門下平章事。 公卿多托以私,又見事柄不一,遂心輕朝廷,有驕色。 李訓約從諫誅鄭註,及甘露事,宰相皆夷族,傳言死非其罪。 從諫不平,三上書請王涯等罪,譏切中人。 時宦豎得誌,天子弱,鄭覃、李石新執政,藉其論執以立權綱,中人憚而怨之。 又劾奏蕭本非太后弟。 仇士良積怒,倡言從諫誌窺伺。 從諫亦妄言清君側,因與朝廷猜貳。 武宗立,兼太子太師。 性奢侈,飾居室輿馬。 無遠略,善貿易之算。 徙長子道入潞,歲榷馬征商人,又熬鹽,貨銅鐵,收緡十萬。 賈人子獻口馬金幣,即署牙將,使行賈州縣,所在暴橫沓貪,責子貸錢,吏不應命,即訴於從諫。 欲論奏,或遣客遊刺,故天下怨怒。 從諫畜馬高九尺,獻之帝,帝不納,疑士良所沮,怒殺馬,益不平。 又聞士良寵方渥,愈憂惑,欲自入朝,恐不脫禍,因被病,卒,年四十一,贈太傅。
Since Liu Wu's day the Zhaoyi command had been administered from Xing Prefecture, but the people longed for Shangdang. Congjian moved the seat of government back to Lu. Wu had been harsh and overbearing, whereas Congjian was generous and mild, and so his subordinates attached themselves to him all the more. Still in the prime of life, he burned to win distinction. In the sixth year he requested an audience at court, and Emperor Wenzong received him with exceptional honor. The following year he returned to his command and was promoted to Grand Chancellor. High officials often entrusted him with private favors, and seeing that power at court was divided, he came to look down on the throne and carried himself with arrogance. Li Xun had plotted with Congjian to kill Zheng Zhu. When the Sweet Dew affair erupted, the chancellors were exterminated to the last man, and rumor held that they had died innocent of any crime. Congjian was outraged. Three times he memorialized the throne asking that the cases of Wang Ya and the others be reopened, his words cutting sharply at the eunuchs. The eunuchs were then at the height of their power and the emperor was weak. The newly installed chief ministers Zheng Tan and Li Shi leaned on Congjian's bold memorials to reassert authority at court, while the eunuchs both feared and hated him for it. He also impeached Xiao Ben, declaring that he was not the empress dowager's brother. Qiu Shiliang nursed his anger and spread word that Congjian harbored designs on the throne and was watching for his chance. Congjian, for his part, rashly spoke of "purging evil from the emperor's side," and mutual suspicion between him and the court deepened. When Emperor Wuzong took the throne, Congjian was additionally appointed Grand Preceptor of the Crown Prince. By nature he was extravagant, lavishing ornament on his residence and his horses and carriages. He had no long view of statecraft but was adept at the arithmetic of commerce. He moved his eldest son Li Dao into Lu Prefecture. Each year he monopolized the horse trade and levied taxes on merchants, boiled salt for sale, trafficked in copper and iron, and collected one hundred thousand strings of cash. The sons of merchants who offered horses and gold were immediately made yamen generals and sent to trade through the prefectures and counties. Everywhere they acted with violence and greed, extorting loans from local families. If an official refused them, they appealed straight to Congjian. Those who tried to report them to the throne were sometimes hunted down by roaming assassins, and resentment spread across the empire. Congjian kept a horse nine feet tall at the withers and offered it to the emperor. When the emperor refused it, Congjian suspected Qiu Shiliang had blocked the gift. In rage he had the horse killed and grew all the more embittered. When he heard that Qiu Shiliang's favor was growing ever stronger, his anxiety deepened. He wished to go to court in person but feared he would not escape harm. He therefore feigned illness, then died at the age of forty-one. He was posthumously granted the title of Grand Tutor.
44
初,大將李萬江者,本退渾部,李抱玉送回紇,道太原,舉帳從至潞州,牧津梁寺,地美水草,馬如鴨而健,世所謂津梁種者,歲入馬價數百萬。 子弟姻婭隸軍者四十八人,從諫徙山東,懼其重遷且生變,而子弟亦豪縱,少從諫,不甚禮,因誣其叛,夷三族,凡三百餘家。 姬妾有微過,輒殺之。 人皆知其將亡。
Earlier there had been a great general named Li Wanjiang, originally of the Turgesh tribe. Li Baoyu had sent him back toward the Uyghurs, but passing Taiyuan his whole encampment followed him on to Lu Prefecture. He pastured his herds at Jinliang Temple, where the land was rich in water and grass and his horses—stocky as ducks yet powerful, the breed known as Jinliang horses—brought in several million in horse revenue each year. Forty-eight of his sons, sons-in-law, and clansmen served in the army. When Congjian moved east into Shandong he feared that relocating the Wanjiang clan would provoke trouble. The younger men were also proud and insolent, showed little respect for Congjian, and so he framed them for rebellion, exterminated three clans, and destroyed more than three hundred households. Concubines who committed the slightest offense were killed on the spot. Everyone knew his end was near.
45
從子稹,父從素仕右驍衛將軍。 從諫以為嗣,病甚,與妻裴謀,令主軍事,置大將王協、郭誼、劉武德、劉守義等佐稹。 秘不發喪,協謀遣將姜岑請醫於朝。 中人與醫至,時從諫死已再旬,稹曰:「公困革不任受詔,稹請代拜。」 中人曰:「臥而視可也。」 辭以母夫人侍,不可屏。 中人欲直入,武德等戶之,中人恐有變,趨出,貺饋百萬。 後使者繼往,為知從諫已死者,未至數舍,眾懼,武德與將董可武出兵萬人迎勞,至牙門,不得前。 諸將乃詣監軍崔士康邀說,請如河朔故事。 士康懦,不敢拒,乃至喪次,扶出稹,為裹絁巾,曰:「毋更欲殺敕使。」 諸將哄然笑,遂出見三軍。
His nephew Li Zhen was the son of Li Congsu, who had served as a general of the Right Xiaowei Guard. Congjian designated him as his heir. When his illness grew grave, he consulted with his wife, Lady Pei, put her in charge of military affairs, and appointed the great generals Wang Xie, Guo Yi, Liu Wude, and Liu Shouyi to assist Li Zhen. They kept his death secret. Wang Xie then plotted to send the general Jiang Cen to the capital to request a court physician. The eunuch and the physician arrived. By then Li Congjian had been dead for twenty days. Li Zhen said, "The Duke is critically ill and cannot receive the edict. Zhen asks to bow on his behalf." The eunuch said, "It will do to view him as he lies in bed." Zhen declined on the grounds that his mother was attending the sickbed and could not be sent from the room. The eunuch tried to enter at once. Liu Wude and the others barred the door. Fearing a disturbance, the eunuch hurried out and was sent away with a bribe of a million cash. Later envoys followed one after another. When they learned that Congjian was already dead, the men grew fearful before they had gone a few stages. Wude and the general Dong Kewu led ten thousand troops out to welcome and reassure them, but at the headquarters gate they were not allowed to advance. The generals then went to the army supervisor Cui Shikang to persuade him, asking that they follow the Hebei precedent. Shikang was timid and did not dare refuse. He went to the mourning hall, helped Zhen out, wrapped a coarse cloth about his head, and said, "Do not again think of killing the imperial envoys." The generals broke into loud laughter, then went out to appear before the entire army.
46
帝怒前使者不入,謫隸恭陵; 稹所遣姜岑、梁叔文、梁叔明三輩,皆杖死京兆府。 詔從素書敕稹護喪還東都,稹不奉詔。 詔群臣議,李德裕建言:「稹所恃者,河朔耳。 若遣大臣諭上旨,出山東兵,破之必矣。」 有詔奪從諫、稹官,敕諸軍進討。
The emperor was enraged that the earlier envoys had not been admitted and banished them to serve at Gongling; The three men Zhen had sent—Jiang Cen, Liang Shuwen, and Liang Shuming—were all beaten to death in the Capital Prefecture. An edict penned by Li Congsu ordered Zhen to escort the coffin back to the eastern capital, but Zhen refused to obey. The emperor ordered the court ministers to deliberate. Li Deyu submitted a proposal: "All Zhen relies on is Hebei. If a senior minister is sent to expound the throne's intent and troops from east of the mountains are mobilized, he will surely be broken." An edict stripped Congjian and Zhen of their offices and commanded all armies to advance against them.
47
於是河陽王茂元以兵屯萬善; 河東劉沔守昂車關,壁榆社; 魏博何弘敬柵肥鄉,侵平恩; 成德王元逵次臨洺,略任、堯山、向城; 河中陳夷行營冀城,侵冀氏。 茂元別遣將營天井關,為賊將薛茂卿所破,執四將,火十七柵。 張巨進攻萬善,不能下。 茂元欲走,會日暮,賊自潰去。 詔忠武王宰以本軍入懷澤行營,陳許士票武,賊眾素憚畏。 而茂卿負戰勝,冀厚賞。 或言:「其兵犯王略深,朝廷且怒,節益不可至。」 稹然之,故茂卿大望,乃與宰通,即偽挑戰,亟北,委天井關去,左右七營皆潰。 茂卿奔澤州,使諜言於宰曰:「澤可取,吾應於內。」 宰疑不進,失期,茂卿扼腕悵恨。 稹聞其貳,召誅之。 宰進破劉公直,拔陵川。 劉沔又取石會關。 李石代沔領河東,稹因石兄洺州刺史恬移書乞降,石以聞,右拾遺崔碣表請納之,帝怒,斥碣鄧城令,詔敢言罷兵者戮賊境。 上令石答書許稹面縛,石馳往受之,稹不出。 俄而太原將楊弁逐李石,與稹連和,稹諸將建議:「我求承襲,彼叛卒,若與之,是與反者。」 械其使送京師,使康良佺屯鼓腰嶺,敗太原兵,生禽卒七百。 帝猶不赦。
Wang Maoyuan of Heyang then encamped at Wanshan with his army; Liu Mian of Hedong held Angche Pass and fortified at Yushe; He Hongjing of Weibo built palisades at Feixiang and raided Ping'en; Wang Yuankui of Chengde stationed at Linming and plundered Ren, Yaoshan, and Xiangcheng; Chen Yixing of Hezhong encamped at Jicheng and raided Jishi. Maoyuan separately sent a general to encamp at Tianjing Pass, but the rebel general Xue Maoqing defeated him, captured four generals, and burned seventeen palisades. Zhang Ju attacked Wanshan but could not capture it. Maoyuan was about to flee, but at dusk the rebels broke and scattered on their own. An edict ordered Prince Zhongwu Wang Zai to enter the Huai-Ze field headquarters with his own army. The Chen-Xu troops were fierce warriors, and the rebel masses had long dreaded and feared them. Maoqing, however, took pride in his victories and hoped for a rich reward. Some said, "His troops have deeply violated the imperial domain. The court will soon be angered, and a commission will never come." Zhen agreed. Maoqing's hopes therefore ran high. He then made contact with Wang Zai, feigned battle, fled north in haste, abandoned Tianjing Pass, and the seven camps on either flank all collapsed. Maoqing fled to Ze Prefecture and sent a spy to tell Wang Zai, "Ze can be taken. I will respond from within." Wang Zai was suspicious and did not advance. Missing the agreed time, Maoqing wrung his wrists in frustration and regret. When Zhen learned of his defection, he summoned Maoqing and executed him. Wang Zai advanced, defeated Liu Gongzhi, and captured Lingchuan. Liu Mian also captured Shihui Pass. Li Shi replaced Liu Mian in command of Hedong. Zhen, through Shi's elder brother Li Tian, the prefect of Mingzhou, sent a letter begging to surrender. Li Shi reported this. Right Reminder Cui Jie memorialized asking that the surrender be accepted. The emperor was enraged, demoted Jie to magistrate of Dengcheng, and decreed that anyone who spoke of halting the campaign should be executed in rebel territory. The emperor ordered Li Shi to reply with a letter promising that Zhen could surrender with bound hands. Li Shi galloped to accept the surrender, but Zhen would not come out. Before long the Taiyuan general Yang Bian drove out Li Shi and allied with Zhen. Zhen's generals advised, "We seek to inherit the command lawfully. They are mutinous soldiers. If we join with them, we join with rebels." They shackled the envoy and sent him to the capital, sent Kang Liangqian to encamp at Guyao Ridge, defeated the Taiyuan troops, and captured seven hundred soldiers alive. The emperor still would not grant pardon.
48
始,從諫將死,命稹無笞辱群奴,故李士貴等與王協尤用事,士戰,有功不賞,下無鬥誌。 府中財貨尚山積,而協請稅商人,使劉溪等分出檢實,而溪並齊民閱其貲,十取二,百姓始怨。 從諫妻弟裴問守邢州,有募兵五百,號「夜飛將」,多豪姓子,其家以輸貲不時,為溪所囚。 問以為言,溪大怒,問因殺溪,與刺史崔嘏斬大將,自歸成德軍。 王釗守洺州,給士{此巾}布一端,稹檄代歲稟。 釗謂眾曰:「庫物尚多,欲發以為賞,可乎?」 士皆喜。 悉所有給之,送款魏博軍。 礠州將高玉、堯山將魏元談等以次降成德,元逵以久為賊守,殺之。
At the outset, when Congjian was near death, he had commanded Zhen not to flog or humiliate the household servants. Li Shigui and others, together with Wang Xie, therefore wielded power above all others. When soldiers fought, merit went unrewarded, and the ranks lost all will to fight. Wealth in the commission treasury still piled like mountains, yet Wang Xie asked to tax merchants and sent Liu Xi and others to divide up districts and inspect holdings. Xi also lumped ordinary townspeople together to examine their wealth, taking two parts in ten, and the common people began to resent it. Congjian's wife's younger brother Pei Wen guarded Xing Prefecture. He had five hundred recruited troops called the "Night-Flying Generals," mostly sons of powerful clans. Because their families failed to deliver tax payments on time, Xi had them imprisoned. Pei Wen spoke on their behalf. Xi was furious. Wen therefore killed Xi, and together with the prefect Cui Gu beheaded a senior general and surrendered to the Chengde army. Wang Zhao guarded Ming Prefecture and gave the soldiers one bolt of cloth. Zhen issued an edict replacing their annual grain ration. Zhao said to the troops, "The stores still hold plenty. Shall we distribute them as rewards?" The soldiers were delighted. He gave them everything in the stores and sent terms of surrender to the Weibo army. Gao Yu, the general of Ci Prefecture, Wei Yuanzan, the general of Yaoshan, and others surrendered to Chengde one after another. Yuankui killed them because they had long served as rebel garrison commanders.
49
稹聞三州降,大懼。 大將郭誼與王協始議圖稹,使董可武誘稹至北第,置酒,飲酣,即斬首,悉取從諫子在繈褓者二十餘,並從子積、匡周等殺之。 誅張谷、張沿、陳揚庭、李仲京、王渥、王羽、韓茂章、茂實、賈庠、郭臺、甄戈十一族,夷之,軍中素不附者皆殺。 函稹首送王宰,獻京師,告廟社,帝禦興安門受之。 劉公直亦降於宰。
When Zhen learned that three prefectures had surrendered, he was terrified. The grand general Guo Yi and Wang Xie first plotted against Zhen. They had Dong Kewu lure Zhen to the northern residence, set out wine, and when the drinking was at its height, beheaded him at once. They took more than twenty of Congjian's sons still in swaddling clothes, together with his nephews Ji, Kuangzhou, and others, and killed them all. They executed the eleven clans of Zhang Gu, Zhang Yan, Chen Yangting, Li Zhongjing, Wang Wo, Wang Yu, Han Maozhang, Maoshi, Jia Xu, Guo Tai, and Zhen Ge, exterminating them to the roots, and killed everyone in the army who had never been loyal. They sent Zhen's head in a box to Wang Zai, who presented it to the capital, reported it at the temple and altars of state, and the emperor received it in state at Xing'an Gate. Liu Gongzhi also surrendered to Wang Zai.
50
石雄以兵守境,軍大掠,誼移書責之,雄銜怒。 稹之死,誼斥從諫妻伏夾室,收其貲私於己,建大廄,日望旌節。 宰相德裕建言:「稹庸下,亂繇誼始,及軍窮蹙,乃圖稹邀榮,不誅無以懲奸臣。 及兵在境,宜悉取逆黨送京師,論如法。」 先是有狂人呼於潞市曰:「石雄七千人至矣!」 從諫捕誅之,乃請詔雄率兵如數以入。 雄至潞,縛誼及王協、劉公直、安全慶、李道德、李佐堯、劉武德、董可武等送京師,並殊死。 杖崔士康殺之。 白惟信者,潞梟將,數與雄戰,懼不敢降,自武鄉殺都將康良佺,欲降盧鈞; 雄遣人召降,惟信殺之,卒降鈞。 有詔「從諫且死,乃署稹軍事,宜剖棺暴屍於市三日。」 雄發視,面如生,一目尚開,雄三斬之,仇人剔其骨幾盡。
Shi Xiong held the border with troops, and his army plundered on a great scale. Guo Yi sent a letter rebuking him, and Xiong nursed a grudge. After Zhen's death, Guo Yi shut Congjian's wife in a side chamber, seized her private wealth for himself, built a great stable, and daily awaited the arrival of a commander's insignia. Chancellor Li Deyu submitted a proposal: "Zhen was base and inferior, but the chaos began with Guo Yi. When the army was cornered, only then did he plot against Zhen to win glory. If he is not executed, there is no way to punish treacherous ministers. Now that troops are at the border, all rebel partisans should be taken and sent to the capital to be judged according to law." Earlier a madman had cried in the Lu market, "Shi Xiong's seven thousand men have arrived!" Li Congjian had him seized and executed, then requested an edict for Shi Xiong to lead that number of troops into Lu. When Shi Xiong reached Lu, he bound Guo Yi, Wang Xie, Liu Gongzhi, An Qingqing, Li Daode, Li Zuoyao, Liu Wude, Dong Kewu, and others and sent them to the capital. All were sentenced to death. Cui Shikang was beaten with the rod and killed. Bai Weixin was a fierce Lu general who had fought Shi Xiong many times. Afraid, he did not dare surrender. From Wuxiang he killed the commander Kang Liangqian, intending to surrender to Lu Jun; Shi Xiong sent men to summon his surrender. Weixin killed them and finally surrendered to Lu Jun. There was an edict: "Since Congjian was about to die, Zhen was only then appointed to military affairs. His coffin should be opened and the corpse exposed in the market for three days." Shi Xiong opened the coffin and looked—the face was as if alive, one eye still open. Xiong struck it three times with a blade. Enemies scraped his bones nearly clean.
51
誼者,兗州人。 兄岌,事悟為牙將,常樂滏山秀峻,曰:「我死必葬此。」 望氣者言:「其地當三世為都頭異姓。」 河北謂都頭異姓,至貴稱也。 「然窆過二丈不利。」 誼以岌假刺史,穿三丈,得石蛇並三卵,工破之,皆流血。 至是,誼及岌三子同誅。
Guo Yi was a native of Yan Prefecture. His elder brother Ji had served Liu Wu as a headquarters guard and always admired the fine steepness of Fushan. He said, "When I die I shall surely be buried here." A geomancer said, "That ground will for three generations produce a commander of different surname." In Hebei they called such a commander of different surname the highest title of honor. "Yet if the burial is deeper than two zhang it will be unlucky." When Yi, because Ji was acting prefect, dug three zhang deep, they found a stone serpent together with three eggs. The workmen broke them open—all bled. At this time Guo Yi and Ji's three sons were executed together.
52
張谷、張沿、陳揚庭皆有文,時時言古今成敗以佐從諫,故善遇此三人。 谷納邯鄲人李嚴女為侍人,號新聲。 當從諫潛圖窺脅,新聲諫谷曰:「始天子以從諫為節度,非有戰野攻城之功,直以其父挈齊十二州還天子,去就間未能奪其嗣耳。 自有澤潞,未聞以一縷一蹄為天子壽,左右皆無賴。 章武朝,數鎮顛覆,皆雄才傑器,尚不能固天子恩,況從諫擢自兒女手中,茍不以法得,亦宜以不法終。 君當脫族西去,大丈夫勿顧一飯恩,以骨肉腥健兒食。」 言訖悲涕。 谷不決者三月,畏言泄,縊之。
Zhang Gu, Zhang Yan, and Chen Yangting all had literary talent and often spoke of success and failure in past and present to assist Congjian, so he treated these three men well. Gu took as concubine the daughter of a Handan man named Li Yan, called Xinsheng. When Congjian was secretly plotting to usurp and coerce, Xinsheng admonished Gu: "At the beginning the Son of Heaven made Congjian commissioner not because he had merit in field battles or storming cities, but simply because his father brought the twelve Qi prefectures back to the Son of Heaven—and at the moment of departure and return no one could wrest the succession from him. Since there has been a Ze-Lu commission, never has one thread or one hoof been sent as birthday tribute for the Son of Heaven, and those at his side are all scoundrels. In the Zhangwu reign several circuits were overthrown—all were men of heroic talent and outstanding ability, and even they could not secure the Son of Heaven's favor. How much less Congjian, raised up from the hands of women and children? If he did not obtain the command by law, he ought likewise to end by lawlessness. You should leave clan and kin and go west. A true man should not cling to the kindness of a single meal and feed his flesh and blood to sturdy warriors. When she finished speaking she wept in grief. Gu could not decide for three months. Fearing her words would leak out, he strangled her.
53
李仲京,訓之兄,為蕭洪府判官,擢監察御史。 王渥,璠之子。 王羽,涯族孫。 韓茂章、茂實,約之子。 賈庠,餗子。 郭臺,行餘子。 甘露難作,皆羸服奔從諫,從諫衣食之。
Li Zhongjing was the elder brother of Li Xun and served as aide in Xiao Hong's commission; he was promoted to investigating censor. Wang Wo was the son of Wang Fan. Wang Yu was a clansman of Wang Ya. Han Maozhang and Maoshi were sons of Han Yue. Jia Xu was the son of Jia Su. Guo Tai was the son of Guo Xingyu. When the Ganlu Affair broke out, they all fled in ragged clothes to Congjian, and Congjian clothed and fed them.
54
甄戈者,頗任俠,從諫厚給釁,坐上座,自稱荊卿。 從諫與定州戍將有嫌,命戈取之,因為逆旅上謁,留飲三日,乘間斬其首。 它日,又使取仇人,乃引不逞者十餘輩劫之。 從諫不悅,號「偽荊卿。」
Zhen Ge was quite chivalrous and bold. Congjian richly supplied him with sacrificial gifts, seated him in the place of honor, and Ge styled himself Jing Ke. Congjian had a grudge with a garrison general of Ding Prefecture and ordered Ge to take his head. Ge therefore paid a respectful visit at an inn, kept him drinking for three days, and in an interval cut off his head. Another day he was again sent to take an enemy's head, but instead led more than ten desperadoes to rob the man. Congjian was displeased and called him "The false Jing Ke."
55
從諫妻裴,以弟立功,詔欲貸其死。 刑部侍郎劉三復執不可,於是賜死,以屍還問。 裴父敞,冕之裔,辟悟府,悟奇之,故為從諫納其女。 裴年十五,火光起袿下,家人以為怪,因許婚。 封燕國夫人。 寬厚有謀,每勸從諫入朝為子孫計。 從諫有妾韋願封夫人,許之,詔至,裴怒,毀詔不與。 從諫它日會裴黨,復出詔,裴抵去,曰:「淄青李師古四世阻命,不聞側室封者。 君承朝廷姑息,宜自黜削,求洗濯,顧以婢為夫人,族不日滅耳!」 從諫赧然止。 及韋至京師,乃言:「李丕降,裴會大將妻號哭曰:『為我語若夫,勿忘先公恩,願以子母托。』 諸婦亦泣下,故潞諸將叛益堅。」 由是及禍。
Congjian's wife Pei—because her younger brother had achieved merit, an edict was about to pardon his death sentence. Vice Director of Punishments Liu Sanfu insisted it could not be allowed. Thereupon Wen was granted death by imperial favor, and the corpse was returned to him. Pei's father Chang was a descendant of Pei Mian. He entered Liu Wu's staff, and Wu regarded him as remarkable—therefore he took his daughter for Congjian. When Pei was fifteen, firelight rose from beneath her skirt. The family thought it strange and therefore agreed to the marriage. She was enfeoffed as Lady of Yan. Broad-minded and resourceful, she often urged Congjian to enter court for the sake of his descendants. Congjian had a concubine, Wei, who wished to be enfeoffed as a lady. He agreed. When the edict arrived, Pei was angry, tore up the edict, and would not give it to her. Another day Congjian was feasting with Pei's faction and again produced the edict. Pei pushed it away and said, "In Ziqing, Li Shigu for four generations defied imperial orders—never was a concubine enfeoffed heard of. You enjoy the court's indulgence and ought to diminish yourself and seek cleansing. Yet you would make a maidservant a lady—the clan will perish before many days!" Congjian, abashed, stopped. When Wei reached the capital she said, "When Li Pi surrendered, Lady Pei met the senior generals' wives, weeping and wailing, and said, 'Tell your husbands for me—do not forget the grace of my late father-in-law. I beg to entrust mother and child to you. The other wives also shed tears, and therefore the generals of Lu rebelled all the more firmly." And so they met ruin.
56
初,術者李琢能言禍福,從諫以重幣邀,辟署大將。 會昌初,謂從諫曰:「往歲長星經鬥,公生直之。 今鎮復至,當有災。」 從諫即徙軍山東,開球場,鑿柳泉,大興役以厭。 及病,有言琢所興造皆逆歲,疑有異謀,使稹數其罪殺之,府中洶洶,俄而李丕降。
Earlier the diviner Li Zhuo foretold fortune and disaster; Congjian courted him with rich gifts and made him a senior general. Early in Huichang he told Congjian, "Years ago the long comet crossed the Dipper—you were born straight under it. Now the comet has returned—disaster is coming." Congjian promptly shifted his army east of the mountains, opened a ball ground, dug the Willow Spring, and launched huge public works to ward off the omen. When Congjian grew ill, some said Zhuo's projects all violated the year's cycle and suspected treason; Zhen was ordered to charge and execute him. The headquarters erupted in uproar—and soon Li Pi defected.
57
有李佐之者,兼孫也,累調河南尉,號強直。 嘗客潞,為從諫所禮,留不得去,遂署觀察府支使,因娶其從祖妹。 從諫薄疏屬,資媵寒闕,佐之亦薄之,不甚答。 從諫病,佐之力諷使還東都,從諫雖不能從,然感服其言。 病且革,王協等恐佐之妻母有所關說,即輦母歸東都。 會佐之奴告佐之交通賓客,漏軍中虛實,稹囚之。 妻訴不見禮,稹遂殺之。
Li Zuozhi, a collateral grandson, had served repeatedly as magistrate of Henan and was known for blunt integrity. He had once been a guest at Lu; Congjian honored him and would not let him go, made him an aide in the observation office, and he married a cousin of Congjian's clan. Congjian treated distant relatives coldly and stinted on his concubines' upkeep; Zuozhi slighted them as well and barely answered their appeals. When Congjian fell ill Zuozhi pressed him to go back to Luoyang; Congjian could not agree, yet he was moved by the counsel. When the illness turned grave Wang Xie and his faction feared Zuozhi's wife and mother might lobby the court, and hurried the mother back to Luoyang by carriage. Then a servant accused Zuozhi of dealing with outsiders and leaking military secrets; Zhen had him imprisoned. His wife protested that they had shown her no respect; Zhen had him executed.
58
武鄉令唐漢賓,儉裔孫,以稹拒命,固諫歸朝,不聽,舉族見害。 李師晦者,本宗室子,始悟辟致幕府,見從諫稍恣橫,假言求長生術,不與事。 從諫使歸東都,師晦懼為谷、揚庭等所譖,請居涉,從諫不之疑。 稹敗,有為帝言者,擢伊闕令,而贈薛茂卿博州刺史。 大中初,又贈漢賓本縣令。
Tang Hanbin of Wuxiang, a descendant of Jia Jian, urged Zhen to obey the court when he rebelled; ignored, he and his entire clan were slaughtered. Li Shihui, born of the imperial clan, was brought into Liu Wu's staff. Seeing Congjian grow arrogant, he feigned interest in immortality lore and kept out of politics. When Congjian sent him to Luoyang Shihui feared denunciation by Gu and Yang Ting and asked to stay at She; Congjian suspected nothing. After Zhen's defeat someone spoke for Shihui at court; he was made magistrate of Yique, and Xue Maoqing was posthumously enfeoffed as prefect of Bozhou. Early in Dazhong Hanbin too was posthumously restored as magistrate of his home county.
59
先時,河北諸將死,皆先遣使吊祭,次冊贈,次近臣宣慰,度軍便宜乃與節,軍中不許出,乃用兵,大抵不半歲不能定,故謷將逆子皆得為之備。 稹初不意帝怒即見討,及茂元錄詔示稹,舉族號慟,欲自歸,而愚懦不決雲。 自悟至稹三世,凡二十六年。
Formerly when a Hebei general died the court first sent mourners, then posthumous honors, then a close minister to console the troops, and only after sizing up the army granted the commission; the army was kept in camp until arms were taken up—usually half a year before matters settled—so overbearing generals and rebellious heirs always had time to prepare. Zhen had not expected the emperor's anger to bring instant war; when Maoyuan read him the edict the clan wailed together. He wanted to submit but was too foolish and timid to decide. From Liu Wu to Zhen were three generations spanning twenty-six years.
60
李丕者,善長短術,與從諫厚善,署大將。 及稹阻命,軍中疾其才,丕懼,乞為遊弈深入,以圖營壁處,遂自歸。 議者疑為賊遣,德裕奏言:「討賊半年,始有降者,當賞以勸餘。」 帝召見,擢忻州刺史。 丕請取榆社,東徑武安入討賊,雖邢、洺未下,而兵不得救潞。 不聽。 楊弁亂,遣人誘丕,丕斬之,以兵扼走集。 德裕言於帝曰:「度支戶部物積代州,今丕塞其路,賊破矣。」 乃趣丕討弁,兵未至而弁已禽。 遷汾、晉二州刺史。 大中初,拜振武節度使,檢校刑部尚書。 党項叛,徙鄜坊,卒。
Li Pi practiced divination by length; he was close to Congjian and made a senior general. When Zhen rebelled the army envied Pi's ability; afraid, he asked to scout deep behind enemy lines to map camps and fortifications, then defected. Some suspected he was a rebel plant; Deyu wrote, "We have fought half a year with the first defector only now—reward him to encourage the others." The emperor received him and made him prefect of Xinzhou. Pi proposed taking Yushe and striking east through Wuan; even if Xing and Ming held out, rebel troops could not relieve Lu. The court refused. When Yang Bian rebelled he sent agents to win Pi over; Pi executed them and sealed the escape routes with his troops. Deyu told the emperor, "Revenue and treasury stores are stacked at Daizhou—Pi now blocks the road and the rebels are finished." He then ordered Pi against Bian; before the army arrived Bian was already taken. He was made prefect of Fen and Jin in turn. Early in Dazhong he received Zhenwu governorship and Acting Minister of Justice. When the Tangut rose he was transferred to Zou-Fang and died in office.
61
贊曰:《傳》稱:「作《易》者其知盜乎!」 然則盜之情,非聖人不能知。 唐中衰,奸雄圜睨而奮,舉魏、趙、燕之地,莽為盜區,挐叛百年,夷狄其人,而不能復。 昏上庸佐,惟不知盜故也。 引妖就暝,以奪厥明,寧蕭俯、崔植等謂耶!
The commentator writes: The *Tradition* says, "Did the maker of the *Changes* understand thieves?" Only a sage can know what moves a thief's heart. Mid-Tang decline let ambitious men eye the realm and strike; Wei, Zhao, and Yan turned into bandit country; rebellion gripped the north for a century, the people were barbarized, and the court could not recover it. Foolish emperors and mediocre ministers simply did not understand brigandage. They beckoned demons into twilight to steal the daylight—were not men like Ning, Xiao Fu, and Cui Zhi exactly that!