Recall the Past: Two Poems
(1)
忆 昔： 二 首
忆 昔 先 皇 巡 朔 方
千 骑 万 乘 久 或 阳。
阴 山 骑 子 汗 血 马
长 驱 东 胡 胡 走 藏。
鄭 城 反 覆 不 足 怪
关 中 小 儿 坏 纪 纲。
张 后 不 乐 上 为 忙。
至 令 今 上 犹 拔 乱。
劳 心 焦 思 补 四 方
我 昔 近 侍 叨 奉 引。
出 兵 整 肃 不 可 当
为 留 猛 士 守 未 央。
致 使 岐 雍 防 西 羌。
犬 戎 值 来 坐 御 床
百 官 跌 足 随 天 王。
愿 见 北 地 傅 介 子
老 儒 不 用 尚 书 郎！
Yi Xi: Er Shou
(1)
Yi xi xian huang xun shuo fang
Qian qi wan sheng ru xian yang.
Yin shan jiao zi han xue ma
Chang qu dong hu hu zou zang.
Ye cheng fan fu bu zu guai
Guan zhong xiao er huai ji gang.
Zhang hou bu le shang wei mang
Zhi ling jin shang you ba luan.
Lao xin jiao si bu si fang
Wo xi jin shi tao feng yin.
Chu bing zheng su bu ke dang.
Wei liu meng shi shou wei yang.
Zhi shi qi yong fang xi qiang
Quan rong zhi lai zuo yu chuang
Bai guan die zu sui tian wang.
Yuan jian bei di fu jie zi
Lao ru bu yong shang shu lang!
Recall the Past: Two Poems
(1)
Remember the past, an earlier emperor riding under a fragrant new moon
One thousand cavalry, thousands of war chariots enter Chang’an.
Weiqian people ride horses that sweat red
Northern nomads and eastern Tibetans one a long mounted drive.
Ye city leader changed sides, no longer loyal to our army
Central empire controlled by a former horse trainer, now a part of a twelve-year period of evil debauchery. He elevated a palace lady to empress, she was not busy enough to be happy
Daizong as new emperor needs my help to organize the chaos.
Rack my brains to think of how we can fix the whole government structure For the previous emperor, my position was close to the inner circle.
Daizong achieved consolidated strength that was unmatched
Later his best general was assigned a palace position, not trusted to remain loyal as a general.
This resulted in the Qi Yong gate being weak enough to allow western Xinjiang to fall into enemy hands
The northern nomads, Quan Rong, went straight into the palace to sit on the emperor’s bed.
One hundred palace officials scrambled to get dressed
I am an old learned Confucian scholar and cannot follow, we need men like what Fu Jiezi did.
Notes:
Weiqian people: Muslims living in central Asia, in present day Xinjiang Province.
Li Guofu: Former keeper of the horses
Emperor Daizong: (727-779) (r. 762-779) Instrumental is putting down the An Lushan Rebellion.
Best general: Guo Ziyi: (697-781) Regarded as one of the Tang Dynasty’s strongest generals. He was pivotal in extinguishing the An Lushan Rebellion and in defeating the Uighur and Tibetan armies.
Qi Yong gate: A militarily important, strategic border gate.
Fu Jiezi: In 77 BC, he was an envoy sent to the kingdom of Loulan to revenge the death of previous Han Dynasty envoys. The Loulan king was killed by two of Fu’s strongmen. They beheaded the king and sent his head back to their imperial palace.