3 The
persuader
Li Yiji told Liu Bang that he could take the seventy cities of Qi without effort.
Du Fu - 5
?
?
Unauthenticated Download Date | 10/1/17 7:36 AM Respectfully Seeing Off Guo Yingyi, Vice Censor in Chief and Chief Minister 313 In three months the army is increasingly well-trained, the Hu horde is headed for the cooking fire.
All scarred, you personally joined in battle, 36 brave and decisive, you crown the impending achievement.
For fine repute you are expected to become minister, by special grace you were ranked as one of the high lords.
When will you bring back the standard and axe,1 40 unite our forces and sweep away the ill-omened comet?
Three thousand gentlemen in holes in the wall,2 ladder to the clouds, seventy cities.
3 I am ashamed I am not that Qi persuader,4 44 I only resemble those men of Lu.
5 I, on the register, unworthy of even minor rank;6 you, in glory, seated alone among the Zhou officers.
7 Shoulder to shoulder, I scurry at the appointed time,8 48 in my thinning hair I lodge hatpins and ribbons.
I would straightaway become a dependent of Liu Biao, but I suspect he would grow sick of Mi Heng.
9 Gradually aging, how can I at this parting 52 hold back tears, alone keeping feelings within?
In abandoned cities foxes and badgers talk, in deserted villages tigers and leopards contend.
1 Marks of military authority.
2 Confucius was supposed to have had three thousand disciples; this refers to scholars living in poverty.
3 The persuader Li Yiji told Liu Bang that he could take the seventy cities of Qi without effort. The scholars of the preceding line could render the same service now if they were recognized. 4 Li Yiji. 5 After Liu Bang (Han Gaozu, r. 206? 195 BCE) established the Han, his advisor Shusun Tong recommended that Confucian scholars of Lu be summoned to make Liu Bang? s court ritual. 6 This refers to Du Fu? s post as reminder. 7 Guangwudi (r. 25? 57 CE) allowed three officers separate seats in court, one of which was Vice Censor in chief. This refers to Guo Yingyi? s rank. 8 To court. 9 *Mi Heng.
3 The persuader Li Yiji told Liu Bang that he could take the seventy cities of Qi without effort. The scholars of the preceding line could render the same service now if they were recognized. 4 Li Yiji. 5 After Liu Bang (Han Gaozu, r. 206? 195 BCE) established the Han, his advisor Shusun Tong recommended that Confucian scholars of Lu be summoned to make Liu Bang? s court ritual. 6 This refers to Du Fu? s post as reminder. 7 Guangwudi (r. 25? 57 CE) allowed three officers separate seats in court, one of which was Vice Censor in chief. This refers to Guo Yingyi? s rank. 8 To court. 9 *Mi Heng.
