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使 交 河 群
Mission To Jiaohe Commandery
群 在 火 山 脚 , 其 地 苦 热 无 雨 雪 . 献 封 大 夫
The commandery is located at the foot of Fire Mountain. The land there is bitterly hot
and without rain or snow. The poem is to be presented to General Feng Changqing.
奉 使 按 胡 俗 Ordered on a mission to inspect the customs of the Hu 17 ,
平 明 发 轮 台
At dawn setting out from Luntai.
暮 投 交 河 城
In the evening staying at Jiaohe,
火 山 赤 崔 嵬
Fire Mountain red and lofty.
九 月 尚 流 汗
In the ninth month and still sweating,
炎 风 吹 沙 埃
Scorching winds blow sand and dust.
何 事 阴 阳 工 Why is it that the workman of yin and yang 18
不 遣 雨 雪 来
Not allow rain and snow to arrive?
吾 君 方 忧 边
My lord, worried about the situation on the borders,
分 阃 资 大 才 appoints a man of great talent to the position of general 19 .
昨 者 新 破 胡
Not long ago the Hu were defeated,
安 西 兵 马 回 and the Anxi military forces returned. 20
铁 关 控 天 涯
From Iron Gate Pass reaching towards the edge of the sky,
万 里 何 辽 哉 Ten thousand li – oh how far! 21
烟 尘 不 敢 飞
The smoke of battle dares not fly,
白 草 空 皑 皑 Frontier grasses waste their whiteness. 22
军 中 日 无 事
In the army camp days pass with nothing to do,
醉 舞 倾 金 罍
Drunken dancing, pouring wine into golden goblets.
汉 代 李 将 军 General Li of the Han dynasty –
23
微 功 今 何 咍 Oh how his small achievements are laughed at today!
17
While on the staff of general Feng Changqing, Cen Shen was appointed by the government to the post of Investigating
Censor (jiancha yushi 监 察 御 史 ). Investigating Censors were “generally empowered to gather complaints from the
people, to review the handling of prisoners, [and] to impeach any official for misconduct”. See Charles O. Hucker, A
Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, pp. 145-146.
18
An allusion to Jia Yi's 贾 谊 (201-169 BCE) “Rhyme-Prose on the Owl” (“Funiao fu” 鵩 鸟 赋 ).
19
The talented man being Feng Changqing 封 常 清 . See CSJJZ, p. 153.
20
At the time, Feng Changqing was also the Anxi Military Commissioner (Anxi jiedushi 安 西 节 度 使 ). In the fifth month
of the fourteenth year of Tianbao era ( 天 宝 十 四 载 ), or about 755, Feng Changqing set out on a campaign and the next
month returned after receiving the surrender of enemy forces. See Zhang Hui ed., Cen Shen biansaishixuan, p. 79.
21
Feng Changqing's renown has boundlessly spread across the empire. See Zhang Hui, ed., Cen Shen biansaishixuan, p.
79.
22
Without the encroachment of nomadic non-Chinese tribes, the white grasses of potential frontier pasture land go to seed.
See CSJJZ, p. 153.
23
CSJJZ, p. 152.