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219<br />
走 马 川 行 奉 送 出 师 西 征<br />
The Ballad <strong>of</strong> Running Horse River: Presented Upon<br />
Seeing Off the Troops on a Western Campaign<br />
君 不 见 走 马 川 行 雪 海 边<br />
平 沙 莽 莽 黄 入 天<br />
轮 台 九 月 风 夜 吼<br />
一 川 碎 石 大 如 斗<br />
随 风 满 地 石 乱 走<br />
Have you not seen Running Horse River 10 on the banks<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Sea <strong>of</strong> Snow, 11<br />
Level sands vast and wide all yellow entering the sky.<br />
Luntai in the ninth month winds at night howl,<br />
A river <strong>of</strong> broken rocks big as dippers<br />
Follow the winds covering the ground, rocks<br />
tumble helter-skelter.<br />
匈 奴 草 黄 马 正 肥 Xiongnu grasses yellow, horses well fed and sturdy; 12<br />
金 山 西 见 烟 尘 飞 West <strong>of</strong> Jin mountain 13 one sees smoke and dust flying,<br />
汉 家 大 将 西 出 师 The general <strong>of</strong> the House <strong>of</strong> Han 14 sets <strong>of</strong>f west with<br />
his army.<br />
将 军 金 甲 夜 不 脱<br />
半 夜 军 行 戈 相 拨<br />
风 头 如 刀 面 如 割<br />
马 毛 带 雪 汗 气 蒸<br />
五 花 连 钱 旋 作 冰<br />
幕 中 草 檄 砚 水 凝<br />
虏 骑 闻 之 应 胆 慑<br />
料 知 短 兵 不 敢 接<br />
The general does not remove his coat <strong>of</strong> armour at night,<br />
The army sets out at midnight, halberds rub against<br />
each other,<br />
The crest <strong>of</strong> winds like knives; faces seem sliced.<br />
Horse coats covered in snow; their sweat steams and rises,<br />
Dappled spots like linked coins suddenly turn back<br />
into ice,<br />
Inside the army tent the inkstone's water for writing<br />
documents denouncing the enemy has frozen.<br />
Lu cavalry hearing <strong>of</strong> this must certainly panic,<br />
One would presume that they would not dare cross swords<br />
with us,<br />
10<br />
Sun Yingkui 孙 映 逵 speculates that “Running Horse River”, its exact coordinates unknown, is either a river bed<br />
without its aquatic element or is a swathe <strong>of</strong> the frontier plains. The argument for the second supposition rests on reading<br />
川 (chuan) not as river, the character's most common reading, but on its less frequent reference to “plains” (pingyuan 平<br />
原 ). See Sun Yingkui 孙 映 逵 , “Censhen biansaishi diming qianshi 岑 参 边 塞 诗 地 名 浅 释 ”in Tangdai biansaishi<br />
yanjiu lunwen xuancui 唐 代 边 塞 诗 研 究 论 文 选 粹 , pp. 229-251, especially p. 246.<br />
11<br />
An area west <strong>of</strong> Tian mountain's main peak and within the administrative area <strong>of</strong> the Anxi commandery. See CSJJZ, p.<br />
147 and Zhang Hui, ed., Cen Shen biansaishixuan, p. 52. The area was so named for its “perennial falling snow” 春 夏 常<br />
雨 雪 . See Xin Tang shu 新 唐 书 221( 下 ), p. 5 in SKQS. See also Cen Shen's “Seventh Month at Luntai”, translated in<br />
chapter three <strong>of</strong> this thesis, for another appearance <strong>of</strong> this geographic entity.<br />
12<br />
Indicative <strong>of</strong> an opportune time for the Xiongnu to harass the Tang armies. See CSJJZ, p. 149.<br />
13<br />
A main peak <strong>of</strong> Tian mountain. See Zhang Hui 张 辉 , ed., Cen Shen biansaishi xuan, p.53.<br />
14<br />
General Feng Changqing 封 常 清 .