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62
捷 书 先 傍 未 央 宫 A swift dispatch first reaches Weiyang palace. 59
天 子 预 开 麟 阁 待 The emperor prepares to open the Unicorn pavilion 60
to receive him,
61
只 今 谁 数 贰 师 功 These days who counts the successes of Ershi. 62
Aside from coupling loyalty and patriotic fervour with support for resisting enemy incursions
into the Tang frontier region, the poet-narrator in Cen Shen's verse was also apt to follow the well-worn
path of associating frontier military service with the attainment of success and recognition otherwise
thwarted through traditional scholarly pursuits. While en route to Anxi for his initial frontier
assignment, 63 the poet-narrator of Cen Shen's “West Inn of Yin Mountain” (“Yinshanji xiguan” 银 山 碛
西 馆 ) first presents the common trope of a doleful response to being far from home and facing a harsh
and unfamiliar frontier landscape before penning the familiar perturbation of having yet attained an
official name for oneself. The questioning in the final couplet of clerical activities suggests a resolve to
put down the writing brush and establish one's credentials by confronting the hostile north-west region
with action not necessarily compatible with scholarly activities:
银 山 峡
64
口 风 似 刀
The wind at the narrows of Yin mountain 65 is like a dagger
59
Name of a Han dynasty palace; in the poem's context it stands for a palace in Tang dynasty Chang'an.
60
See footnote to same entity in Gao Shi's “Below the Frontier” (“Saixia qu” 塞 下 曲 ).
61
CSJJZ, p. 153.
62
“Ershi” was the name bestowed upon Han dynasty general Li Guangli 李 广 利 by Emperor Wu Di. Li was famous for
having successfully attacked Dawan 大 宛 , a country west of Han China, and capturing several thousand of their fine
steeds. One example of an earlier implementation of the allusion begins Xiao Gang's 萧 纲 (Emperor Jian Wendi of
Liang, 南 朝 梁 简 文 帝 (503-551)) “In the Army” (“Congjun xing” 从 军 行 ): “Ershi loves fine horses/Loulan [country
west of Han China] hankers for Han riches” 贰 师 惜 善 马 , 楼 兰 贪 汉 财 . YFSJ 32.478. See the final two lines of Cen
Shen's “Song of Luntai: Presented When Sending Off General Feng With His Troops on a Western Campaign”
(“Luntaige fengsong Fengdafuchushixizheng” 轮 台 歌 奉 送 封 大 夫 出 师 西 征 ) for another instance of delicately belittling
the past to emphasize the greatness of the present. Here an allusion is made not to a specific historical figure, such as Li
Guangli, but instead to the past in general in order to show how the successes and concomitant fame of Feng Changqing
are so great that they exceed the recorded deeds of history's noted figures: “Who has not seen the annals of history [lit.
Bamboo slips on which history is recorded]/The fame and success seen today [ie Feng Changqing's merits] exceeds the
ancients” 古 来 青 史 谁 不 见 , 今 见 功 名 胜 古 人 . CSJJZ , p. 146.
63
CSJJZ , p. 80.
64
The QTS has 碛 for 峡 . See QTS 198.2056.
65
Mountain near Turpan 吐 鲁 番 in modern day Xinjiang Autonomous Region.