A PROCLAMATION ON THE PACIFICATION OF THE WU
(An English Lyrical Rendering in the Manner and Measure of the Original)
On behalf of Heaven’s mandate,
His Majesty declares:
I have heard:
Benevolence and righteousness stem from keeping the people at peace,
A war of punishment must ever root out tyrants.
Thus, our Great Viet from ages past
Has long stood as a land of lofty culture.
Its mountains and rivers mark distinct borders;
Its southern ways differ from those of the north.
Since Trieu, Dinh, Ly, and Tran first forged our realm,
They rivaled Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan in separate might.
Though times of strength or weakness may shift and sway,
Heroes and lords have never ceased to rise.
Therefore:
Liu Gong, seeking glory, met with defeat;
Zhao Xie, lusting grandeur, brought on his demise.
At Ham Tu Gate, So Do was seized alive;
On Bach Dang River, Ou Ma was slain outright.
Ancient annals reveal this with shining proof.
Lately:
Because the House of Ho bore heavy-handed rule,
Within the realm, folk’s hearts brimmed with rancor.
Wild Ming, spying a breach, unleashed their cruelty;
Wicked accomplices sold out our land for gain.
They roasted the common folk over monstrous flames,
They buried innocent babes in pits of peril.
They fooled Heaven and duped the people with cunning uncounted,
They stirred hatred and bred discord for near twenty years.
They shattered righteousness, clouding all under heaven;
They stacked on taxes till no refuge remained in hills or seas.
Men were driven to dredge for pearls amid sharks and sea beasts;
Others forced to sift for gold in the wilds, plagued by toxins.
They snared all living creatures, weaving nets for emerald fowl;
They set cruel traps for black deer, distressing the populace.
They ravaged creeping life in grasses and insects alike;
They left widows and waifs forlorn and out of place.
They gaped their jaws, gnashing teeth for blood and fat, never sated,
They raised new halls, built new walls, wringing each limb for labor.
The burden of conscription weighed dreadfully,
The craft of loom and plow lay shattered.
Vile indeed: bamboo of Southern hills cannot record all crimes,
Foul indeed: Eastern seas cannot wash away their stench!
Who in Heaven or Earth would endure it? What people or gods could abide?
As for me:
I first stirred in Lam Son’s domain,
Sought refuge in the trackless wilds.
Seeing foes so grievous, how could we share one sky?
Vowing to quell these rebels, I resolved we could not live as one.
For over ten years, my heart burned with pangs of sorrow,
Nought but nights on straw and days tasting gall.
I forgot hunger, devouring war-craft texts each dawn,
I tested ancient truths on rise and fall, pondering deeply.
Awake or asleep, one thought returned unceasing:
To see the homeland reclaimed.
Just when our righteous banners first unfurled,
The foe still bloomed in force.
Alas:
Worthy men were scarce as stars at daybreak,
Valiant hearts as leaves in autumn’s bleak.
None rose to guide or run errands in time,
None lent strategy in the tents of war.
Still, my will to save the people pressed me eastward,
And the chariot’s seat of wisdom ever stood open.
Yet at first, scanning the horizon, I found no one,
While my own resolve burned fiercer than saving the drowned.
Pained by the marauders’ unchecked cruelty,
Fearing the nation’s dire straits,
Linh Son’s provisions ran out for weeks on end,
Khoi Huyen’s ranks had not a single troop.
It seemed that Heaven tested me by hardship,
That I might prove my heart in times of trial.
So I raised a makeshift staff as my banner—peasants flocked from all quarters,
I shared a simple brew with my troops—fathers and sons united as one.
With meager forces, we struck at stronger foes in unguarded moments,
With fewer men, we snared entire hosts by cunning ambush.
Thus could we:
Use Great Justice to overcome savage fury,
Use True Compassion to transform brutal might.
In Bo Dang, thunder cracked and lightning raged;
At Tra Lan, bamboo shattered and embers soared.
Our men’s morale rose higher still,
Our armies’ renown echoed far.
Tran Tri and Son Tho, hearing rumor, froze in dread;
Ly An and Phuong Chinh held their breath, fleeing for life.
Riding our victories, we swiftly chased them; the Western Capital soon returned to us,
Summoning new forces, we advanced to the East; the old domain was wholly restored.
At Ninh Bridge, blood formed a river, reeking for miles;
At Tot Dong, corpses piled across the fields, stench lasting centuries.
Traitorous henchman Tran Hiep lost his head exposed to scorn,
Wicked spy Ly Luong followed in grim disgrace.
Wang Tong struggled to subdue the blaze, but the blaze only grew,
Ma Anh hurried to salvage the fray, but our vigor only soared.
Their wits and strength reached exhaustion, waiting for fate to strike,
We subjugated them by strategy and spirit, conquering them with no pitched fight.
We hoped they might awaken and revise their ploys,
Yet they persisted, forging new crimes to hasten their doom.
They clung to narrow visions, pinning their failures on others,
They snatched short-lived glories, yet earned the world’s derision.
And so:
That sly child, named Xuan De, fanned the flames of war without pause;
He again chose fainthearted generals, Thang and Thinh, to quench a raging inferno with oil.
In the ninth month of the year Ding-Wei, Lieu Thang marched from Khau On;
By the tenth month that same year, Moc Thang moved in from Yunnan.
But earlier, I stationed my men to guard the passes and break their spearhead,
Then commanded my captains to cut their supply lines behind.
On the eighteenth day, Lieu Thang, ambushed at Chi Lang, fell into our trap;
On the twentieth day, at Ma Yen, Lieu Thang himself was slain.
On the twenty-fifth, Marquis Liang Ming lost the battle and died;
On the twenty-eighth, Minister Li Qing, undone, took his own life.
Like a blade meeting the whetstone, we pressed forward;
They turned their spears upon themselves.
Then from every side, more troops encircled them,
Vowing by mid-tenth month to quell them all.
We summoned our bravest tigers,
We conferred with our keenest falcons.
Grind the blades on mountain rock until the rock is worn,
Have the elephants drink the river dry until the channel is bare.
At one drumbeat, we carved whales and snapped crocodiles;
At two drumbeats, startled birds and panic-stricken deer scattered.
Swept away like ants from a crumbling dam,
Shaken by the furious gale that strips withered leaves.
Commander Cui Ju crawled on his knees, pleading for terms,
Minister Huang Fu knelt bound, yielding to capture.
Bodies filled the path through Lang Giang and Lang Son,
Blood reddened the waters of Chang Jiang and Ping Shore.
Scowling heavens wore ashen hue,
Sun and moon grew dull with gloom.
Yunnan’s reinforcements, locked at Li Hua, faced but hollow threats and perished from fear;
Hearing Lieu Thang’s demise at Qin Zhan, Moc Thang’s men trampled each other to flee.
At Cold Ravine, the gush of blood lamented down the stream;
At Scarlet Barracks, stacked corpses dyed the meadows deep crimson.
Both relief armies broke in haste, undone before their rescue,
At each fortress, starved foes cast off arms and begged for grace.
Their chieftain lay in bonds, wagging a starved tiger’s tail for mercy;
Divine might spares no wanton slaughter—Heaven’s love for life I must uphold.
General Fang Zheng and eunuch Ma Qi, given five hundred ships, set sail but quivered in spirit,
Commander Wang Tong and councilor Ma Anh, gifted thousands of horses, returning home with trembling hearts.
They, in their dread of death and thirst for life, came forth in earnest peace;
We, esteeming a bloodless triumph, allowed the people time to breathe.
Never was deeper strategy or plan more wondrous,
Rarely has history seen the like.
From hence the shrines and altars stand secure,
From hence the realm and mountains shine anew.
The cosmos, once darkened, returns to brightness;
Sun and moon, once dimmed, now blaze in radiance.
For a thousand ages, all disgrace is washed away,
For ten thousand years, the foundation of peace stands firm.
This is thanks to the silent blessings of Heaven, Earth, and our revered forebears,
Who have guarded and aided our cause.
Alas!
A single coat of mail has settled the land entire—an immortal deed,
Four seas lie tranquil in enduring renewal—proclaim the fresh reforms.
Send word far and wide,
That all may know and heed.
From this night onward, roads gleam white in the moon,
And our homeland shines beneath her ancient glow.
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