Nine poems from the Fortress·Six of them
[Tang Dynasty] Du Fu
When you draw your bow, you should draw the strong one, and when you use the arrow, you should use the long one.
To shoot a man, shoot a horse first; to capture a thief, capture the king first.
There is a limit to killing people, and all countries have their own borders.
If you can control the invasion of the mausoleum, how can you kill more people?
Translation
When you draw a bow, you must draw the hardest one, and when shooting an arrow, you must shoot the longest one. To shoot a man, you must first shoot a horse; to capture a thief, you must first capture their leader.
There must be restrictions on killing, and every country has its borders. As long as we can stop the enemy's invasion, is it just to kill more people?
Notes
Pull: pull.
Dang: Should.
Long: refers to a long arrow.
Capture: capture.
The first four sentences are very similar to proverbs and may be popular combat songs in the army at that time. The target of the horse is easy to shoot. If the horse falls, the person will either die or be injured, so shoot the horse first. The snake will not move without a head. If the king is captured, the thieves will scatter themselves, so capture the king first. The sentence "Capturing the King" is where the idea lies, and the next four sentences are extensions of this sentence.
It is also limited: it means that there is a limit and a master and slave. Exactly the meaning of the previous sentence. Shen Deqian's "Du Ou Commentary": "In all books, the number of killings is limited, but in Wen Daizhao (Wen Zhengming), the number of killings is unlimited. It is expressed in opening and closing words, which is more interesting." Inaccurate.
Nations: Countries.
Jinjiang: border.
Self-owned territory means that there is always a boundary, so I will spare you the trouble of opening another boundary. It corresponds to the first line of the poem "If you open one side, there will be many".
Gou Neng: If you can.
Invasion: infringement.
Qi: Could it be.
The last two sentences mean that if we can resist foreign aggression, then we only need to capture the leader. How can we kill more people? Zhang Yuan's "The Collection of Du's Poems": "The economic language is spoken by the garrison soldiers." Here we can clearly see Du Fu's political views.
Creative background
This poem is believed to have been written around the tenth year of Tianbao (751), and is said to have been written in the eleventh year of Tianbao (752). It is a series of poems with military themes. . This period was still the growth period of the Tang Dynasty. Accompanying the growth period was the Tang Dynasty's military expansion period. Most of the predictions in the court were optimistic, but Du Fu did not agree with Tang Xuanzong's military line.
About the author
Du Fu (712~770), who had a beautiful character and called himself Shaolingye Lao. He was not ranked as a Jinshi, but he once served as a member of the Ministry of Education and Engineering. In his later life, he was called the Ministry of Industry and Engineering. He was the greatest realist poet in the Tang Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, he was revered as the "Sage of Poetry" and was called "Li Du" together with Li Bai. His poems boldly exposed the social contradictions of the time, expressed deep sympathy for the poor people, and were profound in content. Many excellent works show the historical process of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, and are called "history of poetry". In terms of art, he is good at using various poetry forms, especially verses. He has various styles, but mainly melancholy. His language is refined and he has a high degree of expressive ability. There are more than 1,400 poems in existence, including "Collection of Du Gongbu".