"The Envoy to the Fortress" is published in Volume 126 of "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty". The following is the original text and translation of "Shi Zhi Zhi Shang" that I compiled. I hope it will be helpful to everyone!
Shi Zhi Zhi Shang
Tang Dynasty: Wang Wei
I want to ask about the side of the bicycle, but I belong to the country and live in Yan.
Zheng Peng left Hansai, returned to Yan and entered Hutian.
The desert is solitary and the smoke is straight, and the sun is setting over the long river.
Whenever Xiao Guan rides, he always protects Yan Ran.
Translation
I wanted to go to the border by bicycle to express condolences, but the vassal country I passed through had already passed Juyan.
Thousands of miles of flying pods have also floated out of Hansai, and the wild geese returning to the north are soaring in the sky.
The solitary smoke rises straight up in the vast desert, and the setting sun is perfect on the endless Yellow River.
Go to Xiaoguan and meet the scouting knight, who tells me that the Protector is already in Yanran.
Notes
⑴ Envoy to the fortress: Being ordered to send an envoy to the frontier fortress. Envoy: to send an envoy.
⑵Bicycle: A car with few vehicles. This is a simple description of a light vehicle. Ask the border: to visit the border fortress, to express condolences to the officers and soldiers guarding the border.
⑶ Subordinate country: There are several explanations: One refers to those ethnic minorities who are attached to the Han court and retain their national title. Both the Han and Tang dynasties had some vassal states. The second refers to the official name. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was an official position called Dianshuguo. After Su Wu returned to the Han Dynasty, he was awarded the official position of Dianshuguo. People in the Tang Dynasty sometimes used the term "subordinate country" to refer to envoys sent to the border areas. Juyan: Place name. It was called Juyanze in the Han Dynasty and Juyanhai in the Tang Dynasty. It is located in the northern part of Ejina Banner in Inner Mongolia today. In the Western Han Dynasty, there was Juyan County in Zhangye County (see "Hanshu Geography"), and the old city was located in the southeast of today's Ejina Banner. In addition, the Liangzhou Governor of the Eastern Han Dynasty had Zhangye in the Juyan state, and its jurisdiction was in the Juyanze area. The general annotations for this sentence say that Wang Wei passed by Juyan. However, Wang Wei's mission did not actually require passing through Juyan. Therefore, the "Selected Poems of Chinese Dynasties" compiled by Lin Geng and Feng Yuanjun believes that this sentence refers to the Tang Dynasty's "vast frontier fortress, with dependent countries extending beyond Juyan".
⑷Zhengpeng: The fluffy grass flying in the wind, here is the poet's self-explanation.
⑸Guiyan: Geese are migratory birds, flying north in spring and south in autumn. This refers to geese flying north. Hu Tian: The airspace of the Hu people. This refers to the northern place occupied by the Tang army.
⑹Da desert: Big desert, here roughly refers to the desert north of Liangzhou. Gu Yan: There are two interpretations of Zhao Diancheng's note: One goes that when the ancient border guards burned wolf dung, "the smoke was straight and gathered, and it did not disperse even if the wind blew." There are many whirlwinds outside the Great Wall, "smoking smoke and sand rising straight up". According to later generations, field investigators in Gansu and Xinjiang confirmed that there were indeed cyclones like "lone smoke rising straight up". Also: Guyan may also be a safe fire used by border guards in the Tang Dynasty. Volume 218 of "Tongdian" says: "At dusk, peace and fire will not arrive." Hu Sansheng's note: ""Liu Dian": When the garrison in Tang Town arrives, the generals will go thirty miles away. A torch of smoke is called a peaceful fire. 7. Changhe: Refers to an inland river flowing through the desert north of Liangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu). This river was called Macheng River in the Tang Dynasty. That is today's Shiyang River.
⑻Xiaoguan: The name of the ancient pass, also known as Longshan Pass, its original location is in the southeast of Guyuan, Ningxia. Waiting Cavalry: Cavalry responsible for reconnaissance and communications. Wang Wei's envoy to Hexi did not pass through Xiaoguan. This is probably the meaning of He Xun's poem "waiting to ride out of Xiaoguan and pursue the troops to Mayi", which is not a literal description.
⑼ Protectorate: The Tang Dynasty established six major protectorate offices in the northwest frontier, including Anxi and Anbei. Their chiefs were called protectors. Each government assigned one chief protector and two deputy governors to be responsible for all affairs in the jurisdiction. . This refers to the former enemy commander. Yanran: Yanran Mountain is now Hangai Mountain in Mongolia. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dou Xian defeated the Xiongnu in the north, and his merits were recorded in stone at this moment. "Book of the Later Han·Biography of Dou Xian": Xian led his army to defeat Shan Yu's army. "Then he climbed Yanran Mountain and marched for more than three thousand miles. He carved stones to record his merits and recorded the virtues of the Han Dynasty, and ordered Ban Gu to write an inscription." This refers to the front line.
⑽ Two sentences about "Bicycle": One is "I am destined to leave the sky, and the bicycle wants to ask about the side."
⑾Wai Qi: A scout on horseback.