Chinese poem illustration: 贼退示官吏/ A Post to Superior After Defeating Gangster by Yuan Jie
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The civil war of Tang dynasty(安史之乱) is the watershed of Chinese history, after which all the way of declining.
The poem described a county(永州) in today’s Hunan province, frontier area in Tang dynasty, how the gangster and the imperial officers bully the normal people by all means.
The poet ,as the local governor, had done his best to help his people. Now he decided to resign once he found out that the imperial government is even much worse than the gagsters.
贼退示官吏
元结
癸卯岁，西原贼入道州，焚烧杀掠，几尽而去。明年，贼又攻永破邵，不犯此州边鄙而退。岂力能制敌与？盖蒙其伤怜而已。诸使何为忍苦征敛，故作诗一篇以示官吏。
昔岁逢太平，山林二十年。
泉源在庭户，洞壑当门前。
井税有常期，日晏犹得眠。
忽然遭世变，数岁亲戎旃。
今来典斯郡，山夷又纷然。
城小贼不屠，人贫伤可怜。
是以陷邻境，此州独见全。
使臣将王命，岂不如贼焉？
今彼征敛者，迫之如火煎。
谁能绝人命，以作时世贤！
思欲委符节，引竿自刺船。
将家就鱼麦，归老江湖边。
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