A Mortal Life, Born of One Thought · Stubborn and Foolish by Nature · 23 / 102
Yangguan Yin: A Thousand Armies, Ten Thousand Horses
Shooting at the sun, the Hu sands are lost; armored teams of four chase down the enemy tents. Wolf-smoke bolts to the four quarters; strike the gongs and drums, the war banners sway. Killing in formation, the crows on the walls shriek; lift your eyes—the flying arrowheads bury you. The cries of Long Live are flung away; in the flash of blade and shadow of sword the blood is still hot.
Bearing the order to guard the pass and the frontier, the armor is laid down. A short life, plunging and rising; renown is thin, the general's soul is wide. Strong wine boils a lone courage down; in the bitter fighting, going home is forgotten. Climbing the vermilion stair, the voice of the wind chokes as it bows before the imperial roll.
Glosses—
Armored team of four (si jie): a war chariot drawn by four horses in armor;
Chuang: to strike;
Gongs and drums: the gongs and drums are the four metals and the six drums. The four metals are the chun, the zhuo, the nao, and the duo. The six drums are the thunder drum, the spirit drum, the road drum, the fen drum, the gao drum, and the jin drum. The gongs and drums stand for the signals of marching and of battle;
City crows: the crows on the city wall;
War banner (rong hui): the flag of the army;
Flying arrowhead (fei di): an arrow in swift flight.
*This work is original. If you repost it, please credit the original author Guang Zhi Shiyi; any infringement, once discovered, will be pursued to the full extent of the law. In addition, the accompanying image comes from the internet and belongs to the original artist He He Wu.