Du Fu Does Not Like Conscription (3/n)

Actually, this one isn't even about conscription

The Sergeant of Tong Pass
Du Fu

What a bustle of soldiers!
What a clamour and throng!
Constructing great walls
In the mountains at Tong.
The main barricade is harder than iron,
The side-walls ascend ten thousand yards high.
I rode to Tong Pass, found a sergeant and asked,
“Will it stop the barbarian hordes when it’s built?”
He told me to dismount my horse for a tour,
And pointed out all of the gullies and slopes.
“The fortifications reach up to the clouds,
So high that the birds can’t get over our lines.
Let them come, we just have to defend the pass here,
And our capital city has no need to fear.
Sir, take a look at these choke points we’ve made,
So narrow that carts file through one at a time.
If they force us back here, one man with a pike
Could hold off an army as aeons go by!”
“Alas! The Battle of Peach Orchard Village
Was three years ago, just beyond this position.
The enemy pushed our men back to the river,
And a million soldiers were turned into fish.
Remind the commander defending this line,
Whatever he does, don’t follow the lead
Of Geshu, who cost us Chang’an!”

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Tong Pass is about 140km (little less than 100 miles) to the east of Chang’an. It is the easiest route from the plains around Luoyang into the great expanse of flat land around Chang’an, so it was a militarily important site. It was also the site of a disaster early in the An Lushan rebellion: An had taken Luoyang and was approaching Chang’an from the east, and rather than allow his general to simply hold the pass, the emperor ordered Geshu Han to march out in front and meet An’s forces in pitched battle, at Peach Orchard Village. Geshu’s forces were massacred, and the road to Chang’an was open. (This was the point at which Xuanzong fled.)

It’s not actually clear to me that this poem belongs with the previous two in the series. They were written on the same journey, and share a similar title (The Sergeant of Someplace). But they have somewhat different tones and subject matter. However, these poems have historically been grouped together, and I tend to defer to historical opinion, so I’m including it in the same series for now.

All of this history would have been very recent and very raw for Du and his readers. I’ve inserted some of the historical detail into the poem, because it would have been immediately understood by every contemporary.

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杜甫  潼关吏

士卒何草草，筑城 潼关道。

大城铁不如，小城万丈余。

借问潼关吏：“修关还备胡？”

要我下马行，为我指山隅：

“ 连云列 战格，飞鸟不能逾。

胡来但自守，岂复忧西都。

丈人视要处，窄狭容单车。

艰难奋长戟，万古用一夫。”

“哀哉桃林战，百万化为鱼

请嘱防关将，慎勿学哥舒！”