Kaifeng

Peace had long prevailed and people and goods were plentiful.

The reason I allied myself with you through marriage was for your noble honor in rescuing others in distress. Now Handan faces surrender while Wei relief comes not—where is your honor in aiding the desperate!

Peace had long prevailed and people and goods were plentiful; children with hair hanging down learned only drumming and dancing, and grey-haired elders had never known shields and spears

I respectfully hand over the realm to the sage ruler and withdraw to my old fief to serve as one of the Three Respected Guests.

If you want peace in the realm, let the south be the south and the north be the north

But Lin'er had risen from banditry, had no great ambition, and also took his orders from Futong, holding only an empty title.

Wood within the Dipper: that is the character Zhu.

This is as easy as turning over one's hand.

When Taizong of Tang founded his dynasty he led every campaign himself; why should I shrink from it?

My father and I fed and clothed our soldiers well for forty years, and when the enemy came not one would shoot a single arrow eastward for me.

Pray ask how much sorrow can one mortal bear? Just like a river of spring waters surging endlessly to the east.

Cut it, it severs not; untangle it, it tangles more—such is the sorrow of parting. A taste unlike any other lingering in the heart.

Last night wind blended with rain, rustling through curtains in autumnal cries. Candles guttered, water-clocks ran dry as I tossed upon my pillow; rising and sitting, my soul found no peace.

Praying for clear skies at Liquan Palace, Ouyang Xiu hears a cicada at a treetop, 'shrill notes from no pipe, clear tones like a string', and muses on the voices of all creatures and of human writing, until thunder and rain return and the cicada falls silent.

With only the clear breeze in my two sleeves I go to court, so that the villagers will have no gossip to make.

We were content to grow old in such a place; so though we lived in trouble and poverty, our spirit was not broken.

If we now ride this momentum and strike straight at the Yuan capital, we can have it without a battle.

I have orders to give; will you obey them?

As a child the emperor stood apart from the crowd; the other children he played with all held him in awe.

Is it good to be Son of Heaven?

His reign was short and the calamity he suffered most profound; when one looks into its causes, it is truly to be mourned!

The prince boldly asked to go.

Even if they cannot all be destroyed, it is better than nurturing them into a disaster.