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    [小说][原创]虛池驛遺恨(中/英文對照)
    (虛池驛遺恨)



    整個行列都是喜慶的紅色..
    我是新娘子, 而且是公主身份; 最少名義上是如此.
    我應該愉快的. 從當今聖上的外甥女, 我被昇格為帝國公主: 宜芳公主. 而迎娶我的也是一個國王. 身為女子, 夫復何求?
    想到這些, 我只能獨自嘆息.
    風, 已停了下來 護送官請求我批准在虛池驛稍作歇息 我點頭同意了 護送官對我仍算盡了禮數, 但我知道他在想什麼: 儘早把我和八十名陪嫁侍女送到我未來夫婿那兒就趕回他在長安妻子的懷抱中. 奚族之境, 即使是來自大唐的使節也豈是宜久留之地?
    我已是第三位遠嫁奚族的和親公主了. 前兩人都是我的表親. 也許我應說是: 她們都曾是我的表親. 她們都已死了, 而且死因不明. 大唐以『公主』和親早已成國策, 藉此以羈糜異族. 可是遠嫁的我們心知肚明: 我們只是人質, 而人質的性命比鵝毛還輕. 這也是皇帝從不會把親生女兒當作和親公主遠嫁的原因之一吧. 他只會在宗室間找一個年齡合適的女子為大唐效勞.
    我的母親倒是貨真價實的公主. 她是『大和大聖大昭孝皇帝』的女兒. 父親傳被妻子與最年幼的女兒, 安樂公主, 毒死. 安樂公主李裹兒也是公認大唐的第一美女. 她在宮廷兵變中被殺了, 人頭和母親的一起在長安的一間寺院梟首示眾.
    他們說我的容貌和我的嬸嬸安樂公主有點相似, 美得令人目眩卻又令人不安. 這也是我入選的原因吧.
    皇上送別他的『女兒』時笑容滿臉. 母親哭了, 但只敢在湘簾後偷偷飲泣. 她知道我們母女此生再無相見之日. 我在有生之年可返回帝京長安的機會微乎其微.

    虛池驛絕對稱得上簡陋: 四壁空牆, 一間簡單的房間以備休憩, 再加上養了數匹作為傳遞訊息用的官馬. 最少, 馬都是好馬. 帝國四方都設置了這類的驛站以便第一時間把消息, 特別是軍情報入長安. 從房間的窗子, 我可以向西南方向望去: 千里之外就是長安.  

    這是暮春三月. 冬雪剛消溶而柳枝方抽出新芽. 再過一個月, 長安將會變得如許美麗. 詩人會為它的美而歌詠. 從帝國不同角落的學子會雲集應試. 這是他們晉身官場的唯一途徑. 北里的流鶯會穿紅著紫務求吸引腰纏萬貫的來往恩客. 這些人有些是自遠地而來使節, 行商與僧侶, 他們來大唐的目的就是向求取帝國興盛的秘密取經回國. 我可以想像穿插於通衢鬧市的人目光為五色所迷: 雄偉的宮殿, 莊嚴的古剎, 充塞來自各地商品的市集. 年輕的人為了來自絲路上穿上流行的誘人舞衣的碧目舞姬而不斷回首, 腰間斜掛鑲有寶石劍鞘的遊俠錦衣怒馬懷著抱打不平又或投軍報國的豪氣. 夏季甫至, 帝都牡丹盛放令所有人都陷入瘋狂. 精致的官邸花園將是連場夜宴, 而我亦會應邀列席.
    應會…

    我緊咬下唇努力竭止飲泣之聲. 堂堂公主在侍女之前哭起來太不像樣了. 但我卻無法阻止滾下的淚珠與心中的絞痛.

    曾幾何時我亦懷著嫁得如意貴冑郎君的夢. 他會為我吟詠新寫成的詩, 而我亦會唱和. 我們甚至可喬裝老百姓而在長安街頭躑躅, 中秋之夜帝都不會強行宵禁. 我們也可像新科進士般在乘舟暢遊曲江, 又或者在我們的府邸作為主人邀來滿園貴客: 那兒有明月, 有佳釀 以及有皇上御賜的奇珍佳饌. 我們可以…

    他們說我現在比那些更風光: 身為公主, 又下嫁國王為后! 他們說這些時掩不住那彈冠相慶的神情. 我既已奉詔和番, 他們的女兒就平安大吉, 直至下一次皇上再需要另一人質.

    四壁空空, 卻似對我發出嘲笑.

    我要了筆墨, 在牆上寫下心語:

    出嫁辭鄉國 由來此別悲 聖恩愁遠道 行路泣相看
    沙塞容顏盡 邊隅粉黛殘 妾心何所斷 他日望長安.

    『 殿下, 我們要起程了.』

    是護送官.

    我微笑中點頭
    對他來說, 每一步都是走向回程的邁進.
    我登上了馬車, 放下垂簾; 我不想他們看到我的淚水.

    我們到達了奚國國境.
    這兒比我的噩夢更可怕.
    所謂國邦, 不過是一群半開化, 凶狠好殺的蠻夷之地.
    大婚無異於強暴.
    我洞房之夜, 丈夫就以沾上我處子之血向族人展示. 接著就是狂呼, 狼吞虎嚥的豪宴與公開的野合.
    護送官告辭時難掩他如釋重負的心情, 他, 終於可以回去了.
    『 殿下保重, 他日在長安再叩候金安.』他說..  
    我只能苦笑
    他又何嘗相信自己是言出於心?

    我三月出嫁.
    這段婚姻卻注定夭壽.
    九月 奚王反唐. 我所帶來的八十名侍女全數像畜牲般被屠殺. 我, 作為奚王的后, 得到較好的優待: 我的血將用來祭旗以保祐他們旗開得勝!
    我的冷靜令他們大感意外. 他們原本以為我們被嚇得花容失色中尖叫的
    他們又豈知道我內心早已枯死. 我是悲傷的, 因為再見不到我心愛的長安. 但我卻因終於受難到頭而自我慶幸.
    他們脫了我的后袍, 而改穿一幅由白色牛皮縫成的袍子. 在這之下我身無寸縷. 當我走上祭壇時, 連這牛皮也會被剝奪. 他們會用皇上因我外嫁而御賜的金杯去承載我的血.
    牛角號與蛇皮鼓聲中, 我一步一步走向祭壇上戴上猙獰面具的薩滿, 在他手中是一閃爍著綠光的祭刀. 我吸了一口氣步上祭台 在那兒, 他們挪走了牛皮袍子.『 跪下!』薩滿高聲吶喊.
    『 長安在何方?』 我問.
    他以祭刀指給我看.
    我朝他所指出的方向下跪, 引頸待戮…

    後記:

    以宗室女為『 和親公主 』由來已久. 看來是取得太平最低廉的代價. 雖然有些公主比宜芳幸運, 但和親之策絕非萬全. 外族往往得寸進尺. 一旦不能遂其所願就兵刀相向. 戰爭一爆發, 身為人質者下場是悲慘的. 可是沒有人會理會, 因為她們絕不是真的『 公主』. 她們只是帝國的犧牲品.

    宜芳公主的這首詩被收入了『全唐詩』之中. 唐詩留下的逾四萬首之多, 屬於她的只有用淚與血寫成的這一首.

    皇帝派了一個胡人將領前去撫剿並用下奚族之叛很快就被平定.. 這胡人鎮守邊關十年. 風平浪靜. 在公元755年, 即宜安公主被殺後十年, 這胡人將領起兵反唐. 他的名字叫安祿山. 大唐國運一落千丈, 全盛的光輝永不復現.

    詩人李山甫說得好:

    金釵墜地鬢堆雲,自別朝陽帝豈聞。遣妾一身安社稷,不知何處用將軍?



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      A poem on the wall left by a Princess


      The whole cavalcade s dressed in red”: red, the auspicious colour for a bridal procession.
      I am the bride, a princess no less, at least in name.
      I should be happy. From the niece of the current emperor, I was promoted to be an Imperial princess: Princess Yi-fang.  And I am to marry a king.  Can any girl wish for a more blessed life?
      I can only sigh when I think of all these.
      The wind has stopped and the captain of my escort asks me the permission to make a brief stop at the Xu Chi Courier Station. I nod to give my approval.  The captain is deferential but I know what he is thinking.  His only wish is to have me delivered with my eighty maidens-in-waiting to my future husband.  Once done, he will make haste to return to his young wife in Chang An, the capital of the Tang Empire.  The land of the Kumo Xi is not a safe place to linger, even for the soldiers of the mighty Tang Empire.
      I am the third princess to be married to a king of the Kumo-Xi tribe.  The other two are both my cousins.  I should use the term “were” as they were both dead now, cause of death unknown.  It is the custom of the Tang Emperor to give out his “daughters” as brides for vassal kings as a reward for allegiance.  We know better.  We are no better than hostages and lives for hostages do not worth much.  This is the one of the reasons the Emperor never sent his own daughters as brides.  Instead, he chooses a suitable girl of marriageable age among the related princely families to serve the Empire.
      My mother was a true princess.  She was the daughter of the former Emperor who was supposed to be poisoned by his own Empress and youngest daughter, Princess Anle, said to be the most beautiful women in the Tang Empire then.  She was later killed in a palace coup, her head, as well as her mother the Empress’s was hanged high near a temple.  
      They say I take after the looks of Anle, my aunt, a dazzling but unsettling beauty.  This is one of the reasons why I am now sent away.  

      The Emperor was all smiling when he bade farewell to his “daughter”.  My mother wept, but only behind the silk screen so that none would see it.  She knew she would not see me again this life-time.  I knew the chance of my returning to Chang An was at most, slim.

      Xu Chi Courier Station qualifies for the term “rudimentary”.  Four bare walls, a simple room for rest and a stable with several horses for relaying important messages.  At least the horses are well-groomed.  There are courier stations all around the empire so that urgent messages, mainly military in nature, can be relayed to Chang An within the shortest period. From the window of the room, I look south-west, in the direction of Chang An.
      It is the third month of the year.  Snow has just melted and the weeping willows should draw their first sprouts.  Chang An will be so beautiful in a month’s time. Poets will sing to its beauty.  Scholars from all corners of the Empire will gather there and prepare for the coming examination, the only route to achieve their aspiration of becoming a petty official in service of the emperor.  The courtesans in Bei Li district will put on their best dresses and decorate themselves with flowers, enticing patrons with their purses laden with silver pieces.  Some of these patrons come from lands faraway places; their names exotic to our tongues. They come as emissaries, as merchants, as visiting monks, all eager to learn from the glorious Tang Empire and bring knowledge and culture back to their native lands. I can envision their threading through the broad avenues of the capital, looking dazed at the intimidating palaces, the august Buddhist temples, the market with commodities brought in from east and west.  Young men turn their heads to take another gaze at a dancing girl with green eyes and dressed in the revealing costume fashionable along the Silk Road, paladins riding tall stallions, swords in gemmed scabbards at their sides, seeking adventure or service into the military.   Come summer and the capital will be thrown into a frenzy as the peony flowers bloom in force.  Garden parties will be organized amid the myriad of floral splendor.  I should be invited to these...

      Should be…

      I have to bite my lower lip so as not to utter any sobbing sound.  It is beneath the dignity of a princess to sob in front of her maids-in-waiting. But I cannot stop the tears and the aching in my heart.  

      Once, I have dreamed of being married into one of the noble families, to a husband who will recite his latest poems to me and I will reply in kind.  Together we can take walks in the capital, disguised as a common couple.  We can go watch the lanterns on the night of the fifteenth day in a new year when Chang An would not enforce its nightly curfew.  We can talk a cruise on the Qu Jiang, where newly successful candidates from the annual examination will celebrate in style as is the custom. We can hold our own private parties in our garden: a full moon, a flask of rice wine and delicacies bestowed by the Emperor on festive days.  We can…

      Some said that I am now doing better than all these: I am now a full princess and marrying a king!  They smile because now that I am chosen, their daughters are safe, until the Emperor has use of another “hostage”.

      The walls are bare, rough and mocking.

      I ask for brush and ink and begin to put my feelings on the wall:

      出嫁辭鄉國 由來此別悲 聖恩愁遠道 行路泣相看
      沙塞容顏盡 邊隅粉黛殘 妾心何所斷 他日望長安.

      Today I leave my native land to marry
      Sorrowful is my heart for this parting
      His Majesty has bestowed his blessings and gifts
      I can only look back with tears
      In this barren land, my looks will soon be gone
      There is no other wish I have
      That one day, I may lay my eyes again on my beloved Chang An

      “My lady, it is time for us to continue.”

      It is the captain. I smile and nod.
      For him, every step brings him closer to a return journey.
      I broad my carriage and let down the curtains. It is beneath the dignity of a princess to let them see me weep.

      We arrive at the land of the Kumo-Xi.
      It is even worse than my wildest fear.  
      The so called kingdom is no better than a horde of barbarians, uncultured, fierce and blood-thirsty.
      The wedding is no different from a rape.
      The proof of my deflowering is shown to my husband’s people in form of a blood-stained cloth. It was followed by wild cheering and feasting and copulation in public view.  
      The captain could not hide his relief when he could start the return journey.
      “My Lady, take good care.  We may meet again in Chang An one day,” he said.
      I smiled, a sad one.
      I knew he did not believe that himself.

      I wedded in the third month of the year
      The marriage did not last very long.
      In the ninth month, the Kumo-Xi rebelled against the Tang.  All the eighty maidens I brought with me were slaughtered, like pigs.  I, as wife of their king, was given better treatment. I would be sacrificed by having my throat slit so that their banners would dip into my blood to pray for victory.
      My calmness at taking this took them by surprise. They had expected shrieks of terror.  
      They do not understand that inside me, my heart has died long ago.  I am sad as I will not see my beloved Chang an again.  But I am glad it will soon be over and I do not have to endure it any longer.
      They undressed me and let me put on only a robe, made from hide of a white calf.  Underneath it, I am naked and this will be the state I am to die as they will take away the hide on the altar-platform.  They will use the golden goblet, one of the gifts given to me for my wedding by the Emperor, to receive my blood.
      In the blast of the horns and low humming of snake-skin drums, I walk towards the shaman with a terrifying mask on his face.  In his hand is a greenish sacrificial dagger. I take a deep breath and walk up the platform.  There, they removed the hide .
      “Kneel!” The shaman shouts.
      “In which direction is Chang an?” I ask.
      He points, with his dagger.
      I kneel and facing the direction he indicates, I offer my throat…

      (End)

      Post-script.

      Marrying off “princesses” to leaders of barbarian tribes to buy allegiance has been a long tradition in China.  It looks a relatively cheap price to pay for peace.  While some princesses meet better fate than Princess Yi-fang, the policy rarely really worked as once their demand was met, the alien tribes would demand more and more.  Once they felt not satisfied, war would result.  When war came, the life of the hostage would not be any concern.  After all, they were not actual daughters of His Majesty and they were serving the interest of the Empire with their marriages and deaths.

      The poem Princess Yi-fang survived. It was collected into the anthology of Tang Poems.  There were more than forty thousand poems collected but this, the only one by her, was written with tears and later, blood.  

      The Kumo-Xi was soon pacified when the Emperor sent a capable Sogdian general.
      He kept peace at the frontier for ten years.  Then, in AD 755, ten years after Princess Yi-fang was sacrificed, he rebelled and marched at the head of his army of which the Kuma-Xi were part of, into Chang An.  The glory days of the Tang Empire was gone forever.  That Sogdian general was called An Lushan.

      A famous poet once wrote:

      “How foolish it was to hope for peace by just sending a beauty?
      If that can work, why do we have to pay our general?”



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        激赏!
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