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I.2 Qing Veritable Records, entry for DG 21.12.23

Da Qing lichao shilu 大清歷朝實錄, Daoguang reign, juan 364, pp. 12-13b (form of notation: QSL, DG 364:12b-13b). This entry is dated Daoguang, 21st year, 12th month, ren-yin. In the original volume of the Shilu you will find that this is the third item of business recorded for that day. To convert dates, use one of the references listed in Calendrical concordances, in the "Dictionaries, bibliographies, and concordances" reference guide or one of the electronic conversion tools available online, such as this one.

More information on the Veritable Records as a source can be found here in the Reference Guides.

Glossary

諭軍機大臣 - yu jun ji da chen - Edict to the Grand Council (voice of the QSL compiler; what follows quotes the text of the final draft of the court letter; i.e., the quote begins after the words shang-yu in Doc. 2.1)

本日 - ben ri - the date of the edict; presumably, the date Yu-tai's memorial was received

奏湖北......一摺 - zou Hu bei … yi zhe - (This is a statement of the subject of Yu-tai's memorial. Zhe here is a measure for memorials. Mention of a type of document, e.g., zou, is usually followed by a direct quote or paraphrase of the document's contents.)

據稱......等語 - ju cheng … deng yu - according to what [Yu-tai's memorial] says: (Note how the materials that follows is quoted from the folded up section of the memorial; see p. 3 of Chinese text, Document 1. Deng-yu closes the quote.)

NOTE: We have drawn the dotted line across the corner of the first section on page 3 of the Chinese text of Document 1 to mark the crease that reveals where the Emperor folded up a corner of the paper to indicate to the Grand Councillors a passage of special significance. This folded-up corner (jiao 角 or zhe-jiao 折角) was a common imperial editorial device. Most creases in memorials can still be discerned if you look closely; they yield insights into the court-letter drafting process, and perhaps into imperial thinking. See Reference Notes 1.2, p. 4, n.10.

以 - yi … - being, in the status of

無賴 - wu lai - (lit. nothing to depend on) good-for-nothing, shiftless

匪徒 - fei tu - bandits

何至 - he zhi - how could it reach the point of …

釁端 - xin duan - occasion for conflict

輒 - zhe - suddenly

拒捕 - ju bu - resist arrest

捆官 - kun guan - seize (and tie up) an official

情節 - qing jie - the facts of the case

殊難憑信 - shu nan ping xin - extremely hard to believe

稟稱 - bing cheng - said in a petition (to the memorialist; here again, the phrase immediately following is quoted from the document just referred to)

蓄謀 - xu mou - conspire, hatch plots (This is the emperor's inference from Yu-tai's suspicions)

僻處山陬 - pi chu shan zou - is situated in a secluded mountain area

遼闊 - liao kuo - extensive

何以 - he yi - how come…

毫 - hao - (a negative intensifier)

顯 - xian - obviously

別情 - bie qing - other facts (as yet unrevealed)

著 - zhuo - let (an imperial command)

緝拏 - ji na - arrest

咨 - zi - a lateral communication

鄰省 - lin sheng - neighboring provinces

協力 - xie li - joining forces, in collaboration

務當 - wu dang - must

毋 - wu - negative imperative

任 - ren - allow

遠颺滋蔓 - yuan yang zi man - fly far away and spread [the rebellion to other areas]

郭熊飛 - Guo Xiong fei - the provincial judge mentioned in Yu-tai's memorial

兜拏 - dou na - arrest, seize

嚴切 - yan qie - rigorously

訊究 - xun jiu - question and investigate (usually by torture)

起釁根由 - qi xin gen you - the origins of the outbreak

激成 - ji cheng - provoke

總須 - zong xu - must … anyway

水落石出 - shui luo shi chu - let the water drop so that the stones will show (i.e. let everything come to light)

分別嚴辦 - fen bie yan ban - in each case, prosecute rigorously

迅速 - xun su - speedily

省城 - sheng cheng - provincial capital

飢民 - ji min - famine victims

坐鎮省垣 - zuo zhen sheng yuan - is garrisoning the provincial capital (The Hu-bei governor normally had nearly a thousand soldiers under his direct command.)

彈壓 - tan ya - control, keep in order

聞風驚疑 - wen feng jing yi - hearing the news ("on the wind"), become alarmed and uncertain

或致 - huo zhi - so that it might result in

勾串 - gou chuan - hook up with [the Chong-yang rebels]

儻 - tang - if …

現獲 - xian huo - presently in custody

供出 - gong chu - testify; depose under interrogation

密咨 - mi zi - secretly communicate [with officials in those areas]

勿留餘孼 - wu liu yu nie - do not allow any evil vestige to remain