To Elder Roc, with deepest respect, It was only because you risked your life to buy me a little time that I ma…
To Elder Roc, with deepest respect,
It was only because you risked your life to buy me a little time that I managed to get away. Yet I, foolish and headstrong, turned back in secret and so proved unworthy of such great kindness. I ask only that you forgive me.
The reason I now go willingly into mortal danger is not because I doubt that Du Chongwei has sold out Mohist Hill. It is because the oats are nearly ripe, and I must see this final record through to the end. Since the closing years of the Tang, the cold has grown harsher year by year, and the crops have steadily failed. I traveled throughout the northern lands and by chance came upon a kind of oat that can endure frost and snow without losing its vigor. Thanks to Magistrate Chen's trust, I was allowed to test its cultivation for three years in the fields outside Luan City, and only then did I begin to understand its nature. If this year yields a full harvest, then it is not only Luan City that may benefit. All the poor who struggle through the cold across the commandery may survive because of it.
By Heaven's grace, the methods for planting and cultivating oats have now been fully recorded without omission, and my heart is finally at peace.
The Khitan cavalry is already close at hand. I have reached the end of the road, and there can be no hope of escape. But your martial skill is beyond compare, and such petty villains should not be enough to threaten you. If this letter reaches you, I beg that the essential methods I have recorded for the cultivation of oats be delivered to Chai Boyue of Luan City. If that can be done, then even if I am buried in the wilderness, my death will not have been in vain.
Your disciple, Chai Sang, bows and takes his leave.