周定州刺孙彦高，被突厥围城数十重，不敢诣所。文符须征发者，于小窗接入，锁州宅门。 及贼登垒，乃入匮中藏，令奴曰：“牢拿钥匙，贼索，慎勿与。”
——《朝野佥载》
Cowardice
Makes Men Into Fools
The city of Dingzhou
was surrounded by the Tartar army. Sun Yangao, the prefect, was so frightened
he no longer appeared at his official quarters, but shut himself in his private
house and had the door bolted. Official documents were passed through a tiny
window. When he learned that
the Tartars had scaled the ramparts, he hurried to hide himself in a large
wooden chest, saying to his servant, “Lock it from the outside, keep the key
and don’t give it to the robbers when they ask for it!”
Chao Ye Xian Zai |
/1 
