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Of generous devotion to the people was duke Liu ,
Unable to rest or take his ease [where he was] ,
He divided and subdivided the country into fields ;
He stored up the produce in the fields and in barns ;
He tied up dried meat and grain ,
In bottomless bags and in sacks ;—
That he might hold [the people] together , and glorify [his tribe] .
Then with bows and arrows all ready ,
With shields and spears , and axes , large and small ,
He commenced his march .

Of generous devotion to the people was duke Liu ,
He had surveyed the plain [where he was settled] ;
[The people] were numerous and crowded ;
In sympathy with them , he made proclamation [of his contemplated measure] ,
And there were no perpetual sighings about it
He ascended to the hill-tops ;
He ascended again to the plains .
What was it that he carried at his girdle ?
Pieces of jade , and yao gems ,
And his ornamented scabbard with its sword .

Of generous devotion to the people was duke Liu ,
He went there to [the place of] the hundred springs ,
And saw [around him] the wide plain .
He ascended the ridge on the south ,
And looked at a large [level] height ,
A height affording space for multitudes .
Here was room to dwell in ;
Here might booths be built for strangers ;
Here he told out his mind ;
Here he entered on deliberations .

Of generous devotion to the people was duke Liu ,
When he had found rest on the height ,
With his officers all in dignified order ,
He caused mats to be spread , with stools upon them ;
And they took their places on the mats and leaned on the stools .
He had sent to the herds ,
And taken a pig from the pen .
He poured out his spirits into calabashes ;
And so he gave them to eat and to drink ,
Acknowledged by them as ruler , and honoured .

Of generous devotion to the people was duke Liu ,
[His territory] being now broad and long ,
He determined the points of the heavens by means of the shadows ; and then , ascending the ridges ,
He surveyed the light and the shade ,
Viewing [also] the [course of the] streams and springs .
His armies were three troops ;
He measured the marshes and plains ;
He fixed the revenue on the system of common cultivation of the fields ;
He measured also the fields west of the hills ;
And the settlement of Bin became truly great .

Of generous devotion to the people was duke Liu ,
Having settled in temporary lodging houses in Bin ,
He crossed the Wei by means of boats ,
And gathered whetstones and iron .
When his settlement was fixed , and all boudaries defined ,
The people became numerous and prosperous ,
Occupying both sides of the Huang valley ,
And pushing on up that of Guo ;
And as the population became dense ,
They went on to the country beyond the Ju .