釋氏稽古略 4.35

4.35

帝命曹彬與潘美曹翰征江南（南唐也）。十一月濟師。彬甞面奉帝旨毋殺人。明年冬攻之垂克。彬稱疾不視師。潘美帥諸將省之。彬曰。予病非藥石能治。須諸公共誓。城破不殺人則自愈矣。諸將諾。共焚香為誓。是日拔金陵（建康也）。李氏降。城中按堵。彬位至使相。父子配食清廟。貴盛累世。實不殺之報應也（李燾長編東都曹彬本傳）。

The Emperor ordered Cao Bin along with Pan Mei and Cao Han to campaign against Jiangnan (the Southern Tang). In the eleventh month, they crossed the river with the troops. Bin had once personally received the imperial instruction not to kill people. In the winter of the following year, when the assault was nearly won, Bin claimed illness and did not inspect the troops. Pan Mei led the generals to visit him. Bin said, 'My illness cannot be cured by medicines or stones; it requires you gentlemen to swear a mutual oath: if upon breaching the city there is no killing, I will naturally recover.' The generals agreed, and together they burned incense to swear the oath. On that day they took Jinling (Jiankang). The Li clan surrendered. Order was maintained in the city. Bin attained the rank of Commissioner-Chancellor. Both father and son were granted sacrificial companionship in the imperial ancestral temple, enjoying noble prosperity for successive generations. This was truly the karmic retribution of not killing (Li Tao's Changbian, biography of Cao Bin in the Dongdu [shilüe]).