廣弘明集 9.53

9.53

臣笑曰。漢書云。張陵者後漢順帝時人。客學於蜀。入鶴鳴山為蛇所吞。計順帝。乃是明帝七世之孫。理不在明帝之前百餘年也。又云。明帝遣張騫尋河源者。此亦妄作。案漢書。張騫為前漢武帝尋河源。云何後漢明帝。復遣尋耶。不知騫是何長仙乎。代代受使。一何苦哉。又可笑其妄引也。

Your servant laughs and says: The Hanshu states that Zhang Ling was a person of the time of Emperor Shun of the Later Han. He was a visiting student in Shu, and upon entering Mount Heming, was swallowed by a serpent. Reckoning Emperor Shun, he was the seventh-generation descendant of Emperor Ming; by principle, he could not have lived over a hundred years before Emperor Ming! Furthermore, it says that Emperor Ming dispatched Zhang Qian to search for the source of the Yellow River; this is also a fabrication. According to the Hanshu, Zhang Qian searched for the source of the Yellow River on behalf of Emperor Wu of the Former Han. How could Emperor Ming of the Later Han have dispatched him to search again? One wonders what kind of long-lived immortal Qian was, that he was sent on missions generation after generation—what suffering! Its reckless citation is also laughable.