| | In the winter of the first year of Weiguang (534 AD), on the Dingwei day of the twelfth month, Yan Gong entered the Chongde Palace. He then issued an edict saying: "Let Yuan, a Guanglu 大夫, be appointed as Taiwei." The official kowtowed and said, "Minister has heard that three refusals have never been accepted; I dare not refuse." "I, a lowly subject, am now seventy years old. I may live or die as circumstances demand. I shall exert myself diligently in public affairs and devote my whole heart to the state, thus fulfilling my duty as a minister." At that time, those who stood in attendance on the palace steps and heard Lord Yan's eloquent words could not help but feel a sense of awe, as if treading on thin ice. Later, these words were inscribed on stone tablets to be remembered for generations.
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