Conscripted men: much better than any of the dictionary suggestions for 役 that I previously tried to use lol
Plural prefix is a better term than 'imaginary number' for this phenomenon, but Cocoa's suggestion of indefinite number is definitely the precise term.
I've decided I'm not a fan of the method of translating each character with minimal grammatical correction. It's confusing to me.
Baike notes: This is part of the Yuefu movement (which Hawkes calls ballads). The "fathers, mothers, wives, and children" shows the age range of the conscripts, both the young (with parents sending them off) and the older (with children) Could be satirizing two different campaigns against the Tubo or against the Nanzhao.
Re: 2. 兵車行 Bīng-chē xíng
Plural prefix is a better term than 'imaginary number' for this phenomenon, but Cocoa's suggestion of indefinite number is definitely the precise term.
I've decided I'm not a fan of the method of translating each character with minimal grammatical correction. It's confusing to me.
Baike notes:
This is part of the Yuefu movement (which Hawkes calls ballads).
The "fathers, mothers, wives, and children" shows the age range of the conscripts, both the young (with parents sending them off) and the older (with children)
Could be satirizing two different campaigns against the Tubo or against the Nanzhao.