《资治通鉴·唐纪·唐纪六十》
杜牧对河朔的幽州、成德、魏博三个藩镇割据跋扈和桀傲不驯而感到愤怒，而朝廷商议对策时，以姑息迁就作为唯一对策。于是，他撰写一篇文章，名叫《罪言》，大意认为： 国家从天宝末年安史之乱以后，对河朔三镇的一百多座城池，一直不能收复一尺一寸，人们看待那里，就好像是回鹘国、吐蕃国一样，没有人敢窥测并希望收复。
杜牧愤河朔三镇之桀骜，而朝廷议者专事姑息，乃作书，名曰《罪言》，大略以为： 国家自天宝盗起，河北百馀城不得尺寸，人望之若回鹘、吐蕃，无敢窥者。
Du Mu was furious at the arrogant and unruly separatist rule of the three vassals of Youzhou, Chengde, and Weibao in Heshuo, while the court took appeasement as the only strategy when discussing countermeasures. So, he wrote an article called "Guilt Speech", which essentially argued that: Since the Anshi Rebellion at the end of the reign of Emperor Tianbao, the country has not been able to recover an inch of the more than 100 cities in the three towns of Heshuo. People look at it as if it were the Huihu Kingdom or the Tubo Kingdom, and no one dares to covet it or hope to recover it.