召將問疾 The Generals Are Summoned
正愴惶間，又聽得太后有旨宣徐茂公、護國公、尉遲恭見駕。三公奉旨，急入到分宮樓下。拜畢，太宗正色強言道：「賢卿，寡人十九歲領兵，南征北伐，東擋西除，苦歷數載，更不曾見半點邪祟，今日卻反見鬼。」尉遲恭道：「創立江山，殺人無數，何怕鬼乎？」太宗道：「卿是不信。朕這寢宮門外，入夜就拋磚弄瓦，鬼魅呼號，著然難處。白日猶可，昏夜難禁。」叔寶道：「陛下寬心，今晚臣與敬德把守宮門，看有甚麼鬼祟。」太宗准奏。茂公謝恩而出。正怆惶间，又听得太后有旨宣徐茂公、护国公、尉迟恭见驾。三公奉旨，急入到分宫楼下。拜毕，太宗正色强言道：「贤卿，寡人十九岁领兵，南征北伐，东挡西除，苦历数载，更不曾见半点邪祟，今日却反见鬼。」尉迟恭道：「创立江山，杀人无数，何怕鬼乎？」太宗道：「卿是不信。朕这寝宫门外，入夜就抛砖弄瓦，鬼魅呼号，著然难处。白日犹可，昏夜难禁。」叔宝道：「陛下宽心，今晚臣与敬德把守宫门，看有甚么鬼祟。」太宗准奏。茂公谢恩而出。
逐句解 Line by line
In the midst of their grief and alarm, another decree came from the Empress Dowager, summoning Xu Maogong, the Duke Who Guards the State, and Yuchi Gong to attend the emperor. The three lords received the decree and hurried in beneath the Palace-Dividing Tower.
徐茂公 (Xu Maogong, the same Xu Shiji seen earlier), 護國公, and 尉遲恭 (Yuchi Gong, i.e. 尉遲敬德) are among Taizong's chief generals. The Dowager summons the men of war to a peril no army can meet.
When they had made their obeisance, Taizong composed his face and said with an effort: 'My worthy ministers, I took up arms at nineteen and have campaigned south and north, warded off east and swept clear west, through bitter years without number — and never once have I seen the least trace of anything uncanny. Yet today, of all things, I see ghosts.'
強 in 強言 ('to speak with effort') is qiǎng; 數 in 數載 ('many years') is shù, and 更 in 更不曾 ('never once') is gèng. 南征北伐，東擋西除 are the four-square phrases of a lifetime at war. The seasoned warrior is unmanned by what no weapon can fight.
Yuchi Gong said: 'We founded these rivers and hills and killed men beyond counting — what is there to fear in ghosts?'
數 in 無數 ('countless') is shù. 尉遲恭's bluff soldier's logic — that men who have killed so many need not fear the dead — is exactly the confidence the chapter will put to the test.
Taizong said: 'You do not believe it. Outside the gate of my very bedchamber, once night falls there is a hurling of bricks and a clattering of tiles, and demons wailing — it is truly not to be borne. By day it is bearable enough, but the dark of night cannot be endured.'
著 in 著然 ('truly, indeed') is zhuó; 處 in 難處 ('hard to deal with') is chǔ. 拋磚弄瓦 ('hurling bricks, tossing tiles') is the poltergeist violence of the haunting.
Shubao said: 'Let Your Majesty set your heart at ease. Tonight your servant and Jingde will guard the palace gate and see what manner of ghost there is.' Taizong approved the proposal, and Maogong gave thanks and withdrew.
甚 in 甚麼 ('what manner of') is shén; 敬德 is Yuchi Jingde. 把守宮門 ('to guard the palace gate') is the offer that will make these two generals, in later folk belief, the door-gods of China.
The scene gathers the great generals of Tang to a foe they cannot fight. Taizong's own testimony carries the pathos of the passage: a man who took up arms at nineteen and 'campaigned south and north' through 'bitter years without number,' never once seeing anything uncanny, now unmanned by nightly ghosts outside his bedchamber. 尉遲恭's soldierly retort — men who have killed beyond counting need not fear the dead — is the confident courage the haunting will shortly answer.
Qin Shubao's offer to stand guard at the palace gate is the hinge to the chapter's most enduring legacy. When these two generals — 秦叔寶 and 尉遲敬德 — succeed in keeping the ghosts at bay by their mere armored presence, the novel supplies the origin-myth of the 門神, the door-gods whose paired portraits are pasted on gateways across China to this day. What the chapter presents as a single night's watch against a wronged dragon's ghost will pass into folk religion as a permanent guardianship, and the next passages will show the two warriors in their full martial splendor.