夢中斬龍 Wei Zheng Dozes at the Board
君臣兩個對弈，此棋正下到午時三刻，一盤殘局未終，魏徵忽然俯伏在案邊，鼾鼾盹睡。太宗笑曰：「賢卿真是匡扶社稷之心勞，創立江山之力倦，所以不覺盹睡。」太宗任他睡著，更不呼喚。不多時，魏徵醒來，俯伏在地道：「臣該萬死，臣該萬死！卻才倦困，不知所為，望陛下赦臣慢君之罪。」太宗道：「卿有何慢罪？且起來，拂退殘棋，與卿從新更著。」君臣两个对弈，此棋正下到午时三刻，一盘残局未终，魏征忽然俯伏在案边，鼾鼾盹睡。太宗笑曰：「贤卿真是匡扶社稷之心劳，创立江山之力倦，所以不觉盹睡。」太宗任他睡著，更不呼唤。不多时，魏征醒来，俯伏在地道：「臣该万死，臣该万死！却才倦困，不知所为，望陛下赦臣慢君之罪。」太宗道：「卿有何慢罪？且起来，拂退残棋，与卿从新更著。」
逐句解 Line by line
Ruler and minister played on together, and just as the game reached the third quarter of the hour of wu, with the board's endgame still unfinished, Wei Zheng suddenly slumped forward at the edge of the desk, snoring in a doze.
對弈 is 'to play against each other'; 午時三刻 (the third quarter of the noon double-hour) is the very moment appointed for the dragon's execution. 殘局 is 'the endgame'; 鼾鼾盹睡 ('snoring in a nap') is the sleep in which 魏徵's spirit departs to wield the blade.
Taizong said with a smile: 'My worthy minister is truly worn in heart from upholding the altars of the realm, and spent in strength from founding its rivers and hills — no wonder he has unknowingly dozed off.'
匡扶社稷 ('to sustain the altars of soil and grain') and 創立江山 ('to found the rivers and mountains,' the state) are lofty phrases for 魏徵's service. The emperor reads the sleep charitably, never suspecting its errand.
Taizong let him sleep and did not call him.
著 in 睡著 ('to be asleep') is zháo; 更不 ('and did not even') has 更 as gèng. The emperor's kindness — leaving his minister undisturbed — is precisely what allows the dream-execution to proceed.
Before long Wei Zheng awoke and, prostrating himself on the ground, said: 'Your servant deserves ten thousand deaths, ten thousand deaths! Just now I was overcome with weariness and knew not what I did — I beg Your Majesty to pardon my discourtesy to my lord.'
為 in 不知所為 ('knew not what I was doing') is wéi; 慢君之罪 is 'the crime of slighting one's sovereign.' 魏徵's abject apology is for the sleep alone — he says nothing of what he did in it.
Taizong said: 'What discourtesy is there in you? Get up; let us sweep away the unfinished game and play afresh, you and I.'
著 in 更著 ('to play again') is zhāo, a go move; 更 is gèng, 'anew.' 拂退殘棋 is 'to brush aside the unfinished game.' The emperor, all graciousness, proposes a new game — unaware that the old one has just cost a life.
The execution happens in a gap in the narrative. The two play on until the stroke of the appointed hour, and 魏徵 — his waking body seated at the emperor's own desk, under the emperor's own eye — simply nods off over the unfinished board. Taizong, reading the sleep as the honest fatigue of a hardworking minister, generously leaves him undisturbed; and it is exactly this kindness that permits the dream-execution to run its course. The dragon's death is not shown here at all: it takes place offstage, in the mind of a sleeping man, in the interval of a doze.
The scene's terrible irony is that every party is doing precisely what dooms the dragon. The emperor keeps his minister close and awake to save the dragon, then lets him sleep out of compassion. The minister, apologizing abjectly for the discourtesy of dozing, has in that very doze carried out the beheading — and says nothing of it, perhaps not fully knowing. Taizong's closing invitation to 'sweep away the unfinished game and play afresh' is quietly devastating: the game is over, and its true stakes were never on the board. The passages to come will show the dragon's severed head falling from the sky, and the emperor's promise of rescue turning to horror.