魏徵入朝 Wei Zheng Is Summoned to the Board
卻說魏徵丞相在府，夜觀乾象，正爇寶香，只聞得九霄鶴唳，卻是天差仙使，捧玉帝金旨一道，著他午時三刻，夢斬涇河老龍。這丞相謝了天恩，齋戒沐浴，在府中試慧劍，運元神，故此不曾入朝。一見當駕官齎賫來宣，惶懼無任；又不敢違遲君命，只得急急整衣束帶，同旨入朝，在御前叩頭請罪。唐王道：「赦卿無罪。」那時諸臣尚未退朝，至此，卻命捲簾散朝。獨留魏徵，宣上金鑾，召入便殿，先議論安邦之策，定國之謀。將近巳末午初時候，卻命宮人：「取過大棋來，朕與賢卿對弈一局。」眾嬪妃隨取棋枰，鋪設御案。魏徵謝了恩，即與唐王對弈，一遞一著，擺開陣勢。正合《爛柯經》云：却说魏征丞相在府，夜观干象，正𦶟宝香，只闻得九霄鹤唳，却是天差仙使，捧玉帝金旨一道，着他午时三刻，梦斩泾河老龙。这丞相谢了天恩，斋戒沐浴，在府中试慧剑，运元神，故此不曾入朝。一见当驾官赍赍来宣，惶惧无任；又不敢违迟君命，只得急急整衣束带，同旨入朝，在御前叩头请罪。唐王道：「赦卿无罪。」那时诸臣尚未退朝，至此，却命卷帘散朝。独留魏征，宣上金銮，召入便殿，先议论安邦之策，定国之谋。将近巳末午初时候，却命宫人：「取过大棋来，朕与贤卿对弈一局。」众嫔妃随取棋枰，铺设御案。魏征谢了恩，即与唐王对弈，一递一着，摆开阵势。正合《烂柯经》云：
逐句解 Line by line
Now the chancellor Wei Zheng was at his residence, observing the celestial signs by night and just then burning a precious incense, when he heard from the ninth heaven the cry of a crane: it was a fairy envoy sent down by Heaven, bearing a golden mandate of the Jade Emperor, ordering him at the third quarter of the hour of wu to behead the old dragon of the Jing in a dream.
The other half of the story arrives by crane. While the emperor lays plans to keep him indoors, 魏徵 is at home reading the night sky and taking delivery of his own orders — from the same Jade Emperor, for the same hour. 夢斬, 'to behead in a dream,' is the uncanny mechanism the chapter turns on, and it is the reason the emperor's plan never had a chance. 相 in 丞相 is xiàng; 乾 in 乾象, the signs of Qian and so the celestial phenomena, is qián, the heaven-trigram reading rather than the 'dry' gān; 差 in 天差, 'Heaven dispatches,' is chāi; and 著 in 著他, 'ordered him,' is the directing zhuó.
The chancellor gave thanks for Heaven's grace, fasted and bathed, and in his residence tested his sword of wisdom and circulated his primal spirit — and so he had not gone to court.
慧劍, the sword of wisdom, is a figure for the blade that cuts through illusion, and 運元神 is to circulate the primal spirit. Between them they are how 魏徵 readies his soul to leave his body in sleep — and they are also why he was not at the morning audience. 相 is xiàng, and 朝 in 入朝 is cháo.
The moment he saw the officer of the guard come with the summons, he was seized with dread; yet not daring to delay his sovereign's command, he had no choice but to hurriedly straighten his robes and bind his sash, and go to court with the summons, kneeling before the throne to beg pardon.
齎賫 is the bearing and delivery of the summons, and 惶懼無任 is boundless dread. The dread is misplaced, which is the quiet joke: he is terrified of being in trouble for missing court, with no idea that the emperor wants him close in order to stop him doing what Heaven has just ordered him to do. 得 in 只得, 'had no choice but,' is dé, and 朝 in 入朝 is cháo.
The Tang king said: 'You are pardoned, my minister; there is no fault.'
赦 is to pardon or remit, and 卿 is the ruler's familiar way of addressing a minister, warmer than any title. The reassurance is the opening move in Taizong's plan.
At that time the assembled ministers had not yet withdrawn from court; now the king ordered the blinds rolled up and the court dismissed. Keeping Wei Zheng alone, he called him up to the golden hall and into the inner chamber, and first discussed with him the policies of securing the realm and the strategies of settling the state.
Everyone else is sent home; 魏徵 alone is kept back, taken through to the side hall and given statecraft to discuss. 金鑾 is the imperial audience hall and 便 in 便殿, 'the side hall,' is biàn. Note the two readings of 散 in this chapter: here in 散朝, 'to dismiss the court,' it is sàn, 'to disperse,' quite distinct from the sǎn of 散淡 in the fisherman's poem. Both 朝 here (退朝, 散朝) are cháo, and 那 is nà.
As the time drew near the end of si and the start of wu, he ordered the palace attendants: 'Fetch the great board, and let me play a game with my worthy minister.'
巳末午初, the end of si and the start of wu, is close on noon — so the fatal 午時三刻 is minutes away, and the emperor, watching the hour, reaches for a distraction. 對弈 is to play a game against someone; 將 in 將近, 'to draw near,' is jiāng.
The palace consorts thereupon brought the go board and set it out on the imperial desk.
嬪妃 are the imperial consorts, 棋枰 is the go board and 御案 the emperor's table. A board fetched and set out: the homeliest scene in the chapter, and a dragon's life is about to be settled on it.
Wei Zheng gave thanks for the favor and at once played against the Tang king, move answering move, deploying their battle-lines. It accorded exactly with the words of the Classic of the Rotted Axe-Handle:
著 in 一遞一著, 'move for move,' is zhāo, a single play in go. 《爛柯經》, the Classic of the Rotted Axe-Handle, is a real treatise on the game, and its title comes from the legend of a woodcutter who paused to watch some immortals play and found, when he stood up, that his axe-handle had rotted away and a lifetime had gone by — the Chinese Rip van Winkle, and a story about a board game eating a man's life. Given who is sitting down to play, and what is about to happen while they do, the title is not innocent.
The chapter's two threads, the celestial and the imperial, meet in the person of 魏徵. At home by night he receives, from a crane-borne envoy, the Jade Emperor's order to behead the Jing dragon in a dream at the third quarter of noon, and he prepares his soul for the errand with fasting, the sword of wisdom, and the circulation of his primal spirit. The same man is, in the waking world, the chancellor Taizong has resolved to keep at court through that very hour in order to prevent the execution. Neither of them yet knows he is serving the other's purpose.
Taizong's stratagem is domestic and shrewd: dismiss the court, keep 魏徵 back alone, talk statecraft, and then, as noon comes on, call for a game of go. The board is set out on the imperial desk and the two begin, move answering move, deploying their lines like generals. The narrator marks the moment by invoking the 《爛柯經》, the real Classic of the Rotted Axe-Handle, and the treatise that follows turns the emperor's diversionary game into an emblem of strategy itself — even as that game is about to become the instrument of the dragon's death.