Canonical Classics ← 第十一回
第十一回
yóutàizōnghuánhún
jìnguāguǒliúquánpèi

Touring the Underworld, Taizong Returns to Life · Presenting Melons and Fruit, Liu Quan Renews the Marriage Bond

招賢訪相
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

招賢訪相 The Call for a Volunteer

shígàitiānxiàrénxíngshànzhěxiāngyòuchūzhāoxiánbǎngzhāorénjìnguāguǒdàoyīnxiāngjiāngbǎozàngjīnyínchāiwèichígōngjìngshàngnánkāifēngfǎngxiàngliánghuánzhàishígàitiānxiàrénxíngshànzhěxiāngyòuchūzhāoxiánbǎngzhāorénjìnguāguǒdàoyīnxiāngjiāngbǎozàngjīnyínchāiwèichígōngjìngshàngnánkāifēng访fǎngxiàngliánghuánzhài


逐句解 Line by line

shígàitiānxiàrénxíngshànzhě shígàitiānxiàrénxíngshànzhě

From this time, there was not a soul in all the realm who did not do good.

A hyperbole, and delivered deadpan: not one person in the empire failed to do good. 行善 is xíng shàn, to do good.

xiāngyòuchūzhāoxiánbǎngzhāorénjìnguāguǒdàoyīn xiāngyòuchūzhāoxiánbǎngzhāorénjìnguāguǒdàoyīn

On one hand, a call for a worthy volunteer was posted, seeking someone to carry melons and fruit down to the shadow-world;

A 招賢榜 is a public notice calling for a capable man to come forward — the standard recruiting device of Chinese fiction, normally used to find a general. Here the job description is: die, and take some fruit with you.

xiāngjiāngbǎozàngjīnyínchāiwèichígōngjìngshàngnánkāifēngfǎngxiàngliánghuánzhài xiāngjiāngbǎozàngjīnyínchāiwèichígōngjìngshàngnánkāifēng访fǎngxiàngliánghuánzhài

and on the other, a vault of gold and silver was taken from the treasure-store, and Yuchi Gong and Hu Jingde were dispatched to Kaifeng prefecture in Henan to seek out Xiang Liang and repay the debt.

寶藏庫, bǎo zàng kù, is the treasury; is zàng. is chāi, to dispatch. The surname is xiàng: Xiàng Liáng, the man of Kaifeng whose deposited merit-gold bought the emperor past the hungry ghosts. 還債 is huán zhài, to repay a debt — and the emperor is sending two senior generals to settle it in cash, in person.


總評 Commentary

Two errands come out of the emperor's underworld debts: a call for a volunteer to die and deliver the promised melons, and two generals sent to repay Xiàng Liáng's borrowed merit-gold in the world above.

The passage closes the ledger of the netherworld journey — loan settled, pledge still outstanding — while the call for a volunteer opens the door to the Liu Quan episode that follows.