太宗自述 The Emperor's Own Account
太宗道：「日前接得魏徵書，朕覺神魂出殿，只見羽林軍請朕出獵。正行時，人馬無蹤，又見那先君父王與先兄弟爭嚷。正難解處，見一人烏帽皂袍，乃是判官崔珏，喝退先兄弟。朕將魏徵書傳遞與他。正看時，又見青衣者執幢幡，引朕入內，到森羅殿上，與十代閻王敘坐。他說那涇河龍誣告我許救轉殺之事，是朕將前言陳具一遍。他說已三曹對過案了，急命取生死文簿，檢看我的陽壽。時有崔判官傳上簿子，閻王看了，道寡人有三十三年天祿，才過得一十三年，還該我二十年陽壽，即著朱太尉、崔判官送朕回來。朕與十王作別，允了送他瓜果謝恩。太宗道：「日前接得魏征书，朕觉神魂出殿，只见羽林军请朕出猎。正行时，人马无踪，又见那先君父王与先兄弟争嚷。正难解处，见一人乌帽皂袍，乃是判官崔珏，喝退先兄弟。朕将魏征书传递与他。正看时，又见青衣者执幢幡，引朕入内，到森罗殿上，与十代阎王叙坐。他说那泾河龙诬告我许救转杀之事，是朕将前言陈具一遍。他说已三曹对过案了，急命取生死文簿，检看我的阳寿。时有崔判官传上簿子，阎王看了，道寡人有三十三年天禄，才过得一十三年，还该我二十年阳寿，即着朱太尉、崔判官送朕回来。朕与十王作别，允了送他瓜果谢恩。
逐句解 Line by line
Taizong said, 'The other day, when I had received Wei Zheng's letter, I felt my soul-spirit pass out of the hall, and saw the Feathered Forest guards inviting me out to hunt.'
接得 uses de, received. The 羽林軍, the "Feathered Forest" guard, is the same imperial escort as at the start, here under its other name. The emperor now retells the journey the reader has just taken — a device that lets the novel repeat its best material with the pleasure of hindsight.
'Just as I rode, men and horses vanished without a trace, and I saw my late father the king and my late brothers in noisy dispute.'
先君父王 is the late Gaozu; 先兄弟 are the murdered Jiancheng and Yuanji. 爭嚷 is to wrangle noisily. 行 is xíng. Note how the emperor edits: in the event they seized him and demanded his life, and in the retelling they are merely making a scene.
'Just as I was at a loss, I saw a man in a black cap and dark gown — none other than the magistrate Cui Jue — who with a shout drove off my late brothers.'
烏帽皂袍, black cap and black gown, is the underworld magistrate's outfit. 難解 uses nán, hard to get out of.
'I handed Wei Zheng's letter over to him.'
將 is jiāng, fronting the object: took the letter and passed it over.
'As I looked on, I saw blue-clad ones bearing pennants who led me within, to the Hall of Judgment, where I sat in converse with the Ten Kings of the Dead.'
敘坐 is to sit down together and talk in due order of precedence. The Hall of Judgment and the Ten Kings, as before — but the word chosen makes it sound like a meeting.
'They spoke of how the Jing-River dragon had falsely charged me with promising rescue and then turning to slaughter; and I laid out the whole matter from the first.'
誣告 is to lay a false charge — and the emperor has quietly upgraded the dragon's complaint from an accusation to a slander. 陳具一遍 is to set the whole thing out point by point. 將 is jiāng.
'They said the three tribunals had already confronted the case, and quickly ordered the register of life and death fetched, to examine my allotted span.'
對過案 is to have completed the joint hearing. 生死文簿 is the register of life and death — the document, though he does not know it, that was altered in the next room.
'Then Magistrate Cui handed up the ledger, and when King Yama had looked, he said that I had thirty-three years of heaven-granted tenure — that only thirteen had passed, and I was still owed twenty years of life — and at once directed Marshal Zhu and Magistrate Cui to escort me back.'
And here he recites the forgery as fact. 天祿 is the heaven-granted tenure. 才過得一十三年 is "only thirteen years had gone by"; 得 is de, and 一 is yī. 即著 uses zhuó, directed. Thirty-three years, he tells his court, in perfectly good faith — a number that existed for the first time about four seconds before Yama read it.
'I took my leave of the Ten Kings, and promised to send them melons and fruit in thanks for their kindness.'
允 is to consent, to undertake. The melon promise, dropped into the report as a courtesy repaid — and it is the thread the rest of the chapter hangs on.
The emperor's recap compresses the whole underworld journey into a report to his ministers, retelling what the reader has already watched.
Its quiet irony is that Taizong recites the forged lifespan as plain fact — thirty-three years granted, only thirteen used — with no idea that his twenty extra years rest on two strokes of Cuī Jué's brush. The account also replants the melon promise, keeping alive the thread that leads to Liu Quan's errand into death.