面上無肉 Your Face Has No Flesh
說不了,小張太子指揮四將,上前喝道:「潑妖精!你面上無肉,不認得我等在此?」妖王道:「是那方小將,敢來與他助力?」说不了,小张太子指挥四将,上前喝道:「泼妖精!你面上无肉,不认得我等在此?」妖王道:「是那方小将,敢来与他助力?」
逐句解 Line by line
Before he had finished, the Little Prince Zhang signalled the four generals and shouted, "You wretched fiend!
了 is liǎo, to finish, in 說不了. The prince cuts the fiend off in mid-question — the second time the chapter has broken a speech of his with these three characters.
Have you no flesh upon your face, that you do not know who we are, standing here?"
得 is the full dé in 認得, to recognise. 面上無肉 — no flesh on your face — is abuse of a kind the chapter has not used before: a remark about the fiend's looks rather than his conduct.
The fiend king said, "What quarter's young general is this, that dares come and lend him strength?"
那 is nǎ, the question word, in the same frame the fiend used on the dragons. 將 is jiàng — and 小將, a junior officer, is meant to sting.
The prince opens with abuse and the fiend answers with a question, which reverses the order of the last encounter. When the dragons came they served a warrant first and threatened afterwards; this boy insults first and identifies himself only when asked.
What quarter's young general is this repeats the question he put to the dragons, with the quarter asked for in the same way and a rank supplied. He has sized the newcomer up and reduced him to a junior officer before hearing any answer.