著實盤問 Sent To Question You Closely
但只是那個大王要吃唐僧哩？」小鑽風道：「長官，你不知道？」行者喝道：「我比你不知些兒。因恐汝等不知底細，吩咐我來著實盤問你哩。」但只是那个大王要吃唐僧哩？」小钻风道：「长官，你不知道？」行者喝道：「我比你不知些儿。因恐汝等不知底细，吩咐我来着实盘问你哩。」
逐句解 Line by line
But which of the kings is it that wants to eat the Tang Monk?"
Twelve characters, and this is the real question — the one thing the intelligence so far has not settled. He has slipped it in behind a compliment.
The Little Borer of the Wind said, "Officer, do you not know that?"
The demon is surprised, which is dangerous. A Chief Borer of the Wind sent to root out impostors ought to know whose dinner is at stake.
Pilgrim shouted at him. "As if I knew less of it than you.
喝道 is to shout — the hè band throughout this project, never the hē of drinking. Faced with a question he cannot answer, Pilgrim raises his voice, which is what he does.
It is because he was afraid you lot did not know the ins and outs of it that he gave me orders to come and question you closely."
底細 is the bottom and the fine detail — the ins and outs. 著實 is thoroughly, in earnest, and 著 is zhuó in it, to apply oneself solidly. The recovery is to convert his own ignorance into the king's suspicion of theirs.
The single moment of danger in the whole interrogation lasts two units. Pilgrim asks something an officer in his position would already know, and the demon notices.
The recovery is instant and entirely characteristic. He shouts, and then explains that the questioning exists precisely because the king doubts what the patrols know. Ignorance has been reassigned.
It is the same manoeuvre he used on the old man on the slope — turn the other party into the suspect and the question stops being about you.