鑼鼓齊鳴 Gongs And Drums Sounding Together
正當合心裝扮停當，只聽得鑼鼓齊鳴，又見那槍刀簇擁。原來是羽林衛官，領三千兵把館驛圍了。又見一個錦衣官走進驛庭問道：「東土唐朝長老在那裡？」正当合心装扮停当，只听得锣鼓齐鸣，又见那枪刀簇拥。原来是羽林卫官，领三千兵把馆驿围了。又见一个锦衣官走进驿庭问道：「东土唐朝长老在那里？」
逐句解 Line by line
Just as they had got themselves of one mind and their disguises settled, they heard gongs and drums sounding together, and saw spears and swords crowding in.
The character 當 occurs twice here and takes a different reading each time. In 正當 it is dāng, just at the moment when; in 停當 it is dàng, settled and in order — the same lexicalised sense it took at the supper table in the posting house on the first night.
It was the officers of the Feathered Forest Guard, leading three thousand troops to ring the posting house about.
The figure is the first hard number the chapter has given for the force outside, and three thousand household guards for one monk is not proportionate — it is what a frightened king sends.
Then they saw an officer of the Embroidered Uniform walk into the courtyard of the posting house and ask, "Where is the elder of the Tang court from the Land of the East?"
那 is nǎ here, the questioning one — where — not the pointing nà. Out of the chapter's fifty, only two take this reading, and both of them are 那裡: the other was Wukong at the goose coops asking how every household could possibly be performing rites.
The chapter's only display of force, and it arrives after everything is already decided. Three thousand men, gongs, drums, spears — and inside the building a monk in a mud mask standing very still.
The question the officer asks is the one the whole machinery has been assembled to ask, and it is answerable. There is an elder of the Tang court in this building. He is wearing a monkey's face and nobody in the three thousand will look at him twice.