Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 1)

He is planning to attack and cut you off.

When he abandons small areas and does not rescue them

His ambitions are great.

The man who places his pieces at random

Has no plans;

The man who responds without thinking

Is heading for defeat.

The Book of Songs says:

“Be cautious and careful

As if you were walking on the edge of a precipice.'

This is what it means.”

There is a poem that goes:

The board is the Earth, the chessmen Heaven,

The colours, Positive and Negative,

When you reach that subtle state when all the changes become clear,

You can laugh and brag about the chess-playing Immortals.

As sovereign and minister played their game of chess it was half past one. Although the game was not over, Wei Zheng slumped down beside the table and started to snore, fast asleep.

“Worthy Minister,” said Taizong with a smile, “you have exhausted your mind in strengthening the country and tired yourself out building the empire; that is why you have fallen asleep without realizing it.” The Emperor said no more and let him sleep. Not long afterwards Wei Zheng woke up, prostrated himself on the floor, and said, “Your subject deserves ten thousand deaths. I fell asleep without knowing what I was doing, and I beg Your Majesty to forgive your subject's criminal discourtesy to his sovereign.”

“What criminal discourtesy have you committed?” the Emperor asked. “Rise, and take the Pieces off the board so that we may start again.” Wei Zheng thanked him for his grace, and was just taking the pieces in his hand when he heard shouting outside the palace gates. Qin Shubao, Xu Maogong and some others brought in a dragon's head dripping with blood, threw it to the floor in front of the Emperor, and reported, “Your Majesty,

Seas have gone shallow and rivers have run dry,

But such a sight as this was never seen by human eye.”

The Emperor and Wei Zheng rose to their feet and asked where it had come from.

“This dragon's head fell from a cloud at the crossroads at the end of the Thousand Yard Portico, and your humble subjects dared not fail to report it,” said Qin Shubao and Xu Maogong.

“What does this mean?” the Tang Emperor asked Wei Zheng in astonishment.

“Your subject beheaded it in a dream just now,” replied Wei Zheng, kowtowing.

“But I never saw you move your hand or body when you were dozing,” said the shocked Emperor, “and you had no sword, so how could you have beheaded it?”

“My lord,” replied Wei Zheng, “your subject

Was bodily in your presence,

But far away in my dream.

I was bodily in your presence reaching the end of a game.

When I shut my eyes and felt drowsy;

I went far away in my dream, riding a magic cloud,

Bursting with energy.

That dragon

Was on the Dragon-slicing Scaffold

Where he had been tied by the officers and soldiers of Heaven.

Then your minister said,

'You have broken the laws of Heaven,

And deserve the death penalty.

I bear a heavenly mandate

To behead you.'

When the dragon heard he was bitterly grieved;

Your subject marshalled his spirits.

When the dragon heard he was bitterly grieved,

Pulled in his claws, laid down his scales and gladly prepared to die.

Your subject marshalled his spirits,

Hitched up his clothes, stepped forward and raised the blade.

With a snick the sword came down,

And the dragon's head fell into the void.”

Emperor Taizong's feelings on hearing this were mixed. On the one hand he was happy, because he was proud of having so good a minister as Wei Zheng; for with a hero like that in his court he needed to have no worries about the safety of the empire. On the other hand he was distressed, because although he had promised in his dream to save the dragon, it had been executed. He had no choice but to pull himself together and order Qin Shubao to hang the dragon's head up in the market place as a warning to the common people of Chang'an. He also rewarded Wei Zheng, and then all the officials dispersed.

When he returned to the palace that evening, the Emperor was depressed as he remembered how the dragon had wept so bitterly in his dream, begging to be saved. Yet the dragon had been unable to avoid its doom. After brooding over this for a long time he felt more and more exhausted and uneasy. In the second watch of the night he heard sobbing outside the palace gates, which made him more frightened than ever. As he lay in a fitful sleep, the dragon king of the River Jing reappeared, this time holding a head dripping with blood in his hands.

“Emperor Taizong of the Tang,” he shouted, “give me back my life, give me back my life. Last night you were full of promises to save me, so why did you double-cross me yesterday and order Wei Zheng, the official in charge of personnel, to behead me? Come out, come out, and we shall go to the King of Hell's place to have this out.” He pulled at the Emperor's clothes and would not stop shouting. Taizong could find nothing to say, and struggled so hard to get away that he was pouring with sweat. Just at this most awkward moment he saw fragrant clouds and coloured mists to the South. A female Immortal came forward and waved a willow twig, at which the headless dragon went off to the Northwest, weeping pitifully. This Immortal was the Bodhisattva Guanyin, who had come to the East in obedience to the Buddha's decree to find the man to fetch the scriptures. She was now staying in the temple of the tutelary god of Chang'an, and when she heard the devilish howling she came to chase away the wicked dragon. The dragon then went down to Hell to submit a full report.

When Taizong woke up he shouted, “A ghost, a ghost!” The empresses of the three palaces, the imperial consorts and concubines of the six compounds, the attendants and the eunuchs were all so terrified by this that they lay awake trembling for the rest of the night. Before long it was half past four, and all the military and civil officials were waiting for the morning court outside the palace gates. When dawn came and the Emperor had still not come to court they were so frightened that they did not know what to do.

It was not till the sun was high in the sky that a decree was brought out that read, “As our mind is not at ease all the officials are excused court.” Six or seven days quickly passed, and all the officials were so anxious that they wished they could rush to the palace gates to see the Emperor and ask after his health, but all that happened was that the Empress issued a decree summoning the royal doctors to the palace to administer medicine. Crowds of officials gathered at the palace gates waiting for news, and when the doctors came out a little later they asked what the matter was.

“His Majesty's pulse in not as it should be: it is both faint and fast. He murmurs deliriously about having seen a ghost. His pulse stops every ten beats. His five viscera lack all spirit, and I am afraid that the worst must be expected within seven days.” The officials went pale from shock.

Amid all the panic it was learned that Taizong had sent for Xu Maogong, the Duke Protector Qin Shubao, and Lord Yuchi Jingde. When the three lords received the decree they hurried to the lower story of the side palace. When they had bowed to him, a serious-faced Taizong spoke forcefully to them.

“Illustrious ministers,” he said, “we started to command troops at the age of nineteen, and had many hard years of fighting from then on, conquering the North and the South, defending in the East, and wiping out our enemies in the West; but never once did we see anything sinister or evil. Yet now we are seeing ghosts.”

“Your Majesty has founded an empire and slaughtered men beyond number, so why should you be scared of ghosts?” asked Lord Yuchi.