The next day, official summons were sent to the Count of Wind, the Duke of Thunder, the Cloud Youths, and Madam Lightning, who came to the ninth layer of Heaven above Chang’an. The clouds were spread between 9-11am, the thunder began at 1pm, the rain fell between 2 and 4pm, and it only rained 3 feet and 0.40 inches, changing the predicted time of rainfall and shorting the amount by 3.08 inches. He descended on his cloud, transformed back into the white-robed scholar, went to West Gate Road, and raged into the fortuneteller’s shop. Without explanation, he smashed the sign of the shop, the calligraphy brush and inkstone. The fortuneteller sat on his chair and didn’t react. The Dragon King raised the lintel of the door, shouting: “This charlatan is inventing fortunes and hoodwinking the public. Your predictions are wildly false and absurd! Your forecast of today’s rain was wrong in both the timing and amount, and you still sit there all high and mighty. Get out of here, and I’ll pardon you!”
Yet the fortuneteller showed no fear at all, but looked skyward and laughed coldly, saying, “I’m not afraid of you. I’ve committed no crimes deserving of death, but perhaps you have! Others may not know your identity, but you’ll keep no secrets from me. I know you. You’re no scholar. You’re the Jing River Dragon King! You’ve violated the Jade Emperor’s edict, changing the time and amount of rain. You’re to face Heaven’s punishment1 and yet you stand there berating me!”
When the Dragon King heard this, he trembled in fear and his blood ran cold. He threw aside the door lintel and knelt before the fortuneteller, saying, “Forgive me, sir! I was speaking in jest, but the jest has become reality and I violated Heaven’s edict. Is there anything I can do? I beg Master to save me, or I swear I will haunt you even after my death.”
“I cannot save you,” the fortuneteller said, “but there is a way you may save yourself.”
“I will do whatever you say,” the Dragon King said.
“Tomorrow, three quarter hours after noon, you will be beheaded,” the fortuneteller said. “If you really want to live, go see the Emperor of Tang, Tang Taizong. Your executioner will be the senior minister of the Tang court. If you can win his sympathy, you may survive unscathed.”
Hearing this, the Dragon King bid a tearful farewell to the fortuneteller. The sun set and the moon rose; mist blanked the mountains and turned the purple; crows returned to their nests and travelers to the inn. At the ferry crossing, the young wild geese settled on the sandy banks. The Milky Way lit up the night. Lights dimmed in remote villages. The furnace smoke cleared from above Daoist temples. Shadows of blossoms wavered in the moonlight. Sand streamed through the glass. Before long, half the night had passed.
The Dragon King did not return to his palace. He waited in midair until about midnight, then collected his clouds and descended to the entrance of the imperial palace. The Tang Emperor was at that moment dreaming that he was strolling in the moonlight outside the palace. Suddenly the Dragon King appeared in the dream in the form of a man, kneeling before the emperor, crying out, “Your Majesty, save me. Save me!”
“Who are you?” Emperor Taizong said. “We will act to save you.”
“Your Majesty is the true dragon,”2 the Dragon King said. “Your servant is a wicked dragon. I violated Heaven’s edict, and I deserve to be executed by your Majesty’s righteous minister Wei Zheng, so I have come to beg your Majesty to save me.”
Taizong said, “As it is Wei Zheng assigned to execute you, I can indeed save you. Set your heart at ease and go.”
The Dragon King gladly bowed down in thanks and left.
When Taizong awoke, he held the dream in his mind. That morning he gathered his civil and martial advisors.
Just look: Smoke enveloping the Phoenix Watchtower, incense billowing from the Dragon Tower, light flickering through the crimson screens, clouds flowing against the jade-green flowers. The emperor and his advisors were as well matched as Emperor Yao and his advisor Shun, the ceremonial music solemn. The attendants’ lamps and the maidens’ fans washed the hall in color. The Peacock Screen, the Qilin Hall, every building shone bright. It was as if the mountains and flowers cried out “Long live your Majesty!” The baton sounded three times, and all the finery bowed to the crown. The flowers of the grounds bloomed in exuberant splendor. The willows on the banks waved softly. Imperial choirs sang. Pearl-bead curtains and jadeite-bead curtains are drawn high by golden hooks. Dragon and phoenix-carved fans and mountain and river-carved fans decorate the jeweled carriage. The civil officials were handsome and elegant; the martial advisors were vigilant and keen. They arranged themselves by rank in the Cinnabar Courtyard. After greeting the emperor, each went to his place.
The emperor looked over the civil advisors and only saw among them Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Xu Shiji, Xu Jingzong, Wang Guideng, Among the martial advisors were Ma Sanbao, Duan Zhuixian, Yin Kaishan,3 Cheng Yaojin, Liu Hongji, Hu Jingde, and Qin Shubao, among others. Each solemn and dignified, but he did not see Minister Wei Zheng.
The emperor waved civil official Xu Shiji forward and said, “Last night we dreamed a strange dream, that a man paid us a visit saying he was the Jing River Dragon King who had violated a heavenly edict and would be executed by our imperial official Wei Zheng. He begged us to save him. We have promised to save him. However, we do not see Wei Zheng present with us today. Why is that?”
Shiji replied, “If your dream is true, we must bring Wei Zheng to court immediately, and your Majesty must not let him leave. Once the appointed day has passed, you will have saved the dragon in your dream.”
The emperor agreed, and immediately sent out a rider with a decree to bring Wei Zheng to court.
They say that Minister Wei Zhang was in his ministerial residence, having dreamt the night before of a man burning incense when suddenly a crane called from the ninth layer of Heaven – a messenger sent by Heaven with a decree from the Jade Emperor that three quarters of the hour past noon, Wei Zheng was to execute the Jing River Dragon in a dream. The minister thanked Heaven, fasted and bathed, and was testing the edge of his sword and preparing his spirit, and so had not come to court that day. When the rider arrived with the decree from the Tang Emperor, Wei Zheng was terrified. He dared not disobey, but straightened his clothes and went to court, where he knelt and begged the emperor’s forgiveness.
“My honorable subject has committed no crime,” the Emperor said. Then, though it was not yet time to adjourn the court, the emperor dismissed all of the advisors except for Wei Zheng, whom he brought into the back palace. They spoke of policies of peace and stability and plans for the security of the kingdom. Around noon, the emperor ordered a concubine to bring a chessboard and invited his minister to a game of chess.4
1 the fortuneteller is specific about the type of punishment – amputating a part of the body. But it’s hard to keep this detail in and maintain the momentum of this scene, so I’ve left it out. ↩
2 The dragon king is referring to the fact that the symbol of the Chinese Emperor is the dragon ↩
3 remember, we know this guy as the grandfather of the Tang Monk! ↩
4 Not exactly chess but a similar game. ↩
Etymology Adventures 