Around noon, the emperor ordered a concubine to bring a chessboard and invited his minister to a game of chess.1 Wei Zheng agreed, and they began to play. Move by move they set up their opening positions. It was as described in the Lanke Classics: Caution and discipline are the way of chess. The valuable pieces are placed in the back, the pawns at the sides, the mid-level pieces in the corners – in the conventional manner. As convention says, better to lose a piece than a match. Strike at the left but watch the right. Attack behind and guard the front. Back and forth, back and forth, they tarded moves without ceasing. Pieces should be spread but not too sparse, concentrated but not too close. It’s better to sacrifice a piece and triumph rather than save a piece and survive. Better to stand in stalwart defense than to progress without purpose, Where he outnumbers me, find any way to survive. When I outnumber him, use every advantage to the fullest. The text goes on.2
They had played until about half past noon and the board displayed a desperate endgame when suddenly Wei Zheng toppled to the side of the table and fell suddenly asleep. Taizong laughed and said, “My good minister must be exhausted from all of the work he does to support this nation, to fall asleep without realizing it.”
Taizong let him sleep and did not wake him, but before long, Wei Zheng awoke on his own. He prostrated himself on the floor before the Emperor and said, “Forgive me! Forgive me! Just now I felt faint with tiredness and I do not know why. I beg you to pardon this unworthy minister.”
“My good minister needs no pardon,” the Emperor said. “Get up, and let us have a new game of chess.”
Wei Zheng thanked the Emperor and reseated himself at the table. Just as he picked up a piece begin the game, they heard a loud commotion from outside the palace. They went out and found that Qin Shubao, Xu Maogong and the rest were holding up a bloody dragon head. They placed it on the ground before the Emperor and said, “Your Majesty, I have seen the ocean’s waters recede and the rivers dry up, but I have never heard of anything like this.”
“Where did this come from?” Taizong asked.
Shubao and Maodong replied, “This dragon head fell from the clouds at the crossroads south of the Thousand-step Corridor. Your servant did not dare not to report it to your Majesty immediately.”
The shocked Emperor asked Wei Zheng, “What do you say to this?”
Wei Zheng turned and bowed to the Emperor. “This dragon was beheaded by your servant just now in a dream.”
The emperor was astonished. “When my good minister was asleep just now, I didn’t see you move your body or your hands, and you didn’t have a knife or sword, how could you have beheaded this dragon?”
Wei Zheng replied, “Your Majesty, though my body stayed before my lord, in my dream I left your Majesty. My body was before the chessboard when I fell asleep; in my dream my spirit ascended in to the clouds fully awake. The dragon was on the execution platform tied up among heavenly soldiers. Your servant said to him, ‘You violated Heaven’s command and are deserving of death. By order of Heaven, I will execute you by beheading.’ The dragon grieved piteously and submitted to his execution. Your servant stepped forward and raised a frosted blade and brought it down with a gucha sound.3 This is what caused the dragon head to fall.”
When Taizong heard this, he did not know how to feel. On the one hand, with such a towering figure as Wei Zheng at his side and in his court, he did not need to worry about the stability of the nation. On the other hand, he had promised to save the dragon in his dream. He did not expect the dragon to meet his demise in such a way. There was nothing to do but to steel his spirit and order Shubao to hang the dragon’s head above the marketplace so that all the people of Chang’an would know what had happened.
That night, when he returned to the palace, his heart was full of worry thinking about the dragon in his dream who had begged piteously to be saved. How could he know that he couldn’t be saved? He pondered on this for a long time and his spirit grew more and more troubled and his body uneasy. Around midnight, Taizong was alarmed to hear the sound of weeping outside the palace door.
As he was dozing off, he saw again the Jing River Dragon King holding his bloody head in his hands crying out, “Tang Taizong! Return my life to me! Return my life to me! Last night you promised to save me, so why has your minister come to execute me? Come out! Come out! I will have it out with your in the courts of Hell!”
He grabbed ahold of Taizong and shouted out again and again. Taizong was speechless, and struggled to get free until he was covered in sweat. In that moment of terror, he saw a curl of incense to the south accompanied by colored mist. An immortal woman walked toward him and waved the willow branch in her hand.The headless dragon, still weeping, left to the northwest. It was the Bodhisattva Guanyin who, on the orders of the Buddha, had come to China in search of a scripture pilgrim and was staying in the Chang’an Tudi Spirit’s shrine. She had heard the crying of a spirit in the night and had come to banish the dragon and rescued the Emperor. The dragon traveled to the land of the dead, but we won’t discuss him any further.
They say that when Taizong awoke, he shouted, “A ghost! A ghost!” He frightened the Empress, the concubines, and the attendant eunuchs so much that none of them slept all night. Before long it was the third hour of the fifth watch, and the civil and martial advisors arrived outside the palace for the morning’s court. At dawn the Emperor had still not appeared, leaving the ministers afraid and uncertain. When the sun was high in the sky, a decree came from the palace saying, “We are in low spirits. Ministers need not come to court.”
Without realizing it, a week had passed. The ministers were beside themselves with worry, and were about to knock on the back palace doors for an audience with the Emperor when a decree came from the Emperor Dowager4 summoning the doctor to the palace. A crowd formed outside the palace doors waiting for news, and before long, the doctor reappeared. When the crowd asked what illness the Emperor had, the doctor replied, “The Qi in his veins is not right. His pulse is fast but weak. He is raving about ghosts. There is no Qi in his viscera. I’m afraid he will die within seven days.”5
The ministers turned pale at this news. In that moment of grief and fear, another decree came from the Empress Dowager summoning Xu Mougong, Huguo Gong, and Yuchi Gong into the palace to see the emperor. The three nobles quickly disappeared into the back palace. After greeting the Emperor, Taizong firmly said, “Gentlemen, at nineteen we commanded our troops to defend our borders on all sides, fighting bitterly for many years, and never once saw any ghosts or demons, yet now I am seeing ghosts!”
Yuchi said, “Establishing the nation, your Majesty killed countless people, why do you fear ghosts?”
Taizong replied, “Lord Yuchi does not believe me. Every night there are sounds of smashing bricks and wailing outside the palace door. That is the problem. The daytime is as usual, but the nights are hard to bear.”
Lord Shubao replied, “May your Majesty be at easy. Tonight I and Jingde will guard your door and see what evil spirits might come.”
Taizong agreed, and the nobles left. That night, the two generals each donned his armor and, armed with battle-axes, stood guard outside the palace door. The sight of these good generals! Gold helmet shining upon their heads, covered in armor like a dragon’s scales. Jeweled mirrors to protect their hearts, lion knots buttoned tight, belts embroidered with the sunset. When the almond eyes of the one gazed skyward, the stars trembled; the round eyes of the other flashed as if with moonlight. They are the great heroes of old. For a thousand years they will guard our homes, memorialized forever as door gods.6
The two generals stood guard all night without a glimpse of a ghost. That night Taizong slept peacefully inside the palace. The next morning he rewarded the two generals handsomely and praised them saying, “Since we fell ill, we have been unable to sleep for many days. Last night we had peace thanks to the might of my good generals. Please go rest so that tonight you may once again stand guard.”
The two generals thanked the Emperor and left and stood guard for the next two or three nights. However, the Emperor’s appetite continued to diminish and his illness grew worse. Taizong did not want to overly burden his two generals, so he again summoned Shubao, Jingde, and Lords Du and Fang to the palace, and commanded them, “Although we have had peace the last two nights, it was only by troubling Generals Qin and Hu to stand guard all night. We wish to summon a skillful painter to paint the portraits of these good generals upon our door so as not to trouble them.”
The ministers found two artists according to this decree who painted the likenesses of Generals Qin and Hu clad in armor. These portraits were pasted onto the door, and nights continued to be quiet.
After two or three nights like this, however, there came the sound of rattling and knocking upon the tiles at the back door. The ministers were again summoned at daybreak.
“For the last few days, there has fortunately been no commotion at the front door. However, last night there were noises at the back door that again frightened me to death!”
Maogong came forward and said, “Shubao and Jingde are keeping peace at the front door. You should ask Wei Zheng to keep guard at the back door.”
Taizong agreed and commanded Wei Zheng to guard the back door that night. That night, Wei Zheng stood guard at the back palace door armed with the sword that had executed the dragon. What a heroic image he struck! Look how he’s dressed: a green silk headscarf upon his brow,7 a brocade gown and jade sash hanging from his waist, the sleeves of his overcoat billowing like snow, the very image of a door god.8 His feet clad in black shoes, his hands grasping a sharp blade. His eyes alert to all sides, what evil spirit dare approach?
No ghosts appeared all that night. Although there was no disturbance at either the front or back doors, the Emperor still felt his body gradually get weaker. One day, another decree came from the Empress Dowager summoning the ministers to discuss funeral arrangements. Taizong summoned Xu Maogong to command him regarding the future of the nation, committing the care of the crown prince to his digression.9 After speaking, he bathed and changed his clothes, and settled to wait for the appointed time.
Suddenly, Wei Zheng stepped forth and grabbed the Emperor’s robe, saying, “Your Majesty, rest at ease. Your servant has something to guarantee your Majesty’s long life.”
Taizong said, “My illness is serious and my life is nearing its end. How can you make any guarantee?”
Wei Zheng replied, “I have a letter here that I will give your Majesty. Deliver it to Cui Gui in the magistrate’s office in Fengdu City, in the Peaceful Realms.”
“Who is Cui Gui?” Taizong asked.
Zheng replied, “Cui Gui was a minister of the previous emperor. He was the governor of Zizhou and then was promoted to the Vice Minister of Rites. In the past, he and I were sworn friends and were very close. He died and is now magistrate over the book of life and death in the underworld. We meet often in dreams. If you deliver this letter to him, he will read your servant’s requests and will surely release your Majesty and instruct your soul on how to return to the world of the living, and you Majesty will once again grace this capital with your presence.”
Hearing this, Taizong took the letter, placed it inside his sleeve, closed his eyes, and died. The Empress and concubines of the three palaces and six courts, the crown prince, the servants and attendants, princes and heirs, and the civil and military advisors, all put on mourning. The imperial coffin lay in state in the White Tiger Hall, but we won’t discuss that.
Next time, on to Chapter 11!
1 Not exactly chess but a similar game. ↩
2 I left a bunch of stuff untranslated. ↩
3 What is the English onomatopoeia for a sword going through a neck? ↩
4 the Emperor’s mother ↩
5 In Chinese, the word 气 means both breath and the inner energy Qi, which most Western readers will have some familiarity with, so I have left it as qi, while Dr. Yu translates it as breath. ↩
6 Statues or images of door gods are placed outside on either side of the door and are believed to keep one’s home safe. Since the Tang Dynasty, Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong have become the most popular door gods. ↩
7 At this point in history, Chinese uses the same word for green and black, so unclear what color this headscarf was. ↩
8 The text compares him to the earliest known door gods, Shen Shu and Yu Lu ↩
9 Apparently, the text here references another of the four great Chinese novels, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which the Emperor tells his minister to take the throne himself if the heir is not up for it. I did not leave in the reference, since Western readers are not likely to be familiar, but translated it this way to show the Emperor’s trust in his minister. ↩
Etymology Adventures 