On hearing this the dragon king trembled from fear and his hair stood on end. Dropping the door at once he straightened his clothes and made gestures of submission, kneeling to the soothsayer and saying, “Please do not be angry with me, sir; I was only joking. I never thought that it would be taken seriously. Whatever am I to do if I have broken the laws of Heaven? I beg you to save me, sir. If you don't I shall haunt you after my death.”
“I can't save you,” replied Yuan Shoucheng, “but I can suggest one way by which you may be able to save your skin.”
“I beg you to tell me,” implored the dragon king.
“Tomorrow afternoon at half past one you will have to go to the office of the official in charge of personnel, Wei Zheng, to be beheaded. If you want to stay alive you must report at once to the present Tang Emperor, Taizong, as Wei Zheng is a minister of his; and if you can get him to speak for you, you will be all right.” The dragon king took his leave of the soothsayer with tears in his eyes and went away. The sun was setting in the West, and the moon and stars were coming out.
As clouds settle round the mountains the crows fly back to roost,
The travelers on long journeys find inns for the night.
The returning geese sleep on a sandbank by the ford,
As the Milky Way appears.
While the hours push on
A lamp in the lonely village burns with barely a flame.
Pure is the monastery as the reed smoke curls in the breeze;
Men disappear in the butterfly dream.
As the moon sinks, flower shadows climb the rails,
The stars are a jumble of light.
The hours are called,
The night is already half way through.
The Dragon King of the River Jing did not return to his watery palace but stayed in the sky until the small hours of the morning, when he put away his cloud and his mist horn, and went straight to the gate of the Imperial Palace. At this very moment the Tang Emperor dreamt that he went out of the palace gate to stroll among the flowers in the moonlight. The dragon king at once took human form, went up to him and knelt and bowed before him, crying, “Save me, Your Majesty, save me.”
“Who are you, that we should save you?” asked Taizong.
“Your Majesty is a true dragon,” replied the dragon king, “and I am a wicked dragon. As I have offended against the laws of Heaven, I am due to be beheaded by Your Majesty's illustrious minister Wei Zheng, the official in charge of personnel, so I have come to beg you to save me.”
“If you are supposed to be beheaded by Wei Zheng, we can save you, so set your mind at rest and go along now,” said the Tang Emperor. The dragon king, who was extremely happy, kowtowed in thanks and went away.
Taizong remembered his dream when he woke up. It was now half past four in the morning, so Taizong held court before the assembled civil and military officials.
Mist wreathed the palace gates,
Incense rose to the dragon towers.
In the shimmering light the silken screen moves,
As the clouds shake the imperial glory spreads.
Monarch and subject as faithful as Yao and Shun,
Imposing music and ritual rivaling Zhou and Han.
Pages hold lanterns,
Palace women hold fans,
In brilliant pairs.
Pheasant screens,
Unicorn halls,
Shimmering everywhere.
As the call “Long Live the Emperor” goes up,
The Empress is wished a thousand autumns.
When the Rod of Silence descends three times,
The uniformed officials bow to the emperor.
The brightly coloured palace flowers have a heavenly scent;
The delicate willows on the bank sing royal songs.
Pearl curtains,
Jade curtains,
Are hung high from golden hooks;
Dragon and phoenix fans,
Landscape fans,
Rest by the royal chariot.
Elegant are the civil officials,
Vigorous the generals.
By the Imperial Way high and low are divided;
They stand by rank beneath the palace steps.
The ministers with their purple corded seals ride three elephants.
May the Emperor live as long as Heaven and Earth!
When the officials had all done homage they divided into their groups. The Tang Emperor looked at them one by one with his dragon and phoenix eyes. Among the civil officials he observed Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Xu Shiji, Xu Jingzong, Wang Gui and others; and among the military officers he saw Ma Sanbao, Duan Zhixian, Yin Kaishan, Cheng Yaojin, Liu Hongji, Hu Jingde, and Qin Shubao among others. Every one of them was standing there solemnly and with dignity, but he could not see Minister Wei Zheng among them.
He summoned Xu Shiji into the palace hall and said to him, “We had a strange dream last night in which a man came and bowed to us, claiming that he was the Dragon King of the River Jing. He had broken the laws of Heaven, and was due to be beheaded by the official in the personnel department, Wei Zheng. He begged us to save him, and we agreed. Why is it that the only official missing at court today is Wei Zheng?”
“If this dream is true,” replied Xu Shiji, “Wei Zheng must be summoned to the palace, and Your Majesty must not let him out of doors. Once today is over the Dragon King will be saved.” The Tang Emperor was overjoyed and he sent a personal aide with a decree summoning Wei Zheng to court.
That night the minister Wei Zheng had been reading the stars in his residence and was just burning some precious incense when he heard a crane calling in the sky. It was a messenger from Heaven with a decree from the Jade Emperor ordering him to behead the Dragon King of the River Jing in a dream at half past one the following afternoon. The minister thanked Heaven for its grace, fasted and bathed himself, tried out the sword of his wisdom, and exercised his soul. This was why he did not go to court. When the imperial aide came with a summons he was frightened and nonplussed; but he did not dare to delay in obeying an order from his monarch, so he hurriedly tidied his clothes, tightened his belt, and went to the palace with the summons in his hands. He kowtowed to the Emperor and admitted his fault.
“We forgive you,” said the Emperor. The officials had not yet withdrawn, so the Emperor now ordered the curtains to be lowered and dismissed them. The only one of them he kept behind was Wei Zheng, whom he ordered to mount the golden chariot and come to his private quarters with him, where they discussed the policies to bring peace and stability to the country.
At about noon he ordered the palace ladies to bring a large weiqi chess set and said, “We shall now have a game of chess.” The Imperial concubines brought in a chess board and set it on the Emperor's table. Thanking the Tang Emperor for his grace, Wei Zheng started to play with him. As each moved in turn they built up their lines of battle. It was just as the Chess Classic says:
The Way of chess:
The best place is the middle of the board,
The worst is the side,
And the comers are neither good nor bad.
This is the eternal law of chess.
The law says:
“It is better to lose a piece
Than to lose the initiative.
When you are struck on the left, look to the right,
When attacked in the rear, keep an eye on your front.
Sometimes the leader is really behind,