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05 The Dragon King Is Beheaded

The decree ordered the Dragon King of the Jing River to send rain upon Chang'an the next day — and the hour and measure of the rain tallied exactly with what the fortune-teller had said. The Dragon King's soul nearly fled his body. "There is a man so marvellous he can reach heaven and pierce earth," he cried. "How can I fail to lose to him?" His sturgeon adviser said, "Winning is easy. Tomorrow my lord need only send the rain at a different hour and in a slightly smaller measure; then the fortune-teller's reading will have failed, and we can drive him out of Chang'an." The Dragon King agreed. The next day the Dragon King mustered the Earl of Wind, the Cloud Boy, the Thunder Duke and the Lightning Mother and rose to the highest clouds above Chang'an. He delayed giving the order to spread the clouds until the hour of Si — a full two hours late — and then held back three inches and eight drops of rain. Not until the hour of Shen did he order his officers to gather the rain and return. The rain done, the Dragon King turned himself back into the scholar, burst into the fortune-teller's shop and, without a word of explanation, smashed the signboard and the table to pieces. "Your rain-reading yesterday was wrong in hour and in measure!" he raged at Yuan Shoucheng. "You are a fraud who deludes the people. Get out of Chang'an while you can!" Yuan Shoucheng sat unmoved in his chair and, looking up, said with a cold smile, "I know you for the Dragon King of the Jing River. Do you know that by disobeying the imperial decree, changing the hour of the rain and shorting the measure, you have broken the laws of Heaven? On the Dragon-Flaying Terrace you will not escape the knife. Your death is certain — and yet you have leisure to stand here cursing me!" The Dragon King's face turned the colour of earth. He threw himself down and begged, "In my ignorance I have offended you. I never thought a wager would break the laws of Heaven. You are a man of high power — save me!" Yuan Shoucheng sighed. "Tomorrow you are to be beheaded by Wei Zheng, the Minister of Personnel. If you would live, you must ask the Emperor to plead for you with him." The Dragon King thanked him again and again and took his leave in tears. He had no heart to return to the water palace; his only thought was to reach the Tang Emperor, and so he rode his cloud straight for the imperial palace. By the time he came over the palace the red sun had sunk in the west, a cold moon hung in the sky and the stars were thinning. The Dragon King brought his cloud down and went straight to the palace gate. It was midnight, and the Tang Emperor slept soundly. Drowsily he dreamed that he had wandered, without knowing how, out of the palace. Outside, the flower-shadows were still and the moonlight hazy — how peaceful it was! Suddenly a man knelt before him crying, "Save me, Your Majesty!" "Who kneels there, and why should I save you?" the Emperor asked. The Dragon King told how he had broken the laws of Heaven and was to be beheaded by Wei Zheng the next day. The Emperor said, "If it is my minister who is to execute you, then I can save you." The Dragon King kowtowed his thanks and departed. At court the next morning the Emperor found all his civil and military officers assembled save the minister Wei Zheng. He summoned the minister Xu Shiji to discuss his dream. Xu said, "This dream must not be taken lightly. Your Majesty should at once send for the minister and forbid him to set foot outside the palace. Let the day pass, and the dragon of your dream will be saved." The night before, Wei Zheng had been studying the heavens from his minister's residence. Amid wreaths of rare incense he heard the wind rise and a crane cry in the ninth heaven — an omen of ill fortune. Looking up, he saw a heavenly envoy bearing the Jade Emperor's golden decree gliding toward him, commanding him to enter a dream at the third quarter of the hour of noon and behead the Dragon King of the Jing River. Wei Zheng gave thanks for the heavenly grace, fasted and bathed, and sent out his spirit — which was why he had not come to court. Then the summons came from the officer in attendance. Wei Zheng dared not delay; he changed into his court robes at once and went to the palace to beg forgiveness. Once Wei Zheng appeared in hall, the Emperor ordered the blinds rolled up and the court dismissed, but kept Wei Zheng with him in a side chamber to discourse on the ordering of the state.

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