Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement to Journey to the West (Michigan Classics in Chinese Studies) (10 page)

How Ch'in Kuei, Even with a Hundred Bodies, Could Not Redeem Himself; The Great Sage Wholeheartedly Takes Refuge in Yüeh Fei
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The bailiff in charge of the register again presented his book of merits and demerits. Monkey looked through it and said, “Bailiff, why doesn't the name Ch'in Kuei appear in the record?”

The bailiff answered, “Your Honor, Ch'in Kuei's guilt is great, his evil monstrous. I didn't dare to mix him in with the other ghosts, so I prepared a special record on him and inserted it at the back.”

Monkey flipped back the pages and took out the record of Ch'in Kuei's evils. At the beginning it read:

The ruler of Chin, Wu-ch'i-mai, gave Ch'in Kuei to his brother Ta-lan as a hostage. When Ta-lan attacked Shan-yang, Ch'in Kuei advocated negotiations. Ta-lan thereupon released Ch'in to return home. He was accompanied by his wife nee Wang.

Monkey said, “Ch'in Kuei, after you became a minister to your emperor, you didn't seek to elevate yourself or spread your fame. Why did you enter into collusion with Chin?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “This is nothing but the slander of the Chin people. It doesn't have a thing to do with me.” Monkey asked a silver-faced, jade-toothed bailiff to bring a treachery-reflecting water mirror. In the mirror Ch'in Kuei was plainly seen prostrate before the Chin king saying, “Ten thousand years.” The Chin king whispered in Kuei's ear, and Kuei nodded his head. Ch'in Kuei whispered into the king's ear, and the king smiled. When Ch'in Kuei was about to leave, the Chin king again whispered in his ear, and Ch'in Kuei responded, “It goes without saying! Indeed.”

Monkey was enraged. He said, “Ch'in Kuei, do you see the Ch'in Kuei in the mirror?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “But Your Honor, the Ch'in Kuei in the mirror doesn't know the suffering of the one outside the mirror.”

Monkey said, “Soon he will know suffering.” He ordered iron-faced devils to inflict the “body covered with brambles” punishment. One hundred and fifty devils assented immediately and produced six million embroidery needles, pushing them everywhere into Ch'in Kuei's body. Monkey continued reading:

In the first year of the Shao-hsing reign (1131), he was appointed vice-civil councilor of state. Kuei concealed his malicious intent, waiting only to attain the prime minister's office.

Monkey threw back his head and roared with laughter. He said, “What were you waiting to do with the prime minister's office?”

Chief Bailiff Kao said, “Today there are two kinds of people who wait for the prime ministership. One kind, the malodorous, who only know how to eat and wear clothes and play with their wives and children, wait until they get the prime ministership and use it to make themselves elegant, to impress people in their home town, and to enslave and cheat others. The second is the kind who sells his country and topples the court, secretly wearing the emperor's mortarboard crown and handing down proclamations under the royal seal. He waits until he gets the prime ministership and uses it to monopolize political power, to control the emperor, and to reward or punish as he wills. Ch'in Kuei was the latter sort.”

Monkey ordered small devils to slap Ch'in Kuei's face. A group of red-hearted, red-haired devils all grabbed hold of Ch'in and beat him from nine in the morning till one in the afternoon. Even then they did not want to stop. Monkey shouted, “You red-hearted devils, that's enough! There'll be time for more beating later.” He read on:

In the eighth month he was appointed vice director of state affairs. In the ninth month Lü I-hao again became prime minister; he and Ch'in Kuei shared power. Kuei berated Lü’s faction. Promoting internal strength and nonresistance in external affairs, he banished I-hao to Chen-chiang. The emperor told Academician Ch'i Ch'ung-li, “Kuei wants to hand the people of Hopei over to Chin, and the people of the Central Plain to Liu Yü. If Southerners thus return to the South and Northerners to the North and I am a Northerner—where shall I go?

Monkey said, “The Sung emperor was right. In times like this, when common folk in the mountains and valleys receive their draft notices one day and see the imperial announcement the next, which of them doesn't have a loyal heart? And you—to whom did you owe your noble rank among the Three Dukes, your ten-thousand-picul emolument, your official seal with its bright ribbons and your six-willow gate?
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To whom do you owe your huge courtyard and fancy embroidery? You never thought about your emperor or repaying your country's kindness, but all the time nurtured treachery and poison. You put the emperor, high as the ninth heaven, in a position where he couldn't protect one foot of the crossbeam in his house. Do you call this loyalty? Or treachery!”

Ch'in Kuei answered, “Although I am stupid, I tried to protect the emperor and pacify the realm. ‘Southerners return south, and Northerners return north’ was nothing but a current joke at the time! Your Honor, you shouldn't take it into account.”

Monkey said, “This is no joke!” He ordered the “little dagger-mountain” brought in. Two fierce weedy-haired devils brought out a hill-shaped device bristling with knife blades. They threw Ch'in onto it, and his body dripped with blood.

Monkey said, “This is just for fun, Prime Minister Ch'in. You shouldn't take it into account.” And he laughed loudly. He again read:

During the eighth year (1138) he was appointed vice director of state affairs. An envoy of Chin came to negotiate peace with Wang Lun. Kuei went with the prime minister to see the emperor. Kuei alone lingered and said, “Bureaucrats are afraid of this and that. They are of no help in deciding an important matter. If Your Majesty decides to negotiate peace, I beg you to consult with me.” The emperor said, “I'll give authority to you alone.” Kuei said, “I hope Your Majesty will consider it for three more days.”

Monkey said, “Let me ask you—if you wanted to be successful in the negotiations, a matter as urgent as wind and fire, why did you want to wait three days? If there had been an official who was willing to spit blood and swear an oath to form a party of loyalists willing to sacrifice their lives, your plans would have been destroyed.”

Ch'in Kuei said, “Your Honor, at that time there was only Emperor Ch'in Kuei. How could there have been an Emperor Chao?
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This
ghostly prisoner of yours had a list of court officials that I always kept in my sleeve. If any pro-Chao official should be disrespectful and oppose me, his head would immediately disappear. Tell me, Your Honor, from the time P'an-ku created the world until it returns to Hun-tun, how many such loyalists, willing to sacrifice their lives, might there be? Even if there had been a loyalist at court then, was he going to form a party all by himself? Since no party was formed, I enjoyed peace and luxury.”

Monkey said, “Since it was like that, how did the Sung emperor's palace look to you?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “In the eyes of your ghostly prisoner, that day the hundred officials in the palace were all ants.”

Monkey ordered, “White-faced devils! Pound Ch'in Kuei into fine powder and change him into a million ants to avenge the grievance of those court officials.”

A hundred white-faced devils looked sharp on receiving their command. In a flash they had brought out a pestle fifty feet long and one hundred feet wide and proceeded to crush Ch'in Kuei into a peach-blossom-pink paste. As it spread on the ground, the paste transformed into tiny ants, scurrying hither and thither. Monkey ordered King Puffer's bailiff to come and blow Ch'in Kuei back together again. He asked Ch'in Kuei, “Well, are those hundred officials ants? Or is the prime minister an ant?”

The skin on Ch'in Kuei's face was like dirt. He only sighed. Monkey said, “Now you tell me, Ch'in Kuei, how did the emperor look to you that day?”

Ch'in replied, “When your ghostly prisoner stood in the ranks at court, I looked at the silk five-clawed dragon robe as if it were some old rag in my trunk. I looked at the mortarboard crown as if it were my frayed square cap. I saw the sun-moon fan as if it were my banana leaf, the gold imperial palace as if it were my study. I looked at the gate to the Forbidden City as if it were my bedroom door. As for His Majesty, I saw only a grass-green dragonfly dancing in a circle.”

Monkey said, “Enough! I'll trouble you to become an emperor.” He ordered the Barons of Light and Dark from the Board of Baleful Heaven to wash Ch'in Kuei in the Sea of Boiling Oil. They tore open his ribs and made them into four wings, changing him into a dragonfly.

Monkey again ordered him blown back to his original form and asked, “Ch'in Kuei, may I further ask how you passed those three days of leisure?”

Ch'in Kuei replied, “How could Ch'in Kuei have any spare time?”

Monkey said, “You are a traitor and a thief. You didn't have to kill barbarians in the West or beat back the Northern Tribes. You didn't have to establish constant principles or rectify names—why didn't you have any spare time?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “Your Honor, during those three days I was busy watching the officials. When I saw one with a heart that had the name ‘Ch'in' written on it, I put a vermilion dot above his name. Large dots meant a heart on which ‘Ch'in' was large; small dots, a heart on which ‘Ch'in’ was small. Later on I would appoint the large ‘Ch'in’ hearts to high posts, while the small ‘Ch'in’ hearts would suffer a slight reversal. Some could have been either pro-Ch'in or pro-Chao. I left their names unmarked since I planned to banish them later.

“If I found anyone who tended to be pro-Chao, I drew a circle by his name in thick ink. A large circle meant his guilt was great; a small circle meant little guilt. Whether an entire household was wiped out or guilt was shared only by wives and children, whether only one's parents' and wives' families were exterminated or everyone within the nine degrees of relationship were cut down, all depended upon my whim.”

Monkey was furious. He shouted, “Brother Chang! Brother Teng! Why didn't you strike him down before? You let him remain in the world to carry on like that? All right—though Lord Teng didn't use his thunderbolts, there's still the thunder of Lord Sun.”
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He ordered ten thousand devils who were imitation thunder gods, each carrying an iron whip, to beat Ch'in Kuei till no trace of him remained. Then he again had the bailiff blow him back to his true form and once more read from the record:

Three days passed. Ch'in Kuei lingered and reported to the emperor as before. Though the emperor was beginning to agree, Kuei was afraid he would change his mind, so he said, “I wish Your Majesty would think it over three more days.” After three days the emperor decided in favor of the peace negotiations.

Monkey said, “And how did you pass those three days of leisure?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “I had no leisure those three days either. When I went to court and saw that the Sung emperor had decided in favor of
peace negotiations, it was an accomplishment sweet as honey. When I left the court gates, I went directly to have a feast arranged at Copper Bird Tower to celebrate having conquered Sung, bolstered Chin, and secured my own career. I was drunk the whole day, and the next day I held a great feast for the officials with ‘Ch'in hearts.’ The music of Chin was performed, along with the ‘flying-flower saber dance.’ We didn't use any Sung things or say so much as half a word about it. I got good and drunk that day, too. The third day I sat alone in my Sweep-away Loyalty Study and laughed heartily all day. By night I was drunk.”

Monkey said, “You really had a fancy for wine those three days, didn't you? Well, today I have several cups of good wine to offer you, Mr. Prime Minister.” He ordered two hundred drill devils to carry out a vat of human pus and pour it into Ch'in Kuei's mouth.

Monkey threw back his head and roared with laughter. He said, “The first emperor of Sung, T'ai-tsu, suffered to win the empire. Ch'in Kuei gladly gave it away.”

Ch'in Kuei said, “I'm not glad about this human pus wine today. Ah, Your Honor, there will be many Ch'in Kueis in the future—even today their number is not small. Why is it only I who must suffer?”

Monkey said, “Who asked you to be the teacher of today's Ch'in Kueis and the model for future ones?” He ordered the crack gold-clawed devils to bring a saw, tie Ch'in Kuei down, and saw him into ten thousand pieces. From the side, King Puffer's bailiff quickly blew him back together. Monkey again read the ledger:

After peace negotiations were decided upon, Ch'in Kuei had the Chin people in his power and made himself formidable.

Monkey said, “When you had the Chin people in your power, how many hundred catties did they weigh?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “When I had them in my power they were as heavy as an iron Mount T'ai.”

Monkey said, “Do you know how many catties Mount T'ai weighs?”

Ch'in Kuei said, “Probably ten million catties.”

Monkey said, “Your guess is off—you can weigh it yourself.”

He ordered five thousand copper-boned devils to bring out an iron Mount T'ai and press it on Ch'in Kuei's back. Two hours later, they pushed it aside for a look. They saw a flat Ch'in Kuei, changed into flakes of mud. Monkey ordered him blown back together so he could continue the interrogation. He read: