DONGJING MENG HUA LU / 卷十
駕行儀衛
The march beyond naming.
From the third watch to dawn, iron cavalry, seven caparisoned elephants, banners five zhang tall and ranks of guardsmen in a dozen kinds of dress pour out of the Xuande Gate by way of the Jingling Palace and the Ancestral Temple.
READ THE MARCH ↓1. The call, the iron cavalry and the elephants.
次日五更，攝大宗伯執牌，奏中嚴、外辦。鐵騎前導番袞，自三更時，相續而行。象七頭，各以文錦被其身，金蓮花座安其背，金轡籠絡其腦，錦衣人跨其頸。
At the fifth watch of the next day the Acting Grand Master of Ceremonies, holding a placard, announces: the inner guard is on alert, the outer arrangements are complete. Iron cavalry lead the way, wheeling in relays, and have been passing in succession since the third watch. There are seven elephants, each with patterned brocade laid over its body, a gold lotus-flower seat set on its back, its head bound in gold bridle gear, and a man in brocade clothes astride its neck.
The first sentence has two clocks that do not agree. The formal call comes at the fifth watch, but the iron cavalry have been passing since the third. Meng does not reconcile them. One reading is that a column this large cannot start at a single moment: the vanguard moves first and the announcement marks the ceremony proper. The seven elephants have the same number as in the rehearsal of entry 76, and here they are dressed, in brocade, a gold lotus seat and gold bridle gear. The rider is still on the neck; the pick of the rehearsal is not mentioned.
2. The list that will not close.
次第高旗大扇，畫戟長矛。五色介冑跨馬之士，或小帽錦繡抹額者，或黑漆圓頂幞頭者，或以皮如兜鍪者，或漆皮如戽斗而籠巾者，或衣紅、黃罨畫錦繡之服者，或衣純青、純皂以至鞋袴皆青、黑者，或裹交腳幞頭者，或以錦為繩如蛇而繞繫其身者，或數十人唱引持大旗而過者，或執大斧者、胯劍者、執銳牌者、持鐙棒者，或持竿上懸豹尾者，或持短杵者。其矛、戟皆綴五色結，帶銅鐸；其旗、扇皆畫以龍，或虎，或雲彩，或山河。又有旗高五丈，謂之「次黃龍」。駕詣太廟、青城，並先到立齋宮前，叉竿舍索旗坐約百餘人。
In order come tall banners and great fans, painted halberds and long spears. Then the mounted men in armor of the five colors: some in small caps with embroidered brocade headbands; some in black-lacquered round-topped futou; some in leather made into a helmet shape; some in lacquered leather like a bucket, under a cage-cap; some in robes of red or yellow painted brocade embroidery; some wholly in pure blue or pure black, down to the shoes and trousers; some in cross-legged futou; some with brocade cords coiled round their bodies like snakes; some, tens of them chanting and leading, carrying a great flag past; some with great axes, some with swords at the hip, some with sharp shields, some with stirrup staves; some with poles hung with leopard tails; some with short pestles. Their spears and halberds are all tied with five-color knots and hung with bronze bells; their banners and fans are all painted with dragons, or tigers, or clouds, or mountains and rivers. There is also a flag five zhang tall, called the “Secondary Yellow Dragon.” When the emperor goes to the Ancestral Temple and the Qingcheng, they both arrive ahead and stand in front of the Fasting Palace, with fork-poles and ropes set down and flags raised, some hundred or so men seated.
This is the longest sentence in the entry, and it is built from one word, 或 (“some”). Twelve successive clauses name the mounted men by cap, helmet, robe color or weapon, and the list stops without a count. Headgear is Meng’s main way of telling units apart, and he treats color as a unit marker, down to shoes and trousers all blue or all black. The weapons share one decorative grammar: five-color knots, bronze bells, dragons, tigers, clouds or mountains and rivers. The five-zhang flag called “Secondary Yellow Dragon” is the one object in the passage that is both named and measured. Its sentence goes on to the two stopping places, so that it, or its party, appears to stand ready before the Fasting Palace ahead of the emperor, with a hundred or so men seated around it; the clause is obscure and the page rests nothing on it.
3. Service dress, guard units and the gate.
或有交腳幞頭、胯劍、足靴如四直使者，千百數，不可名狀。餘諸司祗應人，皆錦襖。諸班直、親從、親事官，皆帽子、結帶、紅錦或紅羅上紫團答戲獅子短後打甲背子。執御從物御龍直，皆真珠結絡短頂頭巾、紫上雜色小花繡衫、金束帶、看帶、絲鞋；天武官，皆頂朱漆金裝笠子、紅上團花背子；三衙并帶御器械官，皆小帽、背子或紫繡戰袍，跨馬前導。千乘萬騎，出宣德門，由景靈宮、太廟。
There are also those in cross-legged futou, swords at the hip and boots, like the “four-duty envoys,” in the hundreds and thousands, beyond naming. The remaining service personnel of the various offices all wear brocade jackets. The Duty Guards, the Personal Followers and the Personal Attendant officials all wear caps, tied sashes, and short-backed armored vests of red brocade or red silk with purple roundels of playing lions. The Imperial Dragon Guard, who carry the emperor’s accompanying things, all wear short-crowned head cloths strung with pearls, purple gowns embroidered with small flowers of mixed colors, gold belts, display belts and silk shoes. The Tianwu officers all wear vermilion-lacquered, gold-fitted hats and red vests with round flower patterns. The Three Commands and the officers who carry the imperial weapons all wear small caps and vests or purple embroidered war gowns, and lead on horseback. A thousand carriages and ten thousand horsemen leave by the Xuande Gate, by way of the Jingling Palace and the Ancestral Temple.
The entry switches from fighting dress to service dress, and from mounted soldiers to palace guard units, each given its uniform. Meng’s method is the same as in the New Year entries: a unit is a costume. The Imperial Dragon Guard wear pearl-strung head cloths and gold belts, the Tianwu officers vermilion hats, the commands purple embroidered war gowns. He closes on movement rather than dress: “a thousand carriages and ten thousand horsemen” leave by the Xuande Gate, by way of the Jingling Palace and the Ancestral Temple. That route is the only geography the entry gives, and the next entry takes the emperor to the temple.
Three readings left open.
The Siku scan reads 犀斗, which gives no clear picture. The modern edition reads 戽斗, a bucket-shaped scoop, a plausible shape for a lacquered-leather helmet. The page adopts 戽斗 and flags the choice.
No punctuation in the scan helps with this clause, and its subject is unclear. The page reads it as a party putting down fork-poles and ropes, raising flags, and sitting before the Fasting Palace, and rests nothing on it. The scan writes 义竿; 叉竿 is the standard form.
四直使者 and 看帶 are not explained in the entry. The page translates the first as a title and the second literally, rather than guess an identification.
The standard paired announcement that opens a ceremonial departure: the inner guard on alert, the outer arrangements complete.
The scan’s 畨衮; the sense is troops passing in successive waves, though the entry does not gloss it.
A flag five zhang tall, named and measured in the entry.
Palace guard units named with the Personal Followers and Personal Attendant officials as one dress group.
The guard unit that carries the emperor’s accompanying things; pearl-strung head cloths and gold belts.
The three central military headquarters of the Song, whose officers lead on horseback here.
Entry 78 measures the procession in costumes and runs out: twelve clauses of “some,” then the confession that the rest cannot be named. What survives is a sense of kind, not a total. The procession leaves the palace by the Xuande Gate; the next entry stays with the emperor, in the Jade Carriage and at the Ancestral Temple.
千乘萬騎，出宣德門，由景靈宮、太廟。The list is Meng’s. The punctuation is editorial.
The primary text is read from the Siku-family witness (Kanripo KR2k0111, 卷十); punctuation and the standardization of Siku variant glyphs are editorial. Three readings (犀/戽, the 叉竿 clause and 四直使者) are discussed above.