DONGJING MENG HUA LU / 卷十
郊畢駕回
From silence to uproar.
After the sacrifice the emperor changes robes, mounts a wheelless palanquin inside a ring of two hundred candles, and the music held back at the altar breaks out in every unit as the procession re-enters the city before dawn.
READ THE RETURN ↓1. Candles, a palanquin and the first music.
駕自小次，祭服還大次，惟近侍椽燭二百餘條，列成圍子。至大次，更服袞冕，登大安輦（輦如玉輅而大，無輪，四垂大帶），輦官服色亦如挾路者。纔升輦，教坊在外壝東門排列，鈞容直先奏樂，一甲士舞一曲破訖，教坊進口號，樂作，諸軍隊伍鼓吹皆動，聲震天地。
From the Small Tent the emperor, still in sacrificial dress, returned to the Great Tent, with only the attendants’ rafter-thick candles, more than two hundred of them, drawn up in a surrounding screen. At the Great Tent he changed into the ceremonial crown and dragon robe and mounted the Great Peace palanquin (the palanquin is like the jade carriage but larger, without wheels, with broad sashes hanging down on four sides). The palanquin bearers’ dress and colors were also like those of the carriage-flankers. As soon as he had mounted the palanquin, the Jiaofang troupe was drawn up in ranks at the east gate of the outer wall. The Junrongzhi corps played first; one armored soldier danced one quopo piece to its end; the Jiaofang presented its verse, and the music began; the bands of all the military units moved together, and the sound shook heaven and earth.
The return starts with a change of light and of cloth. The sacrificial robe goes back to the Great Tent, a ring of more than two hundred candles stands around the emperor, and at the tent he puts on crown and dragon robe again. The palanquin is described by what it is not: like the jade carriage but larger, with no wheels. After that Meng orders the sound. The Jiaofang troupe waits at the outer east gate; the Junrongzhi plays first; a single armored soldier dances one piece; the Jiaofang presents a verse; then every military unit’s band opens at once. In the previous entry the climax was a hush; here the same space is filled in a fixed order, small ensemble first and total noise last. The text gives no word on the emperor once he mounts the palanquin.
2. Before dawn, back through the gate.
回青城，天色未曉，百官常服入賀。賜茶酒畢，而法駕儀仗、鐵騎鼓吹入南薰門。御路數十里之間，起居幕次、貴家看棚，華綵鱗砌，略無空閑去處。
On returning to the Azure City, the sky was not yet light, and the hundred officials came in ordinary dress to offer congratulations. When tea and wine had been bestowed, the full carriage procession with its ceremonial guards, the armored cavalry and the drum-and-wind bands entered the Nanxun Gate. Along the Imperial Way for tens of li, the attendance tents and the viewing stands of the great families were stacked in brilliant colors like fish scales, with almost no empty spot.
The unit has three scenes in four lines. At the Azure City the officials congratulate in ordinary dress (the text notes the change from ceremonial wear), tea and wine are bestowed, and the great procession goes through the Nanxun Gate, the gate named for the outbound procession in an earlier section. Meng then turns outward to the street. The route is lined with tents for paying respects and with viewing stands of the great families, “like fish scales,” and the figure of tens of li for the Imperial Way is best read as a measure of how crowded the route was, not of its length. Dawn has not yet come. The rite that began at the third watch is not over; the next entry moves to the tower.
Three terms to keep open.
Siku reads 教坊在外壝東門排列; the modern edition consulted reads 外東西排列. The page follows Siku. The place names an exact gate; the other reading only says “east and west.”
The Siku scan and the modern edition both print 路 here, though the earlier 挾輅衛士 (the carriage flankers of the previous sections) suggests 輅 was meant. The page keeps 路 and translates as “carriage-flankers.”
曲破 and 口號 are performance terms: a single dance movement, and a short verse presented by the Jiaofang. The page does not reconstruct either from this one sentence.
The wheelless carried vehicle the emperor boards after changing robes; Meng compares it with the larger jade carriage.
Candles as thick as rafters; more than two hundred of them are drawn up in a ring around the emperor.
A military music unit; it plays first, before the Jiaofang troupe presents its verse.
The court’s music and performance office; here ranked at the outer east gate and speaking the verse.
A single dance piece and the verse presented before the music; both are kept as Meng writes them.
Tents set up along the route, by the text’s phrase, for attending the emperor; they stand beside the great families’ viewing stands.
Entry 82 sets the return against the sacrifice: candles instead of hush, a palanquin without wheels, and every band at once. The emperor reaches the Azure City before dawn, the officials congratulate him in ordinary dress, and the route into the city is packed with tents and viewing stands. The next entry takes him to the Xuande Tower, where the day’s pardon is delivered.
諸軍隊伍鼓吹皆動，聲震天地。The order of sound 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. The heading is written 郊畢駕回; the Siku scan prints 囬.