裡迎外合 Inside Meets Outside
行者回轉高崖道：「兄弟們，辛苦啊。」沙僧道：「哥啊，這妖精他在岸上覺得不濟，在水底也盡利害哩，我與二哥左右齊攻，只戰得個兩平。卻怎麼處置，救師父也？」行者道：「不必疑遲，恐被他傷了師父。」八戒道：「哥哥，我這一去哄他出來，你莫做聲，但只在半空中等候。估著他鑽出頭來，卻使個搗蒜打，照他頂門上著著實實一下。縱然打不死他，好道也護疼發暈，卻等老豬趕上一鈀，管教他了帳。」行者道：「正是，正是，這叫做『裡迎外合』，方可濟事。」他兩個復入水中不題。行者回转高崖道：「兄弟们，辛苦啊。」沙僧道：「哥啊，这妖精他在岸上觉得不济，在水底也尽利害哩，我与二哥左右齐攻，只战得个两平。却怎么处置，救师父也？」行者道：「不必疑迟，恐被他伤了师父。」八戒道：「哥哥，我这一去哄他出来，你莫做声，但只在半空中等候。估着他钻出头来，却使个捣蒜打，照他顶门上着着实实一下。纵然打不死他，好道也护疼发晕，却等老猪赶上一钯，管教他了帐。」行者道：「正是，正是，这叫做『里迎外合』，方可济事。」他两个复入水中不题。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim came back to the high cliff and said: "Brothers, you've had hard work of it."
辛苦 used as a greeting to those coming back from labour, roughly "you must be worn out." It is the first courtesy anyone has offered anyone in the chapter.
Sha Monk said: "Brother, this fiend feels himself no match on the bank, but in the water he is formidable enough. Second brother and I attacked together from either side, and could fight him only to a draw.
Two readings of 得 here, fixed positionally: 覺得 dé, with the 曉得/認得 family, and 戰得個兩平 de, the complement particle. 不濟, not up to it. 盡利害: 盡 in its 儘 sense, "quite, thoroughly," read jǐn against the corpus default jìn.
How are we to manage it, and get our master out?"
處置: 處 chǔ, the verb "to arrange, to dispose of" — not the nominal chù of 住處 earlier in the chapter.
Pilgrim said: "No use hanging back in doubt — I'm afraid he may do our master harm."
疑遲 = 遲疑, to hesitate; the inverted form is common in the novel. The fear is well founded: the shrimp hag's timetable gave the pilgrims until tomorrow.
Eight Rules said: "Brother, this time I'll go and coax him out. Don't make a sound — just wait in mid-air.
半空中 中 zhōng. The plan that follows is Bajie's own, which is rare enough in the novel to be worth marking.
Reckon the moment he bores his head out, then fetch him a garlic-pounding stroke, straight down on the crown of his skull, and lay it on with all the force you have.
Three occurrences of 著 in one segment, fixed positionally: 估著 durative zhe, then 著著實實 — a reduplication of 著實 — zhuó twice. 搗蒜打, a straight downward blow like pounding garlic in a mortar; 頂門, the crown of the head.
Even if that doesn't kill him, he'll surely be nursing the hurt and reeling with it, and then let old Hog come up with a stroke of the rake and settle his account for good."
好道, vernacular "surely, no doubt." 了帳: 了 read liǎo, "to settle, to have done with" — not the aspect particle le, which is pypinyin's default. 管教 教 jiào.
Pilgrim said: "Just so, just so. This is what's called meeting from within and joining from without — that way the thing can be done."
The 世德堂本 reads 裡迎外合 where the received form of the idiom is 裡應外合, "respond within, join without." The 世德堂本 reading is encoded as it stands and the variant noted here. 濟事, to serve the purpose.
The two of them went down into the water again — of which no more for the present.
不題, the narrator's suspension formula, closing this block as it closed the earlier one and handing the thread back to the riverbed.
The council after the failure is the first passage in the chapter where the pilgrims state their own limits without joking. Sha Monk's report is a precise tactical assessment — the demon knows he is weaker on land and stronger in the water, and two of them attacking from both sides can hold him only level — and it is delivered without complaint or comedy. The question he ends on, 卻怎麼處置, is the real question of the chapter, and nobody in the party can answer it.
The plan that follows is Bajie's, and it is a good one: bait the demon up, strike overhead from ambush with the whole weight of the blow, and finish with the rake. Wukong endorses it with an idiom — 裡迎外合 in the 世德堂本, where the received form is 裡應外合 — and the two go back down. The chapter has now tried three things: reconnaissance, open battle, and an ambush at the waterline. It will try this fourth, and it will fail as well; the solution, when it comes, will not be one the pilgrims can supply.