49
Commander [Ta T'ing Yeh]) wearing court dress in the style of a high official with a scholar's wing cap and carrying a penbrush and scroll, some twenty-seven uniformed 'braves' (so-called from the character on their chest) and a further sixteen minions bearing flags, umbrellas and the usual paraphernalia of a mandarin's court, together with a horse and its groom. Some of the foot soldiers are portrayed as humans whilst others are demons with fierce striped faces, fangs and also bumps like incipient horns on the forehead of the domed bald heads. The Wang Yeh boat nearby in another room of the same temple, a very large model junk, is tied up alongside a 'quay' on which stands a group consisting of the Fleet Comptroller whose image is almost identical with that of the general but is only attended by three to four aides carrying umbrellas and a flag. The sailors and marines aboard the junk are represented by different, vividly portrayed personnel, some with weapons both ancient and modern, others simply being members of the crew. The captain is seated on his bridge dressed in Ch'ing robes, the whole consisting of some thirty miniature images.
It is of interest to note that Wang Yeh armies are frequently colocated with the Five Generals (Wu Ying, lit. Five Camps). These consist of carved heads of five specific deities unconnected with the Wang Yeh, but whose role is to protect the village or locale from predatory demons. Occasionally referred to as The Generals of the Five Directions, (one of which is 'centre') they are portrayed by five heads mounted on metal skewers standing in racks on secondary altars in temples, and are used by spirit mediums to pierce their cheeks during seances.
Although Pestilence Wang Yeh images are not readily recognisable as such, identification is helped by their colocation with large model junks (beware though; Ma Tsu, the patron deity of sailors also has model junks in her temples, though without a crew and certainly without cannon) and with the groups of miniature soldiers representing the pestilence deities' armies. Any temple named Tai T'ien Kung (奉天宮), Shun T'ien Kung (順天宮) or Tai Shun Kung (大順宮) will always be the residence of Pestilence Wang Yeh. Processions during Pestilence Wang Yeh celebrations are known in Taiwan as 'Inspection Tours deputising for Heaven (代天巡狩).
Before we go further let us examine the legends relating to the Pestilence Wang Yeh. There is general agreement, though by no means undisputed, that the Pestilence Wang Yeh consist of 36 or 360 spirits