“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“Everyone be seated and be silent! The Emperor approaches!”
Regent Guo Si’s words solicited a lot of involuntary grumblings as the large collection of Han
officials - each one dressed identically in brown robes and black headdresses - knelt in their places
and faced the empty imperial throne. Li Jue and Guo Si were dressed in patterned robes and had more
elaborate headdresses than the other officials, while their shared adviser, the prematurely-aged Jia Xu,
opted to dress in the uniform brown. No man wore shoes on their socked feet, as was the protocol; none
but the grey-robed eunuch guards that lined the walls carried weapons, and that included the small
collection of Liang warlords that held all of the most powerful positions in the land. Li Ju and Guo
Si sat to the left of the imperial seat, although Li Jue seemed reluctant to move too far from it, as
though it called to him somehow.
“Here he comes,” Li Jue murmured as the first of Emperor Xian’s blue-robed eunuch
attendants shuffled into the hall through a side door; five years before, a similar band of eunuchs
- the famous ‘Ten’ - would have been met by discreetly-flicked sleeves and mumbles of
defiance at their near-absolute power, but their replacements were the timid, humble ‘creatures’
that they were supposed to be.
The Emperor’s entry to the hall caused
every loyal man to press his head to the floor in reverence: the near-universal kowtow was silent, so
the shuffling sounds made by Emperor Xian and his attendants could still be heard as they took their places.
The 16-year-old sovereign was dressed in red robes adorned with dragons and streaks of gold: he wore a black,
T-shaped mortarboard hat atop his head that had beads secured at the longest ends to partially obscure his
face. The Regents’ adviser, Jia Xu, had remained standing until the last possible moment: he fell to
his knees, kowtowed, and whispered, “Your Majesty.”
Emperor Xian stifled a sigh; he was now used to shows of empty reverence from Li Jue, Guo Si and the other
Liang warlords, and he did not consider Jia Xu - one of their and Dong Zhuo’s most trusted schemers -
to be any more sincere. Once the Emperor was seated and his fawning eunuchs were huddled together near the
side door, Li Jue nodded to Jia Xu purposefully.
“…We shall begin if it pleases Your Majesty,” Jia Xu said.
“It pleases us that we should begin,” Emperor Xian replied dryly.
“…There isn’t much to talk about today, is there,” Guo Si said. “In fact,
we should be done before-”
“We actually have quite a few things to discuss,” Li Jue said.
“Like what?” Guo Si asked. “You’ve been planning without me…?”
“Aiee… even now, they are like children,” the latest Director of the Imperial
Secretariat, Shisun Rui, muttered as the officials endured another bout of verbal combat between the two regents.
“Hush,” another man - Minister Yang Biao - pleaded quietly.
Shisun Rui closed his eyes and tried to control his anger.
“…And that was all that we discussed without you,” Li Jue said to an irritated Guo Si.
“You were busy organising the northern defences, so why bother you…?”
“…Alright,” Guo Si muttered. “I guess I should have realised that.”
“And speaking of those defences, Regent Li and Regent Guo, I take it that we can enjoy some respite
from the Qiang and the Xiongnu now…?” Minister Yang Biao asked.