“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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The Han Dynasty had existed for over two centuries, and it had only known one crisis that had unseated the ruling Liu clan, namely Wang Mang’s usurpation. Wang Mang introduced the idea of the ‘Mandate of Heaven’, which stated that a clan could lose - or gain - the right to rule the empire, and that bloodlines were not as important as fitness to govern. Wang Mang fell afoul of his own changes, however, and the Han Empire was restored after a rebellion led by a surviving member of the Liu clan. The restoration was not without lasting consequences, and the most obvious was the chosen centre of power. The original imperial capital, Chang’an, was located in the northwest of China, and was geographically close to Hanzhong Province, which was the administrative seat and dynastic namesake of the Han founder Liu Bang, but it was also close to areas that were frequently targeted for raids by the Xiongnu peoples that lived beyond the Great Wall to the north, and the area also endured regular uprisings by the indigenous non-Han tribes that lived there. An administration - regardless of its title or reach - is always perceived as weak, or at the very least weaker or surmountable, once it has been toppled once, and the Han Emperor was no exception. The Xiongnu and their like became increasingly confident in their incursions, and Wang Mang’s ‘Mandate of Heaven’ remained in the consciousness of the people, so the new Han Emperor moved the capital eastward, to the city of Luoyang.
For decade after decade, China and its neighbours traded and scuffled, but the Han Emperors retained superficial control of their empire: under the surface, the families of Empresses and Empress Dowagers were often the ones that held the power over sovereigns that were too young, too old, too frail, too naïve or too dependent on trustworthy counsel to keep their grip on authority.
Cao Cao had been a child when the most recent crisis had begun: the Liang
clan’s hold over the young Emperor Huan had been broken by the emperor and his eunuch attendants, but those attendants
then enjoyed absolute trust that some - who were later known collectively as the ‘Ten Attendants’, regardless
of actual number - abused for personal gain, just as the Liangs and other consort’s families had done for decades
before. Within a few years, the ‘Ten’ had administrative power that far exceeded their perceived role as
personal attendants to the emperor and his harem, and they had secretly-amassed wealth that exceeded that of noble
families that had known centuries of favour.
The intelligentsia often rebuked the ‘Ten’ and their
allies publicly, which annoyed Emperor Huan but solicited no serious reaction: that changed, however, when a famous medium
with ties to the ‘Ten’ was executed for murdering a man ahead of an as-yet unannounced general amnesty that the
‘Ten’ had informed him of for the benefit of his prognostications. The Magistrate that ordered his death was
arrested by Emperor Huan at the request of the ‘Ten’, and the subsequent show of mass support by unsuspecting
courtiers and academics frightened the ‘Ten’ and drove them to seek the destruction of their many enemies.
The ‘Partisan Crisis’, as it came to be known, saw thousands of men arrested, stripped of all rank and either
exiled or executed: it left the Han court a gutted shell that was quickly refilled with men that the ‘Ten’ could control.