“Yellow Sky”: Crisis for the Han Dynasty sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

     Over time, an underground network of people dedicated to preserving the lives of the ‘partisans’ formed. Secrecy was of the utmost importance, as the penalty for shielding anyone labelled as an enemy of the state was death. But the men and women that served as guardians of the ‘partisans’ believed that they were protecting the future of their empire, and they were prepared to risk death. They hoped that one day, the emperor - or one of his descendants - would realise the extent of the eunuchs’ corruption, and that things would change. But as time went on, the eunuchs became ever more brazen, and their wealth and influence increased. All the while, Empress Dowager Dou remained in their custody, and the naïve Emperor Ling maintained the belief that the eunuchs were indeed his most trustworthy vassals, going so far as to refer to some of them as family. The mood of the eunuchs’ enemies was slowly drifting toward despair.

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9

Two years passed in which the situation in and around China was disturbingly unchanged; corruption went unchecked, and the borders of the empire were under constant threat from their neighbours, who veered between peaceful coexistence and aggressive encroachment, although the Han people were not entirely without fault for these tumultuous relationships. Emperor Ling was largely oblivious to the problems that his empire faced, as he willingly left the affairs of state in the hands of the eunuch faction led by Cao Jie and Wang Fu; he trusted them explicitly, since they had supposedly saved him from the Dou family and had enabled him to appoint his mother, Lady Dong, as the new Empress Dowager, although she had no substantial influence. This bond of trust between the young emperor and his attendants disturbed the courtiers that had somehow survived the partisan purges: they knew that their own names could be added to that list of traitors at any time, so public protestation against the eunuchs was almost non-existent. Meanwhile, the deposed Empress Dowager, Lady Dou, remained under house arrest and was almost forgotten as a new power echelon was being formed.
     Emperor Ling was, at the age of 14, seen as ready to have a future Empress introduced into his world. The officials and eunuchs began separate searches for the woman that would be such an important force in the young emperor’s life; eventually, the daughter of one Marquis Song was chosen, since she was already connected to the imperial Liu family by blood and by marriages. Lady Song first entered the court as a consort, and although she was not to the emperor’s taste, she was quickly made familiar with court protocol and the role that she would soon occupy.

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