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

-

JavaScript is off/unavailable on your browser. You will not be able to experience this website as it was intended without JavaScript enabled.

Yuan Shao leant forward and clasped Cao Cao’s hands, saying, “Very good! Very good! Mengde, you have said it so plainly, and what more need be said!”
Yuan Shao released Cao Cao’s hands, sat straight, turned to Zhang Miao, and added, “To know such good people, such talented fellows… we shall all-”
“A shame,” Cao Cao sighed, “that we are merely able to talk; the day that we can discard youth and do great things as men seems a long way away to me now.”
“But time passes swiftly enough, Mengde!” Yuan Shao suggested. “Imagine what lies ahead for us all… the greatness that we will achieve…!”
“I imagine all the time,” Cao Cao admitted. “As I said, I yearn for the day when we will be able to do more than talk. In the meantime, we are forced to watch that opportunity erode, along with the state; what scares me, gentlemen, is the thought that by the time that we are old enough to make a difference…”
“…That it may be too late,” Zhang Miao agreed reluctantly.
“Be of good cheer!” Yuan Shao pleaded. “It was you, Mengde, that suggested that my tone was dark, and yet it is you that now preaches futility! Take heart… all is not lost yet. The months will pass, and His Majesty will grow into a fine ruler that will see through the eunuchs’ lies and be an ally to us. We shall triumph!”

But as the next few months passed, even Yuan Shao began to doubt those words. The eunuchs tore into the heart of the imperial capital, arresting hundreds in their relentless search for the person or persons that had dared to publicly accuse two of their number of murder. All the while, the race for the lives of the ‘partisans’ continued; those that would save them continued to smuggle them around the country and keep them safe while the eunuchs used all of the resources that were available to them in order to hunt them down. Any that were caught were tried for treasonous acts and either imprisoned or executed. The court that Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Zhang Miao intended to enter would be a desolate, terrifying place, and each of them knew that very well.

One day, Yuan Shao visited Cao Cao to relay interesting news.
“Qiao Xuan is to be Excellency over the Masses…?” Cao Cao said with surprise. “He must be very old now; he wishes to take such a stressful office at so late a day in his life…?”
“Yes, yes, look, Mengde, this is an opportunity to gain fame!” Yuan Shao said with obvious excitement. “He asked your father about you: he must have heard of your academic brilliance, from Hè Yong, perhaps, and wishes to meet you! You should visit him, Mengde!”
“…I shall pay him a visit,” Cao Cao decided. “A good word from such a man can do no harm.”
“I shall visit him after you,” Yuan Shao said cautiously.
Cao Cao smiled, laughed, and said, “Very well.”

Qiao Xuan - who was descended from a line of highly respected scholars that had served successive emperors closely - had served as an ‘Officer of Merit’ in his youth, which was a professional character judge of sorts. His role had earned him many powerful enemies as he had sought to expose corruption and make men turn back to the correct path after straying from it, and he had been forced to resign from his office several times. His Confucian values made him an intimidating figure - he had once allowed his house to be stormed by soldiers while his young son was held hostage inside, and even when the resulting skirmish cost him that beloved son, he petitioned the court to demand that the law never acquiesce to hostage-takers, reducing the crime of ransom-seeking from commonplace to a rarity.

<< Main Product Page

<< Previous Page

Next Page >>