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

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“I am not happy, rather I am… I am what you might call ‘grateful for an opportunity’,” Lu Kang explained. “I don’t want to end up like my grandfather, nor do I want to be idle like my father. But the ‘Ten’, they won’t let us do what we want to do here in Luoyang. But I have found that outside of Luoyang, there are opportunities. They are not for everyone, of course…”
Cao Cao smiled and said, “You refer to my post in Dunqiu. There was nothing to do there, Mister Lu. Gaocheng, on the other hand, was a challenge, and it was an incredible feat on your part, I should say.”
Lu Kang bowed slightly and said, “You are too kind.”
Ayah! A man of your age should not bow to a pup like me!” Cao Cao pleaded as he matched and bettered the bow.
Lu Kang laughed and said, “You are a very odd ‘Crafty Villain’!”
“…That really has got about,” Cao Cao murmured. “But I prefer ‘Hero of Chaos’, as melodramatic as either of them sound. And what have I done for such a title?”
“As you said, you’re young,” Lu Kang replied. “To answer your ‘question of sorts’, I am going to request that I be sent to Lujiang Prefecture to-”
Ayah. You’re another one that cannot accept his age, like Qiao Xuan!” Cao Cao exclaimed. “Lujiang??? I’ll go, and earn my epithet!”
“Hush, now,” Lu Kang whispered. “The court is gathering.”
The courtiers were entering the hall in greater numbers, and the appearance of the Excellency of Works meant that Emperor Ling would soon follow.
“…Save your strength for others,” Lu Kang continued. “A few bandits are not worth your time, ‘Hero of Chaos’.”
“A few-! …A hundred thousand is not a few!” Cao Cao hissed.
Silence, please,” the Excellency of Works demanded. “His Majesty approaches.

The last few murmurs disappeared, and Emperor Ling’s entourage entered the hall from their side entrance. Once the sovereign was seated, he said, “We understand that a peasant uprising has broken out in Lujiang.”
Lu Kang got permission to speak and said, “Your Majesty, I am only recently returned to court and grateful for it. But I cannot render Your Majesty good service by standing here. I once pacified Gaocheng: let me do something about these latest rebels.”
A courtier in the employ of the eunuchs got to his feet, sneered and said, “Aren’t you Lu Kang, son of Lu Bao that refused to serve the Han?”
Lu Kang snorted angrily.
“Aren’t you Lu Kang, grandson of Lu Xu, who conspired with an ungrateful prince to overthrow Mingdi?” the courtier continued: the eunuchs tried and failed to hide their delight at the anger and distress that the words were inflicting on Lu Kang. The official laughed and added, “And aren’t you Lu Kang, who was ‘only recently returned’, as you say, from being arrested and exiled? And now you’re a ‘Consultant’? Why should anyone listen to you?”
“Stop it, sir,” Magistrate Sima Fang ordered. “Lu Kang has been exonerated, and his ancestors are not the issue.”
“As an imperial relative and clerk of the Secretariat, I looked into that case and no more was to be said!” Liu Dai declared. “Why is this matter raised again?”
The courtier flicked his sleeve and sat down, and the eunuchs grumbled quietly.

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