“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.
“Nonsense!” Yuan Shao
insisted. “You are talking nonsense!”
Cao Cao smiled and said, “We’ll see.”
*************
14
Emperor Ling was elated by the unexpected arrival of his first healthy son, and he had begun to wonder if the fortunes of his ruling house were good after all. Empress Hè enjoyed her position as the favourite and future dowager, while her brother rose up the ranks of the army and additionally exploited his sister’s ability to woo the sovereign to increase his family fortune. But the emperor had many concubines, and one - Consort Wang - fell pregnant, despite having made considerable effort not to do so. Empress Hè was immediately jealous, and Consort Wang did her utmost to abort the child, but with no success. The fates had apparently spoken; in the same year that Cao Cao had returned to court, Consort Wang gave birth to a boy. Empress Hè knew that the younger, more beautiful Consort Wang and her new son were a threat to her own tenuous position, and decided to make sure that Consort Wang could do no more harm.
“We are distressed! We are ANGRY,
Mother and Father!”
Emperor Ling was sat in his private chambers, and he was accompanied by
his favourite eunuch attendants, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong as he raged.
“We were tiring of Empress Hè anyway… but this affront is too much!”
Emperor Ling continued. “She must be
made to pay for poisoning my- I mean, our
beloved Lady Wang! We want her deposed,
and destroyed
for this outrage, and her child exiled to the furthest corner of the realm!”