“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“Bitter and vengeful, jealous and spiteful… her only competition in Guo Si’s household are terrified
lesser consorts, many if not all of them women that were kidnapped from their ransacked villages and forced to live
with him,” Yang Biao explained. “She can terrorize and control them easily, but she frets that someone -
a relative of an official, perhaps - might catch her husband’s roaming eye and take her place. She is everything
that we want in our unwitting accomplice, just as Lü Bu’s negative traits were essential for the late Director
Wang Yun’s scheme. The difference is that we will do nothing: there will be no coup, no military gatherings, no
enlisting of barbarian chieftains… we’ll simply sow the seed of jealousy in Lady Qiong’s mind via a bit
of gossip, and she’ll do the rest.”
Shisun Rui smiled, bowed, and said no more.
*************
10
A week later, Regent Guo Si returned to his lavish residence after
a long day in the court: his principal wife, Lady Qiong, greeted him upon his return and
followed him to the living quarters.
“You’re a bit more excitable today,” Guo Si noted as he sat and watched
as Lady Qiong prepared tea. “All smiles… what is it?”
“Nothing,” Lady Qiong replied. She was lying: she had heard that Guo Si was
secretly meeting with one of Li Jue’s consorts, and she was determined that she would
prevent her husband from spending any more time at Li Jue’s house.
“I don’t believe you,” Guo Si chuckled. “You’re usually sneering
at me, asking me who this woman was, who that woman was… come on, what is it?”
“Nothing… well, not exactly nothing, rather I am… concerned,” Lady
Qiong sighed theatrically. “I… I was looking for the proper moment to tell you
that I think you may be in danger.”
Guo Si frowned.
“Your friend, Li Jue, means to kill you,” Lady Qiong declared.
Guo Si grinned and said, “What do you know? Alright, his behaviour can be a little bit much
sometimes, but kill me…? He needs me to help him run the country.”
“He has that ‘Jia Xu’ person,” Lady Qiong retorted. “All you are
to him is a rival.”
“Look, you don’t know anything,” Guo Si said irritably. “What do you know
about Li Jue? We’ve been to one-another’s homes a few times, you’ve met his
women, he’s-”