“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

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Our time is here once again!” the battle-hardened mercenary Liu Pi said to a vast army of followers that had gathered on the outskirts of a village in Runan Prefecture, Yu Province. For some time - close to decade, in fact - Liu Pi had been a wandering bandit and later a hired sword that worked with Yuan Shu and his subordinate general Sun Jian: now he was about to return to the role that had brought him to the attention of those famous men.
     Liu Pi had abandoned his plain turban and now wore the military symbol of his old master, Zhang Jue, the founder of the ‘Way of Peace’: a piece of plain yellow cloth that was the epitome of treason, an open defiance of the rule that only the emperor could wear yellow ‘above the head’. His long-term ally Huang Shao - who was stood at side - was attired in the same farmer’s clothes and yellow turban, and every single man and woman in the crowd wore yellow turbans to show their contempt for an emperor that was seen to have abandoned them.
The time is right to let the enemies of Heaven see that we have grown strong again!” Liu Pi continued. “Let them see that we will seize their hidden grain, defy their curfews, and build fortresses to house our families! We will strike down those that harm the people, and give the land back to all men and women!
Let Heaven hear that you know its will!” Huang Shao screamed. “Let the enemies of Heaven know their fate! Let us be like the locusts they brought upon us, and devour them!
The angry, desperate crowd then began to chant the mantra that had inspired and propagated the original Yellow Turban Rebellion a decade earlier:

Han’s mandate has passed!
Yellow Sky, soon here!
In this renewing year,
Prosperous all, at last!

“…Are we sure that we are ready…?” Huang Shao asked of Liu Pi as the crowd continued their monotonous chanting.
“I am tired of hiding,” Liu Pi replied. “We may not win, but what good has being silent done…? My only regret is surrendering to Sun Jian the first time.”
Huang Shao nodded, turned his gaze back to the crowd and shouted, “More! Make the ground shake! Shout until the liars and the thieves in Chang’an hear you and feel the despair that they have inflicted upon us! Let them know your will!
The crowd chanted endlessly:

Han’s mandate has passed!
Yellow Sky, soon here!
In this renewing year,
Prosperous all, at last!

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