“Yellow Sky”: Crisis for the Han Dynasty sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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Emperor Huan also turned his back on Confucian values, opting instead for the beliefs of a Taoist sect that suited his desire to reign without question or restraint. His harem quickly numbered in the thousands, and resentment grew as quickly. Men of talent refused to work for a decaying regime, and that only meant more opportunities for the undeserving to gain status and worsen the situation further.
When the eunuchs realised that a large number of officials were enjoying varying degrees of success in countering the eunuchs and swaying their monarch, the collective decision was made amongst them that the intelligentsia-led opposition to their role at court had to be decisively destroyed. They sowed mistrust in the emperor’s mind, and now, that mistrust had led to what would henceforth be known as the “Partisan Disaster”.
“You are quiet, Cao’er,” Cao Song prompted. “Have I answered your questions?”
“You show me respect, Father, by answering me as you would a scholar of equal rank, and for that, I am grateful,” Cao Cao replied. “I understand the situation, and see that sometimes, a person must look at everything. If those that are innocent are proven so, then no harm has been done and everything can go back to as it was. If the action taken has saved us from a disaster, then it was a sensible action. I shall not worry about it anymore, Father, and I’m sorry that I bothered you with it.”
“I am pleased that you show an interest, even as young as you are,” Cao Song declared. “One day, you will be a fine statesman… I look forward to the day when I can watch you and smile with pride.”
“As do I, Father,” Cao Cao said with maturity.
Cao Song’s role as ‘Director of Retainers’ involved the management of convict labour in public development projects, and that gave Cao Song access to many senior figures in government, including his superior the Excellency of Works; he was always looking to improve his lot, and he would certainly do so in times to come, despite the upheaval that would be the ruin of so many others.
The arrests continued, and soon a very considerable number of scholars, officials and students had been taken into custody, leaving chaotic vacuums of power at all levels of government and a lack of staff at educational establishments. The eunuchs would eventually fill the vacancies with ‘allies’ that may or may not have been capable of the tasks that they had been assigned, but the general outcome was the same nonetheless: the illusion of stability was restored, and the ‘partisans’ became generally forgotten figures in a capital grateful for calm.
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