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

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“My daughter, they are very convincing, I’m sure, but you must not be fooled,” Dou Wu said sternly. “You could ask many a man at court, and they’ll tell you as I tell you now, and in their case, from bitter experience: the eunuch elite are utterly corrupt, and they will resort to any lengths to get what they want. The Partisan Disaster that cost many a man his job, many a student their studies and one and all of them their civil liberties was entirely the work of the eunuchs, born out of a good, honest man righteously executing a moral deviant for inciting a motiveless murder. The late emperor believed them, as you do, because they fawned on him; yes, they were also the only ones that he could turn to in order to purge Liang Ji and his family from the court, but Li Ying was no Liang Ji! He was punished for adhering to the law when it didn’t suit the eunuchs. The others that were punished: what did they do…? …They did nothing, nothing other than protest - as is their right - against a decision made in error, and they paid a heavy price, the worst next to death. The only reason that the partisans were spared death is not, I now understand, due to my efforts, or those of my allies. It is due to the eunuchs discovering that their own relatives - and by the extent of their decree, their own necks - were at risk.
     “Do you not see that the eunuchs that saved the former majesty did so knowing that it would improve their fortunes…? Daughter, their residences in the capital are like small palaces, and they were paid for with public taxes and bribes. They fawn at court, flattering to gain favour, pretending to be pathetic and devoid of ambition, while they secretly amass great wealth and earn the contempt of the common people!
     “They appointed useless, greedy men to high positions, something that frustrates those that mean well, and frustrates the common people even more, since they then furnish their own lives with yet more misspent monies… that will one day hurt us all, mark my words.

Oh, and as if that weren’t bad enough, it almost led to our losing our continual battles with the Xiongnu… had there not been great men like the famous General Zhang Huan to repel them in the past, the capital might have been under threat. Do you know that half of his men were inadequately armed, because there was not enough money being given to the army…? The excuse cited was ‘inadequate resources’… but one can easily find the money, if one looks closely… perhaps it paid for the roof on Cao Jie’s new mansion, or for the ornamental garden that Su Kang is having built, or the servants that Wang Fu employs! But can Cao Jie’s roof repel the ambitious Xiongnu? Can Su Kang’s garden police the unruly Qiang? Will Wang Fu’s servants be able to clean away the corruption that their master spreads? If you want to find the traitors, the true ‘partisans’ that will willingly tear down our great nation for the purpose of enjoying transient wealth, then look no further than the creatures that flatter you.”
The Regent Dowager absorbed her father’s words and sat in silence for some time.
“…Will you agree to hear me out…?” Dou Wu prompted.
“Have I not already done so, Father…?” the Dowager chortled. “What you say… some of it makes sense. Some of it… explains some things. The eunuchs are obsessed with keeping His Majesty away from the highest floors of the towers; he has a paranoid fear of what might be up there now, I think… perhaps there is something that they preferred he did not see.”

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