“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.
“Do not punish the prince for the supposed crime of the mother,” Zhang
Rang suggested. “That would not be fair.”
“…How is he?” Emperor Ling asked with sudden emotion. “How is our eldest
son, Mother and Father…?”
“Marquis Shi is well,” Zhang
Rang said emphatically.
“Oh… yes,” the emperor said.
Emperor Ling had been father to many children that had not survived
beyond childhood. Once the talk of witchcraft had possessed the court, it was
decided that the emperor might be cursed, so his sons were immediately fostered
to other families and raised as marquises so that they might avoid the fate of
previous children. Emperor Ling’s son by Empress Hè was with the family of one
Mister Shi Zimiao and known as Marquis
Shi, while his son by Consort Wang was in the care of Emperor Ling’s
mother, Empress Dowager Dong, and would be known as Marquis Dong until it was deemed safe for him to be known by his
true identity.
“…What should we do…?” Emperor Ling wondered.
“Spare her, Your Majesty, for she may be innocent, and she is mother to
your heir,” Zhang Rang pleaded. “Such a thing would be most inauspicious.”
After several moments spent grappling with his emotions, Emperor Ling
conceded silently, and the matter was dropped.
“I am in your debt, I can see that,” Empress Hè said as the ‘Ten’ loomed
over her and smiled false smiles of penitence.
“All we ask,” Zhang Rang said, “is that you defend us from the ambitious
villains in the court that would harm us, for we are vulnerable; all we have
are our soft hearts and our warm tears, and they are no defence against vicious
slander and sharp swords, Empress. Protect us,
and we can continue to protect you.”
Empress Hè understood the true nature of her predicament and smiled
falsely, saying, “It shall be so, kind attendants; I shall be your shield, as
you were mine.”
“Very good,” Zhao Zhong chuckled. “Very good; now our mutual enemies are weaker still.”
But the next two years saw a new and powerful enemy brought to the fore.
“Emperor Ling has ruled for fifteen years… fifteen years of vice!”
A large crowd of disaffected commoners were gathered on a patch of dirt
ground in the centre of their small, impoverished hamlet in Ji Province in the
northeast. Murmurs of near-unanimous agreement met the words of the charismatic
man that spoke, despite the treasonous nature.
“Fifteen years of corruption! Fifteen years of waste, lies, and contempt for we
who are the children of Heaven, same as he!” the speaker continued. “And were it only that he was the first! But
he is only the latest in a series of emperors that have lost their way!”
A man joined the crowd and whispered to an enthralled farmer, “Is that
Master Zhang Jue…?”
“Shush!” the farmer hissed.
“You all know me,” the
speaker - Zhang Jue, leader of a powerful and ever-growing Taoist sect -
prompted. “You know me to be truthful.”
“You healed my son!” one
woman cried. “Tell us the truth, Master!”