Side Story: Emperor Xian
"Your Majesty. It is reported that drought has stricken Guanzhong, and the people are starving."
As the minister bowed his head and made his report, a shadow of worry settled over the young emperor's face. The more he listened to the successive reports, the deeper the gloom that clouded his features became.
The once-prosperous Han Dynasty was in a pitiful state. The common people perished in the grip of severe famine, yet Li Jue and Guo Si, caring nothing for the populace, raised rebellions and devoted themselves solely to war and plunder.
A single measure of rice cost over five hundred thousand coins; a measure of beans exceeded two hundred thousand. People were devouring one another, and white bones piled up along the roads. When the minister finished speaking, the young emperor let out a long, heavy sigh.
Fourteen-year-old Emperor Liu Xie. Years had passed since Dong Zhuo had forced him onto the throne at the age of eight, yet never once had he been able to act as he wished as the Son of Heaven.
Even after Dong Zhuo's death, men like Li Jue and Guo Si filled their own pockets and showed not the slightest will to do anything for the nation or its people.
Yet he was the emperor. He thought of what he could do for the exhausted people.
"Attendant Censor Hou Wen, receive Our command."
At the emperor's words, an official named Hou Wen stepped forward.
"Take rice and beans from the Grand Granary and prepare thin gruel to distribute among the people."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Hou Wen bowed his head at the imperial command, but his mood was far from good.
They say even the Son of Heaven cannot save the poor. What good will a little extra rice and beans do...?
Coming from a still-young and powerless emperor, the order grated on him all the more. He only pretended to obey. Before long, that pretense would catch up with him.
"We ordered the relief of the people some time ago, yet We hear that those dying of starvation have not decreased. How has this come to pass?"
The ministers merely eyed one another instead of answering. The emperor therefore went in person to observe the gruel-making process, and what he saw soon turned to fury. What they had prepared was so watery that it was an embarrassment to call it gruel—far more water than grain.
Officials who had incurred the emperor's wrath came to the palace gates to apologize and submitted memorials calling for Hou Wen's punishment. The emperor issued his decree.
"Hou Wen shall receive fifty strokes of the cane."
Rather than punishing Hou Wen with the utmost severity, he settled for fifty strokes and redoubled his efforts at relief. As a result, many lives were saved.
It was an anecdote that revealed the emperor's own heart for the people even in difficult circumstances—yet set against the dark clouds hanging over the Han imperial house, it was no more than a single slender ray of light that might go out at any moment, a small tale of virtue.
The throne he sat upon had been a bed of thorns from the very beginning. Dong Zhuo had treated him as a puppet; Li Jue and Guo Si were even worse.
To feed even gruel to the starving people, the emperor sold his own prized horses—yet when Li Jue and Guo Si learned of it, they seized every last one of them as well.
The shadows that had piled up through the tyranny of previous emperors and the outrages of Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, Guo Si, and their like made a mockery of the title "Son of Heaven."
The man he met while fleeing from Li Jue and Guo Si was Cao Cao. With his outstanding abilities, Cao Cao drove Li Jue and Guo Si far away and sought to set the fallen nation aright.
Yet he, too, was a man more faithful to his own ambitions than to loyalty toward the Han imperial house.
But the one who sought to sit upon the imperial throne in his place was not Cao Cao, but his son Cao Pi. After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi rose to become King of Wei—yet he was not content with the rank of king.
When the thronging ministers began to petition that the time had come for him to abdicate in favor of Cao Pi, the emperor understood. The Han imperial house, which had clung to a tenuous existence, had now reached its end in his generation.
"Your Majesty! You must now accept the will of Heaven...!"
He raised one hand and silenced the clamor of the ministers' mouths.
"I understand. I have heard your intentions clearly enough; now leave me be. I must settle my own heart as well, so grant me a day or two. After that, I shall follow your will."
Turning his back on their murmuring, he made his way to the place where the spirit tablets of the previous emperors were enshrined. There he knelt.
In the end, the Han Dynasty ends with me; its line is cut off. Forgive this wretch—no, do not forgive him.
He had already resolved to step down from the throne, yet he felt he must at least offer an apology before the previous emperors. Even that, however, certain men would not permit.
"Your Majesty. Cease this stubbornness at once!"
"How long do you intend to defy the will of Heaven!"
They were Cao Pi's close retainers: Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo.
What place was this, that they should barge in so freely and make such a scene? The emperor swallowed his rage and spoke quietly.
"Enough. Did I not say I understood your intentions fully? I ask only for a little more time."
But Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo did not believe him and continued to press. Fearing the emperor might change his mind at any moment, they meant to seat Cao Pi on the throne as quickly as possible and then fawn upon him for whatever scraps they could get.
The emperor's patience finally ran out; he sprang to his feet.
"I said I understood—how many times must I say it! Will you not even grant me time to pay my respects to the previous emperors!"
At that sharp, frost-edged cry, Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo flinched. He was a man about to step down, yet his dignity still remained.
Yet they trusted their backing more than the emperor's rebuke.
"Your Majesty. Swiftly following the will of Heaven is what serves the nation."
"You... truly..."
The emperor's beard trembled with rage. Just as he was about to cry out once more, a man came running in a fluster, dropped to his knees before him with a thud, and prostrated himself.
"Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Forgive your servants' disloyalty. Forgive our rudeness."
"Jungdal..."
The one knocking his forehead repeatedly against the floor was Sima Yi.
"I am deeply ashamed, Your Majesty. Please withdraw your anger. We, too, acted only for the sake of what lies ahead."
Sima Yi.
Another of Cao Pi's close retainers. Though he lay flat upon the floor, compared to the likes of Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo who stood with their heads held high, this man was the true man of ability—and a terrifying one as well.
"There, there. You two withdraw as well. His Highness the King of Wei would not wish things taken this far."
In the end, Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo reluctantly turned back under Sima Yi's mediation.
Sima Yi, too, bowed and scraped repeatedly before the emperor before withdrawing.
"...and so it is hereby proclaimed to all under Heaven that the imperial throne shall be yielded to the King of Wei, Cao Pi."
One of the ministers, fidgeting with unease, recited the contents of the document by which the emperor would yield the throne to Cao Pi. He was merely reading what had been written, yet the substance within was so momentous that he broke into a cold sweat throughout.
The civil and military officials wore expressions that said the inevitable had at last arrived. The majority rejoiced, though a few wiped away tears in secret.
Yet Cao Pi himself said,
"This is more than an unworthy man such as I deserves. Please withdraw it."
With those words of refusal he left the hall. The assembled officials looked startled, but the emperor's expression remained as impassive as ever.
That night, the emperor sat alone at his desk, writing something upon bamboo slips. A servant announced,
"Your Majesty. Sima Yi requests an audience."
"Admit him."
The sound of the door opening was followed by Sima Yi prostrating himself flat upon the floor.
"Your servant Sima Yi greets His Majesty the Emperor."
"Jungdal. You have come at a good time. Look at this for me."
The emperor held out the bamboo slips he had been writing. Sima Yi lifted his head only slightly and said,
"What is this, Your Majesty?"
"What else would it be? A draft of the imperial edict yielding the throne to the King of Wei. This is the second such edict; I would have you look it over."
"Your Majesty..."
"Is that not why you came in the first place? I have already written it; you need only review it."
"Forgive your servant's disloyalty."
"How many more times do you suppose the King of Wei will decline? At the very least once more, would you not say? Or, as the saying goes that one should thrice decline before entering the ancestral temple—will he decline three times?"
"Your Majesty. Please... your servant wishes only that Your Majesty preserve your sacred person."
"I understand. Read it first."
He knew it himself. Everything he was doing now was no more than childish petulance.
He would have to yield the throne in any case; stiffening his spine like this now would do his position no good. Cao Pi might grow wary and have him killed later.
Yet he did not greatly care. When the ancestral temples and the altars of state were about to be cut off in his generation, what was the point of living on...?
Sima Yi said nothing and unrolled the bamboo slips to read the writing. He did not, however, offer any further comment.
"How do you find what I have written? If there is anything to correct, tell me."
"How could a disloyal servant presume to pick at words Your Majesty has written with his own hand?"
"Is that so? Then what of this matter? The King of Wei who now seeks to ascend the imperial throne."
At the emperor's words, Sima Yi's heart gave a brief lurch. The emperor was speaking of Cao Pi, who was about to become the new emperor.
"W-what do you mean by that...?"
"Set aside all private feeling and judge him by ability alone—what do you think? I rather believe it would have been better to have yielded the throne long ago to the Martial King. The present King of Wei is... well..."
It was a truly terrifying remark. One wrong word and his own head would roll.
"Your Majesty. I am deeply ashamed. How could a mere official such as I discuss so great a matter?"
He shrank as small as he could and considered the emperor seated before him. The man had spent a lifetime upon a precarious throne, yet he was by no means incompetent.
Once, facing Cao Cao, he had thundered, "If you can support me, treat me generously; if not, bestow your grace by deposing me and taking this seat yourself!" Even the peerless Cao Cao had tensed in that moment and dared not ask to examine the imperial countenance.
Sima Yi once more knocked his forehead against the floor, acting as though he had committed a capital crime. The emperor gazed quietly at the back of his head, then said something that sounded rather abrupt.
"Jungdal. I have never seen a man who bows as much as you. Even the laborers who work in the palace do not go so far."
Bowing. The act of flattening oneself low and elevating the other. Yet one could not see the face. Still less the heart within.
Is this man a hunting dog loyal to his master—or a tiger with its claws hidden?
It was a question that had always intrigued the emperor. Yet he soon recalled his own situation and gave a short, dry laugh.
Well. It is no longer any concern of mine.
"Jungdal. With a loyal subject such as you, the nation will be at peace. Haha."
He said only that much. At his words, Sima Yi flinched ever so slightly.
"Your servant merely goes when his master bids him go, and stands when he is told to stand."
"I understand. You may withdraw."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
A little more time passed. Only after one further ceremonial refusal did Cao Pi at last accept the abdication.
No minister stood in the way. A handful of officials could not hide their bitter fury, but the great majority of the court had been waiting for this very transfer of power.
No—there was exactly one person who tried to stop it.
"How can those who call themselves subjects commit such an act! Insolent creatures—withdraw at once!"
"Y-Your Majesty the Empress. The matter has already been decided."
Empress Cao Jie, the imperial seal clutched to her breast, faced the ministers alone.
Wu Zhi, Zhu Shuo, and the other officials who had come to take the seal floundered under her cry.
Empress Cao Jie. Wife of Liu Xie, daughter of Cao Cao, and elder sister to Cao Pi. That woman now stood on the emperor's side rather than with the Cao clan, and she was crying out in anguish.
Wu Zhi fidgeted, then opened his mouth.
"Your Majesty the Empress. This is the will of Heaven. To follow it is the proper course, I believe."
"Ha! Did you just say Heaven?"
The empress, incredulous, raised her voice.
"Do you think Heaven will aid the likes of you? I swear it here and now—Heaven will never stand on your side! Why do you not withdraw at once!"
These same men who had boldly pressed the emperor to abdicate now floundered before the empress. Not one of them had the nerve to step forward and speak against the daughter of Cao Cao and sister of Cao Pi.
"Is there no one!"
Her frost-edged cry shook the palace.
"Is there truly no one who will stand for His Majesty!"
Ministers and servants alike merely kept their heads bowed.
Just as she was about to cry out once more, the one who stepped in her way was none other than her husband, the emperor.
The emperor approached the empress slowly.
"Empress. It is finished.... Let it go now."
But the empress did not loosen her grip on the seal; her voice broke with tears.
"No. It must not be. This—this alone must not be.... They will... Your Majesty..."
The emperor quietly and gently closed both his hands over hers.
"I know your heart well enough.... I shall never forget it."
The strength that had clenched the imperial seal drained away. The seal fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
Then she sank to her knees before the emperor and wept aloud.
"It is bitter, Your Majesty. So bitter..."
The emperor said nothing; he only stroked her back.
Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo hurried forward, scooped up the seal, examined it carefully to make certain the precious object was unharmed, and went out. The husband and wife quietly comforted each other.
Thereafter the abdication was completed, and the new emperor, Cao Pi, ascended the supreme seat.
Liu Xie, reduced to the rank of Duke of Shanyang, now had to leave the palace for his fief.
"My lady. Will you continue to follow me? You..."
You are of the Cao clan—why would you follow me? If you remained, you could enjoy wealth and honor... The words would not leave his lips.
Cao Jie understood his meaning completely.
"How could a wife leave her husband? I shall follow you to the end."
"My lady. Thank you..."
Together with the wife who had remained at his side to the last, Liu Xie turned his back on the imperial palace and set out for his fief.
Liu Xie.
Enthroned at the age of eight, he had endured Dong Zhuo's tyranny and the Chaos of the Three Capitals to hold the imperial seat—and today that seat came to its end.
He was thirty-nine years old.