Chapter 22
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Translator: volt
Chapter Title: To Depose the Emperor
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At that moment, in the imperial palace of Luoyang.
"Mother, what should I do?"
A boy, draped in a dragon robe too large for his frame, asked the question.
His build was ambiguous—just past fifteen, or perhaps not even that—with sleeves rolled up awkwardly as he spoke.
"Your Majesty, please be at ease."
Before him, the Empress Dowager He—her face thick with makeup, adorned in gaudy jewelry—forced a smile to reassure the emperor.
"Your Majesty is the late emperor's eldest son."
"But the rumors say otherwise."
"They are mere rumors. Slander from power-hungry ministers seeking to defame Your Majesty and seize control of the court."
Empress Dowager He pointed outside the palace with eyes full of venom.
"Where is this place? It is where Your Majesty was born and raised. Where else could Your Majesty go? From the start, such talk is treason. How dare these subjects presume to dethrone or elevate the emperor of a realm?"
Even as her venomous voice poured out like thundering warhorses, the emperor forced a smile, seemingly reassured.
"Y-Yes, Mother... Heh heh heh, right?"
"Your Majesty!"
"Eek...!"
When the empress dowager glared at him, the emperor shrank back again.
"You must act like an emperor. Before the court ministers, make it clear that Your Majesty is the supreme ruler of this land, and those rumors will fade."
"B-But...!"
Though the emperor trembled with his head bowed, he raised his voice with effort.
"Loyal retainers... siding with that child Xie...!"
"I will handle all of that."
The empress dowager ascended the steps, drawing close to the emperor on the jade throne, her face inches from his.
"Why? Are you worried? That loyal retainers flock to Chenliu King Liu Xie—that mere child—because he is so clever and wise, because the future of the realm lies with him?"
"Th-That's...!"
"No, it is not. They are all traitors who placed that motherless wretch on the throne to manipulate the court as they please."
"...Xie's mother."
The emperor clutched the dragon robe tightly and slowly lifted his head.
"The palace maids say you poisoned Lady Wang—"
"Your Majesty."
The empress dowager smiled and seized the emperor's hand.
"You cannot know the humiliations I endured to reach this position."
"M-Mother...! It hurts...!"
The attendants nearby panicked at the emperor's pained cry but none dared step forward against the empress dowager.
"I say it once more: Your Majesty is the late emperor's true heir. Only if you hold your head high can I do the same before others."
"......"
"Are you still anxious? Then endure just one day. I have summoned this land's greatest loyal retainer for Your Majesty."
"C-Could it be...!"
The emperor's eyes gleamed as he swallowed hard.
"Are you speaking of General Lü Bu...?"
"Yes."
At the emperor's reaction, the empress dowager patted his hand lightly with a smile.
"Loyalty that executes a traitor with his own hands, even if it's his superior. He brought 7,000 troops but sent most back to the provinces the moment the capital's chaos ended."
"Y-Yes! I've heard of it."
"Appoint such a man as Left General—no, Grand General—and how could Your Majesty rest easy?"
"W-Would he... accept it?"
"Your Majesty, it is you who bestows offices. Who would refuse? Even if he humbly declines, I will make him accept."
Kwak.
"One day. Endure just one day. When tomorrow comes, he will be a true loyal retainer devoting himself to Your Majesty."
"Ah, ah...!"
"I will make it so."
"Mother, sob...!"
The emperor bowed his head, sniffling.
Clinging to the empress dowager's bosom on the jade throne, weeping, he did not see.
"I will, without fail."
The empress dowager's eyes fixed on the throne.
The thick red makeup beneath them.
"Be at ease."
Those eyes evoked not a mother soothing her crying child—even if that child were an emperor—but a wicked enchantress eagerly awaiting her moment.
"Who in this realm would dare dethrone Your Majesty?"
"I, Dong Zhuo, declare."
The moment I attended the court assembly as Cavalry Commander.
"We shall depose Crown Prince Liu Bian and enthrone Chenliu King Liu Xie as emperor."
I received Dong Zhuo's unilateral announcement.
Standing at the center among the civil and military officials as Sikong—one of the fabled Three Dukes—he swept his gaze over the assembly with his massive frame and proclaimed it outright.
"What did you just...?"
"Is the current Emperor Liu Bian truly the late emperor's blood?!"
"!!"
The ministers gaped at Dong Zhuo's roar.
Raising doubts about the emperor's lineage.
That alone constituted treason.
Yet.
"I do not believe so."
Once the conclusion was set from the outset, the rest followed smoothly.
"The mother of the current emperor, Empress Dowager He—her origins are murky, is she not? Half-sister to the late Grand General He Jin?"
"Th-That is...!"
"The late emperor favored her so excessively that he had no choice but to treat her as empress. The elder statesmen here know this better than most."
Dong Zhuo's words were violent and blunt, but from some perspectives, not wrong.
Empress Dowager He's origins were indeed unclear. Whispers called her a courtesan.
Empress Dowager Dong had mentioned it occasionally.
Sharing her ill views of Empress Dowager He to keep me away from her.
"We cannot take a woman of lowly birth as empress. Plenty were beaten by the late emperor for protesting just that."
"Urgh...!!"
Whether about her origins.
Truly, there had been many misdeeds. Personal humiliations aside... I could affirm it. That woman...!
"Empress Dowager He poisoned the mother of the current Chenliu King, Lady Wang."
Palace intrigues.
"Her extravagance and debauchery go without saying, and her lack of qualities as empress dowager was notorious even in her empress days."
Her personal failings.
"Let us speak frankly."
Considering all that, Empress Dowager He was rife with instabilities unfit for empress dowager.
I had felt it keenly these past months in court.
"As the saying goes, when the hen crows, the house falls."
Dong Zhuo said.
"Some may disagree, but look at the situation now. Her incessant crowing has already sparked the Ten Attendants' turmoil and shaken the court."
"......"
No minister spoke.
One should have shouted, "Dong Zhuo, you bastard!!" but all clamped their mouths shut.
"Surely no one here thinks we should trust Empress Dowager He."
At the very least, no one present favored her.
"It's just that talk of 'deposing the emperor' sits ill."
"Lord Dong!"
Someone finally burst.
"How can you speak so lightly?!"
"Lightly?"
"Kuh...!!"
A minister shouted, but retreated as Dong Zhuo approached.
He must have been fearsome in his youth.
Though past fifty and thick with fat, his warrior's frame dwarfed three ministers combined.
"Figure" suited him better now, but if swords were drawn in court, Dong Zhuo alone could fell fifty ministers.
"Is speaking thus before you all truly 'lightly'?"
"Th-That's...!"
"Hah! No, it is not easy. Shall we debate for days then?"
Dong Zhuo sobered and pointed outside.
"Even now, someone here might rush to the emperor to accuse me of treason."
"Lord Dong...!"
"This is no treason. It is the duty of court ministers to correct the error of enthroning an unfit emperor."
Dong Zhuo swept the room again.
"Is it not, Minister of Works?"
He approached an elder minister with long white beard.
Seated opposite him, his name was surely—
"Minister Wang. What say you?"
"Do you ask this Wang Yun?"
Wang Yun.
From Bing Province, I recalled.
Court elites paid little heed, but Bing Province origins stuck in my mind.
Moreover, he was effectively the head of all ministers.
Not quite the pure faction, but an elder statesman among them.
A man of immense power.
Dong Zhuo, ever arrogant, bowed courteously to him alone.
"Yes, Minister Wang."
"What think you?"
"......"
Wang Yun stepped forward.
All eyes turned to him; he halted center stage, as if opposing Dong Zhuo.
"Empress Dowager He's conduct is arrogant and lascivious beyond measure, and she poisoned Lady Wang in the past."
He repeated Dong Zhuo's words.
Not from senility, but because they bore repeating as vital truths.
"Before speaking of deposing the emperor, we should first discuss deposing Empress Dowager He."
"Minister Wang!!"
Those silent before Dong Zhuo now yelled at Wang Yun.
"Are you siding with Lord Dong?!"
The officials panicked.
Even elders eyed him as if he'd lost his mind.
"They say you've met Lord Dong often lately—harboring treasonous thoughts... Gasp?!"
"Fine voice you've got."
Dong Zhuo menaced the pointing official with a feral grin.
"Treason? Who? Me? Or Minister Wang?"
"N-No way...!"
By now, all assembled could read the room.
"Minister Wang!!"
"This Wang Yun will personally petition the emperor. Deposing Empress Dowager He by his hand and exiling her is the path for the realm."
"Wh-What...?!"
Dong Zhuo opened the floodgates.
Wang Yun's endorsement silenced all dissent.
"Lord Dong. One question."
Wang Yun faced Dong Zhuo.
"After enthroning Chenliu King as emperor, do you not intend to seize higher office and rule as you please?"
"Hahaha...!!"
Dong Zhuo laughed heartily, thumping his chest.
"Me?! Ha! As if!"
He firmly denied Wang Yun's suspicion.
Yet.
"If Chenliu King becomes emperor, would he favor this Dong Zhuo, or another?"
With loaded tone, he turned the arrow.
"Or what say you, General Lü?"
To me.
"......"
All eyes fixed on me.
As if my words decided all fates, every official awaited my response.
"As archery master to Chenliu Prince His Highness and Cavalry Commander guarding the palace, whom do you deem fitter to protect as emperor?"
The current emperor.
Or the next.
"Lord Dong."
I stepped forward.
"This seems beyond a mere Cavalry Commander's purview."
Some eyed me disappointed; others nodded as expected.
"However."
The tide was clear.
"If Empress Dowager He is a tumor gnawing this realm, excising it boldly saves the greater body."
Alone, Dong Zhuo's resolve might falter; with Wang Yun aligned, following was the natural path to survival.
"A tumor is no life. It must be lanced and cauterized."
Empress Dowager He was the realm's cancer.
"As Minister Wang says, I hope His Majesty chooses for the realm's sake."
"General Lü."
Wang Yun stared piercingly.
"If Chenliu King ascends, he would surely favor you."
"......"
"Is that your aim?"
"Hardly."
I shook my head firmly.
"If treason stirred my heart to these words, my father in heaven would not forgive it."
Spotting lips mouthing "Ding Yuan," I glanced that way before continuing.
"If you think I side with this to become court powerbroker, I declare plainly here."
I stepped center and clasped hands to all.
"I, Lü Fengxian, shall resign as Cavalry Commander and return to Bing Province."
Better to head to Bing Province than bear the stigma of joining a power grab to change emperors.
"I slew traitor Ding Yuan with my own hand—how could I now commit rebellion? Treasonous? I would have stormed the palace with him."
"G-General! Mind your words!"
A young official I'd never spoken to cried out in alarm.
"Is it not truth?"
I caught my three lieutenants—Song Xian, Hou Cheng, Wei Xu—watching gratefully, but truth must be spoken to ease the chest.
I'd even lined up a suitable candidate for vacant Bing Province Governor.
"Rather, I declare here: I lay down my seal at once and head to Bing Province with the new governor...!"
"No—!!"
Suddenly.
"General Lü leaving the capital? Absolutely not!"
"General Lü! Reconsider! We all trust you! How could you harbor treason?!"
Ministers surged toward me, pouring words.
"General Lü departing the capital is unthinkable!"
Chaos erupted.
Whether true goodwill or clinging to a useful pawn varied per man—but.
"A man does not recant his word lightly."
All fell silent.
"I trust His Majesty will wisely decide for realm and people. As a loyal subject."
Well.
I hadn't vowed to leave outright.
"If my loyal counsel goes unheeded, I become a wild man guarding my homeland."
"......Guards."
Wang Yun raised a hand.
Others poised to speak shut up at his expression.
"Bar and lock the palace doors."
Soldiers at the entrance bowed to Wang Yun and promptly sealed the doors.
"Minister Wang! This is...!"
"......A siege?"
Court assembly in the palace or not, locking doors was no trifle.
"Half a shichen."
Wang Yun held up fingers; Dong Zhuo grinned.
"We debate together for half a shichen, deliberate, and conclude. Then..."
Wang Yun pointed to the closing doors.
"I lead in petitioning the emperor. On my office as Minister of Works."
As high and low ministers gravely debated.
"......"
Minister of Works Wang Yun slipped away from eyes, approaching bowing palace maids.
"Allow me to straighten your robes."
A freckled maid approached to adjust his court robes; Wang Yun whispered low.
"What think you?"
"......"
The maid scanned left and right.
Fussing with face and neck, she signaled with eyes.
"No matter. Many ears, but no minds to heed."
All in the chamber drowned in chaos, shouting over right and wrong.
"......My lord."
The maid lifted her head.
Her exposed neck gleamed far whiter than her face.
"Their opposition surprises, but the heavenly qi remains undisturbed."
"Is that so."
"Yes."
"......Soon, I'll arrange a meeting."
Wang Yun eyed Lü Bu, surrounded by officials.
"Judge with your own eyes if that man matches the fate you foresee—one who changes masters repeatedly."
"......Yes."
The woman gazed long at Lü Bu with complex eyes.
As if.
Staring at something that should not exist.
Time passed.
The conclusion came.
More precisely, consensus formed.
Unanimous.
"Let us go depose him."
Alone, it's treason.
Together, it's revolution.