Imperial Seal (1)
Unlike the other palaces, which had at least managed to preserve their outer form and basic framework, the Southern Palace and the North Palace were so thoroughly obliterated that not even their foundation stones remained.
It was an inevitable outcome.
The Southern Palace contained the Main Hall, where the emperor and his court ministers presided over royal conferences, and it was the heart of the palace complex where the offices of the Three Dukes and the Nine Ministers were concentrated—making it a primary target for Dong Zhuo's army's scorched-earth campaign.
The North Palace was no different.
It was the space for the emperor's private daily life, and at the same time, an area off-limits to men where the empress and consorts resided. Renowned for its beautiful, antiquated scenery that represented all the palaces of Luoyang, the North Palace burned to blackened cinders alongside the Southern Palace.
-To you bastards, I will not surrender even a shred of wealth or glory. What greets you after your long and winding journey is nothing but gray ash.
If I cannot possess it, I will destroy it with my own hands.
It was a catastrophe born of monstrous covetousness.
Jealousy toward Liu Seong-hwi, who had seized the glory of victory, and a twisted possessiveness that wanted to monopolize Luoyang's prosperity forever devoured a dynasty's two-hundred-year legacy.
"I once held the naive ideal of someday returning to Luoyang to rebuild the Han Dynasty, which bears the fate of a fallen kingdom. But everything has been destroyed. The glory achieved by wise rulers and their subjects, the corruption practiced by foolish rulers and eunuchs... All the legacies of a two-hundred-year dynasty turned to ash in an instant."
Vain emperors and eunuchs were nowhere to be seen,
nor were the young officials who had once devoted themselves to their duties,
nor the palace maids who had always chattered in bright voices.
Glory reduced to lumps of charcoal.
Vitality and life completely extinguished.
The beauty with hair as lovely as the night sky faced the fall of an era with a skeptical gaze. Remembering her past ambitions and vows to revive the collapsing Han Dynasty only made it more wretched.
"You seem to be feeling sentimental, Mengde."
A noble lady with lustrous blonde hair stepped forward. Her smile was bitter as she beheld the ruins so devastated that they were unrecognizable.
Luoyang.
The brilliant glory built by Emperor Guangwu.
In the end, it met its demise, utterly destroyed by the greatest traitor of all time.
"To resist the tyranny of Wang Mang, who had descended into the greatest of traitors, the countless forces of the Green Forest Army and the Red Eyebrows invaded Chang'an City, destroying the palaces and carrying out a massive looting. So it was that the Chang'an City built by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, fell into ruin... and Emperor Guangwu, Liu Xiu, relocated the capital to Luoyang and built new palaces, opening a new dynasty."
"It's an eternal truth... In the end, history endlessly repeats itself. Imperial clan members who harbor ambitions of becoming the new emperor will move on a grand scale. To follow in Emperor Guangwu's sacred footsteps."
A new dynasty.
A new capital.
And a new Son of Heaven.
Numerous cadet imperial clan members began to move toward usurpation.
Among all the Han Imperial House's schemers, the most unrivaled front-runner was the Coalition Army's Alliance Leader, Liu Seong-hwi. The Hero of the South, who sought to enthrone his own father as the emperor of a new dynasty, would expand his power by drawing the Guandong lords to his side one by one.
Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's prediction was spot on.
Liu Seong-hwi immediately summoned the Guandong lords to the East Palace.
* * *
Wandering around the ash-filled squares and streets for just a short while, one could witness mountains of blackened, charred skulls.
They were the victims who could not escape the calamity.
Traces of death were everywhere in Luoyang.
Not only incinerated corpses, but the bodies of those massacred and plundered lined the ground in droves.
The Guandong lords, who had entered Luoyang flaunting their majestic dignity, scattered in terror and convulsed the moment they witnessed the signs of mass slaughter. For the white-faced scholars who had spent their entire lives reciting classics at their desks, the horrors of Luoyang were the stuff of nightmares.
"Dong Zhuo trampled the imperial palace and destroyed countless homes! To stop us, who have broken through Sishui Pass, from advancing any further, he carried out a heaven-defying scorched-earth tactic!"
"Scout reports say he has robbed the royal tombs of past emperors and feudal lords! And he framed and executed countless Scholar-Officials and local gentry in Luoyang on false charges!"
The atrocities committed by Dong Zhuo's army were laid bare. As the troops revealed one crime after another, the Guandong lords trembled and raged in fury.
They are beasts, no doubt about it.
How can they wear a human face and commit such heinous, capital crimes?
Luoyang had lost its seemingly eternal glory and power and had utterly collapsed. No fervor or hope could be found on the faces of the lords as they witnessed the charred black ruins.
'Damn it...! How many supplies have we burned through!'
'I heard the Southern and North Palaces are completely burned, but the East Palace miraculously escaped the disaster. If that's the case, couldn't we strip the East Palace's halls and pavilions bare and obtain the Imperial House's gold, silver, and jewels...?'
Spoils of war.
Spoils of war are the proof and symbol that embody the victor's glory.
We cannot return empty-handed. How much personal fortune had they sunk into conscripting and training soldiers in their posts? And factoring in the investment in armor, weapons, rations, and supplies, the cost was staggering.
They must secure plunder, even if it means looting the palaces.
Rare treasures.
Gold and jewels radiating brilliant luster.
And colorful silks and the finest artworks, too.
The massive fortune that Emperor Ling, Liu Hong, and his eunuchs had amassed by selling offices across the Central Plains might still remain. The Guandong lords, while putting on a hypocritical display of valuing face and decorum, revealed their inner desire to pillage the spoils.
"Everyone, listen up."
Thud.
Liu Seong-hwi struck the table, drawing the lords' attention.
"The young emperor and the court ministers have been forcibly taken to Chang'an, and the palaces are burnt to cinders. The streets and districts, blackened beyond recognition, are filled only with the smell of acrid death, and the people caught in the vortex of calamity fell to the spears and swords of Dong Zhuo's army."
The lords swallowed heavily, recalling the horrors of ash and corpses. They raised their heads and listened carefully to Liu Seong-hwi's words.
"The dignity of the Imperial House has vanished with the ashes, and the order of the Imperial Court has met its tragic end, like the rotting corpses of the people left carelessly in the squares. With the capital burned down and hundreds of thousands of people dragged off to Chang'an City... do we not now have a duty to govern the Central Plains in place of this completely fallen Imperial House and court?"
The survival of the young emperor and the court ministers, who had been taken to Chang'an City, was impossible to confirm. In this situation, Liu Seong-hwi asserted that the Han Imperial House and its court had completely lost their Heavenly Fortune and Heavenly Mandate.
Guandong is now essentially a lawless land.
The lords, each gauging the others' reactions, voiced concern over the power vacuum left by the Imperial House and court.
"To restore the rule of law and order in the Central Plains, the reign of a powerful king is needed. If we cannot quickly settle the chaos in Guandong, the Dong Zhuo army, having retreated to Chang'an City, will surely seek to plot for the realm once more."
Liu Seong-hwi signaled.
At that, Liu Bei produced a treasure of the realm that radiated a lustrous jade hue.
The Imperial Jade Seal.
It was the symbol representing the authority and legitimacy of the Han Imperial House.
There was no way the Guandong lords, many of whom had held high office in the Imperial Court, did not know of the Imperial Seal. Upon seeing the faint and glorious, supreme jade color, they recoiled in shock and shrieked.
"O-Oh, the Imperial Seal?!"
"A jade gleam with a blue luster...! It is undeniably the Imperial Jade Seal!!"
Carved from the legendary He Shi Bi jade, the Imperial Jade Seal was a treasure permitted only to the emperor of a unified empire that had conquered the Central Plains. Engraved with dragons and phoenixes symbolizing nobility, the Imperial Jade Seal instantly captivated the lords' eyes and ears.
Admiration and surprise.
A sense of unease rooted in anxiety.
And jealousy and envy born of greed rained down.
Mandate Received from Heaven; May It Endure Forever.
-Having received its mandate from Heaven, may its lifespan be long and everlasting.
When Li Si, the Chancellor of the Qin Dynasty—the first unified empire—carved the Imperial Jade Seal under the orders of the First Emperor, Ying Zheng, he engraved these eight characters, wishing for immortality. The eight characters, redolent with ancient dignity and solemn authority, proved that the treasure before their eyes was a genuine and intact article.
"The Heavenly Mandate and Heavenly Fortune are with us."
They had obtained the Imperial Jade Seal.
It had been granted to the Southern Heir amid terrible calamity and turmoil.
This was the Heavenly Mandate, the Heavenly Fortune.
It must mean that Heaven has designated the emperor of a new dynasty.
The lords, who placed great stock in traditional cause and legitimacy, expressed their astonishment and wonder. Since the Imperial Seal that was supposed to be safeguarded by the Seal Keeper had flown to a powerful cadet imperial clan member, they could not help but think it was "Heaven's will."