Abandon Luoyang
Yuan Shao kept his eyes open through the night. Dawn broke, and still no one knew where the emperor was. His insides had burned to cinders; he drank cold water to ease the fire in his throat.
"We have confirmed that Zhang Rang and Duan Gui left with His Majesty. How far can a pair of men past seventy possibly get? I believe we will have the emperor back before the day is out."
Feng Ji's optimistic counsel did nothing to smooth the furrow between Yuan Shao's brows. He trusted Min Gong and Lu Zhi, who had gone in search of the emperor, but Dong Zhuo lodged in his throat like a thorn he could not swallow.
"And Dong Zhuo?"
"Still missing."
The stripped title carried a sharp edge of hostility. Feng Ji found it strange, but the air was thin ice, and he chose to keep his mouth shut.
The situation was a mess. Cao Cao and Chen Lin remained at Yuan Shao's side to advise him, while Wu Kuang, Lu Zhi, Dong Min, and the others who actually held troops were run ragged putting Luoyang's chaos to rights. Worse still, after General-in-Chief He Jin, General of Chariots and Cavalry He Miao was dead as well — and He Miao had fallen to their own man, Wu Kuang. Small wonder the command of the General-in-Chief's Manor had come apart.
Yuan Shao nominally led it, but he was only Middle Colonel of the Western Garden Eight Colonels, and the limits of that post were plain. With its center gone, the manor's forces had scattered and were moving each to their own purpose.
I have to get His Majesty back into the palace at once. Then I become General-in-Chief, seize the army, and drive Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan out.
Yuan Shao bit his lip.
Otherwise, just as the youngest said, Luoyang will be a sea of fire. Something worse than that may come.
Summoning Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan had been a plain blunder. He hated to admit it, but that was the truth. Yuan Shao pressed the tangle in his chest down and called for Cao Cao.
"Mengde."
"I'm listening, Benchu."
Yuan Shao glanced about and lowered his voice.
"Watch the Commandant of the Imperial Carriages."
"Why?"
"If the elder brother strikes from outside and the younger opens the gate from within, every one of us is a dead man."
Cao Cao twisted his mouth into a thin grin. Dong Zhuo and Dong Min were full brothers.
"A reasonable suspicion. If it looks like trouble, I'll report at once."
The explanation need not be long. Cao Cao understood at a glance and withdrew without another word. Dong Min held troops, and Cao Cao had none; there was little he could do. So Yuan Shao had asked only for a watch. If Dong Min looked ready to rebel, the appeal would have to go to Lu Zhi or Wu Kuang.
"Please... let nothing go wrong."
Yuan Shao's sigh cut through the heavy air of the General-in-Chief's Manor.
"Middle Colonel. Disaster."
Yuan Shao, who had kept vigil all night, had only just slipped into a doze when his eyes flew open. Feng Ji's urgent voice blew the sleep away at once.
"The General of the Front has seized His Majesty and the Prince of Chenliu after all. More than three thousand Liangzhou troops are escorting them, and their momentum is vicious."
Yuan Shao dry-washed his face, fighting to gather himself. Not merely the worst he had feared — a calamity had arrived.
"It's all or nothing now. Call the Inspector of Bingzhou into the city as well."
Guo Tu cut in as if he had been waiting for the opening.
"If you mean to check the General of the Front, there is no blade sharper than the Inspector of Bingzhou."
"A wolf is already in the house, and you would invite a jackal too?"
"Better than being the wolf's meal this very moment, isn't it?"
He was not wrong. With the manor's command in ruins, its troops alone could hardly face a Dong Zhuo riding high. Yuan Shao tasted bitterness.
"First we go out to receive them. But we take charge of His Majesty alone. Dong Zhuo's Liangzhou troops stay bound outside the walls."
"Will that ambitious wolf listen?"
At Chen Lin's skeptical question, Yuan Shao took up his helmet and answered.
"He'll have to. That is our justification."
He issued the order at once.
"Scrape together every man of the General-in-Chief's Manor and make for the northern Grain Gate."
"Isn't the Xia Gate closer?"
"Dong Zhuo hungers to show himself off. He won't take the narrow Xia Gate. He'll want to enter in full view through the broad, imposing Grain Gate."
Luoyang's walls had twelve gates; on the north stood the Grain Gate and the Xia Gate. Having met the emperor in the hills of Beimang, Dong Zhuo was advancing south from the city's northern side. Yuan Shao's judgment was swift. He set his robes and cap in order and mounted at once.
On the road to the Grain Gate, ministers of the court joined them, and Lu Zhi, Dong Min, and Wu Kuang brought their troops. Together they made a respectable host. Only when Yuan Shao saw that great mass did he feel a measure of relief.
Those high lords who are nothing but empty titles haven't so much as shown their noses.
Most of the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers, who ordinarily strutted, had barred their gates and were holding their breath. The clash between the General-in-Chief's Manor and the Ten Attendants had been that savage. That they did not show themselves was, in a way, understandable.
The Grain Gate.
From the slopes of Beimang, dust rose like a cloud. The tremor that shook the earth arrived first, and then the vicious Liangzhou troops came into view. Beneath the lead banner the emperor could be seen, rigid with fear. The Prince of Chenliu was there as well, but Yuan Shao's eyes held only the emperor.
He swallowed dryly. He ordered Wu Kuang and the others to form ranks, then advanced before the emperor, clasped his hands, and pressed his brow to the ground.
"Your Majesty! Your servant Yuan Shao comes late. Has your sacred person taken any harm? Forgive our disloyalty."
Led by Yuan Shao, the civil and military officers of the manor and the ministers of court struck their brows to the earth as one.
"R-rise... We are unharmed."
The emperor's voice shook. Yuan Shao and the officials rose, chanting that the imperial grace was boundless. Their eyes naturally fixed on the man guarding the emperor's side — enormous, even for a cavalryman.
So that is Dong Zhuo.
Meeting the gleam of greed and ambition in those eyes, Yuan Shao felt a dizzy lurch. Of all men, this one had the emperor in his keeping. He hid his discomfort and opened with careful courtesy.
"General of the Front, you have had a long, hard road."
"You are too kind."
"We will attend His Majesty from here. You should rest. By custom, troops from outside the capital may not enter the city, so leave your men beyond the walls."
Yuan Shao's argument was orderly. Dong Zhuo only snorted.
"Hah. Custom?"
He treated Yuan Shao as if the man were not there at all, turned, and looked down upon the emperor. The sheer pressure of it made the young sovereign shrink in terror.
"Your Majesty, do you trust the words of the General-in-Chief's officers? You saw with your own eyes how their soldiers burst into the palace and slaughtered the eunuchs. How can you entrust your safety to those bloodstained hands?"
"Th-that..."
"You need not worry. This general will see you safely kept. Grant the Liangzhou troops leave to enter the city."
Dong Zhuo pressed him hard, eyes rolling white. To the emperor, Yuan Shao's party were butchers, while Dong Zhuo looked like the savior who had come to fetch him.
"I... I grant it. General of the Front, protect us."
"Then I will bring the Liangzhou troops inside as well."
"Granted."
"Your grace is boundless. Your servant, General of the Front Dong Zhuo, will serve Your Majesty with a loyal heart."
It was over in an instant. Dong Zhuo's complete victory, wrought from the emperor's fear. Yuan Shao's brow twitched.
Dong Zhuo drew his sword and roared. The cold-edged Liangzhou troops leveled their spearpoints, bared their killing intent, and began to advance.
"Your Majesty! The General of the Front is a dangerous man who once defied even the late emperor's orders. Even if you admit him, the Liangzhou troops must remain outside the walls! This will only deepen the chaos. I beg you — withdraw the command!"
Yuan Shao offered the remonstrance as if spitting blood. Lu Zhi and the other civil and military officers likewise prostrated themselves, crying out for the imperial order to be revoked. The manor's soldiers blocking the Grain Gate sweated in their palms. The thought flashed through them that battle might break out at any moment.
Dong Zhuo did not hesitate.
"Push through. Any bastard who blocks us is a traitor. Kill them all! I'll take the responsibility."
He advanced pressed close against the emperor's horse, bellowing at the top of his lungs. The emperor was his shield. The distance closed until the two hosts were a breath from collision. The emperor's face went white as paper.
"Fall back! We will see no more blood!"
He gave the order as if screaming. Yuan Shao bit his lip. With the emperor like that, there was nothing to be done.
"...Open the way."
Like an ebbing tide, the manor's troops drew back from the Grain Gate. Once there was space for an army to pass, Dong Zhuo's forces strolled through and entered the city. As he brushed past Yuan Shao, he spoke quietly.
When Yuan Shao whipped his head around, Dong Zhuo was already vanishing through the gate, wearing the thin smile of a victor.
It was the moment a new master of Luoyang was born.
Once inside Luoyang, Dong Zhuo toyed with the manor's civil and military officers — men raised gently in great houses — as if they were playthings. He set his younger brother Dong Min to shake the manor from within and buy its generals. At night he secretly sent troops out beyond the walls; at dawn he had them march back in to the thunder of drums. Watching ranks that seemed to follow endlessly upon one another, the officers came to believe Dong Zhuo's host was swelling without end.
Fear spread like a plague. Cao Cao tried everything to stop Dong Min, but a man with no troops of his own had clear limits. In the end he had no choice but to give up halfway and withdraw.
That evening Yuan Shao returned home dead drunk.
"Dong Zhuo — that butcher — I will tear him apart with my own hands!"
The wine table went over with a crash. The strategists rushed in, but Yuan Shao's rage would not easily subside.
"I... I have destroyed the Han with my own hands."
He collapsed and beat the floor, wailing. The strategists hung their heads and wept as well. The extreme measures they had taken had been, to the last, an act of loyalty: cut out the rot that was the Ten Attendants and set the realm upright. Even if they seized power, they had not the slightest thought of running mad as Dong Zhuo did. Yet Dong Zhuo, holding that power, was already swaggering as if he himself were emperor. And Yuan Shao had helped him to it. That was why he blamed himself and sobbed.
The next day Yuan Shao did not rise until the sun stood high. He had received the high office of Colonel-Director of Retainers, but it was an empty shell. Dong Zhuo's checks were so relentless that there was nothing he could properly do.
Father summoned me late that night. A chance, after a tedious wait. This meeting mattered. I swallowed dryly before I knew it.
"Please take care of yourself. I fear for your health."
When I greeted him with all due respect, the corner of Father's mouth lifted bitterly.
"What use is health to a criminal who has ruined the realm?"
He swallowed a sigh and seated me close.
"You must have been desperate to know how the world outside was turning. How did you endure it?"
"Honestly, I was crawling out of my skin."
I answered with a sheepish smile, and Father broke into a short laugh. An honest appetite eased his mood better than any ritual comfort. Once the air had softened a little, he seemed to make up his mind and laid out the situation. At times he raged; at times he struck his chest. Watching him, my heart ached.
As I had expected, it was hopeless. Already half the manor's troops had fallen into Dong Zhuo's grasp. Lu Zhi and Wu Kuang were still holding out, and Inspector of Bingzhou Ding Yuan had joined them and briefly halted Dong Zhuo's rampage — but it was only a stopgap. The core of power in Luoyang remained in Dong Zhuo's hands, and no one could say how long this precarious peace would last.
The explanation ended. I steadied my breath and looked at Father.
"Father."
"Speak."
A faint expectation clung to his voice. Proof that he no longer saw me as a boy of eleven. To answer that trust, I spoke as calmly as I could, my face set.
"Luoyang?"
For the first time, Father's eyes wavered.