by Luo Guanzhong
5After He Jin received the petition, he showed it to his ministers. Assistant oversight advisor Zheng Tai admon- ished, "Dong Zhuo is a wolf and a jackal, if he enters the capital, it will most certainly be people that he devours." Jin replied, "You have too many doubts, and are not up to the task of planning for great things." Lu Zhi also admonished, "I know Dong Zhuo's character all too well, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.[4] Once he enters the palace, it will surely become a catastrophe. It is better to not allow him to enter the capital, in order to avoid chaos."
6
He Jin would not listen, so Zheng Tai and Lu Zhi resigned their posts and left. More than half of the senior ministers at court departed. Jin sent someone to meet with Dong Zhuo at Mianchi, and Zhuo temporarily held back his army. Zhang Rang and his cohorts knew of the arrival of the outside army, and discussed the matter, saying, "This is a plot of He Jin's; if we don't take action first, it will be the death of us." So they sent 50 armed guards to hide inside the gate to Jiade Hall within Changle Palace. They then went to see Empress Dowager He, saying, "The supreme general has now issued a forged decree which calls for outside armies to enter the capital. They want to destroy us. Please take pity, and save us." The empress dowager replied, "You could all go to the residence of the supreme general and apologize for your transgressions." Rang said, "If we were to go to the residence of the chancellor, he would make mince meat out of us. We would like for you to summon the supreme general to the palace, and command him to stop. If he does not comply, then all we can do is come before you and ask to be put to death."
Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Lays of Ancient Rome by Macaulay.
This is one of four great novels from China, published when it was the most highly civilization in the world. Map shows China at the time of this story.
Chapter Summary: How Dong Zhuo rebukes Ding Yuan in the Garden of Warmth and Brightness; Li Su wins over Lü Bu with offerings of gold and pearls.
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This translation from Wikipedia. See license CC-BY-SA.
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