HLCOB C32

Chapter 32

In the end, the hand behind it was not found.

Though the tonic was said to have been prepared by Cai Yong, he was not the sort to kill Jaheon—if anything, he would revive him—and, unlike other officials, he did not care much for power struggles. After all, had he not flown into a rage at Hongdu because Jaheon had “used letters” to become a Yirang?

“Im Jaheon.”

Zhang Rang snapped at Jaheon, who was seated in a quiet corner of the palace where few came and went.

“Have you no mind to stop that old man Cai Yong from tearing about the place?”

At his words, Jaheon lifted a shoulder.

“If Master Chae dotes on me, what can be done? Until the culprit is found, let him rage.”

“…If it were possible to find the culprit, would I have come to see you?!”

Since Wang Bo’s fall, Zhang Rang had behaved with a certain cooperation toward Jaheon, yet his manner remained far from pleasant.

“The young eunuch who boiled the decoction claims Wang Bo gave the order. It will be hard to identify the culprit.”

It was not strange; Jaheon had clearly become Wang Bo’s mortal enemy. Yet who would listen now to the fallen Wang Bo? He had never had much personal support.

“It will not be Wang Bo.”

“I know that. But two or three among the eunuchs are trying to bury the affair. That is why I said the culprit would not be found.”

“So the palace is still the eunuchs’ world.”

“Wang Bo’s seat has not yet been filled. Are you asking the obvious?”

How many posts had Wang Bo’s faction held?

From the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who managed the imperial household’s personal assets, to the Henan Governor who governed Luoyang, to the Commandant of the Capital who guarded the Emperor—only offices that either held military power capable of seizing Luoyang in an emergency or financial power to reap vast gains.

And when Wang Yun, the Censor-in-Chief with the power of investigation, arrived, further inquiries into this matter would begin, and vacancies would surely grow.

“They think that if they fill all those vacancies, those dullards can regain their former sway.”

“His Majesty will never allow it.”

On this Jaheon could stake certainty.

It had not been Jaheon who decided to dismiss Wang Bo; Jaheon had only persuaded the Emperor. The decision itself had been the Emperor’s. Which meant the Emperor no longer intended to give power to the eunuchs.

“If the Throne does not permit such power to you, then what?”

What was more, power was the Emperor’s taboo.

It was the taboo of a ruler who had been born outside the palace and forced to enter it lacking any respectable power. And the capital’s military command was a force that could overturn all in an instant; the Emperor would not lightly entrust posts that held it to just anyone. If he had entrusted such power to Wang Bo, it had been because he could purge him at any time.

“If they understood that, would they be trying to kill you now?”

At Zhang Rang’s words, Jaheon gave a short laugh.

“…It is strange to hear such from Your Excellency, who once sought to kill me.”

“Ha! Do you think your importance is what it was then?”

Now that Wang Bo had been purged and the eunuchs were in collapse, Jaheon was, to the Emperor, the crucial bait to replace them. In the past, had Jaheon been struck, there might have been a scolding and it would end; now it would be different. Not only heads—three generations might be exterminated.

Still, with Wang Bo’s dismissal, the eunuchs were greatly aggrieved against Jaheon.

“Hence your demotion of He Jin was your mistake.”

So Zhang Rang murmured.

“Dolt he was, He Jin served well enough as a screen. He should have been extracted somehow.”

He Jin was affinal kin; with him, there would have been cover enough—just as Wang Bo had tried to use He Jin to flee.

“What is to be done if Wang Bo acted thus. Your Excellency should have stopped him rather than sought to use it.”

“You… it is because you act so that I tried to kill you…!”

Shouting in anger, Zhang Rang let out a sigh.

“Ha.”

In any case, now they were in the same boat—until he made Lady He Empress and Lady He’s son Liu Bian Crown Prince. Grinding his teeth, Zhang Rang spoke.

“Enough—state your business briefly.”

And added, with venom,

“No one knows I am helping you, so if this is exposed, you too will be in trouble.”

The Emperor might know, but since that day no one else knew that Zhang Rang and Jaheon had made common cause. Zhang Rang had taken Wang Bo’s place as head of the eunuchs; Jaheon had become a rising notable of the Qingliu. In court, the two were obvious enemies.

That point was also one Jaheon had aimed for.

“Then only learn for me who is prodding the other eunuchs.”

For Zhang Rang’s existence could be Jaheon’s hidden trump—

As now.

“…You mean there is a hand behind this?”

Zhang Rang’s brows twitched as he asked.

The Emperor’s favor for Jaheon still endured. Even without knowing the reason, the Emperor cherished him; the curious part was that. Now, even if Jaheon died, there was no guarantee imperial favor would return to the eunuchs—rather, the eunuchs would be cast out.

In short, Jaheon’s death would bring the eunuchs no benefit beyond venting spite.

But it was otherwise for those not of the eunuchs.

“Yes.”

Thus there surely was.

“There will be those who are waiting for the court to split.”

In Luoyang, there was a predator holding its breath.

“It seems likely Qingliu.”

Ironically, in the record of events, the incident that utterly cut off the Han’s breath was the eunuchs’ fall.

When the eunuchs, the Emperor’s guard, fell and the Emperor’s power collapsed, the regional lords who coveted that power flocked to Luoyang.

Another name for those lords was “Qingliu.”

For unlike the eunuchs, the Qingliu were a force built upon the provincial gentry. They claimed to stand for the Han house, yet paradoxically were a force that could survive even if the center fell.

“But the Partisan Prohibitions have not yet been lifted; there will be no Qingliu figures in Luoyang with influence.”

Thus Jaheon thought this assassination attempt the work of the Qingliu side.

But he had only suspicion, no evidence.

If one included the regional lords, the scope of “Qingliu figures” was broad. And if one added those who had been Turbid Stream but would become Qingliu, they were beyond counting.

“Haah.”

Sighing, Jaheon set down the crown cap he had been wearing.

“A headache.”

This was unlike when there had been a clear enemy—the eunuchs. So long as the eunuchs existed as foe, all Qingliu were allies. But now that the eunuchs had collapsed and a vacuum had opened in power, could the Qingliu be considered allies? And could those Turbid Stream who had kept distance from the eunuchs be counted as enemies?

Allies and enemies were mixed.

And among them, those who could be called Jaheon’s clear allies were few.

“Even if any, only Cai Yong and O Juk‑yeop…”

But O Juk‑yeop, being a servant given by Wang Yun, had limits to what he could do; and Cai Yong, for all his fame among scholars born of his stubbornness, had little practical influence in court.

“Lacking in men.”

In this chaos, people were needed who could surely protect him. A few figures rose and fell in his mind.

“It must be solved before Choseon arrives…”

If this point were not solved, the attack aimed at him might go to Choseon.

As Jaheon was sunken in thought—

“My loooord!”

Bang—!

Tear‑ and snot‑streaked, O Juk‑yeop threw the door open and shouted as he burst in.

“……?”

“What villain put poison before my lord…! The eunuchs! It must be those eunuchs! If my lord goes like this, how can I hold my shoulders high and live…!”

At the sight, Jaheon asked evenly,

“…When did I die, exactly, O Juk‑yeop?”

At his voice, O Juk‑yeop blinked, coming to his senses. The Jaheon said to have taken poison was quite fine! Seeing Jaheon sitting hale, he beamed and said,

“As expected! I knew it! Our lord would never die to a mere poison…!”

Come to think, was he not the one who uncannily read people’s hearts and tinkered up marvelous things? Jaheon would not die to a mere poison.

“Rather, it would be our lord putting poison in the eunuchs’ food!”

In high spirits, O Juk‑yeop blurted out.

“……?”

At that, Jaheon raised a brow. Feeling the room’s air grow cold, O Juk‑yeop hurriedly added,

“N‑no! That is to say, you are that formidable, my lord… ha. Ha.”

At that, Jaheon let out a deep sigh.

“Enough. Was there anything else?”

Watching his mood, O Juk‑yeop grinned.

“Of course nothing else! It is you who must be careful, my lord. There are hundreds lined up saying they would see you…! Do you know how hard it is for this humble one to keep those lists in order?”

At those words, Jaheon recalled what he had forgotten.

“They are still at it.”

He had told O Juk‑yeop to keep organizing the lists of those who sought to meet him.

Frankly, there had been no result.

The great houses in Luoyang had long since sent feelers to Jaheon, and the regional lords still did not quite trust him.

Moreover, aside from those who would become lords—Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, and so on—useful talents were mostly just born or not yet born. Yet he could not refuse to take anyone at all.

For talents were not absent entirely.

“Since you mention it—show me the list. I should at least check it.”

“Ah. Here it is.”

O Juk‑yeop took a bamboo slip from his robe and handed it over. As Jaheon looked over it—

“No one that matches memory yet…”

One name, half‑written and struck through, caught his eye.

[Ma Suseong]

Jaheon asked,

“Who is this man?”

“Eh? Ah, haha. That… is nothing, truly nothing. A woodcutter who, needing money, tried to put his name on the list to meet you, my lord. His circumstances sounded pitiable, you see. So I meant to have him do hauling and give him some money…”

“……?”

Watching O Juk‑yeop babble, Jaheon said,

“I will see him tomorrow.”

“Eh?”

“Judging by how you speak, you know him?”

“Well, my lord! He is a good sort! He did not mean to cheat you of silver…”

“…? I am not calling him for cheating silver.”

Jaheon, giving O Juk‑yeop—who seemed suspiciously chummy with Ma Teng—a sidelong look, said,

“I am calling him because he seems to have talent for the martial.”

“…Eh?”

Ma Teng.

Style name Suseong.

A general whom Jaheon’s modern memory recalled.

Father of Ma Chao, who would become one of Shu’s Five Tiger Generals, he rose from a poor woodcutter to a warlord of Liangzhou; a wolfish warlord who sought to strike at the backs of every powerful minister who grasped central power, and…

“He looks like the sort who’d be good at slaughtering hogs.”

A commander who even gave the greatest villain of the Three Kingdoms, Dong Zhuo, a hard time.

Footnotes:

• The capital command posts (Henan Governor, Commandant of the Capital, Keeper of the Privy Purse) concentrated military and fiscal leverage; control of these determined who could seize Luoyang in a crisis. 
• Ma Teng (style Suseong) later emerges as a Liangzhou warlord and father of Ma Chao; recognizing him as a “woodcutter” foreshadows recruiting future military power from humble origins.