In the great hall, the assembled ministers were noisy, then quiet.
Uneasy expressions marked many faces. What had happened to the world?
How could just anyone come to Luoyang, the mighty imperial capital?
Empress Dowager He took the letter Dong Zhuo had sent and read it. A single glance was enough to enrage her. Looking at the assembled ministers, she snorted coldly. "Rebels!"
The ministers grew even more curious about what sort of letter could anger Empress Dowager He so much. Then they heard a eunuch read it aloud.
"Zhuo, appointed assistant regent by the late emperor's edict, General Who Conquers the West with emblem-holding authority, Sili Commandant, Acting Governor of Liangzhou, Acting Protector General of the Western Regions, and appointed by imperial edict as Grand Marshal, Grand Preceptor, and Chancellor of the Secretariat, respectfully addresses the Empress Dowager, the King of Yingchuan, and the assembled ministers of Luoyang."
Those words alone left the ministers in the hall unable to keep their composure. No wonder the Empress Dowager was so angry.
Dong Zhuo had put such a long string of titles before his name, first those conferred by Emperor Ling, then those conferred by the current emperor. He was nakedly declaring that, under both the previous reign and the present one, he, Dong Zhuo, was foremost in all under heaven, and by rights he should be the one to rule it.
The late emperor might have been Emperor Ling, but could they truly ignore his edicts?
How many of them had attained prominence because of Emperor Ling?
Although a posthumous title had trampled Emperor Ling into history's rubbish heap, to the point that he had to be skipped even when counting the Great Han's former emperors, who dared repeal his edicts?
How dare he denounce them as bandits? He was