Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 5.

A big thank you to those of you who have visited our website and left me comments.

Knowing that I actually have an audience is a huge motivation for me to

keep going and keep improving. If you haven't been to the website, when you're done with this episode,

swing by three kingdomspodcast.com, spell with the number three, and check out supplemental

materials like maps of the key locations mentioned in each episode,

and links to additional information.

Also, a quick programming note.

At the request of a listener, the website now has the transcript for each episode.

These are the rough scripts and don't exactly match the audio word for word, but they're pretty close, so enjoy.

All right, when we last left off, Dong Zhuo had just declared to the ministers that he was going to depose the sitting emperor and replace him with his brother, the nine-year-old lord of Chen Liu.

No minister dared to make a sound at first, but then one man, Yuan Shao, stepped forward and

accused Dong Zhuo of treason.

Dong Zhuo did not take this piece of constructive criticism very well.

The empire's in my hands.

When I decide to do something, who dares to say no?

Do you want to see how sharp my sword is? He scowled at Yuan Shao as he pulled out his sword.

Your sword? Do you think my sword isn't sharp? Yuan Shao shot back as his blade flashed out as well.

Deng Zhuo was just about to take a swing at Yuan Shao,

but his advisor and wet blanket, Li Rue, stopped him once again.

You can't kill people rashly while the issue remains unsettled,

...