Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 101.

Happy New Year, everyone.

This is our first episode of 2017,

and as we bid goodbye to 2016 in our own time, we are about to bid

goodbye to the Han Dynasty in our narrative.

Last time, all the court officials were turning up the heat on the emperor to abdicate and

give his throne to Cao Pi.

They even went so far as to execute the guy in charge of the imperial seal

when he refused to hand it over.

Seeing that the court officials were knocked messing around

and seeing a few hundred of Cao Pi's armed guards hanging around the main hall of his palace, the emperor

wept and informed the officials.

I am willing to cede the empire to the king of Wei. I hope he will allow me to live out my

years in peace. His highness will not mistreat you, the official Jia Xu told the emperor,

You should immediately issue a decree so as to put everyone at ease.

So the emperor asked Chen Chun, one of Cao Pi's top officials, to draft the decree,

which another of Cao Pi's trusted officials, Hua Xin, then carried off to his

master, followed by all the other officials. The emperor's decree said,

My 32-year reign has seen great trouble in the land. Fortunately, the spirits of my forefathers have rescued me from peril. But now,

having observed the patterns of the heavens and peered into the hearts of the people, I see that

the cycle of the element of fire has expired, and a new element corresponding to to the house of Cao, now reigns.

...