Steve, Jude, Gongjin and Drew unite to discuss what had gone wrong with the Han. As the novel descends into the civil war, we look at what had gone wrong in the longer term for the Han that had led to the kind of revolts that opens the novel. Finances, foreign policy, instability at court, decisions made in the last years of peace, while Gongjin talks of the impact of a changing climate adding strain upon the Han.

Jude's first time as editing so any feedback on how he can improve is welcome. Transcript

Timings:

Problems at Court: 01:37

Climate Change: 28:53

Foreign Affairs: 43:29

Last Years of Peace: 56:48

Goodbye: 67:37

Artwork by Zhaolie

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

On Friday will be the closing episode of season 2, discussing the Han's decline with Steve, Jude, Gongjin and Drew reunited. Clips from eunuch discussions, military expenses and inconsistency, climate change, late reform while we discuss much more in the episode itself. So come join us for Friday's discussion.

Artwork by Zhaolie

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

Steve and Jude joined are by Benjamin, known as Archlich on tumblr and also his three kingdom wordpress articles in The Classical Amateur. The episode is to discuss chapter 4 of the novel as the Han is now firmly in dangerous hands: Dong Zhuo’s use of power now he has the Empire in his grasp, treatment of the royal family including the formidable Dowager He and a poem from the once Emperor (from Yang Zhengyuan’s translations in Last Emperor) and how Cao Cao’s plots really put him off Steve’s guest list.

Transcript

Timings:

02:51 Dong Zhuo in control

20:41: What to do with an Emperor

31:05 Cao Cao Intervenes

51:33 End Phase

Artwork by Zhaolie

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

Chapter 4: Not Ideal Party Guest coming on Friday with Steve, Jude and Benjamin (Archlich of tumblr), discussing Dong Zhuo’s now cemented control of the capital, Dowager He’s formidability, why Steve will not be inviting Cao Cao to his next party and a sad poem.

Artwork by Zhaolie

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

Steve and Jude are joined by Cat from the sosz and tumblr community to discuss chapter 3 of the novel: He Jin’s clash with the eunuchs, flight of princes and the arrival of the corrupt general Dong Zhuo, finding a vacuum of power amidst the fire and chaos. We say hello to one of the great warriors in Lu Bu, great of strength but perhaps not in filial loyalty.

We worked on the sound so we are hoping for a more even pitch. Let us know if that worked for you.

⁠Transcript ⁠

Timings:

He Jin vs Eunuchs: 02:33

Dong Zhuo: 27:15

Han Princes: 37:36

Ding Yuan vs Lu Bu: 44:39

End phase: 59:30

Artwork by Zhaolie

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

Trailer for episode 3 Blood and Fire, the start of a new season. Clips on Yuan Shao's motives, Dong Zhuo's background and the appropriate reaction to such a thoughtful gift. On Friday, Steve, Jude and a new guest will be discussing chapter three of the novel and the history of the time amidst chaos and violence at court.

Artwork by Zhaolie Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

With his second book three kingdoms Heroes of Chaos book launched this week, Steve and Jude interview Baptiste Pinson Wu (at the time, was not our editor) about his first book Yellow Sky Revolt, the main character Liao Hua, the Yellow Turbans, Cao Cao and the three kingdoms generally. A friendly chat, we decided to let this run the full length. This interview is going to relax our no spoiler about the era rule so avoid if you wish to avoid hearing about what happens beyond the Yellow Turbans.

Baptiste Pinson Wu various media can be found here including his website, his youtube channel Back in Fiction and twitter while his books can be found on likes of Amazon and Good Reads.

Steve on Tumblr and Jude on tumblr have both reviewed the first book. If looking for non-spoilery reviews, we suggest looking at ToriTalks: she is someone who's coming to Yellow Sky Revolt unfamiliar with the era, that will give you a good idea how accessible it is for you

This is the end of our first season, The Rise of the Yellow Sky, with season 2 going to be following on the chaos at the Han court, chapters 3 and 4 of the novel and another deep dive, a season with both new and existing guests. Will be a delay till season two but we hope to see you again soon.

Chapter timings

00:00 Intro

02:15 Book Writing

19:15 Three Kingdoms

42:55 Yellow Turbans

52:50 Cao Cao

01:11:29 Book Two Heroes of Chaos and Newsletter

Transcript

Artwork with permission from Baptiste

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger

Steve, Jude (hosting this time) and Gongjin return to discuss the Yellow Turbans. Topics of conversation are the history of the Turbans, their beliefs, what we know of them, who they were and why things went so badly for them.

Our first deep dive, focused solely on the history of the subject (in this case, the Turbans) rather then a novel chapter and it's themes. Will be doing these at appropriate junctures where a character has died or a major event worth exploring has passed.

We are aware of the sound varying, sound is better on episode 3 Fire and Blood onwards, we aim to go back to fix said sound variation with our editor.

Date of Taiping Jing

Chapter timings:

00:00 Intro

01:03 What We Know

15:05 Context in which they rose

21:42 Turban plot

29:40 The War

48:43 Aftermath

56:58 Goodbye

Transcript can be found

Artwork by Zhaolie

Music is Sao Meo Orchestral Mix by Doug Maxwell/Zac Zinger