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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, AND IS PART OF A COMPLETE BREAKFAST...
Ahhhhhh, Chapter 10. Dong Zhuo's fat, bloated corpse, rejected by Mother Nature Herself, can do little but lay there and ooze gravy out of every pore. I suppose that's poetic justice there...
Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo's former generals, the ones I like to call "The Xiliang Four", have seized control of the Imperial Court in Chang'an, and the air is always heavy with the threat of violence. Li Jue and Guo Si, the leaders of this new regime, have made no secret of their desire to kill Liu Xian and rule his empire in their own names.
At this point in the story, some very important characters are introduced. Namely, Ma Teng and all his crew. Ma Teng has always been one of my favorite characters in the story, and his legacy lives far beyond his own years. His son, Ma Chao, would go on to be a Tiger General of Shu-Han, Ma Dai, his excellent nephew, would also prove his worth time and time again for Shu. Teng's sworn brother, Han Sui, already at this point in the story a man of quite some accomplishment, fights at his side. And let us not forget Pang De, who, unlike Ma Chao and Ma Dai, will go on to serve Cao Cao, and drag his coffin with him to battle when he goes to face Guan Yu.
Unfortunately, Ma Teng and Han Sui lack something which Li Jue and Guo Si possess. And that is the almost divine foresight of Jia Xu (Hey, Koei. There's ANOTHER character that deserves to make it into a DW game.)
It is because of Jia Xu that Li Jue and Guo Si maintain their power in Chang'an for so long. And in years to come, Jia Xu will outsmart his enemies again and again.
Another important event that takes place in this chapter is the conflict between Cao Cao and Tao Qian. The novel portrays Tao Qian as an almost saintly old man. However, actual history is a bit less kind. Tao Qian was the Governor of the Imperial Province of Xuzhou, and he remained so for quite a long time. One does not maintain power for so long by being naive, and Tao Qian was quite a bit more Machiavellian than the novel implies. However, the slaying of Cao Cao's family seems a grave mistake no matter how one looks at it, and one might very well believe Tao Qian's innocence in that matter simply because no benefit could possibly have come of it. Fillial Piety being such an important virtue in ancient China, Tao Qian would have had to know how Cao Cao would react to the murder of Cao Song.
Now Cao Cao, as long as he was just holding his own in his little corner of the central plains, was not really all that much threat to anyone. But Cao Cao in control of a large territory stretching from Puyang to Xuzhou? That's another matter entirely.
At this point, the novel sees the first instance of Cao Cao and Liu Bei appearing as enemies to one another. These two will flip flop between friends and enemies many times over the successive years, and their abilities are very complimentary towards each other.
This is where things get really interesting. With the passing of Tao Qian, the way is clear for Liu Bei to gain control of Xuzhou, thus clearing the way for the next plot arc of the story, the unification of the Central Plains. Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan are still staring each other down in the north, but Yuan Shao is well positioned to win that struggle, and become unchallenged master of the North. Cao Cao will have to settle Yuan Shao once and for all if he is to succeed in his goal of dominating the empire. That means he'll have to deal with all the enemies at his back first. Liu Bei, Yuan Shu, and especially Lu Bu present a very great danger to Cao Cao's ambitions.
But perhaps I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
Anyways, rather than blather on, I think I'll just end this commentary now, and let you listen to the damn audiobook. I'm so awesome!