Chapter 003 동탁의 음모 16

16.卓喜。次日大排筵會，遍請公卿。公卿皆懼董卓，誰敢不到？卓待百官到了，然後徐徐到園門下馬，帶劍入席。酒行數巡，卓教停酒止樂，乃厲聲曰：「吾有一言，眾官靜聽。」眾官側耳。卓曰：「天子為萬民之主，無威儀不可以奉宗廟社稷。今上懦弱，不若陳留王聰明好學，可承大位。吾欲廢帝，立陳留王，諸大臣以為何如？」誅官聽罷，不敢出聲。座上一人推案直出，立於筵前，大呼：「不可！不可！汝是何人，敢發大語？天子乃先帝嫡子，初無過失，何得妄議廢立？汝欲為篡逆耶？」卓視之，乃荊州刺史丁原也。卓怒叱曰：「順我者生，逆我者死！」遂掣佩劍欲斬丁原。

So spoke Li Ru, and the words pleased Dong Zhuo mightily.

So the next day Dong Zhuo spread a feast and invited many guests. As all the officers went in terror of him, no one dared be absent. Dong Zhuo himself rode up to the garden last of all and took his place with his sword girded on. When the wine had gone round several times, Dong Zhuo stopped the service and the music and began to speak.

"I have something to say. Listen quietly all of you!"

All turned towards him.

"The emperor is lord of all. If he lacks dignity and behaves in an unseemly manner, he is no fitting inheritor of the ancestral prerogatives. He who is now on the throne is a weakling, inferior to the Prince of Chenliu in intelligence and love of learning. The Prince is in every way fitted for the throne. I desire to depose the Emperor and set up the Prince in his place. What think you?"

The assembly listened in perfect silence, none daring at first to utter a word of dissent. But one dared; for suddenly a guest stood up in his place, smote the table and cried.

"No! No! Who are you that you dare utter such bold words? The Emperor is son of the late Emperor and has done no wrong. Why then should he be deposed? Are you a rebel?"

The speaker was Ding Yuan, Imperial Protector of Bingzhou.

Dong Zhuo glared at Ding Yuan, roaring, "There is life for those who are with me, death for those against!"

Dong Zhuo drew his sword and made for the objector.