How Dong Zhuo Threw the Han Court Into Chaos

In the previous episode, Dong Zhuo used the palace chaos to escort Emperor Shao back, absorb He Jin's old troops, and bring Lü Bu into his own camp.

The emperor still sat on the throne in Luoyang. But the court now lived under Dong Zhuo's blade.

The Deposition Began in Court

After Yuan Shao left Luoyang, Dong Zhuo did not abandon the idea of replacing the emperor. He became more determined.

He summoned officials to discuss enthroning Liu Xie, the Prince of Chenliu. It was called a discussion, but Liangzhou soldiers filled the hall with weapons drawn. Few ministers dared to speak.

Dong Zhuo claimed that the young emperor Liu Bian was unfit to serve the ancestral temples or rule the realm. He wanted to follow the precedents of Yi Yin and Huo Guang, famous ministers who had removed rulers in earlier history.

Only Lu Zhi openly objected. Lu Zhi had helped suppress the Yellow Turbans and carried real prestige. He argued that the earlier deposed rulers had clear faults, while Emperor Shao had only just taken the throne and had committed no grave crime.

Dong Zhuo was furious and wanted to kill him. Cai Yong and others pleaded, and someone warned that Lu Zhi was too famous to execute without consequence. Dong Zhuo spared his life but removed him from office.

Emperor Shao Was Forced Down

Dong Zhuo then forced Empress Dowager He to issue an edict.

The edict accused Liu Bian of lacking filial conduct during mourning and lacking the bearing of a ruler. He was demoted to Prince of Hongnong, while Liu Xie became emperor. Liu Xie would later be known as Emperor Xian, the last emperor of Eastern Han.

The scene was humiliating. Yuan Wei removed the imperial seals and ribbons from Liu Bian and handed them to Liu Xie. Liu Bian had to face north and serve the new emperor as a subject.

Empress Dowager He wept. The officials were miserable, but no one dared stop it.

Dong Zhuo later decided the deposed emperor was still a threat. He sent Li Ru with poisoned wine, and Liu Bian died. Empress Dowager He was also accused of mistreating Empress Dowager Dong and was soon poisoned as well.

The new emperor had been installed. The old emperor and his mother had been removed from the world.

Dong Zhuo Tried to Win the Scholars

Dong Zhuo could force a deposition, but he could not govern the whole empire by fear alone.

Eastern Han power still depended on great families and scholar-officials. If they refused to cooperate, court orders would become empty. So Dong Zhuo tried to court them.

He appointed men such as Yang Biao and Huang Wan to high office. He reopened cases involving Chen Fan, Dou Wu, and other partisans once persecuted by eunuchs. Their titles were restored, their descendants were summoned, and their graves received attention.

At the same time, Dong Zhuo made himself Chancellor of State with extraordinary privileges: he could enter court without hurrying, be addressed without giving his personal name, and wear sword and shoes in the hall. His treatment echoed honors once given to Xiao He in the early Han.

He also summoned famous men such as Cai Yong. Cai Yong did not want to serve him, but Dong Zhuo threatened to kill his family if he refused. Once Cai Yong came, Dong Zhuo treated him well and promoted him rapidly.

The message was clear. The titles and rituals could go to scholars. The weapons stayed with Dong Zhuo's Liangzhou men.

Liangzhou Troops Terrorized Luoyang

Once Dong Zhuo held power, his brutality showed quickly.

He insulted high ministers and threatened subordinates. His troops broke into mansions of imperial relatives and wealthy families, seized gold and women, and even dug into imperial tombs for treasure.

One story shows the mood of the time. Dong Zhuo sent soldiers to Yangcheng, where common people were gathered for a local festival. His men killed the males, seized the women and goods, tied severed heads to carts, and returned to Luoyang claiming victory.

The capital was terrified.

The Liu imperial house still existed, but under Dong Zhuo the emperor had become a display object.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao Escaped His Grip

Dong Zhuo first wanted to punish Yuan Shao, who had fled after opposing the deposition.

Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong advised him not to push too hard. The Yuan clan had old prestige and networks everywhere. If Dong Zhuo made Yuan Shao desperate, the eastern heroes would rally behind him. Better to pardon Yuan Shao and appoint him Administrator of Bohai.

Dong Zhuo accepted the advice. In practice, this gave Yuan Shao both a title and a base.

Cao Cao also left Luoyang. Later fiction tells the story of Cao Cao trying to assassinate Dong Zhuo with a presented dagger, but historically he simply judged that Dong Zhuo could not be served and slipped away.

When Dong Zhuo realized men like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao would not cooperate, he turned murderous. He killed Yuan Shao's uncle Yuan Wei, Yuan Ji, and many Yuan relatives still in the capital.

That blood debt pushed Yuan Shao even farther into opposition.

Dong Zhuo Chose Chang'an

As eastern commanderies began raising troops, Dong Zhuo considered his position.

Chang'an, the old Western Han capital, lay closer to his northwestern base in Guanzhong and Liangzhou. If the emperor and officials moved west, the eastern coalition would lose the chance to use Luoyang as the imperial center.

Dong Zhuo gathered officials and justified the move with old precedents and prophecy. Yang Biao and Huang Wan objected, saying that moving the capital was too great a matter, that Luoyang held temples and tombs, and that prophecy should not decide state policy.

Dong Zhuo dismissed them from office.

Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong also opposed the move. Dong Zhuo suspected they had recommended famous scholars only to turn those scholars against him, so he had them executed.

He had tried to wear a mask of respect for the scholar class. The mask was tearing.

Luoyang Was Burned Into Wasteland

On the seventeenth day of the second month, Emperor Xian was forced west toward Chang'an.

Dong Zhuo seized wealthy families in Luoyang, fabricated charges, confiscated property, and drove millions of residents west. Soldiers pressed them from behind. The road through the mountains filled with hunger, trampling, robbery, and corpses.

Dong Zhuo remained in Luoyang long enough to destroy it. He ordered palaces, offices, and homes burned. For two hundred li around the capital, buildings were ruined. More than a century of Eastern Han splendor became ash.

He also sent Lü Bu to dig into imperial and noble tombs for treasure. The living were forced west. The dead were not left in peace.

By early March, Emperor Xian reached Chang'an. Dong Zhuo was still near Luoyang. For a brief moment, if someone had seized the emperor, history might have shifted. But Huangfu Song did not take that risk.

Dong Zhuo burned and looted. The eastern lords raised armies. The next episode follows the Suanzao alliance, when the realm entered the age of warlords fighting under the banner of punishing Dong Zhuo.