Dong Zhuo faction 董卓

In his youth Dong Zhuo roamed the lands of the Qiang and made friends with all their chieftains, and at the end of Emperor Huan's reign he became a Gentleman of the Feathered Forest as a son of a good family of the Six Commanderies. He served as Inspector of Bing Province and Administrator of Hedong, and as General of the Household he campaigned against the Yellow Turbans but was defeated and punished. When Han Sui and others rose in Liang Province, he was again made General of the Household to resist them; when he was surrounded north of Wangyuan Gorge by tens of thousands of Qiang and Hu, he dammed a river to make a pond, secretly sent his troops across below the dam and then broke the dam, so that the pursuing Qiang and Hu could not cross. Of six armies five were defeated, but Dong Zhuo alone brought his troops back intact and garrisoned Fufeng; he became General of the Front and Marquis of Taixiang, and was then summoned to be Governor of Bing Province. Records, Wei 6 §2–4

When Emperor Ling died and the Young Emperor took the throne, the General-in-Chief He Jin, who sought to execute the eunuchs, summoned Dong Zhuo to bring his troops to the capital in order to intimidate the Empress Dowager. He Jin fell before Dong Zhuo arrived; the emperor, abducted by the Regular Palace Attendant Duan Gui and others, had fled to Xiaopingjin, and Dong Zhuo met him at Beimang and brought him back to the palace. He Jin's younger brother He Miao, General of Chariots and Cavalry, was also killed by He Jin's followers, and since the retainers of the two men had no one to belong to, they all came over to Dong Zhuo; Dong Zhuo also had Lü Bu kill the Bearer of the Golden Mace Ding Yuan and absorbed his troops. Thus military power in the capital lay with Dong Zhuo alone. The Chief Commandant of Cavalry Bao Xin urged Yuan Shao to strike Dong Zhuo while he was weary from his recent arrival, but Yuan Shao, fearing Dong Zhuo, did not dare to act. Records, Wei 6 §5–7

Dong Zhuo became Minister of Works and soon moved on to Grand Commandant, receiving the tally and axe and the Rapid as Tigers guards; he deposed the emperor and made him Prince of Hongnong, then killed the Prince of Hongnong and Empress He and set up Emperor Ling's young son the Prince of Chenliu; this was Emperor Xian. Dong Zhuo moved on to Chancellor of State and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Mei, receiving the honors of not being announced by his personal name at audiences and of ascending the hall wearing his sword and shoes. Chen Shou wrote that Dong Zhuo, coming at a time of great disorder in the imperial house, was able to depose and enthrone at will and took possession of the armor and weapons of the arsenal and the treasures of the state, so that his might shook the realm. Dong Zhuo made Cao Cao Colonel of Valiant Cavalry, wishing to plan affairs with him, but Cao Cao changed his name and went back east by byways. Records, Wei 6 §8Records, Wei 1 §6

Dong Zhuo intimidated people with harsh punishments. An army he sent to Yangcheng beheaded every man among the people gathered for the altar festival of the 2nd month, carried off the women and goods, and shouted "Long live the emperor!" claiming a great haul from attacking bandits. Dong Zhuo sent out Han Fu, Liu Dai, Kong Zhou, Zhang Zi, Zhang Miao and others, recommended by the Master of Writing Zhou Bi and the Colonel of the City Gates Wu Qiong, as heads of provinces and commanderies, but once they reached their posts they all joined forces to attack Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo, believing that Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong had colluded with them, beheaded them both. Records, Wei 6 §9–10

In the 1st month of the 1st year of Chuping (190), Yuan Shu, Han Fu, Kong Zhou, Liu Dai, Wang Kuang, Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi and Bao Xin raised troops all at once and chose Yuan Shao as leader of the alliance. Dong Zhuo deceived Wang Kuang, Administrator of Henei, who had stationed troops at Heyangjin, with a feint force, secretly sent elite troops across at Xiaoping and struck him from behind, crushing him. But, frightened when the heroes east of the mountains rose all at once, in the 2nd month he moved the Son of Heaven to make Chang'an the capital, burned the palaces of Luoyang and dug up the imperial tombs to take their treasures. Dong Zhuo himself stayed behind in garrison at Luoyang, and his general Xu Rong defeated Cao Cao on the Bian River at Xingyang. Records, Wei 1 §7–9Records, Wei 6 §11

To the south, Sun Jian was putting his troops in order at Luyang. The tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry Dong Zhuo sent withdrew on seeing the orderliness of Sun Jian's troops, and east of Liang County they struck Sun Jian hard and forced him to break through the encirclement and flee. But Sun Jian gathered his troops again, crushed Dong Zhuo's army at Yangren and beheaded its commander Hua Xiong and others, displaying their heads. Dong Zhuo sent his general Li Jue and others to ask for peace, but Sun Jian refused and advanced to Dagu, ninety li from Luoyang. As Dong Zhuo went west into Guanzhong he burned the city of Luoyang, and Sun Jian entered Luoyang and filled in the tombs Dong Zhuo had dug up. The Annals of Emperor Wu record that Dong Zhuo returned to Chang'an in the 4th month, summer of the 2nd year of Chuping (191). Records, Wu 1 §15–17 · 19–20Records, Wei 1 §16–17

On reaching Chang'an, Dong Zhuo became Grand Preceptor and was styled Shangfu. His younger brother Dong Min became General of the Left and Marquis of Hu, and his elder brother's son Dong Huang, as Palace Attendant and Colonel of the Central Army, commanded troops; his clansmen on both sides all took their places at court. The high ministers bowed below Dong Zhuo's carriage, but Dong Zhuo did not return the courtesy, and he summoned the Masters of Writing of the Three Terraces and those below them to come to his own residence in person to report on affairs. Dong Zhuo built Meiwu, as high as the walls of Chang'an, and stored thirty years' worth of grain there, saying that if his enterprise succeeded he would dominate the realm, and if it failed, holding this place would be enough to live out his days. Records, Wei 6 §12–13

When the Grand Astrologer, who observed the heavens, said that one of the great ministers would be put to death, Dong Zhuo had someone allege that the Commandant of the Guards Zhang Wen, with whom he had long been on bad terms, was in league with Yuan Shu, and had him flogged to death. People falsely accused one another, and those who died unjustly numbered in the thousands, while the common people, meeting on the roads, exchanged only glances. Dong Zhuo smashed the bronze statues and the bell stands, abolished the wuzhu coins and cast small coins with neither inscription nor rim; a hu of grain came to cost several hundred thousand cash, and from then on money no longer circulated. Records, Wei 6 §14–15

In the 4th month of the 3rd year of Chuping (192), the Minister over the Masses Wang Yun, the Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat Shisun Rui and Dong Zhuo's general Lü Bu plotted together to kill Dong Zhuo. On the day of a grand assembly in the Weiyang Hall, held when the Son of Heaven had just recovered from an illness, Lü Bu had Li Su, Chief Commandant of Cavalry and a man of his own commandery, and others put on the clothes of guardsmen and guard the side gate; when Li Su and the others struck at Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu, declaring that he had an edict, killed Dong Zhuo and exterminated his three sets of kin. The scholars and common people of Chang'an all congratulated one another, and those who had fawned on Dong Zhuo were all thrown into prison and died. Records, Wei 6 §16–17

Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, a General of the Household, was stationed separately at Shan County and had sent the Colonels Li Jue, Guo Si and Zhang Ji to plunder the counties of Chenliu and Yingchuan. Niu Fu repulsed Li Su, whom Lü Bu had sent, but when some soldiers deserted his camp by night, he thought everyone had rebelled, took his gold and treasures and fled, and was beheaded by Hu Chi'er and others who were following him. Li Jue and the others, returning to find nowhere to turn, wanted to disperse, but following Jia Xu's plan they gathered troops as they went west, and together with Fan Chou and other former subordinates of Dong Zhuo they took Chang'an and buried Dong Zhuo at Mei County. Records, Wei 6 §19–21

In his assessment for Volume 6, Chen Shou wrote that Dong Zhuo was as fierce and cruel as a wolf, tyrannical and inhumane, and that since the invention of writing there had probably been no one like him. Records, Wei 6 §96