Dong Zhuo 董卓

In his youth he loved playing the knight-errant and roamed the lands of the Qiang, making friends with their chieftains; when they came to visit him, he slaughtered his plough ox to feast them, and they gathered more than a thousand head of livestock and sent them to him. At the end of Emperor Huan's reign he became a Gentleman of the Feathered Forest (yulin lang) as a son of a good family from the Six Commanderies. His physical strength had few equals; wearing two bow cases, he galloped and shot to both left and right. For his merit in following the General of the Household Zhang Huan on campaign in Bing Province he was made a Gentleman of the Palace and awarded 9,000 bolts of silk, all of which he distributed among his officers and men. After several posts he became Inspector of Bing Province and Administrator of Hedong, and as General of the Household he campaigned against the Yellow Turbans, but his army was defeated and he was punished. Records, Wei 6 §2–3

When Han Sui and others rose in Liang Province, he was again made General of the Household to resist them. North of the Wangyuan Gorge he was surrounded by tens of thousands of Qiang and Hu, and when his provisions ran out, he pretended to fish, dammed the river to form a lake, secretly moved his troops across below the dam, and then broke the dam to cut off pursuit. Of the six armies, five were defeated, but Dong Zhuo alone returned with his troops intact; he became General of the Front and Marquis of Taixiang, and was summoned to be Governor of Bing Province. Records, Wei 6 §4

When Emperor Ling died and Emperor Shao took the throne, the General-in-Chief He Jin plotted with Yuan Shao to kill the eunuchs, but the Empress Dowager would not agree. To pressure the Empress Dowager, He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo to lead troops to the capital. Before Dong Zhuo arrived, He Jin fell, and when the Regular Palace Attendant Duan Gui and others abducted the emperor and fled to Xiaoping Ford, Dong Zhuo met the emperor at Beimang and returned with him to the palace. The retainer troops of He Jin and his younger brother He Miao all came over to Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo also had Lü Bu kill Ding Yuan, Bearer of the Golden Mace, and absorbed his troops, so that he alone held military power in the capital. Records, Wei 6 §5–6

Dong Zhuo became Minister of Works and soon moved to Grand Commandant, receiving the tallies and axes of authority and a guard of Rapid-as-Tigers (huben). He then deposed the emperor, making him Prince of Hongnong, and soon afterward killed the Prince of Hongnong and Empress He; he set up Emperor Ling's young son, the Prince of Chenliu, who became Emperor Xian. Dong Zhuo became Chancellor of State and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Mei, and he was granted the privileges of not being announced by name when paying his respects and of ascending the hall wearing his sword and shoes. According to the Annals of Emperor Wu, Dong Zhuo made Cao Cao Colonel of Valiant Cavalry, hoping to plan affairs with him, but Cao Cao changed his name and slipped back east by byways. Records, Wei 6 §8Records, Wei 1 §6

Dong Zhuo was cruel and inhumane by nature and intimidated people with harsh punishments. When he sent troops to Yangcheng, they beheaded all the men among the people gathered for the village sacrifice of the 2nd month, loaded up the women and goods and brought them back, and cheered "Long live!" claiming to have attacked bandits and taken great spoils. He went so far as to violate palace women and princesses. Also, when Han Fu, Liu Dai, and others, recommended by the Master of Writing Zhou Bi and the Colonel of the City Gates Wu Qiong, reached their posts and joined forces to attack him, he believed the two men had colluded with them and beheaded them both. Records, Wei 6 §9–10

In the first month of the 1st year of Chuping (190), Yuan Shu, Han Fu, Yuan Shao, and other senior officials east of the passes raised troops at the same time and chose Yuan Shao as leader of the alliance. Dong Zhuo secretly circled behind Wang Kuang, Administrator of Henei, who was stationed at Heyang Ford, and crushed him; but alarmed that the heroes of Shandong had risen all at once, in the 2nd month of that year 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 remained stationed at Luoyang, and his general Xu Rong defeated Cao Cao at the Bian River in Xingyang. Records, Wei 1 §7–9Records, Wei 6 §11

Sun Jian crushed Dong Zhuo's army at Yangren and had his Area Commander Hua Xiong and others beheaded and their heads displayed. Dong Zhuo sent his general Li Jue to sue for peace, but Sun Jian refused, saying that unless he exterminated Dong Zhuo's three sets of kin he could not close his eyes even in death, and advanced. Dong Zhuo went west into Guanzhong, burning the city of Luoyang as he left, and Sun Jian filled in the tombs Dong Zhuo had dug up. The Annals of Emperor Wu record that Dong Zhuo returned to Chang'an in the summer, in the 4th month of the 2nd year of Chuping (191). Records, Wu 1 §17 · 19–20Records, Wei 1 §16–17

On reaching Chang'an he became Grand Preceptor (taishi) and was styled Shangfu ("Esteemed Father"). His younger brother Dong Min became General of the Left and Marquis of Hu, and his elder brother's son Dong Huang commanded troops as Palace Attendant and Colonel of the Central Army; his whole clan lined the court. He built the Mei Fortress as high as the walls of Chang'an and stored thirty years' worth of grain there, saying that if his cause succeeded he would possess the realm, and if not, he could hold this place and live out his days. When the high ministers held a farewell banquet for him outside the Heng Gate, he had several hundred rebels from Beidi who had surrendered have their tongues cut out, their hands and feet cut off, their eyes gouged out, and be boiled in cauldrons right there, while he calmly went on eating and drinking. Records, Wei 6 §12–13

When the Grand Astrologer (the official in charge of astronomy) declared that one of the great ministers would be put to death, Dong Zhuo had someone say that the Minister of the Guards Zhang Wen, with whom he had long been on bad terms, was in collusion with Yuan Shu, and then had him flogged to death. Those who died unjustly numbered in the thousands. He abolished the wuzhu coin and minted small coins with neither inscription nor rim, so that a hu of grain came to cost several hundred thousand cash, and from then on money no longer circulated. Records, Wei 6 §14–15

According to the biography of Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo, who had sworn to be as father and son with Lü Bu, once threw a hand halberd at him over a slight displeasure, and Lü Bu, who had carried on an affair with one of Dong Zhuo's maidservants, grew uneasy. 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 Lü Bu plotted together to kill Dong Zhuo. When the Son of Heaven had just recovered from illness and a great assembly was held in the Weiyang Hall, Lü Bu had Li Su, a man of his own commandery, and others dress as guardsmen and keep the side gate, while he himself carried the imperial edict. When Li Su and the others struck at Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo cried out asking where Lü Bu was, and Lü Bu, saying "There is an edict," killed him and exterminated his three sets of kin. The gentry and commoners of Chang'an all congratulated one another. Records, Wei 7 §3–4Records, Wei 6 §16–17

Li Jue, Guo Si, and others, who had served under Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, followed Jia Xu's plan, took Chang'an, and exposed Wang Yun's corpse in the marketplace. They buried Dong Zhuo in Mei County, but a great wind and violent rain sent water flowing into the tomb, and his inner and outer coffins were swept away. Records, Wei 6 §19–21

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Dong Zhuo was fierce as a wolf, cruel, violent, and inhumane, and that since the invention of writing there had probably never been anyone like him. Records, Wei 6 §96